Prologue: Tragedy of Bloodthorn Mansion
There’s a place in Ponyville not many ponies know about here in our town. Those few who do choose to feign ignorance like it doesn’t exist. Luckily for all of us, this place is just a hop skip and a jump from Ponyville off the crossroads leading to Sweet Apple Acres. Out of sight out of mind as that old saying goes know what I mean? Well, you see that’s not really the case, not anymore, not with me. Ever since I managed to escape I have seen things that I wish I could unsee. You have to believe me on this, I’m not crazy and I know what I saw! Ghosts...yes you heard me, ghosts and they were definitely not the friendly ones...if there ever was one. I managed to escape with my life but ever since then I feel like I see things...apparitions? Shadows, shadow ponies, beings all in the corner of my eye. I can’t get a lick of sleep and the nights...oh Celestia the nights are more nightmarish than the last. That’s when they come out to play!
I have been dealing with this for a very very long time which has long since been my issue. That is why I have come to believe that anypony who dares to set foot in that place is cursed for life. Fated to return to that place...to die. Die as I will soon just as this wise tale has spun out of control. Please forgive me for not mentioning the folklore. In my final moments, I may have been a bit too hasty. I would, of course, need to educate whoever reads this on the dangers that await simply to cement why it is so important that you stay away.
You see, long ago when Ponyville was just becoming a nice little town beginning to prosper there was a wealthy proprietor named Rudy Bloodthorn a gentlestallion through and through and at the time was the wealthiest pony in all of Ponyville, second being Stinkin’ Rich. A hard worker, nopony would say he was a pampered pony, he pulled his own weight and helped whenever he could! If there was anything he loved more than being rich and honest work was his darling of a wife. Cacti Cours Saleya, wife of that proprietor and was something of a local town idol. A foreign supermodel, singer, and a bit of a caregiver for the fillies in the neighborhood. The kind of mare other housewives would envy if she wasn’t so humble and nice to mingle with. Then their four children Noir, Oracle, Evergreen, and Crescentrose Bloodthorn. They lived on the very edge of Ponyville in their mansion up in the hills, can barely make it out from Sweet Apple Acres. Though they were loved throughout the town and helped whenever they could, they enjoyed their privacy with one another, excluding the maids and servants working under them.
However, one day the wife suffered an incurable illness through unknown means. Desperate to save his beloved, the proprietor spent mass amounts of his wealth trying to find a cure. The community got together and through connections gathered Pony Specialists in the medical field who dedicated their lives to study and cure all illnesses that plague the land of Equestria. They failed to find what ails her, determined to figure out the illness they continued to observe her and offered their assistance when needed. Zebra alchemists were no better, brewing remedies were the best they can offer to at least put her at little ease. With nothing left to turn to, the town got in contact with a Shaman, a Zebra who has access to the more spiritual world in which reality is split into two the ethereal plane and the physical plane of existence.
What she described as a dark presence surrounds the wife and the home they live in. A malicious presence in the force so strong that it has bound itself to the wife under the chain and was sapping her life force. Sooner or later Cacti Cours Sayela would pass away. The proprietor was speechless looking back and forth between her wife and the zebra shaman with the eyes of a man who has lost everything silently pleading for change any kind of miracle. The pony specialists cried bloody liar that such things and superstitions were not real, the prominent members of the townsfolk started to bicker with one another, though the zebra alchemists never were one to question a shaman. In their culture, a shaman’s words are as those of prophecy and wisdom beyond pony comprehension, if only we knew at the time. The arguments continued and in the midst of this panic, chaos, and the undetermined fate of a now poor stallion’s wife, the shaman collapsed. In a few hours when she had awakened her demeanor changed from calm and collected to that of a frightened filly, I'll never forget that face, she screamed and flailed hitting anypony that came near her. Started spouting gibberish finally saying that the mansion, this mansion, is cursed. She ran out without further delay, crying, wanting to put as much distance between her and the mansion. Seeing such panic in the Shamen, the zebra alchemists were quick to follow suit. There can be no good if they lingered. The shaman was never heard from again.
The inevitable day came when the proprietor's wife passed away. Stricken with grief and fortunes lost he grew cold and malicious, a piece of his very nature died with Cacti Cours Sayela. Though he sought out help for his mental conditions to deal with the overbearing grief and guilt for not being able to save his wife, it just wasn’t enough. He was never seen as that loving stallion with a heart of gold again, just a broken angry pony. A month has past and his conditions got worse. He started talking to thin air, within his studies he would talk hours to what sounded to his departed wife. In a fortnight on Nightmare Night, he killed all his fillies except one that has escaped but their whereabouts were left unknown along with their dead relatives. The sight was not to be seen by anypony, not even the guards should have seen the inhumane way this pony, once a father, has murdered his young. The guards dragged his bloodied body away he spouted a bunch of would-be nonsense while some astute zebra alchemists, who came back to see the sight one last time, stated it may have been a hex of sorts possibly to reign judgment on all who couldn’t save her. Nopony knows to this very day, the few zebra alchemists have put up an official notice. Nopony, no creature, should ever pass unto this home ever again. Not for property purposes, not for historical purposes, under no circumstances shall any creature gain entry. They also told the townsfolk, the founders, that if any creature asks about the place they should feign ignorance. If they do know of the place somehow that they should do everything within their power to sway theses thrill-seekers or historians to back down from their journey.
Months went on to years and the decaying mansion is still there to this very day. However, the place is now a rumor among ponies in town but nothing more. Reports of missing ponies are often said to have disappeared in the area and were officially forbidden to enter its land within a certain radius. Other reports say that if you stare at the mansion long enough you can see ponies looking back at you from the windows. Some say when that happens you have been marked and will one day enter the mansion of your own free will if not, the spirits would start to visit you in your sleep. Then they will start to peak from the corner of your eye. Then start walking towards you relentlessly without any pony seeing. Lastly...they get you. That’s only if you refuse. There will be those adventurous types who brave the mansion regardless of the warning. They’re never seen again of course, why else do you think that one show was canceled abruptly? Sorry, your favorite ghost hunters aren’t coming back for a new season. I was even told one mare went crazy from the ordeal and was put into a mental hospital, at least she’s still alive...she just barks now though. Ponies just assume she has a couple of screws loose.
These are all just rumors, of course, I personally never experienced...look I’m getting off track, now you know the history and now you know why you should stay away from this place. If you’re reading my final note then that means you are already trespassing on land you will regret ever setting foot on for the rest of your life. That is if you turn back now, please, it’s not too late...please from the words of a soon to be dead pony...it’s not too late...
- Oracle Bloodthorn, the sole survivor of Bloodthorn Mansion