As the torrent of hail continued to pound on the wooden overhang of the porch, the group of four was still recovering from their brief time out in the storm. All of the bruises and sore spots on them were still aching, even after resting for a few minutes. Tom was keeping a close eye on the hooded unicorn that was recuperating on the floor. Although he was confident that he wouldn’t be able to escape, he still wanted to keep tabs on him.

Meanwhile Sunspot was staying by Rainbow Dash as she rested her injured knee. The cyan mare was cradling her front leg while rubbing the pain out of it. Every time she would put a little weight on it, it would send shooting pains through her body.

“Tch!” Rainbow Dash cringed while trying yet again to walk on the injured appendage. Realizing that she wasn’t getting anywhere, the cyan mare frowned sadly.

“Man… this hurts a lot. I hope I didn’t break a bone or something.” The pegasus fretted with concern while gently pressing around her knee to search for abnormalities.

“Here, let me see.” Tom suggested while getting up and moving closer. As the human sat down beside her, Rainbow Dash was a little apprehensive to let him near her injury. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him, but she felt overly protective of her knee.

“Umm… I think I’ll be ok… I can just walk it off.” Rainbow Dash stated with a forced smile and chuckle. She could obviously see that the boy wasn’t buying her act.

“Relax… you won’t feel a thing, I promise.” Tom said earnestly. Rainbow Dash thought back to how he had healed Applebloom’s leg back at the hospital. If an actually broken bone could be mended without any pain, then perhaps she would be fine with him healing her injury.

“Ok… but please be gentle, I bruise easily… heh.” Rainbow Dash chuckled nervously while mentally preparing for whatever pain would come from the human examining her leg.

The cyan mare cringed in expectance as Tom slowly placed his hand on her knee and left it there for a moment. Before long, a soft blue glow enveloped his hand and the surrounding area. All sensation of pain was removed as the boy pressed harder onto the leg.

The only thing that Rainbow Dash could feel was an incredibly warm sensation washing over the area where she was in contact with the slayer. It wasn’t so warm as to cause discomfort, but it seemed to be just the perfect amount to elicit a blissful feeling in the pegasus.

Perhaps sooner than she would have liked, Rainbow Dash felt Tom let go of her knee and immediately felt an equally soothing cool sensation as her knee came into contact with the cool air. As she moved her leg around, she quickly realized that all of the pain had vanished. Anything that had been ailing her knee seemed to be gone.

“Wow… that is so cool. It never ceases to amaze me how awesome your powers are Tom… Thanks.” Rainbow Dash stated with an astonished smile. Tom seemed to be pleased that the cyan mare was back in good health.

“No problem. Just try to keep yourself from getting too banged up in the future. I know there wasn’t much you could have done back there, but it always pays to be cautious.” The human stated as a reminder for the bold pegasus to watch her back for future reference.

“Will do.” Rainbow Dash replied with a cheerful nod.

“Ok guys, let’s head inside. The others probably need our help… I’m picking up a few readings inside, probably more of those things.” Sunspot said while holding out her locator. The liquid inside the vial was glowing intensely towards the top as the pegasus pointed it towards the house.

The thought of more of those creatures being in her friend’s house made Rainbow Dash feel anxious and concerned. She hoped that the orange mare and those with her would be alright. Despite all of the hope that she could manage, she knew that she needed to assist her friend to increase her chances of survival.

“Yeah, let’s go.” Rainbow Dash said with determination welling up inside of her. She was prepared to do whatever it would take to rescue her friends.

The three brave soldiers, and one reluctant unicorn, lined up in front of the door and prepared to undertake their rescue mission. Tom opened the door and took a quick look inside to scan for any threats. Satisfied with his search, the human signaled for his group to move inside.

Sunspot quickly walked into the house after the slayer. Cotton Quill tried to linger outside for a while longer, until he was given a shove on the back by Rainbow Dash. Looking behind him to see the cyan mare glaring at him, the unicorn shrugged uncomfortably before walking inside.

Once everyone was in the house, Rainbow Dash closed the door as quietly as she could. She then took a quick peek around to see what shape the once lively home was in. The living room seemed to be relatively intact. From what she could tell in the dark, everything was in its intended place.

“So far so good…” Rainbow muttered quietly while looking to the two at the front of the group. Tom and Sunspot were scanning the area ahead with their respective means of doing so. Judging by how both of them were converging towards the upstairs portion of the house, the cyan pegasus gathered that something must have been up there.

“Any sign of Neon and the others?” Rainbow Dash whispered curiously while trying to interpret the reading on Sunspot’s vial from a distance. Despite how much she had seen the detector in action, the cyan mare had no idea what any of its glowing lights meant.

“I’m picking up a few heat signatures upstairs… along with a few of those monsters.” Sunspot replied uneasily while holding up both of her locating vials.

“Same here… from the looks of it everyone seems to be still alive.” Tom added with a relieved tone of voice. Rainbow Dash was also relieved to hear that everyone was at least alive.

“That’s great! Let’s get up there and help them!” Rainbow Dash stated excitedly. Even though there wasn’t much she could probably do to the demons, she was eager for the human to go destroy the monsters and rescue her friends. Thankfully he seemed to be willing to carry out her whims, at least in this case.

Without any further delay, Tom slowly made his way towards the nearby stairs. He motioned for the others to be quiet. Everyone gladly obliged as they could already hear the muffled sounds that the creatures were making from above.

Somehow, the group managed to not make any noise at all as they slinked up the stairs. Keeping themselves low to the ground to conceal themselves, they slowly climbed up each step while mentally preparing themselves for what they would find at the top.

Tom reached the end of the stairs first and peered over them to see into the dark hallway. He was immediately greeted with the sight of three creatures hovering around a door. The door was badly clawed up and seemed to be scorched slightly from some kind of burn. Taking a quick look at the creatures revealed the reason for the mysterious burn. Two of the beasts had an aura of electricity flowing around them. One touch from them must have been enough to power a small village for weeks.

“Yikes…” Rainbow Dash exclaimed quietly as she noticed the electrified monsters. She already hated the demons when they were normal, so to find ones that had control over lightning was an unpleasant surprise.

As the others looked at the door, they quickly noticed something else amid the claw marks and wood splinters. There was a small piece of paper affixed to the door. The paper had symbols on it that were glowing red. Everyone but Cotton quickly recognized this to be one of the physical barriers that Sunspot’s team used.

“Good thinking Neon.” Sunspot said with a warm smile. She was glad that her green friend was a quick thinker in the face of danger.

“How are we going to get to them? Those things don’t look like they’re moving…” Rainbow Dash observed uneasily. The three demons seemed to be unmoving in their fixation on the ponies trapped behind the door.

“Well then I guess I’m going to have to move them.” Tom stated casually. Before anyone could even process what he meant by that, the boy got up and rushed forward.

“Tom wait!” Rainbow Dash tried to get the human to return to the safety of the stairs. She was certain that it was an unwise idea to take on so many of the creatures in such close quarters. Despite her warning the boy charged forward dauntlessly.

By the time the three beasts had turned their heads to look at the incoming threat, Tom had already materialized his claws. With a swift cross swipe, the two electrified demons found their forms getting sliced through with relative ease. The lightning surrounding them arced into the slayer as he struck them, but he seemed to pay no more heed to the discharge than a slight yelp of pain.

The third creature tried to back up, but it was a pointless effort considering the speed of the human. Tom leapt into the air and brought his claws down into the monster’s head. As the boy paused and rested, the remains of the three creatures faded into smoke which quickly dissipated into the air.

“Wow… I guess that’ll show me for thinking that you can’t handle something.” Rainbow Dash said with cheerful amazement. Even though she wasn’t the one performing the deed, it was oddly satisfying to watch the vicious monsters getting destroyed.

“Well… it is a lot easier when there aren’t that many of them. I’m just glad Sunspot didn’t have to bail me out there… that would have been kind of awkward.” Tom replied lightheartedly. Rainbow Dash and Sunspot laughed warmly at the boy’s comment.

Now that the monsters had been dealt with, the group was free to turn their attention to finding their friends. Sunspot looked at the spell on the door for a moment so she could sync up to it. The only way they were getting in there is if they could either break or get around the ward, luckily getting around it was easy due to her common usage of it.

Taking out a quill and dabbing it into an ink well filled with red ink, the orange pegasus quickly scribbled a symbol onto the paper. The symbol vanished into the paper, sending a shockwave out through the door. Sunspot then grabbed the handle and pulled.

The door popped open with relative ease. As soon as they peered inside, they were greeted with the sight of Applejack and her two siblings huddling around an injured pony on the ground. Neon Streak had what appeared to be a large gash on her side which she was pressing a few bandages against to stop the bleeding.

“Rainbow Dash…? Tom? Sunspot?” Applejack asked in a stunned tone. She seemed surprised to see the trio as they entered the doorway. Once she realized that she wasn’t seeing things and they were really standing in front of her, the orange mare became excited along with the others.

“It’s about time you guys got here!” Neon Streak stated happily as she watched the small group flood into the already crowded bathroom.

“Neon!” Sunspot exclaimed as she happily rushed to the green mare’s side and picked her up into a hug. The hold was a little too rough on the earth pony for her liking, so she gently pushed the excited pegasus away.

“Why didn’t you answer us? You had me and the others worried sick!” Sunspot chided her green friend for causing so much stress. Neon Streak sighed while looking down to her injury.

“I got knocked out by one of those things outside… After I came to I tried calling again, but I couldn’t reach anyone. I didn’t know what else to do… so I set up a protective barrier on the door. One of them clipped me before I could get back in.” Neon explained in a disheartened tone. Sunspot put a reassuring hoof on her shoulder, causing the green mare to look up. The suited mare had a cheerful smile on her face.

“I’m just glad that you’re ok.” Sunspot stated happily.

“Hmm… that storm outside must be jamming the signal if you couldn’t reach us.” Tom reasoned while thinking back to the giant tornado circling the area. “Can you call anyone Sunspot?” He asked to be certain that they were cut off from the outside world. Sunspot placed a hoof up to her ear and concentrated. She couldn’t even feel a connection going through, but she felt that she had to try.

“Hello…? Can anyone hear me?” Sunspot asked while hoping for an answer. Nothing but dead silence greeted the orange mare.

“*Sigh* Looks like we’re on our own…” Sunspot shrugged sadly. The last thing she wanted was to be cut off from the rest of her team. As much as her training had prepared her for times like this, it was an entirely different experience to actually experience the worst case scenario.

“We can handle this by ourselves. Between the three of us, I think you, me, and Tom can take care of these things… Ow!” Neon Streak yelped in pain as she felt another twinge of pain going through her chest. Everyone looked to the green mare with concerned expressions as she dealt with her wound.

“Here, let me take care of that for you.” Tom suggested while walking up to the earth pony. Neon Streak held her free arm out in protest of the human trying to heal her.

“Don’t worry about that right now. I don’t want you using up all of your strength on me before all of these things are gone. I will be fine until you guys take care of everything… I guess I’ll just stay here.” The green pony suggested with a slightly disheartened tone.

“Just… don’t die before we get back up here, ok?” Sunspot instructed while observing the cringing mare with a sympathetic frown.

“I’ll try my best.” Neon replied with a reassuring chuckle before cringing in pain again.

“Hey… who is that guy?” Applebloom spoke up from the side of the room. She had been staring at the hooded unicorn ever since she noticed him. She only just now tried to ask who he was.

Tom and the two pegasus’s directed their attention to their prisoner. Cotton Quill had been trying to remain as silent and unnoticed as possible, but now everyone was looking right at him. The looks of suspicion and curiosity he was receiving made him feel nervous and uneasy.

“This is Cotton Quill. We found him outside in the middle of a pictogram.” Tom explained while forcibly patting the unicorn on the back. Cotton grunted slightly from the unfriendly gesture.

Upon mention of the unicorn’s name, Applejack and Neon Streak shifted their expressions to leers. They looked at each other before returning their attention back to the hooded pony, as if confirming with each other their own thoughts.

“Cotton Quill…? As in… we almost died trying to find his sorry hooded butt… that Cotton Quill?” Neon Streak asked while getting up from the floor. Cotton Quill suddenly became that much more nervous as he looked at the two mares staring at him.

“Yep… that’s the one.” Tom stated with a smirk while ignoring the pleading facial cues he was getting from the unicorn.

“Umm… uh…” Cotton broke out into a cold sweat as he watched Neon Streak walk over to him with a scowl on her face. He tried to back up, only to be met with the wall blocking his path.

“Can I h-help you?” The unicorn asked nervously, hoping that the agitated mare would go away if he was polite.

“Yeah… actually you can. When you see your red furred buddy again… could you give him this for me?” Neon asked while holding up her bare hoof. Cotton was a little confused by the gesture.

“Give him wh- OW!” The unicorn was interrupted by Neon Streak punching him right in the nose. The strike wasn’t anything major, but it definitely stung. As Cotton was rubbing his muzzle tenderly, the green mare smiled in satisfaction.

“That feels so much better now.” Neon chuckled while returning to her previous spot on the floor. Applejack also seemed to be pleased that some sort of justice had been dealt for their previous hardship.

“I’m glad someone feels good about this…” Cotton muttered to himself while trying to assess if his nose was broken anywhere.

“Ok… now that we’re all together we need to start thinking about how to stop these things.” Sunspot stated to get things back on track. She looked to Tom with the hopes that he would have a plan of action for her and her friends.

“Tom, do you have any ideas?” Sunspot asked with a hopeful expression. The human paused to think for a moment before answering.

“Cotton, what exactly did you summon?” Tom asked while turning to the still recovering unicorn. Cotton Quill looked up in mild confusion at the sudden question.

“What?” Cotton asked in an uncertain tone. He was unsure of what the slayer meant, or even if he should answer truthfully.

“That spell out there seemed way too complex to just spit out a few lesser demons and some rain. What did you summon?” Tom restated his question in a more direct way with a serious expression on his face.

“Umm…” Cotton thought back to the original parameters of his spell. He wasn’t sure if he should divulge the fact that he was trying to assassinate the elements of harmony. Seeing the impatient faces of the group surrounding him, he knew that he needed to find something to tell them.

“I’m not sure if I should tell you… you’ll just hit me again.” The unicorn stated nervously, his comment seemed to anger the majority of the ponies.

“Look… I promise that I won’t hit you… just tell us the truth.” Tom spoke up before anyone could voice their opinions. The others were surprised that he could appear so sincere to one of their enemies. Cotton mulled over the question in his head for a while before finally sighing in defeat.

“I used a spell to summon a storm demon… I gave it a picture of the elements of harmony in the hopes that it would target them.” Cotton explained nervously while avoiding eye contact with anyone. The ponies were amazed at how brutally honest the unicorn was being, but they were even more upset than anything.

“You did-” Rainbow Dash began to speak up angrily, when she was suddenly interrupted by a loud outburst from the human beside her.

“YOU DID WHAT?!” Tom yelled in shock and anger, making Cotton Quill, and everyone else in the room jump slightly. The boy looked like he was about to strangle the unicorn.

“You said you wouldn’t hit me!” Cotton stated frantically while backing further into the corner. Tom paused for a moment while still dealing with his anger. He breathed in and out a few times to regulate himself before turning to the cyan mare beside him.

“I said that I wouldn’t hit you… I said nothing about her hitting you. Rainbow Dash, if you would be so kind as to punch him in his stupid face for me.” Tom asked through gritted teeth while still dealing with his own emotions. Rainbow Dash looked at the nervous unicorn and smirked deviously.

“With pleasure.” Rainbow Dash stated while getting up and winding up for a punch. Everyone in the room either cringed and looked away or cheered the cyan mare on as she gave the unicorn a punch to the face that made a satisfying thud sound out throughout the room.

Cotton Quill was knocked onto the floor from the strike. His head was spinning and his nose was throbbing. He decided that it would be best if he didn’t talk anymore about possibly harmful topics to his captors.

“Sunspot, do you have any zip ties or handcuffs?” Tom asked in a slightly urgent tone.

“Uh… yeah.” Sunspot replied in slight confusion while reaching for a zip tie. She handed it to the human, who quickly grabbed the still recovering unicorn by the front leg and lifted him up slightly. Cotton tried resisting, but in his dazed state he couldn’t do much but wriggle in the slayer’s grasp.

“What are you doing?” Cotton asked in a concerned tone while the human wrapped the zip tie around both of his front legs. He then closed the tie and pulled it tight so the unicorn would be restrained.

“I can’t have you walking around while I’m away.” The boy explained while placing the bound pony against the wall in a seated position. The others in the room were starting to get concerned for how he was acting.

“Ok… now Ah’m curious. What are you doing Tom?” Applejack asked while observing the urgency in the human’s face.

“I’m going downstairs to get some salt, and then I’m going to seal you guys in here while I take care of this thing.” Tom explained while walking out of the door. While the orange mare was confused about why he needed salt, she was more concerned about his sudden desire to take the creatures on alone.

“Hold on a second!” Applejack stated while walking out to catch up with him. “You can’t be serious can you? You aren’t doing this alone.” She explained adamantly.

“But-” Tom started to speak up when he was interrupted by Rainbow Dash interjecting into the conversation.

“But nothing… I don’t care if it’s dangerous. We’re all in this together. If you fail then we’re going to have to do the same thing without you anyway.” Rainbow Dash said with a determined expression.

Tom tried to appear as confident in his decision as possible, but it was hard to get past the two mares staring him down with eager expressions. It was like they had a death wish, but they didn’t seem to care as long as they were helping to fight.

“Fine… but you’re going to stay inside, and you’re staying together. I think I can keep two of you safe just as long as we keep our numbers low.” The human instructed with a serious tone of voice. While he was giving his speech, he noticed Sunspot walking out to join the other two ponies in front of him.

“Neon and Big Mac will stay with Applebloom and Cotton while we’re gone. What are we doing?” The suited mare asked while closing the door. She walked up to the group with an eager expression.

“*Sigh*… these ponies are going to be the death of me.” Tom muttered to himself while rubbing his temples. It was hard enough doing his job by himself, but now he had to worry about the safety of three talking ponies. Not only were they sentient cute animals, but they were ladies to boot. He couldn’t exactly allow anything bad to happen to them, it would go against every moral he was ever taught.

“We need to grab some salt and seal off all the doors and windows. If we’re going to fight this thing, we need to be as prepared as possible.” The boy explained uneasily. Rainbow Dash and the others could easily tell that he was dreading the coming battle.

“Wait, hold on… salt? Why do we need salt?” Applejack asked in a confused tone while looking to her friends for an explanation.

“Basically salt repels these things… I wasn’t sure about it myself until we tried it out. I just hope it works on that storm demon… whatever the hay it is.” Rainbow Dash said in a concerned tone.

“What is this thing anyway? We have been stuck in a bathroom for a while, so Ah have no idea what’s going on.” Applejack asked curiously. If she was going to risk her life, she at least wanted to know what she was up against.

“Well… it’s hard to say. Most demons, even among the same type, differ between individuals. All I know is that whatever this thing is, it’s bad.” Tom replied. The ponies weren’t exactly surprised by his reasoning.

“I think we figured that out on our own Tom… can you at least give us a little insight on what you’re expecting?” Rainbow Dash asked to clarify what the human knew about the subject.

“Umm… how to put this…?” The human thought out loud while trying to find a way to put his hypothesis into simple terms. “You see all of those flying monsters we have been fighting all night? Well… those things are pretty much this thing’s babies.” He explained uneasily.

The thought of something even more powerful than the creatures they were already facing made the ponies’ minds race. They could practically imagine what horrifying monster was about to be created, and thinking back to what Cotton Quill said, they realized that it would be trying to hunt them specifically.

“What are we waiting for then? Let’s hurry up and prepare!” Sunspot stated urgently in an attempt to get things moving. The human nodded before heading down the stairs. With the suited pegasus hot on his heels, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were momentarily left upstairs by themselves.

“I’m not sure if I can handle all of this…” Rainbow Dash stated nervously. She could tell that her orange friend shared her feelings on the matter just from a glance.

“We don’t really have a choice Rainbow Dash.” Applejack replied in an understanding tone. She herself was dealing with an overwhelming sense of fear that made it difficult to move forward.

“I’ll watch your back if you watch mine.” Rainbow Dash said in an attempt at instilling courage in both her and her friend. Applejack smirked at the brave exterior that her friend was putting on. She only wished that she could make herself look that confident.

“Deal.” Applejack agreed with a firm hoof shake. She felt a little better knowing that she didn’t have to go into battle alone. She had one of her best friends along for the ride.

Without any further delay, the two ponies walked downstairs to join their friends up ahead. They rushed through the living room and into the kitchen where the human and the suited mare were searching around for any container of salt they could find.

“Here, let me get it.” Applejack suggested while walking over to the correct cabinet. She knew the contents of her kitchen like the back of her own hoof due to how often she assisted with cooking for the family. The orange pony rifled through the cabinet before pulling out two containers of salt. Tom grabbed one of the containers from her, leaving Applejack holding the other.

“Go around the house and lay down a line of salt at every door and window. If you find one of those things, scream loud enough for us to hear you and throw some salt at it.” The human explained to the farm pony. Applejack nodded while turning to her cyan friend.

“Ok… Rainbow Dash and Ah will take upstairs.” Applejack stated while walking towards the living room. Rainbow Dash swiftly followed the orange mare into the other room and up the stairs.

With the constant threat of one of the monstrous intruders breaking in should they falter, the two teams rushed around the house leaving lines of salt wherever they went. The booming thunder outside made everyone on edge as they approached the windows and doors that led out into the darkness.

Rainbow Dash stood by with a small hoof full of salt at the ready while Applejack finished laying down lines in front of the upstairs windows. In the event of one of those things flying in, the cyan mare would be the first to react.

“So how are the others doing?” Applejack asked with slight concern in her voice. She hadn’t heard anything about her other friends, and judging from how deadly these monsters could be, she wasn’t sure if she would like what she heard.

“Everyone is fine. They all have themselves blocked in with salt, so they are probably still waiting for us to stop this thing.” Rainbow Dash explained to ease the farm pony’s concerns. Applejack was relieved that her friends were safe.

“That’s good to hear… Who would have thought that those scary critters would be afraid of salt?” Applejack stated with a slight chuckle. The thought of a vicious monster being fended off with something as simple as table salt was somehow amusing.

“Tell me about it. If every monster the hooded ponies summoned was as easy to fend off as these guys, we would be in the clear.” Rainbow Dash replied lightheartedly.

With this room completed, the two headed back out into the hall and looked around to see which rooms they were missing. The only one they had left to fortify was the only one they had been putting off. As they approached Applebloom’s bedroom, they felt a small feeling of dread welling up inside of them.

“So they came right through the window?” Rainbow Dash turned to her partner and asked curiously.

“Yeah… it’s a good thing Neon was with us. Ah don’t think we would be as well off as we are if she didn’t react as fast as she did.” Applejack said with a thankful expression. She didn’t even want to think about what could have happened if Applebloom was alone in her room when the monster broke in.

“Well… let’s get this over with.” Rainbow Dash suggested while clutching her salt defensively. The chances of another demon flying in from the open window was equal to anywhere else in the house, but for some reason the open window into the raging storm outside seemed more dangerous to the two mares.

Applejack nodded slowly while reaching for the handle. With a brief moment of hesitation, the orange pony opened up the door and looked inside with her salt container at the ready. With the silent precision of a pair of ninjas, the two mares walked inside and scanned the area for threats.

The only sign of movement was the curtains at the far end of the room flapping in the wind. The lightning flashed constantly, illuminating the entire room and casting deep shadows on the walls and floor. The rain outside hadn’t returned since the hailstorm, leaving only a thunderous uproar outside.

Taking note of the broken glass at her feet, Applejack carefully approached the window. The soft crackle of the glass as the farm pony gingerly walked over it was barely audible over the sound of the wind, but the two mares felt that it would be more than enough to alert any vicious beast outside to their presence.

Applejack quickly put down a line of salt below the window, hoping that the wind wouldn’t reach it. Rainbow Dash tensed her body in preparation while staring out the window, all the while expecting some sort of monstrosity to come flying in.

Just before Applejack finished the line of salt, a loud rustling sound came from outside. It sounded like something was scraping against the walls of the house just below them. Suddenly a deep roar filled the room as a dark shape flew into view.

“AH!” Applejack yelped fearfully. Caught by surprise from the sudden alarming sight in front of her, the orange mare fell backwards in a subconscious attempt at gaining distance from the creature. Rainbow Dash quickly reacted and threw her salt at the creature.

Perhaps wise to their methods of attack, the monster rapidly ducked down below the window, letting the salt fly past him. Once the way was clear, the demon shot upwards again and started coming through the window.

The two mares backed up as fast as they could. In the process of escaping, Applejack rubbed her leg across some glass, slicing it open slightly. Ignoring the mildly painful experience, the orange pony focused all of her attention on backpedaling from the monster.

“Go, go, go!” Rainbow Dash yelled frantically while heading for the door. The farm pony needed no further confirmation as she joined her friend in running away from the beast. With the creature howling at their heels, the two mares reached the door and slammed it shut behind them.

“Hold it shut!” Applejack exclaimed while laying a line of salt down in front of the door. Rainbow Dash held onto the handle and put her weight into keeping the door shut.

The door rattled and shook as the demon clawed and pounded into it. The cyan mare could barely keep it steady as the monster tried opening it from the other side. She strained every muscle in her body to try and get a good foothold to prop herself against.

“I can’t hold it much longer!” The pegasus cried out urgently. Applejack took this as incentive to move that much faster.

Finally, the orange mare managed to complete the line in front of the door. Almost the exact moment that she did, the pounding stopped and the demon screeched in pain while releasing the door. The two ponies backed up and fell backwards to a seated position. Now that they were safe, they could breathe easy.

“*Pant*… *Pant*… Man… I think I’m going to start carrying salt on me at all times.” Rainbow Dash chuckled through her exhaustive breathing. She could still feel her heart beating rapidly, but she was surprisingly calm now that the danger had passed.

“Maybe you should ask Sunspot to hook you up with one of their vests… I’m sure you could carry all the salt and other monster deterrents you want with that thing.” Applejack replied with a smirk. The cyan mare chuckled for a moment before considering how cool it would be to have her own tactical vest.

“You know… that’s not a bad idea Applejack.” Rainbow Dash stated in a half joking and half serious tone. Applejack laughed at the thought of her friend dressed in monster hunting gear. Her laughter faded suddenly as she felt a stinging pain that drew her attention down to her back right leg.

“Ow…” The orange pony cringed as she noticed the cut on her leg. It wasn’t particularly large or deep, but it was bleeding a small amount of crimson liquid that barely managed to form streams down her leg.

“You’re hurt…? Did you cut yourself on the glass?” Rainbow Dash asked in a concerned tone while observing the farm pony’s injury.

“Ah think so… Ah was a little focused on running for my life after all.” Applejack replied while coddling her injured leg. Rainbow Dash watched with a sympathetic frown as her friend tried to get up while protecting her injured leg.

“Let’s head downstairs and ask Sunspot to patch you up… if you’re lucky Tom might even heal it for you.” Rainbow Dash suggested while gently helping the orange mare get up.

“Ah don’t want Tom to waste energy on a little cut. He needs all the strength he can get to fight whatever this thing is. Besides… it’s not that bad.” Applejack stated while ignoring the twinges of pain she was receiving every time she moved her leg.

“Well, let’s head downstairs anyway. You should keep your weight off of it until we can get you some first aid. Here, let me help you.” Rainbow Dash said while offering the orange mare her shoulder to help her walk.

“Thanks sugar cube.” Applejack said with a warm smile while slowly shuffling forward with the cyan mare’s help. The pair moved relatively slow, but they continued towards the stairs at a steady pace on their way to reunite with their friends.