Despite the hustle and bustle around the guard station, it was surprisingly dull as the group of ponies watched the interrogation of Cotton Quill taking place. They could only see them, but judging from mouth movements and facial expressions, everyone could tell that the captive unicorn was nervous about the questions he was being asked by the two stallions.

Twilight and her four friends watched through the small window anxiously while waiting for something important to happen. As Brimstoke and the others talked about more serious matters further away, the five mares simply chatted with each other to pass the time.

“So… where’s Applejack?” Twilight asked curiously. “I would have figured that she would be down here.” She stated while glancing around the station to look at the various guard ponies walking around.

“I guess she must be at home resting. I wouldn’t blame her after what happened last night.” Rainbow Dash offered her thoughts on the matter. The only reason she wasn’t at home resting herself was because she wanted to be there in person when the hooded unicorn cracked.

“What happened over there anyway? Tom hasn’t given me too many details.” Twilight added while eyeing the cyan pegasus’s bandaged back. She could only wonder what fierce battle took place to give her such an injury.

“Well… It was pretty tense. After we almost got overrun by those flying monsters, they all vanished and this other thing appeared in a flash of lightning. It was horrible… it had glowing white eyes and lightning for a mouth… it sounds weird out loud, but trust me it was one of the scariest things I have ever seen.” Rainbow Dash explained everything she could think of about the incident last night. Everyone listened with nervous expressions as they pictured the creature in their heads.

“It even talked… sweet Celestia, I don’t think I will ever forget that thing’s creepy voice. It was like the wind came to life and started threatening to kill us.” Rainbow Dash explained with a shudder. She was getting cold chills from just thinking about the monster.

“That sounds like it was terrifying.” Fluttershy spoke up nervously. She didn’t even see the creature, but based on how the lesser demons appeared, she could estimate what it looked like well enough to scare herself.

“You don’t know the half of it… the thing almost killed us for crying out loud. Sunspot would have died if Tom didn’t get to her in time… that’s why he didn’t have enough strength to heal the rest of us. He offered to heal me at least, but I told him to rest up.” Rainbow Dash said while glancing back at her bandages.

“You should go ask him to heal you now darling. Those cuts must still be painful from what you described.” Rarity suggested in a concerned tone.

“Yeah… I guess I should.” Rainbow Dash sighed while glancing over to the human as he chatted with Brimstoke and the others. As she was walking over to address the boy, she turned to look at Cotton Quill through the window and shrugged angrily.

“I just hope that we can get him talking sooner rather than later. He might have been the one to send that thing after us, but I’m sure he wasn’t the one behind the order.” The cyan mare said in a confident tone.

Meanwhile, outside of the station, Celestia and Luna were walking alongside each other pensively. They needed some time to think and to discuss things without the tense atmosphere of the station weighing them down.

Ever since she learned that their enemies were plotting to kill the elements of harmony, Celestia had been on edge. It was bad enough that they were summoning monsters and wreaking havoc across Equestria, but to specifically target Twilight and the others was taking things across a very severe line.

“I see Tom has recovered since last night.” Luna spoke up to break the silence in the air.

“Yes… it’s good to see that he is feeling better.” Celestia replied in a sincere tone. Now that the subject was brought up, she couldn’t help but think of what could have happened had the human not been there to help the ponies at the farm.

“I’m glad that he was there to protect them… Last night was just another fine example of how little we actually know what these hooded ponies are capable of.” Celestia shrugged in a disheartened tone. Luna frowned as she listened to her sister’s concern over the topic.

“Don’t worry so much sister… we have faced impossible odds before and came out victorious.” Luna said in an attempt at brightening her sister’s spirits. Celestia shrugged at her younger sibling before trailing her eyes off sadly.

“I wish I could share in your optimism Luna, but this is a much bigger threat than we have ever faced. The potential for these ponies to take things even further is too great to ignore… we need to do something about this. Perhaps I should contact Cadence and Shining Armor to get their support.” Celestia suggested in a defeated manner. She wasn’t sure of what else she could do other than pool all of her available resources together.

“We don’t need to go to war here sister… all we are dealing with is an overzealous group of ponies that have access to ancient magic. Once we get the necessary information out of our prisoner, I will take a team of guards down to their base myself and take care of them if need be.” Luna stated confidently. Celestia could tell that she was trying to prove something to her by being so insistent on handling the situation herself.

“Luna… you don’t need to handle this by yourself. Even if we don’t need Cadence’s help, I’m here for you. You shouldn’t feel obligated to take care of this because of what you did as Nightmare Moon.” Celestia said with sisterly concern evident in her voice and face. Luna trailed her eyes off sadly at the mention of her previous mistakes.

Although it wasn’t entirely her fault, she still felt responsible for the events that led to her banishment to the moon. Ever since her return and purification, she has felt attached to Twilight Sparkle and her five friends. She felt a strong need to protect them and the rest of her subjects at any cost.

“I want to do this sister… I want to prove to myself and everyone else that I am capable of protecting our kingdom. If things get out of hoof you can intervene, but for right now I want to handle this.” Luna explained in a softer tone. Despite her quiet voice, she still had an earnest sense of confidence about her.

The white alicorn felt bad for her sister. She must have been feeling awful knowing that everyone looked up to the princess of the sun instead of her. She needed to handle this situation more than anyone else realized.

“Ok…” Celestia said while putting a loving hoof on the blue alicorn’s shoulder. Luna looked up in surprise from her sister’s sudden acceptance.

“Really?” Luna asked curiously, half expecting her sister to change her mind.

“Yes… you can handle this operation yourself. As long as you promise to be careful and stay safe, you can be in charge of the investigation and whatever actions we take against these hooded ponies. Just be sure to come to me if you need any help.” Celestia replied while pulling her sister in for a side hug.

“Ok… I Promise to be as careful as possible.” Luna said with a warm smile. She knew that although they were rulers in charge of very important matters that impacted an entire kingdom, they were still family.

“Good… you better get back to the station then. Our only lead right now is for Mr. Cotton Quill to spill his guts so to say.” Celestia stated while glancing behind them.

“What about you? Aren’t you coming with me?” Luna asked curiously, to which her sister smiled and shook her head.

“No… I’m heading into town to see if I can gather materials for more magical equipment. If we’re going to wage a full-scale assault on these hooded ponies, we will need a lot more gear than we currently have. I will be back later to see if you have made any progress.” Celestia explained. It was always interesting to see how far ahead the alicorn planned in times of crisis.

“Alright, I will see you later then.” Luna said while waving to her sister. After they said their goodbyes, the two alicorns separated and went off towards their respective destinations.

Meanwhile back at the station, everyone was still curiously watching as Glimmer Shine and Fireside tried every trick they knew to get the unicorn to talk. After spending a good fifteen minutes trying to get Cotton Quill to open up, the two stallions shrugged and walked out of the room.

Twilight and the others looked to them with hopeful optimism, but judging from their expressions, they could tell that the two had little luck in their endeavor.

“Did you get anything?” Twilight asked in spite of the obvious. She thought that maybe if she wished hard enough that she could change the outcome of their response.

“Nothing… it’s like talking to a brick wall in there.” Fireside stated with a defeated shake of the head.

“Great… we’re back to square one then.” Brimstoke shrugged in annoyance at the lack of headway they were making.

“Maybe the princess could talk to him when she gets back?” Fluttershy suggested from the back of the group.

“Good idea Fluttershy! I’m sure that he would crack like an egg if the princess had a chat with him.” Rainbow Dash said eagerly. She got a kick out of the idea of the princess trying to force answers out of the timid unicorn.

As if in response to the current subject matter, the door at the far end of the room opened and Princess Luna stepped inside. She walked up to the group and glanced at the two stallions that were interrogating the captive unicorn when she left.

“Any luck with our friend in there?” Luna asked curiously.

“Unfortunately no… we were thinking that maybe you could try talking to him?” Twilight suggested, hopeful that the princess of the night could get some results. Luna shook her head sadly in response to the proposal.

“Sorry, but I don’t think that I would be able to persuade him to talk. Celestia and I tried questioning him ourselves when we brought him here last night… he wouldn’t give us anything important.” Luna explained in a disheartened tone. Whatever the unicorn knew, he was afraid enough to keep it a secret under any circumstances.

“*Sigh*… well, what do we do now? If we can’t get him to tell us where they are, then we are no better off than when we started this investigation.” Twilight huffed in annoyance. The captive unicorn was the only hope they had at striking back at the hooded ponies before they made another move.

“Well… I can use a spell to get the information out of him, but it might not be good for his health... and it might not even work. I wanted to try to get him to talk willingly, but I guess it will be necessary to use more serious measures.” Luna stated while walking towards the hallway leading into the interrogation room.

“Wait a minute!” Twilight spoke up while walking in front of the alicorn. Although he was one of their enemies, she sort of felt bad for Cotton Quill. He obviously didn’t start out with evil intentions. He seemed genuinely nice when the purple mare saw him last, even if she did only meet him for a brief moment or two.

“Princess, please let me talk to him before you try that spell. Maybe I can get through to him and get him to open up.” Twilight suggested while glancing over to their pathetic prisoner. Luna couldn’t help but admire her desire to assist a fellow pony in need, even if he was in league with several evil individuals.

“Go ahead Twilight… but if you can’t get him to talk, then I will have to get answers out of him one way or another.” Luna said while motioning towards the interrogation room. The purple mare smiled as she was given the chance to talk with the captive unicorn.

“Thank you, princess. I won’t let you down.” Twilight stated confidently before turning around and walking down the hallway leading to the room Cotton Quill was in.

“Here, let me go with you. I think it would be better if there was more than one of us.” Glimmer Shine suggested while trotting alongside the purple mare. Twilight nodded in agreement before grabbing ahold of the handle and stepping inside of the room.

As she walked into the room, Twilight noticed Cotton Quill turning to look at her. The unicorn had a shackle attaching him to the table by his leg, as well as a small cap on his horn with magical runes on it to suppress his magic.

“What are you doing here?” Cotton asked curiously while observing the purple mare. He had expected them to come question him some more, but he didn’t expect Twilight Sparkle to be among the ones interrogating him.

“I’m here to talk…” Twilight said in a soft tone.

“I’m not really in the talking mood.” Cotton replied while looking away from the two ponies with a gloomy expression.

“Well, you should be. If you don’t tell me what you know, then Princess Luna is going to forcibly probe your mind for the information… and I imagine that won’t be pleasant for you.” Twilight explained in an attempt at compromising with the silent stallion. Cotton gulped nervously as he thought about what it would feel like to have his mind probed for information.

“Look Cotton… I’m trying to help you out here. Everyone else is ready to throw you in jail and forget about you, but I know that you’re a good pony at heart… at least I would like to think that.” Twilight stated in a sincere tone. Cotton looked up at the mention of him being good at heart.

“I’m not so sure of that… I’ve done a lot of grisly stuff in the past.” Cotton said in a dejected tone. Twilight decided to let him speak some more rather than speak for him.

“I mean… I was the one who performed the rituals at the school and the hospital… surely you must hate me for that?” Cotton said in a matter of fact sort of way. The purple mare was almost starting to think that he wanted to go to jail sooner. Despite the fact that she knew the captive pony intended a negative reaction, Twilight couldn’t help but to frown at the mention of the two previous incidents.

“What about the incident that happened yesterday at the square?” Twilight asked while still trying to forcibly suppress her negative emotions towards the white stallion. She didn’t want to let him get the better of her so he could weasel out of answering questions. She had to stay on the offensive if she was going to make a dent in his armor.

Cotton shrugged and thought for a moment while looking down at the table. It seemed like he was trying to decide whether or not to answer the question rather than actually thinking of the answer. Just when the two ponies thought that he would ignore their question, he looked up and spoke.

“No… I wasn’t a part of that. I got kicked off of active duty after leaving my books at the hospital.” Cotton explained in a disappointed tone. The fact that he was removed from future plans made by the hooded ponies intrigued the purple mare.

“You mean they fired you for just leaving some books behind? Truth be told, we didn’t actually get that much information out of those books… I don’t see why they were that important.” Twilight said in a sincere manner. The white unicorn shrugged sadly at her comments, much to her confusion.

“What’s wrong, Cotton…?” Twilight asked in a genuinely curious manner. Although her friendly way of addressing another pony was genuine, she was hoping that she could lower his defenses by trying a friendly approach to things.

“Actually… I got removed from duty for more than just the books. At the school, I was supposed to keep watch to ensure that the pictogram remained untouched. I would have done it of course, but that bloody brute of a monster attacked me and gave me a really nasty wound on my chest. After I went back to base, the scout I left at the school came in and told us that you guys defeated the creature and destroyed the pictogram… when I was within strangling distance of our leader.” Cotton explained with a dismal expression on his already gloomy face.

“And how did she take that?” Twilight asked hesitantly while sharing a sympathetic glance with Glimmer Shine. Judging from the other ponies under her rule, their leader must have been brutal and downright evil.

“You know that she’s a mare?” Cotton asked curiously. As far as he knew, his leader was unknown to the group.

“Yeah… that pale blue pegasus friend of yours, I think her name was Raincloud? Anyway, she told us that your leader was at least female. I’m not sure if she did it on purpose or not.” Twilight explained while shrugging slightly. The white unicorn shuddered at the mere mention of the pale mare.

“*Ahem* Well anyway… when she found out about the incident at the school, all she did was yell at me a little bit. After she learned about my second mistake however, she got a bit angrier with me. She actually told Raincloud to use her shadow to… discipline me, as she put it.” Cotton explained uneasily. It wasn’t hard to see that he wasn’t the favorite among the group of hooded ponies.

Twilight actually felt kind of bad for the captive unicorn. He had been abused by his so-called colleagues and forced to perform horrible acts of violence against other ponies. She wasn’t sure if he actually enjoyed performing these acts, but she was at least sure he was unhappy currently. The question bouncing around her head right now was what motivations he had for working for the hooded ponies.

“Cotton… why did you do all of this in the first place? Surely they must have offered you something to join them. What was it?” Twilight asked curiously.

Cotton looked away and remained silent. He seemed to be ignoring the question rather than thinking about it. Twilight shrugged in annoyance as her prisoner clammed up on her suddenly. She was so confident that he was about to open up to her, but now he was being just as stubborn as when he first arrived at the station.

“Cotton… please tell me.” Twilight pleaded in a softer tone while leveling with the silent pony. Cotton refused to even make any further eye contact with her as he stared at the table in front of him.

“Twilight, I don’t think he’s going to talk anymore. You gave it a good try, but this is what he did to us when we tried asking him anything.” Glimmer Shine spoke up in an attempt at saving the unicorn from having to waste as much time as he did. Ignoring the stallion’s attempts at making her give up, Twilight turned back to the white unicorn and shrugged in annoyance.

“Cotton, listen to me. You don’t need to keep protecting them… what they’re doing is evil and wrong. They are trying to hurt thousands of innocent ponies. If they don’t succeed in Ponyville, they will just move on to another town. I know you’re not like them… if you were like them, they would treat you like one of their own.” The purple mare stated in a more sincere tone. Cotton moved his eyes slightly to look up at the unicorn.

“You said it yourself… they don’t even let you do the job they signed you up for anymore, and over what? A few small mistakes? That pegasus mare Raincloud told us that she doesn’t trust anyone but family, or those that have earned her respect enough for her to call family. If they considered you a part of their family, they would have forgiven you for the mistakes you made… but they didn’t, and I know why they didn’t.” Twilight paused for a moment as the white stallion fully looked up to her. She could tell that she had his unyielding attention at least.

“Why?” Cotton asked curiously. It was painful for him to wait so long for the purple mare to finish her line of thought considering how close to home it hit.

“Because they know who you really are Cotton… you aren’t like them. They enjoy harming others for their own personal gain… they enjoy causing chaos and destruction… but you don’t. You might have convinced yourself that you do, but I can tell just by looking at you that you’re a really nice guy at heart. It’s ok that you joined them because they promised to reward you… anyone would want to be a part of a powerful organization. But they are still trying to hurt people… and you don’t have to help them anymore. Just tell me what you know Cotton… you can help us put a stop to them. I mean think about it… do you really think that they care enough for you to try and rescue you?” Twilight asked in a confiding tone. Based on his expression, she could tell that the captive pony was at least thinking about her proposal.

After what seemed like an eternity of waiting for a response, Cotton sighed and sank back into his chair while looking downwards with a blank expression. He wouldn’t look up to face the unicorn, or even acknowledge that she was there.

“*Sigh*…” Twilight looked away and lowered her head in defeat. She had tried her best shot, but her best shot apparently wasn’t enough. “Let’s go Glimmer Shine… he isn’t going to tell us anymore.” She stated while walking over to the yellow stallion in a depressed manner. Glimmer Shine felt bad for the purple mare. She had tried so hard to connect with the white unicorn, only to fail.

With heads hung low in defeat, the two ponies turned to walk out of the door. Their only hope would be the princess and her mind probing spell. If the spell didn’t work, then they would be no closer to achieving victory than when they first learned of the hooded ponies.

“The eternal night...” Cotton Quill spoke up, causing the two ponies to stop in their tracks. Twilight slowly turned around as she was still getting over the shock of hearing the captive unicorn speak up.

“Wh… what?” Twilight asked curiously. Not only did she barely understand what he said, but she didn’t have the slightest clue as to what he meant.

“My leader… an earth pony named Raven Feather… she said that she was trying to invoke the eternal night.” Cotton explained while looking up to face the purple unicorn. Twilight had to hide her excitement to properly face the white stallion with an understanding expression.

“Can you tell us more?” The purple mare asked with careful optimism. Cotton looked around for a moment before sighing. He then nodded slowly in agreement, eliciting a small smirk from Twilight and Glimmer Shine.

True to his word, Cotton told the two ponies about everything he knew. He explained to them how many members they roughly had, the names and powers of all of Raven Feather’s inner circle, and even how to get to their secret base out in the Everfree Forest. Twilight and Glimmer Shine listened carefully while taking note of everything they heard. It was astonishing how much they were finally learning about their enemies. It was actually exciting in a way.

“So… this Raven Feather, she had you setting up pictograms across town to gather fear and other sources of negative energy to channel towards the eternal night?” Twilight asked to clarify what she had just heard.

“Yes… she would give me a monster to summon, asked me to pick a location, and I would draw a pictogram to summon the monster. The pictogram acted as a kind of magical multi-tool. It would contain the necessary glyphs to summon the monster, protect and conceal the symbol itself, and gather up any energy the creature created. It would then send the energy back to a magical reservoir to be used later when Raven Feather finally decided to try and realize her final plan.” Cotton explained.

“What is her final plan anyway? What is the eternal night and why is it so important to her?” Twilight asked curiously. Although the name sounded ominous and straightforward enough, she had no idea what the eternal night actually was.

“I don’t know everything about it, but Raven Feather said that once she invokes the eternal night, she will rule Equestria and reward anyone who worked with her to accomplish her goal. All I know is that it’s a really old ritual and that Raven Feather claims that it will make shadow magic users incredibly powerful… along with throwing Equestria into a sea of chaos that only she and other shadow magic users will be able to control.” Cotton explained uneasily. Now that he was out of her good books, he could only dread the thought of Raven Feather actually completing her plan.

“And then she would be able to rule without opposition…” Twilight said to finish the unicorn’s train of thought. The mere notion filled the purple mare with unease.

“But wouldn’t everyone rebel? Surely she can’t think that she can just make everyone follow her obediently.” Glimmer Shine asked curiously. He could only assume that she planned on killing the princesses and the elements of harmony, but the ponies of Equestria would doubtlessly rise up against her eventually.

“It probably wouldn’t matter at that point… she and the others would be so powerful that they could force obedience on anyone who didn’t comply with their rule.” Twilight said uneasily. The mere scope of the devious plan disturbed her greatly.

“Exactly… she planned on killing all of you beforehand anyway. According to her, the only thing that can stop the eternal night once it’s started is the elements of harmony.” Cotton explained casually, perhaps a bit more casually than the purple mare felt comfortable with.

“But why would she want to do something like that? I know power is a great corruptor, but ponies don’t just wake up one day and plot to rule the world… it’s just not in our nature.” Glimmer Shine said in a confused tone. With the gentle rule of Princess Celestia and the overall sense of peace and harmony throughout Equestria, even the most unhappy ponies didn’t turn to evil intentions.

“Raven Feather doesn’t talk in great detail about her past. I’ve heard that she learned about her natural ability to use shadow magic at a young age… and she wasn’t exactly well liked. All I know for sure is that she took her brother and ran one day, and they didn’t stop running until they found somewhere to stay.” Cotton explained what little he knew about his leader.

“That sounds awful…” Twilight said in a shocked tone. If it were under any other circumstances, she would feel bad for the black mare. She still kind of did, although she still hated her for everything she had done.

“Yeah… that’s what I thought. Maybe if she hadn’t gained her abilities she would have turned out differently.” Cotton said in a slightly sympathetic tone. “Anyway… that’s all I know. If you’re going to throw me in jail, please do it sooner rather than later. I have been sitting here so long that my legs are falling asleep.” He stated in a half-joking, half-serious manner.

“We’ll see what we can do… thank you for talking. You were more help to us than you know.” Twilight said in a grateful tone while putting a reassuring hoof on the shackled pony’s foreleg.

As Twilight got up to leave and turned to face her yellow companion, a loud buzz erupted from his vest. The sight of a vial glowing bright blue and vibrating made the unicorn’s nerves kick into overdrive. A familiar noise softly echoed through the room. It was barely loud enough to hear, but it sounded like distorted laughter.

“That laugh…!” Twilight’s eyes widened in shock as she realized where she had heard the noise before, she felt her blood run cold as she looked around for the source of the noise.

Suddenly, a dark circle appeared on the left wall. The circle grew in size until it was bigger than a pony. Just as suddenly as the circle appeared, a dark shape with glowing purple eyes and a jagged glowing smile flew through it and into the room.

“AHH!” Twilight and Cotton Quill screamed in unison. It was hard to tell which high pitched scream belonged to which pony.

Glimmer Shine ducked and leaped to the side as he noticed the creature rushing forward with its claws brandished. Before anyone could react further, the shadow glided across the table and slashed sideways where Cotton Quill was sitting.

When the shadow moved, Twilight, Glimmer Shine, and everyone else watching through the two-way mirror saw a stream of blood spray out from the white unicorn’s throat. Cotton tried to cry out in pain, but his yell was stifled by the bloody gash across his neck.

Twilight watched in horror as the captive pony clutched his still bleeding injury. Even with the flow of blood stopped by his hooves, Cotton’s blood was already covering the wall and table in front of him. Even the purple unicorn managed to catch a little bit of the crimson spray.

The shadow floated off to the side and watched with a devilish grin as Cotton Quill clung to what was left of his life. After a short and desperate attempt at putting enough pressure on his wound to stop the blood flow, the white unicorn fell sideways out of his chair. The only thing stopping him from going very far was the shackle on his leg, though his body weight was enough to send him to the floor effectively.

Twilight and the others watched in abject horror as Cotton Quill gasped out his last few breaths. He convulsed on the ground for a few moments before his struggles became progressively weaker. Soon enough, his pupils dilated and all sense of life left the bleeding unicorn.

With its initial target dead on the floor and its claws still covered in his blood, the shadow turned its head to look at the two ponies remaining in the room. Spotting the purple mare and recognizing that its master wanted her dead, the shadow laughed maniacally while brandishing its claws again.

Twilight was frozen in fear as she stared at the ghostly monster. The shadow wailed loudly as it flew towards the hapless pony. She tried to move out of the way, but she could barely get her body to move an inch from where she was standing.

“Twilight get down!” Glimmer Shine yelled while jumping into the petrified unicorn. Just as the pair went to the floor, they felt a rush of air and saw the shadow flying past them and into the nearby wall. Taking a quick look around, the two couldn’t find any other trace of the shadow.

“Are you ok?” Glimmer Shine asked while examining the unicorn. She had a few spots on her that were stained with blood, although the stallion was confident that it wasn’t hers.

Twilight was still in shock from what just happened. All she could do to communicate her reply was erratically nod her head while dealing with her jittery nerves.

Taking a look down to his locator, Glimmer Shine could see that the glowing portion of the blue liquid inside was moving. He then realized that he could track the shadow back to its master somewhere nearby. Getting up from the shocked mare, he ran to the door and opened it to give chase to the shadow.

As he ran into the main room, he could see the shock and horror on everyone’s faces. Pinkie Pie was covering her mouth with her hoof as she stared through the window at the bloody scene before her. Rarity and Fluttershy were quickly rushing out of the room with a sickly look on their already shocked faces, presumably to find a restroom. Glitterball, Rainbow Dash, and Sunspot were speechless with shocked expressions and mouths agape. Even Princess Luna and Tom were mortified by what they just witnessed.

“What happened in there?!” Tom asked frantically while observing the urgent expression on Glimmer Shine’s face.

“I don’t know! It just came out of nowhere!” The yellow stallion stated while running towards the far door. Everyone was confused by where he was going.

“What are you doing Glimmer Shine?!” Brimstoke shouted across the room at the running pony.

“I’m chasing it, what does it look like I’m doing?!” Glimmer Shine yelled back without turning his head or even missing a stride.

Brimstoke and Tom each checked their own methods of detecting supernatural presences. They quickly realized that the shadow was still detectable, and it was leaving an easily followed trail. Taking a quick glance to each other, the two bolted after the yellow stallion to help him on his chase. Glitterball and Sunspot started to rush after the group when Brimstoke turned his head to yell back to them.

“Stay here and take care of them!” The white stallion instructed before turning his attention forward.

Glitterball and Sunspot stopped and looked at each other. They then looked behind them at the many horrified ponies around them. They needed to be there for them after what they just saw. Noticing Twilight still on the floor in the interrogation room with a shocked expression, the two decided to go in there and escort her away from the gruesome sight in front of her.

Meanwhile, Glimmer Shine was running through the station to get to the front door. Taking a quick glance beside him, he noticed that the slayer and the white stallion had caught up to him. They didn’t seem to be interested in stopping him. Instead, they seemed more intent on joining him.

With his two companions in tow, the yellow pony ran into the lobby of the station and bolted out of the front door. Taking a look at his locator vial, he noticed that the reading was just in front of him. As he scanned the area ahead, he noticed a pale bluish gray pegasus mare standing a short ways away from the station.

“There she is!” Glimmer Shine announced to his two partners. With their target in sight, the trio ran forward to catch up with the gray mare.

As they were approaching her, they noticed the shadow fly up from the ground in front of her. The specter then flew into the ground at her feet and melded with her shadow. She looked like she had a devious smile on her face until she noticed the trio giving chase to her.

“Hold it!” Tom yelled ahead to the startled mare. Despite this instruction, Raincloud turned around and started running.

Thanks to all of their physical training, Glimmer Shine and Brimstoke were easily able to gain ground on the pegasus. Tom, of course, had his enhanced stamina due to being a slayer, not to mention his athleticism from when he was alive.

As the three slowly caught up to the pegasus, she eventually halted in front of a section of brush and turned around to face her pursuers. She panted heavily to catch her breath from running so much. The group was glad to have caught her, although they were suspicious as to why she chose to run instead of flying away.

“Man… *pant* you guys are persistent aren’t you?” Raincloud stated with a slight chuckle.

“Do you really think you can just barge into a royal guard station and murder a pony and then just get away scot-free?” Brimstoke said while eyeing the pale mare defensively. He was surprised to see her laughing at his statement.

“Heh heh… nope, not really… which is exactly why I have a backup plan.” Raincloud replied in a cocky manner. She then looked behind her into the brush. “Hey, Dust! Now is as good a time as any to do your thing!” She announced loudly in an impatient tone. Suddenly, another pegasus walked out from behind the bushes, a brown stallion that the group recognized to be Dust Kicker.

“One backup plan coming right up!” Dust Kicker exclaimed with a confident smile while raising his hoof into the air. The tip of his hoof suddenly became engulfed in pulsating shadow energy as it had so many times before.

Brimstoke and his two companions ran forward in an attempt at closing the gap between them and the two ponies before the brown stallion finished his action. They skidded to a halt as he slammed his hoof into the ground and yelled fiercely.

The shadow energy that went into the ground from his hoof stretched out into a long horizontal line that went out a great distance to either side. The black line started rising out of the ground and forming a black wall between the two groups.

Tom’s senses went off, as well as Brimstoke and Glimmer Shine’s locators. As a loud screeching noise filled the air, the wall of darkness started moving. Small tendrils of the shadowy barrier started wriggling around and moving of their own volition as the wall climbed higher and started arching forward. The dark mass started adopting more smoke like properties as it moved forward. It didn’t take long to realize that the brown pegasus had just summoned a very powerful mass of dark matter like the one Tom and the others found back in the cave.

“I am getting the worst case of déjà vu right now…” Tom muttered nervously while slowly stepping backwards. The shadow cast by the large mass of energy slowly reached forward as it blocked their view of the sun. Suddenly, the mass of darkness rushed forward and swept outwards like an ocean of shadows.

“Run!” Glimmer Shine yelled to his two companions while turning around and running. They needed no confirmation as they both bolted to join their fleeing comrade.

The trio ran as fast as they could as the wall of dark matter followed them. It seemed to be ignoring the sunlight completely. It wasn’t even smoking as it charged forward and stretched out to the side to encompass all of their escape routes.

The three finally made it to the station and opened the door to rush inside. After closing the door behind them, the human noticed the window beside the door and cringed nervously.

“This room isn’t safe! Let’s go!” Tom exclaimed while running for the door on the right.

“What’s going on?” The receptionist pony behind the front desk asked in a concerned tone. She suddenly noticed the large wall of darkness hurdling towards the building through the window.

“AHH!” She yelped in fright while falling backwards.

“Get to an interior room!” Tom shouted to her while still running. Brimstoke and Glimmer Shine watched the startled mare as she ran through an open doorway in the room she was. Deciding that she was safe, they followed the human as he ran for the room the others were in.

As the trio burst back into the room, everyone turned to look at them with concerned expressions. They looked like they had just run from a war zone, and considering the circumstances surrounding their departure, the group wasn’t sure if they wanted to know why they had returned so suddenly.

“What’s going on?” Luna asked while observing the out of breath trio. Tom was the first to catch his breath and speak up.

“We have problems… big problems.” The human explained uneasily.

Suddenly a loud whoosh sounded out from the front of the building. The group heard the sound of what they presumed to be rushing wind, before an eerily familiar screeching noise started bleeding through to the room they were in. Along with this, the lights in the room flickered violently before shutting off. All of the sunlight streaming through the windows was cut off as something black wrapped itself around the building.

“Wait a minute… I know that sound.” Rainbow Dash said nervously while glancing over to Twilight. The two mares felt a pit developing in their stomach as they remembered where they were when they last heard that noise. They immediately knew that they were in big trouble.