In This Town

by iLikeMuffins

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

“Sometimes the secret is just right in front of us, but we just don't know it.”

---

Four days have passed, and just as promised, I'll continue on with the story. Have you been waiting for me all these time? Well, wait no longer, for I am here. I have always been. As usual, you know the drill, come on in and take a seat.

Would you like anything to drink? Maybe some tea? Or would you rather have coffee instead?

☽ ♕ ☾

“Why... Just why did I have to let her drag me into this?” Twilight thought to herself as she helped Pinkie up. “This is no time for fun and games, you hear?” She said, firmly holding onto Pinkie's shoulders. She pointed to the pack of Timberwolves, “We're surrounded, and our only way of escape is probably heading deeper into the forest. But we would have to run, and I'm not good at that. So listen up, find some sort of weakness before my legs die off!”

Sweat was falling off of Pinkie's forehead as she held onto the book tighter in her arms. “I don't think I'll be able to find their weakness,” she said softly.

Twilight rolled her eyes and grabbed Pinkie by her wrist and ran deeper into the forest while being chased by the Timberwolves. “What is one thing that wolves hate?” Twilight asked.

“I don't know, aren't you the smart one?” Pinkie asked.

“They're technically not wolves, and even if I am the smart one, I've known nothing of wolves!” Twilight shouted, which was a bad thing, for it attracted more Timberwolves towards them. Twilight noticed the increase of Timberwolves, “Oh boy.”

“This may or may not be a bad idea, but I think we have to split up,” Twilight said.

“In this situation?!” Pinkie asked, eyes filled with terror.

“We got no time to complain,” Twilight said.

Pinkie let out a sigh, “Okay, we'll split... On the count of three.”

Twilight had to take the chance, though her stamina may not be the best, and she'll most likely be the first to die, she still had to take the chance. If at least one of them escapes from this place, they could warn the townspeople of what lingers in the forest and probably ban anyone from going in.

“One.”

They could hear the Timberwolves howling as they ran after them. They don't look like they'll stop anytime soon.

“Two.”

Twilight could see a fork in from where she was, “Which would I pick? Which would she pick?” She questioned herself, wanting to pick the one on the left. But what happens if Pinkie picked the same one?

“Three!”

Twilight didn't care, she went to the one on the left, while Pinkie went to the one on the right. Seems like the Timberwolves had split themselves into two groups in order to hunt the both of them down. Twilight turned to see three Timberwolves chasing after her.

“This isn't good,” Twilight told herself, “This isn't good at all.” She was slowly getting tired, and losing strength. Her legs felt numb, and she could collapse at any moment. “Come on, Twilight, hold in a little longer,” she told herself as she forced herself to pick up the pace.

She twisted and turned, walking behind trees and passed the bushes. She doesn't care if her shirt got dirtied or her shoes got muddied. She remembered how dogs aren't able to chase after their prey all that well if they zig-zagged. “Maybe that'll work against those Timberwolves,” Twilight thought.

So she did. She tried to find some space for her to run behind the trees, and probably zig-zag her whole way to wherever she's going until she loses the Timberwolves. She looked behind, the Timberwolves looked as if they were having a hard time keeping up with her, and Twilight let out a sigh of relief.

She couldn't stop now though. She had to lose them completely if she wanted to live, so she continued what she was doing, zig-zagging as she ran through and deeper into the forest. Unsure of what lies deep in the forest, she continued. Afraid yet running for her life, she continued.

Remembering what Pinkie had told her about what other creatures she had accidentally freed, she gulped. “Oh please, let there not be another creature as bad as this... Or worst...”

Her legs were giving away, and she was on the verge of collapsing. She forced herself to keep running, even though her body couldn't take it anymore. She looked behind from time to time, “Only one left. Just one more.”

She stopped behind of a big humongous tree and waited for the Timberwolf to sniff her out. She quietly and carefully walked away from the Timberwolf and continued running when she thought she was far from the creature.

She looked behind as she continued zig-zagging through the forest and noticed that the creature had stopped chasing after her. Twilight slowly came to a stop and collapsed onto the ground. “Never... Doing that... Ever again,” she said between breaths.

She dragged herself under a tree surrounded with bushes and hid inside one of them. “Thank goodness that I was able to lose them all,” she let out a sigh of relief. She could feel her heart still pumping fast from all that running.

She looked down at her wristwatch, she was running for nearly half an hour. She was surprised too. She laid against the tree and curled herself into a ball, “I think mom and dad would be worried about me,” she whispered to herself. “It's already seven.”

☽ ♕ ☾

Pinkie was resting on a branch of a tree. She looked down at the Timberwolves who were sniffing around the area for her, but was unable to find any trace of her. They linger around the tree Pinkie was on for a while before leaving.

Pinkie was holding her breath throughout this whole time, and she finally let all the air out and begun normally breathing. She slowly stood up and held onto a vine that was sticking out of the leaves coming from the tree. She tugged onto the vine, to make sure it was holding onto something before slowly climbing down the tree.

Pinkie didn't say anything. She didn't even think about anything. Other than the fact that the forest which she once knew as safe was now dangerous and deadly, and not to mention, filled with unknown creatures.

Pinkie let out a sigh as she slumped onto the ground. She stared at her hand, it was extremely red, and had a few cuts here and there. “Auntie Cake and Uncle Cake would be so mad at me,” she laughed softly, “I'll never hear the end of it.”

She took her handkerchief out of her bag and some strands of grass and tied the handkerchief onto her hand which had the most cuts. While sitting there, she decided to take a look at the diary.

She decided to add a few notes to the entry where they spoken about the Timberwolves. ‘Hide in the trees when chased by them, they won't notice you,’ she wrote. She turned the pages and begun reading.

Though she wasn't the type of person who would spend most of her time reading, she was interested to find out what other weird creatures were once in this forest, or is now in the forest. Some had weaknesses, while most have yet to be discovered. There's even a three eyed deer with six legs around this forest for all Pinkie knows.

‘March 12, The deeper I go into the forest, the more weirder things get. Every creature would be much more stranger. Everywhere I look, it looked as if something had hit this place with some sort of magical spell? From what I see, there are floating islands, which I'm afraid it may fall, but it didn't. It defies the law of physics and gravity. People won't believe me if I told them, but there may be even more stranger things deeper into the forest which I have yet to discover.’

Pinkie looked up at the sky, though she could barely see it, due to the trees blocking the view, but she was able to see that the sky was getting dimmer and dimmer. It was already pass seven.

Pinkie kept the book in her bag and stood up. She scanned the area for any dangerous-looking creatures and walked back from where she came after she thought the area may be safe. “I hope Twilight's doing alright,” she mumbled to herself, remembering that she and her friend had separated from the Timberwolves.

☽ ♕ ☾

“Pinkie's not back yet,” Auntie Cake said, pacing around the room. “She usually comes back home before seven!”

“Calm down, honey, she could be at her friend's house, having a sleepover,” Uncle Cake said.

Auntie Cake shook her husband's shoulders, “She doesn't go anywhere without telling us beforehand!”

“Why don't we call her friends? Maybe she's at one of their houses,” Uncle Cake said, gently pushing his wife away as he walked towards the phone. He held up the receiver and begun dialing the number of Rarity's house.

“Hello?” A high-pitched voice was heard at the other end.

“Hello, this is Mr. Cake from the town's bakery. May I speak to Rarity?” Uncle Cake asked.

“Rarity! There's someone called Mr. Cake on the line, and he wants to speak with you!” Whoever was at the other end shouted, which caused Uncle Cake to push the receiver away from his ears before he goes deaf.

“Yes, hello? This is Rarity,” Rarity said.

“Hello, I'm Mr. Cake, Pinkie Pie's uncle,” Uncle Cake said. “I was just wondering, is Pinkie together with you?”

“No,” Rarity replied. “She's not with me. Why'd you ask?”

“Well...” Uncle Cake turned to his wife for help.

“Just tell her,” Auntie Cake mouthed.

“She's missing,” Uncle Cake said.

“What?! Missing, you say?!” Rarity exclaimed. “When did she gone missing?”

“She left the house after leaving her bag here,” Uncle Cake replied, “She didn't tell us where she was going.”

Rarity, who was on the other end of the line was extremely worried for her friend. “I'll contact her other friends... Maybe they had seen her somewhere,” Rarity said, trying to help them search for Pinkie.

“That's very kind of you,” Uncle Cake said.

“She's also my friend,” Rarity said before hanging up.

“What did she say?” Auntie Cake asked.

Uncle Cake shrugged, “She had not seen Pinkie, and she's not over at her place. She told me that she'll contact her other friends to see if they had seen her.”

“I'm very worried,” Auntie Cake said.

“I know, dear. Me too,” Uncle Cake added.

On the other hand, Rarity was doing whatever she could to find Pinkie. She phoned every single person Pinkie had a conversation with, even if it meant randomly dialing phone numbers in order to find which number she had to call.

☽ ♕ ☾

“Which way did I go?” Twilight questioned herself as she stood in front of another fork in the forest. It didn't look familiar, and Twilight swore that it wasn't there before. Or maybe she had taken the wrong turn? Everywhere looked the same to her, so she didn't know if she was going the right way or not.

“I think... Right,” she said to herself as she chose the right path. As she walked, she could hear the owls hooting, and she swore that she could see some of them had glowing eyes, though she paid no mind to it.

The sky was getting darker and darker, and she could see the ground glowing as she walked. She stopped and took a closer look at the ground and spotted the mushrooms Pinkie was so desperate to find. Twilight plucked one out, “It really glows,” she said as she looked in awe at it. “Not to mention, it also stinks,” she tossed the mushroom onto the ground and moved away from it.

Twilight stared at the glowing mushrooms for a long while before sitting onto the ground. “Guess I could take some with me back home,” she thought to herself as she dug into her bag and took out a small container. She plucked about four to five mushrooms and placed it in the container before closing it and putting it in her bag. “Now that's done,” she told herself as she wiped the dirt off her hands using a leaf.

“Now back to finding my way back home,” she said as she continued walking in whatever direction she was walking in from before. She didn't know where she was going or where it'll lead her. But there's no helping her if she stayed at one spot.

As time passed, she noticed her surroundings becoming brighter and brighter as she continued walking. She looked down at her wristwatch, “It's around eight, shouldn't it be dark?” She continued walking though, paying no mind to her surroundings, thinking that I may've been the thousands of glowing mushrooms growing in the area.

The further she went, she noticed the trees were slowly becoming shinier, and crystal-like. She stopped walking and looked around her surroundings, “I don't like this... Not one bit of it,” she mumbled.

She picked up a broken branch on the ground, it was as hard as a rock and looked like a diamond. “This would cost a fortune,” she whistled as she examined the branch. “If the townspeople were to find these things, I bet the town would be the wealthiest town in the whole world!”

She decided to keep one... For research purposes.

She continued walking further into the forest, unsure where she was heading. The ground began to look more crystal-like, along with everything else. The animals there too, they were crystallized? Twilight stared at the owl that was sitting on a crystallized tree, “Is it alive?”

The owl twisted its head and stared at Twilight, hooting at her before it flew off.

Twilight fell back to the ground, “Wahh!” She exclaimed. Her eyes wide, and extremely surprised with what she saw, she stayed on the ground for a while before she regained her sanity. She picked herself up, “That scared me...”

She let out a sigh, “This isn't good for my mental health,” she mumbled before preceding heading further down the forest, still unsure in what lies ahead.

The place where she was at was shining and bright, as if it was in the middle of the morning. The crystal kept sparkling, and sometimes the light got into Twilight's eyes. “Troublesome,” she said under her breath as she had to block one side of her eyes from the shining light. She doesn't know where the light came from, but she had a slight feeling it came from the moon.

Seconds passed, minutes passed. What seems like forever passed, and Twilight wondered how long it has really been, as she constantly checked her wristwatch. Time to her seem to move slower. She felt as if she'd been in the forest for hours, but in reality, it had only been a few minutes.

“Are you lost, little child?” Asked a voice.

Twilight turned around immediately to see whose voice does it belong to, but nobody was there. She walked cautiously as she continued, avoided anything that was on the ground.

“Don't be afraid.”

It was that voice again, this time, louder than ever. “Who are you?” Twilight asked, trying to sound as brave as she could.

“I'm...” There was a short pause. “Someone, you can say. Even a something if you like.”

“What do you want from me?” Twilight questioned.

“Nothing, really,” the voice was now echoing in her head.

Twilight shook her head, “How can the voice be inside of my head?!” she questioned herself. Her eyes darted from the left to the right, and right to the left. “Then why are you talking to me? Now of all times? If you have nothing you want from me, then leave me alone.” She tried sounding brave once again.

“Hm... I thought I would offer you my help in getting out of this forest,” the voice said.

Some black colored goo can be seen floating around Twilight. Twilight stared at it with a disgusted look on her face, “You're certainly a thing, that I can say.”

The voice laughed. “Do you want to get out of here or not?”

Twilight thought about it for a moment. “What's the catch?” There's always a catch in these sort of things.

“The grimoire,” the voice said.

“The grimoire?” Twilight repeated.

The black goo transformed into the grimoire that Pinkie had once showed Twilight, and the grimoire was floating in the air. “Yes, that's right. The grimoire,” the voice said. “I want the grimoire.”

“It's not with me,” Twilight said.

“But it's with somebody else,” the voice said. “Your friend. Pinkie Pie, is it?”

Twilight didn't say anything.

“I'll transport you to your friend, but if you want to get out of the forest, you would have to get the grimoire from your friend and pass it to me,” the voice said. “Kids like you shouldn't meddle with things you shouldn't know about.”

Twilight crossed her arms and was in deep thoughts. “If I bring you the grimoire, you'll transport us both back to town?”

“Yes,” the voice replied. “I'll even add up a little bonus and erase everyone's memories of your disappearance for the night. They won't even know you've went out.”

Twilight glared at the black goo, for she had no idea where the voice was coming from. “Fine, it's a deal,” she said.

The black goo melted to the ground and retreated back into the woods. “Close your eyes,” the voice said.

Twilight did so. She didn't know what was happening, but in order to get out of here, she had to give the grimoire to whatever creature that thing was.

“Twilight?” A familiar voice.

Twilight opened her eyes, she was standing right in front of Pinkie. “What?” Twilight was dumbfounded. How did she suddenly poof right in front of Pinkie? “This has to be a dream, right?”

“How'd you find me?” Pinkie asked.

“I don't really know,” Twilight said. “Should I tell her about the black goo thing? And the voice?”

“Well, no matter. The good thing is that we're back together!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“Hey, Pinkie... You still have that grimoire with you, don't you?” Twilight asked.

Pinkie tilted her head to one side, “Of course I do,” she replied.

“Can you hand it over to me?” Twilight asked.

Pinkie backed away a few steps, “Why?” She asked, holding onto her bag tightly in front of her chest. “You told me I shouldn't mess around with it...”

“Yes, I know!” Twilight said. “I'm just... Well... Interested?”

Pinkie eyed her friend. “I'll... Hand it to you once we get out of here,” she said.

“This isn't going as planned,” Twilight sighed. “She's smarter than she looks... What a surprise.”

“It's getting pretty late,” Pinkie said, looking up at the sky. “I don't think we'll be able to return back to town at this rate. We won't even know where we're going! Not as if we knew where we were heading to begin with...” Her voice trailed off.

“I may know a way back to town, a shortcut, you can say,” Twilight said with a smile on her face.

Pinkie looked at Twilight confusingly. “What may that be?” Pinkie questioned.

“All I need is the grimoire, then we'll be back in town as if nothing ever happened,” Twilight said.

Pinkie glared at Twilight as she held her bag tighter than ever. “And you're suggesting we're going to use the grimoire to teleport ourselves back there?” She questioned. Inside of her heart, she really wanted to try it out, but something isn't right. Twilight was against the idea of the grimoire from the beginning, so why does she accept it now? Something has to be wrong.

“Well, that would be the easiest way back,” Twilight said, agreeing with her friend as she nodded her head.

Pinkie looked down at her bag then back at Twilight. “I don't think that would be a good idea. It's not safe. One screw up, then we'll be dead,” Pinkie said with a serious expression on her face. “Let's just camp for the night, you're not thinking straight.”

“You're the one to talk,” Twilight rolled her eyes and sat beside a bush opposite of Pinkie. She kept an eye out on Pinkie, waiting for her to sleep so she could snatch the grimoire away from her and get out of this place.

Pinkie, at the same time, was thinking the same. She waited for Twilight to sleep before she slept. She had a feeling that Twilight may be up to something... Something extremely bad, and worse than using a grimoire.

☽ ♕ ☾

...

Author's Note:

☪ I feel like the past two chapters are a little rushed, don't you agree? Also, a friend of mine pointed out to me that the story kinda sounds like Gravity Falls, and I have to admit that it does. It wasn't intentional though.

Still don't know where this story is going.