"We have to keep going!" exclaimed Dahlia, pressing a hoof on the map that she was holding in front of her, seated on her brother's back. "The hospital seems to be down this street." She added. Camo Fall nodded and continued to walk, giving quick glances at the street around them. He had the impression of seeing some shadows moving in the fog, as if some pony were spying on them, just to crawl away as soon as he and High Winds drew close.

On the other hoof, the mare didn't even notice them, concentrated on ignoring the pain of her wing. In the few minutes that had passed since leaving Solaris and Trevor, the pain was quickly escalated, becoming more and more agonizing for the mare.

They continued to walk slowly, with Camo leading the group, following the filly's instructions, and occasionally giving a glance at the mare. He caught the sight of infected flesh poking out from under her bandages, but didn't say anything. They needed a doctor, fast.

"Here we are!" chirped the little filly, pointing at the building in front of them: an imposing building towered in front of them, apparently abandoned: the metallic gates were open and were screeching faintly as they swayed weakly. The windows of the building were all dark, except for a couple of windows at the upper floor.

"Well, at least somepony is still here…" mumbled Camo Fall. High Winds groaned and followed him towards the door of the structure. "Now, let's see. Trevor said that it was locked, so I might need a little bit of time to open this…" muttered the earth pony, tapping on the handle.

The transparent door opened with a screech.

"Well… that was unexpected…" he muttered, pushing open the door.

"Maybe you have telekinetic powers? That would be interesting." Stated the pegasus mare, chuckling a little before letting out a yelp of pain. The stallion stepped up beside her, checking her torn wing.

"How is it?" asked the mare, entering inside the building. The stallion didn't answer, looking with worry at the bandaged wing: he could see some dark shades under the white cloth wrapping it.

"We may need a doctor. I think it got infected." He finally stated, trying to reassure the mare and looking into the dark hall: it had the same aspect of every hospital he could imagine: the counter, the bench for the waiting patients and visitors, a couple of stretchers abandoned in the middle of a side corridor, a wheelchair abandoned on the ground…

"Let's head up." He mumbled, before suddenly stopping and raising his ears. He was quite sure he could hear whimpering. And the sound of steps.

"Camo…" began Dahlia, starting to sniff. The stallion grasped the mare and dragged her behind the counter, pushing her and his sister under it. He then rose his head slightly, to look for what was making those sounds: and when he saw it, he let out a scream of fear that drew the attention of the creature that was stumbling aimlessly through the hallway.

It was a pegasus pony. Well, theoretically it was. It had been completely skinned, as if its hide had been peeled off and stuck over its wings, which were now two flat, thick sheets of skin. The eye-sockets were empty, but no blood was pouring out of them, or from anywhere else on the pony's body.

The creature turned its head towards Camo and let out a screech, as its fleshy, wing-like appendages grasped like tentacles at him, twisting the skin slices around the earth pony's neck, dragging him away from the protection of the counter.

The stallion screamed, trying to free himself from the disgusting grasp, but to no avail. The creature continued to roll the fleshy slabs around Camo, like a spider wrapped its silk around its prey. He had the quick sight of High Winds and Dahlia jumping away from behind the counter, screaming, before he was completely engulfed by skin.

He could smell the foul reek of rotting flesh, as the skin tightened around him; he continued to struggle, but he could already feel his lungs begging for air.

-oOo-

"Well… this is quite interesting…" murmured Crow, walking slowly over the dusty floor. The last thing he remembered was the freaky clown skull and the fall into darkness. And after that, blackness. And after that, the mansion where he was now walking.

Someone had probably dragged him there. Even if he was quite surprised to have survived the fall seemingly undamaged. Well, it wasn't his concern who saved him. He was just searching for the exit.

He rose a candelabra he had found on a shelf, moving it slowly in his grasp, trying to get a sense of the place where he was wandering: he had already passed five or six rooms, but never found a window to the outside. Just abandoned rooms.

From what he could see, anyway, this was seemingly a mansion for nobility of some sort: he had passed a couple of rooms filled with old and dusty, but surely valuable, paintings, all representing the outline of what probably was the town. He had also passed a room hosting a big and black grand piano, even if the strings inside had been mostly cut and destroyed.

"A noble place indeed…" he muttered, turning slowly around to examine the new room he had entered: apparently another lounge, with a rotted and colorful carpet on the floor, half eaten by moths, a fireplace with no fire, a dusty portrait hanging above it, and a stuffed crow on a pedestal above a bookshelf filled with yellowed and unreadable books. And of course, another closed door.

The stallion sighed and walked towards it, ready to enter into another room, as he gave a quick glance around and moved the candles for a better view. Then he stopped as soon as the weak stream of light lit up the portrait. He turned towards the fireplace, his eyes wide as plates.

"That's not…" he began, before gulping and taking another step. The sad face of a mare was staring at him from the portrait. A face he hadn't seen in a long time. A brown coated mare with a hazel mane tied in a braid, placed along her neck. The stallion blinked, trying to understand what he was seeing. This was quite surreal. How many chances were there to find a portrait of his only foalhood friend in a lost city in the north of Equestria?

"It's just a coincidence." Muttered Crow, moving his eyes away and returning to the door, opening it while holding the candelabra out in front of himself: for a nice change of scenery, it wasn't a room, but a long, dark corridor. There were even sets of armor at the sides, holding old and rusty spears. "Fancy. I should totally add some armor to my manor." Muttered the unicorn, taking a few steps.

A light flashed on at the end of the corridor, flowing out from a side room far from him, projecting two shadows on the blank wall: a figure laying on the ground, as the second shadow towered above it, slamming a hoof on the other's neck. After a couple of seconds, the light went off, but the stallion was already running towards the end of the corridor, the candles in his grasp threatening to go out due to his speed.

He galopped towards the end, and turned into the room where the light and shadows had come from, and froze. The room was quite empty. No figures, no lamps. Nothing. And the only creature there was staring at the stallion, as he took a few steps back. It was a big and thin crow; in fact, it was a crow bigger than two ponies put together in spite of how extremely skinny it was, and it moved on both its legs and wings, which were folded on the ground.

"I must be dreaming…" muttered the stallion. The crow titled its head and cawed. A breath stinking of decomposition hit the unicorn. "Mh… quite real…" he thought. He turned, and started to run like crazy, screaming, as the creature behind him started to chase him, its claws rasping roughly against the walls of the tight corridors. As he fled, the stallion managed to grasp a couple of rusty spears and toss them behind him, without trying to see if he had hit the target. He dashed towards the door, passed throught it, and slammed it behind him, bracing it with his body. He let his eyes dart around, searching for something else to block the door.

He let out another scream as he saw the portrait again: the mare inside was now mauled, her body scratched, cutted and pecked, one of her eyesockets now empty. He was panicking, and the fact the stuffed crow was now holding an eyeball in its beak didn't help.

"Come on Crow, Come on, think, think!" he screamed at himself, as something powerful hit the door behind him. He turned, trying to brace the door better, thinking of trying to levitate one of the spears on the other side of the door. It would be hard, but not totally impossible. He had to try. He started to concentrate, using his magic to scope behind the door, searching for one of the rusty weapons…

The wooden floor beneath him suddenly collapsed, sending him falling down in the darknes, the candles finally giving up and going out. He had just enough time to hold his breath when he heard the sound of waves beneath him, before splashing down into a cold sea of some liquid.

Above him, muffled by the liquid around him, he could hear the cawing of the crow.

-oOo-

"Dahlia, get out of here!" screamed High Winds, jumping out from behind the counter and pushing the little filly away from the screaming creature that was holding Camo in its fleshy wrap. The little filly didn't even look back, galloping away and screaming.

The pegasus mare turned with a gulp, trying to decide if she was crazy enough to attack a skinless monster.

"Oh fuck!"

The mare charged, trying to headbutt the creature, that reacted to the hit with a low screech, but didn't release its hold on the trapped stallion. The mare tried to hit it again, again to no avail. The creature turned its head, letting out a slow hiss and taking a step towards her.

"Oh fuck!" screamed again the mare, trying to find anything near her that could work as a weapon: nothing. Maybe the wheelchair…no, probably not. She took a step back, while noticing that the struggling inside the bag of flesh was diminishing. Camo was suffocating.

The creature let out another hiss, crouching, preparing to leap against the mare. It was actually so focused on her that didn't notice the other mare who had just emerged from a dark corridor: a light brown pegasus mare with a flowing silver mane was gliding towards it from the corridor with a camera in her hoof, preparing to slam it into the monster.

-oOo-

Dahlia panted, pressing herself against a wall of the empty hospital, pressing her hooves on her mouth as she heard a scream from where she had run from. The little filly crawled under a stretcher, shaking in fear, two flows of tears flowing off from her eyes.

A series of babbling come out of her mouth, as she sniffed in fear and guilt, thinking of how the creature had caught and trapped Camo. And she just ran away.

"I'm just a filly… I couldn't have done anything…" she muttered, before covering again her mouth as the sound of hooves filled her ears: she saw four hooves passing in front of the stretchers, walking slowly towards the hall where she had left High Winds and Camo Fall. She poked out her head a little, and saw a pony with a medical suit and a ridiculous mask with a long, curved nose covering all his face.

The little filly could feel panic rising, and her stomach giving signs of preparing to throwing up the few candies Trevor had given her. She needed somewhere better hidden to hide, and her eyes fell over an apparently intact door. She gave a quick glance into the corridor, before dashing through it, pushing open the door with a little shove, and closing it silently as soon as she enetered the other dark room.

Safe, finally.

"Who are you?" asked a cold voice behind her, as a couple of hooves grabbed her, dragging her away from the door and into the darkness.