The night was cold, and dark, not many of the lamps in the street were actually working. After the chaos of this entire situation, it was to be doubted that any would actually still be working. A breeze rustled through Twilight's fur, prompting her to shiver a bit. In front of the both of them there were three buildings, homes from the looks of it. They had yards that were fenced off, not like that prevented the destruction that was apparent upon the house and lawn. To their left and right, nothing but the fog could be seen. Their ears were keen to any sounds right now. Adrenaline was pumping through their veins, driven by the fear of running into those things. Oddly enough that wasn't the only thing promoting such fear.

In the distance an even more ominous aura was felt by the two. It was enveloping them, as if infused with the very air itself. It was thick, nearly strangling their lungs. Gregory and Twilight could have been confused for being very cold, the aura causing their limbs to shiver in fear. Despite the chilled wind, Gregory was perspiring, lightly along the brow of his forehead. Before heading out, Twilight made sure to cast an invisibility spell on him and herself. Slowly the both of them began to make their way towards this hospital. Gregory of course had not a single clue as to where they were heading. Twilight, on the other hand, did. Turning right, Twilight guided him on the cobblestone street north a bit. The two of them remained silent while transitioning, as not to bring attention upon themselves.

Upon coming to an four-way intersection a sign post could be seen. Gregory read the sign and found out the street that they were on. "Old Mare's street" is where they were at, and the other street was "Colt Avenue". When Twilight saw this, she directed them to make a left turn on to Colt Avenue. Along the sides of them were more buildings, it seemed they were making their way through one of the residential areas of the city. In many spots blood could be seen, where many unfortunate victims fell. Destruction was present in all buildings, whether it was broken glass, torn down doors, or destroyed yards and fences. Nopony or building was spared.

Further on down the street, it was coming towards an end. A fence lined the end of the road that seemed to turn to the right and continue towards another direction. There was something else beyond the fence though, on the hill. A set of stairs. These stairs climbed up the hill. To get to the steps the two just had to pass between a gate positioned between two of the fence posts. Twilight slowly climbed up the stairs taking each step with caution, because she didn't know if something was waiting for her at each new elevation. Gregory did the same with his movements. Looking back a bit, he could see the street below them fade away into the fog the more they climbed. It frightened him not being able to see in front of him or behind him. Eventually Twilight could climb no more, she had reached the top.

In front of her was another street. Stepping on to it with Gregory following right behind him, they moved forwards a bit for a better look. Large stone walls appeared. Spanning to the left and right for an unknown distance. At the very least they noticed a large iron gate, and to the side of that on the wall, there was a plate. Twilight flickered on her magic for a bit to read it. It was the sign for the hospital. They had found it. Quickly she put out her light, not wanting to attract any unwanted visitors. The both of them pushed on one of the gate doors and it swung open with relative ease.

The path towards the hospital was pretty straight forwards. The lawn was symmetrical in design. Either side of the lawn had a pond of the sorts, and each pond corner was lined with bushes. These bushes stopped short of each side's mid section, only to continue when reaching the next corner. Something drew Twilight over to one of the ponds, and inside she could see the mangled up corpses of animals. A funny feeling grew inside of her. These animals kinda looked familiar to her. She couldn't quite put her hoof on it, so she just shrugged it off. Gregory came over and gagged a bit at the stench and sight. Both of them pulled themselves away from the grim scene and then continued forwards. Another part of the yard that was the same on either side was the trees that lined the path. Nicely trimmed trees with the upper part of them perfectly shaped into spheres.

With the fog it was hard to tell how far they had to walk. After a few minutes they had no need to worry anymore, the entrance was in front of them. One of the doors suddenly creaked open a bit as they approached, as if inviting them to come inside. A flock of crows who apparently had been resting in one of the nearby trees, flew away in a abrupt and startling manner. The both of them looked behind them when this happened, clearly scared a bit by the sudden flight of the birds. Twilight looked back at Gregory who looked at her, both of them with faces stricken by fright. Their attention was then directed once more towards the front door of the hospital. She gulped trotting towards the door and opening it up even wider than it already was. Gregory followed behind her, his heart pumping while he walked.

Inside the hospital they had entered into a receptionist's desk and a waiting room, but it was hard to make out the back area of this room. Instantly a thick smell had entered their nostrils and made them want to gag. Twilight lit up her horn again with her magic and revealed more dead animals, whose corpses were gnarled and mutilated almost beyond recognition. Since they were finally within a building Gregory spoke up.

"What the hell happened here? Why are all these animals dead?" He asked completely distraught about the number of corpses there. "I know the shukakusha go after sentient beings, but animals... this is confusing... it doesn't make any sense."

"I have ideas... but none of them would really make sense without a bit of investigation..." Twilight responded to him. "Perhaps we should look around... besides, we have to find more clues on Pinkie Pie...."

"This stench... it's nearly unbearable..." he stated in disgust. "Where should we start?...."

Gregory adjusted a bit so that he could cover his nose with his hand. The smell was getting to him. Looking around, all he could see were corpses upon corpses, organs spilled out and slashed to bits. Some animals were just complete mush, just a smear on the floor. Who could do such a thing to these poor little critters. It just didn't make sense to harm animals to such a degree. Maybe the shukakusha were really desperate for flesh?

"Look over there to the left. There is a path that goes down a bit. Maybe there are some rooms we can look for." She stated pointing her hoof to a large hallway.

With that the both of them threaded the sea of animal corpses making it over to the hallway. Twilight saw a set of hallway light switches, and upon trying them all but one worked. Gregory suddenly gasped. Upon that flickering light popping on, someponies shadow appeared on the far back wall. Twilight saw it too and let out an "Eeek" sound. Whatever it was, disappeared in an instant. The light continued to flicker constantly. It was better than no light at the very least. Twilight and Gregory were afraid to move forwards after seeing that shadow. After a few minutes of settling down, they made their way down the hall. They couldn't really see any rooms to their left or right, and it didn't seem likely they would see any until they merged into the next hall.

Turning right, they were once again greeted by darkness. Twilight desperately tried to find more light switches but upon finding them she found that none of them worked. She would have to resort back to her magic. Gregory had ventured a bit further down the hallway. Once she had flashed her magic back on, she returned to his side. Now they were encountering many different rooms, but each time they tried to open a door, they found the doors to be locked tightly.

"No good this one is locked too..." Twilight said before being interrupted by the slamming of a nearby door, and the clopping of pony hooves on the tiled floor.

Both of them nearly had heart attacks from the sudden noise. When things became silent again, they moved to investigate the source. A few doors down, they discovered a door that actually opened. Judging from the distance that they were at when they heard this sound, this had to be where it originated from. Slowly Gregory began to turn the knob and open it. Twilight cringed, fearful that something was just waiting for them on the other side. Nothing. There was absolutely nothing in the room. It was a normal patient room, albeit dark. The light switch in there actually worked though, and once they turned it on they were in for another scare. Bloody messages were strewn on the walls. All of them read one message multiple times. "Having fun Twilight?....". Her heart was ready to jump out of her chest when she read that.

"Somepony is in here... and they definitely know me...." Twilight stated, the fur on her back standing on edge.

"We have to be careful, if they are the one responsible for all these animal corpses they can't be somepony we want to run into..." Gregory replied.

"Not run into?... It might be inevitable..." Twilight said this, and it kinda confused him. Who could possibly be in here that would make it inevitable to run into?

"Do you know who is in here?" Gregory asked curious about Twilights statement.

"I only have hunches... but she wouldn't do stuff like this... so It can't possibly be her... Maybe I am just being paranoid.... It's nothing forget what I said." Twilight responded to his question. "Let's just keep looking for clues.

Gregory then looked upon one of the desks and something shiny caught his eye. Underneath some papers he found a key. It had a room number on it. 106 was the number. Immediately he showed the key to Twilight.

"I think this might come in handy." Gregory told her.

"With how many locked rooms we are finding in this place, you are probably right." She told him, watching as he placed the key safely in his pocket.

Upon leaving the room, they continued down the hall they had been on. Turning to the right they traversed down another hallway, but this one was a different one. On the left side of the hall were many operating rooms. Each one had a window, only a few of them displayed their contents in light. The rest were dark. Passing by rooms 104, and 105, they soon came upon room 106. It was also an operating room. Gregory pushed the key into the keyhole and slowly turned it until a latch made a clicking sound indicating that the door was unlocked. Pushing the door open he walked in. Oddly enough, this was the only operating room in the hallway that didn't have any windows. Whatever kind of operations they performed in this room must have been ones that required privacy.

It was dark in the room, aside from a flickering light in the back. Also in the back was a large medical cabinet easily able to fit two bodies in it. An operating table was in the center of the room, and laying upon it with it's organs exposed was the corpse of a rabbit. Twilight gasped in horror at the corpse on the table, trotting over to it slowly to get a better look. She knew this rabbit, no doubt about it. Gregory suddenly heard trotting from down the hall. Glancing quickly towards the cabinet, he nudged at Twilight to follow him. Twilight, upon hearing the noise too, quickly followed him and got into the cabinet with him. When they shut the door softly, something walked into the operating room.

"Heh... heh.... heh.... It's time to move my little friend... I mean... if thats okay with you...." a filly's voice said.

In the cabinet there were no vents to see out of, so they could only listen. The voice sounded a bit different and muffled, but Twilight felt that it sounded familiar. For what seemed like ages, they listened as the sound of flesh being worked on and pulled from a machine of some sort was all they could hear. After a few minutes, the sound stopped, only to be followed by that voice once more.

"Let's go my little precious... it's time...." the voice said.

After that statement, the door to the operation room could be heard swinging open and closing. They both held their breaths, waiting a bit before slowly creaking one cabinet door open to check if the coast was clear. Once they found that it was, they stepped on out, only to discover that the animal corpse was now gone from the operating table. Twilight was having mixed emotions right now. Her thoughts were constantly striving to figure out who this was. An idea was present in her head, but she didn't want to think that she was correct on her assumption.

"We have to find that pony..." Twilight stated. "I know it sounds crazy... but I have to be sure about something...."

"It's dangerous you know that right?" Gregory told her. "It might be better to not go after her. Why do you want to find her?"

"I just... need to confirm something..." She replied.

Gregory didn't like the fact that she was being cryptic.

"Well, who is it? Do you know? Any hunches or ideas?" he asked her.

"I honestly don't know... all the clues and corpses remind me of a friend.... but I have to confirm it...." Twilight told him.

"Alright then... but the first moment this thing comes after us, we are out of here, clue or no clue about Pinkie Pie." Gregory was firm sounding. He didn't want to risk it all for a hunch, but he sympathized with the pony.

"Understood..." She softly replied, making her way towards the door.

Before she could move out the door she trotted over something. It felt hard and metallic. When she used her magic to light up the area, she discovered it was a key she had stepped on. Picking it up, she handed it to Gregory who was now coming to her side. The key read "STAIRSEAST". He wondered where there was a set of stairs, as the two of them had not yet encountered any since they had been in here. Of course this key told them that there was a second floor at the very least.

This whole area was filled with that ominous feeling, and Gregory could feel it constricting his breath even more the longer they were in here. Despite this, he walked towards the door, determined to help Twilight to the end. For her sake he would help her with any task they needed to accomplish, and if this meant following any hunch about her friends, than he would do it. His heart was running crazy, pumping with adrenaline the entire time they were in there. Gregory was usually the type of person that would never be found in this kind of place, he was just frightened way too easily. The fact that he was here now, was absolutely absurd. Whatever the case may have been, he was willingly delving into darkness, and for some reason having Twilight there made things a bit easier. Twilight felt the same about this, not knowing why she would insist on staying in this dreadful place, but after everything that has happened up to this point, she knew there was no choice. She would have to suck it up eventually and face her fears, so why not now?

"Did we even see any stairs?" Gregory asked.

"The key does say East on it, and I know we haven't explored the east section of this hospital." Twilight responded to his question while opening one of the doors and leaving into the hall.

Gregory followed her, and the both of them turned left. Down the hall, they discovered another small waiting room. It was only covered in a trail of blood, on the walls more messages were written in blood. Mostly just variants of "Hehehe" and "Hahaha". Following this trail of blood, which let off a reeking scent, they were lead to another hall with patient rooms. Each one of the rooms was locked as well. Whoever owned this place made sure it was secured all the time. About the time they reached the end, they came across a locked door. From upstairs they could hear some giggling.

"Hehehe.... hehehe... hehehe...." it came from somepony upstairs, most likely the same pony from before.

Using the key Gregory unlocked the door and went upstairs. Following him Twilight timidly came up as well. She was tense, hoping that the pony in the hospital wasn't who she was thinking it was. If it was, she probably couldn't face it without breaking down. Gregory noticed that she was shaking from head to toe, it wasn't surprising, he was actually shaking a bit too. He realized though, that they had to face this. Twilight more so than himself. Something told him that whoever was in the hospital with them, must have some relation with Twilight to make her feel so edgy.

"Twilight are you up for this? If you want, we can always leave now." Gregory asked her.

"No... This is something I need to face. If it is really one of my friends, then they need my help more than ever right now." She responded, her jaw quivering as the words left her lips.

"Okay, let's move out then." He stated feeling a bit reassured by her confidence.

Moving slowly down the halls, they noticed more patient rooms. Gregory had decided to move west, and Twilight trailed alongside him. Eventually they came across a set of double doors, but the problem was that they were locked. As he fiddled with something, there was a noise within the room they were trying to get inside of. Slowly the sound began to rise, drawing near their location. Twilight's heart rate along with Gregory's rapidly rose. When it peaked a loud bang knocked him on to his rear, nearly making him have a panic attack. Twilight "eeped" and jumped back in fear. Her whole back hairs on end. Gregory quickly got up, and motioned for Twilight to run. The banging continued, but they weren't about to stay and find out the durability of said doors. Darting back towards another hall, they found themselves flying by patient rooms, all of which were locked.

"Damn it! We have to find a room to hide in!" Gregory panted, trying every door he came across.

"This one!" Twilight called out to him as she opened the door to a larger room.

Gregory followed suit and both of them entered into the room. Closing the door behind them Twilight collapsed and fell against the door, breathing heavily. Gregory stopped to catch his breath, and then he scanned the room. Looking for anything that could be propped against the door, he soon found a small bookshelf. Twilight, still panting, got back up and quickly assisted him in moving the shelf in front of the door.Once that was accomplished, they gave each other quick glances. The sound of shuffling in the halls, made Twilight jump. Gregory was also scared, but even more baffled by the a clinging Twilight, who found herself gripping his leg in fear. Both of them remained quiet until the trotting of hooves passed on by. Then he looked down at the shaking filly who still had her eyes closed, not wanting to move at all.

"Twilight it's okay, I think its gone now." Gregory tried to comfort her.

"Shes still in this building...." Twilight responded. "I'm so scared right now...."

He could tell just how frightened she was. If not from her body shaking uncontrollably, then from the way she clung to him, and the way her eyes were shut tightly as if not seeing it would make it all disappear. This also included the way she breathed, it was shallow, and she would sputter a bit when speaking. Gregory was scared too, but Twilight was twice as scared. He found himself lending her a comforting hand against the side of her mane, not knowing what else to do at this point.

"We have to go back out there." He stated, to which Twilight gave a gasp of fear.

But soon Twilight stopped hanging off of him, and assisted him in removing the shelf away. When they moved it though, a small bronze item fell out of it. It was another key. The number engraved on the key was 211. Gregory slipped the key into his pocket right before they departed into the hall. Checking the room number, he discovered that they left room number 206. So logically the room this key belonged to would be five rooms down. Twilight was wheezing softly as she trotted alongside Gregory. The two of them slowly made their way down the path, just in case they ran into whatever was up here again.

Suddenly a light flickered down the hall, and for a glimpse of a second they saw a light yellowish flank walking away. It didn't see them or hear them so it just went on it's merry way. Twilight was almost positive she knew who it was, but being so filled with fear, she didn't dare go after her. Gregory's head was throbbing so much right now, he could literally hear his own heartbeat as blood pumped to his brain. The thick air didn't help either. This place attacked all five senses. The smell of corpses, the sight of blood and darkness, the feeling of the dark and thick ominous aura, and the taste of death in the air. Not only that, but it was as if a spirit of horror had it's cold grip over their entire bodies, causing them to constantly shiver. It was enough to make both of them feel nauseous, more so in Twilight than Gregory however.

Pushing themselves to their very limits, the both of them finally found the room they were looking for and plunged the key inside of the keyhole. Turning it, they unlocked the room and went inside. Silently they shut the door, lest they draw the attention of the other pony. Inside they found the lights were working, and that the room was similar to the last room they had been in. Rows upon rows of shelves were there. All of them just containing medical documents and reference guides. It seemed like this room was clean of any blood or corpses, until they looked in one of the back corners of the room. There sitting at a desk, was another filly that had clearly been killed a long time ago. Oddly enough, the method of death was similar to the pony they found inside one of the houses in the city. A dagger protruded through the chest, clearly having gone through the heart was stabbed into the chair. It was still visibly going through the ribcage.

"Is this... another victim of Pinkie Pie?" Twilight questioned watching as Gregory scanned the desk for any documents.

"Aha..." Gregory stated, as sure enough there was a paper on there regarding Pinkie Pie's diary notes.

"I had little trouble making my way into the hospital undetected, it seems the ponies here know nothing of good security... I shall make it a note to handle security better than these chumps with my future plans... but that is for a later date and time.... for now, I have secured the necessary tools for my trip to the Frozen North.... Hopefully those Old Mare stories tell true about 'THAT' amulet. I would hope that this trip not be wasted on nothing more than a silly little myth.... Anyways. I did run into a little trouble when I ran into this medical document office, this bucker was attempting to turn me in, so I stabbed her with a nearby knife... (They leave them around everywhere here apparently!!) if these buckers would just stop getting in my way... oh well, again this won't be of importance in the future... I will make sure everypony pays dearly. For now... I better head towards that large library in Mareville just north of here... I need to understand this amulet more...."

"Amulet?.... What Amulet?.... Oh my Celestia... It can't be.. if that Amulet is involved this means that... So thats how she got away..." Twilight was murmuring to herself.

"I don't understand..." Gregory admitted to her after listening to her mumble for a bit.

"Pinkie Pie must have acquired an ancient amulet that allows her to travel to different dimensions. It explains why we saw her location in some weird area." Twilight responded.

"I don't get it, couldn't she just use magic to teleport?" Gregory wondered.

"Well as an earth pony, she doesn't have magic." she replied. "Hence why she took the amulet."

"I see..." He said.

Under the note was another key. Gregory saw it and collected it up along with the note. Upon finding what they came here to find, it was finally time to confront whoever was out there. Twilight gulped, as Gregory pulled on the door. Heading back down the hall, they didn't encounter anything. Not a single peep, or clop of a hoof on the floor besides Twilights. It was silent. At the same time, a presence was getting thicker and thicker the closer they got to the double doors. When they arrived at those doors, they realized that they wouldn't be needing the key, apparently one of the doors had been bashed down anyways. Thats when they started to hear noises. It was a pony's voice.

"Its alright little one... this will make you feel great..." she said while doing something to make something squeal.

Twilight peeped her head in and only saw a blackened figure crouching over what presumably was another animal that was being victimized. She gulped a bit, stepping closer to the figure, her heart beating so much. Gregory followed her closely. Twilight lit up her horn with magical light. Suddenly a pony whose body and mane were nearly completely soaked in blood was revealed by the light. Twilight knew exactly who it was now, her cutie mark showing butterflies. The color of her fur being light yellow, and her mane being pink in color, she knew absolutely that this was her friend, but something was wrong.

"Hush now, Quiet now, it's time to go to sleep....." She said quietly to the animal whose cries seemed to die down until it was no longer alive.

"f...Fl--- Fluttershy?... Is that.... you?" Twilight asked with courage that she dug up from deep within herself.

A giggle was all she got in response. Slowly she got up, and swiftly turned around to face Twilight, her face was contorted in a very horrifying manner, her eyes bloodshot and open wide. Her smile was so wide, it was creepy. and her mane was in such a mess. When she met Twilight's gaze, she just laughed even more. Obviously she had lost it, her sanity was gone. In one of her hooves was the flesh of the animal she had just killed. Bring it close to her maw, she took a bit of it, scarfing it down fast. Twilight didn't know what to say, this just horrified her completely, but she had to try and get through to her.

"Fluttershy?!!... It's me Twilight!! Don't you recognize me?" She asked nearly bursting into tears.

"Twilight.... It's time to have some fun..." Fluttershy responded in a eerie voice.

"What?.... Fluttershy! I'm your friend!..." Twilight tried to bring her back from her darkness.

"Friend?... What friend abandons their friends?...." Fluttershy's expression turned sour. "I HAVE NO FRIENDS!!! NOW DIE!!!"

She lunged at Twilight, wielding a butcher knife that she pulled from the ground. The purple filly rolled out of the way, dodging the weapon. Her heart was pounding, not use to combat. Fluttershy, regained her positioning and then faced Twilight with the intent to kill, leaping once more at her frame. Twilight gasped in response, quickly rolling out of the way again.

"Please! Fluttershy! I didn't abandon you!... Once it all struck... we were all scattered!.... You have to believe me!...." Twilight tried to reason with her.

Gregory made sure he kept his distance, this wasn't his fight, and he knew that Twilight was the only one who could get through to her. Twilight dodged another swing of Flutterhshy's butcher knife. Constantly, she evaded the attacks of Fluttershy.

"Just stand still!!!" Fluttershy Screamed, she seemed like she was losing it even more, the sight of her ex-friend, was confusing her. As if she was battling herself and Twilight all at once, her emotions began to run rampant in both directions of the yingyang spectrum.

"Why won't you just die!!!!.... No.... Don't die Twilight.... DIE DIE DIE..... WHY DID YOU ABANDON ME?.... No.... I ran.... BUCK OFF..... I WILL KILL YOU..... EYAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" Fluttershy dropped the butcher knife after failing twice more at hitting the dodging filly. She clasped her hooves to her head, and fell to her knees.

Screaming at the top of her lungs, she began crying. Twilight tried to get closer to her.

"NO DONT YOU COME NEAR ME!" She screamed in response.

"Fluttershy... I'm sorry... I should have been there for you..." Twilight responded.

"BUT YOU WERENT..." she cried out again. "YOU WERENT THERE... NOPONY WAS.... EVERYPONY VANISHED NOT A SINGLE PONY CAME.... I WAS SO TERRIFIED....."

At that point, Twilight made it her sole mission to make it over to Fluttershy, despite all her protests.

"BUCK OFF.... DONT COME BUCKING NEAR ME.... I SAID BUCK OFF...." Fluttershy was rampant in her rage.

As soon as Twilight reached Fluttershy, she embraced her, and at first the filly struggled within that hug from her, but soon, she fell apart completely, and sobbed within her shoulder. The poor thing must have been so lonely, frightened and scared, that she plunged deep into darkness and chaos. Her mind must have been so fragile at that point, Twilight could feel it, none of this was ever going to be over with a simple hug. She realized that Fluttershy was going to need years of therapy to recover from this.

"Why... why didn't you guys come and find me?.... I... I was so... so.... scared... so scared.. that I let darkness embrace me... just to find comfort...." Fluttershy said, before looking over Twilight's shoulders and seeing another person, a human being none the less. "Who... who the buck is that?...."

Her face turned sour once again, even emitting a growl of the sorts as she asked who it was.

"He's another friend... Fluttershy... we need to talk... It's about Pinkie Pie....." Twilight stated.