Book Two: Chapter Eight
Book Two: Chapter Eight
Your first reaction to Twilight's suggestion of where to head next was littered with skepticism. What good would leaving the city do? Apparently, the note that had been written by the strange upper class pony had prompted for you both to delve into the forest just east of Saddleworth, in search of the ruins that apparently housed the images that had frightened the author of the book you had read so severely.
You were actually quite surprised such a place was in close proximity to the city. You had a feeling in the end, the author didn't get too much farther than here from his home.
“So what's the reasoning behind not telling your brother? Also, how do you know where you're going?” You decided to inquire, dodging a low hanging branch as the evergreens' pine needles fell down upon you both in a mixture of green and white as you rounded by each one.
“You know what he'd say at this point,” was the only answer you got about her brother, while “The note provided a landmark to look for,” was what you received for your second question.
You looked at the note yourself and sure enough, the landmark it described wouldn't be hard to find. So you searched for what had been described as the 'path laid with stone within the forest.'
In an attempt to pass time, you began to ask questions to Twilight about the entry in the book you had both read. She seemed more than happy to discuss such a topic with you, and told you to shoot away.
“I've been through enough to know we have to trust these things, and I think you have been through enough too,” was Twilight's answer to the whole issue.
Your eyes scanned and probed the ground, searching for this path the note spoke of. Whilst searching, you and Twilight came upon a nearly decomposed cloth, tainted with dirt and the hands of weathering time.
“This couldn't have been here for too long. The fact that it still exists show's just how recent something like this is,” Twilight commented looking down at it on the wet and cold forest floor. She had asked you to pick it up, but you had refused quickly. No way you were going to pick up something that might have been someone's hanky.
“Just how recent would you say?” You asked, kicking at the ground as she levitated it around you both.
“A month? Maybe somepony was stuck traveling through here on a shortcut to Saddleworth? It's hard to imagine anypony thinking this would be a shortcut though.” She dropped it eventually, dismissing it for the time being.
Why did you feel like this was all going to come into play awfully soon? All you could do was ignore the feeling though. It's not like you were both on a nature walk or something. Enough was already on your plate.
When you finally found the landmark you were looking for, you had practically found yourselves walking along it for two minutes, explaining to one another plans on how to help yourself seem a worthy suitor to Twilight in front of her brother. A strange thing to be talking about under the weight of the circumstances that surrounded you both, you knew, but it was a distraction and it ate up time as you put one foot in front of the other.
“Maybe when all is said and done with, I'll suggest that it was all based on your assumptions and you're the reason we're all safe,” the purple unicorn speculated.
“FIRST we have to make sure this is a real thing we're going after,” you pointed out, causing Twilight to sigh. “Then maybe we can think that idea out.”
“It is true. We both know it,” her face was a stone wall now, a representation of her belief.
“We do both know it, but I suppose it's just natural for people to play things down...” You were thinking of all sorts of times in your life where certain problems dismissed for just minor nuisances. Eventually your mind drifted to a certain American President that did the exact opposite of that…
“Is this an example of human nature or pony nature?” Twilight asked after a second of watching your mind pace through images of who were once your people.
“Both. That's for sure,” your mind still buzzed about as you spoke until a hoof tapped your side.
Twilight was pointing to the ground when you noticed. “How could we be so careless?” She drooped her head in frustration with herself. You patted her softly, trying to relieve her of her self inflicting criticism.
“We were talking, it's no big deal.”
Twilight shook her head and regained her composure, as calm as ever. “Y-you're right. Let's keep going.” You admired her ability to recover so quickly.
The stoney road went over several small knolls that were runny from the snowfall. You took your time going over each one, not wanting to end up muddy and on the ground. Then it went around a bend and cut through a tight bunch of trees before it took you both to your destination.
A fallen column, heavily degraded from the weather over the years laid busted apart in a relatively large clearing. Its cousins were all still standing a further ways back, signifying for anyone wishing to continue to do so by going down the area in between them.
“I wonder just how big these ruins are going to be,” you imagined huge white faded marble walls, as tall as the eye could see, with lower reaches going far below the earth as well.
“Only one way to find out,” Twilight said as you began to step in between the pillars that held nothing up, heading in the direction they wanted you to.
Most of your sight was dominated by the evergreens reaching over the pillars and in between, but you know you saw something ahead.
When you got close enough you could tell they were stairs leading up a rather steep hill, and the trees were even more pushy on the way up there, choking the walkway as you both began to climb them. You had to brush needles out of your hair more than once during the climb.
You nearly had a heart attack as several pebbles seemingly falling down from above, trickling all around you, causing you both to panic and look about. One wrong step and you would both be tumbling down.
The ascent continued, and you found another strange piece of cloth. You still didn't decide to pick it up. Since both Twilight and you were beginning to grow worried of whatever the source of these things might have been, you were now on the lookout for both the ruins above and the cuts of cloth from unknown origins.
It wasn't until the steps finally let up on their arduous upward direction that any semblance of the ruins were revealed to you. You yourself practically fell forward on the top step in exhaustion. It took Twilight's voice to get you back up.
The hilltop was quite small, and you could tell that the buildings here were forced to be built and continue off the sides. They were all crumbled and empty as you looked through each one. What caught your eye was the large temple like building behind all the smaller past domains.
You were both convinced that this was the monastery the author in the book had spoken about. You had left the book over with Shining and Cadence, so there was no way of telling for sure, however.
Before moving your way over there, you took a second to head over to the side of the hilltop and look down. You weren't sure why you did it, perhaps you just wanted a pleasant view after staring at broken architecture for few dozen minutes.
You noticed smoke rising up above the evergreens far in the distance.
Somebody else was in this forest.
You and Twilight had a lengthy discussion about why there was anything within in the forest at this very moment. Like what Twilight had said earlier, there was no real advantage in cutting through this place.
“We don't have time to worry about that,” Twilight said, pulling her eyes away from the sight. “We just need to find what that ghost pony wanted us to find.”
“We're very trusting, aren't we?” You moaned out, returning back to the path leading to the monastery.
“We have to be.”
The crumbled stairways led up to the ancient monastery like building's front entrance. The doorways were larger than you could have imagined. You wondered what this might have looked like with actually stone doors blocking its way.
Through the doorways was a courtyard with a shelter running around its perimeter, where those not wanting to be exposed to the sun but still enjoy the outside air would likely lounge back when this building housed inhabitants hundreds of years ago.
“And we're looking for wall art?” You asked, stepping out into the open courtyard.
“Not specifically. Anything really,” Twilight stayed out under cover, preferring to stay away from the snow. You joined back with her quickly, taking her idea as superior.
You rounded about the outer circle, finding hallways leading within the actual building. You went into the first one you had encountered since it seemed highly unlikely you’d find finding something back out in the courtyard worth noting.
You went down carefully carved steps now. You knew you were heading to the very base of the hill. A lot of work had been done to make this place the way that it was. Usually you were impressed if a home had more than one bathroom, but all these spectacular sights and the very world was enough to overwhelm you every once in awhile.
“Why are some of the sconces lit?” You blurted out after a moment, noticing just why you could even see anything down within the monastery’s halls. “Could it be magic?”
“For a place like this? I doubt it,” Twilight doused a fire, choking away its oxygen by smothering it with her magical aura. “It's more likely that stallion was here before us.”
“Why would a ghost care about light?” You were kind of wishing she hadn't put out one of the sconces.
“I'm sure it's just a preference for him,” Twilight took a turn as an alcove within the wall marked the end for that direction.
When fifteen minutes passed, you swore you had entered a labyrinth. You weren't going down any farther, but that didn't mean that the tight spaces and hallways would have to end. “I wonder if we'll find our back,” you commented, sitting within a small alcove as Twilight decided which way you would both take once several diverging paths revealed themselves to you.
“We're lost,” Twilight said after a moment of indecision.
“Can't say I'm shocked,” you yawned sleepily. What really shocked you was how well you were taking this. You had been away from earth for too long to freak out when things got a bit out of the norm, you guessed.
“And not a single wall marking to reference. That author must have really streamlined his accounts going through here,” the unicorn had taken the time to join you in the alcove for brief rest.
“Maybe he was just full of it,” you commented angrily, folding your arms together.
“You're just lazy,” Twilight playfully shoved you, and you retaliated. This kind of moments were perfect. It made any and every moment better.
“Maybe I am, but I'm who you're stuck with,” you stuck your tongue out and turned away in a gamesome manner. You knew you really shouldn't be acting like this, especially here of all places, but you just couldn't resist squeezing a bit of blithesome interaction that only two intertwined in romance could do.
She gave you another shove, but then brought her front hoof up to your face, with a contemplating expression. “Don't make me regret my choice then.”
The assertion made you tense up and nearly forget to speak. “I won’t,” you wouldn't allow yourself to be flustered this time. It was also high time you got back to reality. These moments would come in a landslide once you got all this done.
Then again, when was there ever a moment to really relax here? This was a land of fantasy, and that usually meant that there was something of concern always going on, at least for the people like you and Twilight (you yourself brought into the concern both by your race and your association with the element of magic.)
“So did you decide which way we were going?” You asked, tapping your feet on the wall.
“Actually, I was thinking maybe you could make the decision this time,” her eyes lowered sheepishly.
That was a bit unexpected. You weren't use to taking the reins from her. She did deserve a break from leading the way after doing it for so long. She trusted you with this...
“Alright, uhh, no problem,” you slipped forward out of the alcove and stepped back onto the cold floor of the monastery’s halls. Time to show her she could put her trust in you.
You helped her down with a guiding hand and returned to the break where the pathways diverted. Eenie meenie miny mo... you caught yourself before continuing on with the average human way to make a difficult decision. Trying to choose which way to go was not a time to resort to that.
Twilight watched you gaze down each way, your eyes squinting, trying to look down as far as you could. Each one went in a different direction not too far off... well except for one.
There was one hall that just kept going and going. Sconces were lit as far down as you could make out, until all was just gray. Perhaps that led to someplace important?
You pointed towards that way, and you both went down the long hallway. The distance between each sconce began to grow, and although they were lit, shadows began to form outside in the spaces between each source of light.
The hall began to widen, and the walls took extra space to grow more distinct from one another on each side, bearing different symbols and markings from one another. Looks like you were in the right place.
“That was easy,” you commented in disbelief, running your hand along the walls as you walked until the symbols turned to backdrops and those to hoof-crafted images.
“I'll say so. Guess I should let you lead more often,” Twilight joked, studying the walls intensely.
You went further down, the images growing more and more like the ones the author had described in his writings. “Anything looking dreadfully familiar yet?” You asked, eyes still on the walls.
“A few are like how I remember him writing... but I don't think these images were here when this building was made,” That seemed to really be bothering her.
“Care to explain?” You faced her and went over to the wall she was examining.
“Well, look,” she pointed to the image before you both. “These images aren't even carved into the stone, they're drawn on, with charcoal and all sorts of other rubs. I'm surprised they're still here.”
“Magic?” You asked.
“Magic,” Twilight answered worryingly. It was almost always magic.
“Who could have made the art then if not for the one's that made this place?” You suddenly began to feel awfully uncomfortable down in the quiet halls.
“I have no idea,” Twilight's brow furrowed and she went further down the hall. “Something here must give us a clue as to who made this art.”
“I-I really don't think we she keep heading down that way actually, Twilight,” you sputtered out.
Her mouth creased in an unreadable expression, reopening after a second for her to speak. “This place is abandoned. There's nothing to worry about.”
You looked down the never ending hallway. What was once gray nothingness was now black, and you felt your stomach drop. “I think it's time to go,” you declared. The darkness seemed to be traveling down the hall towards you now. Oh god. You ran up to Twilight, trying to grab her and pull her your way.
“Hold on! We're fine!” She pleaded, shaking you off.
“No we're not! Oh sh-” The darkness overcame you, tossing you back down the hallway.
You landed on your stomach facing towards the shadow that continued to stretch and grow before you. You looked around frantically, trying to see if Twilight had been propelled back as well.
A scream indicated that was not the case and your eyes focused on the shadow once more, seeing Twilight stepping back from it slowly. This wasn't going to end well.
You reached out a hand and called her name, and she turned to you. Her eyes were full of horror, and they begged you to take her away. If only you could.
You pushed yourself back to a standing position and began to run towards Twilight and the darkness. She watched you the whole time as you closed the gap between you both, but it was too late.
You saw her lip one last sentence before being overtaken by the darkness. “I love you.”
“No, dammit!”
It crashed down like a wave. The sound it was making was a sound that should never have existed. One second you were barely breathing and then next, you were reacquainted with the darkness that meant you were out.
****************
The ground was wet when you sputtered awake. You turned around onto your back, looking for anything or anyone. There was nothing, nothing but the forest of evergreens you had passed through on your way to the ruins.
You felt like utter shit, and you bet you looked like it too. You pushed off the ground and stood up, immediately falling over onto your right side. Walking was going to be a bitch.
You laid there for a moment until something connected in your mind that caused you to nearly yell out in anguish. You were alone, and Twilight was nowhere to be found. The living darkness from within the monastery's halls had taken her away, but why not you?
It made no sense. Why take her and leave you behind? What did it want with her and why did it leave you all the way out here?! What the fuck was going on?!
“Twilight!!” You cried out, laying there. “Twilight!!!”
You knew you would get no answer, but it didn't stop you. You stood back up, careful not to favor any side too much, shifting your weight sparingly and using the trees to keep you up as you wandered under a mix of snow and green needles.
“Twilight!” You were freezing, all heat seeming to leave your body now. Why was that? Everywhere else was cold, but only now you were feeling it since Saddleworth.
Each time you cried her name, you felt your heart strain a bit more. Hope was beginning to dwindle away. It all began to seem like a useless task.
You wouldn't stop though. “Twilight!!” You cried out, falling to the side of a thick tree. “Twilight, where are you?!”
You were going to die out here.
You blew it, you fucking blew it.
She trusted you, and you let her down within moments of taking the lead. You were the worst companion ever. You had never felt such resentment for yourself in your life ever before. You were weak.
You threw a fist into the ground in a spurt of anger, crying out a flurry of profanity your mother would have hated to hear. You knew you were just feeling sorry for yourself, but how could you not?
Twilight was the whole reason you stayed... The reason you felt happy and loved. You were stuck out here in this shithole of a forest while whatever had its hands on her. You felt your anger rising again, and erupted once more, but by the end result, you were laying on the ground, feeling dead inside.
It was like the wishing well all over again. Oh, if only... you could wish yourself and Twilight out of this mess and away from everything that wanted you dead.
You weren't being chased this time, however, just left to rot. There was nothing out here you could run to, you knew none of it. You needed Twilight to guide you every step of the way. Why couldn't it have been you? Just thinking about her alone and scared made your heart cry out in pain, threatening to break.
You couldn't give up. You had to keep going. With a grunt, you were back on your weak feet once again, trying to find anything that looked familiar, even the ruins at this point. You just didn't want to feel like you were getting nowhere.
There was no point calling out for her anymore. It wasn't like it would be the deciding factor in saving her anyways. You just had to keep looking... and looking... and looking. Nothing mattered but finding her. You didn't stop to rest, you didn't let your hunger get to you, and most of all, you didn't let your emotions get the better of you this time. You just kept going.
Even with all that in mind, you couldn't overcome the exhaustion that wracked through your body. Your pace slowed dramatically as you limped slowly across a small dip in the forest. You barely kept yourself from getting your leg caught on a stray rock, jutting from the earth. Of course, it didn't take too long after that to just fall to your knees, cursing once more.
You wanted to keep going. You weren't going to go give up. Damn your limits. Why did you let this happen? Where was Celestia? She would know what to do... She would talk to you. How could she not have known this would happen before bringing you back...
Just a little rest would help, you were sure. You made yourself comfortable for the most part, backing up against a hollowed trunk that had fallen years ago, the moss along its sides flaked with white snow now. The ground was beginning to retain the snow, which meant that it wouldn't be long until the wet ground would be covered in whiteness. That also meant that if you didn't find some shelter soon, you would be a dead man.
Still, just a bit of rest couldn't hurt. You'd be back up in no time. You closed your eyes and let out a weary breath. It hurt not feeling Twilight there with you, but she was somewhere still in this forest, you'd find her.
Your emotional pain was soon joined by a new one of physical origin. It felt sharp and prickly, and it was at the back of your neck. It felt like a weapon...
“Why were you wandering around on our holy grounds?”
You felt the sharp object dig in on the back of your neck as you were asked the same question again. You didn't dare move however, choosing to just sit there, your eyes closed.
You felt a force crack along the side of your head and you were out.
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Oooohhhhh crap...
this was awesome!
3165781
Things just got a whole lot more complicated.
3165863
Thank you so much!
1) Twilight's been abducted! And on our character's watch too! Shining Armor is going to DESTROY our character when he finds out!
That is, IF he finds out...
farm9.staticflickr.com/8064/8239990628_f93e6a98d4_z.jpg
I mean, all we have to do is get Twilight back in one piece before Shining ever notices her missing, r-right?
2) On the subject of the mysterious new threat, I think I now may be able to also rule out Discord. Personally, he doesn't come across as the type who would keep his re-emergence this obscure for this long. Unless it's the Hellspawn or an all new danger, I'm guessing that the threat may be Nightmare Moon. Not only does she have an antagonistic relationship with the sun, but she would also have a fixation on Twilight, the Element of Magic, which could be reason enough to abduct only her while disregarding our character.
3166404
1) Let's hope we do! If we can't and return to Saddleworth empty handed, we're dead for sure!
2) Things sure are cooking up! I can see you're leaning in the right direction in your assumptions! It's only a matter of time before we figure out what's causing all this disturbance...
One of these days, we're gonna wake up with brain damage, or a missing limb
I like my consciousness, I don't like it when that's taken away without my permission!
Anyway, I actually see LESS errors here, good work, and I'll be waiting...
(Take all the time you need! I understand how college can be.)
3167096
Nice, it's glad to know the extra work I put in actually improved it instead of just making it presentable.
And thanks for understanding time constraints! I'll try my best not to let it really delay me as bad as it did this time.
Things are never gonna work out for "you", it's quite funny but also very serious
. keep up the awesome work guy!
says "Also, I'm a tad bit rusty... I just hope I didn't leave a horrible amount of errors anywhere, heh."
writes a chapter with less errors than any of the other chapters
3184689
Heh, what can I say? I was a bit paranoid I was going to screw up big somewhere.
3166460
1) So the disturbance is related to Nightmare Moon, the Hellspawn, or something new...Well, whatever it is, it's going to be a tough fight for our character, seeing as how whatever took Twilight is a dark mass that I doubt we can land a physical blow on. In other words, our character may have to find a way to fight magic with magic, which may mean either convincing our captors that we are not a threat and to help us in our cause, OR we could decide to bite the bullet, convince our captors to help us return to Saddlesworth, and come clean with Shining Armor and Cadence while hoping that the latter will protect us from getting disintegrated by the former.
2) While I would be tempted into thinking that our character's life will calm down after this ordeal, I can't shake off the feeling that something else could be triggered by the chaos. That being said, if something like that does happen, I still have my fingers crossed for cotton candy clouds that rain chocolate milk....
3) On another note, does our character get to experience life in Ponyville ever again? If so, how will Spike take to our character being in a romantic relationship with Twilight? Will we ever have to deal with the shenanigans of the Cutie Mark Crusaders? And for the sake of adding one last question, will we ever have to deal with somepony such as DIamond Tiara?
3206777
1.) Let's hope whoever's got us now will take reason to listen to us then, or else...
2.) It's a world that is constantly turned on its head. I would be betting something involving candy clouds raining chocolate milk as well.
3.) That's... that's what we hope for. Some time to relax, to recuperate. I'd imagine Spike (Imagine Dragons! Hah!) would be indifferent about it, but it would make him see Rarity as even more of a potential partner.
The CMC hmm? Since we are associated with two of the member's sisters, I'd say it's a possibility, especially since a human lives without things such as Cutie Marks.
Diamond Tiara... I can't imagine why!
Though if we're dealing with the CMC, I suppose we might end up interacting with the spoiled filly. 
3208491
1)
My favorite MLP antagonist is likely to be making a major appearance in the future? If so, YAY!
2)
That being said, could there even be a "filler" chapter in which Spike comes to see our character as some sort of "sage of romance" after seeing how we were able to enter a relationship with Twilight, thus leading to him seeking us for advice on how to woo Rarity, which would then lead to us agreeing to try helping him for the rest of the chapter?
3)
Speaking of those three, I wonder how they are going to respond to meeting a human for the first time. Better yet, considering their experiences with Hearts and Hooves Day, I wonder how they are going to respond to the revelation that Twilight has our character for a special somepony.
4) For the sake of asking another question while waiting for the next chapter, if the disturbance is something related to Nightmare Moon, what are the odds of Twilight being turned into a "Nightmare" version of herself while being held captive? If that happens, will our character have to be the one to snap her out of that state? Perhaps with something like a kiss?
3216752
1.) More than likely!
2.) I can see it already.
I'm going to have to do something like if I get the chance too. 
3.)Prepare to bombarded by questions, questions, questions, questions, and more questions from the fillies.
4.) The chance for something like that to happen is rather high, I suppose its all about who's got here at this point that will be deciding anything like that, and of course nothing but a kiss would likely be the remedy between two people like that.
3217948
I just thought of one last thing for now (an idea I owe to the second-person story No Matter What They Say, a Pinkie Pie centered story by Mr V). If our character does meet the CMC and has to answer question after question, what if they ask something along the lines of: "Are you and Twilight gonna get married soon?"
Better yet, what if they ask that question in earshot of Twilight?
3231525
Oh my, that's a huge question to ask.. If that were the case, I don't think Twilight would be fairly open to the idea, even if it was turn her into the biggest case of OCD involving formal planning the universe has ever seen...
As for our character, well.. we suppose that was going to pop up sometime huh? That's what ponies do with this sorta stuff too...
That's really something big to think of...