Winter Lily trudged beside the massive pony, as it marched slowly through the fog, the rain falling hard on them. She shivered as the water drenched her coat, and her mane quickly fell flat against her neck. The scarred pony seemed completely unimpressed by the cold, and slowly dragged his hooves over the ground. Apparently it had a really good sense of direction, since it was impossible to see more than a few inches in front of them.

"This thing doesn't even have eyes!" the mare snorted to herself, sniffing and shaking her head, trying to get her drenched mane out of the way. She could only trust her companion on this one, since she was barely able to see the dirt beneath her hooves were walking, partially covered by a carpet of scarlet dead leaves.

"So... are we going somewhere?" she asked after a few minutes of silent walking. The creature emitted a suffering gurgle, a slight stream of blood escaping its sewn-shut mouth, as it raised a hoof and pointed through the fog. The mare squinted her eyes, and only after a moment, she saw the outline of the town. The town she had tried to reach alongside all the others, before the incident in the underground.

"We are going into the town?" she asked carefully. The creature nodded slightly, pointing at its face, and then once more at the city, emitting a muffled sound. Then it raised its maimed ears and moved its head around. The mare raised an eyebrow, before stiffening as she heard a hissing sound.

From the fog, a pale mare dressed as a clown, with a discolored, poofy orange mane and a bloated red nose crawled out of the fog, a set of fangs shimmering under the rain.

-oOo-

Nova glanced behind him, his wings rapidly flapping in the air, fighting off the strong wind and the rain splashing over his face, even as it pressed his mane down in front of his eyes. Behind him, the flock of black birds cawed in anger, but apparently the crows weren't interested in following him and Fire Flower: they seemed content to remain flying around the boat they had managed to drag into the sky, cawing. At least for now, they didn't seem like a threat.

"I can't believe this." grunted Fire Flower, tightly holding the stallion's hooves as he lowered into the city, heading towards the largest street of the town below them.

Nova didn't answer, looking behind them one last time and watching as the flock disappeared, the hull of the ship seeming to vanish into thin air. The stallion returned his eyes to the road, slowing as he finally dropped the mare on the ground. They were in what seemed to be the main street of the town, the asphalt covered in cracks with a few chunks of the road missing.

Fire Flower took a deep breath, glancing into the sky for a second, before starting to look around. The rain was falling down even harder, almost dispersing the thick veil of fog crawling around her. But still, she barely managed to make out the doors of the buildings around them.

"When is this nightmare going to end..." grunted the mare, passing a hoof over her eyes, trying to calm down. "Ok...ok...we need help, we need-"

"Yes, we do need help!" exclaimed Nova. The mare turned, and glared at the pegasus, as she saw his eyes lose focus once again. "I'll get back to the swamp, and see if I can get anypony else out of the debris." he exclaimed, turning and spreading his wings. The mare paled, and before he could take off, she stomped her hoof on the ground, catching his tail.

"What are you even talking about?!" she screamed, grasping the stallion by his neck, shaking him. "Stop talking about the crash! It happened almost a year ago! Stop reapeating you have to help others! There are no others!" she screamed, her eyes trembling. "I don't want to be left here alone! Snap out of it!"

The stallion blinked, biting his lip as his eyes fogged again, before spreading his wings as he pushed the mare off and darted into the sky, making a turn in the direction of the swamp. Fire Flower picked herself up immediately, and looked in despair as the pegasus disappeared in the fog.

"Dammit!" she screamed, stomping on the ground, holding in the few tears of anger and fear starting to sting her eyes. She didn't want to be alone. But it looked like she didn't have any choice in the matter. She started to take quick breaths, looking around as the fog rolled in, silent and cold, moved by the cold wind and the rain.

What to do now?

"I have to find Lily..." she muttered. She... didn't remember when she saw her last... but she knew that her sister wasn't going to survive on her own. She was probably in danger. The mare gritted her teeth, starting to run. She had promised to protect her. She continued to run, not sure about where she was going, but she had the impression, after a couple of minutes, that other hooves were running with hers.

She turned her head slightly, and paled as she saw an emaciated figure running at her side. It was a stallion, its white coat ripped and covered in scars and filth, wearing a worn out blue shirt and a bright orange wig. The stallion turned his head, looking at the mare, revealing a row of pointy and unclean fangs shimmering in the lightning dancing in the sky.

"It's almost show time, Fire..." he hissed, stretching his foreleg out, trying to grasp the mare. Fire Flower immediately stepped aside, looking with disbelief at the stallion. It wasn't... a real pony. It couldn't be! His face was a mask of scars, his eyes two deep pools of black. The mare stared at him for a couple of econds, before rapidly turning without slowing her pace.

"Where have we ended up, Winter..." she squeaked to herself, as something grasped her tail. She quickly wiggled her rear, panicking but freeing herself. She had to find her sister and get out of here, before anything... final could end up happening to them. She glanced back, looking as the pony struggled to keep up behind her, his fangs bared.

She... had already seen something like this. But she couldn't remember where. She shook her head, returning her eyes to the street. This wasn't the right moment to start thinking about it, though. But still, she had the nagging feeling she had seen that monstrosity that was chasing her already.

She was concentrating so much on keeping her eyes off her pursuer that she almost slammed into the wall at the end of the street. She stopped just in time, as the wall of bricks emerged from the fog, almost colliding with her face. The mare abruptly stopped, looking around in terror, searching for a narrow alley, a passage, any kind of escape route she could use.

Nothing.

There were only barricaded doors on her left, while to her right, sat the ruins of what seemed to have once been a clothing shop, now abandoned and left to rot. She glanced for a moment at the closed door, before moving her eyes back to the apparition.

The stallion was in front of her, staring her down with a crooked smile, his head slightly tilted. With a gushing sound, what seemed to be a metallic whip emerged from his flesh, coiling on the ground with a metallic tingling. Fire Flower glanced at it for a second, before looking around for anything to defend herself with.

"Flower... darling, you have to get ready..." chuckled the stallion, snapping his foreleg, making the whip crack. The mare flinched slightly, gulping. The stallion chuckled again, spitting a dense black liquid on the ground, before starting to walk towards the mare. "We have a performance to do..."

"Stay away from me!" squealed the mare. The stallion snikered, before suddenly stopping, his black eyes narrowing as he looked above the mare. Fire Flower followed his glare, and almost fainted when her eyes focused on where the creature was looking: a mare was crawling down the wall like a spider, her drenched mane almost covering her face, her stomach ripped open and leaving her entrails spilling out, lazily dangling below her belly. She crawled down the wall, ignoring Fire Flower, and lazily walked towards the dress shop, stopping in front of the door.

The stallion glared at her, apparently losing interest in Fire Flower, who was trying to hold in her retching that the sight of her entrails was causing her.

"She is mine." growled the stallion. The mare barely looked at him, before snapping her tongue, as the entrails shivered beneath her, rising like a scorpion stinger.

"I know, we are not here for her. She's yours to toy with." she said in a sweet, calm voice, even if Fire could hear what seemed to be the gurgling of something beneath her speech.

"We?" asked the stallion, scratching the ground. As he finished his question, a crack in the road opened, and a trio of little foals covered in burnt flesh and scorchmarks crawled out, emitting small yelps, before moving towards the shop as well.

"My, it's crowded." note the mare, moving her mane awayfrom her face, before looking at the stallion. "Don't mind us dear, get rid of yours." she encouraged, before returning her eyes to the door, her entrails and exposed uterus tensing. "Here they come..."

An ear-splitting scream suddenly came from the shop, almost covered by a feral roar. Fire Flower cringed, terrified, as she heard the sound of something slamming, and something else being smashed and shattered, before the door of the shop suddenly opened, and three stallions stumbled into the street, panicking.

For a second, Fire Flower relaxed. She recognised Solid Steel and Solaris. She didn't know who the third pony was, but at least they were friends! She wasn't alone, they could help her, they could...

All her hopeful thoughts were shattered when, with another roar, what seemed to be a black, scaly reptilian head darted out of the shop. It seemed to be a dragon, even if its features were contorted and even more feral than expected. The massive head and neck barely managed to push out of the shop, cracking the doorframe as it tried to lash out, snapping its jaws.

"A dragon?!" squeaked the unknown stallion, a wrench falling from his mouth, before turning and letting out another scream as the mare with the hanging entrails pounced on him, pinning him down as her intestines rose into the air, ready to strike. "Oh Celestia! For fuck's sake, my wrench!"

"Trevor!" shouted Metal Hooves, turning and hitting the mare's head with his hammer, before noticing the foals crawling towards him, their legs reaching for him. "No... no! Stay away!" he screamed, starting to swing his hammer back and forth, trying to keep them. Solaris apparently didn't even notice, since his eyes were glued to the dragon, almost hypnotized.

"Guys! He-" started to scream, before letting out a coughing scream when the metallic whip closed around her neck, starting to choke her. The stallion pulled, making it even harder for her to breathe.

"Now now, we have to think about our performance..." he cooed, smiling creepily. "We have to perform again, and again, and again, and again, and-" he started to repeat, before stopping again when another figure emerged from the fog. Fire Flower narrowed her eyes as she tried to take in some air, fighting the metallic clutch around her neck.

"Let her go!" squeaked a trembling voice that the unicorn mare almost immediately recognised. Winter Lily was staring down the pack of monsters attacking the ponies, her legs shaking violently and her lips quivering. "Let them all go!" she said again, trying to impose some hint of authority in her voice, failing miserably. The mare with the belly ripped open ignored her, as well as the foals that were starting to crawl over the screaming Solid Steel.

The stallion who was strangling her sister, on the other hoof, turned a deep chuckle coming out of his distorted mouth.

"Here it is, my last performer..." he chuckled. "Maybe you want to go through another act like last time..." he started to his, before a loud moan echoed through the alley, shutting him up. The dragon closed its mouth, turning his gaze towards Winter Lily, as well as the mare and foals, who were all suddenly focused on the mare. She gulped, and tried to maintain a straight face, while from the fog, the massive figure of the creature Trevor named the Wailer emerged, joining Winter Lily, its empty sockets locked on the other monstrosities.

-oOo-

Crow stumbled down the dark dusty corridor of the mansion, panting as his eyes darted around the darkness, jumping over the azure candles as they burned in the rusty candelabras attached to the walls. They faintly lit up the darkness, making the shadows dance over the purple drapes laying over the walls, covering what seemed to be paintings.

The stallion gulped, ignoring the various wounds and scratches that scarred his skin, hidden under the dirty fur. His ears just flinched as a few crows silently followed him, flapping their wings just to stay above him, the sound of their feathers rubbing against the drapes scratching his ears.

"Stop following me!" he snapped, turning his head and glaring at the birds, his his rapier waving uselessly towards them as they only fluttered up to the paintings' frames, looking at the unicorn. "I will feed you! Stay away from me, you monsters!" he screamed, his eyes swollen and dry, exploring the hallway. The birds just stared him down.

Crow emitted a grunt, before turning and starting to walk again, trying to ignore the constant flapping, that started as soon as he turned. Those birds were going to stalk him, and if he wasn't careful, they were going to dig into his flesh again. That wasn't a nice sensation, having countless claws ripping his fur, and beaks digging into his belly.

"You just have to feed them somepony else." had said Lord Vulture, after the crows had finally left him alone, as he quivered and cried on the hull's deck while his blood mixed with the rain. Those lowlifes seem to be more than enough to satiate their hunger."

"But father I..." Crow had tried to replay, a little spark of anxiety still glimmering in his eyes. His father had glanced at him, before grasping him and tossing him into the darkness of the underdeck.

"No complaints Crow, you have to live up to your name and title. Follow the candles, find that trash, and feed them to the birds. You are used to that, aren't you?" echoed his voice, as the stallion stumbled. When he managed to get up, he had found himself in that corridor.

He continued his walk, the rapier dragging at his side as he continued to keep his head low, fixed on the darkness in front of him. He refused to look at the paintings, or move away the drapes covering them. He continued to walk, trying to ignore the faint murmurs and whispers coming from behind the drapes, and the slight sound of shifting silk.

"What have I done to deserve this..." he peeped, gulping as a bird behind him let out a caw. He tried to straighten up, raising his rapier, looking at the blade shimmering in the dim light. "Well, doesn't matter. I will stand up to my name and solve this mess." he said to himself, trying to calm down. A faint sob that came from the paintings was the only response he received, before the drapes around him suddenly moved on their own, revealing the paintings.

"Such tacky tastes." commented the stallion, his eye twitching, as he just glanced at the landscape, showing scarlet skies, and the black silhouettes of ponis impaled on stakes and left to rot.

Oo-oO

*crawls back in the open, leaves this here, ashamed it's too short, and runs back in his den*