Ponyville Paranormal Society

Rainbow Dash and Twilight’s heads began to spin as the two landed on the marble floor. They ran at full swing out of the stairway door into something firm about their size. Rainbow opened her eyes and the world seemed to be spinning at a rapid pace. It took a few seconds before her vision regained back to normal. ‘What was it we ran into?’ Rainbow thought. ‘It felt as if it was another pony…?’

Her vision came back when she looked up to see a familiar orange mare with a Stetson hat and three apples on her flank. Rainbow was about to jump over to her friend but after she remembered what she saw in the upstairs closet, she wasn’t sure if this was Applejack at all. She quickly swooped up still disoriented Twilight and took a few paces back standing in front of her. The orange being shook her head, stood up slowly and looked straight at them. Her eyes grew wide and a smile came across her face as she recognized who they were.

“Twilight! Rainbow! Boy ‘m Ah glad ta see…”

“Stay back!” Rainbow shouted.

“Rainbow it’s me, yer buddy Applejack.”

“How would I know? And why is there blood all over you?”

Applejack stared at her hooves and followed the traces of blood splatters up to her chest. “Ah tried to save this guard… He was bleedin’ awful bad…”

“How can I believe that? After what I’ve seen upstairs, I’m not sure I can believe anything anymore!”

“Rainbow Dash it’s me!” Applejack shouted. Worry flooded her eyes; afraid of what her friend might do.

“Rainbow, that’s really Applejack!” Twilight shouted from behind her.

“How do I know you’re not just another one of them things pretending to be you like earlier?”

“’Cause Ah know you Rainbow. You’re the greatest flyer in all of Equestria. You won the Greatest Young Flyer’s competition last year. You love the Wonderbolts and train everyday to hopefully become one of them one day. Ah’m yer best friend Rainbow…” A tear fell down her cheek. She felt nothing but heartbroken that her own friend doesn’t even believe that she’s Applejack.

Rainbow’s muscles loosened up as she realized. She noticed a tear falling down her friend’s cheek. “Applejack I’m… I’m so sorry… I don’t know why I did that…”

Applejack didn’t seem to care, for she ran straight to her friends and wrapped her forehooves around them in a tight embrace.

“I’m sorry Applejack, I didn’t know it was you.” She sniffed.

“It’s alright. You were just tryin’ to protect Twilight and you. Ah would’ve done the same thing.” Applejack reassured her.

They held each other for a few more minutes before Applejack let go. She turned more serious as she began looking around them.

“All’s too quiet ‘round here.” She said.

Twilight noticed too. “Maybe it’s over?” She suggested.

Applejack shook her head. “Naw. It’s way too quiet ‘specially if this place is this active. I think it’s far from over.”

“Then we need to get out of here before anything else happens.” Rainbow said. AJ and Twilight nodded as they turned and ran for the front main doors.

Applejack reached them first and turned the large handles with no luck. She took a breath before continuing. No matter how much force she exerted onto the handles, they wouldn’t open.

“Ah can’t get ‘em open!” She grunted. “It feels like somethin’s holding ‘em steady!”

All three turned around as they heard another evil demonic laughter emanate throughout the main hallway.

“I’ve had enough of this crap!” Rainbow said as she pulled out her remaining voice recorder. She turned it on and began recording.

“Whoever just laughed, we heard you. Are you a demon or a spirit?”

She waited a few moments with no response heard with their own ears. “Time to play it back.” She rewound the recorder as Applejack and Twilight placed their ears near it as it played.

“Whoever just laughed, we heard you. Are you a demon or a spirit?” A few second passed before heavy breathing was heard on the recorder and a low deep throat laugh. “Demon.”

“Demon! It’s said demon!” Rainbow half shouted.

“Rainbow…” Twilight was cut off.

“I knew we were dealing with a demon! We need to get out of here before it comes after us!”

“Rainbow?!” Twilight shouted.

“What?”

“Listen… do you hear that?” She asked as distant chanting was heard as they guessed near the Princess’s Quarters. Many more voices gathered as they became louder and more distinct.

“That’s demonic chantin’. It definitely ain’t speakin’ our language. We’re definitely dealing with more than one demon here ladies.” Applejack stated.

“Look over there.” Twilight said as she pointed to several dozen shadows moving through the hallway into other rooms.
“Those are Shadow Ponies. I hope they don’t see us. Who knows what they'll do.” She added as she began to shake uncontrollably.

“Girls, get in a circle.” Applejack ordered as she pulled a medium sized can from her vest pouch. She began pouring it around them.

“AJ, what is that?” Rainbow asked nervously.

“This is salt blessed by Reverend Cross. Since Granny Smith discovered th’ Zap apples, all sorts a’ creatures began showin up ‘round our farm. So they had salt blessed by th’ local Reverend ever since and poured it ‘round the farm’s perimeter to keep out unwanted and evil entities. It works, but it depends on how powerful they are.” Applejack explained as she finished her circle.

“So a little salt circle’s gonna keep us safe?” Rainbow asked in disbelief.

“Now it’s not. Which is why we need to recite Celestia’s Prayer to help protect us.

Rainbow and Twilight nodded. They sat on their haunches and held each others’ hooves in a circle and began to recite the prayer:

“By the power of Celestia Harmony will keep us safe

Nothing evil will make us break

For peace and harmony is what we seek

Evil and chaos it will not peak

With our hooves and thoughts joined together

The evil within will surly weather"

As they began to recite again, the castle walls started to shake. The louder they shouted the prayer, the more violent the shaking was. The chanting heard within the hallway started to become louder and more aggressive. Soon after, a wind was blowing through the hallway, tossing the salt within and circulating throughout the hallway. All three ponies were completely terrified but did not break.

A loud bang was heard behind them. As they turned, they saw the main castle doors wide open.

“This is our chance!” Twilight shouted over the noises. They nodded as they all stood to their hooves and darted for the doors.

They expected the doors to shut once they were a few hooves away from them but they were proven wrong as a force seemed to shove them out. They were flung through the air and landed on the path at the bottom of the hill.

They stood back on their hooves and turned to see a creature similar in shape of a pony but malformed and disfigured. Its red eyes glared into their eyes as if it was staring straight into their souls. It began to move rather quickly down the path toward them.

“Run!” Applejack shouted, “Don’t look back!”

Without second thoughts, the three turned around and darted down the rest of the hill. A loud ear-piercing scream echoed through the late moon filled night.

As soon as they entered the downtown area, Applejack spoke again:

“Don’t… stop runnin’. Keep goin’ ‘till… the train station.” She said through breaths.

As they ran through the streets of Canterlot, Twilight noticed that the usual crowded streets were empty. Not a pony in sight. Even at this hour, the citizens of the royal town usually frolic through these streets, but not tonight. Something wasn’t right. She shook off the thoughts and kept focus on getting to the station.

After a few minutes, they make it to the train station. Twilight runs to the ticket booth and is greeted by a rather bored looking stallion.

“Good early morning. What can I help you with?” He says flatly.

“Three tickets to Ponyville, quickly!” Twilight almost shouted, making the stallion jump back a little.

“Uh okay…?” He says as he reaches for the newly printed train tickets. “Three tickets to Ponyville. That’ll be thirty bits.”

Twilight reaches into her vest and throws all she had onto the counter.

“Woah Miss, uh, it’s only thirty bits. You just handed me fifty.”

“Keep the change.” She replied and grabbed the tickets.

“Uh thank you Miss! The train should be arriving any second.”

As the stallion said, the train arrived a few seconds later. Applejack turned and tipped her hat at him. She noticed he wore a questioning expression on his face as he exited the booth and trotted to them.

“Little filly with the hat. What is that all over your face and hooves? It looks all red.”

“It’s uh…” Applejack stammered. She was stuck. As the Element of Honesty, she knew she couldn’t tell a lie.

“We ran into some punk little colts who decided to prank us with paint filled water balloons.” Rainbow interrupted, hoping it worked.

“Huh. Well this town has been plagued by pranksters lately. I’m sorry I invaded your privacy Ma’am.” He apologized.

“It’s alright. Y’all have a good night.” Applejack replied.

“Thank you, you too ladies. Have a safe trip!”

They waved goodbye as they boarded the train. Once inside, they walked to the last car and noticed it was secluded.

“Ah’m gonna wash up. It’s gonna be a long trip so you girls make yourselves comfortable. Ah’ll be right back.” Applejack said as she left and walked into the washroom.

Twilight and Rainbow slumped down into the seats and sighed heavily.

“I can’t believe what just happened tonight.” Rainbow said through closed eyes.

“Me neither. Rainbow you know we left all the equipment there right?” Twilight asked

Rainbow nodded. “I don’t care. As long as we got out of there, I don’t care what happens to all that equipment. I don’t know about you Twilight but I’m never going to do this ghost hunting shit ever again for as long as I live. I’ve never been so scared in my life and I rarely ever get scared.”

“Agreed.” Twilight said, resting her hooves on her eyes.

About ten minutes later, the door to the restroom opened and Applejack sat next on the empty seat in front of Rainbow and Twilight.

“It took forever, but Ah got cleaned up.” She stated. She turned her head and watched Canterlot disappear through the mountain pass. A few minutes passed before she spoke again. “Ah’m never doin’ this stuff again. Ah’m done.” Twilight and Rainbow just nod their heads in agreement.

“So what y’all do when Ah left the Princess’s Quarters?” She asked.

Twilight sat straight and looked out the window. “Well we just waited for you to come back. But until we heard somepony screaming our names, we ran out.

Applejack sighed and closed her eyes. “That was me.”

“What all happened?” Rainbow asked.

She swallowed. “After that loud bang, Ah left the room to see what could’ve caused it. Ah ended up at base camp and saw that everythin’ was all destroyed. The monitors, the lights, everythin. Then Ah started an EVP recordin’ to see if Ah could ask whatever it was to tell me why it destroyed our equipment. Ah heard a growl behind me so Ah tried to see what it was but couldn’t find anythin’ abnormal. A few seconds later, the door behind me opened and one of the royal guards said he was ordered by the Princess to check up on us. Ah tried to tell him ‘bout all the stuff we were experiencing but he wouldn’t listen.” Tears began to roll down her cheeks. “Then all of a sudden he starts chokin’. He turns and it looked as if somethin’ or somepony was chokin’ him. Somethin’ lifts him up in th’ air and slams him against the wall. Ah take a few steps forward and then a cut appears slowly across his neck. He drops down an’ Ah tried all Ah could to make the bleedin’ stop but it just kept comin’. That’s when Ah shouted for y’all to come help. And Ah think that he whispered ‘help me’. After that, he just gets dragged into the stairway. I dropped everythin’ Ah had and went on after him.”

“We saw all that on the video tape. It cuts out after it shows us running down the hallway.” Twilight said.

Applejack nods as she wipes her eyes. “Ah climb the stairs onto the second floor and when Ah got through the door way, all Ah saw was… blood. Blood was everywhere. And in the middle was the body of the guard. Ah ran up to him and Ah knew by lookin’ at him he was long gone. But Ah looked into his eyes but there weren’t any eyes there. It was just black. Then Ah saw them flash red. Ah’ve never been as scared in all my days as Ah was right then. So Ah ran down the hall and tried to search for you two. Ah ended up on the first floor again near the base camp. Ah don’t know how Ah ended up there but when Ah turned to go back up the stairs, we ran into each other. And the rest is history.” As she finished, she began to sob uncontrollably. Twilight and Rainbow sat on each side of her to comfort their friend. Whatever happened tonight would forever be seared into their memory.

***************

After twenty minutes, the crew fell asleep. They stayed up a long grueling night and rest was much needed.

The first bump woke all three ponies. As Rainbow yawned, she looked at the clock. It read 3:25. The second bump about a minute later began to spread concern throughout the gang.

“Uh this is the conductor speaking. We apologize for the bumps we’re experiencing a little turbulence but should be gone momentarily.”

“At least it’s only temporary.” Twilight rolled her eyes, putting emphasis on the word ‘temporary’.

The third bump was far more powerful than the other ones. This time it felt like the train leaned slightly off the tracks toward the cliff. This was concerning them due to the fact that a long 30 hoof drop was to their right.

"This is the conductor again. We are experiencing some high winds and we recommend you buckle yourselves up. It’s going to be a-“ He was cut off as a gust of wind hit the side of the train and the front began tearing over the edge of the cliff. “Turn it around! No stop the engine! Stop the engine!!” But it was too late as the front of the train leaned too far and slipped off the edge, making its way down the 30 hoof drop dragging the rest of the train cars with it.

“Rainbow! Twilight! Hold on!!” Applejack yelled as the train hit the bottom in a fiery explosion.

*********************

In a state of shell shock, Rainbow slowly crawled out of the wreckage. As she began to come back to her senses, she started to feel a burning sensation of everything below her belly. She turned her head around and her eyes grew wide in horror as her lower body was engulfed in flames. Every patch of her coat was now gone, her tail nonexistent and the only thing burning now was her very flesh. The pain was almost too much for her to handle. But when she turned to her right, she noticed the burning corpse of her former friend: Applejack.

She screamed in agony and pounded the ground with her only useful hooves. Tears flooded her face as she cursed the world, cursed Celestia for letting this terrible thing happen to her and her friends.

Through her sobs, she heard lazy but heavy hoofsteps. She looked up and through the burning wreckage, she saw Twilight, standing on her rear legs looking straight at her. Her eyes glowed a dark crimson red. She opened her mouth and a loud high pitched screaming emanated from her. This wasn’t Twilight. Rainbow thought. She’s long gone.

With her last final breath, Rainbow’s head dropped to the ground as she faded to darkness…