//------------------------------// // No Escape // Story: The Last Something Sweet to Bite // by Knackerman //------------------------------// Things hadn't turned out as easy as Sunset had hoped. While it was easy enough to keep Spike's attention with the dog treat, she quickly found that he was nowhere near as useful as Twilight's faithful assistant. No amount of hints or out right commands on her part could seem to convince the dog to fetch the keys to her cage, even though they were very near, and in plain site on a nearby table. As far as Spike seemed to be concerned, they did not exist, out of his line of sight as they were. When he heard her say 'fetch' he came back first with a tennis ball, a stick, and lastly a femur, which Sunset hoped came from one of the medical skeletons somewhere else in the lab. Eventually it seemed Spike lost interest, perhaps deciding that the girl in the cage was only teasing him and had no intention of giving him the milk bone she held. Sunset Shimmer let the dog biscuit fall to the floor and she put her head in her hands. It felt like all hope was lost, when a familiar voice said, "Excuse me," and with a jingle of keys, the cage door swung open. Maud Pie, dressed in a lab coat with her hair tied back walked into the enclosure as if nothing in the world was wrong. As Sunset watched, the eldest Pie sister reached under the gurney Sunset was sitting on and produced a box of dog treats. "Boulder gets cranky if he doesn't have his midnight snack," she said bluntly and proceeded to tip the contents of the box over the tiny stone she kept as a pet. That brought Spike running back, where upon the dog happily gobbled up the spilled treats that 'Boulder' had neglected. "Maud? What are you doing here!?" asked Sunset in a daze, unable to believe what was happening. "This is a public research lab. And this is where Twilight keeps her pet treats. Boulder was hungry," Maud blinked slowly. "Shouldn't I be asking why you're here?" "I... uh... I accidentally got locked in?" tried Sunny, not sure what to expect. Maud merely blinked in response. Leaping to her feet, Sunset decided to try straight forward honesty. "Okay, Twilight locked me in here, but I need to leave. My friends might be in danger and I really need to get in contact with them! Are you going to tell Twilight if I try to leave?" "Are you going to tell Twilight I borrowed some snacks for boulder?" asked Maud, tilting her head towards her pet rock. "Um...no?" "Then I think we have a deal. Although," said the stoic Pie sister as Sunset stepped out of the cage, "You might want to find some pants first. Crystal Prep takes a dim view on streaking, even at this late hour." Sunset Shimmer could feel the blood rising in her face. She must have been blushing quite rosily. In her excitement of at least being free, she had forgotten she was wearing a backless hospital gown. --------------------------- A few awkward moments and dog treats later, Sunset Shimmer found herself fully dressed and back outside. Fortunately this worlds Twilight Sparkle had apparently wondered off to continue her research, or experiments, or whatever she had gotten in her head she needed to do. Sunset was thankful of that, because it had allowed her to get her cell phone without any fuss. She was half expecting it to be flooded with texts, but none of her friends had been in contact since they had left Canterlot High earlier. That was worrying. Usually she at least had a half dozen texts from Pinkie Pie about people she had met or things she had eaten. It was strange, but the important thing to do now was to share the information that Spike, dragon not dog Spike, had given her. Just in case anyone else was around that might peak at the text over her shoulder, Sunset decided it would be best if they met up to share the information, rather than try to translate it all into text speak where her spell checker was likely to garble the message anyways. Sunset kept walking, wanting to put as much distance between herself and Researcher Twilight as possible. Crystal Prep, while clearly a very beautiful campus, seemed to have a certain sinister air about it. Even though she'd spent much of the last few years of her life attending school in this world, there was something vaguely off about these halls of learning and Sunset found herself breathing a sigh of relief when she spied a nearby bus terminal. She checked the pockets of her jacket and, sure enough, she still had her bus pass from earlier. It seemed Twilight had mostly focused her interest on Sunset's journal, dismissing anything that didn't conform to her 'alien' theory as mere camouflage. She was in luck too, as the first bus to arrive seemed to be heading back towards her side of town. In a few moments this place, and hopefully this night, would be far behind her. They'd need to figure out what to do about this worlds Twilight later, especially now that she knew their secrets, but there were more important things to deal with at the moment. Sunset had taken more time to read over the information Spike had transcribed from Ye Olde Tricks and Treats and she was more certain than ever that the situation they were in was truly dire. Even so, there might still be time to set things right if they acted fast. Just as she was settling in on an empty seat towards the back of the bus, her phone began to vibrate. "Need to meet up? You guys should come to my place. Parents aren't home," read the text. The little winky emote icon after the text made Sunset smile, but then a frown creased her brow. The text was for her and all of her friends which was fine, but it was from Rainbow Dash. One by one she watched as her friends replied, "I'm so there!" was Pinkie's text, "You betcha" from Applejack, and a simple 'K' from Fluttershy. Sunset waited to see if Rarity was going to agree as well, but figured the fashion conscious pony probably had her hands full. Sunset knew that if Rarity and Pinkie had been around town Rarity was likely to have done more than a little bit of shopping. Though, since Applejack and Fluttershy had been looking for Rainbow Dash, it was odd that they would be so calm in their reply. Immediately she tried phoning them to find out what was up. She tried Applejack first, and then Fluttershy, but both phones rang a few times before going to voicemail. Pinkie Pie's was the same, and Rarity's phone was actually out of service. That last one put Sunset's teeth on edge. Rarity loved her phone! She took care of it as if it were a child or a cherished pet. There would never be a situation where she wouldn't promptly pay her bill either. If something had happened to Rarity's phone, then it was a safe bet that something had happened to Rarity too. She felt a tiny wave of panic squeeze her heart. Biting her lower lip, Sunset Shimmer called the last friend on her contact list. "Hey Sunny, what's up?" asked Rainbow Dash calmly. Sunset's relief at hearing a familiar voice was quickly washed away by a torrent of questions, "We've been trying to get a hold of you all day! Where have you been!? Are you hurt? How have you been feeling? Are you sick?" "Hey slow it down! I've been busy," replied Dash, "Didn't really have my cell phone on me. Is something up?" "Yes! I mean No. I mean...urgh. I'm not sure..." Sunset tried to gather her thoughts. "Do you have a minute?" "Hey, I'm all ears Sunset, lay it on me," answered Dashie enthusiastically. "Okay... So I've been having these nightmares, only I don't think they're nightmares, I think that they might be warnings or possibly even threats. There's this thing from my world called the Candy Mare, don't ask, just know that as benign as it sounds it is bad news. Do you remember how Trixie was earlier when you left her at the nurses office?" Sunset paused for Rainbow Dash to answer. "Yeah, she was pretty bad off. She's done some rotten things to us in the past, like dumping us through that trapdoor at the concert finals, but it was hard to hold that against her when she was puking her guts out," Dash replied earnestly. "Well I think the Candy Mare was the cause," continued Sunset, "Since you weren't around earlier, Applejack and Fluttershy went looking for you while Pinkie Pie and Rarity went to find out if anyone had seen anything suspicious around town." "And what did you do?" "I got kidnapped by Twilight." "Who did what!?" "Look, don't ask, that's not important right now," groaned Sunset into her cellphone, thinking about all the time Twilight's doppelganger had cost her. "I'm worried something might have happened to our friends." "What do you mean?" asked Dashie perplexed. "I got texts from everyone but Rarity a moment ago." "That's just it though. I tried to call them and none of them answered. And Rainbow Dash," Sunset paused, "Rarity's cell phone was out of service." "Oh that can't be good," replied Dash, understanding immediately. "What do you think happened to them?" "I don't know I just... I've got a really bad feeling, okay?" answered Sunset, looking around the bus to make sure no one was listening in. "Who ever's responsible might have been the ones to contact you by text message earlier from our friends phones. They could be on their way to your house right now!" "Really!? What should I do?" asked Rainbow somewhat panicked, "Should I call the cops?" Sunset paused in thought. "No, no even if they do show up at your house, that will just scare off who or whatever is responsible. We need to find out who it is that's behind all of this and we need to find out what happened to our friends. I'm on my way to your house right now. I was actually already on a bus heading that way before the texts went out. With any luck, I'll be there before our would be assailants." She hoped she was making the right decision, but they needed to find out what was going on before they could move forward with any effective counter measures. "Just keep a sharp eye out and call me if you see or hear anything suspicious. I should be there in another fifteen minutes." "Well, alright Sunset," replied Dash reluctantly, "But I gotta warn you, if whoever it is shows up before you do, we might need to call the cops anyways," Dash paused before continuing with a smile in her voice, "To pick up their sorry butts after I'm done pounding them into the ground! See you soon girl, be careful!" Sunny couldn't help laughing a bit at Rainbow Dash's cocky words. In spite of the uncertainty of their situation, she found herself oddly re-assured by her friends bravado. "Will do, and you too Dashie. Take care." ---------------------- Sunset disembarked the bus at the end of a long dark street. Being a residential area, the house lined avenue was not quite as well lit as the main streets had been. The lack of lamplight was made up by porch and floodlights. Many had been changed out for orange, green, red, and even black lights for the up coming holiday. Back in Equestria Sunset had always been somewhat indifferent to Nightmare Night. It'd seemed like a dreadful distraction from her studies, but every now and then she had gone out trick or treating and, when older, even attended a few of the more formal Canterlot parties. Halloween in the human world was a little bit different. It was funny to think that, until recently at least, magic didn't seem to really exist in the human world yet they had a holiday dedicated to dressing up as supernatural and magical entities. It had made a sort of sense in Equestria, but here things were just ever so slightly off. There were still parties and trick or treating, but there was also a somewhat more gruesome edge that Sunset couldn't help thinking the fault of the kind of movies Pinkie Pie and her sisters liked to watch. Skeletons and ghosts hung in tree lined driveways, festooned with fake spiderwebs... but there was fake blood and dismembered body parts too. You would've never seen something like that in even the most extreme Nightmare Night decorations. Oh sure, most of them were goofy, obvious fakes. But others looked unnervingly realistic, limbs and bones of all shapes and sizes seemed to be strewn about the various otherwise pristine yards. It might not have been so bad if it weren't for the dense fog that seemed to be creeping in from the nearby woods. In a lot of ways, this world was very different from Equestria, and Sunset couldn't help feeling a slight chill run up her spine as she realized that the further she walked down this street, the denser the initially thin mist was becoming. She'd seen fake fog banks before, plenty being employed during the battle of the bands the Rainboom's had eventually won, but this was very different. Though it seemed to be a natural occurrence in this world, weather just happening unexpectedly like this was still somewhat unnerving to Sunny even after all these years. A full moon hung low, causing the fog to glow ever so slightly, more so where it obscured colored flood lights and glowing pumpkin shells. She had always found the orange light spilling from Jack-o-lantern grins to be somewhat comforting, but not just now. Their many faces, contorted in screams and evil grins, were only a reminder of other eyes that might be looking on her from the shadows fiendish intent. With the mist muffling the familiar noises of suburbia, yet somehow amplifying other... more haunting sounds, it was becoming difficult for Sunset to remain composed. Was that childish laughter she heard just on the edge of her hearing? Silenced screams? Why did the shadows seem so dark and numerous when there was so little light? She found herself walking quicker than she had intended. Then jogging. Then flat out running. By the time she reached the front door of Rainbow Dash's house, Sunset was perspiring and out of breath. Panting heavily, she whirled, certain she had been followed, but unable to see anything in the thick, fog shrouded gloom. Panicked, she hammered at the door, already pulling her cell phone from her pocket, certain that the worst had already happened. Certain she had been a fool for telling Dash not to call the authorities earlier. Suddenly the door behind her swung open! She turned, a scream already rising in her throat. Rainbow Dash stood in the well lit doorway, a curious look on her face and a television remote held in one hand. "Uh, you okay?" The wild panic that had seized Sunset's heart ebbed away. She suddenly realized she wasn't in some alien nightmare world, but just a simple suburban neighborhood. The fog was just fog, the shadows just shadows, and she was just wound more than a little too tightly from the stress of the day. Sunset took a moment to catch her breath and smooth down her dress before replying shrilly, her voice breaking, "Yes... *ahem* yes, I'm just fine. How are you?" With a half feigned yawn Dash replied, "Bored, honestly. Nothing but bad horror movies and sitcom reruns are on this late. You gonna come in or stand there all night?" "Um, I'll come in if it's all the same to you, thanks." Sunset was a little bewildered. She'd hung out in Rainbow Dash's garage before but hadn't really been inside her house. It was immaculate, very tastefully decorated, and completely at odds with the sporty girls personality. Sunset imagined her parents were the ones responsible, and Dash's own bedroom would be a little messier, in keeping with her devil may care attitude. The living room seemed almost untouched except for a bundled up blanket and the flat screen television that, just as Rainbow had said, seemed to have an old horror movie playing with muted sound. In black and white there were people, that Sunset realized were meant to be zombies, stumbling towards another person that was waving a lit torch back and forth as if to ward off the oncoming undead horde. "Nice place you've got here," Sunset said, almost absentmindedly as she stepped inside, "So I take it everything has been quiet?" "Quiet as a mouse until you started thundering on my door," replied Rainbow ruefully as she shut the front door. "Made me jump half a mile. Are you sure you're okay though? You seemed spooked. Still do, honestly." "I guess I'm just a little on edge what with everything that's been going on," said Sunset, wrapping her arms around herself. "Hey, fair enough. It is the night before Nightmare Night after all. I could see where that could put anyone on edge." Rainbow Dash plopped herself back down on the sofa and turned up the volume just in time for the truck the humans had been trying to escape in to explode. The brilliant white light lit up the entire room, though not as much as Rainbow Dash's grin. "Whoo hoo! Alright!" she shouted, punching the air. She seemed to be really enjoying the movie, despite her earlier complaints of being bored. In fact it didn't seem like she was worried about anything at all. Sunset wished she could be so calm. Although, what was going on in the movie wasn't doing Sunset's nerves any favors. Watching the 'zombies' stumble around on fire, yet even so, bending down to gnaw on what were clearly meant to be the entrails and flesh of the burning explosion victims was turning her stomach. "Um, Dash, is it okay if we watch something else?" The glow of the screen faded in Dash's eyes as she noticed the effect the violent imagery was having on her friend, "Oh, sure thing Sunset. Let's see what else is on." She changed the channel, only to wind up with another horror movie. This one with a human sitting on the lap of a truly bizarre looking and nightmarish clown. The man on his lap turned his head to one side and said 'Don't worry Dave, all we want to do is kill you' before the clown slid his arm and hand out of the dead mans back, shaking the gore from his pudgy white fingers. Rainbow quickly changed the channel again, only to stop just in time to catch a font of green vomit spewing from a little girls demonically twisted face. It seemed to splattered a man in priestly robes. Finally Dashie gave up and turned the TV off. "You know what, maybe that's enough TV for tonight?" she said sheepishly, "How about we play some video games to pass the time? You head on up to my room, first door on the right at the top of the stairs. I'll grab some snacks and meet you, kay?" Notwithstanding Dash's continued treatment of the situation as more like a sleepover than a stake out, Sunset was glad that she'd opted to forgo watching anymore horror movies. Some of what humans considered 'entertainment' just seemed like torture to her. Watching the inevitable death and dismemberment of people, bad guys or good, had never seemed anything but gruesome to her. Video games, while sometimes just as violent, at least had the benefit of giving you some control over what happened to some extent. The horror movies had bothered her, sure, but there was something else niggling at the back of her mind. Something that renewed the uneasy feeling she'd been getting ever since she'd arrived on Rainbow's street. Was it something Rainbow Dash had said that was bothering her? She couldn't quite figure out just what it had been. The gore and viscera of those old horror movies had been too distracting. Dash, unfazed, bounded towards what Sunset assumed was the kitchen. Sunset had no choice but to shrug and head back to the front foyer and start the short climb up the carpeted flight of stairs that lead to the second story. It was only as she reached the top of the stairs that all the fatigue of the long day she'd been having finally caught up to her. She might have been knocked out for a little while by this worlds Twilight, but that had hardly been any kind of restful sleep. It would be so nice if Sunny could just forget about all of this and lay down for forty winks. Or maybe forty thousand... She was that tired. Perhaps that's why, when she opened the door and flipped on the light in Rainbow Dash's room, the only thing she could think was was It's just as messy as I thought it would be. In truth, Sunset was slightly taken aback by the piles of books, cloths, and video games strewn all over the floor. She'd expected it to be messy, but not this messy. It seemed like half of Dash's closet had been strewn over the floor and the bed. Worse, Rainbow had apparently left her window open, and thin wisps of fog from outside were spilling into the room over the low window sill. Sunset tried to pick her way over the clutter on the floor towards the window to close it, but lost her footing and fell. Fortunately she landed on a pile of cloths that were wedged between the mattress and the wall, which helped to break her fall. Getting back to her feet she shut the window and locked it closed. Peering out into the dark, foggy night, she half expected to see some maniac in a mask standing in Rainbow Dash's backyard like in an old Slasher film. She could see it in a her minds eye as clear as day, a man in a tattered green coat and a stained hockey mask staring up at her, unblinking. If any such person was down there though, it was too dark and misty to see. Sunset simply shook her head and closed the curtains. That was when she finally noticed the low murmuring coming from the closet. It sounded like a series of urgent moans, followed by a loud banging that made her jump an inch off the floor. Was it possible someone had climbed in through the window and was trying to hide in Rainbow's closet? Before she could call for help, or even move, the door to the closet banged open and a mass of cloths toppled out onto the already messy floor. The squirming, struggling mass seemed like it was trying to rise! Sunset stifled a scream, however, when she realized whatever was under the mass of dirty cloths wasn't chasing after her or attacking her. Instead whatever, or whoever, it might be seemed to clearly be in some distress. The soft moans of protest and pain began to sound all too familiar. Cautiously, but less frightened than she had been a moment ago, Sunset started peeling back the layers of discarded dresses and dirty socks. As she did, her mind raced. She had been so frightened before. Had there been a reason? Maybe something she had noticed subconsciously? Why had the many jack-o-lanterns, many more than she had ever seen in previous years, worried her so greatly? Had the Halloween decorations, those severed limbs and dripping blood, looked that realistic to her before? Was it possible, just possible that they hadn't been decorations at all? Had what she had dismissed as mere paranoia actually been her instincts trying to warn her? And more, what was it that Rainbow had said that had struck Sunset as unsettling after she had convinced herself she was safe? As she tugged away a long sheet, Sunset beheld a sight that made her thoughts freeze like ice. Rainbow Dash lay on the floor, hands and feet bound, blindfolded and her mouth gagged. Thick cuts, scrapes and scars showed through dried blood on her limbs. It was clear the young girl had struggled in vain against her bonds from the ragged, angry looking wounds around the ropes. The thickest filth, however, seemed to be caked around the makeshift gag in the teenager's mouth. It was almost as if a mask of dried blood, and other substances Sunset didn't want to think about, had dried into a hardened mask on Dash's face. Bending down, Sunset whispered, "Dashie... Rainbow Dash it's me, Sunset. I'm going to get you out of here but first I need you to very quietly and calmly, tell me what happened. I'm going to take your gag out first, okay? Nod if you understand." The bound girl nodded and ceased her struggling as Sunset worked at the knot that tied the gag fast. It was looser than she had expected it to be, perhaps an indication that Dash's captor had recently removed it. As the filthy mass pulled away from Rainbow's lips, the girl started talking, babbling in a hushed voice that Sunset could barely make out. She could see that there were tears spilling from beneath the blindfold as Rainbow Dash spoke, but she couldn't make out the words, only the meaning behind them. Only the pain, anguish, and fear. "Dash slow down, I can't understand you. Take a breath and try again." Rainbow Dash's tongue darted out, wetting her chapped, cracked lips. Taking a shuddering breath, she turned towards Sunset's voice. "She made me eat them, Sunset. She made me eat them." Sunset heard that, but she still wasn't sure what it meant. "She made you eat what?" "My parents," replied the real Rainbow Dash in a strained whisper, her voice cracking. A fresh sob drowned out the rest of her words with another burst of tears. Just then, the person who had been posing as Rainbow Dash breezed into the bedroom, "Sorry Sunny, I'm afraid all we've got is finger food in the house at the moment. My folks kind of left in a rush, but the neighbors have been very generous while they've been gone." She handed Sunset Shimmer a tray of food so nonchalantly that Sunset took the plate reflexively, without thinking about it at all. She looked down at the 'food' that was on offer. A neat little row of severed fingers in various states of freshness and decay, some that even still had wedding bands and press on nails, glistened from a pool of congealed blood. Sunset let out a shriek and tossed the tray into the air and back peddled so quickly she fell onto the bed. Nightmare Night, that's what this Rainbow impostor had said! She had said it was the night before Nightmare Night, not Halloween! She had been talking about the Equestrian holiday, not the human world variant! Rainbow Dash hadn't been around at all when she had told her other friends about the Equestrian holiday. "Jeez Sunny, if you weren't hungry all you had to do was say so," laughed the fake Rainbow Dash with a sharp toothed grin as she lifted one of the severed fingers from the floor and bit into it with a sick, bone shattering crunch. She sucked delicately on the marrow, with every sign of relish, as she loomed over the pair of girls. Even though Sunset had long since closed the bedroom window, fog seemed to snake its way across the floor as the lights in the room flickered and went out.