'Twas still night, the sky was a beautiful shade of purple as the moon hung in it like an insect trapped in a spider's web. Amongst the clouds, off of which the moon was reflecting oh-so-beautifully, Blanc hovered in place, looking down upon his future quarry.

As Blanc, still in the guise of Fluttershy, surveyed the small town of Ponyville in the night sky, his brain was welling with excitement and anticipation. Blanc had always enjoyed a challenge, and he felt that this town was going to provide him one now that he's riled them up by revealing his existence to them. After all, Applejack put up a huge fight against him, and he hopes the rest will do the same.

"Hehehehe..." Blanc chuckled coldly, contemplating the true futility of the townsfolks' future resistance. He took a seat on a cloud to rest a moment before striking again, when suddenly he heard the flapping of wings nearby...

The town was suddenly entirely awake from the slumber most were encompassed in mere moments earlier, all due to a certain filly who went running through the town screaming and crying bloody murder and, of course, the reason she did so. Obviously, the townsfolk now collectively felt terrified and uncertain, as this was the very first time they ever had a problem like this in quaint little Ponyville. Due to this situation apparently involving magic, the townsfolk decided to take this problem to Twilight Sparkle, as she is the most learned individual the town has on the subject.

A crowd had amassed at Twilight's library, disturbed rumblings amongst the townsfolk abound as other members of the crowd, particularly the remnants of the Apple Family, knocked very loudly and urgently on Twilight's door. Of course, after a few moments, she answered.

Twilight opened the door with a look of worry on her face as she took yet another glance at the crowd, knowing there was something very wrong. Spike stood behind her, his drowsiness turned into sheer dread of what was to come. "Yes?" Twilight inquired. "What's wrong?"

Twilight was greeted with several panicked responses from many different townsfolk all at the same time, the foremost from the members of the Apple Family, who were in absolute hysterics at the loss of one of their closest members. From right, left, and center, Twilight was getting voraciously interrogated from all sides as the crowd members stared her down, almost accusingly. Talk of demons and the supernatural on one side, talk of the first serial killer in the town from the other.

All of these rapid-fire questions finally got to her and her look of puzzlement turned to a look of frustration.

"Everypony, QUIET!" Twilight finally shouted. The crowd members immediately silenced themselves, all staring in anticipation of what Twilight has to say, even though they know what's coming next. "Alright..." Twilight surveyed her audience, slowly scanning them. "Now... SLOWLY and one at a time... explain to me what happened, please."

And so Apple Bloom filled her in on the horrifying goings-on at the Apple Family ranch: how she saw her sister in what she knew were her last moments, one of her best friends turning into a demonic monstrosity and attempting to brutally kill her, and Big Macintosh's attempt to assault the murderer and said murderer's escape. Twilight simply stared in horrified shock, her eyes growing wider as Apple Bloom finished her recap.

"Oh my.. that's terrible!" Twilight exclaimed. "I am so sorry! I will ensure that I get to the bottom of this, mark my words!"

"T-thanks, Twi.." Apple Bloom said glumly, staring at the ground with tears in her eyes, one falling to the floor every thirty seconds or so. "That means a lot..."

Twilight and the elder Apple Family remnants shooed away the crowd, with Twilight assuring them that she'd find out who was responsible for this atrocity and bring him or her to justice immediately.

"I'd better tell Celestia about this..." Twilight said, growing sorrowful and disconcerted herself. "Spike, tak-"

"Ummm.." Spike interrupted Twilight. "I don't think Celestia's in Canterlot. She's out on official business in the Crystal Empire, I heard it was really important..." Spike said, full of regret for having to be the one to tell Twilight this.

"Oh..." Twilight slowly uttered, gradually realizing how grim and hopeless the situation seemed. She sat on her haunches and began to sob quietly. Spike walked over to her and gave her a hug. Twilight hugged back, and the two sat in a sorrowful embrace at the death of a close friend...

The rest of the Main Six were assembled at Twilight's library, having heard the story behind Applejack's death and, to rub salt into the fresh wounds, discovering that Fluttershy, Rarity and Sweetie Belle's lives had been snuffed out, as well.

"H-how could anyone DO THIS!?" Rainbow exclaimed in a mixture of sorrow, shock, and fury as she took to her wings, fluttering about the room as she spoke with tears beginning to swell in her eyes. She tried her best to get her statement out. "I swear to Celestia, I WILL find the one responsible for this and I'll... I'll..." Rainbow collapsed to the floor and began sobbing quietly, with Twilight placing her hoof on Rainbow's back in an attempt to comfort her.

"Rest assured, Rainbow." Twilight uttered quietly. "We... I will find the one who did this."

As all of this happened, Pinkie simply sat there near the corner and watched blankly, apparently unable to process the situation. All of these deaths, all of them being so close to her... and now they're all gone. All in the span of just one night. It was just too much for her and so her mind simply broke.

Twilight got up and made her way toward the door. "I'll go looking for the culprit, you guys stay here." She said in the motherly tone of voice she occasionally uses with Spike as she looked back at her friends "I don't want to lose any more of my friends!"

Rainbow looked up and, despite how much she wanted to go with Twilight, she didn't just want to leave Pinkie there all alone, and she didn't want to upset Twilight. Rainbow reluctantly nodded, slowly. "O-okay.."

And with that, Twilight departed from the relative safety of her library into the cool, dark night.

Rainbow looked back at her broken friend, frowning. She slowly got up, shaking a little, and began walking towards Pinkie. Worried for her, she spoke out.

"P-.... Pinkie?"

No response.

"Pinkie, are you alright?"

Still no response.

Rainbow simply sighed, defeated already, and she walked over to Pinkie to try to get her to lay down and get some sleep, but then she heard a tap on the window...

Author's Note

Hey, everyone! I'm sorry it took me so long to update, this was kind of hard for me to write due to the fact I'm not too good with sobby-sob drama xD I'll try to update this more frequently, especially since it's almost done.