The Shadow of Death

"Come on Chiller! Kick his ass!" Spitfire yelled as she stood off to the side of the ping pong table where Wave Chill and Thunderlane were now using to volley the little white ball back and forth. Fleetfoot also stood off to the side, smoking a joint and bobbing her head to the rock music emitting from the record player.

The two stallions were swift as they continued to volley the ball back and forth across the table, the sounds of the paddles striking the ball filled the air in the room.

"Come on Wave, stand down already!" Thunderlane taunted as he kept on hitting the ball back to Wave. Wave shook his head and kept sending the ball back.

"I can go all night Thunder!" Wave taunted back. Both stallions were neck and neck, both waiting for an opening where they could finally gain the upper hoof and win the match.

Thunderlane hit the ball back to Wave Chill right as the door opened. He looked over his shoulder at Soarin and Rainbow Dash entering the room with several board games stacked on their backs. Thunderlane had only glanced over for a second, but he turned back just as the ball had bounced back to his side. Thunderlane tried to hit the stray ball again, but he swung and missed, and the ball bounced off the floor.

Spitfire pumped her hoof in the air and cheered at Wave Chill's sudden victory. Thunderlane sighed and looked up at his opponent. He expected Wave Chill to be rubbing the victory in his face, but instead, Wave Chill was smiling.

"Good game Thunder, up for round 2?" Wave Chill complemented before offering a rematch. Before Thunderlane could answer, the door opened again and Fire Streak, Surprise, and Misty Fly walked in with three large cases of alcoholic beverages straight from the kitchen. Thunderlane turned back to Wave.

"Later, after a few drinks." Thunderlane said, motioning over to the drinks. Wave Chill nodded and followed the rest over to the drinks.

Soarin and Dash dropped the games on the table while the others placed the cases of drinks on the counter. Soarin looked over at Fleetfoot, who already had a joint in her mouth.

"Fleet, weren't you supposed to wait for later before digging into that stuff?" Soarin asked as Fleet took another drag from it. Fleet rolled her eyes.

"Hey, Spitfire said we could celebrate any way we wanted tonight, I may be here for this party, but this is how I'm celebrating at this party." Fleetfoot said before grabbing a hard cider and opening it up. Spitfire laughed at Fleet's antics before looking back at the alcohol delivery ponies and seeing that somepony was missing.

"Where's Lightning?" Spitfire asked Fire as he grabbed ciders for him and Misty.

"Surprise pranked him, pretended to be bleeding, and covered him in fake blood. He went to go clean himself off." Fire explained. Spitfire looked over at Surprise who was already draining half a cider. Spitfire walked over to her and pulled the drink away from her muzzle and gave her a stern look.

"Surprise, what did I say about your pranks?" Spitfire asked in a stern voice. Surprises expression saddened.

"Come on Spitty, it was just a harmless prank, I'm sure he'll be back here in no time to enjoy the party." Surprise said, trying to lighten her mood. Spitfire's expression softened.

"Your probably right, just, maybe tone down the intensity of your pranks next time, okay?" Spitfire asked. Surprise happily nodded before taking another sip of cider.

"LET"S PARTY!" Surprise shouted, earning a cheer from the others.

Outside in the hall, the killer heard the cheer. The party was now underway, all they had to do was wait.

The party had reached full swing now, the music was loud, games like Twister and Sorry! were brought out and played, and booze was consumed. Thunderlane and Wave Chill had what felt like an entire ping pong tournament, ultimately ending in a victory for Thunderlane. All throughout the party, the storm outside began to rage even more, but none of the participants noticed, they were having too much fun.

After another round of Twister, Surprise stepped away from the games and sat down in one of the chairs. She scanned the room, looking at all of her teammates having such a fun time, it made her so happy. But, then she noticed that a certain stallion was still missing. Surprise frowned and held her head down, now feeling bad that she might have ruined Lightning''s night. She suddenly looked up when she saw Rainbow Dash sit down next to her.

"Everything okay Surprise?" Rainbow asked, concerned. Surprise looked up at Dash and weakly nodded.

"I'm fine, I just....I feel bad that I pranked Lightning like that." Surprise said sadly.

"What did you do again?" Rainbow asked. Surprise smiled lightly, remembering her prank.

"I went into the kitchen ahead of him and the others to get the drinks, then I decided to take advantage of the situation and bust out a few prank tools. I screamed, which brought them into the kitchen. I hid in the freezer with a fake neck wound and a baster full of fake blood. When Lightning opened the door, I jumped out, screamed, and sprayed him with fake blood..."

Rainbow Dash had to hold in her chuckles as Surprise recounted her prank, finding it pretty funny. Surprise continued.

"..He, didn't take it well, he yelled at me, grabbed a drink and stormed out. He still hasn't come back." Surprise finished, hanging her head low again.

"Surprise.." Rainbow began, getting her attention. "...I once did a whole bunch of really extreme and nasty pranks a while back in Ponyville. Everypony told me to stop and wanted me to take better care of what I do in a prank and who I do it to, but I didn't listen, and they pranked me back in the biggest prank I've ever seen." Rainbow explained. Surprise was now listening closely to Dash's story.

"What did they do?" Surprise asked. Dash chuckled a little before answering.

"They all turned one of my pranks around on me. I had these joke cookies that made all their mouths rainbow colored, but they made it look like the cookies turned them into zombies! They only revealed the prank when I was surrounded and cowering in fear." Rainbow explained. Surprise laughed at the mental image before covering her muzzle.

"So, why are you telling me this?" Surprise asked.

"Because, I learned the hard way that there are certain ponies that enjoy pranks, and some ponies that don't. Let this be a lesson for you about Lightning Streak. he didn't like your prank, you should go find him and apologize." Rainbow explained. Surprises face lit up and she realized what she had to do. She quickly threw her arms around Dash.

"Thanks Dashie!" Surprise said happily before letting go and getting up and heading for the door. Rainbow Dash smiled as she watched Surprise leave the rec room.

The killer suddenly caught movement from their hiding place across from the rec room. They saw Surprise leave the room and close the door behind her before flying down the hall towards the athletic wing. The killer quickly moved to follow.

Surprise flew fast down the halls before arriving outside of the male locker rooms. She stood for a few seconds, thinking about whether she should check his dorm room first or just check the locker room first. Surprise took a deep breath before entering the locker room.

"Lightning?" Surprise called out as she stepped into the locker room. The room was completely silent as she moved passed all the rows of lockers. She looked down each row, not seeing any signs of any other pony in their with her.

"Lightning? Are you in here? It's Surprise!" She called out again. She got no response again. She reached the end of the locker rows and turned toward where the sinks and toilets were. She gasped when she looked down and saw a stain of red on the floor next to the sinks.

She walked over and touched it with her hoof. She lifted the hoof to her nose and sniffed. It smelled metallic. Surprises stomach dropped.

"Lightning?!" Surprise called out again. She turned to head back into the locker area. She walked back past all the rows of lockers, missing a figure at the end of one of the rows as she went straight for the door. She went to push the door open, but when she stepped on her front right hoof again, she felt a sharp pain.

Surprise stood in the middle of the doorway with the door hanging open against her. She lifted her right hoof up and saw that a large piece of broken glass was sticking out of it.

"Ah." Surprise gasped when she saw it. She was about to use a wing to pull it out when she heard movement behind her. Before she could turn, a leg covered with a black and purple suit wrapped around her head, covering her mouth and pulling her violently back into the locker room.

From outside the locker room, Surprise could be heard struggling from within, even a few cries could be heard before everything inside eventually went silent. After several minutes, the killer emerged from the locker room, their uniform now covered in blood. They let out an evil chuckle before moving back down the hall.

"Three down."