> Initiation > by Zanem-Ji > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > I Wanna Be One Of The Cool Kids > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was dark. It was creepy. It was scary as hell. It was the abandoned Everfree Mansion. “I can’t believe we’re going through with this.” Diamond huffed out. She, and a few other ponies, had decided to go inside the Everfree Mansion. The old building loomed ominously over them as they looked up at it. Apple Bloom smirked, “What, are ya scared or somethin’?” Diamond lightly chuckled, “Please, I’m not a Scootaloo.” Scootaloo snorted angrily and looked over at the light pink Earth Pony, “Hey, you shut up!” The others in their group laughed at their banter. Ever since the Cutie Mark Crusaders had gotten their cutie marks (and of course, stopped crusading), Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had become close friends with the trio. They had been friends for almost eight years now, and over the years, more ponies from their elementary school days had joined the group, turning their tiny circle of friends into quite a gang. Babs Seed had moved to Ponyville to help work on her cousins’ farm. Twist had gotten a job at Sugarcube Corner, and it became the main hangout spot for their gang. Featherweight got a job working an internship as a photographer for Ponyville Daily. Snips and Snails had grown into strapping young stallions, and while they didn’t have jobs, they helped around Ponyville in anyway they could. Yes, their little clique that they had worked hard to maintain, had turned out to be something that they wouldn’t trade anything in the world for. And right now, they had things to tend to. They had come to the rundown old mansion for a reason, and they weren’t going to leave until it was done. “I heard a lot of ponies died in this place…” Twist stated in a quite tone. Snips gave her an evil smile, “That’s right…They say that this place used to be a gateway to Tartarus, and that there were two evil demons that lived here. They took the form of a married couple, and would kidnap ponies that got too close to the borders of the forest. Then, after they caught them, they’d torture them and kill them!” Twist covered her mouth with her hands, “Oh no!!” “Oh yes!!” he continued. “Eventually, A priest that worked in the Castle of The Two Sisters came to the mansion, and banished the two demons back to Tartarus! But…all of the poor ponies, who had been killed by the demons, their spirits still lived here. And of course, after being here so long, they wanted to escape. So, anytime ponies came here, they’d try to kick that pony’s spirit out of their body, and take over the body! When they did that, the spirit of that pony would be trapped here, until another pony wandered in here. So you better keep on your hooves, or you’ll be trapped here forever!!” When he finished, he belted out an evil laugh, causing the young mare to tear up. Sweetie smacked the back of his head, “Stop scaring her like that!” she scolded. “We have to do this if we want Rarity and the others to respect us and take us seriously!” “But, they’re only a few years older than us.” Featherweight stated. “It doesn’t matter, they’re freakin’ college students!” Scootaloo jumped in. “And we’re still in high school! We’ll never be as cool as they are, until we pass the initiation.” Silver clapped her hands together, “Then let’s do this!” They all nodded in agreement, before making their way inside. The house creaked loudly at their intrusion. Twist cowered behind Apple Bloom, “I want to go home…” Snails scoffed, “Don’t be such a Scootaloo.” “Seriously guys?! It’s been like 10 years since that joke came up!! When are you gonna stop using my name as an insult?!” Scootaloo questioned angrily. The house moaned loudly. Babs shot a look at the orange Pegasus, “Stop being so damn loud!” she whispered angrily. After the house stopped making sounds, they pressed on. Twist and Diamond were huddled up behind Snips. Babs, not fearing, or even believing in ghost for that matter, walked a little bit ahead of the group. Apple Bloom was a little jumpy, but nothing compared to the two Earth Ponies cowering behind Snips. Silver was bundled up against Snails, while Scootaloo, Sweetie, and Featherweight were talking. “So…what exactly do we have to do again?” Featherweight asked. “We have to stay in the bedroom of the demon couple.” Sweetie replied. “It’s on the fourth floor and supposed to be the room at the end of the hallway up there.” There was a heavy thump about 20 feet away. They all jumped. “What the hell was that?!” Diamond questioned. “It’s one of the evil spirits!” Twist screamed. “They’re coming for us!” Silver yelled. Diamond and Silver did a 180. They were about to break into a run, but Snails grabbed the back of their shirts, “Nuh uh!! You two aren’t going anywhere!” he looked back and forth between them. “You guys need to relax. This house is old, remember? It was probably just rats or something…” “Well those sound like some really, big ass rats.” Diamond stated. “Whatever, let’s just keep moving.” Babs ordered. And so they did. For about 10 minutes, all was quiet, save for the occasional squeak of floorboards and groans from the mansion’s foundation. When they finally made it to the hallway on the fourth floor, temperature seemed to drop. “It’s freezing…” Silver whined. Featherweight wrapped a wing around her. “It’s probably just a draft or something…” he replied softly. They slowly walked, avoiding cracks and holes in the floor. When they reached the door at the end of the hall, Babs slowly opened it. Inside, there was an old, sagging bed, surrounded by dusty, rotting furniture. They all made their way inside, took their place in the room, and sat down. “So why did they say it had to be this room again?” Babs questioned. “This is where the demon pony couple were destroyed by the priest, and sent back to Tartarus.” There was another heavy thump. Again, everypony froze. Another thump. “That was not a rat.” Featherweight stated. Sweetie’s horn suddenly flashed with a light green spark. Her ears perked up as high as they would go, “I sense something evil in here…” “Come…here…” a ghastly voice whispered out to them. The knob to the other door in the room started to rattle. It slowly opened, and a massive shadowy figure started to make it’s way out. The group was scared stiff. The figure let out a hideous cackle, “Fresh…MEAT!!!!” Everypony exploded into screams of terror, before stampeding to the bedroom door and squeezing through it. They raced down the hall. Silver screamed, “Somepony help me!” They all looked back. A dark, shadowy mist was consuming her. Sweetie ran back, her horn glowing bright green, and hot with magic, “You let her go!!” She fired a beam into the mist. Causing it to disperse. Silver hit the ground, hard. Sweetie grabbed her. Silver’s coat was now an ashen gray, and she shivered as she struggled to get up. “She’s freezing!” Sweetie shouted. “Something’s wrong with her!” “S-s-s-so…c-c-c-cold…” she whispered through chattering teeth. The dark figure was coming down the hall. Apple Bloom turned back and picked up the two mares. The figure roughly grabbed her shoulders, and she threw them down the hall. Babs caught Silver, while Sweetie landed on her hooves. Scootaloo ran past them to get to the Earth Pony. “NO! Scoots, go back!” Apple Bloom yelled as she was being pulled into the bedroom. “Save yerselves!!” The bedroom door slammed shut. Babs passed Silver off to Featherweight. She started to run down the hall, but Diamond grabbed her, “Babs, you can’t go back there! It’s too dangerous!” “My cousin is back there! I have to at least try!” There was loud banging in the bedroom. Suddenly, the bedroom door flew off of it’s hinges. Apple Bloom jumped out of the pitch black and started sprinting towards them, “RUN FER YER LIVES!!” “But you’re supposed to be possessed!” Snips yelled. Diamond grabbed him by his shirt collar and took off. When they all reached the second floor, they stopped to catch their breath. “I don’t…hear anything…anymore…” Featherweight stated between breaths, as he assisted the recovering Silver to her hooves. “Screw this initiation, I’m done.” Diamond stated. “Let’s go, Silver Sp-” Snips scoffed, “Figures…” Diamond leered at him, “What’s that supposed to mean?” “I mean, come on, Silver was the first to get caught. Not to mention, you two are the most jumpy, scary ponies in all of Ponyville. Maybe even Equestria.” “Okay, first of all, neither of us are as scared as Twist.” Silver pointed out. “Hey! Not nice…” Snips rolled his eyes, “Not really helping your case here.” “I feel like you’re stereotyping against us!” Diamond pointed out. Silver put a hand on her friend’s shoulder, “No! He’s a tribalist!! He probably still think’s he’s the master Pony Tribe!!” Diamond gasped and looked back at Snips, “You’re a tribalist?! What is wrong with you?!” “What? Where did you hear that?! I-” “So ya got a problem with us Earth Ponies, do ya?” Babs cracked her knuckles, “In this day and age? For shame, Snips. Now we gotta teach youse a lesson.” Snips pinched the bridge of his nose, “How can I be a tribalist? Apple Bloom is my marefriend!” The Earth Pony trio stopped. Their gazes fell upon Apple Bloom, whose face was now flushed crimson. Diamond got a snarky grin on her face, “So…when were you going to tell us about this?” “Now ain’t the time fer this!” Apple Bloom stuttered out. Scootaloo joined in their little group, face twisted into a strange smirk, "Bloomy and Snips, sittin’ in a tree-” “Shut up Scootaloo!!-” “K-I-S-S-I-N-G!!” Silver continued. “Now, this ain’t funny!-” “First comes love, then comes marriage-” Babs added. “Ah said SHUT UP!!” “Then comes the foal in it’s little carr-” There was a low growling, that interrupted the mares before they could finish their song. The group looked over at Featherweight, “Dude, I told you to eat before we left!” Snails scolded. “We know your stomach’s like a freakin’ black hole.” “I did eat!” Featherweight snapped. “That wasn’t me!” There was another growl, followed by a sharp bark. A split second later, a massive black wolf leapt out of the darkness, and stood in the middle of the hall. It leapt again, hitting Apple Bloom with enough force to make her stagger backwards. Suddenly, it phased right through her and slipped back into the dark. Her coat suddenly got pale, and she broke out into a cold sweat. “Holy shit, what was that?!” Snails shouted. “Ah think’ Ah’m gonna be sick…” Apple Bloom mumbled. Moments later, she gagged and threw up. Snips got beside her and started rubbing her back soothingly. “Seriously…what was that thing?” Snails repeated. “It’s was probably a demon dog from Tartarus…” Twist replied softly. “Welp, I think we’ve seen enough here!” Featherweight stated. “It’s time get out of here!” Babs turned to him, “Shut up, Feathers! We’re all trained in karate!” “Yeah, you may have your black belt, but I’m still a green belt!” Featherweight pointed out.” “That doesn’t mean you can’t protect yourself! Trust me, we’ll be fine-” She stopped when she heard soft whimpering. The others heard it too. “It sounds like a filly...” Twist stated. “We have to go find her!” The crying got louder, as if it was getting closer. Once again, Sweetie’s horn sparked with a little magic, “Something else is coming this way.” A few seconds later, a transparent little filly rounded the corner. She looked up at the group with big amber colored eyes. “Is…is she evil?” Snips whispered. Sweetie shook her head, “No…she’s okay.” “Maybe we can help her spirit.” Twist suggested. She looked down at the filly. “Come here, little one.” The child slowly walked towards them, wiping her eyes the whole way. Twist knelt down in front of her, “What’s your name?” The filly sniffed, “Whisper Willow…” “Do you mind if I just call you ‘Willow’?” The filly shook her head. “Why are you crying, Willow? What’s wrong?” Willow looked up at the group, “Because Mommy and Daddy won’t stop killing ponies…” fresh tears started to well up in her eyes, “And they’re about to kill you all too…” Twist’s face went pale. There was a scream that made their blood run cold. A hand reached out from the darkness and latched onto Sweetie’s shoulder, while another clamped around Diamond’s ankle. “I don’t wanna DIE!!” Diamond cried out. “Let me go, you freaky ass hand!” Sweetie shouted angrily. Apple Bloom kicked the hand off of Sweetie, while Babs stomped on the ghoulish hand that was holding Diamond. A pained screech echoed throughout the house as they all bolted towards the first floor. It was less than a minute before they made it downstairs, and were staring at the entrance door that was wide open. They all smiled, but their grins were wiped off of their faces almost instantly as a dark figure stepped out of the shadows and blocked their escape route. “You will not be leaving…” it spoke in a demonic voice. “You’ll be joining me, in Tartarus!!” The figure walked towards them in a sluggish manner, causing the group to back up. Babs squinted at the figure. Suddenly, she broke out into a furious sprint. “Babs, what are you doing?!” Diamond screamed. “Don’t do it!!” Twist shouted. Babs ignored them and kept sprinting. She reeled her hand back and bawled it up into a tight fist back as she got closer. When she was right in front of it, she slammed her fist into it’s face. Everypony froze as the figure hit the rotting wood floor. “Oh my Gods!” Diamond screamed. “You just knocked out a demonic spirit!!” “No I didn’t!” Babs replied, her Manehattan accent kicking in full force. “Demonic spirits don’t wear no damn boots!!” -MLP- “Assholes!” Snips shouted. “Every single one of you! You’re all assholes!!” Dash laughed, “You guys must’ve been scared out of your freakin’ minds!” Big Mac smirked and looked over at his orange furred sister, “Babs seems tah have a pretty powerful punch…” Applejack said something as she crossed her eyes to look at her bloodied snout, but none of them could understand her at the moment.” “Ah can’t believe the shit ya’ll put us through!!” Apple Bloom yelled. “What with the demonic spirits an’ all! Ya’ll didn’t really want us tah pass that initiation, did ya?!” “You guys took it way too far with some of the pranks.” Sweetie agreed. “Not cool…” The older group looked at one another. Rarity looked down at her younger sister, “Darling, what are you talking about? The only thing we were involved in was when Applejack dressed up and showed up. Oh, and a couple of the bangs you guys heard on the first floor.” The teens looked at one another, “You’re kidding me…” Featherweight whispered. “What did ya’ll see?” Big Mac questioned. “We saw a demon, it’s evil ass pet dog, the demon’s dead daughter, and a whole bunch of other crazy crap!” Silver replied. “You mean, you guys didn’t have anything to with that stuff?” Babs questioned. Applejack took the cotton balls out of her nostrils, “Ee-nope. We swear it on our lives.” She sniffed a couple times and then popped them right back in. “When we had our initiation, we had a couple things happen to us.” Rarity replied. “Nothing crazy, but it was still absolutely dreadful and terrifying. And of course, we still passed.” The younger teens all jumped up and pointed at the college students. With a smile on their faces, they all shouted in unison; “We passed your stupid initiation, BITCHES!!!!!”