Chapter 7

The Mysterious Voice

On Nightmare Night, Twilight spent her last night in detention. This time, she spent detention by helping Blueblood answer his fan letters.

"Oh, Twilight! Can you think of a better way to spend detention than helping me answer my fan mail?" Blueblood asked.

"No, Professor." Twilight replied with complete indifference.

Truthfully, Twilight wanted to get her detention over with so she can eat dinner with her friends in the Great Hall. She was on the last question, so she was ready to finally leave.

"Kill!"

Twilight was startled as she heard a mysterious voice.

"Let me rip you! Let me tear you! Let me kill you!"

As suddenly as it started, the voice faded away. The purple unicorn looked around the room, frightened by the voice she heard.

"Did you hear that, Professor?" Twilight asked Blueblood.

"Hear what?" Blueblood spoke in a casual tone as he clearly didn't hear the voice.

"Um, never mind!"

At that moment, Blueblood turned to take a look at the clock on the wall.

"Oh, is it that late already? It sure is spooky how fast time flies by when you're having fun! Anyway, you can go now, Twilight." Blueblood dismissed Twilight.

Thinking nothing more of the strange voice, Twilight decided to leave so she can finally meet up with her friends. The purple unicorn made her way to the Great Hall, but halfway there, she heard the mysterious voice again. She kept hearing the voice repeatedly saying kill. As she walked further into the hall, the voice got louder and more sinister. Just when she thought she was close to the voice, Twilight was suddenly approached by Applejack and Rarity, who greeted her with friendly smiles.

"Oh, Twilight! There you are! We've been looking for you!" said Rarity.

After getting over her shock, Twilight struggled to hear the voice. "Girls, you heard the voice too, didn't you? I think something bad is going to happen!"

"What voice?" Applejack asked, confused.

Twilight struggled to listen, but the voice got fainter every second. "Whatever is making the noise is probably planning to kill somepony. We need to hurry."

Without a second thought, Twilight rushed to the mysterious creature to which Applejack and Rarity ran after her.

"Twilight, wait! Where are you going?" Rarity panted, trying to keep up.

After a few moments of running through the castle, Twilight came to a stop when she couldn't hear the voice anymore and was greeted by another sound. Twilight could hear the sound of tiny flapping wings and she took notice of tiny flying spider-like creatures, who were flying out a nearby window.

"What are those things?" Twilight asked, taking a closer look.

"Those must be flyders." Applejack answered with disgust. "I always hated those nasty little varmints."

Rarity wasn't paying attention to the flying insects as she had her attention on something much more horrifying.

"Uh, girls? You might want to take a look at this!"

The two ponies turned around to see a message on a nearby wall written in blood that read, 'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir beware.' Even more horrifying stood the petrified body of a female donkey. Her eyes looked down on a puddle on the floor with a terrified expression.

"Oh no. Is that Cranky's wife?" Twilight gasped.

It wasn't long before the writing and the petrified form of Matilda caught the attention of all the students in the castle. Their reactions varied from surprised to horrified. Even Featherweight was thinking about taking a picture of the writing. Trixie took this moment to read the writing.

"Enemies of the heir beware?" Trixie turned to face Rarity. "You'll be next, mudblood!"

At that moment, Cranky pushed his way passed the students so he can see what the commotion was all about.

"Move aside! Twilight, what are you-" Cranky paused as he stared at his petrified wife in horror. "M-Matilda?" After getting over his shock, Cranky's horrified expression turned to a look of anger as he faced Twilight. "You just killed my wife!"

Twilight shook her head. "No! Cranky, I-"

Not wanting to hear what Twilight had to say, Cranky cornered Twilight. "You just killed the donkey I loved! I'll kill you!"

"That's enough, Cranky!" the voice of Celestia echoed through the hallway.

Celestia and the rest of the teachers made their way passed the students until they finally took notice of the writing and Matilda

"Everypony, please return to your common rooms while we deal with the situation Everypony except for you three." Celestia motioned towards Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity.

At that moment, the group of friends took a couple of nervous steps towards the teachers. Meanwhile, Cranky held Matilda's petrified hoof as he mourned the loss of his wife.

"Oh, Matilda! You were too pure for something like this to happen to you! Why couldn't it have been me?"

"She's not dead, Cranky! She is only petrified. We can find a way to undo the curse." Celestia assured. "I just don't understand how something like that could happen."

"Why don't you ask Twilight? She was the only pony who wasn't in the Great Hall at the time!"

"It wasn't me, Cranky! I swear!" Twilight defended.

"Then where were you, Twilight?" Flintheart spoke up. "Why not join your fellow students for dinner in the Great Hall?"

"I'm afraid that was my fault, Professor." Blueblood vouched for Twilight. "She was spending detention with me by helping me answer fan mail and I lost track of time."

Celestia gave an understanding nod. "Innocent until proven guilty, Cranky." Celestia said to Cranky, who merely grumbled. "It would appear that there is a great danger that has been let loose in the school. Until we resolve the problem, I would recommend that everypony would have the upmost caution."

After the horrifying sight that everyone witnessed, all of the students returned to their common rooms. Throughout the rest of the night, Twilight's mind was filled with questions. Who would want to petrify Maltida and what was the Chamber of Secrets?