Prologue 1: The Gathering

It was a cloudy summer evening as a red SUV traveled down a dirt road leading out of Canterlot, its tires bumping along the gravel that littered the road. Inside the car, a group of six friends were excitedly discussing their destination.

"So, what do y'all think we should do when we get ta Manehattan?" Applejack, the driver, asked in her Southern accent.

"Hmm," Twilight Sparkle hummed from the front passenger seat as she looked at the setting sun. "It'll probably be pretty late when we get there, so I think we should just turn in as soon as we get there, but there is a TV in the hotel room if you really feel like staying up." She turned to glance at Rainbow Dash, who was sitting directly behind her.

"Well maybe we would have gotten there by now if somebody hadn't insisted that we take a detour." Rainbow complained as she glared at Rarity in the seat next to her.

Rarity scoffed. "And deal with that nightmare of a traffic jam? Puh-lease..." She crossed her arms and pointed her nose in the air.

"Oh, it wasn't that bad, Rarity." Fluttershy spoke up from the back-most row before looking out the right-hand window. "Still, there's a reason they call it the scenic route."

"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie called from the other side of the car, her head sticking out the window. "You can see grass, and trees, and uh...more grass..." She instantly perked up when she noticed something in the distance. "Ooh! Ooh! There's the House on the Hill!"

"The what now?" Twilight questioned as she looked out to see a two-story mansion sitting on a hill overlooking Canterlot.

Applejack looked at Twilight with a confused expression, then chuckled. "Right, Ah almost forgot you're new in town." She turned to look at the mansion. "That there's what we like ta call th' House on the Hill."

"Yeah, that place is really old." Rainbow said. "Been sitting there since anybody who lives in Canterlot can remember."

Twilight turned back to look at her friends. "Does anybody live there?"

"Nope!" Pinkie exclaimed. "That place is the definition of 'abandoned'."

"I heard that no one's even stepped foot in that place for hundreds of years." Fluttershy squeaked.

"Who built it?" Twilight asked.

"No one knows," Rarity said as she put a hand to her chin. "Although I have heard plenty of rumors."

"Like what?" Twilight inquired, her curiosity clearly piqued.

Rarity leaned towards her. "Well, I heard that-"

At that moment, the car violently shook before coming to a dead halt. Applejack looked over the dashboard and pounded on the steering wheel. "Whut in tarnation?!" she yelled as she exited the car and headed around the back. After momentarily glancing at each other, the rest of the group followed her. They could see black smoke coming out of the tailpipe and Applejack's boots sticking out from underneath the car. After a few moments, Applejack crawled out from under the car, stood up and brushed the dirt off her hands. "Bad news, y'all. The exhaust's busted. This thing ain't movin' anytime soon."

Rainbow's jaw dropped. "So we're stranded out here?! That's just great!" She threw her hands into the air and stormed off.

Applejack scratched her head. "Ah don't get it. Ah double checked that this girl would be able to make the trip last night. The exhaust was definitely fine then. Hmmm..." She crossed her arms and lowered her head in thought.

"What is it, darling?" Rarity asked.

"Ah know it sounds crazy," Applejack looked around at her friends. "but Ah think someone sabotaged this thing."

The whole group gasped. Even Rainbow, who was sulking a few feet away, turned her head at this revelation. Rarity spoke up, "What?! Who would do such a thing?"

"Yeah! Who wants to ruin our trip?!" Pinkie shouted.

Applejack sighed. "Ah don't know, Pinkie, but we've got a bigger problem on our hands. Haven't y'all noticed that we're out in the middle of nowhere?"

Her eyes widening in realization, Twilight fetched her phone from her pocket and checked it. "I can't get a signal out here." She looked up with a worried expression. "We can't call for help!"

Fluttershy looked like she was on the verge of tears. "S-so, we're trapped out here?"

"Now calm down there, sugarcube." Applejack raised a hand to reassure her friend. "We're not that far away from town. We just gotta follow this road back 'til we find someone who can pick our car up." She looked at Twilight. "Or until we can signal for help." Everyone murmured in agreement.

Suddenly, Pinkie started looking around. "Hey, did you guys feel that?"

Twilight looked at her confusedly. "Feel what?"

At that moment, thunder sounded across the field and rain began to trickle down from the sky. Everyone reacted with a groan, except for Rarity, who shrieked, "Eek! I can't get caught in the rain! It'll ruin my makeup!"

"Maybe we should stay inside the car until it stops." Fluttershy suggested.

"I dunno..." Pinkie said as she stared at the sky. "I remember the forecast saying that this rain wouldn't stop until morning, and that car's going to be pretty cramped with all of us."

"Well, there is another option." Twilight said as she looked at the old house just up the hill.

Rainbow followed her gaze and then looked at her incredulously. "Go inside the House on the Hill? Are you insane?!"

"Ah'd say it's our best option at this point." Applejack stated as she fetched a backpack out of the trunk and slung it across her back. "Besides, Ah'm sure it's just a normal ol' house." She looked at Rainbow and grinned. "Course, if ya want ta chicken out and stay near the car, that's fine with me." With that, she and the rest of the girls started jogging towards the house. Rainbow stood there for a few seconds, looked up at the sky and muttered something to herself, then ran to catch up with the others.

***

The group stood just outside the main entrance of the mansion, and at this point, the rain was pouring down and the sun's light had almost completely disappeared. Rarity walked up to the front door and gently knocked on it, causing Rainbow to snicker. "Uh, Rarity, what part of 'abandoned' didn't you get?"

Rarity turned and glared at her. "It's just common courtesy. You'd do well to-"

At that moment, the door slowly creaked open on its own, catching the whole group off guard. Fluttershy quickly hid behind Pinkie. Applejack let out a nervous chuckle. "Relax, y'all. That door's hinges are probably rustier than a broken down plow in a rainstorm."

The girls made their way inside and did their best to dry themselves off, Pinkie getting on all fours and shaking herself like a dog, and Rarity pulling a comb out of seemingly nowhere to fix her hair. Suddenly, the door slammed shut behind them. Twilight exclaimed, "What the-?!" She tried tugging the handle and pushing the door with all her might, but to no avail. "It...It's locked!"

"How could it be locked?" Rainbow asked. "We just walked through it." She rolled up her sleeves. "Here, let me show you how it's done." Rainbow tried her hand at opening the door, but had the same amount of success as Twilight. She stepped back and caught her breath. "Alright, new plan. Everyone pull on it at the same time." But despite the combined efforts of all six girls, the door still didn't budge. Rainbow glanced at Applejack. "Explain that one, AJ."

Applejack scratched her head. "Alright, ya got me on that one."

Rarity sighed. "First we're stranded in the middle of nowhere, now we're trapped inside a dark and creepy mansion. This is really not our day."

"And with no way to call for help..." Fluttershy said, her panic level rising, "we could be stuck here forever."

"Aw, chill out, you guys." Rainbow reassured, looking around with her hands on her hips, "We're not trapped in here. There's always another way out of these old mansions. We just gotta find it."

Rarity blanched. "Are you suggesting that we investigate this dreadful place? It's probably filled with dust and spiders and other disgusting things."

"Plus, it's so dark, I can barely see my hand in front of my face." Pinkie had moved further into the inky shadows of the mansion, and was now waving her hand in front of her face to demonstrate, but the others could only hear the sound of her hand whooshing through the air.

"Ya don't have ta worry about that, Ah came prepared." Applejack knelt down and reached into her backpack, pulling out six flashlights. Each flashlight's color matched the skin tone of one of the girls; Purple for Twilight, blue for Rainbow, orange for Applejack, yellow for Fluttershy, white for Rarity and, of course, pink for Pinkie.

"You just happened to bring a flashlight for each of us on a trip to Manehattan?" Rainbow commented as each girl took their color-coded flashlight.

"An Apple always prepares for any situation, Dash." Applejack stated. Rainbow merely shrugged and tested out her flashlight.

As soon as it was determined that every flashlight was in working order, Rarity cleared her throat. "Well, that's one problem solved. Now how do you propose we go about searching this place?" She turned to Twilight as she said this.

Twilight noticed that everyone's attention was now on her and started fidgeting. "Er, well...since there are two floors, it might be a good idea for us to split up, but I'm worried that someone might find something and have no way to tell the others."

"Don't worry, Ah've got somethin' fer that too." Applejack said as she once again reached into her backpack, this time pulling out similarly color-coded walkie talkies. "They're designed for short-range communication, so we shouldn't have to worry about them losin' signal."

As each girl was handed their walkie-talkie, Pinkie immediately decided to test hers out. She pressed the large black button on the right side of the device and spoke into it, "This is Secret Agent Pinkie. Commencing mission to investigate this creepy old house. Over." Pinkie's voice echoed out of each of the other five walkie-talkies, and the other girls were a bit disoriented from hearing Pinkie's voice come from five different places at once, but at least they were able to confirm that all of the devices were operational.

Applejack nodded and slipped her walkie-talkie into her pocket. She picked up her backpack and set it down next to the front door. Twilight stared at her with a raised eyebrow. "You're just going to leave that here? What if it has something else we need? I thought an Apple was always prepared."

Applejack chuckled. "Ah think we'll be fine with what we have now. Plus, Ah don't want it weighin' me down if Ah run inta trouble."

Fluttershy's eyes widened. "Trouble?! W-what kind of trouble?"

"What else, Fluttershy? Monsters!" Rainbow grinned as she raised her arms and wiggled her fingers in an intimidating pose.

Fluttershy yelped and ducked behind Twilight. Rarity gave Rainbow a slap on the arm. "Honestly, Rainbow, this is no time for pranks. Applejack was obviously referring to the decrepit state of this mansion. Why, I'll bet that even the slightest tremor could cause the ceiling to cave in."

This only seemed to make Fluttershy more worried, so Twilight turned toward her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Fluttershy. Just be careful and you should be fine. And if anything does happen, just remember to call us." She held up her walkie-talkie as she said this.

After a few seconds of deliberation, Fluttershy eased up and nodded. "Okay. I'll remember that."

Applejack breathed a sigh of relief. "Right, now that that's settled, how do ya think we should split up?" She shined her flashlight down the hall, revealing the grand staircase at the end. "Ah'm thinkin' of checkin' th' second floor, mahself."

"I call first floor!" Pinkie exclaimed, shooting her hand into the air.

"I'll search the second floor." Twilight said as she walked to the front of the group.

"Um, I guess I'll go upstairs, too." Fluttershy murmured.

Twilight nodded. "That just leaves Rainbow and Rarity on the ground floor."  She gave a blank stare in Rainbow's direction. "Try not to kill each other, you two."

Rainbow's eyes widened for a moment, but her face quickly changed to a frown. "Ha ha, very funny. Let's just start looking. I'm freezing my butt off here."

"Indeed." Rarity agreed as she gave a slight shiver. "I doubt this place has air conditioning."

Twilight turned to face the group. "Okay, everyone, split up and search the house from top to bottom. If we can't find a way out, we'll meet back here. Got it?"

"Got it!" The others affirmed in unison.

Twilight smiled and turned toward the grand staircase, taking a deep breath to calm herself. "Alright, let's go." And with that, the girls broke off in different directions. Applejack, Twilight, and Fluttershy ascended the grand staircase while Pinkie, Rainbow, and Rarity each chose a door leading away from the foyer and passed through it.

The exploration phase has begun.