It had been three days since Spike and his girls returned from Fleur's family island. For the rest of their Spring Break they decided to relax and have fun back home until classes resumed. Then it was Friday afternoon,and Spike was in his bedroom looking through his collection of photos taken on his phone from his trip with the girls. He was at first looking through the pictures of him and the girls at the amusement park. He saw some of the pics there were of them together or single or group shots, another were group shots of them standing in front of trick mirrors making them look silly. Among them he especially loved were one mirror made Sunny Flare's butt big, another mirror made Sugarcoat's hips look wider, one made Twilight's head big like a bobble head, and another make Coco look bustier than Fleur which made the youngest girl feel proud even if it was a trick reflection.
He moved onto another group of pictures on his phone that took place on the beach of Fleur's family resort. Some shots included as before group shots, one of Twilight being buried in the sand against her will by Indigo and Sour, another was of Lemon in the water holding Rara's bikini top up for everyone to see, while Rara was hugging her chest to keep her breasts hidden, and another picture was of Fleur hugging Spike's face to her bosom making him look red all over.
He smiled knowing his bond with the girls had gotten better during their trip. He heard his cell ring, and he checked seeing a text message from Twilight, "Come to my house ASAP." Not sure what Twilight wanted, but knew it had to be something important. Wasting no time, he grabbed his skateboard and headed off to Twilight's place.
Upon arriving, he saw waiting outside Twilight's place was the rest of the girls, Fancy, and Trend, "You got a text too?"
"Well, we're not all here just because we like standing outside Twilight's place." Sugarcoat answered bluntly.
"I was truly curious as to what Twilight wanted so I came straight over." Fancy admitted.
"We all had the same idea." Lemon added.
Suddenly Twilight's garage lab door opened, and she saw everyone, "Good. You're all here. Come in." she welcomed them into her lab, as they took a seat on chair or packed boxes.
"So what's the buzz, Twi?" Indigo asked.
"Well, you all know how we've been enjoying Spring Break by doing things by various suggestions like Fleur's family island, Indigo inviting us to Silvecup Playoffs, Rara taking us to karaoke night, and Spike taking us to a comic expo?"
"Yeah, so?" Sour asked.
"Well, I found something for us to do tonight that'll give you a scare." she said in her best sinister tone.
"You trying to scare us?" Sunny asked, "Sorry, Twilight, but I'm not buying it."
"You will after I tell you my idea."
"And that would be?" Trend asked.
"Any of you ever heard of Moonscar Hospital?" Twilight inquired.
Sugarcoat answered, "It's an old hospital that closed down fifty years ago."
"Why'd it close down?" Coco asked feeling nervous.
"Because there had been rumors of a lot of patients disappearing there, and the staff always claimed they don't recall the name of any of the missing patients." the blunt pig-tailed girl answered.
"Exactly," Twilight confirmed, "Then one day it was reported the place was under attack. Some say it was ravage animals got in and tore the place apart and killed thousands of patients. At least that's what the media says."
"What're you saying?" Fleur wondered.
"Legend has it the doctors and nurses there performed illegal experimentation's on their patients and those labeled failed projects were killed."
"Whoa, you're serious?" Indigo asked in shock.
"Too cool." Lemon said feeling amazed.
"So what're you suggesting?" Sunny inquired.
"I'm suggesting, why don't we go investigate this old hospital and see if we can find anything that may prove this theory?" Twilight suggested.
"Another one of your Conspiracy Theories, Twilight?" Spike asked with a roll of his eyes.
"Hey, you never know. It could be real. And besides doesn't the idea of going to a haunted hospital intrigue any of you?"
"It sure does," Indigo answered, "I'm game."
"Count me in." Lemon agreed.
"We got nothing else going on." Sugarcoat admitted.
"Sounds exciting." Fancy added.
"And could make for a thrilling story." Trend put in.
"I've always been fascinated about the haunted building concept." Rara said.
"Well, if you're all going, then I think I can handle it." Coco said feeling less nervous.
"Me too." Fleur agreed.
"And me." Sour nodded.
"Seems fun." Sunny said.
"How about it, Spike?" Twilight asked, as all eyes fell on him.
"Chance to see ghosts or something worse?" Spike asked before pausing for a moment. He answered, "Let's do it!"
"Good," Twilight said before going to a drawer and pulled out a rolled up blueprint. She unraveled it to reveal the details and layout of a big building, "These are the blueprints for the building when it was first made. Had to do a lot of research to find this. But this'll be essential to navigate through it."
"I'll go back to my place and get some bolt cutters." Indigo offered.
"I'll go back and grab my car so we can drive there." Trend added.
"Question," Sugarcoat began, "What're we going to tell our folks?"
"We'll tell them we're having a little camp out by the forest preserve," Fancy suggested, "After all tonight's a clear night for it."
"Good thinking, Fance." Spike commended him.
"Then let's meet back here at six." Twilight ordered.
"Right." The group agreed, before heading back home to prepare.
At Spike's place. The boy had packed his backpack with flashlights, a pocket knife, bandage wraps, water bottles, etc. After packing up he left his house and hurried back to Twilight's. When he arrived he saw everyone wearing a backpack and looking prepared for the exploration. Trend drove up in a van, and they all piled in, "Ok, everyone. Here we go." Trend said, as he started driving.
As Trend drove, the group was planning, "If the adults knew what we were doing we'd be in so much trouble." Indigo chuckled.
"That's what makes this so fun." Lemon replied.
"I know. It's kinda exciting, isn't it? Breaking the rules." Twilight put in.
Spike looked at the girl oddly, and asked, "Who are you and what have you done with Twilight Sparkle?" The group chuckled.
They drove out of town and down a road through the forest. When nightfall came they saw up ahead was a building, "Is that it, Twilight?" Coco asked.
"No doubt about it." Twilight confirmed.
They reached a big gate that was chained shut, "This is where I come in." Indigo said, as she grabbed the bolt cutters she promised to bring. She stepped out of the car and cut the chains before opening the gates. She jumped back in the car as Trend drove further.
The older boy pulled up, and everybody got out to see a large old building that looked partly demolished from not being taken care of for so many years. As they looked up at it, a single thunder clap and lightning strike occurred. Lemon spoke to the group, "Nice touch."
"Place has certainly fallen apart since it shut down." Fancy noted.
"No use trying to take care of it if it's not going to be used." Sugarcoat replied.
"How're we going to get inside?" Rara wondered.
"Allow me." Fleur walked up to the door and took out a hair pin. She started picking at the lock before it clicked open.
"Flashlights out, everyone." Twilight said, as they each reached into their bags and pulled one out.
"I got spares in case anyone's burns out." Spike added.
"All right. Let's go." Sour said, as they walked inside.
As they walked inside they saw the interior of the hospital was just as worse as it looked outside. There was broken ceiling plaster on the ground, cobwebs hanging from the ceiling corners, the floors were torn up, dust was everywhere, and in some spots laid old wheelchairs and stretchers, "Ugh, what a dump." Sunny gagged.
"Now isn't this the same kind of haunted place you'd see in a horror movie?" Spike asked, "They're all the same, 'Cold and Spooky'."
"Now would be a good time to get that map out." Sugarcoat told Twilight who pulled it out.
Twilight looked it over with her flashlight, "Ok, we're here in the foyer. And this place has up to four levels."
"So should we start from top to bottom?" Spike suggested.
"Only logical thing to do." Sugarcoat answered.
"Then let's move." Fancy said, as they started going up some stairs before reaching the top floor.
They aimed their flashlights all around as they walked. They could see the top floor was no different from the one they entered on. Indigo peeked into one of the hospital rooms seeing nothing but plaster and clutter, "Wonder who was the last one to use this room?"
"Or any of these rooms." Trend said, as they looked and saw all the other hospital rooms were in disarray.
"Hey, Trend, heads up!" Lemon called as she flung a bedpan at him.
Trend dodged, as the bedpan his the ground with a thud resulting in an echo, "Lemon, are you nuts?! You have any idea how disgusting that thing was? Probably hasn't been washed even before the place fell apart."
"Well, I just hope we don't find anything that Twilight suspects is here." Coco said, as she walked around a corner and saw a skeleton lying on the floor. She screamed in fright causing the others to run to her.
"What? What is it?!" Spike asked in worry.
"That!" Coco motioned to the skeleton.
The group was repulsed, as Twilight inspected it, "It's all right. It's just one of those skeleton models they use for studies."
Coco hearing that sighed in relief, "Oh, thank goodness. I thought that was real."
"Your scream nearly gave me a heart attack." Sour told her.
"Sorry about that."
Spike who had spotted an old doctor's coat shook the dust off and put in on, "Hey, check me out," he stood tall and proud, "I'm Dr. Spike Drake, MD." most of the girls laughed, until Sunny spoke.
"Careful, Spike. You don't know where that's been."
"It's been right here." Spike motioned to the chair it was hanging off of.
"Hey, guys, look what I found." Indigo called, as she came over carrying a small case.
"What've you got there?" Fleur inquired.
"This." she opened the case to reveal adrenaline.
"Whoa. Is that still good?" Spike asked.
"If it is this can be used to help us stay awake while studying for finals." Indigo smirked.
"It's highly unlikely that still works. You see how old it is?" Sugarcoat asked.
"Besides, taking drugs without a prescription would be bad." Coco added.
"Just a thought." Indigo put the case down.
Suddenly they heard some noises, "What was that?" Sour asked.
"Probably the rusty pipes." Sunny suggested.
"Or even cockroaches." Trend added.
"Forget about cockroaches. Think of the rats." Spike said.
"Yeah. My cousin once said he saw one the size of a beaver." Lemon added.
"Hey, knock it off." Sour whispered to them.
"Can you just hear them scratching behind the walls?" Indigo teased.
"There's got to be thousands." Spike smirked.
Sour snapped, "Will you all shut up about rats!"
"All right, all right!" Indigo replied, wanting Sour to ease up.
They looked down the dark hall, as Lemon called out, "HELLO!" and suddenly coming back was an echo.
The group chuckled, as Spike called down the hall, "HEY!" and once again another echo came back.
"HI!" Fleur called, receiving her own echo.
The group laughed, as they continued on, "You know this isn't so scary as it sounded." Sunny said.
"Yeah, I'm actually becoming less scared." Coco admitted.
"Oui," Fleur agreed, "And as long as we stay close, nothing bad will happen to USSSSSSSSSS!" she screamed, as the floor she stood on caved in and she fell through.
"FLEUR!" they screamed, as they looked down the hole and saw Fleur hanging onto a pipe.
"Help me!" Fleur cried.
"Oh, God!" Rara gasped.
"We need to help her. Anybody bring any rope?" Spike asked, as Lemon pulled some rope out of her bag, "All right, tie it around me."
"Spike, what're you planning?" Sugarcoat asked.
"I'm going down to help her," Spike answered, as Lemon tied one end around Spike's waist good and tight, "Everyone hold onto the rope and lower me down."
Everyone held the other end of the rope and Spike was slowly lowered down until he reached Fleur, "Spike, please help." she pleaded.
"It's ok, Fleur. Just don't look down," Spike warned her. Fleur accidentally looked down seeing how high she was from the lower floor's level and screamed, "And you looked down." he said dryly.
"I don't wanna die!" Fleur cried.
"Fleur, calm down and take my hands." Spike ordered her.
"I can't I'm too scared." Fleur said, feeling frightened.
"It's ok. You can trust me." Spike said, as he held his hands out to her.
"Fleur, take his hands! We can't hold him forever!" Sour called.
Fleur being brave took a chance and grabbed one of Spike's hands, before letting go of the pipe and took his other one. Spike called up, "I got her! Tug us up!" he spoke to to the senior girl, "Don't worry, Fleur, I got you."
"Don't you let me go, Spike," Fleur pleaded, "Don't you let me go!"
And so the group pulled them up, and when Spike and Fleur were safely on the level again they laid on their backs and caught their breath, "I can't believe I was able to do that." Spike said in disbelief.
Fleur turned to look at Spike, "I'm gonna repay you with sex for your bravery one day." she promised.
Spike blushed at her promise, while the girls looked irked at what Fleur promised him and the two older boys held in chuckles. When the two got up, Twilight spoke, "If this floor is that unstable we'll need to continue to take caution with every step."
"Then what's say we go down another level?" Fancy suggested.
"Sounds good." Coco agreed, as they went down the stairs to a lower level.
"Let's hope this floor is more stable than the top floor." Sugarcoat said.
"Yes, indeed." Fleur agreed.
They entered a doctor's office and started looking around, "Doesn't it feel like we're mystery solvers?" Twilight asked her friends.
"Yeah. Maybe if ya brought your dog the team would be complete." Spike joked, and the two laughed.
Trend checked the drawers seeing no documents or anything, "No records or anything. Guess they made sure to clear this place out before it closed down."
"Well, that sucks," Indigo sighed, "I was hoping we could have some kind of souvenir."
"Maybe there's something in this armoire to loot?" Lemon said, as she opened the armoire and they all looked inside, "Why would someone fill this thing with hundreds of hanging black bow ties?"
Sunny looked closer and suddenly gasped, "Those aren't bow ties. Those are bats."
"Bats?" the group asked, before the swarm of bats flew out of the cabinet and started swarming around them.
The teens screamed and ran out of the office with the bats following them. They ran down the hall screaming their heads off as the bats pursued them. They all went around a corner, as the bats flew down the other direction. They peeked and saw the flying rodents were gone, "That was scary as hell." Spike said, as he panted.
"Bats seriously give me the willies." Twilight shivered.
"Me too," Trend agreed, until Fleur looked at him and gasped, prompting the others to gasp too, "What's the matter?" Trend asked nervously, while unaware of a bat was clinging to his right shoulder.
"Trend, don't move and don't panic." Fancy warned him quietly.
"Why?" Trend asked, while feeling more nervous.
"Just stand still." Spike said, as he slowly grabbed a small pipe laying amongst the debris.
"Spike, what're you doing?" Trend asked, as Spike pulled the pipe back looking ready to swing, "Spike?" The young boy swung the pipe at Trend's shoulder, but the bat flew away as it hit Trend, "OW!" he groaned while clutching his shoulder.
"Dammit, you missed, Spike." Indigo said.
"Sorry about that, Trend." Spike apologized sheepishly.
"Not as sorry as me!" Trend shouted, as he tried to attack Spike only for Fancy, Rara, and Fleur to block him.
"Come on, you guys. Let's keep looking around." Twilight said, as they continued onward.
They went further down to the level in which they entered from and began checking things out. Indigo spotted a wheelchair lying around and decided to have some fun. She went to it and sat in it, "Hey, Spike, you say you're a doctor right? Well tell me if I'll ever be able to play sports again?" she pleaded while pretending to be disabled.
Spike caught on, and played along, "I'm sorry, Ms. Zapp, but I'm afraid there's no helping your legs."
Indigo pretended to be distraught, "Say it isn't so, Doc!" she cried, before the two laughed.
They got up and walked along the hall while taking notice of the various pictures hanging on the walls. Fleur looked at one picture of a vase of beautiful flowers, "How lovely."
Sour looked at one of a creepy little girl in a dress holding a teddy bear that looked as creepy as the girl, "That's one Freaky looking teddy bear."
Twilight looked at one of a adult couple and in between them was a little boy. The man in the picture had dark green hair and had a matching goatee, while wearing eye glasses. The woman was a beautiful red haired lady with a gorgeous face. Twilight looked at the boy and noticed he looked just like Spike, "Hey, guys, check this out."
The group went to Twilight, and upon looking at the picture knew exactly what Twilight wanted to show them, "Dude, that kid looks like you, Spike." Lemon said.
"Resemblance is uncanny." Fancy admitted.
"You think Spike has a twin brother?" Coco wondered.
"Can't be. My parents would've told me about that," Spike answered, "Plus that couple there isn't my parents."
"Hey, check this out!" Sour called, as she opened a door leading downward.
"That goes to the basement." Twilight checked the map.
"Then that's where we're going." Fleur said, as they shined their flashlights down the steps and proceeded down.
They reached the basement level and aimed their lights around seeing the basement was just as bad as upstairs. They took notice of several body bags that looked like they had something in them. The sight of the bags got the teens worried, "You don't think..." Coco asked them in fright.
"Let's see." Lemon said, as she and Indigo opened one up and saw it was loaded with dust and ashes.
"Just ashes and dust." Indigo told them.
"Still, bodies had to have been in these bags at some point." Twilight noted.
"Based off what's left of them it had to be decades ago." Sugarcoat said.
"Hey, I think I found the fuse box." Trend called, as he turned the lights on for the basement and the lights shined on.
They looked around the basement seeing more body bags piled around, and on the walls were claw marks, "Whoa." they gasped.
"You think these were the missing patients?" Fleur asked.
"Most likely." Fancy confirmed.
"How horrible." Coco gasped.
"What do you think made these scratch marks?" Sunny asked, while looking at said markings.
"Bear claws?" Trend suggested.
"Why would bears be in this hospital?" Sour asked.
"Maybe it wasn't bears," Twilight answered, "Legend did say the staff here was responsible for conducting experiments on their patients."
"You think this was the result of one of them?" Spike asked.
"Well, in theory." Twilight replied.
They continued to look around, until Spike tripped over something, "Oh, bogus." he groaned.
"Are you all right, Spike?" Sour asked, as she helped him up.
"I'm good. But what did I trip over?" he asked, before seeing a pull handle on the floor.
"Why does the floor have a pull handle in it?" Indigo asked.
"Because it's a trap door, obviously." Sugarcoat answered.
"Wonder where it goes?" Coco wondered.
"It goes down." Spike answered, as he grabbed the handle.
"Spike, what're you doing?" Rara asked.
"I'm gonna see what's down here."
"I don't know if that's such a good idea, Spike." Twilight voiced her worry.
"Hey, we've come this far. So there's no point in stopping now," Spike said, as he pulled the trap door open, and they shined their light down and saw it led to another room with a ladder leading down to it, "Be right back."
"Spike, I think we've seen enough." Sunny warned him.
"Oui, it's been fun, but I think maybe we should call it a night." Fleur agreed.
"Don't worry, I'll be right up." Spike said, as he climbed down with his flashlight in his mouth.
When he reached the ground he grabbed his flashlight and started shining it around and saw bones littered all around, some appeared to be human bones hence the size and shape of some skulls, while some appeared to come from larger creatures.
"What the hell?" Spike asked, before a shadowy figure ran past him very fast. Spike quickly swings his flashlight around hoping to catch what heard in the light. He was stunned and his eyes were wide open. He nervously looked around without blinking, "Uh… Indigo… was that you?" Spike softly said still looking around. He hands shook nervously, as he could feel the presence of something around him.
He suddenly could hear a growling sound, and began to sweat uncontrollably. He thought to himself, 'Please don't be behind me! Please don't be behind me!" he turned and could see something moving in the darkness. He quickly shined his light down and could see a dogs head looking at him in concern, "Hey, hi there, little fella. What're you doing down here?" Suddenly the dog came further into the light's glow to reveal it wasn't your average dog.
It looked to be a wolf dog with the body build of a bear. When it came into the light it started growling at Spike, leaving the boy in total shock, "Oh, my..." the creature gave a barking roar at Spike who screamed, and tried running back to the ladder, only for it to jump in front and block his retreat, "Guys, help me!" he screamed.
"What's going on?!" Twilight called, as they looked down seeing what was trying to go after Spike, "Oh, my God!" the girls panicked.
"We got to help him!" Fancy called.
"But how?" Rara asked.
Lemon looked around and saw a fire extinguisher in a case,"I got an idea!" she ran to it and tried busting it out of the glass.
Back down below the creature continued to chase Spike while making sure he didn't get up the ladder. When Spike tried to outsmart the beast, it jumped Spike pinning him to the ground. Spike looked up as the beast bared its fangs while drool dropped from it's lips and onto Spike's, shirt, "Ugh! Now you're drooling on me!" he cried, only for the creature to bark at him. Spike shivered in fear as the beast got closer and glared at Spike feeling ready to bite his face off, until it looked closer at Spike's face and started easing up.
From the beasts vision it flashed back and saw the man and the boy who looked like Spike in the picture. The man smiled, as the boy was looking excited, until they were called to look forward to a photographer to took their picture. When it was taken the boy cheered and laughed before looking at the beasts direction, where the beast looked into the boys eyes to reveal it was the reflection of the woman from the picture with the two. The flashback then shifted to one of the woman being wheeled off into the hospital by nurses and doctors as the boy tried to go after her, but his father stopped him. The boy cried as he reached out for his mother.
The beast or the mom from the picture looked down at Spike seeing in place of him was her son. It whimpered and backed off, as Spike was concerned, "What're you..."
"Get away from my pal!" Lemon shouted as she ran over carrying the fire extinguisher in her hands. She swung it back and whacked it against the creatures face knocking her off Spike completely.
"Lemon!" Spike gasped.
"Come on, we gotta get out of here!" Lemon called, as she sprayed the creature with the extinguisher distorting her vision, "Up the ladder!" the two climbed up and Indigo held a Molotov cocktail all ready.
"Stand back!" she called.
"How did you make that?" Spike asked the athletic girl.
"I brought the supplies, now stand clear!" she threw the cocktail down igniting it and setting the beast on fire as it cried.
Spike looked down at it feeling a little concerned, but had no time to question, as they closed the hatch. The creature looked up seeing Spike's face as the door slowly closed, and whimpered. Rara shouted, "Everyone move!" and so they all made a break up the stairs and ran through the hall before making it outside.
"The truck!" Trend shouted, as they piled inside and buckled up.
"Burn rubber, Trend!" Sour shouted. Trend put the peddle to the metal and sped of past the gate and was back on the road.
As they drove along the road, they were all in deep shock, "What the hell was that?" Sour asked her friends.
"I think that was a leftover experiment done by the doctors there." Twilight suspected.
"Don't know why they didn't just kill it?" Indigo wondered.
"We'll probably never know." Fancy replied.
"No way anyone's going to believe this." Sugarcoat said.
"I think it's best we keep this to ourselves." Fleur suggested.
"Yes. If anyone knew where we were tonight we'd be in deep trouble." Coco said.
Spike looked out the back window seeing the hospital fade into the distance as they got further away. Sunny seeing this spoke up, "Are you all right, Spike?"
"Oh, yeah. I'm ok. Shaken and terrified, but I'll be fine." he answered.
"You're lucky that thing backed off when it did." Lemon said.
"But why did it?" Rara wondered.
"I have no idea," Spike admitted, "But looking into its eyes I could almost see some humanity in them."
"Humanity?" Trend asked.
"Yeah. Whatever that thing is or was now may still have some memories from when it was human." Spike theorized.
"Wonder what it used to be?" Sour wondered.
"Whatever it used to be must've had a kind heart if it was willing to back down." Spike said, knowing this night was going to boggle his mind till the day he'd die.