A soft whistle of wind breezed over the prone, dormant form of Twilight, stirring her from her slumber. She opened her eyes, finding trees and a dark cloudy sky above her. Her anxiety spiked, causing her to bolt upright from her slumber.

"W-wha..." She managed, blinking rapidly to try and wipe the fatigue from her eyes. The sound of a crackling fire then made itself known, causing her to look around. She then realized she was at a bonfire, with a lack of pony or fauna life around her. But that's impossible... she quickly noted. There's always at least some sound during the night. Is there a predator nearby or something? I think Fluttershy mentioned that’s how local fauna act when there is one.

She quickly took a look at herself. She found herself somehow a human again, despite the fact she was recently in Equestria, with a white t-shirt and shorts. She looked around, trying to find any traces of magic, but only found a thick fog awaiting her. Seeing nowhere else to go, Twilight stood up and wandered into the fog, staying as silent as the forest as she went.

She went forward for what felt like hours on end, the scenery barely changing as she went with seemingly random meathooks occasionally appearing, until she stumbled upon a ruined house with what she recalled as a generator back in the human realm, wired up to something she couldn't see. She quickly inspected it, finding it was broken, but had enough fuel to work. She recalled the mechanic classes she took back there, though without tools she found herself at a loss.

Perhaps there's a toolbox somewhere around here? she quietly thought to herself, taking a left from the generator, and stumbling upon a pile of rocks with a chest on the side of it. Opening it, Twilight found herself with a assortment of goods. A flashlight, medkit, a broken key, and a toolbox laid within the chest. Seeing as she didn't need the medkit at the moment, she put it on the ground and took the flashlight and toolbox, carrying them all the way back to the ruined house, where she heard a growl emanating from within. She crouched next to the doorway, waiting for the creature to leave, heart pumping within her chest with vigor.

A small movement of grass in front of her was Twilight's only indication that the creature had left, though she stood dumbfounded as she looked towards where the creature was going. Squinting her eyes in order to focus, she found that it wasn't fully invisible, its cloaking was distorting the scenery around it, if only a little. Her scientific self told her to knock the creature unconscious and tie it up for research, though her instincts told her that it could potentially be the carnivore.

Twilight decided to trust her gut, seeing as she had no weapons on her to begin with, and that she wasn't overly athletic as a human or pony. She waited until the rustling of grass was no more before entering the broken down house.

She then proceeded to get to work on the generator, and found it made noise as she repaired it, causing her adrenaline to flow faster and faster as she progressed. Halfway through fixing it, she decided herself to hide once more, quickly moving to obscure herself behind what she assumed to be a windowsill. She heard grass moving once again, and the growl coming back once more until it was right behind the windowsill she was hiding by. She heard the sound of the generator being kicked a couple times, hearing sparks only a second afterwards. Quietly, she grinded her teeth in frustration, though was slightly intrigued by the development.

Why attack perfectly workable machinery?! Whatever this thing is, I'm going to hand it over to Canterlot researchers after I get the guard to restrain it. A few moments of utter silence passed by, save for the noise being made by the generator and the creature leaving the vicinity, before Twilight went back over the windowsill to work on her slightly damaged project.

She almost wanted to hum as she did so, seeing that it seemed to be even easier than it was before-hand. Only a half minute passed by, before some lights flickered above her. Twilight looked up to find an oddly out of place streetlamp above her head. So that's what this is connected to. Twilight thought, both satisfied and intrigued by her efforts. She then made to find another generator, keeping an eye out for any movement.

Twilight's blood ran cold, quickly looking behind her to see the source of the noise. What she found was something out of a true nightmare. The figure's eyes shone in the darkest dark, its eyes piercing the night and stinging her soul. In its right hand it held a skull with a blade protruding from where the lower jaw would be, causing Twilight's stomach to churn in fear upon realizing it had taken a life. In its left hand a ghastly looking bell, which was the dreaded noisemaker to Twilight's ears. A frown was etched into his face as it stared Twilight down.

Twilight didn't even hesitate, and neither did the murderer. She barely made it behind a wall as the blade chipped the brick surface of her savior. Twilight sprinted through the fog, adrenaline spiking in her veins as she ran through the fog-filled forest. A bell had sounded off in the distance, though Twilight didn't take it as an answer to stop. She ran until she made it to another building, stopping just as she reached the doorway. Still scared beyond reasoning, Twilight entered the building, finding a basement within and went inside. A couple lockers near the entrance of the basement, and a chest behind them, were able to fit her if she tried. Four meathooks were off to the left of the basement, and Twilight felt as if hiding in here was a gambit.

Seeing as the rest of her options would be incredibly obvious, Twilight opened the chest and entered it, lying in a sideways cradle. With her free arm, she closed the chest, and in that moment Twilight could've sworn she heard someone laugh. Twilight took the time she had to calm herself, her heart still beating rapidly in fear, as she slowly went back to normal breathing. Suddenly, the growl of the killer made itself known, along with humming, and Twilight held her breath. As she initially expected, she heard the killer check all the lockers within the room, finding a lack of life within each, before leaving the basement. Her heart having calmed down, Twilight exited the chest, finally having calmed down, though slightly cramped up from being stuck inside a tight space.

Her mind still swam with quarreling thoughts, screaming at her to get as far away as possible, to find a way to incapacitate the mystery human, or to stay hidden until help arrived. Twilight listened to the first, survival instincts taking over her scientific curiosity, and will to fight. She sneaked out of the basement, and out into the wilderness, running off in a random direction as she did so, eventually coming upon a gate.

Twilight switched on her flashlight, swiftly inspecting the gate, finding wires all over it, and a lever to the side. No wonder why they wanted the generators broken. The generators powered the exit gate! Twilight thought in a moment of eureka. Her mission was clear: Power up all the generators she could find and open the gate, or face whatever the figure had in store for her. Under the cover of the fog, she silently walked back to the house, keeping her eyes and ears open for any signs of movement.

She came back to the abandoned house, with no sign of the killer's presence. Twilight crept around the first floor of the building, finding a few pallets and a locker, before walking up a set of stairs leading to the upper levels of the house. She found another generator with a window a little off to the right, and quickly went to work on it, listening closely for the sound of the bell in assumption it was the killer's cloaking device. It wouldn't be impossible if Equestrian magic had leaked into the human realm after all. She knew how the humans would react to that after some research there.

She was just about to finish the generator, when the killer finally made itself known again, the bell ringing twice behind her as the generator turned on the lights around her. Twilight ran to the window, trying to jump out of it in an attempt to evade the killer's reach.

She failed, the weapon hitting her back as she fell out of the window. She screamed in agony as she hit the ground, shakily standing back on her feet as she made to run once more, as blood ran down her back. The killer rang its bell once more, and Twilight had just enough time to quickly look behind her shoulder and see the killer turn invisible, confirming her hypothesis. Twilight thought it would be a bad idea if she went back for the medkit, instead opting to find another chest as she frantically looked about her while running through the fog in panic.

She eventually came upon a chest, and Twilight opened it without hesitation, quickly rummaging through the chest in search of supplies. She ended up finding a medkit, and Twilight would've gone for healing herself were it not for the sound of the killer's bell. She ran, medkit in hand instead of toolbox, and came across a pallet. Seeing an opportunity to buy herself time, Twilight slammed the pallet down as she ran, causing the killer to stop for a second before proceeding to break the pallet.

She turned the corner just as the pallet gave way, finding another pallet. She threw it down as well as she went through, and saw to her left a locker. Twilight made some tracks for the killer, giving a fake indication that she went around another corner, before quickly entering the locker in silence.

The killer passed her by, as she had thought, but not before ringing the bell once more. Twilight stayed in the locker, not buying the bait as she remained perfectly quiet inside, waiting as the killer's growls faded. Eternity seemed to pass by, Twilight doing her utmost best to keep quiet.

Despite her best efforts, the doors of the locker swung open, and she saw the killer uncloak before her very eyes, grabbing her and putting her on its shoulder as it did so. Twilight struggled as hard as she could, not wanting to learn of what fate was going to befall her. Just as she was about to get off, a loud metallic clang sounded behind her, followed by the killer's abrupt stop. She managed to hit the killer in the face with her knee, stunning it briefly. She shakily stood back up and began to run again, but suddenly all her exits were blocked off by black spikes of darkness. She looked towards the source of the sound she heard before escape, and saw a meat-hook laying on the floor, before suddenly being lifted into the air, attached to a pole.

Now, stay your hand Philip. It wouldn't be fair to not teach the new immortal how the game works. It is rather rude don't you think? a dreadful voice said.

She saw the newly named Philip's widen in surprise. "B-but I wasn't aware of-"

Take your leave Philip. Or perhaps you'd like another round of punishment?

Philip didn't hesitate, phasing through the black spikes with haste. The dreadful voice then took form above the hook, spider-like appendages coming out of a seemingly endless void.

You'll have to forgive my harshness towards Philip, newcomer. He's not the best of us, and thus I need to keep him encouraged.

Twilight stared at the void in fear for a few moments, as this mysterious entity seemingly stared her down, patiently waiting for her to get over her initial shock. After she recovered, she went to patch her wounds, the entity chuckling in amusement as she fixed herself up. A few times she accidentally hurt herself as she did so, but eventually she patched up the wound, and felt herself invigorated with a mysterious energy as the wound stopped bleeding. Twilight looked upon the void, a curiosity slowly overcoming her fear. "Who are you?"

The void hummed in thought. I go by many names. Eater of hope, the monster that tortures the monsters, the gambler of life, and the rarest of the few even call me Actaeon. But those of this realm, chained within this place between life and death? They call me; The Entity.

Now Twilight was anxious. "Chained? Y-you mean I'm trapped here?"

No. I cannot take the souls of gods or demigods. Only a soul rid of divinity can I trap.

"Why am I here then? And what kind of people do you trap?"

Ah, I see Celestia hasn't told you of me. How predictable of her... she was never adept in the role of prey, despite what she'd think. I've once lost count of how many times she immediately died on the meathooks after saving a survivor.

This caused Twilight's eyes to widen in shock once more. "Died? You mean you've..."

The spider-like appendages twitched a bit around the hook. Devoured her time and time again? Yes. But I have yet to explain why I can't chain immortal and demi-god souls. For you see, I'm not the only god around. There are others who come here for amusement, but if I were to try and chain one to this realm, not only would it work heavily against me, but can end up causing gods to go against me. You arrived here, as do all gods when they rest within the realm I choose to haunt. To my realm, where the hunts and I rule.

The appendages then spread apart. The souls without divinity? When they die, the good and neutral ones are given a choice:Go to the place they're meant to go, or risk it all for a second chance at life. To start anew in new bodies with their memories. The souls of the corrupted? The appendages swung together, at what Twilight would assume would be a corrupted. Are immediately chained here, trapped for eternity until the day I truly come to devour them, to feed the bloodweb that is mine, and mine alone.

The appendages then went back to the way they normally were. I will have Phillip tell you the rest. He will be in the basement at that house you ran from. A few void dwellers wish to participate in my game, and I must learn of what they wish to earn. The spider-like appendages then disappeared, the void above her fading away as well. Twilight Sparkle stared at where the void was for a bit, before hearing the spikes disappear as well. A loud beep reverberated throughout the realm, and Twilight saw some kind of aura revealing two levers similar to what she saw at the gate.

Perhaps he's also giving me the opportunity to leave? Twilight thought to herself. But I still have a lot of questions about this game... Her curiosity unsatisfied, Twilight went back to the house in search of Philip. She entered the basement, and as the Entity said Philip waited at the lockers next to the chest. Philip stared at her in confusion.

"Why are you here? If you've come to gloat in my face after opening the exit gates, just so you know..." He raised his weapon in a threatening manner. "I don't miss so easily."

"I-its quite the opposite actually," Twilight nervously reassured. "The Entity told me you could tell more about this realm of his."

Philip sighed. "Threatens me with punishment, and then expects me to explain everything. I suppose I could tell you more about this place, though just so you know I can't tell you about how the other killers hunt. However, I did encounter them around here, so you can get a grasp as to what they are, maybe even learn of their stories." Philip began walking back out of the basement. "Follow me," he said, looking over his shoulder at Twilight. "I may not be the strongest of us, but I am the best tracker there is. Not even the stealthiest of killers can hide from me."

Twilight followed the man out of the basement, and thus Twilight's introduction to the Entity's realm, as well as those within it, began.

Author's Note

I ended up having to delay this, because I needed to find somebody who would let me see the Wraith's invisible locker catch. Which is harder than it sounds.

No, really, I spent 4 weeks trying to find a group for a raid over and over again when I wanted to see if a boss could be killed by his own minions. I just have the shittiest luck, when it comes for looking for people willing to do the shit I'm doing.

Editor:Vutava