The Four of Marksby KeyNoteTheUnicornChaptersChapter 1: The Adventure To Olds TownChapter 2: Sugar Belle's StrollChapter 3: Losing The LostChapter 4: A Cloaked SirChapter 1: The Adventure To Olds Town“Hurry up!” Shouted Party Favor! For him and Double Diamond were rushing to get to Sugar Belle’s house. But the reason Double Diamond was slacking behind, was because he had many things on his mind. Once he realized that Party Favor was calling at him to hurry, Double Diamond picked up the pace. Night Glider had already been at Sugar Belle’s house for the past half hour. Her and Sugar Belle just sat and talked—like most mares do—While waiting for the two stallions to show. Finally, Party Favor and Double Diamond arrived to Sugar Belle’s house. No one knew why they were there, expect Sugar Belle. All that Sugar Belle would go on to tell them, was that it was a surprise! “Welcome!” Sugar Belle said, as she greeted the two stallions into her house. She offered them a seat. “Hold on… I need to go get the surprise!” Sugar Belle trotted into another room, most likely her bed room, to get said surprise. Of all ponies in the room, beside Sugar Belle, Party Favor was the most excited! He loved surprises! He also kind of had a liking for Sugar Belle… More of a liking then, just a friend. Party Favor just looked over toward the room that Sugar Belle went in to, with excited, glowing, eyes. And every time Night Glider or Double Diamond looked over at him, they could tell the glow in his eyes was waiting for more then just the surprise. Finally, Sugar Belle came out of the room with a saddle bag! But she brought out with her, 3 other saddle bags. The other 3 friends looked around at each other in confusion, but still excited. Sugar Belle cleared her throat to interrupt the awkward silence, and began speaking, “I made these saddle bags for all of us,” she began, “but I guess you are wondering why I made saddle bags of all things!” The three others, nodded their heads. Sugar Belle continued, “Well, I thought it would be swell to go on an adventure!” Night Glider and Party Favor seemed all for it, as they smiled big and went over to collect their saddle bags! But Double Diamond didn't feel up to it. He wasn't so sure if it was a good idea. Sugar Belle went over to him, and continued to persuade him, “It would be a good way to get used to our talents again!” she smiled at Double Diamond. Double Diamond looked down in thought of what she just said, and then looked up at her and smiled. The four finally gathered their bags, and supplied them with common needs first. Then they supplied them with stuff based on their talents. The saddle bags were a bit odd. They seemed to fit larger things into them. Things that wouldn't normally fit in such a saddle bag. But so be it, Double Diamond was able to fit his ski’s into his saddle bag like a glove! As Double Diamond, Party Favor, and Night Glider packed up their things, Sugar Belle stepped out side of her house and announced to the village, that she and the other three friends, would be leaving for a few days to go traveling! She began saying her goodbyes to the other villagers, then the 3 others came out, and began saying their goodbyes. A half an hour or so later, the 4 friends made their way out of town and to wherever their hooves would take them. Sugar Belle led the way, even though it didn't really matter. Night Glider stood behind-beside Sugar Belle, and so did Party Favor. Double Diamond strayed a bit behind all of them. He was still a bit unsure of this “adventure” they were taking. Night Glider looked behind her self, to see Double Diamond mooping behind! Night Glider flew over to Double Diamond, and hovered above him as they walked. “Is everything alright?” she asked, concerned. Double Diamond put on one of those, classic fake smiles, and looked up at her. “Yes! Everything is fine.” He answered. Night Glider knew that wasn't true, but she let it go, since she figured he didn't want to discuss whatever was bothering him, right now. She flew back over to her original spot, by Sugar Belle and they all continued walking. As night fell, the four came across a town! It seemed pretty big! But, then again, compared to their little village, any town seems big in their eyes. It seemed really old fashioned though! Many ponies with top hats, and fancy dresses were trotting around. It wasn’t Canterlot. It wasn’t Manehatten. None of the ponies knew what the city was. Until Night Glider pointed out a sign with the villages name on it! The sign read, “Olds Ville.” All of them thought that the name was very cliché and uncreative, but, they knew what that was like. So they didn’t argue… At least, not aloud. They trotted through the night of this village, hoping to find a place to stay for the night. The town had many twists and turns, so they decided to split up. There was a pro to that plan, and a con. The pro was, they would find a place to stay sooner. The con was, they would have to search forever to find each other. But to fix that a bit, they sent Night Glider to go above the village to fly from one friend to another, just to keep track of all of them, while looking for a place to stay her self. Meanwhile, Double Diamond had a sinking feeling in his stomach the whole time he was looking. He felt that something wasn’t right in this village. He felt something more dark going on in this village, then what happened in his own village only a few weeks back. And the worst part of this feeling, was that it was just a feeling. As he looked around, he saw nothing awful or strange. Which just made the sinking feeling worse, because whatever was being hidden here, must be so bad, that not even a clue is shown throughout the town or its citizens. Which means its well hidden. Did the ponies around here even know if their was such an evil thing around? Is there even a dark evil magic in the town at all? Double Diamond had so many questions, and he wanted them answered. But before he knew it, he found him self ramming into the staircase of a bed and breakfast by mistake! It was that moment, Night Glider flew over head, and saw Double Diamond waving, signaling her to get the others. She nodded and dashed off to find Sugar Belle and Party Favor. After a few minutes, the 4 were reunited as they all stood outside the bed and breakfast. Lucky for them, they remembered to bring all the bits they could bring. Sugar Belle walked into the bed and breakfast, and up to the front desk as her friends followed in with her. An older stallion with glasses, a beard, and a dark and pale yellow coat and a grayish-redish-sleeveless vest, welcomed them as he walked behind the desk. Double Diamond felt a slight chill go down the back of his neck, then his spine. He knew he had seen that stallion before, somewhere. No, no, it wasn’t anyone like his father or cliché stuff like that… But he knew he saw him before. Before all of the equal cutie mark stuff happened. Double Diamond quickly erased the thought from his head for now, and just thought of a comfortable bed, in a comfortable room, waiting for him. “What can I do for ya?” The old stallion asked. “Well, first, I would like to ask:” Sugar Belle began, “how many beds are in a room?” she asked. The stallion thought for a moment, which seemed odd, for he had most likely worked their most of his life. Finally the stallion came up with an answer, “Two. Two beds in each room.” Sugar Belle nodded and took a small sack of bits out of her saddle bag, and gave it to the stallion. “We’ll take two rooms then, please. One for us mares, and one for my two stallion friends!” Sugar Belle, demanded, sweetly. The stallion nodded and took the sack of bits. He then led them to their rooms, and then walked back down the hall, to his office. The two stallions walked into their room, while the two mares walked into theirs. They all settled in and admired their surroundings. All, except Double Diamond. He did look at his surroundings, yes, but he looked as though he had seen many, many ghosts! Party Favor looked over at Double Diamond, with a concerned look on his face. “What seems to be troubling you?” Asked Party Favor. Double Diamond looked up at him, as if Party Favor was accusing him of some sort of crime! He looked afraid and didn’t answer Party Favor, instead, he walked over to what would be his bed for the night, and began to fall asleep. Party Favor sighed and went over to his bed as well, he turned out the lights, and began to fall asleep. Meanwhile, in the mares room, Night Glider sat, concerned. At least, that’s what her facial expression expressed. Sugar Belle walked over to her. “Whats the matter?” She asked. Night Glider looked at Sugar Belle in the eyes, sadly. “I think something is bother Double Diamond. And not just the fact we are traveling around… I think something more is troubling him. Ever since we got to this town he has been-“ Sugar Belle interrupted her. “—Shhh…” Night Glider became quiet, and Sugar Belle stayed quiet. They both heard the sound of hooves in the hallway, and the sound of keys as well. They, whoever they were, were walking, ever so slowly down the hallway. Night Glider whispered, “What? Its probably just that one stallion.” But Sugar Belle shook her head in disagreement and continued to stay silent, and listen. Sooner or later, they heard muttering… And then the walking became more like pacing, back and fourth. It sounded like a stallion, but not any of their friends, nor was it the stallion that was at the desk. The stallion kept muttering in a panicked matter. The panicking slowly turned into sounding insane and rage. At one point, the stallion seemed to slammed his hoof against the wall in frustration. That caused the mares to jump in sudden shock. Then out of no were, the stallion grew silent. He wasn’t thinking, he was hardly breathing. He knew. He knew that Night Glider and Sugar Belle were listening. The two mares looked at each other panicked. What if this stallion was mental? What if he was dangerous? The two mares scrambled around the room, as quiet as they could, and turned out their lights, and laid down in their beds. They looked at each other from across the room in their beds, in fear and hope that the stallion would go away and not bust into the room. After a couple minutes of suspense, the two mares heard the sound of hoof steps trailing away from the hall. Both the mares exhaled, in relief and began to fall asleep. Later, in the middle of the night, Party Favor heard heavy, panicked breathing on the other side of room. He turned over in his bed, and saw Double Diamond, in his bed, staring at the ceiling. “What in Equestria is the matter with you, Double Diamond!?” Party Favor asked, a bit harshly. Double Diamond turned is head, toward Party Favor. “What sort of evil lies upon this place?!” Asked Double Diamond, panicked. It wasn’t answering Party Favor’s question, but it answered why Diamond Double was acting crazy. He thought that some evil was somewhere in the village. “Double Diamond, there isn’t anything evil, or wrong, with this village.” Said Party Favor, reassuringly. But Double Diamond didn’t listen. The thought of an evil, far greater then anything facing Equestria, itched at him. Double Diamond took a few deep breaths, to calm him self. “I-I Just need to go outside, and get some fresh air.” “Mind if I tag along?” Double Diamond nodded his head, which meant he allowed Party Favor to join. Party Favor smiled, and got out of bed, and so did Double Diamond. They both made their way outside, and began to just trot around the village. Surprisingly, there were still ponies, mostly what seemed to be couples, out strolling around. They all seemed so refined and classy. It was odd. It seemed as if Party Favor and Double Diamond were back in time! Why was this town so old fashioned? Most likely were they got their name, though. But it seemed to have had a reason. As Party Favor and Double Diamond walked around, they noticed not even one pony, stare at them. That’s odd. Thought Double Diamond. Wouldn’t “different” ponies, starngers, like me and Party Favor be more noticed…? Double Diamond shrugged the thought off, and just went about looking around his surroundings. The lights in every building seemed to be lit, bit dimmed. “Do these ponies stay up through the whole night, or what?” Asked Party Favor, not expecting to get an answer from Double Diamond, since he him self most likely didn't know the reason. All he did was shrug, again. Party Favor felt a chill go down his spine. It was odd. He didn’t know why that happened. He wasn't cold, and he didn't have “the shivers”, he simply just had a dark, cold, chill quickly crawl down his spine. He cleared his throat to get Double Diamond’s attention. It worked. Double Diamond looked over at him, wondering why he did such a thing. Party Favor whispered to Double Diamond, “I… I think I'm starting to feel what you’re feeling.” He said, a bit fearful. Double Diamond looked down, a bit discouraged and frightened. He looked back up, toward Party Favor, “Maybe its best to go back to the bed and breakfast, and start investigating tomorrow.”… Party Favor nodded in agreement. As they both made their way back to the bed and breakfast, Double Diamond, who was in front of Party Favor as they walked, bumped into a shady stallion. He seemed to be a pegasus with light purple skin… They couldn't see his face, for the stallion was wearing a dark cloak over his back and his face. “Oh! Sorry, sir!” Said Double Diamond, nervously. “Yes, sorry!” said Party Favor, agreeing with the apology. The stallion just grunted, and rushed off behind them into the dark of the village. “That was odd.” Said Party Favor. Double Diamond slightly nodded in agreement. The next day, after the stallions returned to the bed and breakfast, all of the four friends got up from their beds. The mares were well rested, while the stallions were a bit weary-eyed from the stroll they took last night. But they still had a good attitude and some energy. The four friends all gathered in the dinning room of the bed and breakfast, were they had… Well… Breakfast! They had pancakes and juice. Double Diamond didn’t eat, and Party Favor hardly ate. They pretty much just stared at their plates, nervously. Sugar Belle and Night Glider both looked at each other and then at the two stallions. “Is everything alright with you two?” Asked Sugar Belle. “Yeah,” agreed Night Glider, “you both look distressed!” she continued. Double Diamond took a deep breath, and as he opened his mouth to say something, Party Favor decided to interrupt, very nervously and spoke quiet quickly, as if to finish the subject with in the sentence, “Yes, yes, we are fine. Completely fine.” Which of course, made things more suspicious to the two mares. Author's Note This chapter is of course, the start of our story. The four friends embark on a rather short travel, before coming across a village. Though, Double Diamond hasn't felt up to any sort of adventure. Which is odd... He used to be, and now seems to be, one of the most adventurous friends of the four! Of which, is why his friends are concerned. But meanwhile, Double Diamond's, "Adventure is Bad" hunch, has seemed to be on point... The two mares discover that sooner or later, as well as Party Favor... This is only the start, though. Chapter 2: Sugar Belle's StrollNight Glider, Double Diamond, and Party Favor decided to stay at the bed and breakfast while Sugar Belle went out for a stroll. Night Glider stayed to try and figure out what was making the stallions so, “fidgety”, while in the meantime she also read some old town newspapers, trying to possibly find some clues about the mystery pony that her and Sugar Belle heard the night before. Double Diamond and Party Favor stayed for obvious reasons. Well, at least it was obvious to them. They where scared. But they didn’t just stay at the bed and breakfast to cower. They, as well, did some research on this town. Sugar Belle, as she strolled along the small village, hummed to herself as she glanced over at mini markets, and shops. It was sort of odd though, the village didn't seem as small as she thought. The more she walked, the longer the village seem to go. When we first arrived here, she thought, it didn't seem so big before we entered. Sugar Belle brushed off the oddness. Illusions happen like this all the time! Like, when you arrive to a house: It looks smaller on the outside, but since there is so many more mirrors, items, and rooms inside, it seems bigger. Sugar Belle assumed it was sort of the same deal when it came to this town. Now the time came that Sugar Belle thought it would be a good idea to get to know some ponies in the village, and to start she went inside of a shop, and looked around, until she hopefully saw somepony to converse with and become acquainted. Oddly enough, there was no one inside! Only a shopkeeper. She assumed everyone was busy though, and looked around a bit anyways. She found a cute little hair pin, and decided to buy it. When she walked up to the check out counter, the shopkeeper was gone. Or at least, away from the desk. She rung the bell once. Then again. Then another time. Nothing. She called out, “Mr Shopkeeper?” but there was no reply. She was highly worried. What could have happened to him with in the past five minutes? She thought, highly concerned. She knew it was against the rules, but in this case, it was needed. She walked behind the desk into the back room to see if she could find the shop keeper. The back of the shop was dark, and chilling. She was worried for both herself, and this random citizen. She took deep, panting, breaths. Luckily, she eventually found a light switch. It was one of those light switches you pull down, so she did so by the magic of her horn. When she turned on the light, she gasped. “What in Equestria is this…?!” she announced, rather loudly, yet no one could hear her. In front of her, seemed to be a board of clue pieces, being put together and many pictures of different ponies and areas in town. Something you would see, and work with, as a police pony. But this was just different. It was hard to tell weather it was based on helping for the good, or the bad. Sugar Belle quickly turned off the light, and turned around. As she did turn, though, she bumped into a stallion quiet a little bit bigger than her. Hoping it was the shopkeeper, she apologized and brushed out her coat, as she backed away, for personal space. “I am deeply sorry. I was just wondering where you were—“ Before she finished the last word of her sentence, she looked up to see it was not the shopkeeper. Her eyes widened. “Oh, sorry. I thought you were somepony else.” She said, slowly making her way around the stallion, to exit the shop. She made her way around him, and began to exit while looking over at him. All he did was stand there. She finally became some-what concerned for this stallion. She asked, “Do you need any help, sir?” secretly hoping that he would say, no. But then, the stallion spoke. “Not yet.” He muttered. She hardly heard it, but did nonetheless. She gave him a confused look, even though his head was turned away, as well covered in a hood of a cloak. She decided it was best not to ask further questions, and exited the shop. She began to walk to the bed and breakfast again, but decided to investigate after just taking a few steps away from the shop. She turned the direction and began walking toward a darker looking part of town. As she walked she noticed that she still had the hair pin that she got from the store. She promised to herself, that she would return it later or pay for it later, when she felt like that one odd stallion was gone, and the shopkeeper was hopefully back. As for now, she just pinned it in between the two hair ties she had on her mane. The hair ties that look liked beads. Sugar Belle came across an abandoned looking house, oddly enough, still, it was next to a bunch of normal, yet still darker, looking houses. Like most ponies, she should've just walked by and not take to much notice. But something was clearly wrong with this village, so it seemed best to do some investigating in such a crumbling structure. It wasn't to safe looking but Sugar Belle was smart enough to have made her horn glow, and form an invisible force field around her body. She was prepared for anything... Or, so she thought. She felt as if there was someone following her inside of this odd building... But for now, she seemed to be alone, even if she didn't feel like it. She was as quiet as a mouse. Maybe even quieter. Meanwhile, Party Favor took notice that Sugar Belle hasn't been back for an hour, at least. The others didn't take as much notice, for they were too busy studying this town and its secrets. Party Favor thought it was about time that Sugar Belle came back. He was concerned. He grabbed his saddle bag, and made his way out the bed and breakfast door. He made his way around town, asking a by passer every-now-n-then, if they've seen Sugar Belle. Though, he would describe her as the following, "A beautiful unicorn, pink skin and magenta mane, with a cupcake cutie mark." Sometimes, the ponies he would ask while saying this, would smirk at the fact he fancied the mare he was looking for. He would notice this, and end up blushing and awkwardly continue asking the question. He then stepped into a shop, the one that Sugar Belle ended up in earlier, and saw the shopkeeper! He walked up to him, and asked the same question he has been asking everypony else that he has walked by. He was highly expecting a no, but was shocked to hear the shopkeeper say, that he has. "What? You have!?" "Well, uh, I believe so. She was in here not to long ago, just lookin around... Then, somethin' must have happened, because I don't remember anythin' after that..." "How come?" "I must have fallen asleep, or passed out... Then when I woke up, I was outside in the back of the shop. I must have been sleep walkin'!" Party Favor grew suspicious, because he had a feeling that's not what happened. He didn't think the shopkeeper was up to know good though. He seemed as clueless as he was. But, the shopkeeper was old. So maybe he was just delusional? Party Favor just threw the questions into the air for now. His main focus was to find Sugar Belle. Author's Note Sugar Belle decides to do some exploring around town. She stops by a shop and ends up finding some strange things onto a board and also runs into a strange stallion. And her stroll she ends up going investigating, and finds a strange house, of which she thinks she is alone in... But, she may not be. Make sure to keep a look out for new chapters to find out! Chapter 3: Losing The LostDouble Diamond looked up from his studies of books and other researchable items. He finally noticed that Party Favor wasn’t around. Out of curiosity and slight concern, he put his books and such, down. He walked out to the breakfast tables, of which Night Glider was still at, looking at the newspaper still. Double Diamond didn’t know that she was as well, studying the town and that the newspaper was from passed years. “What are you doing?” He asked. “Uh, just reading.” She replied, with slight suspicion. He looked at her, knowing she wasn’t saying all that she should have. But he brushed off the topic, and continued, “Have you seen Party Favor, by any chance?” “I… I haven’t, actually.” Night Glider said this, while coming the realization he was gone and put her newspaper down. The both just stared at each other and both, at the same time, announced, “He went after Sugar Belle!” they said with much concern for both of their friends. The also noticed that Sugar Belle hasn’t been back for a couple hours! They both quickly gathered their saddle bags, and put their researchable items in them. In the meantime, Party Favor was wondering around aimlessly, close by, but outside, of the shop he was just at. He ended up at the same dark part of town, as Sugar Belle did. He thought, Think Party Favor, think! Why would she be here, and where would she go…?! As he continued to think these thoughts, and look for possible clues, he bumped right into a street lamp… Right outside the house that Sugar Belle wondered into. The house in front of him, was enormous. If it didn’t have a rusted old mail box outside of it, he probably would have assumed it was a small palace! He stared at the house, in slight fright and curiosity. As he did, though, he saw a faded pink light beyond the curtains, inside the house. He gasped slightly! Could this be Sugar Belle? He made his way up the long side walk, which led to the house. Minus the fact the house semi-looked like a palace, it also looked like a haunted one, at that. He came up onto the porch of the house, and stared at the door. Should he knock? Should he just go in? What would happen? He thought many things. He took a deep breath, and decided to walk in himself. Besides, nopony would live in an abandoned house, would they?.... Would they….? He saw the same pink light in the corner of his eye, and turned to expect to see Sugar Belle. But, when he turned, there was nothing there. He went the same direction he saw the light, though, hopeful that he would run into Sugar Belle in that same direction. Back with Double Diamond and Night Glider, Double Diamond kept muttering, rather loudly, in fear. “I knew this would happen… I knew something wrong was going on… Party Favor and/or Sugar Belle could be dead for all we know!” he kept muttering on. Night Glider stopped him from walking, and then walked in front of him, staring at him sternly. “They are fine. We are fine. Nothing wrong is going on. We just need to find them. You’re the most adventurous of all of us, and ever since we decided to start this journey, you have been on edge. What in Equestria has gotten into you? Sure, you just recently got your cutie mark back, so it’s hard to adjust… But remember that stunt you pulled to stop Starlight? Why aren’t you that confident, now?” Night Glider looked up at him with confused, saddened eyes. Double Diamond tried to avoid the heart wrenching eyes. Those eyes looked like they were so helpless. But he couldn’t spill what he was thinking. Not yet. Double Diamond put a strict, serious face on and ignored the questions. He continued walking. Night Glider looked down, still standing there as he walked around her, and sighed in concern. Sometimes she felt like the most responsible of the four. She lifted herself with her wings, and caught up to Double Diamond, as she flew above him and just followed. There was no further conversation from then on. For a slight moment, out of nowhere, Double Diamond had seemed to freeze. Night Glider was only a bit ahead of him, when she noticed this. She turned around toward him, and then hovered in front of him. “Um, Double Diamond?” She asked. He had seemed to be zombiefied, almost. As she looked into his eyes, she noticed that they slowly became darker, and darker. They were almost completely black, when Double Diamond came to consciousness, by shaking his head vigorously to wake himself up from the trans. “What was all of that about…?!” Night Glider asked, a bit angry at the fact of someone possibly doing this to him. “I don’t know!” He said, highly confused and trying to think of why this could have happened. “Lets… Just continue looking.” Suggested Night Glider, and they continued on. Meanwhile, has Party Favor explored the huge house… He took notice, that every time he has spotted the pink light… Nothing. He would just spot, nothing. Nothing but the eeriness, and mysteries of the house. Where was Sugar Belle? He had called her name out, more times than he could remember counting. The house wasn’t that big. It was possible for them to hear each other, if her magic light was just a few feet away from him. Right? Or, wait a second… Was it her magic light? Yes, of course. It had to be! Right? Anyway, it didn’t matter. He needed to find Sugar Belle, and get out of this house as soon as possible. Not only was it creepy, but it was also very unstable. It felt as if it would collapse at any moment. Take a deep breath, and having a spark of hope every time he saw the light source, he was constantly disappointed to see nothing there, over… And over… And over, again. He thought he may have traveled the whole house by now. Then he heard something. A strange voice, whispering right up to his ear. Save them. Save me. It startled him, and he looked around the room, aimlessly and hoped to find the source of the voice. But he saw nothing. It was hard to decide whether it was a good thing or a bad thing, that the voice didn’t sound like Sugar Belle’s. For many reasons. He decided it was high time he left this house. He knew Sugar Belle wasn’t there. At least, not physically. He made his way out of the house, after traveling through what seemed like a maze of hallways and rooms. As he walked down the road he came from, he noticed in the distance, a white pony, and a dark blue pegasus! Double Diamond and Night Glider! In relief to see his friends after what seemed like an eternity inside that house, he ran over to them and gave them a huge hug! They looked at him as if he had to heads, but then quickly joined in his hug. Double Diamond backed out of the hug first, and Night Glider followed shortly after. “What was that all about, Party Favor?” Night Glider asked. “It’s just good to find familiar faces.” Party Favor answered, with a warmed smile upon his face. “It felt like I haven’t seen your faces, or any faces for so long!” “You where only gone for a couple hours!” Night Glider said, confused and slightly aggravated that Party Favor was acting odd and different. Though she knew something odd was going on in this town, she didn’t want to believe it. “I understand that feeling…” Double Diamond said, agreeing to Party Favor’s odd assumption. Night Glider stared at the both of them, as if they were acting insane, “You both are acting ridiculous!” She announced. The two stallions just looked down, saddened at the fact that Night Glider didn’t believe their strange encountering’s and thoughts. “Did you find Sugar Belle, by any chance?” Night Glider asked, changing the subject. Party Favor’s head perked up. “No, I haven’t. I thought I was close, but… I guess not.” And then Party Favor put his head back down, in disappointment. Double Diamond lifted his head, and smiled a bit, trying to keep the group as positive as possible. “Then we just need to keep looking!” He said, his tone a voice still nonetheless, sounding a bit doubtful. The others nodded and the continued searching around town, and tried to avoid the darker part of it… But they wouldn’t be able to do so for long… Author's Note Double Diamond and Night Glider notice that Party Favor is missing, and along with that, the notice that Sugar Belle has been gone for a while... And, strange things begin to happen for the four... Or, three. So far, Sugar Belle has not been found. Is she even at the same place she was before? What has happened to her? Chapter 4: A Cloaked SirIt was closing in… The darkness. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The 3 friends now becoming one short, went to go find their other friend. As they searched, Double Diamond and Party Favor were on edge, while Night Glider tried to deny the darkness that lurked here. Meanwhile, in front of a certain huge, olden house, stood a stallion. He wore a black cloak, which was just a few shades darker than his almost completely black mane. His skin was a light purple, but it seemed much darker under his cloak. He had sharp, shinning wings and the cutie mark of a potion bottle and a white, sharp quill leaning against the bottle, his eyes hidden and practically unknown to almost everybody, but himself. This stallion was very misunderstood by the whole town, even though he hardly shown himself to it. Everyone around him glared at him with stern, ugly, looks. He either ignored it, at grinned at what seemed to be their stupidity, even though he didn’t seem to know them. Then again, they didn’t know him either. Neither ponies had the right to judge anyone, but yet they did. Anyway, this was in the past. Hardly anypony seemed to not even care who he was anymore. Hardly noticed him. He liked it that way. But he found it odd that lately, different ponies haven’t been noticed unless they walked up to you personally. This stallion had no friends, except one. Of which is not to be known right now. The stallion’s sharp cloak and feathers, flowed in the soft breeze as he began to walk into this house. A slight smirk upon his face, as if he was being clever for whatever reason. He entered the house, and reached the basement. As he thought he was alone, his ears perked to the sound of crashing against metal repeatedly, and muffled calls for help. He quickly removed the hood that was attached to the cloak, away from his head, to hear better of where the sound was coming from. He walked over, closer and closer to the sound. The muffled cries for help grew louder, as though who was coming closer was not coming to do so. The stallion approached a trap, and then pulled it down, revealing an odd cage that he hadn’t seen before. Inside this cage was a beaten, and battered, Sugar Belle. She had a black eye, bruises, scrapes, and so on. The stallion gasped in slight disbelief. How did this happen? He asked himself. The stallion looked over onto the wall to see some keys. He assumed they were for the cage, took them, and unlocked it. He quickly untied the gag that had been around the mare’s mouth, as well as the tied rope against her hooves. The mare broke down into horrified tears, and hugged the stallion around the front legs, as she was still sitting, and the stallion stayed standing. The stallion lifted the mare’s chin and gave a warming smile. Sugar Belle looked up at him, in shock at the sight of his eyes. His left eye, seemed to be normal… But his right eye had seemed to be infected with a dark magic of some sort. His right eye was entirely black, and his pupil was a bright red. The stallion noticed this, and chuckled at her shocked expression. He was rather used to the shocked or disgusted looks from other ponies. He understood that she hasn’t seen anything like it before, though, and just let it be. He helped Sugar Belle up, and rubbed his hoof across the side of her face, looking at her cuts and bruises. He then lifted one of her front hooves, of which also had just as many cuts. The mysterious stallion looked into her eyes with concern. “Who did such things to you…?” He asked, with slight sadness in his voice. He felt bad for this mare. Especially since he knew her… Even though, she, didn’t know him. Sugar Belle looked down to think for a moment. Her thought process had seemed to slow just a bit after being put in shock, and then becoming light headed after calling for help for so long with hardly any room to breathe. “I- I can’t seem to recall…” She said, disappointed that she couldn’t remember. The stallion nodded, and walked the mare up the stairs, and had her lay down on an old couch that had been collecting dust upstairs. He walked into the other room to get aid for the hurting, pink unicorn. In the meantime, the 3 others, who had no idea where Sugar Belle was, or what had happened to her, still made their away around town calling out her name. Night Glider’s ears perked. She felt as if a whisper was calling to her. She quickly ignored it, acting as if it was the wind. She didn’t want a part in this, “Dark Village” nonsense. She was stubborn like that. Party Favor’s voice decreased in sound as wind started to pick up. It scared him. Every time it got stronger, the sounds of the whoosh and swish of the wind, would over power his call for Sugar Belle. Double Diamond got sidetracked, and stopped calling for Sugar Belle and long time ago on their search for her. At this moment, he was frantically looking through books about the history of this village, hopefully giving some hints of what might have happened to Sugar Belle. Double Diamond read many things. Most of these things seemed unbelievable. Of course, they may have happened. But it didn’t seem like the right time and place for what happened, to happen. For example, he would read something about things such as a third return of King Sombra, but it didn’t happen…. Yet. Or a book would go on to say that Discord did awful things… But it wouldn’t be the right time. It would be before the legends time. This worried him. And made his itch worse. The itch that this town is practically dead. At least, deep, deep inside… This village was dead. Somehow. Someway. Author's Note A new character is introduced... Quiet mysterious... And Double Diamond discovers some odd stories inside of a book... Sorry if this seemed a bit rushed. It didnt seem like that when I was typing it out. Anyway, I hope you still enjoy it. :) Yay its finally here!
Chapter 1: The Adventure To Olds Town“Hurry up!” Shouted Party Favor! For him and Double Diamond were rushing to get to Sugar Belle’s house. But the reason Double Diamond was slacking behind, was because he had many things on his mind. Once he realized that Party Favor was calling at him to hurry, Double Diamond picked up the pace. Night Glider had already been at Sugar Belle’s house for the past half hour. Her and Sugar Belle just sat and talked—like most mares do—While waiting for the two stallions to show. Finally, Party Favor and Double Diamond arrived to Sugar Belle’s house. No one knew why they were there, expect Sugar Belle. All that Sugar Belle would go on to tell them, was that it was a surprise! “Welcome!” Sugar Belle said, as she greeted the two stallions into her house. She offered them a seat. “Hold on… I need to go get the surprise!” Sugar Belle trotted into another room, most likely her bed room, to get said surprise. Of all ponies in the room, beside Sugar Belle, Party Favor was the most excited! He loved surprises! He also kind of had a liking for Sugar Belle… More of a liking then, just a friend. Party Favor just looked over toward the room that Sugar Belle went in to, with excited, glowing, eyes. And every time Night Glider or Double Diamond looked over at him, they could tell the glow in his eyes was waiting for more then just the surprise. Finally, Sugar Belle came out of the room with a saddle bag! But she brought out with her, 3 other saddle bags. The other 3 friends looked around at each other in confusion, but still excited. Sugar Belle cleared her throat to interrupt the awkward silence, and began speaking, “I made these saddle bags for all of us,” she began, “but I guess you are wondering why I made saddle bags of all things!” The three others, nodded their heads. Sugar Belle continued, “Well, I thought it would be swell to go on an adventure!” Night Glider and Party Favor seemed all for it, as they smiled big and went over to collect their saddle bags! But Double Diamond didn't feel up to it. He wasn't so sure if it was a good idea. Sugar Belle went over to him, and continued to persuade him, “It would be a good way to get used to our talents again!” she smiled at Double Diamond. Double Diamond looked down in thought of what she just said, and then looked up at her and smiled. The four finally gathered their bags, and supplied them with common needs first. Then they supplied them with stuff based on their talents. The saddle bags were a bit odd. They seemed to fit larger things into them. Things that wouldn't normally fit in such a saddle bag. But so be it, Double Diamond was able to fit his ski’s into his saddle bag like a glove! As Double Diamond, Party Favor, and Night Glider packed up their things, Sugar Belle stepped out side of her house and announced to the village, that she and the other three friends, would be leaving for a few days to go traveling! She began saying her goodbyes to the other villagers, then the 3 others came out, and began saying their goodbyes. A half an hour or so later, the 4 friends made their way out of town and to wherever their hooves would take them. Sugar Belle led the way, even though it didn't really matter. Night Glider stood behind-beside Sugar Belle, and so did Party Favor. Double Diamond strayed a bit behind all of them. He was still a bit unsure of this “adventure” they were taking. Night Glider looked behind her self, to see Double Diamond mooping behind! Night Glider flew over to Double Diamond, and hovered above him as they walked. “Is everything alright?” she asked, concerned. Double Diamond put on one of those, classic fake smiles, and looked up at her. “Yes! Everything is fine.” He answered. Night Glider knew that wasn't true, but she let it go, since she figured he didn't want to discuss whatever was bothering him, right now. She flew back over to her original spot, by Sugar Belle and they all continued walking. As night fell, the four came across a town! It seemed pretty big! But, then again, compared to their little village, any town seems big in their eyes. It seemed really old fashioned though! Many ponies with top hats, and fancy dresses were trotting around. It wasn’t Canterlot. It wasn’t Manehatten. None of the ponies knew what the city was. Until Night Glider pointed out a sign with the villages name on it! The sign read, “Olds Ville.” All of them thought that the name was very cliché and uncreative, but, they knew what that was like. So they didn’t argue… At least, not aloud. They trotted through the night of this village, hoping to find a place to stay for the night. The town had many twists and turns, so they decided to split up. There was a pro to that plan, and a con. The pro was, they would find a place to stay sooner. The con was, they would have to search forever to find each other. But to fix that a bit, they sent Night Glider to go above the village to fly from one friend to another, just to keep track of all of them, while looking for a place to stay her self. Meanwhile, Double Diamond had a sinking feeling in his stomach the whole time he was looking. He felt that something wasn’t right in this village. He felt something more dark going on in this village, then what happened in his own village only a few weeks back. And the worst part of this feeling, was that it was just a feeling. As he looked around, he saw nothing awful or strange. Which just made the sinking feeling worse, because whatever was being hidden here, must be so bad, that not even a clue is shown throughout the town or its citizens. Which means its well hidden. Did the ponies around here even know if their was such an evil thing around? Is there even a dark evil magic in the town at all? Double Diamond had so many questions, and he wanted them answered. But before he knew it, he found him self ramming into the staircase of a bed and breakfast by mistake! It was that moment, Night Glider flew over head, and saw Double Diamond waving, signaling her to get the others. She nodded and dashed off to find Sugar Belle and Party Favor. After a few minutes, the 4 were reunited as they all stood outside the bed and breakfast. Lucky for them, they remembered to bring all the bits they could bring. Sugar Belle walked into the bed and breakfast, and up to the front desk as her friends followed in with her. An older stallion with glasses, a beard, and a dark and pale yellow coat and a grayish-redish-sleeveless vest, welcomed them as he walked behind the desk. Double Diamond felt a slight chill go down the back of his neck, then his spine. He knew he had seen that stallion before, somewhere. No, no, it wasn’t anyone like his father or cliché stuff like that… But he knew he saw him before. Before all of the equal cutie mark stuff happened. Double Diamond quickly erased the thought from his head for now, and just thought of a comfortable bed, in a comfortable room, waiting for him. “What can I do for ya?” The old stallion asked. “Well, first, I would like to ask:” Sugar Belle began, “how many beds are in a room?” she asked. The stallion thought for a moment, which seemed odd, for he had most likely worked their most of his life. Finally the stallion came up with an answer, “Two. Two beds in each room.” Sugar Belle nodded and took a small sack of bits out of her saddle bag, and gave it to the stallion. “We’ll take two rooms then, please. One for us mares, and one for my two stallion friends!” Sugar Belle, demanded, sweetly. The stallion nodded and took the sack of bits. He then led them to their rooms, and then walked back down the hall, to his office. The two stallions walked into their room, while the two mares walked into theirs. They all settled in and admired their surroundings. All, except Double Diamond. He did look at his surroundings, yes, but he looked as though he had seen many, many ghosts! Party Favor looked over at Double Diamond, with a concerned look on his face. “What seems to be troubling you?” Asked Party Favor. Double Diamond looked up at him, as if Party Favor was accusing him of some sort of crime! He looked afraid and didn’t answer Party Favor, instead, he walked over to what would be his bed for the night, and began to fall asleep. Party Favor sighed and went over to his bed as well, he turned out the lights, and began to fall asleep. Meanwhile, in the mares room, Night Glider sat, concerned. At least, that’s what her facial expression expressed. Sugar Belle walked over to her. “Whats the matter?” She asked. Night Glider looked at Sugar Belle in the eyes, sadly. “I think something is bother Double Diamond. And not just the fact we are traveling around… I think something more is troubling him. Ever since we got to this town he has been-“ Sugar Belle interrupted her. “—Shhh…” Night Glider became quiet, and Sugar Belle stayed quiet. They both heard the sound of hooves in the hallway, and the sound of keys as well. They, whoever they were, were walking, ever so slowly down the hallway. Night Glider whispered, “What? Its probably just that one stallion.” But Sugar Belle shook her head in disagreement and continued to stay silent, and listen. Sooner or later, they heard muttering… And then the walking became more like pacing, back and fourth. It sounded like a stallion, but not any of their friends, nor was it the stallion that was at the desk. The stallion kept muttering in a panicked matter. The panicking slowly turned into sounding insane and rage. At one point, the stallion seemed to slammed his hoof against the wall in frustration. That caused the mares to jump in sudden shock. Then out of no were, the stallion grew silent. He wasn’t thinking, he was hardly breathing. He knew. He knew that Night Glider and Sugar Belle were listening. The two mares looked at each other panicked. What if this stallion was mental? What if he was dangerous? The two mares scrambled around the room, as quiet as they could, and turned out their lights, and laid down in their beds. They looked at each other from across the room in their beds, in fear and hope that the stallion would go away and not bust into the room. After a couple minutes of suspense, the two mares heard the sound of hoof steps trailing away from the hall. Both the mares exhaled, in relief and began to fall asleep. Later, in the middle of the night, Party Favor heard heavy, panicked breathing on the other side of room. He turned over in his bed, and saw Double Diamond, in his bed, staring at the ceiling. “What in Equestria is the matter with you, Double Diamond!?” Party Favor asked, a bit harshly. Double Diamond turned is head, toward Party Favor. “What sort of evil lies upon this place?!” Asked Double Diamond, panicked. It wasn’t answering Party Favor’s question, but it answered why Diamond Double was acting crazy. He thought that some evil was somewhere in the village. “Double Diamond, there isn’t anything evil, or wrong, with this village.” Said Party Favor, reassuringly. But Double Diamond didn’t listen. The thought of an evil, far greater then anything facing Equestria, itched at him. Double Diamond took a few deep breaths, to calm him self. “I-I Just need to go outside, and get some fresh air.” “Mind if I tag along?” Double Diamond nodded his head, which meant he allowed Party Favor to join. Party Favor smiled, and got out of bed, and so did Double Diamond. They both made their way outside, and began to just trot around the village. Surprisingly, there were still ponies, mostly what seemed to be couples, out strolling around. They all seemed so refined and classy. It was odd. It seemed as if Party Favor and Double Diamond were back in time! Why was this town so old fashioned? Most likely were they got their name, though. But it seemed to have had a reason. As Party Favor and Double Diamond walked around, they noticed not even one pony, stare at them. That’s odd. Thought Double Diamond. Wouldn’t “different” ponies, starngers, like me and Party Favor be more noticed…? Double Diamond shrugged the thought off, and just went about looking around his surroundings. The lights in every building seemed to be lit, bit dimmed. “Do these ponies stay up through the whole night, or what?” Asked Party Favor, not expecting to get an answer from Double Diamond, since he him self most likely didn't know the reason. All he did was shrug, again. Party Favor felt a chill go down his spine. It was odd. He didn’t know why that happened. He wasn't cold, and he didn't have “the shivers”, he simply just had a dark, cold, chill quickly crawl down his spine. He cleared his throat to get Double Diamond’s attention. It worked. Double Diamond looked over at him, wondering why he did such a thing. Party Favor whispered to Double Diamond, “I… I think I'm starting to feel what you’re feeling.” He said, a bit fearful. Double Diamond looked down, a bit discouraged and frightened. He looked back up, toward Party Favor, “Maybe its best to go back to the bed and breakfast, and start investigating tomorrow.”… Party Favor nodded in agreement. As they both made their way back to the bed and breakfast, Double Diamond, who was in front of Party Favor as they walked, bumped into a shady stallion. He seemed to be a pegasus with light purple skin… They couldn't see his face, for the stallion was wearing a dark cloak over his back and his face. “Oh! Sorry, sir!” Said Double Diamond, nervously. “Yes, sorry!” said Party Favor, agreeing with the apology. The stallion just grunted, and rushed off behind them into the dark of the village. “That was odd.” Said Party Favor. Double Diamond slightly nodded in agreement. The next day, after the stallions returned to the bed and breakfast, all of the four friends got up from their beds. The mares were well rested, while the stallions were a bit weary-eyed from the stroll they took last night. But they still had a good attitude and some energy. The four friends all gathered in the dinning room of the bed and breakfast, were they had… Well… Breakfast! They had pancakes and juice. Double Diamond didn’t eat, and Party Favor hardly ate. They pretty much just stared at their plates, nervously. Sugar Belle and Night Glider both looked at each other and then at the two stallions. “Is everything alright with you two?” Asked Sugar Belle. “Yeah,” agreed Night Glider, “you both look distressed!” she continued. Double Diamond took a deep breath, and as he opened his mouth to say something, Party Favor decided to interrupt, very nervously and spoke quiet quickly, as if to finish the subject with in the sentence, “Yes, yes, we are fine. Completely fine.” Which of course, made things more suspicious to the two mares. Author's Note This chapter is of course, the start of our story. The four friends embark on a rather short travel, before coming across a village. Though, Double Diamond hasn't felt up to any sort of adventure. Which is odd... He used to be, and now seems to be, one of the most adventurous friends of the four! Of which, is why his friends are concerned. But meanwhile, Double Diamond's, "Adventure is Bad" hunch, has seemed to be on point... The two mares discover that sooner or later, as well as Party Favor... This is only the start, though.
Chapter 2: Sugar Belle's StrollNight Glider, Double Diamond, and Party Favor decided to stay at the bed and breakfast while Sugar Belle went out for a stroll. Night Glider stayed to try and figure out what was making the stallions so, “fidgety”, while in the meantime she also read some old town newspapers, trying to possibly find some clues about the mystery pony that her and Sugar Belle heard the night before. Double Diamond and Party Favor stayed for obvious reasons. Well, at least it was obvious to them. They where scared. But they didn’t just stay at the bed and breakfast to cower. They, as well, did some research on this town. Sugar Belle, as she strolled along the small village, hummed to herself as she glanced over at mini markets, and shops. It was sort of odd though, the village didn't seem as small as she thought. The more she walked, the longer the village seem to go. When we first arrived here, she thought, it didn't seem so big before we entered. Sugar Belle brushed off the oddness. Illusions happen like this all the time! Like, when you arrive to a house: It looks smaller on the outside, but since there is so many more mirrors, items, and rooms inside, it seems bigger. Sugar Belle assumed it was sort of the same deal when it came to this town. Now the time came that Sugar Belle thought it would be a good idea to get to know some ponies in the village, and to start she went inside of a shop, and looked around, until she hopefully saw somepony to converse with and become acquainted. Oddly enough, there was no one inside! Only a shopkeeper. She assumed everyone was busy though, and looked around a bit anyways. She found a cute little hair pin, and decided to buy it. When she walked up to the check out counter, the shopkeeper was gone. Or at least, away from the desk. She rung the bell once. Then again. Then another time. Nothing. She called out, “Mr Shopkeeper?” but there was no reply. She was highly worried. What could have happened to him with in the past five minutes? She thought, highly concerned. She knew it was against the rules, but in this case, it was needed. She walked behind the desk into the back room to see if she could find the shop keeper. The back of the shop was dark, and chilling. She was worried for both herself, and this random citizen. She took deep, panting, breaths. Luckily, she eventually found a light switch. It was one of those light switches you pull down, so she did so by the magic of her horn. When she turned on the light, she gasped. “What in Equestria is this…?!” she announced, rather loudly, yet no one could hear her. In front of her, seemed to be a board of clue pieces, being put together and many pictures of different ponies and areas in town. Something you would see, and work with, as a police pony. But this was just different. It was hard to tell weather it was based on helping for the good, or the bad. Sugar Belle quickly turned off the light, and turned around. As she did turn, though, she bumped into a stallion quiet a little bit bigger than her. Hoping it was the shopkeeper, she apologized and brushed out her coat, as she backed away, for personal space. “I am deeply sorry. I was just wondering where you were—“ Before she finished the last word of her sentence, she looked up to see it was not the shopkeeper. Her eyes widened. “Oh, sorry. I thought you were somepony else.” She said, slowly making her way around the stallion, to exit the shop. She made her way around him, and began to exit while looking over at him. All he did was stand there. She finally became some-what concerned for this stallion. She asked, “Do you need any help, sir?” secretly hoping that he would say, no. But then, the stallion spoke. “Not yet.” He muttered. She hardly heard it, but did nonetheless. She gave him a confused look, even though his head was turned away, as well covered in a hood of a cloak. She decided it was best not to ask further questions, and exited the shop. She began to walk to the bed and breakfast again, but decided to investigate after just taking a few steps away from the shop. She turned the direction and began walking toward a darker looking part of town. As she walked she noticed that she still had the hair pin that she got from the store. She promised to herself, that she would return it later or pay for it later, when she felt like that one odd stallion was gone, and the shopkeeper was hopefully back. As for now, she just pinned it in between the two hair ties she had on her mane. The hair ties that look liked beads. Sugar Belle came across an abandoned looking house, oddly enough, still, it was next to a bunch of normal, yet still darker, looking houses. Like most ponies, she should've just walked by and not take to much notice. But something was clearly wrong with this village, so it seemed best to do some investigating in such a crumbling structure. It wasn't to safe looking but Sugar Belle was smart enough to have made her horn glow, and form an invisible force field around her body. She was prepared for anything... Or, so she thought. She felt as if there was someone following her inside of this odd building... But for now, she seemed to be alone, even if she didn't feel like it. She was as quiet as a mouse. Maybe even quieter. Meanwhile, Party Favor took notice that Sugar Belle hasn't been back for an hour, at least. The others didn't take as much notice, for they were too busy studying this town and its secrets. Party Favor thought it was about time that Sugar Belle came back. He was concerned. He grabbed his saddle bag, and made his way out the bed and breakfast door. He made his way around town, asking a by passer every-now-n-then, if they've seen Sugar Belle. Though, he would describe her as the following, "A beautiful unicorn, pink skin and magenta mane, with a cupcake cutie mark." Sometimes, the ponies he would ask while saying this, would smirk at the fact he fancied the mare he was looking for. He would notice this, and end up blushing and awkwardly continue asking the question. He then stepped into a shop, the one that Sugar Belle ended up in earlier, and saw the shopkeeper! He walked up to him, and asked the same question he has been asking everypony else that he has walked by. He was highly expecting a no, but was shocked to hear the shopkeeper say, that he has. "What? You have!?" "Well, uh, I believe so. She was in here not to long ago, just lookin around... Then, somethin' must have happened, because I don't remember anythin' after that..." "How come?" "I must have fallen asleep, or passed out... Then when I woke up, I was outside in the back of the shop. I must have been sleep walkin'!" Party Favor grew suspicious, because he had a feeling that's not what happened. He didn't think the shopkeeper was up to know good though. He seemed as clueless as he was. But, the shopkeeper was old. So maybe he was just delusional? Party Favor just threw the questions into the air for now. His main focus was to find Sugar Belle. Author's Note Sugar Belle decides to do some exploring around town. She stops by a shop and ends up finding some strange things onto a board and also runs into a strange stallion. And her stroll she ends up going investigating, and finds a strange house, of which she thinks she is alone in... But, she may not be. Make sure to keep a look out for new chapters to find out!
Chapter 3: Losing The LostDouble Diamond looked up from his studies of books and other researchable items. He finally noticed that Party Favor wasn’t around. Out of curiosity and slight concern, he put his books and such, down. He walked out to the breakfast tables, of which Night Glider was still at, looking at the newspaper still. Double Diamond didn’t know that she was as well, studying the town and that the newspaper was from passed years. “What are you doing?” He asked. “Uh, just reading.” She replied, with slight suspicion. He looked at her, knowing she wasn’t saying all that she should have. But he brushed off the topic, and continued, “Have you seen Party Favor, by any chance?” “I… I haven’t, actually.” Night Glider said this, while coming the realization he was gone and put her newspaper down. The both just stared at each other and both, at the same time, announced, “He went after Sugar Belle!” they said with much concern for both of their friends. The also noticed that Sugar Belle hasn’t been back for a couple hours! They both quickly gathered their saddle bags, and put their researchable items in them. In the meantime, Party Favor was wondering around aimlessly, close by, but outside, of the shop he was just at. He ended up at the same dark part of town, as Sugar Belle did. He thought, Think Party Favor, think! Why would she be here, and where would she go…?! As he continued to think these thoughts, and look for possible clues, he bumped right into a street lamp… Right outside the house that Sugar Belle wondered into. The house in front of him, was enormous. If it didn’t have a rusted old mail box outside of it, he probably would have assumed it was a small palace! He stared at the house, in slight fright and curiosity. As he did, though, he saw a faded pink light beyond the curtains, inside the house. He gasped slightly! Could this be Sugar Belle? He made his way up the long side walk, which led to the house. Minus the fact the house semi-looked like a palace, it also looked like a haunted one, at that. He came up onto the porch of the house, and stared at the door. Should he knock? Should he just go in? What would happen? He thought many things. He took a deep breath, and decided to walk in himself. Besides, nopony would live in an abandoned house, would they?.... Would they….? He saw the same pink light in the corner of his eye, and turned to expect to see Sugar Belle. But, when he turned, there was nothing there. He went the same direction he saw the light, though, hopeful that he would run into Sugar Belle in that same direction. Back with Double Diamond and Night Glider, Double Diamond kept muttering, rather loudly, in fear. “I knew this would happen… I knew something wrong was going on… Party Favor and/or Sugar Belle could be dead for all we know!” he kept muttering on. Night Glider stopped him from walking, and then walked in front of him, staring at him sternly. “They are fine. We are fine. Nothing wrong is going on. We just need to find them. You’re the most adventurous of all of us, and ever since we decided to start this journey, you have been on edge. What in Equestria has gotten into you? Sure, you just recently got your cutie mark back, so it’s hard to adjust… But remember that stunt you pulled to stop Starlight? Why aren’t you that confident, now?” Night Glider looked up at him with confused, saddened eyes. Double Diamond tried to avoid the heart wrenching eyes. Those eyes looked like they were so helpless. But he couldn’t spill what he was thinking. Not yet. Double Diamond put a strict, serious face on and ignored the questions. He continued walking. Night Glider looked down, still standing there as he walked around her, and sighed in concern. Sometimes she felt like the most responsible of the four. She lifted herself with her wings, and caught up to Double Diamond, as she flew above him and just followed. There was no further conversation from then on. For a slight moment, out of nowhere, Double Diamond had seemed to freeze. Night Glider was only a bit ahead of him, when she noticed this. She turned around toward him, and then hovered in front of him. “Um, Double Diamond?” She asked. He had seemed to be zombiefied, almost. As she looked into his eyes, she noticed that they slowly became darker, and darker. They were almost completely black, when Double Diamond came to consciousness, by shaking his head vigorously to wake himself up from the trans. “What was all of that about…?!” Night Glider asked, a bit angry at the fact of someone possibly doing this to him. “I don’t know!” He said, highly confused and trying to think of why this could have happened. “Lets… Just continue looking.” Suggested Night Glider, and they continued on. Meanwhile, has Party Favor explored the huge house… He took notice, that every time he has spotted the pink light… Nothing. He would just spot, nothing. Nothing but the eeriness, and mysteries of the house. Where was Sugar Belle? He had called her name out, more times than he could remember counting. The house wasn’t that big. It was possible for them to hear each other, if her magic light was just a few feet away from him. Right? Or, wait a second… Was it her magic light? Yes, of course. It had to be! Right? Anyway, it didn’t matter. He needed to find Sugar Belle, and get out of this house as soon as possible. Not only was it creepy, but it was also very unstable. It felt as if it would collapse at any moment. Take a deep breath, and having a spark of hope every time he saw the light source, he was constantly disappointed to see nothing there, over… And over… And over, again. He thought he may have traveled the whole house by now. Then he heard something. A strange voice, whispering right up to his ear. Save them. Save me. It startled him, and he looked around the room, aimlessly and hoped to find the source of the voice. But he saw nothing. It was hard to decide whether it was a good thing or a bad thing, that the voice didn’t sound like Sugar Belle’s. For many reasons. He decided it was high time he left this house. He knew Sugar Belle wasn’t there. At least, not physically. He made his way out of the house, after traveling through what seemed like a maze of hallways and rooms. As he walked down the road he came from, he noticed in the distance, a white pony, and a dark blue pegasus! Double Diamond and Night Glider! In relief to see his friends after what seemed like an eternity inside that house, he ran over to them and gave them a huge hug! They looked at him as if he had to heads, but then quickly joined in his hug. Double Diamond backed out of the hug first, and Night Glider followed shortly after. “What was that all about, Party Favor?” Night Glider asked. “It’s just good to find familiar faces.” Party Favor answered, with a warmed smile upon his face. “It felt like I haven’t seen your faces, or any faces for so long!” “You where only gone for a couple hours!” Night Glider said, confused and slightly aggravated that Party Favor was acting odd and different. Though she knew something odd was going on in this town, she didn’t want to believe it. “I understand that feeling…” Double Diamond said, agreeing to Party Favor’s odd assumption. Night Glider stared at the both of them, as if they were acting insane, “You both are acting ridiculous!” She announced. The two stallions just looked down, saddened at the fact that Night Glider didn’t believe their strange encountering’s and thoughts. “Did you find Sugar Belle, by any chance?” Night Glider asked, changing the subject. Party Favor’s head perked up. “No, I haven’t. I thought I was close, but… I guess not.” And then Party Favor put his head back down, in disappointment. Double Diamond lifted his head, and smiled a bit, trying to keep the group as positive as possible. “Then we just need to keep looking!” He said, his tone a voice still nonetheless, sounding a bit doubtful. The others nodded and the continued searching around town, and tried to avoid the darker part of it… But they wouldn’t be able to do so for long… Author's Note Double Diamond and Night Glider notice that Party Favor is missing, and along with that, the notice that Sugar Belle has been gone for a while... And, strange things begin to happen for the four... Or, three. So far, Sugar Belle has not been found. Is she even at the same place she was before? What has happened to her?
Chapter 4: A Cloaked SirIt was closing in… The darkness. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The 3 friends now becoming one short, went to go find their other friend. As they searched, Double Diamond and Party Favor were on edge, while Night Glider tried to deny the darkness that lurked here. Meanwhile, in front of a certain huge, olden house, stood a stallion. He wore a black cloak, which was just a few shades darker than his almost completely black mane. His skin was a light purple, but it seemed much darker under his cloak. He had sharp, shinning wings and the cutie mark of a potion bottle and a white, sharp quill leaning against the bottle, his eyes hidden and practically unknown to almost everybody, but himself. This stallion was very misunderstood by the whole town, even though he hardly shown himself to it. Everyone around him glared at him with stern, ugly, looks. He either ignored it, at grinned at what seemed to be their stupidity, even though he didn’t seem to know them. Then again, they didn’t know him either. Neither ponies had the right to judge anyone, but yet they did. Anyway, this was in the past. Hardly anypony seemed to not even care who he was anymore. Hardly noticed him. He liked it that way. But he found it odd that lately, different ponies haven’t been noticed unless they walked up to you personally. This stallion had no friends, except one. Of which is not to be known right now. The stallion’s sharp cloak and feathers, flowed in the soft breeze as he began to walk into this house. A slight smirk upon his face, as if he was being clever for whatever reason. He entered the house, and reached the basement. As he thought he was alone, his ears perked to the sound of crashing against metal repeatedly, and muffled calls for help. He quickly removed the hood that was attached to the cloak, away from his head, to hear better of where the sound was coming from. He walked over, closer and closer to the sound. The muffled cries for help grew louder, as though who was coming closer was not coming to do so. The stallion approached a trap, and then pulled it down, revealing an odd cage that he hadn’t seen before. Inside this cage was a beaten, and battered, Sugar Belle. She had a black eye, bruises, scrapes, and so on. The stallion gasped in slight disbelief. How did this happen? He asked himself. The stallion looked over onto the wall to see some keys. He assumed they were for the cage, took them, and unlocked it. He quickly untied the gag that had been around the mare’s mouth, as well as the tied rope against her hooves. The mare broke down into horrified tears, and hugged the stallion around the front legs, as she was still sitting, and the stallion stayed standing. The stallion lifted the mare’s chin and gave a warming smile. Sugar Belle looked up at him, in shock at the sight of his eyes. His left eye, seemed to be normal… But his right eye had seemed to be infected with a dark magic of some sort. His right eye was entirely black, and his pupil was a bright red. The stallion noticed this, and chuckled at her shocked expression. He was rather used to the shocked or disgusted looks from other ponies. He understood that she hasn’t seen anything like it before, though, and just let it be. He helped Sugar Belle up, and rubbed his hoof across the side of her face, looking at her cuts and bruises. He then lifted one of her front hooves, of which also had just as many cuts. The mysterious stallion looked into her eyes with concern. “Who did such things to you…?” He asked, with slight sadness in his voice. He felt bad for this mare. Especially since he knew her… Even though, she, didn’t know him. Sugar Belle looked down to think for a moment. Her thought process had seemed to slow just a bit after being put in shock, and then becoming light headed after calling for help for so long with hardly any room to breathe. “I- I can’t seem to recall…” She said, disappointed that she couldn’t remember. The stallion nodded, and walked the mare up the stairs, and had her lay down on an old couch that had been collecting dust upstairs. He walked into the other room to get aid for the hurting, pink unicorn. In the meantime, the 3 others, who had no idea where Sugar Belle was, or what had happened to her, still made their away around town calling out her name. Night Glider’s ears perked. She felt as if a whisper was calling to her. She quickly ignored it, acting as if it was the wind. She didn’t want a part in this, “Dark Village” nonsense. She was stubborn like that. Party Favor’s voice decreased in sound as wind started to pick up. It scared him. Every time it got stronger, the sounds of the whoosh and swish of the wind, would over power his call for Sugar Belle. Double Diamond got sidetracked, and stopped calling for Sugar Belle and long time ago on their search for her. At this moment, he was frantically looking through books about the history of this village, hopefully giving some hints of what might have happened to Sugar Belle. Double Diamond read many things. Most of these things seemed unbelievable. Of course, they may have happened. But it didn’t seem like the right time and place for what happened, to happen. For example, he would read something about things such as a third return of King Sombra, but it didn’t happen…. Yet. Or a book would go on to say that Discord did awful things… But it wouldn’t be the right time. It would be before the legends time. This worried him. And made his itch worse. The itch that this town is practically dead. At least, deep, deep inside… This village was dead. Somehow. Someway. Author's Note A new character is introduced... Quiet mysterious... And Double Diamond discovers some odd stories inside of a book... Sorry if this seemed a bit rushed. It didnt seem like that when I was typing it out. Anyway, I hope you still enjoy it. :) Yay its finally here!
