> The Shadow of Death
>  by CeasarTwain31
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1: Final Show of the Season
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash held her breath as she stood in the ready position, waiting for the signal to launch into the air. She had done several shows since joining the Wonderbolts, but she still felt a slight pang of nervousness right before it was her time to shine. To the right and left of her were more Wonderbolts who were also ready to launch when the signal rang out. Dash always needed to remind herself that she was on a team, and to not hog the spotlight to herself. 

Luckily, before Dash could get too lost in pre-show thoughts and worries, the sound of a cannon rang off and Dash knew exactly what it was, it was showtime. 

Herself, along with the Wonderbolts around her, launched from their position and through the short tunnel into the open air of the stadium. As soon as they reached it, the sound of thousands of cheering fans erupted all around them as they flew the first few laps around the stadium, passing hundreds of ponies. 

After the first few laps, the Wonderbolts started their big show routines, including near misses, diving into a freefall before quickly pulling up, along with many other stunts that made the Wonderbolts household names throughout Equestria. 

Rainbow Dash followed the routine expertly, as she usually did, which all led up to the big climax of the show, her very own patented Sonic Rainboom. After performing a triple helix with the rest of the Wonderbolts she flew out with, she separated and launched into the sky, flying very high up above the coliseum, before leaning back and turning around into a dive. She sped up quickly as the usual air cone began to form around her, but she kept accelerating until...

*boom*

The usual rainbow colored ring shot out on all sides of her as she broke the sound barrier and the crowd roared. Dash joined the rest of the Wonderbolts on one last lap around the coliseum before landing with the rest of the team on a platform in the center of the arena. She stood attention with the others as Spitfire stood in front of them all at the podium with a microphone. 

"Good Evening Cloudsdale!" Spitfire shouted enthusiastically into the microphone. Several howls and cheers erupted from the crowd. Rainbow Dash smiled as she looked around at the turnout for the crowd, it was definitely the biggest of the season, though, she knew the reason for that. 

It was the last day of the Wonderbolts touring season, winter was upon them, and the Wonderbolts took that time to rest up for the next touring season, which was usually long, grueling, and required maximum endurance for the team. They were still on standby in case any threats arose inside Equestria's borders, but as far as the shows were concerned, they were over until spring. 

"Did you enjoy that show or what?" Spitfire continued addressing the crowd, which was met with more thunderous applause. Spitfire let the crowd once again let out their excitement before continuing with the final show wrap up. 

"As many of you may be aware, you just witnessed the Wonderbolt's final show of the season..." Spitfire began, many groans and sounds of sadness emitted from the crowd. Spitfire continued, "...Yes, we are done touring for the year, Winter is practically here." As Spitfire spoke, Rainbow agreed with her. The flight suits they wore were not the best for cold weather, and she was slightly shivering. She looked up and saw flurries fluttering down from the clouds.

"But, don't cry fillies and gentlecolts, we will be back in the spring with a new and even more exciting tour, what do ya think of that!?" Spitfire shouted excitedly, grabbing the microphone off the podium and hovering into the air as the crowd let out another roaring cheer. Even a few of the Wonderbolts clapped. 

Spitfire landed back by the podium as the cheers died down again. "Until then, we will miss you. Every fan we've seen and met this season has made us all very happy to be Wonderbolts, knowing that we inspire so many of you, and you in turn inspire us to do better after each touring season. Thank you all so much for coming out to our final show of the year, and we'll see you all soon!" Spitfire closed with a nice sentimental little speech before the team one by one flew slowly back to the entrance to the locker rooms, waving to fans as they left the show. 

Rainbow Dash smiled wider than she had smiled in a long time as she waved up to the fans all waving to her. This was only her second touring season with the Wonderbolts, but she had already become a quick fan favorite. 

As soon as she was back into the tunnel that led to the interior of the stadium where the locker rooms were, she followed a group of Wonderbolt mares back to the female locker rooms. They were instructed to change out of their uniforms and meet outside the locker rooms afterwards for what was gonna happen that night, and since Rainbow had experienced an end of season show last year, she knew what was coming. 





After changing and stuffing her uniform in her bag, Rainbow Dash quickly left the locker room where a few Wonderbolts were already waiting for the meeting to begin. Dash looked around and saw a few Wonderbolts hanging around and lounging on a few couches, they were more specifically, the closest friends she had made in the Wonderbolts since joining. Nothing would ever separate her from her closest friends in Ponyville, but the friends she'd met in the Bolts were also great to hang with. 

Her closest friends in the bolts consisted of Fleetfoot, who was confident and had a very sassy personality, being the Wonderbolt's "Playmare". Surprise, who was basically a flying white and yellow Pinkie Pie who loved parties and pranks nearly as much as Dash did. Wave Chill, who, as his name suggested, was a pretty chill stallion, and finally Soarin, the most powerful flyer in the Wonderbolts, who Dash had been dating for nearly a year now. 

Dash walked over to the group as an argument began to die down, and Dash smirked. 

"Alright, what are you jokers arguing about now?" Dash asked as she set her bag on the floor and sat on the couch next to Soarin. 

"Wave Chill screwed up his entrance into the helix." Fleetfoot said, trying not to chuckle too much. Wave Chill leaned forward and lightly tapped Fleetfoot's head. 

"No I didn't! I got in almost perfectly, it was Fire Streak who stumbled in last." Wave Chill said in defense. Suddenly, a voice called out from outside the group. 

"No I didn't Wave, I saw you enter the helix, veer too far to the left, and you nearly ran into Misty." Fire Streak shouted from where he was standing, talking to his brother Lightning Streak and his Girlfriend Misty Fly. Wave Chill turned. 

"Yeah? So it's Misty's fault then!" Wave shouted. Rainbow let out a chuckle at this argument. 

"No Wave, it's still your fault, you were the one who veered." Fleet said, effectively shutting down the argument. Wave Chill frowned and slumped back on the couch he was sitting on. 

The Wonderbolts all joined different conversations as more and more of them left the locker rooms. Eventually the whole team had gathered in the small hangout area outside the Locker rooms when Spitfire finally emerged with her own bag. 

"Alright everypony, listen up!" Spitfire shouted, getting the attention of everyone there. 

"I would first like to thank you all for a great season. You gave it your all and every show from what I've heard has been amazing. You all earn a pat on your backs and some gratitude for your effort this season." Spitfire said. There was some chatter among the Wonderbolts after Spitfire spoke. Rainbow smiled as she gave herself a pat on the back for a great season. She then felt Soarin bring his arm around her and pull her in closer to him. 

"That's an improvement from last year huh?" Soarin whispered into her ear. Dash chuckled and pushed Soarin away, knowing exactly what incident that he was referring to, specifically, her first show and how it involved a stray storm cloud, and a lot of cotton candy. 

Spitfire then caught everyone's attention again, "But, for now I'm sure you want to go to celebrate, am I right or am I right?" Spitfire asked sarcastically, getting a big wave of cheers from the more party animal Wonderbolts, like the Streak brothers. 

"Heh, as I expected. Tonight, you are free to celebrate the end of the season any way you like, go home, go to a pub, go find a place to sleep, find yourself a hooker, I don't care. Just make sure you report to the compound tomorrow at noon for cleanup and debriefing." Spitfire explained. There was a mixed reaction between cheers and groans. Spitfire rolled her eyes. 

"Now, dismissed!" Spitfire shouted. Many Wonderbolts were gone in a flash, many of them quickly making their way out of the coliseum tunnels to the main entrance to go and celebrate how they wanted. 

Dash and the others grabbed their bags and all stood up to leave. "So.." Dash began, "...What should we do tonight?" Dash asked as she turned to the rest of her friends. The answer however, came from another pony. 

"Well, this year, I've got a special plan for a few select ponies only." Spitfire said as she joined the group. Rainbow was a little surprised, but intrigued. 

"What kind of special plan?" Rainbow asked. She noticed that Wave Chill and Surprise also looked confused, but Soarin and Fleetfoot looked like they knew. 

"A party at the compound tonight, we'll have some drinks, play some games, listen to some music, and afterwards, just sleep there so we can be ready for cleanup tomorrow." Soarin explained. 

"It'll also be a bit more low key than going to some big crowded pub." Fleetfoot added. Rainbow nodded as she thought of the idea, it sounded like fun. 

"So, are you guys in?" Spitfire asked Rainbow, Surprise and Wave. 

"Of course I will Spitty! It's time for a party!" Surprise said as she hopped up and down. Dash smiled at Surprises action, remembering that Surprise was so close to being Pinkie that it was scary. 

"Eh, sure, I'll go, it beats getting drunk at the Nimbus." Wave Chill said, referring to a pub in Cloudsdale. Dash nodded soon after Wave Chill agreed. 

"Sure, I'm in, it'll be fun." Dash said happily. Spitfire nodded before turning to some of the other ponies still there, including the Streak brothers and Misty Fly. Thunderlane, one of the newer recruits and a fellow former weather patrol pegasus that Dash knew from Ponyville was still there. And finally High Winds, a female Wonderbolt that Dash didn't know that well.

"We're throwing a party at the compound this year, any of you wanna come?" Spitfire asked the remaining Wonderbolts there. The Streak brothers barely hesitated. 

"A private party? Count us in!" Lightning Streak said, high hoofing his brother. 

"Eh, sure, I've got nothing better to do." High Winds said as she walked over, followed by Thunderlane. 

"Sounds fun, I'm in." Thunderlane said. Spitfire nodded before motioning for them all to follow. 

"Alright, time to throw one heck of a party!" Spitfire cheered as she and the others headed for the exit to the coliseum. 

Though, none of them noticed the pony watching them from one of the maintenance doors as they walked out. This pony quickly moved from their place and followed them out onto the street, avoiding several more ponies on the sidewalk as they watched the Wonderbolts take off towards their compound on the other side of Cloudsdale. 

"Looks like the party's just beginning." The pony said to themselves before moving to follow them, chuckling as they followed.
> Chapter 2: Settling In
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Wonderbolt's compound stood silent on the far side of Cloudsdale. With the rest of the Wonderbolts out enjoying their own festivities after the last show, the compound was empty, the janitorial staff having left about an hour before the small group of Wonderbolts returned to the compound for their party. 

The group entered through the main entrance into the main lobby of the compound. It was a very spacious area with places to sit down and a desk for the receptionist and for incoming male, and had many hallways branching out into the rest of the compound, leading to places like the barracks, the mess hall, training rooms, etc. 

"Alright everypony, you can go drop off your bags in your rooms, then meet in the Rec Room for the party." Spitfire explained to the rest of the group. Everyone else agreed and began to head into the compound to their respective rooms. 

High Winds was paying little attention, she was hanging by one of the large windows in the lobby, admiring the light snow swirling around outside in the courtyard. The Weather factory was already pumping out snow clouds by the looks of it, and as always, the snow looked beautiful. 

High Winds heard Spitfire mention dropping their bags off before beginning the party, and picked up her bag before glancing outside again. This time though, she saw something, a shadow moved incredibly fast across the courtyard outside the front of the compound before disappearing around the side of the building. 

"What the?" High Winds said aloud, catching the attention of Rainbow Dash and Fleetfoot, who had been caught in a lingering conversation instead of going straight to drop off their bags. The two walked over to her. 

"What's up Windy? Scared of the snow?" Fleetfoot teased. High Winds rolled her eyes. Dash snickered. 

"No, it's just....I thought I saw somepony outside." High Winds explained, looking out the window again. Fleetfoot chuckled. 

"It was probably just a bird, or maybe one of the janitors are here to stalk us like the perverts they are." Fleetfoot said jokingly. Despite feeling a little on edge from what she saw, High Winds just laughed it off along with Fleetfoot and Rainbow Dash, and the three went to drop off their bags. 

The compound had several rooms very similar to dorms found at Universities, with beds, closets, and a private bathroom in each one. The rooms were designed to accommodate 4 ponies each, and were separated by gender. The dorms of the compound had their own wing of the building and covered all three floors of the wing to accommodate every active Wonderbolt. 

Rainbow Dash followed Fleetfoot into the stairwell leading to the upper floors, since the two were bunking together with Surprise on the third floor. High Winds broke away from the others since her room was on the first floor, and her bunk mates were all out doing Celestia-knows what. 





Outside, over by one of the maintenance entrances to the compound, the pony that had followed the group back was looking for a way to get in, and settled on this particular maintenance entrance. The pony approached the door and pulled a lockpicking device from their pocket. They inserted it into the lock and began to move it around until a clicking noise was heard. The pony smirked as they opened the door and slipped inside. 

The pony found themselves in a dimly lit corridor, littered with a few bins meant for trash collection, as well as a few doors. The pony looked around and saw a sign hanging from the ceiling pointing in three different directions. Down the hallways was marked as the Mess hall in one direction and the gym in the other direction. The final arrow pointed towards the nearest door, which was labeled "first floor dormitories." 

The pony inched slowly toward the door and carefully pushed it open. They peeked through the tiny crack in the door and noticed a pony out in the hallway. She was a white coated Pegasus with a curly navy blue mane. A duffel bag hung from around her shoulders and the pony could make out the name on the bag. 

"High Winds." 

The pony's lips curled into a wicked smile and they had to suppress another chuckle. The pony had come here for a reason, and now, their plan could begin. From their pocket, the pony pulled out a small knife and watched as High Winds entered one of the rooms. Unfortunately for Windy, she didn't close the door behind her. 





High Winds entered her empty dorm room and turned on the light, leaving the door open a crack behind her. She glanced over to her bed and noticed something on it that wasn't there before. It was a brand new Wonderbolt uniform sealed in a plastic bag. High Winds smiled wide when she saw it. 

"Finally! My new Uniform!" High Winds said out loud, wrapped up in her excitement. She had beaten up and torn her current uniform during the recent touring season and desperately needed a new one, and thankfully, her new one had arrived, custom made to fit her. 

High Winds tore open the plastic bag and took the uniform out of it. She left the plastic bag on the bed as she stepped over to the closet. She slid open the door and began to rummage through the unusually cluttered closet trying to find a hanger to use. 

"Dammit Blaze, you were supposed to clean this out!" High Winds cursed to herself, referring to one of her roommates. 

High Winds continued to rummage through the closet, so she didn't notice as the door opened quietly behind her. The pony stepped into the room and glanced around. The initial plan was to just use the knife, but the pony put it away as they spotted another way to dispatch this Wonderbolt. They carefully picked up the opened plastic, and silently approached High Winds, who was still trying to find a hanger.  

"I swear to god Blaze..." High Winds muttered as she kept rummaging. She turned to look at the other end of the closet for another possible place for an empty hanger. She saw something in her peripheral vision, but she didn't have enough time to react before the pony behind her threw the plastic packaging over her head and closed their hooves around her neck. 

High Winds dropped the uniform and tried desperately to fight back against her attacker. She attempted to turn, but the pony held her too strongly. She felt their hooves close even tighter around her neck, as she kept gasping and hacking from inside the plastic. Her vision began to go fuzzy, and breathing became impossible. 

The pony strangling her then suddenly slammed her head against the wall in the back of the closet and High Winds stopped moving.





Soarin and Wave Chill were exactly one floor above High Wind's room when they heard what sounded like a slam. Wave Chill looked up from organizing his bag. He looked over at Soarin who was pushing his bag under his bed. 

"Did you hear that?" Wave Chill asked. Soarin turned and looked at him and nodded. 

"Yeah, it was probably somepony slamming their door, you know how excited Surprise is about this party." Soarin said, offering an explanation. Wave Chill pondered the suggestion for a moment before returning to his organizing. 





The killer loosened their grip around High Wind's neck and stood upright, looking down at their results. High Wind's expression was stuck in one of pure terror. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was still open, with the plastic having been closed tightly around her head like a vacuum sealed bag. 

"One down." the killer said to themselves before moving High Wind's body completely into the closet, concealing it behind the rows of clothes, and closing the door. They turned and quickly left the room, shutting off the light and closing the door. Luckily, the rest of the first floor hallway was empty. They then quickly slipped back into the maintenance corridor. 





Rainbow Dash and Fleetfoot quickly stored their duffel bags and met back up with Soarin, Wave Chill, and Surprise and they all made their way down to the Rec Room together. 

"So, what exactly is happening at this party tonight?" Rainbow asked Soarin as they entered the downstairs hallway connecting the dormitory wing to the recreation wing, which consisted of the gyms, mess hall, weight rooms, and the rec room. 

"Oh, just a little party, nothing too spectacular. Board Games, Music, maybe a movie, and a LOT of booze." Soarin explained as they walked.

"Oh, and I may have some.......other.... stuff to add to this party." Wave Chill suddenly spoke up. The others turned and looked at him. 

"Is it weed?" Soarin deadpanned. Wave Chill smirked and nodded. 

"You know me too well." Wave Chill responded. They all shared a little laugh as they kept walking. Fleetfoot then nudged Rainbow to get her attention. 

"And knowing a few of the guests here, there might be some more "Private Activities" later." Fleetfoot said, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. Soarin and Rainbow blushed lightly and avoided looking at eachother. Fleetfoot chuckled. 

"You two are adorable!" Fleetfoot said giddily. 

"I know right!" Surprise chimed in. Even Wave Chill had to hold in some giggles. The walk had turned awkward, but luckily the group had finally reached the rec room. They entered and saw that most of the others had already arrived. Spitfire saw them enter and trotted up to them. 

"Finally! Welcome to our special "End of the Season" Party!" Spitfire said happily. 

"It's gonna be a long night." Soarin whispered to Dash as they walked in.

The killer watched them enter, hiding behind one of the big potted plants in the hallway....
> Chapter 3: The Party Starts
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fleetfoot rolled the record player into the Rec Room, eliciting a small cheer from a few of the other Wonderbolts in the room. The Rec Room was set up how it always was, showing how the party was more impromptu than some of the other Wonderbolts expected when they said they'd join, but it didn't need to be. 

The Rec Room consisted of several places to sit including couches, chairs, and even bean bags. It also had a small kitchen area with a microwave, coffee maker, a table, and a vending machine. There was also a pool table/Ping Pong table in the corner by the windows, where the snow could be seen picking up intensity. 

As Fleetfoot rolled in the record player to get the music playing, she looked around at the current attendees. Rainbow Dash and Soarin were sitting next to each other on one of the couches, Fire Streak and Misty Fly did the same on another couch, Lightning Streak sat on a bean bag chair with Surprise trying to annoy him by dangling a feather over his snout, Spitfire was setting up the ping pong table with Wave Chill, and finally Thunderlane was sitting at a table with his head being held in his hooves with a bored expression. Fleetfoot finally moved the record player into place and turned to the rest of the room. 

"Where's Windy?" Fleetfoot asked. Everyone in the room glanced over at her, most of them shrugging. 

"I haven't seen her, maybe she decided to just call it an early night rather than deal with us." Spitfire said as she finished setting up the table. 

"Uhh!" Lightning Streak suddenly let out a groan that knocked Surprise back onto her plot. "When can we get the real party started!" Lightning whined. Spitfire scoffed. 

"Don't worry Lightning, were almost done setting up for you." Fleetfoot said in a mocking tone reminiscent of a mother speaking to her young foal. Lightning frowned at Fleet's tone and sat upright on the bean bag. 

"No, I'm talking about the REAL party supplies, the booze and the weed!" Lightning said, glancing over at Wave Chill. "You got the stuff, right man?" Lightning asked. 

Wave Chill simply lifted up a small bag containing the "good stuff" and nodded. Spitfire then approached Lightning. 

"Well then Lightning, if you want the party to start so soon, then I suggest you go get the booze from the mess hall." Spitfire said, sounding somewhere between a heavy suggestion and an order as captain. Lightning rolled his eyes. 

"Uh, why do I have to?" Lightning whined. Spitfire was about to give him an earful for his complaining when Fire Streak stepped in. 

"Bro, quit your bellyaching or we're never gonna get this party rolling. Me and Misty will come help." Fire Streak offered. 

"Oh, Oh, Can I help too?" Surprise suddenly jumped in. Spitfire nodded. 

"The more help, the less time it'll take, now hop to it." Spitfire ordered. With that, The Streak Brothers, Misty Fly and Surprise all left the Rec Room and made their way towards the mess hall. Spitfire turned to the others after they left. 

"Alright, now who wants to go and grab the board games from storage?" Spitfire asked. Soarin quickly rose his hoof. 

"Me and Dash can grab em for you." Soarin volunteered as he stood up from the couch. Rainbow wanted to protest, but she decided against it, it was just retrieving some board games after all. 

The two left the rec room and proceeded down the hall towards the storage area, where most of the Wonderbolt's training gear was stored, but there were also more recreational things stored in there as well. 

Soarin and Rainbow Dash walked down the empty halls of the compound, remaining mostly silent throughout their walk apart from the sounds of their hooves clopping against the floor. The two though did share a few quick glances and smiles as they walked. 

Rainbow Dash really liked Soarin. After spending all these month dating, the two had grown exceptionally close, though their relationship was rather casual compared to other Wonderbolt couples like Fire Streak and Misty Fly. While Fire and Misty were often seen making out and heavily petting to a degree that the phrase "get a room" was an understatement, Soarin and Rainbow Dash were more casual when they hung out. They only ever made out in private and rarely made public displays of affection. 

Eventually, they made it to the gym hallway, which branched off into the different training gyms, and at the end of the hallway stood the storage room. They reached the end of the hall and Soarin quickly opened up the door. 

"After you, miss." Soarin gestured, allowing Rainbow to enter first. Rainbow chuckled and stepped inside ahead of him.



 

From down the hall, the killer watched as Soarin slipped inside after Dash and the storage room door closed. As soon as the door was closed, they began to move down the hall towards the room. 





Soarin stepped inside the storage room after Dash and quickly switched on the light, illuminating the room and revealing how messy it is. The room was large and cluttered full of training equipment, extra mattresses up against a wall, boxes upon boxes stacked up, and even more. 

"Uh, Spitfire needs to tell the cleaning staff to reorganize this place." Soarin said as he started to look around for the board games. Dash began to look through some of the training equipment, seeing several rings for flight training, spare weight room supplies, etc. 

"Board Games? I was expecting a little more." Rainbow suddenly said as Soarin began rummaging around a few unmarked boxes in the corner. Soarin stopped rummaging and turned around. 

"Well, what were you expecting? Fleet did say it was just gonna be a low key little party which is a far cry from last year." Soarin retorted, reminding himself and Dash of the post Final Show celebration last year at one of the bars in Manehattan. Rainbow Dash then smirked and walked up to Soarin. 

"Yeah, but Fleet did also mention something a little more later.." Dash said, wiggling her eyebrows. Soarin lightly blushed, remembering the awkwardness that ensued after Fleetfoot said it earlier. Soarin felt embarrassed again, but then remembered, he and Dash were alone now. 

Soarin reached forward and pulled Dash into an embrace, their muzzles were only inches apart. "Are you suggesting what I think you are Dash?" Soarin asked. Dash giggled. 

"Oh, I was just considering it, if you're up for it." Rainbow said with a smile before leaning in and giving Soarin a small peck on the lips. 

Soarin was unsure of how to respond to Rainbow's words. They had been together for a while now, but had never gone past making out in private, but were they both ready to take it to the next level? Soarin smiled back at her and let out a laugh. 

"You know Dash, I think Considering and Suggesting mean the same thing." Soarin joked. Dash blushed and lightly jabbed Soarin in the gut. 

"Oh shut it you." Dash said before attacking his lips again. 





The killer silently opened the door to the storage room and entered, then slowly closed the door behind them so to not make noise. They moved slowly into the room, eventually seeing Soarin and Rainbow Dash in the corner of the room, sucking eachother's faces. 

The killer wordlessly gagged and took the still unused knife out of the pocket from their suit. They began to creep towards them, hiding behind a few box stacks so that they wouldn't see them. 

They got closer and closer, eventually making it to the last stack of boxes that separated them from their prey. They moved to attack, but bumped their hoof against the stack of boxes a little harder than they should have, and the box stack began to tip over. 

The Killer quickly turned and rushed out of the room as the boxes fully tipped over.....

*Crash*

Soarin and Dash were snapped violently out of their make out after hearing the loud crash of a stack of boxes falling over behind them. Soarin looked over passed the toppled boxes and saw something zoom out of the room. 

"Hey!" Soarin shouted as he flew passed Dash and out into the hallway to give chase to whoever it was. He flew out into the hall, but to his shock, the hall was completely devoid of any movement or evidence that somepony was there. Dash quickly left the room behind Soarin.

"What happened?" Dash asked. Soarin stood dumbfounded at how fast the prankster had fled, but, knowing some of his fellow Wonderbolts, it could've been anypony. He turned back to Dash. 

"I think we were just pranked." Soarin said as he shook his head in mild frustration. Dash blushed as the reality dawned on her. 

"You mean.....somepony saw us? Just now?" Dash asked. Soarin gave her a slight nod and Dash groaned. "Who do you think it was?" she asked. Soarin put his hoof to his chin for a moment. 

"I'm gonna guess Lightning Streak or Thunderlane." Soarin responded. Dash let out an exaggerated exhale and stomped her hoof down. 

"Remind me to kick their asses later." Dash said in an annoyed huff. Soarin chuckled.

"Sure, but for now, let's just get the games and get back to the rec room." Soarin said, gesturing back to the storage room. Rainbow nodded and the two went back inside to retrieve what they came for. 





The killer was speeding through the halls, hoping that they hadn't been discovered already. Eventually, they found themselves in an empty hallway where they heard the sound of talking. They calmed themselves and crept towards the door where the talking emitted from. The door was slightly ajar. The killer looked up at the plaque next to the door. 

It read "Mess Hall."
> Chapter 4: It's Just a Prank
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Streak Brothers, along with Misty Fly and Surprise walked into the large and empty Mess Hall. The four immediately began heading towards the kitchen area, where they knew the booze was, as well as other food items were kept that they could help themselves to, since the cooking staff had not yet cleared the place out yet. They weren't going to until tomorrow. 

"Alright, time to get the special brews and upgrade this boring night to a real party." Lightning said. Surprise suddenly appeared in front of him. 

"Hey, if there's anypony who can judge the realness of tonight's party, it's gonna be me!" Surprise yelled before turning and flying into the kitchen ahead of the others. 

"Yeah, and parties need more than just endless amounts of booze ya know." Misty spoke up. Lightning scoffed and looked back at his brother and his marefriend. 

"What, endless sex?" LIghtning said smugly. Misty frowned, broke away from Fire and walked up to Lightning and smacked him across the face. 

"I bet you would like that very much huh? Mr. Single?" Misty said mockingly before returning to Fire, who was trying to hold in his laughter. 

"Woah, that was a third degree burn bro." Fire said. Lightning frowned. 

"I'm just waiting for the perfect lady, I have very high standards!" Lightning argued. Misty smirked smugly. 

"I bet that perfect mare out there has NO standards." Misty said mockingly. 

"Ha!" Fire laughed out loud before covering his muzzle with a hoof. Lightning frowned even harder and growled slightly. Lightning was about to retort, but....

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

An ear piercing shriek of terror emitted from the kitchen where Surprise had gone into while the others had their little argument in the main mess hall. The three all gave eachother a quick, shocked glance to eachother before rushing into the kitchen. 

"Surprise?" Misty yelled out as the three entered the kitchen area. There was no response. Fire Streak quickly grabbed a rolling pin off of one of the nearby counters and started to slowly move further into the kitchen. 

"Surprise? What's wrong?" Fire called out. There was again, no response. Fire turned to the other two. 

"I'll go check the pantry, Lightning, check the freezer, Misty, stay here." Fire ordered. Misty nodded with a worried expression on her face. Lightning also nodded, looking even more terrified. 

Fire Streak moved down to the other side of the kitchen, passing by all the different food prep areas like the deep fryers. Eventually he reached the pantry and slowly wrapped his hoof around the knob and threw it open and looked inside. Of course, it was empty, nothing but food supplies. Fire released a sigh before closing the pantry door. 

Lightning streak slowly approached the freezer door, which was in the back of the kitchen away from everything else and was lightly trembling as he reached for the handle. He grasped it and pulled the freezer door open. He looked inside, and saw a light fog float out as well as a few boxes inside. He was about to close the door when suddenly...

"AAAAHHHHHH!" Surprise screamed as she stepped out of the freezer, blood gushing from her neck, spraying it onto Lightning. Lightning also let out a scream of terror as Surprise fell on top of him and the two fell to the ground. Misty and Fire quickly ran to the back to see what was happening and stopped when they realized what was really happening. 

Surprise rolled off of Lightning Streak with a look of pure shock still on his face. She was laughing to the point of tears. Fire and Misty both looked at each other with confused looks before looking back at Surprise who began to die down in laughter and sat up, peeling the fake wound off her neck and revealing a baster full of fake blood in her hoof. 

Fire and Misty saw this and quickly joined Surprise in her laughter. Lightning was the only one not laughing. He sat up, covered heavily in the fake blood which had soaked his coat and covered his mane. 

"What the Flying Feathered Fuck Surprise!" Lightning shouted as the other three kept laughing at him. Lightning finally stood up and glared angrily at the other three. Fire was the first to notice his brother's anger and tried to make him lighten up. 

"Oh come on bro, you gotta admit, that was good." Fire Streak said between laughs. Lightning scoffed and pushed passed him and the other two. He walked over to the refrigerators, opened one and pulled out a bottle of hard cider and walked towards the exit of the kitchen. 

"Hey, where are you going Mr. Grump?" Surprise asked. Lightning opened up the bottle and took a swig before turning back to the others. 

"I'm going to clean up, thanks a lot Surprise." Lightning said sarcastically before turning an hurriedly left the mess hall. 

The three had now stopped laughing and stood awkwardly in the kitchen. Surprises expression quickly turned sad and drooped her head. 

"Was it too much?" Surprise said sadly. Fire chuckled and placed a hoof on Surprises shoulder. 

"No it wasn't, he just needs to lighten up and enjoy himself. Fire said reassuringly before walking over to the fridges. "Come on, we should get the booze back to the rec room before the others get bored." Fire said. Misty and Surprise both nodded and quickly moved to help. 





Lightning left out of the main mess hall door and quickly moved down the hall. The killer, who was watching from a broom closet across from the mess hall, silently left the closet and followed him through the compound. Eventually, Lightning Streak reached the locker rooms and entered the male locker room. The killer followed quietly behind. 

"Stupid bitch." Lightning mumbled as he walked past several rows of lockers towards the bathroom area. He took a few more swigs from his cider bottle before reaching the counter full of sinks in front of a large mirror. 

Lightning placed the bottle on the counter and gazed into the mirror. His face and most of his upper body were covered in the red fake blood, which upon further inspection, turns out was corn syrup and food coloring. Lightning let out a groan before turning on one of the sinks and beginning to scrub his face. 

"I'm gonna need a shower too." Lightning said aloud as he scrubbed his face roughly. 

Behind him, the killer was quietly approaching the counter as Lightning was distracted with his face washing. The Killer eventually moved up next to Lightning and grabbed the cider bottle by the neck, making a little noise that caught Lightning's attention. 

Lightning looked up into the mirror, seeing a silhouette next to him in the mirror before the silhouette suddenly swung the bottle across the back of Lightning's head. Breaking the bottle and spraying cider all over him. 

Lightning's head bumped against the counter before he fell completely to the ground. He laid on the ground in a daze, he could feel the blood start trickling down the back of his head from the glass shards in it. He saw movement in his field of view. He looked up and let out a pained gasp. 

Over him, stood a pony, they were clad in a uniform similar to a Wonderbolt uniform, except the uniform was darker, the head and hooves of the uniform were black, while the rest of the body was dark purple, and the goggles they wore were dark yellow. 

"W...wh...what the fu-" Lightning started to whimper out only for the pony standing over them to take the sharp end of the broken bottle and drive it into Lightning's left eye that was looking up at them. Lightning let out a short scream before the killer twisted the bottle while it was still in, silencing him. 

The killer smirked as they pulled the broken bottle out, watching as Lightning's eye slid out of it's socket a little. The sight was gruesome, and that's just how they wanted it. 

The killer quickly grabbed Lightning's body and began to drag it away to hide it. They still had work to do...
> Chapter 5: The Storm Grows
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Come on Chiller! Kick his ass!" Spitfire yelled as she stood off to the side of the ping pong table where Wave Chill and Thunderlane were now using to volley the little white ball back and forth. Fleetfoot also stood off to the side, smoking a joint and bobbing her head to the rock music emitting from the record player. 

The two stallions were swift as they continued to volley the ball back and forth across the table, the sounds of the paddles striking the ball filled the air in the room. 

"Come on Wave, stand down already!" Thunderlane taunted as he kept on hitting the ball back to Wave. Wave shook his head and kept sending the ball back. 

"I can go all night Thunder!" Wave taunted back. Both stallions were neck and neck, both waiting for an opening where they could finally gain the upper hoof and win the match. 

Thunderlane hit the ball back to Wave Chill right as the door opened. He looked over his shoulder at Soarin and Rainbow Dash entering the room with several board games stacked on their backs. Thunderlane had only glanced over for a second, but he turned back just as the ball had bounced back to his side. Thunderlane tried to hit the stray ball again, but he swung and missed, and the ball bounced off the floor. 

Spitfire pumped her hoof in the air and cheered at Wave Chill's sudden victory. Thunderlane sighed and looked up at his opponent. He expected Wave Chill to be rubbing the victory in his face, but instead, Wave Chill was smiling. 

"Good game Thunder, up for round 2?" Wave Chill complemented before offering a rematch. Before Thunderlane could answer, the door opened again and Fire Streak, Surprise, and Misty Fly walked in with three large cases of alcoholic beverages straight from the kitchen. Thunderlane turned back to Wave. 

"Later, after a few drinks." Thunderlane said, motioning over to the drinks. Wave Chill nodded and followed the rest over to the drinks. 

Soarin and Dash dropped the games on the table while the others placed the cases of drinks on the counter. Soarin looked over at Fleetfoot, who already had a joint in her mouth. 

"Fleet, weren't you supposed to wait for later before digging into that stuff?" Soarin asked as Fleet took another drag from it. Fleet rolled her eyes. 

"Hey, Spitfire said we could celebrate any way we wanted tonight, I may be here for this party, but this is how I'm celebrating at this party." Fleetfoot said before grabbing a hard cider and opening it up. Spitfire laughed at Fleet's antics before looking back at the alcohol delivery ponies and seeing that somepony was missing. 

"Where's Lightning?" Spitfire asked Fire as he grabbed ciders for him and Misty. 

"Surprise pranked him, pretended to be bleeding, and covered him in fake blood. He went to go clean himself off." Fire explained. Spitfire looked over at Surprise who was already draining half a cider. Spitfire walked over to her and pulled the drink away from her muzzle and gave her a stern look. 

"Surprise, what did I say about your pranks?" Spitfire asked in a stern voice. Surprises expression saddened.

"Come on Spitty, it was just a harmless prank, I'm sure he'll be back here in no time to enjoy the party." Surprise said, trying to lighten her mood. Spitfire's expression softened. 

"Your probably right, just, maybe tone down the intensity of your pranks next time, okay?" Spitfire asked. Surprise happily nodded before taking another sip of cider. 

"LET"S PARTY!" Surprise shouted, earning a cheer from the others. 

Outside in the hall, the killer heard the cheer. The party was now underway, all they had to do was wait. 





The party had reached full swing now, the music was loud, games like Twister and Sorry! were brought out and played, and booze was consumed. Thunderlane and Wave Chill had what felt like an entire ping pong tournament, ultimately ending in a victory for Thunderlane. All throughout the party, the storm outside began to rage even more, but none of the participants noticed, they were having too much fun. 

After another round of Twister, Surprise stepped away from the games and sat down in one of the chairs. She scanned the room, looking at all of her teammates having such a fun time, it made her so happy.  But, then she noticed that a certain stallion was still missing. Surprise frowned and held her head down, now feeling bad that she might have ruined Lightning''s night. She suddenly looked up when she saw Rainbow Dash sit down next to her. 

"Everything okay Surprise?" Rainbow asked, concerned. Surprise looked up at Dash and weakly nodded.

"I'm fine, I just....I feel bad that I pranked Lightning like that." Surprise said sadly. 

"What did you do again?" Rainbow asked. Surprise smiled lightly, remembering her prank. 

"I went into the kitchen ahead of him and the others to get the drinks, then I decided to take advantage of the situation and bust out a few prank tools. I screamed, which brought them into the kitchen. I hid in the freezer with a fake neck wound and a baster full of fake blood. When Lightning opened the door, I jumped out, screamed, and sprayed him with fake blood..." 

Rainbow Dash had to hold in her chuckles as Surprise recounted her prank, finding it pretty funny. Surprise continued. 

"..He, didn't take it well, he yelled at me, grabbed a drink and stormed out. He still hasn't come back." Surprise finished, hanging her head low again. 

"Surprise.." Rainbow began, getting her attention. "...I once did a whole bunch of really extreme and nasty pranks a while back in Ponyville. Everypony told me to stop and wanted me to take better care of what I do in a prank and who I do it to, but I didn't listen, and they pranked me back in the biggest prank I've ever seen." Rainbow explained. Surprise was now listening closely to Dash's story. 

"What did they do?" Surprise asked. Dash chuckled a little before answering. 

"They all turned one of my pranks around on me. I had these joke cookies that made all their mouths rainbow colored, but they made it look like the cookies turned them into zombies! They only revealed the prank when I was surrounded and cowering in fear." Rainbow explained. Surprise laughed at the mental image before covering her muzzle. 

"So, why are you telling me this?" Surprise asked. 

"Because, I learned the hard way that there are certain ponies that enjoy pranks, and some ponies that don't.  Let this be a lesson for you about Lightning Streak. he didn't like your prank, you should go find him and apologize." Rainbow explained. Surprises face lit up and she realized what she had to do. She quickly threw her arms around Dash. 

"Thanks Dashie!" Surprise said happily before letting go and getting up and heading for the door. Rainbow Dash smiled as she watched Surprise leave the rec room. 





The killer suddenly caught movement from their hiding place across from the rec room. They saw Surprise leave the room and close the door behind her before flying down the hall towards the athletic wing. The killer quickly moved to follow. 

Surprise flew fast down the halls before arriving outside of the male locker rooms. She stood for a few seconds, thinking about whether she should check his dorm room first or just check the locker room first. Surprise took a deep breath before entering the locker room. 

"Lightning?" Surprise called out as she stepped into the locker room. The room was completely silent as she moved passed all the rows of lockers. She looked down each row, not seeing any signs of any other pony in their with her. 

"Lightning? Are you in here? It's Surprise!" She called out again. She got no response again. She reached the end of the locker rows and turned toward where the sinks and toilets were. She gasped when she looked down and saw a stain of red on the floor next to the sinks. 

She walked over and touched it with her hoof. She lifted the hoof to her nose and sniffed. It smelled metallic. Surprises stomach dropped. 

"Lightning?!" Surprise called out again. She turned to head back into the locker area. She walked back past all the rows of lockers, missing a figure at the end of one of the rows as she went straight for the door. She went to push the door open, but when she stepped on her front right hoof again, she felt a sharp pain. 

Surprise stood in the middle of the doorway with the door hanging open against her. She lifted her right hoof up and saw that a large piece of broken glass was sticking out of it. 

"Ah." Surprise gasped when she saw it. She was about to use a wing to pull it out when she heard movement behind her. Before she could turn, a leg covered with a black and purple suit wrapped around her head, covering her mouth and pulling her violently back into the locker room. 

From outside the locker room, Surprise could be heard struggling from within, even a few cries could be heard before everything inside eventually went silent. After several minutes, the killer emerged from the locker room, their uniform now covered in blood. They let out an evil chuckle before moving back down the hall. 

"Three down."
> Chapter 6: Game Time
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash leaned back on one of the couches in the rec room, watching as Soarin and Wave Chill battled it out in ping pong. She wasn't cheering, but instead watching with pleasurable interest as Soarin moved from side to side to keep hitting the ball as it traveled back and forth between himself and Wave. 

Rainbow was snapped out of her daydream mode when something appeared in her peripheral vision. Rainbow looked over and saw Fleetfoot sitting beside her, holding a joint in front of Rainbow's muzzle. Fleet's eyes were very red at this point. 

"Wanna hit?" Fleet asked. Her voice having gone from energetic to sounding rather drowsy and out of it. 

"Fleet, How many of those have you had by now?" Rainbow asked with a smirk. Fleet rolled her eyes. 

"Uh, don't worry you square, it's only my second joint." Fleet said before bringing the joint back to her lips and taking another hit. Rainbow rolled her eyes and let out a chuckle at how funny Fleet was when she was high. A cheer from the ping pong table brought Dash's attention back over to it. She smiled as she saw Soarin pumping his hooves in the air in victory over Wave Chill. Thunderlane and Spitfire were also cheering as they watched over to the side. 

Wave Chill dropped the paddle onto the table before taking out his bag of weed. "Alright, I've lost three in a row. Time to get High!" Wave Chill said in defeat before turning and going over to the couch. 

"Yeah! He knows what's up Dash!" Fleetfoot cheered from her spot on the couch. Soarin and Spitfire also walked away from the ping pong table. Soarin took a seat next to Dash on the couch and Spitfire walked over to the pile of board games on the counter. They had already played a few rounds of twister, now Spitfire wanted to move onto the big game of the night. 

"Alright maggots, time to upgrade this party to the hardcore games!" Spitfire shouted, gathering the attention of everyone else. With all eyes on her, Spitfire held up the game...

"Monopony!" Spitfire yelled out dramatically. Dash was admittedly confused. 

"Monopony? That's the hardcore game of the night?" Dash questioned. Soarin wrapped his arm around her and pulled her into an embrace and snickered. 

"Oh, it's not just any normal game of Monopony." Soarin said in a sinister tone. Spitfire then unveiled a tiny brown bag and dropped it onto the table where it made the sound of jingling bits. 

"We're playing with REAL bits." Wave Chill spoke up as he began to light his joint. Dash's eyes widened upon learning this and looked back at Spitfire. 

"You get to keep any of the bits you win at the end of the game, but the loser has to do some kind of punishment." Spitfire explained. 

"What's the punishment this time Spitty?" Fleetfoot asked. Spitfire chuckled. 

"Haven't thought of one yet, I'll think of one after we finish the game." Spitfire said as she placed the game on the table and started to set it up. "So, who's playing?" Spitfire asked. 

"I'm in." Dash said quickly as she stood up from the couch, practically dragging Soarin with her. 

"I guess I'm playing too." Soarin said with a laugh as he and Dash moved towards the table. Fleetfoot then slowly stood up from the couch and slowly made her way to the table and sat down, her gaze now very far gone. 

"I'll take a crack at it." Fleetfoot said slowly in her stoned state. 

"I'll play." Wave Chill said as he sat at the table. Spitfire looked up at the others who had yet to join in. Fire Streak and Misty Fly were deep in a make out session on one of the couches, and Thunderlane started heading for the door. 

"You joining Thunder?" Rainbow asked. Thunderlane shook his head. 

"I'm not that much of a fan of Monopony, I think I'm gonna turn in for the night." Thunderlane said before letting out a yawn. Spitfire nodded at him. 

"That's fine Thunder, if you see any of the others out there, tell them the party is still on if they want to join." Spitfire requested. Thunderlane nodded. 

"I will, see you tomorrow guys." Thunderlane waved to everyone before leaving the rec room. Spitfire had finally gotten the board down and she looked over at Fire and Misty. 

"Hey! Lip Lockers! You guys gonna play or dry hump eachother the whole night? If it's the latter, go get a room!" Spitfire yelled, sounding slightly frustrated with the two. Fire and Misty looked over at Spitfire after separating, their faces were flushed and their manes starting to get matted down with sweat. The two blushed, and Misty sat up on the couch, allowing Fire to sit up as well. The tension in the room had become awkward. Spitfire frowned as they just sat their feeling embarrassed. 

"Well, an answer sometime this moon would be great!" Spitfire yelled. Fire and Misty flinched. Fire finally stood up and cleared his throat. 

"Uh, we'll just excuse ourselves for tonight." Fire said. He rose a hoof toward Misty. She wrapped her hoof around Fire's and stood up. The two began to walk out of the rec room, getting different faces from the others. Spitfire gave them an aggravated glare, Wave Chill gave Fire Streak a "You lucky dog" kind of look, Fleetfoot was wiggling her eyebrows, and Soarin and Dash were just smiling and waving. 

The two finally left the rec room and Spitfire finished setting up the board. She looked up to the other 4 sitting around the table and made a sinister grin. "Alright you pansies, lets start."





Fire Streak and Misty Fly quickly flew through the halls from the Rec Room to the dormitory wing, they ended up passing Thunderlane on the way, but left him alone, as did he to them, he knew what was happening. 

The couple entered the stairwell and climbed up to the second floor where Fire's dorm room was. They eventually reached the door and opened it. Upon flipping on the light switch, the two were surprised to see that Lightning Streak and Surprise weren't already in there. 

"Well, this is unexpected." Fire Streak said as he walked in and closed the door behind Misty. Misty then turned and wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled. 

"But very welcomed." Misty said suggestively. Fire smiled and pushed his lips forward, pulling Misty into another make out. He pushed her back until the two fell over onto Fire's bed, beginning the next big part of their night. 





Thunderlane saw Fire Streak and Misty Fly quickly speed past him in the hall as he walked to his own room. As he walked towards the dormitory wing he passed by several windows. He glanced outside and stopped his walk for a moment as he looked outside. The weather had grown VERY intense. Snow was beginning to swirl around the air and pile up on the windowsills outside. 

"What is up with the factory tonight?" Thunderlane thought before continuing his walk to his room. He eventually reached the first floor dormitory hallway and turned to walk to the end of it. His room was on the third floor, so he needed to take the stairs. But as he trotted down the hallway, he heard what sounded like the clopping of hooves against the floor down the hall behind him. He turned to see who it was, but nopony was in the hall behind him. 

"Lightning? Surprise? Windy?" Thunderlane called, wondering if it was any of the Wonderbolts in the compound but not at the party. Thunderlane shrugged after a few seconds and continued onward, eventually reaching the stairs. 

Behind him in the hallway, the killer flew over the potted plant they hid behind and sighed in relief before moving to follow Thunderlane to his room. 





Thunderlane finally reached his room and sighed as he walked inside. He didn't bother with the room lights as he trotted into the bathroom and closed the door to do his business. 

The killer had followed him up to the third floor and watched him enter. They slowly approached the door and peeked through the keyhole, seeing the lights off, but a faint glow emitting from the bathroom. The killer then heard the sound of the shower turning on and decided to act. 

They quietly opened the door and hovered into the air as they entered and gently closed the door. They turned to the rest of the dark room, almost pitch black if it weren't for the faint glow of the snowstorm outside. The killer quickly deduced which bed was Thunderlane's before moving underneath it. Once positioned under the bed, they unsheathed their knife and waited. 

Thunderlane finished his shower, brushed his teeth and finally left the bathroom. He walked over to his bed and sat down on the edge of it. He let out another tired sounding sigh before swinging his hind legs onto the bed and laying his head back on the pillow. He stared at the ceiling, thinking about everything that happened that day, he woke up here at the compound, did the final practice run for the final show, went to actually perform the final show, and came back for the party. Now he had to think about what to do during the off season. 

"Welp, I hope the next tour's gonna be better." Thunderlane mumbled aloud before slowly shutting his eyes. 

The killer heard Thunderlane's mumble, and estimated where his mouth would be before they carried out their next nefarious deed. 

The killer reached their hoof up and over the top of the bed very quickly and clamped it down over Thunderlane's muzzle. Thunderlane's eyes shot open in shock, but before he could move, the killer stuck their knife through the bottom of the bed just below where their hoof was above the bed. 

The knife pierced the back of Thunderlane's neck and drove through until the tip of the blade emerged through the front of his neck. Thunderlane let out a few gargled whimpers that were muffled by the hoof covering his mouth and he made a few twitching movements before his eye's rolled back in his sockets and he became motionless. 

The killer pulled the knife out from the bed and moved as a trickle of blood flowed through the new hole in the bed. They rolled out from under the bed and stood up. They looked down at Thunderlane's body, his mouth was partially open, his eyes were rolled back, and the wound in his neck was bleeding profusely, soaking the bed sheets with a deep shade of crimson. 

The Killer grabbed the edge of the bed's blankets and pulled them up to cover Thunderlane's body, deciding to just leave it in the bed. They quickly and quietly left the room and closed the door. 

They still had some lovers to kill...
> Chapter 7: Breaking Rule #1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Haha! You landed on my Bridle Way, 4 bits from you please!" Fleetfoot said smugly as she rose a hoof towards Wave Chill, awaiting his payment for landing on her property. Wave Chill rolled his eyes before scooping up 4 of his bits from his tiny pile that had accumulated over the course of the game, and placed them in Fleetfoot's outstretched hoof. 

Rainbow Dash took another sip of her drink as she scanned the table and the other players. Spitfire was acting as the bank during the game, and had quite a large amount of bits as well as 3 properties on the board. Fleetfoot had the largest amount of bits so far, having claimed the most expensive properties on the board and hogging everyone's bits. 

Soarin and her had a sort of unspoken alliance going, they bought properties all next to eachother. The others gave them disapproving looks, but didn't actually say anything. And finally, Wave Chill got shafted in the game, he only had one property and was in deep shit. 

As Rainbow picked up the dice to roll for her next turn, Spitfire leaned back in her chair and sighed as she looked towards the door. 

"Where is everyone tonight?" Spitfire asked out loud as Rainbow rolled the dice, rolling an 8. Soarin chuckled before answering Spitfire's question. 

"Probably enjoying the night their own way, or sleeping." He said before taking a sip of his drink. Fleetfoot started laughing uncontrollably. 

"Well, we all know what Fire and Misty are doing..." Fleet started, chuckling like a maniac. 

"And what would that be Fleet?" Spitfire asked sarcastically. 

"Screwing eachother's heads off!" Fleetfoot shouted before bursting out into more uncontrollable laughter. Spitfire rolled her eyes as Fleetfoot's laughing caused her face to turn a deep shade of red. 

"I'm not referring to Firestarter and Daisy, I'm talking about everyone else, Windy, Lightning, and Surprise." Spitfire clarified. Everyone else at the table shifted awkwardly in their seats. Spitfire exhaled and stood up from the table. "I'm gonna go find them." Spitfire said as she started walking toward the door. Fleetfoot quickly darted from her spot at the table and got in front of her. 

"Woah, hold on Spitty! Just relax! You told us that we could do whatever we wanted tonight, if they found something better to do than play Monopony and get wasted, that's their loss. Now get back over there so I can take more of your bits!" Fleetfoot explained before slipping back over to her spot and taking another swig of cider. Spitfire sighed and rejoined the group at the table. 

"Well, whatever their doing, I hope their having fun." Spitfire said before getting back into the game. They continued to play as the wind howled in the storm outside. 





The whole night, the dormitory hallways had been almost completely silent. That is, until Fire Streak and Misty Fly arrived at his dorm. The two could be heard clear as day out in the hallway, making all the noise they could.

The killer waited patiently out in the hallway, annoyed that they were still going at it. They could just go in and snuff them, but they couldn't risk being discovered yet. 





"AH, Ah, Ah, ooooooohhh!" Misty Fly moaned as she and Fire finished up another quick little round that topped off what had been a perfect night for the two of them. Fire Streak let out a satisfied sigh as he rolled off of Misty and onto his stomach. 

"That was what? 4 times tonight?" Misty asked as she snuggled up to Fire as he grabbed a joint off the nightstand next to the bed and lit it. Fire took a puff and looked over at her with a smug grin. 

"I can break that record without even a sweat." Fire proclaimed before shifting in the bed. 

"Ha, oh, I think I saw some sweat just now, you really think your all that huh?" Misty teased. Fire glared back at her smugly. 

"Well am I?" he asked. Misty tried to think of a witty comeback to his remark, but found her tongue tied. Fire smirked smugly and laid back down. 

"I win." he said before taking another puff from the joint. Misty lightly smacked his shoulder and looked over at the nightstand. 

"Did we bring any drinks up with us?" Misty asked. Fire shook his head. 

"Nope, forgot to." Fire responded. Misty groaned. 

"But I'm thirsty!" Misty complained. 

"Then go get some drinks, the mess hall isn't that far you know." Fire quickly responded to combat her whining. Misty huffed before standing up and walking around the bed. 

"You know what, fine, I'll get it myself, mainly because I know if I send you while your high you'll probably bring me the wrong thing." Misty said before heading for the door. 

"Hey, I don't screw up that much!" Fire argued. Misty quickly turned.

"Keep telling yourself that joint lighter." Misty said with a smirk and kissing him on the forehead. "I'll be right back, don't go anywhere." Misty finished before turning and leaving the room.  

Fire Streak shrugged before rolling over onto his back and burying his face in the pillow and placing the joint into the ash tray on the nightstand.

"hmmmmmmmm" Fire Streak muffled into the pillow, feeling very relaxed. 





Misty Fly left the dorm room and trotted quickly down the hall towards the mess hall. The killer saw her leave and quickly moved from their hiding spot to the door. They quietly opened the door, slipped inside and closed it behind them. They turned toward the bed where Fire Streak was lying on, luckily, he was laying face down and away from the door. 

Fire Streak looked over at the window and saw they snow falling passed the window, simultaneously staring in awe at how pleasant it looked, and internally groaning at the thought of having to clear the heavy clouds tomorrow. His ears suddenly twitched when he hear the sound of quiet hoofsteps walking across the floor of the room. He let out a little chuckle. 

"You know Misty, if you want to scare me, you gotta try better than that." Fire said smugly. He heard the hoofsteps stop behind him. He chuckled again. He waited for Misty to say something, but only silence remained.

"Well, are you here to do something? Or did you get our drinks already?" Fire asked, his face still looking towards the window. He suddenly tensed up as he felt a hoof begin to rub around his lower back. 

"MMMMmmmm" Fire sighed into the pillow as he felt the massage on his back. "You know what, the drinks can wait." Fire said before letting out another sigh of satisfaction. 

Only one hoof was used though, Fire kept his eyes closed and waited in anticipation for Misty to give him the full massage. After nearly a minute, Fire tried to look over at Misty to tell her to use both hooves, but suddenly, a pillow was forced over his face. 

"What the fuck!" Fire Streak shouted, his voice muffled by the pillow. The killer quickly got on top of Fire and rose their knife high before stabbing down and into Fire's gut. Fire let out a scream of pain that was still muffled from the pillow. 

The killer took the knife out, rose it up, and stabbed Fire again, and again, and again. Blood leaked out of the wounds in Fire's barrel, soaking into the sheets of the bed. Eventually, Fire stopped thrashing and fell limp and silent. The killer got off the bed and looked down at their hooves. 

They were still covered by their uniform, and they were stained in crimson. They panted heavily from the struggle before sheathing the knife and going to leave the room. They only completed half of their punishment for breaking the #1 rule. 

Never Have Sex.





Misty Fly finally turned into the hallway outside the Mess Hall. She trotted slowly over to the mess hall door and stepped inside. She walked through the silent and empty cafeteria towards the kitchen where she had been just a few hours prior. 

She walked behind the service counter and into the empty kitchen. The only sounds being the gentle hissing of the lights above and the howling of the wind outside. She walked over to the fridges and opened one up, revealing the beverages to her. She began looking over the shelves of drinks inside, trying to decide which ones to take. 

"Cider? No, we had plenty of that earlier." Misty said to herself as she looked in the fridge, not seeing or hearing the killer as they entered the mess hall and quickly moved into the kitchen area. 

"Trotka? No, we want to wake up tomorrow with only mild headaches." Misty said, dismissing another option. Suddenly, a loud noise drew her attention away from the fridge. Misty looked up and closed the fridge door. She looked over to where the noise came from. 

"Hello?" Misty called out as she stepped away from the fridges and looked toward the freezer and the other side of the kitchen. There was no answer and no visible movement. Misty quickly felt uneasy. She decided to just go with plain old beers and head back to Fire's room. She turned back and moved back to the fridge. 

She opened up the fridge, grabbed two beer cans from the bottom shelf and closed the fridge. From behind the fridge, the killer jumped up and slashed her left foreleg. 

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH" Misty shrieked as her leg was slashed, she quickly threw the beer cans into the killers head and quickly made a run for it. The killer quickly bounced back and cut Misty on the back of her hind legs as she leapt over them. Misty fell onto the floor as her hooves failed. She quickly used her wings to take off towards the kitchen's exit. 

The killer quickly raised their knife and threw it at Misty as she tried to escape. The knife struck Misty's right wing. 

"AAH!" Misty screamed in pain before crashing to the Mess hall floor just outside the kitchen. She still had consciousness, and tried desperately to crawl away using the strength she had left. 

"Ah....HELP ME! PLEASE! ANYPONY!!!" Misty cried out in desperation as she crawled along the floor. She made it halfway between the mess hall door and the kitchen, when a fabric covered hoof slammed down in front of her. She looked up with a look of terror at her attacker. 

They had the body type of a mare, and were a pegasus. They wore a dark purple and black flight suit with yellow lenses, very similar to a Wonderbolt uniform. They stared down at Misty, smiling devilishly. 

"Wha....Why are you doing this? What do you want?" Misty cried out in fear, tears streaming down her cheeks. The mysterious killer slowly walked behind Misty. She tried to crawl further, but suddenly, the killer grabbed her by the hair and violently lifted Misty's head off the floor. 

Misty let out a grunt of pain. The killer leaned into Misty's ear and chuckled. 

"I'm just having some fun." They said, their voice definitely feminine. Before Misty could say anything else, the killer rose the knife up to Misty's throat and slit across it. Misty let out a gargle of pain as blood began pouring from her throat wound. The killer threw down Misty's head to the ground and watched with admitted glee as the Wonderbolt twitched and let out choked sobs and cries as blood began to cover the floor. 

Eventually, the color drained from Misty's face, and she stopped moving. The killer quickly moved and dragged her body back towards the kitchen. 

"Only five left." she said to herself.
> Chapter 8: Darkness Falls
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Welp, I'm broke." Wave Chill mumbled out after giving away the last of his bits to Fleetfoot for landing on one of her properties for what felt like the 30th time that night. Fleetfoot couldn't hold in her laughter as she added to her now huge pile of bits. 

"It would probably help if you actually tried making a strategy in this game." Spitfire said to Wave as he stood up from the table. Wave Chill scoffed. 

"This game has no strategy involved, it's all random chance, I swear to Celestia!" Wave slurred out angrily as he walked across the rec room and collapsed on the couch. Fleetfoot got up and walked over to the couch as well and started patting Wave's head lightly. 

"Aw, come on Chilly Willy, don't get all butthurt on us nooow." Fleet also slurred out, being just as stoned as Wave Chill was.

"Fleet, just leave Wave alone, this game was running a bit long anyway." Spitfire said as she began gathering up the game pieces with the help of Dash and Soarin. 

"Does that mean I win? I definitely have the most bits on the table!" Fleetfoot said happily as she slid back over to the table and hugged her pile of bits. Spitfire rolled her eyes and groaned. She had started out in the lead, but kept landing on Fleetfoot's property, allowing Fleetfoot to take the lead. 

"Alright, you win Fleet." Spifire deadpanned. 

"Yes!" Fleetfoot cheered, pumping her hooves into the air. Soarin chuckled. 

"Yeah, maybe now with all those extra bits, you'll be able to afford a halfway decent Hearth's Warming gift." Soarin said mockingly. Fleetfoot glared at him. 

"Hey, my gift last year wasn't that bad!" Fleetfoot argued. 

"An ugly sweater that was also very itchy and uncomfortable, yeah, that was totally your best effort." Spitfire said sarcastically. But before Fleetfoot could argue any further, the lights in the rec room began to go dim before shutting off completely. The room went dark, and the ambient noise of the building's heater turned off. The only noise remaining was the relentless sound of wind pounding against the exterior walls.

"Woah! What happened?" Rainbow Dash quickly asked after the lights went out. Spitfire groaned. 

"Probably the power generator, that thing must've blown a fuse." Spitfire explained. 

"Someone should probably go take car of that." Soarin suggested. Spitfire nodded and turned to Fleetfoot. 

"Fleet, you and I are gonna go fix the power." Spitfire explained. Fleetfoot rolled her eyes, but nodded in submission. Spitfire then turned to Soarin and Dash. "I need you two to go check on everypony else, check the mess hall, locker rooms, dorms, everywhere! With Surprise MIA tonight, this might be a prank." Spitfire ordered. Soarin and Dash both nodded. Spitfire finally turned her head to Wave Chill, who was sitting up from the couch with a blank stare on his face. 

"Wave, you stay here in case anyone comes back wondering why the lights are off, okay?" Spitfire explained a little more intensely than the others in hopes of piercing through his haze of weed induced high. Wave Chill audibly gulped and nodded quickly. 

"Alright, let's hop to it." Spitfire said as she motioned for Fleetfoot to follow her. The two left the room, followed closely by Soarin and Dash. As soon as the others were out, Wave Chill fell back onto the couch and let out a long drawn out sigh. 





Spitfire and Fleetfoot made their way through the now nearly pitch black hallways of the compound towards the maintenance room, which was connected all over the compound through a series of hallways. They quickly entered one by the rec room and moved towards where the power room was. 

"You don't really think Surprise is trying to prank us with the power, do you?" Fleetfoot asked, slightly stumbling from how high she was, though she was not nearly at the level of Wave Chill, who had earned the title of being the Wonderbolt's biggest stoner. 

"I hope not, I hope it's just blown a fuse, because I do not feel like disciplining anypony tonight, we're supposed to be celebrating." Spitfire explained as they approached the power room. Spitfire suddenly stopped, stretching her foreleg out in front of Fleet to stop her. Fleetfoot gave Spitfire a confused look, until she saw what made her stop. 

The door to the generator room was open a crack...





"Hello?!" Soarin called out as he and Dash walked into the darkened mess hall. Before entering, they stopped at one of the broom closets on the way where they found a flashlight. Soarin pointed the beam around the mess hall, not seeing anything out of the ordinary. 

"Maybe the kitchen?" Dash suggested, pointing her hoof towards the food serving area. Soarin nodded and the two walked over to it. 

The two entered the kitchen, it looking just as empty as the mess hall. They slowly continued investigating it. Soarin approached the fridge doors and opened a few up, looking for anypony who could be hiding. 

"I have a bad feeling." Dash suddenly spoke up. Soarin looked over at her from the fridge with a concerned look. 

"About what?" he asked as he walked over to her. 

"About tonight, ever since Surprise left. She LOVES parties, just as much as Pinkie, and she never came back after I suggested that she apologize to Lightning Streak. On top of that, Lightning never came back, and High Winds never even showed up after we put our stuff away in our rooms. I hope it's just nothing, but I still have a bad feeling." Dash explained. Soarin quickly wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug. 

"It's okay, it probably is nothing, but it'll be okay. I'll make sure nothing bad happens." Soarin said, pulling back and looking into her eyes. Dash smiled and leaned in, placing a quick peck on the lips. 

"Thanks Soarin." she whispered. Soarin smiled as she stepped back. 

"Don't worry, we'll be laughing and smiling about this in the morning, I promise. Now let's finish looking." Soarin suggested. Dash nodded and went back to looking around the kitchen. Soarin finished looking through the fridges and looked through the pantry before looking back over at Dash. 

Dash looked through a few cupboards, which contained nothing but kitchen utensils and cooking supplies, and finished her search at the freezer. She pushed it open and peered inside, she panned across the freezer, past all the boxes and other things in there, looking for anything suspicious. 

Suddenly, a hoof was placed on her shoulder and she flinched and looked over to see Soarin standing next to her. 

"Did you find anything?" Soarin asked. Dash groaned and lightly jabbed him in the side. 

"Don't sneak up on me like that!" Dash said angrily. "But, no, nothing in there." Dash explained. Soarin nodded and motioned towards the exit. 

"Come on, let's go check the locker rooms." Soarin suggested. Dash nodded and closed the freezer door to follow her, completely missing Misty Fly's body on the other side of the freezer door. 





Spitfire and Fleetfoot carefully approached the generator room, their hoofsteps being as quiet and careful as possible, in case whoever opened the door was still in their. 

As they got closer, Spitfire noticed something alarming. 

The power room was always locked after the maintenance staff left for the night, so nopony would be able to get in without a key. While there were no keys in sight, the lock on the door was smashed, allowing access to whoever broke it open. 

Spitfire quickly got up to the wall on one side of the doorway, with Fleetfoot on the other side. Spitfire held up three feathers and motioned towards the doorway, silently explaining that they would jump into the room after Spitfire counted down from three. Fleetfoot nodded. 

Spitfire took a deep breath before holding up her three feathers again...

3...

Spitfire bent one down, Fleetfoot also took a deep breath...

2...

Spitfire bent down the second and tensed her legs, getting ready. Fleetfoot's heart began to pound...

1....

Spitfire bent down the last feather and the two leapt from the doorway and into the room, flinging the door open. They were ready to confront the culprit, but there was nopony there. 

"What the?" Fleetfoot said aloud. Spitfire scanned the room, noticing that it everything seemed to be normally in place. She then glanced over to the generator, and noticed something.





Wave Chill stumbled up from the couch and made his way over to the record player. He was getting bored and needed some tunes to get him down from his high. He knew that the player was battery powered, so he knew he could play something during the blackout. 

He carefully took the record that was on there and carefully placed it back into it's sleeve, which was one of DJ Pone-3's latest records. He then looked into the box full of records and began to sort through them. He was so focused on his tunes, he didn't hear the door opening behind him. 

The killer stepped into the rec room slowly, this time armed with a fire ax they stole off the wall by the mess hall.  

"Aha!" Wave Chill suddenly exclaimed. He took the record out of the sleeve and place it on the turntable. He then used his wing to gently lift up the needle and dropped it onto the record. The sounds of a guitar started playing before the vocals began, being sung by what sounded like 2 males, and 2 females. 



Wave Chill stumbled back from the record player, and started singing along to the first verse of the song, he started to bob his head along to the song, oblivious to the other pony in the room. 

As the song entered it's second verse, he finally turned around and saw the other pony in the room with him. 

"What the-?" was all Wave Chill got out in terms of words before the killer used the end of the ax handle to hit Wave Chill square in the snout and send him over the couch. Wave landed on the floor on the other side of the couch and wiped his nose with his hoof. His nose was bleeding profusely. 





Spitfire walked closer to the generator and began to examine it. It looked okay from the outset, but then Spitfire looked over at the space where the fuse was to be placed.

The fuse in the generator was still in, but it did not look like it was just blown out form prolonged use...

It was smashed....





Wave Chill looked up and saw the killer standing over the couch with their ax risen into the air for a strike. Wave Chill quickly rolled away before the ax buried itself in the couch cushion. 

Wave Chill quickly got up and made a beeline for the rec room door, but didn't get very far. The killer pulled the ax from the couch and rushed at Wave Chill as he tried to escape and forced him against the wall. 

She used the ax handle to choke Wave Chill against the wall. His hind legs began to kick and thrash as the killer slammed his head against the wall before throwing him over to the Ping Pong table, causing it to collapse with a loud crash. 





"The fuse was smashed." Spitfire said to Fleetfoot after she was done examining the generator. Fleetfoot's eyes widened.

"You mean, this was sabotage?" Fleetfoot asked in shock. Spitfire nodded. 

"What? Was the smashed lock on the door not enough of a dead giveaway?" Spitfire asked before looking over at the storage closet, where they kept the spare fuses. It too was open slightly. 

Spitfire opened up the door and grabbed the box that stored the fuses. She placed it down and looked inside. She let out a gasp as she peered into the box. 

Every spare fuse was smashed...





"Uh....ah.....what..?" Wave Chill mumbled as he tried to retain focus after crashing through the Ping Pong table. He could see the blurry silhouette of his attacker approaching him. Still brandishing the ax. 

"Wha...Why are you doing this?" Wave Chill whimpered out. The killer only chuckled in response. She finally reached Wave Chill and stood over him, glaring down at him with a sadistic smile on her face. 

Wave Chill stared up at her and squinted his eyes. Despite the suit giving her a slight grey tint to her mane and coat colors, Wave Chill somehow remembered her somewhere. 

"Wait...you...?" Wave Chill started. The killer gritted her teeth and rose the ax high above her head. 

"You...your that-" 

*Crunch*

Wave Chill didn't get to finish before the killer drove the ax deep into Wave Chill's skull. They stumbled back from the body and watched as the blood began to pour over his face and onto the ground, which was still contorted into a look of confusion and pain. She wiped her muzzle with a hoof and turned to leave, leaving the ax lodged in Wave's head. 

She didn't need any of these dickbags knowing who she was before she killed them.





"Fleet, listen to me..." Spitfire began, looking up at Fleetfoot from the fuse box storage. Fleetfoot quickly stood attention. "I need you to go to the dorms and wake up anypony you see sleeping, and if Fire and Misty are still going at it, interrupt them, directly if you have to, and tell everypony that we are on high alert." Spitfire explained. Fleetfoot nodded and saluted. Spitfire nodded back and started for the door. 

"What about you?" Fleetfoot asked. 

"I'm going to get Wave Chill, and Soarin and Dash if I see them." Spitfire quickly said before running out the door. Fleetfoot wasted no time doing the same.
> Chapter 9: Sinister Discovery
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash and Soarin walked down the still darkened halls of the compound, continuously calling out the names of their missing friends. They had checked several other rooms including the gyms, storage room, and a few of the training classrooms, but still found no trace of anypony. Eventually they arrived outside of the locker rooms. 

"Well, do you wanna search the Mare's locker room while I search the Stallion's?" Soarin asked as he made his way towards the Stallion locker room. Dash shook her head and followed him. 

"I'd rather we search together, not that I'm scared or anything!" Dash quickly said, shaking her head, "I'm just worried about you, that's all." Rainbow quickly recovered. Soarin smiled. 

"Okay, thanks Dash." Soarin said as the two of them entered the Stallion's locker room. It was just as empty and quiet as the rest of the compound was. 

"You check the rows of lockers, I'll go check the bathroom stalls and showers, okay?" Soarin asked as he pointed to where they should look. Rainbow was still a bit hesitant to split up, even though they were still in the same locker room, but she nodded. 

"Okay." she said quietly before she began walking down the first row of lockers. Soarin walked to the bathroom area and approached the first of the 4 stall doors. He slowly and methodically checked each one, just checking to see if Lightning Streak had gotten drunk and just collapsed in a stall. He eventually checked the last stall, finding it empty, and turned to the shower stalls. 

Rainbow Dash turned down to the next row of lockers, again, not seeing anything to out of the ordinary, apart from the blackout of course. She focused on how quiet the locker room was, and in turn, how loud her hoofsteps were against the silence of the locker room. She could still hear Soarin moving around in the back, which made her feel a little better, until she noticed something...

Something dripping out of a locker....

Rainbow tensed and froze on the spot where she stood, her fur stood on end and she could feel goosebumps all over her body. Rainbow stared at the fluid dripping from the bottom of one of the lockers. It was a deep color of red, and it has dripping onto an already fairly large puddle at on the floor. Rainbow finally found her voice. 

"Soarin!" Rainbow shouted loudly. Soarin, who was searching the showers, quickly turned and rushed back to the locker rows and quickly found the row where Rainbow was standing in. She was visibly shaking. 

"Dash? What's wro-?" Soarin began, but quickly cut himself off after seeing what Rainbow was pointing at, a locker dripping what looked like blood. 

"I...Is...is that?" Rainbow stammered out in fear. Soarin took a deep breath and stepped around Dash and stood in front of the locker. 

Soarin slowly reached out and placed his hoof on the locker. He glanced at Dash, he could still see the terror in her eyes, but they needed to know what was happening. Soarin opened the locker, and something fell out of it. 

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" 

Dash let out a blood curdling scream after seeing a yellow and white colored thing roll out of the locker and onto the floor in front of Soarin. He looked down at what just fell out and fell against his leg. He let out a frightened gasp and stumbled back. 

There on the floor in front of them...

Was the decapitated head of Surprise. An expression of frozen terror on her face, as the blood kept seeping from the stump that used to be her neck, turning her now flat yellow mane red with blood. 

Soarin stumbled back from the locker and into the locker across from the one Surprise's head rolled out of. As soon as he bumped the locker behind him, he felt it shift and begin to open quickly. He gasped again and stepped back over to Dash.....

Just in time to see the body of Lightning Streak fall out of the locker. 

"AAAAHHH!" Rainbow screamed again. Soarin stared at disbelief. Two fellow Wonderbolts that they saw mere hours ago, now dead right in front of them. And from the fact that Surprise was beheaded,  and Lightning's eye was gouged, he knew this wasn't any accident. 

Soarin quickly turned and shielded Dash from the carnage and quickly lead her out of the Locker room. The two stumbled out of the door and back against the wall opposite the locker rooms and slumped to the ground. Rainbow buried her muzzle in Soarin's chest, horrified and desperately in need of anything to make her feel better. 

Soarin returned Dash's desperate embrace and stared dumbfounded at the door to the locker room, trying in vain to process what they just witnessed. They were dead, and it didn't look like anything natural..

"We need to get out, we need to get help." Soarin said aloud as he tried to stand, supporting Dash still. Dash was still buried in Soarin's chest. Soarin placed a hoof beneath Dash's chin and leaned her head up to make her look him in the eyes. 

"Dash, we need to remain calm. We can't break down now. We need to find the others and get help, okay?" Soarin carefully and calmly explained. Dash nodded slightly and stood up on her own, quickly followed by Soarin standing up. 

"Let's go." Dash said, taking deep breaths to calm herself down. Soarin nodded and started leading her towards the entrance to the compound. 





Spitfire flew quickly through the maintenance halls before bursting through the door leading into the hallways of the rest of the compound. She made several more turns before finally arriving at the hallway where the rec room was. 

"Wave Chill!" Spitfire shouted as she approached, hoping to get his attention. She got no answer. She landed by the door and moved to open it. 

"Wave Chill!?" Spitfire called again. She reached and turned the knob to the room, but it didn't turn. 

"Is this Locked?" Spitfire asked aloud. "WAVE CHILL!" Spitfire shouted in frustration. She tried pushing against the door, it still not budging. 

"That's it!" Spitfire said in frustration. She turned around, reared up, pulled her hind legs forward and bucked the door clear off its hinges. Spitfire instantly entered the dark rec room. 

"Wave Chill! You better have a good explanation for locking the damn door!" Spitfire shouted angrily. There was still no response, she couldn't even hear any physical response like the sound of shuffling or hooves clopping. 

"Wave? We're on high alert, somepony's in the base, they sabotaged the generator.  Where are you?" Spitfire explained as she walked into the room, barely able to make anything out. She scanned the room when her eyes landed on the corner, where the ping pong table was, it was now destroyed. Spitfire quickly made her way around the couch.

"What the hell hap-?" Spitfire began, but stopped in her tracks when she saw what destroyed the table.

Wave Chill lay in the broken remains of the ping pong table, with a fire ax lodged in his head. A puddle of blood forming around him. Spitfire began to take deep breaths as she stared in disbelief at the body. 

"Shit....." Spitfire said before quickly darting out of the room and flew down the hallway, doing her best to keep her composure and not scream in terror. 





Fleetfoot opened the door to another dorm room and once again found it completely empty. She sighed and closed the door before continuing down the corridor. 

"Hello!?" Fleetfoot called out in vain again. She waited for a few seconds, getting no answer.

"Oh, more silence? Big Woop! If this is another prank Surprise, Spitfire's gonna kick your ass!" Fleetfoot shouted out into the corridor. She was still met with nothing but silence. 

Fleetfoot groaned and kept making her way down the corridor, before arriving at the next room, which unlike the others, was open a crack. She looked up at the room number. 

It was the Streak Twin's room. 

Fleetfoot audibly groaned again before going to push open the door. 

"If I see your dick Fire, I swear to Luna." Fleetfoot mumbled under her breath as she reached the door and pushed it open. 





Soarin and Rainbow Dash finally reached the end of another hallway and entered the large lobby of the compound. They quickly made their way across the lobby and over to the front door. They attempted to push the doors open, but they wouldn't budge. 

"What the? Are these doors locked?" Dash asked. Soarin shook his head, they were supposed to remain unlocked while they were there that night. Soarin looked closer and saw something just outside the door. 

A large chain was looped around the exterior door handles, tightly. Soarin stepped back in shock. 

"Whoever's here, whoever killed Lightning and Surprise, doesn't want us to leave." Soarin said aloud, his voice shaking a little. Dash stepped back from the doors as well. 

"Why don't we just break one of the windows and fly out?" Dash suggested. Soarin was about to agree, when Spitfire suddenly flew into the lobby. 

"I don't think that will work Dash. This storm is unlike anything I've seen in a long time. It's too dangerous to try to fly through." Spitfire explained. Dash looked back outside at the swirling winds and snow piling up outside, reaching at least 5 inches by now, and continuing to come down hard. 

"What happened, did you find anypony?" Spitfire asked, uneasily, since she knew what happened to Wave Chill wasn't any kind of accident. Dash gasped after Spitfire asked, but Soarin quickly spoke up so she didn't have to. 

"We found Surprise and Lightning Streak in the Locker room. They're.....dead." Soarin explained. Spitfire's eyes widened for a second before shaking her head out and looking back at Soarin. "What about you? Anything?" Soarin asked. 

"The generator was sabotaged. The fuse was smashed along with all the spares we have. I went back to the rec room, but..." Spitfire trailed off, remembering the horrifying sight of Wave's body. 

"What?" Rainbow asked. Spitfire looked back up at the two. 

"Wave Chill is dead." Spitfire said loud and clear. Rainbow covered her muzzle and leaned into Soarin. Soarin gasped.

"Where's Fleetfoot?" Soarin asked. Spitfire then suddenly tensed and gasped. 

"I told her to look for the others in the dorms. We need to get her and find a way to get out now!" Spitfire ordered. The two nodded and followed her back into the compound. 

"If we can't get out through a window, then how can we get out of this?" Soarin asked Spitfire as they flew. 

"We can use the emergency flare!" Spitfire said after coming to the realization. Soarin nodded and even smiled. Rainbow looked confused. 

"What's a flare gonna do?" Rainbow asked. Spitfire turned to face her. 

"It's not just any flare, it's a HUGE flare, one that can be seen for miles. The Cloudsdale royal legion have been told that if they see that flare, it means we're in trouble. With any luck, they can be alerted to start clearing the storm and come help." Spitfire explained. Dash nodded.

"If it's our only option, then I'll take it." Dash said. 

"But for now, let's find Fleetfoot." Soarin suggested. The other two nodded and kept flying. 





Fleetfoot opened the door to the Streak Twin's room and stepped inside. She could see two lumps under Fire Streak's bed. 

"Fire? Misty?" Fleetfoot asked. Neither lump moved. 

The killer grinned to herself as she laid perfectly still next to Fire Streak's corpse, waiting for the moment to strike...
> Chapter 10: The Killer Revealed
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fleetfoot took another small step towards the bed, unsure of how to go about getting the two "lovebirds" up and out of bed. She was still afraid that she would see something she didn't need to ever see. She was about to call their names again when she remembered Spitfire's exact words.  

"Stop them, directly if you have to." echoed in Fleetfoot's head. She took a deep breath before stepping closer. 

"Alright you two, up and-" Fleetfoot started, only for her attention to be driven by something out in the hallway behind her. 

"Fleetfoot!? You here?" she heard Spitfire call out from the hallway. She turned her head slightly and looked back at the door. As she did, she suddenly saw movement in her peripheral vision. She looked back towards the movement just as she felt a sharp pain in her foreleg. 

"AAAHHH!" Fleetfoot screamed in pain after her foreleg was stabbed. She looked and saw the pony stabbing her wearing some kind of flightsuit, and next to them on the bed was the bloody body of Fire Streak. 

Before Fleetfoot could fight back, the killer pulled their knife from her foreleg and shoved her back, making her bump against the open door and close it. Fleetfoot was dazed by her head colliding  with the door, but tried to turn to open the door. Before she could, the killer charged at her...





Soarin, Rainbow Dash, and Spitfire flew into the second floor hallway looking for Fleetfoot. They all looked down to the end and saw no sign of any movement. 

"Fleetfoot!? You here?" Spitfire called out. They got no response as they started moving down the hall. They started looking in rooms until they heard a scream coming from one of the rooms down the hallway. The three quickly flew to the room where the scream came from and saw it open. Soarin flew towards the door and tried to get it fully open when it suddenly slammed in front of him. 

"Fleetfoot?!" Soarin called out in panic. He could hear movement in the room and went for the knob, but before he could push against the door, in the middle of it, a bloody blade emerged. 

They could hear a gasp of pain from within and the three of them stopped in their tracks. They heard the sound of somepony getting up to their hooves before the blade retracted back into the room. Suddenly the doorknob began to move. 

Spitfire and Soarin exchanged glances, getting ready to fight. Dash couldn't take her eyes off the door. She barely had enough time to process what just happened. All she knew.....was that she was about to meet the killer face to face. 

The door opened inward into the room, and Fleetfoot's body fell into view. The three gasped as they saw yet another friend fall victim to this saboteur. Blood began to leak into the hallway, and finally, a pony emerged. 

Dash gasped as the killer stepped over Fleetfoot's body and into the hallway with the rest of them. Their suit was coated with dried blood, they wore an evil smile stretched over their muzzle, and they clutched the still bloody knife in their hoof. 

"Hello there." they said with a tone that can only be described as snakelike, it sounded sinister and just evil. 

"Put down the knife and give yourself up! You have 10 seconds to comply!" Spitfire suddenly shouted, readying herself to fight this murderer.  The killer simply stood their and started chuckling. Their eyes being concealed under their yellow flight goggles. 

Dash was utterly frozen with shock as she stared at this killer, because she had seen that uniform before. The dark purple and black, the lightning bolt designs, and especially the yellow lenses on the goggles. They were a...

"Shadowbolt." Rainbow said aloud. Soarin looked over at her in confusion. 

"A....Shadowbolt?" Soarin asked. The Shadowbolt began to laugh even louder. 

"When me and my friends from Ponyville first went to find the Elements of Harmony, I was confronted by three Pegasi dressed like this one, they were testing my Loyalty. But, I always thought they were just an illusion created by Nightmare Moon, not actually real." Rainbow explained, recounting her story and encounter with the Shadowbolts, still shocked to see one standing before them. Spitfire frowned and shouted again.

"You have 5 second before we take you down by force!" Spitfire shouted. The Shadowbolt chuckled again. 

"Oh....tisk, tisk miss Spitfire..." The Shadowbolt began as they looked across the three of them. 

"I took care of your "force"." They said before turning and charging at Rainbow Dash. 

Dash didn't have time to react and watched as the Shadowbolt tried to charge at her. Soarin quickly intercepted and tackled the Shadowbolt to the ground, but before he could pin them, they quickly stabbed Soarin in the right foreleg. Soarin let out a yell of pain as the Shadowbolt pushed him off of them and raised the knife high to stab him. Spitfire quickly grabbed the Shadowbolt and tried to force them to the ground as well. 

Spitfire grabbed goth of their forelegs and attempted to pin them to the wall, but they quickly wiggled from her grasp and kicked her in the right hind leg. Dash quickly helped Soarin back up to his hooves and they both leapt to help Spitfire. 

The Shadowbolt quickly sheathed the knife and began to fight defensively. Dodging several kicks and punches as the Wonderbolts tried in vain to hit them. They found the whole ordeal quite hilarious. Eventually they countered a punch from Soarin and used it to grab his foreleg, break it and throw him into the wall. 

"Soarin!" Dash and Spitfire shouted simultaneously. Spitfire was closest to Soarin, so she quickly flew over to help him, while Dash kept trying to fight the Shadowbolt. As Dash fought, the Shadowbolt's smile began to grow wider. 

"You know Dash, I've been waiting for this day for a long time." the Shadowbolt said as they fought. Something struck Dash as she dodged another counter attack from the Shadowbolt. That voice...

Dash thought fast and made it look like she was about to attack from one side, but used their expectation of where she'd be to attack from the other side and strike the side of their head, knocking the goggles from their head, and removing the mask part of the flight suit in the process.

The Shadowbolt landed a little further down the hall from the others. Spitfire helped Soarin to his hooves, which he could still walk, though he was limping. They all looked in shock to see that the killer.....was.......


















"Lightning Dust?!" Rainbow Dash said in shock. The other two also gasped at the now revealed identity of this murderer, but it was all there in front of them. The same turquoise coat, the same yellowish mane, the same amber colored eyes. It was her. 

Spitfire quickly left Soarin's side, only for her spot to be replaced by Dash and stepped between the other two, and Dust. Spitfire glared at her, showing so much anger that it looked like she might burst. 

"Explain yourself, now!" Spitfire said, not as loud as before, but with a very clear rage in her voice. Dust scoffed as she pulled her knife back out. 

"Pffft, Why? Are you gonna reprimand me if I don't? You gonna strip me of my title again? Kick me out again if I don't?" Dust shouted as she started waving the knife around. 

"Why did you do this Dust? Why did you kill them!?" Rainbow suddenly shouted angrily. She knew that Dust wasn't the nicest or most thoughtful pony after what happened at the academy, but this, this was downright horrible. Dust started chuckling again. 

"Oh Dash, you of all ponies should know why." Dust said. Rainbow growled at her. 

"But.....you....you killed them......other ponies.....over your rejection?" Dash asked, trying to think of some way that Lightning could've justified this, but she knew it wasn't worth the thought. There was no justifying this. Dust growled back at them. 

"Not just my rejection you cunts! You threw out a flyer, one of the best. This team NEEDED a Pegasi like me! One that could showcase amazing feats of aerodynamics, but Noooo, you guys decided to go with Miss Goody Two-Shoes over there!" Lightning ranted, pointing at Dash. "I was humiliated, I was rejected, not just by you, but everypony else. Even my own friends eventually left me. I had nopony to turn to." Dust finished as it looked like she might start crying, until she opened her eyes and smirked. 

"Well, until I met them." Lightning said, placing her hoof on her uniform. Dash's eyes widened. 

"Wait, the Shadowbolts are real?!" Dash asked. Dust smirked. 

"Oh Yes, they are very real, and worth so much more time than you fuckfaces." Dust spat. "They actually considered my skills and actually gave a few seconds of thought about my stunts, yes they were dangerous, but they were also effective. And they will take in anypony, not just those in a little exclusive club like this place." Dust finished, stomping her hoof on the ground. Spitfire stepped forward and readied herself again.

"But Why did you do this?" Spitfire asked again. Dust laughed. 

"They asked me to." Dust simply responded with. The three of them gasped and Lightning continued. "There was NO WAY I was gonna miss this chance to exact my revenge on all of you. And now, with the storm blocking your escape and the others out with no way to help you, I think it's the end of the line for you three." Lightning finished. She started laughing again as she approached them slowly. Spitfire quickly fired herself at Dust. The two clashed and Spitfire managed to tackle Dust to the ground and hold her their. She used this chance to turn to Dash and Soarin. 

"GET TO THE ROOF! NOW!" Spitfire shouted. Dash and Soarin hesitated.

"What about you?!" Soarin shouted back as Spitfire struggled to hold Dust down. She grunted and responded. 

"I'll be fine, just go, GET HELP!" Spitfire shouted again. Dash and Soarin wasted now time. Soarin leaned on Dash as he limped, and the two made their way back to the stairwell and disappeared. 

Spitfire was suddenly kicked in the gut and thrown off of Dust. The two stared eachother down in the middle of the hallway. Spitfire suddenly spoke. 

"You spoke of the storm like it was planned. Was it?" Spitfire asked. Dust simply chuckled sinisterly. Spitfire glared back at her. "How?" Spitfire shouted. 

"What? You think I didn't have any help, there are more Shadows than just me you know." Dust said. Spitfire lunged at her again. The two got into another fight, though it felt more like a game of Cat and Mouse. Dust kept baiting Spitfire and dodging her attacks only to punch and kick her when her defenses were down. 

Spitfire started to fight more and more desperately and wildly, becoming frustrated. She also became tired as she felt like she was putting in so much effort, but to no avail. Eventually, Dust landed a swift and heavy kick to Spitfire's stomach that knocked her over, and another punch to the head to take her completely to the ground. Dust quickly placed her hoof over her neck and held her down. 

"You know, I thought killing you would be the most satisfying thing of all, and you know what...?" Dust asked as she raised her knife high into the air. Spitfire struggled beneath Dust as she looked up at the knife. 

"It is." Dust finally finished. Spitfire closed her eyes, accepting her fate. Dust plunged the knife down into Spitfire's head.

Dust pulled the blade out of Spitfire's head and watched as blood began to pour from the wound. She smiled as she looked down upon her now slain former Captain. Dust felt a wave of pleasure and accomplishment wash over her. The act of killing was something she felt that really got her going. It was a kind of euphoria that she had never experienced before, and she needed more of it. She rubbed some of Spitfire's blood on her hoof and smeared it over her face while letting out a sinister laugh.  

She looked down at her knife and saw how bloody it was, not just in wet and fresh blood, but also bits of dried blood. She looked over at the staircase entrance and remembered something. She sheathed her knife and began to move to get to the rec room. 

She had an ax waiting for her.
> Chapter 11: Rage
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash struggled to keep Soarin up and balancing on her as they ascended the stairwell towards the roof access point. Soarin kept tripping over several steps and leaving a trail of blood up the stairs. 

"C'mon Soarin, we need to keep going, we need to get help!" Dash shouted, trying her best to motivate Soarin to keep going. Soarin then tried to let go, only for Dash to catch him and hold him tight. 

"Just go on without me, I'm only slowing you down. I'll hold her off if she comes after us." Soarin said, trying to release the burden she had of having to carry him. Dash shook her head. 

"No! I'm not leaving you!" Dash said defiantly. Soarin opened his mouth to argue, but knew that time was of the essence, and Dash wouldn't just leave him. Soarin smiled and wrapped his arm around her again and the two continued to climb. 

As they reached the third floor with only 1 more flight to go before getting to the roof access point, they heard the sound of a door opening behind them. They both froze in their tracks as they heard a maniacal laugh come from below them. 

"Yoohoo! Lovebirds? I have a surprise for you!" They heard Lightning Dust call out below them. Dash quickly grabbed Soarin's arms and hoisted him into the air and started to fly up the stairs. The added weight of Soarin mixed with the limited room in the stairwell hindered Dash's ability to fly fast. 

Down below, Dust's ears perked up as she heard the grunting above her, she lifted off into the air and chuckled. 

"The chase is on." Dust said so herself before she flew up the stairs. 

Dash managed to get both of them to the Roof door and attempted to open it, however, the winds from outside were blowing against the door, and making opening it nearly impossible. Soarin joined her at the door and despite his wounded leg, managed to provide just enough strength to open the door wide enough for Dash to slip through. 

"Come on Soarin! Get out here!" Rainbow shouted over the winds. She started pulling the door open further from the outside, as snow began to blow through the door's crack. Before Soarin could make a move, he heard movement behind him, he turned and his stomach dropped. 

Lightning Dust was hovering up the stairs behind him, her suit along with her face and mane stained with blood, she had a look of pure insanity in her eyes, and was now armed with an ax with a bloody head. 

"There you are handsome!" Lighting said sadistically. Soarin then felt an arm wrap around his neck and he was dragged out of the door. He saw Lightning lunge forward before the door slammed in her face. 

Dash and Soarin fell back onto the snow covered roof and looked around. They were on a catwalk system, with two other directions to go. Luckily, there were signs labeled with a red warning sign meant for emergencies that indicated the direction of the flare launcher. 

Soarin looked back at the door and saw the knob turning and quickly dove and pushed against the door. His strength combined with the wind made the door now impossible to open. Soarin turned back at Dash. 

"Go! Get to the launcher and Fire the Flare!" Soarin shouted at Dash over the winds. Dash wanted to argue, but she looked back at the signs indicating where to go. Normally, the launcher could've been seen from where she was standing, but with the storm, she could barely see anything in front of her. She needed to get help. 

"Be careful!" Dash shouted at Soarin before trudging forward through the accumulated snow towards the flare launcher. 





Inside the stairwell, Lightning Dust was pushing against the door with all her might, but she was no match for Soarin, who made it so that the door didn't even budge, even with his injuries. 

Lightning finished another failed attempt to push the door open when she stepped back. She looked down at the ax in her hooves and facehooved. 

"For fucks sake!" Lightning exclaimed before raising the ax back and swinging it towards the door. 

Soarin was leaning against the door still, determined to give Dash enough time to fire the flare. Then, the head of the ax pierced through the door, just missing his head. 

"AAAH!" Soarin screamed as he jumped away from the door, wincing as he landed a little too hard on his injured hoof. The ax head was removed from the tiny hole it made before emerging back through the hole again, making it bigger. Soarin began to inch away from the door, feeling scared for his life. Him and Dash were on the roof in a storm, they had no escape route. 

The ax head was removed from the hole again and Dust's face appeared on the other side, a sadistic smile plastered to her face. 

"Heeeeere's DUSTY!" Lightning Dusty shouted before laughing maniacally and taking another swing at the door. 

Soarin kept inching away slowly as Lightning continued to hack away at the door. 





Rainbow Dash finally made it to the end of the catwalk and saw the silhouette of a machine just a few yards in front of her. She stepped off the catwalk into a little area with the machine in the middle. It looked like a smaller version of Pinkie's confetti cannon, only painted navy blue with the Wonderbolt's logo and pointed straight into the sky. 

Dash approached the device and began to look for ways to activate it, the eventually found a lever next to it gave it a yank. 

Nothing happened. 

Dash frowned and began to frantically inspect it, eventually finding a hatch near the bottom that opened up and found the image of some kind of canister inside. Dash then glanced over to see a large green crate. She stepped away from the device and opened it. Sure enough, it was filled with the canisters depicted in the hatch. 





Soarin took one more step back from the door as Lighting chopped one more piece off of the door and reached her hoof through and opened it. She stepped outside onto the roof, still brandishing her ax. 

"Well, looks like it's just you and me blueberry." Lightning said as she started walking towards him. Soarin gulped and braced the railing as Lightning got closer and swung the ax at him. 





Dash took one of the canisters out of the crate and quickly went back to the launcher. She looked at the picture of the canister and quickly placed it in the launcher the correct way the image had depicted. She then closed the hatch and heard a locking noise. Dash smiled, assuming it was ready. 

She moved to pull the lever. 





Soarin stumbled back out of range of Lightning's first ax swing and began leading her away from the door through the storm. 

Lightning began to swing wildly, not paying attention to anything else other than her rage and bloodlust to kill. Eventually, she swung the ax and got the ax stuck in the floor grate of the catwalk. 

Soarin quickly used this and stepped on the ax handle and jabbed Dust across the face, knocking her away from the ax. He was about to bend down to pull the ax from the grate when he heard a noise behind him. 

*ffffffffffffeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww*

Soarin turned and saw the blinding red light of the flare launch into the sky above the compound. He saw some of the clouds and storm surrounding the light begin to dissipate. He turned to look at the launching area in front of him, not realizing how close he had gotten. He saw Dash step out from the other side with a grin on her face. But....





Dash stepped around the launcher and smiled at Soarin, but her grin quickly turned to one of horror as she saw Lightning Dust get back up with a small knife in her hoof and rush as Soarin. 

Soarin turned just in time to see Dust reach him and stab him in the gut. Soarin grunted in pain as he felt the knife enter. He saw the wicked smile of Dust's face as she pulled the knife back and stabbed him again. Soarin let out another pained grunt before falling back onto the catwalk. 

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Dash screamed out in horror. Dust looked up and grinned. She reached down and pulled the ax free from the catwalk. She stepped over Soarin and walked toward Dash. 

"Wow, talk about saving the best for last." Dust said as she approached the speechless and "on the verge of tears" Dash.

"I had a lot of fun killing your Wonderbolt friends, but you are somepony special to kill. You're the pony that ruined my life and crushed my dreams. I'm going to enjoy this." Dust said before raising the ax. 

Dash's mind caught up with her just in time to roll away from Dust's ax swing. Her face went from one of shock and terror to one of pure rage. Lightning Dust had just taken so many of her friends from her, it was time to stop running, and start fighting.  

Dash moved around the launcher, quickly grabbed a canister and opened it, finding the flare inside. She took it out and waited for Dust to make a move. 

Dust quickly followed Dash and began to swing the ax in her direction. Dash waited for the right time to strike. After Dust swung the ax and the head clanged against the ground, Dash struck the flare, igniting it, and stuffed the burning end in Dust's face. 

"AAAAAAAHHHH!!!" Dust screamed out in pain. She dropped the ax. Dash went to pick it up, also dropping the flare. Dust quickly recovered, though she couldn't see out her right eye and lunged at Dash. The two began to fight over the ax. Punching, kicking, yelling, and even biting at eachother to try to best the other. 

As they rolled over one another, they neared the edge of the roof. Eventually, Dash got off of Dust with the ax and held it, ready to swing at Dust. She got a good look at what she did with the flare. Her right eye was closed with charred bits of fur around it. Dust looked ready to dodge if Dash swung, so Dash decided to attack with a different way. 

Dash used the other end of the ax to bash Dust in the nose. Dust's head was thrown back before facing at Dash again, blood flowing out of her nose. Dust's eye twitched in rage before lunging at Dash again. Dash didn't dodge in time and the two were once again on the ground, fighting over the ax. 

Eventually, the two were next to the edge of the roof, Dash looked over and saw that they were next to an area of the compound that over looked the rest of Equestria below, with no safe clouds to land on. Dash looked up at Dust, who was using the ax handle to try to choke Dash. 

Dash pushed back against the ax with all her might, but Dust was also giving it her all through her rage. 

"DIE! JUST DIE ALREADY! THE OTHERS WENT DOWN SO EASILY! SO JUST DIE!" Dust screamed in rage at Dash, getting spit all over her face. Dash felt the handle touch her throat and begin to apply more pressure. Dash let out a choked grunt. Dust began to grin wickedly as the handle was pushed further against her throat. It looked grim for Dash. 

"GET OFF OF HER!" Dash heard a familiar voice shout. She suddenly saw Soarin grab Dust and pull her violently off of Dash. The ax landed next to Dash, and Dust and Soarin landed further from her. Dash sat up and saw Dust and Soarin getting into a scuffle that ended pretty quickly after Dust knocked Soarin down and tried to choke him. Dash quickly grabbed the ax and rushed over to them. Without hesitating she swung and buried the ax in Dust's back, also hacking into her wing. Dust wailed in pain as Soarin grabbed the tiny knife sticking out of her suit pocket and stabbed her in the chest. 

Dust let out another wail in pain as Dash pulled the ax with Dust in tow off of Soarin and threw them both. The ax landed by the edge and Dust manged to stagger back just shy of the ledge. Dust looked down at the knife in her chest before she looked up to see Dash walk up to her and punch her hard across the face. Dust staggered back and fell off the roof. She tried to open up her wings, but yelped in pain and looked to see her left wing split in two from the ax blow. She looked down and saw no clouds beneath her, only the expanse of Equestria below. 

Dust looked up and screamed as she plummeted to the land below. 

Dash looked over the edge at Dust as she plummeted until she was out of view. Dash then turned to Soarin and....started to lightly chuckle. Soarin gave her his own smile and Dash quickly leapt at him and pulled him into a tight embrace. 

"I'm so happy you're okay!" Dash said as she happily embraced him. Soarin smiled as he embraced her back. He looked up to see the storm begin to dissipate, and even better, the Cloudsdale Legion began to emerge from the clouds. 

"We're gonna be fine now Dash, we're gonna be okay." Soarin whispered in Dash ear as she buried her head in his chest, doing her best not to touch and accidentally hurt Soarin's wounds. 

They were safe at last.
> Chapter 12: The Aftermath
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash sat in a chair next to Soarin's hospital bed, not taking her eyes off of him for even a second. She had already gotten all that she needed for her minor injuries, but it was Soarin who needed more than her, with his stab wounds in his gut and leg. 

After the Cloudsdale Legion arrived, Dash and Soarin were quickly rushed off to the Cloudsdale General Hospital. They had gotten there very early in the morning, and it was now just past 9am. Dash had gotten a little bit of sleep last night, but not much due to her worry for Soarin. 

Soarin was now asleep in his bed, looking rather peaceful. Dash smiled as she watched him. She then thought back to what had happened after they arrived. She explained what had happened to the Legion and they said they would take care of the rest. She knew the Legion had to take care of what had happened at the compound, and clean up....

The bodies.....

Dash quickly turned her head toward the door as she heard the door open. Into the room stepped a male pegasus with a brown coat, yellow mane, and wearing a set of silver Cloudsdale Legion armor. Behind him Rainbow could see the nurse. 

"Are you Rainbow Dash?" The officer asked. Dash nodded her head and the pegasus removed his helmet and sat down in the chair on the other side of the bed. 

"My name is Officer Flash Flood, I just came from the compound." He explained. Dash's heart skipped a beat and her eyes widened. She was dreading what he had to say. Dash had asked the officers to find Spitfire or anypony else that could have still been alive there, but he didn't look like he was delivering any good news. Dash let out a sigh and looked back at Flash Flood. 

"What's going on?" Dash asked quietly. Flash Flood shifted in his seat and nodded at the nurse. She nodded back and closed the door, allowing them privacy. 

"My officers and I have just finished clearing out the compound." Flash Flood began. Dash nodded and noticed that his expression had not changed. She knew what was coming. 

"And?" Dash asked. Flash let out sigh before looking back at her. 

"We found the bodies of 9 Wonderbolts in the compound. Captain Spitfire and Commander Fleetfoot were among the dead." Flash said slowly, giving Dash time to let his words sink in. Dash felt herself flinch as he said the names. She looked over at Soarin. With Spitfire and Fleetfoot gone, he would be sworn in as the next captain of the Wonderbolts. He was now the highest ranking one. "I just thought I'd let you know, since I was told you were interested earlier....I....I'm sorry." Flash finished as he saw her physical reaction to hearing the bad news. 

"No." Dash suddenly said. "It's okay, thank you for telling me." Dash turned back to Soarin. "I'll let him know when he wakes up." Dash said as she continued her constant vigil over Soarin, waiting for him to wake up. Flash Flood stood up and silently left the room, leaving the couple alone. 

Dash kept staring at Soarin, letting her mind race with everything she had gone through over the past 24 hours. Just yesterday, herself and her Wonderbolt teammates had gone to perform as one big unit at the Cloudsdale Coliseum for the last show of their touring season before winter. Then it turned into an innocent party at the compound, which turned into a nightmare, one that Dash would never forget. 

She also thought back to Lightning Dust. She now knew that the Shadowbolts were real, not just some figment conjured up by Nightmare Moon, but a real force. And from what she saw of Lightning Dust, one that the Wonderbolts needed to watch out for. Dash also thought back to Dust's behavior. She was a spunky, hot headed sports mare who was a lot like her back in the academy, but last night, she was a bloodthirsty animal who had gone past the point of reasoning. She sadistically murdered several Wonderbolts in cold blood, and she looked like she was having fun. It made Dash sick to her stomach. 

Dash flinched as she heard a knock at the door to the room. "Come in." Dash called out. The nurse entered with a soft smile. 

"Miss Dash, you have some visitors who want to see you." the nurse said. Dash raised an eyebrow. 

"Who?" Dash asked. The nurse turned to whoever was outside the door and motioned for them to go inside. Dash felt a wave of relief wash over her as she saw who stepped into the room. 

Twilight Sparkle stepped in first, with a worried look on her face that turned into a smile upon seeing Dash, Applejack walked in behind her, Fluttershy after her, followed by Pinkie Pie and Rarity. Dash's eyes lit up. 

"Guys!" Dash said happily as she got up from her chair and rushed over to join her friends in an embrace. For the first time in hours, she felt like she could finally be relieved and be put at ease, since now she had all her favorite ponies in the room. 

"We came over in the balloon as soon as we heard." Twilight said with a relieved tone. Dash turned to Applejack who was giving her a bit of a glare. 

"What in the hay actually happened Dash!? That officer that came to Ponyville wouldn't tell us nothin!" Applejack said with her voice a little raised, Dash tried to motion for her to keep quiet, but was cut off by Pinkie. 

"Yeah! What happened to make him such a party pooper?" Pinkie said with a bounce. Dash put her hoof to her muzzle and made a shush noise and pointed over to the bed. The other five looked over and all gasped. Dash led them all over to the sides of the bed. They noticed the bandages covering his leg and body.

"What happened to him darling?" Rarity asked as she stared at Soarin in disbelief. Dash let out a sigh as she slumped back in her chair. 

"It's a long and unpleasant story." Dash said with a sorrowful tone. The others all gave her apologetic looks and Fluttershy even came over to Dash and gave her a reassuring hug. 

"If it's too much, we won't pressure you to tell it." Fluttershy said in her usual caring tone. Dash shook her head. 

"No, it's okay, you guys need to know. Or, you'll know anyway, when the story eventually goes public." Dash said as she shifted in her chair, glanced at Soarin before looking back at her friends and taking a deep breath. 

"It all started with the show last night..."





"Sir." 

"Yes?" 

"I have the reports on the mission you sent Lightning Dust on Sir." 

The stallion sitting in the chair at the end of the darkened room turned around and looked at the other pony, clad in a Shadowbolt uniform. They nodded. 

"I was wondering when they'd get back, how'd she do? Where is she now?" They asked. The other Shadowbolt opened up the folder they had tucked into their wing and cleared their throat. 

"Lightning Dust is now K.I.A sir." the Shadowbolt said. The other stallion showed no physical response. 

"So, did she fail then?" The stallion asked. The Shadowbolt shook his head. 

"Not exactly sir, several targets were eliminated." The Shadowbolt responded. 

"How many?" The stallion asked. 

"9" the Shadowbolt immediately answered. 

"Names?" The stallion asked. The Shadowbolt cleared his throat again as he flipped to another page and listed off the names. 

"High Winds"

"Lightning Streak"

"Surprise" 

"Thunderlane"

"Fire Streak"

"Misty Fly"

"Wave Chill"

"Fleetfoot"

"and Captain Spitfire herself." The Shadowbolt listed off. The stallion smiled. 

"So the distraction did work?" The stallion asked. 

"Yes sir, the diversion at the weather factory yielded the perfect results and created the desired snowstorm." The Shadowbolt explained. The stallion nodded. 

"Good. The mission was a success." The stallion said as he leaned back into his chair. The Shadowbolt however, did not leave. 

"But sir, what about the second step?" The Shadowbolt asked. The stallion leaned back forward. 

"Hand it over to the other one. He'll finish it. How did Dust die?" The stallion asked. 

"She was hacked in the back with an ax, stabbed in the chest with her own knife, and fell to her death from Cloudsdale. Two agents are transporting her body back here as we speak." The Shadowbolt explained. 

"Who were the ponies that killed her?" The stallion asked. 

"Soarin and Rainbow Dash." The Shadowbolt answered. The stallion nodded. 

"Give the next step to the other one, tell him he has a score to settle with some old enemies." The stallion explained. 

"Yes Sir." The Shadowbolt said before turning and leaving the office. The stallion turned back around in his chair and leaned back again. He smiled to himself. 

"We've already killed their leader, now we just have to tie up some loose ends, and the Wonderbolts will collapse." The stallion said to himself before letting out a sinister chuckle. 


To Be Continued...