Night fell much more quickly than either anticipated.
The moon was obscured behind a thick blanket of clouds. A few stars were able to shine their way through, but not enough to provide any more light. Twilight frowned up at the sky.
Great. Now it's partly-cloudy. She thought. Thanks a lot, Dash.
Will had gone from walking in front and taking directions from Twilight to lagging a bit behind and staying as close to the light as possible. He was far more terrified than he thought he would be. With the new knowledge that alien creatures actually did live in the woods, his paranoia was more justified than ever. It didn't help matters that he didn't like the woods at night on even the most peaceful of days.
They followed what remained of the path. It was completely overtaken by tall grass by then. While they could still follow between the corridor of trees, the two actually had to stop at one point and measure the ages of saplings to make sure that they were still headed in the right direction.
The woods were quiet. Far more quiet than they should have been. While the occasional nocturnal animal would snap a twig or rustle the leaves of a tree (sending chills up Will's spine each time), there was a distinct lack of insects, rodents, rabbits, or other animals one would expect to see up and about. They even passed a pond at one point, one completely absent of the midnight conversation of frogs and toads.
The silence extended to Will and Twilight as well. Neither of them had said much since the last note. Reading it had suddenly made the world feel much more fragile. Neither wished to break the silence out of a vague anxiety that they would draw the attention of an unseen force, imagined or no.
"...This is stupid." Will said, at last. His voice was much louder than he expected, so he lowered his volume. "It's one thing to be wandering in the middle of the woods at night, but it's another thing to do it in silence."
"I'm just trying to concentrate on where we're going." Twilight said, more to herself.
"Well I'm just sick of feeling like I'm alone here." He moved a few inches into the light. "I don't like the woods. Not at night. When I was younger, I went with some friends out behind their house. We ended up getting lost for a few hours. I can't remember any time where I was more scared than I was then."
"Are you scared of the dark?" Twilight asked.
"No. I'm scared of what's in the dark."
They were silent for a moment.
"So...tell me where you're from," Will said.
"Huh?"
"That seems to be one of the first questions you ask someone, but I guess I never got around to it. I want to break the silence somehow. Where are you from? Tell me about yourself."
Twilight set the lantern down on her back. "There's not much to say, really. I was born in Canterlot. I lived there for most of my life, studying magic under the Princess. Princess Celestia."
"Bit of a mouthful."
"Magic has always been a strong suit of mine. I've been practicing a long time. Except for maybe the more difficult spells, I'm sure that I could learn any spell in any book if you give me enough time."
"You definitely sound confident about it."
"It's one of the few things I know I'm good at." Twilight said. "The cutie mark probably doesn't hurt, either. But one thing I always regretted was that I wasn't more social. Canterlot is a huge place, with thousands of ponies, but I was more content to stay inside and read. That's still true, to a degree, but it wasn't until I came to Ponyville that I learned how important a relationship, of any kind, can be."
"You're close to your friends?" Will asked.
"Very much. I wouldn't be half of who I am know without them." Twilight said. "What about you? You're the mysterious pony from another world and I barely know more than your name!"
Will shrugged. "My world's not all that exciting. Magic doesn't exist there. Well, I think it does, but that's not a common opinion. Very dirty. Very chaotic. But, y'know, it's my home. I can't help but love it, warts and all.
"I've got friends, some of them very close, but I keep to myself most of the time. Go to class, do my work, blah blah blah. I'm not all that social either, to tell you the truth."
"I understand. Believe me. That you've got better things to do than deal with other ponies. Or humans, I guess." Twilight said. "So what do you do? How do you keep busy?"
"I'm mostly a writer."
"Really? I didn't know that. What do you write?"
"Short stories, some not-so-short ones. Fiction. I like to think I'm good at it, but it's hard to tell. It's hard to judge the quality of your own story. You need second opinions, but I'm not so good at getting those."
"Well, at least it's something you like to do."
"Very true. It's a skill I like to improve on and that I enjoy. But my attempts at 'improving' usually lean toward making things needlessly complicated. Probably just to prove to people that I'm smart." Will shrugged again. "I'd better stop complaining before I get on a roll with it. I'm good at that, too."
They lapsed into silence, much more warm than before. Conversation had helped. The forest seemed less imposing and the darkness less threatening. Will and Twilight still kept their guards up in case anything else were to attack, but they were able to allow themselves to relax a bit as they walked.
"I've been thinking," Will said, thinking out loud. "Why am I here? It's a little funny that I'm not just navel-gazing this time, but why am I in Equestria?"
"Maybe that's what The Melody of Souls will tell us." Twilight said.
"But we don't even know what that is."
"Well, you're the one who thought of it. Any ideas?"
Will shook his head. "I don't. All I know is that it's really important for me to find it. But...I remember yesterday perfectly. I was at my dad's condo. Watching TV. Eating-"
"Watching what?" Twilight asked.
"It's...uh...it's complicated. Entertainment. Anyway, I went to sleep. Nothing special. I didn't even go to sleep that late, I just...did. Next time I open my eyes, I'm here. And just about everything looks familiar to me. I've never had such intense deja vu in my entire life. Maybe this is just some whacked-out lucid dream. I certainly haven't seen much evidence to the contrary."
"But...what about me?" Twilight asked.
"You're...Okay, maybe this isn't a dream. But this definitely isn't the same reality I went to sleep in. I'll remind you, I'm still not convinced I'm not just crazy."
"You seem pretty real to me, Will."
"Of course you'd say that. For all I know, you're a figment of my imagination. A friendly, helpful figment, but a figment nonetheless."
"Or..." Twilight interjected. "Maybe it was magic?"
"Can magic reach across dimensions? Maybe we just have different definitions of the word 'magic.'"
"I do know a thing or two about the subject. Not even Celestia and the greatest unicorns of all time know much about how magic works. All we have to go on are theories and personal experience. There are at least twenty books in the Ponyville library about magical mishaps and incidents that defy every law we've come up with."
"Have there been any cases like mine?"
"No...but all I'm saying is that the world is a big, mysterious place. Anything is possible."
"Can't argue with that. But I don't like to think that things happen for no reason. There's got to be some logic behind why I'm here, why I'm a pony of all things, and why I'm having psychic episodes. It's just not the kind of world I'm used to."
"If The Melody of Souls doesn't help, then we can go to the Princess. You have my word that, one way or another, we'll get you home."
"Thank you, Twilight." Will said, smiling. That's if, he thought, I'm not home already, waiting to wake up.
"My pleasure!" She said cheerfully. She stopped and set down the lantern as she unfurled the map. "About how far away was that pond?"
"Uhm...how fast have we been walking? Maybe half a mile?"
"Hmm..." Twilight looked up and around them. She paced the clearing and looked into the woods holding, the lantern aloft. She realized what she was doing and stepped away from the trees nervously.
"I think we're almost there." She said, coming back. "The problem is that we'll have to cut through the forest to get there. That's dangerous enough in the daytime."
"In any case, let's rest hear for a minute." Will said, awkwardly sitting on the ground. "My fee-hooves feel like they're about to fall off."
"Alright," Twilight said apprehensively, "but wasting time won't do us any favors."
"It's not 'wasting.' It's 'resting.' I want to know my legs will still be working if we get attacked by a squid-buffalo or whatever lives in these stupid woods."
"Well, alright." She said, sitting down next to the lantern. "But you know, staying still for too long will just make it easier for anything that might be stalking us. And the light won't help, either."
Will stood and walked over to the bushes. He stuck his head into the underbrush and came out with a large log in his mouth. He walked to Twilight, dragging it across the ground.
"Lie thithph on hire, pease?"
"What?"
He spat it out. "Light that on fire, please?"
Twilight's horn glowed as a flame burst to life on the branch.
"There." Will said, sitting down. "Now it's a campfire. We've made camp."
"Okay...I don't follow."
"Now that we have a legitimate camp, animals may be more willing to stay away. They'll see the light and think 'Oh, that's fire, better stay away,' as opposed to 'Look, there's light, maybe there's food with it.'"
"I...don't think it works that way."
"Well...then...at least we have more light to see if anything else comes for us, right?"
"I suppose."
"Good!" Will stuck out his front legs and began warming them against the flames. He sighed contentedly as he felt his throbbing pain eventually subside. He stood and turned around, warming his back legs, too.
Twilight looked at him and saw the talon marks that had been scraped up his side.
"You're hurt!" She said, standing rapidly. Will looked at her in alarm.
"What?"
"Your side! The owlbear must have scraped you without us realizing!" Twilight levitated a roll of bandages and a flask of water from her bag. "Hold still."
Will winced as the felt the water pour over his wounds. "Listen, they're not that deep. I'll be fine."
"Owlbears are deadly creatures. Who knows if you haven't been infected with something? If we can't get you home tonight, we're taking you to the doctor tomorrow."
"Great. Now I have something new to worry about. No sleep for me tonight!"
She wrapped the bandages tightly around his middle and snipped the slack off with a pair of medical scissors. "Perfect. If you feel any worse, let me know."
"Yes, ma'am."
They sat next to the fire, looking at it aimlessly while talking.
"Why is this library out in the middle of the forest?"
"I told you before that there used to be villages out here, didn't eye? I did a little reading on the library before we left. Apparently, Equestrian history says that there used to be a sect of pony monks that built libraries all across Equestria. They worshiped books and knowledge as sacred and their writers as gods."
Will raised an eyebrow. "Bit of an odd religion."
"They believed that the creator of the universe was a master storyteller and claimed to have holy books written by them. The monks died out from infighting because none of their 'holy books' said the same thing." Twilight said. "I don't know about the whole religion part of it, but a society of monks that collected books is probably something I need to look into. What if they were re-established! As a collector's society or a preservation fund?"
Twilight excitedly jittered her hooves against the ground. "EEE! I have a new project!"
A tall blade of grass fell against Will's face. He blinked and shook it off. "Are people going to be all that receptive to the restoration of an esoteric order of book-monks?"
"Well...maybe not the complicated parts, but who doesn't love a good book! I'll ask the princess to charter a restoration committee to the Everfree Library if we find it. We could donate books to Ponyville and I'll have an entire library to read! Another one!"
"Uh...oka-gh-phlph!" Another blade of grass got stuck in his mouth and he spat it out. He suddenly remembered something. He wasn't human anymore. And what did horses eat? Wondering to himself what it would taste like, Will opened his mouth and bit off a blade of grass and began chewing it.
Huh. He thought, Tastes...good. Like a really good salad. Weirdly juicy.
He swallowed and glanced at the fire. The flame was nearly gone and most of the log had been reduced to ashes.
"I'll go find another stick or something." Will said as he stood.
Or, rather, he tried to stand and failed.
"What?" He pulled at his legs and found that he couldn't move them. He began to panic, tugging at his limbs as they stayed frozen to the ground.
"Will?" Twilight asked. "Are you alright?" She gripped the handle of the lantern and tried to pick it up, but found it frozen to the ground. She pulled harder and ripped it from the dirt. The grass had somehow wrapped itself around the base of the lantern and held it to the ground. Terrified, she looked to Will. His legs had been bound together by the tall grass.
The ground was moving, grass and plants writhing of their own accord like thousands upon thousands of snakes.
"What's happening!" Will shouted. He began chewing on the grass that held his front legs down. More vegetation wrapped itself around his head and pinned it to the ground.
"This must be the evil force Zecora warned us about!" Twilight looked down to find the grass had trapped her as well, pinning her legs to her side. She used magic to cut its hold, but more sprung up and ensnared her even more tightly. For every blade she cut, two more seemed to take their place.
Will was constricted against the ground. He felt like he was being constricted by thick ropes, each one slowly tightening around him until he could barely breathe.
Then, he felt himself start to move.
He couldn't see where he was going, but he watched as Twilight and the lantern started to shrink away as he was being pulled into the dark forest by the grass.
"Twilight!" He shouted as best he could. The grass tightened around his chest until he was gasping for air.
"Will! Just hang on!" Twilight's horn began to glow. A number of the grass blades were split in half across his body. He even received a few cuts from Twilight's magic. He ignored them and sprang to his feet as fast as he could. More grass sprung up behind him and pulled him back to the ground. He was dragged into the inky darkness of the trees as he dug into the ground with his front hooves.
"Will!" Twilight yelled as the pony vanished into the writhing leaves. She began to thrash and toss in the grass, slicing and cutting with abandon. She managed to free one leg, but it was immediately brought down again. She too was being dragged into the trees. Terrified, Twilight frantically tried to think of a spell that would free her, but none made their way into her panicked brain. She could only pant and groan as she helplessly pulled at her binds. She felt the leaves of the bushes fall on her as she was pulled back into the darkness and watched helplessly as the small light from the lantern was obscured by the writhing leaves.
Twilight was left in darkness. The night sky had become a black curtain over the world. The only sounds were her panicked breathing, her pounding heart, and the constant rustling of the trees around her. She tugged and pulled at the grass, but it did no good. Twilight tried to think of what to do, what spells she could perform, anything her vast knowledge could be put to use for, but she was in no state to perform any of them. Suddenly, she stopped moving. The grass and plants still held her to the ground, but she was no longer being pulled. She waited in the dark, blinking frantically, trying to see anything around her. Her fear suddenly went icy cold in her veins as she realized that she was being pulled.
Down.
Her fear broke. It smashed through the ceiling of panic that enclosed her mind, going immediately into rage, into shock, into sadness, until she reached a state of tranquility and intense focus. She found a small point in the middle of her mind. Tapping inside of it, she was able to open her second set of eyes.
The ones that glowed.
Off in the distance, Will struggled against the grass, trying to tear and bite it off of him with his powerful teeth. He kicked a branch that had ensnared his back feet and tore at the binds with almost psychotic fervor. His fear had become rage. His adrenaline reached a fever pitch and he felt that he was about to tear his muscles from his bones with the fury with which he tore and the grass around him.
The only thing to bring him back to lucidity was a concussive thud that reverberated around the forest. He even felt it in his chest. Even the plants stopped moving as he looked up to see an enormous fireball in the distance incinerate everything within a ten foot radius.
Will took advantage of the pause and tore himself free from the grass. He used the fireball as a brief guide and saw a clearing far off to his right. He bolted through the woods, leaping and sprinting as fast as his powerful new legs could carry him. A thought flashed into his head.
A large branch suddenly swung down and brained him, knocking him unconscious and sending his body seeping into the dirt.
A large branch swung down, but Will ducked it and leaped over another that swung at his legs. It reached a point where he no longer knew where he was going, just that he was moving forward as fast as he possibly could. He bucked and thrashed and issued a whinny a couple of times as he tore through the forest.
Suddenly, the forest was no longer there.
Will was sent crashing across the ground, falling onto thin weeds that became thick slabs of stone. He came to a stop against a block and collapsed to the ground. He moaned, panting heavily, but managed to roll over onto his side and face the forest.
A light came from the trees. Will watched as it grew closer and split into to lights. Eyes.
Twilight emerged from the forest, a swath of burned trees in her wake. Her eyes shone like two spotlights and her horn glowed in the middle of her forehead like a third. With every step she took, flames spouted from the ground and left singed hoof-marks in the grass.
The light left her eyes and she fell to the ground in a small heap. Will stood up on his sore, throbbing legs and limped to her. She opened her eyes as he approached and smiled. She used him for support as she stood on shaky legs and panted. Looking past him, Twilight's eyes grew wide. She pointed.
Will turned to see that they were at the base of a massive stone structure, partially fallen in and old as time itself. It towered above them, stretching across the clearing like a fallen colossus.
"We're here."