It was the middle of the night, and Twilight Sparkle had her pillow around her head covering her ears. "Spike, stop it. I'm trying to sleep here." The scratching sounds stopped abruptly, but continued just as she was about to go back to sleep. "Ugh!" she said with impatience, and sat up in her bed as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. She stared at Spike's body for a whole minute before realizing that it was not moving, let alone making scratching sounds.
She was now fully awake, trying to find out where the sounds were coming from. They were coming from downstairs. She got out of bed and tiptoed downstairs as quietly as she could. Now that she was out of the blankets of her warm bed, she suddenly felt the cold. "Is it a burglar?" she asked herself. She had been living in Ponyville for more than half a year now, but she had never heard about any dangerous burglars or anything. "Maybe it's just a rat. Maybe I just left a window open."
But there was neither rat nor open window. The scratching sounds were coming from outside. Something was scratching the walls of the house. "Maybe it's just a cat. Or dog. Maybe it's just hungry." She listened along the walls of the library, and strangely, the scratching sounds seemed to follow her. This she could not comprehend. Fear of the unexplainable gripped her tight, but curiosity edged her on. Besides, she wouldn't be able to sleep with all those scratching sounds.
As she reached a part of the library not covered with a bookshelf, she heard the sounds more clearly. It was claw on wood; a slightly more pleasant sound than fingernails on a blackboard. The idea of a clawed creature following her from behind the wall was enough to frighten anypony.
Finally she was about to reach the window. The moon was shining bright and she was sure she would be able to see what was making the sounds. But there was nothing. The sounds continued, but there was nothing. Not convinced that nothing was making the sounds, she opened the window to look outside. A cold breeze blew against her soft cheeks, and before she knew it the sounds had disappeared. She popped her head out the window and looked up, down, left, right, and everywhere. It was gone.
She suddenly felt sleepy and tired, presumably from all the tension. It was like the cold was sapping her strength, her cute star-patterned pajamas doing nothing to protect her from it. She closed the window, went back upstairs, and snuck into bed. Her search for answers had only led to more unsettling questions. Hopefully she would be able to find more answers than questions in the morning, when she would be all warm and well-rested. Fortunately, the scratching sounds did not return that night.
Twilight woke up to a chilly morning. Spike was still asleep in his basket. She remembered what happened last night, but then it occurred to her that it may never have actually happened. Maybe it was just a dream. It was the most reasonable explanation she could think of, or at least the easiest one to accept. At breakfast she told Spike about her experience. She wanted to hear his opinion on the matter.
"Are you sure it wasn't just a rat?" Spike asked her.
"I'm sure. It was really quiet last night, aside from those scratching sounds, of course. But I'm confident that I would have heard the scampering of little rat feet."
"Then what, are you saying it was an invisible x-ray-vision fingernail-blackboard monster?" Spike suggested jokingly.
Twilight shuddered at the thought. It was one of the disturbing but probable explanations that she had pushed to the back of her mind.
When Spike saw her unusually frightened reaction, he quickly added, "Come on, Twilight. There's no way something like that exists. Besides, if it did, I'll protect you!" And then he drew a magnificent dragon fire from his breath.
"Oh I'm sure you can protect me. As long as I remember to wake you up, that is."
Spike blushed, but laughed with Twilight nonetheless.
The sun was up and rising, but it seemed to be getting even colder. Twilight put on her favorite puffy sweater and relished for a while in the warmth it provided. It wasn't exactly fashionable and its edges were tearing, but it still did the job perfectly. She grinned as she imagined the look on Rarity's face if she ever saw it.
But then she turned her attention to the matter at hoof. If what she encountered that night was indeed an invisible monster, then it was likely that she was staring into it the whole time at the window. That was enough to give her the shivers even her sweater could not prevent. She decided to do the one thing she could do in this situation: research, which just happened to be her specialty.
But three hours had passed, and she still hadn't found anything in her creature books. There were creatures that could turn invisible, there were creatures that could see through walls, and there definitely were creatures that had claws, but she didn't find any creature with all three characteristics. She secretly wished she wouldn't find anything, so she could dismiss it as a dream and never think about it again. Still, she only gave up until after lunch, when the doorbell rang at about half past one in the afternoon. Spike answered the door.
"Oh, hi Spike. Is Twilight there?" It was Rarity at the door. She was wearing a fluffy white jacket.
"Yeah, but I think she's busy. She hasn't even had lunch yet."
But Twilight was already making her way towards them. "Sorry, Spike. I'll have lunch in a minute. So Rarity, is there anything I can help you with?"
"Yes, I was wondering if you had a book on scratch-resistant varnish or something of the sort. You see, when I left the shop this afternoon I noticed some scratch marks on the side." Rarity watched as Twilight's expression turned to one of realization. "Twilight?"
But Twilight had already dashed outside, leaving the two in a cloud of fluff from her puffy sweater.
There it was, just below the window: a series of scratch marks that would probably turn into a nasty wound if it was performed on something like a pony. This meant only one thing. It wasn't a dream. It was real.
Rarity and Spike soon caught up with her. "Hmm, it looks like we have the same problem," said Rarity. "Well, that makes it easier to explain."
Rarity was left rather exasperated after Twilight's full investigative interrogation about the scratch marks on the walls of Carousel Boutique. Rarity only had time to remind Twilight about the book she wanted to borrow before having to make up an excuse to leave. Before she actually left, however, she politely asked Twilight if she could fix up her sweater a bit. She was delighted when Twilight let her.
After Rarity left, Twilight called out to her number one assistant. "Spike, come on. We have to check other houses with scratch marks. Rarity didn't see what made them, but maybe some other pony did."
"But Twilight, you need to have lunch!"
"Oh nevermind that. These scratch marks could have been made by something really dangerous! We need to investigate as much as we can and then send a report to the princess." She grabbed one of her other sweaters and headed out the door.
But contrary to what she had expected, not many houses had the scratch marks. Those that did had owners that didn't even know about the scratches until she asked them about it. Then they reached Sugarcube Corner. It had the same kind of scratch marks, though they were smaller and less conspicuous. They went inside to ask Mr. and Mrs. Cake about them, but nopony was there behind the counter. Twilight rang the bell a few times, after which Pinkie Pie came tumbling down the stairs in a heap of dirty laundry.
"TWILIGHT!!!" Pinkie shouted with her front legs in the air. "You have GOT to help me!"
"Calm down, Pinkie Pie. What's this all about?"
"It's Mr. and Mrs. Cake! They left for a business trip! And they left me in charge to babysit!"
"Then what's the problem? The last time you babysat Pound and Pumpkin, you handled them just fine."
"I know! But they've been acting all weird since this morning! It's like they saw some kind of monster or something!"
Twilight remembered all about the scratch marks, but decided against telling Pinkie about them. She didn't want a Pinkie Pie any more freaked out than she was now. "So... do you need help in taking care of them?" She was seriously concerned about the twin babies. Pinkie Pie wasn't the type of pony to be able to fight off dangerous clawed monsters.
"YES YES YES YES YES PLEASE!!!" was Pinkie Pie's immediate answer.
"When do Mr. and Mrs. Cake get back?"
"They said they'd try to be back by tomorrow morning, but they didn't promise anything."
"Okay. I'll just get some of my things. I'll be back in a few minutes."
"Oh thank you thank you thank you thank you SO MUCH Twilight!!!" and Pinkie Pie gave her a big hug.
"Oh, and before I go, can I have some cake? I'm starving."
Twilight had her things packed and was about to leave for Sugarcube Corner again. "Are you sure you'll be fine by yourself?"
"I told you, I'll be fine!" Spike was trying to push Twilight out the door. "You've asked me that a million times already."
"Are you sure you don't want to--"
"--come with you to babysit with Pinkie Pie? Yes, I'm sure."
"Oh, alright. Have you sent the report to Princess Celestia yet?"
"Yeah, while you were getting your stuff. Now get going! Pinkie Pie is waiting for you!"
Twilight left very slowly and reluctantly, spouting reminders and take cares and see you tomorrows as she went. Spike, on the other hoof, immediately set off to do his chores, eager to enjoy his rare time home alone.
It was already late at night when Twilight and Pinkie Pie were able to put Pound and Pumpkin Cake to bed. The twins were already so attached to Pinkie that they refused to sleep without her beside them. In the end, Pinkie fell asleep with them, the babies on either side of her. It wasn't surprising she fell asleep, after a whole day of babysitting. It was a well-deserved rest.
Twilight headed downstairs to clean up the mess the babies had made there. Without Pinkie Pie bouncing all over the place, Twilight once again felt the cold. Pinkie Pie just had that kind of ability; when she's around everything seems so warm and fuzzy. Now Twilight was back to the cold and definite reality. When she reached the shop on the first floor, she noticed how much flour Pinkie and the babies had played with. "Flour!" Twilight came up with a great idea.
After cleaning the place up, it was so late that Twilight expected the scratching sounds to come soon. But soon wasn't soon enough. A few minutes later she was sleeping in the middle of the shop floor, with a pillow and a blanket.
And then it arrived, its scratching sounds waking her up. She was more frightened tonight than yesterday, now that she knew it wasn't just a rat or cat or dog. But her desire to protect Pinkie Pie and the babies gave her strength and courage. Besides, this time she had a plan.
She approached the wall and listened. What she heard made her heart jump. There were more of them. Two or three of them, from the sound of it. Luckily only one was following her. She gathered herself and moved slowly towards the window. Again, she saw nothing outside it. She carefully and very slowly opened it. But when it was wide enough, the unexpected happened.
Something powerful brushed her aside, and the bag of flour she was holding was pushed out of her reach. Now she was sure it was an invisible creature. And it was inside the house. She looked around, but no amount of squinting allowed her to see the invisible. What she did see were the things it touched as it moved. It was like watching a ghost movie in real life. Vases and jars seemed to topple over by themselves, and chairs were knocked over.
She was frozen in terror, but she had to act now. She grabbed the bag of flour and threw it directly at a particularly expensive-looking vase. For a moment she thought she had done something really foolish, and almost sighed with relief when the bag burst open in the middle of the room. It had hit the creature.
Twilight was still as a statue as the flour settled like snow. In front of her was a huge canine creature, slightly bigger than a wolf. The flour on its surface gave it a ghostly appearance, and only made it more frightening. It howled, and with it came a cold breeze like the one she felt the first night. Then it dashed out the window with a magnificent leap.
Twilight fainted.
Twilight woke up in a warm and comfortable bed in Pinkie Pie's room. Voices downstairs told her that Mr. and Mrs. Cake had arrived home. She ran downstairs as fast as she could, worried about the mess in the shop. Pinkie Pie was there, welcoming the Cakes inside. She was relieved to see that the place had been cleaned up again. Maybe Pinkie woke up early and tidied everything up.
"Twilight!" Pinkie called. "I'm so sorry I didn't tell you about them. I was worried you wouldn't babysit with me if I told you. But I'm really really glad you're safe."
Twilight was confused. "You mean you knew about the invisible creatures?" That explained why Pinkie was so freaked out in the first place.
"Invisible? It looked pretty visible to me. It was big and it had lots of black fur. Like a black wolf."
"Do you know what they are?"
"I don't know. The first time I saw one was the other night. Actually, that was the only time I saw one. I only woke up last night when I heard it howl. That's when I carried you to my bed. You're kind of heavy, you know?"
Twilight thought in silence, wondering what creature it could be. Who knows when they would stop scratching houses and start scratching ponies?
After breakfast with the Cakes, Twilight and Pinkie Pie headed to the town square, where the townsponies were gathering. They were all talking about the mysterious creature that ran through Ponyville that night. Apparently, some ponies had seen the invisible wolf that Twilight had covered with flour. When they got there, they saw Spike chatting with Rarity.
"Spike," Twilight called out to him. "How was last night?"
"Oh it was fine. And if you're wondering, the invisible monsters didn't come last night. Sure, I was asleep the whole time, but there weren't any fresh scratch marks when I checked this morning."
"How about you, Rarity? Did they come to your shop last night?"
"Hmm, I think so, but I'm not so sure. But a tall handsome stallion did come to my shop yesterday." Rarity entered fantasy mode, recalling the previous day's events. "Oh, that's right, your sweater." And she returned Twilight's favorite puffy sweater.
Rarity did a great job on her sweater. Aside from making it look brand new, it now featured an increased level in fashion. Twilight exchanged it with the sweater she was wearing, and was immensely pleased that it did not lose any of its heat protection ability.
It was Spike's turn to ask Twilight. "How about you, Twilight? How did babysitting with Pinkie Pie go?"
And Twilight jumped into her story of what happened in the previous nights, sprinkled with detailed descriptions and her own opinions. A crowd slowly gathered around her, and soon she was the center of attention in the town square. Everypony gasped and gaped when she reached the frightening parts, including Pinkie Pie, who had already heard the whole story at breakfast.
When Twilight had finished talking, the mayor took advantage of the attention to inform everypony about how to protect themselves from the unknown creatures. However, this was only comprised of things like "Don't forget to lock your doors and close your windows" and "Don't leave the house at night" and rephrased variations thereof. Twilight and her friends were already having their own conversation.
"It's kind of strange," started Twilight. "Why aren't the invisible wolves attacking anypony? I was in front of one but it didn't even attack me. It's like they're only looking for something."
"It's also very strange that only Pinkie Pie can see them. Others only ever saw the one Twilight had covered with flour," said Rarity with a hint of pity in her voice. It was obvious she didn't want the ability to see mysterious invisible monsters.
"Maybe it has something to do with her Pinkie Sense," suggested Spike. "I mean it's also an ability of hers we can't explain. Maybe she was just born with it."
"I guess so," said Pinkie Pie. "But what I find really strange is why they only scratch houses with unicorns living inside."
The silence was filled with surprise and admiration. They were all staring at her.
"Pinkie Pie, you're a genius!" Twilight was the first to break the silence.
"Amazing! I almost forgot that you knew everypony in Ponyville. You must have memorized where all of them live as well!" Rarity had never felt so proud that Pinkie Pie was one of her best friends.
Pinkie was just as surprised as the others at their reactions. "Wow, uhh..." Pinkie blushed even pinker than she already was. "Thanks!"
Twilight voiced out her thoughts to demonstrate that Pinkie Pie was correct. "It all makes sense. I'm a unicorn, so the invisible wolves only attacked the library when I was there the other night. And Rarity is a unicorn, so there were marks at her place too. Pinkie Pie isn't a unicorn... but Pumpkin Cake is!"
"But what's so special about unicorns? Why would they only target unicorns?" Spike asked.
"Magic!" Twilight exclaimed. "They must be attracted to magic! That explains how they followed me behind the walls!"
"Then why didn't they attack you?" Spike returned them to question one. "I mean if they wanted your magic, they'd have to... you know, eat you."
This ultimate question left Twilight in deep thought. "I don't know. But I think I now have enough information to search for this invisible wolf." She turned to Pinkie Pie and Rarity. "Pinkie Pie, Rarity, tell Ponyville what we've just discovered." Then she turned to Spike. "Spike, take a letter." And she marched off in the direction of the library.
After a quick lunch, Twilight was back in the library hitting the books. The sky had turned dark so suddenly in the past few minutes, and she had to switch on the lights to allow her to read properly. When she gazed outside, she saw that gray clouds had covered the sun from every angle. It looked like it was about to rain. "Night will fall early tonight," Twilight thought to herself.
A few hours passed, and she knew she was getting nowhere. She decided to pursue that one section she would have wanted to avoid the most: fiction. She knew it was unreliable, but she had no other option. She was desperate to gather more information, even if it was from a fairy tale. She started slowly on the first book, but she increased her pace as more and more clues turned up. After a few more hours, she concluded that everything pointed to one mythical creature: the hellhound.
There were many different accounts of the hellhound. But not one of them accurately described the creatures attacking the houses of Ponyville. Nevertheless, those different accounts convinced Twilight that this was only a different, undocumented variety. And despite those differences, they all had something in common: they were all linked to death. Most of the accounts said that staring into the eyes of a hellhound three times meant definite death.
She had to warn the others, especially Pinkie Pie! She had hoped to find their weaknesses or things that could drive them away, but they were either too complicated, or too ridiculously inconsistent with those she found in other accounts. It was only five in the afternoon, but it was already dark as dusk. As if to further discourage her from going outside, a heavy rain started.
She felt the temperature drop, and she knew they were coming. Four, five, maybe six hellhounds started scratching on the walls of the house. The pouring rain did nothing to muffle the scratching sounds. It was almost as if they were digging holes through the wooden walls.
"Spike!" she called. "Take these notes to Pinkie Pie and the others. I'm going to lure them out the house."
She perfomed a magic spell to protect her from the rain and went out the balcony. The hellhounds stopped digging into the house and followed her. It turned out that the rain was in fact helpful, because it made the hellhounds semi-visible. She teleported to a nearby rooftop. As expected, they followed her like guard dogs chasing a cat in a tree. She teleported from roof to roof, trying her best to lure them away from the residents of Ponyville.
But as she exerted more magic in trying to lure them while maintaining a safe distance, more and more hellhounds appeared from nowhere. A lightning struck nearby, breaking her concentration. She slipped and fell off the roof, landing with a soft thud on the ground. When she looked up she saw great big black eyes staring into her. Overcome with fear, she lost control. Pure white light shot out from her eyes, and magic started to erupt from her horn, hitting each and every one of the hellhounds. And that was all she remembered before losing consciousness.
When she woke up, it was a bright sunny morning. She was lying on the grass, feeling the cool refreshing breeze blow over her. There was a group of ponies a few ways ahead of her. She trotted over to them, eager to find out what the commotion was all about. But when she reached the area, nopony seemed to notice she was there. Only Pinkie Pie turned to look at her, her eyes filling with tears as she called out her name,
"Twilight."
