Night at the Canterlot Castle
The night sky shone brightly over Equestria, clear skies, the copious legions of bright stars out in the galaxy and beyond, Luna has truly put on a magnificent sight to behold on this particular night; Nightmare Night.
It was only a matter of time before all of the little ponies of Ponyville- including your friend, Twilight, will start trotting around to collect delicious candy. Only a matter of time. You thought to yourself.
Every year, Twilight would offer to take you somewhere spooky, but she wouldn't impose. At least, not too much. Why, just a few years ago, she even tricked you into meeting at the so-called haunted house! She didn't make you go in, but she did make you follow her through the front gate to find some ectoplasm, only to find the remains of mice and other dead animal carcasses. Disgusting.
Currently in your room, you gaze out into the night and spot a few equine-o-lanterns, emitting a faint glow on Ponyville's graveled roads. Some were simple carvings of ponies with no specific identity, while others held a more chilling, ominous look. A few pumpkins didn't own a special carving, they had a generic face with the same glow as all the others. Those were usually propped on a rod to help the foals find their way around the dark nerve wrecking night.
Twilight should be coming soon, you think to yourself, evading view of the pumpkins. She's usually never late, but really early. You look up at the clock, eight fifty-nine. "Well then, I guess she will be late in about thirty seconds." You say, removing yourself from your thoughts. Promptly waiting for a knock on the door, anxious to find Twilight be late; in a joking manner of course. It isn't a set time, but ever since the first year you met, she seemed to always arrive at your house at eight-o-clock. Guess you could call it a- you were interrupted from your thoughts as you hear knocking on your door.
As if by instinct, you swiftly move your head in direction of the clock. Still eight fifty-nine, and only five seconds to spare. You walk up to greet; whom you know is Twilight, at the door.
You swing the door open; a cool breeze and a few leaves flew in the room. The night breeze gave you a pleasurable feeling, and you smiled at the purple unicorn on your doorstep. "Hello Twilight, you're early!" How can you be early for something that isn't even a set time, or really... Scheduled? The thought left as easily as it arrived.
You moved aside to let the exhausted looking Twilight in your home. She wasn't wearing any particular costume, nor a beard and hat. Neither were you, so it was a bit less awkward; still, you wondered why she was panting.
Before she gave you a chance to answer, she put her hoof up and began to speak. "You don't want to know. Spike just had a bit too much ice cream..."
You stare at her in confusion, but just chuckled to yourself. "Ha, enough said." There was a slight pause, and you could hear the wind whistling outside. The moonlight crept through your circular window, but was integrated with the candle lights in your house. You weren't one for Nightmare Night as you are quite the shy one. You don't dress up, or really celebrate the season, you prefer the comfort of your home.
"So, any wild ideas planned?" You ask shakily, the words fumbled out of your mouth as you weren't much of the conversation starter.
Twilight nodded. "Oh yes, this one is much different compared to the others!"
"No ectoplasm?" You ask sarcastically. Sarcasm played a large part in your relationship, as both of you enjoyed it.
Twilight chuckled, "yes, lot's of ectoplasm this time! We're also going to be gathering some poison joke for the princess."
You stare at her with a blank expression, ambiguous of her intentions. Sarcasm... Right. You laugh it off with her. "So, what is this plan you've got in mind?"
"We're going to Canterlot Castle, and spending the night! Well, you are." Twilight stated bluntly with no change in her expression.
Alone? Canterlot Castle, a place you've always dreamed of visiting, you now finally have a chance. Just, you have to go on Nightmare Night, and spend the night there. However, a question lingered in your mind, "why am I going alone?"
Twilight went through her saddlebag that you didn't even realized she had, and brought out this crazy contraption and levitated it in front of your face for your eyes to behold. "Behold, the Ghost Buster 9000!" It was really future looking. It was made purely out of some metal, probably steel and titanium, with multicolored buttons in the shapes of squares. The contraption that Twilight previewed was rectangular shaped for the most part; it had a small antennae with a dark green shaded light bulb on its tip, and a few coiling towards the bottom where it connected back to the box. There were a few other lights on here too, but it was next to an on and off switch, so you assumed it was to let you know if it was on, or off.
You stared at this thing for a little while longer, and you noticed Twilight searching through her saddlebags again. This time, she brought out a pair of what looked like green sunglasses made for one eye. What do you know, this thing also has a switch!
Twilight puts the one-lens glasses on you, and promptly flips the Ghost Buster 9000 switch to 'on.' You take the decency to flip the glasses switch on.
The Ghost Buster machine made a burring noise, and you weren't sure what to expect, or see. You were just going with the flow.
The advanced machinery began to vibrate slightly, and the light bulb began making an ominous, but soft glow. Your eyeglass started taking shapes of objects, nothing in particular, but you could see things in a higher detail. You moved back towards your window to look outside, just to test your view distance with Twilight's new accessory. Without any surprise, you could see far, clear, and green. You could see through the night; even if only through one eye!
A smile broke across your face. Soft spoken, you didn't say anything, but a smile says a lot.
"Have you figured what the Ghost Buster 9000 does?" Twilight asked with a large smile that could have raised the sun, and give a smile to anyone who wasn't smiling. That smile, was known to you as the nerd smile. You've grown very fond of it, at least, to Twilight's nerd smile.
You look at the eyeglass, not that you had a choice, and back at the rectangular box. "Uh, see things night vision at long distances with clear view, but only with one eye?"
Twilight's bright smile disappeared, and became annoyed. "No, and yes." She said in a more professional manner, "it does allow you to see through the night at long distances, but it also allows you to see what your other eye can't!"
"Ectoplasm?" You added.
"No, not quite, but you can see something even better; ghosts!" She smiled once again which lifted your heart. You just love that smile. "I think." And it was gone again. "I haven't been able to test it myself, Ponyville just isn't much of the haunted area. That is why I was almost late! That, and Spike eating too much ice cream- anyway, I've been doing some research on Canterlot's history, and there has been some pretty creepy stuff going on in that city; the heart of it all, the castle!"
Oh I see where this is going. You rolled your eyes, but kept the smile. I guess I'll do it. I don't really want to ruin her experiment because I was a chicken. Besides, ghosts are fake! Right?
Night at the Canterlot Castle
You step out of the carriage, the moon was at its peak of the night, and brighter than ever. The stars aided the moonlight which cast upon the scarcely lit city.
The air was cold, but there was no wind to fit the mood. Twilight got out behind you, and started took you to the castle. Of course, she was always allowed in along with her friends, as long as there was a good reason of course, and with Twilight, there's always a good reason. Usually.
She stopped before entering through the castle gates and went through her bags and pulled out what looked like a headset. "Here, take this." The headset emitted a bright purple aura and it was placed on your head; a tight fit, but it worked. You felt the microfiber rubbing against your ear. It itched, but you ignored it, and focused on Twilight giving you instructions.
The itch was a worthy foe.
"When the green light turns a solid color and doesn't blink," Twilight startd, "that means there is a ghost nearby that hasn't manifested itself yet, but is projecting energy." She went through her saddle bags again and brought out a small white rectangular speaker looking thing. She hoofed it to you, and began to explain. "This, is an PVP; a Ponyphonic Voice Phenomena. Any pony ghosts will be able to use this to talk into, but you won't be able to hear anything until we plug this baby into a computer.
"Just press that little button on the headset..." It made a beeping noise as you did so, and you really felt like you were from a video game; putting on heavy gear before entering some sort of apocalyptic chamber. Otherwise, you feel pretty bad a-
"So... I go in, and just look around?" She nodded. "And I'm going alone." She nodded again. "What am I looking for?"
She froze and started looking around; not for anything in particular, but ended up staring at her hoofs. "Well, I'm not sure, actually," she said looking back up, now making eye contact with you again, "but something that is seen with the green eyeglass, and not your bare eye; something paranormal."
Puzzled, and not knowing what paranormal is, you decided to settle in for one more question before entering the Canterlot Castle. "How do I see in the dark with the eye that isn't covered with the night vision?"
Twilight was stumped. She just froze in her last position, which was, once again, a large smile with large beady eyes filled with anticipation. She stood there for some time, and things were getting awkward. Fillies and foals were walking past her statue presence, and just stared as they walked by, accompanied by a chaperone who also seemed disturbed.
It didn't take another second to think about it, "never mind. I'll just do my best." You say as you grab the Ghost Buster 9000, and continue to walk through the gates of Canterlot Castle. You have never been more afraid than now, well, aside from the times when Twilight showed up at your house dressed like your mother; awfully similar to Starswirl the Bearded.
You shivered from the thought, and the cold air that grazed your coat.
This is it. You think to yourself as you walk up to the front doors, oddly enough, no guards around, or any Nightmare Night decorations. You push on the large regal doors and took a peak inside. You look back at Twilight, and she was still in the same pose; a statuette.
Well, might as well just go for it. You fit your whole body inside, slowly and silently. It was very dark inside, you couldn't see anything. You slap the side of your head to turn the eyeglass contraption on. You could see now; at least through one eye, and you decide to begin your journey to find who knows what.
You walk down the path, aimlessly. The green began to put a slight strain on your eye, and suddenly, your microphone went off, and you could hear Twilight through the mic. "Hello?"
Not knowing how the mic works, you decide to just respond blatantly.
"Hello?" You say. Almost instinctively, you pull the foam part of the headset and put it in your mouth and spoke louder after receiving no immediate response. "HELLO?"
You then, finally received a response that was, well, practically two responses in one. "Hello, glad you can hear-" Twilight, who was obviously at the end of the headset, paused and you could hear thumping sounds and a shreak, possibly errors in the mic? "Why did you yell!? Refrain from shoving the mic down your throat next time you talk," from that, your face turned a bit red, despite her or anypony being around, and moved the foam piece away from your mouth. "And let me inform you that there is mic lag, so there will be a second or so before you can hear my response."
Well then. I guess not everyone's a genius.
"Nonetheless, I'm glad this works, and you can hear me. I'll be here to accompany you from a distance, and I have figured out a way you could find the... Whatever it is you may find." Twilight informed.
You took a glance around the current hallway you were in, and decided to dump out all of your stuff that she gave you.
The components fell out in front of you, the Ghost Buster 9000 and its antennae, the PVP, and a few pieces of lint. Not up to date with the current technology; only because this has only just been created, and you frankly don't know what happened to the Ghost Buster 8999 and under generations, but that's not your business.
Holding the PVP in a hoof, you ask in the mic, this time remembering that there is a mic lag, and yelling is not needed. "So how does this thing work?"
A pause, and a response came from Twilight, "I can't exactly see what you're seeing... I shall work on that improvement in the future. So until then, please be a bit more specific to what it is you're holding."
Technology. You silently insult it in your mind as you fiddle around more with the parts. "I think this is the PVP. The Pony... Voice... Pony?"
"Ponyphonic," Twilight corrected from the other end of the mic, "Ponyphonic Voice Phenomena. You click the red button to record sound, which I suggest you do while asking questions-" I'm asking ghosts questions... Fun. "And when you're done asking a few questions, just hit the button again and it'll stop recording." You pressed it once to see what will happen. There was no light that turned on, or any signal that it was recording. So you pressed it again to stop the recorder.
You look over at the metallic box that laid on its side. "So, what do I do with this?" Before you let Twilight respond, you finish your sentence off, "and by that, I of course mean the Ghost Buster 9000. Oh, and how do I see in the other eye, have you figured that out yet?" You found it much easier to talk over the mic than in pony, maybe you should buy this from her. Talk to other ponies like this, maybe you'll have a much better social life after all!
There was a much longer pause than usual. You feared that you broke Twilight again, but as soon as the doubt came, you hear her voice coming through the headset. "Well, the Ghost Buster 9000 is used for detecting the presence of the paranormal. So as long as the switch is flipped to, on, the green light will flash vigorously upon presence of the paranormal. As for the lighting situation... I have figured out a way. Look in the side compartment of the Ghost Buster 9000; you'll find a lighter and some duct tape. Use the tape and flip the lid open on the lighter, and tape the lid, or break it off if you must, and use that for light!" Twilight said, clearly proud of that idea.
She seems to forget that you don't have magic to your aid. Still, you follow her instructions that she gave to you, and you keep thinking to yourself, why am I doing this? But as quick as the thought comes, like many others, they quickly dissipate into your vacuum of a brain.
You've done it. You've somehow managed to break off the lid, get the flame going, which is rather small and produces a small amount of light. Still, some is better than none. You used the duct tape to tape it to your hoof, which was a bad idea since you now have to walk on three limbs while carrying heavy duty equipment around. To your own delight, the flame didn't conduct much heat to your hoofs and was bearable, and the light coming from the small flame didn't disrupt the night vision eyeglass.
You took a quick sweep around the hallway, and to your surprise, through your bare eye, you could see at least ten feet in front of you! You quickly thanked Twilight for the idea, and to help make your haunting experience much more vivid. Then, the question from not that long ago represented itself, and this time wanted to be said. "So, what happened to the Ghost Buster 8999 and lower generations, were they all failed prototypes?"
Silence.
After coming to the conclusion that you've broke Twilight for the second time in a night, you decided to start you investigation of the paranormal.
Lazy as you are, you threw out the items on the ground and sat in a random room that you've found in the eastern wing of the castle. You feel scared, but your brain keeps nagging at you that there's nothing to be afraid about; that ghosts aren't real, there hasn't been proof of such things existing so far, so why should it be real? Then again, new technology is being tested right now, and you're the puppet. Shut up, me!
You flipped the switches on the Ghost Buster 9000, and the green light atop the antennae slowly emitted an repeating eerie glow and fade.
You sat in the middle of the room. Taking an occasional glance around the darkened room, and back at the light constantly, just waiting for something to happen.
You look down at the PVP recorder that was set on the left of you. The room you were sitting in didn't have any windows, and was a very bare room. It contained a few mannequins that had cobwebs and spiders making it a home enterprise. It was clearly a bedroom though, even if there were mannequins that gave it the boutique scheme; proven by the bed with a mattress without covers or pillows.
You decided not to sit there.
The tiles you were sitting on were making mark on your flank. The tiles you were sitting on were large, and had engravings of the two princesses. You decided to do something, just so you have an excuse to get out, you admit to yourself, this is a scary place to be in.
You looked at the PVP and waved your hoof around that had the lighter crudely duct taped to your hoof, and you saw the button to start recording.
You clicked the record button. "Hello?" You said after waiting a few seconds. "Is anyone here? Uh, talk into this thing next to me." Of course, you didn't hear anything, but if anything were to catch a voice, according to Twilight, the PVP should catch it.
"Hello."
You let out a small yelp at the sudden response. However, it wasn't what you thought it was. It was just Twilight having bad frequencies due to your location, which was fixed. "Twilight, you scared me!"
"Sorry," she apologized, "so hows the investigation going so far?"
You didn't know where to start. It has been a few hours since anything happened, and the only thing that did happen was you turning on the Ghost Buster 9000 and attempting to talk to any potential spirits with the PVP.
"Well, nothing happened yet... I turned on the Ghost Buster, but it's just blinking slowly- whoa!" You whipped your head around, almost giving yourself a whiplash, for the reason being, you've heard an unexplained knocking sound. As if a pony were knocking on the door to enter a room. Could this be a servant who worked here years ago, or a pony who has lived here from centuries ago and is angered of my presence?
Just as you heard the knocking, the Ghost Buster 9000's antennae began to blink vigorously and eventually turned into a solid bright green light. Just as you've witnessed the light turn on, you suddenly feel an unexplained chill on the right side of your body, completely putting out the flame in the lighter. Since you broke the lid off, there was no hope in reigniting the flame. You looked at your right hoof, and your fur was standing as if you've been shocked by electricity.
Instinctively, you dropped whatever you had that wasn't on your head and dashed out of the room. Out on the corner of your eye, you saw an unexplained shadow. You let out another scream as you ran in the opposite direction, ignoring the lighter that was duct taped to your hoof the entire time.
Screaming almost the whole way down the hallway, you come to a stop when you've witnessed a full manifestation. Twilight was constantly telling you to calm down, and was asking what was happening, but you were ignoring it as your life was more important at the moment.
Around its body, the wind blew fiercely against the hallways curtains and helmets as it cast a brilliant mirage of what looked like elves without the pointy nose. A tile ripped up from the ground and hit your face, almost knocking you out and successfully knocking your eyeglass off, other than that, it just deterred your balance. You noticed the title was the same as from the room you sat in.
Perhaps talking to the spirits wasn't a good idea. No way I'm going back for that PVP thing! Holding the tile up, you scream with all of your lungs, "THE POWER OF CELESTIA COMPELS YOU!" With those words said, you threw the tile at the manifested being, and ran off in the opposite direction from the manifestation; even if only seen with one eye.
Blindly running through the hallways, you finally made it out and described what happened, and why you're not getting the PVP or any other lost equipment during that investigation. Aside from all the horror you've witnessed, you've made it out alive, well, and unscathed.
The memory still haunts you. The clear manifestation of the pony was horrid, but small in its same; and not to be mistaken with such great power it beholds. A filly is what you made of that thing. Small, three horns indicating unicorn and devil, and a mane and tail that was made of a fluffy hell. Together, you and Twilight come to the conclusion and name, that it was indeed, an Unbaptized Demon Baby.
To this day, there is no proof of the Unbaptized Demon Baby. The recorders that were found had no audio pertaining to the ghostly presence.
The Ghost Buster 9000 had a large dent in it when it was found, and the cause of destruction was blamed on Luna during one of her rage sessions from a video game, which, supposedly happened thirty seconds after you left the castle.
To this day, nopony knows what happened on that year of Nightmare Night, and legends have been said, that each year on Nightmare Night, the Unbaptized Demon Baby will crawl out of the deepest pits of hell, and feed on your soul with its fluffy mane of hell.
Children to this day are entering the eastern wing, camping out in the hallways in complete darkness and silence. Some said they've made it out, others, have been said to not return.
