Twilight arrived at the Castle of Friendship as she let out a yawn. "Well, we're here. Want to come inside, girls? We could save time by you two sleeping over so we can get straight to planning in the morning," she explained as Rainbow and Pinkie nodded.
“Okie dokie lokie! Probably wouldn’t want to sleep alone tonight anyway, knowing a ghosty is floating around...” Pinkie remarked with a nervous chuckle.
"Sounds good to me, Twi. Don't want you to run off and do anything reckless," Rainbow replied as Twilight smirked.
"Coming from the pony that likes to do life-endangering stunts…" she countered as Rainbow threw her forelegs in the air in exasperation.
"Do you want us to stay here or not?" Rainbow shot back as Twilight simply laughed.
"Alright, alright... come on in." Twilight rolled her eyes as she led Pinkie and Rainbow inside. She wandered the hallways and stopped in front of three identical chartreuse and gold-checkered doors.
“Alright, Pinkie… your room is this one…” Twilight pointed at the leftmost door indicatively. “Rainbow… the far right…” Twilight indicated as she trotted towards the middle door. “My room is in the middle. If you hear or see anything, don’t hesitate to come into my room and tell me, okay?” she asked as Pinkie saluted.
“Yep yep!” Pinkie disappeared into her room as Rainbow nodded.
“If you need anything, just come into my room… okay, Twi?” she remarked as she followed suit. Twilight simply shook her head with an amused smile and entered her own room.
As Twilight was about to get settled into her own bed, she heard it. Tck, tck, tck. At first, she chalked it up to the possible settling of the crystals in the walls. However, a few minutes later, the sound came again. Tck, tck, tck. It sounded like it was coming from the window. Twilight’s eyes shot open as her head slowly turned to the window. She barely caught the glimpse of a pony-shaped silhouette as it darted past.
“Rainbow…” Twilight rubbed a temple exasperatedly, “that better not be you, or Celestia help me…” Throwing off the sheets, she climbed out of her bed to look outside. To her bewilderment, she didn’t see anything. She groaned, throwing the doors of her bedroom open. Heading one door up, she stopped outside of Rainbow’s room. “If Rainbow’s window is unlocked, or if she’s not in her bed… well, she better have a very good explanation for it,” Twilight whispered as she opened the door a crack to peek in.
Rainbow’s room was nearly completely dark, with the exception of the moonlight that filtered through her window. From where Twilight stood, the window appeared to be closed and locked. “Better get a closer look, just to make sure…” she muttered as she made her way to the window. Hoof rested against it, she pushed. The window didn’t budge. Twilight blinked, but looked down at Rainbow’s bed. The prismatic mane of the cyan pegasus pierced the darkness as she mumbled and rolled onto her back.
So… if that wasn’t Rainbow… then, maybe it was Pinkie? Twilight mused as she scratched her head. She quietly left Rainbow’s room and shut the door behind her.
Stopping outside of Pinkie’s room, Twilight sighed as the realization of what she was doing dawned on her. Wait… Pinkie’s an earth pony. She’s done some crazy stuff before, sure… but I don’t think she would do something like this. Especially not after the night we just had... Twilight thought as she simply shook her head and returned to her room.
Twilight closed the door behind her and went to get back into bed. That is, if she didn’t notice the frost growing on her window. This gave Twilight pause as her head snapped to it. ”Huh? Is it that cold outside? I didn’t think it was on our walk back from the manor… and I didn’t hear of a cold snap being scheduled this early…” she mentioned and trotted up to the window. She pushed on the frame. The window didn’t open. She tried a simple temperature manipulation spell to try and melt the frost. When she finished, the frost snaked its way along the window again a second later.
“... Okay, this isn’t funny anymore, girls. Time to cut it out now,” Twilight weakly protested, her voice wavering. Soon, the sound came again. Tck, tck, tck... tck, tck, tck… tck, tck, tck... Twilight’s head darted left and right, but she couldn’t see anything. The sound came from her right this time. It sounded like hoofsteps. “Okay, I’ve had about enough.” Twilight kicked her bedroom doors open and knocked on Rainbow and Pinkie’s doors. No response. Twilight settled for opening their doors and turning on the lights.
When she looked inside, Rainbow and Pinkie’s beds were both empty, but the windows were still locked tight. The frost had spread to their windows as well. Twilight scratched her head as she trotted down the hallway. “Oh, those two are in deep bucking trouble when I find them!” she snorted as she turned a corner and stopped outside of the map room.
Wait… what if it isn’t Rainbow and Pinkie doing this? One foreleg hovering in the air, she paused for a few moments just to stare at the door. C-could I be wrong about ghosts not existing? Twilight shook her head and immediately drove the thought from her mind.
Get it together, Twilight! Ghosts aren’t real! There’s no scientific evidence to prove it! This has to be one of their pranks. J-just… go in there and let them know you’re onto them. No big deal… right? After what felt like hours, she eventually reached out to the door of the map room and gave the doorknob a twist.
Slivers of moonlight streaked down from the windows settled above the Friendship Map as Twilight entered the room. She heard the sound again, except it was much fainter here. She realized after listening to it a few times that it appeared to have a rhythm. It sounded like a light canter. “Rainbow? Pinkie? You had your fun, now come out!” Twilight called into the room. However, there was no response aside from the faint clicking sound.
Twilight suddenly felt a rather familiar sensation; an icy chill ran down her spine as she stood in the doorway. She spun in place as she braced herself for whatever was behind her. Besides the darkness enshrouding the hallway, she saw nothing. The sound became louder, the clicking replaced with a set of three thumps followed by a clunk. Twilight snapped her head to the noise and ducked as a vase sailed over her head and collided with the wall, shattering into several pieces.
Okay… that’s not normal. Neither Pinkie nor Rainbow would do that as a part of a prank… Twilight thought as her forehead knitted and her brows furrowed. A chilly gust blew past her, which made her shiver from head to hoof. Twilight took a few steps back before she galloped back upstairs. “Library! I gotta get to my library!” Twilight shouted, not caring if she woke up Spike at this point. Making a sharp turn, she thrust the doors to her library open and slammed them behind her.
“Please be here, please be here, please be here!” Twilight desperately hoped as she flitted from bookcase to bookcase. “Aha! Here it is! Demonology and You: How to deal with restless spirits. Didn’t I remind Spike to burn this book…? Well… since I just so happen to have it in my hooves... I might as well flip through it. No harm in looking, right?” the slightly bedazzled and obviously panicked purple alicorn declared as she flipped through the book.
“Come on, come on, come on, come on!” she whispered as she riffled through the yellowing pages. “Eureka!” Twilight announced as the book bindings slapped against a writing desk. “To deal with a malicious spirit haunting your home, you must follow these steps exactly. Step one… draw an alchemist’s circle from chalk in a well-ventilated area.” Twilight’s horn flared to life as it created a stick of chalk. She began tracing a circle in the middle of her library, with four points that branched off into small circles.
“Draw an alchemist’s circle from chalk… check!” Twilight declared as she teleported the chalk away. “Step two, place unlit candles in the circles.” Twilight noticed the word ‘Important’ written in bold red letters. “Important: Make sure they are unlit before placing them, or the ritual will not work as intended!” A few moments later, four unlit candles were placed down; one in each circle. “Four unlit candles… check!” Twilight resumed reading.
“Step three, and probably the most important one, an object of importance belonging to the malicious spirit in question.” Twilight scratched her head. Where was she going to find something like that? She rubbed her chin and then smacked her forehead. “Of course!” Quickly lighting her horn, she cast a teleport spell.
Landing back in the foyer of the manor, she coughed as the clouds of dust raised by her spell settled around her. She looked around, scanning her surroundings. The door behind her was wide open this time, much to her relief. She paced through the foyer.
“What can I use? I don’t even know who we’re dealing with!” Twilight shouted exasperatedly as she stopped in front of the painting with the plaque inset. “Huh. Looks like a family that lived here… close enough!” she declared as she grabbed it.
"Did you come back for a visit, dear? Would you like to stay overnight here?" The voice was familiar, but Twilight either didn't realize it or wasn't paying attention.
"N-no thanks. I have somewhere to be." Her horn lit up so she could teleport back. However, a hoof gripped her chin and turned it, interrupting her focus.
"So… my offer you decide to resist? Please…" Suddenly, a hoof shot out and connected with Twilight's jaw. She stumbled to the side before the force of the strike caused her legs to buckle. She could barely make out a familiar face as her vision slowly faded to black. "... allow me to insist."
As she drifted in and out of consciousness, Twilight felt herself being dragged. It didn’t take her long to black out completely. A little while later, she shot up in a cold sweat. Her head darted left and right and she tried to make sense of where she was. She was back in the foyer, that much she knew. Turning around, she found the door was shut again.
“Oh great… not again! Let me just…” She took a few steps towards the door, but the door didn’t seem to get any closer. “Huh? What? How is it...?” Twilight started galloping towards the door. No matter how long she ran, it never got any closer. The walls flew by her sides, the same section appearing to be looping over and over itself.
“But… guh… what? N-no… this doesn’t make any sense! How did the foyer get this big?” Behind her, a door materialized itself as several hooves reached out from it and clambered for her. Twilight had to dodge the ones actively trying to grasp her as she galloped down the hall. Just as the door in front of her started to come closer, one of the hooves managed to trip her. Ten hooves snaked their way around Twilight’s barrel, drawing her towards the door behind her.
Twilight tried to scream, but no sound came. She was quickly being drawn into the door despite using all of her strength to resist. Eventually, the door slammed shut behind her and she felt as if she was falling. The hallway spun around her as the walls began to bleed into each other. Suddenly, she landed harshly on a flat surface, blacking out once again
Several moments later, Twilight felt herself being lifted up and onto something. The biting chill of the floor was replaced with a light, warm gust that blew against her face. When she started to regain consciousness, she heard a voice that came from slightly behind and above her. “Oh… are you okay? It looks like you fell quite a long way.” She looked up to see a figure in a hood pushing something. Looking down, Twilight noticed she was in a wheelchair. Her surroundings have changed; no longer was she in the manor. Instead, she was in an old run-down hospital. Dirt stained the tile floor as grime slithered along the base of the plastered walls.
Rusted hinges loudly complained whenever the wind forced the doors to move. What lights were still functional blinked haphazardly as electrical sparks flew in random directions. The dull hum of decaying light bulbs could be heard as they turned a corner. A dilapidated sign pointed down the hall. Twilight could barely make out two letters on it: ‘E.R.’
“W-where am I? Where are we going?” she asked as she rubbed her head with a hoof.
“Oh, excuse me… I have been rather rude. I must have underestimated your mental fortitude,” the voice said. Twilight recognized the speech pattern of what she could only assume was a nurse. She opened her mouth to voice her concern, but the caretaker cut her off. “You are in the ICU… We thought you were dead, and we were thankful that our assumptions were untrue.”
“B-but…” Twilight tried to complain, but a gentle hoof rested against her mouth to silence her.
“Shh... it is okay. We are going to operate on you today.” A pair of swinging doors with the words Emergency Room that flashed in bright red lettering stood ahead. Twilight squirmed in her seat as her eyes widened. She tried to complain once more, but it only came out as a mumble. Eventually she pushed the nurse’s hoof away from her mouth. “O-operate? Huh? What... why? I’m perfectly healthy!” she tried to explain, but the nurse didn’t respond and just pushed her wheelchair through the doors and into the brightly lit operating room.
When her eyes acclimated to the light, Twilight noticed that a second bed was occupied. She didn’t see anypony resting on it, but a single elevated strap that hovered about three inches from the table told her otherwise. She was laid down on the table when another nurse pulled in an IV drip.
The nurse’s coat was pale white, and her eyes had multiple bags under them. A salt-and-pepper mane hung loosely around her head as her tail limply dragged along the floor. Her pupils were dilated as she stared off into the distance, not even registering Twilight was lying on the bed.
“Here’s your drip, doctor…” the earth pony intoned as she stood there with all the liveliness of a corpse.
“Good, that is all that I need. With your duties you may now proceed.” Twilight saw the nurse shuffle out of the room, favoring her right rear leg over her left. “I do hope that needles do not make you flinch. This will only be a little pinch.”
“W-wait! What are you doing?” Twilight asked as she felt a small prick when the needle was inserted.
“The one in the bed right across from me… I am searching for her, a new body. She seemed to show interest in you, so with your body I will have to make due!”
Twilight tried to protest, but her body felt weak and her eyes felt heavy as the anesthetic started its work. Soon, Twilight fell back into unconsciousness.
Several moments later, Twilight shot up in a cold sweat. As she looked around, she noticed she was lying in her bed back in the castle. As her fogged mind caught up with what’s going on, that’s when she heard it: Tck, tck, tck...