“Oh my…” Twilight gasped quietly as she read over another disquieting page of the book. Ever since she and her two study buddies had started reading from the tome they had come across many things that had disturbed them, but this page was particularly horrifying to the purple unicorn.

The page in question contained an informative process of how to create life, more specifically, how to create a wide array of monstrous creatures from the harvested blood and flesh of other living things. Along with a gory description of how to harvest limbs and organs for use in these rituals that made Twilight’s stomach turn from merely thinking about them, there was a detailed drawing on the opposite page that illustrated a human cutting open a lamb and removing its intestines. Just seeing the stark contrast between the blood red colors and the black ink that made up the rest of the drawing was disgusting and vile.

Rarity and Applejack turned away for a moment to collect themselves as they looked to see what their friend was reacting to. They were forced to contain their disgust so as to not incite the curiosity of the children that were just a short distance away.

“Good heavens… how could something like this exist?” Rarity asked while trying to stop herself from eyeing over to the drawing. She was clearly appalled by the grim depiction, but she couldn’t stop trying to look at it, almost like a morbid reflex her body had to observe the horrific picture.

“I don’t know… and I certainly don’t want to think about how anything in this book could be translated to real life.” Twilight groaned while flipping the page again to hide the drawing. Thankfully the next page was just a wall of text. The text was probably some other horrible description that would make the ponies faces pale, but at least they could choose not to read it rather than staring at a picture half the size of the page.

“Ah can’t believe that Tom came from a species that could make stuff like this.” Applejack said while shivering slightly in disgust. Twilight and Rarity also wondered how any sentient creature could be this cruel.

“Well… humans aren’t the only ones who are like this. Clearly as long as there is intelligent life, there will be evil individuals that want to hurt others to better themselves.” Twilight shrugged and shook her head sadly as she thought about the hooded ponies. The mere fact that the world she grew up in could produce such hatred and evil almost made her sick.

“*Sigh* I guess you’re right… I just wish that more people would uphold the values of love and kindness… I thought that most people did, but I guess I was mistaken.” Rarity droned in a depressed tone.

“Hey! Give that back!” The sound of Sweetie Belle arguing behind them made the three turn their heads to see what was causing the filly distress. Apparently she and Scootaloo were fighting over who got to hold a vial that contained a glowing blue liquid.

“You had your turn. Let some other ponies have a try!” Scootaloo retorted with an annoyed tone. The hostile remark made Sweetie Belle scowl angrily before forcibly yanking the vial out of the orange filly’s hooves.

The two young fillies then proceeded to have a veritable tug of war to see who would claim possession of the bottle. Meanwhile, Applebloom, Glitterball, and Peppermint were watching the scuffle take place with uncertain expressions.

“Hey you two, settle down! There are enough of these for all three of you.” Glitterball intervened and took the vial away from the two with her magic. As the two fillies shrugged in defeat and crossed their arms, the white unicorn gave them both vials to keep them content.

“Food for thought girls… sharing is caring.” The rainbow haired mare stated with a lighthearted tone. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle gave each other a wary glance before shaking hooves and making a truce. Seeing the fillies making up brought a smile to the unicorn’s face.

Meanwhile, Twilight and the others shared a giggle at watching the fillies interact. It was always interesting to see them and their energetic hijinks. Even Spike felt a warm tingle from observing the happiness floating around the room. The young dragon had decided to just hang around and watch rather than get caught in the middle of the fillies’ hectic antics, but it was hard to not admire their energy.

As Spike turned his head to look out of the window near him casually, something unexpected caught his eye. The dragon rubbed his eyes to ensure that he wasn’t seeing things. After all, the sight in front of him was bizarre and slightly frightening.

“Uhh… guys?” Spike spoke up to get everyone’s attention while hopping up onto the window sill to get a better look. “I think you might want to take a look at this.” The dragon’s nervous tone made everyone else confused and uneasy as they walked over to see what had spooked him. As they drew closer to the window, Twilight and the others realized what was wrong.

There was an ominous bank of dark clouds rolling in from the direction of the town square. The clouds had a greenish sort of tint to them, making them seem even more unnatural and off putting. The wind seemed to be roaring outside as well, as any trees the group could see were blowing around from the force. And although it was faint, the ponies could just barely see green flashes of light coming from within the clouds.

“What the…?” Twilight tried to find words to rationalize what she was seeing, but failed miserably on that front. She was just as baffled and confused as everyone else was as she watched the clouds spreading across the sky, blotting out the sun’s comforting light so much that it seemed like a rainy day.

Glitterball reached down and pulled out the negative energy detector on her vest. The liquid in the vial glowed a faint blue near the top, indicating that there was an evil presence in the direction of the clouds.

“Guys… I’m getting a faint reading here. I don’t think those clouds are natural.” Glitter announced to the group with a concerned tone.

“I think we gathered that on our own darling.” Rarity said while trying not to sound too cynical. She couldn’t help but feel a little fearful from watching the dark clouds move closer. Although the white mare was just as afraid of storms as the next pony, these clouds seemed to hold a bit more terror to them than regular storm clouds.

“Maybe we should see if Brimstoke or someone else is in range and ask them what’s going on?” Peppermint suggested while holding his hoof up to his ear to see if he could contact one of his teammates in the square using the communication spell.

Before the red haired stallion could even elicit the aura to form around his ear, a loud knock at the door interrupted him. The knock was so loud and sudden that it made everyone jump from surprise. The aggressive nature of the knock made Twilight wonder who could possibly have been behind the door.

“I’ll get it.” The purple mare suggested while walking towards the door. Out of curiosity, Rarity followed the unicorn to see who was there. As the two got to the door and paused in front of it, they couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy. The pair had a suspicious feeling that something bad was outside.

With a quick twist of the handle, Twilight decided to get the task over with and see who it was. She creaked the door open slightly, just enough to peer outside. Once she got a look at who it was, the unicorn was a little confused.

Standing outside in the dreary and windy weather, was a pale blue pegasus mare with white hair. A pitch black cloud pouring with rain adorned her side to serve as her cutie mark. She seemed to be annoyed and had an irritated scowl on her face, but once she noticed the two opening the door, she shifted her expression to a smile that seemed a little forced.

“Umm… can I help you?” Twilight asked in a confused tone while opening the door the rest of the way. The pegasus seemed to struggle to find something to say, as if she were thinking of what she was doing there.

“Oh, uh… yeah! I’m here to uh… check out a few books.” The strange pony said while trying to convey as much sincerity as possible.

“Sorry… we’re closed for the moment on account of some important business from the princess. Maybe you could come back later?” Twilight said in a friendly tone while closing the door slightly. Normally she would let the mare in no problem, but she had an odd feeling that the pegasus had something strange about her. And besides, she was sort of telling the truth after all.

Just before Twilight could close the door, the pegasus quickly put her hoof forward while trying to make up an excuse to stay there. Although she tried to seem friendly, she came off as a bit aggressive, which made Twilight feel uneasy.

“Wait! Uh… can’t I just come in for a little while? I mean just look at it out here. I don’t want to get caught out in this weather.” The mare said with an awkward smile and chuckle. Twilight shrugged as she looked at the gloomy clouds. Although she did think that the pegasus was hiding something, she couldn’t rightly kick a pony out in this weather due to how strange they acted.

While Twilight was debating whether or not to allow the pale mare inside, Sweetie Belle walked over beside her sister to see who was at the door. As she looked at the color of the pegasus, she had a twinge of déjà vu that she couldn’t quite put her hoof on.

“Please… you won’t even know I’m here… promise.” The strange pegasus added in an attempt at appealing to Twilight’s sense of morality. As the pony spoke, Sweetie Belle gasped as she remembered where she had last heard her voice.

“Hey! That’s one of the ponies we saw down in the school’s basement!” The filly said while shaking her sister to get her attention. Twilight and Rarity widened their eyes at the sudden discovery. Upon noticing the alarmed filly, the pegasus seemed genuinely surprised.

“Wow… you must be one of those three fillies from the school. Man, I thought that hunk of blood would have made mincemeat out of you pipsqueaks.” She chuckled in a tone that unsettled the three ponies. The pegasus obviously didn’t care about upholding her rouse any longer.

Rarity backed Sweetie Belle away and stood in front of her protectively. She and Twilight shifted their expressions to more serious ones as they lit up their horns and leered at the pale mare with hostile intent.

“Get away from us…” Twilight instructed while shifting her weight forward in a threatening manner. Although her nerves were on edge from confronting one of their enemies, she had a room full of friends to protect from the intruding pony.

“Really? Are you sure I can’t just-” The gray mare asked in a jesting tone while stepping forward, only to be met by Twilight making her horn glow brighter. As she looked at the two unicorns staring holes into her, Raincloud backed up slightly while maintaining her casual expression.

“No, you and your friends have done enough harm. You take one more step in this direction and I will personally make sure you regret it.” Twilight replied sternly. Rarity stepped forward to be in line with her friend as they both held their ground against any possible attacks.

“Wow… you’ve got more spine than I originally thought.” Raincloud muttered to herself, slightly impressed by the boldness being displayed by the purple pony.

“Ok then… if I can’t come in, do you mind if my friend takes a look around?” Raincloud said in a mischievous tone. She suddenly had a very cocky smile on her face. Twilight and Rarity looked around, but the pale mare was totally alone. There weren’t even any ponies in sight other than her.

“What are you-” Twilight started to speak up, when she was interrupted by the mare chuckling devilishly. Raincloud steadied her body and smirked as she observed the confused bunch of ponies.

“Shadow…” The pegasus announced in a firm tone to nobody in particular while looking beside her. Twilight, Rarity, and even Sweetie Belle were heavily confused by the strange mare. Suddenly, something happened that silenced the group into a state of shock and unease.

The mare’s shadow suddenly started growing out to the side, as if a light were shifting around it and causing it to become longer. Once the shape grew to a sufficient length beside her, the shadow completely detached from the pegasus and formed into a circular blotch on the ground. The spot seemed darker than the transparent shadow it had once been. It perfectly resembled the tone of black that the darklings and dark matter were made of.

With a ghastly howl, the black spot rippled as something rose out of it. A black head with two neon purple eyes and a jagged smile of the same glowing color came floating out of the ground. As the shape got higher, its form broadened as its specter like body came into view.

The creature had what appeared to be the frilly overhanging fabric of a cloak around its body, as if it were dressed in some sort of ghostly shawl that blended in with its black color. The beast’s form tapered off into a spectral tail that bobbed up and down as it floated. And to complete its ghostly appearance, it had long, reaching arms that were capped off by boney looking black clawed hands.

“…!” Twilight and her two companions were frozen in shock and fright. All they could do was to stare wide eyed at the dark specter before them as it hovered menacingly beside the smirking pegasus. The creature’s glowing purple eyes and mouth reminded Twilight of some kind of twisted jack-o-lantern that had no way of indicating where it was looking, yet it seemed to be staring directly into her very being.

“Shadow… these are your new playthings. I don’t care what you do to them, as long as they suffer.” Raincloud instructed to her pet. The shadow twisted its head to look at her while keeping its body stationary. The jarring snap that resulted disturbed the three ponies deeply.

“Yeah, you heard me right.” The pale mare stated with a grin before turning her attention to the three ponies in front of her. “KILL THEM!” She yelled in excitement while pointing at the three ponies. The ghostly monster snapped its head to stare at the three quivering creatures in the doorway. The three could almost swear they saw the specter’s jagged smile inch upwards slightly in a joyful smirk.

The shadow let out an unearthly cackle that echoed through the ponies’ heads as it flew at them with its arms stretched out. The pitch black claws that jutted out of its hands looked like they could easily rip them to shreds.

“AAAHHH!” Twilight, Rarity, and Sweetie Belle screamed in unison as the shadow flew at them. Twilight quickly slammed the door shut and locked it before leaping backwards to join her two friends. The door frame jolted as a loud thud sounded against it, followed by an odd sound that the ponies didn’t recognize.

As the trio hyperventilated from their close encounter, everyone else in the room walked over to them with concern and alarm evident on their faces. They had heard a little bit of the conversation from inside, and they obviously heard the three screaming in terror, but they were ultimately clueless as to the danger that just presented itself.

“What happened?! Are you guys ok?!” Spike asked with an alarmed tone while observing the fear in the three ponies’ eyes. Twilight tried to calm herself down enough to speak to the dragon, but the sound of the shadow's haunting laughter echoing through the room faintly stunned her into silence.

As the specter’s laugh shifted around the room, the lights started flickering and dimming and the bookshelves and tables started vibrating on their own. The lights going out and the insane laughter of an unknown threat made all the ponies dart their heads around in a panic as they tried to pin point where the noise was coming from.

“W-what in tarnation is that?!” Applejack stammered nervously while keeping Applebloom close to comfort her. The terrified filly was burying her head into the orange mare’s side for protection, although the farm pony wasn’t faring much better.

“One of the hooded ponies was outside… apparently she has some kind of shadow monster under her control!” Twilight explained in a fearful voice.

“S-s-she told it to k-kill us!” Sweetie Belle’s voice shook almost as much as her knees did. The white filly clung to her sister for comfort, although it did little do quell her gripping terror.

“I don’t want to die.” The white filly whimpered quietly with tears welling up in her eyes. Seeing her sister this frightened made Rarity feel sad and helpless.

“We’re going to be fine darling… sshh it’s ok… just keep your eyes closed and cover your ears… I’ll keep you safe.” Rarity said in a soft voice while hugging the filly close. It tore her up inside knowing that she might not be able to provide her the protection she promised.

“I’m getting readings from all around us… I can’t tell where it is.” Glitterball explained nervously while observing her locator. The vial was completely aglow with blue light, offering little else than the obvious discovery that something evil was all around them.

*POP*

The loud bursting sound of the lightbulb overhead burning out made everyone jump in fright. They turned their attention upwards just in time to see the bulb bursting into tiny pieces with a flash of electricity. Little did the ponies know that while they were observing the exploded bulb, there was a dark blotch forming on the floor just behind Glitterball.

With little more noise than a bizarre whir, the shadow rose out of the floor and set its eyes on its hapless victim. It let out an eerie howl as it rushed into the air like a manta ray swooping down on its prey. As the shadow was preparing its attack, Twilight and the others at the front of the group noticed the monster rushing their friend and gasped in fright.

“Glitterball look out!” Twilight yelled in a panic to warn the unicorn to the incoming threat. Glitterball whipped her head around and widened her eyes in shock at the approaching specter. The sight of the pitch black entity with piercing eyes flying straight for her made her nerves explode with fright.

The rainbow haired mare reacted in the only way she could think of at the time. She reached onto her vest and went for her strobe to defend herself against the creature. Just as she was bringing the vial up to ready it for combat, the white pony shrieked in pain as the specter swiped the bottle out of her hooves while it clawed at her body. The force of the impact sent the vial flying off to the side, and sent the wounded pony to the floor.

“AGHH!” Glitterball yelled in agonizing pain as she clutched her injured arms to the spot where the claws had nicked her chest. The wounds weren’t very deep, but for some strange reason, they stung and throbbed with a shooting pain that was almost unnaturally unbearable considering the limited damage.

“Nugh… guh… urrg!” Glitter yelped painfully while rocking her head back and forth to cope with her suffering. Watching the wounded unicorn moaning in distress made everyone feel a sense of horror and shock as they stood on the sidelines helplessly.

While the unicorn was writhing in pain on the floor, the horrified ponies looked at the shadow only to see that its claws were glowing the same shade of purple that its facial features were. The strange glow vanished and returned to the shapeless blackness that covered the ghostly monster.

“Glitter!” Peppermint exclaimed in terror and shock as he watched his wounded partner on the floor. The creature was looming over her, preparing to strike her again with its claws. The red haired stallion knew that a strike aimed at the helpless mare would either kill her or cause irreparable damage.

With nerves shot to oblivion and shaky hooves, Peppermint reached down to his vest and desperately fumbled around for his strobe. He hadn’t had much practice with the weapon, but there was no time to let his lack of experience or fear get in the way. As the vial clattered against the other pieces of equipment on the stallion’s vest, the shadow jerked its head sideways and stared at the medical pony.

Seeing the hollow and sinister gaze of the shadow sent a cold chill down Peppermint’s spine. He could feel his body seizing up in terror, preventing him from taking any sort of action other than a startled yelp as the specter glided towards him.

“Ooof!” The red haired stallion groaned in pain as the shadow swatted him aside. Although the creature’s claws hadn’t made contact with him, the force of the strike was enough to cause considerable distress as well as sending Pepper careening into the far wall.

Now that the stallion was out of the way, the shadow quickly turned its attention to the group of ponies huddled together in front of it. Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity were so terrified by the monster that they could barely avert their eyes from it as it grinned at them with its unchanging jagged smile. Spike and the three fillies were cowering behind the three mares, hoping that the monster would just leave them alone somehow.

As the monster approached, Applejack gulped nervously as she looked at her terrified friends. Even if Twilight and Rarity snapped out of their state of terror, there was no way they could get all of the children and themselves out of the way of an attack.

Steeling herself against the frightening specter in front of her, the orange mare stepped forward bravely. Or at least, as brave as she could manage to make herself appear. The nervous band of ponies noticed their friend stepping forward to get between them and the shadow. Although they admired her sense of bravery, they were shocked to see the farm pony putting herself in harm’s way.

“Applejack!” Applebloom cried frantically for her sister to reconsider her decision.

“Don’t worry Applebloom… Ah’ll handle this.” Applejack glanced behind her quickly to give her sister a reassuring look before returning her attention to the monster that was floating menacingly in front of her. She hoped that she could deliver on her brave words.

The shadow chuckled sinisterly as it stared at the orange pony in front of it with devious intentions. It held its gaunt arm out in front of itself before presenting its clawed hand for Applejack to see. The specter’s claws glowed a menacing purple once more as it inched closer and prepared to strike. The orange mare gulped nervously as she eyed the sharp claws with a feeling of dread building up inside of her.

Meanwhile, as peppermint rubbed his head and recuperated from his body slamming into the wall, he looked up to see the shadow preparing to attack the farm pony. Taking a quick glance to his side to find that Glitterball was still out of commission, the white stallion knew that he had to be the one to act.

Sitting up against the wall and looking to the nearby table, Pepper saw the remnants of Glitterball’s teaching session with the cutie mark crusaders. There were many uncapped vials, some empty, some filled partially with either liquids or solids, along with the containers for some of the ingredients. After dismissing most of the vials as completely useless, the red haired pony’s eyes settled on one particular vial. It was a bottle without a cap on it that contained a blue tinted liquid. Pepper remembered this to be a strobe that hadn’t been finished by the unicorn.

Aha! He thought to himself in revelation. If the white stallion’s memory was to be trusted amid his shocked nerves and aching body, he knew that strobes were highly unstable in their early stages of brewing, with the slightest touch of the primer causing a bright flash of unconcentrated light energy.

In one swift motion, Peppermint got up from the floor and dove for the table. He quickly grabbed the vial while being careful not to spill any of the liquid. Once the bottle was pointed in the general direction of the shadow, he pushed the button on the bottom section of the vial and closed his eyes.

With a loud noise that sounded like flash powder igniting during a camera flash, the room was filled with a nearly blinding burst of light as the liquid in the vial was totally converted to energy. The violent burst of light elicited a screech from the shadow and made it pause from its attack to recover. The specter had smoke coming from its form, but seemed otherwise unharmed other than its reaction to the pain.

Spotting Glitterball’s strobe on the ground a short distance away and seeing her opening, Applejack dove along the floor and grabbed the small vial. With a determined expression on her face, the farm pony whipped the bottle around and opened fire as she pointed it at the shadow.

One of the bursts of light exploded into the monster’s shoulder, causing it to recoil from the attack. As the orange mare continued blasting at the specter, it dove backwards into the air and flew into the wall, where it disappeared into another black splotch with a disturbing moan that sounded like a threat to the attacking ponies.

After taking a moment to ensure that the danger had passed, the ponies turned their attention to each other to ensure that nobody had been harmed. They were quickly reminded of the white unicorn writhing on the floor a short distance away, and adopted more concerned expressions as they drew closer.

“Is she ok?” Rarity asked with a sympathetic frown as she observed the cringing pony attempting to deal with the pain. Peppermint knelt down and surveyed his teammate for injuries, but he couldn’t get very far into his inspection with the mare cradling her wounds like she was.

“Glitter, it’s me. How bad are you hurt?” Pepper asked while gently taking ahold of the unicorn’s arms and lifting them. There were small gashes on both of her arms, as well as a slightly larger gash on her chest. Much to everyone’s surprise and dismay, the wounds seemed to be lightly pulsating with a purple glow similar to the shadow’s claws.

“Guhh… I don’t think the cuts are too bad… ngh… but it hurts so much I can barely move.” Glitterball explained through clenched teeth. It was clear that the unicorn was in excruciating pain, but it seemed to be unwarranted given the size of her injuries. The ponies wondered if the shadow had somehow done something to the white mare to inflict this kind of pain.

The faint sound of moaning slowly shifting into laughter echoed around the room. It sounded far away, but seemed to be getting slightly closer at times. The ponies suddenly realized just how dark and eerie the room was now that the lights were off. The intense atmosphere made them all nervous and uneasy among other emotions.

“We need to get somewhere away from that thing before it comes back.” Applejack suggested while darting her eyes around anxiously. The stress from not knowing where the specter was almost overshadowed the fear felt from actually seeing the monster.

“Wait a minute… I have an idea!” Twilight stated while rushing into the next room with eager intent. Not wanting to leave the unicorn alone, Spike and Applejack followed the lavender pony as she rushed to a storage closet in the other room.

Twilight lit up her horn and fumbled around the small closet as she feverishly searched for a seemingly random item. Applejack and Spike watched the purple mare anxiously as she tossed aside many items in her search.

“No… no… ugh, no!” Twilight groaned in frustration while hastening her search. She almost hit her companions behind her with the discarded items she was hastily throwing out.

“Aha! Found it!” The unicorn exclaimed in triumph as she held up a small candle. The wax on the candle was a shade of deep blue that seemed to be unnaturally colored into the normally white wax. Applejack and Spike recognized the item to be one of Tom’s blessed candles.

“A blessed candle?” Spike asked curiously as Twilight brought the item out of the closet and shut the door.

“Yes… yes it is. Tom made this a couple days ago out of a spare candle we had lying around. He told me to use it in an emergency… and I think now is as good a time as any.” The unicorn stated while walking into the other room with her small group. Once she entered the main room with her item and presented it to the others, they all smiled as they realized what it was.

“Good thinking Twilight!” Rarity applauded her friend with a cheerful tone. Twilight appreciated the praise, but she also didn’t want to take credit for something before it worked. Without wasting any more time with idle chatter, the unicorn quickly set the candle on the floor in the center of the group and focused her magic on it.

As the wick of the candle lit up a brilliant shade of blue, a pulsating aura went out of the candle and formed a small bubble that covered the group and gave them a little room to move around. Although the space of the protective barrier was decent enough, it was still nowhere near the amount of protection that more candles would have provided.

“I thought these were supposed to cover the whole room?” Scootaloo asked while stepping to the edge of the barrier and poking the air where the circle on the floor ended. The blue force field rippled around the spot where the filly touched before disappearing from sight once more.

“That’s only if we have enough to cover each entrance… I guess we’ll have to work with this for now.” Twilight sighed at their bleak situation while looking at the light given off by the candle. Although the blue light coming off of it was a beautiful sight to behold, it didn’t actually do much more than provide enough light for someone carrying it. The purple unicorn lit up her horn again and projected enough light for everyone to be comfortable in the already eerie room.

“Well as long as we’re safe, I could care less about stretching my legs…” Peppermint stated while examining Glitterball’s wounds. The cuts would be easy enough to mend, but the pain the unicorn was feeling would be another matter entirely.

“Listen Glitter… I’m going to try to do something about the pain. Just sit tight and go to your happy place.” The stallion’s words did little to comfort the rainbow haired pony as she tried to remain as still as possible.

“Gah… I don’t think there is a place happy enough to make me feel better right now Pepper.” Glitterball said with as much humor and wit as she could muster. Her pained smile and attempt at a lighthearted attitude only made everyone else feel bad for the white mare. They watched silently as they hoped that the red haired stallion would be able to do something, anything to make her feel better.

Peppermint thought for a moment before reaching into a pouch on his vest and pulling out a hoof full of a fine white powder. The odd substance almost resembled sugar or salt, but it held the strangest odor that didn’t seem to fit it at all. It smelled like someone just picked a bunch of flowers, enough to concentrate the aroma given off by a group of them.

“What’s that stuff?” Twilight asked curiously while examining the powder closer.

“It’s a powder made by grinding up a rare flower known as dawn’s kiss. It has properties that cancel out certain negative energies, and it can be made into a lot of healing remedies.” Peppermint explained while balling up the powder in his hoof so he could pour it onto the wounds without spilling any. “And… I’m hoping it will get rid of whatever is causing Glitterball this much pain.” The stallion gently took the mare’s arm and poured a little bit of the powder over the length of the gash. After doing the same for her other wounds, he paused and watched to see if it was working.

The ponies looked on with mystified expressions as the power glowed a soft shade of white. The granules of the powder seemed to disappear as it reacted with the wound. And along with the powder slowly disappearing, the purple glow of the wounds was getting weaker and weaker. As the last of the powder vanished, all that was left was the empty, albeit still bloody looking, cuts.

“Ahh…” Glitterball let out a sigh of relief and laid her head back. Judging from her relaxed face and lack of painful moans and groans, the group gathered that her pain had been relieved.

“How do you feel darling?” Rarity asked, hopeful that the powder had worked as well as it appeared. Glitterball smiled as she returned to a more cheerful attitude.

“I feel good as new… minus the cuts on my arms and chest of course, but those don’t hurt that much.” Glitter explained with a relieved voice. Everyone smiled as the unicorn was restored to health. Now that their friend had been cured, they all felt like a weight had been lifted from the room.

“Now that that’s over, we should get those cuts of yours patched up.” Peppermint said with a smile as he prepared to sew up the unicorn’s injuries. Before he could even get out his equipment however, a loud noise that resembled something bashing on a magical barrier sounded out. The group of ponies looked around in alarm as the blue force field around them lit up and became solid.

As a disturbing howl sounded out, the ponies quickly found the source of the disturbance. The shadow had returned, and was frantically banging its fists on the barrier created by the candle. With each blow to the protective bubble, the flame of the candle jolted slightly, as if a light breeze were failing to blow it out.

“GAH!” Spike and the three fillies beside him jumped back in fright. They huddled together as close to the center of the bubble as they could and tried their best to ignore the wailing of the monster outside. Even the adult ponies felt disturbed by the alarming sounds of the specter trying to break in, although they merely recoiled slightly from the initial shock of the shadow’s appearance.

“I think we should call for help before you patch me up Pepper.” Glitterball suggested with a worried expression. Peppermint nodded in agreement. If the group didn’t get help, then they all might end up like Glitter did, or even worse.

“Ok, ok… I’ll see if anyone can hear us over there.” The red haired stallion said while placing his hoof up to his ear. The faster he summoned aid, the faster that they could be truly safe again.