-A few minutes earlier-

“Alright… I’ll call up the others.” Brimstoke stated while putting a hoof up to his ear. Everyone else waited patiently while the stallion contacted his teammates scattered around town. While he was focusing on getting in touch with the others, everyone else in the room was focusing on the storm raging outside.

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were huddling near Fluttershy and Rarity while listening to the harsh pounding of the rain and wind against the windows. They felt tense and nervous during normal storms, but this one was mysterious and frightening to them due to its sinister origins. Every flash of lightning and every increase in the speed of the rain would make them fill up with dread.

“Rarity… when is it going to stop?” Sweetie Belle asked timidly. She wasn’t sure if her sister knew the answer, but she had to make some attempt to feel secure.

Rarity looked down to the petrified white filly and frowned. She hated seeing her sister so afraid, even if she herself was feeling the same amount of fear. As she looked up to view the steady fall of rain droplets on her bedroom windows, the unicorn was unsure of how to comfort her younger sibling.

“I don’t know Sweetie Belle, but I’m sure everything is going to be fine.” Rarity stated in what she hoped would be a soothing tone.

“Don’t worry guys… it’s just a little rain and thunder. I’m sure that this storm will be over soon.” Pinkie Pie chimed in with a reassuring tone while walking over to a window. If the pink mare was scared, she was hiding it well. Perhaps she was frightened, but she decided to put on a smile to cheer up her friends.

“We don’t know… just check on Neon Streak and get back to me… and stay sharp.” Brimstoke added before dropping his hoof from his ear and turning to face the group. “Sunspot is going to check on the others for us… right now we should just sit tight and see what happens with this storm.” The stallion explained in an uneasy tone while glancing out of the window.

“I would rather have nothing happen at all…” Scootaloo said in a jesting manner. Despite her attempt at an upbeat attitude, the orange filly couldn’t prevent herself from feeling nervous and uneasy.

“Hey, here’s hoping.” Glitterball stated while offering the young pegasus a supportive hoof on the shoulder. Scootaloo appreciated the unicorn’s attempt at making her feel better, even if it didn’t entirely work.

Suddenly, an odd howling noise made itself known as it rose above the constant pounding of the rain. It sounded like a nasty wind was whistling through an old building, but it didn’t seem to be coming from around the ponies as such a noise should have.

The disturbing noise made a cold shiver run down everyone’s spine. Even Pinkie Pie was disquieted enough to warrant her moving away from the windows to feel safer. As the ponies stared outside while the noise continued, they wondered what could have been making it.

“W-what is that?” Sweetie Belle asked nervously while looking around in an attempt at determining the noise’s origin.

“It sounds like the wind…” Glimmer Shine stated with slight uncertainty. Perhaps it was too much wishful thinking on his part, but it did sound a little bit like the wind after all.

“I hope it’s the wind… but that sounds a little odd to be just wind.” Fluttershy observed fearfully. She could feel her blood run cold with each change in pitch the noise made as it howled in the darkness.

It was eerie in the pitch black bedroom before the noise started. With the lightning constantly flooding the room with white light, casting dark shadows across the room and revealing the scary silhouettes made by the various objects inside, and the constant pounding of the rain against the roof and windows, the ponies were trapped in an extremely frightening environment.

Now, with the addition of the shrill noise coming from outside, the group could barely prevent their teeth from chattering in fright. Everyone tried their best to huddle close to Rarity and Glitterball. Being the only capable unicorns in the room, they were the group’s only reliable source of light.

“Brimstoke… I can’t get ahold of Neon. I think she might be in trouble.” Brimstoke suddenly heard Sunspot’s voice as she updated him on her progress. The news that the green mare wasn’t responding came as a dreadful surprise to the stallion. Not wanting the more sensitive members of the group to hear him, Brimstoke walked off to the side and lowered his voice as he responded to the pegasus.

“That isn’t good… we’re hearing noises outside, it sounds like there might be some kind of creature in the storm.” Brimstoke explained in an uneasy tone. Sunspot groaned anxiously as she became more aware of the bad situation everyone was in.

“I should go check on her…” The orange mare stated with determination in her voice. Brimstoke didn’t like how brash and careless the pegasus was being.

“No, it’s too dangerous to be blindly charging into things. You should stay put and keep yourselves safe.” The stallion replied in a stern tone. He didn’t want the injured mare to be doing anything dangerous, not to mention the fact that she was supposed to be keeping Rainbow Dash safe.

Brimstoke heard Sunspot audibly shrug in annoyance. He could tell that she was eager to assist Neon Streak, and he couldn’t blame her for that, but she needed to think rationally about what she was going to do or she might get hurt.

Meanwhile, Sweetie Belle was on the other side of the room with her sister. The two unicorns were huddling together while trying to keep their spirits up. Although she still felt nervous from the storm outside, the white filly was starting to feel more comfortable with her sister.

Suddenly, while Rarity was chatting with Fluttershy, Sweetie Belle noticed movement coming from one of the windows. It was a barely noticeable shadow against the already pitch black night. Perhaps it was a silhouette of a building outside, but then again, buildings didn’t move.

Curious as to whether or not she was seeing things, Sweetie Belle separated from her sister and inched closer to the window to get a better look. She flinched slightly when a loud burst of thunder sounded out, but she slowly continued her path to the wall.

Once she got to the window, she sat down and observed the rain droplets falling against the glass portal. It was a raging tempest outside, but inside of the boutique, Sweetie Belle was perfectly dry and safe. Perhaps it was her mind trying to help her cope with fear, but the filly found it soothing to watch the rain fall against the window. Still cautious about what she had seen earlier, she looked around once more and squinted her eyes to make out anything bizarre outside. With no further signs of the odd shadow, Sweetie Belle decided to linger a bit longer before heading back over to the crowd of ponies.

“But Brimstoke… she could be in danger! We need to go help her now!” Sunspot argued in a tense tone of voice. Brimstoke shrugged uncomfortably as he tried to make the orange mare see reason. He was so focused on his conversation that he failed to notice that his detector was glowing brighter while pointing directly behind him.

Glitterball and Glimmer Shine noticed that the quiet buzz of their detectors had returned. They looked down to the vials and became alarmed when they interpreted the reading.

“I know, but right now we need to be smart about things. I’m going to call Peppermint… maybe Tom can-” Brimstoke tried to suggest a better plan of action for the pegasus, when he was suddenly interrupted by Glitterball speaking up in an urgent tone.

“Uh, guys! We’ve got a prob-” Before the unicorn could finish her sentence, the deafening sound of glass shattering and wind flooding into the room silenced her.

“AHHHHH!!!” Sweetie Belle screamed and covered her face to shield herself from the broken glass flying at her. She caught a brief glimpse of the creature that had just broken through the window, one that was enough to make her hair stand on end. The terrifying sight of the white eyed monster shocked her into a fearful retreat as she scooted backwards to escape.

Everyone turned their heads in shocked horror as they witnessed the black shrouded beast flying into the room with a fierce growl. The sight of the young unicorn in such close proximity to the horrific monster sent a wave of alarm through everyone’s body, most of all Rarity.

“Sweetie Belle!” The white mare yelled in a panic while rushing forward. She might have been terrified of the monster in front of her, but she wasn’t about to let it hurt her little sister.

“Rarity!” Pinkie and Fluttershy cried out in unison as they watched their friend running forward to protect her sister. They wanted to help her, but they were cemented in place from their mind numbing fear of the monster before them.

As the white unicorn reached her sister and grabbed her, she noticed that the monster was rearing its arm back to attack. Not wanting Sweetie Belle to take any of the impact, Rarity turned sideways to shield the filly from the sharp claws of the beast.

Brimstoke and Glitterball, being the only ones that were holding their vests at the time flipped them around and grabbed their strobes with almost perfect execution. While Glimmer Shine raced to pick up his vest from the nearby table, his two teammates opened fire on the monstrous intruder.

The bolts of energy collided with the monster, but didn’t seem to deter it to any great effect. As it pushed against the incoming blasts, the creature swiped at the two unicorns with its clawed hand. The strike barely clipped Rarity across the face, but it was just enough to cause some considerable damage.

“AGH!” the white mare cried out in pain as she felt the stabbing sensation course through her cheek. The force of the strike, combined with the pain she was feeling, was enough to send the unicorn to the ground as she fell backwards and clutched her injury with her free hoof. Much to her horror, the unicorn could feel three sizable gashes in her cheek. As she pulled her hoof off of her face, Rarity saw that it was stained with blood. She could even feel the warm liquid drip down her wound and onto the rest of her face.

The others were horrified that their friend had been injured. They were even more horrified when they saw that the monster was preparing to stab its claws into the two ponies on the ground. Rarity gasped in shock as she saw the vicious beast holding its claws above its head in a threatening manner. She held the frightened filly next to her close and buried her head into her hair to hide both of their eyes from the grisly act about to take place.

Rarity suddenly felt a hoof grab her by her back. She then felt someone forcefully sliding her and her sister along the floor. As the unicorn came to a stop by hitting her bedframe, she looked up to see who had rescued her. Glimmer Shine had apparently stopped going after his vest, and instead focused his efforts on getting the two ponies to safety.

“Glimmer, lookout!” Rarity yelled fearfully while pointing behind the yellow stallion. Glimmer tried his best to run forward, but he was unable to escape the creature as it slashed its claws across his vest-less back.

Although he had expected to be caught in the crossfire when he shoved Rarity and Sweetie Belle out of the way, nothing could have prepared the yellow stallion for the stinging pain that would occur when the beast raked its bladelike claws across his back.

“Gah!” Glimmer Shine cringed and gritted his teeth to prevent a painful outburst. With blood running down his back, he rushed forward to escape any possible follow up attack from the monster.

As he reached the two unicorns still staring wide eyed on the floor, Glimmer turned around to protect them from any other advances by the creature. Much to his dismay, he saw that the creature had no intentions of leaving out of the window from whence it came.

Suddenly, the monster was enveloped in a blue aura. As it realized that it was being moved against its will, the creature howled fiercely while clawing at the force field keeping it at bay. Everyone turned their heads to see Glitterball with her horn lit up and a strained expression on her face.

“Guys! Set up a physical barrier on the door! I’ll hold this guy off!” Glitter yelled frantically while using all of her might to push the monster back outside through the window. Glimmer Shine and Brimstoke sprang into action as they ran to the door.

The fierce shrieks of the monster as it fought against Glitterball made the two stallions fill up with a sense of urgency. Glimmer Shine quickly scribbled the necessary runes on a piece of paper while it was affixed on the door. After the first piece was done, the two quickly opened the door to prepare the piece on the other side.

Brimstoke watched down the hallway with his strobe at the ready while Glimmer Shine prepared the charm. After a few moments of frantically scribbling the proper symbols on the paper, the yellow pony firmly placed it against the door and signaled for his partner to get back inside. As Glimmer shut the door, a bright flash of light emanated from the piece of paper. Once the light died down, the stallion could see the symbols on the paper were glowing bright red.

On the other side of the room, Glitterball let go of the monster once she knew it was safe. The creature roared angrily as it flew back into the window, only to be pushed back by the newly created barrier. Once it realized that it was being kept out, the creature pounded on the force field with all of its body weight.

The exhausted unicorn sat down and breathed heavily as she recovered from her ordeal. As she rested, she suddenly remembered that she wasn’t the only one in bad shape. After taking a brief look over to Glimmer Shine, she realized that he was being looked over by Brimstoke. Glitterball then turned her attention over to the injured white mare on the other side of the room.

Rarity was trying to comfort Sweetie Belle, while also coddling her wounds. The white filly was distraught that her sister was injured while trying to protect her.

“Rarity… are you ok?!” The young unicorn asked frantically while trying to get a good look at the injury. Rarity tried her best to hide the extent of the wound from her sister.

“I’m fine Sweetie Belle, it’s just a little cut.” The white mare hid the stinging pain from reaching her face. She had to keep a bright appearance to prevent Sweetie Belle from seeing how bad she was actually hurt.

The two noticed Glitterball walking up to them slowly. The concern on her face was evident, even through her exhaustion.

“Are you two alright?” Glitter asked while examining the ghastly set of slashes on the white mare’s face. Rarity looked back to her sister with a troubled expression. She knew that Glitter wanted to look at her wound, and she also knew that it definitely needed looking at, but she didn’t want her sister to see it.

“Umm yeah… Sweetie Belle, why don’t you go talk to Scootaloo?” The unicorn suggested in a reassuring tone. Sweetie Belle was leery about leaving her sister, but she nodded and walked away, deciding to listen to her orders. Now that the two were alone, Glitterball immediately turned her attention to examining Rarity’s injury.

“Are you ok…? Really?” Glitter asked while gently pulling the white mare’s hoof away. Rarity cringed in pain as she felt her wound being exposed to the air. Glitterball gasped quietly as she saw the three gashes.

“It stings a little, but other than that I’m fine. I would be a lot worse if Glimmer Shine didn’t push us out of the way… is he alright?” Rarity asked with a concerned expression while glancing over to the injured stallion. Brimstoke was already applying bandages to the cuts on his back.

“I haven’t checked, but it looks like he’s fine. He’s a tough one… he’ll bounce back.” Glitterball replied with a reassuring smile. “Now, let’s get you patched up.” She stated while reaching for a set of bandages and a small bottle of disinfectant. Rarity cringed in anticipation as she stared at the medical equipment.

“Hold still… I’ll be as gentle as possible.” The rainbow haired mare spoke in an understanding tone. Rarity nodded slowly while she watched Glitterball prepare her bandages. As she felt a cotton ball wetted with disinfectant touch her skin, Rarity yelped and jerked her head away slightly. Glitterball hesitated while her patient got comfortable enough to move back into position.

While she was sitting still, the white unicorn had time to pay attention to the broken window. Oddly enough, there wasn’t any more rain getting in through the opening, most likely due to the physical barrier. Rarity couldn’t help but wonder when that monster was going to return to make another attempt at breaking in.

“Do you think that force field is going to keep that thing out?” Rarity asked with mild concern at the prospect of her safety. Glitterball sighed and looked behind her at the two fillies on the other side of the room. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were conversing with Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. The two mares were obviously still shaken from the attack, so they would probably be better off left in the dark about their fragile situation.

“It depends… if there’s only one of them, it will hold for about an hour or so. If there’s more…” Glitterball trailed her eyes off uneasily as she thought about the grim possibility. Rarity needed no more explanation to see how much trouble they were in.

“Uh, hello?” Suddenly, Glitterball heard Peppermint’s voice coming through in her head. As she looked around, she realized that her two teammates were hearing him too. The red haired stallion must have been contacting all three of them to see who would pick up.

“Peppermint…?” Seeing how he was the only one with free hooves, Glimmer Shine decided to speak on behalf of the group.

“Glimmer? Oh thank goodness!” Pepper stated in a relieved tone. The last he had heard of his brother and the others he was with they were under attack and unresponsive, so to hear someone pick up his call was uplifting to say the least.

“Sunspot called us and said you guys were in trouble. Were you attacked?” Peppermint asked with a concerned sense of curiosity.

“Yeah, something came through a window. Looked like a-” Glimmer Shine started to describe the creature, when he was interrupted by his brother speaking up.

“A flying thing in black with white eyes, sharp claws, and a mouth full of nasty looking teeth?” Peppermint described the monster with perfect detail. His brother’s sudden knowledge of the monster surprised the yellow stallion.

“Yeah… how did you know that?” Glimmer asked while looking around at his two teammates. Glitterball and Brimstoke were just as surprised as he was.

“Tom told me after we had a run in with two of them. They’re demons… err, lesser demons.” Peppermint paused before correcting himself, as if he were being told something by someone else present.

“Two of them? Are you guys alright?” Glimmer Shine asked in a surprised tone. He hated the thought of his brother or his two charges getting hurt.

“Yeah, we’re fine. Twilight and Spike got a little shaken up, but Tom took care of things. What about you guys?” Pepper replied with a more concerned tone.

“We’re… hanging in there. Rarity and I got cut up a little bit, and we’re not sure how much longer we can keep those things out… especially now that we know there are more of them out there.” The yellow stallion stated quietly so everyone else couldn’t hear. Peppermint could tell that his brother was troubled by his situation.

“Listen, Tom says that you guys should grab some salt… apparently demons are repelled by it. He says you need to pour a line of salt at every door and window to whatever room you’re in… if you’re in a position to do so, you can secure the entire building by doing that.” Pepper explained in as clear a manner as he could manage. Although he was confused by the evil warding properties of common table salt, Glimmer Shine and his group was out of options.

“What about Tom? What is he doing?” Glimmer asked curiously. He wondered what the slayer’s next plan of action was. Pepper paused for a moment before replying, perhaps to ask Tom himself about his brother’s question.

“He says he is going to go check on Neon and the others. I tried getting ahold of her myself, and she is still not answering.” The red haired stallion explained uneasily.

“Yeah… that’s probably for the best. You guys stay safe while he’s gone.” Glimmer replied in a caring manner.

“Same goes for you guys… just be careful and grab some salt.” Peppermint said before ending the call. Once he felt the connection between him and his brother cease, Glimmer Shine put his hoof down and turned to his companions with a pressing matter on his mind.

“Ok guys… I have some good news and bad news. The good news is we have a way to keep those things out until Tom can sort things out…” Glimmer Shine paused as he thought more about how bad the bad side of his plan actually was.

“And the bad news?” Fluttershy asked with a concerned expression. She could tell that something was wrong by the looks on the three ponies’ faces.

“Apparently we need salt to keep those things away… Rarity, do you have any salt on hoof?” Glitterball asked with guarded optimism.

“Yeah actually, it’s… in a pantry downstairs.” Rarity’s cheerful and uplifting attitude at the revelation that the group was saved was all but removed as she remembered where she kept her salt. Brimstoke and his two teammates could barely hold off one of those creatures in a closed off room, and there could be many more of them in the dark recesses of the building.

“Maybe I’m wrong… maybe the barrier will hold up until these things go away.” Glitterball suggested uneasily. The prospect of journeying out of their small dark sanctuary into the small dark hallways and rooms of the boutique wasn’t exactly inviting.

“We can’t take that risk… we’re going to need to go out there and get that salt, sooner or later.” Brimstoke reminded the group of their grim situation. His teammates sighed in hesitation as they each mulled over the decision.

“Well, then it’s settled… two of us should go while one of us stays here to keep an eye on things. I’ll go… it looks like my magic is more effective on these things than our strobes.” Glitterball volunteered apprehensively. Despite her obvious reluctance to participate in the supply run, she tried to put on a smile for the others.

“I’ll go with you.” Glimmer Shine stepped forward while gently putting his vest on over his bandages. Even if his strobe was relatively useless, he would feel better with some sort of weapon.

“Glimmer… are you sure? You already got hurt by that thing, and that was just one of them.” Glitterball fretted with concern over her teammate. She didn’t want to go alone, but she felt like she was endangering whoever would go with her. Glimmer Shine smirked confidently at the concerned unicorn. He wasn’t about to let a little paper cut get in the way of helping his friends.

“I’m sure… I’m not going to just let you go alone, and Brimstoke needs to stay here to protect the others.” Glimmer explained in a determined tone of voice. Before the rainbow haired pony could even argue, the stallion turned and looked at Rarity thoughtfully.

“Rarity, can you give us directions to that pantry? The more precise the better.” Glimmer asked with a slight sense of nervousness. Rarity shrugged as she dealt with her own thoughts and feelings on the matter.

“I think that it would be easier if I just went with you to show you the way.” The white mare explained in an apprehensive tone. Everyone was shocked to hear that the unicorn was willing to put herself in so much danger.

“What?! You can’t go out there! It’s bad enough that they have to… and they were trained for this!” Sweetie Belle argued frantically for Rarity to stay in the room. Although she was the most vocal about her opinion, one look around told the unicorn that her friends shared the white filly’s view.

“Rarity… she has a point. This is going to be dangerous. You should just stay here and let us handle it.” Glitterball explained in a sympathetic manner.

“No… I want to help you guys. It will get done faster if I show you the way.” Rarity stated to offer an excuse to head off with the two brave ponies. Everyone in the room could tell that she was scared out of her wits, but she was hiding it for the sake of making them feel better.

Glitterball shared a concerned look with Glimmer Shine. The unicorn tried to find out what her colleague’s stance was through facial cues, but the stallion seemed to be unable to convey his opinion through silent expression.

“Umm… uh… *sigh*” Glitter finally lowered her head in defeat before adopting an accepting expression.

“Rarity… if you want to come with us, I’m not going to stop you… but you need to listen to everything we say, and be careful in general.” Glitterball explained while watching the white mare for a reaction. Rarity nodded understandingly.

With their minds made up and their task laid out before them, the three ponies walked across the room and huddled near the door. They took one last look at the group of concerned onlookers that were standing behind them.

“Be careful everyone…” Fluttershy said with worry written across her face.

“Yeah, stay safe.” Pinkie Pie added with a slight frown while taking a good long look at her unicorn friend. Rarity didn’t like the way her friends and sister were looking at her, it was like they were staring at her like it was the last time they would see her alive.

“Don’t worry girls… I’m sure we will be just fine.” The white mare stated in an attempt at lightening the mood. Her friends offered a cursory smile to her as she smiled in return. Once she turned around to join her two companions in opening the door, the group returned a collective expression of concern to their faces.

Rarity watched apprehensively as Glitterball opened the door. The barrier formed by the piece of paper on the door seemed to still be in place despite the gaping opening into the dark hallway. The three ponies shared a quick glance with each other before stepping out of the door and closing it behind them.

Nobody dared turn on a light for fear that one of the creatures would see it. Instead, the group slowly walked forward while hanging close to the floor. Using a stealthy crawl, the three ponies made their way through the pitch blackness of the house.

As they walked through the hallway, they came across a set of two windows. As they felt and heard rain coming in from one of the windows, they quickly realized that it was broken. Rarity glanced down at the broken glass with a fearful sense of dread slowly filling her.

“One of those things must have gotten inside.” The white unicorn whispered uneasily while looking between her two companions.

“Let’s hurry up and get to the pantry.” Glimmer Shine replied with a confident whisper. Thankfully his quiet tone of voice allowed the stallion to further hide his own sense of fear. It was important that the group have someone that at least sounded brave.

Being careful to step around the broken glass, the trio moved past the window as fast as their stealth-walk would allow them. The intense feeling of cold rain being blown into their faces by the raging wind was unpleasant to say the least.

Glitterball and Glimmer Shine constantly shifted their eyes around them in search of movement. They also took the occasional glance down to their detectors to see if the blue liquid was glowing in a particular direction. The pair had set the detectors to a setting that prevented it from buzzing, so they had to actually keep an eye on it to make use of its reading.

Suddenly, as the trio turned a corner, they came across a stairway leading down. Through a doorway at the bottom of the stairs, the group could see the kitchen floor. Rarity paused and smiled triumphantly as she laid eyes on the simple flooring. It didn’t take much deduction to realize that their journey had come to an end.

“Yes! That’s the kitchen there. The salt should be just in a cupboard somewhere.” Rarity whispered in excitement while pointing to the far off kitchen. It was astounding how much a room that she walked through almost every day could fill the white mare with joy.

“Let’s get down there then!” Glitterball added while sharing in Rarity’s excitement. Meanwhile, Glimmer Shine was a bit more careful in his celebration.

As the two mares stepped forward, the stallion noticed the glowing portion of the liquid in his detector shift in front of them suddenly. Combined with this phenomenon, the trio heard a noise that stunned them into a silent cold sweat.

With the creak of wood and the rustling of a door as it was pushed open without care, the group saw one of the demons flying into view downstairs. With a collective feeling of panic, the three ponies ducked into the room nearest to them as quickly and quietly as they could.

Rather than close the door and alert the monster to their presence, Glitterball decided to leave it open and instead motioned for her two companions to hide. Rarity ducked under a table with the rainbow haired mare, while Glimmer Shine ducked behind a piece of furniture.

As Rarity heard the ghostly moan of the creature getting closer, she realized that it was coming up the stairs. She could feel her heart racing as she stared out into the darkness of the hallway for any signs of movement.

The unicorn had to cover her mouth to stifle a nervous squeak as she saw the outline of the creature pass into view. The monster hovered in place while moving its head around rapidly, as if it were looking for something. The only thing that the ponies could even see of the demon was its milky white eyes as they scanned the surrounding area.

Rarity thought she was going to explode into a panic attack, she was certain that the creature was going to find them and kill them. The only thing preventing her from making any noise was the comforting feeling of Glitterball putting a hoof on her shoulder.

Thankfully, the creature finally left the doorway and continued down the hallway. After giving it a few moments to see if it would return, the three ponies slowly exited their hiding spots. Glimmer Shine walked up to the door and peered out while keeping his body concealed. After a sweeping pass of both directions, he motioned for his two teammates to join him.

“How did that thing not find us?” Rarity asked curiously while still calming her nerves. Although she was thankful that she was still alive, it seemed like the monsters usually knew where they were at all times.

“We have charms on our vests that are supposed to conceal our presence from being detected. You were probably so close to me that it worked for you too.” Glitterball explained while jostling another vial on her vest. It was hard to tell in the dark, but this vial was filled with what appeared to be flakes of some unknown substance.

“I’m certainly glad that most of your equipment actually works… especially given what little knowledge you guys had.” Rarity replied in an astonished tone.

“Yeah, me too… It’s a pleasant surprise actually. We’re just kind of taking what we had and running with it here.” Glitterball stated with a chuckle. Rarity felt extremely uneasy after hearing that her survival was based off of a pleasant surprise.

“Don’t celebrate just yet. These charms won’t help us if those things hear or see us.” Glimmer Shine said in a quiet whisper.

“Thanks for bursting our bubble Glimmer.” Glitterball chided the stallion with an uneasy shrug.

Without any further delay, the three made the slow and painfully quiet trek to the kitchen. The ponies tiptoed through the hallway and down the stairs, being extra careful not to make a sound. Every stray creak of the wood beneath their hooves made the trio pause and look around while gritting their teeth.

Much to their relief, the group finally made it downstairs and into the kitchen. After taking a brief moment to get her bearings in the dark, Rarity rushed over to a cupboard and placed a hoof on one of the handles. The white mare slowly opened the cabinet and searched around. Due to the lack of light, the unicorn had to grab something that resembled a salt container and hold it up to her face to read what it actually was. Although this process was inefficient and stressful, the unicorn didn’t dare turn on even the smallest of lights.

Glimmer Shine watched the entryways into the room while Glitterball assisted Rarity with finding a container of salt. Every wayward scuffle an object made against the wooden cabinet or its contents made the ponies cringe with suspense.

Finally, Rarity came across a familiarly sized and shaped cylindrical container. With careful optimism she held it up to her face and quickly looked around to find any identifying pictures or words.

“Yes!” Rarity exclaimed in quiet celebration. Her two companions looked to her with joy on their faces as she held up the salt triumphantly.

“Finally… let’s get back to the others. This suspense is getting on my nerves.” Glimmer Shine stated while breathing a comfortable sigh of relief.

Glitterball nodded with a smile while closing the cabinet. As she looked behind the stallion into the rest of the kitchen, she was shocked by the sight of two pale eyes floating just in front of them.

“*Gasp*” The unicorn let out an alarmed gasp as she realized what she was staring at. Rarity’s face paled and her eyes widened as she also noticed what her friend was looking at.

Before anyone could react, the creature let out a fierce and deep growl. Glimmer Shine and his two companions backed away, even though there wasn’t much room for them to back up before hitting a wall.

As Glimmer Shine reached for his strobe, the creature swiped sideways at him. The stallion cried out in pain as he was sent to the floor with a slash on his chest. The creature then moved behind the injured pony, standing, or rather floating, between him and the two mares.

Glitterball watched as the yellow stallion crawled in an attempt at getting away from the creature. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to use her magic on the demon before it could attack again. Taking a quick glance over to Rarity, the unicorn found a surprising solution that she hoped would work.

Rarity was surprised as she felt Glitterball rip the salt container from her hooves. She watched in confusion and shock as the rainbow haired mare opened up the container and shook it towards the beast. A spout of salt came out of the container and flew into the air until it struck the creature.

The demon let out a shriek of pain before disappearing into a cloud of black smoke. Although it looked like it was merely disrupted rather than destroyed, the two ponies were thankful that the monster was gone. With nothing left to block it from completing its path, the salt flew downwards until it hit Glimmer Shine in the face. The stallion sputtered to get the excess powder out of his mouth while also wiping it out of his closed eyes.

“Could you warn a guy before you throw salt at him? You’re lucky none landed on my chest.” The yellow pony stated with slight agitation while looking down to his chest. Although the wound wasn’t deep, it would have been doubtlessly excruciating if even a single grain of salt landed in it.

“You’re welcome.” Glitterball said with a smirk while helping her teammate to his feet. Glimmer Shine brushed the remaining salt out of his hair and off of his shoulders before smiling back at the mare that just saved his life.

“Nice thinking using the salt offensively… I guess I owe you one.” Glimmer stated with a chuckle. Glitterball chuckled herself at the prospect of having the stallion in her debt.

“You’re darn right you do… now let’s get back to the others. We can discuss how you will repay your debt later.” Glitter said lightheartedly. Everyone nodded before letting Rarity lead the way back.

With their newfound weapon in hand, the three felt much safer while traversing the dark hallways. Now that they didn’t have to focus so much on being stealthy, they could actually walk back to the bedroom rather than crawl.

Soon enough the trio found their way back to the sanctuary of Rarity’s bedroom. As they opened the door and stepped inside, they were greeted by the cheerful faces of their friends.

“Guys! You made it!” Fluttershy cheered happily as she saw her friends return relatively unharmed. Although Glimmer Shine had a small cut along his chest, he seemed to be in one piece still.

“Of course we did! I said we would be fine didn’t I? Applejack may be the element of honesty, but my word is my word.” Rarity stated lightheartedly while sharing a group hug with her two friends and her little sister.

“All right, let’s hurry up and get some salt around these windows. I’m tired of these things already…” Glitterball spoke up while walking over to the first window in the room and pouring a line of salt on its windowsill. The ponies hoped that the flimsy barrier wasn’t as flimsy as it appeared and would actually keep them safe.