Twilight meandered back and forth between the walk in closet and her suitcase on the bed as she fussed over what to take on her impending trip. After folding and placing in a second pair of jeans she felt arms slide around her waist and lips against her neck.

“You know, you’re holding up that stereotype about females taking forever to get ready very well.” Night Light mused as he kissed her neck.

“That eager to get rid of me?” She chuckled, laying her hands atop his.

“Just making a point.” He laughed, pulling her tight against him. “I’m never excited to see you go.”

“Really?” She reached back, grabbing the bulge in his slacks. “This feels pretty excited to me.”

“That’s because you’re being indecisive in your underwear.” He noted, hands drifting up to her breasts.

“And you’re not helping.” She twisted in his arms, lacing her fingers behind his his neck. “Pear said she didn’t know how long this would take, I don’t want to under pack.”

“If you wind up needing something you can just buy it when you’re there,” He countered. “Don’t spend so much time sweating the small stuff; that’s your daughter's hobby.”

“I know,” With a light laugh she pushed herself back from him and looked down at her luggage, closing the shell and locking it. “There, it’s closed,” She smirked. “Pear will be here in around two hours.”

“Just enough time to say goodbye.” Night Light smiled as he closed in on her.

“Honey.” Twilight giggled as she took him into her arms, the pair knocking her luggage to the carpet as they fell back onto the bed.

After a fast shower, Twilight got dressed and grabbed a snack just in time to catch the sound of Pear’s truck pulling into her driveway. Kissing Night Light and taking up her luggage, she hurried out and met her friend at the driver’s side window.

“Hey Vel,” Pear greeted brightly. “Just toss it in the back and we’ll be on the road.”

“Okay,” Twilight hefted her suitcase into the truck bed and jumped into the passenger seat; before she could even get her seat belt on, Pear was backing out and heading down the road.

“Heh, hair looks a mess hon; I take it ol’ Night Light gave you same fond farewell my Bright did.”

“Oh…” Twilight realized she forgot to brush and patted her hair down with an embarrassed laugh. “Guilty.” She grinned. “So, did the lawyer give you any more information on this property?”

“Not at whole heck of a lot,” Pear shook her head. “Honestly, we don’t really know what to do with it; Granny Smith was surprised that it was left to her considering she and Maple aren’t family. I mean, they were close back in the day, but they haven’t even seen each other in nigh on twenty years.”

“Well, at the most you could always re-sell it.” Twilight suggested. “Put something away for Apple Bloom’s college.”

“Maybe,” Pear nodded. “But I’m not one to go making plans before I know what we’re dealing with.” She glanced across the cab. “I do sure appreciate you coming with on this.”

“Of course.” Twilight waved it off. “Like you said, we don’t know what we’re walking into so two heads are better than one.”

Leaving the city limits, Pear drove them southwest; their destination was a relatively small town know as Bridle Hill which was only famous for the power plant that served as its economic base. It took several hours but eventually they came across a lone, green highway sign that read Bridle Hill.

“Five more miles,” Pear said with a relieved sigh. “One heck of a drive.”

“That’s for sure,” Twilight fidgeted in her seat. “My butt is numb.”

“Hold out a little more, sugar; we’ll…” Pear paused in confusion as she heard the engine suddenly cut out. “What in the world?” She watched her front console go dark and she quickly veered off the road as her power brakes failed as well. Twilight squealed as they hit the rocky landscape and they inevitably rolled to a stop. “You okay, hon?” Pear quickly asked.

“Yeah… I’m fine,” Twilight nodded. “What happened?”

“No idea,” Pear opened her door and stepped out into the hot afternoon sun. “Let me take a look see.” Reaching under the front console, she pulled the hood latch and went to the front of the truck to investigate. Twilight’s view of her was blocked by the hood, she sat quietly until hearing a rare curse come from Pear as she slammed the hood down.

“What is it?” Twilight asked, leaning out the window.

“The battery is fried.” Pear leaned on the sill of her driver-side window. “Now how in the heck do you suppose that happened?”

“You’re asking me about cars?” Twilight laughed.

“Never seen anything like that before,” Pear sighed. “Nothing to do about it either, going to have to walk to town and get some help.”

“Oh my.” Twilight glanced in the back at her heavy suitcase.

With their luggage rolling behind them, the pair began the long walk the remainder of the way; their confusion about their own breakdown soon left them though as they passed other broken down vehicles. Keeping a brisk pace, they managed to make it to the outskirts of Bridle Hill in just under two hours. Making their way into town, Pear was quick to notice the run down state of the area.

“Boy, place could sure use some TLC.” Pear remarked.

“Among other things,” Twilight look about nervously. “Why is it so quiet?”

“Not sure, but I plan on finding out.” Pear pointed up the road. “Look, that looks like a motel; let’s see if we can get some help there.”

Mildly exhausted from the impromptu hike, the duo entered the motel and found the lobby devoid of life. Twilight located the bell at the front desk and rang it; no response came and she rang it several more times until noise could be heard from the back office. A stallion emerged and eyed the pair in shock; he was dressed in casual clothing but it appeared quite filthy.

“Who are you?” He asked.

“Uh… hey there,” Pear began. “Names Pear Butter, this is my friend Twilight Velvet; we broke down about five miles out of town and hoofed it here.” She explained. “We were heading into town anyway on business, but we could sure use a mechanic or something.”

“Business?” He repeated. “Were you in contact with someone here?” He asked hurriedly, bypassing Pear's request entirely.

“Um, do you work here?” Twilight asked.

“The motel is closed down… everything… everything is closed down…” He muttered.

“What do you mean closed down?” Pear asked in return. “What is going on around here?”

“It’s okay, Pear.” Twilight reached in her pocket and took out her phone. “I’ll call Night Light and have him come…”

“TURN THAT OFF!” The stallion suddenly shouted. “

“What!?” Twilight jumped at the startling outburst.

“You can’t use that… turn it off, now!” He rushed around the counter and reached for the phone.

“Hey!” Pear got between them, grabbing the stallion and easily lifting him from the ground. “What’s gotten into you!?”

“Please,” He looked down at her with panicked eyes. “You… you don’t understand… you…”

“Ahh!” Twilight screamed and tossed her phone to the ground.

“Vel?” Pear glanced back to see her gripping her right hand in pain.

“It shocked me!” She shouted.

“Oh no…” The stallion wriggled free of Pear’s grip and hurried back behind the counter. “It knows you’re here now.”

“What does!?” Pear asked angrily. “Start making some darn sense!”

“Pear!” Twilight called her attention, pointing to her phone. The device lit up and began flashing images on the screen rapidly before bursting into flame. The two mares stood over it as the fire died out and gave each other deeply concerned looks. “What in the world was that?”

“Tanner!?” A new voice called out, followed by the sound of harried steps; another stallion and a Kirin came rushing into the lobby and surveyed the scene. “What was that sound?” The stallion asked.

“They had a phone.” Tanner pointed to Pear and Twilight. “It already destroyed it.”

“Who are they?” The stallion continued.

“Pear and Twilight,” Pear said stoutly. “Now, some creature tell me what the heck is going on.” She demanded, pounding the front desk so hard the laminate veneer cracked.

“Please,” The stallion approached. “I’m sorry if Tanner frightened you; my name is Applewood, Tanner is my nephew.” He gestured back to the Kirin. “This is Hibiscus; she was our front desk clerk before everything shut down.”

“So, you own this place?” Pear asked.

“Yes, but as Tanner said… this entire town is effectively shut down.” Applewood confirmed.

“Why?” Twilight inquired. “What happened here?”

“That’s… a bit of a story, a spectacular one at that.” He sighed. “Your car broke down outside of town, right?”

“Yes,” Twilight nodded. “We passed a bunch of others too.”

“I know,” He leaned against the counter. “Like you, they’re stuck here too now.”

“How?” Pear continued. “What has got everybody so shook?”

“It’s a spirit!” Hibiscus blurted out.

“A spirit?” Pear repeated with great suspect.

“It’s not…,” Applewood laid his hand to his temple. “We’re not entirely sure what it is; but most have been calling it a ghost.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Pear looked across the trio.

“Does any of this look like we’re joking!” Tanner angrily shouted. “You have no idea what it's been like!”

“Tanner! That’s enough.” Applewood scolded. “Everyone starts out a skeptic at first.”

“So… this spirit,” Twilight began. “What is it?”

“It’s a poltergeist to be precise,” Hibiscus took over, adjusting her glasses. “An entity that stays manifested in the corporeal world… very angry and very violent.” She stepped closer. “Normally, they stick to one place, usually the place of their death. But this poltergeist first manifested in the power plant and somehow it gained the ability to harness electricity and travel through hard-lined and wireless systems. It spread itself over the entire town and has it under its control.”

“That… that sounds like something out of a movie.” Twilight glanced over at Pear.

“Yeah, it does.” Applewood nodded. “But believe me, I wish this was just something on a screen. Whatever the hell this thing is, it forced us to abandon all things electrical. The town has been cut off from the outside world and any vehicle that gets within five miles dies out.”

“From what I can figure,” Hibiscus stepped in. “The poltergeist can emit a wide range EMP using all the power generated at the plant; we can’t use vehicles, we can’t use telecommunications… we’re trapped here.”

Pear, begrudgingly trying to accept all this, pointed out towards the road. “Well, it may not be pleasant, but why not load up and walk out?”

“It won’t let you.” Tanner came in, finally calmed down. “A few tried, it fried them from the power lines as soon as they left the town boundary.”

“Fried?” Twilight repeated.

“Imagine getting hit by lighting… about fifty times in a row.” Applewood said grimly. “The poor bastards were cooked alive.” He stood up straight with an exhausted sigh. “It will let creatures in but it won't let them leave once they're here, we’ve been like this for about eight months now.”

“What do we do now?” Twilight looked to Pear worriedly.

“I’ll be hung and dried before I spend the rest of my life stuck here.” She said with determination. “There must be someway out of this.”

“Ha… that’s what all the others said too.” Tanner noted almost mockingly.

“Look, for now, I think I should take you over to the Sheriff.” Applewood suggested. “He’s basically taken control since this all started, been keeping everything running as smoothly as possible.”

“Alright.” Pear accepted with a frustrated sigh.

“We can’t do anything without more information.” Twilight set her hand to Pear’s shoulder.

“Right,” Pear nodded. “Lead the way, Applewood.”

Applewood led them from the motel and started down the block towards the police station. Pear and Twilight looked about as they proceeded, seeing little more than empty commercial buildings and trash blowing down the street. The police station sat on the corner of Paradise and N. Marketview; there was finally signs of activity as they saw residents going in and out with equipment or bags of canned goods. Applewood was greeted as they entered and he asked to see the Sheriff; one of the still uniformed deputies left the front desk and headed into the rear offices, soon a stout Griffon emerged and looked over the strange faces.

“Two more, eh?” He grunted.

“This is Pear and Twilight, broke down same as the others.” Applewood explained.

“Didn’t know this damned town was so popular.” He approached the mares. “Well, welcome to hell; names Wyndham.”

“Nice to meet you,” Twilight shook his talon. “Applewood says you’ve been running things here?”

“Yeah,” He nodded. “Had to enact martial law to keep the peace; our mayor was of the ones killed by that thing.”

“Hibiscus called it a poltergeist.” Twilight recalled.

“Hmph,” Wyndham scoffed. “I don’t care what anyone calls it, all I care about is stopping it while we’re all still breathing.”

“Doesn’t seem to be much progress on that end.” Pear noted.

“Had to focus on the essentials first,” He explained. “After we realized electricity was out the window, we had to go off the grid overnight.” He walked over to the window and looked out. “Everything had to be reorganized. We salvaged all the dried and canned food, food stuffs and bottled water we could from the grocery stores. We had to switch to candles, torches and even old oil lamps for light and any oil, gas or other fossil fuels were gathered and stored to keep them up. We also used some vacant residential lots to set up crops using seeds from the home store garden centers and local nurseries.” He turned back to them. “Once we managed to cobble together a working system to ensure we could survive, I started focusing on finding out just what that thing was and how it was attacking.”

“We were told it started at the power plant.” Pear informed.

“Yeah… but our attempts to get into that place haven’t exactly been successful, whenever we get near it attacks us.” Wyndham stroked the underside of his beak. “Conventional weapons are useless and we don’t have access to any machinery or vehicles. Damned thing has us locked in a standstill and won’t let us just leave. It’s like it wants us to suffer.”

“Is there anything we can do?” Twilight asked.

“For now, just sit tight and stay safe.” He looked to Applewood. “Applewood has been using the motel to lodge all the others like you, I suggest you get settled with him. If you have any particular skills, we’d appreciate whatever you could offer.”

“I run a family farm with my husband,” Pear detailed. “I should take a look at your setup.”

“That’d be great.” Wyndham nodded in acceptance. “In the meantime, stick with Applewood; we make sure everyone gets enough food and basic necessities so he’ll take care of you.”

“Sure thing.” Applewood tipped his head. “Come on ladies, I’ll get you set up in a room and give a little rundown of how things operate now.”

“Thank you.” Twilight said graciously.

As they walked back to the motel, the gravity of their situation finally began to settle in; no matter how incredible it seemed to them, there was no doubt that this was very real. After stopping at the front desk for a key and their luggage, Applewood led them towards the rear of the building to room two-hundred and twelve.

“Here we are,” He took the key from his pocket. “Fortunately, this town is old enough to still have physical keys for the doors; if we had key-cards we really have a problem.” He unlocked the door and allowed them in; he continued as they looked about the room. “We’ve been making sure everyone gets two meals a day, first is at nine in the morning and the second is at six in the evening. The city’s electrical grid is still active so the taps and plumbing work, unfortunately we can’t access hot water as the heaters were electric instead of gas so we disconnected them. We keep some fire-pits at the ready to heat water though, if you want some coffee or tea."

“We won’t take more than necessary.” Twilight promised.

“Oh, and it would be best if you get rid of any metal on you, piercings or jewelry and the like.” He added. "We've done everything we can think of to make sure it can't attack us while we're outside, but no sense taking any chances."

“Will do.” Pear nodded.

“Alright, if you need anything, Hibiscus and I are always around.” With that, he left them to get settled.

“I can’t believe this…” Twilight sat on the bed. “What a nightmare.”

“Maybe, but I’m not just going to sit around and wait for a miracle.” Pear said boldly. “That ain’t how life works.”

“What can we do though?” Twilight asked. “If we stay safe long enough, I’m sure our husbands will come looking for us.”

“And then what?” Pear eyed her. “They’ll just wind up stuck in the same mess. If we’re going to get out of here, we’re going to have to make it happen ourselves.”

Twilight smiled at her resolve, feeling a tad relieved by it. “Well… if that’s how you feel about it, we’re going to have to learn what we can about whatever is keeping everyone here.”

“Right,” Pear agreed. “That Hibiscus girl seemed to have her head more wrapped around this than most, we should talk to her and see what all she knows.”

“Okay,” Twilight stood and hefted her luggage onto the bed. “Better get rid of my earrings and my piercing.”

Pear looked her over with a slightly opened mouth. “Piercing?” She repeated.

“Oh…” Twilight smiled shyly. “I… got my navel pierced for my thirty eighth birthday.”

“Vel.” Pear laughed at the idea.

“What?” Twilight chuckled. “It was something wild and spur of the moment; besides, Night Light said it was sexy.”

After a light rest, Pear and Twilight joined the others for dinner out on the side parking lot. Aside from themselves, there were a total of sixteen others who had become stranded in the town ranging from newlyweds to elderly couples who were trying to enjoy cross country retirement trips. Four long, folding tables were set up with plastic chairs and plastic flatware; Applewood and Tanner began serving the night’s cuisine which consisted of soup, cheese, bread and and a fresh vegetable medley from one of the town gardens. One of the older couples offered to give thanks; while not everyone was spiritual, no one could argue that it certainly didn’t hurt given the current situation. As everyone started in, Applewood looked over at his newest guests with a light smile.

“So, what was it that brought you to our happy little town?” He asked.

“Business actually,” Pear began after swallowing. “My mother in law was left an estate from an old friend who passed away; we came here to have a look see at the property.”

Applewood nodded. “Everyone here has a similar story and similar homes to get back to, all the more reason why we need to make it through this alive.”

The tables opened up to less somber topics as they ate; once everyone was done, Tanner and Hibiscus began collecting the flatware to be disposed.

“Hey…” Tanner paused as he took up Pear and Twilight’s plates. “I’m… sorry about before; we’re all just tired and scared and…”

“It’s alright.” Twilight assured with a smile. “I certainly don’t blame you having seen all this.”

“Thanks.” He nodded as he moved on down the line.

“Poor boy,” Twilight watched him off. “Everyone must be traumatized from this.”

“Have to admit though,” Pear began. “I do respect the sense of community; probably because this was a small town to begin with. If this were a big city, everyone would probably be at each other’s throats; and darn sure not willing to treat outsiders like us so kindly.” Pear rose from the table. “Come on, let’s go chat up Hibiscus and get to business; we may have a roof, food and water but that doesn’t mean we have a whole heck of a lot of time.”

“Right.” Twilight concurred as she stood. “We have to help these creatures if we can.”

As dinner wrapped up and everyone returned to their rooms, Pear and Twilight sought out Hibiscus who had planted herself at the front desk with a book. The Kirin’s eyes slowly rolled upward as a pair of shadows cast themselves over the text.

“Oh, hi.” She folded the book closed. “Need something?”

“Actually, we want to hear what you have to say about this poltergeist.” Twilight informed.

“You do?” She asked with some surprise. “You believe me?”

“I don’t know what to believe.” Pear stated plainly. “But we want to learn everything we can so we can start working on a way out of here.”

“Huh?” Hibiscus gave them a queer look. “You’re going to try to escape?”

“Never been one to sit around when there’s a problem to be solved.” Pear said proudly. “We sure appreciate being taken in, but I’ve got no intention of staying here forever; everyone here has family to get home to and sitting around waiting to be saved sure ain’t getting anyone anywhere.”

Hibiscus glanced around. “Okay, we should talk about this in my room.” She stood and waved for them to follow. “Everyone has their own ideas on what’s going on, even Applewood still won’t straight up admit that this entity is a spirit; but based on what I’ve seen it can’t be anything else.” She detailed as they walked the halls; once at her door, she quickly let them in and joined them around the coffee table. “So, what do you want to know?”

“How about you tell us how and when this all started?” Twilight suggested.

“Sure,” Hibiscus settled in her chair. “So, the first reported incident was about ten or eleven months ago. I have a friend who worked there and she told me everything that was going on, despite being told by her superiors to not say a word outside of work. It started out small; bulbs blowing out, computers and other machinery turning on and off by themselves… but about a month into it there was the first death.”

“What happened?” Twilight asked.

“A worker was performing maintenance on one of the main turbines; they deactivate them for service but it came back on and he was electrocuted. At first, it was labeled an accident but then it spread around the plant that there was no way that generator could have come back online in the state it was in.” She shrugged. “One thing led to another and creatures started to link all the strange events together and talk of something supernatural began.”

“Bet that didn’t fly over too well.” Pear noted.

“No, management went to great lengths to quell any talk of the sort; my friend said they even threatened termination.”

“The situation must have been confusing, but that seems harsh.” Twilight pointed out.

“That’s the thing, all the decisions on the matter were coming straight from Mr. Pollock, he was the plant manager.” Hibiscus explained.

“So, what happened next?” Pear asked.

“One of the workers finally saw it.” Hibiscus continued. “He quit the same day and he was the one who started spreading the information of what was going on around town. He said he saw a warped and twisted stallion formed completely out of electricity. According to his account, it blew out all the lights in the room he was working in and tried to hit him with pure discharge; he refused to return to the plant and begged Wyndham to investigate the matter.”

“What came of that?” Pear asked further.

“Well, Wyndham tried to send some of his deputies over, but Mr. Pollack refused to let them in. He said they had no warrant and that he disavowed anything the employee was saying. But not long after that the entire workforce walked out of the plant after seven employees were killed at once.”

“Seven?” Twilight repeated.

“They were all workers in the transmission maintenance department.” She detailed. “They were inspecting the outgoing feed into the main grid and were all electrocuted. The workers couldn’t agree on what was happening, but they all agreed that something was very wrong with the plant and it was abandoned.” She sighed in retrospective thought. “But that might have been what made the situation worse; with the plant abandoned there was nothing to stop it from infecting the systems completely, it discovered how to travel through the grid and that’s when the town found itself under attack.” She threw her arms out in sudden fashion. “It happened so fast, creatures were being electrocuted all over town; in their homes, at work… even just walking down the street. Everything devolved into panic and what made it worse is when the mayor was killed in the attacks. That’s when Wyndham took control and ordered the deactivation and disconnection of all electronic machinery and devices. He even went so far as to bring down the majority of the power lines around town to keep us safe from strikes while we were out.”

"How come no one has come to help?" Twilight asked.

"Well, it's a small town... no one really knows about us." Hibiscus explained. "On top of that, the power plant is still operating and producing electricity, so none of the larger neighboring cities know anything is wrong."

"Be they will if it decides to ride the electrical rails into their neck of the woods." Pear considered.

"That's the last thing that makes me believe this is poltergeist activity." Hibiscus retorted. "Why hasn't it left? I think that it wants to punish this town for whatever happened to it; poltergeists are vengeful spirits and it seems to me like its holding us hostage as an act of revenge."

Twilight and Pear absorbed the idea with hard eyes. "An electrical spirit with a grudge... sounds more like a voltergeist." Twilight surmised.

"Voltergeist huh?" Hibiscus made an impressed hum. "That sounds like a good name for it." She placed her hands on her knees with a long breath. “But anyway, I assume Wyndham told you the rest.”

“For the most part, yeah.” Pear nodded. “Thanks for filling us in.”

“No problem,” She looked between the two mares. “So… what exactly do you plan on doing?”

“Don’t know just yet,” Pear admitted. “But like Vel says, we can’t do anything until we have some facts. For now though…” She stood from her seat. “I think we need to get some rest, been one heck of a day.”

“Good idea.” Twilight let a yawn slip. “I think dinner is finally hitting me.”

“Well, I know it might not be easy, but I hope you sleep well.” Hibiscus offered as she walked them to the door. “If you need anything, you know where to find me.”

“Thank you, Hibiscus.” Twilight said sincerely. “Have a good night.”

The duo walked back to their own room, the halls growing dark as the sun fully set. Once inside, Pear lit a set of thick candles in dishes and brought the room to a soft glow.

“In the morning, I’m going to make good on my word and check their crop setup.” Pear informed as she stripped to her underwear.

“Anything you want me to handle?” Twilight asked as she did the same, retrieving her night gown from her luggage.

“Talk to Wyndham again if you can,” Pear advised. “See if he can add anything to what Hibiscus told us.”

“Will do.” Twilight promised as they each took a bed.

Pear heard her let out a long sigh. “Don’t worry, sugar; we’ll get through this.”

Twilight smiled to herself. “Yeah, I know we will.” She agreed. “Good night, Pear.” She blew out her candle.

“Night, Vel.” Pear did the same and settled down in the far from blissful quiet of the powerless motel.

Author's Note

This story is taking a diversion from the style of the previous in this series. If you want a more detailed explanation of why, I talk about it in a post on my page. But, even though this may feel different, I hope everyone enjoys it just as much.