Most of the group over at the carousel boutique was fast asleep after their hard day of work, most of them, but not all of them. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were wide awake while listening to the story being told by Pinkie Pie. The tall tale was actually more frightening than either of the fillies could have predicted, at least they felt that it was frightening.

Scootaloo was gripping her sleeping bag tightly while cowering in fear. She took a quick glance over to her friend, only to see that the white filly wasn’t faring much better. As Sweetie Belle looked over to the orange filly, Scootaloo tried to appear as if she wasn’t fazed by the scary story, although she had no idea if she was doing a good job or not.

“And they were never… seen… again!” Pinkie Pie spoke in an ominous tone while using a flashlight to cast a spooky shadow over her face. However effective it might have been, the two fillies weren’t even sure where the pink mare acquired the flashlight.

“So… did you like it?” The pink mare asked while returning her cheery disposition. It was astonishing how fast she could switch attitudes on the fly.

“Um… yeah.” Scootaloo stated while gulping nervously and putting on a forced smile.

“Y-yeah.” Sweetie Belle replied timidly. Her teeth were practically chattering as she tried to smile while holding her sleeping bag close to her body.

“Great! Now let’s get some sleep.” Pinkie stated while laying down and relaxing. Before the two fillies could even protest, the pink mare was snoring peacefully.

“Oh come on… who goes to sleep that fast?” Scootaloo shrugged nervously while observing her dark surroundings. She was now regretting her decision to insist on a scary story.

“Well… I guess we should get to sleep.” Sweetie Belle stated nervously while settling into her sleeping bag.

“Yeah… I guess so.” Scootaloo replied while crawling into her own sleeping bag. “Goodnight Sweetie Belle.” She said as she hesitantly accepted going to sleep.

“Goodnight Scootaloo.” The white filly replied while finding a comfortable position.

Despite both fillies having said their goodnights, neither of them actually managed to get to sleep. Thoughts of the frightening tale they had just listened to combined with the dark atmosphere around them to create a very anxious pair of crusaders.

Scootaloo and her friend sat motionless in the darkness of the room. Neither one of them wanted to look around the room for fear that they might see something amid the shadows around them. Despite their best efforts, all the pair could do was close their eyes and hope they could get to sleep.

Just as the pair was about to drift off into an uneasy sleep, an unexpected noise made them sit up in their sleeping bags out of surprise. Seemingly out of nowhere, the wind picked up outside, and what sounded like rain started coming down onto the building.

Before long, the rain had increased in intensity, causing the two fillies to grow concerned as they listened to the downpour. Usually storms that traveled through town were more controlled and stable than this, and they were typically scheduled days in advance.

“Do you hear that?” Sweetie Belle asked to make sure she wasn’t imagining things.

“Yeah… what the hay is going on?” Scootaloo replied curiously.

After a few minutes, the sound of thunder was added to the storm. It sounded like a severe storm system was moving through the area, but the fillies knew that such a thing should have been impossible without the work of several pegasi.

The two crusaders didn’t have to wonder much longer as to the origin of the strange storm as a sudden loud buzz sounded out from across the room. As the pair of fillies looked over to the source of the noise, they realized that it was coming from the three vests left behind by Brimstoke and the others. A lone vial on each of the vests was glowing a bright shade of blue, as well as emanating a magical hum.

The sound of the three alarms going off woke up much of the group of sleeping ponies. As they realized what was going on, Brimstoke and his two teammates quickly became awake and alert as they rushed to get out of their sleeping bags.

“What’s happening?” Rarity asked in a startled tone as she became aware of the raging tempest outside. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to deduce that the strange storm and the violent reactions from the detectors were probably linked.

Glitterball managed to get to her vest first. She fumbled around with the blue vial for a moment before unclipping it from its pull cord. After examining the readout further, the unicorn determined that something was moving closer to the group.

“It looks like something is moving towards us… maybe it’s this storm?” Glitter stated in an attempt at explaining what was happening.

“That just begs the question of why is this storm giving off a reading?” Brimstoke asked while looking out of the window.

“Why is this storm even here? It was supposed to be clear for the next few days.” Fluttershy said while uneasily listening to the raging thunder and rain.

“The last time we had a storm system move in that wasn’t supposed to be there, we had an army of skeletons pop out of the ground. Something is up… we should probably call the others.” Glimmer Shine suggested while setting his vest back down on the table.

“Alright… I’ll call up the others.” Brimstoke stated while putting a hoof up to his ear. He decided to check in on each of his teammates individually to make things easier.

Not much was crossing Sunspot’s mind as she slept peacefully. She was just getting to the point where she was in a deep sleep. After the hard day’s work the pegasus had, she was certain that she would sleep like an immovable rock, and it looked like she was right.

“Sunspot, you awake?” The sound of Brimstoke’s voice jolted the orange mare awake.

"GAH!" Sunspot yelped while lifting a few feet in the air before falling back down to her mattress and nearly bouncing off of it. After her brief outburst of surprise, the orange mare realized what was happening and breathed a frustrated sigh.

“What the hay was that about?” Rainbow Dash muttered groggily as she found herself being woken up by Sunspot’s outcry.

“Ugh… Brimstoke is calling me… something must be up.” Sunspot replied while still trying to calm her racing heart. She lazily put a hoof up to her ear and tried to prevent herself from chastising the stallion for waking her up so suddenly.

“Sunspot here… what’s going on?” Sunspot asked curiously while trying to wake herself up further.

“There’s some kind of storm system moving through here. It’s lighting our detectors up like a fireworks display.” Brimstoke explained with a serious tone of voice. Almost on cue to match up with what the stallion was saying, Sunspot heard the far off sound of thunder ringing out. Before long, the sound of a soft drizzle could be heard.

“Yeah… I think we’re about to get hit with it too… is there anything off about it?” The pegasus asked with an uncertain expression. She wanted to know ahead of time if some kind of horrible monster was heading her way.

“We don’t know… Just check on Neon Streak and get back to me… and stay sharp.” Brimstoke instructed before getting off the line.

“What’s going on?” Rainbow Dash asked while getting out of bed. The noises of thunder and rain approaching were making her uneasy and tense.

“There’s some kind of storm system moving our way that is giving off paranormal readings. Brimstoke wants me to check on Neon Streak before getting back to him… hold on a sec.” Sunspot said while concentrating on Neon Streak. Once she felt the connection go through, she took in a breath to speak.

“Neon, you there?” The orange pegasus spoke up to wake the most likely sleeping green mare. She hated to be the one to disturb her friend from her slumber, but it was necessary. As she received no response, Sunspot became slightly concerned.

“Neon… come in.” Sunspot raised her voice slightly to make sure that she could be heard. After receiving nothing but silence once again, the pegasus was starting to get very alarmed for the safety of her friend.

"Neon?" Sunspot asked one last time in a loud voice. When she was once again met by silence, she felt her heart beating slightly faster as several terrifying thoughts about the green pony flooded her mind.

“Neon, answer me!” The distress in the orange mare’s voice was clearly apparent. Rainbow Dash could easily tell that something was wrong.

“What’s wrong?” the cyan pegasus asked with a concerned expression. She was hoping that nothing bad had happened to the green mare, especially considering she was with Applejack and her family.

“Neon isn’t answering me… something must have happened.” Sunspot replied in an uneasy tone.

“Maybe we’re out of range… we are pretty far away.” Rainbow Dash reasoned in an uncertain tone. She was eager to accept any other explanation other than her friends being in danger.

“No, I can tell that the connection is there. She just isn’t responding… which means she is either busy, unconscious, or…” The orange mare froze mid-sentence as she came to the next logical conclusion. She shook her head to rid herself of such grim thoughts. Deciding not to dwell on her friend being in danger, Sunspot concentrated on Brimstoke again to update him on the green mare’s status.

“Brimstoke… I can’t get ahold of Neon. I think she might be in trouble.” Sunspot explained in a concerned tone. It took a moment for the stallion to respond.

“That isn’t good… we’re hearing noises outside, it sounds like there might be some kind of creature in the storm.” Brimstoke explained uneasily. The prospect of a monster being present when one of her friends was unresponsive troubled the orange mare.

“I should go check on her…” Sunspot stated while getting up. She wasn’t about to stand around while a friend might be in danger.

“No, it’s too dangerous to be blindly charging into things. You should stay put and keep yourselves safe.” Brimstoke replied in a stern tone. Sunspot shrugged in annoyance as she was practically ordered to ignore her teammate.

“But Brimstoke, she could be in danger! We need to go help her now!” The orange mare protested with a tense attitude.

“I know, but right now we need to be smart about things. I’m going to call Peppermint… maybe Tom can-” Before Brimstoke could finish his sentence, Sunspot heard the sound of glass shattering bleed through the call. After this outburst, the pegasus could hear the sounds of high pitched screaming before the stallion disconnected the call abruptly.

“Brimstoke?! What happened?!” Sunspot asked frantically, hoping that she would get some kind of a response. After receiving only dead silence on the other side of the line, the pegasus was starting to get very concerned for her teammates.

Sunspot threw the rest of her covers off and got up. She then quickly stormed off to the bathroom with a very urgent expression. Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure what the orange mare was thinking, but it couldn’t have been good considering the circumstances.

“What are you doing?” Rainbow Dash asked with a concerned tone. Sunspot merely ignored her while grabbing her suit and putting it on.

“Sunspot!” The cyan mare yelled to get the attention of the stubborn pegasus. Sunspot shrugged before turning to face the concerned pony.

“Something happened to Brimstoke and the others. I’m going to go help them… Ack!” The orange mare yelped in pain as she tried putting her injured wing through the sleeve of the suit. Rainbow Dash frowned as she watched the determined pegasus injuring herself to go assist her friends. It reminded her of what she would most likely do, but she still had to think logically.

“Sunspot… you can barely touch your wing without hurting yourself, let alone fly with it. There is no way I’m letting you go out there.” The cyan pony explained in an understanding tone of voice. Sunspot didn’t appear to be accepting her speech however as she continued putting on her suit.

“No offense Rainbow Dash, but I wasn’t asking for your permission. You’re the element of loyalty. You of all ponies should understand how I feel.” The orange pegasus stated in an attempt at getting Rainbow Dash to understand her desire to help her friends.

“I do understand how you feel… I mean hay, my friends are out there too. I want to help them as bad as you do, but we aren’t any good to them dead.” The cyan mare explained in a sympathetic tone. Sunspot shrugged as she tried to see things from the other perspective.

“What do you suggest we do then?” Sunspot asked with a defeated expression.

“I say we call Peppermint and tell Tom what is going on… maybe he can help us out.” Rainbow Dash suggested with a confident tone. Sunspot nodded as she agreed with the cyan pony’s line of reasoning.

“Ok… let me see if Pepper will pick up the line.” Sunspot stated hopefully while putting a hoof up to her ear and concentrating on the red haired stallion.

Over at the library, Peppermint was lying awake on the floor while listening to the sounds of rain and thunder outside. He wondered why there was a storm this severe taking place, or how it hadn’t even woken up the human on the other side of the room. Tom might not have slept for very long, but when he did sleep, he must have slept like a rock. Not even the loudest burst of thunder seemed to elicit even the smallest response from the slayer as he remained motionless under his blankets and pillows.

“Pepper, are you there?” The sound of Sunspot’s voice suddenly rang through Peppermint’s ears. After jumping slightly from the sudden noise, the white stallion put his hoof up to his ear to communicate with the pegasus.

“Yeah, I’m here… what’s wrong?” Pepper asked curiously. Given the circumstances that they were told to call each other, and the slightly tense tone of voice the orange mare had, he figured that something was amiss.

“What’s wrong…? Don’t you hear the storm?” Sunspot asked in a surprised tone. Peppermint returned his attention to the downpour outside. He hadn’t paid the odd storm that much attention before, even if he did find it a little suspicious.

“Yeah… what about it?” Pepper replied with confusion evident in his voice. Judging from her reaction, he could tell that the pegasus was amazed at the fact that he was so calm and oblivious.

“Dude! Some kind of monster is using this storm as a cover! Isn’t your detector buzzing?” Sunspot asked in astonishment. Peppermint looked behind him at his vest placed on the table in confusion. He hadn’t heard a single hum from the evil detector all night.

Judging from how serious the pegasus sounded, the white pony decided to inspect the vial up close. Pepper got out of his makeshift bed and walked up to the table to pick up his vest. Sure enough, the detector vial was just barely glowing blue.

“I’m getting a reading, but just barely. It isn’t even making any noise.” Peppermint stated his findings in a confused tone. He was still unsure of what was even happening to make the orange mare so upset.

“What?! Ok... never mind, that doesn’t matter right now. Wake Tom up now. Brimstoke and the others are being attacked, and I can’t even get ahold of Neon Streak.” Sunspot instructed urgently. Peppermint was alarmed by the sudden news that his teammates were in danger.

“Wait what?! What are they being attacked by?!” Pepper asked in a panicked tone of voice.

“I don’t know, something just broke through a window and then they dropped the call. Just wake Tom up and tell him to head over to check on Neon.” The orange pegasus explained urgently.

“What about Brimstoke and the others?” Peppermint asked to clarify why the pegasus didn’t want Tom to go help the white stallion and his group. It made more sense to him to help more people as fast as possible.

“I’m going to go help them myself, just hurry up!” The orange mare replied while raising her voice slightly. The sound of the pegasus yelling in his ear made Pepper’s head hurt enough to warrant him paying attention.

“Ok, ok!” Pepper stated while turning around to wake up the sleeping human. Before he could even get another word out, another sudden noise made the white pony divert his attention back to the table.

The vial on his vest that was glowing a soft blue before was now lighting up like a blazing fire. The vial was also emitting a loud buzz that was so intense that it practically made the vest vibrate on the table. As Pepper went to investigate his detector, a loud and raspy gasp of air filled the room.

The white stallion looked over to see Tom arching upwards as a spout of blue mist erupted from his mouth. The human sat up and breathed rapidly with an urgent and surprised expression on his face.

“We’ve got company!” The boy stated in an alarmed tone while getting up. While Tom was looking around with a serious expression and using his senses more, Peppermint was merely confused.

“What are you talking about? Did you feel something?” The red haired pony asked with a growing sense of concern. Before Tom could reply, a loud crash followed by a pair of blood curdling screams came from upstairs. The pair froze in their tracks as they realized that the outburst belonged to Twilight and Spike.

“I felt more than just something, I felt some things!” The human stated while rushing to the stairs. Peppermint grabbed his vest and put it on while trotting to join the boy as he ran to assist the unicorn and dragon.

“I’ll call you back Sunspot!” The white stallion said while holding a hoof up to his ear. He didn’t exactly want to leave the pegasus hanging, but he had more pressing matters to deal with.

As the two ran up the stairs, they couldn’t remove the alarming thoughts racing through their heads. Every fiber of their bodies told them to move faster, as fast as they possibly could to get to their friends that much quicker.

Tom got to the door first and threw it open. Once they stepped inside, the pair saw a hair-raising scene in front of them. Broken glass littered the floor in front of the windows as the wind and rain blew the curtains around violently. Two monstrous figures shrouded in black were floating menacingly in the room. And there was a terrified unicorn and a young dragon cowering against the back wall, trying to get as far away from their attackers as possible.

“Tom! Help!” Twilight yelled in fright as she stared at the two in the doorway. It was hard to even hear the purple mare over the sounds of wind and the creatures’ growls, but it was easy to tell how utterly terrified she was.

Tom immediately reached for his sword and charged forward bravely. As he reached one of the creatures, it swung its claws around and struck him across the face. Along with receiving a nasty and painful gash, the boy was sent flying into the wall from the sheer force of the strike.

While the human was reeling from his botched attack plan, Peppermint instinctively reached for his strobe. Taking aim at the two monsters, the stallion fired off several volleys of blasts. The balls of light flew into the specters and exploded into their forms. The creatures let out an agitated howl while spinning around to face the red haired pony. Despite the bone chilling site of the two monsters staring at him with milky white eyes, Peppermint continued his series of attacks.

While the two creatures slowly gained ground on the nervous stallion, Twilight and Spike were watching the scene unfold anxiously. They were still adjusting to suddenly being woken up by two monsters crashing into the room, so they were unsure of anything they could do to help.

Meanwhile, Tom was still recovering from his injuries. While the gashes on his face were still healing up, he took a moment to use his senses again to examine the two creatures. Suddenly, the human noticed something about the two monsters that he hadn’t before.

Peppermint was sweating nervously as he watched the two advancing beasts. He was firing off his strobe as fast as his hooves could press the button, but the creatures were relentlessly charging forward to get at him. The white stallion could see the evil intent in their cold dead eyes. He could see how ravenously they were going to rip him apart once they caught up to him. He wouldn’t be surprised if they fought each other over who got to kill him.

Suddenly, one of the creatures paused in the air and reeled its arms back. With a swift push, a tremendous gust of wind surged into the room from outside. The gale was so intense that it created visible ripples in the air as it crashed towards the red haired pony.

Peppermint felt himself getting lifted off his feet as he was shoved backwards from the blast of air. He felt the glass vial that was serving as his weapon getting suddenly and violently ripped from his hooves. The clatter of the strobe as it bounced along the ground mixed into the loud thump of the stallion slamming into the nearby wall.

“Ooof!” Pepper grunted painfully as the back of his head met the wall behind him. While still in a hazy mixture of pain and drowsiness, he looked forward to see the two monsters leering at him as they presented their claws menacingly.

“Uh… ah… AHH!” The red haired pony screamed in terror as he listened to the two creatures roar as they charged at him. He could see his entire life flashing before his eyes in a single instant.

Suddenly, the creatures let out an ear piercing screech of pain. Peppermint opened his eyes and looked up to see them recoiling to the side as they were driven back by something. He then noticed Tom stepping forward with his hand held out in front of him.

The creatures seemed to be held at bay by some invisible force, and the human seemed to be the one pulling the strings. As Tom slowly pointed his hand over to the side, the two monsters moved to the side along with him, as if they were compelled against their will by the slayer. Tom seemed to be shaking slightly, as if he were being put under a great strain.

“How are you doing that?” Peppermint asked in an astonished tone. As he sent the two beasts against the far wall, Tom seemed to be under too much stress to answer the stallion at the moment.

The human gripped his sword with his free hand and flipped it around. With a fierce yell, he charged forward and plunged the luminescent blade through one of the beast’s midsections. As he yanked the sword upwards, the creature screeched in pain and disappeared into a mist of black smoke.

Not wasting any time, the slayer shoved the katana through the other monster’s head. The beast didn’t even offer a noise in protest as it was suddenly rendered silent. Once both monsters had disappeared into smoke, Tom let his arms fall to his side to rest.

“That was amazing… how did you do that Tom?” Twilight asked in a cheerful manner as she admired her two saviors.

“They’re demons…” The boy explained in between breaths. The brief answer perplexed the others, even Peppermint with his knowledge on the paranormal.

“What?” Twilight asked in a confused tone.

“They’re demons… lesser demons, but still demons nonetheless. Slayers can influence demons with their power… make them bend to their will.” Tom clarified while re-holstering his sword and walking over to the group.

“It’s a good thing too… those things shrugged off my strobe like it was nothing. How do we beat these guys?” Peppermint thought out loud while frowning with concern.

“Ok… listen up.” Tom spoke up with a serious expression. Everyone listened intently as they expected the slayer to dispense some important knowledge to them.

“I need you to go down to the kitchen and grab some salt.” The human instructed in a very sincere manner. The ponies hesitated for a moment while they processed what they had just been told.

“Salt…? Why do we need salt?” Peppermint asked with a perplexed expression. Tom seemed surprised that the stallion of all people didn’t understand him.

“Good lord… just how much information do you guys have on the paranormal?” Tom asked in slight disappointment. Seeing nothing to indicate that the ponies were joking around, the boy sighed to himself before trying to find an explanation.

“Salt repels a wide variety of evil creatures… demons included. You guys are going to hole up in the bathroom while I go out and find where these guys are coming from before they hurt anyone else.” Tom explained in a serious tone of voice.

“Wait a minute… Sunspot said that Brimstoke and the others were being attacked! We need to help them!” Peppermint stated with a newfound sense of urgency. In all of the commotion, he had almost forgotten that his friends were in danger.

“Ah… hell.” Tom muttered to himself uncomfortably. He had a strange feeling that it was going to be a long night.