//------------------------------//
// Tag... 
// Story: Onigokko 
// by GWFan 
//------------------------------//

    Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle ran down 24th St. looking for any sign of the other kids.  They didn’t dare stop for fear that the Whistler or some other monstrosity would pop out and catch them.  Scootaloo had already disappeared and the two fillies didn’t want the same thing to happen to any of their other friends.  Even Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon didn’t deserve this.
Rounding another blind corner and running down a long street that ran into another intersection, Apple Bloom came to a sudden halt.
“What is it?  Do you hear something?” Sweetie Belle asked anxiously, expecting to see a monster jump out of the shadows.
“No, just look around.  Don’t you recognize this place?” 
Sweetie looked around and smiled.  They were in the large intersection that they had originally split up at.  They had come down the second street to get there but it was definitely the same place. 
“Has it been an hour yet?” Sweetie asked.
“I’m not sure, but I don’t think we can wait.  Come on.  I think we should go back to Ponyville and get some help.  I’m sure Applejack and Twilight will know what to do.”
“You want to leave the others here?”
Apple Bloom sighed.  “No.  But Bronyville is too big.  I don’t know how to find anypony and we could run into another monster if we tried.  That’s why we should go back and get help.”
Sweetie Belle nodded slowly, understanding the urgency of their situation.  If everypony was caught, they would never be rescued.  They took off down the street, past the broken window they had first seen a more lifeless Whistler sitting in.  Of course, it was empty now. 
“Look, I can see the gate up ahead!” Apple Bloom announced excitedly.  Silently cheering inside, the two fillies ran through the gateway… 
And stopped dead.
“What?” Apple Bloom exclaimed.
She couldn’t believe her eyes.  Above them stood a large building that looked like an apartment complex.  Nearby sat a street sign that read, 7th St.  They were back at the hotel again.
“But I don’t understand.  We came in this way.  I’m sure of it.”
Sweetie Belle gasped.  “Oh my gosh!  Remember what Snails said?  Once the game starts, you can’t stop playing.”
“Does that mean we can’t even get out?”  Apple Bloom looked behind her and stared.  The big gate was gone.  Only fog and a long street they definitely had not come from ran behind her.  “I don’t believe it.  We’re trapped.”
“No,” Sweetie Belle wailed.  “What do we do now?”
Apple Bloom’s mind raced.  They were trapped in an enormous maze of a town with at least one monster and possibly more if the etching in the hotel was worth anything.  And this was supposed to be some kind of game?
“A game?” She said to herself.  “Onigokko is supposed to be a game of tag.  Maybe we just have to win the game and it’ll all be okay.”
“But how do we win?”
“We don’t get tagged, that’s all.  Maybe we should see if we can find the others after all.  Then we can all hide somewhere together until mornin’.  I’m sure the game will end by then.”
“What makes you so sure?  Look what happened to Twist.”
“I wonder if that really was Twist,” Apple Bloom said more to herself.  Surely, Twist would have been smart enough to hide after she saw the monsters.  Unless she was caught right away.  But if that really had been Twist earlier, then what happened to the other kids?  Twist had only said that the monsters take you away.  Where did they take them?
“Well, I’m just sure.  Come on.  Let’s see if we can find our way back to that big intersection again.  Maybe Snips and Snails will be waitin’ for us.”
“Do you think if we go back, we’ll find the gate again?” Sweetie asked, indicating the way they had just come.
“No idea.”  She didn’t really want to go back through the hotel though, so it sounded like it was worth a try.
Unfortunately, their gamble didn’t bear fruit, and they found themselves at an unfamiliar intersection of 7th and Elm.  7th however, ended, and they had to decide which way down Elm or else go back.
“Do you think it’s unicorn magic or somethin’?”  Apple Bloom suddenly asked.
“Huh?”
“This maze and that thing with the gate back there.  Do think this is done with unicorn magic?”
Sweetie Belle shrugged.  Everfree seemed like a pretty magical place to begin with, what with the animals that took care of themselves and clouds that moved without pegasi to move them.  Perhaps that strange unnatural magic surrounded Bronyville too.
Finally deciding to go right, the two fillies walked the fog layered street, listening for any strange sounds, particularly whistling.  Then for a moment, they thought they heard hoofsteps.
“Should we hide?” Sweetie asked nervously.
“Where?  There’s nothing-”
Somepony dashed around the corner and barreled them over.
“No!  No!  Help!  Let me go!” The pony screamed.
“Silver Spoon?” Apple Bloom said in astonishment.
“Huh?” Silver Spoon realized she was sitting on top of Apple Bloom.
“Calm down, it’s us,” Sweetie Belle said, barely able to keep her voice from cracking.  “Where’s Diamond Tiara?”
Silver Spoon cautiously looked behind her as if expecting something to appear out of the shadows.  “She’s gone.  The creepy thing got her.”
“What do you mean creepy thing?  What happened?” Apple Bloom demanded.
“A big pony.  He got her with his bat.”
“Bat?  You mean like a baseball bat?”  Silver Spoon nodded.  “But what happened to her?  Did you see what happened?”
“I don’t know.  I ran after it hit her.”  
Hit her?  Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other in shock.  Was Diamond Tiara okay?  For that matter, they still hadn’t found Scootaloo.  And where were Snips and Snails?
Silver Spoon wiped tears from her eyes.  “I want to go home.  I don’t want to play this stupid game anymore.”
“We already tried.  But once the game starts, it’s impossible to leave.  There’s no way out,” Sweetie Belle said sadly.  
“That’s ridiculous.  There has to be a way out,” Silver Spoon shouted at her.  “I walked in here and I’m walking out.”
“No, the point of tag is not to get caught.  If we want to get out of this, we just have to play by the rules and win,” Apple Bloom explained.
“Which rules?  Do know how many variations of tag there are?”
“Huh?” Apple Bloom exclaimed in surprise.  “What do you mean?  I thought you and Diamond Tiara hated tag?”
Silver Spoon went crimson.  “Well… we used to play it a lot when we were younger.”  She briefly cleared her throat.  “What kind of tag is Onigokko?  The game could go on forever because whoever is tagged becomes ‘it.’  Well… unless this is like freeze tag or something.”
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other.  It hadn’t even occurred to them.  None of the rumors they had heard had mentioned anything about the specifics of the game other than that it was tag.  How did they win if they didn’t know the exact rules?
“I guess we’ll just stick with the plan we’ve got and try to hide somewhere.  I don’t know what to say about Snips and Snails but, maybe we should go back to that hotel and hide inside or-”
“No!  No buildings!  I don’t want to run into the scary pony again.”
“I don’t know which monster you saw but there are other ones outside too.  We already met a giant one.  Tell her Sweetie Belle.  Sweetie Belle?”
Sweetie Belle wasn’t paying attention though.  She was looking around them as if searching for something.  “Do you hear that?”
The two young earth ponies listened.  It sounded like rustling leaves.
“What about it?” 
“I don’t feel any wind,” Sweetie Belle said slowly.  “And I haven’t seen one tree in the whole town.”
The three fillies looked down an alley where the sound seemed to be coming from.  They flinched when two tiny orange lights flashed for a moment.  Then another pair.  And another.  Several pairs of orange flashed and approached with the sound of rustling leaves.
“What is that?” Silver Spoon squeaked, slowly backing away.
“I… I don’t…,” Apple Bloom watched the shadows of the alley until another pair of orange lights appeared a few feet in front of them.
The tiny lights moved out of the shadows.
“Oh my gosh…,” Silver Spoon barely said in a weak shrill.
A full sized pony stood before them as dark as the shadows.  Its eyes indeed glowed orange.  Its mangy mane and tail hung scraggly from its body like old moss on a tree.  If it wore an expression, it was completely unrecognizable against the pure blackness of its body.
“Run!” Apple Bloom shouted just as more shadowy ponies emerged from the alley.  As it started to chase them, the one they had first seen virtually melted into the ground, becoming one with the shadow of a building.  Several others followed its fluid decent.
Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Silver Spoon ducked around buildings and down long streets to the sound of rustling leaves following closely behind, signaling that the herd of shadows was still chasing them.
“It’s just a bad dream!  Wake up!  Wake up!  Please wake up!” Silver Spoon yelled.
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle rounded another building but Silver Spoon ran straight, not watching where she was going as she wailed for her nightmare to end.
Realizing what had happened, Apple Bloom skidded to a stop and turned around all in the same motion.  “Silver Spoon!” She shouted just as the heard of shadows raced past the intersection.  
She saw several pairs of orange eyes peering out of the ground, including a few that looked straight at her, but the river of shadows never wavered, continuing after the screaming filly whom Apple Bloom could still vaguely hear.
“Apple Bloom?” Sweetie Belle asked, looking back from where she stood a few paces ahead of her.  “What happened?  Where did they go?”
“They went after Silver Spoon.  I…,” Apple Bloom rubbed her eye trying to hold back tears.  “We never should have come here.  It’s all my fault.  If I had taken Twist seriously, maybe I coulda convinced her not to come and we wouldn’t be in this mess.”  She turned away from the intersection.  “What are we gonna do Sweetie Belle?  Even if we went after Silver Spoon, I don’t know if there’s anythin’ we could do to help her.  These monsters are as real as you and me.”
Sweetie Belle looked at the ground.  “I don’t know.  I wish my sister was here.  And Fluttershy, and everypony else.  They’d know what to do.”
The two fillies stood there for a few moments thinking about what to do next when a small sound, like a tin can dropping on the ground, alerted their ears.
“What now?” Apple Bloom asked miserably.  The sound had come from the direction they had been headed.
Sweetie Belle gulped and backed up to Apple Bloom.  Then she whispered, “We should get out of here and hide somewhere.”
“Where are we gonna go?  Those shadow ponies are back the other way somewhere and I don’t want to run into them again.”
“But there’s something in front of us too.”
The sound of a trashcan falling over and somepony saying, “Ow!” rang out in the illuminated street.
Apple and Sweetie looked at each other and slowly advanced forward.  It certainly didn’t sound like a monster.  Then again, the whistling statue and the shadow ponies hadn’t either.  A short ways down the street, they saw a trashcan that had tipped over in the fog.  Underneath its spilled contents was a pony’s tail.  Gulping slightly, Apple Bloom approached the tail and tapped on it.
“Awwwwwww!”
Something jumped out of the garbage and threw itself against the corner of the building.
“Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom exclaimed happily.
“Wha?” Scootaloo rubbed her eyes.  “It’s you guys!” 
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle jumped on Scootaloo and hugged her.
“Scoot, you’re all right.”
“Well… yeah!  Of course I am,” Scootaloo replied trying to sound confident.
“Wait, what happened to the monster?”
“Oh… the monkey and the weasel?  Um…,” Scootaloo looked around.  “I’m not sure.  I only lost them a little while ago.”
Sweetie Belle paled.  “You mean they’re still around somewhere?”
“Maybe?”  She shrugged.
Apple Bloom and Sweetie listened for any whistling sounds.  All three of them froze for almost a full minute before they sighed in relief.  The three fillies spent the next few minutes talking about what had happened since separating.  Scootaloo looked ready to bug out when they mentioned the shadow ponies that had chased after Silver Spoon as well as her story about Diamond being hit with a baseball bat.
“I shouldn’t have dared them to come,” Scootaloo said guiltily as they walked down the street looking for a place to hide.  “They drive me crazy, but I never wanted them to get hurt.  Heck, if they hadn’t shown up, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
“Don’t blame yourself Scoot.  It’s all our faults for thinkin’ we could find the other kids on our own.  This is kinda like when we tried to find Fluttershy’s chicken,” Apple Bloom said as they rounded a mandatory corner.
“But I don’t think anypony is going to jump in and save us.  No one knows where we are this time,” Sweetie said miserably.
“If it’s our fault then we’ll just have to take responsibility and find Diamond Tiara and the others.  It’s the least we can do,” Scootaloo added as they rounded another corner.
“I don’t know.  We could try to find em, but…,” Apple Bloom trailed off and stopped.
The three fillies slowly looked up.  The monkey statue growled in front of them, saliva dripping from its mouth.  The creature sitting on top slowly whistled the last line of Pop Goes the Weasel as it gazed down at them with an orange eye from the unmasked side of its face.
The monkey roared and the Crusaders wasted no time turning and galloping as fast as their legs would carry them.  The chase was on and the huge wooden monkey was gaining in its lumbering steps.  Its size made closing the gap a small task and Apple Bloom realized that.  Then, just like before, she spotted a sanctuary.
“Quick!  That way!” She led the way down a side alley that was a bit too small for the giant to follow.  Nevertheless, the Crusaders didn’t chance it and kept running to the end of the alley and back onto another street.  Though they still had no idea where they were going they kept running down the street under streetlamps and neon signs that almost seemed to taunt them as they raced on.  It only ended when Apple Bloom tripped over her own hooves and rolled to a stop.  
“Apple Bloom, you okay?” Sweetie Belle asked her, out of breath.
“Yeah.  I think so.”  Apple Bloom barely had the energy to move.  She lay on her back, staring at the sky through the light fog.  There were few stars out or so it appeared from the bright city lights around her.
Apple Bloom slowly sat up and looked around.  Everything looked the same, buildings that were too close, lit up signs, streetlamps.  She saw a sign that read Main St. but it didn’t really help her figure out where in the city they were.  Maybe it didn’t matter.  They had already discovered there was no way out.
Then all three of the Crusaders perked their ears.  Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle both cringed.  Rustling leaves.
“Let’s go,” Apple Bloom said quietly.
“Can’t we rest first?  It’s just leaves or something,” Scootaloo panted.
“It’s not leaves,” Sweetie Belle told her.
“Huh?” Scootaloo scratched her head and looked in the direction of the sound.  Then, she saw the orange eyes in the shadows of a nearby alley.  “Oh man…,” 
The three of them turned to run, but the dark mass of shadows moved in quickly.  
“Nooo!” Scootaloo shouted when something grabbed her leg.
“Scoot!”  Apple Bloom dove for her as something started to drag Scootaloo backwards.  She barely caught Scootaloo’s front hoof and tried to pull her back but the shadow was pulling harder.  Sweetie Belle grabbed Apple Bloom’s tail and pulled.
Scootaloo stared into her friend’s eyes as she felt more hooves grabbing her back legs and body.  “Apple Bloom…,” She struggled.
Apple Bloom held on and pulled as hard as she could.  Then Scootaloo’s hoof slipped out of hers.
“Scoot!” Apple Bloom shouted as the young pegasus slipped into the darkness.  “Scootaloo!  Scoot!  Scoot!”
“Ruuuuun!”  Scootaloo screamed from the darkness and then went silent.
Orange eyes dotted the shadows, looking at them.  Not knowing what else to do, the two remaining Crusaders took Scootaloo’s last word and painfully ran away.  They didn’t hear the shadow ponies following them but they ran on anyway, not wanting to chance it.
Apple Bloom’s eyes blurred a little as she felt hot tears welling up inside.  Not Scootaloo.  Why did they have to take Scootaloo?
“Apple Bloom, we have to hide.  We can’t do anything else,” Sweetie told her as they ran on.  
“I know.  I know,” Apple Bloom replied in a wail.
“We’ll find them in the morning, right?”
Apple Bloom couldn’t answer.  What would become of them by morning?  She didn’t even know if the others were still alive.
Apple Bloom took a chance look behind them and saw that nothing was following them.  She slowed down to a walk and Sweetie Belle did the same.  “All right Sweetie Belle.  We’ll hide.  And we’ll definitely find everypony in the mornin’ when we come back with help.”  It was the only thing they could really do.
The two fillies continued their dreary hike down the street when they realized they hadn’t seen any turns on the way.  There had been no alleys or open buildings either.  They hadn’t seen a sign telling them they were no longer on Main St.  How long was this street?
Then, in the dense fog, they saw a tunnel.  Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other and glanced behind them.  It was the only place to go and the only thing considerably different from what they had seen so far.  
“It’s so dark,” Sweetie murmured.  “You don’t think any of the monsters are hiding in there do you?”
“I don’t know.”  Apple Bloom gazed up at the top of the tunnel and gulped.  “Let’s run.”
“Huh?”
“We’ll run through on the count of three.  This is Main St.  There’s gotta be somethin’ important through there.”
Sweetie Belle stared at the tunnel worriedly before shutting her eyes and nodding her head.
“One… Two… Three!”
They took off. 
The tunnel was so dark and so long that they could only see a small dot of light in front of them.  Hardly blinking and never taking their eyes off the light, they galloped as fast as they could.  No monsters tried to stop them.  No noises tried to taunt them.  Nothing but darkness and a slowly growing light.  What would they find on the other side?
The two remaining Crusaders charged past the exit with a cry of relief.  Then they stopped.  The fog was less dense on this side.  It was quite apparent that they were standing on a bridge of sorts, with decorative side railings that looked shiny and new.  Around them they could see two other hanging walkways, suspended a ways on either side and a good two stories above them.  There was one other thing that stood out.  At the end of the bridge stood an enormous clock tower.
Apple Bloom stared at the clock tower.  It was a bizarre structure looking to be made out of every scrap of junk and trash a city had to offer.  Bits of metal, wood, paper, even whole objects like smashed chairs, garden shovels, and objects she had no name for, conglomerated together to form the huge tower.  The only thing that looked normal was the clock face itself, but there was still something wrong with it.  She had remembered hearing it strike midnight earlier, but the hands on the face hadn’t moved.  They were still showing midnight. 
That’s when she remembered the words etched on the wall of the hotel.  Midnight never ends. 
“It can’t be,” She whispered to herself.  “It’s impossible.”
“Apple Bloom, look!” Sweetie pointed in front of them.  Standing at the base of the clock tower was Twist.
Smiling a little, the two fillies approached her.  But they slowed to a stop when they realized she was still wearing the white human mask.
“Twist, we found you.  We came to rescue everypony,” Apple Bloom told her.
“Where is everyone?  Do you know?” Sweetie asked.
Twist gave no reply.  
“Come on Twist.  The games over.  We were all worried sick about you,” Apple Bloom tried.  “This isn’t funny.”  Still, no reply.  “Twist, please.  Tell me it’s all just a silly game and everypony is okay.  Please!”
Sweetie Belle put a hoof on Apple Bloom’s shoulder.  “I don’t think-” They both cringed.
Whistling!
“Twist, come on.  We have to hide!” Apple Bloom told her.  Twist still stood there as the soft whistling buzzed in the air.  
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle shuttered as the Whistler and its mount walked out from behind the tower, whistling its song.  
“Twist…,” Apple Bloom called meekly, but she knew her friend wouldn’t listen to her.  Something was wrong with Twist and it had to do with the mask she wore.
Turning away to go back the way they had come, the two fillies froze when a new creature slowly walked out of the tunnel and stood at the entrance of the bridge.  It was a huge pony, walking on his hind legs and carrying a twisted baseball bat in his right hoof, his beady orange eyes watching them carefully from his tiny mask.
“Apple Bloom!” Sweetie squealed, pointing to the hanging walkway to their left.  A peculiar little pony with eight legs and large glowing eyes, sat upside-down from a thread, smiling wildly as she rocked her head from side to side.  Directly on the walkway, several pairs of orange lights glared at them through the cracks of the guardrails, rustling with the sound of leaves.
Apple and Sweetie huddled together, watching each monster, until they both put their attention back on Twist.  Twist’s hooves glowed in a soft orange and every time she moved them, the Whistler moved its head.  Was Twist controlling all the monsters?  How?  
The Whistler suddenly stopped whistling and the giant monkey statue underneath it started to hoot menacingly, sounding angrier and angrier, working itself up into a frenzy.  With a final scream it leapt into the air, hands outstretched towards Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.  They both screamed and scattered as the monkey came crashing down to the ground on top of them.
Apple Bloom found herself rolling sideways from the force and bouncing off the side rail of the bridge.  Feeling horrible pain in her back from where she had hit, Apple Bloom picked herself up slowly.
“Sweetie Belle!” She screamed.  The monkey statue had the white unicorn in his massive hand, holding her close as if clutching a prize.  Sweetie’s eyes remained closed, apparently either knocked out or fainted from the shock.  
“Gall dang it, Twist!” Apple Bloom screamed.  Twist merely nodded her head.  It couldn’t end this way.  After everything else the night had taken away, she wasn’t going to let them have Sweetie Belle too.  Throwing all her fear aside, Apple Bloom screamed at the top of her lungs and charged at the monkey statue.



Tick.  Tock.  Tick.  Tock.
Apple Bloom slowly opened her eyes, wondering if she had been having a nightmare.  
“One… two… three… four…,”
Unfortunately, her surroundings were the same as when she charged and the Whistler’s monkey had flicked her away and knocked her unconscious.  Who was counting?
“… five… six…,”
“That’s Twist’s voice,” Apple Bloom said to herself.  
“… seven… eight…,”
“Twist?”
Twist was standing on her back legs facing the clock tower and counting.  Apple Bloom looked frantically around.  She didn’t see the Whistler or any of the other monsters lurking about.  What was going on?
“… nine… ten.  Are you ready?”
“Twist, is that really you?” Apple Bloom asked cautiously.  Twist turned around and giggled.  She was still wearing the human mask.  “I know you’re not Twist.  What are you?”  Twist slowly walked forward, cocking her head to one side as of she didn’t understand.
“You’re just another monster!” Apple Bloom yelled at her as lightning lit the sky.  She raised her eyes and gaped when she saw the time on the clock tower.  The minute hand had moved and the clock now read 12:01. 
Why?  What had changed?  
Twist suddenly began to chant.  “Who will play tag with me?  When we play tag, it’s for all eyes to see.  But the fun doesn’t last forever, oh no.  That’s why we must play again, this game called Onigokko.”
Lightning danced in the sky, forcing Apple Bloom’s eyes further up the clock tower when something caught her attention.  Her eyes slowly widened.
“Sweetie Belle!” She cried.  
Sweetie was on the front of the clock tower, held in place by a strange machine.  She was still alive, but appeared half dazed, her mane strangely being brushed out by a mechanical hand.  What was the point?
“Who will play tag with me?  Everypony has been caught!” 
More lightning struck and Apple Bloom looked higher up the tower.  The other kids, all of them, Scootaloo, Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, even Snips and Sails were held in place by mechanical bonds.  Her eyes raced to Scootaloo.  A look of discomfort plastered on her face as she twitched her hooves, trying to get free.  A strange set of devices was attached to her and what appeared to be her thoughts were projected onto a screen above her.  She seemed to be reliving the talent show where she, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle’s rock concert had been misinterpreted as a comedy act.  
Silver Spoon and Snips were in much the same situation, only the projection from the machine they were attached to was written out in words as if some strange story was being written based on their lives.  Diamond Tiara and Snails were also attached to machines, only these ones were projecting an even stranger thing.  Still pictures.  Picture after picture was drawn with the two of them in different weird scenarios or just being themselves.  Some of them looked more like a comic strip.  Why?
Apple Bloom looked even higher up the tower and gasped.  There was Sunny Days, and Peachy Pie, and Archer, and the other missing kids.  They were apart of machines just like her friends, being subjected to the same bizarre treatment.  And around them, yet more ponies of all ages, types, and colors.  They too were held by mechanical bonds, but the machines were not active.  These ponies didn’t move, looking to be just another random piece of the clock tower.  
“I don’t understand!” Apple Bloom yelled.  “We don’t live for your amusement!  Who says you can toy with us like this!?”
But Apple Bloom received no answer.  As she stomped her hoof on the ground several times in frustration, she realized that Twist had moved in front of her.
“Congratulations. You’re the last pony.  You won.” 
Apple Bloom tried to back away from Twist but her legs wouldn’t move.  Something about looking into her mask forced her to hold still.  
“Now it’s your turn to find more fun.”
As Apple Bloom stared into the empty eye sockets, a mechanical hand extended from the clock tower and gripped tightly around Twist.  Twist reached up and slowly removed her mask.  Behind it lay an abysmal darkness interrupted only by a deep perpetual smile.
“Tag.  You’re ‘it’!”



Applejack galloped through Everfree, her heart racing from the fear that her little sister Apple Bloom might be lost to her.  She couldn’t give up hope and yet Apple Bloom was now among a second set of seven foals who had disappeared in the last two days.  The situation had escalated to an emergency that Princess Celestia herself was now investigating.
“I should have thought of this sooner,” Cheerilee called from behind Applejack as the two mares ran on.  “The children were talking about that silly rumor and I just didn’t connect the dots until it was too late.”
“It ain’t your fault.  Kids will be kids.  What’s important now is that we find’em.”
After searching all day throughout Ponyville, Everfree was the only place nearby left to look.  The ghost town the kids had been talking about the day before seemed like the best place to begin so Applejack and Cheerilee headed straight there despite the danger.  It was already late in the evening and traversing through Everfree was dangerous enough in the daylight, let alone at such a late hour as it was, but Applejack was determined to find her sister alive and well.
“There it is!” Cheerilee informed Applejack as they approached a dark set of buildings just visible in the moonlight.  “Let’s try the town square.  That’s where the rumor says to meet.”
It didn’t take them long to find it.  Several old signs illuminated in the strange Onigokko name, telling them where to go.  However…
“Is this it?” Applejack asked, looking at the great wooden gate.
“I think so.  I don’t see any of the kids though.”
“Apple Bloom!  Scootaloo!”  Applejack called.
“Diamond Tiara!  Sweetie Belle!  Snails!” 
“Snips!  Silver Spoon!”
The two mares listened.  Their hearts skipped a beat when they heard hooves galloping their way.  But they were too heavy to be the foals.
“Applejack, is that you?”
Twilight ran into the square, followed closely by Rainbow Dash who flew behind her. 
“What are you two doin’ here?”
“Looking for the kids.  I gave Apple Bloom a map yesterday that had this abandoned town on it, so I thought they might be here,” Twilight informed her.
Before Applejack could say another word, she heard more hooves coming closer.  In moments, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy ran into the square.
“You’re lookin’ for them here too?”
“Yes.  Pinkie Pie just remembered hearing about this old town so we thought we might try searching it,” Rarity answered.
The ponies all took a minute to exchange information.  None of them had seen any sign that the fourteen missing foals were anywhere around.
Then a clock tower to the west started to chime.  The gathered mares counted twelve chimes.
“It’s so late.  The kids must be so scared.  Maybe their hiding in one of the buildings?” Fluttershy suggested.
“Or maybe in plain sight.  Look!”  Pinkie Pie pointed out. 
Standing right in front of the large wooden gate, a single foal-sized pony seemed to wait, as if wanting them to notice.
“Apple Bloom?” Applejack said, recognizing her sister’s hair bow.  “What are you doin’ out here Apple Bloom?  You scared us all half to death.  Where are the others?  Are they all hidin’ out here?”
Apple Bloom didn’t answer.  She stood silently, not moving so much as a hair.
“What is she wearing?” Rainbow Dash asked, noting the filly’s face.
“Is that a human mask?” Cheerilee said in astonishment.
“Apple Bloom?” Applejack asked her a second time.
“Ready or not, here I come,” Apple Bloom said as the great wooden doors slowly opened with a loud creak and crack.


The End… 


Or The Beginning…