Thank you to everyone for making this one of my most successful fics. I honestly didn't expect much from it. Either way, please rate, comment, and whatever else you feel necessary if you like the story.

MIASMA
BY THE YOUNG AND FREE DRAGON

CHAPTER ONE

Twilight Sparkle didn't like the situation at hoof at all. After putting Rarity on the couch, and dressing Rainbow Dash's wound and tucking her into bed, she was left with the problem of what to do. Rainbow Dash couldn't stay here for long. If she wasn't given proper medical treatment, she could very well lose the wing. But what if Spike returned while they were away? She couldn't leave him here alone. Of course, there was a nagging voice in the back of her head that reminded her that he was probably out there along right now, in an ominous mist. But she pushed it away, not wanting to lose herself to panic over the baby dragon.

She had discussed it with Applejack, who was convinced they should go ahead and leave, basically telling her that Spike's fear was not worth the life of Rainbow Dash. This had angered Twilight Sparkle. Spike's life could just as well be on the line as well as Dash's, and the not knowing was worse. But she had kept that to herself.

"Twilight, if you don't take Rainbow Dash out of here soon, I'm gonna do it mahself," Applejack said.

"Applejack, I really don't think it's a good idea to split up. What if whatever is out there that did this to Dash attacks you or me while we're apart. We stand a better chance together."

"And what if Rainbow Dash dies here while we're just sittin' around stallin'? I can take her mahself. You've got Rarity here with you."

"Applejack, we need to think this through carefully!" Twilight asserted, getting annoyed now. "What good is getting yourself and Rainbow Dash killed or lost going to do?"

Applejack sighed. "Well then we can't go with either option. What do we do then?"

"I don't know..." Twilight Sparkle said, sighing as well. "But we don't have much time (if any) to decide what we're going to do."

She went back to the window and looked out at the mist. It seemed to pull at the window, trying to get into the house and absorb them into its depths. Applejack joined her.

"Thicker than pea soup," She commented.

"Yes... I'm not ever sure if my strongest magic could penetrate that."

"How about we go outside and take a look around?"

"No Applejack. What if something were to...what if we got lost? We'd be leaving Rainbow Dash alone...with Rarity. You know how that could go," Twilight said, trying to appeal to Applejack's quarrels with Rarity, to mask her own fear of going out there.

She of course did care about her friends but...she had a bad feeling about the brume outside. She wasn't sure whether she believed there was really any sort of strange creature out there, but she had encountered strange things before... Maybe that's where the mist came from! The Everfree Forest! It was the only explanation if there were creatures in it.

"How about we just go a little ways. Like out to the mailbox," Applejack said, interrupting her thoughts.

"Applejack, I really don't think-..."

"C'mon. I can see it from here. It's just a couple yards," Applejack said, though she didn't sound confident.

Twilight Sparkle sighed. Well, if there was anything out there; it wasn't anything she couldn't handle- she hoped. She'd saved Equestria from Discord and Nightmare Moon. While there were some tough things in the Everfree forest, there couldn't be anything worse than that.

"Alright, just to look," She said.

When they opened the front door, the mist sucked into the library like a back draft. It was cold and clung to their coats, putting a chill deep into their bones. Twilight Sparkle still felt very reluctant to go out into the white blanket, but as Applejack stepped out, she did as well.

"Rarity would absolutely hate this," Twilight commented, hoping to keep the mood light.

Applejack didn't say a word though as she looked around in awe. The library was quickly swallowed up behind them, but they hung on to the hope that simply retracing their hoof prints in the muddy ground would bring them back to safety.

Finally, something appeared out of the fog; the mail box. It was bent to the side, holding on to a few splinters of wood that somehow supported it. The crack in it was almost like an open maw, gaping at the thick mist... that or waiting to swallow somepony. Twilight opened the mailbox, wondering if Derpy had had time to deliver the mail before the mist came. There was nothing inside however, and as she closed the box, the wood gave way and snapped, dropping the box into the mud.

Twilight lifted it with magic, preparing to carry it inside with them. They looked around in the white darkness and found it to only stare back at them. They glanced at each other, and a mutual silence brought them to the same conclusion, they should get back inside... perhaps quickly.

But as they turned to go back, a distant sound halted them. It was a squishing sound, with the faint suction of weight being pulled out of wet dirt. Somepony was walking through the mud.

"What is that?" Applejack whispered, though they both had a good idea.

"Somepony walking by..." Twilight said before calling out; "Hello?"

The footsteps stopped and silence fell. Twilight's stomach tightened at the reply of nothing. There was no reason why whoever...whatever shouldn't reply. Unless it didn't want to be detected or didn't understand. Twilight tried to say something else, but her throat closed off, as though her body knew it was a bad idea to attract the attention of whatever was out there. After what seemed like hours of silence, the footsteps began again. It was hard to tell what direction they were coming from, or where they were going, and everything seemed to echo in the thick condensation cloaking them. Eventually, it faded away.

Twilight Sparkle and Applejack scooted closer together, pressing their wet sides together. The only warmth seemed to be one another, and they could feel their own heat in the dead cold.

"We should head back," Twilight whispered, eliciting a nod from Applejack.

They began walking slowly, trying to keep their hooves from making too much noise. They both shared a mutual encouragement to the other that whoever it was had heard them but wasn't sure they had, so they stopped to listen. When neither Twilight nor Applejack had said anything more, it had simply blown it off and continued on. Neither of them believed that of course.

As they reached the door, Twilight let out a small cry as she took a step and her hoof did not connect with ground. She fell into a hole in the ground, about the length of her body. Applejack hopped into the muddy hole with her, helping her up, getting mud all over both of them in the process. As they climbed out, they noticed the strange formation of the hole. It didn't look familiar to either, and as they looked around, they noticed more of the holes leading to the right and away and others coming from the left. Even though Twilight couldn't tell what had made them, she recognized the pattern. Some sort of bipedal creature had come through here...

[][][]

Twilight locked all the doors and windows, but still didn't feel safe. Whatever was moving around outside was gigantic for sure. They hadn't heard anything since coming in, but the fear was still there. The decided to check on their friends.

"Wow... When Rarity faints, she don't fool around," Applejack observed as the unicorn still had yet to wake.

Rainbow Dash was still out and was now beginning to run a fever.

"I think her wound got infected before she came here," Twilight said, not wanting to doubt the dressings she had applied.

"I ain't no medic, but I know that ain't good," Applejack said.

"No, it most certainly isn't. It looks like we're going to have to move her now-..." Twilight's words cut off as the lights went out.

She cast a magic spell that lit up the room.

"What happened?" Applejack asked, bracing against the ground as though the roof were about to be ripped off, or an earthquake was about to happen.

"We lost power...funny, I didn't hear any thunder or anything..." Twilight said apprehensively.

"We need to get outta here."

"We can't yet. Here's the deal; either Rarity or I and you will take Rainbow Dash to the hospital and see if any of the ponies in town know what's going on. Then whoever is left will stay here and wait to see if Spike comes back. But we can't leave whoever that is without power."

"Celestia knows Rarity couldn't do that," Applejack agreed, assuming Rarity wouldn't go out in the mist. "So what do we do?"

"I have a back up generator in the basement and length of cord long enough to run it from the basement. But somepony will have to go outside and hook the cables to the fuse box."

They looked at each other silently for a moment before Applejack asked the question they were both thinking; "So what's gonna go out there?"

A knock at the front door interrupted them. They glanced at each other quickly before looking back at the door; the fear silent but shared. But they had to be sure of what it was. Twilight went to the door, humming Pinkie's Laughter Song* song to herself and opened it.

A grayish pony stood at the door, moving her wet blonde hair from her eyes and smiling, though her eyes looked in different directions.

"Here's your mail!" Derpy Hooves said, dropping the mail from her mouth. "The library sure was hard to find in the mist!"

Twilight couldn't have been happier to see Derpy, and especially in this mood. The fact that she had made it here showed that it should be safe to go through the must, plus Derpy didn't seem to mind it.

"Derpy, could you me a favor and hook some cables to our fuse box?" Applejack asked, getting a sharp look from Twilight.

"But the-..."

"Sure I'll do it!" Derpy said happily.

"Wait, Derpy!" Twilight said. "There's something you should know about..."

"She can handle it," Applejack assured. "Go get the cables, Twilight."

Twilight didn't like this. While Derpy had made it here without incident and didn't seem to have any reason to fear the mist, she still didn't like the idea of sending Derpy out to do their dirty work. And what about that thing that had made the footprints? Was it friendly?

"I really don't-..."

"Twilight," Applejack interrupted. "Derpy said she'd do it. Did you Derpy?"

"Yep!" Derpy said cheerfully.

Twilight sighed and went to get the cables. Her stomach was tightening and she knew it was trying to tell her this was a bad idea but...what could she do? It was a losing fight. She hooked up the cables to the generator and carried the two connectors upstairs and handed them to Derpy, magically.

"Be back!" Derpy said, through the cords clenched in her teeth.

Applejack closed the door, and as Derpy rounded the house, Twilight rushed to a window that overlooked her by a few feet so that she could make sure everything was alright. Derpy noticed Twilight up above her, and Applejack as she joined her at the window. She smiled up at them and then opened the fuse box with a hoof studying the fuses (Somehow with her her eyes that never seemed to focus). She glanced up at them questioningly and Twilight mouthed; "Seven and nine".

Derpy gave a salute and opened the two and connected the cables. There was an electrical spark and she seemed to get shocked but shook her head and smiled up at them and waved. Twilight was about to let out the breath that she was holding when she saw something that made her freeze. As Derpy continued to wave at her, Twilight banged on the glass of the window and pointed to something behind her. Applejack gaped as she saw it and Derpy still didn't register what they meant until something wrapped around her back leg and flipped her over on to her back.

A long purple tentacle, made up of segments had come out of the mist and wrapped around one of her back legs. It lifted Derpy in the air, slamming her on the ground, knocking the breath out of her. But that gave her the chance to wrap her legs around the pole of the fuse box and to hold tightly. She looked up at them, her expression unreadable at the moment, her eyes not focused enough for either of them to read fear in them. Another tentacle came out of the mist and the top segments separated down the middle, making a sort of flat tip to the tentacle. Except the flat surface that had been concealed by the folded tentacle was covered in sharp spines that came down at Derpy and caused Twilight to let out a gasp of horror.

The gray Pegasus let out a shocked whinny as the tentacle pressed on her back and then a loud cry as it tore away, taking the coat and skin with it. Derpy's muscles were revealed, though they were not spared by the knife like spines, which had torn deep into her, and left large jagged holes in the muscle that shot small rivulets of blood up into the air. Twilight covered her mouth crying out in terror for the Pegasus. Derpy seemed so shocked by the pain of it that she couldn't register anything and seemed to be babbling incoherently.

Twilight looked around and magically lifted a fire poker from the fire place and looked to Applejack who continued to stare in horror.

"Applejack! Kick out the window!"

The country pony looked at her for a moment as though she didn't understand before nodding and turning, giving the window a good kick with her back legs and shattering the glass. Twilight came back to the window and propelled the fire poker towards the tentacle that had injured Derpy. It impaled it all the way through and it was pinned to the ground, squirming as black blood spilled from its wound.

But another tentacle, large enough to snap Derpy's entire body closed inside of its hidden vice arrived and wrapped around the Pegasus's waist and began pulled at her as well. Twilight levitated another poker and shot it into the large tentacle, and while it went all the way through, it didn't seem to flinch as its blood dribbled out. It constricted Derpy and squeezed her hard enough for blood to squirt out of the holes in her exposed muscle.

Derpy continued to look bewildered and Twilight was on her last poker as another tentacle arrived, much smaller but opened its vice and pressed on to Derpy's chest. Twilight's projectile went through the tentacle and severed it almost all the way through. It pulled back and tore the flesh off of Derpy's chest, exposing her ribcage. She gasped in pain as the tentacle shook about wildly and the movement made the last bit of flesh holding it on tear, and the vice fell on the ground.

But Twilight was out of ammo and the tentacles that held Derpy flipped her on to her stomach which broke her grip on the fuse box. She fell short of it and was unable to grab back on to it though she didn't try. The tentacles paused and Derpy looked up at Twilight, her eyes focusing for the first time and she waved at her with left hoof before she was dragged into the mist and disappeared with the living tentacles.

Twilight Sparkle stared in shock at the blood growing cold on the ground, spilled from Derpy's wounds and the tentacle that had been severed. It wasn't possible... it just wasn't possible. What in Celestia's name was that? Of course they'd met dangerous creatures but they'd never had intentions so painful as this one had for Derpy. And what was it doing for her now... they had to go and look for her... They had to search the mist for... whatever those tentacles were attached to and save Derpy from it. But realization washed over her body like buckets of cold water. Anything that could that much damage in that small amount of time would surely have killed Derpy by now. She was out there in the mist, and even if they could find the creature, the former mail carrier would be long gone. She was probably gone now...

But now as she turned to look at Applejack who was staring the shared horror, she began to only see red. She could vaguely hear Rarity approaching and asking them what happened and what all the noise was about, but she didn't care. Twilight lunged at Applejack in a fury.

"Did you get a good look at it?" Twilight screamed smacking Applejack across the face. "Did you see her face? Did you see what you did?"

Rarity grabbed Twilight, holding her back as Twilight stared in anger at Applejack who cradled a bloodied nose and was sobbing loudly. As Twilight looked at her friend, her anger began to fade away and she pulled out of Rarity's grasp and hugged Applejack, beginning to sob herself.

"Oh, Applejack, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it really! You couldn't have known! It's just as much my fault as yours."

After a few minutes of crying, Twilight looked to Rarity who was still at a loss for what had happened.

"Could you take Applejack while I go and turn on our back up power? I need to make Derpy's sacrifice worth it..."

Rarity nodded and Twilight headed down to the basement, knowing that this wasn't even a start to make up for the loss of Derpy.

*Also referred to as "Giggle at the Ghosties"