//-------------------------------------------------------// My Little V/H/S -by efug25g- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Prologue: Sleepover in Manehattan pt. 1 //-------------------------------------------------------// Prologue: Sleepover in Manehattan pt. 1 As the video camera turned on, it shows three earth pony mares walking alongside each other while the fourth one is holding the camera before they walked into the house that belong to one of their own. The moment they all face the camera, the earth pony mares are seeing waving their hooves and smiling before introducing each other, with the fourth mare showing her face as well. With her face showing on her own camera, Sunlight Star is seen with a white fur coat with a bright orange mane and has the cutie mark of a yellow star. "Hi, my name is Sunlight Star. I happened to be invited by my friend Green Amber. Which one of you is Green Amber?" The mare spoke as she redirected her camera towards her friends. In response, Green Amber waved her hoof up high as she is seen in a bright green fur coat with, yellow mane, and with the cutie mark of an amber stone. "I happen to be an paleontologist working for Maud Pie in Ponyville." For the other two mares, they walked up to Green Amber before waving 'hello' to Sunlight's camera. "This is also Midsummer Sparks and Valentine Grove." Sunlight said. "Midsummer works as a marine biologist in Manehattan while Valentine works for the Flower Sisters as their assistant florist." Midsummer is seen with a magenta coat with a blue mane bearing the cutie mark of a red comet, followed by three little pink stars. For Valentine Grove, she is seen in a pink coat with red flowing mane bearing the cutie mark of a big red heart with a small laurel shown below it. As all three earth mares smiled, Sunlight continues with her narration. "We all decided to spend a sleepover at Midsummer's dad's house here in Manehattan, since her dad left town to on a business trip down in Ponyville." With all four mares approaching Midsummer's house, they see it to be a plain, white structure with only two stories. The moment they went inside, they spent most of the afternoon playing Ogres and Oubiettes until dinner time. After having dinner, Midsummer takes out a box full of vhs tapes for her friends to watch. Excited, Sunlight brings out a large bowl of popcorn while Valentine brings out a rectangular cake before Midsummer takes out one of the tapes inside the living room. As for Green Amber, she turns off the lights at 7pm before turning on the TV in the living room. The moment all four mares sat on the couch, Sunlight places her recording camera on top of a coffee table left of where she was sitting before Valentine used the remote to press play. With the first few minutes of watching, the four mares aren't aware that somepony else is watching them from outside of the living room, which was shown as a small glimpse of a pony skull silhouette coming from the windows. //-------------------------------------------------------// Sleepover in Manehattan pt. 3 //-------------------------------------------------------// Sleepover in Manehattan pt. 3 "AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Startled once again after watching their second footage, Sunlight and Midsummer get up on their hooves to investigate what happen this time. At the same time, Valentine took off while no pony was looking. "Valentine, what is it??" Midsummer asked as she made a panicked dash towards the source of the screams. As Midsummer disappeared, Sunlight grabs her camera, which is still showing the darkness inside the house. Before she knew it, Sunlight camera then shows that the whole bed Green Amber slept on was completely covered up in fresh blood. "Sweet Celestia!!! Where's Green Amber??" Sunlight gasped in a fright as her footage shows a sobbing Valentine being comforted by a tearful Midsummer. After one minute of weeping, Valentine faces the camera as tears came down her face. "I was about to refill her pitcher of water from the bathroom. But when I got back to where Green Amber is resting, she was gone. And when I turned the bedroom lights on, there was blood all over the bed sheets and up against the walls behind it!!!" "What are we going to tell her parents??" Midsummer asked, seeing that their friend Green Amber is missing. "Let's not panic, every pony. We just need to find Green Amber. I'm pretty sure she's not going to be that far away from where she was last seen." Sunlight suggested to the frightened mares. "Well, we have until morning to find Green Amber. Otherwise, we're in trouble!!" Valentine spoke out, unable to stay her panic for more than a minute. "In that case, I'll go find Green Amber. You two stay in the living room, okay?!" Midsummer said as she makes her daring search around her father's house. "Okay, but be careful." Sunlight replied as she comforted Valentine in Midsummer's place. Just as Midsummer disappeared into the hallways up on the second level of the house, Sunlight and Valentine went to the couch to drink some water in order to calm down from their horrific, unexplained episode. With Valentine sitting at the couch, Sunlight went towards the TV before she inserts another VHS tape. As the TV turns on once again, Sunlight holds Valentine tightly in her hooves when the screen lights up..... //-------------------------------------------------------// Camp for the Night //-------------------------------------------------------// Camp for the Night With the video camera rolling, a little brown filly is seen playing with 6 other fillies on a playground during their first month of summer. In the midst of their giggling and laughing, they happened to be none other than Scootaloo, Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Button Mash. Before then, they all used to be rivals and bullies trying to compete with each other in games of cat and mouse but with Diamond coming to her senses after her stern talk with her mother, they were able to make amends as they started having a birthday party for Sweetiee Belle. With Button Mash holding his video camera, he was able to have on of his own from his father's hand-me downs. In a test drive, Button is now filming the recording with his girlfriend Sweetie Belle and her friends in it. Before any filly could say anything, Diamond was the first to announce herself. "So Sweetie Belle, did you enjoy camping with your friends and your big sister Rarity?" Diamond asked. "I do, literally." Sweetie grinned cutely. "Is there still any other place that you haven't camped out yet?" Silver Spoon asked as she stood in front of Diamond abruptly. "Not that I know of." Sweetie Belle said nervously. "Well, there was this one time when my sister Applejack and her family once visited this one Campsite that used to be an ancient Bison burial ground." Applebloom said out loud. "Though, it only during the time when Applejack was my age. It's already been years since any pony visited that campsite." "Oooo. That sounds thrilling." Scootaloo wooed in excitement. "Maybe we can meet the Buffaloo Cheiftain to see what we can cover up from that place." "I want to see if we can spend one night at the campsite, errr.." Diamond said with interest before changing the subject. "What is the campsite you were talking about, Applebloom?" "It is known as Camp Bloodhoof! It was named after a Bison blood ritual that took place during the ancient times dating back long before the Rift of the Two Royal Sisters." Applebloom spoke in a grimacing tone. "Legend used to say that it was during the time when small Bison tribes used to wage rival wars spilling each other's blood as they were fighting over territories all over the south. To honor their dead warriors during the funerals after each fight, the Bisons take the blood of their fallen brethren and place smears of it on their stone tablets before burying them underneath the sand, all of it taking place in their burial grounds. They do this so that the warrior spirits of their fellow Bison can support them from the afterlife. But now that the Bison tribal wars have ended, their blood ritual is only a thing of the past." "Oh really?" Silver Spoon chuckled. "Well, I'd like to see their ghosts at Camp Bloodhoof, if there are any." "I'm not finished!!!" Applebloom shouted, making Silver remain silent as the earth farm pony continues with her story. "Applejack did warned me that the Bison blood ritual was left unchecked after the Bison tribal wars came to an end. She and her family barely made it out alive. Apart from my family, there were other ponies that made camp here but none of them were seen again. Rumor has it, that the spirits of the dead Bison warriors remain restless as they became hostile to any pony that foolishly ventures into to Camp Bloodhoof. While others say that the last Bison shaman that performed the blood ritual accidentally left behind a mysterious, terrible curse. It was then that Camp Bloodhoof has been sealed off during to a massive string of mysterious pony disappearances happening there. For that, Applejack told me not to go there for any reason or any visit." "That sounds encouraging. I do still want to see this Camp Bloodhoof myself, wouldn't you agree Silver Spoon?" Diamond Tiara said with interest. "Likely so. If we were able to survive there, maybe we can become legends just like our rich parents." Silver Spoon smiled. "What about you guys?" Diamond asked, referring the CMC and to Button Mash who is still holding onto the recording camera. "Do you all want to see Camp Bloodhoof too?" "No." The CMC all said in unison. "Come on, you scaredy fillies you want to prove your sisters and your idol that you're not babies anymore do you?!" Diamond said with encouragement. "What about you Button Mash, do you want to come too?" "Maybe, well I have to talk to my mom first." Button said. "Though, if Sweetie Belle isn't going then I probably shouldn't." "Hahahah!! You are all scared!!" Diamond teased, much to everyone but Silver's annoyance. "NO WE'RE NOT!!!" The CMC and Burron all shouted back in unison. "Well if so, you might as well meet me at the entrance of Camp Bloodhoof tomorrow at 3pm to prove your worthiness." Diamond Tiara announced. "If not, then me and Silver will start without you." The was the last thing Diamond said before Button turned off the camera as he and the CMC went on home to discuss about their choice for camping tomorrow. Next day at 2:50pm.... As Button Mash's camera turned back on, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Applebloom are now seen wearing backpacks for their camping trip. With the CMC walking up front, they marched in a single file line towards the streets of Dodge Junction before they meet with four stallions, all of them seeing with reins attached to their backs. Most of the time, the stallions are meant to carry their stagecoach anywhere as their personal transportation. With Applebloom giving them a bag full of 500 bits, she whispered to one of them in the ear so that no pony else would eavesdrop. In a sudden shock, the stallion felt silent for a bit until he replied with a chilling response. "Young lady, I'm not sure its even worth it. What would your parents say about it? You can't think that lying to them is going to play out for the better." "This is Sweetie's birthday after all. Besides, we have two other ponies that we need to meet up just to prove our worth of young bravery." "I don't think this is a good idea, your families would sue us for this!!" The Stallion continued, feeling nervous on where this is getting at. "Pretty please, it's just only one night." Applebloom begged as her ears bend backwards while smiling sheepishly. "How about 1,000 bits then?" "Okay, okay. But you mustn't tell any pony else afterwards. Once we drop you off, we'll come back first thing early in the morning." The Stallion reluctantly said as Applebloom added 500 more bits to him from another bag. As Applebloom turned towards the camera, she waves for Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Button Mash to climb onboard the stagecoach. After 10 minutes of traveling through the southern desert, they finally reached Camp Bloodhoof. As soon as the CMC and Button Mash got off the stagecoach, along with their camping backpacks, he looks through the camera to see a mountain from a distance away. Though in the next minute thereafter, Button turned his camera to see a tall, wooden sign written in blood that says "Camp Bloodhoof" on it. Below the bloodied writing, there is also a small description as well. It says."Any pony that enters this campground will be your last." "Guys, I have a bad feeling about this?" Button spoke as he approached Sweetie Belle with the camera holstered up to his shoulder. "Come on, Button. Think about this as our date." Sweetie said as she blinked a few times while smiling in a pretty demeanor. "You would've requested the same too if it were to be your birthday too, right?!" "Oh sure, whatever you say my sweet." Button said, as he walked behind his marefriend. *THUMP!!* Up ahead, Applebloom was seen before she tripped forward onto her hooves by something buried underneath the sand. "Applebloom, are you okay?" Sweetie Belle gasped as she galloped towards the earth filly before helping her up. "Ouch, I think I tripped over something." Applebloom grunted as she tried to get up. Before long, the sand got blown away a bit by the wind revealing a half-buried pony skull coming out of the ground. https://camo.fimfiction.net/b3UctDGLqX3dGu8fWj_191h26RffeDx_YO6qY_9Hq7A?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.manebooru.art%2Fimg%2Fview%2F2024%2F10%2F27%2F4037508.png "EEEEEKKKKKKK!!!" Sweetie and Applebloom shrieked as they collapsed on their backs, making Button startled. At the same time, Button almost dropped his camera. No matter, he still held onto it while Sweetie Belle got Applebloom back on her hooves. "W-w-what was that??" Scootaloo gasped as she went up to Sweetie and Applebloom. "I-I-I-I don't know, this thing just came out of nowhere and........" Applebloom gasped, hyperventilating before hearing a laugh coming from behind. As Button turns his camera towards the source of the laughter, he sees that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon appeared from behind the group, both of the carrying camping backpacks of their own. "Sweet Celestia, Sweetie Belle. It's just an inanimate skeleton." Diamond cackled. "You girls should've seen the look on all your faces." Before they could say anything back, Button could hear a ghostly whispered entering into his ear. "Get out of here!!!" "What? Did you girls hear that??" Button Mash, feeling confused and nervous about that he just heard. "Hear what?? Your imagination??" Silver Spoon snickered. "I'm pretty sure its just the wind." "As if, I could hardly feel any wind up here." Applebloom said disgruntled. "Anyway, it's getting dark. We might as well find a good place to camp in there." Sweetie Belle said as she pointed her hoof to the right. When Button turned his camera towards the direction of Sweetie Belle's hoof, she sees several stone building ruins that have lots of shade in them. But Button stills sees dried bloodstains on its stone walls. He doesn't know what to make of it, but he still hears another ominous voice inside his ear in the next minute. "If you and your friends don't leave now, you will belong to us!!!" Button did his best to ignore the ominous voice echoing inside his head as he put his camera on the sand before it shows him and his friends setting up their tents for the night. At night, with all tents setup, Button takes the camera again to continue showing footage of the CMC, Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon sitting all around a campfire as they trade stories of their recent achievements back in Ponyville. In the next minute, Sweetie Belle makes her speech in front of the group of fillies. "So as of now, Rarity continues with her boutique chain all over Dodge Junction with the aid of Applejack. And I was her lovely, little assistant indeed." Sweetie said, ending her story of success with her sister. "Well then, who's next for a bedtime story?" Diamond asked, only to realize that every pony is feeling tired. Before any filly could respond, a sudden gust of wind immediately puts out the campfire. The next thing any filly knew, they heard something heavy landed several feet right behind Silver Spoon. *CRASH!!!* "WHAT THE HAY??" Applebloom freaked out as she jumped out of her hooves. For every pony else, they got an immediate wake-up call after hearing the crashing noise. The next thing they knew, Silver turns around to see her tent get completely smashed like a pancake by a massive falling rubble of stone that came down from a ruined structure behind her tent. "EEEEEEKKKKK. MY BEAUTIFUL TENT!!!" Silver screamed in shock. "WHO DID THIS?? WHO'S OUT THERE???" "YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE!!!!" "Diamond, this isn't funny. Everything I had was inside that tent!!!" Silver replied in anger as she turned her attention towards her best filly friend. "What?? I didn't say anything, Silver!!" Diamond gasped in confusion. "Uh guys?? Where's Scootaloo??" Sweetie Belle asked as her voice spoke offscreen from Button's camera. "I thought she was sitting next to you!!!" Button replied. "Scootaloo!! WHERE ARE YOU??" Applebloom and Sweetie shouted in unison. "I don't like this. May be I should've thought twice before going to camp here." Diamond said in fear. "YOU SHOULD HAVE!!!" Sweetie Belle screamed in anger. "I didn't ask for this!!!" "Sweetie, please calm down. I think we're all way in over our heads here." Button said, before his camera spotted something coming down from the sky. In the next second, a brown filly's head landed right in front of Diamond. It was Scootaloo's severed head!!!" "AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" Diamond screamed as filly's head landed right in front of her hooves. "EEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKK!!! SCOOTALOO NO!!!" Sweetie and Applebloom screamed in fright. For Silver Spoon, she ran like a bat out of hell into the darkness past her fallen tent and out of sight. In a blind fright, Diamond took off towards where Silver ran while Sweetie and Applebloom ran the opposite direction!!! With his camera facing the back of Sweetie Belle, Button ran towards her direction. "Sweetie Belle wait up." "NOOOOOO!! I WANT RARITY!!!" Sweetie Belle wailed. "OUR SACRED GROUND IS NOT MEANT FOR CAMPERS OR SQUATTERS!!!" A ghastly voice boomed from within dead, night sky. *RRRRRUMBLE!!!* Feeling the sandy ground shaken, stone tablets started to emerge from the sandy ground revealing bloodied writings lit up in an alarming, flashing red. The next thing Button could barely see from his running footage was when bolts of red lighting started shooting up straight into the sky, creating ruptures before a giant red eye starts to look down onto the ground. *SSSSSSSSSCCCCCCCCCCRACK!!!* *BOOM!* "W-W-WHAT'S HAPPENING!!!" Applebloom screamed in terror and confusion. "JUST RUN!!!!" Button Mash yelled back, while holding onto the camera as it continues to see his marefriend and Applebloom kept running into a nearby tunnel. Once inside the cave, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Button Mash held themselves up in a hidden alcove while trying to catch their breath. "Did you see where did Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon ran off too?" Sweetie Belle asked, feeling exhausted from all that screaming and running. "No, I haven't." Button Mash replied as he is catching his breath. "Me neither." Applebloom. "I swear, this is all your fault Apple Bloom." Sweetie Belle said as she is drowning herself in anger towards her earth filly friend. "What do you mean, my fault??" Apple Bloom said, feeling confused. "If you didn't mentioned to Diamond Tiara about this place, we wouldn't be in this mess!!" Sweetie Belle growled. "Scootaloo would be alive if we didn't came here!!" "Guys, quiet!! I heard some creature coming!!" Button ordered as he directed the two mares to hide behind the walls of the alcove. The moment to two fillies went up against the walls, Button's camera makes a small peak from the corner. From his camera, he sees a figure of a red ghostly bison walk towards further down the tunnel. It's wearing an Indian headdress and his thumping its hooves menacingly with every step. After seeing the red ghost disappear, Button turns towards Sweetie Belle and AppleBloom before making a whispering remark. "We may got carried away in picking a bad place for a camp night on Sweetie Belle's birthday, but arguing over our friend's loss isn't going to get us out of this mess. We can still escape this place." "Well, if this is over, we are going to have a long talk with Diamond and Silver only if there still alive." Sweetie said, feeling ashamed of what they all got themselves into. "I hope we can do this, otherwise I won't forgive myself." Applebloom said quietly. "Are we ready to escape??" Button asked as he is about to make his first move out of the alcove. "Yes!!" Sweetie and AppleBloom whispered in unison. "Good, let's get out while we still could." Button said as he cautiously walked out of the alcove. While his camera is facing towards the exit of the cave, he could feel Sweetie Belle and Applebloom right behind him as they slowly make their way out. However, in the next 2 minutes, all three fillies could hear a rock crumble from behind. The moment Button turned his camera around, it shows a huge ghostly Bison Apparation appeared before them. https://camo.fimfiction.net/SSFSpjcz0z5L6_E7dY5DmWYtrsHLgt0PYBdXKLaE7Cw?url=https%3A%2F%2Fderpicdn.net%2Fimg%2Fdownload%2F2024%2F11%2F1%2F3477943.png Just as the camera footage adjusts itself, the ghost made a loud ghastly screech, with its eyes and mouth turning into a demonic black facial look of fright. "AHHH!! RUN!!!!" Button screamed as he, Sweetie Belle, and Applebloom made a made dash towards the entrance of the cave. In such panicked scampering, they just barely ran out of the tunnel only for Button to look back with his camera to see Applebloom get impaled by the ghost bison's horns. "NO!! APPLEBLOOM!!!" Sweetie screamed as tears came down her eyes. "A-A-A-Applejack, p-p-please forgive me." Applebloom gurgled as she uttered her last words before being drowned in her own blood. The ghost bison reached out its ghastly hooves from behind as it tore a dead Applebloom apart, ripping her body in two as it watered the sand and stone with a fountain of her blood and bones. "Keep running, Sweetie Belle!!!" Button screamed. With more red thunderbolts shooting up into the sky, more red ghostly bison figures came out of the blood-written tablets, glaring at the two running fillies with anger in their demonic, bloodshot eyes. "THERE IS NO ESCAPE!!!" As Button and Sweetie ran back where their tents are at, Button sees a screaming Diamond Tiara getting ripped apart by a bison ghost. At the same time, Sweetie shrieked once again as she sees a bloodied, mangled corpse of Silver Spoon lying on the dirt with only her upper half showing; with her lower half missing. Just as soon as they're about to reach the sign at the entrance of the camp, Button sees though the camera that a charging bison ghost came up behind Sweetie Belle before it tossed her into the air. "AAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!" Sweetie Belle screamed as she is sent flying against her own will. When Sweetie Belle came back down, she crashed into a stone tablet, breaking most of her bones as the poor mare is unable to move, with the back of her head bleeding out. "Sweetie Belle!! NO!!!" Button wailed as he put the camera down right at the camp's entrance, letting it face himself, his marefriend, and the approaching buffalo ghosts. "Oh, Sweetie Belle. I'm so sorry!!" Button cried as he held his dying marefriend in his hooves. "I'm so sorry!!!" After Sweetie slowly died from blood loss, Button turned to face the ghost bison one more time. "Do you swear to never come back here?!" "I swear!! For the love of Celestia and Luna, I SWEAR I'LL NEVER COME BACK HERE AGAIN. EVER. I'm sorry okay." Button shouted out loud, crying as he started begging for his life. "THIS WASN'T MY IDEA!!!! I didn't want to come here, honest. But this was supposed to be Sweetie Belle's 13th birthday!!!" In just a few minutes, one of the ghost bison came closer to Button Mash before making his response. "WRONG ANSWER!!" The next thing Button see is that the ghost turned demonic once again before it lunged at the poor colt, knocking him down. While off-screen, Button starts screaming while being ripped apart in a squelching, blood gushing sound effect. As Button falls silent, his blood is last seen spewing out in a long stream across his camera footage. *The Camera footage ends.* Author's Note The image posted in this chapter was created by WH189, which is already paid for. //-------------------------------------------------------// Sleepover in Manehattan pt. 2 //-------------------------------------------------------// Sleepover in Manehattan pt. 2 After watching their first vhs tape, Sunlight notices that one of her friends just disappeared without warning. In recalling the first few hours of Midsummer's sleepover, Sunlight gets up before making her counts on her friends. "Guys, where's Green Amber?" Sunlight asked her friends. "I'm pretty sure she went to the bathroom." Midsummer said, trying to be nonchalant since this is their own private party. "Other than that, what does every pony think of that vhs tape, eh?" Sunlight asked her friends as she changes the subject. "I probably may not get any sleep at night. That was some pretty nasty horse crap right there." Valentine shuddered in anxiety. "Even my colt friend wouldn't stand seeing those poor fillies fall prey to such nasty ghosts." "Speaking of which, where did you find those tapes from, Midsummer?" Sunlight asked the one mare that brought the box of tapes to the living room earlier. "Well, they were in my dad's closet." Midsummer said in a nervous tone. "He did told me not to watch any of this since they happened to be recorded by the victims several years back and that they were extremely classified footage. He used to work for Princess Celestia as a private investigator before retiring to work as part of a pony film crew." "When do you think your dad is going to come back home?" Valentine asked Midsummer. "I don't remember, but he did say that he will be back tomorrow morning." Midsummer replied, answering Valentine's brief question. "Did he also know that we're having a sleepover here?" Sunlight asked. "Yes, he only did remind us to not to break anything for now." Midsummer said, acknowledging Sunlight's question. "We'll be done with these tapes before he even knew what hit him." "Anyway, I do feel kind of thirsty." Valentine said as her throat started to get dry. "Hold on a moment, I got some apple cider drinks in the fridge. I'll be right back." Midsummer said as she makes her way to the kitchen from the living room. In a few minutes later, Midsummer shrieked, making both Valentine and Sunlight jump out of the couch in a fright. "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!!!" "Midsummer, is everything alright over there??" Sunlight asked, feeling concerned with her earth pony friend. "No, it's Green Amber!!!" Midsummer's voice boomed from the kitchen. Unsure what Midsummer is getting at, Sunlight and Valentine went to the kitchen to see what is going on there. Before they knew it, they see what Midsummer is seeing. Green Amber is seen laying forward unconscious as a pile of vomit is clogging up the sink, much to everyone's disgust. As much as Sunlight almost puked, she had to get it together before Midsummer came up to Green Amber. "Sunlight, please help me get Green Amber to one of the guest rooms." Midsummer requested as she and Sunlight used their hooves to carry the unconscious mare to their destination at ground floor. After putting Green Amber to bed, Midsummer left behind a wide metal bowl next to her while Sunlight leaves behind a pitcher of water and a glass for her to drink just to make her feel better. "Sweet Celestia, I wonder how did she get sick so soon?" Sunlight asked, feeling concerned for such a small incident. "I did forget to mention that Green is actually allergic to cake." Midsummer pointed out. "I guess she ate too much while we were watching our first tape." "Well, with that aside, are you ready to see another one?" Sunlight asked Midsummer. "Who can say? We might as well continue with our movie night just to ease off worries about Green being nauseous." Midsummer said, agreeing to Sunlight's request. As the two mares made their way back to the living Valentine is already drinking one bottle of apple cider before turning on the TV again, with the second tape inserted...... //-------------------------------------------------------// Black Performance //-------------------------------------------------------// Black Performance On the latest TV channel: "This is the Equestria News Channel reporting in." The female pegasus reporter spoke out loud. "We are on the air to introduce The magic show known as the 'Black Performance' in Las Pegasus. Give it up for.........." In the the next scene during the News, the TV channel shows a huge outdoor stage somewhere in Las Pegasus. With the crowd clamoring in excitement, the two floodlights aimed towards the red curtains while the drums started beating from off-screen. Out came from the stage curtains is a light blue unicorn stallion dressed in a black tuxedo, wearing a dark blue top hat, and with a black cape flowing behind his back. As he shows his face, the stallion has a white mane and a white beard. "Midnight Copperfield!!!!" With the crowd cheering for him and the floodlights shinning down upon the him, Midnight approaches towards the crowd as his horn lights up in a yellow hue. "Good evening, every pony. The GREAT AND MIGHTY MIDNIGHT IS HERE TO SHOW WONDERS BEYOND ALL REALITY!!!!" The light-blue unicorn shouted in triumph. From his horn, Midnight summons 8 tendrils of yellow beam lights that came shooting out to the night sky. As the yellow beams exploded into bright fireworks of gold and red, the unicorn slams his hooves on the stage as black smoke spew out from below. In an instant, the smoke transforms into two pillars of fire as they form into a huge fiery dragon silhouette before it flies above the crowd, much to their amazement. As the crowd gasps with wonder, the dragon disappears into two red sparks as they circled all around back towards the outdoor stage, leaving behind crackling noises before they clashed into each other at the back of the stage. At impact, the two red sparks exploded above the stage as it unveiled themselves into showing Midnight's name with bright showers of firecrackers and lights. Seeing the act clearly, the entire audience clapped their hooves and made whistling noises in amazement as they all started cheering for Midnight, in the midst of an encore. "Wow!!! Midnight sure knows how to make quite a comeback, doesn't he??" The anchor pony spoke from off-screen. "Well, according to his recent background check, Midnight Copperfield has earned his honors from Celestia's School of Gifted Unicorns before graduating." The reporter added in. "Soon afterwards, he disappeared about a month ago but came back as Midnight makes his first performances in Las Pegasus." In other screen, a earth pony is seen interviewing with Midnight Copperfield outside of his breakroom at backstage. "So Midnight, do you have anything to say about your sudden reappearance?" "I won't say too much about why I disappeared after graduation, but all I can say is that, I have been longing to find a way how I should start my very first magic performance on-stage. Of course, with some new magic tricks and with new spells I learned along the way, I succeeded in earning 5 noble prize awards from Princess Luna herself!!!" Midnight said, feeling glamorous and elated in his personal pride. "With that, I like to thank everypony for waiting patiently in my hiatus. Any pony that wishes to see my night magic show, feel free to come to Las Pegasus. Don't be late. I'll be performing one week after this interview." One week later, four hours before Midnight's show...... The camera turns on with the footage on record as it shows Trixie Lulamoon appear inside a room, smiling with glee and excitement. "Hello, every pony. It's me, the great and powerful Trixie. You probably already know everything about me but for my uncle Midnight Copperfield, I have been longing to catch up on old times. In fact, I have been longing to learn something from him to make my shows become just as powerful and great." When Trixie turned her back around, she went inside her duffle bag and takes out an invite using her telekinesis. As soon as she went back to her recording camera, Trixie continues with her personal speech in front of it. "About two weeks ago, I received a small envelope from Mailmare Derpy. It turns out that my uncle invited me over to Las Pegasus." Trixie explained as she shows her invitation up to the camera's screen. "I also relayed this invite with my friends, Starlight Glimmer, her colt friend Sunburst, Maud Pie, Phranyx, and Mud Briar. They were all excited to see my uncle. The more, the merrier as every pony says right? Right now, I'm at Min and Max hotel which is one block away from the outdoor stage." *Knock. Knock. Knock.* "Excuse me guys, I think my friends are here." As Trixie says before turning her attention towards the door leading to the hotel's hallways. Trixie uses her magic to open the doors, she is greeted by a happy Starlight Glimmer and Sunburst. "Hey Starlight, I was hoping when you all show up." Trixie laughed as she and Starlight both gave a welcoming hug, trading happy smiles to each other. "Sorry we're late, Trixie. There has been quite a delay when we all took the train from Ponyville all the way here." Starlight said, apologizing to the light blue unicorn mare. "Anyway, I can't wait to see how your uncle is going to show his next performance on stage." "Twilight could've come too, but her royal errands back at Canterlot is still biting her in the flank every 6 hours." Sunburst added in, feeling guilty that they can't bring Princess Twilight with them. "It's okay Sunburst. As soon as we finish our visit with uncle Midnight, we'll tell the Princess all about it." Trixie said, making Sunburst lighten up. "Anyway, we still have a few hours before my uncle will start his next magic show down at the stage in Sun Salute Amphitheater." "The rest of our other friends will all meet us there." Starlight explained. "I already got the tickets for our reserve seats at the front row in the stage's bleachers. I did felt surprised that your uncle heard about us being your friends earlier over the fact that he bought those tickets for us." "That's perfect, Starlight!!" Trixie chirped in glee. "Let's all get ready. Tonight is the big night for all of us." As Trixie, who is currently holding the recording camera, makes her way to the seats at the front row, along with Starlight and Sunburst, they met up with Mud Briar, Maud Pie, and Phranyx just as the magic show is about to start. With all of the lights turned off, except for the flood lights shinning on the stage, a narrating earth pony appeared from behind the red curtains as he makes his announcement. "Good evening fillies and gentlecolts. Are you all ready to see Midnight Copperfield?!!" The crowd replied with all sorts of loud "Yes" in which filled the entire bleachers with such positive cacophony. Even though Trixie could hardly hear herself or her friends talking, she still is trembling with shock and awe as she is about to see what her uncle has in store for every pony. "BEHOLD EVERYPONY!!" The earth pony bellowed in eagerness. "GREAT AND MIGHT MIDNIGHT!!!!" With the drums beating rapidly from within the bleachers, the curtains unveil themselves as Midnight Copperfield appeared once again from a billowing pillar of black smoke, along with his two assistant mares. With every pony cheering upon seeing Midnight's grand entrance on stage, Trixie waved her hoof up high with a big "Wo!!" Midnight then smiled as he takes off his top hat before making a greeting bow towards the excited audience. Without saying anything else, Midnight ordered his two mare assistants to bring in an iron maiden and a huge purple cannon up on the stage. With determination to impress the audience, Midnight goes inside the iron maiden while one of his assistants lights up the cannon, aiming it up to the night sky. In a few seconds, the cannon blasts up a 90 degree angle as Midnight appeared up above the crowd as he lights up his horn before spinning forward in mid-air. In a fast-rolling stunt, he lights himself up as a magic beam started shooting straight upward before it slammed down in a short arc that let loose a massive screen of doves that appeared from its light. As the doves fly off to the night sky, they all faded away. For Midnight, he used his levitation spell to make himself hover upside down before shooting out two harmless magic beams as they both hit the stage, not damaging it. Instead, the beams drew out an illusion Ursa Minor that only danced on its two feet for only a few minutes before Midnight landed safely on the stage. After that, Midnight used his magic to control the illusion Ursa Minor as it reached its claws up above its head. Just like that, the Ursa minor lets out a crescent rainbow that launched fireworks up 45 degrees upward. "WOW!! This is so awesome!!" Trixie and Starlight said in unified awe. As Midnight continued to do more unique magic tricks and stunts for the next 20 minutes, he finally ends his performance by making himself disappear into a sprout of black fire. Just like that, the crowd started clapping their hooves as they realize that it is the end of another magic show. "That's all for tonight folks. Hope you all enjoy seeing Midnight on stage. Until next time, farewell every pony." The earth pony narrator announced as the lights around the stage turned on again. In the Midnight's break room, with the camera rolling in front of the two ponies, Trixie was the first to meet up with her uncle in person while the rest of her friends are waiting outside. Once alone, Trixie takes a deep breath before making her personal conversation with her uncle while they both sat on their chairs in front of each other. "Hey there my little showoff. It's been so long hasn't it?!" Midnight smiled as he held a cup of coffee with his hoof. "I was about to say the same time too, uncle Midnight." Trixie squeed. "I really want to be just as great as you are." "Don't you think you over accomplished yourself my dear?!" Midnight asked his niece. "I already heard about how your friendship with Starlight Glimmer saved Equestria from the Changelings not too long ago. Well, I do apologize for not being there with you." "Oh it was nothing. Besides, Starlight was the real hero here. After all, she was Twilight's student." Trixie said. For several more minutes of trading conversations between Trixie and her uncle, Midnight soon is getting a little too comfortable with her around. "Care for some coffee, Trixie?" Midnight asked. "Sure thing, uncle." As Midnight turned his back towards the coffee maker, he starts murmuring to himself in a sinister tone. "That stupid mare. She doesn't realize that her uncle's soul belongs to me now. She'll never see him again and very soon, her soul will be mine. The same goes for all of her friends' souls!!!! "Excuse me, uncle. Did you say something??" Trixie asked as her one eyebrow lifted up out of curiosity. "Oh, nothing. I mean, uh...." Midnight stammered as a few drips of sweat came down from his forehead. "I'm just trying to rehearse on my next speech for my next audience. Hehehehheh." Confused, Trixie tilted her head to her side not understanding where her uncle is getting at. As Midnight turned around again to face the coffee maker, his head started to wrack with insecurity. "She and her friends will never get away from me. They can run, but they cannot hide!!!!" "Actually, uncle. I do need some sleep. May be perhaps we can talk tomorrow." Trixie said as she made a small yawn while trying to cover it with her right hoof. "Yeah, go ahead Trixie. I'll seen you around." "Thanks, uncle." Trixie smiled as she gets up from her chair and makes her way out of Midnight's break room. After Trixie disappears, his camera from the left corner is now showing Midnight alone as he started laughing menacingly to himself as his eyes started to turn into an ominous black, with small cracks coming down from his pupils. "Now that I am currently possessing this body, I shall devour them all and swallow their souls to make my magic performance stronger!!!" Cackling to himself, Midnight takes out a huge, black ball from underneath his cape, revealing it to himself as it starts to emit a blood-red aura, much to his excitement. In the next morning, back to her recording camera, Trixie was back in her hotel room as she makes her way to the little dinning room to have breakfast. Just as Trixie is about to take a sip of her orange juice, she heard a loud ear-piercing scream coming from the hallway. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Hearing this, it forced Trixie to spit out her drink as it spread all over the kitchen table. Ignoring the mess, Trixie runs straight towards the doorway to see what is going on in the hotel hallway. Once Trixie's door opens, Starlight and Sunburst appear again, this time with frightening looks on their eyes. "Guys, what in the name of Faust going on??" Trixie asked out of concern. "Trixie, it's Maud and Mud Briar. THEY'RE BOTH FOUND DEAD IN THEIR OWN HOTEL ROOM!!!" Starlight exclaimed in terror. In a frantic reaction, Trixie runs back to grab her camera before making her way towards where Maud and Mud Briar are at, along with Starlight and Sunburst. As soon as they got there, they see a gruesome crime scene before their very eyes. At the doorway, a yellow tape was shown to keep all unauthorized personnel from entering the crime scene. Inside the room, an investigation team is exploring the crime scene as they are taking pictures of evidence to collect. Nevertheless, Trixie uses her magic to levitate her camera to see what is inside the other room, turning it invisible at the same time. Once inside, Starlight casts a small projection screen to see what Trixie's camera is seeing right now, with Sunburst watching as well. Through the camera and Starlight's magic projection, they see that the whole room is covered in blood, the walls, the furniture, the bed, and the floors. On top of the bed, the bloodied corpses of Maud and Mud Briar are both seen lying on their backs in a horrific state. Maud's face is turned to her right with her whole body ripped apart from the inside as her intestines and her heart both fell out as they slid down from her exposed entrails; while her face is seen with a white blank, deathly stare. For Mud Briar, a chuck of his throat was missing as it was gushing out blood from its fresh wound while his body was missing a right hoof. For the rest of his fatal wounds, his chest was ripped apart with his heart missing. Seeing all this Trixie couldn't hold back her vomit as she teleports her camera back to her while Starlight disengaged her projection spell. In seeing the gruesome sight for a few minutes, Trixie vomited on the floor as she loses the very breakfast that she just had. Starlight patted on her back while trying to comfort her. For Sunburst, he makes his grim suggestion to the girls. "Girls, I think we need to get Pharynx and tell him what happened here." Sunburst said as his marefriend and Trixie turned towards him. Late Afternoon...... Outside of the Hotel, Sunburst, Pharynx, Starlight, and Trixie gathered themselves at a picnic table as the 3 ponies told the changeling what happened to Maud and Mud Briar. After the discussion, Pharynx felt horrified by such a nasty sight happening in the same hotel. "Say Trixie, when you went to talk to your uncle after his performance yesterday, did you notice anything strange about him?" Pharynx asked. "Well, he was muttering to himself something about 'souls.' I don't know what to make of it but I did have a nightmare while I was trying to sleep.." Trixie said in a chilling tone. "I find myself inside a black dimension along with my uncle. But before I knew it, my uncle went under a hideous transformation. He was spewed out limbs coming from his back, his teeth became as sharp as a baboon, his hooves turned into long claws, and his eyes turned red. Instantly, he leaped at me at full speed; just like that I woke up, drenched in sweat." "I wonder if this gruesome murder has something to do with your uncle in your nightmare, Trixie. He might be hiding something that might put this whole city in danger." Sunburst pointed out. "I did read several pony news articles in the lobby and I learned that the has been reports of ponies being murdered in a similar fashion in Filly Delphia, Canterlot, and in Appleloosa over the past several months, right after Midnight made his performances in those places." "That's insane." Starlight added in as she is talking to Trixie next. "While you were in your uncles break room, I could hear a dark sinister voice inside my head which is coming in from the same room that you both are in." "I think we need to investigate Midnight's break room during his next performance." Trixie said as she makes her decision. "I guess it will be settled then." Starlight said, agreeing with Trixie's decision. "Pharynx, you still go to see the performance and keep a close eye in case he is heading to backstage. Me, Sunburst, and Trixie will sneak into the break room to see what is her uncle really up to." As the camera from the bleachers is recording the footage, another of Midnight Copperfield's performance is beginning. From within the cheering crowd, Pharynx is up at the top bleachers keeping a close eye on Midnight as he appeared on the stage while holding his ear bud. "Trixie, Midnight is now on stage. You and your friends are clear to proceed." Phryranx whispered, trying to make sure no pony else is listening to the wind of their plan. Back to Trixie's camera, she, Sunburst, and Starlight came down into the hallway backstage to make their way to Midnight's break room. Just when they reach the corner that leads to the breakroom, Trixie's camera catches a glimpse of two earth stallions doing their job as security stallions, wearing dark shades and communicating buds held onto their ears. "Starlight, time to do a knock out!!!" In a silent response, Starlight's horn lit up as she aims her magic at the two unsuspecting security earth ponies. In an instant, Starlight fired a silent spell that put both of them into a deep sleep. Once they're down, the three ponies make their way towards the breakroom as Trixie uses her magic to do a lockpicking spell on the door knob. With one click, Trixie succeed as she slowly opens up the door, letting both herself, Starlight, and Sunburst into the break room quietly. As soon as they slowly close the door, Sunburst used his magic to put the whole room into a silent, invisible lock down so that no pony or creature can hear or see what is going on inside Midnight's breakroom. From the surveillance camera at the bleachers....... After spending 15 minutes watching, Pharynx keeps his eye onto Midnight as he does another magic trick that involves an illusion of a dragon doing acrobatic mid-air stunts. Feeling a bit anxious by sitting on the bleachers with no one to talk to, the changeling felt a chill crawling up his spine as if he is being watched by some pony else from within the crowd. I don't know why, but something doesn't seem right here. Pharynx thought. Back to Trixie's camera, which is placed on top of the Midnight's desk...... While the three unicorns are searching all over the room for clues, Trixie soon finds a small, golden chest big as a buckball inside the closet. Once Trixie uses her magic to take it out and place it on the floor, she opens the top lid to reveal a strange black orb. In a startling display, the unicorns didn't know why would there be a black orb hidden away in a closet. Of course, it isn't until Sunburst notices a small inscription on top of it. As he starts to read it, Trixie listens closely to what Sunburst had to say. "For any pony soul collected, this orb will grant the user gifts beyond their wild imagination. Should they fail to pay the bargain in exchange for their power, the soul of the user will be sacrificed." After hearing what Sunburst just read, Trixie realized something bad happened to her uncle during his disappearance. "Guys, I think my uncle is not who I think he is!!" Trixie spoke in a grim revelation. "He must've invited us over to Las Pegasus as if we are pigs for slaughter." "We have to warn Pharynx!!" Starlight gasped. "He's still up on the stage!!!" Back at the stage surveillance cameras, Pharynx hears a small voice coming out of ear bud. He teleports himself away from the bleachers and behind the structure. "What did you uncover, Starlight?" "We found a strange orb that is meant to collect souls of ponies in exchange for granting the user dark magic. I think Trixie's uncle is setting us all up on the day we got invited by him to Las Pegasus." Starlight's voice whispered. "Well, I guess I should......." Before Pharynx could finish his sentence, he turns around to see Midnight staring straight at him with an evil menace in his eyes. The unicorn went into a diabolical transformation. Midnight is now seen with razor sharp teeth growing out of his mouth, his eyes turning demonic red with black cracks, bloody talons jutting out from his front hooves, while his entire outfit rips itself apart as spikes came out of his back. https://camo.fimfiction.net/-P91rag9mnfA4lSk6pcqtrNk5rYtW-1loKrhtvGO6iM?url=https%3A%2F%2Fderpicdn.net%2Fimg%2Fview%2F2024%2F11%2F12%2F3486230.png "WHAT ARE YOU DOING BACK OF THE BLEACHERS, YOUNG MAN?!" Midnight snarled in a monstrous voice. As Trixie is holding onto her camera, she sees that Starlight is trying to listen to Pharnyx. Unfortunately, they could hear only snarls and growls coming for her earbud. Before they knew it, they heard screams coming from their changeling friend. "NO!! PLEASE. GET AWAY FROM ME!!! GET BACK!!! DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!!!!" "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Disturbed by the screams coming from Starlight's earbud, she stood there in front of Trixie and her camera with horrified silence. In the next minute, the black orb shoots out a dark pillar of magic up to the ceiling of the breakroom making all of Starlight's and Sunburst's spells disappear. Realizing this, the unicorns are now in trouble because their cover just got blown. *SLAM!!* As the doors slammed widen open, an angry, demonic Midnight enters the break room. Aside from his transformation, the color of his horn turned dark red as he menacingly approached the frightened unicorns. "You not my uncle are you?! I should've known. That invite you sent earlier, it was actually all a trap, wasn't it?! YOU SET US ALL UP!!! You killed Maud and Mud Briar!! " Trixie hissed, realizing Midnight's deceit. "Where's Pharnyx? WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?? YOU DIDN'T DO WHAT I THOUGHT YOU DID, DID YOU?!" As Midnight spew out a demonic laugh, he hurled Phranyx's severed, bloodied head towards Starlight. Starlight screamed as the changeling's severed head rolled right in front of the mare's hooves. When Midnight laughed more, he makes his brief explanation. "I met your uncle two years ago in the desert near Saudi Arabia during his so-called disappearance, while entrapped inside the black soul stone you just found in MY BREAK ROOM. He said that he was struggling in learning how to be an independent magician too before he first performed here. So, I gave him a bit of my dark magic as a test drive in exchange for pony souls. He didn't really mind at first when he took the souls of bad ponies. However, after a year of collecting souls that he offered to me, I grew tired of devouring impure souls. Instead, I have a sweet tooth for pure souls, the pure souls of innocent ponies. Of course, hearing this, he felt guilty for being naive when I was helping him get what he wanted. So, he eventually wanted to start over again without me. But by doing so, he threatened to end our contract. So, I showed him the error of his ways." "YOU MONSTER!!!" Trixie shouted as tears came down from his eyes. "WHERE IS MY UNCLE??" "Your uncle is dead, Trixie. Since he refused to pay me back my debts further, his body and his soul are now mine!!! And now that you expose my secrets, you and the rest of your friends shall join your uncle IN TARTARUS!!!" The Demon snarled as more demonic limbs came out of his body. In a sudden move, the pony demon attempted to make multiple strikes at the three unicorns. However, Starlight and Trixie, who put her camera onto the floor, used both of their magic shields to block the demonic limbs from reaching their faces. However, the demon refused to give up as he intensified his strikes harder and harder in trying to break down their magic barrier. However, for Sunburst, he teleported himself behind the demon as he fired a powerful sunbeam spell that set the demon on fire, hitting him in the back straight at the tendrils. "AAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!" "Your foul soul collecting ends NOW!!!" Sunburst roared as he continued to rain sunlight all over the pony demon, burning him from the inside out. Instantly, Trixie teleports herself next to Sunburst as she launches the same burning spell at the demon. With both unicorns hitting the demon with their combined spells, they made him disintegrate into nothingness. "This is for my uncle!!!" Trixie exclaimed in triumph. Upon defeating the demon possessing Midnight's body, his Black Performance came to an end. However, now that Trixie lost three of her friends in Las Pegasus, she sends them back to their respective homelands so that their families can give a proper burial to Pharnyx, Maud, and Mud Briar. For Starlight and Sunburst, they were to first to take the train back to Ponyville. After bidding farewell to both of her friends, Trixie takes the black soul stone outside of Las Pegasus. Once she stops, Trixie uses her magic to destroy the stone as it disintegrates into black smoke, disappearing into the wind. Afterwards, she went back to her hotel room to prepare for her return trip to Ponyville. The moment Trixie sees herself on her camera footage, she makes her last remark. "It was sure a living nightmare to get drawn out into a web of woes and lies. Now that the demonic doppelganger is dealt with, I can only hope that my uncle will finally rest in peace." Trixie huffed in relief. "In the meantime, this is my chance to pack up for my return trip." Just when her nightmare is over, she heard a knock coming from the hallway. As Trixie leaves the camera on top of the dining table and facing the doorway, she opens up the door only to find no pony in sight. She felt confused at first. But before she closes the door, Trixie heard a demonic voice whispering throughout her dorm. "I'm.....just.....getting........started!!" Before Trixie knew it, a black blurring essence came out from the hallway as it struck the blue unicorn in the face. Feeling the impact, Trixie's face started convulsing as she started screaming in pain. "AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!" Trixie shrieked as her head started to have small, black and red lighting bolts shower all over the room as it struck and broke several dishes and all of the mirrors in the kitchen and bathrooms. At the same time, the camera footage started to flash on and off through a static effect before the screen went back to normal. After one minute of screaming, Trixie is seen face-flat on the floor before taking a breather. When she got up, Trixie's grinning face is shown on the camera only to reveal that her eyes have turned red, her teeth turned into fangs, and her horn turned into a demonic red color. As a demonic-version of Trixie stares at the camera screen, she starts snickered and laughing menacingly. "Every Pony's soul will be mine!!!" The demonic voice of Trixie Lulamoon spoke as she laughed like a maniac. *Camera footage ends.* //-------------------------------------------------------// The Asylum //-------------------------------------------------------// The Asylum As the camera footage turns on, the screen now reveals itself to show the topside deck of a Royal Military Airship....... The moment the screen is turned towards the face of the one pony holding it, it shows a young stallion wearing a full set of Royal Guard armor with bright Silver and Blue colors. On his breastplate, he has small three golden medals granted to him by his superiors for his unchallenged aerial combat on the battlefield. For his personality, he is shown to be a white pegasus with a grey mane and tail, following down a blue stripe. For a few minutes of showing himself off, the pegasus colt introduces himself. "TEN HUT, EVERY PONY!!! My name is Captain White Silverblade of the 45th Royal Guard Regiment." The pegasus guard pony spoke out loud. "What is going on right now is me and my regiment are riding on the Royal Airship 'Moon Watcher.' We have departed from Canterlot about 1200 hours ago for we are commencing Operation Hidden Shadows." As Captain Silverblade approached the bow of the airship, he puts his camera on top of his shoulder before facing it towards the whole landscape down below 2000 feet from above. From his footage, there is nothing but endless miles of ocean all around. No matter, Silverblade continues to explain the current situation at hoof. "In Operation Hidden Shadows, we are ordered by Princess Twilight Sparkle to investigate the source of the string of kidnappings that occurred in Canterlot, Ponyville, and in Dodge Junction. From the account of our scouts, they confirmed that the one responsible for this heinous act is none other than the unicorn Zerox Grimhand." As Silverblade cleared his throat, he makes a brief summary of the possible suspect involved in the multiple counts of kidnappings. "When he was a young colt, he used to be one of the students in Twilight's school back at Canterlot. Unfortunately, after five years of studying, he was caught studying forbidden magic of necromancy in his own dorm and is expelled from the school. After that, he left Canterlot along with his flabbergasted family. No one ever heard from him again until like 15 years later." When he notices that Moon Watcher is heading towards a glimpse of what happens to be a rocky island in the middle of the ocean, Silverblade gets further into detail on their destination. "When Zerox was sighted, he has taken charge of a crime syndicate known as the Grimhand Mob Family who is currently operating in an isolated island far off the eastern coast from Baltimare. There, we presume that their HQ was an Asylum that was thought to be abandoned two years ago." Aside from Silverblade's summary over his prime suspect, he changes the subject by explaining a brief description of the Asylum. "They said that the Asylum was known to be the Vaxianus Institute. It was used to imprison about 2,000 mentally violent patients and deranged criminals convicted for crimes committed by reason of insanity; that was its main purpose since it's built 300 years ago. But recently, Princess Twilight Sparkle has ordered a demolition team of 40 construction earth ponies to demolish the building due to its increasing net loss. However, they all disappeared in just one night. There is a possibility that the Grimhand Mob Family has taken over that place on the day of the demolition, considered that the team might be either killed or held hostage as of now." Taking a deep breath, Silverblade added in another description in regards to their investigate at the Vaxianus Institute. "The one in charge of the demolition team was a female earth pony named Limestone Lilac. She is their director that was last seen at the Vaxianus Institute before they all disappeared with her. We also have orders to find Director Limestone and rescue her and any of her remaining members if there are any at all costs as well as neutralizing Mob Boss Zerox once we land." It was the last speech that Silverblade makes before the footage shuts off. As the footage turns back on, Silverblade looks at his roster to explain the names of the guards in his Regiment. "Here we have the pegasus guard pony Lt. Red wings, earth pony colt Sgt. Bucklance, unicorn mare Corporal Feral Cat, earth pony colt Private First Class Rhino Brawler, unicorn mare Private First Class Line Raid, pegasus mare Private Veil Sky, earth pony colt Private Drone Hammer, unicorn colt Private Atlas Volt, and earth pony Private Butcher Nails." With all of the lower ranked guard officers and guard ponies shown below deck, Silverblade goes back to the topside deck as he utters a howl just to get every pony their attention. "ALL HOOVES ON DECK, YA LAZY MAGGOTS!!!" In sudden response, all of the guard ponies came out of their bunks as they make their stance before Captain Silverblade up on deck, saluting him with their right hooves. In their appearance, all of 9 guards are wearing purple guard armor and helmets, bearing Twilight's cutie mark at the upper corner of their breastplates. As they all stood up for his attention, the surveillance camera from the airship's mainmast on the deck shows all guard ponies presenting themselves at their commanding officer at the front on the bow. "You all know why you're here, RIGHT?!" "SIR, YES SIR!!!" All nine guard ponies responded loud and clear. "Remember your training at Canterlot's Boot Camp. You are the finest guard ponies ever to serve your latest ruler, Princess Twilight Sparkle." Silverblade ranted on as he trotted back and forth in front of his guard regiment. "She is counting on all of us to succeed in Operation Hidden Shadows. IF YOU THINK YOU CAN RUN AWAY FROM A FIGHT BEFORE IT EVEN BEGAN, I WILL DRILL A SPEAR DOWN YOUR THROATS AND EAT THEM ALL FOR BREAKFAST!!!" As the guards are doing their best not to flinch, they did their best not to look away as the Pegasus Captain continues with his autocratic speech. "DO YOU WANT YOUR MARES AND COLTFRIENDS TO SPIT ON YOU AFTER DISPLAYING SUCH DISGRACEFUL ACTS ON THE BATTLEFIELD??" "NO SIR!!!" The guard regiment shouted in immediate response. "DO YOU WANT TO COME BACK HOME TO FACE INSTANT BOOS AND JEERS FOR THE REST OF YOUR PITIFUL LIVES?!" "NO SIR!!!" "DOES ANY PONY WISH TO BEAR A DISHONORABLE DISCHARGE AFTER THIS MISSION IS OVER??" "SIR, NO SIR!!!" "I hope not. Anyway, we are eta 15 minutes before we land at the shorelines of our destination." Silverblade said, finally going back to his normal voice. "You all have until then to gear up with your best weapons and equipment. Whatever is waiting for us in that Asylum, don't expect them any mercy. Give them no quarter!!! NOW MOVE OUT!!!" With Silverblade's hoof raised up high, the regiment disperses as they went back below deck to gather their weapons from their bunks. When the footage turns off and turns on again, Silverblade shows his camera that the Moon Watcher has safely lowered itself 10 feet above the shoreline as he is now standing on top of a smooth rocky formation. With the ladder setup, it reached down from the airship to the rocky terrain, allowing the other guard ponies to safely climb down, mostly the earth pony and the unicorn guard ponies that is. As he turned his camera to the opposite direction, Silverblade shows that Lt. Red Wings and Pvt. Veil Sky were the first to secure the landing zone while holding their spears up with their hooves since they're both pegasus guards. Once the rest of the unicorn and earth pony guards deployed themselves onto the shores, they form up behind Red Wings and Veil Sky as they drew out their spears before they marched alongside Silverblade. Silverblade's camera, then, faces the same direction as his regiment is marching towards. It shows that the Vaxianius Institute happens to be an old mansion-like asylum that is filled with broken windows shown from all three levels of the abandoned structure. Down in front, they made their way past a fallen metal gate that is completely rusty and beyond repair. The Asylum is somewhat surrounded by tall, dead trees stripped of all life and its leaves. Regardless of the grim scene, Silverblade's men did their best to maintain formation while holding onto their courage by a thread. Once they reach the fallen main entrance, a dynamite plunger is seen to its right. In luck, the plunger is still armed as it still has its cables leading deep into the darkness of the Asylum, considering that the explosives placed on the building's pillars are still rigged. However, with no pony there to set off the explosives, Silverblade orders one of his guard ponies to stand by the dynamite plunger. "CPL Feral Cat, you are to remain at the entrance until we head out. Once we're all outside, you activate the dynamite plunger, sending this building to kingdom come. Is that clear?" "Yes, sir!! I'll remain until then, sir!!" The unicorn guard replied as she saluted with her left hoof while holding her spear. "Lt. Red Wings, you and PFC Line Raid watch over the airship and its helmspony with your life." "I'm on it, sir!!!" Lt. Red Wings acknowledged as he ordered Line Raid to come with him. "The rest of you, you're all with me!!!" The Pegasus Captain said as he initiated his first following orders to Sgt. Bucklance, PFC Rhino Brawler, Private Veil Sky, Private Drone Hammer, Private Atlas Volt, and Private Butcher Nails. With three of his guard ponies hanging outside, Silverblade and his 6 guard ponies venture into the darkness of the asylum as Atlas Volt lights up his horn, illuminating the path towards the target. For Captain Silverblade and PVT. Veil Sky, they both take out their flares from underneath their wings as they used their feathery tips to hold them up to the ceiling in lighting the place further. Since their lights can only illuminate 25 feet in their 360 radius, Silverblade and his regiment proceeded cautiously towards the signal as he holds onto his hand-held map with his left hoof. With every intensifying beep, he and his squad get closer to the target as it gets louder and louder. At the other side of the darkness within the Asylum, Silverblade and his squad reach two double doors made of rotten wood. Even though a small chunk of it already came off, they still have yet to see what lies behind the rotting doors. With the signal emitted a high-volume beeping noise, Silverblade snaps a finger from his right wing. His guard ponies readied their spears as the Pegasus Captain is about to open the doors with his right hoof. With a slow 'creak,' the doors opened up as it reveals a large round room surrounded by several tall portcullis's. With the heavy darkness looming from within every portcullis and above, no pony could even see what lies beyond such thickness even when using their lights. As they entered into the round room, one of them spots a glimpse of a mare in the middle of the dark area, shrouded by a dark veil. Silverblade, then, faces his camera towards the unknown pony who is sobbing silently as she is unable to show any pony her face. "Director Limestone, is that you?!" Silverblade spoke up as he looked back at his hoof-held map and the crying mare back and forth. "We're with the Equestrian Royal Guard and we are here to rescue you." As the silent sobbing continues, Silverblade turns towards one of his privates for a new order. "Private Nails, check her out?!" "Yes sir!!" As the earth pony Private Nails acknowledges Silverblade's orders, he slowly walks up to the sobbing mare. Unfortunately, as soon as he gets 10 feet closer to her, the mare's weeping transforms from sobbing or low growling. "Hey, miss are you......." Private Nails asked as he is about to be meet with a twisted, scary spectacle. "GGRRRRRAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" The mare screeched as she turned her face towards Private Nails. In a startling display, Pvt. Atlas's magic light has revealed that the mare's face is seen with frightening red eyes, chunks of flesh and bone showing on her cheeks and on parts of her body and with nothing but a bony tail. In an instant, the red-eyed mare lunged at Private Nails as razor talons started to jut out from her hooves. As she jumped on Nails, the screeching mare ripped out his right hoof as he let out an ear-piercing scream of pain. The mare wasn't done yet as she, then, ripped his chest out and tore away his muscle and tissue right in front of the horrified Guard Captain. "SWEET FAUST!! STOP THAT!!!" Silverblade shrieked as he unfurled his wings and zeroed into the crazed mare, using both of his hooves to punch the daylights out of her. When both of Silverblade's hooves punched out the blood-frenzied mare, he sent her flying into a nearby stone wall as her facial bones broke apart. Just like that, the mare collapsed face flat before it blacked out. After taking out the crazed mare, Silverblade flew backwards before landing on his hooves. However, Nails couldn't get up as his throat was already slashed apart before he immediately bleed from his fatal wounds. "GODDAMMIT!!! Captain, we have a man down!!!" Private Atlas shouted as he went to check on his fallen comrade. In one second, Nails made a deathly gurgle before he fell still. The private earth pony collapsed dead on Atlas' hooves. Unable to save Nails, Pvt. Atlas used his hoof to close Nails' lifeless eyes before moving on. Before Silverblade could come up with anymore orders, he and his remaining five guards could hear a diabolical laughter echoing from within the darkness inside the Asylum. "Every pony!! CLOSE RANKS!!!" Sgt. Bucklance said as he gave out orders while drawing out spear with both of his hooves. As Atlas, Veil Sky, Drone Hammer, and Rhino Brawler heed Bucklance's orders, they formed up close to him before they all drew out their weapons. Atlas used his magic to summon a long-barrelled shotgun from his little portal, Veil Sky draws out his halberd while flying in mid-air a few feet above the group, Drone Hammer unsheathed his two-handed war hammer which has a small blade attached to its opposite end, and for Rhino Brawler, he drew out his sword with his mouth and shield from his back with his hoof. For Silverblade, he went up next to Sgt Bucklance before he drew out his long sword made out of silver steel. Once he held his sword with his right wing, it starts to illuminate in an emerald glowing aura. Even though they all armed themselves, some of Silverblade's guards are feeling shockingly nervous that they are about to engage an unknown demonic enemy that is not of Equestria. Nevertheless, they are still expected to show discipline in fighting against their odds and against their fears, even if it is beyond any pony's deepest nightmares. In the next second of holding their ground, Silverblade's camera turns towards a dark sihoulette of a pony that appeared from the thick black smog and reached the balcony, continuing to laugh with evil intent. "Impressed with my first specimen?!" The maniacal voice boomed out. "That is just but only a minor test. The real party is about to BEGIN!!!" "ZEROX GRIMHAND, I KNOW YOU'RE OUT THERE!! You can't escape from us!!!" Silverblade shouted furiously. "Really, well I'm not really the one escaping. You all may be the ones that should escape!! IF YOU CAN!!!" The evil voice cackled. In an instant, a dozen torches have just lit up from the balcony on the second floor inside the huge area all around Silverblade and his squad. With the fires lit up in a massive brightness, Silverblade sees Zerox standing menacingly in at the balcony up front. Zerox is shown to have a red demonic insignia on his grey chest made up of black ink while holding a light-green mare with his magic as she is seen to be completely gagged and tied up; it wasn't long before Silverblade can presume that the tied-up mare is Director Limestone. "I know what you want, BOY!!! If you want her back so badly, I'd like to see you try to get past my men!!!" Zerox hissed in excitement and malice. As he uses his magic to lift the bounded mare over the balcony railings, Zerox dropped her down to the floor. Even though she isn't really hurt after landing 6 feet from the balcony, the portcullis opened up with a metallic screech as if Silverblade sees something hostile coming out of the shadows. When Silverblade's camera slowly turns around 360 degrees, he sees the members of the Grimhand Mob family appear out of the shadows from the open portcullis, all armed to the teeth. Some of the them are staring straight at the Pegasus Captain with evil, black eyes while carrying swords and one-hand morning stars. On their faces, they all have the same red insignia like Zerox does as the mobsters are glaring at him with huge wide grins of sharp teeth. "Multiple Contacts, men!!" Silverblade hissed as he readied himself with his sword. "Keep them all off me. I'm going to get Director Limestone!!" Heeding the Guard Captain's orders, his men have all poised their weapons at the encroaching mobsters with the intent to kill. "FOR EQUESTRIA!!!" Sgt Bucklance shouted as he held his spear up high with his right hoof. In a bellowing battle cry, Bucklance, Atlas, Rhino Brawler, Veil Sky, and Drone Hammer broke off as they helped Captain Silverblade get past the attackers. With Silverblade the one who first charged, as his camera continues to maintain its footage, he meets one mobster that raised his crooked sword up high. But Silverblade struck first as he sliced the mobster upside his neck before it gushed out blood. https://camo.fimfiction.net/_2C4s4-xVri3AjYGFrqrTlROqaaFirKsJOH0jlFrh_Q?url=https%3A%2F%2Fderpicdn.net%2Fimg%2Fview%2F2024%2F12%2F5%2F3502170.png Once the mobster is dead, several more tried to lunge at the Captain only to be intercepted by Silverblade's men. At the start of the engagement, Atlas fired a buckshot at two mobsters, blasting them as their heads exploded in chunks of blood and bones. For Sgt. Bucklance, he drove his spear into a mobster from Silverblade's left while Veil Sky and Drone Hammer went by his right flank. Rhino Brawler held his shield up front as one of the mobsters attempted to strike at him with its spikey blunt weapon. The moment he blocked the enemy weapon with his round shield, Rhino swung his shield hoof to his right, bashing the mobster across the skull as he swung his sword across its neck, cutting it off as he killed his first enemy. Veil swooped down from his flight as she swung her halberd from her right, beheading a frantic mobster as it spewed out a fountain of blood up to the dark ceiling. From behind, Veil bucked away another mobster with both of her hind hooves before making a landing. Drone Hammer swung his warhammer from across the right, bashing a female mobster by her lower jawbone before hitting rock bottom on the stone floors as she bled out. As another mobster came charging at Drone Hammer with his sword, the earth stallion sliced upward from the left as the bladed tip let's out a line of blood that hit the floor instantly. As the bloody fight rages on towards the bounded Director, Capt. Silverblade and Sgt. Bucklance killed seven more enemy mobsters before they reached Limestone. With Bucklance watching Silverblade's back, the captain uses his wings to undo the Director's restraints as she coughed up air, allowing her to breathe again. "Limestone, we're here to help." Before Limestone could say anything in relief, she and the guard ponies heard a loud crackling noise coming from outside of the Asylum. In a shocking sight, Silverblade's camera looks up to the ceiling as a massive dragon claw pierces the exterior part of the building as it holds onto it. With the dragon claw showing its huge finger bones, it rips out the ceiling as it tears itself away, revealing a clear black sky. But in sudden flash of thunder, a huge shadowy silhouette of a dragon appeared only for a split second as it makes a massive roar underneath its ghastly breath. "RRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRR!!!" "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT??" Limestone shrieked as she is cowering behind the Pegasus Captain, seeing the glimpse of the terrifying gargantuan beast. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" Grimhand laughed maliciously. "That would be our cue!!!" "What the hell are you talking about??" Silverblade said, feeling confused and exasperated. "The O'Mighty Dragon God of the Undead is finally here. Now that I was able to draw in enough victims to my lair, it is time for the Shadow Reckoning to rise!!!" Grimhand grinned with intensity as he reappears in front of the exit of the large room. "ALL HAIL LORD MALISCRE!!!!" "ALL HAIL LORD MALISCRE!!!" The mobsters chanted as black bolts came down from the sky. With a sudden twist, the black bolts hit every dead pony that was killed by Silverblade and his men much to their terrified confusion. At the same time, the floor started to explode with dirt and stone spewing out as skeletal ponies came out from the floor. As soon as the skeletal ponies rose up, they are seen wearing ripped out construction clothing. In Silverblade's shock, it was the missing construction ponies. That's not all, there were other random undead ponies that came out of the ground, all covered up in blood and with flesh dripping on the floors. "W-W-What is the name of Faust is happening??" Sgt. Bucklance shouted. Before any pony could answer his question, Bucklance gets immediately impaled as a long, black grotesque tentacle came out from his chest, piercing his guard armor at the same time. "GGGGAAAAAKKKKK!!! GLURGH!!!" Bucklance gurgled as a mass ooze of blood and black liquid came out of his body, dropping his spear before the tentacle pulls itself out. Once the tentacle disappears back into Zerox's hoof, Bucklance's corpse falls face flat in front of Silverblade. Seeing this, he almost puked at witnessing one of his fellow commanding officers go down. "You think you'll beat my children that easily. Well, you haven't seen anything yet. We are reborn into a new evolution and......." *BOOM!!!* Before Zerox could finish his sentence, his head explodes into a mess of black blood as his lifeless body falls to his side. Behind the dead Zerox, Pvt. Atlas was seen with his shotgun having smoke come out of its gun barrel. "Captain, please!!!" Atlas spoke, feeling exhausted and horrified by the situation at hand. "We have to get out of here. Look at every pony else!!!" As Silverblade's camera turned to face all the dead ponies that are coming back to life, he sees that they're all transforming into the zombie-like ponies, similar to the crazed mare that killed Pvt. Butcher Nails. With the skeletal and zombified ponies arming themselves with pick axes and shovels, with teeth gnashing with blood seeping from their mouths, they rallied with the zombified mobsters; considering that the odds are becoming overwhelming. Now that Limestone is with them, Capt. Silverblade initiates his next order to the surviving Royal Guards. "Okay every pony!!! We did what we came here for." Silverblade announced as he cuts off the head of a undead mobster. "Captain, I've got Limestone!!" Rhino Brawler said as he grabs the exhausted, terrified Director over his back. "GUARD PONIES, WE ARE LEAVING!!!" SIlverblade shouted as he flies up and makes a forced exit out of the compromised room filled with blood and death. As Silverblade's camera flickers on and off with static, it shows only glimpses of him and his guard ponies continuing to fight their way back outside to where they landed their airship, hacking and killing both undead mobsters and zombified ponies as they came out from the shadows. However, by the time they reach the main entrance, Silverblade's camera reveals that PFC Feral Cat is nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was only a large pool of blood on top of the dynamite plunger with only a dented and stained guard helmet lying next to it. Also, the airship is missing from plain sight. With no time to figure out where the missing PFC is, Rhino lets Veil Sky to watch over the Director before attempting to activate the dynamite plunger. However, before he could set off the rigged explosives, a crazed, bloodshot Feral Cat leaps out from the shadows in front of the startled Rhino Brawler. "JESUS FAUST!!! GET OFF OF ME!!!!" Rhino shrieked as he shoved his hoof up to a screeching Feral Cat by her throat while she started to repeatedly chomps on her razor jaws at his face. Before Feral Cat was about to reach her jaws into Rhino's jugular vein, Atlas fires another buckshot at her in point blank range with his shotgun. *KABOOM!!!* With just one loud blast, Feral Cat's head blew off from her body as she falls to Rhino's left, leaving her blood pouring down on Rhino's guard armor and making him vomit as he gets back up on his hooves. For Silverblade, he isn't sure where the Moon Watcher is at. Unfortunately, their not going to have enough time to wait for an extraction since his camera is showing more undead ponies pouring out of the darkness from inside the Asylum. "SHIT!!! LT. RED WING!! WHERE ARE YOU??" Silverblade frantically shouted as he activated his communicating ear bud. "IF YOU DON'T SHOW UP RIGHT NOW, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!!!" "Get ready every pony. They're closing in." Rhino Brawler ordered as he, Privates Atlas and Drone Hammer to took their positions at the shoreline. Upon seeing the raging undead horde coming closer, Rhino goes to Atlas. "Private Volt, do you have the fire grenades with you?" "Positive, sir!!" Atlas replied as he takes out two grenade belts from underneath his guard armor with his magic. "Hand it over to me and to Pvt Veil Sky!!" The moment Atlas gives his grenade belt to Veil Sky, the pegasus takes it with his left hoof before preparing to hurl a fire grenade; the same goes for Rhino "Get ready to hurl the fire grenades, Veil!!" Rhino ordered. The moment the undead horde reaches a few feet from the main entrance, Rhino barks out loud "NOW!!!" With one pull, Veil takes out the pin as she hurls her first fire grenade. The moment it hit the ground in front of the mob, the grenade explodes into a deadly combustion of gas and flame as it incinerates a dozen of them in a blink of an eye. Though, it didn't stop more undead hordes from coming towards the guard ponies. So, Rhino hurls a fire grenade next, letting loose the same result. Atlas continues to fire his shotgun at the undead horde of mobsters and construction workers while Silverblade keeps the Director close to him. Unfortunately, before Veil Sky could hurl another fire grenade, another black tentacle reached out from the darkness of the Asylum's main entrance and impaled her while she is on the air. As the tentacle pierced her guard armor, with its end coming out from her back, she coughed out blood while two more tentacles came out and ripped both of her wings apart. "NO!! VEIL!!!" Rhino screamed as he sees the pegasus guard mare getting mauled to death in mid-air. "F-F-F-F-FUCKER!!!" Veil Sky gasped hoarsely as she goes limp but not before setting her last grenade to explode with her. As the tentacles pulled a dying Veil back into the shadows, a huge fiery combustion erupted from inside, taking another undead horde with her. However, in the next minute, they see another undead horde started coming straight at them both growling and snarling in full fury. "This could be it, men. If we don't make it out alive, it's been an honor fighting alongside you all." Silverblade said as he went to join up with his men once again as they all drew out their melee weapons once more. At the same time, Atlas' horn lights up as he is about to aim his battle spells at the undead mob. Ultimately, by the time the horde got close to 10 feet towards Silverblade and his remaining squad, a barrage of cannon fire blanketed the monsters as they all disappeared in a massive, bloody shower. Silverblade's camera turns toward the source of the fire to see that the Moon Watcher is finally here, hovering 10 feet above the shores. "IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME YOU SHOWED UP, YOU IDIOT!!!" Silverblade shouted in anger as he sees the airship appear. "Okay every pony our ride is. Time to leave! NOW!!!" Disengaging, Private Atlas goes up the ladder, holding onto the Director with his magic, with Private Drone following from behind while PFC Line Raid holding onto the ladder. Just when Rhino Brawler was next to climb, another undead horde is coming out from the shadows in an endless wave. "Shit. This horror is never going to end!!" Rhino said, seeing the zombies continue to charge. "ATLAS, USE YOUR MAGIC TO ACTIVATE THE DYNAMITE PLUNGER. NOW!!!" Silverblade said as he is now flying in mid-air. The moment Atlas came up to the end of the deck, with the Director onboard, his horn lights up with telekinesis, targeting the plunger. With one grunt and bowing his head down, the plunger's handle is pressed down. Multiple explosives have started to boom out from within the Asylum as the whole building is finally coming down in flames. Simultaneously, the whole island breaks apart, letting loose a shockwave shoved the airship away from shore. With such wind pressure, Rhino loses his grip as he is about to fall into the ocean. Just when Silverblade is not able to reach Rhino despite being on the air, Atlas shoots out a magical tractor beam that saved Rhino from plummeting into the watery depths. Once every pony is safely on Moon Watcher's deck, Silverblade lands on deck as he faces his camera towards the airship's railings. With that, he, Atlas, Rhino, Line Raid, Limestone, Drone, and Red see the whole island disappear after the destruction of the Vexianus Institute. In the next footage, it shows a ceremony at Canterlot's courtyard where Atlas is being promoted as Sergeant of the 45th regiment after saving a higher-ranked guard pony twice, taking out the wanted Mob Boss, helping with the rescue of Limestone, and for putting the Asylum out of its misery. With that, Princess Twilight gave Atlas a gold medal to wear around his neck while General Magnus placed a Sergeant's badge on his military dress uniform. In the last footage, it shows pictures of Silverblade saluting four memorial crosses that shows the names of Sgt. Buckshot, Pvt. Veil Sky, PFC Feral Cat, and Pvt. Butcher Nails back at Canterlot's memorial gardens. *Footage Ends* //-------------------------------------------------------// Sleepover in Manhattan part 4 //-------------------------------------------------------// Sleepover in Manhattan part 4 As the camera rolls back in the living room, Sunlight sees herself with a mare that just went limp on her right while sitting on the couch. At first, Sunlight thought for sure that Valentine is trying to sleep away her grief........ "Uh, Valentine? Are you awake??" Sunlight asked in confusion. But as soon as she touched her hoof on the limp earth mare, it fell forward on its face as it tumbled with her back and her hooves spread apart on the floor. In a horrific discovery, Valentine is now seen with her entire stomach ripped out with two huge flaps of her peeled skin, revealing an exposed, bloody rib cage with blood seeping out. For Valentine's face, her eyes were shown with a pale deathly look as her lower jawbone is missing. "OH FAUST!! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Sunlight screamed as she held her right hoof to her mouth. Frightened and in total panic, Sunlight drops the camera on the floor before she picks up a flashlight from a nearby drawer. Her camera then sees Sunlight disappears up the stairs, galloping as she is frantically searching for her one and remaining friend. "MIDSUMMER!!! MIDSUMMER!!! MIDSUMMER!!!!" As Sunlight screamed for Midsummer at the house's second floor, she isn't able to find her from the darkness in the hallways. After two minutes of doing so, the camera then sees Sunlight goes down to the ground floor to continue search for Midsummer, disappearing into the hallways once again. "MIDSUMMER!! GREEN AMBER!!! WHERE ARE YOU????!!!!!!" While Sunlight was trying desperately to call out Midsummer, another hoof appeared in the camera footage off-screen as it leaves behind a note on the floor next to Valentine's corpse. Once the unknown hoof disappears from the camera, Sunlight runs back into the living room as she tries to take a breather for she is unable to find Midsummer or Green Amber. "What?? W-wh-what is happening to this place??" Sunlight gasped, unable to calm down after witnessing such body horror. "This was supposed to be a great sleepover. Why Valentine?? Why??" In the midst of her unanswered questions, Sunlight is about to cry. However, Sunlight turns her attention to the small note shown in the camera footage. As Sunlight picked it up with her hoof, she then reads it only for it to say, "Hope you enjoy your last night here!!!" Just as she is about to sob, another VHS tape came down from above as it nearly hit Sunlight in the head. *CLACK!!* The moment Sunlight turns towards the noise of the fallen tape, she takes a look at it to see that it says, "If you're watching this, GET OUT NOW!!!" Even though Sunlight's sleepover in MIdsummer's father's house is turning into a living nightmare, she has to still keep it together if she were to figure out what is going on. With no other way to know, Sunlight does a cross gesture on her chest before inserting the 4th VHS tape into the TV. //-------------------------------------------------------// "For our Master!" //-------------------------------------------------------// "For our Master!" As the footage screen turns on, a camera pony shows a film crew led by a Pegasus mare journalist. As she steps forward at the camera, the mare makes her introduction as she appears to be seen in a beige-tan skin color with a green mane tied up into a bun while bearing the cutie mark of a pink diary. "Greetings every pony. My name is Bridget Novelty. I happened to be a journalist who has written stories of paranormal activity and possession in Dodge Junction, Manehattan, and Canterlot. Graduated from the Vanhoover University with a Master's Degree in Applied Science in History and Literature, I have documented 6 stories so far." When the camera pony turns the footage towards the rest of the film crew, Bridget introduces the members of her film crew. "The one holding the camera is the earth colt Dillard Night. For my film crew members, we have Damon Sketcher that happens to be an interviewer working alongside me most of the time and Hilda Notes, the producer and editor for my written stories." Damon Light Press is an earth colt with a brown skin color and black mane bearing the cutie mark of a printer. Hilda notes is a pegasus mare with a dark-pink color with a red mane, bearing the cutie mark of a notebook. "For the new production of our latest story, we are here to interview with a group of pony priests that are conducting a secret practice in an temple deep inside a huge cave near Appleloosa." Bridget explains briefly before digging deeper into her new story. "Before then, we heard on the news of strange demonic possession that is supposedly kept at bay for the priests are making their attempts in exorcising and containing the malevolent spirits that attempted to possess several earth pony workers up on the surface near an Appleloosan dig site." After making her brief summary on what is she will be up against in her story, Bridget smiled before the camera footage turns off momentarily. The moment the camera footage turns back on again, it shows Bridget, Damon, and Hilda meeting proceeding further into the huge, cavernous tunnel. In just one minute of trekking down, the camera then shows an shadowy Arabic-like temple up ahead. When the team got closer to the entrance, a bald unicorn wearing black robes filled with golden linings appeared before them. As the unicorn is seen in a pale grey skin, he introduces himself in front of Dillard's recording footage. "Hello every pony. My name is Father Marrius Cross, the high priestess of the South Faustian Order. I have spent over 30 years in practicing religious exorcism and cleansing to carry on Faust's guardianship in the name of her holy spirit." "It's been an honor to meet you, Father. I have so much to talk about in your definite experience in demonic possession." Bridget said, as he acknowledges Marrius' introduction. "It's against our sacred rights to expose the capabilities of what the demonic spirits do when possessing their victims." Marrius said grimly. "Though, I still wouldn't mind show you all a tour around our temple." With Marrius at the front, he leads Bridget's film crew to the entrance of the temple where they meet several staff ponies sweeping the front of the building's hollow entrance. All around the temple's exterior, it was shrouded with ominous shadows and creepy whispering echoing from the eerie darkness above. Once inside the temple's atrium, Dillard shows his camera up above where he sees a cavernous ceiling that is very dim, barely any light. Although, with the tall candles lighting up small flames, the film crew can only see wide shadowy artwork of pony angels battling against pony devils that came out of the fiery abyss. Back to the Father Priest, Marrius stops as he lights his horn up to reveal a tall portrait of a griffon holding a pony skull in its right claw. Intrigued, Bridget and her film crew could see that the pony skull is glowing green as its eye sockets are illuminating. Furthermore, the skull had a flaming red cross on top of its forehead. "This portrait shows Exorwings, the griffon priest who used to visit our holy grounds 40 years ago. What he's holding happens to be the pony skull that imprisoned a malevolent spirit of a nasty creature named Jieruse that ran rampart in Griffonstone." Marrius says as he explains the portrait in front of the film crew. "Exorwings tried to banish the evil spirit in the Griffon's cathedral but it was too strong for them. So, he turned the volatile artifact to us where we sealed it away in a cage made of enchanted Silver Brass and with a small holy cross on top of them." After explaining the first portrait of Exorwings and Jierus, Marrius' moves on as he leads Bridget and the film crew to another sealed artifact down the shadowy hallways of the temple. Just like in the atrium, the hallway is dimly lit up with tall candles set aflame. As the footage unravels in the next hour, Dillard's camera shows the film crew taking a break in a nearby empty classroom where they sat down at a large round table before going over the notes written in Bridget's and Hilda's journals. At the same time, Marrius disappeared into the darkness of the hallways before muttering something gibberish to himself. At the same time, Bridget's video camera also turns on as she still wanted to see what she is writing on her journal. As she takes out her pencil with her magic, she makes several notes after the 1st part of Father Marrius' interview for her story. So far, Bridget has uncovered that most of the portraits that Marrius' just showed are actually creatures that performed exorcism to imprison about more than 26 evil entities in different sacred artifacts. In fact, the artifacts kept in the temple are sealed away in the cellar room below the temple's ground floors. "So every pony, you think we have enough notes to explain our story here?" Bridget asked as she turns towards Dillard, Hilda, and Damon. "One can only hope. Although, there is still one more note to add into our new story." Hilda replied in a stern tone. "What would that be??" Bridget asked, feeling unsure on where Hilda is getting at. "Where are they keeping their sacred artifacts." "I might as well see it for myself. Feel free to join me if you wish." Bridget spoke with determination. "Are you sure about that? What if they won't allow you to see them?" Dill asked Bridget out of concern. In his mind, Bridget might be violating one of the temple's policies. As a result, the priests might try to kick them out or call the police. Before Dill could say anymore, however, Bridget makes her confident response. "I might as well sneak in. You guys can wait here." "Okay, if you insist." Hilda replied, with Dillard and Damon nodding in silence. Not a moment too soon, Dillard's camera sees Bridget leave the break room on her own while having her own video camera intact. Through Bridget's video camera, she makes her way down the hallway only to find herself going astray, unable to find where they keep the sacred artifacts. However, at the end of the hallway, Bridget sees a map of the temple's layout. After surveying the map on the shadowy walls, her camera was able to catch a glimpse of the room full of artifacts which is shown at the basement level of the temple. With this opportunity, Bridget finds a nearby stairs next to where the map is placed at as she makes her way down to the basement level. Back to Dillard's Camera, he and Hilda are both sitting down at the table across from each other while Damon went down to the restroom to take a dump. Before they knew it, Father Marrius appeared from the hallway as he starts grinning in an awkward appearance. From behind the father priest, a group of security guards came up to immediately restrain Hilda and Dill while one of them takes their camera. "HEY!!!" Dill gasped in confusion. "What are you guys doing?? LET US GO!!!" "WHAT ARE YOU DOING, FATHER??" Hilda shrieked as she is being held physically by two female security unicorn guards. "Sorry every pony. But I have something special for you both at our Altar room." Marrius smirked as he waved his hoof at the security guards. With one of the security guards holding the camera, it shows Dillard and Hilda screaming in a panic as they are restraining and dragging them both with their magic while following Father Marrius out of the break room. As the screen cuts back to Bridget's video camera, she finally finds the Room filled with artifacts only to see that the door is locked up. Regardless, Bridget was able to use a bobby pin and a screwdriver for lockpicking to open up the door. "There is no door that I can't unlock." Bridget thought to herself in eagerness. 1door opened, Bridget sees most of the artifacts locked up inside various glass cases, small, medium, and big. Just like the skull that Marrius mentioned, they all have been sealed with Silver Brass and with a holy cross made up of golden metal and little rubies. "This is so rich!! I can't wait to record all this in my journal." Bridget said excitedly as she attempts to take notes on the artifacts the priests are keeping here. In just 10 minutes of writing, however, Bridget could here some shouting and grunting coming from outside. Frantically, Bridget was able to hide herself in a nearby, empty crate that is seen up against the wall next to one tall glass case, holding a big, creepy pony doll. Once inside the crate, Bridget takes a little peak as she lets her video camera to see a small glimpse of what is going on outside. As the door opens up, a unicorn priestess walks into the room while carrying something huge over her body wrapped in a white sheet filled with a huge blood stain on it. Seeing this as something grim, Bridget is having a bad feeling that this temple isn't what she thinks it is. In the next minute, Bridget sees the priestess disappear into another doorway on the other side of the artifact room before closing the door behind her. With no pony else coming this way, Bridget slowly gets out of the crate before she sneaks up to the door that the priestess went through. Once Bridget's camera goes up to the door's window, she sees a dark room that is dimly lit by a hanging chandelier 19 feet above ground. Below it, a stretcher is seen in the middle of the room with a round, orange circle surrounding it, with the body tightly strapped to it. Next to it, is a small table with a tray filled with surgical tools, IV bags, and scalpels on top of it. But with the priestess nowhere to be seen, Bridget couldn't tell if the priestess is hiding somewhere within the darkness of the secret room or not. Either way, Bridget's curiosity is getting a wind of her as she slowly opens up the door to check what was wrapped inside the sheet. As she looked both left and right, Bridget sees that the priestess is nowhere to be found. Taking a deep breath, Bridget approaches the stretcher as she is about to unfold the sheets. But the moment the sheets unravel, Bridget's blood turned cold as she discovers the lifeless corpse of Damon staring blankly at the ceiling. Bridget nearly fell backwards out of fright while still holding the shaken camera. Picking herself back up she then notices that Damon's throat was slit as blood already seeped out from his fatal wound. Before Bridget could say anything about it, the door immediately closed behind her, giving her a more palpable fright. As soon as she turns her camera towards the door, Bridget then sees the priestess snarling at her as the mare is holding a sword with her magic. At the same time, the unicorn priestess' eyes are both glowing in an bright, ominous magenta light. https://camo.fimfiction.net/SS94rDn6EN1sF4SDuXv13_vA9MnI0meFybWxdwwWEZg?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.discordapp.com%2Fattachments%2F1297926759823446170%2F1332050888080101407%2Ffinal_2.jpg%3Fex%3D6793d890%26is%3D67928710%26hm%3Dadd3b76d24b6db5269691a450004923f31301f89f57810ebfcf6e455a3fb208d%26 "W-W-What are you doing, priestess??" Bridget asked in fear. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY LAB??" The unicorn priestess hissed. "This is supposed to be off-limits, pegasus!! But since, you trespassed into our master's storage room, I'm afraid I'll have to take your blood too!!!" Screeching with fury, the priestess flew and leaped at Bridget, forcing the Pegasus to drop the camera. As the camera fell on the floor, it shows Bridget struggling to flap her wings as she ascends up. However, the priestess is not letting up as she grabs onto Bridget's left hind hoof with both of her front hooves while in trying to pull her down with all her physical strength. The next thing, Bridget knew is that she gets pulled down instantly as if the priestess is possessing some supernatural strength bestowed upon her by some unknown blessing in this temple. The moment the camera sees the unicorn priestess on top, she grabs the floating sword with her right hoof, while it was floating in the air above her, and attempted to shove the long blade up against Bridget's throat. Frightened, Bridget frantically struggled against the merciless unicorn priestess as she used both of her hind hooves to shove the sword away from her. Eventually, during the struggle with the pegasus and the unicorn, Bridget's camera turns towards a tray that was lying on the floor, with a pair of scissors seen to be a few inches away from her face. "GET THE BUCK OFF ME!!!" Bridget shouted as she continues to struggle with the crazed priestess. "It's nothing personal, my dear. We do this for the sake of our master in return to keep the malicious spirits from escaping from us!!" The priestess grinned as she made a maniacal smile while sitting on top of a frightened Bridget, using both of her front hooves to press down onto her sword, continuing to shove it straight into the pegasus' jugular vein. With the priestess distracted, Bridget's left wing was able to reach out from her back as it grabs the scissors. Before her sword could enter Bridget's jugular vein, the priestess was met with the scissors stabbing her by the left cheek as its blade came out from the right. With the priestess uttering a bloody, gurgle, she went limp as Bridget pulls the scissors towards her, ripping out the unicorn's lower jaw as a spray of blood showered the pegasus' face. Once the priestess is dead, her corpse fell to Bridget's right off-screen. As for the sword that the unicorn was holding with her magic, it fell on the floor with a loud 'clanging' next to the priestess' corpse. Exclaiming in such a mess, Bridget wipes off the blood from her face as she takes her camera back before making a mad flying dash out of the lab and the storage room. "This is not good!!!" Bridget muttered in a panic as she flew back to the break room. "Somehow, when their priestess tried to kill me the way she killed Damon, I think they're after our blood for some grim reason. I have to warn Hilda and Dillard!!!" While Bridget is flies her way back to the break room, Dillard's camera is now showing another dark room lit with tall candles where a group of priests and priestess are gathered before an altar where Father Marrius is raising a ceremonial dagger up high with his magic. On top of the altar, there is Hilda being all tied up and gagged as she is making muffled screaming as if she is begging them to stop; of course, it was no use for they are preparing to sacrifice the female pegasus in front of a distraught Dillard as he is been held by the security guards. "Every pony, we are gathered here today to present another blood sacrifice to TO OUR MASTER!!!" Marrius bellowed. With all of the temple's staff hearing Marrius' announcement, they all started chanting ominously. "O' Blessed Master. We humbly offer you another sacrifice of young, fresh blood to fuel the enhancements of our sacred artifacts that you bestow upon us!!!" "Grant our power to exorcise, O' GREAT MASTER!!!" "Grant our wish to not let such sacrifices be in vain, O' GREAT MASTER!!!" Back to Bridget's camera footage....... When she flew back to the break room, Bridget looks around only to realize that her friends are no here anymore. Horrified by what is going to happen, Bridget frantically checks the map up on the wall once again as she is collecting her thought about what the Priestess said earlier before she was forced to kill her. In a quick analysis, she was able to seek out a possible room where her friends might be held up at when the priests attempt to sacrifice their blood. In short, Bridget points out to the altar room which is located at the third floor. "I have to rescue my friends before its too late!!!" Bridget said in fear as she unfurls her wings and flies straight up the stairs, while holding her camera. Back at Dillard's camera footage, the chanting intensifies all around the altar as Marrius is getting ready to force a blood donation out of Hilda's body. "O' Great Master, accept their blood as part of your offering. Let their blood prolong the imprisonment of the evil spirits!!!" Marrius' chanted as he is poised his blade on top of Hilda. "NO!! PLEASE!!! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Dillard screamed as he is being forced to watch in horror. Dillard squirmed helplessly on the floor as he felt the immense strength of the security guards holding him down. "LET IT ALL PURGE!!!" Marrius shouted as he drove his ceremonial dagger into Hilda's throat. "GACK!!! URRRRRGLEEEEEEE!!!" Hilda gasped hoarsely as she felt the cold, crude steel enter her flesh as she spews out her blood from both her mouth and from her throat. With several more repeated stabs, Marrius felt the mare's blood spraying at him in his robes and on his face. Right after Hilda dies from multiple stab wounds, one of the priests collects the spilling blood that came down from the altar pedestal. "No!! No!!! NO!!! HILDA!!!!!" Dillard wailed after seeing his friend and editor. Before he knew it, the security guards hauled Dillard towards the altar as he is next. "Fret not my son Dillard. You will be joining your friend Hilda as our next matyr for our master." Marrius' smirked maliciously. "Bring him up here!!!" Back at Bridget's footage, it now shows the entrance leading to the altar where she now sees a crowd of priestess and priests chanting in front of the altar. , As Bridget hid behind one of the long seats near the entrance, she saw a bloodied corpse of Hilda being dragged out of the Altar. "No!! Hilda!!!" Bridget whispered in horror as she sees her dead friend get taken away. In the next minute, she sees that her remaining friend Dillard Night is going to be taken up to the altar to get sacrificed. With no time left, Bridget frantically looked around the Altar room to see what would save Dillard before its too late. Indubitably, she finally sees a huge chandelier hanging 20 feet above Marrius and the altar. Seeing this, Bridget sneaks towards the wall where the chain is holding the chandelier in place. From Dillard's camera footage..... Just as the security guards dragged Dillard 6 feet before the altar, the huge chandelier came crashing down right on top of Father Marrius, crushing him as his altar pedestal broke apart into concrete rubble. In the excruciating vandalism Marrius' back was smashed as he coughed up blood before the candles fell off, igniting the blood streaming down as it is set aflame. With the flammable blood underneath the security guards, they freaked out as they get burned alive while Dillard finally breaks free from them before gallops down the stairs. As for the priests and priestesses, they all screamed as the light spots of bloodstains on their robes turned into flames as most of them are getting burned alive. Just as Dillard gets his camera back, he hears a familiar voice coming from the entrance of the altar. "Dillard, over here!!!" "Bridget?" Dillard gasped as he sees Bridget appear from behind the seats. Just as Dillard makes his way towards Bridget, the entire temple started to shake violently as they both are struggling to maintain their balance. From the darkness of the ceiling, they could hear high-pitched roars bellowing from all over the temple. For those that aren't burned to death, the priests of the temple are fleeing with their lives but not before one of them berated Bridget and Dillard. "YOU BLIND, HERETICAL FOOLS!!! DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU JUST DONE??!!! WITH OUR FATHER DEAD AND THE BLOOD ALTAR DESTROYED WE CAN NO LONGER PAY BACK OUR MASTER!!!! He created those artifacts for us so that we can repay him back with pony blood of the nonbelievers. He used that blood to maintain the power of our artifacts to imprison the evil spirits of Equestria at BAY!!!" Before the enraged Priest could say anymore, he was picked up by an unknown force before he disappeared into the ceiling. In a split second, they see that a shower of blood came down onto the floor along with the priest's severed body parts; when the other priests and priestess ran towards the exit, they also get dragged up to the darkness above to meet the same gruesome fate. For the destroyed altar, several cracks came out from below the pedestal as a brimming fiery light came out. With it, the cracks opened up a huge crater that allowed Marrius' corpse, the fallen chandelier, and the altar to fall straight down as they all disappeared into a huge fiery explosion coming from the crater. Shortly when the Father priest disappeared, a huge ruby talon came out of the crater as it lets out a huge furious roar that shook the whole temple in an alarming matter. "I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON ANYMORE." Dillard screamed as he and Bridget make a mad dash out the exit, unable to see what kind of giant creature is coming out from the huge hole in the floor. "LET'S RUN NOW!!!!" From Bridget's camera footage, she is now flying above the floor frantically while Dillard is galloping like the wind as they tried to head out the exit of the temple. All around them, they could see that the candle holders are falling on the floor, multiple ceilings and statues coming down as breaking apart, and portraits coming down from the wall and shattering. The worst part is from Dillard footage, is that they could hear demonic screeches coming from the walls and ceilings as there is ghastly spectators flying everywhere, hitting every pony on sight apart from Bridget and Dillard. Some of the ghosts formed up into various demonic beings that attacked the temple staff as they rip them all into bloody shreds. With all this chaos happening, there is deathly screams echoing throughout the collapsing temple. Unable to stand such noise and horror, Bridget and Dillard kept on running out the cavernous entrance. Throughout their way out, Bridget's footage catches glimpses of the floor giving way when the very same huge claw kept coming out from the fiery chasm. Through Dillard's footage...... As they finally made it out into the bright sunrise, Dillard and Bridget have reached the grassy fields where they could feel the breeze from the blue sky. Catching their breath, they turn to see the huge cavernous entrance collapse as the boulders seal off the temple completely. As they finally regained their stamina, Bridget went to check up on Dillard. "Dillard, are you okay?" Bridget asked out of concern. "Yeah, I'm fine. That was the most frightening story I ever witnessed." Dillard Night spoke up. "I'm just glad my daughter Midsummer Sparks isn't here to see this. She wouldn't stand being part of such a horrendous story." "Let's just head home and........." Bridget suggested before noticing that Dillard is slowly showing a convulsion. "Uh, Dillard what's going on??" "UUUUUURRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Dillard vomited as he let loose of black and red ooze at Bridget's face. "GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Bridget screamed in pain as she felt her face start to dissolve into a smoking, fleshy mess, making her collapsing and dropping her camera on the grass. Through Bridget's camera, it now shows a dead, face melted pegasus lying on the grass. For Dillard's camera footage, he sees himself gagging and coughing as he stopped vomiting. Just when he realized that he accidentally killed Bridget, Dillard's head starts to wrack with inner afflictions as he starts to hear a demonic voice entering his head. When his front teeth start to turn into wolf fangs, he faces his own camera while fur starts to sleep out from his pony skin. "Something is seriously happening to me!!!" Dillard gasped as his face is turning into a skull-headed wolf in broad daylight. "Midsummer, whatever you do, don't find me!!!" As Dillard is seen slowly transforming into a monstrous wolf-like creature, he starts howling up towards the sky. *Footage Ends* //-------------------------------------------------------// Epilogue: Sleepover in Manehattan final part. //-------------------------------------------------------// Epilogue: Sleepover in Manehattan final part. As the camera went back to Sunlight finishing the last footage, she hears growling and thumping from somewhere within the dark hallways upstairs. With her blood turning as cold as ice, Sunlight turns off the TV as she grabs the camera before making her way out of the living room. The moment she hid behind the kitchen counter, a strange wolf-like creature crashed through the windows behind the TV, knocking it over as it started sniffing and growling. With a glimpse of her camera showing what she's up against, it wolf field had a huge pony skull on its head with razor claws as long as daggers as it started snarling while looking around in the living room. Seeing the creature occupied with the corpse of Valentine, Sunlight tries her best to sneak towards the entrance with her camera footage facing the door leading outside. At first, Sunlight was able to make light steps with her hoof. However, Sunlight almost trips over something big lying on the ground. Even though, she still kept her balance, Sunlight looks down with her camera to see that Midsummer is laying on the ground dead as her throat was ripped apart, with her bloody neck bone showing. "EEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKK!!!" Sunlight shrieked as she is unable to keep her fright under control, trying to cover her mouth with her right hoof. Worse, the wolf-skull creature growls as Sunlight's camera turns to face the monster staring at her for he immediately heard her shriek. "NO!! NO!! PLEASE GET AWAY FROM ME!!!" Sunlight screamed before the wolf creature is getting ready to charge at the earth mare. With a roar, the wolf was leaped on top of the couch as he is preparing to pounce on Sunlight. With no time to spare, Sunlight gallops towards the entrance and not looking back. "GROWL!!! BARK!! BARK!!!" The wolf's voice boomed throughout the house. Just as Sunlight opens up the door, she screams again as her camera shows a dead Green Amber dangling above the doorway completely upside down and without arms as it started bleeding all over the front step, making her scream more as she gets out of the house. As soon as Sunlight makes her way outside, she faces the wolf one more time before closing the door immediately just as it leaped at her. Upon impact, the wolf's claw crashes through the door's glass panel in trying to grab the frightened earth pony. Nevertheless, Sunlight runs down the street in terror as she is calling for help. "SOME PONY. PLEASE HELP!!!!" Sunlight screamed as she tried to get attention while under distress. To no avail, the night is still looming over the horizon in Manehattan while Sunlight cried desperately. However, with no pony responding to her distress, the skull wolf creature is scampering towards her as he closed in from behind her. "SHIT!! PLEASE NO!!!!" Sunlight begged as she faces the wolf beast one more time. As soon as her camera faces the raging wolf, it leaped straight at it with full force. Upon impact, Sunlight drops the camera as the footage is seen with the wolf on top of her, digging his jaws into the poor mare's flesh. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! AAAAAAAALLLLLLUUUUUUUUUUURGH!!!!" It was the last blood-curdling scream Sunlight made before she passed away, allowing the wolf to rip apart her flesh from her body and her neck. *Footage Ends!!!* Author's Note This may not be as what you'll all expect from a horror anthology like this, but most horror movies and stories don't have a happy ending; the terror is just ongoing. Hope you all enjoy this anthology every pony. Happy Halloween.