馬鬼 (Umaoni/Equine Oni)

Timber, Rarity, and Applejack were at the door beside the third-floor staircase.

"I can't help but have a very unpleasant feeling about this place..." Rarity said.

Applejack was silent.

"You've been really quiet for a while now. What's wrong?" Rarity asked Applejack, "Is there something strange here?"

"No... There's nothing... or no one at all," Applejack said.

"Gloriosa and the others are on the first floor." Timber said.

"Yes, I know that." Applejack said, "When I said there's no one here at all, I meant... how should I put it? It feels... as though everything has been... consumed..."

"You mean you feel as though something's wrong?" Rarity asked, "If you feel that, maybe we really should keep out."

"I agree. In that case, I'll go and take a look upstairs. What are you going to do AJ?" Timber asked.

"I don't really want to stay on this floor. I'll go upstairs too." Applejack replied.

"You're leaving me here all alone?" Rarity asked a bit shocked.

"Applebloom and Sweetie Belle are on this floor too. They shouldn't be too far." Timber said.

"Well, then, when you're done checking out upstairs, we'll meet again here." Rarity said.

"All right, then we'll leave the second floor to you, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle." Timber said.

"Thirty minutes should be enough. Don't fall asleep on us Rarity," Applejack said.

"You can trust me~ Well, see you later," Rarity said as she walked off

"Are you going to start from that room over there?" Timber asked Rarity.

"Oui~ That room is bad news, isn't it? I'll leave it for later!" Rarity said.

"Let's go quickly. If we make Twilight wait, she won't shut up about it." Applejack said.

"You look pale. You really hate it here, don't you?" Timber asked.

Applejack just said nothing as they made their way upstairs. The duo searched from the third floor all the way up to the fourth floor and didn't find anything out of the ordinary.

"Well, we've come all the way up to the fourth floor, but... everything looks pretty normal. The air is terrible, though," Applejack said.

"The bad feeling is still not gone? Let's get back to Rarity, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle and go home," Timber said.

"Yeah, well, let's-"

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The two were surprised by the sudden sounds.

"That sound," Applejack said.

"Isn't that the sound of Flash's pistol? He fired a lot," Timber said.

"That means something must have happened, right?" Applejack asked.

"In a place like this? Don't you think he just overreacted and saw a rat or spider, like he always does according to you guys?" Timber asked.

"Oh, well. He does get carried away with that thing sometimes," Applejack said.

"No... I feel like that it's something different from that... Anyways, let's join Rarity and take a look," Timber said.

"If you insist," Applejack said.

When the duo got back down to the second floor, it had been fifteen minutes and Rarity, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle was nowhere to be seen.

"Fifteen minutes..." Applejack said, "Aren't they coming?"

"Just what's taking them? It shouldn't take this long to see the second floor," Timber said.

"Knowing Rarity she probably got tired of waiting and went downstairs taking Applebloom and Sweetie Belle with her," Applejack groaned.

"Well, I'll check the rooms on the second floor to make sure we didn't miss each other." Timber said, "Just wait here."

Timber checked nearly all the rooms on the second floor until he came to the room emanating a bad smell. Going in he went towards the fireplace.

"Burt firewood..." Timber said, "So this is the source of the bad smell."

Looking a little deeper Timber's face went pale.

"Huh?!" Timber said pulling out a half burnt jacket, "These are- No doubt about it... It's- Sunset's jacket. Wh-why is it covered in blood like this...? There's... remains of several things in the fireplace. But I can't tell what got burnt."

Gripping the jacket Timber ran out of the room back to Applejack.

"Well? Did you find her?" Applejack asked.

Timber didn't reply.

"You- you look frightfully pale!" Applejack said, "Wh- What have you got there?"

"It's... It's Sunset's jacket..." Timber said, "Half of it got burnt, though..."

"This is... blood... right?" Applejack asked, "Wait, did you say this is Sunset's jacket?! You mean they-"

"This place is dangerous!" Timber said, "If Sunset's here, it's a different matter! We need to look for her and go home! Rarity, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle are missing, too. Flash was shooting at something. This place is too weird! We need to go talk to the others about this."

"All right. Let's go back," Applejack said.

The two then quickly headed downstairs and heard the sounds of a battle coming from the kitchen. Going down the hallway the sounds got louder and louder. Then they entered in and saw a horrifying looking monster fighting Gloriosa who wielded a water tap pipe and Scootaloo who had a baseball bat.

"Aargh!! What the-! Uh? Huh?!" Applejack and Timber went.

"Th... Wha... What the hell is that monster!?" Applejack shouted.

"Ah, you two sure took your time, didn't you?" Gloriosa said, "As you can see, we're in the middle of an assault."

"Quick you two! Run!" Scootaloo shouted.

The monster then went for a punch to Gloriosa's face that hit upon contact after breaking through a water tap pipe Gloriosa was using as a weapon.

"G-GLORIOSA!" Timber shouted in fear.

"... That hurt. The water pipes in this place are really no good at all." Gloriosa said pulling out a water tap pipe, "Good thing I got one of my own!"

"It's no use!" Scootaloo said, "Even if it is yours, it's just a tap!"

Suddenly, Gloriosa went for a slash making a cut into the monster from a sword part that was hidden in the pipe.

"Huuuuuuuh?!" Applejack and Timber went.

"How come the pipe turned into a sword?!" Timber went.

"Ahah. Actually, this is a sword cane. I asked Bulk Biceps to make it for me! It's really sharp isn't it?" Gloriosa said.

Then in a swift motion, Gloriosa swung the sword multiple times at the monster like as if it was nothing making multiple cuts onto its body and sending it back into the wall.

"Woeeeeh! That's nasty!!" Applejack chirped.

"But it didn't even cause any damage!" Scootaloo pointed out.

"L... let's give them reinforcements!" Timber said.

"Right!" Applejack said getting ready to fight.

But before anyone could blink it started an attack.

"dIE!" It went.

The group then found themselves pushed back by some force some with Timber taking the worst as he ended up getting pushed back into a picture braking the glass.

"dIE!" It went again.

This time everyone but Applejack found themselves on their hands and knees. But before Applejack could even thing the monster did a scream sending her flying back into the wall. It was hard for Scootaloo to get up.

"Whelp. That didn't work," Gloriosa said.

"Applejack, why aren't you doing anything useful?! You've got that pendant!" Timber said.

"I-I can't! This place is blocking it! It looks like I can only use my magical strength right now!" Applejack said.

"What a troublesome place! I have no strength left..." Timber said.

Suddenly, the monster turned and came towards Applejack.

"H-hey! Wait a s-"

"I WON'T LET YOU LAY A HAND ON MY FRIENDS!" came Sunset's voice.

Suddenly from the ceiling came Sunset laying a barrage of strikes upon the creature sending it back.

"SUNSET!" Everyone said in glee.

"Now everyone is together." Sunset said, "However, I'll ask you to wait for a little bit before we can talk. Excuse me while I deal with this Thing, then."

The creature roared in anger at the sudden appearance of Sunset, but Sunset was unphased. It went for a charging attack with its horn but Sunset dodged out of the way and laid a slice across the back of its neck.It then turned around only for Sunset to jump into the air and have her pendant glow.

"BLADE OF WRATH!" Sunset shouted.

Stabbing the creature right into the chest a light emitted from the blade and with a twist and slice right down to its belly Sunset jumped off and an explosion happened sending the creature flying into the wall before disappearing.

"Whoa! Wicked cool!" Scootaloo said.

Sunset then helped everyone back to their feet.

"Is everyone alright?" Sunset asked.

"Yeah." They replied.

"Have you fought that monster before? It wasn't the first time... was it?" Timber asked.

"What? What are you talking about?" Sunset asked, "You have fought it before, too, haven't you? You got here first, after all."

"We haven't been here for even an hour," Timber said.

"But it takes five hours to get from to come here from CHS. We really have been here for only about an hour. Don't you think that's odd?" Scootaloo said.

"... There are many things we need to talk about. First of all, let's go to the second floor. I know a safe room there," Sunset said.

"W-wait a minute! What about this, then?!" Timber said handing Sunset her jacket, "What's with your jacket?! It's covered in blood!!"

"Oh. That's the jacket I threw that into the fireplace. Why do you have it?" Sunset asked.

"I found it when I went into that room!" Timber said, "Aren't you... hurt...?"

"Um, Timber that's tomato. Can't you see the seeds?" Sunset said pointing at the jacket.

Timber then took another look and a blush grew on his face.

"Oh. Ah... hehe hehe. My bad?" Timber said shrugging.

Suddenly the kitchen door burst open making everyone jump but calmed down when they saw who it was gasping for air.

"I... heard... fighting going down... from upstairs... in the piano room." Sci-Twi gasped trying to breathe, "What... what happened?"

"We'll explain later." Timber asked, "Did you happen to see Rarity, Applebloom, or Sweetie Belle anywhere?"

"No... but I did hear gunshots," Sci-Twi said.

"Well now, let's join Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie and I'll explain the situation to you all," Sunset said.

Sci-Twi, Timber, Scootaloo, Gloriosa, and Applejack followed behind Sunset where she led them to the place where Timber got Sunset's jacket and found Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie waiting for them. After closing the door and everyone got into a spot they felt comfortable with, Sunset joined in with the others.

"Sorry for making you wait." Sunset said, "Now, without further ado, I'll explain our situation. First I got a message from Rarity saying you had arrived here and Pinkie thought it would be interesting and wanted to come as well. So Fluttershy, at first it was going to be Applejack but Pinkie Pie insisted on Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow and I came here. First, I went to take a look around, but in the meantime, that monster you saw before appeared and attacked them."

"W-were you all alright after that?" Timber asked.

"Yeah, somehow. For better or worse, it seemed to be targeting me, and you know I'm very good at running away since I can catch up with even Rainbow Dash, so I got to escape," Pinkie said.

"Eventually, while we didn't know the true nature of that thing, we all got together again and spent the night in this room, with a sense of security because we had the key to it," Sunset said

"We've run out of firewood. Can I burn this wooden box?" Pinkie asked as she and Fluttershy set up another fire.

"Yes, burn anything that can be used as fuel." Sunset said, "Anyways, we decided that one of us should keep watch and Rainbow kindly took up the duty, but maybe because of our sense of security, the three of us fell into a deep sleep... When we woke up... Rainbow was gone. There were bloodstains in the hallway, so I followed the trail, but... eventually..."

"The trail ended..." Gloriosa said.

"We tried looking for her, but we didn't want to lose anybody else, so Fluttershy and I stood by. And then, Sunset found you guys, right?" Pinkie said.

"Yes. And that's what happened to us. But... I thought for sure that Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, Flash Sentry, and Rarity would be here too?" Sunset said.

"Yeah, the nine of us came here on Flash Sentry's suggestion and split up into three groups." Timber said, "Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, Applejack and I checked out the first floor, Twilight went to the third floor herself, and Scootaloo, Gloriosa, and Flash looked around the first floor."

"We had a bad feeling while we were on the second floor, so Timber and I went to check out the third and fourth floor," Applejack said, "When we finished, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and Applebloom were gone and Timber found Sunset's burnt jacket in this room, and wondered what happened."

"We came back down to the first floor and found Gloriosa and Scootaloo fighting that Thing," Timber said.

"I vaguely noticed it when I was fighting it, but that strange creature..." Sunset said

"It resembles a princess in Equestria, doesn't it?" Fluttershy said.

"Wasn't it Celestia or something like that?" Gloriosa said.

"Yeah. It's Celestia you're thinking of," Sunset said.

"Well, that settles it! It's just a harmless prank by Twilight! All we need to do is find her!" Pinkie said

"You're mistaken..."Sci-Twi said holding her pendant.