//------------------------------// // Chapter 23: Around Every Corner // Story: Spiritus ex Machina // by wonderkid125 //------------------------------// Inside of Cotton Swirl’s personal workshop, Twilight and her small troop were waiting for the members of team Spirit to arrive. Although there wasn’t a working clock in the room, the ponies could all feel the minutes ticking by at a painfully slow rate. Everyone was anxious to go out and find the source of the ghosts in the resort so they could finally escape the dimly lit corridors they had been sneaking through all day, or at least they hoped it was still day outside. All sense of time on the surface had left them a while ago. The best any of them could figure, at least a few hours had passed since their forced descent into darkness, but nobody was certain of what time it actually was. Pinkie Pie sat down on the makeshift bed off in the corner and bobbed her head around passively. She hadn’t been waiting around for long enough to make her boredom outweigh her enthusiasm, and she was still eagerly looking forward to when the group would be victorious over the ghosts. “Hey, guys… what are you going to do once we get out of here?” The pink mare asked curiously, looking up and around at her friends. The others were surprised by the sudden question. They had been too preoccupied with their fears and anxieties to pay attention to what came after they had won. Rainbow Dash was the first to come up with an answer. “Well… I don’t know about you guys, but I am taking a nap once we get topside. I have had my fair share of excitement for one day.” She said while trying to ignore her mental exhaustion from being in such a depraved place for so long. “I have to agree with Dashie on this one… I’m going to rest for a while.” Fluttershy chimed in. It was easy to see that she was more than ready to be done with the terrors of the abandoned resort. Pinkie frowned slightly in disappointment. “Aww… I was hoping to throw a party to celebrate once we’re done! I can’t have a party if all of you are sleeping…” She protested. “Hehe… I’ll tell you what, Pinkie. If you can find a way to throw a party that doesn’t involve physical activity, I will gladly join you.” Twilight chuckled lightheartedly. “Hmm… challenge accepted.” Pinkie said with an intrigued expression. The abrupt sound of the door to the room opening drew everyone’s attention away. As they looked over to the entrance, they saw Glitterball stepping into the workshop, but she wasn’t alone. The unicorn had a concerned expression of urgency on her face as she assisted Glimmer Shine with walking through the door. One of the stallion’s forelegs was clutched to his chest, with everything below the knee bent at an odd angle. There was blood covering the site of the apparent injury, so it was hard for the group to see just what had happened. “Oh my gosh!” Rainbow Dash got to her hooves and backed up to give the injured pony room to walk. “Are you ok, Glimmer Shine?!” Fluttershy asked in a shocked tone while staring at the yellow pony’s injury with her mouth agape and her eyes wide. Sunspot came in behind the pair and closed the door after her. “See, I told you it looked bad.” She said while trying to assist Glitterball with setting her teammate down somewhere. The yellow stallion merely waved her off, eliciting a slight frown as she heeded his wishes. “It’s fine, Sunspot. I’ve had worse… gah!” Glimmer Shine yelped suddenly as Glitterball let go of him. “What happened? I thought you were just checking out a storage room?” Twilight asked while walking over to the group huddled around the stallion. She cringed sympathetically as she saw the scope of the injured leg and imagined how much it must have hurt. Glimmer Shine either had a high tolerance for pain, or he was trying to play it off as less severe than it actually was. “We uh… ran into some trouble while we were looking around.” Sunspot explained hesitantly. “But, we did manage to get these. We think they might get us into that cavern.” She held up a set of keys and displayed them to the group. “Yeah, I sure hope that they are worth all the trouble that we went through to get them.” Glimmer Shine said while glancing to the orange pegasus with a hidden glare. “Looks like you went through a lot more than what I would call trouble. Your leg looks like a snapped twig.” Twilight noted in a concerned tone. “Tom, do you think you can fix this?” She asked while looking over to the human with an uneasy frown. Tom knelt down and gently examined the stallion’s injury while everyone gave him some room. After looking at the scope of the wounded leg, he sighed and looked at Glimmer Shine with a serious expression. “Lucky for you, I should be able to put it back in place and mend the bone.” Glimmer chuckled briefly before cringing in pain. “Great… I feel really lucky.” He said with a sarcastic smile. “Hold still and I’ll make this as fast as I can. You shouldn’t feel any pain, but just be aware that I am reconnecting a bone and growing back the broken parts of it. My powers nullify pain, but even they have their limits.” Tom explained while settling in and preparing to start the healing process. The others watched as the human gently took hold of the stallion’s foreleg and moved it back into a normal position while projecting his healing light. The only thing Glimmer Shine could feel was a tingly warm sensation, which was leaps and bounds better than the throbbing pains he had been going through up until now. The process took a little longer than usual, perhaps due to the severity of the injury. While Tom held the yellow pony’s leg steady and bathed it in blue tinted light, the group decided to bring the three ponies up to speed on what they knew about the ghosts. Sunspot scratched her head with a slightly confused expression on her face as she listened to Twilight explaining her vision and what Tom had said. “So… let me get this straight for a second. This Dream Catcher guy goes around Equestria, kidnapping and killing kids for a long time before even showing up at the park,” She shuddered in disgust as she pictured such a terrible thing happening to children. “And then he brings a bag full of hair from his victims to the park… taking three more kids in the process and exposing their spirits to the energy from the… what did you call the weird line things again?” “Ley Lines.” Tom interjected without looking up from his work. Sunspot nodded. “Right… those things. So the ghosts off the guy, and then they cause an earthquake, destroying the park and inadvertently trapping themselves underground. Have I missed anything?” She asked while looking around, vaguely hoping that she had at least somewhat of a grasp on the events. “No, you got it pretty much correct.” Twilight said, slightly impressed at how fast the orange pegasus understood the information that puzzled her at first. Then again, perhaps Sunspot didn’t really have a full understanding of things and was just going with the flow. “So the inhuman spirits and everything else that has happened has just been a result of the ghosts building up energy and feeding off of it, with assistance from the Ley Line.” Glitterball recapped, hoping that she got things right as well. “But… there’s one thing I don’t understand about all of that.” She said while struggling to think something through. Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “Just one? I would have figured you would be a bit more confused with that knowledge bomb we just dropped on you.” “It’s kind of our job to accept weird things that don’t make rational sense as fact… Anyway, go on, Glitter.” Glimmer Shine said while nodding toward the unicorn. Glitterball shook her head and sighed, failing to come up with a solution to whatever she was mulling over. “If all of this energy has been sitting here for at least seventy years, then why did it take so long for Berry and the others to experience paranormal events on the surface?” She asked curiously, hoping that someone else had an explanation. The question was simple enough, but nobody seemed to have an answer. Twilight had initially just ignored the details of how they had come to even be here in the first place. The ghosts showing up upstairs just made sense to her, but now she wasn’t so sure. “Wouldn’t the energy from this place eventually just give them enough power to extend their influence upstairs?” She asked with a semi-confident expression. “No… I don’t think so. Without anybody being down here to feed off of, the ghosts would only have a limited amount of energy to work with eventually. Their range of influence would have capped off around the first floor judging from all the animatronics we found up there.” Tom explained. “I would say that they were borrowing energy from the inhuman spirits, but I doubt they would want anything to do with them. The ghosts we found upstairs didn’t even follow us down here they were so afraid.” “Yeah… when we ran away from Chica, she just stopped chasing us at the stairs.” Applejack said with an intrigued tone as she thought back to what had happened earlier in the morning. “But the ghosts had to have gotten upstairs somehow. We wouldn’t be here if they didn’t… and we definitely wouldn’t have had any weird happenings around the resort.” Sparkplug chimed in with a confused tone. “Obviously the ghosts did get up there, but they were trapped down here for a long time. If the ghosts are scared of the inhuman spirits, then it would make sense for them to try to get to higher floors. Why didn’t they get past the stairs leading out of the extension though?” Twilight said while deep in thought. The group thought of a possible solution for a solid minute in silence. Nobody knew anything that could explain the sudden appearance of the spirits. Twilight and the others had sparse knowledge of the paranormal at best, and all of the experts were stumped as well. “Wait…” Glitterball suddenly looked up with a stunned expression. “Sparkplug, when did you guys first notice something supernatural at the resort?” She asked while turning to the gray mare. “Huh?” Sparkplug replied with a confused expression. “You called us here because you consistently heard disembodied voices, but when was the first time you noticed something odd? It doesn’t matter how small… maybe a cold spot, or an object moving from where it was last seen.” Glitterball elaborated. Sparkplug had to think for a moment. “Well… if I had to put a concrete number to it, I would have to say around three months ago.” She said while still scratching her head in thought. She was more than a little confused as she saw everyone else getting a look of revelation on their faces. “Hey, isn’t that around the time when-” Fluttershy started to ask when she was interrupted by Twilight finishing her thought. “Raven Feather and the hooded ponies attacked Canterlot… The same attack that ended with a shockwave of energy exploding out across Equestria.” Twilight said, reaching the same conclusion that many of the others had. “The gift that keeps on giving…” Sunspot said while shaking her head uneasily. Glitterball tilted her head curiously. “But… would that energy have even reached Trottingham?” “Well… me and Twilight weren’t conscious to see it, but from what I’ve been told, that shockwave made it clear out of Canterlot and kept going. It might not have been visible or tangible a certain distance away, but it probably spread out across the whole country. It’s actually part of the reason we’ve been so busy lately.” Tom explained while looking to Glimmer Shine and his teammates. “So it all makes sense now… I think.” Glimmer Shine added hesitantly. “Well, now that we know why all of this is happening… I think it’s about time we do something about it.” He looked ahead to see the human’s progress on his leg. “Are you almost done playing doctor?” Tom stopped producing his healing light and examined the stallion’s foreleg. After feeling the bone to ensure it was mended, Glimmer Shine felt no pain or soreness at all. “I think you’re good to go.” The human said with a slight smile. “Thanks… it feels good as new.” Glimmer said while getting on all fours again for the first time in a while. He stood up and turned to face the eagerly waiting group. “Ok gang, we know what to do. Our best and only bet at getting rid of these ghosts is to burn their remains… and to do that, we need to find them.” He explained with a serious expression. “Assuming we’ve got the right keys, getting into that cave shouldn’t be a problem.” Sunspot said while displaying the keyring she found with a smirk. “However, once we’re in there we’ll need to search around and find Dream Catcher’s body.” Glimmer Shine looked around at the six mares as he spoke. “Needless to say, it is going to be dangerous. Normally I would tell you all to go back to the security room with the others, but we’re a little short on gear right now, so we could use the help. And besides… I figured most of you would want to help finish what you started. Am I right in assuming that?” He asked with a small smirk building on his face as he saw the eagerness in the listening troop’s eyes. Rainbow Dash smirked confidently. “Count me in.” She said in an excited tone. “I want to help too.” Fluttershy added, mustering her best courageous expression. “Well… I think it’s safe to say we all want in.” Twilight said while glancing to Applejack and Pinkie to confirm their opinion. The two mares nodded eagerly in response. “How about you, Sparkplug? You can go stay with the others where it’s safer if you want. We can handle this.” Glitterball chimed in reassuringly, looking to the gray mare at the back of the group. “Nope.” Sparkplug shook her head firmly. “I’m sticking with you guys. I wouldn’t be a respectable member of Fun Land’s staff if I let our guests do something dangerous without help. And besides…” She pulled the bill of her hat down to better fit it on her head. “I’ve wanted to hunt ghosts my whole life. I’m not going to pass up this opportunity.” She said with a smirk. “Good to hear that we’re all on the same page.” Glimmer Shine said while walking to the door. “Are we all ready?” He asked curiously, turning to the others and looking them over expectantly. Twilight and her friends nodded as they gathered together. Sunspot and Glitterball were ready and eager, and Tom was always prepared to hunt evil creatures. “Ready when you are.” Glitterball said with a confident expression. Glimmer Shine smirked before turning to the door and flipping on his flashlight. “Alright, let’s get down to business.” He opened the door and stepped out into the hallway outside. Everyone followed the yellow pony out into the darkness in a single file line. The group left the workshop behind them and marched onward toward their final goal. The eerie silence of the rooms and hallways around them was slightly lessened by the sound of hooves treading the faded carpet and the soft breathing of the large group. With three flashlights and two unicorns between them, they were able to create a comfortable area of light that let them spread out a little bit. Twilight and her friends were toward the back of the group, while Sparkplug and the others were heading up the front. Everyone made sure to keep their eyes open and scan their surroundings vigilantly as they followed their leaders through the winding corridors. Sunspot tried to keep relatively close to the front of the group with Glimmer Shine. She would glance over at him occasionally and briefly frown before looking away. Although they weren’t sure what was going on between the pair, the others could definitely tell that something was up. Still, they decided that it was best left untouched for the moment. The stallion and the pegasus seemed to be putting things aside to finish their job at any rate. “So… how big do you think this cave is?” Rainbow Dash spoke up to break the uneasy silence. She hadn’t directed her question to anyone in particular, but Glitterball was the first to reply. “Hmm…” The white unicorn pondered for a moment before shrugging. “I suppose we haven’t really heard anything detailed about the place. Judging from the few tapes we found that mention it, and the fact that Cotton Swirl had been searching through it for quite some time, I would imagine it to be decently sized.” “And we’re supposed to just search all of it until we find what we’re looking for?” Fluttershy asked with a hint of unease in her voice. She was starting to regret agreeing to come along. The thought of exploring a dark underground cave would be scary enough if she didn’t know for a fact that it would be haunted. “That’s the idea… If we somehow can’t find the remains we need, then that brings us back to square one.” Glitterball replied. Twilight raised an eyebrow hesitantly. “What do we do if we find ourselves back at square one?” “You just let us worry about that.” Tom said. “If it came down to that, we would hike you guys back up to the surface and find a way past the animatronics so we could find a different approach… one that involves more prep work and less running around screaming for life and limb.” He suggested in a serious tone. The purple mare wouldn’t be surprised if the human would forcibly drag her back to the surface if she refused. Sparkplug chuckled sadly and sighed. “Yeah… we have been doing a lot of that recently.” As the group walked, they passed by many different rooms, all of which looked far more creepy than anyone was comfortable with searching for an extended period of time. There were mascot prep rooms spaced out in pairs or sitting by themselves every few turns. All of the numbered rooms were around the same size aside from one or two exceptions, and most of them had their lights off or their doors closed. Some of them, however, were open, allowing the ponies an unnerving look inside to catch an empty mascot suit or head staring back at them silently. The paranoia alone that a ghost would be hiding in one of the suits and come after them once they looked away was mind numbing. “So, Applejack,” Twilight turned to the orange mare with a curious expression. “What all did you do down here before we found you guys?” She asked, hoping to shed some light on what had happened to the trio after they were forced down into the abandoned resort. Applejack whistled while thinking back to her experiences with Rarity, Silver Bell, and eventually Sparkplug and the kids. “That’s a tall order you’re placin’ Twilight. We had quite the adventure while we was tryin’ to get back upstairs.” She explained. “Oooh… I like adventures!” Pinkie perked up and waited eagerly for the farm pony to share her story. Applejack smiled and shook her head before shrugging. “Well… when we first got down here, we tried headin’ to that service entrance up on the first floor.” She said with a dull and mildly exhausted expression. “I’ll bet that went over swimmingly.” Tom remarked from the front of the group with a brief chuckle. “I take it you’ve been there, then?” Applejack asked with a knowing smirk. “Yeah… you could say that. We wanted to secure a way out of here, and we figured that would be the first place you would go. We found it the way you did, judging from that hoof print in that mess of ectoplasm.” Glimmer Shine stated while looking back to the orange pony. “Who was it that stepped in that stuff anyway?” He asked curiously, eliciting a stifled giggle from the farmer. “Rarity did.” Applejack said while trying not to laugh at her absent friend’s expense. She could still remember when the unicorn had found out about the black substance a little too late. “Oh wow, really? How did she not have a stroke?” Rainbow Dash asked, doing a decidedly worse job at holding in her laughter. “She just about did. Me and Silver darn near had to peel her off the ceiling just to get her out of there. It’s too bad the exit was locked. Poor thing almost cried when she found out we did all that for nothin’.” Applejack continued while flashing a brief sympathetic expression for the white mare. “Anyway… after we got out of there, we ran into this weird robot critter that had chased us before. It crawled through the vents and kept cuttin’ us off at every turn, which is actually why we went to the second floor in the first place.” She explained while shuddering slightly at the thought of the mechanical mess of parts. “Wait, do you mean that white fox thing?” Twilight asked curiously. Applejack looked to the unicorn with a surprised expression. “You mean you saw it?” “Saw it? I guess you could say that.” Twilight shrugged. “That freak popped out of a vent when we were in the security room waiting for Tom and the others. I’m pretty sure it shaved a few years off of my life expectancy alone. It was why Sparkplug and the kids fell down to you guys. They were being chased by the animatronic.” She explained. “Yep… that sounds about right.” Sparkplug nodded in agreement. “Really?” Applejack asked with a surprised tone. “Well, I’m glad nobody got hurt. I just hope that that fox freak doesn’t come crawling down here.” She said with a hesitant expression. Twilight smirked reassuringly. “Oh, don’t worry about that thing anymore. We broke it… Well, we broke it more than it was already broken.” She explained, still wondering how such a damaged vessel could hold a spirit. “Glad to hear that.” Applejack sighed with relief before continuing. “After we ducked down the stairs to the second floor, that gate locked on us. That’s why we had to leave my hat for you all to see.” She tugged on her hat, reaffirming its rightful place on her head. “Who’s idea was that? Because I know it couldn’t have been yours.” Rainbow Dash asked curiously. Applejack narrowed her eyes slightly and shifted to a blank expression. “It was Rarity… though, I can’t rightly blame her. It was a good idea, and apparently, it worked. Still, I wish she had brought some of her fancy hairspray or somethin’.” She said, harboring a slight tone of annoyance. “Leave that girl alone to pack for five minutes and she takes half the Boutique with her, but ask her to have somethin’ on hoof in a pinch…” She paused as she noticed the wary stares she was receiving from the others. “Ahem… right… so, anyway. After we got to the second floor, we went to go find a fire escape at the back of some weird attraction meant for kids. I think it was called… pirate cove or somethin’?” “Pirate cove?” Twilight asked with a confused tone. Pinkie Pie chimed in eagerly. “That sounds like fun! Do you think we could go there after we take care of the ghosties?” She asked while looking around, hopeful that someone else would like her idea. “Heh… I thought you might like the sound of the place. It was pretty much what you would expect. There were some different areas for kids to play around in, a kiddie pool, and it had this one room that looked like a carnival. They had balloon swords, and pirate hats, and games-” Applejack started listing off the many sights to be found at the attraction when she was suddenly interrupted by a gleeful gasp from the pink pony. “Did you say balloon swords?! That sounds amazing! Oooh, guys! I know what my next party is going to be themed as!” Pinkie announced eagerly. The others couldn’t help but smile as they saw how excited their friend was. “After findin’ another locked door, we had a run in with another of those animatronics. That other fox I told you about earlier.” Applejack said while looking ahead to Tom and the others. “Is that the one that attacked you?” Tom asked curiously. “Yeah… thanks for healin’ that cut by the way.” Applejack said with a grateful expression while looking down to her previously injured leg. “We almost didn’t get away from it. Lucky for us it got scared off by that thing you saved us from.” “Sounds about right… Inhuman spirits tend to have that effect on people, even after they die.” Tom surmised. Applejack shrugged. “After that, we ran into Sparkplug and the others, found the keys to the third floor over in that museum, and you pretty much know what happened after that…” She paused as she remembered something. “Oh yeah, we ran into another of those inhuman spirit things.” “Another one? Geez, how many of those things are down here?” Sunspot asked with an uneasy expression. Tom seemed more surprised than anyone else. “Are you sure it was a different one?” He asked curiously. “Seemed like it. We didn’t get to see it, but it sounded different than that yellow thing.” Applejack shuddered slightly as she thought back to the mysterious voice that forced her and the others into hiding. “So that’s… three separate inhumans in one place? Yikes… there must be a lot of negative energy stored up to draw that kind of attention.” Tom said with a concerned expression. The group exited a hallway, only to find themselves in another open area. There was another hallway directly ahead of them, and there were two more doorways in the room off to the right. Judging from appearances, this seemed to be an in between area meant for resting and relaxing. There were a few couches against the wall next to the hallway, though they were dust ridden much like everything else. There were also several boxes in the room, with even more through one of the doorways to the right. The other doorway seemed to lead out of the room through yet another hallway. “I hope you guys know where we’re going.” Rainbow Dash fretted from the back of the group while warily inspecting how many different paths there were to take. “Relax… the cavern entrance shouldn’t be much further.” Tom said while ignoring the hallway directly ahead and cutting through the open area. The group hesitantly followed him, making sure to inspect every dark corner they passed for possible dangers. …Don’t bless this one… A deep voice echoed from somewhere around them. The ponies immediately froze and darted their heads around trying to locate the source of the eerie voice. “W-what was that?” Fluttershy asked nervously while peering out from behind her friends. “That sounded familiar…” Applejack paled as she looked around for the source of the chilling voice. “One of the inhuman spirits you were talking about?” Glimmer Shine asked uneasily. Applejack nodded. “Yeah, definitely… it sounds like that thing that trapped us in that dressing room.” “Eyes open everyone… and make sure to look away if you see any yellow lights.” Tom cautioned while still looking around. The ponies kept deathly silent as they slowly crept through the room. They weren’t even sure if whatever the voice belonged to was aware of their presence, but they didn’t want to take any risks. No matter how many times they looked around the various dark corners and doorways, they couldn’t see any sign of movement or anything yellow and menacing. “Let’s just keep moving. Maybe it doesn’t know we’re here?” Glimmer Shine suggested in a hushed tone. “It sure sounded like it knows we’re here.” Sunspot retorted in an equally quiet tone of unease. A sudden creaking sound came from the doorway to their right. As they looked into the room, they noticed that it was another storage room of sorts. There was a wide box and a shelf that were close together, nearly completely blocking their view of the back of the room. Tom silently motioned for the group to move past him as he crept closer to the door. Glimmer Shine led Twilight and the others closer to the exit. Everyone kept their eyes glued to the human approaching the room as they snuck by, making sure to be as quiet as possible. Another creak came from behind the crates as Tom reached the doorway. It sounded like something was shuffling around back there, and he did not like any of it. With the ponies watching behind him, ready to flee or help at a moment’s notice, he slowly stepped into the room. The box wasn’t very tall, but it was long enough to conceal a large area. The human tried to peer over it, but he still had to get closer. “I don’t like this… this is not a good idea.” Fluttershy whispered while anxiously watching the human. “Don’t worry, Tom knows what he’s doing.” Twilight whispered back in what she hoped would be a reassuring tone. If she was being honest with herself, she wasn’t even sure if the human had a plan of action. Tom held his palm out, ready to blast anything that moved with positively charged light. After doing a brief mental countdown, he sprang up and looked behind the crate. Much to his surprise, he didn’t see anything other than some ectoplasm smeared on the ground. “Where the hell…” Tom muttered uneasily while backing up with a confused expression. All at once, a cold chill went down his back and his senses went off defensively. Around that time, he noticed a flash of yellow directly to his right. As he spun around, he saw a blur of black, white, and yellow darting for him as a distorted scream filled his ears. Something small and surprisingly heavy leapt at him, sending him falling backwards out of the room. “Tom!” Twilight and the others widened their eyes as they saw the human being sent to the ground. There was a black shape on top of him that was hard to make out due to how much the boy was struggling with it. The shape had black ears on a rounded head, indicating that it was some sort of rabbit. Its face was white, with two black ovals for eyes. However, the eyes had yellow dots inside of them as well. Its toothless mouth was able to articulate, moving up and down frantically as the grating scream continued on. It didn’t appear to have arms, only having legs, a stubby tail, and bluish green shorts on. For all intents and purposes, it looked like an unfinished mascot suit meant to be propped up somewhere, but now it had something more sinister inside of it than a mere mannequin frame. “Gah!” Tom winced as bleeding scratches started appearing on his face. Despite the size of the rabbit, he seemed to be having a hard time getting it off of him. Finally, he managed to throw it off into the storage room. The rabbit landed behind the crate with a hollow thunk. The deafening scream ceased momentarily, being replaced by eerie silence. Tom backed up and got to his feet, running a hand over the scratches on his face before quickly healing them. “Are you ok?” Glimmer Shine asked in a concerned tone, joining the human in watching the crate for signs of movement. “I’m fine… That thing is stronger than it looks.” Tom replied. “How can something so small be so strong? It doesn’t even have arms for crying out loud.” Sunspot said with a shocked expression. “Don’t let its appearance fool you. It can use most any ability a ghost can… including being able to telekinetically interact with its surroundings.” Tom explained warily while inching forward. …God…? Where are you…? I only wish to be blessed… “Oh, I’ll give you a blessing alright you little freak,” Tom muttered while preparing himself for the hectic mess that was about to take place. “You guys head to the cavern. I’ll meet up with you once I’m sure this guy won’t follow us.” He instructed without turning away. “Tom, there’s no way we’re going to leave you to deal with that thing by yourself.” Glimmer Shine said adamantly while standing his ground. The others were inclined to agree with him. “You guys won’t be much help to me if I have to worry about you. You don’t have any equipment, and you are way out of your depth with th-” Tom was interrupted suddenly by a sound coming from in front of him. He looked ahead to see the possessed rabbit suit hopping up onto the crate, staring out at the group with its unblinking eyes. Twilight and the others averted their gaze, but they could still feel an intense sensation of dread and fear from being this close to the entity. Tom held his hand forward and unleashed a burst of positive light. The room flashed blue for a moment, and a deep and distorted yell came from the creature, though this time it was far quieter than the previous screech it made. When the light cleared, the rabbit was pushed back a little ways on the crate, and it had white smoke trailing off of it. Still, it took a step forward and kept staring ahead. “Ok, I’m getting sick of you.” Tom steeled himself before letting loose a continuous stream of light. The ponies had to shield their eyes from the intense shine. After a solid thirty seconds of nonstop exposure, the human let his arm rest at his side while inspecting the room. There was white steam everywhere, nearly obscuring his vision. The sound of something searing could be heard, along with a soft, booming chuckle. When the steam cleared, the small rabbit could still be seen on top of the crate. Aside from the searing noise and the steam, it didn’t seem to have any outward appearance of damage being done to it. “Grr…” Tom growled under his breath while looking at the mascot with disdain. He briefly turned back to the others, who were still cautiously waiting behind him. “Everyone stay back. This might get a little ugly.” He stated while relaxing both of his hands. The sound of metal scraping faintly rang out as fire flickered to life at the human’s fingertips. The flames washed over the tops of his fingers and continued out into the air, leaving his spirit weapons behind. Tom readied himself into a fighting stance as the flames died down, sizing up the rabbit and scrutinizing its every move. Although they were still concerned, the ponies backed up as the human requested. They watched the boy slowly stepping back into the storage room with tense nerves. Tom hesitantly stepped forward, moving slowly and cautiously as if he were approaching a wild animal. The rabbit was staring ahead blankly, but it didn’t seem to be paying attention to him otherwise. It was like it was staring past him, dwelling on its own thoughts as it subconsciously tried looking the intruders in the eye. Deciding that enough was enough, Tom bolted forward and made a jab at the rabbit. The possessed suit did nothing to resist, allowing the human to stab his claws through the midsection of its cartoonish body. The claws made a wet squelch as they punctured through the relatively thin suit and hit something thick and gooey inside. Some sort of yellow liquid oozed out around the four newly made holes, causing the human to cringe in disgust. …Why do you hate me…? The rabbit looked up, staring passively as the human continued to impale it. The sound of searing returned, seemingly coming from the four puncture wounds in the suit. More steam started coming from the places contacting the claws, and thinner streams of the yellow liquid started pouring out. Suddenly, the rabbit’s midsection lit on fire. Another deep, loud yell erupted from the ghostly creature and a shockwave of air shot through the room. Twilight and the others shielded their faces as a load of dust was kicked up and blown at them. They looked up, only to see that nearly every object in the room was either shaking or moving around erratically. The couches behind the ponies were rocking back and forth, smacking into the wall and nearly tipping over. The paintings that were on the walls were rotating around in place, sometimes pausing or switching directions and speeds at random. The crate and the shelf inside of the storage room were shaking so much that it seemed like they would fly up into the air at any moment. Tom stumbled backwards with the twisted mascot still hanging from his claws as the crate it was standing on broke apart. As the flames around its midsection started to spread around its body, the human heaved and tossed the rabbit away as hard as he could. The bunny smacked into the wall and fell to the floor, limp as it should have been all along. Tom backed away and out of the room as the flames grew more intense. Although the entire rabbit was engulfed now, the fire didn’t seem to be spreading or otherwise burning anything else. Everyone watched in stunned silence as the distorted voice started laughing to itself. The flames crackled, and the rabbit stared back at them while on its side, the yellow lights peering out from behind the fire. Although they weren’t looking at them directly due to the human’s warnings, the ponies could see that the yellow eyes were starting to fade. …Bless your souls… The voice echoed through the room one last time, much fainter than before. Gradually, the items around the room that were moving stopped and settled back into place. The yellow dots behind the fire slowly kept fading away, until finally, they vanished. The flames engulfing the rabbit suit slowly died down as well, leaving the charred remains of the mascot lying in a heap. There was a blackened liquid around the suit that most likely oozed out while it was burning, and the smell that it produced mixed in with the thick odor of smoke to create a nearly suffocating aroma that burned the pony’s nostrils and made them sick. Everyone stared ahead quietly while processing what had just happened. The eerie feeling of dread at the back of their minds had disappeared, leaving only the mild disturbance they felt from watching such a disquieting scene play out in front of them. Tom panted slightly while trying to catch his breath. He let his claws vanish into the fire they came from before wiping the sweat off of his forehead. “Man… I really hate those things.” He said while shaking his head. “Is it… dead?” Twilight asked while hesitantly stepping forward and staring at the charred suit. She had to remind herself that the blackened remains were just a hollow mascot suit and not some living creature that had just burned to death. “It was never alive to begin with… but yes, I think it’s gone.” Tom replied with an exhausted smile. “Nicely done, Tom… Sorry we couldn’t be of more help.” Glimmer Shine said with a hint of regret in his voice. Tom chuckled slightly. “Don’t sweat it… I handled the situation.” He looked over toward the hallway the group was heading toward beforehand. “Now… why don’t we keep moving? We don’t want to bump into any more of those creeps.” He suggested anxiously. Glimmer Shine looked over to see the group of ponies gathered beside him. Everyone seemed more than willing to move on. “Right… let’s go.” He nodded while walking toward the opening to the other hallway. The others quickly followed the stallion, casting uneasy glances back toward the storage room as they left. A few more minutes of walking through the dark hallways and the group finally reached what they assumed to be their destination. Up ahead, the hallway ended abruptly at a wall. However, there was another area that opened up on the left. The area seemed mostly unfinished, with barren walls and no carpets along the floor. And as the ponies walked closer and peered around the corner, they saw it. There was another security gate standing between them and the rest of the opening. Further along, the walls and floors gave way to actual earth and stone, with a large opening into blackness set into the face of the rock. There was a wooden support frame at the edge of their vision, and crudely placed wires running along the ceiling that stretched into the darkness. “Woah…” Sunspot’s jaw nearly dropped as she stared past the iron bars of the gate and into the opening. Her voice echoed softly, further confirming that they had found what they were looking for. “They weren’t kidding were they?” Tom said while looking around with an impressed expression. Glimmer Shine walked over to the door of the gate and gave it a cursory tug. Of course, the bars were locked tight, and a keyhole was set into the base of the handle. “Hand me those keys.” He instructed while holding his hoof out behind him. Sunspot gave the keyring to the stallion and watched as he started trying keys. After exhausting several of the keys on the ring, the stallion finally found one that fit the lock. The gate unlocked and slid open with an aged creak, allowing the group to walk forward up to the entrance to the cave. Spotting a light switch screwed into the wooden support frame that led up to the string of wires, Glitterball flipped the switch with her magic. The sound of aged bulbs flickering to life came from up ahead, and a soft orange glow illuminated the narrow tunnel, coming from bare lights hanging from wires. A cold waft of air seeped out of the cavernous opening, sending a chill through the band of ponies gathered before it. “Any last minute changes of heart?” Glimmer Shine asked curiously while turning toward the group. “We’re not that far away from the security room… we could take anyone that doesn’t want to go in there.” Although they were harboring feelings of nervousness and uncertainty, nobody spoke up as they blankly stared back at the stallion. Glimmer shrugged while turning back to the cave entrance. “Ok… let’s go spelunking, shall we?” He stated with a slight hint of unease in his voice, though nobody could blame him. Twilight and the others followed their four companions as they walked into the tunnel. Their footsteps echoed as they treaded the rocky floor. Their lights cast deep shadows along the walls and ceiling. Even though the opening wasn’t exactly small, everyone felt a little claustrophobic as they continued into the darkness. Just outside of the opening to the cave, and completely unnoticed by the ponies marching forward, a shadowy figure was lingering near the open gate. It watched the fading light from the group vanishing into the tunnel, silently observing them. With a faint chuckle, the figure slowly staggered forward and headed into the rocky opening, its yellow eyes piercing the darkness.