Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Watching that clock had been the only thing this costume knew to do. The only thing that had entertained it. The costume stared deeply into the clock, remembering that night from three years ago. A night that was meant for a murderer, not a father.
The house boomed with the sounds of the dead. "Music to my ears." A dark raspy voice said.
"How can this be music to your ears!? I can barely sleep at night! Even if I do, I'll be woken up by the screams of those...things." A blue Pegasus followed a purple stallion to their kitchen, a small one at that. "Why do you even keep those things anyway? What's the point?"
"I kill a demon, and when I mean kill I mean destroy it's body, then I seal it away in the canisters that you see in my room, and send them off to Queen Candymare so she can destroy them."
"They come back anyways right? That's how it is with you Grimdarks, always in an endless loop with the battle between demons and super-villains."
"Don't you have somewhere to be Rainbow Dash?" Rainbow stopped to think for a moment. Then it hit her like a wall of bricks.
"Crap!!! I promised to go and hang out with Scootaloo and Sunset!" Rainbow Dash dashed out of the kitchen and back into her bedroom. The Purple Grimdark chuckled.
"Always forgets."
"Stand still you webbed freak!!!" An Earth Pony, who had been highly trained in martial arts, tried to sweep his leg under his opponent's leg, but that didn't quite work out as the Earth Pony in red and blue somersaulted over him. The costumed Earth Pony fired two web lines at his attacker's back and pulled. Once his attacker hit the ground, the webbed freak fired a web line onto the criminal's leg and wrapped around the tip of the flagpole. Using his strength, he tugged on the web and sent him flying straight up into the sky.
"Alright buddy, ya'll are going to tell me who ya supplier is."
"And if I don't!?"
"Figured y'all would say that." The webbed freak let go of his web line, causing the criminal to begin his decent. He caught the web just in time, saving the criminal who was inches away from falling headfirst into the concrete. "A fall like that would leave you with serious head injuries and some other things that I don't wanna mention. So what's it going to be partner? Y'all going to help Spider-Mane out, or do I have to drop y'all again?"
"Do you need help dad?"
"No, but thank you Tiara." Diamond Tiara watched quietly as her father, Filthy Rich, fix an old costume. Diamond Tiara had this one thought on her mind, but had kept to herself for so long, had decided to open up.
"Dad," Rich continued to tinker with the costume, but he now had more of his attention on his daughter. "Why are we helping this thing? It's not alive so why do we treat it like it is?" Rich stopped, he placed his screwdriver beside him, and turned to look at Tiara.
"Diamond, this costume is alive. It's a Grimdark." Diamond's breathing grew quicker. She had heard of the stories of these creatures being evil, but they were from teenagers in her class. Other Equines have said that the Grimdarks are warriors, warriors who are here to stop the Six-Winged Serpent. Diamond's mind however, was telling her to run from that costume.
"Before you run and scream your head off I want you to listen. Diamond, yes this costume is a Grimdark, but they aren't evil. Your classmates might say they are, but they aren't. I've met this one before he became this. He wasn't how you think he is. He's actually just like us. I'm helping him because he helped me years ago." Diamond turned to look at the costume, it was still motionless.
"W-what's his name?" Back to her father.
"Golden Freddy." Rich and Diamond looked at the costume, white glowing pupils were staring at them. "Nice to finally meet another Afton.
"Discord! Thank you for coming on such short notice, Peter has returned from his daily patrol. He's in his quarters as we speak."
"Thank you Luna. I will see to it that he gets his daily training." Discord made his way to Peter's living quarters. It wasn't really his living quarters, it was more of a place for him to store artifacts that he found while he was with the Ghostbusters, or if he was called for updates on his new armor. Peter loved the farm in Ponyville more than the castle in Canterlot.
Peter carefully placed the costume in it's case. "There are updates available for the Spider-Mane suit Mr. Apple. Would you want me to proceed with the updates?"
"Yes Karen, thank you." Peter's sixth sense went off, but it wasn't going off because of danger, it was going off for a different reason. Peter turned around, just in time to see Discord appear out of nowhere.
"Howdy partner. I'm looking for my baby brother, y'all might know him. He's your average teenager height, taller than Twilight, shorter than William, has a chocolate looking mane, has green emerald eyes, he has a muscular body, and he's a huge nerd. Y'all know where I can find him?" Peter tried to stifle his laughter. He managed to succeed, but he couldn't hide his growing smile.
"Nice to see ya too Discord." Discord disappeared and reappeared next to Peter, wrapping his arm around Peter's neck. "What have y'all been up to?"
"Well you know, making sure our cousin Pinkie hasn't blown anything up with Michael, and making sure William and Fluttershy are staying upbeat."
"How are they? The Aftons I mean." Discord sighed.
"I don't know how long it will be until William snaps. His father is missing, his youngest son was possessed, Michael was beaten to death, and Scootaloo and Sunset nearly died trying to find their brothers. William has been staying on the positive, I think Fluttershy is the reason he hasn't snapped yet." Peter looked away from Discord, he didn't think it was that bad.
"Howdy Will! What y'all been up to?"
"I've been setting up security cameras around my house."
"What for? If ya don't mind me asking."
"I just...I don't know."
"How are ya holding up? With everything that's happened to you and your family." William smiled.
"I'm doing fine Peter. You don't need to worry about me alright. Us Aftons always pull together, even when things look bad. Trust me."
"Peter!" Peter snapped back into reality. He was back in his room. Discord was standing in front of him, worry was written all over his face. "You okay? You just...froze." Peter rubbed his eyes again before meeting Discord's gaze.
"I'm alright. Hey, aren't y'all supposed to be giving me my training lesson?"
"Wakey wakey Mikey." Michael opened his eyes very slowly.
"Pinkie, what happened?" Michael rubbed his eyes, trying to remember what had happened.
"You dozed off silly."
"No, before I dozed off." Pinkie began to tap her index finger on her chin, trying to remember what had happened before Michael had dozed off. Then it hit her.
"Oh yeah, before you dozed off, we were checking the old abandoned pizzeria. Then you were standing still in front of the stage, and then you hit the floor like a rock. I tried waking you up, but you were sound asleep," Pinkie took in a huge gulp of air. "Then I dragged you out of the pizzeria because I started to hear some creepy noises, and now here we are in my bedroom!" Michael blankly stared at Pinkie.
"I don't know how, but I understood everything you just said." Michael looked around the room again, and yes, they were back in the Cake's shop.
"Do you remember anything when you were standing like a statue?" Michael closed his eyes and began to think.
'What do I remember?' "I remember seeing--AHH!!!"
"Michael!!! Michael are you okay!? Mr. and Mrs. Cakes come quick!!!! Something--" Whatever Pinkie was saying was now muffled. Michael's head felt like jello, he couldn't lift himself off his knees.
"Stay away from me!!! I don't even know who you kids are!!!!"
"You did this to us!"
"You hurt us!"
"You trapped us here!!!!"
"Get away from me! GET AWAY!!!!"
Michael's body couldn't take it. The vision or whatever it was had left him exhausted. His body fell into a puddle. A puddle of blood. Unbeknownst to Michael, was that there were six spirits hovering above him. They were all chanting the same thing.
"SAVE US!"
