Rapid Quill walked up the staircase, determined to get his bearings in the old house. He had been challenged by Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash to spend one night in what many considered a haunted house. He accepted their challenge, never one to back down, and decided to make the best of it. He didn’t feel any fear, instead taking it upon himself to learn from the experience and maybe even use it in a future story.
The night had fallen and, other than some serious spider webs around the building, the house wasn’t very scary. It was old, run down, and smelled of rotten wood, but not really that scary. Rapid Quill was pleased to find a library, filled with some of his favorite old books. He lit a candle and sat down with one, determined to “last one night” in the house.
As he was reading, he heard a slight sound behind him. Looking around, he didn’t see anypony, so he shrugged and went back to the book. The skittering sound came again, this time a little louder, closer. Rapid Quill jumped up, his heart starting to beat a little faster, thinking that maybe it was a large spider crawling closer to him. Again, he looked around and saw nothing. He double checked his spot on the floor, sat back down, and turned back to his book, keeping a watchful eye on the room around him.
He saw the source of the noise before he heard it. A book on the shelf was slowly moving out, almost ready to fall from the shelf. He stood up, getting a closer look at the book. When it finally shook itself off of the shelf, crashing to the floor with a loud bang, he was surprised to see that there was nothing behind it. Surely there was a small rat that was burrowing and accidentally moved the book, right? he thought.
Unable to determine the source of the book’s movement, he decided to exit the library, hearing the skittering noise again as he left. He took the book he was reading with him, as well as the candle, and went down to the kitchen. He wasn’t sure what had happened in the library, but was sure it could be explained.
After setting himself up in the kitchen, he turned back to his book. He was just getting enthralled again when heard a loud bang behind him. When he turned, he saw that one of the cabinets was standing wide open, displaying a lack of anything inside. He went up to it and closed it, wondering what could’ve made it open. He went to sit down and noticed a small chuckle coming from the living room. Grabbing his candle, he decided to look into it, leaving the kitchen and strolling around the living room for just a minute. When he found nothing, he returned to the kitchen, stopping cold in the doorway, the candle falling out of his opened mouth.
Though he had only been gone for a minute, every cabinet was opened and the chairs were stacked in the corner. Not a single noise was made, yet the evidence would indicate that a large group of ponies did a big project. Rapid Quill bent down, relighting the candle, and went about closing the cabinets. He wasn’t exactly scared, just unnerved by the open cabinets. Right when he finished closing the last one, he heard the giggle from the living room again, this time much louder. He ran into the living room, trying to catch whatever pony had laughed, but found nothing.
He went back to the kitchen to grab his candle and went up to the master bedroom. If I just go to sleep, the night will pass much quicker, he reasoned. He continued to hear banging from the library, choosing to just walk past without investigating. When he found the bedroom, he placed the candle on the bedside table, deciding to leave it lit, and laid down to go to sleep. He sat there, listening to the continued banging of books falling in the library and the giggling in the living room and started shaking.
There’s no such thing as ghosts, he thought, trying to calm himself down. Come on Rapid Quill! Pull yourself together and reason this out. What can make objects move without being there? What was the source of the giggling in the living room? Suddenly, he received a revelation that had him sitting up with a grin. Ponyville’s two biggest prankster ponies were the ones that had challenged him, Pinkie has never been able to stop laughing when she was having fun, and it seemed ironic that the falling items were in the library, of all places.
“I’m not afraid,” he shouted, his voice sounding confident. “Twilight, stop moving the books with your magic; Pinkie stop giggling in the living room.” He got out of the bed, moving towards the door. “What I don’t understand is how you did the kitchen. Care to explain?”
Suddenly he heard a laugh outside and, going to the window, saw Twilight, Pinkie, and Rainbow Dash walking out of Twilight’s library. Rainbow Dash was thanking Pinkie for throwing another awesome party, Twilight holding the door open as Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy left as well. Rapid Quill stopped, his confident smile frozen in place while his eyes got wider.
The candle on the bedside table was suddenly smothered, any light in the room disappearing. Rapid Quill suddenly felt a pair of hooves touching his shoulders and jerked backwards, surprised to find that he did not bump into anything. That does it, I’m out of here, his mind screamed. He began running, stopping only after getting so far away from the house that he couldn’t see it. He moaned during his run, drawing an interesting look from the ponies on the street, including laughter from Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.
He kept running until he reached his house, locking the doors quickly behind him and hiding under his sheets. He didn’t sleep the rest of the night, jumping at every small sound around him, refusing to get out from under his sheets. This night was one that had scared the poor author, making him question the existence of the paranormal.
Back at the house, a low giggle was heard and the books were all put in their places on the shelves. Luna chuckled at how much fun it was to scare these ponies, but knew she would have to tell him about it tomorrow. If he doesn’t know it was me, it is just mean. I’m going to have to thank Pinkie and Rainbow Dash for the idea! With that, she left the house and flew off into the night.
