An uneasy silence hung in the air as the group marched forward through the darkened corridors. Nobody was able to overcome their feelings of dread and sadness for long enough to start up a conversation. The group merely followed Brimstoke aimlessly as they dwelled on what just happened, and what they were doing. Their goal was clear enough, they had to find Princess Luna and escape, but their odds of succeeding were as shady and unclear as the darkness around them.

Following the path that led further into the basement and into the unknown, everyone darted their eyes around anxiously. If not to find a sign of the princess or the elusive red symbol, then to scan for any sign that they were being watched by one of the three spirits.

Twilight glanced around at her friends to see how they were holding up. As expected, Glimmer Shine was sullenly walking off to the side. Fluttershy was looking down sadly while trembling slightly, as if she were trying to compose herself. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were walking alongside the yellow mare, trying to offer her comfort in some way. Despite their best efforts at appearing strong, even they were dealing with an overwhelming feeling of sadness. Thankfully however, any wounds they had received from the ghost were healed by either Tom or Glitterball, so the baggage they were carrying was purely emotional.

Twilight shrugged sadly before returning her attention forward. She couldn’t believe that things had come to this point. Numerous guards and two of their close friends had died since they came to the mansion. If the purple unicorn and her friends couldn’t find the final symbol to suppress the ghosts, then they might perish as well.

“How are you holding up?” Tom asked while glancing back to the purple mare with a concerned expression. Twilight had to take a minute to gather herself to even pretend to smile in response. She had just survived a ghost trying to torture her and her friends, not to mention witnessing Peppermint getting brutally stabbed and slowly dying.

“Umm… about as well as can be expected. Heh…” Twilight tried her best to brighten her own spirit. “How about you?” She asked curiously while thinking back to the way the human was acting before.

“I’m doing better, but I’ll be really happy once we find the princess and get out of here.” Tom stated while looking around uneasily. Twilight nodded in silent agreement while scanning her head around the area.

Meanwhile at the front of the group, Brimstoke and the others were trying to find out where to go next. The white stallion was holding up his locator and scanning it back and forth. The thin line of red light that covered the sand at the side of the vial was barely an indicator of which path to take.

“Got anything?” Sunspot asked curiously while leaning closer to look at the stallion’s locator.

“I’m picking up something in this direction, but it’s too far away to pinpoint.” Brimstoke explained with an annoyed shrug. Every time he waved the vial to the side, the red light would shift to the other side too fast to determine where the signal was coming from.

“Do you think we should turn here?” Glitterball asked while glancing down a fork in the hallway coming up on the right. Sunspot and Brimstoke tried their best to interpret the readings from both of their locators.

“Your guess is as good as mine Glitter… I can’t make heads or tails of this. Maybe we can get closer if we head down there?” Sunspot pondered while shining her flashlight down the hallway. There were more open doorways leading into rooms, just like all of the other hallways they had seen.

“Let’s see if there is another fork further down. We should make sure we get as close as possible before wandering off.” Brimstoke suggested while turning to look down the corridor in front of the group.

“Whatever gets us out of here quicker is fine by me.” Glimmer Shine said in a dull tone while walking down the hallway ahead of the group. The yellow stallion seemed to be uninterested in the outside world. So much so that he didn’t seem to care about walking down a dark hallway on his own with ghosts on the loose. The others shared a concerned glance with each other before walking to catch up with their friend.

Twilight and the others watched anxiously as the team of ponies checked their locators feverishly, waiting for the red light to become solid enough to warrant them changing direction. They silently worried that the life signature that they were following wouldn’t even lead them to the princess. A few of the ponies briefly entertained the fear that they would somehow find the ghosts at the end of the trail, but such an idea was just silly paranoia as the locator was designed to find living things.

The soft noises of the house creaking around them were enough to make the more sensitive members of the group dart their heads around fearfully, while the others merely looked around uneasily. Everyone felt like they were walking towards some sort of unseen danger that was just waiting to jump out at them from a darkened room.

Finally, as the group looked up they noticed another fork in the hallway coming up. Everyone gathered around and peered down the hallway as Brimstoke and the others scrutinized their locators. The red light on the sand was more definable in the direction they were pointing, but whatever the source was still had some distance to the left.

“I think we should walk this way now. Whoever this is is probably in a room further down there.” Brimstoke suggested while pointing the vial between the two directions.

“I don’t know… maybe it’s down this way. Maybe there’s a room that leads into another room or something.” Sunspot said while walking a little further down the straight path.

“This place is pretty confusing… what do you think guys?” Brimstoke asked while looking to Glitterball and Glimmer Shine for their opinions.

“I think you’re right… we should probably go right. It looks like we might overshoot it if we go any further straight.” Glitterball said in an uncertain tone. She glanced between her teammates’ vials and compared them to her own reading.

“I don’t know guys… I don’t want to make the wrong choice and spend another ten minutes walking in circles.” Sunspot said uneasily while looking to the others. She frowned uncomfortably while thinking about the possibility of Twilight and the others getting hurt if they ran into trouble.

“I think we should go right.” Tom spoke up from the back of the group with an uneasy tone that the others failed to pick up on.

“Well… maybe Sunspot is right? We could find another way around further ahead if it doesn’t work out.” Rarity suggested in an attempt at getting a compromise.

“Thank you Rarity.” Sunspot said with a pleased smirk while glancing between her teammates.

“No guys, I don’t think you understand… I really think we should go r- *Gasp*” Tom was interrupted mid-sentence as a puff of blue mist escaped his mouth, filling the air with a harsh and chilling sound.

Shortly after the human’s outburst, a collective buzz filled the air as Brimstoke and his teammates’ other locators lit up. The liquid in the vials was glowing in the direction of the straight hallway while buzzing and vibrating against their vests.

Everyone quickly went on full alert as they directed their attention down the corridor in front of them. Sunspot backed up a few steps as another set of echoing footsteps started coming down the hall. Fluttershy cowered nervously behind her friends as they all stared into the darkness at the edge of the flashlights’ reach. Twilight and Glitterball lit up their horns in preparation to defend themselves as the others reached for their strobes.

“What is it?” Pinkie Pie asked nervously while holding onto Applejack for support. The orange mare could feel the pink pony shaking her entire body as she vibrated from fright.

“Feels like one of the ghosts, but I haven’t felt this one before.” Tom said while making his way to the front of the group and using his senses a few more times.

“So it’s not the scissor lady… that’s good, right?” Rainbow Dash asked in a hopeful tone.

“What if it’s that man again?” Fluttershy asked with a growing feeling of fear building in her core. She could feel her legs wobbling as she thought about the ghostly human capturing her and her friends again.

“It’s probably not him… it took him a while to come find us again after we found you the first time.” Brimstoke said in an attempt at easing the yellow mare’s fears.

“But that means that it’s the guy that chased us… the one with the axe.” Glitterball said in an uneasy tone. Applejack, Rarity, and Sunspot suddenly became a lot more nervous as they thought back to their experience with the axe wielding spirit.

“Do you think we can take him?” Sunspot asked while glancing to the others and sizing up how much firepower they had.

“I don’t know if fighting him would be a good idea… he dodged every shot Glitter fired at him when we saw him.” Rarity said uneasily.

“And I’m not sure if Tom is up for fighting another one of them directly.” Twilight said in a concerned tone while looking to the human to see how he was doing. He looked better than before, but he still looked a little tired.

“I can still fight him… but I’m not sure if I can win if he is as strong as that woman.” Tom said in an attempt at lifting the others’ spirits.

“Is he as strong as that woman?” Rainbow Dash asked nervously while listening to the footsteps getting closer.

“Yes… definitely yes.” Tom replied in an uneasy tone. The human’s confidence in how powerful the ghost was only made the others even more nervous.

Meanwhile, the footsteps were getting louder and louder. The ponies watched the darkness ahead of them for any signs of movement. They could practically see what they imagined to be the dark outline of the ghostly human getting closer to them. They didn’t have to imagine for long however as a dark silhouette actually appeared and slowly approached the light.

“We better decide a plan of action fast! We’re out of time guys!” Glitterball said uneasily.

“What do we do Brimstoke… run or fight?” Sunspot asked while looking to her leader for advice. Brimstoke looked around the group uneasily. Everyone was nervous or afraid, but most of the ponies seemed to be willing to fight if it came to it.

“Run… let’s get out of here!” Brimstoke said while quickly backing towards the hallway on the right and motioning for the others to follow.

Twilight and the others ran ahead as Sunspot and Glimmer Shine stayed behind them. The two ponies glanced behind them while running to see if the human was following them. The lack of an axe wielding maniac running behind them at least told the group that the ghost wasn’t rushing to chase them.

“Should we duck into a room and hide? Maybe those charms of yours can hide us from the ghost.” Twilight suggested while looking to Brimstoke at the front of the group.

“No, that wouldn’t work. The suppression charms only have enough range to protect the wearer and maybe one person that’s really close. There aren’t enough of us to keep all of you hidden… even if we huddle up.” Brimstoke replied while watching his locator to try and determine where they were running to.

“Well maybe we won’t have to. It looks like he isn’t following us.” Glitterball said in a hopeful tone.

“No, it looks like he isn’t running after us. He’s probably still back there if I know him… that creep chased me and the others all around the outside of the house.” Sunspot said in an uneasy tone.

“We need to hurry up and find the princess. How close are we to that signature, Brimstoke?” Glimmer Shine asked urgently while trying to glance at the white stallion’s vial as he ran. Suddenly, the light on the sand in the vial made a sharp shift to the left side.

“Everyone turn this way!” Brimstoke yelled while ducking into a room on the left. Everyone skidded to a halt and nearly slid past the room before following the stallion inside. Once everyone made it in, Tom closed the door that was miraculously present.

Rainbow Dash walked up to the door and looked for a lock. She would feel a lot better if she had some kind of barrier between her and the spirit. Finding a small lock on the door handle the pegasus started to reach for it, before she was stopped by the human.

“Don’t bother… he’s a ghost, remember? He can walk through walls.” Tom explained in an uneasy tone.

“Oh that’s just not fair.” Rainbow Dash shrugged in frustration before catching her breath and walking over to the others. Everyone was gathered in the middle of the room while taking a look at their surroundings.

The room the ponies found themselves in was another medium sized one full of assorted boxes and a couple of shelves off to the left side. There were pipes running along the ceiling, along with a few cracks that ran all the way down to the right wall. There were two open doorways at the far end of the room on the front wall and the right wall. Both doors led into more darkness that concealed the rooms beyond.

“Well… that pretty much confirms that all of the ghosts can come down here. Hopefully we don’t run into that scissor lady down here as well.” Twilight said while silently questioning her belief in bad luck and jinxes.

“We might have lost him for now, but he will probably find us soon. Where do we go from here?” Sunspot asked curiously while looking to Brimstoke for advice. The white stallion brought up the vial full of sand and pointed it forward. The red light in the vial was focused on the sand at the front of the bottle, indicating that whatever they were looking for was at least straight ahead of them.

“Looks like we go forward… hopefully it isn’t too much further.” Brimstoke said in a hopeful tone.

The group crept forward and hesitated at the doorway to the next room. They looked inside and scanned their lights around to get a better look. The room was a larger one full of shelves and medical tables. There was another doorway at the far end of the room which most likely led to whatever the ponies were trying to find. Everyone hoped that they would find a familiar blue alicorn at the end of this wild goose chase.

Brimstoke led the others into the open room while holding his locator in front of him. The red light was getting bigger and bigger. By the time the ponies made it half way through the room, the light was filling half of the vial.

“I think we’re close… really close.” Brimstoke said while glancing into the open doorway ahead of him. There seemed to be an opening out into another hallway. However, there was another doorway on the far wall that actually had a door, which was closed.

“Yeah… but close to what?” Sunspot asked with a twinge of unease in her voice.

Everyone walked out into the hallway and scanned their heads left and right to get a better look at their surroundings. Finding no sign of any spirits in the lengthy corridor, the ponies turned their attention to the door ahead of them.

“Well, whatever it is, it’s in there.” Glitterball said while looking at her own locator. The sand in the vial was almost fully aglow with red light, indicating that the source of the reading was directly ahead.

“Do you think it’s the princess?” Fluttershy asked in a concerned tone.

“What if it’s one of the hooded ponies?” Pinkie asked nervously while staring at the door with a hesitant expression.

“I don’t think the hooded ponies are even here anymore… they left that creep Shadow Mist and a few workers here and ran away with their tails between their legs.” Rainbow Dash said with a clear twinge of disdain in her voice.

“Still, we should be careful. Maybe it’s another group of hoods that holed up before everything happened.” Rarity cautioned the group nervously while distancing herself from the door. The last thing she wanted to find was another group of potentially dangerous ponies on edge.

…Ugh…

Suddenly, a muffled voice came from the room on the other side of the door. The voice was barely loud enough to hear, but it sounded like the owner was in pain. Twilight immediately recognized the voice to be one she had heard many times before.

“That’s not one of the hooded ponies!” Twilight exclaimed before rushing forward and grabbing the handle of the door. The door swung open with a brief and loud creak, allowing the unicorn to rush inside before anyone could even realize what she was doing.

The purple mare entered the room and frantically looked around with her light illuminating everything in the area. The room was wider than it was long, with the far side of the room extending beyond the reach of the unicorn’s light. At the edge of her sphere of light, Twilight saw a dark silhouette on the floor that seemed familiar to her. She started to rush forward to see who was in the room with her, but she only made it a few steps before she stopped suddenly from shock.

Just as the unicorn had suspected, the figure on the floor was in fact Princess Luna, but the state she was in was horrific to say the least. The alicorn was covered from head to hoof in bloody cuts and bruises. Her body was chained to the wall by a rusty looking shackle around her waist, and there was a pair of hoof cuffs around her front legs that had strange symbols inscribed into them.

“Princess!” Twilight gasped in shock at the sight of the injured alicorn. She rushed forward and knelt down in front of the princess while she remained on the floor with her eyes closed. Miraculously, Luna groaned as she opened her eyes and started to stir.

“Ugh… Twi..light?” Luna spoke in a weak tone while trying to raise her head to look up at the unicorn. Her neck shook as her muscles failed to carry her weight.

“Don’t strain yourself… it’s ok princess, you’re safe now.” Twilight said in a comforting tone while assessing the blue mare’s injuries with a concerned expression.

“Sweet Celestia…” The sound of Sunspot’s voice, followed by the shocked gasps of her friends alerted Twilight to their presence. She turned around to see the group staring at her and the injured alicorn next to her with their jaws agape in horror.

“What happened to her?” Brimstoke asked in a concerned tone while rushing over to assist the purple mare. Glimmer Shine and Sunspot raced to help their leader to free the princess from her chains while everyone else gathered around and watched fearfully while staring at Luna’s poor state of health.

“I don’t know… from the look of it she must have been captured by that ghost just like we were.” Twilight said in a worried tone while looking to the magic suppressing hoof cuffs on the princess’s front legs. Judging from the wounds on her body and the obvious fact that she was held against her will, the symbols on the cuffs must have been powerful enough to suppress even Luna’s magic.

“Yes… that is right… guh.” Luna muttered while breathing heavily. She looked like she was fighting just to catch her breath.

“Don’t worry Princess, we’ll have you out of here in no time.” Brimstoke said while stepping closer and fishing his cutter out from his vest. Glitterball and Sunspot held the chain still as the white stallion started cutting it free from the wall. Once the sound of the chain breaking free rang out, the blue alicorn started trying to get up. Although she was faltering and cringing in pain, she was slowly making progress on getting to her feet.

“You should rest Princess. It looks like you’ve lost a lot of blood.” Twilight suggested with a worried expression.

“I’ll be alright…*pant* Can… can you please get these bonds off of me?” Luna asked in a sincere tone while looking over to Brimstoke and his team. Due to her jittery muscles and general weakness, she only managed to slightly turn her head towards the others.

“Of course ma’am… Glitter, can you get that shackle off of her? I don’t feel comfortable using the cutter that close to her skin.” Brimstoke asked while bending down and fishing a key off of his vest to open the cuffs.

“I’ll try my best.” Glitterball replied with a slight twinge of nervousness in her voice as she lit up her horn and focused her magic on the shackle around Luna’s body. She didn’t want to hurt the alicorn any more than she already was, but she was faced with the task of opening a locked shackle around her waist.

“Hold still Princess, I’ll see if I can get this shackle off of you.” Glitter said in a gentle tone while offering the princess a reassuring expression. Luna smiled softly and nodded in response. Despite her attempts at appearing cheerful, the alicorn’s pale appearance and jittery movements made everyone worry for her.

Everyone watched as Glitterball strained her magic to unhook the shackle by force. Luna felt the shackle moving slightly as the unicorn pulled on it with all of her might. After a few moments of grunting and heaving, the hefty shackle popped open and clattered to the floor, freeing the blue alicorn.

Luna slipped her front legs out of the hoof cuffs as Brimstoke finished unlocking them. She groaned painfully as she stood on trembling legs. Her body was covered in painful looking cuts, which had obviously robbed her of much needed energy through blood loss.

“Thank you everyone… I am so glad that you found me before that dreadful spirit returned.” Luna said in a grateful tone while managing a genuine smile despite her tired exterior.

“What happened to you Princess? Those wounds look awful.” Rarity asked in a concerned tone.

“After I got separated from Tom, I tried to find another way to get upstairs. It didn’t take long for this terrible man to find me. He must have knocked me out, because the next thing I remember was waking up here with these shackles on me. He tortured me for what seemed like an eternity until he left me here. I thought I was going to die in here.” Luna explained with an uneasy tone of voice.

“Here… let me heal you.” Tom suggested while stepping forward and holding his hand out to the alicorn’s body. The princess pulled away from the human before he could start the process of healing her injuries.

“No Tom… I appreciate your concern, but you need all of the energy you can get. You look so weak… I assume that ghost did the same thing to you as this one did to me?” Luna asked in a concerned tone.

“Yeah… but she could only stuff me into a locked room. I guess there weren’t any chains lying around for her to use. This family is messed up… all three of them.” Tom said with an uneasy shrug.

“Three? There are three of them?” Luna asked with a surprised expression.

“Yes. The ones that attacked both of you, and one that carries around an axe that attacked me and the others outside.” Sunspot explained uneasily as she recalled her experience with the third spirit.

“And what of the guards that were outside with you?” Luna asked in a hesitant tone. Judging from the look on the orange pegasus’s face, she could already gather the answer without a word being said.

“They… didn’t make it.” Sunspot explained while looking down somberly.

“I’m just glad that you made it out of there with your life Sunspot. If only we had a way to give those spirits the retribution they deserve.” Luna said in a frustrated manner while trying to think of how she would lead the others to victory. Now that they had freed her, she wanted to take responsibility for everything again, but she had no idea what to do.

“Don’t worry about that, Princess. We found a way to beat the ghosts using the symbols that Shadow Mist used to summon them.” Twilight stated in a reassuring tone while offering the alicorn a confident expression. Luna seemed surprised by the prospect that the group had discovered a method of disposing of the spirits.

“Really?” Luna asked in an amazed tone. She would have to slap herself later for doubting Twilight Sparkle and her group of friends and their ability to persevere through hardships.

“Yes! All we have to do is use magic to overload the three seals, and we’ve already finished two of them!” Twilight said with excitement brimming in her voice as the thought of escaping the mansion with her life and her friends intact became closer to reality than it had ever been since the ghosts showed up.

“That is wonderful! I knew I could count on you all to find a way out of this terrible mess.” Luna said with newly found enthusiasm. If it weren’t for her many bloody cuts, she would look like nothing was wrong with her for once.

“Now that everyone is here, we can start looking for that last symbol. It should be down here in the basement somewhere.” Glimmer Shine explained in a relieved tone. Now that they had found the princess, anything else that came their way would be a cake walk. However, the stallion’s words weren’t uplifting to the blue alicorn. In fact, Luna found them to be rather confusing.

“Everyone is here? What about Neon Streak and Peppermint? Where are they?” Luna asked in a curious tone while double checking the room to see if she just hadn’t seen the two among the crowd of ponies. The mere mention of the two names made everyone’s newly gained happiness and excitement vanish, only to be replaced by uneasy silence and somber expressions.

Twilight and the others looked to Glimmer Shine to see how he was reacting. The princess obviously didn’t know about anything that had happened since she was captured, but that wouldn’t make hearing about his brother and having to hear a conversation he wanted to forget any easier for the yellow pony.

Luna slowly realized what the group was insinuating with their eyes. They looked like they wanted to speak up and explain it to her, but everyone was too pained and uneasy to talk about it. She frowned in disbelief while looking to someone, anyone, to speak up and tell her that it wasn’t as bad as she was thinking.

“They’re dead…” Finally, the silence was broken by two somber words. However, they came from a person that the group least expected them to. Glimmer Shine was somehow looking up at the princess with a somber and pained expression. Before, the stallion would look down to the floor at the mere mention of his brother, but now here he was offering the alicorn a blunt and matter of fact statement.

“Oh my… I… I…” Luna gasped in shock and covered her mouth as she recoiled slightly from hearing the news. She looked around with panicked eyes to see the others turning away sadly or offering her sad expressions. A solid few seconds passed by as she processed the initial shock of hearing that two of her trusted team members were dead. The princess gasped in shock again as she settled her eyes on Glimmer Shine and realized why everyone was so shocked to see him in such a composed state. Despite his courage, the alicorn could see the yellow stallion fighting back the urge to cry. Losing Neon Streak would have been bad enough, but Glimmer had lost his brother along with a close friend.

“I’m so sorry Glimmer Shine. I’m so sorry…” Luna said the only thing she could think of while moving closer to the stallion and placing a hoof on his shoulder. Glimmer Shine could no longer bring himself to face the alicorn, or anyone else for that matter, as he stared at the floor and tried to refrain from crying in front of a princess.

“This is all my fault… if I had just listened to my sister when she offered to help, none of this would have happened.” Luna said in a forlorn manner while hanging her head low with a saddened expression. She was surprised to suddenly feel Glimmer Shine gently removing her hoof from his shoulder. As she looked up expecting to see him with a depressed expression, she instead saw that he had a surprisingly relaxed expression.

“None of this is anyone’s fault princess… least of all yours.” Glimmer Shine said in a reassuring tone. “We’ll have plenty of time to mourn our losses after we get out of here. I don’t want Shadow Mist and the others to get away with this, and there won’t be many people left to hunt them down if we die in here. Don’t you agree?” He asked while managing a small smile.

Luna was completely flabbergasted as she looked at the stallion in front of her. He should have been bereft with grief, but he was somehow putting on a brave face for long enough to console her. It should have been the other way around. The blue alicorn had let her emotions get the better of her in the moment, but she never expected Glimmer Shine to be the one to offer her reassurance. Still, it was easy to see that the yellow pony was still hurting underneath his hollow smile.

“Right… you’re absolutely right.” Luna said in a more composed tone. The others were happy to see that the blue alicorn was keeping a relatively cool head. As much as they wanted to sit down and cry over the ones they had lost, they had a more important matter to attend to, escaping the mansion with their lives.

“Now, you said that all we need to do to defeat these ghosts is to overload the final seal?” Luna asked curiously while turning to Twilight for an answer. The purple unicorn shrugged as she realized that they were now at another dead end.

“Yeah… but we have to find it first. We’ve been through most of the basement by now, and we haven’t found any sign of it.” Twilight explained in a disheartened tone while looking around at the others. Everyone else had equally drained expressions on their faces as they slowly gave up hope of finding a way out of the mansion.

“Well, I don’t know. We haven’t been looking in all of the rooms… maybe we missed it?” Pinkie Pie suggested in an innocent tone, blissfully unaware of the full implications of her statement. Everyone groaned in dread as they thought of the prospect of searching the basement high and low for a single patch of red paint.

“Relax everyone. I think I might have an easier way to find that symbol.” Luna said in a confident manner.

“What…? Really?” Twilight asked in a curious tone. The purple mare’s guarded sense of doubt was felt by most everyone in the room. However, they were a little more confident that the princess knew what she was doing.

“Yes… I know a locator spell that can detect magical energy signatures. If we are fortunate, I will be able to use it to ascertain the location of the last seal.” Luna explained in a hopeful tone while looking around at the others. Everyone felt their spirits’ lifting slightly from even the proposal of a plan that was sound in design.

“That’s great, Princess!” Twilight said in a cheerful manner. She was more hopeful and confident than she had been in a long time.

“Here, just give me… ugh… just give me a moment.” Luna cringed painfully as she tried to light up her horn. Just moving around seemed like it was causing her pain, so using her magic was a far stretch given the weakened state she was in. Suddenly, her front legs buckled and she nearly fell to the floor.

“Princess!” Twilight exclaimed in a worried tone while racing forward to catch the alicorn as she fell to her knees. Brimstoke rushed forward along with the purple mare to assist the princess. Luna barely managed to keep her back legs steady as she rested on the floor.

“Ugh… s-sorry… I… I felt a little lightheaded all of a sudden.” Luna said while working her way back to her feet with the assistance of the two ponies holding onto her. Despite the fact that she was now standing, the alicorn was taking shallow and rapid breaths.

“Oh my gosh… you’re shaking so much.” Twilight said in a concerned tone while observing the sickly alicorn. “*Gasp*… and you’re freezing.” She widened her eyes in shock as she reached up to feel the princess’s forehead. Her skin was pale, clammy, and icy cold.

“Don’t worry about me… I’ll be fine after we find that symbol and get out of here.” Luna said while trying to put on a strong front for the group. The fact that she had to pause to catch her breath every few words made it so nobody believed the alicorn’s statement.

“I’m not sure if you should be using magic right now Princess. I really think you should take a minute to rest.” Twilight suggested in a ginger tone while pleading with her eyes to get the alicorn to conserve her energy.

“Maybe you should let Tom heal you Princess? You can barely stand… surely he can spare enough energy to make you feel better.” Rarity suggested while looking to the human for confirmation. Although the boy was still weak from earlier, he looked like a million bits compared to the sickly alicorn.

“Yeah, it would be no problem. I can manage healing you at least a little bit.” Tom said in agreement with the others. Everyone looked to the blue mare with concern in the hopes that she would listen to reason.

“No… no, I’m fine. I just need to catch my breath.” Luna said while forcing all of her feelings of pain and weakness inside and putting on a smile. “I can do this. Once we get out of here, you can worry about me all you want. But for right now, I’m going to find that symbol.” She said in a sincere manner.

Twilight looked around at the others to see their opinions on the matter. Everyone seemed uncertain about what they should do. Twilight herself still felt like the princess should rest, but she couldn’t very well make the decision for her, as much as she wanted to just hold her down and sick Tom on her.

“Ok… just take it slow and easy for us.” Twilight said in a concerned tone. Luna nodded silently while flashing a brief smile.

Everyone watched anxiously as the princess lowered her head and concentrated. Luna groaned from exertion as she strained to get her horn lit up. Slowly but surely, a brilliant blue glow enveloped the alicorn’s horn as magic started flowing through her.

Although her legs were shaky, and she was straining herself heavily, Luna was seemingly succeeding with her spell. A magical buzz filled the air as the glow on the blue mare’s horn grew slightly brighter for a moment.

“I think I found it… Ugh… t-this way.” Luna said while letting her horn die down and slowly walking towards the door. Everyone followed the princess at a slow crawl as she led them out of the room.

After slowly making their way through the other rooms and back out into the hallway, the group turned left and started trekking into new territory. But now, instead of walking forward without much of a purpose, the group actually knew where they were going. Still, the newfound feeling of confidence that came from having someone to guide them through the dark corridors did little to distract them from the unseen dangers around them.

Twilight and the others nervously glanced between Princess Luna and Brimstoke’s team members to see if their locators were glowing. Any one of the three murderous spirits could be following them without them knowing, just waiting for an opportunity to strike.

“How are you holding up?” Twilight asked in a concerned tone while watching Luna cringe painfully as she moved.

“I’m feeling better than before… I should be alright.” Luna said while offering the concerned unicorn a brief smile.

“Try not to push yourself too hard. Do you know how close we are?” Applejack asked curiously. She hoped that they didn’t have far to go. Not only for the sake of getting out of the mansion earlier, but also to let the blue alicorn rest.

“It’s hard to say where it is exactly. I think there should be a way to get to it up ahead.” Luna said while concentrating for a moment. She groaned silently and shook her head to steel herself against the pain she was feeling.

“Any sign that we’re being followed, Tom?” Brimstoke asked curiously while taking a suspicious glance behind the group. Although his locator wasn’t glowing prominently enough to warrant concern, he trusted the human’s senses more.

“Hold on a second, let me check.” Tom said while taking in a deep breath. The human closed his eyes for a moment as he let out a controlled puff of blue mist from his mouth. After a few cycles of taking a breath and using his senses, he opened his eyes again and groaned slightly from exertion.

“I can barely feel anything outside of a certain distance around us. Either I’m weaker than I thought, or there is some kind of suppression charm keeping my senses at bay. From what I can feel though, the area around us is clear.” Tom explained while shrugging his shoulders in disappointment.

“Well… thanks for trying at least. That sort of puts my mind at ease.” Twilight said in a reassuring tone while offering the human an uncertain expression. She appreciated the effort the boy was putting into helping in his weakened state, but she wasn’t sure if his diminished senses would be of much use.

“Let’s just focus on getting to that symbol for now. We can worry about those ghosts if and when they show up.” Rainbow Dash suggested while hiding an uneasy frown from the group. She was nervous about running into the spirits again, and she wasn’t the only one in the group. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity were practically huddling together and darting their eyes around like they were being hunted by a pack of wild animals. Getting their minds off of the ghosts for a while would probably serve the ponies well.

After a few minutes of walking, the group noticed a peculiar break in scenery from the usual open doorways and rooms. Coming up on their left, there was a wide hole in the wall that seemed like it opened up into some kind of larger space. The odd nature and sudden appearance of the hole elicited the group to stop and examine it.

Twilight bent down and shined her light through the hole. Much to her surprise, the light revealed a larger opening that was big enough to be an entire room in its own right. The floor was completely earthen, with exposed pieces of wood and brick covering the only visible wall and the low hanging ceiling. The floor was rough and uneven, with divots and holes spaced throughout. Save for a mass of darkness outside of the unicorn’s bubble of light, there wasn’t anything visible when looking into the strange space.

“What the hay…? It looks like a crawlspace or something along those lines.” Twilight stated while looking to the group with a curious expression. Although the hole to enter the space was only large enough to barely squeeze through, and the space looked big enough to barely walk, it resembled an unfinished portion of a house that people weren’t supposed to venture into.

“Looks pretty big too… I can’t see where it ends.” Glitterball stated while kneeling down next to the purple mare and shining her flashlight into the darkness. Even with the added reach of the flashlight, the two ponies could only just see parts of the left wall, while the end of the space remained a mystery shrouded in darkness.

“Blech! it smells awful in there.” Rarity said while covering her nose. One whiff of the musty air coming from the opening made her face crinkle up in disgust.

While everyone was crowding around the strange opening to get a peek inside of the dark space, Luna was moving her horn around while trying to pinpoint where to go next. The signal she was following led her directly forward and directly into the hole in the wall.

“Oh dear… it looks like we may have to go in there. The spell I’m using says this is the only way to get to the symbol.” Luna said in an uneasy tone while looking at the group with an understanding frown of aversion.

“What? You mean we actually have to go through there? Don’t be ridiculous! It looks like we can barely walk in there without dragging our heads on the ceiling!” Rainbow Dash argued while recoiling from the dark opening. “I don’t even want to think about how Tom is going to fit in there.” She said while offering the human a sympathetic expression.

“Well actually, it looks like it opens up a little further in.” Twilight said while taking a closer look at the room behind the opening. It looked like the cross beams and pipes receded upwards a little ways into the space until they were at the height that the ceiling was out in the halls.

“Still… it looks dreadful in there. Walking through this dusty and cobweb ridden hovel was bad enough, but there isn’t even a floor in there!” Rarity said while holding one of her front legs up protectively. She stared at the dirt and mud flooring in the space with a disgusted expression.

“I think getting your hooves dirty is going to be the least of your problems if we don’t find that symbol Rarity… Are you sure that this is the only way, Princess?” Tom asked curiously while looking to the alicorn for an answer. The blue mare double checked her spell before replying.

“Yes… I’m almost certain that this hole at least leads to the section of the basement where the symbol is.” Luna said in a confident tone.

“Well alright then, let’s get moving. We’re not getting anywhere by just standing out here staring at a hole in the wall.” Tom said while stepping up to the opening and crouching low to the floor.

Everyone watched with uncertain expressions as the human uncomfortably maneuvered his body into the opening. After crawling on his hands and knees to get through the small opening, he got to his feet and stood up in an awkward hunched over fashion.

“Are you guys coming or am I going to have to do this alone?” Tom asked curiously while watching the ponies staring back at him with dumbfounded expressions. Finally, Twilight shook herself out of her awkward stupor and looked to the others in preparation.

“Alright… here goes nothing.” The purple mare sighed in anticipation before shrugging her shoulders and stepping up to the opening. Twilight knelt down and crawled through the small hole in the wall, being careful not to scrape her body against the stone bricks on the edge of the opening, or the splintery sides of the wooden wall.

After a few moments of grunting uncomfortably and inching forward, Twilight found herself standing, or rather crouching, next to the human. She stood up and nearly bumped her head on the ceiling until she craned her neck at an awkward angle to accommodate.

“Come on in guys. It’s a little cramped, but everyone should be able to fit.” Twilight said while motioning for the others to join her.

Deciding to step up to the plate, Rainbow Dash popped her legs and her neck and stretched in preparation. The cyan mare stepped forward and knelt down in front of the opening in the wall. While Twilight and Tom maneuvered to the side to make room, the pegasus crawled forward and made her way into the cramped opening.

“Gah… this is not what I imagined I would be doing when I volunteered for this.” Rainbow Dash groaned as she struggled to crawl forward. With a little help from Twilight pulling on her, the cyan mare finally managed to make it all the way through.

“Wow… there is not much room in here at all.” Rainbow Dash observed in amazement as she failed to stand up all of the way. She was forced to crane her head at an odd angle like the purple unicorn had just to be able to stand.

As the three moved back to make room for the others, everyone started lining up to make their way through the small opening. Before long, Sunspot, Glimmer Shine, and Glitterball had made their way through.

After Fluttershy finished crawling her way into the waiting arms of her friends, Rarity looked around nervously and realized that her option to stay behind and watch was swiftly disappearing. She looked at the grimy space beyond the hole and saw Twilight and Rainbow Dash offering to help the next person through while the others stood off to the side.

“Umm… maybe you should go through next Pinkie?” Rarity suggested with an awkward smile. While everyone else saw through her rouse, the pink mare seemed more than eager to oblige her.

“Okie dokie lokie.” Pinkie said in a cheerful tone before bending down and starting her journey into the center of the walls.

Once the pink mare had made her way through, Rarity looked to her remaining options. Only Brimstoke, the princess, and Applejack remained on her side of the wall. The hallway seemed much more dark and eerie now that there was only Brimstoke’s flashlight to light it up. Princess Luna was opting to not waste her energy on using her magic to produce a light, so the group outside had to deal with the darkness.

“After you, Applejack.” Rarity said while making a brief bow and backing away from the hole. She would have backed up to the other side of the hall if she hadn’t been stopped by the orange mare grabbing her by the shoulder and roughly pulling her back over to the hole in the wall.

“You might as well go next Rarity. You’ll have to do it eventually anyway, so why not get it out of the way?” Applejack suggested in a surprisingly understanding tone.

“Well I would… but…” Rarity stalled as she stared at the small opening with a twinge of fear in her voice. “What if something happens out here? I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to you because I went first. I absolutely insist that-” The white unicorn started a commendable effort at weaseling her way out of the situation, until she was interrupted by a cyan hoof reaching out and grabbing her leg.

“Oh for crying out loud, just get in here!” Rainbow Dash said in an irritated tone while pulling the white mare just enough to bump her head into the wall gently.

“Alright, alright! I’m going… if you wanted me to hurry you could have just said something.” Rarity said in an annoyed tone while sighing in defeat and kneeling down. While the unicorn was preparing herself mentally for the task ahead of her, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were glaring at her silently.

Finally, after a few moments of Rarity slowly crawling forward and cringing in disgust, and Applejack shoving the white mare forward at a quicker pace, the opening was clear once more. While the white unicorn was having a slight breakdown off to the side from being in such an appalling location, Applejack was starting her crawl into the opening.

“There… now was that so bad?” Applejack said with a slight smirk while putting her arm around Rarity’s shoulder. The white unicorn was practically trying to cling to the ceiling from how much she was shifting between her legs.

“So… much… filth… *Shudder*” Rarity said while darting her eyes around and flinching in disgust at her surroundings. Not only were her hooves getting completely covered in dirt and mud, but there were grime covered cobwebs and other such disgusting objects hanging down from the ceiling. It would take her an entire week’s worth of washing and scrubbing to get her mane alone clean.

“Are you ok Rarity? Your eye is sort of… twitching.” Fluttershy observed in a concerned tone while watching the white unicorn. Rarity remained unresponsive as she stared into the distance and shivered, presumably trapped in her own thoughts.

“Ah think she’ll be alright… maybe.” Applejack said with a slight chuckle.

Meanwhile, back outside of the wall, Brimstoke and the princess were still waiting for their turn. After taking a brief look around to ensure that the area was clear, the stallion decided that it would be best for the alicorn to go first.

“Ok Princess, you go on ahead.” Brimstoke suggested while motioning towards the opening.

“Are you sure?” Luna asked in an uncertain tone. She wasn’t exactly comfortable with leaving the stallion on his own.

“I’ll be right behind you. Go on ahead.” Brimstoke said in a confident tone.

Luna sighed before nodding silently in response. She knew that the stallion would probably force her to go first if she protested, and the faster she made it through, the faster he could follow. As Brimstoke offered her some assistance with kneeling down, the alicorn slowly crawled forward into the opening.

Although her body was still sore enough to warrant a painful cringe or groan with every move she made, Luna was making decent progress. Still, she seemed to be having a hard time with getting her body to move forward.

“Here, Princess… let me help you.” Twilight suggested while grabbing one of the alicorn’s arms. Rainbow Dash followed her example and grabbed the princess’s other arm to help. After a few moments of pulling on the blue mare, the two ponies finally managed to get her through.

“Ugh… thank you… both of you.” Luna said with a grateful expression while looking to the two mares with a smile.

“Don’t mention it.” Rainbow Dash said with a pleased expression. Hearing the sound of someone crawling behind them, the three turned around to see Brimstoke crawling through to join them.

“Now then… now that we’re all here, why don’t we see about getting out of this hole?” Brimstoke suggested while taking note of the cold mud under his hooves. Although the others had a higher tolerance for their surroundings than Rarity did, they were still disgusted and unnerved by the fact that they were walking through a crawlspace in the wall.

“What is this hole anyway? Why is it even here?” Twilight asked curiously while looking around the area. The space they were in seemed like it was opened up on purpose, but that purpose wasn’t easily determined.

“Who knows… all I know is that this is the only way forward. Perhaps all of the other doors leading forward were blocked off or something, but this is the only way to get to the symbol.” Luna said in a puzzled tone.

“Hey guys!” Suddenly, the group heard Pinkie Pie calling them from somewhere up ahead. Everyone turned around and shined their lights on the area ahead of them to see the pink mare. The group quickly noticed that the pink pony was actually standing up. Pinkie had apparently walked ahead to find the bigger area that the others had noticed before.

“It’s a lot easier to stand over here. Why don’t you all come this way?” Pinkie asked while kneeling down to actually see the group.

Twilight and the others looked at each other with confused expressions for a moment before taking note of the cramped feeling in their necks. They quickly came to the consensus that they were tired of hunching over and bumping their heads against the ceiling. The ponies quickly made their way forward until they reached the cut off where the ceiling ascended to a proper level. Once they stepped out of the cramped overhang of pipes and wooden planks, they stretched their necks and let out a sigh of relief.

“That’s much better.” Tom said while stretching his legs. The ponies just had to crane their heads a little bit to fit in the tight space, but he practically had to walk in a crouched position to avoid crawling on his hands and knees.

“Hey… I think I can see another opening up ahead.” Twilight said while squinting her eyes to see outside of the reach of the lit up area. There seemed to be another wall up ahead with another hole in it similar to the one the group just came through.

“That must be where we need to go. Come on guys.” Sunspot motioned for the others to follow her as she started walking forward.

The group slowly marched forward across the earthen floor. All the while, they were looking around at the bizarre pits and raised areas of the ground around them and wondering what the purpose for this area was.

“Oof!” Rarity groaned in surprise as she stumbled to the floor. One of the raised bumps in the ground caught her leg too quickly for her to react.

“Are you ok Rarity?” Applejack asked in a concerned tone as she watched the unicorn sprawled out on the ground after her spectacular trip.

“Yes… I just fell and landed in… in…” Rarity glanced down to see what was in front of her, only to widen her eyes in shock. “Eek!” She yelped in shock while scrambling backwards.

“What’s wrong?!” Applejack asked while looking to see if the unicorn was hurt. Rarity simply pointed to a spot on the ground with her hoof while stammering fearfully in incoherent gibberish.

Everyone looked to where the white mare was pointing, only to widen their eyes and gasp in shock. Poking out of the dirt at an odd angle, there was a yellowish white object in the distinctive shape of a bone. Judging from the shape and the size, it looked like either an arm or a leg bone of a creature larger than a pony. It was hard to tell exactly, but the bone probably belonged to a human.

“*Gasp*” Fluttershy gasped and covered her mouth while taking a step back. She stared at the small object with a terrified look in her eyes as she shuddered nervously.

“Oh my gosh… is that what I think it is?” Rainbow Dash asked in an uneasy tone as she stared at the white object on the ground.

“Looks like it’s been here for ages.” Twilight said while taking note of the aged appearance of the bone.

“I think we know what this room was used for now.” Tom stated in an uneasy tone. The human’s statement made the others look around the area with horrified expressions. All of the pits and raised areas in the ground now made a disturbing chill go down their spines. The ponies looked to their feet with a knot developing in their stomachs as they wondered just what it was that they were standing on.

“I think it would be best if we leave this place.” Luna said in a disturbed tone while coming to her senses for long enough to think rationally. Once the initial shock wore off, everyone silently nodded in agreement with the alicorn.

With a newfound sense of urgency, the group made their way towards the opening at the far end of the room. Wherever the opening was going to take them, it had to be better than the vile place they currently found themselves in.

As Twilight reached the end of the room, she sized up the hole in the wall to see where it led. Thankfully this hole was larger than the previous one, allowing the unicorn to poke her head out to see where she was. Scanning her eyes around the area outside, the purple mare discovered that the hole led out into yet another hallway. Normally the discovery of another dark and tedious hallway would have made the unicorn cringe in frustration, but the looming goal of getting closer to the symbol and freedom was enough to make her excited.

“Looks like we can get out through here.” Twilight stated in a pleased tone.

“And we don’t even need to crawl anywhere. That sounds like grounds to celebrate to me… let’s get out of here.” Rainbow Dash suggested eagerly while stepping through the small opening and walking out into the hallway. Twilight and the others quickly followed the cyan pegasus until they were all standing in the corridor.

While the others were focused on wiping their hooves to rid them of the buildup of dirt and grime, Twilight was intently focused on the task at hand. She glanced over to the blue alicorn to see her trying to concentrate on her spell.

“Which way do we go now, Princess?” Twilight asked in a sympathetic tone as she watched the blue mare cringing painfully.

“It should be this way… it feels like we’re getting close.” Luna said while pointing down the left fork in the hallway.

“Come on. Let’s get this over with.” Twilight said while offering the princess a reassuring hoof on the shoulder. She knew that the alicorn must have been in a great deal of pain from her wounds, and using her magic wasn’t helping any. Luna smiled softly before pausing for a moment to catch her breath.

Without any further delay, the ponies started walking down the hallway. They hoped that their journey would soon come to an end, and that they could finally leave the mansion and go home. The hooded ponies could wait for at least a day for all they cared. They just wanted to go home and see their families and get even a rough night’s sleep.

As they continued down the hallway, the ponies noticed that there were a lot more doors in this section of the basement than any they had seen before. Nearly every room had a door to accompany it rather than a gaping entryway where a door once was. Everyone would have felt disheartened with the notion of searching through so many rooms for the symbol without being able to just peer inside with a glance. Thankfully they had Princess Luna to guide them to their destination, as long as her spell was working that is.

Although the ponies trusted the alicorn implicitly, the hours spent roaming around the basement looking for the symbols had grinded down their willpower and spirit like a waterfall to a cliff face. They silently looked at the weakened princess with sympathetic expressions, all the while having a thought at the back of their minds ask if the alicorn’s spell was just leading them to yet another dead end.

“Princess… are you sure we’re going the right way?” Twilight asked in a hesitant tone. The sudden question caught the blue mare off guard.

“Why do you ask?” Luna replied curiously. Even though the princess wasn’t offended in the slightest, the purple mare became very anxious and apologetic.

“Well… it’s just… we’ve been doing this for a long time, and I’m just worried about what would happen if this turned out to be another dead end. I didn’t mean to imply… umm… that…” Twilight stammered in an awkward tone. The alicorn smiled softly at the unicorn’s attempts at voicing her concerns in a gentle way.

“It’s ok to be worried about our situation, Twilight. We are in a dangerous place after all. But I can assure you, the spell I’m using is accurate. I can also assure you that my condition hasn’t hampered my ability to use the spell correctly.” Luna said in an understanding tone. Twilight was surprised that the alicorn took her question so well.

“Right… of course.” Twilight said with a slight nod. The others looked to the princess with a newfound sense of humility and confidence. They were amazed that she could still appear so regal and confident despite the situation and her injuries.

Suddenly, the group came to the end of the hallway. There was a single door at the far wall that was left slightly ajar. Seeing several more closed doors to either side of the hall, the ponies wondered where they would be going next and turned to the blue alicorn for guidance.

“Which way do we go now?” Glitterball asked curiously while looking around at the various doors.

Luna groaned slightly as she closed her eyes and concentrated on the spell. Her head lowered and her legs nearly buckled as she lost the strength in her body. While the others stood by, ready to catch the princess if the need arose, the blue mare managed to stay on her feet.

“The symbol is in that room… I’m certain of it.” Luna stated while looking ahead to the door at the end of the hallway.

“Really? That’s great!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed cheerfully.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s get in there and give those ghosts what’s coming to them!” Sunspot suggested eagerly.

“Easy does it guys… we still need to be careful and stick together.” Brimstoke said in a cautious tone.

“Brimstoke is right… we still don’t know if those ghosts are nearby.” Twilight added while looking around nervously. The prospect that the murderous spirits were somewhere in the area was enough to immediately kill the excitement in the air.

“Still… Sunspot is right. We should get this done and over with as quick as we can.” Luna suggested in an exhausted tone while leaning against the wall for support. The others frowned sadly as they watched the alicorn trying to catch her breath from using her magic too much.

Sunspot and the others looked to Brimstoke for their next move. Everyone was nervous and anxious, and they clearly needed someone to lead them onwards with a sound plan of action. If the princess was out of commission, then the white stallion would have to think of a way to press on while keeping everyone as safe as possible.

“*Sigh*… alright, let’s get moving. Glitter, keep an eye on your locator and let us know if there are any changes. Everyone else, let’s go give those ghosts a piece of our minds.” Brimstoke said in a confident tone while stepping forward towards the room at the end of the hallway. Everyone paused for a moment before getting the courage to follow the stallion.

As they neared the door, the ponies could feel the anticipation building between them. Behind that door was the key to their freedom. They would either break that seal and escape the mansion, or die trying at the hands of the three spirits.

A mixed variety of emotions flowed through each of the ponies as they stood in front of the door and waited for Brimstoke to open it the rest of the way. They felt excited, terrified, hesitant, and unsure all at the same time. Their stomachs were practically doing flips as their bodies reacted to the amount of stress they were feeling.

Brimstoke glanced between his teammates, the sickly alicorn leaning against Twilight for support, the six nervous civilians, and the lone human watching him as he waited at the door. He placed a single hoof on the edge of the door and took in a deep breath to prepare himself. After doing a brief countdown, he swung the door open and stepped inside.

Twilight and the others hesitantly walked into the room behind the team of ponies as they looked around. Brimstoke and his team darted their eyes around while scanning the room with their strobes at the ready. After seeing no signs of the ghosts in the part of the room they could see, and getting no indicators of imminent danger on their locators, the group relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief before turning their attention to the real reason they were there.

The room itself was large. Perhaps one of the larger single rooms the ponies had seen in the basement. There were wooden beams and rafters all along the ceiling, with some of them broken or splintering from age. There were a few shelves full of seemingly normal looking boxes and other small items pressed up against the wall. Still, the only thing that the ponies cared about finding was seemingly nowhere to be found.

“Hey… look over there!” Pinkie suggested while pointing to a spot on the floor at the edge of the light. Everyone turned their attention to where the pink mare was pointing, only to see a faint tint of red just outside of the reach of their lights.

Glitterball stepped forward and illuminated more of the room with her horn. As she got closer and the light revealed more of the object, the group’s eyes collectively widened in shock and awe. Sitting on the floor in front of them, was a symbol similar in every detail to the other two they had found.

“We did it… we finally found it!” Twilight exclaimed in an excited tone.

“We can finally get out of here!” Glitterball cheered with equal excitement.

Everyone shared a celebratory cheer while expressing their excitement by jumping up and down or hugging each other. For the first time in a long time, the group felt genuinely happy and cheerful.

“Hold on… what’s that next to the symbol?” Glimmer Shine asked curiously while shining his flashlight over the symbol. There was a dark stain on the floor just outside of the light’s reach. As the curious ponies got closer and examined the strange stain under better lighting, they noticed it was a red liquid.

The grim realization that they were looking at blood hit everyone at once. They silently watched in abject horror as Glimmer Shine pointed his flashlight upwards. The more the light moved up, the more blood was revealed as a veritable trail of the crimson fluid led across the room.

Finally, the ponies settled their eyes on a large puddle of blood leading behind a series of shelves and boxes that appeared to create a makeshift barricade. There was broken glass and blood scattered all around the shelves and boxes. The shelves were slanted at odd angles and all of the items on them were knocked over or missing, indicating that they were moved quickly. Sticking out from behind one of the shelves, was a dark blue leg that looked like it belonged to a mare.

Glimmer Shine motioned to Sunspot and Brimstoke for them to follow him. The two ponies nodded silently while joining the yellow stallion in slowly approaching the rest of the room. Tom decided to follow the three as they carefully inched closer with their strobes at the ready.

Brimstoke walked ahead of the others and slowly made his way around the line of shelves and boxes. As he caught a glimpse of what was on the other side of the makeshift barrier, he was more than a little unsettled.

There were three ponies in hoodies lying on the floor motionless. There was a yellow pegasus stallion with orange hair, a black earth pony mare with red hair, and a dark blue unicorn mare with black hair. They each had pools of blood around them, and they were covered in broken glass and bloody wounds. Some of the gruesome injuries looked like axe wounds, while others resembled something a smaller weapon like a knife or a pair of scissors would leave behind.

“Yikes…” Sunspot said in a disquieted tone while staring at the bloody bodies in front of her.

“Looks like we weren’t the only ones trying to stop the ghosts… check it out.” Tom said while pointing off to the side. There were three small pieces of piping scattered on the ground a short distance from the bodies that were dark grey in color.

“Iron pipes.” Glimmer Shine said as he caught on to what the three ponies must have been trying to accomplish.

“They had a unicorn with them… they were probably trying to overload the symbol just like us.” Sunspot suggested in a curious tone. “Hey… maybe they succeeded?” She asked in a hopeful tone while glancing back at the symbol on the floor.

“Not likely… if they succeeded in overloading the seal, the ghosts would be gone by now.” Twilight said while shaking her head sadly. Even if they were members of the hooded ponies, she still felt bad for them. The purple mare felt a sickening feeling in her stomach as she glanced at the pale and motionless leg sticking out from behind the shelf. She and her friends couldn’t bear to take a look behind the shelves and boxes.

“However far they got in their efforts, the seal is indeed intact.” Luna said while using her magic to inspect the red symbol on the floor.

“How about it, Glitter… can you overload it?” Brimstoke asked curiously while glancing to the white unicorn.

“Hold on a sec… let me see.” Glitterball said while lighting up her horn and inspecting the symbol. Everyone watched anxiously as the unicorn examined the symbol with a puzzled expression on her face.

“Looks like this one will be harder to crack.” Glitter shrugged with a frustrated expression.

“That doesn’t make sense… the one I overloaded in the library was really easy to break. It didn’t even do much other than light up a little bit.” Twilight said in a confused tone.

“That’s odd… the one we broke earlier made a burst of air.” Glitterball said with equal confusion.

“I think whatever spell these symbols are feeding is reliant on them. Whenever one of the seals is broken, all of the energy has to push on the remaining ones in order for the spell to function. Right now, that symbol is the only link left, so all of the energy is held inside of it… like a pressurized vessel ready to burst.” Tom explained as he examined the symbol further.

“And we’re about to burst it on purpose… that sounds… fun… and dangerous… really dangerous.” Sunspot said in a nervous tone.

“We’ll be safe when the symbol breaks… right?” Fluttershy asked in a concerned tone. Tom could only offer the ponies an uncertain and troubled expression.

“Arcane energy can be tricky and hard to predict… there are spells and runes with specific intentions in mind, but it’s harder to predict what will happen when it fails or something unexpected happens. Let’s just keep on our toes… oh, and start running if you see fire.” The human said with a disheartened shrug.

“Maybe we should just leave it alone?” Rarity suggested in a nervous tone.

“We can’t do that Rarity… the alternative would probably be fighting the ghosts and beating them. Without breaking this symbol, they would still keep all of the exits closed.” Twilight said in an understanding tone. She knew that there was no way that they could defeat the ghosts directly.

“We’ll be fine Rarity.” Rainbow Dash said in a reassuring tone.

“Before we can worry about what happens when we pop that seal, we have to get there without the ghosts doing to us what they did to them.” Brimstoke said while glancing towards the three dead ponies on the other side of the room.

“I’ll start working on the symbol. It’s going to take a while, so I might as well get started.” Glitterball said while shrugging and lighting up her horn and walking over to the symbol.

“I might have a few ideas on how we can prepare for the ghosts. We should dig in and get as much of an advantage as we can.” Tom suggested in a hopeful tone.

“Good thinking. We’ll keep an eye out for any sign of them.” Brimstoke said while shaking his locator by its pull cord and glancing to his teammates. Glimmer Shine and Sunspot nodded while pulling out their own locators.

Twilight and the others watched as Brimstoke’s team prepared themselves for the arrival of the spirits. Glitterball worked on overloading the symbol, Brimstoke and the others focused on scanning the area for the ghosts, and Tom was focusing on making the area safer for them. They were about to destroy the only thing keeping the spirits in this mansion, and somehow the ponies didn't think that their three hosts would like that very much.