Welcome to Gaia! ::

Trotting along towards the large haunted house was a navy furred filly with pale minty hair. Her orange eyes were locked on the structure that easily fit its name. Dilapidated shutters hung open, swaying in the wind and smacking against their window panes. some of the glass was broken, allowing a breeze to pool inside and wave the curtains subtly enough that it caught anyone's attention in the corner of their eye. Even the grass on its lawn was tall and unkempt as if the house hadn't been touched in years, though it was a new addition to the theme park proper.

A wide grin was spread across Mandrake Blossom's face. The last time she was here was with her brother Lullaby and he hadn't wanted to go into the haunted trolly ride. This, on the other hand, was probably much more intense. She was excited. There was a dark shape standing nearby, no bigger than herself. One look caused her smirk to waver and she pushed her lips out into a judgmental pout. Pegasus. She was jealous enough of the unicorns with their magic but when it came to the winged phonies she felt full on envy. They could go anywhere they wanted whenever they wanted and weren't stuck to the ground, practically useless.

"You going inside?" Mandrake half teased, stopping beside the other filly. She hoped the answer was yes. One thing she liked more than screaming herself was hearing others scream. Her eyes narrowed, smirk returning a bit darker than before as she observed Moth Drops' reaction, "I heard a rumor that this house is alive and it likes to eat foals. Only when it's one, though, otherwise it'd draw too much attention to itself." A bold faced lie but if it got her a partner, it was worth it. "Two would be safe."

Hook, line and sinker.

Mandrake looked over the pegasus. She was soft spoken and clearly didn't have a strong personality. In fact, she was quite similar to Lullaby in that vein and the filly got a bit of deja vu at this whole scenario. The only difference here was that she had an ace in the whole; this one hadn't outright said she'd never go inside.

Flicking her tail, Mandrake shook her head and giggled. "It's just rumors! I mean, are you gonna believe everything you hear?" Boldly, she took a step forward and the wind gently pushed through the house, causing it to creek. Her expression faltered and for a moment she looked worriedly at the front door before righting herself and glancing back to Moth-Drops. "But I guess if you're not going in, you can see if the rumors are true. If I don't come out, you'll spread the word, right?" With that, she tossed her head and began a slow canter through the grass towards the front porch. The wood looked all rotted and decades old at least. Real or not, it was a very convincing display.

Mandrake paused, pretending to give a concerned look. "Are you sure?" This pegasus had one up on her brother at least in terms of bravery. Even if it was the result she intended, she still had to give this phony respect for doing so; if she herself were really scared she probably would have high tailed it out of there and told an adult instead of volunteering herself. When she ran up beside her, Mandrake gave her a somewhat surprised and thoughtful look before offering a genuine smile and nodding. "Well thanks," she had to give credit where credit was due.

The two paused for a moment before the porch, Mandrake staring at the rickety stairs with muted apprehension. They were probably full of splinters -- if the wood really was as old as it looked -- but this was an amusement park, chances were it was all composite and fake anyway. Lifting her chin, she reached out with a hoof and placed it flat upon the first step. When she added weight, there was a heavy creak and she nearly backed off but instead she pushed forward and began a slow climb. "I guess if we're going in to meet our doom we should at least know each other's names," she glanced back to check if the other filly was still following, "I'm Mandrake -- Mandrake Blossom." Her mind was bubbling with other sorts of scary fibs she could come up with to give this "haunted" house more character and maybe if she knew a little more about her companion she could custom tailor those tales into something truly frightening.

Ears twitching and swiveling as she listened to Moth-Drops' voice, Mandrake glanced around the front porch with something akin to nervousness creeping in. Before she allowed herself to recognize these second thoughts, the dark filly beside her straightened up and attempted to put on an air of resolve. Mandrake did too, holding her head high and flicking her hair back. "Right!"

With one nudge of her hoof, the front door creaked open, appearing to be having off one of its hinges and not closing properly. The sound was almost deafening and if Mandrake weren't covered in fur, all of the color would have drained from her face. She refused to let Moth-Drops see her in this moment of weaknesses and added a little bounce to her step so she was a couple feet in front of the other phony.

Inside, the structure was dark but looked as run down as its exterior. Dust and cobwebs covered everything, moth bitten drapes fluttering gently despite a lack of breeze, and the only light was coming through the dirty windows, illuminating only small sections of the grand foyer. It looked a lot bigger on the inside than out. Old portraits hung on the wall of people nobles from Gaia's past and other phonies of importance that may or may not have been made up for the sake of atmosphere. Whatever the case, it was working, and Mandrake Blossom felt a chill run up her spine.

"S-so where should we go first?" she tired to pass off her slight stutter as more of a curious hiss, not wanting to look fearful or stupid.

Lost in the macabre scene and all of its foreboding details, Mandrake's hairs stood on end when Moth-Drops spoke. She had nearly forgotten the other filly came in with her. More over, she had nearly forgotten her fib.

"Huh?" she started, looking back when her companion mentioned the phony eating monster, quickly doing a double take, "Oh, right. Traps. Uh, did you have anything in mind?" While she asked that, the dark blue phony began cautiously traipsing around. With each subtle step, the floor boards groaned uneasily and she kept her pace slow, careful not to disturb anything. Every movement she made kicked dust up off the floor, creating a thin cloud around them which tickled their noses. It didn't take long for it to affect Mandrake and, though she clenched her eyes and made silly faces, the filly was unable to hold the sneeze back.

It echoed throughout the haunted house and, for a moment after, she thought she'd gone deaf. Then it started. A dull creaking from upstairs, moving, growing louder, ever so slowly.

Mandrake froze, petrified.

Mandrake's eyes widened in terror, breath caught in her throat. She didn't dare move an inch until Moth-Drops' voice cut through the near silence and the Earth filly flailed her legs about before covering her head with her hoofs and hunkering to the ground. This didn't last long, as her companion fluttered about wildly, kicking up even more dust. Her wings flapped desperately, gusts of wind flying from her feathers, and the front door slammed shut loudly. Mandrake was nearly bowled over by the pegasus, landing roughly on her side. She scrambled to her feet, ready to shriek, but as she took a deep inhale the dust went straight down her throat and into her eyes, causing her to sputter and choke. Coughing and wheezing, she flopped back on the floor helplessly and tried to rub the soot out of her eyes to no avail. With each cough, she managed to let out a single growling sound that she had to force out until she was able to take a single deep inhale; "Rr... rrr... R--Run!"

The filly sprang to her feet and ran blindly, careening down a hallway before smacking solidly into the nearest wall. It was a dining area with a table and a cloth cover so long it draped across the floor. Rotten food was set out upon the table, though there was no smell coming from it and only the dull sound of flies was heard despite the insects not being visible. Another quick coughing fit from Mandrake and she was able to open one tear soaked and reddened eye. "Under here," she hissed to Moth-Drops, quickly scurrying under the table cloth to hide.

Overhead, the creaking continued and sounded as though it were getting closer.

Sputtering a bit more, Mandrake covered her snout with her hooves in an attempt to muffle the noise and kept her eyes clenched shut. When Moth-Drops spoke, she was given a start but not nearly as bad as the previous one and Mandrake merely gasped into her hooves. "S'fine," she pushed the idea of staying in this place just to find a drink away as quickly and roughly as she could without shrieking. That was a horrible idea. Even if the place had sinks, even if they had the time to find them, the water and glassware was probably so filthy and disgusting it wouldn't have been worth it anyway.

Before she had a chance to open her mouth more, the creaking suddenly became much more prominent. Whatever it was had moved down the hallway above them and was now descending the stairs. Even in the dark gloom of the mostly unlit manor, there was a distinct shadowy shape visible through some of the holes in the table cloth. Mandrake's eyes widened and once more she was frozen with fear. Whatever it was, she couldn't make out the details but it seemed vaguely humanoid in shape and, worse yet, it was approaching. Each step the figure took caused the floor boards to creek but the way it moved almost seemed like it was floating. It approached the table, walked around one side and stood in front of the hallway with the gas light, which cast a large shadow through the table cloth and across their young phony faces.

This was it. This was the thing that ate phonies. She had made it all up but now here they were, face to face with some horrid creature that was going to gobble them up! The earth phony couldn't take it and began quietly wheezing as her eyes welled up with fearful tears. Mandrake had sunk against the floor by then, covering her eyes with her hooves. Her whole body was shaking and she plead as quietly as she could, lip quivering madly. "I'm so sorry, I made it up, I didn't think it was true. I was just pretending. I didn't want to be eaten, I didn't want this. Please, I don't want to get ate, I'm sorry - I'm sorry."

Just when she thought it was all over, the figure almost seemed to shrug and give its head a quick scratch before heading down the gas lit hallway and disappearing around a corner. At that moment, Mandrake collapsed on her side and gave a few quick sobs.