Raincloud and her brother watched in amazement as the mass of dark matter swallowed the guard station right before their eyes. The shadowy blob reached upwards to cover the top of the building while the rest of it flowed out around each of the sides.

Before long, the entire building was covered in the undulating mass. The screeching noise that accompanied the dark matter still remained, though it appeared to quiet down slightly now that the mass wasn’t moving around too much. If they hadn’t seen it beforehand, the two ponies wouldn’t have been able to tell that there was a building underneath the cloud of darkness.

“Wow… that stuff works fast.” Raincloud noted with an impressed chuckle. She turned to her brother to see how he was reacting to the marvelous sight.

“It’s supposed to. Raven Feather wanted us to have a quick escape plan, so there you go.” Dust Kicker stated in a dull sort of tone. He didn’t seem at all impressed by the sight in front of him.

“You’re no fun… you know that?” Raincloud said with an annoyed shrug and an eye roll.

“If your idea of fun is to barge into a royal guard station and kill one of their prisoners, I think I will pass… weren’t we supposed to bring Cotton back alive anyway?” Dust Kicker asked curiously. He seemed more concerned about them getting into trouble than he actually cared for the white unicorn’s wellbeing.

“Nah… Raven Feather said that he was a liability at this point. She thought it would be easier for my shadow to just slip in and kill him so we could escape without confronting anyone.” Raincloud explained.

“But… if we didn’t want to confront anyone, then why didn’t we just fly away?” Dust Kicker asked with a confused expression. The pale mare merely rolled her eyes and sighed in defeat at her brother’s thought process.

“Dust… you really aren’t creative are you?” Raincloud asked in a semi-serious manner. “You know what… just don’t answer that.” She added once she saw that her brother was still trying to figure out what she meant.

“Raven Feather gave us that dark matter spell as a backup plan, but she wouldn’t have brought me on the team if I didn’t take some extra initiative every once in a while. I say we draw up a pictogram and summon some shadow creatures to wreak some havoc in there before we go.” Raincloud explained with a devious twinkle in her eye. The brown stallion was a little leery of his sister’s bright idea.

“I don’t know Raincloud… I’m a little spent from using that much energy at once. It would take me a while to summon a lot of creatures… what if we get caught?” Dust Kicker asked curiously. He didn’t want to give Raven Feather any more problems than she already had by letting himself get caught.

“Who’s going to catch us? We have Twilight Sparkle and her friends, not to mention the majority of the royal guard presence in Ponyville trapped inside of that building. Besides… we don’t need to stay for that long, or use that much energy.” Raincloud stated in a reassuring tone.

“What did you have in mind?” Dust Kicker asked curiously. Although he was open to the idea of causing more suffering for the ponies stuck inside the station, he had no idea what his sister could have been planning.

“Just follow my lead.” Raincloud said while walking up to the bushes and reaching into them. After digging around for a brief moment, she came back out with a bag in her hooves.

Dust Kicker followed his sister behind the bushes to a more secluded area. They were in the middle of downtown Ponyville after all, so hidden areas were hard to come by. The small area they found behind some bushes would have to do. The pale pegasus produced some items from the bag and got to work. Before long she was drawing up the lines and glyphs necessary to form a pictogram.

“Do you remember how to make one of those?” Dust Kicker asked while intently watching his sister going to work.

“Of course I do… I don’t know why Cotton needed a pile of books to make these. They’re easy as pie… an arcane pie that summons monsters, but pie nonetheless.” Raincloud replied with a smirk. It was astounding how simple she made drawing the various symbols around the pictogram appear.

Before long, the gray mare had finished with the outline of the pictogram. All she needed to do now was to add the glyphs around the symbol to give it instructions on how to function. After adding the glyphs that would gather the negative energy and send it to the reservoir, Raincloud started delving into her own knowledge of how to make spells to craft her own unique symbol.

“There… it’s finished.” Raincloud said while stepping back to admire her own work. The symbol itself was impressive looking enough to pass for a symbol made with several ponies under close instruction. In fact, the gray mare’s symbol most likely looked more complex and impressive than anything Cotton Quill or any of the workers back at the mansion could create.

“So let me get this straight… you want me to put my hoof on the center, and… what?” Dust Kicker asked while going over the bizarre instructions his sister gave him before.

“I just need you to channel energy and think of what monster to summon as you would normally.” Raincloud explained while pointing to the ring in the center of the symbol.

“How will this help us again?” Dust Kicker asked with a confused expression. Raincloud merely rolled her eyes at her brother’s lack of comprehension.

“Clumps of dark matter this large summon darklings and other shadow creatures naturally… like when Twilight Sparkle and the princess went into the cave. All we’re doing is telling the dark matter to summon our monsters instead of just darklings, which is where you come in. Oh… and try to put some variety into it, Dust. I don’t want just stronger darklings in there.” Raincloud stated to clarify. The brown stallion smirked at the thought of being given the freedom to choose what monsters would be used.

“I guess I will have to get creative then.” Dust Kicker said with a devilish smile while delving into his repertoire of shadow creatures. Raincloud smirked as she watched her brother place his hoof in the center of the circle and channel energy into it.

Meanwhile, on the inside of the station, the ponies scattered around the room were all darting their heads around nervously while trying to figure out what was going on. Several unicorn guards lit up their horns and spread around the room to give it some more light.

“What’s going on? Why did it get dark all of a sudden?” Fireside asked while glancing around at the many guard ponies looking to him for answers. As much as he wanted to inform them about what to do, he had no idea what was happening himself.

“We found Raincloud and Dust Kicker outside. They summoned a large mass of dark matter, which is what is currently wrapping itself around the building and shrouding us in pitch blackness.” Tom explained in an urgent tone. The shocking news made everyone panic slightly, especially those that knew what dark matter actually was.

“Dark matter? You mean like the stuff we found back at the cave?” Twilight asked nervously. Flashbacks of her time in the cave started racing through her mind, making her all the more fearful of her current situation.

“Exactly like the stuff we found in the cave… only worse.” Tom replied uneasily. The amount of dread in the human’s face only made Twilight and the others more afraid of what lay just outside. All of the ponies that flocked to the room when the lights went out started chatting nervously amongst themselves. Although they tried to be quiet, the fear in their voices was easy to hear.

Even the guards in the room were starting to feel uneasy. All of the training in the world couldn’t have prepared them for a situation like this. They were trained to deal with threats to Equestria, but not supernatural threats.

“Ok, nobody needs to panic. We just need to stay calm and everything will be fine.” Fireside announced in an attempt at calming the room down.

“Buddy… if you knew as much as I did about the paranormal, you would be cowering in the corner over there. I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but it is broad daylight out there, and there is currently something that is only supposed to exist in dark places circling around the building.” Tom said nervously. The unusual break in the human’s armor of confidence was unsettling to the others. It was like he was more frightened than they were, which was definitely not something they expected.

“Why isn’t it coming through the windows? The stuff in the cave tried everything to get at us.” Rainbow Dash asked curiously while glancing out of one of the pitch black windows. Although the vibrating roar of the cloud of darkness whipping by and the unnatural screeching sound that came with it made the cyan mare nervous, she was unsure of whether or not the dark matter would smash through the window to get at her.

“Maybe this dark matter isn’t trying to kill us… The cloud in the cave was natural, so it was just trying to absorb our energy… but this mass seems to be just keeping us trapped in here, for the moment at any rate.” Tom hypothesized while taking note of the odd behavior exhibited by the dark matter.

“Even so… we need to get out of here as soon as possible. I’m not sure if I know of a way we could escape though.” Luna said while thinking hard about a way out of their current predicament. The lack of options coming to her mind frustrated the alicorn to no end.

“Well, right now we should probably gather everyone up and head to a secure interior room.” Tom suggested while looking around the room. As he scanned the various ponies in the room, he was surprised to notice something, or rather, the lack of something.

“Wait a minute… where are Fluttershy and Rarity?” Tom asked in a concerned tone.

“I think they were going to be sick from watching what happened in there… they probably went to find the nearest bathroom.” Sunspot said while taking a disgusted glance through the still bloody window of the interrogation room.

“Ok… we need to go get them and anyone else in the building. We need to secure a room before something bad-” Tom started to speak up when he was suddenly interrupted by a faint noise drifting through the room.

The distant sound of windows breaking and ponies screaming could be heard, along with a very unnatural sounding set of screeches and roars. The terrifying noises made everyone in the room on edge with concern for themselves and the others in the building.

“Happens…” Tom finished his sentence with a shrug.

“What was that?” Glitterball asked in a concerned tone while trying to listen closer to the noises. Only a few far off screams remained, but even they were enough to raise the tension in the room.

“I don’t know, but it can’t be good.” Tom stated while walking over to one of the doors at the side of the room.

“What are you doing?” Fireside asked while stepping forward from the group.

“Keep this room safe… I’m going to go see what’s going on.” Tom replied while steeling himself for the task ahead of him. However nervous he might have been about their current situation, he clearly didn’t want to stand around while the two missing mares and everyone else in the building could be in danger.

“Shouldn’t we go with you? We could cover more ground in groups.” Fireside suggested while glancing over to the various guard ponies in the room ready to take action.

“I don’t want to send you guys out there without knowing what we’re up against first. I’m going to go find Fluttershy and Rarity, and then I’ll meet you back here.” Tom explained while returning his attention forward. Before anyone could speak up, he had already opened the door and went out into the rest of the station.

-A few minutes earlier-

Fluttershy and Rarity rushed through the station to find a bathroom. It was astounding how fast they could move with such sick feelings in their stomachs, but they somehow managed to slink around every concerned and confused pony they came across.

Finally, the pair found a set of restrooms across from each other. After quickly opening the door to the little mare’s room, the two bolted inside and each went to where they needed to go. Rarity immediately rushed over to a stall and threw up in disgust. While the white unicorn was heaving and panting while waiting for the sick feeling in her stomach to pass, Fluttershy rushed over to a sink and turned the cold water on full blast.

The pegasus felt ill all across her body. She felt like she might throw up, but she was to the point of trying to prevent it rather than rushing to the nearest toilet. With shaky hooves, she splashed water into her face and tried everything in her power to calm her anxiety and sickness.

She couldn’t believe what she had just bore witness to. The yellow pony had seen horrible things before. A monster made out of blood, a zombified bear that was missing part of its face, and even a skeletal dragon. But nothing she had seen before could have prepared her for watching a pony getting his throat slashed right in front of her.

The terrified look of shock and pain on his face, the crimson liquid gushing out of his neck and painting the window in front of her, the horrific sight of his limp body falling over and dangling from his still shackled leg, all of these things were still firmly planted in the pegasus’s head. Although she hadn’t gotten any blood on her like Twilight did, she might as well have for how ill she felt.

Meanwhile on the other side of the room, Rarity had finished emptying the contents of her stomach and was slowly standing up. She wanted to ensure that she didn’t look down, as the sight of her own vomit would have probably driven her still sensitive stomach off the deep end.

With closed eyes, the unicorn fumbled around for a moment while reaching for the handle. Once the sound of her mess getting flushed away subsided, she finally managed to get up the courage to open her eyes.

“Ughh…” Rarity groaned uncomfortably while staggering out of the stall. She quickly rested her upper body on the sink and turned on the faucet to wash any trace of the disgusting substance off her face. After splashing a little extra water in her face to make herself feel better, the white mare lifted a paper towel over from a dispenser on the wall to the side and dried herself.

Taking a glance off to the side, Rarity couldn’t help but notice her yellow friend in the same position she was in. Despite the fact that she hadn’t vomited herself, Fluttershy somehow looked even worse than the unicorn. She had a generally pale appearance to her, and her entire body was trembling slightly.

“Fluttershy… are you okay darling?” Rarity asked with friendly concern in her still sickly voice. She walked over to the quivering pegasus and put a loving hoof on her shoulder as she tried to make the sick feeling in her body pass.

“Y-yeah… I think so.” Fluttershy said in a weak voice while still looking down. Not only was she still shocked by what she saw, but she also was trying to suppress the ill feeling in her stomach the same way the unicorn was.

“You don’t look ok… I don’t blame you one bit considering that ghastly scene we just ran from.” Rarity stated with a shudder as she tried to not think back to the horrific scene.

“Who would do something like that? He was one of them… and they just… just… murdered him.” Fluttershy could barely get the words out of her mouth with how mortified she was. The yellow mare wasn’t blind to the fact that the hooded ponies always had deadly intentions, but seeing it happen right in front her was an entirely new and horrific experience for her.

“I know… but I don’t think I need to remind you of who we’re dealing with here. Raincloud… the owner of that… thing, she threatened to kill Sweetie Belle and the others unless Twilight, Applejack, and I made a decision of which one of us was going to die. She has no regard for the lives of others… I think she actually enjoys harming others.” Rarity explained with a disgusted tone. She couldn’t believe that a pony could be so cruel.

“Ugh… I feel so wrong… I wonder if this is how Twilight felt back at the hospital.” Fluttershy wondered out loud.

“Oh my goodness, Twilight! The poor thing was actually in the room with that thing when it happened. Oh… she must be a mess if we’re so pale in the face from just watching from outside!” Rarity stated with concern for her purple friend. She wondered if she was curled up into a ball off in the corner while descending into a pit of shock and misery.

“Maybe we should go check on her. We should probably be getting back soon anyway… As much as I don’t want to go anywhere near that room again, the others are probably worried about us.” Fluttershy suggested while getting up and stepping away from the sink. She still felt a little wobbly, but she was marginally better from before.

“Right… just try not to look at the interrogation room window Fluttershy. The last thing we need right now is another glimpse in there.” Rarity replied while trying not to think about the grisly scene waiting for them. Fluttershy nodded in agreement with the idea of never seeing anything that horrible again.

With their stomachs having settled and the color having returned to their faces, the two mares stepped toward the bathroom door to go out and rejoin their friends. Just before they could reach for the handle however, the lights started flickering violently. As the two ponies watched in abject fright, the lights completely fizzled out, leaving them in pitch blackness.

Fluttershy squealed nervously before darting her eyes around the room. She wondered what could have possibly cut the power like this. They had just run away from a bloody massacre created by Raincloud’s shadow, which meant that the hooded ponies were nearby. The pegasus had hoped that they would simply stop at killing Cotton Quill, rather than causing any more trouble.

“Don’t worry darling, I’m here.” Rarity spoke up in a comforting tone while lighting up her horn. Now that they had light, it was a little less spooky in the bathroom. Although now that they only had a small source of light, the shadows and darkness around the room along with the eerie reflections cast by the wall of mirrors beside them made the two mares all the more nervous.

“What happened?” Fluttershy asked while nervously looking around the room. She half expected some sort of monster to leap out of the mirror and scratch her eyes out or some other horrific thing. Entertaining the thought alone was enough to make her avoid looking into any of the mirrors.

“I don’t know… Obviously the lights went out, but I can’t imagine why.” Rarity replied in an uneasy tone. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to know why the lights had gone out. The unicorn suddenly wished that she was in the other room with her friends. Although the station was full of trained royal guards, she still felt unsafe in the lonesome bathroom.

Suddenly, a low noise started making its presence known in the eerily quiet bathroom. It sounded like a high pitched screech that resembled a swarm of bats flying around the station and letting out their combined squeaks into a tumultuous uproar.

As the noise got louder and louder, the two ponies started to hear another noise that resembled wind rushing around the building. The low roar was barely audible over the unnerving screeching sound, but it was still just as terrifying.

“W-w-what is t-that?” Fluttershy asked through chattering teeth. She could feel every muscle in her body tensing up as her nerves went into overdrive.

“I don’t know… and I’m not entirely sure if I want to find out.” Rarity replied with growing concern and terror. She suddenly thought back to her previous desire of being with her friends and quickly realized that it would be best if she was in the other room.

“Let’s get out of here… we will probably be safer with the others.” Rarity suggested nervously. Fluttershy nodded slowly at the proposal of relocating to the relative safety of the other room.

Just as Rarity was placing her hoof on the door handle, the sound of glass breaking rang out from somewhere nearby. Immediately following this loud crash was the sound of ponies screaming at the top of their lungs. Along with the sounds of ponies screaming, a myriad of unearthly and terrifying growls, roars, and screeches filled the air.

The two mares froze in their tracks while listening to the terrifying noises outside. They could hear ponies running away and screaming even more. They could also hear several scuffling and thumping sounds that resembled some kind of foreign creature walking around.

Feeling her anxiety and curiosity welling up inside of her, Rarity slowly opened the door up to get a peek at what was going on. Through the slit in the door, she could see several ponies running through the dark hallway outside, along with a few unicorns running by with their lights. One of the unicorn guards passing by paused and turned around to usher everyone else past him. He and everyone else passing through his bubble of light seemed to have a terrified look on their face.

“Come on! Everyone move this way!” The guard instructed while motioning for the other ponies to move in the direction behind him.

As a couple more ponies ran by the guard, he started using his horn to conjure blasts of energy which he pointed down the hallway. Rarity and Fluttershy couldn’t see what he was firing at, but whatever it was seemed to be the source of all the growls and roars they were hearing.

Suddenly a black tendril shot out from the side and quickly wrapped around the guard’s front leg. Before he could even look down at his trapped appendage, the tendril pulled taught and sent the stallion to the floor.

“No! No, no, noooo!” He yelled fearfully as the tendril dragged him backwards. He tried to pull away from it, but he didn’t seem to be able to make any progress. Before the two mares in the bathroom could even contemplate how to help the trapped unicorn, he was pulled out of sight and his screams died down.

Rarity quickly and quietly closed the door. She looked over to her pegasus friend and shared a silent expression of shock and horror with her. The two listened anxiously as the sounds of ponies screaming grew more and more distant, while the sounds of growling and screeching came closer and closer.

“We have to get out of here!” Fluttershy whispered in a panicked tone.

“I know!” Rarity whispered back before turning her attention to the door. She quickly shushed the nervous pegasus before cutting off her light and slowly opening the door again, this time to just a crack.

It was hard to see in pitch blackness, but the white mare didn’t dare to use her light. All she could do was wait silently and pray that whatever creature was lurking in the shadows couldn’t hear the sound of her heart beating rapidly.

Suddenly, one of the sets of growling and footsteps came dangerously close. Before long, Rarity could make out the shape of something walking in front of the door. It was difficult to tell where the creature’s form started and ended, but she could just barely see its features.

It appeared to be some kind of bird like creature. It had a long pointed beak and winged arms. It didn’t seem to have feathers like a normal bird, instead having only a large flap of skin attached to its twig-like arms to serve as wings.

It had a thin body, with short legs that came to an end at talon clad feet with three toes. The creature appeared to be able to walk upright but instead chose to walk on all fours using its winged arms and similarly talon clad hands to locomote forward.

Rarity had to forcibly stifle a fearful gasp by clasping her hoof over her mouth as the creature darted its head toward her and four glowing red slits opened on its head. The slits seemed to be the only thing on its head that looked like they served as eyes, so that was most likely what they were. The beast paused for a moment and looked around as if searching for its next victim. It didn’t seem to notice the unicorn or her friend, despite being mere inches away from their hiding spot. It opened its beak and let out a short and shrill cry that resembled what the two ponies imagined a supernatural bird of prey would sound like.

After a few more ear piercing outbursts, the monster turned its head to look in the direction of the room that the two mares were in again. It tilted its head curiously, seemingly paying more attention this time. Rarity closed the door as quickly as she could without making noise and put her back against it.

The two mares could practically hear their hearts pounding against the inner walls of their chests. With how loud the thumping seemed in their ears, they were certain that the beast outside could hear it. For the next tensest set of seconds in their lives, the pair listened for any signs that the creature knew where they were.

Thankfully, they heard the soft pitter patter of the creature’s small feet as it walked away from the door. Once it had gotten far enough away that they couldn’t hear it anymore, the two let out a quiet sigh of relief.

“What was that thing? It looked like a shadow creature... but it wasn’t anything like normal darklings.” Fluttershy stated while thinking back to the stronger variant of the shadow creatures she saw a couple of nights ago. If there were different variants of darklings, then perhaps there were different types of shadow creatures altogether.

“It kind of looked like those things that brown pegasus summoned over at the library… Does that mean that they are still here?” Rarity hypothesized while thinking about why the two ponies would stay.

“I’ll bet they have a pictogram outside feeding off of our fear right now… and I’m sorry to say, but it is working.” Fluttershy said nervously while taking note of her own feeling of terror.

“Well, whatever is going on… we need to get out of here somehow.” Rarity replied anxiously while turning to face the door. Just before she was considering opening it again, she heard another low growl directly outside as another unknown creature passed by the door.

The two mares looked at each other nervously. They had both come to the same startling revelation at the same time. They were stuck in a pitch black guard station filled with monsters, and they had no way of exiting the small room they were in without running the risk of getting ripped to shreds by the beasts waiting just outside.