Chapters The Joy of Creation - Reborn
The violet mares hoofsteps clacked on the marble floor beneath her, one of the only sounds in the large room she had just entered. she looked around sheepishly, hoping she didn't come at a bad time.
Twilight Sparkle was greeted by the sight of princess and her long time mentor, Princess Celestia, who sat on her throne at the end of the large throne room, in all her greatness, her long colorful mane and tail waving and billowing, without the aid of any breeze. the sight was enough to take anypony's breath away, to see the princess, who's beauty was only matched by her fairness and love for her people.
''Twilight, this is an unexpected surprise, I didn't expect you to be back so soon, did the meeting go well?'' Celestia smiled warmly, her smile was brighter than the sun she raised at the end of Luna's nights. the sun princess was slightly concerned however, Twilight didn't usually come to her directly to deliver a report, especially since her student became an Alicorn princess.
Twilight slowly approached, bowing slightly as she stopped a few hoofsteps away from the throne. ''Sorry to come to you directly princess, but I had to tell you in pony.''
Celestia's brow furrowed, and her face lost its smile and began to show the signs of worry she was feeling. ''I take it didn't go well then?''
lowering her head, Twilight responded with as straight a face as she could, but her eyes revealed the truth. she was sad, she was scared, and she had seen something that nopony should ever had to witness.
''No princess, the meeting didn't happen at all.''
Celestia's eyes narrowed slightly, ''What happened?''
the violet Alicorn below slowly looked up, her eyes tearing up. ''The creator, he's...he's dead...''
Her eyes dilated, as Celestia's mind began to race, this couldn't be, he was supposed to be retired after he gave Starlight Glimmer his position, who would have wanted to kill him? ''How did it happen? where did you find him?''
''After we arrived...''
Twilight and Rainbow Dash slowly made their way down the dirt path. Rainbow kept perking her ears, as her head swept back and forth, keeping an eye out for any danger. such as one of the Everfree's many beasts.
''It should be just up ahead, so you can calm down Rainbow. Anyway, this area of the forest is clear of monsters.'' Twilight looked over at the nervous flyer, and put on her best confident face, trying to place a little reassurance in her friend.
The cyan Pegasus sighed, ''I know Twi, its just... this whole thing seems crazy, I mean, we're going to talk with the stallion who made robot versions of us.''
Sighing, Twilight stopped in front of rainbow and gave her a stern look. ''I know its slightly creepy, but it was all for a good cause, their going to make so many little filly's and colts happy. So try to show some respect please?''
The Element of Loyalty groaned, but nodded her head.
Twilight smiled, and patted Dash on the back, ''Come on, lets go then.''
They resumed cantering down the trail, listening to the sounds of the strange birds in the trees around them sing their songs, before Rainbow broke the silence again.
Twilight stared at her friend, slightly annoyed now.
''What about you teleporting us there?''
''It wouldn't be the best idea, since I don't know exactly where this place is, not to mention if I did, it would be kind of rude to suddenly appear out of nowhere inside his house.'' Twilight responded, returning to watching the dirt path they walked on.
Rainbow sighed again, and followed suit. After trudging down the path for a few more minutes, Twilight started to see the shape of a house just up ahead, she grinned, ''Rainbow! there it is!''
The young Alicorn began galloping towards the house, a big smile stretching across her face, almost Pinkie sized.
Rainbow Dash groaned, she doubted she would ever understand Twilights love of science, but the map had told them that she had to go too, so there must be some reason as to why she was there. she lifted off the ground and sped off after Twilight, her wings flapping slowly as to not completely blow by the excited princess.
Twilight approached the front double doors, and knocked on them with a hoof, smiling warmly. Rainbow landed next to her friend and stared at the door, slightly hoping nopony would answer.
Silence.
Knocking again, Twilight kept her smile. still silence, there were no sounds from inside the building. The violet alicorn's brows furrowed, and she knocked a little louder.
''Hello? Mr. Tech?''
No response. The silence was becoming unnerving for Twilight, so in one last attempt, the Alicorn knocked on the door as hard as she could.
''Mr. Tech?! are you in there!? say something?!''
Suddenly Dash shoved Twilight aside gently, giving her friend a pat on the shoulder, ''I got this Twilight.''
Before the Alicorn could respond, the cyan Pegasus rose off the ground with a few beats of her powerful wings, and slammed into the doors, hooves connecting with the wood. the sudden impact caused both doors to slam against both sides of the doorway. Rainbow Dash landed on the ground with a smirk, before turning to look at Twilight.
''Told you.''
The young princess glared slightly at her rainbow colored friend, before motioning for them to enter the building.
It was dark inside, the curtains were brought up, blocking any light from Celestia's beautiful sun. All the candle holders and chandeliers had candles that looked like they hadn't been lit in days. Twilight lit up her horn, the magenta glow chasing the darkness around them away.
''Come on Rainbow, lets look around.''
Rainbow glanced around, slightly nervous, now that they were inside. The dark house was starting to creep her out, but she followed anyway. There was no way she was going to let her friend down. Plus she had to keep up her tough demeanor. ''Alright.''
The clopping of their hooves echoed down the long halls, increasing the feeling of unease. Both ponies could feel an unsettling presence in the house, but neither of them dared to speak.
''This place is...like a Celestia damned maze, where should we even look first?'' The cyan Pegasus asked, looking from the hallway they were trotting down, to another one to her left. Twilight thought for a few seconds, before her horn brightened and a glowing trail appeared before them, leading into the hall to Dash's left. ''This way.'' she pointed at the trail, and began trotting after the trail, Rainbow Dash following close behind.
The glowing trail led the two mares through several more dark halls, and past small shelves of books and withering potted plants, before finally fading away in front of two large doors, which stood slightly ajar.
Pushing open the double doors, the two Elements of Harmony entered the room, gazes sweeping over the room. It was a small study, with a large closet standing on one side near the back, and a desk with many objects sitting on it at the back in front of a large window. the curtains were drawn back, letting just enough light to see. On the left side of the room was a single door, leading out of the study. Nothing about this room really stood out to the two ponies. that is, until they noticed the blood stain that coated the window.
Twilight gasped, and Rainbow's eyes dilated. Rainbow Dash nudged the Alicorn to follow, and quickly advanced towards the desk. They were met with one of the most gruesome sights they had ever seen, causing Twilight to scream and back up, while Dash let out a tiny gasp, her wings flaring up in the air in shock and horror.
The mangled, gory, bloody heap that lay against the wall next to a swivel chair, was a sight that would make even the toughest ponies vomit.
blood lay in pools around the corpse and splattered all over the walls. The mutilated appeared to have been gutted, and the now dead pony's face had been beaten in beyond recognition.
The corpses blue coat had been stained to the point where it almost looked natural. it was also bleeding from where the pony's mane had once been.
While it was possible that the corpse could have been anypony, there was only one way to find out their true identity.
the smell of death and decay wafted through the air and made its way into Twilight's muzzle, making her gag. ''R-Rainbow? c-could you...move the large and s-small intestines out of the way of his f-flank?''
The thought of holding a dead pony's innards in her hooves made the rainbow maned Pegasus want to vomit, but she hesitantly nodded. The gut wrenching feeling in Rainbow's stomach only grew as she got closer to the bloody mess. Hesitantly, Rainbow Dash wrapped her hooves around the squishy flesh of the corpses intestines, trying her hardest not to spew her own guts.
Slowly, she raised the organs up, allowing a view of the corpses cutie mark, some gore smeared over it, but Twilight could still see what it was.
Two large gears and a computer chip sat on the pony's flank, revealing to Twilight who it had once been.
Rainbow Dash suddenly let go of the intestines she had been holding up, the organs colliding with the corpse again with a sickening splat. The cyan Pegasus landed on the ground, staring at nothing for a few seconds, before emptying the contents of her stomach. The violet Alicorn watched, feeling her own bile rise her throat, ''What in Celestia's name could have done this?'' she thought to herself, fighting her urge to throw up.
Dash wiped her mouth with a hoof, looking down once again at the revolting sight before her. The rainbow mare turned back to her friend.
''Twi, who is it?'' she asked with a mixture of fear and fatigue in her voice.
''its...its Tech nology, the creator...''
''Oh...oh shit...'' Rainbow replied with a shake of her head.
Moving closer, trying not to wince at the sight, Twilight stared at the dead stallion, trying to determine what had happened to him. ''What could have done this to him...there's no way any of the intelligent races could have done this, not with bare hooves anyway...'' she tried to think of a race that could have done this. A griffon? A dragon?
No. None of those were right. The way he had been torn to pieces was all wrong, she just couldn't figure it out. Even though the job looked like it had been done by something possibly from the Everfree itself, there were no signs of forced entry, so just what could it be?
A noise startled the Alicorn and she whirled around, looking around for the source. Rainbow was already on her hind legs, front ones up, ready to fight. ''What was that?'' Twilight hissed, glancing around.
''The door just opened by itself! ALRIGHT COME OUT! SHOW YOURSELF!'' the cyan mare called out, ready to take down whatever monster was watching the two mares, but nothing happened, silence was the only answer.
''I-Is...is anypony there?'' Twilight quietly called out, fear creeping up her spine. No answer. ''Dash...? Keep an eye out, I'm going to keep investigating...''
The Alicorn turned back to Tech's mangled body, eyes moving towards the shattered lantern lying a few hoofsteps away. ''He had been using it, possibly while on his chair, and dropped it, but...why?'' she murmured to herself, turning to look at his desk.
An old computer, fan, telephone, and a small lamp sat on the desk. Twilight stared at the lamp, attempting to turn it on. However, when it failed to turn on, she realized that the bulb had burned out, meaning that he had been killed while the lamp was on, which meant whatever killed him had struck during the night. The lamp wouldn't have been needed otherwise, and since there were no papers anywhere, he hadn't been reading and needed the light.
Next, she examined the computer. the computer activated with a low humming sound with the help of Twilight's magic. However, instead of showing any sort of loading or home screen, there was only static that floated down the screen endlessly. ''That's weird.'' she murmured to herself once more.
Shutting down the device, the Alicorn moved to the phone, her gaze moved over it, before she tapped ''playback'' on the answering machine. The machine whirred and clicked, before the robotic mares voice announced, ''message one'' and the messages began to play, causing Dash to turn around to listen as well.
(See the prequel ''The Joy Of Creation'' to hear the messages.)
After the final messaged ended, Twilight looked shocked, ''No, this cant be... who would want to do this, and what was this decision the mare had mentioned?''
''That mares voice sounded really familiar...'' Rainbow put a hoof up to her chin, trying to think.
Twilight turned to her rainbow maned friend, ''You're right Dash, but instead of simply accusing whoever might sound like the mare on the phone, we should get the out of here, this is way over our heads, we need to get princess Celestia, or the royal guard!''
''You may be right, lets get the buck out of here and find out what's going on, away from here!'' Dash spoke quickly, trying to get them out of there faster. Dash was a brave pony, able to deal with all sorts of monsters and horrors, but this was to much for her, she had never seen anything this gory in her life.
A low noise echoed from somewhere in the house, causing Twilight to jump, ''Yeah, lets go!''
Moving quickly, the two friends made their way out of the building, then, spreading their wings wide, they flew, the sound echoing in the forest behind them again. Slowly, the Everfree faded away behind them, as the two ponies flew, heading for Canterlot, and help.
''And that's what happened...'' Twilight finished, tears beginning to well in her eyes.
Celestia looked shocked, this was terrible. This couldn't be true, but she knew her student, she didn't lie, nor did she play jokes of this caliber. ''If Rainbow Dash was with you, where is she right now?''
The violet Alicorn smiled slightly, ''She's fine, she's just outside of the castle right now.''
Celestia exhaled, and stood up, ''We must deal with this immediately, I WANT ALL GUARDS AVAILABLE ON THIS CASE'' her voice rose to her royal one.
The four guards who had stood motionless and almost unnoticed all spoke as one, ''Yes, your highness'' and galloped out of the room to spread the news.
Twilight watched the stallions leave, before turning back to her mentor, ''What about the others...? Should we inform the citizens?''
Celestia shook her head, ''No, until we figure out what's going on, and who, or what is responsible for this, it would be best if nopony were to find out.'' she stared out at nothing, ''Who would do this...?''
Twilight lowered her head, ''What should I do princess? Should I...Should I help with the investigation?'' The thought of going back to that house, even with the royal guard with her, terrified her.
''No, I can tell what you saw there scared you, you should head back to Ponyville for now. I'll let you know if there's anything you can do to help.'' The white Alicorn's gaze turned back to her student, letting her know she was dismissed.Twilight nodded her head, and began making her way out of the room, only for Celestia's voice to stop her.
''Hold on my faithful student, there may be one way you can help for now...''
Twilight turned back to her mentor, her gaze slightly hopeful, ''Really? What?''
''If you figure out anything, send me a message as soon as you can.''
Twilight nodded, and started to leave again, but suddenly stopped herself, ''Wait, if I'm not going to be the one to get hooves on with this, who is?''
Celestia smiled sadly, ''I'm afraid that's something I can't tell you right now my faithful student. I know you might be worried that the pony I plan to ask might not be up to the task, nor able to figure anything out, but I assure you Twilight, this pony will get the job done.''
Twilight nodded, and began trotting her way out of the throne room. However, a couple things nagged at her, ''Who could have done all this? What had gone wrong with the animatronics? Who was the pony Celestia spoke of? For now, she would have to get Dash to not mention anything to the others, and head back to Ponyville, as much as she wanted to help directly, she knew the princess wouldn't want her in harms way.
Unfortunately for the young Alicorn, she was going to get thrown right into the fray whether she liked it or not.
The figure approached the castle around 3 P.M. an hour after Twilight had left with Dash and he had been summoned. when the guards spotted the cloaked figure, two spears came up by reflex, barring the cloaked figure entrance, the rest pointed their weapons at the stranger.
They couldn't make out much about the figure. He appeared to be an earth pony stallion, but that was all they could make out. The rest of his body was covered by the cloak, covering his body. the hood was pulled up over his head, and the shadows from inside the hood blocked any sight of his face.
The guards tensed up when the stallion raised a fore leg and brought it back to his flank, pulling some of the cloak away, revealing a blue coat beneath, a elegant longsword sat on his flank. Upon seeing the cutie mark, the guards quickly withdrew their spears, allowing the pony entry.
The clop of his hooves announced his presence, making princess Celestia look up from the scroll she had been writing on, ''Ah'' she mused, ''I see you've come. I have a very important job for you.''
The cloaked stallion nodded, ''What do you need me to do?''
''Something terrible has happened, and I need you to help investigate. Have you ever heard of Pinkie Pie's Pizzeria?''
''Yes Your Majesty, I've heard of it.''
The Princess sighed, ''It involves the creator, a pony called Tech Nology...''
Somewhere in the Everfree Forest, something moved. It's almost robotic steps echoing through the tree's. It's eyes burned with rage, and fury. The being wanted revenge. Behind it, three more followed close behind, adding to the sound of rusted metal rubbing against rusted metal.
Their need for revenge had been ignited.
They were headed for Ponyville.
Author's Note
that's chapter one, if your slightly confused about what's going on, read the prequel, The Joy Of Creation, to get pieces of the story that weren't mentioned here.
this horror story/ FNAF crossover, will have way more movement in it, and more detective work going on, hope you keep enjoying my work.
The Joy of Creation - Reborn
Begining the Investigation
The clip clop of his hooves signaled his arrival. Although they saw him coming, it didn't make the guards less tense, and they raised their spears, pointing them at the newcomer. The stallion let out a small sigh of annoyance, not making any moves.
An official looking unicorn mare suddenly appeared in the doorway, a frown on her face. Her coat was a lime green color, and her yellow mane was straight and boring, although the fedora she wore made up for it. Her cutie mark was a simple spy glass, marking her as a detective.
''One of the guard's informed me of your arrival. This is a crime scene, and nopony is allowed near here without permission from me. State your business.'' The mare said with an aura of authority.
The stallion sighed again, before pulling back his hood, revealing his face. His mane was a brown color, with a hint of bronze in it. The stallion's eyes were a deep brown, while the fur on his face was a dark blue.
The guard's recognized him immediately, and quickly lowered their spears. The mare looked around, a confused look on her face. What were they doing? Was this pony a high ranking Royal guard? No, that couldn't be, he would've shown up along with them, and not wearing an old cloak.
''Just who do you think you are!?''
The stallion removed the rest of the cloak, casting it aside, where it landed on one of the bushes that leaned against the house. The Mare let out a tiny gasp. He wasn't a guard, nor was he a detective. The stallion wore no armor, and his cutie mark wasn't a detective one.
His cutie mark was a longsword, and strapped to his back was a larger version of his cutie mark. He wasn't a guard, he was a warrior.
''I'm Swift Blade'' He introduced himself, ''And I'm here on Princess Celestia's order's to help investigate.''
The mare's jaw dropped, but she quickly realized her mistake and recomposed herself. ''oh really? Lets see a document with the Princess's signature on it.'' She gave a little smirk, thinking she had won. To her surprise and annoyance, the swordstallion pulled an official looking scroll from his saddle bags, and hoofed it to her.
Her eye's moved across the paper, and when she saw Celestia's handwriting at the bottom of the page, she let out a little sigh. ''alright, Mr. Blade, follow me and we'll get you acquainted with the crime scene.''
Swift Blade's eyes moved across the gory scene before him, and around the rest of the room, picking out the same details the Princess had mentioned when she briefed him on the case. All the details Twilight had spotted. He tapped a hoof to his chin, trying to think. ''What exactly could have done this...?'' He muttered to himself.
''Well Mr. Blade...have you found anything we might have missed? Or are you at the same spot as us?'' An annoyed voice said from behind him.
Swift turned his head to look at the detective staring at him. She frowned at him, pushing her fedora up with a hoof. Her assistant, a earth pony mare with a blue mane and pink coat, stood next to her, scribbling notes down on a clipboard.
''Not yet, but I do have one conclusion, whatever did this, wasn't a pony, nor was it a beast of the forest.'' Swift said, with a matter of fact tone.
The detective rolled her eyes, ''Well no kidding, we've already figured that out.''
Her assistant continued scribbling down notes, either on the crime scene, or the conversation going on.
Swift let his eyes narrow, before turning back to the subjects mangled corpse. Something caught his eye, and he moved in for a closer look, hearing the detective move behind him for a closer look.
His eyes narrowed, this was very strange. Two of the wounds made in the subjects body looked strangely like puncture marks. Large ones. they were almost perfectly round. They almost looked like they could have been made by...an icepick perhaps. No. the holes were to large for an icepick.
Swift leaned in even closer, trying not to wince at the smell filling his muzzle, and looked closer at one of the holes made into the corpse's stomach. There was something caught in one of the holes.
The swordstallion turned back to the detective staring over him, and smiled pleasantly. ''Do you have a pen or something I could borrow for a sec?''
She looked slightly taken back by the strange question, but swiftly plucked the pen in her assistants hoof with her magic and levitated it in front of Swift. He took it and turned back to the corpse, and carefully lined the pen up with the small object. He speared it and lifted it up, allowing a better look at it.
The object was a nut. Swift let it fall from the pen into his hoof, examining it. blood from the corpse still covered the piece of metal, and it appeared to have been burned. ''What the hell...'' Swift said under his breath.
''A nut? What in the holy name of Celestia was that doing there?''
''I don't know...'' Swift replied, trying to think. ''But I have a crazy idea of where, and why this was here.'' He turned around, facing the mare staring at him. ''We're going to need to get this nut to a lab, check and see where its been, meanwhile I want you Miss...?''
The mare gave him a small smile, holding out a hoof. ''Private Eye Spy Glass, but you can call me Spy.'' She gestured at her assistant, ''And this is my assistant, Scribble.''
Scribble gave a little wave, watching as the swordstallion and detective shook hooves, before returning to furiously scribbling down notes on her clipboard.
''Well, like I was saying, Spy. You two are coming with me. We're going to check out Pinkie Pie's Pizza.''
Twilight didn't like this. She had arrived at the castle, only to find Spike gone, and a note saying he was helping The Cutie Mark Crusaders with something. Which meant she was alone with nopony to help her with her investigation.
It had took quite a bit of convincing, but in the end, she managed to make Rainbow Dash keep her word, that she wouldn't tell anypony about what they had seen. She knew Dash would keep her word, but something still nagged her.
She levitated the object in front of her, and stared at it, as if trying to determine its worth. It was a bolt, blackened slightly, as if it had been burned. She had found it lying in a pool of blood from the crime scene and took it with her.
Twilight knew it was probably an important clue, even though it might be one less clue for the Royal guard to find, it was a risk she had to take.
The Alicorn Princess's scientific mind could only process a few reasons for a bolt to be lying there. It could have been from the lantern that had been dropped on the floor. Only problem with that theory, Twilight hadn't seen any bolts missing from the lantern. Another theory, was that it had simply been there, and wasn't evidence at all, but then, why did it seem like it had been burnt?
Even though she had no answers at the moment, Twilight knew how she could find them. She stood up from her desk, levitating the bolt next to her, she quickly cast a second spell, causing the piece of metal to vanish. She had sent it into the pocket dimension, a small hole in reality that unicorns used for storage.
The young Princess cast a teleportation spell, instantly transporting her into the hallway of her palace. She began making her way down the hall, passing the numerous doors of the palace, if she didn't live there, she might have gotten lost more then a few times in this large maze of a palace. she let herself chuckle at the thought, before snapping herself out of it. She had a job to do.
Twilight stopped in front of one of the many large doors, and pushed it open with her magic, stepping inside, and closing it behind her. Her lab. A familiar place that brought comfort to her, she had spent many hours in here, testing and creating things that might someday do great things.
She pulled the bolt from the pocket dimension, and gently placed it on the stage of a microscope with her magic. Twilight twisted the knob on the side of the microscope, lowering it closer to the bolt, before peeking into the ocular lens.
Though she couldn't be sure, whatever had scorched the metal had been magical in nature. This meant that, somehow, even if not directly, a unicorn was involved in this. To the average eye, the scorch marks would have just looked like scorch marks, but to Twilight, who had been studying magic for years, it was as clear as transparent glass.
The Alicorn withdrew from the eye piece and lifted the bolt up to her face. This discovery had just wiped out two thirds of the pony population, and completely wiped out any chance of another species being behind this. She quickly levitated a clipboard over to her along with a quill and ink bottle, dipped the quill into the ink, and began writing down notes. Twilight let herself grin, knowing she had just discovered something big, when something wiped it off her face completely.
Something had just laughed. It wasn't just an ordinary laugh either, it sounded vaguely pony, but had some sort of tone to it Twilight couldn't figure out. Dropping the bolt and clipboard on the table, she whirled around, searching for the source of the almost menacing chuckle. Nopony in sight.
The sound echoed in her ears again, louder this time, and she spun around again. Her ears flattened, this was creeping her out, and she wanted whatever it was, to stop, and leave her alone.
Almost as if it had heard her thoughts, the voices laughter vanished.
Twilight let out a sigh of relief, and began to turn back to her work, when something stopped her again. A noise at the window. She lit up her horn, biting her lip, and squeezing her eyes shut. She quickly spun to face whatever monster was at her window.
''Whoa! Twi! It's just me!''
The familiar voice caused Twilight to crack an eye open, and then sigh with relief, letting the spell in her horn die, and opened both eyes. ''Oh, Rainbow, its just you.''
The cyan Pegasus cracked a grin.
''Don't do that, you almost made me jump out of my fur.'' Twilight scolded. ''wait...what are you doing here?''
The Pegasus flipped in the air, ''Pinkie's having a big ''Get Together'' party and I came to get you, you want in?''
Twilight stared back at her work, then at Dash. ''You know what? Sure, lets go.'' the Alicorn Princess gave her friend a small smile, and hopped onto the window frame, before spreading her wings, and jumping into the air. She hovered next to Dash, flapping her wings to keep her aloft. ''Lead the way.''
Dash shook her head, ''We cant just leave the others behind.''
Twilight looked confused at the statement, so Dash pointed a hoof down. Twilight followed it, spotting four familiar shapes on the ground below. ''Oh, hey girls!'' She called down.
Her friends waved up to her. She let herself grin, and looked up at Dash, ''come on!'' The cyan Pegasus said cheerfully, before rocketing down to the ground, Twilight close behind.
''Howdy Twi'' Apple Jack grinned at her friend.
Pinkie bounced in place, a wide smile on her face, ''YAY! Now we can have my super duper amazing great party!''
Fluttershy gave a nervous smile at Twilight, with a quiet, ''Hello...''
''Hey girls, how are things going?'' Twilight asked, trying to stay cheerful.
''oh we are quite fine dear'' Rarity smiled warmly, but it melted into a look of concern. ''But what about you darling, you look like you've seen a ghost.''
''oh, um...'' Twilight started, but was cut off by Rainbow Dash.
''yeah, I gave her a scare when I popped up at her window, heh, it was kinda funny.''
''Oh yeah how did the mission go Twilight? Was it fun!'' Pinkie said with another bounce, this one slightly higher then the others.
''oh, it was um...'' Twilight struggled to think of something, but her mind went blank. Could she really lie to her friends about this? Her inner struggle was interrupted by Apple Jack.
''Its okay sugar cube, you can tell us, we wont think it's boring''
Twilight glance at Dash for support, who quickly spoke for her. ''oh, you guys wont want to hear about it, it was mostly talking about, um...science stuff and things we wouldn't understand. Egghead things and junk.''
Even though she felt slightly insulted, Twilight made a note to thank Dash later, and nodded in agreement.
''Oh, alright, well, lets get to my party! its going to be the funnest thing ever!'' Pinkie exclaimed.
The others nodded in agreement, and began to follow the pink party pony, who was bouncing in excitement towards the park. Twilight trotted near the back of the group, next to Fluttershy, who she knew wouldn't be to talkative. However, she was surprised when Fluttershy asked her:
''what really happened Twilight? I'm sure Apple Jack noticed it too, but your acting strange...''
Twilight smiled nervously at the cream colored mare, trying to look reassuring, ''Really Fluttershy, nothing happened, don't worry about it...''
The shy Pegasus gave a concerned look, but nodded, and went back to staying silent. Twilight looked over at Apple Jack, who gave her a quick: your gonna have to tell us sooner or later, glance, and went back to walking.
Twilight shook her head, her purple mane flying past her face, before settling again. ''Relax Twilight, just enjoy yourself and have a good time hanging out with your best friends. Focus on figuring out who murdered Tech nology later.'' She thought to herself.
Pinkie let out a little cheer, as the park came into sight, and snapped Twilight out of her thoughts again. She briefly heard Rainbow Dash mention something about, ''leaving in a few hours, rainstorm to help out with.''
Well, that didn't sound like good news. The Alicorn sighed, thinking about how the rain was going to soak her to the bone when she headed home, before joining the others as the party began.
Something told it to wait. It could see the town through the trees, but some unseen force was telling it to wait, watch, and observe.
The being's three companions stood next to it, their eyes burning like its eyes did. Soon they would all move in, find their target, and tear it to pieces. soon their revenge would be at hand, but for now they would remain hidden in the forest.
Even though it had no idea how it knew, it knew tonight would be the time.
Far away, somewhere in Canterlot, a dark figure laughed.
Author's Note
Soon...soon they will have their revenge...
Now things get interesting, What will happen when these beings strike? What will Twilight do?
Next chapter coming soon, keep enjoying The Joy Of Creation - Reborn
The Joy of Creation - Reborn
The rain poured down, drenching Twilight as she trudged through the streets. She didn't bother to use any spells to form some sort of umbrella, nor teleport herself underneath a building or tree to wait out the storm. Something was compelling her to continue on, it was an odd feeling, but Twilight figured it was best to just get home as soon as possible, maybe then she could find out the secret behind the charred bolt she had found.
The young Alicorn turned a corner and spotted the welcome sight of her castle, she smiled at the thought of being out of this terrible weather and getting inside and began galloping towards the large glowing building.
Her mane flipped across her face several times, blinding her until it flipped out of the way. Twilight let out a little growl of annoyance every time it happened until she was under the large doors leading into the castle.
She was soaked down to the bone, and her mane and tail looked like she had had a bucket of water dumped over her. Which was what had happened, minus the bucket.
The Alicorn let out a frustrated sigh, before opening one of the large doors enough so she could slip in, before closing it behind her.
''SPIIIIIIKKKE!'' She called out, waiting for an answer from her assistant, but was annoyed to not get an answer. ''SPIIIIKKKE!'' She tried again, but her only answer was more silence.
The violet mare gave a long sigh, before levitating a towel out of a nearby closet, and drying herself off with it. When she was finally dry, she placed the cloth back into the closet and shut it.
''That takes care of that, and now onto the lab.'' Twilight said cheerfully to herself, slightly glad there was nopony to distract her now.
She began making her way to the lab, but was stopped when something in one of the many libraries caught her eye. Something was glowing brightly through the crack of the door. This caught her interest, and suspicion, what in Celestia's name was going on in there?
Stepping through the pizzeria doors, Swift Blade and Spy Glass made their way into the empty restaurant with quick glances around them. The place was normally so crowded and full of the noises of laughter and music, it was unsettling to find it so quiet.
Almost as soon as they took a few hoofsteps inside, a very light pink mare approached them with a large smile. ''Oh hello there, welcome to Pinkie Pie's Pizzeria! I'm sorry to say however we are closed for now, until our lovely animatronics have been repaired.''
Swift nodded, ''I know, but we're-''
''We're here to ask you some questions, the creator of your robots had been murdered, and we wanted to know if you knew anything'' Spy Glass interrupted.
''The boss is...dead...?'' The mare asked, she seemed very shocked at this.
''Yes, something got into his house and killed him, we came here to ask the mare who phoned him before he died some questions.'' Swift glanced at the mares cutie mark, trying not to seem strange.
Her mark was a blue magical swirl above a small purple star. something about this irked the stallion, ''That's a strange cutie mark to have in this line of business, why would she have gotten a job doing this when there were other jobs for unicorns like her?
''Oh, well, do you know her name, we have quite a few mares working here after all.'' The mare asked.
''No, she never mentioned her name in any of the messages, but we don't even need to name her, your voices match perfectly.'' Swift smirked, taking a step forward. ''Tell us everything you know, before I decide to arrest you.''
The mare looked slightly shocked at the accusation, but didn't protest, ''Yes, I called him several times a few days ago, but he never answered any of them. I got a letter from him saying that he was retiring and that he wanted me to take over the pizzeria, but I never knew he had been killed until you told me. Oh Celestia...Tech...'' She murmured.
''Nice try, but you forgot to delete the last message you sent, and considering what you say about you being the new manager here, I would say that you already knew'' Spy smirked, levitating a pair of magical hoofcuffs from her saddle bags.
Swift glanced at the detective, slightly in awe, she had noticed something he hadn't, he would have to compliment her on that later. The swordstallion turned his attention back to the possible mad pony and drew his longsword, the long blade sliding out of its sheath with a metallic sliding sound.
''All right, don't move, and this wont get ugly.'' Swift leveled the blade towards the mare before them.
''You really think you can catch me? Well, good luck with that.'' The mare snarled, a menacing smile growling across her mouth.
Before either pony could do anything, the mare suddenly lit up her horn and vanished with a flash of light.
''Damn it!'' Swift cursed, ''For a few seconds, I thought it may have been an understanding and she was being framed!'' The stallion shook his head and sheathed his weapon.
''Perfect...'' Spy groaned, ''Now we have a dangerous killer on the loose, and we have no idea where she's gone or who she is!'' The detective threw the cuffs on the ground with her magic and stomped her hoof on the ground angrily.
Swift held his hoof up to his chin in thought, ''Crap'' He realized. They hadn't asked her name, and now she was gone! ''Everything is going wrong!'' He screamed in his head. Now they were back where they began, they knew what the mare looked like, but they didn't...
''Wait a second...'' Swift turned to look at his angry companion, a small smile forming. ''Spy, we're going on a trip to the Canterlot archives.''
''What good will that do!? Without her name its useless to try and find a file on her.'' Spy retorted.
''We may not know just who she is, but the pony who owns the place will. He should be able to help us find a file on that mare, and then we can find out where she might go.''
Spy stopped stomping and allowed a grin to form across her face, ''Good thinking, lets get going, we have to find her as soon as possible!''
The two ponies quickly made their way out of the pizzeria, and began heading for the train station, they had to get to Canterlot as quickly as possible, or the mare might kill again.
Twilight Sparkle peeked into the library, and finding anypony in sight, opened the door and stepped inside. ''Hello? Anypony in here? Spike? Is that you?'' She asked hesitantly.
When there was no response, the Alicorn took another few hesitant steps across the room, finally spotting the source of the strange glow. A strange glowing orb sat on a pedestal near the center of the room. On closer inspection, it appeared to have strange markings running across the glowing ball.
''What in Equestria is this doing here? Did Spike bring this here?'' Twilight asked aloud, not expecting an answer, and she received none. She slowly reached out a shaky hoof, pulling it back quickly as if the orb might bite her, before her hoof made contact with smooth glass.
The flash that emanated from the ball was blinding, causing Twilight to step back, attempting to shield herself from the blinding light with a hoof. The light was so bright Twilight thought it would burn her eyes out, when suddenly the light died down.
The Alicorn princess lowered her hoof and stared at the glowing orb, it was clouding up and something seemed to be shining through the clouds inside of the orb.
''What the...''
Twilight was cut off by the sight of a pony stepping through the clouds, the glow of her horn slicing through the mist inside the orb like a knife through butter. Although she couldn't make out just who the pony was, she knew that something was wrong. ''Who are you?''
The pony's voice was that of a mares, ''Hello again Twilight, its been a while.'' Her voice sounded familiar...
''Um...do I know you?''
''Yes Princess...'' The mysterious mare almost snarled, ''But if you don't remember, then I wont remind you, all I'm going to say, is that your dead, and that you should know, that I'm the reason behind your death, and the deaths of your friends.''
''WHAT!'' Twilight almost screamed, ''What are you talking about?! My friends are all alive and so am I!''
''Yes, but not for much longer, once I'm done with you, your friends will follow you.'' The mare sneered. ''And if your thinking of trying to find me or escape, think again.''
Twilight quickly tried to cast a teleportation spell, but her magic flickered and died out. ''What?'' She began panicking. She tried to cast a number of other spells, but the only ones that seemed to work were her light spell and levitation, at least from what spells she had just tried.
The shadowy mare cackled, ''Heh, nice try, but the magic barrier surrounding you castle is preventing you from using any high class spells, so your stuck with average everyday magic. No Alicorn magic, no friends, no escape.''
''Why are you doing this!? What did My friends and I ever do to you!?''
The purple mare scoffed, ''What did you and your friends ever do to me? You ruined my perfect town, and all my plans to get even! So now, I'm going to get rid of you once and for all.''
''Don't go near my friends! I'll kill you if you touch them!'' Twilight was slightly surprised by her own words, but pushed on, ''Come out and lets settle this!''
The mare chuckled, ''Oh Twilight, I would love to, but I'd rather not get my hooves dirty, but my friends will love tearing you to pieces, enjoy the last moments of your pathetic life.'' Laughing evilly, the mare began to fade away into the mist of the ball, and then she was gone.
Twilight was stunned, but something in her head clicked. The mares voice, her cutie mark, the town she and her friends had supposedly ruined. Twilight let out a little gasp, as the realization struck her.
''Starlight Glimmer.'' She whispered, her voice bordering on fear. The crazed mare who her friends and her had stopped several times, was back again, and this time she meant business.
''This is way over my head, I need to get my friends, or maybe Princess Celestia!'' She paused for a second, ''Wait, Starlight made it impossible for me to use high level magic, hopefully I can get out on hoof.'' She began galloping out of the library and down the long halls, heading for the front doors.
She was panting and dripping sweat when she made it to her destination, and she had to stop for a quick breather. The young Alicorn turned her attention to the large double doors, and to her surprise found them slightly ajar. She took a few steps closer, and tried to push one of the doors open with her magic, but something on the other side was preventing the door from opening more than a few inches.
The Alicorn peeked through the crack in the doors and found the source, a large chain had been wrapped around the door knobs, blocking the violet alicorn's escape.
''Celestia damn it, she wasn't kidding when she said I couldn't leave, now what do I do!?'' Twilight swore.
a flash from behind her, caused the startled Alicorn to turn around, ''What the-'' She was cut off by the sight that greeted her, another ball filled with mist had just appeared before her, but this time, the figure who emerged wasn't Starlight. This mares body was thin, but her head seemed normal size. She seemed to be wearing a snow white mask, which looked strangely like her friend Rarity.
''Hello, Princess of friendship. I'm here to help you.'' The strange being said, her voice sounded ponylike, but had an almost robotic accent.
''W-Who are you? What do you want?'' Twilight stammered, she didn't know why, but this being filled her with a sense of dread.
''Call me, The Seamstress, and as I said, I am here to help you.''
''What in Celestia's name is going on!? And why do you look like one of my best friends!?'' Twilight began to back away from the orb, trying to put some distance between I and her in case it attacked.
''The purple one has unleashed my creations, and they now hunt for her, the one who killed them, and she has made them believe that you are her.'' The Seamstress seemed ignore the part about her looking like Rarity.
Twilight tried to think, this was all going so fast, ''The purple one? You mean Starlight!?'' She exclaimed.
''Yes, and now she has trapped you here, and my creations are her tools to get rid of you.''
''I know that!'' Twilight was getting annoyed now, this puppet like pony was telling her things she already knew, when something the pony had said suddenly made her ask: ''Wait, your creations? Just who or what are your ''Creations?'' ''
The Seamstress didn't reply, she waved one of her hooves, and the image in the orb changed, showing a blue stallion and a lime colored mare standing before Starlight. The stallion had a sword as his cutie mark, and he had a longsword pointed at Starlight, while the lime colored unicorn, who appeared to be a detective, due to her fedora and cutie mark, was levitating a pair of magical hoofcuffs towards Starlight. When nothing in the image moved, Twilight realized it was just a picture.
Even though she knew now was not the time, she couldn't help thinking that the stallion was pretty attractive, good enough to compete with Flash Sentry. She shook the thoughts from her head.
''What is this?'' She asked, watching as the image faded away and the Seamstress reappeared.
''These are the ones who have tracked down the purple one, and are hunting her down as we speak, if you can last until tomorrow, then these two should arrive and rescue you. However, if you die tonight, then my creations will move on to your friends.''
Twilight's pupils dilated, ''Just what are your creations?'' She whimpered, knowing that she wouldn't like the answer.
''They are the ones who killed the other creator.''
''Tech Nology!'' Twilight gasped under her breath.
''They are the ones who once made joy and fun.''
Twilight heard a hoofstep outside the doors, even through the rain. This was a loud step.
''They are the one's, who are outside your door.'' The Seamstress hissed.
Twilight Sparkle turned around, and peeked through the double doors, the sight that met her, made her gasp in horror. The pony-like beings that stood outside, just staring at her, were a nightmare come to life.
The Alicorn stumbled back from the doors, her mouth open in a silent scream, she looked back up at the orb, her eyes tearing up in fear. ''W-What are those t-things!?''
The Seamstress didn't answer, she just shook her head, ''Your time has run out.''
Author's Note
They're here. Now the fun begins.
Will Twilight survive?
Find out!
The Joy of Creation - Reborn
''Gah! This is pointless!'' Spyglass complained, throwing her hooves in the air, scattering loose papers all around. She slammed her hooves back down on the desk she stood at, and glared at the blue stallion a few feet away, who was searching through some criminal records stored on one of the large shelves of the archives.
''Look, I know that we've been searching for a long time, but I know there must be something here that can tell us where that mare went.'' Swift shot back over his shoulder.
Spyglass sighed loudly, before slouching onto the desk. She wasn't prepared to give up, but this seemed pointless, there was thousands of records of almost everypony who had ever lived. It was going to take forever to find the escaped unicorn's files. Even if they did, there might not even be anything that would point as to where she could've gone.
Wait. Libraries had librarians, even one's this large and secret, there had to be somepony who could help them locate the files they needed, otherwise by the time they found the damn file it could be to late.
The detective shot up, her eyes filled with determination, and she started shouting at the top her lungs: ''WE REQUIRE ASSISTANCE IN LOCATING A PARTICUALR FILE!''
They stopped, when they heard the sounds of approaching hoofsteps, and angry muttering and cursing, until the source presented itself when an old Pegasus stallion hobbled around one of the humongous shelves, a glare across his features that would not only silence any disobedient foal, but even silence the two full grown pony's.
''Alright, what in the name of Tartarus are you two knuckleheads doing!? This may not be a library filled with others trying to read and research, but it's still a library! Start explaining!'' The stallion huffed, his scowl burrowing into two disturbers of the peace like a sword into flesh.
''Uh, sorry about that sir, but we have a real emergency on our hooves. We need to find a record on a unicorn mare, she works at the Pinkie Pie Pizzeria, she's a light purple color, dark purple mane, bluish eyes, cutie mark is a falling star. it's-''
Spyglass started, but was cut off by the grouchy librarian.
''Look, if you want a record, fine, but next time, come find me first.'' He sighed in annoyance, before hobbling over to a ladder and sliding it down towards the halfway mark of the shelf. He slowly climbed up it, his beady eyes searching for his prize.
Swift slowly grew inpatient, but before he could say anything, the older stallion let out an: ''Ah ha.'' before slowly climbing back down the rails, and landed on the ground with a soft clop.
He held the book out with a wing, and Spyglass quickly took it, hoping the older pony hadn't strained himself.
''There, now stay outta trouble you two idiots...'' He grumbled, before heading into one of the aisles and out of sight.
''You know what's funny?'' Swift murmured, more to himself then to the mare next to him. Spyglass glanced at him, and shook her head. ''He never did ask why we needed the file, and I doubt he would just help us find a file about somepony else without a very good reason.''
''Yeah, that's true. Why?'' The private eye narrowed her eyes, scanning the area for traps, spies, or anything outta place. Of course, there was nothing but shelves of books.
''C'mon, who knows how long we have before that insane pony unleashes whatever she has planned.'' The swordstallion said.
The two ponies leaned over the desk, eyes scanning the many papers that had been concealed within the document. The mare was called Starlight Glimmer. There was records of her birth, where she had lived, where she had been educated, criminal records, and some papers about the restaurant she had opened.
Pinkie Pie's Pizzeria.
That name was associated with many gruesome and tragic accidents over the years, but it still somehow slogged on, thanks to the many different ponies recreating it and introducing new versions of the animatronics with every new location it moved to. It had been around longer then they had thought.
The fact that the animatronics had been involved in foals deaths before, and that Starlight was working for Pinkie's was more than just a coincidence. She must have researched the business before she had taken the job. How else would she have risen to the rank of mechanic so quickly? She needed the animatronics for something, which was why they were missing, and with the only other pony who could fix them out of the picture, she could make up whatever excuse she wanted to any suspicious ponies, as well as mess with the robots as much as she pleased.
What she planned to do with the animatronics was what Swift and Spy were now trying to figure out. However, there was one pony they could ask for assistance in this matter.
Twilight Sparkle. She and her friends had tangled with the crazy mare before, so she might know where she might have gone, or give them a hoof in figuring out what Starlight might do with ''Pinkie'' and her friends.
''C'mon, we better get to Ponyville fast, we're still on a time limit.'' Spyglass frowned grimly, before hurriedly heading back the way they came.
Following, Swift Blade's thoughts turned to Twilight. The documents said that Twilight had apparently helped knock Starlight out of power from her rule as mayor in a town she once ruled. Chances are Starlight still held some resentment towards the Alicorn princess.
Swift picked up speed, his worry increasing.
Twilight may be in more trouble then they thought.
Eyes blink.
Blackness slowly fades, and the throbbing pain in her head slowly begins to intensify, until the mare slowly lifts her head off the cold surface on which she lay. It was dark, or at least, the area she was staring at was dark.
Around her was the light of an overhanging lamp, which cast a circle of safety around her. Twilight Sparkle slowly stood up on shaky hooves, and tested them. She could walk, she was fine.
''H-How is this possible?'' She murmured to herself. If her memory served her well, she remembered being...
''Oh...O-Oh Celestia...am I r-really still here?''
The horrifying memory of Pinkie...no, the monster that looked like Pinkie, had killed her...torn her into bloody little pieces. She had been killed, it simply wasn't possible that she was still alive. Which meant she had either been hallucinating the whole ordeal, or...she was dead, waiting for Luna to ferry her over to the next life.
A single tear fell from her eyes. She had failed. With her dead, there was nopony to warn her friends about Starlight and her animatronic monsters. They would be caught in the same trap, and it was all her fault.
A bright light shone from in front of her, and she prepared herself to step into the light and face judgment. However, the light didn't show any signs that she was meant to step through it, and instead, blurred with smoke until a familiar face stared at Twilight through the light.
''The Seamstress? But how?''
''The answer is simple young princess, you aren't dead. You still walk the world of the living.'' The Rarity mask was forever a happy smile, but Twilight could tell, it wasn't smiling, not really.
''How? I was sure that...'' Twilight couldn't finish her sentence, the memory was to horrifying, and she attempted to shove the images from her mind.
''You are alive, the items you found saved you from death, however, that was only a temporary save.''
Confused, Twilight searched her pocket dimension for the items, but to her shock, discovered them to be gone. ''Did you take them? How could they have just vanished?!'' Twilight cried, fear creeping into her voice.
The Seamstress did not even flinch. ''They have gone, they have another purpose now, but that will come later, for now you must find five more objects linked to the pizzeria's past, that now lay scattered in your basement, which you find yourself in now.''
''Five more objects, okay. I can do this...'' The young Alicorn took in a deep breath, before letting it out, slightly soothing her fear addled mind. ''I'm guessing that robot Pinkie found her way down here, or is on her way, since I assume it knows I'm still alive?''
''No, the ignited pink one still lurks the upper floors. You have another threat to deal with...this one even more dangerous. You know it well, as it knows you.'' The puppet like figure spoke like this was supposed to be some sort of riddle, and Twilight already knew the answer.
''Me. It's me.'' She spoke softly.
''Beware, princess of friendship, this you is much faster than the pink one, and if you're spotted, it'll be far to late...''
With those comforting words, the Seamstress faded away into the smoke, and the light faded away too, leaving only the light of the lamp above her to illuminate the darkness.
Shuddering slightly, Twilight lit up her horn, and began to slowly walk into the dark. The distant sounds of mechanical footsteps echoing from somewhere in the darkness before her.
Author's Note
Things look grim, and Twilight must now find hunt for more items linked to Pinkie Pie's Pizzeria. But what are these items for? Will Swift and Spyglass figure out where Starlight is?
And what happened to Princess Celestia?
Stay tuned...
The Joy of Creation - Reborn
Twilight's hooves beat furiously on the paved floor, and her horn flared up as her magic engulfed the final item she needed, an old telephone, before she skidded to a complete stop, gasping for breath as she finally stopped moving.
She had been running around her basement for what felt like hours, for all she knew, it could have been. Time didn't seem to have meaning anymore. The loud thundering of metal hooves were swiftly approaching the young Alicorn, and she began to tremble.
She was in a small room, one with only one exit which lay behind her.
She was trapped.
She could have made a break for it at that very instant, but with how fast the approaching monster could move, there was no way Twilight could outrun it.
The violet mare had been able to avoid the horror given legs simply because she had ducked around corners whenever she heard it approach or hide in one of the small rooms located around her basement.
Then again, although her basement was big, Twilight knew it was not as mazelike or large as it was now. However, Twilight's brain could only think of one option. She would have to hide in this room, and hope that the animatronic abomination would pass by without looking in the room.
Scanning her surrounding for a suitable hiding spot, Twilight chose the pile of boxes stacked in the corner and quickly ducked behind them.
''Alright...this should work...I have all the items. I just need to find an opening and find the door out of here. Hopefully it'll be unlocked. If not maybe I can find a way to pick it open.'' Her horn dimmed, there was enough light in the room that hers wasn't required.
Her heart almost stopped when she heard the mechanical hoofsteps of her hunter stop, and the following sound made her heart stop cold. The hoofsteps were approaching her! It was in the room with her! Twilight began to sweat, and her breathing quickened.
Her heart was beating so hard that she could barely focus on anything else. What if it heard her? What if it heard her rapid breathing?
However, it was then she realized, she could hear it moving the other way. It had given up! Letting out a sigh of relief, Twilight muttered a quick: ''Thank you merciful Celestia...''
Before the boxes in front of her were blown away in one swift swing.
Twilight screamed, her eyes staring up in sheer horror at the creature that stood over her, cold eyes staring deep into her soul.
Twilight stared back at herself, or rather, the twisted rotten looking robot that was meant to resemble her. One of it's front hooves was missing, with only some wires hanging limp where a foreleg once was. The chest was also missing, revealing the metallic sheen of an endoskeletons ribcage. However, it was its face that most terrified Twilight. Except for it's lower jaw and mane, Twilight's face was gone, revealing a skeleton like face and burning red eyes.
However, before Twilight's mind could fully comprehend what was happening, the creature suddenly lifted her forcefully with it's one good foreleg, before throwing her across the room.
With a sickening crunch, the Alicorn hit the wall, looking up from a daze of pain and blood to see a violet foreleg swinging down to connect with her face.
Spyglass groaned, and shifted in her seat, causing the mare next to her to scoot over a bit uncomfortably. She wasn't fond of trains, they took far to long, then again, it wasn't like they could teleport there. That would mean having to search for a unicorn with enough skill in magic to do so or ask the princess of the sun herself.
Since neither of those options sounded easy, and since Swift had mentioned using the train first, that was what the two had went with, however, it didn't mean she had to like it.
She nudged her partner, and he turned to face her.
''So what do you think? We have any chance of stopping Glimmer?''
''Not sure, she seems far more powerful than we would have thought at first, I mean, that file mentioned how she was powerful enough to strip ponies of their cutie marks...how is that even possible?'' Ears drooping, Swift lowered his head.
''Yeah, can't wait to put her behind bars. I don't think any of us will rest easy till then.'' With a firm slap to the back, Spyglass grinned, and nudged the stallion. ''So, while we're busy, you wanna tell me how you got this gig?''
''You first.'' Swift Blade smiled back, flicking a foreleg out at his partner.
''Meh, well alright. I was a rather curious little filly, always trying to find out why other foals did stuff and such. After I got my cutie mark after I helped one of my friends find out who stole their lunch, I just decided I would work under the princess whenever a large crime was committed.'' Chuckling lightly to herself, Spy continued, ''Since crimes of this size don't happen in Equestria very often, you can imagine that I mostly worked freelance for random ponies.''
''Not to shabby.''
''Heh, yeah, it wasn't bad, I made enough to scrape by, and I guess when this happened Celestia had somehow gotten wind of me, since she called upon me to work on this case.''
''Yep.''
She felt rough feeling of fabric beneath her, and the sound of her own heart beating softly meant she was still alive. Slowly raising up off of the ground, Twilight blinked her eyes, trying to see her surroundings.
It was dark. Far darker than before.
Twilight let out a low groan, as she stood up once more, before rubbing at her eye's with hooves, a flash of memory made her let out a little gasp, as she remembered once more why she was here, and what she had just went through.
''Why is this happening to me...?'' Twilight sank back to the ground in utter despair, and she felt tears beginning to prick the backs of her eyes. She knew the answer, but she had said it anyways. Why did horrible things have to happen to good ponies?
A faint glow slowly drew Twilight's eyes out of her hooves, and she stared as once more The Seamstress appeared. Her mask forever a faint smile.
''What do you want...? You've done nothing to help me...why can't you just get all of these items yourself!'' Twilight almost screamed the final few words.
There was silence for a moment, before the puppet spoke. ''Simple Twilight Sparkle. I cannot interfere directly, this is between you and them.''
''Please...no more...there must be another way...''
''I'm afraid there is not, however, there is a way to piece together what it is they want, and what it is they are, and if you simply want, a way to stop them.''
''Really? How, please, you have to tell me!'' Twilight begged, hoping with all her soul that the strange being before her would show her some mercy.
However, with the same cold smile as before, The Seamstress merely shook her head, ''One thing at a time Twilight Sparkle. Now, have fun with Dash.''
Before Twilight could even begin to question, the puppet faded away and the light along with her, leaving only a piece of paper with the words:
USE YOUR LIGHT SPARINGLY
Twilight slowly stood up again, her eyes narrowing. She had to push forward, there simply was no other option, and she would find the answers, even if she had to die again. Her magic flared to life, and she finally knew where she was.
She stood in the castles attic. Nopony really went into the attic, so it was rather dusty, and a few cobwebs lined the ceiling. Shuffling her hooves uncomfortably, Twilight took a few steps forward, before pausing to listen.
Was that the sound of silently creaking metal?
She took another few steps, and stopped again. The sound of creaking metal had stopped again.
Slowly, Twilight's head turned around, and she came face to face with a silent burned Pegasus. Rainbow Dash.
''Oh...''
''So why are you here?''
''Well, I guess you could call me a mercenary, although I usually work for food and water instead of bits.'' Swift shrugged, ''Got a message from Celestia to come to Canterlot, and she filled me in, and here I am.''
''Why you of all ponies?'' Spy playfully punched the blue pony in the shoulder.
Shrugging again, Swift grinned, ''I'd ask the same of you. I have no idea. My guess is she heard of some of the good deeds I've done.''
''Such as, mister tough guy?''
''Well I helped slay a bunch of rabid giant bees terrorizing a small village once. Another time I brought a message to Manehatten about a sickness in one of the nearby towns because none of the unicorns or Pegasus could.''
''Well aren't you a regular Gary Sue.'' Spy joked.
''Oi, I had tons of help slaying those bees, and it took me longer than it would have any of those other ponies if they had been healthy.''
''Just kidding with you.'' She chuckled.
''Heh, how long till we get to Ponyville?''
Spyglass glanced out the window. ''Not to long I figure, at this speed we should be there in an hour or so.''
With that, the two ponies resumed silence, each thinking to themselves what awaited them. Spy would never admit it, but she was worried, if Glimmer had decided to visit Twilight before they got there, not only would they be out of leads, they would have lost the princess of friendship herself.
Twilight crashed into the side of several large boxes, and she groaned. She quickly spun around to flash the following animatronic monster in the face with her light. Stopping it before it could lunge at her.
Twilight had discovered that Rainbow followed her around, however, it didn't attempt to attack her until it's eye holes flashed white. Because of that, Twilight had been able to keep the horrifying stalker from getting her. However, the close calls were beginning to take their toll on the Alicorn.
She needed one last item, and then she could escape.
Twilight stood up, and she growled under her breath. ''You won't kill me, I will make it through this, and you will not lay one hoof on my friends...''
She spun around, and galloped into the next room, her eyes scanning the room, and her eyes straining to listen for the telltale sound of a small shriek of Rainbow becoming aggressive. There was nothing. No telltale shine of an object of importance. Twilight rushed forward into the room, and threw open the closet. There it was, the final object!
With a flash, Twilight stored the item away, and at the same time, she heard the shriek of the robot behind her. Twilight closed her eyes tight, and grit her teeth, she knew what was coming, and she didn't want to see it coming.
The burnt hook came down.
The train screeched to a halt, and the two ponies filed out. They paused for a minute, taking in their surroundings. Ponyville was a rather rustic little town, but it was also rather beautiful. Spyglass was the first to break the silence.
''We should probably make our way to the castle, I can see it from here.'' She pointed towards the tall towers jutting out from over the buildings.
Swift nodded, and quickly trotted after her. ''Been far to long since I've been here. Reminds me of my home town.'' He smiled, nodding to himself.
''Yeah? Well I gotta admit, not a bad place, although I expected more ponies to be up around this time.''
''This isn't the city, ponies around here probably wake up early so they head to bed earlier.''
''Well either way...I-'' Spy cut herself off, and stared at the castle. It was hard to tell in the dark, even with the moonlight guiding them, but it almost looked like the castle was surrounded by a force field. ''Something's definitely going on here, the Princess Twilight may be in more trouble than we thought.''
''Appears so. Think we can get in?''
Spyglass shook her head, I'm not the most magical unicorn, but I do know that whoever put up that shield is both powerful, and that we won't be able to penetrate it. We need a magician.''
''Any other ideas?'' Swift Blade narrowed his eyes, they needed a way in, fast.
''First lets test the shield, then we'll call for backup if my assumptions about this are right.'' Spyglass and Swift began galloping as fast as they could, there was little time to waste.
The shadow of a mare passed over the doors of the pizzeria. Those fools hadn't expected her to come right back after she had evaded them.
Her magic levitated a key into the lock, and the doors clicked open. The mare strode in, and the doors silently closed behind her.
Starlight Glimmer began to slowly walk towards the main office, where all the important documents and files were kept. Once her revenge was complete, and she had disposed of those pesky investigators, she would have to disappear, just in case anypony decided to investigate the pizzeria.
Her eyes shined in the dark of the building, as her horn illuminated the way. It was only a matter of time. It was only a matter of time.
Author's Note
Twilight is going through almost a loop, and Swift and Spyglass have no way into the castle. However, what exactly is the Seamstress talking about? Next chapter soon.
The Joy of Creation - Reborn
The leaves trembled in the tree's embrace, and the wind slowly passed through, like a ghost. Unseen, yet still there. The crickets chirped in the night, and the night was quiet, at least that's how it would have looked to any other pony.
The sound of hooves galloping at full speed broke the natural sound of the forest, and the sound that followed them thundered through the woods as it gave chase.
Twilight Sparkle had been instructed to find ten pieces of paper that had once hung throughout Pinkie Pie's Pizzeria, and now Twilight was running for her life once again.
She had found herself, once again, first waking up in the glade after her encounter with the Rainbow Dash animatronic imposter.
Her head had hurt more than when Pinkie had fired off her party cannon next to her ears, and she felt far more groggy than the other times she had woken up after her... deaths.
She tried to stand up, but felt like her legs were on fire, and she immediately collapsed again, with a grunt. She knew sitting still in the open for too long would spell certain doom, but she couldn't bring herself to stand up, there was just to much pain...
''Have faith young Alicorn, you are not down and out just yet...''
Twilight's head shot up and she had to bite her tongue to prevent a scream from leaving her throat. ''Seamstress! Would you please just tell me what the hay is happening to me! I feel like every time I was attacked has suddenly just now taken effect! How-''
''You may have been saved from death before, but that doesn't mean the wounds would not carry on, if you do not end this, you will certainly die, whether from the memories of your injuries, or from them.''
''But-''
''There are ten relics of the past in this forest, scattered amongst the trees...find them, and soon, all will be revealed...'' The Seamstress nodded, and began to fade away, her mask never once betraying even the slightest emotion.
And as the last glimpse of The Seamstress vanished, leaving Twilight in the near dark, another light appeared, enveloping Twilight with a warm bubbly feeling, soothing her, until it faded away.
She felt like her pain had simply been washed away, but the memory of the pain remained. She needed to move fast. Twilight's horn flared, and her lighting spell illuminated the area in front of her, and she began to run.
Twilight had run all throughout that forest, snatching foals drawings from off of tree's ,lamp posts, and from in between stones, but it wasn't long before she realized she wasn't alone. After collecting the first few pages, she had heard a silent creaking from somewhere in the distance, and she found out just why she hadn't heard a single sound of life other than the crickets.
The hideous creature that stood staring at her was a twisted, mangled imitation of Fluttershy, at least, she assumed it was Fluttershy, the robotic abomination was so twisted it was hard to tell. She was a burnt yellow, and both she was missing a hind leg, a foreleg, both eyes, and her jaw was hinged up in a permanent shriek of rage.
Her eyes glowed a white color, but similar to Rainbow, she just stood there a short distance away, staring at the Alicorn, like it was waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.
Twilight had a uneasy feeling about this one, and something about the Fluttershy made her want to look away, so she turned away and continued on her way.
The entire way Fluttershy had followed her, her thundering steps echoing in the forest behind her. Fluttershy had never once suddenly charged her, and this made Twilight even more uneasy, to the point that every ten seconds or so she would look back at her stalker to make sure it wasn't about to try anything. For some reason, this seemed to slow down the burnt monster, and Twilight could safely assume that this was the way to ward off her hunter.
Now she was running down the path that led to the house that once belonged to Tech Nology. Twilight had almost instantly recognized the dirt trial leading to the lonely house, and had been galloping all the way down it.
She had collected nine drawings, and she assumed the last one would be lying around there. Her only hope was that Starlight's shield didn't stop before the building and cut off any hope of collecting all the pages.
The house was coming up, and Twilight's energy was fading, and the pain from before was starting to return, causing her to grit her teeth, there was no barrier! She could make it! She spun around one last time to slow down Fluttershy, and then sprinted headlong towards the lone building.
Twilight's magic reached out for the paper, and she grabbed hold of it, storing it away in her pocket dimension.
She braced herself.
Nothing happened.
The sounds of thundering metallic hoof steps had stopped. In fact, it seemed like all sounds had stopped. Twilight slowly, turned her head, her ears flattening nervously.
It was like time itself, had stopped. Nothing moved, there was no sound, nothing. Twilight herself seemed to be the only thing unaffected by this.
''What in Celestia's mane...?''
Then, everything faded away, before changing to a bright white for a second, almost blinding the violent Alicorn, before everything went black.
''What the hell is that supposed to mean!? We need somepony, ANYPONY, who can analyze this magical barrier that's surrounded Friendship Castle!''
Spyglass was not happy. Using a public phone, she had called up The Royal Guard, only to discover that there was nopony within the ranks of the guard who could study the barrier and find a way to break it if needed.
''Celestia damn it! If nopony there can, find and send us somepony who can! Ponyville, hurry!'' With that, Spyglass slammed the phone back into it's slot, and growled.
A blue hoof tapped her on the shoulder, and she spun around to glare at the stallion, who lightly cringed and took a few tentative steps back. ''So we got no backup, nopony who can help us with that magical barrier, and little more that we can do I assume?'' Swift Blade asked, his eyes narrowing.
''We got the backup, we got a squad on the way, problem is none of them know much about shields of this magnitude.'' Spy's glare softened a bit, but her steely gaze remained.
''Damn it. What in Luna's mane are we supposed to do now!? Who knows what's happening beyond that shield!'' The swordstallion's voice rose in frustration.
''Hey! I heard something about a shield! Can I help? Huh huh huh!''
Spyglass and Swift jumped, letting out little yelps, as the new voice cut through the air like a knife through cheese.
''Oh, sorry for scaring you, I'm Pinkie Pie, are you two new! Are you? Cause I've never seen you before and I know everypony in this town which must mean your new! Ooooh! This means I have to throw you a welcome to Ponyville party! It'll be so much fun and I'll invite everypony!'' The hyper cheerful voice belonged to Pinkie Pie, the famed Element of Laughter, and one of the best party throwers in all of Equestria.
''Hold it missy!'' Spy clamped a hoof over the pink mares mouth, silencing her. ''I've heard of you, your friends with the princess of this castle, right?''
Pinkie nodded, the hoof still covering her mouth.
''We have some bad news for you,'' Swift cut in. ''Your friend may be in big trouble, there's a giant barrier around her castle that seems stretch into the Everfree forest, we believe she may be there now, but we can't get through the shield, could you give us a hoof?''
Spy let Pinkie's mouth go, and Pinkie began speaking rapidly again. ''Okiee Dokiee Lokiee! You got it! I'll go get all my friends! Wait no Twilight's the one who's good at magic but together I'm sure the rest of us can figure this out WHOA that is a big shield I'll be right back!''
With that, Pinkie bounced away, to find her friends, leaving Spyglass and Swift to merely stare. It wasn't until a large crack resounded in the air, breaking the silence, and the pair spun around to see that the barrier, was cracking.
They could hardly believe their eyes, but the barrier was indeed cracking, crumbling away like a priceless urn that a carless foal had hit with a baseball.
As the shield slowly shattered before them, the sounds of the pieces hitting the ground and shattering like glass rang through the silent town, waking residents and causing them to emerge from their homes to see what was going on. Ponies crowded near the center of town, trying to see what was making the large racket.
''Crap, we can't have all these ponies getting involved.'' Spyglass mumbled, and reached under her hat, retrieving her badge, and began flashing it around, shouting that she wanted everypony to return to their homes. Swift followed suit, mentioning how it was official orders from Princess Celestia herself. This seemed to satisfy the onlookers, and they returned to their residences. However, five ponies still stood there, their eyes narrowed.
''It looks like the shield was scared of us and broke itself.'' Joked Rainbow Dash, who was hovering just above the ground, her wings keeping her elevated.
''Good one Dashie.'' Replied Pinkie, who was still bouncing.
''Darling, this isn't the time for jokes, Twilight is in trouble, and we have to help her.'' Rarity shook her head, her eyes determined.
''Rarity's right sugarcubes, Twi needs help, and these two are gonna take us to her.'' Applejack was the most composed of the group.
''Um...you know, if you can, then please...take us to Twilight?'' Fluttershy timidly spoke up, however, her eyes were just as determined as the others, they would help their friend, no matter what got in the way.
''Alright, we better move, introductions on the way! C'mon!'' Swift led the way, galloping at full speed towards the castle, and in the direction of where the barrier had ended. The Everfree forest.
The mare in the dark's eyes opened, and her brows furrowed. The shield had fallen. What was more, she could no longer detect Twilight. If the shield fell, she should still have been able to track Twilight. However, somehow the Alicorn princess had vanished, like a ghost.
Starlight Glimmer growled, and slammed a hoof onto the desk before her. She sat in the office, once used for running this place, as well as surveying the entire pizzeria through the security monitors. On the desk were stacks of old applications, bills, and other things, which now lay scattered around the angered unicorn.
''Only one thing could have knocked down my magic...'' Starlight murmured. ''Either Twilight has fallen, or she found some way out...but how? The only ones with the knowledge and power to do that are the princesses...or the two that evaded my control...''
Starlight's mouth slowly twisted into a smile, and her eyes twitched erratically. ''So, the tables have turned...this should be interesting...''
The insane unicorn began to giggle, which grew into a chuckle, and finally erupted into a sickening laugh of a mad pony far beyond help. Twilight wasn't one to go down easy, and chances were she had gotten help from those... things. The question was, would Twilight be able to put an end to them, or would they simply tear her apart?
Enraged souls with little to no memory of their killer was a dangerous thing, and Starlight was pleased to think, that the one she despised the most, was almost the same color.
Starlight's crazed laughter continued throughout the empty building, echoing down the halls like a phantom. Beyond the doors, the moon glared down at Starlight through the barriers of the building. Something was coming, and for good or for worse, only one of the two purple mares would survive the night.
Author's Note
So it's come down to this, and things are about to get hot.
Purple will clash against purple, and only one will remain standing.
The Joy of Creation - Reborn
Twilight Sparkle couldn't see. She couldn't hear anything. She couldn't feel anything. Had she gone blind? Deaf? Numb? All three? She didn't know, and that made her scared. She was beginning to believe she would never feel, see, or hear anything ever again, when suddenly the darkness began fade, and feeling began to return to her body. She stood up slowly, shakily, and heard the sound of her hooves as they struck the ground.
She was okay. She was going to be okay.
She felt weak, drained, almost as if she had just challenged Rainbow to a race, but Twilight summoned her magic, and once more lit up the area around her. It looked like... an office. A very familiar looking home office she had visited very recently.
Tech Nology's office.
However, it looked different. There was no signs of the investigation, no outlines, no tape, no body. Twilight was glad about the last one, she wasn't sure if she could stand the sight or stench another pony's rotting carcass again.
Another brief survey of the room revealed another change. The monitor had been upgraded. It now looked like it actually could function now, and the old phone had been replaced with a radio.
''Did the Royal Guards do this?'' Twilight wondered aloud, and instantly felt like a fool for doing so. There was very little chance that the guards would suddenly replace several of the crime scene's objects. So who or what would even bother?
Twilight trotted cautiously over to the radio, and turned up the radio's volume. Static buzzed from the device, and then, a voice made itself heard over the constant buzzing:
''Your battle is nearly at an end, young princess.''
Twilight remained silent.
The Seamstress continued, ''They are beginning to remember, but their minds are not so easily swayed by foggy memories. They need more, and then maybe, can this finally be put to rest.''
''What is it I need to do?'' Twilight inquired, her eyes filled with determination. She would stop Starlight, and she would save these lost souls, no matter what got in her way!
''You are trapped in a space between time, there is no way to try and simply wait this out.'' The voice explained, causing a dawn of realization in Twilight, there was no signs of the investigation because there hadn't been one, at least not here. ''There is only one way to escape this place, and free the souls, and that is to find the orange one, and get near enough to make contact with her.''
''The orange one? I've never seen an orang- wait, do you mean the Applejack animatronic that never got used? Even that one is possessed?'' Twilight hadn't seen the AJ up until this point, but now that she knew that it was important, she was ready to change things up a bit. It was time for the prey to become the hunter.
''Yes, but I warn you, THEY have come here too. They will not stop hunting you, and now they are all here. You will find that the lost souls are far more intelligent when working together. You must be prepared for anything, and remain vigilant.''
''Thank you Seamstress.''
''Be careful young Alicorn, and good luck...'' The voice faded to the static, and the radio went silent.
Twilight was left alone once more, but she now had an understanding of what she had to do. She pulled the chair away from the desk, and sat down. She could no longer run, so she would fight, and she intended to win.
Hooves colliding with the ground, the seven ponies continued their mad dash through the tree's, hoping with all their might they'd be able to make it to their destination.
Rainbow Dash had a slight hunch as to where their lavender friend was, and it was the now abandoned cabin they had discovered the corpse at. It wasn't a pretty thought, but at that moment, it was the only place that seemed to make sense. The shield had extended a long way into the Everfree, so it was safe to assume if Twilight was anywhere, it was there.
At least, they hoped she was.
Spyglass suddenly skidded to a halt, kicking up a small trail of dust around her. ''Hold up! Do any of you see what I'm seeing!?'' She pointed, and the group followed her hoof, followed it until their eyes fell upon a burnt orange creature, one that had been standing there for what seemed like an eternity, simply waiting for them to pass by.
It was motionless, and silent. However, it was far from unrecognizable.
''Me!?'' Applejack exclaimed in both fear and shock.
''Holy moly!'' Pinkie added in.
The robotic shell of Applejack sat there, silently mocking them, while the ponies tried to piece together what it meant. Why was the shell of an Applejack animatronic lying around in the Everfree forest?
The question had many possible answers, but before any of them could even try and voice them, the Applejack twitched, causing Fluttershy and Rarity to let out small shrieks, but both were quickly hushed by Rainbow, when suddenly the shell began to whisper.
Maybe it wasn't the shell itself, maybe it was something in the shell, but the crumpled form began to emanate whispers that chilled the group to the very core.
The words were shapeless, not even taking on the form of speech, but instead, took the form of feelings, and what this being was telling them, was that it, along with all it's friends, were in great pain, that they were in trouble, that their friend was in trouble, that they were scared, and the worst of all, was the bloodlust.
The feeling of bloodlust drowned out all others, almost sending several of the group into insanity, and just when they thought it wasn't going to end...
The emotions faded away, and left the ponies feeling drained, as if they had just lived the life of whatever possessed the shell of the Applejack animatronic, along with the lives of every single of murdered foal from the pizzeria that the suit had come from.
''What...the actual hell... did we just see...feel...whatever that was...'' Spyglass could hardly even put a full sentence together without taking a break to catch her breath.
''I...I think...I think we just saw through the eyes of the spirit...'' Fluttershy was somehow faring better then the rest of them, maybe due to her kindness overwhelming the intensive feelings of hatred.
Applejack was also faring better then the others, and she could only shake her head. ''S-Sugar cube...are you sure about that? How do we know what we just saw wasn't a trick...by whoever done did this...''
''It's not...out of the question...something tells me...'' Swift shakily stood up, coughing a few times. ''That if it had been Starlight...behind that...it would have killed us...''
''Your probably right...'' Spy lifted her head, slowly regaining her strength. ''Chances are, whatever power she held here...broke when the shield went down.''
Pinkie suddenly began panicking, bouncing around frantically, ''The Applejack is gone! Poof! vanished! Except there was no smoke! She must have gone to help Twilight! She must have wanted to tell us her sad story! Give us more clues! Oh my gosh!''
''PINKIE! Clam down.'' Rainbow Dash had finally recovered, and had been helping Rarity up delicately, before she had yelled at the pink mare. Pinkie complied, resuming her serious stance.
''We may want to hurry.'' Swift murmured, and then began the mad dash once again. The others pulled out after him, their wings and hooves taking them as fast as they could. Overhead, the moon scowled down at them, silently judging each and every one of them, as they continued towards their destination.
A hook smacked one of the cameras, causing Twilight to flinch in her seat.
The burnt Rainbow had been standing by one of the windows, and spotting it on the camera had angered the cyan robot, causing it to give the camera a slap with it's hook, before vanishing.
Twilight took a second to relax her troubled nerves, and began to reflect once again on the events of the past...she wasn't even sure anymore. Time didn't seem to move in here, she couldn't count on the moon outside to help her tell the time, and the clocks were all broken beyond repair.
However long she had been there, she had begun to receive phone calls, but not from Starlight, or from anyone else she would have expected. She had begun to receive phone calls, or rather, voice messages, from herself.
She had been sitting there for what had only felt like a few minutes, silently waiting for something to happen, when suddenly the radio had gone off, and expecting the Seamstress to have returned to tell her what else she needed to do, she had been shocked to hear the sound of her own voice.
''Uh yeah, hello? I really hope your still around to hear this, because it would be rather annoying to have recorded this only for the reason of keeping myself sane and making me feel like I'm talking to somepony else. Well, we're not, I'm not, this is a recorded message, to keep myself up to date on what's happening.''
Twilight wasn't sure what to think of this. How was this possible? Was there some sort of link to alternate dimensions through the radio? Or...
The second possibility was far more terrifying then she would have liked to imagine.
''Yes me, you've probably put the pieces together by now, time here doesn't move, and we've been here a lot longer then you'd first think. We've been trapped in here, for weeks, with them. You may think you've just been here for just a little while, and you may be searching through the monitors like you have no idea what your doing, but you do know. Muscle memory has probably taken over, and that's why your still alive if your hearing this. I rigged a timer to play this message every once in a while, so you can keep going. We need, to find that AJ suit. It's the key to all of this.''
A sound at the door, and Twilight moved her hoof to switch to the monitor, and then she stopped herself.
''Wait! If you've just been looking through the cameras for a bit, you should remember, sometimes the Twilight hangs around the cameras, for some reason she's different from the others. Maybe she just picked up on our smarts, but she will literally try and take down our freaking cameras! Check the windows and the peepholes every once in a while. We can't afford to lose any more cameras. We had a lot more in storage when we first came here, those were all busted.''
Twilight froze. The thought that she had been here for this long ,without realizing it, and the fact that she had forgotten all of it, scared her, but the intelligence that her doppelganger held scared her more. Sucking in breaths of air, trying to prevent herself from hyperventilating, she brought her eye up to the peephole, and saw not herself, but Pinkie.
The Pinkie animatronic was just standing there, and before she could figure out how to address the situation, her voice spoke over the phone again.
''Pinkie is also acting stranger then the other Rainbow and Fluttershy. She doesn't react to the cameras at all, and if we just leave her there, I'm afraid she might break in, so give her a dose of UV rays, and she should be scared off. I'm starting to think she may be another key player in this. If we can flash her enough, we may be able to locate the Applejack suit. At least, that's what I assume the orange one is.''
Throwing open the door, Twilight's horn shone brightly, and the light flared, causing the Pinkie animatronic to back peddle away from the alicorn, letting out a chilling shriek of annoyance, before vanishing into the darkness of the hallway beyond.
''One more thing, if you haven't seen Fluttershy through the monitors, it's because she prefers to use the hallway where we don't have any. I don't know what kind of crazy physics this place has, but somehow she's tried to phase her way through the wall to the window's right, and the only way to get rid of her is to find all of the little animal plushies that somehow appear whenever she pops up.''
Twilight's head was spinning. Nothing made sense here, she was forgetting the fact that she had been there for weeks, the animatronics were acting far stranger then before, and she still had to find the orange one. Trial and error and helped her get this far, that was clear enough, but if she didn't succeed in locating her target, she'd have no chance of escaping her prison alive.
She returned to her chair, when she heard what sounded like something trying to squirm it's way into the room. Fluttershy had decided to stop by for a chat.
Celestia could only stare out at the moon her sister had raised, and the beautiful night sky she had woven. It was times like this that one could truly appreciate what Luna did, however, Celestia was troubled, and couldn't enjoy the night as much as she wished she could have.
Her encounter with that burnt shell of Applejack troubled her deeply. Far deeper then her missing pillows, which had remained missing since that morning.
That...creature, had not been of this world. It was no more then an empty shell, being controlled like a puppet, doing the bidding of something that had past from the world of the living.
However, what it had wanted wasn't hers to give. It hadn't wanted anything from her. It had only come to tell her. To warn her, of what was to come.
Her student had gotten herself enwrapped in another battle for the fate of others, and like before, Celestia could not interfere. She wanted to, but if she did, not only would she risk endangering her student, but many others as well. She was once again forced to hold back, and simply wait it out.
However, one thing the spirit had said stood out to her, a what seemed to be irrelevant piece of information that beckoned to her.
It had said: The blue one...
There were many blue ponies in Equestria, but at that moment, only one blue pony seemed to stand out to her, as he was the one who had become part of the events that were transpiring right now. For once, there was something she could do, even if it was risky.
The suit had told her what it had wanted, and Celestia was more then pleased to know she could help with the outcome.
Swift's body felt heavy, as if he had just been cracked over the head with a heavy mallet and dragged for several miles across every rock that jutted out of the ground.
Every inch of his body was weighed down with lead, or at least that's how it felt.
His eyes felt heavier then the time when he had overslept and was late for work, which causing him to get fired later that day. That was a really bad day.
After what felt like an eternity, he finally felt feeling return to his limbs, and he slowly, shakily, and against every wish of his screaming body, he stood up.
His right foreleg nudged something, and the thing groaned, twitching slightly at the contact. He looked down, and he was greeted with Spy's body, lying there, just as he had just a moment ago.
''Ah crap. Spy, get up, hey, wake up!'' He shook her form a few times, and the unicorn suddenly stiffened, her foreleg connecting with his jaw, sending the earth pony careening backwards into a table.
''Alright what the hell-'' She cut herself off when she realized that her attack had actually just been Swift, and she shook her head in annoyance.
''Nice reflexes...'' Swift muttered, rubbing his jawline as he stood back up.
The unicorn merely scoffed, ''You shouldn't have done that.''
Shaking his head, and rubbing his aching jaw in an attempt to stem the pain, Swift took that moment to observe their surroundings. The table he had crashed into was one of those long party tables you saw at parties, covered with old party hats and unused paper plates. The room was filled with similar tables, and a stage near the center of the room.
The main party room of the pizzeria. The two ponies had seen a glimpse of it when they had first come there, however, there was something different about the place. There hadn't been the charred, cracked, partially demolished remains of several animatronic ponies scattered around before.
''What in Celestia's name happened here...?'' Swift hesitantly approached one of the robots, the dented, shattered remains of what might have once been a Pinkie animatronic, his sword sliding out of it's sheath, and with great caution, peered closer at the destroyed machine that had once brought joy to foals of all ages.
It didn't move, and from the looks of the endoskeleton and the suit's exterior, it would never move again.
Across the room, Spyglass was examining another one of the ''Corpses'' the one that what had once been a Fluttershy. ''Well, from what I can tell, these things won't be doing any singing or dancing anymore. Problem is though, not all the injuries sustained are recent, many are older, ones that allowed them to keep moving...''
''So why break them now? Why not break them then?'' Swift was puzzled, to say the least. ''And for that matter, how did we get here...?'' His eyes surveyed their surroundings again, as if hoping some answer would present itself, but there was nothing.
Just before everything faded away, the two ponies had been galloping at full speed, the building just in sight, Twilight was almost in their hooves, and then suddenly a light had engulfed Swift, freezing him in place. The last thing he remembered right before he had woken up, was the others screaming at him, and then Spy leaping towards him, a great flash, and then here they were.
''How we got here is another mystery, which I might have an answer to. Chances are, we were teleported here by another unicorn, maybe even Starlight herself. However, they targeted you for some reason...I'm just here because I jumped you.'' Spy explained, picking at the charred suit of the Fluttershy.
''Well that explains that, but why here? And why is this all scattered about like a foal after a rampage?'' Swift lifted one of the Pinkie's forelegs, and examined it. The leg was missing half it's suit and the metal hoof, all that was left...was...
Swift's brain clicked, and his eyes widened.
''This is it! This is how Tech was killed!'' He exclaimed.
''What? You mean chopped into little bits? Have you lost it?''
''No no, Look, there Pinkie is missing it's hoof, all that's left is a long, sharp, metal connector, it's the same shape as the wounds. Also, on the other intact foreleg, there's a nut, a nut that looks exactly the same as the one we found on the victim. This is what killed him, Spyglass, the animatronics were used to kill him.'' Swift lifted the Pinkie's forelegs for Spy to get a better look at, and they both stared at each other for what felt like eternity.
''This is what Starlight needed them for, and this explains the charred markings. She must have been controlling them! Then she sent them after Twilight, that's why the shield was there, to keep Twilight trapped with them! Then when the shield fell, her power over them must have broken, so she decided she didn't need them anymore...'' Spyglass looked like she couldn't decide whether to be overjoyed, or mortified.
They heard a sound neither of them were expecting to hear in an empty pizzeria at night, and it startled them both. The slow clopping of hooves in arrogant applause.
''Good for you, you managed to figure everything out, and you somehow even managed to find me, I'm not sure how, but it is rather impressive, give yourselves some pats on the back, you've earned it.''
The two detectives slowly turned around, knowing full well what they were about to see, and neither was disappointed.
Starlight Glimmer, the psychopathic murderer herself, stood in the hallway, her hooves slowly applauding them, while in her magic, hovered a rather worn looking and yet very intimidating fire ax.
Twilight's horn flashed once again, and Pinkie backpedaled back into the darkness.
This was anything but good. The animatronics had suddenly gotten so very aggressive, and no longer was there any time to relax. Paranoia was starting to kick in, as every time she looked into a camera, she was afraid the other her would be standing there, and not the Dash, as well as vice versa whenever she opened doors and checked windows.
This was driving her to the breaking point. Nopony could handle this much stress, not without slowly losing whatever sanity they had, and Twilight was no exception. She had been holding up fine, but now though, the stress was getting to her.
Finding the little animal plushies, which somehow were just as creepy as Fluttershy, not to mention able to move, was no picnic, and she was still yet to find the Applejack. She had encountered Pinkie a few more times, but still nothing came from it.
She had already messed up once, and lost one of her cameras to the other Twilight, which had meant had been forced to leave the safe room for just a few minutes to install another one, and the entire time, her brain had been screaming at her that she shouldn't have been out there.
Twilight Sparkle was reaching her breaking point, and she wasn't sure she could hold out much longer.
What could have been another hour, a week, or even just a minute passed, and then she opened the closet, expecting to find Pinkie, or maybe one of Fluttershy' s critters, because she could hear the Pegasus squirming around again as she tried to get in, however, what she saw wasn't Pinkie, and it wasn't a critter plush.
What sat motionless in the closet, was a burnt, orange, Stetson wearing suit.
''The Applejack...'' Twilight murmured.
The elusive still robotic creature she had been searching for, for what felt like years, was right there in front of her. Twilight reached out, her surroundings dimming, as if all she could see, was the Applejack, and then her hoof made contact.
Her mind was filled with whispers. Pain, sorrow, rage, joy, fear, bloodlust, justice, revenge, she felt it all. The whispers were not just telling her, they were showing her, and infusing her with their story.
The story, of six little foals, taken long before their time, trapped within the suits, haunting the robots, until the day they could finally free themselves, the day they could finally have their revenge, the day, where all the pain would end, and their story could finally come to a close.
All around her, the surroundings began to melt away, consumed by the fires of pain, rage, and vengeance, and as the flames engulfed everything around her, Twilight saw the four animatronics that for so long, had tried to tear her limb from limb, burning along with the house, their charred suits melting away, leaving behind only their endoskeletons.
The eyes of every single one of them, including the suit of Applejack, began to glow far more intensely then ever before, burning, burning themselves away, until when Twilight could finally see again, what stood before her was not five twisted robotic suits, but the souls, of five little foals.
They were smiling sadly at her, and in that moment, she realized just what they must have gone though. One of them stepped forward, the smallest of the five, a little colt, whose mane had a curl to it, and spoke to Twilight:
''We were blind, and now we see. You have saved us, and because of that, we're very happy. Thank you.'' He smiled sweetly at the violet mare, and she smiled right back.
''Your welcome. I'm glad you are free now.''
''They are not free just yet, there is still one more thing for them to do young Alicorn.'' The Seamstress's voice came out of nowhere, startling Twilight. ''The purple mare has returned to the place where it all began, and so must they.''
''The place this all began? You mean the pizzeria?''
''Yes, but you have done your part, and we thank you, but now, you must return to your friends, they are worried about you. Now go Twilight Sparkle. Go, and good luck.'' With those words, the Seamstress's voice faded away, followed by the foals, who one by one, faded into the flames, and were gone, and then, Twilight's vision faded, and she returned to the darkness.
''Twi? Twi?''
Groaning, Twilight rolled over, trying to block out the incessant drowning noise.
''Darling, wake up.''
She squeezed her eyes tighter, trying to ignore the voices.
''HEY TWILIGHT! WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE!''
With a small scream, Twilight shot upright, as Pinkie Pie yelled into her ear with a megaphone.
''What in Equestria was that for Pinkie!?'' Twilight exclaimed angrily, her glare having no effect on the pink mare.
''Oh thank goodness darling! Your finally awake!'' Rarity almost cried, her hooves wrapping around Twilight's form. Applejack and Rainbow joined suit, and Pinkie, dragging Fluttershy into the hug, wrapped her forelegs around the group in a big squeeze.
''Do you have any idea how worried we all were Twilight?'' Rainbow managed to gasp out through Pinkie's grip.
''Yes...we were afraid you were in danger Twilight...'' Fluttershy managed to squeak out.
Finally letting go of the group, Pinkie smiled warmly at Twilight, and Twilight realized, it was best if she didn't make her friends worry, not this time.
''Everything's fine you guys. I'm just happy to see you all.'' She said, her smile concealing the lie. She didn't want them to worry about something that was over, and thankfully, nopony pressed her to hard when they questioned her. They mentioned two other ponies, detectives who had come to help her out, but they had suddenly vanished on the way to the abandoned house. Twilight had a hunch it wasn't just a coincidence. Where ever they had went, they must still have a part to play, and Twilight knew that something bad was about to happen.
She realized she would have to leak a few details about what had happened to her, but she would leave out the horrors of what she had gone through for another day. Quickly explaining to her friends what was going on and why they needed to head to the pizzeria, they all agreed, and the friends boarded the next train.
''Always wanted to go there again, even on a dark spooky night.'' Pinkie chimed. The others couldn't agree.
The clash of metal echoed throughout the room, as Starlight's ax connected with Swift's longsword. Neither gave ground, as they forcefully pushed, trying to knock the other off balance.
On the stage a few hoof paces away, lay the unconscious form of Spyglass. Starlight was a far better fighter then either had anticipated, and before either of them could have reacted Starlight had sent a chair straight into Spy's side, knocking the wind out of the green unicorn, which was followed up by the flat of the ax connecting with the mare's underside, launching her into the air.
The private eye had crashed into the stage loud enough to send an echo throughout the room. Swift had been distracted in that moment, and Starlight lunged forward, taking him by surprise, as she lashed out with another chair, which Swift knocked to the side, which was followed up with a short exchange of blows between ax and sword.
Swift finally was shoved aside by Starlight's superior power, and he was forced to leap back a few steps to give him some breather room. He panted from exertion. Starlight's magic was stronger then most earth ponies, and he was already tired from having run so much that day.
Starlight's ax flew his way again, and he raised his blade to meet it.
The ax twisted in the air, dodging around him faster then his eye could follow, and buried itself deep within his side.
The pain erupted from the wound as the ax pulled itself from his body, and a scream tore it's way through his throat. He collapsed to his knee's, body trembling, as blood gushed from the wound. He could taste blood. The pain still tearing through his body, Swift shakily grinned up at the approaching Starlight, spitting up blood as he did.
''S-So this is what being killed by a murderer feels like...h-heh...''
''You poor excuse for a swordspony.'' The mare mocked him, her smile filled with nothing but twisted playfulness and sadism. ''Before I kill you, I think I'm going to take off your legs, and then kill your little friend over there.'' She gestured towards Spyglass.
Coughing, Swift failed to choke up any further words, and could only stare in despair at the unconscious detective, and at how powerless he now was.
''Shall we begin?'' Starlight's ax rose again, aimed at one of the fallen stallion's legs. She began to cackle like a lunatic, and then, down came the ax.
Bursting through the doors, the rising sun peeking out behind them, as if silently telling them to go on, it would wait ight there, the six friends hurriedly trotted into the pizzeria.
What met them was a mess. Scattered throughout the party room were the broken forms of the animatronics, along with busted tables, chairs, and...
''Hey! Isn't that one of the detectives from last night!?'' Rainbow shouted in surprise, her wings lifting her off the ground, and she was quickly at the unicorns side, checking her over.
Twilight and Fluttershy followed, while Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie began to investigate the scene.
''How's she looking Dash?'' Twilight asked with concern.
''From the outside, she looks fine mostly, a really large bruise here and here though.'' Rainbow elaborated by gesturing to Spy's head and ribcage.
Fluttershy was immediately at Spy's side, checking both bruises like the pony before her was one of her injured animals. ''She may have a concussion, and her ribs may be fractured or even broken. There's a chance of internal bleeding, so we must call for medical assistance right away!'' She barked, and Rainbow complied, saluting and dashing outside to find a public phone.
Twilight nodded, leaving the care of the unicorn to Fluttershy, and then began checking up on the others. None could understand what had happened, until Twilight discovered a puddle of spattered blood on the floor, that the pieces began to fit together.
A bloody smear trailed into the hallway, and vanished behind one of the office doors. With senses on high alert, Twilight shoved the door open, and one of the most ghastly sights they had ever lain eyes upon greeted them.
Rarity shrieked, Applejack swore, and Pinkie was forced to hold back her dinner at the sight. What lay before them, was the tattered, battered, and skewered remains of Starlight Glimmer. They didn't recognize her at first, but it was the few locks of fur and mane that stuck out that revealed the corpses identity. She sat leaned up against the office's back wall, inside one of the suits, a Celestia one, which had never been used. Blood had pooled and caked around the suit, and it was clear from the look of it, Starlight had been crushed and gutted from the inside out when the suit had been thrown on.
Across from the grisly sight, was the body of another pony, thankfully not in a suit. The description matched the blue pony her friends had mentioned being with the unicorn.
He was covered in blood, but the only visible wound was a large scar that sat on his side.
Twilight gagged at the stench of blood and death, but approached the earth pony, and brought her hoof to his neck. She could feel a pulse, and she sighed in relief.
''Take him out to the stage and let Fluttershy look at him.'' She ordered, and Applejack and Pinkie nodded, lifting the still form of the swordspony onto their backs, and moving him out of the room. Rarity followed, but not before asking Twilight:
''Darling? Are you not coming to?''
''Not yet Rarity, I need to think for a minute.'' Twilight responded with a distant look.
Rarity smiled supportively, and removed herself from the grotesque scene.
Now alone, except for the slowly rotting corpse of a pony once hell-bent on taking her life, Twilight stared at the ceiling, her thoughts moving to the waste of life. Had Starlight really deserved death? Maybe from the foals stand point, but not from hers, even if Starlight had been responsible for taking the lives of the innocent.
However, in the back of her head, Starlight knew it was inevitable that Starlight would have something like this happen to her. Those foals wouldn't have rested until Starlight was in a grave. There was simply no was around it.
Twilight's gaze flicked to another bloody object that lay in the room, one that shown, even after being coated in crimson. The stallion's longsword. The weapon itself was splattered with blood, but the way it was splattered, there was no way that the blade had even touched Starlight's flesh. An battered fire ax lay embedded in the wall near Starlight, and Twilight was left to wonder; what exactly had possessed Starlight to jump into the suit?
The foals stared at the one responsible for all the pain they had endured for so long. Their murderer. The purple mare. Starlight Glimmer spasm' d on the ground, her body trying to fight the inevitable, as the spring lock suit slowly crushed and mangled her body.
Although the sight was both horrifying and sickening, the sight of their tormentor finally getting what had been coming to her for so long, was pleasing to the little foals.
Behind them, sat the unconscious body of Swift Blade, who, before his final moments, had been saved, by the foals. They had appeared before Starlight, freezing her in her tracks, and sending her into a frenzy, as she tried to escape the ghosts that had come back for vengeance.
The foals had possessed Swift, and followed after the fleeing Starlight, cornering her in the office.
Swift, still half conscious, combined with the power of the spirits, disarmed the frantic unicorn with one slash when she had tried to fight back. Now was the time to enact their vengeance.
The Seamstress had appeared alongside them, and this had been far to much for Starlight, who desperately clawed her way into the only escape route she could get at: The Celestia spring lock suit.
Starlight began to laugh, thinking she had won, that they would assume she was just another animatronic, but of course, her insanity was doomed to fail. The foals raised the foreleg of Swift Blade, and with one little flick of the sword to the right spot, the spring lock suit went off.
Swift's purpose complete, the foals abandoned his body, and he slumped unconscious into the desk behind him. He wouldn't remember any of the experience, but he would know that it was over. The wound to his side would have killed him, but right before the Seamstress took her leave, she mended the wound, nodded her goodbyes to the foals, and faded away.
Now it was just the five little foals that had hunted for their killer for so long. None had anything to say, their faces grim, and they kept silent. Then the little colt, turned to his friends, and smiled warmly. ''It's time to go.''
The other wordlessly nodded to him, and with one last look at each other, the five foals began to fade away, until all that remained was the little colt. His fading eyes moved to the sword that lay upon the ground, and with the last of his power, he scrawled the words:
Thank you ,
Into the blade, before he finally faded away too.
The souls free to play forever, free to play in the new life they would create for themselves.
Because no matter how it ended or began, creation always led to joy.
End.
Author's Note
This took a long time to finally come to a conclusion, but I hope you enjoyed none the less. With this, I bid farewell to any more FNAF related fics from me, and I truely hope you enjoyed this little adventure.
I know it ended kinda abbruptly, but I liked the way how I decided to end it. Lemme know how I did. Till next fic.
The Joy of Creation - Reborn
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...
