Twilight sat still for a moment and processed her thoughts together while breathing heavily. She couldn’t believe that the ordeal was finally over, and that she could finally leave the dark hallways of the hospital forever.

She looked over to her fellow unicorn, who shared in her excitement and exhaustion as she communicated with her eyes while panting to catch her breath. The ponies all took a moment to relax before getting up and remembering that their friends had been injured during the fight.

“How are you two holding up?” Glitterball asked while observing Neon Streak and Applejack’s wounds. Although they looked horrific on the surface, the gashes on Neon’s chest and arms weren’t very deep, and Applejacks cuts were superficial at best.

“I’m good… just need a little fresh air is all… ugh.” Neon Streak cringed while trying to stand up. Although her wounds weren’t very deep, she had lost a considerable amount of blood in a relatively short time.

Applejack looked at the green pony sympathetically. On top of her saving her skin, the orange mare could tell that Neon wasn’t trying to make her feel bad for getting her hurt, and that somehow made the farm pony feel even worse.

“We need to get you to Pepper… these look too big for me to heal up. Yours however…” Glitter paused to walk over to Applejack. After taking a brief look at the small cuts, the unicorn lit up her horn and used her magic to heal the orange mare.

“Thanks sugar cube… You have medical training?” Applejack asked curiously as she rubbed her newly healed arms to see if they felt normal. The unicorn nodded cheerfully in response.

“Yep… I help Peppermint with a few minor things from time to time.” Glitter stated modestly before looking back over to her injured friend. “But I don’t think I can do anything to help these.” The white mare frowned sympathetically as she watched Neon force a smile and chuckle.

“I’m fine Glitterball… don’t worry about it.” The green pony droned while slowly walking forward to join the others. The others could tell that she was having a hard time standing, let alone walking and trying to seem upbeat and cheerful.

“Enough putting on a show for me Neon, you’re hurt and you need to get some help.” Applejack spoke with concern while grabbing the earth pony’s side to help her stand. “Tom, do you think you can help her? Ah don’t think she’s going to make it very far while losing that much blood.” She turned to the human pleadingly to see if he could heal her the way he healed Fluttershy at the school.

“I’ll see what I can do.” The boy shrugged while assessing the damage to the green mare. He knelt down and looked at the wounds closely to focus more on healing them specifically rather than just pumping her full of healing light and wasting energy.

After a few moments of breathing deeply and steeling himself, Tom put his hands out and concentrated for a moment. Soon enough, bright streams of blue light began emitting from his hands once more. The warm feeling and soothing hum of the strange light amazed Neon Streak and Applejack, who could feel the warmth coming from the light by proximity.

The four spectators watched with astonishment as the once gruesome wounds on Neon Streak’s chest and arm began closing up and healing right before their eyes. Even Twilight was still impressed to see the slayer in action, despite her earlier experience with him.

Once Tom stopped his light and her wounds were healed, Neon rubbed the area where her skin had once been ripped open and smiled. She stopped smiling and adopted a more humble expression once she saw the boy breathing heavily as if he were exhausted.

“Thanks Tom, I’m glad that people like you are around to make our job easier.” Neon Streak said in a gracious tone while watching the boy wheeze with a concerned frown. She lightened up her expression when she saw him smile and nod in between breaths.

Applejack felt bad seeing Tom struggle to breathe after fixing her mistake. Although she couldn’t have done much to prevent herself from being attacked, she still felt awful knowing that Neon Streak could have died while protecting her.

“Thanks for helping me out back there Neon… Ah don’t know what would have happened if you didn’t step in.” Applejack stated sympathetically while frowning sadly. The green pony smiled and put a hoof on the farm pony’s shoulder.

“Don’t sweat it Applejack… I’m just doing my job.” Neon Streak said cheerfully. Applejack felt a little better knowing that everything turned out alright in the end.

Seeing the human heal the earth pony made Twilight develop a sad feeling as she remembered the two ponies that had lost their lives. She felt like she had to at least voice her curiosity on the matter to see if Tom could possibly bring them back.

“Hey Tom…” Twilight walked up to the boy with a sullen expression. “Are you able to use your healing powers to revive people who have died?” She asked hesitantly. Everyone shifted their expressions to more somber and blank ones upon hearing the grim question. Tom sighed gloomily as he thought about the subject more. He didn’t like where this conversation was going, and he didn’t like how he would have to answer.

“I don’t think so… I’m not sure if it’s possible… and the amount of energy needed to even attempt something like that would be enormous. It’s only ever been attempted a few times, and the slayers who tried it didn’t survive the process.” Tom explained somberly before turning to the unicorn and looking at her with apprehension. “Why do you ask?”

“…” Twilight paused and looked down sadly before answering. “When I got captured by those things and found Nurse Redheart… we weren’t alone.” The others frowned gloomily as they realized where this conversation was heading. “Daisychain and Patches were with us, but the creatures got to them before I could do anything.” The unicorn explained sadly while trying to keep her fragile hold on her emotions.

The news that two ponies had died was devastating to everyone in the room to some degree. Applejack had already known about the tragic news, and despite her previous knowledge, the thought of it still hit the orange mare like a ton of bricks.

Neon Streak and Brimstoke seemed to be taking the news more stoically than anything. They hung their heads sadly and sighed while dealing with their emotions. Glitterball and Sunspot were almost destroyed by the revelation that they had failed to save everyone. The two ponies stood motionless as their jaws hung open in shock, and their eyes gave a brief glimpse of how mortified they were.

Tom on the other hand was harder to read than any of the others. Twilight was slightly concerned for him as he stared blankly at the floor with a somber expression. The only clue of emotion on his face was his eyes. They seemed to be unfocused and almost sad. The unicorn became even more concerned as she noticed the boy’s hand trembling slightly as he fidgeted with his fingers.

“I’m sorry…” Tom finally spoke up in a dull tone. The others were confused as to why the boy would feel any more remorse than they did, but Twilight knew that it must have been killing him to have been unable to do anything to help.

“It wasn’t your fault Tom…” The unicorn spoke softly while putting a reassuring hoof on his side. Somehow, seeing the purple pony trying to console him after her terrifying experience didn’t seem to make the boy feel better.

“Let’s just move forward for now… we will bring those responsible for this to justice… I promise.” Twilight looked around to her orange friend and the four other ponies in the room. They gave a solemn nod as they all resolved to do anything in their power to prevent something like this from happening in the future.

“Alright… I guess there is nothing else for us to do here… let’s head up and meet the others. I think Spike and Applebloom are waiting for you two.” Tom stated while trying to regain his former composure. Twilight wasn’t sure if he was as recovered as he was letting on, but she also knew that staying in this hospital wouldn’t do any of them any good.

The group slowly walked towards the door to file out of the now peaceful basement. Glitterball turned around and lit up her horn to pick up the small stack of books Twilight had found earlier. After rushing the books over to her side, the white unicorn trotted to catch up to the others as they solemnly walked out into the hallway.

Meanwhile, deep inside the Everfree Forest, Cotton Quill was pacing nervously along the fence line of the old mansion that had practically become his second home. He was muttering to himself as he tried to think of a way to present his findings in a way that wouldn’t get him killed.

“I can’t believe those stupid ponies showed up and ruined everything! It’s bad enough that they have a slayer… but now they have an entire squad of supernatural exterminators!” Cotton grew paler as he imagined all of the things Raven Feather could do to him. He shook his head to rid himself of these grim thoughts and turned his attention to the old mansion.

Gulping nervously and mentally preparing himself for the worst case scenario, the white unicorn slowly forced his body to move forward towards his inevitable doom. The journey from the edge of the property to the main building was taking him so long that Cotton decided to take a moment to observe his surroundings and get his mind off of his journey.

It never occurred to the unicorn that this building was such a historical, and at the same time eerie, picture of human architecture. True, most of the trees and artistic stone sculptures were dead and crumbling, but the brown grass and cracked stone pathways that led around the yard to the various benches and the rundown water fountain were a sight to behold.

Just as Cotton turned around from his time admiring the dull surroundings, he came face to frame with the large entryway door of the mansion. Sighing apprehensively, the unicorn opened the door and walked inside.

As he walked through the large foyer, Cotton passed by a few of the hooded ponies that had assisted him with the ritual at the hospital. Thankfully the protection charm had actually worked this time, and there were no casualties among his small troop of summoners.

Before he started to climb the staircase that would take him to the upper floor, Cotton noticed a familiar colt sitting on the top step. The pale white colt was kicking his legs in the air to occupy himself, as if he were waiting for something to do.

“Grimwood? What are you doing here?” Cotton asked curiously while walking up the stairs. Upon noticing the unicorn, Grimwood hopped up and looked at him expectantly.

“Ah… Cotton, you’re back a little early aren’t you? Did you screw something up again?” The pale colt’s devious remark was almost lost under his blank exterior, but nonetheless, Cotton felt annoyed in the fact that he was being typecast as a screw up, and that it was slightly true.

“No… err… I… that’s beside the point.” The unicorn paused briefly to recollect himself. “Why are you sitting out here? Where’s Miss Raven Feather?” Cotton Quill asked quizzically as he observed the colt.

“Raven Feather is down in the basement with the others. She told me to wait up here to tell you if you came back early again… which I’m kind of glad that you did. It was getting rather boring waiting for you.” Grimwood explained with a slight inflection of joy in his voice. Cotton was confused by the colt’s explanation.

“Why is she down there? She usually hangs out in the library.” The white unicorn thought out loud as he tried to think of a reason why the dark furred earth pony would change their meeting spot. Grimwood looked at him and prepared to answer his question.

“She’s looking for a book down in the archives… some of the more interesting stuff got left in the basement when the owners of the house… left.” The colt’s cold exterior made the statement much more eerie to Cotton as he thought about how the mansion came to be abandoned.

“Right… So, would you mind giving me directions? I’ve never been down in the basement before. What’s it even like? I heard there isn’t even electricity down there… not that there is much up here of course… hehe.” The stallion chuckled nervously at the thought of going into a section of the house that probably wasn’t even lit up due to disuse. Grimwood let an imperceptible smirk creep across his face as he discovered an opportunity to mess with the unicorn.

“Well… you take the hallway on the right of the foyer just underneath the stairs. You follow that all the way to the edge of the house and take the door at the end of the hall to the right. From there, you follow the basement hallways until you get to an intersection past the old medical examination rooms where that one guy did all of his experiments. Turn right and keep going until you hit the crawl space where they buried the bodies and take the door across from there. And finally, turn right and head into the decrepit archives room. Oh yeah, and it might be too dark to see down there, so be sure to bring a light… wouldn’t want you falling in any open graves in the crawlspace now would we?” The colt explained as slowly and forebodingly as he could manage while still keeping up his dull and innocently stoic appearance.

“*Gulp*… Anything else?” Cotton asked apprehensively. Seeing the unicorn shiver nervously as his pupils shrank to tiny dots made the colt chuckle slightly.

“Yeah… if you hit the room where one of the owners hung themselves from the rafters, you’ve gone too far.” Grimwood added in a cheery tone, as if his advice would really help Cotton find his way.

“Thanks for the tip… I guess.” Cotton said uncomfortably as he tried to shake the frightening thoughts from his head. He then turned around and descended the stairs while trying to reassert his bravery to no avail.

As he got off of the steps and walked around to the side, Cotton noticed a door he never acknowledged before set into the side of the staircase. Upon opening the door, the unicorn was greeted by a hallway with numerous doors inside that stretched onwards for as far as he could see. It never occurred to Cotton just how big the mansion actually was.

After closing the door behind him, Cotton immediately noticed how dark the ominous hallway before him was. The only sources of light in the hall were small candles that sat on ornate tables that were few and far in between. The flickering orange tinted light bathed the hallway in an eerie sort of atmosphere that perfectly complimented the many voids of darkness in between the candles.

“Sweet Celestia… how do these ponies live in these conditions? I for one prefer a little bit more light when traversing through creepy, old, and possibly haunted mansions.” Cotton stated to himself while reaching over to the light switch beside the door.

Cotton flipped the switch and watched with satisfaction as the lights hanging from the ceiling flickered on. Just as the white pony was heading away from the light switch however, all of the lights flickered and slowly fizzed out, leaving him standing in the dark hallway once more.

“*Sigh* I guess a fuse must have tripped… no wonder they decided to use candles to light this place. I just wish they would have put a few more down.” Cotton shrugged while lighting up his horn. The small sphere of light was barely any better than the candles, but it would have to do.

After what felt like several minutes of walking, Cotton finally came to the end of the hallway and looked around. There was a door to his left that was cracked open slightly. Upon taking a look inside this door, Cotton realized that it led into another hallway that was completely void of light.

“Ok, this house is officially way too big. We have dozens of ponies at our disposal, and we don’t even use all these rooms… how did only three people live here?” The unicorn wondered while thinking of the limited knowledge of the manor’s previous owners that he had from small conversations with the others.

Cotton turned from the door and looked to the right wall where Grimwood said the basement stairs would be. Sure enough, a door with a pale gray hue stood out from the others across from the door to the other hallway. The unicorn walked up to it and opened it to reveal a decrepit wooden stairway leading down into pitch blackness.

“I never thought I would say that I missed that dusty old library… but there you go.” Cotton stammered nervously while trying to stop himself from shivering. Suddenly the door behind the unicorn closed gently, just loud enough to distinguish the noise from anything else in the hallway.

“Whoa!” Cotton yelped and spun around in fright to face the door. He had left it slightly open when he walked away, but now it was completely closed. Deciding against opening it for research, the nervous pony knelt down and looked through the crack at the bottom of the door to see if anyone was behind it.

The crack was just large enough to see a short section of the dark floor behind the door. A cool breeze blew into the unicorn’s face as he scanned his eyes around to see any motion. Satisfied that nobody was around, Cotton quickly turned around and descended the staircase. He reasoned that even if Raven Feather chewed him out all night, it would still be better than being in this creepy mansion alone.

After nervously traversing the dark corridors of the basement and looking out for the terrifying landmarks that Grimwood described, Cotton Quill found himself opening the door to the archives and stepping in with the hopes that he would find someone that he knew.

Much to his relief, Cotton saw Raven Feather, Dust Kicker, and Raincloud huddled around a crate and talking with each other. Upon noticing the unicorn, the others looked over to him with blank expressions on their faces.

“It’s about time you got here Cotton… what, did you fall into an open grave?” The black mare asked with a slight chuckle. The way Raven Feather said that made Cotton feel uncomfortable, as if that were a common occurrence in this place.

“As dark and uninviting as that hole in the wall was, no… I did not fall into any open graves.” The unicorn replied while trying to shake the memories of the dark and claustrophobic hole he had to walk through from his head.

“Right… well then, let’s get right down to business. How did the plan go?” Raven Feather asked with a hint of false optimism in her voice. The black earth pony’s emerald green eyes burned into Cotton as she stared at him expectantly.

Despite his knowledge of what they would be talking about, Cotton still became very nervous as he tried to formulate the right words to say to put it as gently as possible. Judging from their expressions, Raven Feather and the others were unimpressed by the awkward unicorn mumbling to himself.

“Unfortunately… the spell at the hospital has been broken, and the creatures are gone.” Finding no better way to put it, Cotton rubbed the back of his neck nervously while avoiding eye contact with the rest of the group. Raven Feather growled through her teeth in frustration, Cotton looked up to see her glaring at him fiercely.

“Let me guess… it was the slayer again.” The black mare huffed angrily before taking a moment to calm herself down.

“A-actually no… The slayer was there, but a group of ponies sent by Princess Luna did the heavy lifting.” The unicorn stopped talking, as if he had communicated everything he needed to. Raven Feather and the others were sharing a mixture of surprise and anger upon hearing the news.

“What?!” Raincloud finally decided to interject into the conversation. She got up and marched over to Cotton angrily. Just as the unicorn flinched in preparation of being strangled, the pegasus merely grabbed ahold of him by his vest collar and held him closer.

“You better start explaining Cotton! It was your job to defend that symbol, and just a random group of ponies destroyed it?!” The gray-blue pegasus shook the terrified unicorn back and forth to better hold his attention.

“Raincloud… enough.” Raven Feather spoke up while holding out her arm to stop the pegasus assaulting the unicorn. Raincloud gave Cotton one last glare before dropping him, causing him to fall on his back and catch himself with his arms.

“Now… Cotton, what was so special about these ponies that you thought it necessary to let them destroy another symbol?” The green eyed pony asked very clearly and concisely while still maintaining a cold exterior. Cotton gulped nervously before mustering the courage to speak up.

“They had a lot of magic charms designed to combat the supernatural… I think the princess must have trained them to fight against us.” The unicorn explained while anxiously watching the scowling earth pony in front of him.

“You know what Cotton…” The innocent tone of voice that Raven Feather was using caught Cotton off guard. “I think you don’t want us to reach our goal… I think you want to screw up everything you touch.” The earth pony walked forward while glaring at the unicorn menacingly. Cotton backed up nervously as Raven Feather marched towards him. Suddenly, the unicorn hit the back wall and was forced to stop, allowing the livid pony to get right up in his face and pierce his soul with her fiery green eyes.

“I don’t understand it Cotton… We offered you a home, offered you a place to grow and master skills and talents that you couldn’t even possibly dream of on your own, and we offered you a place beside us when we bathe this world in everlasting darkness! And you STILL find it NECESSARY…” Suddenly the explosive outburst abruptly ended, leaving Raven Feather staring at the quivering mess in front of her.

The earth pony sighed and rubbed her temples before breathing deeply a few times. She then backed up and turned around to face the others. Cotton slowly opened one eye to see if the verbal assault had ended.

“Forget this… I have people to get upset for me.” Raven Feather muttered just loud enough to be heard before turning to the two onlookers. “Raincloud.” She spoke directly to the gray pegasus. Raincloud directed her attention to her leader.

“Yes Raven Feather?” The pegasus asked with an obedient tone. Raven Feather chuckled to herself while smirking.

“Why don’t you give our friend Cotton a little… discipline?” The black earth pony grinned and winked at the pegasus to accentuate her last word. Raincloud perked up eagerly and let a smile creep across her face.

“Really?” The excited pegasus asked to clarify what the earth pony meant. Raven Feather nodded before stepping out of the way to give her room. Raincloud laughed deviously while stepping towards Cotton. The unicorn expected her to walk up to him, but instead she stopped a few feet from him and stared at him with an impish smirk.

“Shadow…” The pegasus spoke loudly and with steely determination, as if she were giving an order to an army. Cotton was confused by the display.

“What…? But Shadow Mist isn’t here…” The unicorn spoke to himself while looking around to find who the mare was talking to. Suddenly, a strange occurrence made Cotton’s blood run cold. Raincloud’s shadow started moving slowly from beneath her. The black silhouette stretched out to the side until it was projecting to a spot beside her, where it stopped.

The shadow then started forming into a more solid looking dark circle on the ground. Suddenly a large, amorphous creature started rising up out of the ground where the shadow had been. The creature was pitch black everywhere except for its eyes and mouth, which were glowing a sinister purple that flickered like a candle inside a jack-o-lantern.

The ghostly shape was very broad at the top, with the creature’s arms jutting out from the edges of its body. Its head consisted of a small blob on top of its body with its glowing eyes and mouth seemingly carved into it. The shadow’s lower body tapered down to a thin end that resembled a tail. The entire thing looked like some kind of demonic manta ray sprouted arms and learned how to fly.

“Wh….w-wha.” Cotton stared at the monster wide eyed as it floated menacingly before him. The creature turned and looked to its master, who was smiling devilishly at it while glancing to the frightened unicorn. The pegasus smiled and admired her minion for a moment before redirecting her attention to the unicorn.

“Rough him up!” Raincloud instructed to the creature while pointing at Cotton with her arm. The creature let out a sinister cackle that pierced Cotton’s very being as it seemingly echoed softly through the room. Suddenly the creature swooped down rapidly and disappeared into the floor, leaving nothing to give a hint that something had even been there.

Cotton immediately flew into a panic as he looked around him nervously. He backed away from the wall and checked every possible location where the creature could come from. Suddenly, the unicorn looked down, only to be greeted with a small black patch on the floor that resembled a shadow. The creature’s head suddenly popped out of the patch and stared at Cotton with its glowing eyes and jagged smile.

“AHHH!” Cotton screamed at the top of his lungs as the creature sprang up from the ground and grabbed him by his back leg. With one swift motion, the shadow lifted him up and let him hang upside down. The unicorn dangled from the creature’s grip and struggled in a vain attempt to get free.

“Raven Feather! Please call it off! I’ll do anything, I swear!” Cotton yelled in a terrified panic as he tried to avoid staring at the monster’s disturbing face. The white pony punched his hooves as hard as he could into the creature, but was only met by his arms going through the shadow as if it weren’t really there. Finally, Cotton decided to pull and wriggle his leg to try and pry it out of the creature’s grasp.

Raincloud’s laughter did nothing to distract Cotton from the icy stare of the creature. The shadow held its other arm up and slowly moved it toward the unicorn’s face. The spikey claws jutting out from the specter’s hand were an inch away from piercing the frightened pony’s skin. Cotton flinched his eyes shut and prepared for the pain that would follow.

Suddenly and abruptly, Cotton was sent crashing to the floor as the shadow released its grip. The force of the impact was mostly placed on the back of the unicorn’s head, causing quite a bit of pain and discomfort. Cotton looked up to see the shadow staring at him as it sat still, the only motion arising from it being the slow rise and fall of its body from floating in the air.

Behind the shadow, Raven Feather and Raincloud were standing next to each other and glaring at Cotton. Raincloud motioned for the creature to return to her, causing the shadow to fly into the air and swoop back into the ground at the pegasus’ feet. The creature quickly melded into the shape of an average shadow and turned see-through once more, giving the illusion that it had never been there at all.

“Thank you Miss Raven Feather… I promise I won’t fail you on the next plan.” Cotton walked forward and bowed his head respectfully to the earth pony. Raven Feather huffed in annoyance before forcefully lifting the unicorn’s head up with her hoof.

“There won’t be a next plan for you to fail Cotton… you’re officially fired from making and performing any spells and rituals on our behalf.” Raven Feather explained to him in an annoyed tone. Cotton was extremely shocked to hear that he was being punished so severely.

“In the meantime, Raincloud and Dust Kicker will be my acting agents in the field. Hell, I might step outside myself and help them out on their first mission... I could use some fresh air after all.” Raven Feather stated with a cheerful grin while turning to the two ponies and sharing in a joyful chuckle.

“What?!... But… but… but why?! I’m not the only one who screwed up this time! Shadow Mist wasn’t even there to help me, and now he isn’t even here to take blame for it.” Cotton tried to shift the blame to his partner, although the red pony did have some responsibility over the plan due to his orders.

“What are you talking about Cotton? Shadow Mist has been here the whole time.” Raven Feather stated with a hint of devilish satisfaction in her voice. Cotton looked around in confusion. The red earth pony was nowhere to be found in the small, dusty room. He wasn’t even hiding behind any of the cobweb ridden shelves.

“What…? But… where is h-” Cotton was interrupted by a sudden shroud of darkness appearing in front of him. When the shadows faded from view, the familiar form of the red furred earth pony was left standing a mere inch away from Cotton.

“Hi Cotton…” Shadow Mist spoke up on cue with his appearance, causing the unicorn to jump backwards in fright and surprise.

“What…? But how did you…” Cotton stammered in between breaths while calming himself down. The red pony merely chuckled and turned to face Raven Feather.

“Didn’t I tell you before Cotton…? We all have gifts to contribute to the group.” Raven Feather chuckled to herself while watching the frightened unicorn get up.

“I thought you were speaking metaphorically…” Cotton muttered to himself while trying to preserve any shred of dignity he had left. Taking one look at Dust Kicker and Raincloud, who were quietly chuckling and laughing uncontrollably on the floor respectively, it was clear that he had failed to do so.

“Now then Shadow Mist… what happened at the hospital?” Raven Feather asked the crimson earth pony and waited expectantly.

“Well, I was keeping an eye on Cotton like you asked. Twilight Sparkle and a small group of her friends, including the slayer, got trapped in the building when the spell was complete. Everything was going perfectly fine… the creature’s completely drained two ponies of their life force, and there were three children there as well… so you can imagine that we managed to gather a lot of fear and sadness. But then these ponies in tactical gear busted through the door and rescued everyone. They went down to the basement and found the room where the symbol was, and while Cotton here ran away… they managed to destroy the spell and make off with a few of our books.” Shadow Mist explained while looking to Cotton Quill with disdain.

Cotton could see that Raven Feather wasn’t at all impressed with him, even though she had already punished him for messing up. He looked at Shadow Mist with a mixture of shock and scorn on his face. The unicorn couldn’t believe that he could speak as if nothing was wrong when he had fled as well.

“But… why did you run away? If you all wanted me to stay and fight, then why didn’t you try to keep them away?” Cotton looked to Raven feather in a last ditch attempt to get her to see his logic. She merely scowled at him further before looking back to Shadow Mist and waiting for his explanation.

“They looked like they had royal guard training at some point. And they were packing some fairly advanced magical equipment. I would have ran, but seeing how I can turn invisible, I decided to watch them to find out what we were up against.” Shadow Mist explained to the others and sat down after he was done. Cotton was even more shocked to see that they seemed to except his explanation.

“But… why are you only mad at me?!” The unicorn fumed in frustration. Raven Feather sighed in annoyance before looking back to him.

“It’s not so much that you ran away Cotton… although I am still mad at you for that. It’s that you disobeyed me to run away, and you left your books behind. Not that they will get much from them… but it is still a considerable mistake, which is why you will be staying here and helping the others with research and other petty chores I would normally reserve for some grunt that I don’t know the name of.” The black mare stated matter-of-factly to the unicorn while walking towards the door and motioning for the others to follow.

“But… I’ll still get rewarded when this is all over right?” Cotton asked timidly in order to not set off the earth pony’s temper again. Raven Feather paused at the door and turned around.

“After all the complications you caused? Do you know how much fear and negative energy is needed to invoke the eternal night? Not to mention all of the other complex rituals needed… no, you probably have no idea… you haven’t spent most of your life searching for a way to do it.” The earth pony stated with an annoyed tone to the unicorn before walking out of the door with her three companions. Cotton Quill followed the group out into the dark hallway and walked in front of them to stop them.

“That didn’t really answer my question Miss Raven Feather.” Cotton said while trying to sound as lighthearted as possible. The black mare sighed in frustration before looking at the unicorn with a defeated expression.

“Tell you what Cotton… if you work really hard on whatever odd jobs I give you, and you don’t screw anything else up, I might reconsider feeding you to a pack of darklings after we become this world’s new gods.” Raven Feather said with a slight smile as she envisioned how satisfying it would be to have the unicorn murdered brutally.

Cotton was going to say something in return, but he was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a door closing down the hall followed by a hiss of air blowing past the group. Everyone else merely looked in the direction of the noise with slight curiosity, while Cotton nearly jumped out of his skin with fright.

“I thought we were the only ones down here…” The unicorn stammered nervously while hiding behind the group for protection while staring down the hall at the ominous door at the end.

“We are… in a manner of speaking.” Raincloud spoke up with a devious tone as she relished in watching the terrified stallion.

“What was that anyway…? That happened to me earlier in the hallway leading down here.” Cotton asked curiously. The white pony finally managed to calm his nerves and limit his fear to a slight tightness of the muscles.

“One of the workers was down here on an errand earlier, I think he might have accidentally broken or damaged one of the protective seals on the house. Ever since there have been a few odd occurrences, so I think something might have been woken up… Oh yeah, that reminds me. Cotton, your first job is to go in there and fix the seal.” Raven Feather instructed suddenly while turning to face the unicorn.

“What?! You want me to go in there by myself?!” Cotton’s heart skipped a beat as his fears came back to him in full force.

“Oh don’t worry. You’ll have that worker down here to help you. At least I think he’s still down here… I don’t remember him coming back upstairs at any rate…” The black mare tried to sound reassuring, but then she scratched her head as she tried to recall whether or not the worker actually made it out of the basement.

“Just head in there and use the book near the symbol to find out how to fix the seal… and don’t worry, I’m sure whatever managed to get through the weakened seals is probably harmless.” Raven Feather stated with deceitful confidence while walking away with her group. Raincloud paused and turned around to give the unicorn a devious smirk.

“Probably…” The pale mare said with a brief chuckle before turning back around and following Raven Feather and her brother around the corner.

Cotton stared at the ominous hallway before him and gulped nervously while forcing himself to step forward. If he remembered correctly, and if Grimwood’s directions were to be trusted, then the room where the door just slammed shut would be the room where one of the human owners hung themselves from the rafters.

“You know… I hate this job sometimes.” The unicorn muttered to himself before swallowing his fear and walking down the hall to get started on his job.