Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were tied up on opposite ends of the room. For the first few minutes, they had stared death glares at each other and threw out threats and insults. Saphira put a stop to that right away, threatening to turn them both into ugly little toads if they made her mad (Pipsqueak knew she couldn‘t even if she wanted. She was VERY good at telekinesis, but was about average in every other basic unicorn spell). Best she could do was tie them up again.
He still shuddered at the memory of Saphira's rage, even moreso than Silver Spoon's outburst. This was just a whole new night of sides for everyone.
Now the former friends just avoided each other’s gaze. Pipsqueak could clearly see that the things Silver Spoon said had affected Diamond Tiara, mostly because he was about 2 inches from her face (due to applying first-aid on the wounds she sustained), but also because she hadn’t insulted him ONCE since the whole ordeal ended. She even said: “Thank you” when he cleaned up the open gash on her face. That was probably the most shocking thing in the night...actually, no it wasn't. The dead body was, but this was something to take his mind off of it.
“Pipsqueak. Am I a horrible pony?”
“Yes.” Pipsqueak said in a heartbeat.
She looked like she wanted to say something, but sighed in a defeated tone; “I…I don’t try to be it’s just…it’s just the way I am. I can‘t fight who I really am, after all.”
“Nope.” Pipsqueak said.
“Nope?”
“Nope. You’re giving up too easily, you can change if you really want to.”
“No I can’t.”
“Sure you can. How will you know if you‘ve never tried.”
“…How do I…be a nicer pony?”
“You can start by apologizing to Silver Spoon. She is your friend after all.”
“Probably not anymore.”
“Well, if she’s a good friend. She’ll forgive you. If you’re a good friend, you’ll actually try to earn her forgiveness.” Sage advice from Pipsqueak, where was all that coming from? Probably something his dad had told him. He really missed his dad right now. He wondered if his dad had tried checking up on him, only to find that no one's seen him or 17 other foals? Maybe the town was out searching for them? Maybe they'd be rescued soon?
...What would he tell everyone about Archer, Featherweight, Dinky, Snips, Snails, Firelocks, Rumble, Twist, Green Daze, and Shady Daze? He shook his head, 'No, no. Don't think about it.' He returned his attention to Diamond Tiara.
"Start by saying sorry. Here like this, "I'm sorry." See, you can do it." He stood there with bated breath, waiting for Diamond Tiara to just play along.
She sighed, rolled her eyes and then in half-flanked tone uttered; "I'm sorry." Not apologetic at all.
"It's a start." It was so insincere, he didn't have the heart to tell her that she needed to work on her apology skills. At least she actually said the words instead of trying to twist-- "Don't think of Twist."
She actually said the words, that was probably as good as they were gonna get. "Keep tryin', I'm gonna go check on the others."
“…Okay...” She sighed. “Thanks. I’ll…think about it. Now, go away.” She turned away from Pipsqueak.
Pipsqueak nodded and headed back to the remaining ponies, Saphira was laying next to the lantern and staring at the door. Scootaloo and Noi were trying to comfort each other by talking about how great Rainbow Dash was. Pipsqueak trotted along beside them, then asked; “Coronet and Lemon haven’t come back yet?”
“Nope.” Noi sounded worried. During the ensuing chaos, Lemon had started screaming and then ran off into the hallways. Coronet took off after her. That was 15 minutes ago, “I’m gonna go look for them.”
“I’ll go with you. It’s probably best if we stay in pairs.” Scootaloo ruffled Pipsqueak’s mane before heading off deeper into the building with Noi trailing behind her. He could faintly hear their conversation about Rainbow Dash down the hall, until they were out of his hearing range.
He sighed and laid down next to Saphira. Who was busy stuffing her face with the food they'd brought with them. Stress eating? No, unicorns didn't have an infinite magical pool, it drained energy just like anything else. So it only made sense that she needed to eat.
“Well…what a night.”
“…” Had they gone back to the silent game again? No, she just had a mouth full of chocolate. She swallowed and nodded, wiping her mouth with her hooves.
“I didn’t know your telekinesis was so strong.”
“In Hollow Shades, we learn defensive spells really early. I’m…not really that great at a lot of spells, but Telekinesis is one of my stronger ones. It‘s only gotten stronger since I left. I told you about this earlier, didn't I?”
“Yeah. You did. Hey, why did you leave anyways?” Pipsqueak felt this was a tough question to ask, Saphira might not even bother answering.
“…It’s a long story. Do you remember when I was talking about how I lost my cutie mark? Well, we were stupid foals so against the wishes of our parents, we went out to prove we were brave ponies. We ventured into the woods, looking for…I don‘t even remember why we went in there. I do know though, there were 20 of us at the start. By the end of it, I was the only one left. Next morning the adults found me in a hollowed out tree, shivering and muttering incoherently to myself. All my close friends were gone. Predator attacks, is what they called it. That it was all over and I could rest, but that was a lie. It wasn‘t over…” She trailed off, taking a deep sigh as she brushed her mane with her hoof. “My parents, sent me to Ponyville after I would wake up screaming in the night. I‘d been complaining about, a constant noise in my head to them, but it wasn't until the 3rd week when they couldn't take the constant night terrors."
'Noise.'
"Seeing…them every night, telling me to come back to the forest, or to hurt myself."
'You should jump.'
"I was supposed to live with some relatives. Get away from Hollow Shades for a while, rest and recuperate. Try not to think about it."
'Don't think about it.'
"The nightmares didn‘t stop though, it never stopped. Once in a while, I'd have a peaceful night, it never lasted long though. Only when it seemed like I would die from sleep deprivation.”
And then it started to click, that unease he was feeling from before, “The thing that took your friends. It followed you. Didn’t it?”
“…” She grew silent, that only made Pipsqueak more suspicious. Someone as smart as Saphira, must’ve thought about it. She looked to the Lanterns, “We learned to make those Lanterns in Hollow Shades, they’re more than just simple lanterns. They’ve been enchanted to ward off certain monsters, the only reason I survived is because I kept my lantern with me at all times. If it IS the same one. They‘re probably the only reason we're still here.”
“What do you remember about it?”
“….”
“Saphira. If it can help us-”
“What I remember the most is the green light, the loud screech, and a constant noise in the back of my head. I don’t know anything specific. I hardly paid attention to the bestiary or any old legends, but…what I do remember is that it hunts foals almost exclusively. It leads young ponies astray with a haunting, melodious sound only they can hear. It can mimic the shape of a pony its taken, it can even control what‘s left of their body to fool other ponies. It‘s not a predator, it doesn‘t eat them. It just likes to see pain, misery, fear, rage, sorrow. And then it strikes when it‘s done torturing its victim.”
“The Pied Piper.” Pipsqueak responded immediately.
“What?”
“You’re describin’ the Pied Piper. My dad, he wrote a story based on an old pony legend about a unicorn who lost his foals, so he tried to steal the foals of others after making a pact with…something. There wasn't a word for it in any known pony language. His soul was twisted and mangled, and now he wanders the land. Hunting foals who go astray. That’s what my dad wrote, at least. ”
“…Could it be possible?” She seemed to be seriously considering the possibility, “Regardless. If this one followed me, then we can’t fight it. We should wait till morning and then we‘ll-” Thunder struck overhead, followed by a loud crash from upstairs. The four ponies immediately stood up, “The others!” She said urgently as she ran towards the staircase, Pipsqueak, Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon following closely behind.
They raced up the staircase, they heard the sound of sobs from inside one of the closed doors. Saphira and Pipsqueak rammed the door open. Inside the room they saw Coronet huddled in the corner, and the rain falling into the room from the broken window. “Coronet!” Pipsqueak called, rushing to her side then stopping just for a second due to the sound of thunder.
“It got her!” She cried, “A monster, it broke through the window and took Lemon Daze!” She sobbed harder.
“Pipsqueak, we have to find Noi and Scootaloo. Silver Spoon, Diamond Tiara, take Coronet back downstairs and wait for us in the entrance room.” Without another word, she sped off down the hall with Pipsqueak in tow. Pipsqueak looked back into the room for just a second and what he briefly glimpsed on Coronet's face, confused him. Regardless, he didn't have time to wonder what he saw. It must've been just a trick of the mind anyways...
The two ponies frantically searched throughout the building, checking room for room but finding no trace of the two ponies, “It’s getting bolder.” Pipsqueak noticed, based on what he knew about the monster. It didn't attack them outright, it lured ponies away and struck them when they were alone. Here? It just attacked Lemon Daze right in front of Coronet. Heck, it broke through the window and alerted them to its presence.
“I know, we need to find them. Then get out of here.” But why had it abandoned the notion of stealth? Why would something, that's been primarily attacking from the shadows, suddenly disregard hiding in favor of outright attacks?
“Right!” Pipsqueak couldn’t agree more. He rounded the corner then-
CRASH
He crashed into somepony, dazed and disoriented he heard Saphira exclaim: “Scootaloo! Noi!”
“They’re alright?” Pipsqueak asked, getting back to his hooves then shaking off the pain.
“The monster!” Scootaloo said, completely out of breath, “It’s here.”
“It got Lemon just like it got Archer!”
"Don't think about it."
“Come on, we’ll meet back up with the others!”
As they sped off, Pip slowed down a bit. That noise, he recognized it now. Music. It vaguely resembled, music from a wind instrument. “Are you afraid, Pipsqueak?” Yes. Pipsqueak was very afraid.