怪談とポニー Ep1 - Canterton High: Ponynormal

The key to that answer, literally, might be in a few steps from her. But it took a titanic effort to gather herself and try leaving the locker on unbending legs. At first, Misty couldn’t… The simple feeling that something held her almost gave the girl a heart attack when she pulled and felt that her jean jacket was caught by something.

Misty pulled spastically: hearing the sound of tearing cloth was a blessing, as she realized that she caught some screw or metal burr with her clothes. Taking the flashlight in her mouth, the girl simply slid out of the jacket, leaving it hanging inside the hapless locker. She threw a quick glance back, almost automatically noting the four deep lines of scratches across the whole row of lockers. Strangely, that didn’t scare Misty anymore, an impulse of compassion squeezed her heart instead.

‘If I were Fran, I certainly would have run amok as well! Dealing with such visitors like those three colts for a thousand years…’

The principal’s office looked very similar to what Misty imagined, or better say, to what she saw in her vision. The decoration and the lightening changed, becoming modern, but the desk remained wide and occupied, the bookcases still rowed the walls, only their style changed, not the quantity and contents.

The keyring with several keys rested on the desk over some file, as if it was left there by the principal a day before. Misty grabbed it in a wink, then picked up the file, devoting it some attention.

‘Mademoiselle Fran Von Selle… date of birth…’ Misty stared on the year separated from hers with more than a thousand. ‘Region of birth: Prance… Career history…’ the short but impressive list was crowned by the expected “Private tutoring of Royal sisters, princesses Celestia Aurora of Equestria and Luna Selena of Equestria.”

‘How many realities… or levels of one reality… does that school exist in?’ flashed in Misty’s head.

The cold draught brushed the sheets of the personal file left on the immense desk, while the finally confident hoofsteps receded along the hallway. Misty didn’t know how she would act exactly, but she decided that it wouldn’t become an obstacle on her road to the truth and friends’ freedom.

‘I will do as the situation demands and… Harmony help me please!’

The first door into the left wing was unlocked and opened easily by the simple push of the girl’s hand. The new corridor strangely had only a few doors on the left and the single one in the far end. The light was the same – dim and blinking as if the lamps got tired of years of lighting the desolation. Misty quickly found out that all the doors on her left led to the library: large, long, filled with desks on the front edge and a huge labyrinth of bookcases on its background. Those doors were unlocked. Naturally, Misty headed to the only door left, which might give her desired answers.

She was to try almost the whole ring of the unmarked keys when one of them suited the lock.

‘The rest of the building was rebuilt several times, if there is a part, which may bear some real remnants of the past, it’s the basement most likely!’ Misty turned the key, feeling the easiness of surprisingly well-maintained mechanism; with a quiet click the door opened, revealing the long stairs.

Surprisingly, the lighting was better there, more pronounced at least; pocketing the useless now flashlight, Misty put her hoof on the first step.

Nothing awful happened.

However, the further she descended the stronger was her feeling that she did right, that everything must be sorted out there, in the long unevenly lit basement.

Misty stopped on the last step, taking a look around. The basement was definitely refurbished at least once. Modern materials covered the walls of the long, low in comparison to the upper floors, hall. If there were any ancient parts, they were somewhat decorated and modernized. The long room was mostly filled with the furniture of varied wear-out degree, leaving a spacious enough passage in the middle. The left wall was blank, several doors were to the right, leading supposedly to the storage rooms. Suitable passages led to each to provide room for transporting things in and out.

The filly forced a lump down her throat – the familiar tall figure with flowing mane and tail was minding her business in the middle of the long hall. It looked hovering above the floor, but not that menacing in the light. For the first time, Misty felt something resembling sympathy for this creature, cursed to ramble the old school grounds for ages. Neither Misty’s feelings, nor the image of the blood-covered naked mare, nothing could shatter her determination.

‘Thinking of it, she isn’t that frightening, rather truly deserving compassion at last…’ taking her breath, Misty walked into the spot of brighter light under the ceiling lamp. She thought that without obvious signs of threatening the mare looked almost beautiful if one could ignore the blood covering her all over.

“Errmmm… Fran?” her voice sounded to Misty too unconfident and she took an effort to clear her throat and repeat. “Fran? Miss Von Selle, right?!”

To her surprise, the ghostly figure almost winced at the sound of her name. In a wink, with a light hiss, she turned to the newcomer, leaning forward and glaring at the filly. The dark eyes of the mare focused on the girl, standing in the light, and something new shone in them. Her sight travelled along Misty’s figure, noting the details, and the lips of the ghostly mare trembled.

Did Misty just spot two small dimples on the blood-stained cheeks?!

The figure suddenly lit from inside brightly, making Misty shade her eyes with the hand. When the glow faded, the dumbfounded girl was able to watch a tall mare in a relatively modern suit: a white blouse, a belted black skirt, stockings and low-heeled shoes – the same image they with girls saw on the upper floor, running from the rainstorm.

“You’re not her… But you resemble her so much!” the dark-crimson eyes took another look over Misty and the mare let out a tiny smile. “I wasn’t mistaken in you… Misty, right?”

Misty nodded convulsively, then braced herself and made a few steps more towards the ghost, having to admit the latter looked almost like a common teacher, Misty could meet every day in her own school. Probably except miss Singularity, who was anything but common.

“You’re Fran Von Selle?” semi-affirmatively asked the girl. “An artist, model, art teacher here in Canterton High.” The mare looked at her evaluatively. “You’ve tutored the princesses, miss Von Selle… and were to leave that job for this one suddenly. And then… then…” Misty felt that she couldn’t continue, as if some hand squeezed her throat; she swallowed. “Did you want me to do something?”

The long eyelashes fluttered.

‘Why is she silent?’ Misty couldn’t comprehend. ‘She didn’t show me all those things for nothing!’ She asked aloud. “You can’t tell? You are still here, Fran, and… your silence… it’s the part of the… thing, curse binding you with the place.”

The same barely noticeable gesture again.

“Can I come closer?” Misty felt suddenly braver.

“Of course, you can… dear,” Fran glanced at her with wide-open eyes, astounding the girl with the depth of sadness filling them. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Actually, you are even free to leave, if you decide,” added the mare quietly. “I’m not going to stop you… Not anymore…”

For a moment Misty froze like thunderstruck. She was free to go! Were her friends also?

“I want to help! That is what you need, miss Von Selle. But I don’t know yet how to…” Misty shook her head, approaching. Then she did what she would consider absolutely insane only an hour ago.

Misty outstretched her arm.

Dropped it halfway in the air confusedly. But the curiosity and some other, unbeknown yet to her, impulse made Misty reconsider and dare.

She raised her arm again and… touched the mare lightly.

To her surprise, Misty’s fingers met the solid object. No, not exactly that. They met the soft and… warm arm; Misty felt as if her hand was lit by the direct sunlight.

“It takes quite an effort to stay like that!” with a tiny smile Fran seemed to read the reason for Misty’s bewilderment in her widened eyes. “And I’m fine with being called Fran, dear.” The hand touched the girl’s cheek gently. “But it’s easier to stay warm and sensible with your proximity and touch…” sparkles danced in Fran’s eyes.

“I-I have a request though… You don’t need all of us, miss… Fran. Please, let my friends go. I will do what I can…” Misty caught herself on stroking lightly mare’s arm first, then shoulder. She flushed brightly on realization… but didn’t remove her hand. Somehow Misty didn’t want to remove it.

“That can be done easily,” nodded miss Von Selle. “As I said, I’m not going to hold any of you. I’ll guide the girls to the school entrance at once,” she watched Misty with interest.

“They can leave freely, can’t they?” the unicorn girl kept insisting.

“Let’s see, what happens. I don’t think that your friends are primitive.” Miss Von Selle added in half-tone, running her thin fingers through Misty’s mane, brushing it musingly.

“Thank you, Fran!” whispered Misty, she looked up into the mare’s eyes. “Tell me please, what… what you can tell?”

“You already made proper conclusions, dear,” the mare stepped back a little and took a seat on the edge of a large table pushed against the wall, “ with one small exception. It took me a couple of years between leaving the castle and getting that particular job in Canterton High. The school had just opened and I would probably never apply, under different circumstances, because of my sentiments.” Fran downcasted and elaborated after a short moment of silence. “I tried to recompose, to cut some period out of my life, to forget and release. I met a stallion, who first looked reliable and level-headed to me…”

Misty climbed on the table and sat there with legs tucked under herself, she hesitated for a second and then took Fran’s hand, making the mare glance at her amazedly.

“Sweet Ce… Oh!” Fran flushed in confusion, shocking Misty, who thought that ghosts, despite how realistic they looked, couldn’t show their sentiments in such a complex way. “I was so mistaken… Somehow he found out about my relationship with Celly. That completely changed everything about us… I tried as much as I could, seeing things getting only worse – he interpreted each of my acts as the evidence of my continued binding to the girl – I decided to part ways with him.”

“But how one can completely cut the part of their memories, especially the happy ones?” Misty sat with wide-open eyes. “At the end of the day, they are just that… memories.”

“I wanted to keep them to myself,” sadly nodded Fran. “And move on. But I guess I failed at choosing the one to support me.” She waved her mane dispelling the memory. “I left, he didn’t want to leave everything as it was and started hunting me. This school was my hideout and at the same time the only method to keep sane and go on. A few students were truly amazing, both like growing artists and personality-wise. I felt that I started breathing finally…” Fran let out a tiny smile. “But I couldn’t stop thinking of her… I saw her inspiration and passion in some of my new students and tried to cultivate it.”

“We saw a couple of drafts,” confessed Misty, looking at Fran admiringly, “quite masterful.”

“I guess, one of them ironically ruined my life,” the mare-artist let out a sad smile.

“How come?..” flushing brightly, Misty moved closer and squeezed Fran’s hand.

“One day, after the lessons, colleagues told me that a stallion was asking about me,” Fran sighed. “They offered him to wait, but he left shortly after. However, he visited the Teacher Room and… Well, you girls, might have noticed that my desk was easy to distinguish,” she smirked sadly.

“I didn’t pay due attention to that… to my own doom. Was working on the study plan and stayed late. Not the first time, but… it appeared to be the last one,” Fran fell silent for a while, Misty’s eyes glistened strangely. “I don’t know how he got in, the doors were locked… The rest… well, you saw, Misty.”

“W-what… what’s about that “can make you wait” thing?” Misty asked, coping with her voice and sniffing loudly.

A faint shadow ran across mare’s face, her eyes darkened for a fraction of second, but when she raised her eyes on Misty, she looked at her almost tenderly.

“Oh!” Fran smirked bitterly. “He got into his head that the main reasons I left the princess were her age and position…” She glanced at the filly seriously. “He knew well what would happen… and came with the perfectly thought-out plan. That was his revenge and… as no doubt he considered it, his twisted gift!” the mare closed her eyes.

Some noise from the basement stairs made them both turn their heads…