//------------------------------// // The Chase // Story: The Seven Sins // by ThatOneBronyWriter //------------------------------// It was about a week since Chrome Crescent arrived in Fillydelphia, and throughout the week he had been acting oddly. Usually he would be engulfed in his studies on black magic, but other than that, here's what made him act so oddly: On Monday, Crimson Pallet, Onyx Artist and Chrome Crescent had a nice conversation about their favorite T.V. shows. During their conversation Chrome would twiddle with a necklace that he had that had a dark purple jewel embedded in it. The odd thing was during the chat, both Crimson and Onyx had an uneasy feeling, as if they were slightly faint. Never really creating a conversation about the necklace, they did mention it looked nice. The next day was Wednesday. Onyx and Crimson ended up winning three tickets to a gladiator competition. So they decided to go to Chrome's house to see if he wanted to go with them. When they got there and knocked on his door, he opened up looking like a train wreck. His mane was disheveled, his eyes looked irritated and he was very fatigued. He politely declined the offer, but the strange part was that he seemed to be mumbling to himself in every other sentence and at times he would curse to himself. After Chrome shut the door, they left to go invite another one of their friends. On Thursday, Aquamarine and Crimson decided go to help Chrome set up some of his furniture. As they helped him set up, Crimson notices some scars, which look like burn marks. Crimson doesn't bring this up until him and Aquamarine leave and asks if he noticed them at all. He said he didn't really pay attention. As of now it is Friday night at 7:44 and Crimson was talking on the phone with Black Jack and Aquamarine: "So am I the only pony here who thinks something is up with Chrome Crescent?" Crimson asked. "I guess," Black Jack replied, "Except for the fact that I never really see him much." "So I guess I am a little crazy," Crimson said slightly angered. "I believe you," Onyx said from behind. "Thanks. Now I can feel just a little less paranoid," He said with a sigh. "Well, now that I think about it, He does eat a lot. I mean he is kind of skinny," Aquamarine said out of realization. "That doesn't prove anything except for the fact he has a big appetite," Crimson said as he sat on the couch. He then looked to his left at the book he checked out from the library. He proceeded to open it up and found some fascinating information on several mythological creatures. As he was reading he realized he was still on the phone, hearing Aquamarine rambling on about something. "-and then WHAM! He gets hit right in the face!" Aquamarine exclaimed. "I'm sorry what?" Crimsom asked. "You didn't hear what I said did you....?" Aquamarine said with disappointment. Crimson chuckled, "No I didn't. I'm sorry. I was kind of reading this book. It's very intriguing." "What's it called?" Black Jack asked out of curiosity. "'Equestria's Darkest Corners: A Book About Mythological Creatures'. I'm finding a lot of things that I've never seen or even heard of before," As he began to turn the next page he continued, "Some of these creatures are thousands and thousands of years o-." Crimson then froze as he saw what was on the page: A page titled 'The Blinded Unicorn' and it had what looked to be Chrome Crescent: Cloudy eyes, dark fur, and a dark blue mane. He quickly closed the book and jumped up from the couch in a panic. He pointed down the hall and told Onyx, "Go hurry and pack you're things. We're leaving." "What do you mea-?" "Just do it!" Crimson yelled Onyx then rushed down the hall to their room and started to pack. "What's going on?" Aquamarine asked from the phone. "You two aren't gonna believe what I found in my book." "What is it?" Black Jack asked concerned. "I saw a picture of what looked almost like Chrome!" "Preposterous!" Black Jack exclaimed. "Are you sure it looked like him?" Aquamarine asked wanting to clarify. "I'M POSITIVE. The fur was the same, it was a unicorn, it had cloudy eyes and it's mane was all dark! I didn't look at everything, but I'm absolutely positive it wa-!" "Figured me out so soon?" An eerie, but familiar voice said cutting him off form behind. Crimson's eyes widened as began to turn slowly to see who was behind him. He didn't want to be right on who he thought it was, but he was right. Standing behind him was Chrome Crescent. "I'd highly suggest hanging up with your friends," Chrome said pointing to his phone. "Crimson! What's going on?" Black Jack began to yell through the phone, "Crimson? Cri-!!" Crimson hung up. Onyx came back down from the hall carrying a backpack. She then turned to see Chrome standing in the living room. "As you have clearly found out, Chrome Crescent was just an alibi. My real name is Shadow Fright." "Just what the hell are you!?" Crimson exclaimed demanding an answer. "You saw it in the book. You know exactly 'what' I am. Unless you were too frightened to admit what I'm truly like. If that's the case, It's kind of hard to explain. I think It'd be best if I showed you," Shadow Fright then turned to Onyx, "You asked me about my hands?" Shadow Fright then held out the palm of his hands showing the scars in each one. Onyx stood there frozen in terror at what she was witnessing. They opened up into the shape of an eye with blood red pupils. Onyx then screamed. "ONYX!" Crimson yelled. A sonic wave burst forth from Shadow Fright's hands. Crimson tackles Onyx to protect her from what was happening. He looked up to see the wall that was behind Onyx was no longer there. Trying to comprehend what had just occurred, he grabbed Onyx by the arm and shouted, "RUN!" As they ran across the room, Shadow fright shot sonic wave after sonic wave, destroying the walls behind them. Crimson and Onyx crashed through their window jumping out to get away from Shadow Frights attack. Crimson folded out his wings and grabbed Onyx by the arm, and they then jumped onto the ground and ran. Shadow fright was following behind them jumping out of their escape route. "I need to get started on my real meal," Shadow Fright said to himself. Shadow Fright then sees a colt walk ahead of him finding this a good opportunity to eat. He lunges his hand and grabs the back of his head. "W-what the hell?" The colt began. "I'm sorry to do this to you but I'm famished," Shadow Fright said with a smirk. Suddenly, a sonic wave covered the entirety of his head and burst forth. Shadow Fright then removed his hand from where the colt's head used to be. A few feet away, two mares screamed at the horrific sight that Shadow Fight had just committed. The colts neck started to gush with blood as he fell to the ground. The mares ran away as fast as they could before anything bad happened to them. Shadow Fright glanced over to see them getting away. He held out his hand and another sonic wave shot out hitting one of the mares. She instantly vanishes only leaving a splatter of blood where she used to be. Fortunately for the other mare managed to escape. He then turned back and made his way to catch Crimson and Onyx. *** Crimson Pallet was dialing on his phone to call Aquamarine and Black Jack while he was still grabbing a hold of Onyx's arm. He then waited for them to beck up. Aquamarine answered the phone, "Oh thank God! What the hell is going on, Crimson!?" "It's Chrome! He tried to kill us!" Crimson exclaimed, "He tried to freaking kill us! And his real name isn't Chrome Crescent, his name is Shadow Fright!" "What? How!?" Aquamarine Asked. "He held out his hands and they formed an eye, there was this blast that completely took out our walls and I bet he's still after us!" Crimson started to panic, "Call the girls and tell them we're leaving Fillydelphia and going to Ponyville." "For what rea-" "JUST DO IT!" Crimson demanded. He and Onyx continued to run to the train station. When arriving at the station, Crimson bought eight tickets for all of them to get a ride to Ponyville. Shortly after they all met up. "What is this about Chrome trying to kill you?" Cinnamon Stripes asked with a worried look on her face. "I'll tell you when we get on the train," Crimson answered catching his breath. "ALL ABOARD!" The conductor shouted. They all rushed aboard the train and got into one of the train carts. They sat down and waited for the train to speed up as it started to move. Once they got out of Fillydelphia, they felt safe. A few minutes later, the conductor came into their caboose asking for their tickets. After confirming their tickets of being valid, he went back into the train car in front of them. For the next few minutes they sat there with only the sound of the trains running on the track, with their uneasiness returning, for they had a very good reason. With the empty train cart behind them, tendrils began to enter the empty cart. Out of the shadows that the tendrils formed, Shadow Fright emerged. He then began to walk down the empty train car as the sable cloak engulfed the cart into the navy blue of the midnight. He opened his cart and then tried to open their caboose. They all turned around to see a silhouette at the door trying to open their locked door. Shadow Fright then took a step back and held out his hand once again. Their door then became distorted and then it disappeared, being sucked into his hand. "Now then. It's time for the main course," Shadow Fright said with a wide grin. "Stand back!" Crimson ordered putting his arms in front of the mares. Aquamarine, Black Jack and Crimson held their ground prepared to fight back. Red Sapphire then stepped forth and held her own stance. "W-what are you doing Red Sapphire?" Crimson asked. "You shouldn't underestimate me," She said curtly. She then dashed forward prepared to attack Shadow Fright. She managed to catch him off guard and hit him square in the jaw, with a force so strong, it caused his head to snap back breaking his neck. Sapphire stepped back confused as Shadow Fright was still standing upright with his head all the way back. He snapped his head forward and popped it back into place, with a few twists of the neck. They were now officially frightened about 'what' exactly they were dealing with. "You'll have to do better that that if you wan't to kill me. You're not the only one who's tried that," Shadow Fright said in a disappointed tone. As he began to raise his hand again, a red blur rushed past Crimson and the others through the cart, causing their manes to go wild in the direction of flaming object. Shadow Fright was uppercut-ted into the ceiling of the train car, causing his head to go through. The deliverer of the blow turned out to be a familiar face to Crimson and Onyx. "Hey! You're the guy who sold us the tickets!" Crimson exclaimed "Yep! The name's Blaze Blitz! And I told ya I owe ya one. Now who in the hell is this guy?" He said as he looked up at Shadow Fright. "His name is Shadow Fright," Black Jack began, "He tried to become friends with us, only to kill us. And he's not a normal Unicorn, He's a Blinded Unicorn." "So he's just blind? Way to be a douche bag and pick on the sight impaired," Blaze said disgusted. "But, you just punched him," Ginger Ale pointed out. "Oh...... right," He said feeling stupid. "And he isn't exactly normal. He has eyes on his hands that can literally eat anything. And he also has black tendrils," Sapphire explained. "Aha! So I did do something good! Alright then. Let's kick some demon ass!" Blaze said with adrenaline. "My God you're pissing me off," Shadow Fright said putting his hands on the ceiling. The metal roof encasing his head above the train then vanished, leaving a huge hole on the top of the train. He jumped down and stood up brushing his sleeves. He held out his hand again and then shot out a sonic wave. everypony dodged the blast as it made its way down the other end of the train cart, sucking the other door into nothingness. "Well this is getting nowhere fast," Shadow Fright said out of frustration. His tendrils reached out and grabbed the edges of the hole in the ceiling and then went up, pulling him outside of the train and on the roof. "We can't let him get away!" Aquamarine shouted. He went out the door of the caboose and climbed up the ladder to the roof. "Aquamarine!" Black Jack yelled as he went after him. When Aquamarine was on the roof, the train had entered a misty fog. Shadow Fright lunged forward at Aquamarine with black shadows behind him forming wide eyes and gaping mouths with sharp teeth. Aquamarine now frozen in his tracks, Black Jack jumps over him from behind and throws a card at Shadow Frights forehead. With a direct hit, he then spin kicks Shadow Fright in the chest, knocking him back one cart. Blaze being the next one up on the roof, he looks at Black Jack seeing his weapon of choice and says, "Playing cards.... Really?" "What? They're my specialty." Blaze then shakes his head and then moves forward to get to the next cart, disappearing into the thick mist. "You guys okay?" Crimson said getting up on the cart with Sapphire. "Yeah. We're fine," Black Jack said helping Aquamarine on his hooves. He was then hit by Blaze being tossed from the train car behind them. They were both hurled onto the train ahead of them. With a loud thump, the passengers below started make a ruckus about what had just hit the roof. "Black Jack! Blaze!" Crimson shouted back. "Behind you!" Sapphire warned Crimson. He turned back around to see black shadows darting toward them in different directions. They dodged them all now continuing toward the next car. 'SHINK!' The black tendrils then drew back, one of them leaving a trail of blood. "Ah Shit." "Who got hurt?" Aquamarine shouted, blinded by the fog. "It's Blaze! He was stabbed clean through the shoulder," Black Jack responded. Shadow Fright pulled out the card from his bloody forehead and tossed it behind him, "That wont kill me either." Aquamarine then turned back in the area of where Shadow Fright would be. His horn began to glow as he turned the mist into water. Now seeing Shadow Fright with his own eyes a shimmering fluorescent red, Aquamarine lunged the newly formed water at him soaking him and knocking him back a little further. Crimson flew ahead rushing to Shadow Fright and swung his leg, kicking him in the face. Shadow Fright managed to hold his ground, standing at the edge of the train car. He glanced off to his right to see a forest the began to approach. He looked back at Crimson and smiled. "Looks like this is my stop." Shadow Fright then sunk into his own Shadow and then slithered off of the train, making his way towards the dark and enchanted forest. "Everfree Forest?" Crimson thought to himself, "What's he planning on doing in there?" "Crimson? Crimson!" Sapphire shouted. He emerged from the reformed fog and said in frustration, "He got away..." "Damn!" Blaze shouted as he held his bloody arm. The five of them went back inside of their caboose with the other three mares glad to see that they were okay. The door from the train car in front of them slammed open with the conductor in a mixture of rage and confusion. "What the hell happened here?!?" "If we tried to explain it to you, you wouldn't believe a single word," Crimson said. The conductor stood there with with his mouth wide open in shock seeing the damage of the torn up car. He then went back inside, slamming the door shut. With a sigh of relief they all sat down. "Okay, we need to get some rest before we get to Ponyville," Crimson said. Everypony then laid their heads back and fell asleep. *** "Crimson. Crimson?" A voice said. Crimson then woke up with a start to see Black Jack shaking his shoulder, "Oh. Now you are." "What is it?" "Do you still have that book?" "You mean the book about mythological creatures? Yeah, I still have it. It's in mine and Onyx's bag," Crimson grabbed the backpack and took out the book, "What do you need it for?" "I want to read more about The Blinded Unicorn," Sapphire said. "Oh, okay. Here you go," Crimson handed it over to Sapphire. "Thanks." Crimson then heard a clicking noise. He looked over to see it was Blaze Blitz lighting a cigarette. After putting lighter away he grabbed his right shoulder. It had been bandaged and had a dark red stain seeping through the bandages. "Hey Blaze?" Crimson said. Blaze looked over holding his cigar and said, "Yeah?" "I still don't quite understand why you owed me one?" "Well, if ya still don't know, you buying those tickets from me, you let me make my way to Ponyville." "Oh, I see. So, why are you leaving Fillydelphia?" "The thing is, I hate Fillydelphia. It's boring. Nothing ever happens. It's just the same old same old. So now with the 10,000 bits you gave me, I can buy a house, food, furniture and all that jazz. And Ponyville sounds more exciting. And plus if i hang with you, it'll never be boring!" Crimson chuckled and said, "Yeah. I guess you're right." "Now it's best you get some sleep. Aight?" "That's just what I was thinking," Crimson curled back up and laid his head back on top of Onyx's. After a few minutes, he was fast asleep.