//------------------------------// // Chapter 13: Search and Rescue // Story: Spiritus ex Machina // by wonderkid125 //------------------------------// Back upstairs with the larger group, things were starting to look down. The adrenaline of being chased by haunted animatronics had mostly worn off, only to be replaced by dread and fear as they walked through dusty and pitch black abandoned hallways toward some unknown goal. The only decent sources of light were coming from Twilight and Glitterball’s horns. Sparkplug and Copper Coil had given away two of their flashlights to Sunspot and Glimmer Shine while the gray mare kept one of them. Still, even with the added light, the area around them was eerily dark and silent. “Gah…” Tom winced in pain while holding his injured hand gingerly. The ponies looked at the human near the front of the group with sympathetic expressions as they watched how his broken wrist and hand were moving around. “Are you ok Tom?” Fluttershy asked in a concerned tone while trying to avert her eyes from the oddly bent appendage. His wrist was starting to swell up, and it certainly looked as painful as he was making it out to be, if not more. Still, he seemed to be hiding most of his suffering behind an indifferent façade. “I’m fine. It’s… probably just a sprain.” Tom hesitated while noting how floppy his hand was and how hard it was to move it. The clear avoidance of his own health was more than troubling to the rest of the group, especially to Twilight. The purple mare was well acquainted with how the human coped with pain and tried to hide it from others. He outright ignored his own safety on numerous occasions just for a shot at helping her and her friends. While she was eternally grateful to him for taking care of her friends and even bringing her back to life after a mortal injury killed her, she hoped that he would take better care of himself as well. “Oh, Tom…” Twilight muttered to herself while shaking her head slowly. “Yeesh… I can’t believe he just decked a piece of metal.” Sparkplug cringed while looking back to the purple unicorn. “Well… that’s Tom for you.” Twilight said with a brief empty smirk. “Does he always do stuff that’s so… so…” Sparkplug paused while trying to find the best word for the situation. “Stupid?” Twilight finished the gray mare’s statement while shifting her eyes to look at the human with a cynical expression. “Yeah… he does do stuff like that a lot. Hey Tom, are you sure you’re ok?” She asked while softening her voice to a more concerned tone. “I already told you guys I’m fine.” Tom replied while managing a reassuring smile. His words weren’t exactly having the comforting effect that he hoped. “How are you fine? That looks really painful.” Sweetie Belle spoke up in a concerned tone. “Yeah Tom… maybe you should let one of us take a look at that for y-” Glitterball started to speak up until she was interrupted by something that hushed her into silence. Tom sighed before grabbing his injured hand by the wrist. Much to everyone’s confusion and sudden horror, he pulled on the broken appendage violently, resulting in a loud pop and an equally loud yelp of pain. The others let out a brief gasp and cringed as they finally processed what the boy was doing. After his joint was in the right place again, the skin around the knuckles of his hand started glowing orange as his healing abilities kicked in. Twilight and the others watched with their jaws on the floor as Tom let out a series of restrained noises of pain while trying to cope with his hand healing. He seemed to be taking this a lot better than he should have been. After he was done, he clenched his fist shut and exhaled triumphantly. “Wow… that did not feel good.” Tom stated to nobody in particular before turning his attention to the stunned ponies around him. “See? All good as new.” He explained with a smirk while holding out his freshly healed hand and moving it around to show that it was, in fact, better. Twilight blinked rapidly, struggling to get over the shock of what she just witnessed. “Tom… could you… not do that again? Like… ever?” “You guys were the ones worrying about it. I had things under control.” Tom shrugged while smirking lightheartedly. Before anyone could say anything further, he turned and ignored anything having to do with what just happened. “I… but… *Sigh* Never mind.” Twilight shook her head as she decided to leave the subject alone. She was sure that she would probably have to beat a sense of self-preservation into the human’s thick head one day, but right now she didn’t have the time or the patience. As the group continued walking down the dusty old corridor, the uncertainty and unease they felt before returned in full. Most of the group didn’t even know where they were going, and the people leading them only knew where they were going up until a certain point. If they couldn’t find a way to get rid of the ghosts upstairs, they would be trapped in the resort building indefinitely. “Ah, there it is.” Tom stated eagerly from the front of the group. The members in the back and in the middle looked around their friends to see another hallway opening up in front of them with a bookshelf off to the side. “Looks like it. Good news guys, the stairway down shouldn’t be far from here. We should be able to find the others and get rid of the ghosts in no time.” Sunspot reported to the rest of the group with an excited smile. “That’s great! You hear that guys? We’re going to get out of here in no time!” Pinkie Pie cheered eagerly while looking around at the others. While the pink mare’s attempt at lifting their spirits worked for most of the group, some of them weren’t looking on the bright side of getting closer to wherever they were going. “I don’t know about this…” Spike said in an uneasy tone. “I’m scared… I want to find Rarity and go home.” Sweetie Bell whined softly while looking down with a gloomy and nervous expression. The others looked at the young unicorn and the other children with sympathetic expressions. They were dealing with their own fear, but kids as young as they were shouldn’t have been in such horrible situations. “Don’t worry guys, we’ll be fine. Tom and the others will keep us safe, and we won’t let anything happen to any of you.” Twilight said in a reassuring manner while glancing between the young dragon on her back and the white filly just beside her. “Ok… I’ll keep going.” Sweetie Belle said hesitantly. Despite the purple mare’s words of assurance, she still felt nervous and gloomy. Still, she resolved that she had to keep going if she was going to see her sister again. With the unease in the air lessened slightly, the group continued walking down the new hallway toward the mysterious stairwell that would take them further down. Although the stark blackness and eerie shadows around them made them jumpy and paranoid, they found no other troubles on their brief journey. Soon enough they made it into another open area. Looking to their left, the group was immediately given a shock as they noticed a broken down animatronic rabbit next to them. They either jumped slightly in fright or widened their eyes until they realized that the robot wasn’t moving. “W-what is that?” Fluttershy stammered nervously while staring at the horribly disfigured animatronic. “It looks like Bonnie… if Bonnie got trampled six or seven times.” Rainbow Dash cringed while noting the rabbit’s caved in face. “It’s ok. Tom already took care of that thing the last time we were down here.” Sunspot explained in a reassuring tone. The group was surprised to learn that the human had fought with an animatronic and apparently won. Twilight raised her eyebrows in surprise. “That’s the animatronic you found down here?” “Yeah… he did a real number on me before I got the upper hand on him. I’m just lucky these older models aren’t as strong as the others.” Tom said while thinking back to the fight he had with the decayed rabbit. He cringed slightly and held his neck while imagining the feeling of being strangled by the animatronic. “Oh my gosh… I’m so sorry you had to go through that. I had no idea things would get this bad.” Berry Swirl said in a more downcast tone while looking at the human and his companions sadly. “Don’t worry about it, Berry. It isn’t your fault any of this is happening. If we had known things would get this bad, we would have had everyone leave the resort until we could take care of it.” Tom shrugged uneasily while still lamenting his lack of progress of finding out what was going on. “Well… there’s no use in dwelling on past misfortune.” Glimmer Shine said while directing his attention and his flashlight beam to the stairway up ahead. “We should get moving. The others are probably down there if we haven’t found them by now.” He added in a concerned tone. Everyone immediately fell silent as they thought about their friends being in some dark and terrifying place with possible dangers everywhere. The group was filled with a new sense of determination as they stared at the daunting stairway. No matter what they found further down, they had to find their friends before they left. Their priorities were set, and regardless of whether or not they could find a way to beat the ghosts, they would still search every inch of the extension to the resort until they found the three mares. With the doubt in the air withdrawing for a moment, the group started walking toward the stairs. Before their hesitation got the better of them, they took the first few cautious steps down into the unknown blackness. Everyone glued their eyes to the opening to their left as they rounded the corner and descended the second flight of steps. Although it was still pitch black, they could see a large opening up ahead. A wave of chilled air hit them all at once, almost tangibly signifying the change in atmosphere. Now they were treading unknown ground. As everyone stepped off the stairs and looked ahead to see the three flashlight beams illuminating the room ahead, they noticed that the ceiling opened up as well as they stood at the threshold of the room. The group was hesitant to keep walking, but they entered the room and kept looking around with stunned and uneasy expression. “Wow…” Pinkie Pie muttered in amazement while spinning around to take in the full size of the room. “This place is huge! Haha... and echoie… Helloooo!” She raised her voice and listened as it reverberated off of the walls. “Definitely no cave in down here… I guess we’re in the extension for sure now.” Tom said curiously while looking around. “What is this? It looks like we’re in a hotel lobby. I didn’t think my grandfather got this far along with the construction process.” Berry Swirl stated while noting the front desk at the back of the room and the furnished surroundings. “Hey… look over there.” Twilight said while squinting her eyes to see better in the darkness. The others turned to see the purple mare walking over to the front desk and stepping to the side where an opening was. They looked to where she was heading and noticed a framed picture of something on the wall behind the desk. Judging from its appearance, it seemed to be a map of sorts. Everyone slowly made their way over to the desk and peered over it to get a better look at the map. It looked like it had dust all over it recently, but it seemed to have been wiped away. The sheer size of the map made everyone widen their eyes in shock. “Holy cow… this place is huge.” Rainbow Dash said in an amazed tone. Her eyes quickly shifted over the illustration, until she came across something that made her even more surprised. “Wait… floor one? This isn’t the only floor?!” She stated with an expression of disbelief. Everyone looked over to the corner of the map, and sure enough, there was a little mark that read ‘1F’. “Yeah… I remember coming down here once to help out Berry’s grandfather with an animatronic. I never made it past this floor, but I think there are two more besides this one.” Copper Coil explained while looking down in thought. “Do you remember anything else that could help us, Copper?” Berry Swirl asked curiously, to which the stallion shook his head sadly. “Like I said, I only came down here once. It was a long time ago. They weren’t even that far along with the construction at the time, so I can’t think of anything noteworthy. Sorry…” Copper shrugged with a gloomy expression. “That’s ok… I’m sure we can find our way around anyway. Alright… what’s our plan?” Berry asked while turning to Tom and the others for their opinion. The human and his three fellow monster hunters looked at each other to see if anyone had a strategy in mind, but nobody seemed to be speaking up. “Our number one priority at the moment is finding Silver Bell and the others. But, at the moment we should also try to find somewhere safe. If we’re going to figure out how to stop these ghosts, we should make sure you guys aren’t in danger first.” Glimmer Shine suggested while looking around at Twilight and the others. “Well if that’s what we’re doing, maybe I can help,” Berry stated before turning and walking around the front desk to where Twilight was. She stood beside the unicorn and studied the map intently. “I might not know much about this place, but I helped redesign most of the resort upstairs. If I know anything about construction, there should be a service entrance around here somewhere to get equipment and workers underground. Once we find that, we should be able to leave and let you guys handle things.” She explained while concentrating deeply. “That’s a good idea… nice thinking Berry.” Sunspot said in a congratulatory tone. The orange pegasus and the rest of the group watched as Berry Swirl scoured every inch of the map with steely conviction. After a brief search, she exclaimed in excitement and pointed to a spot on the lower left corner of the map. “There it is. It looks like it isn’t that far away from here either.” The purple earth pony said while smiling brightly. “Alright… now we just need somewhere safe to leave you guys while we go check out that entrance.” Tom said while nodding cheerfully. The human’s statement was more than a little confusing to some of the group. “Why don’t we just come with you to the entrance? What sense is there in making separate trips?” Berry Swirl asked in a confused tone. “Because we don’t know what we might run into on the way there. And besides… do you really think any of them would leave without finding Applejack and Rarity?” Tom asked while motioning toward the rest of the group. Berry looked over to see the others with determined expressions on their faces. As her thoughts drifted to Silver Bell, she immediately felt a burning need to rescue her as well. She quickly understood why the human was so certain that nobody was going to leave just yet. “Right… I understand.” Berry said with a brief nod. “So, where can we go in the meantime? I have a bad feeling that there might be more animatronics waiting down here for us.” Glitterball asked uneasily. The thought of more haunted robotic animals was terrifying to most everyone, especially now that they were actually thinking about it. The inky black darkness around them and the many doorways that led out of the room now carried a lot more fear and dread to them as the group suddenly felt much more vulnerable. “I think I saw a security office on the map. It probably has doors we can lock, so it would be our best bet at safety.” Berry explained while motioning back towards the map. “Alright, that sounds like a plan to me. Glitter, Sunspot, you two go with the others and take them to the security office to hunker down. Tom and I will go check out the service entrance in the meantime.” Glimmer Shine said while briefly looking at the human, who nodded in agreement. However, not everyone was as accepting of the stallion’s plan. “Wait… you want me to go with the others? Wouldn’t it be better if more of us went to check out the entrance? I think Glitter can handle watching the others, but you two might run into trouble if the ghosts are guarding the only other way out of here. They seem to be smart enough to strategize.” Sunspot reasoned while looking at the yellow stallion with a concerned expression. “We can handle ourselves Sunspot. I would feel better if you were keeping everyone safe with us away. Go ahead and toss Tom your flashlight so we can get going.” Glimmer Shine said in a resolute tone as if he expected the conversation to end. Sunspot looked over to see the human waiting for her to throw her flashlight to him. She was certain that the boy would be fine with his powers, but even he had trouble with just one of the animatronics in a fight. If the pair got overwhelmed, Glimmer Shine might get seriously hurt, and he couldn’t just heal himself and walk it off like Tom did. Still, the yellow pony was her leader, and he did know his way around a fight. “*Sigh*… fine.” Sunspot moaned in defeat while tossing her flashlight over to Tom. “You guys better be careful and take care of each other. We don’t know how dangerous it is down here.” She added in a concerned tone. “We’ll be fine. You guys stay safe too.” Glimmer Shine said with a brief smile before turning to his human companion. “Come on, let’s get going. We’ll meet up with you guys in the security office after we’re done.” He explained while looking over to the map to make sure he knew where the entrance was. The human and the yellow stallion waved to the group as they started walking toward a doorway to the left of the front desk. Once they were out of sight, the pair looked at each other and nodded silently before starting off toward the service entrance. After a few moments of walking, the wide open space of the lobby gave way to a series of hallways. While the walls were decently spaced apart, something about the atmosphere was starting to make Twilight and her group claustrophobic. Perhaps it was the thought of being so far underground, or maybe it was the unknown ahead of them, but they all felt hesitant about stepping forward. Sunspot stayed at the front of the group and led the way along with Berry swirl while Glitterball stayed at the back. The two mares might not have had their gear with them, but they were still determined to make sure that their friends were safe. And even though the pair was essentially unarmed, the others felt safer with them around. Sunspot was originally in the Wonderbolts, and Glitter had royal guard training, so they were definitely able to take care of themselves. “Ok… I think we’re getting close. If the map was right, the security room should be only a few intersections up ahead.” Berry said while looking around and trying to compare her memory of the map to the layout of the dusty corridors. Everyone looked around with a pervasive sense of unease filling them as they slowly walked forward. There were forgotten mementos to the underground resort’s past littered all around them. A lot of the furniture or shelves in the rooms around them were either tipped over or moved from what would seem like their original position. It was hard to tell the cause of most of the mess around them, but some things looked like they had been bumped into by someone or something. “What happened down here?” Spike asked nervously while keeping himself close to Twilight as he rode on her back. “Must have been something bad if everyone just up and abandoned the place… looks like they left in a hurry too.” Rainbow Dash noted while observing some of the rooms that looked well used. It looked like the construction workers were using some rooms for various tasks, and it definitely looked like they left without much notice due to the objects left haphazardly strewn along tables. “Maybe we can find out something about what happened while we’re down here? Got to be something written down… maybe a report or a memo, or something.” Sparkplug suggested with a hopeful expression. While a lot of the group didn’t feel as interested in the resort’s past as others, they knew that the key to their escape lied in finding out how to get rid of the ghosts. A few more minutes of walking passed by with nothing of note happening, and Berry Swirl finally stopped. The earth pony looked over to a door on the right wall up ahead pensively. The door looked a bit sturdier than the other doors they had run across, even going as far as resisting a lot of the aging that this place had gone through. There was also a series of letters across the door that spelled out security. Berry smiled excitedly while rushing over to the door and turning to the others. “This must be it!” Berry stated eagerly before trying the handle, which turned easily in her grip. The others hurriedly flocked over to the purple mare as she opened the door. Twilight and Glitterball hesitantly poked their heads through the doorway and noticed nothing dangerous inside. Once it was deemed safe, everyone started filing into the room. The darkness of the space within gave way to a more comfortable, if a little eerie, lighting as the two unicorns’ glow filled the room. The security office was of a decent size, fitting the large group relatively comfortably. A large console with many buttons and screens took up the majority of the left wall. Two spinning chairs sat abandoned at their posts watching the monitors, with a little bit of rust on their metal components and a foul odor most likely trapped in their cushions. There was a desk at the far wall with a few drawers on its right side and a string of papers strewn along the top of it. Cabinets of various types were set on their own or next to the main console on the left, with one being dedicated to files. The rest of the walls were relatively barren, with only a small waste bin, an air vent, and a cork message board set against them to distract from the dull gray wallpaper. Berry Swirl closed the door behind her as the last person entered the room. She briefly inspected the door before she noticed a lock on the handle as well as a hefty looking deadbolt. With a small smirk, she twisted the latches on the locks and made sure the door was secure. “Alright… we should be safe in here. If there are any animatronics down here, I doubt they could bust down this door.” Berry explained in a slightly relieved tone. “That’s good… we can finally settle down.” Scootaloo shrugged in relief while deflating to the floor in a relaxed mess. Everyone else let their bundled up nerves calm down a bit as they mentally confirmed that they were safe. And now that they were, in fact, safe, the only thing they had left was waiting. The reprieve from the oppressive atmosphere of uncertainty and fear outside was a welcomed change. However, as the group started looking around their new safe haven, they discovered something interesting. Sparkplug looked down to the desk she was pensively leaning on and noticed that one of the drawers was ajar slightly. Curiosity peaked, she grabbed the drawer and slid it the rest of the way open. There was a mess of cobwebs and dust inside the drawer, but there was also a small object. The gray mare picked up the strange object and dusted it off. As she examined it in the light, she quickly deduced what it was. “A tape recorder?” Sparkplug muttered curiously, drawing the attention of the others. Everyone noticed the earth pony examining the aged recorder and were immediately hit with the same intrigue that she felt. “Woah… nice find Sparkplug.” High Tide said in an impressed tone. “Does it work?” Sweetie Belle asked while perking up slightly at the prospect of something new happening. “I don’t know… I doubt it.” Sparkplug said while flipping the tape recorder over in her hooves and further examining it. Even though she had reason to believe that the device most likely stopped working long ago, she let her curiosity run wild and reached for the battery compartment. The small cover on the back of the device popped off with relative ease. There were no batteries inside luckily enough. If there had been, they would have assuredly corroded over the years and ruined the connectors. The metal prongs used for conductivity were still in decent shape, most likely due to the cover being just airtight enough to prevent rust. All in all, it looked like the recorder was in working order, but there could have been any number of problems with the inner workings. “Hmm… spindles look good… no rust or corrosion in the battery compartment.” Sparkplug stated pensively while flipping the small device around and eyeballing it closely. “Looks like it… could work. I guess…” She added while hesitating slightly as she tried to make a solid call on the state of the recorder. “I guess? Is that your official verdict?” Berry Swirl raised an eyebrow curiously as she watched the gray mare scrutinizing the small device feverishly. “Well, it’s hard to say. These things don’t have too many complicated parts to them… it could have broken since this place has been abandoned, or it might still work. Either way, we won’t know without batteries and a tape to play.” Sparkplug shrugged her shoulders while setting the recorder down on the desk. “Hold on a second… it looks like some of our spare batteries would fit that.” Copper Coil suggested while taking another look at the still exposed battery compartment of the small device. “Really?” Sparkplug asked in a surprised tone. She picked up the tape recorder again and looked at it before reaching into a pocket on her overalls and pulling out one of the spare batteries for comparison. “Would our batteries even work on that old piece of junk?” Rainbow Dash asked curiously. Surely such an old piece of technology wouldn’t even be compatible with newer batteries. “They might if they fit. It doesn’t matter how old something is. As long as the batteries can supply electricity to the device and it is enough to power it, it should work.” Sparkplug explained while fiddling with the batteries and trying to put them into the recorder. Everyone watched with passive curiosity as the gray mare fitted the batteries into the tape recorder. The batteries made a satisfying click as they nestled into their respective places. They seemed to fit enough to be passable. At any rate, they were in the compartment and pressed up against the conductors. The group waited patiently as Sparkplug replaced the battery cover and turned the device over again. They half expected the recorder to start working or at least do something, but their rational expectations lessened the disappointment when the room was bathed in a brief awkward silence. “Right… now we just need a tape to play.” Sparkplug sighed as she realized just how much time she had wasted if they didn’t find a tape, or worse still if the recorder was in fact broken as she had originally assumed. With a room full of expectant eyes watching her and her own curiosity at its peak, Sparkplug turned back to look at the desk and the many drawers. She started opening the drawers and searching through them haphazardly. One drawer held miscellaneous junk such as paper scraps and pencil erasers, and another held a small notepad that had a few doodles on the cover most likely made by a worker that was bored out of their mind, much like the gray mare that was now searching through drawers to find a hypothetical cassette tape. Finally, the second to last drawer slid open and a series of objects tipped over. “Aha… paydirt.” Sparkplug let a goofy smile of triumph creep across her face as she laid eyes on three cassette tapes. Without delay, she picked up one of the tapes and briefly examined it. There was a label on it with a date fifty years old written on the faded paper in equally faded ink. Picking up the other two tapes and comparing the dates, the gray mare took the earliest tape out of the bunch and stuck it into the tape recorder before hitting the rewind button to be safe. Much to everyone’s surprise, the familiar sound of a tape skipping as it was wound back filled the air as the tape recorder came to life. Apparently the mismatched batteries were supplying enough power to make the device run, and apparently, the recorder was in good enough condition to still work. Soon enough the high-pitched gibberish ceased as the tape finished rewinding. Everyone’s attention was glued to the small device as Sparkplug hovered over the play button. After a brief hesitation, she pushed the button and started the tape. “*Krzzt*Hello…? Hello, hello? Is this thing on?” The monotone sound of a stallion’s voice faded in with a slight distortion. Sparkplug shook the recorder for a moment, seemingly clearing up the audio as the tape continued. “Ok… this is Straight Ruler, and I’m the foreman on this site. We’re getting some new recruits soon, and Mr. Cotton Swirl has been busy with the resort upstairs and his son Tropical Swirl, so he wants us to make some recordings to help out with bringing them up to speed on the project when they get here. It’s also a good way to keep records on our progress, so I’ll probably be making a few of these.” The voice explained in a casual and slightly dull tone. “Tropical Swirl? Isn’t that…” Pinkie Pie spoke up in a hesitant tone while looking over to Berry with a concerned expression. “My father.” Berry replied with a slightly somber tone in her voice. Despite the sad memories brought up by hearing her father’s name, the tape continued. “Umm… moving on… We just started renovating the first floor. If everything goes according to plan and we keep schedule, we should finish up there and head on to the second floor within the year. I have to say, it is a real pain working this far underground under a preexisting building, but Mr. Swirl has helped out a lot with planning things out. I guess all those things they say about him inheriting his dad’s mastery of every aspect of the trade are true. I’m hopeful that uh… that we can move forward smoothly without anything messing up. I’ve never really taken on a job of this size before… oh well. I guess there’s nothing else to really talk about… I’ve uh… pretty much covered everything. Again, this is Straight Ruler… signing off.” The tape screeched briefly as the recording ended, leaving the room filled with silence. “Sounds like these are from the foreman of the construction project.” Berry Swirl said in an intrigued tone. “Well, what are you waiting for? Pop the next tape in Sparkplug.” Copper Coil suggested impatiently while waiting for the gray mare to move. Sparkplug snapped out of her own thoughts and ejected the tape from the recorder. She grabbed the next tape in sequence and loaded it into the deck before hitting rewind. After a brief wait and the tape finished, she pressed the play button and the same voice from before cut in. “*Krzzt* Ok, it’s about time for another report. We’ve made some real progress on the interior and moving all of the old furniture out. The boss did most of the structural work when he first built this place with a different crew, but he didn’t get very far when it came to furnishing. I wouldn’t be surprised if we can clear out the second floor in a few days. The third floor is another story entirely… there’s uh… a lot of work that needs to be done down there. The foundation is all there, but a lot of the flooring isn’t finished and some of the walls aren’t up in a few of the sections. In some places, you can just walk from a finished looking hallway into nothing but concrete and beams. I don’t even want to think about how we’re going to get lighting down there… at least up here there’s some wiring for us to work with using portable generators. Umm… oh yeah, we found something else down on the third floor. It’s kind of weird now that I think about it. There’s actually an opening into some kind of cavern off of one of the unfinished rooms. It looks like Mr. Swirl and his old construction crew stumbled on it while hollowing out the nearby rock. They explored it a little bit, but they didn’t get very far. It must be from the earthquake that sank the old amusement park underground. It looked pretty big from what I saw of it, although I didn’t go that deep in before getting the creeps and chickening out. Uh… it shouldn’t be anything to worry about, though. We already finished recharging the seismic dampeners that Mr. Swirl had built in, so this place is as solid as a rock. Anyway… I need to go help the boys out with prepping the walls for painting, so I guess I’ll stop the tape here.” Straight Ruler cut out again as the tape ended. The overflow of information was confusing to the listening group as they tried to gain anything meaningful by deciphering the contents of these forgotten mementos. “Hold on a second… what’s a seismic dampener?” Sunspot asked in a puzzled tone while trying to figure out just what the stallion on the tape was talking about. “They’re used in construction to stabilize floors and prevent damage from earthquakes.” Sparkplug explained as she recalled what information she knew about the strange devices. “I think I’ve heard of those…” Twilight said with an intrigued expression. “They are basically big poles that project unicorn magic out through floors to hold them together. They actually used them to help build the city of Canterlot if I remember correctly.” “Wow… I’ve never run across those before.” Glitterball raised an eyebrow in surprise at the apparent importance of an object she had never seen or heard of before. “They are pretty uncommon. Only a few people even use them since they are fairly difficult to make.” Twilight explained. The brief and lackluster description did little to quell the sense of curiosity the group had about the device. “I guess we should play the last tape…” Sparkplug suggested while ejecting the tape in the recorder and grabbing the last one. “Huh… this one is dated a while after the last one; about a few months later from the look of it.” She stated curiously while trying to think of an explanation for the time discrepancy. After shrugging and chalking it up to the other tapes having been misplaced, the gray mare placed the third tape in the recorder and rewound it. The high pitched garble of the tape couldn’t end fast enough. Everyone wanted to know what came next. They needed more information on what happened to make the underground resort abandoned. “*Krzzt* Straight Ruler here, and it’s that time again. I’ve started making these every week or so now. Anyway, we just got done with all of the workshops on the second floor. Mr. Swirl has even started bringing some of those weird robot things down here and working on them. He’s made like two new ones since the last time I checked… says they will be able to walk around and talk one day. I don’t know about that… but hey, if it’s possible he can probably do it. It’ll certainly be easier for him and the rest of us to work down here now that we solved the lighting problem. We still haven’t hooked this place up to the grid, but we have a permanent solution in place until we do. We finished installing the emergency generators that the place will use if the power ever goes down, so we’re using them. They work on some kind of fancy state of the art system… I think it’s called magic conduction or something like that. Anyway, all we need is one of our boys to juice up the generator with their horn, and we should be good to go for days. Sure as hay beats the portable crank generators we’ve been using. Maybe we’ll finally get some work done on finishing the third floor. We still need to install carpet and tile in the staff areas and the mascot workshops, but most of the crew is scared to go down there. They keep claiming to hear voices or see things out of the corner of their eyes. I say they need to take a break and go topside instead of falling asleep on sight after pulling an all-nighter. I appreciate the dedication, but some ponies need to see the sun every once in a while or they’ll go stir-crazy. Anywho… if we don’t stop making excuses for why we’re neglecting the third floor, the boss will probably send one of his robot pets to snap at us… heh… But hey, at least we’re making astounding progress on the first and second floor.” The tape ended abruptly, leaving the ponies wanting, but intrigued nonetheless. They picked up on many interesting tidbits amid Straight Ruler’s lengthy and somewhat awkward report. They even found a few things that unsettled them as they thought about them more in relation to where they actually were. “Sounds like they were having some paranormal occurrences even back then.” Glitterball said in a curious, if a little uneasy, tone. “Only down on the third floor too… did the ghosts come from down there maybe?” Twilight suggested with a puzzled expression. The others could only shrug their shoulders since they didn’t know any more than she did. Still, her hypothesis was a good start at figuring out what was going on. “I wonder if this is why my father didn’t want me coming down here.” Berry thought out loud. “Maybe he found this place and ran into some of the ghosts?” Sparkplug scratched her chin while deep in thought. “That would explain why he up and closed the resort so quickly.” “Hold on… did he say something about a magical conducting generator?” Copper Coil asked while looking down in thought. He seemed to have an idea coming on from the way he sounded. “Yeah, I think so. I’ve never heard of one of those before though.” Twilight replied in a confused tone. While most of the others were clueless as to why the stallion was so interested in the generator, some of them were starting to catch on. “Wait, are you thinking what I’m thinking, Copper?” Sparkplug asked while perking up slightly. “I think so. If this place has a magical conducting generator, then maybe we can power it up and turn the lights on.” Copper Coil suggested eagerly while smiling at the thought of having a more reliable source of lighting. “That would be nice…” Sunspot said in a pleased tone. “Maybe these cameras could help us out with finding the others if they still work.” She motioned toward the bank of monitors with an intrigued expression. Everyone was excited at the prospect of having lights on instead of being stuck in a pitch black maze of hallways and rooms. “Maybe so, but I’m not sure if heading out there to find the generator would be a good idea.” Glitterball suggested with a concerned expression. Now that they were thinking about actually going to find the generator, the others were a bit more hesitant to go along with the idea. “It should be fine. I don’t think it would take me that long to power up the generator if I had one of you two with me.” Sparkplug said while looking to Twilight and Glitterball. “And look at this, the generator room isn’t even that far.” She added while pointing out a small map on the message board. Sure enough, there was a small room marked as ‘generator’ not too far away from where they currently were. Everyone thought about the matter for a moment to decide whether or not it was worth the risk to go for the generator. On the one hand, having electricity down in the abandoned resort might be useful to them later on, and it would make searching for Silver Bell and the others much easier. But, on the other hand, they still didn’t fully understand what they were dealing with. For all they knew, there might have been a dozen possessed animatronics waiting for the ponies to stumble across them. Sunspot looked to Glitterball to see what she was thinking. The white unicorn seemed hesitant to venture out into the unknown. The security room was safe, and tempting fate didn’t usually end up in their favor. Still, the pegasus knew that they needed every advantage they could get down here. “Well… it’s settled then. I’m going to go find that generator with Sparkplug… assuming you want to go.” Sunspot said while looking at the gray mare with a hopeful expression. “Yeah… of course.” Sparkplug nodded eagerly while stepping forward. “Sunspot, I really don’t think you should be doing this. We should wait for Glimmer Shine and Tom to get back.” Glitterball stated uneasily, hoping that the pegasus would understand the danger in the situation. “Really? Because I was kind of hoping you would come with us.” Sunspot replied with a slight smirk, much to the white mare’s dismay. “What?! You’re kidding, right? Please tell me you’re kidding…” Glitterball said while backing up hesitantly. “Oh come on, Glitter, we’ll be fine. It’s just a few hallways away. Besides, we need a unicorn to charge up the generator from what I can tell.” Sunspot said while looking over to Sparkplug for confirmation. The gray mare nodded silently in response, eliciting the pegasus to look back over to her teammate with a pleading expression. “No, Sunspot. I’m not going… and I really think you shouldn’t go either. If you want to turn on the generator, have Tom and Glimmer Shine go with you. We need to stay as safe as we can down here.” Glitterball said in a more adamant tone. “We’re not getting any closer to finding the others or figuring out how to stop these ghosts by wasting time in here. Think about it for a minute… it would be better if we have multiple groups doing different things. You and Glimmer always tell me to strategize anyway.” Sunspot reasoned with a determined expression. She looked over to the white unicorn pleadingly in the hopes that she would come with her, but Glitterball wasn’t having any of it. Finally, Sunspot sighed and looked to the floor with a deflated expression. She almost gave up the idea of going to turn on the generator, until she looked up and shifted her attention to the other unicorn in the room. “How about you, Twilight… do you want to come turn on that generator with us?” She asked in a defeated manner, half expecting the purple mare to decline her request as well. Twilight started to dismiss the orange mare’s request until she paused and thought for a moment. It was true that waiting for Tom and Glimmer Shine would be the safer option, but there were other variables to consider. Applejack, Rarity, and Silver Bell had arrived in the abandoned extension sooner than they had. The three ponies could have been in serious danger wherever they were. Thinking about her friends in trouble made the unicorn realize that there was really only one thing she could do, and that was to make sure that they were found as soon as possible. “Ok… I’ll go with you. We need to see if those cameras work so we can find the others.” Twilight said in a determined tone. The others looked at the purple mare with a mixture of surprise, respect, and concern. Sunspot smiled eagerly as her plan started working out. She looked over to Sparkplug, who was already set to go, before turning and walking toward the door. However, she was greeted with the sight of Glitterball hovering near the door with an uneasy expression. She expected the unicorn to try to stop her from leaving, but Glitter didn’t seem to be in her way. “You three stay together… and you better head right back here when you’re done. I don’t want to be the one to tell Glimmer Shine that you got lost or hurt.” Glitterball said in a sterner tone while still showing a healthy amount of concern. The orange pegasus smiled a little as she listened to her companion displaying so much care for her. “You’ve got nothing to worry about, Glitter. We’ll be in and out before you know it.” Sunspot stated confidently before turning to her small troop. “Are you guys ready?” She asked curiously. Sparkplug nodded confidently “Ready when you are.” Twilight looked around to see her friends looking at her and the two mares she would be going with. They all had varying degrees of concern and uncertainty written on their faces, especially Spike and the other children. The purple mare flashed them a brief smile before turning to face Sunspot. “I’m ready.” Twilight said while stepping forward eagerly. The orange pegasus smirked before walking over to the door and unlocking it. “Alright, let’s head out. You two stay right next to me and keep on your guard. Just because we need this generator doesn’t mean we don’t need to be careful.” Sunspot instructed while motioning for the others to join her. Sparkplug eagerly stepped forward and Twilight lit up her horn before joining the gray mare. Glitterball and the others watched anxiously as the trio opened the door and stepped out into the dark hallways. They looked around for any signs of danger before nodding back to the group inside and waving as they walked down the hall. The white unicorn took one last nervous look to the three mares before sighing and closing the door again and locking it. She hoped that Sunspot knew what she was doing, for her sake and the sake of the two ponies following her.