> The Lonesome Corner > by Greatness942 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > 0: Scattered Through Time > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was yet another quiet Winter evening at the school known as Canterlot High. The sun glistened through white clouds, the wind nipped and bit at the students and faculty as their breath became vapor right then and there. It wasn't too outrageous, which is why both the students and the librarian found it baffling that one student, their exchange student that had recently saved them at Camp Everfree, was sat at the table, her hair in her hands as she looked over each and every book she had grabbed. "Ancient Fairy Tales? No. The Brothers Grim? No," came from the quiet, nervous Twilight Sparkle as she poured over each and every cover and title she could. She would flip one open, find a random page, read it, then immediately place it back on the table at breakneck speed. The quiet sigh of Miss Cheerilee hummed out as she could do nothing to stop it; she wasn't doing anything wrong, so why bother? Meanwhile, sitting next to her, her fingers tapping the table as she looked upon the display, was Twilight's friend Sunset Shimmer. Looking upon the girl, Sunset opened her mouth to speak out, only to close it when Twilight kept murmuring to herself. "Seeds of Deception? Interesting, but no. Red Riding Hood? Too safe. Spores of Zore? That's not even a myth! It's fiction, yes, but myths are usually-" The only thing that stopped the lavender colored girl was the feeling of a hand placed onto hers. Sunset smiled as she saw her friend calm down, to which she said, "Alright, Twilight. Can you please tell me exactly why you're freaking out over myths? You just dragged me here and started freaking out." With a careful blush on her face, Twilight leaned back in her chair and said, "Well, after what happened at Camp Everfree, I felt like I needed to be prepared. So, I'm looking for dangerous legends that could be true, so that we can fight it should it show up." Sunset looked at each book on the table, each one showing wear and tear from past students, as scratched covers and bent spines told a different story to the ones expertly crafted on each page. "So, wolves that are intelligent enough to dress like old ladies aren't dangerous?" Sunset snarked, smirking and smiling as she saw Twilight fumble over her words, clearly not expecting that response as she stumbled and stuttered. The former pony giggled to herself as she chuckled out, "That wasn't even that good!" Twilight placed her hands on the table, and looked to Sunset before beginning to chuckle as well. Before long, though, Twilight was back on the prowl, looking for something to give her and the girls an advantage. Before Sunset could distract her once again, Twilight raised a book up with an eyebrow raised in inquiry, clearly thinking to herself over what the title meant. "The Lonesome Corner?" she repeated, "Sunset, have you ever heard of something like that?" With a quick shake of her head, Sunset gave a quick answer as Twilight cracked open the tome. It looked battered, to say the least. The cover was a bleak, dry grey, depicting a large creature bathed in shadow. It had no legs, rather a tail that was sharp and pointed to a dangerous level, and a large torso. Two arms lead into two hands, each one having three clawed fingers. It's head was also sharp, showing a spiked head with two glowing white eyes. It looked like something out of a childhood nightmare. Twilight traced her fingers under the words, as she began to read out the legend intoned within, repeating each and every word with vigor as she slowly realized that she had found something. "At the dawn of time, when Earth was rock and the earliest stars burned from the Big Bang's remains, there was a bleak darkness. Entire parts of the planet were bathed in shadow. Even as the world evolved, creatures big and small rose and fell, and technology improved, darkness would still be waiting to scare off those entombed in the light." "Early humans thought the darkness held a beast they could not see; hiding in shadows, stalking Man like a predator stalked prey. Usually, they wouldn't see anything, but one day, a cave painting was found. And it showed the moment a tribe entered the darkness, but didn't come out alive.Something struck out at the party, taking whole members of the tribe faster then they could see. Each one fell to clawed hands and whipped tails, flying through the air in a bloody showcase of deadly acrobatics. One attempted to run, but felt something slash his side open. He came to a cave, and, using black berries he had taken as food as well as his own blood, carved out the tale." "Years later, in the 1920s, a researcher and his team entered the cave to transcribe the cave painting, but he did not leave. With a search party on hand, a group of people went to find the researcher. What they found was horrible. The team was dead of starvation, the head doctor they had sent to find close enough to his demise. With frazzled hair and wide eyes, he rocked back and forth, pointing to the drawing and repeating only one word: "Lombado". This was his last action, as he died of hunger only seconds later." Twilight slowly lowered the book to the table, as she looked towards Sunset, with both having very mixed feelings. While Sunset looked uncomfortable, Twilight was excited, a large smile plastered on her face. "Sunset, do you know what this means?" she said, practically giddy with purpose. Sunset quietly cleared her throat and said "That I need to start buying nightlights?" Twilight looked at her with a deadpan gaze before returning to her original feelings. "No, Sunset! This is a very dangerous creature, one that could show up with all the magic floating around. We know what it is, and can identify it," she said, pausing as she looked back at the paper. "Granted, I don't know how to stop it should it show up, but at least we-" Suddenly, without any warning, the lights went out within the library. With all the phones on, it was still easy to see, but most of the room was plunged into darkness. Through the window, they could no longer see the sun, as dark clouds covered the skies. Black, ashen snow began falling down like a blizzard, raining down towards the ground with great ferocity. A loud roar bellowed out, sending the students into a panic. Sunset and Twilights' pockets began glowing, their magic gems producing a brilliant light as though calling out to be used. "Twilight," Sunset began, "I think it showed up." > I: A Word Howled Out > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wrapping their gems around their necks, feeling power emanate like a shining aura of magic, Twilight and Sunset scurry towards the exit with their phones, as well as the book, in tow. As the hurried sounds of footsteps racing towards the door thunder through the room, Twilight stops running as she cracks the book back open, able to see the words through the light of her necklace. Sunset also stops running and races back to Twilight, who is hurriedly reading through the pages. "No, no, no, got it!" she yells out, leading Sunset to lean over. Twilight points to a passage, and explains "That's why it showed up as soon as I read those last words! Listen: It is said that the creature depicted let out a deep roar within the cave, causing them to flee. While the legend is scattered through time, the word Lombado may still be said, and the creature could be near." "Seems unlike you to miss that," Sunset said, crossing her arms, "But okay. I say we go find our friends before we try leaving. The Lombado, if that is it's name, could be anywhere, and I would love it if we weren't the only two here, no matter what powers we have." Twilight opens her pack, Spike nervously poking his head out as he makes room for The Lonesome Corner, letting him say "B-But there's more of them, and their powers let them f-fight a little better." Twilight nods and says "Good idea, Spike, but leaving them alone still sounds risky." After finishing her sentence, she and Sunset race out of the library, only to find even more darkness. The lockers are rattling as students grab everything they can before either walking out or fleeing, and the snowfall outside remains visibly black and charcoal. The front door and the girls' Music Practice room are both right there. > II: Reunited in Shadows > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As the decisions rolled around like boulders in a field in Twilight's mind, each one carrying massive weight that just made each one more difficult to choose, Twilight eventually made her choice quickly. Rushing over to the room they used to practicing music as part of the Rainbooms, Twilight grabbed the doorknob and turned it, opening the door quickly. As the wooden door opened swift enough to hit the wall, revealing even more darkness, Twilight and Sunset were glad to see the other girls in the lights of their cellphones, with rainbow, pink, navy, and blonde hair lit up on the heads of each girl. "H-huh? Who's th-" Rarity said, bringing the flashlight on her phone up to the faces of the two other, previously missing girls. Upon seeing them, everyone crowded around them and wrapped their arms around them in a friendly embrace. "Where were you guys?" Rainbow Dash asked, her eyes darting back and forth to the darkness upon asking. "Well," Sunset began, "We were in the library. Twilight was trying to find out about urban legends and-" "Ooh!" interrupted Sunset as Pinkie's high pitched squeal sounded out through the hall. "So that you can find out about cool things from Equestria that have some sort of magic crap so that we can blast it with a giant rainbow laser of unbridled, deadly friendship, thereby we can have you and Twilight befriend them so that we can have a whole group of Demon Buddies?" An adorable "squee" finished off her speech as Pinkie excitedly smiled. Sunset merely stared at the party girl, her hair bright and colorful, even though it is clad in shadows. "Um, not really," Sunset said, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow in questioning, "You did say something about being prepared, though, so you got a bit right." Applejack's rough tone and strong accent soon came through the shadow, her face lit up by her phone and her side soon following as her gem lit her pocket up like a nightlight, "Well, that's nice, but what else did y'all find? Bein' prepared, an' all." Twilight soon began walking to the nearby table, the book clutched firmly in her hands as though it could slip from them at any moment. Upon reaching the table, she carefully set the tome down on top, before flipping the page to where the tale of the creature rested. The girls all brought their phones to the page, using the newfound light to read each word carefully. Fluttershy, who seemed to be hiding behind her hair, carefully said "T-this is horrifying." "I find it odd we have this book," Rarity said, "I mean, it says on the next page that saying this word...whatever it is, it sets off this creature. One would think there would be enough of a precedent from this thing to keep it away from a high school." Twilight pushed her glasses back up to her eyes from their perch on the bridge of her nose and turned to the fashionista. "Well, no one would believe such a precedent." "Yeah," Sunset began, "magic was only really brought to people's attention recently. And it's just Canterlot High that's affected." Rainbow Dash cleared her throat with a rough "Ahem," which made everyone turn their lights and gaze to her. "This is cool and all, but how do we beat this thing down? I'm thinking we Pony-Up, I superspeed into it-" "As...fun as that sounds," Rarity says, "it says nothing about how to stop the Lomb-...the creature. Or at least it doesn't look like it." "Well, um," Fluttershy stammered out, "We could use light, b-but there is no light." A soft "hmm" came from Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle's lips before the sun-themed girl snapped her fingers. "Then that means it can think. It's coming up with a strategy. That's obvious." Twilight nodded and said "Well, then perhaps...," Upon ceasing her thought, she walked over to the curtained window at the back, and opened it. While the shadows don't get affected, there is enough light to show off the shadowed, black snow. Twilight remains deep in thought, her ideas floating around in her head. "Well, I know the Lombado hates light...oops. Here's hoping thoughts don't count. Anyway, it's blocking out the sun with it's shadows...but there are artificial lights and-" "I GOT IT!" Twilight shouted out, surprising everyone. After coming down from the excitement of her idea, she blushed slightly as she said "Well, it hates light, right? That's why it's blocking out the sun. But there's still things that can create artificial light, right?" "I get it," Sunset said, "we need to find something bright enough to stun it, blast it with our powers, and then the sun will seal it, right?" Twilight nodded softly as Pinkie excitedly said "Yay! Another adventure! Let's go stop the Lombado!" Upon the silence, Pinkie turned her head around the place. Twilight, Sunset, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity all stood silently, their mouths agape. Quickly realizing, Pinkie quietly said "Ah...damn it." Suddenly, a smack hit the ground, with the light showing it's a three-fingered, clawed hand hitting the glass with violent anger. All of the girls backed away as Twilight closed the curtain. Throwing on their gems, feeling magic surge through their bodies, Rainbow Dash opened the door as growls could quickly be heard from the outside. Upon rushing out the room, the group were about to head to the door before the scream that bared familiarity to someone who was known to be in the music hall: Octavia Melody, who was there with the girl named Vinyl Scratch to put on a show for the Music Group. "Oh, dear," Rarity said, "we need to help her. We can't just leave other students behind." As they backed away from the door, another scream hit their ears from the direction of the Cafeteria. "Oh, no!" Pinkie yelled out, "What do we do, what do we do?!" Sunset said "Well, we need to split up. Question is, who goes where?" > III: Cry for Help > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As Twilight turned back and forth, her piercing lavender eyes full of worry as she thinks about her possibilities, her brain went into overload as she contemplated her decision. As she recalled each location with intricate detail, each corner replaying in her mind like a silent movie right before her eyes, she reached a conclusion with a simple snap of her fingers. "I got it!" she said, making the girls turn to her, awaiting her answer, "The cafeteria is small, at least compared to the Auditorium. So, we may only need three of us to go in. Considering the size of the Auditorium, which will correspond to how many creatures will inhabit it, the people who go there will need more offensive powers. Thus, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie will go save Vinyl and Octavia." "Ah getcha," Applejack said, crossing her arms, "We'll be right there." "Yeah! Let's go kick some monster ass!" Rainbow Dash cheered out, and the four girls allocated began rushing towards the Auditorium, their necklaces still showing their position in the dark corners of the hallway. With a nervous shuffle of her feet, Fluttershy stammered out "U-Um, Twilight? What can me and Sunset do, exactly?" "Well," Twilight began explaining, "You can communicate with animals, and I know for a fact you bring some in through your backpack." "Wait, she does?" Sunset questioned, as a loud squeak emanated from the shy girl's bookbag. "Well, what do you know?" "And since Sunset's power is empathetic," Twilight continued, "it may help us figure out what the creature's plan is, so that we can stop it in it's tracks!" Nodding, Sunset began to run down the hall with the other two following, straight to the cafeteria doors that housed the spawn they had only barely seen, yet still permeated the priorities of this world's Elements of Harmony. "...Huh," Pinkie Pie mused out loud, "Didn't know you knew how to do that, Rarity." As it turned out, the door to the Auditorium was actually locked, presumably by either Vinyl or Octavia so as not to disturb their practice. Not that it helped with keeping out Shadow Creatures, it seemed. Still, it was surprising that the first response of the fashionista was to crouch down, pull out a hairpin, and get straight to work with unlocking the door. "Well, of course not!" Rarity exclaimed, her delicate fingers clicking in each tumbler to the lock as she spoke, "It's not very lady-like to just blurt out "Yeah, I'm an adept at lockpicking. I'm sure a lot of drunken parties will be fun with that knowledge." Besides, I've never had to use it until now." And with that last word breathed out, the door clicked to signal that the door had been unlocked. Placing the hairpin back in her dark violet hair, she wrapped her hand around the knob and pushed it open, only to stare agape at what lay inside. Vinyl and Octavia sat on the stage, cello and turntable left on the ground, absolutely frozen in fear, as spawn came towards them in a swarm. Each creature was unique in some way, in both features and characteristics. Some were fast, some were slow. Some could fly, while other seemed swift enough to appear to teleport. One had four arms ending in six-fingered, clawed hands. One had what seemed like a scorpion's stinger. Another had tentacles bursting out of it's back. All in all, they were horrifying to look at, which only made the rainbow haired-Element of Loyalty smile at the prospect of a fair fight. Rushing forward at lightning speed, Rainbow ran up and socked one in the face hard, sending it sprawling to the ground as purple blood leaked out of it's mouth. As it began to stand up, a blue, shimmering shield smack it away, sending it flying into the wooden stage, which caught the attention of the other creatures. The tentacle beast swooped down and, with quick reflexes, wrapped one of the dark tendrils around Rainbow Dash's leg and threw up, sending her flying towards the brick wall. Rarity gasped out at this, and sent a shield out, which caught Rainbow Dash from the throw, and the fall to the stage. Chucking a can of sprinkles out, Pinkie wasted no time in getting the spawn's attention on something else, before a pink explosion enveloped it, sending two tentacles flying away in arcs of purple liquid. Two of the more bird-like Spawn raced towards the pink-haired menace, but with a quick punch, Applejack knocked them out of the sky, with their winged bodies hitting the bleachers with a satisfying thud. A creature with two twitching heads and bright purple eyes began charging at the downed Rainbow Dash, before Applejack rushed towards it. Throwing out a super-strong punch, the cowgirl was surprised to see the beast dodge her attack before raking it's claws out, slashing three bleeding cuts across her right arm. As she howled in pain, the Spawn felt one head get pulled back as Rainbow Dash swiftly sent it into the stage, making one head explode into a gory mess of purple and black. "Y'know," Rainbow Dash says, shaking off the liquid from her hand, "This is probably the most violent thing we've ever done." "I guess it's a good thing we can restrain ourselves with humans," Pinkie said, rushing another can out, which exploded and took out two more winged Spawn, "I would hate to see this with something that wasn't just darkness. Humans shouldn't be piñatas or confetti! That's not a good substitute." With another hard punch to the gullet of a humanoid Spawn, Applejack said, "Yeah, ah guess yer right, there. You takin' this well, Rarity?" When she turned to the girl, she almost chuckled with how uncomfortable she looked, her face contorted into a grimace, but didn't as she clutched her arm in pain. "This was much more brutal then I expected," she said, blocking an attack by yet another winged creature, "I mean, yes, they aren't human. But look at all this blood! Gloriosa and the Sirens never bled when we fought them!" As a blue blur smashed into two more Spawn, Dash smiling as she took them out, she suddenly found herself with a sharp pain in her chin as she was catapulted through the air. With more shields, Rainbow made it down safely, though the blow rendered her unconscious. As they looked at the newcomer, they noticed the Spawn were backing off, escaping through a conspicuous hole in the ceiling that went unnoticed in the chaos. The newcomer, hunched over in a ready stance, had a V-shaped head crest through which four purple eyes were visible. It was muscular, and had two arms with clawed fists, consisting of five fingers. It had four legs with hooves, and unlike The Spawn, this one was more then a solid black, with black fur, the grey crest and what appeared to be grey skin. It had a maw, showing white, razor sharp teeth that were stained in red blood. When Pinkie braved the new creature and attempted to rush towards Rainbow, the new creature roared in anger and violence, intimidating not just the party girl, but the two captive musicians in the process. With nothing left to accomplish just standing there, the new creature charged towards them... With frustration in her voice, Sunset growled as she kicked the locked door to the cafeteria, with the entrance not budging no matter how hard she kicked or where. "I don't get it! Why is the cafeteria even locked?!" she vented, giving up with fire still in her orange eyes as she stared the door down. Scratching her chin, Twilight soon concluded "It may have been barred when the creatures began showing up, only for them to lock themselves in when they broke in some other way." "So, um," Fluttershy stammered out, her hands wringing and rubbing each other in nervousness as she continued, "how do we get inside?" "Well," Twilight thought, her eyes scanning each edge of the door as she pondered, "we could...break the hinges? That's going to have to bust this thing down." Peering around the hallway, her vision enhanced by both her phone's flashlight and the glowing gem hung around her neck, Sunset breathed a sigh of relief as she spotted a fire axe in a nearby case, with a red "In Case of Emergency" warning on the glass front. Opening the cabinet, Sunset wrapped her hands around the weapon as she went back towards the door. With a few mighty swings, each one knocking a chunk off the actual door, the hinge at the top broke apart, which forced the door open slightly. With her telekinesis, Twilight finished the job by popping the door off it's last hinge, confirming her hypothesis as a broken wood plank was on the other side. With their lights, the three girls could finally spot the Spawn, including the scorpion tailed one previously invading the Auditorium. With the horrors before her, Fluttershy squeaked as she hid behind the wall, not daring to look at the dancing shadows. All in all, there wasn't a large number of The Spawn in the room. With a purple glow wrapping around one of the more humanoid Spawn, Twilight waved her hand and sent the beast flying away, letting it smack into a wall. The scorpion tailed Spawn roared at this and charged, stinger at the ready, until the blade of a fire axe suddenly slashed it's way into it's head, spilling blood out through the slashed face. As it slid down with a soft thud, two winged Spawn rushed towards Sunset and Twilight, but before they could strike, a trio of blackbirds swooped in and distracted the beings, which caused them to fly away in the confusion, which showed the avenue for their entry: a small, though sizable, hole in the wall. One Spawn that seemed to be covered in arms charged towards the trio, but Sunset's axe slashed through several arms, slicing them off in purple arcs. Before they could growl, Sunset pressed her fingers to the creature's head, and looked inside of it. What she saw was the sun, shimmering brightly in the clear sky, before it suddenly dimmed and dimmed until clouds of charcoal black rushed in, covering the Daystar with their influences. As two glowing white eyes appeared in the black sky, Sunset saw Canterlot, and was horrified to see bodies litter the street. The view then shifted, and what she saw was truly traumatizing: Equestria, specifically that world's Canterlot, which was bathed in shadows as more ponies either died, or shuffled about with the same white eyes, all groaning and growling. The phrase "The Lombado falls when shadows rise" burned in her mind, before another loud roar brought her out of the vision. In her attempt to view the motivation of the Leader, Twilight had apparently sent steel chairs flying towards several Spawn, as several dead shadow creatures lay across said blunt objects, and the roar was a signal to retreat, as each Spawn soon left the room, including the still bleeding, multiple armed one. Sunset stood there for a second, as she thought to herself "...What is the Lombado? What does that even mean?!" > IV: An Unexpected Aid > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Earth itself seemed to shake under the weight of the new creature's charge, the sudden force and speed bursting forth from its mad pursuit normally leaving any opponents quivering in their boots. Taking a step back to prepare for the oncoming attack, Applejack carefully raised her arms up in an attempt to block the blow, aided by a shimmering cyan shield popping up in front on her. "Pinkie!" Applejack yells, "When it hits, go get Rainbow Dash! We can handle this!" The Dolst barreled towards the guarded cowgirl, its hooved feet slamming the wood apart under it, and raised its arm up. With a sound similar to a startling thunder clap, its clawed fist rammed directly into Rarity's shield, breaking it apart in a shower of crystals. The sheer force knocked Applejack back and into the air, to which it rushed forward and sent its fist directly into her with a loud *bang*, which sent her crashing into the nearby bleachers. She only had a second of consciousness left to see the liquid crimson leaking from her face onto the seat before everything turned black. "Applejack!" Rarity yelled, before she felt a large weight hit her stomach and send her crashing into a nearby refreshment table. Formerly too shocked to move, Pinkie Pie ran towards Rainbow Dash and hoisted her up, carrying her unconscious body on her shoulders. Rushing forward to the door, Pinkie reached into her pocket and threw a can of sprinkles out towards the rampaging beast, which burst into a sea of colors that blind the beast. Rushing into the sea of black that still enveloped the hallway, Pinkie sat Rainbow Dash down, leaning her back against the wall as her head slumped down in painful sleep. Placing both of her hands upon Dash's shoulders, Pinkie began to shake her friend, only stopping when she saw the rainbow haired athlete's eyes groggily open. "P-Pinkie?" Dash said, feeling the effects of the Dolst's punch throughout her body. "I'll be right back," Pinkie said, "Don't move, okay?" A quick nod from Rainbow Dash was all that was needed before Pinkie turned back towards the door. Gulping, Pinkie crept back into the dank, dark Auditorium. The Dolst was struggling against what seemed like a wall of Rarity's shields, each one stacked against each other for extra strength against the weight of the creature. Reaching into her pocket, she grabbed her last can of the sprinkles, winding her arm back as she looked at the monster. Breathing in slowly, she threw the can towards the beast, which exploded into another cloud of colors and shades. At the sign of opportunity, Rarity limped over to Applejack, who was beginning to stir. Pinkie also crept towards her, keeping distance from the distracted monster. "W-Wha?" Applejack muttered, her eyes slowly opening as she was hoisted up by Rarity and Pinkie. Hurriedly carrying her out, they brought her into the hall, and sat her next to Rainbow Dash. Pressing two fingers to her forehead, Applejack could feel the blood hit her fingers. "We can't stop that thing," Rarity quietly said, peering back into the room as the beast snorted, its gaze fixated on Vinyl and Octavia, who were both slowly backing away as though they were face to face with a hungry animal. "Any ideas?" Pinkie Pie looked at the room in front of her, and licked her lips in contemplation. Suddenly, inspiration struck. "I've got it!" she said, somehow keeping quiet despite the fact that she was slowly regaining her jovial tone. That quiet was soon gone, discarded like cheap paper. "Vinyl!" she shouted, "Drop a beat, and get it to look somewhere else!" The Dolst reared its head back towards Pinkie as it heard the sound of her talking, distracting it as Vinyl rushed towards her turntables. Before the beast could attack in any way, the DJ pressed a button and began to sneak towards the stairway that lead down towards the wooden floor, with Octavia close by. The speakers on stage lit up in a mess of sounds, bursting out in Vinyl's trademark style which always seemed to liven up the playlist of any club in Canterlot. The Dolst focused its attention on the speakers, ignoring the blue haired girl and her companion as they stuck to the shadows that had betrayed them thus far. Thumping towards the sounds, the Dolst had enough time to catch the smell of blood in the air before the door slammed shut behind it, refocusing its gaze. "That was too close," Octavia noted, "I can't thank you enough for helping us." "Don't mention it!" Pinkie yelled, only to stop for a second. Thinking slightly, she then said "Well, maybe you shouldn't mention it. That thing might still be around, and it might stalk us, and burst through walls, and-" "What Pinkie is trying to say," Rarity interrupted, "is that we'll keep an eye out. We can't be too careful. Do you have a way out?" Vinyl held up her thumb with her usual grin replacing the fearful look she had previously, while Octavia said "We have Vinyl's car. We only have two seats for it, though. Sorry." "It's, ugh, alright," Rainbow Dash painfully responded, her head in agony as she tried to talk, "We can take Applejack's truck, right?" "Yeah," Applejack said, regaining her footing as she stood up despite her bleeding injury, "it's not too much of a walk, and its still get plenty-a gas. We can get outta here no problem." "Alright. Be safe, okay?" Rarity said, concern in her tone as the sounds of the building creaking around them filled the normally friendly air. As Vinyl nodded, Octavia said "We will. When all this blows over, we'll see you around." Walking off with Vinyl, the two parties nodded at each other before the four girls turned towards a familiar door that bore scarlet letters on the wooden frame: Emergency Exit. "Isn't there supposed ta be an alarm for that?" Applejack questioned, her eyes darting back and forth from the door to the Auditorium. "That's why we have to run for it, silly!" Pinkie said, supporting Rainbow Dash and hoisting her up as she walked towards it. "Well, we won't have any choice," Rarity said, "It's not like we can just stay in the school with all the monsters, especially with Rainbow Dash as hurt as she is. I'll call the police on the way out." "I'm not that hurt," Dash protested, before saying "though I'm pretty sure the room isn't supposed to spin like that." With all that said, Applejack grabbed the bar in front of the door and pushed forward, which immediately triggered Canterlot High's fire alarm. Red lights finally chased away the dark as an alarm bell rang through the school. It was at that moment that the door to the Auditorium burst open, revealing the Dolst as it slammed its weight through the wooden door. The girls ran through the door, Rainbow Dash doing alright despite her injury, as the beast rushed towards them. As the girls ran through the stone corridor, the beast decided at that moment to charge towards them. Turning the corner at just the right time, they avoided the monstrous attack as the Dolst ran through the corridor's walls, bursting outside as it fell over on its own weight. With that, Rarity opened the Exit's outer door and the girls got outside, where they immediately made a bee-line for Applejack's truck as it sat in the parking lot. Cars were seen leaving the lot, including Vinyl's souped up car, which filled them with some hope as they walked towards the burgundy truck. Quickly unlocking the doors to the truck, the girls piled in, with Rarity in the front and the injured Rainbow Dash sitting with Pinkie in the back. The headlights clicked on quickly, as the cowgirl leaned back in her seat. "Now hang on," Applejack said, "Gotta make sure we-DAMN IT!" The shout was due to the Spawn that were rushing towards the car, the Dolst right by them with its claws bared in violent rage. Slamming on the gas, Applejack braved the horde and drove right towards them. "What are you doing?!" Rarity yelled, her eyes wide with fear as she stared at the monsters before her. Applejack didn't answer as she drove into several Spawn, the thumps of their bodies against her hood causing the same fashionista to scream as spurts of purple blood hit the window. With a hole in the offense now in place, the truck sped away from the school as the sound of howling Spawn surrounded them. With her feet planted firmly on the floor of the cafeteria, so deep in thought that even basic stimuli couldn't get her attention, it took a while for Sunset Shimmer to realize someone was calling her name. "Sunset!" Twilight said, now suddenly standing next to her friend. "H-Huh? Oh, sorry," Sunset apologized, "I was just...thinking." Fluttershy finally gathered the courage to actually walk in at that point, looking like she was about to vomit at all the purple blood that was splattered across the walls and floor. "U-Um, about what?" she asked, her eyes closed to keep from seeing any more then she needed to. "About what I saw with my powers," Sunset replied, "It didn't make any se-" Interrupting her was a loud wail, burning through the air like a flame as it echoed through the darkness. "What was that?" Twilight asked, staring at the hole in the wall with both expectation and fear obvious on her features. Creeping towards the door with her axe on hand, Sunset peered out to the outside world to see if she could find what she was looking for. The parking lot was close by, and she breathed a sigh of relief to see the Apple family truck speed away from them. "Well, Applejack and the others are safe," Sunset said, "I saw them drive off." "T-That's good," Fluttershy nervously said, "Maybe we can get out, too?" "Maybe?" Sunset said, twirling her axe around as she gained a sort of smug confidence, "With how easily these things go down, we should be alright." Right as she said this, the wail hit their ears again, making Sunset look towards the parking lot, where the noise seemingly spawned from. It took her a second, but Sunset saw a bat-like creature resting on top of what looked like Principal Celestia's car. Like the Dolst, this creature was organic, with grey skin and matted black fur. The creature, known as a Phyterra, had four, bat-like wings, a beak with razor sharp fangs, four eyes that stared everywhere, and sharp talons on each of its grey feet. "Well, that's creepy as hell," Sunset mused, raising her axe as she began to sneak towards the parking lot, with Twilight and Fluttershy (reluctantly) following. Right when they made it to the parking lot, standing close by to a white BMW that everyone knew belonged to Trixie, the Phyterra stared directly at them from across the lot and let loose another wail, at an ear-piercing volume that would make a banshee jealous. Right when the Phyterra was about to lunge at them, a brown truck suddenly rammed into it and sent it flying, its driver leaving Twilight both confused and blushing. "T-Timber?" she asked incredulously. True to her word, the green haired Timber Spruce was behind the wheel, shocked to see he had hit something, "T-Twilight?" he responded, not taking his eyes off of the dead bat creature in front of him. "W-What are you doing here?" Twilight asked, walking over to him as the howls of Spawn left the other two waiting for an attack. "Well, I was in town, for our date, right?" Timber explained, "Well, the sky got dark really fast and, well, because of what happened at Camp Everfree, I thought you knew something about it. So I drove here, and then I hit that...thing just now. What's going on?" "I'll tell you later," Twilight responded, opening the passenger door as she began to climb in, "We need to get out of here, okay?" "U-Um, okay," Timber said, turning to Sunset and Fluttershy as they also piled into the car. Backing up, Timber's car drove away from Canterlot as Fluttershy pulled out her phone to call the police. "Where should we go?" Timber asked, "I don't know what's safe and what isn't." Thinking for a second about their next move, Sunset responded "My place. These things don't know us and won't think to look for us. It's in the apartment block on the south end. Know where that is?" "Yeah," Timber responded, taking a right on the road as they headed towards Sunset's apartment, as the Spawn behind them watched and waited before heading back in, hoping to find more victims of the light on this long night.