//------------------------------// // Where Demons Dwell (Part 2) // Story: Equestria Girls: The Haunted // by Israel Yabuki //------------------------------// Swift and Anon had checked every square inch of the house trying to find Dusky Novel, but the two could find no trace of the poor young lady. They even checked Swift's sister's room, but found nothing except for her stuffed animals on her shelf and talking to her wasn't helpful either. Swift was getting worried about what was gonna happen to Dusky is they didn't find her in time. Anon was just as worried too. He knows very well that Dusky's soul is on the line if they don't find her in time. Anon's eyes drift towards the camera that he has set up in the room and checked up on it. He rewinds the video feed to see if he got anything. Of course, the camera caught the door slamming into his face, static cuts in for about 7 seconds until the video showed the room completely empty. "ANON, GET DOWN HERE, HURRY!" yelled Swift. Anon adjusts the camera and walks out of the guest room, descending the stairs to the living room. He looks to his right and notices Swift pointing to the wall, making Anon look at the wall himself. Carved in the wall, was a message written in blood saying "She will die a slow and painful death." Anon felt his stomach drop and his heart beating rapidly. Swift backed away from the wall, unknowingly bumping into Anon and let out a slight yelp, which made Anon jump. "God damn it, Swift, don't scare me like that!" Anon scolded, placing his hand over his heart. Both of them suddenly jumped when they heard a loud thud coming from upstairs. Swift and Anon's eyes gazed up at the ceiling, listening carefully at the thudding noises. Upon careful hearing, they sounded like heavy footsteps moving from one part of the 2nd floor straight to the other. Swift was getting worried because it sounded like the footsteps were walking straight towards Faded's bedroom. "Oh no, SIS!" Swift shouted, running up to the 2nd floor. Anon was worried that he might end up getting hurt so he want and followed him upstairs. Swift went into his sister's bedroom and gasped when he saw that the doll she was holding had changed some of its appearence. Her doll's emerald eyes had all turned jet black and her mouth was carved in a wide evil grin that sent chills down the guys' spines. "Swift, get that doll away from her, now!" Anon ordered. Swift ran in and reached out to grab the doll, but as he was only one inch away from the doll, he got blown back by an invisible force and hit Anon by accident before the door slowly closed on them. "OOF!" Anon grunted. Both of the guys looked up and watched as Faded Moon just stood there with her creepy doll and her now jet black eyes and spoke in a demonic voice. "This is the end for you all" and soon, the door finally closes and the two boys got up to their feet, rushing to her room and forced open the door. But it was too late, as Faded Moon was also gone without a trace. Swift felt his whole world come crashing down. Not only has his best friend disappeared, but his little sister as well. He falls to his knees and hands, looking at the floor, feeling the anger and sadness of what has happened to both of his closest friends and family. "N-No! No, he can't take her! DAMN YOU TO HELL, DEMON, YOU FREAKING HEAR ME?!?!?!" Swift shouts, pounding his fists on the ground. "That's enough, Swift. That's just what the demon wants. If you let your negative emotions get the better of you, it will feed off them and become stronger. You have to remember to keept calm, even if that thing tries to manipulate you through your loved ones." Anon explains. "The only reason it's doing this is because it's actually afraid to tackle us head on like a real demon would." "He-llo! That ugly-ass demon took my sister and my friend and we don't even have a god damn clue as to where to find the girls before it kills them! How am I suppose to stay calm?!" "Sooner or later, my associates will be here with the rest of the equiptment and then we'll have a better advantage in finding out where the girls are being held captive. We just need to have a little patience and not show any sign of weakness or we'll end up like them." "Ugh! Alright, but... I hope it's soon. I don't want to see them get hurt." Anon said nothing else and just nodded at Swift. The two of them walked out of the room and close the door before going back downstairs into the living room. Anon patiently watched over the monitors, looking over the video feeds from both of the rooms. For the past 20 minutes nothing happened out of the ordinary, except for a knock on the door. Anon got up from the couch and walked over to the door. He opens it up and sees Twilight, Sunset and Spike with the rest of the equiptment in hand. "Nice to see that you finally made it. We've got two guests who've already gone missing." Anon says, letting them in before closing the door. "Who are these girls?" Swift asks, confused. "We're with Anon. I'm Twilight Sparkle and this is my friend, Sunset Shimmer. And of course, this is Spike, my pet dog, nice to meet you." Twilight says, shaking Swift's hand. "I'm Swift Blade." he replies. "So, what exactly happened here so far?" Sunset asks. "Well, you'd better listen carefully because this is one hell of a messed up case we got here..." Anon began explaining every little detail that happened from the time Anon had set up the cameras in the rooms up the point of the girls disappearing from their rooms. "What?! How can two girls disappear without a trace behind closed doors within seconds?" Twilight asks. "It's close to being a 100% possibility, but this could be the work of something demonic. And if that's the case, we'll have to find out the source of the demonic hauntings. There's always a way to summon a demon into the real world, they don't just show up at a house out of the blue on their own." Anon explains. "Spike, do you think you can help us find the problem?" Twilight asks her dog. "I don't know if I can or not, but I can try." Spike replies. Swift got a bit creeped out at how Spike can talk. "Well, sniffer, don't fail me now." Twilight put Spike on the floor and allowed him to sniff the place from top to bottom, starting with the living room all the way to the kitchen and found nothing. He sniffed his way near the stairs and looked up at one of the closed doors with a low growl coming out of him. Everyone followed Spike up the stairs. Anon opened up the door to the guest room where Dusky was sleeping in and Swift opened up the room to Faded Moon's room. Spike started his search again, sniffing out the guest room for anything that he might find. Of course, nothing was found. He sniffed his way into Faded's bedroom, but even after he sniffed every square inch of the room, he found absolutely nothing. His eyes glanced at these two other closed doors and emitted a growl at both of them. Twilight and Sunset moved slowly to each door and opened them both. The door on the right lead to a bathroom while the one on the left lead to a closet that had a few jackets. Spike's attention was directed towards the closet and wouldn't stop growling and his fur was sticking up. Anon went inside the dark closet and searched behind the jackets one at a time. Nothing was inside there, but he soon felt something hard inside one of the jackets he pushed out of his way. He unzips one of the jackets and pulls out something that made his blood boil: A ouija board. "Just as I thought!" He growled. "What is it?! What did you find?" Swift asks. Anon turns around and shows him the ouija board. Swift backs away with shock in his eyes. "If there's one thing I've told some of my other clients before, it's to NOT use a ouija board, I don't care if the had a reason, ouija boards are dangerous!" "If those girls played with that thing, they might have opened a door they shouldn't have!" Sunset says. "Or in this case, a portal!" Swift says, still shocked. "I think we have to get in touch with our old friend again. He's our only chance at putting a stop to the demon if we're gonna have a shot at defeating him." Twilight implies. "Who are you talking about?" Swift Blade asks. "In past cases, some of our clients became possessed by demonic entities. So when stuff like this happens, we always call our good friend: Thunder Rider." "That guy?!" "You know him, Swift?" Twilight asks. "We've been like pals for quite some time now, but I never get to hang out at his place because of how he's alway busy at the church nowadays. I didn't know he was an exorcist." "You learn something new every day, Swift." Sunset replies. "And as good a plan that sounds, we have to find the girls and keep watch over them, otherwise we can't exorcise them. So I say we split up and find the girls before we think about calling Thunder Rider." she implies. "Good idea. But first, we'll have to set up the rest of the equiptment. That's our only best option right now before we can search for them." Anon implies. The girls nodded and went downstairs with Anon and Swift following them close behind. The group all got the rest of the cameras and thermal cameras with them and began hooking them up around the house. Twilight and Sunset set up the cameras in the downstairs floor while Anon went upstairs to install a few extra cameras in the guest and Faded's room to get rid of any blindspots that he might have overlooked and then installed one of his night vision camera in, surprisingly, the closet. There was something about the closet that sent chills down his spine, but just can't quite put his finger on it. After everything was set up, Anon went downstairs with the rest of the group. He quickly realized that Spike was growling in his general direction, backing away, like he doesn't want to get hurt. Anon froze and looked behind his back and noticed that the door to the closet had slightly moved. Anon turned to look at the girls and ran down the stairs and went to check the monitors. "Anon, what is it?" Sunset asks. "The closet door just moved. I think there might be something hidden inside it." Anon replied. "But that's impossible. There's nothing inside the closet except for the jackets and a thick wall." Swift says. "I'm not so sure if that's true. For all we know, there might be something inside there that we might have overlooked other than the ouija board we found. We might have to drill a whole through the wall and see if we're not just imagining things." Twilight implies. "What?! You're crazy if you think I'd let you wreck my house like that!" "Swift, which is more important: the house or the lives of your sister and your friend?" Sunset asks. Swift Blade was well aware that she made a good point and sighed. "Fine, but just don't tear the whole house down, okay?" Swift goes into the kitchen and opens up one the cabinet under the sink and pulls out a power drill. He gives it to Sunset and sits down on the couch. "Okay, let's go. Swift, I want you to watch over the monitors and if you spot anything out of the ordinary, give us a shout with this." Anon hands Swift a walkie-talkie. Swift nods and keeps watch over the monitors while the group and Spike walk up the stairs to the closet. Anon and the others felt the air around them get heavier and heavier as they got closer and closer to the closet. Once inside, Sunset tapped the wall with her finger a few times in different parts of the wall. Each of them sounded thick and perfectly closed off. But when she tapped the lower middle part of the wall, it made a strange sound, like there was nothing reinforcing it. She tapped it a few more times and got the same result before turning around to look at Twilight. "It's hollow here." Sunset says. "Then we'd better see what's on the other side." Twilight implies. "I... I don't know guys, I'm getting kinda scared. Something's not right!" Spike says. "Spike, it's the only option we have left. We have to consider every single possibility if we're gonna get the girls back, but if you don't want to do this, then you're more than welcome to stay downstairs with Swift and wait for us until we get back." Anon says. Immediately, Spike took up the offer and ran down the stairs and straight into the living room, jumping onto the couch next to Swift Blade. "At least Spike won't get hurt now." Twilight said. Sunset turned on the power drill and pressed against the hollow area in the wall, drilling a hole through it. But the hole she drilled had gotten bigger than she had anticipated it to be. The hole turned out to be big enough for a full-grown person to crawl through. Sunset went ahead and crawled through it, followed by Twilight and then Anon. On the other side of the hole was a staircase that most likely lead to a hidden basement. The staircase leading down to the basement was pitched black, aside from the light in the 2nd floor. Twilight, Sunset and Anon then used their phones to shine some light inside the darkness of the room. Inside the basement, large boxes were scattered everywhere, leaving only a narrow path to the other side. The air around them was getting thicker. It was difficult to breathe and it felt like the entire basement room was closing in on the team But nonetheless, the group kept on walking down the narrow path, ignoring the pressure of whatever was trying to keep them out of there. Shortly after reaching the other side of the dark basement, the area around them had grown cold. It wasn't a natural type of cold chill. It was a lot colder than that. So cold, they could see their breaths. "You feel that chill, don't you?" Twilight asks. "Definitely." Sunset replied. "Keep your guards up. This might be where the girls are hiding. Whatever you do, you can't allow this thing to scare you or it'll feed off your negative energy." Anon warned quietly. The girls nod and continue on with the search for the girls. Just in case they overlook anything, they checked inside some of the boxes that were big enough to hide a little girl and a full grown young woman. But so far, they found no trace of the girls and yet they refused to give up on their search when they're so close. But then, Anon almost trips over something and leans against the wall to stop himself from colliding with the cold hard floor below, catching his breath. Anon checked what made him trip. It was some sort of handle in the floor and somehow, it gave him the idea that there might be something more to it. "Psst! Girls, come over here, I think I might have found out something over here." he whispers. Twilight and Sunset speed walked over to Anon all curious about what he was going on about. Anon kneeled down and put his hand on the handle that was somehow nailed to the floor. He pulls it up and discovers that it was a trap door, leading to some hidden room where there was a faded light. "Looks like the previous owner must have had a secret room that was sealed off for some reason either by his own will or against his will by order of somebody who sold this house. Whoever did it, they must have had a good reason for sealing the whole place up." Twilight whispers. "I think you're right, Twilight. Listen, you girls are free to come along. If not, it's alright, I'll go in on my own and find out what's down there." Anon says. "No way. We're sticking by each other's side no matter what the cost." Sunset says confidentally. "Alright, but stay close." Anon implies. He slowly descends down the steps into the hidden room, holding his phone in front of him and pointing it in the direction of where he was walking. The light from his phone had shown something disturbing on the walls. Each of the walls had not only cobwebs but also showed what looked like human bones, some giving off the putrid smell of death. Sunset plugged her nose, trying to ignore the smell of death. Twilight was affected by it the most and let out a cough of disgust and almost felt like puking. Sunset stopped and got close to Twilight. "Hey, it's alright. Just try not to think about it too much, Twilight." she whispers to her friend. Twilight nods and keeps on walking forward with Sunset holding her hand. They both catch up quickly with Anon and then slow down to his pace, still having the lights on their phones shine what's in front of them. Finally, they reached the end of the room where these dull and worn down curtains block their view. In a swift motion, Anon moves the curtains out of the way and sees two figures standing in front of him. One of them looked a bit short and the other was tall. Anon proceeded cautiously until he was within range to tap them both on the shoulders, having both figures turn around very quickly. To his shock, it was the missing girls: Dusky Novel and Swift's little sister, Faded Moon. But the other thing that also shocked Anon was that fact that their eyes were both pitched black, like they were possessed. "Dusky, Faded. You gotta come back! Swift's worried about you two." Anon says. "It's too late. He's ready to take us to the promised land." Dusky says in a creepy, demonic voice. "You can't do anything to stop him. He will rip out your soul and drag you to hell." Faded added in the same kind of creepy, demonic voice. "Shut your trap, demon. I was talking to the girls, not you!" Anon scolded the demon. Anon pulled his holy water out of his pocket and sprinkled it on the girls. Both Dusky and Faded let out ear splitting screeches, and a huge puff of black smoke shoots out of their bodies and into the ceiling. "Sunset, Twilight, come on! We gotta get them upstairs, I wasn't able to destroy the demon. It'll only be stunned for a minute!" Twilight and Sunset rushed over to Faded and Dusky and guided them out of the hidden room with Anon close behind the both of them. Never once did he look back and followed the girls up the stairs and out of the hidden room before slamming the trap door and went up the staircase into the 2nd floor of the house. Once they reached the 2nd floor, Twilight and Sunset carried the girls downstairs into the living room. Anon followed them downstairs and stopped as soon as he reached the couch. Swift gasped and hugged his friend and little sister, thankful that they were still alive. Anon was completely exhausted from the whole run, no thanks to the pressure the demon put on him. He panted heavily, coughing violently, covering his mouth. Sunset went up to him and patted him on the back, easing his breathing. Once he was able to breathe steadily, he got his phone out and started dialing numbers. "Anon, what are you doing?" Twilight asks. "It's now or never. If we don't tell Thunder Rider about the demon that's haunting this place, the girls might not be found ever again. But if they are found... they'll be dead!" Anon explains. Dusky and Faded were shaking in fear. Swift then remembered about the ouija board and addressed it to them in a very strict manner. "Girls... care to explain what you were doing with... this?!" Swift shows them the ouija board, but Faded Moon looked away, about to cry. "Why would play with this thing?" "I thought it would be fun." Faded Moon replied, not making eye contact. "Fun? FUN?!" Swift snapped, scaring his sister and making her bury her face into Dusky. "Do you think it's fun that a demon was summoned into this house?" "I-I'm sorry, I didn't know!" Faded Moon almost sounded choked up. "Swift, stop it! I was the one who brought the board here and it was my fault for getting her involved! If you want to be mad at someone, be mad at me!" Dusky replies. "It was a big mistake to bring it here, I admit, and if it will make a difference, I'll burn the damn thing." "No, that won't be enough. It'll just reappear like it never happened. The ouija board is linked to the demon that's lurking in this house. We have to have Thunder Rider perform the blessing and possibly an excorcism to prevent anymore demons from ever coming into this house again." Twilight says. "It's done." Anon says, getting everyone's attention. "Thunder Rider will be here soon. In the meantime, we should keep an eye on the girls until he arrives. We can't risk the girls letting them out of our sights or that thing'll take them again like it did last time." "Right." everyone agreed.