Meanwhile, Tom and Sunspot were going around and putting the finishing touches on their makeshift barricades. Every door and window had a neatly placed line of salt in front of them. The pair even had a little salt left over to use offensively on the beasts. If anything tried to get inside of the house, it would meet a lot of resistance trying.

“That looks like the last of them.” Sunspot stated while sprinkling the last few grains of salt in front of a window. The pegasus looked around and admired the work they had done. It was nice to see that they had such a large area secured from monsters.

“Let’s just hope that everything is going smooth for Applejack and Rainbow Dash upstairs.” Tom replied with a carefully optimistic tone. He wasn’t one to believe in jinxes, but it couldn’t hurt to not say anything stupid to make lady luck upset.

“I’ll go check on them.” Sunspot suggested while walking towards the living room. Before she could even get through the door, she noticed Rainbow Dash and Applejack walking into the room. The farm pony was leaning on the cyan pegasus while favoring one of her back legs. The other leg had a decent sized cut on it that looked more painful than it was harmful.

“Are you two alright?” Tom asked while looking over the orange mare’s injured leg with a concerned expression.

“We ran into some trouble up there, but we managed to secure the area.” Rainbow Dash explained while walking her injured companion over to a chair.

“How much trouble did you run into exactly?” Sunspot asked while reaching for a set of bandages to assist the wounded mare.

“Just one of them… Ah got this running away from it. Cut myself on some broken glass.” Applejack explained while lifting her leg up to make it easier on the suited pegasus. Sunspot seemed surprised by how little resistance they got while securing the house.

“One of them…? Why only one of them? We didn’t even find one down here, but there should be dozens of them around from what I detected earlier.” Sunspot said with a confused expression. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were just as curious now that the orange mare brought up the subject, though they couldn’t readily think of an answer themselves.

“I don’t know, I didn’t really think of it that way… any ideas Tom?” Rainbow Dash asked while looking to the slayer, hoping that his senses could offer him an insight into what their enemies were doing.

“The one you saw was probably a straggler… They are after the elements of harmony after all, and there were two of you in a close proximity to each other. Most of the others seem to be gathering somewhere up in the sky.” The human explained while looking out of the window. His answer didn’t make the ponies any less confused, if anything it perplexed them further.

“What are they doing up there?” Sunspot asked curiously while focusing on wrapping up Applejack’s leg. She quickly glanced between the human and her work as she waited for an answer to make sense of the monsters’ mysterious actions.

“They’re trying to summon their boss… the demon that Cotton originally called for. Bringing forth a demon in physical form is too hard for just a simple spell to do… the one Cotton used probably summoned his followers so they could finish the job.” Tom said with a slightly nervous tone. The ponies were already nervous themselves, so to see the human a little pale in the face while discussing a monster was disconcerting to say the least.

“What demon? What’s he going to be like?” Rainbow Dash asked apprehensively. Anything that commands the respect of those flying creatures must have been a terrifying thing to behold.

Before Tom could answer, a rush of blue mist erupted from his mouth. At the same time, Sunspot’s locator crackled and buzzed as it flashed with blue light. Along with these troubling alarms, the occasional flashing of lightning outside seemed to have increased.

The entire room was lighting up with light from outside. The almost strobe like display strangely wasn’t accompanied with thunder for each flash. Thunder was present, but it wasn’t in sequence with the flash of lightning. It was an almost disturbing roar that seemed to happen of its own volition, like a snarling beast trying to loose itself from its prison in the sky.

The ponies quickly rushed to the nearest window to investigate the frightening event. They scanned their eyes around outside for a brief moment trying to locate the source of the light, when they suddenly froze in place when they discovered what they were looking for.

Up in the sky, there was a large storm cloud. The cloud itself wasn’t what was terrifying, it was more or less what was being displayed on, or perhaps inside of it. Each time the lightning would flash, the source of the light was blatantly apparent to anyone looking outside. Everywhere else in the sky was dark, except for the appearance of a face being projected on the cloud by the lightning.

The face wasn’t detailed, only consisting of a gaping mouth with a large grin and two round holes above it that served as eyes. The ponies couldn’t see the arcs of the lightning. Instead the face seemed to be behind the cloud, as if the light that made it up was coming from inside of it.

The sight of the unnerving face in the sky combined with the erratic thunder to instill a gripping sense of fear in the ponies. They felt their blood running cold from fright, yet they couldn’t stop looking at the terrifying sight. It was like staring at a bad accident.

“Well that isn’t good.” Tom muttered sarcastically. He tried to hide the twinge of nervousness in his voice, but it was easily apparent that he was dreading coming to blows with a full-fledged demon.

“Uh… Tom, could you answer Rainbow Dash’s question? I want to know a little bit more about the thing that’s about to come and kill us.” Sunspot stated while gulping nervously. Everyone felt the same way as the suited mare, although they weren’t sure if they really wanted to know more about the monster that was hunting them.

“It’s a little hard to say… all we really know for sure is that he’s a storm demon. Demons are so different from each other, and there are so many that the only way you could identify them would be to know their name.” Tom explained while turning to face the small group of nervous ponies.

“Well I’m pretty sure that knowing its name won’t do us much good while it’s slaughtering us.” Rainbow Dash said in a nervous tone while trying to ignore the eerie flashes of light filling the room.

“Actually it would… Demons fight fiercely to keep their names unknown. Once a demon’s name is given, a trained exorcist or a slayer can use that as a weapon against them. They are kind of like children trying to find a loop hole out of a punishment. If you command a demon to leave, it is a lot more powerful if you direct that command to the specific demon.” Tom explained to offer a little more insight to how battling demons worked.

“That’s great! Just use your influence over it to get it to tell you its name. Then you can send it packing to wherever it came from!” Sunspot suggested eagerly. She was relieved to hear that they had a weapon against whatever this thing was. The brief excitement in the room was almost instantly killed as the ponies noticed that the human wasn’t as elated as they were.

“Actually… I’m not sure if that will even work.” Tom said while trailing his eyes off apprehensively. The ponies were surprised to hear the distinct lack of confidence in their friend. The boy was usually so determined and sure of himself, but now he seemed to be just as nervous as they were.

“Why wouldn’t that work? It sounds pretty simple to me… just get its name and we can beat it.” Rainbow Dash asked nervously. She knew that her faith in such a simple approach was probably misplaced, and that the human was about to explain to her why.

“All of this works in theory… but in theory, most demons don’t actually take physical forms. You can command a demon around if you have the right authority because they don’t belong in this world. Demons constantly possess other living creatures to get a foot hold in this realm, which is why you can compel them to leave. But if a demon manifests in its physical body, then things get a bit… complicated.” Tom explained while scratching the back of his neck anxiously.

“I’m sure that you can handle it. You have beaten every monster we have come across to a pulp with relative ease, so you can handle this guy.” Rainbow Dash tried to instill confidence in the human. The way he wasn’t reacting to her optimism made her slowly feel a sense of dread overcoming her.

“You can handle this… right?” Rainbow Dash added with a nervous tone. The boy looked around at the three fearful ponies in front of him. He felt horrible knowing that he wasn’t being the steady rock of confidence that they needed right now. Despite his lack of knowledge on how to deal with the current situation, he had to try, for their sake.

“I will try my best…” Tom stated while regaining a bit of his confidence. The ponies were glad to hear that he was back to normal.

“Ok… now what do we do next?” Sunspot asked, eager to do whatever it would take to assist the situation.

“We need to be prepared… once all of the lesser demons are done with their ritual they will be coming for us in force. And if we manage to contend with all of them, the storm demon will be manifesting soon after.” Tom explained with a serious tone of voice. The three mares nodded confidently. They were ready to fight to protect themselves and their friends against anything.

Deciding that they should stick together, the group came to the conclusion that upstairs would be the best place to stage their defense. Tom watched the stairway, while Sunspot remained between the bathroom where the others were staying and the end of the hall. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were sitting in the middle of the two, waiting for when they would be needed.

As she was listening to the whistling wind outside of the window at the end of the hall, Sunspot suddenly heard the sound of Neon Streak’s voice in her head. Apparently their communication wasn’t hindered by the storm outside due to them both being on the same side of it.

“Sunspot, you guys ok out there?” The green mare asked curiously. Sunspot shrugged as she realized that she had been too caught up with what was happening to even check on her friends.

“Yeah… we’re still waiting for things to heat up. We decided to wait for them to come to us rather than the alternative of rushing out blindly and getting ourselves killed.” Sunspot replied while taking a cursory glance to the line of salt by her window for assurance.

“Good thinking, just be sure to watch your backs… I do not want to be the one to go out there to check if you’re still alive if it gets quiet.” Neon Streak stated jestingly, although the orange mare could tell that she was being semiserious.

“You got it. Just be sure to wait a few minutes if I don’t answer you. It’s kind of hard to talk if you have a lesser demon on top of you trying to eat your face off.” Sunspot replied with a chuckle. She could hear a slight giggle on the other side of the line. It was always nice to cheer up an injured pony stuck inside of a bathroom contending with a prisoner of war, even though it happened so rarely.

“Oh yeah… before I let you go, Applebloom wants to see Applejack for a minute. Could you tell her to drop by when she gets a chance?” Neon Streak asked in an overtly sweet tone. Sunspot could tell that the yellow filly was probably begging her to get a chance to see her sister. It must have been terrifying for her to know that her older sibling was in danger while she just sat in a cramped room doing nothing.

“Sure thing, we’re right outside anyway.” Sunspot replied understandingly. She then dropped the call and turned to head down the hall. Once she got over to Applejack and Rainbow Dash, the two ponies turned to look at her curiously.

“What’s up?” Rainbow Dash asked while trying to ascertain the purpose of the orange pegasus’s visit through her expression. Thankfully she didn’t seem to have an urgent or terrified expression on her face, so it must not have been something negative.

“Applebloom wants to see you for a minute.” Sunspot said while looking to the farm pony. Applejack understood why her sister would want to see her. She couldn’t really blame the yellow filly. She was nervous and anxious with the knowledge that she had of the situation, so it must have been horrible to be in the dark about things with your sister in the thick of it.

“Thanks Sunspot, Ah’ll go talk to her.” Applejack replied with a soft smile. Sunspot nodded before turning back around to head to the end of the hall again. Applejack then sighed as she prepared to put on a more stable front for her sister. She wasn’t exactly falling apart at the seams, but if she was to convince the filly that she was alright, she needed to appear emotionally flawless.

“Poor thing… she must be worried sick in there.” Rainbow Dash said in a concerned tone while looking beside her to the bathroom door.

“Wouldn’t you be if you were in her position?” Applejack asked curiously. The cyan mare thought for a moment before answering.

“To be fair… I’m kind of worried out here myself. I would personally rather not know about the demon coming to kill you and me before moving on to the rest of our friends.” Rainbow Dash shrugged fretfully.

“Ah’ll tell you the same thing Ah would tell Applebloom… just sit tight and everything will work out ok in the end.” Applejack replied while placing a reassuring hoof on her friend’s shoulder. The cyan mare couldn’t help but to smile at her friend’s confidence.

“I really hope so…” Rainbow Dash stated with guarded optimism. Applejack nodded before getting up and walking over to the bathroom door.

After gripping the handle and softly swinging the door open, Applejack was greeted with the sight of an eager filly waiting for her near the door. Applebloom smiled as she watched her sister enter the room. She walked over to the orange mare and hugged her as she knelt down.

“You holding up ok in here? Cotton isn’t being mean to you or anything is he?” Applejack asked with a passing glare to the bound unicorn leaning against the wall. Cotton Quill averted his eyes and looked away from the pair nervously.

“No… he isn’t really talking much.” Applebloom said while glancing over to the odd hooded pony.

“That’s good… how about you guys? Everything ok in here?” Applejack asked curiously while glancing up to Big Mac and Neon Streak. The green mare seemed to be holding up alright despite her injury. The sight of the chipper earth pony made her feel better about her chances for a recovery.

“We’re doing good… all things considered.” Neon Streak said with a slight smile while glancing to the red stallion to gather his opinion.

“Eeyup.” Big Mac said in a sincere tone. He seemed to be relatively well composed given the situation outside and the cramped space he was in.

“We’re fine… Ah just wanted to check on you to see if you were alright.” Applebloom said while looking over the orange mare for any signs of distress or injury. She frowned with concern upon noticing one of her sister’s back legs wrapped up in bandages.

“What happened to your leg?” Applebloom asked with a concerned tone. The orange mare frowned slightly as she remembered her previous injury.

“Ah cut myself on some glass earlier. Its fine anyway… it wasn’t even all that big.” Applejack stated in a sincere manner. Applebloom felt a little bit better about her sister’s injury. After all, the orange pony hated lying, especially to her younger sister.

“Ok…” Applebloom shrugged with mild concern. Even if it was a small injury, the fact that it happened at all troubled the filly.

“Hey, cheer up.” Applejack said while gently lifting her sister’s head up to face her. “Everything will be fine… Ah have Tom and Sunspot to take care of me. They wouldn’t let anything bad happen to your big sis.” The orange mare stated in a reassuring tone. Applebloom thought back to all of the times that the human had helped her family in the past. She felt a little more confident knowing that he was watching out for her sister.

“Alright… just be careful out there ok?” Applebloom said in an understanding tone. She accepted that her sister had a job to do, and that she would probably do it with or without her consent. Applejack nodded with a confident smile.

“You know me, Ah will be as careful as p-” Applejack was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a window shattering followed by a surprised yell. Judging from the sound of the scream, the orange mare gathered that it was Sunspot.

“Stay here!” Applejack stated urgently while walking out of the door. Being careful not to disturb the line of salt protecting the room full of ponies, the orange mare rushed out and shut the door. She then turned to see what was causing all of the commotion.

The window at the end of the hall had been broken violently, so violently that a few shards of glass were thrown far into the hall. Sunspot was backed up from the window with a shocked expression. Thankfully she seemed to have avoided all of the flying shards. Nothing was at the window, but the wind was blowing violently outside and letting the rain into the hallway.

“What’s going on?!” Applejack asked frantically while rushing up to the jilted pegasus to ensure that she was alright. The ponies could hear several growls and rustling noises coming from outside and moving rapidly around the house. Along with this frightening display, there were numerous blurred silhouettes of black figures zipping past the window, as if they were circling the area.

“They’re trying to get in.” Tom announced over the rushing wind. Thankfully the salt barriers around the house seemed to be still intact despite the raging tempest.

Sunspot and Applejack backed away from the window and joined the rest of their group in scanning the area for any signs of intrusion. The four huddled close to each other and darted their heads around to determine which noise was one of the creatures flying around outside, and which noise was one of them coming inside.

The sound of glass breaking rang out across the house as several windows from downstairs and the surrounding rooms were shattered forcefully; along with this sudden uproar, several of the doors leading outside started shaking violently as the monsters slammed into them.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack could hardly hear themselves think over the deafening racket, yet they could somehow still listen to their hearts pounding away at the inner linings of their chests. The two mares darted their eyes around anxiously, tensing themselves up with every passing second while searching for any signs of the white eyed beasts.

“Can they get in?” Rainbow Dash asked in a slight panic while looking around. In her mind, the creatures could get in any time they wished to come after her and her orange companion.

“The salt lines seem to be holding up ok, but they will only last us so long. One gust of wind is all it takes to break the line.” Tom stated while using his senses to get a feel for what was going on around the house. His answer didn’t exactly fill the ponies with confidence. Instead it filled them with an even stronger sense of fear and panic.

Suddenly, a low growl made its presence known above all of the noises of the storm outside. The group looked down the stairs to see one of the creatures coming in from the kitchen area. One of the protective salt barriers must have been broken by the wind or rain, and the demon was using the opportunity to rush inside.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack instinctively backed up while Tom and Sunspot prepared for battle. The human walked in front of the suited pegasus to meet the floating creature before it had a chance to reach her.

The beast snarled and gnashed its thorn like teeth at the slayer. It twitched its claws eagerly in expectation of ripping the boy and the ponies he was protecting to bloody shreds. In response to this threatening gesture, Tom made a threatening gesture of his own. Gripping the hilt of his sword firmly, the human flipped it out of its holster and readied it for battle.

Deciding to take the first move, Tom lunged forward and struck the blade downwards at the approaching demon. The creature caught the approaching blade in its long and gnarled claws with relative ease. As it skillfully shifted the blade to the side to get it out of the way, the monster stared at the human with its dull white eyes. The power struggle seemed like it could go either way, with the creature growling fiercely, and Tom grunting in exertion, both trying to win leverage over the other in their deadly game of tug of war.

Realizing that this was getting him nowhere, Tom jumped backwards and yanked the blade out of the beast’s claws. The demon made an aggressive swipe at him while lunging forward, forcing the boy to move backwards even further.

Before he was backed into the group of anxiously on looking ponies, Tom ducked to the side and stabbed his blade forward quickly, catching the monster off guard, and catching its barely resistant form on his katana. The beast howled in pain while trying to grab at the sword impaling it. Deciding to take this chance to finish the creature, Tom whipped the sword upwards, cutting the demon in twain.

Taking a quick glance downstairs, the human was met with the sight of two more demons taking the place of the one he had just dispatched. Tom chided himself mentally for having expected the fighting to end right then and there. As the two creatures roared fiercely and charged forward, the boy prepared his sword to meet them in battle.

Meanwhile at the other end of the hallway, Sunspot and her two charges were watching the human battle the two monsters anxiously. They had witnessed him taking on greater odds before, but they were still concerned for the outcome of the fight.

“Come on Tom! You can do it!” Rainbow Dash cheered the slayer on eagerly. She wanted him to beat the ever livid daylights out of the white eyed beasts for all the trouble they had caused.

While the three were anxiously watching their friend fight for them, a loud crash suddenly erupted from behind them. They turned and peered around the corner into the other branch of the hall. The lantern on one of the tables midway down the hallway had been shattered on the floor, swallowing the entire hall in pitch blackness.

The only source of light was the occasional bolt of lightning from outside. The bluish white light flooding into the hall revealed the source of the broken lamp. At the end of the hall, one of the windows was broken. This came as no surprise to the ponies seeing how all of the windows in the house had been broken moments before. What did surprise them; or rather, startle them severely, was the sight of a black figure with white eyes floating up and down in front of the window.

“How did he get in?!” Applejack asked frantically while eyeing the disturbing beast.

“The wind must have blown away the salt in front of that window…” Sunspot explained with a growing pit in her stomach. As she watched the white eyes of the creature move in the darkness, and watched the constant flashing of lightning remind her of its progress down the hall, the suited mare knew that she had to fight the thing in front of her.

The demon growled as it approached its two targets. It was prepared to kill anything that got in the way of completing its appointed mission. As if to prove this deadly devotion, it brandished its claws and snarled viciously.

Sunspot rushed forward to distance herself from Applejack and Rainbow Dash. She then took her salt container and flicked it in the direction of the monster, sending an arc of white powder flying towards the beast.

The demon wailed in pain and disappeared from view briefly, using its temporary invisibility to recoil from the assault on its form. Sunspot took great pleasure and satisfaction from fending off the creatures.

One more of the beasts flew in through the unsecured window. It quickly rushed down the hall screaming a high pitched battle cry that almost made the ponies cover their ears. With another flick of her makeshift weapon, Sunspot dispatched the charging beast with relative ease.

“That’s right! Back up you freaks!” Sunspot exclaimed with a burning sense of enthusiasm and ferocity. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were surprised to see the suited mare put so much energy into fighting. She almost looked like she enjoyed it, although they couldn’t blame her.

Yet another black figure came barreling down the darkened hallway. Sunspot was prepared to dispatch this creature as she had the others. She felt proud in herself that she was actually assisting Tom with holding their ground against the demons.

With a triumphant smirk, the pegasus flicked her salt container at the creature. Much to her surprise and dismay, no more of the lifesaving white powder came out of the small cylinder. Sunspot shook the container nervously, hearing and feeling nothing that indicated that more salt remained. She was now holding a very salty paper weight.

“Uh oh…” Sunspot muttered in a fearful tone. All bravery immediately vanished from the cocky mare as she laid eyes on the charging beast in front of her. She looked behind her, remembering that Applejack held the other salt container. Before the suited pegasus could retreat to acquire the other salt container, the monster was already upon her.

With a growl and a swift swipe of its claws, the demon sent Sunspot to the floor as she barely managed to evade its attack. Spotting an opportunity, the creature reeled its arm back and prepared to stab its claws into the mare, pinning her to the floor as it would doubtlessly impale her.

Spotting the danger above her, Sunspot gasped and moved her arms out in front of her reflexively. She just barely managed to grab the monster’s gaunt hand and wrist before its claws made contact with her chest. The monster pushed down with incredible strength, but the pegasus managed to push it back, if only just barely.

“Hrrk… Gah!” Sunspot groaned from exertion as she struggled against the creature. The demon seemed to be toying with her, refusing to use its other hand so it could prolong the experience. Despite the monster holding back, the suited mare gradually watched the sharp claws get closer and closer to her body.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash widened their eyes in shock as they watched the pegasus fight for her life. They took a quick glance over to Tom before realizing that he had his hands full with fighting off a group of the creatures. If someone was going to save the orange mare, it would have to be them.

Applejack clutched her salt container with grit and determination. She was prepared to charge forward and rescue the trapped pegasus, if only preparations were so simply executed. Before she could even react, a large gust of wind blew in through the nearby window, sending the salt container flying from her hooves and nearly knocking her and the cyan mare next to her over.

“Dangit… no!” Applejack cursed her misfortune as she watched the small cylinder fly across the hallway. By the time she could retrieve it, Sunspot might already be dead. The farm pony shared a nervous glance with Rainbow Dash before coming up with an idea that she would probably regret later.

“Rainbow Dash… go get the salt.” Applejack instructed with a serious tone of voice while looking towards the struggle taking place down the hall. Rainbow Dash was confused by her friend’s statement. She looked over to the salt and wondered what the farm pony was thinking.

When she looked back, the cyan mare noticed that her friend wasn’t beside her anymore. Instead she was running down the hallway towards Sunspot. Rainbow Dash was shocked to see the orange pony rushing towards danger, but she must have had a plan, or at least she hoped that she did. Regardless of how well thought out the farm pony’s plan was, she needed help. The pegasus quickly turned and rushed after the salt cylinder at the end of the hallway.

Meanwhile, Sunspot was still fighting for her life on the ground. She was trying to avoid looking right at the monster’s unblinking white eyes, but it was staring right at her. It was bad enough that it was trying to kill her, but it could have at least had some common courtesies considering how ugly it was.

Deciding that the struggle had gone on for much too long, the demon slowly placed its other hand on the elbow of the arm it was pushing into the suited mare. Sunspot immediately felt all of her efforts becoming useless as the monster put even the slightest amount of force on her. She closed her eyes and cringed as she saw the beast reel back for the final blow.

*Thwack*

Sunspot suddenly felt the creature pull back violently. She looked up with a confused expression, only to see Applejack recovering from a kick. All of the years of apple bucking had made the orange mare’s back legs into practically deadly weapons, more than enough to send the demon flying with a swift blow to the face.

“Come on Sunspot!” Applejack exclaimed frantically while offering a hoof up to the fallen pegasus. Sunspot looked forward to the monster, only to realize that it was extremely enraged at the two ponies. The white eyed figured screeched and roared its disapproval while bearing its teeth viciously.

Sunspot grabbed Applejack’s hoof and used her help to move backwards as she was getting up. The earth pony pulled the recovering pegasus along the floor as she was getting to her feet. The pair wanted to cover as much distance as possible to escape the creature.

After getting Sunspot to her feet, Applejack looked forward to check on the progress of the monster. She gasped in fright as she saw that the beast had caught up with them, and that it was holding its claws up in preparation to strike. Sunspot looked forward and saw this as well. There wasn’t any time to dodge the attack, so all the two mares could do was turn sideways and hide their faces.

The pair suddenly heard movement behind them. They looked up and saw Rainbow Dash rushing beside them with a small cylinder at the ready. The cyan mare flicked the container at the monster, sending a sizable amount of salt flying at the demon.

The monster screeched in pain while backing up. The salt caused his body to involuntarily disperse, forcing him to disappear into smoke. Applejack and Sunspot were never happier to see a pile of smoke in front of them.

“Nice job Rainbow Dash…” Sunspot stated in a stunned tone while still processing the fact that she was still alive. The cyan pegasus smirked at the praise she was getting.

“Thanks for the compliments, but that was all Applejack. She told me to go grab the salt while she charged after you.” Rainbow Dash said while lightheartedly patting the earth pony on the back.

“Well… then I guess I should thank both of you. You guys really saved my tail.” Sunspot replied with a warm smile. Applejack was flattered to hear so much praise coming her way, even if it was from someone she just saved.

“Come on now Sunspot… you would have done the same for us. At least Ah hope you would, Ah would like to think we’re friends at this point.” Applejack stated while rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly. Sunspot nodded eagerly at the statement.

“Of course we are… now let’s get out of here before more of those things show up.” Sunspot suggested while looking back at the darkened hallway. Rainbow Dash and Applejack agreed wholly with her decision to retreat.

Just before they could turn the corner to get back to the other hallway where Tom was, a blurry black figured rushed in through the window in front of them. In all of the commotion, the line of salt on the window must have been broken. The three mares gasped in shock and backed up instinctively. Hearing growling behind them, they turned around to see another monster coming up behind them.

Rainbow Dash started to fling some salt at the one in front of them, when it suddenly lunged forward and knocked the container from her hooves. The demon’s claws grazed the cyan mare’s arm as it was knocking the small cylinder away, causing a very painful set of slashes that made the pegasus cry out while recoiling backwards.

Applejack and Sunspot caught their injured companion as she fell to the floor while clutching her still stinging injury. There was nothing more they could do aside from watching the monster in front of them preparing to strike them down all at once.

Before the white eyed monster could strike, a familiar set of four flaming claws pierced through its midsection. As the claws elongated and formed fully, the flames died out, revealing the unmistakable four blades that belonged to Tom’s spirit weapon. The creature barely had time to screech in pain before the human ripped the claws sideways, sending the beast flying into the nearby wall and vanishing into smoke.

“Get down!” Tom instructed while pointing his open palm at the ponies. Knowing what this meant and what he planned to do, the three mares ducked to the floor and closed their eyes to shield them from the inevitably blinding light.

A flash sounded out and the ponies felt something rush past them. It was almost like a small yet powerful breeze was blowing past their heads. The creature behind them screamed out in agony as it was enveloped by the blue light sailing towards it.

When the light died down and the ponies looked behind them, there was nothing left of the monster other than a puff of smoke escaping into the air. They turned to their savior and smiled in elation at his daring rescue.

“Good job Tom!” Rainbow Dash cheered happily while helping her two friends up from the floor. Giving a passing glance to the bleeding cut on her arm, she determined that it was shallow enough to warrant later attention. Besides, she was too happy to let a little scrape dampen her mood.

“Don’t thank me just yet. We’re not out of the woods.” Tom stated uneasily while looking around. Sure enough, several more of the creatures were pouring into the house from both ends.

“Follow me!” The human instructed frantically while motioning for the ponies to follow him back away from the window. They were about to be cornered, and the last thing they needed was an open window right next to them while they held off the approaching horde.

The three mares quickly heeded his instructions and rushed back with him around the corner. There were already several of the creatures flying up the stairs, but they had to gain as much ground as possible.

Tom held his hand out and projected a steady beam of his positively charged light. The creatures were repelled, but they seemed to be resisting the intense beam and pushing forward slightly. The ponies huddled together behind the slayer, hoping that he could hold off their impending doom.

Rainbow Dash suddenly felt something grab her back leg. She tried to look behind her, but she didn’t even get a chance as she was violently yanked along the floor backwards.

“AHH!” The cyan mare yelled fearfully as she was dragged towards the other end of the hallway. One of the monsters had apparently come through the window at the end of the hall and snuck up on the group while their focus was shifted forward.

“Rainbow Dash!” Applejack and Sunspot cried out in unison as they watched their friend getting pulled away. The demon was heading back towards the window with the intent of dragging his newfound prey out of it.

“Let her go!” Tom commanded while forcefully sending all of his influence into the one beast dragging the cyan mare away with his free hand. The creature screeched in pain as it was compelled to let the pegasus go free. It tried to clench its hand tighter around her leg, but it felt its muscles moving against its own will. As she felt the grip loosen on her leg, Rainbow Dash kicked out of the monster’s grip and ran forward back to her friends.

“Are you ok?” Applejack asked with a concerned expression while observing the jilted pegasus. The cyan mare took a moment to steady her shaking body before offering a weak smile to her friend.

“I’m good…” Rainbow Dash muttered while nodding sporadically. However good she said she was, it was clear she was shaken up from the experience.

The ponies quickly turned their attention back to the demon still writhing in Tom’s invisible grip. The white eyed monster was screaming in protest while it gradually flew against the back wall. The human seemed to be struggling with keeping up a beam of light and simultaneously fending off a demon using his influence, but he remained steadfast in his defense.

Suddenly, a veritable wall of the creatures came around the corner and blocked the monster already against the wall. Tom felt his connection with the single demon vanish. He also felt a wave of panic wash over his body as he contemplated how to combat the horde.

“Get close to me!” Tom instructed while opening his other palm and holding it steady while pointing it past the ponies. Sunspot and her two companions didn’t even give themselves time to think about the proposal. They merely blindly followed the human’s instructions and huddled close to him.

Tom shot out another beam of light to combat the approaching wall of monsters. His legs were shaking and he was already weak and dizzy, but he had to continue. Rainbow Dash observed the pale expression on his face and became very nervous. The last time she saw him with that sickly expression was when he collapsed out in the woods after healing her injuries from the undead wolves.

“Tom, are you ok?” Rainbow Dash asked with a concerned tone of voice while looking around her at the two walls of light keeping the demons at bay. If the human were to let up for even an instant, the group would surely be overrun.

“I’ve had better days if that’s what you’re asking.” Tom replied while raising his voice over the sound of screaming demons and the sound of the light bouncing off of their bodies.

“No, I mean are you ok to keep doing this? Because I don’t know what else to do, and if you stop doing that… I’m pretty sure we’re going to die.” Rainbow Dash stated nervously while slowly coming to grips with how bleak their situation was.

“I’m thinking ok! I’m thinking!” The boy replied with a slightly harsh tone. The cyan mare could tell that he wasn’t snapping at her, he was just venting from how utterly defeated he felt. He was feeling incredibly ill from the effects of using his powers too much, and he was in a life or death situation that was gradually tipping more towards death with each passing second.

All the ponies could do was to watch the approaching wall of light. Their safe area rapidly grew smaller and smaller as the monsters pushed through the slayer’s defenses. The three mares huddled close and closed their eyes while holding onto each other to wait for the end.

Suddenly, Tom’s light started pushing through to the ends of the hall. All of the creatures seemingly started retreating and flying out of the windows. Weakened to the point of extreme exhaustion, the human collapsed to his knees while shutting off his beams of light. He didn’t even do it willingly, he was simply that exhausted.

The group was confused to see the remaining creatures fleeing and disappearing from sight suddenly. They had no idea why they would just let them go after cornering them dead to rights.

“What the hay…? Where are they going?” Applejack asked in a confused tone. Although she wasn’t one to complain about good fortunes, she was utterly perplexed as to why she wasn’t currently getting ripped apart.

Sunspot cautiously walked down the hall and looked around the corner. Sure enough, all of the monsters were gone. Taking a look out of the window, she couldn’t find any of them outside either. What next caught her eye, and what disturbed her further, was that she couldn’t see or hear any rain or thunder. The only sign of the storm was the clouds over head and the wall of wind that was closing them in off in the distance.

“Uh… guys, I think something is up. It stopped raining and thundering… completely. I can’t even see out there from how little light there is.” Sunspot said while walking back over to the group. It was eerily quiet throughout the house and outside. The group couldn’t even hear crickets chirping in the cold night air.

“Why did they leave? They had us on a silver platter.” Rainbow Dash stated uneasily. She never would have thought that not dying could disturb and unsettle her so much.

Suddenly, Tom’s senses and Sunspot’s detector went off violently. Tom was almost rendered breathless with how severe the sensation was going through his body, and the suited mare’s vial was buzzing and flashing louder than she had ever seen. She couldn’t even interpret the reading it was giving, it was just going haywire.

“What’s going on?! My detector is going crazy!” Sunspot exclaimed in shock while holding up the vial. She could barely hold it steady with how much it was vibrating.

A cold chill suddenly ran down the ponies’ spines. They immediately felt uncomfortable and uneasy, but couldn’t determine why. All manner of conflicting and confusion emotions and sensations rushed throughout the ponies’ minds and bodies. They had no idea why they felt this way, but they couldn’t even put their lack of fingers on what they were feeling. The collective realization of what sensation they were getting ran through everyone’s mind.

They felt totally and utterly wrong. Like they were standing somewhere they shouldn’t have been standing. Like a group of children uneasily hovering in front of the basement door, waiting to walk into the cold depths.

A quiet, barely audible noise started making its presence known above the deafening silence. The ponies could scarcely make it out, but it sounded like a pack of wolves or wild dogs howling and barking. They weren’t even sure if they were just imagining things, or if what they were hearing was actually real.

“Guys… do you hear that?” Rainbow Dash asked nervously. She wasn’t sure if she wanted confirmation that the noise she was hearing was in fact real. One look at the pale faces of her three companions told everything she needed to know.

The eerie noises sent chills up and down the group’s collective spine. They shifted around uneasily, totally uncomfortable and unsure of their safety in the once warm hallways of the apple family home. Applejack huddled close to the wall while nervously staring at the hallway in front of her. Just around that corner was pitch blackness. She didn’t even have to see the darkness to fear it. Her imagination was already kicking into overdrive, telling her about all the possible monsters that could be lurking just out of sight.

A loud, almost deafening scraping noise suddenly came from directly beside the farm pony’s head. All Applejack could do was look beside her and watch in abject shock and horror as three small arcs of electricity went down the wall beside her, leaving a claw shaped scorch mark in the wall. The scorch marks appeared to have some kind of depth to them, as if something had actually clawed the wall and just left a burn mark over it.

Before anyone could react to the frightening occurrence, another loud scrape sounded out. The group darted their eyes upward as they caught a glimpse of blue light. Three more arcs of electricity formed and rapidly went across the ceiling in vertical lines. It was like an invisible creature was clawing the walls right in front of them, leaving only three arcs of lightning as its visible calling card.

*Pop*

“Ack!” The three nervous ponies yelped in unison as the lamp on the nearby table shattered into pieces. The rest of the hallway was submerged in complete darkness, leaving nothing to offer the ponies a glimpse at the area around them, or what danger could be lurking in the shadows.