Slender Mane

by 2tailedpony

Chapter 5: Missing

Twilight could hear Slender Mane's hooves beating against the ground behind her. She didn't dare turn to look. Her mind was so clouded with fear that all she could think of doing was getting away. She ran blindly, randomly changing directions in an attempt to throw her hunter off. She was completely lost, but this fact didn't occur to her. As long as she didn't let Slender Mane reach her she didn't care. She was so distracted as a matter of fact, that she hardly noticed when she jumped over a root directly off a cliff.
The sensation of air rushing past her was the first thing that caught her attention. As she looked around she realized what was happening, but had no time to react. With something between a plop and a thud, she landed in a thick bog below.
"AAAAAAAUGH!" she screamed as the air was knocked out of her. She had landed on her side, sending the brunt of the force through her broken shoulder. She writhed in blind agony for several seconds, causing her to get sucked further down into the mud before it finally diminished enough for her to see again. Now she realized her dire situation. The mud surrounding her was almost like quicksand. In her flailing she had sunk so far that over half her body was submersed in it. There was no solid ground near enough for her to reach. She attempted to pull one of her legs out, but as she did something gave way beneath her, and she sunk up to her neck.
"Help!" she yelled, looking back up to the edge of the cliff. No one answered. For a moment she saw Slender Mane peer over the edge, then he was gone again.
Twilight's mind raced in a desperate attempt to find some way to escape. There was nothing around to help her. None of her friends would save her this time. As she tried to go through every possible scenario in her mind, her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a loud ringing in her ears. Twilight snapped to attention. She looked around frantically, and soon caught sight of the pony she feared so intensely as he slogged through the thick mud toward her. His legs were sunk so far down into it that he almost looked like a normal pony walking across the surface.
"No! Stay away!" she yelled, "Don't do this! Why are you doing this?!" despite her cries, he continued to slowly walk toward her. In a few minutes he had reached her. The ringing became deafening as he leaned down, positioning his face only a few inches from hers.
"Ple-e-ease!" Twilight sobbed, looking for any sign of compassion in his featureless face. She found none as he raised a muddy hoof and pressed it hard against the tip of her horn, shoving her deeper into the mud. Twilight's eyes rolled back in her head as the terrifying thoughts forced their way in.
The time that Twilight spent in the Everfree Forest then was the worst experience of her life. After the first few hours she couldn't even scream.

~~~~~~~~~~

It wasn't until three days later that the royal guard found Twilight in the Everfree Forest. She was severely dehydrated. Her eyes were half open and unresponsive. Tendrils of dried blood snaked out of her mouth in all directions. Upon returning to Canterlot the doctors had said they'd never seen anything like it. The damage to her shoulder seemed to be self inflicted, and was so severe that they thought they might need to amputate the entire limb. She had shredded her vocal cords to pieces from screaming, but none one could explain why. Her brain didn't seem to have suffered any severe damage beyond that of a minor concussion from the fall, but she had nonetheless completely withdrawn into herself. Not even Celestia seemed to be able to reach her.
Reports from Ponyville were of no help either. Ponies were saying that she had murdered Fluttershy, even though she was still alive. A fire had started in the Everfree Forest at about the same time Twilight disappeared from town in the home of a zebra named Zecora, but when they searched her house there was nothing but ashes. No sign that somepony had ever lived there could be found. What was even more frustrating is that there were no witnesses to any of the supposed reports. Other than the bloody scene in Fluttershy's cottage proving that somepony had attacked her, there was no other lead.
Now the two residents of Ponyville were lying in the Canterlot hospital, attached to all sorts of magical devices. Twilight's heartbeat was higher than normal, but not dangerously so. Her other monitor showed normal brain function, but her eyes always seemed to be looking far away. She would occasionally twitch or make some small sound, but the doctors had said they were just reflexes. What worried them the most was when she would start crying. That shouldn't be happening.
Fluttershy's heart monitor on the other hoof showed a dangerously low level of activity. She had lost almost half her blood by the time she had arrived. No one knew how she had managed to fly the whole way. Whoever had attacked her had been relentless. Her skull was smashed on one side, and she had lost an eye. She had several broken ribs, her lung was punctured, and several of her vertebrae were cracked. On all accounts she should have died long ago, but she was holding on. Now she slept more peacefully than it seemed possible for somepony in her condition.
Celestia looked from one to the other, not knowing what evil force had entered her land and caused this abomination. As she stood there her sister silently walked up beside her.
"The sun needs to rise soon. Have you slept at all?"
"How could I when I let something like this happen? Twilight trusted me. I should have been able to keep her safe," replied Celestia, a golden tear falling from her eye.
"Don't blame yourself for this sister. We will find out what happened. Both your guards and mine are searching for an explanation; for a way to fix things. They are brave and diligent, and they work so hard so that their Princesses can continue to perform their duties uninterrupted. Please sister, even a few hours will be good for you."
Celestia's eyes continued to show the same amount of distress as before, but the rest of her expression softened, "You're right Luna. I'll try to get some rest, but if anything happens while I'm absent, inform me immediately, no matter what. I won't have Twilight thinking that I have any priorities more important than her."
"Of course sister. I promise."
Celestia gave her sister a loving hug before hesitantly turning and exiting the hospital room. Luna followed her out, turning off the lights and quietly closing the door behind her. For several hours the only sound in the stillness of the room were the faint beeps of medical equipment, then suddenly somepony began to speak.
"FfffffluuuUuuuutterSshyyyy..." the voice hissed. The sound of it was so unnerving that Fluttershy jolted awake, the beeping of her heart monitor reflecting her surprise.
"W-who's there?" she asked.
"WwwhyyyYY are littlllle fiiilliie's afffrrrraiiiid of the daarrrk?"
Fluttershy looked over at Twilight. She was still staring blankly ahead. Nothing had changed other than the strange rasping words that seemed to be hissing out from some hollow place deep within her. As Fluttershy watched, she began to crawl out of bed. She dragged her body off of the edge and fell to the floor. Her arm, which was still connected to a support, wrenched her shoulder out of place, but if she felt any pain she didn't display it. As she slowly got to her feet her head hung limply to the side.
"It'ssSS becaussse tthey know thaaaaat I can fiiiiind them in the daaaark."
Fluttershy whimpered weakly as the thing that looked like Twilight hobbled over to her bed. It stood there for a moment, unmoving. Twilight's head still hung awkwardly to the side. The one eye she could see stared blankly into hers, a stream of tears constantly pouring from it. Slowly, menacingly, the thing raised its hoof and placed it lightly on Fluttershy's chest. She opened her mouth in a silent scream as the alarms on her heart monitor when off.

~~~~~~~~~~

There was a blaze of light as Celestia channeled magic to raise the sun. The crowd that had gathered oohed and aahed as usual, but something seemed strange. The morning light was too red. It usually seemed refreshing to her, but this felt draining, like the last moment before the sun would fall behind the horizon at night. She was still pondering the matter when she saw two guards running toward her. She quickly flew the short distance to meet them.
"What's wrong?" she asked. She knew something bad had happened.
"It's Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle!" said the guards urgently.
Celestia didn't need to hear any more. Before the guards had even finished speaking, she was galloping toward the hospital at full speed. She wouldn't let anything else happened to her dearest pupil. In only a few minutes later she burst through the door of their room, prepared for anything, or so she assumed. As she took in the scene she could only stare in shock. A moment later the guards caught up to her.
"Wh... where are they?" asked Celestia.
"That's just it Princess! The doctors heard an alarm go off in the room, and when they arrived they were gone! No one saw them leave the building."
"We need to find them," said Celestia in a strained voice, "Send everyone you can spare. Check the room, check the hospital grounds, check in the walls if you have to. Just find them as quickly as you can."
"Yes Princess," said the guards in unison, before turning around and dashing away.
Celestia gave the room one more glance before turning around and galloping away. The tall, unnoticed pony in the corner watched her go.