Chapters When hinges creak in doorless chambers
'When hinges creak in Doorless chambers,
and strange and frightening sounds echo through the halls,
whenever candle lights flicker when the air is deathly still,
that is the time when ghosts are present, practicing their terror with ghoulish delight!'
Such said the first paragraph to 'Happy Haunting 101: All you need to know about the Spectral World, by Falling Gracey', a book that half of Ponyville must of suggested to Twilight Sparkle, due to it's knowledge about a world that most ponies never see! The book, in fanciful detail, explained many concepts on ghosts, specters, wraiths, pretty much anything that was able to float in the ethereal realm.
And Twilight did not believe a word it said; just by reading the pages with the table of contents 'Thirteen chapters on this silly subject? This stallion is both superstitious as well as paranoid! And this sentience, he claims to be living in the most haunted house in Equestria, almost one thousand spirits between it's walls. What a bunch of hooey' Twilight thought as she put the set of a dozen books neatly on a shelf in the library, under the category: Myths and Legends.
"Only a crazy pony gripped with paranoia would believe in all this ghost business" She said to herself as she walked over to the window, "I'm sure everypony has forgotten about it by now" She said as she magicked aside the curtain; and seeing nearly everypony outside going about their day, with their muzzles in that mocking book.
"Gah! " She couldn't help but to yell in anger, "What does everypony see in this silly book!?" She continued to huff as one particular copy floated over to her and began to flip through pages as Twilight skimmed them
"What's up with you? It's only a little book." Said a small purple dragon as he came into the same room with Twilight, "I'm in the other end of the Library, and I can hear you ramble on about that book as if you're right next to me!" Spike said as Twilight skimmed through the book a twelfth time
"What's up with me is how a book on a subject that doesn't even exist can garner so much interest! Ghosts don't exist! It's science!" Twilight said as she repeated her skimming adventure,
"Look, if you're so keen on the idea of proving to everypony that ghosts don't exist, why don't you go over to this Gracey guy's mansion and stay a night?" Spike explained while he flipped the pages of the book in Twilight's grasp to the back cover, which had the address to the author
"Spike, I don't have time to go on a wild goose cha-wait...Yes! That's perfect!" Twilight shouted before zipping off to a desk and began writing on a sheet of parchment as she started to look through travel books, "If I stay just a night in a house that he says has a thousand ghosts in it, if these ghosts exist, I would surely meet a few during the night, but since they don't exist; I'll be perfectly fine, in fact, I'll go by myself! I'll only bring a satchel of food to keep my strength up, that'll prove to everypony that Ghosts don't exist!" She finished her ramble as she perked her head out of the large travel book.
"Spike! Pack a dinner and breakfast! I'll go and get a ticket to New Oatleans!" Twilight said confidently before she teleported out of the library
Spike sighed before going into the kitchen, "This will be a story for the papers..." He said sulkily as he left the room
A few hours later, in the Ponyville Train station, Twilight says her goodbyes to her friends before getting on the train,
"Yer sure you don't want any of yer friends to come along?" Applejack asked through the open window of the train,
"Positive," Twilight responded, "I won't be taken as serious as one pony if there was someone with me, don't worry, I'll be back sometime tomorrow"
Before Applejack or any of the other four Ponies surrounding her could say anything else, the train's whistle blew and it started to lurch it's way out
The five of Twilight's friends waved goodbye as the train pulled from the station on it's long ride to New Oatleans.
The train stopped in New Oatleans later that day, as Twilight left the train car, she was struck by the beauty of the area of town she found herself in, everything was just like it was in the books she read on the Prance Quarter of the city, all the twisty streets and iron decorated fences on the second floor of almost every building.
Twilight stopped herself, 'Twilight, you don't have time to go gallivanting around the city! You have science to prove!' She nodded to the voice in her head before going off to ask for directions. It wasn't long before she came upon a small jazz band playing by the street. It was wonderful, upbeat hoof-tapping music one would expect to come from the Jazz Center of Equestria
When the song ended, Twilight went up to the trumpeter, a dark green coated stallion with a straw hat, "What can Ah do yeh for, Miss?" He asked in an accent similar to Applejack's.
"Yes, I need directions to..."Twilight started as she remembered the address, "1313 Mockinbird Lane?"
The Jazzy Stallions eyes lit up at the mention of the address, before narrowing as he spoke "What's yer business at Gracey Mansion? Here to take notes before tearin' the whole place down?" He asked
"No. I'm here to prove to everypony that ghosts don't exist!" Twilight answered proudly as if she did a heroic deed, the Stallion coughed, which turned her face into confusion,
"If yer here fer Ghost proving, yeh can't go worse then Gracey's, that place is chock full of spirits" He said before raising a hoof in one direction, "The Mansion is off near the Bayou, yeh'll notice it when you see it." He continued, though with a much somber tone then before. Twilight thanked the stallion before walking off in the direction to the Mansion
'That Mare's in fer a heap o' trouble' The Jazzy Stallion thought to himself as Twilight disappeared from his view
There it was, Gracey Mansion, home of Falling Gracey and his so-called Happy Haunts. Twilight stood outside the mansions front gates, closed shut and slightly rusty, as she took in the sights of the house. Three Stories, wrap-around porches on first two floors, four large marble columns adorned the front hiding the front door behind them, and a small cupola was on the very top. It all looked normal, except not a single light was coming from the house,
"That's odd, shouldn't this Gracey stallion live here?" Twilight pondered out loud as the sounds of a noisy bayou at night began to speak up. Twilight, her curiosity getting the better of her, reached out and touched the rusty old gates, and they moved...
'They were unlocked?' Twilight thought as she pushed the gates open, the 'G' on the top of the gates becoming severed down the middle as the gates separated, and the front yard was opened.
"Ergh, when was the last time the Groundskeeper came through here?" Twilight said to No-one-in-particular as she stepped over cracks in the walkway and overgrowth, which was a stark contrast to the white and pristine condition of the Mansion. As she continued to waltz strangely around the invading plants, Twilight noticed a couple of gravestones near a wall close to her, small gravestones, for pets.
Twilight thanked herself mentally for not bringing Fluttershy as she got past the overgrowth and walked up the few steps to the porch between the large columns. There were only two doors on the front of the building, one in the center and the other off to the left, hidden behind the wrought iron fencing and bushes. Twilight walked up to the middle door, the fancier looking of the two, and knocked three times on it,
"Hello? Is anypony home?" She called out, as she waited outside, the sun slowly setting as night quickly approached.
Then, the other door to the left opened, letting out a flood of light that was welcome to Twilight. She carefully trotted over to the open door and peered inside.
It was an empty foyer with two large wooded double doors on the adjacent walls opposite to the corner Twilight entered, the floor was stylized to look like a large spiderweb and above was a large beautiful chandelier illuminating the room with it's wax candles on it and around the walls. Twilight, mesmerized by how the door opened with no magic aura, carefully entered the Foyer-like room and studied her surroundings.
"When hinges creak in Doorless chambers,"
Twilight stopped when the low voice came from all around, and jumped when the door behind her shut tight
"And strange and frightening sounds echo through the halls,"
Twilight looked around the foyer for anypony,
"Whenever candle lights flicker when the air is deathly still,"
'Wait, why does this sound familiar?'
"That is the time when ghosts are present, practicing their terror with ghoulish delight!"
'That's....that's the passage from the book!' Twilight thought as the low voice continued
"Welcome, Foolish Mortal, to Gracey Mansion. I am your Host, your Ghost Host" The voice said before stifling a small laugh
Only then, when Twilight's eyes grew to the size of saucer plates did she realize what she got herself into...
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Strange and Frightening sounds echo through the halls
After a few seconds, Twilight's eyes returned to their normal, gigantic eyes, before one of the two double doors seemed to move out of the way.
"Kindly step all the way in please, and make room for everypony. There's no turning back now..."
Twilight wondered what the Voice meant by 'Everypony', technically, she was the only one in the foyer. At least, that's what she told herself.
The room that revealed itself was a rather tall octagonal room with four paintings alternating on the walls. There was a beautiful pink mare holding a parasol on one, an older stallion in a waistcoat with a piece of parchment in his magical grasp on another, an elderly white mare in a shawl with a rose in a third, and a smug looking stallion who appears to be standing with his front legs crossed in the last.
"Our tour begins here in this gallery, where you see paintings of some of our guests as they appeared in their corruptible, mortal state."
Twilight continued to examine the paintings and at one point stopped to look at one of the candelabras dimly lighting the upper half of the room. The more she stared at it, the more it looked like a demon was staring back at her, she shook her head before walking over to the dead center of the room, and noticing the door she came into was gone
"Your cadaverous pallor betrays an aura of foreboding, almost as though you sense a disquieting metamorphosis."
It was true that Twilight was becoming a little frightened at how she became boxed into a room, and now she was looking all over the gallery to find a right or reason, before she notices something: "Weren't those paintings...shorter?" She asks nervously
"Is this haunted room actually stretching? Or is it your imagination, hmm?" The Voice mocked as Twilight continued to look at the stretching portraits in the now really tall room.
"And consider this dismaying observation: This chamber has no windows and no doors, which offers you this chilling challenge: to find a way out!" The Voice continued before laughing maniacally.
Twilight was now going all over the room, using her magic to search for anything to get her out. She couldn't help but to look up and cringe slightly at the four changed paintings: The young mare now revealed to be on a breaking high wire above an open mouthed alligator; The older stallion was now shown to be wearing striped under-trousers atop a barrel of dynamite with a nearby candle lighting the fuse; The Elderly mare now sat on top of a gravestone with a bust of a stallion named 'George' on it, with a freshly placed axe in the busts head; and the smug stallion was now on top of another stallion's shoulders, who was also on top of a third's shoulders, who was realizing quickly that he was sinking in quicksand.
"Of course, there's always my way." The Voice said, just before all of the candles were snuffed out from a sudden blast of wind as a large bolt of lightning illuminated the gallery and causing Twilight to glance upward, and reel back in horror.
Above her wasn't the ceiling of the gallery anymore, instead above her was a straight shot to the Cupola at the top of the mansion. From the lightning strikes she could see a pony's skeleton in a weathered and tarnished suit hanging from a noose in the tattered and aging cupola's rafters. When the lightning stopped she was surrounded in darkness until a ear-retching scream could be heard falling from above.
In almost an instant the screaming was cut-off when it hit the floor in a bang of wood and breaking bone, but there was still a scream in the gallery, and soon Twilight noticed this and cut herself off from the terrifying event.
"Oh, I didn't mean to frighten you prematurely," The Voice said before chuckling a small bit, "The real chills come later. Now, as they say, look alive, and we'll continue our little tour." It continued before one of the walls of the gallery moved aside and revealed a new hallway.
Twilight, still shaken from the Stretching Gallery, remembered her mission, she made sure to have her satchel and walked into the hallway.
"And let's all stay together, please." The Voice added as Twilight stopped in the hallway when she noticed another set of four paintings on one of the walls: a mare with a toga in a temple in one, a stallion in armor on his hind legs with his front two waving in the air in another, a wooden ship floating calmly in the sea, and a black coated mare laying sideways on a long fancy couch.
Twilight was caught off guard when thunder and lightning bolted outside the row of windows on the other side of the hallway, causing her to duck to the ground in fear. When Twilight got up from cowering under her hooves on the floor, she could see that every time the lightning stuck through the rain coated windows, the paintings changed for only an instant.
The mare in the Temple changed into the Pony Medusa of ancient hoofenistic legend; The armored stallion turned into a ghostly skeletal version of itself; The ship became tattered and dilapidated as it's thrown around in a hurricane; and the black mare became a strange tiger-pony hybrid.
"There are several prominent ghosts who have retired here from creepy old crypts all over the world. Actually, we have 999 happy haunts here, but there's room for a thousand. Any volunteers?" The Voice stated, joking a bit on the last part as Twilight continued to the end of the hallway and couldn't help but stare at the pair of marble busts that just seemed to follow her every move.
"If you insist on lagging behind, you may not need to volunteer." The Voice said, this time adding a bit of force in his voice to get Twilight to continue.
The room Twilight entered as she turned from the hallway was an odd one: on three sides had the same halfway siding as the hallway, but the fourth side just led into absolute darkness. Another two of the large elaborate chandeliers hanged from the seemingly non-existent ceiling as red tattered carpets formed a line to another hallway after a set of stairs and to the beginning of a set of larger more rounded stairs that led into nothing.
Twilight walked onto the red carpet before the Voice continued, "And now, a carriage approaches to carry you into the boundless realm of the supernatural." It said as Twilight began to look around, "Take your possessions by the hoof, please, and kindly watch your step." It continued before Twilight became confused. There was no carriage here to take her anywhere, all she saw was the darkness beyond the fourth wall.
Then she took a step. She didn't mean too, but she took one anyway. Then another, then another until Twilight found herself walking down the red carpet toward the stairs. Twilight then thought to use a light spell to give her some light, but when her horn light up in a white light, it sputtered and fizzled away.
"Oh yes, and no flash magic, please! We spirits are frightfully sensitive to bright lights." The Voice said as Twilight started to ascend the small set of stairs, as she climbed she could fell something press against her horn. She recognized this feel from an entry in one of her books, it was a Magic Lock.
"Do not pull down on the magic bar, please; I will lower it for you. And heed this warning: the spirits will materialize only if you remain quietly together at all times." It said in a reminding tone as Twilight walked down a very small corridor and was greeted by a welcome sight.
A library, with walls stretching higher then her Tree-home that were covered with books,tomes, anything of reading material. As she entered further, a few books flew above and around her like bats with their covers flapping like wings; there were a few chairs with open books floating carefully above them. There were more of the busts she saw before that followed her every move, and even a few books that moved with out magic along the floor. Twilight thought she would stop here for a quick read...
"Our library is well stocked with priceless first editions, only ghost stories of course," The Voice said before Twilight put back the book she had in her mouth with a slightly aggravated look before she continued through the library, "And marble busts, of the greatest ghost writers, the literary world has ever known." The Voice continued as the said busts continued to look menacingly in Twilight's direction as she exited the library into another corridor.
Whenever Candlelights Flicker...
Twilight continued walking down the corridor from the Library; the windows on the left flashing with each lightning strike, which illuminated the row of paintings on the left that Twilight couldn't keep her eyes off of . Perhaps it was because they were following her movements
"Stop it Twilight," She told herself, "Ghosts don't exist! This is probably all just a silly prank set up by a Unicorn." She said as she continued walking down the hall, "Yes, a Unicorn with...an invisible aura...."
Twilight continued to debate with herself until she noticed she entered a Conservatory of sorts, plants of all kinds and sizes were lined up in front of the curved window, all covered in cobwebs of course. There was a piano off to the side playing a slow, melancholy tune that the wind almost seemed to match. Twilight would have cast the piano off as a player, but then she noticed with each bolt of lightning illuminating the room, a shadow of a pony with a high-collar coat and top hat could be seen on the piano. In the center of the windowed conservatory sat a coffin, with withering flowers surrounding the lonely vessel
Twilight continued to walk slowly toward the ornately detailed coffin, 'Maybe if was for a relative to that Gracey pony? No name anywhere' She thought as she looked over the coffin, it was ordinary, until you look closer and found Griffin-like Talons for the legs of the table that the coffin rested on, and the squared skulls that decorated the sides of it. She was about to look in, when then entire coffin started to bulge and trash about, with muffled yells of "Lemme outta here!" and grunts as whoever was inside continued to push against the nails that held the coffin shut.
"All our ghosts have been dying to meet you! This one can hardly contain himself!" The Voice said as the coffin continued to try and pry itself open, suddenly Twilight felt a cold wind flow past her as she started to exit the Conservatory. After looking around, she found that one of the window panes had a gaping hole in it, letting rain and wind enter. She knew Rarity would have a fit if she saw this.
"How do you stand it here? All this freezing cold, and the moaning that comes from every end of the house?" Twilight asked out loud as she exited the Conservatory into another corridor this one lined with doors
"We find it delightfully unlivable here in this ghostly retreat. Every room has wall-to-wall creeps, and hot and cold running chills." The Voice said as Twilight passed another hallway, one she couldn't help but to look down and see it go one forever
"An endless hallway? how does one manage tha-?""Shhh, listen!" The Voice interrupted as Twilight continued down the corridor of doors, now hearing sounds of all kinds coming behind the doors, from screams of help, to shrieks, moans, and snarls to maniacal laughter.
"Unfortunately, they all seem to have trouble getting through."
Twilight continued down the hall, jumping in shock like Fluttershy at times from the sudden sounds emanating from the doors, finally passing a chiming Grandfather clock as the Voice added "Perhaps Madame Leota can establish contact. She has a remarkable head for materializing the disembodied."
The room Twilight entered was a small rotunda where the walls were covered in drapes and cloth, a small table was in the center with a crystal ball on it, a tall chair blocked Twilight's view of most of the ball, but she wasn't looking at the ball anyway as she rounded the room, she was busy staring at the seemingly floating tables chairs and instruments all around.
A small ringing bell and angry caw of a raven alerted Twilight's attention to the table, and was rather shocked to see a Unicorns head floating inside the crystal ball.
"Serpents and spiders, tail of a rat; call in the spirits, wherever they're at."
The Mystic chanted, with the moaning sound being heard after
"Rap on a table; it's time to respond. Send us a message from somewhere beyond."
A rhythmic knocking came from the floating table behind Twilight,
"Goblins and ghoulies from last Nightmare's Eve. Awaken the spirits with your tambourine."
One of the floating instruments started shaking violently in response,
"Creepies and crawlies, toads in a pond; let there be music, from regions beyond!"
Before all of the assembled noise-makers started playing a macabre tune,
"Wizards and witches, wherever you dwell, give us a hint, by ringing a bell!"
The mysterious bell rang again as Twilight exited the rotunda with the Mystic continuing her chant.
The happy haunts have received your sympathetic vibrations and are beginning to materialize. They're assembling for a swinging wake, and they'll be expecting me. I'll see you all a little later. The Voice bid farewell as Twilight entered the new room, a wonderful ballroom with macabre organ music coming from the other end. Twilight, now in complete shock and awe could see the entire ballroom from her vantage point on the balcony, as well as all of the ghosts.
There were faint dancers twirling through chairs and furniture in front of the organ played by a ghostly pianist where ghouls rose from the organs pipes. A spectral mare was forever trying to blow out candles on a moldy birthday cake, thought Twilight thought for a second if it was a deathday cake, with party goers from all of Equestria's history, she even saw Caesar Salad's (Emperor of Roam) ghost. There were a pair of duelists in appleloosan clothing shooting each other in front of their portraits, and there was even a ghostly Grandmare rocking back and forth in front of the fireplace.
Twilight carefully backed away from the balcony, that was it, she's completely lost it.
She tried to calm herself by taking out the Daisy sandwich she had packed and sitting on the balcony to try and enjoy it.
While she ate, Twilight's thoughts couldn't help but race, "You're not in a haunted house, they don't exist. You are not surrounded by ghosts, they are illogical. Those ponies down there are just...Crystal Ponies, yes! Crystal Ponies who are able to float with no wings or magic, Crystal Ponies...capable of..phasing through walls...Crystal...Ponies that can...chill the air in a room..." Twilight stopped to think about this before bluntly stating:
"And Science loses 50 points to the Supernatural thanks to the New Oatlean Specters, Good Game Everypony" She said before taking another bite of her sandwich
That is the time, when Ghosts are present.
Twilight finished her sandwich and got up from the balcony floor. She was done with this ghost hunt. She just wanted to go back home to Ponyville and read up on the theory of relativity.
"Come on, Twilight" She said to herself, "I really doubt these ghosts will do much more. What can they do? Throw a big get together in the backyard? Though I'll kick myself if they do..." She continued before walking down the balcony's corridor.
At the end of the hallway was a door, not at all different then any other door Twilight had passed in the mansion. Yet, something compelled Twilight to open the door, not really knowing if it was the ghosts or her own curiosity. Still the door opened in an aura of magic and went through.
When Twilight went through the door, she felt an odd tingle, like she does when she teleports. She had no idea how to explain the feeling or the fact that she was standing possibly in the mansions attic. Of which was filled with clutter consisting of trunks, old record players and even wedding decorations, celebrating the marriage of Death Veil and Hatter. Twilight looked behind her, but the only thing behind her was a door covered in cobwebs, obvious to the decades it hasn't been used.
As Twilight walked through the maze of the attic, the only other things she could hear besides her own hoofsteps were the slow methodical keystrokes of the Bridal March in a slightly off key, and the ever present heartbeat from something on the other end of the room.Curiosity overtaking her, Twilight carefully walked around the clutter through the attic.
Before long the Unicorn reached the other end of the attic, and found the source of the heartbeat. Over in front of a broken window stood a pegasus in a tattered flowing bridal dress, a red pulsating orb clearly showing where her heart would have been, she just stood there, staring off into the distance. Twilight decided to leave her be and continue on.
That's when she noticed the other spook in the attic.
Over on the other side of the attic, staring at the forlorn bride, was an old stallion ghost with a cloak that framed his skeletal face, he had a cane in one hoof and a hatbox in the other, and right on top of his head was a frail battered top hat.
His unnerving smile disturbed Twilight, especially when it started to disappear, as well as his whole head, before materializing in his hatbox, leaving only a floating top hat.
Twilight continued to stare at the ghostly groom waiting to see if anything else would happen. When it didn't, she continued to a small balcony outside of the attic.
There she saw something she truly couldn't explain; Behind the mansion was an extensive graveyard, possibly containing crypts, mausoleums and graves from before Luna was imprisoned. But that wasn't it, the graveyard was filled with spirits that were singing, playing music, and just all around having fun. Twilight softly kicked one of her front legs at this.
Twilight walked around the small alcove of the balcony she was in, kicking around the wet leaves from the thunderstorm that had passed. Unfortunately, Twilight tripped on the soaked leaves and flooring and tumbled backwards over the rusted railing; through the dead, clingy trees, down to the hard ground, screaming all the way.
Thankfully, through her screaming, Twilight panicked and grabbed onto the trunk of the nearest tree. Her hoof caught onto an opening stopping her descent from becoming fatal.
Looking around as her breathing calmed, Twilight looked up at what she caught onto and seeing that the opening on the tree looked suspiciously like a pointy mouth, she had little time to think about haunted trees before another raven cawed above her, breaking her concentration, and her grip, making her fall the last few feet to the ground.
"It's okay, Twilight. This is almost over, I just need to find a way back outside to the front" Twilight told herself as she walked into the graveyard.
In the graveyard the entire menagerie of spooks were either playing some sort of instrument, whether it was bagpipes from Coltsland, or an xylophone made from tombstones; or were singing. But Twilight didn't think too much on what they were singing, she was too busy looking at the ghosts themselves. There were ponies dressed in old Canterlot clothing, to an executioner singing with a rather short prisoner and a decapitated Royal Guard. There was even a Mummy from the cat-based Jackal Empire.
Twilight continued to look around the graveyard until she noticed she stopped, in front of her was an open crypt. She didn't know why, but something was compelling her to go into it. Curiosity, once again getting the better of her, Twilight entered the crypt before a familiar voice returned.
"Ah, there you are, and just in time! There's a little matter I forgot to mention. Beware of hitchhiking ghosts!" The Voice said as Twilight came upon a trio of specters; one was the prisoner from before, another was a tall and thin stallion in a trench coat, and the third was a larger stallion with a top hat and travel bag. All three of them looked at Twilight with expectant smiles while they waved their hoofs in the familiar hitchhiker way.
"They have selected you to fill our quota, and they'll haunt you until you return!" The Voice continued as Twilight went further into the crypt. The further she went in, Twilight continued to pass mirrors that showed the trio of ghosts following her as she passed"Now I will raise the safety bar, and a ghost will follow you home!"
Before long, Twilight could see light coming from the end of the corridor. Running as fast as she could, Twilight finally exited the crypt outside the front of the mansion in broad daylight. She didn't care about the odd passage of time that just occurred, the only thing she cared about was getting on the next train to Ponyville.
Because she had some books to rearrange.
