CHAPTER 2
Hey everypony! Sorry for the delay in getting chapter two up. I know a lot of you have been waiting for it for a while. It's been a week, and had meant to have this up DAYS ago. That's what happens when you combine laziness and normal family stuff. Heheh. But I finally managed to get it posted, and I hope you all like it. As I said, this story is quite unlike any of the other Drake stories. Please review, my loyal readers.
We stood in the front yard of the huge mansion as the sun hung low in the sky. The trip to the house had taken longer than I had thought it would, and now at nearly four in the evening, we were getting our first look at the strange old house that had become such a terror to Princess Celestia. It was larger than I had expected it to be. It was an old, classic part brick, part wood-sided structure built about in the style of all of the old houses a hundred and fifty years ago. It stood over three stories high, and the building itself took up over a half an acre.
"The pony that built this place must've had enough money to burn a wet manticore..." I commented. "Just look at it. Who even builds this kind of monstrosity?"
"Somepony trying to show off and look cool?" Dashie answered. I slowly turned my gaze to her and gave her an incredulous look. She grinned, realizing what she'd just said.
"I...I kinda like it..." My sister said, looking at the house like a patron at an art museum studying a painting. "It's a big, old, creepy house...it's kinda cool."
"Well, it's old and creepy alright." Dash stated.
"Okay guys, we're burning daylight." I interjected. "Let's get started."
"Drake, how are we gonna do this?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Heh. Easily enough, if everything goes right." I answered. "There's definitely something going on in this place, and I'm sure it ain't ghosts."
"Awww..." Budder whined.
"AHEM."
"Sorry bub." She smiled.
"Anyway, as I was saying, if there's a pack of criminals using this place as a smuggler's cove or a base of operations, we could be walking into a snake's den. Given how many ponies disappeared at once, I'd say there may be up to a dozen criminals in there." I looked over my family's weaponry. Dash had a long stiletto dagger strapped to each hind leg, and my sister had a wooden practice sword tucked into a belt. One look, and any badpony was sure to underestimate Budder. Their loss. I readjusted my sabre belt and took a deep breath.
"Okay." I said. "We'll go in, and keep together. We encounter the enemy, you two know what to do."
"Yep!" Dash agreed. "Watch you take out ten ponies at once, and catch the other two when they try to run."
"Uh-huh..." I deadpanned. "At least you got the gist of it. Just back me up. I know you two will make me proud." Dash and Budder smiled. "And for Celestia's sake, be careful, okay?"
"Okay." Dash nodded.
"I promise." My sister whispered.
"Alright..." I sighed. "Follow me." We slowly walked up the steps, onto the wide, columned porch. I stepped to the large wooden door and paused. "Okay...ready? One..." I grasped the doorknob and slowly turned it. "Two..." I pulled back, ready to plow full-bore into the house. "Three!" We barged into the front room of the house, weapons drawn. The huge room was empty, save for an overstuffed sofa and a couple of tables. Preliminary scan: Room clear.
"Clear!" I called out. "Flank left, clear that room. I'm moving right!"
"Clear!" Dashie called.
"All empty!" Budder added.
"Hall clear!" I stated. "Up the stairs, lessgo!" I charged up the stairway, followed closely by Dash and Budder. "Military police!" I called. "Come out and surrender at once!" We made it to the second floor. "We know you're in here, and we got you outponied, outnumbered and outclassed! We got the house surrounded!" I bliuffed. "Come out and give up! Throw down your weapons and surrender, or it's gonna be bad!" There was no answer from anywhere in the house. "Final warning scumbags!" Still no answer. A galloped to the first door I saw in the second-floor hall, and kicked it open. The room was empty.
"Drake?" Dash said. I moved to the second door and threw it open. This room was empty too.
"I know somepny's in here!" I hollered.
"Drake." Dash stated. I ran to the third door and kicked it open. "Drake!"
"WHAT?!" I yelled back. "Oh...damnit...sorry Dashie." I said softly. "I didn't mean that. What is it?"
"The house is empty." She said.
"We haven't even..."
"There's nopony here." She decisively stated. I sighed and looked around.
"No...that's not...we...ugh, you're right." I admitted. "No hoofprints in the dust on the floor here, and no crates of stolen or illegal merchandise...I was so sure of my theory too." I groused. "I mean, to take out so many construction ponies...that would have taken a bunch of criminals, right?"
"Or an evil ghost!" Budder chimed in.
"Okay, sis...I'm not really ready to accept a supernatural explanation for a crime." I stated dryly.
"What about magic?" Dashie asked. "Like Princess Celestia warned us about?"
"I thought about that." I replied. "We'd be dealing with a really powerful unicorn, if not an alicorn. 'Course...I'm not the master of magical knowledge or anything."
"Master of...oh Drake..." Dash groaned, shaking her head with a grin. "Man, just saying that proves you're not." She chuckled.
"Shup." I grinned. "It's hard enough just being master of everything else."
"Heh. In your dreams, sweetheart." Dash commented. "So, what do ya wanna do now?"
"Eh...let's go ahead and clear the rest of this heap." I replied. "Don't think anypony's home, but we'd might as well check. If we're getting paid to walk around an old empty house, let's at least trot all over it." I looked around the corridor. "Okay, let's just..."
I was interrupted by a loud slam that made us all jump. I galloped to the staircase, Dash and Budder behind me. We ran down the stairs and back into the large front room. I quickly looked around to see that the room was still empty. The noise had come from in here somewhere. I looked around again. The front door was closed. That had undoubtedly been the loud bang we had heard.
"If there's nopony here, then who slammed the door?" I asked out loud.
"Maybe the wind?" Dash asked.
"Wind my...pastern..." I muttered. "That thing's solid oak." I grabbed the doorknob and tried to turn it, only to find it locked. I pulled hard on the door, but it wouldn't budge. I shook the knob violently, and tried to wrench it into turning, but the old brass fixture seemed to be as solid as the door itself.
"Bub?" Budder asked nervously.
"S'alright...the diir's just stuck." I explained. "These old houses...nothing works right, heheh." I walked across the room and picked up a heavy brass candlestick. "This should do the trick, heheheh." I lauched the projectile at one of the huge windows. It struck the glass with a dull thunk, and fell to the floor. "The hell?" I muttered in confusion.
"Try THIS!"Dash called, barely giving me time to duck before she hurled a chair full-force into the window. We stared in morbid fascination as the chair flew to pieces with a splintering crack, the glass remaining as solid as ever.
"H...HOW?!" My sister gasped.
"I'm seriously not liking this, Drake." Dashie said nervously.
"It's..." I began, trying to rationalize our situation at all cost. "It's alright guys. These windows...they're probably just made of really thick glass. Yeah, that's what it is..."
"Drake!" My marefriend scolded. "Like it or not, there's something seriously jacked up about this house!" Budder whimpered and her head drooped.
"Let's not overreact now..." I advised. "We have to keep our cool. Try the other windows." Dash and Budder immediately ran to two other windows in the large room, and began trying to pry them open, to no avail. I again tried to open the door, pulling on the knob, ramming into the heavy door, but it still wouldn't budge. I heard a loud pounding, and turned to see Dashie beating on a window frantically. I hurried to her, and tried to calm my marefriend down.
"Dashie..." I said calmly. "Dashie, stop...you'll hurt yourself."
"Drake..." She replied in a fearful tone. "There's like...no way out of here. Were trapped in here!"
"Bubbyyyyyy..." Budder whined, pushing up close against me.
"Guys...I..." I stammered. "This can't..." I didn't know what to say. None of this made any sense. There had to be some sort of magic at work here. I understood little about powerful magic, and spekks, except that they could only be done by expert unicorns and alicorns. Being an earth pony, I'd never bothered to learn the finer points of magic. My old academy rival, Shining...that high-bred unicorn...he majored in combat magic. What I wouldn't have given to to have that snooty old pretty-boy here now...
"What do we do, Drake?" Dashie asked. She moved close to me and gulped loudly. I gathered my thoughts.
"Okay..." I finally said. "First, we need to find a way out of this house. Somepony's working some magic hoodoo here, and I'm gonna let the princess handle that. But for us...magic spells have to be like everything else, right? They gotta have a weak spot. We just have to find it."
"O...okay..." Dash nodded, trying to calm down and conquer her own fears. Suddenly, from seemingly everywhere and nowhere at the same time, the house groaned. It was a drawn-out creaking, like wood straining. Budder yelped and cowered against me, while Dash clenched her teeth, her magenta eyes wide with fear. The groan subsided after a few moments, leaving the three of us standing in silence. We all looked at each other apprehensively.
"O...okay guys..." I stated, my heart admittedly beating a little faster now, "let's get outta here, huh?"
