The Grace Children Get Acquainted With Their New Home
My name is Arther Spiderwick. Many years ago, I discovered an unseen world in the woods surrounding my home. Fascinated, I began to study and document these magical creatures, some friendly, while others, less so… Little did I know that my efforts contained in this field guide would be my own undoing.
Years later, my niece, Helen Grace, moved to my estate after a bitter divorce. She unwittingly brought her children into a world both fantastical, and dangerous. Hopefully they would not befall the same fate as me, and my daughter Lucy.
First off, there was Malory, a tough, strong dark brown unicorn with the ability to attack with words as well as her sword. Her special talent lays with her sword fighting abilities, and so two steel cutlasses lay crossed on her flank. Next were the twins; gentle Simon, who inherited my love of animals and mechanics and bore the emblem of a magnifying glass in front of a clear jar, and Jared, who was furious at his father’s betrayal. He got my brash tendency to act before thinking, as well as my insatiable curiosity. Jared has not earned an emblem, and is still searching for what he truly wants to do in life. The twins were both light brown Pegasi, and one of the few things they shared was their love of flying.
My descendant’s arrival at my estate will most likely stir up some intriguing things in the future, and I hope with all my heart that they will all stay safe.
The Ponywick Chronicles
Chapter One
In which the Grace children get acquainted with their new home.
"It was more like a dozen shacks."
If anyone had ever asked Jared Grace what he thought kind of things his brother and sister would be doing when they grew up, he would automatically know what he would say. His twin brother Simon would no doubt be tending and caring for animals, working in a nature sanctuary, or even as a biologist, discovering new or undocumented species. His older sister Malory in his opinion could possibly either be one of Celestia’s finest royal guards, or in jail for stabbing somepony with her sword. But Jared had no idea what he would do when he was older. Not that anyone asked. Not that anypony ever had asked his opinion before.
Take this old, ‘new house’ for example. After seeing the house and the state it was in, Jared squeezed his blue eyes and tried to make his vision go blurry, as if that alone could improve the building that he and his family would be living in for who knows how long.
“It’s a shack!” His sister Malory said as she levitated her belongings out of the wagon. She flipped her long wavy mane out of her eyes with a huff. The house wasn’t just a shack though; it was more like several dozen shacks heaped together. Several chimneys perforated the roof like sore hooves, and the whole thing was encircled by a rusted iron fence that rested on top of the house like a particularly garish hat.
“It’s not so bad,” their mother, a slate grey unicorn with piercing blue eyes said with a smile that only seemed a tiny bit forced. “It’s old, that’s all.”
Simon, Jared’s identical twin, didn’t actually look all that unhappy. He was most likely thinking about how he could turn all of his personal space into an animal habitat. Actually, considering what he’d packed into their tiny room in Manehatten, it would take a lot of rabbits, hedgehogs, or whatever it was that lived here to completely satisfy his brother.
“Has your mind run away from you?” Simon called out. “Come on Jared!” Jared realized that while he had been staring at the house, the rest of his family had already crossed the sagging threshold in front of the door, and he was standing on the withered front lawn all by himself. Quickly spreading his wings, Jared flew over to the front door.
The door in question was a faded grey color, and worn with age. Only a few scraps of paint could be seen stuck in the crevices and hinges, and it only gave the door the appearance of rusting. An intricate bronze doorknocker was hung from a thick nail, and didn’t look all that impressive.
Their mother levitated a jagged key into the lock, turned it, and turned the door handle with a small stream of chocolate-colored magic. It swung inward and revealed a dim, dusty hallway. There was only one visable window, but it was located halfway up the stairs. Red light filtered through its pieces of stained glass, giving the room an eerie feel.
“This place is just like I remember!” Jared’s mom said with a smile, to which Malory replied, “Only crappier.” She sighed but didn’t otherwise respond. All four of them headed through the hall and into a kitchen. The plaster ceiling was cracked in several places and half-melted candles sat on a dusty chandelier.
“Why don’t you three start bringing your stuff in from the cart?” their mother asked.
“Into here?” Jared asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yes into here.” Their mother levitated and then dropped her suitcases onto the table, ignoring the small explosion of dust. “If your great aunt Lucinda hadn’t let us stay, I don’t know where we would have gone. We should all be grateful!” None of them said anything. Try as he might, Jared didn’t feel anything that might even begin to be described as grateful. Ever since their dad had moved out, everyone’s lives had taken a turn for the worse. He’d messed up at school, and the slowly fading bruise under the fur on his left eye wouldn’t allow him to forget it anytime soon. This place though – this place was the worst yet.
“Jared,” His mother said as he turned to follow Simon out to unload the cart.
“What?”
His mother waited until the other two were down the hall before she said anything. “This is a chance to start over… for all of us. Okay?”
Jared nodded grudgingly. He felt no reason to have her say the rest of it – that the only reason he hadn’t gotten kicked out of middle school was because they were moving anyway. It was just another reason why he was supposed to be grateful, only he wasn’t.
{0-o-0-O-0-o-0}
Out in the front of the house, Malory was piling the suitcases next to their cart. “I heard she’s starving herself to death.”
“Aunt Lucinda? She’s just old,” said Simon. “Old and crazy.”
Malory slowly shook her head. “I heard mom on the phone. She was telling uncle Terrance that Aunt Lucy thinks that little men come in the night and bring her food.”
“Well what do you expect? She’s in the nuthouse!” Jared said, walking up to his brother and sister.
Malory went on like she hadn’t heard him. She told her doctors that the food she got was better than any that they would ever taste.”
“Oh, come off it. You’re making this stuff up.” Simon flew up and into the back of the cart and opened one of his suitcases.
“Well if she dies,” Malory continued. “Then somepony else will inherit this junkyard and we’ll all have to move again.”
“Maybe we can go back to the city!” Jared said, perking his ears up and smiling.
Fat chance bro,” Simon said before pulling out a pair of knotted tube socks with a hole in them. “Oh no! Jeffrey and Lemondrop have gotten loose!”
“Mom told you not to bring those mice Simon!” Mallory said with a small smirk. “She said that you could have normal animals now.”
“If I had let them go, they could have gotten stuck in a glue trap or something!” Simon turned the sock inside out and peered through the hole. “Besides, you got to bring all your fencing junk!”
“It’s not junk,” Malory growled. “And, it’s not alive!”
“Will you two just shut up?!” Jared said angrily, pushing Malory and Simon apart.
“Just because you got one black eye doesn’t mean I can’t give you another one!” Malory shouted, pushing Jared away from herself. She shoved a heavy suitcase toward him with her magic, knocking the breath out of him, and then turned to walk back inside the house. "Carry that if you’re so tough!”
After managing to lug the suitcase inside, Jared dropped it onto the table. He knew that someday he’d be bigger and stronger than Mal, when she wasn’t thirteen and he wasn’t nine, it was hard to picture.
Figuring it was time to explore the rest of the house, Jared walked through an adjourning hallway by the kitchen and looked around. Some empty shelves here, an old piano there, a weird looking chandelier, some bookcases. It was basically just an old, dusty house with nothing interesting to be found.
Not noticing his current surroundings, Jared noticed the complete silence filling the house. “Mom?” He called out, but his voice sounded tiny even to him. Peering into an empty hallway, Jared swept his head back and forth searching for anything familiar. His own hoofsteps echoed back to him as he walked and he felt completely and utterly alone.
Something moved in one of the walls, and Jared flinched backward, his focus completely aimed at where the noise had originated. Nothing. Tentatively walking toward the wall, Jared gave it a small tap with his hoof.
Something tapped back.
Jason jumped back, but then he went forward to give the wall two taps, a pause, and then three. Now he was interested.
'Tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap.
"Cool! I have to go tell Simon and Malory!" He ran towards an open window and flew out. Shaking his head to get his thoughts together, he held a hoof up to his eyes to scope out the building. Jared saw something move in one of the upstairs windows, and banked so he hovered outside it. After knocking on the glass, His brother Simon opened the window and helped Jared climb in.
Simon was balancing a mason jar on his back, and on closer inspection, there were two small brown mice huddled up inside. Malory was standing behind Simon scowling at him, and Jason tried to break the ice a little by telling them that he had heard something in the walls.
“It was probably just a squirrel though…” Jared admitted.
“A squirrel? In the walls?” Simon questioned, turning to stare at the peeling wallpaper. “I’ve always wanted a squirrel!”
Other than Simon’s interest in finding a squirrel, nopony seemed interested in what he thought he had heard, so he didn’t bring it back up later. But as he brought his suitcase to the dining room, Jared couldn’t stop thinking about their tiny apartment back in Manehatten and how his family had fallen apart after his parent’s divorce. He wished that this was just some sort of crummy vacation and not real life.
The Walls Are Explored By Vastly Different Methods
Chapter two
In which the walls are explored by vastly different methods
Leaks in the roof had completely deteriorated the floors in all but three of the upstairs bedrooms. Their mother got one, Malory got the next, and the twins had been forced to share the last one.
After they were all completely unpacked, Simon’s side of the bedroom was filled with glass tanks of all shapes and sizes. A few held fish, but the rest were occupied with mice, lizards, and plenty of other critters that Simon had confined to mud filled cages. Their mother had allowed everything but his two mice, which Simon had smuggled anyway.
Their cries and small noises that they constantly made had kept Jared up late into the night, and the pegasis was tossing and turning restlessly. Over and over on the lumpy mattress, re-adjust the pillow, move around and try again. Hours passed, and sleep still eluded him. He didn’t really mind sharing a room with his brother, but sharing a room with hoards of animals that squeaked, rustled, and scratched was more eerie than sleeping alone. It made him think about that thing in the walls. He’d shared a room with Simon back in the city, but the animals had all been drowned out by the city noises. Here, nothing was familiar.
Breaking him out of his thoughts, the hinges to Jared’s bedroom door gave out a loud ‘creak,’ startling him enough to make his wings shoot out and send him into the ceiling. After banging his head, Jared looked down at his sister Malory giving him a small smile.
“Can’t sleep?” She asked. Jared nodded and slowly dropped to the bedroom floor. “I think I heard your squirrel.” Jared raised an eyebrow and then looked over at Simon, who was sawing logs in his sleep.
“Come on Jared, it’s not like that thing is going to wait for us, right?” Malory motioned him out of the doorway and then started walking down the hall towards the stairs. Jared walked over to Simon and started prodding his shoulder with a fore hoof.
“Simon, wake up!” Jared whispered. After getting no response, he started tickling him with a wing. “New pet Simon, new pet! Wake up!” Simon finally woke up at the mention of animals, and after a hushed conversation, followed Jared and Malory to the kitchen.
“Mom said that she was going into town for some milk and cereal and that I’m supposed to look after you two. We don’t have much time before she gets back, ok?” Malory led them both into the back corner of the kitchen.
As soon as they had entered the room, the three Grace children had immediately noticed the sounds of something stirring in the walls. Occasionally, there was a sound like scratching, or even small footsteps under the floor, in the ceiling, and in the walls. The sound grew louder when they all got closer to the kitchen sink. The remains of last night’s dinner lay encrusted on a pan in the sink.
“I think it’s right there. Listen!” The kitchen went dead silent. Malory levitated a small but sturdy broom over, lighting up the room with her blue magic. “I’m going to try knocking open the wall.”
“Are you serious?” Simon asked, grabbing the broom from her. “I’m pretty sure mom will notice a gaping hole in the wall!”
“In this old house? Not likely,” Jared quipped, then snatched the broom from his brother. “Do it Malory.” He handed the broom back to her.
Malory nodded and then swung. The broom blew through the thin plaster, shooting white dust all over her, settling in her fur and mane almost making Malory look like a ghost. Jared looked into the hole and felt the fur on the back of his neck stand up. Wads of fabric lined a small box in the wall, and there was a small assortment of odds and ends clustered inside.
The remains of some tattered curtains sat in one corner, and tattered silk and lace sat in a jumbled heap. There were strands of cockroaches strung on the back wall like garlands, and a decapitated doll’s head on a jam lid. There were some tin soldiers with melted wings and faces lined up in ranks like some kind of fallen battlement of Royal Guards. Jagged shards of a mirror glittered from where they had been glued to the wall with ancient gum.
Malory looked a little closer and then levitated out a silver fencing medal. “This is mine…” She started.
“The squirrel probably just took it,” Simon suggested.
“No, this is too weird.” Jared said.
“A mare from down the street had a pair of ferrets as pets, and they were always stealing and hiding her figurines and stuff,” Simon interjected. “And besides, lots of other animals like to take shiny things.”
“But look Simon,” Jared said pointing at the strung up cockroaches. “What kind of ferret strings up bugs like its Hearthswarming?”
Malory shrugged and then started to sweep the junk out with a hoof. “Let’s clear some of this stuff out of here. Maybe if it doesn’t have a nest, then it will leave the house.”
Jared hesitated. He didn’t want to feel around inside the ‘nest,’ like, what if the animal was sitting in a dark corner and attacks? Jared didn’t know much, but he did know that squirrels weren’t normally this creepy. “I don’t think we should be doing this.”
Malory ignored him as she started dragging over a large trash can. Simon started pulling out wads of the musty cloth. “There’s no droppings either. How weird…” He dropped the cloths into the garbage bin and then pulled out some of the tin soldiers. “Hey, these are actually pretty cool! Right Jared?”
Jared agreed with him by nodding his head. “They’d be better with faces and wings though.”
Simon set the soldiers on the counter and then turned back to the nest. “Hey, have either of you seen an animal like this before?” Jared asked. “I mean, some of this stuff looks really old. Maybe the squirrel is as crazy as Aunt Lucy.”
“Yeah,” Simon said with a grin. “This squirrel must be real nutty!”
Malory groaned, rolling her eyes, then suddenly went silent. “I hear it again.”
“Huh?” Jared whispered.
“Quiet!” Simon hushed.
“We’re being quiet,” Malory hissed back.
“Shush,” Jared said.
The three of them snuck over to where the sound was coming from, just as the noise itself changed. Instead of hearing the small clatter of little claws scrabbling on wood, they could clearly hear the scrape of nails on metal.
“Look,” Simon said, leaning down to point out a small sliding door set into the wall.
“It’s a dumbwaiter,” Malory explained in a hushed voice. “Servants used to send trays of food and stuff upstairs. There must be another door like this in one of the bedrooms.”
“That thing sounds like it’s in the shaft,” Jared said.
Malory tried climbing into the box. “It’s too small for me. One of you is going to have to go.”
Simon looked at her skeptically. “But what if the ropes holding this thing up aren’t good anymore?”
“It would only be a short fall,” Malory said, causing both twins to look at her in astonishment.
Jared shook his head and started climbing in. “I guess I’ll go up then.” Jared felt pleased to have found something that Malory couldn’t do.
The inside of the dumbwaiter was dirty and smelled of aged wood. Jared sat on his back legs and scrunched his fore legs into his chest with his wings pressed flat against his sides. He fit, but just barely.
“Is the squirrel still even in the shaft?” Simon questioned, his voice sounding tiny and distant through the closed door.
“I can’t tell,” Jared answered softly, listening to the echoes of his words. “I can’t hear anything.”
Malory started pulling the rope, sending the dumbwaiter upwards with a jolt.
“Can you see anything yet?” She asked after a while of moving the dumbwaiter.
“No!” Jared called out. He could hear the scratching noise, but it was still distant. “Besides, it’s completely pitch black in here!”
Jared stopped moving with a noise that sounded like wood grinding against metal. “That’s as far as it goes!” Malory called out.
Jared looked out of the small metal box and into what looked like a small library. He un-crammed himself from the small space and into the unfamiliar room.
He suddenly had no idea where he was.
