Mansion on Haunted Hill [Closed]

Trails nodded to everypony on his way out to his quarters, well his and Bell's. He doubted the high class mare would be too keen on the idea of him hotboxing in the room, hopefully there'd be a window so they could compromise. As it was he was looking forward to a nice and easy stay in this overly paranoid buck's house. Morning would come, the old fool would see there was no ghost, and Trails would go on his merry way with a few more caps jingling in his saddlebags.

Cuppa smiled and nodded as Flash politely let her exit first. "Thank ya kindly, let's try an' find th' library quickly, dun wanna miss anythin' tha' might happen tonight." She said optimistically. "Ah jus' wanna try and see wha' sorta things supposedly happen, ya know? See if they can't be explained at all." Cuppa explained. "An' can't miss out on a chance t' read some ol' world books, ya never know what ya'll find in 'em."

Deus, like Rad, didn't now much about where they were, and she simply stared in response to his question. To be honest, she wasn't sure at all where she wanted to go next. She didn't really care, she was really just looking forward to seeing some ghosts. What they'd encountered so far didn't even register to her as supernatural.

(Gonna start using the Sub Warden for Sub Warden-y things)

Dash looked over to Ginger, "Maybe." he said, sounding unconvinced, "Although I bet that he has quite an extensive basement system, I mean, the guy bankrupted himself getting this place ready. But he probably uses all that space for storing food and stuff. Though I gotta admit, that chandelier thing was pretty damn freaky... I almost didn't get Winter out of there."

As the group began to split up into smaller sub-groups. Those who were good at paying attention would take note of a small plaque with a map of the first floor of the house located on it. These would come in useful, seeing as everypony's Pipbucks, like Kestrel's refused to pre-map out the mansion, displaying only static when the map screen would be brought up.


(Minus the labels stating the groups)

--

Kestrel was greeted on his way to the greenhouse by the cool wasteland night air. However, the wasteland darkness and silence... Not so much. The entire courtyard was illuminated by large magically powered lamps which were shining directly onto the leaves of four surprisingly healthy apple trees. They were likely the main renewable fresh food source for Soothb Sight and his family. Speaking of which, a unicorn pony Kestrel hadn't been introduced to was on a maintenance walk near one of the giant lights just above the third story line. The younger-looking unicorn buck was inspecting the giant light, making sure the magical bulb within was functioning properly. This sight may also direct Kestrel's attention to the buzzing-with-electrical-current mess of barbed wire draped over the entire courtyard at the roof level.

The doors to the greenhouse lay on the opposite side of the courtyard which had a concrete path leading to a circle which went around a small fountain. The fountain was in the shape of Princess Celestia with water spewing from her horn.

Kestrel walked out into the courtyard, and gave pause at what he saw. His sharp eyes wandering the trees and wires back to their sources. Sooth Sight hadn't been lying, this place was locked down tightly.

Memorizing the layout and giving the unicorn topside a quick glance, Kestrel continued to move onward towards the expanse of glass before him. As he did his attention was turned towards the massive statue of Celestia in the central courtyard.

The Griffon had never been one to truly 'believe' in Celestia's 'Grace', and perhaps that was distinctly apparent now as he stared at the statue and thought 'Why the horn?' instead of 'Oooohh pretty'. He looked the peice of artwork over for a second or so as he passed by, but after that he moved on like nothing worth seeing had been there.

It was only a short jaunt away from the statue towards the Greenhouse then, so without further adieu the griffon made his way inside.

Assuming all had gone well and nothing stopped him of course.

Ale stopped in front of the plaque that gave the layout of the first floor, conversing with dash as he studied the map. "Yeah no shit it was freaky." the unicorn stated matter-of-factly. "There is no way in tartaras that thing came down naturally, somepony or something brought it down." ale turned and started trotting down the hallway leading to the guest quarters. "And now we're locked in the same house with it." The two trotted past a royal guard shield hanging on the wall, two spears crossing behind it. "At least there's no shortage of weapons." ale commented.

Quickly looking at the map to find the nearest set of stairs to ascend, Cuppa took a moment to remeber the layout of the first floor of the mansion. "What're ya'll gon' be lookin' fer when ya get t' the' library Flash?" She decided to ask innocently, giving a raised brow in questioning that could only mean curiosity. "Ah mean, ah'm goin' t' see what ah can find based on magic, see if ah can kearn summint new, ya know?"

((This thread had quite a few problems from the beginning, including me having a near-breakdown and a 2-week stretch of complete inactivity resulting in alot of drop-outs and general discontent with how long the thread has lived. Depending on how many of you are still interested in this thread, I might drop or continue it. Please PM me or post in the plot planning thread what you think or contact me on Skype))

Alright, commencing the continuation...

Inside the Greenhouse, Kestrel found quite a collection of well-cared for plants of many descriptions. The place would be an alchemist's dreamland, with everything from exotic flowers from lands whos names may well be forgotten to those living in Equestria to more local flowers, bushes, and shrubs kept safe from the havok of Balefire. Most likely this garden was maintained for simple virtue of posterity.

The way everything was set up made the whole green house sort of like a maze of tall shelves of sun lamps and plants and taller plants, maing seeing any other side of the green house than the one he was near, impossible for Kestrel.

---

Winter looked to Trails, "I... I'm thinking I'll just go to bed now.. That whole thing with the chandelier its.. It just took a lot out of me."

---

On their way to their assigned room, Dash and Ale wouldn't immediately notice anything out of the ordinary from how the large hallway had been the previous time they had been in it.

Dash sighed heavily, "It could have been a trick by that Bane Silver mare... I know she also came under fire from it, but it gave her the perfect excuse to just suddenly come out of nowhere and be hostile toward us... That doesn't discount Sooth Sight either, though. That guy seems pretty magic savvy." Dash opened the box Sooth Sight had given to them and took out the key for the door, unlocking it before dropping the key back into the box, "Not that I want anypony to worry, but we should try to always be on our guard and try not to fall back onto something like ghosts."

The griffon, with what little he knew of botany and its intricacies, could not help but nod appreciatively at the vast collection of flowers and plants that dotted the room about him. A few he could recognize, Agave, Barrel Fruit, Tingle root, even a bit of Nirn to the east there.

Moving around Kestrel began looking for more plants that he knew, eventually coming across one that he knew a bit more intimately than the others.

The ever elusive, Primordia Smokeroot. Walking over Kestrel carefully appraised the little plant, its deep grey 'felts' and hearty green stem unmistakable.

Memories of days long past began to skirt about his vision, the painful voice of his long dead mother filling the griffons ears. A memory, pristine and fresh, dominating his consciousness; playing out like a movie.

"Kestrel, come here. I've something to show you" a griffoness said, her soft white fur dingy in places from the various trials of the wastes. Her eyes, though tired, shown with a matronly light that could only come from a mothers eye.

A younger griffon, still scarred and innocent, curious and smiling slid over to the voice. Kestrel's beak flexed as his tongue rolled the proper ways, forming the ever-familiar words. "Yes mother?"

The Griffoness reached into her bag, and pulled out a strange little blend of smokey grey roots, and a lesson began. The two talked, and the mother watched as her little one prepared a tea.

The first cup of the strong blend that he'd ever tasted. He'd been shocked by the flavor at first, hated and despised it so. Ironic, that it was only now, after maturing, much like the roots of the plant he observed had to, that he could enjoy it.

Turning his gaze away from the plant Kestrel blinked away the memories and began to wander to the previously hidden other side of the greenhouse; eager to see what else awaited him.

Ale trotted through the door and made a beeline for the minibar under the window, glancing through it to see what kind of view they had. None was the answer as a sheet of metal had been lowered over the exterior glass. "Figures." He thought. "Wouldn't be much of a lock-down if we could just jump out the window."

He opened the liquor cabinet and started pulling out bottles of various liquids. "Lets seeeeeee. Wine, Vodka, Absinthe, boring old beer, the classic whiskey. I have everything here to make any kind of drink." the unicorn announced. "What you fancy star boy." he asked the other pony in the room.

Dash looked over the drinks that Ale had mentioned. He wasn't familiar with alot of them. He mostly only drank alcoholic drinks to avoid dirty water which would make him sick. There was only one time in his life where he was sure he had gotten drunk, back when he was around 13 or so, "Eh... I guess I'll just have some Wine." he said. As he waited for Ale to get his own drink, the nickname he had been given, "Star-boy? Dash said, furrowing his brow, "Really? I think the nickname my mother had for me was cooler."

"Really?" ale asked as he poured some of the wine into a glass and levitated it over to the pegasus buck. "And what would that be?" Ale started to pour some of the alcoholic beverages into a cocktail shaker. "I swear if she called you dashie then i'm never going to let you live it down."

Dash raised an eyebrow at Ale as he was handed his cup of wine, "Dashie? Nah... My... My brother called me Dashie..." Dash said. He went quiet for a time, sipping his wine a bit before picking back up with what Ale's question had really been, "Right, but no, my mother called me Mittens. 'Cuz of these." Dash said, lifting up one of his hooves, showing the white-colored hoof that emerged from his charcoal coat right near where it would touched the ground, "Mom never really got all that many chances to call me that, though, Dad was more interested in making sure I was prepared for defending myself out in the wasteland."

"Mittens. Really?" Ale said almost dumbfounded. "Yeah defiantly a better nickname then star-boy." The unicorn screwed the top onto the shaker and began waving it next to him, mixing up its contents. "Your dad had the right idea though, teaching you how to survive. My pop started teaching me how to shoot before i could even read." Ale said with a laugh as he recalled on a happy memory from his foalhood.

He was back at his family's farm, A tall tan unicorn with a black and grey mane was walking a very young ale to the fence that marked the edge of their farm. "Now gingy, Your old man ain't as young as he used to be and he can't protect the house from every critter that comes beyond this fence. So I thought it was about time you learned how to use one of these." The older unicorn floated out a hunting rifle, the little colt's eyes lighting up at the site of it. What happened came next was in flashes. Fire, blood, gunshots, and crying, the crying of unicorn as he took his first real steps into the unforgiving wasteland.

Ale's eyes shot open, he'd though those demons had been laid to rest along time ago. "*Cough* so..um. What kind of stallion was your father, he still around?" Ale asked casually as he poured his concoction into a glass.

Dash looked over to Ale when he asked about his father, "My dad?" Dash repeated the question, more to organize his own thoughts, "Yeah, he's still around, so my mother. Wraith Bolt and Willow Whisper are their names. My dad... My dad was born was born up in the Enclave. From what my mom tells me, he was a military pony up until he was like 30 or so. He doesn't really talk to me much about what he had done during that time, or what his life was like, more about the skills and talents he picked up. He had me do exercises and training almost every day, and pushed me pretty hard during them. The only time he wasn't a hardliner during those was when I first learned how to fly. But aside from that, he's a pretty cool pony. He's got a pretty good sense of humor, he even played a prank on me after I had pranked him."

Dash took another sip of his wine, "Sometimes I wonder what the Enclave Pegasi side of my family is like... But it looks like it's never going to be for me to know." Dash went quiet for a bit as he finished his story. He was never sure if it was alright to ask another pony for his/her life story out here, but he finally decided to toss it out there, "How about your story?"

As Kestrel moved farther into the veritable maze of plants, something began to seem strange. Although the griffon's pace wasn't necessarily all that fast at the moment, it seemed as if the green house was much larger than one might initially anticipate.

The griffon would round one corner filled with plants and then another, down one aisle and then down another. Soon, even the edge of the greenhouse that Kestrel had entered from was lost from sight. As Kestrel rounded another corner, his sharp eyes would pick something up. Right at the edge of aisle he had just turned into, across from a table with Poison Joke growing in a set of troughs, something of roughly the same color and even texture of the plants behind it quickly darted around another corner, out of sight before the griffon could really begin to identify it.

---

"Just curious." Lightning said to Cuppa. The two followed what the map had shown into the West Wing of the mansion. Fortunately, it seemed as if the hallways had not rearranged themselves as Sooth Sight had warned that they had to previous visitors to the mansion. However, it seemed like the two levels above them would have different layouts from the bottom-most one due to the interior bridges the place had spanning the hallway on the levels above. Fortunately as well, the stairwell went all the way up to the thrid story, preventing them from having to traverse the second story at all.

At the top of the stairs was another set of stairs that implied there was an exit to the roof. Beyond the stairwell was a single simple hallway with several doors. From one of the doors were muffled voices of an angry mare and an apologetic stallion.

Kestrel had been enjoying his time in the greenhouse thus far. Documenting the various sorts of plants he knew, and reading the little plaques on those he didn't.

He'd just come around an asile and noticed the brilliant bluish-white leaves of some new plant when he was forced to stop. Something, there, beyond the leaves, was moving. For a moment he considered that maybe it was just some pony that was responsible for up-keeping the greenhouse...but that thought was ended rather quickly.

After all, ponies, despite all their color combinations, didn't come in 'plant' style.

Tracking the motion Kestrel ran a quick estimate of his position through his head. The figure had darted off down an adjacent aisle...perhaps it was setting up for an ambush. Eyes narrowing dangerously beneath the hard shell of his mask, Kestrel turned and began to move, crouching low and keeping quite as he crept along.

If the 'thing' wanted to hunt, so be it. Two could play this game.

Ale paused for a moment as he considered changing the subject, but not only would that be rude to ignore the buck's question, ale really though it was about time somepony else heard of his plight.

"My story..." Ale started. "Well I was born on a farm a few miles south of new loosa. My parents made a profit of selling crops and bramin milk to the town And I never really had to worry about the wasteland, my biggest concern was the odd gecko that wandered too close to the house. It was a good life...for a time."

The unicorn knocked back his mixed drink, he would clearly need the alcoholic effect for the next part. "One day when my pop was teaching me how to hunt...we came back to our house, ablaze, and a band of raiders, looting our possessions. Dad took out two of them before he got knocked to the ground. He...he made me watch! That fucking griffin made me watch as he gutted my father! And if that wasn't bad enough, for the next six years I spent my time in a cage. At the mercy of murderers." Ale looked visibly shaken by the memories. He sighed. "but at least there's some hope. I went back to my farm later, dad was still there, or at least what was lest of him. But I never found any trace of my mother." He chuckled a bit. "Hell maybe that's why i'm here. Maybe old sooth sight can tell me where she is." Ale said half heatedly as he turned to start mixing another drink. He also levitated the wine bottle over to dash. "Top off your glass?" He asked as casually.

Dash's ears flopped back when he listened to Ale's story, "Goddesses..." he breathed, "I'm sorry. I...I can't even imagine." Dash nodded quietly to the glass top-off, "I always knew I was lucky... Growing up in a veritable castle on an island defended by rows of artillery." He sipped some more of his wine, "But if Sooth could find your mother that'd be good. I'm not sure if he'd offer to use the spell some more, but I'm sure that everypony has a reason more than caps for coming over here. Then again, it is 2000 caps for just staying in a foofy mansion.

Cuppa followed the instructions given by Sooth Sight as well as she could, allowing her and Lightning to reach the third floor with ease. Looking down the hallway before looking back to Lightning again.

"Uhh.... He never said which door it was." She said idly, so she carefully and slowly walked down the hall, attempting every door to see what was in the room until she found the library.

She would avoid the door where the muffled voices were coming from, she didn't want to anger Bane Silver, nor interrupt the two with their discussion.

Cuppa and Lightning went around the doors, testing each to see if one was the entrance to the Library. Most were locked and didn't budge, however, a set of double doors opposite the room where it sounded like Bane Silver and Sooth Sight were speaking opened toward a hallway which went across a bridge towards the area where the dining room had been located on the 1st floor. On the other end of this was a another pair of double-doors which lay open, revealing that they lead into the Library.

The Library beyond was spectacular to say the least. Likely the tallest room that was confined to a single story of the house, the Library was a well-ordered, well-organized and well-labelled archive of pre-war knowledge. Everything from books of spells written by authors from Star Swirl the Bearded to Twilight Sparkle, to technical manuals for all manners of technology. It was clear why the Steel Rangers had once tried to take the mansion for themselves.

---

Kestrel stalked around the corner, hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever it was that was currently sharing the Greenhouse with him. As his mind entered a darker state with the onset of potential hostility, it almost seemed as if the environment around him grew darker. The darkness of the shadows underneath the rows of plants began swimming slightly, just as they had back in the main hallway.

Kestrel rounded the corner fully, to come face to face with something he was likely not prepared to see.

It looked like a mess of branches that had spilled over into the middle of the walkway between the plants, however, the branches were aligned and positioned in such a way that they looked as if they were arms and legs. The thing then turned, defying any preconceptions that it may have just been an overgrown plant. As it turned, the creature looked directly at Kestrel with two glowing red eyes.

Kestrel's Plant-Friend:

Then, there was a sudden noise of twigs and branches snapping behind Kestrel.

After long enough, Cuppa arrived at the library with Lightning still in tow, and the moment she saw the sheer amount of books here, Cuppa just stopped and ended up finding herself lacking in words as she simply gazed at the amount of books there were. Her back legs giving out under her and making her sit down as she stood at the doorway.

She could spend all night here, just leafing through the tomes of the past, learning whatever she wanted to learn and easily be safe for the whole night, she wouldn't even need to sleep. So she slowly drew herself back onto her hooves and entered the library for real, looking up at the high shelves in wonder. "Ah think ah'm gonna be 'ere all night, Flash...." She muttered as she instantly headed for the spell books. "Ah've gotta see wha' ol' world spells these books have. Ya never know wha' might come in handy, even useless spells can suddenly be really great when ya realise it, ya know." She explained to the blue pegasus. "Do ya wanna help?" She then asked.

The potential in this one room for amazing things was just mind-blowing. Cuppa could end up knowing anything about everything if she had this at her disposal any day of the week. She was already climbing a ladder to look at a few high-up spell books, carefully pulling them from the shelf and floating them down as she descended the stairs, setting them down as safely as possible on a desk before heading to retrieve a few more books.

She'd picked this book by Starswirl The Bearded, as it seemed far older than the one written by Twilight Sparkle, meaning it must've contained older, more useful spells, she could read Twilight's book of magic next. She'd try and even learn parlour tricks if she could.