-A few minutes ago-

While everyone else was searching through the large mansion for the hooded ponies, Twilight and Fluttershy were sitting around idly in the foyer. They sat in two of the more cleanly looking chairs and watched while Peppermint ran a check of his medical supplies on the other side of the room.

Fluttershy shrugged and sank back into her chair. She felt very disappointed in herself for not taking Rainbow Dash’s advice. If she wasn’t going to help her friends, why was she even there? Assuming something went horribly wrong and the hooded ponies completed their ritual, they would have to use the elements of harmony, but that was about the only use she had. Still, the bag containing the elements had less grandeur than it did before, especially with it sitting on a dusty table waiting for use.

As she glanced over to her unicorn friend, the yellow mare began to wonder about why she chose to stay as well. She claimed to have stayed to keep her company, but Fluttershy doubted that was her true intent. Normally, Twilight would have been incredibly eager to explore the mansion. This was after all the first time a pony had ever set foot into a human building, and she should have been first up to bat to try and analyze as much of it as she could. But instead of being eager and excited to learn more about humans or stop the hooded ponies, the purple mare almost seemed like she was scared.

“Hey Twilight…?” Fluttershy asked curiously while leaning forward in her chair.

“Yes Fluttershy?” Twilight replied while turning to face the pegasus. Fluttershy looked down nervously as she tried to muster the courage to ask her friend about why she lied to stay with her. She hated any sort of conflict, even if it was something that other people wouldn’t even call conflict.

“Sorry to intrude like this… but… umm…” Fluttershy muttered timidly. She grew quieter and quieter as she continued. Twilight knew that her friend took a while to ask questions that were uncomfortable for her, so she waited for her to speak up.

“Why did you stay with me? I mean… why did you really stay?” Fluttershy asked hesitantly. The unicorn was taken off guard by the sudden question.

“What do you mean Fluttershy?” Twilight asked in return with a confused expression.

“I know you said that you wanted to keep me company… and it’s not that I don’t believe you… it’s just, you seemed to be avoiding leaving this room.” Fluttershy explained while hoping that her words wouldn’t offend.

“I was that obvious huh?” Twilight shrugged sadly as she thought about why she really stayed behind. Truth be told, she wasn’t even sure why she stayed herself.

The thought of exploring the mansion further while the hooded ponies were around triggered some kind of feeling of anxiety that she wanted to avoid. She had almost died numerous times because of the hooded ponies, and she wanted to avoid any situation that might be dangerous to her. After all, she had promised Spike that she would take better care of herself. Still, the fact that such an anxiety was getting in the way of her duties made her feel terrible.

“I guess I stayed for the same reason as you Fluttershy…” Twilight sighed as she decided to come clean with her feelings. The yellow pegasus was surprised to hear such a thing from her usually brave friend.

“You did?” Fluttershy asked in a surprised tone.

“Yeah… I guess I didn’t want to admit it out loud, but I am scared. I don’t want to search for the hooded ponies… because I’m afraid of what might happen.” Twilight said with a hint of shame in her voice. She looked up in surprise when she felt the yellow mare putting a gentle hoof on her shoulder.

“It’s ok Twilight… I understand perfectly.” Fluttershy said with a warm smile.

“You do?” Twilight asked in a surprised tone.

“Yes… I’m scared too, and I really did want to help with the search, but I just couldn’t go with the others. I just kept thinking about everything that had happened to us before, and about what might happen to us now.” Fluttershy explained in a sympathetic manner.

“That’s how it was for me too… *Sigh*… maybe we can still help out. How about this, when the others get back, let’s both volunteer together.” Twilight suggested while gathering up some courage.

“As long as I’m with either you or one of the others, I think I might be able to do that.” Fluttershy said with a small smile. When she was with friends, she felt much braver than she would have if she was alone.

Suddenly, the two mares felt their chairs vibrating. Before long, the small vibrations grew until the entire room was shaking. All of the guards in the room looked around anxiously while trying to steady themselves.

“What’s going on?!” Fluttershy asked while sinking low into her chair and holding on for dear life.

“I don’t know, just hang on!” Twilight replied while trying to weather the shaking. All of the furniture in the room was shifting along the floor as the ground vibrated underneath it.

“AH!” Fluttershy screamed in fright as a vase on the table beside her fell to the floor with a loud crash. She shut her eyes and reeled herself as far into the chair as she could go without melding with it.

Just before the ponies thought that they were going to get whiplash from the violent shaking, everything grew still and the loud rumbling ceased. One more vase fell off of a table against the wall as the force from everything stopping sent it on its way to the floor.

Twilight slowly opened her eyes and peered around the room. Much to her relief, everything and everypony was still relatively intact. Most of the guards, along with Peppermint, were looking around and wondering what just happened.

Twilight glanced over to the chair beside her to see Fluttershy shivering with fright. The pegasus was still covering her head as if she expected the roof to cave in on top of her.

“Fluttershy, are you ok?” Twilight asked with a concerned tone while gently putting a hoof on her friend’s shoulder to reassure her that everything was alright.

Fluttershy slowly uncovered her head and looked at the unicorn with tears rolling down her face. She took in a few shallow breaths while darting her eyes around before shakily nodding her head.

“What the hay just happened?” Peppermint wondered out loud. Everyone else in the room shared in his nervous curiosity at the cause for the sudden disturbance. Just as the red haired stallion put a hoof up to his ear to check in on the others, he heard a loud buzz coming from his vest.

Twilight and Fluttershy watched as Peppermint pulled his detector up to his face and gasped in shock. The vial was glowing a brighter shade of blue than any of them had ever seen before. Along with this glow, the entire vial was practically shaking from how much it was buzzing.

*POP*

“Ack!” Both Fluttershy and Peppermint jumped in fright as the vial shattered into a million pieces. The liquid that was inside the vial flew in all directions before settling to the floor with a wet splash.

“How did that happen? What’s going on?” Twilight asked while staring at the remnants of the broken detector with fear in her eyes.

“I don’t know… something must have overloaded the detector… I didn’t even think that could happen.” Peppermint explained nervously. “I’m calling the others… we need to figure out what’s ha-” Before the white stallion could even get his hoof up to his ear, he suddenly heard Brimstoke’s voice in his head.

“Everyone listen up! I want everyone to head back to the entryway. Something happened down in the basement with us and we need to regroup.” Brimstoke instructed with a tone of urgency.

“Uh… guys, we have a problem out here.” Sunspot suddenly chimed in with a troubled tone in her voice.

“What is it Sunspot?” Brimstoke asked uneasily.

“It looks like we have a storm rolling in… it just came out of nowhere.” The orange pegasus replied. As if on cue to match up with her statement, everyone in the foyer heard a distant crackle of thunder.

“Does it look dangerous?” Brimstoke asked curiously.

“It doesn’t look as bad as the one that demon caused last night, but it definitely looks unpleasant to be out in.” Sunspot explained with a slight hint of unease in her voice.

“Go ahead and bring everyone inside Sunspot. We should be up there shortly… does everyone else hear me? Everyone check in.” Brimstoke asked to see if the others could hear him.

“This is Glitterball… we’re making our way back now.” Glitterball spoke up.

“Glimmer Shine here, I hear you loud and clear.” Glimmershine announced.

“This is Peppermint… everything is fine over here, we’ll wait for you guys to return.” Peppermint spoke up to announce his presence.

“Alright guys, everyone try to make your way back as fast as you can.” Brimstoke said before falling silent.

Peppermint looked up to see the two curious mares looking at him for answers. They were waiting for him to get done talking with his teammates. After all, they could only hear quiet murmurs coming from his ear, so they couldn’t understand what was going on.

“What’s going on?” Twilight asked anxiously as she watched the stallion dropping his hoof from his ear.

“Brimstoke wants everyone to meet back here. Apparently something happened down in the basement, and now there is a storm rolling in.” Peppermint explained. The mere mention of the word storm sent the two mares’ nerves into overdrive.

“A storm? Did they summon more of those demons?” Twilight asked nervously while thinking back to her brief experience with the flying monsters.

“No… Sunspot says that it’s much tamer than the one from last night, but it is bad enough that she doesn’t want to be out in it. She should be coming in with the others any minute now.” Peppermint explained while glancing to the front door. Sure enough, the group heard the door jostle as someone tried opening it from the outside.

Much to the confusion of Twilight and the others, the door didn’t open. They listened as whoever was trying to open it, most likely Sunspot, got frustrated and tried pulling on it with all their might.

“Peppermint… I know you must think this is really funny, but could you please unlock the door?” Sunspot spoke up in an understandably irritated tone.

“Umm… Sunspot, I didn’t lock the door… nobody did.” Peppermint said while briefly putting his hoof to his ear and walking over to examine the door.

“What?! That’s ridiculous! This thing is stuck like someone super glued it!” Sunspot said while giving the door several more tugs. Everyone could hear the pegasus grunting from exertion as she tried to get the door open.

Peppermint reached forward and tried to open the door from the inside. Much to his surprise, the attempt yielded the same results. Upon closer inspection, the stallion noticed that the small lock on the door was unchanged from when the group came inside.

“What’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked nervously from behind the stallion. Peppermint turned around to see the two mares walking up to him with uneasy expressions.

“The door won’t open from either end… it’s like something is holding it closed.” Peppermint explained with a concerned tone.

“Can’t you just use whatever you used to break into the hospital when we were stuck in there?” Twilight suggested while thinking back to how the team liberated her and her friends from the hospital.

“Good idea.” Peppermint said before turning to the door and putting his hoof to his ear again. “Back up for a second Sunspot, I’m going to try the cutter.” He explained while pulling a vial from a pocket on his vest.

“Ok… just hurry it up. I don’t want to stay out here when the sky opens up.” Sunspot said with an annoyed tone.

Without further delay, Peppermint readied the vial in his hooves. Taking a quick look at the door, he quickly realized that it was too tall for him to reach up to the top. For the cutter to work, he needed to run it down the entire seam of the door.

“Twilight, could you help me out for a second?” The stallion asked while turning to the unicorn.

“Umm… sure, what do you need?” Twilight asked while stepping forward. She was glad to be able to help without actually leaving the foyer.

“I need you to lift this vial to the top of the door and run it down the seam. Just press it against the door and hold down the button on the cap.” Peppermint explained while holding out the vial in his hoof and pointing to the small button on the top. There was a small point on one end of the vial, presumably the end that would be pressed into the door.

“Ok, that sounds simple enough.” Twilight said while lighting up her horn and concentrating on the vial. Peppermint let go of the bottle as he felt the unicorn nudging it upwards. Everyone stood back and watched as the purple mare lifted the vial to the top of the door and pressed it into the middle of the seam.

She pressed down the button on the cap of the vial, causing sparks to fly off the tip of the small point. Twilight started to drag the vial down the seam of the door, but something was amiss. No matter how hard the unicorn pushed on the vial, it wouldn’t budge.

“Is there a problem?” Peppermint asked curiously.

“Hrk! Gah… I can’t move this thing. I think it’s stuck or something.” Twilight groaned as she tried to force the vial to move. Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t get the bottle to budge an inch.

“Hey, what’s the hold up in there?” Sunspot asked impatiently.

“I think whatever is keeping the door closed is messing with the cutter… we can’t get it to work.” Peppermint replied with an uneasy tone.

“Well try the spell breaker! Something has to work!” Sunspot replied with distress in her voice. The group could hear the sound of heavy rainfall coming from outside.

“*Sigh*… Thanks for the help Twilight, but you can go ahead and give that back. I’m going to try something different… hopefully it works, or Sunspot is going to kill me when she finally does get in here.” Peppermint shrugged while holding his hoof out for the unicorn to return the vial. Twilight levitated the bottle back down and gave it to the stallion before shrugging in defeat.

The two mares watched as the red haired pony fished another vial off of his vest. This one had a similar tip on one end of it, but it was filled with a different colored liquid than the one he just used. With a hopeful expression, Peppermint pressed the vial against the door and pushed the button on the top.

A small shockwave of air scattered across the door. Just before the ponies could celebrate their small victory however, the shockwave paused and vanished into a small burst of light. Peppermint and the others frowned as their plan unraveled before their very eyes.

“That can’t be good…” Peppermint muttered uncomfortably.

Suddenly the group heard a door opening behind them. They turned around to see Glimmer Shine and his group entering the foyer. The ponies all had concerned looks on their faces as they walked over to the front door.

“What’s going on?” Glimmer Shine asked his brother curiously.

“I don’t know… all of a sudden the house just started shaking. Now the front door won’t open and there is a storm outside.” Peppermint explained with a troubled tone.

“A storm outside? Are Sunspot and the others still out there?” Rainbow Dash asked with a concerned expression. Ever since the events that happened last night, the cyan mare was leery on the subject of storms.

“Unfortunately yes… I tried using the cutter and the spell breaker, but nothing is working.” Peppermint shrugged while shaking his head.

Glimmer Shine walked up to the door and examined it curiously. He gave it a brief tug to affirm it was locked for himself.

Before the stallion could think of something else to try, another door opened behind the group. Everyone looked over to see Brimstoke and Neon Streak walking up to them alone. The absence of Tom and Princess Luna surprised the ponies.

“Where are Tom and the princess?” Twilight asked with a wary expression.

“They split off to investigate another hallway while we searched the basement. We tried to go find them, but the door was locked by the time we got back up there.” Neon Streak explained. The troubling news only made the knot in the ponies’ stomachs tighten.

“Uh, guys! What’s the hold up in there?!” Sunspot spoke up from outside. The group could hear rain pouring down against the house. Judging from the sound and the amount of rain hitting the windows, the ponies figured that it was raining really hard.

“They haven’t made it inside yet?” Brimstoke asked with a surprised expression.

“The door is locked… Pepper tried everything we have on it, and it won’t budge.” Glimmer Shine explained.

“That isn’t good…*Sigh*” Brimstoke lowered his head in defeat. The stallion thought for a moment before putting his hoof up to his ear to communicate with the pegasus stuck outside.

“Sunspot… this is Brimstoke. We can’t get the door open. Something must be keeping it closed.” Brimstoke explained in a troubled tone.

“What…? So you guys are stuck in there?” Sunspot asked in a concerned tone. Now she was more concerned with the safety of her friends than getting wet.

“Pretty much…” Brimstoke replied with a shrug.

“Do you need me to go back to town and get some back up?” Sunspot suggested.

“No… I want you to just sit tight and try to stay dry. The storm might make it too dangerous to leave anyway if it appeared magically. We’ll find a way to unstick this door from our end.” Brimstoke explained with determination in his voice.

“Ok… you guys be careful in there. I don’t want to have to bust in there and save you guys single hoofedly.” Sunspot stated in a concerned tone.

“Will do.” Brimstoke replied before putting his hoof down and glancing around at the others. There was something missing from their small group however.

“Where are Glitterball and the others?” The white stallion asked with mild concern while looking around for the unicorn and her group.

“They haven’t gotten back yet.” Peppermint explained.

“I hope they’re ok.” Fluttershy said in a troubled tone. The thought of her friends being in danger made her feel uneasy.

As if on cue to ease the yellow mare’s concerns, a door upstairs opened up. The group looked up the stairs and saw Glitterball, Rarity, Applejack, and one of the unicorn guards walking into the room. They glanced around for a moment before heading downstairs to join the rest of the group.

“Sorry we’re late. We had to tie up a few loose ends along the way.” Glitterball explained in an apologetic tone.

“It’s good to see you guys are ok… we were starting to worry about you.” Brimstoke stated with a slight smirk.

“Well now that we’re all together, will someone please explain what in the hay just happened? It felt like we were having an earthquake.” Applejack said while thinking back to the violent shaking that happened mere minutes ago.

“Yeah… I would like to know why my detector just popped like a firecracker.” Glitterball stated in a troubled tone while holding up the remnants of her detector vial.

“We had a run in with our old buddy Shadow Mist down in the basement. He did something to a symbol on the floor that caused a bright flash of light… next thing you know, the house starts shaking.” Neon Streak explained.

“What?! You saw Shadow Mist?!” Glimmer Shine asked in a shocked tone.

“Please tell me you managed to catch that invisible dirt bag.” Applejack said with false hope written on her face.

“Unfortunately not… he scurried off once the light blinded us like the invisible rodent he is.” Neon Streak explained with a disdainful expression. If she had her way, the red stallion would be lying face down with his hooves cuffed behind his back and a broken nose.

“Dangit… we really need to find him and the others before they either get away or get the drop on us.” Glimmer Shine stated uneasily.

“We can’t do much of anything without Tom or the princess here to tell us what’s going on. Something tells me that symbol that Shadow Mist activated down in the basement didn’t just make the house shake a little.” Twilight said in a troubled tone. If her previous experiences had taught her anything, it was that the hooded ponies were a force to be reckoned with.

Now that the group thought about it more, they became very nervous about what the house shaking actually meant. The exits to the house had been locked, and they were separated from the human and the alicorn. Who knows what other nasty surprise the hooded ponies just unleashed?

“Hey… where is Sargent Fireside? Rainbow Dash asked curiously upon noticing the absence of the stallion and his team of guards.

“He hasn’t gotten back from upstairs yet?” Glitterball asked in a surprised tone while looking around. Sure enough, there was no sign of the Sargent or his team of guards.

“Ok… this is bad.” Glimmer Shine said uneasily while pacing back and forth. The group was supposed to be in control of the situation, but things were rapidly spiraling into chaos. Even the rest of the guards were getting a little uneasy.

Twilight and her friends weren’t faring much better than the yellow stallion and his teammates. Most of the element bearers had varying expressions of concern or outright fear on their faces. They were starting to regret their decision to volunteer for this mission.

“Alright everyone, let’s calm down for a minute and figure out our next move.” Brimstoke spoke up to ease the group’s fears. “Let’s start with the most pressing issues and move on from there. We have some missing people, and we have no idea what might be happening. We need to send someone to go find Sargent Fireside’s team, as well as Tom and the princess. We also need to figure out what that symbol down in the basement meant.” The stallion explained.

“Hey Glitter, didn’t we find a small symbol upstairs?” Rarity asked curiously while thinking back to her time upstairs.

“Yeah… I think it was in the library.” Glitterball replied.

“There is a library in this place?” Twilight asked with a hint of excitement in her voice. If there was one thing she could do, it was read. If there was a library in the mansion, perhaps she could find out what was going on by reading through any books or notes the hooded ponies might have been using.

“Oh definitely, there were probably hundreds of books in there.” Rarity explained to the purple mare, who was getting more eager by the minute at the prospect of a library full of human books.

“Maybe we should check through some of the books in there to see if they-” Brimstoke started to speak up, when he was interrupted by an outburst from Twilight.

“I’ll go!” The purple mare exclaimed eagerly while staring at the white stallion with pleading eyes. Suddenly, she became aware of the odd looks she was receiving from everyone around her.

“Umm… I mean… can I go check out the library please?” Twilight asked in a calmer tone while smiling awkwardly.

“Alright… if you insist, but I want someone to go with you… we shouldn’t be alone at any time in this place.” Brimstoke said in agreement.

“I’ll go with her.” Rainbow Dash volunteered eagerly.

“Umm…” Brimstoke muttered uncomfortably. He didn’t necessarily feel comfortable sending anyone other than one of his teammates with the unicorn.

“Don’t worry about it. I can handle anything that comes our way. Besides, we’re just going to be staying in one room that’s just a little ways from you guys.” Rainbow Dash stated confidently.

“I’ll go with them to drop them off. We can set up some blessed candles by the door. Someone needs to look for Sargent Fireside anyway.” Glitterball volunteered to make the white stallion feel more comfortable about sending the two mares up to the library.

“Alright… but I want you to take someone with you when you look for Sargent Fireside.” Brimstoke shrugged uneasily.

“I already have a team set up… assuming you guys still want to stick with me?” Glitterball asked while glancing over to the three that had gone with her before.

“Ah would be happy to help.” Applejack stated while stepping forward.

“I would love to help as well.” Rarity volunteered alongside the orange mare.

“If it means finding the others, I’m in.” The unicorn guard stepped forward with a slight nod.

“Ok then… now I just need some people to help us find Tom and the princess.” Brimstoke said while looking around at the others.

“Oo! I’ll go!” Pinkie Pie volunteered eagerly while bouncing over and standing by Brimstoke and Neon Streak.

“Umm… I…” Fluttershy muttered uncomfortably while trying to find the courage to volunteer. She wanted to help find the human and the alicorn for everything they had done for her, but she was still nervous.

“Go on Fluttershy.” Rainbow Dash said while giving the timid mare a helpful shove in the right direction. Fluttershy started sweating nervously as she watched the three waiting for her to finish her thought.

“I’ll go…” The yellow pegasus swallowed the lump in her throat and managed to appear slightly confident.

“Don’t worry Fluttershy. I promise I’ll keep you safe.” Neon Streak said while putting a reassuring hoof on the nervous mare’s shoulder. Fluttershy felt better knowing that she would have friends looking out for her. She stood by Pinkie Pie defensively and anxiously waited for the group to move.

“I’ll come with you guys.” Glimmer Shine volunteered eagerly, until he was halted by Brimstoke stopping him as he passed by.

“Sorry Glimmer, I want you to stay here and keep an eye on things.” The white stallion instructed with a sympathetic tone.

“What?! But you guys need me out there!” Glimmer Shine protested with a shocked expression.

“We need you to stay here. If something goes wrong, or if anyone needs help, you will be free to put together a team and go after them.” Brimstoke explained. The yellow stallion shrugged before offering a begrudging nod.

“Alright… but you guys better get back here in one piece.” Glimmer said with a concerned tone.

“We always do Glimmer, don’t you worry about us.” Neon Streak said with a confident smile. Glimmer Shine lightened up a bit once he saw how determined the green mare was.

“Ok everyone… we meet back here in half an hour. Glitterball and her team will go check on Twilight and Rainbow Dash before coming back. They have a lot of work to do, so they can stay up there.” Brimstoke explained to the groups that were lined up around him.

“Let’s get moving!” The white stallion instructed before leading his group to the door at the back of the stairs. Everyone else nodded before scrambling to join their team members in going to their assigned positions. Twilight and Rainbow Dash followed Glitterball and the others upstairs and to the right, while Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie followed Brimstoke and Neon Streak into the downstairs hallway.