The House

Twilight Sparkle hummed happily to herself as she used her magic to dust off the books lining the many shelves of Golden Oaks Library. Even as a Princess, she enjoyed cleaning her workspace herself and getting any small imperfections Spike may have missed had he been cleaning. She prided herself on keeping the library absolutely and irrevocably clean. The alicorn brought the duster down and placed it upon a small table before going into a hover and looking around the different shelves for spots or residual dust. Upon seeing that her job of dusting was done, Twilight sighed with satisfaction as she gently landed on the ground again. She moved into the kitchen and removed a potato from the cabinet and washed it off in the sink. Afterwards, Twilight then grated the potato easily into a bowl and heated some butter up in a skillet, watching it fondly as it melted into a puddle of yellow liquid. She poured the grated potatoes and began frying them. Her ears perked up when she heard a small yawn come from the staircase behind her.

"Morning." Spike said groggily as he slowly tromped down the stairs, rubbing his eyes. Twilight giggled lightly and nodded at him.

"Good morning, Spike." Twilight said. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah, I guess..." Spike said. "I didn't exactly want to get out of my bed, so I guess I slept well."

"Well have a seat at the table, my baby dragon friend!" Twilight said with a beaming smile. "These hash browns are almost ready, and you know they're not good unless they're hot."

"Oh, I know." Spike said, taking a seat at the table and licking his lips. "Y'know, Twilight, I don't get it."

"Don't get what?" Twilight asked, not turning away from the hash browns.

"You stayed up pretty much all night last night." Spike said. "Then, you get up hours before me this morning. What's your secret? Some kind of new alicorn ability?" Twilight stood and thought for a moment.

"Well, possibly." Twilight responded. "I have noticed that I've been less tired lately. I've stayed up studying a lot before...maybe I just kind of adapted to it normally."

"Makes sense." Spike said. "Any milk in there?" Twilight nodded and used her magic to pour Spike a glass of milk, all while continuing to cook the hash browns. She then put the milk back in the fridge neatly and shut it, all without lifting a hoof.

"Wow, Twilight." Spike said, marveling at Twilight's magical prowess. "You're really getting good!"

"Well thank you, Spike." Twilight said while salting and peppering the hash browns. "I really have been working on it. Now that I'm an alicorn, my potential for magical ability has been boosted at least twofold." The alicorn princess put the milk in front of Spike.

"Well, it shows. Believe me." Spike said before taking a swallow of the milk. Twilight took the hash browns off the stove and served Spike and herself a portion before taking a bottle of ketchup out of the refrigerator and sitting down with the dragon.

"Enjoy!" Twilight said happily. Spike poured the ketchup onto his hash browns and took a bite and smiled before giving Twilight a thumbs up. Twilight smiled and blushed before taking a bite from her own plate.

Breakfast was eaten between Twilight and her assistant relatively quietly, idle chatter flying back and forth occasionally. When they finished, Twilight took the dirty dishes to the sink and began to wash them. Spike stood up and stretched before looking at her.

"So, what's on the agenda for today?" Spike asked, jogging in place a moment.

"Well, I'm thinking I need to run a few errands. Then after that, we can go grocery shopping." Twilight said.

"But you went to the market yesterday." Spike said.

"True, I did, but that was just to get carrots." Twilight said. "What, did you think I got a whole load of groceries?" Spike blushed and kicked a foot, putting his hands behind his back.

"Uh...yeah, kinda." Spike said.

"Well, we'll go get some groceries today." Twilight said. "After that, I have to look at a few documents for Princess Celestia. And after thaaaat...." Twilight slowly looked at Spike. "We'll go get a treat at Sugarcube Corner." Spike threw a fist into the air.

"Yes!" Spike said.

"Go get ready if you want to run those errands with me." Twilight said. "We're leaving in ten minutes." Spike nodded and ran back up the stairs quickly to prepare for the day's activities. Twilight shook her head and smiled to herself in fondness of her dragon companion. She finished cleaning the dishes and put them away into the cabinets and sat waiting for Spike when from the door came three curt knocks. Twilight approached the door and opened it to reveal Rainbow Dash and Applejack, with happy, albeit nervous looks on their faces. Both of them looked ragged and completely exhausted, both of their manes disheveled. Both mares had bags under their tired eyes.

"Rainbow Dash! Applejack!" Twilight said happily at the sight of her friends. "What brings you here? And are you guys okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine." Applejack said with a smile. "We were wonderin' if we could talk to ya about somethin', Twi."

"Sure, absolutely." Twilight said with a smile before stepping aside. "Come on in."

"Thanks." Rainbow Dash said. "Could we, uh...sit down somewhere?" Twilight nodded and turned around.

"Yes we can." Twilight said. "Follow me." By that time, Twilight had realized that there was something amiss between her two friends, the nature of which, she was not sure. Neither of them ever came to the library this early in the day and when they did see her, they were almost always cheerful and happy.

"Okay." Twilight said before sitting down across from Rainbow and Applejack. "Did you guys want to tell me something?" Rainbow Dash looked at Applejack, then at Twilight and nodded.

"Yeah, Twilight. We did." Rainbow said before pursing her lips. "I'm not exactly sure how to say this, but...me and Applejack believe that there is something...evil...near Ponyville." Twilight raised her eyebrows and leaned forward.

"Something evil?" Twilight asked. "Like what?"

"Well...It's just outside Ponyville in the Everfree." Applejack said. "It's a house. An old house...Well, it's not technically the house, it's what's inside the house."

"Hmm. And I presume that you two saw something there?" Twilight said. They both nodded. "Well what did you see?"

"You wanna go first or should Ah?" Applejack asked Rainbow. Rainbow sighed.

"You go first, AJ." Rainbow said.

"Alright then. Now, Twilight, what Ah'm about to tell you may sound like a joke or somethin', but Ah swear it's true." Applejack said. Twilight nodded, signifying for her to go on. "Me and Rainbow were racin' last night and we came across this house...this really old house. Maybe older than Ponyville. We both heard a scream come from inside...like the kinda scream that makes ya sick."

"What was it?" Twilight asked.

"Ah'm gettin' to that. Thinkin' that it was somepony in trouble, me and Rainbow ran inside. Ah went right and Rainbow went left. Ah went through the kitchen and checked a couple rooms. Ah heard someone cryin' so Ah checked it out but nothin' was there. As Ah left the room, the door leadin' to the back porch closed...by itself. After that, Ah was goin' back through the kitchen, the sink turned on by itself and all the cabinets opened by themselves too." Applejack put a forehoof to her head as she continued. "Then Ah heard this moanin'...this awful moanin'...and hoofsteps comin' down from those rooms toward the kitchen. They stopped before Ah saw anything. After that...the...chair at the dinin' room table came out by itself and somethin' sat in it, even though Ah couldn't see anything. Then somethin' whispered the words 'Join me.' in my ear. Ah broke the door down and ran to find Dash...your turn, sugarcube." Applejack said, choking back tears as she sat down.

Twilight attempted to process what Applejack had just told her. Her apple bucking friend had never been one to lie about anything at all, but even now hearing this from the honest mare it was hard to believe. Rainbow Dash cleared her throat and inhaled deeply, in an attempt to calm herself as she began her side of the experience.

"I went upstairs to check for the source of the scream. When I checked the rooms upstairs out, in one of them I saw a shadow...like there was something there in the dark. But we all know how when somepony gets nervous, they can start seeing things that aren't really there. So...I went into the last room and found this mare sitting there in the corner, just doing nothing. I asked if she was alright, but she never said anything. Then, out of the blue, this mare uh...kissed me. I don't know why." Rainbow said with a heavy blush. Twilight looked at Rainbow, raising an eyebrow in disbelief. "Then in an instant, she turned into a rotting corpse standing there. Its eyes were gone, and...and its flesh was rotting, and I could smell it too. So I, uh...ran out of the room and I found Applejack on the floor. Her throat...had been slit..." Twilight's eyes widened heavily as she looked at Applejack, who nodded at her.

"I tried to stop the bleeding, but it was useless. She died as I held her...Suddenly, Applejack comes up the stairs in front of me, absolutely fine. I looked down and I didn't see anything. Everything I thought I had seen...Applejack laying on the floor dying...It was an illusion." Rainbow said. "Now...I know how this sounds, Twilight..."

"Yeah, I know what this sounds like too." Twilight said with a small laugh. "I'll admit, you had me believing you, Applejack...but when Rainbow came in, I pretty much knew at that point. How'd you convince Applejack to lie, Rainbow?" Twilight asked the cyan pegasus jovially, who was immediately filled with rage.

"Are you kidding me?!" Rainbow said, standing up. "This isn't something I would joke about, Twilight! I thought Applejack was dead!" Applejack stopped Rainbow just as she started to yell. Spike walked into the room with a worried look on his face.

"Uhm...is everything okay here?" Spike asked. "Sorry to interrupt anything, but I heard yelling..."

"It's fine, Spike." Twilight said. "Just...go wait for me in the study." Spike nodded and quickly left the room. She turned and looked at Rainbow, whose eyes were brimming with tears. Applejack furrowed her eyebrows at Twilight.

"Twilight. We're telllin' the truth. Ah know for sure what happened to me happened. I'm not as sure about Rainbow Dash, but..." Applejack leaned in toward Twilight, who had raised her eyebrows in regret. The farm mare spoke, trying to contain her own anger. "Ah have never seen Rainbow as scared as she was last night. She was completely different than she ever was."

"I...I..." Twilight stuttered, feeling shame rise within her.

"We came here looking for your help." Rainbow Dash said, having regained control of herself. "Now I'm starting to wish we could find help somewhere else." Twilight immediately stood up.

"No, no I'm sorry." Twilight said. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know it was this serious...Please, forgive me." Rainbow and Applejack nodded at Twilight. They all sat down once more.

"So why exactly did you come to me?" Twilight asked.

"Twilight, what is in that house..." Rainbow said. "It's evil. It needs to be stopped before more ponies get hurt...We need to assemble the elements of harmony." Twilight widened her eyes.

"Is it truly that serious?" Twilight asked before putting a forehoof on her head. "Goddesses..." Rainbow leaned toward Twilight.

"Twilight, you don't understand..." Rainbow said. "I...held Applejack in my hooves as she died. I felt her blood on me...I...I..." Rainbow lowered her head for a moment. Applejack put a fore hoof on Rainbow's shoulder.

"It's okay, Dash." Applejack said. "Twi, what's in that house is powerful."

"I'll have to get the elements from Princess Celestia's castle, but that shouldn't be too hard." Twilight said. "You're both absolutely sure about this?" Both of the tired mares nodded.

"Okay, then." Twilight said. "I'll get the elements and you go let Pinkie, Rarity and Fluttershy know."

"It'll take a miracle to get Fluttershy into that place." Rainbow Dash said with a small laugh. "You know...with all the awful things I've seen in the past twenty-four hours...it feels wrong to laugh."

_____

"Oh, dear. That is awful." Rarity said after hearing the events that Applejack and Rainbow Dash endured. "I just...It's so hard to believe..."

"I know." Rainbow Dash said. "But it happened. I swear."

Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity had all gathered at Golden Oaks Library with the elements of harmony. They convened their meeting in the main atrium of the hollowed out tree as they discussed what to do about this rising menace.

"That's why we need alla y'all." Applejack said. "We need the elements together to try to wipe this...thing out."

"I'm in." Pinkie Pie immediately said with a serious look on her face, very much unlike the usual countenance of the bubbly party pony. "There's no way I'd let...whatever this is go on existing after what it did to the two of you."

"I'll be coming as well." Rarity said. "If what the two of you have told us is indeed true...Then this entity is too dangerous for us to just sit back here and do absolutely nothing." Twilight looked at Rarity and nodded.

"Thank you, Rarity." Twilight said before she looked at Fluttershy. "Fluttershy, you're the final piece of the puzzle. It won't work without you."

"I...I don't know..." Fluttershy said. "I mean...It's absolutely awful what happened to you two...but...I..." The timid Pegasus blushed heavily and closed her eyes, looking away.

"Fluttershy, come on." Pinkie Pie said putting a hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder. "Mare up. We've got to do this!" The timid mare looked up at the group. Crying, she spoke shakily.

"I...I just...Every time I think about going there...I get sick to my stomach..." Fluttershy said. "I hate being such a coward..." Rainbow Dash approached the crying pegasus at a slow walk.

"Go easy on her, Dash..." Applejack whispered, worry lacing her words.

Rainbow Dash wrapped Fluttershy into an embrace and held her there as she cried. This surprised the rest of the group, who had thought the headstrong pegasus was going to yell at Fluttershy. Rainbow held Fluttershy and stroked her mane slowly and comfortingly.

"I know...I know you're scared Fluttershy." Rainbow said with a sigh. "I'm scared too..."

"You're never scared of anything." Fluttershy said, muffled by Rainbow Dash's mane.

"That's not true anymore..." Rainbow whispered. The statement was painful for the prideful pegasus to say, but it was true, and she had to try to inspire her friend in some way. She sighed heavily and continued to stroke Fluttershy's mane. "I know you're scared, Flutters...but I'm asking you...please...come with us. We can't do it without you." Fluttershy inhaled deeply as she nodded.

"Okay...I'll do it." Fluttershy said, wiping her eyes. "It would be selfish to refuse." Rainbow nodded at Fluttershy, smiling.

"Thank you." Rainbow said.

"Alright." Twilight said. "Here are the elements. We've still got at least two more hours of daylight. We should get moving." The six friends left the library and stood, preparing themselves.

"Let's go." Applejack said as she got onto Rainbow Dash's back. "Time to end this, Dash." Applejack said, Rainbow Dash nodding at her. Pinkie Pie got onto Twilight's back and Rarity got onto Fluttershy's before they took off into flight toward the house. Not many words were spoken among the three solemn friends on the way, as none of them felt like making idle conversation with each other on the way to such a grim place. Before long, with Rainbow and Applejack's direction, they arrived at the abandoned, broken down house. A general intimidation spread throughout the mares as they looked on at what they were all sure was a deathtrap.

"Okay..." Twilight said with a sigh. "Looks like we're here. Rainbow, Applejack, before we go in, would you like to advise us on anything?"

"Yeah, Ah would." Applejack said. "No matter what ya see or hear, do not panic. So far, neither me or Rainbow have been physically harmed by this thing so if ya see or hear somethin' that doesn't sit right with ya, ignore it and stay focused on the group."

"If you see anything that could even begin to be considered out of the ordinary, do not trust it whatever it is. This thing...plays games with your mind. It makes you see and hear and even feel things that aren't really there." Rainbow said. "Don't let it break you...Like I let it break me."

"It's okay, Dash." Applejack said, putting a forehoof on Rainbow's shoulder. "It's okay, ya didn't know..."

"But I'm glad you're all here!" Rainbow said suddenly and angrily. "Because I'm mad as hay, and I want some payback!"

"Alright, everypony." Twilight said. "Take your elements." The six friends put their elements on and stood together, looking at the house.

"Stay together, no matter what happens." Rainbow Dash uttered as they began to approach the house. Fluttershy whimpered quietly as she became less and less assured the closer they got. The house loomed over the six of them like a monster about to devour its prey. It silently cursed at them and began heavily grinding down on all of their nerves. Rainbow and Applejack in particular had at least some semblance of an idea of what to expect from the awful house and did not want to go through what they did again. Twilight pushed the door open, the hinges giving off that terrible squealing that was still fresh on Rainbow and Applejack's minds.

Twilight Sparkle looked back at Rainbow Dash and Applejack, the bravest of the six of them. Both of them looked fearful of the place they were entering. This instilled an uneasiness within the princess that made her slightly sick to her stomach.

"I don't think...I can do this." Fluttershy whispered to Rarity, who walked beside her. "But I don't want to leave you all..." Rarity placed a foreleg around Fluttershy's shoulders and shushed her soothingly.

"It's alright dear." Rarity said with a smile before looking up at the main atrium, her smile fading away into a frown of apprehension. "Everything's going to be...fine...I'm...here..."

"Where is it?" Pinkie Pie whispered to Rainbow Dash, who looked at the party pony.

"I don't know." Rainbow Dash said. "It messed with Applejack downstairs and messed with me upstairs...It could be anywhere."

"I don't like this..." Rarity said, shuddering violently as she walked through a spider's web. "How long do we have to be here?"

"Until this entity reveals itself." Twilight said. "We'll all wait here until it does."

"It might only come out at night." Pinkie Pie said. "That's when you and Applejack first met it...at night, right?"

"Yeah." Rainbow Dash said. "Twilight she may have a point. What if it does only reveal itself at night?"

"Then we'll wait until night." Twilight responded. "I don't intend to let...whatever this thing is continue to exist after what it did to the two of you. If it did it to you guys, it'd do it to anypony."

The interior of the house, admittedly, looked more inviting in the light of day, with the light of the setting sun playing off the old, deteriorating furniture and architecture to make it look simply like an old house.

That is, until they all began to hear the whispering.

Indiscernible whispering echoed throughout the house, seemingly from different areas of the building. It came and went, seemingly with the wind.

"A-...Are the rest of you hearing this?" Rarity asked, her eyes widening.

"Yeah..." Rainbow said. "Stay together!" The six friends moved closer to one another, preparing themselves. The daylight outside the house began to fade at an accelerated rate, making the house become darker and darker by the second. No moonlight showed with this unnatural darkness, proving to make the house more and more frightening. The mares struggled to see as a small nightstand flew from the floor across the room, making Fluttershy cry out in fear.

"Where are you?!" Twilight Sparkle nearly screamed. "Show yourself, you coward!"

"I don't think it's going to listen to you, Twilight!" Rarity said before letting out a screech of fear, feeling her mane get pulled and let go.

"Are you okay?!" Pinkie Pie cried. Rarity nodded.

"Yes, I'm fine." Rarity said, breathing deeply. "It just...pulled my mane." A chair began dragging across the floor before their eyes, tearing the rotted top layer of the wood floor off with it. Applejack's stomach sunk as she attempted to stand tall, but she could not help but shrink back in fright as a loud slamming noise came from the kitchen area, where her first terror took place. Everything that was moving stopped as well as the whispering, causing a certain uneasiness to fall over the group.

"I d-don't want to do this anymore..." Fluttershy whispered through her tears. "I-I wanna g-go home."

"Not until we finish this!" Rainbow Dash said. "Not until its done!"

"For all we know it's done right now." Applejack said. "All the stuff stopped movin' and Ah can't hear that whisperin' anymore."

"Me neither." Pinkie Pie said with a small smile. "Maybe it's gone."

"If it's gone, then why is it still dark?" Twilight said. "I don't think we're out of this-"

She was interrupted by heavy hoof falls coming from the dark in front of them. Slowly they came forward as the six friends steeled themselves for whatever horror they could possibly encounter. Forward came the corpse. The same corpse that had assaulted Rainbow Dash. It's head was lowered as it lurched toward the three of them. The cyan pegasus gasped in fear and backed up a step before sighing and straightening herself to face it.

"What do you want?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Why are you doing this?"

Slowly it came, not answering their question, jerking about and swaying as if it didn't know what to do. Its exposed joints popped with every movement it made. The profound stench of decay filled the room, nauseating the six mares standing before it. It slowly raised its head, the individual cracked vertebrae in it's neck making a sickening crackling noise. It stared at them with its empty eye sockets, a strange dim light coming from the very back of them. It slowly opened what was left of its torn mouth and let out a scream.

The screech was deafening, so loud the six mares standing before the corpse stumbled back, groaning in pain. Accompanying the scream was what sounded like a thousand loud voices speaking at one time. Every object in the room began to get thrown about wildly, creating a dangerous chaos in the room.

"Use your elements! NOW!" Twilight yelled. The five necklaces and tiara began to glow with magical power as the six friends floated into the air together. "You, spirit of malice and hate! You, terror to the innocent and bane of peace! The power of friendship and unity is the ultimate key to stopping your reign, which ends here!" A beam of light flashed from the six mares and flew straight into the entity, which continued to scream, uninterrupted. The bearers of the elements of harmony touched down upon the ground, now hopeless in the face of this manifestation of terror.

"What do we do now?!" Rarity screeched. Twilight, too stunned that the elements of harmony were useless against the spirit, stood wide eyed and spellbound.

"We're going to die!" Pinkie Pie cried in fear.

"Like hay we are!" Rainbow Dash said before slamming her shoulder into the front door of the house. "Applejack! Help me!" The farm mare jumped into action and began to buck the door in time with Rainbow's slams. It didn't move an inch but that didn't stop them from trying.

"We...We can't stop it..." Twilight muttered to herself, looking at her friends. Rainbow and Applejack continued in vain to slam into the door. Rarity and Pinkie Pie held Fluttershy, who was in hysterics and cried together. "We..can't..."

"What the hay are you all doing?!" Rainbow Dash cried before slamming into the door again. "Help us!" Pinkie Pie and Rarity moved quickly to the door, Pinkie Pie assisting with the bucking and Rarity assisting with blasts of magic. Fluttershy continued to cry by herself, mentally shutting down where she stood.

"Stop..." Twilight said before snapping out of her stupor. "Stop!"

"What?! Why?!" Rainbow Dash said, momentarily stopping her slamming.

"It's no use!" Twilight said, tears brimming in her eyes. "Don't you think you would have knocked that door down by now?"

"What do you plan to do, huh?!" Rainbow yelled. "Just sit back and have us die without even trying?! How about helping here?!"

"Because you're all just killing yourselves!" Twilight said. "We're not getting out of here, can't you see that?!"

"Buck that!" Rainbow Dash cried. "There's no way I'm just giving up!"

"Maybe she's right, Rainbow Dash!" Rarity said, tears falling from her eyes. "We're trapped!"

"We've gotta try!" Applejack said. "Ah have to get back to my family!"

"That's reason enough for me!" Rainbow Dash said as she prepared to slam into the door again.

As Fluttershy cried, a candlestick flew across the room, striking her in the head, causing the yellow Pegasus to pitch forward completely limp. Rainbow's stomach dropped as only she witnessed this, her eyes widening and her pupils shrinking to pinpricks. Tears flooded her eyes as she looked at the entity floating in the middle of the atrium in rage. Rainbow Dash let out a cry of fury as she shot toward it at full speed.

"Rainbow?! What are you doing?!" Twilight screamed.

As Rainbow hit it dead on, the entity disappeared completely, and the voices stopped completely. The light of the setting sun flashed through the windows and the door broke off it's hinges as Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rarity hit it once more. They all looked at each other with glee before crying out in happiness.

"I can't believe we did it!" Applejack cried. "Ah can't wait to get home and see my family!"

"It's all thanks to Rainbow Dash!" Twilight said.

"Oh, I'm so happy, I could-" Rarity began but stopped short of finishing her sentence. "Fluttershy!" Rarity ran over to the pegasus, still laying limp on the ground. Rarity looked her over and sighed in relief. "I've got a pulse! She's unconscious, but she's alive."

"Ah didn't even see her!" Applejack said in worry as she lifted her friend onto her back. Pinkie Pie ran to Applejack's side and adjusted Fluttershy's body to where it wouldn't fall off as they rushed to the hospital.

"We've got to get her to the hospital! Come on!" Twilight yelled. "Rainbow Dash! Let's go!" They began to leave the house before Twilight turned around once more. "Rainbow Dash! Come on!" Twilight was filled with dread when she saw Rainbow Dash on the ground, convulsing. Her eyes rolled back into her head as blood poured from her nose.

"Girls! Come back!" Twilight screamed. "Rainbow Dash is down!"

Obligatory End-of-Chapter Author's Note: OOOOHHHH!!!! What is happening to Rainbow Dash?! We'll be finding out in the next chapter, that is for sure. Or maybe we won't?! Ahh, we'll see. Ah well. Cheers!