Part 24 - Gone
Dazzleglow was anxious. She paced up and she paced down.
The glowing ponies waited for Mr Berrytown to return after dropping off his son at home. Happyglow caught Dazzleglow, sat her down on one of the benches then sat with her. She stroked Dazzleglow's mane in an attempt to calm her. It did not help.
When she was about to get up again, Starglow was the one to catch her this time. She took Dazzleglow away from the bench, Sparkler following a moment later.
"I'm worried about Peach Blossom," Dazzleglow said. "I should've stopped her."
Starglow cocked her head to one side. "How? She slipped away without any of us noticing."
"I should've noticed."
"Oh, your clairvoyance playing up again?" Sparkler added. Seeing the frown on Dazzleglow's face, she muttered an apology.
Starglow shook her head. "Should've, would've, could've." She glanced to Sparkler. "Though don't take it out on your friend, we're all worried."
Dazzleglow sighed heavily, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. She wiped them away.
Starglow returned to the bench, leaving Dazzleglow and Sparkler. Sparkler reached into the bag she carried and fished out a small silk bag. She pulled out what was in it, a necklace and clasp, the gems glistening in the sun. She clipped the clasp into place, at the end of the braid in Dazzleglow's mane.
"Oh Sparkler, you didn't have to," Dazzleglow said. It made her feel all the worse for being annoyed at her.
"I figured it would suit you when I saw it," Sparkler told her. "Peach Blossom will be all right. She's a Flutter Pony, she has Utter Flutter on her side."
"I hope it works."
The two unicorns returned to the bench, just as Mr Berrytown made his way back to them.
"All right, Logan is safely at home," he told them. "We can go now; I know the way."
The glowing ponies followed Mr Berrytown out of the square, out of the town, and down the dirt road. The road took them away from town, the buildings becoming a shadow on the horizon. They went through a woodland, bushes and trees on either side, still following the dirt path.
The darkness seemed to spring from nowhere, creeping at the edges of the path, through the bushes. Mr Berrytown halted a few times, looking around the woodland, down the path and to where their destination lay. The darkness snaked its tendrils across the dirt, engulfing the stones and soil.
Happyglow nudged him forward.
They reached the farm, a heavy silence filling the air. The pens were empty, as were the fields, the harvest untouched.
"Did they all leave?" Starglow asked. She went over to one of the fences, poking her head between the gaps.
Mr Berrytown looked around, then headed for the house. He knocked on the door, finding that it was already open.
The house was in darkness. The table in the dining room was toppled on its side, chairs strewn around it. Cupboard doors were left open, the curtains at the window hanging halfway down the curtain pole that had been pulled down. Plates smashed, cups broken, and no sign of the family.
Starglow flew up the stairs, Dazzleglow lit up her horn, while Happyglow and Brightglow stayed with Mr Berrytown.
Dazzleglow went from room to room, checking each one. The rooms were all the same, couches upside down, armchairs toppled over. Papers strewn, drawers left open, cabinet doors left. She could sense the darkness, the presence of it. It clung to the air, the surfaces, like a thick layer of dust in a long-abandoned building.
But this wasn't abandoned, nor should it have been. It was a home, a farm, a family lived here, and now they were touched by the darkness, by whatever the pale ponies wanted. Once more Dazzleglow felt guilty, as if it were her fault, as if it were all her fault. Her friends would tell her otherwise, that it wasn't, that she couldn't have known what would occur.
It didn't help.
"Dazzleglow!"
She shook her head.
Dazzleglow followed Starglow's voice up the stairs. She found her with another pony, older than the baby ponies she knew but younger than herself and her friends.
"I found Corny," Starglow told her, "He was hidden in the wardrobe."
"The things that came for Daisy, they came back here," Corny said. He shook his head. "I don't know where my parents are. They hid me in there and tried to lead it off, I think."
"Let's get back downstairs to everyone."
Corny frowned. "Everyone? Who else is here?"
"Our friends, and Logan's father."
Corny nodded.
Starglow flew down the stairs, Corny following. Dazzleglow lit her horn up again, then took to the other rooms.
Each one was the same, beds unmade, pillows thrown on the floor, drawers open. Dazzleglow went back out into the corridor, headed for the stairs until a thump caught her attention. She frowned and went to the source of the sound.
The thump resounded again. She looked up. Above her head, there was an attic hatch. Dazzleglow searched the rooms for the hook to open it, finding it under the bed.
She retrieved it, looped it through the hole and opened the attic. The stairs came down with a thud.
"Dazzleglow? What are you doing up there?"
"Give me a minute!"
Dazzleglow walked up the steps and into the attic. Her horn was lit, expecting the worst. She saw movement at the other end. Something duck behind boxes, and she followed it. A tail swished, and she saw the colour.
"Mr Meadowsweet? Mrs Meadowsweet? Come out, you're safe," she said.
Mrs Meadowsweet's head peered from behind one of the boxes, and she sighed in relief on seeing Dazzleglow. "Is Corny all right?" she asked.
Dazzleglow nodded. "He's downstairs with my friends and Mr Berrytown."
Mrs Meadowsweet and her husband crept out then followed Dazzleglow out of the attic and down to their son. She hugged him close.
"What happened here?" Happyglow asked.
"Whatever took Daisy, came back for Corny," Mrs Meadowsweet explained, "I hid him, then hid in the attic. Something came here, it tore through all of the rooms looking for us. Then it roared. I've never heard such a sound like it."
Happyglow shook her head. "Do you have somewhere else you can stay?"
"They can stay with us," Mr Berrytown answered. "We have the space."
"That's settled then."
Mr Berrytown led the Meadowsweet family out of the house and back the road they had come. The glowing ponies and Sparkler however stayed, opting to check the house for anything else.
Dazzleglow returned upstairs and to the room she found the hook in. This looked to be Daisy's room, and it was the only room to still be intact. Dazzleglow looked through the drawings on the desk, smiling at them. They were typical child's drawings, happy sunny days, a blue cloudless sky. Below however, were notes, written in the same scrawled handwriting she remembered when Applejack left notes all over her bed.
Leave, they said. Leave, you're not safe. Something seemed to be warning them or trying to.
She put down the pieces of paper, went to the drawers of the bedside table and tried them. The drawers held books, comics and the odd stuffed toy. Nothing particularly sinister at least.
She opened the wardrobe doors, found dresses, hats, bonnets. Shoes at the bottom of it, things she expected to find in a wardrobe. There was nothing lurking in it, nothing untoward wishing to make its presence known. Dazzleglow sighed and shut the doors.
She left the room, got halfway along the corridor then heard it. Knocking.
Dazzleglow turned back, a frown on her face.
Knock, knock, knock.
"Pony feathers," Dazzleglow muttered, "I thought it was too good to be true."
Knock, knock, knock.
She followed the sound, past Daisy's room and into her brother's. His room had fared no better in the chaos. If it had been on a surface of any kind, it was now on the floor.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Thud.
Dazzleglow felt her stomach flip flop over itself. The sound came from the cupboard in the corner of the room. She approached slowly, opened the door and a box of toys fell out, spilling its contents over the floor.
She stepped back, then turned to leave once more.
Thud.
Dazzleglow lit her horn up, then faced the room.
Thud.
She went back in, following the thuds back to the wardrobe. She looked around, at the shelves crammed full of toys and boxes, then to the floor. She spotted it then. A shadow sitting on the floor, hitting the walls around it. It turned its head, the only facial feature that could be seen was its mouth. It was open unnaturally wide, the jaw looked to be somewhat skewed, out of place.
It stood up, tottered toward Dazzleglow and screamed.
Dazzleglow stumbled backwards, ran down the stairs and out of the house.