Twilight lazed around her room with Spike. Admittedly, her time spent in the human world left her with many empty hours. She'd already developed an understanding of its cultures and technology. Beyond that, there wasn't much else to learn...That is, aside from its deepest, darkest secrets. While the princess-turned-high school student contemplated how best to study the world, she barely had the presence of mind to recognize the vibration in her skirt pocket. When she checked the caller ID, she realized it originated from her earthly associate, Sunset Shimmer.
"Hey, Sunset."
"I need to ask you a serious question, Twilight."
The intensity of her friend's tone almost startled the poor girl.
"Uh...Sure."
"You consider yourself an advocate for logic and reasoning, right?"
"Well, yeah, I guess."
"Do you believe in ghosts?"
"I've never seen any concrete evidence to support their existence...Why?"
"I think I just found our evidence. We might be in serious trouble."
"You're joking!"
"I wish. Have you ever heard of the Vannacutt psychiatric institute for the criminally insane?"
"No, actually."
"Over the last few months, I've received emails from people saying they've experienced supernatural phenomena at different points in their lives. When I started researching known cases, none of the given explanations fully added up. There were inconsistencies scattered all over the place. The so-called 'house on haunted hill', Vannacutt's hospital, is what finally convinced me."
"What's the story behind it?"
"Vannacutt was a celebrated physician and humanitarian between the 1920's and 30's. Somewhere along the line, though, he lost his mind and started torturing and killing his patients."
Twilight felt sick just imagining the gruesome scene. Sunset continued her explanation.
"When the patients discovered what was going on, they rebelled. Vannacutt sealed off the exits with a lockdown mechanism. A fire broke out and killed all but five people."
"And it's been haunted since?"
"Yeah. Here's where things start to get really freaky. Twenty years ago, most of the descendants of the five survivors were killed there."
"Killed!? How!?"
"Testimonies given by two survivors claimed they discovered the place was haunted after being invited to a birthday party by the house itself. It hacked into the host, Stephen Price's computer and tracked the others down."
"Price could have killed them."
"That's what everybody thought, but when you dig deeper, the whole theory falls apart. The cops found two empty handguns. One had been used by Price, but only two bodies were actually found. Neither of them had any bullet wounds. One of the bodies was a woman who'd been dissected alive. The other was a doctor who'd been repeatedly stabbed and decapitated."
"Somebody must have done it."
"Nothing was ever found linking the attendants to the disappearances or deaths."
"No way..."
"Kind of throws everything into question, doesn't it?"
"Even if it's true, what can we do?"
"You know what I'm getting at, Twilight."
"I guess you're right, but...Something that evil...?"
"We'll be more prepared than they were. It's up to us. We have to try."
"I know..."
"We'll have to do this together if we want the best odds of living through it."
"I'll tell the others, but you have to understand, they may not want to do this."
"I know, but whatever's going on has to be stopped."
After hearing the full story, even Rainbow Dash was hesitant to approach the mansion. With the evidence of its true nature mounting, they couldn't deny the danger they were potentially walking into. Fluttershy's legs were shaking. Her tears spilled before they had even entered the construct. Sunset comforted her, trying to assure her things weren't as bad as they seemed. Applejack spoke once they reached the interior.
"What's the plan?"
"There's a being lurking here called the darkness," Sunset answered, "Supposedly, it's a collection of all the souls that perished here over the last ninety years. Based on Sarah and Eddie's statements, It has an unusual power. It can corrode living organisms and assimilate them."
"Corrode!? As in rust and decay," Rarity shrieked in terror.
"That's about the size of it."
"How in tarnation are we supposed to beat something like that," Applejack protested.
"There are only two ways. The first is an exorcism."
"And what if that fails," Rainbow questioned anxiously.
Silently, Twilight removed a bag from around her shoulder. She unzipped it, revealing a device none of her friends had ever seen before.
"This is a celestial bomb made from the sun's energy," she told them, "If for any reason the exorcism fails or we get separated, I'll trigger it with a detonator."
"That bomb has enough power to level this entire hill," Sunset added, "The only downside is..."
"...It'll kill us, too," Rainbow finished.
"There's a reason I chose this place. If Sarah and Eddie's statements are true, we're dealing with some of the most malicious, pissed off spirits to ever walk the planet. The world will be a safer place when they're gone."
"I guess I can't argue there, but man...This is so creepy."
Without any warning, the lockdown mechanism activated. The group didn't have time to react.
"Guess there's no turning back, now," Sunset noted. She turned on her flashlight, "Everyone stay together."
The group trudged forward, paying attention to every detail in the surrounding environment. Sunset stopped for a brief moment when she saw a broken scotch glass on the floor.
"Was there a fight here...?"
"It doesn't look like there's anything in the main hall," Twilight informed the others.
"We should check the bedrooms," Sunset advised, "Price's wife, Evelyn was presumably abducted and killed by Vannacutt's ghost."
"It figures Vannacutt himself would have a role to play in all this."
"Human nature is volatile. People sometimes just snap for no reason at all. I guess shouldering a large part of the blame gave him more influence in the afterlife."
"When you told me about this place, I did some more digging into early twentieth-century asylums. Many of them were rampant with abuse and neglect of patients."
"There weren't a lot of measures in place to ensure proper care for the mentally disturbed. Common illnesses today were either less prevalent or not spoken about back then."
"Yeah..."
"...Let's keep going."
