Sweetie's Mansion

by Moon Shooter

CHOICE12

"I-I'm not scared of you." Sweetie stammered out, keeping her distance from the filly.

"Huh? Then what the hay is wrong with you?" Scootaloo asked.

"I...I'm not scared of you." Sweetie repeated. "I-I'm afraid... of what's inside of you." She spoke honestly. She had no reason to be scared of Scootaloo. Scootaloo wouldn't harm her. But-

Scootaloo giggled.

--Scootaloo would never giggle. Not here.

"Wait Sweets, wait. Hold up. I'm not possessed or anything. Look at me!" Scootaloo said. She got up on her hindlegs, and outstretched her forelegs and tiny hooves to show herself fully. "Do I look like some crazed pony to you?"

Sweetie had to admit, she didn't have the yellow eyes like Applebloom did. Still, there were too many contradictions that told Sweetie otherwise.

"N-no... but that doesn't explain why you're still here." Sweetie said.

"Huh?" Scootaloo shrugged. "I was trying to get through here, just like you."

"But... but that had to be at least an hour ago... Madame said-"

"Oh, that ghost lady?" Scootaloo said. "Yeah, she told me to look for some hunter. Never expected it to be you."

The other side of Sweetie was starting to win as she didn't find any contradictions with her story. Sure, there were things wrong but the hope that she was actually speaking to Scootaloo was beginning to soften her up. She allowed Scootaloo to take a few more steps to her, without moving. Still, there was just one other suspicion she had.

"B-but what about that door?" Sweetie asked. "How the hay did you move that big piece of stone?"

"Sweetie... no offense, but you're kinda wimpy." Scootaloo said. "Moving that stone wasn't that hard."

Sweetie couldn't think of any contradictions as Scootaloo approached Sweetie further.

Wait a second-

"Stop!" Sweetie said.

"What?" Scootaloo said, disobeying Sweetie's command. Sweetie started to back up against the back of the burial chamber, her paranoia renewed.

"H-ow did you know I was that hunter?" Sweetie asked.

Scootaloo shrugged. "Lucky guess. Figured since you're the only one who's still alive, you had to be them. Plus you've got that little cylindrical ghost processor."

--There!

"Who told you it was that?"

"...what?"

"M-madame said she told " Her brain and body were still weak from the spell Sweetie knew something was wrong, but her brain wouldn't have it. She'd seen her friend again, and a part of it craved... or rather needed that company. Her brain wouldn't allow her to leave as long as she wasn't completely sure her friend was altered.

"N-no! You were in the dark, without a light, and a crypt full of ghosts. It's impossible for you to have made it here untouched!" Sweetie said. "Let alone at all."

Scootaloo stopped. She laughed at the filly.

"I guess there's no fooling you anymore huh?" Scootaloo cackled.

Scootaloo was joined by two butler ghosts at her sides, completely cutting off Sweetie's path back out to the crypt.

"I was kind of hoping to get to do this on my own... daddy never let me do anything on my own."

Daddy? Sweetie thought.

Scootaloo cleared her throat. "But I guess if the job gets done, in the long run, it just doesn't matter." Scootaloo said. "Kill her."

The two butler ghosts laughed at Sweetie as they charged her. At one split second, Sweetie saw the opening between Scootaloo and the two ghosts. She clumsily dodged the left ghost and weaved right around Scootaloo. She ran into the darkness of the crypt. She could hear Scootaloo cackling as she perused her. She was getting louder, faster. Scootaloo, given her dream to become as fast as Rainbow Dash, had practiced increasing her speed. She was one of the fastest Cutie Mark Crusaders, and compared to the three fillies, Sweetie was the slowest.

Sweetie's heart pounded in her chest as she tried to locate a way out of the crypt, her friend quickly growing closer. Ghosts popped out of walls left and right, thankfully, not all of them had the skeleton weight on them. Sweetie shined her light on the ghosts popping out of the walls, and dodged or ran past the ghosts coming out of the coffins. Sweetie found the passages of the crypt expanding. Sweetie only hoped that meant something good-

Sweetie's head hit a metal door, knocking her back. She shook her head as she got up, and opened it. She looked back at the orange filly, madly grinning through the darkness, her eyes turned a glowing yellow now. Sweetie went through the door and closed it. She looked up to see a lock she could turn. She turned the lock, and heard a click from inside of the door. Sweetie stood back and shined her light on the door in case any ghosts tried to follow her...

Nothing came. Not even the sound of the orange filly trying to force the door open. It was as if the ghosts had completely abandoned pursuing her altogether. Sweetie worried for her friend who was still trapped inside of the crypt with those ghosts, but it was better than her being outside, trying to kill her. Sweetie sighed in relief, as safe for the moment. What was more, she managed to escape with the GCD part.

"One down... two to go." she sighed.

Sweetie weakly smiled in the darkness before shining her light around the area to find out where she needed to go next. She saw a staircase leading upward. Possibly to the church Madame mentioned?

Sweetie climbed the staircase and entered the door. Thankfully, once she was through, the nave of the church was well lit. Benches for ponies to sit stretched to the back of the small church. The walls were glass artwork, depicting Princess Celestia and Luna in different scenarios from Equestrian history, one of which, Sweetie recognized as the banishing of Nightmare Moon, and the encasement of Discord. Sweetie determined this was some kind of church that worshiped the Princesses. She'd heard about other places in the vast country of Equestria, where the Royal Sisters were respected not only as princesses but as gods. Their power was great, but ponies close to Canterlot, where the sisters resided knew better. Though they had a long lifespan, and were considerably powerful, they were still somewhat mortal, and even had their own limitations. Because of this, Sweetie had never seen a church before in person, and in all honesty, it was unsettling to the filly, with its Gothic architecture and creepy lighting.

Sweetie took out her map to check her location. Now that she was out of the crypt, the maps previous question mark swirled around, and turned back into a map of the mansion. According to the map, Sweetie was to the right of the large mansion. She was as far as she could get from the safe zone around the center of the mansion. However, she hadn't gone too far from the courtyard, which meant the dressing room and auditorium were only a few hallways away. She headed for the back of the room to the exit.

As she passed the benches of the church, Sweetie noticed something white out of the corner of her eye, lying on one of the benches. Sweetie went over to investigate to find it was a scribbled note.

Forgive me my Celestia.
Forgive my children.
Forgive me my friends.
Forgive me my dear.
As my intentions do not matter anymore.
For I have committed an act to hurt us all...

Sweetie held the note in her hoof. It was some kind of confession. Who could have written it? Sweetie placed the note inside of her bag. Something told her it would be a good idea to keep it handy...

She headed out of the church area, and into another hallway. She began her trek back to the dressing room, that note's words still in her head. Who wrote that, and what did they do that was so bad...?

***

Sweetie entered the dressing room hallway. The storm still raged outside in the courtyard. Rain puddled inside of the hallway, since she left the door open when she first left. The light from her flashlight reflected off of the water on the floor. Other than that, the hallway remained the same. There several doors with stars on them in the hallway. Sweetie begun her search in each room, which were thankfully unlocked.

The first room was a normal dressing room. It had a mirror, make up table, stool, and wardrobe closet. Everything was covered with a white sheet, just like the other items in the mansion. Nothing out of the ordinary. Sweetie headed to the next room over. Still the same. Sweetie went to several rooms in the puddled hallway, to find the same style of dressing room in each, with slight variations here and there.

Finally, Sweetie came to the middle door, not very far from the door where wind and rain was coming from. She touched the door knob, to find it significantly colder than the other ones. Sweetie knew that there had to be a ghost somewhere inside of the room. As much as she didn't want to, this was the most different room she found in the hallway. And plus, it only made sense that a ghost might guard the piece that threatened them so much. Sweetie took a deep breath, ready to face whatever was inside of the room.

As she opened, she was surprised to find nothing. No ectoplasm, no laughing, no indication that a ghost, or any pony for that matter had been in there for a long time... accept one thing. It was the sheet. Unlike the other rooms, the sheet to one of the make-up mirrors was slightly to its side, exposing the mirror. It was cracked, as if someone had broken it too. This room was definitely altered from the other ones, and it was more than enough to urge Sweetie make a point to examine the room twice as thoroughly as the others.

Sweetie looked around the room, in the dresser, in the closet, under the chair, making sure every corner of the room was searched. Still though, the filly didn't find a thing in the room.

C'mon Sweetie. Think! It’s gotta be in this room! Sweetie thought. She wasn't sure what made her sure of it, but she could feel it in her gut she was right. Ok... I doubt they would've made it easy to find... so it’s gotta be hidden really well... somewhere I wouldn't think of checking.

Sweetie looked around the room one more time before she got an idea. She checked all of the corners of the room... on her level. She had yet to look up though. Sweetie shined her light at the ceiling. Nothing was there, accept a candle chandelier. Sweetie saw how pieces of gold arched into each candle holder... though the odd thing was, one of the arches had a ridged ends and the candle holder was silver, rather than gold like the others. That was it! Her nozzle had been cleverly disguised as a candle holder. Hiding in plain sight.

Though Sweetie could now see the candle, the new problem was that she couldn't reach it.

Ok, I can figure this out. Just need a way to climb up there. Sweetie thought.

Sweetie considered using the dresser, but it was too heavy, and didn't look like it'd be high enough to reach the chandelier. The chair was the same. Sweetie then saw the sheet. She wondered if she could use it to climb up. She took the sheet fully off of the mirror completely exposing it. It completely broken, as Sweetie could barely see her reflection. Sweetie's mind went back to the fountain. The last time this happened, she saw orange ectoplasm trailing from it. Sweetie wondered if this could be how ghosts got around. Sweetie didn't see it as too strange, considering she at one point used a camera to transport to safety.

Sweetie rolled up the sheet, tightening it, twirled it around, and tossed it up to the chandelier. She missed her first time. The second time, she almost got it. The third time, the sheet licked across the arch in the chandelier. Finally, she managed to get the sheet to catch on one of the chandelier arches, looping over it. Slowly, making sure she didn't cause it to fall back down again, she moved her side of the sheet up, as the other side's tip returned to her. Once it made it to a level she could take it from, she took both sides of the sheet, and tugged, making sure it was firmly on. She took both sides, and started to climb.

Sweetie's upper body strength wasn't great, but it was enough for her to manage to inch her way up the cloth. Her arms felt weak as if they were going to give out on her. She forced herself to remain strong as she climbed. Finally, she made it to the chandelier. Sweetie looked up at the nozzle and hose. She took one hoof off of the cloth to reach out to it. She took it with her hoof, and grabbed the hose, which easily detached from the chandelier base.

"Got you." Sweetie said to herself.

"Got who?" Pinkie said as she phased through the ceiling, right next to Sweetie's face. The ghost mare scared the filly into letting go of the cloth and falling to the floor. She fell with a thud, groaning in pain on the floor. Pinkie giggled.

"Silly Jumpie. You aren't supposed to let go of the rope." Pinkie said. "Didn't think you'd see me again huh?"

Sweetie looked up at the ghost mare. She didn't know wither to fear the mare, or loathe her overly joyful attitude.

"I thought I hid that part extra well, dont'cha think?" Pinkie said.

"Y... you hid my stuff?" Sweetie asked as she got up. For a moment, she forgot her fear. "I thought you threw it away!"

"I know I did." Pinkie giggled. "But I just wanted to see how far you'd go to actually look for it."

Sweetie groaned rubbing her neck from the pain of the fall.

"Only one more part to find, huh?" Pinkie asked.

"Y-yeah? So?" Sweetie said. Sweetie figured it wouldn't be any use to trying to escape the mare now. Her only weapon was to keep the mare talking... and knowing Pinkie, that wouldn't be hard. Besides, the mare must have come for a reason... then again, this was Pinkie.

"I can't wait for you to find the last part. Then we can play!" Pinkie said, moving around behind the filly. She put her cold ghostly fore leg around Sweetie's neck. "I've been waiting all night for something to do."

"Play? Play what?" Sweetie asked.

"A game silly!" Pinkie grinned. "But first, I need you to do a couple things for your Auntie Pinkie."

A favor? That doesn't sound too promising. Sweetie thought.

"Oh, don't worry. It's nothing big." Pinkie said.

"S-stop looking at my thoughts!" Sweetie said. She sighed. She knew she wouldn't leave without honoring Pinkie's request. "What... what do you want?"

"Nothing you weren't gonna do already... but I need you to catch a few ghosts for me." Pinkie said. "Don't worry. Just two. Can you guess who one is?"

Sweetie thought. Someone who she was going to catch already.... the only people she could think of was one of her friends... that was Rainbow Dash... Twilight Sparkle... and Rarity...

"...Twilight?" Sweetie guessed.

"Good job! And how about the other one?"

".... Rarity?" Sweetie guessed again.

Pinkie made a buzzer noise. "Wrong!" She said smiling. "Actually, I want you to catch Dashie too."

"Rainbow and Twilight?" Sweetie asked. "Why would you want me to catch ghosts for you? Aren't they your... friends?" Sweetie wasn't sure if any of the ghosts considered each other 'friends' like she did with the CMC and her Mane 6. "

"Don't get me wrong. I love Dashie and Twi... though still, I can't play my game until they're out of the way. You'll start to see when you catch them." Pinkie said. "Kind of like... a surprise! I know how much you like surprises."

"I hate surprises." Sweetie said coldly. The last thing she needed that night was another surprise.

"I think you're gonna love these. Anyway, when you get that done, head back to the courtyard out there." Pinkie said. "Here, let me mark your map for you." Without the filly's permission, she reached into her bag and takes out her map. She opens it, exposing the mansion layout. She touched a part of the map that said 'Library'. A pink smudge was left in the area as she stuck it back in her saddlebags. "I'll be waiting for you, as long as you haven't lost the game by then. Kay?" Pinkie said.

"Ok." Sweetie responded.

"Well, See ya later. Good luck with the rest of that vacuum thingy!" Pinkie said, floating into the mirror. As she did, the mirror repaired itself, and was as if no pony had ever touched the thing. Left behind on the face of the mirror were words left in a pink sludgy ectoplasm:

Get Ready For A Party, A smiley face drawn on the side of the phrase along with some balloons and streamers.

***

Sweetie went back through the lobby and back into the auditorium. It was still well lit, so that meant that there weren't any ghosts nearby... then again, she did still feel a slight chill in the air when she opened the door. She also still had that bad gut feeling that something was out of place and wrong in the seemingly empty auditorium. Still, Sweetie only had one more part to look for, and she wasn't going to let some paranoia keep her back now.

Sweetie turned out her light, and put it back into her saddlebags, as she walked into the auditorium. As she did however, she suddenly felt lightheaded. The world seemed to move under her feet as she walked in, causing her to stumble over into one of the isles between the rows of viewing chairs. Sweetie shook her head, as she got up trying to regain her equilibrium. Thankfully, the feeling subsided after a few moments.

That was weird. Sweetie thought.

Sweetie started looking through the seats in the large auditorium, checking for anything that looked like her spectral containment pack. She walked up and down the aisles, looking for where it might be. She didn't see it anywhere. All of the seats in the auditorium were empty. Sweetie realized that the pack wouldn't be hidden so carelessly. It had to be somewhere... but where could she look in the massive auditorium-

Suddenly, Sweetie heard something. It was music... piano music. Sweetie turned her attention to the stage. The grand piano sat there, music emitting from it. Sweetie had heard the piece before and it was somewhat unsettling... it was the music of a death march. The sad, depressing sound of a death march that might be played at a pony's funeral.

Sweetie cautiously approached the stage, unknowing of whatever could be up there. She felt more dizziness come to her head, but she forced herself to stay up on her feet. Sweetie climbed the steps to the stage to investigate the piano. Before she could see what was behind the keyboard, the music abruptly stopped. Something banged against the inside of the piano, as if some pony were trying to escape its black cover. Sweetie rushed over to try and free whatever was inside, but found that it wouldn't lift. Sweetie noticed a lock on the side of the piano. Once Sweetie let go of the lock, the banging sound inside of the piano stopped. It was silent once again in the auditorium.

Sweetie tried to figure out what to do. Some pony was obviously trapped inside... but wither or not it was a friendly pony was the question that came to the filly's mind. It made her more hesitant to the idea of figuring out how to open the piano. Still however, Sweetie had a feeling that her pack was also inside of the piano, and therefore, she had to figure out how to get it open.

Sweetie investigated the surroundings of the piano. Sure enough, there was no key to the cover's lock. Maybe the piano player had it? Sweetie went around to the keyboard. No pony was there. What was happening? It couldn't have been a ghost, because the room was still lit. It also couldn't have been Applebloom, or she would have seen her. And Scootaloo was still down in the crypt, otherwise, she would have seen her on her way back. But she could have sworn there was music playing just a second ago...

Sweetie examined the keys of the keyboard, and found something peculiar on them. On the three wooden black keys, at the center of the piano, three letters were etched into each one.

A-C-T

Act? What the hay could that mean? Sweetie wondered. Then something clicked in her head. Sweetie went inside of her saddlebags to take out the note she found back in the church.

Forgive me my Celestia.
Forgive my children.
Forgive me my friends.
Forgive me my dear.
As my intentions do not matter anymore.
For I have committed an act to hurt us all...

Was there some kind of connection? Like a secret code in the note that corresponded to the note? Sweetie examined the note further, trying to figure out what it was trying to tell her. It was something related to the piano... related to music. Then she noticed the letters. The way the verses ended and began.

Forgive me my Celestia
Forgive me my children
Forgive me my friends
Forgive me my dear
As my intentions do not matter anymore
For I have committed an act to hurt us all

They were notes! Sweetie remembered this from music classes she took back at school. She may not have known how to play a piano fluently, or at all for that matter, but somewhere down the line she learned the keys of a keyboard. Sweetie wondered...

One hoof at a time, she started to enter the notes around the black keys with the word "Act" etched in. F, C, F, C, F, F, F, D, A, A, F, A. Once the song was finished, something inside of the piano clicked. One of the keys, the B, popped up. Inside of the key was... an actual key. Sweetie took the key out of the space in the keyboard, and went back over to the lock with it. To Sweetie's satisfaction, it was a perfect fit. She turned the key, and took the lock off of the piano cover.

Sweetie used the piano bench to get up to allow her to climb up, giving her better leverage on the piano cover as she lifted it with her tiny filly fore legs. She managed to flip it over. She looked inside of the piano.

She stared, with expressions horrified, shocked, and confused. Inside of the piano, was the spectral containment pack... right alongside her filly friend, Scootaloo, who lie there, cold, still, and breathless.

---

[Continue]

Comments

[Razalon The Lizardman]

When do you expect to be able to continue from the last chapter again? Or did Sweetie perma-die ala Fire Emblem?

[MetalBrony823]

Pinkie may be a ghost now, but she still is funny, and playful.. Keep up the good work!

[Luminous Lead]

"M-madame said she told " Her brain and body were still weak from the spell Sweetie knew something was wrong, but her brain wouldn't have it.

Something doesn't seem quite right with this sentence.