Hours Loom

Most of the ponies gathered around the bloody, mangled corpse while Shining and Cadance comforted the fillies outside the hall. Twilight looked over Spike’s body, staring at the blood that had pooled, staining his pearly white cape.

Applejack’s gift, the large wooden bone, was shoved down his throat. Spike’s name was barely legible past the blood that had curdled up from this throat. Twilight noted the lack of burn marks on the wood. Was this done postmortem, she thought as she looked down at the lacerations across his chest.

Rainbow Dash remarked on the cuts, “These three slices are deep, too deep for any animal. Who could have done this?”

“I-I don’t know… I can’t believe this is really happening,” Twilight replied as she fought back tears.

Rarity and Fluttershy had already started to cry. They held onto each other, their tears dripping down and staining their furry cheeks. Applejack held her hat against her chest, tears had already swollen up in her eyes.

“I know this is difficult, but please, I must ask you all to move away from the body. As former captain of the royal guard, I know we must preserve the scene for the authorities to examine. Please move out into the hall while I look around,” Shining commanded.

The group of ponies stepped out into the hall, the Crusaders running to their big sisters with tears still in their eyes. Twilight stood in the doorway, looking back at her older brother. When he finally noticed, he asked, “Twilight, could you please escort everyone to the castle entrance?”

Cadance rushed past Twilight, grabbing onto her stalwart husband. “I’m not leaving you up here alone. Something in this castle did that to Spike and I won’t allow it to happen to you as well,” she insisted.

“I understand dear, but that’s why I need you to go with the group. You and Twilight are the most important things to me, added to the fact that you’re also princesses. I will study the crime scene to see if I can’t find a murder weapon, and then I’ll send an emergency signal to Canterlot,” he sternly replied.

“Fine, just don’t keep me waiting,” she irately pleaded, to which he gave a gentle nod.

Twilight gathered the ponies in the corridor, her eyes had become red from the strain of holding back tears. “Alright everyone, let’s move back to the entrance. If the lights go out again, please try to remain calm.”

Shining wrapped a hoof around Cadance, embracing her in an emotional hug. They gave a parting kiss before Cadance walked back to Twilight and the rest of the ponies. “Twilight, I’ll lead the way while you remain at the back. If you see anything suspicious, cast your bubble around us all.”

“Same goes for you,” Twilight replied. The group began to make their way to the staircase, leaving Shining on his own.

Twilight tried to seem strong and capable for her fellow ponies, but it was clear she was shaken. The shock of losing her closest friend hadn’t fully sunken in, but the tears had started to fall as they made their way to the foyer. The Crusaders cried the entire way down, while Rarity was letting out a light whimpering noise.

As Cadance led the group, she looked back, trying to get a feel for each of the ponies. She had to lead the ponies to safety, but in the back of her mind she knew she had to be by Shining’s side.

Once they arrived at the castle door, the crying had stuttered to a low volume sob. None of the ponies had spoken up since the Great Oak Hall. Each of them lost in their own little world, or trying to comfort another.

“Twilight, I need you,” Cadance called out, startling the rest of the group.

The young alicorn trotted to the front of the line, quickly wiping her eyes. “What is it?” she asked.

“Let’s try blasting the door open. As much as I don’t want to hurt your castle, I think now is a good time to stop caring about formalities,” Cadance slowly said.

“Right. It’s just a wooden door. Let’s do it.” Twilight backed up and aimed her horn at the door as Cadance did the same. The others stood behind, hoping it would work and they would be free from the nightmare.

As the two alicorns formed their magic, they pressed their horns together, creating a large ball of magic. With a release, they sent the ball straight into the wooden door, but as it struck the timber it bounced back, sending the magical ball of energy hurdling towards the group of ponies.

“Oh no. Everypony, get down!” Twilight screamed, attempting to shield the group as quickly as should could.

The magical blast was too quick for the young princess, hurling itself past the barrier before it could form. Scootaloo was directly in the path of the heated blast, but Rainbow Dash was faster than the magic. She rushed to Scootaloo’s aid, pushing the filly out of the way at the last possible second. The speedy pegasus collapsed to the floor in agony, pressing her hoof against her back.

“Rainbow Dash!” the ponies yelled in unison as they rushed to her aide.

“Are you okay? Rainbow Dash!” bellowed a panicked Twilight.

“I-I’m fine! It-It just hit the tip of my wing.” Dash slowly stood to her hooves, extending her damaged wing slowly, wincing in pain the entire time. She quickly retracted it, no longer able to deal with the burnt and bruised nerves. “Scoot’s, you alright?” she asked, thinking of the unharmed filly first before herself.

Scootaloo ran up and wrapped around her in a hug. “I’m so sorry Rainbow Dash, thank you! Are you alright?” she asked with tears in her eyes.

Rainbow held her close. “Don’t worry kid, I’d never let anything bad happen to you.”

“I don’t understand how this could have happened. How can a wooden door withstand such a powerful blast?” Cadance questioned.

Twilight shook her head after carefully examining Rainbow. “I’m not sure, but we are definitely not doing that again. A second longer and you could have lost this wing, Rainbow. We need to get you help as soon as we can.”

“I can go to the hospital after the guards get here. I’m not leaving you guys alone, regardless of how I am,” Dash irritatedly replied.

“We could always try waiting till morning, locking ourselves in a room and barring it for the night,” Fluttershy spoke up.

“Unfortunately, the best place to do that was in the Great Oak Hall, where there’s only one entrance and no windows. I wouldn’t feel comfortable about going back in there, though,” Twilight replied as she lowered her head.

“We should just wait here till Shining comes, he told us to stay put and it’d be better if we don’t split up.” As Cadance finished speaking, a clacking could be heard against the windows. Rain had started to pour down outside, the storm clouds had reached Ponyville and the castle.

“As much as I’d hate to admit it, stayin’ here might be the best thing for us. If there’s something here in this castle, it’d be better to stay where we can see it and not out in the stormin’ night,” Applejack said, putting her two bits into the pot.

In that moment, the lights started to flicker before turning off completely. The three fillies screamed and began to trot off in different directions, but the lights flickered on for a moment, allowing Twilight to see their silhouettes running in different directions. The light shut off once more as she yelled to them, “Girls! Wait! It’s not safe!”

The ponies gathered around Twilight as she lit the room with her magic. She looked around as Applejack called out for her young sister. “Did any of y’all see where they went?” Applejack desperately asked.

“They went off in all different directions!” Twilight fearfully replied. “We should go after the-“ Applejack refused to wait for her to finish the sentence. The earth pony rushed off into the darkness, hoping to quickly find her sister or any of the Crusaders.

“Applejack! Wait!” Twilight yelled, but she was ignored by the stubborn mare. She then moved her horn back to the other ponies. The light shined over Cadance who was slumped to the ground, whimpering and cowering in fear.

As she sniffled, Rarity lit up her horn, adding more light to the foyer. “I-I need t-to go after Sweetie,” she quaveringly claimed.

Twilight looked at the vacant, desperate eyes of her unicorn friend. “Rarity… We will go look for your sister, could you stay here with Cadance and wait for Shining Armor?”

Rarity understood she would be of little help to the search. “P-Plea-Please. Please find her,” she stutteringly replied, tears slowly beginning to fall once more against her snow colored fur.

“We will,” Twilight reassured, placing a hoof on Rarity’s shoulder. “I promise.” Rarity nodded and then sat next to the whimpering princess, basking her in magical light. Twilight watched as they nuzzled, hoping they would be able to comfort each other.

Fluttershy quietly spoke up, asking, “Are we going to stick together?”

The two pegasus and the pink earth pony waited for Twilight’s decision. Rarity and Cadance would not be able to handle whatever killed Spike, but neither would the three fillies. Twilight raised her light to look down one of the corridors. “Rainbow, Fluttershy. One of the fillies went this way. If you two head down and find the storage closet, you can get the candles that are stored there,” she explained.

“I-Into th-the darkness?” Fluttershy frightfully inquired.

“Don’t worry Shy,” Rainbow said, placing a foreleg around her yellow friend. “I’ll protect you, and we’re going to need more light. If we light this place up, it won’t be as scary.”

She gave a nod, knowing full well she’d regret not trying to find the fillies.

“If you find one of the girls, bring them back here immediately. Their safety is far more important than light,” Twilight commanded. “Pinkie and I will be heading up the stairs. If anything happens, yell as loud as possible.”

The pegasus nodded in unison as both teams broke away, each heading in their assigned direction. Twilight gave one last look to Cadance and Rarity as she trotted up the stairs, praying that they would remain safe as they looked for the fillies.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Applejack had already managed to reach the deep sections of the castle. The lack of light had confused her and sent her through a maze of corridors. Eventually, she ran across an open door, a light shined at the other end of the moderately stocked library.

Shelves were slowly being lined with whatever books remained after the Golden Oak Library exploded. Book piles overflowed on the ground, attempting to trip her step as she closed the gap between her and the mysterious light.

She wanted to call out, trying to get the attention of whoever could be the source, perhaps one of the fillies themselves. Even though it could be one of her friends, she decided against it, as Spike’s killer was still on the loose.

Once she was close to the light, she noticed it was coming from a unicorn’s horn. She could only see the silhouette of the adult pony, one that had their back to her as she crept behind them. It could be a friend, she thought. Best not hurt them. With a quick jab to the rump, she knocked them on their tail.

“Ah! What the-“ shouted the male pony as they stumbled to the ground.

Applejack recognized the voice, immediately apologizing, “Shining? I’m so sorry, I wasn’t sure if that was you or not.”

He quickly stood to his hooves and turned around, sharing the light between the two of them. “At least you’re thinking smart. Can’t be too careful, especially now,” he replied.

“What’re you talkin’ about?” she asked.

“Look, I found this.” He lit up the area he had been staring at, between two cramped bookshelves. A bloody, sharpened knife lay shoved in the middle.

The sight of the gory instrument struck a chord with Applejack. “I-Is tha-that the knife fr-from the party!?” she loudly questioned with a stammer, surprised at his find.

“This is the weapon that Spike was killed with,” he replied.

“Sh-Should we take it? Use it to defend ourselves?”

He shook his head and stared into her eyes. “I really wish we could, but it’s evidence. If anypony touches it, we could be tampering with whoever used it. My magical residue would replace another unicorns, and I really don’t want my hoofprints on the thing either.”

“Alright, if you say so sugar cube. I don’t suppose you’ve run into any fillies while you’ve been in here?” she asked.

With another shake of his head, he replied, “No I haven’t. If they’re on their own, we need to find them and stay in a group. They might end up dead if we don’t find them.”

“All of the fillies ran off as soon as the lights went out! If whatever is on the loose finds them, I’ll never forgive myself!”

She turned back around to begin her charge, but just before she could run off, Shining said, “There is nothing loose in this castle. It’s just us.”

“Wh-What?” she said, surprised by his response. “What do you mean?” she asked as she stood with her back to him.

“There is no one else in this castle, I’m one hundred percent certain of it,” he said, his voice exuded confidence and fear as he spoke.

Applejack took a step forward and replied, “I’ve gotta find Apple Bloom!” She then sprinted off, determined to find her sister before any of the others did.

“Wait! At least let me light the path! We’ll be safer together!” Shining called out to her, taking a few steps before he stopped. She had already vanished into the darkness as he thought, I’m not sure I should trust her. He then snapped his head around, lighting up the bloody knife. Better safe than sorry.