It was a little past noon in the streets of Ponyville. Tom and his three companions walked towards their destination of town square with a dull air around them. The only ones willing to make small talk seemed to be the princesses, as Brimstoke was unsure of what to talk about casually, only answering questions or subjects given to him. Despite the odd silence of the group, Tom felt occupied in his own thoughts.

It wasn’t every day that he got to meet the mayor of a town. After all, the boy was used to staying away from people in towns he would go to, only talking to others to get information on any stray monster or paranormal happening nearby. So even though he had already met the equivalent of this land’s rulers, the human was flattered and somewhat excited to be meeting the mayor of Ponyville.

As the four walked down the mostly empty street, Tom began thinking of how little sense having a mayor in a monarchy made. Usually kingdoms that had princesses had lords and ladies, or even dukes and duchesses as their lower forms of governors. But having a mayor made the human incredibly confused as to how their hierarchy of power worked.

“So let me get this straight… you are the princess, and yet you rule over most of Equestria as if you were queen?” Tom asked Celestia with a confused expression as he tried to wrap his mind around the strange form of government these ponies had.

“Yes… I suppose so.” The white alicorn replied while furrowing her eyebrows at the boy. She thought nothing of her title and how it conflicted with the general definition of Princess at all before. Luna shared in her sister’s confusion as to where the issue was with their method of rule.

“And to top that off… you also have mayors for your towns? “ The boy added to the confusing issue. Celestia simply nodded in reply, she still failed to see why the human was confused on the matter.

“Is there a problem with that?” Brimstoke asked while raising an eyebrow curiously. Tom realized that his observations fell on deaf ears. The human sighed in defeat as he reminded himself not to discuss the strangeness of something to the intelligent talking ponies.

“No… never mind, I guess it's just a human thing.” Tom said with a dull expression. The stallion shared a confused shrug with the princesses as they collectively pondered at what the human was on about.

“So what’s the mayor’s name anyway?” Tom asked curiously in an attempt at changing the subject of the conversation to something less confusing for both parties.

“Mare.” Luna said casually in reply. Tom was stunned by the simple response, he was unsure of whether or not he heard the alicorn correctly.

“I’m sorry, could you say that again?” The human asked while squinting his eyes in confusion. He wanted to hear the name again to process it better.

“Mare… you know, Mayor Mare.” Luna said as clearly as possible to clarify. She was still unaware of the mental breakdown she had just caused in the human.

Tom had to use every fiber of his being to not bust out laughing like a spastic child. He stared blankly ahead with a face as dull and unexpressive as stone while laughing and repeating the name over and over in his head. He had heard ridiculous names and concepts every day since he arrived, but Mayor Mare was too much for the boy to handle. The ponies looked at the dumbfounded human curiously, being blissfully ignorant of the chaotic outbursts that he was keeping from them.

“Tom… are you ok?” Celestia asked with mild concern as she watched the corners of the human’s mouth twitch upwards every once and a while.

“Pfft… yeah… I’m fine.” Tom snorted as he opened his mouth to speak. He was struggling to fight the urge to at least smile, but he had to remain silent, or forever feel awkward whenever talking to the princesses.

“Ok then…” Celestia said in a confused tone. The white alicorn raised an eyebrow at the strange behavior of the human. Deciding it best to leave the subject alone, the group walked in silence for a while.

While Tom got all of the internal laughter out of his system, Celestia was left to her thoughts as they walked. She drew her attention to the previous attacks made by the hooded ponies, and how they could have turned out had things gone differently. She frowned as grim thoughts of what Twilight and the others must have gone through filled her mind. She had not been told all of the details from any of the element bearers, but she knew it must have been terrifying for all of them.

“Hey Tom… What was it like back in the hospital?” Celestia asked to further elaborate on the events that transpired yesterday morning. The human was caught off guard by the sudden question. He thought about it for a moment before replying.

“It was pretty dark and cold for the most part… why do you ask?” Tom’s somber answer did nothing to ease Celestia’s burdened mind. She sighed sadly as she decided to level with the group.

“To be honest, I was thinking about what it was like for the girls to be in those situations. I know they’re tough in their own right, but what happened at the school and hospital must have been traumatizing for them.” Celestia said while looking down sadly. Luna frowned as she listened to her sister’s concerns. She knew that it must have been hard on the white alicorn to hear that such terrible things happened to her student and her closest friends.

“They were more afraid in the hospital than in the school.” Tom spoke up with a sobering tone. “I mean, back in the school it wasn’t as bad once we figured out what the monster was like. It was just one thing, and all we had to do for the most part was stay away from water to avoid it. But it was a lot tenser in the hospital for sure. I was with Rainbow Dash for most of our time there, and it was pretty scary with just the two of us there, but I can’t imagine what it must have felt like for Twilight and the others. To wander around in the dark in the middle of a cold and spooky hospital, looking over your shoulder to check behind you every two seconds to make sure that corner you just passed didn’t have any horrifying monster waiting in it, eager to grab you when you aren’t paying attention and dragging you away to certain doom... it must have been pretty harsh for them.” The human’s explanation struck a chord in the two princesses. It affected Celestia the most however.

Thinking about the purple unicorn alone and scared in some dark hallway surrounded by monsters made a lump form in the alicorn’s throat. The white alicorn swallowed her dreadful feelings down and regained her composure before speaking again.

“I understand that two ponies lost their lives because of those monsters correct?” Celestia asked while trying not to reveal her sadness to the others. Luna read her sister like a book. She frowned sympathetically as she listened to the white alicorn making things worse on herself.

“Yeah… Twilight was apparently down there with them. She blames herself you know… I just wish I could have done something myself.” Tom looked down and stared at the sidewalk as he reflected on the grim event. Celestia put a hoof on his shoulder, causing him to look up at her.

“It wasn’t anyone’s fault Tom… least of all yours. Bad things happen to good people sometimes, but we just need to live with it and move on with what we have.” The white alicorn’s words made Tom think back to his past briefly. He nodded in agreement while applying Celestia’s advice to both situations.

Before the group could dwell on their thoughts any further, they suddenly found themselves standing in the center of town. The circular area was surrounded by numerous houses and other buildings, making a border that lined the oddly circular square nearly perfectly, with only a river with two bridges crossing it on the other side to complete the border.

Several colorful tents, statues, and other ornate buildings and decorations were scattered around the square. Most notably of which being a large statue of an earth pony sitting atop a pool of glistening water. The only thing able to take Tom’s gaze away from the many colorful sights was the town hall itself.

The oddly circular building sat in the center of the square, making it the literal epicenter of the town. The many columns that spread around the outside of the building held up a second floor balcony that stretched around in a circle. The main building was relatively thin when compared to the outer ring made by the balcony, stretching upwards and tapering off into a red roof with numerous windows laid into it.

“Whoa. I must say this place is a lot more… colorful than I imagined.” Tom stated casually while observing the many vibrant sights around the square.

“Was your town square not this colorful?” Luna asked while looking at the boy with a quizzical expression. The human subconsciously raised an eyebrow as he thought back to his home town.

“We didn’t really have much of a town square in my town… we had a town hall, but it was dull, grey, and boring. And I’m pretty sure it only had like five people working there… counting the mayor.” Tom explained with a passively joking tone as he pictured the small building in his head. Meanwhile, both parties were left to wonder at the architecture of the other, with Tom staring in amazement at the ponies’ architecture and the ponies cringing as they pictured the dullness of the human’s architecture.

“Well I can assure you, this place is a lot livelier than what you’re probably used to.” Luna said with a smirk while waving her hoof around to point out the bustling square. Sure enough, several ponies were all rushing about on their daily business, with a few pausing to look at the odd sight of the two princesses conversing with a human.

“You got that right…” Tom muttered to himself as the four walked up the steps to the town hall and stepped through the door. Inside, the group found a room that had three hallways that led off into other parts of the building. A wooden desk sat in the corner of the room, with a receptionist pony sitting behind it. The mare looked up from some papers on her desk and smiled at the princesses and their companions.

“Hello Princess, I assume you’re here to see Miss Mayor?” The grey furred pony asked politely with a courteous smile. The alicorn nodded in response.

“Yes, we’re here to have a meeting with her… could you point us in the right direction please?” Celestia asked in a friendly tone.

“She’s in her office, three doors down that hall and to the left.” The receptionist explained as she pointed down the center hallway. The group looked where she was pointing and noticed a double door a little ways down the hall.

Celestia thanked the grey mare before joining the group in walking down the hall. After a short journey, they gathered in front of the door to the mayor’s office and paused in preparation. Everyone looked at Tom to see whether or not he was nervous, only to find that he seemed as confident as ever.

Giving a quick nod of agreement, the two princesses opened the door and stepped inside while the other two followed behind them. The group quickly noticed the mayor was sitting behind her desk attentively.

“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna. It’s good to see you two.” The light brown mare greeted the two with a jovial laugh. The princesses smiled as they returned the greeting. Tom analyzed the pony’s appearance as he stood beside the two alicorns.

Mayor Mare seemed to have a friendly yet professional air about her. She wore a pair of yellow framed glasses and a white collar with an aqua colored tie curled up into an oddly shaped puffball. She had grey and white striped hair, with the stripe pattern alternating between her mane and her tail.

“And you must be this Tom fellow I’ve heard about.” The Mayor said in a friendly tone while getting up to walk over to the human. Tom could see that her cutie mark was that of a scroll tied off with a blue ribbon. The grey haired pony walked over to the boy and shook his hand with a welcoming smile.

“I must be… not too many humans in blue jump suits with the name Tom walking around Equestria.” Tom said in a jesting way. Mayor Mare smirked at the lighthearted attitude of the newcomer to her town.

“Quite so… and none with such heroic prowess as yours either. I see that you have rescued your share of ponies since you’ve been here Mr. Greene, for this I offer you my sincerest gratitude.” The grey haired mare put her hoof to her chest and gave a courteous bow to the human. Tom could tell that the brown pony had a deep concern for the wellbeing of her fellow ponies. She seemed genuinely affected by the mere notion of such grim things happening under her watch.

“I don’t know what I would do if any of the citizens of this town were to come to harm in any serious way.” Mayor Mare stated in a sincere tone, hearing this made Tom avert his eyes to the floor. The mere mention of The Mayor having such a deep connection with her town’s citizens made the human think back to the hospital. Knowing the tragic events that happened yesterday made the boy uncomfortable with looking the mare in the eye.

Mayor Mare frowned slightly as she noticed the human avert his gaze. Perhaps she knew that he had some form of guilt inside of him for letting such a thing happen. Whether or not she knew his true feelings, the brown pony could definitely tell that something was bothering the human.

“Regarding the events that happened yesterday and the day before, I understand that you were there at the school and hospital during these events?” The brown mare asked in a more serious tone. Tom looked up as the question caught him off guard.

“Y-yes.” The human replied while keeping his emotions in check. The Mayor looked between him and the others thoughtfully.

“Alright Tom, I want you to explain to me and the princesses here everything you know about the two events. What happened, what important information you know on these hooded ponies, and what you think we should do next.” The grey haired mare instructed in a calm yet confident tone.

“If I may ask… why?” Tom asked in a confused tone while looking to Brimstoke and the two alicorns. The three were as confused as he was regarding The Mayor’s intentions. Mayor Mare smiled with a determined expression on her face.

“Because if we’re going to beat these guys… we need to know what we’re up against, and you’re the one here who knows the most about the supernatural.” The brown mare explained to the human casually. Everyone nodded in realization as they agreed to her reasoning.

“Are you sure we’re going the right way Glimmer?” Neon Streak asked her yellow partner uneasily while looking around at her unfamiliar surroundings. The three had been walking through town for a while, and they still had not arrived at the book store.

Glimmer Shine shrugged in slight annoyance as he was asked yet again if they were on track. The green pony had been paranoid that he was getting them lost ever since they left the library. He turned his head to face the two mares behind him and tried to sound less annoyed than he felt.

“Yes, I’m sure. Just because I’ve never been here before doesn’t mean that I can’t follow directions.” The yellow stallion said with a playful chuckle. Neon Streak raised her eyebrow in doubt at the bold claim, but decided to leave Glimmer alone for a while.

“You’ve never been to Ponyville before?” Applejack asked curiously while taking a quick glance around to see what area of town they were actually in. Not that she doubted Glimmer Shine’s ability to navigate, but she at least wanted to know if they were walking in circles.

“Nope… can’t say I have. Me and Peppermint grew up in Manehattan and stayed there until we signed up for the academy.” Glimmer Shine replied with a smile to the orange mare. He was happy to get the subject off of where they were going for a change.

“How long were you two in the academy for?” Applejack added as she became more intrigued on the subject of the brothers’ training. Glimmer looked away in thought for a moment before replying.

“All together we stayed for about two years… one and a half we spent with Brimstoke and the others.” The yellow stallion said while reminiscing back to his time in the academy. Although it seemed like he had just barely graduated, Glimmer was very fond of his time there.

“It’s nice to hear that you and your brother went in together. Staying close with family is one of the most important things in life in my opinion.” Applejack stated with a warm smile while thinking of her own brother and sister. The mere fact that Big Mac agreed to do some extra work so she could go help her friends made her think of how close they were. The yellow stallion nodded in agreement to the orange mare’s statement.

“Yeah, I’m glad we got the opportunity. Pepper wanted to heal the sick and wounded, and we both wanted to help the greater good, so we agreed to try out for the academy. He struggled a bit with some of the lessons, but I helped him through.” Glimmer Shine said with a cheerful smirk.

“No offense to either of you, but you don’t look like the type to be hunting monsters like Tom… Peppermint least of all.” Applejack said with as polite a tone as possible. Although she didn’t want to sound mean, the two brothers, and even some of the other members of the team seemed unlikely for the job they had.

Glimmer Shine chuckled briefly in agreement. Applejack was glad to hear that the stallion didn’t take the statement the wrong way. He sighed while thinking of his brother’s sensitive nature. He finally turned to face the orange pony and spoke up.

“I guess you’re right there… Pepper does look kind of… timid, doesn’t he?” Glimmer said with an uncertain expression. He seemed to be worried that his brother wouldn’t do well when in the heat of the moment. The stallion remained silent for a short while, leaving Applejack to feel a little sympathetic for him.

“Well, I guess we’re as ready for this job as any pony. Luna picked us because she felt we had the skills and teamwork necessary for this kind of stuff.” Neon Streak spoke up with an accepting sigh. Applejack and Glimmer Shine nodded confidently in agreement. They were sure that they would do a great job at stopping the hooded ponies.

“Oh hey, would you look at that.” Neon Streak spoke up in surprise and stopped to look off to the side. The other two stopped and wondered why the green mare had ceased walking before they thought to look in the direction she was facing.

Sure enough, there was a building that stood out from the rest to the ponies. It was a simple store that would have blended right in had it not been for one identifying feature. The store had a sign above the door that had a large book and a quill dipped into an inkwell on it along with some lettering that read book store.

“I guess you did know what you were doing then kid.” Neon chuckled while giving Glimmer Shine a playful punch on the shoulder.

“Thank you…” The yellow stallion replied in a relieved tone. After all the constant doubt and questioning he had to go through on the trip, Glimmer was happy to see that they had finally arrived at the right destination.

“Ever been here before Applejack?” Neon Streak turned to look at the farm pony curiously as she observed the front of the store. Applejack tried to recall any time she might have seen or been to the store beforehand, but her mind drew a blank.

“No… Ah don’t think so. Ah haven’t really needed to anyway… if Ah ever needed to read a book, Ah could just head down to the library.” The orange mare replied. Being friends with the town librarian did have its benefits if the farm pony ever wanted to check out a book.

“Let’s head inside then… check the place out.” Glimmer Shine said with a knowing nod to the two mares as he walked up to the door and opened it for the group to walk in.

A sharp bell chimed as the door opened and the three ponies walked in. Applejack looked up to see a tiny bell set up above the frame of the door, designed to be rung to let the employees know when a customer entered.

The smell of paper and books in general blended in with the red, brown, and green color scheme of the store interior to create a peaceful and warm atmosphere. There were several bookshelves lined up in rows off to the right, with a sitting area with a few more books to the left.

Three ponies of varying colors and genders were either sitting and reading a book, or standing and browsing the smaller shelves in the open area to the left. One of the ponies, a blue earth pony mare with black hair turned her head to the three ponies entering and flashed them a passing smile.

Applejack smiled back to the friendly mare as the group walked a little ways past the sitting area and up to the front desk. Behind the desk was a red earth pony stallion with medium length black hair that was looking off to the side with a dull expression. Upon noticing the approaching group, he seemed a little surprised to see two ponies in tactical vests traveling with a farm pony.

“Hey, I’m Shadow Mist… how can I help you?” The stallion asked with false courtesy and a forced smile. He studied the three in front of him curiously as they stepped up to the desk.

“Uh… hi, we’re here to see the owner of the store Cotton Quill. Is he around?” Glimmer Shine decided to speak on behalf of the group. He tried to sound as professional and direct as possible. Shadow Mist looked behind him with a slight hint of unease that the three ponies failed to pick up on.

“Uh… sorry… I think Cotton isn’t here right now.” The red furred pony said once he returned his attention to the group in front of him. Glimmer Shine shifted his eyes to his two companions. Applejack and Neon Streak were just as unsure of this pony as he was, but they were uncertain as to what was so off-putting about him.

“Well is he going to come back sometime today? We really need to speak with him regarding a request from the princess, so it’s kind of important.” Glimmer said while trying to convey the seriousness of their visit. Shadow Mist seemed surprised to hear that Cotton was sought after by the princess.

“The princess huh…? Who did you guys say you were again?” Shadow Mist asked while glancing at Applejack out of the corner of his eye. The orange mare felt oddly uncomfortable with how the red pony was looking at her. It was almost like he recognized her and wanted to make sure that he was looking at the right pony.

“I’m afraid that’s on a need to know basis. Sorry, but you know how things are with the princesses and secrecy.” Neon Streak answered for Glimmer Shine while still trying to get a read on this odd pony’s actions.

“Yeah… yeah.” Shadow Mist nodded while taking a quick and purposeful glance over to the three ponies in the sitting area, who, unbeknownst to Applejack and her two companions, had been carefully watching the conversation unfold. As the red pony nodded to the three in front of him while glancing behind them, the three ponies in the front of the store acknowledged the signal with a slow nod of their own and slowly put their books away and reached behind various areas on the shelves.

Shadow Mist smiled and conversed with the three blissfully unaware ponies in front of him to stall them while secretly watching behind them with his peripheral vision. The three ponies in the sitting area each slowly pulled out small daggers from hidden places behind the shelves. They slowly and silently walked around the sitting area and gradually crept up on the group with their weapons at the ready.

Applejack was getting officially creeped out by how the suspicious pony was looking at her. Maybe it was something about how he was obviously faking a smile, or maybe it was how he seemed to be putting on too much happiness for the situation, but the farm pony definitely knew that something was off about this Shadow Mist.

The orange mare looked off to the side and pretended to be interested in a few books as an excuse to divert her gaze away from the disturbing pony’s stare. Just as she was reading off a few titles of books to herself, she caught a glimpse of something moving in the corner of her eye.

Applejack turned her head just in time to see that the three seemingly harmless ponies they had passed on their way in were now rearing up to attack them with deadly weapons. The farm pony’s eyes widened in shock and backed up slightly as her body recoiled in surprise.

“AH!” Applejack cried out loudly to get the others attention. She barely had time to process words into a cry for help, so she just made the loudest and most defined noise of distress that she could.

Glimmer Shine and Neon Streak spun around in shock when they heard their companion yell. They saw the incoming attackers just in time to react. The three ponies yelled as they leapt for their targets. Applejack just barely managed to dodge backwards, catching a slight draft as the pony’s downward stab sailed right past her face.

Glimmer Shine and his partner raised their arms in front of them and caught the incoming attackers’ arms in an attempt at wrestling their weapon from them. While her friends struggled to keep the ponies from pushing the blades into their skin, Applejack locked eyes with the unoccupied third pony. The blue mare scowled at her with a deep hatred, making the farm pony gulp nervously as she prepared to strike again.

Applejack dodged to the side as the black haired pony swung at her again. Seeing no other choice but to retaliate, the orange mare reared up her back legs and kicked as hard as she could at the knife wielding pony. The force of the seasoned apple bucker’s kick went straight into the mare’s side, knocking the knife clean out of her hooves as she sailed into a nearby bookshelf. She grunted in pain as her body collided with the shelf, causing books to fly everywhere as the shelf collapsed under her weight.

Now that the blue mare was out of commission, Applejack diverted her attention back to her friends. The orange mare gasped as she noticed that Neon Streak seemed to be losing her struggle with the pink pony on top of her. The purple haired mare was pressing the knife further and further downwards as the green mare strained her muscles to keep it away from her.

With a steeled look in her eyes and a determined expression, Applejack reared up and kicked at the pink pony. The mare noticed the farm pony’s attack coming her way and jumped off of Neon Streak to avoid it. She smirked as she noticed the panic in the orange mare’s eyes when her attack failed.

“AHH!” Applejack screamed and covered her head as the pink pony lunged for her with the knife much too fast for her to react with an escape. Just as the farm pony was preparing to feel the pain of getting brutally stabbed to death, the pink pony suddenly yelped in surprise and pain as her body felt a jolt of electricity surging through her.

The frightened orange mare looked up to see the pink mare convulsing slightly with a painful grimace. She looked down to see that Neon Streak was digging the taser she carried on her vest into the pony’s leg. The pink mare swiftly dropped to the floor and dropped the knife.

Applejack shared a quick look of gratitude with the green mare, who smiled in return. The two then looked over when they noticed the sounds of their friend struggling. The two mares were about to jump in to help their yellow friend, when Glimmer Shine suddenly punched his attacker square in the jaw.

The punch sent the pony reeling in pain. He growled in anger before raising the knife to run the yellow stallion through. Glimmer Shine reacted to the attack and stepped to the side while reaching to his vest. He quickly pulled out his collapsible baton and extended it while swinging at the knife wielding pony. The slick black baton made a satisfying thunk as it collided with the hostile pony’s head. The knife wielder groaned in pain as he was sent to the floor before slipping out of consciousness.

Now that all three attackers had been dealt with, the three ponies took a moment to catch their breaths while giving each other concerned looks. Glimmer Shine observed his two companions to ensure that they weren’t hurt, while Applejack and Neon Streak did the same for him.

“*Pant*...*Wheeze*… You two ok?” The exhausted stallion asked in between breaths in a concerned tone. Applejack and Neon Streak nodded while they caught their breaths in order to speak.

“Yeah…*Pant*... Ah’m fine.” Applejack stated with relief as she realized that she had come out unscathed from the tense encounter.

“Where the…*Wheeze*… where the hay did that red guy run off to?” Neon Streak’s question made the two look over to where Shadow Mist had once been. The desk was empty and barren, indicating that the stallion must have ran when the fight began.

“I knew he was acting strange… he must have bolted out the back when those three jumped us.” Glimmer Shine shrugged while looking back to the front entrance. Nobody could recall hearing the chime of the front door opening and ringing the bell on top, so he couldn’t have fled in that direction.

“I’ll go after him. You two stay here and keep these guys under control!” Glimmer yelled while rushing behind the desk and into the back room. Before either Applejack or Neon Streak could protest their friend’s decision, the yellow stallion disappeared from sight through the back door.

The two mares looked at each other with thankful expressions as they slowed their breathing back to normal. They had survived a surprise attack intended to kill them, and that was cause enough to be proud of their accomplishment.

“You ok?” Neon Streak asked with a concerned tone. The orange mare nodded with a slight smile as she realized what just happened.

“Yeah… how about you?” Applejack asked the green mare courteously. Neon Streak patted her chest to check if she was still alive, and to see if her heart had exploded from adrenaline.

“Yeah, I’m fine… thanks for the save back there.” The green pony said with a grateful smile while pulling out three zip ties from her vest and tying up the three ponies. Applejack smiled warmly as she thought back to her bravery in the face of danger.

“Ah’m just glad none of us got hurt.” The orange mare breathed a sigh of relief while leaning back on a shelf to rest. Neon Streak nodded in agreement while offering a sigh of her own while observing the three ponies bound on the floor.

“Well… at least we know that the owner of the store is definitely in the hooded pony club… either that or we just got jumped by three ponies with some serious anger management issues.” Neon said with a brief chuckle. Applejack shared in her laughter and smiled. It felt good to the two mares to actually be able to relax and laugh after their tense ordeal.

Meanwhile, as the two mares were enjoying their moment of rest and chatting with happy faces, a silent threat was still lurking nearby. Unbeknownst to the pair, a hidden intruder was slowly and methodically creeping through the room to avoid being detected. Shadow Mist had a lot of practice in using his powers to sneak away from or up on unsuspecting ponies, so these two proved to be no different.

While Applejack rested against one of the shelves and appeared concerned about how real and serious their situation had gotten, she failed to notice the barely audible sound of one of the knives from the three ponies lifting into the air and catching on the ground as it was picked up.

The blade hung in the air and flipped around, as if being held by a murderous ghost that was hell bent on ending the lives of the two ponies. Slowly but surely, the knife floated smoothly through the air until it reached just beside the unaware farm pony.

Neon Streak suddenly caught sight of the floating blade. It took her a second to realize that what she was looking at wasn’t a trick of her eyes, but rather her companion in very serious danger. The knife reared up into the air in preparation to strike the orange mare. Neon’s eyes lit up in shock and alarm.

“Applejack look out!” The green mare yelled in a frantic tone that made Applejack jump in surprise. Applejack whipped her head around just in time to see the floating blade swinging at her. Her initial reaction of jerking her body backwards wasn’t enough to prevent the blade from digging into her chest as it clipped her on the way down.

“Agh!” The orange mare yelped in pain and clutched her newfound injury. She tenderly lifted her hoof from the wound only to find the tip of her hoof stained crimson from her own blood. She could feel a stinging sensation of pain that indicated that she had a sizable gash in her body.

Suddenly, the knife made another sideways stab at the wounded pony, but Applejack was wise to the attack. She ducked to the floor, ignoring the pain of her wound hitting the ground forcefully. The knife barely cleared the top of the cow pony’s hat, missing the leather of it by just a sliver.

Before the knife could strike again, Applejack heard a grunt of pain and looked up. She saw Neon Streak barging into the area where the knife was with her shoulder, sending the knife sliding across the floor as whatever held it was also knocked away.

Neon Streak gave a quick glance to her friend’s wound and frowned sympathetically while hovering near her protectively. The two mares looked around the shop on high alert as they waited for another attack from their seemingly invisible assailant.

“What the hay was that?!” Applejack exclaimed in an adrenaline fueled panic as she mentally coped with what just happened. She couldn’t believe that they were being attacked like this in such a seemingly safe place.

“I don’t know!” Neon Streak replied while darting her eyes around anxiously. The green mare drew her eyes down to her vest and the numerous vials of charms hanging from it. Spotting a particular vial, an idea popped into her head that made her smirk deviously.

“But I think I might have an idea of how we can find out.” The green mare stated while pulling her locators up to her face. She twisted the bottom of the vial filled with the sand like substance. Much to Applejack’s amazement, the sand in the vial lit up a bright red and flashed a few times before fading. After the sand’s light stopped flashing, the entire left side of the bottle of sand glowed solid red. Neon Streak pointed the vial at Applejack, causing the light on the sand to shift to the top section of the vial and grow to the point where most of the sand in the bottle was glowing.

“What’s that?” Applejack asked curiously while staring at the strange spectacle. Neon Streak pointed the vial away, causing the glowing portion of the sand to shrink and move to the side, almost as if a red light were shining on the sand and moving across it like a light display.

“This is one of our locators. It lets us find heat signatures of living things.” The green mare explained while waving the vial sideways slowly. Suddenly, the sand on the upper right portion of the bottle started glowing. Due to Applejack and the three captive ponies being behind her, Neon Streak knew that this signature was most likely their attacker.

The black haired pony followed the signature as best she could with her locator, managing only to get the light to cover a small portion of the top of the bottle. The two anxious ponies looked in the direction where the light was pointing for any signs of movement.

Suddenly the pair noticed another knife was being picked up off the floor, but instead of charging straight for them, the attacker seemed to have a different target in mind. The knife zipped straight for one of the bound ponies on the floor. Much to the shock and horror of the two mares, the knife plunged straight into the back of the blue pony’s neck, puncturing her spinal cord with ease. The mare let out a strangled cry of pain and briefly jerked her body, but she only managed to twitch slightly before losing control of her muscles and going limp.

“Oh my gosh…” Applejack gasped in shock and clasped her hoof over her mouth in horror. She couldn’t believe that she just witnessed a pony dying right in front of her eyes. The orange mare could feel her legs wobble and a dreadful knot in her stomach that wouldn’t go away.

“Hey!” Neon Streak yelled in defiance in an attempt at stopping the invisible assassin. Before she even had time to move, the knife pulled itself out of the dead body of the blue mare with a sickening squelch. The blade zoomed to the side and buried itself into the black pony’s throat.

As the black stallion jerked awake and gurgled in pain while convulsing, the knife ripped out and caused a fountain of blood to gush out of the dying pony. Neon Streak eyed over to the last of their prisoners, a hot pink mare with purple and pink striped hair. She knew why their attacker was killing them. He was doing it so they couldn’t interrogate them for answers.

Applejack noticed her green companion darting to stand between the hovering knife and the pink mare. She gasped in shock and raised her hoof in protest as the knife zoomed straight for the green pony. Neon Streak flinched her eyes shut as she saw the knife traveling at her with such speed.

“Neon!” The orange mare cried out and leapt for the green mare. She tackled Neon Streak and drove her to the ground protectively. The two heard the sound of a pony huffing in exertion and the distinctive noise of hooves leaving the ground in front of them and landing behind them.

They looked over just in time to see the knife heading straight for the bounded mare’s neck area. The two horrified pony’s averted their eyes and cringed as they listened to the sound of the blade sticking into and undoubtedly killing the oblivious pony.

Applejack slowly forced herself to look forward to see if the knife was returning for them, only to see that the blade was still in the corpse of the pink mare. She noticed a bunch of books jostle as something ran into one of the shelves as it rushed towards the door. The two heard the sound of the bell chiming and watched as something flung the door open hastily and ran out.

“Oh… m-my.” Applejack stammered in shock as she surveyed the scene around them while getting up. There were pools of blood slowly forming under the three ponies’ bodies. Some of the shelves and part of the floor and ceiling had blood spatter on them from where the black stallion had his throat sliced open. The entire scene made the orange mare sick to her stomach.

The two looked towards the back of the store to see Glimmer Shine rushing out of the back door with an alarmed expression on his face. He began to speak up to ask what was wrong when suddenly he was silenced by the gruesome sight in front of him.

“What happened in here?” Glimmer asked with a shocked expression while looking around at the dead bodies and general clutter of books lying on the floor from the struggle. The yellow stallion’s eyes widened when he saw that Applejack had a fresh gash in her chest that was still bleeding profusely.

“Applejack, are you alright?!” Glimmer Shine asked with an alarmed tone while rushing up to the orange mare to examine her wound. Applejack winced in pain as she felt the wound sending shooting pains throughout the surrounding area.

“We got attacked by some invisible thing… where’s that other pony?” Applejack asked while trying to fight through the pain as Glimmer Shine pressed a cloth he produced from a pocket on his vest against the gash to stop the bleeding.

“I don’t know… I found the only other exit, but it was locked from this side. It’s like he just disappeared…” Glimmer stated in utter confusion as he reported his failure to find the red furred pony.

“Disappeared…?” Neon Streak repeated the stallion’s words curiously while observing the path to the front door. There were tiny droplets of blood on the floor that seemed to follow a pattern that led towards the door. The blood droplets were too far away from the three dead ponies to warrant Neon to think that they came from them.

“I think Tom was right when he said that we aren’t dealing with regular ponies.” The green mare said in a troubled tone while turning to look at her two companions. Applejack and Glimmer Shine shared concerned looks with the black haired pony as they caught on to what she was insinuating.