//------------------------------//
// Chapter 15: "The Curse Of Magnus." 
// Story: Morning Meir Mysteries: Case 2: A Fright On Nightmare Night 
// by XombieSlayr 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 15: "The Curse Of Magnus."

"Reasoning is the mask, all wicked people wear."
- The Goddess

(The Next Day, Gold Digger's Suite, Early Morning)

I was very tired the next morning. But something was very clear to me as I sat there with my friends enjoying our donuts and coffee: I did NOT have the nightmare last night. I had actually slept perfectly, for the first time in days.

Was it because of my magic? Was it because Carlsen had been found out? Or was it The Goddess, acting a helping hoof because I had finally gotten to meet with her. Honestly, I had no idea. But I was too relieved to care. I could actually sleep without fear of that nightmare creeping into my mind again.

I picked up today's newspaper. The headline announced in large, creepy letters: "Nightmare Night: Tomorrow Night! Nawlans Gripped With Real Fear As The Scariest Day Of The Year Arrives."

I thought of all the excited foals and fillies that would be going out today to get last minute costumes, and all the treats and candy that would be being bought up all over, in preparation for tomorrow night. We had to beat Carlsen, not just for the good of Nawlans and possibly the rest of Equestria, but so everypony could actually enjoy Nightmare Night.

And then I thought of Heartland back in Ponyville. I had promised her I would be back in time for Nightmare Night, but it looked like that wouldn't be happening. I would need to call her and let her know I had to stay in Nawlans to stop Carlsen. 

And then probably explain the whole voodoo, cartel, evil plans thing. So that would go over well.

I turned the paper over and spotting the horoscopes, I decided to just get it over with."Aquarius: Gird thyself with mercy. Arm thyself with righteousness. The final hour awaits." I read aloud.

I rolled my eyes. "You know, I'm pretty sure there are other ponies born from January to February. They must be so confused right now." I said casually as I tossed the paper aside.

As I sipped my morning coffee, I was joined by Goldbloom. "How are you holding up?" she asked sympathetically.

"I'm alright. Just tired."

"Oh yeah, you told me about the nightmares."

"Actually...I slept fine last night."

Gold Bloom's eyes widened. "No nightmares?" she asked.

"No nightmares." I confirmed.

"Huh. So that pretty much proves it was Carlsen doing it, right?"

"I wouldn't say prove, but it certainly looks like he was behind it. Maybe as a scare tactic."

"Did it work?"

"Heh. Not anymore."

Gold bloom smiled, as she looked behind her shoulder to see if anyone was listening, before she leaned in close. "So I've been doing some digging, myself. And I found Carlsen's old home."

"You did?" I asked, surprised.

"Yeah, an old Gothic manor in the french quarter. And guess what it is now."

"Um...a mansion?" I said being too tired to come up with a more clever answer.

"A voodoo museum."

"Well....that explains a lot."

"I think we should check it out. Maybe we can find something about Carlsen we can use against him. Maybe we won't have to even confront him! We find evidence or something, and take it straight to the Celestial Princesses. If not evidence, then maybe a weakness he has. Whaddaya say? Should we try it?"

I thought for a moment. It would certainly be useful to find out a few more things about Carlsen. Especially if we actually did discover a weakness of his. But, I wasn't sure if we would find evidence of such value, that we could take it to the Celestial Princesses. Still, it was definitely a good idea. As long as we weren't caught.

"Sounds good to me!" I exclaimed.

Gold Bloom nodded. "Great! We can head over after breakfast. It's a museum that's open to the public, so we shouldn't have much trouble."

Except when we arrived, an hour later, we most certainly DID run into trouble.

(Nawlans Historical Voodoo Museum, Formerly Magnus Manor, 9:00 am)

A group of guards eyed us suspiciously as we approached the museum. Before we could get through the doors, a guard put his hoof out in front of me. "Stop. Where do you think you're going?" He asked gruffly.

"Um...inside the museum?"

He shook his head. "Not without a ticket you're not."

"Ticket? I thought this was free to the public!" Gold Bloom questioned.

"Yes. Free, if you have a ticket."

I noticed the tone in his voice from the get go. He was lying. Out of the corner of my eye I saw two mares enter the museum. Neither of them had tickets, and there was nopony at the door to take tickets. It was clear that these guys just didn't want us in. Why, I had no idea.

I didn't think they worked for the cartel, but better safe then sorry. I feigned innocence, as I smiled at them. "Sorry, Our mistake. We'll come back some other time."

"Yeah. You do that."

I led Gold Bloom away before she could argue, and we took a minute to talk out of earshot of the guards. "Those guys have to be working for the cartel, right? Nopony else had tickets!" Gold Bloom complained, and I agreed with her.

"I'm not sure if they work for the cartel, but they don't want us going in there for a reason. They might've been hired by Carlsen personally. To keep us away from his old home."

"And will it work?" Goldbloom asked, with a smile.

"Nope." I answered slyly. "We'll just find another way in."

We walked around the musuem's front yard till we found a large 1st floor window around the back. A janitor could be seen mopping the floor inside. 

"There's a window, but that janitor'l see us!" Goldbloom whispered, as we crouched behind a large garden ornament.

I had an idea. "Let's just wait a minute." I whispered to her, and she nodded.

We waited behind the garden ornament till he opened the window and ringed out the mop onto the flowers below. We watched him walk away from it till he disappeared from view, then we quickly climbed in through the window, and ran down the hall before he could come back.

Lavish halls lined with hundreds of Zebrican voodoo masks, totems and other artifacts stretched out in all directions as we began exploring the place, along with several tourists. Being surrounded by so much history, it was hard not to try and study a few exhibits.

We actually had fun looking at all the authentic voodoo stuff, but as we went up to the second floor, we were reminded of why we were here.

"Whoa."

"That is....really creepy."

We were staring at a massive family portrait on the wall in front of us. A young but still smug looking Carlsen sat in the middle of his parents, beside his brother. The whole family looked...unnatural. As if they were all hiding something from the other. 

No one was smiling. 

"Not much of a family." I thought. A small plaque on the bottom of the portrait read. "Special thanks to The Magnus Family for donating their home to the city of Nawlans, for the creation of this wonderful museum."

We both rolled our eyes. "I don't know about his parents, but I wouldn't thank Carlsen for anything." Gold Bloom commented. And I agreed.

Our plan was simple: Investigate this floor for anything on Carlsen and his history with voodoo. And any weakness he might have.

Investigation (Magnus Manor Top Floor, 9:30 am)

This floor seemed to be separate from the museum. Sheet covered furniture was seen at random, stacked on tables, in rooms clustered around closed curtains and darkened windows. I looked through filing cabinets, old desks and even along the floor, but I only managed to find a few photos of Crash and Carlsen as kids, and one of Carlsen's mother, who smiled warmly as she stood with her husband in the background. She looked happy. 

As I looked around more, I saw signs of fire damage along the walls and ceilings. Clear evidence of Carlsen's claim that there had been a fire in his mansion. The fire where his parents were killed. 

He was an evil, sadistic, monster. But my heart still went out to his parents. They didn't deserve to go like that. But Carlsen was not honoring their memory with what he was doing. He didn't care about anything anymore. He blamed Nawlans for all these horrible things, and he was determined to make it burn for it. But I was determined to stop him. We all were.

Finally I found it: Carlsen's room.

I expected, well a massive ritual room with a bed. But instead....there was just a bed. Gold Bloom and I walked into the room and began looking around for anything. But the room was completely bare. We only knew it was Carlsen's room by the name engraved on the door. "Huh. Well that's a let down." Gold Bloom said sounding annoyed.

But I wasn't so sure. I had a feeling there was something in here. "Let's just take a look around. We might get lucky."

"If you say so."

We started looking, and I quickly found a floorboard was loose in the corner of the room. "Bingo." Golf Bloom commented with a grin.

Inside the hidden compartment we found a Voodoo treasure trove. Voodoo dolls of several different ponies, Gris-Gris Bags, A massive dog eared book of hexes and some sort of strange grimoire that was about the Loa. The name Bogun Legba was circled in red marker.

"Hey, look at this!" Gold Bloom exclaimed, holding up a leather journal. "Carlsen's Journal" could be seen written on the front of it. she handed it to me and I leafed through it, till I came upon a rather tell all page. It was an entry that he had written after his parent's death, and he and his brother were put into foster care. I read it aloud.

"I hate it. All of it.

This world. This city. This society, made my life a hell. My parents were the only ones who understood me. The only ones who kept my...impulsion, in check. And now...they're gone. And I have no one, but my stupid, worthless brother. He'll never get it. They'll never understand.

But I'll show them. I've been performing the ritual as planned. The foster parents don't know a thing, and I have yet to be caught. if everything goes well, then I will finally have the power to make this wretched city pay for what it did to me.

They'll all pay, They'll all pay, They'll all pay, They'll all pay, They'll all pay,...."

That word was scrawled in hideous, aggressive scrawl on every page after it, the writing getting more and more erratic, until I couldn't even read it anymore. I closed the journal, and me and Gold Bloom exchanged worried, unsettled looks.

"I....I'm scared Meir." Goldbloom said softly.

"Yeah. Me too...."

"I mean, he just kept writing it, over and over....he was obsessed with destroying this city, even as a child." Gold Bloom said with a shudder, as her voice cracked slightly.

Investigation Complete (10:04 am)

Result: So that was it. Carlsen's parents were the only ones who understood his voodoo habits. With them gone, he felt he had no one else. And he blamed Nawlans for destroying his life. To be thinking that way as a child....It was too disturbing for words.

We were unsettled by the whole thing, and we just wanted to leave this place. We took his journal and put everything back under the floorboards then left the manor (through the door this time) thinking about it all as we returned to Gold Digger's suite. But somepony else was waiting for us there.

(Gold Digger's Suite, 10:13 am)

"Hello, Miss Meir." our visitor said with a smile.

I smiled at her warmly. "Miss Fortune!" I went to hug her, as she laughed happily. "It's good to see you too. I'm glad you and you're friends are safe." she said softly, patting my back.

I unwrapped my arms from her and smiled at her cheerfully. "I had no idea you were in Nawlans."

Miss Fortune bowed respectfully, still dressed in the same beautiful exotic fabrics as she ever was. "After I had discovered what it was you would be facing, I decided to come to Nawlans personally, to aide you in vanquishing this evil that plagues it."

She leaned in and smiled. "Plus, it's nice to get away from that stuffy shop, every now and again." she joked.

We sat at the table as we explained to Miss Fortune our plan, and what we knew about Carlsen and how we could destroy his tattoo. She put a hoof to her chin as she thought for a moment. "This tattoo sounds very tricky. Such power could only come by making a blood pact with a powerful Loa. There are few practitioners mad enough to create such a pact, as they can severely mentally weaken the user's willpower." She explained. "It's like offering oneself to the Loa as a host for them to collect souls. With each soul, the tattoo grows more elaborate, and the user gains new voodoo abilities. 

"But, If we destroy this tattoo, then Carlsen will indeed be unable to pay his life debt to Bogun Legba. He would then be claimed by the Loa personally."

"So, do you know how we can destroy it?" I asked politely.

Miss Fortune nodded. "I do. Such a thing cannot be destroyed by magic or other alternatives: We will need something stronger then Voodoo if we want to defeat Voodoo." She reached into her satchel and pulled out what looked like a very old, worn recipe. "There is a Sacred Potion, brewed of gold, that will burn away any evil, no matter how mighty. Including this tattoo. But it must be prepared very carefully, and it cannot be made twice."

She handed the recipe to me. "If we make this, we will only have one chance."

I looked at her and smiled. "One chance is all we need." Miss Fortune smiled back as I quickly read through the recipe.

It was very complicated, and required a great many valuable, if not priceless sounding ingredients. Plus it needed to stew for a day after making it for it to be fully ready to use. So we had to make it, today. No question.

"Okay. "I said. "Let's do it then."

Miss Fortune looked at me concerned. "Are you sure, Miss Meir? I am not exaggerating when I say this is possibly the most difficult and powerful potion in the world. It spells instant death if we get even a fraction of one thing wrong." Miss Fortune warned in a grave tone.

I shuddered a bit, but I had already made up my mind. "I'm sure. We have no other choice. It's the only way we can save this city, and possibly even Equestria itself. We have to try."

Miss fortune seemed to admire my bravery as she agreed. "Very well. We will go out and get the ingredients ourselves. Hopefully the potion will be- No, it HAS to be ready by tomorrow night."

"I understand." I said confidently.

"Then lets be off then!" Miss Fortune exclaimed with a smile.

With that we went off into town to begin gathering what we needed for The Sacred Potion. Time was against us now, as we only had one day left before Nightmare Night. We needed to have this potion ready by tomorrow night. 

And we were going to. 

I would make sure of it...