Spiritus ex Machina

by wonderkid125

Chapter 18: Mementos

The room was silent as the last few flecks of debris settled to the floor. The muffled sounds of running and radio static from the hole in the ceiling above had passed minutes ago, leaving nothing to disturb the ambiance. Suddenly, there was movement. Inside of the ball bit, the colorful orbs were shifting as someone started climbing out.

Scootaloo spit a ball out of her mouth and panted heavily. On top of her stamina still being drained from running for her life for so long, her body was now sore from having smacked into the bottom of the pit. The many plastic balls offered a surprisingly decent amount of cushioning, but she did fall from a great height. “Ugh… my head.” Scootaloo groaned while clutching her tender cranium and clinging to the edge of the pit. Before she could climb her way out, she heard movement behind her and turned her head to investigate. There was only one working light in the vast room around her, and the area she was in was on the dark side of the room. Still, she could make out the sight of more people climbing out of the pit.

“Gah…” Spike took a moment to catch his breath as he wriggled to the top of the pit. “Is… everyone alright?” He asked while looking around and trying to find the others. Off to the side, two more ponies climbed up to the surface of the pit and clung to the edge. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle slowly climbed out of the pit before rolling onto their backs and resting.

“Oww… I think I hurt my side.” Sweetie Belle cringed while rubbing her side gently. Her ribs felt like they were bruised, and they probably looked like it too, though it was hard to tell in the dim light.

The four looked up at the ceiling to find the hole they fell through. They were surprised to see just how high up the fall actually was. The room was fairly big vertically, and it looked like it was a play area of sorts. There were a few large slides and hanging decorations, which explained the high ceiling. What they were more surprised to see, however, was a surprising lack of a gaping hole in the ceiling.

“What the hay…? Where’d the hole go?” Scootaloo asked in a confused manner while darting her eyes around. They had to have fallen through something, but the ceiling was completely intact. There was still debris on the floor from the supposed collapse, but everything else indicated that nothing had happened at all.

“What are we going to do…? Are we stuck down here?” Applebloom asked with a concerned gleam in her eye.

Scootaloo looked to the seemingly solid ceiling with a frustrated expression. “Hey! Is anyone up there?!” She raised her voice to carry upwards. Nothing but silent darkness greeted her in return. As much as the filly hoped that someone would hear her through the ceiling and respond, she decided against yelling again for fear that something else might hear her.

Much to their surprise, the kids noticed someone else climbing out of the ball pit. A familiar gray mare in coveralls popped up and took a moment to catch her breath and regain her bearings.

“Sparkplug?” Spike said while looking to the earth pony with a confused expression.

Sparkplug looked around and breathed a sigh of relief as she noticed the four children. “Oh… thank goodness you guys are alright.”

“What are you doing down here?” Sweetie Belle asked curiously while watching the gray mare starting to climb her way out of the pit.

“I jumped down after you… I couldn’t just leave you guys alone.” Sparkplug explained in a lighthearted tone while getting to her feet. She took a look around the room briefly while trying to figure out where they were. Their initial assumption that this was a play area for kids was correct. There were toys and various colorful decorations scattered everywhere, and the walls were painted black with white dots interspaced to resemble stars in a night sky. “Ok… ok… is anyone hurt?” Sparkplug asked while turning her attention to the four children. She walked over to the side of the pit and helped Scootaloo climb up while Spike was making his way out on his own.

“I think I hit my head… does it look bad?” Scootaloo pointed out where her head was hurting while brushing her hair out of the way for Sparkplug to see clearly.

The older mare gently examined the filly’s head. It was hard to see in the dark, but it looked like she was bleeding slightly from a small cut on her forehead. “I’m no doctor or anything, but it definitely looks like you hit it. Do you feel ok?” Sparkplug asked with a concerned frown of sympathy.

“Yeah, I think so. I don’t feel tired or anything.” Scootaloo said while gently holding her head with a slightly concerned expression.

“That’s good… I think.” Sparkplug said in what she hoped would be a reassuring tone. “Just don’t go falling asleep for a while… you should be fine.” She stated before turning her attention to the others. Across the ball pit, Spike and Applebloom were huddled around Sweetie Belle, who was still on the floor holding her side.

Scootaloo made her way over to the other side of the pit with Sparkplug. As she and the gray mare approached, they could see the young unicorn clutching a black and blue spot on her side. “Are you ok, Sweetie Belle?” Scootaloo asked with a concerned expression of sympathy as she paused in front of her friend.

Sweetie Belle cringed before stiffening her expression and trying to ignore the pain she was in so she could sit up. “Nghh… I… I’m just resting. My ribs hurt, but… I don’t think it’s too bad.” She replied.

“That’s a relief… I would have thought you would be worse off considering how far we fell. I can’t believe the floor just opened up like that.” Sparkplug said while craning her head to look up at the hole in the ceiling. She was taken aback by confusion as she was met with the exact opposite of what she expected. “Wait… where did the hole go?”

“We don’t know… it just vanished.” Scootaloo suggested in an equally confused manner. “It must have happened after you jumped down and the others left.”

Upon mention of the other two mares, Spike frowned slightly in concern. “Did Berry and Pinkie get away from that thing?” He asked while looking to the gray mare, hopeful he would receive a comforting answer.

Sparkplug frowned slightly as she thought about what could have happened to the two mares after she jumped down after the kids. “I told them to run. I would assume they got out of there once that fox thing came around the corner. If they didn’t run, they would be down here… right?” She said in what she hoped to be a confident tone. It was easy to tell that she was trying to reassure herself as well as the four children waiting with concerned expressions on their faces.

“Where exactly is down here anyway?” Sweetie Belle asked while giving the room a second look around. Now that everything was starting to sink in, she was becoming much more nervous about her new location.

“Well… we fell. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that we must be on a lower floor.” Scootaloo replied in an aloof manner.

“Do you think we’re on the floor Applejack and the others are on?” Applebloom perked up slightly at the prospect of meeting up with her sister. Sweetie Belle was also eager to entertain the idea that they would find the three missing ponies, and Sparkplug was determined to make sure Silver Bell was safe.

“It’s a possibility.” Sparkplug said. “As long as they didn’t go any further down, they should be around here somewhere.” She explained while trying to keep her own expectations within reasonable levels. However, the yellow filly and young unicorn weren’t as good at keeping their excitement contained.

“We should go look for them!” Applebloom suggested eagerly while walking off to the side and picking up her sister’s hat from where it landed.

Sweetie Belle ignored her aching side and sprang up from the floor with her energy replenished anew. “Yeah! I’m sure they would be so glad to see us!” She said with an eager grin on her face as she pictured her sister’s reaction to seeing her again.

Sparkplug sighed while looking around in thought. She had jumped down to this floor to keep the kids safe, but she couldn’t deny that this was their best chance of reuniting with the three mares. At any rate, they couldn’t just stay in one place and wait. Any number of things could have happened before the others could reach them. Right now, their best option was to keep moving. “Alright… if you guys are able to walk, then we should get going. We can look for Applejack and Rarity while we move.” Sparkplug stated while motioning for the others to follow her. Spike and the three fillies nodded before slowly shuffling forward while the gray mare tried to find a way out of the room.

As much as they wanted the entrance to the play area to be in the well-lit half of the room, there was no such luck. If there was another way in aside from the missing hole in the ceiling, and Sparkplug really hoped that they hadn’t fallen into a sealed off room in some bizarre stroke of misfortune, then they had to go further into the darkness.

Luck hadn’t been kind to them recently. After all, they had just fallen through the ceiling when everything should have been stable due to the seismic dampener. Still, they had stumbled across some form of luck as they ran across the entrance. There was a set of double doors propped open near the corner of the room beside a small climbing net.

The group huddled near the doors and peered out into the equally dark hallway. Now that they were further away from the light back in the room, they could hardly see their hooves in front of their faces. From the look of it, there was another light to the far left side of the corridor, but most of the area was bathed in darkness.

“Gosh… it sure is dark out there.” Applebloom said in a small voice while trying to refrain from getting too unnerved.

“How are we going to find the others if we can’t even see?” Scootaloo asked in a defeated tone.

“Well… I might not have a flashlight, but…” Sparkplug muttered while digging around in her pockets. After a moment, she produced what looked to be a video camera. “I might be able to make this work in the meantime.” She added while opening up the screen and fumbling around to find the power switch.

Spike eyed the small device warily. “Does that thing even work?” He asked while raising an eyebrow in doubt.

“It should… I swiped it from my workshop upstairs. I think it has night vision on it if I’m not mistaken.” Sparkplug replied in an unfocused manner while waiting for the screen to come on. Once the display lit up, she pressed a few more buttons while trying to switch on the night vision. Finally, the screen flashed green and the group could see a view of the hallway ahead of them through the small viewing window. “Aha… there we go.” The gray mare said with a triumphant smirk. Although the camera produced little to no light other than the screen, it would offer them enough of a view of their surroundings to make their way through the dark.

“Really…? There’s no way that will work. We will be bumping into things left and right.” Scootaloo stated in a skeptical manner while eyeing the small screen that was their only method of navigation. The others were a bit wary as well, but they weren’t sure what else they could do.

“Where are we even going?” Spike asked hesitantly. Without any sure fire way of finding the three missing ponies, the dragon didn’t know where they could search, or even if he wanted to go wandering around.

“Uh… I don’t know.” Sparkplug said with an awkward shrug. Needless to say, the gray mare’s response wasn’t what the children expected from their designated adult guardian.

“What?!” Scootaloo exclaimed in shock. “How do you not know? I thought you had a plan!”

“My plan stopped at jumping down here with you… give me a break.” Sparkplug said defensively. As she looked around, hopeful to find suggestions, she only found the three fillies and young dragon looking to her with uncertain expressions. “Ok… uh… Maybe we should go to the stairs? I mean… maybe the others will have the keys by then?” She said with a hopeful expression. She never expected to feel so judged by a group of children.

“That sounds like a good plan… If they haven’t found the keys by then, we can just go look for Applejack and the others.” Applebloom suggested in a compliant tone. The gray mare was eager to accept the yellow filly’s approval.

“Well, that settles it. Stay close, everyone… We’ll try to stick to the lighted areas, but a lot of the bulbs are probably burned out.” Sparkplug instructed before taking a few steps out into the hallway. The three fillies and their dragon companion followed along with varying amounts of fear and hesitation among them.

Working off of memory and where she was facing before everything went sour, the gray mare tried to figure out the direction the stairs would be in. Her best estimate put them to their rear when they were in the play room, but there wasn’t an exit in that direction. Now she would have to loop around, elongating the trip they would have to take far more than anyone would have liked.

With the light at the far left end of the hall in mind, Sparkplug decided to head left. She walked slow, half to make sure that her young followers were staying close, and half to orient herself in the darkness. The only way she had of seeing where she was going other than the distant lit up area was the small viewing screen of the camera. The green snapshot of the dark hallway made it seem a little less spooky than it was before, but it was still eerie having darkness on all sides. It was somewhat odd to be looking down at something to see where they were going. Given how small the screen was, it felt like they could walk into something without even knowing it.

Sparkplug and the others drew their eyes upward as they neared the lit up portion of the hall. Apparently, there was a single working bulb, and it was at an intersection. Everything outside of the sphere of light was a void of blackness, and even though they could get a look at what was waiting within that void, the ponies weren’t sure if they wanted to.

“I think the stairs were this way…” Sparkplug ventured while walking toward the left fork in the hall. As she rounded the corner, she paused as she noticed a wall of absolute darkness waiting for her. If there was only a single light in the hallway, it was the one they were currently under. Given the terrifying sight before them, the group would have wondered if any of the lights worked on this floor. “Ugh… you have got to be kidding me.” The gray mare muttered reluctantly. Despite whatever anxiousness she felt, she pressed onward and relied on her trusty camera to tell her where she was going. Of course, the four children followed close behind, mostly for fear of being left alone.

If the area was eerie before with at least some light, it was outright terrifying now that they were literally surrounded by darkness. The further they walked, the further away the waning light of the singular lightbulb got. It almost felt like they were being swallowed up by a black hole.

“I don’t like this place... I’m scared.” Sweetie Belle stated nervously while peering around her in a paranoid fashion. She fully expected another terrifying metallic monster to come out of the dark at any given moment. The stark silence in the air wasn’t helping matters either.

“Just keep moving, kid… we’re all here with you.” Sparkplug said in a reassuring tone. Although she couldn’t tell who did it, the white filly felt one of her friends patting her on the shoulder in a comforting manner. At least she hoped it was one of her friends.

All eyes were fixated on the little screen held by the gray mare. Any obstacle they came across managed to be avoided since they could see it coming. It was astounding how much they felt like they were blind, even though for all intents and purposes they could see pretty much anything in front of them.

After slowly maneuvering through the halls, making it through a few twists and turns along the way, the group was relieved to finally see a light at the end of the corridor. Not only was there a light, but there was also a set of stairs set into the back wall.

“Phew… we made it.” Sparkplug said with a slight smirk while picking up her pace to reach the lit up area. The four children eagerly rushed to escape the darkness for fear that something might reach out and spirit them away right under everyone’s noses.

The stairs leading down were blocked by iron bars. Sparkplug walked up and briefly tried to open the gate, but to no avail. It was locked up tight, and if nothing had changed, the way upstairs would be impeded by a similar gate. “Darn… looks like we are stuck on this floor.” Sparkplug muttered with a deflated expression.

“Hey guys, come look at this!” Applebloom announced from off to the side. The others turned to see the yellow filly over on the right fork of the intersection just before the cut off of darkness. She was pointing eagerly to the wall, and it was easy to tell why. There was what appeared to be red paint smeared across the wall, and it seemed to spell out a message.

“The key to success lies in the past…? What the hay is that supposed to mean?” Scootaloo read off the crudely drawn message as she walked over to where the yellow filly was standing. There was what appeared to be a small key drawn next to the message. Was this referring to the keys to the stairs?

Before anyone else could ponder the meaning of the message, a light suddenly appeared off to the side. Everyone darted their heads to investigate the area with varying degrees of alarm. They expected to find that one or more of the ghosts had found them and would chase them all around the floor. What they didn’t expect to see, however, were three ponies walking toward them from the far hallway. The stunned group stared at the trio for a moment in disbelief as they finally paused and noticed that they weren’t alone. The light was coming from two unicorns, both of which looked very familiar. And the third pony immediately sent a wave of excitement through a certain yellow filly.

“Applejack…!” Applebloom exclaimed with a cheerful gasp. Without so much as a care for the darkness separating her and the three ponies up ahead, she rushed forward and made a beeline straight for her sister.

“Applebloom…?” Applejack muttered in a stunned tone. Her face brightened up as she realized that this wasn’t just some fear-induced hallucination. The orange mare quickly trotted forward along with her friends and caught the speeding filly with open forelegs. After hugging her sister for a moment, Applebloom gently placed the leather hat she had been holding back onto the head of its rightful owner.

“Rarity!” Sweetie Belle cheered in excitement while rushing over to the group and leaping at the white unicorn.

“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity widened her eyes in stunned amazement as she knelt down and hugged her little sister as tightly as she could.

Sparkplug walked over along with Spike and Scootaloo, eager to greet their friends that had been missing for so long. Each group seemed to be just as surprised as the other that they had found each other.

“Sparkplug…? What are you guys doing down here?” Silver Bell asked curiously while looking to the gray mare for answers.

“It's a long story… In short, we got chased down here by the animatronics and came looking for you.” Sparkplug shrugged as she thought about all of the things that had happened in such a short period of time.

“Did you find the keys to the gate?” Rarity asked with a hopeful gleam in her eyes.

“Not exactly…” Sparkplug admitted sheepishly.

“Yeah… we kind of fell through a hole in the ceiling while running from one of those robot things. The hole was gone somehow by the time we got up… so I guess we're stuck down here with you.” Scootaloo stated uneasily.

“Don't worry about that right now… I'm sure the others will find a way to us. I'm just glad you guys are ok.” Applejack smiled warmly. Although it was troubling to know that they were still trapped, the three mares were relieved to have found some familiar faces down in the dark halls.

“Hold on…” Silver Bell muttered curiously while looking over to the area by the stairs. “What’s that over there?” She asked while pointing at something. While Applejack and Rarity slowly walked forward to see what their friend was referring to, Sparkplug turned and noticed that her colleague was pointing out the message on the wall.

The three mares walked over to the lit up portion of the hall and went past the stairs to examine the words scrawled on the wall in red paint. They seemed to be just as confused by the message as the others had been when they first found it.

“The key to success lies in the past?” Rarity read off the message to herself quietly with a puzzled expression. “Who wrote this…?” She asked curiously while turning to the gray pony and the four children.

Sparkplug raised a surprised eyebrow as the unicorn looked to her for an answer. “You don’t know? I thought you would have seen this when you first got down here.”

“That wasn’t here when we first got down here… someone must have drawn it while we were lookin’ for another way out.” Applejack suggested uneasily. The prospect of them not being alone down in the eerie corridors wasn’t exactly new, but it was still disturbing to think about. Most of the group figured that the animatronics weren’t capable of the complex thought required to write out a message for others to see. Then again, it wasn’t just average ordinary animatronics they were dealing with. Ghosts were capable of many things, and a lot of them had sinister intentions for the living.

“What does it mean anyway? It looks like it’s talking about some kind of key… but where would it be?” Scootaloo asked while puzzling over the message further in her head. From the look of things, the orange filly would sooner hurt herself from over exerting her mind than come up with a plausible answer.

Silver Bell and the others looked over the message again. Aside from it being drawn in red paint, the words didn’t tell much else about who or what wrote them and what they meant. However, as the young pegasus had pointed out, the small key drawn next to the message did seem to indicate that it was referring to a literal key.

“The key to success lies in the past…? Hey… isn’t there a museum on this floor?” Silver Bell asked curiously while thinking of her limited knowledge of the map layout.

The others turned and watched with passive intrigue as Rarity and Applejack rushed over to a map hanging on the wall. It looked like it was a map of this floor and everything on it. The gray mare and her four charges were amazed that they hadn’t noticed it sooner.

After some searching, Applejack let a small smile creep across her face. “Silver is right… there’s a museum about the history of the park on the right side of the map.” She reported eagerly while pointing at the section of the map she was referring to. There was a sizable room tucked away at the upper right-hand side of the map. Judging from their current location, it would have been clear on the opposite side of the floor from them. It was actually not that far away from pirate cove.

“I don’t know about this, guys… That place is awful close to where we found that animatronic.” Silver Bell pointed out warily. It was easy to tell the cream mare wasn’t keen on seeing the red fox again.

“I know darling, but that might be our best bet to find the keys to the stairs. I mean look… there’s even a security office inside the museum.” Rarity said while motioning toward a small outline of a room inside the museum marked off as “Security”.

“Maybe we should just stay here? I’m sure the others will find a set of keys upstairs and come get us in no time.” Silver Bell suggested with a hesitant expression.

“I’m not too sure of that… they were having some trouble finding the keys when we had to… *ahem* relocate.” Sparkplug explained in a disheartened manner.

Silver Bell looked down and fiddled her hooves together uncomfortably. Most of the others had already decided what they were going to do, but there were some that were still hesitant. Even so, everyone wanted to reunite with their friends upstairs. The sooner they got back together, the sooner they could focus on the reason they came to the resort in the first place.

“I think we should go. We’ve been everywhere else that we can think of to look for an exit to this floor. If the keys aren’t in that museum, we should hole up in the security room until the others find us.” Rarity suggested in a confident tone.

“I don’t know guys… shouldn’t we look around more for those keys if we don’t find them?” Sparkplug asked curiously. The question was innocent enough, but the mere thoughts that it provoked made the other three mares fall into an uneasy silence.

“You don’t know what’s down here… We’ve run into some scary stuff, and I’m not just talkin’ about robot critters.” Applejack explained in a cold tone. Rarity and Silver Bell immediately knew what the orange pony was referring to.

The genuine dread in the three ponies’ faces made the gray mare and the four children pause nervously. They must have seen something truly awful to be so adamant about not roaming the halls. Their imaginations ran wild as they thought of what could have spooked their friends so much.

“Ok… security room it is. Hopefully, the keys will be there somewhere so we can get out of this dump.” Sparkplug said while walking over to the map on the wall. While she was memorizing the route for herself, the others waited on the edge of the intersection and looked ahead.

“Stay close to us Applebloom. Not that I think you would, but you guys shouldn’t be wanderin’.” Applejack suggested while looking to her sister and her friends.

The yellow filly briefly looked to her two fellow crusaders and the young dragon next to them. “Yeah, ok.” Applebloom said with a nod. The other three children nodded as well while huddling close together.

Hesitantly, the group walked down the right hallway toward their new goal. Although it was comforting to be in a larger group and have some light, the darkness around them was still unnerving. Every doorway they passed could have been hiding something terrifying. The ponies couldn’t wait to get out of the haunted resort.

Applejack and Rarity stayed in the middle of the group. The two mares kept a close watch on the children walking beside them. Silver Bell hung back at the rear and tried her best to keep moving. She didn’t really want to be exploring the darkened hallways, but she shuddered to even think of losing her friends. At the front of the group was Sparkplug, leading the way to the back of the floor layout toward the museum.

Although it was silent as the grave aside from their own hooves sinking into the carpet, the ponies kept their ears perked up and their heads on a swivel. At any moment they could encounter a ghost or an animatronic, and they wanted to avoid that risk at any cost.

A few minutes of walking went by, and finally, the group ran out of forward progress. According to their knowledge of the map layout, just up ahead was the very back of the floor. Somewhere off to the left, past the corner, was the entrance to pirate cove. Applejack and her two companions didn’t need any reminders of what was within the childish attraction.

“Looks like that’s what we’re looking for.” Sparkplug pointed out while motioning to a set of double doors on the right side near the end of the hall. There was a sign above the doors with bold letters. Although they couldn’t fully make out what the sign said due to it being concealed in darkness, but they had a good hunch that is said museum.

“Why does this place have a museum anyway?” Scootaloo asked in a puzzled tone while the group walked over to the double doors.

“Well… I would assume it’s based on the old amusement park. This place was a pretty big deal back in the day… and so was the earthquake that closed it down.” Silver Bell suggested with an intrigued glint in her eye. She wondered just what the museum would have inside of it regarding the resort and its past.

The group hovered near the two doors, waiting for someone to open them so they could walk inside. The doors themselves were wooden and had ornate patterns etched into them symmetrically. It looked as though the ponies were about to enter an entirely different atmosphere.

Rarity grabbed ahold of the two handles on the doors and gave them a tug. The doors were unlocked and offered little resistance, giving way and pulling open to let out a cold rush of air as the group stared inside. The floor was mostly wooden from the look of things, and it was relatively unmarred by the ravages of time, save for a thin covering of dust and other particulates. A collective feeling of awe fell over the group as they stepped inside.

The ceiling above receded a fair ways from out in the halls. Sparkplug and the four children could make a height comparison to the play area they found themselves in after falling to this floor, but the museum seemed to be the bigger one out of the two rooms. There were a few lights scattered along the sides of the room. Most of these weren’t on, but there were a couple that functioned enough to dimly illuminate some of the area. Just ahead of them was a circular desk area most likely intended for an employee to stand behind. There were a few dust laden pamphlets of some sort in a small receptacle on the desk. The group couldn’t see the pamphlets from where they were, but they wagered them to be guides for visitors to use while touring the museum. The wall to their left immediately terminated roughly a foot away, while their right side went on for much longer.

“Woah…” Spike exclaimed as he trailed his eyes around, taking in the sights of the large room and its contents with curious wonderment. “Twilight would love it here… this place is huge!” He added in an impressed tone. The others were inclined to agree with the young dragon.

In basic terms, the room was shaped like a big rectangle, and they had entered near the bottom left corner. Past the front desk, there were numerous glass display cases of varying sizes lined up in the center, along with a few uniquely shaped exhibits to the sides of the room. Toward the back of the room, there was a set of double wide stairs that led up to a large balcony of sorts that looked like it housed even more displays. The display cases themselves held a wide range of items. Stuff ranging from newspaper clippings to objects that looked much older and more decrepit than anything else the group had run across in the resort.

“I must say… this does look rather impressive.” Rarity commented while walking to the left a short ways to examine some objects on the back wall. It seemed that there were a few thinner displays framed up on the wall, each with a placard describing what the item held within was and its historical importance.

After taking a moment to break away from her curiosity, Applejack took another look around to search for the security room. There was much of the room obscured by the many display cases up ahead, not to mention the expansive balcony and the area behind the stairs which seemed to hold even more exhibits. “Alright… we can look around and search at the same time. Come on guys, we’ve got to find that security room.” She suggested in a determined manner.

“Right.” Silver Bell replied with a compliant nod. Everyone else nodded as well before turning their attention to the task at hand.

The group walked past the front desk and made their way along the right side of the room, slowly moving forward and looking around for any signs that indicated where the security room was. And although they were confident that the keys would be in the security room, they were slow and kept their eyes peeled anyway. The clue they were following was vague at best, and according to it, the keys could have been anywhere in the museum.

The glass displays to either side of the ponies held various framed artifacts and items ranging from pieces of wood to bits of cloth with faded colors on them. Almost everything was caked in so much dirt that it was hard to tell what it was meant to be originally.

“Where did they find all this stuff?” Applejack asked while reading the aged writing on the plaques under the displays.

“We found a cassette tape upstairs that said they found a cavern on the floor below this one. They think it was made during the old earthquake, so they probably got the stuff from in there.” Sparkplug explained in an intrigued tone while looking around herself.

“Wow… So all of these things really are seventy years old?” Applebloom said with an amazed expression.

“It’s kind of weird to think that this whole place is kind of a museum by itself.” Sweetie Belle suggested curiously. Although they had to take a moment to think about the filly’s statement, the others saw where she was coming from. The halls they were walking through were fairly old themselves, so to see a room dedicated to even further in the past was a bit odd.

After passing the last set of display cases, the group was nearly half way across the room. The rest of the area was mostly open floor space due to the rest of the displays being against the walls. Up ahead, there were the stairs and the area behind them.

It seemed as though the back wall behind the steps was dedicated to stuff small enough to fit into frames on the wall. Only one of the visible lights back there worked, and the only item they could see from this distance was a tattered flag that looked like it once held a colorful pattern on it.

Trailing her eyes upward, Sparkplug looked to the balcony with intrigue. There wasn’t much in terms of other doors down where they were currently. If they were going to find the security room, and by extension the keys, then they would most likely need to look upstairs. “I’m going to take a look up there. You guys keep searching down here.” Sparkplug suggested while pointing toward the upper area.

“I’ll come with you. You might need some light up there.” Rarity said while noting the many broken lights around her. Although it seemed like some light was coming from upstairs, she wasn’t sure if she trusted it to be reliable.

“Alright… holler if you find somethin’.” Applejack said with a cautionary tone. The two mares nodded before separating and letting the others continue their search downstairs.

Sparkplug and Rarity made their way up the steep staircase at a slow pace. They weren’t sure what was waiting for them, and they didn’t want to make any undue noise against the hard steps. As they drew closer to the top, they could gradually see more and more of the balcony. Judging from first appearances, there were only a few more displays up here. To their immediate left was a small hallway embedded into the wall that led to what looked to be restrooms judging from a faded sign above the hall. To their right, however, was something far more jarring.

“Woah…” Sparkplug recoiled slightly from brief shock. She stared ahead into the hollow eye sockets of what appeared to be Bonnie and Chica. However, things weren’t as they first appeared.

A thin pane of glass separated the two ponies from the mascots. They were sealed away in individual display cases, which made sense considering how they looked. Instead of being animatronics, these iterations of the two animals seemed to just be pony sized suits meant to be worn by a performer and looked very different from their animatronic counterparts due to a number of reasons.

The suits weren’t much larger than an average pony, but they were a little bulky in places. Their quadrupedal design looked strikingly bizarre when compared to the humanoid design they usually had. Their mouths had insides made of felt, their fur was made out of actual imitation fur instead of hard plastic, and their eyes were empty holes that seemed to be constantly staring at the viewer. On top of everything else, they were incredibly grimy and worn, looking like they just came out of the ground, which in all likelihood they may have.

“Wh… what in Equestria are those?” Rarity asked in a disquieted manner while eyeing the two animal suits.

“Hmm…” Sparkplug stepped closer to the displays and looked them over while glancing to the placard embedded into their bases. “Looks like these were some of the original mascot suits used by the park.” She explained with intrigue.

“They look absolutely dreadful. It isn’t hard to imagine these being seventy years old.” Rarity stated with slight disgust. Still, she couldn’t help but marvel at the historical significance of the suits.

“Wow, so these were their original designs.” Sparkplug muttered with an intrigued smirk. “Bonnie, Chica, and…. Wait… what?” She paused suddenly as she read off the words from the placard. The description mentioned the two suits as expected, but they also named Freddy the bear. The two mares looked up and noticed that there were three display cases next to each other. The third case was empty, and the third suit that would have resided there was missing.

“There’s supposed to be a suit of Freddy here? What happened to it?” Rarity asked with a confused manner. Her confusion briefly turned to concern as she remembered where she was and what she was dealing with. Still, there was no broken glass or any other signs of foul play.

“I don’t know… maybe the suit was still being prepped for display when everything went down?” Sparkplug suggested with an unsure expression.

“Maybe… Let’s just find that security office and get out of here.” Rarity stated uncomfortably while taking another look around. “Speaking of which... look over there.” She pointed ahead with her hoof eagerly as she spotted something.

Back toward the wall, there was another hallway like the one behind them. However, this one seemed to be a little longer than the one leading to the restrooms. There was a sign above the hall that read “Employees Only” that beckoned for the pair to investigate.

“Nice… looks as good a place as any to put a security room.” Sparkplug said with a pleased smile. Before the pair could set off, however, Rarity walked off to the side over to the railing at the edge of the balcony. She leaned over and noticed her friends still searching around downstairs as she left them.

“Hey everyone, we might have found the security room up here. We’re going to take a look.” Rarity announced to the group below. The others turned and looked up to the white mare curiously.

“You found the security room? That’s great news!” Sweetie Belle cheered eagerly. Although the others were keeping their expectations in check, it seemed the three fillies were certain that all of their problems would be solved by finding that security office and the keys that would definitely be inside.

“You two be careful up there. And don’t take too long either… I don’t wanna’ have to come up there after you.” Applejack stated with a cautious tone.

“We’ll be back in a few minutes.” Rarity replied with a reassuring smirk before walking back over to her gray companion.

Without further delay, the pair walked across the balcony and entered the small hallway. The light from outside failed to reach very far into the enclosed space, casting deep shadows and leaving a wall of darkness waiting for the two ponies. Within the darkness, the outlines of some walls and doors could be made out. From this information, the mares gathered that there was a split in the hall a short ways in, with one path going left and the other path continuing forward. There was a pair of doors past the intersection on the right wall. It was hard to tell in the dark, but it looked like there was a sign next to each door that could have denoted them as employee restrooms.

Before Rarity decided to light up her horn, they arrived at the intersection and noticed a light off to the left. There was a room without a door that had a bright light on, illuminating the hallway and revealing a sign next to the doorway that read “Security” in bold letters. The pair almost smiled in unison as they laid eyes on the sign. They could practically taste their freedom from the dark and dilapidated hole they found themselves in.

Turning left and walking closer to the lit up room, the ponies noticed that the hallway kept going beyond their destination. There was even another turn up ahead to the right. Ignoring the slight feeling of heebie-jeebies from being in a dark enclosed space with a lot of unknown around them, they pushed forward and stepped into the open doorway.

The light in the room seemed to be whiter tinted than the ones out in the museum. Perhaps the lightbulb overhead was in better condition. The tiled flooring gave way to thick carpet as they walked into the small security office. There was a single chair in front of them that stood before a bank of monitors on the right wall. To the left side of the room, there was little more than a painting on the wall, a potted plant that was long dead, a filing cabinet tucked away in the corner, and a little bit of walking room to let the guard stationed in the office stretch their legs. However, there was one more thing on the left half of the room. There was another gaping doorway that led out into seemingly another hallway, though it was almost impossible to tell. While the door they came in through was slightly illuminated, the other doorway was at such an angle to the light that there was only darkness waiting for them outside.

“Wow… not very roomy is it?” Sparkplug observed while still taking in the sights of the cramped room. It made sense that there was only one chair in here. Two ponies being cooped up together in such a small space would have been far too claustrophobic.

“I couldn’t imagine how anyone would want to work in such a dingy place.” Rarity crinkled her nose up in disgust as she reluctantly walked around the room. The carpet was caked in dust, and there were more than a few dead bugs littered around the edges where the floor met the wall.

“I don’t think it was intended to look like this, Rarity…” Sparkplug said in a surprised tone while watching her unicorn companion try to find a place to stand that wasn’t quite so filthy.

“Either way, I don’t think it would have been much of an improvement even back in the day. Let’s find the keys and get out of here.” Rarity suggested, eager to leave as soon as possible.

With her companion’s patience draining by the minute, Sparkplug started her search. She sat down on the old rolling chair and scooted up to the desk. The bank of monitors was currently offline, though there was a blinking light on what must have been the interface that controlled them, which consisted of a set of arrows, a button in the center of the arrows, and a power button.

“Hmm…” Sparkplug muttered with intrigue while hovering her hoof over the power button. With a brief push, the monitors flickered to life as a video feed similar to the one upstairs popped up.

“That old thing still works?” Rarity asked with a surprised expression.

“Yeah, apparently so. We found another security room like this upstairs, and there was a video feed like this up there too. It didn’t show any cameras from any other floors though… Maybe each floor has a separate chain of cameras?” Sparkplug pondered out loud. Looking back to the screen, she noticed something a bit different to the security room upstairs.

There was some text denoting the number of the currently viewed camera, but there was also something else in the bottom right corner of the screen. There was a series of black and white lines and shapes that seemed to form a map. There were boxes placed in certain locations that were labeled as cameras, and the presence of small white text beneath the boxes that denoted their named location further confirmed that this was a map. If this was to be trusted, the security room they were currently in was in the center of a rectangle of hallways. Apparently, the doorway behind them connected to another hallway that looped back around to the entrance. There was an employee lounge and a supply closet out in the other hallways around them, but there was nothing else of note out in the darkness, much to their relief.

“Huh… looks like a lot of the lights down here don’t work.” Sparkplug stated while flipping through many of the cameras out in the rest of the floor. After fiddling around with the buttons available to her on the screen, she found that each of the cameras had a sort of night vision function. It wasn’t as advanced as she would have liked, but it got by and allowed her to see despite the lack of lighting in a lot of rooms.

As a test, she tried to find the area where she and the children fell down from the ceiling. Clicking on a camera in a place labeled as “Play-Room One”, she found a familiar view of a half-dark room with a ball pit in the center.

“Man this place is big. I can hardly believe all of this has just been sitting under us for all these years.” Sparkplug said with an astonished tone while completely losing her surroundings to her pursuit of looking through the cameras.

“Umm… darling, could you perhaps lend me a hoof with looking for those keys?” Rarity asked in a forced polite tone while trying to suppress her annoyance at the gray mare for leaving her to search by herself.

“Oh! Right, sorry… Guess I got carried away for a minute there.” Sparkplug said with an awkward chuckle while scratching the back of her head and trying to withstand the unicorn next to her staring daggers into her eyes. Finally, she turned and switched off the monitors before hopping out of the chair to actually start being productive.

Sparkplug stepped to the side of the desk and turned her attention to a set of drawers embedded into its corner. Apparently, Rarity had already been looking through a similar set of drawers on the other side of the desk. As she pulled open the first drawer, the gray mare had to lower her expectations as a mess of papers and miscellaneous items came sliding out. Despite her initial shrug of disappointment, she started sifting through the contents of the drawer before finding nothing useful and moving on to another one.

A few moments passed by while the pair ransacked the desk. While Rarity was a little more gentle and clean with removing items from the drawers to search them, her partner seemed to just throw things out of her way willy-nilly to get past them.

Suddenly, Sparkplug paused as she came across something of note. In fact, she happened upon a note scribbled on a scrap of paper. As she picked up the tattered bit of paper and strained to read the faded ink, she discerned it to be a memo from one worker to another. “Hey, check this out.” Sparkplug spoke up curiously while waving the white mare over.

Rarity walked over to her companion and peered over her shoulder curiously. “What’s that?” Rarity asked while briefly trying to make out the faint writing herself.

“Looks like a note. Hold on…” Sparkplug muttered while preparing to read the message aloud. “Loose Screw, this is the last time I fill in for you. I know you don’t like it in here, but this is just ridiculous. Someone needs to keep an eye on things, what with all the tools going missing and all. Three times convincing me to take your shift because you’re paranoid is three too many in my books. Look, I get it. I get the creeps down here too, especially with those freaky suits out in the museum. I was down there when they found those things, and they didn’t look much better in that cave. But still, you need to either man up or ask for a reassignment. Oh, and since you keep missing shifts in here, I should let you know that I moved the keys to the stairwells. If anyone comes asking for them, they are in the filing cabinet.” The gray mare trailed off as she finished the note. It was signed by someone called Hole Punch, and it definitely referred to the office they were currently in.

“So the keys are supposed to be in there?” Rarity asked while looking back to the filing cabinet behind her. “Nice find, Sparkplug.” She turned back to her gray companion and flashed a smile before rushing to go search the cabinet.

Sparkplug watched as the unicorn started sifting through the many drawers in her search for the keys. “You uh… need some help over there?” Sparkplug asked curiously, though she vaguely knew that the white mare could handle searching a single file cabinet.

“No, I think I’ve got this. Why don’t you go tinker with the cameras while I’m looking?” Rarity suggested with a wry smirk.

“What…? Ok, well… if you really want me to. It’s not like I was thinking about doing that or anything…” Sparkplug stated sarcastically in a lighthearted tone, managing a slight chuckle from her unicorn friend. Now that she had free time and permission, she turned back to the bank of monitors and switched them on again.

Rarity smiled slightly as she heard the gray mare flicking through the cameras. Sparkplug must have really enjoyed messing with technology to find watching some static ridden screens entertaining. Either way, the background noise combined with her own search provided a much-needed distraction from the doorway directly to her right. The pitch black opening was just at the corner of her vision, but she tried to ignore it. It sent chills up her spine just being so close to it.

“Huh… I found the others. I guess this really is a live feed.” Sparkplug commented while looking at one of the cameras in the museum. The camera overlooked the downstairs area facing the balcony. She could see Applejack and Silver Bell searching around the area behind the stairs, with the four children dotted around and examining the many displays. Although it was a bit dark in the corner the camera was located in, the sparse lighting in the rest of the room proved enough to render the night vision useless.

Turning her attention back to the small map, Sparkplug trailed her eyes over to the area she was actually in. The security room and the rectangle of surrounding hallways were obviously marked on the map, but there were only two cameras in the area. One camera was apparently just outside the hallway that led out into the museum. The pair must have missed it on their way in. The other camera was in the hallway outside the other doorway beside Rarity. According to the map, the camera was pointed down the hall, so it had a view of the doorway and everything past it. Curiously she flipped to it, only to see darkness as expected. With her interest growing by the second, she hovered her hoof over the night vision button.

“…!” Sparkplug gasped quietly and paled as she shakily trailed her eyes to her side.

“Aha! I found them!” Rarity announced cheerfully while lifting the keys out of their drawer with her magic and snatching them up eagerly.

“Rarity… I need you to calmly… and slowly… step away from the door.” Sparkplug instructed in as composed a manner as she could manage. Despite her attempts to remain calm herself, she was audibly and visibly shaken by something.

“What’s wrong, darling?” Rarity asked in a confused tone while turning to face the gray mare. She saw Sparkplug staring back at her uneasily. The gray mare had moved slightly, giving the unicorn room to see the monitors behind her.

On the screen behind Sparkplug, there was a green-tinted view of a hallway. A short way down the hallway, there was an opening into a room that looked familiar. What was most jarring about the image, however, was the sight of what appeared to be the missing Freddy suit standing right outside the doorway. Its hollow eyes showed up as dark holes in its head, indicating that nobody was inside the suit.

Rarity paled as she trailed her eyes to her left. She felt her entire body freeze up as her heart started pounding. Gathering the courage to make the smallest of movements, she turned her head and looked at the opening. Nothing but pitch blackness greeted her. It was at that moment that she realized something. All of the other animatronics had shining eyes that made them visible even in the darkest rooms. However, the mascot suit didn’t have any eyes. It only had holes in its head as dark as the surrounding shadows.

“S-Sparkplug…” Rarity said in a low tone, trying to maintain her composure. Her trembling legs weren’t doing as good a job as she was.

“Yeah…” Sparkplug replied nervously while watching the unicorn staring straight ahead.

“Are you s-sure that camera is pointed where I think it is?” Rarity asked while straining to remain as still as possible. At this point, she was afraid that if she moved she might anger the thing waiting in the darkness.

Despite her certainty, the gray mare darted her head back to the monitors. Sure enough, she had the camera outside the security room selected, and it was indeed a live feed. “Y-yeah…” Sparkplug parroted in a shrill tone. “Wh… w-what do we do?” She asked nervously.

“W-well, darling… I t-think the only thing we can do…. is…” Rarity paused and felt her heart sink as she heard the sound of quiet breathing in front of her. The breathing gradually shifted to a low groan that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. “RUN!” Rarity yelled and turned tail to sprint toward the exit. Sparkplug practically knocked the chair over as she rushed to follow the unicorn.

As they tore out into the hallway, they heard what they imagined to be the sound of a hollow mascot suit clamoring after them. The dull and muffled footsteps and the sound of the different sections of the suit smacking into each other were fairly distinct, and the low growl that accompanied them gave the pair ample reason to keep running.

Around the corner and back out into the light, the two mares raced back into the museum at top speed. Rarity hesitantly looked behind her. As she did, she saw the expected sight of the Freddy suit running close behind.

“Hey, what’s happenin’ up there?” Applejack spoke up from downstairs with a concerned tone. Apparently, the racket that was happening was enough to carry through the room.

“Everyone run! We’ve got company!” Sparkplug yelled down to the group waiting below while still making a beeline for the stairs.

“What the hay?” Applejack muttered in a confused tone while walking over to the stairs. Silver Bell, The three fillies, and young dragon watched the balcony upstairs anxiously as they wondered what was going on.

Before Sparkplug could clarify further, the sound of glass breaking rang out beside her. As a distorted cry pierced the air, she darted her head to the side just in time to see a display case breaking and a flash of yellow coming straight for her.

“AHH!” Sparkplug yelped and fell to the side as she jumped in fright.

Rarity looked behind her to see her friend on the ground with glass shards everywhere. The Chica suit had apparently come to life and broken out of its display case by force. “Sparkplug!” Rarity widened her eyes in panic as she saw the possessed suit lunging for the gray mare. Racing to light up her horn, she wrapped her magic around the yellow chicken and pulled as hard as she could in the other direction. At great strain to herself, she managed to get the haunted mascot off of the ground and flung it into the back wall. Chica thudded against the wall and limply settled onto the floor.

Hearing more footsteps and a low growl in front of her, Rarity looked up and noticed Freddy a few inches away. She yelped fearfully and instinctively tried to do something, anything with her magic. Something, in this case, meant discharging a bolt of energy that sailed straight for the charging bear. The magical beam crashed into Freddy, exploding into a shower of sparks. The force of the impact blew the hollow suit off of its feet and sent it sliding backwards with a small hole in its shoulder.

Sparkplug was amazed at the unicorn’s swift dispatching of the two suits. Her smile faded as she noticed both Chica and Freddie were starting to get back up. And soon, her awe turned to alarm as she heard something moving to the left. “Rarity, lookout!” Sparkplug exclaimed while pointing behind the white mare. The unicorn turned just in time to see the Bonnie suit smashing through the glass separating itself from her and her friend.

“AH!” Rarity screamed and recoiled as the mascot rabbit pounced at her with its jaw hung open.

*Thwack*

A loud crack rang out as an orange blur rushed in from the side and slammed into the mascot. The two stunned ponies looked up to see Applejack recovering from a kick, and the Bonnie suit still rolling off to the side from the impact.

“Come on girls, let’s go!” Applejack announced urgently while noting that the other two suits were getting up to chase them again. Rarity and Sparkplug needed no reminder of their situation as they scrambled to their feet and ran with their orange savior.

Silver Bell and her young companions watched anxiously from the bottom of the stairs as their three friends rushed down like they were being chased by a timber wolf. The otherworldly cries and moans coming from behind them made the comparison a little too easy to make.

“Lookout!” Spike gasped while pointing behind the trio descending the stairs. Being the closest to the back of the group, Sparkplug looked behind her and widened her eyes as she saw a familiar looking bear mascot sprinting after her with its jaw open and its empty eye sockets burning holes into her with its icy gaze.

Deciding to take the offensive for once, the gray mare reared up for a kick and aimed it as high as she could, given the incline. Her hooves collided with something that felt hollow and covered in dirty imitation fur. She heard the sound of something being knocked free as whatever she hit went flying. Hesitantly, Sparkplug turned and nearly jumped in surprise as she saw a bear head flying back upstairs while its body limply fell and tumbled behind her. The inside of the suit was merely a dark and empty space, all but confirming that these were merely mascot suits. If she didn’t believe in ghosts before, she would be reconsidering her beliefs right about now.

“Nice one, Sparkplug!” Applejack cheered eagerly at the gray mare’s brief victory. Realizing that their celebration was far too early, the trio kept running until they were down the steps and reunited with the others.

“What are those things?!” Sweetie Belle asked with a terrified expression. With how little of an explanation they had received, and with how sudden things had turned sour, the white filly and her friends had no idea what was going on.

“No time for questions right now, Sweetie. We need to go… come along darling… quickly now.” Rarity ushered her sister forward with a nervous tone while trying to appear calmer than she felt. The young unicorn didn’t take long to start running for the door along with the others.

The ponies and their dragon friend ran as fast as they could for the exit. They could already hear the sound of the remaining suits catching up to them as Freddy was still settling to the bottom of the stairs without his head.

“How are we going to lose these things? They look like they can keep up with us, and I seriously doubt that they will lose interest!” Silver Bell suggested nervously. The others looked back and gulped uneasily as they confirmed for themselves. Perhaps it was from how powerful the ghosts were, or perhaps it was from how lightweight the suits were. Either way, the haunted mascots were easily keeping up with the group at full sprint. The door was fast approaching, and it didn’t have a lock. The ponies needed a solution fast.

Sparkplug looked to the sides and searched her surroundings for something useful. The museum was full of glass displays or paintings, so there wasn’t much in terms of supplies that could be made into killer ghost deterrents.

However, over by the front desk, something caught the gray mare’s eye. There was a small barrel-shaped container by the desk that contained what appeared to be miniature flagpoles. Most of the flags were small enough to be held in the hoof, but there were a couple medium sized ones that looked big enough to decorate a yard or something else in this case.

“Get those doors open!” Sparkplug instructed while bolting to the side. The confused group was more than a little nervous to see their gray friend doing something other than running with them.

“Sparkplug, what are you doing?!” Silver Bell asked urgently.

“Just trust me!” Sparkplug replied while focusing on her work. She rushed up to the barrel of flags and grabbed one of the larger ones in her mouth.

Realizing what the gray mare had in mind, Applejack and Rarity nodded to each other before rushing ahead and grabbing the doors. While the pair pulled the hefty doors open, Sparkplug ran over and joined the group rushing outside.

Once everyone was out of the museum, the two mares swiftly got on the other side of the doors and pulled them shut. Almost as soon as they did, they felt something crash into them from inside, nearly knocking them off. Soon enough, the force shifted from ramming into the door to pulling on it to get it open.

“Hurry up!” Rarity pleaded urgently while straining to hold the doors closed along with her orange companion. The group could hear ghastly noises coming from inside, making their hearts pound with fear.

Sparkplug swiftly rushed between the pair and shoved the flagpole she was carrying in between the door handles. In one motion, the three ponies backed up and cringed nervously as they silently prayed that this would work. The door offered a mighty racket as the possessed suits tried to open it, only to be met with stiff resistance from the pole. Thankfully, it seemed to be working for the moment.

The group let out a collective sigh of relief as they realized they were safe. The flag pole showed no signs of breaking or coming loose, and the doors weren’t opening as long as it was in place. They had earned one more victory against the denizens of the resort, and they felt accomplished.

“*Pant*… *Pant* did you… did you find the keys?” Applejack asked in between breaths while turning to the white unicorn and her gray companion.

Rarity and Sparkplug looked at each other for a moment before smiling. They were still breathing heavily and exhausted, but they still let out a slight chuckle as the unicorn held out the keyring and jingled it for a moment for show.

“Yeah… *Pant* we found them right before that thing chased us out of there.” Rarity stated in a relieved tone while still catching her breath. The others lit up with joy behind their exhausted expressions at the sight of the small object.

With unanimous agreement, the group decided to get up and start making their way back to the stairs. They finally had the keys that would reunite them with their friends. And once they were back together, they could finally figure out how to deal with the ghosts so they could leave the abandoned resort altogether.

“Heh… so kids, how did you like your trip to the museum?” Sparkplug asked with a wry smile while looking around at the three fillies and the young dragon.

“I think next time we go on a field trip I might just skip out… I want to do something a little less exciting.” Scootaloo stated in an exhausted tone. Her two fellow crusaders agreed wholeheartedly.

The others laughed warmly as they walked down the dark hallways. It hadn’t felt this good in a while, and they were certainly enjoying it. They couldn’t wait to finally be safe in the presence of their friends, and they couldn’t wait to get back to the surface.

Comments

[WyattS]

new animatronics
freddy suit 14
chica suit 11
bonnie suit 9