"W-what do you mean?" Sunny asked, taking a step backwards. Trixie did not allow him to gain any distance, quickly walking towards him. "What are you going to do to me?"

"Me? Trixie will do nothing to you, as long as you do as Trixie says," her eyes narrowed, as if daring him to disagree with her. "And right now, Trixie wished for you to follow alongside her." She motioned with her glowing horn, waiting for him to start walking. Sunny stood silent for a moment, he bet that if he started running now, he might be able to get away before Trixie grabbed him with her magic. But all that would lead to would be him, still lost in the forest, and completely alone. Traveling with Trixie at least meant some safety...right?

At least...that's what he could hope for. Sunny quickly fell into step beside her, and together, they started to make their way through the quiet woods.

Sunny couldn't help but watch Trixie as they walked. She followed no definite path, going straight at one moment, then swiveling around at certain plants, sometimes even stopping completely, just to mutter to herself. She kept her voice low, but Sunny still caught a few of the words.

"Right, yes? It has to be...just get him there...no more...no more..." Sunny had no idea what the words meant, and he guessed that asking her about them was not a good idea.

The talking wasn't the only thing he noticed about her. Her mane and coat were in taters. He hadn't seen it before, but as his eyes adjusted to the low light from her horn he saw just how desolate she appeared. Thorns and burrs were scattered through her fur, and she seemed skinny, skinnier than any pony he'd seen before. Under her eyes, there were bags that seemed so deep it looked like it had been weeks since she'd had a good night's sleep, or any sleep at all. Trixie looked so haggard that soon Sunny's curiosity got the better of him.

"Have you been living out here? In the woods?" he asked.

"Of course not!" Trixie shouted angrily. "This is merely a...temporary arrangement. Just a little more time and Trixie shall be back to my exemplary status as the most powerful pony in all of Equestria!" She declared, keeping her head forward, making sure to not lose the path she was following.

"You were the greatest unicorn in Equestria? What happened?" now that he'd started, Sunny couldn't stop the question from coming out.

"I...Trixie does not want to talk about that, it is not important anyway. It doesn't matter, not anymore," Trixie grew quiet, contemplative, but Sunny risked another question.

"Where are you taking me?" he hoped that 'out of the woods' was part of the answer.

"Far, and very deep into the woods. You need to walk faster, we need to get there before dark," her contemplative mood was over, the last part had been an order.

"What happens at dark?" Sunny wondered what the woods would be like once real night had descended over them.

"You'll see...in fact, you'll do much more than that..."

Celestia had started the sun's descent over the horizon, and still nopony had found any hint of what had happened to Sunny. He had completely vanished like...well, like magic. But even magic left some traces behind! She'd tried every spell she could thing of, but they always brought back the same result, nothing.

"Sorry Twilight, me and Fluttershy haven't found anything," Rainbow Dash reported, the two pegasi soaring down between a gap in the trees. "There's hardly any clearings in the trees, and the one's we find are aren't giving us anything!" Her and the rest of Twilight's friends had shown up soon after she and Spike had made their way to Zecora. They'd quickly split into groups of two, using every skill at their disposal to track Sunny down.

"I tried talking to some of the little critters, but none of them have seen Sunny," Fluttershy added.

"Nothin' on our end either Twi'. We tried following Sunny's tracks on the path. It looked like somethin' strong had drug him off into the trees, but the plants grow too thick out there fer any good tracks to be left behind," Applejack said. Pinkie and Apple Bloom were part of her group, and Twilight wasn't sure which of them looked more miserable.

"I should've listened to you Applejack, you told me not to jinx it, but I did it anyway. I just wanted Sunny to have some fun, I didn't think something like this would happen," Pinkie had thrown all of her energy into searching, but the longer they went without finding anything, the harder it seemed for her to stay upbeat.

"Don't blame yourself Pinkie," Apple Bloom stepped in. "I should have been more attention when we were walkin' together. Shoot, I should'a never gone to the forest in the first place."

"Listen you two, we ain't gonna get anywhere playin' the blame game," Applejack said, rounding on the two of them. "Pinkie Pie, you didn't cause this with just a silly sentence, and Apple Bloom...well I got plenty of time to be sore at you later. What's important right now is findin' Sunny, right Twilight?"

"Right," Twilight agreed, glad to see that Applejack was able to keep a calm mind in this situation. "Once we find him we can all go to being mad at each other, though I hope we can just be happy Sunny's okay, if it's not to much to ask." A small joke, one she was glad to see bring a small smile to her friend's faces.

"I just can't believe you took them, my little sister included, on a tour of the Everfree Forest, surely you must have known how dangerous these woods can get," that was Rarity, walking towards them with Zecora, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. Rarity had not been happy when she had heard what the Crusaders had been up to.

"It was the path I walk to gather herbs every day," Zecora explained, trying to calm her down. "There should have been no troubles to stand in our way."

"Well something grabbed him. Do yah have any idea of what sort'a creature could'a snuck up on yah, grabbed Sunny, then ran off without anypony noticin'?" Applejack asked.

"These woods have not divulged all of their secrets to me, parts of this forest will always be a mystery," Zecora replied, shaking her head.

"Well we've got to do something, and fast!" Rainbow Dash declared, stepping forward. "I don't want Sunny spending the night out here, you all know how he hates the dark."

"I know Rainbow Dash, but I get the feeling that the dark might be the least of Sunny's worries," Twilight said. Suddenly, she felt a light tugging on her tail. Spike was trying to get her attention.

"Uh, Twilight, do you think now might be a good time to send a letter to the Princess?" Spike too had noticed how rapidly the sun seemed to be setting.

"I...I don't know," the last thing Twilight wanted to admit was the Sunny had been taken, while under her and her friends watch. She wanted it to be a simple misunderstanding, that Sunny had just gotten lost...but the evidence against that was overwhelming. All of her friends were working together, and they had uncovered nothing. To stop now, to ignore a power that could help Sunny, was just selfish.

"No, I do know. Take a letter Spike, to the Princess."

"We're here," Trixie stated, stopping in a small group of weeds. Sunny was glad for the moment to rest, his legs ached and he wasn't sure just how much longer he could go on walking. They'd been moving for hours, and the woods had grown darker and darker. Sunny guessed that if he closed his eyes it wouldn't seem so dark...

Hey, that was a good joke. Sunny wished Pinkie was there so he could tell it to her.

He was wishing for a lot of things at the moment...

Trixie's horn began to glow, and with a groaning noise, a wooden trapdoor opened out of the ground. Moving closer Sunny saw a long stairway descending into the blackness.

"Get in," Trixie ordered, pointing down the hole with her hoof.

"But...can you go first?" he asked? If he went first, then he would be away from Trixie, away from the light of her horn.

"And risk you running off? Trixie doesn't think so," she sneered.

"Can you at least give me a light stone? Something to see with?" Sunny asked, desperation creeping into his voice. Trixie raised an eyebrow at him.

"I...I'm afraid of the dark," he admitted. "At home...I had a stone, Twilight enchanted it to-"

"That upstart unicorn?" Trixie interrupted. "I'll show you some real enchantment!" The blue mare immediately grabbed a pebble from the ground, focusing her magic on the rock. Soon, a bright blue glow began to emanate from it.

"There! Trixie is sure that outshines any enchantment Twilight could cook up!" Sunny grabbed the stone in one of his hooves and stared at it. The light the stone gave out was sharp and bright, it seemed even Trixie's magic was somewhat boastful. But...it brought him comfort to look at it.

"Thank you Trixie," he said, then began his descent down the stairs. The steps didn't go too far down before reaching a dirt floor. Sunny held his stone up, trying to see if there was anything else down there.

There wasn't.

Trixie followed him down, slamming the door shut behind her, trapping the both of them below the earth.

"So...what is this place?" Sunny asked.

"What does it look like? It's an old basement, probably for one of the old houses that used to be in the forest," Trixie replied, pacing around the edges of the room, inspecting the old wooden walls. Odd, she almost seemed...nervous.

"Well, why are we here?"

"This is where...they like to come. They are always here, but it's night where they're the most...aware," she rounded on Sunny. "Now listen to Trixie, when the time comes you must do whatever they ask! If you do...you can go home. Do you understand Trixie?" Sunny just nodded.

"Good...now stay still little colt. It is almost time," Trixie fell silent, her eyes closing as the light of her horn dimmed to nothing. Sunny backed into a corner, his hoof gripped around the stone. Who was coming? What were they going to do?

All of a sudden he felt...something, pass through the air, settling around Trixie. She let out a shuddering breath, and all of a sudden, she began to change.

In the dim light it was hard to notice at first, but soon the chance was unmistakeable. The color was draining from her coat and mane, fading away to dull bland gray. Trixie opened her eyes, but the tough, haughty spirit that had been in them was gone. They stared blandly ahead; dull, gray, and dead.

Sunny tried to back away, but quickly collided with a corner of the basement. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

"He's here...he's here," Sunny heard Trixie whisper, but her voice was low, scared...defeated. "Trixie found...I found him, like you asked...just make it stop, please. I can't...I won't take it anymore..." Her head began to slowly turn, observing the room, but then her eyes noticed his light, and her gaze locked on him.

"You are the one," she said, but it wasn't her voice, it wasn't any one pony's voice. She spoke with a dozen different voices, layered together in a cacophony of noise. "You remember, you will help us remember." Trixie began to move forward, her eyes never leaving his.

"What are you talking about? I don't know what you're talking about!" Sunny scrambled at the walled, trying to shift away. But he couldn't. Trixie's eyes had trapped him, he couldn't move, couldn't away.

Trixie stopped, a few mere inches away from young earth pony.

"But you do. You have seen everything, you know everything, and you will help us," the voices told him. "With you, we will know it all once again!" The voices stopped...

And then the pain began.

The cellar faded away, and sunny was back in his nightmares. He was trapped in a void of black, nothing to see, nothing to hear.

Where is it? We know it is here, where have you hidden it?

Every word from the voices was a lance of pain through his body. He screamed, but could not even hear his own voice..

Where!

The darkness shifted, and then vanished. He was standing on a grassy hill, in front of him stood the imposing figure of Princess Celestia. He felt different, strange.

"Changing the rules..." the words hissed from his mouth, but it wasn't his voice. it wasn't him saying them! What was happening?

A memory...a mistake...

That was only one voice that time, and its words brought no pain. Sunny's relief didn't last long though. The hill faded back to black, and the voices began to yell.

You cannot hide it from us!

The darkness was gone, and now he was standing before Twilight and her friends in the middle of Ponyville They were all staring at him, transfixed with horror.

"I'm going to change the world for the better, don't you understand?" That voice again, rough and gravely. Sunny was speaking, but it couldn't be him, that wasn't him!

He yelled, shoving against the memory, pushing himself back into nothing. The voices were angry. They tried again, pulling up another memory, but Sunny refused to look at, shoving it away,

"That's not me..." he whispered to himself. "It's not me, not me, not me, not me, not me!" He ignored the pain, pushing every image away. It was all a trick, all a lie, none of this could be real!

"Please...just make it stop," he said, but he knew the voices would not listen. "These pictures, these memories...they're not mine...they're not mine.

They're lost, and they can't get what they want from you, not when you're like this...

That single voice again, hearing it brought a little comfort to his pain.

It is too late...it isn't here!

In an instant, Sunny found himself back in the cellar, lying on the dirt floor. The pain remained, refusing to fade from his mind.

"Our time is up...but we will be back when our strength is greater," the voices spoke from Trixie. She shuddered, and Sunny felt the presence fade away. Trixie's legs shuddered for a moment, then she too joined Sunny on the ground, her coat and mane remaining gray.

Sunny was hurt, tired, and all he had was an unconscious unicorn and a shiny rock that didn't protect him from anything. He couldn't help it.

He cried.

"Was the Princess always this slow in getting to Ponyville? I could swear she was way faster the last time she came to visit us," Pinkie yammered as they they all sat awkwardly in the main room of the Golden Oaks Library. Twilight and the other just ignored her, they knew she was talking mainly in an attempt to distract herself.

Celestia's reply had been almost immediate, ordering them all out of the woods and to head back to Ponyville. The Princess would meet them all in the library. Quickly, they had said farewell to Zecora and made their way back to town. They dropped off the Crusaders at Applejack's where Big Mac could keep an eye on them. They guessed that the three of them wouldn't do anything else tonight, but you could never been entirely sure.

Twilight wondered just what Celestia was going to tell them, the wording of her response had been nothing short of urgent. Maybe she knew more about the monsters that lived in the woods, maybe she knew just what had taken Sunny...and she was scared.

But that couldn't be right, nothing scared the Princess...well, nothing but Discord, but he had been a literal god of chaos! Surely nothing in the forest could be as bad as him...

"Argh! I hate waiting around like this!" Rainbow Dash yelled, hovering in circles over their heads. "We should be outside, searching until the Princess shows up!"

"I don't like it much neither Rainbow Dash, but it's Princesses orders," Applejack said. "There's always some reason fer everythin' she does."

"Still, it wouldn't hurt her to tell us just a little bit ," Rainbow Dash grumbled.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it will all make sense once the Princess gets here," Fluttershy comforted.

"Yeah! And then she'll go grab Sunny all lickety-split!" Pinkie Pie added. "Then everything will be all back to normal, right?"

"Of course darling," Rarity trotted over and rested a hoof on Pinkie's shoulder. "The princess would never let us down, isn't that right Twilight?"

"Absolutely, I'm sure the Princess knows the perfect spell to find Sunny," Twilight quickly replied, hoping her voice sounded confident enough. She wanted to be right, but she doubted that things would be so simple.

It seemed things had stopped being simple the very moment she stepped into Ponyville.

"My student, I have arrived," The soothing voice came from the front door, and before Twilight had a chance to react, Princess Celestia walked into the room. Like always, just seeing her radiance seemed to bring up everyponies mood.

"Nice to see yah Princess," Applejack greeted, bowing her head. "I think we're all wonderin' why you called us out of the Everfree Forest."

"Yeah, do you have some super-duper spell that'll teleport Sunny back home?" Pinkie jumped in.

"While I will happily devote all the power at my command to help bring Sunny back, there was another reason I ordered you out of those woods," Celestia took a deep breath. "I was hoping to protect you."

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.

"What took Sunny not only took him without anypony around him noticing, but also destroyed almost any traces of the attack. Whoever did this, planned it, prepared for it. The most likely reason for that it...they know what Sunny is," Celestia explained.

"But...what does that have to do with us?" Rarity wondered.

"Yeah, if they know what Sunny is then we should be focusing on finding Sunny as soon as-" Pinkie cut off with a yell, clutching at her head. Twilight stepped forward, trying to see what was wrong, when her own mind erupted in pain.

It was like a fire was spreading throughout her brain, searing through the tissue. Twilight blinked back tears in an attempt to control the pain. Barely, she was able to see the rest of friends succumbing to the strange attack. Rarity and Applejack leaned against each for support while Fluttershy tried to stop Rainbow from crashing against the floor, even while suffering herself.

Twilight didn't have a chance to see anymore as the pain seemed to double, forcing her to the ground.

Just what was happening?

Twilight managed to force her eyes open, it looked like Celestia was trying to say something to them. What could it be? It had to be important, but she couldn't hear, it just hurt too much...she let her eyes close again.

She was back in the world of shadows, lost and alone. Trapped within the pain.

It was hopeless...

Suddenly, the pain began to lessen, and as it did, she noticed a growing light. Instinctively, Twilight opened her eyes to see the Princess standing over all of them, her horn glowing a radiant gold as it projecting a glittering shield over them all. The pain was weaker now, merely a dull throb in the back of her head.

"I wanted to protect you, because all of you share a connection with Sunny," Celestia said, concern etched in her face as she helped Twilight stand. "Whatever is happening to Sunny right now...all of you are feeling it."

"Well just what is happening to Sunny?" Rainbow Dash asked, weakly pushing herself up. Twilight wondered if she had been the only one to see the other world...

"Was he getting...hurt...like that too?" Fluttershy looked like she was on the edge of tears.

"We can't let them do that! We've got to save him!" Pinkie announced bravely, though she looked more worried than any of them.

"That's just the problem though, if you go out there, you'll be giving whoever took Sunny exactly what they want," Celestia said. "You all share a connection, you all share a part of what Sunny used to be."

"Princess...do you mean..." Twilight realized, putting the pieces together in her head.

"When you took Sunny out of the void, you each took a part of him with you, and he got a piece of each of you. If whoever took Sunny gets all of you in one place, they may be able to turn him back, and take his powers..." Celestia paused, looking over all of them.

"They may be able to gain control over the powers of death..."