怪談とポニー Ep1 - Canterton High: Ponynormal

“Here we are!” Misty reached for the camera. “Hmmm… The place looks gloomier compared to the official photos…”

Less than ten minutes of monorail ride – the transport so fast that at least Misty avoided looking into the windows, fearing the dizziness. Choosing an almost empty car, they covered an insane distance in nearly a wink, not attracting much attention. About twelve minutes on hooves through the industrial district, mostly around the high wall of a single large factory. The surrounding area looked deserted at that hour; a couple of heavy-load trucks passed by on the road, distant mechanical sounds and muffled voices reached their ears from behind the factory walls, otherwise they were alone in the street.

The girls reached the corner and… stopped, unsure if they took the proper route, so suddenly different the opening view was. Trees and bushes occupied the whole block area, forming a dense park around the supposed school and contrasting with strictly measured hand-planted purposely shade-giving trees along the streets. A short driveway opened to the eyes in a couple of minutes.

“An area that large, surrounded by the factories and storage…” muttered Lacy, when they stepped on it. “I wonder, why they never cleared it up and used since the school placement here turned impractical.” She threw a quick glance at the empty bus stop further down the road.

“As far as I know,” Flaunty Mane peered intently into the green tunnel ahead, as the overgrown trees almost shared a handshake above the driveway, “this ground is still city property. Perhaps the removal expenses are too high, making any changes unprofitable.”

“According to what I read, no business volunteered to acquire the ownership, maybe for the reasons you mentioned,” Misty turned on her camera and casually took a couple of photos, then waved the rest to follow. “Strange though, indeed…”

“Or maybe they decided to leave a green area that large on purpose,” shrugged Windy Mane when the dried last year’s leaves rustled under their hooves. She chuckled. “Anyway, the ponies need air to breathe even here!”

“That’s actually good for them,” pulling up the strap, Lacy sported a smile; some metal dinging sounded from inside of her bag.

“Don’t forget about the real aim of our visit, okay?” Misty glanced at her fixedly causing the pegasi sisters to giggle. “I’m sure there are some ordinary elms, maples and birches around, nothing fancy.”

The old school met them with its dull dark-red wall: in better days its brick columns were connected by the openwork grates, but with the supposed reconstruction large sheets of the thin grey metal profile were attached over to completely hide the yard from the casual eyes. The high double gate looked intimidating, covered by the same metal sheets with a large plate on them.

“KEEP OUT! RECONSTRUCTION IN PROGRESS.”

Thin metalwork writing “Canterton High School” on the arch above the gate looked insignificant compared to that strict, red on yellow prescription.

Lovingly treated once, the vegetation behind the fence took all the advantage it could of the years of unattended, filling the yard with foliage and even growing over the wall in some places. No wonder the girls felt small and insecure in its thick shade, making the narrow space around the fence almost dark. Strangely with all that green, the wind brought only smells of dust and soil.

However, the upper floors of the building, lit by the setting sun, towered above the wall and foliage and made a slightly less depressive impression at that moment. A few birds in the nearest tree crowns broke the silence, they didn’t care about the rare intruders; no other sounds or presence around made Misty inwardly smile at her recent feelings – the place looked as peaceful as it probably could.

“I doubt I know magic strong enough to crack this open,” Misty yanked the large lock keeping together the ends of the thick chain, the loops of gates were tied with.

“This is the moment one appreciates being born a pegasus!” chuckled Windy Mane, stretching her arms and wings. “We will bring you over… if you are ready, of course.” She threw a glance at her sister, Flaunty Mane nodded with a smile.

“If you don’t mind, mates,” Misty’s ears dropped. “I didn’t yet manage to master any flight spells…”

But first Windy soared accurately above the gate and took a look around the visible yard, the wall, the school façade. Everything remained quiet, only a couple of the nearest birds shut up, disturbed by her wings flapping.

“It’s clear!” stated Windy, returning to the girls. “I hope you’re not air-sick, Misty.”

Before Misty could say something, she found herself soaring above the school gate, firmly picked under the arms by her pegasus friend, whose ruffled mane tickled Misty’s cheek. That sudden snuggle made Misty’s heart startle sweetly skipping a beat, causing another blush. In a gust of wind raised by the large wings, they crossed the wall, heading to the building entrance. Misty looked back, Lacy Reins followed, cuddled by Flaunty. In a minute Misty’s hooves touched the ground in front of the wide double doors, the momentary weightlessness feeling vanished; Lacy landed seconds later, looking a little bewildered.

“Wow! That was quite… a thing, even if I mostly prefer to stay on the solid ground,” she kept holding on Flaunty’s arm for a while, making both sisters sport a wide grin. “Thanks, Flo!” breathed out Lacy with a tender smile.

“Hmmm… It looks larger than I thought,” pensively stated Misty to the accompaniment of screeching cicadas, answering them with the shutter sound of her camera as she took a picture of the façade. “And they must have completely rebuilt it last time when it worked.”

The girls examined the glass doors, the smooth walls of the high three-storey building towering above them, windows boasting the untouched glass, the grate on one window next to the entrance. From their spot they couldn’t clearly see the edges of the façade, so indeed the building appeared unexpectedly large. A few windows on the first and second floors were open, the casements trembled in the wind with faint creaking. Amazingly, almost all the glass was intact, only a small shard was missing in the barred window on the ground floor.

“Strange, there is nopony around…” muttered Flaunty Mane, turning her head. But the yard remained empty and quiet as before. “Has the place been completely unguarded in the last decade? It looks too clean and undamaged for something abandoned for that long. But if there was any watchful eye, we would already know…”

“Maybe the place guards itself?!” Windy raised one brow, pensively pulling the jacket drawstring; Lacy let out a tiny nervous chuckle.

“Well, isn’t it exactly why we came here in the first place?” the earth filly adjusted her glasses.

“Okay, mates,” Misty took a deep breath, grabbing the door handle, “let’s check inside.”

Surprisingly the doors opened, unlocked and only slightly creaking in the hinges; same with the next pair at the end of the tiny vestibule. One by one, the girls stepped into the shadows of the corridor. The evening light couldn’t reach there and twilight became quite dense a few steps from the entrance, making the girls take out and use their flashlights to be able to look around properly. Misty couldn’t hold a giggle, noticing Lacy’s vintage-themed lamp – that was another soft spot of her friend, not that significant as botanic, but still persistent.

“Hmmm… It’s rusty and dusty, but the lamps look undamaged,” guided by Misty’s hand, the cone of light with dancing specks swept across the floor, across the stains of dirt and old leaves brought in by the wind, fell on the ceiling with the shabby lamp cases with dull tubes of lamps inside, then searched on the walls, stopping on the large switch. “Fat chance, but…”

“Yeah, what did I expect?” chuckled Misty, when the click brought nothing, the circuits were dead without electricity, cut off by the workers somewhere in the building. “That is why I wanted to take the first look during the day, mates. I hope, there is more light on the upper floors though.”

“Then maybe we go find the stairs?” Lacy’s light examined the opposite wall of the intersection with the long corridor crossing the whole building supposedly. “I mean, I’ve changed the batteries, but they aren’t endless.”

“Of course, we do! But first…” Misty approached the simple door at the sidewall, which must lead to the room with the barred window. “Let me check here. It may provide some aid for our further investigation.”

The door opened surprisingly lightly after her trying push, letting Misty and closely following Lacy inside; the cloud of dust from the table made Lacy sneeze loudly.

“Oh, sorry, girls!” she sniffed and rubbed her nose, preventing another one coming.

“Yeah, the school is definitely unguarded,” Flaunty listened to the echo fading in the hallway behind. “Yet, keeping this place unlocked is… like literally opening the entire building to the strangers. This doesn’t look right, girls…” she wrapped her free arm around Windy’s shoulders and frowned slightly.

The rays of light poked around the small room, spotting a table, a stand with some dusty devices with wires hanging behind, a couch at another wall.

“Hey, they had some surveillance,” exclaimed Misty, who deepened into the room and illuminated another table near the shaded and dusty window. The chair was missing, but the monitor still remained on the desk. She turned her flashlight to point on the stand with supposedly recording devices. “It’s dead anyway without the power… and I doubt the cameras are still operable.”

“This is it!” The light spot stopped over some scheme on the wall, next to a narrow locker; Misty huffed contentedly when her friends came closer. “Mates! We scored!”

The scheme appeared to be advanced key storage upon closer inspection: it consisted of the detailed plan of all school premises – three floors and a basement, with all the rooms numbered and signed. Moreover, each section was equipped with a hook of the obvious purpose, some keys managed to survive the mess and decay, still hanging on their places. Just a few, here and there; the basement section hooks were all empty though.

“Give me some light, please!” Misty took a picture of the plan first on her camera, then on the phone. “I want to be able to check it anytime,” explained she.

“Cool, Misty!” Windy patted her shoulder. “Now we can open at least some closed doors.”

“Maybe some doors are locked with a reason… to stay locked, you see?” Lacy alternated between Misty and Windy, pursing her lips.

“We’ll take your advice into the account when we come across a locked greenhouse!” Windy grinned widely, aiming the flashlight on her face from below.

“Oh!..” Lacy squeaked when Flaunty suddenly cuddled her from behind; the tip of Lacy’s nose reddened, but she visibly relaxed in a warm feathery hug, looking up at her friend.

“Okay! The time…” remembered Windy Mane, while Misty was picking the providently marked keys, filling her pockets. “It’s a bit over an hour till sunset, remember.”

Despite their best attempts, girls’ hoofsteps sounded boomingly in the long hallway crossing the floor, completely overtaking the rare birds’ sounds from outside. The latter significantly faded with the first few steps into the dark corridor. The doors along were closed, even if unlocked, the only dim light came in through a couple of large windows on the opposite ends; the girls were to shade their eyes from the flash of the camera. There must be some open windows nearby, as the faint draught swept rare leaves and some papers under their hooves, bringing the smell of dust and desolation. Their flashlights alternately snatched out from the darkness some dust on the floor, rows of metal lockers along the walls, doorknobs, nameplates and the same worn-out lamps above.

“Look, it’s rather good that the electricity is dead,” quietly chuckled Windy Mane, even the slightest sound tried to wake an echo there.

“Why so?” Misty and Lacy glanced at her inquiringly.

“Because if the lamps worked,” meaningfully stated the pegasus filly, examining the lockers, “they would have blinked and buzzed obligatorily. Simply must be doing that… to remind us of a movie, we watched last week.” Windy squinted. “Remember that horror about the xenopony monster bursting through the sternum of some astronauts, its hooves upfront?..”

“Is it absolutely necessary to remind us RIGHT NOW?” quietly hissed Lacy, her flashlight wavered a bit.

“Oh, come on, Windy!” Flaunty Mane reproachfully glanced at her snorting sister. “It’s really not the best time and place…”

“It depends!” Windy rolled her eyes theatrically. “Okay, okay… So, where should we start from, Misty?”

Instead of an answer, Misty directed her flashlight to the left side of the long hallway, the spot of light jumped from object to object, revealing the plates above the doors and stopped on the first to the left – Medical Office. Misty approached the door and the rest of the girls automatically followed her, lighting the hallway around.

“Locked!” Misty tried the door, but it moved only slightly producing a barely audible metal click out of its lock’s innards. “I kinda expected this room to be… in the current conditions. As it looks like the workers didn’t have time to remove the furniture and things before they stopped the reconstruction. Naturally, they must have locked all the medical stuff inside, and there wasn’t a key to that door.” She waved her hand. “Well, I guess we have to leave it as is, maybe there is nothing interesting there.”

Next door led to a completely empty Storage room, there was an advantage in the form of the unobstructed window there and the girls left the door open to add a bit of light to the hallway. Misty took another look around, the spot of light jumped from one plate to another: Manager office, a large Technology class, then another one. Following her plan meticulously, Misty took a photo of each room upon opening. The girls yanked manager’s door to find it also unlocked, but the large desk and cabinets were empty; there was a stationary phone outlet, but no actual device to be found. Meanwhile, the large window at the end of the hallway slowly darkened, shaded by the wild foliage outside.

“I doubt we can find something worthy here either,” Misty shook her head, her flashlight traced over unambiguous WC sign, another closed Storage door; the rest of the left wing was the large students’ lobby – open space with columns, time-worn couches along the walls and a few empty plant buckets. Darker rectangles on the painted walls told about some informational billboards removed by unknown barbarian hand. “Let’s check another wing.”

“Let’s keep the time in mind,” suggested Lacy, shielding her face, when Misty turned around and accidentally lighted her. “There must be enough sunlight on the upper floors to look for… for… whatever. But it will change shortly.”

“Right,” Misty quickly crossed the lobby, pulling Lacy with her; the sisters already examined something next to the Security room. “There are staircases in both ends of the building, I thought we might go to the right wing end, get on the second storey, cross it and get higher on the opposite stairs, then search through the third storey and even check the roof. I think I have a key from the roof entrance in that heap. And… we should stick together, even if we spend more time that way.”

Lacy silently showed her a thumb up.

“Are you okay with that plan, mates?”

“Yeah. Better tell, if you have the key from Principal’s office, bud?” carelessly waved Windy Mane, when they approached; the filly kneeled in front of the door and examined the keyhole she was lighting. “No? What a pity…” Windy sighed and jerked the knob lightly as if she wanted to make sure it was locked indeed. She kept measuring the door almost aiming at it. “Would you give me a hand, Flo?”

“What?” Misty’s eyes rounded, this time Flaunty Mane was completely on her side, patting her sister on the shoulder lightly.

“Misty is right. Let’s not break anything on our first visit, who knows, what we find further… At the moment we were simply walking and curiously looked in, just in case… and if we break into somewhere, it’ll be another story,” Flaunty Mane winked.

“I got it,” shrugged Windy, reluctantly leaving the door alone. “I just meant that the principal office could definitely contain things worth seeing… Especially the locked one.”