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// Chapter 7: Settling In 
// Story: Spiritus ex Machina 
// by wonderkid125 
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As Bonnie the mechanized bunny marched through the resort, Rainbow Dash and the others followed him closely as they anticipated reaching their rooms. Once they got settled in and unpacked, the ponies could start their vacation off properly.

The animatronic animal led the group around the first floor until they reached a stairway. They walked up the stairs until they reached the third and final floor of the resort. They turned down a hallway until they suddenly found themselves walking through a stretch of rooms numbered one hundred onwards. Apparently, their rooms were still a ways to go because Bonnie showed no signs of stopping. Still, the atmosphere in the hallway was pleasant enough to make walking around the building a positive experience for the group.

The dark blue carpet beneath their hooves was soft and clean. There was a spiral design set into the carpet that repeated every few feet. This pattern was also blue, but it was a slightly lighter shade than the rest of the carpet.

Along the bottom of the walls, there was brown trim that covered all of the space on the walls save for the doors. The walls were a dim shade of white that, when combined with the calm blues and the deep browns of the rest of the décor, created a peaceful and serene atmosphere. There were brown spiral shaped shells painted onto the white wallpaper in a pattern. The shells themselves were of various sizes and orientations, but they were all brown, and they all had intricate patterns painted into their spirals.

Other than the occasional painting on the wall and a few tables with vases of flowers on them, there weren’t many other things in the way of decorations. Despite this, the hallways still managed to look fancy and luxurious, while not shoving art in the face of guests so much that it took away from the serene atmosphere.

“Wow… this place keeps getting better and better.” Applebloom said while marveling at her surroundings.

“I can’t wait to see what our rooms look like!” Sweetie Belle stated eagerly while smiling from ear to ear. Most of the group shared in the fillies’ excitement, even though they showed it in their own ways. Still, the ponies couldn’t help but wonder when they would actually reach their rooms.

“Speaking of which… how long are we going to be walking around for?” Rainbow Dash asked her friends rhetorically, only to receive shrugged shoulders and uncertain expressions. Finally, the pegasus sighed before turning her attention to the robotic animal leading her along through the hallways. “Hey Bonnie, how much farther is it to our rooms?” Rainbow asked with hopeful optimism that the animatronic would understand her. Bonnie turned his head to look behind him at the group of ponies. Although he didn’t spin his head around all the way, which would have been plenty creepy in its own right, his expressionless eyes looked a bit eerie as he stared back at them from the corner of his vision.

“We’re almost there. Your rooms are just down this hallway.” Bonnie said with his usual friendly demeanor in full swing. The ponies wondered if he was capable of sounding like anything other than an overzealous clown at a birthday party.

Satisfied with the answer given, Rainbow Dash returned to her daydreams of everything she would be doing in the next week. There was so much to do in so little time. She could swim and play around with her friends to her heart’s content, and at the end of the day she could retire to a luxurious hotel room and kick back.

While the cyan mare was adrift in her own mind, the others were happily enjoying their time together. They had been incredibly busy with their personal agendas in recent weeks, so even walking through a hallway was a good opportunity to make up for lost time.

“So, what have you guys been up to since the last time we got together?” Pinkie Pie asked curiously while glancing around at her friends to see what they had been up to.

“Well… if you must know, I have been keeping myself busy with designing a new line of summer clothing. So many ponies go to the beach and to the pool when summer rolls around, but they have nothing stylish to wear.” Rarity explained in an appalled tone. It never ceased to amaze the others how much drama could arise from clothes for the white unicorn.

“That sounds neat, but I think I could think of an even better way you could have spent that time.” Pinkie Pie said with an eager smile while getting closer to the white mare. Rarity nervously chuckled as she thought of what her friend could possibly say next. If she knew the pink mare like she thought she did, she knew that it had something to do with parties.

“Is it partying?” Rarity asked hesitantly.

“No, even better! Partying with me and everyone else!” Pinkie corrected the unicorn while grabbing Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash and pulling them into a tight hold as if she were presenting them to the white mare for reference.

Rarity shrugged. “That sounds great darling, it really does… but sometimes life gets in the way of having fun and throwing parties.” She said with a slight frown. She really would have rather spent the past weeks with her friends, but she had been so busy at the boutique that she barely had time to see her own sister, let alone anyone else.

“Well, that changes right now. We have an entire week together! We can throw a party anytime we want!” Pinkie said in an excited tone.

“Slow down there Pinkie. We have to at least get to our rooms before we think about what to do next.” Sunspot suggested while trying to keep the pink mare’s energy in check.

“Besides, I think we should keep things simple for today at least. I think a little poolside fun will be plenty of excitement for me right now.” Glitterball added.

“Alrighty then, I guess we can throw a simple party without any streamers or cake or anything like that. Ooh, we can throw a pool party. I love those!” Pinkie suggested eagerly.

“What do you qualify as a pool party?” Rarity asked curiously.

“Playing around in a pool, silly! We can play marco polo, and splash each other, and all kinds of other fun stuff.” Pinkie replied, preventing herself from going off on a lengthy tangent.

“Whatever floats your inner tube.” Sunspot said with an amused chuckle.

While they were talking, the group turned around a corner into another stretch of rooms. After walking a short ways down the hall, Bonnie stopped and turned around before setting the two suitcases he was carrying down.

“Here we are! These are the best suites in the resort! You may choose which room to stay in. They are all unlocked for the moment.” The animatronic explained while motioning towards the rooms behind him. “I will go get the rest of your bags.” He stated before walking past the group and back around the corner. The ponies looked down the empty hallway and listened to the metallic footsteps made by the robotic animal as he walked away.

“I guess he isn’t the type for small talk.” Rainbow Dash said while glancing at the others with an awkward shrug. The animatronics may have been able to produce speech and understand commands, but they were far from passing for normal. Then again, it wasn’t really their purpose to blend in.

“So, we can just pick a room and check it out?” Spike asked curiously while glancing around at the numerous doors in the hallway.

“I guess so… I got dibs on first pick!” Sunspot said while smirking and opening one of the doors to look inside. The others followed the orange pegasus as she stepped in and took a look around.

“Whoa…” Scootaloo and her two fellow crusaders exclaimed in unison as they looked around the interior of the room. Everyone else shared in their amazement as they observed their surroundings.

The room they were standing in appeared to be a living room of sorts. There were a few couches and tables dotted around the room, as well as a number of chairs. Paintings and miniature shelves full of books lined the walls, which were a light shade of blue with a darker trim about midway down that ran across the entire room. The carpet was gray, with a spiral pattern set into it that ran throughout the room.

There was a small kitchen area at the back of the room, an open bathroom on the left wall, and a doorway in the middle of the back wall that led into a bedroom. As the group walked into the bedroom, they noticed that it had three queen sized beds in it, along with a walk-in closet and a desk. There was also a window facing out into the rest of the park.

“Wow… check out that view.” Sunspot said while staring out the window with an astonished expression. Even though there wasn’t much to see beyond the park itself, the extravagant pools and water slides were a sight to behold.

“And check out these beds!” Rainbow Dash said while hopping up and plopping down on the middle bed with a relaxed groan. She stretched for a moment before admiring the cozy texture of the blankets and the soft cool pillow.

“They’re so soft.” Fluttershy said while pressing down on one of the beds with her hoof.

“And bouncy!” Pinkie Pie added while jumping up and down on the remaining bed. The pink mare was able to get some surprising height off of the springy mattress, to the point where her friends were concerned that she would bump her head on the ceiling.

Glimmer Shine smiled contentedly while looking around. “I guess I could get used to staying here for a week… why don’t we share this room, guys?” He asked while turning to his two teammates.

“I am definitely ok with that.” Sunspot replied eagerly.

“Ditto.” Glitterball added with a smirk.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s go pick out our own rooms!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed before rushing off eagerly.

“Yay!” Scootaloo and her two friends cheered while rushing to follow the cyan mare. Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy giggled before following the excited fillies out of the room while Glimmer Shine and his teammates got settled in.

As they went back out into the hallway and searched through the rooms, everyone found a room they were comfortable with. Most of the rooms were similar, but they all had a varying number of beds. Some of them even had two bedrooms with two beds each.

After a rousing few minutes of everyone claiming rooms and playfully arguing over who would be staying where, the ponies came to a consensus as to who would be lodging together. Thanks to the number of rooms with several beds, they wouldn’t have to occupy that many rooms.

Applejack and Rarity would be sharing a room with their two siblings and Scootaloo. Although the white unicorn wasn’t too keen on sleeping in the same room as her orange friend and three fillies for a week, she was hopeful that everything would sort itself out and Applejack would agree to it when she got back from the tour of the resort. There were four beds in the room, so at least two of the fillies would have to share a bed. After delegating for a few minutes, the crusaders decided that Scootaloo would get a bed to herself while Applebloom and Sweetie Belle would be sharing the remaining bed.

Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash decided to stay in the same room together. Pinkie was already getting excited with all of the games she could play while spending time in the room with her friends before everyone went to bed. Somehow, she still found the time to unpack while fantasizing about all of her plans.

Spike found a room with three beds that he could share with Twilight and Tom. He would have to show it to them after they got back from whatever they were doing downstairs. The young dragon enlisted the help of Glitterball to assist him with unpacking the unicorn and the human’s bags as well as his own.

After everyone got settled in, they decided to start getting ready to head to the nearest pool. Pinkie Pie had her snorkel and flippers ready, along with some colorful floaties. Everyone else merely brought standard swimming gear.

The group gathered out in the hallway, but they quickly realized that they had no idea where they were going. Everything they traveled through thus far was a mess of hallways with barely anything in between for context.

“I don’t suppose anyone saw a map when we were walking?” Sunspot asked sarcastically while glancing around at the group.

“Not exactly… but I might have something better.” Rainbow Dash said while looking down the hallway. She noticed a familiar animatronic rabbit walking over with the remaining luggage from downstairs.

“Bonnie, can you tell us how to get to the nearest pool?” Rainbow asked in a clear tone while walking over to the robotic animal. The blue bunny paused and looked at the cyan mare before setting one of the bags down and pointing down the hallway.

“Go down this hallway and follow the next one down to the stairs. Go to the first floor, head left and the pool is the fifth door on your right.” Bonnie explained in an instructive tone. After he was done addressing the pegasus, he picked the bag back up and continued walking.

“Oh, and before I forget… Bonnie, could you tell Silver Bell that we’re staying in rooms one-hundred and fifteen, one hundred and seventeen, and one hundred and eighteen?” Rainbow Dash asked in a polite tone, despite the fact that she was talking to a machine. It felt odd for her to talk like she was addressing an actual sentient being when talking to the robotic rabbit.

“I’ll be sure to do that right away!” Bonnie replied cheerfully before setting the bags down and walking away. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy took the bags into their room before walking back out to join the others.

“Well… you heard the five-foot tall mechanical talking rabbit… let’s go!” Sunspot stated while starting her way down the hall. Everyone cheered in agreement before following the orange pegasus as she marched onwards.

Everyone walked through the hallways as instructed until they came to a stairway. They walked down the steps until they reached the first floor, where they turned left. As they counted the doors on their right, they noticed a set of double doors with blurry glass windows set into them. Through the doors, there was a room with a large rectangular pool, as well as two figures inside.

“This looks like the place.” Pinkie Pie stated while peering inside of the pool area.

“Looks like there is someone in there already…” Rainbow Dash noted while glancing between the two silhouettes in the room. One was shaped like a pony, while the other was another figure around Tom’s height.

“That must be another one of the animatronics.” Rarity said in a curious tone while observing the bipedal figure. She couldn’t see much more than the color yellow on the figure, so she gathered that it must have been the chicken animatronic she saw from the flyer.

“Well, let’s head inside. I’m sure whoever is in there won’t mind.” Sunspot suggested while reaching for the door handle. Everyone nodded in agreement as they watched the orange pegasus push the door open.

As the group stepped inside and took a look around, they smiled as they came across the usual peaceful atmosphere that any pool had before the commotion of ponies playing and swimming filled the air. The floor was made out of hard tiles that felt cold on the group’s hooves. The tiles were white, with blue tiles mixed in every few feet in a diagonal pattern. There were several white lounge chairs with mesh bodies strewn around the pool. Next to each set of chairs, there were white tables that held blue towels on top of them. There was a door to a storage closet on the wall to the right, and next to the door there was a small dial. The dial most likely controlled the hot tub that was nestled into the corner of the room.

The smell of chlorine filled the air, combining with the soft sound of water splashing to create the unmistakable aura of a pool. Light shimmered and reflected along the sides of the pool as it bounced off of the tiny ripples and waves. In the ceiling, there were a series of dome-shaped lights that had decorative casings of glass with designs set into them. These lights offered the entirety of the light in the room due to the lack of windows, but they were enough to create a comfortable level of lighting.

“Wow… this place is cool!” Sweetie Belle announced with an eager smile as she looked around the pool.

As they looked around, the group noticed the two figures from before looking back at them with equal curiosity. One was a tan earth pony stallion with brown hair. He was wearing a white tank top and red swim shorts that covered up his cutie mark. He also had a whistle hanging around his neck by a string.

The other figure, as expected, wasn’t a living creature, at least not in the typical way of describing one. A bipedal chicken animatronic was standing on the other side of the pool. She appeared to be female judging from the pink dimples on her face and her exaggerated eyelashes. She had a yellow colored body, with an orange beak and a set of white teeth that helped her to form a cheerful smile. She was also wearing a similar white tank top and red swim shorts that the stallion was wearing, only her tank top had brightly colored lifesavers on it and the words “let’s swim!” printed across it. The chicken also had a red lifesaver under her arm.

Upon noticing the group entering, the tan stallion walked over to them with a friendly smile on his face. He carefully walked around the corner of the pool and stepped up to the group of ponies watching him curiously.

“Hello, sir.” Rarity greeted the stallion on behalf of the group while stepping forward.

“Hi… you must be that group that Berry said was coming today, am I right?” The stallion asked curiously.

“You most certainly are. My friends came here to help solve your special problem, and we tagged along with them.” Rarity explained in a friendly manner while looking back at Glimmer Shine and his two teammates.

“Well, I’m glad you’re here. All of these strange occurrences have been starting to creep us out, so it’s nice to see someone who can take care of them for us. I’m High Tide. I’m the lifeguard here at the park.” The stallion introduced himself while reaching out his foreleg to shake the group’s hooves. Everyone stepped forward and introduced themselves while accepting his gesture.

“So you’re the only lifeguard here? That must be pretty tough.” Rainbow Dash said in an intrigued tone.

“Yeah, I’m the only one here… at least for the moment. I do have some help, however.” High Tide explained while turning to look at the animatronic chicken across the room. “That’s one of our famous animatronics over there. I assume Berry told you a little bit about them when she brought you here?” He asked curiously.

“She told us the basics about them. That one is Chica isn’t it?” Rarity asked while recalling what Twilight called the robotic animal earlier.

High Tide nodded. “That’s right. She helps me keep an eye on things around the park to make sure everyone is safe.”

“How does she do that?” Glitterball asked curiously while observing the mechanical chicken from afar. Chica stared back at the group as they stared at her, all the while standing still as if they were merely a slight distraction from her usual routine.

“Her A.I works a little differently than the other animatronics. She is patched into all of the security cameras around the park. If she spots someone in distress, she will send all the information I need to a pager I usually keep on me.” High Tide explained to the eagerly listening crowd. Everyone was intrigued by the capabilities of the mechanical mascots.

“Can she still follow orders and talk to people like Bonnie can?” Rainbow Dash asked while looking at Chica curiously.

“Sort of… she will interact with guests and talk to them when spoken to, but she doesn’t have the ability to understand complex orders right now. Our maintenance pony is still tweaking with her A.I to make it on par with the other animatronics we have. Here, let me show you.” High Tide stated before turning to the robot. “Chica, come here.” He raised his voice to carry across the room better.

Chica raised her head and turned her body to better face the group of ponies. She then started walking over to them. As she walked, her head barely moved and she didn’t even blink. She seemed to be missing the slight mannerisms that Bonnie had to make him appear slightly more realistic, like looking around at random or moving his body in a different way each time he moved.

Once the animatronic reached the group, she stopped and stood still without saying a word. She looked down at High Tide as if to wait for more orders, but otherwise, she didn’t show any sign of paying attention to the ponies.

Applebloom giggled cheerfully as she looked up at the robotic chicken. Even if Chica didn’t act nearly as lifelike as Bonnie did, the filly still liked her. Back when she saw the flyer with the robotic animals on it, she never expected to see them walking around and talking to her.

Noticing the filly staring up at the animatronic with a cheerful smile, High Tide smirked warmly. He knelt down to get at eye level with the yellow filly before speaking up. “Hey, what’s your name?” The stallion asked in a friendly tone.

Applebloom looked over to the tan pony with a curious expression. “Applebloom.” The filly said with a slight expression of confusion. She wondered why the stallion asked her for her name specifically.

High Tide stood up before turning to the animatronic and looking up at her. “Chica, say hi to Applebloom for me.” The tan pony instructed in a clear tone. A slight mechanical noise sounded out as Chica looked down to the yellow filly. As if a switch were flipped, the robotic chicken blinked and fluttered her eyes before bending down and placing her hands on her knees in a cutesy fashion. She seemed to be acting much more lively now, perhaps as some sort of routine she followed when talking to guests.

“Hello Applebloom, how are you doing today?” Chica asked in a friendly tone before tilting her head curiously. Her voice had the same robotic distortion that Bonnie did, but her voice was that of a higher pitched female to match with her appearance.

“Hehe... I’m fine.” Applebloom chuckled as a giddy smile formed on her face. She knew that the creature in front of her was nothing more than a mechanical puppet, but she still felt warm and fuzzy inside from hearing it address her by name.

Everyone smiled warmly as they watched the filly interacting with the animatronic. They couldn’t help but to sit back and watch as Applebloom spoke to the chicken like she was real.

“Wow… she’s really nice.” Applebloom stated while shifting her attention from the robotic animal for a moment.

“All of our animatronics are designed to treat our guests nicely.” High Tide said in response before turning back to Chica. “Chica, go down to the storage room and enter sleep mode. I think you’ve had enough excitement for today.” The stallion instructed in a clear tone.

Chica got up and walked towards the door. Her movements returned to being choppy and straightforward as she focused more on completing her given order rather than appearing realistic.

“Aww…” Applebloom frowned slightly as she watched the animatronic leaving out of the double doors.

“Sorry about that. Chica can say a few different greetings, but she can’t do much else other than monitoring the park for now. If you want someone to play with you, maybe you should check out the play area sometime. There are two more animatronics that stay in there, and they can interact much better with you than Chica could.” High Tide explained in a sympathetic tone.

“That sounds like a good idea… maybe we could go down there tomorrow.” Applebloom said while pondering about the matter eagerly. She would have to ask her sister about it the next time she saw her.

“Well, I’ll leave you guys to have some fun. If you need anything, I’ll be across the hall in the break room.” High Tide said while walking over to the door. Everyone nodded and waved as the stallion exited the room, leaving them alone.

Rainbow Dash looked around and smirked as she realized that nobody was looking. She was prepared to make the best of having fun in the pool, and she was eager to kick things off properly. “Last one in’s a rotten egg!” The cyan mare exclaimed while taking a running jump into the pool. Everyone cringed as water splashed into their faces from the pegasus’s impact. Scootaloo and her two fellow crusaders glanced to each other with wry smirks before scrambling to be the next ones in the water.

“Woohoo!” Pinkie Pie cheered while hopping into the pool after the fillies. Glimmer Shine and Sunspot bolted forward with an amused chuckle while trying to beat each other into the water. Glitterball unstrapped her strobe from her leg and levitated it over to a nearby table along with her two teammates’ strobes before hopping in.

Meanwhile, Rarity was still flinching her eyes closed as wave after wave of water hit her in the face. She was prepared to get herself wet, but she had hoped to ease into it at her own pace. As she sputtered and blew the wet strands of hair out of her eyes, she realized that her plans were apparently too slow for the others. She also realized that she was the last one in, and would be named the proverbial rotten egg.

“Ugh… I wish there was a way to enjoy a pool without endless hours spent fixing my hair afterward. Oh well…” The white unicorn shrugged before holding her breath and jumping in after her friends. Everyone cheered and laughed eagerly as they started to swim around and splash each other.



Meanwhile down in the basement of the resort, Sparkplug was leading Tom around to show him the areas where the strange activity had been experienced. As she walked through the darkened hallways, the gray mare flipped on light switches to turn on the lights further ahead.

“This place is really big, especially considering how few people are working here.” Tom noted while looking around at the many doorways to their sides.

“Berry plans on expanding the staff once we get more up to speed.” Sparkplug replied.

Tom nodded with an intrigued expression while looking at the gray mare beside him. “So how long will it be before you guys can open up the park?” He asked curiously.

“Well… we still have a lot of work to do on the animatronics. Most of the park itself is already functional. We just need to touch up some things here and there, but the animatronics still have a ways to go before they are ready for the public.” Sparkplug explained while thinking about the matter further.

“They seemed to work just fine to me… well, other than Sparky. But you are building him from scratch, so a few bugs are to be expected.” Tom stated with a slight cringe while thinking back to the mechanical dog.

Sparkplug tilted her head. “Well, you did only see Bonnie to be fair. He is the most complete out of the bunch. None of them are broken or anything mind you, but other than Bonnie, they can’t handle doing everything at once. Chica only monitors the pools for safety purposes. Party Favor and Felix work well with interacting with guests, but don’t do so great with anything else. And Freddy… well, he just knows how to go to and from the stage and entertain guests with prerecorded songs.” She explained each animatronic as best she could.

“So the idea is for all of them to be able to do everything at once.” Tom said as he caught on to what the mare was explaining.

Sparkplug nodded cheerfully. “Exactly.”

Before anyone could say anything else, the gray mare paused and opened a door on the right labeled “parts and storage”. The human followed the pony inside before taking a look around the dimly lit room for himself.

The room was an open space with tables and shelves lining the walls. The shelves were full of animatronic parts ranging from arms or random pieces of metallic gray endoskeletons to empty heads belonging to a range of animatronics that Tom hadn’t even seen yet. Scattered among the tables were full endoskeletons laid out across them. The endoskeletons had jaws full of blocky teeth and stock eyes that looked entirely different from the eyes on the finished animatronics.

Sitting up against the right wall were two inactive animatronics that were slumped over and motionless. One of the animatronics was a pony shaped brown bear with a black bow tie and a top hat. He had a microphone clutched in one of his front paws. Tom recognized this animatronic to be Freddy.

The other animatronic was a bipedal cat with red fur. He had a lighter peach coloring running down his stomach and on his face. He was wearing a bright red bowtie on his chest similar to what Bonnie was wearing.

“Are those Freddy and Felix?” Tom asked curiously.

“Yep, this is where the animatronics go when they are inactive. This is also where we store the spare endoskeletons and parts.” Sparkplug explained while flipping a light switch on. Two overhead lights flickered on, bathing the room in light.

“So that’s what they look like on the inside.” Tom said while observing two of the endoskeletons on a nearby table. One of the metal frames was built for a bipedal style of animatronic, while the other one was roughly shaped like a pony.

“Yep… they’re kind of unsightly without the friendly looking shells on aren’t they?” Sparkplug asked with a slight nervous chuckle while looking at the bare endoskeletons. The way that their eyes and teeth stood out from the dull gray frames that made up their body was rather disturbing. The pony shaped endoskeleton especially seemed creepy to the human, perhaps due to him still being used to his own physiology.

“Yeah… you could say that.” Tom said with raised eyebrows while staring at the two endoskeletons in surprise.

“Well if it makes you feel better, those endoskeletons don’t even have A.I programmed into them yet. They’re nothing but hunks of junk right now.” Sparkplug said in an attempt at lightening the mood. She picked up the bipedal endoskeleton’s arm and let it flop back down onto the table to prove that they were, in fact, lifeless.

Tom tilted his head curiously while looking over the bipedal endoskeleton. “Why do you guys have humanoid animatronics anyway? Freddy seems to be the only one that is modeled after a pony.” He asked while glancing over to the motionless bear leaning against the wall.

Sparkplug paused briefly in thought. “Well… to be honest, we just carried on where Berry’s father and grandfather left off. Most of the notes on how to make these guys came from their combined work, so we just made some models based on what they were trying to do. I guess they figured that bipedal robots would be able to do more around the park. They are a little easier to work on for sure. That’s most of the reason why we’ve been having trouble getting Freddy up and running like the rest of them. Silver Bell helped me out a little bit, but she could only do so much. Without a professional unicorn to help me out, we can’t do much to fix his A.I. and improve all of the others, and we definitely can’t make more pony shaped animatronics or animatronics in general without fresh parts. I was lucky to find the parts needed for Sparky when I started making him. I guess we will have to wait until Berry hires someone to help out before perfecting the animatronics.” She explained in a troubled tone.

Satisfied with the answer given, the human nodded before returning his attention to the room itself. “I assume you didn’t just take me here for fun?” Tom asked while getting back to why he was down in the basement in the first place.

“Nope, I didn’t. This is one of the places where we heard the voices. I’ve also noticed a few parts move from where I put them last, and I know nopony else touched them.” Sparkplug explained while looking around the room curiously.

“Hmm…” Tom muttered, walking around the room while deep in thought. “Are you sure that the voices aren’t just a malfunctioning voice box?” The human asked while glancing to the shelves full of parts.

“I’m positive. None of the spare voice boxes here are connected to a power supply. Not only that, but we’ve heard the voices in other locations too, with no animatronics or any other voice boxes nearby.” Sparkplug replied confidently.

“Alright, just checking to be sure… you would be surprised at how many ghost hauntings turned out to be fake in the human world. Most people get freaked out by the smallest random noise in a spooky old house and are convinced that it’s haunted.” Tom said with a slight chuckle.

“Well, there weren’t exactly that many real ghosts in Equestria… at least until you showed up and stopped those hooded ponies.” Sparkplug said.

“I’m sure there were a few paranormal things in Equestria before the hooded ponies performed all of their rituals, but there are a lot more now that all of that energy got released.” Tom explained with a slight shrug of disappointment.

“Huh… I would have thought you would be thrilled to have more monsters to fight?” Sparkplug asked lightheartedly.

“To be quite honest, I would be fine if monsters up and went extinct. My reason for being here might be to fight evil, but that doesn’t mean that I would prefer to do it.” Tom stated in a somber tone. The gray mare was unsure of what to say in response to the boy’s words. The two sat in silence for a moment before they returned their attention to the business at hand.

Tom flipped a switch on the side of the EMF meter, causing the red lights on top to light up as a shrill tone filled the air. The human walked around while using his senses, comparing what he was feeling to what the red lights on the machine were telling him. As he walked around with the small device, more of the red lights lit up in certain places, causing the tone being emitted to change in pitch slightly.

Sparkplug stood back and watched with an intrigued expression as the boy walked around. “Are you getting something?” She asked eagerly while watching the boy walking towards the door slowly. He seemed to be following something using his senses while also looking at the EMF meter to see how it was reacting.

“I’m picking up a faint trail of energy leading out into the hallway, but it’s too small for the machine to detect. This room is full of ambient energy, which the meter seems to be picking up just fine. All in all, I would say it works like a charm.” Tom said before switching the meter off and handing it over to the gray mare. Sparkplug was pleased to hear that her device worked, but she was also curious about the human’s statement.

“A trail of energy leading outside? What, like a ghost trail?” Sparkplug asked curiously.

“Sort of… The energy I’m picking up right now is ambient, meaning that it isn’t attached to any active entity. It could have been left behind from a ghost moving around in the area, but it could also have been left behind a long time ago. It’s hard to say what the cause of it is at the moment, but I’m going to try and follow it to the source.” Tom explained while opening the door and stepping out into the hallway. Sparkplug turned off the light in the room before following the human outside and closing the door behind her.

Instead of the gray mare leading the human around, their roles had now switched as Tom took the lead. Sparkplug watched curiously as the boy exhaled blue mist from his mouth every few moments. A shrill and slightly eerie hiss followed each puff of mist. The display was strange and intriguing to the pony, and certainly unlike anything she had ever seen before.

“How do your senses work?” Sparkplug asked curiously. The boy was a little surprised by her question. He hadn’t been asked anything about his abilities since he first arrived in Equestria. Still, he decided that he would try to answer her as best he could.

“Well… it’s kind of complicated to explain to someone who doesn’t have them. Imagine trying to explain colors to a person that has been blind since birth.” Tom said while trying to think of an elegant way to describe his powers.

Sparkplug cringed slightly while thinking about such a task. “I guess that would be pretty hard. You could always give me the simplified version if you want.” She suggested in a helpful tone.

“Basically, I can feel a lot of different things whenever I use my senses. I can pick up on energy traces that have been left several days in the past, and I can pick up current energy signatures left by something recently, and I can usually tell the difference between the two. I can also feel different things about what monster I’m hunting. This allows me to determine what monster it is before I even see it. Even if I have never come across the monster before, I can sometimes figure out what it’s like if I feel aspects of its energy that are familiar to me.” Tom explained as clearly as he could.

“What do you mean by that?” Sparkplug asked in a confused tone. She was trying her hardest to follow along with the human’s logic, but she was having trouble understanding everything he said.

“Like for instance… if I run across a shadow creature I’ve never seen before, I would be able to tell that it’s a shadow creature from a distance based on how it feels to me.” Tom said in an attempt at simplifying his lengthy explanation.

“Hmm… that must come in handy when you’re hunting something.” Sparkplug nodded with an intrigued tone.

“Oh, definitely… my senses also let me know if there is something evil in the area that I don’t know about. They really make my job a lot easier.” Tom stated with a slight smirk.

Sparkplug paused and looked to the boy with a curious expression. “If your senses tell you if there is something you don’t know about, then why aren’t they telling you about where these ghosts are?”

“Well, my senses only go off defensively if there is a sudden change in energy that I’m not aware of. Like for instance, if there was a monster behind me about to rip me to shreds, my senses would go off without my influence to warn me about the danger. Every time I use my senses, the area directly around me is what I can feel most vividly. I have to concentrate and use my senses multiple times to scope out a larger area.” Tom said before turning his attention back to his search.

“Wow… that is pretty cool. I’ll bet the princess must be incredibly relieved knowing that she has you to help protect Equestria.” Sparkplug stated in an amazed tone.

“At the end of the day, I’m just one of the many tools that the princess has at her disposal to keep Equestria safe. I do whatever I can to make sure that nothing evil can thrive in this world, and in return, the princess makes sure that I never run out of things to slay.” Tom said in a sincere manner. The gray mare could tell that he took his job very seriously from the passion in his voice.

Before Sparkplug could ask any more questions, Tom paused with a curious expression and looked around. He used his senses a few more times while glancing around in an almost confused manner as if he were looking for something.

“I’m feeling something underneath us… is there anything down there I should know about?” The human asked curiously, half expecting the park to have been built on an ancient graveyard or something else along those lines.

“Umm… yeah, there are a few rooms underneath us that are left over from when Berry’s grandfather tried to make an expansion to the building.” Sparkplug said while recalling from memory anything that might be lower than the basement.

“Could you take me down there? I think whatever ghosts you might have are coming from there.” Tom said while using his senses again to confirm his suspicions.

“Sure, just let me stop by a supply closet to grab a flashlight. Some of the lights don’t work down there… We haven’t really been down there since we got here, so it’s in a state of disrepair.” Sparkplug explained while walking down a fork in the hallway. She walked over to a door and opened it before rifling around in the small opening. Once she found what she was looking for, she closed the door before walking back over to the human with a flashlight. “Follow me.” Sparkplug said while walking down the hallway. Tom followed the gray mare as instructed.

The two walked for a few moments before reaching the end of the hallway. Sparkplug turned left and walked up to a door at the end of the shorter hallway that waited for her. The door had a small window set into it that looked like any door to a stairwell would.

Once Sparkplug opened the door, she flipped on the flashlight and walked inside before waiting for the human to join her. As Tom peered over the metal bars that served as the railing to the tight stairway, he noticed several cobwebs and lines of dust on the segmented metal steps. The stairs descended downwards until they reached a concrete floor that was covered in more dust. It almost looked like a storm cellar that had been left to accumulate dust and debris over the years.

“Yikes… you weren’t kidding when you said state of disrepair were you?” Tom asked in an amazed tone.

“I hope you don’t have asthma… or a fear of spiders.” Sparkplug said with a slight awkward chuckle before walking down the stairs.

Tom chuckled at the mare’s words before pausing as he realized what she just said. “Wait… what was that about spiders?” The human asked with a slight twinge of nervousness. Sparkplug ignored his question as she descended the staircase.

Each step the pair made rang out as their feet clanged against the metal stairs. The sound reverberated off of the walls in the small stairwell, creating an echo that made it sound like they were descending into something of far greater importance than an extension to a building.

Once they reached the bottom, Sparkplug opened up another door with a window set into it and stepped inside. Tom followed her as she walked out into what appeared to be another hallway, but this one was vastly different from the one upstairs.

The entire area was pitch black. There were a few lights scattered along the ceiling with broken or missing fixtures, but if what Sparkplug said earlier was true, they didn’t work. There were rooms dotted along the sides of the corridor, but they were missing doors. As the human and the mare walked through the dusty hallway and looked inside of each room they passed, they only saw half-finished rooms full of old and forgotten items. There seemed to be construction tools in some of the rooms, but they were left as they were, as if whatever workers were using them just left in a hurry and forgot them.

“So you said this area was supposed to be an extension of the building?” Tom asked curiously while glancing around at the aged rooms around him.

“Yeah, apparently Berry’s granddad tried to make an underground section for the resort. It would give the resort more rooms and allow for more attraction space.” Sparkplug explained.

“Oh yeah, this place was a park even back then wasn’t it?” Tom asked curiously.

“Right… After the theme park closed down, Berry’s grandfather and great grandfather wanted so badly to return the park to its roots, but they couldn’t just rebuild it with everything that happened. There wasn’t enough free space left on the property that didn’t get damaged by the earthquake.” Sparkplug said while thinking back to the story Berry told her of her grandfather and his dreams.

“So their solution was to build down?” Tom asked in a surprised tone. He would never have figured that a theme park owner in Equestria could take on such a task.

“Yeah, I guess so. Berry’s great-grandfather retired shortly after building this place with his son. It was Berry’s grandfather that decided to build down here. His original idea was to make a small extension to the resort and build as many attractions as he could underground, but he didn’t get very far with the actual construction of anything other than the layout.” Sparkplug explained while looking around and picturing what the musty hallways she was walking through could have been used for.

Tom shook his head in disbelief. “A miniature theme park built underneath a water resort? That sounds like a rather ambitious project.” He said with an amazed expression while looking around. He wouldn’t have believed such a thing to exist if he wasn’t seeing it with his own eyes.

“Well, Berry’s grandfather was an ambitious pony. Being the son of one of the most successful theme park owners in Equestria didn’t hurt either.” Sparkplug said with a slight chuckle.

“So what happened? I assume that everything didn’t go according to plan.” Tom said while looking around at the disrepair around him. It looked like the entire area was simply unfinished.

“Well… everything was going according to plan for a while. Cotton Swirl, Berry’s grandfather, had everything running smoothly. He had plans to build a few walk-in attractions that would bring in the crowds, and he even started working on animatronics down there using a few of the rooms as workshops. Then a roof caved in on the floor below this one… It killed a lot of workers and destroyed a lot of the work they had down there. Berry’s grandfather gave up after that… he even gave up on the resort entirely. The resort would have closed down sooner if Berry’s dad didn’t take over.” Sparkplug explained sadly.

“Why did Berry’s dad close down the park anyway?” Tom asked curiously.

“I don’t know… he never really told anyone, not even Berry. I guess the weight of everything happening must have eventually gotten to him. Most people thought him and his family were cursed with bad luck. Maybe he didn’t want any tragic events happening around Berry or anyone else. I mean… between the earthquake and the roof collapsing, they were pretty accident prone.” Sparkplug said in response, shifting her eyes down sadly at the thought of her friend’s family having such misfortune.

“That sounds horrible…” Tom said before thinking about the matter further. “I don’t suppose that’s the reason why there are ghosts here now?” He asked curiously.

“Maybe… I would imagine having a building topple down on your head would make you a little irritable in the afterlife.” Sparkplug said in agreement to the boy’s reasoning.

“Hey… if the place caved in on itself, wouldn’t that make this entire building unsafe?” Tom asked uneasily.

“That’s what we thought too, but apparently it’s fine. Berry’s dad had the place looked at before he decided to pick up the torch so to speak, and the hole that was created got filled in with all of the rubble. As long as no one digs down there anymore, it should be perfectly fine. We’re having some surveyors come out to assess the place in a few weeks just to be safe, though.” Sparkplug explained.

Tom was going to ask another question until his eye caught something over to the side. By the time he looked over to see what it was, Sparkplug moved the flashlight to where the light didn’t reach the area the human was looking at.

“Hold up for a second, I think I saw something in that room.” Tom stated while hanging back in the darkness. Sparkplug paused and turned around before walking over to the boy and shining the light into the room he was pointing to. What he saw inside the room made the human jump slightly in fright.

Lying in a crumpled heap on the floor was what appeared to be an animatronic bunny similar to Bonnie. It had the same blue and white coloring that the robotic animal from upstairs had, but it looked incredibly run down and decrepit.

The bunny’s normally colorful shell was faded and cracked in several places. The metal endoskeleton underneath managed to show through numerous holes in the body. Several wires poked out around its limbs and head. Its entire right hand had worn away, revealing the metallic skeleton in its entirety. Rust and grime covered several places, along with dust and cobwebs. The robot’s jaw was broken, causing it to slant oddly. Its face had a large crack going down one of the eyes, which were shaded by darkness, making it appear as though they were missing entirely. One of the ears on top of its head was bent in a manner that made it obvious that it was broken, and the other ear was completely gone. The animal’s teeth also had a buildup of some sickly looking yellow substance on them.

“Mother damn!” Tom exclaimed in a frightful outburst at seeing the disturbing appearance of the robot so suddenly.

Sparkplug tried to stifle a chuckle. “Sorry. I guess I should have let you know that was down here.” She said with a sympathetic expression while watching the human catching his breath.

“What is that?” Tom asked while recomposing himself to get a better look at the animatronic.

“We found that when we first came down here. We’re pretty sure it’s an older model of Bonnie from back when Berry’s grandfather ran the place. I was going to salvage it for parts, but most of it is so broken and obsolete that it’s useless. I guess we never got around to throwing it away.” Sparkplug explained while walking up to the motionless hunk of metal and kicking one of its legs pensively.

“Are there any more old models I should know about before my heart explodes?” Tom asked while breathing an anxious sigh.

“Nope… that’s the only one we could find. The other animatronics must have been down in the next floors when everything collapsed. They weren’t exactly used in public very often back then. Berry’s grandfather was working on them as more of a hobby, so not many of them ever made it outside. Maybe he was afraid that they would scare people like you.” Sparkplug said with an amused chuckle. She didn’t like laughing at the boy’s misfortune, but he made it so hard to keep a straight face.

“I wonder why…” Tom muttered sarcastically.  “Let’s get moving then, shall we?” He asked while stepping out of the room in a hurry to get away from the disturbing relic on the floor. Sparkplug giggled under her breath before following the boy and shining her light back down the hall.

Before long, the pair came to the end of the hallway. The corridor opened up into a larger area that felt more like a room than the end to a hall. Directly in front of them was a large shelf placed in the middle of the wall. Oddly enough, there weren’t any other shelves or any other pieces of furniture in the area to indicate that a shelf even belonged there.

Tom walked up to the shelf curiously and knelt down. He could just barely feel a cool breeze coming from underneath it. After using his senses a few times, he concluded that the room didn’t just end here. There should have been another section to it somewhere.

“I feel a draft here… I think there’s something behind this shelf.” Tom stated as he prepared to move the large obstacle.

Sparkplug stepped in front of the boy to save him some trouble. “Don’t bother. I already know what’s back there. There are a few more hallways and rooms and then there’s a stairway leading down into the rest of the old building. Berry’s dad told her to never go in there because of how dangerous it is, and Berry told us to do the same. Apparently, the floor is collapsed in there and there is nothing but a blocked off room full of rubble downstairs.” She explained.

Tom stopped what he was doing and looked at the shelf curiously. “Alright then… I should be able to get rid of the ghosts without going in there anyway. From the feel of it, there is some ambient energy down there, but all of the active stuff is around here.” He stated with a confident expression.

“Isn’t it a little weird that all of the ghosts are up here?” Sparkplug asked curiously.

“I guess… I expected to find a lot more energy down there, but there isn’t anything other than trace elements from when the collapse must have happened. I can’t even really tell the layout of the next floor from how little energy there is.” Tom said while scratching his head curiously. Any tragic event like an underground cave-in that claimed a lot of lives should have been a hotbed for paranormal energy, but there wasn’t anything more than the signs of a few wayward spirits.

“Sooo… are you done looking down here? This place gives me the creeps.” Sparkplug stated with a slight shudder.

“Yeah, I guess I am. I can look down here more when I clear the place out tomorrow with the others.” Tom said in an understanding tone. He knew the gray mare must have been feeling uncomfortable in such a dismal location.

Sparkplug smiled gratefully before turning to walk back down the hallway. Tom followed the pony as she walked back towards the exit to the dusty and forgotten corridor. He would have to tell Glimmer Shine and the others what to expect when they finally stopped playing around and actually did what they came here to do, but for now, the human would have to join them in enjoying their vacation.