The burning rage in the beings eyes seemed to intensify as they stared at Twilight, who shivered and took a few steps back, fear once again rising in her chest. ''What do you mean? My time is out?'' The mare shivered.

''You don't have much time, there are five objects hidden around the castle, finding them will help you.'' The puppet like pony pointed hoof back the way Twilight had come.

''What!? This isn't making any sense, what are these objects! How will I find them! And What good will they be!?'' Twilight exclaimed, throwing her forelegs into the air dramatically for a second before landing on all fours again.

''Be warned, they are already in the building with you, good luck fourth princess...''

Before Twilight could do anything to stop her, the crystal orb twinkled, then vanished in a flash of light. Twilight was alone again. ''Horse Apples! That made no sense! What the hell am I supposed to do!?'' Twilight flattened her ears and put on a deterimined face, she would find out just what was going on.

A loud clanking noise broke her from her thoughts. A strange, metallic creaking, was beginning to enter the room. A shiver crept up Twilight's spine, as dread began to fill her body. Slowly, she turned around, and finally saw the being that wanted her dead.

''P-Pinkie!?'' Twilight gasped, her fear rising faster, as she began to hyperventilate. However, this being was not the cheerful piny pony she knew, this was one of the robotic monsters that had torn Tech Nology into bloody pieces.

It was missing the bottom of two of its hooves, leaving it balanced perfectly on the mostly intact two. The missing halves revealed long metal bones, sharped near the bottom, perfect for punching holes into a body. The creatures lower jaw was missing, leaving a smaller metal skeleton jaw in its place. Several large holes and rips had been sown into the monsters body, revealing more of the metal skeleton beneath.

It wore a black top hat and bow tie, but perhaps they were that color from whatever had burned the creature. Its whole body looked like it had been scorched, but not with a normal flame, no. Whatever had burned the creature was magical in origin.

However, the most frightening thing about the robotic monster that stood across from her, was the glowing orbs that had taken the place of its eyes, burning with pure hatred, rage, and a thirst to kill.

"N-No! Stay away!'' The Alicorn princess tried to back up, but was met with the locked doors behind her, halting her retreat.

The being began to calmly advance on Twilight, knowing that it had won, and that the mare before it, was out of time.

Celestia looked up from the report, this was very interesting. Swift Blade and Spy Glass believed they had found the culprit, and now they were searching the archives for a match. However, they had no idea if it would help them find the pony behind the murder or just waste precious time.

Setting the scroll down with her magic on her bedside table, the Alicorn made her way to the door, and tried to pull it open, but something kept it shut.

Celestia crinkled her forehead and tried to pull her bedroom door open again, but it remained firmly stuck. ''What is the meaning of this?'' She asked nopony in particular.

A sound behind her caught her attention, and she began to turn around, something she hadn't felt in hundreds of years beginning to resurface: Fear.

''Heeeelp ussss...'' A soft whisper echoed in the silence of the bedroom.

Celestia was almost afraid to turn around, but she did, putting on her best brave face. She almost let her jaw drop, and a small gasp of shock and horror exited her lips.

''Heeeelp ussss...'' The voice whispered again. It almost sounded like a filly's, but something was wrong with it.

What sat only a few hoofsteps away from the princess of the sun, was a pony-like figure, but it looked twisted and wrong. A moan of what could have been pain echoed from the being, marking it as the source of the whispers.

It was a faded orange color, and had a torn and ragged blond mane and tail. It had three white freckles on each cheek, and wore a kind of cowpony hat, a Stetson, on its head. She had three red apples on her flanks, and Celestia immediately recognized it as Apple Jack, he Element of Honesty and one of Twilight's best friends. However, it wasn't just the whispers, nor the twisted shape of the mare that told Celestia that it wasn't the real Apple Jack. It was the eyes.

Apple Jack had no eyes, just black holes where they should have been. Her body was crumpled as well, as if she had no bones in her, but there was no blood.

''W-What are you?'' The Alicorn asked, trying to keep her voice steady.

''Pain...'' The strange being spoke softly again.

''Pain? Are you hurt? Do you need help?'' Celestia asked, concern growing across her face. However, something deep within her told her there was nothing she could do to help.

''Avenge ussssss...''

''What are you talking about, why do you not answer me?''

''The blue one...he has something in him...''

''The blue one...who are you talking about?'' Celestia was now worried, whatever this thing was, it didn't seem to mean her harm, but what was it doing here? And what was its purpose?

''Avenge us...'' The empty Apple Jack slowly lifted its head, and stared at Celestia with its empty eyes. ''The purple one...''

''What are y-'' Celestia was cut off when the voice began to come from everywhere.

Pain...

Help...

Kill...

Purple...

Avenge us...

Monster...

The alicorn's mind was reeling, there was so much happening at once, so much pain and suffering, so much rage...and fear...what was this creature. She shut her eyes tight and tried to will the voices to stop. Her legs crumpled and she fell to all four knees, burying her head in her fore legs, trying to shut the voices out.

Suddenly, there was silence. Celestia slowly opened her eyes, and began to stand back up. She raised her head. The pony now stood right in front of her, its empty sockets burrowing into her very soul.

''Its me.''

Twilight slammed into the side of a wall, trying to catch her breath. Sweat dripped from her face, and she was breathing heavily. She looked around the corner, trying to spot any sign of the monster chasing her, but the hall was empty, for now.

She had managed to escape the pink robot, but now it was hunting for her, somewhere in her castle, a monster lurked. She had never thought she would see that robot ever again. A family pizzeria had opened up a few months ago and its theme had been animatronic characters made to look like her and her friends.

Pinkie had been the star of the show, and had brought much joy to many little filly's and colts, as well as many adults too, but Twilight had always found the robots to be a little creepy. They had been to life like, almost as if they could move by themselves. Now that one was actually after her, it was like a living nightmare.

''Oh Celestia, I have to think, how am I going to get out of here...?''

A clanking noise suddenly jolted the young Alicorn, and she peeked around the corner again. The animatronic mare was just turning the corner down the hall and was now heading right for her.

''Oh shit!'' Twilight let out a small gasp and turned and began galloping for the nearest room. She ducked inside, and shut the door as quietly as possible behind her. Her breath grew rattled and she felt more sweat run down her face, this was really bad, she could hear Pinkie just outside the door!

Suddenly, all lights in the room were extinguished, plunging the room into darkness. ''Oh great, if things weren't bad enough already...'' She lit up her horn, hoping the monstrous robotic pony outside wouldn't notice the light. She noticed that her horn wasn't creating the only light in the room however, a small object in the room was giving off a faint glow, as if it was telling Twilight, pick me up.

Cautiously approaching the object, Twilight poked it with a hoof, before lifting it with her magic. It was blue baseball cap, with ''Security'' sown onto it.

''Hmm? What's a security guards hat doing in here?'' Twilight asked, before shutting her mouth, remembering the thing outside that wanted to kill her. Twilight figured that it might be one of the items that she was supposed to collect to help her escape, so she shoved it into her magical pocket dimension, and headed back for the door.

She leaned against the large door and pressed an ear up against it, she could hear the sounds of the animatronic nearby, but moving away from her, now was the time. Twilight quietly opened the door and stepped into the hallway, the entire castle was dark. Her horn was the only source of light.

The young princess began heading down the hall, in the opposite direction of Pinkie, hoping that she would find the rest of the items she supposedly needed without having to run into Pinkie again.

She took a left, and spotted another glowing item not to far down the hall. It looked like an old phone. Twilight picked up her pace and speed walked over to the object, staring at it for a second. It was an old fashioned dial-phone, outdated with the new phones that had just been introduced, but they were still used here and there.

Twilight levitated it up and stored it in her pocket dimension, then began heading down the hall again. As she rounded the corner, Pinkie began trotting slowly from a corner down the hallway. Twilight's heart skipped a beat and she ducked behind the corner, extinguishing her horns light, hoping that Pinkie wouldn't come down this hall.

She could hear the clanking noises of Pinkie getting farther away, and she let out a sigh of relief, lighting her horn again, she turned and began heading back.

Twilight stared at the stairs, and began heading down them, she figured it would be safer downstairs, and maybe the other three items would be down there too. It was worth a look.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, the young Alicorn began heading down the left hall, looking around for any glowing objects. Sweat dripped from her face, and every fibre of her told her that Pinkie was just around the corner, and that she was going to die, but she pushed onward, forcing all terrifying thoughts from her head.

She turned the corner, and found one of the large doors to her right had been left open a crack. Although it seemed like a coincidence, Twilight could just tell...something was in there.

She quickly ran up to the door, and pulled it open as quietly as she could, checking to her left and right as she did. The Alicorn then quickly slipped into the room.

Inside was another object: a old computer, sitting on the table in the center of the room. Twilight powered up her horn a little more to reveal more of the room. She stood in one of the kitchens. She was never sure why she needed more then one, but Spike had been happy about it, saying that he wouldn't have to run across the whole castle just to make breakfast.

She smiled a little at the thought of her number one assistant, but another thought occurred to her. ''If Starlight uses the animatronics to attack Ponyville...''

Her heart skipped a beat. ''They'll go after Spike!''

As thoughts of doing everything in her power to protect the baby dragon flashed in her mind, she snatched the computer up in her magic, storing it away for safe keeping.

She turned to exit the room, but a loud sound stopped her.

The loud echoing squeaks, of a robotic creature heading her way.

Terror flooded her veins, and panic overtook her, as she started twisting her head, looking for a place to hide. A spot under the counter stood out, and she dove under it, just as the pink abomination passed the open doorway.

Adrenalin pumped throughout Twilight's body, as her heart pounded up against her chest. It hadn't noticed her, she was safe, for now. She began to climb out from under the counter, when the footsteps of the robotic pony suddenly grew louder again.

It was coming back!

She quickly squeezed back under the counter, as the mangled pink mess stumbled into the room. It stopped just inside the doorway, twitching slightly, as its scanned the room, its head slowly turning to look towards Twilight's hiding place, then the other way.

Twilight began to hyperventilate, this was really bad. Had it heard her? Her heartbeat increased, and she began to worry it would hear her beating heart, but she remained quiet, keeping her hooves over her mouth, trying not to whimper. She had faced countless horrifying evils before, but she had her friends with her, and none of those villains could even compare with what she was facing now.

Suddenly the metal monster took a few steps towards her hiding place, the sounds of squeaking servos following it. Twilight squeezed her eyes shut, her life flashing before her closed eyes. This was it, she was going to die, the monster was going to find her!

She waited...she waited... nothing struck her, nothing tore her open...She slowly opened her eyes, finding that the robotic monstrosity was gone.

''Wha...'' Twilight stopped herself in mid sentence, hoping her sudden slip wouldn't draw the monster back.

Silence...

Twilight let out a silent sigh, before slowly creeping out from under her shelter. Pinkie was no where is sight.

The Alicorn slowly approached the doorway, and peeked around the corner, half expecting the animatronic to be right there, but to her much needed relief, she was no where to be seen.

Twilight began slowly walking down the right hallway, lighting up her horn again, sensing that it was safe to add some light. She turned down the next hall, and began trotting down it, trying to sooth her beating heart, and calm her breathing. She turned down the next corridor , and almost smiled, another glowing object was sitting on the ground near the end of the hall, right next to a cart that they had used for snacks.

She ran towards it, her eagerness blinding her to her surroundings. ''Once I get this one, there will only be one left! I'm almost done!'' She cheered in her head.

She charged, grabbing hold of the item, and old typewriter, and pocketed it, allowing her self to smile slightly, when a sound to her left froze her in place.

She didn't want to turn around, she didn't want to see it, she didn't want to acknowledge it, so she went with the only other option that wouldn't get her killed.

She turned the other way, and ran.

Her head wanted to betray her, and turn to look at the metal being chasing her, but she fought the urge off, and kept running. She could hear the metallic clanking of its hooves as it chased her, but she continued to run, almost ignoring everything around, except for the path ahead of her.

Something caught her attention in the corner of her eye, and she turned the corner.

There was the final item! It was right there! This was it!

Twilight pushed herself past her normal limits, and charged full barrel towards her target. She knew the robotic Pinkie was right behind her, and was slowly catching up, but she kept going. Her target the only thing on her mind.

She snatched up the item in her magic, not bothering to look it over quickly, as she stuffed it into her pocket dimension. She whirled around, grinning ,she had won, any second now, Pinkie would disappear, or a key would appear out of no where, or...something!

Twilight's confident smile began to fade, as she waited, nothing was happening! She looked behind her, hoping to find a way of escape, but the only thing in front of her was a large door.

She pulled on the door with her magic, trying to pull it open, but it wouldn't budge. She pulled again, and again, but there was nothing she could do.

She turned around, managing to let out one final scream, as Pinkie lunged at her, tearing into her, ripping her apart.

Author's Note

Long time coming, but this isnt the end.

There is more to come...