Chorus of Lament: The Embrace

by Timbre Tone

Chapter 1: They Can Never Know

"You said you would always be there for me."

“I need you now."

"I don't know what's happening to me!"

"I'm so scared."

-----

"The forest — I'm in the Everfree forest!"

-----

"Apple Bloom? You ok, darlin'?" murmured Applejack as she brushed long strands of messy blonde hair from her tired eyes and peered into her younger sister's room. The moon beamed a pale light in across the filly's bed and exposed her young, tear-stained face. She quickly turned her head over into her pillow away from her older sister's gaze.

"Ah'm sorry sis," the little one said, her voice trembling with sadness. "Ah didn't mean to wake ya."

"Don'chu worry sugarcube, ah wasn't asleep." Applejack drawled out as she trotted softly into the room.

In fact in light of recent events, AJ hadn't slept in days. Her tone was as listless as her body but she didn't let that stop her from pulling her sister into her in a comforting, albeit exhausted embrace.

"It's 'bout Scootaloo, isn'it?" Applejack asked.

Sniffing lightly, Apple Bloom nodded into her sister's chest. "Ah hadda bad dream. Ah'm so worried bout'er."

"They'll find little Scoot, pumpkin'." The elder mare said reassuringly. "Every stallion, mare, 'n filly in Ponyville is lookin', and ah know you've seen all them fancy armor-wearin' royal guard from Canterlot in town. They're gonna find her."

Apple Bloom let out a dull sob, listening to all the same catering words of comfort she'd heard so many times already from so many different ponies. She let out another as thoughts of her dear friend entered her mind, the joy of their adventures together seemed so distant now. She squeezed her big sister tightly and spoke softly into her orange fur.

"Please be right." She cried. "Ah'm so scared I'll never see'er again."

Applejack lay her sister's head back down on her pillow and did her best to tuck her back into her tangled sheets. The filly's bed was as small as to be expected but it still allowed AJ the space to lay down next to her little sister. With a delicate hoof she wiped the tears from the little one's eyes.

"Ah'm scared too." She admitted.

Silence crept into the room as Apple Bloom's crying finally ceased and she nuzzled against her sister once again. AJ pulled her in and held her close, suddenly feeling her eyes allow themselves to close. Her sister was safe. She was right there next to her. Nopony was going to take her away. She clung to that one sole belief as she and Apple Bloom were finally allowed the sanctity of sleep.

-----

"I can't escape."

"I can't resist."

"Help me!"

"I just want to see your face again."

-----

The town square of Ponyville had become a veritable mission control, but the energy it had less than forty-eight hours ago was waning. Armored guards and groups of civilian volunteers of every earth, wing, and horn were coming and going from a large tent complex set up by the royal guard detachment. Commanding officers gave their orders to their subordinates, and they intern organized the volunteers. However, as the sun began to rise on the morning of day three, exhaustion was clear and heavy in the air and in the eyes of everypony. Grim mummers of fading hope for young Scootaloo slithered between ears and spirits began to dampen in the cold morning dew.

Search parties returned from inside the Everfree forest, empty-hooved as always. They trotted to their tents to steal an hour or two of rest. It was inside one of these tents where Rainbow Dash stood weary and exhausted from a full two days of nearly non-stop flying and searching. Across from her, on the other side of a fold-out desk covered in scrawled notes and reports sat Lieutenant Keen Eye, an ash grey unicorn clad in his armored uniform, the ranking officer commanding all the guards assigned to Ponyville.

"Thank you for coming so early, Miss Dash, I know how tired you must be. You can take a seat if you wish but I don't intend for this to take long." the lieutenant said as he rifled through the sprawl of paper on his desk.

"Yeah. No problem." She said, mustering a fatigued but earnest enthusiasm as she dropped her flank into the chair. "What's all this about?"

Keen looked up from his paper mess and peered attentively at the prismatic-maned pegasus.

"I need you to tell me more about you and the missing filly." He spoke sternly.

Dash rolled her eyes.

"That's why I'm here?" She said, not sounding particularly impressed. "I already told you guys everything I know. I was with Scootaloo the day she went missing. We hung out for a few hours by the lake and then she left on her scooter to go play with her other friends. It all got written down, don't tell me you lost it!"

Keen's gaze slid briefly into a glare before he raised the transcribed statement in question.

"No Miss Dash, I still have it all right here." He lowered the paper and folded his hooves across his desk. "I understand your frustration. Let me start by saying that my guard detail and I are both very thankful to you and your contributions to this search effort, but now I need your help in a different way. The nature of this search has changed."

"What do you mean?" Rainbow replied, quizzical and wary.

The guardstallion sighed.

"We've canvassed every home in Ponyville, brought in and questioned over a hundred ponies, and recorded at least thirty different eye-witness accounts of ponies seeing this filly the day she went missing." He listed, sounding equal parts agitated and depressed. "Somehow, throughout all of this we still have no concrete leads pointing to her whereabouts."

"What about the Everfree forest?" Dash asked, hesitating. She wanted to approach the subject carefully.

Keen was silent, looking unsure for only a second before once again donning his mask of steely composure.

"A search party was attacked by timber wolves during operations last night." He said matter-of-factually. "They fended them off but a few of my stallions sustained significant injuries. As a result, I am putting an end to all search efforts within the forest."

"But she's gotta be in there!" Rainbow protested immediately, but then quickly reigned herself in. "I mean — we haven't found her anywhere in Ponyville. She must be out there, right?"

The lieutenant cleared this throat.

"This is not a runaway, Miss Dash, nor is it a young filly lost in the woods." Keen declared grimly, his tone somehow managing to fall even darker. "The fear has always been in the back of my mind, but now we are forced to face the inevitable truth that this was a premeditated abduction."

"A foalnapping?" The multicolored mare mused with a raised eyebrow, trying to hide the gritting of her teeth. "You honestly think somepony took her away? Why would anypony do that?!"

"In this case, I don't know." Keen admitted readily. "I have my theories but you have to understand that crimes like this are not common in Equestria, certainly not in a small town like Ponyville."

Rainbow swallowed hard, considering the lieutenant's words with an anxious focus.

"Common or not, they do happen." Keen followed up. "Either way, I have investigated them before and I know what I needs to be done. It's time to take a closer look at the ponies who were close to the victim."

Victim. Rainbow Dash didn't like that word one bit. It reverberated in her brain and filled her heart with desolate sadness like it was already too late. Like she had already failed. She also didn't like how the lieutenant was looking at her.

"Wait. You don't honestly think that I'm involved, do you?!" Her tone was harsh and incredulous. Her wings flared and her seven-color tail swished quickly. Already defensive, she looked ready to fight at the drop of a pin.

Keen ignored her riled up state, apparently expecting it.

"Nopony is accusing you of anything.” He responded calmly and professionally. “But I'm going to need you to better explain your relationship with the victim."

"Fine. Whatever.” Rainbow muttered gruffly, lowering her wings and sitting back down. “Just — could you not call her that?"

With a glow of his horn Keen levitated a file folder from the stack of papers on his desk, opened it, and pulled a series of accounts from other citizens of Ponyville.

"My understanding is that Scootaloo had always been very fond of you." He peered at Dash from over the folder. "You even claimed yourself that you had taken her under your wing, so to speak."

"Well — yeah." Rainbow said listlessly. She let out a halfhearted grin and felt a warm pride swelling in her voice as she continued. "I figured I could teach her to be as awesome as me. Don't let anypony say Rainbow Dash doesn't appreciate her fans."

Her grin was brief and awkward, but the flash of self-adulation allowed her to momentarily forget the anxious churning in her stomach.

"So the two of you spent a lot of time together." Keen quickly reined in the topic.

"Well — not a lot a lot." Dash said, nervously stumbling on her own words. "She usually spent more time with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. They had some kind of club thing."

"Oh yes. The Cutie Mark Crusaders, was it?" Keen asked, examined the notes on another paper and scribbling energetically with a levitating quill.

"I don't remember." Rainbow Dash grimaced. "I never really paid much attention to that."

"Yes, I understand. But Scootaloo certainly paid a lot of attention to you." The lieutenant seemed legitimately amused, but let nothing but a smirk betray his expression. "You are aware she organized a Rainbow Dash fan club with some of the other fillies and colts in town, yes?"

Rainbow let out a weak but honest chuckle.

"Yeah that.” She said, looking reminiscent. “It was short-lived but it was awesome while it lasted."

"I know you're the kind of mare who enjoys attention." Keen said as he peered hard into Rainbow's tired magenta eyes, his intent veiled behind calculated detachment. "A filly like Scootaloo must be really nice to have around."

"Well when you're as skilled as me attention comes with the territory." The pegasus said as another wave of semi-comforting pride washed over her. She pushed a hoof into her chest. "I had to learn to enjoy being in the spotlight from a very young age."

"Has Scootaloo ever been inside your home?" The lieutenant asked. Gone suddenly was the casual conversationality from his voice.

Anxiety rippled fiercely the mare's guts.

"Uhh no. Never." Dash offered up. "Whenever we hung out we would usually be outside and I'd be—"

"Would you be willing to allow some of my stallions to take a look inside your home." Keen cut in as sharp as his namesake and left Rainbow's mouth agape, stunned, with a suddenly frustration boiling in her core.

"W-Why!? I just told you she's never been in there!" She shouted, her defensiveness obvious. "She's probably in the Everfree forest, but you guys won't even let me help you search in there!"

"That forest is a death trap and lost cause!” Keen said, his volume starting to escalated to match the agitated pegasus. “How long do you honestly expect me to put the lives of my stallions at risk?"

"So now you're giving up in there entirely and you're gonna start kicking in the doors of random pony's houses on a hunch she's been foalnapped?!" She shouted back, her tail swishing fiercely.

"You know as well as I do, Miss Dash, that a filly alone in that forest for this long would be dead!" the lieutenant shouted back. "I absolutely will not be responsible for creating more corpses in an effort to recover one!"

"She's not dead!" Dash growled, gritting her teeth and glaring intensely at the lieutenant, but the throbbing lump in her throat prevented her from saying more.

"You need to be prepared for the worst case scenario, Miss Dash." Keen spoke lower, trying to deescalate things. "I pray for Scootaloo's safety but I wouldn't be doing my job if I assumed it."

Dash could only bring herself to glare in response.

"Either way, I honestly don't believe she's in the forest." Keen Eye continued, sounding calmer again. "Given the scale of the search and lack of results I find it very likely that an active effort is being made by some unknown party to hide this filly from us, from within Ponyville. We need to identify this unknown party immediately and as it stands right now, Miss Dash, you were the last pony seen with the victim."

That word again...

"No!" Rainbow barked out as she slammed her hoof down on Keen's desk and got right into the lieutenant's face. "Absolutely not! You're wasting your time and you're wasting mine!"

"Rainbow Dash!" The lieutenant exploded, standing instantly. "You are going to sit down before you do something stupid and you're going to listen to me!"

"Scoot is still out there!" Dash hollered, "You're just gonna sit there at your desk!? Messing around with papers!? You're calling her a victim like she's already gone and you pointing your hoof at me!? This is stupid! Get your guards back into that forest! She's in there, I know it!"

With an angered growl and a flash of his horn the chair behind Rainbow glowed and lunged forward, scooped her off her hooves and back into its seat.

Hooves on table, Keen Eye glared intensely at the pegasus across from him, his patience fully expired.

"First off, don't you ever tell me how to do my job.” He started, glaring eyes narrowed at her. “Second, do you have anyidea what happens to an abducted filly? Do any of you bright-eyed naive backwater ponies here in Ponyville even know what kind of sickos are out there in the rest of the world!?”

Rainbow's eyes fell to the ground, her look of anger still plastered to her face, but ultimately silent.

“You might be a self-obsessed hot-head but I don't think you're one of those monsters.” Keen Eye continued. “However, that does not give you a pass! Your home will be searched just like every other suspect in this investigation. That's right, I said suspect.”

Rainbow's chest seized up, uncertainty reigning and words continuing to fail her.

“And don't you dare talk to me about wasting time!” Keen ranted angrily, his tone continuing to escalate. “You may very well be innocent, but I swear to the sun and the moon if you force me to waste any more time here with you while Scootaloo is out there being subjected to Celestia knows what at the hoof of some sick bastard then as far as I'm concerned, you've only helped kill her!"

Rainbow Dash glared back at the guardstallion as he completed his tirade. Her wings still flared, tail still swishing violently.

"Fine." She muttered between grit teeth before standing and trotting angrily toward the exit. "Do it! Search it! Do whatever you want! I'm outta here!"

"And where are you going?" Keen called out, thoroughly agitated, but Rainbow did not respond.

Outside the tent with the morning sun just above the horizon, Rainbow spread her wings and erupted forth from the ground in a flash of color, the fabric of the tents flapping violently as she soared into the air and off to the south.

Cold air washed through her mane and fur as she quickly passed over the rooftops of the Ponyville's tallest structures and continued to gain altitude, flapping her wings with aggravation. Her guts continued to twist with anxiety as the implications of Keen Eye's words settled in. The rainbow mare closed her eyes and tried to push the image of Scootaloo tied up in some psychopath's basement out of her mind.

It wasn't possible.

It was something else.

Her mind was recounting a montage of interactions with other ponies from the last few days, trying desperately to pin some action taken or phrase spoken as suspicious, but nothing materialized.

Nothing except—

-----

"I don't want to die."

"I don't want to kill."

"Why is this happening?"

"Where are you?"

-----

"I'm sorry Rainbow." Twilight Sparkle said from her seat at her study desk. "There really isn't anything I can do to overturn the lieutenant's decisions."

Twilight levitated a series of cartographic tools over huge map of Ponyville and the surrounding area set in the middle of the bottom floor of the unicorn mare's library home. A veritable spaghetti platter of intersecting lines drawn in marked out the dozens and dozens of search routes patrolled over the last few days.

"Sure there is! Can't you get a message to Celestia?" Rainbow asked, frustration and venom boiling in her tone. "How about telling her that her royal guard is a royal joke!"

"How can you say that?" Twilight asked, starting to get upset. "Those guards have been working hard just like everypony else. They are Canterlot's finest and I'm grateful for their assistance. You should be too!"

"If they're so fine then where's Scootaloo?" Rainbow asked sardonically. "They aren't gonna find her by searching fewer places."

Rainbow blew a brief razz, punctuating her contempt as she began to idly hover about the room. Twilight raised a brow before her pegasus friend continued. Riling further, Rainbow's tone rolled with some strange momentum.

"They should have let us go into the forest from the start.” Dash said, audibly graphing the entire thing out in her mind. “Yeah. You. Me. Maybe Applejack. I bet the three of us could handle anything that stupid forest threw at us!"

"Why are you so convinced that Scootaloo's in the forest?" Twilight asked, trying to penetrate the heat of pegasus bravado emanating from her friend. "Nopony even saw her near there the day she went missing. "

"Do you honestly believe Keen Eye's explanation is more likely? That some sicko pony has foalnapped her?" Rainbow replied as she landed, deflecting the question far too obviously for Twilight not to notice. "You might not have lived here as long as I have Twilight but you know there's nopony in Ponyville who would do something like that."

Twilight looked away, distraught

“I don't know, Rainbow." Twilight said grimly as she pulled out a bound newspaper periodical and floated it in front of Rainbow. "Ever since Keen Eye told me about his theory, I've been reading up on case reports of similar crimes. Ponies that commit these monstrous acts aren't always so easy to pick out in a crowd."

From the Manehattan Herald, dated eighteen years ago, the darkly simple headline read in a bold font like a punch to the stomach.

FAIR WEATHER CONVICTED OF SON'S MURDER

Dash cringed and felt the blood rush out of her head, but found herself unable to resist scanned over the article with morbid curiosity. The front page went on to explain in detail how Fair Weather was a fine upstanding citizen, a member of the Manehatten city council with a bright future, and how nopony in the community imagined he could do such a beastly thing. Then were the police statements outlining the details of how failing divorce negotiations over custody of his son caused him to lose his mind.

He picked up his son from school, lead him out into an abandoned house on the east end where he locked him in a tiny box for two days. After the nightmarish imprisonment, Fair Weather strangling him and dumped his body into a reservoir on the outskirts of the city.

He was barely a colt.

He didn't even have his cutie mark.

"It's horrifying, but we can't ignore the possibility that something like this might be happening here." Twilight said, a present anxiety in her voice. "It might even be somepony we know."

Rainbow's heart started racing as she tore her eyes away from the gruesome article, they narrowed and she scowled at Twilight.

"Don't show me this garbage." Rainbow muttered scathingly as she knocked the paper out of Twilight's magical grip in disgust. It flapped to the floor, landing in a tangled heap. The unicorn was stunned.

"You know what!? I can't deal with you right now!" Twilight snapped angrily, trying and failing to keep herself levelheaded as she turned back to her map and began to magically race an ink-laden quill across it in hurried, emotional strokes. "I trust Princess Celestia's judgment and I trust Keen Eye. If you honestly care about what happens to Scootaloo then you need to trust him too! He is trying to make sure what happened in that newspaper doesn't happen again!"

"These are hard times for all of us, and you're only making them harder!" Twilight yelled, the floating quill snapped in Twilight’s overbearing magical grasp as she breathed heavily.

Rainbow fell silent, her heart twisting in her ribcage. She looked back over at the discarded article, specificity the photograph of the father in custody. He didn't look like a monster, eyes not full of sadness or shame, nor sadistic glee or some other insanity. He just looked tired. He looked empty. She almost envied with him.

It must feel great to feel absolutely nothing.

"I’m sorry." Twilight said after a deep breath, her voice calmer but still wavering in emotion. "I've just been working so hard these last few days. I've been helping Keen Eye and the guards organize the search effort ever since it began, but no matter what I do, no matter what plan I devise, I can't just find her!"

The was a long silence before the unicorn made one last admission.

"I'm so scared, Rainbow." Twilight said softly, tears dropping to the floor. "I don't know what's going on anymore, it just feel like everything has gone crazy."

Twilight looked over to see Dash still staring blank faced at the stallion's picture, completely spaced out. Her heart found a new, deeper depth to sink to as she inevitably felt ignored.

"Just go home." She muttered, crestfallen. “I have work to do.”

"I'm going into the Everfree forest." Rainbow announced, with an undaunted ring in her voice.

"Please don't." The unicorn plead morosely.

"I want you to come with me." Dash said, still undeterred.

"Stop it!" Twilight shouted, turning tear-eyed to her friend. "Please just—stop!"

Rainbow widened her eyes as her wings extended in surprise. She broke eye contact with Twilight instantly.

"What aren't you telling me Rainbow?!" Twilight begged desperately. "You have been acting really weird ever since Scootaloo went missing and I'm not the only one who's noticed! The guards have already come and questioned me about you several times."

Rainbow remained silent.

"You're a suspect, Rainbow! How do you think knowing that makes me feel?!" The unicorn mare shouted. "How am I suppose to vouch for you to the guards when you act like this and you won't even tell me what's wrong?!"

Dash looked toward the floor. She couldn't. She just couldn't.

"Why the Everfree forest, Rainbow!?" Twilight begged, her voice cracking as her her anxiety escalating exponentially. "Why are you so sure she's in there!? Why won't you tell me!?"

Rainbow Dash took a very long pause as she considered deeply, staring at the floor the whole time.

"Well?!" Twilight barked impatiently.

The pegasus frowned as she turned and left.

"It doesn't matter." Rainbow uttered, "This will all be over soon. I'm gonna find Scootaloo, and I'm gonna find her today."

And with that, Dash passed through the door and exited the library, no space for rebuttal from her friend as the door slammed harshly, Twilight wincing as the crash fell upon her eardrums like a cudgel. Turned back to her desk, weeping openly as she picked up a new quill and once more and tried desperately to continue her work, hoping to distract from the icy dread passing over her heart.

Outside, Rainbow Dash took the the air once more with a vigor born from that special kind of determination she only got when it felt like all odds were against her. She couldn't think about Twilight, devastated and alone in her library. Not right now. There was a little filly who needed her even more, and it looked like Rainbow Dash was the only one who could save her now.

Dash settled into a glide and veered towards the treeline of the forest.

-----

"Please come for me."

"I don't want to do it again."

"I want to go back."

"I don't want to be like this."

-----

So far it had only happened at night. It wasn't constant. It came and went every few hours, only lasting a few seconds each time. The first time Dash heard it was shortly after dusk on the second night of the search effort, she was on her way back to the royal guard command tents to report her lack of findings after a day of flying circles over the western grassland. The exhausted pony was startled but felt a brief and moment of joyful relief thinking she had found her right there in the streets, that she had somehow been in Ponyville the entire time, and she was nearby. Right around the corner, even!

She wasn't.

She was nowhere.

In one swoop that fleeting happiness became bewildered terror and pure unfettered helplessness.

Of course Rainbow questioned her sanity. Who wouldn't? The cries sounded so real. So desperate. So infinitely terrified. It started that night, and just kept going. Again and again she would hear her weep, scream for help, beg for Dash to come to her. It ground at her ears, her mind, and her heart like a millstone until sunrise, robbing her of what little sleep her constant searching gave her time to muster.

The cyan pegasus spent the following day in a surreal haze, terrified she was going mad and uncertain if she should tell anypony, silently praying to herself that the disembodied voice would never return, but as the sun went down the following evening the waking nightmare started all over again. However, this time mixed in with the pleas for salvation was a specific location.

The forest.

The forest.

The Everfree forest.

Again and again the Everfree forest.

Rainbow Dash knew. She didn't know how but she just knew. She wasn't going mad. Scootaloo was calling to her, begging Rainbow to come rescue her, and she was somewhere in the Everfree forest.

Who in all of Equestria would ever believe her? Her closest friends maybe, but Dash hardly believed it herself. Even still, she had nearly worked up the courage to tell her friends what was happening to her, hopefully to march into the woods alongside them all and come to Scootaloo's aid, but everything changed a few hours ago after her meeting with the lieutenant.

She was now under investigation for the abduction of the same filly she heard screaming in her head. Not just Keen Eye, but her own dear friend Twilight had a wary suspicion of her.

How then could she even consider telling them the truth? Dash had no doubt in her mind that she would be pegged insane on the spot, carted off to a psyche ward or imprisoned on suspicion of being involved in this increasingly unsettling disappearance.

There was no other way to proceed but alone.

Find Scootaloo, and it will all be over.

During the initial days of the search effort Keen Eye had stated that none of the Ponyville volunteers would enter the Everfree forest during search operations for safety reasons. It was a twisted labyrinth of flora and a pony untrained in navigation might very easily find themselves joining Scootaloo on the missing ponies list, not to mention the plethora of deadly creatures that call the dreadful place home. All of the forest search parties were made up entirely of royal guards, highly trained and heavily armed. Dash remembered rolling her eyes when she first heard this. She could handle herself inside there and was gung ho to search the forest even before the disembodied voice of Scootaloo hinted to her location. Keen however had, on top of safety concerns, a fairly rational objection to having pegasi searching Everfree. The thick canopy nullified the usefulness of their aerial vantage, and grounding them inside the forest was equally a waste compared to putting them where their eyes in the sky could be taken full advantage of.

Perhaps now it was misplaced paranoia but Rainbow Dash really didn't like the fact that the guards never allowed her or any of her friends to search inside the dark woods, even though they had all been inside the forest multiple times before and had even combated some of its creatures. This time the airborne mare wasn't going to take no for an answer, and the best way to do that would be to not ask the question at all.

The there were many royal guards in Ponyville, but it wasn't like Keen Eye had them standing watch over the forest to enforce his restriction. In the end, Dash didn't even need to sneak in. She cruised quickly out into the middle of the forest and fell upon the tangled brier of the canopy as she skillfully made her landing on the damp soil.

She began to wander, calling out Scootaloo's name sporadically into the trees with heightening tension. She didn't need to do this long before she admitted to herself that she had absolutely no plan and no idea where to start in the massive multi-hectare mess of a forest. Discouragement would have come next but the mare suddenly recognized the neck of the woods she had wandered into and within half an hour had come across a familiar sight.

A particularly large and ghoulish tree fashioned into an abode, adorned with a wide array of exotic tribal decorations. Rainbow Dash hadn't been to Zecora's home many times in the past, even with all of the eerie rumors surrounding her dispelled, Dash still found the zebra a bit creepy. That being said, there were few that knew the forest as intimately as her.

As always, a potent potpourri of odors came from the tree home, no doubt from the many concoctions being brewed inside. Rainbow's hoof rapped heavy on the hut's door and the zebra soon emerged to greet her, clearly having just woke up.

"Rainbow Dash? What could it be, that brings you this far out so early?" She spoke rhythmically, in her exotic accent.

"Uh— yeah. Good morning, Zecora." Rainbow said, trying to sound polite even as the wall of odors assaulted her nostrils as the door opened. "I know it's early but I really need to talk to you."

"Of course. Come in, if it pleases you." Zecora opened the door completely and beckoned her guest in. "I predict you inquire of poor Scootaloo?"

Rainbow nodded her head somberly as she trot into the lavishly decorated treehome. Like stepping into another world, the inside of Zacora's home was a vision of lands far from Equestian shores. Totems of unknowable deities and masks of twisted visage encircled the two. Bottles and flowers and berries and dishes of mysterious mush packed the shelves of every wall and seemed to bombard Rainbow Dash with their alien aromas.

"I'm looking for her here in the forest.” The pegasus confirmed. “I need you to tell me anything you can that might help me find her."

Zecora scratched her chin, taking a moment to consider.

"I can say to you what I told the guard, maybe you will hold my word in higher regard.” The zebra started, a hint of annoyance in her tone. “I have a theory of what fate befell her, but the guard ignored this foreigner."

Rainbow grit her teeth as she once again felt her blood boil at the failings of the royal guard, but she buried it quickly and tried to cut to the chase. She didn't want to be surrounded by the stifling smells any longer then she absolutely had to.

"Please tell me, Zecora." She encouraged. "This might be exactly what I need."

"I have felt something dark in the air a stir, though what it means, I can't be sure.” The zebra explained as she moved to one of the grimy windows of her abode, peering out into the endless foliage. “A chilling cold and great unease, there is something unnatural amidst the trees."

Rainbow quickly joined Zecora at the window, but wasn't entirely sure what she was looking at.

"Unrelated I thought, but as I feared." Zacora continued, "This terror came the night she disappeared."

"Do you have any idea what it is?" Dash asked impatiently, wanting information faster than the zebra's crafted stanzas revealed it.

Zecora turned and trained her eyes back onto the impetuous pegasus and shook her head.

"I sought the source but could not find where this evil was confined." Zacora admitted moved across the room quickly, apparently looking for something. "I think there may be magic at play, an illusion perhaps may bar the way."

"This might be my only lead.” Rainbow Dash spoke adamantly. “If there really is magic hiding something out there, how am I suppose to deal with it? I'm not exactly Twilight when it comes to stuff like this."

"Do not take me for a slouch." The resourceful zebra called out as she lifted up a small bag out from under one of her alchemy tables. "The key is here, within this pouch."

She carefully removed a corked vial containing a few ounces of some chunky liquid the horrid color and consistency of finely mashed wasps. She sloshed it around and observed its flow acutely.

"This brew helps the drinker pierce the veil, and see the world in true detail." She explained, smiling with pride.

"Whoa! Awesome!" Rainbow Dash swooped in, excitedly looking into the yellow and brown ooze. Her closer observation killed her enthusiasm instantly, she didn't like the prospect of consuming the disgusting looking stuff one bit.

"You need but ask and it is yours, but I lack a critical ingredient from my stores.” Zecora said as she lowered the vial and addressed her guest. “Some bottled mist is all I need to make this potion do its deed."

Rainbow's eyes lit up.

"Wait, bottled mist? I've got a bunch of that stuff back at my place! Oh, this is perfect!" She cried exuberantly, subconsciously hovering a foot off the floor as her energetic flapping elevated her. "I really need this potion, Zecora. How much do you want for it?"

"Take it then. I don't need your bits. If you have the mist, just add and mix.” Zecora said sternly as she passed the vial to Rainbow. “But please be careful. You must be wise. This brew may give you magic eyes, but some dark doors should stay closed, the places in left unexposed."

"I'm not giving up on Scootaloo, Zecora." Rainbow Dash pressed firmly, morale and determination surging like fire in her veins as she cradled the vial in her hooves. “I know she's out there. I just - know."

"My hope for her fades night by night. Perhaps you, Dash, can make things right." Zacora posited, her lips falling into a warning frown. "But dark doors lead to darker places, darker worlds with darker faces. You seem intent to pass through those doors. I pray you succeed, for her sake and for yours."

Rainbow nodded as the zebra's grim words fell upon her ears. She looked upon the vial in her hooves half-lidded, her mind a mix with thoughts of a young pegasus, peach-colored and purple-maned, lost to the world she knew.

"Scootaloo." Rainbow Dash murmured.

"What in Equestria has happened to you?"

-----

The sun was at its highest in the sky now, hiding behind several dense clouds. Normally it would have been Rainbow Dash's job to clear them, but she and much of the Ponyville weather team had volunteered for the search effort, leaving the few remaining pegasi woefully understaffed for their duties. Rainbow was flying much faster than she normally would, her inner flame alight with renewed vigor. Just one stop at her house, then back to the forest. She knew it was almost over, she was gonna find Scootaloo and then everything would go back to normal.

Finally.

Her voice.

It would finally leave her alone.

The screams for help.

The sobbing.

Ringing in her ears from nowhere.

Gone.

Her home appeared in the distance. In a remote corner of Ponyville, nestled in a valley to shield it from the wind, the Rainbow's cloudhome came into view, floating a good fifty feet from the ground. She realized she hadn't been back home since this whole mess started, not even to sleep.

When the royal guards first arrived three nights ago the brash mare was first to make the bold and slightly cliché claim that she would not rest until Scootaloo was located. However, as the hours turned into days, reality and especially fatigue, settled in. Not wanting to fly all the way back to her house, what scant minutes of rest Rainbow Dash got over the last few nights had been atop any cloud she could muster together out over the fields she was assigned to search. Dash had slept on clouds outside plenty of times before, it was one of the little benefits that came with being a pegasus, but of course by the second night these precious attempts at respite were ruined by the haunting cries of Scootaloo's voice.

Dash flapped energetically up to her front door, Zecora's potion in hoof, and passed through into her foyer. Dash lived in Ponyville but was a Cloudsdale mare at heart, and her aerial abode reflected it with the clouds shaped and condensed into the pillars and arches akin to the ancient pegasi architecture of her home city. She slammed the door closed and latched it shut before she rushed to her pantry, hoping she wasn't mistaken about her bottled mist. She growled in frustration as she pushed her forelimbs through a disorganized array of jars and bottles, scanning them all before her eyes lit up. She hovered slightly and reached into the highest shelf and pulled out the jar from the very back. Carefully lifting it down. The bottled mist swirled slowly in the jar from the disturbance before settling again. Rainbow wasted no time.

With the mist under one foreleg and the incomplete alchemy mixture under the other, Dash flapped into her kitchen to make her very first potion. She placed her ingredients on the counter and pulled down a metal mixing bowl from the cabinet above. She briefly gazed into its reflective surface as she held it.

Right there on the floor behind her.

She might have missed had it not stood out in the rounded mirror of the bowl's stainless steel.

She gasped a harsh intake of breath, dropped the bowl, and whipped around towards the other doorway into the kitchen. Metal clattered loudly on the counter before flipping upside down onto the floor.

She felt blood rush to her head and her pulse quicken as she lay her eyes upon a single feather resting on the floor slightly outside the other doorway, barely in view.

A peach-orange pegasus feather.

Far too small to be an adults.

A single plume the same color as Scootaloo.

Dash approached it quickly. Before she even got close enough to pick the thing up she saw another over by the base of the stairwell up to the second floor. She picked the first feather up and examined it before quickly going and grabbing the second as well.

"S-scootaloo?" Dash called out up the stairwell, stammering in anxious bewilderment.

Her mind raced for an explanation. She ascended the stairs slowly as her pulse continued to accelerate and a chill rushed down her spine.

She called out the filly's name a second time as she reached to top, still nothing.

There lay two more feathers, one right at the top of the stairs and the other down the hall and resting in front of the doorway into Rainbow's bedroom. The door was open, and she approached it with swift urgency.

She rounded the corner.

She had no idea what to expect would be inside but never in her most twisted dream would she have imagined it would be this.

Dash took in a long and horrified gasp as her eyes passed over the back wall of her bedroom.

Under my wing... Under my wing... Under my wing... Under my wing...Under my wing...

All across the the wall the singular phrase was scrawled in red.

Over and over in messy text at various angles and sizes.

It was blood, Rainbow could smell it.

The sun broke in from the room's single window and illuminated the disturbing scene in more detail. The deranged message was plastered over top dozens and dozens of photographs, each one of the missing filly. Rainbow stared, completely aghast.

Scootaloo riding her scooter.

Scootaloo alone in a field.

Scootaloo at home working on schoolwork.

Scootaloo sleeping in her bed.

Scootaloo using the bathroom.

Scootaloo masturbating.

Dash grunted out in horror as her stomach violently wrenched in repulsion and looked away, trying in futility to unsee the last few images her eyes had darted across while examining the nightmare collage.

Her chest heaved quickly as she began to perspire, her legs trembling under her body. Some pictures were circled, others crossed out, but all of them very clearly displaying a young filly who did not know that her life was being captured.

Laying underneath it all, on top of the horrified mare's own pillow lay the wicked centerpiece to the terrible arrangement, a half dozen more peach-colored feathers, soaked in crimson, laying in a saucer of blood.

She stared into the red fluid as she began to hyperventilate, completely overcome.

It was a firm knock, but to Rainbow it sounded like explosions. She yelped as the rapping on her front door sent her instinctively airborne in fright.

"This is the Canterlot Royal Guard! We've been ordered to search this residence!" A loud and authoritative male voice bellowed from outside. "You will co-operate!"

The slithering tendrils of complete panic began to spawn in her veins and ravage her body.

There was no reason, no logic, no plan.

She rushed to her wall and began to tear the pictures down, trying desperately to collect them—hide them—do something—anything!

They fell to the floor faster than her trembling hooves could gather them.

The knocks become a pounding at the door, escalating in volume and intensity like the hoof steps of a pursuer.

"We saw you enter your home, Miss Dash. We know you're inside." The voice called again, agitated. "Open the door at once!"

Rainbow clenched her jaw so hard she could feel her entire face seizing up.

Each horrified, panic-ridden breath sucked harshly through her teeth as she hovered over her bed.

It was no use. There was too much. Not enough time.

At some point in her sheer panic she'd knocked the saucer off her bed, and the blood was seeping across the floor.

She had only a quarter of the photos in her hooves and she didn't even know what to do with them.

The rest of the photos were scattered about the room, too many to count. Her vision tunneling.

Suddenly the air refused to pass through her teeth, she couldn't breath.

For the third time the explosions at her front door made her flinch in panic. Rainbow threw the pictures to the ground and hurried to the window, grunting harshly as she pushed the heavy thing open. She looked out to the Everfree Forest in the distance and readied herself for a high speed take off.

She let out another panicked cry as she quickly turned around and galloped through her halls and stairwell back into her kitchen to retrieve Zecora's potion and the bottled mist from her counter top. With frantic speed she slipping them into her nearby saddle bag and threw it across her back.

What happened next was no knock.

Dash saw the entire door shift from the kitchen as it was slammed by an immense weight.

She rushed back up to her room in full gallop and dove headlong out the opening into free fall, extending her wings just as she cleared the window frame and exploding into acceleration.

She wasn't called the fastest in Ponyville for nothing.

By the time the royal guards had kicked in the door she was already long gone, her prismatic trail streaking briefly in her wake as she vanished into the distance.

Comments

[WannaBeDark]

Allow me to be the first to comment! You are my new best friend! Not sure if the first person to write World of Darkness or first to find, but SUPER YAY!

Are you going to cover the Kindred? The Awakening? Sin Eaters? OR ALL OF THEM!?!

Are you going full-awesome and include all sub-speices as well? (Kindred: 5 clans; Mage: 5 Paths etc.)

[WannaBeDark]

Commanding officers gave their orders to their subordinates, and they intern (while the Interns) organized the volunteers, (.) but as (As) the sun began to rise on the morning of day three, exhaustion was clear and heavy in the air and in the eyes of everypony. Grim mummers (murmurs) of fading hope for young Scootaloo slithered between ears and spirits began to dampen in the cold morning dew.

Across from her, on the other side of a fold-out desk covered in scrawled notes and reports sat Lieutenant Keen Eye, (. An) an ash grey unicorn clad in his armored uniform, the ranking officer commanding all the guards assigned to Ponyville.

Absolutely NOT! You're wasting your time and your wasting mine! (remove) Scoot is still out there and you're gonna sit there at your desk, messing around with papers, calling her a victim like she's already gone, and point your hoof at me!?

This brew helps the drinker piece (pierce) the vial, and see the world in true detail."

The story’s pacing is magnificent! A little fast but not too much, grabs attention and holds it there. The “intervals” are quite thought provoking, I for one enjoy it. Hope you pull it off to a conclusion point. The feelings are genuine, they speak their minds and argue realistically, referring to the spat between Rainbow & Twilight.

Your wording is well placed and not out of context. I’m not an expert in sentence construction but you managed to shorten the sentences later in the chapter. You carry ideas or meaning more effective now. I’m excitingly hanging on to every word! The suspense is killing me, even now that I’m done reading it. Hope you update soon. Magnificent job on the plot so far, even if it’s only for an Introdution.

You have my Fav, Follow & thumbs up. Plus some grammar stuff and complements!

[Timbre Tone]

3940374
Thanks so much for the interest in this, and thanks for taking the time to point out some of my less then stellar editing. Unfortunately I don't really have many acquaintances who would be willing to proofread for me, so I'm stuck for now relying on the kindness of strangers for that.

I'm planning for this to be a decently long running series, with "The Embrace" maybe even being but the first in a number of stories all focusing on the mane 6's decent into different aspects of the World of Darkness. There is so much content in WoD to work with that I have no doubt I could keep generating ideas on how it could interestingly interact with the world of MLP. That being said I'm going to take it slow at the start, and handle WoD tropes that are more accessible to non-WoD fans at first instead of driving into to all the crazy all at once.

That being said, any World of Darkness player worth their salt should be able to guess what direction this particular story is going by its title, but don't give it away for anyone who doesn't know!

[Starlight Nova]

Any reason why this doesn't have an adventure tag?

[Timbre Tone]

3941353
I suppose it's mainly because of my interpretation of the word adventure not really fitting with this story, if they had a Mystery tag I would definitely give this story that.

[Starlight Nova]

"You said you would always be there for me."
"Well... I need you now."
"I don't know what's happening to me!"
"I'm so scared."
-----
"The forest... I'm in the Everfree forest!"

Are we not suppose to know who's talking here?

[Starlight Nova]

3941162 A proofreader? I'll do it.

[Timbre Tone]

3941685
Right at the beginning, no you don't know. Though those asides are eventually explained, I promise you.

As for proofreading, if you are interested in doing so, feel free to PM any technical errors you come across to me. I'd like to try and keep the drier discussion of spelling and grammar in PMs and not in story's comment section. Any assistance you can render is very much appreciated!

[Starlight Nova]

3941837 ...Why can't you just use google docs?

[Timbre Tone]

3941892

I have absolutely no experience using Google docs, but from the sounds of it, I should find the time to learn how it works if it makes proofreading easier for others to do.

[Starlight Nova]

3941978 Ask The Albinocorn for help.

[Starlight Nova]

Have you ever considered submitting this story to Equestria Daily? You can find out how to do so here.

[Starlight Nova]

So how soon until the next chapter comes out?

[Timbre Tone]

3944604
I'll take a look at Google docs myself. Thanks for the recommendation but I'm sure I can make head or tails of it if I just take the time to learn it.

As for EQD, I was considering it, but at this point I want to have more of the story completed before I vie for more exposure.

And as for part 2, I've been working on it pretty sporadically over the last few days, mainly because the only time I have to really sit down and sink my teeth into it is the weekend. Thankfully it's Friday today and the decently positive reception this has received so far has given me a little shot of motivation to keep at it.

[SweetPeachTea]

I'm trying to put money in the disc tray of my laptop. Is it working? * shoveshove * Are you getting it?

[Timbre Tone]

3948743

Haha! Thank you for trying, but if you really want to do something nice for me then all you have to do is pass this story on to anyone you think would enjoy it! :D

[One Lucky Gamer]

I am loving this story so far, keep it up. Defiantly deserves more views and ratings then it has.

[Timbre Tone]

3961744

Thanks so much!

Glad you enjoyed it, I'm trying to push myself to get the next part out before the end of February. Gotta make goals for yourself!

[Starlight Nova]

Just so you know, it's spelled Zecora, not Zacora.

[Cakebomb]

Scootaloo masturbating.

....What kind of sick piece of fuck kidnapped Scootalo?
(Seeing as this is in the Vampire folder of Supernatural Creatures, it should be obvious when coupled with the blood everywhere....)

[Starlight Nova]

She was nowhere

You forgot to put a period at the end. And I thought this took place after Twilight became an alicorn?

[Timbre Tone]

4390888
Fixed! Thank you!

Also, canonically, this story takes places an unspecified time during season 3 of my little pony, that means good old fashioned unicorn Twilight Sparkle.

[WannaBeDark]

Hi Buddy ol' Pal!

I started reading and 2 things came to mind, which parts are new & what the 4 lines mean if read in horizontal order. Every 1st line in sequence, then the 2nd, till the 4th. Decided to make a challenge of it and here's what I've come up with:

New
1. The part of AJ & Apple Bloom falling asleep.
2. The chair scooping Rainbow when Keen Eye lost it.
3. Under my wing phrase.
4. Masturbating... obviously...
5. Photo's definitely!

Riddles
1. You said you would always be there for me. I can't escape. I don't want to die. Please come for me.
2. I need you now. I can't resist. I don't want to kill. I don't want to do it again.
3. I don't know what's happening to me! Help me! Why is this happening? I want to go back.
4. I'm so scared. I just want to see your face again. Where are you? I don't want to be like this.

Now my first clue is that line 1 reveals about Scootaloo being trapped by the Deava. Line 2 revals bout Applebloom being attacked and the remorse she should feel but are unable to. Line 3 bridges the frustration and anxiety. Lastly line 4 was when Rainbow found the Kindred and died in the process. SCootaloo rejecting the reality and denying her circumstance. Desperately wanting to see Rainbow alive and well, but seeking help for herself as well. Alone and terrifying.

Yeah just me rolling of my high roller this time. Was fun though. Do point out where I was right or wrong on the new pieces, or what I missed. If that's okay with you that is...

Anyhow, awesome reading!