((Trying something a bit new, please, tell me what you think, I want to write more but I also want a bit o' feedback 'cause I know I have keyboard-derpies when I wirte, lol =3))

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Night Hunters- Part 1

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To the everyday passerby Secret Rose was just another pegasus, perhaps they’d notice her well-groomed as opposed to the windswept ones most pegasi wore, but typically she didn’t get a second glance. Her rosey her warm pink and red mane blended with the bright scenery in Canterlot to a T rendering her as just another pony in the crowd.

As Rose follows the path to school she keeps her eyes trained on the ground, her mind wandering towards epic tales as she subconsciously avoids the eyes of anypony who would otherwise greet her, tearing her from her fantasies. She imagines a day when she’s not in the crowd, when ponies look to her and think ‘I wish I could be like her”. She imagines interviews with famous ponies, answering the questions of curious fans and otherwise just talking about herself and her interests to the masses.

Of course that was a long way off, but she couldn’t help but grin to herself as she glanced up at the approaching school down the road. It wasn’t a fancy academy or school for the gifted, but a simple school that many of Canterlot had attended and most complained about. The teachers were lazy and the building smelled mysterious due to leaks in the ceiling but that was expected in the lower end of Canterlot. She only went to this school because her parents were eccentric and thought the experience would do her good.

Opening the dusty-purple door she immediately felt a pang of dread, nopony could be seen in the main hall, it was completely devoid of life. She looked ahead to the stairwell, checking the clock hung on the arch above. Eight-fifteen, she was late. Breaking into a gallop her hooved clacked on the wooden floors as she bolted for the stairs, climbing them quickly. She would have flown if her wings were built for speed, running would do the job quicker in her case. Once on the landing she hooked a right and pelted to the third door down a blue sign neatly on the door with the engraved name, Mrs. Crystalsong.

Taking a deep breath and readying herself for a mini-lecture on tardiness she pushed open the door. Inside she quickly noticed things were off, her classmates were animatedly talking to one another and a glance at the teachers desk told her that she wasn’t the only one late to class this morning. With a relieved grin she made her way to her desk, dropping her saddle bag on the floor and taking out last nights homework.

“Hey Rose!” Setting her papers down she turned to see her friend Ghost Whisper, a pale gray mare who’s white mane always flowed loose and soft down the side of her head and neck. “Isn’t it great? Mrs. Crystalsong called out the second she got here, her filly couldn’t wait to join the world it seems.” Whisper happily rasped, her naturally scratchy voice full of energy despite the obnoxiously early hour.

Rose looked back to her teachers desk and chuckled as she imagined the look on her face when she knew her filly was ready to be born. “Do you think she’ll be back before summer break?” She hoped not, Mrs. Crystalsong tended to give her a hard time in class. It wasn’t as though she was a bad student, though she did have a habit of forgetting her homework in favor of more entertaining activities. Last night the weather had been cold and rainy so she had little else to do other than her assignment, even if watching paint dry would have been more exciting than the History of Fillydelphia…

“I don’t know, I guess it depends on how much rest the little filly allows her.” The gray mare shrugged, flicking her purple eyes to a group of three colts standing by the door. “I hope we get a sub in soon though, I heard Sky say he plans to set up pranks before they get here, and who knows if they have a sense of humour or not.”

Rose looked to the group and watched Sky fiddling with the door handle, she assumed he was trying to break it, or lock it, in attempts to keep any authority from entering. The blue colt was always up to something but Rose didn’t really feel like hearing a lecture from whoever came in to ‘teach’ them today. She rolled her eyes with annoyance and tried to listen to what they were saying, although she couldn’t really make anything out over the chatter of the other ten classmates in the room.

“Dude, try jamming something in the hole!” She heard the loud exclamation from the red unicorn to his left, Lucky Trot, if Rose was remembering his name right. With another roll of her eyes she watched as the lanky, scruffy colt next to him snickered at the remark. That was about as much as she’d ever heard from him, the purple colt had never uttered a word in class. At first she thought he was shy, but after seeing him a few times she learned he just didn’t bother or care enough to speak to the teacher, or anyone for that matter, it was a wonder he had any friends at all.

Feeling a hoof on her shoulder she looked to Whisper. “It made sound!” Her friend hissed with mock amazement, the mare was known to be a bit of a talker behind others backs, but Rose never minded so long as it wasn’t about her. “No really, I thought he was mute or something, though I guess that’s good that he can talk… Or giggle or whatever. So anyway…” Whisper started toward her desk, Rose following quickly behind. “I found an article at the library the other day about a house that’s supposed to be haunted, and it’s not far away…” Rose watched as she pulled a yellowed piece of parchment from her bag and handed it to her.

‘Though it is unclear as to who the first residents of the home were, the last owner said they found a secret room in the basement. Upon searching the room nothing was found but neighboring residents of Canterlot say they’ve heard strange sounds coming from the home ever since he discovered the room. No word has yet been given as to whether or not anypony plans to remedy these disturbances or not, but for now the owner says he plans to vacate and move across town.’’

“Huh.” Was all Rose could say, the article was rather short, just a small snippet of information as though the piece was simply an update to a previous one. She looked at the bottom of the parchment seeing a date printed into it in small fading text. “Wait, is this… Is it really over fourty years old? Not exactly a current haunt is it?”

“Well no,” Whisper glanced over the article again, “but I think I know where this is…” She paced slowly to the window, Rose once again following and looking out to where the mare was looking. The street the school was on wasn’t known for having the typical Canterlot grace, but there was one building that stood out from the rest as even more broken than the rest. She knew Whisper was eluding to the old house with boarded windows directly across from them, she’d occasionally heard the sounds of old music coming from inside but she’d never thought much other than ‘who would want to have a party in there?’

“Do you think we’re safe here if we know this?” Whisper quietly mumbled. Rose sighed and wrapped a wing over her friend, the mare was typically a brave and sociable pony but if anything past the typical spookiness of Nightmare Night were to be brought up she would retreat into herself and if she were to be scared enough… Rose remembered well the time she had a full-blown anxiety attack after waking from a nightmare during one of their slumber parties.

“Don’t worry, I don’t think a spook would know anything about us, besides,” She tried to comfort her, knowledge and fact usually helped the best, “I’ve read that things like that would be linked to the place and locked in it. They aren’t getting us here.” Looking back out the window she studied the boarded windows, they really looked out of place in a city like Canterlot, even if this part was a bit less high-class it wasn’t exactly a slum.

“Did you see that?” Whisper suddenly jolted pointing out toward the house. WIthout a word Rose followed the gesture to one of the windows where the boards were moved as though someone had tried to break in, which wouldn’t have surprised her at all as young colts and fillies get dared to go in all the time. She didn’t see anything particularly off about it at first but after a moment something did move. It was dark and looked near translucent, causing a cold shiver to race down her spine.

“I- I saw it, but… Do you think…?” Rose trailed off, tearing her eyes away, unwilling to look at it again. She enjoyed reading stories but this felt a little too real now. “No, nevermind, it was a cat or something. Maybe a fox got in.” Just as Whisper was about to say something the door clicked open and the classroom quieted down. They all watched as a tall unicorn stallion entered, his gray coat and white mane groomed to a neat perfection, a solid black tie hanging around his neck to give him an air of professionalism.

Glancing around the room he made sure to look carefully at each group of ponies who were scattered about before heading to the blackboard. Without a word he levitated a piece of chalk and began to write; ‘Mr. Turner’. Once finished he pulled a sheet of paper off the desk and began reading it.

Following the lead of most her classmates Rose made her way to her desk leaving Whisper to do the same. She figured they would finish their discussion later, it was a habbit of the gray mare to beat things like this into the ground completely.

“Alright, ponies,” Rose looked up as Mr. Turner addressed them, his voice having a much warmer tone than his appearance. “I’m your substitute while your regular teacher is getting adjusted to her new filly, and it actually looks like we’ll be together for quite some time. I’d like to get a chance to know you all, before we get back to the actual education.”

Rose’s ears perked and a small smile appeared on his lips. She loved the first day of classes for this reason, a chance to impress the class, a chance to tell them something about herself that would get their attention and make them want to know more. Granted the last time she introduce herself she merely told them about how she was interested in reading horror stories. After countless nights replaying that day in her mind before she would sleep, she knew exactly how she would have changed that day if she could have a redo, and now she had a chance to expand.

Waiting with excitement as Mr. Turner cycled through them all alphabetically she couldn’t help but lose her focus on what she would say. The class had gone completely silent, an awkward air filling the room. She’d always been good at sensing the emotions of others, but this was so cloying she was sure anypony would notice. Looking to the new teacher and following his gaze she watched as Shadow was giving him a kind of stare down, his green eyes partially hidden by a mass of unkempt, navy-blue, mane.

“Will you say nothing about your interests at all? I simply want to get you all better to make learning a bit more interesting for everyone, there’s no right or wrong here.” The stallion looked at a loss, Rose had a feeling he was being genuine and felt a bit bad for him.

'Glad I’m not a teacher.' She thought as she imagined herself with librarian style eyeglasses and a briefcase full of whatever it was teachers kept in them.

“Shadow doesn’t talk to the unworthy.” Rose glanced over to the white unicorn seated at the desk to Shadows left, her curly gray mane neatly pulled to one side and let to fall freely. She honestly had no idea of what her name was, the mare had never spoken to her yet she could recall seeing her and Shadow together at lunch a few times.

“Snow Song was it?” Mr. Turner turned to her, and looked down at a paper that Rose hadn’t noticed he was holding since she’d been so pre-occupied. “Since you’re so eager to speak and Toxic Shadow seems to be the shy type, which is by no means a bad thing let me assure you, why don’t you tell the class something that interests you?” She couldn’t help but feel a bit let down by him pointedly ignoring the young mares comment, she'd enjoy watching that drama unfold.

“Well,” Snow Song moved a hoof to display to him the pendant she was wearing. Rose couldn’t see it clearly from here but it appeared to be gold and shaped like the sun. “This here is a charm in the shape of the sun. Before Celestia, before unicorns controlled the sun, it was controlled by a powerful deity who to this day is unknown. I plan to get in its favor by being a warrior of the light and become an angel like Celestia was. Maybe I’ll even be an alicorn princess, I don’t know yet, but I have faith that my destiny is something great.”

At this quite a few classmates snickered, Rose being one of them. She’d never heard something so stupid in her life, did Snow Song even know how Equestria worked? 'Before Celestia the unicorns raised the sun and moon, yeah, that was common knowledge, but before that…?' She thought, pausing for a moment before an odd thought struck her, 'What did come before the unicorns? Was there even anything? Where did anything come from?'

“That’s quite the idea,” Mr. Turner looked to be mildly amused, “but have you not asked the Princess where she got her beginnings? It would be much easier to wait in a line during her court than going to such an… unheard of strategy.”

At this the mare looked exceedingly offended, she sat back in her seat and carefully placed her pendant back against her chest. “When I’m an angel you’ll regret not believing in me.” Snickering could be heard from the class again and to Rose’s mild surprise Shadow gave the mare a sympathetic look. Though to be honest she wasn’t sure why it would seem so strange, it wasn’t exactly like she knew much about the colt’s life to begin with.

“I’m sure I will.” The teachers mildly amused voice brought her attention back to the front of the room. “Now, our next student… Secret Rose, how about you?” She paused, after the last little discussion she wasn’t sure if her plan would top that or simply make the class snicker at her. Quickly deciding on the spot she went with her original plan, most ponies in the class would forget anyway after that last bit.

“I like the occult,” She’d chosen her words very precisely, vague but with a sound that she thought would gain attention. Anything with the word ‘cult’ in it typically did that and true to her expectations she saw a few ears prick out of the corner of her eye. “I shouldn’t say too much though, it’s kind of dangerous.” Hearing soft intake of breath from somewhere behind her she knew she’d gotten what she wanted. At least one of the ponies here was interested in what she had to tell. She only wished the stories she could tell were true.

“Are you interested in the same things as Snow Song then?” Rose cocked her head at the gray stallion before glancing back at Snow Song for a brief moment. 'No, that mare sounds crazy!' She wanted to laugh it in her face but she knew how bad that would look, besides that’d just make her a bully and who pays attention to them?

“No, I prefer to…” Trailing off she tried to make her pause seem somewhat natural, as though she were purposefully being mysterious 'Quick, think Rose, think…' She glanced around the room, her gaze settling on the window. “Well I go out and seek danger, hunting for creatures of the night to learn their secrets.” It was a quickly made up lie, but she felt the room buzz with a hidden interest.

She watched her teacher nod, though he didn’t look too pleased with her answer. 'Probably wondering how long I’ll live with such a dangerous lifestyle.' She zoned out for the rest of the class, only paying attention long enough to heal Whisper talking about her recent readings about something involving a demon in Manehatten.

'I wonder if he thinks this class is made up of crazies.' She mused silently as she stared at the clock, waiting for it to hurry up and let them loose in the cafe. 'We’ve got Shadow’s spookiness, that Snow Song’s insanity, my apparent search for danger, and then Whisper’s talk of demons. Huh…' She tapped a hoof to her jaw, 'I never really noticed how many of us think in similar ways. Maybe we are all insane but… Must be the water or something poisoning us. '

Suddenly the bell rang and before long she found herself seated beside Whisper in the cafe, an apple held loosely in her hoof as she absentmindedly listened to her friend’s worries about the old house.

“What if the school is cursed too?” At this the pegasus flared her wings and let out a short laugh. She couldn’t help it, this day was turning into one big drama about the Boogeyman.

“Listen, Whisper, if you’re so worried why don’t you go and research it? Knowledge is power and all. that jazz.” It was cliche but she didn’t know what else to say, the unicorn had always found pleasure and calmness in studying her fears.

“I guess so… Wanna skip with me?” Whisper rose from her seat, and though she had a feeling the new teacher would notice, Rose followed. However she didn’t feel the darkness that was following her out of the cafe.