Chapter 1
Their were stories, stories about the house at the end of the street. It was a tall, white one, with the paint peeling and faded. A front porch with an overhang, white columns of support, and a crisscrossing foundation under it, missing many sections. And windows, barely covered by shudders, hanging and almost detached.
A house that had been abandoned for years. A house with stories that caused many ponies of the neighborhood to warn and keep their children away from it. But, being new to the neighborhood, Twilight's parents didn't know of the stories. The young filly had gone out to play for the day, her parents relaxing after working on unboxing. She soon met another young filly, who's family moved to the neighborhood just a few weeks before.
“Hi, Ah'm Applejack, what's your name?” The blonde maned filly asked as she approached Twilight.
“Oh, um, hi, I'm Twilight, my family and me just moved in.” She replied shyly, not being used to interacting with other foals her age.
“Mah family just moved here too, why don't we stick together, being the new fillies on the block?” AJ asked with a big smile.
“S-sure.” Twilight replied, smiling back.
The two started to run down the street, laughing together, and playing games. The two soon approached the abandoned house, slowing down as they came to stop in front of it.
“Woah, this place is creepy.” Twlight stated, shivering slightly, as she looked at the worn building. Applejack just stared, feeling a, strange draw to the place.
“Hello there dearies, could you help me with something?” Both fillies screamed, jumping and turning to look behind them, finding an elderly, green mare, standing behind them. “Oh, I'm sorry girls, I didn't mean to startle you. I'm Granny Smith, and I was hoping you could help me.” She told them, with a smile. The young fillies looked to each other, before slowly looking back to Granny Smith.
“W-what do you need help with?” Twilight asked her timidly.
“Well, one of my cats got out, and I saw her run into this house. I'm not as young as I used to be, and, searching such a big place, would take it's toll on me.” She nodded to them, “I was hoping you spry youngin's could maybe go look for her for me?” Again, the girls looked at each other, before turning back to the old mare.
“I, I don't know...” Twilight told her, still feeling uneasy about the place.
“We'll do it!” AJ exclaimed, still feeling the draw to the house, and using the cat as an excuse to follow it. Twilight turned to the other filly with a look of alarm.
“A-are you sure Applejack? It's just, this, place gives me a bad feeling...” AJ turned to her and smiled.
“It'll be fine Twilight, the cat couldn't have gotten that far, we can be in and out in quickly, and get back to playing.”
Not wanting to possibly lose her first friend, Twilight slowly, be hesitantly nodded, “O-ok Applejack, but, let's hurry.” The two turned towards the house, and started to trot towards it.
“I'll wait right here for you girls, see you in a bit.” Granny Smith called to them, watching them head up the old stairs, and to the door. They turned to look at her, and nodded, before turning back, and slowly pushing open the door.
The young fillies entered the dark house slowly, it barely being lit by sunlight streaming through the old, tattered window shutters. Twilight once again shuddered, feeling something just, wrong, about the place, while AJ, feeling the pull grow, started to follow it, heading down a dark hallway, towards the kitchen. Twilight squeaked, and quickly trotted to catch up the her, not wanting to be alone in the place. The soon reached the kitchen, looking around, before Applejack followed the pull, to a slightly opened door. She slowly pushed the door open, and found a set of stairs, leading into a basement, one that seemed to have a floor made of dirt, and white bits laying around.
As the door opened, the shuddering Twilight was feeling, shot up to full on alarms, telling her to grab Applejack, and get out of there. Before the other, green eyed filly, could even take a first step down, the other, purple eyed filly, grabbed her, and started dragging her back down the hall, to the front door that was still open.
AJ struggled, yelling at Twilight, “What are you doing, we have to go down there and look!”
Twilight kept pulling her, and yelled back, “No, we have to get out now, this place, it's bad, and wrong, we shouldn't be here!”
She soon dragged the struggling green eyed filly out the door, and on the porch, when the filly turned, and tackled her, sending them both tumbling off the porch, rolling through the grass, and bit of ways away from the house. Nether filly noticed the old green mare that sent them in, was missing. The struggled, with AJ trying to crawl back towards the house, with her purple eyed, friend trying to drag her back. The green eyed filly barely reached the the porch foundation, grabbing a stray branch sticking out from it, pulling on it. Suddenly, a faded, pale yellow wooden hoof, shot out from the same hole the branch was in, grabbing Applejack's hoof. She screamed, suddenly feeling the pull disappear, and turning back to look at Twilight. “Help me! Somethings grabbed me!”
The other other filly's purple eye's widened, and she started pulling Applejack back harder. She slowly started pulling AJ back, the filly screaming the whole while. As she was pulled back, the wooden hoof grabbing her was pulled with, soon, pulling out, what looked to be a yellow, pink maned, and winged filly their age, but made of old, worn wood. She slowly looked up at the two terrified friends, who both screamed louder, when the saw empty, black sockets, where eyes would be. The wooden filly slowly opened her mouth, and quietly said, “Please, help me. Please... Give me your eyes.”
Twilight pulled with all her might, when suddenly, the were both yanked back, towards the house, and wooden filly. They both froze, as they saw another wooden hoof reach out, and grab the first wooden pony. It slowly dragged forward, revealing another young wooden filly, this one pink, all over, from her mane to her fur. It looked at them with it's empty sockets, and repeated with the first wooden filly. “Please, help me. Please... give me your eyes.” The green and purple eyed fillies screamed, and pulled, when Applejack's hoof finally slipped free, the both jumped up and away from the wooden fillies, and ran, all the way back down the street, and into Twilight's house.
They jumped up onto Twilight's parent, who had been sitting on the couch, in tears, pressing their faces into the older ponies, and clinging to them tightly. Twilight's parents looked at each other wide eyes, then started to try and calm the trembling fillies. “Shush, shush, it's ok Twilight, what's wrong, what happened?” The young purple fillies mom asked her. The fillies told them what happened, while still crying into the adults, their words muffled, but still understandable.
The two looked to each other, with concern, patting the fillies. Twilight's mother reached down, putting her hoof under her chin, tilting her head up, to comfort the filly, only to scream in terror. As Twilight looked up, into her mother's eyes, the filly saw nothing, while Twilight's mother could only see bloody pits here her daughter's eyes used to be, the tears long having turned bloody. Twilight's father quickly found Applejack to be in the same state, and the adults quickly grabbed the fillies, and ran out of the house, to get them to the hospital. Neither of the adults noticed the green eyed, yellow pegasus filly, and purple eyed pink earth filly, playing in front of the restored white house, with an old, green earth pony, watching them from the porch, as they ran by.