//------------------------------//
// Night 2 
// Story: Several Nights at Pepperoni's 
// by Mod On Death 
//------------------------------//

	Shining Armor found himself running. He couldn't tell from what, but knew that it wasn't anything he wanted to deal with. He hoped to find someplace to hide in this long hallway, maybe a door or something, but that didn't seem to be happening. As his hoofs clopped against the floor he heard another sound behind him. It sounded like a clanking noise rapidly hitting the floor, getting closer and closer.
"Come on. Come on!" he yelled to himself, panting as he made his way through. He thought he spotted a corner coming up and knew that this was his best chance of getting some distance. He rounded the corner and found that the thing that had been chasing him was not in front of him.
It was a bloody bear costume wearing a top hat. Shining Armor tried to move but found his legs frozen in terror. The bear lunged at him and made a terrifying scream.

Shining Armor work up, rustling the sheets as he gathered his thoughts.
"Alright. It was just a dream," he told himself, still dazed from his rest. He got out of bed slowly and made his way to the bathroom. He was careful not to wake up his wife as he went down the hallway. He just needed some water and that would help this situation.
The light hurt his eyes when he turned it on, momentarily blinding him. He got a dixie cup out and started filling it with water, drinking it, refilling, and doing the same thing over and over until he drank the equivalence of half a cup of water.
"Wish these things held more," he said, wondering if he was really thirsty or these were just so tiny. After his sixteenth refill he remembered the details of his dream once more. The bloody bear and that scream felt so familiar that he couldn't get it out of his head. It felt like something he'd actually seen before. "Maybe I should give my old partner a call. Haven't talked with him in a while."
He went downstairs and made and picked up his phone. Looking through the directory, he found his partner's number and decided to ring him up. Hopefully he wouldn't be upset by this late night call.
The number had just been punched in when a voice answered, "Captain Ret here."
"Ret!" Sound said, surprised to find his partner so quick to answer. "Glad that you picked up. It's me, Shining Armor, your old partner!"
"Shiny! How're things going for you?"
"Great. Um, sorry if I cut the pleasantries short, but I need to ask you something. Have we ever worked on a case involving a bear suit?" The line was silent and Shining thought the call had been dropped for a moment before he heard a reply.
"What the hay you talking about?"
"I had this strange dream involving a bear that was bloody and letting out a scream. Sounded like it was in pain. I know it's weird but it feel like this has happened before. I can't remember exactly where it was, but I remember that it had something to do with...,"Shining Armor stopped talking as the thoughts raced into his head. He knew that there was something off related to the topic. "Pizza?"
"Pizza?"
"Yeah. The bloody bear suit and pizza place." Shining Armor only realized it after, but he said 'suit'.
"Oh." Ret's tone seemed to suddenly shift. "I think I remember it now."
"What was it?" Shining Armor's heart was now racing. He couldn't tell if the feeling was excitement or if it was fear.
"Our first real case. It was at this pizza place and the guys were found in the suits the robotic skeletons would be placed in. One guy was in a bear costume. Was still alive when we got there apparently. Didn't last long though."
"I honestly can't believe I forgot about that," Shining Armor said, surprised. "Did anypony ever figure out who did it?"
"I remember it being labeled a cold case a couple years back. They could never find any evidence of anypony else entering the place." Shining Armor suddenly came up with a thought that he knew he'd regret.
"Say, Ret, you wanna-"
"Work together on this case? I'm already clearing my schedule. Get your pampered hide down to the headquarters ASAP and we'll give it a shot." Shining Armor was glad to have Ret as a partner.
"I'll leave first thing in the morning." Shining Armor hung up the phone. He felt like he was in a dream again. Working with his partner after all these years to solve their first ever case? He didn't know what had gotten into him. Whatever it was, it wasn't gonna leave on its own.

Sound had been working in her room late tonight. She was sketching an alternate version of the movie poster that the director asked for just so he could have a good comparison. When she saw how late it was even she was shocked.
"Three already? I don't even feel dead yet," she said as she chuckled at her own joke. "Can't believe I'm spending more time on this poster than my actual comics. At least I'm still getting paid for this." It was only then that Sound noticed that she was starting to get hazy with her colors, almost drawing a grey weapon as pink. Taking this as a sign, Sound went over to her bed and plopped down.
It was only several moments later that Sound heard a noise. She determined that it was somepony running around downstairs. It was probably her dad making himself a midnight pizza. She decided to tune it out and focus on getting some rest.
A couple moments later the noise sounded closer. It reminded Sound of the steps leading upstairs. All that was missing was the creak at the very top.
She suddenly heard a creak. Then more running.
"What could dad be doing?" Sound asked herself. She reasoned that it could be mom. The problem with that was mom had been home earlier that night. She was ready to come to a conclusion when she heard a knock on the door.
"Who is it?" she asked. Sound didn't know why she had to ask that when it could only be her own parents. She started feeling uncomfortable when there was no reply. "Hello?" The sound of running now took over again, getting further and quieter. 
Sound was starting to feel scared. She didn't know why, but things didn't feel right. The running continued once again and was getting closer now. Each step she heard made Sound's spine tingle even worse. 
And then there was the knocking again.
She didn't know why, but Sound was certain that she needed to open the door. It may have been curiosity. It may even have been stupidity. Whatever it was made her want to find out who was knocking. She opened the door and found that nopony was there.
"The hay? Did I just hear something like knocking?" while pondering she heard a noise. It sounded just like running. The noise was getting closer and closer and sounded almost nothing like the noise of somepony running. It was something else.
Fear took hold of Sound and she shut the door, running to her bed and hiding under her sheets. She didn't know how that would protect her but still hid there. She felt like a child hiding from the monsters in the closet. 
There was another knock at her door.
Scared, she wrapped her sheets around herself, cocooning herself in fabric. Her heart pounding, she passed out from fright.