Chapters "Mom! Why don't I have my cutie mark yet?!" cried Claire, banging the door shut. "Claire, you'll get your cutie mark some day. And don't go about banging doors like your father." her mother replied calmly.
"But...but..what if I never get my cutie mark?!" said Claire. "What's up with her?" asked Swift, Claire's older brother, exiting his room. "Oh...nothing much. Just the usual rant, you know." replied his mom.
Meanwhile, Claire was starring out of her window upstairs. 'Everyone's so mean. No one seems to understand my feelings.' Just as she was thinking these thoughts, Swift burst into her room.
"Hey! Watcha doin, sis?!"
"Nothing."
"Don't mind what the others say about your cutie ma-"
"It's not about what others think...it's about what I think!!!"
"Uhhhh....see ya later, I guess."
Claire sighed heavily. Now she had turned her big brother against her. What could be worse? Yes, not getting a cutie mark at all would be WAY worse.
'Guess I just have to wait."Patience is a virtue"isn't it?' she thought to herself.
"So how was your day at school, sugar?" her dad's voice greeted her.
"Nothing new. "Study study study until you go crazy" is my school's motto, figuratively." she replied.
"I thought you said you liked the teachers here."
"I do," she countered,"and I don't mind studying...but...they make us work too much these days."
"I am sure that you are a nerd and you work yourself harder than the others. Sheesh...I am so ashamed that my sister is a nerd." said Swift teasingly.
"Hey I'm not a nerd. You do-" she began defensively, but was interrupted by her mother before the two could begin to quarrel."I think Swift does have a point, sweety. No, I'm not saying that you're a nerd. I'm only saying that you are too wrapped up in you're work."
"I have just the thing!!!" said her father, banging the table so hard that half the things clattered onto it. Everypony else rolled their eyes. This was normal dad behavior."I and your mom are gonna take you two on a trip to Trottingham. I've got some work there and I'm gonna need your mom's help with it. You can have a break from your work, Claire, and it will do you good to be away from your current lifestyle for a while, Swift."
"Yeah!!! Great idea Relic."agreed mom.
"I can't wait to go!!!"cried Claire.
"Com'on Swift, it'll be fun." said his mother.
"Fine, I guess a change is good."
"I'll go get the tickets now. See ya'll soon. Bye."said their father exiting hurriedly.
Author's Note
Sorry, everyone, I know its not very good. I'm new to this, you see. But I totally wanna give this a shot, so here it is. This story was actually some sort of dream. Please suggest improvements. Happy reading!!!
Four days later, there was a lot of packing, unpacking and repacking going on in Claire's home. They had to catch the 11am train to Trottingham.
"Seriously?! Your mother is still not done. Claire! Have you never heard the phrase 'Travel light' in those books of yours. Honestly, I can't make out whether it is you or me who is going to conduct research!" her father admonished.
"Daaaaaaaad......please !!!" said Claire pouting.
"No ma'am. You can't take all those books with us. The puppy eyes won't take me in." replied her dad.
"Swift, be a dear and fly to the railway station and check if our tickets have been confirmed." said his mom.
"Mom!!! This is about the fourth time you've asked me to do it and I've already told you that the tickets are confirmed." cried an irritated Swift. He wasn't at all keen on this journey and didn't see the necessity of all this fuss. And the way his mother got agitated only succeeded in making him grumpier. At last, at about quarter past ten, they were done with the packing. They had a hurried breakfast and set off to the railway station.
The train ride was extremely boring to everyone but Claire's mom, who adored sceneries. The others simply didn't see what was so very special about a clump of trees on a hill, speeding away. Claire produced one of her books from her bag, as soon as her father dozed off and prepared to get lost in her book. "Egghead" muttered her brother to himself as he idled on the seat opposite Claire.
As the journey dragged on and for the next couple of hours, all ponies on board the Trottingham bound train engrossed themselves in a pass-time of their choice.
As the train from Manehattan came into sight, Antique Varnish, an untidy-looking tan earth pony with a grey mane, gathered his newspapers and awaited the arrival of the famous archeologist, Antigua Relique. He had expected him to come alone, and was surprised to find a pale green pegasus mare with a deep blue mane, a teenage pegasus colt with a white coat and a purple mane, a little blue unicorn filly with a mane of a slightly darker shade. But the filly's eyes were really eerie. They were completely aquamarine, even the white part of it. The pupils were only slightly darker than the rest of the eye. Other than that she was an exact copy of her father. Relic approached Varnish with a wide smile and introduced his family to him.
"Mr. Varnish, this is my wife, Detail Delight, our son Swift Feather, and my daughter, Claire Sight. I suppose you are thinking about her eyes. Well, she is short-sighted, that's all. DD, Swift, Claire, this is Mr. Antique Varnish. He is to be our host during our stay here."
"Please call me Varnish." said Varnish,smiling at them.
"I'm really sorry that I didn't inform you that I was bringing my family along with me. It was a sudden decision. I bet I can get an extra room or two at any hotel." said Relic.
"Actually, you will all be staying in my house, since I'm a bachelor and have a house too big for one."said Varnish.
"Oh! Don't take the trouble." said Relic.
"Goodness no!!! In fact, it is so lonely out there that I welcome company." insisted Varnish.
Swift heard this and his heart sank. 'Shit! No company! I'm gonna go crazy if I don't get to see anyone else.'
Varnish laughed and said, reading Swift's thoughts "But don't worry son, we'll be coming into town every few days for a break from work."
Author's Note
Second chapter....can't find time to write....gotta give important exams and stuff this year...
By the time they all reached Varnish's house, night had fallen. As if the long and weary train ride was not enough they had traverse vast meadows. Their cab drivers were exhausted, so they let them go back before they got there.
As they trotted uphill, or flew in the case of Swift and his mom, they came in sight of an old mansion.
"Lets get there quickly. This deserted place is giving me the creeps." shuddered Swift. True, the vast empty land was rather eerie in the dark.
Varnish chuckled,"Yeah, I know. No one wanted this house because they thought it was haunted, and they still do. But that's just a rumor, and I've lived here long enough to know better than that."
"I sure hope so." mumbled Swift under his breath.
Claire caught these words and started snickering.
"What's it?" asked Swift.
"Oh nothing. Only, somepony was calling a certain filly a nerd who did extra work cause she was afraid that her teachers might scold her if she didn't......and here's that very same pony saying that he is scared of the dark ." she replied.
Before he could make a cutting remark, Swift was distracted by the sound of two great wooden doors creaking with age as they were opened. There in front of him lay a large hall with all sorts of antique furniture in great condition, undoubtedly the work of Antique Varnish. Pity he couldn't find time to make himself look half as good as them.
"You sure have been working on this place." said Relique voicing everyone's thoughts.
"Ever since I found it. It was nearly in ruins when I found it." said their host, beaming. He was definitely very proud of his work.
As the family was being led further in by their host, Claire was enraptured by the lovely detail of each and every piece around her. The sights were too beautiful for her to take in at once, so she slowed down a little. Maybe she could indeed have some scope of finding
Just when they were midway through a narrow corridor, the ponies in front of her came to an abrupt stop and Claire heard her mother exclaim over something. She went ahead and found them all looking at a thin and tall wardrobe, with one half having a full size mirror fixed onto it. It looked as if it were expressly made for showing off, because it certainly couldn't accommodate much in addition to having fabulous carvings on it.
" Its from 23 centuries ago....it was left behind by a ruler from the Mareovingian dynasty......" she heard Varnish rattle on to her parents. She was too busy admiring its beauty to bother about details.
But something seemed off about it. She just didn't know why. And then she saw something move inside the slightly ajar door. She jumped back, surprised.
'Must be rats.' she thought trying to calm down. Still she couldn't put her hoof on exactly why she didn't want to see that wardrobe any more. She heard the others' hoofsteps and ran up and started walking next to her brother. She realized that she couldn't admire the things around her anymore. She wanted to get out of there.
She felt unsure.
She wasscared ".
Author's Note
It gets a bit creepy from here. And....YAAAAY.... the exams are now behind me!!!!! So here is a little something to celebrate it.
"Lets have a game of cards, shall we?" said Varnish as he led his guests into his bedroom.
"Err...well...sure...if you don't mind having us in your private quarters." replied Relic hesitantly.
"That's nothing. Besides its just a bedroom." Varnish insisted.
He made his way to a chest of drawers in a corner the room and pulled out a pack of playing cards. He returned and dealt around everypony's cards. Though Claire was in no mood for any games, she soon forgot her uneasiness and got into the game.
Just as the game got into full swing, Varnish, an asthma patient, needed his inhaler. Swift was in the toilet, so it fell onto Claire to go get the inhaler from the hall.
"Claire! Quick! Go get the inhaler. Its on that bureau in the hall." said her mom.
'Why me' thought Claire as her fear returned.
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
Her imagination, from reading so many horror stories and watching horror movies, had probably begun to run wild. But still, she had never been very scared of being alone before. She might not be the bravest filly of her age, but surely, she was not scared of such things.
As she thought over why she was so afraid, she found the inhaler on top of the bureau as she had been told. She levitated it with her magic and brought it down. She realized she had to move fast and began to trot back. But when she reached the corridor, her heart once again filled with dread at the sight of the wardrobe with the mirror in it.
She tried to ignore it, as she drew closer to it, failing miserably. She quickened her pace. She went past the mirror. nothing happened. Sighing, she turned to look back at it.
And then she saw it.
A gruesome pony staring back at her from the other side of the mirror.
A hoof slipped out of the slightly ajar wardrobe.
She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out. She was paralyzed with fear.
Then her instincts managed to return and she sprinted back to Varnish's room with as much speed and strength as her filly legs could muster.
She burst through the door, gasping for breath. Everypony looked at her. Varnish's breathing was normal. Maybe it had just been a bad dream. Maybe none of this was real.
"What took you so long Claire?" sternly asked her father.
"You galloped all the way, and still you didn't come back for like ages." cried Swift, who must have returned while she had been gone.
"Hey its okay, little filly. Your papa here helped me fix myself." reassured Varnish.
"Dear, is everything alright. You seem shaken." said her mother, glaring at her son and husband.
All the while the rest were speaking, Claire's mind focused only on the...thing...she saw back in the mirror. Her mother's concerned voice had brought her sharply back to reality. Her mother would understand. She should tell her.
Instead, she found herself saying, "I'm okay."
'Seriously, what am I doing?' she thought to herself.
For a few days, didn't go within a foot of the wardrobe without somepony accompanying her. Her parents' work was now in full swing. All was well.
But it didn't last for long. The three guys went out four days from the day of their arrival. Claire and her mother were left behind because DD was having a headache. Unlike other mares, she wasn't into shopping. Claire didn't want to leave her mom in a house which had malevolent creatures in it.
"Bye Mom, Claire. Hope ya get well by the time we get back." said Swift as he exited.
DD shut the door after them, so that the dust from outside wouldn't come in and settle on Varnish's beloved collection.
"Ugh...my head hurts like its been kicked in and out of Tartarus." she groaned in agony.
"Mom, do you wanna sleep for a while, do you think?" asked Claire.
"Yeah, sweety. Guess that would do me some good." said her mom, as she turned to retire to her sleeping quarters.
Not knowing what to do, Claire decided to get herself a glass of water. She tried to find the kitchen, but soon lost her way in the maze of doors.
'Uh Oh' she realized.
Kicking herself internally for her thoughtlessness, she tried to focus on how to find her way back. Certainly, the mansion was not this big when she had looked at it from outside. Door after door, she ended up deeper in what seemed like a horribly large maze. She had never been in a maze before.
'Is this what it is like to be lost in a maze?' she wondered, as she reentered the same room for about the seventh time that morning.
All of a sudden, she walked into a large hall. with two stairs leading on to different platforms.
"How on Equestria did they manage to fit two halls, as big as a hoofball field in here!!!" said Claire out loud in astonishment.
Her curiosity piqued, she made her way up one of the stairs, the one on her left. Above, there was a wide corridor which had doors all along it. She decided to explore, emboldened by the fact that she hadn't seen anything suspicious or that she hadn't been attacked by a spirit when she was as vulnerable as a rabbit in a lion's den. She opened the door closest to her, but this time remembered that she might get lost, and put the stopper on. Thankfully, it only led to one more door. There wasn't any need for the stopper. Still, what's the harm in leaving the door open.
The room must have been a bedroom of sorts. It sure had a large bed, with the silk sheets and curtains around it still on.
'Strange' she thought, 'Varnish said that the place was nearly in ruins before he took over it. Or did he buy these sheets after that? Must've cost a lot. But still, why did he leave them here? What if they got chewed by moths? Does this place even have moths? I haven't seen any since we've come here. Maybe he does monthly maintenance or something.'
All these questions went on in her head as she entered the adjoining room. It was a small room, with tables and chairs.
Her vision was blurry as she opened her eyes. Claire Sight could see her worried mother's face light up with relief on seeing her awake.
"How are feeling now Claire?", she asked.
"Mom, how long have I been out for exactly?"
Claire rose out of bed slowly and went to the filly's room. By now, the shock had dissipated and she had regained her strength.When she returned, her mother finally asked her the question that had to come eventually.
"What scared you so much, dear?"
"Mom...I...I....", she could barely breathe. "I SAW A GHOST", she screamed and curled up into a little ball of blue fur at her mothers hooves.
"Claire, ghosts don't exist.", her mom said.
Claire could no longer control herself. She burst out into a full swing of hysterical explanation of her encounter with the wardrobe, the doors and the bathroom.
"The wardrobe, a corpse is there in it, and the doors closed on their own, there is mare ghost in the upstairs bathroom, I even left the doors open with the stopper pushed in, I got lost in a maze, and I..."
"Claire! I said ghosts DO NOT exist!!!", her mother's tone wasn't gentle anymore.
'Mom doesn't care.', she thought miserably,'No one cares about me.', she lay whimpering in the lawn, her hot face getting cooled against the moist blades of grass.
She didn't react when the grass behind her rustled. If it was ghosts, she didn't care anymore.
But it wasn't ghosts. It was DD.
"Come inside, its about to become dark and you'll catch a cold if you stay outside at this time of the day. Plus, you need to eat something and rest.", said DD.
Claire knew it wasn't wise to disagree with her mother just then and moved inside quietly, without a word and avoiding eye contact. She never wanted anypony to see her cry. Swift would tease her to death if he knew.
Dinner was very silent. Neither DD nor Claire talked much. DD just asked her simple questions related to dinner and Claire simply gave monosyllabic answers to them. Besides, none of the men had returned. Claire was secretly feeling guilty of her behavior earlier that day. It just didn't do to storm off if your mom didn't agree on certain things with you. Everypony had different views on things, after all. Plus, she hadn't even asked DD about her headache. Claire, for her age, was very far seeing. But she still didn't feel like talking to her mom.
Her eyes in her plate, she asked,"H..How is your headache..."
"What?", her mom asked.
When Claire didn't say anything, she said,"I thought I heard you say something."
"I said 'How is your headache?'."
"It's fine now. I wouldn't be eating otherwise."
"Hmph", Claire grunted back with a mouthful of icecream. Boy, was she hungry. She loved icecream. The vanilla flavor rolled of her tongue and the cold left it tingling. The rest of the meal relapsed into silence.
"We've finished dinner and the guys haven't returned. I'm getting kinda worried y'know.",said her mother as Claire helped to do the dishes.
"Yeah. Me too.", by now Claire had overcome her discomfort in talking to her mom and said sorry to her. The argument was quickly forgotten. However, the incident that had been at its root wasn't.
After what seemed like hours, Varnish, Relic and Feather returned, tired and wet. They had been caught in a thunderstorm while returning. They were too tired to eat and just dried themselves and wiggled into bed. Even Swift was too tired to say anything and taunt Claire about what fun he had had in the city. All of them went right to slumberland at a speed faster than that of light. All except one. And strangely, it wasn't Claire. She was completely tuckered out from her day. It was Detail, who was having a sleepless night. What had happened when they were in Vanhoover still sent a shiver down her spine.
Claire woke up feeling thirsty. By the looks of it, it was around five in the morning. She decided to get herself a glass of water, and went out into the hallway, which was dimly lit by the first rays of the rising sun. She forgot that she was alone, pushed by her thirst, and walked down the hallway till the wardrobe came into sight. She decided to walk right on, without looking at it. Counting her steps, and trying not to freak out, she trotted forth.
One
Two
Three
Four
Fi-
She froze. A rotting hoof pulled up in the left bottom corner of the mirror. It slowly inched forward pulling up the remaining of the corpse. Claire tensed up....
...and relaxed, exhaling deeply.
'Its time I faced this ', she thought to herself, stood her ground instead of sprinting back to her room and hiding under the sheets. She was here to get a glass of water. Nopony, dead or alive, could stop her from getting what she wanted. She didn't know why she felt so fearless all of a sudden. But it was there.
Soon, the whole corpse stood upright, looking at her, a menacing grin stretching wide. Anypony would be shaking at the knees at the sight. A corpse. Its bones and torn muscles showing underneath decaying flesh. Its ears no longer existed. Its eyes almost popping out of its sockets. And it lifted a hoof.
Clomp!
The hoof came right out of the wardrobe, which was still slightly ajar as Claire had last seen. The air around her suddenly became stale. The corpse was no longer in the mirror. It had now stepped out of the wardrobe and was advancing. Slow as ever. Claire still did not flee.
"But Relic, this is serious. I am serious.", somepony cried out of the bedroom closest. Claire recognized it as her mom's voice and both, the corpse and she, jumped startled at the sudden commotion. Both turned to the source. Claire turned back to face her nemesis, remembering where she was, only to find that he, or maybe she, since you can't possibly tell a male corpse apart from a female, had disappeared.
She decided to go see what her parents had to shout for at the break of dawn. Her mom seemed to be trying to convince her dad about something. Claire sighed. They had arguments almost every week. Nothing new. Just as she was about to pull turn the doorknob, she heard something that she hadn't expected her mother would bring up.
"She looked positively frightened out of her wits. For goodness's sake, she fainted ! What do you say to that ?1", DD exclaimed.
Earlier that day, her mother had insisted that ghosts did not exist. Then why was she so worried that she had to tell her dad?
"She what ?!!!", her dad now sounded worried as well. He was always prone to over-react for the smallest issues. But this time, he had well enough a reason to do so.
Despite her poor eyesight and fragile looks, Claire was just as healthy as any other filly of her age. She had a normal appetite. The only time she ever fainted was during their vacation to the mountains in the north of Equestria. And that was only due to the sudden change in air pressure.
"Why didn't you tell me this?", Relic asked, partly angered and partly anxious.
"I told you now.", DD deadpanned.
"Yes, but you could have told me sooner.", her husband retorted.
"I couldn't. I had a hard enough time trying to get her to stop talking about ghosts. Can you imagine what I'd tell her if she asked me why I was telling you about it?"
At this, Claire's heart dropped right into her stomach.
'That's it,' she felt, 'Mom thinks I'm having hallucinations or something. Maybe she will takes me to a doctor and he might end up putting me in a mad ponies' asylum. Oh dear! What do I do?' Just as she was about to decide to act as if she couldn't see any ghosts anymore in front of her mom, she heard the conversation on the other side of the door continue.
"Relic, I tell you, it's happening again. You may as well stay here and continue your work. But I will not, and neither will our kids."
Claire could hold back her curiosity no longer and decided to find out why her mom was so worried if she did not believe in ghosts. She pushed at the door.
"Mom?"
...
...
...
"Claire why are you not in bed?", said her mother breaking the awkward silence that had set in upon Claire's entrance.
"I couldn't sleep. What are you and Daddy fighting about?", Claire asked innocently.
"Nothing you need to worry about.", Detail hurriedly covered up. Relic merely fidgeted.
Claire looked at her mother, frowning. "But I heard you say something about me fainting." Her mother's blue eyes went wide and looked to the pair of violet eyes near her for help. Relic frowned, shaking her head. It was of no use trying to lie. She had obviously overheard the conversation.
"Sorry DD, we have to let the cat out of the saddlebag. Why don't you tell her?", he said.
DD sighed deeply.
"The truth is, Claire, that you could see ghosts and spirits ever since you were born."
This time, aquamarine eyes went wide.
"Why didn't you tell me?!", Claire demanded.
"We wanted you to be safe, Claire.", her father explained.
"We managed to get an expert to make you forget your memories and you stopped seeing them. But now that you've started seeing them again...", DD trailed off.
"Then why did you have to lie to me?!", cried Claire indignantly.
"Claire, go back to bed.", said her mother.
"But Mo-"
"You heard me. I said 'Go Back To Bed'", said Detail, sternly.
Claire gave a defeated sigh and left her parents' room.
Author's Note
YES!!! I've hit 1000 words, finally.
Claire went to bed defeated. Arguing with her mother was futile. She closed her eyes, suddenly overwhelmed by all that had occurred. Surprisingly, she dozed off.
Claire blinked in absolute darkness. She had awoken from her snooze. It was pitch black. must be around three in the morning she guessed. She wanted to go to the loo. She got out of bed and put a hoof onto the cold marble floor.cold! she thought, as her eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness.
As Claire made her way to the nearest bathroom, past the wardrobe, she was amused to note that the creepy crawly ghost pony didn't make an appearance. She was surprised, moreover, that she was amused and not relieved that it didn't. Had she become so unafraid of the paranormal?
Musing over this realisation, Claire didn't notice where she was. She mentally facehoofed.
Lost
Yeah, so she was lost in a ghost infested, labrynth-like mansion, alone, at night, with a bladder that might burst any moment.
Luckily for her, a little later, she came across what she was desperately in need of.
However, just as she was about to open the door, she heard a feminine voice hum a song.
As the door squeaked open, Claire stepped in, no longer able to contain the urge.
Behind the curtains, lying in the bathtub was the unmistakable silhouette of a pony. A blue hoof slowly pulled back the curtains. A mare stepped out. Claire's jaw dropped.
There stepping out of the tub was an older version of Claire. It was unmistakably her, for the made had her colours and turquoise eyes. Only she looked about a hundred.
"Hello Claire. Nice to finally meet you....or myself, technically speaking."
"Many years from now, many will seek your help and your power regarding what you see...and others can't. Use it wisely. You have a gift and you mustn't throw it away. Use it to help other ponies. Your parents only want your safety, but that won't help you to survive."
Claire's eyes narrowed.
"How do I trust you? How do I know if your just an apparition trying to trick me?", she asked.
"Listen to your instincts, but follow your heart. There is a Society for Paranormal Studies in Baltimare. As soon as you finish school, enroll into it...", so saying, the older Claire vaporised before Claire could say anymore.
Claire awoke from the dream.It was just a dream .
Downstairs, her parents, her brother, Varnish and the smell of pancakes greeted her.
Her mother got up from her place," I'm so sorry about yesterday, dear.", she said.
"What are you gaping at me like that for?",she asked.
Claire asked him in dread, "Really? What does it look like?".
"An eye, just like yours."
Author's Note
Finished one! There will be a sequel in which an older Claire revisits her childhood home from before her memories were erased, after graduating from the Institute of Paranormal Studies, Baltimare. Phew!!
It was shut.
Claire was absolutely sure that she'd left it open, with the stopper pulled. She was beginning to be a little afraid of her situation. Mentally reprimanding herself for what she had brought unto herself, she exited and continued to search the other rooms.
Door after door, the same thing repeated. Every door she left open, seemed to shut on its own. Claire was now having an urge to use the filly's room and looked for one.
When she did find one, though, it was occupied by somepony else.
"Oops, sorry.", she excused herself and turned away.
Just as she reached another(she was unsure how it turned up when she needed it), she realized what just happened.
It was empty.
"Hello?", she gulped, "anypony there?" she shouted.
"Claire! Are you alright?! You shouldn't run downstairs like that. Are you hurt?", her worried mother's face came as welcome to her as a drizzle on hot summer's day and somehow managed to soothe her nerves.ghost !!", she managed to gasp out before passing out.
Author's Note
FINALLY
