Spiritus ex Machina

by wonderkid125

Chapter 16: Laughing in the Dark

-Earlier-

“Gah! Open you stupid little… thing!” Rarity fumed angrily while violently pulling on the door in front of her, which was showing no signs of giving in to her assault.

Applejack and Silver Bell stood behind the agitated unicorn with varying degrees of agitation on their faces as well as they watched their friend wrestling with the freshly locked stairway door. The metal bars were practically shaking from the white mare’s efforts, but all in all, it was just a waste of time. Still, Rarity didn’t seem to have figured out what her two companions already knew.

“Give it a rest, Rar… I don’t think it’s openin’.” Applejack sighed in a defeated tone while slowly accepting that they were now locked out of the first floor.

“Grr… how did the door even lock?! It was unlocked when we got here, and I don’t see a latch anywhere on this stupid thing!” Rarity yelled one last time while kicking the metal bars with an upset expression. Her rage numbed any pain that she might have felt, and she hoped that the inanimate door was feeling double the pain.

“I knew we shouldn’t have come down here… what are we going to do?” Silver Bell asked in a concerned tone while shifting her weight around uneasily. Just standing at the top of a stairwell leading down to another floor was making her feel a strong sense of dread. The floor she was currently on terrified her, but at least she somewhat knew what to expect lurking around every corner.

“I know darling, but it was the only thing we could do to hide from that dreadful monstrosity. All of the doors were locked, and the stairs were the only place for us to go.” Rarity explained in a reassuring tone. As she put more thought into the matter, she quickly realized that the situation looked a lot like a trap. “Oh no… you’re right, we shouldn’t have come down here! I’ve gone and gotten us stuck. We probably played right into that ghastly ghoul’s hands! Oh, woe is me!” She whined in a distraught manner while giving into the feeling of panic that Silver Bell was already feeling.

“Relax Rarity… it’s not like you’re the only one that decided to come down here. I figured we could hide downstairs and then come back up after that critter passed by, but I guess we’ve been outsmarted. We might as well keep movin’ forward and try our best to find another way out of here.” Applejack suggested in a calm and collected tone while trying to cease the white mare’s overly dramatic weeping.

After taking a moment to stop her downward spiral, Rarity looked up and noticed her friend wearing a confident expression. She was surprised that the orange mare was so composed, but then again, she was a very strong-willed person. “*Sigh* You’re right… we just have to carry on… we must. I won’t let anything get in the way of us getting out of this horrid place, least of all my own emotions.” Rarity stated in a determined tone while putting a hoof up to her chest.

“Uh… Rarity…?” Silver Bell spoke up hesitantly as she noticed something.

“What is it?” Rarity asked with a confident expression, ready to do anything in her power to resolve the nervous mare’s undoubtedly troubling question.

“I think you still have some of that black stuff on you from earlier.” Silver replied while cringing slightly as she pointed to the white mare’s hoof.

Rarity looked down and noticed a splotch of dark black goop on her otherwise clean hoof. Back at the service entrance, the unicorn accidentally stepped in the disgusting black mess before discovering that the entrance was locked. She thought she had wiped it all off of herself, but apparently, she was mistaken. “Gh... g-guh… g… gh… gaaAAAHHH! Get it off, get it off, get it OFFFFFF!” The unicorn yelped while frantically wiping her hoof on the floor. The mere thought of having the foul smelling substance on her for so long made her shrivel up on the inside, and right now she was grinding her hoof across the carpet like she was trying to get acid off of herself.

After an enthusiastic display of the white unicorn flailing her foreleg around and frantically wiping her hoof on the carpet while making the most distressed expressions the others had ever seen on another pony, Rarity somehow managed to satisfy herself that her hoof was now at least relatively clean. “*Huff*… *Pant*… let’s… let’s get going, shall we?” She muttered while trying to recompose herself. Although she was failing miserably, she still walked down the steps with an air that somewhat radiated class and grace.

Applejack sighed while shaking her head at her friend’s odd behavior. Somedays she felt like the white unicorn was a member of a whole different species to her. Still, she was at least moving forward for the moment, and that was something good.

Silver Bell started to follow the two mares down the steps until she paused and looked back to the locked gate behind her. The more she thought about where she was and how big this place was, the more a troublesome thought found its way into her head.

“Hold on guys.” Silver spoke up to get the others’ attention. Rarity and Applejack turned and looked up at the cream unicorn curiously as she lingered by the metallic bars.

“Something wrong, Silver?” Rarity asked while walking back up a few steps. Silver Bell seemed to be uneasy for some reason, but she couldn’t imagine why.

“What if the others come down here to look for us? If they find this door locked, they might assume we’re on the first floor. It could take them forever to find us.” Silver suggested in a concerned tone.

Applejack and Rarity paused and thought about the unicorn’s statement for a moment. They quickly realized that she was right. If they knew their friends well enough, then they knew that their first priority would be to find them. However, if the door to the stairwell was locked when they found it, they would probably scour the first floor to find them before trying to find a way to get downstairs.

“You’re right… there’s no way they will know we are further down with that door locked.” Applejack said while shrugging uneasily.

“If only there was a way we could leave them a message telling them that we’re down here…” Rarity pondered out loud while struggling to think of something to do. Her companions silently tried coming up with a solution as well, but the solution was closer to them than they might have thought.

Rarity drifted her eyes over to Applejack. As soon as she noticed the orange mare and her iconic hat, an idea popped into her head, an idea that she immediately regretted having, and also loathed herself for still thinking about it. “Applejack… umm…” Rarity paused uncomfortably and looked down as she struggled to find another viable solution.

“What?” Applejack asked while looking to the white mare with a confused expression.

Rarity was having a hard time getting her words out, and she had a guilty and hesitant expression on her face. “I know how this sounds… and I immediately want to clarify that this is only an idea that I am neither for nor against, but… what if we left your hat here?” She cringed as she finally managed to complete her suggestion. She received roughly a moment to sweat nervously and anticipate the horrible reaction that she would get from the orange mare. Perhaps she was overreacting. Maybe Applejack would realize that this was the only plan they had, and she would give in to the greater good.

“W-what?!” Applejack flinched slightly as she heard the ridiculous request. She backed up and shifted into a more defensive posture while instinctively adjusting her hat and keeping a tight grip on it.

“I know, I know… I’m sorry to even ask this, but we don’t have many other choices here. I would suggest we leave Silver’s collar or glasses, but her collar would be too hard to spot and I’m fairly certain she needs her glasses to see.” Rarity reasoned while looking to the cream mare for confirmation. Silver Bell nodded in response while adjusting her glasses.

“W… why in the hay do we need to leave somethin’ here? Can’t we just… I don’t know, write a message for them or somethin’?” Applejack said in a slightly agitated tone.

“We don’t exactly have a pen or anything, darling.” Rarity replied softly while offering the upset mare a sympathetic expression. “I know how much that hat means to you, but I wouldn’t ask if it wouldn’t be effective. If the others saw that hat back here, they would know for sure that we’re past that gate.” She explained pleadingly.

Applejack silently stared at the white unicorn with an expression one would loosely describe as upset. She looked back and forth between Rarity and Silver Bell, seemingly thinking about something. Whatever she was thinking about wasn’t making her any happier. “Grr…” The orange mare growled under her breath before finally sighing and taking off her hat. “Ok… but if anythin’ happens to this hat, I am holdin’ you personally responsible.” She explained while maintaining a very serious glare with the white unicorn and begrudgingly placing her hat down on the ground.

“Thank you Applejack. I know that wasn’t easy.” Rarity said in a grateful tone while smiling slightly at her orange friend, who was still harboring a little bit of negativity in her expression.

“Let’s get moving before I change my mind.” Applejack suggested while turning and walking down the steps. The two unicorns offered a brief glance to each other before following the farm pony downstairs.

The wide carpeted stairway eventually ended at another landing with an enclosure of metal bars, which in turn led out into a more open area. The faded wallpaper and carpets on this floor were different than the ones upstairs. While the wallpaper upstairs was mostly white or gray throughout most of the halls, there was a stripe of dark blue here along the bottom where the molding met the wall. The carpets here were blue as well, and they seemed to be in roughly the same condition as the ones upstairs, with a severe amount of discoloration being the primary effect that age had had on them.

At the sides and at the end of the open area in front of them, there were more hallways leading out into the rest of the floor. The area before the hallways was relatively small, offering a sort of miniature resting area before walking around the spacious corridors. There were a few chairs and a table nestled in the corner of the walled area beside the left hallway, and there were even a few paintings that were covered in dust sitting on the wall at tilted angles.

To their immediate left was another flight of carpeted stairs leading down, with another gate. Although, this gate was closed like the one upstairs was. The amount of anxiety and unease that the trio was getting from having such a large unknown area around them was almost unbearable. Even if the door to the next floor would open, they weren’t sure if they wanted to go any further down.

“Ugh… it’s even colder down here.” Silver Bell stated while shivering slightly and trying to maintain any semblance of warmth. After stepping through the open gate and out into the second floor, it had gotten noticeably colder in a short period of time.

“I’m not sure if that would be due to a lack of heating down here, or from the ghosts… and I’m not sure which one is worse.” Rarity added with a hesitant tone. Despite their apprehension, the three mares stepped out into the open area.

“Now that we’re here, what do we do?” Silver Bell asked curiously while trying to ignore the fear in the back of her mind from looking around at the various dark hallways.

“Gotta’ be a map around here somewhere…” Applejack muttered while scanning around the area for any sign of a map. If the map upstairs only covered that floor, and it was near the stairs, then perhaps there would be something similar near the entrance to this floor.

Spotting one particular painting on the far wall that stood out due to its shape, the orange mare and her two companions walked closer to it. As they got up to it and examined it, they could barely decipher what it was due to the thick covering of dust. Applejack wiped off a section of the dust, smiling as she noticed the beginnings of a map. “Here we go.” The orange mare stated with a pleased expression while cleaning off the rest of the map. Silver Bell and Rarity looked over the large layout of the map as their friend revealed it in its entirety.

Judging from first appearances, this floor looked to be bigger than the floor upstairs. It was wider than it was long, with a few rooms that were large as well. There were some labels on various rooms to denote what they were, and some of them stood out more than others.

Among the more unique looking rooms, there was one large room to the far right of the map that was apparently called “museum”. There were also four uniform looking rooms spread out around the map, each with the label of “workshop” followed by a number from one to four. At the bottom of the map was perhaps the most bizarre looking room they had ever seen. The layout of the room was large and irregularly shaped, with some curves and abruptly ended shapes that made it look more like a geometrical figure than a room.

“Pirate cove…?” Rarity muttered in a puzzled manner while examining the strange room. The implications of the name made it sound like an attraction. Judging from some of the other rooms dotted around the floor, there were some play areas for kids and small attractions mixed in with the hotel rooms and staff rooms, but the ponies would never have expected to see such a bizarre looking thing on a map of a resort.

Silver Bell looked at the apparent attraction curiously while deep in thought. “Looks like some kind of attraction for the park… I wonder what it is?”

“I don’t know, but it sounds… crude.” Rarity added in a mildly haughty tone. However, while the two unicorns were trying to figure out what the odd attraction was, their orange friend was focusing on something else.

“Hey, look at this.” Applejack spoke up in a brighter tone while pointing to the map. “It says there’s a fire escape back there in pirate cove. If I’m right about where we’re facing, that should be right around the area where the service entrance is upstairs.” She explained eagerly.

“But we didn’t see a fire escape or any stairs in that blocked off room,” Silver Bell pondered out loud before coming to the next logical conclusion. “Which means…” She said in a stunned tone of revelation.

“Which means that it’s probably behind that locked door we found! Liven up girls, I think we just found our way out of this place!” Applejack cheered excitedly, eliciting her two companions to smile brightly and cheer as well. With their spirits lifted after setting their sights on a new plan of escape, the three mares briefly memorized the map before setting off down the dark and eerie hallway across from the stairs.

The slight change in the surrounding décor hadn’t even slightly lessened the oppressive atmosphere of loneliness and dread as the trio stared into the everlasting darkness just outside of their view. They had been fortunate to have only run into a few ghosts while in this place, but their luck was going to run out at some point.

After a few moments of walking, the ponies ran into a wall, forcing them to deviate from their straight path and head down the right side of the intersection. The nearest opportunity they had, they turned left to continue toward the back of the map so they could reach the pirate cove.

The majority of the rooms down on this floor had complete doors like the floor above, though a lot of them were left hanging open. The trio only found one room without a door in their time walking, and they were afraid to look inside for very long. Still, the shadows cast by the open doors and the anticipation of walking around the ones opened outward to look into the rooms was making them tense.

Silver Bell whined softly while peering behind her in a paranoid state. Every time she turned around she felt like something was watching her. The echoed footsteps that she and her two companions were making weren’t helping the situation. She was barely managing to keep herself composed, and that was without thinking about how far down underground she was and letting claustrophobia sink in.

“Are you alright Silver?” Rarity asked in a concerned tone while looking to the timid unicorn sympathetically.

“Y-yeah… I think so. I just want to get out of here.” Silver replied while swallowing the lump in her throat and making an attempt at appearing calm.

“Don’t worry, we’re almost there. I think it should be down the next hall.” Applejack said with a reassuring expression, hoping to comfort the cream mare. Silver nodded and suppressed her fear in the hopes that she would be leaving this place without running into anything else that would give her nightmares.

…Hey…

Out of the darkness around them, a deep voice echoed suddenly. The voice was so distorted in pitch and heavily echoed that the three ponies couldn’t tell where it came from, but it immediately made them freeze as all of the hairs on their bodies stood on end.

“Wh… w-what was that?!” Rarity asked in a panic while darting her head around to look for the source of the demonic sounding voice.

“I don’t know… and I don’t think I want to know.” Applejack replied nervously while backing closer to her friends. She looked back and forth between the two directions of the hallway, but nothing revealed itself from the shadows.

...Want to see my head come off…?

The voice beckoned in an almost casual manner. This time, it seemed to come from their side. All at once, Applejack, Rarity, and Silver Bell slowly turned their heads to look where they didn’t want to look. The voice’s distorted nature and its disturbing statement made their blood run cold, but they felt compelled to at least see the horrific monster that had just spoken. Immediately to their side was another open door, though this one seemed far more sinister than the others. The room within had no visible furniture or decorations to distinguish it from any of the others. There was only carpet, ceiling, and pitch blackness that seemed to go on forever past the faint light that the two unicorns managed to shine into the room.

As the trio eyed the darkness and scanned it for movement, the chill at the back of their necks returned and increased in severity. It seemed as though the longer they stared, the more unnerved and tense they became, like their bodies were trying to convince them to flee.

Silver Belle could practically feel her heart thumping in her chest and her knees getting weaker as she struggled to avert her gaze from the open room. “G-girls… let’s get o-out of here.” She suggested timidly, taking a hesitant step back and away from the doorway.

“We’re right behind you Silver…” Applejack stated in a terrified manner while slowly backing up along with the cream unicorn.

Before the three mares could backpedal any further away from the open room, a deeply distorted and low pitched chuckle reverberated out into the hallway from within. The voice made the trio’s collective heartbeat skyrocket and their spines tingle with chills racing up and down them. As they glanced back into the room, they saw it.

Within the darkness, just barely faint enough to see, there were two glowing yellow dots. The realization that the dots were actually a pair of eyes hit the ponies all at once. Suddenly, they felt their chests tense up and their hearts race. Their minds screamed out in panic as they stared headlong into the yellow lights. Perhaps it was in their heads, but they could almost swear that the dots were getting slightly closer.

“RUN!” Applejack yelled as she somehow managed to break out of her trance of fear. Silver Bell and Rarity jerked to the side, letting their feet carry them as they kept staring blankly ahead in terror. As soon as they cleared the doorway from their vision, they bolted down the hall as fast as they could.

With their adrenaline racing and their lungs burning, the trio sprinted past every other room they found on their way toward nothing in particular. They were conveniently going the right way toward their original destination, but they didn’t care. They could have been going back where they came from for all they cared, just as long as they were getting away from that room and the two yellow dots.

Their collective stamina ran out and they puttered to a stop as they rounded the corner to another intersection. They stood around while panting heavily and struggling to catch their breath, all the while looking behind them nervously for fear that the terrifying creature had followed them.

“*Pant*… *Wheeze*… oh… oh my gosh…” Silver Bell managed to speak in between breaths. Despite her immense exhaustion, it was easy to tell that she was terrified. The other two mares couldn’t exactly blame her. They were still shaking themselves from the unnerving experience they just ran from.

“Did we… did we lose it?” Rarity asked while leaning on the wall desperately for support. From how fast her heart was racing, she felt like it might explode out of her chest.

“I don’t know… *Pant*… I’m not even sure if it was followin’ us.” Applejack replied while peering around the corner back where they came from. Although it was dark as a moonless night down the hallway, and her imagination and nerves were playing havoc on her mind, she didn’t see any glowing dots floating in the air menacingly.

“That wasn’t normal… what was that thing?” Silver Bell asked, a disturbed look still cemented on her face.

“Ghosts possessing animatronics aren’t exactly meant to be the norm, darling.” Rarity stated while noting the cream mare’s unnerved tone.

Silver shook her head with a troubled expression. “No… that thing was different somehow. I felt like I was going to pass out from fright whenever we saw one of the animatronics upstairs, but that… I don’t know what that was. It felt like my head was spinning just by looking at those eyes.” She explained in a confused and nervous manner. Just thinking about the experience made her mind lock up and chills go down her spine.

“I felt that too… and I think my vision was blurry.” Applejack said with a similarly troubled look in her eyes. “Let’s keep moving. Whatever it was, as long as it isn’t following us, we should be fine. The sooner we reach that fire escape, the better.” She added while walking forward and motioning for her two companions to follow her. Rarity and Silver Bell hesitantly glanced back down the hallway they came from before walking to keep up with their orange friend.

Assuming their memories of the map hadn’t been shoved from their minds by their brief terrifying experience, the three mares estimated the strange pirate cove to be up ahead. Within a few moments of walking, their suspicions were confirmed as the walls opened up further down the hall. There was an open intersection ahead with the hallway continuing further down. To the left was a seemingly larger hallway, and to the right was a large opening into a room. There was a colorful bunch of decorative stars hanging down from the frame of the doorway, and there were faint hints of different colors inside as the trio got closer.

Stepping around the corner, the ponies were met with a wide open room that stretched out before them. There was light purple carpet and dark purple wallpaper, along with a series of star decorations hanging down from the ceiling in a few places. The ceiling itself was painted black with white dots to resemble a starry sky.

There were two other doorways set at angles on the back left and right sides of the room. Both doorways led to what appeared to be curved hallways with similar carpeting and wallpaper. There was a sign to the side of each doorway, with an arrow pointing in opposite directions and the words “entrance” and “exit” printed across them respectively.

To the front of the room, there was a desk enclosure that was designed to resemble a pirate ship. There was a decorative poster next to the desk with numerous colorful and adventurous shapes on it, as well as a wall of text.

“Woah…” Silver Bell exclaimed in awe while looking around the colorful room. From the look of things, it wasn’t entirely finished, but it still looked impressive.

Rarity walked over to the desk and examined the poster more closely while her friends looked around. The poster was a bit faded and dusty, but it was readable due to the brightly colored text. After scanning over the whole of the text, her suspicions were confirmed as she realized that this was indeed an attraction for the resort. “It looks like this place is a walk-in attraction of some sort. It says that children of all ages can enjoy searching through pirate cove to find the hidden treasure.” She announced while turning back to face the others. Applejack and Silver Bell looked over to the white unicorn curiously before walking over to join her by the desk.

“Huh… Foxy the pirate and his crew of scallywags…?” Applejack asked in a confused tone while reading over part of the poster. “What in the hay is that?”

Silver Bell and Rarity returned their gaze to the poster as they heard their orange friend’s confusion. They hadn’t noticed it before, but there was a side note on the poster next to a cartoonish depiction of a red fox in brown pants with an eyepatch and a hook. The note warned in a playful manner for people to keep an eye out for the fox and his apparent crewmates throughout the attraction.

“Maybe they are part of the attraction? They’re probably animatronic mascots…” Silver Bell said in a casual tone. Her statement didn’t make her feel uneasy until she noticed her companions’ unsettled expressions and she thought about it herself.

Before the three mares could think further about what to do, a faint buzz filled the air. Along with this buzz, the distant sound of mechanical whirring and devices turning on came from all around them. Much to their surprise and initial shock, the lights in the room flickered to life, softly illuminating the area. The lights continually flickered and buzzed, with a few of them burning out. Finally, the remaining lights settled and remained on.

“W-what the…?” Applejack muttered in surprise while looking around at the newly lit up area. The lights were dim, either from age or aesthetic design to go along with the attraction, casting faint shadows and making the cool colors around the trio pop.

“Someone just turned on the lights…” Silver Bell stated the obvious while deep in thought. “Does that mean that the others are down here with us?” She perked up slightly as she came to the conclusion that something or someone must have turned the power back on. It didn’t make much sense for the ghosts to light the place up.

“I’m not sure if that would be a good thing or a bad thing… I hope none of the others came down here because they were worried about us.” Rarity said in a more troubled tone while thinking about her sister and her other friends.

“Don’t worry about them. I’m sure they would be safer than we are with Tom and the others with them.” Applejack stated with a reassuring expression while sympathizing with the worried unicorn. Rarity softened up her expression a little bit, but she was still a little concerned.

“So uh… do we wait for them or something?” Silver Bell asked while tilting her head in uncertainty. She hoped that the other two mares would suggest going back to the stairs and waiting.

“Well…” Rarity looked down in thought for a moment while mulling over the issue by herself. “Normally I would agree with you on that. I don’t want to stay here any longer than we need to. But, we need to help the others any way we can. We’re already close to the fire escape, so we might as well check it out. If it isn’t blocked off or anything, we can come back to it after we meet up with the others.” She explained in what she hoped would be a confident tone. As much as she wanted to help get things back to normal, she was still just as nervous as the cream unicorn.

Applejack nodded in agreement to the white mare, leaving Silver Bell standing beside the pair and looking at them with a timid expression of disbelief.

The cream unicorn gulped nervously and turned her gaze to the curved hallway to the left. Even if it was a little lit up now, the hallway into the unknown still filled her with terror. “You’ve got to be kidding me… you really want to go in there?” Silver Bell asked hesitantly.

“We know how you feel Silver… If you want, you could wait out here for us to get back.” Applejack suggested in a sympathetic tone while leveling with the unicorn.

Silver seemingly contemplated the orange mare’s offer for a moment before sighing with a frustrated expression. “No… I can’t just leave you two alone. I would feel horrible if something bad happened to you. Ugh… curse my conscience.” She muttered in a troubled tone while still trying to justify her decision to herself. The other two couldn’t help but feel a little bit of respect for the cream unicorn.

After taking a moment to get over their apprehensions, the trio pressed onwards and walked through to entrance on the left. The winding hallway was mostly lit up, with a single lightbulb being burned out at the end. The deep shadows and contrast between the darkness and the light somehow made the area look even eerier.

The hallway ended and opened up into another large room. This room was longer than it was wide, and they could already see the next doorway at the far end of the room. The same carpet was present, but the wallpaper had changed in a few places, being replaced by murals of water. There were a few closed off areas to the sides that appeared to be alcoves for scenery and decorations to make it resemble a beach or a cove. Most notable among the strange decorations was a series of animatronic mascots standing still and lifeless in posed positions.

The three ponies immediately grew wary of the animatronics. There were three of them in total. Two of them were in the alcove to the left, and the other was in the alcove to the right. The two on the left were a bipedal hippo with striped pants, a peg leg, and a stereotypically puffy shirt and pirate hat, and an orange cat with darker orange stripes on it that was sitting on a barrel. The cat had green eyes and a gold earring, along with a green bandana. The animatronic on the right was a dolphin with a pirate hat that was jutting out of a water decoration on the ground that was surrounded by a similarly colored mural.

Applejack cautiously walked through the middle of the room while facing the robotic animals. She had no doubt in her mind that they would be coming to life and chasing her as soon as she turned her back. However, the longer she examined them, the longer they remained motionless. “I don’t know about this, girls…” Applejack muttered uneasily while picturing how fast she would have to run to escape the three animatronics. She didn’t imagine that the dolphin or the hippo could move very fast, but the cat was slim enough to potentially run as fast as her.

Silver Bell hesitantly stepped closer to the enclosure that held the hippo and the cat. After getting over her building fear for a moment and taking a closer look at the pair of robots, she made an interesting discovery. “Hold on… I don’t think they can hurt us.” Silver said pensively while moving her head a little closer to get a better look.

“Careful Silver, don’t get too close. Just because they look like they’re not turned on doesn’t mean that they can’t move.” Rarity cautioned uneasily while trying to get the cream mare to back away from the animatronics.

“No, look at their feet.” Silver Bell stated while pointing to the ground near the animatronics.

Rarity and Applejack followed their cream companion’s instructions and looked down at the animatronics’ feet. Strangely enough, they noticed something gray and metallic between the colorful animatronic shells and the floor. The odd shapes were mostly circular, and they were jutting out of small grooves in the floor that were barely noticeable if you didn’t purposely look for them.

“What the hay are those?” Applejack asked with a confused expression while trying to figure out what the strange objects were.

“I think they’re tracks for the animatronics to move on. I don’t think these are real animatronics… they’re more like mechanical puppets.” Silver said, surprised at her own sudden revelation.

“Mechanical puppets…?” Rarity parroted the cream mare’s words as she tried to wrap her head around her reasoning. It was true that the tracks on the floor and the bolts holding them in place didn’t look like they could be released easily, and it did make sense that the dolphin to their rear wouldn’t be capable of walking.

“They would have to be. This place was being built back when Berry’s grandfather was still creating the animatronics. He must have been working on them down here, or there wouldn’t be any here in the first place. These guys must be what the resort was using before the animatronics were finished.” Silver Bell explained in an elated manner while smiling slightly. The knowledge that the robotic animals couldn’t come to life and attack her made the unicorn more than a little bit relieved and excited.

“That would make sense… Berry did mention that the animatronics weren’t ready to show off to the public even back when her grandfather made them.” Applejack reasoned with a nod of agreement.

“Even if they can’t walk around, I don’t really feel comfortable around them… let’s go find that fire exit and get out of here.” Rarity suggested with a hint of unease in her voice. Even though the animatronics couldn’t move around very much if they did turn on or get possessed by a ghost, they still looked a little unsettling with their faces shaded by the shadows in the room. The dim lighting wasn’t helping matters very much either.

With a little bit more confidence in their fragile state of safety, the three mares made their way through the room to the doorway at the far end. After passing through the opening, they were met with another pirate themed room. This one was heavily themed to resemble some sort of island interior, complete with fake jungle fauna nearly everywhere. Amidst the thick plastic vegetation, there was a clear path that led into a sort of circular area. In the center of the dirt colored carpeting, there was a sign with various arrows pointing to three other paths.

To the left was an area marked off as “kiddy cove”. There was a faded symbol of a simplified pony in an inflatable pool next to the arrow, so the three mares figured this area to be some kind of swimming area for kids. Judging from what little they could see of the area in the distance, they were most likely correct in their assumption. It looked like there were some decorations that made the area out to be a sort of cave, and there looked to be an empty cavity in the floor that was most likely one of the pools.

Deciding against investigating the kiddy cove, the group turned their attention to the other two signs. The sign that pointed to the right read “camp scallywag”, and it seemed to be a play area of sorts for children. Through the opening at the far end of the vegetated path, the ponies could see the beginnings of some kind of pirate-themed playground. There was even what looked to be an animatronic monkey hanging from a prop tree in the back of the room.

“Wow… this place looks kind of fun. It’s a real shame it was never finished.” Applejack stated with a hint of empathetic regret.

“Yeah… Sweetie Belle would have loved it here.” Rarity suggested while picturing her sister playing with her friends and scampering to and fro around the attraction. She frowned slightly as she remembered that she didn’t exactly know what the young unicorn was doing, or what had happened to her.

Noticing her friend’s gloomy expression, Applejack tried to think of why the unicorn would be upset. Her thoughts quickly turned to her own sister and she immediately understood what was ailing the white mare. “Let’s keep movin’. I’m sure the others will be finding a way down here soon enough, so we want to be done here before they get here.” Applejack suggested while walking down the path toward the back of the room.

Rarity took a moment to shake the lingering thoughts from her head before following the orange pony. Silver Bell briefly read off the sign that belonged to the path she would be following before rushing slightly to catch up with her friends. It seemed innocent enough. The sign simply read “treasure trove”.

The deep green of the faux jungle leaves gave way through the wide doorway into another large room. Compared to the last official room they were in, this one seemed like it was on a whole different scale. The heaping rectangle of an area looked big enough to host a small crowd, and its purpose seemed to justify the estimate.

All around the three mares was mostly open space decorated to resemble the edge of an island. There was sandy looking carpet along the floor, with a foam path of gray ovals made to resemble stones leading sideways across the room. Toward the back of the room, there were some areas that receded back further than others which were used to create the illusion of docks and an ocean, complete with murals on the walls to resemble a distant ocean and a moonlit starry sky.

There were also wooden huts of varying sizes and shapes dotted around the makeshift beach. Nearly all of the huts held items inside that seemed to be objects needed to play a host of old-fashioned carnival games. There was a ring toss to the left that used crude looking wooden rings and poles, or at least props made to look like crude wood. There was a booth near the border between fake sand and water that held water pistols and an array of cartoony skull targets in the back. There were even a few kiosks that most likely sold cotton candy and balloon animals.

“*Whistle*… now that is mighty impressive. It’s like a little carnival down here.” Applejack said in an enchanted tone while surveying the vast area before her. It seemed like everywhere she looked was another booth or decoration that made her feeling of wonderment even stronger.

“Yes, I must admit that all of this is rather remarkable. It’s hard to remember sometimes that we’re several feet underground.” Rarity added with a satisfied nod while briefly taking in the sights around her. “Now… where is that fire escape?” She muttered curiously while scanning around the room diligently. However, much to the white mare’s chagrin, her companions didn’t seem to be as focused on their task as she was.

“Oh my goodness, they had balloon swords! Pinkie would love it here.” Applejack chimed from off to the side. Rarity turned to see the orange mare examining some of the booths and huts around the area. Meanwhile, Silver Bell was trying on a pirate hat she found hanging on the wall.

“*Ahem*…” Rarity cleared her throat loudly, drawing the others’ attention to her and her icy glare of annoyance.

“Right… sorry.” Applejack said with a nervous smile before returning her efforts to searching for the fire exit.

While the orange mare started looking, Rarity glanced over to Silver Bell to make sure she was being productive. The cream mare lingered in her mindset of goofing off until she received a raised eyebrow from the white unicorn. Finally, Silver shrugged and put her pirate hat back where she found it.

Now that they had officially returned to their search, the three ponies spread out around the large room and looked around for the elusive fire escape. They searched around and behind many of the booths, and even looked inside the enclosed areas meant for decorations, but they couldn’t see anything.

Taking a look toward the front of the room at the area where the makeshift beach met the makeshift jungle, Silver Bell noticed something amid the plastic vegetation. In front of the center wall, there was an area ahead of the painted tree line mural on the wall that held a few treasure chest decorations. The chests themselves were standard fair for a pirate theme, even being complete with overflowing gold and jewelry, though it was clearly fake. What was bothering the cream mare, however, was what was in front of the chests.

There were metallic grooves on the ground that looked similar to the ones in the other room that belonged to the animatronics. However, strangely enough, there weren’t any animatronics attached to the tracks. Silver would have thought them to be something else entirely, but the presence of two rounded bits of metal sticking out of the grooves pretty much confirmed her original deduction that an animatronic was meant to be bolted to the tracks.

“Huh?” Silver muttered with a confused expression while examining the tracks closer. She couldn’t imagine why there would be tracks meant for an animatronic puppet without said puppet being present. Everything else in the attraction seemed to be relatively finished, so why wouldn’t there be an animatronic here?

“Hey guys, look over here!” Rarity announced from across the room, drawing Silver out of her thoughts. The cream unicorn looked over to see her white companion waving her and Applejack over to the corner of the room behind a patch of fake trees. With another passing glance back to the vacant tracks on the ground, Silver shrugged before heading over to see what her friend had discovered.

Applejack and the cream mare arrived around the same time. The pair walked over to Rarity and stepped around the obscuring wall of plastic brush to see what she was pointing at. Much to their surprise, they saw a greyscale door with red symbols and text across it that indicated it was a fire exit.

“Nice find, Rarity!” Applejack stated in a praising tone while smiling eagerly at the sight of the door.

“You can thank me if it’s not locked… let’s get out of here.” Rarity suggested while stepping forward and walking up to the door. The other two mares followed the unicorn eagerly and waited as she grabbed the handle and turned it.

Much to their initial confusion and dismay, the white mare paused after pushing on the door to open it. Rarity muttered a confused and uneasy statement before shoving her weight into the door again. Eventually, the ponies realized that the door wasn’t budging.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me!” Rarity exclaimed in frustration while kicking the door and backing away angrily.

“Is it locked or something?” Silver Bell asked hesitantly.

“No, that’s the problem. The handle turns just fine… it isn’t locked, it just won’t open for some reason.” Rarity explained with an exasperated shrug.

“Let me try something…” Applejack suggested while walking over to the door. “Rarity, hold the handle down.” She instructed while turning around and steadying herself. The white mare immediately knew what her friend was doing.

“Got it.” Rarity said while backing up and using her magic to twist the door handle.

Silver Bell and Rarity stood back and watched as their orange companion sized up the door. After a moment of centering herself, Applejack reared up her back legs and shot them out, delivering the strongest kick she could muster to the center of the stubborn door.

A mighty thunk sounded out and reverberated through the door. The ponies could see the door shaking a little bit from the impact, but unfortunately, it did not budge.

Applejack steadied herself after finishing her kick and spun around with a shocked expression. “What the hay?! I put everything I had into that kick. It doesn’t feel like anything is blocking the door, why isn’t it opening?!” She vented her frustration while trying to conceive just what was keeping the door closed. It was almost like something invisible was holding the door shut.

“The door isn’t locked… the handle turns just fine… it doesn’t feel like anything’s blocking it…” Rarity pondered out loud while trying to think of a possible solution. “Oh no…” She paled suddenly as she thought of something troubling.

“W-what’s wrong?” Silver asked in a concerned tone while noting the white mare’s dreadful expression.

“It seems like the only logical explanation is that one of the ghosts is holding the door shut.” Rarity explained hesitantly. The implications of such a statement made the other two mares’ hearts sink. They were trapped down here. Even if they did reunite with the others, the only way they could get back out would be to deal with the ghosts.

Before anyone could say anything further, a stray noise made the ponies’ ears perk up. What sounded like a loud creak came from the room behind them. The noise was far too loud and distinct to have been made by the building settling around them.

The three mares froze up suddenly as a wave of panic washed over them. They turned and looked out into the room, but their view was mostly obscured by the wall of brush beside them. They could only see out into the jungle hallway they came from, and there was nothing but the shadows of a burned out lightbulb to greet them there.

“Everyone down!” Applejack stated in a hushed and nervous tone while crouching low to the ground. Rarity and Silver Bell followed the orange mare’s example and got low to the floor while hugging the wall of fake vegetation. They couldn’t see through the thick plastic trees and vines enough to search the room, so they would have to poke their heads out if they wanted to find anything.

“What do we do? We’re like sitting ducks back here!” Silver Bell whispered frantically. It was easy to tell that the tense situation was getting to the cream mare, not that the others could blame her. She wasn’t exactly wrong either. If something had wandered into the room and found them, there was nowhere they could go with the door behind them locked.

Applejack anxiously looked in the general direction of the rest of the room and thought about how to get herself and her friends out of this mess. If they weren’t already found, they would be screwed if they were discovered waiting behind the wall of plastic plants. Then again, they might have been screwed anyway.

“You two wait here… I’m gonna’ go take a look.” Applejack said in as brave a tone she could muster while turning to her two friends. Although she knew she didn’t want the other mares getting hurt, she still felt nervous about going by herself to investigate the area.

Rarity gasped quietly as she processed the orange pony’s proposal. “Applejack, are you crazy?! You are absolutely not going out there by y…” She slowed down with a shocked expression as she watched the cowpony ignoring her words to start walking out into the room. “Applejack! Get back here!” She whispered frantically while motioning for the stubborn mare to return to the relative safety of their hiding spot.

Applejack ignored the white mare behind her and cautiously walked out from the wall. The room was still and quiet, just as the group left it when they went to inspect the fire escape. Somehow, however, it seemed to hold much more uncertainty and danger behind each corner and wooden hut.

Taking a look to the right, Applejack noticed a clearing in the fake vegetation where there was an area full of decorative treasure chests. She hadn’t seen the area before at any point when she was looking through the room, mostly because she was examining the many booths and huts. She must have been really unobservant at the time because there was an animatronic standing in the area that she didn’t even notice.

The animatronic was a red fox with yellow eyes similar to the one the ponies had seen on posters and artwork at the start of the attraction. The fox was wearing brown pants similar to his depictions, and he also had a matching hook for a hand and an eyepatch on one eye. His jaw was agape, revealing numerous sharp looking teeth. He was mostly intact looking, although some of the colorful shell around his legs and head was worn away slightly, revealing the gray endoskeleton underneath.

So this is Foxy? Applejack thought to herself briefly before glancing around in a paranoid manner. There were so many obscured corners and areas where something could have been hiding, waiting to pounce on her.

“Do you see anything...?” Rarity whispered while peering out from the wall of plastic vines. The orange mare looked back to see her white friend offering her support from behind her hiding place.

“Nothin’s here… there’s just huts, decorations, and this feller here.” Applejack replied back anxiously while double checking to ensure that nothing else was in the room.

Upon hearing the orange pony mentioning something as “feller”, Rarity and Silver Bell stepped out and looked over to where she was standing. While Rarity examined the animatronic with passive curiosity and anxiousness from the previous noise, Silver paled suddenly and widened her eyes in fright upon seeing the fox.

“*Gasp* Applejack, get away from that thing!” Silver Bell exclaimed in a panic, much to the confusion of her two companions.

“What’s wrong, Silver? It’s just a puppet.” Applejack stated, unaware of why the timid unicorn was freaking out so much.

“You don’t understand, that thing wasn’t there before!” Silver explained nervously with a deep feeling of fear in her voice.

Before Applejack could process the situation any further, she heard a soft metallic click behind her, followed by a distorted growl. She immediately felt chills running down her spine as a thick feeling of dread firmly cemented itself in her stomach. She didn’t want to turn around, but she started to anyway.

The crimson fox wasn’t looking off into the distance anymore. Its yellow eyes were piercing directly into Applejack’s, and its jaw was closed into a silent snarl. Now that all pretenses of the animatronic being lifeless were shattered, it started moving its hooked hand and raising it above its head.

“Applejack!” Rarity and Silver Bell cried in unison as they watched the animatronic preparing to strike their friend.

Applejack yelped in a panic while finally managing to snap herself out of her terrified stupor. She dove to the side, hoping to evade whatever the animatronic was preparing to do. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t move quite fast enough. “AGH!” The orange pony screamed as the fox’s hook sliced into her back leg. Although the hook itself wasn’t metal, it seemed as though there was a thin wire inside of the plastic shell that was poking through due to wear and tear, and the plastic shell had been worn down to a sharp edge from wear and tear as well. Blood sprayed out of Applejack’s leg as she finished her path to the floor. Luckily the hook didn’t stay inside of her, but the wound was painful looking.

The robotic fox screeched fiercely while stepping to the side. It reached down and grabbed the injured pony by her still bleeding leg and tried to pick her up. Applejack yelped from a mixture of pain and terror as she turned over and struggled to stay on the ground.

“GuaAAAH! Ge- get off me!” Applejack pleaded while trying to free her leg from the fox’s literal iron grip. She used her free leg to kick at the mechanical monstrosity, barely managing to even hit a solid target amid the chaos of the animatronic trying to pick her up and her own efforts to remain on the floor.

Foxy continued shrieking at the orange pony in his grasp, nearly making her ears bleed from how loud his distorted cries were. Having had enough of his tug of war with the stubborn mare, the crimson fox raised his hooked hand into the air once more, fully intent on impaling her and gouging her insides out.

Before the animatronic could strike, however, he was suddenly enveloped by a magical glow. As it tried to swing its hook down toward the orange mare, the fox was met with resistance as an invisible force pulled back on it. Applejack looked over to the side to see Rarity and Silver Bell with their horns glowing fiercely and pained expressions on their faces.

“Guh... he’s… he’s too strong!” Silver Bell stated while pulling back on her magic with all of her might. Despite the combined efforts of the two unicorns, the animatronic was just barely being restrained, and he was not happy about it.

Foxy strained and jerked his body in any direction it could go, trying desperately to rid himself of the annoying unicorns and their grip on him. Although it was slow going, he seemed to be able to move in small increments as his immense strength easily overpowered the two mares.

“Grr… A-Applejack, hurry and do something! We can’t hold him much longer!” Rarity exclaimed in a panic, hopeful that her orange friend was capable of doing something to free herself. With how much the two unicorns were struggling with the animatronic, they could barely move without breaking concentration. Right about now the white mare wished that her lavender friend was here to help with her magical capabilities.

Applejack shoved and kicked as hard as she could to wrench herself free of Foxy’s grip. Even with his limited range of motion, the animatronic was keeping a tight grip on his prey. Finally, however, one of her kicks managed to land a solid hit on the robotic animal’s body. The combined force of the orange mare’s kick and the two unicorns pulling back on the animatronic at once caused him to stumble. Seeing an opportunity open up, Rarity and Silver Bell directed all of their efforts to pulling Foxy off balance.

The two mares yelped from pain as their heads practically vibrated from the exertion they were putting them through. Just before they felt like they were going to pass out, the animatronic tipped over and fell on the ground, releasing the trapped pony in the process.

Applejack ignored the stabbing pains in her back leg and shot up from the floor. Once she was upright, she turned and saw her two friends panting and drooping their heads from exhaustion. Turning her attention back to the animatronic, she saw that the crimson fox was already trying to get to its feet. “Come on girls! We need to go, NOW!” Applejack yelled to snap the two unicorns out of their stupor. Rarity and Silver Bell fought through their pounding headaches and started running in the general direction of their orange friend. The three ponies quickly made a beeline for the doorway on the other side of the room, with the thunderous pounding of the animatronic’s metallic feet and its piercing cries already hot on their tails as it chased after its fleeing prey.

The trio didn’t even stop to see where they were going, they just ran for the nearest opening they could find and hoped that they didn’t run into any dead ends, literal or figurative. They bolted out into the next room, another mock coastline with decorative boats along the shore from the look of it. There were plastic palm trees jutting up from the middle of the floor, forcing the ponies to maneuver around them while maintaining speed.

The animatronic behind them let loose another distorted cry. It resembled what the three mares imagined a tortured soul inhabiting a metallic shell to sound like, but right now it sounded like it only wanted to kill them, and it sounded close. The group could hear the thumping of the fox’s feet right behind them. They were probably just barely keeping ahead of the beast, and none of them wanted to turn to look behind them. All they knew was that if they slowed down or stopped running for an instant, the crimson animatronic wouldn’t give them another chance to slip up.

Another room opened up in a blur as the three mares kept running. This one seemed to hold a few more mechanical puppets to the side and in the center. There was a monkey, a rabbit, and a snake, all of them wearing miscellaneous pirate clothes. The trio didn’t even pay attention to the animal entertainers. The only thing they were focused on was a small sign near the ceiling of the far doorway that read “exit”.

“Keep going, we’re almost out!” Rarity exclaimed while dodging to the side to avoid running into one of the stationary animatronics. She jumped over the outcropping of fake rocks the robotic animal was sitting on and kept going, briefly looking beside her to ensure her friends were still with her.

The ponies heard a loud metallic bang behind them. They hesitantly looked back to see Foxy the pirate barging into the animatronic they just past. The fox jumped over the fake rock the animatronic was sitting on, knocking the inactive robot off its perch and snapping several components off of it as he kept going.

Applejack, Rarity, and Silver Bell tore out into the entrance of the attraction. As they suspected, they came out through the door they saw earlier on the right side of the room. Still, they couldn’t linger for an instant if they were to outrun the fox behind them.

While she was running, Rarity noticed a rope divider meant for use in forming lines off to the side of the room. Desperate to slow down her pursuer in any way, she lit up her horn and picked up the divider by one of its anchoring poles and swung it out into the area directly in front of the doorway she just came from.

Much to their surprise, the trio heard a loud clamor as the animatronic ran into the rope divider. Although it offered little to no resistance to the towering fox, it apparently caused enough confusion and interference to make him trip slightly. With an agitated cry of frustration, Foxy fell forward and face planted on the floor.

The ponies used their few seconds of a distraction to run out of the door to the attraction. They bolted around the corner and down the relatively tight corridors of the resort in the hopes that they could lose the creature hunting them.

As expected, they heard Foxy running behind them, but he was a fair distance further away than he was before. Still, with their collective stamina running on fumes, they wouldn’t keep ahead of him for long if they didn’t do something fast.

Without so much as an end goal in mind, the trio kept running. They weren’t even sure where they were anymore. They tried to retrace their steps back to the stairwell to stay on their mental maps, but the route they were taking was backwards, and they couldn’t exactly carefully follow directions they memorized from the map while they were running as fast as they possibly could.

Applejack and her two companions could feel their hearts pounding in their chests as they rounded another corner, even amid their frantic efforts to keep breathing enough to sustain their bodies. However, the earth pony was dealing with an obstacle that the two unicorns didn’t have to; A rather nasty looking leg wound.

The orange mare had mostly fought through her pain to keep running, but even then it was hindering her severely. She barely managed to keep up with her friends as unbearable stabs of pain reminded her of her injury and the crimson trail of blood she was doubtlessly leaving behind. Finally, her handicap caught up with her.

“Gah!” Applejack yelped as her leg turned to a stinging mass of unresponsive jelly under her weight. She tumbled to the floor and just barely managed to cushion her fall with her front hooves.

Rarity and Silver Bell skidded to a halt as they heard their companion smack into the floor. They turned around and saw Applejack struggling to get to her feet, assuming she could get off the ground at all.

“Oh no… Applejack!” Rarity squeaked fearfully as she stared at her injured friend in shock. She couldn’t believe that this was happening right now. The thundering sound of the animatronic’s footsteps indicated that it was still chasing them, and it was right on their tails. Without even thinking about the consequences, the two unicorns rushed forward and knelt down to start to pick their friend up.

“Come on, Applejack… get up!” Silver Bell pleaded while pulling the orange mare to her feet. Despite the help given by the two mares, Applejack faltered again and gritted her teeth as her leg prevented her from steadying herself.

“Girls, run! Get yourselves out of here!” Applejack instructed while nervously glancing down the hallway. The animatronic fox would be here any second, and it wouldn’t show mercy to the two unicorns for stopping to help their friend.

“If you think I’m leaving you here you’ve got another thing coming cowgirl.” Rarity explained in an appalled tone, shocked that the orange mare would even suggest abandoning her.

Before Applejack could speak again in protest, the metallic footsteps got louder abruptly then ceased. The trio looked up as they heard a low snarling, only to see Foxy the pirate standing at the end of the hallway, and he did not look like he was about to congratulate them for making it through pirate cove.

Applejack tried once again to get to her feet. However, she stumbled again before succeeding in trying to walk with three legs. She looked down to her injury and cursed under her breath. The bleeding she was suffering was starting to take its toll on her strength. “You two head back to the stairs and wait for the others, now! I’ll try my best to keep him b…” Applejack paused suddenly as she watched the two unicorns standing up and standing in front of her. They had terrified expressions on their faces, but there was also steely resolve behind all of the fear.

“I already told you, I’m not leaving. I’m not going to look Applebloom in the eye and tell her that I let her big sister get mauled by an overgrown fleabag with an eyepatch!” Rarity stated in an adamant tone.

“I’m not leaving either… I couldn’t live with myself if I let something happen to you.” Silver Bell added after gulping hesitantly. Still, she stood her ground along with the white unicorn, blocking the animatronic’s path to the injured mare.

Applejack couldn’t believe her ears. Her friends were about to literally risk life and limb to keep her safe. She would have started tearing up and crying, but her emotional thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a metallic thud.

The ponies looked up to see Foxy slowly walking into the hallway toward them. He seemed to know that they were staying where they were and they wouldn’t run. Rarity and Silver Bell lit up their horns and stood fast in front of their orange friend. They fully knew that there wasn’t much they could do to harm or impair the beast, but they would act as meat shields if they had to.

Foxy growled and opened his jaw to expose all of his teeth, which had been worn down to razor sharp edges over time. The ponies wouldn’t be surprised if the fox had spent some time gnawing on other animatronics to sharpen them. The three mares felt their bodies tensing up and shivering as they watched the metallic beast approaching them. They could already picture the robotic animal using his hook to impale one of them while he killed the other two by biting them. Finally, they closed their eyes as they saw him preparing to rush the rest of the way down the hall to pounce on them.

…Hello…

An eerily familiar distorted voice echoed through the hall, causing everyone to freeze. Even Foxy stopped dead in his tracks as the voice made its presence known. The ponies looked around to find the source of the voice. They quickly realized that they recognized this hallway, and the doorway a few feet in front of them that was sitting between them and the crimson fox.

Foxy backed up a step and let out a muffled noise that sounded almost distressed. He darted his head around before finally settling on the doorway to the left. Even with most of the hall being illuminated by overhead lights, the room within was pitch black, as if a void of darkness had swallowed it up.

The ponies watched with utterly confused expressions as the animatronic stared into the room. Suddenly, he backed up another step, and then another. The fox glanced back to the ponies and growled before looking back to the doorway, almost like he was contemplating something.

The same low pitched and broken chuckle that the ponies heard before came echoing into the hall. The mere sound of it made their spines tingle and their blood run cold. There was no doubt about it, whatever creature the yellow eyes they saw belonged to was still inside that room.

Foxy let out another distressed snarl. He shrieked at the doorway while walking back down the hall the way he came, all the while facing the dark room. Once he was a sufficient distance away, he turned tail and ran around the corner, not showing any signs of stopping as his metallic footsteps kept going and disappeared into the distance.

Applejack stared down the hallway where the fox just was and blinked in disbelief. She couldn’t imagine what had possessed the robotic fox to run away like that. In fact, it almost looked afraid. “It… it ran away…?”

“There’s that room again…” Silver Bell said uneasily while hesitantly looking at the deep shadows within the room. Even though it was a fair distance away, and she could only see a little bit beyond the doorway due to her angle of viewing, the cream mare still expected to see those piercing yellow eyes staring back at her from within the darkness.

“I’m hoping whatever that thing is it doesn’t leave that room to come at us… I think it must fancy staying in there if it’s still here.” Rarity suggested nervously, desperately hoping that she wouldn’t have to relive the experience she had before.

“Still, we shouldn’t give it the chance to come after us. I hate to sympathize with a haunted robot critter, but I think that fox had the right idea in running away.” Applejack said while trying to get up again. She yelped in pain as her leg refused to hold her weight again.

“You’re not going anywhere with that leg the way it is…” Silver Bell said in a concerned tone while kneeling down to examine the orange mare’s wound closer. “Oh my goodness… that looks like it’s deep.” She covered her mouth with her hoof as she saw the full extent of the bloody gash. The wound went vertically down Applejack’s back leg a short ways past the cutie mark, and it looked nasty. Although to be fair, the sheer amount of blood that was covering it and spilling out onto the floor didn’t make it look any better.

“It’s not that bad. I should be fine until we get back to the stairs…” Applejack said while trying again to get up. She finally managed to tough through the pain and stood on all four legs, albeit she was wobbling like a newborn deer. To her credit, the wound wasn’t as deep as it first appeared, but it would still be a problem if she didn’t get it treated. She had already lost a fair amount of blood.

“We can’t just ignore that cut darling… you could bleed to death.” Rarity stated in a concerned tone.

“We don’t really have any first aid kits on hoof, Rarity.” Applejack replied with a shrug.

Rarity looked down and bit her lip anxiously while straining to find a possible way to help her friend. “Ugh… where’s Tom when you need him?”

While the two mares were trying to figure out how they were going to make it any decent distance without the orange pony keeling over from blood loss, Silver Bell was examining the wound and thinking to herself. “Hold still, Applejack.” Silver instructed while lighting up her horn. Much to the surprise of the others, the cream pony took off her black bowtie and unfurled it. She also took off her collar and folded it until it was compressed into a rough rectangle shape. Applejack did as she was told and held still while the unicorn worked.

Silver took her now folded up collar and gently pressed it against the orange mare’s cut. Floating the black length of cloth that used to be her bowtie over beside the white pad, she started wrapping the cloth around Applejack’s leg and tying it off into a knot. Although it was crude and it couldn’t be as tight as the cream mare desired, the finished product actually resembled a bandage of sorts. Most importantly, however, it was stunting the blood loss from the wound.

“Wow… thanks, Silver. I didn’t know you knew your way around a bandage.” Applejack said in an impressed tone while testing out her leg. Although it still hurt like the dickens, she was confident that her strength would at least partially return now that she wasn’t running for her life and bleeding to death.

”I wouldn’t exactly call that a bandage…” Silver shrugged while noting the crudeness of the wrapping. Still, it didn’t matter as long as it worked.

Hearing a noise from behind them, the trio turned and looked back down the hallway. The noise directed their attention to the pitch black room that they had their encounter with the strange yellow dots.

Just looking at the doorway and thinking back to the events from before made chills go down their backs. The longer they stared, the more they began to realize that their heads were actually starting to hurt slightly.

“L-let’s get out of here…” Silver Bell suggested nervously, backing away to distance herself from the already distant doorway. Even having it in sight gave her the creeps.

“Y-yeah… let’s head back to the stairs.” Rarity nodded eagerly in agreement to the cream mare. With the decision being unanimous, the three ponies started walking in the opposite direction from the eerie room. Applejack needed help with walking at times, but the trio still managed to move at a healthy clip in order to get as far away as possible.

Comments

[WyattS]

so new animatronics
W.P FOXY 18 (but at the end, he peed himself so negative 4 )
DEMON VOICE OVER 9000
PIRATE CREW 0
( scurvy the hippo smee the cat pirate hat the dolphin )
( bananas the monkey steve the snake and buccaneer the bunny )
hope you like the names I'm giving these murder bots