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// Little Mouse 
// Story: Count's Traveling Haunted House 
// by misskoifishpony 
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After what seemed to be a half an hour of walking, Discord and Fluttershy were still walking down that same lit hallway. So far, they haven't encountered any monsters and ghouls on this path. Not even a fake trinket to drop from the ceiling to give them a good scare. They kept strolling through the long hallways, turning left to right. Then right to left. And so on and forth. It seemed endless, especially Discord. He was starting to get bored on how long this little maze was. Count Batula should have called this place the Haunted Labyrinth.

Discord was silently begging was something, just anything to pop up in order to break the silence and to break the route of this horrible hallway. His feet were killing him, and his eyes were getting sick of this candlelight. He can almost feel the bangs and dark circles form underneath his eyes. However…there was…one perk about this situation. During their wandering of this hallway, Discord's tail was still wrapped around Fluttershy's waist.

Discord couldn't believe how Fluttershy was still allowing his tail to be around her waist. Maybe she was enjoying this like he was? That thought made Discord smile a little and blush. He didn't know why it made him smile and blush…it just did.

Discord's suspicions were correct. The reason Fluttershy was still allowing his tail to be coiled around her was because she was enjoying it too. She couldn't really come up with a good answer as to why she enjoyed other than it made her feel safe. She felt safe just like she would feel safe back in her cottage with her animals. She couldn't explain why it made her feel safe. Maybe because he was her friend? To her, that wasn't the full answer. Maybe it was the thought that he was deeply concerned about her? To Fluttershy, that was part of the answer but not quite there yet.

Discord's and Fluttershy's blissful thoughts were soon interrupted by the soft but gradual build of beautiful organ music echoing in the hallway. Discord and Fluttershy tried to look beyond the corner approaching them, to see where this organ was. But more importantly, who was the pony playing the organ? Discord's tail tightened around Fluttershy's waist in accordance to his protective instinct over her. Fluttershy looked up to Discord to see what exactly he was going to do next.

With an expressionless but determined look on his face, he slowly starts walking towards the corner which forces Fluttershy to do the same. However, because of her building fear, she felt like walking slowly like Discord. As they were heading towards the corner, the beautiful organ music leisurely increased in volume little by little. As the volume increased, the echoes bouncing off the hallway began to die down a little. It was a sign that the organ is indeed right around the corner.

When Fluttershy and Discord turned left at the corner, they were greet by a bright but dark orange light. The lighting looking like the glow of the Harvest Moon. They almost had to squint their eyes in order to see through this light and properly walk around this corner. Being in the darkness and dim candlelight for so long has made Discord and Fluttershy almost blind.

Once they adjusted to the light, they saw an opened arch entrance. And through this arched entrance, Discord and Fluttershy saw a large but stone ballroom with multiple stain glass windows placed high on the ceiling. Even though, the ballroom depicted the multiple colors of the stain glass, the Harvest Moon's orange glow was the dominant light in the ballroom. The ballroom was empty…except for a massive and towering organ in the center of the room and a red cloaked pony playing it.

Discord and Fluttershy watched the red cloaked pony play for a couple of minutes. They watched him play with both suspicion and curiosity. The red cloaked pony ended his song gracefully, yet this graceful ending left an echoing and haunting sound. Discord then swifted his position to be almost in front of Fluttershy, but Fluttershy was still able to keep her gaze on the organ pony.

The organ pony removed his buttoning for his red cloak and it fell off his shoulders with ease. Then, he stretched and expanded his giant dark brown and black bat wings. With his red cloak gone, it is revealed that the pony has a dark brown coat with a dark black mane and tail. His mane and tail had small streaks of grey and white. Both his mane and tail were elegantly long and tied by black ribbons.

A booming but hearty laughter filled the atmosphere in the ballroom, and it made Discord and Fluttershy tense up instantly. The organ pony turned around to face them, while laughing maniacally. Discord and Fluttershy were able to get a good look of his face. He had one large vampire fang sticking out on his left side on his mouth. To accompany this tooth, there was a normal vampire fang on his right side of his mouth. He also had bushy and defined black eyebrows above his glowing golden eyes. His face was long and refined, and his bat ears were tall and pointed to match his face.

The bat pony laughed and proclaimed in his Transylvanian accent "Good evening! Visitors, welcome to my beloved and humbled abode!"

Discord snarled at the bat pony and extended his claws and talons.

The bat pony started to fly towards the couple, and continued "I am Count Batula, the master of this manor! And I…"

Count Batula's planned out speech was interrupted when he saw Fluttershy, hiding slightly behind the ready to attack Discord. Count Batula's eyes widen and his jaw almost dropped to the floor when he saw her giant teal eyes.

The only thing he could utter in that moment was "M-M-Mouse? Is that you, my little mouse?"

Fluttershy gave him a nervous smile, she popped her head out of Discord's side and waved "Hello Papa."

Discord exclaimed "PAPA?!"