Author's Notes-First off, I'd like to apologize for the lateness in my updating. I had a skateboarding accident which landed me in hospital for about two weeks. Needless to say, it's hard to type with one hand and a minor concussion. But I digress. You're not here to hear about my hospital trip, you're here to read about ponies. And thank you again, skullcrusher206, for your support during my time of misfortune.

Chapter 9-Swift Recovery

Night time came slowly at Ponyville Urgent Care. Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were gathered in room 162, looking through one of the yearbooks for anypony that might be Veil from seventy years ago. Or three years. It was hard to tell with the hazy information they had been given. They couldn't rely on color either, since Twilight had revealed that pure black was not Veil's original color. In short, all the trio had to go on was hair style and facial shape, not very reassuring, as those might have changed too. As the lights in the hallway began to turn on, Twilight shut the yearbook she had been perusing.

"Oh, this is hopeless. We have no idea what she looked like before, and even if we did, we'd be looking for days through all the different departments! Ughhh." She moaned. "It seemed like such a good idea at the time."

"Um, does that mean we took the yearbooks for nothing?" asked Fluttershy, standing up and stretching her wings.

"No, no. It was worth a shot, but it seems that it won't be so easy." Twilight gazed at the small pile of yearbooks scattered around the room. Then she got an idea.

"What if we asked Veil if she recognizes any of the ponies in these books? All we'd have to do was look at the oldest class in every volume, because she vanished right before she was due to graduate!"

Rainbow Dash leaped into the air. "Great idea, Twilight!"

The door opened and a doctor poked his head in and went "Shhh."

"Sorry."

The three ponies returned half an hour later with packaged food from the hospital's canteen. It was not particularly appetizing, and consisted mostly of grass, bread, and carrots followed with a foam cup of coffee. However, hunger covers a multitude of flaws, and the trio soon found themselves draining the last dregs of the coffee from the mugs. Rainbow Dash looked at the clock. Almost 11:30 PM. It had been 24 hours since last night's misadventure. It had been fun, but now Rainbow was wishing they'd never gone. Veil was now comatose, and they hadn't found anything out from the yearbooks. They needed answers, and they needed them quickly, before investigations from Cloudsdale reached Ponyville.

There was a sudden fizzing sound, like a bottle of soda being opened after it had been shaken up. Twilight, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash looked around wildly as the sound intensified, finally fixing their eyes on a swirling cloud of blue sparks about the size of a beach ball floating above Veil's bed. It moved like a living creature, tendrils lashing out in unpredictable intervals. Finally, one of the tendrils brushed Veil's mane, causing the mysterious mass to go very still. Then, as though each individual spark were synchronized with all the others, they all dived directly into the ebony pegasus's bandaged foreleg, vanishing from sight.

Even as the sparks were settling into Veil's body, Twilight, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were rushing for the door, partly in fear, partly to get a doctor, leaving Veil lost in her dreams…or nightmares.

Falling.

Veil was falling through empty space.

All around her was white fog, stretching out as far as the eye could see. Then she landed softly, though not softly enough to neutralize the impact, knocking the wind out of her.

Veil found herself in a long hallway lined with empty picture frames, all gilt and carved with utmost intricacy. While the hallway was well-lit with blue torches, it was filled with a cold, clammy fog that reached up to her shoulders and clung to her like water. The hallway seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see, with no visible changes. Then she heard something that chilled her even more than the fog already had.

"Found you…"

That voice.

That hissing, fear-inducing voice from the manor. Surely it couldn't have followed her here, wherever 'here' was? And yet here it was, resonating out from all the picture frames, striking her ears with its harrowing disposition. She would never escape. Veil knew in that moment, the only escape from her tormentor was death. She held her hoof to her throat in preparation to slice her own neck when Veil realized her bracer was gone.

Laughter. Twisted, mocking laughter.

"Death? Oh, how very quaint. How very mortal of you. To think you could escape us by merely dying. Death would change nothing. We eagerly await your arrival at death's door, if you wish to end your life. It would not end your existence. You belittle our skill with such ideas. Dying. Really."

"What do you mean?" Veil asked back, trembling amidst the fog, trying to hide in it. "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"You really have no idea. You are more important than perhaps you know, but that may be because you remember nothing. Isn't that right?"

"Yes."

"Then it's even better than we thought. It might even be fun. Think about it."

Veil tilted her head up. "Think about what?"

"You'll see. In the meantime, why don't you try remembering something? You might find that it works better this time. Ta-ta."

Then the voice was gone. Veil got shakily to her hooves, fog sliding off her pitch black body like water off a duck's back.

Now that the voice was gone, Veil felt something beginning to creep into her heart. Something which slowly but surely forced out the fear she had just been feeling. It was anger.

Why couldn't that horrid creature leave her alone? Why was she so important to them?

There had been something different about that encounter, now that Veil thought about it. It had been nerve-wracking, yes, but it lacked something that had been present the previous times she had been lectured by whatever in Equestria it had been. The past few times it had been…serious. No informalities.

This time the voice had been more…friendly? No. It had been far from that, but it had sounded different all the same. Was it possible-no. It couldn't be. Yet it was the only possible explanation, and it justified the use of plural pronouns and the informalness.

There was more than one creature out to drag her back. That was it. The sudden, terrible truth. The anger evaporated and the fear returned in full force.

"No, no, no, no. It can't be…isn't one of them enough?" the pony begged at nothing, crying quietly. "I just wanted to go home…see mom and dad again…why?"

At the manor, Veil's suspicions were being confirmed, but nopony knew that. Yet.

The grinning teeth were apparently holding a conversation with a pile of bones. Bones of what, nopony knew either. The teeth were not grinning now, but were arranged in a type of straight-lined grimace.

Perhaps you frightened the mark a bit too much?

There was a rattling sound as the skeletal remains in the empty room shifted and clacked against each other. Blue sparks floated lazily around the bones, occasionally diving in and out of the holes in them.

"Of course not. Besides, it will be your turn soon enough, and we may even get entertainment value out of this venture. You are not the only one who has been waiting to change reality."

The teeth morphed back into their traditional predatory grin.

Naturally. Now, wake the mark. Excessive damage to its mind and soul are unacceptable.

A small pile of long thin bones arranged themselves into a devilish, talon-like hand. It flexed itself twice and fell apart.

"It will be done."

"Veil, wake up! Wake up!" Twilight shouted as the bedridden pegasus thrashed and writhed before them.

"C'mon, wake up, darn it!" Rainbow Dash said through clenched teeth, shaking Veil back and forth as she spoke.

Fluttershy and Nurse Redheart were preparing a dose of adrenaline to inject Veil with, but Twilight and Dash had to hold her still so that the needle wouldn't slip and rupture any veins or arteries. Finally, Twilight, with a burst of magic from her horn, enchanted the bedsheets to hold down the struggling pegasus. The shot was given, and everypony in the room stood with bated breath to see what would happen.

Veil's eyes snapped open, wild and fearful. She pulled against her bonds frantically.

Twilight was at her side in an instant. "It's okay, Veil. You're safe now."

Veil seemed to think otherwise. "They're everywhere. I can't die, I can't! Please, you've got to help me!" she pleaded, trying to grab hold of the lavender mare, only to be stopped by the restrictive bedsheets.

Twilight gave Veil a reassuring hug and let the bedsheets go. For a while, the two ponies stayed locked in an intimate embrace, Veil crying and choking out strange talk about pictures and voices, Twilight holding her and repeating that it would be alright. Twilight, for the first time, noticed how thin and frail the black pegasus actually was. Come to think of it, the previous times when they had met, Twilight could not recall Veil ever eating anything, not even from the food that was conjured on the table. She was light, even for a pegasus, and what Twilight could feel of Veil touching her felt slightly bony and underfed. While at a distance, Veil might look fine, she was not, both physically and mentally. Especially mentally. The unicorn felt a twinge of fury. Nopony should be like this, all broken and loveless. Veil obviously hadn't done this to herself; it must be whatever else lived in the manor that was responsible for her new friend's pains. Twilight felt a sense of purpose and resolve as she stood there, holding the ebony pegasus as she cried her heart out. She would help this pony, and she would start that very moment.

Author's Notes Part 2

This chapter, I think, was too short. Ah well, that's what I get for being an arrogant fool and not watching where I was going.

Any reviews would be much appreciated, but not demanded.