One less

by Ingvaeonic

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Dark, Alternate Universe
Length: 16812

Separate timeline from Ep: Too Many Pinkie Pies. What if one of the cloned Pinkie's was not found? What would happen?

Separate timeline from Ep: Too Many Pinkie Pies. What if one of the cloned Pinkie's was not found? Bloodthirsty monsters, new types of 'magic', conspiracies, treason and a whole world just outside everyone's backdoor.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-07-15 12:45:08 UTC

1

"One Less"

Written by Ingvaeonic.

Cover art by Ingvaeonic.

Chapter 1: "1"

"Respectfully yours, Pinkie Pie."

As Pinkie Finished her letter, Spike quickly sent it on its way. Standing in her door frame Pinkie watched as Spike engulfed the letter in flames. She was transfixed on its slow disintegration as it turned to ashes and disappeared from sight.

Something purple caught her eye, momentarily intrigued by this Pinkie looked in its direction to spot Twilight, and her other friends approaching.

"Hi Pinkie Pie, we were thinking we should go out and celebrate!" Twilight said this with a smile on her face, but why wouldn't there be? They all worked hard that day trying to figure out which pinkie was the real one. Pinkie had used magic to clone her self to be with all her friends at once. But things got out of hand as her clones started making clones and before they knew it an army of Pinkie Pie's were causing chaos throughout Ponyville. They were worried they would never find out who the real one was, but they eventually figured it out.

They were glad to have her back.

Applejack sparked up at that.

"You up for some wheelbarrow races?" Applejack had fond memories of playing this game, it was her childhood joy that taught her how to have fun, for she usually got sucked into her work at the farm.

"Or I could take everypony on a cloud ride!" Exclaimed Rainbow Dash. She loved How the ponies would squeal when she flew too fast when asked not to.

"I could throw a party with punch and zesty cucumber sandwiches!" This was accompanied with a little squee that Rarity may or may not be infamous for in Ponyville.

With everyone Throwing out ideas, Pinkie started to feel cornered, 'every-pony seemed to have such great ideas', she thought, it was becoming overwhelming. After a second to decide, she knew exactly what she felt like doing.

"You wanna know exactly what I feel like doing right now?"  She said this while backing up into her home, she gained a few looks of confusion from the other girls, but they changed to looks of amusement. Pinkie jumped onto her back, and with a great sign or satisfaction, snored loudly after instantly falling asleep. The looks of amusement changed to laughter after Flutter Shy, One of the girls who was know for her kindness and element of harmony to back this statement up, quipped.

"That looks like fun."

************************************************************************************************************************************************************

'Elsewhere'

With fatigued breath she forced herself to run faster. She knew someone would come for her, one of those evil ponies would take her away. Like they did everyone else.

She just needed to run that little bit further, through fields and acres she would not give. She knew if she stopped for a second, she would be done for. She collapsed. Her head spun, running for so long took its toll and now she was rendered helpless. She had run into a nearby forest hoping she could lose them, but losing her way in the process. She could no longer tell which way she came, every direction looked identical, but the worst was yet to come.

It was becoming dark.

Noticing this she mustered up her remaining strength and hobbled weakly. Passing a few trees she came across a small stream that ran towards her direction. This reminded her on how parched she really was. Nimbly walking to it, she lay down next to it and engulfed her entire head into it. Taking huge mouth-fulls she quickly rose to take air in sharply, and more quickly then before returning her head to the icy deeps to sway her thirst.

This cycle was ended as a high pitched screech was heard, quickly rising her head to spot the intruder, she slid on muddy grass causing her to partially fall into the stream, soaking her forearms, head and mane. At this point the type of monster that formed the noise had become so ferocious, so dark and evil inside her mind that finally getting away from the satanic stream and checking her surrounds , caused everything for a split second to become blood sucking, and murderous. To then find no monster did quench her fear slightly although still on edge, made her feel really stupid.

Trying to forget what made the sound, she followed the stream upwards. Checking her back now and again fueled the fear that nagged her mind, the slightest nick of sound from any direction caused her to jump and face its position, only to have complete darkness return her gaze.

Seconds seemed like minutes as she heard another noise, not a monsters screech, but a strange sound, like popping. Following this sound, she came to a small clearing that was lit up, it included several bulky objects. Two tents, a fire and various logs scattered around the fire, the sound seemed to originate here, specifically the fire. She was mesmerized by it, how the flames danced around itself, how the logs that gently broke down into white ash, and how the wind would nudge it in different several directions, like conducting a ballet.

Slowly approaching the flame she neglected her footing, she kicked something round and hard. A small reflective glass bottle glimmered in the fire-light, now that she observed the ground she noticed the floor was littered with them. Stepping carefully she continued her approach to the fire, reaching her destination she closed her eyes and sat in the fires warm embrace. With her previous fear gone, she felt content. As the fear melted away, something else decided to nag at her.

She was starving.

Groaning she picked herself up and wondered the camp site trying to be as silent as possible. Nothing but dirt, the whole campsite had been plucked of grass and all that remained was hard, dry soil.

Taking a hard long look at the warm inviting fire, and then the dark, mysterious forest. One was warm and secure the other, dark and dangerous. She knew she had no choice.

Taking slow steady steps she walked back into the forest. Rounding Bushes and shrubbery she hoped to find a berry of some sort, but to no avail. Not wanting to get too far away from the campsite, she walked the circumference of the fires light, trying to pick out all if anything she may eat. Just as things seemed to become hopeless inspiration struck.

"Surely they brought food with them..." She mumbled, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to intervene with whomever this campsite belonged to. She figured they were males, glancing at all the bottle of rum and beer that lay about, she realized that was sort of sexist, but it just seemed to be a male thing. Walking in a curvy pattern, trying to avoid all the bottles that conveniently marked her way to one of the tents. As she approached the tent she began to have second thoughts. What if they were big, mean, and don't like being disturbed?

What if it's not even a pony?

with all these thoughts raging on inside her head, she tripped. Time seemed to pause for a slight moment as she tried to comprehend what just happened. The tent became blurry as gravity forced her under its will to fall.

Just as fast as time stopped, it started again. With her now on top of a destroyed tent. Realizing she was probably crushing whoever was in there she scurried onto her hooves began to make a run for it. If only fate would have it, there were still bottles surrounding her, trying desperately to hop, skip and jump her way across seemed futile, as she slipped  and was sent flying.

She landed, hard.

Her landing was so forceful that the bottle underneath her smashed, causing her to scream out in pain. The glass sunk deep into her pelt staining it red and rendering her left forearm useless. Adrenaline coursed through her as tears of shock and pain blurred her vision. This only served to slow her down, the once warm and embracing light, turned sinister in a matter of moments. Her only sanctuary was the dark forest, as fast as her war heavy body could muster she hobbled to the tree line. Thinking fast she hid behind a bush, hushing herself she waited, she waited for any sound that would mark the inhabitants of the campfire alive and trying to give chase.

As time ticked on the campsite was as silent as she left it. No noises, no screams of angst or rage, nothing. After what seemed like forever, she mustered up her courage and peeked out the bush. As she had left it, the campsite sat peacefully.

After more time passed she took hesitant, shaky steps towards the light. She reasoned with herself that this was a bad idea, that anything could happen. She could even die. Her burning curiosity won the battle, she marched on her three hooves to the center of the campsite then over to the tent. Her side was soaking with blood but still high with adrenaline, she ignored it. Taking better care to avoid the bottles this time, she glanced inside the half-demolished tent, she found many things including a sleeping bag, torch, an ice cooler to which she relieved had some food in it, and a jacket.

But was empty of any pony, griffin or anything that could have build the campfire.

She wasn't out of the clear yet, there were two tents. Leaving the explored tent now slightly covered in blood, she ventured to the only other tent. Like the the other, this tent was also unzipped, peering inside she sighed a breath of relief. It was also empty. Taking her time to search the tent she found most of the things residing in the other tent minus the ice cooler and plus a small black box. Opening the box found to be medical equipment, bandages, plasters, alcohol wipes, ointments and the usual things you would find inside a camping first aid kit.

Although now she could patch up her forearm, there was one problem. The glass was still inside her, and deep at that. She was no doctor and only knew simple things that revolve around first aid, but that unfortunately had not included pulling glass from wounds.

So she sat.

She thought long and hard whether she should leave the glass in or not, stories of how ponies take them out, only to die of blood loss as the glass had been closing a major artery or some major function. It was a dilemma for leaving it in came with its own problems, higher risk of infection, loss of body parts due to lack of blood supplied. Weighing her options she decided to play smart and only remove glass the was not lodged too deep into her pelt.

Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, she closed the tent and set out what she determined fit for the job. Bandages and alcohol wipes. Steeling herself one last time, she gripped the first chunk of glass between her teeth and began.  Pulling it out fast was the best way, so when she twisted her neck and pulled with her whole force. The screeching that was heard before in the night would pale in comparison to what shriek of agony that escaped her mouth. Tears stained her cheeks as she slowly but surely pulled at that she could from her forearm.

The blood pooled at the tents floor as her newly opened wounds gushed with the liquid of life. Each agonizing tug at the glass caused her to once again howl in pain.

Before she knew it, it was over. Blood splattered her coat and the tent floor, unwrapping the bandages she tightly wrapped her forearm in soft cushiony cloth. Wanting to be safe she wrapped two pairs of bandages around her wound, but the blood still seeped to the cloth service. Wiping her wet and blood shot eyes, she unzipped the tent end exited. Leaving behind a hoof trail of blood she entered the other tent.

With tired eyes she looked at the sleeping bag and pillows lovingly, but she had to take priority over luxury. Opening the icebox she produced three carrots, a handful of clovers and two apples. Slowly quenching her hunger she chewed on the delicacies that had evaded her for so long. Zipping up the tent she bee-lined for the bed, lowering herself onto it she closed her eyes and swiftly departed from reality.

The camp sites original owner was yet to be discovered.

Sir Soot

Chapter 2 : "Sir Soot"

As early morning raze lighten the dark and moody forest the residents would wake, and carry merrily on with their day oblivious to the previous nights conundrum. Birds chirped and sung songs that blessed each ear it came across. All but one.

With the continuous noise and light berating her senses she soon too awoke, grunting and moaning she slowly became conscious of reality. Deciding to lay there she reviewed last night. The chase, the forest, monsters, and now where she lay.

The campsite.

Over encumbered legs began to stabilize her until its wounded support gave under her weight. Cursing under her breath for forgetting her injury she stood on all three usable legs and assessed her wound. The sudden amount of pressure upon it caused it to once again weep, staining the already rouge bandages.

Wincing she removed the dressing and glanced at the damage, the glass remained mocking her with its presence. Its insulting denial of complete healing caused her to feel queasy. Deciding the less time she dwelt on it and the more time she spent on finding a doctor she opted to replace the bandage upon her forearm, but in a sick display of humor she watched as the bandage slowly slid its way down her leg. Lubricated by recent blood.

She needed more bandages.

Turning to the tent opening where the majority of light cascaded though the thin piece of tent. She hobbled over to its zipper. Opening the tent the campsites changes was immediately noticeable.

The fire had been obliterated, ashes and wood scattered throughout the camp and beyond. The same was applicable to the bottles, as they too were scattered, but something else was wrong, something that both confused her and frightened her.

The second tent was missing.

Most of it anyway, the rest remained in shreds upon the camp-site floor. The bedding, pieces of equipment and what her most recent trauma called for, the remaining bandages and medical equipment. With wide eyes she stared at the remains of her salvation.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" With all the wrongs that lined up throughout her journey, things just kept getting better. She internally screamed in frustration and looked about for something to vent her anger to. Residing neatly in a pile was a small group of ash and soot. Walking over to the small pile of innocent looking ash, she glared at its whiteness, its pure perfect little pile it found itself into. It had no idea of the wrath that would soon be upon it.

Bending as low and as close as she could on one forearm, she began to whisper in a sinister tone.

"You think you so special, huh? Minding your own business,  sitting there, not a care in the world. Impossible to become aware of your troubles. I'll. Show. You!"

With this statement, she lifted herself upon her hind legs, and with all her pent up anger she came barreling down upon her victim. Time slowed for the ash, it felt its time was near, something was about to wash it away, into the cosmos. With a last tear, and a last goodbye to its world that housed it. It was consumed by darkness.

Rearing up in accomplishment, she declared victory against the ash, she had conquered its domain, and now future generations will sing songs of her victory. Feeling the early sun upon her coat, she became lost in her wonder land of destroying evil, single handedly and saving the world from certain doom.

"Wait, what's this!?" she recoiled in shock, the evil Sir Soot had a back-up plan, with its last moment it directed its dying trajectory at her. Sir Soot's corpse flew straight at her, opening her mouth to scream, Sir Soot flew into her face. He was attempting to suffocate her!

With wide eyes, she pound her stomach as ash flew into her lungs, she coughed and hacked up black and white soot from deep inside her.

"Damn-it!" she sputtered while attempting to relieve her lungs of its intruder. Removing the remains of Sir Soot, she wondered back over to her tent.

"Water, water, gotta be water in here." Scavenging the tent, revealed a half empty bottle of whiskey, namely the same kind that was scattered around the tent. Sparing time to read the name of the fluid she was about to consume, she proceeded to gulp it down, it seemed to be flat. In times like this, you just have to make it work.

John Adams.

That was the name of the type of soft whiskey she had just consumed. She liked it, she mentally stated she should remember that name.

Deciding that something was better then nothing she left the tent and scavenged the wreckage, with one usable forearm maneuvering was slow and painful. Turning over shreds of bedding, feathers, wool, plastic and rubber she reclaimed most of what remained of the medical equipment.

Gathering the shreds of bandage she attempted to tie them together, with little luck.

"I'm so stupid, why did I have to leave all this stuff in the other tent?" badgering her self she had come to the point where  more tinkering would do more bad than good. Carefully picking up the patchwork bandage she placed it upon her wound, wincing when it came in contact. Wrapping it tightly she was now free to asses her other problems, like breakfast.

Re-entering the tent and opening the ice cooler she viewed its contents.

"no, no, no." Mumbling this as the moved produce like beef jerky, ham sandwiches and chicken. She came across a bag, an almost transparent bag containing small dark brown clumps. Catching her interest she dove into the bag and placed them before her, inhaling their scent she quickly removed her head from their presence.

"What in the world?" The simple act of smelling them caused her head to spin slightly, quizzically staring them down she closed the distance between her and the mounds to slightly inhale their aroma. Once again she felt light headed, stronger this time as a piece had broken and the stench of the brown clumps very center entered her nose. She sat down, she groaned as her head swam, closing her eyes her mind blanked, she forgot about reality for a few slight seconds.

Regaining her mind she eyed up the mounds. Picking herself up she glanced at the ice cooler, now able to see what was underneath the bag she continued her search for food. Nothing special, just brown parchment and a pack of matches, the matches may come in handy she thought, but the lack of vegetarian food disappointed her. The only remaining edible food was a few strawberries and those weird brown things.

She wasn't sure if she wanted to eat them.

Thinking it was smarter to not eat them, but still keep them on her person incase she got desperate. Before leaving a final time she took one last look around the tent for something she may have missed. There was the jacket that was left here, other then a few stains seemed quite contact. Trying it on she found it to be a little big, but this feature is what made it usable to her. Its manufacturing my have targeted bipedal creatures, like diamond dogs and minotaur's but a griffin may also be up for debate.

Existing her nights sanctuary, she realized something she should have long ago. She still had no idea where she was.

Choosing was out of the question since she had no clear imagery of this part of the forest and any direction could be the death of her. Steeling her herself, she consulted her most adequate way of navigation, a thing so brilliant it was sure to succeed. Something that was impossible to fail.

Closing her eyes, breathing deeply she concentrated. Harder until she knew the time was right, then, she would utter the ancient  ritual.

As she began to utter the words the trees rustled, the wind picked up and the atmosphere became sinister.

"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, catch a rabbit by its toe, if he hollers, let him go, eeny meeny, miny,moe." With the ancient  ritual complete, accompanied by a 30 degree turn at each comma, she opened her eyes and glared at where she was pointed.

The tent.

Rolling her eyes she moving to the side, to see what was behind the tent. Once she saw it she resisted the urge to face palm, is was a tree, what else?. Walking around the tent she slowly limped in a fashion she hoped stayed linear, because she feared she would be walking for a while.

************************************************************************************************************************************************************

In a dark, moist cave something picked at its teeth. Feathers seemed to be annoying when needed to be dealt with, they got just about everywhere.

It lay next to its recently defeated and mostly consumed victim, blood and gore painted the rocks and walls of this particular cave, not only belonging to the unfortunate victim, but past bodies aswell. This caused the cave to smell quite putrid and anything near its entrance soon departed from stench alone. That was just how it liked it. It reminded it of home, forced out by a dragon terrorizing the land, although long gone, he became content with living here. Not to mention the loggers that had started working near his old nest resulted in poor sleep patterns.

Reminiscing on its latest victim, it chuckled slightly. After deciding to wonder to the stream it came across various animals that it loathed. Birds especially, always chirping and singing it put off its concentration and disturbed its napping sessions. Sneaking up on one particular bird that sat pecking at the ground, it pounced and caught its prey.

Planning to sadistically torture the frail creature it produced this loud and completely unnecessary sound. An enormous screech that blasted the sadistic predators ears causing it to let go and cover its ears. Watching the bird fly to safety made its blood boil.

Just about to give chase it heard rustling from afar, followed by the sound of galloping. Finding a potentially larger meal it smiled to itself it gave chase, though trees and bushes it began to close the distance between it and the foolish pony.

The chase abruptly ended when the predator was tackled by something fluffy, trying to get the upper hand it clawed its way free from its attacker that seemed to hang on for dear life.

Facing it stood an adolescent griffin, to a lesser being this may have become frightening. To it, this was the equivalent to a hamster fighting with pencil led. Grinning it slowly approached the foolish griffin. All too late the griffin realized what situation it was in and attempted to flee.

Catching the griffin it began to sink its teeth into its side. The griffin screeched in agony as pearly white teeth tore though flew and muscle. Calling out for help the griffin tried desperately to fight the predator off by kicking and thrashed around, all the while crying out it pain. No amount of noise or movement would shift the body that towered above it.

Feathers and blood coloured the grass as the griffin felt its body go numb, and as fast as this whole ordeal began, it was over. Letting its new meal down it smiled in satisfaction. Never having tried griffin meat it looked forward to devouring him.

Hearing a gasp of shock and horror the being turned its back to see a young Pegasus. Not just any Pegasus, but the one it previously chased. Her face filled with horror and tears painting her face she began to run though the clearing on shaky legs.

Deciding to watch the Pegasus fumble with her stepping she seemed to momentarily forget she could fly. Remembering her wings, she took flight and dissolved into the distance. Satisfied with its new meal, it haled the bloodied corpse back to its cave.

Always wanted to taste griffin, the being thought.

Road's

Chapter 3: "Roads"

"Eye spy with my little eye, something beginning with bush. I MEAN B! Dammit, this is boring."

Walking for the majority of the day was not fun, quite the opposite actually. She attempted to play 'Eye Spy' with herself to try and kill some time. However it was pointless if your opponent always knew what you were looking at. Especially if you get so bored that you say its entire name by mistake.

Boredom caused her to seek the floor for entertainment, which surprised her when her eyes met cobblestone. Becoming confused she picked up her head to check her surroundings. Not only had she left the forrest but crossed a small clearing, a bunch of tree stumps and walked right onto a road.

"I'm out? I'm out, I'm out. I'M OUT!" This was followed by cheering and a little dance, which only consisted of a slight shuffle to the left then right. Becoming sucked into her little parade, she failed to notice a small wooden frame, being pulled by a smaller, but older one.

"Go ta' Equestria they said, lots'a opportunities they said."

Snapping her head in the direction of the voice she spotted something she quite didn't expect, considering she expected to still be lost. Which she was, just not in the Forrest.

"Oh! Hello!" She smiled as she said this. A little more enthusiastically then she should have. Racing up to the being half her size which she identified to be a small donkey with an ash coat, she continued to talk nonsense.

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you! All this time I thought something was gonna happen, like I would starve or something would get me or I would fall and die or." The donkey had stopped listening at 'Hello.' Staring blankly at the none-stop yapping pony in front of him, he wondered if 'New opportunities' were worth the hassle.

He continues to walk and ignore her at the same time, which made him slightly smile. For a while a friend of his insisted that it was virtually impossible for jacks to multitask, said to 'always get a Jenny to do a Jacks job'. Continuing to smile proudly to himself, without thinking, nor remembering he now had company, began to chuckle.

"Yea-heh, take that Littlesun!" The silence that followed unnerved him slightly, something had stopped making noise, although he was sure there was none to begin with.

Stopping to lift his goggles his stared at the pony that had decided to tag along. She stared back. This carried along for a bit too long. Figuring it had been a long enough, she broke the silence.

Raising an eyebrow, she spoke.

"Who's Littlesun?"

"Non'a ya damn Business that's who."

The conversation would have ceases, but something caught his eye. He noticed that she was limping. More so that the patchwork bandages had stained red and crusted over.

"Wait now, wait. Little lady how in the world did you do that?" immediately releasing  his mistake, he interrupted her just as she attempted to speak".

"Actually save that for later, we gotta change that thing you call a bandage. Its all mismatched and crazy lookin, like ya' made it yourself."

Turning around to venture into his mounts of luggage and bags. She said something that made him pause.

"I did."

Prompted to say something, he opened his mouth, only to close it again. Better to say nothing may she perk up again.

Rummaging though items most people called "trash" he appeared with a surprisingly clean set of bandages. Ranging from length and size.

Approaching the pony, he attempted to remove the crunchy bandage, but as soon as he touched it she recoiled in pain.,

"Not so hard!" Hearing her wine he tried again, only to have her repeat her move. Once again, he tried for the wound but she moved out of range.

"Do you wonna do it?" Nodding her head to this, she slowly unwrapped the bandages, the deeper she got the redder the bandage became. Reaching the end she removed the bandage to display her Foreleg.

His reaction was as follows.

"Yer do know yer got glass in yer leg right?"

"yes"

"Why?" He was pretty astounded. Usually when people got injuries that concealed whatever they were damaged by they take it out so the injury could heal. This genius decided not to do that. Just leaving it protruding out.

"I fell on it, isn't that obvious?"

"Yer, but why is it still there? Still pretty clueless, he pressed on, intrigued on her logic.

"If I took it out I could bleed to death!" Now that one was obvious in her opinion, just looking at it you could tell that it must of hit something important. Now that she thought about it, it scared her that she may have permanently damages her leg.

Hearing this the small older donkey chuckled lightly, shaking his head he turned back to his cart and rummaged some more.

Becoming offended by his reaction, she got a little steamed.

"Hey! What gives! Why you laugh?" She was pretty upset, thinking about it, she wondered how this all began again, for a few moments she had forgotten why she had been in there to begin with. It all came back within a matter of moments. Gasping she began to panic.

"Oh my god, oh my god!" She tried to look in all directions, seeing if she could spot the murderous ponies come to get her.

Making small sequel noises the donkey came back with a pair of doctors tweezers.

"Ok, calm down just stay still. Gotta get that shard out." tying to calm the mare, he positioned himself in a comfortable way. Getting low he grasped the visible edge of the shard, before pulling he warned her about the pain she would likely feel.

"This will hurt, jus' sayin."

Before she could respond to this he pulled as hard as he could. Eliciting a scream from her.

"What the hell!" screaming and screeching she held her forearm where the glass was dislodged. Blood, once again seeped down her painted forearm. Never had she screamed so much, tears once again streamed from her eyes staining her vision.

This continued for a while, the donkey was beginning to become irritated, digging a hole he buried the glass shard.

Walking back over to her he produced the clean bandages and some alcohol.

"That's quite enough blabbering, turn over so I can clean it." Hesitantly she released her rouge stained forearm. Pouring alcohol down her arm she cringed, it made things very painful, she realized how irritate the donkey way becoming so she attempted she stifled her crying.

After soaking her arm he wrapped it in bandages. Tying a knot he picked up the bottle of whiskey and gulped a mouthful. He wiped his mouth and offered it to her. Staring at the bottle she shakily took the bottle and began gentle sips. Although she had calmed down a soft sob would escape her lips every now and again.

He picked himself up and slowly walked back to his cart. On his way he paused and looked back at her.

"What's yer name anyway?"

Forgetting acquaintances she removed the bottle and began too speak.

"Err.." He name? She hadn't thought of a name. Thinking on her feet she quickly thought of a name and blurted it out. She regretted it almost instantaneously

"JOHN! Yea, John..." Dammit! She was so stupid! Something as simple as a name and she had to have picked that. She couldn't remember where she had heard it but it stuck in her head for some reason.

Now it was her name.

At least for a little while, until she could hide from the killers.

The doubt on his face was instant.

"Yer names John?.." 'John' nodded furiously.

Looking blankly at the too enthusiastic smile on her face he figured she was lying, pretty obvious actually. Either way he was satisfied with it, gave her an identity.

He hooked himself back to his cart and carried on his path. Coming face to face with John again he slowed down to speak, then walked usual speed on past her.

"Names Sign, maybe we should travel together. Headed to a small town just over yonder. Probably a hospital or something there."

She watched him walk ahead of her, and walked with him after picking herself up. Sign noticed that she was slower then him, he slowed down to accommodate

********************************************************************************************************************************************

Word had gotten around of the young griffins death. The forest that he had been murdered in had been close to Ponyville so relatives had gotten enraged quickly. A mod of civilians had gathered at the town centre, after the whole 'Town full of Pinkie Pies' trouble had just been cleaned up this problem had surfaced.

The mayor had been trying to calm the residents down, many ponies, griffins and other sentient beings were barking, creating a ruckus and just being plain rude.

"Quiet! Screeching in each other's faces will get us nowhere! We need to come to a conclusion, death is not an uncommon subject, but murder is. This is painfully serious and we need to take extra precaution to what our actions may be." She said this with the intent to calm the people down, but her response was quite the opposite.

The crowd proceeded with their roaring, they wanted justice. If justice was not up to par then they would take it into their own hands.

"Smoke it out!"

"Capture it!"

Many thoughts and ideas were surfaced, but without any control an action could not be taken.

The mayor turned to her current advisor, Twilight. The mayor had asked her to accompany her in this debate for her input. The Princesses protégé's opinion meant at least something.

"This isn't going well, they just wont listen to reason. Can you do something to make them listen?"

Twilight thought about something she could do to keep the audience quiet enough.

"Sorry, but I don't have a clue."

Thinks were becoming more and more dire. The audience was just feeding of each other's rage and in turn making the whole group into a raging inferno.

Rainbow Dash looked on, just glancing at them boiled her blood, someone was dead and all the people could do was rage at each other, and she had enough of it.

Flying to ground level she landed on the stage next to the mayor and Twilight. Taking a huge breath she face the audience and roared down the microphone.

"Shu-ut. u-up!" Gasping after this out burst she was met with the appropriate reaction. Silence.

Everyone was locked on her position, with everyone's attention she could now get this whole meeting started.

"Ok, now. We need to deal with this thing that killed that griffin, first things first, what even was it?" Rainbow meant business, no more messing around. This needed to be dealt with as quickly as possible. Silent whispers were carried though the crowd it seemed that nobody wanted to speak up.

"Hello-ow? Were you even listening?" More whispers, until one voice picked up. A small voice that somehow gathered to meet Rainbow Dashes ears.

"She said it was too dark too see what it was, all she remember was its eyes." Talking began to emerge again, threatening to become too loud to speak over.

"Quiet! What about its eyes?" Rainbow was becoming inpatient, the longer everybody messed around the longer that thing was still out there. Who knew when the next time it would strike. There was a long pause from the crowd, until that very same voice picked up again.

"That's the thing, there were none."

Pears

Chapter 4: "Pears"

After cleaning his cave out of feathers to the best of his abilities, he began to ponder and review the nights activities in his head. Gently beginning to fall asleep he jutted back into consciousness with a simple thought.

The campsite.

The campsite was likely to be property of the Griffin and that Pegasus, releasing that the Pegasus could reveal his whereabouts, he exited the cave and dashed though the Forrest. Rounding trees, bushes, shrubbery and small clearings he came to a sudden halt at the sight of a small orange glow. Lowering himself  to the ground he approached the campsite.

Entering the clearing he once again halted, the sight of the campsites ground was quite sickening. Bottles. Bottles, bottles, bottles.

Every square inch of this run-down campsite was covered with bottles, not to mention a few broken ones too. Grumbling to himself he carefully tiptoed around each bottle, careful to watch each foots fitting and to gently nudge a bottle or two to the site.

Rounding the fire he picked up a scent that caused him to chuckle, he would know that smell anywhere. Picking up the paste he came to a stop at a small tent. A little thing it was, he probably couldn't even fit. That wasn't the appeal, what was inside the tent was.

Blood.

Good old fashioned pools of blood, just smelling its metallic goodness would bring happy days his way. He lowered his head and inhaled its scent for a while, it would bring back memories of his old cave and his old victims, them usually being a diamond dog.

Eyeing up his reflection he began to lap up its remains with his tongue. He was beginning to become lost in the sensation when a sharp pain raced though his tongue, gasping at the sudden feeling he inspected his pulsating muscle. In betwixt the blood lay a small shard of glass, said glass had lightly punctured his tongue. Looking around he noticed that the blood was littered with glass.

He hoped he hadn't swallowed any. Plucking the glass from his tongue it began to drool with its own life liquid. This certain blood was very distinguishable from the natural crimson red. He hated this part, always when he saw what he had become made him angry. The very thought of the actions that transpired to turn him into this thing turned his mood sour.

He began to tear at the tent, ripping it apart piece by piece. He repeated this with the bedding, tools and medical equipment. Not like anyone would need them, and be it far from him too care anyway.

Within a matter of moments the tent lay obliterated beneath his feet. His anger was far from quenched, he kicked and threw the majority of the bottles at trees and other things. He caught sight of the fire, learning from past mistakes that included stepping on small pieces of burning wood which would cause a small annoying burn to proceed to nag him for weeks was not on his schedule. This one on the other hand was not only small enough but had disintegrated to slight embers. Barreling full speed he kicked the remaining wood. There was one other thing that begged to be destroyed. A small tent almost identical to the other sat in the shade of a tree.

The campsite was already a dump so destroying it and everything inside was mandatory.

He approached the tent, beginning to tear at the tents corners something hit him. It was sudden, like it was always coming and decided this would be the perfect opportunity to strike. Looking to the sky he saw it, in its magnificent glory and authority it glowed.

The sun.

It conquered the sky, lighting up the world. He couldn't take the sun. Its shine was blinding and it irritated his fur and skin usually giving him a rash, if he stayed longer he hypothesized that he could die. He wasn't about to put that theory to the test.

This was no longer a good time, he needed to return to his cave. He set off as fast as he could back to his home, all the while the sun looked over in disapproval. Brighter and brighter is became as it raised up into the sky. He could no longer see straight, almost as if he were intoxicated he stumbled and became off-balance.

The suns fury rained down upon him. Sight, mind and movement slowed continuously and thought moved over to instinct. Adrenaline coursed though him as he approached the cave entrance. His fur had begun to burn off, slowly disintegrating in the suns raze. Closer and closer he came until he pierced the darkness.

Landing with a thud he now lay in almost complete darkness. Soaking up the shadows and the unseen he heavily dragged his corpse to the darker depths of the cave, with mentality returning and his fight or flight response dieing down he lay his head within the pitch black of the cave.

He lay, softly he began to slumber to restore his health. Reality blurring behind him he became one with the darkness.

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"Are we there yet?" Walking had begun to tire her, Sign noticed this and offered her to ride in the wagon. She declined this due to sympathy for the old guy, pulling this huge wagon by himself this long. She wished she hadn't.

Feeling her empathy for him drain as she became more exhausted she began to whine, much to Signs discomfort he occasionally told her to 'pipe down' or 'knock it off' but this solution was always temporary.

To add to this all and any answer he would give to her constant questions obviously went ignored as she would ask them again and again. After a while he stopped answering and blanked his mind, trying to force time to pass.

"I said it was over yonder" This response had passed his lips so many times it had numbed and became almost an instinct.

To John's annoyance he gave the same response, like a recording it would be said in the exact tone and she still wasn't close to seeing how long 'over yonder' was.

"What does that even mean!?"

"It means over yonder"  Signs voice would not change tone nor raise or lower in pitch. Oppositely Johns voice would change all though out her sentence's. Like a song out of tune.

"But its always been over that way! If we go any further well reach the other end of the world and come back to where we started!"

Once again, she went unanswered. 'Whine, whine, whine. All this girl know how to do is complain. Should have left her, even then she could have found someone in that town I left, it was even closer to us then the town were headed to'.

Eventually they stopped. Darkness had begun to fall so Sign suggested it was wise to settle down for the night. He pulled the wagon over from the road and set it down. Luckily for them a small gathering of apple trees resided nearby, clouds had become dark a while ago but to their pleasant surprise no rain had fallen as of yet.

Setting a few lanterns on and laying out a blanket Sign continued on his merry little way. John wanted to help but she constantly got in his way so she decided to sit still. Sign continued setting up a small assortments of luxury items that made the area feel slightly more home like, with the inclusion of a basket.

Opening said basket he produced, to Johns surprise several pears. Pears had to be shipped into this part of Equestria since they were mass produced somewhere else. They sold for more than apples did so most people settled for apples. Most preferred them too.

Sign noticed John doing literally nothing, looking at the near by apple trees he stopped what he was doing and headed back to the wagon. Cascading though all his 'junk' he pulled out a hook. Not just any hook, but a hook with a long pole tied to it.

"What's that for?" John had been watching the whole thing and was curious and worried about what a rusty hook was used for, besides other things.

Spitting out the pole Sign fixed John with a smile.

"Well, you're not just gonna sit there and let an old jack do all the work now are yer? I thought you could shimmy your way down to those trees and start cutting em down".

John turned to the apple trees, their distance some how had doubled. Switching glances back to Sign then the trees she rose to her hooves and picked up the pole with her mouth. Turning back to the trees she began to walk slowly over to their looming trunk's.

Sign watched her go, he stared intently at her. Something was off about her, she seemed really familiar to him. Was she from the other town? Pony something it was called, if she was then why is she not trying to return? Not only that she came along with a complete stranger, she didn't know me and I think I didn't know her before either. Or did she?

He figured he would ask around the approaching town later, but for now he needed to get the small camp ready. Searching though his basket he continued to bring out pear related produce. Pear jam, pear juice, pear sandwiches. Not that he loved pears, just he had a lot of tem and letting them go stale was a waste.

After a while John had come back with only a few bruised apples, Sign exclaimed that it was OK, and threw the apples away, to John's dismay. If you were asked 'John' what the highlight of the evening was, she would probably answer with pears and pears. The whole evening revolved around pears, she asked why he had so many pears. He asked if she wanted another useless limb.

Conversation died down around that time.

The lanterns began to die down and darkness prevailed against the light. Sign has suggested 'John' should sleep and she obliged. Except she didn't.

Although her eyes were closed she lay awake, how could she sleep with so many things on her mind. The murderers, running from the murderers and now this donkey. A very colourful one he was, but that scared her. Not that he was colourful, just what colours he had. She didn't know whether she wanted to stay long with Sign. To her he was like a time bomb just waiting to blow, just when was the question.

John decided it was about time to check her arm. Squinting her eyes under the darkness she tried to focus. It seemed OK but in this light she couldn't be sure. Laying her head once again attempted she sleep. With little luck.

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It was dark. This was not good.

From what they were able to gather the 'beast' was big, and dark. Twilight had mulled over what this thing could be over at her library. Some animals matched but a new sliver of information would say other wise and she was back to square one.

There were many theories to what is could be, a Diamond dog, wolf or manticore. Even a small drake but speculation was getting them nowhere. In order to gather more information about the creature they tried to squeeze information out of the young Pegasus so that they could make an accurate hypothesis.

Then they got something very peculiar. She had stated that it lacked eyes, it could easily could have been a predator who lost their eyesight but it not only could it not see, it lacked the organ entirely. No eyes what so ever, Nose, mouth, ears but no eyes. This gave Twilight a clue that might solve what type of animal they were dealing with.

Where would something without eyes flourish? An environment without light. Gathering her books and searching each cover for a familiar tome she remembered reading. The search had turned up nothing so she decided to send Celestia an urgent message.

Within an hour a scroll and a large dusty tone had been regurgitated by Spike. Complaining about the taste of dust he retreated into the kitchen for something to wash out the taste.

The scroll contained a slightly angry letter on how not to use the spell at this time of night. It also had a section dedicated to letting her know how the other ponies, specifically the librarian, had to spent that time looking for a 'dusty old train wreck', and how that was in the librarians words.

By the time Spike had returned Twilight had begun to read a section on a particular species of animal. She was sure now, it had to be apart of this spectrum of organism. Rounding up the other elements, including a very down-beat Pinkie Pie who insisted she had ME.

She mulled it over with the girls and asked their opinion. Rainbow Dash wanted to 'show it who's boss', Rarity requested she wear something to protect her mane. Apple Jack pretty much agreed with Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy only wished she could reason with it. When asked Pinkie pie stated, 'all of the above'.

Twilight would have to ask her what was bugging her later, but now she needed to round up all the capable ponies in Ponyville and organize a search party.

Doing it at night was out of the question.

Sights n Sounds

Chapter 5: "Sights n Sounds"

"Hey ____!"

"Howdy ____!"

"____ you look marvelous!"

With the sun high and skies clearer then ever made this day excellent for celebration. ____'s mood would rise whenever someone would come in, although not many ponies had made it yet things were in full swing.

She was glad that she was able to hand out all her invitations on time, especially to Rainbow Dash. Moving was always tough especially if it was by your lonesome. That's why ____ thought it would be a great idea to invite her to the party!

"Thanks everypony! I was wondering, anypony seen Rainbow Dash?"

It had been over an hour and a half and still no Rainbow Dash, ____ realised that some ponies couldn't make it, but Rainbow Dash had promised she would come.

"Rainbow Dash? im'a sorry ____, I don't thing I know rightfully who that is."

Rarity picked this moment to join the conversation.

"You know, Rainbow Dash, she moved here recently"

"Tha blue one?"

"Really AppleJack, there are many blue pegasi in Ponyville."

"Sorry ____, I haven't seen her, great party though!"

Mouthing her thanks ____ trotted outside, peering down either side of the road she searched for any combination of blue and feathers.

She found none.

Wondering back to the party ____ realised that it was really quiet, this confused her, was everyone playing the quiet game? Don't they know Fluttershy can never be beat?

"What the.."

Entering the party the rooms sat empty, streamers, balloons and all the snacks left around the house, as if they had all got up and left without a word. The only sound that could be heard was a phonograph that was stuck playing a happy little tune that would skip back to the start every eight seconds. With no chatter to drown it out it seemed sinister.

"Hello? Anypony?"

This was all very weird, where did everypony go? ____ searched the room to find no trace of anyone ever being there, besides the missing food.

Turning around she gripped the door, it wouldn't budge. Holding it tighter she pulled harder.

"Why wont you open!?" falling backwards she rolled onto her stomach.  Eyeing her hoof she glumly realised she had pulled off the handle. Standing up ____ dropped the ground and  waddling through the party, it seemed to go on forever, Cake, drinks, teddy bear, presents, mixture of food, cake, drinks, teddy bear, presents, wait a minute...

Quickly turning around ____  could no longer see the door, but more cakes, drinks and party decorations, as far as the horizon. Spinning around there seemed to be no stop to the party land, one huge room, forever filled with party.

The cute background sound had become louder and more threatening, it thundered through the land vibrating its surface, it knocked over drinks and presents.

Pinkie looked to the sky for its source, it seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. Looking back at the ground the floor had turned to checkers, and  darkness began to creep into ____'s vision.

It hurt.

Running from the darkness did not good, it was not a physical being she could run from, it was everywhere. It clawed and burned her flesh, galloping though the madness she became less and less aware of her surroundings. ____ ran slower and slower, she couldn't get away from the darkness, it was consuming her. With what little strength remained she stumbled down a set of stairs.

Somepony was here, she was pink, sitting, faced away from her. ____ needed to save her, forget the party! ____ shouted out to her, but she said nothing, her voice made no noise. Tears of fright painted her cheeks, her vision became blurry.

Blood began to drain from pinkie mouth and nose, she tried to ignore them, brought down to her knees she slowly dragged herself to the pony, her cutie mark was scratched out with ink. ____ tried to shout out to the pony again. Nothing happened.

The pony slowly turned to face her, she had no eyes.

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John woke with a gasp, Running on adrenaline her eyes began to focus. Righting herself she stood and scanned her surroundings. She may have stood up too fast. Holding her head she watched the pretty colours, they eventually withdrew.

"About time yer woke."

Turning to the disruption showcased Sign, he sat next to a tree silently reading, or was. Walking over, John looked Sign over, the early morning rays shone on them both, partially blocked by the tree.

"Why wouldn't you wake me?"

"I've learned from experience that wakin somepony aint a good idea." Getting up he continued.

"But since your awake, might as well get movin."

"What about breakfast?"

Sign continued to walk.

"Don't worry, I already ate."

Throwing his book back into the small cart he rounded its front. He whistled a small tune while hooking himself back onto the cart.

"No, I mean what about my breakfast?"

"Plenty of pears left, help yer self."

Sign turned to face her, just to look away the next second.

"Damn girl! You stink worse then my ex-wife! Take that coat off yer done slept in it!"

Johns face flushed. How dare he! I smell fine! Stomping to the back of the cart she muttered to herself. Not wanting Sign to hear, not that she was scared of him or nothing, just he was supplying her with pears.

She learned she liked pears.

John jumped up onto the back of the cart and wrestled with the hordes of trash, producing her prized pears she settled down.

The clouds hung heavy this morning, the winding road once again seemed to stretch on forever, to the ends of the horizon.  The abysmal scenery seemed artificial, it too branched out further then the eye could see, all was quiet. Once again, their journey into the alien reaches started with one step.

John bit down upon the pears, one by one they were dined upon, they were her bliss. Finishing her breakfast she removed her jacket placed upon the cart floor. She planned to rest over it when crunching was audible from underneath. Sitting up John fished through her jacket, producing a plain plastic bag.

"Oh yea, I still have these.."

Looking into the plastic bag she took notice of the brown clumps of mush, one now converting into crumbs. She was still oblivious to what these things were, certainly they were pretty weird and they smelled like nothing shed seen before, although that wasn't much. Not wanting to mess with them too much she put them to the side.

"Lookey here, stop number one."

John turned to the sound of Signs voice, just over the distance lay the peaceful buildings, just far enough so that the looming clouds could be seen behind them.

"Is that it?"

"It is, well one of the them anyway, not what you were expecting?"

It certainly was astonishing, compared to that small village This place was huge. Even from such a distance, it left John speechless. She caught herself staring off into its expanse.

"One of the stops? What do you mean?"

Sign stopped just to face John.

"Didn't I tell yer? Its not just this stop, I have other places I need to get to too."

"Oh.."

"have you been there before?"

The question caught John off-guard, being somewhere like that before? She couldn't imagine it.

"No, I haven't. What's it like?"

"Dunno. Haven't been there myself, s'why I'm traveling there."

"Your sight-seeing?"

"That, and other things. We also gotta get you to the hospital remember?"

Glancing down she observed her forearm, it stunk. Really badly, the alcohol and blood mixed to create a foul scent. The bandages smelt even worse, she really hadn't smelt anything like it. She wondered if this is what corpses smelt like.

It had also begun to recreate a heartbeat, she could feel it whenever blood would pulse though it. It hurt slightly but she was more disturbed by it then harmed.

The travel from then on advanced quite swimmingly, despite the thought of the dreary clouds producing rain and the gripping boredom that John seemed unable to distance herself from.

Approaching the entrance was actually pretty easy, not that anyone said it was hard, she thought they would at least have been a gate or something. Nope.

Crossing from dirt to cobblestone jutted the cart all over, John tried to stay in for longer but the jumping of the cart provoked her to become ill. Stepping off the cart she almost collapsed, she had spent most of the morning sitting down, needing to stand up caused her to stumble.

Stretching her legs she trotted, as fast as one could with three legs back over to the cart. Walking beside Sign they passed by many things, 'things' would include a fountain, a pharmacy, grocery shops and many small vendors selling various things. Someone had gone far enough to try and sell buttons, just buttons.

Suddenly Sign stopped and looked in Johns direction. It was hard to tell what Sign was thinking, due to his extremely filthy goggles, they weren't tinted, just extremely stained. It made it impossible to see his eyes.

"Im'a gonna need to get goin now, I'll still be around for about a day or two then I'm off, just don't get ahead of yerself. Hospitals down that way"

He nodded down a particular road, then trotted down the opposite way.

John had made sure to retrieve her jacket, but she didn't get up and go right away, she wanted to observe the scenery here first. Although this place was immensely bigger, it was much more silent. No murderous ponies around either. That was a plus.

She calmly advanced down the road, soaking in the scenery as she approached the Hospital. The cities pallet was incredible, houses of white and light blue, shrubbery and trees marked many corners, Chatter amongst the ponies and sometimes a griffin or two merged into an ambient. Foals played small games with each other.

John wanted to play with the foals.

Priority's ruled above all, she once heard someone say. At least she thought so. The doors chimed as she entered its interior, many battered and bruised ponies were scattered around. On chairs, lying down and waiting in line.

It seemed she should line up, she didn't know what for though, she expected to just walk in and for something to happen, but she didn't know what that was supposed to be. The Inside of the hospital seemed more drab then outside, all the walls were the same cream colour as the ceiling. The floor was the only visually interesting part, but that wasn't saying much. Just a few carpets and patterns.

The line quickly diminished as the other ponies took their seats, reaching the counter John didn't know what to expect, what she got was different to anything she could have conjured up. She was met with an expressionless face, it stared expectantly at her. John wouldn't make eye contact, the clerk became impatient and started.

"Can I help you"

Her voice seemed very distance, like she would wear a 'I wish I wasn't here' badge to work, she would also sigh after every sentence.

"Yea, uh.. My, leg?"

John lifted her leg up and showed the stone her leg. It sighed and began to write rapidly onto a piece of pink paper. Ripping it she handed it to John. There was a number Printed on it and a doctors name scribbled next to that.

"Next!"

John was pushed out the line as a very muscular pony began to rant at the clerk.

Deciding it was best not to get in anyone's way she sat down virtually isolated from everyone else.

She didn't know what she was supposed to do, get a number and wait? She didn't get their logic. As if answering her call, a doctor trotted into the room.

"Number 212!"

Said number stood up and shuffled after the doctor. Seemed simple enough, But how long was she going to have to wait for? Glancing down at her card she sighed at her realisation.

"Number 260? What a joke..."

She wondered if they sold snacks here, she could use a pear.

Fate?

Chapter 6: "Fate?"

"Number 230!.."

The clock ticked.

"Number 245!"

it keeps ticking, it wont stop.

"Number 255!"

She wondered if she should just kill herself, would be a better reality then this, less depressing. Two hours. Two hours was how long she was waiting, if this is what everyone had to go through whenever they needed medical attention she guessed the death toll would be high. From people not getting help on time and others just killing themselves to save the wait.

The image of this stupid clock will forever be engraved in her mind, its dull grey design would put whomever dare look at it in a deep slumber. Which would cause them to miss their turn.

The world around her had blurred long ago, the line between fantasy and reality had became hazy, it forced her eyes to appear foggy. Causing her to look dead to any onlookers. Not like she was pretty to look at anyway, pink on pink? She contemplated dying her hair, would be a good thing, changing her appearance would attract less attention and lower her chances on getting caught. She just hoped she could get the chance.

"Number 25-"

The number shouting was not what woke John from her mesmerising gaze, it was the shrieking that deafened most eardrums in the surrounding area. Blasting through the main entrance came what could only be described as a robot.

Or a heavily armored bipedal being. Whatever you prefer.

Racing through the line, while knocking through any who's fate it was to collide with this metallic goliath, stopped right before destroying the counter. Upon closer inspection wielded intriguing results. Within the behemoths arms lay the bloodied remains of may have used to be someone of some description, reduced to nothing but gore. Despite the scene in front of her the clerk remained as bored and blank faced as ever.

She was a professional.

"Help us! We- we need a doctor!" His voice was frantic and panicked, John looked into his eyes, they were bloodshot and dark at edges. His fatigue was obvious. The clerk, in her professionalism slowly got out of her chair and reached above view of the window. A loud ringing was heard, followed by several doctors entering the scene seconds later. Using a stretcher they picked up the bloodied mess and ran through the hallways and out of view.

As fast as the scene had unfolded, it had ended. Mostly. Ponies whispered, the few that had been thrown across the room picked themselves up, and with slight angry muttering swiftly got back into line. Thundered steps vibrated John's chair, the titan was approaching. Louder and louder the steps became as he advanced on John. Or so she thought, now sitting opposite John the leviathan rested its withered body, its armor and fur stained black and red.

All seemed to quietened down, until his whimpers emerged. He glanced at a piece of ribbon he had been carrying, now stained rouge, he cradled its tattered remains. John watched the giant as he quietly sobbed, cuddling the fabric.

"Number 260!"

John peered down at her note, sure enough it was her. Standing, she trotted before the doctor, looking back at the sorrowful guard, she wanted to say something, to make it seem like not all is lost. But followed the doctor anyway. She argued with herself that it was for the best, he just needed time alone.

she lacked the courage.

John followed the doctor at a brisk pace, through the winding corridors she passed many exhibits. One housed a Pegasus whose wing seemed to be broken. One shown hospitality to a group of unicorns, each sporting various gashes and cuts.  Many simply sheltered young ponies getting jabs, must be flu season.

The doctor eventually turned a corner into his own little enclosure. John followed, searching the small room she discovered that each one of these small rooms were duplicates. The same drab colour scheme, the same boring floor tiles and the same boring furniture, which only consisted of cabinets, a table, a bed and chairs.

Sitting down the doctor beckoned her to also take a seat. Hesitantly she sat on the bed.

"So, other then what's under those bandages, what seems to be the problem?"

The doctors voice was very deep but soothing, when he spoke she imagined a fearsome bear, who gave out sweets.

"no. Just my leg."

"Lets unbandge that puppy then."

John couldn't stand it, his voice was like milk chocolate, calming yet assertive. She ran like pudding through his arms.

"John, I have come for you, you are mine."

"Yes Mr. Doctor Man! Take me away with you!"

"I plan to never let you out of my sight. John."

The world around them darkened, all that mattered now and forever was them. Floating in eternal darkness, as the worlds only light they shined. Plummeting through the darkness, they fell. Time was not a virtue, it too seemed none existent.

Mr. Doctor Man stirred, he looked up, frowning.

"What wrong Doctor?"

"I love you, but it looks infected, we probably need to give you medication."

"What?"

The world came crashing back to her, like a shock reality flew back and slapped her across the face.

"Are you feeling OK?"

The Doctor was slightly confused, was she drooling? He peered at her happy drunk face. She looked into oblivion with glazed eyes, he may have to call a doctor. Wait, he's a doctor. That was awkward.

John sat up straight, swiftly wiping the pool of drool that slid down her face and onto her arm. She looked back at the doctor and gave him a grand toothy smile.

"Oh, yes I'm fine! Terrific even!..."

At that the doctor continued to rebandage the deep pulsating gash, not the worst he's seen, but definitely infected.

"Well, in any case a few weeks of good bed rest and medication your leg should be fresh as a daisy"

The doctor turned and began to rummage though various drawers, he produced a small container, on its side exhibited diverse coding and symbols. All seemed fine and dandy, except currency, she was broke.

"Medication? But I don't have anything to pay for it."

The doctor turned and smiled

"They don't cost anything, hospitals are payed directly through the royal treasury." Well that was convenient, taking the pills John stood up.

"So I don't have to pay for anything?"

"Not at all." Well, considering her luck recently, karma must have taken a raincheck and blessed her! Looks like everything is coming up Millhouse! She froze and turned slowly back to the doctor. He stood staring contently at her.

"Excuse me?"

"Err, Nothing! Thanks for everything!" With that John took off, leaving a very confused and worried doctor. She promptly walked down the corridor, she sworn she could hear the doctor mutter, "What's a Millhouse?". She didnt even know what a 'Millhouse' was! Why she say that? Swiftly hopping through the labyrinthine corridors, she appeared once again at the waiting room. Something was off, gone had the whining and complaining of patients, gone, the bored sighs of the clerk, and so have the slight weeping of Sir Knight, it too had vanished.

Peering through the doors she carefully walked to the centre of the room, it was ghostly. No one was coming in, no one going out, just silence. Her hoofsteps echoed, she hobbled straight for the door. Turing the handle she emerged through the door. She failed realise how dark it had become , opening the doors dulled her vision.

The sudden abandonment seemed justifiable, for just a few meters away stood something like no-other, whatever this was, it didn't come for a cup of sugar.

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The abomination woke with a daze, this always happened when it was out in the light for too long. Blood had seeped from its wounds throughout the day, and now, it was malnourished. In its weakened state it would be lucky to find a meal worth eating. But eating was not a priority, it didn't consume flesh.

It tried picking itself up, on unstable legs it plummeted back to earth, it growled in protest. The caves shadow had already been consumed, the monster will find no healing there. Dragging itself to its entrance it faced the dusk, not as harsh as direct sun, but still irritating. Crawling through the woodlands was surprisingly rowdy this evening, more particularly the west. Ponyvilles direction, it wondered, what have they come for?

No matter what they desired, it didn't want to intrude, especially it its current condition. As fate would dangle survival from a tree, it followed, through bushes and foliage. Unconsciously it began to heal, the shade became its nourishment and began to rejuvenate it. Stronger and stronger, it began its rise to complete health, the healthiest an animal can get.

It was far away now, very far, the commotion had shifted closer. So it ran. Its condition was still poor,but running was no longer a problem. Dashing through the woods it passed streams, stumps and fields. Dust had become night,  it was now at its full potential.

Coming to a stop it observed the ground. Cobblestone, it did little to revive its memories of before, for they have been consigned to oblivion. All that remained was how it currently felt, which was always. Anguish. The moon was high, darkness rained over the land, the beast was no longer visible. The path ran throughout the woods, rupturing it in halve.

Said pathway lead away from the excitement, the demon followed. Charged through the night.

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Dynamically this plan was a sure-shot. Weaker ponies would have asked the princess for help, not Twilight. Calling for the Princess was basically admitting you were powerless, she was far from it. With intelligence and common sense Twilight rounded the elements.

Together they had set out into dawn, there was allot of Everfree forest to cover, and daylight was their only friend. No rock nor bush went unturned, each nick and cranny was observed thoroughly. Through shadow and shade, they wondered upon a clearing, rounding the foliage there appeared at a tree, but not just any tree, a hollowed out tree. Someone had made this tree thier home, decorating it with various masks and personal items. Memories of this tree and its inhabitant raced to their minds.

As on queue, someone exited the hut. Exiting the hoot was a small foul, someone they all knew, but someone they all least expected to be here.

"Applebloom! What is tarnation are you doin out here!"

Applejack sprang up to her little sister expectancy of a worthy answer.

"But sis! I came t'see if Zecora was OK! I heard all the commotion about a monster so I wanted to see if she needed help or nothin!" Unimpressed by her siblings answer Applejack squared off Applebloom.

"Now, I told ye to stay put!"

Pouting Applebloom attempted to justify her actions.

"But sis!"

"But Nothin! Just wait till we get home."

The family dispute had ended, and the group grew by one. Although their search had been shortly halted, it swiftly got back on track. Minutes turned to hours as the group of six searched for what little they had to go of off. Something with no eyes would prefer darkness, so caves would be ideal. Due to the Everfree forest random nature no one was really able to map it correctly, but what twilight could gather she determined that there are, or was a gathering of caves to the east. So they set off.

Twilight was slighlt discomforted when Zecora turned up gone, she hoped she too hadn't fallen. Though thick and thin, they  eventually found the caves. Twilight warned in caution that anything could be in there, the silence of the Forrest had unnerved her. They had grouped outside the cavern, with everyone all ears, Twilight began.

"Ok, Everypony ready?"

This was followed by various confirmations a slight squeaks. Venturing into its depth the group trudged on. If they thought it smelt back from the outside, they were heavily shocked by the vulgar that corrupted their scent inside the pit. They didn't search for long, for they had found their proof. In a far corner of the cave, it dejectedly sat. Applejack covered Appleblooms eyes. Fluttershy fled, Pinkie Pie looked on, unnamused. All their attention focused on the lone soul.

They had found their Gryphon.

Square One

Chapter 7: "Square One"

Becoming a little past dusk, it painted the sky with dark yellows and blues, the prosperity of clouds brought attention to the sky. The world was warping around them, both party's ignorant to its display, attention focused on each other. Leaving the hospital John seemed to skip with content, after several unthinkable hours within its depths being free once again brought with it a charm. This relief however was not to last, the abundance of terror that soon followed washed throughout John and the surrounding area, the atmosphere turned sinister.

The simple presence of this being distorted the world around it, turning it murky and ink like, exhausting opaque black mist wherever it advanced. The fumes danced around it, concealing its silhouette. John stood in stunned silence, shaking uncontrollably as she stared on at the demon that flooded her vision.

She feared the slightest twitch would set the creature off, slowly it prowled past her seemingly unknowing to her existence. This was her chance, not wanting to waste a second she slowly began to tremble to her right, over to a near by bush. The silence was excruciating, with no one else around she felt venerable to attacks, she was on her own in this one.

Walking right back into the hospital was dense, with the doors short but loud chime it would surely attract the beasts attention.

Before it got better, it got worse. The swirling mass of darkness had halted its movement, so too had John. Time began to lag, the tension was thick. Sweat poured down Johns brow, unable to take her eyes of the abomination. Sluggishly, the monster began to turn in her direction. Panicking she opted for a quick solution, this was her downfall.

Bending her rear legs she mustered all her stamina for a powerful pounce out of sight, hurdling through the air she aimed to land in a range of shrubbery that typically decorated most of the houses. This was not to be. Within a second the world had faded to white, and all thought had vanished.

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Most ponies would have become astray from reality at this time of night, blissfully unaware. Unfortunately for some this was not the case. Locked up in timber sat a few ponies, all varying to a certain degree. The most particular one sat relatively isolated, despite them all being bunched into the same room. She sat searching, probing for some answer, her codex of choice was suddenly tossed to one side, unceremoniously dismissed.

Twilights mind had become cataclysmic, murder was not completely unheard of. Although contemplating a murder was actually intriguing to her, the real thing was a completely distinct article. Twilights pride had been completely banished, with one foot in the door she had already demanded a letter to be sent to the princess. Spike had been left in the dark, only advised that things were going to change, and not for the better. Also to keep a night light.

Things were becoming dire, although only an hour had passed since they got back, it felt like an afterlife. Fluttershy had felt that leaving the griffins corpse to rot in that distressing cave was demeaning, he deserved a proper burial. So Fluttershy had split from the group and journeyed to the morgue with the deceased. Following just short were Rainbow Dash and Applejack, no one felt completely safe alone, a thick air of disturbance had set over their heads, she felt safe walking with someone.

By an hour they still hadn't returned, so the remaining three elements, and spike were left to occupy themselves to a certain degree. Rarity sat staring into the fires flame. She was distant, despite Spikes attempts to comfort her she wished she would be left alone, she now remained silent. Pinkie Pie was far from being the element of laughter, in fact she was far from being the element of anything. Quite recently she found herself to be completely undisturbed with most things.

She just could no longer muster up the emotion that usually controlled her every action. Such a thing as being emotional was child's play, but lately all she could assemble was the nagging feeling of something missing. Like part of her was erased. She began to sleep more often and wake up later then usual, at first she summed it up to age but that no longer seemed the case. The sight of the Griffins mangled corpse, its grotesque features that caused her friends to act with such distress somehow felt bland to her. She found as she gazed upon it, that it was as disheartening as a daisy, eventually causing her to leave the cave out of boredom. Nothing could catch her interest often these days.

Twilights ears flinched, the door abruptly opened to reveal three dripping mares. One by one they all approached the fire to warm themselves. Letting them become comfortable, Twilight released herself from her recent codex and faced the newcomers.

"How did it go?" Applejack's response was delayed slightly.

"T'was fine I suppose, when we got there they were closed" Applejack explained. Twilight raised an eyebrow at that. Interrupting her, Rainbow dash spoke as she turned her attention to Twilight, with irritation in her voice.

"Then I had to go all the way across Ponyville to wake Dampy up! Then we both flew back to the morgue."

When the conversation had died down without a conclusion, Twilight spoke.

"Then?"

Fluttershy quipped at that.

"History."

Twilight took her attention away from the mares and checked the clock. It read 22:54. Almost two hours since Twilight had sent her letter to the Princess, with no response. Never had it taken this much time, she tried to convince herself otherwise, but her thoughts preserved the notion that something was at fault. Was the princess in danger? Was she mad? These and similar thoughts coursed though her head, constantly distracting her from her research.

By the time the clock had struck 23:00, a scroll had finally arrived through Spike throat. Catching it before it hit he floor Twilight opened the parchment. She scanned the letter, instead of her initial thought of Princess Celestia giving her answers, instead she gave her more questions. It read:

Dear Twilight Sparkle.

We need to talk. Alone.

Bring living essentials.

Celestia

Had such a simple letter taken Two hours to craft? She doubted it, it was more of a battle of the mind. Twilight guessed that it took this long for her to decide whether to send this letter or not. This may be deeper then she thought. Explaining the context of the letter the others began to state their worries.

Fluttershy, expectedly was the first.

"What if something where to happen?" Rainbow dash continued.

"Huh? Why can't we go with you?" These and many complaints and worries were poured onto Twilight, who dismissed them, as she was the Princesses protege. But something was slightly off, after a few awkward moments she realised. Pinkie still had something to say about the matter, Twilight turned her head to detect her, she sat with a bored expression. Applejack was first to intervene.

"Aint ya gonna say somethin Pinkie?" There was no answer. It took while, but the mention of her name eventually dawned upon Pinkie Pie.

"Wait, what? Oh! Yea sure have fun.

Not much sleep was had that night, Twilight may deny she was worried, but her defiant tossing and turning showed the truth. Twilight woke, greeted by a monster headache she tumbled through her room and descended the stairs. Upon observing the main room she discovered that a few of the other element holders slept through nightfall. They all slept the night, with the exclusion of Pinkie Pie, she wondered briefly about Pinkie, how distant she seemed to be lately. She also wondered how all the other girls managed to sleep together on such a small couch. Staring into oblivion she jumped when an audible crash sounded from the kitchen door. Approaching the wooden frame she slowly budged the door ajar.

"Oh! Hi Twilight!"

In the mitts of a kitchen catastrophe stood young Spike, his appearance mirroring that of a baker. Analyzing the kitchen presented numerous things, the oven was smoking, Spike camouflaged in butter and cream, and a smashed plate, which Twilight caught a glimpse of before Spike attempted to hide it.

"Spike, what are you doing?" Twilight continued to view the room in shock and wonder.

Spike visibly stiffened.

"Err, nothing! Nothing at all!" This was accompanied by an immense belch from the stove, it sputtered black ash and smoke. Both parties flinched at its display, Spike hurried to retrieve oven mittens, assessing the stove he dove head first into the smoke.

"Spike!" Twilight concealed Spike in her magical grasp and pulled to rescue her #1 Assistant. Ragging him from the wreckage he convulsed to displace the soot in hid throat. He didn't come alone, in his Clothed hands were the salvaged remains as a small cake. Placing Spike down she manipulated the tap to regurgitate water, which she levitated on the fire.

"What were you trying to do Spike? And at 7:00 in the morning?!" Twilight caught herself, the stress was getting to her. Spike slowly began to try and formulate words to justify his actions.

"I, I really wanted to make you something special! But.." He Presented the cake he gambled to make, it was burnt and  beginning to chip away.  Twilight sighed at her realization. As quickly as she became furious, it was gone.

"Oh Spike, I'm sorry I shouted. Things are just too chaotic Right now." Twilight peered at the cake, its incoherent writing had melted into the cake, staining it red. Lifting the cave she inspected it further.

"What did it say?" Spike looked up at Twilight, reclaiming the cake he dug his finger into the frosting and wrote a sentence. Displaying it to Twilight she discarded the cake and lifted Spike into a hug. The hug lasted as long as it needed to.  Commotion began to brew in the main entrance meaning the girl were now awake. Strolling into the room they witnessed a very irritated Rainbow Dash battle of a determined Applejack.

"Rainbow! I knew that we would fell asleep but you kept on insisting we stay for 'just a little longer'!" Applejack was obviously embarrassed by 'accidentally' sleeping the night.

"Quit talking Applejack Im trying to sleep!" Rainbow tried to recover her position under the blankets as Applejack pulled them clean of the couch. After a heated argument, which caused Fluttershy to flee was over the two mare went their separate ways. Twilight swiftly packed her bags, and with the help of Spike was now rapidly barreling down to the train station. Despite the heart warming scene that transpired in the kitchen Spike was a little too happy that Twilight was gone. More so to the thought of having the Library all to himself now. Well partially to himself, for Rarity was yet to wake, she still lay nestled under the blankets.

Spike peered outside the front door, checking his left, then right he closed the door. Putting emphases on locking it behind him. He turned to face the sleeping mare, even asleep she was breath taking. Now, she belonged to Spike, taking a deep breath he closed upon Rarity. Looking before her grace he cracked a wicked grin and softly cackled at his prize. Spike licked his lips as he slowly and softly lifted the blanket and carefully submerged himself within them. His laugh never escaping his lips, he could all he wanted now. Twilight had soundproofed the Library walls.

In a slightly humid messy room, a cake sat unattended. A scribble lay into its frosting, slowly becoming engulfed in the abundance of frosting. It read:

"Be Good."

Shady Deals

Chapter 8: "Shady Deals

Stepping off the train Twilight sighed to herself, why did Canterlot have to be this ridiculously far away? Twilight half considered if Princess Celestia's 'meeting' was worth the journey. Traveling such a distance was taxing enough without a crying baby over her shoulder the ENTIRE TIME! Twilight tried to mind her own business and read her books but without total concentration she just couldn't enjoy her entertainment. Not to mention the train wasn't heated, coming late October the winds at this altitude got extremely chilly, and no one thought it would be beneficial to at least hand out blankets?

Getting ahead of herself she mumbled off the platform and over to the checkout, dragging her hooves as she went.

Twilight grumbled upon seeing who was a few places in front, the mother who had tortured everyone else on the train as she carelessly ignored her screaming child. Twilight admired her, she never knew someone could be so annoying and never know it themselves. As she held up the line she forced the majority of passengers to hear her conversation with the checkout guard, slowly irritating them further.

"What do you mean my ticket is invalid?!" Despite the mares raised voice her child remained asleep, ironically. Twilight wished she was asleep.

"I'm sorry ma'am but this ticket is not valid for entry." The guardsman failed to show any sign of emotion.

"I don't know what that means!"

"You can't use this ticket."

"And why not?!"

"Sorry ma'am your gonna have to move aside there are other passengers waiting to exit" The guard motioned the mare to move, unfortunately this wasn't the case. Even as more guards began to approach the mother declined to move.

"I know my rights!"

This was it, this was Hell. There was no doubt in Twilights mind that this was eternal damnation. She could feel her IQ slowly diminishing as she withered away, she actually caught herself drooling. Shaking her head she peered off to the right in search for something to occupy her senses. Low and behold not a few meters away stood a pair of royal guards, distinguishable by their gold and blue armor. One of which held a sign with very a familiar and unique illustration. Namely, it was her cutie mark.

Perking up she began to trot over to the pair, looking back she saw that insufferable mare being escorted away by a pair of ticket-man, making the queue wait longer. Thanking Celestia she didn't have to wait with the rest of them, she approached the banner waving guards.

"Hello! Yes, I'm Twilight Sparkle!" One of the guards jumped upon seeing her, the other slightly glimpsed at her flank, it indeed had the same mark, as well as looking firm. The guard found himself staring and shook his head, thankfully Twilight failed to notice. Snapping back to his professionalism the guard started.

"Twilight Sparkle. We were sent personally to escort you to the Princess."  Twilights irritation almost instantaneously shed after hearing the guards traditional emotionless voice. After living her whole life around specially trained guards it became reminiscent to hear, as well as giving her a sense of protection.

"Great! But what about my bags?" Twilight had already lost her bags once, waiting for an entire day wasn't fun, quite the opposite actually.

"They're being sent to your room, please follow us." The guards turned and began to march their way through the crowds of tourists and exit the Station, with Twilight in tow.

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"Phew... Time to get to business."

In all of his time pulling his cart it's weight never wavered, despite what he carried. Pulling the cart over he left it near some small stands selling various fruits and vegetation. Wondering behind his cart he produced a saddlebag, wearing it he then reached into it and retrieved a small note. Other then the holes and stains there lay a small message.

'Three. Forty five'.

"you better be there Chandler..."

Weaving through the crowds Sign began to close the distance between him and an awfully tall building, at least a few stories high. Outside its door sat an assortment of ponies around tables and chairs, enjoying meals and beverages. Waiters could be seen coming in and out the doors, delivering a multitude of goodies to their waiting customers.

Eluding the waiters and obstacles he entered the establishment to find an even bigger dining area, filled to the brim with party goers and fine diners alike.

"Dammit..." Sign's patience for obstacle courses was always very thin, ever since summer camp he could never see them as anything other then torture. Reliving those memories evoked his eyes to tear up. Shaking his head clear of traumatic memories he searched for his destination, the stairs.

He rounded tables, chairs and ponies alike, finally venturing from one side of the room to the other he still could no longer see head nor tail of the promised stairs. Was this even the right place? Turning 360 degrees he pondered this question.

Sitting comfortably in the corner was a resident, and a fine diner she was. She towered above all rest in a happy ball of fancy. She adorned earrings, a fancy scarf and various shiny objects strapped to her carcass.

Chuckling she excused herself from the table and wobbled out of the room, with the monster removed Sign could now see his prize, on the other side of the room.

"Arrr, bloody..."

Sign eventually reached the stairs and began climbing, re-reading his note he continued his ascend onto the third floor, and began trekking down the corridors. Coming across rooms closely matching the one he sought he paused, reading the doors signs he counted them.

"Forty three, forty four... Forty six?"  Glancing forward he peered at the door numbers again, and indeed the door forty five was missed, replaced with a 'Stock Room'. Figuring this was probably it he knocked and waited for a response, putting his ear to the door he could hear slight fumbling, then silence. Several second of silence followed, he was going to knock again until a voice interrupted him.

"Who goes there?" Whomever was talking sounded like they had seen better days, their voice reduced to a throaty cough. Thinking on his toes he strained to remember the 'secret' words he neglected to write down.

"Err, something dead, fast-dead, go-dead, future-dead C'mon throw me a bone here!" The voice was silent for a moment, before a belch was heard and a multitude of locking mechanisms clanked.

Sign looked on as the door was thrown open and was greeted inside, the pony, which in itself was an estimate welcomed him with a "close enough" and a parting so he may enter. Obliging Sign shuffled into the small room and joined the pony, the door locking behind them. The most peculiar thing was the secrecy, the voice was muffled and their figure wore a cloak, hiding their true identity.

Accompanying them was a small table, amongst general cleaning products scattered around the room. The cloaked equine rounded the table and faced Sign, it then produced a small feeble bag, which was slowly descended upon the tables surface. Signs heart caught in his throat, the sight of the small linen bag raised his heartbeat.

"Could it really be..." Signs intrigue was rocketed. With a small chuckle the being replied.

"It may be, that all depends if you honored your side of the deal." Although Sign couldn't see it, he swore that who ever this was, was smirking under the shade. Sign countered.

"Aye Chandler, I do." Reaching into his saddlebag he produced a small pouch of his own, stained crimson he gently retracting it and placing it upon the table.

A silent showdown waged as Sign peered into the depth of darkness where the equines face would be, slowly, he opened the bag and emptied its contents onto the table. Each item exiting the bag each made their own dull meaty thud, as they settled onto the wood. Four objects, each more grotesque as the other. One, a small rabbit heart impaled with a nail, wrapped in barbed wire. Two, a small necklace adorned with teeth, Sign never waned to know who from. Three, the claw of an alpha diamond dog. Four, a small vial filled with a seeping darkness, the glass remained arctic despite the warm atmosphere. It repelled light and consumed the shadows, Sign didn't know much about what the liquid was, but he was strictly given the don't ask wont tell treatment.

The concealed equine chuckled again.

"My my, not many ponies can stomach such materials, such a pity the black market doesn't sell their produce near here." Getting impatient Sign interrupted.

"Yea, yea. I got ye what ye wanted, where's my stuff?" Appealing to it's bargain, the cryptic being opened its own bag. Nestled within was various small gears and metal frames, despite the bags raggedy appearance the clockwork was stunning, radiating at light's touch.

Collecting his price Sign bid the mysterious merchant farewell, exiting as the rouge deposited his ingredients into his bag Sign sighed. Never again did he want to put up with another disturbed customer of the black market, but he feared he wouldn't see the last of whomever that was. Those types of ponies always gave him the creeps. Sign began a slow walk back to his cart, it was becoming late.

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A large figure sat next to her regal fireplace, the politics and general debates of the day was as bland and forgettable as they have been for the last thousand years. Some things never change Celestia theorized, but things were much easier now Luna began attending her own political meetings, it gave Celestia some much needed rest and time to relax. Unfortunately this was not to last.

"Princess Celestia, your guest has arrived."  Turning her head she spotted one of her personal guards edging his way into the room. Wearing her motherly smile, celestia spoke in a calm voice.

"Splendid, let her enter." Nodding the guard turned and disappeared behind the door, just to be replace moments later by another. Standing Celestia greeted Twilight halfway.

"How nice it is to see you Twilight, its been a while."

"I know, i've missed you." Twilight responded, for a while they stayed in eachothers company, until Celestia cut it short.

"Twilight, I have noticed that there is a growing epidemic, the thing you described to me is becoming more common and I fear something evil is ahoof." Twilight looked at her quizzically.

"Like what princess?" Celestia turned away from Twilight, returning to the fire she gently placed herself upon a nearby chair, motioning Twilight to do the same. She once again gazed upon the flame, closing her eyes she began to speak.

"I don't mean any offense Twilight but, do you know of an illegal drug by the name of Hocuspocus?" Twilight was taken back at such a question, why would Celestia ask that? She new of a couple of illegal substances but nothing of what was described. Obliging Twilight sat opposite Celestia and broke the silence.

"Im sorry Celestial, I don't. Should I?" Shaking her head Celestia replied, whilst poring tea.

"Not necessarily, but its linked to what you spoke of, I'm certain." Handing Twilight her tea Celestia softly sipped at hers, bringing it away from her lips she began once again.

"This drug is being shipped across Equestria at an alarming rate so early into its discovery. I myself only caught wind of such a thing a month ago." Twilights face grew more and more grim as Celestia continued her tale.

"That being you expressed, was most likely the result of Hocuspocus consumption." Gathering her bearing Twilight sat in silence, alone in her thoughts. Celestia waited for Twilights agenda, silently drinking her tea.

"Princess, are you saying that thing, the monster that murdered the griffin was once a pony?" Fear was etched into her voice, if this was what she thought it was then she needed to warn everyone in Ponyville of this drug. Who knows who'll fall victim next. Finishing her tea Celestia responded.

"Not necessarily, anything that eats Hocuspocus will fall in the same way, but no two 'Fallen' look alike." Twilight acknowledged Celestia's words.

"Fallen? Is that what they're called" Solemnly nodding her head Celestia continued the discussion.

"The Fallen are beings that consume enough Hocuspocus beyond no return, this isn't a fast process and nor is it completely pleasurable as you would expect, but it is incredibly addicting." Standing Celestia began to walk from the fire place and exit the room, with Twilight in tow.

Wondering down the corridor Celestia descended many stairs, continuously being questioned by Twilight.

"So this could happen to anypony?" Nodding Celestia advanced at a brisk pace, traveling almost the castle's length she stopped deep within the establishment. Twilight was in awe, never had she been so deep into Canterlot Castle, thus never seeing the architecture that they before them. Gargantuan stone doors, easily towering over them both was lit by many torches that pathed up the wall.

"What is this place?" Twilight had never witnessed such craftsmanship before, it was easy to tell if something was constructed my magic or hoof, and this was definitely hoof made. Celestia approached the miracle door and inserted her horn. If one would concentrate they would hear several clanks of stone on stone from the opposite side of the door, the sound of gears quietly filled the room. The sound stopped, a small circle shaped opening was now visible, but the door remained closed.

Before Twilight could exclaim her concern Celestia removed her regal necklace, within lay a small stone tablet, matching that of the hole.

"You might want to hold your ears for this one Twilight." Inserting the tablet the noise began once again, this particular one thundered throughout the large room, echoing infinitely through its halls. After its assault Twilight lowered her hooves, thinking the crash of the door was finished, just to return them with increased intensity as the stone door was impossibly pulled from its place, opening into the darkness that lay ahead.

Within the shadow of the newly accessible room lay a small pedestal. Glittering light gently levitated inches from it.