//------------------------------//
// Surprise Party 
// Story: Tales from the Rift 
// by Fonzie 
//------------------------------//

On an unusually quiet night in equestria, a pony walked down a dirt road all by himself, he was on his way to a motel for he had some plans for tonight.

As he was walking, he began thinking about his past life, with his father, brother and wife, he remembered how it all began.





at the ponyville hospital, a nurse pony walked over to a room and peeked in, "Mr. Adams, your son is here to see you."

"send him away, I don't want to-"

"hello father.

"jerry, what are you doing here."

"you know very well why I'm here old man, you got a big insurance policy on you, it's still in effect as long as you live."

with that being said, jerry made his way to his life support system, while his father could do nothing but watch as he made his way to the life support system, and pull the plug.





Jerry soon snapped out of his thoughts as he saw the motel he made a reservation at, it was called the 'dew drop inn', he entered and it was... Not very busy, the only ones here were himself and vlad, who was behind the desk, reading a book and listening to the music coming from the Alexa that was in the room.



Jerry walked up to the desk and rung the bell, getting vlad's attention, "welcome to the dew drop inn, all we ask is that you do what the name implies, now do you have any reservations."

"Yes, Jerry Adams, you reserved me for room 13."

Vlad checked the computer for any reservations and found one, "so, how long are you staying."

"About a day or so." Jerry responded, "I'm only staying here because it's supposed to be the closest to some dump called sunny town."

Vlad shot a surprised look at him, "you're not serious are you, there's rumors that the towns haunted, there's been reports of loud music, someponies talking about how long they've been here and that the town was abandoned after an incident."

"Listen, a relative of mine is staying there and I'm going to pay them a little visit."

And so, jerry once again went out on his own into the everfree forest, all the while thinking about the time with his wife.





jerry and his wife, cassie, were celebrating their newfound wealth after the 'death' of Jerry's father, "I can't believe how easy it was to bump him off, now that we got his money, we can move to Las Pegasus and make a killing."

Cassie turned around to grab another can of cider, only to be met with a rope around her neck

"I'm sorry dear, but I'm getting that cash for myself, you on the other hoof, get to take a little trip to that unmentionable place."

She struggled to get free, but she soon stopped and went limp, using his phone,  he called the authorities, "yes, I found my wife lying on the floor when I got home, and I think she's dead, please send an ambulance and hurry."





Jerry eventually found a sign in the forest that said 'SUNNY TOWN THIS WAY', so he followed it and found himself at a... very depressing scene.

There was some food, drinks, and some lights hanging around most of the buildings, but no one seemed to be in a partying mood, they just sat around, with depressing looks, like they were at a funeral.

Brushing this scene aside, jerry went to the nearest pony, named grey hoof, "excuse me."

"No I don't know how long we'll keep this up."

Jerry was confused by this remark, "actually I was wondering if you_"

"No I'm not going to dance with you."

Now jerry was normally a patient one, but now he's just getting annoyed by his behavior, "listen you, maybe I'm not making myself clear, I'm looking for-"

"The bathrooms are over there." He said, pointing to an old looking outhouse.

"No, I'm looking for a relative of mine."

"Uh sir, I don't think I can help with that, besides I don't know you."

Jerry looked like he was going to explode. "My relative shares the same last name as me okay, my name is Jerry, Jerry Adams."

The moment he said his name, grey hoof and everypony else that was within his line of sight turned to look at him, some of them had their jaws dropped, but they all stared at him wide eyed, like he said something wrong. For a while things were pretty silent, until another pony, named roneo, opened his mouth and said.

"D-Did you say your last name was Adams."

"Yes, and a distant relative of mine lives here."

But no one was paying attention to him, they were just talking, and some smiles started to form on their faces.

"Well, ALL RIGHT."

And then the lights turned on, and everypony cheered and started to walk around and talk to each other, have some food and drinks, and dance to some music playing loudly somewhere in the center of town.



Jerry was a little put off by this, nevertheless he walked up to a table where roneo and his friend starlet were sitting.

"Look I just want to know where she lives."

"I don't know where she lives." Starlet said, "but I do know this is the best gift I ever gotten."

Seeing they were clearly no help, he walked up to where a pony known as Gladstone was feasting away on some cake and what looked like punch.

"Listen can you tell me-"

"You don't even need to say it." He said, jerry smiled, he was finally getting somewhere.

"Of course this cake tastes good, you should try it."

Once again, he was at a dead end, so he saw a pony named three leaf, dancing like there was no tomorrow.

"Look can you tell me where I can find her, my relative that is."

"Why are you interested in that, you should be dancing."

"Well can you at least tell where she lives."

"Funny story, I can't remember where actually, but I do remember that this party ends at midnight."

Jerry was getting fed up with their behavior, so he didn't bother to ask the other residents, knowing that they'd just talk about the party.

"Hey!"

Turning around, he saw that a young filly, named mitta, was walking up to him, "you said you're an Adams right."

"Yeah, and a relative of mine lives here, do you know where she lives." She motioned to a path cutting through a nearby part of the forest, "you just follow that path and you should find her place."

And so, jerry started to walk up to the path in the woods, but he never noticed how the music seemed to distort as the residents started to change their form.

As he walked through the forest, he thought back to the time with his more successful brother, and I think you know how this will end.





jerry was just sitting on the couch drinking some cider, all the while thinking about his future now that he was rich.

"It's a real mystery how father's life support was unplugged."

Jerry turned to see his successful businesspony brother Terry staring at him with conviction in his eyes "and it's no coincidence that your wife died on the same day."
"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't play dumb with me Jerry, I know you killed our father, I also know that you just married cassie for her insurance policy as well."

"Look I can explain."

Oh you can explain all you want, to the royal guard."

He took out his phone and proceeded to put in the number for the royal guard, but before he could call, he was hit in the head with a metal bat by his brother, "I'm sorry Terry, but I can't let you ruin my life."





Once again, he was snapped out of his thoughts when he saw the small cabin in the middle of nowhere, walking up to a window he peeked in, and saw a young filly talking to herself, but he only managed to hear three words clearly: "wish... all... end.", he took out a picture and saw it looked like her, confirming that she was his distant relative.

Jerry walked up to the door and surprisingly, it was unlocked, but it's squeaky hinges got her attention, "who are you."

"My name is Jerry Adams, and according to this letter, you're a distant relative of mine, Ruby."

Ruby looked at the picture and the letter and asked, "why did you come here."

"Simple actually, according to this letter, you've got a huge fortune, which is in your hooves, as long as you live."

Ruby got the message, when she saw the knife, she tried to run, she was quickly met with a knife in the back.

Afterwards, he dragged the body to the chair,grabbed a nearby container of gasoline and proceeded to spread it around the room, all the while thinking about how he learned all about Ruby.





the past few weeks have been heaven for Jerry, thanks to his brother and wife's fortunes, as well as theirs and his father's insurance policies,  he had an incredible amount of wealth. 

With it he surrounded himself with fancy furniture, expensive food, and fancy clothes. He'd also often had a beautiful mare or two for a little 'play date'.

But one day, there was a terrible realization, he was almost out of money,  he practically wasted his inheritances on himself after his family's 'deaths'

Yesterday was the day he received an anonymous letter in the mail. Curious, he opened and it read the following. 


dear Jerry
I know that you killed your family and your little money problem, luckily for you, 
I'm not blackmailing you, but letting you know that I found the solution to all your problems. 
There's a distant relative of yours named Ruby, she lives in a place called sunny town, 
and she's supposed to be loaded with money after her family's death. 
I arranged for you to have a reservation a motel near the place, but be warned though, 
the towns rumored to have a terrible curse.


Jerry smiled at this new information, this was going to save him from going to the poorhouse. 





Jerry suddenly snapped out of his thoughts when he saw mitta running in the direction of the town. Worried she'll call the royal guard, he grabbed the gasoline can and rushed after her, ignoring the sound of hoof steps right behind him.

When he got to the village, it looked abandoned, the music stopped, the lights were off, and bits of food and confetti were lying on the ground, like a hurricane struck.

Jerry ran to the first building closer to him and poured a trail of gasoline, when he finished, he lit a match, but before he could set the building on fire, a rotted hoof grabbed his, "I don't think so Jerry."

Jerry was horrified by the sight, it looked like mitta, but she looked more like a burnt corpse. He then heard a noise behind him and saw ruby, who looked just like mitta, and she was holding the knife, "you know Jerry, if you're going to commit murder, you could at least be a little bit original about it."

"What are you talking about."

Jerry heard laughter from behind him, he turned and saw starlet looking like the other two, "oh Jerry, Allow me to explain. This party was supposed to be the anniversary of our towns founding. It would have been the best thing ever, but it wasn't meant to be."

Grey hoof steeped out of the shadows, "one of our elders caught what you call the cutie pox, he recovered but from that point on he considered all cutie marks a sin."

Roneo was next to appear, "one day Ruby here got her cutie mark and we tried to keep it a secret, but he found out and killed the same way you did, but unlike you, he feared a scandal the moment he saw mitta, so he took the gasoline and-"

Starlet interrupted him, "he knows the rest, don't you Jerry."

Gladstone stepped out of the shadows, looking like the others, "burning an entire village alive, pretty sick way to cover his tracks, would you like to see."

As if on cue, the lights flickered then turned on, revealing the other villagers, all looking like burnt corpses, all staring with conviction.

Three leaf was next to speak, "ever since that fateful night, we come back here on this day to have our party, for we can't move on until we avenge our deaths."

The mob started to move in on him, as ruby started to talk, "the pony that caused our deaths was named Adams, your ancestor and my father, unfortunately for you, he's long gone, so we'll have to exact our vengeance on you."

"We've been partying for a long time Jerry, just waiting for an Adams to show up, we're already tired." Roneo said, with starlet right beside him.

"Maybe now we can get some rest."

Horrified beyond belief, Jerry made a run for the town entrance, with the mob right behind him, when he was close, another zombie jump on him, pinning him down.

By the time he got it off him, the mob caught up to him, tied him up, dragged him through the village, into the woods, back into the cabin, tied him to a table and poured What's left of the gasoline on him, one of the ponies lit a match and you can probably guess what happened next.

After that, the group returned to the village, looking like their normal selves again, "well, that's that I guess, I'm gonna miss this place."

"Well I'm just glad I gave starlet my gift before I died." Roneo said, "I'm just glad you enjoyed it."

"Just wait until we get to the afterlife.", starlet said before she leaned into his ear, "I have a special gift for you." Getting the message, roneo blushed deep red.

When they got to the entrance, a bright light took the place of the pathway, knowing that it's the gateway to heaven, the villagers entered the light and entered heaven, and the cursed town was abandoned once more.