Sweetie's Mansion

by Moon Shooter

Chapter 6- The Maiden in the Mirrored Hallway[REBOOT]

"Sweetie...? Sweetie wake up."

A voice. It was distant.

Echoey.

Ghost like.

An instinct told Sweetie to get up and run, but her body refused to co-operate with her. So instead, she just lied there, hoping whatever was calling to her, would just go away, and not hurt her.

"Sweetie..." the voice said. "Oh Celestia, don't you dare... Please wake up... please..." It was much clearer this time, and less ghostly. In fact, it became progressively more apparent that the voice was sobbing. It was familiar. It was older than most ponies she knew, but familiar all the same. Suddenly, the memories flowed back to her. The plane, the mansion, the ghosts and of course, the battle with Applejack ghost. Sweetie opened her eyes, light flooding her pupils. Her vision was still blurred though. Everything she looked at from her current position blended into each other like it wet paint. It took an abnormal amount of will, but Sweetie finally found the power to get up. As she did, blood rushed from her head. Her headache invited her to go back to lying on the ground.

"Oh, thank Celestia. Your... your still ok."

Sweetie turned to see her senior lavender pony, smiling at her. Sweetie weakly smiled back, before collapsing back to the ground again. Twilight rushed over to help the little filly. She felt her coat and gasped.

"Oh no Sweetie! Your freezing!" Twilight said. "...wait, I know. Hold on Sweetie. Stay awake for me, please don't fall asleep. I'll be right back."

Twilight laid the filly down, back on the ground, giving her the saddlebags on her own back to use as a makeshift pillow. Twilight unlocked the door to the safe zone and ran out.

"T...Twilight don't..." Sweetie strained. The old mare was out and gone before she could even stop her. It wasn't as if she even had the strength to anyway. Sweetie just lied there. If she didn't feel pain, or had her muscles just a little bit heavier, she might have assumed she was dead. She felt her very life force was extremely weak, if not slipping away. Was it that battle with Applejack that did it? What did she do to her?

"Oh... I think I'm dying." Sweetie whispered out loud, not as a fact, but just to see how it sounded. It sounded right. Not dead. Dying. She was sure of it. If this wasn't dying, she wasn't sure what was. "Twilight..." Where had she gone? What was she trying to do? Save her? "Twilight..." She couldn't. It was impossible. Even if there was some magic spell that could fix whatever had happened in that fight, it was doubtful Twilight even had the magical energy to cast such a spell. "Twilight..."

Sweetie continued mumbling her name as she lie on the ground, waiting for her to return. She wasn't sure if she was doing this just as a prayer that Twilight would return, or a hope the sound of her voice would keep her conscious and from slipping back into a darkness she might not have climbed out of again. As she did, she tried recalling the fight in more detail. The green bolt of lightning that hit her. It did something to her body that shouldn't have happened.

--Incompatible.

It definitely changed her. She didn't know why, but she felt different. She felt like she'd been changed somehow after the fight with Applejack. But what was it? Was it anything that could help her?

--Nachos!

Considering at the moment she was a borderline vegetable, she doubted it.

As minutes rolled by, Sweetie got more and more worried about Twilight. Sweetie thought of trying to get up again to go after her. Thankfully, the horrible dying feeling started to leave her (or maybe she was just getting used to it), but either way her body was exhausted. Sweetie wondered that if she felt like this for each of her friends (if she could manage to stand up against them that is), how she'd manage to catch them. It wasn't difficult to conclude that it was the bolt that came from Applejack was responsible for her weakness. For all she knew, the GCD could be the cause. Since she felt so bad now, if another of those bolts hit her again in her condition-

Finally, after about 10 minutes of silence in the room, the door to the safe zone opened back up again. Sweetie used the little remaining strength she had to turn her head towards the door. It was Twilight, returned and limping back into the room. Twilight had definitely seen a ghost out there as she panted from running. She held something up weakly with her magic telekinetic powers. It was a red, glowing, heart shaped jewel.

"Here Sweetie. Open your mouth and suck on this." Twilight said, levitating the heart in front of the filly. "Trust me. It should help a little."

Sweetie followed the mare's order and opened her mouth. The jewel like thing was placed gently in her mouth, dropped on her cheek. Sweetie closed her mouth and begun to suck on the jewel. Rather, it wasn't a jewel, and Sweetie realized as her taste buds began reacting to the thing in her mouth. It was some kind of piece of rock candy, and a strange piece at that. At first, it was bitter, like a piece of unsweetened chocolate. Sweetie recalled having a similar 'treat' back at Sugarcube Corner. She hated the flavor, and almost wanted to spit the piece of candy out. But hey, if it's some kind of medicine, then it's not supposed to taste good, right? Then, the flavor changed drastically from bitter to sour. Sweetie remembered tasting candies like this on Nightmare Night. She remembered liking the particular flavor for a time, and eventually getting sick, and losing the craving for the flavor. Finally, the flavor transitioned from sour to sweet. Sweetie thought of Pinkie at that moment.

She remembered how the pink pony would always offer all of her friends different treats and flavors she experimented with. All of which, had a similar, candy-like sweetness as the flavor in her mouth. One of her favorites that the pink party pony had given to them was the baked cinnamon butterscotch apples, with an ice-cream center, Pinkie had. Sweetie thought of the richness of the treat, and how it would also make her sick. Though, it was still so good, she'd always come back with her allowance to buy another one.

Huh. Sweetie wondered. Where was the pink party pony anyway? Had she met the same fate as Applejack?

--Soon

Sweetie felt her strength returning as the candy melts in her mouth. Actually, that might be an understatement as the candy almost felt like it was regenerating her entire body. Within moments, her aches were gone, her bones weren't sore, her headache was gone, and her vision was returning to normal. Perhaps even a little better. It wasn't long before the filly hoped back up on all four of her legs, fully rejuvenated.

"Woah!" Sweetie exclaimed, surprised from the sudden rush of energy.

"Looks like some pony’s feeling better."

"That's amazing Twilight!" To confirm her health, Sweetie stomped her hind hoof down twice. No pain, the bone was fixed! "What was that?"

"It's a little something I put together while you were gone..." Twilight explained. "I forget the official name for if, but by its shape, I call it 'heart candy' or 'heart jewels'. It's a rock candy I made in the kitchen down by the dining hall."

"Kitchen? I didn't see a kitchen."

"That's probably because you were running for your life. I heard the commotion from earlier all the way down here and rushed up only to find it was over by the time I got there. Celestia I feel slow..." Twilight sighed. "Anyway, I figured if I couldn't help you catch ghosts, I could at least do something to make your job a task a little easier. I doubted you'd be able to fight those things all by yourself without something a little extra. I saw the mess you made up there and it hurt me to know you could at any time be severely injured."

"So you made these?"

Twilight nodded.

"...how?" Sweetie tilted her head. These 'heart candies' were anything but your run of the mill first aid. This weird tasting treat virtually gave Sweetie a new body.

"That's... kind of something I wanted to talk to you about as well. The candy..." Twilight thought for a moment. "To explain why this is so strange would be to explain their origin. Care for a little history lesson Sweetie?"

"Would you stop if I said no?" Sweetie asked.

Twilight ignored her. "The heart candies recipe is based on a universal healing spell taught, or rather mentioned in the restoration classes in the College of Canterlot. You know, where mare and stallion unicorns go to learn advanced magic. There, they say that this candy, or medicine was developed back in the more violent ages of Equestria. When we used to war with the neighboring zebra and griffon countries for land and resources." she sighed. "I'm sure they must have been mentioned in your classes?"

Sweetie nodded. "Yeah. A lot of them were hurt or... what about them? Those were almost a hundred years ago!"

"Try a thousand plus that." Twilight corrected. "If it was that short of time, we'd probably still be feeling the effects today. Anyway, in those times it was common for ponies to be seriously injured. So unicorns developed that medicine to heal ponies quickly so they could head back into battle. Hence these heart candies."

"Oh..."

"Now is there something that seems strange already?"

"Um..." Sweetie thought for a few moments before finally answering. "Yeah! If they were that good, why don't we use them today? Is what we have better?"

Twilight shook her head. "No actually. What the medical ponies of today use is a significant downgrade from the heart candies they used back then. Really, the only downside to them is the higher the frequency one eats them, the less effective they become."

"So why use something worse?"

"It's expensive. The resources to make these heart candies are so rare, it might cost a small fortune to make one cheap knock off of the candy, let alone the actual thing. They honestly don't require a lot of unicorn magic to work, so most of it's effects come from it's ingredients."

"But you made one."

"Correction. I made a number of them. I even had one on my way back to restore some energy. Which shouldn't have been possible."

"Huh?"

"Sweetie, when I came up after you fought that ghost, I had to find a way to help you. Since it wasn't the best idea to wander too far away from the safe room, the kitchen was the best option. I wasn't expecting to find anything useful if worst came to worst... which it did. But there they were, the ingredients set up, in order, in one of the kitchen shelves. It was just so... well, impossible that if the idea of the heart candies didn't pop into my head, I wouldn't have made the connection between the ingredients." Twilight closed her eyes. "And worst of all, just like the other supplies, I feel like they were set up just for us."

There was silence.

"...well... I don't think it's a bad thing they're there. Who knows what would have happened if you didn't get that to me."

"True. Still..." Twilight shook her head. "No, you're right. I should be thankful. You might have come back to a breathing corpse if I didn't get one in me."

Sweetie shuddered.

"Sorry for the image. But anyway, the point is I managed to put together the ingredients and squeeze out enough magical energy to create as many heart candies as I could."

"Are you sure that was a good idea?" Sweetie asked.

"It was an investment. The heart candies, along with healing the body, also restores more magical energy than what's input in the first place. In turn, I managed to make as many as the ingredients available would allow."

"Huh... oh, and why do they taste like that? Because of the ingredients?"

"No, I just threw in a few extra flavors I spied in the kitchen. To make it taste better."

"Better, huh?"

"Yeah. Something wrong?"

Sweetie nodded. "Yeah, uh... no offense Twilight, but could you leave the candy making to Sweetie?"

"Hmph. Don't be like that Sweetie. You should have tasted them without anything added."

Sweetie shrugged. True, some taste was better than no taste at all, she figured. Or at least better than whatever Twilight had said was there before.

"Well that's cool... and it wasn't all that bad either... wait... Wait, you left the room?"

"I think I said so." Twilight responded. "Twice if you count the time I just went out."

"Are you sure that was a good idea? Even if I was in trouble."

"Those ghosts aren't interested in me Sweetie. After all, they took most of my spirit, so what's left isn't enough to attract them... though I will admit, I did have a close call with one on my way back. I twisted my hoof a bit." Twilight sighed, looking at her left hind hoof, which was slightly out of place. "Doesn't look like I'm going back out back anytime soon."

"Oh... that's good."

"What?" Twilight asked annoyed.

"W-well you shouldn't have gone out anyway. Even if it turned out for the better, that... that was really stupid Twilight." Sweetie criticized.

"I was scared for you Sweetie." Twilight responded. "Fear makes you do stupid things."

Sweetie kept her mouth to that response, remembering how she had mindlessly followed Applejack's orders out of pure fear.

Another shudder. I can't let that happen again... Sweetie thought. "...well, do you have any more of those candies?"

"That's the other thing." Twilight hung her head shamefully. "I kind of... lost them."

"What? How?" Sweetie asked.

"...they were red I think. The ghosts that attacked me on my way back. A few passed by me, but one of them decided to go after me. The one I've never seen them before. Must have been a new type." Twilight contemplated. "...oh yes. They surprised me, causing me to drop the bag of candies I had, spilling them everywhere. They stopped focusing on me, and went for the candies. I guess ghosts like those things... then again those things are like little tiny spirits in candy form the way they contain and generate their own magic through magical chemistry. Anyway, they gathered up the ones I dropped I had and flew off with them. I ran back here. At the time, I thought they missed one. I was in too much pain to go back and check... but then I found you lying here. I thought you were dead."

"Oh... so your saying that there are more of those hearts somewhere around the mansion?" Sweetie asked.

"If a ghost can't digest or absorb them, then probably." Twilight said. "But that's enough from me. Why did you come back? Did something go wrong?"

Oh. She doesn't know. Sweetie smiled triumphantly.

It was then Twilight realized Sweetie's new headwear. "Sweetie? Where did you get that hat?"

"I got her." Sweetie said.

"W-what?"

"I got her Twilight! I found her, and caught her!" Sweetie said.

"Y-you mean you found one of my friends? Already?" Twilight said in awe. "...Applejack?"

Sweetie nodded in confirmation.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Twilight said excitedly. "Let's put her through the spirit printer!"

"Is that what it is?" Sweetie asked, walking over to the spirit printer machine.

"Well, that's what I call for now anyway." Twilight said.

Sweetie stuck the nozzle into the hole in the machine like Twilight demonstrated earlier.

"Processing..." the spirit printer said in its mono toned computerized voice.

The machine whirled, taking out the three ghosts from the GCD, and moving them through the machine. The three lights that were previously lit green on the GCD went red again. The first painting to pop out was of the foal ghost. It was dressed in a diaper and a bib. It sat in the middle of the painting, drooling on a block.

"Aww..." Twilight said. "It's so cute. How could you catch such an adorable little ghost?"

"Trust me, I could deal with it." Sweetie mumbled to herself.

The next thing to come out came out in a golden frame. It was the mouse that Sweetie caught in order to retrieve the key. Sweetie saw what the book meant by "valuable" as the gold shined in the light of the room.

"A mouse?" Twilight asked, puzzled by this painting.

"Yeah. It had the key to where Applejack was..." Sweetie said.

Finally, another golden painting popped out of the machine. It was a portrait of Applejack. She wore a smug look, as she straightened the dress of tan and green she was wearing, tied together by a red button in the shape of an apple.

"Odd." Twilight mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just... that dress is all."

Sweetie shrugged. "If you say so. Okay, we have her. Now what?"

"I'm not entirely sure yet." Twilight laughed nervously. "I really didn't think we'd get this far."

"But we've only got one of them." Sweetie said. "Don't tell me you didn't think I could do it in the first place."

"O-of course I did. I err... I..." Twilight thought for a moment, trying to come up with an excuse. "I didn't expect you to get back so quickly!"

Gee. So much for the vote of confidence Sweetie thought.

"You didn't waste any time catching her. I don't think you were even gone an hour!" Twilight said, trying to cheer the filly up. "Hey, who knows Sweetie. Maybe you have a special talent in ghost catching!"

"Yeah..." Sweetie frowned, as she just remembered something.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Twilight asked.

"It's... kind of ironic you say that. The whole reason we're here is because my friends... we were supposed to try to get our cutie marks today... we... we even built a plane and everything... kind of how we got here in the first place..." Sweetie said. Twilight, though her curiosity wanted to know how the filly found her way so far from Ponyville in the first place, she let her continue. "Just thinking about them now I guess. I don't know what he did to Scootaloo from what you said, and I don't know a thing about Applebloom right now either... I don’t know. I guess I know how you feel with your friends and all... I guess I just miss them, is all. I just hope they're ok... even if they're ghosts..."

"...Sweetie... there's something I've been meaning to tell you. You might find this interesting." Twilight said.

"What?" Sweetie asked.

"I err... remember when I first saw you?" Twilight asked.

"In the foyer?" Sweetie asked.

"No. In the hallway of the room you were sleeping in. When that ghost first tried to... you know." Twilight said.

"Yeah?" Sweetie said. She had run out of the room too fast to notice anything, or anyone else. Only that a light had somehow saved her. "What about it?"

"Well, a little after you ran out, I started hearing things. At first, I thought it was a ghost, but ... It sounded normal. Creepy as hay, the way they laughed, and muttered, but normal. It was the sound of a filly." Twilight said. "I... I thought I was just imagining it. You know, this mansion plays tricks with your head... mostly because I didn't see anything in the hallway. Then again, I didn't really investigate. I had to save you, after all."

"Really? D-do you think that one of my friends could be there?" Sweetie asked.

"If you’re feeling brave enough... it's a place to start looking." Twilight said.

"Okay then. I guess I'm off then. I feel the best I've felt all night now, so if I could keep myself safe before, nothing can stop me now!" Sweetie said, taking the nozzle of the GCD out of the spirit printer. She headed for the door to the safe room and stopped. "Um... Twilight?"

"Yes Sweetie?" Twilight said.

"Um... promise me you won't leave here again? I mean, not unless it's urgent, or you have no choice or-" Sweetie was stopped by the waving hoof of Twilight.

"Don't worry about that Sweetie. I can barely run anywhere until my hoof has healed." she smiled. "And besides, I've still got to figure out how to resurrect my friend from the dead. Trust me, I'll be too busy to worry about what's out there. I won't be going anywhere."

"Ok. Just making sure." Sweetie said. "I'll bring back whoever I find, ok?"

"Alright Sweetie. Remember, be careful, and stay out of trouble."

Yeah, like that'll be easy. Sweetie said as Twilight opened the door to the safe zone, and Sweetie walked back out into the cold of the mansion.

***

Sweetie headed back out to the candle lit foyer. She took her map out of her saddlebags, checking for her destination. According to the map and Sweetie's own memory, there were three doors at the top of that stairway. The one farthest to the left should have been the hallway where her bedroom was. Evidently the same hallway Twilight claimed to hear the filly laughter come from.

The thought that her friend could possibly behind that door and just down the hall gave Sweetie mixed feelings. The idea of being reunited with one of her friends was exciting in itself, however since that story Twilight told with Scootaloo, she couldn't help but worry. What if it was Scootaloo? And what if what happened to Spike happened to her as well?

She shook her head. One point or another, she'd have to face all of her friends. The Elements of Harmony and if it came to it, her fellow crusaders. Now wasn't the time to be afraid. With this mindset did Sweetie find the courage to walk up the staircase and head to the door.

Suddenly, as the filly put her hoof on the door knob, everything went dark again.

"What the-"

There was a woosh that went throughout the foyer, as though a gust of wind rushed through. The candles were blown out by a that wind with no source.

-Something's coming.

Sweetie panicked, trying to open the door. The problem was, that it was locked.

"No, no, no. Don't tell me I need another key." She shined the light on the door, to confirm her suspicions. "No. No way."

Her suspicions were wrong. Dead wrong.

"There's no hole. There's no hole!"

There wasn't even a key hole.

W-what?! How am I supposed to get through no-

Sweetie's thoughts are interrupted by the sound of ghostly laughter. Immediately after the laugh, a red pony ghost phased through the door, just short of scaring the life out of Sweetie. It had a long tongue that stuck out of its mouth as if it were licking it's lips at the filly. She screamed, jumped back, and tripped over her hind legs. The next thing she knew, she was tumbling back down the stare case, due to some misplaced footing. She fell to the bottom, and lied there in a daze and moaning in pain.

She shook her head, and got back up.

"No... no way!"

There wasn't just one of these ghosts. There were three of these red ghosts, one from each door, coming down after her now.

Sweetie was outnumbered three to one. It wasn't looking good for the little filly. The chill was unbearable as her teeth chattered and her body became stiff from the cold aura the three ghosts emitted. Sweetie backed up as the ghosts approached her.

I'm going to die. I'm going to die. Sweetie thought over and over as the distance between her and the ghosts seemed to become smaller and smaller. They let out wet, slobbery laughs, as if they were licking their lips as they laughed at her fear. Their elongated tongues swung side to side with the whisps that used to be their lower half like the pendulum of a grandfather clock. Just as she was about to touch her flank to the fountain, she gritted her teeth. What am I doing? C'mon Sweetie! Move!

Sweetie knew this was just short of impossible. But if she didn't do something she would more than certainly join the fate of the rest of her friends.

"No..." Yes, this was bad, and probably impossible, but she wasn't prepared to lose without a fight. "Aaah!" Sweetie gave a mad cry as she took her flashlight out with her hoof, clicked it on, and fiercely swept the three with the light from the flashlight. Between the speed of the swing, and how hard it was to keep a hold of the device in her hooves in the first place, the flashlight flew out of her hooves and across the foyer, stopping against the wall. It flickered a little as it rolled to a stop, though remained on for the time being.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

But that didn't matter at the moment. Those dings were her cue.

She then aimed for the ghost at the center of the pack with the nozzle of the GCD. She hit the button and started to suck the first ghost in.

10, 9, 8,

--Remember the yank--

yank, 765-

The other ghosts vanished as the middle one struggled to get away from her. They were likely restoring whatever shield from the GCD suction the flashlight had destroyed. Like the last one, the ghost dragged Sweetie around the foyer. As she rammed into various walls as the ghost tried to shake her off, she couldn't help wishing she ate more back in Ponyville. She was sure she'd receive more bruises from the ghost running away from her than she would it attacking her.

"3. 2, 1, 0. Magic depleted. Capturing ghost."

The ghost let out one final cry before getting captured.

"Capture successful."

"Alright..." Not bad. She got one. "One down, two to go. Now, where are you...?" Sweetie said to herself, trying to keep her calm in the dark chilled foyer.

She blinked. The flashlight.

Here she was looking for another ghost to fight, and she didn't realize she didn't have anything to fight it with. Sweetie rushed for the wall her flashlight was against. Just as she was almost at the door, one of the red ghosts phased through the wall for a surprise attack.

"Gah!" Sweetie had to much forward momentum to stop. Instead, she tossed herself on her side to duck down as low as possible. The ghost flew over her, skimming her coat with the maddening chill. She then scrambled up, stuck the flashlight in her mouth and whirled around. The ghost was still flying in the same direction. Sweetie looked at it with a puzzled expression for a moment. From behind her, she heard another laugh.

"Oh no way."

Before she could make another move, the filly was then greeted with a swift whip on her flank. "Wah!"

Sweetie was knocked forward by the whip like tongue of the other ghost in the wall onto her face.

"Hehehe*slurp*hehehehehaha*slurp*haha"

Both ghosts now looked at her from a distance and laughed at her as Sweetie got up annoyed. "Oh, I'll give you something to laugh about."

With her new found vendetta against the ghost who's tongue went where no tongue should ever touch little fillies, she whirled around as fast as she could and hit the red ghost with the beam of light.

"Hehe-" while the other ghost continued laughing, the one in Sweetie's beam expression changed to horror.

Ding!

Second verse. Same as the first.

Sweetie aimed the GCD at the ghost, pulling it into its suction, and was again dragged around by it.

7, 6, 5 yank, 432-

Over the sound of the vacuum Sweetie may not have heard the laughter stop, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw the second ghost charge at her. She had no chance of dodging the cold, icy tongue of the ghost, as it wrapped itself around Sweetie's foreleg. The same foreleg keeping the suction button for the GCD held down. The intense chill shot through her leg as she was forced to let go of the button and in turn the ghost she was capturing. From the momentum of the ghost dragging her, she was thrown in the opposite direction of both ghosts. Thankfully, the ghost let go of her leg to let her fly.

A few items, such as her flashlight, her ball and Applejack's hat fell. The ghost she was catching dissipated into the darkness out of Sweetie's reach. She was in pain, but she knew she didn't have the luxury of worrying about it then.

"Hehehe*slurp*haha!"

After all, the ghosts weren't just laughing at her. The ghost that had just attacked her was laughing while rushing at her again. Sweetie wasted no time in getting back up, getting her flashlight, and shining it on the ghost just before it managed to have another lick.

Ding!

Sweetie aimed for the ghost who hit her, and sucked it in.

"10, 9 yank 8765, 4, yank, 3210. Magic depleted. Capturing ghost."

The ghost is forced into the GCD. Finally, the last ghost re-appears. It looked around, seeing that it's buddies had gone.

"What's wrong?!" Sweetie taunted the ghost. "Your haven't got your gang of ghoulies to back you up anymore?"

The ghost pony looked at Sweetie, terrified. She aimed her light at the ghost, and begun to suck it in. Rather than starting back at 10, the GCD started from 0 and captured the ghost nearly instantly.

"Capture successful. Ghost Capture Device at 50 percent."

"Heh... heh heh."

Well what do you know? To Sweetie's surprise, once the adrenaline began dying down, she came to the conscious conclusion that she was still alive. At least by the way her body hurt.

As if to reward her victory, to Sweetie's relief the candles in the foyer re-lit themselves, and the foyer was with light once more. Sweetie sighed, happily for that little battle to be over and to not have to rely solely on her flashlight to see. Sweetie went over to pick up and put back on Applejack's hat, and any other bits and bobs that fell out of her saddlebags.

Sweetie then heard a faint click come from the top of the stairs. Did that mean that the doors were unlocked now?

"Oh... so that's how that works huh?"

Sweetie headed back up the staircase too the door. Sweetie was about to touch the knob, but hesitated, as the last time she touched that knob, she was ambushed by those new ghosts. Sweetie pushed aside her paranoia, deciding that even if something else did happen, it wasn't like she would be progressing any further anyway if she just stood there.

Sweetie opened the door to the hallway, and entered it's darkness. Sweetie walked down the hallway cautiously. As she continued to walk, she felt colder and colder, like a ghost should have been around there. Despite this, nothing popped out to scare her. Though the filly was okay with not being scared out of her coat, it only made her more tense as she continued to move.

Sweetie passed what she assumed to be her bedroom, where she first saw the butler ghost pony. Sweetie's mind crossed Spiffy, the butler that first greeted her and brought her into the mansion. She wondered if he, and even every butler she saw were ghosts, disguised as regular ponies. She wondered where the butler was now, and what his role in all of this was.

"Weird."

From the little time she knew them before this whole mess started (or perhaps Sweetie became aware of said mess), Sweetie got the faint impression Specter, seemed to favor Spiffy over the other butlers. Even more, of all the ones she observed, he seemed to be the only one who managed to crack something resembling a smile when she walked with him. So did that mean he was special somehow? Was he like her friends and some victim of Specter, or whatever entity brought out the fate of this mansion?

As she pondered, Sweetie continued down the extensive hallway. She had no idea that it was so large, but then again, such a large mansion was bound to have some long hall-

Sweetie stopped dead in her tracks. She heard it now. It was the sound... the laughter of a filly about Sweetie's age. Maybe a year older. She didn't sound ghostly at all, just like Twilight described. Creepy. Not insane or ghost like, just creepy. Then again any subtle sound in this hallway would set Sweetie on edge, especially considering what kind of things wandered the mansion. It echoed through the hallway, but Sweetie couldn't tell where she was echoing from. It sounded familiar, but at the same time so foreign.

"Hello? Who's there?" Sweetie called. "Please come out!"

The laughter stopped. It then changed to crying, from the same filly. Cold sweat rolled down the filly's fore head. She was beyond tension now, and just plain paranoid. What was going on here? Where was that filly? Better yet, who was that filly?

Sweetie suddenly felt dizzy momentarily, as if she'd just lost her equilibrium. As the dizziness went away, her vision became slightly distorted. She blinked twice and shook her head to attempt to get rid of it, but it wouldn't go away.

--Not your eyes.

It wasn't her eyes. It was something else.She shined her flashlight around the hallway, shocked to see that it was changing before her very eyes. When she looked more directly at the walls and ceiling around her, she nearly dropped her flashlight in shock.

Ooze.

Sweetie saw silver ooze coming out of the walls of the hallway. It was like incredibly thick mercury seeping through the tiniest cracks in all of the walls of the hallway. Anything in the hall was getting covered in the metallic ooze. Sweetie tried to stay away from the grey substance, but it wasn't long before it seeped on the floor covering the hallway marble floor and rug in the stuff. Sweetie found herself stepping in the ooze, against her will. It wasn't uncomfortable per say, but it was wrong. It was as though she were stepping into something not made of atoms or matter, but just empty space. Something she should have been infinitely falling through but remained on top.

Something that shouldn't exist in the world.

She thought of trying to go into one of the rooms, and get on top of a piece of furniture, to escape it, but all exits were blocked by it. Once every corner of the hallway was covered in the grey ooze, it suddenly shifted into either a wall, floor or ceiling. Once all of this was done, the hallway Sweetie knew was gone.

The walls, floor, and ceiling of Sweetie's surroundings had turned into a fully reflected surface. The bedroom hallway had somehow become a hall of mirrors.

"What... the..."

She was afraid, but she would be lying if she said she wasn't awed at the sudden change in scenery, and the infinite Sweetie Belles to either side of her.

The mansion changes around... Sweetie thought, remembering Twilight's warnings. Sweetie reached into her saddlebags to obtain her map. She looks at it, to find that she indeed was no longer in the bedroom hallway. The map registered her to be in a basement level of the mansion.

"Level B-6... does that mean I'm 6 floors underground?" Sweetie said to herself. "I guess that means I'm... six under?" Sweetie chuckled, followed by a disgusted shudder at her own bad joke in an attempt at making herself feel a little less uneasy. "...who has a floor made entirely of mirrors anyway?" She noticed that the mirrored hallway is actually decently lit and therefore, there wasn't any reason to keep her flashlight on. She shut it off and put it in her saddlebags for safe keeping. The way the light bounced around the room, along with the mirrors reflecting off of each other was disorienting to the filly. From the many Sweetie Belles in the room she could see herself through the mirror, with her GCD, her new hat, green eyes, light mulberry mane, white coat, and two battle tongue mark the last ghost had left on it.

"I can't believe that thing licked my butt." she shuddered. Less than two hours had passed and she'd already been violated enough physically and mentally to last her a lifetime. It was then she realized. She hadn't shuddered to what she was saying, but shivering. The place was incredibly cold. The coldest she'd experienced yet. No doubt about it, there was a powerful ghost nearby.

The crying filly.

Sweetie heard a filly crying now. It sounded like the same filly that was laughing earlier. She looked off in the direction she heard it from to see the filly. They were curled up in a ball, hiding her face. Her coat was dulled from its original color, but Sweetie was sure she knew who the filly was. It's rounded red mane and tail, and giant red bow. No doubt, the sad little filly in the hallway was Applebloom. She had been in the hall for a good minute, why hadn't she noticed her before?

"Applebloom!" Sweetie said as she ran for the filly. It wasn't long however, before she hit a surface, falling back on her flank. Sweetie shook her head as she got back up.

"Dumb wall."

--Nope!

Sweetie looked at her map. Sure enough, she was facing another mirror, according to it.

"...dumb mirror."

--There you go!

Even more, she was facing the wrong way. She was facing a dead end. One of the infinite mirrors that held Applebloom's image lying idly in the hall. The mirrored hallway made it impossible to navigate by sight. Sweetie knew she wasn't going to go far without the map in the mirrored hallway.

Every few steps, Sweetie looked at her map to tell she was going the right way. She made several turns, realizing the network of hallways was larger than she'd expected as she counted at least 20 steps before each turn. If it wasn't for the map, Sweetie wasn't sure how she'd be able to navigate to her friend, or even find an exit.

"Then again..." this was a hallway of mirrors. And she had a teleporting camera that worked with them. Perhaps just taking a picture of a mirror would get her out of there. Though she'd worry about that later.

Sweetie finally found herself almost there. All she had to do was round one corner and suddenly, as she approached the corner, she heard something. Not another laugh, or cry but singing. Someone in the hallway was singing a lullaby, Sweetie recognized.

"♩Hush now, quiet now, It's time to lay your sleepy head...♩"

--Hush now quiet now it's time to go to bed.

The song was so blatantly familiar, she felt an impulse to break into song herself. As Sweetie looked up from the map, as she turned the corner. She saw another figure.

A mare.

A transparent mare that for some odd reason didn't show up in any of the mirrors. She looked down at Applebloom, as she was curled up, facing away from the ghost mare.

Staring at Sweetie blankly as if she wasn't even there.

As she stroked Applebloom's mane, Sweetie spied a glowing heart floated inside of the mare's see through body. Too familiar. Could that possibly be one of the hearts? Sweetie didn't quite understand what she was doing with or to Applebloom, but she didn't try to. All that mattered to the filly was who this mare was. Sweetie could tell from the pink mane, and yellow coat.

"Flutter-?" Sweetie asked. Bah.

Sweetie's impulse to call the mare and make the same mistake as before as she did with Applejack. The same mistake that nearly got her killed the last time. The ghost mare stopped singing, which raised Sweetie's caution level. She had to be prepared herself for a fight.

The mare turned around to look at the filly. She grinned evilly.

No.

Not a grin. Not even a sneer, but a real, meaningful smile.

"Sweetie Belle..." Fluttershy said. "Your... your here."

Sweetie couldn't believe this was the ghost version of Fluttershy. When she saw Applejack, she was entirely different from her original personality. It may have started out vaguely like her, but it turned into something evil, maniacal, and psychotic and bent on Sweetie's destruction. This Fluttershy, was the Fluttershy though. The one Sweetie remembered.

No, no, stay focused Sweetie. She'll change any second.

Kind.

Come on, don't let her get to you.

Calming.

Stay focused.

Sweet.

I have to stay focused or I'll die.

Lovely.

She still had that quiet nature about her voice, even if it was a little echoy. Her smile, rather than making Sweetie's skin crawl, made her feel good. It wasn't warm like usual, but it still felt like Fluttershy.

"Fluttershy... what... what are you doing?" Sweetie said. She was beginning to forget the fact she was a ghost. She looked into her eyes, as they sweetly looked back.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Fluttershy said. "I was just... I found Applebloom in this hallway, and she was scared. I was singing to her, trying to help her feel better. Stroking her to calm her down. She was crying and... and it just broke my..." she seemed like she was getting ready to cry.

Sweetie thought of going over to look at Applebloom to make sure she was ok. Then again, Fluttershy would have done that already, right? Sweetie just didn't want to take her eyes away from Fluttershy's.

And besides, the idea of moving seemed so unattractive.

"Oh, ok." Sweetie said dumbly. Something was wrong, but her brain wasn't processing anything but the mare and her eyes. Something was creeping in the back of Sweetie's mind, trying to warn her of something.

"I'm sorry Sweetie... um..." she bowed her head slightly as though she were guilty of something.

Sweetie bowed her head slightly. "It's okay."

"Well..." She raised her head. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but... how did you get here?" Fluttershy asked politely.

"I, uh... I took... I took a plane..." Sweetie raised her head. "I took a plane with the Cutie Mark Crusaders... I crashed... I crashed and... found the mansion." Sweetie said.

--Cold

--So cold

Sweetie felt cold. She could see mist coming from her breath as she was locked in the eyes of the mare.

"Oh... A plane? I... I think I saw one of those around here..." Fluttershy said tilting her head to the side.

"A-" Sweetie said, standing perfectly still.

The mare started to approach her.

Sweetie didn't move. Sweetie couldn't move. Her mind didn't move. Her mind couldn't move. Her body and even her mind were freezing cold, as the mare continued to stare at her.

"W...w....what....w....w..." Why can't I move?

Another 'innocent' smile. "Don't worry Sweetie. Were you worried about the plane? Oh, you must have worked hard on it..." Fluttershy floated lightly over Applebloom and continued her approach, maintaining that eye contact. "The plane is fine though... oh, I wouldn't want you to worry about it, so please don't... if that's okay."

Let...- me...- g-

"I know where it is... I saw it hanging somewhere. Here, let me whisper where it is in your ear..." Fluttershy said, getting closer to her.

"N...no... Fl...tersh..."

Two.

Two.

Two.

Sweetie had made two dumb mistakes when she confronted Fluttershy as she finally realized what was going on.

Fluttershy's stare.

She had used her stare to capture the little filly. Sweetie had disregarded the ghost's kindness as Fluttershy, and succumb to the mare's town-famous ability. Her stare was able to render any animal, or in this case, any pony paralyzed as long as they remained locked with her eyes. As a ghost however, Sweetie body wasn't just paralyzed but her mind as well was slowing down to a crawl. She was cold, freezing the little filly's body all the way through. It was like some kind of death stare.

"F... Fluttershy... please... don't..." Sweetie said, trying to break free of the mare's power.

"It's ok Sweetie..." Fluttershy smiled sweetly, as she came closer to her. "It's fine... relax..."

--Twitch

--Liar.

--Get away from me liar.

"N...no... no! NO!" Sweetie yelled. She didn't know where she got that. That surge of (will? power?). But she somehow managed to jolt her head to the side. She felt herself somehow break free from Fluttershy's spell. Sweetie turned around the next corner and ran from the mare. Sweetie tried to remember where to go, estimating where she had to turn, not having enough time to look back at the map. Fluttershy didn't chase her, but rather calmly walked after her. She either wasn't in the mood for a chase, or was fairly confident Sweetie didn't have a prayer of finding the exit to the maze of mirrors. As she ran, Fluttershy appeared in every mirror in the hallway.

"Don't run Sweetie... I'm sorry... Please don't leave me... I get scared when I'm alone... Don't you?" Fluttershy said through the mirror.

"Ah!" Sweetie screamed. Everywhere she looked, she only saw Fluttershy and her eyes.

She would catch her again if she looked long enough. Sweetie shut her eyes, determined not to be caught in the death stare's spell again. Sweetie thought hard. Maybe if she could get to her book, she could figure out how to catch her. The problem was that if Sweetie opened up her eyes again, she'd be caught by Fluttershy again. There had to be something she could do.

Sweetie got an idea, as she felt the metal tip of the nozzle of the GCD. She wondered if it was hard enough to-

With a wild cry, Sweetie started to blindly swing at the mirrored walls of the hallway. She heard the sound of glass breaking. Sweetie swung at each wall of the hallway a few times to ensure that it would be broken when she opened her eyes. The next thing Sweetie broke was the mirrored floor. She slammed it with the nozzle of the GCD, breaking it as well. Sweetie then slightly opened her eyes to see her handiwork. The panels of mirror immediately around Sweetie were ruined. Sweetie could still see bits and pieces if the Fluttershy ghost, but it wasn't connected enough for the stare to have any effect on her.

"She'll be here any second." she reminded herself.

Sweetie wasted no time in reaching into her saddlebags to find her ghost book. She snatched it out as her hoof grazed it's spine. She placed it on the ground and proceeded to flip through the pages. There were three new entries. The first one was of the red ghost pony.

Licker Ghost
Gender: Male

Desc: This one's one of my favorites. Probably one of your least, but we all have our own opinions right? The licker ghost is a red ghost, known for its long tongue. It's attack consists of whipping it's victims repeatedly with its tongue. Process that anyway you like. It usually travels in packs of at least three or more. Like other normal ghosts, it is vulnerable to light. It will also get scared automatically if it finds itself alone, and it's pack gone. Don't take the ghosts on one by one. They move as a team, and will attack if a comrade is in danger. If there aren't enough to take power away from it, use a source of light to get all of the ghosts at once, and aim for one. Repeat this until all but one remains. I think you know what to do when that happens.

Weakness: Light

That was useless.

Sweetie fliped the page to find a picture of the GCD. Sweetie was puzzled, as this was the first time that had happened. Why did the GCD have an entry? Sweetie quickly scanned the page.

Info: Spectral Throwback

Congratulations for finally opening the book again! I thought you'd forgotten it existed. In any case, by now, your GCD should have its new feature up and running. You wouldn't know that because you’re so forgetful don't check me regularly. The feature is known as Spectral Throwback. This allows you to take any ghost you find and throw them back up in an ectoplasmic ball that can damage other ghosts. Don't worry though. The Ghost Capture Device should expel the ghosts in accordance to the strength of the ghost, so don't worry about your portrait ghosts getting lost. Though I think I'll let you figure it out how to get it to work, rather than tell you myself. Happy hunting!

A new feature? Though the prospect of a new ability was intriguing, she didn't have time to experiment with the GCD now. Sweetie flipped to the next page to find the picture of Fluttershy.

"Here we go."

Portrait of Kindness
Gender: Female

Bio: The Portrait of Kindness... one of the nicest ghosts that will try for your life. She is one of the few ghosts that will try to make your death as pleasant as possible. The Portrait of Kindness cannot and will not attack you by any means of physical abuse. Instead, she will use a death stare: A paralyzing stare that takes away life force the longer she looks at you. Keep in mind however, paralysis only occurs if you look at her eyes. Paralysis also occurs if she is but a few feet away from you, so keep that in mind as well physically. Thankfully however the ability of physical stare is weakened through any reflection of the stare. In other words, you can't get too close as she's facing you, making it all the more difficult for her to be caught. Though you cannot get too close to her, she doesn't have a magic barrier to break. That's all I've got for you... and unless you figure out how to get close enough to her without getting frozen... your doomed. None the less, good luck kid.

Main Weakness: Kindness?

"That's not helpful!" Sweetie yelled at the book. "Dumb book!"

She would die. Sure it was nice to know that there was no magical barrier she needed to break, but unless there was some kind of weakness, she couldn't get close to her in such a narrow hallway with no hiding places. She was a sitting duck. Sweetie looked up to face Fluttershy, standing over her. Sweetie is paralyzed again. This time, Fluttershy's stare was too close and intense for the filly to have any hope in breaking it again. Fluttershy touched her body, and turned her around so that she would face her. This time, there was no Fluttrshy, no matter how well this version pretended to act like her. Her freezing hooves reminded the filly that she was still a ghost out to get her.

Her freezing hooves told Sweetie wordlessly that there was no escape now.

"Don't try to run again please." Fluttershy said gently. "This will be all over soon. Then, I'll take you to Rarity. Does that sound ok?"

T...hat...w...

Sweetie was unable to speak by now. She was unable to think as well. Fluttershy smiled as she gently opened the filly's mouth, which stayed open like a lid to a jar.

"And I promise she never meant anything by what she said... she's just stressed..."

Fluttershy said something strange as she reached down the filly's throat, cutting off her air once again. Fluttershy grabbed a hold of what Sweetie assumed to be her spirit. She once again, felt herself loosing consciousness. Sweetie was helpless to stop the mare. She was going to die now, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Nothing she could do now.

Nothing.

To neither the mare's or the filly's awareness, Applebloom had gotten up while these events transpired. She looked mistily at the mare who was stealing her friend's spirit. Applebloom felt the ice cold blood in her body warming as she charged at the Portrait of Kindness. Her color was faintly returning.

Applebloom leaped at Fluttershy, who she went right through... however, she didn't go through Sweetie Belle. Applebloom crashed into Sweetie, knocking her out of Fluttershy's hold, and both to the ground. Applebloom is thrown further down the hallway than Sweetie. Fluttershy gasped in horror.

"Oh no." Fluttershy went over to comfort Applebloom floating past Sweetie. She weakly got to her feet, looking at the flank of the mare. She was close enough now, and could move. This was her chance! It was now or never. "I'm so sorry. Are you alright Applebloom? Are you h-"

Sweetie aimed the GCD at Fluttershy and got her caught in the hold of its suction.

"Ah!" Fluttershy screamed pathetically.

"30, 29 yank, 28272625, 24" the GCD said.

Fluttershy screamed in terror. Unlike the previous portrait ghost however, she didn't try slamming her against the mirrored walls. She just flapped her wings furiously, trying to escape the suction of the GCD.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you I just-!" Fluttershy cried, ghostly tears streaming down her face, as they were also sucked into the GCD. Sweetie couldn't help but feel bad for the ghost version of Fluttershy. Even if she was trying to kill her.

"10, 9, 8 yank, 7654, 3, 2, 1, 0. Magic depleted. Capturing ghost." The GCD said. Suddenly, Sweetie realized.

Wait a sec. This was a portrait ghost... does that mean that... ah hay. Sweetie thought as she shut her eyes, anticipating what would happen next. A yellow lightning bolt stemmed from Fluttershy to Sweetie as they both screamed out in pain. The lightning bolt seemed to pull the pegasus into the GCD, even though it was coming from Fluttershy to begin with. Sweetie held the button to the GCD as hard as she could, until the deed was done.

"Ghost capture successful."

The heart that was previously inside of the mare dropped to the ground with a few taps. Sweetie collapsed to the ground for a moment to rest. Just like before, she was weak, and barely able to move. Then she remembered.

"The heart..." Sweetie thought. Fluttershy must have gotten a hold of one of the ones the ghosts stole from Twilight.

Sweetie crawled over to the heart candy, and proceeded to put it in her mouth. It froze her tongue momentarily, due to the cold of Fluttershy's body. It was almost like eating a piece of wildly flavored ice. It was moments before Sweetie got up again feeling back to normal.

"Heh... what do you know? Two miracles in a row."

Yes. It was a miracle that Fluttershy had happened to consume one of the hearts. And yes. It had been a miracle that Applebloom had come to save her like that.

"...!" Sweetie's looked over at Applebloom who was still shivering. "Applebloom!"

Sweetie quickly went over to her friend, who lie on the floor chattering her teeth. She was still getting her color back from being virtually frozen alive by Fluttershy's stare. Still, she was alright. Sweetie's friend was still alive.

"Applebloom..." Sweetie said.

"T-t-that...tha' was s-s-o... c-c-ool." Applebloom chattered. She gave a weak smile at her friend, who smiled back.

"Here Applebloom." Sweetie went into her saddlebags to take out her Cutie Mark Crusader cape. "Put this on. It might help a little."

"W-wha' the h-hay h-h-happened-" Applebloom asked, for the first time, seeing the rips in the symbol of their group.

"Just put it on before you catch something." Sweetie ordered. Applebloom obeyed Sweetie and took the cape. She curled up under it, trying to regain her body heat.

"S-s-sweetie Belle?" Applebloom said.

"Yeah?" Sweetie asked.

"T-t-tha... thanks..." she said.

Sweetie simply smiled at her friend. She looked into her eyes, as they fluttered shut.

"...huh." Sweetie said as she went into her saddlebags to fish our the camera. "Weird."

As she prepared to use the teleportation camera, Sweetie felt something was off. It was different from what Sweetie could remember. And for the life of Sweetie, she couldn't put her hoof on what was so peculiar about those eyes.

---

[Continue]

Author's Note:

Inventory: GCD, <3, Map, Camera, CMC Blanket, CMC Ball

Infinite Sweetie Belles

Comments

[A sleepy brony]

Darn cliffhangers!
Another excellent chapter.

[La Barata]

MOAAAAAAAR

[Wild Wisp]

Very good detail, nice story line, i like it, more please

-WW

[InarJollyhound]

1. Try putting applejack through the portait machine in reverse twilight! (or does that just bring out the ghost version again (or does twillight know this risk (or does she even know how to work the thing right!!)
2. My god Fluttershy as a ghost was terrible! (in a good way (in terms of scary story entertainment good) the stare with spirit sucking powers was just.... wow (again in a good way)
3. If discord somehow released all of the elements and got fluttershy we would all be doomed
If Swettie's mansion was a game i think the best way for the boss battle would involve either 1.keeping sweetie from facing flutterghost and reflection by sidesteping or using the c stick and walking in reverse (if walking in reverse was possible) or
2. sudden first person view mode.
Either way if fluttershy (ghost) makes eye contact with swettiebell (or the center of the screen if 2) then means of escaping would involve the same controls as cathing a ghost exept you are trying to escape and as the portait version of the shy pony we all love aproaches she will try to mimic the movements like a snake trying to keep the stare goin on
Yes i am thinking about this hard this story is that awsome. too bad i am not a video game programmer!
Keep up the good work!

[Justanothabrony]

"here suck on this" dude that sounded so...wrong... gave methe image of sweetie sucking on twilight's horn

[Moon Shooter]

400298 The magic of context my good man

[Digit]

SPLENDID!
Also, I conclude Applebloom to be a ghost in disguise! Ha!

[Red Bomber]

Ah geez you really did make Fluttershy the deadliest of all the other ghosts. I bet Luigi could escape from her normally, he's been frozen himself alot of times.

[Toonwriter]

Apple Bloom is safe and Fluttershy has been caught! Yay.

[M3Xkillers]

The stare is OP, but, in my philosophy, nothoing is too OP

[MrPikmario]

I'm not even upset about Flutters. What I mean, is that you found a great way to make Fluttershy deadly, and how she put up next to none of a fight! THIS NEEDS A VIDEO GAME.

[Borg]

820091 Are you sure?

[applebuckingAJ]

820091
maybe not....
GASP AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

did she die? is she a ghost?

[Thegodhand]

Light yellow text on a white battleground for Fluttershy really wasn't a great idea.