//------------------------------//
// Prologue: The Mansion 
// Story: The 100 Floor Mansion 
// by FandomPlays1234 
//------------------------------//

It was 6:30 P.M. almost time for the nightmare night festival, the one thing that Twilight and Starlight was actually looking forward to this year. But now that their friends were kidnapped by an unknown individual, the only thing that they were doing is saving them. They continued to walk through the dark dense Everfree forest as Spike pulled out the letter they received. 

"It had to be tonight," Starlight whimpered. 

"I don't like this as much as you, but we can't leave them be, they're our friends," said Twilight.

"Yeah, but this is seriously creepy," said Starlight.

"And you HAD to bring me along?" asked Spike. 

"Look I know how much you wanted candy, but our friends are more precious than any candy that they give out," said Twilight.

"Yeah I suppose so, if Rarity is in trouble then, I guess I have no choice," said Spike. The three eventually came out to a large opening in the middle of the forest where an old worn down mansion stood. 

"Whoa," said Starlight looking at the mansion.

"This is right Spike?" asked Twilight.

"Yep," answered Spike looking at the letter.

"Ok, I know that our friends are precious, but I don't want to go in there," whimpered Starlight backing away. 

"Well we have to do it," said Twilight summoning up her courage. 

"Well if it isn't my pal Twilight," chuckled a voice. Twilight, Starlight, and Spike looked behind them to find a creature with mismatched animal parts sitting on the branch of a tree knitting. 

"Discord?" asked Twilight. "What are you doing here?"

"I would like to ask the same, I thought you were celebrating Nightmare night with your friends, so I decided to come here to relax," answered Discord. 

"We would be doing that if they hadn't been kidnapped," said Starlight. Discord's ears dropped as he jumped off the tree.

"Fluttershy....kidnapped...by who?" hissed Discord.

"Apparently, the one responsible is hiding somewhere in there, I think," answered Twilight pointing towards the mansion. 

"Well what are we waiting for, let's go," said Discord picking up the three. 

"Wait what?" asked Spike. But before any of them could oppose they soon found themselves on the mansion's front porch. The four looked up at the creepy looking door as it seems to stare back at them. 

"Well?" stuttered Starlight looking at Twilight. Twilight swallowed hard as she stepped forward and turned the knob. Slowly opening the door as it creaked, a small breeze flowed out. The four looked in and followed Twilight as she slowly entered the mansion. 

"This isn't any better," whimpered Starlight. Suddenly the door behind them slammed shut making the four jump. 

"Uh oh," said Spike. Twilight walked up to the door and pulled on the knob to find that it wouldn't move. 

"Uh I think we're locked in," said Twilight. 

"WHAT!?" yelped Starlight. Just as she screamed, a loud bang from the nearby dresser grabbed their attention. 

"What was that?" asked Spike. The four slowly turned towards the dresser as it suddenly began to vibrate. 

"Th-there's something in there isn't it?" stuttered Starlight. Twilight swallowed hard as she slowly walked over and placed her hooves over the knob. Heart pounding, she opened the dresser as something fell out and onto the ground with a bang, causing Starlight and Spike to run behind Discord trembling. 

"What is it?" Starlight asked nervously. Twilight looked over to find a single human gagged and tied up on the ground. 

"What?" asked Twilight. Starlight and Spike poked their head out from behind Discord. The human let out a muffled scream as he thrashed around. 

"Oh, a human," cheered Discord. 

"Oh geez," said Starlight. "Spike cut the ropes," 

"Um, ok," said Spike following Starlight. The two walked over to the human as Twilight stepped aside. Starlight pulled the cloth of his mouth with her mouth while Spike cut the ropes around his arms and legs with his claws. The human gasped as he looked up at Starlight.

"Thank you," he said. 

"No...no problem," said Starlight. 

"No really, ever since Genesis locked me in there, I couldn't stop thinking about how long it would be until someone came and helped me," said the human. 

"Who?" asked Twilight. 

"I suppose you four don't know about him," said the human. 

"Wait first of all who are you?" asked Spike. 

The human got to his feet and pulled something out of his pants pocket and held it up,"Dallas Lloyd, Private Investigator," said the human. 

"I'm Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends Starlight Glimmer, Spike the dragon, and Discord," said Twilight introducing themselves.

"Hey Dallas, didn't you say that someone locked you in there?" asked Spike. 

"Yeah, but before we get into I guess I should explain my situation," said Dallas. The four looked at each other then back at Dallas to see what he had to say. "So it all started when my boss, told me about a suspicious mansion that suddenly appeared near my neighborhood," began Dallas. "I was asked if I knew anything about this mansion and when I told him I didn't, he explained that it was spooking some of the neighbors so he asked me to check it out in case some homeless guy was living in here," "So I did what asked of me and when I entered the mansion, something seemed off, I felt this dark presence hanging around the entire building and it gave me the chills so I tried to escape, but by then I was already locked in,"

"Well now that you mention, it does give off a feeling of uncertainty," said Twilight.

"I tried contacting my chief, but it turns out that anyone who enters this mansion is completely cut off from the rest of the world," explained Dallas. 

"Wait so nobody is going to come save us?" Spike asked nervously. 

"I assume so, I tried to find every exit but every time I try, I always end up back here," answered Dallas. "But anyways, so knowing that help wasn't going to come, I decided to look around for a bit, I eventually managed to find the library on the fifth floor and decided to do some investigation," 

"Wait they have a library here!?" gasped Twilight.

"Um, yes," Dallas answered."But back to the point, I was looking through some of the books and I managed to learn some interesting things about this mansion and the owner of it," Dallas continued.

"Hmm sounds interesting, go on," said Discord. 

"You seem awfully calm considering that what I'm about to tell may scare you," said Dallas. 

"Hey, I'm the spirit of chaos what do you expect?" laughed Discord. 

"Well anyways is this something we need to know in order to find our way around here?" asked Starlight. 

"Yes," answered Dallas. 

"We're ready," said Twilight. 

"Alright so first things first, this mansion isn't what it seems," said Dallas. "Most people can't even see it,"

"Wait so it's invisible?" asked Spike. 

"Not exactly," answered Dallas. "I didn't really think about until I read it in an article, but this mansion used to belong to someone before it was burned down, now it's said that this mansion only appears in front of only certain people," 

"So it's a phantom?" asked Starlight.

"In a way yes, however it wasn't just any fire, it was the work of an arsonist or in this case someone who sets fires to pieces of property," answered Dallas. "It's also apparent that the arsonist burned the owner alive when he set the fire to this mansion," 

"How terrible," said Starlight. 

"Indeed, this mansion truly has a dark history, but it doesn't end there, during my investigation, I've found that the current owner of this phantom mansion goes by the name of Genesis Clay, the spirit of a treacherous man who has committed many crimes during his life," said Dallas. "It is said that Genesis was the arsonist that burned down this mansion along with other sinful acts such as cheating, lying, stealing, and even worse killing others just for his own satisfaction," 

"Sounds like chaos," snickered Discord. Twilight shot a glare at him obviously not amused with his joke. 

"However, the arson was the last crime he ever committed, the police managed to catch him and because of all the terrible things he's done, he was declared guilty and sentenced to death by the electric chair," said Dallas. 

"Well he's gone at least so that's good right?" asked Spike. 

"Actually that's where things get a lot worse," answered Dallas. Starlight, Twilight, and Spike looked at each other with worried looks while Discord smirked. "According to legends, his spirit was denied entrance into the afterlife because of that evil he possessed, his soul was now forced to wander in the very mansion he burned down, living the rest of his life tormented by the vengeful spirits of his victims and his guilt," 

"Serves him right," said Spike. 

"He of course begged for forgiveness and tried to escape but he was denied passage into the afterlife and would remain here to suffer," said Dallas. "But Genesis, not wanting to suffer any longer, confronted the devil and asked him to let his soul rest in peace," "The devil agreed but his release came with a condition," 

"Condition?" asked Twilight. 

"This mansion currently has 100 floors, if Genesis could find 100 souls from the living that represented every sin in his soul and offer them up as sacrifice, he would let him move on," answered Dallas. 

"100!?" gasped Spike. 

"He agreed and began his hunt, eventually he did manage to find 100 souls, but now that you four have entered here, he will most likely attempt to stop you," said Dallas. 

"We only came here because we want our friends back," said Twilight. 

"I see, well there is a way to get them back," said Dallas.

"How!?" Twilight asked. 

"After you entered the mansion, it most definitely would've alerted Genesis, it's most likely that he will attempt to use the 100 souls to try and stop you, however if you free the first soul, it will force Genesis to reclaim it," explained Dallas. "However it's risky cause the longer a victim has been controlled be Genesis, the easier it will be for Genesis to reclaim their soul,"

"Then what do we do?" asked Starlight. 

"Protect the first soul, the longer the victim stays out of Genesis's control the harder it becomes for Genesis to reclaim that soul, meanwhile you need to continue freeing souls, when that happens Genesis will have to reclaim more souls," answered Dallas. "However that's the key, Genesis can only reclaim one soul at a time, the harder it is for Genesis to reclaim the souls, the longer the process becomes,"

"So basically when we free the first soul we have to protect it while we free all the other souls, and vice versa?" asked Starlight. 

"Bingo," said Dallas. 

"Sounds hard," said Spike. 

"And tedious," said Discord. 

"Although it may seem painful, you won't always have to do the work, once a soul could think for themselves again, they have a chance to resist Genesis's control," explained Dallas. "The longer that a victim stays out of his control, the easier it is for them to resist," 

"So wait you want us to free the 100 souls that are trapped in here?" asked Twilight. 

"If you want to save you're friends then yes," answered Dallas. The four looked at each other for a while.

"Do we HAVE to do this?" asked Discord.

"We have no choice, what else are we going to do?" asked Twilight.

"Nothing," answered Discord.

"So you want to sit around in this mansion not able to escape?" asked Spike.

"Pretty much," answered Discord.

"You'll never see Fluttershy again," said Starlight.

"I'm in let's go," said Discord quickly jumping up. 

"Alright, we'll do it," said Twilight. 

"Great," said Dallas.

"But what about you?" asked Starlight. 

"What you think I'm just gonna sit around and miss out?" asked Dallas. 

"I guess not," said Twilight.

"And besides you'll need someone to guide you," said Dallas. 

"I suppose so," said Starlight. 

"Alright enough talk, let's go!" said Discord grabbing the four. Twilight, Starlight, and Spike sighed as they followed Dallas to the room on the first floor. This was going to be one crazy Nightmare Night.