While the guards were rushing around the room to secure the area, Twilight and the others were taking a look around. The interior of the mansion looked much better than the exterior, at least the room they were currently in did. Still, it was easy to tell that they were in an old mansion.

The lights scattered around the room and on the ceiling provided a comfortable amount of light. However, there were unlit candles scattered around the area, giving the impression that the hooded ponies didn’t rely on the electricity staying on for their primary source of light.

There was a red carpet covering the wooden floor that stretched through the room, even traveling up the stairs to the second floor balcony. The carpet had a few worn spots in it, but it did a marvelous job of drawing attention away from the aged and filthy wood that it covered.

All around the room, there were large picture frames of various landscapes, some of which had broken glass. A few of the paintings were of humans dressed in strange attire that looked nothing like what Tom was wearing. The clothing worn by the faded figures almost resembled something a wealthier pony might wear today. All of the people in the paintings had blank, almost emotionless expressions as they stared ahead. The ponies felt like their eyes were somehow watching them.

The room itself wasn’t too large, the high ceiling and open space just made it seem that way. The only things really taking up any space in the room were the staircase leading upstairs set into the right wall, and a few larger tables and some chairs placed in the middle of the room.

“Wow… this place is so cool.” Rainbow Dash exclaimed in amazement while looking around at the luxurious décor. Even with the age, she felt like she was standing in the home of some royal dignitary.

“Ah have to admit… this here is one mighty fine looking house… although it could use a little sprucing up.” Applejack said while examining the thick layer of dust covering one of the darker wooden tables against the wall. There were a few clean spots on a few tables where items had been placed recently, but it was easy to spot which surfaces hadn’t been touched since the hooded ponies arrived.

“I’m amazed that you would think that Applejack… usually you don’t mind dirty things.” Rarity said in a surprised tone.

“Ah might not mind a little dirt or mud, but even Ah have standards Rarity.” The orange mare replied with a small smirk.

“Well I don’t think that the hooded ponies have been focusing too much on renovating the place. It looks like this place stopped aging after only a few centuries worth of wear and tear.” Tom said while leaning against the railing for the staircase.

“Alright guys… now that we’ve all settled in, let’s start splitting off into teams and head through the rest of the mansion.” Brimstoke spoke up while looking down at the group from the upstairs balcony.

There were around seven doors counting the front door. There were two doors across from each other in the upstairs hallway that went sideways across the room. There was one door set into the staircase wall at the back of the room. There was another door in the center of the back wall. There were two more doors to the left, one closer to the back wall and one closer to the front of the house. The final door was on the upstairs balcony set into the back wall and oriented to the left of the room.

Sargent Fireside had at least one pony watching each of the doors, so the amount of guards left to spread out across the mansion was greatly diminished. They would need some help if they were going to spread out while keeping their numbers up.

“Ok girls… we’re a little short on people right now, so we could use some volunteers. Anybody that wants to help with the search should step forward so we can form some teams.” Brimstoke said while glancing to Twilight and her five friends.

“Oh yeah! Count me in!” Rainbow Dash said while stepping forward eagerly. She was clearly excited to participate as much as she could in this mission.

“Ah guess Ah might as well.” Applejack volunteered while stepping forward with a confident expression.

“Ooo, pick me! Pick me!” Pinkie Pie bounced over to join her two friends in the lineup.

“Well… I suppose it couldn’t hurt.” Rarity said hesitantly while slowly walking forward.

“How about you guys? Are you coming?” Rainbow Dash asked while glancing over to Fluttershy and Twilight.

“Oh, no… Sorry, but I don’t think I should go with you. I’m feeling uneasy just sitting in this room.” Fluttershy said nervously while politely declining the offer.

“Aww…” Rainbow Dash quietly groaned in disappointment. She had hoped that the yellow pegasus would overcome her fears and participate more in the raid.

“I think I’ll stay too… you know… to keep Fluttershy company.” Twilight said while hiding the nervousness in her voice. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to be exploring the mansion either, especially if that meant possibly running into Raincloud and her brother again.

Rainbow Dash and the others frowned slightly as their two friends decided to stay behind. However, they decided to respect their decisions and not pressure them into going. After all, this was the tensest mission that they had ever been a part of.

“Alright everyone, listen up.” Brimstoke spoke up to get everyone’s attention. “We’re going to split up and search for their leader and her followers. I want you all to clear any rooms you come across, and tie down anyone wearing a hood that you find.” He explained before turning to his teammates.

“Glitterball will be taking Rarity, Applejack, and Sargent Fireside upstairs. Glimmer Shine will take Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie with him through the downstairs area. Me and Neon Streak will take Tom and the princess downstairs as well. Feel free to search wherever you want, just be sure to stick together and meet back here if anything goes wrong.” The white stallion explained while glancing around the room.

“Ok people, you heard the man, let’s move!” Sargent Fireside said to rally his troops. “I want five of you to head upstairs with me, and the rest of you to head downstairs with Glimmer Shine. I think that the princess and Tom can handle themselves, so nobody needs to go with them.” He instructed while pointing at each of the groups that he wanted his guards to follow. Before long, all of the teams had been gathered up and were ready to go.

“We’ll take this door here... looks like it leads to a hallway.” Brimstoke said while opening the door at the back of the stairs.

“I think we’ll head this way first.” Glimmer Shine said while gathering in front of the center door with his small team. There were only two guards accompanying him, but Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie made up for that number.

Meanwhile; Glitterball, Rarity, and Applejack were climbing upstairs along with the guards. They all looked around to see which way they would go. There were two doors at each end of the balcony that looked like they went into hallways of their own.

“We’ll take the right side… you guys go ahead and take the left.” Glitterball suggested to the Sargent and his team of guards.

“Are you sure you can handle yourself?” Fireside asked curiously while looking to the three mares with a concerned expression.

“We’ll take one of your men with us… we should be fine with just four of us.” Glitterball replied while looking to Applejack and Rarity for confirmation. The two mares nodded in agreement.

“Alright… we’ll be down that hallway if you need us.” The Sargent replied while motioning for one of his men to head over to the others. A unicorn stallion stepped out of the line of guards and trotted over to Glitterball and her two companions.

Without any further delay, all of the teams opened their respective doors and went through. Glitterball took the lead and rushed to the door at the end of the hallway to make sure her team didn’t have a slow start. Applejack, Rarity, and the brown stallion all followed the rainbow haired unicorn through the door and into what appeared to be a long hallway.

There were lights hanging from the ceiling every few feet. These lights seemed to be connected to the switch near the door; however, none of them were on. The only things giving off light in the hallway were candles that were placed on small night tables against the walls at odd intervals. The yellowish light they provided covered a large area, however there were dark spots in between.

The hallway filled with ominous looking patches of light and equally ominous looking patches of darkness wasn’t exactly cozy looking. The ponies were apprehensive about pressing onward, but they had no choice.

“Let’s start clearing these rooms… here, you’ll need these.” Glitterball explained while handing Applejack and Rarity a few pairs of hoof cuffs.

“What on earth do you want me to use these for?” Rarity asked while eyeing the cuffs as she levitated them in front of her.

“Ah think she wants us to use these on any hooded ponies we find.” Applejack suggested with an unimpressed shrug. She figured that the unicorn could figure that out on her own, but apparently she was wrong.

“Glad to hear we’re on the same page. The ones with writing on them are for any unicorns we find. Feel free to do whatever you want to get them to put these on… I think that necessary force is a little lenient with these guys.” Glitterball said with a devious smile.

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Applejack smirked while putting the cuffs in her bag for easy access. Rarity did the same before organizing the items in her bag for a moment. Even though there was only one other thing in there other than the cuffs, it took her a while to get her inventory sorted to perfection.

After the white unicorn finished her organization, much to the relief of her teammates, Glitterball stepped up to the first door on her left and prepared to open it. The vested mare threw open the door and peered inside with her horn at the ready. The room was a small bedroom. It was barren and empty, save for a few sleeping bags placed in rows on the floor and two dressers against the back wall.

“This might take a while…” Glitterball shrugged while looking down the hallway to see the large number of doors they had to go through.

“Why don’t we split up and two of us take a side to search, and when one of us finds something we just holler for the others.” Applejack suggested.

“You’re a genius Applejack! Maybe Neon was right, we really should hire you.” Glitterball said with an impressed smile.

“Heh... do you really think so?” Applejack said with a bashful chuckle.

“Alright, you two take that side, and we’ll take this side. Let us know before you go charging into a room full of people.” Glitterball said while motioning for the guard to join her on the left side of the hallway. Rarity and Applejack walked to the right side and lined themselves up with their teammates in a searching pattern.

With a nod of confirmation from Glitterball, Applejack opened her first door quietly and peered inside. Rarity used her horn to light up the dark room and scanned inside of it. The room looked like another makeshift dorm room with sleeping bags covering the floor, but there was nobody inside.

Taking a glance over to the other two on the other side of the hall, the pair noticed that their teammates were having a similar lack of luck. Un-phased by their initial failure to find anyone, the four continued down the hallway.

After two more doors turned up no signs of life, Applejack paused in front of the next door. She heard what sounded like panicked voices coming from inside. After taking a moment to confirm what she was hearing with Rarity, the orange mare turned to her teammates.

“Hey guys, we got ponies in here!” Applejack whispered anxiously while waving the two over to the door in question. Glitterball put her ear to the door and nodded in agreement.

“Ok Applejack, this is your find, so you take the lead.” Glitter suggested while backing up a little bit.

“Really?” Applejack asked with a bit of nervousness boiling up inside of her. Now that she was getting ready to make her first assault on a room, she was starting to have second thoughts.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be right behind you. Just open the door and try to take down the first pony you see… safely of course.” The guard said in a reassuring tone. The farm pony gulped down her fears before steeling herself for the task at hand and nodding.

“Ok guys… on three…” Applejack said while anxiously shaking each of her limbs and loosening up her muscles. Everyone gathered around the orange mare and waited as she started her count.

“One… two… three!” Applejack swiftly kicked the door open and rushed inside with her teammates. There were three hooded ponies in the room; one earth pony stallion directly in front of the group, one more earth pony mare off to the side of the room, and a unicorn mare near the other mare.

“Oh crap!” The earth pony in front of the group exclaimed fearfully while backing up to distance himself from the others. He looked to his side and found a vase on the table behind him, only to pick it up to defend himself.

Applejack quickly rushed for the hooded pony as he scrambled for the vase. She ducked to the side as he threw it at her, causing a loud shatter behind her. Before the frantic stallion could react any further, the farm pony turned around and reeled her back legs in before delivering a swift kick and bucking the hapless pony into the wall.

While Applejack was busy neutralizing one of the ponies, Glitterball and her two teammates were rushing to deal with the other two. The earth pony mare screamed fearfully and hid behind the unicorn mare. In an attempt at defending herself and her colleague, the hooded unicorn lit up her horn and stood her ground.

Glitterball, the guard, and Rarity lit up their horns as well before coming to a halt. The two groups had a standoff while staring at each other to see who would move first.

“Just give up and stand down, and we won’t hurt you.” Glitterball said in an attempt at calming the pair of hoods down.

The earth pony mare shivered nervously while hiding behind her unicorn friend. The unicorn was nervous herself, but she tried to appear more threatening and confident than she actually was.

“T-there’s no way we’re letting y-you take us! Take one step closer and I swear I will kill you!” The unicorn yelled in an attempt at making herself sound like she wasn’t about to faint. Glitterball glanced to Rarity and the guard behind her. She wasn’t sure if the unicorn knew any spells that could hurt them, but they had to assume that her threats weren’t empty.

“There’s only one of you that can fight back against us, and there are three of us. If you hurt one of us, I can assure you that we will make you pay for it. Just calm down and let us detain you, and I promise that nobody will get hu-” Glitterball said with a calm tone of voice while taking a step forward, until she was interrupted by a laser being shot into the floor in front of her.

“Stay back! I’m warning you!” The unicorn yelled while charging up her horn for another shot. She was putting so much energy into her horn that it looked like she could barely focus it.

Little did the panicked unicorn know, Applejack had already finished putting hoof cuffs on her prisoner. She left him lying face down on the floor with his arms pinned behind his back while she started creeping along the side of the room.

She managed to reach a table and hid behind it while inching closer to the other side of the room. Glitterball glanced over and noticed the orange mare eyeing up the hooded unicorn with a pair of magic suppressing hoof cuffs at the ready. Applejack nodded once she noticed that the white mare had noticed her, Glitterball gave a subtle nod in return before settling her eyes on the two hooded ponies in front of her.

“This is your last warning. I’m giving you one more chance to settle this peacefully before we-” Glitterball tried once again to get through to the unicorn, but she wasn’t in a negotiating kind of mood.

“Before you what?! I have you covered, and if any of you move I’ll-” The hooded pony yelled back at the group until she was interrupted by the sound of someone running towards her. She looked to the side just in time to see Applejack darting after her.

The orange mare ducked and slid along the floor as a magical beam whizzed over her head. Before the unicorn could shoot off another bolt, the farm pony popped up and shoved her against the wall. The hooded mare groaned in pain as she caught herself before slamming her stomach into the table against the wall. She tried to turn around, but before she could, Applejack grabbed her arms and forcibly pulled them around her back.

By the time the hooded unicorn pulled away from the orange mare, it was too late. Her arms were already in the hoof cuffs, causing her to fall flat on her face as she lost her balance.

“Ow!” She yelped in pain as she bounced slightly from the impact. “Why you little… I’ll show you!” She said in a threatening manner while trying to light up her horn. Glitterball and her three companions watched as the pinned mare heaved and groaned while trying to get her horn to light up. Sweat rolled down her face from the strain she was putting on herself.

“What the hell? What did you do to me?!” She asked in an angrily frightened tone.

“Those cuffs prevent you from using magic. Don’t bother trying to break out, you’ll just hurt yourself.” Glitterball explained while sharing a victorious smirk with Applejack.

“Nicely done Applejack! I almost can’t believe you pulled that off!” Rarity said while giving her friend a congratulatory pat on the back.

“Thanks Rarity. Ah just did what Ah could at the moment.” The orange mare said while rubbing the back of her neck and smiling awkwardly. The group’s celebration was suddenly interrupted by a frightened squeak coming from behind them.

Everyone turned around to see the earth pony mare that was hiding behind the unicorn on the floor. She was cowering against the wall while covering her face with her arms. Her entire body was shaking from fear.

“Please don’t hurt me!” She yelped fearfully and tried to back up further into the wall as the group approached her.

Glitterball glanced over to her teammates, who offered a nod of agreement to her in response. With a friendly smile, the unicorn slowly walked up to the cowering mare and knelt down in front of her.

“We’re not going to hurt you.” The white mare said in a soft voice. The hooded pony stopped cowering for a moment and peeked out from between her arms.

“R-really?” She asked nervously.

“The only reason why we had to get rough with your friends was because they wouldn’t cooperate. All we need you to do is to put these on. You can even sit where you are now if you want.” Glitterball explained while holding up a pair of cuffs.

The earth pony looked at the cuffs for a moment while thinking. She took in a deep breath before nodding and holding out her arms. Glitterball smiled before gently putting on the cuffs. The hooded mare sighed before readjusting herself to get comfortable.

“You all just sit tight. We’ll be back for you after we’re done finding the rest of your colleagues.” Glitterball explained before walking back over to her teammates.

“Alright guys, let’s get moving. We still have a lot of rooms to clear.” She explained while walking to the door with eager confidence. Applejack and Rarity took one last glance at their prisoners before following their teammates out of the room.

Meanwhile in the downstairs hallway behind the stairs, Brimstoke and his three companions were slowly making their way through the area and clearing any rooms they came across. They had already found two rooms that had ponies in them, although one of them just had one straggler that was hiding under a bed.

“I’m not sensing any shadow energy around here… well, aside from residual signatures. I don’t think that any of our super powered friends are down here.” Tom said while using his senses to scout the area ahead.

“I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.” Neon Streak said with a slight hint of concern in her voice. If the shadow magic users weren’t here, then that meant that they were somewhere else. Possibly somewhere that could be dangerous for one of their friends.

“Maybe they have charms or wards in place that hide their energy. If there were runes placed on the trees outside, then it would make sense for there to be runes inside as well.” Luna suggested while glancing around at the eerie hallway.

“Now that would definitely be a bad thing… the last thing we need is for Raincloud and her pet shadow to be able to sneak up on us.” Tom said with an uncomfortable shudder. He was still getting over his first fight with the living shadow, so he didn’t want to fight it again anytime soon.

Eventually, the group made it to the end of the hallway. There were only two more doors to check. The door to the left led into another dark hallway without any candles to light it up, while the door to the right opened up into a staircase leading down into what looked like a basement.

“Which way do we go?” Neon Streak asked curiously.

“I think maybe we should split up. Me and Neon could take the basement while you guys continue down that hall.” Brimstoke suggested while glancing to the princess and the human.

“Are you sure you two will be ok on your own?” Tom asked in a concerned tone while sizing up the ominous looking staircase.

“Don’t worry… we’ll be careful.” Neon Streak said with a reassuring expression.

“If we run into any trouble, we’ll back up and call for help.” Brimstoke added confidently. Tom glanced to Luna to see what she thought of the matter. Judging from her expression, the alicorn was fine with the pair heading off on their own.

“I’m sure that they can handle themselves Tom. We can come check on them later if you want.” The princess said with a confident expression. Tom was hesitant to split up like this, but he knew that he couldn’t exactly stand there and hold their non-existent hands all the time.

“Alright… but if you find Raincloud or her brother, don’t go after them by yourselves.” The human said with friendly concern. Brimstoke and Neon Streak nodded in agreement.

The two groups said their goodbyes before going on their respective paths. Tom and Luna went down the other hallway, while Brimstoke and Neon Streak slowly descended the stairs to the basement.

There weren’t any candles placed anywhere in the basement, so the pair had to switch on the flashlights mounted on their vests. The two beams of light didn’t offer much in the way of comfort, but it did let them see where they were going. Not that seeing where they were going was a good thing.

The basement looked entirely different from the rest of the house. There was no warm colored carpet on the floor. There were no intriguing decorations on the walls. The only things that greeted the ponies were barren stone floors and a cold and eerie atmosphere.

“Well, it’s official… basements are creepy no matter who builds them, ponies or humans.” Neon Streak said with an uncomfortable chuckle.

“Stay close… the last thing we need right now is to get lost down here.” Brimstoke said while walking forward confidently. It amazed the green mare just how unflappable the white stallion could be sometimes.

It was almost impossible to search and clear the basement room by room. It seemed like there was a new hallway or series of rooms branching off every few doorways they passed. There weren’t even that many doors down here. Most rooms had just barren entryways that opened up into more darkness.

Brimstoke and Neon Streak decided to just stick with the hallway they were currently in. They swept whatever open rooms they came across for any signs of movement, but the basement was just as dead and devoid of life as it appeared.

“Do you think they even use this place? I haven’t seen any lanterns, or candles, or even beds for that matter since we got down here.” Neon Streak asked while eyeing the rooms she passed. The only things she was seeing were shelves full of miscellaneous objects and a few boxes.

“I think that they use this place for some of the experiments they did.” Brimstoke said while pausing in front of one of the open rooms.

“What makes you say that?” Neon asked curiously. Brimstoke merely stepped aside and let the green mare take a look inside the room. Once she saw what the stallion was referring to, she was stunned into silence.

There were a few medical tables in the room that were covered in dry blood. There was also a smaller table next to it with a few books and some grisly looking sharp objects on it. The medical tables had a thick leather strap in the middle of them. It seemed like they could have fit someone Tom’s size or larger, giving the impression that the human owners of the mansion had brought them here rather than the hooded ponies.

“Yikes… what did the humans do here?” Neon asked with a disturbed tone of voice.

“I don’t think we want to know… but it looks like the hooded ponies picked up where they left off.” Brimstoke said uneasily.

Suddenly, a noise rang out from somewhere down the hallway. The two ponies froze up and perked their ears up. Once they realized that the noise wasn’t stopping, they silently nodded to each other before slowly walking down the hallway.

As they drew closer to the noise, they noticed that it sounded like a single stallion was muttering to himself while causing some sort of ruckus. He sounded frustrated as he scrambled around using various objects. Soon enough, he started speaking louder in a language that the pair didn’t understand.

Taking this as a sign to pick up their pace, Brimstoke and Neon Streak drew their strobes and rushed up to the door where the noise was coming from. They peered inside and saw the same red stallion that had attacked Neon and the others at the bookstore standing in the center of a small symbol on the ground. He was facing away from the two, but they could tell that he was holding something in his hoof.

Brimstoke slowly nodded to his teammate as a signal to back him up. He quietly stepped forward and pointed his strobe at the red stallion. He knew that the weapon wouldn’t harm a pony, but he was hoping that it looked intimidating enough to make the red pony think that it would.

“Hey Shadow Mist, remember me?” Neon Streak spoke up in an intimidating tone while lining up with Brimstoke. Shadow Mist stopped what he was doing and slowly turned around. The pair noticed that he had a small burning piece of paper in his hooves.

“Yeah… I remember you. You’re that pony that I almost killed back in Cotton’s bookstore… you know, you should probably thank your orange friend for moving you out of the way.” Shadow Mist said with a devious smirk.

“Put the paper down, and put your hooves behind your head.” Brimstoke instructed in a firm tone. Shadow Mist glanced down at the symbol beneath him. It was a small circle with an odd shape in the center of it made with red paint. It was smaller than the pictograms the hooded ponies usually used. It was around the same size as the symbols painted on the trees outside.

“You know… I’m not sure if you really want me to do that.” Shadow Mist replied with a slight chuckle.

“I said drop it!” Brimstoke yelled in a commanding voice while pointing his strobe at the red stallion.

”Alright… if you insist.” Shadow Mist said with a small smirk. He dropped the burning piece of paper and quickly closed his eyes. Before Brimstoke and Neon Streak could react, the paper contacted the symbol on the floor and a burst of bright light filled the room.

The two ponies covered their eyes as the blinding light engulfed them. A loud buzz filled the air and grew in intensity, until everything went silent and the light died down. When the pair looked up, the red stallion was gone.

“Where’d he go?!” Brimstoke asked in a shocked tone.

“Keep your guard up, he’s probably still in here!” Neon Streak said while darting her eyes around. She knew all too well that the red stallion could turn invisible any time he wanted.

Suddenly, a loud rumble filled the air as the entire house shook violently. Neon Streak almost dropped her strobe from how much the ground was shaking.

“What the hay is going on?!” Neon asked nervously while steadying herself. The white stallion leaned against the green mare in an attempt at keeping both of them on their feet.

“I don’t know, just hold on!” Brimstoke yelled back to carry his voice over the loud rumbling.

Just as quickly as the shaking started, it stopped. Before the two could process what was happening, one of the vials on their vests hummed and buzzed loudly. They looked down just in time to see their evil detectors glowing brightly and vibrating violently, right before they both shattered with a loud pop. Neon Streak flinched as the fluid that was once inside the vials sprayed everywhere.

“That can’t be good…” Neon stated with an uncomfortable knot developing in her stomach as she held up the broken remnants of the vial on her pull cord.

“Definitely not… I’m calling the others.” Brimstoke said before putting a hoof to his ear.

-A few minutes ago-

Tom and Luna quietly walked down the hallway while clearing out each of the rooms. There weren’t any candles in this hallway, much less any other signs of life. Every room they looked in was completely devoid of pony activity. Much of the old furniture in each of the rooms had scarcely been disturbed.

The human followed the alicorn as she lit the way with her horn. After a while, they wondered if it was a sound idea to continue down this path rather than turning around to assist Brimstoke and Neon Streak.

“Looks like nobody has been through here in a while… I guess they don’t use every room in this place.” Tom stated while glancing around with an intrigued expression.

“Not surprising... this place is rather large. It looked almost as big as the palace back in Canterlot from the outside.” Luna said with an amazed tone while looking around at the strange architecture and décor. “Did all humans live in houses this big? Surely a mansion this size must have been able to fit an entire community.” She asked curiously.

“No… not really. Only rich people with money to spare could afford a place like this, and most of them only lived with their family and their servants.” Tom explained while thinking back to the size of his old home.

“You must tell me about this wonderful architectural style… what did you call it? Victorian era?” Luna asked curiously as she tried to remember the boy’s description of the mansion.

“Well, you see-” Before Tom could explain further, a loud rumble shook the whole building around them. Luna steadied herself on all fours while the human grabbed a nearby door handle to balance himself.

Just as quickly as the rumbling started, it stopped. The pair glanced at each other with wide eyes as they waited to see if the shaking would return.

“What on earth was that?!” Luna asked in an alarmed tone. Before Tom could answer, a sudden gasp escaped his mouth as his senses went off. The blue puff of mist and the eerie rasp that came with it lasted much longer than any other time he had experienced before.

Luna watched with a concerned expression as the boy was driven to his knees by the elongated sensation overwhelming him. She had never heard his senses last for such a long time. It was almost like he had no control over the event whatsoever.

The alicorn was about to ask the human what he was feeling, but she suddenly realized that she could feel it too. Her ability to sense energies was far less developed than her sister’s but if it was potent enough, she could feel it. And right now, the princess of the night could feel something incredibly evil and incredibly powerful that she couldn’t identify. It was almost like the entire house felt wrong to her now.

“What is that?” Luna asked in a shocked tone as the human gasped for air. After taking a moment to get to his feet, Tom turned to the alicorn with a pale expression on his face.

“I can’t tell what it is… but it feels familiar.” Tom said while pondering the sensation he felt. The human wasn’t sure if he wanted to use his senses again to try and analyze the overwhelming energy, but he had to. Taking in a deep breath to prepare himself, he exhaled another puff of blue mist before falling into another fit of uncontrollable coughing.

“Don’t over exert yourself Tom.” Luna said with a concerned expression while waiting for the human to recover again.

“Whatever it is… it’s extremely powerful. I think we should head back to the others.” Tom suggested while looking down the hallway behind him.

“I agree. Let’s regroup with the others and find out what happened.” Luna said with a brief nod before following the human back down the hallway.

As soon as they reached the door that would lead them back into the other hallway, Tom quickly grabbed the door handle and turned it. Much to his surprise, the handle didn’t move at all. After trying it a few more times, the boy realized that he wasn’t just imagining things.

“What the heck…? This wasn’t locked when we got here.” Tom exclaimed in frustration.

“I don’t remember seeing a lock on this door… Are you sure it’s locked?” Luna asked with a growing sense of unease.

“I can’t move it… it’s like something is holding it closed. Hey… did the air just get cold all of a sudden?” Tom asked while rubbing his shoulders to create warmth. Luna was surprised by the odd drop in temperature herself, but she nodded in agreement.

“Let’s try finding another way around. We need to get to the others.” The alicorn said in an urgent tone. Tom nodded in agreement before quickly following the princess down the hallway.