Eight

by ThunderChaserCreate

Up Close and Personal *Twilight*

My purple chest rose and fell raggedly, my heart thumping against my ribs hard enough that I could feel my entire body pulse. I clenched my teeth shut, trying to make sure I didn't breathe too loudly.

The creature had an elongated face that was pasty white, with no more than the hint of facial features or expressions. It's skin hung loosely, like there was nothing between the skin and the bone. It had something resembling a horn curving out of its forehead, but it looked less like a tool or appendage and more like a lethal weapon.

Its neck had defined muscles, and the smooth curves of it had become sharp angles. Its head swiveled, the movement fluid instead of sharp as its qualities suggested.

It made a sound deep in its chest, guttural and rumbling.

Rose drew in a sharp breath.

Quicker than I thought was possible, the head snapped toward us. It wasn't even breathing. It wasn't moving at all. It was so completely still it might have been a dream.

Keeping its head motionless, the monster climbed down from its position in the tree, four spider-like limbs holding it off the ground.

I bit down on my lower lip until I tasted blood. I couldn't scream. I couldn't even dare to breath. The monster couldn't see us, but its ears pricked at the slightest sound.

It crept closer and closer, and my vision was fading from lack of oxygen.

I felt a drip of liquid on my hoof, and I squinted down at it. It was white, pure white, and hot. It may as well have been burning wax, but I wasn't moving. I moved my gaze back up to the face of the monster. His face was blurry and dark now, and I could feel myself slipping away. But wait-- its face was different. It was longer. It may have just been my mind playing tricks on me, but I saw three drips of white liquid fall from around its mouth. A rattling snarl came from it, and I thought I saw a row of jagged teeth.

Suddenly, I was running on adrenaline. Somepony screamed and all four of us ran as fast as we could, dodging the monster and heading for the woods. I wasn't sure which way we were running, but I knew we had to move as quickly as possible and leave that horror in the dust.

We didn't make it far before collapsing against something made of metal. At the moment, I wasn't concerned with it, so I let it go.

"Where..." I panted, swallowing hard down a dry throat. "The note..." I murmured.

Pinkie, who was known for her boundless energy, translated. "She wants to know if somepony grabbed the note before we ran."

"Oh!" Lyra perked up, pulling out the crumpled sheet of paper. "I got it right here." She passed it to me.

It was in a terrible state, damp from sweat and crushed into a ball, but salvageable. I turned, using the rusty metal to smooth the paper out. "Hey, wait..." I took a better look at it, noticing some faint lines that criss-crossed the whole paper. I flipped it over. "There's a back. What is this?"

"It looks like it may be a piece of something bigger." Rose suggested, reaching over to adjust the angle of the page.

"That's it!" Pinkie shouted, making us all jump. "Heh... sorry. Look! You can see the back lines from the front! The Doctor must have seen the designs in the photographs!"

Lyra leaned over to give her a friendly punch in the shoulder. "Not bad, Pinkie."

Pinkie grinned.

Rose sighed, leaning back into the grass. She then sat up, looking around. "Wait-- where are we?"

"No idea." I stated, standing up. "Let's take a look around, shall we?" I folded the paper up, tucking it away for later.

"Okay..." Lyra took the lead. "Looks like we've got two big, metal boxes: One that's got four wheels and one that's got two plus a hitch... a trailer, I guess." She stepped on the small running board, resting a gentle hoof on the door. She had only just touched the rusted and dented hunk of metal when it fell in with the loud sound of metal on metal. She turned to us. "Door's open."

~~~~~

The inside looked no better than the outside. It was ransacked, with all the furniture and fixtures overturned or pulverized. Pinkie found her way to the fridge, opening the door and releasing the noxious fumes of week-old groceries. The light flickered on, however, illuminating the inside of the trailer.

"Oh, thank Celestia," Rose murmured, blinking in the dim light of the refrigerator bulb. "Light!"

Now that the interior was exposed, we saw everything in new clarity. It was covered with a collage of papers, all sketches of the Slenderpony or maps of the area. Even the slightest breeze through the open door caused the papers to move, and the walls rippled like the surface of a pond.

"Well... whoever lived here was interested in the Slenderpony." Lyra reached up to grab a paper off the wall. "This one's a map. Could be useful."

"You can't just take that!" I said, swiping at the page. Lyra kept it just out of reach.

"Twi, let's be serious. Whoever lived here is obviously dead."

"How do you know that? They-they could be in hiding."

Lyra gave me a condescending look. "All the food's gone bad, the trailer is a wreck, not to mention the homicidal pony mutant that was apparently stalking them." Lyra tucked the paper away. "Don't be dumb. It doesn't suit you."

"Hey!" Pinkie looked excited. "There's a cupcake over here!"

The three of us groaned as Pinkie held up a half-eaten, moldy piece of food with some kind of grey, fuzzy icing.

"Ew... it's squishy..."

I smacked it out of her hoof and it landed with an unappetizing plop on the carpet.

Rose leaned over, looking closer at the disgusting thing. "Pinkie, where'd you get that?"

"Over there!" she pointed to a trunk, while trying to discreetly wipe her hoof in Lyra's mane.

I walked over, cautiously, and opened the trunk a tiny crack. Barely any light shone on the contents, but a second wave of the horrible smell wafted up at us. I slammed it shut, knowing what I was going to find.

"Okay... nopony opens the trunk. There's a dead pony in there."

Author's Note:

Sorry, guys.
Not sure what went wrong here, but you may have noticed that my title page is completely inaccessible.
I'm frustrated, too, but hopefully Knighty and/or Poultron will be able to fix it.
Thanks,
ThunderChaserCreate