//------------------------------// // The week before the celebration. // Story: The cursed resident. // by Sylif Daring Doo //------------------------------// "I really don't know Sweetie." Magnum said. Rarity and Sweetie Belle told their parents that they opened the locked door upstairs, and they asked if they knew why it was locked in the first place, but neither of them knew why, apparently their grandfather never said. "I think what I'm most confused about is that salt line, and the iron bars on the window, what exactly was your grandfather trying to hide in there anyway?" Betty wondered. Rarity shrugged. "I am not sure, but it is not important now, maybe he just wanted to scare us or something." She said. Sweetie Belle took the time to walk away from the three older unicorns, she looked out the window and took a breath, and to her surprise, she could see it as though it were freezing. 'That's......odd.' She thought as she looked outside in silence. Soon enough, Rarity walked over to her sister. "Are you alright?" She asked curiously. Sweetie Belle looked at her sister and nodded. "Yea, I'm just wondering what grandpa was thinking, making that salt line and barring the window." She replied. Rarity nodded. "I know what you mean, but I'll clean up the salt and remove the bars." She tapped her chin in thought for a second. "Well, I need to buy some new carpet for the floor anyway, why don't you go up and see if you can find something a while? grandfather was a master of hiding things after all." She said. Sweetie nodded. "Sure thing, but I get first pick on anything I find." She replied. Rarity walked to the stairs and headed up stairs to get ready for the day. _____*ten minutes later.*_____ Sweetie Belle finally returned to the formerly locked room, she immediately began to search for any secret panels or holes in the floor, she used her hooves to feel over the wall carefully, but by the time she finished the first wall, she had found nothing. "Nothing here." She muttered as she walked to the next wall. Suddenly, the door to the room slowly creaked as it slowly closed on its own, Sweetie Belle's eyes widened as the door had no magical aura, and there wasn't any wind today, she placed her hooves on the nearby wall, hoping that her search would distract her from the door. But as soon as she placed her hooves on the wall, she felt her body grow cold quickly and she shivered. "Why.....is it so cold?" She asked herself as she removed her hooves. As soon as she did so, the cold vanished, Sweetie Belle gulped and catiously placed a hoof on the wall, but now there was no cold. "What is going on?" She asked herself quietly. ______*Ponyville, twenty minutes later*______ Rarity walked back home with the new carpet in tow, main advantage of having magic, you could lift things that were larger than yourself easily with enough practice. Although, it was weirdly difficult to find pale blue carpet these days, even more so to find a store that it isn't sold out in, but she was happy, she found the carpet and that was good enough. She walked around seven minutes and finally reached her house, she walked to the door and opened it, she saw her parents sitting on the couch having a conversation. "I really don't understand why it got so cold all of a sudden." Magnum stated, he sounded spooked. "It happened so fast, there wasn't any warning." Betty replied, her tone the same as her husbands. Rarity raised an eyebrow but paid no mind as she closed the door and headed upstairs. "Oh hey Rarity!" Betty said happily. "Do you need help?" She offered. With a shake of her head, Rarity walked up the stairs. "I'm fine mother, just relax and let your back heal." She replied. Betty had damaged her back by falling down some stairs at a hotel in Manehatten, so she wasn't supposed to go up any stairs, or do any heavy lifting or excessive magic usage. Rarity walked to the formerly locked room and stepped inside, the room was empty just like before, aside from a very puzzled looking Sweetie Belle. "Are you alright?" She asked. Sweetie Belle looked at her sister and nodded. "Yea, but for some reason, when I put my hoof on walls, sometimes they feel ice cold, other times they feel like the same temperature from the rest of the house." She replied, she didn't sound confused, she sounded intrigued. "Maybe it's just your imagination?" Rarity suggested. Sweetie Belle blinked. "Maybe, but dad felt it too." She countered. _______*the next day.*_______ Rarity was busy working at her boutique while her family enjoyed the town, it was very quiet today as she worked, but for once she wished it wasn't so quiet, because there was a feeling of unease around her ever since she opened the room. She had replaced the carpet and threw away the old carpet, Rarity wasn't sure what to do with the room yet, but she had time to figure that out, one thing that did help with the boredom and on the income front, was that she was chosen to handle decorations for the town hall during the summer sun celebration. Rarity was in the middle of one of her last minute orders when she heard a thud downstairs, her ears perked up in alarm and she set her sewing needle and cloth aside, she then headed downstairs to find the source. The main show room was empty however, aside from the usual equipment, however, one of the ponyquins were toppled and the suit it displayed was on the floor. Rarity put it back up and cleaned the suit off with her magic, and once things were back to normal, Rarity sighed. "Now how did that happen?" She wondered. Just as she spoke, one of the vases holding flowers fell off its small table and smashed on the floor, making Rarity jump in surprise and shock at the random occurrence. Before she could clean it up, the table itself was flipped upside down and the legs were smashed off by an invisible force, Rarity's eyes widened and she quickly bolted out of the building screaming. _______*later, Rarity's house.*_______ Sweetie Belle grumbled as she sat on her bed, she was grumpy now because her hair was standing straight up and looking like she was electrocuted, she was also grounded for something she didn't do which didn't help her mood. Earlier in the day, she had been standing by a case of flowers which then shattered suddenly by something unseen, of course Magnum and Betty thought she had broken it and grounded her, regardless of her protests of innocence. So now she was alone in her room waiting for dinner to be done or to not be grounded anymore, the problem was that the air had become charged and caused her hair to stand on end. 'It'll take me forever to fix this.' She complained mentally. Sweetie Belle laid in complete silence up until she felt her hair being messed with, she sighed. "Can you not mess with me any more today? I'm already grounded because of you." She said. Whatever was messing with her hair stopped and the air immediately warmed up in the room. "Thanks." She mumbled. It took about five minutes until Sweetie Belle realized that she had spoken to something that wasn't there, and that it had responded, she quickly looked around her room. "Are you in here right now?" She asked quietly. As if on cue, the air grew cold and the filly felt something brush against her forelegs, she shivered at the strange sensation. "I'll take that as a yes." She whispered. ______*the next day.*______ Rarity stepped out of the shower with a slightly annoyed expression, yesterday during dinner, her plates and silverware had floated on their own and seemed to have minds of their own as they avoided the family, and if that weren't bad enough, her shampoo and soap were moving around in the shower. Right now she was very annoyed because all of her brushes and combs were nowhere to be found, Rarity soon found them by her vanity mirror and walked back into the master bathroom after grabbing them. Rarity soon set about fixing her mane and tail for the day. "Don't you dare mess with me right now." Soon enough, Rarity groaned as she realized how foolish that statement was. 'There's nothing there, why am I so on edge?' She asked herself mentally. _______*meanwhile*_______ Sweetie Belle sat in her room in silence as she listened and waited for anything to happen. "If you are here.......knock once." She said. For a while, there was silence, and just as Sweetie Belle went to get up and leave, a single loud knock came from the desk, Sweetie blinked in surprise and sat down again. "This......is incredible." She muttered. "Did we do something to make you angry?" She asked. "Two knocks for no and one for yes." She added a moment later. Much to her annoyance, there was no reply, Sweetie Belle grunted and stood up, she soon walked out of the room and headed downstairs. ______*later.*______ While Rarity focused on her work for the upcoming celebration, Sweetie Belle searched the Golden Oaks library for information on her current predicament. She figured it would be best to look under anything paranormal, but she had no idea where to start, so when she found a book called 'Your haunted home' she figured that would be a good place to start. Sweetie delved into the book but was disappointed to find that the book was just a story, she continued her frantic search through the books and soon discovered at least one that looked like it might help. The book, was called 'haunting ghosts and ways to communicate', which appeared to be exactly what was needed as she read. "To determine if your house is truly haunted, you must first work to find proof, the easiest way to do so is find some friends. agitate the spirit and go from there." She spoke aloud to herself. 'But what do I do about one who is in my home?' She wondered. Sweetie Belle searched for a long time, and eventually she found a chapter that seemed to be relevant. "Trapping a spirit?" She wondered curiously. Inside the book were instructions that went into a disturbing amount of detail on how to trap a spirit, according to the book, ghosts and spirits were unable to pass a line of salt, silver or iron had the ability to disperse them for a time. But what set Sweetie Belle on edge was some of the more severe methods of containment, one of which required the user to paint a crow out of crows blood, which reminded her of the door back at Rarity's home, according to the book, this was one of the most powerful seals for ghosts or spirits, only broken by the painted crow being defaced by any means. She soon closed the book and returned it to where it was, she left the library with multiple questions running through her mind. 'So far, this is more annoying than anything else, so why did grandpa seal that room so heavily?' She wondered curiously. ______*later that day, Rarity's house, 7:00 PM*______ Rarity and Sweetie Belle were upstairs in the empty room, they had just replaced the carpet and were now sitting in silence. "So, what are you going to do with this room?" Sweetie Belle asked. "I am not sure, I don't need another bedroom or office, and I have all the work space I need in the Boutique, maybe I will just leave it empty for now, and think on it later." Rarity replied. Sweetie Belle was about to reply when the door threw itself open and slammed against the wall, startling the sisters. Rarity walked over to the door and examined it, the crow that was painted on it was broken by a large scratch down the center, she sighed. "I'll need to replace the door now." She muttered. Sweetie Belle gulped, if the book from the library was right, then the crow was the strongest seal against ghosts or spirits, and now it was broken. 'That's not good.' She thought as she exited the room with Rarity. "Are you concerned that maybe we freed something?" She asked with curiosity. Rarity closed the door and looked at Sweetie Belle. "Something strange did happen over in the boutique, so it's possible, that or we are both going crazy." She replied. When the sisters reached the downstairs, they noticed that the front door opened and then closed by itself. "We are so haunted." Sweetie Belle remarked. Rarity's left eye twitched and she seemed to just ignore it. "I suppose so." She replied.