Sweetie's Mansion

by Moon Shooter

CHOICE5

The thought of using the camera popped in her head. It seemed like an attractive idea at first to use her new gadget, but ultimately, she denied the idea. Something told her that it was a terrible idea right now. If that camera was a device to read the thoughts of ghosts, then it would be pointless. She saw it in it's eyes, even in that little foal's young, tiny, and arguably adorable form, it was insane. Whatever spirit that was drenched in that magical energy didn't have any thoughts to read. It frightened her so much to even fathom the ideas that might be running through the mind of that thing.

Even more, to take the time to snap a shot of it would give up her chance at obtaining her lifeline. The only thing she could fight with, being her flashlight. Knowing this, she ran for her hoofheld (or in her case, muzzle held) lamp. With that in mind, she ran for her light.

She grabbed the flashlight with a sliding hoof, her face coming centimeters from the ghosts'. So close she could feel a cold breeze coming from it's mouth and grazing her nose. Too close as she could see the very same insane eyes that already frightened her from a distance. Sweetie screamed as she jumped back and shined her light on the ghost.

DING!

The ding. The ding that told her the ghost was weakened. Now was her chance.

"Got you!" She said as she pointed the nozzle of the vacuum at the ghost and hit the button, hoping she was right. A gust of air stretched forth from the GCD nozzle like a lasso and grabbed the foal ghost by the tail (or rather, where the tail might be if it didn't have that funnel like lower half). It's giggles turned into screams as it realized what Sweetie intended to do. A cocky smile crept onto Sweetie's face as she felt for once that she had the upper hoof on these things. Arguably, she could even say she was starting to enjoy this for a split second. However, her moment of glory was cut short as the ghost yanked at her, desperately trying to pull away from the suction of the GCD.

"Woah!" the yank was so strong that it pulled Sweetie onto her stomach. It only looked like it from the air at first, but it looked as though the GCD really was acting like a rope connecting her to the spirit. And in turn, the ghost managed to yank Sweetie onto her stomach and begin dragging her around the dining hall. Along her stomach.

"Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow!" Sweetie complained as her stomach became subject to some nasty carpet burns.

"20, 19, 18, 17-"

What the heck is...?

Sweetie heard at a low level, mono toned, numbers being emitted from the back of her head, yet at the same time the GCD pack as the ghost continued to yank away from her, trying to get away. It seemed to be counting down to something. Hopefully something good.

As the ghost screamed, as the GCD continued to buzz lightly as it counted down, Sweetie held on for dear life as the floaty foal dragging her all over the dining hall. She couldn't help but notice how strong it was as it pulled her around. Such a small frame shouldn't have been able to drag her around so easily, even if Sweetie herself was small.

Wait, what am I doing questioning logic, I'm catching a GHOST in a haunted mansion for Celestia's sake!

Instead, Sweetie focused on holding on to the button, making sure at all costs not to let go and allow the ghost to escape. She had to call herself lucky for even making it this far, she knew to mess up might mean her not getting a second chance.

Around the table, under the table, over the table, through the glasses under the cloth, the ghost tried to shake Sweetie off. Sweetie held on firmly wondering when the ghost would finally-

"3, 2, 1, 0. Magic depleted. Processing Capture." the GCD said.

With one final scream, the ghost streaked into the nozzle of the GCD and eventually disappeared into the pack. She felt it go up the tube before reaching the pack. Though she couldn't see it, on Sweetie's back, the first of the six lights glowed green. The rest of course still being red.

"Capture successful." the GCD said.

"Heh... heh heh..." she couldn't believe it. She caught one. She caught one of those ghosts, that monster that tried to kill her.

Sweetie lied on the dining table, laughing breathlessly. All of the air in the world could have been gone, and she still would have chuckled at her dream like accomplishment. She captured a ghost.

"Maybe... that wasn't a bluff after all..." Maybe she really could do this. Who knew? Maybe she could get to the bottom of this mansion and stop whatever was going on.

After a minute or two, Sweetie got down from the table. With a breath, she took the next door back to the foyer. As she entered the room, her happy mood left.

"W-what the... did this come from?" She said to herself through the flashlight.

Some pony had definitely been through the foyer after her. The first indication were the candles that were previously in the room, unlit, were now up, dimly filling the foyer with light. It wasn't nearly magnificent as when she first came in, but it was light. For some reason though, it created a creepy atmosphere that almost made her prefer the darkness oppose to the light. What was more, Sweetie couldn't imagine the ghosts lighting candles. Didn't Twilight say they couldn't deal with light? They craved the darkness, and light was Sweetie's weapon. Sweetie's only explanation is that some pony who wasn't a ghost lit the candles. But then the question became: who?

Specter and Spiffy popped into her mind.

But... they're responsible for this, aren't they?

She was missing something. Either way there was something definitely wrong with the fact these candles were lit.

The second indication was a trail of orange sludge trailing from the fountain. It was a different color than the first two she'd encountered. This one was orange. Though there was something stood out about that color to the filly. Something familiar. Under further examination, she saw the mirrors on the fountain had been recently broken. Did whatever that crawled out of the fountain break them? If so why?

Between the dimness of the light and these unanswered questions, Sweetie started to feel fatigued.

Was it really that though?

She shook her head. If she could really save her friends, she had to stay focused on the task at hoof.

Sweetie decided to follow the trail from the fountain. It wasn't as if she was given any other clue to her friend's whereabouts but the trail, and the way that it tickled at the back of her brain made it too strange to be ignored. It was then she knew she had to follow it. The trail led through the right door by the staircase... the same direction of Specter's study. The filly headed through, and followed the trail down into another dark hallway. To her relief, as she followed it, no ghosts tried to ambush her. She became so focused on the following the path, that she'd stopped looking where she was going. It came to her surprise when her head hit a door, causing the flashlight to drop out of her mouth for a moment.

"Ow." she said. She picked up the flashlight and stood back to see what she'd just bumped into. It was a grand double door. Around it, in the same glowing goo as the trail was the outline of an apple. No, not just one, but three apples, connecting to each other. Besides it's new cursive design, this shape was all too familiar. This cutie mark.

"Applejack?" Sweetie said. Sweetie tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge. At first, Sweetie thought it was the sludge, blocking the way of the door. She used her GCD to clean the goo off the door, much like the goo from the little baby ghost. When she tried the door again, it moved, but barely any more than it did before. There was one thing she could assume from this. "It's locked? Seriously?"

This was annoying. Sweetie couldn't believe it. Here she was, just in front of the room Applejack was probably in, and she wouldn't be able to open it. No, there was a key hole. She wouldn't open that door without a key at least. But the key could be anywhere! The mansion was massive. How was she supposed to find the one little key to fit this one door?

M...maybe it's not far. Maybe it's even in this hallway! Yeah! Sweetie thought optimistically. Well, I'd better get looking. There's no time to loose.

Sweetie went into her saddlebag to take out her map. She opened it. Initially, the map showed the first floor of the mansion. It showed the foyer she'd just came from, the dining hall, the safe zone, and the hallway she was in and the rooms it connected too. As Sweetie held it, squinting to see the tiny rooms on the map, it began to reshape itself. Lines of ink moved around on the piece of parchment until it showed a blown up version of the hallway, along with its room numbers and names. An ink blot in the middle of the hallway map, indicating where Sweetie was. The door she needed to get in however, had a big question mark over it, along with the picture of a skeleton key. It was almost as if the map had read her mind.

Woah, this is neat! Sweetie thought.

Sweetie begun looking in the different rooms for the key. She tried to leave no corner unchecked, but the creepy decor of each room scared the filly. Everything covered in a sheet looked like a ghost every time lightning flashed. She didn't stay in any room for longer than 2 or 3 minutes. Even less when she heard an out of place creak that was loud enough to chase her out.

Sweetie looked through different rooms of the hallway, where either a door was locked, or had nothing useful to the filly. Sweetie was ready to give up.

"Ugh. Hopeless." She slunk against the wall at the far end of the hallway. If it wasn't here, it had to be somewhere else. And who knew how many rooms were in the mansion, no, who knew how many keys. She could spend her entire lifetime looking for a key in this mansion, only to find out it's the wrong one. Heck, for all she knew, Specter or Spiffy could have the key. "...wonder where they are...?"

Twilight seemed fairly convinced that everything that had happened her was his fault. Considering what he said to her before attacking her and the others with that army of ghosts, it seemed likely. If that were true, where could they be?

But at this point, if she couldn't save one of her friends by finding a dumb key, how could she hope to confront either of them? She sighed wishing something would come and point her in the right direction. Then, like a granted wish, she heard something.

"Squeak"

A squeak. A light squeak echoed through the hallway that Sweetie swore sounded like a mouse. Perhaps a little more "echoy" but a mouse all the same. Sweetie got back up, listening for the sound again. She stayed as still as a statue, straining her ears for the sound again.

"Squeak"

Sweetie looked around for the source of the squeak, eventually resolving to turning off her flashlight to test a hypothesis that she came up with.

I wonder... aha!

Then she saw it. Through the darkness of the hallway, was a small, glowing, golden, transparent mouse.

A ghost mouse? Sweetie thought. What hasn't turned into a ghost around here? Though, unlike the other ghosts she'd encountered, rather than looking like insane, this one was far from threatening. In a way, she saw the little rodent as 'cute' as she found herself applying effort to resist "d'aawing" at it's preciousness right then and there. Especially as she noticed something about the tip of its tail, or rather it's lack there-of. At the end was a key! Could that be her ticket through that door? It seemed all too convenient, but at the same time, it made so much sense.

She got close to it. She could feel the cold of its ghostly presence, but it wasn't as bad as the other ghosts. Once Sweetie was close enough, she pounced for the mouse. It dodged Sweetie as she fell on her stomach, scurrying away, squeaking fearfully. Sweetie thought fast, clicking her flashlight on, and aiming it at the golden ghost mouse.

"Squeak!" the mouse taunted.

The rodent wasn't even phased by the light, which surprised Sweetie. She thought that it should have worked on all ghosts... but then again, she'd only tried the trick on two types thus far. Did that mean that there were ghosts that were immune to her flashlight?

"Great."

The mouse escaped through a door, which Sweetie immediately went after it, scrambling back up and almost tumbling over the nozzle of the GCD again. She entered the room of the mouse, and looked around for it. The good news was that it didn't take Sweetie long to locate the cute golden ghost. However, the bad news was that it sat atop a bookcase, far out of Sweetie's reach.

"What the-" Sweetie said. "How the hay did you get up there so fast?!"

"Squeak!" the mouse explained.

Darn it. Now how am I supposed to get that key? Sweetie thought. "Um... hey!"

"Squeak!" the mouse responded.

"Uh... how are you?"

"Squeak!" the mouse complained.

"So anyway, how about coming down, we could talk a little about that neat little key on your tail!"

"Squeak!" the mouse declined.

After a few moments of waiting, Sweetie continued on.

"Oh, come on, please come down?"

"Squeak!" the mouse insulted.

"What if I said I had a nice uh... chunk of cheese down here for you." Sweetie tempted.

The mouse looked down, and saw Sweetie was lying. It might have been her imagination, but Sweetie could have sworn she heard it scoff at her.

"Ugh, what am I doing? I'm trying to persuade a mouse." Sweetie mumbled. "I must be nuts."

"Squeak!" the mouse agreed.

Wait a second... could something be in that book Twilight gave me? Sweetie thought. I mean, it's still a ghost, right?

Sweetie reached into her saddlebag to take out the ghost book, and flipped through the pages. The first page still had the picture of the butler ghost. She got a shiver down her spine, looking at the face of that pony again. Though she supposed she would have to get used to it eventually. After all something told her it would't be the last time she saw this type. Sweetie flipped the page to find something new. There was a picture of the ghost pony she had just captured, accompanied with the description.

Foal Ghost

Common Gender: Male

Description: This little foal ghost may appear harmless, but it is far from cute and weak. It vomits projectiles at its targets, and takes their souls as they are cocooned in its ectoplasm. If you find one, don't turn your back to it, or you'll find yourself stuck on your stomach against some wall (*hint* *hint*). If you find yourself trapped, use any device capable of sucking magic, or ectoplasmic waste to clean it off of you before it gets too close. If you don't have said device then what the hay are you doing here?

Main Weakness: Light

Wait... so that ghost thing threw up on me?! Sweetie felt ill at the thought of vomit on her, but swallowed back down any fluids that tried to come up her throat. She flipped to the next page, hoping to find what she was looking for. Sure enough, there was a little picture of the little mouse with the key.

Golden Mouse

Gender: ???

Bio: This little critter is one of the most harmless creatures you'll find in the ghost world. They are also very valuable, especially in ghost galleries, considering their difficulty to catch. Unlike most ghosts, it doesn't have a magic shield, so light has no effect on them. This also means they can easily be sucked up. This vulnerability is compensated for their great speed, reaction timing and keen sense of smell. There are ways of catching these cute little critters. The best way is to lure it with cheese. No matter what the situation, it will always come for the dairy product on instinct. The second way, though less efficient, is to scare it out with a cat. That will at least drive it out of its hiding spot, giving you a chance to catch it. Ghost cats or regular cats work either way.

Sweetie read over the description several times. Two ways. The first being cheese, and she had already witnessed the mouse's interest in the treat. Unfortunately she didn't have any on her. The kitchen of the mansion might have had some, but she was afraid to leave the mouse alone; that if she left, she wouldn't find it again, putting her back on square one. It also said that the mouse was scared of cats, both alive and dead, but Sweetie didn't have a cat with her. Or did she? Suddenly, a memory sparked in Sweetie's mind.

~~~~~~~

"Opal! No! Get off of that!" Sweetie hollered at the cat. Opalescence, Rarity's cat, had come into Sweetie's room, gotten into her saddlebags, taken her Cutie Mark Crusader cape, and adopted it as a blanket.

Rather than admiring the feline's ability to open her bag so easily, or the possibility she might have been a cat burglar in a previous life, Sweetie goes over to the cat, and grabs her cape. The cat resists the filly, stubbornly digging her claws into the fabric and holding on tight.

"No! Your ripping it you dumb cat! You're ripping my cape!" Sweetie said angrily. "Let go!"

Opalescence hissed back as if to say "No, you're ripping my cape. You let go first dear."

She was angry. Angry enough where the idea of kicking Opal off seemed like an incredibly attractive idea for a split second. She disliked this cat a lot. Not particularly because of what she was doing at the moment, but-

Rarity came into the room to see the tug of war going on between the filly and the cat.

"What are you two doing?" Rarity asked. "Stop it at once! Sweetie!"

"But she took my cape!" Sweetie said. "Get her off of it! She's ripping it!"

Opalescence only hissed back at Sweetie.

"Come here, my precious Opal..." Rarity said, using her telekinesis to float Opal up in the air.

--That's why she hates that dumb cat.

"Let go now." Rarity then used her magic to shake the cat from side to side gently, as though she were rocking her oppose to trying to get her to let go. Finally, the cape fell from of the cat's claws. It looked like she'd gotten bored with messing with Sweetie for the time being. Either that or she was to tired to fight. Hard to tell.

Once that was done, Rarity set Opalescence down onto the floor. Opalescence stuck her nose in the air, and left the room to find something else to dig her claws into for her nap.

Sweetie crouched down to her cape. Rips from the cats claws were all over the cape. It wasn't completely ruined, but the rips were very well present. She gritted her teeth as tears welled up in the little filly's eyes.

It could be very easily fixed.

It wasn't that big a deal.

So why was Sweetie so angry?

"Sweetie Belle-" Rarity started, but Sweetie cut her off.

"Why do you treat that cat better than me?!" she snapped.

"Sweetie. We can easily repair that cape. I specialize in that, remember?"

She knew that. Of course she knew that, but that wasn't the-

"That's not the point! You treat that cat like... like... like SHE's your sister! I thought you were on MY side? Why were you on her's?!" Sweetie cried.

"Sweetie Belle... I-" Rarity came towards her, trying to hug and comfort the filly, but Sweetie wouldn't have it. She pushed Rarity away, stuffed her cape into her saddlebags, and stormed out of the room.

Rarity sighed, following her out.

Knowing her, she would be too mad to ask her to fix the cape for her anyway.

~~~~~~~

That was just earlier that day. She didn't know why she blew up like that. Sweetie knew that although she was her sister, Opal was like a foal to the mare. Plus, for all she knew, Opal probably couldn't control her spoiled personality with a high class owner like Rarity. Either way, Sweetie knew that Rarity loved her more than anything in the world. She sighed, supposing she was just angry that her cape was ruined for the moment. This wasn't the first time she had realized this either. After a small nap, and finding that Rarity had already started fixing the cape, Sweetie apologized to Rarity for her behavior later that day. Rarity did the same, and they both made up. She even forgave Opal, feeling that she still might have been in the wrong, even if the cat was the most annoying creature in existence she knew of at the time. Opal on the other hoof was extremely indifferent on the issue. Either way, Rarity sewed up her cape, however she had forgotten to clean it. Was it possible Opalescence's scent still be there?

After putting her ghost book back into her saddlebags, Sweetie searched around them, and pulled out her cape. There were signs of fresh stitches as well as the few little rips Rarity had never finished with. Nothing about it had changed since then. Perfect.

"Opal, if this works, you can have my cape." Sweetie said to the cat that was miles away, probably having a dream about the finest tuna money could buy.

"Squeak?" the mouse inquired.

Sweetie fanned the cape up towards the mouse. The mouse sniffed the air, knowing the scent very well. It squeaked fearfully, believing there was a cat in the room, ready to attack him (or her, who knew honestly). It jumped off of the book case, toward the floor. Sweetie took this as her chance. She aimed the nozzle of the GCD at the mouse and pressed the suction button. The mouse let out one last squeak before getting sucked into the GCD. The second light on the pack of the GCD glowed green. The key however, just hit the ground with a clink sound. Sweetie picked it up, and looked at the key. She grinned, and nodded in satisfaction.

Sweetie headed back out into the hallway, back to the door that was locked.

"Finally." she sighed. This was it.

Before trying the key that she had found, Sweetie first put her ear to the door trying to listen to what could be inside. At first there was nothing. Then-

thwack!

thwack!

thwack!

She heard something distant behind the door. Something repeatedly hitting something. Where had Sweetie heard this sound before? Apples. Apples. Apples.

Thwack!

Thwack!

Thwack!

She had heard this before. The sounds of ponies working at apple acers. Not just the sound of hitting, but the sound of bucking trees. There was no more doubt in Sweetie's mind. Applejack was definately behind this-

THWACK!

"Ow!" something kicked the door and in turn Sweetie's head, knocking her back. She moaned rubbing her aching ear. "What was that for?" It hurt, but it wasn't as painful as it was annoying. Sweetie could now hear the thwacking from behind the door, though now it had at least gone back to bucking whatever else that wasn't a door with little fillies behind it.

Sweetie then shined her light to see the key hole. She stuck the key into the hole and turned. As Sweetie had hoped, it was a perfect fit. The door was unlocked. As Sweetie reached for the door knob, Sweetie hesitated. Fear had come once again, telling her, that she was in for something bad when she opened the door. And even more was that thing that had scared her from behind the door. Sweetie shook off the fear, knowing that if she didn't face it now, she would never save her friends.

She would never save Rarity.

Sweetie touched the ice cold knob, then griped with her entire fore hoof. She turned the knob and opened the door. As Sweetie walked in, she felt the floor changed drastically. She was no longer on marble flooring or carpet, but was now standing on dirt. Puzzled, Sweetie looked around with her flashlight. She was definitely not outside, considering it was raining cats and dogs out there. As she looked around further, she saw vegetation growing out of the ground. She saw things from potatoes and carrots to-

"Apple trees..." Sweetie mumbled.

It was some kind of indoor garden. However, with the lack of light, everything was shriveled and dying. Everything except the apple trees. Somehow, Sweetie didn't think that the plants were just dead solely because of malnutrition and lack of sunlight. And she knew better than to think that it was just a coincidence that only the apple trees seemed to be the plants thriving.

Sweetie looked off into the distance of the room, and saw a sole glowing pony that appeared to light up a whole area, bucking a tree for apples. Her body was full, lower half and cutie mark included. Her orange body, yellow mane, and green, pupil-less eyes. No doubt about it, It was Applejack! Sweetie didn't think as she ran over to the mare. She was so relieved to see another familiar face.

She wasn't thinking.

"Applejack!" Sweetie exclaimed. "It's you! It's really you!"

Applejack stopped bucking the apples. She stared into space for a moment before acknowledging the one who had called her.

"Eh?" Applejack looked over at her. Sweetie stopped about two meters in front of her. Her voice was so echoy, so-

Ghostly.

"Ap..."Then it dawned on her. Applejack was a ghost now, she was dead. "...plejack..."

Applejack smiled. "Well heyya little filly."

Sweetie didn't respond. She was frozen in fear, realizing the grave mistake she just made. Blindly walking up to Applejack, ruining her element of surprise. Without considering what kind of ability that she had as the unknown type of ghost she had taken up.

"...somethin' th' matter there?"

So weird.

So very weird.

Sweetie didn't feel any enmity off of Applejack right now. She didn't feel safe, but she didn't feel like she was about to die quite yet either.

"Sweetie?"

The sound of her name snapped her back.

"N-no." Sweetie choked out. "I-it's nothing."

"Heh. Alright then." Applejack said. "Say, wanna help me then"

"H-help?"

"Mhm. Gotta keep buckin. See all these apples 'round here?"

Not really because it's so dark. Sweetie thought. "Um... are you sure you have to-"

"C'mon. You ain't gonna help me or what? I ain't got all night." That tone. That tone Applejack said that in wasn't as friendly as before. In fact, it almost seemed menacing the way she said it. Not like a request, but more like an order.

"S-sure." Sweetie said without thinking. Nothing had happened yet. Applejack wasn't trying to kill her or anything, yet the tension and fear just kept rising in Sweetie's mind. She couldn't refuse. Only because she was afraid of what would happen if she refused.

"Heh heh. Knew ya wouldn't say no Sweetie. Always do whatcha told, don'tcha?"

"What?"

Applejack chuckled. "Nothin'. There. Buck that one." she pointed to the tree Sweetie was standing next to-

Wait a moment, that tree wasn't there when she approached Applejack. Where the hay did that come from?

"S...sure." Sweetie said, getting into a bucking position. She never bucked a tree before, but she was sure that she was able to get it right. She looked up at Applejack. She stood a meter in front of her.

"Go on now. Get to buckin'."

Something was wrong here. Something was very wrong here. But Sweetie was too afraid to thing. Too afraid to say no, in that doing so would make Applejack do something horrible.

~~~~~~~

"Say Applebloom!" Sweetie called to her friend.

"Huh? Oh hey Sweets!"

~~~~~~~

--Thwack!

--Thwack!

--Thwack!

Sweetie quickly lifted her hind legs and kicked at the tree. Sweetie kicked at the tree, trying to buck the apples off of the tree. Applejack stared at her from behind, amused at the filly's fruitless attempts at getting a single apple to disconnect from the tree.

Mmm-

"C'mon now Sweetie, ya can do better than that!" Applejack said. "C'mon, harder!"

~~~~~~~

"Wow, you guys work really hard!" Sweetie commented.

"Heh, thanks Sweets. Really, it's nothin' when ya really get used to it."

"Uh... can I help?"

"Nah."

~~~~~~~

--Thwack!

--Thwack!

--Thwack!

"Harder! Harder!"

Sweetie kept kicking at the tree, getting more and more afraid of how little progress she was making. What would Applejack do if she failed? She had to try harder. She had to hit harder. If she didn't do something, she would die.

G-

~~~~~~~

"Huh? Why not?" Sweetie asked.

"Well, if ya don't do it right, ya could really end up hurtin' yerself ya know." Applebloom explained. "Trust me. Ah know."

~~~~~~~

--THWACK!

--THWACK!

--THWACK!

"HARDER."

~~~~~~~

"Ah."

~~~~~~~

Crack!

"Ah!" Sweetie shouted as she felt a sharp pain shoot through her hoof up through her leg.

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

She wasn't thinking. She let the fear she felt when she realized the danger she in take hold of her and cause her to become Applejack's entertainment. She just went along with her order and began kicking, not thinking about the fact she had no clue how to buck a tree.

"Ow..."

Sweetie was sure something was broken when she tried to put her left hind hoof down. She doubted it was anything particularly bad, but she was sure she made a nice crack in the base of that hind hoof.

Unfortunately, Sweetie didn't get the chance to comment as she received a swift kick from her side knocking her against another tree. Applejack had moved over to her side so fast that between her pain and natural exhaustion she didn't have the ability to counter or dodge. She didn't even have the time to take a breath and yell out before she flew.

"Heh,yeh,heh,heh! Ya really are dumb, ya know Sweetie? Normal filly woulda saw that commin' from a mile away!"

"I k...now..." Sweetie said breathlessly, getting back on all fours. She was aching, and her hind hoof was begging at her to get off of it, but she could still move. Unfortunately she wouldn't be running any time soon unless she wanted her hoof to hurt even more.

"Ah... ah need a minute. Tha' was just too easy." Applejack shook herself from her laughing fit. "Woo... ah was supposed ta cripple ya. Didn't think it'da be that easy!"

"Do... do I look crippled to you? I'm still going to catch you." Sweetie said, desperately trying to restore some shred of confidence she had when she fought the foal ghost, and caught the mouse. The same confidence that was shattered when she met Applejack. This orange ghost wasn't like those two, but rather on a whole different level of ghost. She didn't even need the book to tell her that Applejack was stronger than the thing in the forest, the butler ghost, the foal ghost, and the mouse ghost combined. In other words, one wrong step with this mare, and she might die.

Problem was that she probably already made that wrong step when she rushed up to her.

"Ah, ya are, are ya? Well before ya try and 'catch' me, why don't ah give ya a little lesson."

"L-lesson?"

"Yeah. Let me teach ya how a real applebucker does it." Applejack put her flank in the direction of the tree Sweetie had been trying to buck. With a swift kick Applejack bucked the tree.

No, that was wrong. So wrong because she didn't just hear one buck, but what sounded like 100 simultaneous bucks of the living trees around her. When she looked around, she saw the imprint in orange goo of the two hooves that kicked the first tree. In result, what seemed like all of the apples fell from all the tree. Sweetie crouched and covered her head as numerous apples fell on her.

"Whatcha think?"

Sweetie got back up and looked at Applejack, and the ground now covered in apples. Suddenly, the apples around Applejack began floating and began hovering around her.

This isn't good. Sweetie thought. She could now feel the full murderous intent from the ghost she was facing. Before she was playing around. Now she was prepared to kill her.

"Ready for lesson two Sweetie?"

"Any chance I could drop this class?" Sweetie asked sheepishly.

Sweetie was a sitting duck where she was now. She had to do something fast.

O[Sweetie won't last another minute in here. She has to retreat. RUN FOR THE DOOR]

O[Sweetie needs to take cover from the next attack. RUN FOR THE TREES]

Author's Note:

OOOOOO
Submissive

Comments

[Luna-cy]

"Say Applebloom!" Swetie called to her friend.
"Huh? Oh hey Sweets!"

Sweetie is misspelled

[Moon Shooter]

3406119 Fixed. Thanks.

[the wind in the air]

bitch