//------------------------------// // The Mare-Napper // Story: Maiden of Sombra // by Cocoa Swirl 10201 //------------------------------// The filly looked at Cocoa Swirl with such an intense dark stare, it might as well have been demonic. The air in the room seemed to get very heavy, so much so that it seemed to darken the light, invert it to shadow seemingly. Golden's stare seemed to bear the weight of the world, and she placed it right on Cocoa's shoulders. "Cocoa Swirl... do you wish to hear how we died?" Golden's voice seemed to travel from reality and back. It was doubled over by two other voices. The main one speaking was an enchanting mares voice, as if the milky way itself was put into vocal form. The other two was that of the little filly's, sounding ethereal and unearthly. And the last one was that of an old mares voice, it was witchy and dark. "I...I do. I want to hear of the mare-napper." Cocoa's voice had a slight fearful edge to it. At that moment, the universe she resided fractured and fell apart. Cocoa felt the crystalline floor collapse beneath her, and she fell endlessly. Cocoa screamed horribly, grasping at the empty space hoping to find hold. Then everything stopped, her mane that she had just felt whipping her face a she plummeted a moment ago stayed in place. Cocoa's pose had her back to the ground, her fore leg reaching at empty air. Around her was nothingness, just endless black, beyond black, beyond black. "We do hope that we didn't startle you..." A beautiful enchantress looking mare stepped out of the black, She had a a gorgeous golden crystal coat, her mane was a dreamy white, flowing from her head as if itself was a unicorn's aura. The same with her tail. She was very tall, but not quite enough to compare to Celestia. "W-where are we? What is this place?" Cocoa looked down at the ground. (that is, if there is any ground at all). "This is our spiritual plane, the place in which a soul resides and is created from." She cast her slender hoof to gesture at the expanse of nothingness. "Do all planes look like this?" Cocoa Inquired. "No, ours only looks like this because we are already dead, we simply wait until a new life is ready to be born again for us. Think of it as a waiting room..." Cocoa nodded, she wanted to ask just a couple more questions about this strange place. "Then how come you can go to and from this place and the living world, aren't you supposed to stay here until a new life is ready for you? And how are you going to show me the story of the mare-napper?" "It's because of me." This time the old witchy mares voice took lead in the trio. Her appearance warped and faded in and out of this realms reality. She eventually Gained composure of her form and took a solid figure. She was an ancient mare who wore a cloak. The cloak looked like it was made out of the very fabrics of the universe. "It's because of me that we can travel to and fro. I practiced astral travel for many, many years when I was alive. I know enough on the subject to let us travel whenever the time is right." The old witch gave a small smile. Cocoa couldn't help but smile back until she felt the universe around her shift at an odd angle. She looked at the witch and realized that she had suddenly changed back into the enchantress mare. The world shifted again, Cocoa felt like vomiting, it was as if the plane was a snow globe, shifting and shaking at every movement. "I hope your astral traveler form is fitting for you..." Cocoa Swirl opened her eyes and observed herself with a few sweeping glances. She was definitely taller, about Golden's size. Cocoa had swirls of her astral essence misting and swirling off from the joints in her legs. Her eyes were faded over in a slight ghostly glow, just barely seeing the pupils. And her mane and hair ribbon were indeed the most fascinating. Cocoa's astral mane had an ethereal glow, it was triple the length it was before, the outline was a solid creme colored while the center was a partially see through dark chocolate brown. Her Blue ribbon also tripled in length, it threatened to fall out, it wavered and floated in a wind that wasn't there, her mane also wavered and floated. "Wow.... this form.... it's just, wow." Golden Enchantress chuckled, it sounded like the tinkle of a bell. The expanse around them changed. Before them was the layout to what looked like a dungeon, there were tiny bird cage like cages hanging from the ceiling. The air was heavy and rank of bodily odor and...flesh? "What is this place? Why does it smell so badly, and why does it look like a dungeon?" The Golden Enchantress mare sighed, She flicked her hoof slightly and an apparition appeared before them, but could not see them. "This is the Mare-Nappers lair, she kidnapped young mares and even fillies and bathed in their blood." Cocoa gulped, bathe in blood? What sick joke was this?! Cocoa swallowed her retort and remembered that some crystal ponies believed a lot of weird stuff, why would this be any different? "Wait, she?!" "Yes, she. She was a very vain crystal pony. She believed that bathing in the blood of others beauty would help her absorb some of it. Enough was never enough." Golden sighed as she watched a golden crystal mare was dragged into the room, gutted, and drained. Cocoa stared in horror and realization that from being gutted an unborn colt was dragged out and tossed aside like garbage, and the mare-napper carried on like it was daily routine. "Th-this scene here, was it the one I saw in your eyes from earlier before?" The taller mare nodded and hung her head. "What happened to the killer?" "So many reports of missing mares lead to King Sombra leading search parties, checking every alley and crevice. King Sombra has the nose of a hound, when he was passing this secret dungeon he smelt the death coming from the cellar. and as King the mare was obliged to let him in, or risk dying herself." Golden stopped there in the story and looked at her friend. "You probably know the rest, you can put two and two together can't you?" The golden mares voice was deep and monotonous, Cocoa gulped and pictured the rest of the story in her head. She nodded in agreement. "Good, I'm getting low on my spiritual energy, let's return..." In an instant the atmosphere dissipated around them like mist, and they were in blackness again. But in the blackness was seven spheres of light, one for every color of the rainbow. "Go towards the violet ball of light, that's were you'll find consciousness." And just like the atmosphere, the golden mare vanished without a trace. Cocoa did as she was commanded and headed for the violet light.