Dark Tales of Equestria

She is Coming

The rain was pouring down as lightning arced through the sky. Even beneath the thick canopy of trees, nothing was safe. The roots served only to aid in the creation of a thick muck, and threatening to trip any unsuspecting travelers.

Six figures ran through the forest. The one in the lead was emitting a glow from her forehead, lighting the path. “Come on, girls! We need to find shelter!” she shouted.

Mud clung to their hooves as they raced. Roots grabbed at their ankles. More than once they stumbled, several times they fell. “Where are we even going?” Rainbow shouted to be heard over the wind. “We’re in the middle of the Everfree Forest!”

Twilight grit her teeth. “We need to find a cave, or something.”

“How?” the pegasus argued back. “It’s a forest!”

Rarity, who was at the rear, also providing light with her horn, shot a look at the trees. “Even the trees aren’t doing anything to stop the rain.”

“Where did this storm even come from?” Applejack asked. “It was sunny, then cloudy, then raining within a matter of minutes.”

“It’s the Everfree Forest, silly!” Pinkie said as she hopped alongside the farmer. “Not even my Pinkie sense could predict what happens in here.”

Twilight didn’t waste the energy required to argue and just concentrated on running. If they didn’t find some kind of shelter, they risked hypothermia. Already she was soaked and miserable. She felt wet down to her very core, like she’d never get dry.

The entire group’s eyes were scanning the area as they ran, trying to see anything. With the cloud cover, it was now as almost pitch black. The entire forest was reduced to shadows, and deeper shadows, making it nearly impossible to pick out anything.

Rainbow tripped over another root, sprawling facedown into the thick mud. Cursing, she got back to her hooves, shaking her head to fling away enough muck so she could see. “Can’t we just sit under a tree?”

“Do you see the trees doing anything to keep us dry?” Applejack responded, trying to clean off her friend.

“This is stupid!” the pegasus shouted, kicking a tree. This only caused more water to drop on her, soaking her even more. “Argh!” She vented her frustration, kicking the tree several more times.

“Enough, Rainbow!” Twilight said. “Come on, I think I see something up ahead.”

Twilight led her friends through the trees. Up ahead there was something, a slightly brighter patch that stood out. Lightning illuminated the woods, though it did nothing to tell her what was ahead.

It took them less than a minute to reach the thing. It turned out to be a large clearing. “Oh great, a clearing. This’ll save us from the rain,” Rainbow said, sarcasm dripping from her voice like the water from her wings.

“You’re not helping, Rainbow,” Twilight grumbled.

Another flash of lightning lit up the clearing. Suddenly, the reason for its size was revealed. Sitting in the middle of the area was a very large mansion. It was at least two floors, with what looked like an attic. Windows ran along the front of it, with a small fountain in the front yard. A large double door granted access, a pathway leading from the edge of the trees, around the fountain, and up to the door.

“Uh, is there supposed to be a house here?” Applejack asked.

Twilight shook her head. “Not that I know of. Only Zecora is supposed to live in here. And that’s certainly not her hut.”

Rainbow was also staring at the mansion. “I’ve never seen anything like this before when flying over the forest.”

“Maybe it’s a super secret party mansion!” Pinkie exclaimed. She was still hopping in place, despite the rest of her friends in various states of breathlessness.

“Whatever it is, it’s probably warm and dry. It doesn’t look like it’s falling apart,” Rarity said. “We should ask whoever lives here if we may take shelter until the storm passes.”

The others nodded. With Twilight once again leading, they entered the clearing. There was little difference in the amount of rainfall once they left the shelter of the trees. They hurried down the pathway, around the fountain, which was inactive but nearly full of water from the rain, and up to the doors. A covered porch provided sanctuary from the rain, though the wind still howled and tore at them.

No lights could be seen on in the mansion. Still, that didn’t stop Twilight from pounding a hoof on the door. There was no point in trying to shout, as whoever was inside would never hear her over the storm.

Several minutes passed as Twilight tried again and again. “I’m not sure anyone lives here anymore.”

“Who the hay builds a mansion way out here, that nopony knows about, then just abandons it?” Rainbow asked. Without waiting for an answer, she took off, flying around the mansion.

Everywhere she went, darkened windows met her gaze. She tried peering inside several of them, but all that met her eyes were rooms full of furniture. It was weird, as everything looked perfectly clean and taken care of. Everything was put in its place. It was almost as if whoever had built this mansion had never even set hoof inside it.

Even the back side of the house, which boasted an impressive garden, looked untouched by everything except the rain. The more she saw of the house, the more unnerved she felt. There was something off about this place, though she couldn’t put a hoof on what it was.

She flew back around to the front, landing in front of her friends. “There’s no lights anywhere. It’s like nopony’s home.”

Twilight sighed. “Well, at least the front porch is dry.” A sudden gust of wind blew the rain onto them. “Mostly,” she amended.

“If nopony’s home, then they won’t mind if we just head on inside,” Rainbow said. Ignoring the protests of her friends, she reached out a hoof, grasping the door handle and giving it a twist. If it was locked, she was fully prepared to buck down the doors, or break a window to get inside. There was no way she was spending the night outside on some porch like this.

To the entire group’s surprise, the door opened. “It- It’s unlocked?” Rainbow questioned, peering back at her friends.

Rarity, sensing an opportunity to finally be dry and rid of the mud caking her legs, hesitated for only a moment before passing the pegasus and going inside. “Yoohoo! Anypony home?” she called out.

Inside was a spacious, two-story entryway. A small rug sat in front of the door, but otherwise a shiny, white marble floor took up the room. There was a double staircase leading up to the second floor, with a large double door between the two curved staircases. Several more doors led off the first floor while an expansive chandelier hung from the ceiling. A couple of doors could be seen along the balcony upstairs, with hallways leading off to the wings of the mansion.

Beyond what little light flowed in through the open door and the large windows, it was dark inside. Rarity trotted inside slightly, looking around. Whoever had built this place spared no expense. Her critical eye ran over everything, unable to pick out a flaw.

When nopony answered her call, she tried again, her friends also choosing to risk coming inside rather than wait on the porch. Fluttershy was the last to enter, closing the door behind her.

“I really don’t think anypony’s here,” Rarity said.

“I don’t think we should stay here without permission,” Fluttershy muttered. “It doesn’t feel right.”

“Whatever,” Rainbow argued. “So long as we clean up after ourselves, it’ll be like we were never here. Leave a note if you really feel bad.”

Fluttershy squeaked something unintelligible, hiding behind her mane.

“I’m kinda with Rainbow on this one,” Applejack said. “Though at the very least, we should try and find the owner. Or whoever lives here.”

Rarity was already using the rug to clean off her hooves. “Yes, it would be rude to not at least make an attempt.”

“Yeah! And that way we can throw him or her a ‘Thanks for letting us take shelter in your house from the rain’ party!” Pinkie chimed in. Somehow, she was already immaculately clean. Her usual poofy mane, once weighed down by water, was already returning to its usual state.

They each wiped themselves off as best they could on the rug. When they were all finished, Twilight used her magic to gather the collective mud into a ball. “Fluttershy, would you open the door so I can toss this outside?” she asked.

The pegasus nodded, her hoof gripping the door handle. She fiddled with it for a moment before turning back to Twilight. “It’s stuck.” She tried the handle on the other door. “Umm, so’s this one.”

“No it’s not,” Rainbow came over to the door. “I just opened them.” She tried to door handles as well, after a moment her face turning red as she strained. “Or they might be.”

Twilight sighed again. “Great. We broke the doors already. Just... Just open a window.” This entire day was not going according to plan. First reshelving day was interrupted by a letter from Princess Celestia asking her and her friends to check out a disturbance in the Everfree Forest. They had found nothing, and were going to return home when the storm blew in. Now they were here, and had apparently broken something.

“Uh, Twi,” Applejack said. “These windows aren’t made to open. So unless you wanna break one, or the doors, we’re stuck.”

“It seems that now we really must search the mansion. If only to find a working exit.” Rarity was trying to reshape her mane into its usual curls, and not having much luck. The rain had ruined it.

“Ugh! Fine!” Twilight exclaimed. “I guess I’ll just carry this with me. Don’t want to leave it here where it’ll dry and get stuck.” She pointed to the mud ball floating along in her magic.

Pinkie was over at the wall, her hoof flicking at something. “The lights don’t work.”

“Of course they don’t,” The mage muttered. She could feel a headache building, and it wasn’t from overusing her magic. “Let’s just start looking for the owner. The most obvious starting place would be the second floor, as that’s usually where bedrooms are.”

“Silly, Twilight. We should start in the kitchen. They may be hiding in the pantry, or icebox,” Pinkie said, licking her lips.

“No. No raiding of the food unless the owner says we can.” She started up the stairs, the glow of her horn provided some lighting. “Rarity, mind providing some light?”

“Not at all, darling.” Her horn lit up, bathing everything in a blue glow. While her talent may not be magic, Rarity was perfectly capable of powering such a low level spell.

The six of them made it up the stairs and looked around. Long hallways ran down both wings of the mansion, doors leading off of them. There was no sense of where the bedrooms might be. They would have no choice but to just start trying doors at random.

Idly picking the left hallway, Twilight tried the first door. It opened easily, no squeaking of the hinges or creaking of the wood. Inside was some sort of sitting room. The furniture was immaculate, no dust covered anything.

The second door she tried opened into a parlor. Once again, everything was perfect. There was even a fully stocked bar along one wall, the bottles glinting in her hornlight.

Every door they tried met with the same thing, a flawless room. Either there was a fleet of servants living here somewhere, or this place was somehow frozen in time. Intrigued, Twilight looked at some magazines she found sitting on a table in a reading room. The dates indicated that they were recent.

“I don’t like this place,” Fluttershy said. She was making sure to stay in the center of the group. Her friends would protect her.

“I agree,” Applejack said, looking around. “There’s something not natural about it. Even for the Everfree Forest.”

Twilight tried another room, finding a large library. “There has to be someone here. Everything’s too perfect for it to just be abandoned!” She turned to face her friends. “Maybe we should try the other wing. This one seems to just be rooms, no bedrooms.”

Pinkie held up a hoof. “Do you hear that?” she asked.

“Hear what?” Twilight inquired.

The baker’s ears twitched, swiveling around towards the end of the hallway. “It sounds like whispers.”

“Is someone here?” Twilight’s gaze followed her friend’s, seeing nothing.

“I don’t think so,” she replied, her face gaining an uncharacteristic nervous look to it. “‘Cause now they’re coming from that way,” she pointed down the hallway they had come from.

“I don’t hear anyth--” Rainbow started, but cut herself off. “No, there’s definitely whispers, but they’re coming from that room.” She indicated a room that they had already checked.

“Impossible,” Twilight said. “I already checked that room. There was nopony in there!”

“I hear it, too,” Applejack said, a hint of fear in her voice. “Only it’s coming from below us.”

Twilight concentrated, listening. Sure enough, there were whispers audible. “It’s in the attic,” she whispered.

Fluttershy eeped, curling herself into a ball on the floor. “They’re everywhere!” she cried.

“It must be some form of magic. There are a few spells that would allow for masking where a sound came from, though usually that only works in one direction. To have each member of a group hear it coming from a different direction hasn’t been done yet. That would take very strong illusion magic.” Twilight mulled things over in her head, speaking aloud to help herself think.

As soon as she stopped talking, she realized what Fluttershy had said. The whispers had indeed changed direction. It was coming from above, below, all around her, and it was getting louder.

She had no idea what the whispers were saying, it was speaking in a language that she couldn’t understand. Her ears flicked as she tried to listen. No, her hypothesis wasn’t quite correct. It wasn’t just one whisper, but numerous, all overlapping and making it impossible to understand. It was as if a thousand ponies were all speaking the same thing at different times.

Rarity shrieked, causing everypony to jump and Fluttershy to fall over. “Consarnit, Rarity. What was that for?” Applejack asked, a hoof holding her chest to try and contain her beating heart.

The fashionista stammered, her hoof pointing towards the end of the hallway. “There was something there!”

“Something...?” Twilight asked.

Every head turned to look down the hallway. They squinted, trying to pierce the darkness. Twilight poured more magic into her horn, far more than was necessary to levitate a ball of mud. The additional light revealed nothing.

“Rarity, you’re jumping at shadows,” Applejack said.

A flash of lightning lit up the hallway, revealing a thing. Twilight didn’t get a very good look at it, only that it looked superficially equine. There was something off about it, but in the brief glimpse, she couldn’t tell what it was.

Rarity shrieked again, turning and bolting down the hallway. Caught up in the panic of the moment, Pinkie went after her. Applejack and Rainbow stuck around for another moment, but when the lightning flashed again and the thing was even closer, they, too, ran.

In that second look, Twilight could somewhat make out details. It was an equine figure, but the neck was too long, the mouth too wide, and it appeared hairless. Forgetting about the ball of mud, she took several steps backwards before running away, the mud dropping to the floor.

The rest of her friends were in the front hall. Rarity was banging on the door, trying to get it to open while the others watched her back.

“Open! Open! Open! Open!” Rarity was crying. The door refused to bend to her will. Even when Applejack stepped up and bucked the door, it still didn’t open.

“Girls!” Twilight shouted! “Wait a minute!”

“Did you see that thing?” Rainbow asked. “No way. We’re getting out of here. I’d rather take my chances in the rain.” She flew up, hitting the door at high speed. The only result of that was her bouncing off the door.

Twilight looked around at her friends. They were all panicked and hovering around the door. All except one of them.

“Girls, where’s Fluttershy?”

At that, they slowly stopped what they were doing, looking around. “Did she not run?” Pinkie asked.

“Did we leave her behind?” Applejack voiced.

“We have to find—” Twilight was cut off as a scream echoed out through the mansion. “Fluttershy!” Without saying another word, Twilight took off running in the direction the scream had come from.

She scaled the stairs, heading back down the hallway. Her horn was alight as she channeled a spell. Odds were they had been frightened simply by the owner of the mansion who had come to investigate what was going on. Yet in case something else was going on, she was prepared to help her friend.

They had to open several doors before they found Fluttershy. She was sitting in the middle of a large room. A pool of blood was spreading around her. Twilight looked around, seeing nopony else in the room.

Sensing no immediate danger, she turned to helping her friend. The source of the blood became readily apparent. Whatever had happened to Fluttershy, her cutie marks were missing. It looked like the skin had been removed entirely on both of her hips. Bits of muscle showed underneath.

“Fluttershy!” Twilight cried. She ran up to her friend. “What happened?”

The pegasus didn’t answer. Tears were leaking from her eyes as she seemed to stare right through Twilight. Quickly, the unicorn looked around, trying to find something to help Fluttershy.

Her eyes landed on the curtains hanging from the windows. With a yank of her magic, she tore them down. “Rainbow, go back to that bar and get a bottle of the strongest alcohol you can.”

Rainbow nodded, taking off and out the door. The rest of her friends were crowding around. “Applejack,” Twilight ordered. “Grab some cloth and press it hard on Fluttershy’s other side.”

“Right.” The farmer took hold of one of the curtains, pressing it down on Fluttershy’s flank. Twilight used her magic to press down on the other.

The pegasus winced, gasping. “I’m sorry Fluttershy, I know this hurts. But we have to stop the bleeding.” Twilight kept pressing down, nodding for Applejack to do the same.

The only answer she got was a strained whimper. At least she was alert and listening. Most likely, she was in shock from a combination of what had happened to her, and bloodloss.

Carefully, Twilight peeled back the rapidly soaking curtain, looking at the wound. There was a certain jaggedness to it, as if whoever had removed her cutie marks hadn’t been very careful about it.

Rainbow came flying back in, a bottle held in her hooves. “How is she?” she asked.

Twilight took the bottle in her magic, holding it to the side as she pressed down on the wound again. “Both of her cutie marks are gone. We need to stop the bleeding, disinfect the wound, and bandage her up.”

“Can she be healed?”

“If we get her out of here and to the hospital, yes. As soon as she’s stable, I’ll try teleporting just the two of us back to Ponyville. The rest of you can follow.”

“What about her cutie marks?” Pinkie asked.

“If you can locate them, then they can probably be reattached. Otherwise...” Twilight trailed off, letting the statement go unfinished.

Everypony looked down, their ears flat. A cutie mark was intrinsically tied to a pony’s identity. To lose it was to lose oneself.

“If you can find them, try and keep them cold somehow to preserve them. But, given what happened here, leaving is your biggest priority. If you can’t get the door open, break a window.”

She peeled back the curtain again. The bleeding was slowing down enough for her to move on to the next part. Taking the bottle, she opened it, pouring some of the liquid inside out onto a clean section of the curtain. Taking Applejack’s curtain, she did the same.

“Pinkie, would you hold her down, please?” The pony in question nodded, tears in her eyes as she placed her forehooves on Fluttershy’s shoulders.

Twilight nodded to Applejack, placing the alcohol soaked curtain just over the wound. “I’m sorry, Fluttershy. But this is going to hurt. A lot.”

She pressed the cloth down hard. At the sudden, burning contact, Fluttershy’s eyes opened wide and she screamed. She bucked and flailed, trying to get away from the pain, but Pinkie held her down.

After several seconds, she fell still again. Twilight kept up the pressure for a minute before removing the curtain. The bleeding was mostly stopped, and the wound would be clean after that.

Tearing down another curtain, she tore this one into strips. Some of the strips she soaked in the remaining alcohol using them to wrap around the wounds. The rest she used to tie it all up, turning Fluttershy’s flank into a large bandage.

“Okay. I’m going to teleport out of here with Fluttershy. The rest of you, get out of here and meet us at the hospital.” Receiving nods from everypony, Twilight lit up her horn, casting the familiar spell over herself and her friend.

She closed her eyes against the flash of light, but something was off. Usually teleporting was accompanied by a sense of movement, only this time there was nothing. When she opened her eyes, she was still in the room, her friends all looking at her.

“What?” She questioned. Closing her eyes, she tried again. Still she didn’t leave. After half a dozen attempts, she chewed on her lip. “I can’t teleport. Something’s blocking it.”

“What?” Rainbow asked.

“Every time I try and teleport, it doesn’t work. The only explanation is that something is blocking me from leaving that way.”

“Then what do we do? The front door certainly won’t open.” Rarity was pacing the room, trying to keep calm and failing.

“The garden!” Rainbow exclaimed, her wings flaring. “There’s a garden out back, which means there’s a back door!”

Twilight nodded. Using her magic, she tossed the bloody curtains aside. “Then we head there. Failing that, we break a window and leave.” She looked at Rainbow. “Where is this door?”

“I think it’s in the middle of the house. So if we go straight back from the front door, we should find it.”

“Let’s go.” Gently, she picked up Fluttershy in a bubble of magic. The pegasus didn’t respond, her eyes shut tight, her teeth gritted together.

Together, they left the room at a brisk trot. It didn’t take them long to reach the bottom of the stairs. Twilight shot the front doors a scathing look before turning her back on them.

The wide double doors between the staircases should lead to the back of the house and their way out. Rainbow threw them open, revealing an expansive ballroom. The ceiling was two stories high, intricate lights running along it. The wooden floor was clean and polished, just like the rest of the house. A piano was sitting on a raised dais in one corner.

Sure enough, across the day were two glass doors. Through them, a flash of lightning briefly illuminated the garden, the plants swaying in the wind.

They ran across the floor, their hooves making a cacophony of noise. Rainbow spread her wings, pulling ahead and reaching the door first.

“Buck!” she swore as the rest came up. “These are stuck, too.”

Gently setting Fluttershy down, Twilight picked up the piano in her magic. “Everypony, back up.”

Realizing what she was about to do, her friends moved away. Lining up the instrument with the doors, Twilight shot them a glare at the same time as she shot the piano.

There was a horrendous clang as the piano impacted the doors. The polished wood cracked and splintered, strings snapped and keys fell to the floor. When it was all over, the doors still stood there, perfectly whole. The glass didn’t even have a scratch on it.

Twilight picked up the remains of the piano, smashing it into the doors over and over. When all that was left of the once brilliant instrument was a pile of splinters and detritus, the doors still stood. The windows were as immaculate as ever.

“What is going on here!” she cried out.

As her voice echoed out in the room, she noticed something else. The whispers, which had faded after they had run away, were coming back. The others looked around, hearing it too.

As soon as Fluttershy heard the whispers, her eyes shot wide open. “It’s coming!” Frantically, she tried to get up. “It’s coming and we have to leave. We have to leave or it will get us!”

Applejack tried to calm her friend down. “Whoa, whoa. Who’s coming?”

“It! The thing! We have to leave.” She struggled against the farmer’s grip, trying to get up and run away.

“You’re in no shape to be walking around, sugarcube. Just calm down and we’ll get out of here.”

“You don’t get it. We have to leave! Now!”

As the two were arguing, the whispers were steadily getting louder. Soon, a soft ticking sound could be heard. Twilight recognized the sound as claws on wood. Spike made the same sound whenever he walked around the wooden floors of the library.

Fluttershy stopped fighting, her wide eyes looking back into the ballroom. “It’s here...” she whispered.

Twilight turned her head, horn glowing to reveal whatever was there. What met her eyes was not what she was expecting.

Striding slowly across the room was a figure. It was loosely equine in shape, like the brief glimpse she had seen of it before. It was taller than a pony, the legs longer. The mouth was far too big, and she could see that it was filled with sharp looking teeth. Where there should be eyes, there were only black pits, shadows leaking out of them. On the ends of its hooves were claws, which ticked on the floor with each step. It had no coat covering its body, and in places the skin was torn open, revealing muscle and even bone underneath. Its muzzle was turned up in a hideous smile.

Yet all of that paled to its most grotesque feature. On its flanks hung two flaps of skin. Skin that was covered in a yellow coat, and bearing a trio of butterflies.

Everything went silent except for the whispers, which grew louder as the creature got closer. That is, until Fluttershy screamed, breaking free of a shocked Applejack’s grip and running towards a door set into the side of the room.

That set the rest of them into motion. Letting out screams of their own, they fled, following their friend. Twilight was just behind Rarity, who was leading the way.

They frantically ran through multiple rooms. Twilight had no idea what each one was, she was long past paying attention. Since Rarity wasn’t stopping to open doors, she was either using her magic, or following Fluttershy.

Finally, they stopped when they hit a room with only one door. Fluttershy was curled up in a corner, whimpering. Rarity was beating on a window with a hoof while Rainbow was beating on it with the curtain rod. Pinkie, whose mane had deflated only stared back at the door.

Twilight huffed, catching her breath. “What- What was that thing?”

“Did you see it?” Rainbow asked, slamming the rod into the window again. The window remained unblemished. “It was wearing Fluttershy’s cutie marks!”

“That was no pony. That was like nothing I’ve ever seen before,” Twilight said.

Pinkie looked back into the room. “Applejack’s gone,” she announced.

“Horsefeathers! She was right behind me!” Rainbow yelled.

“Did she get lost?” Rarity asked.

“No way. She’d easily keep up with us.”

“We should go back and get her,” Twilight argued.

Fluttershy stopped rocking back and forth. “No. We should stay right here, where it’s safe.”

“From that thing? Is anywhere safe?” Rainbow threw the now bent and useless curtain rod against the wall. Fluttershy only whimpered again, flinching away from the sound of the rod clattering to the floor.

“Come on, let’s just—” Twilight was cut off once more by a scream. “Applejack!” The scream itself was cut off abruptly. “Come on!”

Rainbow grabbed Fluttershy, forcing her to come along as they all ran off towards the scream. It sounded like it came from somewhere in this wing. They ran from room to room, pausing only to check each door in each room they came to.

After a long moment, they found Applejack. Pinkie threw open a door, and stopped, staring into the room. “I found her,” she said quietly.

The others converged on her position, Rainbow still dragging a reluctant Fluttershy. What they saw in the room chilled the blood in their veins.

Applejack lay towards the far wall. A large pool of blood was around her head. Her eyes were wide and staring at the door, almost as if accusing those standing there. Her throat was missing, torn out. The jagged edges of the wound looked almost like something, the thing, maybe, had bitten it off. The missing piece was gone, as was one of her back hooves, which looked like it had been torn off, a smaller pool of blood around the missing limb.

Nopony said anything for a minute. They just stared at the gory scene.

It was Twilight who broke the silence. “Applejack,” she whispered.

Pinkie entered the room. “Maybe she’s still alive! We need to help her!” She tore down another curtain, pressing it to the farmer’s neck, heedless of the blood around her hooves.

“Pinkie...” Twilight said, slowly coming into the room.

“What are you doing?” Pinkie shouted. “Use some magic! Help her!”

“Pinkie, she’s gone. Nopony can survive that.”

Tears were falling from Pinkie’s eyes, landing with little splashes in the blood. “Applejack’s strong. She can survive anything.”

“Look at her, Pinkie. She’s not breathing.” Twilight set a hoof on Pinkie’s shoulder. The mare was shuddering, her breaths coming in short, sharp gasps.

“She’s- She’s just- She can’t be...” The strength faded from Pinkie’s body and she nearly collapsed. Only Twilight catching her saved her from ending up in the blood. The curtain fell to the floor.

Twilight set the mare down away from Applejack’s body. “I’m so sorry, Pinkie.”

She held her friend, who sobbed into her chest. “Why?”

“I don’t know.” She ran a hoof through Pinkie’s now perfectly straight mane. “I don’t even know what that thing is, much less why it did this.”

They sat together for several minutes, both of them crying. Her friends stayed outside the room, almost as if afraid of coming in. Yet they too were crying..

After a time, Pinkie sat up, wiping her eyes. “What do we do?”

“We get out of here. We can come back later with the royal guard and the other Princesses to investigate and wipe this place out.”

The baker nodded. “What about Applejack? We can’t just leave her here.”

“We can come back and get her... body, once we find a way out.” Twilight gripped another curtain in her magic, tearing it down and draping it over the body. “Until then, she can rest here.”

She looked at her friends. “We need to find a way out. Splitting up is too dangerous, so we stick together. If that thing comes back, stick together.” She made sure to emphasize those last two words.

Twilight got to her hooves, along with Pinkie. “Come on. Let’s look for a door or something. There’s no way every door is locked and every window is unbreakable.”

“What about the second floor? The windows there may be different. You and Rainbow can fly and carry us to the ground,” Rarity suggested.

“Good idea. Let’s head back upstairs.”

Leaving Applejack’s body behind, they headed back up the stairs. Each of them were casting fearful looks around, as if the thing could be hiding around every corner, or behind each piece of furniture, or in every shadow.

Up there, they located the nearest window, Twilight levitating a heavy wardrobe and flinging it at the glass. The end result of that was a wardrobe in splinters and an unbroken window.

“Come on!” she grunted, flinging another piece of furniture at the window. After several minutes, every single piece of furniture in the room was a pile of splinters at the base of the window, which wasn’t even scratched. It remained there, mocking her.

Letting out a cry of frustration, she aimed a large blast of magic at the window, following it up with several more aimed at the window and surrounding walls. When the smoke cleared, not even a scorch mark was there. It was as if she had done nothing.

“What is going on here!” she cried out. There was no way anything could have survived that intact. The entire far wall should be dust flying away on the wind. Only three ponies could cast a defensive spell strong enough to withstand her magic: Shining Armor, Princess Luna, and Princess Celestia. “This is impossible!”

“Are we... Are we trapped?” Rarity asked, fear overwhelming in her voice.

“No. There has to be something, something we haven’t thought of. Nothing is impregnable, there’s always a way in, and always a way out.”

“But the doors don’t open, the windows won’t break, you can’t teleport. What else is there?”

“Something! Anything!” Twilight snapped. She tossed several more energy blasts at the wall, yielding the same result.

“Twilight!” Rainbow yelled at her. “Calm down. You’re scaring everypony.”

She turned to look at her friends, seeing them all shying away from her. Only Rainbow, with her narrow gaze, met her eyes.

Hanging her head low, she took in several deep breaths. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m just frustrated. And... scared.”

“It’s okay, darling. We all are. We all want to get out of here.” Rarity looked up, meeting Twilight’s eyes.

“Let’s just... Just keep looking. Head down the other wing. Maybe we’ll find something.” She had to keep them moving, keep them focused on something. If they dwelt too long in one place, or weren’t focused, then they’d think about the thing, and Applejack. They’d panic, or be drowned in sadness.

Taking one more deep breath and blowing it out her nose, she headed towards the door. “Come on.”

Before they could make it too far, the whispers picked up again. Twilight hadn’t noticed when they had gone away, but upon hearing them, she froze. “It’s back...” she whispered.

Each time the whispers had increased, the creature had appeared. So it stood to reason that it was coming again.

The whispers were different this time. They were slightly clearer. Twilight could actually make out a few words. “... escape... ...killed... ...is...” The message was still nonsensical.

Softly, a ticking could be heard. Twilight’s head turned in that direction, her eyes going wide. There was nothing behind them, nothing in front of them. Her horn lit up again, chasing away the shadows around them.

There it was, coming out a door further down the hallway in front of them. It was still grotesque, still horrific. It still had Fluttershy’s cutie marks on it, but now there was a new addition. Hanging around its neck was a single, orange hoof.

As soon as she saw it, Twilight turned and bolted. Rarity had been in the rear and was now leading the group away from the creature. “Stay together!” Twilight called.

There was a corner in the hallway. Rarity vanished around it, Fluttershy following behind a second later. When Twilight rounded the corner, she nearly ran into Rainbow, who had stopped.

“What are you doing? Keep running!”

“Rarity’s gone,” Rainbow said.

“What? Impossible! She was right ahead of us.”

The closest door down this section of hallway was a ways down. There was no way Rarity would have been able to run down it, open a door, and get inside before they had turned the corner.

Twilight peeked back around the corner. The thing was nowhere to be seen, even if the whispers were still loud. “I don’t see it.” She listened for a moment. “Or hear its claws.”

“Then where the buc—” Rainbow was cut off as once more, a scream echoed out.

“Rarity! No!” Pinkie shot forwards, faster than even Rainbow could manage.

“Pinkie wait!” Twilight shouted, taking off after the mare. The other two were behind her, she could hear Rainbow wrestling with Fluttershy, dragging her along.

“No! No! No! No!” Twilight said as she ran. “Please don’t let it be what I’m dreading it is...”

Up ahead, Pinkie threw open a door and bolted inside. Twilight skidded around the corner and into the room.

Inside, she found the pink mare standing over a white one. Red flowed along the floor, soaking the pristine white coat and discoloring it. A large gash ran along Rarity’s midsection, some of her insides spilling out.

Twilight put a hoof to her muzzle. “No...” she breathed. Forcing down the bile in her throat, she stepped closer to Rarity, careful to avoid the blood and guts on the floor. Unlike Applejack, where it was just a circle of blood, this one was more violent, with sprays of it along the walls and even what looked like some on the ceiling.

When she saw Rarity’s face, she gasped. One of her eyes was missing, just a bloody socket remaining. The other was staring blankly at the wall.

“No...” she said again. “No this can’t be happening!”

Pinkie wasn’t saying anything, only crying. Rainbow came into the room, Fluttershy staying outside, refusing to look in. “How? She was right in front of us? How did that thing get in front of us, get her, and disappear all before we turned the corner?”

The pegasus grabbed Twilight’s shoulders, shoving her face right up to hers. “How!” she shouted, tears falling from her rose colored eyes.

Twilight’s vision blurred as moisture obscured her eyes. “I don’t know...” she whispered.

Rainbow shook her. “How can you not know! You’re the smart one, you know things, you should know what’s going on!”

“Well I don’t!” Twilight shouted right back. “I don’t know what that thing is, or what it’s capable of. I don’t know where we are or what’s going on. Only that we’re trapped in here and that thing is hunting us.” She shoved Rainbow off of her. “So shove off.”

Rainbow snorted, her eyes narrowing. She looked like she was about to pounce on Twilight when Pinkie got between them. “Enough,” she said. “Not in front of Rarity.”

Both mares looked towards the body. The smell of copper and blood was heavy in the air. Twilight looked down at where Pinkie had touched her chest. A bloody hoofprint stuck out against her lavender coat.

“I- Yeah. You’re right. I’m sorry, Rainbow.”

The pegasus held her head low, ears flat against her skull. “I’m sorry, too.”

Pinkie headed towards the door and Fluttershy. “We’re all scared,” she said. “But we need to keep going. We’ll find a way out of this, and then we’ll make that creature pay.”

Twilight stared at her friend. There was an edge to Pinkie’s voice that she had never heard before. She’d seen Pinkie upset and sad, but she didn’t think she’d ever seen Pinkie angry. The mare was trembling, whether from sadness or anger, she couldn’t tell. There was almost a dangerous edge to her voice, if Twilight had to pick a word to describe it.

Twilight covered Rarity’s body with another curtain, the four of them moving on. None of them said anything as they moved back down the hallway and towards the middle of the mansion. They were in the original wing they had searched.

Just passed one of the open doors was a blood puddle. That was where they had found Fluttershy. The pegasus in question shivered when she saw it. The pain in her flanks, which had been mostly dulled due to adrenaline and fear, came back.

They made it to the other side of the mansion without incident. One of the first things they found was a trapdoor in the ceiling, leading to the attic. By silent agreement, none of them wanted to go up there. It was scary enough just being down here, much less in some creaky attic with only one way out.

They tried every single outer room they could find. The windows were solid panes of glass, not meant to be opened. No matter what they tried, they couldn’t break them. Or the walls, much to Twilight’s frustration.

When they were halfway along the hallway, Twilight heard it again. The whispers were back. Last time, she noticed that the whispers had vanished just after Rarity’s scream had died out.

Everypony froze in what they were doing. “No,” Fluttershy squeaked. She immediately fled into the corner, curling up into a ball.

“Up against the wall,” Twilight ordered. She levitated a dresser. “When it shows up, I’ll hit it with this and we run.”

“Will that even work?” Rainbow asked.

“I have no idea. But it’s all I’ve got.”

The whispers got even louder. A couple more words were able to be picked out. “... is ... escape ... be killed ... is coming.” Though Twilight still had no idea what the whispers were trying to tell them. Nor even whether the messages was meant to be helpful or not. Only that it seemed like each time one of them died, the message became more clear.

Together they waited, the only sounds were the ever increasing whispers and their breathing. Twilight eventually was able to hear the ticking claws, meaning it was close. “Be ready,” she cautioned the others. “Pinkie, you make sure Fluttershy is with us.” The pegasus was nearly catatonic, Twilight didn’t trust she’d run with the rest of them.

The thing appeared in the open door. Applejack’s hoof was still dangling from its neck, and Fluttershy’s cutie marks still hung over its own flanks. Now, a single blue eye stared at them from what was once an empty socket. The other socket was still empty, dark shadows leaking from it.

“Wait a moment. Let it get into the room.”

The thing didn’t even slow down upon seeing the four of them arrayed there. It simply continued forward, each step accompanied by a ticking claw. The mouth still grinned at them, the teeth stained red. One of its claws left a red mark on the ground wherever it landed.

Twilight was waiting for the thing to get a little further into the room. They needed enough room to dodge around the thing once she’d thrown the dresser at it. If she went too soon, it would be blocking the door. Every instinct she had was telling her that that thing wasn’t natural, to flee, but she fought them all down.

Rainbow shot into the air. “I’ll teach you to mess with us!” She flew at the thing, hoof extended for a punch.

“Rainbow, no!” Twilight couldn’t toss the dresser if she was in the way.

If the thing was fazed by Rainbow flying at it in any way, it didn’t show it. Its expression never changed.

Rainbow collided with the thing. As soon as her hoof touched its cheek, the two of them vanished.

The dresser faltered in Twilight’s magic. “What?” She set the dresser down, cautiously approaching the area they had just been. She was able to wave her hoof right through it. “Where did they go?”

“They’re... gone.” Pinkie said. She was holding on to Fluttershy, still prepared to run.

“It has no horn, so it didn’t teleport.” Twilight’s mind was racing in many different directions, trying to decipher what had happened. “But there’s no way it just vanished, that’s impossible.”

“You keep saying that,” Fluttershy said. Her voice was no louder than the whispers still around them. “Yet it keeps happening.”

“Urgh!” Twilight grunted out, stamping her hoof. “Nothing about this place makes any sense!”

Another scream filled the room, causing them all to jump. This one sounded like it was just outside the door to the room, though they couldn’t see anything. The scream cut off with the sound of tearing and a wet crunch. As soon as the scream was gone, so were the whispers.

Twilight and the others just looked at the door, none of them moving. They all knew what the scream meant. Their friend was dead.

Pinkie let go of Fluttershy, heading to the door. “Pinkie...” Twilight said.

“I have to see,” she replied. “I have to know.”

The unicorn sighed, before following her friend. She used her magic to bring Fluttershy along. There was only one door out of the room anyway.

She found both Pinkie and Rainbow in the hallway. The pegasus’ body was laying on the floor. Her head was sitting on a small table, blood dripping down to the floor. Her severed neck, which looked like the head had been simply ripped off, was still spurting weak jets of blood across the floor. Streaks of blood covered the floor, the walls, everything. The thing had killed her right here, and then left.

If the pattern held true, then the body would be missing something. Twilight took a closer look, this time not even bothering to step around the blood. It was everywhere. Sure enough, a single wing was missing, just a jagged, bloody stump remaining.

Twilight set a hoof over Pinkie’s shoulder. “Come on, we need to move on.”

“What’s the point?” she asked. “There’s no way out, and that thing will just keep coming back until we’re all dead.”

“That’s not true. We haven’t tried everything yet. We still need to finish exploring this wing, and there’s still a whole other floor we haven’t tried yet on this side of the house.”

“You just don’t want to face the truth, Twilight.”

It was heartbreaking to see her most optimistic friend being so defeatist. Usually Pinkie would be the one cheering everypony up, or egging them on.

If she was being truthful, she felt that Pinkie was speaking the truth. Every single thing they had tried had failed, and three of them were dead. Everything about this place flew in the face of logic. If she didn’t think him incapable of such wanton brutality, she would blame Discord for this. But not even the draconequus would engage in something like this. There were no other powers left that she knew about that could pull this off. Sombra was dead, and Chrysalis was a powerless wretch, stuck in her hive. Not even the Alicorn Amulet could provide this much power to a pony.

Yet none of that mattered. What did matter was that the three of them were still alive. And that meant they still had a chance of getting out.

“Come on, Pinkie. Let’s just go. If we’re going to die, I’d rather it be fighting on my hooves, than faltering on my knees.”

The baker wiped her eyes, nodding at Twilight. She didn’t say anything, though she did follow behind her. Making sure Fluttershy was with them, they kept moving, leaving the body of Rainbow Dash behind.

They searched the entire upper floor, finding nothing. Twilight even ventured into the attic. The few windows up there resisted her every attempt to open them, and the roof was as stubbornly solid as the walls. She couldn’t even scratch the beams holding up the roof.

Every failure was met with frustration by her, and a sigh of dejection from Pinkie. Fluttershy said nothing, only moving along with them. It was as if the life had left her body and she was just following them automatically now.

Eventually, they had made their way back down to the first floor, trying everything down there. They were in a rather large dining room, Twilight seeing if it was possible to crawl up the chimney somehow, when the whispers returned. Fluttershy cried out and dove under the table. Pinkie and Twilight froze, the unicorn lifting up a chair and prepared to enact her original plan.

“There is ... escape. You ... be killed ... is coming.”

There was still some of it missing, but Twilight was beginning to piece it together. She still wasn’t sure what the last part was supposed to be. The more of the message that got revealed, the less helpful it seemed.

The ticking of the claws echoed through the room. It was getting closer. The louder the ticking got, the more Twilight could feel her instincts clawing at her to just run. She fought them down again. She had to protect her friends as best she could.

Soon enough, the thing came through a door, slowly approaching them. Along with its other grisly trophies, a cyan wing was stuck to its side. Since there were multiple doors in this room, Twilight wasted no time in throwing the chair, and several more, at the thing. “Run!” she shouted.

Without looking to see if the others were running, she took off for the farthest door. She didn’t even know if the chairs had done anything to the thing. She wasn’t even sure it could be harmed. She didn’t know what to believe anymore, only that running was her only option.

She ran through at least half a dozen rooms and down a hallway before she slowed down enough to look around. There was nopony else with her.

“Pinkie! Fluttershy?” she called out in a harsh whisper. “Where are you?”

The only answer was a distant scream. This one was dragged out, fading only when the screamer ran out of breath. Twilight winced, knowing what it meant. The scream was Pinkie’s, and she was now dead.

That meant that Fluttershy was still somewhere in the mansion. She didn’t know if the pegasus had run from the creature, or stayed in the dining room. What she did know, was that she had to find her friend.

Twilight retraced her steps, not even pausing when she tossed bolts of magic at each window she passed. Every time it was the same effect, nothing.

She reached the dining room, finding it empty. There were several broken chairs where she had tossed them at the thing, though whether they broke when they hit the thing, or the floor, she didn’t know. Fluttershy was no longer under the table, meaning she had run away. Which meant she could be anywhere in the mansion.

Two rooms over, she found Pinkie. There was a large hole in her chest. Her heart, still dripping blood, was sitting on a table a few hooves away. Her mouth was open, stuck in a silent scream, though her tongue was missing.

She looked at the body long enough to confirm her suspicions before moving on. Fluttershy was alone somewhere, and she needed to find her.

Twilight searched her way towards the front door. She had run deeper into the wing and been alone, so it stood to reason the the pegasus had run in the other direction.

For what felt like hours, she searched. The right wing was cleared, that’s where they had been. As she walked, she called out Fluttershy’s name. The only response she ever got was her own voice, echoing back at her.

She wandered room to room, looking under everything for a sign of her friend. There was nothing on the first floor entirely. It was only when she was searching the left wing of the second floor, that she found her the pegasus.

Fluttershy was curled up in a ball in the corner of the room with the bar in it. Her eyes were wide, and she tried to make herself smaller when Twilight came into the room.

“Fluttershy!” the unicorn cried out. She raced over to embrace her friend. “I was so worried for you.”

“Twilight. You’re here, so that means Pinkie’s...”

Twilight nodded her head. “Yes. I found her body.”

The pegasus clutched her friend closely. “What’s going to happen to us?”

“I don’t know. All I know is that I’m going to fight.”

They sat in silence, waiting. There was no point in moving around. Both mares had accepted that they were trapped. The only thing left to do was wait, and see if Twilight could fight the creature somehow.

Twilight looked around, taking in what was in the room. There was a lot of alcohol behind the bar. If all else failed, she could ignite it, creating an explosion. The resulting firebomb would take out everything in the room. She wouldn’t survive that, but with luck, she could encourage Fluttershy to run away.

Part of her wondered if it would be best to not have her run. If it came down to it, dying in the explosion would be relatively painless, far more so than whatever the creature would do to her. If the pegasus ran, she would be alone, and the creature would simply find her and kill her. Perhaps it was best to die together, in one final blaze of glory.

An indeterminate amount of time later, and the whispers were back. This time, the message was clear. “There is no escape. You will be killed. She is coming.”

Twilight ignored the voices. As she had suspected, the message was not helpful. Instead, she prepared her spells, her horn glowing with barely contained power, sparks of errant magic floating to the floor.

The ticking of claws on the floor came closer and closer until the thing was in the room. It slid through the doorway, still wearing the trophies, including a tongue that hung from its mouth.

“I’m ready for you,” Twilight said. She fired off her first spell, watching as the magic sped towards the thing, who only took another step forward.

The bolt of magic didn’t even affect it. It passed right through the thing as if it wasn’t there, impacting the wall and detonating.

Twilight fired off several more spells, none of which had any effect. Realising that she couldn’t hurt the thing, she turned to face Fluttershy. A single tear fell from her eye as their gazes met.

“I’m sorry, Fluttershy,” Twilight said, preparing one last spell.

The pegasus nodded. “It’s ok,” she whispered.

Twilight fired her spell, not at the thing, but at the bar. She was fully intending to set off an explosion that would destroy anything in the room and hopefully burn down this cursed place.

However, that never happened. The magic hit the bar and detonated. Yet the bottles were still perfectly fine. “You have got to be bucking kidding- urk!”

Twilight’s words were cut off as something grabbed her throat. Her eyes swiveled, seeing the thing standing right in front of her. It was still smiling that razor smile, Rarity’s eye staring back at her, unblinking.

She felt herself lifted off the floor, her hooves dangling. She didn’t struggle or fight, only stared into the black pit of its eye.

The thing raised the other forehoof not holding her up. The claw, still red, slowly moved towards her midsection. Twilight’s eyes followed it.

With a slow, almost gentle movement, it drew the claw right across her midsection, just below the ribs. There was no pain to accompany what it did. Instead, it was almost as if it was caressing her.

At least, until there was an ungodly ripping sound. With horror, Twilight watched as her lower half fell to the floor, followed half a second later by most of her insides. Wet plops echoed in her ears as her organs and blood flooded out, coating everything within at least a dozen hooves in a layer of red.

Her eyes moved back up to the thing, as its hoof gripped her horn. With a yank, the horn came off, the creature sticking it on its own head, where it stayed.

She could feel herself losing consciousness. The last thing she saw was the thing’s face, leering at her.

Fluttershy watched in horror as the thing tossed the body of her friend aside. Twilight’s upper half landed with a splash of blood.

Then the thing turned its gaze on her. As soon as it had let go of Twilight, the whispers stopped. Yet the thing was still there.

The pegasus closed her eyes tight, awaiting her end. It seemed when there was only one left, it gave up hunting and instead just killed.

Long moments passed and nothing happened. Finally, she opened one eye. The thing was still standing there, covered in blood and staring at her.

When it noticed that she was looking, the thing raised a hoof. Instead of reaching for her, or coming closer, or attacking her, it pointed towards the wall. Curious, and hoping that it meant to spare her somehow, she looked.

On the wall was a mirror. Reflected in the mirror was the room, the gory mess that was once Twilight Sparkle, and the thing. Fluttershy turned her head back, but the thing was gone.

Regarding the mirror once more, she got up and walked towards it. The thing in the mirror matched her movements. She stopped, and it stopped. She took a step forwards and it took a step forwards. She raised a hoof and it raised a hoof, perfectly in sync with her motions.

Fluttershy turned around, seeing herself alone in the room except for the corpse of her friend. Turning back around, it was the thing and the corpse of her friend.

The mirror cracked as she was looking into it, then shattered. On the other side was a bright, white light. Fluttershy took several steps forward, then climbed through the remains of the mirror. It was either that, or stay here, and she couldn’t stay here.

As soon as she was through, she was falling. Her wings failed to respond, to open and slow her down. She closed her eyes, awaiting the impact which would surely kill her.

She landed on something soft, cushioning her fall. After a moment, she opened her eyes. White, padded walls greeted her vision. The only light was coming from under a thick door.

Fluttershy looked around the room. There was nothing in there, save for a small bed, and a toilet. It was empty, devoid of even a sign that somepony lived here. Even the bed was perfectly made, the sheets stretched tight over the mattress.

Hoofsteps could be heard approaching the door. She flinched, before she realized that it was normal hooves, no claws. Based on the sounds, it was two ponies. She considered going and beating on the door, asking, crying, to be let out. Yet she held back. She didn’t know if these were nice ponies or not.

The hoofsteps stopped outside of her door. There was silence for a moment, before a voice spoke up. It sounded like a younger stallion.

“Can you believe this one?” it asked.

A second voice, this one gruff and older, responded. “I’ve seen a lot of strange cases working here, but this one is the worst.”

The first voice came back. “So it’s true? She just snapped one day?”

“Something like that,” the other voice said. “All that’s known is that one day, she invited her friends over, one by one, and killed them. In terrible ways. Ripped out the first one’s throat. Disemboweled the second one. Cut the third one’s head off. The fourth had her heart removed. And the last one? Well, she cut that poor mare right in half. All while they were still alive.”

There was more silence, as what they said started to sink in for Fluttershy.

“She took trophies, too.”

“Yup. Took what was most important to each of them and kept them in her bedroom. When they found her, she was wearing the trophies, still covered in their blood.”

“Wow... So now what does she do?”

The second voice waited before answering. “Nothing. Hasn’t said a word since she got here. Sometimes, she cries for awhile, then just goes silent again. Now come on, I’ve gotta finish your tour and get you an ID badge. It’s not so bad, working here.”

The hoofsteps started up again, fading away into the distance. Fluttershy waited until they were gone. When everything was silent again, she curled up into a ball in the corner.

“It was real,” she whispered. “It happened, but nopony believes me.” Rocking back and forth, she started crying.