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by RunicTreetops

CAM_02

10:00 P.M.

The camera is bouncy as its wearer, Izzy, happily trots through the old, dark halls. Outside of the vision provided by her flashlight, the video feed is pitch black. However, Izzy seems to keep losing focus, never keeping the flashlight in one place for too long before moving on to the next thing.

"This is fun, right, Pippsqueaks? I wanted to go to the kitchen so I could be the one to experience all the gross, rotten food in there! Er, you know, if there is any. Hehe, I bet it smells really bad!"

She continues down the darkened halls at a decent pace, eventually making a sharp turn and entering what looks to be an old dining hall. The room is large and circular with a high marble ceiling. There are no windows in here, but the walls look like they were, at one point, decorated with finely crafted tapestries, though these have long since withered away. Izzy shines her light on the center of the room, where a long table can be found. The table is about twenty feet long with several chairs lining either side of it, some of which are knocked over. Whether due to time or some other force, the table has been split down the middle, with both ends now leaning downwards towards the floor in the center. It looks as though a tablecloth was once draped over it, which is now lazily resting on top of the broken table pieces on the ground in the center of the table.

"I'm pretty sure the kitchen is just on the other side of this room. Let's go!"

The camera bounces even more as Izzy happily skips to another doorway on the far side of the room. She struggles to get it open at first, but it eventually begins to move with a loud creaking sound, revealing the kitchen on the other side.

The kitchen is large, its walls lined with many shelves and cupboards. There is plenty of space for preparing food along the walls, with about a half-dozen stoves that look like they've seen better days visible in the darkness. A few islands compliment the kitchen well, allowing for ample space to prepare meals.

The relative silence is broken by a sniffing sound.

"...Huh? Do you guys smell that? W-wait, of course you don't, you aren't here. It smells... sweet. Like cake or something. Weird."

Izzy takes a few steps into the room, making her way to some of the nearby cupboards.

"That's disappointing! What kind of haunted kitchen smells sweet? It's supposed to smell ROTTEN!"

Izzy begins throwing open various cupboards, finding that most of them are empty and becoming increasingly frustrated as she does so.

"Darn. I probably shouldn't have volunteered to come here."

---

11:00 P.M.

It's clear from the hooves that keep appearing in the video and the way the camera is moving that Izzy is throwing open every cupboard, cabinet, and drawer she can find. However, she seems to be bad at handling the camera, as the video feed never gets a good look at the inside of said spaces.

"Ugh, they're all empty. I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappoin-WAIT WHAT IS THAT?!"

Izzy holds a particular cabinet door open for longer than usual and makes an effort to position the camera at an angle that allows the viewer to see inside. Within the cupboard are a number of things, including cake mixes and assorted candies.

"This stuff has to be ancient! Ooo, I'm gonna take a whiff!"

Izzy hastily opens one of the boxes of cake mix, which appears to be noticeably less dusty than the rest of the cupboard. After doing so, she sticks her nose inside and takes a deep whiff.

"...Huh. It, uh, it smells pretty good, actually. Not rotten at all. Geez, what did they put in these things back then?"

Izzy places the mix back down onto a nearby counter as she moves on to the next cupboard.

"Wow, this one is filled with stuff, too. We've got crackers, snack foods, spices... wow, maybe this was a good idea after all!"

Izzy makes her way through a few more cabinets before stumbling upon a particularly large fridge, easily four times her size.

"Oh, this aught to be good!"

She throws the refrigerator door open with relative ease, and to her surprise, the light inside comes on. The fridge is stocked with all manner of goods. Milk, soft drinks, assorted greens, even a shelf full of fresh-looking fruits.

"Okay, I'm no expert, but I'm preeeeety sure the castle shouldn't be getting any electricity. Also, most of this stuff should be way past its expiration date."

She retrieves an apple from the fridge and looks it over. It's bright red and looks somewhat glossy.

"I mean, there's no way this is real, right?"

Izzy squishes the apple, and to her surprise, it squelches with a fair amount of juices like she would expect from a typical ripe apple.

"Well, here goes nothing."

She takes a hesitant lick from the slightly crushed apple before looking at it with bewilderment.

"...It tastes pretty good. I know I'm not an earth pony, but I don't think it's supposed to taste good."

Izzy puts the squished apple back where she found it and takes a step back from the fridge.

"I should also probably stop licking food that's hundreds of years old."

---

12:00 A.M.

A faint slamming sound can be heard to the right of where the camera is pointed. This clearly gets Izzy's attention, as she suddenly turns in the direction of the sound. She shines her flashlight to that corner of the kitchen, revealing what looks to be a door to a large walk-in pantry.

"Pippsqueaks? That door was open when we came in here, right? ...Neat!"

Izzy happily skips towards the pantry door. It's covered with a few slits that you might be able to see through if it weren't so dark.

"Alright ghosties, let's see what you're hiding in here!"

Izzy throws the door open and shines her flashlight into the newly revealed pantry. It doesn't appear to be out of the ordinary in any way. Shelves go as high as the ceiling, all of them completely bare. The room looks quite dusty, as well.

"...All right, all right! You want me to step inside, don't you, ghosties? Well, who am I to argue?"

Izzy takes a few cheery steps into the pantry, but nothing seems to happen. She looks quizzically at the empty shelves, and the video suddenly gets very quiet.

"...Should I go to the very back or something?"

Suddenly, a very, very faint noise can be heard from behind the camera. It sounds like a voice.

"Wh... ou... about?!"

Izzy turns towards the open pantry door.

"S-Sunny?!"

Izzy begins to run back out of the pantry, but just as she is about to reach the door it slams shut. In that same moment, her flashlight goes out, and the video feed cuts altogether.

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Comments

[joElecTeen]

"...It tastes pretty good. I know I'm not an earth pony, but I don't think it's supposed to taste good."