Hours Loom

Cadance and Rarity held each other close as they sat at the entrance. Light barely lit the foyer, shining dimly from Rarity’s horn. Occasional whimpers rang out from each of them as Cadance shook with fear, trembling against the unicorn.

“I wish I wasn’t so afraid,” Cadance whispered in a hushed tone.

Rarity let out a sniffle as she replied, “Don’t worry, your husband will be back soon, so will the others.” She attempted to keep Cadance’s spirits high, not knowing if she truly believed her own words.

“I-I know. I just w-wish the lights would return. I hope they find your sister and the other fillies soon.”

“Me too.” As Rarity spoke, a scream rang out, echoing against the walls and startling the two mares. They pressed against each other in fear, looking to see what may have caused the yell. The darkness shrouded them like a fog, barely kept at bay from Rarity’s glow. She attempted a larger light, but failed to see past the first few steps of the staircase.

Cadance placed her face into Rarity’s neck, whimpering as she said, “W-Who wa-was that?”

“Can you cast your light spell?” asked Rarity.

The princess lifted her head to look up at the unicorn, and then attempted to form a spell of her own, failing to create more than a short spark. “I-I’m sorry, my fear has blocked my senses.”

“Cadance, I… I’d hate to do this, but,” Rarity said, biting her lip as she looked down at the dismal face of the alicorn. “I have to investigate the scream. It m-might be Sweetie Belle, I can’t let anything happen to her.”

“It’s n-not s-safe. Wait fo-for Shining and th-then go,” Cadance replied, whimpering and stammering as she feared the thought of being alone and blinded.

Rarity slowly stood up, gently pushing Cadance off of her. “I’m… I’m sorry. Try to use your light spell and wait here for your husband. I’m just going to investigate the scream and then I’ll be right back, don’t worry.” She then trotted off in search of the yell.

As Cadance became alone, the darkness shrouding her like a blanket, she shut her eyes as tight as she could, still shivering in fear. Tears began to roll down her cheeks once more as she laid her head down against the cold marble flooring.

I hate being so useless, she thought. I can’t even open my eyes now.

The sudden sound of clattering hooves rang out with echoes inside the foyer. She shot her head up, opening her eyes in a quick jolt. The sound stopped as she did, her eyes adjusted to the darkness. No silhouettes were visible, she could barely make out the steps of the staircase.

She lowered her head once more, covering her face with her forelegs. Crying and sniffling like a foal, afraid of the monsters in their closet. As she slipped deeper into her depression, a moment of clarity crossed her mind.

Slamming her hooves against the ground, she quickly stood up and attempted to cast a light spell. Light sparked from her horn, shining brighter and brighter as tears streamed down her cheeks. With one final push, she lit the entire foyer.

She began to cheer to herself, letting out a holler, only to have it interrupted by the blackness returning. A sharp pain struck like lightning across the back of her head, dropping her to the floor. As her vision narrowed, she could barely hear the sound of hooves trotting beside her.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Fluttershy laid on the floor, trembling as she covered her head with her forelegs. Even in the darkness, Rainbow could see her silhouette, to which she simply rolled her eyes. “C’mon Fluttershy, it was just a broom.” She lifted the broom up from the ground and shoved it back inside the closet.

“S-Sorry. It surprised me,” Fluttershy whispered, wandering into the closet with Rainbow Dash.

“I think I’m deaf in one ear now,” jested Rainbow.

Fluttershy felt the walls and shelves with her wings, trying to find the candles. “I’m sorry. I’m such a loud mouth.”

“It was a joke, Flutters,” she irksomely replied, feeling the shelves with her one good wing. “Let’s just hope this is the one with the candles.” She continued to feel around, trying to get some semblance of what was inside.

“It’s so dark, I can hardly tell what’s in here.”

Rainbow grunted in agreement, and then added, “Yeah. I wish I could use both wings to search twice as fast.”

“Is your other wing still causing you pain? Should we go find bandages after we get the candles?” the yellow pegasus asked.

“After we find the Crusaders, then I’ll start worrying about me. Until then, let’s just focus on the candles.” Rainbow Dash felt along the other shelves, dust slowly covered her good wing. The two carefully looked over each shelf, until Rainbow finally asked, “Hey Fluttershy, why didn’t you stay back with Cadance? Aren’t you scared?”

Fluttershy paused for a moment, contemplating an answer. “I’m terrified.”

“Then, why are you helping me search in the darkness?” Rainbow turned to her friend’s silhouette, poking her with the one functioning wing.

Fluttershy turned her face to Rainbow, still prodding the shelves with her wings. “I’m going to be as strong as I can right now. Someone or something killed Spike,” she paused, she could feel her whole body shaking. “When we find out who killed Spike, I want to be there. I’m not going to let that happen to any pony else.”

“Wow, Flutters,” Rainbow replied, stupefied by Fluttershy’s brave words. “I know exactly how you feel.”

“I may be the Element of Kindness, but I will be less than kind to his killer,” she said, her voice cracking as tears began to roll down her cheeks.

Rainbow could hear from her inflection how sad and furious Fluttershy was. The blue pegasus wrapped a foreleg around her friend, embracing her in a hug. Happiness and sadness were mixed on her face, it was a great sight to see Fluttershy finally being brave, but the reason behind it left a pain in her stomach.

The yellow pegasus held the hug, still feeling the shelves with her wing. She then yelled, “I found matches!”

“What? Really?” Rainbow replied, releasing the embrace. “That must mean the candles should be nearby!” She rubbed around, slapping against Fluttershy’s wing, and eventually feeling the waxed cylinders. “Hey, hey! We got ‘em!”

Fluttershy snapped a match against the pad, lighting the closet. She then lit the candles Rainbow held in her hoof.

“That’s better,” Rainbow said, looking around the dimly lit closet.

“These’ll help.” Fluttershy noticed a lantern and knapsack. “We should take some of these back to the front, maybe help light up the castle.”

Rainbow placed a candle inside one of the lanterns. “Good idea, who knows when the lights will come back on,” she agreed.

Placing the knapsack on the ground, she began to store plenty of candles and a few lanterns, making sure she had more than enough matches.

Rainbow walked out into the hall, shining the light down both sides. She decided to make sure no one was behind the door, a cliché she had thought no monster would actually try.

“Uh, Rainbow? The light?” Fluttershy said as she tried to pack the knapsack.

“Oh, right. Sorry.” She turned back to the closet, unable to check behind the closet door.

“Alright well I’ve got it mostly in this one bag. We should be good to go.” Fluttershy lifted the knapsack with her mouth and threw it over her back, she then turned to Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow held the lantern in her mouth, lisping as she said, “Let’s go.”

Fluttershy nodded and the two started to walk down back to the entrance. Before they left, she closed the closet door with her back hoof. She did not turn around to see if the door had closed, only hearing it shut. If she had looked, she would have seen a dark black mask staring at her with painted red eyes. The mask itself resembled a pony’s skull, large enough to cover any horn they may have had.

It stared at the two pegasus, clothing covered up the fur, cutie mark, tail, and any wings. The disguise was a simple style, a white shirt and dark blue overalls. It was something easy for any race of pony to get in and out of quickly. The creepy pony titled its head as it watched them walk away.

~*~*~*~*~*~

“Pinkie, please stay close to my light,” Twilight anxiously said to the pink pony who bounced around in the hallway.

“Sorry Twilight. I’m trying to keep myself in high spirits.” She stopped and moved closer to the young alicorn. “I don’t wanna freak you out or anything or scare myself or scare our friends or scary anypony we might run into unless maybe-“

“Pinkie! Please!” Twilight shouted, cutting off the loudmouth with a stomp of her hoof.

“Sorry! Quiet!” She quickly placed her hooves over her mouth and made a zipper motion.

Twilight sighed and replied, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell. I just don’t want to get split up right now.” Pinkie gave her a smile, nodding as she bumped her side against the alicorn.

They had taken the stairs up a few levels of the castle and had drawn close to Twilight’s bedroom. There were several other bedrooms down this hall, including Spike’s, but they focused on her room specifically. Even though they started out looking for the girls, Twilight’s main goal was a special book she kept in her room. Breaking the barrier that entrapped her and her friends was just as important as the fillies themselves.

“Okay Pinkie, here’s my room. Let me shine in first to make sure there’s nothing in there,” Twilight commanded, slowly opening the door as the earth pony watched from behind. She shined the light amongst the walls, ceiling, and furniture. With no menacing creatures in view, she walked inside the room. “It looks clear, come on in.”

Pinkie waltzed in and looked around, eventually noticing the wooden door on the opposite side of the room. She gave it a tug but it wouldn’t budge. She turned to Twilight who was busily searching for the barrier breaking spell book. “Hey, this door isn’t opening either,” Pinkie noted.

Twilight shined her light at Pinkie, brightening the wood. “Well, that does go out to the balcony. If downstairs was any inclination, I didn’t expect it to open,” she replied, turning back to the bookcase.

“So, what’s the name of the book?”

“Counter-Defensive Spells for the Magically Superior,” answered Twilight.

Pinkie looked at a book on the nightstand. “Is it this one?” she asked, lifting it up.

Twilight levitated the book out of Pinkie’s hoof, and then said “That’s it! How’d you find it so quickly?!”

“Well, it’s for the magically superior. Where else would it be but right next to where a magically superior pony sleeps?” she said with a giggle and snort.

Twilight rolled her eyes and shot the pink pony a smile. “Okay, let’s see here.” She sat the book on the bed, quickly flipping through the pages, trying to find anything that would get them out of the nightmare.

Pinkie wandered towards the door. “I’ll make sure no sneaky sneaks are sneaking up on us!” she said.

“Uh huh,” Twilight replied, lost in her own little endeavor.

The pink pony poked her head out, peeking down the hall, but with no magic she could barely see anything past the darkness that shrouded the corridor.

“Giggle at the ghosties…” she nervously sang to herself. She walked out into the hallway, tapping her hooves as she waited for her alicorn friend to finish. “Crack up at the creepy…” As she tapped her hooves, she noticed the sound was out of rhythm of her trots.

She stopped her tapping, listening carefully as a tap could still be heard, only stopping a second after she had. She turned around to the other end of the hallway and began tapping once more. The rhythmic sound was out of tune again, to which she quickly stopped, but the second set of taps continued. “Hello? I-is… somepony there?” she called out.

A strike of a match rang out, illuminating the black mask of the pony who held the light. Their painted eyes glistened against flame as it flickered and danced. Pinkie stood is shock, staring at the dark figure, speechless from the encounter. It shook its hoof, causing the match to fade.

“T-TWILIGHT!” Pinkie yelled at the top of her lungs, her hair straightening out of fear.

As soon as the scream had left Pinkie’s lips, Twilight looked up from the book and rushed towards the bedroom door, only to have it slam on her face. “Pinkie?!” she called out, trying to pry open the door by using her magic, but to no avail.

Pinkie screamed louder, calling for help from the trapped alicorn. As she backed away from the masked pony, she could hear the popping of a button. “Whoever you are, just stay back!” she commanded.

The masked pony stopped to Pinkie’s surprise, tilting its head as if it didn’t understand. Darkness impeded her vision, but she could make out the silhouette of the pony reaching into its overall pocket and pulling out a small bag. The sack made no noise as it shook in front of the pony’s face.

Twilight slammed on the bedroom door, first with her own body and then with the furniture that decorated the room. “PINKIE! WHAT’S HAPPENING?!” she yelled, still trying to force the door open.

As she reached the stairs, Pinkie knew she would have to leave Twilight behind in order to escape. “Twilight! Block the door! I’ll go get the others!” yelled the party pony as she turned to flee.

Before she could make her getaway, the masked pony opened the small bag and threw it towards the mare. Small cherries rolled from inside the bag, landing all over the top of the stairs and spreading amongst the steps. The cherries were hard and round, and of many. They rolled down the steps, chasing after Pinkie who hurriedly fled, catching her in a misstep.

The sudden loss of balance caused her to tumble, screaming as she fell forward down the stairs. Her first bounce smashed her face against the edge of a step, the second broke her spine, but the third caused her to land with a gut curdling snap of her neck.

As she laid helpless, blood pouring from her mouth, cherries halted their roll by landing against her rag dolled body. The once puffy, pink hair now flattened, covering her lifeless eyes.