//------------------------------// // The Residential: Day 3 // Story: Stories of the Teenage Cutie Mark Crusaders // by Prince Luna //------------------------------// “Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the Desolation of the wicked, when it cometh.” The Bible, Proverbs 3:25 The Residential: Day 3. "How is she, Mr.Carpenter?" Twilight asked the teacher. Twilight, the crusaders and Chemist Carpenter surrounded a table, on which lay Diamond Tiara, still passed out. Twilight had found her in some shrubbery just after she fainted, but she couldn't see why. "She's still breathing. That's the important thing," Chemist Carpenter responded. "Wait," Scootaloo said, "wasn't Quick Quilt with her when she walked off?" "We've sent some manor staff out to find her but there's been no luck yet," Twilight said. She whispered to the crusaders, "though I think we may know what happened anyway." The crusaders nodded. After inspecting Diamond Tiara closer, Chemist Carpenter confirmed that she had passed out in shock. Her pulse was still rapid, matched by her breathing. Outside the room, a crowd of ponies gathered, all wanting to get in and see what was going on. Twilight had locked the door however, and none of them could open it. A bell rang, signaling that dinner was ready. "Twilight, you'll have to watch over Diamond Tiara while I supervise dinner," Chemist Carpenter looked to the crusaders, "you guys come with me. Don't worry, she's going to be alright." The five ponies left the room. Twilight had brought some books with her to pass the time; some being about twenty. She lost herself in them while Diamond Tiara still lay out of conscience. *** Hours later, Twilight looked up from her book, and noticed that it was dark. Diamond Tiara was still out cold. The princess got on her hooves and stretched out her wings. Hours of sitting down on a plastic seat may not have been the best idea. There was a note by Diamond Tiara. Twilight picked it up with her magic and read it. "Twilight, you were too busy in your reading to notice me. Please keep an eye on Diamond Tiara all night; I'm busy settling down the students and preparing tomorrow's activities. -Chemist Carpenter." Twilight nodded and put the note down. She stood at Diamond Tiara's side for a moment, then looked back to the pile of books by the chair she was sat on. She thought of Quick Quilt for a moment and then trotted over to the pile. With her magic, she dug out the book the ghost had led her to the previous night. "Maybe he'll come back and give me more leads as to where Quick Quilt went..." she muttered to herself. She flicked through the book, but nothing happened. She sighed, then put it down and continued to watch over Diamond Tiara. Nothing happened for a few moments, but Twilight noticed an odd sound. A bit like wind at the top of a cliff. She looked to the door, and through it came the ghost of Red Rune. "Red Rune! It's you!" Twilight exclaimed, "could you show me more about what's happening to the ponies here?" The ghost nodded, and dove into the book. It opened on its own and flicked through pages, then circled around Twilight and emitted a bright light, engulfing the whole room in it. The room changed to the dormitory Twilight had seen before. The first thing Twilight saw was the battered body of Red Rune. She screamed and gagged, then watched with one eye closed. Consonance, the yellow unicorn who was in the dorm with Red Rune previously, trotted in. "Red Rune! The celebrations have begun! Are you re-" he saw the body, "WHAT IN EQUESTRIA?!" The unicorn galloped and kneeled down by the corpse, tears instantly flooding his eyes. "What happened? Why would...I just do not understand..." Consonance broke down immediately. "My best friend...and for what reason did this happen? It makes no sense!" Twilight teared up as well. Consonance did seem like a very cheery pony, and to see his best friend killed like this? It would have been heartbreaking. But then that wasn't the only thing on Twilight's mind. She noticed that behind Consonance was a peculiar black flame, moving towards him. She was about to call out but remembered that the unicorn in the past could not hear her; she could only watch as the flame danced in the air and latched itself onto Consonance's horn. He noticed and yelled, shaking his head to try and get it off, but the flame had a firm hold. The yellow unicorn's horn was slowly being engulfed by the flame. He tried everything he could to get it off. He tried swatting it, dousing it with water from the en suite, rolling on the ground, but nothing worked. Eventually the flame had absorbed itself into his horn, which was a bleak grey colour. His eyes shut, then burst open; white replaced with yellow and red pupils, with a green slither emanating from the sides. Twilight gasped, "dark magic...!" Consonance's body changed gradually from yellow to grey, and his hair dyed itself black and grew longer. He himself grew in size, eventually becoming almost as tall as Princess Celestia. Then on his sides a green light shone. they took shape of the wingbone and one feather on each. Consonance laughed in a deeper and rougher tone. This was no longer Consonance...or was it? "Red Rune is dead...no! I can use this new power! I'll take Red Rune's soul and add it to my own!" 'Consonace''s horn took a green aura, which surrounded the corpse of Red Rune. From him came a green flame, which the grey alicorn levitated over to his horn. In a similar way to the black flame, the green one went through his horn, and then a new feather appeared on each incomplete wing. "There must be hundreds of ponies here to take souls from...they can all be one with me! I'll never be lonely!" Consonace started cackling maniacally. Twilight gasped as the vision before her swirled back to the medical room. She looked to the ghost of Red Rune. "But...you're a ghost! If that was your soul...how are you here?" she asked, hoping it would talk again. "I'm not quite a ghost. I am but a living memory, left here magically by the one part of Desolation that is still Consonance in hopes somepony would save him," he explained. "Desolation? Is that what Consonance is called now?" Red Rune's memory nodded, "Desolation has created a dimension underneath the manor where he rules over ponies. He takes their souls and collects them on his wings. The soulless husks of ponies stand before him, obeying his every command. He is convinced they are his friends....but they don't even have emotions. Consonance was in a weak spot when he saw my body, he was easily possessed, and his negative emotions completely overtook his body." Twilight processed this information, "don't you worry. I have the Element of Magic here. I can bring Consonance back." "It might not be that simple," Red Rune sighed, "Desolation needs to know TRUE friendship to be reformed." "I can do that too! Friendship is what I'm best a-" Twilight stopped mid sentence. She looked around the room. Red Rune had gone. As had Diamond Tiara. The room was empty. Slightly scared, she trotted outside and towards the dormitories. She opened doors and saw that they were all empty. She shouted names, hoping that somepony would reply. She then found herself in the courtyard, and saw that all the lights in the manor were off. Everypony had just suddenly vanished in a split second. She heard a voice. "Twilight Sparkle. Are you all alone?" She looked around, but still saw nopony, "who's there? Where did everypony go?" she replied. "They abandoned you Twilight. You have no real friends after all." "You're lying! The kids love me! Where did they go?" "They wanted to get away from you, Princess. They felt overwhelmed that they had to take orders from royalty on a casual field trip." "But...I haven't ordered them at all! Hang on a second...you're-" "Willing to be your REAL friend, Twilight Sparkle." Twilight looked to the ground and saw a shadow. From it rose Desolation, exactly as she had seen in the vision of the past. "Desolation!" she scowled, "what have you done with everypony?" "Nothing. Like I said, they abandoned you," Desolation laughed. "There's no way! I know you did something!" "I did nothing. I'm only here..." his horn shone green. Twilight had no time to retaliate. Her whole body was surged with dark magic. She was no longer in control of it, "to offer you my friendship. Please come with me...we'll be the best of friends." Twilight nodded slowly and spoke with no character, "yes Desolation. I'll go with you. I see that nopony loves me here." "Good...." Desolation whispered. The black shadow underneath Desolation moved to Twilight. She sunk slowly into it. Desolation laughed hysterically as she descended into the darkness. "That was all too easy!" he chuckled, "if I can take a Princess as my friend, the other ponies in there will surely be my friends as well!" Desolation sunk into the ground as a shadow, and then made his way to the manor house. *** The next morning, the crusaders woke up refreshed since Diamond Tiara wasn't there to give them any stress. They got ready for the morning and exited their room, only to find Shiner at their door. "Good morning Shiner!" Scootaloo chirped. Shiner's face didn't show happiness, it showed worry, "maybe 'good' isn't the best word to use..." "Why not...?" Apple Bloom asked. "Dr.Carpenter, Twilight and almost everypony on the trip..." Shiner's throat caught itself and he couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence. The girls all gasped, "you mean they've gone missing?" Sweetie Belle whimpered. Shiner nodded, "I checked every dorm. Nobody's here except the guys in my dorm and us. Thank GOODNESS you're alright. Scootaloo, I don't know what I would've done if..." Scootaloo blushed, but remained serious, "where's the others from your dorm?" "In the medical room," Shiner responded, "Diamond Tiara's still here too." The girls look to each other, then hurried over to the medical room. Once there they found Diamond Tiara rolling around restlessly in her bed. Scribble Dibble, Heavy Metal and Stellar Spike were stood around the bed all with expressions that said 'what in the hoof is going on?' Scribs turned his head and saw the girls, who were just staring at Diamond Tiara in the same way they were. "It looks like she's coming to," he commented. "She's been like this for about 5 minutes," Heavy Metal added. Stell poked his head closer to her, "it sounds like she's mumbling something..." "qui...qui..." Diamond Tiara lay still, then bolted up, shocking Stellar Spike who fell backward, "QUICK QUILT!" she screamed loudly. "Diamond Tiara,,," Apple Bloom sighed, trotting up to her. She knew this was not the time to be her enemy, "how are ya feeling?" Diamond Tiara's eyes teared up, "I saw....it was...I don't know what to do." "What'd ya see?" Apple Bloom asked consolingly. "It was Quick Quilt," Diamond Tiara said between sniffs, "we were looking to get away from you guys...and we saw this black puddle. It...it wasn't a puddle though. Whatever was in it...at least there MUST have been something doing it...but Quick Quilt had been blinded or something. She thought she was alone, but I was right there talking to her...but then she started talking to herself..." "What was she saying?" Sweetie Belle asked. Diamond Tiara thought for a second to recall, "it sounded like someone was inviting her to join them...then..." Diamond Tiara screamed mid sentence. Shiner came close and held her hoof, much to Scootaloo's annoyance, "it's alright Diamond Tiara. You're safe now. What happened?" "The puddle went underneath Quick Quilt...and brought her down in it. It was horrifying, it was so scary I..." "You mean she just dove into the puddle?" Scribs asked. Diamond Tiara nodded. Everypony took a moment to think about this. "I think we know where everypony else has gone then," Heavy Metal noted. "But are we sure that everypony's gone?" Stell asked to confirm. "I checked all the dorms," Shiner explained, "I didn't see anypony els-" He was interrupted by the door opening. Everypony looked to see Shady Daze enter. He had his camera around his neck. He looked relieved to see the others. "Finally! Other ponies!" he cried out and galloped to stand with the crowd, specifically next to Sweetie Belle, "I was worried I may have been the only pony here!" "Shady Daze!" Sweetie Belle sighed with relief, "where WERE you?" "Taking pictures! I tracked this weird round shadow around the whole manor house. I've never seen anything like it." Diamond Tiara hyperventilated a little, "b-black shadow?" "It must be whatever is taking everypony!" Apple Bloom realised. "You mean that's what happened to everypony? It just...took them?" Shady Daze asked. Everypony briefly explained what Diamond Tiara had seen. He looked somewhat confused, but produced a notepad and paper and wrote this all down, no doubt his reporters instincts kicking in. When they were finished, Sweetie Belle looked at Shady Daze's camera. "Isn't that one of those new electronic cameras?" she asked. Shady Daze raised his neck proudly "Yeah! The pictures develop instantly onscreen! Okay...it's not developed but...anyway, the school newspaper team got them exclusively! They're brand new!" Scootaloo rushed towards him and took it, he shouted, "HEY! THAT'S DELICATE!" "I don't care! We gotta see those pictures! Where's the print button?" Scootaloo said hastily, messing around with the camera. She hit a button and it flashed in her eyes. She flinched and dropped it. It fell quickly, and almost collided with the floor, but a grey aura surrounded it. Luckily Heavy Metal had caught it just in time. "Here, Shady Daze," he said, "you're the one who knows how to use it," handing it to him. "THANK you." Shady Daze responded, before he pressed a couple of buttons and the screen on the back lit up. He gasped, and the other ponies surrounded him to see the pictures he had taken. Except Diamond Tiara, who was still stuck in bed. "Hey! Can I see?" she asked, being ignored. "There's...." Apple Bloom mumbled. "A pony?!" Sweetie Belle finished. "An alicorn..." Stellar Spike noted. The photos showed, instead of the shadow, a grey alicorn pony. The teens didn't know this, but it was Desolation. "I didn't see any pony when I took these...just the round shadow..." Shady Daze said in awe. "C'mon guys! Let me see!" Diamond Tiara demanded, still being ignored, she looked to the door, "GUYS!" The sudden loudness of Diamond Tiara's voice caused everypony to snap their heads towards the door. They saw a black circle creeping underneath. "It's the shadow that keeps taking everypony!" Shiner shouted. "Why didn't you shut the door, Shady?!" Stellar asked in panic. "That wouldn't have made a difference!" Scribble Dibble responded. The ponies backed away as the shadow got closer. It stopped in the middle of the room, then started expanding. It covered the walls, and the floors. The entire room was just a black box. Diamond Tiara hurried off the bed, which was also consumed in darkness, to huddle with the other eight ponies. Two huge, sharp and lizard like green eyes appeared in the air before them They all stayed deadly silent and heard a creepy and ominous laugh, which echoed around the now claustrophobic room. From seemingly nowhere, ponies slowly trotted towards them. They were all grey in colour and had no emotional expression on their face. They only groaned. The nine ponies recognised many of them. "Welcome to my world, my new friends," the voice whispered, "you will spend an eternity here with them, and me, the only friends you will ever need..." Too scared to do anything, the ponies only looked around to see who had been drained of any emotion. They saw Snips, Snails, Twist, Quick Quilt, Chemist Carpenter, Twilight Sparkle.... But directly under the green eyes in the air, at the front of all the ponies, was the pony they were looking for. The only pony not to have his colour and emotion drained. The voice didn't come from him, but from how close he was to the eyes, and his snarky expression, you could tell they were close. It was Regal Crown.