“Twilight, you got a letter!” Spike said, the excitable dragon bounding up the stairs of the library, an envelope clutched in his claws. He burst through Twilight’s bedroom door and came to a stop next to her desk, the unicorn sparing him a glance for only a moment before returning to her study.
“Who’s it from?” she asked, her eyes already reading the next paragraph of her rather large book.
Spike blinked; he hadn’t actually checked yet. He looked at the address on the upper left. “Uhh… It says ‘From The Office of The Senior Astor’... Whatever that means. The address says it’s near Whitetail Grove, though.”
Twilight’s heart nearly skipped a beat as a smile grew on her face. “Oh wow, they replied that fast!?” With a flash of her horn her desk began to tidy itself up, the book she was reading levitating itself over to its proper place on a nearby bookshelf. “Well don’t keep me in suspense, open it!”
“Yes ma’am!” Spike cried out, Twilight’s enthusiasm causing his own to bubble up as well. With a precise slash of his claw, he had the end of the letter slit open and the contents pulled out in less than a second; he had lots of practice from living with a librarian, after all. After clearing his throat with a sense of self-importance, Spike began to read the letter after flipping it open.
Dear, Twilight Sparkle,
It is my greatest honor to accept your request. We understand your desire for secrecy however, and we have taken the utmost precautions in ensuring that nopony but us – that is, my wife and I – are aware of your initial letter, or this response. Per your instructions, all things are as you have asked.
Princesses Celestia and Luna have already done their parts, and it is with great joy that I present this to you. Upon reading this letter, it should magically appear before you, and only you. Please take great care; we trust you understand the responsibility of that which you have requested.
Sincerely,
Professor Cullen
Spike looked up from the letter and saw the grin upon Twilight’s face. His brow furrowed in befuddlement as he opened his mouth to ask a question when Twilight magically stole the letter from his grip.
“Sorry Spike, I have to read it myself for the magic to activate. It’s been keyed to my own magical signature.”
“Oh. Okay.”
A few seconds went by as she sped through the letter herself. Spike shuffled his feet about on the wooden floor, his eyes following a crack in the boards.
“Aha!” Twilight cried out suddenly, causing Spike to jump back a bit. “Perfect. This is perfect!”
“Uhh, Twilight, what’s perfect?” Spike asked, though Twilight ignored the question.
“Spike, I need you to help me with something.”
“Um, sure,” Spike said, an eyebrow arched. “What do ya need?”
“I need you to fetch Applejack.”
The rain began to pour from the sky as Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash approached the top of the hill they were walking up. The cobbled path was cracked and aged, dirt and grass poking through in places and attempting to trip up unfortunate ponies who didn’t watch their step.
“Uhh, Twilight, are we almost there? It looks like that storm Canterlot prepared is about to begin…” Rainbow wasn’t really worried; a little weather couldn’t dampen her spirits. However, even she didn’t like the idea of being drenched from head to toe, especially since she was already being forced into some fancy pants party.
“Don’t worry, the Villa Astoria is just over this hill,” Twilight replied as she cast a spell, a curved force field appearing above them to help block the rain. “We’ll be there in less than a minute.”
“Well, I’m not sure we have a minute…” she said as the rain drummed against the protective barrier, drowning out Rainbow’s mumbled voice.
At last the two of them crested the top of the hill, a spectacular sight playing out before them. A rounded valley extended out, tucked in on all sides by beautiful flowing green hills. In the very center lay a villa, a massive building surrounded by beautiful gardens and rolling hedges. The property itself took up well over five square acres.
“Wow…!” Rainbow exclaimed, her words barely reaching her own ears over the sound of rain hammering down on Twilight’s forcefield. Despite the barrier, more and more stray droplets managed to slant past it, dampening Rainbow’s fur in the process. “Ugh, Twilight, we gotta hurry!”
“I know, and I’d just teleport us but it’s not possible at the moment. We have to run.”
“Wait, what? Why can’t you teleport?” Rainbow’s question fell on deaf ears though as Twilight had already picked up the pace, her hooves carrying her quickly down the broken path leading to the villa. A sudden blanket of rain descended upon her, the bubble no longer over her as it shadowed Twilight's every step. “Hey, wait up!”
Wiping her now-wet mane out of her face, Rainbow began to run. The wet ground squelched under her hooves where the cobbled stones had shifted and revealed soft dirt and grass. Rainbow’s curse went relatively unheard over the downpour. She made to stretch her wings, but ultimately thought better of it—the thought of hours spent straightening her feathers was even less appealing than a soaked mane and coat. A few more muttered curses later, Rainbow caught up to Twilight and ducked back underneath her spell.
“Hey, you should’ve said something! I just got drenched!” Rainbow looked forwards again, locking her speed with Twilight’s so that they wouldn’t separate. “Now hey, why couldn’t we just tele–”
CRACK-A-KOOM!
A lightning bolt struck the ground in the courtyard of the villa, its bright light lasting for a mere moment in Rainbow’s vision. “Geez, this storm is getting real bad! Why didn’t we just raincheck this thing, Twi!?”
“I told you, The Senior Astor is quite possibly the busiest pony in all of Equestria, even more so than the Princesses themselves!” Twilight said, her voice at a yelling pitch to be heard over the rain. “He has an even stricter scheduling than I do, and this is the only day that fit the bill! We can’t reschedule!”
“Yeah, whatever, I don’t even know what an Astor is! It sounds like a dumb title if you ask me!”
Another lightning bolt struck the ground far in the distance beyond the villa just as Twilight and Rainbow approached the front entrance to the property. A large hedge rode about the land, encompassing the entire Villa Astoria in a massive rectangular wall that was more than five hooves thick. There was only one spot where a pony without wings could pass through it, and the path they were walking on was it.
“You’d think they’d have a gate or something...” Rainbow whispered as their path marched forwards through an archway carved into the hedge and entered into the front yard.
The cobbled path they were walking on split in two a little ways into the property. It encircled a massive fountain before reconnecting and continuing towards the mansion a little ways in the distance. However, the fountain before them drew both of their attention for in the center stood a bubbling statue. Ponies forming a gymnastic pyramid was depicted by the entire piece, the water burbling out of the open mouth of the earth pony at the top.
Rainbow gulped, unease settling in her stomach. In the low light from the cloudy sky, and the occasional flash of lightning amidst the heavy rain, the ponies within the pyramid almost looked… angry. And she couldn’t be certain as Twilight and her moved on too quick to be sure, but the pony at the top which the water was bubbling out of almost looked to be in pain.
Rainbow shook her head and tore her gaze away. Her imagination must have been playing tricks on her. The statue was probably of one of those trust exercises ponies did all the time. Letting out a breath she didn’t know she was holding in, Rainbow trotted on, somewhat comforted by the thought.
They continued their quickened trotting along the path, leaving the fountain behind them. The grandness of the mansion itself suddenly caught Rainbow and stopped her in her tracks, Twilight getting a few paces ahead.
The mansion itself could only be described as gigantic. It didn’t fit a normal shape for a house, and had rooms and roofs all over the place, extending out here and jutting upwards there. Each edge looked sharp and hard, the wood dark and giving off a dull monotony, almost as though the building was seeping the colour from everything around it and casting it all in varying shades of grey. If the windows were any indication, some areas of the building had as many as three or four floors, while others were merely one or two, possibly connecting hallways from different wings of the building.
“Twilight, what are we doing here again…?” Rainbow continued to stare upon the mansion, waiting for Twilight’s response and almost not even noticing the rain which continued to soak through her fur. A few moments passed as Twilight said nothing. “Twilight…?”
Rainbow glanced downwards just in time to see the tip of Twilight’s tail slip inside the front door. She quickly galloped up the steps to the front door, her hooves slipping a bit on the wet wood. Upon passing through the front door, she came to a slippery halt before falling to her rump a few hooves into the entryway.
“Well, we’re here… Thank goodness…” Twilight said as she closed the large doors behind them, their creaking echoing about the grand room they were in. A thud echoed about the building as the door closed. “Now then…”
Pillars rose up from the ground all around them, their tops connecting to the walkways along the second floor. Many doors went off from the entryway into different sections of the building, and at the other end of the room stood a grand staircase which rose up and split off at both sides to reach the second floor which circled about the ceiling. A gilded banister sat at the edge of the walkway, serving as the only protection to keep a pony from falling to the first floor below.
“Wow…” was all Rainbow could say, her eyes taking in everything. She had never been in such a grand home before. The castle in Canterlot didn't count; it was a castle after all, it’s expected to be opulent and austere. This though… This was just somepony’s home, somepony who wasn’t even royalty.
“Hmm… That’s strange,” Twilight said as she walked a bit past Rainbow. “Rarity and the other girls were supposed to meet us when we arrived.”
“Oh, is that why they didn’t travel with us?”
Twilight nodded. “They arrived at different times to assist in preparations. For example, Applejack and Pinkie Pie got here a few days ago to help prepare the food.”
“Oh, okay. That explains why Pinks wasn’t home yesterday…” Rainbow mused.
“Yeah… But where are they?”
Rainbow Dash looked around the entryway a bit. It looked like nopony had been present in this room for quite a while. None of the candles in the sconces were lit, and the only light came in through some of the windows, giving the entire room a somewhat empty feeling. The shadows from the columns in particular seemed to stretch off into the corners, making the room feel larger than it really was.
“Hello!?” Rainbow called out, slightly unnerved by the silence in the building. Her voice echoed about the room, loud enough that any ponies in nearby branches of the building definitely should have heard it. However, no sound came back in response. They waited for an entire minute, nothing but the silence of the building and the rain on the windows to reach their ears.
CRACK-A-KOOM!
“Okay, enough of this. Twi, I say we go find them. They’re probably just busy somewhere. You know how rich ponies and these shindigs can get.”
Twilight looked strange for a moment, an emotion flashing across her face that Rainbow didn’t quite recognize. Before she could ask about it though, Twilight had bit her lip and nodded in response, her horn starting to glow and a beam of light casting outwards directly ahead of them.
The clacking of their hooves against the hardwood floor was all they could hear as they moved about the entryway, opening doors to other rooms and halls and glancing in before moving to the next. Not a single room connecting to theirs held any ponies, and each room was similarly dark. No lights, no noises, more shadows.
“Okay, um…” Twilight sighed. “I’m… I’m sorry Rainbow. I’m at a loss for what to do. I have no idea what’s going on…”
“Hey, uh, you know, it’s cool. We should just keep looking, you know? Our friends are here somewhere, and you and I both saw from that hill. This house is huge! I’m sure it’s got a hundred rooms in it, easy.” Rainbow flashed a grin, showing off way too many teeth.
“... Yeah, you’re right. Thanks Dash… I’m sorry, normally I’m the one with the plan.”
“Hey, you never know,” – Rainbow pushed open the closest door to their location – “maybe I’m just as smart as you.”
Twilight just smiled, walking into the room first so the light of her horn could illuminate the path beyond. Rainbow moved to follow, but just as she was about to step across the threshold, a noise from the entryway reached her ears. She stopped moving, one hoof still in the air as her ears swiveled backwards, listening intently to catch the sound again. She heard nothing...
Slowly, she swiveled her head around and peered backwards, the empty entryway looming back at her. Its dark corners seemed larger to her somehow as the fur on her withers began to itch. Something wasn’t right…
“Rainbow?”
“Uh, sorry. Got distracted…” She turned back around and stepped through, using a back hoof to kick the door shut, listening closely to ensure it clicked into the frame. “So, where are we now?”
Twilight was a little ways ahead, shining her light all about the room. Two windows cast a small bit of cloudy moonlight into the empty space, dust motes filling up the air of the room. Bookshelves surrounded them on each wall, and two more doors led deeper into the mansion. A few chairs and a couch surrounded a circular table in the center, each bit of furniture looking dusty and unused.
“Hey, look at this…” Twilight called out, her light focused on a painting that Dash had missed with her first cursory glance about the room. It was tucked in between two bookshelves.
“Wow, that’s… kinda weird…” Rainbow said, not wanting to look at the painting any longer. It depicted two ponies facing one another on a field of battle, though both had already dealt a killing blow to the other. In the aftermath of their fatal wounds, their weapons still stuck in each other's chests, they were smiling and granting each other respect.
“I agree… That’s… certainly an ice breaker…”
Rainbow arched an eyebrow at Twilight. “Huh?”
Twilight gulped before explaining. “This room is a sitting parlor. A pony of authority will have guests wait to be seen in a room like this one, and the purpose of a parlor is to impress upon the guest the importance of the pony they are about to interact with. It sets a stage, so to speak… I… I never thought I’d see something like this in a parlor.”
Rainbow looked back at the painting, thinking about what this would make her feel if she was waiting here to see this Astor pony. What had Twilight called him? The Senior Astor? “I don’t think I like this Professor Cullen very much, Twi…”
Twilight didn’t respond, and instead forced herself to look away from the painting, a strange look on her face. “We need to keep going.”
Rainbow merely nodded.
Many rooms faded into their memories as seemingly endless hallways extended before them, each and every one of them revealing further darkness and crippling loneliness. Shadows seemed to move at the edges of their vision, but when they twisted to look, there was always nothing there. It was as though they were being plagued by something which was doing it’s best to avoid being seen.
No matter where they went, they were alone.
“...I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash…” Twilight whispered, finally cutting through the silence which had gripped them for the last many rooms that they had searched.
“You have nothin’ to apologize for, Twi.” Rainbow spoke but didn’t look at her. She knew what Twilight was feeling, but she just couldn’t look. To look would make it true, and that was the one thing that this couldn’t be.
“No, I do…” Twilight sobbed a bit, causing Rainbow to twitch slightly and almost look at her. “This place… Rainbow Dash, I-it feels so alone… It makes me want to run home...”
“No, we can’t leave. We have to find our friends.” Rainbow stubbornly continued looking about her side of the room, not glancing behind herself in the slightest.
Twilight sniffled. “Rainbow, please… Please, just look at me…”
“I-I’m a little busy searching here,” she said as she absentmindedly bumped into an end table. She continued to look about the room, pointedly avoiding turning in Twilight’s direction. Each time the sound of distant thunder rolled through the room, she would jump ever so slightly, only to take a deep breath and continue looking.
After a little while of strained silence, Twilight finally spoke up again. “Dash… Please...”
Rainbow closed her eyes and sighed. She knew she couldn’t keep avoiding it. She had to look eventually… Grudgingly she turned around, not daring to breath, and looked Twilight straight in the eyes.
Twilight was scared.
“Look, we… We have to find them. W-we can’t stay here, Twilight…” Rainbow said, turning her eyes away from the tears which were making their way down Twilight’s cheeks.
“Rainbow, I don’t know what to do…” Twilight looked down at the floor in front of her as a few more sobs broke through.
Rainbow gritted her teeth and continued to deny it. Twilight wasn’t scared. Twilight wasn’t crying. If Twilight was feeling those things, then that meant they were in a bad scenario, and they weren’t in a bad scenario. This was just some mansion owned by Twilight’s friend, no big deal. There was nothing… weird...
Twilight buried her face in her hooves and cried.
“Twilight… Twilight, please don’t…” Rainbow’s voice shook as she continued to speak to the chair next to her. She just couldn’t look at her friend again…
“Rainbow, aren’t you worried!?” Twilight cried out as she lifted her head, revealing her shocked and puffy eyes.
The pegasus looked at her for a brief moment, biting her lip as a worming guilt worked its way through her cheeks. The truth was… she was worried. She was one step away from freaking out. They were trapped in an empty mansion, unable to leave because of the worlds worst storm, and also because they’d be abandoning their friends if they did. Of course she was worried.
But she couldn’t let that show… She had to be calm. She had to be collected. Twilight was supposed to be the one to stay calm and keep a level head. Twilight wasn't supposed to be the pony who freaked out and didn't know what to do, because if Twilight was ever lost and scared, then… Then what could she possibly do…?
But Rainbow couldn’t keep denying it anymore. The two of them were in way over their heads, stuck in a dark and empty mansion with way too many creepy paintings and lifeless parlor rooms. They had been searching for what felt like a half hour and they had still found nothing. And here they were… both of them about to freak out, and then what would they do…?
“No. I’m sorry, Twilight. I just–”
CRACK-A-KOOM!
“Shh!” Twilight said, jumping forwards and covering Rainbow’s mouth with a hoof. Their eyes locked on one another, Rainbow Dash not even daring to breath.
A few moments went by before she gently pushed Twilight’s hoof away with her own. “Uhh… It was just a lightning bolt…”
“No… There was something else… At the moment of the lightning strike, I heard something…”
Rainbow’s eyes widened slightly. “...What did you hear?”
Twilight walked over to the door they had came through, maneuvering her way past the couch in the center of the room. She pushed open the door, the creaking of the old hinges echoing about the stillness of the mansion beyond. “...That.”
Rainbow sucked in a breath and followed Twilight out into the hallway. “Which way did it come from?”
“I dunno…” Twilight gulped. “The lightning overshadowed the sound.”
They waited in the middle of the hallway for well over a minute, straining their ears to hear in either direction, praying that something would reveal itself and suddenly cause this whole nightmare to end, preferably with a solution that could help everything make sense.
Click... Clack... Click...
Rainbow’s pupils shrunk to pinpricks. She turned around and looked towards the end of the hall, the sound of hooves on hardwood echoing towards her. Twilight similarly looked in the same direction, though neither of them could see the source of the sound.
Clack... Click... Clack...
“...Twilight, do you see anything…?” Rainbow whispered, not daring to take her eyes off the end of the hall.
Click... Clack... Click...
Twilight shook her head, choosing not to respond verbally. The sound of the hooves on the hardwood continued to echo down the hall, never getting further away or coming any closer. It almost sounded like somepony pacing back and forth in one spot…
Clack…
Rainbow’s ears twitched as the sound came to a stop. From where it had been originating, they should have been able to see the pony that was making the noise. However, the hallway only stretched away from them, windows on the left being pounded by rain, and more than a few wooden doors on the right, interspersed with cracked boards, flameless candles, and a few grey paintings.
Twilight hesitated a moment before finally stepping forwards. Just as her hoof touched the floor, there was a loud SLAM. Startled, both she and Rainbow leapt forwards and spun around, the sound having originated from somewhere deep in the mansion behind them. Rainbow’s hackles were raised and her teeth were grit as she focused on her breathing.
“...Rainbow, what do you–”
“He’s coming for me.”
“...What? What do you mean?”
“Twilight, that wasn’t me…”
“...Then who…?”
Slowly they both turned to look at one another at the exact same time, both of them sweating profusely and nervous to fully turn around.
“It’s my fault, and he’s coming for me.
Twilight clenched her teeth as Rainbow set her jaw. Silently, they both whipped around at the exact same time, prepared to run away from whatever horrible thing was behind them. Rainbow’s eyes scanned the hallway, desperate to find the source of the seemingly disembodied voice.
“There’s nopony here...” she said, her mouth twitching into something between a disappointed frown and a thrilled grin.
CRACK-A-KOOM!
The lightning struck just outside the mansion, it’s bright light streaming momentarily in through the windows. For the briefest of moments, their hallway held no shadows. For the briefest of moments, Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle both saw the shadow of a pony cast upon the wall in front of them, it’s hooves connected to a seethrough being standing right before their very eyes.
It’s body may as well have been comprised of dust motes for all the solidity it contained. However, that being the case, they could not deny its presence. It held no mane or tail, and its eyes were black and empty. A pained expression had wrapped itself about the beings face, its mouth twisting into a horrible scowl.
As soon as the pony had appeared, the light from the lightning had winked out of existence, darkness and shadows retaking their previously held ground. In less than a moment, the pony before them disappeared into the darkness.
Rainbow Dash stared into the spot where it had been, her heart hammering blood through her veins. Twilight similarly was rooted to the spot, neither of them attempting to flee. A full minute passed by before either of them had regained control of their thought processes and attempted to figure out what had just happened.
“...Twilight, did we just see a ghost?”
“That’s… not possible. Ghosts aren’t actually real…”
Rainbow worked her wings back down to her sides. “Then what just happened…?”
“I… I’ll get back to you.” Twilight turned her head around, scanning the hallway behind them once more. Feeling confident that nothing else was going to surprise them at the moment, she let out a breath and relaxed her muscles. “I… I think–”
“Run.”
Neither of them waited a moment longer. The voice originating directly next to their ears was more than enough of a reason to start putting as much distance between them and this hallway as possible. Their hooves pounded against the floorboards as they ran, the sound rivaling the noise of the storm outside.
After running for so long that they had completely lost track of their location in the mansion, they at last stopped to rest. They had descended two staircases and ran through multiple side rooms and hallways until at last they found themselves at a dead end. Or at least, as much of a dead end as they had yet to find. They were at the end of a long and dark hallway, and the door which led deeper was locked.
“Hoo… I… I haven’t ran that much since… ever…” Twilight said in between gasps for air.
“Do you think we’re far enough away…?” Rainbow asked, hesitantly looking back down the hallway. There were no doors or windows on either wall, causing this area of the mansion to feel even more secluded and empty than anywhere either of them had been before.
“I… I don’t know. I hope so…”
“Well… More importantly, I suppose… Where the heck are we?”
Twilight looked about, taking in the locked door for the first time since her magic had failed to open it. “I don’t know. This door though… I feel a slight breeze coming under it.”
“Huh?” Rainbow stepped towards it as well, curious by what Twilight had meant. “Yeah, that’s weird, I feel it too… What do you think it–?”
“Shh!” Twilight hissed out, one of her hooves covering Rainbow’s mouth. She tweaked an ear towards the door, Rainbow copying the action.
On the other side of the door, faint and distant, they could hear the sound of a hummed tune…
Rainbow’s eyes widened, the thought of having found somepony else in the mansion burning a happy little hole through her terror. She tried to smile and talk through Twilight’s hoof, but to no avail. Twilight just gave her a tiny, scared look and listened even closer.
“–And then the meat goes falling down,
We flay the skin, pepper him,
And hear the screams echo abound…”
In the span of a second, Rainbow’s expression had melted into one of dread. Her eyes locked onto Twilights as the purple unicorn whispered something just loud enough that only they could hear.
“...Do you remember what that ghost said…? ‘It’s my fault, and he’s coming for me...’”
Just as Rainbow and Twilight agreed to get away from this door as quickly and silently as was physically possible, they heard something which made their blood run cold. The singing pony was getting closer.
Their eyes wide and imploring that they both get the hell away from the door, they quickly started speed walking away, doing their best to not make any noise. They were almost there, the bend in the hallway was just a little ways in front of them. They were gonna make it before the singing pony found them. All they had to do was just–
Slam!
“What’s this then? Two fresh meats come to be devoured?”
“Run!” Rainbow shouted, all thoughts of subtlety going out the window. She and Twilight took off once more, this time an even stronger dose of adrenaline pushing their bodies to the limit. As they reached the turn in the hall, Rainbow chanced a glance backwards and immediately wished that she hadn’t.
Behind them, his hooves charging him forwards like a train, was a monstrous unicorn. His horn, dripping red with blood which had spattered down his face, was snapped in the middle. His eyes were large and excited, about ready to pop out of his face and leave his devilish smile behind. On his back he carried a weapon which made his song even worse: a fillet knife. His mouth opened wide as a crazed laugh echoed down the hall after them.
“You’ll never get away from Fish Fillet! Aaahahahaha!”
The two of them rounded the corner and continued running, determined to find a way to escape. However, the butcher was quicker than they were since Rainbow was going slower than her top speed so as to not outrun Twilight. She kept looking to her side, ensuring that her friend was still there and hadn’t lagged behind. Twilight was never an athlete and Rainbow was worried that something might happen, or she might trip.
Unfortunately for the both of them, that’s exactly what happened.
“Ugh!” Twilight cried out, her shoulder slamming into the wall on her side. Rainbow, reacting a second too late, had to skid to a stop and turn around.
“Twilight, come on! Get up!” she cried out as she panicked. “Get up, he’s gaining on us!”
Twilight grunted, for some reason not standing up as quickly as Rainbow had hoped. They both looked backwards and saw that there was no more time. Fish Fillet had caught up…
“My, my, aren’t we the delicious ones…” he said, one hoof raising his knife into the air, it’s tip aimed at Twilight’s prone body.
“No!” Rainbow screamed as she lunged forwards instinctively. She didn’t even have to think about it; her body just moved her forwards on its own. Fish Fillet merely laughed, not caring which pony his knife pierced. Rainbow screwed her eyes shut as she blocked Twilight’s body from view.
Only no weapon stabbed her. Instead, she felt herself violently thrown further down the hall by a powerful force. Her eyes snapped open, the ceiling and the floor mixing together as she tumbled through the air and crashed to the ground.
“Auuugh!”
Rainbow jumped to her hooves, her eyes wide with horror. A little ways back the way she had come, Twilight was screaming in pain from the knife sticking out of her haunch. “Twilight! No!”
“Rainbow, don’t come near!” she said, tears in her eyes as she quickly cast another spell. Almost instantly a purple bubble had appeared around Rainbow, preventing her from moving.
“What are you doing!? I have to save you!” she cried out, her hooves pounding against the bubble surrounding her. If only she could just make it pop!
“No, don’t…” Twilight said as Fish Fillet began to drag her by her tail, the knife still sticking out of her fur. “I can’t cast any more magic… I only had enough to get you away from him! Please, Rainbow... Get out of here! Once the spell dissipates, just leave! Run away from here as fast as you can!”
“Twilight, no…!” Tears were streaming down Rainbow’s cheeks as she desperately fought against the bubble in front of her. There was no way she was going to let Twilight get taken like this!
Fish Fillet continued dragging her down the hall, Twilight’s tail firmly clenched in his mouth. Twilight’s eyes just pleaded with Rainbow as she slowly started disappearing around the bend in the hall. “Rainbow, please…” she whimpered out, sobs breaking through in between her words. “Whatever you do… Don’t go in the basement!”
And she was gone.
“Twilight! TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT!” Rainbow thrashed against the bubble, fighting it with all of her strength. In the end it was pointless; the bubble was completely unharmed.
“Twilight… No…” She fell to her rump, staring at the ground beneath her hooves. “What do I do now…?”
With a poof the bubble around her dissipated. However, she didn’t move. An internal struggle was raging in her mind.
Do I go after Twilight? She explicitly asked me not to… She even told me to run away. But I can’t just leave her here, she’s one of my best friends… And that pony, he’s going to kill her! What do I do!?
Rainbow looked up, her eyes staring longingly at the corner in the hall up ahead. “...Huh?” There was something fishy about the hallway in front of her. Standing up, she silently moved forwards, her eyes staring at the ground where Twilight had been stabbed.
Rainbow was an athlete, and she constantly exercised and worked hard to tone her body. This meant she had taken her fair share of accidents, and she was well aware of how much an injury would bleed. Seeing blood was one thing that she had no problem with, and this case was no different.
Except… there wasn’t any.
“...Why is there no blood…?” she wondered aloud, her eyes following the path in the floor that Twilight had been drug along. A trail of blood should have been on the ground, only there was nothing. The floor was just as clean as it had been before she was drug away…
“This makes no sense. I saw her get stabbed…” Rainbow said, rubbing a hoof on her forehead. “Why is there no blood?”
Wait a second… What was it that Twilight had said with her last breath? Rainbow thought back a moment, replaying the words in her head. Twilight had said to leave and run away a few times, but her last words weren’t a repeat of that. She had instructed Rainbow to… not go in the basement?
“The basement…?” Rainbow thought about it. It didn’t make any sense… Why would Twilight say that? Was Fish Fillet dragging her to the basement, and she was instructing Rainbow to stay away? But Twilight had already told her to leave. Why say it at all…?
She clenched her teeth. Something wasn’t right about this. This scenario was wrong. The whole mansion was wrong. Nothing added up. “I’m getting to the bottom of this…”
Her hooves started moving, her body growing numb. She had no idea what was going on, but one of the possible scenarios led to her best friend being dead… Or quite possibly all of her friends… She and Twilight hadn’t been able to find anypony in the mansion at all. However, a thought urged her forwards, kept her moving: none of this makes sense!
With a roar of anger, her body carried her at max speed towards the door that the butcher had originally come from. He had to have drug Twilight down it; this door had to lead to the basement. A crash echoed forth as she smashed through it, it’s hinges bursting out as the door launched itself down the steps beyond.
Rainbow jumped and landed on the door, forcing it down the stairs as though it was some kind of slide. It shook violently at every step but she stayed on, refusing to give in. With a loud crash, it hit the bottom and flipped forwards, Rainbow Dash getting launched off of it where she then tucked and rolled. The basement around her was pitch black, and her eyes couldn’t see anything…
Silence settled in as the door came to a sliding stop nearby. She spun her ears about, listening closely to the silence and praying that nopony snuck up behind her in the dark. However, just as she was about to give in and start fumbling around for a light source…
“SURPRISE!” The lights flashed on, revealing a ton of ponies all crowded around one side of the room. Rainbow’s heart was hammering at a million miles an hour as her body flew backwards and crashed against the back wall.
“What the hell is going on!?”
“Happy Nightmare Night, Rainbow Dash!” came Twilight’s voice from within the throng of ponies. Twilight herself then squeezed through and trotted forwards, a big grin on her face.
“...What?”
“I said happy Nightmare Night!” Twilight came all the way up to Rainbow and pried her off of the wall, wrapping her forehooves around her in a big hug.
At first Rainbow didn’t react. She just stared at the pony holding tight to her with a mixture of confusion and agony. “...Oh god, I thought you had died!” she said at last, hugging Twilight back as though she was never gonna let go of her again.
“Course she didn’t die!” came a familiar voice from nearby. Rainbow moved her head to the side and looked behind Twilight, revealing Applejack just a few steps back. “It was all an act to begin with!”
Rainbow let out a breath, a hesitant smile coming to her lips. “I… I don’t know whether to be relieved or absolutely furious with you…” she said as Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy all came into view as well.
“Oh, I’m sorry…” Fluttershy said, her mane falling a bit in front of her face. “I-I figured you’d be mad, but they were all so convincing, I felt I had to go along with it…”
“There was no way we weren’t going to do something to get you back, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity chipped in, a devious smile on her lips as she idly rolled the hoop in her mane around her hoof. “Not after that absolutely dreadful prank you pulled on all of us last Nightmare Night.”
Twilight finally let go of the hug and stepped backwards a bit, pulling Rainbow with her. “Come on, we have an entire party down here.”
Rainbow allowed herself to be led about by her friends, being shown all the food that had been set up at a buffet, the games Pinkie had prepared for them all to play, as well as meeting the actual owners of the mansion, Professor Cullen and his wife, Violet Garden. As Rainbow conversed with the two of them, she learned that the monstrous pony, Fish Fillet, had in actuality been Professor Cullen himself. He was a rather stout earth pony, but had worn a well crafted fake horn to fit the character of the butcher.
As Rainbow continued to make the rounds about the party, she eventually saw that Princesses Celestia and Luna were present as well and had both been in on the prank from the beginning. She discovered that Luna had apparently been responsible for the storm that was raging outside even.
“Man, I’m still just trying to wrap my head around the fact that all of you are alive… This mansion sure did wig me out,” Rainbow admitted as she slipped away into a secluded corner of the basement, a cool beverage and her close friends to keep her company.
“You and me both,” Twilight said, plopping down beside Rainbow. “I helped prepare the magic and set up the creepy atmosphere of the mansion, but still… Walking around it with you while we weren’t all here prepping it? It actually got my heart rate up a bit.”
“I swear, the hardest bit was getting all those paintings up,” Applejack said, wiping a hoof on her brow. “Do you know how many we had to put up for the sake of this thing? We didn’t know which rooms you and Dash might go into and which ones you might overlook, so we just did the whole place. That was over five hundred paintings. Five hundred!”
“Yeah, I believe it…” Rainbow said, leaning back in her chair and closing her eyes. “Though without a doubt the creepiest part was the ghost appearing in thin air.” She waited a moment for a response from her friends but when none came, she cracked open an eye and looked at them.
Pinkie Pie looked nervous and her hair had deflated a bit. “...Ghost?” she said, looking at Twilight. “You didn’t say anything about making a fake ghost with your magic.”
“Well…” Twilight said, a nervous smile on her face. “That’s because… I didn’t do that bit.”
Nopony said a word until finally Applejack broke the silence. “What do you mean? Did one of the Princesses do it?”
Twilight shook her head. “I mean… That wasn’t part of the prank.”
All eyes turned to Rainbow Dash to see her reaction. The pegasus had started breathing deeply and her eyes were wide open. She was staring at Twilight as though she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You’re not serious…?”
To Twilight’s credit, she was able to hold her dreadful expression for a whole two seconds before all five of them started laughing, Rainbow looking between her friends with an expression of wounded betrayal. “You girls just wait till next year…”
Author's Note
Happy Halloween, Fimfiction!
