The three stallions cautiously made their ways through the forbidden halls of the clocktower, finding that the stairs ran along the walls of the tower’s interior. This meant they had to go through the hallways of each floor. As they did, they checked every room and doorway, looking for Twinken and perhaps anyone else being held prisoner.

More than once, they found someone, but the poor souls were long dead. Such as a pony who’d apparently sat down in an old armchair and never stood up. A griffon’s decayed remains hanging from a meat hook. A Sirian dog stuffed into an old trunk. With each cadaver, Midnight grew more and more worried for his brother.

“You know, I’ve seen a lot of messed up shit in my line of work, but this is by far the worst I’ve seen in a long time,” Watcher said, covering his nose with his hoof after inhaling a bit, causing him to gag.
“They didn’t even stand a chance…”

Watcher’s ear twitched when he heard a soft but unmistakable whimper and looked to see Midnight, whose castdown gaze made him wince at his words. He walked beside his cousin and gently nudged his shoulder with his own.

“We’re gonna find Twinken, and we’re gonna get him home safe,” he assured his royal relation. “You hear me, cuz?”

Midnight arched his head back as he took a deep breath and furrowed his brows, “I hear you. Next room?”

“Can we not and say we did?” Silver was getting more and more freaked out with every corpse they came across, but Midnight and Watcher ignored him as they entered the next room.

Inside, they didn’t find any bodies.

What they found… was something perhaps even more disturbing, the room they had entered had nothing but worn down furniture scattered across the floor, a foul odor filled their noses as they saw writing all across the walls, floor, doors. All with a few words that sent a shiver down the stallion’s spin.

AlL is DARkness ArouNd mE

Aloooonnne... lost, HUNgrY!!

It’s HIS FAULT...

His Fault...

Deceiver... DeCeIVEr...

HE LIeS... BLAZES LIES...

...don’t trust him!

NO MORE BLAZE!!!

These messages continued to repeat over and over and over again until it looked like there was no more space to write. The three stallions stood there speechless as they tried to understand what all these messages scrawled onto the walls meant, and more importantly, try to figure out ‘Who?’ wrote it.

Silver Smith stared at one particular message that really stood out to him as it was written more times than anything else ‘Blazes Lies… He lies’ and glanced over at Midnight who was looking at another word on the wall. Glaring at him, before he felt a light nudge on his head.

“Hey, you okay bud?” Watcher asked.

“Yeah, I just had this weird thought, that’s all,” Silver replied with a nervous tic.

“What drives someone to write things like all this...?!” Midnight questioned with a chilly dread as he got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“Not sure, but if you take a good look and sniff, you’ll see all that writing is blood,” Watcher noted with a grim tone, “and given how much is written here, you don’t exactly walk on your merry way after losing that much.

“I get the feeling they were trying to stay sane by writing whatever was happening to them, but lost it anyway.”

“Can we get out of here now?!” Silver pleaded, “I don’t wanna be in this place any longer than I have to!”

“I agree, let’s go,” Midnight led the way out, “the sooner we find Twinken the better.”

‘Blazes lies’? Watcher’s cousin has Blaze in his name! It’s probably a stretch, but.... He could be connected in some way to the tower and may not even know it yet. I’ll have to look deeper into this while we search for this colt. Hopefully my uncle is okay, he just needs to hang in there a little longer, Silver thought to himself as he continued to follow his companions deeper into the tower.

“Hey Midnight, have you been here before? I mean in Trottingham?”

“Uh, a few times, but never this tower,” answered Midnight as he glanced back. “I didn’t even know it was here.”

“I see… Well what did you do during your stay here in Trottingham?”

“That information is classified,” Midnight responded with a flat business-like tone that meant he would say nothing else regarding the question.

“Hmm…”

“Guys, this tower only goes up right?” Watcher asked.

“Yeah? Why?” Midnight asked.

“Then, explain to me why there’s three different hallways that are… well… Take a look.” Watcher pointed ahead, the two stallions noticing what the charcoal stallion meant as the hallway had three different paths, one path was curving downward from the left while the one on the right went upward.

“I don’t like the direction this is going…” Midnight facehooved before asking, “What is this?”

“I don’t know, but from what I’m sensing, there's obviously a lot more dark magic than we previously thought. It takes a significant amount of mana alone to warp objects and bend them to your will, let alone a whole building.” Watcher explained as he readied his blades once more.
“Something tells me that we’re going to be dealing with something down each of these halls. We’re probably gonna have to-”

“NO! Do not say ‘we should split up’, that is the number one rule in these situations!” Silver was adamant.
“I put all four of my hooves down on this!”

“Silver, come on! Only morons in those lame horror flicks would suggest something as idiotic as splitting up! That’s the last thing we want right now! I was saying that probably each of these paths have some sort of trap, so we’re gonna have to take one and deal with whatever’s in our way… We could barely hold off those mindless beasts by ourselves, it’s better for us to stick together.” Watcher explained to his old friend, causing the stallion to let out a sigh of relief.
“Still, I don’t know what anyone would ever suggest something like that! You're practically asking to be murdered.”

“Well, it wouldn’t be as interesting if they all stayed together you know..” Midnight debated. “Besides, it’s only a plot device to split up in movies or novels, get things to happen or move things along...”

“It’s lazy is what it is… If it was me, I’d try to be creative and separate them forcefully rather than suggest ‘Let’s split up! Make it easier for the killer to get us’ Bah! So stupid.”

“Well, at least we aren’t in a horror flick, usually by now when the heroes are distracted, the monster usually comes up from-

“F-From… b-behind…”

“You had to say it, didn’t you…?!” Midnight uttered in fear as he pulled back his lips to bare his fangs and furrowed his brows, looking fearsome and ready for what was coming.

“...that sound!” Silver whimpered in recognizing terror.

The three of them turned around. The hallway behind them was dark… but they heard it. Ticking, tocking, signaling its every step. Unable to see through the darkness (which worried Midnight since his natural nightvision wasn't working), Watcher’s horn lit up, casting a bright purple flame above his head and sending it down the hall to get a visual on their approaching foe, but as the flame began to dissipate, they saw nothing but a bare and dismal hallway.

“It should be there, but there's nothing!” Watcher was baffled.

“Hey, let me try-” Midnight paused after something wet fell onto the back of his neck, his hoof reaching out to touch what had fell on him and after pulling back, he saw a small glob of tar in his hoof.

The trio looked up towards the ceiling… and there it was!

Leering down at them like a bat as writhing tendrils of goopy blackness lashed out from its back! This forced them to jump out of the way to evade The Entity’s attack, but this also resulted in dividing them. Before any of them could react or try anything else, more wretched tentacles lashed out, this time from the walls or floors, ensnaring them around their barrels. Midnight was snared around his neck, causing him to gasp for breath, Watcher around his eyes, blinding him, and Silver around his hind fetlock, causing him to fall forward.

“I can’t see!” Watcher cried out.

“G-guys… he- Help me!” Midnight wheezed as he struggled for breath, unable to focus his mana to do anything.

Silver realized he was the only one in that moment who could do something. He was terrified, shivering from a cold sweat, his heart on the verge of pounding out of his chest… but something spurred him, emboldened him, enough that he stared at The Entity, and a feeling of resentment burned deep in his guts.

“You took my uncle… you won’t take us!” Silver furrowed his brows in concentration, his horn lighting up with mana… before he launched a bolt of fire, striking The Entity in the face.

The Entity let out an unearthly scream of agony as the tar congealing its face lit up with searing intensity, throwing Midnight and Watcher down one hallway before retreating from where it came, and as soon as it left, the other hallways vanished suddenly, separating Silver Smith from the others.

Twinken and Mona slowly and quietly made their way down the halls of the tower, making sure not to draw too much attention. So far the two hadn’t encountered any of the monsters or creatures that Mona explained to Twinken and as the two continued to make their way down, Twinken started to see how Mona managed to survive on her own.

“So, you mean to tell me… that you stole rations from the royal guards that entered the Tower? How long ago was that?” Twinken asked, finding it hard to believe as she was very frightened when he found her.

“Um… I don’t know… A few days ago, I think? I don’t know… The ponies in armor dropped their bags and I got desperate. I had to take what I could find and I hid myself in that big room, then you came… ” she explained, staying as close to the young colt as she possibly could, “and I’m glad you’re here.”

“Don’t worry… We’ll get out of here and everything will be fine, I promise, Mona!” Twinken declared, giving the little filly a confident smile before the pair made a left turn before stopping suddenly. The colt’s eyes widened as the pair looked ahead and spotted a very large figure in front of them, slamming something repeatedly to the ground.

Mona started whimpering before Twinken placed a hoof over her mouth and motioned with his other hoof for the two to stay quiet.

“Mona, you have to be quiet, if you scream now, that thing will-”

Twinken suddenly stopped as he soon took another glance at the creature in front of him, it was a very large minotaur that had three heads, a large massive right arm, and two smaller arms on its left, it was completely made out of tar, but what really terrified the young colt, was what the Minotaur was holding in its massive hand.

The body of a griffon.

“H-He-lp..” was all the two heard before the Minotaur grabbed hold of the griffon’s head and suddenly ripped her in half. Blood spilling everywhere as the creature began to gorge on the remains of the griffon.

*CRUNCH...CRUNCH… CRUNCH...*

“N-NO!” Twinken yelled, before covering his mouth with his hoof, the Minotaur slowly turned around, revealing its three, grotesque faces to the little foals. Two of its mouths dripped with fresh blood, one of them pulled out a piece of wing from its mouth and fed it to the center head.

*CRUNCH*

It began to drool at the sight of the two, licking their lips as it slowly approached the two.

“AHHHH!!!” Mona suddenly screamed.

“RUN, MONA! RUN!!!” Twinken screamed as he focused his mana.

“ROOOOAAAAAAARRRRR!!!!”

The Minotaur bellowed and began to charge at the pair, leaping into the air and attempted to smash them to the ground with it’s massive arm. Twinken pushing Mona out of its way, barely escaping its attack.

Twinken kicked the monster in one of its faces, quickly getting its attention as he ran for his life down another hallway.

“TWINKEN!!” Mona cried out in alarm.

“Don’t worry about me, just run!” Twinken screamed as the Minotaur gave chase.

Twinken led it into a large room, where he made for one of the corners and turned to face the beast as it crashed its way through the too-small door frame and glared down at the colt, its three mouths pulling their lips back in fiendish grins. All three mouths began to chuckle a grisly and deep laugh that shook the marrow in Twinken’s bones. Twinken teared up and whimpered, all but frozen with fear… but he didn’t let it stop him, as his courage provided the spark for him to unleash the most powerful fire spell he had in his repertoire!

An explosive burst of crimson flames ignited mere inches from the tip of Twinken’s horn as he willed it to attack the Minotaur, engulfing it completely in its burning embrace. Twinken didn’t waste time to wait and see if it would work as he raised a Mana Shield and quickly sped past the monster and out the door.

He heard it booming with the angry mooing roars of a hundred bulls, but he went back the way he saw Mona run, and very quickly, he saw Mona, hiding behind an old crate, and he grabbed her hoof as he all but dragged her along with him. They didn’t stop running until they couldn’t hear the Minotaur and hid in another room, closing the door behind them, and then collapsing as they gasped to catch their breath.

“Did… did you kill it?” Mona asked hopefully.

Twinken did the calming technique a few times before it worked, and then answered, “I don’t think so…

“I think I just made it mad.”

They shared a cold look of dread as those words sank in.

“RRRROOOOOAAAAAARRRRRR!!!!”

The roar was still far but it was still terrifying by its clear expression of rage. Thankfully, they heard the Minotaur’s heavy hoofsteps receding, meaning it was distancing itself from them. They listening as the creature's footsteps began to get further away until they could no longer hear it.

Mona, shaking in place, held onto Twinken’s foreleg and began to weep quietly.

“I-I… c-c-can’t d-d-d-do this…I-I-I w-want this to end…” she whispered, tears dripping down onto Twinken as she held on tightly, refusing to let go as the colt pulled her into a tight embrace.

“It will end… I promise we’re gonna get out of here.”

“Ugh… My head, that really hurts!” Watcher groaned, rubbing the back of his head after waking up.

“Watcher?”

“Midnight? You okay?” Watcher looked around for his cousin.

“Please get off me…” The charcoal unicorn looked underneath him to find his cousin laying underneath him with a strained grimace on his face. Immediately, Watcher stood up off of the alicorn and began to survey his surroundings.

“Well that went well…” Watcher muttered, pulling out a lollipop from his trenchcoat, not noticing a folded piece of paper fell out.
“If we hurry, we can still find Silver Smith and get the BUCK out of this Faust-forsaken place!”

“Urgh!” Midnight stood up while stretching out the kink in his spine from Watcher landing on him and then taking a calming breath, “Alright, but we need to be careful. That’s, what? The third time we’ve encountered that thing!

“Clearly it’s the source of whatever negative power controls this place, and we still don’t know what it is or what it wants!”

“Well, from what I’ve gathered, it could have killed us, but it didn’t… Why?” he asked, sheathing his swords back in place before trotting forward a bit.
“I mean, think about it… That thing is a lot more intelligent than it’s letting on. Remember the three hallways? The Entity was planning on separating the three of us, but thanks to Silver’s fire spell, it lost focus for a moment and threw the two of us down the same hall by mistake.”

“Just a question, Watcher,” Midnight brought up while raising the foreclaw of his gauntlet, “How well does Silver do in a crisis? By himself, that is.”

“Hey, Silver is a brave stallion, he may not look like it, but he’s got guts… As a matter of fact, he’s probably trying to figure out a way to get the three of us out here right now!” Watcher responded confidently, before looking around their present location
“Why did we even come here to begin with!?”

“Because the Entity foalnapped my brother...?” Midnight raised his brow while his tone took on an edge.

“Your brother?”

“Twinken?! Unicorn colt? Indigo coat and blue mane, red eyes, twinkling stars and nebula for a cutie-mark?!” Midnight gawked in disbelief at his cousin. “Got dragged into this hellmouth by that monster?!”

It was then Midnight’s eyes lingered towards the floor… and he noticed a slip of paper, “What the?”

His horn lit up to levitate it to his face and he saw something written on it, “Watcher…”

Watcher heard the tone and got a chill, but it was Midnight holding that piece of paper up to him with an unreadable look as he softly asked, “What is this?”

Seeing Midnight with the letter he had received, he immediately checked his trench coat's pocket, before turning back to his cousin with a scowl on his face.
“That is none of your concern, Midnight… Give it back now.”

Midnight held it away and glared reproachfully at his cousin, “This is why you came to Trottingham. It wasn’t because Silver asked you for help, someone paid you to check out this tower!

“Don’t deny it, the date on this paper is days before Silver contacted you!”

“Heh, And? I don’t see what the issue is, Midnight… So I was hired to investigate this place, it didn’t mean I cared any less for my friend. How else am I supposed to make a living? Work like everypony else? Live in a fantasy world that is full of harmony and rainbows?! That everything will all be alright because you and your fellow princes and princesses say so!? Come on! Get your head out of your ass and think realistically!”

Midnight’s reproachful look softened only slightly… but Watcher was baffled to see a tear run down Midnights’ face as the sapphire alicorn sighed and gave the paper back. Midnight turned around and said, “I won’t lecture you, Watcher, because I absolutely don’t have the right to…

“Whatever you think you know about me as a ‘prince’ is total bullshit… I have far more on my conscience than you’ll ever have. Let’s find Silver and Twinken and get out of here…”

Midnight ventured back the way they came and Watcher sighed with a slight scoff.

“Go right ahead! Turn your back on me. After all… your sorry excuse for a father turned his back on mine. Must run in the family.” He said, smirking as he placed the piece of paper back into his trenchcoat.

Midnight paused mid-step… and Watcher instantly felt an intense change in the air, a strange sensation that felt like a mix of a frigid chill, a creeping crawl of static, and a searing heat all at once!

Then, Midnight turned to look back at Watcher, who gulped as he realized he might have gone too far when he saw turquoise blue mana flowing from the corners of Midnight’s eyes, like flickering fire as the alicorn responded.

“My father was not perfect, Watcher,” Midnight seethed, “I hate him… I hate him for all the crap he put me through! I hate him for leaving his family, for abandoning his sons and his wife and never coming back!

“He left me to pick up the broken pieces and I did my damnedest to hold things together and do my part in protecting Equestria! I’m sorry he wasn’t there to help your father, but don’t you… ever… compare me to him!”

Scoffing at the alicorn, Watcher pushed past him and continued to make his way down the hall. “Perhaps my mother did something right after all… It was a mistake getting you involved in my work!”

“Oh? And how do you figure that?” Midnight demanded.

“Heh, why don’t you figure it out? You can look for your brother, but I’m completing my job and getting out of here with Silver.”

“Ha! Wow…” Midnight scoffed derisively, “So now you’re the one who’s turning his back. On a colt who is your blood and needs you. I guess it does run in the family!”

After hearing that, Watcher couldn’t help but turn back to face the alicorn and immediately swung his right hoof to strike Midnight in the face… only for a wall of solid shadow to shield Midnight from the assault. Watcher was briefly stunned before a pulse of power sent him hurtling head over hooves across the floor of the hallway, but he quickly leapt onto his hooves and glared at Midnight with sheer contempt.

The alicorn narrowed his eyes and warned, “You don’t want to do this, Watcher…”

Ignoring his words, Watcher’s horn began to glow, as shadows suddenly appeared behind Midnight, grabbing hold of his hind legs and tossed him against the wall! But upon impact, Midnight’s form dispersed into a vaporous shadow that seemed to spread in all directions!

Watcher narrowed his eyes as he stood vigilant, waiting for Midnight to reform and strike back. He noticed a mass of shadow rise up, and launched a blaze of purple fire towards it! But instead of striking Midnight, there was nothing, and he realized his mistake too late as he heard a sound behind him and was ensnared by tendrils of shadow that slammed him against the wall, pinning him there while Midnight’s form rose up out of a shadow and he gave Watcher an irritated look before asking, “Gotten it out of your system yet?!”

The charcoal unicorn only snarled in response as he began to cast another spell, his body suddenly melting until he was a pile of sludge on the ground before reforming, throwing a quick uppercut at the alicorn until he was on the ground. Pinning him to the ground, Watcher could only glare at the alicorn , who looked back at Watcher with a look that was cold and detached. It infuriated the unicorn! He felt his blood burn in his veins, his long-repressed rage and bitterness boiling for release… and he released it all over Midnight's face with his hoof!

“I WASN’T THE ONE WHO TURNED HIS BACK ON OUR FAMILY!!!” Watcher yelled, hitting his cousin as hard as he could in the face.

*POW*

“IT WAS YOUR DAD’S FAULT!!!”

*POW, POW*

“WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE BROTHERS!!!”

*POW*

“I HATE YOUR FATHER! BUT I HATE MY FUCKING MOTHER MORE!! SHE TOOK US AWAY BECAUSE OF YOUR FATHER!!!”

*POW, POW, POW*

“YOUR FAMILY IS TO BLAME FOR ALL OF THIS!!!”

*CRACK*

Watcher suddenly stopped, hitting the floor instead, cracking the old wooden floor as he continued to glare at Midnight, but now he saw what he had just done. Midnight’s face was swollen and bruised, his left eye blackened and puffed up to where it was swollen shut, there was a tooth on the floor… and more tears flowing from Midnight’s eyes. Even the blacked, swollen one. He groaned in agony, but he managed to move his head just so he was able to look Watcher in the eye… and Watcher saw deepest sympathy, regret… even love.

Memories flashed into his mind, of when they were colts, playing together. Midnight had looked up to him, admired him, and he’d happily looked out for his little cousin. The brother he’d never had!

Shame and remorse washed over him as he fell back onto his haunches and noticed his hoof. Stained with blood. Midnight’s blood. He began to shake and a mournful cry escaped his lips as he squeezed his eyes shut in a vain effort to hold back the tears.

“I… never… wanted any of this… I didn’t get a choice… I’m sorry.”

Midnight painfully sat up, looking at the crying wreck his cousin had reduced himself to, but he felt no contempt. No anger. Not even bitterness. It hurt, but he blew out his nose to be able to breathe more clearly and then whimpered as he opened his mouth and then levitated the tooth Watcher had knocked out. His horn lit as he set the tooth back into place and he softly groaned in pain as the spell bound the tooth back into his jaw, and then he reached deeper into himself to muster forth his alicorn magic.

He focused it and then felt the pain dull away, the swelling go down, and even his black eye was able to creak open a little for him to see through it.

He took a deep breath and stood up. Stepping over to Watcher, who was still crying into his hoof, Midnight gently placed his own hoof onto Watcher’s shoulder, causing him to flinch… but then Watcher hesitantly looked up to see his cousin showing him compassion, not anger like he’d expected.

“Your dad was taken from us in the most unfair of ways…” Midnight spoke with a soft croak, “His death haunted Ignitus for many years. I… I think it affected how he was with me after I became an alicorn.

“Your mother… I can still remember her, and I was heartbroken by how she reacted. Grief and loss affects us all, some worse than others. I don’t condone how your mom tore our family apart, but I can understand it came from the loss she felt and the pain she must still carry after all these years.”

“My mother… never liked Ignitus… even after you were born. Heh, I still remember the time she once called him a blockhead in front of us,” Watcher stifled a chuckle before the gloom returned as he recounted, “However, after losing my father, she completely changed, controlling every action me and my sister make. Everyday, every hour, every minute, and I just felt like a prisoner.

“I couldn’t even have fun like a normal colt, and after I got my cutie mark, she immediately told me that I couldn’t join the guard, that I should spend my time studying to be a scientist like her! She was like a tyrant, making the whole changeling thing in Canterlot seem like a bad joke…”

Midnight sighed, “Loss can change us and sometimes it can be for the worse. I think after losing her husband, the love of her life, your mom was desperate to control her life… which unfortunately caused her to control yours. She tried to keep you close but instead has pushed you away.

“I understand that you feel resentful, Watcher… but you need to face your mom and convince her to work out her issues. It will not be easy or be resolved just like that. But we’ve allowed our family to be divided for too long. We’ve gotta work towards bringing them all back together,” Midnight stepped back and offered his hoof to Watcher.

He looked at it and then at Midnight, who now gave him an encouraging smirk… and he accepted Midnight’s hoof as the alicorn helped the unicorn up.

“So whaddya say we start by finding Twinken and Silver and then getting the hell outta this cheap excuse of a haunted house?”

“Heh, fine…but don’t think this changes why I’m here. I still have a job to do…” He said, trotting ahead of the Alicorn with his horn creating a small flame to illuminate the way.

“Uh, hold on a moment, Watcher?”

“Yeah?” Watcher looked back, and found himself knocked for a loop as Midnight's hoof struck him in the schnozz, knocking him flat onto his butt as he groaned in agony and felt his nose bleeding.
“URGH! What the hell?!”

Midnight gave him a cocky chuckle as he put his gauntlet back on and said, “Now we’re even.”

“EVEN!? That was a cheap shot and you know it! Bastard...” Watcher griped, groaning in pain but was unable to hide his smile.

“Yeah sure, like it was cheap of me to let you pummel my face just so you could let out your inner demons,” Midnight responded with a dry tone. “Still hurt like hell, but I guess it was worth it.”

“Tch! Whatever… I won that fight… But no matter what, you're still my cousin. So I’ll do what I can to fix what our parents did with you.”

“That’s all I ask,” Midnight smiled warmly as he shouldered Watcher and Watcher shouldered him back, the both of them laughing nostalgically, feeling the bond they once shared as colts at long last restored.

Meanwhile… Silver Smith had been wandering around for quite some time until he eventually made a left turn and stumbled upon a hallway full of doors. Seeing as how he couldn’t go back due to the fear of running into the Entity again, he was left with little choice but to press onward. So one by one he began checking every door he could see, trying to see if his friends, uncle, or the little colt that got captured was by some chance hidden amongst them, but each room he checked had something that he didn’t quite understand.

Some of the rooms had writing in them with the same messages repeating over, and over, and over again. Words like “Deceiver” or “Blazes Lie” or even “It’s his fault”. It was all related to somepony or perhaps something, but Silver couldn’t put his hoof on it.

“Hmm… This Tower is trying to tell us something, but what? The creature, the messages, ponies disappearing, all of this is connected somehow, but what could it be?” he asked himself as he finally reached the final door at the very end of the hallway, seeing how there were no more doors, Silver took a deep breath before exhaling and opening the door rapidly. Only to find something… odd.

A single chair in the center of the room.

It was the only room he had found that wasn’t covered in writing on the walls in blood or bones that laid on the floors of the rooms. Seeing how he didn’t have many options, Silver entered the room, closing the door behind him. He noticed the chair was facing in the direction of the door, but the question was why? Why in the center of the room?

He looked around and found nothing in the room, no furniture besides the chair, no books, no paper, not even a drop of blood from a victim. This room was completely clean, but he knew something was missing.

With no other options, he decided to sit down in the chair and when he faced the direction of the door, he gazed up subconsciously and his eyes widened in horror at what he had seen. It was a drawing… of an Alicorn with a name written above it.

Unable to take his eyes off the drawing, he didn’t bother to look behind him to find The Entity standing a few feet away from him. How he got there remained a mystery, but that wasn’t what really concerned him.

“M-Midnight… The Prince orchestrated all of this!? But why?! It doesn’t make sense, he didn’t even know about this tower until-”

“Midnight… Lies… HE… Has come here… before!” The Entity spoke, causing the stallion to jump out of his seat and immediately turn to face the monster controlling the tower and wreaking havoc in his city.

“W-Who are you?” he asked, shaking in place as his horn glowed, but no spell came out.

“Midnight… Lies… The Deceiver… Will take everything… from you…” The Entity uttered in a tone most sinister, trotting towards the stallion and placing a hoof on his horn.
“See him… Take everything…”

“AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!”

Next Chapter: 388. The Ticking Tower - Part 5 Estimated time remaining: 13 Hours, 54 Minutes