//------------------------------// // What Remains // Story: Supernatural | Burning Ghost // by DerpymuffinAuthor //------------------------------// The neighborhood that Centennial Road led to had been abandoned for close to twenty years, and it showed. The buildings were either burned down to blackened studs or had been partly reclaimed by nature. Rainbow and Shining were always the ones to run headfirst into those kinds of buildings, very rarely to stop a ghost.   Rainbow made a strangled sound when the car hit a pothole, having been distracted by the view of the decrepit homes. “Okay, this one.” The house that used to be home of Jade Welsh had been the main source of the fire. It had once been three stories, although the second had mostly collapsed into the first, taking the third with it. The fire had clearly spread to the next few houses, although not leaving as severe a result as it had on the house. Sunset could recall the report. Two bodies were found charred beyond recognition in their bed. Jade Welsh’s mother and father. “Damn, did they not have a fire station or something?” “Rainbow, this was barely even twenty years ago. I’m pretty sure they had a fire station.” “Well, they clearly weren’t very fast.” Sunset rolled her eyes. Pulling the car over somewhere level, she cut the engine and stepped out of the car. Rainbow quickly followed, walking around to the back. She popped open the back trunk, propping it open with a sawed-off. Sunset stood off to the side, hands twitching for the weaponry.   Rainbow handed her a shotgun, a pocketful of salt shells, and a flashlight. Sunset watched as Rainbow grabbed a duffel bag that she quickly stuffed with a stick of accelerant, a can of salt, and some more salt shells.   She put the sawed-off back down so she could shut the trunk. Pulling the duffel over her shoulder, turning to Sunset. “Alright, let’s go.” She lifted her flashlight in the direction of the crumbling remains of Jade Welsh’s house and started walking.   The lawn had grown back over and around the charred debris, weeds twined around most of the still-standing fenceposts. There was a small pile of charred debris overgrown with weeds close to the fence that could have once been a shed. There was still most of a wall to the face of the house, a door still hanging in the doorframe, and so Rainbow approached it. She reached out, planning on pushing the door open. The door disconnected from its hinges, clattering to the ground in a puff of dirt and splinters. “Holy-!” Rainbow jerked back, nearly knocking Sunset into the weeds. She stared at the door for a second before looking back to Sunset. “Rainbow!” Sunset hissed at her. Rainbow shrugged as Sunset dusted off her jacket. The inside of the house didn’t look any better than the outside. The only difference was there was a lot more cobwebs. One support beam, which had meant to be supporting one half of the second floor, had snapped in half and thus half the second floor had collapsed in with it.   However, there was still a large portion of space to walk around and look. The fireplace was charred, but solid. It was too dark inside the building, even with the dying light of day reaching through the gaps, without the flashlights. Sunset could see the dust motes floating in the sunlight. Rainbow flicked on her flashlight. Sunset kept close, following as Rainbow continued onward. “Here, ghostie ghostie.” Rainbow hummed, turning away from the collapsed half of the building and walking around to the bay window, its windows having been shattered aside from a few stubborn pieces of dirty glass. Sunset hung back towards the door. “Really?” Rainbow turned to look at Sunset. “What?” “You- know what? Nevermind.” Sunset waved dismissively with her flashlight, walking towards the fireplace. She could recall at least two cases where the body (or what was left of them) had been stuffed into the chimney of some abandoned place. The floorboards creaked under Sunset’s weight. “You gained some weight while you were off at college?” Rainbow asked, earning a sharp look in response. This wasn’t exactly a good setting for banter. Not like that had ever deterred Rainbow before. “Lost some, actually. You should try eating something healthier than fast food for a bit.” “Nah, I need the calories.” Sunset scoffed, turning back towards the fireplace. Each step had the floorboards protesting. Sunset froze when the floorboards started to dip under her weight. Maybe she shouldn’t be walking on an abandoned, fire-damaged, twenty-something floor. There was a hole a few feet left of the fireplace. It looked like the floorboards had been snapped in half. A sliver of fabric stuck out between the jagged edges of two boards. Sunset paused, tilting her head and squinting. She took one hesitant step forward, then a second, and then another, until she was closer to the hole. She lowered herself towards the floor, reaching out for the fabric. “Hey, Sunset, maybe you should watch-” Rainbow’s warning was cut short as the creaking suddenly grew sharp. For one moment, it was statue-still. The next, the floor gave out beneath her.    Sunset shrieked, clawing desperately as the boards shattered and she fell through faster than she could properly process. She heard Rainbow yelping and more floorboards creaking, but all she could focus on was stopping herself from falling through. Her elbows banged against the floorboards, shotgun and flashlight clattering to the ground as Sunset tried to get a grip on the charred floor. Bits came off, digging under her fingernails as she slid down, more floorboards caving inwards to turn the new and old hole into one. They scraped at her neck and hair, pulling out a couple strands and scraping her leather jacket. Her desperate attempts to stop her fall failed and Sunset found herself in midair for one terrifying moment, and then she was hitting the ground, legs first. Sunset rolled the second she hit the ground, yelping as the pain shot through the marrow of her bones and spread into her muscles with fiery vengeance. Somewhere, she heard her flashlight  and shotgun fall after her. She collapsed forward, a few stray chunks of floorboard falling down after her. Sunset could feel wood digging into parts where she’d landed on them, but beneath that she felt something solid and cold. Passing out seemed like a very pleasant idea at the moment. “Sunset!? Sunset!” Her first attempt at speaking was an agonized wheeze. Her second attempt came out as a drawn-out moan. “I-” Sunset’s voice shook. “I- I’m alive...” She heard Rainbow huff out a sigh of relief. “Holy fuck… You alright?” Sunset really didn’t want to move. A piercing headache had just spawned at the base of her skull and was starting to rise into her eyes. But she slowly pushed herself up enough to roll slowly onto her back, her arms shaking. The motion made her want to shut down everything, at the moment, she would describe her brain as feeling like it was liquefied and sloshing around in her skull. She moved her legs, hissing at the instant pain. “N-Nothing seems broken… Hurts like hell, though...” “Alright- uh… Stay put! I- I’ll find a safer way down.” “Y-yeah… You... do that.” Sunset groaned, lowering her head back to the floor and closing her eyes. A head-pounding few moments passed. Sunset could hear Rainbow moving around upstairs. “Sunset?” Another voice, hoarse and scratchy, set Sunset’s heartbeat racing again as she opened her eyes and tried to take in her surroundings. She must have fallen into a basement or something. The floor had largely been damaged and she could see the beams and charred remains of the subfloor. Salt ran along the entire perimeter of the room and something dark was smeared across the floor. Slumped against the wall past Sunset’s feet was the shape of a man.   Sunset lurched upright, lifting up a hand to support her head which bobbled with the motion. Her other hand reached for the flashlight. “Sunset! Sunset- it-” The man’s voice cut off abruptly and he coughed a bit before continuing. “It’s Shining!” Sunset blinked, trying to get the spots out of her vision. “Shining?” “Hey…” He wheezed, shifting forward and crawling on his hands and knees out of the shadows and into the light shed through the holes in the floor above. Shining wasn’t the same as when Sunset had last seen him three years ago, which wasn’t really surprising. He had let his beard grow out a little, his hair was definitely an inch longer, and right now he looked like a wreck. His left leg was covered in dry blood, a strip of what was presumably his shirt tied over it. The fabric in the floorboards, Sunset realized, was from Shining’s tattered old jeans. The dark smears on the floor must have been his blood. “Oh… Thank god! We- We’ve been looking for you!” Sunset looked around, becoming acutely aware of the absence of one particular person. “Where’s… Where’s Twilight?” “She’s… Not with you…?” “No, Shining, we came here looking for you two… How long have you been down here?” “I… I dunno.” “Alright, well… Rainbow’s gonna get us out of here.”    “Water…?” Sunset shook her head. All she had was a flashlight and shotgun. Sunset turned around, trying to see if there was a door that could bring her and Shining back up to the next level.   “T-There’s a door… It- jammed...” Shining was right. A very simple door, much like the one upstairs, only much less charred, was one of the only things in this room aside from an old camo duffel. Shining’s duffel bag. Sunset noticed a small flask. Shining always kept a flask of holy water on him. That explained the hoarse voice. Sunset tried to pull herself to her feet, only to stagger and drop back to the floor. The muscles and bones in her legs burned and her vision spun with the movement.  She got up again, this time making it to the wall. She subdued the pained noises trying to climb out of her throat. The wall was a solid, grounding mass of cold. It didn’t soothe her aches, but it kept her upright. Leaning down, carefully, she picked up her shotgun and made her way around to the door. She tried the rusted doorknob. Her scraped up palms prickled in aggravation. As Shining had said, the knob jiggled, but it didn’t open. Sunset glanced at her gun, then at the door. She moved over to the center of the room, pointing her shotgun at the door. Her legs shook, ready to buckle, but Sunset did her best to still her aim. Then she fired. “Sunset!?” Rainbow shouted a moment after. “Sunset, you alright!?” A hole appeared in the old door, creating a big enough gap for Sunset to put her arm through with minimal splinter risk. The sound of the gun echoed in the small room, adding some extra ammunition to Sunset’s headache. Sunset stumbled over to the door, dropping her gun on the way. She leaned against the door, sticking a hand through the hole she made, and tried to turn the doorknob. “Sunset!? Answer me!” The doorknob was wedged stuck. Sunset lowered, her legs quaking when she bent her knees, as she looked through the hole. It was an old wood chair, it’s two parallel wooden slats that made up its back wedged around the doorknob. That wouldn’t be a problem if it weren’t for the heap of charred debris that had collapsed in on what was plausibly the hallway. Sunset couldn’t tell from her angle, and her legs buckled when she bent them to much. “Sunset!?” Rainbow shouted again. Sunset had the vague fear she’d send the rest of this house collapsing down with her shouting and thundering footsteps. It echoed all around her. “God-” Her fingers clawed at the door, the charred flakes from the floorboards above pinching at the flesh under her nails. She hissed, cradling her hands against her chest for a moment. She’d lost fingernails before, she could handle some annoying stray flakes of charred wood. Later. When Shining wasn’t slowly withering away on the other side of the room. “There’s a basement! The door’s blocked!” “I found another gun! I think it’s-” “It’s Shining’s! He’s down here!” There’s a brief pause. Maybe Rainbow was taking a moment to think, to breathe out a sigh of relief that Sunset somehow couldn’t hear. “Twilight?” “No,” Sunset managed to choke out. They can worry about that later, she quickly told herself. Her organs twisted as if in protest of that idea. “Alright… I’m gonna try and find a staircase… There’s gotta be one… Somewhere… Can you try and get out?” “I… Oh! Rainbow! Throw down your lockpicking tools!” “What?!” “Do it!” Sunset listened to Rainbow’s footsteps. She stumbled over to the part of the room where she could look up through the hole in the floor. Rainbow didn’t approach the edge, but her leather-wrapped lockpicking kit fell through and hit the floor with a metal-on-metal noise that startled Shining. Sunset shakily lowered herself and snatched up the kit. She fumbled with the string, unrolling it as she walked over to the door. She started with the bottom hinge first. Her fingers shook and burned. Rainbow’s footsteps and angry cursing became background noise. It was a relief to Sunset’s legs, however. Getting back up to handle the top hinge was a little hard and a lot more shaky, but soon enough Sunset had the door hinges undone. She tossed the kit to the side and set her feet so she could move the door. She pushed at it, the door moving a little. Sunset kicked the door, wincing in pain. A minute of shuffling later, Sunset managed to shift the door out of its frame. She jerked back, half expecting it to fall on her, but it didn’t. It simply tilted dangerously with a loud scraping sound. Shining made a rough noise from his spot by the wall. Sunset hoped he could stay conscious long enough to get him out of the house. Two days without water and food hadn’t done him any favors. At least, Sunset assumed he’d been running about about two days without water. Sunset hissed as the wood pricked at her palms while she pulled on it. The door groaned. Sunset got down onto her knees, going underneath the door. She reached out to the chair legs and began to push up. When the chair dislodged from the doorknob, it fell back and Sunset quickly released it as it clattered to the ground. Sunset sucked in a breath as the door tilted. Sunset scuttled backwards, the floor prickling her exposed hands. Once she got out of here, she would have to spend a while tending to her hands. Pushing up to her feet, she grabbed the door and pulled. The door dislodged, falling inwards with Sunset’s pull. She released it last second, jumping back as it clattered to the floor. Dust puffed up and Sunset quickly tried to step out of its range, which didn’t keep her from inhaling a lung-full of dust. “Sunset!?” “I’m fi-!” Sunset called, triggering a harsh coughing fit. “I’m fine!” “What the hell was that?” Sunset cleared her throat. “The door. I pulled it out.” “Can you get out, now?” Sunset couldn’t see very far into the hall, but she didn’t exactly feel optimistic. She picked her flashlight up from the floor and turned it on. The hall was charred, but not as severely as the rest of the house. There was a clear-ish path to the stairs. Sunset felt the air rush out of her lungs in relief.    “Yeah, I think so.”    Sunset approached the stairs and pointed her flashlight up at the ceiling above. The walls had gone from wood to concrete and the stairwell led to a trapdoor. Climbing to the top of the stairs, Sunset gave the trapdoor a push. It shifted just enough for Sunset to realize how heavy it was. Sunset climbed back down the stairs, her heart lurching for her throat with each creak and groan of the boards. Once she was back in the room (which she guessed must have been a cellar), she shouted up through the hole. “Hey, Rainbow!” “Yeah?” “There’s a trapdoor, I think it leads outside! Can you go check?” “Yeah!”  Her footsteps rattled the floorboards as she rushed outside. Sunset turned to Shining, who was staring at her with a tired look. “We’re gonna get you out of here, buddy.” He gave a weak nod. Sunset walked over to him, crouching down to pull one of his arms around her shoulders. He groaned as Sunset forced him to his feet and Sunset groaned as a majority of his weight was pushed onto her. Moving was slow and stumbling, which gave Rainbow a long enough time to start banging and shaking the trapdoor. She shouted something, but it wasn’t discernable anymore. Shining’s legs gave out on the first stair, his weight imbalance almost forcing Sunset’s face into one of the higher up steps. He hit the stairs with a pained grunt. “Hey, Shining, we’re almost out.” Shining didn’t respond. Frowning, Sunset walked up to the top of the stairs and pushed at the trapdoor as hard as she could. There was a brief pause, followed by a response thump. Sunset sat down, the muscles in her legs and arms burning. The sharp scraping sound of metal on metal nearly sent Sunset falling down the stairs. Her head jerked in the direction of the sound. Rainbow pushed the trapdoor upright and Sunset sucked in a deep breath of fresh air as an evening breeze drifted into the stairway. Rainbow’s left arm was stiff at her side, clutching her flashlight. “Oh, thank you, God.” Rainbow breathed out, seeing Shining collapsed over the bottom of the stairs. “See any bones up there?” “Nope. C’mon, let’s get Shining out of here.” Sunset went back down to the base of the stairs, grabbing onto Shining’s arm once she reached him. “C’mon, Shining, we’re almost out.” Shining groaned, pushing himself upright and letting Sunset half-drag him up to the exit. He dropped to the grass like a shit-faced Moondancer. He groaned, shifting just enough to look up at Rainbow. “Hey, hardass.” “H- ey…” Rainbow stood up, picking up her duffel bag from beside the trapdoor, wincing when she initially tried to hold the weight with her left arm. Sunset hooked an arm under Shining’s, trying to pull him back to his feet. Rainbow kept her flashlight out, which helped Sunset see where she was walking as she lead Shining back to the Impala, wincing everytime he stumbled on rubble or crumbling asphalt. Rainbow opened the door for Sunset to dump Shining into the backseat. Rainbow then went ahead and opened the passenger door so she could root about. She handed Shining a bottle of water. Sunset didn’t want to ask how old it was. “I bet the diner’s still open. We can go grab you some food after we patch up that leg.” Shining sat up as he drank the water, finding some refreshed energy in the old water. “Twilight.” He gasped, wiping away the dribbling water from his face with the back of his hand. It smeared dirt across his pale face. “What about Twilight?” “She was-” He cleared his throat. “She was suppos’d to get help. That’s what she was gonna do.” “That explains the missing Mustang. Shining, any idea where she might be?” “The motel?” “We already checked there.” “She may have left town.” That got both Shining and Rainbow’s attention. “What’d you mean?” “You still have Twilight’s journal?” “Oh, yeah.” Rainbow pulled something out from her duffel and held it up. It was a worn, leather-back journal that had seen both some pretty nasty bars and fights. The latch had been resewn at least once. “Twilight’s journal.” Shining wheezed, eyes wide. “The police had it, but what makes you think Twilight just left town?” “Without me?” SHining whimpered. “Twilight wasn’t at the police station, but they had her book, and Twilight was the one who sent us the message to come help. If the Mustang isn’t here, Twilight’s not here, and she left us that message.” “Why the hell would she just ditch like this?!” “I don’t know. Let’s just patch up Shining and get out of here, alright?” “What about the ghost?” “The-” Shining broke into a cough. “She’s not here.” “Well, it was a long-shot in the first place.” “We should leave, then. Get out of town before the police try to find us.” “Police?” Shining asked, eyebrows furrowing. “Oh, yeah… The police caught on.” “Hope you didn’t leave anything important in that hotel room cause all of its probably been confiscated.” Shining groaned, slumping back in the seats. “Please don’t tell me you left any of your fake IDs in there.” “We didn’t.” Shining snapped, rubbing at his eyes. “Well, that’s good.” “Yeah, yeah, let’s just get out of here.” Rainbow huffed, walking around to the driver’s side of the car and dropping into the seat. Sunset shut the door to the back before taking her place at the passenger's side. The only lights came from the headlights of the Impala. They cast sharp shadows on Shining’s face when Sunset glanced back at him. “Hey, Sunset… How’s college?” “So… What college?” Shining asked as he settled into a chair. “It’s… It’s alright. I’m gonna try and get a full ride for the next year.” “She’s got a girlfriend.” Sunset shot Rainbow a sour look. “Oh.” “Yeah.” There was a minute’s pause. “Is she pretty?” Sunset took a moment to find her words. They usually came easy. “Yeah. Her name’s Moondancer.” “She’s an egghead, just like Sunset.” Rainbow hummed, smirking. “Hey, Shining, how’s your leg?” Sunset’s phone vibrated in her pocket, miraculously unbroken from her previous fall. She could only guess who was on the other end of the line. “Really bloody.” “Well… Sunset, you can take care of that, right?” “Uh, yeah, but-” “But what?” Sunset pulled out her phone, flipping it open to see the photo of her and Moondancer, smiling and giddy on New Years Eve. “Sunset, your girlfriend can handle you being gone for just an extra day or two to help make sure Shining’s leg’s alright. Hell, you don’t even need an extra day. I can pull over right now-” “What about Twilight?” “What?” “How are you and Shining gonna find Twilight?” “Uh, gee, I dunno, follow the journal? She left some coordinates in there.” “Sunset, you’re not coming?” Shining asked, causing Rainbow to pause and actually stare at Sunset for a solid minute. It was a good thing they were on some abandoned road in rural East Equestria and not in Canterlot somewhere. “I mean… I have college, I could get a full ride-” “Twilight could be in trouble, Sunset, and you’re more concerned over whether or not you’ll get a full ride?” “Twilight can handle herself!” “What, and your girlfriend can’t?” “Don’t bring Moondancer into this-” “Why not? She’s the reason you’re so insistent on staying out of hunting, isn’t she?” “You know what, Rainbow Dash? Go fuck yourself.” “Guys-!” “Oh, that’s so mature.” “Rainbow-” Shining tried to interject again. “Look, I came here to help you find Shining and Twilight. You found Shining, you know where Twilight is, I did my part, now I’m going back to being a normal person where monsters only exist in books and the biggest risk to my safety is a damn car!” “But they don’t just exist in books- They’re everywhere, Sunset. You can’t pretend they’re not.” Sunset took a breath, holding up her hands. “You know what? I don’t care. I. Don’t. Care.” “Sunset…” Shining murmured from the backseat. Sunset recognized the voice, the one he used when Twilight had a meltdown or went way too far. “Don’t. I’m not getting dragged back into this shit, alright? I’m not.” “Sunset, Rainbow, we still have a ghost to handle.” Sunset had completely forgotten about Jade Welsh.   “Right. Did you figure out where she was buried?” “No, no… But I have an idea.” “What?” “Twilight found a pattern. A lot of the guys the ghost went after were liars, or were suspected of cheating.” “So, Jade’s not just going after guys cause one killed her?” “No, she’s going after ones that told big-ass lies. Like cheating on their girlfriends.” “You have a plan, don’t you?” “Yeah. I don’t know if you two would like it, though.” “Lay it on me, Shiny.” Rainbow hummed, her tone still just as tense. “I can kiss one of you.” Sunset choked on air. “You know, if you ever wanna, you just gotta-” “No, I mean, I just kiss one of you. That works as infidelity, right?” “Not if you don’t have a girlfriend.” Shining was silent for a long moment. “What?” “Just trust me.” (4) Missed Calls (8) New Messages “Dammit,” Sunset shut her phone and put it back into her pocket as Rainbow dropped back into her seat, wiping her mouth on the back of her hand. “You’re not telling Twilight about this, right?” Rainbow asked. “Hell no.” There was a long moment where the three sat in their seats, ears perked, every sense waiting for the ghost to make herself appear. “Should we… Start moving?” “Yeah, I guess. Shining, start screaming if you see her.” Rainbow flippantly commented over her shoulder before pushing the gas on the Impala. Rainbow turned on the radio to a Shadow Man song.   “There’s ghosts in my head And they tell me imma’ wind up dead Don’t got anywhere to go--” Of course, before it could get very far, the music dissolved into fuzzing static. “I… Can never… go… home…” The radio hissed, the lyrics of the song distorted and underlaid by a scratchy voice. Sunset paused, staring at the radio. Sunset had seen what was meant to be Jade Welsh’s home, her mother. It was odd that she wouldn’t ever want to go home, when home was probably one of the few nice places in Jade Welsh’s memory. “-SHIT!” Shining yelped from the backseat. Rainbow swore, her whole body jumping and sending the Impala halfway off the road. She stamped on the brakes, the car protesting with a slight squeal. Sunset whirled around, her gaze meeting the cold, glazed eyes of a young woman in the backseat. “Take me home.” She said, staring directly at Shining between the tangled locks of black hair, her neck twisted unpleasantly. Sunset nervously swallowed, a chill creeping up her neck. Shining croaked. “No.” Jade’s eyes narrowed, her mouth turning into a frown. “Take me home.” She repeated, with more force. “No.” Rainbow was staring at Sunset, wide-eyed, and breathing out swears. Jade’s hands, the pale bordering on a light tone of blue, curled into fists. The door locks clicked. Rainbow spun around, hands held up in uncertainty of what to do with them. The Impala’s engine roared as it put on a rush of sudden speed, sending Rainbow slamming back in her seat. Sunset nearly tumbled into the backseat, her fingers grasping for purchase on the door handle and the leather seat. “Shining- you alright?” Rainbow shouted, eyes wide as she tried to not be viciously bounced around by the ghost’s sudden possession of her car. The ghost’s hand reached for Shining, the fingernails jagged as if they’d been pulled and chewed at. “What the hell?!” Rainbow huffed, clutching tight to the steering wheel. Sunset could see the muscles in her arms tense, but the wheel turned the other way that Rainbow was clearly trying to pull. Sunset spared a glance over her shoulder. Jade Welsh was still there, glaring at Sunset as her body distorted like she was on a poor quality TV. The car suddenly jerked to the side and stop, sending Sunset slamming into the window and Rainbow sliding out of her seat, her head bouncing off the dashboard with an unpleasant sound. Shining cried out in pain, but Sunset’s vision was spinning too fast for her to even comprehend to look back. The door opened with a click, sending Sunset falling back-first onto overgrown grass and the burned remains of a picket fence. “Rainbow,” she croaked, eyes screwed up in pain. “Get off! Get- GET OFF!” Shining’s voice devolved into agonized yelling. Sunset rolled onto her stomach, heartbeat thrumming in her throat as she forced herself to her feet, slumping against the side of the car. Jade Welsh was on top of Shining, her long fingers sunken into his chest as he writhed about underneath her, kicking and screaming. Sunset spotted Rainbow’s duffel, half buried under her motionless form that was slumped on the floor against the seats. Sunset reached forward, grabbing the handle of the shotgun and pulling it forward, only to spin and point it at Jade.   Jade screeched as the bullets went straight through her, her distorted shape quickly vanishing. Shining sucked in a breath, clutching at his chest. Sunset took a moment to breath, eyes wide, her heart hammering in every part of her body. She did not miss this. “Honey, I don’t mind- Oh, look at the time. I don’t got anywhere to go. I run along solo.” “She- She’s gonna come back-” He choked out, entire body shaking. “T-the salt-” He pointed to Rainbow’s bag with a shaky hand. “My honey, you say it’s fine But oh this ain’t no home of mine.” Sunset dove for it, pulling out a can of it. Her knuckles grazed the recorder that Rainbow had showed her the other night. “I can never go home…” Sunset dropped the salt like it had burned her, shooting upright. “There ain’t no place I can go. That can hold my weary sou-” The song once again dissolved into static. “Sunset!” Shining called, but Sunset didn’t listen. She pushed herself into the driver’s seat. She grabbed the wheel, foot over the gas. “What are you- SUNSET!” Sunset pressed on the gas, bracing herself. The Impala drove forward, crashing through the front porch of the old house. Rainbow’s body bounced on the floor. Sunset turned around, grabbing the shotgun again. She desperately felt around in her pocket. Her fingers hooked around a salt shell and she pulled it out, shoving it into the gun and pointing it at Jade, who had re-appeared over Shining’s body. She fired again and Jade vanished with a second angry screech. “Oh, no home, no place, nowhere that I can go.” Sunset dropped the gun, leaning down and pulling Rainbow upright by her shoulders. “Honey, I’ll go alone.” “Rainbow!” She hissed, placing two fingers against Rainbow’s throat. She breathed out a sigh of relief as she felt the small pulsations of her heartbeat. “Cry me a river of tears, I ain’t ever gonna stay here-” “Come on, wake up!” Sunset huffed as the white noise filled the car again, pulling the salt out of the duffel and tossing the can to Shining Armor. She didn’t look to see if he caught it, instead looking for Jade. Jade was standing in front of the Impala, glaring at Sunset with what she could only call a pout. Sunset sat up slowly, watching as Jade’s eyes shifted from her to her surroundings. Her eyes went big, like an owl, as she slowly turned. Sunset followed her gaze to the doorway by the fireplace as two ghosts, gray and far more transparent than Jade, appeared. They walked forward, hand-in-hand. Jade took a step back. “You came home…” The woman spoke, her husband standing beside her and staring ahead with a furrowed brow. “No…” “Come here.” The woman reached out, smiling. “Come back to us.” “No- NO-!” The two surged forward, grasping Jade in their arms. The ghosts distorted wildly, stretching and distorting as flames formed at their feet, licking up as a chorus of screams echoed throughout the old house. Out of all the screams, the small scream of a little girl was the most distinguished to Sunset. And then the ghosts collapsed inward, sinking through the floorboards and vanishing with the screams. Sunset let out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding, dropping onto the floor of the Impala, grasping the dashboard to keep her upright. “Oh, I go solo!” Sunset jerked, the sudden guitar riff startling her. She quickly turned the radio down, her head pulsing with her erratic heartbeat. “Sunset?” “Solo, honey!” It sounded like a whisper, now. “I- I… Holy shit…” “And you know what that means.” “Is she gone?” “Yeah,” Sunset breathed out. “Yeah, she’s gone…” She could hear Shining breathe a sigh of relief in the backseat. “Rainbow Dash?” Sunset looked down at Rainbow’s face. Blood dripped from her nose and a bruise was forming on her face around a shallow break in the skin. Dark purple, rimmed in greenish yellow. Rainbow would have a headache for a while, probably. Perhaps even a concussion. “She’s… She’s breathing.” Sunset offered, poking Rainbow in the face. “Hand me your water bottle.” Shining weakly handed it to her and Sunset unscrewed the cap, dumping a generous amount on Rainbow’s face. Rainbow groaned, only to let a small amount of water into her mouth. Sunset sat back, watching as Rainbow came out of her coughing fit to groan again. She winced as her hand grazed over her bruising forehead. “Shit…” She stiffened for a moment, looking up at Sunset and then practically lurching into the backseat to look at Shining, who still remained sprawled on his back but not screaming nearly as much as he had been before Rainbow had been knocked unconscious. “Where’d she go?’ “She’s gone.” “What?” “Her parents or… Or something -- I dunno. They came back, took her with them.” “Huh… Wait a sec-” Rainbow pushed herself upright and stumbled out of the car. “Why the fuck is my car in the house!?” “Yeah… I… I kinda had to take her home.” Rainbow looked at Sunset for a long moment before pointing with a shaky hand. “If you messed up my baby, I’m gonna fuckin’ murder you.” Sunset held up her hands, wiggling back into the passenger seat. “Got it.” “Can you patch Shining up?” “What about you?” Sunset gestured to the bruise, bold even on Rainbow’s slightly darker complexion.   Rainbow shrugged. “I can still drive.”   “Everywhere I go… I go solo.”