Cold.
It was so cold in the hallway. Sweetie Belle ground her teeth into the handle of the magnifying glass she carried, scoring soft marks in the wood.
The hall was silent to any observer, save the quiet clack of hoof on hardwood floor. This did nothing to lessen the pounding in the little filly’s ears as she inched closer to the only open door in the hall, spilling soft gold light across the ground.
Sweetie Belle cringed just thinking about her last encounter with the light. It felt like a different lifetime, but less than an hour ago she and her two friends entered the mansion on a dare from Diamond Tiara.
“Silver Spoon and I went last weekend,” her classmate had said on the playground, “and it was way worse than the stories. We weren’t scared, though.” She pointedly sneered at Sweetie Belle and her friends listening nearby. “And anyone who doesn’t go is just a big chicken!”
Well, between Scootaloo’s daring and Apple Bloom’s hard-headedness, it wasn’t much of a choice for Sweetie Belle. Escorted by most of the class and, first and foremost, Diamond Tiara, the three friends found themselves on the far outskirts of town, ogling at the high face of the abandoned mansion.
Most of the building looked to be in pretty good shape, despite the ivy encroaching on its face and the forest threatening to engulf it from the side. The front door opened easily enough, and quite frankly the little white unicorn couldn’t get away from Diamond Tiara’s parting jabs any faster.
The three shuffled inside as the door creaked closed behind them.
“And you better find something good to bring back,” called Diamond Tiara, “otherwise we’ll all know you just sat behind the door like big scaredy ca—” The door shut with a click, drowning out all noise from the outside world. Before them lay three hallways stretching out into the house and one staircase that disappeared in the upstairs gloom.
Sweetie Belle felt her friends shifting on either side of her, each of them waiting for another to break the eerie silence that had settled among them.
“Uh, it’s pretty nice in here for bein’ so old,” blurted Apple Bloom.
“I know, right?” added Scootaloo as she walked a few paces into the house, suddenly emboldened. “I thought it’d be all gross and dark in here.” She faced her friends with bright eyes. “This won’t be bad at all!”
Sweetie Belle nodded. This really wasn’t the creaking, rotting mansion she had envisioned. In fact, this was almost nice. Though the windows were dirty, enough sunlight came through to illuminate the foyer with its dusty wood floors and slightly peeling mint wallpaper. She approached the heavy knit drapes adorning the windows next to the door. “This kinda reminds me of my auntie’s house, except with less lemon drops.”
Apple Bloom sidled up to her. “I know what ya mean. These curtains look like somethin’ Granny’d have up in the attic. Hey…” She wiped a spot clean on the window and pressed her face to it. “They’re all still out there.”
Sweetie Belle felt a sharp jab at her side as Scootaloo leapt to the window ledge. The three of them jostled each other for a moment before pressing their noses to the dirty glass.
Sweetie Belle hummed. “They’re not really doing much. Why are they still here?”
Scootaloo scoffed. “They clearly can’t deal with how awesome we are.”
“No, wait,” cut in Apple Bloom, “someone’s draggin’ something from the woods.”
The three leaned over, trying to get a glimpse of the forest around the edge of the house.
The little unicorn gasped. “It’s Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon! Why are they carrying a rock?”
But before either of her friends could answer, the tinkling crash of breaking glass pierced the dusty air. All three pairs of eyes darted down the right hallway, the furthest room shrouded in darkness.
Several seconds crawled by. Apple Bloom was the first to speak.
“S-so, y’all think this is just an old creaky house too, and that stuff is just gonna break, right?” she murmured.
Scootaloo stared down the hallway. “I think we should go check it out.”
“What? Are you crazy?” Sweetie Belle whispered in a panic. “What if there really are ghosts in here?”
“Nah, this is just a big old house. I’m gonna go see what broke.” And with that she was off.
Apple Bloom started after her, Sweetie Belle still rooted to the spot at the window.
“Now wait just a minute, Scootaloo! We need to stick together in here! If we get lost—” But the pegasus disappeared down the dark hallway when a massive blast of air issued from the depths of the house, knocking the two fillies to the floor.
Sweetie Belle’s eyes rolled in her head. She was only vaguely aware of the yellow pony still at her side, but the wall-rattling wail that followed the wind had her on her hooves before she knew what was going on. She flew down the left hallway, dim windows flying past, and flung herself in the first open door she saw.
The room was dimly lit like the hallway, soft light illuminating old chairs and a desk. She darted to the darkest corner and hid under a large piano. Heart hammering in her chest, she strained her ears to listen for the slightest sounds. A creak in the ceiling right above her made her blood run cold, though the house was otherwise silent.
The little filly struggled to get her breathing under control as she shivered under the piano. What in Equestria just happened? And where did Apple Bloom go? Was Scootaloo alright? She wrestled with herself, even getting ready to run through the house and rescue her friends on the count of ten, but inevitably hearing a new creak or groan every time she got to eight. After what felt like a dozen attempts, Sweetie Belle heard something that took the breath out of her.
A very distinct squeak of a floorboard emitted from down the hall in the direction of the front door. Then another, louder and closer. The filly’s eyes were glued to the door, left very slightly ajar. It was darker in the hallway, but eventually it would have to walk through the light spilling out from the room. The creaks crept on, the footfalls nearly audible themselves, when a hard knock sounded from the wall. And another, higher this time and even closer to the door. The unicorn’s voice caught in her throat as she tried to make herself as small as possible in her hiding place. But the wooden creaking continued past the doorway, not a hint of a figure passing through the light.
She screwed up her face in confusion when a third knock, harsh and high, sounded on the other side of the doorway, sending her in a new gripped panic. The horrible thought of something crawling up the walls to avoid the light forced itself into her head. The thudding disappeared far down the hall and into the depths of the house, but Sweetie Belle sat frozen under her piano, petrified by the images conjured in her mind.
Sweetie Belle snapped out of her reverie when she suddenly realized that the sun didn’t seem to go down at all since she had taken refuge here; everything in the room was lit the exact same way. She stood with a hiss and limped out from under the piano, her legs completely numb. She wondered how long she had been here, the thudding in the hall growing into something between a fuzzy memory and vivid nightmare.
She carefully explored the room, ears perked for disagreeing floorboards, when she finally took in her surroundings. The décor was just as dated as the hallway, complete with dust everywhere. A bookcase sagged under the weight of hefty tomes, a desk was cluttered with paperwork, and a faded old armchair sat in a corner by the window.
As her eyes slid over the piano, she noticed the glossy sheen of the keys. She sighed, a little surprised at how relieved she was to have something to focus on. And—perfect!—a magnifying glass had been left on the cluttered desk. Maybe playing detective for a moment would make it easier to pretend that she wasn’t afraid. (Lizards could run up the walls, right?)
With a deep breath, she blew the loose layer of dust off the magnifying glass and snatched it with her teeth. With some careful angling, she managed to get a sidelong look through the glass as she hovered over the keys.
Now, what to look for. There was definitely dust all over, well, everything except the keys. Sweetie Belle gripped the magnifying glass tighter, tilting her head in all sorts of angles to better pick up the light. But no hoofprints. No clawprints. No anyprints.
She slumped, lips awkwardly pursed around the magnifying glass handle. She had had a pretty good idea looking for clues; the least the piano could do was supply them. With an exasperated sigh, she left the mysteriously clean keys and softly trotted towards the desk instead. There must be something interesting in all this paperwork, maybe even something that hinted at the mansion’s owners. It was a funny thought, but just imagining different friends’ relatives once living here made the house a little less ominous.
Sweetie Belle paused. A good detective would pay attention to even what was thrown away, right? Who knows, maybe a shady businesspony tried to get rid of a will or a deed. Or maybe some bad love poetry. She adjusted her grip on her magnifying glass as she poked her head underneath to look for a trash can.
Though the space was dark, no amount of shadow could hide those eyes, two pinpricks of light that stared unblinkingly back.
That was the last thing she clearly remembered before finding herself back at the front door, not entirely sure if she hadn’t run through the walls themselves. She reached for the handle, screaming in her mind for it to have not locked itself. Holding her breath, she twisted the knob and nearly shouted with glee when it freely turned.
There was a grating stone-on-stone scrape before the door abruptly stopped. The rock! Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon must have jammed it under the door! But no matter how hard Sweetie Belle pushed or kicked, the rock stood firm. She slumped against the door, defeated. Apple Bloom could figure out how to unstick it.
Apple Bloom! And Scootaloo! Sweetie Belle’s cheeks reddened. Just leaving her friends behind in this place was something only a… a big chicken would do! No, she was leaving this awful place with her best friends, no matter how much the floors squeaked and eyes stared at her!
She trotted off down the hallway where she last saw Scootaloo, hoping the pegasus’ bravery might rub off on her as they searched the house for Apple Bloom. She quickened her pace at the thought of her friends, as well as the reminder of what she had already seen as she neared the dark doorway at the end of the hall.
The little filly hovered by the doorway, letting her eyes become accustomed to the light. It was a dining room, she thought to herself, with a huge table in the center. Darting her head in all directions, she confirmed to herself that no monsters were present, and cautiously entered. Walking along the dining table, she caught a glint of light nearby on the floor. It was a shattered wine glass, no doubt what had made the crash earlier. Poking her head over the edge of the high table, she saw two places set, though everything was covered in dust just as thick as the rest of the house.
Sitting back down, Sweetie Belle put on her best detective face, grinding her teeth in thought. And also… wood? Oh, she still had the magnifying glass!
Eagerly righting it, she quickly examined both place settings. And when they yielded nothing, she moved on to the tablecloth, nose grazing the fabric. She paused, the dust giving her a harsh tickle in her nose.
“Ah… Aaah…” She turned her head, “Aaah-chooo!”
A plume of ash shot into the air—Sweetie Belle had been only inches away from a grand, sooty fireplace. She gagged on the soot, turned around and tried to fan it away with a few sweeps of her tail. When the air cleared, she spun around, eager to find sooty prints that weren’t her own. Instead, lying just under the blackened grate was a corner of a burned photograph poking up in the ash.
She focused on the picture, tongue sticking out, as she reached out with her magic and plucked it from the ashes. Reaching out to catch it, she missed, letting it flutter to the ground instead. The photo actually looked okay. Soot streaked the surface in places and didn’t want to come out, but only a few spots had burned through.
The filly squinted, making out the figures of a young mare and stallion in front of the mansion. Though their faces were burned or stained, they looked like they were happily embracing.
Sweetie Belle hummed to herself. Maybe this couple owned the mansion; if they became old shut ins, that would explain why the house is so dirty yet still looks like someone could live there. Her eyes dropped with the thought. That old couple must be terrified at the racket they’re making. Probably worried about their lizards too. She sighed, nodding her head. Either she was going to find the old couple and apologize, or find her friends and quietly sneak out in their collective shame.
She walked back out into the hall, noticing the pictureless frames hung up on the walls for the first time. Some were pretty fancy too, bits of canvas still stuck to them. Only one other door was down this hall, and it was solidly locked.
The little filly soon walked through golden light again. Opposite the door were a steep staircase and the third hallway, this one darker than the other two. Sweetie Belle, with an unpleasant shudder, thought back to the gust of air that separated them. Apple Bloom hadn’t followed her down the far hallway, and she was pretty sure she hadn’t gone directly towards the noise and the wind. So, up or forward.
As she started towards the foot of the stairs, she heard the soft tinkling of piano keys. Did Apple Bloom or Scootaloo know how to play, well, anything?
She inched along the hall, taken by the music. It was actually very soothing, she couldn’t help but sway along with it as she approached the piano room. The hallway grew cold as she cautiously crept forward, the eyes under the desk piercing through her mind. She ground her teeth, ears pounding.
Just by the doorway, the magnifying glass started to vibrate, its low hum complementing the melody nicely. She slid the glass past the door frame, angling it towards the piano. Soft green light reflected from it, revealing the vague figure of a young unicorn mare sitting at the piano bench. In a burst of excitement, Sweetie Belle lunged into the room, ready to greet her new friend, only to find nothing at all.
The music quietly kept playing. The filly stood in the doorway, face screwed up in confusion.
“Is someone there?” she whispered.
The music stopped. A soft, high note played. She supposed that was a yes. She trotted up to the piano, placed her magnifying glass on the lid, and took up a seat on the bench.
“Are you a ghost?” she asked with eyes wide. A key pressed down all by itself, playing another high note.
“Do you like being here?” Almost immediately she regretted this question. Sweetie Belle cringed as a low minor note sounded through the room, echoing its foreboding surroundings.
“Sorry,” she muttered. “Um, did you used to live here?” A third high note rang out, though it sounded sadder.
Sweetie Belle sighed. “I wish we could both leave.” To her surprise, the high note sounded out three times. With new hope brimming, she glued her eyes to the keys. “Do you know how we can get out?”
Six keys played, rather firmly. When the filly only sat and stared, they played again.
“Are… are you spelling something?” A high note. “Okay. Can you play it one more time?”
She sat, intently focused as the notes played a little slower. “I think that was… Um, C-E-E-E-A-D?”
There was a pause before two fluttering high notes answered. Sweetie Belle knit her eyebrows and frowned as she quietly played her scales. “A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A—”
The fluttering keys cut in, causing her hoof to hover. “Um, E, F, G, H?” The two keys sounded together triumphantly.
“Oh, I get it! So it’s C-E… Uh, L-L-A… R! ‘Cellar,’ right?”
But the keys didn’t answer her this time. Instead, the house seemed to shift slightly as the pounding of something running came from upstairs.
Panic shot through her. Grabbing her magnifying glass, she ran out into the hall and slipped into an open doorway, one that was thankfully dark. Across the room she made out the shape of a wardrobe. Heart pounding, she picked her way across the room, hooves flying yet hardly making a sound. She flung open the door and tucked herself in the big empty space, bringing it as close to closed as possible without scraping the wooden door across the frame.
She held her breath for only a moment before the sound of creaking floorboards reached her ears. It was in the room, it heard her. Over her heartbeat she heard breathing, unsure if it was that loud or that close. The room grew very still, but that breathing gave it away. Gradually, even that faded, and after a groan down the hall, Sweetie Belle finally drew breath.
Minutes passed as she mentally prepared herself. This time, this time she was really gonna do it. On three, she silently opened the wardrobe door and slipped down to the ground like a shadow. Movement in the corner of the room caught her eye. Frantically she aligned her magnifying glass, twisted between relief and terror that it didn’t respond.
A quavering hiss issued from the corner. “S-sweetie Belle? Is that you?”
The unicorn let out an unsteady sigh. “Apple Bloom, I’ve been looking all over for you!”
“Have you seen Scootaloo?”
“No, I kinda hoped she’d be with you.”
Apple Bloom squeezed out from the cabinet she had taken refuge under. “Well, it’ll be easier to look around if it’s both of us.” She smiled weakly.
Sweetie Belle nodded. “I know what you mean. I—” She dearly wanted to mention the monster, to see what Apple Bloom thought and relieve her own buried terror onto her friend. Have you seen it? Have you heard it? I’m so scared. It all sat sour on her tongue, so she left her comment hanging in the air. Maybe not talking about it would make it exist less.
“Oh,” the unicorn spluttered, trying to cover the sudden change in conversation. “We should go back to the front door. I think there’s a rock shoved up under it and I couldn’t open the door.”
Apple Bloom perked up. “Yeah, I’m ready to go.”
The two felt their way out of the dark room and into the hall. Sweetie Belle, not entirely sure where she had run to in her panic, followed Apple Bloom through the dim light and towards the front door. Passing the staircase revealed the foyer, warmly lit as ever. And sitting on the welcome mat—
“Scootaloo!” the two cried in union. In an instant they were a tangle of hooves and manes lying in the front of the door, all nervously laughing and hugging.
“Whew! I thought we’d have to search all over this house to find ya!” said Apple Bloom, giving the pegasus’ back leg an awkward throttling hug.
“You guys find me? You’re the ones who left all of a sudden!” No matter how irritated Scootaloo may have been, she couldn’t hide the smile that snuck on her face.
Catching her breath from the sudden excitement, Sweetie Belle untangled herself from the pile and eagerly sat in front of the door. “But now we can go! We just need to get the door unstuck!”
“Aww, come on, we can’t leave yet! Check this out,” Scootaloo said as she untucked her wing. A broken pair of opera glasses slid out from underneath, just one eye piece still attached to the tarnished silver handle. She lifted her wing and settled the glass to her eye, appraising the halls like a jeweler inspecting a questionable gem.
“This thing is crazy. It shows all kinds of creepy things, like monsters in the hallway and spiders everywhere.”
Sweetie Belle gulped. “You mean you s-see them right now?”
Scootaloo turned around, eye oddly magnified through the glass. “Nah, it’s usually where the house is really dark. And it’s kinda funny too, I can go right up to them and they don’t even notice!” She managed a short laugh that wasn’t as fluid as it should have been.
“Well,” said Apple Bloom, “this rock ain’t movin’ for nobody. You sure they were gonna move it?”
“Yeah,” replied the pegasus, examining the door, “they said one hour, and if we weren’t here, they’d know we found another way out and quit.”
“But it feels like we’ve been here for months,” Sweetie Belle moaned.
Apple Bloom perked up. “Well, I think I found a kinda back door.”
The other two gaped in unison. “Where?!”
“It’s only a hunch, but when I was hidin’ out in the back rooms, I found a little map scratched in the wall.” She couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face. “It looked like there was a cellar you could get to from the basement that went outside!”
Sweetie Belle’s heart leapt, the piano had been right! “Let’s go, let’s go!” she cried, trotting after her friends as Apple Bloom lead the way through the back hallway and down the basement steps. Wood creaked under hooves as they descended, the unicorn’s eyes watering as the air quickly grew cold. A splash echoed off the surrounding stone.
“Ew, gross,” whispered Scootaloo. “It’s muddy down here.”
“That’s a good thing,” said Apple Bloom, “our cellar floods only if we don’t close it right. All this dirt ‘n water must have come from somewhere.”
The white filly, last to descend, followed the soft splashing of her friends through the darkness. The ground sloped up under their hooves, a small rivulet of water trickling down into the flooded mess. As the floor leveled off again, the room grew brighter. Sweetie Belle could make out brick archways set in the walls.
“Alright,” Apple Bloom muttered, slowing down, “this must be the cellar. The door should be somewhere around here.”
Sweetie Belle leveled her magnifying glass, hoping for one more stroke of luck. As Apple Bloom headed to the back and Scootaloo took the wall opposite, the unicorn carefully looked over each archway. None were particularly deep, maybe a few paces wide. She picked up the pace, finding nothing inside. She gripped the magnifying glass tighter, hoping for something, anything, to happen.
Suddenly, with just four more left, the handle buzzed softly between her teeth. She passed another empty archway, and another. The metal rim grew warm against her cheek. The second-to-last archway was… sealed? Messy brick and mortar covered it from floor to ceiling. She sat down hard, eyes stinging with tears.
“Hey, I found something!” Scootaloo yelled from right behind her.
Sweetie Belle stiffened.
“What is it?” called Apple Bloom, not too far away.
“Big wooden doors, I think I can see out,” was the reply.
A low, soft scrape sounded from the other side of the sloppy wall, echoing through the cellar.
Scootaloo punctured the following silence. “Uh, Sweetie Belle, please tell me that was you.”
The sound of two fillies galloping full-tilt answered her. All three pounded at the large cellar doors, which wasn’t enough to drown out the sound of a loose brick scraping out of place and falling to the ground. They screamed.
“Why won’t it open?” yelled Sweetie Belle around her magnifying glass, the rim quickly growing hot. She twisted it in her mouth, refusing to see what the glass offered.
“I think it’s chained shut!” shouted Apple Bloom.
A wrenching sound of twisting metal erupted from across the room, followed by a barrage of screams from the fillies.
“Get out of the way,” the earth pony yelled as she turned her back to the door. Pegasus and unicorn leapt out of the way as Apple Bloom gave the door a mighty kick, snapping a rusted chain loose.
“Hold on, hold on!” Scootaloo ran up to the wooden doors, giving them a hard push. “If you hold them like this we can wiggle out!”
Another brick fell from the wall, causing more to crumble. Apple Bloom shrieked, shoving Scootaloo under and wriggling through herself. Sweetie Belle glanced back, catching a shadow as it flickered past the hole in the wall, before being pulled out by a pair of strong hooves.
Sweetie Belle lay dazed on her back, eyes rolling and limbs twitching from adrenaline.
“Young lady, what do you think you were doing in there?” came a stern, familiar voice.
“Rarity?” she mumbled as she located her hooves.
“Sweetie Belle, you had me worried sick! When I heard you hadn’t come home from school—why didn’t you tell anyone where you were? And just look at your coat! Mud and dust everywhere, what were you thinking? And what in the world are you holding?” Rarity scowled down at her.
Sweetie Belle stood uncertainly, trying to take in the situation one thing at a time. It had somehow gotten dark out since the last time they looked out the window. Not far away Apple Bloom was apologizing to her sister. It looked like Rarity had brought all her friends out to look for them when they heard they were missing.
She dropped her head and nuzzled into Rarity’s side.
“I’m sorry. I was really scared and I missed you. Can we go home?”
Rarity’s voice softened. “Of course we can. But you’re getting a bath before bed.”
They all rounded the house and headed back to town. The three fillies hung back a bit.
“So. Do you think it was all real?” Scootaloo fiddled with her eye glass, keeping it well away from her face.
“Maybe it was all just a trick,” Apple Bloom offered. “Like a bunch of illusions or somethin’.”
“Maybe.” Sweetie Belle adjusted her magnifying glass. It wasn’t warm. There were no more vibrations. She tilted her head back to the mansion, eyeing it through the glass. “Unicorns lived there, a long time ago.”
