//------------------------------// // The End // Story: The House on the Hill // by BradyBunch //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash helped Fluttershy to all fours. They had crashed in an unfamiliar hallway. “How is it?” “...It’s not as bad as I thought it was,” Fluttershy admitted, giving a wince as the long wound across her chest stretched with her movements. “It mostly just broke the skin.” “I know that,” Rainbow brushed aside. “But can you move?” Fluttershy whimpered and her face scrunched in pain as she stretched, but she nodded. “Then come on!” Rainbow insisted, urging her with a hoof as she plodded along. “We need to make it back to Twilight!” “But what about Rarity?” Fluttershy asked, following at a distance. “She’s gone crazy!” Rainbow answered. “The more distance we put between her and us, the better!” Rainbow Dash led Fluttershy through a virtual maze of opulent, darkened rooms. Without lanterns, all they could see was silhouettes wherever they went, so they stumbled over random objects and finally reached the end of the room, doomed to repeating it endlessly. It seemed like hours when it was merely minutes, but Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash eventually ended up in the game room on the main level. A billiard table occupied the majority of it, along with some tables for chess and poker. Like the rest of the house, it was dark and quiet. “Can we… rest for a bit?” Fluttershy pleaded, panting while leaning on the billiard table. Rainbow hesitated, then shrugged. “Sure. Take care of yourself. I’ll find some matches.” She flapped to a desk on the wall and pulled several drawers out, while Fluttershy tried to steady her breathing. Her trek through the house had made the bleeding worse, matting her yellow coat. To focus, she kept her eye on the edge of the billiard table and tried to find some swirl in the wood. But instead, she found a message carved into it that definitely wasn’t there before. She had to squint in the dark. After reading this, you will turn around and Her hoof was blocking the final part of the message. It made her veins run cold, but Fluttershy carefully moved her hoof to see the rest of it. die. Her weak body went stiff at once. Her heart skipped a beat. “I found some!” Rainbow declared, coming beside Fluttershy proudly. “They were in a cigar box--Hey, what’s the matter?” Unwilling to, she nevertheless slowly rotated, eyes quivering in their sockets. A fine white fog appeared in an armchair, soon spilling onto the fine wood floor. And materializing in the midst of the fog was a porcelain pony face with empty black eyes. Two wheels of additional blinking eyes whirled around him like hula hoops. “Rainbow!” Fluttershy screamed. “Look out!” She bucked Rainbow Dash in the chest with all the force she could muster, flinging her into a chess table and spilling pieces everywhere with a cacophonous clatter. The spirit flew like the wind and enveloped Fluttershy in its white mist. Rainbow sat up, holding a hoof to her head. Fluttershy had disappeared in the fog of mist. “Fluttershy!” Rainbow cried, scanning the depths of the fog for a silhouette. “Fluttershy! Come out!” A lump appeared in her throat, making it hard to breathe. She swallowed and screamed, “Fluttershy!” once more. But all that emerged from the fog was a porcelain face. “Is that her name?” the face asked. “Fluttershy… has been destroyed. She is dead.” The fine white frog gradually turned red and misty. Speckles of red coated everything it touched. It could be only one thing. Rainbow blinked. Twice. “Wh… what?” Her chest compressed like it was caught in a vice grip. Her breathing steadily got more and more intense. Sweat pooled on her forehead. “And soon, you will be, too.” Rainbow, gripped by fear, nevertheless flapped into the air and groped for a billiard cue on the wall behind her. Her despair morphed seamlessly into rage. “You rotten little fart!” she screamed. “You’re going to pay!” She swung it, but it just passed through his face harmlessly. The spirit laughed and swirled around, surrounding her in every direction. Rainbow’s eyes shifted uneasily, unsure how to fight--or even escape. But before the red fog could envelop her, Rainbow eventually bent her knees, shot up like a loosed arrow, and bursted through the ceiling with an explosion of splinters. She was in the extravagant art room, just before the singed room and the tower. Clutching the billiard cue, she quickly navigated once more to the upper floor landing. She did not expect to find Twilight and the wounded Applejack there. Rainbow skidded to a halt in midair. “Guys! You alright?” “Nope,” was Applejack’s simple, painful answer. A hasty bandage was tied tightly around the wound in her leg, cut from the stiff carpet beneath their hooves by the bloody knife, off to the side. “Where’s Fluttershy?” Twilight asked. It made something lodge in Rainbow’s throat, and after a moment of trying and failing to speak, she dropped the pool cue and choked out, “Gone…” Applejack and Twilight shared stricken expressions. It didn’t seem right. Something was off in the universe; Fluttershy was always supposed to be there, whether she was scared or not. And knowing it would never happen again broke something inside them all. Their mourning was broken by a series of creaks from the room Rainbow had just flown out of, and all three of them turned. A pony trotted out, her magic turned off. “Darlings?” Rarity asked in confusion. “What’s the matt-” She stopped upon observing the gazes sent her way. And especially upon Applejack. “Oh, my goodness! Applejack, you’re hurt!” “THAT IS IT!” Rainbow hoarsely screamed, picking up the pool cue from where she dropped it. With a wild swing, she connected it with Rarity’s skull, and a colossal CRACK sounded forth. The end of the cue broke off and flew away, and Rarity, bleeding afresh from her head, slumped to the floor with an involuntary cry. “YOU DID THIS! YOU’RE POSSESSED!” “No!” Twilight screamed in response, tackling Rainbow to the ground before she could take another swing. “Rainbow, WAIT! If she is possessed, then it’s the spirit’s fault!” “I-I don’t understand!” Rarity wailed, gingerly touching her bloody scalp. “What do you mean, I did this?” She addressed Applejack. “Did I really…?” “ ‘Fraid so, hon,” Applejack confirmed. She hissed as the wound in her leg stretched with her movement. “...No,” Rarity whispered. “No, I-I’m not a killer. I’m not. Couldn’t… wouldn’t…” A mocking laugh reverberated throughout the upper landing, drawing their heads up. The doors to the other four rooms slammed shut and locked with distinct clicks. The two stairs ignited into flame like they were doused in kerosene, giving blinding light to their surroundings, but preventing them from escaping. The ponies jumped with every new move. “You are the most fun I’ve had in a hundred years,” a disembodied voice remarked. The smoke from the fires on the stairs was coiling into a recognizable face for Rainbow Dash. It brought back all her emotions in full force. “It’s you,” Twilight whispered, letting go of Rainbow and getting to all fours. “The one behind all this.” “Indeed,” the spirit accepted. It formed into a more recognizable pony shape, hovering over the flames like a devil. The wheels of abysmal eyes still rotated around his head like planetary rings. “And you, Twilight, are all I want. With you, all the suffering of your townsponies will end.” “We know who you are,” Applejack defiantly spoke up. “Lemuel Silver, was it? Are ya really so unsatisfied with yer magic that ya need to go to this length? You’re pathetic!” The spirit jerked its head back, but hissed in fury. “You have no place to speak my name, country bumpkin!” “Life is precious because it’s short,” Twilight told Lemuel. “And getting more will ruin it. You procrastinated your time while you had it, and your desperation will avail you nothing! I understand why you’d want to prolong your life. But your time has come and passed!” “You understand nothing,” Lemuel refuted. “Except for how short your own lives will be!” With a raise of his arms, the suits of armor on the pedestals came to life. One hopped down and held Twilight’s neck in an iron grip from behind. The other three suits of armor, their weapons cast aside, held the struggling others up by their armpits. Applejack in particular was straining hard, and the wound in her leg began to leak fresh blood. “Now where were we?” Lemuel asked, giving a gloating glance to Rainbow Dash, then a disgusted one to Applejack, then a hungry one to Twilight, and finally a gleeful one towards Rarity. “Ah, yes. You.” “Not again!” Rarity pleaded, tears spilling over as the suit of armor gripped her ever tighter. “Kill me if you have to, but please, spare Twilight!” “Kill you? Dear, that’s for them to decide,” Lemuel remarked with a devilish grin. Rarity’s mouth was pried open once more, and Lemuel’s smoky form swooped inside her screaming throat. She shuddered for a few seconds, grew limp, and slowly came around. Rarity’s eyes were still the same as always, but were wild and rabid. “Do you have the resolve to kill me?” Rarity taunted, pushing the armor off her. It clattered motionlessly to the ground. “Pinkie Pie certainly did! And look where that got her!” Applejack and Rainbow Dash pushed their own suits off and charged at her from two directions, wild with rage. Rarity’s magic pulsed. Rainbow was enveloped in bright blue and hurled against the opposite wall so hard it created a crater. Meanwhile, Rarity evaded the limping Applejack and struck her on her wound like she was stamping a bug. Applejack cried out and stumbled to the top of the stairs. Fire roars ever louder when it’s close to your ears, and Applejack was deaf to even the pain screaming in her leg. Her mane began to smolder. Twilight didn’t pay attention to her words. The armor was unresponsive because Lemuel’s spirit was now inside Rarity, and his influence over the house was halted. Which meant that while possessing Rarity, though he was close to his goal, he was vulnerable. “Kill me!” Rarity goaded. Her magic pulsed even greater as she charged up a shot. She fired at the same time Twilight responded in kind. Their magic streams collided midair. Rarity and Twilight were both focusing as hard as they could on pushing their deadly beams away from themselves. After ten seconds of this, the buildup between their horns became too great and imploded, staggering them both as residual magic waves passed over them. Rarity panted hard as Twilight recovered and approached. Rarity’s eyes were no different when she was possessed. They quivered, though, and were downcast. “Kill me,” Rarity whispered. Twilight halted in her tracks. “It’s the only way!” Rarity pleaded. “Please! I can’t resist him much longer! Gah!” “I…” Twilight started. The change was so abrupt! “I can’t! You’re my friend!” “I don’t care!” Rarity screamed in reply, gripping her face in anguish. “Lemuel needs to die! And that can’t happen unless you do this!” She shook her head and grinned lopsidedly, relaxing. “Unless, of course, you’re too weak!” Twilight enveloped Rarity in pink magic and held her to the ground like a magnet. “Valuing life is not weakness, Lemuel! And disregarding it is not strength!” “Then where is your resolve now, Twilight?” Rarity mocked, prostrate on the ground.. “It takes resolve to resist the easy answer,” Twilight replied. “Only the weak embrace it, Lemuel!” Rarity snarled and fired her horn wildly at the ceiling. Debris from the roof tumbled down and rained around Twilight, raising dust. It gave Rarity the opportunity to escape from Twilight’s distractedness. “Your friendship is your fatal weakness, Twilight!” Rarity screamed in triumph. Using her magic, the discarded, bloody knife flew to her side, spun, and hurled itself at Twilight’s chest. Rainbow intercepted the blade, however. With a painful yelp, she batted it aside. Blood ran down an open wound on her hoof. Applejack intervened next. Even though she was limping, she tackled Rarity and rolled to a stop on the old carpet. As Rainbow flew over to hold her down, Twilight once more approached the spirit in Rarity’s body. “It’s also my greatest strength,” she finished. “And it will allow me to stop you!” The battered and blunted knife was now covered in pink as Twilight picked it up. Rarity’s limbs were held down by Rainbow and Applejack, and she was helpless to move as Twilight brought the knife up. For the first time while Lemuel was inside her, Rarity looked afraid. Twilight’s face was impossible to read as the knife came down. It made a muted clatter on the carpet. Twilight shook her head. “But not like this. I read the spellbook. I can perform the magic to put your soul at rest instead.” “Never!” Lemuel bellowed in Rarity’s voice. “As long as I am inside her, you’ll never win! All I need to do is kill you! And in this house--in your body--I am GOD!” She wrenched one arm free from Applejack and used it to smack Rainbow in the snout, breaking her grip as well. But Applejack had had enough. As Rarity stood one last time, Applejack’s wounded legs were brought up, bent, and straightened in the most powerful buck she could manage. Rarity’s ribs cracked in half. She flew for just a moment, stumbled on her hooves, and fell backwards. The protruding corner of a pedestal was at the end of her path. With a hard, muted bump, the back of Rarity’s head impaled upon the sharp corner. Blood quickly ran in rivulets down the stone stand. Her body was stuck in place, albeit shivering in small convulsions. She slumped until she was sitting upright after only a moment, though. Applejack’s breath halted. “...Rarity?” she whispered, coming beside her. The wound in her thigh was bleeding afresh as she examined her friend with increasing desperation. “Are ya... in there? Rarity?!” Rarity’s eyes were glazed, however. Her mouth was frozen open. “...No… no! Ah didn’ mean it!” Applejack cried, trying to adjust Rarity’s body. “I-I was jus’ trying ta get her away! I swear!” She turned to Twilight, tears in the corners of her eyes. “Please! I didn’ try to! Twi, can we save…?” Twilight’s throat was blocked as she held back tears of her own. “No,” was all she could manage. Applejack broke down completely. She gripped the body and wept openly for her friend. Rainbow was uncharacteristically silent. Guilt and despair clutched her heart and slithered like vipers in her gut. But Twilight knelt beside Applejack and hugged her from the side. “Sometimes… friends have to do things... they don’t want to. Applejack, I… feel your pain. I love her too. But can you understand why this... was for the best?” Applejack took a deep breath. “Ah understand why. But Ah can’t… I can’t accept it…” Twilight didn’t bother saying more. Instead, she just held Applejack ever tighter. The house was quiet as the ponies collectively mourned her. Which meant Lemuel was gone. But the price they had to pay was terrible. They left the mansion with Rarity’s body in tow, hovering behind Twilight. Applejack was being carried by Rainbow Dash. As they made their way back to Ponyville, with the warm red sun rising over a new day, none of them spoke. Nothing needed to be said. The memories of Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity never, ever left their lives. They were permanent reminders and testaments to make the most of life before it was cut short. The mistakes of Lemuel Silver would not be repeated, not in Ponyville or anywhere else in Equestria. Without Lemuel’s presence, the house on the hill soon became engulfed by the earth and overgrown by plants, masking the atrocities committed therein. In a matter of years, it was little more than a pile of bricks and rubble amid luscious green. There were two patches where the plants grew fullest and greenest, though. One was the soil above the basement furnace room. The second was in the dilapidated game room.