“Oh good, the library… guess my sense of direction is keener than I thought.” Tom breathed a sigh of relief as he laid eyes on the library. He had run off in such a hurry that he had not questioned how much he actually knew about getting around town. And it would have taken too much time to turn around and run back, so he was pretty much on his own.

After catching his breath from the brisk jog he had just taken across town, the human used his senses to get a feel for what he was up against. As he felt his way around the area in his head, he noticed several energy signatures. Some were traces of some kind of creature as it went all over the building, others were current traces of creatures from somewhere up ahead, and there was even an energy signature that seemed to belong to some kind of protection spell.

“Good thinking guys.” Tom was pleased to see that the group had found a way to keep themselves safe in his absence. Now all he had to do was deal with whatever monstrosity the hooded ponies had summoned.

And just in time to be on cue with his thoughts, the boy noticed two pegasi descending from the air above him. He immediately recognized one of the ponies to be the stallion he saw out in the woods, but he had no idea who the pale mare next to him was.

“Well if it isn’t my favorite blue suited wonder.” The blue mare stated with a mocking smile. It was almost like she thought that they were old enemies that had met again on the battlefield.

“And… you are? I know who he is, but I don’t think we’ve met.” Tom stated in mild confusion. The mare chuckled as she placed a hoof on her chest to introduce herself.

“The name’s Raincloud, that handsome fellow there is my brother Dust Kicker. We were in the neighborhood and figured we would stop by and pay a visit to the local library.” Raincloud said in an impishly playful manner.

“Wow… you two make a hell of a pair. He looks like a serial killer and you look like a sociopath.” Tom said while ignoring the death stare he was being given by the brown pegasus.

“Heh… I can see why Twilight and all of her buddies like you so much. I’m sure they will be very disappointed when they hear that you got your ass handed to you by us.” Raincloud shifted her weight forward into a more threatening stance as she spoke.

“Oh yeah, that reminds me. Where are they?” The human asked in a more serious tone. He wasn’t in the mood to be messing around with the two ponies while his friends could be in danger.

Raincloud smirked at the mention of the group of ponies upstairs. She knew that he would be dying to find out what had become of them, and she was counting on it. The pale mare enjoyed having a small amount of power over the human.

“Last I checked they were a little busy trying to keep that dragon from bleeding out all over the floor.” The pegasus stated with a gleeful inflection in her voice.

“Crap... Spike…” Tom muttered to himself in shock. Although he wouldn’t put it past the two ponies to lie to him, he had a feeling that what she was saying was true.

“What did you do to him?” The boy asked with his anger levels gradually increasing. The pale mare seemed to take a certain amount of enjoyment from seeing the human react like this.

“To be fair… I was aiming at that bitch Twilight.” Raincloud said while looking over to her brother and chuckling, she had no idea just how much her statement angered the slayer.

In the split second it took for the mare to look over to her brother, Tom charged forward in a fit of rage and grabbed for his sword. He might not have had the intent to kill the pegasus, but he was certainly going to cause her some serious damage.

“RAAGH!” The boy unsheathed his katana and swung downward at an area that he was certain wouldn’t be fatal. Much to his surprise, his blade stopped dead in its tracks as it caught on something. Tom wondered if he struck a bone for a moment, until he noticed what was actually impeding his sword.

A pair of black, gaunt, and clawed hands was firmly holding the edge of the sword in place. As Tom trailed his eyes forward to follow the hands and see their owner, he was slightly taken aback by the shocking sight of a glowing purple face staring at him with a jagged smile.

“What the hell?!” Tom stammered in surprise while trying to free his blade from the grip of the shadow. Although the monster’s hands were smoking from being in contact with the blessed blade, it seemed to pay no attention to this fact as it stared at the human with unnerving focus.

“Meet my pet shadow… he doesn’t take kindly to people hurting me.” Raincloud explained with a devious grin. Although she wouldn’t admit it, she actually had to take a moment to recover from the shock of seeing the human attack her so suddenly. She was thankful that her minion was paying attention to her surroundings even when she wasn’t.

As Tom failed to budge the sword an inch against the shadow’s grasp, he started to regret his hasty decision of charging into battle without a plan. The disturbing laughter of the shadow creature only further cemented this feeling of dread into the human.

Suddenly the shadow picked the sword up with great force, causing Tom to lose his connection with the ground as he was lifted up along with his blade. Before the slayer could let go of the katana, the specter threw the sword away with frightfully immense strength.

“AHH!” Tom yelled in fright as he was sent flying through the air. He crashed to the ground a short distance from where he had been thrown and rolled a few times from the force of the impact. After coming to a complete stop from his short tumble, the boy quickly reached around to find his sword so he could retaliate.

Feeling the hilt of the blade in his grasp, Tom grabbed it and flipped it over in his hand while getting up to face the creature that just attacked him. As he looked over towards the two ponies where he had just been moments ago, the boy was perplexed to see that the shadow was nowhere to be found.

“*Gasp*” A sudden feeling of breathlessness surged through Tom as his senses went off defensively. He immediately felt the presence of something behind him which he surmised to be the ghostly shadow. As the specter screamed in rage, the human knew that he was about to attack.

Within a split second, Tom managed to roll out of the way of an incoming swipe from the monster’s claws. The shadow growled in frustration at his near miss and leered at the slayer with his icy stare. Tom readied his sword and watched the monster closely for any signs of further attack.

“Come on big guy… You scared?” Tom wondered whether or not it was a sound idea to taunt the creature trying to kill him, but it just came natural in these situations. Perhaps in reaction to the boy’s comment, the shadow floated forward and charged straight for him while howling fiercely.

Tom smirked as he saw the reckless behavior of the shadow creature. He quickly held out his free hand and opened his palm in preparation to destroy the careless monster. As the area in front of him lit up with blinding white light, the human expected nothing more than the smoking remains of the monster to be left behind.

As the light died down, the area in front of the slayer was in fact clear, but not in the way he intended. A black splotch on the ground was swiftly moving towards him. Apparently the creature had swiftly reacted to the attack by seeking shelter in the ground.

Before he had time to react, the splotch raced under his feet with blinding speed. The shadow poked its head out and grinned up at the human with a mocking laugh. It then quickly reached its hands up and grabbed ahold of the boy’s feet.

“WHOA!” Tom was shocked as he suddenly felt the ground give out underneath him as the shadow pulled on his feet. His body sank down into the shadowy blotch in one swift motion. He couldn’t even grab hold of the ground on his way down for leverage. All he could do was hold onto his sword for dear life as the shadow took him on its twisted ride.

As his head sank beneath ground level, Tom noticed that the area around him was obscured in complete blackness. He couldn’t even see his hands above his head as he was forcibly dragged through the pitch black tunnel. The only thing that even told him he was moving was the terrifying feeling of falling endlessly.

“AHHHHH!!!” Tom did the only thing he could do at that point. He screamed like he was on some kind of hellish roller coaster, although the comparison wasn’t too farfetched. The human couldn’t even tell which way was up anymore. On top of the force of the shadow pulling him further into the tunnel, it seemed like gravity was shifting around him. One moment he was falling downward, but now it seemed like he was being pulled along horizontally.

Much to the human’s joy, a light crashed through the blinding darkness as he finally came back out into the real world. His former suspicions of changing gravity were all but confirmed as he fell out of the air and sailed downward towards the ground. Judging from what blurred imagery the boy could put together before hitting the earth, he gathered that the shadow had just popped him out of the side of the library, precariously near the top from the looks of it.

The air was knocked out of his lungs forcefully as he slammed face first into the ground. A fall from that height would probably instantly kill any normal living creature, but Tom was forced to experience the painful stop at the end of his brief flight.

“Irk… ulg… tch.” Tom slowly lifted himself off the ground with his arms. He could barely move his legs, and his arms were shaking so much that it was hard to put weight on them. Judging from the crippling pain in his chest that occurred when he tried to breathe or move, the boy guessed that his ribs were broken.

“Hahhahahah!” Raincloud laughed heartily as she watched the aftermath of the slayer’s punishing fight. It had already been hilarious to see him fly out of the air like that, but it was even more satisfyingly humorous to see him trying to move his broken body.

The pale mare leaned on her brother for support as she ran out of breath from laughing so much. She expected to see him laughing along with her, but the joyful smirk he had on his face was close enough for her.

Tom couldn’t really convey his sense of anger through his painful grimace, but he was absolutely livid at the pair of ponies. As he struggled to get to his feet, he glared at the two, and at the shadow that was hovering nearby.

“W…what’s so funny?” Tom wheezed heavily as if he couldn’t breathe. The crushing pain in his chest was preventing him from using his full lung power.

“Sorry… I can’t hear you. Maybe you should try un-collapsing your lungs first.” Raincloud remarked while wiping a joyous tear from her eye.

“That’s not a bad idea actually…*cough*” Tom muttered to himself, although he probably couldn’t produce anything much louder if he tried.

When he got injured, the human normally suppressed his healing ability until he could prepare himself more for the pain. The more severe the injury, the longer it would take to heal, and the more pronounced and intense the burning sensation would be. Still, he couldn't exactly fight in his current condition, so it was a necessary evil.

“Hrrk… gah.” Tom tried his best to ignore the pain as his injuries started to mend themselves. Although there were a few small cuts and bruises scattered around his body, the most intense pain was coming from his legs and chest. The sensation of bones fusing back together as new matter was created was an odd feeling to say the least. It was like a raging fire was burning inside of him, and any nerves that had been damaged were suddenly screaming to life as they were restored.

The two ponies were impressed to see the human healing himself. He had been favoring one leg over the other and stood at an odd angle because of it, but he gradually shifted back into a normal posture as his bones fixed themselves.

After the burning stopped and his bones were healed, Tom stretched his muscles and popped his joints. With his newfound feeling of restoration, the human was ready and eager to retaliate against the two hoodlums and their pet shadow.

“You two done messing around or what? It’s going to take a lot more than a little fall to put me down.” Tom stated in his best threatening tone. Judging from the expressions on the two ponies’ faces, the slayer could tell that they weren’t exactly shaking in fright at his miraculous recovery.

Raincloud looked over to her brother and dropped her smile. She wanted to stay and watch the fight, but there were other things that called for her attention. Namely what the group of ponies trapped in the library were doing.

“I’m going to go check on them.” The pale mare said while motioning up with her head. “You going to be alright down here?” She asked curiously. Dust Kicker was impressed to hear a slight inflection of worry in his sister’s voice. He knew that she felt normal emotions behind her psychotic front, but it was always nice to see her expressing concern for something other than herself.

“Yeah… I think I can entertain our guest here until you get back. Just leave your shadow down here to help out.” The brown stallion replied while glancing over to the human. He had been waiting for a second chance at fighting the slayer ever since he escaped with the others out in the forest.

“You got it… Try not to have too much fun without me alright?” Raincloud added before taking off into the air. After the pale mare disappeared from sight, Dust Kicker returned his attention to the human in front of him.

“I guess it’s just us now.” Tom observed while preparing himself for battle. Between the brown pegasus in front of him and the shadow monster beside him, the boy felt good about his odds. That is, until the stallion started chuckling to himself.

“Hehheh… no.” Dust Kicker stated with a cocky smile. Suddenly three more dark splotches formed behind him. Three dark blobs rose out of the splotches and quickly formed into monstrous shapes. The creatures resembled some kind of wild cat with four red eyes, which was a bit of an unsettling upgrade from the usual darklings that the pegasus favored.

“I brought friends…” The stallion said in a more serious tone. Tom observed the new monsters with a wary eye. He had never seen a shadow creature take a shape like that before. He wondered just how intricate the brown pony’s ability to create shadow creatures was.

“Oh joy…” The human muttered sarcastically while reaching for his sword. He would have his work cut out for him today.

“What are they doing?” Applebloom asked anxiously as she watched the group gathering around the window. Rarity, Applejack, and Glitterball had all flocked to the window beside the balcony to see if they could catch a glimpse of what was happening outside.

“Ah don’t know Applebloom… they’re just standing around.” Applejack replied while looking back at her sister and the other two fillies. The only thing she could see out of the window was Tom Staying in place while presumably confronting the two ponies.

“I hope he’s going to be ok…” Sweetie Belle said in a concerned tone. She was horrified that the human was fighting such dangerous opponents.

“Hey, this is Tom we’re talking about right? I would be more worried about those two hooded jerks.” Scootaloo chimed in to lift her friend’s spirits. She had no doubt in her mind that the slayer could handle the two ponies.

“Yeah… I guess you’re right.” Sweetie Belle said while smiling slightly. She had to remind herself of how the human had saved her and her friends countless times.

“Of course I’m right. I bet we’re going to be out of here in no time.” The orange filly stated with a confident smirk. She tried to rub off some of her optimism onto her friends to help get them through this tense situation.

Meanwhile, in the back of the room, Twilight and Peppermint were still tending to Spike. Peppermint was just keeping an eye on the dragon’s vital signs, but Twilight was staying by his side for another reason.

She couldn’t believe that she let something like that happen to him. The sight of that shadow coming for her made her panic instantly. The unicorn barely even remembered that the young dragon was beside her. She wondered if she could have done something to save Spike if she had thought more clearly.

“You ok?” The sound of Peppermint’s voice brought Twilight out of her thoughts. She didn’t realize it until just now, but she had been staring blankly at the floor as she withdrew into her mind.

“Umm…” The unicorn tried to find something to say in return to the red haired pony. Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t think of an answer that would ease his concerns. She had consciously made the choice that she would switch places with Spike if she was given the opportunity, even if that meant dying.

“No… not really.” Twilight finally managed to say something with a forced smile and half chuckle. The only way she could bring herself to even speak at length was to pretend she was cheerful. She shook her head sadly while trying to hide her quivering lips and watery eyes from the stallion.

Peppermint wasn’t sure how to respond after that. He could tell that the purple mare was heartbroken by the way she appeared. He wanted so desperately to say something to make her feel better, but he was unsure of anything he could say to ease her pains.

“You know…” The white stallion spoke up while still thinking of something meaningful to talk about. Twilight looked over at him quizzically as she waited for him to speak again.

“I know what you’re feeling… kind of anyway.” Peppermint tried to sound as sympathetic as possible to comfort the unicorn. “Back before Glimmer and I joined the academy, our mother got sick… really sick. We went to every hospital we could find... but nobody knew what was wrong with her. We weren’t sure if she would make it through the night, every other night. We finally found one doctor that knew what was wrong… some kind of problem with her immune system. Anyway… she finally got better, but for a while there I was feeling something similar to what you’re feeling now.” He explained in a gentle tone. The stallion’s story made Twilight reflect on her situation.

“But… you weren’t involved with your mother’s decline in health… I just stood there while Spike got attacked.” Twilight said in a depressed tone. The unicorn didn’t want to undermine the white pony’s story, but she couldn’t do anything to shake the feeling of despair she had.

“Well I did say kind of… and it wasn’t your fault to begin with.” Peppermint stated to stop the purple mare from blaming herself. “You can’t blame yourself for what happened… sometimes bad things happen to good people. You just need to tough through it, do what you can, and hope for the best. That’s why I started studying medicine… I wanted to be able to help people in need like my mother.” The stallion’s story combined with his optimistic attitude made Twilight feel a little bit better. If she took anything away from the tale, she knew that she had to have faith that everything would turn out for the best in the end.

“Thanks…” The unicorn whispered softly. She smiled briefly while thinking about things in a more positive light. Peppermint was slightly caught off guard by the sudden change in her outlook. He expected the purple mare to be stuck in a depressed state for a long time.

“Sure thing…” Pepper replied in a friendly tone. He was happy to see that he had some kind of positive effect on her.

Suddenly the noise of wings flapping briefly and the sound of something stepping onto the balcony made everyone look over. Much to their dismay, the ponies were greeted by the sight of Raincloud walking up to the doorway. The pale mare’s return filled Twilight and the others with disgust and contempt. They all wished that she would just leave them alone, as if hurting Spike and trying to kill them wasn’t enough for her. She had to see them suffer to fully enjoy the situation.

“What are you doing back here?” Twilight asked in an irritated tone while getting up. She hated the fact that she had to look at the pegasus any further, much less speak to her to see what purpose she had for returning. The unicorn walked over and sat down in front of the balcony while giving the pony outside a scornful leer. She made sure to stay just far enough back to be out of arms reach of the pegasus if she became enraged again.

“Hmpf…” Raincloud matched the icy glare that Twilight was giving her with paralleled intensity. She wanted nothing more than to reach out and grab her only to snap her neck, but she also wanted to see her break emotionally. The pegasus smiled as she resolved to keep her hatred in check for the time being.

“I just came up here to have a bird’s eye view of the action.” Raincloud explained in a smart-alecky way that only got on the purple mare’s nerves. Despite their reasons for wanting to smack her across the face every time she spoke, the ponies were confused by her words.

“What are you talking about now?” Twilight huffed in annoyance. She was clearly getting tired of playing the sadistic mare’s games.

“AAAGH!” Suddenly a loud cry of pain erupted from outside, causing everyone to tense up in alarm as they recognized the owner of the yell.

“Tom?!” Twilight exclaimed in an uneasy tone while walking over to look out the window with her friends. As the alarmed ponies went to the window, Raincloud walked to the side of the balcony and peered over.

Sure enough, the human was down on the ground with the brown stallion and four monsters as the group had last seen him. But something had clearly happened since they laid eyes off of the situation. It was hard to tell from this high up, but Tom appeared to be clutching his arm from some kind of injury. It didn’t take much research to find the cause of the boy’s injury.

The three shadow creatures that Dust Kicker had summoned to bust down the protective charm were all circling around the human in a threatening manner. The low growls and snarls the beasts were making barely managed to carry up to the bedroom, but the few sounds the ponies could make out frightened them as if they were right next to them.

Suddenly one of the creatures charged forward with blinding speed after the slayer. Tom managed to dodge the approaching beast, but failed to notice that a second monster was rushing for him. The boy yelled in pain again as the monster dug its claws into his leg as it passed him.

While Twilight and the others watched the fight unfold with mouths agape in horror, they suddenly noticed that someone was chuckling with every injury the human would sustain. The outraged group looked back over to the balcony to see that the pale pegasus was smiling as she watched the fierce battle.

“What’s so funny? How can you get that much enjoyment from watching another person fighting for their life?!” Twilight was appalled by the coldhearted pony. She still couldn’t believe that the pegasus could actually be so demented as to enjoy the suffering of others.

Raincloud stifled the last of her outbursts before turning to face the group. She had a smile on her face that seemed too genuine to be faked. The happiness she was seemingly drawing from the fight made the ponies sick.

“Heheh… sorry, I just find it so pathetic is all.” Raincloud stated in a disturbingly cold tone. Everyone was shocked to hear such a thing, even if they were unsure of exactly what she meant. Despite their slight confusion, the ponies were sure that the answer would still be disheartening.

“W-what?” Twilight asked with a sense of morbid curiosity. She silently regretted prodding the pegasus for more information on the already grim statement.

“I just don’t see the point of a slayer… someone given the power to right all the wrongs in life… what a joke. All the slayers in the world can’t fix every bad thing that happens, and bad things will always happen... no matter what anyone does.” Raincloud explained in a serious tone, as if she were giving the group a lecture about the facts of life. The longer she went on, the more the ponies were disturbed and mortified.

Twilight thought about her words for a moment. Even though she strongly disagreed with the pegasus, she had a point. Why was only one person sent to fix the world? Why bother sending a slayer to balance the world if there would just be more evil to fight? Putting these bleak thoughts behind her, Twilight shrugged as she looked at the grim pony. She almost had a little bit of pity for her. Not caring about others the way she did must have been awfully lonely.

“But does it matter?” The unicorn spoke up in a passionate tone. “Does it matter that there will always be evil? There will always be good to balance out the evil in life… I think that’s why slayers exist. I've learned a lot about the world in my studies on friendship, and I don't think that it is intrinsically evil.” She tried to persuade the pale mare to see things her way. Much to Twilight’s surprise, the pegasus scoffed in a snobbish sort of way.

“Wow… Celestia really has you over a loop for all of that friendship malarkey doesn’t she? I don’t have friends… I don’t want them or need them. Everyone I have met in my life other than my brother and my colleagues have treated me like garbage. There’s no point to fight for the good people of the world… there are no good people in this world, only people with shared interests. The best bet you have is family… or people who have similar enough goals and that earn your respect enough to be called family... other than that it’s on a dog eat dog basis.” Raincloud’s harsh words cut into the ponies deeply. From how serious and genuine she sounded, the group actually started questioning their own beliefs for a brief moment.

The sound of Tom screaming again made everyone snap out of their bleak thoughts. They looked down to see what was wrong, and gasped in shock when they saw the problem. Raincloud’s ghostly shadow was floating in front of Tom with its arm curved back in the aftermath of a strike. The claws on its hand were glowing a shade of bright purple, which faded after a moment back into the stark black tone that covered the shadow.

“*Gasp* Oh no… Tom!” Rarity placed a hoof up to her mouth in horror as she stared at the grizzly injury across the human’s chest. Even from this distance the group could see the bloody gash, perhaps because it was pulsating with purple light.

“AHHGH!” Tom cried out in pain as the effects from the shadow’s power kicked in. He clutched the wound and staggered backwards in an attempt at gaining distance on his attacker. As he let go of the wound to examine it, his healing abilities kicked in. The flames and embers seemed to be having trouble restoring the damaged tissue on the human’s chest. Despite the increased time it took, the wound eventually closed up completely, leaving no trace.

“See that? Your friend can barely fight off my shadow… let alone what we have in store for all of you.” The pegasus stated with a sinister chuckle. The ponies felt uneasy about the way she said that. It was almost like she was looking forward to some kind of grand show.

“And just what do you have in store?” Glitterball asked in a serious tone while walking up the stairs. The unicorn was done waiting around and doing nothing while Twilight confronted the pale mare. After all, she was representing her team and the princess, so she felt like she had to at least try to get some answers out of the pegasus while she was in a talking position.

Raincloud sneered at the rainbow haired pony as she tried to take such a direct approach to getting such an important piece of information. She couldn’t believe that the princess of the night would recruit such amateurs into her secret army of monster hunters.

“Like I would tell you… Oh no, our leader wants that to be a… pleasant surprise.” The pegasus air quoted with her hooves, as if she were repeating something she had been told.

The vague response only added to the uneasy sense of curiosity that prevailed in the room. Twilight shared a concerned glance with her friends as they all imagined what horrific plan the hooded group had in store.

“And who is your leader exactly?” Rarity inquired with a raised eyebrow. She hoped that she could get the pale mare to slip up on something, no matter how small.

“You’ll meet her when she wants you to… if she wants you to that is.” Raincloud smirked at the thought of her leader facing off against the meager band of ponies. The knowledge that their leader was a female didn’t feel as satisfying as the ponies thought it would. The fact wasn’t going to be very useful to their cause, perhaps that was why the pegasus decided to tell them.

Deciding that she had had her fill of staring at the perplexed group of ponies, Raincloud walked back over to the side of the balcony and continued to watch the fight taking place below. Concerned for how their friend was faring, Twilight and the others decided to look out of the window to spy on the battle as well.

The ponies watched anxiously as the human fought off the three shadow creatures around him. The shadow seemed to be watching on the sidelines as the boy used his katana to keep the cat like monsters at bay.

Every time one of the creatures would advance on him, he would strike it with his sword to repel the attack. The frustrated monster would growl at him before retreating a few steps back into line with its comrades. This pattern of attacking and defending continued, all the while each combatant was trying to maneuver around the other in such a way that they would gain the advantage.

Suddenly one of the beasts sank its form into the ground. Its entire body flattened out as it returned to a black spot on the ground. The shadowy blob moved around the human with lightning fast speed until it was almost behind him and to the side. After getting into position, the blob rose upwards and reformed into the feral beast that it once was.

The ponies widened their eyes in shock and let out a collective gasp as they anticipated the worst for the human. While Tom was turning around to find the freshly vanished creature, it lunged at him with a ferocious growl.

Spotting the incoming threat, Tom stepped to the left to keep his eye on the other two creatures while this one missed its attack. Much to his surprise, another one of the creatures had disappeared. Little did he know that the monster had done the same thing that its partner had done, choosing to sink into the ground to gain enough speed to evade the human’s sight.

“Tom lookout!” Twilight cried out fearfully, though she knew that the slayer wouldn’t be able to hear her. It was terrifying to be able to see everything from a high up view. The nervous unicorn could watch the creature as it moved behind the boy to ambush him.

Just as Tom noticed a loud roar behind him, he turned around just in time to catch a faint glimpse of shadowy claws as they sailed straight for his face. Twilight and the others closed their eyes in fright. They couldn’t bear to watch their friend getting mauled in such a gruesome way. As they listened to the roars of the three monsters as they all jumped the human, they only hoped that he could recover fast enough to defeat them.

Suddenly they heard a loud shriek, but they were surprised to hear that it wasn’t the human. The group slowly squinted their eyes open to see what had happened. As they focused on the scene below, they were suddenly filled with a sense of joyous surprise.

The group could see Tom as he was recovering from the backlash of a strike with his sword. One of the creatures had a sizable gash in its neck, apparently severe enough to be fatal as it collapsed into smoke. The human quickly jumped backwards to gain distance from the other two beasts so he could appreciate his achievement.

“Yes!” Twilight cheered in elation as she watched the fight. She could tell by the way he handled himself that the human had recovered his lost confidence from his previous beating.

“Ah knew he would pull through!” Applejack stated with an excited smile as she shared in her friends’ celebration.

Meanwhile, as the excited bunch of ponies were cheering for the human, Raincloud shook her head and shrugged in disappointment. She could tell that they didn’t know anything about fighting as they celebrated every stray hit in their favor.

Ughh… am I really supposed to believe that these are the elements of harmony? The pegasus thought to herself while observing the happy faces of the group. She almost felt a twinge of jealousy for how much joy they felt over the simplest things.

Still… I suppose that guy does know a little bit about what he’s doing… a little. Raincloud returned her attention to the battle below. The longer she watched the slayer fight with the shadow creatures, the more agitated she became.

“Eh… screw this noise.” The pegasus muttered to herself while shifting focus over to her shadow. As its master started communicating her desires to it, the specter turned its head upwards to face her.

“I’m tired of waiting around… kill him or keep him busy.” The pale mare whispered before turning around towards the ponies. The shadow snickered while setting its eyes on the human with a murderous sense of glee.

The pegasus approached the doorway with an annoyed expression. The ponies inside stopped cheering once they noticed the pale blue pony watching them with a scowl on her face.

“Alright, I’ve had enough waiting… time to actually do what I came here to do.” Raincloud said while sizing up the barrier in front of her.

Everyone became nervous once they heard that the pegasus was going to try to break in. They didn’t want to admit it out loud for fear of frightening the others, but most of the group figured out that the pair wasn’t here just to chat with them and fight Tom.

Twilight started sweating nervously as the pale mare engulfed her hoof with shadow energy. She looked back to Spike as he lay unconscious on the ground a few feet away. If Raincloud broke in with the intent of harming them, then they would be in a bad position to protect the young dragon and the other children.

The purple pony noticed Glitterball stepping beside her and up to the force field. She had a nervous expression on her face just like everyone else, but she tried to appear confident as she addressed the pale pegasus.

“Uh… umm… A-are you sure you want to fight us? We outnumber you five to one.” The rainbow haired unicorn stammered slightly while looking behind her at the rest of the group. Applejack and Rarity looked at her with uncertainty. The two would risk themselves to protect their friends and siblings without a second thought, but they were incredibly nervous about facing the magically powered pegasus.

“R-right… you wouldn’t stand a chance against all of us.” Applejack added while putting on the bravest face she could and stepping forward. Rarity gulped nervously before walking forward to join her friends.

“Certainly… y-you should just leave now while you have the chance.” The white mare stated while trying to contain her hyper nerves. Judging by how she was a little weak in the knees, everyone gathered that she wasn’t doing such a good job.

“Oh brother…” Raincloud sighed as she observed the band of ponies trying to appear threatening. She almost felt bad about how she would utterly destroy them, keyword being almost in this scenario.

“You guys look like you couldn’t hurt a fly… if you tried. I on the other hand have been trained in the use of magical spells and rituals that you couldn’t even imagine in your worst fever dream.” The pegasus stated while lifting her shadowy hoof up for demonstration. With a brief moment of concentration, Raincloud made the pulsating mass of darkness on her hoof shoot into the air like some sort of growing fire.

The ponies stared at the pitch black flames as they made a disquieting roar, almost as if a feral beast was caged within. Once she saw that the group had been silenced by her display of power, Raincloud shrank the dark flames back into the thin veil that pulsed around her hoof.

“I hope that you have all said your goodbyes… because playtime is OVER!” The pegasus yelled angrily while quickly reeling back her arm and punching the barrier. Instead of her arm flying through the force field like last time, the shadowy ball of energy around her hoof collided with the barrier and sent a shockwave through the walls of the room.

Suddenly, the piece of paper that was attached to the bedroom door burst into flames. Once the paper was gone the force field appeared one last time before shattering with a loud crash that almost hurt the ponies’ ears.

“AHHH!” The three fillies shrieked in fright from the sudden jolt. They all scampered backwards to get distance between themselves and the incoming threat.

“Girls!” Peppermint rushed forward to assist the four mares in trying to repel the attacking pegasus. As the two members of Spirit reached onto their vests to grab some sort of defensive weapon, Twilight and Rarity lit up their horns in a slight panic while trying to think of a spell to use. The only thing Applejack could do was steel herself to counter any attacks heading her way.

“Take this!” Before any of the five ponies could react, Raincloud threw her hoof forward and sent out a shockwave of energy. The invisible wave slammed into the group with unbelievable force. Their fragile bodies offered little resistance as they were sent flying from their feet and sailed across the room.

“Ack!”

“Oof!

“Ow!”

“Urk!”

“Gah!” All of the ponies yelped in pain as they crashed into the back wall. The force of the impact sent them into a painful daze, causing their vision to blur and their muscles to turn to jelly.

Scootaloo and her two fellow crusaders watched their family and friends getting hurled into the wall by a mere flick of the pale mare’s arm. They were horrified that she had so easily disarmed and disoriented their former saviors.

“Rarity!” Sweetie Belle cried in terror while rushing to her sister’s side.

“Applejack!” Applebloom followed suit by rushing over to the orange mare trying to get off of the floor. The dazed farmer tried to push through her pain to get up, but failed to get much farther than her knees.

Raincloud seemed annoyed by the frightened fillies. She suddenly had a great idea of how to torture the ponies before killing them. The pegasus raised her hoof in the air and concentrated her energy onto the three fillies. The confused trio felt a strange tingling sensation around their entire bodies. When they looked down to investigate, they noticed that an aura of pulsating blackness was enveloped around them.

“Wha-...! HEY!” Scootaloo yelped as she felt herself being lifted off the ground.

“Hey! Put me do-…AIEE!” Sweetie Belle screamed briefly as she was violently yanked upwards and backwards.

"AHH!" Applebloom shrieked as she was lifted into the air along with her fellow crusaders. The horrified fillies tried waving their arms and legs to find balance as they had the constant sensation of weightlessness. Twilight and the others looked up in shock as they realized what was going on.

“Wait! Leave them alone!” Twilight demanded in a panic while staring wide eyed at the three helpless fillies floating in front of the malicious mare.

“Hahahaha!” Raincloud chuckled sinisterly while jostling the three pulsating orbs that contained the panicked crusaders.

“Like I would just leave them alone after going through so much trouble to pick them up… do you even know how this works?” The pegasus asked in a mocking tone. The ponies were too busy with their exploding nerves to even care about her snarky attitude.

“You put them down right this instant you… you… jerk!” Rarity couldn’t even bring herself to find a more cultured insult through her alarm. She stepped forward in a nervous panic while still maintaining enough distance to not incur the wrath of the sinister pony.

“Let them go! If you harm one hair on their heads Ah’ll-” Applejack walked forward boldly, but recoiled in horror as Applebloom yelped in pain.

“Ack!” The filly felt a sharp pain course through her side as that particular part of the aura keeping her airborne glowed purple.

“You’ll what? If you don’t want me to crush them into dust or rip them apart, I suggest you sit back and don’t do anything you won’t regret later.” Raincloud said in a threatening manner while looking at the yellow filly. Applebloom and her two friends had tears in their eyes as they failed to hide their fear.

As she watched her sister fearfully, Applejack was getting flashbacks to when she was attacked by the poltergeist at their house. She could practically hear the sounds of rattling furniture as her sister was floated around against her will.

“Alright… just don’t hurt them.” The orange mare stated in a slightly calmer voice while backing up. Rarity seemed to be shocked that the normally bold pony was backing off, but she decided that it was for the best and followed her example.

“Good… now that I have your attention, I suppose I should get down to business. As much as I want to beat all of your heads in, I think my brother would appreciate it if I played it safe. Here’s what we’re going to do. I need you three to make a decision amongst yourselves of which one of you wants to die in exchange for the safe return of these three.” Raincloud explained while eyeing towards Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity. The ponies were shocked to hear the sudden request from the mare.

“What?!” The three stated in alarm while looking at each other. They hoped that they misheard the psychotic pegasus and she didn’t just ask one of them to sacrifice themselves.

“What?! Are you crazy?!” Glitterball stepped in front of the three to prevent them from making any rash decisions.

“Heh… maybe, but that’s beside the point. To make a long story short, my leader doesn’t want you six element wielders to get in the way of our plans… so at least one of you needs to die before I take my brother and my shadow and hit the road.” The pegasus stated in a nonchalant and cold manner. Twilight and her two friends were shivering in panic from the mere mention of such a thing. They all looked at each other with concerned expressions, each hoping that none of the others would step forward before they could talk things out.

“But… b-but…” Twilight stammered fearfully as she eyed the three terrified fillies. They didn’t seem any more in favor for the idea, but they were also scared and unsure of what to do themselves.

“But… T-Tom will be up here any minute!” The purple unicorn reasoned in a shaky panic. She wasn’t even sure if she believed her own words, but she needed some other option to exist, any other option other than either her or one of her best friends dying.

Raincloud chuckled at the idea of the human coming to their rescue. The way she was laughing combined with the entire situation was stressing the three ponies’ nerves so much that they thought they were going to pass out.

“Ha! Tom isn’t getting within a foot of this library! Not while my brother and my shadow are out there anyway.” The pegasus’s harsh words completely shattered the last hope that the ponies had. “Now hurry up and decide… you won’t like me when I’m impatient… and neither will they.” She ordered while making the three fillies yelp in pain as she pricked their sides with her energy.

With the looming threat of harm coming to the innocent fillies, Twilight and her two friends turned to each other to discuss how they would go about this grim undertaking. The mere fact that they had to openly talk about which of them was going to die made them sick.

“Girls… we can’t let her hurt them.” Applejack said in an uneasy and trembling voice.

“I know… but…” Twilight replied while looking to the floor and gulping. “We shouldn’t have to do this… it feels wrong just talking about it.” The unicorn could barely stop her hooves from trembling. She desperately hoped that her friends wouldn’t volunteer, but at the same time she didn’t want to die. The conundrum in her head was practically shoving all other thoughts aside so that it would be the only thing present.

“I know darling… b-but…*gulp*… we need to c-choose.” Rarity trailed her eyes off sadly as she tried to think rationally amid her conflicting emotions.

“Hey… you aren’t choosing anything!” Glitterball chimed in anxiously. She wasn’t about to just sit by and allow anyone to die.

“Shut it… they have a difficult decision to make, the least you could do is give them some space.” Raincloud instructed in a mocking way while jostling around the three captive children. Glitterball growled in frustration before sitting back down in protest.

“I… I think that…” Twilight stated in a barely audible tone while trying to think. Unfortunately her two friends didn’t hear her as they each tried to resolve the problem.

“Ah’ll go…” Applejack suggested.

“No! I’ll go… your family needs you Applejack.” Rarity replied in a sincere tone.

“Girls…” Twilight tried to chime in, but her nervousness made her voice die out before it left her throat.

“Rarity… Ah appreciate the gesture… but Sweetie Belle would be lost without you.” Applejack added with tears building up in her eyes. She was almost ready to break down and cry while hugging her two friends close to her to keep them from leaving.

“I’ll go!” Twilight finally shouted loud enough to be heard. The two mares grew silent and turned their attention to the nervous unicorn beside them.

“Twilight…” Rarity protested in a sad tone until she was interrupted by the purple unicorn continuing.

“No… it’s ok. If anyone else is going to die because of these ponies… I want it to be me.” Twilight stated with her eyes closed. The others were unsure of what to say, but they desperately wanted to talk her out of her decision. The purple mare finally sighed and got up to walk forward.

“Twilight no!” Rarity and Applejack cried out in unison while reaching out to their friend as she somberly walked forward. The unicorn couldn’t bear to turn around and face her friends. There was so much she wanted to say to them, but she had to get this over with for the sake of the crusaders.

On her way over to the pegasus, she glanced to the unconscious dragon off to the side. He was still resting peacefully despite all of the commotion around him. She imagined how heartbroken he would be if he woke up and she was gone.

“Sorry Spike…” The unicorn stated quietly before returning her glance forward. She looked up at the three trapped fillies as she passed under them. They all had frightened expressions of protest as they watched her somberly march forward.

“Twilight! Don’t do this!” Scootaloo shouted in denial while desperately trying to wriggle free of the shadowy bubble she was incased in.

“Stop it! Please don’t hurt her!” Sweetie Belle pleaded in a last ditch effort at saving the purple mare. Even with her child like optimism, she had a hard time believing that she could reach through to the sadistic pegasus.

“S-sorry girls… I… I have to…” Twilight could hardly keep her eyes from watering and her voice from trembling as she looked down. She couldn’t handle looking at the three fillies, she was already certain that she was scarring them for life with her death.

The unicorn came to a stop in front of the pale mare, who had a smirk on her face the entire time as she enjoyed the scene before her. She chuckled as she looked the fearful purple pony in the face. She never figured that she would be the one to come forward, but she was kind of glad.

“Heh… I guess you’re braver than I thought.” Raincloud commented cynically. Twilight waited nervously while the pale mare thought about how she would go about her task.

Finally she reeled back her arm in preparation to strike. The pegasus focused the energy from her hoof into a point. The shadowy substance on her hoof elongated and thinned out until it was in the shape of a blade.

“Any last words?” Raincloud asked while sizing up the strike in her head. The pale mare would aim directly for the unicorn’s throat, killing her quick enough while still leaving some room for suffering.

Twilight gulped nervously as she stared at the pulsating weapon that would be her undoing. She felt a cold and hollow feeling in her stomach as every fiber of her being told her to either retaliate or flee. The unicorn slowly took one last glance back at her horrified friends before sighing sadly and looking down.

“I’m ready… but you better keep your word.” Twilight instructed in what she thought would have been an intimidating voice, but all sense of authority had been obscured by her fear and dread. Raincloud chuckled at the harsh glare she was receiving from the unicorn.

“Oh don’t worry… I am many things, but I take pride in my reputation as an honest pegasus.” The pale mare stated in a joking way. Twilight only hoped that she was at least going to honor their agreement. She would hate to die like this for nothing.

The pegasus reeled her arm back and prepared to slash clean across Twilight’s neck. The unicorn instinctively tightened up the muscles in her neck in an attempt at getting away, but she tried her best to hold still.

Rarity, Applejack, and everyone else in the room were all horrified by the scene about to take place before them. Rarity closed her eyes and looked away sadly, she couldn’t bear to watch her friend getting executed. Applejack and the others kept their gaze firmly placed on the two ponies, perhaps out of sheer shock and terror. Not even the three fillies could look away from the grim scene.

“So long Twilight… hehe.” Raincloud snickered sinisterly while shifting her weight to put more power behind her swing. Twilight shut her eyes and clenched her teeth as she saw the pegasus swinging at her. The entire room seemed to slow down as the group watched the pegasus lash out at their friend.

*Swish*

The sound of something being cut rang out into the room. Everyone panicked with fright as they all averted their eyes. Twilight remained frozen in place as she tried to process what just happened. Her neck felt oddly tingly, but the sensation felt more like it was in her mind rather than actually being painful.

The confused unicorn opened her eyes to see what was going on, only to jump slightly in fright. The pegasus was holding her shadowy blade right next to her throat, but she was frozen in place as if she had stopped mid swing.

“Wh…wha?” Twilight muttered in confusion as she looked at the pegasus. Raincloud had her mouth agape in what appeared to be shock. Suddenly the shadowy energy from around her hoof vanished. The three fillies all crashed to the floor with a mildly painful thud as the auras around them disappeared.

“AAAAGHHH!” Raincloud screamed out in agony and clutched her chest. The pale mare immediately sank to the floor and curled up in a ball while writhing in pain from a seemingly invisible injury.

As they heard the pegasus yelling in pain, the rest of the ponies quickly opened their eyes and rushed over. They immediately trotted over to the purple unicorn and hugged her tightly.

“Twilight!” Applejack and Rarity cheered with joy at their friend’s miraculous escape from certain doom. The cheerful moment was short lived however as the ear piercing sound of the pegasus screaming on the floor interrupted them.

“What the hay is wrong with her?” Applejack asked curiously. Although she didn’t want to say she was concerned for the sadistic mare, it was disquieting to see anyone in that much pain.

“I don’t know… she just froze suddenly and started screaming.” Twilight practically had to shout just to make her words audible.

Suddenly the group noticed another grating noise making itself known amid the screaming of the pegasus. It sounded like a tormented soul was wailing outside, creating a high pitched noise that somehow sounded eerie and distressed at the same time. The ponies recognized that the wail sounded like the shadow creature that Raincloud controlled.

Everyone rushed to the balcony and looked outside to the area below and searched for the source of the noise. It didn’t take long to find the ghostly specter floating just in front of Tom a short ways away from where they had seen him last.

The human had his claws out. And judging from the way he was positioned and the way the shadow was screeching in pain, the group surmised that Tom had just slashed the creature with his spirit weapons. They looked back to the pegasus writhing in agony a short distance away and wondered if there was somehow a connection between the two.

Meanwhile on the ground, Tom was admiring the deep gashes he had just made in the shadow. Although the unearthly screech the creature was producing almost made his ears bleed, he still found it satisfying to put the monster in its place.

“You’re not the only one with claws that sting buddy…” The boy smirked at his victory while watching the specter writhe in pain. Suddenly the human heard a horrific screaming that was coming from the library.

Dust Kicker gasped in shock as he recognized the sound. He had left his sister to her own devices before, so he had never expected her to get into so much trouble, especially not from such weak enemies as Twilight Sparkle and friends.

“Raincloud!” The stallion exclaimed in alarm while spreading his wings and flying upwards. He quickly flew up to the balcony and rushed straight past the surprised ponies in his path. He didn’t care about the mission anymore. All he cared about was coming to his sibling’s aid.

Twilight and the others watched as the brown pony ran to his sister’s side and knelt down beside her. Glitterball and Peppermint contemplated intervening for a moment to prevent him from taking her away, but a quick glare that sent chills down their spines from how intense it was dissuaded them from getting anywhere close to the two ponies.

“Rain! What’s wrong?!” Dust Kicker asked while frantically trying to restrain the writhing mare so he could examine her injuries.

“GAHHHH!!” Raincloud seemed to be trying to respond, but the pain she was feeling was so intense that she couldn’t do anything other than roll around in agony.

“Screw this… hang on sis, I’m getting you out of here.” Dust Kicker stated confidently while scooping the pale mare up in his arms. He quickly rushed out onto the balcony and jumped into the air to fly away. As the two ponies rapidly disappeared from sight, the only monster left on the premises disappeared into the ground to follow after its injured master despite its own injury.

Twilight and her friends were left in a state of confusion and relief as they watched the two vanish from sight. They wondered what had caused the pegasus to become so inconsolably injured, they wondered where they were going, but most of all, they were just glad that the purple unicorn was alive still.