Absence Of Life

by AnnEldest

Part One: A Beacon In The Night

I leaned forward and placed my hoof on her cheek. She took comfort in it as she gave a light smile but only for a moment. Though I also wanted to see it for myself and this would be the only time I could. I needed to do it while she was still in this state.

I felt myself being pulled into another vision through Cozy's perspective. I felt her mind racing as she jumped on top of Silver Stream. The two of them struggled against each other, fighting over the knife.

"Are you kidding me right now?! This is why you came here?!"

"W-what?"

"You really want to do this to yourself?! To your family, your friends? Instead of coming to your friends and talking to us about it, you choose to come here and...and..." Her voice drifted, unable to say it out loud.

"I--I... it's not like that. I wasn't going to do anything to myself."

"Oh, so this is plastic then?!"

"Shut up! Leave me alone! Get out of my head, please!"

"Smolder, you're not helping! Tell us what going on with you. Let us help you."

"Princess? Princess Luna? Are you okay?"

I shook my head and took a step back away from her. Everything went back to normal instantly and I once again was back in reality. I took a second to catch my breath and clear my mind of Cozy's thoughts. I didn't need to dwell on anypony else's emotions.

Cozy was confused about my actions but didn't say anything to me which I was grateful for. Other than the deep breaths, it wasn't obvious what I had done.

Okay, at least I'm getting better at this.

"Huh?... I mean yes. I'm fine, thank you." I understood what Cozy meant now. This was serious. "Capper?"

"I'll just wait at the castle," Capper pointed behind him.

"Very well. I will try not to be too long." I didn't need to think too deeply about some of the things Silver Stream said.

"Take me to her."

---

"Am I in trouble?" Silver Steam avoided making eye contact with me. We trotted down the hall of the school as we spoke to each other. Next to flying, trotting made it easier to think. Ever since my wing broke, I started going on random walks through the royal garden. I preferred flying but it would have to do for now at least.

"No. Not with me," I said. "However, what Cozy Glow told was...concerning and is something that I can't just let go." Regret filled my voice. I didn't want to be the one to inform Twilight what Silver was thinking about doing to herself but knowing from my own experience, you could never take these things lightly.

"Look, I don't know what she and Smolder told you but it wasn't like that," she cried to me, her arms crossed. "I would never think to do...that to myself."

"Then what were you doing?" I asked.

"I was hearing voices. He kept telling me that I needed to find him. That finding him would stop her." Her claws were shaking as her voice dropped. I had to lean closer to her. I wasn't sure if she was whispering so nopony would hear us or if she was simply scared.

"I am afraid I don't understand who you are referring to."

She titled her head to the side and scratched the back of her neck. "I don't know who he is. He never told me his name. All he said was I needed to find him. Then I could stop Savannah."

"Stop her from what?" Was she talking about Timber Hall? He told me these things as well but why? When thinking about it, I realized that TImber Hall hadn't talked to me since seeing him in the courtyard at Twilight's School. If Silver Stream was right about this then why would he care about Savannah? What did she have to do with him? Something wasn't adding up.

"He said she was going to kill us." Tears were forming in her eyes. "I could hear her...singing this song. It was beautiful but also really scary." I used my hoof to wipe her tears rolling down her cheek.

"It's going to be okay, young one. I'm going to figure this out." I felt so bad for them. She was so scared of whatever was going with them. We needed to get to the bottom of this and fast. "Why do you have the knife? What were you doing?"

"He told me to bring it. I don't even know why I listened to him so much. He's not nice to me and he scares me. I guess I hoped he would keep his word and help us if I found him."

I nodded but there were so many things I wanted to say to her. It had to be Timber Hall talking to her. I figured he wanted her to find his body. I was confused why he all of a sudden stopped wanting my help.

"I swear I wasn't trying to hurt myself. I was trying to protect my friends. I can't lose anymore." She sniffled and rubbed her eyes. "I lost so much because of Storm King. I can't go through that again."

It then came to me that this was more than just her hearing voices and being scared about what happened to them in the house. She was not just afraid of what would happen to her but more so even afraid of what was going to happen to her friends around her. They were fighting and it was very clear that there was a strain between them. I can only imagine the effect that her friends and family back in her home country had because of the Storm King. It was both sad and frustrating to see a young child being forced to go through that.

I wrapped my wings around Silver Stream, taking her by surprise. "Never is going to happen to you or to them. I promise you that you will all be okay."

"Promise?" There was so much hope in her eyes.

I knew I shouldn't have made a promise I wasn't sure I will be able to keep. However, making it would make sure that I would do everything to make sure that I could.

"I promise."

---

“Pain, I remember the pain.” The words of Trixie echoed throughout the group. Capper was the first to repeat the words we heard at the hospital. “That was basically the premise of what she told us.”

I had made my way back to the castle after talking to Silver Stream. I told Smolder to keep an eye on her to which she agreed. We met in the main throne room where Spike waited to tell us what he and Discord had found. Spike sat in the seat with Twilight's cutie mark with books in his claws. Discord flew by us circling the table.

We too had information to tell them, though I was thinking that what Capper and I had to share was far more grimacing.

“So what happened to her?” Spike had asked while he started to lay out his books across the table in front of him.

“Well…” Capper said as his voice rose in pitch.

“She really didn’t tell us much,” I interjected. “She was really shaken up.”

“Wait, what?!” Spike gasped. “Did she tell you anything about what happened to her?” Spike shifted in his seat as he leaned in closer.

I sighed to myself as I knew that the answer was going to lead to more questions. Capper and I had left the hospital earlier that day and unfortunately, it had left us speechless. She started by repeating the word pain. After a moment of her staring at the flame that Capper waved in front of her, she started to go on about what happened to her that night.

It was honestly quite amazing to witness. Capper calmly wielded the flame like a sorcerer would use while fighting a powerful monster. He seemed confident and calm as he approached the sensitive situation. Trixie herself seemed like she was almost in a trance. Her eyes locked onto the fire and followed its trail of sparks and smoke as it sizzled away in the quiet hospital room.

I don’t remember much about what I was personally doing during the session but I imagine I simply stood and stared in awe at events as they unfolded before me.

Capper took his time before he started talking. He simply let her worlds trail on before he finally added dialogue to his investigation. “What happened?” He whispered almost to himself.

Trixie paused for a moment before she half-stuttered her words. “IIIIIt... Was dark, and fast.”

“What was?”

“The...the... MONSTER!!… the monster...” Trixie’s words started at a near shout but faded to a whisper as she ended in a sigh.

Capper somehow didn’t jump at the sudden rise in her tone; I however jumped back and nearly bumped into the wall. Capper on the other hand stayed still as he contemplated his next move. He took a slight yet subtle intake of air before he continued.

“What was the monster?” He asked with more volume in his approach.

“Darkness,” she whispered back.

“What was the darkness?” Capper added on in a subtle tone.

“Fa…,” Her words were quiet and unfortunately incohesive.

“It was what?”

“Fa...fast,” She took a deep breath as her eyes seemed to gain life. ”It was so fast. They...did something to me...to them." She put a hoof on the side of her neck. "I saw something...someone...I thought I knew them...”

"I thought I was going to die. Everything was burning inside me. My body felt like it was ripping itself apart."

"Do you know anything about who did this to you?" I asked her.

"Death...it was always greeting me. Letting me know he was near. I didn't think it would be that close to me. It's like he wants to taunt me now. I didn't want to die but I have been ready to die for a while now." Trixie finally took the time to break contact with the flame.

“Is that it?” Spike groaned.

“Hey,” Capper chuckled. “That was way harder to get than you think.”

After our encounter with Trixie, we had decided to make our way back to the duo that was Discord and Spike. We hadn’t gotten much from our traumatized friend and thus needed some answers. We were hoping that Spike and Discord had more success than Capper and I.

“Ya, she really went on about how painful it was.” Capper sat down in a chair next to Spike as his gaze fell deep into his thoughts. “I really couldn’t make out anything from what she was describing, but it doesn’t seem like it’s anything supernatural.”

“What makes you think that?” Spike asked as he looked up from his book.

“Well, she said it bit her.” Capper’s words were followed by an eerie silence.

“Well… is she alright?” Spike seemed to ask with a hint of awkwardness behind his voice. I assumed he was waiting for something more gruesome or shocking. Unfortunately, the little dragon had seen far too much for a simple wild animal attack to be intriguing.

“Well, that’s the point,” Capper chuckled. “Other than being shaken up, she’s fine,” Capper smirked at the same realization that I had come to. “Doesn’t fully speak demons to me.”

“I don’t know,” I hesitantly added. “What if it was?”

The outburst seemed almost random to me; as if someone else had spoken through me. Though only moments later my mind revived many memories of what Trixie had told us. She mostly talked about some creature that was fast and dark, but she slowly added more after quite some time of waiting. Soon after she started to make some sense; she started to ask if she was going to die.

Capper seemed all to calm with the situation. I, on the other hand, was completely taken back by it. Capper assured her that she was fine and even asked her if she knew where she was. This for some reason led her to ask rather daunting questions about the afterlife and if we’ve ever thought about death.

After a whole round of trivia about the afterlife and philosophy about religion; I was almost certain that she really was about to die. That, and the fact that I was ready to win The Jeopardy of the afterlife. Either way, it was definitely concerning.

“She went on and on about what comes after, and stuff about dying.” I continued to explain my concerns with the group who still seemed immune to the simple concept of death and suffering. “Is no one else gonna point this out?”

“I don’t know Luna,” Capper sighed. “I mean she was attacked and could have died if she was injured enough. Don’t you think she was in some pretty bad shock when we saw her?”

“No,” I shot out without much thought. “Well, maybe,” I added this time actually thinking before I spoke. “I don’t know; I guess.” I took a moment to reflect on the very reasonable solution that was presented to me. It took me only a second to realize that I shot down the really reasonable answer too soon.

“Well, I know when I first almost died I wasn’t fully in my right mind,” Spike laughed.

“Same,” Capper added as he joined in with the laughter.

“Anyways,” I groaned as I interrupted their session. “ Since we’ve “decided” to be less concerned about our friend, can you tell us what you two found?”

Spike paused for a moment before he looked over to Discord and chuckled. “Well, what we found was something alright.”

“Ya it is a bit wild,” Discord added.

“How so?” I knew that in 30 seconds we were going to get some answers about the symbols that would help us or I was about to mad at them for wasting time.

“Well let us tell....”

Before anyone could add anything more to the conversation, we all froze in shock at a yak that had barged through the door.

“Yona?” Spike called out. “What ar….?”

“Yona came for help,” Yona interrupted. “Something happened to Ocellus! Yona's friends are in trouble.”

“Wait what!” Spike shouted. Yona took no time to explain and instead ran back out through the door and was gone out of sight in an instant.

“Come on!” I shouted. “Don’t just stand there.”

We all followed in pursuit after the little yak. Her little legs carried her surprisingly fast as she stood ahead of all of us. I glanced behind me to see that Spike and Discord were too keeping an even pace with me. Though I did happen to notice that I didn't see Capper with them. My head swung back around to see that the cat was indeed in front of me. More than that, he and Yona had turned the corner and completely disappeared from my view. I blink a few times as I struggled to remember when it was that he had passed me. I swear he was right behind me but there he was miles ahead.

Around the corner, I just barely saw Capper’s tail enter the room before it was gone. Discord and Spike followed after me as I too dashed into the room. We were alarmed to see a group of young creatures huddled together like scared puppies.

“What happened?” Capper called.

“Are any of you hurt?” Spike immediately added.

In an instant, my senses were overloaded with a flurry of voices surrounded by an ocean of paranoia and fear. I couldn't make out much from the bombardment of words that the students sent towards me. Spike eagerly stepped into the crowd in an attempt to calm them down.

"Princess Luna?" Silver Stream asked shockingly.

"I'm not even surprised at this point," Cozy said sharply. "Why do you keep showing up in my life now?"

"I could ask the same thing. Now, what is going on here?"

“I don’t know,” Silver Stream cried as Spike held her still. “I just heard screaming and then something roared at me.”

“Something tried to claw you?!” I heard Capper gasp.

“What in Equestria is going on?!” I shouted

“Scary Monster was attacking so Yona went to get help.” The little yak sheltered at my legs as she took a deep breath.

The rest of the night was nothing more than a wave of speculations as none of the children understood what had happened. Instead, they gave rough sketches that sounded awfully like a cheap horror movie. Noises, scratches, and voices were the foundation of their stories.

“What do you think happened?” I asked Capper as he leaned against the wall.

“Not sure,” he sighed. “Whatever it was, it seems to have run off.” I saw that his gaze was drawn to Spike who was trying to calm the group down.

Capper eventually stepped away as he too realized that they really hadn’t seen enough to explain their situation. I often was reminded how hard it was for others to properly remember things once panic and fear took over. It often left a messy version of the story that was nonsensical to outside speculation.

"Luna," I heard Capper whisper my name to me.

What is it?" I ask him to which he responded by holding up a book.

"What about it?"

"I didn't get it from Spike," Capper groaned. "I got it from her." Capper pointed to the little curly-haired pony that sat innocently among the group.

The book looked like something that Spike would have. Why would Cozy have a book like that? However, what stood at to me the most was that I recognized them?

Where have I seen this before...?

My gaze was drawn to the small innocent filly that was outside the room pondering on the situation. I trotted over to address her about what we had learned. Before I fully approached her, her ears perked up at the sound of my hoove steps. "Cozy, can I talk to you please?"

"What is it?" Cozy whispered softly.

"Come with me. I need to ask you something." We trotted out of the library and into the hallway.

“You believe us right?” Her soft gentle voice flooded the hallway.

“Of course I do,” I reassured her. “I’m just trying to get a clear picture of what attacked you.”

“I don’t know,” She whimpered. Her eyes looked at me with such sorrow and dismay. “What is happening to us?”

“I’m going to find that out. I just need to--” A thought clicked in my head about the book. “Hold on,” I gasped as I teleported to the Twilight's castle. I didn’t even look back to see Cozy’s reaction. Instead, I left the helpless filly in the middle of the dark hallway.

I nearly tripped as I barged into the throne room. It took only mere moments of tossing things around before I found the open page of symbols and photos that Discord took in the house. I wasn’t sure how long I was gone, but for the filly, I imagine it felt like an eternity.

I put the book on the table open on a page of random symbols and compared them to the other photos and pictures. They matched. I remember Discord and I note that some of the symbols on the wall looked fresh like they had recently been painted on them. I paused for a moment as I realized that I had found out about some of the symbols, but I hadn't tried asking one of the few who could’ve actually seen them.

I teleported back to the school in front of Cozy Glow causing her to step back.

"That was quick..."

“Cozy,” I called out as I approached her. I bought out the page and slammed it down in front of her. She jumped back and bumped the wall as I eagerly got in her face. “Do you recognize any of these?”

“Umm…” Cozy looked down at the chaotic page of stuff I'm sure had her questioning a lot of things. “Well…” Her head tilted slightly as she closely examined them. Suddenly her eyes went wide as one of the symbols seemed to spark something within her. “I think so. I don't know. They were…”

“They were in the house,” I finished for her. "Why is that Cozy? The symbols in the house were painted on the wall not too long ago."

Her eyes went stale as her thoughts and memories overcame her. “We saw then wh…”

Before her sentence could be complete, a strong gust of wind barged in through the windows. I turned just in time for the tempest to sweep across the hallway. The door to the room was slammed shut as a flurry of voices came from it. However, the only thing I could hear was the roar of the storm that now enveloped us.

I screamed as I felt my body being lifted up from the ground and thrown into a nearby wall. I groaned as I plummeted onto the floor.

Cozy screamed as she ran by my side. "Princess Luna? Are you okay?!" Out of instinct, I jumped to cover her and tried to make a shield around us. This too turned to be useless as my horn seemed to be lifeless. By that point, I had become very aware of the meaning of no magic, and in an instant, my fears were confirmed.

"Be careful who you trust. You will find out the harsh reality as I did that trusting people blinding will only lead you to harm." A voice spoke in my ear. It wasn't Cozy Glow and it couldn't be Timber Hall. I had no time to react when I felt a grip on my neck. I felt my mind being pulled away from my body and the world span faster with each coming second making it harder to breathe.

She was in her house but it wasn't broken down. It now looked like a normal house.

"Don't do this to me? I love you. I can give you anything a young beautiful girl like you whatever you want."

"I'm sorry but I don't love you. I bearly know you."

She was tied to a pole. A large group of ponies surrounded her. Some holding torches.

"Burn her!!! Burn her!! Murderer!!!!"

"Please. Listen to me. I didn't do this."

"Burn her!!!"

I saw everything as they dropped the torch and her body and the pole burst into flames. Her screams somehow could not be drowned out by the cheering of the crowd as they celebrated.

"Luna! Luna!"

I gasped loudly, still hearing the wind blowing around us. I noticed that I was laying on the floor. "Cozy?"

"Oh good. You're okay." She hugged me tightly. I felt her body shaking. "What do we do?"

"I...I don't know."

Nothing more could be said for moments later we heard a loud crash from the other side of the hallway. From the dark shimmer of the hallway emerged the familiar pony.

“Savannah,” I whispered to myself.

She stared at me with a grin that send chills up my spine. Her body lit up in flames as parts of her skin turned into ashes which the wind blew away. The storm picked up as I tried to run away with the small helpless filly beneath me. I soon became fully aware of how helpless we were when my feet started to get lifted from the ground. I turned to see the pony slowly approaching us. All I could do was simply hold on to Cozy just waiting for our inevitable destiny to arrive.

All of a sudden, the storm subsided and all was calm. I turned to see what had happened as I fell to the floor. Savannah was no longer in view as another figure blocked her. I didn’t recognize who it was, but it was definitely another pony. It stood tall and strong and seemed to oppose Savannah. Suddenly the pony lunged at her and the two crashed against the wall. The collision sent the storm ablaze as the wind was far stronger.

Although it was much stronger it blew us away from the battle and farther from harm. I instantly got up and grabbed Cozy and ran. I only turned back once to see the battle that had begun. Then a simple thought crossed my mind, a name. Timber. The name that my mind had conquered up for an unknown reason. Though I know it had some relevance that I didn’t understand.

We needed to run away from them while we had the chance.

"Come on!"

My retreat led me further and further from the fight as I aimlessly ran through the vast castle. Cozy simply grasped for dear life as I clung to her. I ran around multiple corners before I finally hit an obstacle. I slammed into it with full force and fell to the floor. Cozy went flying and slid across the floor. I came to a halt as I slammed into the crystal wall.

“Luna?!” Twilight's familiar voice of concern filled the room.

My eyes sprung open as I was greeted by what was perhaps the greatest sight I could’ve beheld at that moment. Twilight’s magical horn lit up with a magnificent purple hue that lit the hallway.

“What in Celestia’s name is going on?!”

Author's Note:

It took too fucking long but I am back. I am hoping to finish this soon and get onto part two.

Till Next Time!!!