Blackhorn Goldenscroll, older son of the Mayor Goldenscroll and brother of Stormy’s marefriend Redhoof, was the one that Young Stormy told the police as the attacker of his little brother, Keeneye had his suspicion but was silent, almost as if he was suspecting him for a while, Silverbadge however, thinking this was a bad joke, hit Stormy with his hoof and placed a pair of hoofcuffs on him along with an inhibitor ring in his horn to prevent him to cast spells, the teacher was frozen from the impression, as Stormy was seeing his younger self ghost being arrested he was not stopping in hugging the doll

“What the?! Get me out of these things!“ Young Stormy was trying to free himself

“You are under arrest for the homicide attempt against your brother Mistshine Brave and trying to frame the mayor son without no solid proof. “ Silverbadge spoke, a nervous sweat was coming down his neck

“Hold the phone officer.“ Keeneye replied stopping his companion. “Now give the phone back to me, I know I have my suspicious on him, but why arresting him now on the spot? The murder weapon as a custom made knife, nothing a small unicorn can create.”

“Can’t you see?, his own brother blood is on his coat, we already run the lab test remember?, he is the killer and is trying to frame the mayor son“ Silverbadge replied, each time the mayor was mentioned, the officer grew more nervous, something both Keeneye and Stormy could easily see.

“Let me go!, I knew he had you bough! Everypony is this stupid town is owned by him!, Get me out of these pieces of scrap before I turn you into one corrupted cop!“ Young Stormy moved more, no longer sad, but furious at the situation.

All the ghost disappeared, Stormy mind was no longer in one piece, he started to think he had finally lost it and continued to cry, hugging the doll, could it be true?, he attacked his own brother?, of course not!, his mind keep telling him that but Blackhorn name keeps ringing in his mind, that colt caused him so many problems, for starters, he was a bully in that same university, just because he had the money and the power to do what he pleased, and since the mayor was too busy with his fortune left by his departed wife, to see what his son or daughter were doing, the unicorn made not only his life, but almost anypony life a living hell, not to mention that since Redhoof was Stormy’s marefriend, the problems were constant as the more older colt not only did not approved the relationship but also tried to suffocate him via magic several times, that is until Redhoof intervened.

After Blackhorn graduated and left the university, Stormy and Redhoof felt they could resume their lives again, Stormy started to study everything related to the royal guard, while Redhoof seems to focus on gymnastics and potion making at the science lab, still his mind didn’t want to remember Blackhorn, since he became what it seems to be a candidate to run the city, in the next elections after their graduation, Stormy got up and cleaned his tears with his hoof.

“I-I can’t sit here crying, L-Luna must be somewhere. Along with my brother, “ Stormy said, finally standing up.

He checked first where the dried up blood of Mistshine was, there was a key there, as Stormy picked up, he noticed that it reads Gym, so this wasn’t the key to the courtyard, it was for the gym where Redhoof and his sister Sunnybreeze practiced a lot.

He checked the room further for any clues that might help, it was the kindergarten section after all, most of the place had dolls, ABC blocks and drawings, he checked the teacher desk, he found a letter, it was addressed to his biological big sister, Stormy read it really quick.

“Mrs. Brave, in writing in behalf of the Manehatten Institute, you see, as you might be aware, your little brother Mistshine Brave seems to have a few social problems, he don’t play or interact with other ponies besides his big brother no matter what we say, I strongly recommend you to try your best from your end, to make this little pony to open himself up a little, as for our end, I request you for permission to place Mistshine under special treatment class, Your sincerely, Scrollheart , Teacher From Manehatten Institute Kindergarten“ that was the letter contents.

“Hold on, special treatment class?, my brother never needed special treatment, before his coma what is going on here?“ Stormy thought for a second, before setting up for the special treatment classroom.

On the hallway, he check the map he had, the Special Treatment class was on the second floor, ironically the floor he started in, but it was not on the same hallway, it was on the opposite one, and it was easy to notice, since it had a different door color than the others, he walked to the opposite hallway of the third floor, and he noticed that the stairs were not blocked, so he descended to the second floor, once there, Stormy tried to open the special treatment classroom, but the door won’t budge, more importantly it didn’t had any doorknob, but it had some sort of riddle written on it.

“For one place to another, it wanders without rest, finding the lost ones, and returning them to where they belong, with blade in hoof it wanders, far and wide, making the loved ones get lost in the darkness,“ That was written on the door itself.

The riddle wasn’t hard, it was referring to Death himself, but there was a place to place something in the door, it had the shape of a scythe, the grim reaper weapon, where in Equestria will he get that weapon?, and most importantly, in a University?. The only monster he knows that carries that weapon is the Skeletal Mare, and taking the scythe along with his sword from her is more easily said than done.

He checked his map for a place where he can at least fabricate one and fortunately for him, there is a Theatre class in the first floor, there must have props for the actors there, on his side of the hallway, there must be a staircase leading towards the first floor, he checked a room in the second floor thought, in hope for more items he could use, but his finding was, that the same plastic mare had jumped on him on the showers, jumped into him again, she still had the crack on her neck and the blade of the knife in her chest, she was more aggressive, trying to beat the living daylights out of her victim with her pipe.

Stormy moved his head and hit the monster again with his horn in a stab matter, this made her mouth bandage to fell off, she initially checked her mouth to check and when the creature realized her mouth bandage was gone, letting out a smirk smile.

“co…ver….your…ears” The creature spoke finally before taking a bunch of air, with an audible monster speech.

“Oh pony feathers,” Stormy said before doing so.

The plastic mare let a powerful scream, big enough to hurt Stormy ears despite covering them with his hooves as the creature warned him, she saw her chance and attacked him again, but this time, she jumped and tried to bite him, without the mouth bandage she can do more damage that way, Stormy dodge her attack, and used his back hoofs to buck her in her sides, the creature let a scream of pain, but as Stormy launched a second buck, the creature felt from the edge to the courtyard on the first floor, Stormy saw, that the creature was trying to get up and without the bandage she talked again, the voice that exited her mouth though that made Stormy freeze.

“H-help……. it hu…rts…… pl…ea..se h…elp” the Plastic Mare let out those words, very weakened, but the voice was normal, a rather delicate voice.

Stormy could not finish the monster from up there but why it is asking for help? Or better yet, why was she talking to him for help?, does she knows what he and Luna have been doing to the monsters? Either way, he cannot go down the first floor and ask her so he checked the room where the creature was, he was able to find a bandages and a red apple there, along with another foal drawing, this time, it was a cyan suit pony, standing in the top of a building, but with 2 dead bodies on the floor, not able to be recognized.

He placed that drawing in his saddlebags, then, he got down to the first floor, from the side he was in, he was able to see the tree, but from the back side, since the door was in the opposite direction, Stormy tried to take down the furniture that was blocking his path, so he can get to the other side quickly, but even his magic blast didn’t destroyed the furniture completely, it only let a hole where he can crawl through, why didn’t he tried to move it before with the furniture blocking the second floor stairs?, his answer came quickly, he was feeling tired, due to the use of his magic blast and illumination spell in dark areas, he was growing weaker with each passing spell, as he looked at the tree again, he found the Plastic Mare still twitching on the floor.

“… I swear to Celestia, if you attack me again after this I will annihilate you understand?” Stormy said as his heart got the best of him and levitated the bandages towards the monster.

“…” the plastic mare did not replied, but nodded.

He used the last of his magic to patch the Plastic Mare up, he removed the knife piece and with the bandages he had, he shaded half of them to patch her up, the monster recovering her energy stepped up quickly and charged towards Stormy, but stopped at the fence, she seems to be smiling and sat down to write something on the floor, probably due to her scream attack, she wrote the following before leaving the area.

“Be careful ahead, master your moondust magic.” Those were the words written on the dirt in the courtyard.

The more time it passed, the more Stormy was convinced the monster was actually Redhoof, or at least a corrupted memory of her, but it was good to see she was still at his side despite the fact that since she is still a monster that had tried to kill him, she still have some control over it. He started to check the remaining rooms, on the theatre class however, things quickly got strange in a matter of speaking.

The Theatre looks abandoned and the backgrounds were damaged, torn apart even, the seats for the class were smashed, as if something heavy had fallen on them, Stormy looked up, and saw the teacher office, from there was something similar to a circuit breaker, no doubt to rise, lower the curtain, etc, also he saw a Timberwolf Costume in a broken window, badly damaged.

On the stage there was a monster costume laying there, curiosity rang to his mind and tried to activate the circuit breaker via magic, but the problem was that the teacher office was too high and the stairs leading there were broken, so his magic was not able to work on such high distances with his current state and he couldn’t climb either.

“Sometimes I wished I took my magic studies seriously, then again, what I lack in magic stamina I can compensate it with something else.” Stormy said, smiling but looking at the far right side of the room.

The door leading to the storage where all the costumes and props are stored, was unlocked, there could be something he can use there to climb to the office broken window, he opened the door slowly, keeping his guard up since he didn’t have the radio with him, he could not see or detect if there was any creatures in the room, Stormy had his horn glowing in case he need to use his magic blast it was obvious he was reaching a limit, the horn flashed in and out a lot of times.

He felt a strong headache when he was near one of the lockers, he was reluctant on opening it but he is out of options and he might need to craft a scythe to open the door to the special treatment class, what felt on him though was a black cloak and a skeleton inside of it, Stormy screamed in fear, thinking it was the Skeletal mare but as he checked the costume, it ended up being a Death costume, with scythe and everything.

“Thanks Celestia nopony was near to see that,” Stormy said with a blush of embarrassment on his face.

Stormy tried to pick up the scythe prop, in order to use it on the special treatment door, but when he touched the weapon, he found the reason of the headache, a shadow monster hoof was holding it, the same one from the Canterlot castle, Stormy quickly reached and jumped far away from the costume, as this prop became the inhabitant of the shadow creature.

The shadow attacked with the scythe, Stormy dodged and attacked with a light magic blast, the cloak was sturdy enough to repel it, as if the shadow power gave magic proof qualities to the costume, Stormy dodged again the attack, the headache grew more strong as another costume came to life, it was a timberwolf costume, that launched on Stormy back and started to bite.

“Get off!, get off get off get off! Not like this!” Stormy grew desperate; he started to buck the air trying to get rid of the creature.

The creature did succeed, the teeth of the costume, seems they were made of iron, as they pierced easily the raincoat, bandage and coat of the stallion, not only the tension of the moment was getting into him, but also the pain and the psychological pressure he was having resulted in his mind completely shattering, and in a cry of pain, his horn released the same magic he used against his doppelganger, the ancient and arcane magic, the moondust magic

The moondust formed a spiked ball around the stallion, which tackled both, the timberwolf and Death costume, a soft crack was heard on both enemies, for once, he was not unconscious, and could use his magic or at least what is left of it converted into moondust magic, we are talking about a magic surge caused by stress, so the chances of losing control are very high, he saw his window of opportunity and ran inside the bubble to make it step away from his enemies and burst it open, launching several moondust blasts, similar to the magic blast but with his moondust arcane magic, to the death costume, it was strong enough to break the costume cloak and bones, to reveal a part of the shadow, Stormy quickly shot a blast on the shadow, giving it a direct hit, the shadow screamed as it disappeared and the death costume dropped to the floor, Stormy attacked the timber wolf costume with another moondust blast, piercing the costume and leaving the shadow exposed, a second blast was enough to make it go away.

“ahhh, my head. It hurts, I, I can’t control it!” Stormy said, afraid as the magic seems to be overflowing.

The stallion could feel the ancient magic in his horn and body, although it was repairing some damage done by the creatures, it was also hurting him in a way, his mind has still not gotten used to the type of ancient magic required to control it, his head felt like it was about to crack open, the wounds were not healing but at least the bleeding stopped, he yelled as was about to lose consciousness.

“N-no!, I have to control this!, I can control it!, my brother, he depends on it!” he yelled, standing his ground but with having problems raising his head.

Before he lose his mind he decided to vent the excess of magic, but how?, if he makes a magic blast attack again he could make the university blow with the accumulated magic, he started to calm down, and think positive, as he concentrated, Redhoof memory came to his aid in his mind, the warm smile the mare gave him was enough to calm him, quickly as it came another memory filled him with happiness, his first kiss with her, slightly blushed he smiled again, laughing, not laughing mad as in finally going down to crazy town, but finally able to relax a little, the moondust magic started to fade in, at least enough for him to control, until a quick explosion finally burned out the excess of magic, his horn remained lit, as if it was a lamp, tiny traces of stars seems to indicate the horn was surrounded by this arcane magic.

“Will I ever do a thing without you saving my plot Redhoof?” he smiled, stepping up and finally, gaining control of the moondust.

Stormy tried to pick the death costume scythe, but the attack from before broke it, he searched quickly all the other lockers and the props were damaged due to the magic surge he had, strange this new type of monster was more stronger that the Armored Shadow, and yet, it was almost the same pattern, Stormy decided to call this new creature of nightmares “Shadow Performers“, due to the object they seem to possess the most are costumes.

The stallion returned to the stage, where the teacher office was still unreachable, however he thought of something, if the moondust could form spiked balls around him, created powerful blast, and shape into thousand needles when he burst it, why can’t he use it to burn some excess moondust and reach the office? Sure he just experienced a magic surge, but that doesn’t mean the excess magic is not there, he remembered the Pegasus wings and as he was thinking, his brother memory came in, he recalled his brother showing him plans for an artificial wing he was making, that would actually help disabled pegasi.

Stormy felt he could now jump and walk normally, it seems his body was now withstanding the effects of the new magic he was producing, he concentrated his moondust magic on his sides having a great idea, why don’t create artificial wings made out of moondust, like in his brother blueprints?.

The dust started to form what it looked like wings, the same thing he had in mind, at first they seems to be cloudy wings but finally, they started to took shape, even matching his coat colors and making him rise to the teacher office, the wings themselves, looked and feel so real despite shinning like shiny sand, he touched them with one hoof, and he could feel in his mind the feathers slowly catching the wind, how the wing bones and muscles were withstanding his weight, like if he was a pegasus all along.

“How can this magic be at my disposal, and yet, I couldn’t control it by normal means? This magic just keep happening, if Luna was here she could explain to me this,” Stormy said with a little bit on confusion.

The Princess could have told him what to do, since she knows more about arcane and ancient magic, but he will have to wait until she is back at his side. Once he got high enough he used the already broken window to get in, making the timber wolf costume to felt on the ground.

The wings disappeared as they came, a beautiful but tiny “explosion “, but as harmless as a rose petal, in a matter of speaking, Stormy headache for using the moondust was rising slowly, just as he feared, he still had a magic excess lingering in his head. He checked the teacher room, in one of the drawers he found a foal drawing, again, this time, it was him, he was able to recognize himself, but he was drawn twice, one had the wings and horn, and little dust around him, and the other was himself on the floor, the dust was still around his body, but he could clearly see the red pencil, simulating blood on his sides, could this be a warning?, that the moondust is very dangerous, yet, very useful magic?, or that the effects are so real that if you pull the wing clean off it will hurt badly?

He stored the drawing on his saddlebags and continued searching, he felt with his hooves a blade on the floor, it wasn’t sharp indicating that it was a prop, but it was a scythe blade, at least a piece to craft the scythe for the door. He stored it on his saddlebags and checked the circuit board, there was a switch to rise the curtains, he pulled it and the curtains rose, revealing what it looks like, a background house?, but something was off, the house looked real, even the door had a hole to place something, like a blade, looking at the blade he just picked it seems it would fit on the door.

“Huh, strange, I think this blade could fit in this door, but it has a similar design to the special treatment class,” Stormy said but felt something cold at the base of his spine.

Stormy looked up and his face was greeted with a drop of water, more specifically, rain, Stormy decided not to question it anymore and searched for something to drop himself by, finding a rope he descended until he reached the house on the stage and placed the scythe blade on the door, opening it.

It was dark and inside the house a distinct smell of decay was in order, when he used the illumination spell, he jumped off in fear, inside the house, there was nothing but bodies, bodies of ponies, hanging out in the ceiling, in the case of the pegasus, their wings were torn apart from their bodies, the unicorns had their horns cut off, and the earth ponies were cut in half, it was a slaughterhouse! he tried to run, but felt something holding him, as he turned around to look, he saw the corpses holding him, he started to scream as they were dragging him back to a big pile of dead bodies, he launched a magic attack to the creatures, but it passed right through them, as he was being overwhelmed by the creatures while the headache did not diminish, he finally reached his magic limit and the moondust magic disappeared as dust carried by the wind, he felt all the limbs in his body, not responding, all he could do was scream, feeling he was about to faint while the creatures were having a feast with him, reaping his flesh off, their teeth’s pierced his flesh and organs, he felt he was dying, he didn't noticed how everything started to change and that the siren was ringing before blacking out.

“Ahhh, where, where am i?, why I can’t move?” Stormy said waking up from his previous encounter.

“GROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW” an extremely high pitched yell came in.

Stormy ears were hurt, but also cleared the way for him to see clearly the place he was suffered a change, the handle of a scythe was left on the floor, and the “house“ was just a cardboard background, Stormy looked behind to see he was being grabbed by a lot of mannequins, when he looked at front, he saw the Plastic Mare, she had used her loud voice to free him since his magic was already in dangerously low levels, after the moondust magic usage, he took from his saddlebags the red apple and ate it, when he looked back up the Plastic Mare was no longer there.

Feeling a little better, he got himself out, he noticed the scythe parts combined them, the result, a golden scythe, although it was not a weapon per say, it could injure somepony very badly, now with the tool he needed, he decided to go to the special treatment room, but once he exited the Theatre though, things quickly let him know, that he will be getting into problems fast if he don’t recover his items, the whole university looked rusted and had the floor made out of what it seems to be coat, he didn’t want to think that it was actual somepony coat, the tree in the middle of the courtyard still had the bag with his items, still green and full of life thankfully.

He quickly got to the special treatment classroom, once there, he placed the golden scythe on the door, a little click was heard and the door opened without any problems, but it was so dark that he couldn’t see, he had enough magic for his light spell and used it in order to make sure could see, on the floor what he ended up finding was his brother wrench, now with a weapon on his back he could notice that the room itself was empty, said floor was very soft, like those used for mental patients on mental hospitals, how is it that his brother ended up here?, the walls had a brownish color in them, and the desk for the students were broken, only Mistshine desk was untouched, he checked it and found something he wasn’t expecting, it was a police report, and a key attached to it, it reads

“Manehatten Police Department

Case File: 9723X
Officer in Charge: Officer Keeneye
Victim: Mistshine Brave
Suspect: Stormy Brave (Primary Suspect)

Blackhorn Goldenscroll (Possible Main Suspect)

Observations: a little colt was injured in Manehatten University, his name was Mistshine Brave, there are few clues that keep taking me to a single conclusion, his attacker was his own brother, Stormy Brave, somehow, I find that really hard to believe, my captain, Silverbadge, every time I ask him, he always yell angry, and I can see he is sweating, maybe Stormy is right about his testimony?, I remember he said that the mayor Goldenscroll has all the city bought, which can explain why we have so many criminals these days, as my investigation goes, one thing I know for certain, Stormy Brave is ---------- , I must find the truth, even if it kills me.“

Stormy was frozen in place, did he really do it?, attacking his brother?, he keep telling to himself. NO, I didn’t do it!, as if something really terrible happened on the university and he didn’t want to remember it, he read the last part of the report, there was something added with pencil at the end, seems like a note, it was not Keeneye writing

“The sentence for his crime, is death, and I will be the executioner“ that was the sentence

“This, this has to be a bad joke!, please!, this can’t be true!, is all made by a nightmare!, please!, stop!, I want to wake up!!!, I want to wake up!“ Stormy screamed at top of his lungs “Princess Luna wake me up!, wake me up!!”

He couldn’t take it anymore, he started to cry, beating himself up on the walls, trying to wake up, but even if the pain from this actions were telling him, that this was real, his mind was no longer reacting, until he felt something on his back holding him and throwing him on the floor, what his eyes saw, was the actual monster he had been fighting since he woke up, the Plastic Mare, despite being healed by him, she attacked again, however her attacks were more slow and non-lethal, Stormy tried to prevent her to bite him, but she kept pushing herself down using her body to all her favor, until Stormy used the last of his magic for a magic blast, the creature dodged using a gymnastic jump backwards, from the creature pocket, a little object felt on the ground, one that Stormy noticed, the creature on the other hoof no longer moved, just watched her target.

“cal-m yo-urself w-w-ill ya?” the Plastic Mare said, her monster voice was obvious.

Stormy was shocked, but also little confused by this, picked up the object, it was a key with a lipstick handle, the same one as the lipstick note. Stormy looked at the monster, but it was already walking outside the room, Stormy followed and the creature was no longer there, as if she has disappeared, Stormy noticed that the hallway was reshaped to go directly to the courtyard, if he tried to go to the other sides, there was a bottomless pit waiting for him, with no other choice, he followed the path to the courtyard.

Once down there, he still noticed the lock from before was intact, he used the key he got from the Plastic Mare, and the lock and gate opened, he entered the courtyard and again just like in the Theater, rain started falling, as Stormy reflected about the state on the school, he noticed that without his light spell, he couldn’t be able to see a thing, also, the rust and metal structures were more notorious, but seems to have a coat hanging from some of the places, but the only thing normal, was the tree.

“How I hate that siren, is annoying at this point already” Stormy said, looking at the state of the university.

Stormy started to buck the tree and it didn’t took long for the bag with all his items to fell to the floor, he placed them all on his saddlebags finally, he had everything back, he immediately took the Book of Harmony out, and restored the page he found, including the notes, the police report and drawings found so far. Stormy took a quick look to the tree, he found a little lipstick mark, and an arrow pointing towards the gym, he remember he still have the gym key, and he ran towards that place, he noticed that Redhoof ghost was entering the building, as Stormy speeded up to catch her, he noticed a little heart on the door with offensive language, it was not easy to deduce this was written by the same unknown pony that wrote that in the last sentence of the police report, since their writings were the same

“The Bitch and the Coward, together until a poison drove them apart” the writing said.

“Ok, case in point, do not drink anything, is this somepony idea of a cruel joke? “ Stormy said, as he opened the door with the gym key.

Stormy entered the gym and just like the rest of the place everything was metallic inside, but there were several lanterns giving up light, he noticed the Plastic mare, just staying there, in the middle of the room, the static from his radio started to work, but it was very low, even if he was right next to the creature, Stormy, taking his steel pipe ready got more closer to the creature, but the monster didn’t move, instead, she sat on the floor, almost as if she was waiting for him to kill her.

Once he was close to her, he notices that all her previous wounds were not visible anymore, seems her wounds closed well, she didn’t had her rusty pipe, the only thing that didn’t change, was that her bandage on her eyes and that her clothes are torn, but her bracelet is no longer on her right hoof, her coat was still plastic and her mouth bandage was gone, allowing the monster to make a soft noise, similar to crying, the creature lift her face, as if she wanted to say something, Stormy raised his pipe to attack her out of muscle memory but the mare didn’t move, he saw this and he didn’t hit her with the pipe, he put it away

“What on Equestria am I doing?, I’m supposed to attack this creature! “ Stormy said to himself, but as he lifts his face to see his opponent, he felt something warm.

The mare was hugging him, much to the stallion surprise, other monsters at this point would already try to kill him but his mind quickly shifted to the Glass Mare and how scared she felt during her last moments, he felt something else on his body wet tears, falling from the not covered parts of the creature eyes, towards the stallion shoulders, as Stormy broke the warm hug the creature gave to him, the Plastic Mare let a few words, it was noticeable that since she is a monster, talking is not her strong point, however, Stormy finally could distinguish her voice.

“Re-member…me n-ow d-darl-ing r…ight? “ the creature said smiling but with her distinguished monster voice.

“Hold on the phone a sec” Stormy recognized that voice, coming from the creature lips “I knew it, Redhoof!”

He was right all along!, that creature was his friend Redhoof, the mayor daughter and his marefriend, but there was still a question in his mind running around 100 miles per hour, trying to figure all out, but he asked it anyway.

“How?, how are you like this?, what happened to you?” Stormy asked his marefriend monster.

“Dar-lin..g, I th-ink y-ou already… kn…ow...d..on..t te..ll...me...yo...u for...g...ot” Plastic Mare said, trying to articulate well.

As Stormy broke let the mare go the floor under his hoof, disappeared from all of the sudden, Stormy´s horn ended up, tearing up the Plastic Mare eye bandage, Stormy, with the bandage on his horn, tried his best to remain on the gym, he wanted answers!, he grabbed the corner of the floor, but he was losing the grip, he took another look to the Plastic Mare, he noticed her eyes.

There was no doubt, they were Redhoof eyes, those kind cyan eyes were looking at him, with a saddened look, Stormy lost his focus and felt on the pit, not before the creature jumped as well and grabbed his hooves, using her tail to grab on the edge of the fence floor.

“Gah!, I still don’t get what is happening around here!” Stormy said to the creature that represents his marefriend.

“I…can’t….h-h-hold..on” Plastic Mare tried to say something, but was losing grip.

“Please, tell me what is this place?!” Stormy finally lost it and asked somepony he knew he could always trust.

“lo-ve…my…d-e…ar lov…e, you have…to go…to Pony….ville” Plastic Mare said as a loud sound from the fence floor indicated something bad.

Both ponies felt into the pit of darkness, as Stormy he screamed Redhoof name one last time, everything turned into darkness, the creature just limited herself to hug tightly as she felt, trying to see Stormy into her eyes, he looked at her and notice something he did not notice before, her mane was covering her left eye, when the speed of their descent increased, her mane uncovered her eye, revealing an empty eyehole, just with a tiny dot of cyan in it, in the edges there were several cracks with black blood in them, but her expression was a scared one, Stormy hugged her but passed out as he felt deeper into the void.

It must have been a while since this event, as Stomy slowly woke up on what it seems to be a bed, the room was filled with The Amazing Spidercolt posters and a telescope for so he could see the stars and moon at night, his eyes were getting used to the dim light coming from a lantern on the desk, but his mind was still broken.

The monster he and Luna fought was his friend, Redhoof Goldenscroll, he remembered that now in vivid detail, after his brother incident, she was the one that give him courage to even prove his innocence, after his big sister Sunnybreeze died on the Manehattan beach, her memories came in so vividly, when everypony doubted him, she never did, she never left his side, her warm smile and her kind embrace, even with the Deep Ambition Bracelet on, felt like the softest silk ever made.

Redhoof was in total control of the bracelet effects with Stormy around her, even if her teasing went a little bit overboard a lot of times, like one time he slept at her home she put her plot on his face while sleeping to wake him up and “play”, or when she, during school in chemistry class, that she blew up the lab and tried to pin the blame on the chemical components, or when she made a strip dance for Stormy’s eyes only on his bedroom, but one of the more important ones, how he train her to fight back against bullies, she even developed a special fighting technique that used her already beautiful body put colts out of focus, which proved to be useful when encountering the same bullies from the university memory.

The more memories from his time with her came to his mind the more he felt a pressure on his heart, why he was feeling so bad?, he should be feeling happy, he is remembering her, is he still forgetting something?, he got himself standing again, and jumped from the bed, he took a quick look around, and levitated a Spidercolt action figure. It was dusty and old, the toys closet had no additional clothes other that a little black jacket. Also the bookshelf was missing some books on purpose.

“Wait, this jacket was mine, I used it all the time when I was a little colt and with Redhoof, this is my bedroom!” Stormy said, realizing finally where he was.

His room, his home when his family was together, he remembered it so vividly, with tears in his eyes, he touched the Spidercolt poster he had on the wall, it was one of his favorite comic heroes his brother liked more Storm Mare though, just as he was leaving, he saw something on the bed he woke up, He took it, it was the key to his house, but he gave that key to the princess!, could have something happened to her?, Stormy concern grew and stored the key on his saddlebags, he heard a voice behind him urging him to turn around, he did, waiting to find a monster, or if possible, the Plastic Mare that felt with him, but what he saw was himself, as a young colt, with his little bro, playing with his toys, but he also noticed that there was a box on the closet, when the ghost were gone, the box disappeared, what could be on that box?.

He exited his bedroom and noticed his house looked very old and musty, typical signs of non-usage, but the carpet on the floor, indicating the way to the stairs, was also dirty, he tried to go to his little brother room, the door was unlocked, once inside, he noticed that his brother room was filled with all kinds of mechanical parts, cables, screws and circuit boards, heck, even his bed had a led lantern, his brother, despise of being very young, he was a genius in mechanics, he remembered that his bro used to study pony anatomy, and keeps telling things like “ When I grow up!, I want to help ponies with my inventions!, I know I can do it! “

“Jejeje, yeah, you can do it brother, I have faith in you “ Stormy said to the empty room before realizing something

Those words said my Mistshine, they came from a memory Stormy picked up the LED Lantern, it had more power that the normal lantern, and could save Stormy from using his illumination spell so often, besides, it provided more light than a normal lantern itself looks it could be placed around the user neck, like a necklace, and had a little switch to turn it on or off, Stormy quickly place it on his neck and turn it on, it was working well, no doubt his little bro crafted it very well, he also noticed that his bro had a wing prototype and an animal translator blueprints, but the blueprints itself, had both, his cutie mark, and what it seems like, Fluttershy cutie mark, Stormy looked at the plans in more detail, noticing how the little device would made possible understanding all animals languages, but it was strange, Mistshine didn’t know about Fluttershy, until Stormy told him about the little yellow pegasus himself when he made a trip to Ponyville for the first time, before his coma that is.

“Heh, typical coming from my little brother, you always wanted to meet her right? Then that damn coma came in when we were ready to move to Ponyville“ Stormy smiled but also looking a little sad.

He exited his brother room, he wanted to check his big sis room, but the door was locked, strange, he went to his parents room, his mom was Goldenscroll secretary in the Town Hall, dad was a police colt, but he retired after his wife gave birth to Stormy and Mistshine. He notice that their room was neat and clean, not matching the rest of the house, he did noticed several newspaper clips on the bed, he read one that says “ Night of terror!, a mask menace is free on the streets, mayor concerned “ the figure appears to be a young colt with a cyan suit.

“Hold on cyan suit? Several Ceiling Fillies use that cyan suit as clothes when I face them, could they be related to this?.” Stormy said as he stored that specific newspaper in his saddlebags

Seeing that image send shivers down his spine but once the radio started to emit static, Stormy look up to the ceiling, there was a Ceiling Filly, but this creature was wearing the cyan suit, it jumped to attack Stormy, he saw the incoming attack and dodge it, the creature tried to use its knifes to stab him on the chest, Stormy took out his pipe and attack the creature in a spin attack, his pipe manage to inflict heavy damage to the monster neck and torso, didn’t took much time to kill it, Stormy felt uneasy having to kill another creature, but compared to Glass Mare and Plastic Mare, these ones did not seems to wanting to stop and chat, it was them or him. Once the radio stop emitting static, he exited his parent’s room and checked the rest of the house, he was finding several notes along the way, attached to the walls, he found 2 notes on the hallways, they said:

“I can’t keep quiet anymore, I have to talk to somepony before I go mad!, tonight I will see him one more time… my last time… I discovered what happened with _________ and him…. All the pain he caused him…. And I was so blind to notice the truth… I can even look at him like I used to, I don’t deserve his kindness or love, I wish I could have done something…. ____________ please….. Forgive me…… my love “

The second note said:

“ I visited Ponyville today, I saw 5 little fillies there, almost the same age than me, the first one was _________, she started building a cottage to live with animals, strangely enough, she is a pegasus, I never knew pegasus lived on the ground, I went to talk to her but she jumped and hid behind a tree, very shy perhaps?, there was a little white bunny with her, that kept making me faces, maybe he don’t like strangers others that the _______ Pegasus?, anyway, I offered my help, her cottage was finished by nightfall, she offered me to stay, but I already had a place…. ____________ I know, not the best option, but I will be close to my first friend in Ponyville “

He stored the notes on his saddlebags, the notes themselves are a little strange, but he do remember seeing Ponyville once, and on that visit, he meet new friends, he checked the living room, the kitchen and even the backyard, but there was nothing out of the ordinary, just a couple of bandages and what it seems to be another note, this one, was in the fridge, he just read it in silence:

“I meet another pony on Ponyville today, her name _______________ and smells like ________ and anything related to sweets, she was so happy, bouncing all over the place, I think I remember her, in one of my brother birthdays, we purchased a cake from ______Corner, and this pony came to deliver it, not before turning our house, upside down, with all the decorations, streamers and games, I was really happy with her, and she instantaneously recognized me, I told her everything, and her hair seems that it “ ____” for a moment, she let me know she will visit me everytime she can, but when I told her where do I live, she insisted on me to move to her room in _____Cube____, how could I say no?”

Again, another note narrated in first person, and with names missing, why there are those names missing?, the note had a second page, it was a song, from the paper used and the ink it had, it was one from the Harmony book, Stormy read it, the new song was called, Prelude of Friendship, a song that allows the user to find friends or things related to them, even if possible, teleporting near them, also they give them a stamina boost, seems that it only works on friends really close to the user, Stormy restored the new acquired page back to the book, just 7 pages more, why did he feel that the book needs to be complete?, and also, what’s with the notes?, is he forgetting something crucial?, he had nothing else to do in his home, Luna was not there, so he went to his house front door and used the key he gave to Luna, the door opened, and the key disappeared.

He exited his house, the road itself was leading to a single way, a single building he was able to identify even in the dense fog, It was the Manehatten Town Hall, the road was metallic, and the air was heavy, like if something is telling Stormy to be prepared to what he will see, Stormy started to walk, by some reason he didn’t feel like running, along the way, he noticed again, notes on the walls and light poles, one note was a newspaper clip, it reads:

“Manehatten tragedy, tonight, the ________ was found dead on the mayor office, along her side there was seen an _______ in a ____ suit, according to police chief Silverbadge, the attacker was ________ the so called hero of Manehatten, near the body of the mare, there was another one, that died from suffocation, it was the mayor Goldenscroll, apparently, he first was stabbed on his chest multiple times, then suffocated with his tie, there was also next to him ________ and_____, currently Manehatten police Department are searching for the killer, the victim was _________ and died from multiple stabs on her chest, also, she had a bandage on her mouth, preventing her from screaming, in the meantime, Manehatten elections were moved to a more sooner date, the next mayor will be chosen in 3 days “

Somehow, he was felt like if he knew what was missing and couldn’t help but to tear up a bit, there was one last note, on the Town Hall Doors, it reads

“ Face the truth and come to me “

Stormy entered the town hall, the building itself was empty, no static sound or monsters near, there was a stairs leading to the mayor office, but the secretary desk was right next to him, he came closer to the desk and notice a very old picture, he recognized his brother and sister also, there was an Earth Pony and a Unicorn, the unicorn was his father, the earth pony his mom.

“Mom, Dad “ Stormy was already tearing up, as he remembered what happened to her mom.

The ghosts were quickly to appeared on his mother desk recalling his memory, Stormy was able to see her, working the best she can to make sure all was neat and tidy, he noticed his mom was pregnant, probably Mistshine was still in her womb, since he is the youngest, the Mayor Goldenscroll came, or at least his ghost, seeing him, made Stormy eyes fill with anger, pressing his teeth hard.

“Miss Brave, you can stop now,” Goldenscroll asked

“y-yes Mr Mayor. “ Stormy mom stopped writing reports.

“Miss Brave, due to personal reasons, I must end our professional relationship, you are no longer my secretary.“ Goldenscroll let the Mare know the situation.

“W-what?!, but M-mister Goldenscroll!, you cannot fire me!, you know that I have 3 kids now!, and my husband work will not cover all 5 of us!“ The mare panicked, already concerned aboutt he future.

“Do I look like I care?“ Goldenscroll replied with an angry voice “you should have thought that before getting yourself pregnant again, you mule, I bet all you are after, the money that covers your pregnancy! “ Goldenscroll yelled more as he hit the mare on the Face

“aah!, Mr Mayor, why, at least give me a reason “ The Mare replied, fear and sadness came from her voice

“Simple, I will not provide you with more money due to pregnancy, if you can’t pay, simple, eliminate that foal “ Goldenscroll said as he called the guards “ Guards, take her out “

“Celestia will hear of this you hear me!?” Stormy’s mom yelled as the guards came.

Stormy, filled with rage, started to shoot magic bullets at them, quickly, the wrath turned into sadness, as he noticed that the attacks didn’t do a thing to the ghost, he tried to hit Goldenscroll, but his hooves passed right through him, the Mare screamed, as the guards were taking her, not considering her pregnancy.

When all the ghost disappeared, Stormy cried, cursing himself for not being able to stop it, is a miracle that his bro did came to this world, but to a price, his mom life, he remembered that his father was never at home due to work, and that his big sister was taking care of both of them, since their mother died in child birth, she ultimately chose his brother life over hers, Stormy lift his face to look at the mayor office and grabbed his pipe, he was getting his answers now!, he rushed to the mayor office and busted the door opened just to find something horrible.

The office itself was covered in very old coated blood and ashes, the bookshelf was also burned, as if a big fire had happened there, there was something in the room however, there was a corpse of a pony monster, beyond recognition on the desk of the mayor, and on the mayor chair, there was another corpse, burned to death Stormy was feeling bad already, there was something on one of the corpses tails, it looked like a ribbon, pink one at that.

“ No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,NO!! REDHOOF! “ Stormy yelled and cried, knowing who pony belongs that burned corpse.

The corpse corresponded to Redhoof, her skin that was previously soft, even on monster form was completely burned and breaking apart, her once beautiful mane was seriously damaged and her cutie mark was cut down, he hugged her close, feeling the pain he has withstand for a while, remembering he turned around, only to see what it looked like, another set of ghosts, But these one, felt more real, since the one that was in front of him was Goldenscroll.

“Wha- What did you do?!, security!, where are my guards!?“ Goldenscroll was really angry, due to her daughter condition.

“Nopony will come, “ Stormy ghost said. Looking at him angry. “ because you will share her fate you worthless piece of trash.“

He could not believe he was telling those words, but as soon as he moved towards him, he saw something else moving towards the mayor, it was himself, he recognized himself by the tail and mane but was wearing a Cyan Suit, with a Light Blue Crescent Moon Cutie Mark, the mayor, suffering from multiple stabs by a military knife, yelled once more for help but nopony came, the mayor only had time to let out a curse.

“Curse…..you….. Moonlight Strike….. I will…. Make sure my son… throws…. You in jail… “ Goldenscroll was letting out his final words.

“heh…” Moonlight Strike just laugh and took out his mask, Stormy was behind Moonlight, so he couldn’t see his face “you think?“

“ n-no…. w-wha…. Why… why did you do this? “ Whatever Goldenscroll saw. Made him felt a bigger sadness and lose grip of little life he might had

“ to ensure nopony will oppose me “ Moonlight said, putting the mask back on

“H-hey, I’m… not dead yet” a mare voice came from where Stormy was hugging the corpse.

Moonlight, Stormy remembered that he used that name after his mother death swearing under her grave, that he will always do the right thing even if the mayor won’t agree with him. One of the ghost rose from were Stormy was, it was Redhoof herself, who, despite being too injured to fight back, pulled from her hair a hoofgun, one that Stormy recognized as he crafted it for her, the same Moonlight Strike he made as an alternative persona was now hurting his marefriend, but had problems catching her up, her constant dodges and firing of the gun filled the room, the gunpowder was increasing the flames, until Moonlight used an ignite spell on the gunpowder itself, making Redhoof drop her weapon, this was enough for the stallion to finally stab her and leave her body in the same place were Stormy found the corpse.

“Hmph, all that really matters in this world is strength and power, and I will achieve both soon enough, now just one question remains. How will I dispose of you? Little foal “ Moonlight said, looking directly at Stormy’s position.

All the other ghost except Moonlight disappeared, even the corpse the stallion had on his hooves, his alter ego was going to attack him, Stormy by instinct blocked the attack with his pipe the sparks of the weapons clash made it clear this was real, not a simple memory, he was fighting himself now, not the same like in the castle were he fought a dark doppelganger of him, but an actual living pony, how can this be possible?, if this is true then? Does that means his hooves were stained with the blood of an innocent that loved him, and he betrayed her?, Stormy mind was made a puzzle, trying to find an answer, meanwhile, his opponent continue to attack him, seeking one goal, to end his life.

And judging by Stormy’s state of mind, this manifestation would have little problem actually achieving it.