//------------------------------// // Chapter 16 - White Hand hanging down the crevice (Edited by: Moonriseoversunset) // Story: The Mysterious Forum - Anon-a-miss // by Leo Luce //------------------------------// Sunset entered the music room with her guitar on her back. She saw Rarity and Fluttershy were already there chatting as they waited for the others. "Good morning, Sunset," Rarity said. "Good morning Sunny," Fluttershy said. "Morning," Sunset said while giving Fluttershy a peck on the cheeks. She then started tuning her guitar. "So heard anything of interest?" Sunset asked. "Well, darling, I was just telling Fluttershy about this amazing dress I saw at the mall yesterday, which was absolutely marvelous. It was so beautiful, in fact, that it has truly inspired me. To have a dress change its colors based on lighting as well as making it change based on the complexion of your skin tone is simply marvelous. I just need to figure out how they did it. Oh, can you imagine the ability to do that with lace sleeves on a dress?" "Not really, no. I'd take a leather jacket over a dress any day of the week." "Humph, you wouldn't say that if you actually saw it." "Well, we got a bunch of new cute little animals at the shelter. Maybe you can take one." Fluttershy said, interrupting before the conversation could turn into a full-blown argument about fashion choices. "A pet? I don't know. I'm not good with that sort of thing," Sunset said, rubbing her neck. "Oh, don't say that. I'm sure you'll find one to love. And you are the only one without a pet." "Well, Aiko doesn't have one." "She has Blake," Rarity said. "He's a ghost. And I don't think he's going to be with her forever. Once we find his friend, he'll leave." "Ohh, that's sad?" "What's sad?" They heard Twilight say, entering the music room with Aiko and Rainbow, whose head was nodding violently to heavy metal playing in her headphones. Blake, who was resting across Aiko's shoulder, jumped across the room to sunbathe in the windowsill. "It's that Blake is going to leave once we find his friend," Fluttershy said. "Are you going to be sad?" Blake asked, looking at Aiko with his ears down. "Don't worry; finding your friend and reuniting you two are more important. It will also make me happy that you are happy," Aiko said. "Yeah, just you wait, Blakey. We are going to find her in no time," Rainbow said. "Hump, you wouldn't get rid of me that easily," Blake said as he reappeared on Aiko's shoulder and stared at Rainbow from atop Aiko with a 'you are below me' look. "Come on, are you really still mad at me?" Rainbow yelled, who was promptly ignored as he once again teleported back to sunbathe in the window seal. "Man, I can't believe I'm being ignored by a ghost cat. How lame is that?" Applejack made it to the music room with her base not long after their arrival. "Good mornin' y'all," Applejack said as she entered. "Take it, Pinkie isn't here yet?" "No, she isn't. I just hope she wasn't distracted by anything. We were down one member yesterday too," Rainbow said. "Oh yeah, Aiko, what happened yesterday?" Sunset asked. "Well... it went better than I thought. I'm grounded, of course, but at least they are okay with Blake. I'm pretty sure kaasan (mom) actually likes him more than she says." "She's a big softie. She gave me some fish today, and they were delicious." "That's great to hear." "Guys guys guys guys guys!!! We have a huge problem!" All of a sudden, Pinkie said, appearing out of nowhere. "What- Pinkie! What happened?" Sunset asked. "ImetWallflowerjustnowandshesaidthatshewenttotheparktoseethouseflowersandwhenshegotthereshesawthat-" Applejack stopped Pinkie from her mumbling. "Pinkie, calm down. We can't understand you. Speak slowly." Applejack said. "Okay, so just now, I met Wallflower, and she said that the flowers from the park are still glowing." "WHAT!!!" It took a few seconds for the girls to register what Pinkie had just said. "The flowers are still glowing?" Fluttershy asked. "That's what she said," Pinkie said. "But didn't we solve it?" Applejack asked. "Well, not really. We didn't actually find what caused the flowers to glow," Twilight said. "Oh no, what if other rumors are still happening?" Rarity asked fearfully. "I doubt it," Sunset said as she glared at her phone. "What do you mean?" "Just like Twilight said, we didn't actually solve that rumor. But we did solve the others. Not to mention if they are still happening, we should have heard about them by now. Twilight's brother is the captain of CPD, and we also have Chrysalis." "Oh, what's a relief," Fluttershy said. "Well, there's nothing we can do now besides recheck the flowers. And it's nothing dangerous, so we don't have to worry that much about it," Twilight said. "She's right. We'll check it tonight," Sunset said. "About that, it's a new moon today," Aiko said. "Ugh, stupid specific times. We'll check it tomorrow." After the rather alarming news, the girls spent the rest of the day as any other normal school day. Nothing interesting happened during any classes, and the lunch period was spent listening to Rainbow, Sunset, and Twilight talking about the soon-to-be-released Daring Do movie. Slowly but surely, the day came to an end. As usual, all the students went to their respectable after-school activities while the rest went back home. "So Sunset? What kind of pet do you like?" Fluttershy asked. They were mostly done with articles for the next week's newspaper. Thus, the topic of conversation was steered by Fluttershy. "You really want me to have a pet, don't you?" Sunset asked. "Mmhm." "What's so bad about having a pet?" Twilight asked. "It's just, I don't think it's for me." "At least take a look at them. Then you'll be able to decide if it's for you or not." "She's right. A lot of people I helped pick a pet didn't know what they wanted at first, only to leave with the most adorable pet you could imagine," Fluttershy said. "How about you, Aiko? Do you have a favorite animal that you'd like to have as a pet?" Sunset asked in an attempt to steer the conversation away from just her. "Well... I always liked cats, actually. And I have this fur ball with me," Aiko said, cuddling Blake. "I really hope we find what happened to his friend," Twilight said. "Oh, I just remembered. I got that folder finally unlocked," Sunset said. "Except I forgot to bring it with me today." "What took you this long?" Fluttershy asked. "Well, some parts of the disk were corrupted or have bad sectors. Plus, I had to find a time when Luna isn't playing any online matches," Sunset said. "I didn't look at anything, though. I wanted to look at it with you guys together." "Maybe we can go with you and take a look?" Twilight asked. "Oh yeah, we don't have much to do anyways." "Sorry, I'm grounded, remember? Unless it's really important and not dangerous, I have to come directly home," Aiko said. "Well, technically, it's part of the club, but okay, we'll look at it tomorrow," Sunset said. "What do you think actually is in there?" Twilight asked. "Hard to say. At least we'll get to know who the old members were." "Isn't there records of all the students?" Aiko asked. "Why can't we check that?" "I thought about that, but they were mostly recorded in books. Most of them were destroyed thanks to a fire." "Fire?" "Yeah, not a big one from what mom told me. It was caused by a faulty plug apparently," Sunset said. Anymore of what Sunset was about to say got interrupted by the sound of their phones notification sound. "A new rumor?" Sunset asked as she hurriedly ran to the computer. "Yeah, and it's from Anon-a-miss. I'll block the forum," Twilight said as Sunset loaded up the forum. This is a rumor which I've heard from one of my jokester friends, so it might not be reliable. But another friend of mine also knew about this rumor, which scared me a little. That's why I'm now posting it here. The rumor is like this. Have you ever seen a white hand get closer and closer to you? It hangs down from the crevice of curtains, bookshelves, doors... from any kind of crevice. It ends up reaching you. "And here I thought you might be harmless," Sunset grumbled. Just be careful. The white hand attacks you without making any sound and drags you into the dark crevice with full might. "Yup, another dangerous one. Ugh, why do all the rumors have to be dangerous from you, Anon-a-Miss?!?" "Have any of you heard about this before?" Twilight asked while Sunset dialed Luna. Fluttershy shook her head no. "I think I do. I'm not sure, but maybe obaasan (grandma) might know that. I'll ask her." Aiko said before she picked up her phone and called her grandma. "It's the forum code red. Look out for any white hands coming from crevices," Sunset said to the phone. "Got it," They heard Luna's voice from the other side. "Okay, she'll call us if the hands appear anywhere in the school." "Good, why don't we check at the library? There are a lot of books about folklore, and there's a chance that this originated from folklore," Aiko said. "Good idea, you two go check that out. We'll split up to cover more ground. Don't go anywhere alone," Sunset said firmly as she watched for each one of them to nod. And with that said, the four split up. Aiko and Twilight made their way to the library while Aiko tried to reach her grandma. "Hello?" “Okaasan, obaasan wa irasshaimasu ka (Mom, is grandma there)?” “Kanojo wa dekakete imasu(She went out).” "Oh." “Aiko? Daijōbu desu ka (Are you okay)?” “Hai, daisuki okaasan (Yeah, love you mom),” Aiko said ending the call. "She's not home; we'll have to check the library." Once they got to the library, they searched for any information they could about the rumor. They went to the folklore section since that's the most likely place to have any information. But no matter how hard they searched, they couldn't find anything. "Nothing here has any information about the hands," Twilight said as she quickly glanced through a table of content about the folklore of the county dating back to the pioneer's time. "I wonder if the others found anything. Maybe in some urban legends?" Aiko asked. "It's possible; I guess we can go back to them. No reason to stay here any longer." "Hm," Aiko said, standing up from the chair with Twilight when her phone started ringing. She pulled out her phone and saw it was from home. "It must be Obaasan," She said, taking the call and putting it on speaker. "Obaasan, is it you?" "Hai, nan desu ka Aiko (Yes, what is it Aiko)?" Came the voice of her grandmother from the other side. "Obaasan, do you know anything about white hands hanging down from crevices?" "Hm... yes, it is said that those that have died by being trapped under something can come out as spirits." "Trapped under something?" Twilight asked. "The white hands hanging from crevices are similar to when the person stuck beneath something calls for help. If the spirit hasn't been put to rest, it could come out like that, asking for help. The only way to help is to find where their body is stuck and properly help them depart." “I see. Arigatou obaasan,” Aiko said. "Is this about the forum?" "Hai." "Then be careful. Under no circumstances do not let the hands reach you. It wouldn't be pretty," “Yes obaasan we’ll be safe, daisuki (love you).” “daijoubu daijoubu (okay okay).” "Well, that's not good. If this is the same thing we are facing, then we'll have to find where it is," Twilight said. "Hm, let's go back and tell the others what we found," Aiko said. They got back to the club room quickly and saw they were joined by Rainbow Dash. "Hey, did you two find anything?" Rainbow asked, looking up from her phone and searching for any information. "We didn't find anything in the library. But obaasan told us something that might help," Aiko said while they took their seats. "What is it?" Sunset asked. "If what she said is the case, then we are looking for an accident that killed people by trapping them under something. If we can find where the accident happened, we'll be able to properly bury them and end this," Twilight said. "That's gonna be hard to find. Maybe your brother or Chrysalis can help?" Rainbow asked. "Maybe, I'll ask- AAHHH!" Twilight shouted when all of a sudden, she was pulled back from her seat. "TWILIGHT!!" Everyone shouted when they saw that she was being dragged back by what appeared to be a bunch of hands coming off of the bookshelf behind. "I got you!" Aiko shouted as she quickly grabbed Twilight and teleported away. "Please... give me that... anything..." "Fluttershy, move away!" Sunset shouted at Fluttershy, who was still fallen on the ground when the hands appeared. She tried to stand up and move away when the hands tried to grab her. "Anything is... okay..." "No, no AAHHHH!" Fluttershy shouted when she was lifted off the ground. "It's me. You are safe," Blake said as he used his tail to get Fluttershy to safety. "What are we gonna do? We have to do something," Rainbow said. Sunset looked at the bag with the burger Rainbow had brought with her. She quickly took it and placed her phone inside the bag ignoring the incoming call. "You want anything? Then take this," Sunset said, throwing the bag at the hands. It then grabbed the bag in midair and retracted back into the bookshelf. "Thank... you..." "Hey, I was about to eat that!" Rainbow said as the tension cleared. "Sunset your phone! Why did you do that?" Fluttershy asked. "So that we can see where it took-" "SUNSET!!" Principal Celestia barged into the room, panicking. "Mom? What-" "Is it over? Didn't you hear Luna calling you? What happened?" "Luna? Oh, it was her. I may have given the phone to the hands," "You what!?" "Relax, now we can know where the hands took it," Sunset said, searching for her phone's GPS from her laptop. "There, it's in the Everfree forest." "The forest? That makes sense. Most accidents that happen where people are trapped under something is in nature," Twilight said. "So we are hunting ghosts now?" Timber Spruce asked as he guided the girls along with Celestia through the forest. "Yeah, you could say that. We are looking for a place where people have died in this forest." Sunset said. "But you said there are caves where the GPS is pointing. How does that work? GPS doesn't work underground," Rainbow asked. "That's a good question, actually," Timber said. "We don't know much about these cave systems. They stretch for miles underground. People are forbidden to go in them as they haven't been properly mapped by an experienced speleologist. Making these caves notoriously dangerous. Only a few of them are safe, like the one where we held the concert, which wasn't even a proper cave system as there was only one entrance and didn't even go that deep into the mountain." It took them a few more minutes to get to the actual location. But with Timber's guidance, they were standing just above the GPS signal, which was coming in strong. "Here we are. There's a cave entrance near here, but the entrance collapsed years ago," Timber said as he guided them towards the piles of crumped rocks underneath a rock shelf on the side of the ridge. When they made it to the cave, they saw a glow coming from the few cracks that allowed them to see through the rubble. "Hey, is that?" Twilight said before pulling the bag towards them using her magic. "Yup, this is it. That explains the signal- ew..." Twilight said, using her magic to pull out Sunset's phone from the bag, which was covered in cheese. "Oh great," Sunset said before taking her phone with two fingers. She then engulfed the whole thing in bright flames as it incinerated all the cheese. "There, no more cheese, and hey, it still works! I'm getting good at controlling magic without a horn." "WHAT!! How can your fire do that!?" Twilight shouted in surprise. "I don't know. It takes a lot of control not to overcharge my fire magic. I once created blue flames," Sunset said like it's the most normal thing in the world. "Okay, one of these days, we have to test that," Twilight said before looking at Aiko and Timber examining the cave. "You sure this is it?" Timber asked. "How are we gonna make sure of that?" "Blake, maybe you can go inside?" Aiko asked. "Okay," Blake said before phasing through the rocks. "Of course, he can talk and walk through solid stone. Why not," Timber said. "So what are we gonna do if this is the place?" "We properly bury them. That's what Aiko's grandma said needs to be done," Sunset said. "Twilight, you should ask Shining. Maybe this could be one of those unsolved cases," Celestia said. "Hm, he'll take care of this." "I found them!" They heard Blake's voice as he reappeared from the cave. "You did?" Aiko asked. Blake nodded. "Skeletons. All trapped under rocks." "Great, I'll call Shining. We should get this over with as soon as possible," Twilight said, dialing her brother. "Wait, Shining, Shining Armor? Captain of the CPD?" Timber asked. "Yeah, he's my brother." "Oh, he is." With the location of the dead found, the CPD acted immediately to take the bodies out and examine them. It turns out; they were from a group of friends that went to explore the cave systems about 10 years ago. We are the Newspaper club. We investigated the rumor and found that the white hands belonged to a group of friends who went to explore caves in the Everfree forest. They were crushed down by a cave-in and were trapped inside the cave for days. They either died by starvation if the rocks didn't outright kill them. The Canterlot Police Department is investigating the cave as we write this, and the explorers will be buried with proper respect. We believe that the white hands were simply asking for help.