Filmatic Escapades: The Pagemaster

by Toonwriter

Escape From Horror Land

Some time since entering the Horror section of the library, Richard, Adventure, Fantasy and their new pony and dragon friends had wandered through a graveyard. Rarity was doing her best to avoid accidentally stepping on a gravestone during their travels. Fluttershy was even observing their surroundings out of fear that a monster would hop out from behind either a tree or tombstone.

"Creeeeepy." Pinkie spoke, looking around. "And look at the graves." Some of them see a grave that say "I.M. Stupid". Another one is nearby that said "I'm With Stupid" with an arrow pointing at the previous one.

Spike couldn't help but find the graves' words really funny and laughed. "I'm sorry, I can't read those with a straight face!"

"If ye lie here, ye be dead by now"." Adventure spoke as he read a gravestone.

"Can we move on, please?" Rarity asked nervously. "This place gives me the creeps as it is!"

"And ah thought the Everfree Forest was spooky." Applejack remarked.

"Or the dungeon underneath Sugarcube Corner that I keep for something where we made...." Pinkie began to speak out randomly.

An annoyed Rainbow interrupted, "I thank you not to bring up "Cupcakes", Pinkie."

"What's so scary about cupcakes?" Fantasy asked in confusion.

"You don't wanna know." Nyx said grimly.

"Let's say it involves cannibalism and let's leave it at that." Phobos remarked in disgust.

"There it is, the exit!"

Everyone turned to see Richard excitedly pointing towards illuminated green letters that read "EXIT" as he rushed in the direction of the sign in the sky. However, when he saw what was under the sign, any sense of excitement was quickly replaced with worry and fear.

What was under the sign was a scary-looking haunted manor. Lightning flashed behind it and thunder boomed as a dark cloud started to cover the exit sign. "Looks like the only way to reach the exit is through that there house." Adventure stated.

"No way I'm going in there." Richard said in fear.

Fluttershy shook with fear. "I- I'd rather stay outside."

"C- can't we just go around it?" Spike asked nervously.

"Or over it?" Pinkie added, feeling just as scared.

"I don't even wanna know what's under it!" Nyx whimpered as she held Twilight.

"Me neither!" Phobos agreed as he huddled near the black alicorn filly.

"It's yer only chance, lads." Adventure tried to persuade the scared heroes as they and the rest of the group advanced slowly towards the house, "It's jest a house."

"Yeah, but 70% of all accidents are household-related." Richard said.

Rainbow just looked annoyed. ‘I swear, if that kid does the whole percent of accidents thing one more time…’ She thought to herself as they approached the front gate.

Nervously, the group walked up to and through the front gate. Fluttershy was still on the high alert as she observed their surroundings to make sure nothing would attack them from out of nowhere. It was just then that Fantasy noticed a plaque on one of the pillars, along with something either carved or scratched into the marble.

“”Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde.”” She read them aloud, then shrugged, “Must be a duplex.”

“Duplex? This place looks more like a hotel.” Applejack commented.

Spike looked worried, “You don’t think we’re gonna face that Jack Torrance guy in there, do you?!”

“Spike, please relax. This isn’t The Shining.” Twilight insisted, though she herself was hoping as well they wouldn’t come face-to-face with an ax-wielding psycho.

"Whoa." Richard said in amazement as he and the group went up to the stairs.

"Go ahead, matey." Adventure said a bit nervously, "I'm... I'm right behind ye."

Pretty soon, they found themselves just in front of the giant double doors.

“Well, ring the bell.” Adventure insisted.

“And if it’s out of order?” Fluttershy asked.

“Then we knock as loud as possible.” Applejack answered.

Nervous, Richard slowly reached for the rope and yanked it, ringing the bell. All of a sudden, they heard a voice cry out. Everyone looked up to see a figure fall from the roof of the house.

“SOMEBODY CATCH HIM!” Pinkie shouted in panic.

Sure enough, Richard caught the figure in his arms, which was revealed to be a hideous blue hunchback-like book creature with a yellow eye, a purple eye, a green face, matching hands, grey sleeves, and black shoes.

"Good catch!" Fantasy exclaimed with a smile.

"H-h-here, take it!" Richard said, attempting to hand the hunchback-like book off to Fantasy.

"Isn't he sweet?" Fantasy asked happily, smooching at the hunchback-like book.

The hunchback-like book looked apologetic, "Oh, I scared you. I'm sorry."

"Well, you did scare us. But we weren't scared by you, but by how you fell from the roof." Twilight replied, looking sympathetic.

"Yeah, you could've gotten hurt badly." Nyx said in concern.

Fantasy flew up to the tattered-looking book and patted his head. "You mustn't judge a book by its cover."

When he heard this, the hunchback-like book smiled a horrible-looking smile.

"Look, he's smiling." The fairy godmother-like book pointed out, smiling sweetly.

Richard, on the other hand, couldn't help but look a bit disgusted. "That's a smile?"

"All right, teatime's over!" Adventure snapped impatiently, getting everyone's attention as he made his way to the steps of the house, "Let's start navigatin' this house!"

Noticing that, the hunchbook-like book leapt from Richard's arms and ran up to the house as he shouted in fear, "No, wait! Don't go in there!" Then he pressed up against the door, blocking the way as he finished, "It's scary inside!"

"Ha! I ain't afeared of nothin'!" Adventure scoffed.

"I'm afraid."

"O- of what?" Fluttershy asked shakily.

"Of, of..." The hideous book creature replied before he imitated a monster roar, "And..." Then he imitated a bloodcurdling scream, "And..." Then he imitated a ghost while moaning like one, "And..." Then he imitated a woman screaming before playing dead while bringing out of nowhere a lily.

"I... I know how you feel." Richard remarked sympathetically.

"Me too." Fluttershy agreed.

After he sat up, the hunchback-like book spun his finger around on the ground as he said glumly, "Horror always has sad endings."

“I come from a world of happy endings.” Fantasy commented, flying up to the blue book, who everybody guessed was named Horror.

"And me and my friends come from a world where happiness is cherished as much as friendship." Twilight added with a friendly smile, "Why don't you join us?"

"Yeah!" Richard added, no longer feeling uneasy and instead feeling excited, "And maybe you could help us through the house!"

"Yeah!" Some of the Equestrians agreed in unison.

"Through the house?" Horror asked in confusion. He thought about this for a moment. Then he tried to say something, but he couldn't find the words.

"You can do it." Fantasy offered encouragement.

"'Kay." Horror said in hesitation.

The blue book looked to Richard, who had knelt down to his level, and extended his hand to the boy with a smile on his face.

"Friend?"

Richard gulped nervously before he reached slowly for Horror's hand. But then, a spider was seen crawling out from him on it, startling him. Fortunately, the blue hunchback-like book snatched the spider and opened his pages. He threw the small bug between the pages before slamming himself shut, in turn crushing the spider. Witnessing this, Fluttershy had nearly fainted.

"Come on." Horror requested, walking Richard to the front door as soon as the latter took his hand.

"Right behind ya!" Spike spoke, following them.

"He... crushed... the spider..." Fluttershy barely managed to say.

Applejack gently nudged her forward, "C'mon, Fluttershy."

Then Fluttershy started following them as well, shaking off what just happened.

"I'll ride on your back, Mommy." Nyx said as she hovered and landed on her back, "I don't wanna be separated from you, Daddy, Spike, or Phobos."

"Good thinking, Nyx." Twilight said before she started following Fluttershy with Ben and Phobos behind her.

"Like the old saying goes: The family that lives together, stays together." Phobos commented.

"Right you are, Phobos." Ben said.

Fantasy happily followed the group as they went up the stairs to the front door. Adventure ended up following after them, very reluctantly.

Soon, Horror opened the big door and peeked inside with the others as he shuddered nervously. As the door opened, a sliver of light cut across the dark room. Rats scattered across the shadows.

"He-hello? A-Anybody home?" Richard called out, his voice filling the darkness.

The only thing that lit up the room was a fireplace, which was right next to a long and huge flight of stairs leading upward.

Rainbow first entered the room. "Creepy." She commented.

"I got a bad feeling about this..." Twilight remarked nervously as she and the rest of the group entered.

"Me too, especially since my knee is getting pinchy." Pinkie said in worry.

Slowly, everybody else filed inside, very cautiously, of course. But just as they did, the shutters for the windows shut with an audible slam. This had caused them all to jump in alarm, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, and even Spike letting out frightened yells.

"What was that??" Horror asked out of panic. Suddenly, the door the group went through slammed shut as well, to their alarm.

"NEVERMORE!!!" screeched a loud, croaky voice.

Before any of them could ask what that was, a huge, black raven swooped down over their heads, startling them. This was enough to make Richard, Horror and Fluttershy panic and rush back to the door. The young boy and Pegasus each grabbed a doorknob and frantically twisted and turned the knobs as they attempted to open the doors, only to find they wouldn't budge.

"GET ME OUTTA HERE!!!!" Richard shouted in fear, pulling and turning the doorknob he was holding.

But then, the doorknob Richard yanked on fell off and started bouncing and rolling across the floor. The group watched the sparkling crystal knob roll slowly into the house, until it stopped abruptly underneath the shoe of a tall figure. The figure lifted near its face a lit lantern, revealing said figure to be a kind yet stern-looking middle-aged man. He was wearing what looked like a suit that reminded Twilight of those worn by pony folk in a bygone era.

"May I assist you in some way?" asked the man, glancing at the nervous group.

Adventure brandished his sword, believing this man could be a threat. The others, however, just looked nervous, not sure what to say. At least, until Fantasy spoke up.

"Oh, hello there, Mister..." She began.

"Doctor." said the man, "Dr. Jekyll." Then he walked up to the group.

"Well, sir, we did ring the bell." Richard said as the man, Dr. Jekyll, took his hand and helped him up.

"It's all my fault," Horror admitted sheepishly, "I was trying to help them find their way to the other side of the house."

"The other side?" Dr. Jekyll asked in concern. The phrase seemed to disturb him. He laid a hand on Richard's shoulder and led him deeper into the house as he spoke, "My boy, I derive no pleasure in telling you that you are in extreme danger."

"D-Danger?" Richard asked in concern. That was one of his least favorite words.

As the others, except Horror, started following, Dr. Jekyll explained, "Even as we speak, lurking in this very room, waiting to strike, are forces of evil." As Dr. Jekyll spoke, a nervous Horror looked around the room before lifting a rug a bit, worried about what the doctor just said.

"Well, that's not something we aren't used to." Rainbow Dash commented as they followed Dr. Jekyll.

"That's for sure." Applejack remarked.

Then the blue book went to a broken mirror and looked at his reflection, which looked like it had a bunch of different yellow and purple eyes. Seeing this made him yell out in fright.

"Wait for me! Wait for me!" Horror cried as he ran after the group.

The group followed Jekyll to the other side of the room where a table full of test tubes and beakers stood. Twilight looked at the chemistry set in absolute awe as she walked by it.

"Every man is possessed of both good and evil." Jekyll spoke.

Much like Twilight, Richard stared at the chemistry set in amazement and curiosity. The tubes were filled with a bubbly, red liquid. At one point, he looked through the big tube in the middle and if you happened to be there and see his face through the tube, he'd look like a funhouse mirror reflection.

Horror, who caught up and leaped onto the table, passed by the same tube. Again, if you were there and if you see his face through it, surprisingly, his misshapen face was changed to that of a handsome-looking human man's head.

"Oh, yes." The seemingly "transformed" Horror chuckled with a smile.

"But enough of that." Jekyll continued, picking up an empty martini glass, "Anyone care for a drink?" He then picked up a beaker filled with the red liquid the group had previously seen in the tubes on the table and poured it into the glass. With that done, the doctor immediately added a touch of powder. This had caused the mixture to fizz and give off small plumes of vapor, changing the liquid to a dark purple, then to a watery green. After that, he put the beaker down before picking up an olive and dropping it into the martini with a satisfied smirk.

Spike took a whiff of the drink's scent. But as soon as the smell hit his nostrils, he grimaced and awkwardly smiled. "Uh... no thanks. I'm not thirsty."

All it took for both Twilight and Richard was one look at the drink for them to realize drinking it wouldn't be such a good idea. So they both just shook their heads no in response.

"No thank you." The lilac alicorn responded politely.

"Um... n-no thanks." Fluttershy said meekly while shaking her head.

"I'll have a go with ya, Doc." Adventure volunteered.

So Dr. Jekyll gave the pirate book the glass as the latter sniffed it while Horror eagerly walked up to him, reaching for the martini. Of course, Adventure shoved the blue book away as he snapped in annoyance, "Stay back! This is a man's drink!"

Rarity frowned disapprovingly, "Adventure, please don't be so brash."

"Can I have the olive?!" Horror begged excitedly, reaching again for the glass.

Of course, he bumped into Adventure as he did so, and the glass with the watery green liquid flew into the air. The group watched it travel across the room in a graceful arc before it landed with a shatter and a splash on the floor, making a big green puddle, which curiously began to glow a brighter shade of green.

"Uh-oh." Horror said upon seeing the spill.

"Now look what ye've done!" Adventure shouted angrily at the hunchbook.

"Buddy, you should be thanking him for that!" Rainbow spoke, looking annoyed with the pirate book.

"Why?!"

The multicolor-maned pegasus said nothing and pointed a hoof to where the liquid had spilled.

As it happened, the spilled drink began to sizzle and burned its way through the hardwood floor, making a big hole, much to the astonishment of the group, including Adventure.

"Whoa!" Richard exclaimed in shock.

"Ooooh!" Fantasy exclaimed.

"Wait. If that weird drink can do that to wood..." Applejack began, starting to look worried.

Then the group whipped around to see Dr. Jekyll holding a martini of his own with the same drink, olive and all.

"DR. JEKYLL, NO!!!" Twilight shouted in alarm.

"NO!!! NO, NO!!! NO!!!" Richard cried in alarm.

"Don't drink it! Don't! No!" Horror begged in worry.

"No, no, don't drink!" Fantasy protested in alarm.

"NO, STOP!!!" Ben shouted urgently.

"Stop, Dr. Jekyll!" Fluttershy cried worriedly.

"DON'T DRINK THAT!!" Rarity cried in alarm.

"DON'T DO IT!!!" Nyx shouted.

"NO, DR. JEKYLL!!!" Phobos yelled.

Unfortunately, their shouts of protest were in vain and fell on deaf ears as the doctor downed the drink in a few audible gulps.

Then the doctor began staggering around the room, holding his throat, screaming, and gasping for breath.

"What do we do? WHAT DO WE DO?!" Pinkie began to scream in panic.

"Well, I know in a situation like this, you should call the Poison Hot Line!" Richard answered, looking back and forth for a nearby phone.

"There's no phone anywhere around here!" Nyx cried in fright.

Then the doctor groaned as he clutched his chest in agony before his eyes turned red, and then he threw his martini into the fireplace, and then the fire roared into a green swirling inferno. After that, Jekyll screamed in agony as he glowed green electricity with a brief showing of his skeleton, and emitted a very bright glow on the group.

"My knees are getting pinchy again!" Pinkie said in worry.

"Pinchy knees?!" Spike exclaimed in fear.

"Something scary's about to happen!" Pinkie explained in fright.

"I think your Pinkie Sense is right!" Twilight remarked fearfully.

The group slowly began to back away as Jekyll slowly staggered in their direction, keeping his head down. As he staggered to them, Jekyll was still gasping for breath. Then he gripped a hand on Richard for support before his gasping turned into growling as the boy looked at the hand. It began changing, growing thick and hairy while his outfit became ragged. All Richard could do was stare in practically speechless horror. He managed to wriggle out of Jekyll's grasp before backing away with the books, ponies and dragons. The doctor collapsed on the floor, seemingly writhing in pain and covering his face in agony. Then he opened his arms and let out an evil, maniacal laugh. That struck fear into the hearts of the group, mainly the Equestrian heroes. Even the fearless Adventure was full of fear, holding his sword at the ready.

"Dr. Jekyll?" Fantasy stammered nervously, "Dr. J?"

Dr. Jekyll kept his face covered in apparent agony as he staggered around some more, until he spoke, "My name is..." Then he revealed his face to our frightened heroes as he finished, "...Mr. HYYYYYDE!!!!" Now the doctor's face was wretched and wrinkled and mad with anger. His eyes, which had once looked so kind, were glazed over with hate.

Everybody did the most logical thing anybody would do in their position. They screamed in terror at such a ghastly sight.

"I think we should get going!" Fluttershy squeaked out, scared out of her mind.

"No one leaves this house alive!" Dr. Jekyll, now known as Mr. Hyde, shouted evilly. With one brutal sweep of his cane, he shattered the delicate glass instruments in his laboratory.

"STAY BACK, YOU BEASTLY BEAST!!" Rarity shrieked in terror as they made a run for it.

Like a wolf toying with its dinner prey, Mr. Hyde thwarted every attempt by the Equestrians, Richard and the books to escape. He swung his cane to the floor like a hammer.

"Easy there!" Adventure said in worry.

Out of panic, Horror ran under Hyde's legs and past the lunatic. He then jumped onto a side table and from that, onto the chandelier. There, he swung for a bit before gazing down in fear as Hyde raised his cane to strike at the frightened group.

"I don't want to have to do this, Mr. Hyde, but you leave me no choice!" Twilight shouted, firing up her horn and getting it ready to fire a blast of magic at the deranged man.

However, the alicorn didn't have to do anything for the sound of creaking caught their attention. From atop the chandelier, Horror noticed the wooden beam holding its chain began to crack before it broke free. This in turn had caused the chandelier to fall to the floor below.

As it happened, before Hyde could use his cane, he felt some wood shavings from the ceiling hit his hand, making him look up in shock to see the chandelier falling and crash-landing to the floor, pushing him right into the hole that the powerful drink had made in the floor moments ago. He screamed as he fell inside, but he grabbed ahold of the chandelier chain as he did so, causing it to hold tight and break his fall.

"The stairs, mateys, the stairs!" ordered Adventure as he started running. Now was their chance to escape!

"No need to tell me twice!" Applejack exclaimed, following quickly.

The rest of the group began running like heck towards the stairs.

"Help, Master! Don't leave me!" Everyone turned around when they heard Horror's pitiful cry. The poor book was caught in the chandelier chain.

"Oh no! Horror!" Fluttershy gasped.

"This is no way to treat a library book. Sanctuary! Sanctuary!" Horror cried out in fear as the chandelier he was trapped in was slowly dragged towards the hole.

The reason he was dragged into the hole was heard; a hideous-sounding laugh coming from Mr. Hyde. He looked as if he was gonna take Horror with him to his death!

"SANCTUARY!!!" The blue hunchbook wailed as he desperately grabbed onto the floor in vain as his nails scratched the floor.

"We gotta help him!" Spike exclaimed in panic, flying to Horror's aid.

"Hang on, Horror!" Nyx cried as she and Phobos ran after Spike.

"We're coming!" Phobos shouted.

"Hurry, you guys!" Twilight urged.

"Honey, you've got to help him!" Fantasy pleaded with Richard.

"But I... I..." Richard was paralyzed with fear. There was nothing he could do!

"You coward!" Rainbow shouted in exasperation.

"Rainbow!" Applejack scolded her.

Frustrated with Richard's lack of action, Fantasy rushed to the aid of Spike, Nyx and Phobos; all three doing their best to undo the chains trapping Horror.

"At least this wand is good for something." Fantasy said as she started fidgeting with her wand.

She then pulled her see-through winds over her eyes for safety. Before Spike, Nyx and Phobos could ask what the fairy godbook was doing, the end of her wand ignited like a blowtorch and she immediately got to work cutting the chains trapping poor Horror. Getting the idea, Spike used his firebreath to cut through another part of the chains while Phobos used his own at the same time. Within a second, the chains came broken, freeing the hunchbook.

Nyx smiled at seeing this, but her smile quickly disappeared when she looked up. "Guys, look out!" She shouted.

Confused, Spike and the others turned to see what got the black-furred alicorn looking frightened. The baby dragon screamed in alarm to see Hyde's head poking up from the hole into the room.

"COME ON!!!" He shouted, grabbing Horror by the arm and causing him to jump out of the chandelier. The minute that happened, the chandelier slid across the floor like a hockey puck down the hole.

"AAAAAAHHHHhhhhhh!!!!" Hyde roared in defeat.

As soon as the books, dragons and Nyx ran back up to their group, Adventure gestured for them to follow.

“COME ON!!” He cried out, running as if the devil himself was chasing him.

“Right behind ya!” Rainbow exclaimed, following him.

"At least someone brave actually had to go and help Horror!" Pinkie remarked while following Rainbow and Adventure.

"Pinkie! Shame on you, making an insensitive remark like that!" Rarity scolded her.

Hearing what Pinkie said made Richard feel bad. He had proved to be useless. Horror moved over and tried to comfort him. "It's okay, Master. I'd-a been twice as scared as you."

With that, he took the boy by the hand and led him on with the rest of the group. Within seconds, they found themselves at the middle of a large staircase. One set of stairs led up while the other led down.

“Which way?” Twilight asked, looking back and forth between the two sets of stairs.

“Uh, down. Definitely down,” Horror answered while pointing to a set of stairs leading down to a lower floor, until he noticed a pulsating red glow from the bottom of the stairs accompanied by the sound of a loud, steady heartbeat, “Oh, uh- Up! Up! Definitely up!!!” As he shouted that, Horror immediately pointed in the opposite direction-- up! He ran towards the stairs as he cried frantically with the others following, "Up, up, up!!!"

"Yeah, not downstairs! I hear the loud beating of someone's hideous heart!!!" Phobos cried fearfully as he ran.

And with that, everybody followed the frightened hunchbook up the stairs. The stairs seemed to twist and turn for what felt like ages. The higher they climbed, the darker and scarier it got. In their rush, only Twilight at first seemed to notice the walls looked less like stone walls and more like bookshelves.

"Either my eyes are playing tricks on me, or it looks like we're in a stairway library," Twilight remarked in a tone that is a mix of intrigue and nervousness.

“It’s not just you,” Ben replied, noticing the shelves of books.

“The Haunting, The Shining, The Exorcist…” Rainbow read off some of the spines, then looked confused, “Those were all books?”

"Apparently, yeah." Twilight said.

"Books before they were made to movies? Who knew?" Nyx asked rhetorically as she shrugged.

Richard nervously walked near the shelf, not focusing on where he was going as he used the books for support. He hadn’t even noticed one book with the words “Ghost Stories” written on its spine slide out of its spot and his hand passed through it. Upon noticing this, he gasped and pulled his hand back, the gasp getting Spike’s attention.

“What’s wrong?” He asked in alarm.

"Uh-oh! Knees getting pinchy again!" Pinkie exclaimed nervously.

Fluttershy looked uneasy, “I think I know why…”

Before another word could be said, the group began running further up the stairs. Books soon began to literally fly from the shelves.

"What's happening?!" Applejack asked in panic.

Moans, groans, clanking chains-- the sounds of a haunting filled the air.

"W-W-What's going on?!" Richard asked in worry.

Ghostly book characters circled overhead--Jacob Marley, King Hamlet, Dracula. All the dead spirits of horror fiction flew by, then disappeared into thin air.

"Ghost stories." Horror shuddered while covering himself.

"RUN AWAY!!!" Pinkie shouted, running up the stairs.

The others followed suit, screaming as they avoided flying books, some of which flew after them. Richard barely ducked out of the way from a ghost that got in his way before zipping behind him with a laugh. That same ghost disappeared as another ghost- this one being a skeletal bride- flew through it while letting out a ghostly wail.

"There's no place like home. There's no place like home! THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME!!" Fluttershy chanted in panic, running with her eyes closed as she simultaneously tapped her hooves together over and over.

"GET ME OUTTA HERE!!!" Richard cried as he ran, brushing away the ghosts like they were cobwebs.

When the group finally reached the top, they saw a long hallway with different-colored doors on each side.

"Which way now?!" Spike asked, looking between the doors.

As he looked through the doors, Horror was confused. "The blue door? ...No. The yellow door? ...No. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe..." he said, pointing at each door in turn.

Adventure had had enough. "Outta my way!" He said, pushing Horror aside. He reached for a doorknob.

"No, not that one!" Horror screamed.

"Why?" Pinkie asked in confusion.

Adventure had yanked open the white door, and what's inside answered Pinkie's question. Swoosh! A razor-sharp pendulum swung out from the room, nearly turning Adventure into a two-volume set. Adventure shut the door in a hurry!

"Oh. Now I see." Pinkie gulped.

"How about this?" Twilight asked, going to a purple door.

As soon as she opened the door, she was face-to-face with what looked like a clown with a red nose. Upon seeing the alicorn there, the clown smiled.

"Hiya, little pony!" The clown greeted.

Not sure what to do, Twilight awkwardly smiled, "Um... hi?"

"Don't you want a balloon?" The clown asked as he showed a red balloon.

"Um... no thanks." Twilight replied, slowly inching back as she reached for the door.

Somehow, she knew there was something very off-putting about this clown. But then, she remembered she was in a haunted house.

"Surely there's nothing to be afraid of about me." The clown said, "There's cotton candy, rides and all sorts of surprises in here."

"You mean there's a carnival inside?" Nyx asked with a smile.

"Of course, little filly." The clown replied, "And balloons, too, all colors."

"Do they float?" Phobos asked.

"They float, little dragon. They all float." The clown replied before turning to Twilight as he finished, "And when you and your family and friends are in here with me... YOU FLOAT, TOO!!!"

All of a sudden, the clown flashed his now evident razor-sharp teeth and looked very psychotic to boot. Twilight took the hint and literally threw the door shut in his face, keeping it shut with her magic as bangs from the other side were heard.

"That just reawakened my fear of clowns!" Applejack whimpered in fright. She suddenly noticed the blue door. "How 'bout this one?!"

The cowpony quickly ran up to it and threw it open. Much to her confusion, she saw identical twin girls with matching shoulder-length brown hair, blue dresses, knee-length socks and black mary-janes.

"Hello, Danny. Come play with us." The twins greeted in polite British accents.

"Um... my name's Applejack." Applejack replied in confusion.

"Did you find a way out?" Richard asked, coming up to Applejack.

"LOOK OUT!!!"

Confused, the earth pony turned to look back in the door. Instead of seeing the twin girls, however, she saw a crazed-looking man dressed in a red jacket and flannel limp-walking her way. In his hand, he held what looked like a firefighter's ax. Applejack let out an alarmed yell and threw the door shut just as it looked like he was about to swing the ax at her.

"Whew! That was a close one." Applejack sighed.

She spoke too soon as an ax splintered the blue door a bit, causing her to yell out in alarm before she saw a familiar face peeking in the hole as he cried out madly with a psychotic grin while glaring at the scared Applejack, "HEEEERRRE'S JOHNNY!!!"

Rainbow suddenly zipped in out of nowhere and bucked the psycho in the face so hard, that it caused him to cry out in pain and back away into the door. Thinking quickly, Rarity used her magic to repair the broken door and seal it. The white unicorn noticed a sickly yellow door and quickly opened it... ... only to be greeted by what looked like a shower curtain. She turned to look at the others with confusion but quickly turned back when the shower curtain was yanked open to reveal what looked like an elderly lady holding a kitchen knife. The lady's face was, somehow, obscured by shadows, but this didn't leave Rarity any less frightened as she screamed and threw the door shut.

"You okay, Rarity?!" Spike asked, coming up to the panicked-looking unicorn.

Rarity just stood there, shaking. “I think… I have a fear of shower curtains now.”

Fantasy went up to a pink door. "Always trust a woman's intuition."

When she opened it, she peeked in. Out came a gruesome-looking hand, which grabbed her by the throat and dragged her in.

"FANTASY!!" Twilight and Richard shouted in alarm, running up to the door.

The others ran up afterward, and they all could hear from inside the sound of bloodcurdling screams and noises that sounded like limbs being ripped apart. Just as they couldn't stand any more, the door swung open. Fantasy fluttered out, primping her hair. She slammed the door shut with her behind and muttered, "What a lightweight!"

Horror took this opportunity to run up to the black door and opened it. As soon as he did, he screamed in fright and slammed the door shut.

"W- what is it?" Richard stammered.

"A werewolf?" Fluttershy asked nervously.

"It's so dark in there," Horror whimpered. "No nightlight."

"Seriously?" Rainbow asked dryly.

"Get in there!" Adventure shouted, whipping the door open and pushing the hunchbook inside.

The rest of the group followed them inside the room, which was dim and cold, and reeked of formaldehyde.

Rarity practically had to put both hooves to her mouth and nose. “What in Equestria is that ghastly stench??”

"It's formaldehyde. I recognize this smell from my biology class, where we had used the chemical gas to preserve dead things." Richard explained.

“Sounds gross.” Spike remarked.

"This is no doubt a laboratory for a mad scientist," Ben said seriously.

And indeed, the brown stallion was right on the button. They were in a laboratory. In the middle of the room stood a table covered with ancient-looking laboratory equipment and jars filled with pickled human body parts. Nearby, there was a long, stone slab covered by a sheet.

Rainbow looked uneasy, “Now what?”

"Up there." Fantasy said as she pointed her wand in the direction of an overhead trap door, "That looks like the way out." A narrow stone staircase led up to the door. Unfortunately, the staircase was at the other end of the room.

“But we gotta be quiet.” Twilight whispered, noting the sheet-covered slab.

"Yeah. We gotta get past that thing if we wanna get to those stairs." Ben agreed quietly.

Taking the lead, Adventure drew out his sword and clopped as quietly as he could past the slab. The others were bringing up the rear. All at once, they heard a low groan-- "Arrrgggghh."

"I hope that was your stomach." Richard said to Horror.

"I don't have a stomach." Horror replied.

“Knee’s getting pinchy again.” Pinkie noted in worry.

"Arrrgggghh!" There came the scary growl again. Then the slab rotated forward. The sheet slid down to the floor.

It was immediately revealed that the source of the growl was an eight-foot-tall person. Parts of this person looked like they were sewn together and he smelled so foul, some of the ponies were practically gagging, some put their hooves to their noses.

"What is that?" Spike asked, doing his best not to lose his lunch.

Horror stood up on the tips of his toes to get a better look before he said, "Um... it's either my Uncle Louie... or the Frankenstein monster."

"THE FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER?!" Pinkie asked in alarm a bit too loudly.

"Shhhh!" Twilight shushed her.

Unfortunately, the monster's eyelids flew open from Pinkie's shout. Its nostrils flared as it produced another horrible groan. "ARRRGGGGHH!!"

"RUN!!!!" Rarity screamed in fear, making a beeline for the other side of the room.

The others screamed as they dashed for the stairs, but the monster lunged forward and grabbed Richard by the shirt.

"LEMME GOOOO!" Richard cried as he struggled, but the monster was slowly dragging him back.

"The rope, lad! Look to the rope!" Adventure called down from the stairs.

Richard looked up and discovered a rope that secured a hanging platform of electrical equipment high above the room. He jumped and grabbed it. Adventure cut the rope at the other end with his sword, and the platform plunged to the floor, shooting Richard up out of the monster's grasp.

"ARRRGGGGHH!!!" The monster roared in frustration and anger, thrashing back and forth.

Thanks to the rope, Richard was now at the trap door, where he joined his friends. Together, they pushed the door open and scrambled to an outside deck at the very top of the tower. A gargoyle statue held a torch that lighted up the stone wall encircling the deck. Beyond, there was nothing but darkness.

As Fantasy took a long bone from a nearby skeleton, she shouted frantically, "Close the door!"

"Gladly!" Rainbow cried as she slammed the door before Fantasy shoved the bone into the two door handles to barricade the door after throwing it shut.

"Now what? That monster could be comin' up here soon!" Applejack exclaimed, frantically looking for a set of stairs, a rope or even a ladder.

"This way!" Twilight shouted as she ran towards an embankment, "This is our only way out!"

Richard looked down where Twilight was looking at, down into the deep, dark unknown. "Down there? I-I can't!" he objected.

"What's the matter with you, Richard?!" Rainbow asked in annoyance, "Are you chicken?!"

"Rainbow, that's not helping!" Rarity chided her.

Adventure jumped onto an embankment before turning to Richard as he called towards him, "Come on, boy! Even books have spines!"

BOOM! CRACK! Suddenly, the monster thrashed his way through the door. Horror scrambled toward the embankment, knocking over a cauldron of oil that spilled in front of the monster.

"Oh no! The monster broke through!" Nyx cried.

"I'll stop him!" Spike shouted in determination before he breathed fire on the oil, Instantly, there was a wall of fire between them and the monster.

"Great thinking, Spike!" Twilight praised.

"Thanks, Twilight!" Spike said with a smile.

"Hurry, Richard!" Ben shouted, "The fire's coming fast!"

Richard looked down. He looked back at the fire. He had to climb down. He just had to!

"Come, master!" Horror called from another embankment while climbing down the wall as Fantasy flew downward.

Richard soon started climbing down the wall as he said to himself cautiously, "I can do this, I can do this."

But not even a second after getting his footing on a ledge, the ledge crumbled away. Richard attempted to keep his footing, only to end up falling.

"RICHARD!!" Twilight cried out.

Luckily, Richard managed to grab ahold of a waterspout, whose head is shaped like that of a dragon. He was safe for now, but the question is, how long could he hang on?

The books, along with the Equestrians, watched Richard from a ledge below. "Master needs help!" Horror cried in worry.

"Help ain't what that boy needs." Adventure countered.

"Oh, you're the expert." Fantasy said sarcastically as she started to fly up to help Richard.

However, Adventure stopped her as he said, "Leave 'im be. It's time he started findin' his own way."

Suddenly, the waterspout's eyes glowed a piercing red as it growled. This caught Richard's attention and gasped, nearly letting go. It was then that he could have sworn he heard the Pagemaster's voice going through his mind.

"Reach deep within yourself, Richard," The Pagemaster's voice told him, "and seize the courage."

"Either I'm going crazy, or I thought I heard the Pagemaster." Applejack confessed out loud in confusion.

"That's funny." Rainbow said, "I could've sworn I heard his voice, too."

"So did I!" Rarity exclaimed, perplexed.

"I think we all did." Twilight said before noticing the books, who were still looking up at the hanging Richard. Then she said a bit softly for the Equestrians to hear, "That is, except for them."

"How'll he get down by himself?" Fluttershy asked in concern.

It wasn't until Nyx noticed the vine growing on the wall next to Richard before calling out to him while pointing to it, "The vine, Richard! Grab the vine!"

Richard looked to his left to see the vine along the stone wall. Cautiously, he reached for it before grabbing it with both hands. But as soon as he let go of the waterspout, the vine snapped off the wall! He yelled out as he found himself plunging toward the waves below. But instead of being swallowed by the waves, Richard landed on the ledge where his friends are. He had made it! He was all right!

"ALL RIGHT!!" Rainbow cheered excitedly.

"HE MADE IT!!! HE MADE IT!!! WHOOOOO!!!!!!!!" Fluttershy cheered in an uncharacteristically loud voice.

"YAY RICHARD!" Nyx started jumping for joy as she cheered.

"YAHOO!!" Phobos whooped.

"YEE-HAW!!! YOU DID IT, RICHARD!!" Applejack cheered.

"WHOO-HOO!!! TEN POINT LANDING!!!" Pinkie cheered as she held up a sign with a "10" on it.

"BRAVO! BRAVO!" Rarity cheered happily.

"Way to go, Richard!" Twilight praised happily.

"YES!! Nice one!" Ben exclaimed happily.

"WHOO-HOO!! RICHARD!! RICHARD!! RICHARD!! RICHARD!! RICHARD!!" Spike chanted.

"Yay! He did it! He did it!" Horror cheered while Fantasy laughed with excitement.

"That's grand, boy!" Adventure praised.

"Oh, hooray! Hooray, hooray!" Horror continued, giving himself a hug.

Richard turned and looked up at the top of the tower, where the sky above was now illuminated with a yellow/green light from the fire Spike set up at the monster.

"Wow." Richard said out loud in amazement with a smile. He couldn't believe what he had just done.

"That was really brave of you, Richard." Twilight told him, placing a hoof onto his shoulder as she smiled.

"We're very proud of you." Ben said happily.

Adventure turned around, looking very curious. But as soon as he did, his curiosity gave way to excitement as he looked about his surroundings, even lifting his eyepatch briefly. The pirate-like book then removed his peg leg and converted it into a telescope before looking through it to better observe the landscape. He took a deep breath through the nose and exhaled as he turned to the rest of the group with exhilaration.

"Do ya smell it? Breathe it in, mateys!" He cheered with that same exhilaration, turning to look through his telescope once again.

Through the telescope, he could see the illuminated letters of "EXIT" on the horizon. As the rest of the group headed up to Adventure, they noticed the green letters that the pirate book saw.

"The exit!" Nyx exclaimed excitedly as she got on Twilight's back.

Adventure laughed in excitement as he reattached his telescope peg leg. "The Land of Adventure!" he announced proudly while holding up his hook.

Richard noticed the green letters and smiled, "Look, there's the exit!"

Then the word "EXIT" disappeared as the sun began to rise over a vast and shimmering ocean.

"Well, guys, looks like we're off to travel through the Land of Adventure!" Twilight spoke with determination.

"Now that's my kinda place to journey through!" Rainbow remarked confidently.

"At last, we could leave that horror section!" Rarity commented, "No more scary stuff!"

"Come on, then, Mateys! Adventure awaits!" Adventure proclaimed, leading the way down the pathway that they knew led to the shore below.

And with that, the rest of the group started following the brown pirate book while making a careful trek down the cliff towards the shore, eager to leave the horror section posthaste. Even so, they wondered what could await them as they entered the Land of Adventure.

Comments

[solartiger]

Awesome chapter

[Toonwriter]

11300674
Thanks!

[solartiger]

11300722
you're welcome

[Omegamorph]

I do seem to recall Frankenstein's monster showing up in a lot of tie-in media for the movie, but sadly not the film itself. I forgot how much of a big deal the film was when it came out and that I still have one of the board games you get from Pizza Hut.

[JusSonic]

Looks good, buddy.

[Toonwriter]

11301127
Thanks, pal!

11300866
That's why I put Frankenstein's Monster in my version, as if the deleted scenes were included.

[Omegamorph]

11301132
Huh. Didn't know it was scrapped from the movie itself.

[Hungry Hero]

That was thrilling!

[Toonwriter]

11305070
Glad you enjoyed it!

[Toonwriter]

11305058
Yep!