I stood at the curb as I watched the workmen wheel Rarity and Toy Rarity into the truck bound for the police impound. Both of them were turned off, but I swear they were still awake… still watching… still waiting.

A shiver went up my spine as I watched them. It had been a couple of days since the sighting of the Puppet at the mall and the murder of Star Crystal. When the coroner matched up the marks on his neck with the hands of the Puppet, it was obvious to them what had happened. Another malfunction. The police decided that enough was enough. Rookie officer Copper Shield was more than happy to let my friends know.

“It’s her fault!” He had said to Jet and Fluttershy, who were at the doorway to the building. “Ever since she took over from Silver Screen, Faust rest his soul, there’s been nothing but trouble. Murders, the bite, and the disappearances… the sooner this stupid mare is out of business, the better.”

If he wasn’t a policeman, I would have bucked him right in his smug little face.

The events of the past few days had taken their toll on poor Fluttershy. She had her head in her hooves, sobbing away, while an angry Jet glared at Shield, a comforting wing around Fluttershy.  

“It’s not her fault!” Jet shouted. Shield cut him off.

“First, a little foal goes missing. Next, five children die, then the Bite of ‘86 happens, and now one of your animatronics is found at the mall, next to the corpse of an employee of this fine establishment, who seems to have been murdered by it! What, do you think it just walked there?” Shield shouted back. He wasn’t finished. He got right in Jet’s face.

“Her last mistake was hiring a monster like you back.” Shield had said. “How you got just five years for what you did is anyone’s guess. If I had my way, you’d still be locked up… you’d be some stallion’s little mare… ponies like you don’t deserve to be free.”      

Judging by Jet’s glare, he was about to play show and tell with Shield’s vital organs, Thankfully for Shield and Jet, Shield’s veteran partner, a mint colored Pegasus stallion, got between the pair before anything happened.  

“SHIELD!” The other officer shouted. “You are out of line! First off, innocent until proven guilty. Second, Jet here paid his debt to society. As much as I disagree with the brevity of his sentence and what he did, he served his time. Third, your conduct with Fluttershy was beyond reprehensible. If you apologize for your actions right now, I will leave your little outburst out of the report and spare you the trouble of having to explain to the captain why you treated them this way. Am I clear?”

“Crash…” Shield started.

“NOW!” Crash shouted.

Shield scowled at his partner. He opened his muzzle…

“And sound like you mean it, too.”

Shield shot his partner a death glare, then turned back to Jet and Fluttershy. As he apologized, I took a look at his face. If you squinted hard enough, it almost looked like he meant it. Jet and Fluttershy sounded their forgiveness once he finished.

“Shield, wait in the car. I’ll talk to you further when I’m done here.” Crash said. Shield shot Jet and Fluttershy an angry glare and stormed off. Crash ran his hooves through his swirly blue and red mane, sighing.    

“I’m sorry about him.” Crash said.

“It’s all right.” Jet said. “Why did you stick up for us like that?”

“With you, I was in the crowd at the trial. You looked utterly haunted by what you did. You didn’t look like a psycho. Oh, I still think you got off lightly, but I honestly think you’re trying to turn your life around. As for her, I don’t think anypony as sweet and kind as Fluttershy here deserves abuse like that. And third… I had my twelfth birthday here. It was one of the happiest moments of my life.”

Crash looked wistful for a moment before he returned to reality.  

“Do you know of anypony that would have wanted to steal the Puppet, or anyone that would have wanted to see Star Crystal dead?” He said.    

“No.” Jet said flatly. “As far as we know, Star Crystal didn’t have an enemy in the world.”

“I see.” Crash replied. He thought for a moment, then seemingly gave up. “Thank you both for your time.”

He took one last look around. “I’m sorry for what’s happened to you guys.” Crash said, a little sorrow in his voice. “This was an amazing place.”

As Crash walked back to the police car, Jet looked at Fluttershy. He took out a small hoofkerchief and wiped her eyes, shushing her small sobs, then pulled her into a soft kiss.  They then joined me at the curb.

“I just can’t believe this.” Fluttershy said. “After all these years...”    

Jet embraced Fluttershy, using both his forelegs and his wings. “It’s okay Flutters.” Jet said. “We’ll always have our memories.” Fluttershy nodded.    

“Jet? Fluttershy?” A southern drawl uttered. “What’s going on?”    

Applebloom had joined us at the back of the truck, staring in confusion at the Party Gang. We all had “oh, crap” looks on our faces. Fluttershy and Jet looked at each other, resigned.    

“I should tell her.” She said.  Jet nodded. Fluttershy led Applebloom away.  “Applebloom, I have some sad news…”    

Jet and I looked back into the truck. Applejack, Toy Applejack, Rarity, Toy Rarity, Twilight, and the newly boarded Rainbow Dash and Mangled Rainbow stared back.    

“Where are they going?” I asked Jet, right as a workman loaded Balloon Spike onto the truck.    

“I first thought they were going to be destroyed...” He started. “...but then I realized the police wouldn’t allow it. I mean, evidence in an investigation, after all.”

Toy Pinkie Pie was put inside of the truck.

“Sadly, they’re going to the police impound.”

Pinkie Pie was put inside next.

“They’re just going to be locked up. The nightmare isn’t over, not by a long shot. ”

The Puppet was put in last, it’s black eyes staring into the distance. Jet was right, it did look like it was thinking… looking like it was planning something.    

“You won’t let them get away, will you?” I asked. Jet kept silent for a while, before finally answering.

“No. The evil must be destroyed.”  

The workmen slammed the back doors of the truck. Within a few minutes, the truck was speeding off toward the impound. Then I heard… it...

It couldn’t have been my imagination, since Jet reacted to it with a slight jump, but... I could swear I heard Pinkie Pie laughing just before the doors closed.    

Jet and I stood there, watching the truck drive into the distance, the animatronics from Tartarus on board. I heard Jet whispering under his breath.

“You think you’ve won… you think you’re gonna be free to cause more trouble? You’re wrong. I know where you’re going. I know where you’ll be. If you hurt anypony else, I’ll hunt you down. I’ll destroy you, even if I have to die to do it. I'm a spirit of vengeance, fighting fire with fire. That’s a bucking Pinkie Promise.”

We both snapped back to reality when we heard…

“But why?”

I turned to see Fluttershy and Applebloom talking in the space the truck had obscured. “Why are they closing you guys down?” Applebloom continued.    

“It’ll be okay, Applebloom.” Fluttershy said. “We had a good run. All good things must end someday.”

She was saying one thing, but her eyes and body language gave the lie away.  Fluttershy was utterly heartbroken by the events of the past couple days.    

“Shining.” Jet said, turning to me. “I guess this is where we say goodbye.” He raised his left hoof.    

“We can’t talk anymore?” I asked.    

“I think it would be better if you just forgot all about me, the Party Palace, and the animatronics. You should just forget about everything that you’ve seen here, actually.” Jet chuckled.    

I shook his extended hoof. “Goodbye, Jet Black.” I said.    

“So long, Shining Armor.” He said. “May you forget all about what’s happened here at Pinkie’s Party Palace. For your wife’s sake.”    

I stared at him. “I hope so, too.”    

“Shining?”

I turned. Cadence was walking up the street. “Hey! What’s going on?” She asked. “Oh, hello, Jet!”    

“Hi, Mrs. Armor!” He said, turning his attention to Fluttershy and Applebloom.    

“Honey, we should get going.” Cadence said.    

“All right. Just give me a moment to say my goodbyes.” I said.    

I turned and saw Jet and Fluttershy hugging, Apple Bloom was gone. I guess she must have gone home.

“Well, see you later, guys.” I said.    

“So long, Shining.” Fluttershy said.

“Good luck finding another job.” Fluttershy and Jet said in unison. When they realized it, they chuckled a bit.

“But seriously... good luck man.” Jet said.    

“Alright. Thanks man.” I said. “And I hope you’ll stop being a nutjob.”    

We all shared a much-needed laugh. Cadence and I walked away. We turned back briefly to the sight of Jet and Fluttershy hugging. I was almost tearing up. I just made these new friends… and I wouldn’t see them again. How can I forget about the Party Palace when it means forgetting my two new friends?  

They waved at us. We waved back.

Cadence decided a movie night was in order. After dinner, we watched one of her movies: The Dusk Saga: Breaking Luna, Part 1. I didn’t really watch it, I just stared off at the screen, hoping she would take it out and put in something different: a romantic comedy, a snuff film, ninety minutes of a pony spooning mayonnaise into a toaster… ANYTHING other than this. However, the lack of interest in the film led to my mind wandering. I turned and looked out the window, staring at Luna’s night sky, wondering what Jet and Fluttershy were going to do.

“Faust, please let them be safe.” I mentally prayed.

July 7, 1978

Black. All I saw was black.

I searched through the darkness, hoping for even the smallest hint of light. There was none.

I felt a rustling around me. I closed my eyes tight as the bag was taken off my head. I found myself staring into the blue eyes of the orange stallion in front of me.

He ran his hoof through his blue mane and walked to the side, hitting me in the face with his wing as he moved.    

“Well, look who’s awake! I guess that right now you’re wondering where you are, aren’t you?” He asked.

“No.” I said. “I’m wondering who you are.”    

He turned to me, a baseball bat in between his teeth. He dropped it to answer my question.    

“The moniker’s Flash Sentry.” He picked the bat up with his mouth again and tried to communicate as best he could.

“I want you to help me with something.” He said. “I need to get revenge on somepony.”    

“Who?” I asked.    

“A pony… a pony who needs to feel pain for what he did.” He said, putting the bat on a table next to me. “He must be punished… SEVERELY…”

He hung over the table for a bit, as if in thought. I took the moment to get my bearings. The only light I could see was from the light from the lamp above me. I couldn’t see anything other than the two tables next to me and the stallion.    

I looked at the stallion and noticed... he was talking... to himself.    

“He can help us.” He whispered to himself. “But what if he doesn’t? What if he just gets the police like the others?”    

“Excuse me?” I asked. His head shot up and his eyes stared straight into the darkness. “Who are you talking to?”    

“Nopony.” He said. “Look... Silver Screen...” He grabbed me by the front of my Hawaiian shirt and pulled me close, my face right up against his.

“You’re going to help me. And if you tell anypony… I have creative ways of making you regret it...”     Next Chapter: Epilogue Estimated time remaining: 16 Minutes