//------------------------------//
// Alone in the Town 
// Story: Quiet Valley 
// by Nightmare_0mega 
//------------------------------//

Exiting the alley back to Strong Avenue, Vergil checked the map again. Taking out the red pen from his pocket, he scribbled out the question mark that indicated the scene he was just at. For a moment, he questioned why a map all the way at the edge of town in an abandoned carriage had a hint that pointed him towards such a ghastly scene, and wondered in addition to what exactly was so important that it had to be noted. Ire built up more and more as these strange happenings kept presenting further, tiresome questions. 

Before he could bemoan his situation, the radio he had stuffed into his pocket began to buzz and squeal once again, at first feint, but then grew louder. He ripped the offending device from where he stored it and examined it closely, before another sound pierced through the noise and fog. Turning his attention to the intruding sound, Vergil laid eyes upon yet another creature dragging its loathsome body across the ground. The bridge of his nose and his brow furrowed as he sneered at the unsightly thing. Opting to not interact with the monster, noting how sluggish it moved anyway, the Son of Sparda exited the alley's mouth and moved back down Strong Ave towards St. Germane Street.

Turning the corner upon reaching St. Germane, he proceeded southward, hoping to find further clues, or perhaps a still living soul in this town. As he wandered however, he noticed the static from the radio that he still held onto began to die down until it all but ceased. He stopped for a moment, scrutinizing the device and pondering the situation, before he decided to run a small test. 

Turning back, he returned to Strong Ave, already noting the white noise starting up from the radio as it did before. Once again, he saw the monster in the fog crawl agonizingly slow across the road, and the closer he approached it, the louder the noise from the radio was. He stopped, realizing the creature's proximity was very closely tied to the radio. As to the reason why, he didn't know, but the town proved already to be as strange as "Red" had warned, so this may yet be one of the town's own conditions. Never the less, a warning against these creatures would only serve as a boon.

With his curiosity sated, he backtracked to St. Germane and re-proceeded to move southbound. As he progressed onward, he noticed the radio's static rising and falling. Taking quick glances while he moved, he noticed another few of those creatures. One moving slowly up the street, the other scratching underneath a parked carriage. Vergil's thoughts began to wander as his pace slowed, now seeing these things in a new light. The monster he fought in the alley had warped his impression of them. As dangerous as they could be, especially since the one he fought managed to leave a proper wound, they were relatively benign.

"Unworthy animals," he seethed, now opting to press onward without paying them any further mind.

Onward he pressed, down the current street, veering slightly off to the side when the noticeable sounds of the radio alerted him to the nuisances lurking just behind the mists. It was odd, really. Despite how ear splitting the radio was, only he seemed to notice its relatively loud volume in the silent streets. The creatures simply weren't bothered by its presence in the slightest, and thus never seemed to focus their attention upon him as long as he kept his relative distance. Faceless as they may be, it seemed to the devil-pony that they operated on sight rather than sound. The more he thought about it, the more he began to appreciate such a device.

As he crossed an intersection on Oliver Avenue, Vergil noticed something rather alarming in the distance to the south. It was faint due to the mist, but the closer he drew, the more he saw. Or, more accurately, the less he saw. The roadway he was taking had abruptly ended, leading to a jagged, sheer cliff that dropped into a misty oblivion. Worse was that this was not a natural phenomenon, as the street, sidewalk, signs, foliage, and even buildings had sustained major damage, as if the ground itself were ripped away from that end haphazardly. He'd call it an earthquake, but there would be MUCH more damage to the surrounding buildings if that was the case.

It was then that he spotted another carriage, this time tipped over, with the top having been ripped away and missing. Curiosity pulled him closer to inspect, and he found scattered papers, looking like a report. and a blood soaked body splattered against the seat. Vergil gathered the notes he could, and decided to skim through them, and realized they were reports. Specifically, reports about the town:



	 Day 1,

I was given the case to investigate a variety of strange disappearances that have been happening in a remote town called Quiet Valley. As of writing these observational documents, the investigation had just begun. I will proceed in earnest, and note any significant changes.

Day 2,

I had interviewed everyone I could find in town about the disappearances. Nopony seems to know of their whereabouts, citing absences days before they were declared missing, but no rumors or sightings beyond said announcements. What is bizarre is that some of the affected parties of the missing ponies are starting to forget, more and more frequently needing me to remind them of why they themselves hired me. Even worse, pictures of the missing began to disappear. Something is terribly wrong.

Day 5, 

I woke up alone in my carriage this morning to find the whole town shrouded in mist. No matter where I look, I can't seem to find anypony around. It's as if the whole place became a ghost town overnight. I'm also seeing strange shapes in the fog. I decided to just stay in the carriage for the time being and review my notes.

Day 5-2,

Some of my notes have gone missing. Some of the pictures that were missing have come back. What in Tartarus is going on? My head is starting to hurt, and I think I hear a siren somewhere.

Day 6,

There is DEFINITELY something wrong in this town. To Tartarus with professional decorum. If these reports are to be what's left of me, then know this: I've been seeing things out there. Terrible things. I should have NEVER taken this job. I don't know what I thought I'd gain by doing this. It's not like she'd be found in this blasted town. I'm going to die here, and it's all my fault. To whoever reads this, RUN. Leave town and don't look back. You could be the toughest rock on the cliff, and it wouldn't be enough. What lurks here is not-



The notes ended right there, but tucked between them were a few photos, with only one of them featuring a very clear and recognizable face, and who it was gave Vergil pause. The photo in question was of Fluttershy. He looked back to the body of the individual that likely wrote these particular papers, deducing that the corpse used to be an investigator of some kind, but no one else knew of Fluttershy's disappearance. How did this one get the jump on the investigation long before he received that strange letter from the mare in question? Did her so-called friends somehow forget, just like the others implied in the reports?

Never the less, he decided to claim Fluttershy's photo for himself after allowing the rest of the papers to scatter in the wind. He never brought her photo with him initially, confident he wouldn't need it in what he assumed would be a very short mission, but he felt that with such alarming developments as of late, it would be unwise to continue without. Before he slipped the photo into his pocket, he noticed slight grooves at the back of the picture, and decided to turn it around. 

On the backside of Fluttershy's photo was a note that read, "Rumor of missing mare at Joy's. Possible clue?". Feeling the name was familiar, Vergil pulled the map from his pocket and laid it upon the ground, scrutinizing it closely. Sure enough, there was a pub north of here named Joy's. Thinking back, he realized he had been at that location once before, but had decided not to enter. Slipping the photo and map into his pocket, he dusted himself off and proceeded back up the street, keeping an open ear on the radio static and careful eye on the limited view of his surroundings.

Once again, all threats were avoided effectively with this strategy as he very swiftly found himself back in front of the pub. Stepping up to the door, Vergil placed his hoof upon the handle and opened the door. As he did, he lightly chastised himself for not investigating prior when he first had the chance, reasoning he might have saved some time. That was IF the tip he found actually does point him in Fluttershy's direction.

Entering the pub, he noticed how dark it was inside, bathed in the incredibly dim light that leaked through the newspaper plastered against the windows. It was honestly quite an eerie contrast, but aesthetics were trivial compared to his mission. As his vision adjusted to the darkness, he noticed how dilapidated the pub was, with broken seats and barren, damaged walls. Even the bar counter had nothing but a few cups, unknown debris, and bits of broken glass. Ire began to rise within Vergil as he considered the so-called clue on the back of Fluttershy's photo to be a lie, but something caught the attention of his peripheral vision.

It was a teddy bear, a little scuffed, but in decidedly better condition than the counter it was sitting upon. So much so, it looked like as if it were placed there recently. It was quite hard not to notice it with its relatively striking white fur and its obvious missing eye. Even more curious was the piece of paper folded and placed between the sitting bears legs. Taking the scrap, he unfolded it and scanned its contents. It was a piece of the town map, with the clocktower circled with the note scribbled next to it saying "saw somepony there that looked like that mare".

"Clocktower," he pondered to himself before he pulled the map from his pocket again. Looking it over, he found its location rather quickly and circled it himself. He noted that all he'd need to do to get there was to head west until he reached Miller Street, then go south for a short distance. It was practically a hop, skip, and jump away.

Smirking to himself, he discarded the scrap and turned to leave, only to see something he didn't notice before. Written in a reddish brown upon the newspaper plastered on the window were the words "A piece of the world is missing". Vergil raised an eyebrow, pondering only for a moment over what it could mean, before he dismissed it as nonsensical graffiti.

Exiting the pub, he turned to the west, and made his way through the street at a relatively quick pace, ignoring the constant presence of the crawling, dragging creatures that continued to inhabit the area against his wishes. Their blood trails and incessant grinding of what they pulled behind them disgusted and irritated him, especially as the dull throb on his slowly healing leg wound continued to remind Vergil of recent events. He made a mental note, deciding that once Fluttershy had been found safe and sound, he would return to butcher these pests and blow off some much needed steam. He would do so now, but fighting them in the way he had prior was inelegant, inefficient, and irresponsible. He had a job to do, and wasting his time, effort, and personal well being just to kill those things as powered down as he was would be beyond foolish. He should only ever stomach such encounters in emergencies.

It didn't take him long to reach Miller Street, to which he very quickly began to move south. However, while he did start to see what looked like a lengthy clock tower rise to the sky in the mists, just barely visible, he also noticed that the road ended on a sheer cliff once again; cutting off easy access to such a close location. He growled and grumbled for a moment, before he pulled his map out once more, drawing a red X at his current spot, before spying a slightly longer alternate route: continue west through Strong Avenue and head south on Valentine Street. It was slightly more roundabout, but was still within acceptable reach.

And so, Vergil did just that. Pulling out of Miller Street, he made his way a bit further up Strong Avenue once more. His new direction, however, was very swiftly cut short again as he encountered yet another massive break in the roadway. Both not wanting to anger himself further, but wanting to confirm where he was, he looked around the area, and noticed a slightly bent, but still legible signpost that showed this was, indeed, the corner of Strong Avenue and Valentine Street. Vergil snarled for a moment, before he pulled the map out again and crossed out that path. Going over it once more, he spied a much longer round about path that he could take to get to the clocktower, but it would require him to take a detour back up Miller Street.

Doubling back, he cantered back through Strong Avenue until he reached Miller once more, before he began to head north. It really didn't take him long to find himself to once again be blocked off at the pass with a sheer drop before him, but at the very least to the east the road still seemed to be intact. Not wishing to waste more time pondering the quickest method, Vergil opted to move eastward and try to see if he could head north on Saint Germane Street, only to find the roadway there had also collapsed or otherwise undergone a mysteriously upheaval. This, however, still did not completely hinder him, as he very quickly noticed the sound of tree leaves and rushing water in the distance. Directly to his east was a fenced off area, however he opted to move southward, following the fence until he reached the entrance to "Riverside Park".

Before him was a relatively normal park, much of it being open grass with sporadic trees, save for a relatively dense brush of shrubs and trees nearby the visible rushing river. It had decidedly much more life to it than the town, but was still just as eerily quiet, save for the creatures. The silence was disturbed, however, with the soft sobs of a child echoing from the fog. He tapped his blade's pommel gently with his hoof and swiveled his ears to get a read on the source of the noise.

"Show yourself," he commanded, still resting his hoof upon the blade. The sob quickly shifted to a slight 'eep', as a form crawled out of the bush, making it rustle, and emerged from the obscuring fog. Before Vergil was a very young colt. Tears stained his cheeks as dirt and leaves dirtied his silvery coat and dusty rosy pink mane. A silver arrow with butterfly wings was adorned upon his flank. Wiping away a tear, the colt fidgeted before the Son of Sparda.

"I-I'm very sorry m-mister," the young boy managed to stutter out, "I d-didn't mean to h-hide... I was just," 

Vergil gave a sigh as his his hoof retracted from his blade and he shook his head. "You shouldn't be out here, boy."

"I know," he replied, "but I lost my teddy yesterday. i-I came out here to find it."

In this fog? Vergil wondered, before shaking his head, "It's dangerous. Return home."

"I-I can't... n-not without..." the colt sobbed.

Vergil gave another sigh of annoyance as he spoke once again. "What does it look like?"

"P-pardon?"

"Your... teddy. What does it look like?"

"O-oh... its got white fur, like a bear in the frozen north. And its missing an eye. My mum gave it to me."

Vergil inwardly scoffed at the description, immediately recognizing it. "Very well. You stay put and stay hidden. I shall bring it back." Vergil had a job to do, but something deep inside him told him he would greatly regret allowing this kid to roam the streets in the fog. The monsters out there were trivial for him, even while weakened, but he knew that the child had no chance.

Exiting the park, Vergil checked the map once again, and realized the pub was just a straight shot south from where he was. Wasting no more time, Vergil briskly made his way back to Joy's Pub, entered it, and retrieved the bear from its resting place. Knowing he'd have a tough time carrying it with him normally, he found a bit of string nearby, and tied it to the scabbard of Yamato, making sure it was nicely secure to it. The whole thing looked ridiculous, but it was only temporary, he told himself. Upon leaving the pub. he noticed the radio start to buzz much louder this time around, especially considering it wasn't so active while he came to the building in the first place. The source of the distress was the increase in creatures that were now in close proximity to the pub.

What in hell? Vergil thought, There were NOT that many before now. One of the closer creatures, soon noticing Vergil was within its range, tensed back and gave a mighty leap towards the devil pony, Vergil dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding its lunging attack. The monster, missing its target, instead crashed through the door Vergil just came through. The sound was enough to get the attention of the rest of them, causing them to start clawing their way towards their would-be prey. Vergil clicked his tongue in annoyance, and moved away from the slowly gathering crowd, circling around them, and heading northwards towards the park. He could hear the horrible clawing and scraping behind him get fainter and fainter, but never actually going away. They're more aggressive, he considered, and persistent. I should hurry.

Soon enough, he reached the park, and the moment he stepped in and looked about, he began calling for the colt. "Boy!" he shouted, "Reveal yourself! I found your blasted toy!" Silence remained as he kept his ears focused and his eyes scrutinizing the area. Where is that brat? he fumed inwardly. He then noticed small hoofprints in the ground, roughly the size of the little colt's. He grimaced in frustration.

However, he didn't have time to stew in his anger, as the sounds of scratching claws and scraping metal slowly began to get louder out in the streets behind him. They're following me? Those monsters didn't exhibit this behavior before, so why now? He shook his head and decided to do what he originally thought of doing when he came to the park the first time. Follow the river upstream at the west side, and head for the water treatment plant. Gazing towards the hoofprints once more, he soon realized they were leading towards the same destination. If he ever found the little colt again, he was going to read him one hell of a riot act for his foolishness.

Vergil briskly galloped along the path through the trees and bush alongside the river, and it didn't take him long to reach a rather imposing building. He was aware that technology and building types in Equestria were very much a mixed bag of time periods and styles, but this one looked closer to being industrial in nature. Spartan and practical, with little in aesthetic. Very much an unequestrian looking building, which strangely unnerved him. However, what beat out that offbeat feeling was seeing an incredibly strange... thing, hung above the back exit of the building. It looked like a crucified pony, forelegs outstretched and nailed to the wall of the building, once again with no face, but its bottom half was an upside down top half, with minor, but significant differences. For starters, the bottom torso was far more emaciated, with the rib-cage clearly visible and pushing at the skin. The second was, at the end of the hooves, poked out long curved blades. It made the upside down hanging half look more like some sort of twisted parody of a praying mantis than a mockery of a pony. 

Vergil drew his attention behind it, and noticed that the door it hung above was wide open. He looked down upon the ground, and noticed the hoofprints once more leading towards the door. Did that stupid boy really run in there? He had no more time to ponder, as he started to notice the sounds of claws and scraping metal grow in volume. He looked back at the thing, noticing it seemed dormant. Vergil had no other choice, so cautiously he approached the creature, hoping to duck underneath and bypass it entirely. However, the moment he got close, the creature abruptly moved with a muffled scream, swiping its exceptionally dangerous bladed hooves at the devil pony. Vergil barely had time to react, as he swung his sheathed Yamato toward the attack to parry, only to remember that the blasted toy was attached. Before he knew it, the creature gripped the teddy bear strongly and began to pull, threatening to take the Yamato too. Vergil wound his other hoof around the scabbard and pulled back with all of his might, engaging in a vicious tug of war, before the string that attached the toy to his blade snapped, and Vergil tumbled backwards for a moment. 

Rising back to his hooves, he pressed his hoof against the handle of the blade, ready to fight, only to notice the creature hugging the teddy close to it. For a moment, there was soft, horrible gurgling noises coming from the monster. However, the gurgling stopped, and the bottom half of the creature melted away into viscera and bone, pulling off of the crucified top half, which remained unchanged. Vergil stood there for a moment, trying to put the pieces together, before realizing that the teddy had melted along with the creature, and thus was no longer salvageable. He'd curse over it, but honestly, he was just glad to be rid of such an embarrassing item. If he found the boy, he'd have to think up a lie about what had happened to his bear.

Soon enough, the pile of viscera disappeared, leaving behind dry bones and brittle blades, and a door wide open for him to step through. Vergil seized his opportunity, rushed forward, passing the crucified pony, and entered the building, shutting the door behind him.