Chapters "I-I have t-to find them... M-Maybe they a-are somewhere close..." He told himself as he trots carefully through the cold, dark forest. He continues forward cautiously until he hears a sound behind him suddenly, which added onto the sound of the blowing wind and rustling leaves...
SNAP!
He jumped up and looked behind him, only to see nothing except a small twig which he had probably stepped on as he was moving forward, and it was snapped in two. He shook it off as if it were nothing, and kept moving forward.
Until he began to hear the sound of hoofsteps behind him, slowly making their way to his location, stomping loudly against the ground as they moved along.
He turned around and saw some sort of pony, or creature, 6 feet tall, bulky, running straight for him. He quickly took off, going deeper into the forest, running as fast as his young legs could carry him. His eyes were wide and he was breathing quickly. He just prayed that it was his imagination, that whatever this was, it wasn't real, and it would be gone when he looked back. He turns around, to see if it was still following, and it was still in hot pursuit of Daylight, confirming that of course, this is very much real .
Suddenly, Daylight sees something ahead of him...
It appeared to be some kind of building, just one floor and not too big. It made no sense. Why would this be in the middle of the Everfree Forest? Whatever. He just wanted to get away from his pursuer. It looked abandoned. Luckily the door was open, just a crack. He swung it open, threw himself inside, and slammed it shut. Something was banging against the door. Would it hold?
BANG! BANG! BANG!
After a while, the noises finally ceased. Daylight sighed shakily and turned around to attempt to push the door open, to check and see if the creature was gone so he could leave and continue searching for his friends in the vast forest.
The door wouldn't budge at all.
Daylight kept pushing the door over and over, desperately trying to get it open, and leave the building. "Come on come on! Pl-Please open! Th-This can't be happening!" Daylight yelled as he kept pushing. Soon he gave up and leaned against it, getting a good look at the creepy interior of the building.
There were chairs all around, looking like they have been forgotten for years, the cushions that used to give it a soft, comfortable padding were ripped open, the wool inside it spilling out onto the hard floor. The wood use to make the armrests seemed to be decaying, some of it was gone completely. The chairs were scattered and on their sides. There was a desk as well at the end of the room, still standing upright. Two doors on each side. The walls looked cracked, and there was dust all around. The desk was in a similar condition to the chairs, it appeared old and rotten.
Daylight looked around the dark room, now curled into a little ball on the floor as his breathing became heavy. He stared at the abandoned look of the room, before closing his. He was stuck in here all alone, with no one to come to his aid. He forced himself to stand up on his trembling hooves, and took a long, deep breath before exhaling.
"M-Maybe they are in here. M-Maybe they are w-waiting for me... Or in trouble. I-I have to find them. " He though to himself. "I-I have to face my fears... I-I have to get out of here as soon as possible. "
And with that, He slowly stepped forward into the cold, dark room... And began his journey through the building, Not knowing what to expect from it...
Daylight stepped through the darkness, eyes adjusted to it enough to where he could navigate around the withered chairs on the floor. Daylight trotted up to a door on the side of the room, as he did, he saw that it had a label, covered in dust. Upon wiping the dust off gently, he read the old label out loud.
"Bathroom "
Daylight attempted to open the decayed, wooden door, but despite the brass knob turning with ease, he had no luck opening it. "I-It's just a bathroom... Not like a-anything important could be in there..." He told himself, before walking away from it. The door on the right of the desk soon caught his attention. He trotted slowly up to the old wooden door before him. Daylight put his hoof to the door and, to his surprise, began to slowly open with little effort required. As he opened the door, he noticed something in the corner of his eye. Something he did not want to see or encounter at all...
The once immoble bathroom door was slowly being opened as well, even through the thick darkness, Daylight could see that there was someone behind it, staring right at him with glowing, blue, malicious eyes. Daylight swung the door open with as much force as possible and ran through. He ran through the dark hallway, passing through various withered doors, his breathing starting to speed up. He looked behind his shoulder, to see if he was being followed. His heart dropped as he looked back and his eyes had gone wide.
His pursuer was a pony, but completely green, with no mouth or face, and no clothes. It had a heart visible where it would usually be, and it had no back legs, it was floating above with only two forelegs, right for him. Daylight quickly approached a corner, and turned to it to keep running. Seeing that the chilling creature was out of sight, he looked at a nearby door, gripped the brass doorknob and quickly turned it and pushed the door open, to fling himself into the room and shut the door soon after, locking it quickly.
The room was darker than the hallway, and Daylight's eyes have not yet adjusted to this darkness, but that didn't matter now. He kept a hoof over his mouth to muffle his fast breathing and hid in a corner, hoping whatever it was, would pass by, and leave him alone. He could soon hear doors opening and shutting down the hall with force.
"BANG! BANG! BANG!"
This thing was looking for him, hunting him down, to do Celestia knows what to him. The sounds of doors shutting got louder and louder, it was getting closer to his door... Daylight began to feel cold as the sounds came to a screeching halt, he could feel a chill down his spine, he found himself shaking uncontrollably. He felt as if his life was in danger... And he knew it was. Whatever it is, it's gonna find him and he's gonna have nowhere to run.
The decaying door, unlike the previous doors began to open slowly, an unnerving creak following it as it did. Fortunately for Daylight, he was hiding in the corner that the open door blocked, shielding Daylight from the creature's vision. The next thing he saw was the door slamming shut, leaving Daylight alone. All that was left was silence. It was gone...
Daylight slowly opened the door, It let off the same long, drawn-out creak from before. He noticed a door adjacent to him was open, just as dark as the room he had been hiding in. Before he could react, the glowing, green pony lunged at him from the darkness, and grabbed him, holding him up with one, ghostly hoof. Daylight screamed out and struggled to get free from it, but no matter how much he kicked and punched, it didn't phase the it. It gripped his chest with a chilling, green hoof, the grip starting to tighten as it stared at Daylight with an emotionless stare.
"N-No! Please let me go! I-I don't want to die like this!" Daylight begged, his eyes shut tight. The ghost simply kept staring at him. He felt his heart beating for the very last time, as he struggled desperately in the ghost's grip. Suddenly Daylight could hear a rather loud sound and he opened his eyes once again.
DING!
There was a blinding flash of light, the pony dropped Daylight to the ground, it's glowing blue eyes were widened and it appeared frozen in place. Daylight soon heard a loud, whirring sound break the short moment of silence, and he watched as the pony started to appear being sucked into something, it desperately trying to get away and reach for Daylight. Daylight looked over at what could be causing this to happen, what has saved his life.
It appeared to be another pony. A full grown stallion, a normal stallion wielding what appeared to be a... Vacuum cleaner? Daylight stayed quiet and watched on, trembling a little. The ghastly pony was soon completely sucked into the strange household device. The stallion attaching the nozzle of the mechanism to a metal container. He looked down at Daylight, who was standing on the floor, not making any sound at all. The stallion stood in front of him, eyeing him suspiciously.
"Listen up kid" The stallion said in a deep voice, "Come with me if you want to be safe. I can help you. But only if you listen to me."
Daylight stood up slowly, looking down for a brief moment, before nodding hesitantly at the stallion.
"I know I don't seem safe, and we just met, but please trust me, I came here to help you after I heard you scream." The stallion claimed.
"O-Okay... I-I trust you..." Daylight silently responded. The stallion nodded, and walked into the dark hallway once again, Daylight following close behind. Daylight sighed softly as he stares up at the Stallion. Turns out it's nowhere near as abandoned as he thought it was...
Daylight Shine was lead to a small room by the stallion. As he walked inside he noticed the stallion shut the door, but this one looked more reinforced than the others, it was to be made of iron. The room seemed to have almost nothing in it, except for a couple inside some saddlebags, and like others, this room looked like it was also withering away. There was also a small machine in the room, one that looked very complex, it a had a square hole in it, and looked like something would fit in it. The Stallion faced Daylight, taking off his hood to reveal his green eyes, and jet black mane, followed by a matching short tail. Daylight also noticed he had a snow white coat of fur. He appeared rather annoyed as he stared at Daylight, who stared down as he shot the cold stare at him.
"Why in Equestria are you here kid?!" The Stallion angrily. "You could have been killed right then if I didn't come to your rescue. Didn't your parents teach you not to wander too far from home? There is a reason why they would teach you things like that!"
Daylight continued to staredown at the ground. He didn't respond to the question, but instead asked another question to the stallion, as he remembered he still needed info.
"I-It doesn't matter... Wh-Where are we...? Wh-What was that? Wh-Where is the way out?" Daylight spoke frantically. He had so many questions to ask, he just let them all out. He just wanted to know everything, and get out alive.
"Settle down kid." The stallion responded in a calming voice. "I'll answer your questions one at a time alright? First of all, we are in a research facility, which was abandoned a couple years ago, after some... Accidents happened, some of which... Are too gruesome to be explained." He looked down at Daylight, and he could feel how uneasy Daylight was, as he was thinking to himself, however, the stallion began to speak again.
"Second, that was a ghost. I know some of your older friends told you ghosts don't exist, either because they wanted you to feel better, or because they thought they knew that such things could not exist. Well, don't listen to what they said. They are very much real, you saw one back there, didn't you? Don't listen to what your older peers tell you. They are very much real ." Daylight nodded silently, he shuddered as he remember the ghost incident that had recently took place.
"H-How did you st-stop that one...?" Daylight spoke up, quietly and timidly. The stallion took the vacuum from his back, and put it in front of him, showing Daylight the contraption.
"Well... It's quite simple" He began "I did it with this device right here. It's called it the Paranormal Vacuuming Mechanism, or the PVM for short. It traps ghosts within this metal container, inside it uses a small vacuum keeps the ghost secure so it won't escape, if they try the storage will sense it and vacuum it to the center. From that point, you can take it to this." He walked over to the machine in the corner of the room, which sat there idly.
"Wh-What does that thing do...?" Daylight responded, eyeing the machine up and down. He placed his hoof on it, retracting it once he felt the icy touch of the machine.
"This machine can be plugged up to the PVM and from there it can either destroy the ghost or turn it into a painting, once turned into a painting, I can use a device I have in my supplies to free them from the painting. But it's a slow process, of course you can choose what the machine does to the ghost inside" He explained, connecting the nozzle of the PVM to the square hole in the machine that Daylight saw before. Daylight could see a lump come from the container go into the tube, ultimately transferring into the machine. The stallion then pressed a button, and it began to emit a whirring sound, getting louder and louder, causing Daylight to cover his ears from the loud sound. The whirring soon stopped, decreasing in volume, and the stallion disconnected the PVM from it, putting it on his back again. "The ghost is now gone for good."
"Wh-Why couldn't you make it into a-a painting...?" Daylight asked, still eyeing the machine. "M-Maybe we could have saved wh-whoever it was... I-Instead of destroying them..."
"Well... I tried... But for some odd reason... These kinds of ghosts don't come in paintings..." The stallion responded with silently. "When I tried, the machine started to overheat, I felt like it would soon explode, and no progress would be made, so I had to destroy them. But I'm sure there are some that can become paintings... Just not all."
Daylight sighed, his ears lowering down. He once more remembered why he was here, and spoke up. "Well... Th-That's neat a-and all but... How can I get out? I-I have to look f-for my friends..." Daylight responded with. The stallion looked at him and sighed.
"There is no way out unfortunately. I tried the front entrance of this place, but it won't budge. Until I can locate another way out, we have to stay here for now." The stallion told him. Daylight sighed sofly and looked down once again.
"Wh-Why are you here...?" Daylight continued.
"Well..." The Stallion responded quietly. "I was sent to look for some people who came into the forest around this building, and didn't come back. I was lead here. As soon as I entered, I was ambushed by ghosts. I was able to escape them and leave. I came back with some equipment I made to capture and subdue these ghosts, even able to set up a safe room for myself, good thing I'm a unicorn... Or this process would have taken forever... However, when I tried leaving to get more things, I found that the entrance would not budge at all. So I've been stuck in here, and I decided to try continuing my search here. I've had no luck finding anyone or a way out, and its been days." This seemed to make Daylight curious. He was also here to look for others. His friends, of course.
"D-Do you know what their names are...?" Daylight asked. Hoping for an answer. He had to get all the information he could.
"Yes. I know some of them... Lightning Scythe, High Octane, Alicja Gazer, and Fallen Shadow. That's all I know, but I know there are more of them."
The names listed made Daylight's heart sink and made his eyes widen, he looked to the side nervously before looking back up at the stallion.
"Well," the Stallion spoke up, interrupting Daylight's thoughts. "I best get going. I need to find them. I need you to stay here. It's safer here than anywhere else" The Stallion grabbed a flashlight and the PVM, walking towards the door, about to step out into the darkness, before...
"W-Wait !" Daylight yelled out, the stallion stopping dead in his tracks, turning to him with an eyebrow raised.
"Yes? What is it?"
"I'll go... Y-You must need a break... I'll b-be able to take it from here for a w-while..."
"Are you kidding? It's too dangerous out there. Who knows what they could do to you if you if they caught you!" The Stallion said sternly. "I don't need a break, I can take it from here, I don't want anyone going missing or getting hurt in this damned place. So I want you to stay. It's for your own safety. You must understand."
"B-But... You could also be hurt..." Daylight pointed out. "You could be too exhausted to g-go on... Y-You could fall victim t-to these ghosts... I wouldn't want you to get hurt either... I-I just got here... I-I have the energy... Y-You need to get yours back..."
The Stallion sighed, no matter how much he wanted to deny and argue, he was right. He noticed how many times he'd have to take a deep breath and looked back into the abandoned facility. reluctantly, he walked over to Daylight, and handed over the PVM and the flashlight, staring at Daylight with a serious expression.
"Look kid" The Stallion spoke up. "I guess your right... A break is really what I need right now... I guess I need to catch my breath... Take these... You'll need them... And if you ever need a break yourself, you know where to find this place... Remember not to let anything get the best of you... And don't fall for anything suspicious... Good luck kiddo... You're gonna need it."
Daylight nodded. "I-I'll be back soon... Please get some rest..." With that, he turned on the flashlight, and stepped back into the haunted structure... Now prepared to face the challenges ahead of him...
Hopefully...
Daylight Shine finds himself in a hallway with rows of closed doors on each side. He cautiously stepped through the rundown hallway, illuminating his way with the flashlight supplied to him. All the doors in the hallway were still shut tight, Daylight passing by them with his eyes focused ahead. Upon reaching the end of the hallway, Daylight sees a door in front of him, opened wide to reveal where he first entered. The door was like the rest, it was wooden, and it looked torn on the surface, and a bit withered.
"G-Going to the l-lobby will be pointless" Daylight told himself quietly. Daylight was shaking, and he picked the flashlight up in his mouth then trotted down the hallway to reveal another old door. He put his hoof to the door and slowly pushed it open, it was followed by a drawn-out creak. He shined his flashlight through the opened way. What he found behind it was a steel staircase, most of the steel rusted, leading straight down into darkness. Daylight stepped back once from the doorway and put his flashlight back in his hoof, before letting out a shaky sigh and looking up. He slowly and carefully proceeded down the ominous staircase.
With each step he started to shiver and cover himself as it suddenly became cold. He reached a corner of the staircase, another flight of stairs to his right, but, as he was going to step down, he felt a force push him down the cold, steel steps.
Daylight let out a loud yelp as he was forced down, tumbling down the metal steps, stopping in front of another wooden door. He put his hooves on his back to the PVM immedietaly, and felt no dents or missing parts. Daylight groaned in pain, lying on the cold floor. He looked up the steps, and he was met with a ghost looking similar to the ghost he first saw, with it's glowing green skin, blue eyes, and missing backhooves. It let out a bone-chilling laugh and lunged right at him, the laugh quickly turning into am ear-splitting screech. All that could escape Daylight's lips was a gasp, before his eyes widened and he fumbled to get the flashlight, pointing the tool right at the ghost.
DING!
The ghost was frozen in its tracks, it's eyes now widened, Daylight flicked a switch on the nozzle of the PVM after putting it in his hoof, and he began to suck the ghost into it as it created a strong pull. The ghost attempted to fly away, dragging Daylight closer to the stairs as it was, to escape the machine's grasp. It was clawing the air with its hooves as Daylight kept trying to pull it towards him with all his might. Soon after the ghost stopped it's relentless flailing, and was pulled straight inside the nozzle, screeching the whole way.
Daylight grinned, looking back at the PVM before letting out a long sigh. He soon looked back up and turned away from the staircase and pushed the door in front of him open, stepping into the room ahead slowly and cautiously.
The room was a decent size. It was slightly bigger than the lobby, with various other doors being visible. This room has desks against the torn decayed walls, some desks had parts of it fallen off and old papers still placed on some of them, others scattered across the floor only to make a mess. There were more chairs in the center of the room. They were oddly still placed upright, like someone has been in here. Daylight walked up to one of the desks and tried reading through a paper, his pupils dilating.
"H-How many pints of bl-blood you could get from a y-young colt?! " Daylight spoke quietly, and fearfully. Daylight dropped the paper, staring down at it. What kind of experiment would require such data? Who would want to experiment this? He picked up another paper, and immediately started to feel nauseous.
This paper seemed to have blood on it...
Not old, dried out blood...
This was FRESH blood...
The hot, sticky substance dripped on the door in front of Daylight. He quickly placed it back on the table, some of the crimson blood on his hoof. He looked at it with widened eyes. Why was this paper soaked in blood? Why was this blood fresh? Who's blood was it? This flow of questions was soon cut short when Daylight heard a chilling voice behind him.
"\Perfect... Our test subject has arrived right on time... Shall we get started then? "
Daylight immediately bolted for the nearest door. He threw it open and galloped inside, slamming the door behind him. His breathing had become quick, and he looked back at the door.
He was now trapped in this room.
In the center, there was a chair, which, like the paper, had spots of fresh blood on it. Next to it was a table, with a large bonesaw lying on it, fresh blood was on this as well. Around the room were drawers, and on the wall were examination posters, torn greatly. He trotted right past the weapon, what good would this weapon do against a ghost? He searched the room frantically, looking back at the door every now and then, before setting his eyes on the table.
Daylight tried to hide behind the table, turning his flashlight off, and covering his mouth to muffle his quick breathing. He soon heard a long sounding creak. He could hear the same voice, the voice of a stallion.
"Don't hide... I will find you little one... " Followed by a spine-chilling chuckle.
Daylight was stuck in the room, with this stranger, with a tool he could use to kill him with. The situation couldn't possibly get any worse... He felt like his time has come to die... There was no hope for him...
He peeked out from behind the withered table now visibly shaking, only to come face to face with another ghost. But this one was different from the others he had seen previously. This ghost floated above the ground, he had solid black fur, a jet black mane, and his now blood red eyes were scanning Daylight up and down. He held the blood-soaked bonesaw in his hoof, and donned an insane grin on his face as he stared down the young colt.
"Found you!" He exclaimed happily, as he brought up his bonesaw, dripping with the blood. Daylight quickly got up and ran to the other side of the table then towards the door as he swung at him. Daylight grabbed his flashlight and shined it at the ghost and standing his ground. He glared at the ghost and waited.
However...
There was no ding.
Why isn't there a ding?!
Why is he still moving?!
Daylight's eyes soon shifted from glaring, to wide once again.
"Oh come now Daylight, it's gonna take a lot more than that piece of garbage ." He said gleefully. How does he know Daylight's name?! He rushes at Daylight with the lethal weapon in hoof. Daylight pulled the door open and ran out with all the speed he could muster, slamming the door shut behind him. Daylight let out a sharp gasp and ducked under the door.
The bonesaw went right through the decaying, wooden door with ease, and was pulled back into the room as the brass doorknob began to jiggle. Daylight attempted to open the door leading back up to the dark hallway he was in previously, desperately tugging at the door as hard as he could.
It was locked.
The ghost had slowly opened the door and floated out, looking right down at Daylight.
"You can't run from me Daylight !" He exclaimed as he floated towards Daylight, raising up the blood-coated bonesaw. Daylight jumped to the side to avoid the dangerous blade, but it grazed his leg as he jumped, and he let out a remark in pain, looking down at his leg with pain in his eyes.
"AAAGH !" Daylight yelled, as a small amount of hot, crimson red blood seeped out of the fresh wound that was just now cut open. Daylight weakly stood up and galloped towards another door, swinging it open and running inside, slamming it shut right after. He quickly scanned the room, he was breathing heavily now.
Various old and worn down machines rested in one side of the room. They looked like they were also broken, as well as withered down, There were old and torn sheets that were tacked onto the wall by old tarnished tacks, barely holding into the wall.
As the doorknob began to jiggle once more, Daylight quickly moved behind one of the the worn machines. Soon after, the door slowly opened, giving off a long, haunting creak.
"Still playing hide and seek, are we? " The ghost spoke up. "You don't have many places to hide in here. You know I'll find you. " Daylight held a hoof over his mouth to silence his heavy breaths, his eyes wide open.
"Where oh where are you hiding ?" He could hear a crazed-sounding chuckle. At that moment, Daylight jumped out from behind the machines and attempted to run past him and towards the door, but before he could, Fallen reacted quickly and punched him with enough force to knock him to the wall next to the door. Daylight could feel the breath being knocked right out of him.
Daylight moaned in pain as he lied against the wall beside the door, his vision a little bit blurry. As he came to, he saw a terrible sight. That ghost was floating towards him, the bonesaw raised high in the air. Daylight was breathing heavily, as he felt lightheaded as he stared up at the bonesaw. He yelled out to the ghost before him.
"F-Fallen!! P-Please don't do this!! " He yelled out to the ghost. His ears lowered as he heard the crazed chuckle once again. He looked around the room, and looked right above him. He saw a light switch. He took a deep breath as he stared up at it.
"I might as well blind him to buy me just a little more time... " Daylight thought to himself. As Fallen was getting closer and closer, Daylight jumped up and pushed the light switch up.
Daylight shut his eyes, quivering as he held his breath...
...DING!
Fallen's confident smirk quickly changed into a horrified expression, eyes wide, and mouth gaping as he froze in place.
Daylight's eyes widened in disbelief, he shook his head and he grabbed the nozzle from the PVM and pointed it at Fallen. He flipped the switch, as the device began to viciously pull Fallen towards it. Fallen started attempting to float away from it as he screamed out, dragging Daylight and the PVM with it around the room. Daylight held onto the device as tightly and hard as he could as it started pulling Fallen closer and closer to the nozzle.
"It can't end like this!!! " Fallen yelled as he was finally pulled inside of the PVM. Daylight sat down and sighed softly, the light flickered once, before going out completely. Daylight looked himself over, looking down at the wound on his hind leg. He took a deep breath stood back up on his four hooves, grunting and looking at his legs wobbling, and pushed the door behind him open slowly, heading for the staircase door once more. The door refused to open. Daylight lies down once again against the door, staring into the dark room before him, letting out a more shaky sigh
Daylight soon began to close his eyes, he tried to snap them back open with all his energy. "N-No... N-Not here... Please... " As he thought to himself, his eyes soon unwillingly shut, he slanted against the door a bit as he drifted off...
Daylight woke up soon after, his eyes adjusting to the dark room. He put his hooves behind him to feel the cold metal of the PVM before giving off a sigh in relief. He hops off of a table before he looks around the room, scanning it carefully with his golden yellow eyes.
There was a single drawer to the right on a wall in the room. Daylight jumped off the table and trotted over to it, slowly swinging it open in curiosity. Upon opening this drawer Daylight is met with a display of syringes, one was filled with a red substance, even some on the needle and another had a green liquid inside that gave off a faint glow. Daylight reached for the glowing syringe before he felt a bit of pain in his forehoof as he stretched it. He reared it back from the drawer and looked it over. He noticed a small little dot on his forehoof and he tilted his head, before his eyes widened and he looked at the syringe filled with the red substance.
Was that red substance... His blood...?
This made Daylight shudder. Who would want a sample of blood from him and why? What were they gonna do with it? Daylight only thought of these questions for a couple seconds before letting out a sigh and trotting to the door. Pushing his weight against it and causing it to swing open. he found himself in the lobby where he encountered Nightshade. He shined his flashlight around the room before moving to another door, ignoring the locked door behind him.
Daylight pushed the wood door open, to reveal another hallway, this one had a couple doors on each side, and he could see an intersection ahead as he shined his light down the hallway. The hallway was wide enough to have desks in some areas on the sides of the hallway. The doors on each side were tightly shut. Daylight stepped into the old hallway and began to walk forward, glancing around warily. The wooden doors looked a bit cleaner, and not as old as the door leading to the hallway. However, the walls looked cracked and torn a bit, and the ceiling was cracked and looked beyond repair. When Daylight passed the aging desks, he checked them over only to find nothing.
There was a door opened slightly near the intersection. Daylight cautiously stepped toward the eerily cracked open door, his hooves trembling as he gripped his flashlight and vacuum, he began to slowly push it open with his forehoof and positioned his flashlight to shine into the pitch black room as he did. Upon opening and glancing into the room, Daylight could see old, worn out chairs were on their sides, a broken table rested on the dusty floor of the room as well with two supports gone, the room also included empty cabinets on the sides of it which were wide open. Daylight could see something inside one of the cabinets with a white color that reflected the light emitting off his flashlight. Daylight trotted over to it and carefully picked it up out of the cabinet before scanning over it carefully.
To his shock, the paper had a picture of him on it, and along with it, there were words crudely marked around the picture with solid black writing, each word stating "KILL" in large letters. Daylight's heart began to race. "Why would someone in here want me dead? What do I do? " he wondered to himself. He starts to glance around nervously, he even begins to sweat and breath quicker. He stared down at the paper before throwing down on the ground and looking away.
As he turned his head from the paper, he was soon forcefully lifted off his hooves. He came face to face with yet another ghost, staring into him with it's glowing blue eyes. Before he could scream It began to grip Daylight's chest with it's free glowing green hoof which left a cold, icy feeling. as it gripped harder, Daylight yelled out in pain, but quickly summoned his strength and lifted his flashlight up, shining it at the ghost.
DING!
It froze in it's place and Daylight soon took the nozzle of the PVM and it began to pull the ghost toward it. This ghost did not last long, as it was shortly pulled into the device, and with that, it was gone. Daylight quickly trotted out of the room while taking deep breaths. There was a door at the end of each hallway and he stared at each one for a good time, before closing his eyes. Daylight opened his eyes a couple seconds later and began to trot to the door to the right of him. He summoned his strength to push the door open to reveal another room.
It was full of large desks that were connected to the floor with nothing on them except little pieces of glass. Papers littered the floor. Daylight cautiously picked one up in front of him and read through it, unable to make out any of the the writing on it. He set it down and fully trotted in the room, the door suddenly slammed shut behind him, leaving a loud, dreadful BANG . Daylight's heart skipped a beat at the sudden noise, and he quickly spun around. He desperately tried to force the door open again, but it refused to budge. Daylight sooned eased up and sighed, until he heard the sound of the doorknob fidgeting. When he turned his head he could see the silver knob turning to the left and the right quickly, accompanied by various rattling sounds.
Daylight jumped away from the door and dived for the closest desk and opened a cabinet attached to it. He squeezed himself into the confined space and slowly shut the door. Soon after, he heard a door swing open at the other end of the room, then soon slam shut. Daylight's heart began to race again as he hid in the cramped cabinet. He heard nothing for a short while, until...
"Come on out... I know you're in here somewhere child... Don't be shy... I'm not gonna hurt you... "
The voice was a mare's voice. It almost sounded comforting, and reassuring, sending a chill down his spine. He held his hoof against his mouth tightly and closed his eyes.
It was dead silent. The only sound being Daylight's muffled breathing.
Daylight waited inside the decaying cabinet for what felt like hours. After seconds more of silence, Daylight began to reach for the door, pressing his hooves against it gently, until suddenly swung open, and Daylight felt two stone cold hooves grab him and forcefully pull him out of the cabinet. Daylight made futile attempts to struggle against the entity to no avail. Daylight let out a scream as his attacker lifted him up to it's head, as it donned a sadistic grin.
"FOUND YOU! "
The ghost was able to forcefully pin Daylight against the old table in a mere second, he tried to struggle against her but was not even able to make her budge. She reared her ghostly hoof back, still wearing that damned sadistic grin, Daylight quickly turned his flashlight sideways and used it to shield the punch. The evil specter hit the flashlight with her hoof, and quickly brought it back, letting out a painful grunt. As she was distracted, Daylight mustered all of his strength and kicked her back with his hind hooves to break free of her grip, she slid a foot from him and he ran into the room she came from.
The room was huge, bigger than he has seen before. He was on a catwalk, high above large machines that rested below on the worn down, stone flooring, with two doors at the end. They had rust on them and were completely still, *edit here*. Daylight was unsure if he could even make them operate properly again, if he even wanted to. He then remembered that he was most likely being chased by the enraged specter, and began to consider if he could survive the jump down, soon coming to the conclusion that it was just too high up, and he'd be unable to safely get down without a broken leg. Thing fast, he ran to the door on his left, shutting it tight and locking it.
He reached what appeared to be another office, much smaller than others. Papers were littered on the ground, a desk was placed against the wall of the cramped room, and a couple rusty iron cabinets also lined the cold, stone wall. As Daylight swiftly scanned through each aged cabinet, he saw they were all completely empty. However, two compartments where locked, rather tight as well. Daylight attempted to use every method he could, from using his magic and even kicking it with his weak hind hooves. Unfortunately, his attempts were in vain, the compartments wouldn't open. The young unicorn soon trotted to the desk slowly, to check for anything that is of importance. One compartment was found on the desk, and to Daylight's luck and surprise, upon opening it, he found a rusty, old looking key.
"M-Maybe this key c-can open the cabinets...." He whispered to himself softly, he approached the aged compartments, and slid the key into the lock, and turned the key slowly and to his luck, he was able to slide it open with his hoof, revealing a journal. Something was ominous about the journal, however. First of all... Why would it need to be locked in a cabinet? But... Most importantly...
Why was it covered in blood?
These where the thoughts that rushed through Daylight's head, the hot, sticky, crimson substance now staining his hoof. He decided to open the journal slowly, to see the content that would have inside of it. Of course, there was some content within. He began to read through the bloodstained journal in his head.
"ENTRY #1"
"It is time to begin my studies. Surely there must be an answer to this issue. Unicorns are the dominant race in Equestria, and they must have more power. They must serve a much bigger purpose in this land, one much greater than the other two. They don't have what it takes. Unicorns will prove to be the most powerful beings of this land."
Daylight was confused. What did this person have against Pegasi and Earth Ponies? Why did he care if Unicorns were the dominant race of Equestria? Shouldn't all types of ponies serve just as much as the other? Shouldn't everypony be important to this land? Daylight began to read on through the journal.
"ENTRY #2"
"Surely there must be a way to grant Unicorns more power. A way to make even a young Unicorn have as much magical capabilities as a full grown one, and a full-grown one having so much more to offer. I'll have my researchers assist me in this project. We must find a way to give Unicorns more power. That is our first step to being the dominant species."
That was all the dusty journal had to offer. Daylight closed it, and placed it on the floor carefully. He was curious now, curious of how this worked out, and if the author of the journal was successful in his project. However, before he was able to think more, the doorknob to the room started to jiggle. Daylight fought back the urge to scream in response to the sudden interruption. How could he forget that a ghost was chasing him? He quickly ducked to hide under the desk, however, the jiggling soon stopped. He could hear talking outside. The voice behind it sounded like it belonged to a mare, the one he encountered in the previous room.
"The kid probably jumped down and escaped. He's safe for now..."
With that, silence flooded his surroundings. As Daylight made his way out from under the decaying desk, he noticed yet another rusty key. Daylight picked the key up and got out from under the desk. He trotted over to the second locked compartment. The key however was for something else, as it could not fit within the lock in front of him. As the colt thought of anything the key could be for, he suddenly remembered. The door that leads back up the first floor, that may be what the key is for. Figuring it was worth a shot, Daylight decided to open the door, and leave the safety of the locked office, back into the haunted facility...
But something was odd about that compartment....
...Why did it smell so bad?
Daylight soon found himself at the same intersection he was in before. He saw that there are still two more doors he has yet to explore, and they seemed to beckon the young colt to go through and explore what they had to offer. The child tried his best to resist giving in to his curiosity, as he had to return to the safe room with his captured ghostly friend. He was exhausted from all the running and walking around he had to do around the building, and not only that, if he stayed out much longer, the ghostly mare from before just may find him, and attempt to hurt him again. Worst of all this time she would most likely succeed in that.
Daylight stopped himself from thinking too much and he trotted over to the direction of the safe room. He passed by the break room on his way, until suddenly...
"creaaaak....."
The sudden sound came from behind him, disrupting the silence that had flooded the room. Daylight quickly turned around to face the source of the noise, only to see one of the doors at the intersection opened a crack. It was the center door. As soon as he saw it however, the door quickly slammed itself shut, as if someone were hiding behind it, away from Daylight. Daylight came to the decision to leave the ominous door be. As he opened the wooden door slowly to leave the intersection. However... As he did this he heard a door open, fast enough to slam against the cracked decaying wall near it and let out a loud BANG! Daylight quickly turned his head again, only to see one of the terrible scenarios he had thought up come to life before his eyes.
There was yet another damned ghost at the end of the hall, this time, a blue one accompanying it. The blue spirit had only little detail to it. It reminded Daylight of the green specters he had encountered prior in the other rooms, except this one was bulky, very bulky. It was large and looked as if it could snap Daylight like he was a little twig with ease. The other evil spirit was the one that stood out to the colt. This one had ghostly green eyes, and a coat of dark blue fur on. Her mane was a light yellow. She had a pink bow on her mane. Her cutie mark had a medicine bottle and nothing else, and she was an Pegasus. Like all of the others ghosts Daylight has encountered so far, she was also most likely stronger than him. Daylight recognized this as one of his friends, Alicja Gazer. She has been turned into a ghost and against Daylight just like Fallen had been. Now Daylight must find a way to capture her, so she could be reverted back as well, but that may not be so easy...
She pointed her ghastly pink hoof at Daylight, turning her head to face the blue ghost that floated beside her.
"Bring him to me, alive. I want to make this slow and painful for him..."
She then faced Daylight with a smug looking grin on her face, as the blue ghost floated towards Daylight at immense speed. Daylight acted quickly jumping into the other room and slamming the old wooden door shut, looking around fantically at the other doors to decide which room is best for him to hide in. Before he could settle on a good hiding spot, the door was sent right off it's rusty hinges, falling right in front of Daylight. The blue ghost stood in the doorway and rushed at Daylight before throwing a powerful punch right for his chest. The young colt jumped out of the way of the ghostly hoof quickly and scrambled to shine his flashlight at the specter. As he was aiming his device the bulky ghost throw another punch, this one hitting Daylight right in his side, and sending him into one of the closed doors, the aged door cracking a bit on impact. The punch knocked the breath out of Daylight, as he felt pain throughout his body. He weakly gripped his flashlight, and with his remaining stamina, he shined it right at the hulking spirit, causing it to freeze in its place.
"DING!"
The child used this opportunity to activate the PVM and begin pulling the ghost towards the nozzle of the device. It flew around the room frantically, however not as fast as before. It lightly slammed Daylight on the walls, until finally, it was completely pulled into the machine. Daylight lied on the cold floor, letting out a quiet grunt in pain. He soon realized that Alicja Gazer may be coming for him now as well to finish the job, and it is not yet too late to hide from her. Daylight's body told him not to get up, and to just stay down and give in, but he went against his guts and decided to stand up and stagger into the nearest room, closing and locking the door to delay the spirit.
He was once again in the room with the bloodstained table in the center, where he tried to hide from Fallen. He decided that this time however he would hide in one of the cabinets in the side of the room. He left the door unlocked, to avoid making the old dusty room look suspicious. He slowly approached one of the cramped cabinets and opened it, slowly fitting himself inside of it, and closing it tightly. Daylight waited inside of the cabinet for what felt like ages to him, until heard a door bust open outside of the room. He could only assume it was Alice, who must be searching the rooms around for Daylight, because after all, she is out to murder him.
After 7 minutes, another door in the main room opened, indicating that she must be searching for Daylight in every room she can, not giving up until she finds him. Daylight decided to turn his flashlight on to illuminate the cabinet in the meantime. The cabinet, like every other room was dusty and old, it wasn't very surprising to the colt. He kept waiting inside the closet, slowly recovering from all the pain he's felt for the past couple hours. As soon as he was getting just a bit relaxed... He suddenly heard the door to the room slam open.
He heard Alice mumble something as the ghostly mare began to audibly open up cabinets. Daylight turned off the light and muffled his breathing, knowing it was only a matter of time until she opened his cabinet and caught him. Daylight closed his eyes tightly and anticipated the moment where he'd be caught... The sound of the opening cabinets got louder and louder, soon loud enough to indicate that she was right next to his...
...
Surprisingly... He heard the sound of the door shutting... The cabinet didn't open at all, to his luck... He was finally safe. He slowly opened the cabinet, stepping out of the cramped space and getting time to stretch. As soon as he had finished getting himself ready, he trotted over to the door, and as he went to open it, it suddenly swung open on its own, and Alice came from the opened door, grabbing him by the throat and pushing him to the table. Daylight yelped in surprised at the sudden attack.
"Did you think you could hide from me hon?" Alice said to Daylight. She kept him pinned to the old, beaten table and reared her hoof back, to prepare to swing a powerful punch at Daylight like before. Acting quick, the colt attempted to shield himself using his flashlight. Then...
SNAP!
The specter hit Daylight in the nose after the snapping sound occurred. The colt yelled out in pain from the hit before looking at his flashlight....
The head of it was ripped off by Alice's punch... It was now on the floor, the lens shattered after hitting the cold hard ground.
Things quickly started to look worse and worse for Daylight, because now his flashlight, his way of stunning and blinding the spirits... His way that could allow him to capture ghosts with the PVM... His way of lighting his way around the facility... Had been broken, now it's merely a metal rod. The room was now dark. Skater let out a chilling chuckle.
"Hmph... What are you gonna do without your pathetic little light now?" She said to him. " I'll make this as slow as I can for you kid..." She reached over to an object beside Daylight, when he glanced over, it revealed to be a pair of metal scissors. Now acting out of adrenaline, and fear, Daylight kicked Alice back with all of his strength, dark red blood now slowly trailing from his nose due to the punch. He proceeded to run out the open door, and acting quick, he threw himself into another room across from where he was. He closed and locked the door before glancing around the room.
It was the room with the old machinery. Daylight knew hiding would be pointless, so as a last resort he began to look for any type of weapon to defend himself with from the specter. He checked the cabinets to the side of the room, scanning each one before closing it and checking the next one. They all simply seemed to be screwdrivers and such, tools for maintaining the rusty old machines. Things quickly seemed to look even worse, as the door was now being banged on, cracks quickly forming on the aged wood, Alice would be able to burst in at any given moment, and Daylight has yet to find anything to fend her off. Daylight began to frantically check the last compartments, until finally, things began to look up for him.
There was a flashlight in the compartment. It looked old, but possibly usable. It had a bright green button right under the head of it. Daylight quickly snatched to from the cabinet, and tried to switch it on.
Nothing.
It must be out of batteries. The door was gonna come right off it's hinges any moment, and Alice would rush right in. The young unicorn quickly removed the batteries from his broken flashlight and placed them in his newly acquired one. He pressed the button quickly. To his luck, the flashlight light out a burst of light as soon as he did, and stayed on. The door then fell off it's hinges, and Alicja Gazer soon floated into the room, with a smug looking grin on her face.
"Heh, what? Thought that door could keep me out? Guess again sweetie. You can't run from me forever..." She flew at Daylight at a fast speed and punched him with all of her strength into one of the old machines. The machine was unmoved as Daylight made impact with it. The colt laid down in front of it, groaning in pain as Alice approached him slowly. He used a telekinesis spell to fling his old, broken flashlight right at Skater. The metal rod hit her in her snout as she covered it, grunting in pain and floating back a little bit.
"Gh...! Fuck....! You little brat!" She screamed out, now furiously approaching him, gripping the scissors in her hoof tightly. Daylight once again began to think of anything he could do to stop her. He suddenly remembered his new flashlight, and how it would let out a burst of light. Know remembering this, he held the button down as it began to charge, Alicja Gazer swiftly approaching, as she got close, Daylight released the button, allowing his flashlight to let out a powerful burst of light that covered the area in front of the colt. Suddenly, Alice froze in place, her eyes wide, the scissors dropped right beside Daylight's hind leg. At the same time, Daylight heard one of the most refreshing sounds he could hear at the time.
DING!
Acting fast, Daylight aimed the nozzle of his PVM at the frozen specter, and activated the device swiftly. A strong gust of wind began to pull his ghostly friend into the device, as she unfroze and began to fight against the device, trying to float away.
"Get that damned machine away from me!" She screamed out. Now in fear, she flying around the room and slamming Daylight against the walls, he grunted in pain each time but kept his grip on the nozzle of the device, determined to capture his friend, so he may revert her back to normal later. Finally, she was nearly pulled in, as she screamed out her final words.
"I hope the others tear you apart!" She spat out before being pulled into the metal storage on Daylight's back. Daylight felt greatly relieved, but at the same time, he had been in so much pain during the past events. He couldn't make himself get up, and he was yet again going to pass out unwillingly, knowing that bad things could happen if he did. As his vision was fading to black, he could hear the sounds of doors opening, and the faint sound of hoofsteps... The sounds of opening doors got louder and louder, and the hoofsteps got closer and closer...
The last thing Daylight saw was a pair of white hooves approaching him, and the sound of someone yelling his name, before darkness...
Daylight woke up, his vision had become blurry and dizzy. All he could appear to make out was being a bit high off the ground, and the ceiling above him was moving. His legs were dangling, so he only assumed he was on somepony's, or something's, back. Was he being carried away by something? Could it possibly be a ghost? Was it a pony with malicious intent? Such as the one he had encountered in the forest? Was he gonna... die? As Daylight began to question his surroundings, and his very fate, he got ready to call out to whoever it was who was carrying him off, but he could feel himself slipping away once again into unconsciousness . He tried to fight against it with all he could fearing what would happen if he let this stranger carry him off, but to no avail. Daylight had submitted to the inevitable as his vision was once again filled with darkness...
There was nothing but an empty void before him, nothing but darkness for miles. Daylight looked down at himself, and checked his surroundings. His slow movements had soon become faster and more frantic as he turned his head. His expression soon went from confused, to scared, and eventually, to horrified. Daylight had soon realized that he had just found himself in not only one of the worst-case scenarios, but one of the many cases he feared the most.
Isolation.
"H-Hello?! A-Anyone?!" Daylight screamed out, his voice echoing for what seemed like miles, but his voice was lost in the endless void, as nobody responded. He decided to try to find an exit from what felt like hell to him. He ran and ran and ran, but it did him no good. There was no escape. The only thing running did was tire him out. He sat down, surrounded by complete silence as he looked down at his bright blue hooves, which were quivering.
Soon, his left forehoof started to get dark, and the bright blue color was being drained from it. Daylight looked down as darkness enveloped his hoof, soon reaching the point where his hoof was no longer visible. Daylight placed his right forehoof where his left was, only to feel nothing but cold, empty space. Soon his right forehoof started to become engulfed by the darkness. Daylight began to panic as his legs started to fade away into nothing, soon feeling his who body begin to get swallowed by the void. He felt the void reach up to his neck and go past it, being unable to do anything but watch. He could not even tell if his vision was blurring out, or if he was blacking out as he soon was erased from existence...
He soon found himself jolting up from the stone flooring of the building in cold sweat, his eyes wide open. He took deep breaths as he frantically pulled up his forehooves.
Intact.
Daylight soon exhaled in relief, thankfully all he experienced was a nightmare. As he no longer felt his injuries, he started to wonder where he was, and how he got there. As he was about to look up, the familiar, soft voice of a mare spoke up.
"It's alright Daylight, you should be safe in here."
Daylight looked up to see who it was, to reveal the Stallion who had given him the PVM, and a familiar looking unicorn right beside him. She had a snow-white coat of fur, and a long bright red mane and tail followed by bright pink eyes and a bright red heart as her cutie mark. She looked down at Daylight, seeming concerned for him.
"Is this one of your friends kid?" The stallion asked Daylight curiously. "I found her at the lobby, claiming to have been looking for you. I was fortunately able to lead her here before the ghosts could find us. She was worried for you and then set out to find ya, thankfully she didn't run into trouble on the way. Who knows what could happen."
"B-Brooke!" Daylight exclaimed happily, as he ran up and hugged her, she looked down at him and smiled softly before speaking up once again.
"It's been hours since you returned... So I went out to go look for you..." Brooke said worryingly. "I didn't expect you to be in here... Why are you in such a treacherous place? If what this stallion said is true then it's far too dangerous to be here..."
"I-I know... I-I didn't expect t-to come here either..." Daylight quietly responded. "I-It's just... I-It may be hard to b-believe.... But I came out t-to find my friends... Th-This stallion told me th-that they went m-missing in here... I-I found F-Fallen and A-Alice in here... they had become ghosts..." Brooke looked down at Daylight, doubtfully, but soon thinking as the doubt began to fade as she looked down at his saddened expression.
"Well... If... If what you say is true, then we have to get out." Brooke told Daylight with more worry in her voice. "I know you want to help your friends, Daylight, and help free them from this curse, but I'm just not sure if you should risk yourself like this. It may be best if we told the royal guard... I just don't want you to get hurt again... Or become one of them... I'm sorry, but we have to leave." Before Daylight could speak up, the stallion stepped between the two.
"Look miss, I'm sorry to inform you, but as far as we know, once you enter this place, there is no way out." He told Brooke with icy assurance. "All we could do is send him out to find an exit, but he also must defend himself at the same time from these wretched spirits. But the only thing the two of us can do is wait in here, where it's safe." Brooke seemed a bit scared herself as he mentioned there being no exit. She was about to object, but kept quiet, the stallion soon speaking up once again.
"But look kid. You said you found two friends of yours?" He asked Daylight "If so, connect the nozzle of the PVM to this machine here. So we can start to free them. I can explain to them what's going on here once we free them."
Daylight nodded before trotting up to the machine with the nozzle of his PVM ready. Brooke began to watch with curiosity in her eyes as he connected the nozzle with a rectangular hole on the front of the machine. They could see the PVM pump two large lumps into the machine, they assumed being the spirits of their friends, as the machine began to hum. Soon, a portrait emerged from the device. Brooke and Daylight both watched in amazement as the machine printed out a portrait of Fallen with a dark blue background, followed up by Alicja Gazer in a bright yellow background, both pictures picked up by the Stallion and laid against the wall.
"Their souls are encased within this painting" The stallion spoke up. "If we can find a way now, we can free them. But I do believe I know. On my way here, I think I dropped my dark-light device in the lobby. When I went to go find it, it was gone... I believe it was taken by a ghost. Unfortunately, I will need your help once again Daylight, you need to get out there and-"
"No. I just can't let him go back out there..." Brooke interrupted, looking at the two, "It's for his own safety... I don't want to lose him to these... things..." Before the Stallion could speak, Daylight was the one to intervene this time. Looking up at Brooke with a reassuring look in his bright yellow.
"I-I have to do this... F-For my friends... Th-They are counting on me... I-I'll be fine... I-I promise..."
Brooke looked down at Daylight worried, about to object, before looking down at him again. She leans down and hugs him softly.
"I understand Daylight... Just promise me you'll keep yourself safe..." Daylight smiled softly and hugged back, soon she let him go and Daylight looked up at her.
"I-I will... Th-Thanks... M-Mom..." Daylight took a second before he realized what he had accidentally called Brooke. She appeared to look off-guard at this.
"M-Mom...?" Brooke asked curiously, still taken aback, Daylight seemed really nervous, thinking she might not be happy with this.
"Oh no... I messed up..." He thinks, soon snapping out of it, and pretending it never happened. "W-Well I should get going... B-Bye M-Mo- I-I mean Brooke!" He said quickly as he left the room at a quick speed.
Brooke watched Daylight leave, soon facing towards the Stallion. "I never did get your name sir."
"Oh." The stallion spoke up. "The names Classic"
"Brooke Heart. Nice to meet you." She smiled warmly. "Oh, and that's Daylight Shine, just in case he didn't tell you. He's very shy around people."
"Ah, I see..." Classic responded, as he and Brooke continued their conversations, awaiting Daylight's return...
The young colt had just walked past the broken door that had been sent to the ground off its rusty hinges by the blue specter that attacked him previously. Once again he was at the intersection that he grown to be familiar with. He glanced at the center door and began to trot carefully towards it. He moved slowly, in case another ghost came through just like Alice had. As he placed a hoof on the doorknob, he attempted to twist it and failed. He kept trying and pressed his weak body against the old door in an attempt to force it open, but to no avail.
As he looked over the door, he noticed a keyhole underneath the doorknob that would lead him to the conclusion that it must be locked. He wondered to himself why they would lock it after coming through, could they be hiding something from him? Or are they just trying to slow his progress? He decided to shrug it off for now and proceeded to head towards the left door of the intersection. He twisted the doorknob and was able to push the door open with ease. Immediately he had noticed something off about the room he had just entered.
The room looked older than any other room he had been in so far. Most of the paint on the walls appeared to have been chipped off, only very little is still attached to the walls. The paintless walls had a bit of moss growing on it. In the case of it being black moss Daylight chose to keep his distance from it. But the most odd detail of the room was a wooden coffin lying in the middle of the room, it looked a lot less older than the room itself.
Daylight didn't want to open the coffin in a place like this, it seemed like one terrible idea to him. However his choices were limited, and as he realized this, against his instinct, he forced himself to the shady coffin and placed a hoof on the lid. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before using his strength to slide the lid off, instantly revealing the skeleton of a full grown stallion in a lab coat. Daylight was only the tiniest bit surprised, as he expected something like this to be in the coffin, but creeped out nonetheless.
Upon further inspection, he soon noticed that the skeleton seemed to hold something to it's ribcage, It appeared to be another journal, similar to the one he had encountered in the office before. He slowly and softly decided to pull the journal away from the skeleton, but as he tried, he felt the book being held tightly by its bone hooves, as if the dead pile of bones didn't want to let it go. He couldn't understand how it was possible, but he quickly managed to pull the dusty old journal away after a couple tries. It looked like the one he found in the compartment of a desk a couple rooms ago, so maybe this one must be important as well. Daylight opened the journal and blew the dust out of it, and began to read to himself.
"ENTRY #3
My research has so far been for nothing. The only way I have discovered is that the princesses of Equestria must lend their magic to a unicorn to make it stronger, as they had done with the Princess of Friendship years ago against a major threat. This won't do, the princesses would not agree on such things, especially seeing that in order to make the unicorns stronger, they must keep the magic given to them. It would render our rulers powerless. I must continue my research."
Daylight did not seem as surprised to learn that the author's attempts so far have been fruitless, as magic such as what he's looking for should not exist in Daylight's eyes. He turned the page to discover yet another journal entry.
"ENTRY #4
This cannot be true. No matter how much I try, there seems to be no way. My associates' efforts have been in vain as well. All of this may point to the fact that this is not possible, but I must do it for the good of my race. They all say it's not possible, I will prove them wrong, no matter what the cost."
The colt reached the last page of the journal, in which a key suddenly slid out. He picked it up and inspected it carefully. This key was different than the others. It wasn't rusted at all, it for some appeared... Modern. Like the keys he can see other ponies using to unlock doors to this day, and keys that he could find at the market. He kept it safe and placed the journal down beside the skeleton before leaving the old, dusty room.
The young pony stepped out into the ominous hallways once again. He began to carefully trot towards his next destination: The door down the center hallway, until he heard a sound just around the corner. Daylight's ears perked up upon hearing the noise, before he stayed still to listen again. The sound he heard was something rather horrifying to him. He heard a loud, deep moan coming from the corner. His eyes went wide and he ran for the room he was in previously, shutting it quietly and putting his back to it.
Daylight knew that his weight wasn't high enough to keep the door closed from anyone, but did so anyway to at least try to keep whatever is out there out. He heard the haunting moan again, sending a chill deep down his spine. He heard it once more, but louder as if it was getting closer. By this point Daylight was resisting the urge to scream, or hyperventilate or call for help, stifling his breathing the best he could. He turned off his flashlight to help keep himself hidden by any means possible, now surrounded by darkness.
The bone-chilling moan sounded it out again, but louder than ever before. It was right outside his door. Daylight shut his eyes, preparing for whatever it was to burst right through the door. He could hear whatever it was scratch at the door, which indicated something about this being. Something bad.
Whatever it was, it wasn't a ghost. Nor was it a pony.
Daylight's mind began racing with thoughts on what it could be. Was it a cockatrice stuck inside the building? Was it a timberwolf or some sort of dog? Or was it actually just a pony with a sharp weapon? What would it do to him? His thoughts kept on racing as he kept his eyes closed, hoping for a miracle. He soon realized that the sounds had ceased. He took a deep breath before turning his flashlight on and opening the door, expecting the worst.
Nothing.
He sighed in relief before walking around the corner and walking towards the center hall door. He noticed something about the door however, upon closer inspection. He could see that it has several scratch marks that have scratched a bit of wood off the door. He could see the doorknob looked mangle as well, looking as if there was no way it would work now. He of course realized that it was not like this before. Daylight decided to give it a shot regardless, placing the key in the keyhole and turning the key carefully. The door let out a click before he placed his hoof on the knob. Though hard at first, he managed to push the door open, revealing nothing but a dark room. The timid colt squinted his eyes, attempting to peer through the darkness before a better look.
Before he could however, he heard a low, heart dropping growling sound out behind him. His eyes went wide, almost screaming as he grabbed the key, and ran inside the room slamming the door shut, locking it immediately. He heard loud, terrifying screeching from the other side of the door, as well as something scratching against it furiously. He was trapped inside the room, and whatever is outside may burst through at any given moment.
But hey, at least Daylight knows one thing.
It's not a pony after all.
Daylight kept his back against the door as the creature kept screeching and slashing furiously the door with its claws, trembling in his hooves due to how terrified he is of the current situation. All he wanted to do is lay down and pray to Celestia that whatever it was it wouldn't get through the door, and he'd be safe. Unfortunately, he came back to reality, as he knew that lying down and simply hoping that it goes away would never work in a place like this. He forced himself to keep standing up, quivering like a scared, defenseless little puppy. He reached for his flashlight and shined it through the room, praying that there was something he could do to save himself.
The room seemed rather simple, Having several counters lining the walls of the room, knowing his luck so far, Daylight already knew that most of them would be empty if he even bothered to check them. He sighed and shined his light near the center of the room, the young colt could feel good fortune shine down upon him when he saw that a door was on the other side of the room. Daylight wasted no time and galloped to the door at full speed, happiness ran through him as he had possibly found a way to escape the beast. Things quickly took a turn for the worst, as when he approached it, he saw a strange, purple, slimy substance covering the doorknob, Daylight reached for it to open it anyway, but the slimy goop burned his hoof as he reached for it. He reared his hoof back in reflex, shaking off the burning sensation the slime gave it.
Daylight didn't want to use the PVM in any sort of attempt to vacuum the slime, as he believed it could damage his PVM, on the inside, and he was running out of precious time. The constant banging and scratching on the wooden door served as a reminder that he had very little time left. Hiding would only buy him time before whatever it was found him, and if he tried to sneak out he'd have nowhere else to run, and the creature would catch him. He looked through the room to find anything that could help him, until he noticed a head to a flashlight at the end of the counter on the right side of the wall. He trotted up to it quickly to examine it more closely.
It had a purple lining at the tip of the head. The lens looked weird, it didn't look like glass, but it was clear. It was rather odd. Perhaps it could be the dark light device he was told about by Classic? As he thought about what it could be, he heard a loud SNAP! coming right from the door. He had to act fast or he would fall prey to whatever was outside the door. He turned off the flashlight and took the head of it off using his magic, replacing it with the new head he had just acquired. Daylight pointed it at the wall and held the button on his flashlight down. The light still had to charge up like the old head did, so what could be so special about this one? It couldn't charge faster, or be brighter. Daylight looked around on it to find anything special about it, until...
SNAP!! CRASH!
This one was louder, as he directed his flashlight at the door, he saw that the door was broken in half and lying on the ground. He also noticed what appeared to be a timberwolf, a tree-like wolf found deep within the Everfree forest. He would often hear stories and descriptions of this creature, but this one was different than the ones he is used to seeing.
The bark and leaves on it's limbs was a dark, ominous purple color, it's eyes were glowing the same color as it's eerie limbs. A purple liquid, matching the goop that was stuck to the doorknob behind him, was dripping onto the ground. The young unicorn could hear the goop sizzle as it dripped on to the ground underneath the corrupted Timberwolf's claws. It let out a demonic roar as it dropped down on all fours and rushed right for Daylight. The colt charged his flashlight as he aimed it for the nightmarish creature, and his torch let out a powerful flash at the creature.
As the light cleared, Daylight soon saw that the creature was unaffected, it wasn't even slowed down. It slashed Daylight's left forehoof with it's poewrful, corrupted claw. Daylight yelped in pain from the hit, as the beast went for another slash, Daylight reacted quick and jumped to the right, to get out the way, the claw grazing his left hind hoof. The furious timberwolf immediately jumped for Daylight to continue it's relentless offense. Daylight had to think quick before he becomes mauled to death by this freak of nature. The timberwolf opens it's purple, goop-filled maw, revealing sharp, wooden teeth as it attempted to bite down on Daylight's right forehoof. Daylight quickly reared it back to avoid the bite and punched the creature in the eye, he knew due to his weakness it wouldn't do much but he had to try. He burned his hoof upon touching the purple eye, but the creature had reared back upon taking the hit. Daylight ran towards the door, his thoughts racing once again.
"I can't just run back... This thing will follow me... A-And it will catch me... There must be something this new flashlight head can do... Something to drive it away... "
Daylight looked at the flashlight head, stopping in place. He looked around it for any buttons or anything, but no luck. He thought for a moment, and turned the head of his torch to the right. Suddenly, his flashlight gave off a light with a dark purple tint to it. Acting quick, he turned around and pointed the light at the timberwolf, running out of options.
The hellish beast let out a demonic, painful roar, as stepped back, looking down. The blazing hot substance dripping from it's mouth soon started to slowly but surely fade, along with the timberwolf as a whole... As if it wasn't there at all... Daylight looked confused. Why would it just disappear like that? It looked far too real to be a ghost... Was it just all in his mind? Was he starting to go crazy? Whatever the reason was, Daylight was happy it was gone. He felt the flashlight start to get hot, a little too hot. He quickly turned the head to the left, causing the violet light to disappear now and allowing his torch to cool off.
Daylight sighed in relief, holding his forehoof in pain, as the slash inflicted on it had still hurt, feeling as if it was on fire. He checked the wound to make sure none of the goop was in it, and fortunately there wasn't. The colt turned to the door behind him, which was still covered in the burning ectoplasm from before, it had not faded with the beast. He turned the head of the flashlight and shined the deep purple light on the doorknob, watching as the goop on the knob simply faded away, he could hear the doorknob sizzling a little as the slime disappeared from the doorknob. The colt let out a sigh of relief before waiting a little for the sizzling to stop, before slowly opening the door.
The door had, unfortunately, lead down another staircase, to a dark hallway. The young unicorn hesitated, before letting out a quiet sigh and trotting down the stairs. The stairs were made of old wood, unlike the other stairs in the building, each step Daylight made caused the staircase to wobble and let out a long creak, despite Daylight's light weight. He was worried the staircase would collapse on him. When Daylight was finally close to the bottom of the stairs, he noticed an eerie pink glow fading down the hall. Knowing his luck, it must be another ghost. But soon after he could faintly see a green glow coming from the other side. There were multiple ghosts in one area.
The thought, perhaps if he proceeded very slowly, he could hide and let the ghosts pass. He attempted to proceed very slowly down the last step as his heart started to race, trying to making as little sound as he could...
Until...
CRACK!
The old, wooden step had completely broken, causing Daylight to unceremoniously fall face first onto the cold, hard ground with a yelp. He dropped his flashlight, which rolled a little bit away from him before stopping. He slowly looked up to try reaching it...
But then his heart dropped.
He realized the two glows down the hall have stopped fading, and were becoming brighter which each passing second. The ghosts were coming right for him at a fast rate.
And his flashlight, his only chance of stopping them, was out of his reach.
