Bioshock: Rifts

Raven and crows called across the fields of the church. A lone woman with pink hair and a yellow dress skulked around, trying not be seen by the men walking into the building. They all wore black cloaks and pointed masks to conceal who they were, and they held their hands folded in prayer. All of the men, being about ten or eleven, were led by a man dressed in the same garb but the only difference was that he had a coffin on his back where ravens and crows flew into. She swore that his hands took the characteristics of a bird before going back to normal. She heard the caw of raven above her, and looked to see not one, but at least six birds looking at her.

"Um, hello little birdies. I... um, I was wondering were I was?" The ravens instead of giving her what she had asked for, let out a mighty screech signaling the zealots. Their was a puff of smoke and the coffin toting man looked down at her, perched on the statue like the birds themselves. His gaze through the holes in the mask were scaring her to the point of locking up.

He took a deep breath, and spoke with a distorted voice. "And what brings you here Little Hummingbird?"

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Twilight had an ice pack to her head to rid her of the headache she was feeling. From what she gathered from Pinkie and the others, they were in really deep shit. Columbia is apparently extremely racist and they make sport out of it by having the raffle, claiming it would be as god wanted it. As they explained this to her, she wondered what Ponyville would be like if they were like Columbia... she shivered violently at the thought. "Okay... I've heard enough. I need to know one thing though: Where's Fluttershy?"

The three girls looked at each other before looking back at Twilight. "Ya see sugarcube, we don't know where she is." Applejack said with a frown.

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Fluttershy had never been so scared in all her life... Okay that was a lie, her shadow, for whatever reason, was still scarier. But if she had a list she would have to put this at 1.5. The head zealot had escorted her inside at the condition she doesn't do anything. Of course, she accepted, and now they currently walk the halls of the church. Fluttershy gasped at the amounts of dead bodies and blood that riddled the halls, but true to her word, she did nothing. She saw several other zealots but they didn't not have crows or ravens; she guessed this meant that they were lesser. The head zealot suddenly stopped, and turned to her.

"Tell me Little Hummingbird," He said in a distorted, almost metallic voice, "why have you come here to the Fraternal Order of the Raven?" He asked. Fluttershy cocked her head, and looked around at all the crows and ravens that were gathering up around them. She gulped and shook nervously at the man.

"I was... l-l-looking for my fr-friends..." She said, shaking like a leaf. He looked down at her, reaching in to his pocket. By this point Fluttershy closed her eyes, expecting something bad to happen. After a solid three seconds, she dared to look at the man who was now holding a bottle with blue liquid, topped off by a metal crow head.

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Twilight paced back and forth, thinking of all the possibilities that could happen to Fluttershy. This was bad. Not Nightmare Moon bad. Not Discord bad. Life threatening bad. "Think everyp- everyone, where could she be?" She asked as the four girls, still excluding Rarity, began to wonder.

"Why ask where?"

"When a more delicious question could be where would she be?"

Everyone froze and turned to the man and woman sitting idly in chairs that had not been there before. They all stared in awkward silence before Pinkie broke the silence. "You're... Rosalind and Robert Lutece... The two people on the boat..." She said in awe.

Twilight turned to Pinkie with a look of surprise. "You were on the boat too? But... when she said "The other one went down.", what do you mea-"

"There's infinite variables and infinite constants, the only way to know all of them is to be in all of them." Rosalind said, idly scratching the back side of her ear.

"We said that because YOU and your FRIENDS all went down, to an underwater city in the year 1959." Robert explained to her.

"But it's 1912, in the middle of July! How could we be in nineteen fif-" She was saying before feeling a hand on her shoulder. Applejack walked forward, eying the twins with a malicious gleam. She stopped in front of Robert, raised her hand, and poked him in the chest.

"Solid. Okay was just clearing things up, I thought you ghosts considering you're dead and all." She said rubbing the back of her head.

"Yes. Death can be a burden, but if one knows their ways around it, they can manipulate it." Rosalind said standing up, and walking towards the window and opening it up for a raven to fly inside. "Hmm... it seems your friend Fluttershy, has made her presence known. The ravens never lie." She said watching it fly onto the desk and perch. A small scroll on its right leg was noticeable and when Pinkie went reach for it, the raven suddenly cawed and slammed it beak down.

It flew to Rainbow and perched on her shoulder, undoing the knot on its leg and held the note in its mouth. She hesitantly reached for it, and as soon as she made contact with the note, the raven vanished in a puff of smoke and feathers. She unraveled the scroll and read the five words that struck terror in her heart:

THE MURDER APPROACHES AT MIDNIGHT!

What was worse? It was in Fluttershy's hand writing...