Spiritus ex Machina

by wonderkid125

Chapter 9: Marvelous Mechanisms

As sunlight started beaming down onto the Fun Land resort, most of the ponies inside were waking up and getting started on their day, most of them at any rate. Sunspot was still sound asleep in her bed despite the orange tinted light streaming in through the curtains.

The pegasus wasn’t exactly a heavy sleeper, but she didn’t get up unless she was good and ready. All her time with the Wonderbolts hadn’t beaten her laziness out of her, and she wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to enjoy her luxurious bed for a while longer.

A quiet rustling sound abruptly ended Sunspot’s slumber. With an agitated groan, she opened her eyes and looked around without even moving her head. As she looked around to find the source of the disturbance, she saw her two teammates out of bed and digging through the suitcases they had brought along.

Glitterball was putting her tactical vest on, or at least trying to. The unicorn was struggling a bit to actually get the vest on, but she was giving it her all. Glimmer Shine already had his vest on, and he was sitting on his bed in a professional manner with several vials and other pieces of equipment on the bed next to him, seemingly taken from his vest. Glimmer would pick up one of the pieces of equipment, examine it to ensure that it worked, and place it in the rightful place on his vest. While picking up one of the vials to inspect it, the stallion glanced over and noticed the orange mare stirring.

“Well, well… look who’s finally awake.” Glimmer Shine said in an amused tone while smirking at the pegasus as he placed the vial he was holding into a pouch on his vest.

“Ugh… I don’t want to get up.” Sunspot groaned in an agitated tone while thudding her head back into her pillow.

“I don’t think you have a choice in the matter Sunspot. We have a job to do.” Glitterball said while still struggling with her vest. She finally shrugged in defeat as Glimmer Shine reached over and helped her with it.

“Oh yeah… I forgot this wasn’t just a vacation for like five seconds.” Sunspot muttered tiredly while refusing to get up. She closed her eyes again in an attempt at getting a few more moments of sleep until she felt something getting tossed onto her head. As she pulled the object off of her and examined it, she noticed that it was her modified Wonderbolt suit. The numerous pouches, pockets, and clips full of equipment added on to the suit made it obvious what the harder objects she felt hitting her were.

“Get up and get dressed Sunspot. We’re meeting Tom downstairs so we can get started with investigating the basement. If we’re lucky we might get these ghosts cleared out by tonight, and then you can sleep all you want.” Glimmer Shine said in an understanding tone. As much as he wanted to be in bed himself, he and his two teammates had a job to do.

“Fine… I guess I can hunt ghosts while half asleep.” Sunspot muttered drowsily while sitting up and pushing the covers off of her. After hopping out of bed and stretching her legs, she started the process of putting on her uniform and tallying her gear.

After a few minutes of waking themselves up and getting geared up, the members of Spirit were ready to go. The trio made their way out of their room and through the hallways toward the stairwell. Once they hit the first floor, they headed to the front entrance where everyone had agreed to meet once they got up.

As they walked through the doorway into the lobby, the group could already see their friends dotted around the room. Sparkplug and Silver Bell were talking behind the front desk, while Twilight and her friends were sitting on the couches and chairs further back or standing around. Almost everyone was present save for Berry Swirl and the rest of the staff, and they all looked eager and ready to start the day, or at least most of them did. Twilight seemed to be a little drowsy, even to the point of having to prevent herself from nodding off.

“Wow… Check you guys out.” Tom said in an impressed tone while watching the trio walk toward the group. “I feel a little underdressed now.” He added while glancing between his own outfit and the professional looking team of ponies.

“Yeah, you guys really do look like a team of monster hunters.” Rainbow Dash said while admiring the sight of some of her friends donning tactical gear. She was still getting over the fact that she knew two ex-guards and one ex-Wonderbolt turned paranormal investigator.

“If it makes you feel better, we look a lot more professional than we actually are.” Glimmer Shine said in an amused tone while looking to Sunspot and thinking back to her deep and intense struggle with getting out of bed just a few minutes ago.

“You guys will do fine. This isn’t your first rodeo after all.” Applejack stated reassuringly.

“Yeah… I’m not exactly sure I would equate getting knocked around by Raven Feather’s goons as a rodeo, but I guess that analogy works.” Sunspot said in a lighthearted tone. She paused for a moment and looked away slightly as darker memories from her first official job with her teammates crept back into her head. She was surprised to feel the yellow stallion next to her patting her on the shoulder and laughing slightly at her quip.

“Heh… we sure have come a long way since then. So, are you ready to go Tom?” Glimmer Shine asked curiously while letting his hoof linger on Sunspot’s shoulder for a moment. The orange pegasus couldn’t help but feel like he was trying to offer her a little bit of comfort to prevent her from thinking about all of the tragic losses they had suffered without directly drawing attention to it.

“Uh, yeah… I guess I am.” Tom said in a confident tone while getting up from his seated position next to Twilight. As he walked by the purple mare, she let out a slight yawn and shook herself awake again.

“Hey, are you ok Twilight? You don’t look like you slept well.” Glitterball said in a slightly concerned tone. Twilight looked around to see the rest of her friends directing their attention to her as well. They had noticed her drowsiness before, but now that someone had asked, they were curious to find out if anything was wrong as well.

“Uh… um… yeah, I’m fine. I just… had a bad dream is all. I should feel more awake after a few minutes.” Twilight explained in a reassuring tone while trying to make herself appear more alert than she felt.

“Well if you need somethin’ to wake you up, maybe you should head to the pool with the rest of us after we get breakfast.” Applejack suggested while looking around at the others to gather their opinions. Everyone else seemed open to the idea of helping their purple friend to snap out of her drowsiness and having some fun at the same time. Well, mostly everyone at any rate.

“Hey, Applejack… do you think we could go to the kid area instead of the pool? I really wanna see the robots in there.” Applebloom asked in an unimposing manner while offering a pleading expression to her sister. The orange mare couldn’t say no to such a request, especially considering who it was coming from.

“Alright, we can go down there if you want, Applebloom.” Applejack said with a warm smile as she watched her sister’s face brighten up.

“I’ll come too. I’m sure Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo would love to go along with Applebloom.” Rarity suggested while getting up and walking over to the orange mare.

“I can handle watchin’ the girls if you want to do somethin’ else Rarity.” Applejack said while offering the unicorn a curious expression.

Rarity shook her head. “No, it’s fine. I want to spend some time with Sweetie Belle anyway.” She smiled warmly while glancing over to the white filly.

Now that their friends had decided on what to do for the next few hours, Tom and Glimmer Shine’s team walked toward the doorway to the right of the front desk. Before they made it very far, however, they were stopped by the gray earth pony walking up to them from behind the desk.

“Hey, before I forget, why don’t you guys take this radio with you? You can use it to reach me if you have any questions or need anything.” Sparkplug said while offering the group a small two-way radio similar to the ones the rest of the staff used. Glimmer Shine accepted the radio before putting it on a clip on his vest.

“Thanks, Sparkplug, but hopefully we won’t be down there very long. We should have things cleared up by the time we get back.” Glimmer said in a reassuring tone.

“Well here’s hoping. I’m sure Berry would love to hear that our ghost problem is over after she finally gets up.” Sparkplug chuckled while noting the absence of the purple mare and the rest of the staff. High Tide and Copper Coil were most likely doing something elsewhere in the resort, but the gray mare was confident that her boss was still in bed.

With everyone ready and all of their gear in order, the team left the room and headed down the hall. After a few minutes of walking through the resort, the four ducked into a gray door and entered the employees only area.

As they went further and further into the secluded corridors of the more private areas of the resort, Glimmer Shine and his teammates’ locator vials started glowing softly. The faint readings combined with the quiet and creepy atmosphere to really sink in the fact that they were walking through a haunted area.

“So what do you guys think we should do here?” Tom asked curiously while looking around to see how the three ponies would handle the situation.

“Well… assuming we don’t find any physical manifestations of the spirits, I suggest we set down some symbols for a spell and do a minor cleansing of negative energy. Any weak ghosts should clear out after that.” Glitterball suggested while thinking back on her training and everything she had learned about the paranormal.

“Good thinking. It’s nice to see you guys coming into your own as paranormal investigators.” Tom said in a pleased tone.

“We’re getting there. I’m not sure if we’ll ever have as much know-how as you do, but those books from the mansion helped out a lot.” Glimmer Shine stated with a flattered smile.

“Just be thankful a lot of that stuff is legit. I do not have the time or the patience to give out educational lectures on everything I know.” Tom said with a slight chuckle, eliciting a chuckle from the ponies as well.

“Well before we can do anything, we should probably get a better idea of what we’re dealing with. Once we get down to the basement, we should start gauging how powerful these ghosts are and where they are most active. Hopefully, we won’t need to coax them out.” Glitterball shrugged uneasily at the prospect of having to search endlessly for the ghosts. Being a paranormal investigator wasn’t always a glamorous job.

After making their way down into the basement, the group started their search. Slowly and methodically, they used their respective means of detecting supernatural energies to scan the area. Although there were faint readings all around the area, the intensifying traces of spirits led them toward the stairway leading down into the abandoned extension to the building.

As the door to the stairwell creaked open, Glimmer Shine and the others looked into the dusty and forgotten opening with surprised expressions. After being introduced to the lavish and colorful resort upstairs, seeing such an uninviting sight before them was unexpected, to say the least.

“Yikes… what’s the story with this place?” Sunspot asked curiously while eyeing the stairwell and the darkness below.

“It’s apparently an addition to the resort that Berry’s grandfather made. It was never finished on account of the ceiling caving in on one of the floors further down.” Tom explained what Sparkplug had told him the previous day.

“Well, I suppose the ghosts have to come from somewhere.” Glimmer Shine shrugged while thinking of the task ahead. He glanced back to the others for a moment before heading through the door and walking down the steps. Glitterball followed the yellow stallion down, taking slow and deliberate steps to avoid slipping and falling or touching anything to her sides.

“I don’t suppose we can avoid going down there?” Sunspot asked hesitantly while glancing at the grimy looking stairwell. If the entrance to the abandoned floors were anything to judge them by, then the actual floors themselves would undoubtedly be horrible places to venture through.

“Welcome to the life of a monster hunter Sunspot. As it turns out, most supernatural occurrences don’t happen in nice looking places.” Tom said in an amused tone while walking down the stairs with the others. The orange mare sighed uncomfortably while contemplating whether or not to abandon her friends and cut her losses.

“Blech… I feel like I’m gonna get tetanus down here.” Sunspot muttered while sucking up any disgust she felt and following the others down the stairs.

The group could hear their footsteps reverberating off the metallic steps and through the stairwell. The abrupt sounds were the only sounds to be heard in the otherwise silent air. The temperature was also noticeably colder, though the four were uncertain whether or not this was caused by ghosts or simply a lack of heating.

As they reached the bottom steps and gathered by the door, the group opened it up and stepped out into the hallway. The lights cast by the three ponies’ vest mounted flashlights and the human’s single flashlight were all they had to see due to the lack of other light sources. The four beams carried down the hallway to create a solid cone of visibility that revealed a corridor full of doorways that led into more darkness.

The air felt a little more thick and dirty than it did upstairs, although it may have been due to the particles of dust floating around in the flashlight beams. No matter what was causing the feeling or whether or not it was valid, the area felt cold and disgusting.

“Getting some stronger readings down here… looks like we’re in the right place.” Glitterball stated while examining her locator vial. The liquid inside of the vial was glowing more solidly, indicating that they were getting closer to the source of the reading.

“I would never have guessed that unless you told me, Glitter.” Sunspot said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice while staring down the hallway. The dark and forgotten corridor looked like something straight out of a horror movie.

“Enough messing around… let’s hurry up and clear these ghosts out. The sooner we can leave this place, the better.” Glimmer Shine said in a resolute tone while stepping forward and walking down the hall slowly. The others nodded in silent agreement before following the stallion.

Without wasting any more time, the four started sweeping rooms and searching for any abnormal readings. Tom would check rooms on the right, Sunspot and Glitterball would check rooms on the left, and Glimmer Shine would stay in the hallway to watch out for anything further down. The readings the group was getting weren’t anything out of the ordinary, at least from what they expected. Tom could feel trace amounts of spiritual energy, while the two mares’ vials were glowing slightly. Despite the lack of concrete evidence that a spirit was present, the rooms they were searching made them feel uneasy and tense.

Most of the rooms were seemingly unfinished, with bare minimum furnishings and fixtures in them. What few pieces of furniture were present looked and smelled unpleasant from the sheer amount of time they had been down here with no maintenance. Whatever had a flat surface was covered in dust and a few empty cobwebs, seemingly signifying that even the spiders had left the area and forgotten about it.

A few of the rooms looked a bit more finished and lived in than the others, complete with tables, chairs, and cabinets. There were even a few tools and hard hats placed around as if they were abruptly left there by the workers.

“Find anything?” Glitterball asked with a hopeful expression while watching her human friend step out of a room.

“No… nothing. It’s really weird how calm it is down here. I should be feeling a lot more activity, but I can’t make anything out other than some energy.” Tom explained in a puzzled tone.

“Don’t tell me the ghosts decided to move on to the afterlife the same day we show up.” Sunspot shrugged uneasily while walking down the hall to find the next room to search. The last thing she wanted was to be walking through a dusty basement for no reason.

“That wouldn’t make much sense… most ghosts stick around where they haunt for a long time.” Tom said while scratching his head curiously.

As the group walked past a door on the right, Tom glanced at it and paused suddenly. He used his flashlight to further examine the room and noticed that it looked familiar. What he didn’t notice however was the presence of something that should have been there.

“What the…?” Tom muttered in a confused tone while looking around. Noticing their friend stopping behind them, the ponies paused and turned around to see him looking into a seemingly average room with a troubled expression.

“What’s wrong, Tom?” Glimmer Shine asked curiously while walking over to look into the room and see what was so unusual about it. The room was just another empty room with dust strewn along the floor, so the stallion had no idea what was troubling the boy.

“When Sparkplug took me down here yesterday, we came across an old animatronic from back when Berry’s grandfather was still working on this place,” Tom explained in an uneasy tone while still looking around like he was making sure that he was remembering things correctly.

“So… what’s the problem?” Sunspot asked, oblivious to what the human was insinuating.

“The problem is that it’s gone… it isn’t here anymore.” Tom replied while pointing to the empty spot on the ground just in front of the doorway.

“What…? It was here? Are you sure?” Sunspot asked in a confused tone.

“Yeah, I’m positive. It scared the heck out of me when I found it.” Tom stated uneasily. As the ponies looked down to the area just in front of the door, they suddenly noticed a spot where there wasn’t as much dust, as if something had been sitting there previously.

“Maybe Sparkplug or someone else moved it… hold on a sec.” Glimmer Shine said while reaching for the small radio on his vest. He pulled it out and pushed the button on the side, eliciting a small click of static from the device as he held it in front of him. “Hey Sparkplug, are you there?” Glimmer asked curiously before waiting for a response. Everyone watched anxiously while hoping that the gray mare would admit to moving the animatronic.

“Yeah, I’m here… what’s up?” Sparkplug spoke up in a curious tone.

“We’re down in the sub-basement, and we were just wondering if you or someone else moved the old animatronic that was down here?” Glimmer Shine asked in a calm tone. He didn’t seem to be feeling the slight sensation of unease that everyone else felt.

“What, that old model of Bonnie? No… I haven’t even touched it, and I’m pretty sure nobody has been down there since yesterday.” Sparkplug explained in a casual tone. The gray mare’s words suddenly left a pit in everyone’s stomachs. They immediately looked into the empty room before setting eyes on each other nervously.

“Alright… thanks, Sparkplug, we’ll get back to you later.” Glimmer Shine said while trying to hide the nervousness in his voice. He put the radio back on his vest before turning to his teammates. Any confidence he had that the animatronic had been moved through normal means was completely gone.

“So… is anyone else going to tell me that there is a perfectly normal explanation for this?” Sunspot asked curiously.

“Come on guys… it didn’t just get up and walk away did it?” Glitterball asked in a rhetorical and insincere manner. As she looked around to see the uneasy expressions on her friends’ faces, her question suddenly took on a terrifying light.

Now that the thought of a haunted robot was floating around the air, the dark corridor ahead of the group and all of its concealed rooms felt a lot more foreboding. They had all of the proof they needed now. They weren’t alone anymore.

“Let’s keep moving… just keep your eyes open for anything out of the ordinary.” Tom suggested while returning a calm and collected tone to his voice and walking ahead of the group. The ponies nodded hesitantly before following him and keeping their strobes at the ready.

---

Meanwhile back upstairs, Rarity and Applejack were walking through the halls of the resort on their way toward the kid’s play area. Ever since they sat down with the others to eat breakfast, the three fillies in their care had been antsy and anxious to see what fun they could have. So while the others went off to do their own things, the two mares decided to take the crusaders where they wanted to go most.

Applebloom walked at the back of the group with her two friends. The fillies were excitedly chatting amongst themselves and imagining what was in store for them when they finally reached their destination.

“Are we almost there?” Sweetie Belle asked while looking ahead to her older sister with a pleading expression.

“Patience Sweetie, we will be there soon.” Rarity replied in a reassuring manner while looking back to the anxious fillies. They seemed to be far less confident in her claim than she was.

“Do you even know how to get there? I think we’ve been going in circles.” Scootaloo shrugged with a bored expression.

“Don’t worry about that, Scootaloo. We asked Berry how to get there while we were eating.” Applejack said while trying to curb the wave of annoyance and boredom arising from behind her. Although her younger sister was the quietest out of the bunch of fillies, she seemed to be the most anxious as well. Ever since the group had retired to their rooms last night, the orange mare hadn’t heard the end about how much the filly wanted to go see the animatronics. However amazing the robotic animals might have been, Applejack’s curiosity was swiftly being overtaken by annoyance towards the three fillies.

Just before the crusaders exploded from anticipation, a set of brightly colored doors came into view on their right. The doors themselves were white, but they had a splash of blue on them to mimic water. There were small windows set into the doors that revealed the inside of the room. Seeing nothing but bright colors and open space through the windows, the two mares decided to open the doors to save their younger companions from waiting any longer.

Stepping through the doorway, the mess of vibrant colors they had seen before opened up into a spacious room painted and decorated to fit a more child-friendly atmosphere. The floor was comprised of a checkered patterned carpet of blue and white, with enough thickness to it that it acted as padding to guard against any roughhousing children are capable of. The walls and ceiling were painted sky blue, with detailed white clouds added to complete the motif it was aiming for.

“Woah… check this place out.” Scootaloo said in an amazed tone while taking in the surroundings. Even Applejack and Rarity were surprised at how much of a bright atmosphere was in the room without kids playing in it.

Aside from the look of the room, its many decorations and play areas were just as colorful as everything else. There was a large open space in the center of the room, with several different toys and attractions dotted along the sides. There was a ball pit at the left end of the room, with a small slide leading into it and a climbing net along the edges. The right side of the room was dominated by a decorative pirate ship with many colorful tubes leading in and out of it for kids to crawl through. There was also a climbing net stretching from midway up the ship to a few feet away, seemingly to catch anyone who fell off the edge. And standing off in one of the corners, there were the two animatronics that the group had come to see in the first place.

“Hey, there are those anima-things!” Applebloom stated eagerly while pointing over to the pair of robots.

Perhaps hearing the sound of visitors to their lonely area, the two animatronics turned their heads to look at the group of ponies. Both of them were bipedal cats, and both of them Applejack recognized from her brief time learning about the resort’s animatronics. The one in red was Felix, and his partner was Party Favor. The two cats seemed polar opposites of each other in terms of appearance, with Felix’s deep red coloring clashing against his counterpart’s pink and white motif.

“Hi, there! Welcome to the play area! Are you ready to have some fun?” Party Favor spoke up in a cheerful tone while stepping forward slightly. She seemed to be much more lively than any other animatronic the ponies had seen, even going so far as to seem slightly realistic. She gestured with her arms when she talked, and shifted her weight around like an actual creature would. Meanwhile, her red counterpart remained back in the corner silently while watching the group.

“Can we go play?” Sweetie Belle asked her sister in a courteous tone while mustering all of the patience she could to stifle her excitement.

“Go on girls, we’ll watch you from here.” Rarity said with an understanding smile. She giggled slightly as she watched the three fillies cheer eagerly while scampering off to go inspect the animatronics up close. She couldn’t help but think back to when she was that young and all of the things she did to find entertainment.

Sweetie Belle and her two friends walked across the room and passed all of the enticing toys and playthings to go straight to the robotic animals. As they approached the pair, the white cat watched them intently while tilting her head.

“Hello! My name is Party Favor, and this is my friend Felix.” Party Favor explained while briefly turning to face the red cat. “What are your names?” She asked curiously while looking down at the three fillies.

“I’m Sweetie Belle, these are my friends Applebloom and Sc-” Sweetie Belle started to introduce herself and her friends when she was interrupted by the orange filly shrugging audibly and rolling her eyes.

“You don’t need to talk to it like it’s real, Sweetie Belle.” Scootaloo said in an unimpressed tone while noting her friend’s childish behavior. She was surprised to hear the robotic cat protesting her comment.

“Hey, that’s not very nice! I have feelings too you know.” Party Favor said in a played up sad tone. She put on the best pouty expression she could, given her limited facial freedom, before crossing her arms and looking down.

“Woah… they made them really lifelike didn’t they?” Scootaloo asked in an amazed tone while turning to her two companions. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom smirked at the young pegasus as she was essentially shown up by a robot.

“That lifeguard did say that these guys can interact with people really well.” Applebloom said while thinking back to the day before. She was impressed to see just how advanced the magical components made the animatronics. They almost felt lifelike in a sort of way.

“Whatever, let’s go play. Maybe we should head over to that pirate ship?” Scootaloo suggested to her friends while glancing behind her at the other end of the room. The numerous tubes and the climbing nets on the ship made it an appealing place to start playing.

“Do you think they could come with us?” Sweetie Belle asked curiously while looking back at the animatronics. The white filly and at least her yellow friend hoped that the two cats would be able to play some games with them. Party Favor observed the fillies for a moment before closing her mouth and partially closing her eyes, creating a warm expression. She then turned to look at the red cat behind her as he remained silent and observant.

“Come on Felix! Let’s go play with the kids!” Party Favor said in an excited tone while motioning for the red cat to follow her. The three fillies and their newfound mechanical friend looked at Felix expecting him to speak or move. After what seemed like a few moments of looking ahead at the group silently and shifting his eyes around, Felix started moving a bit more naturally and opened his mouth.

“Ok! Are you guys ready to have a blast?” Felix asked in an eager tone. His voice held the same faint distortion that the other animatronics had, but it still conveyed emotion well.

“Yay!” Sweetie Belle cheered in excitement while rushing away with her friends. The two animatronics followed them, making soft and steady clicks as they moved. Although they were slower than the fillies, they would catch up to them as they went over to the pirate ship and started climbing on it. Meanwhile, the two mares at the front of the room were watching the crusaders playing with empathetic smiles.

“Wow… I don’t think I will ever get used to seeing those things.” Rarity said in a surprised tone while eyeing the two robots. While the pink one was alright enough, the other one was still displaying the soulless qualities that any cheap imitation of life had, a clear and unavoidable limitation of technology. Even magical components had their limits, but the robotic animals were charming enough to make up for these shortcomings.

“The novelty would wear off if you got used to them.” Applejack stated with a slight chuckle at the unicorn’s words.

“I suppose you’re right. That would defeat the purpose wouldn’t it?” Rarity asked rhetorically as she caught on to the orange mare’s meaning.

“Still, as long as the kids like ‘em, they’re alright to me.” Applejack said while smirking as she watched her sister playing with her friends. The two animatronics were standing by the pirate ship and watching the fillies playing, but they would interact with them whenever they paused to notice them.

“I guess. I’m not so sure if I would feel comfortable talking to something that isn’t alive, though.” Rarity said warily.

“What, are you creeped out by them or somethin’?” Applejack asked curiously.

Rarity shrugged. “Perhaps… I just think they are a bit off-putting.” She replied, making an attempt at shaking off any negative thoughts lingering in her mind.

“Are you sure you’re not just creeped out by the thought of ghosts in this place?” Applejack asked with a slight hint of nervousness in her own voice. The thought of why they were actually here hung over everyone’s head, though they tried to suppress and replace it with happier ones.

“I’m sure the others will take care of any ghosts downstairs.” Rarity said confidently, albeit with a hesitant pause.

“I still don’t like the idea of being so close to any ghosts… not after what happened back at that mansion.” Applejack shrugged and shook her head as a heap of unwanted memories came flooding back to her.

“Don’t worry Applejack… not all ghosts are that powerful, or that evil. Nothing like that will ever happen to us again.” Rarity said while offering her friend a reassuring expression. The orange mare nodded while lightening up a bit.

“OW!”

A sudden thump and a yelp of pain drew the two mares’ attention to the three fillies. They saw Scootaloo and Applebloom staring over the side of the pirate ship with surprised and concerned expressions, and they saw Sweetie Belle curled up on the floor clutching her ankle.

“Oh, Sweetie Belle! Are you ok?” Rarity asked in a concerned tone while trotting over to the white filly. As she reached her little sister and knelt down to level with her, she looked up at the other two fillies to see what had happened.

“She just fell off the climbing net… is she ok?” Scootaloo asked while looking to her friend with a worried expression.

“I think she just sprained her ankle… hold on, let me see.” Rarity said while gently examining her sister’s leg. Despite how gentle she was being, it wasn’t enough to prevent the young unicorn from feeling pain.

“Owch!” Sweetie Belle yelped painfully while Rarity tried picking up her leg.

“Sorry darling, I need to see how bad it is. Try to hold still.” Rarity said in a sympathetic tone while frowning at her sister. Sweetie Belle tried to prevent herself from squirming, but the shooting pains she was feeling weren’t making things easier.

“You’re making it worse… ow!” Sweetie Belle complained in a distraught tone. She had a few tears welling up in her eyes from how badly her leg hurt.

Everyone watched with concerned expressions as the white mare tried to tend to her sibling. Even Party Favor was watching from the sidelines with an uncertain expression, almost like she was trying to figure out what was going on. Felix, on the other hand, was watching silently, and very intently. The red cat watched Rarity moving the filly’s leg and Sweetie Belle stifling cries of pain, almost fixated on them while remaining motionless and silent. The ponies were far too occupied to notice the two animatronics however as they kept their eyes on the two unicorns.

“Ugh… I think this will swell if we leave it alone… probably going to bruise as well.” Rarity shrugged uneasily while setting her sister down and turning to the others.

“You should get her back to the room and let her rest.” Applejack suggested while frowning with concern at the injured filly.

“Yes… but first I need something to help with the pain and swelling.” Rarity said while looking around in thought for a moment. She turned to the two animatronics with an idea in her head. “Oh, um… Party Favor, can you go find me an ice pack please?” She asked in a clear tone while facing the white cat with a hopeful expression. Party Favor looked at the white mare silently. After a moment of nothing being said, the robotic feline shifted to a confused expression.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t understand that. Could you say that again?” Party Favor asked in a less organic manner. It sounded like she was simply spouting out a prerecorded message rather than actually using her voice box and personality to form words.

Applejack tilted her head, feeling equal confusion to the animatronic. “What? How could you not understand that?”

“*Sigh* it must be the limitations that High Tide mentioned. These two can’t handle anything other than interacting with guests.” Rarity said with a frustrated tone in her voice.

“I can go find where they keep the ice packs if you want.” Applejack offered in a helpful manner, to which the white mare shook her head.

“No, I’ll just take Sweetie Belle up to the room and find one myself. Thank you for the offer, though.” Rarity said before turning to her sister with a sympathetic expression. “Come on Sweetie Belle, let’s get you back to bed so you can get some rest.” She lit up her horn and gently picked the filly up. Sweetie Belle sighed in disappointment as the older unicorn floated her up to her back and gently sat her down.

“Girls, let’s head back with them. I think you’ve had enough roughhousin’ to last a while.” Applejack suggested while turning to the other fillies. Applebloom and Scootaloo voiced their disappointment with verbal groans and sighs while climbing down from the pirate ship, all the while being careful to not fall off like their friend had.

While Rarity carried Sweetie Belle out the door and started on her way back to the room, Applejack and the other two crusaders slowly followed her out. Before closing the door and leaving, Scootaloo turned to look at the animatronics that were still watching from the side.

“Bye Party Favor…” Scootaloo said in a sheepish tone, still feeling a little bad about her previous dismissal of actually talking to the animatronics. Party Favor waved with a friendly expression as the orange filly walked out of the door. While the white cat waved at the departing ponies, Felix stared at the door in silence, even longer than his white counterpart did. After a few moments, the red cat took a step forward and slowly walked towards the door.

---

-A few minutes later-

After spending a few minutes walking around the resort and trying to wake herself up, Twilight finally settled in at the front desk. She was chatting idly with Fluttershy and Berry Swirl, who had finally managed to get up and about.

Despite the unsettling dream she had the night before, Twilight somehow managed to feel upbeat and energetic at last. Perhaps it was the bright atmosphere of the resort, or maybe it was just being around her friends, but the purple mare felt good as new.

“Thanks for sending High Tide into town to get some food Berry. Breakfast was really good.” Twilight said gratefully. While she wasn’t about to complain about the seemingly unprofessional meals they had received, she did enjoy the extra effort the earth pony was putting in for them.

“Well, you guys deserved more than just fast food for your vacation. Just be thankful that Silver Bell knows a thing or two about cooking.” Berry Swirl said with a slight chuckle.

“She seems to know a thing or two about a lot of things… you got a real keeper there.” Twilight said sincerely.

Berry smirked as she thought about how much work the cream mare put into the resort each day. “Yeah… the whole team would fall apart without her, that’s for sure.”

“It’s really nice to see that you and the others are so close. It’s like you’re a family and not just coworkers.” Fluttershy said with an impressed expression.

“We are a family… or at least it feels that way. After I lost my dad, it was pretty tough for a while. Copper helped me out with the plans for getting the park up and running again… he worked with my dad toward the end of his career in this place. Finding the others and talking them into going on this little adventure was another challenge… Sparkplug almost didn’t say yes. I guess she had the sense to make the right choice, but she signed up anyway.” Berry explained lightheartedly. It seemed like she was fondly remembering her past and looking forward to making the park as good as it was when her father owned it. Twilight and Fluttershy couldn’t help but feel for the purple mare as she kept her head held high through any problem she had, even if the problem was ghosts in the basement.

“Well I’m sure you guys will do a great job when you finally open this place-” Twilight was suddenly interrupted by another voice coming from one of the hallways to the right.

“Hey!”

A familiar voice exclaimed in an agitated tone. The three mares walked over to the doorway with surprised expressions as they listened to the distressed sounds coming from the corridor.

Looking out into the hallway, the ponies saw Rarity standing in front of an animatronic cat with red fur. The unicorn had what appeared to be ice packs on the floor next to her, seemingly dropped suddenly from her magical grip as the robotic animal blocked her path and stared at her silently.

“Rarity? What’s wrong?” Twilight asked in a concerned tone while looking at the white mare to see what was happening. Rarity turned her head to see her friends looking back at her with curious and concerned expressions.

“I was on my way back to our room when this thing just stepped in front of me and knocked into me!” Rarity explained in an upset tone while looking back to the red animatronic with an icy glare.

“He knocked into you?” Twilight tilted her head in confusion while looking at the cat. He seemed to be paying no attention to the fact that he was intruding on the white mare’s personal space.

“You’re absolutely right he knocked into me! If I didn’t have consideration for other people’s property, and I didn’t consider that walking hunk of junk to be other people’s property, I would have half a mind to give it a few good kicks.” Rarity huffed in frustration while picking up her ice packs off of the floor. She groaned in annoyance while getting up and attempting to walk around the animatronic. She was surprised and a little bit startled to see the robotic cat stepping into her path again and knocking into her.

“What in the name of Celestia is wrong with you? Let me through!” Rarity said in a frustrated tone while raising her voice slightly. The cat simply kept staring down at her silently, paying no attention to her outburst.

“Felix, what are you doing? Stop that right now.” Berry said in a commanding tone while stepping forward slightly. Much to everyone’s surprise, the animatronic didn’t budge an inch.

“He isn’t listening to you Berry… is he malfunctioning or something?” Twilight asked in a confused tone while looking between the animatronic and her understandably upset friend.

“I don’t know, maybe… he shouldn’t even be outside the kid's play area.” Berry stated in an utterly puzzled tone before turning back to the animatronic. “Felix, come here.” She instructed, hoping that a more simplistic command would work better.

Rarity and the others watched as the robotic cat remained perfectly still. The white mare, in particular, was starting to get a little creeped out by how intently it was eyeing her. She slowly took a step back to distance herself, only to backpedal in surprise as the animatronic followed her.

“Berry… what is it doing? And why is it so fixated on me?” Rarity asked in a concerned tone.

“Hold on a second,” Berry said before turning around and trotting back into the lobby. Twilight and Fluttershy turned and watched the purple mare heading to the front desk and going behind it. Rarity merely shifted her eyes to the side while keeping her full attention on her new metallic friend.

Berry quickly trotted back over to the others with a radio in her hooves. She took a quick breath before pushing the button on the side and bringing the radio up to her mouth, all the while keeping her attention on Felix.

“Hey Sparkplug, has Felix been acting strange recently?” Berry asked anxiously. The ponies waited for what seemed like forever for a response when finally the gray mare picked up on the other end of the line.

“Who, Felix? Um… no, I don’t think so. Why do you ask?” Sparkplug asked curiously.

Rarity sidestepped to try and get by the robotic cat once more. Every time she moved to one side, Felix moved to follow her, keeping himself between her and any exit behind him. The white mare was starting to feel threatened by the hulking animatronic.

“That’s enough. Felix, sleep mode!” Berry said in a frustrated tone. Nothing happened to Felix, let alone what the purple mare expected. There were no flashing lights in his eyes, no beeping to indicate that his systems were powering down, nothing at all.

“Girls… I would really appreciate it if you got this thing away from me.” Rarity asked in a nervous tone while locking eyes with the animatronic. Something about his silent stare was incredibly unnerving to her, but she couldn’t look away.

“Sparkplug, I need you to do a manual shutdown on Felix. He isn’t responding to any commands, and he is really starting to freak us out.” Berry said in an anxious tone. Twilight, Fluttershy, and most of all, Rarity, were all glad to hear that the situation was finally being taken care of. They could finally get back to their normal day, and not have to worry about anything other than how to stave off boredom.

“Uh… Berry, Felix isn’t online.” Sparkplug spoke up in a confused tone. The gray mare’s words hung in the air and made Berry’s eyes widen.

“W-what?!” Berry asked in a stunned tone. Twilight and Fluttershy looked at the earth pony as she stared at her radio in disbelief. They looked back to the animatronic standing in front of their friend with a new glint of fear in their eyes.

“Yeah, Felix hasn’t been online for a while. Nobody even activated him this morning… you mean he’s up there with you?” Sparkplug asked in a more concerned tone.

“Sparkplug, call Tom and the others and get them up to the lobby right now.” Berry instructed in an urgent and hushed tone before turning her radio off and setting it down. She stepped in front of Twilight and Fluttershy and looked ahead to see Felix still locking eyes with Rarity.

“Felix, sleep mode.” Berry said in one last ditch effort at shrugging off this whole experience as a glitchy animatronic. She slowly walked forward until Rarity took another step back. Strangely enough, the robotic cat remained in place while the white mare recoiled, though his silent stare was still firmly fixed on her.

“What’s wrong with him?” Fluttershy asked timidly while backing up slightly and staring at the animatronic with wide eyes. She hoped that her friends would have the sense to get as far away from the cat as possible.

“Felix, sleep mode.” Berry instructed in a louder and more deliberate manner. Still, the animatronic did nothing but stare ahead. Finally, an idea popped into her head. The mere thought sent an uncomfortable chill down her spine, but she had to entertain her idea.

“Felix… wake mode.” Berry said hesitantly.

*Beep, Beep, Beep*

Two sets of three rapid beeps sounded out as red lights blinked on and off in Felix’s eyes. The robotic cat moved his head to the side slightly, as if he had just woken up. Just as suddenly as the first beeps had come, another set of six beeps sounded out and the lights blinked again before turning off. Felix suddenly shifted his gaze back to Rarity and took a step forward. The white unicorn stepped back again, only to have the robotic cat take another step. Although she had gained distance on him from when he stayed put before, Rarity was outright terrified now.

“Get away from me… get back!” Rarity yelled defensively.

Suddenly the group heard frantic footsteps coming from behind them. They turned to see Tom and Glimmer Shine’s team running into the lobby and over to the doorway where they were. They darted their eyes around while trying to find out why they were called back so suddenly.

“What’s wrong?” Tom asked while looking to Twilight with a concerned expression. Before the purple mare could speak up, a bone-chilling noise erupted from the animatronic cat.

Felix opened his mouth and let out a heavily distorted growl that built in pitch and intensity before turning into a shriek. As he screeched, his eyes had a small glint of white in them that gave them a terrifying air. The robotic cat raised his arms and started rushing forward towards Rarity.

“AHH!” Rarity screamed and fell backwards onto the floor as she watched the animatronic make a dash toward her. Before Felix could close the distance between himself and the hapless unicorn, Berry Swirl darted forward and raced up behind him.

The purple mare stood up on her hind legs and reached up to the back of the animatronic’s neck. She grasped something on its neck and pulled on it, eliciting a small click from it as she stumbled backwards onto all fours.

The lights in Felix’s eyes disappeared and his shriek ceased. The robotic cat froze in place for a moment before going limp and falling over, landing on the floor and settling in a motionless heap. The still traumatized Rarity looked down at the cat before looking around at her friends. Fluttershy was cowering behind Twilight, while Tom and the others were paused mid-step as they ceased their imminent rescue attempt. Finally, the jittery unicorn looked ahead to see Berry Swirl holding a small ring attached to a pin in her hoof.

“Y-you… stopped it?” Rarity asked in a confused tone. The purple mare twirled the pin around by the ring for a moment while showing it off.

“It’s a safety mechanism we use to do a hard shutdown if any of the animatronics get a really bad error. It bypasses every system they have and prevents them from functioning.” Berry explained while still calming herself down after her rush of adrenaline.

“Are you guys ok? What the hay happened with that thing?” Sunspot asked in a concerned tone while examining Rarity as she got up from the floor. She seemed to be taking the experience in her stride, but she was visibly shaken.

Before anyone could even try to offer an explanation, the group heard the sound of someone rushing in from the other room. They turned around and saw Sparkplug walking over to them with a panicked expression on her face. Once she saw the motionless animatronic on the ground and the frightened expressions on Rarity and the others, she froze in mid-step.

“Holy cow… what happened?” Sparkplug asked in a stunned tone.

“I don’t know… Felix just flipped out and tried to attack Rarity.” Berry Swirl said in a confused and equally concerned tone while looking to the white mare.

“I noticed that thing looking at me funny ever since I carried Sweetie Belle out of the play area.” Rarity said while trying to fathom why she was having the worst luck in the world.

“Wait, you carried Sweetie Belle out of the play area? Is she ok?” Twilight asked in a concerned tone while looking down to the ice packs the unicorn was carrying before.

“Yeah, she just sprained an ankle after falling in the play area. Come to think of it… Felix started staring at me like that when I tried examining Sweetie Belle’s leg.” Rarity explained in a curious manner while thinking back to when her sister injured herself. She was too occupied with tending to the filly at the time to notice, but she did remember the red cat acting oddly the entire time the group was in the play area.

“I don’t understand how this happened… the animatronics aren’t finished by any means, but they aren’t so broken that they would do this!” Sparkplug said in a bewildered tone while walking over to the animatronic and kneeling down to examine it.

“Maybe it was acting on free will?” Tom suggested curiously while using his senses a few times and staring at the animatronic pensively.

Sparkplug shook her head in disbelief. “That’s not possible… they are designed to appear lifelike, but that’s it… just appearances. Even with their magical components, they are still just mechanical puppets.”

“I think you aren’t getting what Tom is suggesting.” Glitterball said while looking down to her locator vial and slowly catching on to the human’s meaning. The liquid in her vial was glowing softly, indicating a paranormal presence nearby.

“Huh?” Sparkplug muttered while tilting her head in confusion. The unicorn and the human seemed confident in whatever theory they had, but it wasn’t nearly as obvious to the gray mare or anyone else.

“I think Tom means that one of the ghosts was controlling Felix.” Glitterball explained to get the human’s point across to everyone else.

Sparkplug’s face shifted to a surprised expression. “A ghost possessing an inanimate object… is that even possible?” She asked, equal parts intrigued and unnerved.

“Not only is it possible, but it’s already happened. When we went down in the subbasement, that old model of Bonnie you showed me last night was missing. We didn’t find it… but judging from what just happened here with Felix, I would say that one of the ghosts hopped into it and used it to walk away.” Tom explained while turning to face the group. Most of the ponies had concerned expressions on their faces and hints of fear in their eyes.

“But, I thought the ghosts here weren’t very strong? How did they come upstairs so easily? Let alone possessing an animatronic and using it to try and attack Rarity.” Twilight asked nervously. The others could tell that she wasn’t so hot on the idea of being so close to powerful ghosts, and they perfectly understood.

As everyone looked to Tom and the others for certainty and confidence, they found them offering uncertain expressions in return. It seemed like they were just as in the dark as the rest of the group was, and that made the ponies even more nervous.

“I’m not sure why the ghosts are acting like this, or how they could do this in the first place. It’s been hard for me to gauge how strong they are… it’s like their energy and the energy in this place keeps fluctuating… I don’t fully understand what is going on.” Tom admitted hesitantly. He hated not being able to tell the ponies that everything was under control, especially when it meant that they could be in danger.

“We’ll get to the bottom of this, though… You guys shouldn’t worry about it, right?” Sunspot said reassuringly while looking to her teammates for support. Although they still felt unsure and uneasy themselves, Glimmer Shine and Glitterball softened up their expressions and tried to appear confident.

“Yeah… we’re going to head back down to the basement and see if we can’t find out what’s going on… not to mention track down our missing animatronic.” Glimmer said with a determined expression.

Rarity glanced back to the motionless animatronic on the ground with an uneasy expression. “Is this going to happen again? I don’t want another one of the animatronics to try and kill me.” She asked in a concerned tone while still trying to recover from the traumatic experience she just went through.

“Don’t worry. I’m going to send all of the animatronics down to the store room until they find out what’s going on.” Berry said while glancing down to Felix and shrugging uneasily.

“Come on Rarity, why don’t we go find the others and try to relax?” Twilight suggested while noting the tense atmosphere. She was certain that Tom and the others would do their best to solve the problem, but she still felt a twinge of anxiety and nervousness that wouldn’t go away. Hopefully, some time with their friends would ease their fears.

“That sounds good… let me take these ice packs up to the room first. Poor Sweetie Belle is probably still in pain waiting for me to get back.” Rarity said in a worried tone while picking up the ice packs on the floor yet again. Hearing about the white filly’s predicament made the others frown with sympathy.

“We’re going back to the basement now… we’ll catch up with you guys later. And Rarity, I’ll stop by your room later and heal Sweetie Belle’s ankle for you.” Tom offered while walking away with Glimmer Shine and his two teammates.

“Thank you, darling, I’m sure she would appreciate it. Stay safe for us down there, all of you.” Rarity said while waving to the departing group along with Twilight and Fluttershy. After watching the four disappearing into a hallway, the white mare turned to her friends and waved before walking down the hall toward her room.

Twilight and Fluttershy watched as Sparkplug examined Felix while Berry stood to her side with concerned expressions all around. The threat that the ghosts posed had escalated to new heights. The ponies were unsure of whether or not the spirits could do something this brash again, or whether or not they were capable of more than simple mischief. Either way, they were filled with a nagging fear that wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon.

---

With a new feeling of urgency and tenseness accompanying them, the members of Spirit and their human companion descended back into the forgotten sub-basement of the resort. As they stepped out into the dusty corridor and took in a breath of cold and stale air, their stern resolve made them press forward in spite of the mild ill feeling in their guts.

Tom exhaled a puff of blue mist and the three ponies held out their detector vials. Now that they were actually pursuing an active spirit that was able to possess something as heavy as an animatronic animal, they felt much more on edge than they did the first time walking through the dark halls.

The group scanned their eyes to each room they passed, giving them a cursory search to determine if their missing robot was lurking in the shadows. All of the rooms were still empty, for the moment at least. The ponies figured that the animatronic was wherever it had been since it moved from the spot Tom found it in, but they still kept on their toes just in case they were wrong.

A solid few minutes went by as the four swept through the hallways. Eventually, they passed the point where they were when they were abruptly called upstairs by Sparkplug.

With the looming thought of new territory playing into her already stressed nerves, Glitterball instinctively reached for her strobe before remembering what she was actually expecting to fight. “So, does anyone actually know what we’re going to do assuming we find this thing?” She asked in a concerned tone. If a ghost actually was hiding in the decrepit animatronic, then fire from strobes would likely do little to nothing to it.

“Well… assuming we find a lifeless hunk of rusted metal, we’ll probably just continue our investigation.” Tom said to offer his opinion on the matter.

“And if we find said hunk of rusted metal out on a leisurely stroll? I don’t think we’ve got anything that can take down one of those things.” Sunspot fretted while briefly looking down to her suit and mentally tallying her inventory. There was a small taser that caught her attention, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to bank on that working if she ran into a ticked off spirit inhabiting a five-foot tall metallic rabbit.

“Uh… I guess I could hit it?” Tom suggested awkwardly, eliciting strange looks from his equine friends. “What? I’m a slayer… my plans don’t usually go much further than finding a monster and killing it.” He added defensively while shrugging his shoulders.

A soft buzz coming from the vials in their hooves drew the ponies’ attention downwards. They saw the liquid in the vials glowing slightly brighter than before. Oddly enough, the liquid seemed to be dimming and brightening slightly in certain areas seemingly at random.

“Huh…? This is weird… the signals down here are fluctuating so much that the detectors can barely figure out what’s going on.” Glitterball said in a confused tone while pointing her vial around in a circle. Moving the vial didn’t cause the amount of change she would have expected, although it did make it dim and brighten at different rates. She pointed it closer to one of the rooms to see if she could get a solid reading anywhere.

Tom used his senses a few times to get a lay of the area. The confused and mildly frustrated expression on his face told the others that his brief search had yielded similar results to what they were seeing with their detector vials.

“Ugh… this is flying in the face of everything I know about hunting ghosts. I can hardly even tell where the trail of ambient energy I felt last night is… it’s like the energy in this place keeps changing.” Tom shrugged in a defeated tone.

“Is that a bad thing?” Glitterball asked hesitantly while turning her head to face the others.

“Maybe… If the energy here really is unpredictable, I might have been completely wrong when I gauged how strong these ghosts are, or even how many there are.” Tom suggested with an uneasy expression, much to the dismay of his colleagues.

“Great… that’s just what we need, more uncert-” Glitter froze up suddenly as she turned her head back to examine her vial again. As she trailed her eyes up into the room she was facing, she found the hollow eyes of the missing animatronic staring back at her.

The blue rabbit was leaning around the corner of the doorway, seemingly peering out to view the group out in the hallway. The eyes that went with Bonnie’s shell were cracked and rotted into a sickly yellow color, but there seemed to be a slight red glow coming from behind them, most likely from the endoskeleton’s set of eyes. Its jaw was hanging crookedly, but it looked like it was forming into a silent growl directed toward the white mare.

“Uh… ah… AH!” Glitterball yelped fearfully as she finally processed what she was seeing. As she cried out, the aged animatronic suddenly leapt forward. Bonnie rushed past the terrified unicorn, knocking into her and sending her to the floor as it tore down the hallway with a broken shriek and a series of mismatched mechanical clicks.

“Glitter!” Glimmer Shine exclaimed in a shocked tone while rushing to the unicorn’s side along with the others. He briefly turned to see the animatronic disappearing down the dark corridor before returning his attention to the white mare on the ground.

“Are you ok?!” Tom asked in a concerned tone while examining the unicorn for injuries.

“I-I’m fine… I’m fine! He’s getting away!” Glitterball stammered in shock while pointing down the hallway.

Before the ponies could even get their comrade off of the floor, they heard their human friend taking off running. The trio turned to see Tom running full sprint down the hallway in pursuit of the fleeing animatronic. Deciding that they should help their friend, the members of Spirit rushed forward to try and catch up with him.

Meanwhile, Tom was running as fast as he could while trying to avoid the miscellaneous objects strewn along the floor. He followed the faint glimpses of the old robot down the hall until it turned to the right, eliciting the human to turn after it.

Tom could hear a loud metallic thumping as the animatronic’s feet pounded against the floor and it knocked into the walls while running clumsily. He wasn’t sure if the withered body the spirit inhabited was unable to move smoothly or if it was just not used to moving with it.

Despite him being able to follow the animatronic easily from the distant sounds, the human was barely able to keep him at the edge of his flashlight’s reach. As a few more twists and turns aided the robotic rabbit in gaining ground, Tom found himself unable to see his target anymore. Suddenly, the sounds of Bonnie’s footsteps and metallic body ceased.

Tom slowed to a halt as the hallway opened up into a small intersection. He panted heavily while scanning the area around him for the missing robot. Strangely enough, he noticed that he had come out near the shelf that was blocking the rest of the building last night. Even stranger was the fact that the shelf was now pushed to the side, revealing another dark corridor where it once was.

Hearing rushed footsteps behind him, Tom turned around to see flashlights bouncing up and down as his colleagues caught up with him. Glimmer Shine and his two teammates seemed even more out of breath than the human was, most likely due to their natural stamina.

“*Pant*… *Wheeze*… did you… did you lose him?” Sunspot asked while trying to catch her breath. She looked around the area in between bouts of hanging her head low to the floor. The orange mare and her teammates were naturally drawn to the large shelf and the dark corridor that it was sitting next to. Almost on cue with everyone losing hope that they would find the animatronic again, a loud clang sounded out from further down the eerie hallway.

“He went down that way… come on, let’s go.” Glimmer Shine said while walking toward the hallway. He was interrupted by Tom stepping in front of him to block his path.

“Hold up… Sparkplug said that this area was blocked off due to it being unstable from the collapse. I should go alone on the off chance the floor caves in.” Tom suggested while glancing between the three ponies.

“Are you sure?” Glitterball asked in a concerned tone. She wasn’t sure if she was comfortable with letting the human go alone into a possibly dangerous location to chase after a definitely dangerous haunted robot.

“Yeah, I’m sure. If the floor collapses, I would rather it happen to me than you guys. I can get back up afterwards… you might not.” Tom explained in a confident tone.

“Alright… what do you want us to do? Should we wait for you here?” Glimmer Shine asked curiously.

“No sense in you wasting time waiting for me. You guys go back and continue sweeping this floor for energy. See if you can make sense of these whacked out readings while I go find our animatronic friend.” Tom said while starting to make his way into the hallway. Glimmer Shine and his two teammates hesitantly walked back toward the hallway toward the rest of the area.

“Be careful in there Tom.” Sunspot said in an uneasy tone while pausing to turn her head toward the human. Tom offered a wave with his hand without turning around to signify that he heard her. The orange mare watched the boy leaving with a concerned expression. She hated not being able to do anything to help. Finally, she turned and trotted to catch up with her teammates as they walked away.

Meanwhile, Tom was making his way further into new territory. Before, he at least had a vague idea of where he was going due to Sparkplug’s brief tour of the place, but now he was on his own. Being in yet another eerie and dusty location hunting down ghosts sort of reminded him of his days as a slayer back in the human world, however brief they might have been. However, back in the human world, he wouldn’t have been hunting a possessed animatronic bunny, which was a scenario that still sounded ridiculous in his head.

Taking a look around yielded no signs that this hallway was any different than the other ones. There were still darkened rooms waiting on either side of him, and there were still forgotten decorations left lying around to offer the illusion that this place was originally supposed to be lived in. However, the knowledge that the structural integrity of this place might be compromised left a strong feeling of apprehension in the boy that made him very aware of where he was stepping. The floor still left hollow echoes of his footsteps like the hallways and rooms further back, but he couldn’t hear any signs of creaking or cracking.

As he used his senses a few times, he was left with little more than fluctuating pockets of ambient energy like before. He couldn’t even feel whether or not there was a haunted animatronic lying in wait to kill him, let alone how close it was or where it was hiding. His inability to make sense of the readings he was getting made the human let out a frustrated groan before continuing with his search.

Suddenly, Tom saw a box toppling over up ahead at the end of the hall. He immediately paused and shined his flashlight over the area anxiously. The hallway opened up and went a few feet more before ending in a wall. Set into the wall was a large opening with a set of stairs that looked much friendlier than the cramped stairway that led down into the sub-basement. The stairs stretched from wall to wall, with wooden handrails on either side. The carpet from the hallway followed the stairs down as they went on a short ways before doubling back and descending into unseen darkness.

Noticing that there was space for the animatronic rabbit to be hiding in the corner where the hallway opened up, the human crept forward slowly while keeping on his toes. He was fully prepared to body slam Bonnie onto the floor as soon as he entered the larger area, or at least he would give his best attempt considering his opponent was practically his size and made of metal and plastic.

As he neared the corner, Tom finally decided to swallow his apprehension and jumped forward while shining his flashlight to the right. Much to his surprise and relief, he found nothing but empty space in the corner.

“Man… I need to work on my horror movie senses… I totally thought he would be there.” Tom shrugged while shaking his head in disappointment. He had been able to apply a surprising amount of skills from watching scary movies with his friend to his job as a slayer, but apparently, real horror situations were less predictable than in the movies.

Deciding to take a look around, Tom turned and used his flashlight to check the rest of the area. Panning the flashlight to the left revealed the ominous stairs in the center of the wall, a few dead plants still in their pots, some peeling wallpaper, and a five-foot tall mechanical rabbit.

“Wait, what?!” Tom exclaimed in surprise while jerking back slightly. He scarcely had time to finish his statement before the looming animatronic lunged forward and grabbed him by the throat.

“Oh right… turning around is usually bad in horror movies.” Tom said as he noticed the irony of the situation, though he could only communicate this via strangled croaks as the withered model of Bonnie tightened its grip on his neck.

Tom kicked at the robotic animal and clutched at its arm as it squeezed him tightly, though without much effect. He could barely think straight with the animatronic’s powerful grip cutting off the blood supply to his head. The relatively soft shell of the blue rabbit was almost completely worn away on the hand it was using to strangle him, revealing the metallic endoskeleton underneath that equally looked and felt painful.

As Bonnie looked at the human with his lifeless gaze, he tilted his head while watching him struggle. Without much effort, the rabbit lifted the human off the ground and tossed him to the side in one motion. Tom flew a short distance away before hitting his head and upper back on the ground with a painful thud.

Before Tom could even look up, he heard an ear-piercing shriek coming from in front of him. The shriek sounded slightly distorted, but it sounded far too lifelike and terrifying for it to have been made by a voice box, even if it was decades old and broken down. The human looked ahead and saw the robotic rabbit charging straight for him with its arms jutted out in front of itself. Bonnie leapt at the boy, being just barely held back by his arms being shoved forward.

Tom grunted in a mixture of pain and distress as the animatronic sat on top of his lower body. He couldn’t even move Bonnie off of himself due to his heavy frame. The robotic animal tried to claw at his face, but he did his best to grab its arms and keep them at bay.

“Hrk... gah!” Tom winced in pain as Bonnie inadvertently knocked his hand into his jaw. Even without the animatronic doing it on purpose, the metallic appendage felt like a ton of bricks being knocked into him. The boy quickly realized that he would lose this fight if he didn’t do something to gain the upper hand.

Glancing up at the disturbing visage of the decaying animatronic, he saw the rabbit’s crooked jaw forming into a sort of half smile and half scowl that matched its unwavering stare perfectly. As he looked at the rabbit’s neck, an idea suddenly popped into his head.

Tom fought the haunted animatronic and reached his arm towards its head. Straining to reach past the rabbit’s reaching arms, he started clumsily feeling around the side and back of its head and upper neck. After what seemed like hours of struggling and feeling around, the human suddenly came across a small ring shape. Remembering how Berry Swirl shut down the animatronic cat that attacked Rarity, Tom smirked and grabbed ahold of the ring before pulling. The ring offered slight resistance before coming loose with a satisfying click.

*BZZT*

A couple of sparks shot out from the exposed opening in Bonnie’s ear. The animatronic paused as Tom looked up at the ring in his hand and the pin it was attached to. The pin was worn down in several places and the ring was rusted slightly, but it perfectly resembled the safety mechanism that Berry had used to shut down Felix.

Bonnie stared ahead silently and kept his arm in mid-reach, almost like he was a statue. Suddenly, the animatronic’s eyes shifted to the side with a soft mechanical sound. It looked at the ring in the human’s hand before shifting its eyes back in an almost nonchalant fashion. The crooked smile that was frozen on the robot’s face seemed almost eerily fitting as it reached forward and grabbed him by the neck.

“Cr…ap.” Tom croaked silently as his plan failed spectacularly. If anything was accomplished by pulling the ring out, it was pissing off the robotic bunny and making it more violent than it was before.

Struggling to think of something to do without oxygen reaching his brain, Tom realized that there was only one thing he could do. Mustering all of the strength he could, he balled up his fist and gave the best left hook he could toward the animatronic’s head. With a solid and painful thump, the human managed to make the robotic animal recoil slightly, although his hand was now on fire with stinging pain and possibly a fractured knuckle or two. Spotting his chance to escape, he grabbed Bonnie by the side and the head and pushed him back. Thankfully, the animatronic stumbled and fell to the side, allowing Tom to scramble backwards and out from underneath the hefty rabbit.

Before Bonnie could regain his balance and get back to his feet, Tom jumped to his feet and jumped him. With an angry yell, the human kicked the animatronic in the head as hard as he could, using his heel to transfer as much energy as he could with minimum pain to himself. Bonnie fell backwards with a metallic clang, barely reacting with little more than a turn of the head.

Tom quickly delivered a stomp to the fallen animatronic’s head, causing a few cracks in his colorful shell and sending shooting pains through the human’s foot. However painful it might have been for him, he stomped on Bonnie’s head again as hard as he could. Right now he was in a good position to do some damage, so he would have to deal with the possible broken foot he would get after he disabled his foe.

The robotic animal tried reaching up to stop the human’s assault, but it twitched and let its limbs fall back to the floor as its head cracked more. Tom didn’t even stop to rest for a good few moments, delivering kick after kick until his foot felt like it was about to shatter into pieces. Finally, the boy stopped as he noticed that the animatronic had stopped moving, and with good reason.

Bonnie’s already decrepit and aged head was completely cracked. One of his eyes was cracked open, revealing a broken endoskeleton eye beneath it. The entire center of his face was caved in, with the endoskeleton underneath broken as well. Tom stared at the motionless animatronic while breathing heavily. He remained still, almost in disbelief while waiting for the rabbit to get back up.

“Are you done…?” Tom asked in a threatening tone while out of breath. “*Pant*… good… I thought so.” He said while wiping his forehead and stepping to the side. Whatever damage he had caused the animatronic, it was apparently enough for the spirit inside to vacate its vessel.

Tom stood in the middle of the hallway while hunched over with his hands on his knees. His body felt sore, his hands and his foot felt terrible from where he had collided with the metallic animal, and he was completely exhausted despite how brief his encounter was. He didn’t even care that he was mostly staring into darkness due to his flashlight sitting on the ground at an angle a few inches away.

Suddenly, a hurried group of footsteps approached as beams of light appeared at the other end of the hallway. Tom looked up to see the unexpected sight of Glimmer Shine, Glitterball, and Sunspot trotting up to him.

“Tom, are you ok?” Sunspot asked in a concerned tone as she made it up to where the human was standing. His hair was disheveled, there was a red mark on his neck in the shape of a blocky hand, and his clothes were covered in dust and scuff marks.

The three ponies looked behind the exhausted human and saw the broken down remains of the animatronic rabbit lying in a crumpled heap. The sight of the animatronic was both surprising and enlightening. It certainly explained why their friend was out of breath and disheveled to such a degree.

“I thought… *Wheeze* I thought I told you guys to stay back there?” Tom asked while pointing behind the trio to save his breath. Despite how exhausted he was, the ponies could tell that he wasn’t impressed that they disobeyed him to enter a supposedly dangerous area.

“We heard a struggle coming from down here, so we came to see if you were alright.” Glitterball said in a concerned tone while trying to determine if the human was more injured than he was letting on.

“Besides, the floor looks stable enough to me… well, as stable as the rest of this place anyway.” Sunspot said while taking note of her dingy surroundings.

“That is a little bit odd. I would have thought that this place would at least be a little bit broken up from what Sparkplug told you.” Glimmer Shine said in a confused tone while returning his attention to the human. Tom glanced back to the stairwell behind him curiously. Sparkplug had said that down those stairs there was nothing but a room full of rubble, but there were no signs of a cave in from up here.

“We can investigate that tomorrow or something. I really want to call it a day right now. Besides, we should head upstairs and tell the others that it’s safe. Hopefully, no more ghosts will be able to pull anything like this again for a while. They must have spent a lot of energy going all puppet master on these animatronics.” Tom explained while glancing down to the broken bunny on the floor. Even with the bizarre readings they were getting from the energy in the basement, the group was certain that it would take a lot of energy to continue possessing inanimate objects, and average ghosts just didn’t have that amount of energy.

“Yeah… I guess you’re right. We need to rethink our plan before we take this any further anyway.” Glimmer Shine suggested with an uneasy tone. He was dreading the number of unknown variables that they were encountering, especially since they were dealing with ghosts.

With a unanimous nod of agreement, the four decided to leave the rundown and eerie hallways of the sub-basement. Now that they had dealt with the missing animatronic, they hoped that the ghosts would quiet down a bit and leave them alone until they could get some rest and come back with fresh heads.

Comments

[ibeachu]

This is very high quality. I'm pretty impressed (as much as that matters).

Eagerly awaiting more!

[WyattS]

2 things
1 old water park bonnie vs tom COOOOLLLL
2 can I get a picture of the broken bonnie the title picture isn't that great and if it's possible are there pictures of the others
water park bonnie
water park chica
water park Freddy
Felix
party favor
also, I'm calling this version of the toys the water park animatronics
also, I remember sparky

[wonderkid125]

10657303

I got the picture from a guy on deviant art. He has other fnaf pictures, but I don't know if he would have the ones you are looking for.

Here you go

[Dragon of Shadows]

“Come on guys… it didn’t just get up and walk away did it?” Glitterball asked in a rhetorical and insincere manner. As she looked around to see the uneasy expressions on her friends’ faces, her question suddenly took on a terrifying light.

Class 2 possession?