The Everfree Forest, that place keeps appearing more frequently ever since both ponies entered Ponyville, but why is there a map with only specific locations in this town?, he felt a chill going down in his spine, as soon as the radio started to emit static, Stormy stored the doll on his saddlebags, and proceeded to check the basement, the Princess was keeping an eye on his guard, she feared that any strange event on Ponyville could destroy his mind, Stormy gasped as they found out a bag of liquid jelly.

“Bag of sweet strawberry jelly?, mmm, strange“ Stormy said confused about what he found.

“Maybe we could use it to distract the monster in the bowl? “ Luna suggested.

“Maybe but I prefer to check this place fully before going back upstairs,“ Stormy decided as he used his LED Lantern on a corner

Soon Stormy found something that made him regret that decision, he found several cupcakes on the shelf nearby, but he could smell something nasty coming from them, among the nasty cupcakes, was a blue berry cupcake, Stormy pick it up, but a trap was activated, a blade came towards him, Luna quickly pulled him out of the way, and the blade cut the table in half, the blade had already dried blood on it, a clear indicator that many other ponies have fallen victim of it, why there was a trap on the basement?, Luna relieved, decided to exit the basement, but as they where heading out they heard voices coming from the basement, one was very familiar, the way up the stairs seems like going forever despite them walking or trotting up, as the voices kept talking.

“Come on, eat it, you will fell better,“ a happy voice was heard.

“I’m not hungry Pinkie, not after what happened,“ a voice similar to Stormy was heard, only younger.

“I know Stormy, but that is why I’m here, I’m so sorry “ said Pinkie Pie, but there was something different in her, a deflating sound was heard, meaning her mane as not puffy as always, it was flat.

“There was nothing that anypony could have done to prevent it, it was too late and I failed him,“ The younger voice said in tears.

“I will be always with you, if there is something I’m good at, is to make anypony smile!, I promise,“ Pinkie voice said, it sounded very positive.

“You promise?“ the young voice said, now with a little hope.

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!“ Pinkie said with cheer in her voice, a noticeable squee sound was heard, as if she has hugged somepony.

“Thanks, may I call you big sister?“ Young Stormy said, his voice was fading into a deep sleep.

“But of course silly filly!“ Pinkie said in her energetic voice, her hair made a poof sound. Indicating it returned to its usual inflated state.

“I-I remember that, it was when my brother was hospitalized on Canterlot Hospital, Pinkie promised she would always help me with the visits“ Stormy had a half sad, half happy smile in his face while he said that.

A few tears burst from Stormy eyes, as if that memory was locked away deep in his mind and he did not remember it until recently, Luna could feel Stormy emotions at this point, how many nights of terrible dreams did she forgot or ignored from him?, each time she looked at him she remember how guilty she felt. Could she have prevented this if she paid attention to him? That questioned kept on rigging on her mind.

As far as she can recall, she saw Stormy on the guards trainings, he was always inexpressive and sometimes quiet, she would have never suspected the things he was hiding inside of him, however, Luna was more drawn towards the cutie mark crusaders due to their nightmares than their other subjects, she even had problems tracking down some of the dreams from the Canterlot ponies.

Both Luna and Stormy reached the first floor again, a loud bang was heard from behind them, Stormy quickly used his flashlight to see the basement, it was now more twisted that the rest of the restaurant, all he could see was pony parts, a bag of flour, a few feathers and a sigh that says “Life is a Party“, which gave Stormy a bad feeling, following his guts, he retired from the basement and moved towards the kitchen with the princess.

The tentacle thingy was still inside the bowl, Stormy levitated the strawberry jam plastic bag and open it up, then he throw it on the room, the bad ended up impacting the wall, the tentacle thingy was attracted by the jam and started to, what it seems, to drink it, Stormy tried to enter first, but the princess went ahead of him and noticed that the creature was too focused on the jam to notice her, she quickly picked up the key from the bowl, and walked towards the exit, the smell coming from the jam bag was no sweet at all, it smelled like fresh blood and she could see before she left, what it seems, remaining of skin in the bag, she exited the kitchen and closed the door.

“I got the key” Luna said with a clear disgusted face.

“Great, where should we go now?“ Stormy asked the princess.

“Aren’t you the one with the map?” Luna playfully teased the stallion before pulling out the map from Stormy’s saddlebags.

Luna saw the key for a moment, she noticed it had a musical cutie marks on the handle, more precisely, it was shaped after Vinyl Cutie Mark, which pretty much set their destination to Vinyl and Octavia house, now with their destination clear both of them exited Sugar Cube Corner.

Outside, the town was still with little to no light, and the deep fog covers the horrors waiting for them deep in the darkness, both ponies had to rely on their previous knowledge of the place, Luna was certain on where Twilight and Fluttershy house was, while Stormy knew where Vinyl and Octavia live, a few monsters appeared on their way, no new monsters to add to their already long list, but the monsters seems more aggressive than before, the Hopping Ponies where being followed by the Ceiling Fillies, and the Glass Mare, despite having now a more grotesque image that reflected her death at hooves of the Iron Mask Pony was being accompanied by Restrained Figures, they were group of 2 monsters at least, The Princess and his guard decided it was better to run for it, since there was no way they could beat 4 monsters at the same time, Stormy used Pinkie Party Cannon as distraction, since the cannon itself is pretty much non-lethal, but provides one hell of a pushback to enemies.

Luna reached the musicians ponies house, unlocked the door and entering, Stormy galloped quickly inside firing one loud confetti stream that pushed the creatures away, enough for him to close the door, once inside, they locked the door, constants bangs could be heard, the monsters where trying to enter but after a while, they seems to have stopped, the radio static that was being broadcasted faded into silence.

Stormy saw the inside of the house a chimney, a wub dishwasher used to clean the dishes, a chello case and stairs that leads towards the mares rooms, each decorated to fit their personalities, yeah, it was definitely their home, not to mention their home seems to be painted in a mix of Techno plus classical themes. Luna and Stormy saw on the chimney what it seems to be another memory, lost from Stormy´s past, Octavia was in front of him, and Young Stormy had his ocarina, playing it, following Octavia instructions, the song he was performing seems to be a ocarina variant of Pinkie Pie smile song.

“No no, you must be gentle when you blow your ocarina, too strong air will distort the melody,“ Octavia instructed while guiding the young colt with a baton.

“O-ok, I will start again“ Young Stormy said stopping his song.

“YO TAVI! WHAT YOU DOING?!“ Screamed Vinyl, entering the residence, almost breaking the door.

“Aaarg, Vinyl, I told you not to scream when you get home, I might have some visits,“ Said Octavia, a little annoyed, but strangely used to this already.

“Playing with little colts making them do what you say, sure you are,“ said Vinyl with a joker smile on her face, obviously implying something, looking at Young Stormy with the same smirk.

“I-I ,um w-well,Miss Octavia was helping me to get better on my instrument,“ Young Stormy said, a little shy and with a blush.

“Oh, so you are a teacher now?, nice, hey Tavi I had an idea, perhaps he can help us create a new song? Remember the album we have been making together?“ Vinyl said, taking interest on the musical future of Stormy.

“We will have to wait that, but for now, let’s practice,“ Octavia resumed her lesson with a smile.

“O-ok “ Young Stormy agreed

All the ghost disappeared after that, could a ocarina be combined with a chello and a bass?, as far as Stormy knew, it had to be on a very slow part to actually do it, but if both musical ponies had already made an album that means it is possible, the Princess of the Night noticed that they were some arrows pointing towards the stairs, both ponies followed them.

Once on the second floor of the residence the radio emitted static, indicating monster presence, both ponies couldn’t see where the creature was, until it appeared from one of the doors, it was a Shadow Performer, using a timberwolf costume, it launched towards both ponies, Stormy used a magic shield to prevent the attack, the princess didn’t knew what kind of monster this was, until she noticed some crack on the suit, using Noirstar Sword she attacked those cracks, exposing the shadow weakspot, something Stormy took advantage off, shooting a light based magic bullet on it.

A distorted scream came from the creature as the static was getting softer, the monster refusing to give up attacked again but a quick blast finally made it disappeared in a puff of black smoke, Stormy and Luna checked the rooms starting from the DJ one. Vinyl Room was very messy and they were several things on the bed that suggested something far naughtier happened on those sheets, besides, there was a plushy of Octavia with a panty on it.

“What where those 2 doing here? “ Stormy questioned with a blush

“You don’t want to know,” Luna said also with a blush but with a certain degree of guessing what happened.

On Vinyl room, they only found out her bass cannon, Stormy tried to fire it up, but it was busted, and there was a note attached to it; “if anypony is a mechanic, can you fix this?. I have a concert with Tavi in 5 so I cannot work on this.“

A mechanic?, the only mechanic Stormy knew was his brother, he knew nothing of mechanics, in fact, he don’t recall that Equestria had many machines operating, he remember that he had his bro wrench, so he took it out and opened up the cannon, Luna helped, already guessing what was on her companion mind, as they moved the panel with the cannon a little to take a look at it, they found out that there was a key with Lyra cutie mark, attached to the cables, Stormy could not take it, otherwise he will get shocked, neither he could pulled it up with magic as the key was magic proof, he was going to find a different way, Luna noticed all the circuits inside the cannon itself, looked very advanced for a normal unicorn to make.

“Wait, if that musical pony build this shouldn’t be some rubber hoof gloves somewhere?, I mean, I remember Octavia in the Grand Galloping Gala, and she is a earth pony, wouldn’t she get shocked if she helped Vinyl with this thing?“ Luna suggested as she looked at the machine.

“You are right, those two are polar opposites but still the best friends, let’s check her room,“ Stormy said, exiting the room.

Luna and Stormy exited Vinyl room and entered Octavia room, the room was very organized, but also had a Plushy on the bed, this time it was a Vinyl, however, there was something missing on Octavia room, her trademark chello, it was not on it’s case, it was on the floor, broken, the drawers showed as if they where pulled out by force, and the floor itself was a fence floor, where both ponies could see the kitchen below them, the radio emitted static, alerting them of a enemy, Stormy saw above them, a Ceiling Filly was above them, waiting for a victim to step just below him to attack, Stormy and Luna looked at each other, since Luna can’t fly at the moment, Stormy sit on the floor and Luna stepped on his back, as she charged a magic blast to hit the monster directly, they noticed something, the monster was on what it seems to be a hole on the ceiling, once they got rid of the enemy with a quick blast from the princess, Luna suggested Stormy to lift her again, just as he just did to take out the monster.

“ Ok here we go “ Stormy said as he lifted the princess again

Luna saw on the darkness of the attic, what it seems to be something shinny, Luna used her light magic to notice what it seems to be a pair of scissors, good enough to cut electrical wires, they could use it on the bass cannon, Luna quickly took it and jumped from Stormy back, to the ground.

Back on Octavia room, they noticed on the remaining of the chello, a piece of page, like half of a page, it was a page from the book of harmony, but the part where the song was written is on the other half, the song was called New Chello Bass Nova, it is supposed to give a calming healing effect, and when the music grew louder, an electrical charge will paralyzing the user foes. Luna and Stormy checked already all the upper floors, the remaining floors, were the basement.

As they used the stairs to get to the basement and opened the door, they noticed that it was a giant record studio, ideal for either Vinyl or Octavia, they must had use it to practice, a static sound came in again, a Shadow Performer was inside the chamber, using a death costume, Luna used the same strategy again, but the monster let a powerful scream that made her miss the attack, are the monsters now thinking?,

If they continue to attack as they are doing right now the monsters sooner or later will gain the upper hoof, so they decided to switch battle stances, Stormy this time attacked using the steel pipe, breaking the armor that protected its shadowy body, the princess was the shooter this time, using a light based magic to injure it, the strategy worked as the creature twist in pain, but it was still alive, Stormy and Luna switched again when they saw the creature was now going to focus on the princess, by switching their battle stances they managed to kill the monster. Once things calmed down a little, both ponies checked the “studio“, there was a song recorded on the panel, Stormy played it, and noticed there was a part on the song that could be followed along with his ocarina, Luna noticed that the door where some spare instruments were, was unlocked.

“Why don’t you try to complete the song?, maybe something will happen after all, they were your teachers, were they not?“, The princess suggested, she saw Stormy memory, this one was easy to guess.

Stormy nodded and stepped inside the recording segment, Luna hit the switch and the song started playing, Stormy filled up the gaps with his ocarina but the princess also filled some gasp with a few chorus and singing, seems the song was left there on purpose, for a music student to finish.

Once the song was completed, one of the speakers opened up, there the gloves Stormy was searching for were, they got the gloves and exited the recording room, on the main section of the recording room, leading towards the stairs, there was a note attached to the panel where the record button was, it was a piece of the harmony page they found out earlier, so the song was split in 3 parts, not 2?, this part in specific had the intro of the song.

It was strange how the recording room was neat and tidy, considering they were in “the other world“, Stormy decided to investigate that and returned to the recording room, when he entered again, it was all destroyed, as if a blast was responsible of destroying the equipment, Luna being the princess that travels within dreams was noticing that the more further they get into the houses, the more corrupted they became, if Stormy theory about purgatory is correct then their time is getting cut short.

They returned to Vinyl room and they used the gloves and scissors to take the key out, once they cut out the cables with the scissors, Luna took the key and Stormy fixed the cables, a short circuit made the bass cannon activated by itself, but instead of a loud wub beam, a soft song was played and a piece of page felt from the front, it was the last piece of the New Chello Bass Nova, Luna was the one restoring the page this time, once the page was completed, Stormy decided to give it a try, but he saw the warning, if he perform it, without ear protection, it will leave him permanently deaf, since the song uses a special frequency for a secondary effect on enemies, disrupt their movements. He remembered that Prelude of Friendship was found on Pinkie house, but no other songs were split in 3, almost if the town didn’t want the book to be completed, either way, he stored the book with the song without playing it, following the princess suggestion.

Both ponies now decided to exit the musicians house, and move to the next one, according to the map and the key they had, the next one will be Lyra and Bon Bon house, on the streets, it was noticeable that the monsters where waiting for them, specially the Ceiling Fillies and distorted Glass Mares, the radio burst in static as soon as they got out, they tried to return to the house, in order to find a alternative route, but the door broke.

“Umm, princess” Stormy said stretching one of his legs to a side.

“Yes?” Luna replied noticing Stormy but keeping a fighting stance.

“RUUUUUN!” Stormy yelled as he grabbed the princess and ran.

Luna and Stormy didn’t had other choice but to ran for it, even if they fight them they will lose both time and probably their life since they are outnumbered, a glass mare manage to get a grip on Stormy legs, the princess removed the monster from her companion with her sword, but when she stopped attacking it, a ceiling filly landed on her back ready to stab her.

Stormy managed to use a magical blast to shake the creature off, they ran as soon as they were clear of the creatures, they saw Lyra and Bon Bon house, but Stormy almost felt to a hole in the fence floor, just like back to his apartment on Canterlot, they now have to find a alternative way to the house as the monsters approached quickly to their location.

The darkness of the night made it difficult to see the other houses without the led lantern that Stormy has on his neck, both ponies decided to turn around, using the map as their guide, there is a alley that would take them behind Twilight house, and next to her is Lyra and Bon Bon house, as soon as they followed that route, they stepped into something soft and warm, hesitant to lower their gaze they continued until the soft feeling became a hard one, they encountered some things at made them slow down they journey, some corpses where on the floor, all of them where from monsters faced so far, the same method of death, sword cuts, only one creature appeared in Stormy mind, that could relate those cuts, the Skeletal Mare, she was now in Ponyville too.

“Oh great, just dandy and perfect, now she is in here too?” Stormy said to himself, a little annoyed that the creature began her pursuit again.

They were careful not to step in any more corpses, as the alleyway was covered with at least 4 or 5 of the monsters, seems Skeletal Mare does this as target practice, as crude as that sound, once they passed the alley they found the backdoors of Lyra house, Luna used the key they found and opened the door, as expected, the key disappeared again after use, turning into ash, they entered the residence, finding out that the back entrance was in the kitchen, other than that, the house looked normal, not rusted, as if they were stuck in some sort of Limbo.

The more they advanced in the town, the more twisted and strange the places became, Stormy didn’t knew much the both mares living in this house though, but he did remember that there was one time, that Lyra talked with him about a creatures that had something called hands, instead of hooves, but the most strange thing, was that on he living room, was a little model on the table, resembling the creature Lyra mentioned, its “hands” where missing, and the model had like a hole where the hands could be attached, you could call it a straight forward puzzle however, there was something else on the model a slot for a tiny horn and wings, but the holes there next to the model, not on it.

The house was more small than Octavia’s home, it had just 2 rooms, one bathroom, the living room and the kitchen, the princess decided to check the rooms for both mares and the bathroom, on Lyras room, there where a couple of pants, as she inspected the blue ones she found something hard in one of the pockets, it was one of the miniature hands. Luna then went to the bathroom, on the bathtub there was nothing, but on the toilet however was something shinny, it couldn’t be seen clearly, due to the dirty water, the princess tried to take it out reaching for it with her hooves.

“uuugh!, forget it!, this is way to gross!, I’m not pulling that out, even with magic!”

Luna checked Bon Bon room, but it was locked, Stormy on the other hoof, checked the kitchen, there was a pot and some sort of soup being cooked, being a guard, he knows little about cooking, but could smell something bad coming from it, Stormy lifted the pot lid, noticing that inside the veggie soup, was a plastic hand being cooked, he pulled it out with his magic, and immediately, turn the sink on, against all logic, there was water coming out of it, enough to clean the prop, just as he finished cleaning it, Luna came from upstairs, not before telling him about the toilet shiny thing. Stormy checked that and pulled out the shinny thing on the toilet with his magic, it was a key, most likely for Bon Bon room, they used it there and opened the door, as usual, the key faded to ashes.

Inside the room, there was a bunch of hats, seems like one for each occasion, there was a miniature horn on the bed, Luna took it now having 2 hands and a horn.

On the set of hats there were 5 that didn’t matched at all the designs, while most of the hats where for summer, winter, or even spring, those 5 looked like costume hats, Stormy started to arrange them, making sure that they matched the size on each column, from the more little, to the more bigger, a click was heard on the wall and from the middle hat, a little secret compartment reveled, with a pair of plastic wings, finally, they had all the puzzle pieces.

Both ponies returned to the living room, where the pieces fit perfectly, the middle of the mannequin, opened, revealing a key and a piece of paper inside it, it was another song of the book, this time, it was the Serenate of the Sea Ponies, according to the song description, the Sea Ponies are a different species only found in the oceans of Equestria and the song itself, allowed the user water control until a certain degree, the longer the effect, the more magic it consumed, also, seems it can control other liquids, why Mistshine hints seems to end up with a Harmony Page?, Luna took a look at the key and examined it, this one had a quill on it indicating their next objective, Twilight Library.

Both ponies exited the house, and quickly, without trying to engage in a fight, reached to Twilight Library, the tree was still green in some parts, other however, looked yellow, some books lying on the streets, opened and in a state of decay, due to the ash that had fallen on them, making impossible to read, Stormy opened the door with the key and got inside the Element of Magic home.

“Hello?, Twilight?, Spike!, anypony home?” Stormy yelled, trying to get an answer.

“I don’t think anypony is here Stormy” Luna commented, looking at the state of the house.

Luna was right, Golden Oaks Library looked completely deserted and in decay, Stormy saw a memory flash on his eyes, when he was more older he visited Twilight library often, asking for a specific books, about being a Lunar guard, magical defense, mystery novels, ETC.

As if the memory wasn’t enough both ponies witnessed a young Stormy ghost, trying to perform a shield bubble spell, before Spike got a letter and broke the concentration of the young unicorn, when the memory faded, the library took a twisted and rusted state different from the other houses so far, that kept a clean state, to make matters worse, there were strange symbols everywhere.

“Hold on weren’t this symbols all around the places we visited?” Luna questioned as she took a page with that symbol drawn on it.

“Last time I saw it, there is always a huge monster waiting or a more intelligent creature trying to kill me, so I would say yes,“ Stormy replied to the princess.

She was right, although he didn’t see it at first but, each time that he faces a giant monster like the thing in the Canterlot Archives, the doppelganger, the monster from Manehatten, and the elevator to Ponyville, that circle was there however, the door where Luna was engaged in battle against the Black Alicorn that was a little different variation and had Luna cutie mark, perhaps there is a meaning in this?, the symbol is a circle, with 3 other little circles inside it, on the middle circle however, had some strange letters that neither, Luna or Stormy seems to understand, but made their heads hurt, the library had one huge symbol on the floor, painted in red while all the other ones where black painted. Luna and Stormy searched in all the books available, but most of them had dust, damaged pages or very old paper that the ink had already became illegible, there was one however, explaining the deeps of the subconsciousness traumas.

“Deep on the equestrian psyche, if a pony suffers from a very deep trauma or something that put the well being of a subject in danger, this kind of memories, gets stuck on the person most deep sub conscience, unable to XXXXXXXX unless a very deep psychological research is done, there is even a possibility that the victim don’t even remember it, XXXXXXX is a very useful spell for this purpose, that allowed a user XXXXXXXXXX a pony, but the amount of magic to perform is astronomical, only XXXXXX are able to perform it at a perfect level, if somepony XXXXXXXXXX their usage, could cause XXXX and possibilities of worsen the problem“

There were several blacked out words on the document, but the words that he was able to understand, made him fell uneasy and heavy, both ponies searched the second floor of the library, where Twilight and Spike sleep, the princess of the night tried to use the telescope, to see the stars what she was able to see was a total darkness and the Skeletal Mare flying around the town.

“Even if I could fly I would just get attacked by that thing, I think is better if we stick to the ground” Luna said to herself as she continue to search Twilight home.

Stormy was searching for any kind of clue that could pinpoint to another locked memory or a key to move forward, what he found instead was a single page on Twilight bed, more than obvious to this point, it was another page of the Book of Harmony, this time around it was the Requiem of the Changelings, a song that, according to the page, could make a changeling friendly or save his life by giving him love energy, without the user being subject to the side effect of the changelings love drain, In case of emergency, the song allowed the user to use his own love as a extra magic boost, strengthening his or her spells. A kind song for a species that hurts other by taking their love, even if they didn’t mean it, like Noirstar.

Stormy restored the page to the book while Luna on the other hoof, was the one that found the clue in Spike bed, there was a broken ruby, a fire ruby necklace to be precise, but the gem itself was like a puzzle, seems the gem was broken in a way of a make yourself the design of the gem with the lines.

The princess began to solve it, however, no matter how well she made them fit, there was always a piece missing, the middle one, Luna directed Stormy to find the missing piece on the basement, while she checked on the first and second floor for it, nodding in agreement Stormy moved towards the basement where Twilight had her lab, is the only place he has not checked yet. He remembered that the door itself, had another puzzle to allow entry, it was a picture of Princess Celestia with her and Spike on Canterlot Gardens, nothing out of the ordinary at first glance but the more he looked at the picture, the more he noticed that Celestia´s colors where switched with Twilight’s, that one was easy to fix, since the picture had a little button to change the colors, once the puzzle was made, the door opened, and Stormy walked through it.

When he entered the other side, he found out the same desk, and the same books and symbols as the main entrance because he returned to the entrance of the library, confused, Stormy exited the library using the same door as he had gone in, his result ending outside the treehouse, more importantly, facing a Glass Mare monster.

“Ummm, I don’t suppose that you have any explorer cookies are you?” Stormy said, trying to withhold a nervious smirk

“Grooowl owsl” The glass mare grunted and launched to attack.

“Oh Crap!” he yelled as he closed the door, a loud impact was heard, indicating that the Glass Mare just hit herself with the door.

Whatever happened to the monster after the events of the Hospital, any degree of intelligence and fear she might had are gone, from the door window he was able to see the Glass Mare expressions, there were no longer pony featured, she looked more monster like and grunted each time she saw Stormy, the princess noticed this and tried to help, but when she had gone downstairs, she appeared on the stairs going to the basement… as if the house had switched over itself, mixing up the doors, Stormy came back in, and found out Luna, exiting from the door that he wanted to enter, Luna tried to held the door opened for him, but it closed by itself, and a locking sound came from it.

“I dims waimihg, wa, what just happened?!? “ the princess exclaimed, just as confused as her companion.

“You are asking me?, I’m a retired Lunar Guard, and you are the Princess of the Night, my only conclusion is that this is a maze and we need to find another door. “ Stormy said with a little confusion but trying to withstand the irony of the situation.

“I was thinking the same thing, try the kitchen door, I will try the side room door “ Luna suggested

The team split up again, if the house was changed, then even if they get the remaining piece of the Fire Ruby, they could wander for days if the house changes were constant, Stormy tried the door that Luna suggested, it send him over to the bathroom, when he entered it, and exited again, he ended up in the side room, next to the back exit of the tree house, it was almost as if Twilight Library had became a maze the second he solved the picture.

“Wait, the picture!, that’s it!“ Stormy said as if his mind just made a click.

With an audible zip sound like the ones Pinkie does a lot, he tried to go back to the main floor, where the door and the puzzle resides, but when he used the door that would usually take him to the lobby, it send him over the basement stairs, where he wanted to go on the first place, the door closed and a clicking sound came from it, he tried to force the door open, but it was sealed shut.

“Oh just perfect, perfectly dandy, I will contact Luna to see if she can resolve the puzzle and get me out of here.“

As soon as he pulled out the ocarina and played the Winds of Friendship song, he felt nothing, no connection, as if the basement itself prevented the use of magic, including his levitation and Illuminations spells, with no other choice left, he descended into the darkness, turning his LED lantern on, he remembered Twilight lab downstairs, that she used in very rare occasions it had everything, from stethoscopes, to brain mapping machines and chemicals, although they looked rusted since they where on the “Twisted Ponyville“, at least that is what he decided to call the rusted version of Ponyville, once he reached the bottom, he could see 3 different doors, each with a different symbol, there was a button working, a red button, under a big machine that had a old audio tape, Stormy pressed it, only to hear a voice from the recording, kind of familiar, he noticed it was a mare voice, but he was unsure if it was Twilight voice… or some other mare.

“Welcome, these door where meant to test the psyche of the equestrian pony’s, especially yours, a set of recordings where made to help you out on the next set of doors, it would be a good idea to listen them, keep in mind… “ the voice sounded distorted, as if the tape had damaged, a colt voice was now replacing the mare one “Run brother, You can’t fight them, run!“

Stormy was already getting a bad feeling from all of this but decided to roll over with the recording and tried the middle door that had an apple mark, inside it, he found a room, filled with Apple Trees, a bed and a extra door, Stormy looked at the apple tree, it didn’t looked quite healthy, a single voice said “Harvest the apples“, simple enough.

Stormy bucked the apple tree as hard as he could, he manage to throw a few apples to the floor, but all of them looked really old and rotten, except one, a golden apple, he picked up, and immediately noticed that it was way too heavy for being a normal apple, there was a little basket near the bed, where the apple seems to fit fine, he placed the apple inside, and the extra door unlocked, taking him to a very short room, here there was a rusty key he of course picked.

When he returned to the room with the apples, he noticed that the golden apple has rusted and a crack was heard from it, an insect was exiting from the apple, a cockroach or something similar, with a pony face, and far more bigger than a normal cockroach, almost the same size as a frog, the creature climbed Stormy´s leg and started biting it, like trying to get inside his flesh, Stormy screamed and immediately tried to pull out the creature with his pipe, all that he manage was to hurt his own leg, but it managed to get the insect off, he opened the door and from the apple a huge swam of the same creatures emerged from it, he ran, but instead of going back to the library, he was on want it seems to be a long hallway, what in Equestria happened to the lab?, the more he ran, the more insects where getting closer, until he manage to open the door at the end of said hallway that lead him directly to the lab, as soon as he closed it shut, he felt the insects crawling on the door, trying to pass, Stormy used one of the rusted CPUs to block it.

“Cockroaches, WHY in Celestia’s name had to be cockroaches?!“ Stormy said a little pale

He checked his coat, bandages, saddlebags, for any trace of those little pests, thankfully, there where none but he had the rusted key, it can only be used once, and the left and right door where locked, so he had to chose one, he selected the one on the right and unlock it, it took him to what it seems a pet store, there were actually several stuffed animals, and a few crates labeled “food”, a recording just said “What all animals have in common?“

Should Stormy be surprised by the low difficult of that question? But he felt a little heavy and weak perhaps losing too much blood was affecting him?, he looked at all the animals, all of them are predators, except the stuffed bunnies, bunnies are herbivores, while the falcons and eagles are common predators of bunnies.

He took the stuffed bunny, and placed it on a pedestal in the counter, and a clicking sound came from the cash register, ka ching!, between the bits, there was a green apple, and a rusted key, as soon as he placed the key and apple on his bag, he noticed a few leeches on his hooves, sucking his blood.

“Oh for Cadance Sake!, get off!” he yelled, feeling weaker by the minute.

He removed them with his steel pipe, but as soon as he looked at the fence floor, he noticed several leeches crawling towards him, he ran to the exit, removing there most leeches he could while not getting stuck on the floor, once outside, he removed the remaining leeches still stuck on his body, smashing them with his pipe, but he was already exhausted, the self inflicted wound in his left back hoof and the lost of a good amount of blood thanks to the leeches, was making him already feel dizzy, he recovered a little of his strength sitting on the fence floor and eating a green apple, as he felt the sweet fruit sliding down to his grumbling stomach, he reflected on the 2 chambers he already visited, one had cockroaches, the other one had leeches, what could possibly be hiding inside the third door?, not only that but the setting of the doors themselves were something he should remember.

The apples ones resemble Applejack room, while the Pet Store resemble in some aspects to Fluttershy’s Courtyard where she kept her animals for adoption. So, if the rooms were based on the Elements of Harmony, what could be the third one?. Feeling a little better, he got himself up and used the rusted key on the left door, the key broke but manage to open the door as it was supposed to.

Inside all he could see was a bedroom, the strange thing was that, it was an exact replica of his room in Canterlot, his gaming consoles still the same, his kitchen was clean and tidy, his small fridge where he found the mint cupcake, he even got the stairs leading to the entrance, where the living room was, he tried the door leading to the exit, but it was broken, from the window all he could see was the darkness of the night, why he returned to his room in Canterlot?, a recorded voice was heard, “Examine yourself and face your fears “.

Face his fears?, although the recorded voice was straight forward, he didn’t knew what it mean, so, he search all his room for clues, feeling a little bit exhausted he rested on the bed for a second, drifting into a deep sleep, he felt the soft touch of somepony familiar in his chest, this made him wake up almost immediately and continue his search, seems resting will have to wait.

He noticed something almost immediately the apartment was all neat and tidy, as if his apartment was just recently rented, also, the consoles placed on the TV, was a Super Ponytendo, not his Ponytendo U or his PS3 (PonyStable 3), so it must been his apartment in the past, he opened up the fridge and notice it was empty, even the drawers didn’t had anything, he searched the lobby and found several boxes, he opened one, and noticed there was clothes for both, him and Mistshine.

“This is, my brother workshop jacked” He said with nostalgia on his tone of voice

“Whaaaaaaa” A cry was heard coming from upstairs

Stormy heart skipped a beat when he heard that cry, he quickly ran upstairs and found out his younger ghost again crying without end in the bed, he only had a saddlebag with Mistshine cutie mark and his bro wrench, he took a few steps towards him but a ghost went through him, her pink colors where impossible to be missed, it was Pinkie, by the looks of her, she just had accompanied Stormy somewhere that made him cry, the ghost started talking, Pinkie Pie hair was flat.

“Stormy, please calm down” Pinkie pie said with a visible concern.

“No I can’t, you heard the doctor Pinkie!, my brother will never wake up! “ Younger Stormy said, he was totally heart broken

“Come on, turn that frowny upside downy,“ Pinkie said, trying to get young Stormy better “your little bro wouldn’t like to see you like that when he wakes up.“

“h-how do you know he is going to be ok Pinkie?“ Young Stormy said, trying to hold back his tears but looking at the pink mare

“Because he is in the hooves of the best doctors in Canterlot, sure it will take time, but that will give us enough time to prepare his Happy Surviving Party,“ Pinkie Pie with more happiness than before said to the little colt, her hair puffed again.

“…” Young Stormy didn’t said anything, just jumped and hugged Pinkie

Ever since his sister died, Pinkie Pie has been like a big sister for him, always taking care of him, making him smile, protecting him, almost as if she already knew what is it to lose a loved one, hence the ribbon she had on her mane currently, Stormy hold up the tears the best he could since he remembered what happened after that memory.

They were preparing cupcakes to give to Mistshine and the doctors as a thank you gift for taking care of the little pony, however, on the same hospital, they found somepony suspicious going towards Mistshine room, his tears started to fall from his eyes, more quickly as he submerged himself on the memory, the doctors didn’t see it coming, but Pinkie and Stormy did.

They quickly had gone to Mistshine room, despite the warnings of the nurse that there was somepony already there and they have to wait, when both ponies entered the room, they found out another unicorn, his coat was as black as his heart, his cutie mark, was a $ symbol with a double faced mask, one half of the mask was smiling the other, had a very evil smile, his horn was a little long for his age, and his eyes where natural red, his hooves had special gloves that did not left hoofprints, his large mane and tail were a very wasted yellow with blue combined and always carried a saddlebag, he also had a hood to cover his identity, Pinkie noticed he was pulling out a knife from the saddlebags, a green aura surrounding it, as it was coming towards the sleeping earth pony laying in the bed, Stormy froze in place, Pinkie quickly pulled out her party cannon and fired a cake towards the mysterious pony, taking the knife from his magic grasp and breaking his focus. Stormy screamed enraged, as he saw the pony determined to end Mistshine life while Pinkie loaded another round on her cannon.

“YOU“ Stormy screamed trying to lift the knife with his magic

“Hi, Kid, remember me?“ The mysterious black unicorn spoke directly to Stormy

It didn’t took much to the covered ghost to push Pinkie aside and escape through the window, when the doctors came, all the ghost disappeared and Stormy was back on his room replica, holding the tears, but scared he could just repeat the same words, over and over again while losing strength on his limbs, making him sit on the floor.

“It’s him, it’s him again!“ Stormy said as he tried to calm himself down

His voice shivered as he heard a metallic echo coming from downstairs, closer to him.