Spiritus ex Machina

by wonderkid125

Chapter 19: Broken Things

-Earlier-

“Glitter…?! Glitterball?!” Glimmer Shine called urgently while holding a hoof to his ear and staring ahead with an alarmed expression. Despite the glowing aura around his ear to indicate the communication spell working normally, there was nothing but silence on the other end of the line.

“What the hay happened?! Why isn't she answering?!” Sunspot asked while holding her own hoof to her ear as if she could somehow elicit a response from the unicorn by checking herself.

Glimmer thought back to the brief and fearful message that Glitterball got out before dropping the call. Judging from what the white mare said and the faint uproar that managed to bleed through the spell, it was safe to assume that something attacked the group. But how did it get into the security room with the only door locked?

“Come on, we need to go help them!” Tom announced while rushing down the hall, ever eager to protect his friends. The two ponies wasted no time in following the human back toward the security room. The cones of light from their flashlights bounced up and down the hall as the trio sprinted as fast as they could.

“Do you think it was an animatronic?” Sunspot asked in an unsure tone. Having her friends in danger without a clear way to control the situation seemed to have the pegasus on edge.

“Had to be… what else could it have been?” Glimmer Shine replied.

“Maybe it was one of those inhuman spirit things?” Sunspot suggested uneasily. The mere thought of the others being exposed to what she had seen before sent a chill down her spine.

“We better hope not.” Tom stated dismissively, not wanting to even discuss such an outcome. Sunspot and Glimmer Shine perfectly understood.

As they ran through a few halls and turned another corner, the trio tried to pick up their pace to reach their friends sooner. However, they would reach the others much sooner than they thought as something impeded their progress.

“Ooof!” The trio grunted as they collided with something, or rather, someone. Another series of familiar grunts sounded out along with theirs, and once they looked up, their suspicions were confirmed.

“What the… What are you guys doing here?” Glimmer Shine asked with a confused expression as he looked around to see the group that was supposedly under attack.

Almost everyone was present. Glitterball and Twilight were in front, and they were the ones the group had run into. Behind them was a confused group of onlookers that had only just narrowly avoided plowing into each other from the sudden stop. Strangely enough, there were a few people missing. Among those not present were the children, and that was particularly troubling.

“Oh my gosh, I am so glad to see you!” Twilight stated with joyous relief while untangling herself from Tom and getting up.

“You're glad? We thought you were being eaten alive over there! What happened?!” Sunspot asked in a demanding tone. Still, she was also relieved to see the group unharmed.

“Some kind of messed up fox animatronic crawled in through the vent… We got out of there as fast as we could, but a few of us must have gone the other way.” Glitterball explained with a worried expression.

Now that attention had been shifted onto the subject, everyone grew fearfully concerned about their missing friends. Sparkplug, Berry Swirl, Pinkie Pie, Spike, and the cutie mark crusaders were all unaccounted for, along with the monstrous animatronic that was chasing the group.

“Oh no… we've got to find them!” Sunspot suggested urgently. Everyone was eager to agree with the orange pegasus.

It took a short time of running through winding corridors to make it back to the hallway outside of the security room. As expected, the group found nothing ahead but the door to the room hanging open. There weren’t any signs of a trail that could be followed, and the others could have been anywhere on the floor by now.

“Ughh… where did they go?” Rainbow Dash huffed with a frustrated expression while anxiously looking around.

“They couldn’t have gotten far. Come on, we need to split up and find them!” Tom stated impatiently while stepping toward one of the forks in the hallway. If they hurried, maybe they could cut off the fleeing group somewhere down the line before the animatronic fox caught up with them.

“Sounds like a plan to me. Glitter, you stay here with the others. We’ll get them back.” Glimmer Shine instructed in a serious tone, to which the white unicorn nodded obediently. However, not everyone was ok with the stallion’s plan.

“Glimmer there is no way we are staying behind. We’re coming with you to look for them!” Twilight said adamantly while stepping forward.

“But… Twilight, I-” Glimmer Shine started to protest until he was met by a seriously agitated unicorn getting right up in his face.

“Do you really want to be wasting time right now?! I don’t know if you’ve realized this, but our friends are in danger. Spike and the kids are in danger! And I will not stand here while there is a monster chasing them!” Twilight yelled urgently. The yellow stallion was hesitant to speak up to oppose the purple mare and the others staying put, for obvious reasons.

“Umm… o-ok… you can come with us to look for them.” Glimmer Shine parroted the unicorn while nervously nodding his head.

Without wasting any more time, the group split into two and rushed down two hallways. Tom and Sunspot went down the left hall from the security room back toward the main entrance, while Glimmer Shine and Glitterball went down the fork just to the right of the security room in the hopes of cutting off the missing ponies. Each team was followed by Twilight and the others as everyone rushed off urgently to find their friends.

Twilight panted heavily while darting her head side to side in order to quickly scan the rooms she passed. Although she was confident that the others were most likely still fleeing the creature, they could have hidden from it long enough to break line of sight with it. Still, she didn’t want to take any chances.

Glimmer Shine and Glitterball were at the head of the search party the purple mare had chosen. Running alongside or just ahead of her were Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. High Tide and Copper Coil must have gone with the others down the left hall. Although their numbers were small, they had to find their friends. They just had to. Their numbers had already dwindled ever since they lost Rarity, Applejack, and Silver Bell. Twilight wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she let something bad happen to Spike or the three fillies, not to mention her own friends.

“Come on… they have to be around here somewhere.” Rainbow Dash fretted anxiously. No matter how many hallways or open rooms they passed, there was no sign of the others anywhere.

“Hold up…” Glimmer Shine skidded to a halt and looked back.

The hallway the stallion was looking at was seemingly empty, with one of the lights in the middle of it broken.

“What is it?” Twilight asked while looking around to try and figure out what was amiss.

“I think I heard something.” Glimmer Shine replied without turning away from the corridor. He was straining his ears trying to pick up on any sounds coming from far away.

Twilight and the others fell silent and joined the stallion in listening. Soon enough, they heard something faintly coming from down the hallway. After a while, it grew louder until the group could identify it as radio static.

Glimmer Shine tilted his head with a confused expression. “What is that?”

Fluttershy paled slightly as she recognized the noise. “Oh no… That’s the sound we heard when that fox thing attacked.” She explained nervously.

“Wait… does that mean-” Rainbow Dash started to speak when she was interrupted suddenly by another sound carrying over the radio static. Two distinct screams and a series of metallic clangs rapidly grew closer to the group.

Before they even knew what was going on, the ponies saw Pinkie Pie and Berry Swirl running around the corner at the far end of the hall, and a familiarly terrifying robotic mess of a fox was tearing after them along the ceiling.

“Holy hayseed!” Glimmer Shine exclaimed while recoiling in shock. He was prepared to fight with an animatronic, but he was taken aback with fright from the unexpected sight of such a disfigured creature.

“See? I told you it was messed up!” Glitterball stated nervously while steeling herself for a fight.

Glimmer Shine turned to face the white mare briefly. “You weren’t kidding were you?”

“AHHHH!!” Pinkie and Berry yelped fearfully as the animatronic fox swiped at them with one of its long reaching arms. The disjointed mess of endoskeleton parts gave the robotic animal an unnaturally long range. With their pursuer hot on their tails, the two mares put everything they had into running faster.

“Girls, come over here!” Twilight motioned for the pair to get behind her and the others, though they didn’t need to be told as they made a beeline for their friends. Before the two could make it to the group, Twilight charged up her horn and fired a magical blast at the animatronic behind them.

The bolt of light sailed past the fleeing ponies and smacked into the robotic fox. The mangle of parts let out an agitated screech of radio static as it was sent flopping down from the ceiling onto the cold hard floor. While the fox was recovering, Pinkie and Berry had enough time to reach their friends.

“*Pant* Oh my gosh… I am so glad to see you guys!” Pinkie Pie said in an elated and exhausted tone while rushing up and hugging the nearest pony, which just so happened to be Glimmer Shine.

“Get behind us. We’re going to have to take care of that thing.” Glimmer Shine instructed to the pair, who gladly nodded in agreement before huddling to the back of the group.

“Uh… Glimmer… how exactly are we going to take care of that thing?” Glitterball asked nervously while eyeing the animatronic fox as it got up from the floor. The mess of parts was practically shaking with anger, or perhaps that was due to its unstable structure. Either way, it did not look or sound happy to see the group.

“That old model of Chica went down after we did enough damage to it… maybe this one will too?” Twilight suggested hopefully, though she had a hint of anxiousness in her voice.

“To be fair, this one looks like it has already been damaged… but I guess we don’t have any other choice.” Glimmer Shine said while readying himself for battle. Everyone willing to fight squared up along with the yellow stallion, standing strong against their mechanical foe.

The screech of the radio static intensified as the animatronic clamored to its mismatched feet. It settled its set of eyes on the ponies and opened the jaw on its mask wide while rushing forward. As the metallic monster stomped toward them, the group had to react fast if they were going to keep the upper hand.

Twilight and Glitterball nodded to each other before lighting up their horns. In almost perfect unison, they synchronized their magical auras and wrapped them around the fox. Although they knew that the power held by the spirit inside the animatronic would overwhelm their magic soon, they also knew that every second counted in the battle.

As expected, the robotic animal screeched and bucked its entire body in an attempt at freeing itself. The two mares could already feel a great deal of energy building up and acting against them. It was almost like the possessed animatronic didn’t have full control over its own energy. Still, it wouldn’t be long before Twilight and Glitterball would be forced to let go. Before the fox could break out completely however, Glimmer Shine rushed forward and reared up for a kick.

“Take this!” Glimmer yelled fiercely while delivering the best kick he could muster with his back legs. Although Applejack wasn’t present, she would be proud to see one of her friends producing such a powerful buck.

The two unicorns shoved the animatronic with their magic just as the stallion’s back legs connected with what the group could loosely identify as its chest. The combined force of the magical push and the kick sent the fox reeling until it crashed into the floor on its back. Everyone couldn’t help but smile over their small victory.

“Alright! Nice one, guys!” Rainbow Dash cheered excitedly as she watched the trio successfully gain an advantage over the monstrous machine.

Before the ponies could capitalize on their golden opportunity, the animatronic wriggled off of the floor using its many disjointed limbs and body parts. With the hiss of static filling the air, the beast lunged its plastic fox head forward at an alarming rate. The metal jaws unhinged, opening wide like a mobile bear trap and swinging down. Glimmer Shine tried to turn tail and flee to dodge the incoming danger, but he was unable to prevent the fox from wrapping its jaws around his back leg and clamping down hard.

“GAAHHH!” Glimmer screamed out in pain as the razor sharp rows of teeth sank into his leg. He was driven to the floor from the sudden pain and weight on his limb, with blood already gushing out around the injury site.

“*Gasp* Glimmer Shine!!” The others paled as they watched the stallion getting bitten. Judging from how close together the fox’s jaws were, the ponies imagined that the many metallic teeth were sent into Glimmer’s leg very deeply.

Springing into action, Twilight and Glitterball wrapped their magic around the fox head to try and pull it free of the stallion. At the same time, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Berry Swirl all rushed over to Glimmer’s side and grabbed hold of part of the animatronic’s jaw. With everyone pulling at once, the group expected to be able to free the stallion easily. However, the animatronic had other ideas.

“Hrrrrk… gah! It’s no use… it’s not budging!” Rainbow Dash groaned as she failed to pry the jaws open with the aid of her friends. Thankfully the animatronic was occupied with hanging onto Glimmer Shine’s leg, so it couldn’t retaliate against the four ponies so close to it. Not that it had to retaliate in the first place.

“Get it off!” Glimmer Shine pleaded desperately while joining the efforts to try and free his leg from the metal jaws.

Twilight strained as hard as she could with her magic, but to no avail. If her experience with the previous animatronics had taught her anything, she knew that they wouldn’t be able to force the jaws open with the spirit exerting so much energy.

Looking around in a panic for something to do, the purple mare settled her eyes on the animatronic’s endoskeleton head. The small gray lump of a head was detached from the fox mask, but it looked fairly vital.

“Hang on, Glimmer! I’ve got an idea!” Twilight said in what she hoped would be a confident tone of reassurance while charging up her horn. Taking aim and pushing her shot nerves aside, she fired a bolt of energy as concentrated as she could produce at the animatronic.

The purple laser zipped through the air and exploded into the endoskeleton head with a solid bang. Much to the ponies’ surprise, the metallic head had a hole blown into it from the force of the explosion. Half of it was completely gone, and the other half was showing signs of damage.

The radio static filling the air grew shrill for a moment as the animatronic fox recoiled. The clamping jaws unhooked and freed the stallion’s leg, allowing the others to scoop him up and help him get some distance from the metal monster.

“Glimmer Shine, are you alright?!” Glitterball asked with a shocked expression as she looked down at the yellow pony’s leg. There were well-defined bite marks that were pouring out blood around them, nearly creating a crimson ring that wrapped around the appendage.

Glimmer Shine stifled a yelp as he clutched his injury. He rocked his head back for a moment before managing to toughen through the pain enough to face the group of concerned onlookers. “Gah… I’m fine… just worry about that thing for now!” He instructed urgently before laying back to cope with the pain he was going through.

“Uh… guys, I think we made it mad.” Rainbow Dash stated nervously while pointing forward, directing everyone’s attention back to the animatronic.

The fox was thrashing around, flailing its remaining head and lashing out with its mismatched limbs. The piercing cry of static nearly made the ponies cover their ears from how sharp and loud it had become. Finally, the robotic animal stopped flailing around and settled its singular eye on the ponies before letting out an angry roar.

“Well… any ideas?” Anybody?” Berry Swirl spoke up fearfully while looking around at the others. Most of the group shared in her fear, but they were at least trying to ready themselves in the event that the monster came charging at them.

Suddenly, Twilight looked to her fellow unicorn and paused. If the old model of Chica could be defeated by causing a lot of structural damage, and their magical blasts actually affected the metallic fox, then why couldn’t they just gun it down?

“Glitter, shoot it with your magic! Its endoskeleton must be too weak to take the hit!” Twilight exclaimed while readying her horn for another assault. The white unicorn looked to her purple companion for a moment before directing her attention forward.

“O-ok… ok.” Glitterball nodded and swallowed any apprehension she felt while charging up her horn.

The deafening sound of metal rang out as the twisted animatronic bolted forward. Its limbs pounded against the floor and the walls as it used every available foothold to gain momentum. All the while, it was bearing its many teeth and letting out a disturbing battle cry of distorted static.

“Fire!” Twilight yelled fiercely while steadying herself. All at once, the purple mare and her white companion let loose a barrage of energy blasts from their horns.

The others hid behind the two unicorns and cringed as the robotic monster got closer. The first of the bolts hit the fox all across its body, creating sharp noises and small explosions of multicolored sparks. Still the animatronic shambled forward, letting out shrieks of pain through the static as its body and limbs were perforated and blown apart by the magical onslaught.

Just when the ponies thought the robot would reach them, one of its legs collapsed and it flopped to the floor. It tried to anchor onto the walls with its arms, but the two unicorns swiftly aimed at more of its joints.

As all of its limbs cracked and snapped off, the beast opened its unhinged jaw as wide as it could and lunged forward as best it could in one final attempt at reaching the pair. Twilight and Glitterball moved in perfect unison and aimed a shot into the gaping mouth of the fox mask.

The two bolts of light zipped into the open maw of the metallic monster, where they immediately exploded at the back. The animatronic fell backward and the radio static abruptly stopped as its head was blown into two pieces. With one final thundering clang, the mangled creature settled to the floor and remained still and silent.

Twilight and Glitter stood tall in their battle stances, panting heavily and processing the sight before them. The others remained silent as well, staring ahead with stunned expressions. Everyone waited and watched the smoking pile of metal and plastic, wondering if it would get back up again. Still, the animatronic didn’t even have a head, let alone limbs to stand on. The ponies were confident that whatever spirit was trapped inside had vacated its vessel.

“Is it… is it dead?” Berry Swirl piped up anxiously, still staring at the former animatronic and expecting it to get up.

“Yeah… *pant*… I think it is.” Twilight replied in between breaths. She turned to her fellow unicorn and smiled softly.

“Nicely done girls… you really put that thing in its place.” Glimmer Shine stated in a pleased tone. Suddenly the stallion yelped in pain as he tried moving to get up.

The group turned to watch the yellow pony clutching his still bleeding leg with a pained grimace on his face. Everyone frowned sympathetically as they imagined how bad it must have felt to have the monstrous fox bite him so hard.

“Glimmer, are you ok?” Glitterball asked in a concerned tone while walking up to the stallion and kneeling down to examine his injury.

“Gah… I’m fine. It’s just a little scratch.” Glimmer Shine insisted through all of his cringes of pain. The bloody state of his leg seemed to tell a different story.

“That’s the biggest little scratch I’ve ever seen.” Twilight said while eyeing the wound with a concerned expression.

“Little or not, we should get you patched up. And given our lack of equipment, I think Tom is our best bet.” Glitterball suggested.

“Yeah, we need to update them anyway.” Glimmer Shine nodded in agreement while glancing to the two mares the group just rescued. Although the absence of Sparkplug and the four children was troubling, the ponies were glad to have found some of their friends and destroyed the animatronic that was chasing them.

Glitterball placed a hoof to her ear and focused on her other two teammates. Soon a familiar magical aura formed around her ear as the communication spell activated. “Sunspot, Tom, are you guys there? We found Berry and Pinkie.” Glitter announced. After a brief wait, the unicorn heard the sound of her pegasus friend speaking in her head.

“Really, you found them?! Where are you?” Sunspot asked eagerly.

“We’re just off the hallway we were searching.” Glitter replied.

“What about that animatronic?” Tom spoke up in a more concerned tone.

“We took care of it… but Glimmer got hurt. It’s nothing too bad… but he could use a little magical pick me up.” Glitterball said while glancing to the yellow stallion. Glimmer Shine smiled slightly to signify that he was still holding up.

“We’ll be right there. Just sit tight.” Sunspot stated before falling silent.

Glitterball sighed and dropped her hoof to the floor while turning to the others. “They’re on their way.” The white mare reported with a pleased expression. The others were relieved to hear that Glimmer Shine was going to be taken care of soon.

Now that they had defeated the crazed animatronic, and their friends were on route, the group’s attention was free to focus on other things.

Twilight turned to Berry and Pinkie with a more anxious expression as something gnawed at her. “Guys… I’ve been meaning to ask, where are Sparkplug and the kids?” She asked hesitantly, unsure if she wanted to hear the answer or not.

Berry Swirl and Pinkie Pie frowned slightly and looked at each other with unsure expressions. The unease in the two mares immediately made everyone else pale with dread.

“They… fell through a hole in the floor.” Berry Swirl spoke up in a sad tone. The sudden statement caught much of the group off guard.

“W-what?! Oh… oh my gosh!” Twilight recoiled in shock. She stared at the two, scrutinizing their expressions to see if they were joking or not. Still, part of her knew that neither of them would have joked about something so serious.

“What happened? Are they… are they alright?!” Rainbow Dash demanded while trying to keep her composure. Hearing about the three young fillies and Spike having something so horrible happen to them was enough to shake even her.

“We don’t know for sure… We were running from that fox thing, and then Applebloom tripped. When we went to check on her, the floor just started cracking open like an egg!” Pinkie Pie explained frantically.

“They must have fallen into a play area on the floor below. There was a ball pit beneath them, so they could have been unharmed by the fall. We tried to find some way to get to them, but the animatronic caught up to us. Sparkplug jumped in after them and told us to run… we didn’t see any of them get up before we had to leave.” Berry Swirl added in a worried tone.

The ponies had to take a moment to process what was happening. They could hardly contain their concerned feelings of anxiousness as they thought about what could have happened to their friends. They were only kids after all, and now they were stuck downstairs as well, assuming they had even survived the fall. However, the group couldn’t think about such a grim possibility. The five had survived the fall, they had to have.

Before the group could process their emotions or thoughts any further, the sound of footsteps approaching drew their attention away. Glitterball stepped around the corner and looked down the hallway, only to see flashlights from down the corridor.

“Guys, over here!” Glitter called out to the group as she recognized who the many silhouettes belonged to. The two flashlights immediately picked up their pace and eventually Tom and Sunspot’s group came into view.

“Hey everyone, sorry we’re late, we…” Sunspot paused abruptly as she rounded the corner and looked around. The sight before her was surprising to say the least. There were the remains of an animatronic sprawled along the floor behind the group, Glimmer Shine was sitting up against the wall with his back leg bleeding from a gruesome looking wound, and everyone had concerned expressions on their faces. “Woah… what did we miss?” Sunspot asked curiously, completely unaware of just how much she had missed in the past few minutes.
.
..
…
After Tom healed Glimmer Shine’s wound, the group started explaining to the others what had happened up till now; the fight with the animatronic, Berry and Pinkie escaping, and most importantly, what happened to the children and Sparkplug. The shocking state of affairs was enough to stun the others into concerned silence as they finished explaining everything.

“And that’s everything we know…” Twilight stated while looking down sadly.

Sunspot and Tom, along with Copper Coil and High Tide, seemed unsure of what to say. They were certainly concerned for the missing members of their group, but they weren’t sure of what to do first. Finally, the human spoke up to further the conversation.

“So… the floor just opened up all of a sudden?” Tom asked in a confused tone while looking over to Berry and Pinkie, the only witnesses to the scene available.

“Yeah... it all happened so fast. There wasn’t anything we could do.” Berry Swirl frowned and looked down somberly. She had been next to useless ever since the group arrived in this terrible situation. She couldn’t even keep a group of kids safe. Pinkie Pie tried to cheer the sullen pony up by putting a hoof on her shoulder, but Berry simply ignored her and continued pensively looking ahead.

“Hmm…” Tom scratched his chin while deep in thought. “Do you think you two could take us to the spot where they fell?” He asked curiously.

“I think so… I’m pretty sure I remember where we ran from.” Pinkie replied while recalling the route in her head and nodding confidently.

“Good. We should find out if we can make our way down through that hole.” Tom said while getting to his feet. The others stood up as well with new confidence.

Pinkie Pie and Berry Swirl walked ahead of the group. The pink mare motioned for the others to follow as she started retracing their steps. Twilight and her group marched forward, eager to find the children and the gray mare safe and sound.

The ponies winded through hallway after hallway, making their way along the path the two mares had run on in their brief chase. Pinkie and Berry would pause occasionally, conferring with each other and making sure that they were going the right way.

Finally, after what seemed like several minutes of walking, the pair paused. They looked around with expressions that were more confused and uneasy than the others would have expected, paying specific attention to the floor.

Berry Swirl looked around with a dumbfounded expression, seemingly searching for something that wasn’t there. “Wh… what the hay?” She exclaimed while shaking her head in confusion.

“Is something wrong?” Glimmer Shine asked curiously. The two ponies simply kept looking around, desperate to find something that the others seemed to be unaware of.

“This is where we were… the hole in the floor should be here.” Pinkie stated, looking around and scanning the floor with similar confusion written all over her face.

The group behind the pair was stunned at their discovery. The floor all around them was indeed in perfect condition, or as perfect as could be considering the age of the building. Yet somehow the two mares were able to identify this spot as where they had been separated from the others.

“Are you guys sure? Maybe we made a wrong turn or something.” Twilight reasoned, trying to make sense of the situation.

“No… they’re right.” Tom spoke up while walking forward toward the two confused ponies. The others were understandably confused as they looked to the human for an explanation. Instead of explaining however, he knelt down and picked up a small bit of powdery substance that was on the floor.

“What do you mean we’re right? There’s no hole here… We must have made some kind of mistake.” Berry said while looking to Pinkie with an uncertain expression. Although the pink mare was confused as well, she was still confident that they had retraced their steps correctly.

“There’s no hole here now, but there was one. Look at all of this debris.” Tom pointed out while drawing attention to the ground around him. The others looked closer, only to find little flecks of material that looked like it would have come from the inside of a wall or ceiling.

“He’s right. Those look like pieces of wood.” Glitterball said before noting how little sense her own statement made. “But… why are those here? It’s not like a hole in the floor can just up and vanish.”

“Why was there even a hole in the first place? I thought that seismic thing we charged up in the generator room was supposed to prevent this place from falling apart.” Sunspot asked with a confused expression. Although the terminology was foreign to most of the group, Twilight and Berry Swirl knew what the orange pegasus was referring to, and they too wondered why the dampener wasn’t working.

“Well… we are dealing with ghosts here, and powerful ones at that.” Glimmer Shine reasoned. “Is it possible that they created the hole, and then sealed it up afterward?” He turned to Tom for his insight on the topic.

The human thought for a moment before answering. “Depending on how powerful the spirits are, it would definitely be possible. The only thing that doesn’t make sense is why the ghosts would want to drag the kids to a lower floor.” Tom explained uneasily. The thought of the ghosts taking any sort of interest in the three fillies and young dragon troubled the group deeply.

“It doesn’t matter why it happened. Right now, the only important thing is getting downstairs to the others. We need to find those keys.” Glitterball suggested in a serious manner.

The group was in agreement to the white mare, but there was quite the problem with her plan of action. Glimmer Shine, Sunspot, and Tom shrugged with dreadful expressions on their faces. The others already didn’t like where this conversation was going simply by looking at them.

“That’s all fine and dandy in theory, Glitter… but that deer animatronic made off with the keys. As far as we know, it’s probably hiding from us and snickering to itself in some dark corner somewhere.” Sunspot crinkled her face up in agitation as she thought about the missing animatronic. With the message it left to taunt them to go by, the possessed machine probably didn’t intend on returning the keys anytime soon.

“We should split up and go look for it. It has to be somewhere, right?” Rainbow Dash suggested eagerly from off to the side.

“I don’t know… I’m not sure if I feel comfortable with all of you wandering around down here.” Tom said warily. Glimmer Shine was inclined to agree with the human. After running into so many animatronics, not to mention the bizarre and unpredictable inhuman spirit, the stallion didn’t want to be taking any risks.

“Maybe they don’t have to…” Sunspot chimed in thoughtfully. “What if we all take a group and search around? That way we can keep an eye on them and cover more ground at the same time.”

“That’s not a bad idea, Sunspot.” Glimmer Shine stated in an impressed tone. The orange pegasus couldn’t help but let a pleased smirk fall across her face.

“You guys can do the searching while I head back to the security room. Someone should be on the cameras just in case.” Glitterball said while taking a few steps toward the intersection.

“Alright, sounds like a plan.” Glimmer Shine nodded before turning to the others. “Anybody that doesn’t want to be out here with us should head back with Glitter.” He instructed, looking around to see if anyone was showing signs of hesitance or unease.

Suddenly, Copper Coil walked over and stood beside Glitterball. “I should probably come with you. You might need some help workin’ the cameras.” He suggested with a helpful tone of voice.

“Thanks, Copper Coil. Is there anyone else who wants to come with us?” Glitterball asked curiously while looking around. Although a few people had to think about the offer for a moment, nobody stepped forward to accompany the white mare and her brown companion. They all felt a burning desire to help find their friends, and if that meant searching around the dark resort, then they were more than willing to take that risk. “Alright then… We’ll keep in touch if you need any help. Be careful out here.” Glitter reminded the group with a friendly look of concern. With a nod from her friends in response, the unicorn and stallion started their way back toward the security room.

Now that the matter of who was staying behind had been sorted out, the ponies were left to form the teams that would perform the search. Sunspot, Glimmer Shine, and Tom all lined up and waited for everyone to decide who they would be following.

After a few minutes of deliberation, the search parties had been formed. Berry Swirl and High Tide opted to go with Glimmer Shine. Twilight and Pinkie chose Tom, huddling near him with eager expressions of determination on their faces. And finally, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy decided to stay together and go with Sunspot.

The three groups gathered around in a rough circle, sticking close by their appointed teammates. While most all of them had chosen to help wholeheartedly, a lot of them were still a little nervous about what they might find.

“Ok, everyone… listen up. We’re going to be searching this place top to bottom until we find those keys. Stay close to your group, and stay out of trouble.” Glimmer Shine explained in a professional tone of confidence. It was easy to see how all of his years spent training to become a royal guard gave him a sense of authority when he needed it. As the yellow stallion began walking toward his chosen search area, he paused and purposefully glanced at Sunspot. “And be sure to report anything you find to us before you do anything else.” He explained while giving the pegasus a suggestive look, much to her annoyance.

“Aye, aye, captain…” Sunspot muttered with an unimpressed roll of the eyes. Glimmer Shine smirked slightly before walking off with Berry Swirl and High Tide in tow.

Tom and the two mares following him gave one last goodbye to their friends before walking off in the same direction as the others. Soon enough, the trio of pegasi was left by themselves in the lonely hallway, with only the mangled remains of the animatronic fox and each other to keep them company.

Rainbow Dash turned to her two companions and shrugged. “So, what’s the plan? Where do we start?” She asked curiously.

Sunspot thought for a moment before replying. “Well, the others are searching pretty much everywhere else, so I guess we could search over by the stairs. That’s around the area we last saw that deer anyway, so… I think that’s a good place to start.” She suggested while trying her best to sound like she knew what she was doing. As prestigious as the Wonderbolts were, the entry exam to get on the team didn’t cover solving mysteries or finding missing robots that also happened to be haunted.

“Sounds good to me, let’s get moving.” Rainbow Dash nodded eagerly. Even if they were hunting another animatronic, they were doing it to get to their missing friends. Every second could have counted if Applejack and Rarity were in trouble, not to mention Silver Bell, Sparkplug, and the kids.

The ponies steadily made their way toward the stairwell at the edge of the floor. While Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were relatively clueless as to how to get around this part of the resort, their orange leader knew where she was going due to her previous excursion around the area. Soon enough, they could see a light at the end of the hallway illuminating an intersection, along with a closed-off set of stairs leading down.

The three mares paused at the intersection and looked around. To the left and right were two equally dark and foreboding corridors with sparse lighting, and with a plethora of rooms to search. The stairs in front of them hadn’t changed since they had discovered them. Rainbow Dash approached the gate and tugged on it to satisfy her curiosity. Sure enough, the door was still locked up tight.

“Alright… let’s go find us a robot deer.” Sunspot shrugged before preparing herself for the tedious search ahead. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy followed the orange pegasus as she walked down the left fork in the hall. As they reached the first set of doors, they began their search and spread out.

The trio stayed close together, not wandering more than one door away from each other. They did this partially to stay safe in a group, and partially because they couldn’t see very far ahead of them. There was only one flashlight in their possession, and although the cone of light and the few faded lights overhead provided a decent view of their surroundings, they did need to wait for each other occasionally to search a pitch black room.

Sunspot made sure to keep a close eye on her two charges, checking on them before and after entering a room and keeping verbal communication at all times. Rainbow Dash was making a good trainee, clearing rooms thoroughly and in a timely fashion. Fluttershy was doing a similar job, though she was hesitant to enter most rooms.

“Nothing in this one!” Sunspot heard Rainbow Dash calling out from somewhere out in the hall.

“Same here… nothing I’m afraid.” Fluttershy called out after her cyan friend. Sunspot sighed as she finished looking around the room she was in. Although she had given the flashlight to the yellow mare to help search darker rooms, the low light didn’t hide anything of worth from her. And if memory served, this was the last set of rooms to be found in the hall before another turn.

The orange mare slowly stepped out of the room and back out into the hallway, hanging her head tiredly with an irritated expression on her face. Her two companions were waiting for her, looking at her like she was their leader, which for all intents and purposes she was.

“What now?” Rainbow Dash asked curiously while looking around the corner to the next hallway.

“I guess we should keep going... We’ll work our way around when we hit the next-” Sunspot paused abruptly as a noise drifted down the hallway. It was hard to make out due to how faint it was and how long it lasted, but it sounded like something metallic settling on the floor back toward the staircase.

The trio spun around and perked their ears up, scanning the darkness for any sign of whatever caused the sudden noise.

“Did you hear that?” Fluttershy asked nervously, eyeing around her and trying to find some confirmation that the area was safe.

“Yeah… it sounded like it came from down there.” Sunspot said while taking the flashlight back. “Come on, let’s go!” She announced quietly before trotting forward. Rainbow Dash immediately followed, leaving Fluttershy to linger for a moment before rushing to reunite with her friends.

The trio raced down the hallway, scanning the darkness for any signs of movement or any hint as to what they were chasing. Nothing but shadows greeted them for the longest time, and soon they reached the stairs again.

The ponies slowed to a stop in the lit up intersection that housed the stairwell. They panted softly while darting their heads around in search of anything out of the ordinary.

“What… the hay… *Wheeze* I know I heard something down here.” Sunspot groaned while still scanning around with her flashlight. Furrowing her brow and straining her already frustrated expression to look closer at the darkness around her didn’t yield any results.

“Maybe it was just the building settling or something?” Fluttershy suggested. As much as she might have doubted such a mundane and safe explanation in spite of herself, nothing was jumping out at her literally or figuratively. The area was silent and nothing was around.

“No… it sounded like something metal. I’ll bet it was one of the ghosts... probably hiding in another animatronic knowing our luck.” Rainbow Dash shrugged while still keeping a wary eye on her surroundings.

Just before giving up and losing faith in what they heard, the group stiffened up as they heard another noise. A startling laugh came from directly in front of them. As they drew their eyes ahead to follow the noise, they were met by a dark silhouette with two silver glowing dots for eyes. The figure was simply standing in the middle of the dark hallway, staring back at the ponies silently. Judging from the rough shape of the shadowy figure, they estimated it to be their missing doe.

The pegasi froze up as they laid eyes on the menacing shape. They couldn’t see much of its features past its shadowed outline, but its piercing eyes stared back at them with chilling intensity. Sunspot and her small troop were left with their own racing thoughts as everyone remained still and silent as the grave.

“There it is…” Sunspot whispered anxiously. She seemed eager to finally meet up with the ghost that had caused the group so much grief with such a simple action.

“W-what do we do now?” Fluttershy asked hesitantly, trying her best to not pay attention to the two glowing dots belonging to the shadowy figure in front of her. The mere sight of the animatronic further down the hall made her break out into a nervous sweat.

“We catch it… what else?” Sunspot stated while turning to the yellow mare with a surprised expression. The dangerous aspect of rushing into the fray seemed lost on the orange pegasus, but Fluttershy wasn’t so keen on doing something so rash.

“Shouldn’t we call the others?” Fluttershy said with a pleading expression. The last thing she wanted to do was chase after a haunted robot without the appropriate backup.

Sunspot sighed and rolled her eyes slightly at the mention of calling for assistance. It was just one animatronic. Surely getting the keys and getting away wouldn’t have been that hard with how fast they were in comparison to the robotic animal.

“Normally I would be all for tackling this thing as soon as possible, Sunspot… but maybe Flutters has a point. I mean, we don’t even know if this thing still has the keys on it.” Perhaps sensing the stubbornness of her leader, Rainbow Dash chimed in as the voice of reason. There were other people’s lives potentially at stake, and she wanted to make sure that they got the keys at the end of all of this.

Almost as if in response to the ponies’ hushed discussions, a light jingling sound filled the air. The three mares looked ahead to see the animatronic lifting one of its forelegs into the light. Dangling from its plastic covered hoof was a small keyring with a couple of keys on it. The animatronic chuckled again before letting its leg settle back to the floor and into the shadows. Before the pegasi could even think about how to process this new information, the doe turned around and darted down the hallway.

“Hey, get back here you little klepto!” Sunspot yelled after the fleeing animal. Seeing no signs of the animatronic stopping, the pegasus shrugged before rushing off in pursuit.

“Sunspot, wait up!” Rainbow Dash called out to the orange mare in vain. With no other options left to them, the cyan pony and her yellow companion ran off to follow their leader.

Running as fast as they could, the pair managed to at least somewhat catch up to Sunspot as she sprinted through the halls. Up ahead, they could just barely catch a glimpse of the animatronic doe rounding the next corner at the far end of the hall. Losing sight of their target, the group pushed their already exhausted bodies and ran faster in the hopes of reaching the next hallway before the animatronic could turn off somewhere.

Skidding to a brief halt to avoid plowing into the wall, Sunspot darted her flashlight beam down the next corridor in search of the robotic animal while her two companions caught up to her. Thankfully, she managed to find the doe pausing briefly at the edge of her flashlight. The ghostly animatronic swiftly turned tail again and started running.

Although it seemed like the animatronic wanted them to follow, the ponies had little choice but to run after it. Sunspot was not about to let the only way to get to the others slip through her non-existent fingers. Even if she had to pry those keys from the animatronic’s cold lifeless grip, which was probably the only option she had anyway, she was going to do it.

As the trio ran down the hallway, a pungent odor began filling their noses. The faintest whiff of the scent was enough to make their faces crinkle up in disgust, however, it also triggered a startling flashback of memories for the orange mare as she slowly realized where she was and where she was running towards.

“Uh oh…” Sunspot muttered with a troubled expression. Just before her two companions could question her sudden hesitance, the animatronic skidded to a halt ahead of them.

“Gah… what is that smell? It reeks in here.” Rainbow Dash groaned, her voice muffled from covering her nose.

Everyone looked around as they finally had a chance to stop. Sure enough, there was a black substance smeared along the right wall. Although Sunspot had been here before, she and the others had been too wrapped up in chasing the animatronic to even notice the disgusting material.

Sunspot looked ahead to see the animatronic standing still ahead of the next intersection and facing them. In fact, the doe was standing in front of a very familiar doorway that was practically covered in the black substance. “Oh no… not here.” She stated out loud, a feeling of dread swiftly overtaking her.

“What’s wrong, Sunspot? I-is something bad over here or something?” Fluttershy asked while looking around uneasily.

Sunspot started to explain things to her confused troop, but before she could she was interrupted by the animatronic moving. The doe lifted its foreleg up again, dangling the keys in plain sight as a taunting display for the ponies. Suddenly, the robotic animal shifted its head and looked to the side, right into the room it was standing near. It looked back to the three mares and chuckled deviously.

“No, don’t you even think about it! Put those down right now!” Sunspot demanded while inching forward. She was fully prepared to rush ahead and tackle the animatronic before it could complete what she knew it was thinking. However, she was far too late.

The animatronic tossed the keys into the room where they landed with a soft clatter out of sight. All the while, the mischievous doe didn’t even break eye contact with the orange mare.

“No!” Sunspot reached her hoof out while arching forward. She could only stare wide-eyed at the animatronic as it chuckled back at her. After snickering at the band of ponies, the doe turned tail again and ran off, though the pegasi didn’t feel compelled to chase it now.

Rainbow Dash stepped forward and started walking toward the other side of the intersection. She would have made it all the way to the room the keys were in if it wasn’t for Sunspot rushing ahead of her and blocking her path.

“Wait, don’t go in there.” Sunspot cautioned with an uneasy expression, much to the confusion of the cyan mare.

“Why not? That thing just ditched the keys. We should be celebrating!” Rainbow Dash said while motioning toward the room. She wondered why they had such a stupidly lucky break, and the troubled expression on her companion’s face made her enthusiasm slowly vanish.

“Look… we came through here earlier when we were looking for the keys. We found something in that room, and it scared Tom white as a sheet.” Sunspot explained while glancing back toward the doorway. Just being this close to the room made her feel uneasy.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were taken aback by the orange mare’s recounting. “Really? Are we talking about the same guy here? It takes a lot to freak Tom out.” Dash stated with an unconvinced tone. However, the concerned expression on Sunspot’s face made her doubt shift to nervousness.

“Trust me on this one. He called it an inhuman spirit… it was using one of the animatronics as a shell I guess… kind of like the ghosts. But this thing is much worse than the ghosts. Tom said that they are unpredictable, and they can mess with your head if you look at their eyes.” Sunspot shuddered slightly as she thought back to her previous encounter with the inhuman spirit. The robotic colt’s piercing yellow eyes held an unnatural aura to them like they didn’t belong to something that should have existed.

“That sounds r-really bad…” Fluttershy took a few steps back while watching the room up ahead. “M-maybe we should call the others?” She suggested nervously.

“Yeah… I think I’m going to agree with Fluttershy here. We could use some backup, Sunspot.” Rainbow Dash nodded while looking back to her yellow friend. Both mares didn’t want to find out what was lurking inside the room.

“Hold on, I want to check to make sure the keys are still there before I get the others involved. That ghost might be pulling another fast one.” Sunspot stated while turning around. She gulped hesitantly as she realized what she just volunteered for.

“What? Are you crazy?! You just got done explaining why we shouldn’t go anywhere near that thing!” Rainbow Dash said with a shocked expression.

“Sssh!” Sunspot hushed the cyan pegasus frantically while glancing back to the doorway. There were no noises or signs of movement. “Look… I’m just going to take a peek. That thing was pretty docile when we were here the last time. I’ll just keep my eyes on the floor and make it quick.” She explained with a reassuring expression.

Fluttershy shared a concerned glance with Rainbow Dash. They knew the orange mare to be a risk taker, but this was ridiculous. As they looked back to their fearless and possibly suicidal leader to try and talk her out of her plan, they noticed that she was already quietly walking up to the room.

“Sunspot, get back here!” Fluttershy pleaded in a panicked whisper. Receiving no response from the orange pegasus, the two mares cringed before following after her as quietly as possible. They were traversing a proverbial minefield now, and the slightest sound could tip off the creature within to their presence if it didn’t already know they were out here.

Sunspot reached the doorway and paused. She looked back to the others hesitantly and breathed in and out to gather some courage. Apparently, she wasn’t even confident in her own plan, but she was sticking to it. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy could only watch now. The orange pony was on the threshold of the room, and they would rather one person try to sneakily peek inside rather than two people try to pull the one away.

Keeping her head craned to the floor, Sunspot slowly arched around the corner. She was shaking a little bit, and she was cringing while keeping her eyes shut. Finally, she swallowed her fear and peered out from her hoof. Only the floor at the bottom of the doorway greeted her.

So far, so good… heh, She chuckled nervously in her head. Anything that gave her the courage to move at this point was a plus. Slowly but surely, she trailed her eyes upward until she settled on the object that everyone had been searching for the better part of their stay in the abandoned resort.

The keys!

Sure enough, there they were. Sitting deceptively near the door, close to the center of the room. The keyring was laying near a clearing in the mismatched splatters of ectoplasm that littered the room. Although her target was in sight, something else was missing from the room entirely.

Sunspot didn’t feel afraid, or at least she didn’t feel any more afraid than normal. Before when she was this close to the inhuman spirit, she felt uneasy and disturbed from simply being in its presence. However, she felt nothing that seemed like it wasn’t her natural fear response.

Taking a hesitant look along the floor, the orange pegasus scanned the room to see if she could find the animatronic colt. When her search yielded nothing but more ectoplasm, she slowly looked upwards until she was searching the room at normal eye level.

“Huh…?” Sunspot muttered with a confused expression.

“Sunspot, get back here!” Rainbow Dash whispered pleadingly. The orange mare looked over to see her two companions silently yet frantically motioning for her to step away from the room.

Taking another moment to look back into the room and double check her findings, Sunspot turned back to the others. “Guys… I think it’s gone.” She said with a guarded tone while holding back a smile.

“What?” Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash stated in unison while staring back at the pegasus with confused expressions.

“H…hello?” Sunspot raised her voice slightly while peering back into the room. She shined her flashlight around as well, slowly trying to ascertain if the room was safe, and half expecting to have to bolt down the hallway as the blackened colt sprang out at her. After a short wait, and much to her surprise, nothing happened.

By now, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had slowly and hesitantly made their way closer to their orange leader. The trio of ponies all scanned the room with caution in mind, but nobody could find hide nor plastic hair of the animatronic. Only the keys at the center of the empty room caught their attention at the end of their search.

“You guys keep an eye out here, I’ll go grab the keys.” Sunspot suggested.

“Huh…? Why do you want us to watch out here?” Fluttershy asked hesitantly.

“That ghost tossed the keys here for a reason. Maybe it didn’t know that thing wasn’t in here anymore? Or maybe it knew it was going to be back shortly. Either way, you two should keep an eye out. If you see anything, look away and let me know.” Sunspot explained with a reassuring expression. The two mares conferred their opinions with each other for a moment before nodding silently.

Sunspot slowly stepped into the room. The intense smell of the ectoplasm was almost unbearable inside. Still unconvinced of such a lucky break, she looked around again. Nothing was lurking in the harder to see corners of the room now that she was inside, and she was greatly thankful for that. Finally, she turned her attention forward to the keys.

They were just sitting there, teasing her with how simple it would be to acquire them. It was almost like she hadn’t spent the past hour or so searching a dark and haunted underground pit to find them. As she reached them and snatched them up in her hoof, she couldn’t fight the smile building on her face anymore.

“Finally… something goes our way for once.” Sunspot stated in a pleased tone.

*Splat*

An abrupt spatter of some sort of thick liquid dripped onto the orange mare’s hoof from above. The sudden and unexpected event made her jerk her foreleg back.

“Ack! What the… uugh…!” Sunspot shuddered with revulsion as she looked over the inky black substance now sprayed over her foreleg and the keys. The repulsive smell coming off of it identified it as ectoplasm.

More wet chunks of the substance fell to the floor from above her, nearly hitting her. The air in the room grew colder at an alarming rate, and a familiar feeling of unease made its presence known at the back of her neck. Sunspot trailed her eyes upwards, following the dripping black gunk to its source. As she craned her neck all the way, she was met with a startling sight. Clinging to the ceiling, and covered in liberal amounts of ectoplasm, was a familiar animatronic colt.

…Hello…

A chilling voice rang out, loosely coming from the plastic head of the colt. And all at once the orange mare realized, she could see its face. Somehow, the animatronic’s head was spun around and facing backwards, and it was staring down at her with glowing yellow pupils in its otherwise empty eye sockets.

“…!” Sunspot froze up from a mixture of surprise and terror as she inadvertently locked eyes with the blackened pony. She tried to look away, but somehow her body wouldn’t listen to her demands. She could feel herself twitching as she desperately tried to flee, only to be kept cemented in place through some unseen force acting within her.

The piercing yellow dots stood out so much from the otherwise dark exterior of the animatronic and the goop covered ceiling, almost like they were filling her vision. Her ears started to ring, and a hushed laugh echoed through her mind. The world around her blurred, and she was filled with an all-encompassing feeling of fear.

“Uh… ah…” Sunspot muttered a series of incoherent noises of distress. She felt an overwhelming urge to scream, but she somehow couldn’t. It was like she was trapped in a nightmare, and her own body was betraying her.

…Sunspot…

A muffled voice called out from the darkness around her, though her attention was still transfixed on the yellow lights. They were a window into the soul of whatever creature was before her, or at least they would have been if the creature had a soul. The weight of the unbearable stare was getting to her, making her fragile mind crack. She wasn’t looking at whatever was sitting inside of the hollow animatronic, it was looking at her, and it was exploring every fiber of her insignificant being.

“Sunspot!”

A voice called out again, though this time it seemed familiar. Sunspot felt something grab her from behind, causing her to let out the pent up screaming she was unable to produce earlier. Even through the constant sound of ringing, and the distorted mess that was now her vision, she felt something pulling her away.

When the movement stopped, she covered her face with her hooves. Something else grabbed ahold of her shoulder. However, the ringing in her ears and the feeling of fear was slowly subsiding, allowing her senses to return to her. As her frantic screaming finally died out, she could hear something else at last.

“Sunspot, are you ok?!” Rainbow Dash asked in a panicked voice.

Sunspot hesitantly opened her eyes and looked up, only to be greeted with the concerned faces of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy above her. She quickly discovered that she was on the floor out in the hallway. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and she was in a cold sweat, with parts of her body still trembling in shock.

“Wh… w-what h…” Sunspot tried to make an intelligible statement, but she was still too shocked to speak. She looked around frantically, though the two mares were blocking her view of one of the directions of the hall. Judging from their surroundings, they were a fair distance away from the room she was in just moments ago.

“You saw that thing and just started freaking out. We had to pull you out of there kicking and screaming.” Rainbow Dash explained while nervously glancing behind her. Thankfully nothing seemed to have followed them.

“Thank goodness you snapped out of it… we thought you were going to pass out from shock.” Fluttershy added. The timid pegasus looked distraught with worry, though she had a slight smile of relief on her face.

“Oh man… my head is spinning.” Sunspot closed her eyes and tried to deal with the intense feeling of dizziness still present in her head. “That thing really threw me for a loop… I made eye contact with it, didn’t I?” She asked while struggling to think back to the encounter. Although it was just moments ago, her mind was cloudy on the events that took place after she looked up at the ceiling. A cold chill went down her spine as she tried to remember, so she decided to stop trying altogether.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy nodded silently, confirming the obvious. Sunspot adopted a saddened expression and looked down. She was glad that the two mares rescued her and handled themselves well in a bad situation, but she was supposed to keep them out of trouble, not the other way around.

“Well… on the bright side, we got the keys.” Rainbow Dash said, perhaps noting the orange mare’s frown.

“Really? I thought I would have dropped them in there.” Sunspot perked up at the mention of the keys. The cyan pony held the keyring up, jingling them for show and letting a smirk build on her face. “Haha… yes!” Sunspot smiled in return and chuckled triumphantly.

“Come on, let's get out of here before that thing decides to follow us.” Rainbow Dash suggested anxiously.

“Yeah… we should probably let the others know what happened now anyway.” Sunspot added, receiving judging expressions from her two companions. “What? Better late than never…” She said with an awkward smile. The other two mares shook their heads silently while the orange pegasus got up and started walking down the hall.

---

Elsewhere in the resort, Tom and Glimmer Shine’s groups were steadily running out of areas to search. The elusive keys were nowhere to be found, and their patience was wearing down with each empty room.

Twilight sighed as she finished searching yet another room. As she turned back toward the hallway to check on her companions’ progress, she realized they were having about as much luck as she was.

“Ughhh…” Pinkie Pie groaned audibly while ducking out of the room she was in. “How hard can it be to find one set of keys?!” She said with a frustrated look of exasperation plastered on her face.

“At this point, I think finding a needle in a haystack would be easier.” Tom stated passively while walking down the hall to his next designated search area.

Pinkie tilted her head in confusion. “Well duh… all you need to do is sit down to find a needle in a haystack.”

“Unfortunately for us, all sitting down is going to do here is waste time.” Twilight shrugged, taking a moment to rest despite her statement.

A few moments went by as the trio continued their search. They could go up and down this hallway and the next all day and probably not find anything. Or perhaps it was night already. It was impossible to tell the time of day this far underground. Any clocks they found stopped working long ago, and it did feel like it had been forever, though this was probably an exaggeration.

“Hey guys, we found something I think you're going to like!” A sudden voice in his head made Tom pause and perk up.

“Hold on, Sunspot is calling us.” Tom reported to his two charges before putting a finger up to his ear.

“Ooo! Did she find something?!” Pinkie asked while bouncing in place eagerly.

“It sounds like it. Give me a minute here, will ya?” Tom said while briefly dropping his hand from his ear and drawing attention to it.

“Oh… sorry.” Pinkie whispered with a regretful cringe. With the pink mare and the purple unicorn listening in quiet anticipation, the human returned his attention to the voices in his head.

“Well, speak up, Sunspot. Don't just leave us hanging here. What did you find?” Glimmer Shine asked curiously with a slight hint of impatience in his voice.

“Only the keys to the stairs… no big deal.” Sunspot said with a forced casual tone. The smirk on her face was practically audible.

“That's great, Sunspot! Where did you find them?” Glitterball asked curiously. The orange mare on the other end of the line hesitated before answering.

“Uh… about that. We found that animatronic doe with them, and… it kind of tossed them into that room we found that inhuman spirit in.” Sunspot explained uneasily.

“Ah, horse feathers… That can't be good.” Glimmer Shine stated in a dreadful tone.

“Don't worry about it, I handled things. We got the keys and got out of there, no problem.” Sunspot said in a reassuring manner.

“Wait, what?!” Glimmer Shine exclaimed in shock.

“Sunspot, do you want me to even begin to describe how stupidly dangerous that was? You could have gotten yourselves killed! Why didn't you wait for us to get there?!” Tom asked with a more serious tone.

“Look, I get it… I thought the room was empty, but it wasn't… not my smartest moment, I know. The important thing is that we're all fine and we have the keys.” Sunspot said with an exasperated sigh.

“I… I just…” Glimmer Shine muttered in a state of utter disbelief. “*Sigh*... Just meet us down at the stairs. You better hope my urge to strangle you goes away before we get there.” He said while trying every available method of calming himself down.

“Yeah, yeah… Sorry.” Sunspot shrugged before falling silent.

Tom sighed and shook his head while dropping his hand from his ear. He couldn't believe how reckless the orange pegasus was. He turned around to see his two companions waiting eagerly for him to dispense the information he now had. “Well girls, it looks like our search is over. Sunspot and the others just found the keys.” Tom explained in a less than thrilled tone. Still, he couldn’t deny that the orange mare did a good job, even if she went about it in all the wrong ways.

“*Gasp* That’s great news! You hear that, Twilight? We’ll find Spike and the others in no time, now!” Pinkie cheered eagerly while turning to see how the unicorn beside her was reacting. However, Twilight wasn’t jumping for joy as much as the pink pony thought she would be.

The purple mare was staring ahead blankly with a confused expression on her face. She twitched a few times, seemingly trying to move or say something. However hard she was trying, nothing was coming out of her mouth but a few strained noises.

“Twilight…? Are you ok?” Pinkie asked in a concerned tone while eyeing the unicorn warily. She waved a hoof in front of her friend’s face, and although Twilight seemed like she was aware of her surroundings, she couldn’t move.

“N… n-not again…” Twilight muttered as a familiar feeling washed over her. All at once, a thick haze filled her mind and her legs grew weak. After trembling for a moment, the unicorn’s legs buckled and she went toppling to the floor.

“Oh my gosh, Twilight!” Pinkie Pie gasped in a panic and rushed to her friend’s side. The purple mare was unconscious by the time she hit the floor, but nothing else seemed to be wrong with her.

“Twilight?” Tom called the unicorn’s name in a mildly alarmed tone. He walked over and examined the purple mare while the pink pony desperately shook her and tried waking her up like she was dying.

“Tom! Do something!” Pinkie pleaded while turning to the human for support.

Tom briefly examined the unconscious pony. After making a few attempts to check if she was responsive, and checking her overall health, he shook his head and sighed. “Relax, Pinkie… she’s fine. This has happened before.” Tom said before getting up and stepping away for a moment. He placed a couple of fingers up to his ear, triggering the communication spell as he focused on the members of Spirit. “Guys, we’re going to be a bit late with getting to the stairs. Twilight is having another of her… episodes.” He explained in a disheartened tone.

“Episodes…?” Pinkie muttered with a confused expression while turning back to Twilight. For all intents and purposes, the unicorn seemed physically fine aside from her sudden bout of unconsciousness. The state of her friend troubled her still, and she wondered why this had happened before, or at all for that matter.

“She passed out again?” Glimmer Shine asked with a surprised inflection in his voice.

“Do you think she’s having another… vision?” Sunspot chimed in curiously.

“I’m not sure… it’s looking that way though. We won’t know for sure until she wakes up. I’ll see if I can carry her over to you guys... we’ll be there as soon as possible.” Tom said before dropping his arm to his side.

“Roger that… keep an eye on her for us, alright?” Glimmer Shine said with a healthy bit of concern before falling silent.

Tom turned back toward the two mares in the center of the hallway. Pinkie was still crouched low to the ground, cradling a foreleg around Twilight and holding her head up.

“What’s wrong with her?” Pinkie asked hesitantly while looking down to the purple mare’s dazed expression.

“She passed out like this back when Sunspot took her and Sparkplug to go turn on the generator. She woke up just fine a while later… and apparently, she had some kind of vision.” Tom explained with a calm tone, hoping to reassure the pink pony.

“A vision…? Like… she saw the future or something?” Pinkie asked, half intrigued and half concerned.

“The past more likely… She said she was in the old amusement park this place was built over. She even met Berry Swirl’s grandfather and his father.” Tom said with an intrigued smirk.

“Wow… I never knew she was psychic! How did she keep something like that from us for so long? Oh man… how am I going to plan surprise parties for her now… *Gasp* What if she knew about all of the surprise parties I already threw for her and just pretended to be surprised?!” Pinkie asked with a stunned expression of shock.

Tom raised an eyebrow and stared at the pink mare. “Uh… Pinkie… she isn’t psychic. It probably has something to do with when she died back in Canterlot. She is more susceptible for paranormal events to happen to her.” He explained while walking over to the pair. “Well, we should probably get going. The others will be expecting us.”

“Hold on,” Pinkie said while getting up from the floor. “I’ll carry her.” She stated while picking the unconscious mare up and gently placing her on her back.

“Are you sure?” Tom asked curiously.

“Yeah… I want to help. Besides, I’ll feel better if I can keep a close eye on her.” Pinkie said while looking back to see the unicorn balanced across her back.

“Alright… follow me.” The human walked down the hallway back toward the area of the resort that held the stairs. Pinkie Pie nodded and carefully followed the boy. All the while she made sure to keep Twilight from sliding off or having a bumpy ride. She hoped that whatever the unicorn was experiencing, it was more pleasant than being down in the abandoned corridors of the resort.

Comments

[WyattS]

thanks for the thing I was hoping for a whole picture or the other robots but thanks