Twilight and her friends stared at the group of strange ponies. They seemed to have a sort of professional air about them as they stood in line while examining the hospital. They resembled what the lavender pony would have surmised to be members of the Ponyville branch of the royal guard, but their uniforms were unlike anything the unicorn had seen.

Upon closer inspection, Twilight could make out several small vials and other strange items hanging off of the ponies’ vests. The vials were made of glass, with an ornate brown casing on the top and bottom. Some of the vials held oddly colored liquids with unknown objects floating in them, while others seemed to contain lumps of random items like rock or gravel.

Among the group of ponies, Twilight identified a white unicorn mare with blue eyes and short red, blue, yellow, and green colored hair tied up into a ponytail at the back. The odd coloring reminded The purple pony of her cyan pegasus friend, however the unicorn’s hair seemed to be more spotted than striped as Rainbow Dash’s was. Taking a look at the mare’s exposed cutie mark, Twilight could see that it was a star made out of shimmering red and blue glitter.

Next to the unicorn stood another mare that was a lime green earth pony with short and messy black hair and a slightly darker shade of green for her eyes. She had a black circle with a green lightning bolt running through it as a cutie mark.

Further down the line was a young earth pony stallion with white fur and red eyes and hair. He seemed to be a little more timid than the rest of the ponies. He Almost looked like he didn’t belong with them with how weaker he looked by comparison. He had a red cross cutie mark similar to Nurse Redheart with several smaller crosses of a lighter shade hovering around it.

Standing next to the stallion was another male earth pony that had dark yellow fur with brown hair and eyes. He had a glistening heart shaped ruby as a cutie mark and he appeared to be of the same age, if not a little older than the white stallion next to him.

Then there was the stallion that greeted the ponies as the group entered. He had a more muscular build than the other two stallions, resembling more of what Twilight would expect from a member of the royal guard. He had white fur with dark grey hair and blue eyes. Despite his hair color, he didn’t appear to be much older than the yellow pony next to him, but he still appeared to be the eldest out of the group. His cutie mark resembled a gray shield with two swords crossing over it. He seemed to be the leader of this small group based on the way he carried himself and spoke.

As Twilight and the others observed the strange ponies, the oldest stallion looked over to the nurse that was having a hard time standing. He then looked back to Twilight with a more serious expression.

“We were sent by Princess Luna to get you all out of here and stop whatever is going on here. Can you tell us a brief description of what you know?” He asked quizzically while observing Twilight and her friends. The unicorn thought for a moment on how best to put all of the information she had into one concise description.

“We were checking in on our friend here when the power went out suddenly. We eventually discovered that there are monsters that can hide in the shadows and pop out anywhere. They try to pull you away so they can drain your energy… We don’t know where four of our friends are. Two of them are children and one of them is a human named Tom.” The purple mare explained to the group while still observing them.

“Right, the slayer… Princess Luna already informed us about him. We’ll find them as fast as we can.” The stallion spoke with a reassuring tone before turning to his companions. “Pepper, you check out the nurse and make sure she isn’t hurt.” He instructed to the pony with the red hair, who nodded before walking over to Nurse Redheart and sitting her down so he could look at her.

The stallion then turned to the two mares with a focused expression. They waited eagerly for him to give them their orders.

“Glitter, you and Neon will search the basement with me so we can work our way up.” He instructed while motioning over to the barrier made by the candles. The two nodded before walking over to the other side of the room and waiting for the stallion to join them.

“Glimmer, you get Miss Sparkle and her friends out of here.” The stallion finally turned to the yellow pony and instructed clearly. He nodded before walking over to the group. Twilight was shocked to hear that they wanted her to just leave without finding her friends.

“What?! You want us to just leave without finding our friends?!” The unicorn huffed angrily at the proposal. “No offense to you guys, but I don’t even know you! I’m not just going to leave finding my friends to complete strangers!” She shook her head defiantly. The yellow pony looked at her sympathetically.

“Well if you must know… I’m Glimmer Shine. The guy working on your friend over there is my younger brother Peppermint.” The stallion explained while pointing over to the red haired pony giving Nurse Redheart first aid. “Those two over there are Glitterball and Neon Streak.” He said while pointing to the white unicorn and the green earth pony respectively. “And this is Brimstoke.” He finished his introductions by pointing to the older stallion.

The purple mare and her friends looked around at the team of ponies. They weren’t entirely sure what to think about them. Before Twilight could elaborate on her thoughts, Glimmer Shine spoke again.

“We’re members of a special forces team put together by Princess Luna to combat the new threat of supernatural beings and forces in Equestria. Once she realized that you guys were stuck at the hospital, she figured something bad happened considering the events at the school, so she sent us out here to rescue you.” The yellow stallion explained with a proud and gallant tone.

Twilight was impressed to see that the princess had a backup plan like this in place so soon, but she was not about to leave her friends and run away. She felt responsible for putting a stop to whatever this was, monsters or no monsters.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not going to leave with you. I was chosen by the princess to take care of these issues, and I’m going to see it through to the bitter end if necessary. Besides, I can’t just leave my friends here without giving my best effort to save them.” The unicorn stamped her hoof down to accent her feelings. Glimmer Shine looked back to the older stallion for advice on what to do. Brimstoke looked at him and then back to the purple mare. He shook his head and sighed before speaking up again.

“Alright… you can stay, but you’re staying with us… understand?” Brimstoke asked to clarify. Twilight nodded eagerly before looking over to her friends. Applejack stepped forward with a confident expression on her face.

“Ah want to stay too… Ah ain’t leaving until my sister and the others are safe.” Applejack stated with a resolute smirk on her face. Scootaloo stepped forward with a brave expression on her face as well.

“I want to stay too.” The filly spoke with determination. Glimmer Shine walked up to her and gave her a sympathetic frown.

“Sorry kid, this is no place for a filly like you to be. We’ll find your friends safe and sound, but for now you need to come with me and my brother while we take your other friend somewhere safer.” Glimmer explained while looking over to check on his brother’s progress. The white pony was helping Nurse Redheart to walk over to the group.

“How is she doing?” Glimmer Shine asked with concern in his voice. Pepper smiled cheerfully as he spoke up.

“She’s suffering from extreme exhaustion. From what they said, I wager one of those monsters drained her energy… she should be fine once we give her some rest, and maybe an I.V.” Peppermint said with a grateful smile as he observed the strong willed nurse.

Glimmer Shine smiled in return. He was thankful that nothing bad happened to the nurse and that she would make a speedy recovery. He then turned to the disappointed filly and shifted his expression to a blank one.

“Let’s go.” The yellow stallion instructed to her politely. Scootaloo sighed in annoyance before slowly walking behind them as they escorted Nurse Redheart out of the door.

After the four left the building, Twilight took a cursory glance at the outside world. She had been cooped up in a dark, monster infested hospital for so long that the simple sight of grass and trees filled her with hopeful confidence. Taking a last savory breath of the fresh air filtering in through the open door, the unicorn walked back over to the gathering of ponies waiting for her by the candle barrier.

She noticed the two mares examining the candles and the barrier they made with intrigue. The white unicorn turned to face Twilight with curiosity burning in her eyes.

“Did the human make these?” Glitterball asked with intrigue brimming in her voice. Twilight nodded in response.

“He made those to keep this area free from any evil creatures.” The purple mare explained what she knew about the blue candles to the eagerly listening unicorn.

“They work astoundingly well for something so simple. There seems to be an atmosphere of altered darkness out there. These candles seem to be holding it back.” Glitterball explained while pointing past the blue barrier into the pitch blackness that lay just beyond.

Twilight wondered why it was so dark in the hospital. It never occurred to her that something could create magical darkness until she observed the light canceling properties for herself.

“Who am I going with? If we’re splitting up I would like to know where I’m going.” Twilight asked while looking to Applejack, who nodded in agreement. Brimstoke walked up to the two ponies and spoke up.

“All of us are searching the basement for clues on how this mess started. From what Princess Luna told us, the event at the school started because some hooded ponies made a pictogram in the basement, so that’s as good a place as any to start.” The white stallion explained before walking back over to the others.

“Wait… what if the others are being held upstairs? Something bad could happen before we get to them.” Twilight observed with concern. She didn’t think that searching one area for her friends at a time was a sound idea.

The stallion smiled before putting his hoof up to his ear. Much to the surprise of Twilight and Applejack, a blue glow enveloped the tip of his hoof as he touched it to his ear. Almost as if a unicorn was using magic on him.

“Sunspot, how are things looking out there?” Brimstoke spoke without directing his question to anyone in the room, as if he was talking to someone that was somewhere else. Much to the confusion of Twilight and her friend, the quiet and muffled voice of another pony started emanating from the general area of Brimstoke’s ear.

Twilight couldn’t make out what was being said, but judging from what little audio she could hear, and Brimstoke nodding every once and a while, she gathered that he was talking to a mare through whatever magic was being used on his ear.

“Ok good… Circle around and see if you can pin point their location, then see if you can get to them.” The stallion finished speaking before putting his hoof down again. The mysterious magical aura disappeared after he was done. He then looked to the confused ponies confidently.

“Don’t worry… we have someone looking into the upper floors for us. Now follow us closely, we don’t want you getting lost.” Brimstoke instructed before motioning for the pair to follow him. He then walked over to his two teammates and nodded to them. Glitterball lit up her horn with a blue glow identical to the one Twilight saw on Brimstoke’s ear, and stepped out of the barrier with her light shining into the dark.

Twilight looked over to Applejack with a confused expression. The orange mare shared in her bewilderment, but shrugged and started walking behind the stallion to follow the others. Twilight shook her head and sighed before walking back out into the shadows.

Tom and Rainbow Dash tried their best to comfort the two frightened children next to them. They were anxious as well given the terrifying ordeal they were experiencing. They had just ducked into a room on the outer edge of the building after running from several midnight men that spotted them as they searched the hallways.

“Do you think they saw where we went?” Applebloom spoke up nervously as she squeezed Spike to relieve her tensions. The young dragon wasn’t sure if he couldn’t breathe due to his intense fear, or the yellow filly constricting his body.

“I don’t know… but the sunlight should keep them away.” Tom explained to ease the fears of his companions while looking over to the brightly lit window. It was fortunate that the group managed to find the part of the building closest to the outside when they were found. If they had chosen an interior room without a window, the artificial light created by the lone lightbulb hanging from the ceiling would not be enough to protect them.

Just as Rainbow Dash and the two frightened children were starting to calm down, the door handle started turning as something from the outside tried to open it. Tom rushed forward and held the knob tightly to prevent it from opening.

“Lock it!” Rainbow Dash yelled frantically as the human struggled to keep the door closed. In between jolts from the creatures bashing into the door, the boy turned and looked at the frightened pegasus.

“I can’t! It doesn’t have a lock!” Tom yelled back while observing the barren door. The discovery only made the three onlookers even more anxious and terrified as the creatures bashed into the door relentlessly.

Finally, after holding the door shut for as long as possible, Tom was sent flying backwards as the door crashed open. He scooted back into the light and looked out of the newly created opening. The area outside of the door was empty, but the human knew that the creatures were merely hiding in the darkness.

“Everybody just stay in the light and they can’t get you.” Tom tried to sound as calm as possible to ease their fears. Everyone immediately backed up a few steps to be closer to the light. Just before the group could start to feel safe, a new threat made their eyes widen in fear. A thick veil of shadows was creeping in from the doorway. It moved slowly into the room, snuffing out the sunlight everywhere it went. Soon enough the group would be engulfed in pitch blackness.

“What are we going to do?” Applebloom asked with tears in her eyes as she tried to stop herself from shaking violently. Spike looked to Tom for any sign that he knew what to do.

“Tom! Can’t you use your light to stop them?” Spike asked the human nervously. Tom shook his head in defeat.

“It doesn’t affect them enough to keep them away.” The human stated grimly while backing his friends into the corner to better protect them. Everyone huddled up together and shook with fear as they helplessly watched their doom approach them.

“Can’t we jump out of the window so Rainbow Dash can carry us?” Applebloom asked timidly as she raced her mind to find a possible way out of this grim predicament.

“I'm not sure if I would be able to carry all of you at once.” The cyan pegasus explained sadly. “And besides, that window must be hard as a rock.” She said while looking at the slowly fading light of the window.

Before the group could say their prayers and give up, a loud crash made them jump in fright. They looked next to them to see a sea of broken glass tumbling to the floor as a pegasus mare crashed into the room. The pegasus had different shades of orange in her fur, making her look like a sky just before sunset. Her hair was a similar mixture of orange, with bright yellow stripes spaced out through her mane and her tail. Her eyes were a slightly darker shade of yellow than the stripes in her hair, but they still looked brilliant when compared to the relatively darker orange fur she had.

Judging from appearance, she was wearing what looked like a Wonderbolts suit with its mask missing. The suit appeared to have been modified and re painted at some point, as the typical lightning bolt pattern on the suit was different enough to distinguish it from a standard Wonderbolts uniform. Several straps and pouches had also been sewn into the outfit, all of which stored numerous strange vials and other miscellaneous pieces of equipment. A pair of flight goggles was sitting in her hair with a black strap holding it to the pony’s head.

Rainbow Dash almost mistook the pegasus for Spitfire, but quickly realized that this was a completely different pony. The pegasus looked at the broken glass around her and smirked playfully. She then looked over to the group staring at her from the corner.

“Don’t worry… I’m here to get you guys to safety.” The pegasus said with a reassuring tone of voice while observing the four. Just before anyone could speak up, a loud noise from the doorway drew everyone’s attention away from the strange newcomer.

Several of the creatures walked through the door and into the darkness that now prevailed in the room. They rushed forward and prepared to attack the closest thing they could reach, which at the time happened to be the oddly dressed pegasus in the center of the room.

Tom prepared to unsheathe his sword and rescue the pegasus, when she suddenly jumped into action before him. She reached down to her side and grasped a vial that was hanging off of one of the many straps on the modified suit. She then unclipped it from its holder and held it out in front of her.

“You guys look like you could use a little tan!” She remarked with a smirk on her face before pressing on an indentation in the top part of the vial. The bottom section of the vial started glowing bright blue as a low hum could be heard coming from the bottle. In an instant, the tip of the vial facing the creatures flashed blue as a beam of energy shot out from the bottle.

The bolt of light flew into one of the creatures and exploded on impact. The monster shrieked in pain and recoiled from the attack. The pegasus pressed the indentation several times in rapid succession, causing even more balls of energy to fly at the creatures.

Two of the creatures fell to the floor and started evaporating into black smoke. The other creatures fled the room as their bodies smoked and smoldered from the assault. After the creatures were gone, the pegasus chuckled and put the vial back in its place on her side.

She then reached down to her chest to what appeared to be a small flashlight mounted on a clip. She flipped the switch on the flashlight, causing a bright beam of light to shoot out in front of her. After the room was safely illuminated, she turned and walked up to the others to talk with them.

“Hi, my name’s Sunspot. I was sent by the princess to come and help you guys out.” The pegasus spoke in a cheerfully friendly tone while offering her hoof to shake the human and cyan pony’s hand and hoof respectively.

After returning the pegasus’s greeting and thanking her for saving their lives. The group couldn’t help but feel confused as to what was going on.

“How did you even find us? Have you been crashing through every window on this floor until you got lucky?” Tom suggested in a joking manner while observing the broken window. Sunspot chuckled nervously as she assessed the damage she had caused.

“Hehe… well I guess you could say I like to make an entrance. As for how I found you…” Sunspot paused for a moment while she fumbled around with the many vials and other objects hanging on her suit in various places. “Where is that darn thing…?” She muttered to herself in frustration as she searched through her equipment. “I just had it in my hoof not two minutes- Aha!” She exclaimed in triumph before yanking up a pull cord with two vials attached to it. Unlike the previous vial, these two were clipped together on the cord for easy access. One of them held a strange blue liquid inside of it, while the other held what appeared to be some kind of sand.

“These two bad boys are my locators. This one here lets me know if any paranormal entities are in an area.” Sunspot explained while holding up the one filled with liquid. “And this one lets me find heat signatures of living things.” She explained while holding up the sand filled vial. Everyone looked at the strange objects with confusion and curiosity. They must have worked for the pegasus to have found them, but the items were unlike anything any of them had seen before.

“Hold on a sec… I need to tell my team that you guys are alright.” The suited pegasus excused herself while turning to look away from the group. She then put a hoof up to her ear, when suddenly a blue glow enveloped the general area of her ear.

“This is Sunspot, I found all of them unharmed… Yes, I’m making my way downstairs now… Ok.” Sunspot paused every few sentences, as if she were talking to someone outside of the room. Everyone looked at her with confused expressions as she directed her attention back to them.

“What was that all about?” Rainbow Dash asked curiously while thinking back to the strange blue glow. Sunspot was a little surprised to have to explain her equipment. She had been so used to it that it didn’t really strike her as odd.

“Oh, that’s just a magic spell our resident unicorn whipped up for us. It lets us communicate over long distances.” Sunspot explained with enthusiasm. The group was intrigued to hear more about the strange team of ponies. Before they could think of any more questions to ask the orange pegasus, she turned and started walking out of the room.

“Come on. Let’s get you guys out of here.” Sunspot said while beckoning with her hoof for the others to follow. Everyone was still apprehensive about heading back out into the hallways.

“You know, these things aren’t affected by regular light.” Tom explained while pointing out Sunspot’s light source hanging from her suit. She looked at it for a moment before giving the slayer a knowing grin.

“Don’t worry... I’m sure we’ll be fine. These things use the shadows to move around right?” The pegasus asked to clarify. Tom nodded in response, even though he wasn’t sure where she was going with this line of reasoning.

“Well then they shouldn’t be able to do anything to us if we keep them in the light. Think about it… they can’t really hide in the dark if there is no dark to hide in can they?” Sunspot explained with a confident expression. Tom couldn’t believe that the pegasus’s logic was actually sound.

“Yeah… that might actually work. They can’t teleport in the light, so they can’t sneak up on us as long as we keep them lit up.” The human stated in an amazed tone.

“Heh… you’re not the only one with knowledge on the supernatural anymore Tom.” Sunspot said with a smug and playful smirk. Tom was impressed to see that he was being rivaled in supernatural knowledge by a pony. He couldn’t help but wonder how extensive their knowledge could be considering the lack of occult material in this world.

Without wasting any more time, the group followed the pegasus out of the room and down a hallway. Traveling around the hospital was actually void of any stress for the first time for the group. They felt safe in the presence of the suited pony, as if she knew what she was doing. The group made sure to remain close to their strange new companion, while also pointing their own source of light behind them so the creatures couldn’t reach them that way.

After a few minutes of walking, the five found themselves standing outside of the stairway door once again. Sunspot walked right up to the door and pulled on it to open it before making the same discovery the others had made earlier.

“You can’t open it… there’s some kind of magical seal on it.” Tom shrugged in frustration as he glared at the obstacle in his path with disdain. Sunspot didn’t seem to be phased by the discovery of the blocked door. She instead reached for another vial on her side.

This one had a small rod encased inside of it that sat in the middle of the container. The rod seemed to be made of a brown metal, like copper or bronze, and it had several notches in it as well as having a green tinted liquid around it. On the top of the vial, built into the brown section of the casing, a small spike jutted out a short ways.

“This should do the trick… It disrupts magical barriers and certain supernatural occurrences.” Sunspot explained while pressing the spiked tip of the vial against the door. The liquid inside the container lit up and a small shockwave of air erupted out of the tip and dispersed across the door. The frame of the door lit up bright crimson for an instant before fading.

After placing the vial back in its appropriate place, Sunspot gripped the handle once more and turned it while putting a gentle force on it. The door slid open as if it had never been held shut in the first place, revealing the stairwell inside. The orange mare turned to the group and gave a cheerful smile. She then pointed with her hoof to beckon the astonished group inside.

“You got anything else in your bag of tricks?” Rainbow Dash asked curiously while eyeing the various vials and other tools hanging off of straps or sitting on clips in the mare’s uniform. Sunspot chuckled while giving a cursory glance to her equipment.

“Well, I don’t have a cup holder on here anywhere.” The orange pegasus stated playfully before looking down to give the statement more serious thought. “Actually, that might be a good idea... I’m gonna have to bring that up at the next board meeting.” She scratched her head in thought while walking into the stairwell to lead the others to safety.