Vacant

by Marcellus Jones

Torment

The fillies began to feel sick. The stench of death and fecal matter filled the room. They tied their capes around their snouts, hoping to tone the smell down. They were retching from the smell. The spirit taunted them.

"Hey, do you smell that?"

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were too busy dry heaving to bother replying to it.

"I said, Do you smell that?"

The fillies nodded.

"It's Death, children. Nothing else in Equestria smells like that. It smells like...Victory."

"How did you die?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"You're the first to ask that question. Since my death, you're the only mortals I've had any interaction with. I lived here when I was still alive, I was just a humble farmer, like the Apples. I grew Oranges, but my property line is right on the edge of the Pear family's. I interacted with the Pear family a lot, most of them were nice folks. One of their daughters took a liking to me, we hit it off pretty well. We did pretty much everything together. I'd help her harvest her pears, she'd help me pick my oranges. We'd set up booths in town right next to each other. If she missed her sales goal, I'd buy the residual. She did the same for me. We were that close."

"I built the courage to pop the question and she agreed to it. We were married for around 10 years. Things were going so well until one day, I was coming home from picking oranges. I noticed my front door was open, I didn't leave it open so I knew something was wrong. When I got in my house, I heard a scream. I thought my wife was in danger, so I hauled flank trying to get up there to help her. She was doing things with another stallion. In a jealous rage, I charged in there with my scythe and beheaded him. He was already dead, but I kept slicing him. I turned to her. I asked her, How could you do this to me?"

"She begged me not to kill her, begged me to 'have mercy' on her, she 'implored me to reconsider'. I told her she won't have to worry because we'll be dying together. I disemboweled her, a C-Section style cut across her stomach, everything just fell out like I spilled a bowl of spaghetti. I held her til she stopped breathing. When she was dead, I turned the blade on myself and committed sepuku."

"I was doomed to remain here as a punishment for my actions, but I was betrayed by the one I loved and trusted most. Wouldn't you be angry? Wouldn't you want justice? Revenge? I took matters into my own hooves. Now I haunt this place and I put whoever dares to enter my little corner of Tartarus through the same pain and torment that I put them through. That's enough story time though, looking back on it just makes me angry. I was making puns while ripping a filly in half, think of what I'm capable of when I'm angry."

The two remaining Cutie Mark Crusaders remained silent, enthralled by the spirit's story. They looked to each other, then back down the empty hallway.

"I still don't understand why you killed her, Scootaloo never hurt you in anyway. She never even knew who you were," Sweetie Belle lamented.

"When she was begging for her life, she reminded me of that traitorous whore. It rekindled that anger and I took it out on her."

"Well, not everypony's out to hurt you. You said it yourself, you're dead, so it doesn't concern you," Apple Bloom retorted.

"You make a valid point, little one. Perhaps there's a way I can rectify all this. It is beyond my power, of course, but I know somepony who does possess such abilities. I doubt she'll want anything to with me, but it is a possibility that you two could bring her here."

"Really? You're letting us go?" Sweetie Belle was excited.

"That's a sudden change of heart, I'm definitely not complaining, but what brought it forth?" Apple Bloom was curious.

"Guilty conscience, you two were right, she did nothing to me. Besides, having you both witness that was punishment enough."

"Who is coming to help us?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"You'll see. You'll have to be asleep for this to work, so I'll have to forcefully induce a comatose state."

"How?" Apple Bloom was afraid to ask.

Two disembodied hands lifted the two remaining friends up in the air.

"What are you doing? You said you'd help us," Sweetie Belle panicked.

The spirit didn't respond, he threw the two of them into the air and they collided with each other with such great force that they both fell unconscious. While they were unconscious, images of Scootaloo's corpse flashed in their minds. They also saw images of themselves suffering similar fates or worse. This nightmare fuel lured the pony that the spirit was trying to summon.

A bright light flashed and glowed, remaining stationary. A figure began to descend from this light. It was a familiar blue alicorn that appeared. Princess Luna had arrived, as it was her duty to guide ponies through nightmares.

The two fillies and the alicorn stood in a dark ethereal plane. They curtsied to the princess.

"My word, what happened here?" she stared at the two and a half Crusaders. She took a closer look around. Her expression went from bewilderment to fear when she realized where they were.

"Whose idea was it to come here? WHO BROUGHT YOU HERE?" Princess Luna went from concerned to cross quickly.

"Scootaloo brought us here, she said she wanted us to search here for our Ghost Hunter cutie marks," Sweetie Belle explained.

"Well, lucky for you, I can get the three of you out of this. Next time, I won't be able to use this power. It's normally forbidden. Consider this your one 'Escape Death Free' card," Luna shook her head.

"We're glad ya got here when ya did. The ghost was the one who knocked us out. He said somethin' about knowin' somepony who could help us and then he knocked us both out," Apple Bloom informed her.

"Really? Citrus 'C-Section' Splash, one of the most sinister serial killers who ever lived and died showed remorse and brought me here? I'm impressed," Luna raised an eyebrow.

The fillies nodded to corroborate the story, "Yes, he said you were the only one who could help us."

"He was right. Let me see what I can do," Princess Luna's horn glowed, Scootaloo began to glow from her magic.

Scootaloo's back legs slid across the floor from the end of the hall. The blood that was splattered everywhere evaporated. Scootaloo's lower half was reconnected to her upper half. She was sealed back with a loud crunch. Her spine was snapped back into place after her body was put back together.

"She'll wake up in a few hours, let her rest," Luna said.

"What do you mean she'll wake up? She's--- wait you mean you was able to resuscitate her?" Apple Bloom stared in shock.

"Yes. Like I said, this is magic that I am normally forbidden to use, but just this once, I'll let it slide. I won't be able to save her from death again, not everypony gets a second chance, so she should consider herself extremely lucky. Now then, let's get the three of you out of here, I need to take care of one more thing though," Luna turned her attention to the ghost.

"We meet again. I haven't seen you since the wedding of the Murderer and the Traitor."

"Citrus Splash, rest your soul. You no longer have to haunt this place, you are free now," Luna said.

"Where are you sending me?"

"Below, now begone at once," Luna's horn glowed.

The hands were gone, the outline of a stallion could be seen now. He strobed and flashed like a siren before disappearing.

"Okay, now to take the three of you home. Put Scootaloo on my back and then take my front hooves," Luna stood still. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle did as commanded.

She used her magic to unlock the front door. She opened it and jumped, unfurling her wings. She flew to Sweet Apple Acres first. She stopped at the farmhouse and let Apple Bloom go.

"Get some sleep, pretend this never happened, that's the best advice I can offer you," Luna said.

"Is Scootaloo gonna be okay?" Apple Bloom asked.

"You'll find out tomorrow, now go to bed," Luna's answer was short and cryptic.

"Thank you for saving us," she entered the house and went up to bed.

Luna took off in full gallop and jumped, unfurling her wings again. She landed at Carousel Boutique next. She let Sweetie Belle go.

"Next time Scootaloo tries to convince you to do something stupid, jump her and beat the brakes off of her," Luna advised.

"I'm not going to hurt my friend, Princess Luna," Sweetie Belle was taken aback.

"Would you rather have her be injured in a safe place or dead in a dangerous one?" Luna shot back coldly.

"Injured in a safe one," Sweetie Belle answered.

"Then do as I tell you. Get some rest and for my sister's sake, stay out of trouble," Luna replied.

"I'll try, thank you for getting us out of there," Sweetie Belle smiled.

"Don't mention it," Luna looked annoyed.

"No, I mean, I appreciate--," Sweetie Belle began.

"EVER," Luna cut her off.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Sweetie Belle looked down at the floor.

"You should be, don't ever go near that house again or any other potentially haunted place in Equestria. If you hear stories that sound ridiculous to you, they're probably true. Anything is possible, believe me, I've been around for thousands of years and have seen things you couldn't even begin to fathom," Luna left it at that.

Sweetie Belle entered Carousel Boutique, relieved and happy to be alive.

"One last stop," the Princess of the Night said to herself.

She took off again, flying toward Cloudsdale. When she got there, she flew through the window of the cloud mansion Rainbow Dash resided in, she laid her on the floor near Rainbow's bed. She let her rest there and backed away.

"You're her problem now, my work here is done," Luna turned her back to the sleeping mares.

She breathed a sigh of relief and jumped back out the window, she unfurled her wings and glided through the night sky. She flapped them a few times to pick up speed, then turned to make a bee line for Canterlot. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were safe and the evil spirit that haunted the house had finally passed on. Everypony was safe and everything was back to normal. Luna kept flying, disappearing into the night.

Author's Note:

I decided to give this a happy ending by having the Cutie Mark Crusaders rescued and the ghost was able to cross over.

Everybody wins. Credit for the Luna idea goes to 29000 Kevin from the comment section, I liked that idea the best out of the ones he suggested.

Also, bonus points for anyone who gets the "Do you smell that?" reference in the beginning.

Comments

[29000 Kevin]

"Well thanks for the the credit really appreci-" *Luna cuts me off*

Well the end results in this story is.

-The Ghost has passed on to hell not tartis- or whatever you call it.
-Scootaloo has either forgotten or is scared for life seeing her other half.
-The rest of the CMC have smelled and seen death but Luna is on hand to fix the PTSD.
-Luna had to use a forbidden spell to save this story from a becoming truly dark.
-No pony else seem to notice what happened that night.
-The CMC failed in getting a cutie mark :(

Final outcome Win/Win for everypony (according to Princess Luna)

[Marcellus Jones]

9570281
Yeah, boyos.

[The Blue EM2]

Well... wow. That was dark. But also great fun to read!

[Marcellus Jones]

9629229
Thank you. Glad you liked it.

[The Blue EM2]

9630889
Looks like I'm not the only one who has killed and resurrected Scootaloo.

[Marcellus Jones]

9630964
I was torn between leaving her dead and bringing her back. I went with the latter.

[The Blue EM2]

9631810
Some would call it a Deus Ex. I say it was a wise move.

[Marcellus Jones]

9632220
I hope so.

[The Blue EM2]

9644168
Yep.

[Lack of Tact]

Read the entire thing in a go and dmn, I was impressed. Really nice atmosphere building, and I'm glad for the happy ending.

Only thing I could dog on was like really minor, but still, this is a spoiler: Scootaloo just fcking dies and no one blinks a fcking eye. I was like, wow, heartless sonsabtches.

Really good story, seriously. My favourite line just has to be this one:

"... I knew it looked scary from outside, but now that we're inside, it just confirmed in my mind that I want to go home."

The sudden, blunt drop of this line caught me so off guard at the beginning I almost sht myself laughing.

[LeylaQuartz]

Moved a little too fast for me. Whereas some stories have too much build up, this one didn't build up tension at all. The change of heart was also out of nowhere, but alright.
The overall idea was pretty good, though, and Scootaloo would be the one to drag them into this situation. I feel a certain pony would have been more wrathful upon her arrival but other than that the other characters were on accurate.

[Marcellus Jones]

10820998
Big love, homie, I'll do better in the future. I forgot this website existed for a right good while.

[Marcellus Jones]

10943913
I kind of rushed it. It was for a contest thing that had a deadline and then the contest never even occurred so I rushed it for nothing! Angry at myself, but this is like a prototype, future stories will be better.

[Wolfeh05]

It was a nice story, even if it was a bit rushed and let some things unexplained.
I think it would've been better if there was also a bad ending and an epilogue, just to ads the story a new perspective