The Basement

by D5ky

Death

“Extra! Extra! Read all about it!”

Spontaneous Thief Strikes Again!

Canterlot- Late last night, a priceless object was stolen from the home of the Canterlot noble, Heavenly Cross. The object that was stolen happened to be a highly valued treasure, a perfect diamond worth 150 karats, one of the largest gems in Equestria’s history. The identity of the thief is unclear, but the Royal Solar Guard has suspected that this was the work of the quickly rising thief, known as the Silent Snatch.

The Silent Snatch has become notorious over the past month with constant burglaries in the same amount of time. His fame as a thief has grown extraordinarily fast across Equestria because of his abilities in stealth and speed. The Silent Snatch has never left a single trace of himself after each theft, save for his signature calling card, a tiny note for investigators that usually entail the words, ‘Find me at the end’.

Law Enforcement has been baffled time and time again by this thief by his ability to sneak into tightly secured locations without a trace, and also by his travel speed between scenes of his crimes. It has been reported that two weeks ago, The SS (Silent Snatch) stole 10,000 bits worth of gold from the Equestrian Banking Reserve located in Las Pegasus. The very next day, he was reported to have stolen a priceless gem hidden inside a high security vault located in Manehatten, the direct opposite side of Equestria from Las Pegasus.

The Silent Snatch has earned his rank as Equestria’s #1 Most Wanted. The Royal Solar and Lunar Guards have asked that if anyone has information concerning this thief, please report it so they may bring this criminal to justice…

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

You have undoubtedly heard about the rising activity of thievery across Equestria, all done by the notorious Silent Snatch. As of now, all of his targets have been located in every city and town of Equestria, save for one location: Ponyville.

The Solar Guard believes that he hasn’t stolen from Ponyville yet, because he does not want attention drawn to that area. So, we are guessing his base of operations is located somewhere around the town.

Already, a squadron of Solar Guards is on its way to Ponyville to comb the area. But to make sure he doesn’t skip town at the first sign of the guards, I would like you to quickly check mine and Luna’s old castle in the Everfree. If anything, The Silent Snatch is hiding out there. Your only task is to see if The Silent Snatch is there. If you find him, do not engage him until the squadron arrives from Canterlot.

You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. I am simply asking you to do this as a favor.

Your friend,

Princess Celestia.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________Princess Twilight Sparkle trotted through the murky depths of the Everfree Forest, her hooves crushing wild, green vegetation as she made her way towards the castle of the royal pony sisters. As she walked, Twilight glanced through the trees around her precariously. She had been into the forest before; almost everypony knew that. But something else made this trip even more wary than her other ventures into the Everfree.

Twilight guessed that it came with the prospect of a possible encounter with a criminal, and not just any criminal either. There was a chance that The Silent Snatch, Equestria's most wanted criminal, was hidden in these woods.

"That's only a possibility, Twilight." The purple alicorn reminded herself after giving a nervous shudder at the thought. Shaking her head, she took a deep breath to calm herself, "Princess Celestia only said there was a chance he was hidden here. That doesn't mean the Silent Snatch is actually here in the Everfee, right?"

But then again, when was the last time Celestia turned out to be wrong? her subconscious chimed, causing her to chuckle nervously.

Glancing around at the forest uncertainly, with the dark shadows Twilight found herself wishing she could just use her wings to fly to the castle. But she had already decided it'd be better for her to walk through the forest, so she'd have a better chance of reaching the castle undetected. That is, if The Silent Snatch was actually hidden there.

Twilight shook her head again, snapping herself out of her thoughts, "Ugh, I can't be getting scared now. I'm doing Princess Celestia a favor, and worrying about every little thing isn't going to help. I just need to get to the castle, do a quick search through it, and then fly back to Ponyville and write to the Princess about-"

*tish* *tish*

A sudden rustle from a nearby bush made Twilight freeze in place. She quickly turned towards the sound and slowly stepped away from the plant, "Wh-who's there?"

Nothing responded. Twilight then realized that whatever had caused the bush to rustle must have left. But just to make sure, she tentatively approached the bush and peered over it. "Hello?"

But as she over it, she didn't see anything. No pony, no animal, but there was one thing that she did notice. She found herself looking at a small clearing between the trees, devoid of vegetation. And in the middle of the clearing was a hole, a perfectly circular hole in the ground, about three feet long in diameter.

Curious, Twilight gingerly trotted through the bushes for a closer look. As she did, she made sure to check if anyone else was around, because one could never be too careful in the Everfree.

As soon as Twilight reached a few hooves difference away from the hole, she craned her neck over and peered into the depths of it. But even as she looked, the bottom of the hole wasn't even visible, with only a shroud of darkness covering the length of its depths.

"Hm, strange... I wonder why a hole this deep would be way out here." Twilight tapped a hoof to her chin, "Hm... Something tells me this wasn't made naturally. The shape of it is a perfect circle, which really should be impossible to make."

The curious alicorn pondered over the hole, completely sidetracked by this mysterious thing. But as soon as she realized she had been sidetracked, she quickly backed away from the hole. As much she wanted to learn more about this strange phenomenon (If a hole in the ground could even be called this), she knew she still had a favor to complete for Princess Celestia. Nodding to herself, she decided she'd come back to investigate it after she checked the castle for The Silent Snatch.

"I'd better get going." Twilight muttered as she turned away from the hole. But as she did, she walked face first into something, which felt hard and wooden.

"Ow," Twilight winced, rubbing her snout, "What's... this?!" Her eyes instantly widened when she found herself looking into a pair of bright yellow, pupil-less eyes. What she had run into had been wooden, but more specifically, it had been a snout.

"AGH! TIMBERWOLF!" Twilight instantly backpeddled away from the giant, wooden predator, gasping as her heart rate accelerated by a hundred beats per minute.

The Timberwolf suddenly pounced at her, claws and teeth outstretched. Flaring her wings open, Twilight propelled herself backwards, just out of range of the monster's leap. Or so she thought. As the wolf landed a few inches away from her, one of its arms lashed out and its claw struck Twilight's left wing.

"GAH!" Twilight yelped in pain as the timberwolf's claw ripped through feathers and flesh. The strike knocked Twilight off balance, sending her careening to the ground. She landed only a few feet away from the timberwolf, and on the other side of the mysterious hole in the ground.

Hoping that the hole would provide a small obstacle for her attacker, Twilight glanced towards her injured wing to check the damage. Her wing had three, bleeding claw marks running through it, and broken or disheveled feathers surrounded the wound. Just moving it slightly would cause her to cry out in immense pain. Her wing definitely wasn't flight-worthy anymore, which meant she was partially crippled and being hunted by a predator; not a good combination.

Twilight quickly whirled around to face the Timberwolf, only to find the wooden beast upon her again. The wolf slashed at her with its bloodstained claws, but Twilight leaped out of the way just in time. However, Twilight winced again as she felt another jolt of pain run from her wing from the maneuver.

But out of the corner of her eye, Twilight spotted the timberwolf advancing on her. She quickly turned, lighting her horn in preparation to use a teleportation spell to get away, but the wolf was too quick. The wooden beast charged at the alicorn, ramming her straight on with the bulk of its body.

Twilight winced as she felt the equivalent of being hit by a truck. The blow sent her reeling back, but it barely lasted a second before-

Twilight screamed out in pain as she felt dozens of thorns covering the wolf's body stabbed into her flesh as it 'piledrived' her. Several trails of blood leaked out from the wooden thorns, causing her purple fur to grow crimson in color. The timberwolf jerked its head once, tossing Twilight to the side in a single motion. The alicorn landed hard on the ground, causing her to yelp again as she landed on her injured wing, causing more damage to it.

Trying to shake off the pain, Twilight looked back towards the timberwolf with teary eyes, her vision blurred and tunnel-visioned as adrenaline rushed through her body. But as quickly as before, the wolf pounced onto the fallen princess.

When it landed, Twilight screamed as she felt an excruciating pain from her torso as the wolf's claws stabbed into that area. Whimpering and hyperventilating, Twilight looked up to see the timberwolf open its giant maw as it readied to crush its prey's throat in a single bite.

With a scream, Twilight fumbled in desperation, and she kicked her back legs at her attacker in an attempt to kick the wolf off. As her back hooves connected with wood, Twilight was greeted with success as the wolf was kicked back off of her. But as the wolf reeled back from the retaliation, its claws that had stabbed into Twilight's midsection ripped downwards down the length of her body, making Twilight scream again.

Twilight panted, trying to catch her breath, but all that came out were ragged gasps. She wheezed as her head pounded with rushing blood, but the rest of her body screamed with pain; Immense, excruciating pain. Twilight fumbled with her legs as she tried to stand up on her hooves, only for her body to slump back down as her legs' strength gave out. Wincing, she glanced downwards at her torso, only to see a bloody mess covering it. But she noticed one particularly deep gash in her chest, right over... her... heart...

No... Twilight gasped in weary shock, It... Punctured my heart... I... Need help... Before I lose too much blood... Must get back... to Ponyville. Already, her vision began to dot with black spots, which meant unconsciousness would be soon to follow.

She lit her horn in an attempt to teleport back to ponyville, but Twilight found her mind racing too much. She couldn't focus enough to cast the spell, and her horn's glow died.

Twilight whimpered again. If she couldn't get back to town, she would surely die. She had to run for town now if she wanted to survive!

Come on! Get up! She screamed at herself, struggling yet again to stand up. But just as she managed to get her hooves underneath herself, she heard the falls of wooden paws behind her. The timberwolf was back.

No! I-I... I need... to get... away! Twilight pushed herself back up to a standing position, and in preparation to run from the beast behind her, she took a step forward... And her hoof never met ground.

Her whole body fell forward after her hoof. Crying out in weak shock, Twilight expected herself to land on the grassy floor of the forest again, but it never came.

Looking around herself, Twilight saw only darkness. She was falling... and falling... and falling. When she glanced up, she spotted the light of day above her, in a three foot circular hole.

Realization came to her... She had fallen down the mysterious hole. The hole that didn't look like it ever ended at the bottom.

She had fallen into a hole... And she had no way to get out, even if she did survive the blunt force of hitting the bottom of it.

Twilight closed her eyes, letting the tears in them flow out and up through the air above her as air resistance took hold of the tiny drops. There was no way out of here now. No wings, no magic, covered in major injuries, and falling down a hole where no one would ever find her body...

She was as good as dead.

Twilight let out a small sob as she let her body grow limp in the racing wind around her. She had failed during a task from Princess Celestia... She had gone without telling her friends... How would they react when she never returned?

As the thoughts of doom and depression flooded her mind, so did the darkness in her vision. And very soon, that's all she could sense as the oblivious feeling of unconsciousness overtook her.

She felt nothing.

Only death.

Author's Note:

Hey, guys, Shadowflame here! How's that for the start of a story?
Feel free to point out any mistakes or improvements I can make on the chapter in the comments below.

In case you guys haven't figured it out yet, but this is a collaborative story between myself and Darkened5ky, though of course it's posted as Sky's story (for reasons Sky may or may not reveal in the future).

In any case, this is going to be fun, because I haven't done anything like this, and working with another author on a story in a puzzle piece fashion will definitely be an adventure.

Anyways, that's enough of my ramblings.
I'll catch you guys later, after you read Sky's chapter.
(Swivels in chair, away from computer) "Alright, dude! They're all yours!"

Hope you guys enjoy this very interesting story, though the first chapter might hinder that interesting-ness.
Thanks for reading,
-Shadowflame

Comments

[uhhh]

This is a lot better than what I was expecting. I'd like to keep reading this.

[hillbilly_andy]

i really like this. awsome job!! wish i could write half as good as you. keep up the awsome work!!