Author's Note

I had wanted to post this on Halloween, but I was unable to get the story completed on time. Regardless, I have finished it and have posted it here for everyone to see. I made a few changes throughout the story, but this biggest change is a total rewrite of the ending. I hope that this one is a bit more satisfactory than the original.

Writing horror stories is fun, but if I am gonna try writing anymore in the future, I'm going to plan them out better.

Tap, Tap, Tap - 2023 Rewrite

This story will be written as a mix of journal entries and a normal narrative style of story. This is my first attempt at a horror story so constructive criticism is welcome. Happy Halloween!

Tap, Tap, Tap

by Origami

Journal Entry 10/1/1005 ANB (After Nightmare Banishment)

I finally have a new house! Getting out of that tiny apartment in Manehattan is such a relief! It was a mansion owned by some weird noble, and it's pretty spacious, but since I'm trying to become a writer, I'll be spending plenty of time at home, keeping it clean and tapping away on my new typewriter! I'm so excited I can't stop using exclamation marks!

Okay, calming down now.

It's about two in the afternoon, and I just finished unpacking the things for my office. The room I'm using for an office must've been a study at some point because there were plenty of bookshelves in it. I don't even have enough books to fill them all up, but fortunate for me, the study came with a ton of 'em!

The previous owner left an oak desk behind, which works perfectly for my typewriter and quill set. A lot of books are gonna be written on this thing!

Of course, writing books isn't the best source of income, especially with my mortgage. Fortunately, this quaint little hamlet I find myself living in is in need of a notary, and it just so happens I have all the necessary training for the job.

In fact, I need to get going so I can meet the mayor of the town. That is something I will need to get used to. Unlike all the other towns I lived in, this one is being run by a stallion, so we'll get to see what that's like for a change.

Journal Entry 10/2/1005 ANB

I was woken up last night by a noise from downstairs. I forgot to mention that my new house has four floors. The ground floor has the kitchen, parlor,study(aka my office), a half-bathroom(just a toilet and sink), and a washroom. The second has two bedrooms and a storage room, as well as a full bathroom. The third floor is an attic with plenty of storage space. Finally, there's the basement, home of the furnace keeping the house warm in the winter time.

Unfortunately, the basement was the source of my problems.

I'm getting off topic. I didn't even mention the noise that woke me up.

Tap, tap, tap

Just like that. It literally sounds like somepony tapping their hoof against a window. I walked around the house in search of somepony tapping against my windows, but found no one. I even inspected the attic, thinking a pegasus or thestral was playing a prank on me. Alas, no such luck.

When I went to my basement, I heard the tapping again, but this time I could tell it was coming from a back room down there. Opening up the door, I looked to see a room with nothing in it. Confused, I looked around and found nothing but dust and a drain for water getting in the basement to drain out. The only hint that there might've ever been a window down here was some newer brickwork on one side of the wall, but even that looked years old.

I gave up and went back to bed. I didn't hear the noise for the rest of the night.

On a lighter note, I was able to secure the notary position with the mayor. He said I can start the beginning of next week, as the current pony acting as notary requested the opportunity to finish out the week; a request I was more than willing to grant.

So I have my new house and I have a new job. Things are already looking pretty good for me right now.

Journal Entry 10/3/1005 ANB

I heard the noise again. Getting up and checking all the windows again, I found nothing. Entering the basement once more, I again found nothing. I'm gonna have to ask the realtor about this. If there's something wrong with the house, I'm gonna need a contractor pony to come in and fix it.

Journal Entry 10/7/1005 ANB (Writing is barely legible)

I'm having a hard time keeping my composure and hoof still as I write this. The contractor came and examined the house and found nothing! No shaky pipes or anything. I paid for the consultation and he left. About an hour after he left and I was getting ready to start working, I heard the tapping again. This time, though, it didn't come from the basement.

-#####################-

Tap, tap, tap

I flinched when I heard that noise again. After having heard it for the past several nights, it had gotten on my last nerve. Whoever was doing this was going to be punished for it. Whether by the guards in town hauling them off for harassment or me just simply knocking their lights out for them, they were gonna get it!

I went up the stairs, taking notice that it was suddenly getting darker outside.

"Strange," I thought to myself, "the weather ponies didn't call for a storm today."

Tap, tap, tap

The noise that was quickly becoming a bane to my existence got my attention and I made my way upstairs again. Walking down the hallway that wrapped around the bedrooms, I spot one of the windows being slightly open.

"I did not leave that open" I realize as I move to go close it. As soon as I walk up to it, I freeze.

Staring back at me is a pony. Well, staring back is probably the wrong word to use. It's a pony shape, but it's so dark I don't make out any details. I flinched back for a second but see that the shadow flinches back as well, a direct mimic of my movements. I tested it by raising a hoof and waving it around, which the reflection copied without fail.

"Okay," I said with a sigh of relief, "It's just my reflection against the window."

My relief lasted for all of two seconds as the shadow suddenly bolted from the window to my right and I heard a door slam shut hard!

-#####################-

It's been a couple of hours since that happened and I have still yet to fully calm down. I don't know what to think about this. Is there a unicorn playing a prank on me? Is there a changeling about to attack me and feed on me but is just tormenting me for its own sick amusement?

Or is this a real haunted house?

I hope it's just a unicorn playing a joke that I can eventually sock in the jaw. I'm not even sure how I'm gonna get to sleep tonight. I start my notary job tomorrow and I can already tell I'm going to be taxed, and in both meanings of the word.

Journal Entry 10/10/1005 ANB

I've now taken up near permanent residence in my study. It's the only place that feels remotely safe in this house anymore. The tapping I hear becomes more incessant, and even comes from within the room at times.

I've asked some ponies around the town if they know anything about the property, but all anypony can tell me is that it belonged to some crazy old noble that had no kids or immediate family that anypony could reach. The only part that caused me some alarm was the fact that the old noble disappeared and was presumed dead after having been gone for nearly a decade.

Did he die and his spirit haunts the house? Could I get a shamare or a clairvoyant pony to help the spirit move on?

On a separate note, I've been doing the notary job for the past few days and it has helped to calm my nerves somewhat. Overall, it's not too difficult; the most complex thing I've had to do so far was a deed transfer from one farmer pony to another. Honestly, having something to do to get away from the house for several hours is of a great benefit.

Journal Entry 10/13/1005

I bit the bullet and called for a shamaness. She was a zebra named Kisafishaji, which I'm told means cleanser in the zebra tongue.

I was fortunate that she lived fairly close by and was not too busy to come and take a quick look at my home. She arrived a few minutes before she was scheduled to come, and as I saw her come walking up my pathway, she froze. The look on her face was nothing but pure terror.

Concerned, I ran out to address her. She looked at me for a moment and shook her head.

"Much evil has been done in this place," she told me. "A dark cloud hangs over this home, and I can already feel two spirits who have been tormented greatly."

Shaking her head again, she gave me an apologetic look. "I cannot cleanse this house on my own. This much energy requires several shamares, and special cleansing tools that I must prepare. I will return and gather what is needed, but it will take time. Until I can return, I must implore you not to stay in this house. The energy wishes to either drive you out, or claim your soul as its own."

She bid me farewell and quickly left back up my walkway. I looked back at the house and became quite nervous and afraid. Even without her warning, I didn't want to stay in the house any longer than necessary, but unfortunately, I didn't have enough money to move to a hotel room, nor did I know anypony that would let me stay with them.

Besides that, there would be questions about why I was not staying in my home, for which I would have no excuse. I would've said it was because of an infestation and my home needed to be fumagated, but the house had underwent that procedure before I had even saw the ad for it in the newspaper.

As much as I don't want to, I'm gonna have to rough it here until I can afford to either stay somewhere else, or the shamaness comes back to do the cleansing.

Journal Entry 10/14/1005 ANB(Writing is barely legible)

The shadow came back again. I was in my bathroom in the downstairs trying to go quickly when I heard the tapping again. I grew dreadful and tried to plant my hooves into the ground, but a compulsion forced me to follow the sound. It took me to the upstairs bathroom.

-#####################-

I came back up the steps and followed the sound of tapping on glass to my bathroom. I opened the door and looked inside to find nothing but my bathroom. I checked around, looking inside the shower, the towel closet, and even opening up the medicine cabinet to find the basic amenities of supplies for cleaning and bandaging wounds and the odd medicine such as aspirin and bismuth solution.

I closed the cabinet door and was suddenly face to face with the shadow pony. Before I could even react, the pony cocked a hoof back and punched me straight through the mirror. I whipped my head back in pain and fell back against the tile floor holding my muzzle.

When the pain finally receded, I looked around for the shadow pony, but immediately froze.

There was something hanging in my shower now. It hadn't been there before, but it was now. I saw a motion and heard the tapping again, this time directly against the shower door.

I wanted nothing more than to tuck tail between my legs and run, but again, the compulsion I couldn't resist overcame me. I found myself standing up and walking over to the shower, and with a timid hoof, I slid the shower door open.

A mare, just barely out of fillyhood.

A mare was in my shower, hanging from a rope, her eyes seeming to scream out in desperation, but glassed over from the lack of life in them or the body.

A dead mare was hanging in my shower.

As soon as the situation registered properly in my mind, I screamed and booked it out of the house. I went straight to the guard and reported what I had seen.

-#####################-

I got a pair of guards and they followed me back, but there was no body in the shower. I tried finding any sign that there had been a body at all, but there was none. Of course, the guards were suspicious of my claims and decided to dismiss it as just a bad dream that Princess Luna was unable to catch and dispel.

I dared to ask them if there was ever a crime reported in the house, but they told me that they would have to look into that, but I was welcome to come to the guard house tomorrow if I wanted.

That was too good of an offer to pass up.

Journal Entry 10/17/1005 ANB

The guard never got back to me, so I went to them today and asked again about crimes that took place at my house. While there wasn't a specific crime per se, they did tell me that there had been a suicide in the house. Unsurprisingly, it had been a young mare that was just barely that. As they described her, I went white as I realized that she was the one I saw in the shower.

Was it her spirit haunting the house?

I returned home and was greeted with yet another very unpleasant surprise.

-#####################-

I entered my study and closed the door, locking it as I have gotten into the habit of doing.

After I did so, I turned and looked at my desk to find an envelope sitting on it.

"Mailponies don't deliver mail inside the house" I realized, and felt fear creeping up my spine again. Tentatively, I reached for the envelope and examined it.

It was a plain white envelope, or at least it had been white; age had made the paper turn yellow. There was no adhesive on the flap, which must've meant it was supposed to be sealed with wax, or some kind of enchantment.

On the front of the envelope was a single name: Hearth.

"That sounds like the name of the noble that owned this place," I thought as I opened the envelope and looked at the letter inside:

Hearth,

I know about the filly. You sick, two-timing bastard!

You are going to pay for this! I'll have my lawyers take you for all you're worth and I'll burn that damn house you love so much to the dirt!

After everything we've shared, you go and do this to me?!

You'll burn for this!

I didn't know who Hearth was, but by the sound of this letter, he had been caught dipping his hoof in a cookie jar that didn't belong to his beloved.

As I read the letter again, I came to realize the the mare I saw in my shower might not have committed suicide, but was murdered by whoever wrote this note, or even by Hearth in a fit of rage at being discovered.

I looked back down and saw a second envelope that wasn't there before. This one had a scent to it, which I quickly identified as perfume. Picking it up, I opened and read the contents of this new letter.

===

Hearth,

I know about the other mare. I also know you were with her before me. I just so happened to meet her when I came to get my scarf I'd forgotten last time. She met me in the foyer and started screaming at me about what a harlot I am and that I should be ashamed of myself for what I've done.

Funny thing is, she stopped berating me after a few minutes and took a closer look at me. She then looked at me with pure terror, screeched and took off into another room. She was wailing her head off when I grabbed my scarf and bolted out of the house.

I can't believe you would cheat on your wife with another mare! Worse yet, I can't believe I'm the one you did it with!

Our "affair" is over! I don't want anymore to do with you!

Don't try to find me! All that will be there is a closed door!

Gypsum

-#####################-

After reading the letters, I wondered to myself if the things going on in this house may have something to do with one of these three ponies, and whether or not this Gypsum could be the mare I saw in my shower.

I asked the mayor about the noble who owned the house again and got no new answers. I think I'm going to spend a few days in Canterlot searching for his names in the genealogy department of the Canterlot Archives. They're bound to have something on him, and possibly if he had a wife.

Journal Entry 10/24/1005 ANB

I'm sitting here drinking alcohol until I can't stay conscious anymore. I returned from spending the past several days in Canterlot looking up the noble that owned this house before I bought it, and I wished that I hadn't now.

According to the records, Hearth, whose full name is Ember Hearth, was a noble son of a high ranking guard that was a popular candidate to become captain of the guard. Additional notes claimed that Hearth was a skilled unicorn mage and was believed to be on the track to having a successful career as a mage in the guard.

However, that dream died quickly upon some horrible secrets about himself being revealed.

First, it was discovered that he owned tomes that were banned in Equestria. More specifically, they were books on necromancy and soulmancy, and he had apparently been studying them, as loose papers with notes in his own style of writing were found within the pages.

Possibly worse than that was the secret that forced him out of Canterlot, and one of the most heinous things a pony can do: he had committed incest.

His partner in this act, a cousin named Ruby Slipper, became pregnant with a filly, whom she had and attempted to raise.

With the revelation of his crimes, the nobles moved to have him ousted from Canterlot, which Princess Celestia had readily agreed to.

As part of a deal to avoid more serious punishment, Hearth was not to have any contact with Ruby Slipper or her child, and was to leave Canterlot immediately and without incident, surrendering all his possessions, including the restricted tomes, as well as any claim to nobility that he had held previously. In exchange, he would maintain a portion of his assets so that he could find a home in one of the smaller towns furthest away from Canterlot.

After that, there was nothing else on him, so I had to investigate Ruby Slipper, and that was where I found the answers that I both wanted ,and didn't want, at the same time.

-#####################-

I read through the files on Ruby Slipper, taking note of how she was sent away to live with relatives of the nobles who she was related to; apparently, she was a child of an illegitimate relation between the son of another noble in the royal guard and a scullery maid.

The son took on the maid as his wife, against his father's wishes. The father, however, was having affairs with several other members of his staff, and the son blackmailed him for his approval of the union. Ruby had been born some time after their wedding.

Ruby had apparently met Hearth sometime after getting her cutie mark, and the two carried on a relationship that was not appropriate for two ponies that were related. This was found out, of course, when Ruby was found pregnant with a foal.

After Hearth was effectively banished from Canterlot, Ruby was sent to live with the relatives on her mother's side of the family. Unfortunately, she couldn't care for the foal herself, and had to give it up for adoption.

As I found the adoption papers, my blood went ice cold. The filly hadn't had a name at that time Ruby gave her up, so the adopting parents decided to give her one:

Gypsum Sparkle.

My stomach demanded that it be emptied upon hearing that news

This... perverted bastard... had slept with his own daughter.

-#####################-

I had to find a waste basket to hurl in. Finding out such horrible secrets was bad enough, but to learn of something so sick and perverted as that?

I forced myself back to the table once I was done. I returned to Ruby's information to see if there was anything else there, which gave me another bombshell.

Ruby Slipper disappeared twenty years ago, and hasn't been heard from since.

I was able to find a photograph of her, and she looked similar to Gypsum, but with a ruby red mane and blue coat; Gypsum was yellow with a mint green mane. Both, however, had ruby red eyes, an apparent trait passed down from mother to daughter.

With this information, I tried to formulate an answer as to what was happening in my house. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

Journal Date 10/30/1005 ANB (Writing is barely legible)

I think I have figured out exactly what happened in this house now, and I'm rethinking ever having wanted to buy it.

Ember Hearth, the sick bastard that owned this house before me, had found Ruby Slipper and reunited with her in secret, but then had an affair with his own daughter, Gypsum Sparkle. Ruby found out and waited in the house to confront Hearth but encountered Gypsum, who had came to the house to reclaim a scarf she had left there a time once before. Ruby verbally accosted the young mare, but suddenly realized she was familiar and then quickly figured out the mare was her daughter.

Gypsum wrote the note and attempted to leave but Hearth came home after she had wrote the letter. There was an altercation, and all the proverbial skeletons were dragged out of the closet. Ruby and Gypsum must've threatened to reveal his crimes to the princess in order to strip him of everything he had left, but Hearth would have none of it.

While I'm not sure how, I'm confident Hearth killed Gypsum and Ruby. He subdued both of them and staged Gypsum's hanging in the upstairs bathroom. Ruby likely perished as well, but with no body found, she was presumed missing.

Unfortunately, I think I know exactly where Ruby's body can be found.

October 31st, 1005 ANB

Kisafishaji returned with about five other shamanesses. They told me of the darkness in the house, and I told them what I had learned about Hearth and his despicable acts. Even the shamanesses had to fight back the urge to vomit upon my informing them of the wrongdoings that were carried out by the stallion that called this place home before me.

"This house must be cleansed immediately!" Kisafishaji declared. "If we cannot cleanse it, then it must be burned to the ground, and the ground must be burned as well!"

I didn't exactly want to burn my house down, but I was tired of the constant torment caused by the strange occurrences. If this brought an end to it all, then so be it.

I led the shamanesses inside and we went room to room as they conducted cleansing rituals using herbs that I was unfamiliar with.

"We must now go upstairs and cleanse those rooms," Kisafishaji told us, and we headed to the staircase. As we did so, I couldn't help but have a feeling of dread crawling up my spine. Unfortunately, my fears became justified only a few moments later.

Upon going upstairs, one of the shamanesses was stricken with a feeling of malaise. When Kisafishaji asked her what was wrong, the shamaness explained the presence of dark magic, and was suddenly and violently thrown down the stairs, landing on her neck and snapping it like a twig.

The other shamanesses screamed as the ran to the now dead zebra laying at the bottom of the stairs, blood already spilling from her mouth.

Without warning, the front door slammed shut, and all the lights in the house went out. The shamanesses went to working lighting candles and incense in an effort to purify the immediate area.

A shadow pony appeared and took a burning incense and stuck it into a shamaness's mouth, holding the muzzle shut as it burned her, the mare smacking forehooves against it as her muted screaming could be heard by all.

"This darkness has too much strength!" Kisafishaji declared. "This house must be razed to the ground!"

The shamanesses agreed and ran for the door, one of them finally knocking the shadow pony away from the subdued shamaness, allowing her to spit the buring incense from her mouth and let out wails of agony.

I made to follow the mares outside, but the basement door suddenly burst open and something pulled me down into it, the door slamming shut behind me.

I fell down the stairs and onto the basement floor. I quickly got back to my hooves and made to go back up the stairs, but was stopped dead in my tracks.

Standing at the bottom of the stairs... was him.

Ember Hearth.

The stallion was older but still maintained a strong physique. He was dressed in an evening jacket that was practically in tatters, a smoking pipe poking out of a barely attached pocket.

"Going so soon?" he said as he moved towards me. "After having learned of my secrets?"

I was terrified, but I did my best to stand my ground.

"You bastard!" I yelled at him. "You slept with your own cousin, and then your own daughter?!"

Hearth let out a breath as he reached into a crate and produced a kitchen knife.

"I loved them both," he responded, turning to face me again. "Maybe it wasn't a love that some would call appropriate, but it was love nonetheless."

"That's not love!" I spat back. "That's... debauchery of the worst kind!"

Hearth glares at me as he brandishes the knife.

"Such a wicked tongue on you," he says menacingly. "I think we should cut it out!"

He lunged at me with the blade. I dodged, but the blade still cut a gash in my side. I cried out and pushed myself against a wall in an effort to stop the bleeding.

Hearth turned to face me, a look of rage on his face. "I had to do it!" he shouted at me. "If I hadn't, then those two would've went to the princess and took everything I had left. Why couldn't they see my love was enough for the both of them?!"

He lunged again, but that time I was able to dodge it. However, my wounded side was exposed and Hearth quickly gives kicked it, causing me to cry out in pain and fall to the floor.

I rolled quickly as I saw the shadow of his body try to land on top of me, hearing the knife tip strike the floor and graze it. Back on my feet, I went on the offensive and kicked him hard in the face. He reeled back from the pain and dropped his knife, which I then made a grab for.

Grasping it in my mouth, I looked up to see Hearth had recovered and was now making to lunge for me.

It was over in a matter of seconds.

Hearth landed on top of me, and in turn, the knife. It went into his barrel and straight through a lung. He tried to cry out in pain, but the sound died in his throat. After a few moments, I felt him go slack on top of me. I pushed the stallion off and stood up, taking stock of myself.

My coat is stained with both his blood and mine. The gash in my side now has a considerable amount of dirt in it that will need to be flushed out. Most likely, I will need antibiotics, as well as stitches to close my wound shut.

I then looked down at Hearth. He was no longer breathing, and his eyes were shut. His mouth hung open as blood spilled out from it.

Dead.

I ignored his body as my mind replayed the incident, and my earlier conclusion came back to mind.

Ruby's body. It has to be here in the basement, and behind that newer brickwork.

I looked around and found a sledgehammer and pick ax. Taking both, I went back into the backroom of the basement and set my sights on the newer masonry work. Looking at it now, I realize that it's subpar in comparison to the rest, which meant an amateur job by Hearth.

I took the pickaxe and struck the brickwork, the tip sinking in far and dislodging a few bricks. I switched to the sledgehammer and knock out more of the brickwork, until I eventually reveal an opening. I looked inside and saw something I didn't much care to see.

Inside the hole was a flower pot, with a letter in an envelope just beneath it. I look past the flower pot and letter and further back into the hole in the wall, and in doing so, go stark white.

Lying in the dirt is a pony skeleton, the bones devoid of any flesh. Worse than this, though, is the fact that the bones are piled on top of one another, which means that the body had been cut into pieces before being stuffed into the wall.

Ember Hearth was a really twisted individual for doing this, and I hope he rots in Tartarus for it.

"Now you know my secret."

I jumped and turned around. Standing by the entrance to the back room and holding the pickaxe is Ember, blood still trickling out of his mouth.

"How are you still alive?!"

Ember chuckles with his eyes closed. "The same way I've been alive for the past twenty years."

When his eyes open again, a stone fell hard in the deepest pits of my stomach. His eyes are completely black, and I can see a purplish aura coming off of them.

The stallion screamed as he bolted for me, the pickaxe glowing to match the aura of his eyes. I looked around and found nothing but the sledgehammer to try and defend myself with, so I grabbed it and raised it up in time to intercept the strike from the pointy end.

Hearth closed his eyes and started chanting a mantra. Taking an opportunity, I parried the strike and prepared to swing home at the stallion's head, when a pair of hooves grabbed the sledge and ripped it from my hooves.

I turned to look behind me and saw the shadow pony holding the sledge in their hooves.

"Always hard to find good help nowadays," Hearth chuckled as he prepared for another strike. "Good thing this pony isn't from nowadays."

I struggled in the grip of the shadow pony, but their hold was firm. Forced to watch Hearth stalk closer, the form of another shadow pony forming behind him caught my interest.

She was a black form, like the one holding onto me, but I could identify the features on its face, or rather, her face. I recognized her as the mare from my shower, and who I assumed to be Gypsum.

"I must confess that enjoyed my attempts to break your mind, but you had to cause me more trouble than I could handle, so the time has come to end this little game."

Hearth brought the pickaxe up above his head to strike it into either my chest or skull. As he did, I saw the shadow Gypsum nod in my direction. As the stallion yelled and swung, I was shoved forward towards him, instinctively tucking my forelegs in and trying to roll away.

The pickaxe hit hard on the floor and bounced out of the stallion's grip.

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING?!" he shouted at the shadow ponies, who came together and faced him.

I looked up at them and my jaw dropped.

Standing in place of the shadow ponies were Ruby Slipper and Gypsum Sparkle, their forms complete and not shrouded in darkness.

"We said that you would pay Hearth," Ruby told the stallion,"and now, we can make sure of it!"

Gypsum glared at Hearth for a moment before she turned to look at me. "The jewel in his chest," she told me.

Hearth, who was glaring right back at the two mares, suddenly looked down at his chest and then back to me, and then the two mares.

"I don't know how you got free of my power, but if you think he can stop me, then you are dead wrong!"

Hearth turned on me and grabbed the pickaxe again. I saw the sledge laying nearby and grabbed it, readying myself for a fight.

However, Ruby and Gypsum both attacked the stallion simultaneously, one knocking the weapon from his hooves and the other barreling into him and sending him flying into a wall.

The pickaxe was flung in my direction, and with no hesitation, I grabbed it.

"His chest!" Gypsum shouted at me. "Break the gem in his chest!"

I look at the stallion, who was now pinned down by the two mares and fighting hard against their grasp, and notice his evening jacket has come open, revealing a nasty-looking scar on his chest, which if I wasn't mistaken, looked like it was rotting.

Having my target clearly identified, I charged forward and raised the axe, then swung down as hard as I could.

"NOOOOOO!!!"

The strike hit home, and I notice a green vapor begin pouring out of his chest and onto the floor, where it soaked into the ground. Ember Hearth looked at me as his eyes returned to their previous state, then began to glass over as his features fell slack and the stallion slipped into death.

Ruby and Slipper both looked at me with sad smiles.

"Thank you," both said as one, before the glowed brighter and faded away.

I dropped the pick from my mouth as I saw the event unfold before me. My shock turned to disgust as the body of Ember starts to decay rapidly, the flesh and clothing deteriorating so fast that in only a few moments, a skeleton was all that remained.

I then took notice to a broken gemstone in the chest that appeared to pulse with green energy. I went to reach a hoof out to it, but the sudden appearance of a striped hoof slapping my own caused me to jump. Turning, I saw Kisafishaji and the remaining shamanesses looking at me somberly, the one with a wounded mouth clenching her eyes shut and whimpering into a blood-soaked rag.

"That gem has far too much dark energy," she warned me. "Leave it to us, and we shall see it is disposed of properly."

I looked at the gem again, and then back to Kisafishaji and nodded.

"The house is free of the dark energy. You can live here safely again."

"Thank you," I said to the shamaness, who nodded and took a rag and bottle of potion out of her cloak. Pouring the potion onto the rag, she walked over and draped the rag onto the gem, before taking it in her hooves and wrapping it up the whole way.

"I will contact the princess about this soul gem," she told me as she tucked the item away in her robes. "She will likely want to speak with you, so don't be too afraid if she shows up here or you get an official summons from Canterlot. Regardless, let her know about all of this."

"I will."

Kisafishaji nodded and made her way up the stairs. She and the other shamanesses were gathered in the foyer, where a group of guards were marking where the shamaness died and also attending to the wounded zebra who was forced to eat her still burning incense.

Journal Entry November 5th, 1005 ANB

I sold the house and moved back to Manehattan; I couldn't live there after knowing what evil transpired in it.

I was called to Canterlot two days after the incident, and there I met Princess Celestia and Luna for the first time.

They were gracious hosts, offering me tea and tea cakes as we spoke. I retold my story of living in the house, and the investigation into its past owner, finishing up with the confrontation in the basement. A part of me felt bad as I saw Princess Celestia turn her head away from me with a wince, while Princess Luna stared at me wide-eyed with a hoof to her muzzle.

After I had finished, they then told me all that the investigation had come to learn about Ember Hearth and his activities in the old mansion.

First was the fact that he had reacquired banned books on necromancy and soulmancy, revising spells and doing unspeakable things with them. For instance, the bastard bound Ruby and Gypsum's souls to the house with special incantations and sigils. In addition, he had also been tormenting foals that would dare to enter his home, the young ponies thinking it abandoned and wanting to explore a creepy, old, haunted mansion.

My blood ran cold as I was then informed that Ember Hearth had intended to add my soul to the house, but he apparently lacked the necessary ingredients for the incantation to perform such a ritual; an herb he needed had been killed by me when I uprooted it from the garden when I thought it was a simple weed.

Of course, all of it paled in comparison to the biggest secret that the princesses then told me, as Princess Celestia revealed the gem that the zebra shamaness had taken from the house. It still had a large hole inside it from my attack with the pickaxe.

She informed me that it was called a soul gem, and was highly valued in dark magic circles. According to her, it could be used to capture a pony's soul, and any who touched it would effectively be killed, their corporeal forms disintegrated by magic and the soul trapped in the gem until it was broken.

This soul gem was one that Ember Hearth used in a ritual to give himself a kind of immortality, but his efforts had turned him into a creature known as a lich. His body was still his own, and it still functioned in a sense, but he was slowly rotting away, which meant he would need a new form to be able to keep practicing dark magics like necromancy.

I asked about Ruby and Gypsum rebelling against Hearth, and was told that the zebras who came to purify the house, sensing what was going on and knowing the danger I was in, had went around finding and breaking the wards and sigils put in place by Ember Hearth to keep the two mares in the house and under his hoof. Once free, they worked to ensure that the stallion paid the ultimate price for his actions.

I thanked the princesses for their time, and they for mine, and I made my return back here to the city. My sale had been to the crown, and I was given a price to set myself up in a decent apartment for at least a few months.

As for the mansion, the princesses had it razed to the ground, and in its place, they installed a park with new playground equipment for foals to play.

The experience in the old mansion is something I plan to write about, and as I think about it, I realize the old adage still rings true:

Truth is stranger than fiction.

*TAP TAP TAP*

I jumped in my seat as I turn to the window, noticing a tree branch hitting against the window in the breeze. Calming back down, I make a note to have that trimmed as soon as possi-

+++++++++++++++

Resting below the window sill is a piece of paper. Cautiously, I walked over and cracked the window enough to reach through to grab the paper and bring it in. I move it so that I can read what is written on it, and my jaw dropped.

Stallion,

Thank you for freeing our souls. We are eternally in your debt. May you find Elysium in your passing, so we may meet again.

Ruby Slipper and Gypsum Sparkle.

I opened the window and looked outside, hoping to see somepony just playing a joke. Instead, I looked down and saw the two mares. They waved and smiled to me, before walking off and fading into nothingness.

I looked at the paper again before neatly folding it and placing it on my desk. I eventually smile as I realized the good thing I did for the two of them, and hope they can move on and find peace.

Feeling tired, I turn in for the night, hoping that tomorrow will be a much better day than this one before it.