As stated before, an investigation regarding Pennywise The Dancin' Clown transpired. A detective by the name of Noir Shade was called upon to question witnesses and anypony from the carnival. Happy Days told his side of the story, and so the detective added it to his notes. From the notes he received, and the examination of the corpse, he has determined that Pennywise is not a clown. That may be some sort of form it uses for familiarity. Either it's a changeling, or is just able to change its form, like a changeling.

-----

Elsewhere, a Manticore was wandering the woods. It was a weary manticore, not having much to do with any other forest dwellers. It found a tree stump, and sat there to have a rest. Sniffing the air for prey, it smelled something... this was a new scent, however...

Out of apparently nowhere, a balloon appeared in front of it's face. It growled, and popped it with a nail. It popped, inexplicably covering its' face and the area surrounding the balloon with blood...

It roared at the air, challenging what unfamiliar creature appeared to annoy it.

A Timber-Wolf appeared in front of it, its mouth curled in a threatening grin, like a hyena. It was smaller that the Manticore, it should prove no problem.

The Manticore stared in horror as the Timber-Wolfs' size grew, until the form resembled a creature definitely never seen before... the Manticore could not describe it if it could speak... the Manticore looked into the creature's glowing eyes, and died of shock. Feeding time.

-----

The Mane 6 were walking along Ponyville to the office of Noir Shade. It wasn't really his office, it was a small room they had availible in the Townhall he was offered. It was about a month after the incident, and after that time, a lot of younger residents found that some sort of hallucinatory clown fitting Pennywise's description was appearing before them, and would taunt them, sometimes with a monster attacking them at the end. This has happened with all the Mane 6, and they were going to Noir Shade's office for that reason.

*Knock Knock*

Noir looked up from his work, at the door.

"Come in," He said, pleasantly.

6 ponies, lavender, pink, alabaster, orange, cyan and butter-yellow colours, entered the room. He recognized them as the Elements of Harmony.

"Oh, good evening. What can I do for you?" He asked.

"We'd like to report some... strange happenings to us throughout the month." The lavender mare, Twilight Sparkle, said.

"I've been hearing a lot about these, and only a few of them told me of it. Nevertheless, any information you have might be helpful."

"Okay..." Twilight began her story.

-----Point of View: Twilight Sparkle-----

Okay, umm, I'd gotten back from shopping one day, and I arrived at my treehouse. Spike told me that somepony came looking for a book. I went to check if the books were put in their proper place, because, well, I prefer them to be organized that way. And I found a book I hadn't noticed before. There wasn't a cover on it. I decided to open the book, and I found there were a lot of pictures, some of them illustrations drawn on the book, and others were messily taped on the page. Some of them were of various balloons, a few of those balloons had faces written on them, and sometimes even messages, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. All of the pictures were in black-and-white.

I decided to look a bit further in the book, and I found pictures of that Pennywise clown you mentioned, at a lot of circuses, apparently performing. I'd taken a moment to ponder the possibilities that he was a performer before, and so I had taken my eyes off the book. When I looked back, most of the pictures had changed entirely. They were still Pennywise, except, what they were doing in the picture, had changed entirely... now, it seemed as if they were pointing at the other pictures of themselves... the one in the far right looked as if he was motioning for me to turn the page... I took a closer look at that picture, and for a moment, I thought he winked at me.

Rubbing my eyes, I thought my uneasiness was playing tricks on me. I turned the page, and it was one big illustration. A balloon, in an overhead view of the crowd... then the picture started moving... the crowd was walking in the book, as if it was real life. The balloon started hovering closer to where the camera would have been... I stepped back, not liking this apparent magic... there would have been a scientific explanation if magic wasn't involved... then the balloon... it floated out of the book... and randomly popped... there was... blood all over me, and the book was empty... save for the fact it seemed to not just have blood all over it, but it seemed to be bleeding... I could swear I could hear laughter from elsewhere... I just looked at myself in horror.

"Twilight, everything okay?" Spike called from downstairs.

I didn't want to tell him that a... thing like that had basically taunted me... he's still young, I didn't want to scare him.

"I'm fine, Spike!" I called back. I immediately levitated a cloth to my face, and wiped the blood off of it. I thought about the situation for a moment... I felt I should keep the book in the basement for a while.

-----

"I decided I should bring the book in today, though." Twilight said, reaching into her saddlebag, and levitated a brown book towards Noir. He checked the page Twilight left off of. There was so much of the blood dried out that it seemed like a pattern on the book. He put a hoof to his mouth for a moment, feeling like he was going to be sick, then cleared his throat.

"Thank you for bringing it in... I guess..." He said, closing the book.

"Anypony want to go next?"

"I do." The pink mare, Pinkie Pie said. Noir hadn't noticed, but right now, she looked less colourful, and her mane and tail were straight. She cleared her throat and began her story, with a bitter edge in her voice.

-----Point of View: Pinkie Pie-----

(Author's notes: If you're squeamish or generally don't like anything relating to blood and guts... I suggest turning back now... there's a dark tag for a reason, you know. Although, I agree with one of the comments, we need a 'horror' tag.)

Well, if you paid attention to Ponyville, you'll find that I'm the party pony of Ponyville. I like to throw parties, bake, and have fun... I'm not so happy right now as you've noticed... It technically visited me twice... it's okay if I call it It, right? Yeah. Okay.

I was bouncing along to the shop I always go to when I need to get extra ingredients. The Cakes were busy with their foals, so I needed to get the ingredients, and I was happy to be doing that.

I bounced along to that shop I was talking about, and requested the ingredients I needed. They had it in stock, fortunately, so I paid the requested bits, and they hoofed the ingredients to me in a paper bag. I thanked them, put the paper bag in my saddlebag. I turned around and...

I saw Pennywise standing at the door, grinning and waving at me.

"When's your next party?" It asked... "Don't forget to bring some balloons!"

I stared at him, with my mouth agape. My legs were trembling.

"Is something wrong?" The pony at the counter asked.

I looked at him... couldn't he see It standing at the door? Was I going crazy? I looked back at Pennywise, and he had a bunch of balloons with him this time.

"Here's some balloons for you in case you don't have enough for the party," He said, with a tone that sounded eerily friendly but unfamiliar, "They all... floooooaaaat..." He said, grinning once more, and his eyes... they changed colour into something monstrous... and his teeth... they were all really sharp looking, so sharp I wasn't surprised that he was capable of eating ponies the way he does...

He then lets go of the string he was holding, and the balloons started floating towards me and the pony at the counter. She just looked at me with friendly concern, and she didn't let that expression leave her face...even has the balloon popped and blood was splattered all over her face. I just tried to tell myself that it was all probably some nightmare I was having over worry, and I told her in the best attempt of my cheery personality, "Nope, nothing's wrong!" I said, looking back to where It was... but he was gone. And a balloon popped up in front of me, and got blood all over my face too.

I stopped myself from screaming, trying to remember, 'Giggle At The Ghostly.' It was really hard, because I wasn't sure if he was a Ghostly, or if he was really there... I did the best giggle I could, and felt most of my fears wash away. I then just walked back to Sugarcube Corner. Not bouncing, not running. Just walking.

I got to the kitchen, and put the paper bag on the table. I decided to check what was in it, taking the contents out of the bag, one by one. Yep, I got what I needed alright. I put the ingredients on the table, and I thought I'd make some cupcakes to cheer myself up. I looked in some drawers and got the baking equipment I needed. I put them elsewhere on the table, and I looked back at the ingredients, I had no choice but to put two hooves to my mouth, and put on the best laughs I could...

There were... organs. Literally, there were pony organs where I placed the ingredients. And they looked like they were still working... I saw a heart beating, lungs inflating and deflating, there was even an bloodied eyeball, staring back at me. I looked up from them, and... Pennywise was standing at the door again, with that grin on Its' face.

"Hi there, Pinkie Pie. Seems you and I have similar taste." It said, laughing.

I just wasn't sure if I could laugh anymore... I just shook my head in disbelief, and I felt my mane and tail deflate into straightness.

I heard hoofsteps come from upstairs, heading downstairs. Mrs. Cake walked through the door, and I felt I was gonna be called a cannibal... again...

"Oh, hello, Pinkie, did you get the ingredients?" She asked.

I just stared at her as she walked past Pennywise, in disbelief.

"Oh, there they are. Thank you for getting them, dearie. Life gets harder when you're a mother, I guess!" She continued, picking up the heart that she believed to be bread. She squeezed it a little bit, checking to make sure it was soft enough... that just squirted blood in her face... she didn't notice that either. I put a hoof to my mouth, I felt I was gonna be sick... I looked at Pennywise, who was cackling, and saying lame jokes, about someone named 'Albert' in a can, and how we should let him out...

"Well, all the ingredients are fine, Pinkie. Thanks again! By the way, I like your new mane-style, looks really good."

I just nodded in disbelief, as Mrs. Cake walked back upstairs. I looked back to Pennywise... It squeezed Its' red muzzle like it was a real clown nose.

"Beep, beep, Pinkie! Come back any time! I'll show ya how to floooooooaaaat..." It began, dragging 'float' on for a few seconds, "They all, floooooooaaaaat down here!"

I closed my eyes, shaking my head. When I opened my eyes, It was gone, but the ingredients were still organs...

I ran to the bathroom and vomited...

____________________________________________________

End of Chapter...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-zeCeCxsyI&feature=related