Rainbow Dash regretted her quick decision to clean up by herself. She regretted her offer to swap assignments with one of the other maids, a blue-eyed platinum blonde named Night Glider, even more. As Dash made her way around the rooms on the 23rd floor, collecting the trash, she heard a rustling sound that was unlike the noise she was making with the trash bag. She stopped to listen, and the rustling noise stopped.

“It’s just my imagination,” she thought.

She continued to clean, and the rustling began again. This time, the noise was accompanied by a thin wail. Rainbow Dash dropped the trash bag and grabbed a broom from her maids’ cart for protection.

“There are no ghosts here! It’s just the wind and the rain and my imagination is getting to me,” she muttered to herself.

A loud crash made her jump.

“What was that?” she asked as she whipped her head around.

Dash held the broom out in front of her like a sword as she slowly made her way toward the vending machine near the center of the hallway. Then she sensed something close behind her. She turned around and screamed.

“Zeph, why are you walking around wearing a welding mask?” she asked.

“It gives me an air of mystery,” Zephyr Breeze replied. He flipped the mask down again and said, “The Faust is strong with this one!”

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash felt a rush of cold air coming from behind the vending machine. She told Zephyr to help her and they pushed it off to the side. Behind the vending machine was a door, a perfectly ordinary door with numbers on it—2339—and a peephole beneath those numbers, no different from any other door on any floor of the hotel.

“Whoa!” Zeph exclaimed. “A hidden room!”

Rainbow Dash pulled out her master key and slipped it into the lock. It slid in with no hitch, as if it had wanted to be there. She turned the key and the tumblers in the lock thumped back smoothly. She pushed the door open and it swung without a creak.

“Ladies first,” Zephyr offered.

“Oh, right, I almost forgot, you’re scared of the dark,” she smiled.

“No!” he denied.

Rainbow Dash picked up the broom again, walked through the doorway, reached to her right, and found the light switch. Two bulbs came on in the cut-glass chandelier overhead. Dash stepped further in and looked around the large sitting room. Most of the furniture was covered by white sheets, save for one overturned chair. There was a violet rug, a writing desk, and an old phonograph, all covered in cobwebs and reeking of... alcohol? Yes, alcohol. It hung around Rainbow Dash like a mist as she looked at the drapes, which had been pulled free and hung on their broken rod at an angle.

“This looks just like the V.I.P. suites,” she said, “but creepier.”

To her left was the bathroom door, the door to the bedroom was to the right. The wall by the door leading into the bedroom was splashed with what Dash thought was dried blood, and flecked with tiny bits of grayish-white tissue that could only be brain matter. It clotted the wallpaper.

Dash dropped the broom as another wail stopped her in her tracks.

“I can’t let a few scary sounds terrify me!” she reassured herself.

Zephyr Breeze gathered his courage and followed her into the suite.

Then the door slammed behind him with a loud crash.

“Let me out!” Zeph screamed as he fumbled with the locked doorknob.

“Smooth move, doofus!” Dash shouted. “Now we’re stuck in here!”

Rainbow Dash froze as she suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder. She slowly turned around and came face to face with a rattling skeleton.

“You’re not welcome here!” chattered the skull in a scratchy voice.

Rainbow Dash glanced over its shoulder and saw the sitting room was filled with ghostly figures!

Stumbling backwards, she let out a bloodcurdling scream. The door behind Zephyr Breeze suddenly opened and he and Dash raced out. They ran down the hall, not stopping until they got to the elevator, and Zephyr frantically pressed the “close doors” button. He looked at Rainbow Dash. Her hand clutched the lace collar of her maid’s uniform, her face twisted with terror.

“We’ve got to tell the others,” she gasped.

Spike was sitting in the kitchen, having one of his favorite lunches: tomato soup with grilled cheese. The soup was okay, but the toasted cheese was Cojack—Spike’s favorite—and tasted heavenly. Applejack poured Spike a glass of milk and sat down next to him with a plate of fried chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy. Discord and Pinkie were having a contest to see which of them could drink the most glasses of chocolate milk, and Sunset, Fluttershy, Starlight and Rarity were sharing a pot of tea. The kitchen had become Spike’s favorite place in the hotel, second to his suite. Eating in the dining rooms or the Café had become too depressing, even with the lights on and music playing from the jukebox... especially since there was an Undertakers’ Convention staying at the hotel that week, and they were displaying all of the latest caskets in the grand ballroom.

“Why does Spike look so upset?” Rarity asked Sunset. “Did something bad happen to him? More specifically, did you do something?”

“I don’t know,” Sunset replied. “He’s been like that all day. Although, something exciting did happened last night...”

“Sunset, I am a grown man,” Spike finally spoke. “Second base is nothing to brag about.”

“What’s wrong, Sugah Pie?” Applejack asked, very concerned.

“Twilight’s still barely speaking to him,” Discord answered.

“Really?” Starlight asked. “She’s still pissed off at you for saving her life?”

“Her default setting is mildly annoyed,” Spike said, even though they all knew that. “At least when she yelled at me, I could yell back, but this is different.”

“Congratulations,” Discord told him. “You have succeeded where even I failed: you broke her spirit.”

“So, how are you gonna fix this?” Applejack asked.

“I’m not going to, and I don’t plan to,” he answered, “mostly because it’s not my fault. But, I’m also not going to let her ruin this for me.”

“Ruin what?” Sunset asked.

Spike showed them one of his staff evaluation cards. “I got a ten out of ten!”

“Another perfect score?” Sunset asked. “That makes nine in a row!”

“One more and I get to blow off my next shift for some late night gambling,” Spike said happily.

After he finished eating, Applejack put their dirty dishes in the dishwasher and kissed Spike on the cheek.

“See ya tonight, Sugah,” she said as she left the kitchen.

“She’s really something,” Spike said to himself. “Every angle I look at her, she’s a woman.”

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash and Zephyr Breeze burst through the swinging doors on the opposite side of the room. There was fresh terror in their eyes. Spike looked at them closely (they all did), thinking they were pulling a joke. But Dash didn’t look like she was joking; what she looked like was scared half to death.

“Dash?” Spike touched her shoulder. He and Sunset exchanged a worried look. “What happened? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Gang... I think there is a ghost in the hotel,” Zephyr replied.

“What? Where?” Spike asked.

“In Room 2339,” Dash said.

“What were you doing in there?!” Discord thundered. “That room is strictly off-limits!” They all stared at him as he wiped his forehead with a handkerchief. “I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I guess the secret is out of the bag. It’s too bad, too. I’d had such great plans for the weekend—”

“Hold on!” Rarity spoke. “What’s this about a secret? Come on, out with it!”

“Why don’t we use that room?” Starlight asked.

“The Brothers ordered me to never discuss the... incident,” Discord replied.

“Spill it!” Sunset shouted. “Is there a ghost in Suite 2339?”

Discord looked at them shrewdly. “You’re not afraid of ghosts, are you?”

“Ghosts,” Rainbow Dash scoffed as she puffed out her chest, her courage suddenly back. “I ain’t afraid of no stinking ghosts! I eat ghosts for breakfast!”

“Yeah! Chocolate, sugary ghosts with lots of milk!” Pinkie Pie added.

“That’s good, because I have a ghostly little tale to tell you and we wouldn’t want to frighten you, now would we?” Discord cackled.

The girls were not startled by this. They knew that all of Equestria’s big, grand old hotels had ghosts and ghost stories, just like they had scandals. Hotels were superstitious places: no thirteenth floor or room thirteen, etc.

“Well, if you must know, it happened during the summer of 1986,” Discord began with a shrug. “His name was Sir Ragamuffin, a newlywed young soldier. He and his beautiful bride came to stay in the honeymoon suite. Frankly, I’d never seen a happier couple. And, boy, could he host a great session of O&O.”

“So, what happened?” Dash asked. “Was there a scandal?”

“Summarized: at some point during the honeymoon, the groom must have suffered some kind of mental breakdown,” Discord said. “He killed one of the maids, and then his wife... before killing himself.”

They stared at Discord, flabbergasted.

“I didn’t even know about it until a voice called out to me from the suite,” he went on. “I felt like I had to obey it. It was like I was in a trance, yet I was fully aware of what was happening.”

Discord remembered taking the elevator up and walking down the hall to the door to the honeymoon suite. His hand reached out and stroked the room’s doorknob. He had no idea how long he had been standing there, mesmerized. Several minutes at least. Finally, he plunged his right hand into his pocket and pulled out his master key. Bleary-eyed, he inserted the key into the lock and entered the suite, then stuffed the key back into his pocket.

Inside, the lights were on, and he found Sir Ragamuffin slumped on the coffee table, covered in blood, shards of broken glass around him. Discord could still remember seeing the dark red puddle. He straightened up, looked at the ceiling, and his eyes went wide. That’s where he saw the bride. She had been hung from the chandelier by her wrists, like she’d been crucified, a bullet hole through her chest. Then Discord saw a shaft of soft yellow light coming from the bathroom.

He walked forward, put his hand out, pressed it against the bathroom door, and it swung open. He looked in and saw the chambermaid lying naked in the bathtub; one of her hands dangling over the white porcelain lip of the tub, blood trickling slowly down her fingers.

Discord stood there for an unknown length of time, practically paralyzed by all that he had seen, but he eventually returned to the door to the hall. He turned the lights off behind him, stepped out into the hall, and pulled the door shut without looking back. He returned to his office and called the police.

“That is heartbreakingly sad,” Fluttershy said with a whimper.

“Yes, it is,” Discord agreed. “It’s still hard for me to believe it actually happened here. And ever since, strange things have been going on in that room. So we sealed it off, never to be used again. But every year, on the anniversary of his death, the ghost of Sir Ragamuffin returns to the room at midnight and terrorizes the hotel until dawn... I had almost completely forgotten that this weekend is when the ghost is to reappear.”

“I’m out of here!” Rainbow Dash said, heading toward the exit.

“Wait for me!” Fluttershy followed her.

“And me!” Sunset, Pinkie, and Starlight chorused.

“Consider this my notice,” Rarity said as she joined the girls in making a beeline for the door. “I quit.”

“That’s too bad,” Discord said, “because if you stayed, Sir Ragamuffin’s fortune could be yours.”

All six of them stopped and turned as one.

“Fortune? What fortune?”

“A small collection of priceless diamonds of various shapes and sizes,” Discord looked at them sheepishly.

“Diamonds, you say? I’m back on the job!” Rarity declared as she elbowed her way past the others.

“So all we have to do is stay in the hotel until dawn?” Rainbow Dash mused. “I think we can handle that.”

“No, you would have to stay in Suite 2339,” Discord corrected her. “That’s where the diamonds were last seen before they... disappeared. Of course, no one has ever been able to stay in the suite that long. They usually ran screaming into the night.”

“All right, then we’ll do it!” Dash replied.

Discord frowned, feeling another wave of irritation and anger. Whatever had come of it, Zephyr Breeze and Rainbow Dash had been trespassing.

“Just put the vending machine back where it was before you moved it, and tell no one what I’ve told you,” he instructed. “No one! And stay out! Do you understand? Stay! Out!”

They all nodded and Discord left with Spike close behind. The girls knew better than to cross their boss, but they were also not about to pass up such an opportunity... especially if diamonds were involved. And they all wanted to see the haunted honeymoon suite.

“I say we all meet back at the honeymoon suite an hour before midnight and battle this ghost together!” Rainbow Dash said.

“Splendid idea,” Rarity clapped her hands together. “And when dawn breaks, the fortune of Sir Ragamuffin will be mine,” she added to herself, a greedy green glint in her blue eyes.

“We’ll split the fortune equally!” Starlight stated. “It’s only fair if we’re all going to work together.”

Zeph and the girls formed a circle and each placed a hand in the center, one on top of another, and agreed.

After hearing Discord’s story about Sir Ragamuffin, Spike decided to pay Starlight’s father a visit after his shift ended. He had a hunch that if anyone would know the truth about Ragamuffin, or anything about the history of the Flimflam Brothers’ Resort, Firelight would. He was going through his stock portfolio in his office when Spike knocked on the door frame.

“Well, this is a most pleasant interruption!” Firelight smiled.

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything important, sir,” Spike said.

“Not at all! I’m never too busy for my daughter’s friends. And don’t be so formal, Spike. Starlight talks so much about you, I feel we’re practically family,”

“I was hoping you could help me find some answers to a little mystery that just fell into my lap,”

“You’ve made me half a billion dollars alone,” Firelight said. “I can tell you anything you want to know.”

Spike sat down and started by asking Firelight how much he knew about the founding of Las Pegasus, then for information related to Flimflam Resort, and Firelight was more than happy to oblige. Before the Brothers ran it, even before Gladmane ran it, the hotel had a smelly reputation. Multiple murders had been committed there, a bunch of hoods had run the place for a while, and cutthroat businessmen had run it after them. After Firelight had talked for almost an hour, he offered Spike a plate of warm chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk, as well as an apology for rambling on.

Spike thanked Firelight and finally asked him about the “incident” Discord had mentioned—the one about Sir Ragamuffin—it was a real slaying. Discord took care of it, and pretty well. So well, in fact, that he had managed to keep it almost completely out of the newspapers. There was a small article in the Post, and of course the obituaries, but that was all. Like he probably half-expected some reporter to dig it up again years later.

That’s why Flim and Flam paid him. As much as they may have disliked Discord, he earned his pay. It seemed like some people just came out to Las Pegasus to make a mess and they hired guys like Discord to clean it up.

Some big shot lawyer from Manehattan showed up, Sir Ragamuffin’s father, and gave Discord four different levels of Tartarus. “I’ll sue you and when I’m through, yada, yada, yada!” But Discord got him to shut up. Probably by asking him how he’d like to see his late son and daughter-in-law all over the news—a result of playing hide-the-salami with the help. Discord even pulled a few strings with the coroners; got them to change the verdicts on all the death certificates to natural causes. Now they were driving Cadillacs. Spike didn’t begrudge them.

“Sometimes a man’s got to take it where he can find it,” he thought.

Firelight pulled a three ring binder from one of the shelves behind his desk and opened it for Spike to read. It was a collection of articles related to the Resort... and Las Pegasus. Spike skimmed the pages until he came across an old newspaper clipping with a photo of Sir Ragamuffin and his wife on their wedding day. There was even a photograph of the maid that had been murdered, from the employee records.

Spike’s eyes widened when he looked at the photos. At first he couldn’t believe what he was seeing, but Ragamuffin’s wife looked very much like Rarity. But that wasn’t even the scariest thing about it: the thing that was most disturbing was that both Ragamuffin and the maid looked almost exactly like Applejack, the former if Applejack was a guy. Everything from their blond hair to their green eyes, even the freckles on their cheeks, they were exactly the same!

Spike then looked at a copy of the police report. According to that, a note had been found with Ragamuffin’s body. It said, “I have fooled them all, I may perish, but I’ll be as rich as Queen Cleopatrot.” Cleopatrot was an Egyptian. They kept their wealth after death by having it buried with them.

“But what does that have to do with Ragamuffin’s diamonds?” Spike thought out loud.

“I’ll tell you, Spike, I do a lot of financial planning. In money matters, you can’t take the future for granted,” Firelight said. “But all the money in the world means little if you don’t have loved ones to share it with... Nothing’s more important than family.”

“Is it all right if I borrow this for a while?” Spike asked about the binder.

“Be my guest, son,” Firelight replied.

Spike thanked him again for the information, the history lesson, and the milk and cookies as he left. He had some more research to do.

An hour before midnight, the girls (minus Applejack) stood in the hall outside Room 2339, their voices hushed with excitement.

“Are we all here?” Starlight asked.

“Nope,” Pinkie replied. “Where’s Rarity?”

“She said she had to pick up a few things,” Fluttershy said.

They saw her coming down the hall a minute later with Zephyr Breeze behind her, and he was carrying a massive trunk on his back.

“Sorry we’re late,” Rarity told them.

“I thought you said you were going to ‘rough it,’” Sunset said to her.

“I only brought my overnight bag, darling,” she replied, rather defensively.

“What’s the holdup, Dashie?” Pinkie asked.

“The holdup is I’m trying to pick a lock with a credit card since Discord confiscated my master key!” Rainbow Dash snapped in reply.

“How come you girls want to get in there so bad anyway?” Twilight asked.

“There’s a hidden treasure in that suite, guarded by a ghost, and I am going to have it!” Rarity answered.

“Girls, the nonmaterial embodiment, essence, or organism that’s seen as a specter, wraith or apparition has been scientifically proven to be sheer myth,” Twilight told them. “In other words, there are no such things as ghosts!”

“Yeah, but does the ghost know that?” Zephyr Breeze asked.

“Every ‘ghostly encounter’ has some rational explanation,” she replied.

“Okay, former star dealer, prove it, then,” Zephyr dared her. “Spend the night, with me, in the haunted honeymoon suite.”

“Ew! Pass!” Twilight gagged.

“Five million bucks says you run out first, chicken!” Dash told Zephyr.

“I’ll take that bet!” Zeph replied. “Even though I know you’ll never be able to pay me back. I would settle for a kiss... on the mouth... with a little tongue.”

And with that, Rainbow Dash finally managed to open the door. She flipped the switch for the chandelier (at least the two bulbs that still worked) and they all filed into the suite. If there was ever a place that should have ghosts, this was it.

“I-I-I would be worried about this place... if I weren’t so scared,” Fluttershy said. “What’s that sound?”

“It’s your teeth chattering,” said Rainbow Dash.

“And your knees knocking,” Rarity added as she pulled out her cell phone.

The battery was fully charged, but the phone wasn’t getting any reception. It was like they were (dare I say it?) ... in a dead zone!

The world suddenly turned black as the two bulbs in the chandelier burnt out and the door to the honeymoon suite slammed, plunging them into darkness. Twilight tried to open the door, but the knob wouldn’t turn.

“We’re locked in!” she shouted.

Rainbow Dash pounded uselessly on the door, screaming, “Let us out!”

As her eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, Starlight could see something moving in the far corner. She could make out a strange shape but couldn’t imagine what it might be. Rainbow Dash quickly ran her hands over the walls next to her, looking for a weapon, in case she had to defend herself against an attack. Her hand touched a flashlight, which she quickly turned on. The light was dim, but the girls could see the walls and furniture around them. Their eyes adjusted to the new light and they looked farther into the honeymoon suite.

Dash cast the flashlight’s beam over the covered furniture and onto the walls. The bloodstain had returned, only now it was fresh... and it was running.

She dropped the flashlight, and once again the honeymoon suite was plunged into darkness.

“I feel like I’ve been dipped in ink and let loose in a coal mine,” Rarity said.

A few seconds later, Zephyr Breeze stumbled into the bathroom and turned on the light within when he got back up. The bathtub was empty and dry. It had been scrubbed clean. Except for the rust stain under the twin faucets, it shined.

“Hey, there’s a hot tub!” he said. “Any takers?”

The girls collectively passed and said that they were going to keep an eye out for the ghost.

“And just to make sure nothing happens, we’ll all take turns keeping watch,” Twilight told them.

“Okay, but who’s gonna stand the first watch?” Dash wanted to know.

“Uh, girls, was Discord wearing a brown suit, red tie and tennis shoes?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yeah,” Dash confirmed. “When we last saw him.”

“I think I found him,” Fluttershy replied. “Only he looks a little older now.”

She pointed to one of the sitting room chairs, and there was Discord (or at least what was left of him). The flesh had rotted from his face and he clutched the arms of the chair with bony fingers.

“That’s about as old as you can get,” Dash stated.

“There has to be another way out of here!” Starlight exclaimed. “Start tapping on the walls!”

“Nope, we’re stuck here until morning when someone comes to fill the vending machine,” Zeph said.

“That’s my job!” Pinkie told him.

The girls tried hard to not panic, but it was difficult. They were trapped with a dead body and weren’t going to get out until someone came along. Suddenly, Fluttershy heard a long, low rumbling sound like a growl.

“What was that?!” she cried.

“That was my tummy,” Pinkie said. “I’m starving!”

Rainbow Dash sighed, “This is gonna be a long night.”

Pinkie quickly found the minifridge... and it was crammed full of fresh food! There was enough fancy eats in it for a small banquet: caviar, imported cheeses, fruits (including Egyptian dates), Turkish coffee and Danish pastries! The girls couldn’t believe it.

“But who would be eating it?” they all thought. “And why would they come here of all places?”

Suddenly, they heard a low moan.

“Please tell me that was your stomach again,” Fluttershy said to Pinkie.

“No,” she replied quietly.

Rainbow Dash shivered and asked, “Is it getting chilly in here?”

The air was definitely getting colder. It was cold enough she could see her breath. Her arms and legs all prickled with goose bumps, and the hair at the nape of her neck stiffened.

“Okay, everyone, enough!” Twilight shouted. “Ugh, who is making that awful screeching?”

The noise grew louder, louder, echoing everywhere, all around. A pair of tiny red eyes glowed on the other side of the room. Then, a shape began to come toward them, smelling of blood. It was clothed in a soldier’s dress uniform, it had a saber in one hand and it was swinging it from side to side, cutting the wallpaper.

“It’s the ghost!” they exclaimed.

“He’s he-e-e-re!” Fluttershy whimpered.

“Take her first!” Zeph said, shoving Twilight towards it.

“Those diamonds are rightfully mine!” the ghost stated. “This is your first and final warning! Unless they are returned to this suite before dawn, the entire hotel staff shall suffer the same terrible fate!”

The tip of his saber was pointing to Discord’s skeletal remains as he spoke. Then he pointed it at Rarity. He raised his blade and was about to take a swing at her when she and the others ran for the bathroom, and Rarity closed the door behind them.

“That was close,” she said.

“It’s got to be a hallucination or something!” Twilight told them.

“Is that a hallucination?!” Zephyr asked.

They looked at the once empty bathtub and saw brown liquid boiling in it. Then, the shower faucet turned on... by itself! The hot water ran full force and the stall quickly fogged over. They saw something floating through the cloud of steam.

“Relax, it’s just a bathrobe,” Twilight said.

She opened the shower door and pulled the robe out of the stall. Then it started floating above their heads.

“Ghost bathrobe!” Starlight shouted. “Run!”

Zephyr Breeze screamed as he tore the bathroom door open and they bolted for the bedroom. They slammed the doors shut behind them, and jammed one of the chairs under the doorknobs.

“Is everyone okay?” Sunset asked.

Zephyr Breeze screamed again.

“What?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“The bed! It’s possessed!”

“It’s a vibrating bed,” Dash told him. “All the V.I.P. suites have them, you knucklehead.”

“I am not a knucklehead!”

“Am too,”

“Am not,”

“Am too,”

“Am not!”

“What now?” Fluttershy asked, completely frightened.

“Now we wait till morning,” Pinkie said.

“Would you all quit it already?” Twilight shouted. “This ghost stuff is ridiculous!”

“Twilight, would you just admit this place is haunted by an undead, angry ghost solider out for revenge and that we’re all gonna die !?!” Zephyr cried.

“It’s some kind of trick or a figment of the imagination,” she continued to deny. “And even if it wasn’t, I’m not going to let that scare me. I am going to solve this mystery!”

That’s when Twilight noticed that the four poster bed was made up with sheets and covers and pillows. They weren’t supposed to be there. Then she remembered seeing a bathmat on the floor in front of the tub in the bathroom while everyone else was distracted by the boiling brown crud. Why was it there? They should have been in the linen closet at the end of the wing with the rest of the sheets and towels and pillow slips. Twilight also remembered seeing a professional makeup kit on the counter by the sink when the shower fogged over.

“Look what I found,” Rarity said.

She reached into the closet across from the bed and pulled out several suitcases, like someone had just checked in. What would they be doing in a closed off room?

“Somebody’s actually been living here,” Twilight said.

“And what’s this?” Starlight asked as she reached for something on the bedside table.

It was a wig head, but without a wig.

“If only we could set a trap for that ghost,” Zephyr thought out loud.

“We can,” Twilight replied. “We have enough clues here to turn the tables on this... whatever it is. Now here’s what we’re gonna do!”

The sky was dotted with clouds as the full moon shined down on Las Pegasus. In Spike’s suite, Applejack sat with him as they looked at a photo that Photo Finish had taken the night of A. K. Yearling’s book lecture. Applejack, Sunset, Fluttershy and Pinkie were still in their bunny suits and ears, standing on either side of Spike, which made him look like a playboy. He smiled at the thoughts of that night, especially his fivesome with them. It was moments like that that made Spike wish he could make copies of himself so that there was more of him to go around... and he could satisfy them even more.

Spike had been going over the contents of Firelight’s binder all night with a frantic feeling that time was short and he had to hurry. It seemed that the deeper he dug, the more he learned how dark the resort was. Still the vital clues, the connections that would make everything clear, eluded him. Applejack noticed his expression, and thought he was thinking about Twilight.

“What happened to her isn’t your fault,” she said at last. “It’s just the way things are here.”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

Spike knew what Applejack meant, but he still wanted to hear it from her. As the days went by, he had found out that a lot of his coworkers were associated with prominent groups, some political, some economic, but all very powerful. And if they were going to hold sway over each other, they needed to be good gamblers. The Flimflam Brothers controlled everything that happened in their casino. When it came to the employees, the number of wins, and the amount of money they won, determined their rank.

“The best dominate the rest, and the ones that can’t gamble are the first to get crushed underfoot,” Applejack said.

Spike nodded.

“This place... some pretty bad types owned it awhile back.” he said, recalling his talk with Firelight earlier that night. “Did you know anything about that?”

“Believe it or not, it didn’t used to be this bad,” AJ replied. “Everything changed two years ago, when Impossibly Rich came back. The city is divided into two factions: Old Las Pegasus, the gangsters and the gamblers, and New Las Pegasus, the performers and the culture icons.”

The Rich Family was part of the former.

“Impossibly Rich played Flim and Flam for the deed to the once vacant lot that was across the street; that’s when the discrimination between the resorts, and their employees, started. Things quickly got worse after that,” she went on.

“So the old battle axe is pretty good in her own right,” Spike said.

“The members of Impossibly Rich’s inner circle are the elite of the elite, masters of every game from Blackjack to Russian Roulette. To best one of them would be insane. In a way, Twilight’s fall was pretty extreme. She roped everyone into her schemes, and then suffered a crushing defeat. But for it to happen as soon as summer season began, that’s just bad luck.”

Suddenly, they heard screaming coming from three floors below.

Meanwhile, in the haunted honeymoon suite, the ghost of Sir Ragamuffin reappeared, and he was very angry.

“You did not do as I said,” he stated. “Now you shall pay!”

The ghost advanced on Zephyr Breeze and the girls, his saber’s blade cutting through the air with a wicked whisper, and then a great hiss as it cut through the silk couch cushions, sending dust flying around in a dry puff.

“I will paint the walls with your blood!”

Zephyr and Rainbow Dash ran into the bedroom while the ghost chased Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie around the sitting room.

Spike and Applejack ran down the stairwell, exited onto the 23rd floor, and raced down the hall to Suite 2239. Inside, the screaming went on, accompanied by thumps, crashes, booms, and the unmistakable sound of broken glass—the sounds of destruction. Spike tried the doorknob, but it wouldn’t turn.

“Break it,” Spike said. “Quick.”

Applejack raised one booted foot and brought it down against the door with the strength of ten men. The lock was weak; it gave immediately and the door flew open, banging the wall and sending the knob through it (so the door stayed open).

Pinkie and Fluttershy were huddled together near the fireplace.

“Run, Spike, run!” shouted Fluttershy. “Save yourself!”

Spike looked around the room until he saw a vacuum cleaner; the light on the front of the unit flashed on and off and dust was escaping out of the bag.

“Pinkie, Fluttershy, stay right there!” Spike yelled as he hid behind the couch and made his way toward the monstrous machine.

“I bet its circuits are blown,” he thought.

The vacuum turned suddenly, racing across the room toward him. He jumped over the couch to avoid it and sprinted for the plug on the other side of the room where the electrical cord ran. His only chance would be to pull the plug. Spike reached the outlet just ahead of the vacuum and what he saw made his heart jump: the plug was already out of the socket!

Then all of the furniture (the coffee table, chairs, and couch) started floating!

“Look out!” Applejack shouted as the coffee table flew at him.

They ducked as the table crashed into the wall behind them.

“Here it comes again!” Fluttershy cried.

The table flew like it was jet-propelled as it chased them around the room. Then several rolled up newspapers took flight and started swatting them.

“You can’t get away!” Ragamuffin shouted.

“Back to the bedroom!” Twilight cried as the record player was overturned.

“They’re coming back,” Zephyr said as he noticed Rainbow Dash trying to pull the covers from the bed. “What are you doing?” he asked. “Wait--Use the sheets for a trap? Great idea!”

He gave her a hand and they took up positions on either side of the bedroom doors. Once the girls were all inside the room, Zeph and Dash pulled the covers up to block the doorway. They didn’t stop the ghost of Sir Ragamuffin, but they blinded him so that he tumbled through the air, dropping his sword, and crashed into the vibrating four poster bed. The bed’s frame collapsed under him and the posts broke, which brought the canopy down on top of him, and the mattress curled around him so that he looked like a pig in a blanket.

“We got him!” Zephyr shouted.

“I guess that about wraps up this ghost story,” Pinkie said.

“Now let’s see who you really are!” Twilight exclaimed.

Rarity pulled a handkerchief out of her purse and as soon as she cleaned off his face, they recognized him.

“Discord!?” they all exclaimed.

“It was you all along!” Fluttershy gasped. “Why-why would you do this?”

“I was trying to scare you slackers away so I could have this sweet suite to myself,” he explained.

“So, there aren’t any ghosts?” Starlight asked.

“Or diamonds?” Rarity added sadly.

“No, just a V.I.P. room that’s not up to code,” Discord replied.

“So the brown stuff in the bathtub?” Sunset inquired.

“Rusty water,” he answered.

“And the cold air?” Dash asked.

“I broke the A/C when I snuck in through the air vent in the bathroom. The ghostly moans you heard were all recordings. And by a clever use of a wig and makeup, I made myself look like Sir Ragamuffin. I even rigged the blood on the wall and the floating furniture and bathrobe as part of it,”

Twilight examined the coffee table in the sitting room. Battery-powered fans and motors underneath gave it the power to fly.

“And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for you meddling punks!” Discord finished.

“Well, I am very disappointed in you for not telling us the truth about Ragamuffin and using it for your own personal gain!” Spike scolded him.

“What do you mean, Spike?” Sunset asked.

“After Discord told us his version of what happened to Ragamuffin, I decided to do some digging of my own,” Spike explained. “At first glance, this looks like an open and shut case of double murder-suicide. Right now, the Las Pegasus Police Department believes that Ragamuffin murdered his wife and their maid because Ragamuffin had a mental breakdown. But this crime took place over 30 years ago... and crime scene analysis and forensic science has come a long way in the last three decades. After a talk with Starlight’s father, who’s an expert on the history of Las Pegasus, I decided to pay Shining Armor a visit at his office downtown. Turns out he’s secretly reopened the Ragamuffin case and according to him, someone killed Ragamuffin, his wife, and the maid... and Ragamuffin was framed for the whole thing!”

The gang stared at Spike with wide eyes.

“But if Ragamuffin didn’t kill himself, his wife, or the maid, who did?” Rarity asked.

“Someone spooked their maid, so Ragamuffin and his wife kept her with them in the honeymoon suite, where they thought she would be safe... but she was anything but,” Spike continued. “The wife showed up later that night, entered the bathroom expecting to find her husband, and found the maid lying dead in the bathtub... a result of being electrocuted by a clock radio that her killer had dropped into the water. The cops were right - Ragamuffin was in the room the night the murders took place, but his fingerprints prove he was there AFTER the first murder was committed. So he couldn’t have killed the maid. The only other thing the police knew for certain was that, from the angle Ragamuffin’s wife was shot; her shooter was lying on the floor. Why?”

Spike pointed to a spot on the sitting room floor and they saw streaks of black shoe polish along the rug. Whoever shot Ragamuffin’s wife was dragged! Besides the victims, there were at least two other people in the room: the wife’s shooter, and whoever was dragging the shooter.

“A fight broke out when Ragamuffin came in later and attacked the maid’s killer - Ragamuffin lost. The killer didn’t hesitate to electrocute the maid and hang the wife from the chandelier by her wrists, but they wanted Ragamuffin alive for just a little bit longer. With the maid already dead, all the killer had to do was tie up loose ends. And what better way to do it than to pin it on the husband,” Spike concluded. “Ragamuffin didn’t kill his wife, at least not directly... What kind of monster forces a man to shoot the woman he loves?” he asked them.

The gang felt another rush of cold air. They turned as one and saw three figures floating on the other side of the sitting room. One wore a soldier’s dress uniform, one was dressed in a white wedding gown, and one was clothed in a simple black dress. It was the ghosts of Sir Ragamuffin, his wife, and the maid!

Their faces softened into smiles.

“Impossibly Rich,” they whispered, and they disappeared in a wisp of smoke, leaving them alone.

Light broke through the window—dawn finally came—and the chandelier dropped to the floor and broke apart. But the glass didn’t shatter... because it wasn’t glass at all! It was the Ragamuffins’ diamonds!

“That’s what the note meant,” Spike thought. “The Ragamuffin diamonds replaced the pieces of glass that made up the chandelier.”

He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Shining Armor directly, saying he’d made a huge break in the Ragamuffin case. Shining Armor arrived later and took the diamond chandelier into custody, but Spike told Shining in private that it would be difficult to prove that Impossibly Rich was the killer... especially since the only ones who could prove it were dead.

After Shining left, Spike pulled Starlight Glimmer aside.

“For the short amount of time your Dad’s been in Las Pegasus, he sure seems to know a lot about the city’s history,” Spike began.

“So, what?” Starlight replied. “Is it a crime to be curious by nature?”

“Shut up,” Spike told her. “Just shut up! You know, one of my problems, on a list that’s quite long and very distinguished, is that despite my skeptical nature, I have a very bad tendency to trust people. I used to look for the good in everyone! Unfortunately, humanity has a very bad habit of letting me down.”

Starlight blinked.

“The help your father gave me on the Ragamuffin case, he has unparalleled access to stuff that he shouldn’t know about and shouldn’t have in his possession,”

“Just what are you implying, Spike?” Starlight asked.

“I’m not implying anything,” he stated. “I know that you, and your father, know more about what’s really going on in this city than you’re telling me, and Impossibly Rich is at the center of it. NOW, why don’t you look me in BOTH my eyes and tell me that I’m WRONG... ‘friend’!”

Later, the mole at the Flimflam Brothers’ Resort called Impossibly Rich after Shining Armor had left and informed Impossibly that Spike had solved the Ragamuffin murder case.

“What are we going to do now?” the mole asked.

“I want everything ready by the time that Video Gamers’ Convention comes to Las Pegasus next week,” she said. “And if push comes to shove, I don’t want to see Spike Drake again... alive.”

She hung up on the mole and Abacus Cinch asked, “All due respect, Ma’am, but Spike Drake is just one man. How much trouble could he really be?”

“You have no idea,” Impossibly Rich stated.

Next time, the girls try to cheer Spike up by taking him to the launch party of a video game version of Ogres and Oubliettes only to get zapped into the game via a device created to further enhance the gameplay experience.