The House Of Pain

"Please kill me, that's all I ask for. I wish to have my very own tombstone in the graveyard where my parents are buried."

"What's you name, little colt?" I asked.

"Nicholas; are you one of those who work for Death?" He was small and skinny and had a gray coat and light blue mane. He was a simple earth pony but I could tell he was very brave and smart.

"Yes," I said with some confidence even though I had become familiarized with this concept so quickly. I had trouble grasping the idea that I would have to take the life of someone. As I stared at him I remembered so many things of my childhood. In fact when my father passed away I secretly wanted to be by his side. Maybe that's why those creatures came for me in my dreams.

"This is not a dream, you know," I continued, "the elder unicorn did something to you and unfortunately you never crossed to the other side."

"I know that! Will you take me then to the other side?"

"Yes, I will take your body and bury it personally; come."

"You make it sound so easy, don't you?"

The child grinned and dramatically changed the sound of his voice. Apparently he was an impostor. He laughed like crazy.

Soon he revealed his true self and took the shape of Ann Marie.

"You need to try harder next time because the child's not here!"

"I see you're trying to cheat Death once again, hand him over, hand him over like you were supposed to!"

"All this talk about Death is getting tedious; do you want to see the cruelty that you brought upon us, do you?"

Ann Marie's horn lit up to slowly reveal the unexpected.

A desolate forest came about full of rotten trees.

The images of the Healers, the unicorn nurses came alive. To my shock they were all hanged by the neck placed at the highest point for everyone else to see. A sign was attached to each of them,

"THE DECAY FINALLY CAME."

"If only you had listened to Emily this wouldn't have happened," I said as I struggled to get up keeping in mind that now I possessed a heavy-set of vampire bat wings. "Where is she?"

The elder unicorn walked from side to side looking down on me maliciously, "I was hoping you would lead me to them since you're in love with her so much so I'm just taunting you until you find them."

"So you're stuck here among the Void?"

"Yes! I want to cross to the other side! I never thought it would be like this, an eternity of darkness. Oh! the plan would have worked out so well if it weren't for this witch hunt."

"The plan?"

"Why, yes! The Healers were the best of their kind. Science on the other hoof began to divide us little by little managing to weaken our magic."

"You're trying to confuse me, you brought this upon yourself, you just needed to find and excuse to avoid coping with science so that's why you cursed the child. What's worse is that you cursed yourself for being selfish. You deserve this fate but...

"But?"

"If I carry you away from here the house will be free of your evil spirit so it does benefit me. What do you really want, do you wish to die now?"

"I was only defending my kind and look what they did instead! Do you think those barbarians made the right choice by killing us?"

"Do you think you made the right choice delaying the death of an innocent kid? This is what happens when you tamper with the delicate balance of life and death. Not only did you bring agony to your peers, you did it to further generations and it's awfully hard to fix that."

I approached her and gave her a very intimidating look. She said my eyes glowed red like a precious ruby.

"Please sir, don't give me a much worse fate than being stuck in the Darkness! I am all alone and doomed to remember those fatal events again and again."

"Rest, Ann Marie for you cannot do anything to make things easier for your kind. The ones who are still alive like me will bring change. I will never forget you and you shall never really die."

I spread my wings and grabbed her jaded-looking body away from the scene of a massacre. I wasn't completely sure where I was going but as Miss Nightingale said to me I had to concentrate heavily on a place where a unicorn would truly feel happy; a place where there was no good or evil, no violence of any kind. She closed her eyes and began to speak," I can see the light now, the River of Souls! A stream to a promised land."

There was a pier where there was a small boat ready to set sail. We landed quietly and placed the elder inside. The air was the purest I ever breathed and it smelled of fresh white roses.

"I know you were there from the first day I arrived but I never paid attention to what you were trying to say. You just protected your house like a mother when she feels danger. My own mother did something very similar. Go now."

The boat apparently was enchanted; it moved by itself going towards the horizon on a bright summer day and I remained until she disappeared.

I felt the breeze under my wings and attempted to lift me up to the skies, "One down, two to go...where are they?"

In the meantime I didn't care so much because I enjoyed the beauty of flying; making circles in the sky, swooping up and down, perhaps because I felt victorious at this point contemplating the idea that I would finally get some sleep and no one in the house would feel disturbed anymore, not even Blak.

"Focus now," I repeated to myself, "find that happy place at home..."

For no reason it came to mind the small theater I had where I rehearsed with my band. It was also where I saw a ghost; it could have been Emily then again no.

Both of them rested in the stage holding on to each other.

"It's a bit odd to find you here."

"Not at all. I've been inside these walls several times."

"Why?"

"Because I noticed that you sing though...I have no idea what sound it is but you certainly put all you heart into it."

I smiled and felt almost about to blush, "Thank you."

"Finally you took the form of the agent of Death, did you find Ann Marie?"

"Yes and fortunately she won't be bothering us anymore. I took her to a place where she can do no harm."

"Please don't misjudge her, she was only..."

"...protecting all of you. I understand that she had good intentions at first but then it all went downhill. Emily?"

"Yes?"

"I always wanted to ask you; that night while you quarreled with her and she said that she would teach you a lesson, what did she do?"

"Oh, well you see she locked me up in the cellar with Nicholas and it's exactly where we are now. Ann Marie forgot all about it when the authorities came looking for her and my sisters."

"So he never returned to his parents?"

"No. Apparently gryphons are absent-minded. I think we may have run out of oxygen and never woke up."

"They were all murdered except for you two."

I sighed, "I was told if I took this little one to the other side everything would go back to normal and this house wouldn't be haunted anymore."

"It's true but to carry out that you would have to get through us. I have been a sort of mother to him for indefinite period hence if he leaves I will be out of a job."

"Not you too! At least Ann Marie was impulsive but reasonable. You're holding on to him because you're stubborn. Give him to me, didn't he wish to die?"

"No!" cried Nicholas waking up from his slumber, "I wanna stay with Emily! She's kind and pretty and gives me all I need."

"But didn't you want to cross to the other side with me?"

"That must have been one of Ann Marie's tricks. She confused you," said the unicorn.

"Oh, I have had it with you magical creatures! No wonder you got into so much trouble. He needs to leave now!"

"Then I would be gone and I wouldn't be able to help you too."

And she was right. If I resolved this she would vanish as well and now she would no longer visit me at night."

"Your power will be greater if I carry your souls out of here. If you are trapped nothing good will come out of it. This is the end of an era, of a haunted house. Don't despair, your memory lives on; all the knowledge rests in the library and others have continued to talk about you. Heh, I suspect even my maid reads those books now and then."

"She does, doesn't she?" said Emily.

"Yes! It is the best gift you could ever give us. I know I'll miss you terribly but we have to learn to let go."

"Sir, what's it like to die, you know before we go?" said Nicholas.

"For you, little guy it will be even better than anything you ever dreamed of."

"I trust you."

(continued)