Haunted by Deceptionby tales-of-havenChaptersProlougeChapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4EpilougeProlougeAccord was harshly awoken from his mid-afternoon nap by the rapping of a hoof on the front door of Reichfield Manor. He tries to ignore it, but it didn't stop. It echoed through the house, growing in intensity. Finally, he opens his cold blue eyes, unable to to block the repetitive sound any longer. "I swear, if this is another salespony, I'm going to explode," the grey pony mutters as he gets to his hooves and tosses his head to straighten his glasses. Slowly, he plods to the ancient front door. Through the stained glass window, he saw some sort of white pony with a curly purple mane. Rarity. A deep purple aura envelops the doorknob as he uses his unicorn magic to open it. "What?" It was a surprise to have such a well-known pony standing on his doorstop, but Accord honestly couldn't care less who she was. He had stayed in his family house out in the country to escape from all of the hustle and bustle of Ponyville. The white pony, oblivious to his annoyance, flashes a pristine smile. "Hello, Accord." "Hello, Rarity," Accord replies, his voice flat. "Can I help you?" He wasn't going to be polite just because she had pretty much saved the world with her friends. The next words were the exact opposite of what he wanted to hear. "Actually, yes," Rarity says, either ignoring his annoyed tone or not noticing it, “Can I come in for a few minutes." Accord reluctantly nods and steps out of the doorway to let her in. "Sure." He heads towards the living room and Rarity follows close behind. Their hoofsteps sounded hollow on the old wooden floor. At the sudden introduction of a new pony, the house seems to groan. Rarity looks around with a bit of fear as the walls creak and the sound of a rat scurrying through the walls reaches her ears. "Do you want something to drink?" Accord asks as Rarity slowly sits down on one of the couches. "No, thanks," she says politely, “I just wanted to know if we could use your house for something." Accord arches an eyebrow. "Use it for what?" he asks slowly, “This place is historic, you know..." "Well, you see, Pinkie Pie wants to set up a haunted house for this year's Nightmare Night," Rarity explains, “So she collected a lot of other ponies to help....but forgot to plan where exactly the haunted house would be." Accord frowns. He could see where this was going and didn't like it one bit. "So can we use your house?" Rarity asks, “It’s simply perfect." She casts her gaze around the house, taking in the dusty trim, antique furniture, and spider web-infested chandeliers. As much as its filthiness disgusted her, this mansion would be the perfect place for a haunted house. "Well..." Accord hesitates. He didn't have a good feeling about this. The house had been empty for so long. Would it even be right to use it for a petty haunted house? Rarity gives the grey pony her best smile. "Please? We won't harm a thing! I promise!" Accord bites his lip. He should have known that there would be pressure involved. Even as a colt, he hadn't been good at saying 'no'. He knew it was bad to let them into the house, but he couldn't just turn them down because he had a bad feeling. "Fine," he sighs after a few moments of thought. "You can use it..." "Oh! Thank you!" Rarity's joyous voice reverberates throughout the house, disturbing rooms that hadn't been disturbed in years and awakening something from its deep sleep. In the ancient rooms of Reichfield Manor, something old and treacherous was stirring. Chapter 2"No, no, no! That goes over there!" Applejack sighs as she pushes the fake gravestone through the tall grass of the front lawn of Reichfield Manor once again. She pauses to catch her breath. These things were a lot heavier than she thought they would be. "This better, Pinkie?" Pinkie Pie tilts her head, then grins. "Perfect! Now the next one!" She points at the cluster of tombstones lying in the grass, just waiting to be pushed into place. "Yes, ma'am," Applejack mutters. She turns to get the next one and freezes. "Oh. My. Stars." Her green eyes grow wide and her jaw drops. "What is that?" Pinkie Pie follows her friend's gaze and her own eyes grow with shock. There, in the huge picture window at the top of the manor, stood a black pony with burning scarlet eyes. It was mouthing some words over and over and over, but neither of the mares could hear a thing. "Get...out...of...here," Applejack muses. "Get out of here. That's what it's saying!" "Get out of here?!" Pinkie Pie squeals, “We have to warn them! What if the ghost tries to kill them?!" She forgets all about decorating and starts galloping towards the Manor. "Sheesh, Pinkie, it's probably just a pony playing tricks," Applejack sighs as she trots after her friend. Pinkie Pie bursts through the front door. "GUYS!" she shouts, calling all the attention to herself. The ponies freeze in the middle of decorating and stare at her, obviously surprised by the sudden interruption. "Ignore her, y'all, she's-" Applejack is cut off by Pinkie Pie slapping a hoof over her mouth. "There's some sort of ghost up in the attic!" the pink pony says frantically. She looks around and sees that no pony said a thing, they simply went back to work. A bit of desperation enters her voice. "I'm serious!" The ponies around her keep working. Most of them were pretty used to hearing Pinkie blab about things, and they figured she was jsut making this up, too. Applejack pushes the hoof off of her mouth. "Don't you think Accord would have told us if there was a ghost here?" "Yeah," one of the ponies agrees, “Besides, there's no such thing as ghosts." "B-but..." Pinkie Pie's face falls and she looks at Applejack, “You saw it too, right?" "All I saw was somepony playing tricks," Applejack sighs. She looks back at Pinkie Pie and smiles a bit. "Would it make you feel better if we check-" Before she could finish, Pinkie Pie was halfway to the staircase. "Let's go! We have to catch it!" Applejack smiles tiredly and trots after the pink pony and up the spiral staircase. They pass floors bustling with ponies decorating for the haunted house, but as they keep going, it gets emptier and emptier. Eventually, the staircase ends and the two ponies are left in the attic. It was dark or shallow, like most attics were. The ceiling was high and one wall was dominated by a massive window. The metal image of an alicorn adorned the center, one piece of scarlet stained glass served as the eye and it seemed to glow as the light passed through it. Sunlight streamed through the glass, highlighting the dust particles floating in the air. The room was mostly empty, save one desk facing the window. "See, whatever or whoever it was is gone," Applejack says as she watches Pinkie Pie trot around the room, “It was just somepony playing around. There's no ghost." Pinkie Pie wasn't satisfied. She continues to peer in every nook and cranny that she could find. "Seriously, Pinkie." Applejack trots after her friend. "We're not even supposed to be up here." "That's dang right." The two mares whirl around to see Accord standing at the top of the staircase. He had a disapproving front on his face and was glaring at the two over the rims of his glasses. "What are you two doing up here?" Applejack looks down. "We were just-" "Ghost hunting!" Pinkie Pie interjects with a grin. An unnatural smile spreads across Accord's face. "There's no ghosts up here," he says between gritted teeth. Applejack shivers. There was something wrong with this picture. Something very wrong that she simply couldn't place. "But we-" "You were probably just seeing things," Accord says before she can finish. He tosses his head towards the staircase. "You two should probably head downstairs again. There's lots of decorating to be done!" Neither of the mares move, and his voice hardens a bit. "Go downstairs, now." Pinkie Pie was the first to take the hint. "Alright!" she says hurriedly, trotting towards the stairs. Applejack wasn't as easily shaken. She wanted to know who she had seen in that window. It seemed a bit to convenient that Accord was right there. "Aren't you coming downstairs?" she asks as she slowly heads towards the stairs. Accord looks at her and his fake smile widens. "No, I'm going to...clean up this place for a while," she says, “Don’t worry." Applejack nods and trots after Pinkie Pie. "He's hiding something," she mutters to herself. Chapter 3The next day or so, the decorating went on without a problem. Reichfield Manor had been transformed into a spectacular haunted house. Ponies scampered thought he rooms, making sure that fake ghosts were firmly in place, and that all the equipment was safely hidden from view. Accord seemed to be the only pony not ecstatic about this. He lets out a long sigh as he trotted through his house. He hated all this hustle and bustle. It didn't feel right to have all of these other ponies roaming the rooms and halls of the mansion. the stallion couldn't wait to have them gone for good. Still grumbling to himself, he plods into another room and runs right into Rarity, knocking the box that she had been balancing off of her back. The mare lets out s short squeak of surprise and leaps backwards. "Oh, it's just you," she sighs with relief when she sees that it was only Accord, “Sorry about that." Accord grunts in acknowledgement, the narrows his eyes at the box Rarity had been carrying. "What's in there?" he asks suspiciously. "Oh, just some decorations," Rarity says as she uses her magic to pick up the box again, “Pinkie wants to decorate the attic." Accord nods slowly. "Be careful up there," he says as she begins to walk out of the room, “You know what Pinkie Pie and Applejack saw up there, right?" "Yeah, ghosts," Rarity replies. She pauses a moment. "But they told me that you swore there weren’t any ghosts up there..." "I did?" Accord raises an eyebrow. "Yeah, you did," Rarity says before quickly trotting off down the hallway. She casts a glance over her shoulder. "What an odd pony..." She almost gets to the stairs before the sound of hoofsteps behind her reaches her ears. "Wait, Rarity!" The white pony stops and turns to see Accord running after her. "Let me go to the attic," he says, trying to use his own magic to pull the box towards him. "No, thanks, I can do it myself," Rarity says as she tugs back. Accord pulls back with more strength, the aura around his horn glowing brighter. "I insist." "Accord, seriously-" Accord's voice drops down to a low, unearthly growl. "Let me do it, Rarity." Rarity drops the box and takes a few hurried steps backwards. That voice definitely did not belong to Accord. "Fine!" she says nervously before galloping towards the stairs, “Be that way!" Accord glares after her, his mouth turned into a beastly scowl. Rarity quickly trots down the stairs and runs into the living room where Applejack was straightening one of the pictures. She sees Rarity and concern sparks in her eyes. "What's wrong?" the mare asks, trotting over to her panting friend, “Did something happen?" Rarity looks up at her, eyes filled with fear. "It's Accord, there's something wrong with him!" Applejack clenches her jaw. "Yeah, I know," she mutters. "You know?" "It's...complicated." Applejack locks eyes with Rarity for a moment. "Do you want me to go talk to him or something?" Rarity nods and Applejack trots up the stairs. She catches Accord spreading some fake spider webs on the floor and frowns. "Accord, what do you think you're doing?" The grey pony pauses, puzzled by the accusing tone in the mare's voice. "What do you mean?" "You know what I mean, Accord. Snapping at Rarity? Really?" "I snapped at Rarity?" Accord's eyebrows scrunch together as he tries to figure out what was going on. "What would I do that?" Applejack frowns, but realizes that the stallion was truly puzzled. "You...don't remember?" Accord shakes his head and the mare sighs. "Fine, then...um...sorry about this." She trots off again, shaking her head and trying to figure out what in Celestia's name was going on. Author's Note This one is kinda short, but the next one is longer, I promise you. Chapter 4Applejack was still puzzled that evening as she watched the sun set. The mare had promised to check all of the lighting in the Manor to see if it was safe in the darkness. Right now, she was sitting on the front lawn, her green eyes drooping closed as she fought the urge to sleep. However, her thoughts were still keeping her awake. Accord's actions haunted her. She had met the pony a few times before. He was quiet and mature, and would never yell at anypony. So why was he acting so feral now? She was sure he was hiding something, or was trying to scare them away by acting like this. All the clues led up to it. He was in the attic when she and Pinkie Pie had seen the 'ghost', and he had tried to scare Rarity away, too. Applejack knew that she had to confront him before he ruined the haunted house. As the sun finally dips below the horizon and the moon raises high in the sky, the mare gets up and goes back to the house. It was pitch black inside. She walks through the door and immediately, the door slams shut behind her. "Clever," she mutters, “Good touch to the haunted house." She looks around the living room and jumps slightly as the lights flash and a fake ghost swoops towards her. It didn't scare her too badly; after all, she knew almost everything that had been put in. The mare walks through the house, making sure that everything worked like it was supposed to. The fog machines worked perfectly, strobe lights went off at just the right times, and spooky sounds added a spine-chilling effect. "Just one more floor," she whispers as she trots up the stairs. As Applejack reaches the top, she immediately knows something was wrong. There was supposed to be a creepy laugh playing, but there wasn't. Suddenly, an evil chuckle echoes through the hallway. Applejack relaxes for a moment, and then realizes: this wasn't the creepy laugh they had installed. It was darker and seemed more...real. She dismisses it as a touch-up and continues down the hallway. The evil laugh dies away and is replaced by a steady thumping noise. It takes her a few seconds to realize what they were: hoofsteps. "Sure don't remember that," she whispers. She looks over her shoulder and the hoofsteps stop. Nothing was behind her. Slowly, she starts walking again, and the hoofsteps resume. Again, she glances over her shoulder and they stop. "That's freaky," she whispers, “I’ll have to ask Pinkie how they did that." The mare continues walking, dismissing the hoofsteps. She looks from right to left, trying to distract herself with the portraits on the walls. Their eyes seemed to move, following her as she walked. A sudden shiver runs down her spine as the temperature starts to drop. The pony could see her breath in front of her. "That's odd," she whispers, “It was just-" She's cut off by the door at the end of the hallway slamming open. Her heart skips a beat and she waits for something to leap out, but nothing does. For a few seconds, she stands perfectly still. This wasn't right at all. Pinkie Pie hadn't told her anything about these sorts of effects. Then, in the doorway, she sees a glimmer of something. Something metallic. "What the?" She narrows her eyes, then screams as a knife comes hurtling her way. It narrowly misses hitting her and embeds itself in the floor. Applejack doesn't hesitate, she runs. Behind her, she can hear hoofsteps. Something was chasing her. Now she was positive that this wasn't part of the haunted house. This was real. She skids to a halt by the stairs and looks back. At first, she can't see a thing, then out of the shadows appears a grey pony. "Accord! What in buck's name are you doing?" Applejack screams as the pony approaches. Accord doesn't show any sign that he had heard her. A knife was tightly clamped between his teeth, but then the mare realizes what was very, very wrong. The pony's eyes weren't cold blue anymore, they were scarlet. Burning scarlet. Frantic, Applejack takes off up the stairs. She rushes into the attic. Moonlight streamed through the window and the sky was practically cloudless. It was like Equestria was completely oblivious to the terror in Applejack's mind. The mare darts behind the desk and drops to the floor. She holds her breath and shuts her eyes. Everything was totally silent for a few moments, but then it starts again, the hoofsteps. They were heading up the stairs. She can't help but count the seconds, the precious moments of safety before he found her. 1...2...3...4... The hoofsteps were getting louder and louder. 5...6...7...8... She could hear them reach the top of the stairs and starts across the floorboards once more. 9...10...11...12... The mare could feel the vibrations as the pony got closer and closer to where she was hiding. 13...14...15... Suddenly, they stop. Applejack takes a long, shaky breath. She hears the knife fall to the ground and sticks itself into the floorboard. "Come out, come out, dear Applejack," Accord says slowly. His voice echoes through the attic and sticks in the mare's ears. "I know you're in here." Applejack closes her eyes tightly and tries to block out any sound other than her racing heart. She feels the ground shake as he starts to walk again. "I'm going to find you. And when I do, it'll all be over." She bites her tongue and buries her head in her hooves. This was it, she was dead. Accord was going to kill her and it would be over. He would probably go on to kill the others too. They should never have used this place for a haunted house. "Ha! Found you!" Applejack opens one eye and sees Accord standing over her. His scarlet eyes were ablaze with some sort of madness, the same madness that was present in his wild grin. "Accord, what's wrong with you!" she shouts weakly, getting to her hooves. She locks eyes with him, but all she finds in his is an alien nothingness. "Accord!" The stallion stares at her for a few seconds but doesn't say a thing. A purple aura forms around his horn again and Applejack sees with horror that the knife that he had dropped floats back over, its razor-sharp tip aimed straight at her. "Accord, please," the mare says, eyeing the knife, “What’s wrong with you!?" She tries to think of something that would get him out of this trance. As the tip of the knife slowly approaches, she goes over everything she knew about this pony. He liked to be alone, his parents were gone, and then she remembers his little sister that he loved so dearly. "What would Dhalias think about this? What about her?" The knife stops it's approach, and for a second, Accord's eyes flash blue. "Dhalias," he whispers. "Yeah, Dhalias," Applejack encourages, “Think about her!" "Dhalias..." The knife clatters to the ground and Accord's eyes return back to their cold blue. He shakes his head and almost falls over, were it not for Applejack who quickly rushes to his side and supports him. "Accord, you're back!" she whispers with a smile, “What happened?" Accord looks around and his eyes cloud with confusion. "W-why am I up here? Why is there a knife there? What's going on?!" "You tell me," Applejack mutters, “Why were you acting so-" She's cut off by a rustling behind her. Quickly, she turns around and gasps. A shadowy creature was slithering down from the rafters. Silently, it unfolds its feathery wings and lands delicately on its hooves. Slowly, the creature raises its head and lets its mane billow around it. "An alicorn," Accord whispers as the creature steps out of the shadows. It was, indeed, an alicorn with dirty white fur, a white mane shot through with red, and glowing scarlet eyes. Applejack's breath catches in her throat. "Applejack," the alicorn speaks. His voice was deep and reverberated through the room, “You have ruined this place." Applejack narrows her eyes a bit. "How in buck's name have I ruined it?" "You did not leave," the alicorn replies bitterly. He takes a few steps forward and looks at Accord, “And you ignored my vessel's words." "Vessel!?" Accord asks, taking a few steps back, “Who are you? Are you-" His eyes grow wide and he glances at the shape of the alicorn on the window behind them. "Falsus?" "That would be me," the alicorn says, dipping his head slightly. "Wha-how-Falsus?" Applejack was utterly confused, “I’ve never heard of you. And how'd you control Accord like that?" Falsus frowns. "Yes, that is because I am old," he says, his voice softening a bit, “I left royalty a long time ago...and that is my branch of magic, mare. I am the keeper of deception. It is what I do." "Falsus was the original owner of Reichfield Manor," Accord explains, “He was royalty once...long ago. I thought you were a myth." "Well, royalty or not, he can't mess up our haunted house!" Applejack says, refusing to be distracted by the matter at hand. "We're not harming anything! Why don't you like it?" "I just...I..." Falsus hangs his head. "I don't know..." Applejack sighs and trots towards the alicorn. "Well, no need to be sad," she says, poking his leg gently with her hoof, “I’ll make sure no one disturbs you up here, all right?" She looks at Accord. "Right, Accord?" Accord was still standing there, staring at Falsus with wide eyes. Hearing his name, he snaps out of it. "Huh-wha-yeah. Sure!" He attempts a smile at the alicorn. A small smile appears on Falsus's face. "Thank you, ponies," he says quietly, “I apologize once again..." With that, he spreads his wings. With one might down stroke, he flies back up to the rafters. "Well, then," Applejack says slowly. She looks at Accord. "Shall we go? Pinkie probably wants to know how the dry run went." Accord nods and trots towards the stairs. "How did it go...other than...the things, I mean." "It went fine," Applejack says as the starts down the spiral staircase, “definitely scary." "I bet," Accord agrees. He looks at the alicorn on the window, then up at the rafters one more time before trotting after her. EpilougeThe next night was Nightmare Night. Ponies of all ages were dressed up and munching on candy as they waited in line for the haunted house. "Quite a turnout, eh, Pinkie?" Applejack says as she walks up to her friend, who was dressed up as a giant cupcake. Applejack herself was dressed as quite a convincing cavepony. "Sure is!" Pinkie Pie replies with a grin, “Who knew?!" Applejack chuckles and nods to Accord as he walks over. The stallion had refused to dress up, but somepony had still managed to convince him to wear a pair of sunglasses in the shape of skulls. "Any problems so far?" "Nope!" Pinkie Pie answers, “Everyone loves it! We did a great job, didn't we?" "We sure did," Applejack says. She looks up at the alicorn on the attic window and could have sworn she saw a real alicorn smiling down at them.
ProlougeAccord was harshly awoken from his mid-afternoon nap by the rapping of a hoof on the front door of Reichfield Manor. He tries to ignore it, but it didn't stop. It echoed through the house, growing in intensity. Finally, he opens his cold blue eyes, unable to to block the repetitive sound any longer. "I swear, if this is another salespony, I'm going to explode," the grey pony mutters as he gets to his hooves and tosses his head to straighten his glasses. Slowly, he plods to the ancient front door. Through the stained glass window, he saw some sort of white pony with a curly purple mane. Rarity. A deep purple aura envelops the doorknob as he uses his unicorn magic to open it. "What?" It was a surprise to have such a well-known pony standing on his doorstop, but Accord honestly couldn't care less who she was. He had stayed in his family house out in the country to escape from all of the hustle and bustle of Ponyville. The white pony, oblivious to his annoyance, flashes a pristine smile. "Hello, Accord." "Hello, Rarity," Accord replies, his voice flat. "Can I help you?" He wasn't going to be polite just because she had pretty much saved the world with her friends. The next words were the exact opposite of what he wanted to hear. "Actually, yes," Rarity says, either ignoring his annoyed tone or not noticing it, “Can I come in for a few minutes." Accord reluctantly nods and steps out of the doorway to let her in. "Sure." He heads towards the living room and Rarity follows close behind. Their hoofsteps sounded hollow on the old wooden floor. At the sudden introduction of a new pony, the house seems to groan. Rarity looks around with a bit of fear as the walls creak and the sound of a rat scurrying through the walls reaches her ears. "Do you want something to drink?" Accord asks as Rarity slowly sits down on one of the couches. "No, thanks," she says politely, “I just wanted to know if we could use your house for something." Accord arches an eyebrow. "Use it for what?" he asks slowly, “This place is historic, you know..." "Well, you see, Pinkie Pie wants to set up a haunted house for this year's Nightmare Night," Rarity explains, “So she collected a lot of other ponies to help....but forgot to plan where exactly the haunted house would be." Accord frowns. He could see where this was going and didn't like it one bit. "So can we use your house?" Rarity asks, “It’s simply perfect." She casts her gaze around the house, taking in the dusty trim, antique furniture, and spider web-infested chandeliers. As much as its filthiness disgusted her, this mansion would be the perfect place for a haunted house. "Well..." Accord hesitates. He didn't have a good feeling about this. The house had been empty for so long. Would it even be right to use it for a petty haunted house? Rarity gives the grey pony her best smile. "Please? We won't harm a thing! I promise!" Accord bites his lip. He should have known that there would be pressure involved. Even as a colt, he hadn't been good at saying 'no'. He knew it was bad to let them into the house, but he couldn't just turn them down because he had a bad feeling. "Fine," he sighs after a few moments of thought. "You can use it..." "Oh! Thank you!" Rarity's joyous voice reverberates throughout the house, disturbing rooms that hadn't been disturbed in years and awakening something from its deep sleep. In the ancient rooms of Reichfield Manor, something old and treacherous was stirring.
Chapter 2"No, no, no! That goes over there!" Applejack sighs as she pushes the fake gravestone through the tall grass of the front lawn of Reichfield Manor once again. She pauses to catch her breath. These things were a lot heavier than she thought they would be. "This better, Pinkie?" Pinkie Pie tilts her head, then grins. "Perfect! Now the next one!" She points at the cluster of tombstones lying in the grass, just waiting to be pushed into place. "Yes, ma'am," Applejack mutters. She turns to get the next one and freezes. "Oh. My. Stars." Her green eyes grow wide and her jaw drops. "What is that?" Pinkie Pie follows her friend's gaze and her own eyes grow with shock. There, in the huge picture window at the top of the manor, stood a black pony with burning scarlet eyes. It was mouthing some words over and over and over, but neither of the mares could hear a thing. "Get...out...of...here," Applejack muses. "Get out of here. That's what it's saying!" "Get out of here?!" Pinkie Pie squeals, “We have to warn them! What if the ghost tries to kill them?!" She forgets all about decorating and starts galloping towards the Manor. "Sheesh, Pinkie, it's probably just a pony playing tricks," Applejack sighs as she trots after her friend. Pinkie Pie bursts through the front door. "GUYS!" she shouts, calling all the attention to herself. The ponies freeze in the middle of decorating and stare at her, obviously surprised by the sudden interruption. "Ignore her, y'all, she's-" Applejack is cut off by Pinkie Pie slapping a hoof over her mouth. "There's some sort of ghost up in the attic!" the pink pony says frantically. She looks around and sees that no pony said a thing, they simply went back to work. A bit of desperation enters her voice. "I'm serious!" The ponies around her keep working. Most of them were pretty used to hearing Pinkie blab about things, and they figured she was jsut making this up, too. Applejack pushes the hoof off of her mouth. "Don't you think Accord would have told us if there was a ghost here?" "Yeah," one of the ponies agrees, “Besides, there's no such thing as ghosts." "B-but..." Pinkie Pie's face falls and she looks at Applejack, “You saw it too, right?" "All I saw was somepony playing tricks," Applejack sighs. She looks back at Pinkie Pie and smiles a bit. "Would it make you feel better if we check-" Before she could finish, Pinkie Pie was halfway to the staircase. "Let's go! We have to catch it!" Applejack smiles tiredly and trots after the pink pony and up the spiral staircase. They pass floors bustling with ponies decorating for the haunted house, but as they keep going, it gets emptier and emptier. Eventually, the staircase ends and the two ponies are left in the attic. It was dark or shallow, like most attics were. The ceiling was high and one wall was dominated by a massive window. The metal image of an alicorn adorned the center, one piece of scarlet stained glass served as the eye and it seemed to glow as the light passed through it. Sunlight streamed through the glass, highlighting the dust particles floating in the air. The room was mostly empty, save one desk facing the window. "See, whatever or whoever it was is gone," Applejack says as she watches Pinkie Pie trot around the room, “It was just somepony playing around. There's no ghost." Pinkie Pie wasn't satisfied. She continues to peer in every nook and cranny that she could find. "Seriously, Pinkie." Applejack trots after her friend. "We're not even supposed to be up here." "That's dang right." The two mares whirl around to see Accord standing at the top of the staircase. He had a disapproving front on his face and was glaring at the two over the rims of his glasses. "What are you two doing up here?" Applejack looks down. "We were just-" "Ghost hunting!" Pinkie Pie interjects with a grin. An unnatural smile spreads across Accord's face. "There's no ghosts up here," he says between gritted teeth. Applejack shivers. There was something wrong with this picture. Something very wrong that she simply couldn't place. "But we-" "You were probably just seeing things," Accord says before she can finish. He tosses his head towards the staircase. "You two should probably head downstairs again. There's lots of decorating to be done!" Neither of the mares move, and his voice hardens a bit. "Go downstairs, now." Pinkie Pie was the first to take the hint. "Alright!" she says hurriedly, trotting towards the stairs. Applejack wasn't as easily shaken. She wanted to know who she had seen in that window. It seemed a bit to convenient that Accord was right there. "Aren't you coming downstairs?" she asks as she slowly heads towards the stairs. Accord looks at her and his fake smile widens. "No, I'm going to...clean up this place for a while," she says, “Don’t worry." Applejack nods and trots after Pinkie Pie. "He's hiding something," she mutters to herself.
Chapter 3The next day or so, the decorating went on without a problem. Reichfield Manor had been transformed into a spectacular haunted house. Ponies scampered thought he rooms, making sure that fake ghosts were firmly in place, and that all the equipment was safely hidden from view. Accord seemed to be the only pony not ecstatic about this. He lets out a long sigh as he trotted through his house. He hated all this hustle and bustle. It didn't feel right to have all of these other ponies roaming the rooms and halls of the mansion. the stallion couldn't wait to have them gone for good. Still grumbling to himself, he plods into another room and runs right into Rarity, knocking the box that she had been balancing off of her back. The mare lets out s short squeak of surprise and leaps backwards. "Oh, it's just you," she sighs with relief when she sees that it was only Accord, “Sorry about that." Accord grunts in acknowledgement, the narrows his eyes at the box Rarity had been carrying. "What's in there?" he asks suspiciously. "Oh, just some decorations," Rarity says as she uses her magic to pick up the box again, “Pinkie wants to decorate the attic." Accord nods slowly. "Be careful up there," he says as she begins to walk out of the room, “You know what Pinkie Pie and Applejack saw up there, right?" "Yeah, ghosts," Rarity replies. She pauses a moment. "But they told me that you swore there weren’t any ghosts up there..." "I did?" Accord raises an eyebrow. "Yeah, you did," Rarity says before quickly trotting off down the hallway. She casts a glance over her shoulder. "What an odd pony..." She almost gets to the stairs before the sound of hoofsteps behind her reaches her ears. "Wait, Rarity!" The white pony stops and turns to see Accord running after her. "Let me go to the attic," he says, trying to use his own magic to pull the box towards him. "No, thanks, I can do it myself," Rarity says as she tugs back. Accord pulls back with more strength, the aura around his horn glowing brighter. "I insist." "Accord, seriously-" Accord's voice drops down to a low, unearthly growl. "Let me do it, Rarity." Rarity drops the box and takes a few hurried steps backwards. That voice definitely did not belong to Accord. "Fine!" she says nervously before galloping towards the stairs, “Be that way!" Accord glares after her, his mouth turned into a beastly scowl. Rarity quickly trots down the stairs and runs into the living room where Applejack was straightening one of the pictures. She sees Rarity and concern sparks in her eyes. "What's wrong?" the mare asks, trotting over to her panting friend, “Did something happen?" Rarity looks up at her, eyes filled with fear. "It's Accord, there's something wrong with him!" Applejack clenches her jaw. "Yeah, I know," she mutters. "You know?" "It's...complicated." Applejack locks eyes with Rarity for a moment. "Do you want me to go talk to him or something?" Rarity nods and Applejack trots up the stairs. She catches Accord spreading some fake spider webs on the floor and frowns. "Accord, what do you think you're doing?" The grey pony pauses, puzzled by the accusing tone in the mare's voice. "What do you mean?" "You know what I mean, Accord. Snapping at Rarity? Really?" "I snapped at Rarity?" Accord's eyebrows scrunch together as he tries to figure out what was going on. "What would I do that?" Applejack frowns, but realizes that the stallion was truly puzzled. "You...don't remember?" Accord shakes his head and the mare sighs. "Fine, then...um...sorry about this." She trots off again, shaking her head and trying to figure out what in Celestia's name was going on. Author's Note This one is kinda short, but the next one is longer, I promise you.
Chapter 4Applejack was still puzzled that evening as she watched the sun set. The mare had promised to check all of the lighting in the Manor to see if it was safe in the darkness. Right now, she was sitting on the front lawn, her green eyes drooping closed as she fought the urge to sleep. However, her thoughts were still keeping her awake. Accord's actions haunted her. She had met the pony a few times before. He was quiet and mature, and would never yell at anypony. So why was he acting so feral now? She was sure he was hiding something, or was trying to scare them away by acting like this. All the clues led up to it. He was in the attic when she and Pinkie Pie had seen the 'ghost', and he had tried to scare Rarity away, too. Applejack knew that she had to confront him before he ruined the haunted house. As the sun finally dips below the horizon and the moon raises high in the sky, the mare gets up and goes back to the house. It was pitch black inside. She walks through the door and immediately, the door slams shut behind her. "Clever," she mutters, “Good touch to the haunted house." She looks around the living room and jumps slightly as the lights flash and a fake ghost swoops towards her. It didn't scare her too badly; after all, she knew almost everything that had been put in. The mare walks through the house, making sure that everything worked like it was supposed to. The fog machines worked perfectly, strobe lights went off at just the right times, and spooky sounds added a spine-chilling effect. "Just one more floor," she whispers as she trots up the stairs. As Applejack reaches the top, she immediately knows something was wrong. There was supposed to be a creepy laugh playing, but there wasn't. Suddenly, an evil chuckle echoes through the hallway. Applejack relaxes for a moment, and then realizes: this wasn't the creepy laugh they had installed. It was darker and seemed more...real. She dismisses it as a touch-up and continues down the hallway. The evil laugh dies away and is replaced by a steady thumping noise. It takes her a few seconds to realize what they were: hoofsteps. "Sure don't remember that," she whispers. She looks over her shoulder and the hoofsteps stop. Nothing was behind her. Slowly, she starts walking again, and the hoofsteps resume. Again, she glances over her shoulder and they stop. "That's freaky," she whispers, “I’ll have to ask Pinkie how they did that." The mare continues walking, dismissing the hoofsteps. She looks from right to left, trying to distract herself with the portraits on the walls. Their eyes seemed to move, following her as she walked. A sudden shiver runs down her spine as the temperature starts to drop. The pony could see her breath in front of her. "That's odd," she whispers, “It was just-" She's cut off by the door at the end of the hallway slamming open. Her heart skips a beat and she waits for something to leap out, but nothing does. For a few seconds, she stands perfectly still. This wasn't right at all. Pinkie Pie hadn't told her anything about these sorts of effects. Then, in the doorway, she sees a glimmer of something. Something metallic. "What the?" She narrows her eyes, then screams as a knife comes hurtling her way. It narrowly misses hitting her and embeds itself in the floor. Applejack doesn't hesitate, she runs. Behind her, she can hear hoofsteps. Something was chasing her. Now she was positive that this wasn't part of the haunted house. This was real. She skids to a halt by the stairs and looks back. At first, she can't see a thing, then out of the shadows appears a grey pony. "Accord! What in buck's name are you doing?" Applejack screams as the pony approaches. Accord doesn't show any sign that he had heard her. A knife was tightly clamped between his teeth, but then the mare realizes what was very, very wrong. The pony's eyes weren't cold blue anymore, they were scarlet. Burning scarlet. Frantic, Applejack takes off up the stairs. She rushes into the attic. Moonlight streamed through the window and the sky was practically cloudless. It was like Equestria was completely oblivious to the terror in Applejack's mind. The mare darts behind the desk and drops to the floor. She holds her breath and shuts her eyes. Everything was totally silent for a few moments, but then it starts again, the hoofsteps. They were heading up the stairs. She can't help but count the seconds, the precious moments of safety before he found her. 1...2...3...4... The hoofsteps were getting louder and louder. 5...6...7...8... She could hear them reach the top of the stairs and starts across the floorboards once more. 9...10...11...12... The mare could feel the vibrations as the pony got closer and closer to where she was hiding. 13...14...15... Suddenly, they stop. Applejack takes a long, shaky breath. She hears the knife fall to the ground and sticks itself into the floorboard. "Come out, come out, dear Applejack," Accord says slowly. His voice echoes through the attic and sticks in the mare's ears. "I know you're in here." Applejack closes her eyes tightly and tries to block out any sound other than her racing heart. She feels the ground shake as he starts to walk again. "I'm going to find you. And when I do, it'll all be over." She bites her tongue and buries her head in her hooves. This was it, she was dead. Accord was going to kill her and it would be over. He would probably go on to kill the others too. They should never have used this place for a haunted house. "Ha! Found you!" Applejack opens one eye and sees Accord standing over her. His scarlet eyes were ablaze with some sort of madness, the same madness that was present in his wild grin. "Accord, what's wrong with you!" she shouts weakly, getting to her hooves. She locks eyes with him, but all she finds in his is an alien nothingness. "Accord!" The stallion stares at her for a few seconds but doesn't say a thing. A purple aura forms around his horn again and Applejack sees with horror that the knife that he had dropped floats back over, its razor-sharp tip aimed straight at her. "Accord, please," the mare says, eyeing the knife, “What’s wrong with you!?" She tries to think of something that would get him out of this trance. As the tip of the knife slowly approaches, she goes over everything she knew about this pony. He liked to be alone, his parents were gone, and then she remembers his little sister that he loved so dearly. "What would Dhalias think about this? What about her?" The knife stops it's approach, and for a second, Accord's eyes flash blue. "Dhalias," he whispers. "Yeah, Dhalias," Applejack encourages, “Think about her!" "Dhalias..." The knife clatters to the ground and Accord's eyes return back to their cold blue. He shakes his head and almost falls over, were it not for Applejack who quickly rushes to his side and supports him. "Accord, you're back!" she whispers with a smile, “What happened?" Accord looks around and his eyes cloud with confusion. "W-why am I up here? Why is there a knife there? What's going on?!" "You tell me," Applejack mutters, “Why were you acting so-" She's cut off by a rustling behind her. Quickly, she turns around and gasps. A shadowy creature was slithering down from the rafters. Silently, it unfolds its feathery wings and lands delicately on its hooves. Slowly, the creature raises its head and lets its mane billow around it. "An alicorn," Accord whispers as the creature steps out of the shadows. It was, indeed, an alicorn with dirty white fur, a white mane shot through with red, and glowing scarlet eyes. Applejack's breath catches in her throat. "Applejack," the alicorn speaks. His voice was deep and reverberated through the room, “You have ruined this place." Applejack narrows her eyes a bit. "How in buck's name have I ruined it?" "You did not leave," the alicorn replies bitterly. He takes a few steps forward and looks at Accord, “And you ignored my vessel's words." "Vessel!?" Accord asks, taking a few steps back, “Who are you? Are you-" His eyes grow wide and he glances at the shape of the alicorn on the window behind them. "Falsus?" "That would be me," the alicorn says, dipping his head slightly. "Wha-how-Falsus?" Applejack was utterly confused, “I’ve never heard of you. And how'd you control Accord like that?" Falsus frowns. "Yes, that is because I am old," he says, his voice softening a bit, “I left royalty a long time ago...and that is my branch of magic, mare. I am the keeper of deception. It is what I do." "Falsus was the original owner of Reichfield Manor," Accord explains, “He was royalty once...long ago. I thought you were a myth." "Well, royalty or not, he can't mess up our haunted house!" Applejack says, refusing to be distracted by the matter at hand. "We're not harming anything! Why don't you like it?" "I just...I..." Falsus hangs his head. "I don't know..." Applejack sighs and trots towards the alicorn. "Well, no need to be sad," she says, poking his leg gently with her hoof, “I’ll make sure no one disturbs you up here, all right?" She looks at Accord. "Right, Accord?" Accord was still standing there, staring at Falsus with wide eyes. Hearing his name, he snaps out of it. "Huh-wha-yeah. Sure!" He attempts a smile at the alicorn. A small smile appears on Falsus's face. "Thank you, ponies," he says quietly, “I apologize once again..." With that, he spreads his wings. With one might down stroke, he flies back up to the rafters. "Well, then," Applejack says slowly. She looks at Accord. "Shall we go? Pinkie probably wants to know how the dry run went." Accord nods and trots towards the stairs. "How did it go...other than...the things, I mean." "It went fine," Applejack says as the starts down the spiral staircase, “definitely scary." "I bet," Accord agrees. He looks at the alicorn on the window, then up at the rafters one more time before trotting after her.
EpilougeThe next night was Nightmare Night. Ponies of all ages were dressed up and munching on candy as they waited in line for the haunted house. "Quite a turnout, eh, Pinkie?" Applejack says as she walks up to her friend, who was dressed up as a giant cupcake. Applejack herself was dressed as quite a convincing cavepony. "Sure is!" Pinkie Pie replies with a grin, “Who knew?!" Applejack chuckles and nods to Accord as he walks over. The stallion had refused to dress up, but somepony had still managed to convince him to wear a pair of sunglasses in the shape of skulls. "Any problems so far?" "Nope!" Pinkie Pie answers, “Everyone loves it! We did a great job, didn't we?" "We sure did," Applejack says. She looks up at the alicorn on the attic window and could have sworn she saw a real alicorn smiling down at them.
