Terror in Paradise, Part one
"All right, ladies and gents!" Gusty declared, holding a glass of soda high into the air, her cheeks flushed with red. "Let's get this party swingin' here!"
All around the partying ponies danced and sang, the bright lights and pounding beats rocking the joint. The blue unicorn D.J. laid down the hot tunes on her turntable, while the white earth mare Scoops served up ice cream sodas and cider at the refreshment table, while all the other ponies danced the night away. After all the battles won and foes defeated, it was a rare time for these ponies to celebrate.
And what a reason to celebrate, indeed! In memory of those who had passed, Queen Majesty had ordered the ruined Paradise Estate rebuilt and restored, as a memorial to the ponies who had lost their lives here in Tirek's viscous and brutal attack. After the building and surrounding structures had been fully and authentically restored, the queen had decreed that a party be held to celebrate the estate's re purposing into a foreign embassy for Dream Valley, where an ally of the kingdom would soon take up residence.
"Hey, Fizzy, wanna try the limbo?" Surprise asked, as she and Glory set the pole up. "How low can this mare go?"
"Ohhh, sounds like fun!" The ditzy unicorn trotted up to the pole, and winked from one side of the pole to the other. "Yay, I did it! What did I win?"
"Oh, Fizzy..." Glory moaned in disgust, as Surprise burst out laughing.
"Wow, that's one for the record books!" The crazy Pegasus giggled, falling backwards in midair.
"Hey, are you sure you haven't had enough to drink, Gusty" Scoops asked, as she served up the mare's seventh ice cream soda. "You know how hyper you get when you have too much sugar!"
"Awww,, don't be silly, you old worry wart!" The mare jumped up onto the table, yelling at the top of her lungs. "Okay, this party is too dead, EVERYBODY CONGA!"
Many ponies present were overjoyed by the gathering, while a few were a little too somber to be enjoying the party. Outside, Paradise was looking over a large earth mound that had been dug, and heaped upon a mass grave that stood nearby the estate.
"Lofty... Cupcake...Truly...." The mare whinnied mournfully, looking at the memorial plaque in front of her. "What right did I have to live, while so many of you perished in such a terrible way? I don't deserve to be standing here, today..."
"Paradise, what are you doing standing out here?" Wind Whistler asked, trotting out of the nearby estate. "We were just about to initiate the primitive tribal gyration the humans call the twist, and-" She stopped suddenly, seeing what the mare was staring at. "Oh dear, Paradise, I didn't realize...."
"No, it's all right, Windy." Paradise sighed, turning her face away to hide her tears. "They were traitors anyway, what pony could possibly mourn them?"
"Paradise, they were our friends, too." The genius mare put a hoof on her weeping friend's shoulder. "We all feel-"
“Heyyyy, there you to are!” A overly hyper Gusty exclaimed, coming out and putting her hooves around the two other mares’ necks. “What’re you both doing out here? Doncha know there’s an awesome party going on in There?”
“Salutations, Gusty.” Wind Whistler greeted the other pony, trying to disentangle herself from the unicorn. “While we appreciate your pointing this factor out to us, I suggest the hypothesis that the two of us would prefer to remain out- ahhhhhhh!”
Before the two mares had a chance to protest, the hyper unicorn had yanked them both back inside the manor house, giggling and laughing all the way.
…
The party continued for several hours, until many of the ponies present were too exhausted to continue. More and more couples continued to leave the party, until only Wind Whistler, Fizzy, Gusty, Paradise, and Gypsy remained.
“You girls sure you can make it back to the castle in one piece?” Quarterback Score asked his wife, as he and other husbands got ready for the long trot home. “One of us could stay here with you five, until the party’s really over.
“Naww, you boys just head along home, and get some rest.” Gusty replied, rubbing her spouse’s nose. “We’ll be along later, and you and I can… score a few touchdowns.”
Quarterback laughed, as the other mares in the room all blushed at Gusty’s bluntness. Finally, after all of the stallions had galloped away, the mares all gathered around a table and chairs, Gypsy had set up, in the middle of the room.
“Now gazer round, girls, as I prepare to call upon zee ponies zhat haff pazzed on.” Gypsy said cryptically, as Gusty dimmed the lights, and Fizzy lit a candle. “If vou will all take each others hooves, I vill attempt to reach zee ozer side!”
“The other side of what, the wall?” Fizzy asked, taking Paradise and Wind Whistler’s hooves. “Oh, I could just walk outside and tell you what’s there!”
“She means the afterlife, you big dummy!” Gusty snapped at her bubble-headed friend. “All right! I’ve been waiting for something cool like this séance all evening.”
“I really don’t think this is a good idea… contacting the spirits of the dead here. I really can’t believe Gypsy agreed to do this.” Paradise whinnied nervously. “Besides, I don’t even think Wind Whistler believes in this sort of thing.”
“And why not?” The blue Pegasus snorted indignantly. “The afterlife and the existence of the spirit world are well documented facts! Why should I even consider doubting their veracity?”
“Well, all the human world scientists on the television always say that all that paranormal stuff isn’t real.” Fizzy pointed out, speaking up with the others. “They said it’s all unscientific, and shouldn’t be taken seriously.”
“What utter hogwash! What they call the supernatural is simply a science so advanced, that we do not yet understand it.” The blue mare scowled. “A true scientist is open to any possibility- with proper controlled experiments and theorizing, of course. “They do not crystallize their hypothesis into an unchallengeable dogma they vehemently defend in the face of all other theories. I have little use for such overzealous skepticism, as it is not the sign of a true scientist, but instead the sign of an arrogant fool.”
“Vind Vistler, if vou vill please get off you high soapbox und zit down, ve would like to vegin.” The Pegasus mare complied, and Gypsy continued. “Now all of vou, please conzentrate on ze vlame. Zink of our vriends who haf gone on to ze next vorld, und ve shall try to make contact vith zem again. Conzentrate…”
They all stared quietly into the flame, and focused their minds on the ponies they wished to talk to. But as the minutes slipped away into hours, nothing even remotely supernatural occurred, in the darkness around them. The silence gradually wore away at the gathered mares’ patience, until one could stand it no longer.
“That does it, this séance stinks!” Gusty snapped, jumping back to her hooves. “Leave it to a pack of losers like Truly and her bunch, not ta show up at a seance in their honor!”
“Why Gusty! What an awful utterance to make!” Wind Whistler declared, shocked at her friend’s cruel words. “I can’t believe you would disrespect the deceased in such a manner!”
“Yeah, Truly and the other girls were our friends!” Fizzy protested, looking at the other pony angrily. “In fact, I’m starting to think this séance might have been a lil’ disrespectful to their memory .”
“Awww, get off yer high human, Fizzy!” Gusty snapped back. “Those gals were traitors, and we’re better off with them in the ground instead of here!” The white unicorn barked, clearly still suffering the effects of the excess sugar. “Besides I wish ol’ Truly herself was here right now, so I could give her a piece of my mind!”
At just that moment, a lightening bolt suddenly cracked outside, booming across the clear sky above. Not able to take the cruel remarks her friend had just made, Paradise suddenly burst into tears, and covered her face in her hooves.
“Awww Paradise, I didn’t mean you!” Fizzy protested, as the weeping mare galloped out of the room. “Please come back!”
As thier friend ran out of the room, Wind Whistler simply rolled her eyes.
“What utterly juvenile behavior!” Wind Whistler snorted in disgust. “Come on, Fizzy. Let’s go see if we can catch up with her.“
“Wheee, I like missions!“ The goofy blue unicorn replied , skipping after the other mare. “Heyyy, wait up for me!”
Gypsy put out the candle, as the lights suddenly came back on again. But looking out one of the estate's windows, she began thinking about what had just happened.
“What a horrible interruption that was." Gypsy thought to herself, with a frown on her face. “I just hope Gusty didn’t stir up a hornet’s nest, with that crude little remark..."
…
Outside of the estate, green mists began to hover and swirl around the burial mound where the slain ponies lay. Suddenly, the mound began to shake and rumble, as if a living thing were inside of it, trying to get out. A cold wind blew across the estate grounds, and a shadow covered the light of the moon. Terrified animals fled in every direction, as a hissing sound and a foul stench emanated from the disturbed soil.
“Rhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!”
Suddenly, a decayed, moldy white hoof burst forth from the top of the mound, followed by the half decayed snout of a yellow earth pony. Before two long, the very mound itself exploded outward… and the decayed, maggot ridden forms of a dozen mares clambered from the resulting hole. Truly, Cupcake, Magic Star and the other friends of the Dream Valley ponies walked the earth once more. But as they shambled their way towards the great house, something other than friendship was now on thie half-decomposed minds.
“Brrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaainssssssssssssssss!”