“Really?” Twilight glared at Sunset.

“What?”

“We’re in a crisis and you’re eating your snack,” stated Twilight.

Sunset reached slowly into the bag to pull out a few more pretzels. “Don’t you think we’re overreacting a little bit? Take a breath and think. We were talking about scary stuff then some things burned out. Despite that, there isn’t a monster or anything waiting around the corner.”

Lemon Zest held a hand to her chest and took several breaths. “You don’t know that, man. I swear there’s been some spooky stuff, and there has to be something behind it. This, right here, isn’t normal!”

“Okay, maybe you’re right, Sunset. It just appears like a crisis, but there are no telltale sounds. Everything is okay. Soon the shutters will lift, everything will return to normal, and if not rescuers will be here in several minutes at least.” Twilight pulled out her phone. “No signal. Typical.”

“None?” asked Sunset.

“Huh, yes. That’s odd. I would think I would get at least a bar since we’re in a city,” wondered Twilight.

“I’m telling you guys that it’s a monster causing all of this. The lockdown, the no signal, phones wrecking. You think I don’t wear headphones and carry anything for fun?” Lemon Zest paced back and forth.

“Well…”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

“I know it’s something magic. One incident, all at that dumb school competition, and suddenly all those horror movies don’t seem so impossible,” rambled Lemon. “Jeez, even I hear myself, but it’s crazy.”

Sunset sighed as she ate the last of her small snack bag. It was helping normalize a tense situation for her. She could grab more from the busted machine, but even she wasn’t keen on getting near something that all but exploded for no reason. “I know it seems like a lot, but monsters aren’t that big of a deal. It only sounds bad because you’ve never seen any and they’re more of a myth.”

“No, it’s a pretty big deal, Sunset,” said Twilight. “Earth doesn’t have monsters like Equestria. It shouldn’t anyway, although it makes you think so with all the folklore surrounding them. Having something that can cause this kind of situation without anyone noticing? That’s scary.”

Sunset held the gem of her necklace in her fingers. “P-Twilight said something about magic in her last entry. About how maybe we’re, sort of, you know, maybe gaining new magic.”

Twilight gestured to her glowing hand as she crumpled the empty snack bag with telekinesis. “I know that.”

“No, I mean, more like magic. In general.”

“Oh,” stated Twilight. “Well then. That’s a big deal if it’s true.”

“Hey,” called Lemon from the closed shutter that led back into the wrecked fair site. “Do you think you could lift this with your magic?”

Twilight rubbed the back of her neck as she and Sunset walked over. “Maybe?”

“Twilight, you lifted a boulder that blocked a cave. This little metal sheet shouldn’t be a problem. You can do it,” said Sunset supportively.

Standing with arms outstretched towards shutter Twilight’s hands glowed brightly. A lavender magical field encompassed the bottom of the shutter and it groaned loudly at it slowly raised inch by inch.

“C’mon, Twi you can do it.”

“Oh jeez, she actually can? That’s crazy, man”

“Not. Helping.” Twilight groaned under the metaphysical weight as the shutter raised two feet off the ground before she had to stop in exhaustion. “Okay, that’s a lot harder than a boulder. I’m working against all the mechanics of the door, not just the door itself.”

“Hey, we can crawl out now though,” said Sunset with a smile.

“Yes!” exclaimed Lemon.

The soft buzz and whir akin to a windup toy came from below them. All three girls stared as a small robot dog waddled its way under the shutter into the hallway at their feet and stopped.

“Arf.”

Nobody moved.

“Woof.”

“Okay, nobody panic. It’s clearly just a toy,” said Twilight.

“Yeah man, just a toy. Haha.” Lemon tensed ready to jump away at the drop of a pin.

“Relax, it’s just a small robot pooch. It isn’t any bigger than Spike,” said Sunset as she reached down to pick up the canine robot. When her fingers touched it golden magic coursed over it and ran back into her as her psychometry activated.

It was a dark bedroom with a girl huddled under the covers. Nothing stirred as it watched with only the sound of the girl breathing. The scene changed to watching the girl, Lemon Zest, walk out of school with a few of her friends. She checked her phone only for it to spark and die in a second. Another scene was a rushing down a makeshift street. Booths on both sides of the path as it barrelled towards three girls and narrowly missed any of them crashing into an exhibit.

Sunset gasped as she came back out of her magic. Cautiously she stepped away from the toy dog.

“Woof.”

“Okay. That is definitely not a toy,” stated Sunset grimly.

“What? What did you see?” asked Twilight.

“Something stalking Lemon. Her bedroom, the school, and that crashed cart from earlier. Hah, yeah, I was wrong. This is a pretty good time to panic.”

Lemon backpedaled away. “I knew it! I knew I wasn’t crazy.”

The robot dog took a step forward and began sparking. Acrid black smoke rose up from it as its circuits fried and it sputtered to a stop.

Twilight and Sunset looked to each other.

“Well that was a scare.” Twilight wiped the sweat from her brow and adjusted her glasses.

“No joke. This is what it’s been like for you, Lemon?” asked Sunset.

“Yes! I don’t know much about monsters, but man, believe me. I’d rather have a big nasty just up and fight instead of terrifying me out of my headphones,” exclaimed Lemon.

“Mind. Out of your mind,” said Twilight.

“My music’s more important than that, science girl,” stated Lemon firmly.

“Arf.”

All three girls went silent.

“Did it just bark?” asked Twilight.

The black smoke swirled around the robotic dog before being sucked back into the machine. Plastic and metal stretched and broke as the smoke tore it apart from the inside out, growing larger and larger. A toy dog’s face sat atop a massive shadowy maw, large smoky claws were covered in warped plastic, and a wispy tail of darkness swished strewn with metal bits. A large beast growled mechanically.

“Woof.”

“R-run away!” yelled Lemon as she bolted towards the wall.

“Lemon!”

Sunset looked around for something to use in self-defense. Nothing small or dangerous was nearby so she settled for the next best thing. Her empty pretzel bag smacked the monster in the face. Now empty handed she ran off to a corner as she pointed at the broken bending machine. “Twilight, throw it!”

The beast looked between the two fleeing targets, but focused back onto Lemon and lunged at her. It’s heaving smoke body was as large as she was and something told Sunset that the smoke wasn’t as simple as being gaseous anymore.

“No, no, no not me, go after someone else, man.” Lemon backed up against the wall.

Sunset gripped a trash can. Her palms bit into the cold rim, she braced her legs and flung it at the beast with all her might. It impacted the floor two feet from her intended target. “Okay, that was a lot heavier than I thought. Run for the door, Lemon!”

Lemon heaved as panic set in. Step by step the shadow monster closed in on her, encompassing her vision entirely. A vending machine plowed into the beast sending it flying several feet.

“Go!” yelled Twilight, her hands aglow.

“I-I can’t. It’ll come for me, dangit. Help,” pleaded Lemon as she stood on shaking legs and clutching the wall.

Sunset glanced at the beast before sprinting over to Lemon. It pushed off the broken machine with ease, shook itself down, and turned to face the two. A loud roar, mechanical and gutterly, came from the beast’s maw before it charged the Lemon again.

A bench blindsided the creature sending it careening into the wall.

“Gods, I love that,” said Sunset as she gripped Lemon and helped her make her way over to the shutter.

Twilight joined them. “I don’t know how much longer I can throw stuff that big. I’m feeling faint and this wasn’t exactly a heavily decorated hall space.”

“It’s focusing on you,” Sunset said to Lemon. “Go first.”

Lemon nodded and crawled under the shutter door gap.

The beast pushed the broken bench off itself and stood up. Black ooze dripped from its smoky hide, yet left no trails as it touched the ground. It shook its head and charged at the girls again.

Thinking fast Sunset took off her bag and tossed it hard into the beast’s face. With a crunch, not the monster’s face but Sunset noted all of the valuables inside her bag, the beast roared as the bag blinded it. It veered off its path to slam into a pillar a couple feet from Twilight.

“Go, go. I’m right behind you,” said Sunset.

Twilight hesitated but crawled under the shutter door into the open fair ground.

Sunset was ready now that the monster got its bearings back. It looked around and only saw one girl. The heavy snort it gave made Sunset cautious. Her cautiousness rose as it didn’t charge her, but instead paced around her before standing in front of the shutter. It looked up to the ceiling at the pulsating red lights.

Sunset felt something in the air. A hum, or an invisible force not unlike her sense when someone is casting magic. She couldn’t see what happened, but something jumped between the beast and the light.

The shutter door began to rise.

“What? Oh, oh shoot.” The door rose enough for Sunset to bolt out moments before the beast followed behind. It passed all three girls into the middle of the path cutting off their retreat.

“It can open the doors?” asked a panicked Twilight.

“I… it’s a monster. I forgot it was smart enough to do all of this,” explained Sunset as she grabbed a broom that was lying next to an exhibit.

“Oh man, I think I’m gonna be sick,” said Lemon holding a hand to her stomach and bracing herself against a metal signpost.

“Um.” Twilight uneasily glanced at Sunset. “Ready for round two?”

The beast snarled.

“Do we have a choice?” asked Sunset with a weak smile.

It charged toward Lemon.

Twilight grabbed a nearby table in her magic and flung it at the monster. It headbutted against it shattering the wood into splinters and barely faltered.

Sunset jumped forward and thrust the broom into its belly. It was like pushing against a brick wall. The broom snapped in two and sent Sunset falling to the ground.

“”Lemon!””

Lemon Zest watched the beast run straight at her. “N-not cool!”

A massive burst of air slammed down atop the beast sending it to the floor. It whined in pain for the first time as all its momentum ground it to a halt a few feet from Lemon Zest. The girl collapsed to her knees as the beast struggled to get up.

Dropping from the top of an exhibit to their left was a figure shrouded in extravagant scarves and flowing robes. A wide brimmed witch’s hat obscured her face in a darkness that sunlight didn’t pierce through. A delicate hand raised a gnarled wand and gave it a flick downward.

Another massive blast of air slammed down atop the monster. It howled and wailed and the figure repeated it again. The last blast cratered it into tiled floor two inches deep. The beast’s body dissolved into shadowy wisps that coiled into the air, swirling into a mist.

A mist that promptly flew into Lemon Zest. The girl panicked as the smoky mist was completely absorbed into her body. She patted herself down with wide eyes. “It’s inside me, man. Get it out, get it out!”

“Twilight, you okay?” asked Sunset. She kept an eye of the mysterious witch-like figure as she got up and stumbled over to Twilight.

“Yes, I believe so. My ankle hurts and I’m extremely exhausted, but that’s like saying the obvious, isn’t it?” Twilight joined Sunset who both walked over to Lemon Zest.

“Who are you?” asked Sunset with a little anger.

An echoing voice, female and haughty, came from the witch. “You simpletons can’t see the obvious?”

Sunset stood tall, an arm raised over Lemon defensively. “Oh we can see you. We aren’t intimidated by you or that monster. Right, Twilight?”

“Well I was intimidated to be honest,” replied Twilight. Sunset playfully punched her in the shoulder. “What? We aren’t all used to this monster fighting business.”

The shrouded figure tipped her hat and shook her head to herself. “Trixie cannot believe this. What have you gotten yourself into, Shimmer?”

Author's Note

I've a good portion of this story written out and will be updating a couple times or more a week. Comments are always appreciated and hope you enjoy it.