Sweetie's Mansion

by Moon Shooter

Chapter 23: The Bloom Breaking

"C'mon, Sweetie! Wake up! Wake up!"

Applebloom had been shaking her friend on the ground for the past few minutes. By now, she was desperate for a reaction. She did everything she could to make Sweetie open her eyes, flinch, moan, something. Every couple of seconds, Applebloom would put her ear down to Sweetie, trying to hear a heartbeat or feel something warm.

Neither were present.

Applebloom soaked Sweetie's coat in her tears as she futilely tried to elicit even the slightest response from the lifeless form on the floor of the tea room: to the point Applebloom fooled herself twice believing her shaking was waking up Sweetie or her own voice was overshadowing Sweetie voice. But no, Applebloom's pathetic cries and whimpers were the only sounds echoing in the tearoom.

"Don't do this to me. C'mon! C'mon!" Six minutes in, Applebloom had unknowingly given up on simply shaking Sweetie. Now, she was beating Sweetie's back, trying to make the dead filly do something rather than just lay there.

At this point, Scootaloo, the beat-up piñata hanging from the ceiling, had given up on untying her tail. Both her freedom and the blood rush seemed trivial. Sweetie Belle was no more. Instead, Scootaloo used her remaining will to resist bawling like Applebloom. Scootaloo was already starting to fail as she felt the tears seep down her forehead into her mane.

Five ponies, two of whom were unconscious, had also quit trying to escape.

With the reality that escape was more impossible than ever and that her mentor would eventually kill her, Twilight was already hopeless enough. Though, now faced with Sweetie's death, Twilight felt her mind dissolve into nothing. There was no telling what the future held.

Sooner or later, Sweetie Belle would "Get up. Dang it. Get up! Get up! Please!" Applebloom would get her wish, for Sweetie would get up soon.

Transparent.

Smiling.

More murderous than ever.

And that would be it for the group, now that their overall usefulness had been used up. They would die at the hands of the one who saved them.

At least now with the princess, no, both princesses in his control, he would be unstoppable.

"Ha."

Applejack gritted her teeth, occasionally shaking her head at the scene before her. She was the only one who resisted crying, but she was anything but mentally healthy. Anyone could tell by how tight her jaw was clenched. Her pupils changed ever so slightly in size frequently, as she struggled to choose an emotion to let out. Slightly bigger out of sadness. Slightly smaller out of anger. But what to direct her feelings at was an even bigger mystery to her. When she looked at the situation, she didn’t know whether to be sad that she was still tied up, or angry that she got herself there in the first place. When she thought about the past, she didn’t know whether or not to be sad that Sweetie had met fatality, or that she hadn't taken Sweetie's place sooner. When she listened, she didn’t know whether to be sad for her sobbing younger sister, or angry that she lacked the vocabulary to console her sister.

Oh, how Applejack wished she knew the words to say to make Applebloom feel better. She dreamed of looking at her, even with a forced smile to somehow find a way to tell her that everything would be alright.

Even if that wasn’t necessarily true.

"Ha, ha, ha."

And then there was Fluttershy. She should have been crying herself, but her tear ducts had been drained and dried after being used, tortured, and forced to essentially watch Sweetie's body burn in a desperate attempt to save herself. But still, she strained her face, trying to cry. Instead of tears however, she simply she made little gasps at each breath as though she were having miniature seizure for every tear she couldn’t shed. Her body was fiercely trying to find something in her body to release to project the extreme sadness that was tearing her heart into pieces.

"Ha ha ha ha ha!"

They all deserved to though. To mourn. To cry. To hate. After all, everything that could have gone wrong finally did. Spike was patrolling around the mansion, probably armed and definitely hypnotize. Gilda was surely somewhere in the mansion doing something horrible to Rainbow and Pinkie. Celestia, and in turn both of the princesses, were now under Specter's control. But worst of all here, lying in the middle of the tea room, Sweetie Bell lie de-

"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

After minutes of silent chuckling, Specter revealed his presence at the doorway with a loud obnoxious laugh. With the exclusion of Twilight and the two unconscious ones, everyone directed their attention toward him.

"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!" He was laughing so hard that he had to lean against the doorway to clutch his stomach.

Fluttershy looked at him airily, not sure what kind of expression to make. Applejack and Applebloom however, looked at him with eyes filled such searing hate to the point they looked murderous. Even Scootaloo managed to swing around to glare at the stallion.

"You…" Applebloom’s voice shuddered with rage.

Unlike her sister, with Applejack’s anger, a certain awareness of Applebloom's anger became clear. She knew something was wrong. She put herself in the filly’s horseshoes for a moment and thought about her position.

Unlike her, Applebloom was free.

Unlike her, Applebloom was angry.

Unlike her, Applebloom was reckless.

If their roles were reversed, she wouldn’t hesitate to tear that smile off of Specter's face. Even if she didn’t have a plan on how to approach him, she would do exactly that. She would beat the remains of his head with every ounce of applebucking energy she could find.

Even though it probably wouldn’t change a thing.

"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

"Apple…"

And Applebloom was probably even angrier than Applejack could perceive. Just by the fact that he was laughing them. He was laughing at Sweetie's corpse. Her friend. Something like that would have been enough to drive anyone truly mad.

Crazy.

All she had to see was that terrible fantasy of Specter suffering, and nothing else. She didn’t see her sister. She might not have even seen Sweetie anymore. Applejack was sure all her sister saw was an opportunity for revenge.

The knife that had been used for the torture session was even perfectly placed between the two of them. Applebloom had the perfect opportunity to get at Specter. Which meant-

"Applebloom."

Then she put herself in Specter’s mind, as much as she hated to. This stallion. This thing had killed Sweetie. And Applebloom was, like Sweetie, now nothing more than a liability. A risk, now that she wasn’t possessed. Now that Celestia was his. Applebloom something that needed to be exterminated as soon as possible.

The reality dawned on her what would happen next.

"Applebloom!"

She would attack Specter and-

"APPLEBLOOM DON'T!"

"SHUT UP!" It was too late. Applebloom had already began charging at Specter.

She would be next.

Specter was still laughing, clutching his stomach. It was as though he had yet to notice he was being charged at.

Applebloom would die.

Applebloom scooped up the knife in her mouth, and held it with her teeth. She wasn't sure where she would do it, but she just wanted to do it. She wanted to cut Specter somewhere for hurting her so much. There was no reasoning in her eyes. Only pure murderous intent.

"APPLE-"

SHINK!

***

"♫ 9000 Rainbow Cupcakes on the wall, 9000 Rainbow Cupcakes! ♫," Pinkie sung. "♫ You take one down, pass it around... uh... a really big number of cupcakes on the wall! Woo! ♫"

Gilda was at the edge of hitting the mare upside the head for a fourth time on their seemingly endless walk. The only thing that kept her from doing so was the promise that the unrelentingly fast healer known as Pinkie Pie would only sing her song louder if she did. It wasn’t like she could kill her if she wanted to. Specter’s instructions included for her specifically not to kill either of them in any other way besides how she was instructed. So, all she could do was to tell her to “Shut the buck up” every now and again, and quicken her pace as she continued to her destination as she shined her flashlight forward and made her way through the tunnels.

Gilda was sure that her head would explode from the mare’s annoying song-

"♫Another really super dooperly big number of-♫"

"Uh... Pinkie?"

Pinkie stopped singing and giggled. "Yeah Dashie?"

"You mind uh...?" Rainbow asked tilting her head. "I've kind of got a headache right now, and you're not really..."

She giggled again. "Sure thing! I'll just hum it really quietly!"

Rainbow sighed. "Yeah, sure."

The sound of Pinkie's singing was replaced by an ominous hum of the same song. Still, it was quieter, and it relieved both Gilda and Rainbow. Gilda looked back on Rainbow.

"Thanks. Owe you one." Gilda tried.

The way she phrased what she said was quite awkward. Though that wasn’t why Rainbow didn't respond, intent on giving Gilda the cold shoulder.

"C'mon Rain. You've got to talk to me sometime." Gilda shrugged, readjusting the two bound ponies on her back. "You will anyway."

"Why the buck's that?" Rainbow spat.

"Well… hay, I dunno. I guess because you'll be dead soon anyway." Gilda shrugged. "Kind of won't have a choice when Specter gives me control of you."

Gilda could feel Rainbow tense up at the words spoken so plainly. “What?”

“You’re about bucking killing me, I’m not supposed to react?” Rainbow shuddered. “…you said that as if it was nothing.”

"Psh, well is it? I mean, it’s not as if it’d be your first time.” Gilda said as a matter of fact. "Besides you don’t have to worry about anything. It’s not going to hurt." she thought for a moment. "At least that's what he told me. I don't bucking know, but it better not. At least he sounded sure it would be fast."

There was a silence for another few moments. The tension in Rainbow didn’t fade, so Gilda spoke up.

"...what?" Gilda asked eventually.

"...what...the hay happened to you?" Rainbow asked in genuine confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"Don’t play dumb, you know exactly what I mean. You’re different. As in... really different. Last time I saw you, you stormed out of Ponyville in a temper tantrum." Rainbow said. "Next thing I know, I see you here of all places as Specter's left hoof bitch."

Gilda chuckled and shook her head.

"Well what does an old fart like Specter have that you want anyway, huh?” Rainbow continued. “Money? Power? Guys...Girls?"

Gilda shrugged. "Something like that."

"What?"

"You wouldn't get it. But it’s pretty important. All of it."

"Yeah I bet it is." Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Better be if you’re killing with your old best friends for it.”

“I told you, it’s not a big deal,” Gilda stressed. "I owe him something and he owes me. And the reason’s none of your business alright? Now quit squirming."

"Gilda. This isn't like you."

Gilda chuckled. "Oh really? Then what is?"

"The Gilda I know... yeah she's an ass, but she wouldn't join up with a lame old fart like Specter!"

“Really?" Gilda stopped before shaking her head. "Times change I guess." She shrugged. "Guess I'm not the bird you knew eh?"

What?

Something was wrong with what Gilda just said.

Gilda would never call herself a bird. Sure she was different from the Gilda she knew, and sure she held some birdlike characteristics in her species, but Gilda had too much pride to just call herself "bird". It seemed-

***

"-BLOOM!"

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Before Applejack instinctively shut her eyes, she saw stakes shoot out of the ground. She was sure that final image of her little sister would tell the tale.

She was dead.

“Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

She was sure she was dead as the metal stakes seemed to shoot up out of the ground around Applebloom. She had to be dead. All it would take was one, just one, of those stakes to impale her and she would meet her untimely end.

"Ha ha ha ha ha!"

"Oof!"

Though rather than the sound of filly flesh being impaled or horrifying screams of her sister in agony, there was just one sound. A cute metal thunk as Applebloom's head hit came in contact with the body of something metal. The metal stakes themselves only surrounded her to create an impromptu cage. So like that, her charge was suddenly halted as she fell down. Her knife followed with another light metallic sound when it hit the ground.

"Ah..."

Once Applejack had opened her eyes to see what had happened she was genuinely surprised. She called to check if she was really still alive. "Applebloom! Y'all alright?"

"Y...eah," Applebloom rubbed her head and momentarily forgetting what was going on. "Ahm alright."

It was true. Aside from the lump on her head, she didn't have a scratch on her. Applebloom was, arguably fine.

"Ha ha ha... ha ha... ah ha..." Specter was finally calming down.

But then the question became: Why? Why keep her alive?

The tips of the stakes were sharp enough to make Applebloom bleed if she so much as pricked her hoof in it. If they were used to kill her, they would have been the perfect tool with the perfect timing in the most perfect way possible. Yet, she lived. There was no reason to keep her alive with probably plenty of reason to put her down.

Right?

"Phew." Specter wiped a non-existent tear from his eye as he straightened out his suit. "I haven't laughed like that in years. The drama. The desperation. The fear. It’s just… It’s hysterical! Oh, I knew I’d enjoy your company here in my mansion. From the moment I laid eyes on you, I just had that feeling from my own masterful intuition. You are a very entertaining group of individuals. Has anyone ever told you that?"

"Buck you." Applejack spat.

Specter shook his head at Applejack and approached the trapped filly, ignoring the other death threats Applejack called at him to “get the hay away” from her sister.

He got down lower to Applebloom’s level, who was still somewhat stunned. "Now Applebloom. With every fiber of honesty and intelligence you may or may not have, tell me.” He looked up at the top of the cage, then back at her with a tilted head and a puzzled look. “Was that really smart?"

Applebloom was still in a daze from the impact and Specter thought it was cute. He chuckled. "For every choice you make, you make it all the more difficult for me to hold to just ridiculing your friend when if you make such fantastically idiotic decisions like that. Even Sweetie wasn't stupid enough to charge at me head on."

Finally, Applebloom regained her bearings. She hopped to her hooves and bucked at her makeshift cage. She managed to bend it out by a few centimeters, but impossibly the stakes formed back into their original straight position.

Specter shook his head. "Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. I suppose it's true what they say. Brains don't run in buckers." Specter didn’t laugh this time, this time giving his most intense look. It chilled Applebloom. "Decisions like that will get you killed in the future. Especially in a place like this.”

He grinned the same impossible grin that only a ghost could. In a childlike tone, he went on, “Mean scary ponies might tear you limb from limb and do terrible things to the remains if you don't learn your place." He then whispered. "Try and remember that."

Defeated, Applebloom didn't go for a second buck, realizing she would just ruin her hooves. Instead, she resolved to just glaring at Specter from behind the stakes.

"You've got some nerve to come back here!" Scootaloo spat.

"Nerve?” Specter got up and looked at her. “Ma'm, I live here," Specter retorted with an artificial offense. "What about you? Getting blood all over the floor. Impolite and unladylike.” He gave an exasperated sigh, while straightening his suit. “But what should I expect from such misbehaved children? Regardless, I go where I want, or in some cases, where I am needed."

"Need? You killed Sweetie you jack!" Scootaloo cursed. "Why don't you just leave us the-"

"Language, language. My, you're becoming more of a delinquent than Rainbow. I suppose you would be proud of that. Who knows? You might even end up like her." Specter said, eyebrows raised. "And besides. I didn't do anything to Ms. Belle here. She did this to herself."

Scootaloo just glared at him along with Applebloom and the others. “Oh, don’t you all look at me like that. I’ll be out of your manes shortly.” Specter chuckled again. "Truly. I promise I won't be long." And with that, he began approaching Sweetie.

"Hey! Leave her alone!"

"Unfortunately, I can't do that," Specter said without breaking his stride. "After all, if I leave her like this, she'll die."

(She'll die.)

These two words were the ones that everyone heard. Even Twilight raised her head at the strange words.

(She'll die.)

Not "She's dead". She'll die.

"W...what do you mean?" Fluttershy timidly asked.

"Hm?" Specter stopped and turned his attention to Fluttershy.

"You..." Fluttershy did her best to regain control of her words so she wouldn't babble as terribly. "You... said 'she'll die' when she's..."

"Pfft, heh heh heh." Specter nearly broke out into another fit of laughter before clearing his throat to regain his composition. "So that’s what caught your attention, is it? Yes. Yes, I did say that, didn't I?"

Specter approached Fluttershy, who shrunk back at every step he took back against her bonds. "How such a small change in words can mean so much here. In this mansion. Of this little filly’s fate. Such a small change in words, which can lead to a comic interpretation for an even more humorous, and even ludicrous idea. Of course with the correct context, such an idea could provide a small spark in a place it’s arguably doesn’t have such a thing. So funny such a little shift in tense can mean all the difference. A difference in time. A difference in fate."

He stopped halfway between Sweetie and the others. He paused for a moment before continuing.

"There's... a rule when it comes to portification and spirits in general." He went on, pacing in front of them. "The rule states that any pony with the class of Portrait or higher must have originally obtained a cutie mark over the course in their life. To tap into their… spiritual potential. Often manifesting itself in a special ability created from a combination of the particular cutie mark, and the pony themselves while overflowing them with the appropriate units of magic. Without said cutie mark, magic will have nothing to reference off of, often turning them into almost feral minded beings, occasionally capable of coherent thought by the reference of some puppeteer.”

He stopped short and turned to the group. “Are you following so far?”

Fluttershy did her best to straighten herself up, less threatened than before. She looked to either side of her at Applejack and Twilight. Neither of whom looked as if they were listening entirely to the sudden ghostly lesson. So, Fluttershy silently nodded for them.

Specter then turned around to continue pacing. “The same applies to the portification process. The cutie must be present somewhere in the area for a portification to be completed. Of course with the provision of the spells, equipment and the structure of the machine, which I’ll spare you with the details of.”

He stopped again and looked at the three of them. Though the others seemed to be paying attention somewhat now, Fluttershy seemed to still be the most attentive. Then, he said quite plainly, “My point is, that without a cutie mark, if you die, then you stay dead here."

He tilted his head in the direction of Sweetie. "And ergo, mares with cutie marks have two lives, but fillies such as Applebloom and Scootaloo without a cutie mark have but one."

"Git on with it!" Applejack yelled.

"A-applejack..." Fluttershy tried to calm her friend down, that seemed to be getting over what Specter had said and reciting back to her anger. The last thing she wanted was to stop Specter from talking. She wanted to know more. At least he wasn’t trying to them at the moment.

Specter sighed. "I suppose the other point I was making here is, yes. You would all be very correct in assuming that Sweetie was indeed dead and non-revivable. Or maybe you were worried about her coming back to life for-” he chuckled. “-seconds.”

“However, in whatever scenario of death, two to five minutes is often the average time it takes for the dead to turn a spirit into a magically drenched ghost in a spirit raising hotspot such as this manor. Some take longer, most take shorter, but that is the average. Under any other circumstance Sweetie would be dead and probably be one of my minions about..." he pulled out a pocket watch from his suit and looked at it. "Three minutes ago." He closed it with a snap.

"C...circumstance?"

"That's right. Under the circumstance she hadn't died from self-exorcism, and under the circumstance she didn't catch as many of you as she did, we wouldn't even be having this conversation now." he paused again and smiled. "But before that, do you know why I said Sweetie had done this to herself?"

Once again, Fluttershy shook her head on behalf of the rest of the group.

Applejack opened her mouth, to curse at Specter for saying that again. Though, this time, she decided against it. As if it would do any good anyway.

"Very good Applejack, you're learning. If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

Applejack bit her lip.

"Sweetie did indeed kill herself. Often, hunters aren't insane, suicidal or ignorant enough -- whichever Sweetie was you can decide for yourselves-- to attempt a 'self-exorcism'. To start, the capture tether is a very dangerous element of the device, and Sweetie should have been able to figure that out. For stronger spirits, it works with the magical suction technology to emits a certain electro-magical attraction to pull the remaining magic on the spirit, and in turn the spirit themselves. However, electric magic is difficult to contain, so in a capture, the magic will cast what is necessary to capture a ghost, and the remaining energy will kick back at the hunter. While also affecting the body, it mostly affects the spirit of the hunter. And in turn, while each capture can strengthen the hunter’s tolerance to the arch, there is always the chance the discharge of energy will be great enough to decimate the spirit’s very ability to exist.

“But like any exercise of a muscle, you can only go so far. Rarely can an adult hunter even exceed 3 or 4 portrait captures in succession before risking the connection between spirit and body, or destroying both completely. At least without some type of magical supplement, a healer or a healing item to restore or replace what was already there."

Specter sighed. It looked as if even he was getting tired of his own long-winded lesson. And yet he went on. "But the magical kickback is deadly. It’s a miracle that the capture of Applejack didn’t kill her then. Or more over… Applebloom,” He turned to her, still in the makeshift cage. “Do you recall when Sweetie snatched my child out of your body?"

Applebloom didn't respond.

"And what about you Scootaloo? Do you remember how much that must have hurt?"

No response from Scootaloo either.

He shrugged. "I'll take your silence as confirmation. I’ll also assume it hurt. Now imagine that pain, but twice on Sweetie's end from the kick back, as there likely wasn’t a ton of energy required to capture Marbles and Candy. Then, multiply that times two again from the dual capture. Think about how strong her spirit would have to be. If her spirit wasn't hardened enough even that would have killed her on the spot.

“With that in mind, self-exorcism isn't like a regular capture. Because the magical energy kicking back changes. Or rather, the amount of energy that a hunter must endure changes. Because unlike a regular capture, the spirit is inside of you. And because of that, Applebloom and Scootaloo for example, felt the same amount of energy my two children felt when Sweetie captured them. It wasn’t enough to affect them deeply, but because of that connection, they shared that experience. A regular capture lasts around 3 seconds minimum, depending on the ghost’s resistance. Often applying 10 units of magical energy per second, often with about 40 milliamps being kicked back. But Sweetie. It took her around… fifteen seconds to capture my butler. Now how many units of energy would have been cycled through her body?"

"S…sixty." Fluttershy stuttered.

"Indeed. Sixty times.”

“…enough to stop her heart.” Twilight mumbled. Specter didn’t hear her.

“That's why self-exorcism is essentially suicide." He finished.

"But..."

"The circumstances I mentioned?" he chuckled. "It's actually incredibly funny luck actually. Because if she had failed in her capture of Pinkie Pie, or allowed her to get away, indeed she would be gone, and you’d all be in deep trouble if the magic didn’t burn her spirit away.” He sniffed the air. “For all we know however, you might have lucked out if that were true.”

“But worry not, Elements of Harmony, for the last portrait she captured not only gave her the ability to escape Spiffy's memory spell, but it also gave her the 'Spiritual Instance' feature. A bit of a hunter’s suite designed to make self-exorcism a little less idiotic."

"Spiritual... instance?"

Specter nodded. "An interesting feature designed for if a hunter found themselves abandoned by their team to achieve a traditional exorcism, showed the skill and importance to catch enough portraits, and themselves were forced to use the self-exorcism technique, lest they have their fellow hunters deceived by the possession. Much as you were earlier."

He smiled and looked over at Applebloom and Scootaloo. "Or in contrast, how she was deceived by you two."

After a nod to himself, he continued. "But Spiritual Instance usually consists of two parts. The first being the ability to create mental light to bring about some consciousness to the spirit who's been possessed. At least beyond the consciousness, one had during any dream. Often through memories, reminders, and a voice in one’s head screaming for them to wake up before something awful happened. But it only serves to act temporary. Allowing anywhere between minutes to even a few hours of manipulation of one’s mind in an attempt to cast out the possessing spirit. And the second being once the hunter completes the capture, once the body dies, and an instance of the spirit interacting with the body is saved." He went over and stood above Sweetie's corpse. "And from there, all that's needed is a special jolt of magic, provided from the device here to revive the spirit."

He took something out of an inner pocket in his suit’s jacket. Instead of his watch, it was another candy heart. This one however, was nothing like the ones Twilight had constructed at the beginning of the night. This one was green and had white splotches all over it. It glowed brighter than the ones Twilights too.

It must have been charged with even more magic than them. This heart however, even with its radiance, still felt soft, and pleasant, even just to watch it fade in and out in Specter’s hoof.

And yet there was something about it no one could particularly place.

"And a magnet to track such a 'special jolt'."

"W..."

"Hm?"

"W...why is it special?" Fluttershy asked.

Specter's smile faded. "That's more or less a surprise for a later time."

"Liar."

Specter turned to the new voice. It was Twilight who glared at him.

"You're lying. It doesn't make any sense."

Specter didn’t have a response to that.

“Yeah.” Applejack chimed in. Though her anger was less intense, and rather more concerned. “What’s yer game Specter?”

"If you were telling the truth and all of a sudden you’re trying to save Sweetie,” Twilight went on. “Then trying to kill her all night would have been pointless."

"Twilight... heh... heh hah ha ha ha!" Specter entered another laughing spell. "Ha... heh heh... he… is that really what it looks like? That... that killing Sweetie Belle is my top priority?" he looked down at the green heart. "I'm not the one who wants to kill her exactly.” He patted her head and rubbed her hat.

He seemed to be talking to himself. “Oh no, don't want to kill Sweetie. Not yet. She's too important now. Especially now. She has too much potential."

"Potential for what?"

"Entertainment value!" He said grandly. "To..." Specter's smile disappeared completely this time. He looked at Twilight with an unreadable expression. Then it returned. "Twilight. Do me one favor for me, will you?"

"She ain't gotta do jack for you!" Applejack spat, some of her anger renewed.

Specter ignored her as he bent down to put the heart in Sweetie’s mouth. "Twilight... if you ever come across Celestia or Luna in a scenario that they're not trying to tear you limb from limb..." Specter moved over to the door without looking back at the group. "Ask her if during the couple millennia she's lived, if she's ever had a regret for something selfish. Ask her… what being a princess made her."

"Wha-"

SHINK!

CRACK!

"Woah!"

The rafter that Scootaloo's tail was tied broke and she fell to the ground. At the same time, the stakes trapping Applebloom recited into the ground. Surprised, neither of them attacked Specter right away. Whether it was out of curiosity or caution, neither of them could figure out. Specter still had his flank to the five of them (seven if you counted Paita and Busby, still out cold) and seemed to have his mind on something else. The both of them could have attacked if they wanted to.

But even excluding what Specter said about attacking him, after the speech he gave on Sweetie's condition, she was their primary focus. Especially as-

"Magical Magnetic Force Detected. Please apply magical jol-"

BEEP BEEP BEEP

"Jolt Target Detected. Reviving Hunter."

Small slides opened up along the side of Sweetie as something white and glowing began to pour into her sides, biting into her body like leeches. But instead of taking something out, they seemed to be flowing something foreign into Sweetie's body. And for some reason, no one in the room believed that it was just Sweetie's "Spiritual Instance" before she died.

After thirty seconds of flow, Sweetie's body began to seize and shake wildly before going still once again, as the streams of light disappeared into Sweetie's body. It was silent and just as it had been before. Even Specter still was facing out the door rather than at the scene.

"S...weetie?" Applebloom was the first to take a step toward her motionless friend. Though something seemed different about this motionless. Rather, it was a step above motionless. For there was the sign of Sweetie's body moving up and down, her lungs working correctly.

It was another minute before she really began to move and moan. She tried getting up off her stomach and on all fours but ended up collapsing again. But this was more than enough for Applebloom and Scootaloo to rush over to her and tackle her back to the ground on her second attempt.

"Sweetie!"

"Ah!"

Applebloom and Scootaloo hugged Sweetie, who was fully awake now. She couldn't speak for some reason yet besides groans. Whether or not that was from dying or being smooshed by her friends no one could tell. Then again, who cared cared? Sweetie was alive again.

"Sweetie! Yer' alright! Yer' alive!"

"Ah man Sweetie! I thought... we thought you were a gonner for sure!"

Sweetie was at a loss.

"H...ey..." Sweetie forced out. "Could you... guys you're kind o... get off!"

Sweetie found some kind of energy to push the two fillies off of her, who fell to the side of her. They both got up and helped Sweetie to her hooves.

"Sorry Sweetie." Applebloom smiled.

"Yeah, but c'mon. How many fillies got to go through their friends dying and get to come back to life?" Scootalloo noted.

"Three."

"D...ie?" Sweetie looked at Scootaloo with glassy eyes before nearly going faint again. She drifted to the side just in time for Applebloom to stop her from collapsing again.

"Woah! Sweetie, y'all alright?" Applebloom asked. "Ah mean y'all want to just sit down fer a sec? After what jes happened ta ya, ah wouldn't blame ya if ya did."

"I...m fine. I'm... what...?" Sweetie looked at Applebloom. Her vision was so uneasy, she felt as though the world were spinning around. Every word they spoke seemed to tilt her world in a slightly in a different direction than the last. "What... happened?"

"Two."

Sweetie's body felt so strange as her friends asked her about her condition. Her mind felt so foggy, it took real effort to recognize them as friends and not complete strangers that she had just met.

--They would have been a few hours ago.

Yes. Something happened not too long ago that made everything that was in (this?) life seem foreign. Everything that was (hers?) she would forget. That was a butler's fault.

--The Butler's fault.

"One"

Spiffy Butler and-

"Zero."

"SPECTER!" Sweetie screamed, startling everypony within earshot. Everyone except the pony in question (and poor unconscious Paita and Busby).

"Hm hm hm... Ha ha ha ha!" Specter turned back around to face the lot of them with the biggest grin he could muster. "Finally awake now are we Sweetie."

Sweetie’s focus fell on him as she gritted her teeth as she took a few steps forward. She was Applebloom-levels of ready to kick that insane grin off of his face. Applebloom foresaw this and took the liberty of stepping on Sweetie's tail to keep her in that one spot. Sweetie felt her and didn't look back to her.

"Let go, Applebloom."

"Sweetie, don't try anythin'. He ain't defenseless as he looks."

"Well said Applebloom." Specter agreed.

"SHUT UP!" Sweetie yelled again. Applebloom felt Sweetie tug at her tail as she leaned forward. It was like holding back an attack dog from mauling a victim.

"My. So much loathing. You act as if I've taken your sister or something..." he thought for a moment and broke out into another fit of laughter. "Oh that's right!" he stopped laughing. "I did! And what a delectable marshmallow of a sister she is."

"I swear if you did anything to my sister I'll-"

"Me? Do anything to my dear, sweet bride to be?" the smile didn't fade, but he scoffed, almost humorously. "The bride to be you crashed the wedding of? Perish the thought. I wouldn't lay a hoof on her. If anything, she needs protection from an abysmal sister such as yourself for ruining her perfect night. Though, perhaps I should thank you for giving me the opportunity Sweetie Belle. Because with your actions, and her desperation to keep away from you, she’s I have to say she's been all over me. In more ways than one."

--Snap

Sweetie's rage was boiling to the point it took both Applebloom and Scootaloo to keep her from charging at Specter now.

"Heh heh... you hate me, don't you Sweetie? That's good. That's good." he laughed. "Hate makes things so much easier. It drives things, Sweetie. And it makes things so much more interesting to ruin the things you hold dear. Or in Rarity's case, violate the things you hold dear in ways I’m unsure you’re even old enough to understand. Perhaps I'll you’ll watch when there's nothing left for me to do."

At this point, Sweetie had found enough strength to start dragging Applebloom forward. Scootaloo held on to Applebloom to keep the virtually snarling Sweetie anchored.

He paused. "Oh right. And to top it all off, you might want to do a head count of your group there. Because I do believe two ponies are missing."

Sweetie stopped struggling for a moment, causing Appleboom and Scootaloo to let their guard down. She turned around back at her friends. She gasped when she saw the patches of dried blood on Applejack's coat, the tears on Fluttershy's face, and the red mark along Twilight's neck.

"Oh and of course you going a little insane and nearly kill your friends. That was entertaining to watch. But that's the past. Right now Rainbow and Pinkie could be having their spirits ripped out as we speak. Violently considering the bird we're talking about here. Not to mention our little trigger happy dragon who's probably watching the spectacle."

Sweetie looked back at Specter who had taken a few more steps back into the hallway the exit led into.

"You should have seen the look on Rainbow's face as her childhood friend took her to her killing ground. Mmm...~ Priceless." Specter could see that Sweetie was beyond hating Specter now. If she could, she would probably kill him. And if he was already dead, she would catch him and figure out how to do it again. "That's good Sweetie, that's good. That hate will be perfect when you take your revenge on Gilda and slice her into pieces for killing your friends." he paused. "Permanently killing your friends, without their cutie marks."

"No… I’ll get her. But right after I get at you!"

With that momentary distraction, Applebloom and Scootaloo lost hold of Sweetie as she charged for Specter in the door. She honestly didn't know what she was charging at him to do, but she was sick of hearing him talk.

"Sweetie no!"

CLANG!

THUD!

Rather than summoning stakes from the ground like before, two metal slabs from the inner frame of the door closed on Sweetie just as she rammed her head into them. Separating the hallway Specter was in, and the tea room Sweetie and the others were still in.

"SPECTER!" Sweetie seemed fairly unaware of the lump on her head from running into the wall.

"I suppose this is about the time I am to take my leave!" Specter called through the door. "Happy hunting! ...oh and I do hope you figure out a way out of there! I'm sure your pink and rainbow friend would greatly appreciate you getting to them before they started pushing up daisies. And try not to die again along the way. I might not be able to shower you with my generosity again!"

With a laugh, he walked off, leaving the group in the room with no way out.

"I'll get you if something happened to my friends!" Sweetie slammed a hoof on the metal slab. "I'll... I'll..." she collapsed.

"Sweetie!" Applebloom and Scootaloo rushed over to her to help her back to her hooves.

Once Sweetie could stand on her own again, this time, seeming a little more stable than before, she finally took a look at the scene of the tea room. After a moment of examination, she bit her lip and bowed her head.

"What... happened to me." she knew what had happened to a degree, especially based on what had just happened. Seeing Applebloom nearly get stabbed by her own hooves probably being only a sample after being possessed for nearly two hours. "Did... I didn't mean to..."

"Sweetie, it's alright. It don't matter."

"It DOES matter!" Sweetie snapped. "I... I was supposed to be helping you... guys I'm-"

"Don'tcha start Sweetie." Applejack spoke up. "What happened wasn't yer fault. Ya said it yerself, couldn'tve been helped, could it?"

"Yeah but-"

"A...and we're okay." Fluttershy added.

"Mhm." Applejack nodded. "See? No cuts no place. We're fine. No harm done that's worth mentioning."

Sweetie looked over at them. She could tell it was a lie, and a big one at that. At the same time, she knew there was no ill will from whatever she had done.

But the blood. There was so much blood.

"...hurting you isn't the only thing I did though... is it?" Sweetie asked, looking at Twilight.

Twilight kept silent.

"It ain't nothin worth-"

"Twilight. What else did I do? You haven't said anything."

There was a stale silence for five minutes as Sweetie stared at Twilight.

"...Celestia's his."

Sweetie’s stomach turned. "...what?"

"Celestia... is... his. Sweetie." Twilight said. "And to top it all off, if we die again, we're dead for good. Without our cutie marks, is what he said. I was a... the perfect device to force Celestia to give up her power to him. You were t... Spiffy used you to threaten to kill me. I probably looked so pathetic and..."

Sweetie sat on her flank and leaned against the door and looked up. She was silent for the next few minutes as everyone looked at her. Letting what happened sink in. Possessed for a few hours, she managed to torture her friends, break Celestia's will, and essentially do everything Specter wanted her to do.

The question now, was what next?

The minutes passed before finally Sweetie looked back on everyone.

"S...weetie?" Fluttershy said timidly.

Sweetie didn't speak. She surveyed the area before getting back up. She looked at the two metal slabs pressed together. She touched the slit where they both met and attempted to wedge the tip of her hoof in between them.

"Sweetie." Applejack tried.

She nodded to herself and then went around back to the unconscious Night Guard. The first thing she noticed around her was the camera. Where had she found it? Whatever the case, it was important, so she took it. Then there was the knife. Numbly, she stuck that in her saddlebags as well.

Sweetie then noticed a peculiar glass piece by her and picked it up. After examining it, she wondered if it was somehow important as well. It looked nothing like anything a guard would normally have. Then again, she didn't know anything about guards to begin with. Let alone why one was in front of her to begin with. However, on an impulse that it could be important, she took it.

"Sweets?" Scootaloo tried.

Sweetie then tried to pick up the sword by her. She managed to lift it by the hilt onto her back, though it apparently was heavier than it looked. "Guys. Help me pick this up."

"S-sure thing Sweets."

Both Applebloom and Scootaloo accompanied her to pick up the blade.

"Good idea Sweetie.” Applejack agreed. “Best to cut us free first. Then we can-"

"What?" Sweetie gave her a distant confused look. "I'm not cutting you free."

The little movement in the room paused as all eyes gave Sweetie a briefly puzzled look before Applebloom asked "What?".

"I said we’re not cutting her free."

Applejack blinked. "Sweetie, ah know things haven't been great but, that's just-"

"Crazy talk?" Sweetie asked. There was a hint of nervous laughter behind the words. "Crazy talk. You're thinking about cutting yourselves free, and roaming around the mansion after what just happened, and I'm the crazy one?" she shook her head. "Heh... who knows? Maybe I am crazy."

"C'mon Sweetie, that was just a-"

"NO." Sweetie yelled, pointing at the three mares as the sword fell to the ground. The stress she had been holding in exploded in front of everyone. "I'm not letting this happen again! You're all staying here.” She turned to them. “You're going to help me get out of this room” And to no pony in particular she yelled out “ And you're ALL going to go let me find my sister! That was what was supposed to happen."

There was another silence. No mare or filly in the room agreed with her decision. "S-sweetie. Calm down." Scootaloo hesitated.

"I can't calm down!" she shuddered again. "Just-" she paced from the sword and back again. "Just..."

"S-sweetie. What about mah sis?" Applebloom asked. Sweetie's eyes darted at her. "Ah mean... can't be all that safe in here."

Sweetie took a deep breath and sighed and looked around. "This is… the safest part of the mansion right now. If... Fluttershy and Applejack are here, then the safe room's not safe anymore. Otherwise, no one would have gotten to them." he turned to them. "...right?"

"Specter... came back t' life and did somethin' to the room." Applejack said. "But-"

"Still. Am I right when I say it was shut down or something?"

Applejack didn't say anything.

"And this room has light. That's the other important thing. This room has some kind of... something to show there's no ghosts too close by."

"Well couldn't we just untie them?"

"...I don't trust them to stay put." Sweetie shook her head. "Especially in the final stretch. It's just my sister left before-"

"And the Princesses." Twilight chimed in quietly.

"Twilight!"

"She's right... I have to consider them. He's already attacked me with Luna. And if he has Celestia, who's to say he won't try to kill me with both?" Sweetie noted out loud.

"It's not a good idea for you to go out there Sweetie." Twilight spoke again before looking up. "He brought you back to life for a reason. If you go out there, you'll be walking into a trap."

"I've been walking into traps all night Twilight, I can-"

"No Sweetie, you don't get it." Twilight's voice was much more bitter. "Specter wants you to go out. Just you. That's apart of his plan. I don't get how but Sweetie, this entire night must have been following his plan. It's all surrounded around you, if you go out there-"

"I'll deal with it." Sweetie said.

Twilight looked up at her. There was clear anger in her eyes. Something that might have petrified Sweetie if she hadn't seen so much worse that night. "Sweetie, Specter's going to do something worse than kill you. Something worse than marrying Rarity. Get that through your thick skull. You have no reason to go out there. What, you think you've got some guardian angel that makes you the only one who can save everyone? You're not lucky Sweetie. You're not even skilled. You're only alive right now because Specter wants you alive."

"I can-"

"You're his tool. Get it. A damned device, just like that thing on your back. Just as… just as I was. To... I don't know what, but it has something to do with Discord, and an Eclipse spell of all things, and you've got to be apart of it. I don't know how, but you are now."

"But-"

"He knows Sweetie. He knows your mind well enough to get you to do whatever he wants. Because he knows that you're going to blindly charge after your sister and-"

"Shut up Twilight. Just..." Sweetie trailed off.

Trap after trap after trap she had fallen in and miraculously made it out. But was it really a miracle? Or was it just as Twilight said? An illusion to make her think that she was making some kind of difference? Was she really going to be chasing her sister until Specter had finished with her, and decided it was time to throw her away? Was there really no difference?

--Won't save Rarity.

Her head throbbed. So many headaches that night. Everyone seeming to be worse than the last.

--Ow.

Suddenly some words came to mind. Words of Specter's wife, Madame.

Specter's not evil honey

Before, sounding like the excuse for her own husband's horrible activity. And yet now, Sweetie couldn't help but find the phrase strangely convenient.

"...so what?" Sweetie looked at her after a long pause. "No one knows what Specter's planning. If he's using me as you're saying, then I have no other choice than to be used... and hope for the best in the end. But... it's just as Pinkie said the first time. Only I can go out there, and expect to come back alive. Even though she's captured, that hasn't changed. Whether I'm being used, whether I can really catch ghosts, or whether I'm just the luckiest kid in the world. I'm the only one who can do this now. And right now, I have to go with the flow and just... hope.”

"But I know you'll come after me anyway.” She continued. “You'll try to do it yourself... and get killed again. Or worse, I might do something and get you hurt again..." She shuddered but resisted the urge to cry. "You have to stay here. And those ropes will make sure you do."

Twilight didn't say another word. She just glared at Sweetie.

"Now." she turned back to Applebloom and Scootaloo. "Are you going to help me bring this over to the door or what?"

The two looked at each other. Applebloom had to try one more time. "Sweetie... ya sure it's best to leave 'em here like that?"

“Let her.”

The three of them turned to Twilight, who had gone back to bowing her head. Neither Applejack, nor Fluttershy objected.

Sweetie nodded. “There’s your answer.”

The two fillies didn’t like Sweetie’s decision, but neither of them objected either, with the three mare’s silent consent.

There was another moment of nothing before Scootaloo forced a laugh. "Yeah alright. We’ll follow your lead. You know this place best."

"Thanks. C'mon. I'll take this end, Applebloom, take that one, and Scootaloo keep it up at the middle."

The two compiled and helped her pick up the sword and bring it over to the door. The group of mares simply stared at them, still bound to the tea tables mounted in the ground.

"Alright" Sweetie said once they got to the door. "Stick it in between there."

"We gonna pry it open?" Applebloom asked.

Sweetie nodded. Together, they turned the sword to it's side and stuck it into the thin slit. Only the tip went through before halting. "Applebloom, could you-"

"On it." Applebloom went around to the handle of the sword and bucked it further into the slit. She bucked a good 5 times before the sword was halfway through.

"Okay." The three of them went to one side of the sword. "On three, push. Scoots, use your wings to give a little extra boost."

"Right." Scootaloo nodded.

The two of them put their hooves on the broad side of the sword. "One... two... three!" The three of them gave a hard push, Scootaloo flapped her wings rapidly forward. She may not have been able to fly well, but her wings did give the extra oomph as a fourth force.

Surprisingly however, the slabs of metal gave easier than they'd expected. There was certainly the loud scraping of metal between the doors, but all in all, it was fairly easy to pry the door open between the three of them. Within seconds, they had created a gap wide enough to fit each of them through if they squeezed. After that however, it would not budge.

It looked as if Specter made it only just wide enough for Sweetie to get through.

"Good. Just enough room for me to fit through."

"Us. Sweets."

Sweetie looked back at them, opening her mouth preparing to deny them.

"Stop Sweetie... if ya really think ya gotta go out there yerself, fine. If ya think mah sis and her friends gotta stay here, fine. But ya ain't goin' out there without us."

"Guys-"

"It wouldn't be fair." Applebloom snapped. "Yer goin' out there fer your sister. Don't lie. Well ahm going out there fer... fer Spike."

"Spike?" It was then Sweetie noted that Spike was indeed absent. It was then that what Specter had said fully registered in her brain. "Was he taken away too?"

Applebloom shook her head. "Specter 'n Spiffy did somethin' to him. Ah dunno, maybe possesn' him again. Or somethin’. Still, we gotta save 'em too! I have to."

"Would make ya a pretty big... whatcha call 'em. Hypocrate if ya didn't let mah sis tag along witcha." Applejack chimed in.

"Applejack?" Fluttershy timidly asked. Even Twilight gave the mare a curious glance.

"How she gonna just supposed ta sit by 'n lecha go off in that mansion when she wants ta fer the same reasons as ya?" Applejack reasoned. "When she just want's ta save 'er malefriend?"

Applebloom blinked at the word “malefriend”, but she none the less nodded in agreement.

Because I said so! Sweetie thought about saying, but held her tongue, understanding how much worse it would sound.

"Yeah!" Scootaloo agreed. "And Rainbow's just like a sister to me! I want to save her and kick that buck in the teeth, just as much as you want to get at that jack Specter for touching your sister."

"Plus, can't hurt to have some extra eyes on and around you, right?" Applebloom went on. "'N what about happened ta Spike? Happened ta ya too before ya got all possessed! What if it happens again, yer gonna need some help!"

"Yeah well-"

"Sweets, after all the crap you've put us through, we deserve to go with you, alright?" Scootaloo said, earning her a shame-filled glance from Sweetie."Sweets, I didn't mean it like that I..."

She turned away from them, considering everything. First, what she said about how she got possessed. Her memory was fuzzy and pretty dreamlike. She barely had control, and if it had something to do with Spiffy, and Spike was still somehow under that hypnotic influence, there was no reason Specter couldn't take advantage of it as well. She felt fine now, but there was always the chance.

The idea of having extra eyes on her seemed to be a good idea as well. The ghost sense she'd been building up over the course of the night was anything but flawless at this point.

Finally, there was the personal feelings. She started catching ghosts with the hope in the back of her mind she'd eventually come across her sister. That was the prime reason she went out. For similar personal reasons as Applebloom and Scootaloo. Besides wanting to help keep her alive, they wanted to save someone close to them as well. And after whatever horror she had likely put them through, and forcing the others to stay tied up in this only supposedly safe room, letting them come along was the least she could do.

"...If you really want to come, you have to stay close to me." Sweetie said after a while. "No more than a yard from my flank and you've gotta be either at my side, or in front of me at all times. I don't want anything to happen to you."

They both nodded in understanding. Finally Sweetie turned back to the three tied up mares, and the two unconscious guards. "We'll... be back. We promise. After we save Pinkie, Rainbow and Spike, and catch my sister, I'll cut you all loose and we'll figure out what's wrong with the safe room so we can bring them back to life."

There was another pause before Applejack gave a bitter smile. It was forced, and it looked as though she had to swallow her disapproval of this plan. Still, if they would be stuck here, at the very least she could know the two of them would be safe around Sweetie. Hopefully. At this point, she and Fluttershy knew that all they could do was trust Sweetie was telling the truth. That she'd come back with her sister, as well as her sister.

"G-good luck Sweetie..." Fluttershy said quietly.

Sweetie nodded. "Stay safe and quiet."

"And if the lights go out again?" Twilight asked somewhat sarcastically.

Sweetie gave Twilight a shrug. "...then play dead."

With that, Sweetie beckoned her friends to follow her through the portal. As they did, it suddenly shut behind them, throwing them back into the darkness. Both Applebloom and Scootaloo looked back, frightened by the clash of the two metal slabs. Sweetie on the other hand, kept her eyes forward.

Trap or no trap, there was one thing she was almost sure of.

She was in the home stretch.

***

The door leading back to the foyer was locked. "Celestia damn it."

"Don't say things like that Sweets." Scootaloo looked around. The chill seemed to already begin biting at the two crusaders. Sweetie supposed that after wandering the mansion for so long, she must have grown accustomed to it.

"Well, what now Sweetie?" Applebloom asked.

Sweetie shined her flashlight back on her friends. "...a key. We need a key. Or something to trigger the door to open." she concluded. "If this area stayed the same, it shouldn't be too big. So we should start looking around."

"Well ya know this place better than either of us. Where do ya want to start looking?"

"Uh..." Sweetie thought for a few moments, trying to determine where to go next. "...study. Let’s check out Specter's study. If not we're gonna just have to do a little wandering. That's how I found most of the things I needed. Usually important doors are unlocked, or have a way to be unlocked."

"If you say so. Lead the way." Scootaloo said.

"No. You lead the way. Front and center at all times. I don’t want you all to disappear on me."

"Yeah, yeah."

Scootaloo and Applebloom started off before Sweetie, who followed them down the hall.

"...how bad was I?" Sweetie asked.

"Huh?" they both asked.

"Heh... no offense, but you both were uh... pretty psychotic when you all were pos-"

"Stop Sweetie. Ah don't wanna hear about no more possession talk." Applebloom cut off.

"But I have to know." Sweetie said. "Did you see all of that blood, I can't..."

"Sweetie." they both looked back at her to see that she had halted. She was sobbing again.

She shook her head and sniffed. "Sorry. Sorry. Keep going, I'm right behind you."

Instead, however, they both wrapped their forelegs around her again. This time, less out of excitement, and more out of comfort.

"C'mon Sweetie... don't cry." Applebloom cooed.

They stood there for a while, doing nothing but holding each other. Sweetie was annoyed at her weakness, as well as how good it felt to be comforted like this. But even Applebloom and Scootaloo got teary-eyed as they held her. Perhaps it just wasn’t the happiness of having a friend brought back from the dead still lingering among the group.

But there was something else. That strange authoritative she had in that room. Among her friends now, when her very frame wasn’t shuddering and tearing as it was. Perhaps it was the initiative of finally seeing Rairty as her truly primary goal now, where she could make such decisions for the good of the collective without any sort of hesitation. Not to mention how the mansion had hardened her.

But at the same time, she was trapped in a perpetual limbo of fear, knowing the next corner she turned might very well be her head. This place had beaten her and made her mind so fragile.

No, that was wrong. It wasn’t just fragile. It wasn’t whole. Rather, it was preparing to break for the umpteenth time that night. She was already a broken horse hours ago. Now, she was just shatters of her former self that had been breaking into tinier and tinier pieces she'd only managed to glue together quickly enough to keep her alive. Now, all she could do was wonder, as her friends tried to comfort her, how long it would take before the pieces were too small to make whole again.

Or if she could at least function with the pieces long enough to feel her sister’s love one last time.

"They will find you if you stay still..."

--Lub dub

The three of their tears as a chill worked their way up their spines. The same chill that had seasoned Sweetie to tell the difference between normal mansion and ghostly presences.

--Lub dub

This chill that foreshadowed unavoidable death in large quantities. But this chill, this great chill was in one place. It was a chill of a thousand ghosts concentrated into one spot. The same spot where that dreadful echoed voice bounced from. Right behind the three fillies.

--LUB DUB. LUB DUB. LUB DUB.

And the worst part was, they knew this voice well. Especially Applebloom and Scootaloo, who listened to this voice plead for Twilight's life.

Without a doubt, the ghost of Princess Celestia was behind them, staring at them, waiting for them to acknowledge her existence.

The option to run seemed pointless. She was too close for them to even dream of making it more than two feet before being caught. The option to fight seemed even more-so with the immense power they felt just by being around her. No. This was the end, and the three of them knew so.

--No.

They wouldn’t accept that. More specifically, Sweetie wouldn't accept it. Dying so stupidly, so uselessly as not looking over one’s shoulder every now and again, or acknowledging the paranoid instinct she kept.

So, she thought, scanning through the rest of her options as fast as possible.

She was sure there had to be something else in her GCD. Spiffy was in there. But the GCD wouldn't let her shoot him out even if she wanted to. So once again, the offensive was not an option. Then there was the teleportation. Could she pull it off? Teleport far away enough to hide from Celestia. The spell was fuzzy in her head, but it was still there. Still, Sweetie doubted that without Twilight's cutie mark present that she'd be able to without killing herself, or rendering herself unconscious.

"Sweetie..." Applebloom whispered, on the verge of panic.

One other idea popped into her head. She recalled how Luna managed to resist Specter, and how Rainbow managed to bring herself back when she saw Scootaloo. Maybe she could help Celestia resist long enough for them to get away.

Maybe.

"Twilight." Sweetie said as loudly and as firmly as she could.

"Sw-"

"Remember Twilight." Sweetie said again. Perhaps even louder than before. "Do you remember her Princess? Do you remember that you gave yourself up for-"

Sweetie didn't have a moment to finish her sentence as she felt a rush of wind at her back. A wind that was a discomforting mixture of extreme heat and chill at the back of her neck as she felt Celestia's telekinetic attack hit her up in the air before she swoop over to her and scoop her up out from over Applebloom and Scootaloo.

If they called her name, it was blocked out by the torrent of wind engulfing her.

--Bad Move Sweetie Belle

Though, Sweetie's flight didn't last long as she quickly found herself already at the end of the long hallway, far from her friends, pinned against a wall. Celestia's hoof was in her mouth, blocking Sweetie's air.

"Shut. Up." she said with a certain vibration to her voice. Whispered, but strong. Her face was sprawled into that familiar wide grin. "Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up! SHUT UP!"

Sweetie could hear hoofsteps rushing toward her. Likely her friends running after her. She wanted to tell them to run away, but with Celestia's hoof in the way, she couldn't do anything but make small muffled sounds.

"Don't... say a word," she said, giggling between words. “Just… listen.”

And then, to Sweetie's surprise, instead of going deeper, the hoof was taken out of her mouth. Sweetie coughed as she was dropped to the ground on her flank. She heard the hoofsteps slow down, her friends either noticing she was let go, or realizing how stupid it was to blindly rush the princess in the first place.

Probably both.

"If a ghost heard you, you would be dead right now," Celestia said, once again laughing as if the idea of being dead was the greatest joke ever told. "Never. Under any circumstances, do that again."

There was nothing but the sound of Celestia's untouchable mane flowing in the non-existent wind for a few minutes. As Sweetie examined her, she noticed that her eyes weren't as crazy as her grin. Rather, they were calm as they stared down on her. The toothy grin made her look as though she were wearing a surgeon’s mask preparing for a complex operation rather than a grin dreaming of the ways Sweetie's body could be violated.

"P...rincess." Sweetie forced out.

"Sweetie Belle." She returned. The giggles sounded much more controlled this time.

"...did you have to ram me against the wall like that?" She stammered out without realizing. She covered her mouth, afraid she had offended such regal power that could crush her at any second. Even if she wasn’t trying to kill her at the moment, she was still the princess of Equestria, not to mention the goddess of the bucking sun.

The grin didn't fade or grow. It remained constant as she continued to giggle.

"A precaution... and an instinct." she eventually explained. "If I didn't attack you some way, I might have drawn more suspicion than I already was by approaching you." She started to giggle between her teeth. She took a step back toward Scootaloo and Applebloom, who stepped out of the way themselves to walk around to Sweetie and ask if she was okay.

Celestia covered her mouth. "Hee hee hee... I- hee. Don't know why that was so funny- ha ha ha..." She took a deep breath, and gritted her teeth. "I'm sorry... I'm okay. You don't have to worry. We're alone now. He's not watching. And I'm not going to hurt you- bahahahahaha!"

It didn’t sound as if she could resist laughing, but at the same time, the three of them wanted to believe her. After all, they weren’t dead yet, which was always a good sign.

The three looked at each other before looking back at Celestia.

"You're not?" They all repeated.

Celestia replied with an exaggerated nod, bobbing up and down with every other “Ha”.

"...I don't believe you." Sweetie blurted out.

"Sweetie!" Both Applebloom and Scootaloo looked at her in horror at how blatantly she had said what she did.

"Hm. I have to agree with your friends. Sweetie, shouldn't you know after your encounters with Pinkie that calling tricksters out on their own tricks is bad form?" she sighed a small laugh. "But I can't help understanding how you feel. I only wish I could convince you by wiping this sadist’s grin off my face. Or quitting this laughter. But I'm not killing you. Take it for what it's worth and listen to what I have to say. I don't know how long I can resist, nor do I know how long until Specter realizes I still have something resembling free will."

Sweetie didn't look entirely convinced, but like Pinkie, what could she do?

So instead, Applebloom spoke up. "What is it, Princess?"

"I want you all to go back to the tearoom." she said. "Go back and stay safe in there."

"...no." Sweetie spoke up. "I'm not going back Princess. I have to-"

Celestia laughed. This time though, it seemed more intentional. "Stop Specter and save your sister?" she predicted. "Or is it save your sister and stop Specter?"

Now, Celestia's tone was beginning to annoy her. Even with those chilling laughs, Celestia seemed sane. The last person she felt wanted to be ridiculed by was someone who made sense. "I don't see the difference, I have to do both."

Celestia shook her head. "No Sweetie, you must do one before the other. Saving your sister and your friends was your top priority tonight, wasn't it? Finding out Specter's plan and stopping that should have been the first. He is the factor keeping you and your friends in the mansion as his hostages."

Sweetie opened her mouth, but no words came. Going after Specter first? Or whenever they could get their hooves on him? It made so much sense it hurt. They had him in that room, didn't they? Maybe if Sweetie didn’t press to go out to save her sister, maybe they wouldn’t have split up? Who knows, maybe they could have held him down and kicked him in the plot until he let them out to go for help. It wasn’t as if Rarity was going to get any deader.

Then again what would they get out of beating a dead horse? Better yet, what had they gotten out of him.

Sweetie racked her brain for an excuse. "W-ell... because we could never get to him."

Celestia knew that she was lying.

"...oh! And we were sure he was powerful. After all, he controls this entire mansion!"

"Yeah! He made them spikes appear right in front of me 'round the time Sweetie woke up!" Applebloom chimed in.

"And I think he made that beam break to let me go!" Scootaloo chimed in. "He probably controls every inch of the mansion!"

"I doubt it."

The words hung stale in the air for a few moments.

"...what? What does that mean?"

"It means he doesn't. Not as much as you think. It's impossible for him to be able to maintain this mansion himself, I can tell you that much. Because it's not a mansion at all." Celestia said softly. "It's an illusionist’s spell known as a phantasm."

"A what?"

"A phantasmic spell. A type of spell that only can be reproduced by the mind." Celestia explained. "...do you remember Discord?"

There was that name again. Discord. Yet another enemy in the back of Sweetie's mind that she loathed to think about facing. An enemy she subconsciously prayed that he wouldn't end up being a threat to begin with. For now, she kept silent and nodded. Applebloom and Scootaloo followed her example.

"Allicorns, Draconequis' , Windigos and other mythic beasts of legend are the only type who have the magic capacity to cast these phantasms to alter the fabric of space-time at varying levels by bringing spells that can only exist in their minds to reality. Hmph. Even then in some cases, we have our limits, making some phantasms existing in their concept and theory. Never to become physical. For example, as mad and powerful as Discord was who can bring his own twisted brain’s creations and alterations to life on the size of nearly two small Equestrian states, doing something like reacting into a different multiverse would kill even him. Even his power isn’t infinite. However a phantasms such as altering laws of physics, altering time and space are very possible."

"...like creating a mansion in the middle of nowhere?" Sweetie suggested.

"Hm. You would think that at first wouldn't you? Especially now... I'm supposing I'm not the only one who's heard Discord's name a few times around the mansion." she shook her head. "But this phantasm isn't his work either. Not completely."

"Why not?"

"I've sensed his phantasm more than once. Fought it even. And the feeling I get off of this one... it's not his. It does mimic the properties of his phantasms that are designed to spread chaos, but it doesn't feel solid enough. This phantasm feels less chaotic, but more as many orderly things broken and stitched back together.” She paused for a second. “It's power feels somewhat distant. Any lack of consistency in this place does not feel intentional... it's because it just can't."

"I don't get it."

"Neither do I Sweetie. Which just adds to the mystery." Celestia sighed. "Regardless, the point is that Specter's not the one in control of this place. I don't care how old he is, he doesn't have the mental, nor does he have the magical capacity to pull off such a feat. It's rare mortal ponies who do not ascend to greatness even achieve the ability to process such spells. Maybe a stallion like Star Swirl the Bearded, but not Specter."

"Who knows? Maybe they're both the same person?" Scootaloo suggested.

"Don't be silly Scootaloo. That'd be the stupidest plot twist ever." Sweetie sung.

"What?"

"What?" Sweetie retorted louder than necessary. She cleared her throat. "I honestly don't know where that came from."

Celestia gave Sweetie a strange look. "...ergo Specter couldn't do this, Spiffy is captured at this moment, and even then I have my doubts even he could create a phantasm but... and this is not the work of Discord. Tee hee hee... Specter's nothing but an old puppeteer, I can only assume. At minimum. Assuming he is the mastermind behind this entire act of terrorism."

"...but we don't know what at th' bottom of them strings?" Applebloom said.

"Metaphorically speaking yes," Celestia agreed. "Which is why you can't do this. Specter may be weak, old, and probably dead stallion, but no one knows what the extent of the power he has behind him is. He’s a definite unknown. The phantasm this mansion was created from may hold some similar properties to others, it's still a phantasm that no one knows about. It's unpredictable."

"...so what?" Sweetie let out a laugh. "You're going to go after Specter?"

"Yes." She said flatly. "So long as I resist long enough to cast a spell on him, I could potentially cut off any connections he has and hopefully release the spirits of this mansion, and bring Specter under custody."

"Sounds too good to be true. Do you really think that you'll be able to sneak up close enough behind Specter to do something like that?"

"I can sense when he's watching better than you can Sweetie." she said. "If I was smart about it-"

"You would still kill your chance. What if he's watching his back at all times? Or what if someone else we don’t know about is doing it for him? Didn't you say that?" Sweetie said. "It's only a matter of time before you lose it as Princess Luna did."

"Hm. It's better than doing as Specter wants and rushing after your sister, isn't it?" Celestia responded coldly. "The safety of the largest number of elements should be your top priority. Even if it means leaving your friends to their fate."

Sweetie stared at Celestia, hating what she was saying. She wasn’t wrong. Going after Specter was a bad idea, but going for her sister could be worse. Still, she couldn’t just turn around and head back.

An idea.

An idea came to Sweetie and she started to smile. This surprised the princess, and even the other two crusaders.

"Sweetie?"

"No... no, that's perfect! That's a plan!" Sweetie said. “Going after my sister is the best plan.”

"What do you mean?"

"Well... Twilight said if I go after Rarity, I'd be just doing something else for Specter's plan, right? Whatever it is, who cares? Wouldn't he want to watch me when I did?" Sweetie explained. "And while he's watching me go after Rarity, you can have a better chance at sneaking up at him and whacking him with your ghost magic!"

Celestia gave Sweetie another negative look.

"What?"

"Why do I get the impression you're just looking for excuse to go after your sister?"

"Tell me it's not a good idea."

"It's not a good idea." Celestia mocked. "You would be putting yourself in more needless danger at the expense of not only possibly getting yourself killed, but putting whatever finishing touches are left on Specter's plan."

"And you're asking to be caught by Specter turning around to see you at the wrong moment so he can zap you with more ghost control. Or whatever he does. And then I have to deal with you and Luna. And Specter and his cronies to boot! Plan or no plan!" Sweetie shot back. "Celestia, Specter will watch me. If I'm so central to his plans that he brought me back to life, he will watch. Because if I die, or find a hole to his plan, then they might fall apart!" Sweetie took a step toward Celestia. "Princess, I'm right. If we're going to stop Specter, we need to work together."

There was a long pause. Applebloom and Scootaloo only stared as the little unicorn and the great allicorn glared at each other.

Eventually, Celestia spoke. "What about your friends in the tea room?"

"If I move quickly, then there's nothing they have to worry about."

"And your friends under the custody of the griffon?"

"Just a few more minutes for you to figure out how you'll approach Specter." Sweetie said. "I'll… we’ll save Pinkie, Rainbow and Spike if he's with them, and my sister. And you'll have enough time to get to Specter while he watches me do that dance for him. Even if I mess up, as long as I survive long enough to do what you have to do, then we can beat him."

Celestia closed her eyes for a few moments before opening them again.

"Fine. We'll go along with your plan. You save the captured Elements and your sister. I'll hunt down and detain Specter."

Sweetie nodded. "Good. If all of us pull this off, we can finally figure out how to get out of here. Right girls?"

"Y-eah." both Applebloom and Scootaloo agreed, brought out of watching the argument unfold. "Yeah!"

"Awesome." Sweetie grinned happily. It felt good to have a plan that could actually work. As sketchy as it seemed, it seemed possible for a change. At least compared to how she'd been for the last couple of hours.

"...I can tell you where your sister is as well as Pinkie, Rainbow and the griffon. You shouldn't waste too much time." Celestia went on. "I'm sure there are hints that you'd find around these halls for you to have eventually found it yourselves. You can thank me later for saving you another hour or two of mindless wandering and ghost encounters."

Celestia couldn't begin to fathom how thankful Sweetie actually was (nor could she, the readers for that matter) but she kept quiet to keep listening.

"The key is in Specter's study."

"Great! We were just heading there." Scootaloo said.

"But I'm not sure if you would have found it so easily. Because it's not a physical key this time. Rather, the key lies in the destruction of paintings." she explained. "Special doors have been added that are directly connected to them. Destroy these paintings, and you destroy the lock on the door... or in some cases, the door itself."

"Huh... somethin's tellin' us ya don't suggest detroyin' all of 'em and seein' what happens?" Applebloom assumed.

Celestia shook her head. "You could unlock the door to something you'd wish stay closed. I can't say for sure, but I wouldn't want to find out."

"Then how do we know which painting does what?" Sweetie asked.

"Try looking at them in a different light."

"What?"

Celestia shook her head. "That's the extent of my knowledge, I’m sorry. You'll have to figure out that meaning yourself."

Sweetie sighed. "Well... beats having to find the cryptic message myself. Okay. Paintings."

"As for locations... the two places you'll want to open up are the doors to the foyer and the door to a hidden door in the kitchen area. That's the one that will take you to the hidden side of the mansion that holds your sister and the captured Elements." she said. "That's the most specific instructions I can give you. From there, you're on your own."

"Alright... yeah that'll save tons of time." Sweetie agreed.

Celestia turned around. "I will begin looking for an opening around a half hour from now. Plan to make significant progress by then... and if all else fails, you yourself keep an eye out for the hole you're so sure Specter will watch to make sure you don't take advantage of."

"Alright. Good luck Princess!" Sweetie said.

Celestia started to walk off then stopped.

"R-right. Sorry. Too loud."

"No... no that's not it." she said. "There's something else that's been bothering me... the whole time I was talking to you."

"Huh?" Sweetie looked at either of her friends, who shrugged in return. "What's wrong?"

Then, Celestia asked something strange. "Sweetie Belle...out of curiosity, did you eat Twilight Sparkle?"

Sweetie blinked. "Say what now?"

She turned her head back towards them. "Did you eat Twilight Sparkle? Or Fluttershy, for that matter?"

Sweetie once again looked back at her friends, who both returned a "how the hay should I know what she's talking about?" look.

"Or Applejack? Did you eat her?" she paused and turned around. "No... no that would mean you've eaten Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash as well."

"P...rincess, what are you talking about eating other ponies for?"

"Because according to the aura you've been giving off this entire conversation... that strange comment, that ability to debate a point and plan with such celerity, and that sheer bravado to look me in the eye and tell me I'm wrong... Sweetie Belle, I mean to ask you why do I sense each of the elements you've captured thus far?"

Sweetie swallowed when Celestia turned back around.

She did not like that distrusting look that she gave her.

"Why?" she asked again.

"I-I have no idea." Sweetie stammered out as her head throbbed.

"Liar." Celestia’s horn glowed slightly brighter than the rest of her body. Sweetie was lifted into the air by a strong telekinesis spell. Or maybe it was Celestia altering her own personal field of gravity, because whatever this spell was, it certainly felt more earth shattering than a regular old telekinesis spell. As she found herself lifted into the air, she really began to feel the regal amounts of magical energy at Celestia's disposal. Further reminding her how little she was looking forward to even thinking about fighting her if it ever came to it.

Oh pray to Celestia she hoped it wouldn't.

"Sweetie!" Applebloom and Scootaloo called.

"Stay back," Celestia commanded. The two fillies watched in horror, but they didn't move any closer.

Sweetie's body began to glow nearly as bright as the alicorn's horn. She felt funny. Sick. It wasn't pain, but nausea this spell she appeared to be casting on her was. She felt it inside of her body, shooting waves of non-lethal magic throughout. Suddenly, a large jolt shot through Sweetie's body, influencing her to seize for a split second, just as the five cutie marks she'd acquired over the course of the last couple hours began to appear on her body like strobe lights.

Applebloom stared in surprise as she saw her sister's cutie mark on Sweetie's body. Even Scootaloo mouthed a "what the buck..." at seeing Rainbow's cutie mark on her as well.

"Ah!" the feeling inside of her was reaching uncomfortable levels for Sweetie at this point. "Stop!"

Celestia complied, releasing both spells on her as she fell on the flank with a thud.

"So I wasn't crazy. Their cutie marks are indeed gone..." Celestia said in slight awe. "Yet, somehow, you have them."

"Y-yeah..." Sweetie admitted.

"How?"

"I don't know, okay? I just... caught my friends and after I did, there they'd be. At least when I went into Pinkie's carnival." Sweetie explained.

"...do they know?"

Sweetie looked back at the crusaders who were still shocked. "No. Now, just you, me, and my friends here know."

"This... this is not normal." Celestia voice was concerned.

“You think?” Sweetie said, dusting herself off.

Celestia ignored her. "I need to think on this further. Moving a cutie mark from one pony to the other should be impossible."

"Why?"

"Because it's an element of the soul. Even if two cutie marks may look similar, each one is unique to the person it belongs to. A cutie mark isn't just a mark of one's talent. It's a visual representation of one's self. And these aren't replicas of similar marks Sweetie. These are the actual marks of the Elements." Celestia looked down the hall. "...at this point, I couldn't tell you what Specter's entire plan is. I couldn't even tell you why you were chosen to be involved. But from what I know now, I can only assume one thing."

"...what's that?"

"That Specter wins when you catch your sister and obtain the sixth cutie mark."

The final reminder stung. The reminder that she would be going along with Specter's plan. And the reminder that this was likely the last leg of the plan. Of course that was the catch to this seemingly perfect counter-plan they had come up with to stop Specter.

"...this doesn't change anything. I'm still going after her." Sweetie said.

"I understand that. It's to be expected, so the plan cannot change." Celestia nodded. "Still, if either of us fails our tasks, then..."

"This is our chance. My chance to save Rarity and your chance to save Twilight. A-and if everything's been to his plan, a sneak attack our chance to strike back and stop Specter... plus whatever power behind him." Sweetie said. "It's worth the risk. Trust me, I've been taking them all night."

"Hm..." Celestia chuckled. Next to the smaller laughs, this one looked real. Still, it seemed to take a visible amount of effort not to enter another ghostly laughing spell. "Sorry. With the marks you're playing off aside, it just seems so surreal humorous to become lucid and realize I'm getting a motivational speech from a filly that makes sense."

Sweetie shrugged.

"I'm going now. Remember. Thirty minutes. Aim to make major headway by then." Celestia said, before turning around and walking off again. "Good luck. To all of you."

The three cutie mark crusaders nodded as Celestia disappeared. And then they were alone again as silence filled the hall.

Sweetie bowed her head, and took Celestia's place in front of Applebloom and Scootaloo. She looked at them and shrugged. "Well?"

"...well what?" Scootaloo asked.

"You've been pretty quiet. Do you have anything to say? Any questions?"

"Th' better question is if ya could answer 'em." Applebloom said honestly. "...when were you gonna tell us anyway?"

"When I had to."

"You were gonna keep something like that from us? I mean... damn Sweetie, you've got cutie marks. A bunch of them!"

"Just like cutie pox... or worse, considering I virtually stole these marks." Sweetie sighed.

"Ya didn't steal 'em." Applebloom assured. "They just found yer way on yer body is all."

"Yeah... still not something I'm exactly excited to tell Twilight and the rest of them. Especially after Celestia said 'moving them is impossible'," Sweetie said before mocking, "Hey guys! I found your cutie marks and can use them way better than you too! Don't think I can give them back though, sorry about that."

"Ya wouldn't say it like that either." Applebloom said.

“Yeah. And did you see the look on her face? You know… behind the crazy smile and all.” Scootaloo added. “She doesn’t even know anything about this thing. For all we know, it’s an easy fix.”

"Yeah well, that's what they'd hear when the thing that marks who they are is on the back their friend's klutz of a sister." Sweetie sighed.

"We have to tell them Sweetie. We can't keep it from them forever." Scootaloo noted. "That's like... even worse."

"I know, I know."

"C'mon. Rainbow's chill and so are the rest of them. We'll vouch for you, so there's no way they could be too mad, if they were at all. Hay, they'd probably get over it right away. Maybe they could put their heads together to figure out how to fix it too. It'll be fine. Relax."

-- It won't be fine

-- Can't relax

-- Hate. Hate. Hate.

Sweetie blinked a few times.

"Sweetie?"

"Y-yeah. Yeah, alright. I'll think about it." Sweetie seemed to have entered a trance for a split second. "Speaking of her, we need to head to the study and get moving. Every minute we're just standing around here is another minute Pinkie and Rainbow are in danger. Spike too, right?"

"Right!"

"Damn, it must have been a while since Gilda took them away." Scootaloo said. "Hope they're still alright."

***

"Hey Sweetie? Not for nothin' but why ya still hold th' flashlight in yer mouth?" Applebloom asked. "Ah mean... ya saw where ah kept the flashlight hidden. Ya can use it from there, why dontcha-"

Sweetie cut her off. "AJ's hat is in the way."

"Uh... alright then, why not just take 'er hat off?"

Sweetie shrugged. "Superstition? I feel like... naked when I'm not wearing it."

"You're already naked Sweets," Scootaloo commented.

"That joke is so old..." Sweetie mumbled.

"What?"

"No, I meant naked... defenseless. That's the word." She explained, "As in things just get even worse than worse when I don't have it on. AJ said it could be my lucky charm."

"Huh."

"Now... we've gotta think. What did the Princess mean by 'look at this in a different light'?"

At this point, the group had entered the study. It was fairly lit in contrast to the hallways which only had hints of moonlight at best. The room was also warm, a the fire crackled in the fireplace, seeming almost inviting to the three of them. This was especially true for Applebloom and Scootaloo, considering they were sure they'd freeze if they stayed a second longer in those halls. They took the moment to stretch their muscles in presence of the flames.

"Hm... well there's plenty a light already. Ya got another one right there in yer mouth too," Applebloom suggested.

"Yeah, give that a go," Scootaloo agreed.

Sweetie tried shining her flashlight on the painting. Unsurprisingly however, the flashlight made no difference. She shook her head. "Nothing."

"Hm... different light. Different light... how 'bout a different color?" Applebloom suggested. "Maybe we can make it some different color?"

"Different color huh?" She turned her flashlight off and looked at the front. She wondered. What about that piece of glass I picked up from that guard?

She shuffled around in her bag. She had trouble finding the piece of glass, so she took out the ghost book first. Upon seeing it out in the open, she sighed at a slight realization.

"What's wrong Sweets?"

"I... ah, I should have checked this book way sooner. When I got out of Pinkie or saved you all, sooner." She looked at her friends who still seemed vaguely puzzled. "This uh... updates me on all different going ons with my ghost capture thing and ghosts. You understand?"

They both nodded, though she could tell they were still somewhat skeptical. Dead ponies and shifty mansions were one thing, but a book telling her what to do and how to do it was really stretching it.

"Alright. What do you have this time?"

She began flipping through the pages of the book, going through pages she had already looked through. The first new page she came across turned out to be a picture of Princess Luna's ghost.

---

Portrait of the Moon

Bio: Luna above, no pun intended, I thought you'd never crack this thing again. Seriously kid, what kind of hunter waits hours to read the book that's been supplying information vital for your survival? Hopefully after whatever ignorant endeavors you've endured, you've learned your lesson. Doubtful, but we can hope. Regardless, you lucked out. Because honestly, after facing something close to an Elder's power, you should be dead. I cannot give you any useful information on how to capture the Portrait of the Moon. Not at your current level, and probably not by the time you read this. It would be impossible. Your spiritual magnetic potential is not nearly great enough and your skills- let’s just say luck alone will not cut it if she's applying every unit of magical energy she has to murder you. She's faster than even the Portrait of Loyalty. Has more magic than the Portrait of Magic. More strength than the Portrait of Honesty. Even more status altering abilities similar to the Portrait of Kindness. It's suicide to even think about going after her without at least a team of eleven hunters all highly experienced at catching Elder type spirits. At least. Never engage this ghost if you expect to walk out of this hunt alive. The only thing that can be used is working with something relating to the Portrait of the Sun. But who am I kidding, we're talking about a pony who didn't even have the common sense to check to read her instruction book.

---

"Give me a break. I was busy, okay?"

"Whatcha say Sweetie?" Applebloom asked.

"Nothing, just talking to my book," Sweetie said absentmindedly.

"What?"

"What?" Sweetie returned, waving them off. "J-ust... don't worry about me. Go back to looking for clues or something."

Both Applebloom and Scootaloo looked at each other and shrugged and continued scanning the room.

Better try to keep thoughts like that to myself. Sweetie thought. Hm... wonder what the book meant by Elder? ...oh.

Sure enough, the next page started on the very topic.

---

Info: Elder Spirits

Though the aforementioned spirit is in technicality not Elder level, she is close enough while her sister actually is. So it concerns you enough. Essentially, Elder ghosts are top dog in the spirit world. The strongest of the strongest by the knowledge obtained by any living hunters that have survived ghost hunts. Having the most abilities and attributes that they've gained over the course of many years of being spirits. Though, often, this is the case for spirits, the qualification for Elders is usually power and knowledge. Not age. Though power and knowledge does often does factor into age in this respect. Either way, these are not the type of portraits you even want to dream of capturing on your own. Essentially, they are just short of gods. Elders are one of two things. Completely harmless and sane, or deadly and driven mad by the thousands of years of being undead. Often they have the mental capacity to not be influenced, so there's the occasional chance that even in a situation as the one you're in that maybe they might not kill you. However, there are ways to get to even an Elder, and I wouldn't be surprised if your antagonist so happens to have the resources.

---

...just short of gods. Sweetie thought. Of course, after facing Luna and Celestia, to some degree she knew that they had a lot of power. Still, just seeing the words written there seemed even more unsettling. Once again, reminding her how badly their plan had to work.

She flipped to the next page.

---

Info: Spiritual Kick/Instance

Well, considering you wouldn't be walking, talking, or reading for that matter, I'm assuming you already know how this feature works. Either that or you're the second biggest bookworm of a ghost I've ever seen in my life. Regardless, Spiritual Instance is a very special feature of any ghost capturing device. Rarely do hunters ever obtain such an ability, or upgrade their personal pack with enough magical energy to obtain it. In short, this is the only feature one can use in order to accomplish a self-exorcism or exorcize one's self without the external help of an external force. It allows a possessed hunter to awaken from the possessive dream state in order to shortly attempt to lucidly regain control of the hunter's muscles as well as kick out the ghost possessing in order to attempt a capture to ultimately rip the ghost out of the body. Under normal circumstances, this would be suicide, as the units of magical energy constantly flowing throughout your body would lay over and be multiplied to deadly amounts. Which is why in turn, by the end of this self-exorcism, the body will cease to function and be killed anyway. Again, under normal circumstances that you even managed to do a self-exorcism without this feature. However, with Spiritual Instance, an instance of not only the spirit, but the body before it died is saved by the GCD as a projection within the pack. At the same time, the GCD will keep the hunter's spirit within the body until it eventually runs out of power. The hunter will medically be dead, and the GCD will note this, but with the jolt of some type of magical target, the hunter can be revived in their normal body. Usually applied orally, or around the stomach area topically. Cutie mark or no cutie mark. However, there is one extra catch that might interest you. The jolt from the GCD imprints nothing but the hunter's spiritual instance on the body. Though, if the target in question has been tampered with, whatever is inside of it will be imprinted onto some aspect of the hunter as well. So was your target tampered kid?

---

Sweetie swallowed before talking. "Guys... Specter... did he…”

It didn’t take a genius. Based on how he acted, what he said and how her friends reacted to him, she already believed very well that Specter had brought her back to life. And yet there was something worrying her. “…how did he bring me back exactly?"

Both Scootaloo and Applebloom looked at each other before they looked back and Applebloom spoke. "He put somethin' in your mouth an'… ah dunno, it did somethin’ with yer backpack."

“Yeah, there were all these leach things crawling over you, and they put something in you and-”

"And you just stood there and let him?" Sweetie said with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"W-well we didn’t have no way to stop him! Ya didn’t see what he could really do yerself!"

“And, c'mon Sweets. You were... you were dead,” Scootaloo argued. “Besides, it’s not as if we had something to lose-"

"No. You did guys." Sweetie scolded. "You saw how I was possessed. Spike's hypnotized. All of our friends were brainwashed as ghosts to believe that they hate us... I could have easily taken you out of here and..." she bowed her head and went silent.

"...Sweetie?"

Sweetie sighed. "Nothing. Nothing right now."

She couldn't help but worry about how Specter might have altered her body with whatever he put into her mouth. Though she shook her head, there was too much to worry about now. All she could do was hope for the best. Hope that whatever Specter did to her wouldn't ruin the plan her, the other crusaders and Celestia had hashed together.

Hope.

At this point, that was all she had left. Hope, and the dim possibility she would hug her sister. At this point, these were the only things keeping her sane. Keeping her together.

Probably.

Sweetie flipped to the next page.

Instead of more info, the page was covered in blotches of ink. There seemed to be words under them, but there was no way Sweetie could decode the message. This was definitely wrong. Had Specter or Spiffy messed with the book while she was possessed? And if so, what was so important on this page that it was worth blotching out?

Worrying about this before I know what it means is pointless. Sweetie reminded herself. Best to hope it doesn't change anything.

She flipped the page.

---

Info: Elemental Throwback

Info: Yet another power that you will completely be ignorant to until you decide to open this thing up. Since you’ll likely be rushing through this anyway, I’ll make this brief as there’s not all too much special about this ability. It’s simply a secondary fire to your Elemental Capture, allowing you to concentrate all of the element of your choice into one shot. Similar to the Spectral Throwback function.

---

A new function? Sweetie figured it would be best to make use of it as soon as she could. For all she knew, it was another power that might save her life. Or at least make her life in the mansion just a bit easier.

She flipped to the next page.

---

Info: Black Light Lens

Not much on this kid. It's just a lens that emulates the properties of a black light with normal light around it. I'm sure you already know what one of those are, so I won't get into details. You could use it as an eyepiece if you have the trait of light eye as well as on your flashlight to reveal items of interest. More interestingly, however, it can be used in combat with your flashlight. Admittedly, against regular ghosts, it will not be as effective, taking a second or two to break the ghost's shield, contrasting to the instantaneous effect of the normal light. That said, it does destroy magical energy for special ghosts who can regenerate it. Not as effective as fire, but still effective enough. In theory, you could destroy a ghost with a black light or black light lens. Plus, it is much more effective for the rare, types of ghosts or elders that can manipulate, and even thrive in light. If you're lucky, you'll never have to face either. But we both know how arguable that is, don't we?

---

"Black light lens." Sweetie mumbled, before going into her saddlebags, and shuffling through to find the eyepiece she had picked up off the night guard. She stared at it, feeling it probably represented another few hours of fumbling around in the dark to look for the damned thing. It might have been as Applebloom said. A different color. If this is what Sweetie needed to solve this new puzzle, she was glad she already had it.

But at the same time it worried her.

If she really did need it, she couldn't help but worry why the guard had possessed the piece in the first place. And where she and the other came from in the first place. And if they were indeed just another part of Specter's plan. She thought about her friends, still tied up, with those two in the room, probably waking up as she thought.

And that sword.

Was it all planned?

She shook her head. Now wasn't the time to get hysterical. She had to focus on one thing. Reviving her sister and following the plan. Or else it wouldn't even matter.

"One of you." Sweetie called. "Catch."

She tossed the piece to the both of them, and Scootaloo caught it. She played around with it in her hoof. "What's this?"

"Puzzle piece. Don't drop it."

"Good idea throwing it then."

"Quiet you." Sweetie said. "I need you to look through it and... look around the room. I think that thing's what Celestia meant by 'looking at this in a different light'. Maybe."

"Gotcha Sweets."

Sweetie nodded before flipping to the last filled page. As per the chronological order, finally, she saw the picture of Princess Celestia's ghost.

---

Portrait of the Sun

Bio: You know how they say never to look directly into the sun or you'll go blind? At this point, I'm surprised you're not blind, deaf and dead to boot. I don't need to say how stupid it was to confront this ghost. You've probably felt it. Her power is incredible. But in a sense, that might be a good thing, considering why you're probably alive. Because the power contained in the Portrait of the Sun is so great, as peer the power of an elder, she can much better resist the influence of any spiritual alteration spells or enchanted items to manipulate and control her. She's not invincible but her ability to resist is massive. She's likely one of the few ghosts in this mansion you can trust at this point. At least until her free will is caught and snuffed out for good. And should that time come, much like the Portrait of the Moon, forget about it. Though besides her sister, if you even want to hold a chance against her, your normal flashlight won't work. Period.

---

"Hm..." Sweetie flipped the page to make sure there was no new information before closing it again. "See anything through there?"

Scootaloo turned to her and nodded. "Nope. Just a whole lot of purple."

"Toss the piece over to me. I want to check something." Sweetie said. As Scootaloo was about to toss it back, Applebloom snatched it from her and walked it over to Sweetie.

"Don' drop it, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah." Sweetie said, taking the piece and proceeding to examine it. She then took her flashlight in her free hoof and placed the lens over the top. "Hey, could one of you check to see if there's some tape or something on the table over there?"

Sweetie twitched her head in the direction of the sole desk in the study, as she continued to mess around with the lens and the flashlight.

The two of them went, and a few seconds later came back with a desktop roll of tape. "Here you go Sweets."

She took the tape and placed a few pieces to attach an edge of the lens to an edge of the top of the flashlight. Once she was satisfied, she turned the flashlight so the tape was on the top part of the rim in her mouth, and jerked her head up. The lens flipped back onto the handle of the flashlight. She jerked again, and had the lens fall back in place over the flashlight.

"Yeah... that'll work. But will this?" Sweetie mumbled as she turned on her flashlight, now outfitted with the new lens. Rather than the regular white light, the flashlight emitted a purple hue. As she shined it against one of the paintings, she saw what Scootaloo had not seen through the lens. There was a white streak across it. And a circle on another. The shapes got more and more complex the more she looked at the paintings.

"’Secret symbols." Applebloom said in awe.

“Cool. Now you can probably find all sorts of stuff with that light!” Scootaloo added.

"Not only that, but if I meet any ghosts I can't fight with my normal light." Sweetie flipped the flashlight to display the normal white light. "I can use it for combat as a quick switch to the black light." She switched back.

"Smart." Scootaloo smiled.

"Not smart. Common sense I’ve been apparently lacking by leading you around like a potential bomb and not checking this book that could tell me what to do and when to do it.” Sweetie shook her head. This mansion was getting to her, she was already starting to insult herself. “According to this book, I need to be fast and efficient. If I’m not, I could be in real trouble if ghosts of light like Luna became a problem."

"Or Celestia-"

Scootaloo hit Applebloom in the back of the head.

"Ow! What was that fer?"

"Don't jinx it. You don't say stuff like that and expect it not to happen."

"I'mma jinx you if ya hit me again."

"Guys, guys. Focus." Sweetie said. "Now... we're supposed to burn one of these, right?"

"Right. Celestia said we gotta burn the door to the foyer... and one to the kitchen." Scootaloo reminded.

"Them symbols probably are related to th' door they open." Applebloom assumed.

"Right, so which symbol goes with which door?" Sweetie asked. She started scanning the paintings with her black light. As she slowly swept across, she saw an E-shape, a triangle, a V-shape, a "4" and a shape with two halves of an arch going away from each other.

"Huh. They really just look like random symbols Sweets." Scootaloo said after staring at them for a while.

"Maybe we're supposed ta find somethin' else ta relate them to." Applebloom suggested.

"Maybe." Sweetie mumbled, still looking over the paintings. "...or maybe we already have what we need. Like, you know what those curves remind me of? They remind me of a spout."

"A spout?" They both asked.

"Yeah. Like water coming out of some spouts. And a fountain has spouts, right?" Sweetie suggested. "And there was a fountain past the door in the foyer. So maybe that's one."

Sure of herself, Sweetie used her GCD to suck the painting off the wall and onto the nozzle. Once it was stuck, she released it so it would fall to the ground.

"What else... what else..." Sweetie brainstormed while Applebloom and Scootaloo just watched her think. Eventually, her light went on the painting with a "4". "Yeah, that one reminds me of a knife. See the handle and the blade?"

"So?" Scootaloo asked.

"And you find knives in kitchens, right? So maybe it's that one."

With that Sweetie sucked that painting off the wall as well. She placed the paintings between the two of them. "Well? What do you think?"

"Huh... seems like a long shot Sweetie." Applebloom noted. "Ya sure them symbols mean what you think they mean?"

"Yeah, and you heard Celestia. Might not be a good idea to burn the wrong one, you know."

"I'm sure these are them." Sweetie said. There was a hint of annoyance in her voice. "You have any other ideas? Or do you want to wander the mansion a little more? Maybe get some hints while we have ghosts breathing down our flanks."

Neither Applebloom, nor Scootaloo objected. They seemed more willing to try Sweetie's method if it meant getting done to save Pinkie, Rainbow and Spike faster.

Just while it was still there, Sweetie used her GCD to suck up some of the fire in the fireplace until it was filled. Just in case she so happened to need it. "Alright guys. Toss the paintings into the fire."

They both complied, stacking the paintings on top of each other and using their combined strength to toss the paintings in. There were a few short initial cracks in the fireplace before the fireplace became blindingly bright and it started crackling like fireworks at the Grand Galloping Gala. Naturally the three of them stood back, squinting as they stared in the general direction of the fireplace. A loud ear piercing whistle came behind it, as the pops reached their maximum volume. They all had to cover their ears, for fear of going deaf from the impossibly loud whistling before finally-

A large gust of wind went through the study as the fire suddenly went out. The whistle stopped as quickly as the flame went out, leaving the only sound in the room to be the leftover snaps, crackles and pops of the paintings as they seemed to continue to burn without the fire. Still, at that point, the worry that the only light now present was the moonlight from outside. It was still light, but much darker than any of the three of them would have wanted.

"S...weetie-"

"Shh!" Sweetie said. She lent an ear to the hallway to listen, staying still as possible. Trying to feel if there was any change in temperature. Attempting to tap into the sixth sense she'd acquired over the course of the night. There was no laughter. There was no change in chill, besides what was probably because of the absence of the fire. She didn't sense any ghosts anywhere. Though her instinct also told her not to take that for granted. That could change at any moment.

And she wouldn't wait around to find out what corner they would pop out and try to nibble her giblets from.

Or whose giblets would be nibbled first for that matter.

"C'mon. We have to move." Sweetie said. "Stay close behind me." she quickly made her way to the door. "...not too close though."

Sweetie probably didn't see it, but both of her friends once again nodded in compliance.

After flipping back to her normal flashlight, she quickly moved out of the room, constantly looking behind her to make sure her friends were still behind her. It seemed to take a shorter amount of time, but they all soon found themselves at the door. The door itself wouldn't opened. For curiosity's sake, Sweetie tried. No, strangely enough, instead, it was burned open.

"Huh," Sweetie said. "...can't say I thought that would happen, but I guess it gets the job done huh?"

"Whadya know. Good job Sweetie," Applebloom praised.

The three climbed through the hole and found themselves back in the foyer, staring at the fountain.

"Alright, so next stop is the kitchen, right Sweetie?"

Sweetie stared off into the distance for a few moments.

"Sweetie, don't we gotta go?" Applebloom asked.

"Yeah... well, there's just one thing I want to check out before we head off," Sweetie said. "Let me clear my GCD first."

***

"Damn it!" Gilda punched one of the walls of the hallway with her free fist. "Buck these halls and damn this mansion."

"Lost Gildy?" Pinkie asked.

"Shut the buck up," Gilda snapped.

"Well are you?" Rainbow asked.

Gilda ignored her. "...must have taken a wrong turn somewhere. Was I supposed to turn left... or right back at... can't believe I forgot those damned instructions back at the..." She paced back and forth, seeming unsure of where to go next, mumbling under her breath. It was actually making Rainbow a little dizzy. Pinkie couldn't help but giggle at how turned around the griffon was.

"Maybe Dashie could help!" Pinkie suggested. "Riiight Dashie?"

Rainbow gave Pinkie a questionable look, while Pinkie winked back at her.

"Uh... yeah. Yeah I probably could." Rainbow lied.

"Buck both of you." Gilda spat. More towards Pinkie than Rainbow of course.

And of course, Pinkie giggled in response. "Oh c'mon you silly bird! Listen to your good friend Dashie."

"Yes..." Gilda then mumbled something she couldn’t hear.

"What?" Rainbow asked, turning her head up.

"Yeah alright Dash." she stopped in the middle of the hallway. "Where to?"

"Uh… where we going again?"

"The boiler room featherbrain." Gilda said. "Only place worth a damn on this side, besides the observatory."

"Right..." Rainbow couldn't help but think. What was with the sudden change of heart? Still, she wasn't about to look this gift horse in the mouth if she would actually listen to her opinion. "Down that hallway."

"How many doors?" she continued. "Gotta be a number, right? Some second set way besides those damned tunnels. This bucking hallway goes forever you know."

"I know I know." Rainbow lied again. Of course she didn't. She had no clue where to go next, for Gilda's benefit or her own. She could barely follow how they got in that hallway to begin with. A blur, then suddenly she was in this new hallway.

Odd.

She looked to Pinkie for guidance, who just shrugged innocently.

Don't look at me! I didn't think this far ahead. You put this on me! Rainbow imagined her saying from that look. All she could do was roll with this chance that had opened up.

She tilted her head, pretending to examine the hallway. Partially to legitimately find any clues or items they could use to escape, and partially to pretend she knew what she was doing. "Well from where we are uh... how about 9 doors down. Yeah, that sounds about right."

Gilda shrugged. "Whatever you say Dash."

Rainbow blinked as she and Pinkie were further carried down the hallway.

They passed the first door.

Pinkie gave Rainbow another look. She was still smiling that strange smile, but this time, there was at least the effort to be serious in her eyes. The look was enough, even with the flashes of humor she saw in them. Right now, this was their chance, but the question at this point became to do what? Furthermore it wasn't as though either of them could discuss how to escape. And once again it was not as though they could bank on anyone saving them. Stalling was probably not the best option at this point.

Pinkie mouthed the word "rope" before snapping her teeth once.

Rope. Rainbow repeated in her head. Rainbow shook her head. I know we've gotta cut the rope, but how?

As though reading her thoughts, Pinkie shrugged.

Maybe if we could... hey I don't know, grab something to cut it? Or burn the thing. Rainbow thought.

Pinkie tilted her head and stared at Rainbow before mouthing the word "How"?

To this, Rainbow gave Pinkie an odd look. She couldn’t be but-

Wait are you actually looking in my head? Rainbow thought curiously.

Pinkie shrugged again, as if to say "Maybe".

Huh, Rainbow thought. She knew Pinkie was weird, and could to even weirder things, but she never colored her a psychic. Then again, this was a pony that could potentially tell the future just by twitching. Heh. Didn't know you could do stuff like that without your cutie mark. Guess even without it can't take away what makes Pinkie Pie Pinkie Pie, right?

Pinkie giggled.

"Shut up back there." Gilda said.

They passed the second door.

Fine. What have we got? Ropes are too tough to get at with our teeth, right?

Pinkie nodded in agreement.

It’ll probably be hard to get something to cut it with our damned hooves tied like this. Rainbow continued. Still. Maybe if we can get something in our mouths that’s sharp enough, we can cut through ‘em that way. Or maybe there's some candles or something to just burn through enough to break free.

Pinkie tilted her head up to Gilda. Rainbow nodded in comprehension. Chances were, Gilda wasn’t going to take them to a place to cut themselves free. So, she did her best to craft an excuse.

"Uh... probably should tell you that we're not looking for the boiler room." Rainbow mentioned. “Not right now anyway.”

Gilda didn't stop. "Oh yeah? Where then? Trying to stall me?"

"Nah, just... looking for a landmark is all. Just think it's down this hallway... I think."

"You think?"

"By think, she means know you silly bird!" Pinkie said.

She mumbled again. It was even harder to hear than the last time. Maybe Rainbow was just imagining it. "...yeah alright." Gilda nodded. "Well what's this landmark."

"Er... a candle." Rainbow said awkwardly. "As in if I can get a good look at it, I can know where to go next. Trust me on this."

"...yeah alright." Gilda repeated.

They passed the third door.

"There's a catch for her telling you where to go though, Gildy!" Pinkie went on. Rainbow gave another look, wondering what she was planning. "She has questions, don't you Dashie?"

"Uh... yeah?" Rainbow said. At this point, she wasn't sure if this was a part of her plan or not.

"Huh. Maybe I'll answer them." Gilda shrugged.

"Nooooo. You silly birdy Gildy, you have to answer them all full and honest." Pinkie chimed. "It's the least you can do for helping her kill herself."

Rainbow blinked. Was she saying that to keep suspicion down for suddenly wanting to help like this? She wasn't sure at this point.

She mumbled again. The same "lucky colt" again. "...yeah alright." she paused. "What do you want to know?"

They passed the fourth door.

"...well? Ask the buck away." Gilda said.

"Alright uh..." It was true, she had a lot of questions for the griffon. She supposed she could start from the beginning. "What happened to you?"

"Gotta be more specific." Gilda said. "When? What?"

"...last time I saw you. What happened then? Before you stormed out."

"Thought you turned into another dweeb back then. Thought that was crystal." Gilda said. "And buck being around another dweeb. Even if she was my best friend."

"You were mad because I was on my friends’ side?"

"I was mad because you weren't on mine." Gilda said. "Spent all of flight school with you. Then suddenly you're on the side of these bitches you just bucking met-"

"You were being a jack to my friends for no good reason. If it was the other way around I would have done the same with them." Rainbow snapped. "You're the one who threw a hissy fit because I wasn't 'cool' enough to drop my crap and ride off into the sunset with you."

Rainbow expected her to snap back. Instead she stopped just before the fifth door.

“Yeah well…” Gilda paused. "I'm sorry."

A chill ran up Rainbow's spine. Something about that apology seemed even less like Gilda. It sounded so guilty.

"...still think you're friends are a bunch of..." Rainbow could hear the edges of her beak grinding together. "Buck."

"Gilda?"

She continued forward. "What else?"

They passed the fifth door.

"What... happened after Ponyville?" Rainbow asked. “Where did you go?”

"I flew." Gilda said. "Cussing out my abandoning bitch of a friend while I did. Settled for a month in a little city called Whinisburg." She laughed. "Wanted to get as far away from you as possible at the time, so I picked that place. Maybe 20 miles off of Appaloosa. Just on the other side of Everfree?"

"Never been there." Rainbow said.

"Whatever." Gilda shrugged.

"After that, what. You met Specter there?"

"No." she said. Her throat sounded dry. Rainbow couldn't see it, but by now, Gilda's eyes had contracted very abnormally. As if she was having some sort of flashback. "I met him later?"

"When?"

"At-" she forced out the next words. They felt so rehearsed as if she’d had to say them more than her share of times. “Bonza Brook Correctional Facility”

They passed the sixth door.

"A prison?" Rainbow asked out of some disbelief.

“Yeah.”

Both of them had been to jail more than a few times in their youth. For little charges like vandalism or even a fight they shouldn’t have gotten into. There was even a night or two they had to stay there before their parents were allowed to pick them up.

But prison was a different story.

Especially coming out of someone raised in the generally free-spirited towns of Cloudsdale and Ponyville. An unspoken of type of place where Equestria’s worst went. The thieves. The worst conponies. The illegal goods producers.

The murderers.

The ones who didn’t have the moral line Equestria set went there spend nice chunks of their lives behind iron bars. The idea of Gilda, Rainbow’s best friend throughout flight school, ever heading on a path there never would have crossed her mind.

“Celestia…” She said quietly. "I knew you could get bad but... damn."

"Yeah.”

"What did you do?" Rainbow asked.

"I bucked up, that's what." Gilda said. “Just… really hurt some pony.”

"You... what?" Rainbow asked in awe. Despite everything that had happened so far in the mansion, the idea of her "hurting" anyone enough to get her put in prison of all places really bothered her. She didn't want to ask how badly.

"And... he bailed you out of prison?" Rainbow finished the story. "Specter had the money to bail you out and hire you as his henchman or something?"

"No." Gilda said. She was silent, obviously not wanting to go on with the story.

They passed the seventh door.

"How did he get you out then? Just waited?"

"I had twenty years left when I met him." Gilda said. "So no."

Thirty years? Rainbow thought. "Then how?"

"He broke me out." Gilda said, again with that dry, dry throat. She swallowed and said it again. "He broke me out."

--This hurts, this really hurts, and she wants to stop.

"...how."

--No more questions. Ignorance is bliss. Bliss for all.

"How did he break you out?" Rainbow asked.

Just before the eighth door, Gilda dropped the two of them to the ground on their heads. They both moaned in pain as Gilda leaned over and vomited on the ground in front of her.

"Ew..." Pinkie moaned.

Gilda gagged a few times before wiping her mouth and looking back on them blankly. She got up, and took them up on her back again. She didn't move forward yet. Just stared blankly into the endless hallway. "Ever hear of the place Rainbow? Bonza Brook?"

"No." Rainbow admitted.

"A hundred miles from Whinisburg. In the middle of now where, but you really might have heard of it sometime. It and Whinisburg since you’ve worked weather over there before. At least that’s what I was told. It was just once but…” Gilda said. “If you don’t know about it now, you never will. And because you’re not there, you probably won't remember that I mentioned it an hour from now." Gilda said.

"What?"

"He broke me out by... they're all dead. Every single one of them is dead." Gilda said, laughing slightly. "And I'm the one to blame. I didn't want to be a murderer. I didn't bucking want this, I never bucking asked for this-"

"Gilda! Calm down."

"Please Birdy Gildy! You're scaring Rainy!" Pinkie chimed.

Gilda whimpered.

Rainbow opened her mouth to comfort Gilda. She had caught Gilda breaking down before, everyone broke down every now and again. But not Gilda as she was now. Never so openly.

But before the word could get out, the griffon gave a mad scream and threw a fist into the eight door, echoing a defining THUD! throughout the hallway. She left a dent in the door, reminding Rainbow of her frightening strength.

She breathed deeply in and out.

"...Gilda?"

"What's... the next question?" Gilda asked. There was no tension in her voice anymore. It was as though she completely forgot how difficult the last few minutes were for her.

Rainbow couldn't see it, but she somehow knew there was something wrong with the way she spoke now.

Smooth. Happy. Wrong.

She took her fist away from the door and continued down the hallway, walking over the pool of her own stomach fluids.

They passed the eighth door.

At this point, there was only one other question Rainbow desired to ask. The last one she was bold enough to ask. "What is Specter giving you really?"

She laughed again. "I don’t know what will happen after tonight. Specter and Spiffy barely tell me anything. But I know one other thing he told me. He promised me this. I’m never going to die. Not really. Especially once the sun goes up and the eclipse is over with. As long as he exists, dead or alive on Earth, I’m going to be stuck here. I’ll be immortal. I’ll really be immortal. I’ll live with him, but I’ll live forever."

"So you don't have a choice?" Rainbow asked.

"I don't know." Gilda responded, chuckling slightly less this time. "I really don't. I hated it at first, but… hey. Now I’m excited. I get to live forever once I’m finished here.”

The laugh sounded so fake. But it didn’t sound as if she was laughing at Rainbow, but rather for herself. As if she was still trying to convince herself to be excited. As if half of her was excited, and half of her, a half buried by something sinister, was not.

“What do you mean?” Rainbow asked. “You said you don’t know. Why not?”

“I did have a choice at the prison... once anyway. It went fast. Only slowed down once so I could see where the buck I was.” She went on. She didn’t seem to be making any sense, but Rainbow let her go on. “But I don't know about after that. I'm not a bucking slave or his bitch. I'm doing this for a reason. My own damned reason too."

"…well what’s the reason?"

"Heh. I don’t totally know that either." Gilda said. "Revenge? A chance? I know there was a reason, but since I started seeing… I…” She trailed off. Stopping.

“Gilda?”

“Yeah… I guess I know one.” Gilda said blankly. “The power to change something. Get something back. And If I do my job, I’ll get a touch of the power that I need to get it back. And then some."

"You don't think he’s just messing with you though-"

"It's the only chance." Gilda cut her off. Then, she started to laugh again. "And besides. There's one other thing he promised me. It’s pretty obvious."

"...us." Rainbow guessed.

"BFFBL. Best friends for bucking life." Gilda said. "Just think. We'll be together. And you won't abandon me like a dweeb and put shit like this on me again. No, even better, you’ll do what I want, when I want. You’ll both be mine."

That annoyed her. Any sympathies she felt for the griffon vanished at that moment. "...pathetic." Rainbow gritted her teeth.

“You won’t be saying that in a little bit.”

They stopped in front of the ninth door.

"You're willing to hurt more ponies, probably a lot of them, just to get me." Rainbow said. "Who's the dweeb here again?"

"The one who's tied up and yapping at me about morals?"

"It's your fault." Rainbow went on. "Do you even know how many ponies Specter's going to hurt? A town? A few cities? The whole bucking country? What is he going to do?! Do you even know?"

"Well, do you?"

"Gilda-"

"He might not be so bad. Who bucking knows?" Gilda shrugged. “I’m in it for me right now. So right now, I don’t care. I can’t.”

"Gilda..."

"I have to trust him. It's all I got left. That’s what he said. That’s what he said." Gilda said softly. Almost in monotone. "...now you know. Any more questions before we head in?"

"...no. I’m done." Rainbow mumbled.

"Then let’s get this over with, Lucky." Gilda mumbled back as she opened the door and walked through.

***

Sweetie opened the door to the spiraling staircase that should have led down to the safe room. Of course, none of the three fillies were completely sure was safe anymore.

"Ya sure this is a good idea Sweetie?" Applebloom asked.

Sweetie nodded. "If I get rid of Spiffy, that's one more slot for the GCD. And every slot counts," she explained. "The thing won't let me just get rid of him, so I need to at least try to use the portificationer."

"But what if that room's like... infested with those ghosts?" Scootaloo considered.

"Which is why you're only going halfway down while I scout ahead."

"And leave us in the middle of a dark narrow stairway. Right." Scootaloo rolled her eyes.

"I promise, it's worth the risk." Sweetie assured. "Besides, the farther away Spiffy is, the less violated I feel and the more I can focus on fighting other ghosts. And who knows if he can do something from inside the pack. Ever think of that?"

"Ya sure that ain't just paranoid talk?" Applebloom suggested.

"Hey. Paranoid talk's what got me this far... probably." Sweetie shrugged. "I'm going down there. And if you want to be safe, you've got to be close if something happens. Now c'mon."

Without giving them the chance to argue, Sweetie started her way down the stairway. With no other choice, both Applebloom and Scootaloo followed her. As per her plan, Sweetie stopped halfway down the stairs.

"Alright, I'll let you know what I find okay?" Sweetie whispered. "Wait here. Scream for me if you see anything out of the ordinary, and I mean anything."

They nodded as Sweetie proceeded forward. Keeping her hoof steps light, she made her way down the rest of the stairway. It might have just been her imagination, but the darkness was suffocating. And that was with her flashlight on, she couldn't begin to guess how petrified her friends might have been, and how much effort it probably took for them to remain so quiet.

--Maybe they're not quiet.

Sweetie halted as she came face to face with the door.

--Maybe they're not even there anymore

She suddenly turned and looked back up the steps. The sudden urge to call through her flashlight "You guys okay?!" to make sure her friends hadn't become ghost prey again. It was then what Celestia said earlier echoed in her head.

--Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. SHUT. UP!

An image of her making that grave mistake the Princess warned her of popped in her head. One of her yelling for her friends, only to attract a swarm of butler ghosts to kill not only her friends, but her as well. To this, she bit her lip. She wasn't going to mess up again. She had to trust that they were fine, and would play it smart if they did find themselves in danger. With this in mind, Sweetie took the last few steps before coming face to face with the door to the safe room.

She put one ear to the cold metal door. She was surprised when she heard something. The faint humming of the walls inside. Was it an illusion? Was the room really working to keep ghosts out again?

Sweetie pushed the door open. Thankfully, it was unlocked. Whoever last closed it probably didn't put the most effort into closing the thing.

The lazy pony.

But still, that was a good thing, since Sweetie would have had a difficult time opening it on her own. So thank Celestia for lazy pony. Whoever it was. Either that, or Specter messing up.

--Or planning this.

The door squeaked as Sweetie put up her GCD nozzle, prepared for anything that might be waiting on the other side. She poked the nozzle through the door so she wouldn't receive any unwanted surprises. She sighed in relief to find the safe room was not only ghostless and indeed humming, but also exactly the way they had left it but a few hours ago.

Lit.

Thank Celestia. Now, gotta move fast, Sweetie thought. She wanted to wonder what had happened to the room in the first place, as well as what got it running again, but she had a timetable to keep. She had to get what she came to do done and leave. She rushed over to the portificationer machine and stuck her nozzle in.

Nothing.

"No, no no no no..." she mumbled. She could feel her hooves trembling as she took out and re-inserted the nozzle into the portificatoner again and again and again. All yielding the same result. Once again, Sweetie found herself on the verge of tears. Or screaming. Or maybe even both.

Stressed. So very stressed.

"Calm down Sweetie... calm down, the room is working. So this has got to work too. There's nothing wrong with it," she said to herself. "G-gotta be a loose bolt or something."

Sweetie nodded to assure herself as she took the nozzle out of the machine. She then started to walk around the machine, looking for something, anything to be different than what she remembered. On the surface, there appeared to be nothing. The box part seemed to be unharmed, everything around the dryer part appeared to be in order, and even the printing spot seemed to be in perfect condition. Sweetie put an ear to the different parts of the machine, and knocked on it. No rattling. The innards of the portification machine seemed to be as stable as the outside as well.

"C'mon. C'mon, what's wrong with you?" Sweetie mumbled, pacing back and forth in front of it.

A thought came to Sweetie. So far she had only looked around the front of the machine. She had yet to look around at the back. Maybe there was something wrong back there?

With a strong leap, Sweetie leapt on top of the dryer part of the machine, that she couldn't help but think would be more appropriate in a Laundromat. As she thought, even here, the machine was flat against the wall. She sighed when she realized that even if there was something wrong with the back of the machine, she wouldn't be able to get to it. Not without some he-

Squeeeeak.

Sweetie whirled around and aimed her GCD at the door.

"Woah Sweetie!" Scootaloo said, putting her hooves up. "Calm down. It's just us."

"What are you..." Sweetie trailed off. Likely from this being a normal ordeal only a few hours earlier, she was reluctant for a split second to relax before putting her GCD down. "C-close the door. You're letting all the light out."

"Can ya even do that?" Applebloom questioned.

"Just close it, please."

The two of them did, closing the door with another obnoxious squeak.

"N-not all the way, I don't want to risk it locking on us." Sweetie warned.

The two of them left the door open just a sliver from there.

"Now what are you two doing?" Sweetie asked.

"We wanna ask ya the same thing fer leavin' us literally in the dark while ya played jungle gym." Applebloom said.

"Yeah Sweets. You said you'd be fast."

"Was I really that long?" Sweetie asked. "Sorry."

"It's cool." Scootaloo waved off. "You got the room working? Good job."

"It was already working when I got here." Sweetie admitted.

"Weird."

Sweetie nodded.

"Well whacha doin' now?" Applebloom asked.

Sweetie hopped down from the top of the dryer-looking part of the portification machine. "The things busted and I'm trying to fix it."

"How do ya know?"

"My GCD won't make it do anything. I need to uh... restart it, or something. If I don't, we won't be able to bring anyone else back to life." Sweetie explained. "I think the problem's in the back but..."

"...to close to the wall?" Scootaloo finished after leaning around the machine a little bit herself.

"Hm... Got some rope? Maybe we can use it to lean it up a little to th' side so ya can get a peek at the back." Applebloom suggested.

"Rope... rope... rope..."Sweetie looked around the room. Eventually, her CMC cape, an artifact that seemed ages older than it actually was at this point, caught her eye. She picked it up and rolled it up diagonally. "Will this work?"

Applebloom and Scootaloo nodded. With that, Sweetie took the cape up to the top again and tied it to the edge before coming back down again. The fillies agreed the best way would be to get in a sort of conga line as Applebloom was at the head, holding on to the cape with her teeth, while Scootaloo held on to her tail, while Sweetie held on to her tail.

"We've gotta be careful guys." Sweetie warned. "We don't want to ruin this thing more than it already is."

“Sweetie, I dunno about you, but that’s not what I’m worried about. I mean, this thing looks heavy, and if it goes the wrong way-”

“I can’t think of much else to try besides hitting the thing and making whatever’s wrong worse.” Sweetie said. “I don’t think it’ll slide on the floor, but it might tilt. It’ll be fine. You all will keep that from going too far.”

"Alright but..." Scootaloo said, still not entirely sure of Sweetie’s plan. "Fine. Just hurry up, whatever you're going to do, and we'll do the rest. Don't want this thing to fall back into place with you back there. Stallion lost his leg with something that heavy."

"Y'all ready?" Applebloom asked.

The others gave a simultaneous "Mhm" before they began.

"One... two... three... PULL!" Applebloom said as everyone started to move backwards. The strain was felt on everyone's teeth and tails as they pulled at the dryer part of the machine up. At first they weren't sure what progress they were making, but eventually, they saw the machine balancing itself on its tip.

"That's enough!" Sweetie spit Scootaloo's tail out. "Hold it steady."

Sweetie climbed on top of the dryer part once more. Now that it was on that edge with only two little fillies as the counterbalance, there was a little wobble, but after a second or two it felt stable enough.

Sweetie leaned over and took a look at the wall behind. From what she saw, there were three thick cables running from the three different parts of the machine behind this part. They each ran into each other before running into the wall. One cable stuck out from the rest of them. It was safe to assume this wasn’t how it was supposed to be. Was that the problem?

If so, it would surely be an easy fix.

“I think I see something. Just gotta reach it!” she called to her friends. She didn’t hear a response over the hum of the wall.

Sweetie reached her leg down as far as she could. For a brief moment, she hesitated, recalling Scootaloo’s words.

She reached down as far as she could, but her legs were too short. She was just out of reach.

"C'mon... C'mon Sweetie." Sweetie mumbled, leaning further and further into the gap. She could feel her stomach being indented by the sharp edge of the boxy machine. She felt her skin scratching as she leaned further. Further. Further. Fu-

"Woah!" Sweetie fell headfirst into the gap.

Sweetie heard Scootaloo say out of Applebloom's tail, yelling this time, "You alright Sweetie?!"

"Y-yeah. Yeah, I'm fine," Sweetie called back loud enough for them to hear them, before mumbling a sarcastic "Just perfect."

Well, at least she was closer to the cable now. She couldn't help but be glad she wasn't a claustrophobic

--Yet.

because of just how little maneuverability she had in the gap. She could only move one leg in her position. She knew she'd have to flip herself around in order to get out before the fillys' jaws got exhausted, or the (now that she thought about it) holey cape would rip and she would be in a heck of a lot of trouble, but she had a priority first. She had to fix the machine. Sweetie took her free leg and moved her hoof around to the cable in the wall. Then, she started to jiggle the cable in the wall, trying to get it to connect better.

"C'mon. Give me something. Give me something." Sweetie mumbled, hoping the machine would do something to tell her that it was working again. Something. Anything-

BANG!

"What the-"

--Bug.

Those were the last words Sweetie heard before it happened. It was amazing how quickly her brain understood that it was going to die when she heard Applebloom's yelp to the gunshot like "bang". Likely from the door they had so foolishly left open. Even if it was slight.

--Bug.

Her first and only coherent thought, as the pressure fell on her skull was something along the lines of “It's not your fault Applebloom. Anyone would have made the same mistake ”. But she couldn’t say it. Not with the machine keeping her jaw shut and her brain from functioning at all the way it was meant to.

--Bug.

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

She couldn't hear anything as the portificationer pressed her head against the wall, and in result, her machinery behind it. The humming. Tolerable at best before, was now defining loud as it was forced to echo in her skull. The same skull that was being crushed as she was (crack!) trapped in that little gap.

She was trying to remember. How did they manage to move that thing to begin with?

--Bug.

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

She felt so insignificant. Not exactly alone, she knew, or at least thought that her friends were (crack!) there. She just felt insignificant as if she might as well be alone. Or rather, as if she might as well left them alone. As her (crack!) skull was being more fragmented second by second, her frail little filly bones being fractured by the immense weight of the portification machine she felt not as a pony, but rather as an insect. An insect under the hoof of a pony, perhaps a colt, perhaps a filly, holding her down. Holding her in place. Not meaning to kill the insect, but doing so anyway. Slowly. Painfully. To the point that the insect wished that the skull would finally pop and spill the contents of its brain.

But of course this wouldn't happen. Because the insect is a pest. Insignificant. It would die, in an accident the pony never meant to happen. Sweetie knew this as she felt something trickle on the top of her head.

--Crushed like a bug.

Suddenly, the pressure was released. She could see out of the corner of her eye something red dangling above her. Her ears weren't working correctly still. Still ringing from the insane hum. Strangely enough, it reminded her of a piece of taffy. Thoughtlessly, she moved her free head up to bite at the piece of hanging taffy. Gripping it hard with her teeth, trying to bite it off and taste its sweetness. Maybe it was cherry. Maybe it was strawberry.

It tasted like neither of these things, but Sweetie kept her grip anyway.

She felt her body being lifted. Blood must have stopped running from her body because the rest of her body felt as if it was getting a whole new supply. Her body felt as if it was asleep. Because of this she was limp as she was dragged out of the gap, as she was bought up by her two friends. Slowly and steadily, her ears started to come back into focus as they heard her friends screaming her name.

"SWEETIE!"

"SWEETIE!"

She stared blankly at them. It came to her mind that she must have looked dead. She was limp. She was still. She wasn't even sure if she was still breathing. Who knew? Maybe she was? She felt way too calm to be alive.

Or maybe it was shock.

She had to try to blink. Not only for her sake, but for her friends. Could she blink? Was she alive?

Sweetie blinked.

"...what?" Sweetie said softly.

As though nothing had happened, Sweetie found herself on her hooves again, out of Applebloom and Scootaloo's arms. She stared at them cloudily as though she’d just woken up.

"Ya... ya… ahm..." Applebloom said. It looked as if she had been crying.

"Yeah... I'm fine. Don't worry about it," Sweetie assured. Just as she did, she felt something trickle down her face and into her mouth. It tasted of iron. It was warm. Sweetie friends' mouths moved, but she didn't hear a word as she wandered over to one of the mirrors to get a good look at herself. The hat she was wearing was wrinkled beyond belief. Three stripes of red were rolling down her face, among a few others. At that moment, it didn't occur to her how strange it was that it didn't hurt as much. At that moment, she only had a mind of vanity, as she mouthed the word "ugly" as she stared at her own reflection.

At the moment.

Suddenly, all of Sweetie's dulled senses seemed to rush back into her body. "Gah!" Sweetie said in pain as she instinctively went to touch her head "Ah!"

She threw her hat off to keep any blood from seeping onto the material.

"Sweetie! Yer hurt!"

"Yeah, thanks," Sweetie hissed. "Wouldn't have been able to tell on my own."

"We've got to wrap that up. Something." Scootaloo suggested as she herself leapt on top of the portification machine, now back in place, to grab the cape.

Sweetie held up a hoof. "No need. I..." she went into her saddlebags to take out her last candy heart. Wordlessly she stuck it in her mouth and began to suck and swallow its medicine. "This should fix it up good as new. No need to bloody up my cape, it's already dirty enough."

She then looked over at Applebloom who had her head bowed. It took a second for Sweetie to register why. Her change in tone must have hit her harder than she’d realized. "Applebloom. Don't beat yourself up over this. I didn’t mean it like that."

"But Sweetie-"

Sweetie put a hoof to her mouth. "Listen to me. It's not your fault. If you didn't let go, the cape would have ripped anyway. And it was surprising. Shock makes you jump, and do things you wouldn't do, so don't beat yourself up over this." she smiled as she looked over at her drool covered tail. "Besides. You saved me with that tasty looking tail of yours."

After a moment Applebloom smiled. "What?"

Sweetie laughed, clutching her head. "Nothing." she looked at it still. "Really, if you weren't here, I probably would have gotten crushed like that anyway. I would have figured out a way to squeeze back there and get stuck just like that, if not worse. And after everything I've gone through, the last thing I want to do is look my big sis in the face as a ghost and say I got killed by a washing machine. I'm really happy you both were here."

"...alright. Thanks."

"Sweets?" Scootaloo asked. "Did... you do it though? As in, get the thing to work?"

"I better have. Else I just gave myself a headache for nothing." Sweetie said as she went over to the machine and stuck her nozzle into the machine.

It beeped a few times before beginning to whirl.

Scootaloo and Applebloom cheered for Sweetie.

Spiffy's ghost went up through the hose and into the machine before being processed. Apart of Sweetie expected the same error as earlier to appear. Instead however, the painting of Spiffy printed out. He looked smug in this one.

"Portrait of Spiffy huh?" Applebloom said. "That's the one who possessed ya to do all that horrible stuff?"

Sweetie nodded. The three of them stared at the painting for a long time, reflecting on all the trouble this ghost in particular put them through. Eventually, Scootaloo spoke up.

"...well what do you think?" Scootaloo asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well... the others were talking about how they hurt you and all." Applebloom chimed in. "You think that Spiffy's just... you know. Another victim? Just as our friends were?"

"Of Specter?" Sweetie asked.

"Ah mean. Ah know he was close to 'em and all... but so's yer sis. I'm just-"

"I know, I know." Sweetie nodded. "Maybe. But we can't do anything about it one way or the other. Not without Twilight. And besides, my sister comes first and he's not going anywhere. We need to go."

The three of them agreed. They went back to the door, hoping it hadn't locked them in. Thankfully it opened up just as easily as before. It looked as if the locking mechanism was just as broken as the portification machine previously was. With a brief spell of mental preparation, the group finally decided to go up the stairs and head to the kitchen. Hoping that along the way they wouldn't find their friends something besides alive.

***

Gilda walked into the room with Pinkie and Rainbow, still bound over her shoulder.

"What the hay are we looking for?" Gilda asked.

"Give me a minute." Rainbow said, looking around the room for something, anything she could exploit for an escape. Based on her sketchy memory of being a ghost, she did know things weren't always as they seemed. Random things, near anything could end up being a key to opening up a new area. She just had to find something she could instead use to knock out Gilda, or cut the two of them free.

The room was sickeningly plain for the mansion. A fancy bed, dresser, window (that of course didn't make sense to the geometry of the mansion). After looking around somewhat hopeless to finding anything worth noting, Pinkie nudged her. When Rainbow looked, she motioned her snout in the direction of the upper left corner of one of the walls. She saw a shelf nailed to the wall, and on it was a sizable vase. It was so large that half of it wasn't even on the shelf, but sticking itself precariously off the edge of the shelf.

Rainbow nodded. That might work.

"Oh yeah. Over there. That table by the wall." Rainbow said, referring to the night stand below the vase.

"Alright." Gilda said, walking over to the table.

Once they were there, Pinkie spoke up. "Hey Gildy? Don't be a silly birdy, you have to turn around so Dashie can get a good look at the table."

She mumbled again. "Yeah, alright."

Almost obediently Gilda turned around and allowed the two mares a perfect angle at the table and the wall.

Rainbow looked at Pinkie, who nodded with a great giddy grin, motioning her head in a "Go ahead" like fashion.

On three, we throw our heads against the wall to knock that vase on her head. Got it?

Pinkie nodded, giving another "Go ahead" motion.

One. Two. Three!

Rainbow threw her head against the wall as hard as her position would let her. A light thud resounded. Rainbow gritted her teeth in pain, cursing in her mind from the headache she'd given herself.

Pinkie tilted her head to the side, giving an expression Rainbow read as "You can do better than that." followed by a soundless giggle.

Pinkie, you were supposed to help me! Damn, that wall is hard as a mother-

"What the heck are you doing?"

"Oh, don't worry you silly birdy. Dashie's just doing the thing to make the other thing work!" Pinkie assured before mouthing "One more time". Like before, she gave the same "go ahead" look and the excited smile.

Rainbow had to resist the urge to groan the mare's name in annoyance.

With another throw of her head, Rainbow hit the wall with another thud, and started to hear the vase above teetering. She felt Gilda's body shift, as though she were looking up.

Without another moment of hesitation, Rainbow threw her head against the wall a third time.

"What the-"

Gilda didn't have time to react as the vase hopped from it's place and onto the griffon's head. Rainbow couldn't help but compare the sound to that of a cartoon. The entire plan was a bit cartoonish, and just as implausibly possible. Especially considering the griffon's reaction time.

And somehow, it worked.

There was a crash as the vase broke over the griffon's cranium as she stood around for a split second before falling to the ground with the two. Shards of vase broke along with it.

Pinkie giggled. "Nice work Dashie!"

"Shut up Pinkie. Just..." Rainbow groaned, her head still throbbing. "Can you do something and... you know. Get one of those shards to cut us free?"

"Rodger dodger!" Pinkie chimed. She wiggled with Rainbow over to one of the shards to pick up one end with her mouth. She began sawing her bonds as Rainbow kept watch of Gilda. Her head was bleeding, but she was thankfully still breathing. Rainbow definitely wanted to knock her upside the head for a few hours, but she didn't want to kill her.

It was a few minutes before Pinkie sounded again. "Got it!"

"Cut us free then. Before she gets up." Rainbow ordered.

With a shard of the vase in her mouth, she began sawing away at the rope. As she did, Rainbow kept an eye on the unconscious Gilda. With the lump on her head growing, Rainbow did not want to be around when she woke up. It took another long few minutes before Pinkie could finally sever one of the ropes. And with that, the rest of their bonds came a loose. It was then Rainbow realized how tightly the bonds actually were, as she felt the indents they left in her sides, and more importantly her wings.

"Ouch." Pinkie giggled. "Those ropes sure were-"

"Yeah, I know." Rainbow nodded looking to her sides. "But if I just stretch them just for a few minutes, they'll be fine. Let’s get out of here."

The two of them quickly crept out of the room as though a loud noise would wake the sleeping Gilda. Once back in the hallway, they closed the door.

"Okay, now what?" Rainbow asked.

Pinkie shrugged. "Walk until we hit something good?"

Rainbow nodded. "We walk and take any stairs or tunnels or whatever and try to make it back to the others and free them."

"What about Sweetie?" Pinkie considered as the two of them started walking.

"If it came to it, we could take her. Tie her up if we've gotta. What's the worst she could do anyway?" Rainbow joked.

The two of them walked for a little while. Neither of them knew how long they'd walked, and they had given up on counting the number of doors they had passed after about 20. Not to mention telling the difference between door and wall in the moonlight coming from nowhere seemed brain numbing the more they did. Not to mention how pointless it seemed as they found that the hallway and as Gilda had said, was indeed endless. Or maybe it was repeating as they found themselves crossing over the same puddle of vomit Gilda had left every so often. Fear turned into boredom quicker than either of them, at least Rainbow, could have ever imagined. Time slowed to a crawl, it seemed in a place where measuring it was impossible. Rainbow, a mare of action was wishing something would happen. Preferably something to "advance the plot" as Pinkie occasionally put it.

And so her prayers were answered as only 5 doors behind the two mares did they hear a door get kicked out against the opposite wall.

They both turned in horror as they realized two things at the same time as the angry griffon stepped out into the hallway. It dawned on them. How close she, and those razor sharp claws of hers were to them. Not only that, but the sheer fact that they wouldn't escape the hallway. Not so long as it repeated the same 10 doors over and over again before fading into the pitch black ends of the hall.

She gave a mad caw as both Rainbow and Pinkie bolted in the opposite direction. Rainbow's wings still hurt from the ropes cutting into them, so flying at the moment wasn't an option. So like Pinkie, she had to rely on her legs getting them away from the mad griffon chasing after them in the apparently endless hallway.

The two were fast, but whatever speed they were going Gilda easily doubled as the distance between them quickly closed.

"Dashie! Against the wall now!" Pinkie commanded. Without thinking, Rainbow stopped and got against the wall along with Pinkie as Gilda zoomed past them. When she tried to stop herself on the floor, she instead found herself slipping in the puddle of her own stomach acid she had left. She fell onto her side with a splash that made Rainbow's stomach turn.

"Get her before she gets up Dashie!" Pinkie giggled, as Rainbow gave her a look. "Hit her before she gets up!"

Rainbow looked back at Gilda who seemed to have been a mix between stunned from the force of her speedy fall, and disgusted at what was covering her left wing. Rainbow hesitated for a moment before running for her and tackling her as she was half way up, getting on her back.

"Get off of me!" Gilda screeched.

Rainbow had tried to hold her down, but she was too small for Gilda to be truly weighed down. It looked as if she had really gotten stronger since the last time they'd met, and therefore longer than she'd expected.

"Hit her! Hit her!" Pinkie cheered as the two of them struggled.

Gilda got up with Rainbow on her back. Thinking fast, Rainbow switched her forelegs around so they would be wrapping around her neck, in an attempt to put her in a choke hold. Gilda gave a mad caw as she tried to pry Rainbow free. It was a fight of endurance vs. strength and lung capacity. Could Rainbow hold on for dear life until she choked Gilda out?

At this point, neither of them were thinking. It was a fight for survival.

Minutes passed as Gilda thrashed and clawed at Rainbow, smashing her against walls in an attempt to throw her off. Rainbow held tight. Tighter. Tighter. Constricting Gilda as she slowly began to become weaker with every action. Rainbow gritted her teeth as the realization she might be killing her old friend tried to break through her instinct. Gilda fell down, as she seemed to be starting to lose consciousness.

Could Rainbow let go after that? Or would she have to make sure, holding as tight as possible until-

CLICK!

Rainbow felt something against her head as she held on to Gilda. Something hard and metal. She didn't let go of Gilda completely, but the chill of the barrel of the rifle pointed to her head was enough to make her loosen her grip.

"Spikey? What are you doing?"

Rainbow's eyes darted to the side to see indeed Spike was holding her at gunpoint. Staring at her.

Buck... so where have you been? Rainbow thought. She wasn't sure if she was glad or not he had come to break up the struggle. Even considering what it meant now for her and Pinkie.

"You better get off of me if you know what's good for you." Gilda said.

Rainbow might have went on if it were just her. Just to go in defiance of Gilda’s command. But her fate would be Pinkie’s, and at this point, it wasn’t worth it. She blinked before letting go of Gilda and falling down to the side.

Pinkie giggled. "Oh well. I guess that would have been too easy if that was it, huh?"

"...yeah." Rainbow said absently. The gun was still pointed at her head.

Gilda got up, looking at her wing. She swore under her breath before looking at Rainbow. The two stared at each other, and wordlessly communicated.

--Don't do that again.

Gilda then looked at Spike. "You. Specter told you where the place is?"

Spike nodded. "I need... to save her."

"Yeah, yeah, you will. Just take her there. And keep an eye on both of them. If either of 'em try anything, shoot them in the leg or something."

Spike wordlessly nodded, and motioned for Rainbow to move forward. She got up from her side, and stepped away from the rifle trained on her and moved down the hall with Pinkie.

Pinkie giggled "Don't worry Dashie. Everything's going to work out, I promise!"

At this point, Rainbow wasn't so sure, as the four of them moved down the hallway.

***

Once they were finished in the safe room, three crusaders finally made their way to the kitchen. They all stood at the entrance, staring into its darkness.

“Ya alright Sweetie?” Applebloom asked.

“Yeah… just don’t really have the best memories of this place. This is where everything really started to go wrong,” Sweetie whispered before looking at the two of them. "I don't remember there being traps here but be careful. This was the first place I saw Pinkie. And she's been responsible for most of the traps I came across yet. I wouldn’t put it past her to have some left over here especially."

Scootaloo and Applebloom nodded as they followed her inside.

"Any clue what we're looking for?" Scootaloo asked, once they were a fair ways into the kitchen.

"Something changed or something added," Sweetie said. "Preferably something that doesn't look as if it'll kill us if we touch it. Maybe a door. Just… anything that looks out of place."

The two of them nodded.

Sweetie looked around, finding nothing until Applebloom called her.

“Hey, Sweetie?”

She shined the light over in her direction to see that she was holding the edge of a piece of paper in her mouth.

“Ah just found this lyin’ about,” she said through the paper. "Can ya shine yer light over here ta see it better?"

“Sure.” Sweetie approached her to investigate the document with her.

"Ah don't know about you Sweetie, but that don't look like no recipe that belongs in here," Applebloom concluded after scanning the paper for a few seconds.

Sweetie couldn’t help but agree.

On the page were a series of arrows and shapes, accompanied with numbers. "Hm... knowing this place, they look like directions. How far to go north... west... See, there's a compass at the top right. It's like a map."

"Well if that there mattered, how would we know which way's north?"

"I think we entered Everfree from... that direction." Sweetie pointed toward where she figured the foyer and front door was. "So if the mansion didn't and doesn't shift around, north should be that way if we entered where I think we did."

"Ya don't sound so sure."

"I'm not. Right now I'm just making my best guess and hoping I'm right."

"Uh... hey guys? Sweetie?" Both Sweetie and Applebloom looked in Scootaloo's direction. "Shine your light over there." She pointed in a direction of one of the kitchen walls.

As Sweetie did, she nearly dropped the flashlight, as she saw the giant gaping hole in the side of the kitchen.

"Ahm guessin' that wasn't there before?" Applebloom asked.

"Nope." Sweetie said. Taking a step forward to shine her flashlight deeper into the hole. The light didn't hit an opposite wall. Wherever this tunnel led, it was it was so dark and it was deep. The foreboding depth gave Sweetie a chill that managed to even frighten her.

Something bad was waiting at the end of that tunnel, and she knew it. They all did.

The tunnel looked deep to be in the mansion without leading outside. Though as much as they hoped it was the case, with the mansion the impossible geometry and tendency to deceive, the idea of it leading to yet another part of the mansion did not surprise them.

A hidden part that should not have existed.

But if this was true, and this tunnel led to a secret part of the mansion the likelihood of something being there they weren’t supposed to find was all the more high. The perfect place to take Rainbow, Pinkie and Spike. The perfect hiding spot to keep her sister.

"Well... we've got to go in there it looks like." Sweetie said.

"Ya sure that's a good idea?" Applebloom asked. She knew the answer, but something inside of her hoped that Sweetie would think of something different. There was something particularly wrong about that tunnel she couldn't quite place.

"You've got a better one?" Sweetie asked. "I remember your sister told me Rarity was in here. Last time, it was a trap Pinkie set up, but this matches her story! Rarity is through there."

"But what about Spike 'n Rainbow 'n Pinkie? They're still in-"

"They're probably along with her."

"Well what if they're not? What if they changed places since we talked to Celestia?"

"Then fine. They're not." Sweetie said flatly. "I know you want Spike, and I know Scoots wants Rainbow. So do I. But we can't save either of them unless the plan works. We have to go this way. Who knows if we're past the thirty minute mark? If she fails, no one gets saved." Sweetie paused for a second. "You just don't want to go into that tunnel, do you?"

Applebloom didn't deny it. "...it just don't look safe in there is all."

"Nothing in this mansion is any safer than whatever is in that tunnel." Sweetie said harshly. "If you're too scared, you can head back and huddle up with the others."

"We’re with ya Sweetie, we’re the crusaders but… ahm just sayin' ah got a bad feeling about what'll be at th’ end of that tunnel. Or even what’s already in there." Applebloom said.

"We'll stick close." Scootaloo assured. She was hesitant herself, but she did a much better job hiding it than Applebloom. "Sweets knows what she's doing. It'll be fine. Right?"

Sweetie didn't answer. She was staring into the tunnel. "Hey Applebloom. If you're still with us, could you pass me that paper you found?" she said without taking her eyes off it.

The two others looked at each other before looking back. "Sweetie?"

She turned her head to them lazily and blinked. "What? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just... ya were lookin' pretty deep into that hole there, you alright?" Applebloom asked.

Sweetie blinked again, this time, half a second or two slower before looking with more alive eyes. "Yeah, I'm alright. Just a little tired is all. And I was just thinking about something."

"About what?"

"Just uh… the tunnels.” She nodded. “Just how this map works. I’m guessing since the paper’s the closest thing, this is a map to how to get through that tunnel in one piece. And I’m thinking it’s like uh… like a treasure map. Take x paces this way, then take x paces that way."

"Well," Applebloom brought the page to her. "If yer right, then there's only five ways ta go. If that way's north, then we gotta go in the tunnel, turnin’ every 20 steps fer four directions in a square 'n go backwards forty steps."

“You sure? That sounds kind of stupid,” Scootaloo commented.

“This whole mansion is stupid,” Sweetie replied.

"Alright, fine. Then what? That it?"

"Ah dunno. Sweetie? Ya think that’s all we gotta do?"

"Hold on, what about the other side?" she flipped over the page to find there was a circle accompanied by another number '26'. "Hm... well, maybe we wait 26 something. Seconds?"

"Ah dunno Sweetie, ahm the one who said it, and I ain’t even convinced this is right."

"Just stay close and we'll find out. And deal if we’re wrong." Sweetie said. "I feel as if these instructions were for someone. Look how wrinkled it is, someone was holding this earlier.”

“The griffon, you think?” Scootaloo asked.

“Maybe.” Sweetie went on. “And if it is, and she went this way, then maybe they're not supposed to be as cryptic as everywhere else. If we think too deep on it, we might get lost."

"Well... if it's exact, we'd best stand side by side. Just 'n case." Applebloom suggested. “If this was made just fer Gilda, ah’d think it’d only be made for one at a time.”

"Good idea." Scootaloo agreed. "Let’s say how many steps we've taken out loud. So, we don't take the wrong number of steps or something."

Sweetie nodded in agreement.

Once they were standing next to each other, touching sides, they began to walk into the tunnel. They counted each step.

One... two... three... four...

The three of them whispered, counting their steps in unison to make sure they were all taking the same number of steps. For all they knew, turning on the wrong step could end in them being separated. They stayed close, noting that for each step they took, they swore the temperature was dropping a degree every step they took. It was getting so cold. By the time they reached the 17th step, they were already more focused on huddling for warmth instead of huddling to keep together.

The tunnel was made mostly of rock, as though they had walked right into a mine. In fact, the walls seemed to becoming so jagged, that it was more comparable to a cave. It was pointless to comment how impossibly deep it was. Let alone the fact that it existed to begin with. Thankfully, the ground was flat, covered in a long carpet, as though to remind them that they were still in the mansion. To keep at least something resembling consistency in this surreal place.

Nine-teen... twenty.

"Stop." Sweetie whispered. She shined her light to the right, in accordance to the makeshift map. Surely enough, to their right was another tunnel-cave. She noted that the opening was significantly less wide than the one they were already inside.

"A-alright." Scootaloo shuddered.

"You alright?" Sweetie asked.

"J-just cold is all. Don't worry about it." Scootaloo said.

"Applebloom?"

"Ahm f-fine." Applebloom assured. "Ahve been in colder in rushes ta pick apples before winter started. J-ust didn't know this place'd get this cold."

"N-no kidding. I-I thought that last hallway would be the w-worst." Scootaloo agreed.

"Well keep it together. It might not get much better." Sweetie warned. "Focus on counting. Now face the tunnel-cave and we'll start again."

"Tunnel-cave?" the other two asked.

"Well... it's shaped like a tunnel, but made up like a cave so... tunnel-cave."

"If you say so." Scootaloo shrugged. "I'm calling it a tunnel."

"Girls, we got other things to worry about.” Applebloom said. “As in, do we go in there first 'n start counting steps, or do we start from here?"

"I don't know." Sweetie admitted. "Let’s... just start from here, and we'll turn into the next opening we see. Okay?"

The two of them nodded, and turn to face the next branch of the tunnel along with Sweetie.

"Alright. Second verse, same as the first." Sweetie said.

They then began walking in the direction of the tunnel.

Six... Seven... Eight... Nine...

Sweetie noticed it less, but she began to feel the same familiar bite of cold. She couldn't imagine how the other two, who weren't as accustomed to the chill of the mansion were holding up. She might have considered stopping to make sure they didn't need a break or anything if she wasn't running the risk of throwing off any of their count.

But the chill wasn't the worst part. Because around the time they reached the 14th step of the second tunnel-cave, Sweetie's flashlight began to flicker. She didn’t shake it to get it to stop flickering, for the same reason she didn't ask if her friends were okay. Besides, it's not as if they were blind yet. Though it imposed the already present uneasiness inside of the three little fillies Sweetie resolved to fix it once they reached the end of the second stretch.

So long as it didn't mean what she thought it meant.

Nineteen... twenty.

The three of them stopped, and Sweetie started to shake her flashlight.

"W-hat's wrong?" Scootaloo shuddered. She rubbed the sides of her legs in an attempt to keep warm.

"The flashlights do this sometimes." she groaned. "Either it's just messed up from taking some abuse or..."

"...we're not alone?" Applebloom finished.

"Yeah..." Sweetie said. "But since we're not dead yet, and if there are ghosts around, either they haven't noticed us yet, or we're walking into another trap."

"L-let’s just keep moving. I'm freezing my flank off here." Scootaloo shivered. "Crap, did it just get even colder"

"But what about the-"

"F-forget the flashlight. As long as w-we can kind of see, right?" Scootaloo cut off.

Sweetie shrugged. "You're probably right. And even if it goes out, as long as we stay together and keep moving. In case it does go out, just stay together, okay?"

The other two nodded in the flickering light before turning in the direction of the next opening. It was certain that the tunnel-caves were indeed getting smaller. In the same formation, they pressed onward.

Eleven... Twelve... Teeheehee-

There was a laugh. Suddenly, something broke loudly in the middle of the three crusaders just as Sweetie's light went out.

"Crap, what w-as that?!" Scootaloo whispered. As she did, the three of them stopped.

"...my flashlight." Sweetie said. Neither Applebloom nor Scootaloo could see in the complete black, but it felt and sounded as if she was shaking the light. Their hearts sunk as deep as Sweetie's as they heard the light rattle of broken glass inside.

"That's don't sound good..." Applebloom said.

"It's busted." Sweetie sighed. "It's busted and I have no throwback."

"W-what's that mean? We can still keep going, right?" Scootaloo asked thoughtlessly.

"It means we're defenseless now. I can't fight anything that comes our way." Sweetie said hopelessly. “And if there’s too many ghosts, I don’t even think my elemental will keep us safe for long.”

"So what now? We can't go back, now can we?" Applebloom asked.

"We can't. Not without getting worse off than we already are." Sweetie said. "Just gotta move forward and hope we can make it to the others without having to fight anything or anyone."

"...'n Rarity?" Applebloom asked, almost shyly.

"Portraits don't always need light. I can only hope she's an exception." Sweetie said.

"Uh... alright." Applebloom said. "'nother question. How many steps have we taken?"

"Uh..." Sweetie thought for a moment.

Applebloom looked at Scootaloo. "You?"

"Crap. I don't remember, uh... I think thirteen."

"No." Sweetie corrected before nodding to herself. "Twelve."

"Right, sorry." Scootaloo said. "Just this damned cold and dark getting to me. Lets keep going so we can get out of here." And with that, the three of them continued forward.

Seventeen... E-e-eighteen... ninet-t-een... twenty...

The three of them stopped at the indicated spot. It was silent for a moment.

"Y'all okay over there? Scootaloo?" Applebloom asked.

"I-I'm here." Scootaloo whispered. "Sweet's still here too."

"Ah know, ahm next to her too." Applebloom reminded. "Sweetie, talk to me."

"Sweetie?"

Finally, a loud "shush" came from her. The two went quiet.

"...don't you hear it?" Sweetie asked.

"Hear what?"

"Laughing. Her... Rarity laughing." Sweetie whispered.

The two perked their ears up, and were surprised to hear there was some faint laughing in the darkness. If they weren't so cold already, the chills might have been more intense. The two of them were surprised Sweetie's ears managed to pick that up. Though, they didn't recognize the laughing as Rarity's, but someone else's.

"That ain't Rarity, that's Pinkie!" Applebloom whispered with a bit of excitement as well as worry. Worry of what exactly a "normal" Pinkie would have to laugh at. Especially with a murderous griffon in a mansion of equally murderous ghosts where just giggling wouldn't make them go away.

"W-we must be getting close to them." Scootaloo assured.

"What are you both talking about, listen! That's Rarity!" Sweetie assured.

"Sweetie-"

"We ain't got time for arguin' over somethin’ silly." Applebloom said. "One of our friends are close. We just gotta keep goin'. One more, then back forty, right?"

"You read the map." Scootaloo commented. Sweetie kept silent. "...Sweets, you sure you okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Just fine. Let’s get out of here fast, alright?"

"...ya ain't feeling weird, are-"

"We can't turn back! And I'm not turning back with Rarity this close!" Sweetie exclaimed. Applebloom and Scootaloo could have sworn they felt the tunnel-cave shook slightly at the outburst.

"We weren't saying anything like that. Just... you know. Being careful as you told us to be back there."

Despite not being able to see her face, the two of them felt Sweetie calm down. "Sorry. Just... I don't know why this dark is getting to me too. I’m starting to see what you mean Applebloom. Something's wrong with this place. Something different."

"You think?" Scootaloo commented sarcastically.

Sweetie ignored her. "Let’s keep moving. Turn carefully on me."

The two of them did so, turning until they felt they were in the direction of the next tunnel.

Four... f-f-five... six... sev- "ow!"

Both Applebloom and Scootaloo said as the group was dragged to a stop.

"What's wrong?" Sweetie asked. The daze she was in before seemed to be gone, as though it never even happened.

"Wall!" Scootaloo said. "I ran into a wall!"

"Me too!" Applebloom groaned. "We at a dead end?"

Sweetie waved her hoof blindly in front of her, only catching air. "...it got smaller." Sweetie said. "Does it turn in, or does is it a complete dead end where you are?"

"...uh, the walls a bit slanted. That what you mean?" Scootaloo asked.

Sweetie nodded, even though the other two couldn't see. "Just walk along it. We'll walk in a single file."

"Uh... Sweetie, wasn't the reason we were walking all bunched like this to make sure we didn't add steps or something?"

"We'll just have to be careful. Count your own steps. I'll take a few steps to make room for Applebloom. Then Applebloom, we'll take a few steps forward to make room for Scootaloo. Once we're in, grab each other's tail and don't let go. And count to yourself. Got it?"

"But what if one of us gotta go past the other?" Applebloom asked.

"Then go over each other." Sweetie shrugged. "We'll work it out. We just needed to make sure we all stick together. Alright? I'm moving up... six steps."

Six light clops were heard.

There was silence for a moment. "Alright, now Applebloom. Move behind me with three. Try to grab my tail when you're there."

Two more clops were heard. Sweetie felt a slight tug at her tail. "Got it." Applebloom said through her teeth.

"Now Scoots, go up one," Sweetie said. "And get Applebloom's tasty tail."

"What?"

"Mmph?" Applebloom raised a brow.

"I said, get Applebloom's tail."

"No, you said... nevermind. On it."

One clop was heard this time. Applebloom felt the tug.

"Everyone good?"

Applebloom's and Scootaloo's responses were muffled, but were enough for Sweetie. She led the group onwards.

Though the numbers were different for the others Sweetie counted in her head. "Fourteen... Fifteen... Sixteen...". It's around the seventeen step of the fourth stretch that she noticed something. The grip of Applebloom's teeth on her tail was fading. Not that it was slipping off, but rather, as though it were growing ghostly. Sweetie's first impulse was to call to them to stop. To make sure that everyone was okay. Then her mind went back to the laughing. The laughing she still heard now, even louder for every step she took. Maybe it was another illusion. Another of the mansion's tricks.

Her friends were still behind her, she was sure of it. They wouldn't let go because their lives depended on it.

--If they were even there to begin with.

What? No, that's crazy. Of course they're there.

--As Scootaloo was in that piano.

"Shut up," Sweetie mumbled to no one. She blinked in the darkness. "Nineteen."

She didn't feel her friends on her tail anymore. She didn't even feel her tail up anymore. It was as if they weren't even there to begin with. Now Sweetie, the one used to the chill, was starting to feel cold.

--They weren't there to-

--Ah...

Twenty.

Sweetie stopped.

...

She waited for something. A tug to notify that she wasn't alone right now. Nothing. Her friends appeared to be gone.

"Guys," Sweetie whispered. She looked behind her, hoping even in the pitch black tunnel-cave she might be able to see them. That by looking in the direction they were, she'd suddenly feel something. Hear something. When suddenly she realized that even Rarity's (or was it Pinkie's?) laughing had stopped.

"Guys," she tried again. No response.

Sweetie was about to try a third time when she heard a "No!" from in front of her. She flinched, but managed to keep from jumping from her current position. She recognized the voice immediately.

Specter... she said quietly in her head.

In the distance, she saw the end of the narrow tunnel-cave. And because her light was out, she could only conclude there was a light coming from that direction of some other opening. Something was glowing in the distance.

"What is wrong with you?!"

There was a familiar voice. Another that made Sweetie's heart skip a beat. It was Rarity, of course. Though she didn't sound ghostly, nor did it echo as a ghost might. The voice, like Specter's sounded present and alive.

"Now Rarity, I won't-"

There was the sound of something being thrown against a wall. Silence, before Sweetie heard Rarity laughing again. The laugh, strangely enough, sounded somewhat angry. Almost an "I can't believe you just did that" kind of laugh, accompanied with a hint of alternating irony.

"You've... been controlling me... I can't let you."

There was no extra response before another smash. This one sounded wet.

"I won't let you." she said. She laughed again. Now, the laugh seemed to hold bits of sobbing with it as something hit the ground.

Sweetie let out a dry "Rarity", before her brain could catch up with what was happening.

The voice in the distance responded with a concerned "Sweetie?".

Sweetie let out a breathless gasp.

"Where are you? Tell me where you are."

She didn't give another response. She bit down on her tongue to keep from making any more outbursts.

--It's another trick, it's another trick, and it’s another trick

The light at the end of the tunnel-cave grew bigger. Eventually, its source turned the corner and blinded Sweetie with light. She wanted to run. To turn around and run the forty paces back as fast as she could. But she was frozen. Though not with fear, though that might have still been there. Was it curiosity? Ignorant hope she thought she got rid of hours before? She wasn't sure as the light on Rarity's horn dimmed slightly.

At first, she did look ghostly. Though as the light on her horn faded, Sweetie could see she was very solid.

Rarity was alive.

"Sweetie..." she sighed. As her features became clearer, Sweetie noticed something red at the base of her fore-hooves. Tears were streaming down her eyes. It was difficult to tell whether or not they were tears of relief, or tears of guilt.

"Rarity, I-" holding her tongue didn't work, as her teeth once again found themselves spouting out words she shouldn't have. Words to show remind both her, and anyone else how weak she was to the sight of her sister. Illusion or otherwise.

"Sweetie, you're okay..."

At first, Sweetie didn't notice the walls spread, as though to accommodate for the larger pony she was so fixated on. She walked slowly- no, more in slow motion. If anyone were looking only at her upper body, they would have sworn she were gliding, her strides toward her were so perfect.

So beautiful.

It felt like an eternity before Rarity finally made it to her. She stopped when there was about a ruler's length between them.

"You're okay. He said... they said they did... I watched them Sweetie. Then I couldn't watch them and..." Rarity sniffled.

"I'm... fine."

Sweetie started to relax. Real or not, if there was one thing Sweetie had learned to sense, was when something or someone wanted to kill her. And Rarity (or this apparition of Rarity) didn't have anything like that. There was no ill will in those eyes, no murderous intent she cast in her radiant, if not somewhat dirty aura. It was worry that reminded her almost a little of Madame. Or her friends. Perhaps even double that amount of care and love.

Rarity would not kill her.

She was just here to comfort her.

Rarity tried to make a smile over her tears, but it looked hard. It was around now she saw the fear in her eyes. She was scared.

"He's... he's going to come back Sweetie... He's going to make me... Then he'll control me more and..." she was speaking in broken sentences. Always having her train of thought interrupted by a sniffle, or lost when she trailed off. But Sweetie understood what she meant. What she was trying to say, anyway.

Still, Sweetie wasn't sure how to respond.

Then, Rarity whispered, "I'm scared."

"...I'm scared too," Sweetie said quietly. Pieces of her mind felt distant when she responded.

"I don't want to leave you..." she said.

"...I don't either," Sweetie said. She was so close.

--So close.

But Sweetie wanted more. She felt so cold.

--So cold.

She wanted to feel her embrace, even if it wasn't real. Even for a moment she could pretend she was hugging Rarity, her real sister, then maybe she wouldn't feel as cold anymore. Just a little warmth. Just a little fire. Sweetie felt so weak. So very... very...

--Stop.

Sweetie's eyes widened. In the last two minutes, Rarity hadn't said anything. She hadn't even moved, she was just sobbing. Sweetie on the other hand looked down to see her right hoof half way moving forward.

So that's what you want...

Sweetie wondered. Rarity was only a step away. Just a step. One good step and she could embrace her, but what would happen next? Would she be lost in this tunnel? To do nothing but hug this pretend version of her sister?

--But would it really be that bad?

Sweetie shook her head. It was a trap. She knew it was a trap, as much as she wished it wasn't. As much as she wished it was something else. Anything else.

But it was a trap. If she took one step forward, then she would never save her sister. So why would she trade her real sister for some imposter?

--You know.

Sweetie felt the walls again. Had they really opened up? Or was that another illusion? She couldn't see them, but she could feel the uneven walls, sticking into her sides. They were rock, but felt like icicles sticking into her.

--It hurts... it hurts...

--And it's only going to hurt more.

Her resolve was set. She couldn't let this thing keep her from moving toward her goal. The real Rarity. Sweetie moved her raised hoof back, to begin her first step in the reverse direction. She couldn't turn in the narrow space, so she'd have to settle for moving in reverse.

One... two...

When she made her first push back, she could feel the edges of the walls scratching along her sides. She knew the walls would only get smaller. She would just have to push through and hope that the walls didn't start to cut and gut her.

Three... four... five... six...

So far so good.

Seven... eight... nine... ten...

At the tenth step, Sweetie noticed the walls start to open up again. Not a large amount for Sweetie to turn around, but just enough where she didn't feel the walls sticking her. She then noted that she didn't hear Rarity sobbing anymore. She must have stopped focusing on her when the pain of the walls came. She looked at her. She could see her staring at her. Just staring.

Even though she was maybe five yards away, Sweetie could tell that she had stopped crying. The streaks of tears and eye shadow were still there though.

"Why," She whispered loudly. Not as a straight question, but more as a command to answer "why". "You know why. You jealous little filly."

Sweetie did her best to pay her no mind. She kept counting, taking advantage of her new wiggle room to move faster in the opposite direction.

"Are you proud? You know." Rarity mumbled this, as she stood taller, and began walking toward Sweetie. This time at normal speed.

Seventeen. Eighteen. Nineteen. Twenty. Twenty-one.

Sweetie moved faster and faster, learning under desperation to get away from Rarity how to run backwards. Making sure to keep her count as she did. Like before, she didn't feel as if she would die if Rarity were to get to close. Yet at the same time, she didn't want Rarity to get any closer. She didn't want to hear anything else she'd have to say.

“You jealous, ugly little filly.” she said. “You don’t want me to be happy. You wouldn’t hug me. You wouldn’t love me. You wouldn’t even let me have love.”

Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one- "AH!"

Sweetie felt her left side come across one part of the wall sticking out. It cut along her slightly. It wasn't deep, thankfully, but Sweetie still felt a bit of something warm dribble down her side. She did her best to ignore it, but it did make her slowdown to be more careful.

She was glad she did when she felt something scrape along the top of her body before hitting the top of her head.

Give me a break! Sweetie thought on the thirty fifth step. It took a moment for Sweetie to figure that the wall had lowered now. She'd have to crouch into the tunnel-cave like a mole now, if she planned on getting through. She did so, moving backwards as the walls, both above her and to the side of her felt tighter than ever before.

Thirty-six.

Sweetie pushed hard backwards. The walls thankfully weren't as jagged here, but they still hurt. When she didn't feel the walls scratching against her, she felt bits of the walls coming off on her body. Likely messing up her mane and tail more than it already was.

Thirty-seven.

Still, if it was such a tight fit for her, surely it would be a tight fit for her fake sister. Then again, the path got wider before, what was stopping it now? All Sweetie could do was hope, as she saw Rarity's legs in the opening that she had pushed herself through. The opening didn't get bigger, and she just stood there. For the moments she did, Sweetie finally felt that familiar murderous intent. Yet still, she did not move where Sweetie was supposedly safe. Had she crawled into another trap?

Thirty-eight.

Almost there, Sweetie gritted her teeth. Even under her, against her chest. The walls were constricting now, she could barely breath. Truly a claustrophobic's nightmare, even in comparison to the vents she traveled through earlier.

"You won't believe me." Rarity said. "But you're going to be disappointed."

Thirty-nine.

"Because she'll never forgive you fully." Rarity got low so Sweetie could see her face. Just as Sweetie saw her face, the light on her horn went out. And in the quickly receting light, Sweetie could have sworn she saw the frozen neck of the Rarity she had decapitated in Pinkie's park. And as the light went out, Sweetie could have sworn she heard three last words.

"And you know it."

Sweetie sat there, motionless for a few moments. Something chilled her.

Apart of her knew what she was talking about. Apart of her didn't want to acknowledge it. And a part of her knew she was right.

...

Sweetie shook her head. One more push and-

Forty.

A gust of wind hit Sweetie as she felt the walls rush away from her in one fell swoop. She was free now, but also noted something else.

The ground under her was shifting slightly to the left.

On an instinct, Sweetie took a step in the opposite direction, to the right. Just as she did, the floor re-adjusted for a moment before shifting to the right. Sweetie leaned in again to level the plane again. Just as she did, a spotlight went on a few feet in front of her. The ambient light around the main cone of the spotlight showed that she was standing on a 2 by 2 meter square of carpet covered by stone. The rest of the tunnel-cave seemed to be gone. Or perhaps it was just that it had expanded on a much larger scale this time. Either way, it was obvious that all that was left was this square, and something under it that Sweetie had to balance on.

Under the light was a platform with a door she assumed she'd have to jump for.

Twenty six. Sweetie remembered the idea of waiting the twenty six seconds. Would she then make her move? How many seconds has it been... six? Seven? Eight? Sweetie wasn't sure. So, she picked a number, seven, and hoped she was right. As she did her best to keep still, balancing on the square so she wouldn't fall to her likely death.

...

Twenty-four maplesipping... twenty-five maplesipping... twenty-six maplesipping!

Sweetie leaped for the door, barely making it as she heard the square fall down. After waiting for maybe a minute, she heard it crash at the bottom of the tunnel-cave. After that, she went back to the door, and opened it. Once inside, she found herself in a small mid room with candles illuminating it. The door behind her had disappeared and there was another double door in front of-

"Sweetie?"

Sweetie jumped at the sudden call of her name. She looked directly to the right of her and there was Applebloom. Maybe an inch from her side. "How did you-"

"Ah could ask ya the same thing." Applebloom cut off. "Where'd y'all go?!"

"What do you mean, where did we go?"

"Ah was walking and... and y'all disappeared! Ah tried calling for you, but ya didn't answer. Then... then ah saw Applejack. And the rest of them."

"So did I. Well... I didn't see your sister, or any of the others, but I did see someone." Sweetie shook her head. "I think it was another trick of the mansion. But... last time something like that happened, it was with something called 'Mind Dive'."

"Mind who?"

"Just... something that happened when Twilight was attacking me." Sweetie said.

"Well, ah figured it was a trick. No way the others would've gotten this far, right? So ah went back. N' the tunnel was gettin' all weird an-"

"When you got to the end, you had to do a balance act for a good twenty six seconds?"

"Yeah! Ya did too?"

Sweetie nodded. She wasn't sure why, but it made her feel better to know that Applebloom had a similar experience to her. Still though, in all honesty that wasn't the most disturbing thing about it. Just the way she looked at her. Just the things she said, as few as they were. She had to ask. "Did Applejack... or any of the ones you saw say anything?"

She shrugged. "Just kept sayin' ah was goin' the wrong way and to come that way."

"They didn't... insult you? Or make you feel as if you did something wrong, or-"

"Nah. That's how ah knew they weren't real." Applebloom said. She seemed somewhat proud of her little deduction. "Why?"

Sweetie shook her head. "No reason."

It was then when Applebloom's smile faded. "Sweetie, where's Scootaloo?"

Sweetie looked to the other side of her, then back at Applebloom. "I don't know. I was here for about a minute before I saw you so-"

"No Sweetie." Applebloom corrected. "Ah was here first."

Sweetie blinked. "That's not right..." Sweetie looked to the other side of her and back at Applebloom. "It's... one way or the other she should be here right now."

There was silence for a few moments. Neither of them wanted to acknowledge what Scootaloo's absence meant. But they both thought it. They both knew that in some way the mansion had split them up, midway into those twenty steps. From then on, if one of them made a mistake, none of the others would have known until now. Scootaloo was already having trouble keeping the numbers steady when they were counting.

Now, with the confusion of the different steps to account for, what if Scootaloo had lost count?

--It was your idea.

What if she were now, wandering the tunnel-caves, or the mansion, or somewhere else entirely without any way to protect herself?

--She could be dead.

Or was cut deep along one of the jagged walls?

--And this time, it's all your fault.

Or worse, what if she made it to the balancing square and leaned a wrong way to fall to her death?

--Isn't it?

Sweetie gritted her teeth for who knows how long. She was angry at herself. This was real. This was real. Flashbacks of Scootaloo in that piano, that terrible trick (it might not be a trick anymore) came to her. Scootaloo messed up and it was her fault probably.

"We..." Sweetie forced herself to speak. Trying not to think about what a dead, Cutie Mark-less Scootaloo meant. "...need to keep moving."

"Sweetie, we can't-"

"She's not coming."

Applebloom went quiet then. Sweetie closed her eyes, trying to think of something to say that even she might be willing to believe. "...If Scootaloo didn't... in those caves, she'll be fine. She's fast, and she can outrun ghosts if she has to. A-and ghosts like kids, I think. Maybe the worst that could happen is-"

"Her gettin' possessed again." Applebloom finished. It was a dark hope, but it was better than the alternatives.

"...yeah." Sweetie nodded. Sure. That could help. At least until she found Scootaloo's body, at least the both of them could believe that and keep moving. "We just need to hope for the best. She'll be fine, I'm sure."

"Okay." Applebloom sniffed. Sweetie wasn't sure how much her words helped, but it looked as if they had at least kept Applebloom from going into a full-on mourn for her friend. "...so yer sister's behind that door?"

"I hope." Sweetie said. "Something important better be."

The two advanced, and pushed the double doors open.

"Hey! Dashie look!" Pinkie exclaimed as they saw Sweetie and Applebloom enter the large dome-shaped room.

"What the..." Rainbow said when she twisted around in the chains they were hanging from. "Oh no, not you too."

"Rainbow! Pinkie!" Sweetie exclaimed.

"Don't worry!" Applebloom called. "She ain't possessed no more! We're gonna get y'all down!"

The two fillies entered the large dome room with a sprint, knowing they were just in time to stop whatever was getting ready to happen to the two mares tied up together and hanging upside down by chains. They had no idea what they were going to stop, but they knew they had to before something happened to them. Lanterns hung against the walls to illuminate the room more than either Applebloom or Sweetie thought the mansion was capable of. It showed the dark silver metal floor, as well as the machinery and large tanks of oily substances, as well as metal tubs of rocks that sat on them. Some of which glowed. In between each piece of machinery was a large crater in the wall, as if something had crashed through, or burned into it, and been sealed after some time. There were three of these inside of the large, arena-like room.

"C'mon! Get us down!" Pinkie cheered. "You hear that Dashie? We're saved!"

"No, no, they've got to get out of here," Rainbow said. "You two have to go back where you came! She'll kill you if you come back."

"Gilda?" Sweetie asked.

"Go on, get out of here!"

"Sorry Rainbow, but we couldn't if we wanted ta. There ain't no way back!" Applebloom explained.

Rainbow cursed to herself. "...fine. Then get us down so we can help you when she gets back."

"Well duh Dashie. That's what they're trying to do!" Pinkie giggled. "Girls, the chain's controlly bits are somewhere else. I don't think you could get us down like that, buuuuuut..."

She paused for dramatic effect.

"You see those thingies up a level? Those little spear things?"

With further examination, both Applebloom and Sweetie noticed that there were indeed a flat plain above the initial wall where the machinery was. On that level, actually blending into the walls behind it, there appeared to be guns of some sort, trained on Pinkie and Rainbow. They looked to be large spear guns, four of them in total, where the ends of the spears seemed to have glowing tips. They glowed the same color as the few rocks in the tubs below them.

"Oh no..."

"Yuh huh! Apparently it's a part of some big plan Gilda was promised!" Pinkie explained. "She said they wouldn't hurt, but I don't think she was telling the truth."

"I don't want to know what happens if those things fire at them." Sweetie said.

"It would probably be messy!"

"You're not helping." Rainbow mumbled.

"We need to climb on top of those tanks and up to the second level." Sweetie figured. "Applebloom. If I got you up there, you think you could buck all of them but one completely out of place so they're not aiming at them?"

"Ah'll try, but why keep one?"

"I'm hoping that they're aimed with that chain as a center point. If that's the case, maybe we could use one to cut them loose."

"Ya sure that'll work? It's a pretty itty bitty target that chain."

"Better than nothing."

With their plan set, the two headed to one of the larger tanks.

"Alright, looks as if I'm going to have to boost you up."

For a moment, Sweetie took off her GCD and put it to the side so Applebloom could jump off her back. With a running start, Applebloom jumped on Sweetie's back, and then on top of the edge of the first tank. She scrambled up on top before eventually making the second jump to the second level.

"You okay Applebloom?"

"Yeah!" Applebloom said as she went by one of the spear guns. She looked to be examining it.

"What's wrong?"

"Just somethin' weird about these things. They're attached to ropes." she said.

"So?"

"So, ah know a thing or two bout rope length, and fer some reason, I don't think this would reach Pinkie and Rainbow! Let alone their chains."

"What the..."

"Sorry Sweetie. I'll mess 'em up, but ah don't think any of 'em could cut 'em free, just cause they wouldn’t reach th’ chain." Applebloom said. "Either whoever set 'em up didn't do no measurin' or they weren't meant to hit 'em to begin with."

"...fine. We'll think of something else. Just get rid of them."

"On it." Applebloom kicked at the spear gun three times. It squeaked as it was taken out of its hinges before finally clattering to the ground.

"Okay... well that ideas out." Sweetie mumbled before looking back up at the two hanging mares. "Hey Pinkie! You got any other ideas?"

"Mmm... not off the top of my head!" she giggled. "Or the bottom! It's kind of hard to tell from here!"

"Dang... Rainbow?"

Rainbow shook her head. She didn't feel like speaking because of her headache. Though, whether it was from the blood rushing to her head, or Pinkie Pie, it was hard to tell.

Sweetie then started looking around for something, anything to help get the two of them down from their chains.

"Hey Sweetie!" Pinkie called. "I've got an idea!"

She looked up as Applebloom made her way to, and started bucking the next spear gun. "Let’s hear it."

"Why don't you ask Gilda?"

Sweetie rolled her eyes. "Sure. That'll work. Even if she'd tell me, she isn't even here, Pinkie."

"Yes she is!"

"Why's that?"

"Because Spike's here. See?" Pinkie motioned her head behind Sweetie. Her eyes widened as she saw Spike, on the same level as Applebloom, aiming at her.

When did he get here?! Sweetie said before looking back at Applebloom. "APPLEBLOOM. DODGE."

Maybe it was because she heard Pinkie. Maybe it was because of the panic in Sweetie's voice. Maybe it was a mix of the two. But just as Applebloom kicked over the second gun, she dodged to the side, over the edge of the level just as a BANG! echoed in the room and a bullet whizzed by Applebloom's flank. She fell about 10 feet, before rolling down onto the first level.

Sweetie rushed over to her. She was lying on her back "Applebloom. You okay?"

"Yeah, Ah'm fine, it just nicked m- SWEETIE DODGE!"

Sweetie felt the incoming death swooping at her. She pushed Applebloom out of the way, and dodged back herself, just in time to dodge the claws passing by her.

The sound of claws scraping against the ground filled the air. Metal sparks flew in the air around the angry griffon as she came to a complete halt. It was then Sweetie noticed something. Two things actually. The first thing she noticed was that the craters that were in the walls between the machines had opened up to become black circular portals leading somewhere else. Inside of them, she could hear the whirl of active machinery, opposed to the dead machines that were in the area she was in now.

The second thing she noticed was that her cutie marks were showing. She didn't examine her entire body, but she assumed that they were all there, happily showing everyone who could see her. Applebloom stood in her battle stance, less concerned about the cutie marks she already knew existed. Gilda stared at her with nothing but the intent to kill. Spike stared at the scene blankly, keeping his gun trained where Applebloom was before. The bag by his side hanging limply and uselessly. Even Pinkie just giggled when she saw her balloons sitting on Sweetie's coat. Only Rainbow looked remotely surprised, though at the moment she was a little more concerned about Gilda's talons.

"...Gilda." Sweetie tried. Gilda stood tall and silent. Still there was intense rage in her eyes for mucking up what was already set up. Sweeite swallowed, as she knew that she was beyond mad. "...what are you doing?"

Gilda didn't answer.

"You're... are you trying to kill your friend? I mean, I don't know how you feel about Pinkie-"

"Way to through me under the cart!" Pinkie giggled.

"-but Rainbow? Why are you doing this-" Sweetie stopped speaking when she heard the clopping coming from one of the tunnels. Growing steadily louder than the machinery behind them. It wasn't long before Sweetie's eyes were filled with rage when she saw Specter coming out of one of them. Was this the real one? Or just a part of another illusion to trick Sweetie? And if it was the real Specter, had Celestia attacked him yet? She could only hope not.

He stopped at the edge of the crater.

"Congratulations Sweetie Belle," Specter called. "You nearly at your final destination, I hope you realize. You so very close... you can almost taste her, can't you?" He laughed. "Well, I certainly have."

"If you hurt her at all-"

"How many times have I told you? I wouldn't dare," Specter said. "All I've been doing is giving her the pleasure a stallion should."

"Sweetie...?" Applebloom called. Sweetie didn't hear her as she glared at Specter.

"But if you're so desperate to yank her from such loving arms, I suppose I am but a feeble old stallion to stopping you. However," Specter smiled. "Our little jail bird was promised something. And I'm very good on my promises."

Sweetie saw something glowing around Gilda's neck. Some kind of stone that looked similar to that of the glowing tips and the rocks in the tubs around the arena.

"Her own personal ghostly servants, as well as immortality to make up for the difficult time she's had in the last few months." Specter nodded. "Isn't that right, bird?"

"...yes." Gilda mumbled. She blinked a few times. She then spoke with a little more confidence. "I'm getting my immortality, Rainbow and Pinkie. Buck what's happened to me already, now I've got two little dweebs trying to buck everything up."

"That's right, bird. You do. And you've got to do something about this before they make things worse."

Gilda mumbled lowly again before barking at Specter, "Don't tell me what to do. I know that, old stallion."

Specter turned his head back to Sweetie. He didn't even seem to be acknowledging Applebloom, who just stood there looking back between Spike, Gilda and Specter. "You see Sweetie, everything comes with a price. A sacrifice. And Gilda here isn't dead, nor is she a pushover, as you've witnessed. But now, you're stronger than her, aren't you? What sins are you willing to commit in order to find out if your sister will forgive you for being... well, you?"

--Kill her.

"Shut up." Sweetie mumbled.

"Are you willing to murder someone in cold blood Sweetie Belle? I'm truly curious now." Specter said. "You'll face your own death for her, but what about someone else's? Will you justify it?"

--Kill her.

"Sweetie, careful, ah think it's a trick." Applebloom whispered. "Don't try runnin' for him, he'll do somethin' to stop you."

"No." Specter said. "You won't, will you? You aren't willing to do something so heinous for someone you love. You'll wander around, begging for forgiveness forever before you do something so horrible. You can't do it. You lack the initiative. Which is why I'm better for her."

--Kill her.

"Sweetie-"

"Because Sweetie Belle, I'm starting to believe I love her more than you ever could."

"Shut UP!" Sweetie ran

"Sweetie, don't!" Applebloom called. At first, she was sure that she was going to run for Specter. But instead, she did something else that chilled her slightly more. Sweetie ran with near impossible speed, Rainbow's cutie mark glowing brightly, as she ran for Gilda. Impossibly fast, Sweetie reached into her saddlebags, pulled out the knife to toss the handle in her mouth, before switching to Applejack's cutie mark to have more strength with a clean swipe.

Still, Gilda was faster as she dodged to the left a few meters before Sweetie could get to her.

The impulse was over. Sweetie was shocked at what she had done, or rather nearly done. What had gotten into her for those few moments? Her mind was so clear, so intent on killing Gilda. So horribly clear she already visualized her slicing at her torso before she even pulled the knife out.

What was wrong with her?

"Don't be so shocked Sweetie. That's nothing but anger at the girl. I'd be mad too if someone tried to kill me more than once in one night. Especially if I didn't know them personally." he laughed. "Ironic, isn't it? Regardless, I think you've made your match now. One of you will die in the next fifteen minutes. Hopefully. All of the craters will close by then, and you'll be stuck here for good. And since this is nearly the end of our arrangement, bird, I won't be coming for you. Once you're done, you're free to go, but you might want to kill her and reset the Spirit Binders before you're stuck in here forever. Good luck you two. I'll be watching."

Something about that last sentence felt wrong. Very wrong.

With that, Specter left for the room, heading back into the hole he came out of.

"...you should just lie down and give up, you know." Gilda said. "I'm faster than her already, and you're not even as fast as she was. Even with that cutie mark you stole. Isn't that right Rainbow?"

Rainbow didn't answer. She was stuck between being shocked from the cutie marks on Sweetie's body, and the fact she'd tried to killed Gilda.

"Fine. I'll make this quick. I've been meaning to kill you all night anyway." she laughed. "And I'm not going to stop until you're dead."

--Kill her.

In what felt like a split second, Gilda covered the distance between herself and Sweetie, before smacking the knife out of Sweetie's mouth. It fell to the ground with a clatter, though she didn't hear that until Gilda grabbed her by the throat. She held her up, and wound her free foreleg back to launch her claws into Sweetie's body.

Before she could, Applebloom bucked at her hind legs as hard as she could, knocking her down and Sweetie out of her grasp. Applebloom grabbed up the knife before Sweetie could.

"What are you doing?" Sweetie asked.

"Ah got an idea." Applebloom said quickly. "You just need ta keep Spike and Gilda busy for a few minutes."

"What? Wh-"

"Jus' do it! Ah don't care how, but jus' do it. We ain't gotta kill her!"

Sweetie blinked. Maybe she was right. Maybe there was a way to get past this without killing Gilda. Or Spike for that matter, who still had his sights trained on where Applebloom originally was on the second level.

"Ya gotta boost me up. Ahm gonna see if I can't free 'em from up there."

Sweetie didn't ask how. She just ran over to the spot of one of the tanks to boost her up. Applebloom did the same behind her, preparing to jump on her back and onto the top of the tank.

"What the hell are you waiting for? Get them!"

Spike finally looked down at Sweetie and Applebloom. He then reached into the back by his side and pulled out a black black ball the size of his hand with a fuse sticking out. He blew a small flame on it and threw it in the general direction of the tank. Sweetie saw it just as Applebloom scrambled to the top.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me. Applebloom get off of there now! It's a bomb!" She screamed, before retreating from the now fuming ball herself.

Applebloom jumped onto the second level and got as close to the wall as possible before the bomb Spike threw blew up, along with the tank Applebloom had climbed over.

"APPLEBLOOM!" Sweetie yelled. Smoke filled the entire left side of the arena. At first, it was hard to tell whether or not she had survived. She was relieved to immediately hear coughing and to at least tell that she was still breathing.

She was breathing smoke, but she wasn't dead yet.

That was all that mattered. And with all the smoke, Spike wouldn't be able to shoot her. All Sweetie could do was hope Applebloom was alright enough to get up, out of the smoke, and do what she planned on doing.

Sweetie's mind was taken off of Applebloom as she heard a mad caw. After she felt Gilda coming with Pinkie's mark, almost without thinking, she tapped into Rainbow's cutie mark and dodged to the right, just in time to miss Gilda's talons. Sweetie ran around so she could face her. Gilda was back to being pissed. She didn't take her piercing eyes off of Sweetie.

"You stupid dragon!" She called to Spike. "You could have ruined the damned guns! I said to shoot them!"

Spike didn't say a word. He just kept his gun trained on the smoke cloud, waiting for Applebloom to either run out, or choke to death. Sweetie had to think. She had to figure out what to do so Applebloom could safely get out of the smoke cloud and figure out how to free Rainbow and Pinkie. She looked over at the rocks.

That was it.

She didn't have a gun or even bombs like Spike, but those rocks could make good projectiles. She would just have to make sure she didn't miss and hit him somewhere fatal, if she were to use the things. After all, she wasn't thinking about shooting slime at the dragon. She was thinking about shooting stones.

Sweetie ran over to them as Gilda prepared to speed toward her again. Just as Sweetie nearly made it to one of the tub of glowing rocks, she felt it again. She dodged Gilda, who skidded to a stop before, sparks flying, before she hit a wall. She didn't hit her head, but she hit it hard enough to stun her for just a moment.

Sweetie pointed her GCD at the pile of stones and sucked one of the glowing ones up by chance. It hit the nozzle harder than she had expected. Apparently these appeared to be gems of some sort. Aproximately five seconds after it stuck itself onto the nozzle, Sweetie saw a bit of smoke rising from the end of the nozzle. It was then Sweetie noticed that the rock was burning it!

Quickly, Sweetie switched the flow of the GCD and shot it in Gilda's direction. Though it wasn't her conscious intention, the rock went straight for one of her wings. Gilda dodged herself before the rock hit her. This pissed her off even further.

"Gah, forget that bitch, shoot her. Shoot her!" Gilda growled at Spike.

"But... I love Swe-"

Gilda cawed. "Why do I have to go through this with a god damned kid!"

By this point, Sweetie got a new rock, this one non-glowing, and went back to paying attention to Gilda. She looked up at the cloud of smoke emanating from the tank Spike blew up. Just as she did, she saw Applebloom, limping out of the smoke, with the knife in her mouth. She was coughing, but quieter this time.

Spike didn't notice her yet, and Sweetie wasn't going to let him. She aimed her GCD at Spike's gun. She didn't use any of her talents this time, and it didn't seem as if luck was on her side for a good shot. So when she hit Spike this time, instead of hitting his gun as she was hoping, she instead managed to hit him right along the side of his head. He fell over onto his side. Just from his facial expression, it looked as if he actually wasn't expecting that.

Maybe because he was hypnotized to still believe that Sweetie was still Spiffy? That would explain why he wouldn't shoot her when Gilda told him to.

This time Gilda looked up at him this time. "You alright there?" She didn't sound particularly concerned about Spike's wellbeing. If anything, it sounded as if she was about to use it for another reason to kill Sweetie.

To both Sweetie's and Gilda's surprise however, Spike not only got up right away, but he smiled. The two of them could tell something just clicked in Spike's head. And something told Sweetie, she wasn't going to like what had clicked.

"Oh..." he said. "Specter said you would start playing hard to get... and he told me that you like to play back so..." he pointed his gun at Sweetie now. "...I'll do what my Sweetie wants. I'll play too."

Welp. You wanted them both off you Applebloom. There you go. Sweetie thought, before jumping back to the side to dodge a bullet. She tapped into Pinkie's talent now, knowing that she wouldn't be able to dodge all of the bullets without it. At least as long as she still had to keep an eye on Gilda. She would have to rely on her mark to predict and dodge everyone's attacks.

"Alright then. Let’s go." Sweetie said, as she charged for Gilda.

While Sweetie was dipping and dodging Spike and Gilda on the first level, Applebloom limped around quietly around to one of the two remaining spear guns. Sweetie was doing well in keeping the others' attention, making it easy to examine the gun without worrying a bullet would go through her forehead.

She looked around and eventually found what she figured would be the firing mechanism to launch the spear. She then got as much behind the spear as possible to gauge where it would fire. As Sweetie had predicted, the gun was aimed toward the general center of the chain-

"Hey Applebloom!" Pinkie called.

"Shhhh!" Applebloom hissed back.

Pinkie giggled, and whispered as loudly as she could. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Ahm tryin' ta get y'all down from there!" Applebloom said. "Now keep it down b'fore they hear you and start shootin' at me again!"

"What are you doing again?" Pinkie asked, as if Applebloom never said anything.

"You'll see. Now hush up!" Applebloom said, as she used the knife to saw away at the rope attached to the spear. It was but a few seconds before it was cut. Now, she had to put it in a position where it wouldn't impale Rainbow or Pinkie. She got into bucking position underneath it. But when she tried to buck as high as she could-

"Ah!"

Before she could even tap the spear she was reminded how she had to limp all the way there. A sharp pain shot from her hind legs and to her spine. She was sure something was broken. Though she counted herself lucky for escaping that explosion as she did, this wasn't good. Everything on the spear gun, save for the ropes, seemed to be bolted in place. And she didn't have a tool to remove the bolts, she had to rely on brute force to even hope to move the gun at any angle.

With her bucking legs the way they were, that spear wasn't budging.

Applebloom had to think. She looked down at Sweetie moving around against Gilda as well as dodging Spike's bullets. The cutie mark with three balloons, Pinkie's, was glowing brighter than the rest. It didn't take long for her to note that she was using those cutie marks somehow, elements of her friends to augment her abilities. Chances were, with Applejack's cutie mark, she could probably buck the spear gun where she wanted easily. Faster too, if she used Rainbow's mark.

The problem was that Sweetie was busy. In order for her to even try to get up there, would mean to leave Gilda alone for a split second. And it wasn't as if Gilda would take a break from trying to kill either of them. Much less, Applebloom was in no physical condition to even attempt to tag out with Sweetie.

Applebloom wracked her brain. There had to be some way to-

Spike's bombs! The bag by his waist was filled with bombs. It was only for a second or two, but she was sure the bombs had knocked her out for a little bit. At least it stunned her enough. If she could catch Gilda by surprise with one of those bombs, maybe she could stun her long enough to have Sweetie buck the spear higher.

The only problem was getting a bomb away from Spike.

Applebloom looked over at him. He stood by one of the remaining spears. He seemed so focused on the scene below. Firing at Sweetie as she ran around below. Reloading. Firing again. Maybe Applebloom could sneak one out of him? After all, if he was hypnotized, she was sure he wouldn't be able to focus on somepony pickpocketing him.

It was worth a try. Worst case scenario, she got shot in the face, right?

Mustering all of the courage she had left, she began sliding against the wall, limping quietly as she made her way around the level to Spike.

BANG!

Tink! Tink!

Every step, felt nerve wracking as though she were stomping as she approached him.

BANG!

Tink! Tink!

Every second that passed, felt like an hour she was wasting while Sweetie risked her life against Gilda.

BANG!

Tink! Tink!

Every shot sounded louder, making Applebloom's ears ring more and more, the closer she got. Truly she had no idea how he could take such loud shots fired at her.

BANG!

Tink! Tink!

Right next to him. She was right next to him, and Spike didn't seem to even notice. He was so entranced on aiming and firing at Sweetie that he didn't notice her. Applebloom slowly reached into the bag, which was thankfully open from the first bomb he used. She felt around three more left. But at the moment, she only needed one.

Flawlessly, she pick pocketed the bag and retreated back to where she came from as quietly as she could. Once back at the first spear gun, she tried raising the bomb to Sweetie while Gilda seemed to have her back turned. She couldn't tell if she understood why she had the bomb, nor could she tell if she understood the plan. Really, it was hard to tell if she could even see it. All she could do was try to use the bomb to hit Gilda close enough, and hope that Pinkie's talent would let her get out of the way.

Applebloom climbed on top of the spear gun as high as she could to reach the lantern sitting above it. She opened it, and looked back. She waited for the right moment... there! Gilda was standing next to a tank. Her back was turned again too. With that, Applebloom lit the bomb, and threw it in the direction of both Gilda, Sweetie and the tank of flammable liquid.

Sweetie couldn't help but be amazed at how much energy the griffon still had compared to her. Even with five (six when counting Spiffy's mark that she assumed to be there) she was already starting to get winded. She hoped Applebloom would release Pinkie and Rainbow so they could help her take Gilda down. Mercifully, as she wanted to.

But what was taking so long? Surely her plan couldn't be taking-

What was she doing? She seemed to be on her way from Spike. She was holding something, but she couldn't tell what it was.

Now she's holding it up. What was it, a bomb? Sweetie couldn't get a good look, as Pinkie's sense told her to dodge the coming claw to the right, before jumping diagonally back to dodge a bullet headed straight for her side.

Is she going to blow something up? What's she going to do? Blow up the chains?

She's going to knock out Gilda.

The realization struck her. Something went wrong and Applebloom needed to talk with her. She was going to blow up Gilda, probably to stun her.

--Or kill her

Shut up.

To test if she was going to do it, Sweetie did her best to guide Gilda's attacks where she could be a non-lethal distance from another one of the explosive tanks.

Just as she expected, once she was close enough, her-

(Twicha Twitch)

Pinkie sense told her of the incoming explosion from the bomb Applebloom threw. Gilda didn't hear it over the most recent

BANG!

from Spike's rifle. So of course, unlike Sweetie she didn't see it coming when she found herself flat on her front after a massive BOOM! came from behind her.

Pinkie giggled while Rainbow stared, still stunned at the show stopper.

Spike kept firing at her as though nothing happened. Sweetie had gotten so good at dodging with Pinkie's talent, she didn't even need to think about it as she dodged them.

"Applebloom! What happened?" BANG! Sweetie dodged to the left.

"Mah leg won't buck! Ah need you ta do it! High enough ta cut the chain as you said!"

"Alright, I'm headed up!" BANG!, Sweetie dodged to the right, before tapping into Rainbow's talent to get a running start, and jump higher in order to get on top of the one remaining tank.

"Buck it before she wakes up." Applebloom warned. "Then get back down there. Ah'll do the rest."

"I know, I know." Sweetie said. She got under the spear gun and bucked upwards as hard as she could. Like an expert bucker, she did it with such force that it easily nudged up half a foot.

When she did, Applebloom glanced back at Gilda. She was still on the floor. It looked as if she was still knocked out.

She looked back at Sweetie. This time her exhaustion looked apparent, now that her adrenaline rush was gone.

"Sweetie, y'all alright?" Applebloom asked.

"Yeah just... just because I have these cutie marks, I guess it doesn't make me as strong as the others. Just..." she shook her head. "One more. One more. Let’s get them down before she wakes up."

It was then Applebloom noticed something. The bangs had stopped. Applebloom looked over at Spike. He aimed at the both of them, but no bullets came flying at them. She heard tiny click!s as he made a motion to load another bullet. Though, his hands were empty. It looked as if he was finally out.

Was he that entranced?

Sweetie bucked the spear gun into position with a particularly loud squeak of metal.

Well, as long as Gilda didn't bark at him to use another bomb-

She was gone. Gilda was no longer where she was. Applebloom looked up as high as she could, but the ceilings were covered in smoke.

"Sweetie! Gilda's-"

And that was the last thing she said. It happened so fast, neither Applebloom, nor Sweetie knew what was happening until it was over. Out of the smoke clouds above, Gilda came speeding at Sweetie. She launched her talons at her face, and this time, she didn't miss completely. By sheer luck, Gilda missed Sweetie's eyes, but instead cut deep into her cheeks, also knocking her off of the level where she was.

The next thing, Applebloom knew, she was being held up by the neck by Gilda. She could see the blind rage in her eyes. She was just another

--Bug

pest. Another dweeb trying to mess everything up. But this one. This one was weak. Not worth her time or effort.

--Not like you.

And yet this one was the reason why her back felt as if it were on fire. Gilda didn't hesitate. She felt rehearsed. She did it as if she knew what she was doing. She did it as if there was a muscle designed for this moment in time.

She didn't bat an eye when she threw Applebloom as far as she could across the room onto the first level, as everyone in the area heard a sickening

CRACK!

When she hit the ground.

Sweetie hadn't been knocked out. But she did feel the something oozing out of of her injury. How much? She didn't know, but it was enough to make her feel light headed. Enough to make her vision go blurry every couple of seconds. Maybe most of it was shock. Or maybe she was bleeding out.

Without a mirror, or a doctor, she couldn't tell for sure.

Regardless, with her life in danger once again, she looked at Gilda. She didn't see Applebloom anywhere at first, but when she looked to the side, she saw Applebloom's body, lying in a crooked manner. What happened?

--CRACK!

Sweetie blinked. Applebloom was knocked out.

--CRACK!

Gilda must have thrown her hard enough to knock her out.

--CRACK!

But why was she so angry? Much angrier than before. Perhaps as angry, if not angrier than Gilda was now. She couldn't explain it. But it was a strong anger. A strong hate. She stood up and glared at the griffon. The griffon who just stood there. Staring at her hand. She didn't see her expression. She didn't hear a word she said, if she said anything. Her mouth moved but Sweetie didn’t hear any words. She forgot about being merciful. She forgot about everything. All she remembered, all she saw was the griffon. All she remembered was Specter's order.

--You have to kill her.

Once Gilda glided down to the first level, she didn't let her say anything more. Sweetie's body was back on that hostile autopilot as she used Rainbow's talent to quickly run around to where the knife had fallen out of Applebloom's mouth, and launched herself at Gilda. She jumped once she had enough momentum and once again switched back to Applejack's talent for strength. Like before, Gilda dodged, but Sweetie anticipated this with sheer instinct. As she moved to the side, Sweetie shifted in Gilda's direction just enough to get a clean cut along her front.

She cawed in pain as she retreated.

At this point, Gilda was on one side of the arena while Sweetie was on another.

She growled something to herself, before calling out to Spike. "You! Turn on the damned machine!"

Sweetie didn't hear her. She just launched herself again, this time seeming ready to land a fatal cut. She couldn't even hear Rainbow begging her to stop. And for that matter, no one heard Pinkie's giggles had turned into laughs of utter joy and amusement.

Wordlessly, Spike put his weapon over his shoulder as he took a few steps from his spot to a wall around him. He pressed it in and something inside the two remaining spear guns began to hiss.

"Alright dweeb. You want to die that badly too... f-fine." She stuttered the last word as though she were having second thoughts. Then she clenched a fist and gritted her teeth with a "Lets finish this then."

Sweetie didn't say anything as she launched herself again. Gilda did the same, heading straight on for her. Sweetie didn’t expect that. Nor was she expecting Gilda to, at the last minute, dodge to the side of Sweetie and grab her by the sides as she did.

And like that, the two of them were airborne. Gilda flew higher and higher into the air, likely preparing to throw Sweetie down. Sweetie may have had Rainbow's talent, but she wasn't Rainbow. The air belonged to Gilda. And it was there where she would finish off the bleeding filly.

The air was hers. Gilda could fly, but Sweetie could not. Even with Rainbow's talent, she could barely float more than a few seconds. If Gilda dropped her, or more likely spiked her at the ground at that point, she would not survive the fall. No matter how she fell.

--Kill her

She had a few seconds to figure out how to get down. Frantically, she began swinging her head, and the knife at Gilda, who held her out just enough where she wouldn't be able to reach her. She had to get closer before they reached the top where all the smoke was. Just close enough to get a good cut at her stomach and-

Sweetie let out an incomprehensible, painful cry as she spat out the knife and tossed it against her hoof. In her current position, she couldn't get a good grasp on the knife, but that was fine. Her body was acting on it's own again, as she guided it through the air with one hoof, before using her other to jab it into one of Gilda's massive wings in mid flap.

Gilda screamed herself, not expecting that kind of pain.

But Sweetie wasn't done. Rather, her body wasn't.

Again.

Stab.

Again.

Stab.

Again!

Stab.

Again!

Stab.

AGAIN!

Stab.

Five more times Sweetie did this before she missed the knife when pulling it out and dropped it to the ground below. The wounds, both the entrance and exit wounds pooled with blood, but the following effect was immediate. Rather than plummeting to the ground, Gilda found herself desperately trying to regain control in the air, almost gliding back down instead as air rushed through the holes Sweetie had made. In fact, she wasn't even thinking about the filly anymore, as she unconsciously gripped her.

She couldn't imagine the pain Gilda was in right now.

Just as they were halfway down, after the few seconds that must have passed, the spear guns finally fired. Though the first one, closer to Pinkie's side was going to hit the chain to potentially cut them free, the one by Spike was still pointed directly at Rainbow Dash.

Though, before even Rainbow could realize it, Pinkie swung herself in the chains so now the spear would fire at her.

"Pin-!"

Before Rainbow could get a word out, or try to swing back to get them both out of the way, or even keep Pinkie from risking her life so suddenly, it was too late. The spear, now pointed at Pinkie fired, but as expected was stopped short by the rope tied to it's end. But something else did reach her. A beam of light fired into Pinkie's neck, and for a split second, Rainbow, when she turned as far as she could to see her, swore she saw an echo- no, Pinkie's ghost herself stretch slightly through her body.

Something was wrong with it though.

But before she could consider it, the other spear hit the chain with a surprisingly clean cut, resulting in them falling to the ground. They both were knocked out as a result.

Once Sweetie found herself as close enough to the first level as possible, she found an opportunity to bite at one of Gilda's claws. Just as a reflex, Gilda let go of Sweetie, letting her fall and roll onto the first level. Gilda did the same, less menacingly than before as she stopped herself against one of the walls of the first floor.

She gripped at her bleeding wing, gritting her teeth as she stared at Sweetie. Something clattered somewhere, but neither of them looked to see what it was. Without the ability to fly, she was defenseless. Even with her claws, without her wings Sweetie was now officially faster than her with Rainbow's cutie mark, as well as the others she had on her. Gilda was at a very bad disadvantage. And the filly standing before her, blood dripping onto the ground, with only adrenaline keeping her from fainting from the wound on her face, did not look merciful. She looked truly angry.

It was almost ironic. At this point, Gilda was somewhat scared of her now.

Gilda didn't see the knife, but she knew it was somewhere in the area. For all she knew, Sweetie had already found it, and was just waiting for her to make her next attack. She looked at one of the holes that Specter had retreated back into.

As fast as her actual legs would take her, she rushed forward to Sweetie, who let out another insane cry as she charged again. Though, Gilda moved around so she wasn't going for Sweetie anymore, but the unconscious mares still wrapped in chains. She picked them up and rushed for the hole. She heard Sweetie pick something up behind her.

Gilda ran into the hole, desperate to get away from the senseless girl chasing her with a knife.

Sweetie stopped dead at the edge of where Gilda had retreated to. She didn't know why she had stopped, but she couldn't go any further. There was something inside of her telling her not to go that way. Not as if there was a trap but...

--Sweetie...

Yes. Yes, there it was. Rarity. She heard Rarity's laughter again. Her ghost was close. If she went this way right now, she wouldn't find her again, just as in the cave. It was the same damned trap. And if she didn't fall for it the first time, she wouldn't fall for it the second.

They'll be fine... Sweetie thought. Did she think that? She wasn't sure. Her mind voice sounded so strange. Probably the blood loss... probably the blood loss.

Sweetie touched the gash on her cheek. It hurt, but she still couldn't help but touch them. Feel them, as she stared into the abyss Gilda had escaped into with Rainbow and Pinkie. There were three gashes with one that was frighteningly deep.

One...

Sweetie turned around to look at Applebloom. She started to reach into her bag, and grab a candy heart. Though, her body suddenly forgot about the healing item, dropping it to the side as she stumbled over to her, not exactly thinking about anything in particular. She knew where the laughter was coming from. She would head there right after she checked up on her friend. When she looked up lazily onto the second level, she noticed that Spike was gone. Though she didn't worry about that. So long as he wasn't here.

Once she was by Applebloom, now in a room where only the faint sounds of machinery were heard, she could hear her perfectly. She called her name, sobbing.

"Ah can't feel 'em... ah can't feel 'em. Sweetie where..."

"I'm here," Sweetie said, absent minded. "Get up. We need to go find my sister."

"Ah can't move Sweetie. My legs ain't moving."

"Oh," Sweetie said.

Two...

"Oh," She said again. This time, her senses returned to her. The world returned to her. The laughter became more vivid as she came to the realization. Applebloom couldn't move. Of course she couldn't. The way she must have fell, it's not surprising that she would have fallen and broken her bones. Or maybe she broke her neck.

--It's all your fault

Either way, it was a miracle that she was still alive. Still breathing and sucking up air to let out scared little sobs. But...

--She's here because of you

There was nothing she could do. If she was really paralyzed, what could she do? Carry her back to the safe room? Carry her straight to where Rarity was being kept?

Sweetie paced back as tears felt well up in her eyes. Though they hadn't started to flow yet as she stared back into one of the open holes.

Then she heard it.

Three.

The opening of the crater in the wall was groaning. Something deep inside of it was groaning like metal bending in on itself. From her position, she saw that it was closing ever so slowly.

--Before.

Sweetie bowed her head. The tears didn't fall however.

--Just like.

She turned around to Applebloom and smiled before shaking her head.

--Just like before.

"You think I'm that stupid huh?" Sweetie said.

"Sweetie...?"

Sweetie walked over to Applebloom and without warning kicked her in the stomach. Applebloom gasped as air rushed out of her lungs.

"I'm not going to fall for the same thing twice." she whispered. "Not anymore."

"Sweetie- guh!"

She kicked her in the gut again.

"You tried this before Specter!" she yelled at Applebloom. "Scootaloo in the piano, now this? I won't! I'm not going to let you close me out and burn me alive or whatever kind of trap you've got! I'm not!"

Sweetie stared at her. There was a mix of anger and cleverness in her eyes. As if she had figured something out, and hated what she knew.

"So where is she?" Sweetie asked.

Tears were falling from Applebloom's eyes. She looked so confused, so afraid. She would have called Sweetie again if she wasn't afraid of having the air kicked out of her again. Even if she couldn't feel it, she still felt that terrible force of an applebucker ring all the way up to her skull.

"Where IS she?!" Sweetie screamed. She kicked her another three times. "Where is she?! Where is she?! WHERE IS SHE?!"

It made sense to her. Scootaloo was gone, probably lost in the mansion.

It made so much sense, how was Applebloom the only one?

They had already used Scootaloo, why not Applebloom? It made perfect sense.

This wasn't her friend. This was another imposter. Just as in the piano. Just as in the tunnels. Just like nearly everywhere else.

Her friends couldn't- no, wouldn't survive without her. It made sense. For all she knew, she had been alone since she left the room.

No one survived as she did. Whether she was meant to, or she was better at it, no one else could survive as she did.

It was impossible.

It made sense.

She stared at Applebloom. This. This. This thing. This thing that was pretending to be her friend. It represented something, something that Sweetie absolutely hated. The deception that Specter thought he could get away with every damn time. The sheer gullible mentality that Specter had put into his old mind. That he kept lying. Lying about Rarity. Lying.

This Applebloom was a lie.

She didn't kill Gilda. She wondered why she didn't. Did she regret it? Maybe just because she was alive. She didn't know. But this lie in front of her. This thing that was dead, pretending to die. She could destroy it. Just to spite him. Just to spite Specter who she felt was watching her from somewhere. She could do it.

She was still lying there. Lying to her. Lying about being paralyzed, lying about being her friend.

She would keep it up. She could spite him. She could destroy that lie.

He was watching. He was watching somewhere. Somewhere with Rairty.

He said he would. He said he would watch.

He was watching with her.

With Rarity.

Applebloom saw it in Sweetie's eyes. She didn't know what to do. Plead for her life? Call for help? Sweetie looked at her as if she wasn't real. As if she hated her. She shut her eyes, for what might have come next.

Two seconds passed.

Four seconds passed.

Six seconds passed.

Seven-

Applebloom heard the sound of hoofsteps walking away.

"Sweetie..." she called thoughtlessly.

She opened her eyes to see Sweetie walking off toward one of the craters.

"Sweetie!" she called louder. "Come back"

The lights were going out in the arena as the groaning sound became more intense. One by one, as though following Sweetie as she left.

"SWEETIE! COME BACK!" Applebloom yelled as loud as she could. "DON'T LEAVE ME HERE!"

And then, the last light went out, Applebloom was swallowed up by the darkness and Sweetie disappeared into the crater.

The loud groaning noise had finally stopped.

---

Author's Note:

[10/19/18]

Fixed some shitty science. May not be entirely accurate but did that among a few other small edits and word changes. Won't fix the whole story since I glossed over a few bits, but I did fix some.

also this plot dump exposition is terrible

Comments

[Moon Shooter]

Srsly though, dun do it.

To a person I'm not going to openly identify, I want to say again how deeply sorry I am about this. But like I said, I did make a promise, and we can always REBOOT it if it's less than what it could be. You know who you are.

And to the rest of you who actually read this, I also want to say how terribly sorry how long this chapter took... and y'know. How long it actually is. But expect more frequent updates... hopefully. And cross your fingers for a surprise two whole chapters from now.

Anyway, hope the chapter is worth your time, and worth the time you had to wait for it.

[Midna Diane Pie]

EEEEEEEEEEEE IT'S A LUIGI'S MANSION CROSSOVER!!! I LOVE THAT GAME!!!!

[Moon Shooter]

5037449 Oh right, you're still a thing. Hi.

Listen, I know you're going to have your opinion, and I'll respect that, but if you're gonna go ahead and sink to insulting everyone else for, even slightly liking the story, I am going to have to do something.

[shyguy7829]

There appears to be an italics mishap.

[Shilic]

5037449 Yes, because making fanfiction is such a sin and all things you think are bad must be burnt in a fire.

[Moon Shooter]

5037558 Every time man. Every time.

Fixed.

[Teq]

5037449 Cripe! Steady on there, chap!

Are you familiar with 'Creative Licence'?

[lunarstallion]

Dude, this chapter was AWESOME! Well worth the wait, if you ask me.

Although, I'd like to point out that everything was italicized. Was that on purpose, or did you not realize it?

[mythfan12]

IT'S ALIIIIIIIIVE
glad to see another chapter

[Moon Shooter]

5037769 Lies. LIES IT'S FIXED. IT'S FIIIIIXXXXEEEDD.

*cough* Yeah, it should be fixed now. Sorry if that made it harder to read through.

[APB]

OH MY GOD!
IT'S ALIVE!
IT'S ALIVE!

[lunarstallion]

5037780 It's alright. It wasn't any harder to read, it was just a bit strange is all

[Uzume Tennouboshi]

Okay, ignoring how after a certain point the whole chapter was in italics...

I can't even tell what's going on anymore!

What happened to Pinkie?

And is Sweetie right, and that was just a fake Applebloom? Or did she just ditch one of her friends?

One thing's for sure, Specter seems to have a massive advantage now. No flashlight means Sweetie doesn't have a way to remove the shields from ghosts. And then there's whatever he put inside her when reviving her...

Basically, it's getting impossible to breathe with the massive quantity of shit that has hit the fan!

[Race9000]

"Don't be silly Scootaloo. That'd be the stupidest plot twist ever." Sweetie sung.

...

[Moon Shooter]

5037804

I can't even tell what's going on anymore!

I... don't blame you, which is exactly why I'm going to try to answer you to the best of my abilities. Just for the sake of both of us.

That said, some things could be some things you might want to assume on your own, so if you want to do that, don't read ahead.

______________________________________________________________

What happened to Pinkie?

I can't answer this because this would be a spoiler. I can say this though, if Rarity's captured, what happened will be explained.

And is Sweetie right, and that was just a fake Applebloom? Or did she just ditch one of her friends?

Now even though this could count as a spoiler, I think it could be assumed by most that... well, she isn't. But Sweetie believes she's fake based on everything she's experienced. Sweetie's basically snapped between everything she's experianced and... something else that'll be elaborated upon in the next chapter.

[Tome]

It updated! yushhh

[Menoshe]

5037449

Whoa, dude. Calm down. You're reaching cliche villain levels of mad, that's not somewhere anyone should be.

In completely unrelated news, Moon Shooter, you accidentally'd your italics. About half way through when Sweetie was reading the book.

[Moon Shooter]

5037887 I feel like this is the result of me realizing too late.

But would you mind, just checking again to make sure? Everytime I hear someone else say that, I feel insecure about whether or not it's actually fixed.

[Uzume Tennouboshi]

5037859

Now even though this could count as a spoiler, I think it could be assumed by most that... well, she isn't. But Sweetie believes she's fake based on everything she's experienced. Sweetie's basically snapped between everything she's experianced and... something else that'll be elaborated upon in the next chapter.

Damn. So Applebloom is crippled, and Sweetie just ditched her thinking she's a fake. That's just harsh.

Stupid Specter. I find it hard to believe that he's really not evil after pulling something like this.

[Blahman2816]

So, you decide to update once and for all again, do you? It's a good thing you're back! We were all very worried about you, you know...does this now mean that you will be updating the story as a whole now and no more reboots/choices?

[6flyer]

Well. Shit. I feel emotionally drained after reading that. Just... Wow.

[TheGreatEater]

“You’re about bucking killing me, I’m not supposed to react?

about to
_____________

Better be if you’re killing with your old best friends for it.

delete "with"

friend
____________________

"Applebloom! Y'all alright?"

Ya
________________

“Ma'm, I live here,"

Ma'am
_________

"Woah! Sweetie, y'all alright?" Applebloom asked. "Ah mean y'all want to just sit down fer a sec?

ya
_____________________

Perhaps I'll you’ll watch when there's nothing left for me to do.

I'll let you
__________________

Well ahm going out there fer... fer Spike.

Ah'm
__________________

I want to save her and kick that buck in the teeth, just as much as you want to get at that jack Specter for touching your sister.

bird
_______________

Stopping here for now. Time for bed, I'll finish the rest hopefully tomorrow.

Quick thing. Ya = You; Y'all = You all [it's a second person plural pronoun, and a contraction of you all. It's not to be used singularly]]; and Ya'll = You will. Just pointing that out. Anywho, was worth the wait so far.

[General Spritz]

5037288
Prepare your innards. This story is a lot more dark than either source material.

[Moon Shooter]

5038243 Well, yes and no. As TheGreatEater pointed out in a way, every single one of these chapters needs to be heavily changed and edited. That said, yes. I do plan to update more frequently in a way that's more editor friendly.

[GuyverAlpha]

Well, it is official, Sweetie has finally cracked. The good news is, I think she left a heart candy back there on accident, so Applebloom should heal if she eats it.

[The Prime Evil]

5037449 Wow, just wow, do the world a favor and go away, request the admins to delete your account and destroy your computer.

[Divine Path]

At last! The darkness resumes and the tragedy rebounds through these halls
It appears both the despair and the insidious matter Spectre introduced to her soul now caused our protagonist to snap. Somehow, the situation has become even more abysmal still...

Presently,
such a wonder hidden in the darkness.
The despair lurks heavy behind every a door,
then the faces of loved ones,
and the bonds which ties you so;
shattering,
broken into that sadness.
A smile or two shall save them all,
yet so far the distance the joy.
The pebble fell deep under.
Then the string was cut.

Awaiting further releases.

[Matthais Unidostres]

5037471
I'd like to take this time to retract all of the nasty things I said about you and this fanfiction. I was acting very immature, and I apologize. I still dislike this story, but I admit that this was well written, and if many others like it, then it must be of good quality. I apologize, and I will not be such a bully anymore.

[Rocketknightgeek]

"How she gonna just supposed ta sit by 'n lecha go off in that mansion when she wants ta fer the same reasons as ya?" Applejack reasoned. "When she just want's ta save 'er malefriend?"

Applebloom blinked at the word “malefriend”, but she none the less nodded in agreement.

Is this supposed to be 'marefriend'? Malefriend means something else entirely I imagine and I'm pretty sure the only extraneous limb Sweetie has picked up was the poltergust nozzle.

[Moon Shooter]

5039771 malefriend is kind of the only thing I could say without saying "boyfriend", just because "marefriend" suggests a mare x mare relationship... and Spike's not a mare, the one I was referring to. Stallionfriend wouldn't work because Spike's not even a pony. Boyfriend, at the time sounded weird to me, both for coming out of Applejack, and in the Ponyverse itself just because of the marefriend/stallionfriend thing.

Arguably, boyfriend sounds better, and *cough* less suggestive, now that I look at it, but I keep flip flopping between the two just because for some reason boyfriend sounds weirder. Maybe at some point I'll change it though.

[Teq]

5039519 You are brave for accepting such a thing. You have my eternal respect. A tip of the hat to you, chap.

[draco flameheart]

Will I need to reread the whole story? I saw mention of rewriting in the comments.

[TheGreatEater]

"'N what about happened ta Spike? Happened ta ya too before ya got all possessed! What if it happens again, yer gonna need some help!"

Now [? Was that what the N was supposed to be?]

________________

That strange authoritative she had in that room.

authority
____________

"Ya... ya… ahm..."

ah'm
_____________

"We’re with ya Sweetie, we’re the crusaders but…ahm just sayin' ah got a bad feeling about what'll be at th’ end of that tunnel. Or even what’s already in there."

ah'm
__________________

"Ahm f-fine." Applebloom assured. "Ahve been in colder in rushes ta pick apples before winter started. J-ust didn't know this place'd get this cold."

Ah'm

Ah've
__________________________

"Ah know, ahm next to her too."

ah'm
_______________

"Way to through me under the cart!"

throw
________________

"Ya gotta boost me up. Ahm gonna see if I can't free 'em from up there."

Ah'm
___________

"Sweetie, y'all alright?"

ya
______________

So ... Sweets left Apple Bloom to die, is being mind f'd by ghost leaches, and is no close to finding Rares. Wow, I have a bit of pity for my favorite ghost hunter right now. Can't wait to see the next chapter.

Quick thing though. When using a strongly accented "I" ("Ah / ah") treat it as you would the letter I in contractions. [Ah'm, Ah've, Ah'll, etc.].

[Midna Diane Pie]

5038548 I don't care!

[General Spritz]

5041723
Fine. Enjoy your view of the dark.

[Isshiki Kotonashi]

Who would dare say, who would claim
This hallucination isn't real?

[4428Gamer]

5037872 Your avatar picture just fits too well!

[Moon Shooter]

5044038 Though a "complete" chapter might take a while, you'll see the next actual update within the week if everything goes right.

[Midna Diane Pie]

5044426 What...what do you mean?

[NotAnElk]

There are quite a lot of errors in this chapter, and that's understandable due to the length, it would be pretty difficult to reread the whole thing looking for every mistake. A few I've noticed are:

Sweetie could have sworn she heard three last words.
"And you know it."

Three =/= Four
Also

Apart of her knew what she was talking about. Apart of her didn't want to acknowledge it. And a part of her knew she was right.

A part and apart are two different things.
I'll post the others I notice in this comment and go back through the chapter if you find them helpful.

So did I. Well... I didn't see your sister[/quote
The only issue with that is that "sister" is italicized. It should just be your sister, since she's only emphasizing the word your. It's mostly just a nitpick.

"Way to through me under the cart!" Pinkie giggled.

Throw

Apparently these appeared to be gems of some sort.

Putting both "apparently" and "appeared to be" in this sentence is redundant. It would work better as either "These appeared to be gems of some sort" or "Apparently these were gems of some sort" (the first one sounds better in my opinion

She felt around three more left

There should be either a comma or a semicolon between "around" and "three," the sentence is awkward as it is. I'm not actually too keen on semicolon rules so I can only guess, sorry.
That's about it from the first thing I quoted until the end. It's a very long chapter so slipups are understandable, there are more in the earlier parts of the chapter but I didn't write them down so oh well.

[Ponibius]

Oh hey, this is still alive! Good to see.

Pretty good stuff all around. Things certainly do seem to be falling apart, not the least of which is poor Sweetie's sanity. I suppose the poor filly's mind and body have finally been put through too much. Really it's a minor miracle she can even stand at this point.

[Red Bomber]

Man that was one of the most brutal chapters ever. I mean seriously this chapter name makes perfect sense and I understand why she's been acting that way and is so distrustful of everyone. If only they JOINED her instead of DITCHING her then none of this bad stuff would've happened and Sweetie would've become so cynical, maybe if she didn't lose Scootaloo in that tunnel it wouldn't have ended like that. I thought for sure Scoots would've showed up and save the day while everyone was in trouble. By the way, nice choice of battle music for Gilda.

[Toonwriter]

Awesome chapter! I've been waiting a very, VERY long time for an update! But Sweetie shouldn't leave Apple Bloom! She needs her so they could both find Scootaloo!

Keep going!!!

[Phoenix Quill]

my god, I have waited so long for this to update you don't even know! I mean haha! I'm just so glad I got to read this! So, when's the next part coming out?

[ChaosDX1]

I put off reading this chapter for an incredibly long time due to the incredibly intimidating word count. After that it took days to finish reading in between life stuff.

Is it just me or did Pinkie do virtually nothing to help Dash vs Gilda? She could have helped knock over the vase, and she could have done something other than watch Dash choke Gilda - like keep Spike from sneaking up on her. She just stood there and watched each time.
...okay the more I read the more I think there is something unnaturally wrong with Pinkie. Hard to tell since, well, she's Pinkie. But yeah, this isn't normal Pinkie.
Yep, definitely something wrong. I'll hazard a guess: Her ghost is possessing herself. Clever.

[Omni]

Just... There are no words. No one words at all... That ending...

[Baree]

So is there any way you could give us an estimate on how many more chapters this might have before it's finished? Even if it's a rough estimate?

[Clocklike]

The story seems to be getting some strange twists. I don't know if I like them. Just have to wait and see.