“Got it!” Gallus blurted. The projector whirred to life, casting light onto a pale white bed sheet spread out across the wall.

He flicked the switch and picked up one of the two reels sitting next to the projector on the table. He unraveled a strip of film and examined it. “How do I do this?”

“You gotta feed it through the little wheels on the projector’s side and let the empty reel take it while it’s spinning,” Sandbar said. Turning his head, he clenched the strap that held the saddlebags to his sides between his teeth and yanked it. He dropped the bags full of junk food beside the table.

Gallus did exactly as told, looping the film around the various wheels and wrapping it around the empty reel once. With a flick of a switch at its base, both reels began to spin. The white frame projecting onto the sheet turned black and grainy.

“Got it!” Gallus exclaimed. This time he flipped two switches to turn the machine completely off. “I think we’re ready.”

“Cool,” Sandbar said, adjusting a light green bean bag chair so that it was parallel with the brown one covered with a green blanket. “That means we’re just waiting for Smolder and Ocellus.”

At the mention of Ocellus, Gallus’s face fell. Sandbar was too busy making sure everything was in place to notice, which he was thankful for. He wasn’t in the mood to explain the needless drama that went on not too long ago. Was he ever in the mood for drama? Probably not.

He glanced over at Silverstream, who was too busy working on a puzzle with Yona on the other side of the room. Did she hear Ocellus’s name? If she did, then she was doing a pretty good job pretending to stay focused.

Whatever the case, if Ocellus did show up for movie night, he would acknowledge her presence with a simple, “Hey,” and silently let her know that what happened in the dorm room should stay in the dorm room. Knowing Ocellus, she would probably run into a tangent about how sorry she was and that she wasn’t having a very good week and yadda-yadda-yadda. Yeah, if that happened, he would let her have her little meltdown knowing it would make her feel better. She just found out that a friend had died, so she probably needed to vent to someone. Gallus just hoped that it wasn’t him.

“Alright,” he said. He pointed down at the pile of junk food. “Whatja get?”

Sandbar prodded at the pile with his hoof. “Some snack cakes, marshmallow-twisters, chips —”

“What kind?” Gallus interrupted.

“I only got potato chips.”

Gallus walked up to the pile and reached down, picking up one of the 1.5-ounce bags of Potato Crispies. “Eh, it will do.” He stared down at the bag for a moment. “You couldn’t have gotten the bigger bags?”

“They’re from the concession stand, alright?”

“And they’re oven-baked. Gross.” The bag crinkled as Gallus lowered to his haunches and tore it open. He reached a talon into it and took out a chip.

“Hey, oven-baked is good for you!”

Gallus shrugged, munching on the chip. “Meh,” he said with his mouth full. “Different process, same diabetes.”

Sandbar smirked. “Hey, I could have not brought any snacks.”

“That would have been whatever because I brought leftover pizza.”

Sandbar groaned. He sat down and leaned backward, landing into the light green beanbag chair with an audible huff. “Just be happy I brought something, okay!”

Gallus bit down on another chip. “Sure.”

“Ayy,” a scratchy voice called from the stairs. Gallus turned to it and saw Smolder’s head poking over the banister. “We’re here!”

Gallus lifted a brow. We’re? he thought. If someone followed Smolder then that meant —

Sure enough, Ocellus’s head was next to poke over the banister. Gallus stared. Perhaps he was going to have a conversation with Ocellus after all.

Silverstream looked up from her puzzle with a piece still in her talon. She froze. The tension in the air was clear. Someone had to break it before somecreature said something they would regret.

Gallus turned to Smolder, who was coming around the newel post and cleared his throat. “Yo, we’ve been waiting for you. We were about to cancel.” He smirked to make it clear to her that this was only a jab.

“And miss the free grub?” Smolder quipped. She chuckled, coming up to Gallus and swiping the bag of chips from his talon. “Heh, that’s all this night is good for.”

“Those are oven-baked.”

“Gross,” Smolder responded, flicking a morsel of peasants' food into her mouth. “I told you not to put Sandbar in charge of snacks.”

“Hey!” Sandbar shouted from his beanbag chair. “It’s my projector. I could just not have brought snacks at all anyway!”

Gallus gave Sandbar a pitiful glance and turned his attention back to Smolder. “I brought pizza.”

Smolder dropped the bag of chips onto the floor, the Potato Crispies spreading out against the crystalline surface. “That’s more like it. Where at?”

Gallus pointed toward a desk sitting against the back wall of the room. On it sat a large white box with SUGARCUBE CORNER printed on the cover.

“Heck yeah!” Smolder stepped over the bag and made her way toward the desk.

Gallus heard a sigh next to him and turned to Sandbar, who looked down at the crumpled-up bag on the floor glumly. “Should have put Silverstream in charge of snacks…” Sandbar mumbled.

Ocellus walked around the newel post and scanned the room, a bright smile plastered on her face. Gallus saw her face fill with even more delight as she spotted Yona and Silverstream. Oh no, he thought.

She walked over to the two of them. Silverstream remained fixated on the puzzle. “Heya!” the changeling chirped. Yona was the only one to raise her head, but she greeted Ocellus with a contorted look on her face.

“Yona not know how to complete puzzle.”

“How many pieces is it?”

“One hundred, but pieces not fit together. Not even with force. Friend Silverstream help Yona, but she not know how to do puzzle either.”

“I can help!”

Silverstream straightened up, flicking the piece she was holding onto the table. “Sorry,” she mumbled. “We’re about to start the movie.”

“That’s okay!” Ocellus continued excitedly. “We can do it after. Or if you’re too tired, we can wait until tomorrow.”

“Sounds good,” Yona replied with a smile. “Can you show Yona how to do the bigger puzzles after?”

“Of course! I have a few that we can do and afterward —”

Without making eye contact with either of them, Silverstream stood up and turned to Gallus. She walked by them without making a sound, passed Gallus, and sat down in the hot pink bean bag chair next to the projector.

Gallus blinked. He was sure that both Ocellus and Yona were looking at her oddly. Whatever the case, this drama was becoming torturous. “Okay,” he said, turning back to the projector. “It’s time to start.”

~•~

Where did they go?

Mr. Black saw the dragon and changeling enter the library and waited a minute before following. When he entered, however, the two were nowhere to be found. He searched up and down every aisle, even checking the office, but there were no signs of either of them. They disappeared so seamlessly.

He was almost impressed. Almost impressed. A long career had taught Mr. Black that surprises can — surprisingly — be found in the most obvious locations. Of course, there was no way they would get out through any windows when they were outside only minutes ago. That meant whatever passageway they used had to be inside.

Mr. Black walked around the library some more, mulling over ideas in his head. Then, he saw it. A rug with buffalo-Indian patterns that was slightly nonadjacent with the rest of the room. A subtle draft was coming from beneath it.

He pulled it aside, revealing a large golden grate. A ventilation shaft. It was possible that the changeling used her magic to place the rug back over the grate for precaution.

Mr. Black grasped onto one of the bars and pulled. Sure enough, the grate lifted into the air. The possibility that they left the room through here was a strong one.

~•~

Starlight jolted upward from her desk, ears twitching and a thin line of drool dripping down her chin. Something woke her up. Was she asleep? She didn’t remember falling asleep. Whatever the case, she heard a loud bang and it was enough to startle her from unconsciousness.

She stared at the door on the other side of the room, knowing that the sound came from the hallway. Should she go out there and check? No, Starlight thought. I don’t think I want to.

Starlight had already witnessed two deaths, and if the creature that had been haunting her life for the last forty-eight hours was out there, it would mean that she would witness a third. Unless, she would be the third.

No, that’s insane. Starlight is insane. Starlight caught her own thoughts and corrected them. I’m insane.

Another bang echoed in the hall, and Starlight jumped back slightly. She had to go check. If it was that thing then perhaps she could stop it before it killed another student.

Starlight closed the office door behind her and turned back to the hallway. It was so peaceful that one would almost doubt the idea of a dead student just a few meters from the exit door. No, no murder here. Try somewhere else.

All it took was one step. One step forward, and a door opened. Starlight watched as it slowly widened. She was almost too dumbstruck to investigate it. Then it slammed itself shut.

Starlight hopped back in terror. She was about to go back into the office and slam the door shut, perhaps barricade herself in so that whatever was out there couldn’t get her. Then, the door opened again, this time a little quicker. It hung wide open, almost like it was inviting her to come inside.

Part of her was tempted, while the sane part of herself wanted to go back into the office and pretend that all of this was a dream. Only, it felt real. If Starlight really wanted to be the great headmare she thought of herself as, she would go into that room and deal with whatever thing that was trying to get her attention. So, she did exactly that.

The door of her nightmares also happened to be the door that led into the headmare’s bedroom, which scared her a little. If whatever was in there had been there in a while, that meant there was a possibility that it was looming over her as she slept. The only reason Starlight was able to push this spot into the back of her mind was because (a) she was currently pursuing that monster and didn’t want any distractions and (b) if this phantasm really was in the bedroom with her it would probably have killed her already.

Starlight was now at the door. Her head poked through the doorway. The room was well-lit. Sitting in the center of her canopy bed was a box. A box that looked familiar yet strange. Starlight could have sworn she saw it before. It had gold bindings running along its edges and looked to be rusted. Surely, it was made up of some metallic material such as iron.

Starlight got a good scan around the room in case it was a trap. When she saw that no monsters would come out from any dark corner and maul her, seeing as the bright lighting ensured there were no dark corners, she stepped in. Immediately, she felt a draft that sent shivers down her spine. The light of the room dimmed for a moment but returned quickly.

Starlight hesitated. Was this really the right thing to do? She was already losing her mind. Perhaps this was some bizarre reality where her delusions had taken on a persona. Perhaps she was still asleep in the office and this was only a nightmare, one that felt so real yet so unnatural. Perhaps this would answer every single one of her questions. Whatever the case, Starlight wanted to know what was in the box.

She undid the golden clasp in the center and lifted the lid of the small chest. The inside was decorated with a special padding the color of red velvet. In the center of the padding was the imprint of where a specific object should have been.

Starlight sat on her haunches and lifted the chest into the air to get a better look at it beneath the lights. She was sure that she saw it somewhere. Maybe in some alternate timeline where it had an importance to her. In this one, however, all she could see was an empty box that looked vaguely familiar.

BANG!

Starlight dropped the box onto the floor and swiveled around, chest heaving in and out, her heart clambering to get out. The door was closed. She ran over and twisted the knob. Locked. She was locked inside. Her mind flashed to two nights ago, when she was being chased by that thing. An idea came to mind.

Starlight’s horn erupted into flares of turquoise. The aura surrounding her horn blinked before pattering out and dissipating. She tried again, but this time it only sparkled. Her horn was useless.

Starlight was trapped in the room.

~•~

Smolder unraveled the scarf from around her neck, dropping a bag full of greens that she was hiding. They were now some ways into the movie and everyone was too invested to notice her drop it. Everyone but Gallus, who was sitting between her and Silverstream.

“Yo,” he whispered, pointing down at the bag. “What’s that?”

Smolder picked the bag up and unzipped it. “It’s bud, son.”

“Let me guess, the school regulates it for you.”

“Nah, I jacked it from my brother’s stash when I went to visit him on his hatchday.”

“Wasn’t that six months ago?”

“Yeah, shit’s probably lost some of its potency by now, but it’s still usable.” Smolder reached into the bag and took out two small pieces of paper. She held them out toward Gallus. “Want one?”

“Sure.”

~•~

“Ayy, who wants to get high?”

Everyone looked toward Smolder’s direction.

Yona leaned into Sandbar’s ear and asked, “What does that mean?”

Sandbar swallowed a mouthful that came from the bundle of marshmallow-twisters he was guzzling on. “It means to achieve a state where you feel absolutely amazing.” He held the bundle of marshmallow-twisters out toward Yona. “Try it, you’ll know what I mean.”

His eyes felt itchy all of the sudden. I knew they would regret not trying my snacks, he thought.

~•~

Gallus took another huff and coughed. “I could go for some pizza,” he said.

He got up from his beanbag chair and nearly fell when a rush came over him. The rush receded, and Gallus went to the back of the room. He leaned back into his beanbag chair, holding the box of pizza over his lap. He lifted the lid and took out a slice.

“Damn, that’s good,” he said as his taste buds orgasmed. He reached over to Smolder and tapped her on the shoulder with the back of his talon. “Wanna try this pizza?”

Smolder huffed on her blunt. And kept huffing. And kept huffing. Finally, she let loose, a cloud of smoke billowing out of her mouth like a steam pipe. “What flavor is it?” she asked with the puffs of gray mist covering her face.

“Pizza flavor.”

“Nah, I’m good.”

He leaned toward Silverstream next and poked her shoulder. She didn’t look up. The hippogriff remained fixated on the movie.

“Hey,” he said. “Do you want to try this pizza?”

“I’m good,” she whispered. “Thanks, though.”

Gallus squinted. Silverstream was watching the movie, but it clearly wasn’t the first thing on her mind at that moment. Was she still upset about the fight with Ocellus? Gallus did notice that she was wearing her emotional support sweater, although she probably put that on when she found out that Lemongrass had died. He would have to talk to her after the movie so that they could work out something together.

Gallus mentally slapped himself. He wouldn’t have had that realization unless he was high, and he wouldn’t have the realization of the realization unless he was high. Shit, he thought. I’ve been a shit boyfriend so far.

It took Sandbar telling him that he fucked up by leaving Silverstream by herself for him to go check on her, and he made his lack of care for the death of a fellow student a little too clear. He couldn’t help it if he felt numb to reality sometimes. Growing up in Griffonstone was harsh, and it taught him a lot of important life lessons. The main one being: life is meaningless; live for yourself instead of others because only you can provide yourself fulfillment.

This philosophy changed when he started attending the School of Friendship. Yet, it still returned every once in a while, and he had to remind himself to stay loyal to his friends. This. Is. What. He. Lived. For. Not for himself, not for any so-called family member back in Griffonstone, but for his friends.

Gallus made a mental note, hoping that he would remember all of this when he wasn’t high. There were clearly some things that he needed to work on, but not now while everyone was trying to have a good time. He took another huff from his blunt.

Damn, this weed was some good shit.

~•~

Ocellus woke up to a scream.

She leaned forward in her bean bag chair and stared up at the screen. A black-and-white mare cocooned in web was screeching at the top of her lungs. The screen shifted, and a spider was approaching her. Cut back to the mare, this time her face was closer so that Ocellus could see the contours of her mouth widen in terror.

Ocellus knew this look. It was the look someone makes when they realize that they are about to die. It satisfied her.

The spider came into full frame, concealing the mare from view.

Crunch!

This dissatisfied her. She wanted to see blood. She wanted to see every single detail as the spider ate pieces of the mare one-by-one. She wanted to see the spider interject her with its poison and watch as the screen did a timelapse of her insides liquifying. Most importantly, she wanted to get that infernal stench out of her sinuses.

Ocellus rolled out of her bean bag chair, and the yak next to her did not seem to notice. Now was the perfect time. None of these peasants would notice her leave. If any of them asked, she would just say — oh how would this changeling put it? She would go out for a “tinkle” or whatever. That would get them to back off.

Or, she could go the other route. They were all alone, after all. Who would notice? They were far away from the school where no one could hear the screams. Why, it would probably take days to find them.

It’s best to remain incognito for now, she thought. One of them could escape, and it could provide an obstacle for my plan.

Ocellus began walking toward the stairs.

~•~

Silverstream’s attention was drawn away from the screen, following the movement at the corner of her eye. Ocellus was getting up and making her way toward the stairs.

~•~

Starlight lowered to her haunches, eyes fixated on the door.

~•~

Mr. Black arrived at a trisection in the cavern.

~•~

Silverstream got up from her bean bag chair and made sure to walk behind the projector like Sandbar said so that her silhouette didn’t block the movie. She had to speed up her pace a little, but she managed to catch Ocellus just as the changeling reached the newel post.

“Ocellus?”

Ocellus stopped. She turned around, her occeli wide and… depthless.

~•~

Starlight already lost track of time, sitting there and waiting for something to happen. Her eyes kept shifting to the decorative sundial clock hanging on her wall, but the numerals were difficult to make out from this position. When did she have time to hang it up?

That didn’t matter. What mattered was that she was still trapped in this room and that at any moment, Starlight just knew something would occur.

The lights dimmed, and the door slowly began to open.

~•~

“I know how you feel,” Silverstream said.

Ocellus gave her that same blank expression she was giving before.

“I’ve dealt with loss. I know what it’s like to lose a friend. I lost a lot when the Storm King took Mount Aris.” Silverstream swallowed. Reliving the memory was still hard to this day. “I lost a lot during the raid.”

Ocellus remained expressionless.

Silverstream scrunched her face up into one of confusion. “Ocellus, I’m trying to connect with you. I know it’s difficult, but trust me. It will be much better if we have a heart-to-heart about this.”

~•~

The door opened all the way to reveal… Starlight.

Starlight blinked. The doppelganger looked exactly like her, only in place of her eyes were two bulbous ocelli.

The Starlight doppelganger greeted her with a sneer, her form blinking in and out of existence.

~•~

“You’re right,” Ocellus choked. “I’m sorry I yelled at you earlier. I didn’t mean anything I said. I’m just really confused right now.”

Silverstream gave Ocellus a small smile and placed a talon on her shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay. We can work on this together.”

Ocellus embraced her, throwing her hooves around the hippogriff's neck. Silverstream was stunned at first, but then she raised her arms to wrap them around Ocellus’s carapace.

Do it now.

Opening her mouth as wide as possible, Ocellus shifted her left hoof so that she could push Silverstream’s face away and chomped down on her neck.

~•~

Mr. Black heard a scream. It came from one of the tunnels, but which one? It didn’t matter. If someone was in danger, then he had to act fast. He took off toward the center tunnel.

~•~

Silverstream screamed and fell back against the floor, cupping a talon over the bleeding wound on her neck. Ocellus stood before her, mouth full of feathers. She spat them out, trying as hard as she could to get the taste out of her mouth.

By now everyone was staring at her wide-eyed. Clearly, all of them were confused. That was fine. They didn’t have to be confused for much longer; not in a minute from now, when they would all be dead.

~•~

Gallus couldn’t register it, and not just because he was high. First he heard a scream come from the right side of the room, then everyone jolted up in terror. Second, there he saw Silverstream falling to the ground and cupping a talon over a spot on her neck that looked particularly bloody.

Ocellus stood beside her, Silverstream’s feathers in her mouth. The changeling spat them out, and before Gallus could even comprehend what just happened, Ocellus’s teeth suddenly became sharp.

She smiled back at all of them so that they were in full view. “Welcome, everyone, to your deaths.”

~•~

Starlight was petrified. Horrified. Electrified. Several emotions coursed through her body at once, and even more questions ran through her head. Yet all she could do was sit there and gawk at her doppleganger with dumbfounded shock.

“Hello, Starlight,” it said. For the brief moment that its mouth was open, Starlight could see the sharpness of its teeth.

“Who are you?” Starlight said. She dropped the chest to the floor and stood at a ready stance that would allow her to spring into action. Whether it would be chasing after the foul thing or charging into a magic battle, Starlight would be ready.

The doppelganger giggled and tilted its head to the side, emitting several loud popping sounds. The lights in the room dimmed and brightened, dimmed and brightened, dimmed and brightened.

“You’ve been very helpful,” said the doppleganger. It had the most peculiar voice Starlight had ever heard. It had that chocolatey sound that only a caring mother could give but carried none of its warmth. It was a culmination of everything wholesome on its way to obliteration.

“It’s thanks to you,” she continued, “that I know where I need to go next.”

The lights dimmed again, and the doppelganger vanished. Starlight jolted her head back in shock and was about to run into a hallway to investigate where the doppelganger went when she felt something breathing down her neck.

Starlight turned, and for the brief moment that the lights brightened again, she had the perfect view of its face. She jumped backwards, rear-end bumping into the bedside stand and knocking over a lamp. Starlight’s magic flared, and she fired a magical beam into the doppelganger's face.

Starlight was sure that she would hit it, but the lights dimmed once more and the beam phased through the being like it was made of pure entity. She heard a crash, the lights brightened, thousands of splinters from an exploded wardrobe went flying across the room, and the doppelganger was nowhere to be seen.

“Yoo-hoooo!”

Starlight shot her head back toward the doorway. The lights came on again. The doppelganger stood there, waving and giving her a mocking smile. It shifted its hoof a smidge and beckoned her to follow.

“Your students might be in danger. It would be a tragedy if they were to die all of the sudden.”

Something in Starlight snapped. Just looking at the thing’s face was enough to make her send magic signals to her horn. A brightness filled the room, and Starlight sent the most powerful beam she could muster the monster’s way.

She didn’t stop there, not even to acknowledge the gargantuan hole where the door to the teacher’s lounge should have been. Starlight ran into the hallway, horn charged and ready to fire another blast.

“My, you’re very pessimistic.”

Starlight swerved so that she was now facing the doppelganger, who must have been standing twenty feet away from her at the end of the corridor where it bisected.

“I didn’t say I would kill them!” it called. “Well, maybe a different I, although it would be a shame if you weren’t able to make it in time.”

“Shut up!” Starlight screamed. She began to run, run, run, as fast as she could, almost tripping at one point, but nothing was going to stop her from reaching the end of the corridor. When she was only seven feet away, the doppelganger ran down the corridor to her right.

I’m not going to let you escape. Starlight thought. This was it. She would finally capture the thing that had been murdering her students and be at peace with herself.

Starlight swerved hard at the corner, skidding and almost flopping down against the floor, but her adrenaline was too pumped for her to fall. She continued running, then stopped.

It was dark, and bunches of crystals sprouted from the walls. She was in a cavern. Starlight looked back and saw the same thing behind her. She was no longer in the corridor. She wasn’t even in the School of Friendship anymore.

~•~

The room grew silent. The only sound to be heard came from the vile music of the film as a giant spider trampled over an obviously fake set of Canterlot. On the other side of the room, Ocellus provided everyone in the room a toothy grin that showcased the sharpness of her teeth.

Silverstream squirmed on the ground, clutching a talon to the bleeding spot on her neck. It wasn’t bleeding profusely, so clearly she didn’t bite into an artery. That was okay. Ocellus would finish her off soon enough.

“So,” Ocellus croaked. Her voice sounded both dry and old. “Who wants to die first?”

Everyone was too shocked and bewildered to say anything. Was this really Ocellus they were looking at, or was it some bizarre, twisted up version spat out into the world by Cerberus? Gallus was the first to take a stand.

He padded up to Ocellus, passing Silverstream, who by now had stopped squirming on the floor and was now staring at the changeling in wide-eyed shock.

“Ocellus,” Gallus said. He jabbed a claw into her chest. “What’s going on here? Why did you attack Silverstream?

Ocellus’s head slowly twisted. Gallus retracted his claw, stepping back and staring at her with widened eyes. With the movement of her neck came a loud popping sound. Her ocelli locked on him.

“Your friend is gone,” Ocellus said. No, it was no longer Ocellus. At least, not in the eyes of her friends. It was now an it. A thing. A creature without specificity. Ocellus would never act this way. She would never attack Silverstream, and she definitely wouldn't make threats to kill all of them.

Yona cast a worried glance toward all of her friends. “What’s wrong with friend Ocellus?”

“Ocellus, Ocellus, Ocellus…” the thing mocked. “I have no time for the likes of you to figure out what’s going on. Shut up and die.”

It leaped toward the petrified Silverstream, mouth extended, teeth ready to clamp down on her neck once again to finish her off. Then the world turned and the changeling was now falling sideways. Gallus had tackled her midleap and was now pinning her to the ground.

“Stop this!” Gallus screamed in her face.

It laughed, throwing spittle onto his beak. “You look so stupid when you scream. Come to think of it, you all look stupid when you are scared. Perhaps it’s the adrenaline kicking in when you realize that you're about to die.” It extended its tongue out and licked its lips serendipitously. “I can taste it. It’s delicious. It’s flavorful with so many emotions. You’re all scared and confused and worried for your friend Ocellus. However, these are just spices.”

It relaxed its body against the floor, sneering up at Gallus. “The real entrée is the brain.”

“Shut up!” Gallus snapped. He reached his right talon up into the air and brought it down toward Ocellus’s face. It was clearly expecting this.

It caught his talon in its magic, and before Gallus could even think about pulling it back, it bit down on his smallest claw.

He screamed, trying to pull his talon away from its mouth. Now everyone was on him, pulling Gallus away from the demented thing on the floor.

Smolder wrapped her claws around its head and chin, prying its mouth open. Gallus fell back, cradling his finger, the others catching him.

“The fuck is wrong with you?” Smolder screamed in Ocellus’s face.

It headbutted her in the eye, its horn barely missing the cornea. Smolder pedaled back, holding a claw over the left side of her face.

A bright blue light filled the room.

~•~

Mr. Black arrived at a dead end. Rather than stop, he immediately swerved around and ran the other direction.

~•~

The cave was never-ending. Starlight kept running, and running, and running, but it never stopped. Her adrenaline was pumping so fast that the crystals along the cave’s walls became a blur. She was going to catch this killer. She was going to stop them.

~•~

The projector whirred, sputtering its demented light in Ocellus’s direction. If it even was Ocellus at this point. Smolder sat up from the floor staring at the monster from across the room. The light of the projector flickered, revealing the creature in all of its glorious and hideous details in small intervals. Although, the most she could make out was its silhouette.

It raised one of its many spider-like appendages out, bringing it down where Silverstream was laying. The hippogriff rolled out of the way just in time, the crystalline floor exploding into a shrapnel of tiny crystal chips.

She had to do something. Fast. If not, then her friends would die. There was no second-guessing. Not here. Not now.

Smolder took to the air, gliding across the room. It was crawling along the floor toward Yona, who was huddled beneath the tiny table the projector was sitting on, shaking uncontrollably. It brought one of its appendages up, flipping the table over. Smolder didn’t think she ever heard Yona scream like that.

She slammed into its side. Just like Smolder expected, it barely budged. But the creature did shift in her direction. Now it was her responsibility. It leaped after her.

~•~

Starlight finally exited the cave. Snow fell lightly from the sky. The area was calm and serene. Almost too serene for Starlight’s liking, at least for now.

She got a good look around her, and recognition dawned on her face. She was at the Castle of the Two Sisters. Why did it bring her here?

Starlight’s ears twitched. She heard something — something like a screech. She looked up at the Treehouse of Friendship. An orange light emitted from the window, glowing bright like fire.

~•~

A loud screech grated Silverstream’s ears. Tears were dripping from her eyes, and her neck stung bad. She huddled up in the corner of the room, away from the commotion. Or, as far away from the commotion that she could get.

Was that thing really Ocellus? She couldn’t believe it, even if it bit her on the neck. She didn’t want to believe it. There was no way that thing was really her.

An orange light filled the room, and flames devoured the creature. Smolder swooped up, halting midair to look down at the creature. She waited for the smoke to clear. Before it did, however, something large and blue shot out of the cloud.

Smolder didn’t even have time to react before it grabbed her by the tail and brought her down against the floor face first. Silverstream screamed. She wanted to run over to the dragon and help her, but there was an even larger dragon lingering over her.

Its scales were cyan, its giant form almost touching the ceiling. It reached a claw out, which was definitely much bigger than Silverstream and picked Smolder up.

Silverstream thought she was about to witness the end of her friend’s life where the creature would bring her head to its mouth and bite down on it as if it were merely chewing on a lollipop, but Yona came barreling across the room. The yak jumped, ramming into the humongous dragon’s side headfirst.

It roared, dropping the unconscious Smolder onto the floor and swiping a backhand at Yona, who got smacked aside as if made of paper-mâché.

~•~

Sandbar rolled aside, narrowly avoiding the yak hurdling past him. Yona landed with a resounding crash, smashing the table that she was once hiding under into bits and pieces. Sandbar worried for a moment if the thrashing hurt her, but the yak rolled over, shaking the wooden fragment from her coat as if not hurt at all.

Sandbar gawked. He looked at Yona, he looked at the creature, and he looked at Smolder’s crumpled up form laying on the floor. He smelled something burning.

The bedsheet they used to display the movie against was burning from Smolder’s blast. Sandbar had an idea. Since the projector was a heirloom from grandfather, and the film reels were about the same age, would that mean —-

Ocellus — if it even was Ocellus anymore — let out a blood-curdling screech. Sandbar threw his hooves over his ears before they started to bleed. A bright glow filled the room again, and he knew he had to act fast.

~•~

This time it took the form of a griffon with cyan feathers. It lunged swiftly toward whoever was closest — which happened to be Gallus.

Gallus jumped back, using his wings to support him through the air, but he wasn’t quick enough. Its claws raked across his stomach, leaving four long gashes. He stumbled on his back legs, clutching his midsection with both talons.

The creature didn’t give him time to register his pain. It tackled him to the ground, pinning him down. Wrapping its right talon around his neck, it sneered down at him. “My,” it said. “How the tables have turned.”

Its claws felt like a vice around his neck. The more he squirmed, the tightener its grip became. It was like whatever he was fighting didn’t even take on the proper properties of a griffon. It was stronger, more agile, more —

Something hit the back of the creature’s head, a loud clanging sound banging against the floor, and it released Gallus from its deathly grip. He breathed in a huge gulp of air.

“Are you stupid or something?” it said.

“Uhh,” Gallus heard Sandbar say. He sat up and saw the empty reel laying on the floor next to the pseudo-griffon’s feet. Gallus realized that Sandbar must have thrown it to get her attention.

“I’ve done nothing but dominate you scoundrels for the last few minutes, and that is the best attack you can muster?” It took a step forward. “Your little group has done nothing but annoy me so far. None of you should even be alive. It makes me sick. Absolutely sick that I have to waste my greatness on the likes of you.”

Whoever this is, Gallus thought. They kind of have an ego.

Then he saw it.

Gallus stood up, not even caring if the thing in the room noticed him. Sandbar was standing next to the burning bed sheet on the wall, which by now was half depleted. Smoke was filling the room fast. He could also see that Sandbar was clutching something to his chest.

“Don’t come over here!” Sandbar blurted. “Or I’ll… or I’ll…”

Gallus remembered something Sandbar told him earlier. The pony had said very matter-of-factly that the tape inside of the film reel was made with celluloid, which was combustible. Throwing the burning bed sheet over the creature was one thing, but tossing the film reel its way immediately after?

Gallus didn’t know what to think about that plan. On one talon, this thing was trying to kill everyone. On the other, it really might be Ocellus. He didn’t know. If it was her, then he couldn’t let Sandbar do what he was about to do.

The thing took another step toward the pony. Sandbar jolted further back into the corner with wide-eye terror. Gallus’s heart was thumping in his chest. Could he do it? No, nor could Sandbar kill a close friend. Could Gallus jump the thing’s back in time before the pony made a move he would regret? He was about to find out.

“Damn, looks like I missed the midnight screening.”

Or maybe not.

Everyone including the creature turned to look at the new person in the room. Standing by the newel post was the very hippogriff detective that confronted Gallus and Silverstream at Sugarcube Corner. Gallus was dumbstruck. Did he tail them here?

He didn’t have time for another thought, because in that instance the creature let out a blood curdling scream. It moved so fast that Gallus could feel the air as it swiped passed him, its wingtip brushing against his chest. Gallus stepped back, heart dropping. If that thing really wanted to, it could turn its attention away from the new guy in the room and go back to choking him out. Gallus was admittedly a little thankful that it had its different target set — although not so thankful because this one barely had time to register the attack.

The creature hopped into the air, gliding across the room with its claws out. This was it. Gallus was about to watch someone get mauled to death, and there was nothing he could do about it. The thing was too strong to be taken out. Yes, they could evade it, but eventually everyone in the room would get tired and it would seize its opportunity.

In the very instance that it reached the detective, the hippogriff lowered to his stomach and reached his right talon out, latching onto a fistful of feathers on the false-griffon’s chest. With a quick swivel of his body so that he was facing the other direction, he brought his foreleg down in a long arc so that the creature hit the floor belly-up with a resounding thud.

“Well,” the hippogriff said, staring down into the eyes of the demented thing, both of his foretalons pinning its head. It looked back up at him with pure hatred. “My mother always said that I’d have girls falling into my arms.”

“Die!” It brought both of its talons up, wrapping them around the hippogriff's face. Gallus winced, expecting it to rake its claws down his cheeks.

The hippogriff reached and jabbed a single claw into its neck. It stopped, its talons still wrapped around his face.

“Dieee…” the thing croaked.

Its talons slid off the hippogriff’s face, hovering in the air above its now limp body. He stepped back, giving the thing room.

Gallus blinked. What did he do to it? What did he do to Ocellus?

The thing rolled over onto its stomach lazily, bringing its head up. It bobbed side-to-side uncontrollably, a thin line of drool dripping down the side of its beak. “What did you…” it said. Its legs wobbled as it struggled to stand up fully. It was only able to get its frame about a foot off the ground.

“I’ll… I’ll kill you!” It lurched forward.

The hippogriff stepped aside, the thing stumbling and falling back onto the ground.

“Elephant tranquilizer,” the hippogriff said. He held up his right talon, smirking and extending a single claw. “Never know when it will be useful.”

The thing rolled onto its side. A light filled the room, the frame of the griffon reverting back to changeling shape. When the light cleared, Gallus was delighted to see Ocellus’s regular form. He had almost forgotten that that thing was her.

Ocellus reached a hoof up, brushing it against the hippogriff’s chest. He did not even flinch at her touch. After holding it there for a moment, her hoof drooped down slowly, dropping to the ground.

Everything fell into silence.

~•~

Starlight didn’t know what to think. When she rounded the newel post at the top of the stairs and saw the discord of the room, her mind went blank for a moment. She had expected a million things. She did not expect to see six of her students sprawled across the room with traumatized looks on their faces.

Then, her mind cleared, and Starlight realized how thick the air looked. Her eyes shot toward the corner of the room where a bed sheet — now three quarters depleted — was burning against the wall.

Without hesitation, her horn flared and a bright turquoise beam shot across the room, hitting the sheet. The flames dissipated with a loud ssssssssss, tendrils of black smoke the only remnant. The bed sheet emitted a subtle frost from its snowy surface.

Starlight turned her attention away from it to examine the room. When she had run up the stairs, her eyes met with Silverstream’s, who was cupping a talon over her neck. Sandbar stood in the corner opposite of the room next to the bedsheet, clutching a film reel to his chest and trembling, looking as if he had just witnessed the most traumatizing thing that he will ever see.

Smolder was laying down on the floor. Starlight worried for a moment that the worst had happened, but then she could make out the subtle movement of her form extending up and down as the dragon breathed. Starlight let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, her heart fluttering.

Standing in the middle of the room, staring back at her, was Gallus. A cherry red liquid was dripping from his stomach, onto the floor.

None of this was what shocked Starlight the most. Standing directly in front of her, towering over an unconscious Ocellus, was Mr. Black.

Various emotions flared at once. First she was terrified for everyone in the room, then she was relieved, then she was angry, and now… well, now she didn’t know what to feel. Starlight’s mind was blank. The killer led her here on purpose, but for what reason? Confusion. That was right. That was what she felt. Nothing but confusion.

~•~

Darkness. Nothing but darkness, first and foremost. Darkness was all Ocellus could see. Even after igniting her horn so that her magic could be concentrated into a small ball, there was nothing for the light to reflect off of. She was, quite simply, in a purgatory state. Waiting for something to happen.

Ocellus tried screaming, but couldn’t hear herself. She could feel her throat vibrating violently and a loud buzz filling her ears, but she couldn’t make out the sound of her own voice. She tried lifting her hoof and taking a step forward. She could feel her leg moving, but with it came a numbness. It was like her leg wasn’t there but could still be felt.

She was simultaneously existent and non-existent. She was real and make-believe. It was like being in a coma but aware. She might as well be dead. All that remained of her was the memory of herself, a distant glimpse into the past. She might as well not have existed at all.

Ocellus’s vision became engulfed by a bright green light. It dissipated, resettling into that familiar darkness. Only, this time, she was somewhere. A cave. She was in a cave. A green resin emitting a soft glow lined the walls of the cave, drooping from the ceilings so that they took the form of stalactites.

Ocellus looked down and was relieved to see her own hooves. She lifted one, thankful that the strange numb feeling was gone.

She set her hoof back on the ground and looked ahead. Ahead, the cave twisted to the right. Ocellus walked down the path and turned the corner. The area ahead was covered in darkness.

Ocellus continued to move forward. The green resin lined among the cave walls glowed brightly as she passed it. As she walked, she noticed how they diverged from the walls, onto the floors, forming a path that became narrower and narrower the further she went.

Eventually, a thin line of the glowing resin stretching across the ground in front of her indicated that it was the end of the path. Ocellus stopped, unsure of what to do. Was she supposed to remain idle or keep moving ahead?

She didn’t have to wonder much longer. The cave filled with light from all around. It ran along the walls, revealing a wide room. It ran along the ceiling, furcating from each corner toward the center. The light traveled downward, into a huge glob of the resin that hung from the ceiling and formed a giant ball at its end.

As soon as the glow reached its base, the entire room burst with green light. Ocellus had to shield her occeli with a hoof to protect herself from the brightness. When the bright glow died down, she realized that the rest of the room was now visible.

Ocellus uncovered her eyes, setting her hoof on the ground. She froze. In front of her was a crystalized version of the resin taking on the form of a tall dais. On top of that dais, sneering down at her was — was —

No. It couldn’t be. That was impossible. Ocellus couldn’t move, not while she was in her presence. She wanted to run, hide, scream, but she could do none of those. All she could do was stare up at the tyrant and make sure the changeling queen she was staring at was the same changeling that tortured her existence for so long.

It was the same ebony carapace, the same legs spotted with holes all across; it even had the same twisted-up horn and blue silky hair with the crown sitting on top. Yes, it was her. It was indeed Chry—

“Greetings, Ocellus,” said the tyrant. It opened its mouth, giving her a twisted grin filled with sharp teeth. “I am Queen Tiran.”

Author's Note

End of Act 1.