//------------------------------// // Stage 1 : Entering the Mansion // Story: Pony Oni // by Senwyn1 //------------------------------// 15th August 20XX. 13:42pm “This is it” Twilight stopped in front of a pair of black twisted gates, pushing them open with her horn. In front of her was a tall, blank looking building, with creamy walls and a dark red roof. Behind her, her five friends followed her in, looking around at the yard. The yard was small, narrow and barren, with weeds overgrowing in the flower beds and grass reaching up to their chests covered the main path. “I don't get why Celestia wants us to investigate this” Rainbow complained, crossing her forelegs and glancing over at the lead purple unicorn, “It's the same as all the other buildings in this street except it's been abandoned. Nothing weird about it.” “But that's just it, Rainbow” Twilight replied with a frown, looking up at the cream coloured building with its warm ochre roof, “I lived in Canterlot for over ten years and I have never noticed this building before.” She lifted her horn, trying to see if she could detect any magic. There was an odd magical signal emanating from within the building, a moving pulse that flared and faded from her senses. “Well, if you ask me, it doesn't look very special” Rarity sniffed, “The architecture looks post-modern at best. Hardly Canterlot material. Why-” “So what does Celestia want us to actually do, Twi?” Applejack interrupted quickly, smiling at the unicorn, “What's the mission?” “Oooh, does it involve cake? Candy? Dancing monkeys?” Pinkie piped up excitably, bouncing up and squishing her face against Twilight's. “No, it doesn't involve any of those things, Pinkie” Twilight replied with a frown, taking a few steps back. . The pink pony fell back, standing with a smile between Apple Jack and Fluttershy. Twilight levitated a small scroll from one of her saddlepacks and laying it on the ground. “This was sent to me yesterday evening” she explained as the other five gathered around her, peering at the contents. “It's from Celestia.” “Oooh” the others exclaimed, moving closer and Twilight cleared her voice, holding the scroll in her hooves. “The letter reads as follows” She began. “To my Faithful Student, I recently received new in Canterlot of strange noises and lights coming from an old hotel in the lower district I sent in a team to investigate, but they have not returned. I believe that there is dark magic behind these events and that the elements of harmony are the only ones qualified for solving the mystery. I would like you and your friends to investigate this hotel and find out what happened to the rest of the team. The hotel is on Mapleleaf Street in Lower Canterlot. It is a creamy stone building about three stories in height with a dark red roof.” Twilight snuck a glance at the building as she read. The hotel was long and tall, like a brick that had been hollowed out to make a house. There were dozens of windows running along the ground and first floor walls, but the second floor was strangely absent of them. Not that you could see in to the building, as all windows had white curtains pulled across and were sealed shut. Despite being disused and the yard's state of neglect, the hotel was in wonderful condition, clean and sparkling as if it had been built yesterday. “My student,I want you to find out what happened to the first investigation team and learn the source of lights. Please take the elements of harmony with you. It is vital that you stay together. Yours, Celestia.” Twilight finished, rolling up the scroll with a flurry of purple magic. “Well, that was mighty strange” Applejack commented, scratching her head, “So she wants us to investigate a haunted house?” “H-haunted?!” Fluttershy squeaked, burying her head behind her mane and Twilight let out a little sigh. “Don't worry. There's no such thing as ghosts” she said frankly, “The lights are likely due to a faulty fuse.” “That's not true” Pinkie commented calmly, “They exist.” “There is little to no evidence to validate paranormal phenomena” Twilight exclaimed, as an involuntary tremor ran down Pinkie's back. Biting her lip, Twilight looked at the house again. “Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to be careful” she said mulishly, “Just in case.” Fluttershy let out another squeak and burrowed her head into Rainbow's wing. The blue pegasus brushed her off and grinned, approaching the door. “Well, what are we waiting for?” Rainbow exclaimed, “Let's go!” She pushed open the door, poking her head inside. “Wait, Rainbow!” Rarity and Applejack exclaimed at the same time. Twilight hid a smile as they glanced at each other with a frown and Rarity cleared her throat with a small cough. Rainbow stopped, turning back to them.“As I was saying” Rarity said, flicking her mane over one shoulder, “Celestia said we should stick together. That means no charging off.” Rainbow rolled her eyes, letting out a huff of air. “I wasn't going to charge off” she countered, landing on the ground, “I was just going to look inside.” “Well, we should go in together” Rarity said quickly, “What if there's something nasty in there?” Rainbow let out a snort and drew herself up to her full height. “No offence, but I think I can handle it” boasted the pegasus, turning back to the door. Twilight's ears flicked back and she grabbed Rainbow's tail, dragging her out of the room again. “First we have to make sure we're all wearing our elements” Twilight pointed out, pulling the small box out of her bag, “I got them from the Royal Armoury this morning. If something is in there, we need to be ready.” Rainbow looked a bit put-out by this but they all took their elements and hooked them into place. Twilight felt a little burst of warmth in her heart as they looked at each other and simultaneously they all smiled. Suddenly the fuss over the hotel did seem a bit much. “When we're inside” Twilight added as an afterthought, “We should try to stay in pairs so no one gets stuck on their own.” The others nodded and quickly paired up. Fluttershy immediately stood next to Rainbow Dash, who looked a little bit annoyed at the prospect of dragging a terrified Fluttershy through the house. Twilight found Pinkie stuck to her side, a small smile on her face as she hummed something under her breath. Pinkie wasn't her first choice of investigation partner, Twilight thought, but if there were ghosts involved, her pinkie sense could be handy. That left Rarity and Applejack to pair up. “Right” Twilight said with a smile, “Let's go.” Rainbow pushed the door ajar and walked inside. Fluttershy scurried after her, followed at a leisurely pace by Applejack and Rarity. Packing away the scroll, Twilight glanced around at Pinkie. The pink pony was looking up at the house with an odd expression on her face, tremors running down her back. “Pinkie?” Twilight asked with a frown, “Are you alright?” Pinkie blinked then beamed at Twilight, bouncing forward. “Yep!” she exclaimed, “Are we going in now?” Twilight frowned as Pinkie hopped past then shrugged. “Just Pinkie being Pinkie” she said with a wry smile, pushing open the door. She found her five friends waiting at the base of a narrow wooden staircase. Inside, the hotel was relative generic. There was a rusty brown carpet on the floor, covered with geometric shapes in orange -squares and triangles joined into odd patterns. The walls were covered in flowery wall paper, with a couple of paintings hanging on either side of the door. One depicted the Equestrian countryside and the other showed an idyllic house on the edge of a lake. Below that painting was a small stand with a guest book. Bending down, Twilight lifted it with her horn and flicked through the pages. It was mostly blank, except for a few names near the front. The dates were at least forty years old, suggesting no one had been here since then. Aside from the staircase in the middle and the stand, the hallway was empty. Two doors led off to the east and west respectively, leading into bland cream corridors lined with the same carpet. “This is it?” Rainbow complained, hovering impatiently next to Fluttershy, “This is the creepy haunted house Celestia wanted us to check out? It's just some old motel.” Rarity lifted her hoof, examining the carpet pattern with a look of displeasure. “And not even a nice hotel at that” she commented, “Everything is covered in dust.” Twilight raised her horn and it glowed purple as she tried to detect that odd magical signal again. Nothing. “We should start investigating” Twilight said decisively, opening her saddlebag again. “Celestia provided me with the architects blueprints, so if we divide the house into three sections-” There was a loud crash and Fluttershy let out a high pitch squeal, diving for the dark square underneath the stairs. “What was that?!” Applejack exclaimed, looking around, as Pinkie let out a delighted squeal. “Oooh, I bet it was a ghost!” she exclaimed, mane and tail puffing up, “A friendly ghost!” She bounced towards the door, humming as Twilight and the others gaped after her. “No, Pinkie, we need to stay together, remember?” Rarity called. Twilight raised a hoof as Rainbow Dash started forward. “I'll go after Pinkie” Twilight said decisively, “You three need to persuade Fluttershy to come out.” Rainbow glanced around at the huddled blob squished into the corner of the stairs. “Fine” she grumbled, trotting over to the small crevice. “Are you sure you'll be alright, darling?” Rarity asked, touching Twilight's shoulder with one hoof. “Of course I'll be fine” Twilight said quickly. She turned and trotted down the corridor after Pinkie. It was lined with brown doors. Each had a number in gleaming brass, starting at 30 and escalating up to 86. Twilight tried a couple of the doors, nudging the handle with her magic, but none would budge. So she kept going, continuing up the hallway. Passing through a set of white doors, she found herself in a small, clean kitchen. It was entirely white, with white floors, cabinets and surfaces. In the centre was an island with a small cooking hob. To her surprise, she saw four pots bubbling away and she sniffed, getting a whiff of roasted vegetable stew. With a frown, Twilight walked past, feeling a small stab of pain as something crunched underfoot. Lifting her hoof, she saw broken shards of glass scattered across the floor and winced as she pulled one out of her hoof with magic. Tiptoeing as best she could to avoid the rest of the pieces, she walked forward until she saw what must have caused the crash. A large ceramic plate lay against the wall, split in half down its centre. There was a large hole in the centre, as if something had hit it very hard, and Twilight gulped as she looked around the kitchen for any sign of a certain pony. “Pinkie?” Twilight called, making her way to a door at the other end of the room. “Pinkie?” It was just a small store room filled with vegetables hanging from hooks and tin cans. Even Pinkie couldn't hide in here. With a confused frown, Twilight turned, nibbling her lip. Where could she have gone? A loud screech ripped through the air, turning Twilight to ice. That was Fluttershy! She turned, dashing across the glass as pain split through her and back up the corridor, back to the stairs. No one was there.