Come out and play
The sun was setting behind a large forest, turning the sky into a bright burning ocean of colors as night slowly followed like a soft blanket bringing dreams for all of those below.
Most of the people moved along finishing up their errands for the day, scattered groups of children could be seen playing around parks or near their respective homes. Only one group was separated from the others, three well known children.
One held a better knowledge of class and elegance as taught by her older sister, Rarity. Today she wore a simple dress which seemed to match the sunset. Her skin pale, her body small thin and delicate. Her teal eyes were bright and held intelligence as well as innocence. Her face was framed by purple and pink striped hair set in waves and curls tightly framing her face. All knew her as Sweetie Bell, an adorable nickname given at her birth that stuck with her. A name that was often considered as unique as she was.
With her was another girl only slightly shorter than she was, with tanned skin from her constantly being outside in the sun as often as she could. Her body already developing a strong form as she could often be found riding a scooter, or running from place to place either trying to keep up with her taller stronger sister, Rainbow Dash, or running around with her two friends. Today she was wearing a green pair of shorts that stopped just above her knees, and a matching sleeveless shirt. Her face was spread into a wide happy smile, her seeming violet eyes shining in excitement and wonder, though often were set in determination. Her hair was often seen as a match to her eyes, though cut short and styled exactly like her older sister. Scootaloo was well known as the more athletic of the three, though her muscles seemed small they were built for speed and constant movement, unlike her friends.
The last of the three, Applebloom, likewise sported tanned skin, though with more well developed muscles. Unlike Scootaloo, Applebloom had developed with the help of chores due to living on a farm and working much like her older sister Applejack, and her eldest sibling, her big brother Macintosh. Applebloom held a full head of red hair, with a large pink bow. Her hair she had gotten from her father, who unfortunately had been lost with her mother shortly after she was born. A tragic pain, she and her surviving family held close to their hearts. Despite the tragedy of her life, it didn’t bother her as long as her friends remained close to her, and she could always rely on her older sister and brother. So, for a day like this was always a good day when she could be out having fun, dressed in simple cut off jean shorts, and a white tank top.
“Come on Sweetie Belle, you’ll never catch us if you don’t run faster.” Scootaloo shouted out to her friend.
“Oh come on. You two always do this, you know I can’t run as fast as you.” She hollered back. The laughter reached her ears, making her grit her teeth and huff as she pushed her body to run faster, her little legs pumping away.
Looking up she could see she was slowly catching up with them. Ahead of all three of them, though was the tree line, and she knew if they made it before she could catch either one, they would be lost as they would use the trees to hide.
“Ready?” Applebloom glanced over to Scootaloo.
With a wink, the two suddenly split, going in opposite directions. Sweetie Belle slid to a stop, some dirt and dust flying a few inches into the air. Her head turned from left to right looking at the two girls, in pure frustration she shoved her hands into her hair and screamed.
“COME ON!”
Growling in frustration, Sweetie took off to her right after Applebloom, seeing a leg vanish around a house a block away.
Scootaloo turned toward the forest and made her way past the tree line and slowed looking behind her. She grinned as she knew Sweetie Belle had gone after Applebloom since she wasn’t running after her into the Everfree forest.
Turning back around, Scootaloo ventured further trying to remember where she and Applebloom had agreed to meet up.
A few minutes of walking and she could hear someone in the distance laughing. Stopping she listened, the laughter repeated only once more before the quiet settled in. Scootaloo looked around for a bit, thinking maybe Applebloom or Sweetie Belle had gotten ahead of her since she was no longer running.
When she couldn’t find anyone nearby, she continued on to her destination.
“Gotcha!”
Applebloom jumped as Sweetie Belle came around the tree and tagged her.
“Aw, how did ya find me?”
“It wasn’t easy, but a distinct smell of baked apples gave you away.”
Applebloom lifted her arm and took a sniff, but couldn’t tell if the smell was truly there having lived on the apple farm for so long.
“Well, Ah can’t smell it.” Applebloom complained, crossing her arms.
Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes and looked around, “So, where’s Scootaloo?”
Standing Applebloom took a couple of steps and beckoned Sweetie to follow.
Scootaloo looked around the trees, the sun had already set for the evening, with barely a glow of orange and red in the distance.
“Oh man, I’m totally lost, where are they?” Pacing, Scootaloo looking around now and again. She had thought she had made it to the meeting spot, but had not seen or heard from the other two.
Once again, Scootaloo paced, rubbing her arms as the evening grew colder. In the forest it was usually worst as a light mist began to seep in from deeper in the forest.
With a frustrated groan, Scootaloo sat on a rock and leaned back, eyes closed. She sat like this for a minute or two before the familiar laughing began somewhere nearby.
“It’s about time you girls showed up.” Scootaloo scolded as she opened her eyes and lifted her head to look around her.
Still she was alone with no sign of her friends. The laughter sounded again, this time closer. Standing, Scootaloo made her way around the mound of dirt and rock to find something glowing a short ways away.
As she approached she could make out a figure among a glowing bed of strange looking flowers.
“Hello?”
Now that she was just outside the flowerbed, she could make out a slightly older girl sitting in the middle of the flowerbed, wearing simple black dress, with white borders at the bottom of her dress. Her hair was long as it was set out down her back. The glowing of the flowers seemed to give her a bit of an eerie look as she turned around to face Scootaloo.
“Hello there. I’ve never seen you here before.”
“Uh, yeah, never seen you before too. I’m Scootaloo. Say, you haven’t seen two other girls about my age have you? One smells like apple, wears a pink bow, the other a pale girl with curly pink and purple hair?”
“No, I don’t think I have. My name is Nightglow.”
Nightglow? Wow, that’s a really cool name.”
“Thank you. I was named cause of the unique flowers that glowed at night where I live. A whole field of them opened up the night I was born, just like this small patch.”
“Cool. Oh, hey, it’s getting late, I need to find my friends, would you mind helping me? We need to get back home before it gets so late we get into trouble.”
“Sure, I could help.” Nightglow reached down and picked a flower and lifted it up to Scootaloo.
Accepting the flower, Scootaloo marveled how it still glowed even after being picked.
Nightglow picked herself up and grabbed another flower for herself and set it in her hair. With the glowing flower resting in her hair next to her face, she no longer had a eerie look to her, it in fact seemed to bring out some of her beauty.
“W-well, we should go. There was supposed to be a meeting point for me and the other two.” Scootaloo explained.
Nightglow smiled and held out a hand to indicate Scootaloo to lead on.
The two walked for a while as they searched. It wasn’t much longer before they heard the calls of Sweetie, and Applebloom.
“Hey, that’s them, my friends.” Scootaloo said over her shoulder, “Hey girls, I’m over here.” She called out.
“Hey, I heard her over that way.”
“Wow, she must have gotten lost, again.”
Scootaloo ran forward until she came across the other two.
“Wow, neat flower, how does it glow?” Sweetie Belle asked immediately.
“Yes, thank you for your concern, I’m fine by the way.”
“Hey come on now, Scoots, Sweetie was just askin bout the glowin flower. We’ve been looking all over for you. We’ve been worried sick about you when you didn’t show up.”
“Sorry girls, it was just creepy waiting for you two all alone after I got lost. I didn’t mean to seem mad. But yeah, I met this other girl, Nightglow is her name. She was sitting on the ground with these glowing flowers all around her. Hey Nightglow, these are my-” turning to where she thought Nightglow had been right behind her, she could see no one was there. “Friends,” she finished lamely, confused as to why the new girl wasn’t right behind her.
“Hey, girls, we need to get home or else we’re gonna be in trouble.” Applebloom pointed out to the others.
They mumbled their agreement and started their way quickly back to town. As they reached the edge of the forest, Scootaloo noticed the glow of the flower in her hand fade. Slowly she looked back to the forest to just barely catch a glimpse of Nightglow waving as her own flower faded and she was lost to the shadows.
The three friends barely made it home in time, though it didn’t stop their elder siblings and family giving them a lecture.
The next few days, the three had to find other things to do and be sure to get home in enough time before the sun finished setting.
Once they were allowed out again, since it was summer and they didn’t have to worry about school, the girls wandered the town for a while until they made their way to the forest. It was still a while before sunset so they decided to play a game of hide and seek.
They chose Applebloom to be the seeker, and Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo made their way deeper into the forest to hide.
Scootaloo had long since lost sight of Sweetie Belle and was looking around for a place to hide, when she found herself back at the mound of dirt and the rock from the night she met Nightglow.
She smiled to herself as she moved to the other side to hide.
She waited for what seemed to be forever, when she heard noise of footsteps crunching leaves coming closer. She listened intently as her heart pounded in her chest and the sound tried to flood her ears.
After a few seconds of silence, she recognized the voice calling out.
“Scoots, Sweetie, where are ya’ll?” Applebloom called out in frustration. After some grumbling, Applebloom seemed to decide to move on. Scootaloo waited until the crunching of leaves seemed to fade.
Once it was once again quiet, Scootaloo let out the breath she had been holding. Her lungs relieved she gasped in a few breathes of fresh air.
“Playing with your friends again?” Came a voice from her right shoulder.
Scootaloo yelped and moved away looking to see Nightglow smiling.
“Sorry, did I startle you?” She asked as she chuckled lightly.
“Uh no, just thought you were Applebloom trying to sneak up on me.” Scootaloo was silent for a few seconds before she thought of something. “Hey, why did you just leave me when we were trying to find my friends?”
“Oh, I’m sorry about that, when you heard your friends, you ran off ahead of me. I couldn’t find you until you were leaving the forest.”
“Oh, well-” Scootaloo was interrupted by a pair of voices coming closer.
“I hear someone talking, she might be over here.”
“Would you mind meeting my friends this time? We’ll try not to run off on you again.” Scootaloo said as she rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment.
“It’d be my pleasure.”
“Hey Scootaloo.” Sweetie called out as she came around the mound of dirt and spotted her friend.
“Hey girls. Listen, I want you to meet Nightglow, she was the one who helped me find you that night we last played in the forest.”
The two girls looked over to spot Nightglow, still sitting in the same spot on the mound of dirt, offering a gentle friendly smile to the others.
“Well, howdy Nightglow, nice ta meet ya.” Applebloom spoke first, offering her hand to the new girl.
Nightglow accepted it and shook her hand briefly. Sweetie stepped up and did the same, greeting Nightglow, and even giving her name in kind.
“Nightglow, this is Sweetie Belle and Applebloom. Applebloom and Sweetie, this is Nightglow.”
“Oh no, Scoots, we need to get going, the sun is setting.” Applebloom said in a panic as she looked up at the sky.
“Oh, hay, we do need to get going. I’m sorry Nightglow, but we don’t want to get into trouble again.”
“It’s no problem, you can usually find me around the forest somewhere. I don’t live too far in a small cottage.”
“Oh, she must live in a place like Fluttershy.” Sweetie pointed out.
The girls all took a minute to say their farewells before the three took off back to town.
A day later and the three girls were once more back to playing around town heading to their usual spot in the forest where they believed Nightglow would be.
As they came around the mound of dirt and rocks, they found her laying on the ground with a few flowers rising up from the ground.
The flowers rising from the ground were held with a strange black stalk, the bulb of the flower was blue and closed in a cone like shape. As they stood there watching, a thick pass of clouds moved overhead, blocking much of the sunlight from overhead.
As the shadow covered their area, the orchids seemed to begin to glow from the inside as they unfurled ever so slightly, the glow from the orchids growing brighter steadily. The orchid, however, only opened part way, leaving a soft glow.
The gasps from the three girls seemed enough to awake Nightglow as she slept among the glowing orchids.
“Aw, how sweet, my pretties wanted to surprise me.” She spoke soothingly as she reached her fingers out and stroked the side of one. Upon her touch, the orchid seemed eager to open ever so slightly more.
Looking up at the her new friends, Nightglow lifted a finger from her free hand and held a digit over her lips as she silently shushed them with a smile.
They didn’t have to wait long as the clouds began to move past unblocking the sun. As the light of the sun once more began to light up the forest, the flowers seemed to close quickly and wilt ever so slightly.
“Oh no, are the flowers dying?” Sweetie Belle asked aloud.
“No,” Nightglow responded lightly, the hint of laughter in her voice, “They sleep during the day, and are awake at night. If it is able to get dark enough during the day they open part way. Think of it as a way to keep the shadows at bay.”
“Wow, they’re like, magic flowers.” Scootaloo said, eyes never leaving the form of the blue orchids.
“Yes, it does seem that way. So, are you three looking to play a game?” Nightglow inquired.
“Yeah, we were thinking of playing hide and seek and wanted to know if you wanted to join us.” Sweetie explained.
“Well, that would be nice, but unfortunately I can’t right now. I just finished my mid day nap, and need to go and tend to my flowers around the Everfree. That will take some time, and I don;t usually finish until just about evening.” Nightglow explained apologetically.
The three girls lowered their heads, but shrugged.
“Don’t worry, I’ll still be around, who knows maybe you’ll still see me in the forest tending to my flowers.” She reassured them.
“Oh hey, what about Nightmare Night? It’s only a few days away, and our sisters said it would be alright to stay out a little later since they were going to be out of town. Twilight even agreed, it should be okay, as long as we just follow the safety rules with flashlights and all. Maybe we could play a kind of light tag or something.” Scootaloo said, the idea coming to her just a little faster than her words fell from her mouth.
Nightglow held a hand to her mouth to cover her laughter. “That sounds like a great idea, Scootaloo, on Nightmare night, I don’t usually have to tend to my flowers as much. Because the night sets a little earlier, I usually allow most of the flowers that I can’t get to to take care of themselves. It’s funny, the flowers always bloom their brightest on Nightmare Night.” She added as an afterthought.
“Wow, I would love to see that.” Gushed Sweetie Belle.
“Well, ah think it’s settled then, we’ll meet back up on Nightmare night, for a game of light tag?” Applebloom asked in confirmation.
“Well, personally I have always enjoyed a good game of hide and seek, and playing that late makes it even better to hide.” Nightglow added in.
The others agreed quickly, before setting off for their own game.
After the three left, all that was left was a light echo of a young girl laughing. The flowers which had bloomed, seemed to wilt and grow dark, quickly drying up before falling apart, so brittle that when a small breeze made its way by, blue dust blew away in the gust.
Voices and eruptions of laughter from children and their parents filled the air as many went about playing various games, and repeating rhymes to each other. Sweets were passed out, and shared, some traded for something better. Nightmare Night was in full swing as many children ran about in their costumes.
“Wow, there are a lot more prizes this year, and even more candy.” Applebloom said excitedly as she met with her friends. Applebloom was dressed in well fitted fur, with nose and whisper, large ears over her head, claws on her hands, and a long gray and black tail. This year, she had chosen to be a werewolf, and despite the fur only covering parts of her body, she seemed capable of pulling it off.
“Yeah, I’m surprised Colgate Mint isn’t upset over this.” Scootaloo replied, as she looked in her bag, filled near to bursting with all the toys and sweet treats. She was dressed in a small Wonderbolts uniform with dyed rainbow colored hair.
“It’s only cause she knows after kids eat all the candy her business will get better, since you know, she is a Dentist.” Sweetie Belle pointed out. Sweetie was dressed in a light breezy black dress with stars all over it, and a witches hat. She carried her candy and prizes in a medium sized plastic cauldron.
“Yeah, whatever. Hey, the sun’s been down for a little bit, how about we go meet up with Nightglow?” Scootaloo offered.
“Ya know, why don’t we go as ourselves, our costumes could end up getting snagged, torn, or something out there.” Applebloom pointed out.
The three agreed and set off immediately, their flashlights in hand showing them the way as three bouncing lights lit their path.
At first, the Everfree seemed darker, and even a little sinister as they moved through the trees, the canopy overhead closing out the sky and stars overhead.
At first they thought themselves lost, until Scootaloo noticed a glow up ahead. The three made their way to find Nightglow among hundreds of blue orchids glowing brightly. They looked on in amazement, before realizing the girl was dancing about the flowers.
The sight before them held them in stunned amazement for a little while until she came to a stop. Turning, she held a wide smile to her audience, and welcomed them.
“Well, shall we get to playing?” She inquired looking to the three who shook their heads as they came back.
“Yeah, who wants to be it?” Sweetie asked.
Before any could speak up, Nightglow offered her decision, “I will be first. I am fairly good at being the seeker.”
“Well, thank you Nightglow, but it doesn’t seem fair to have you go first. You are our newest friend, -”
Nightglow offered a smile and nodded her head, “Thank you Scootaloo, but trust me, this will be much fun as I haven’t been able to play in so long.”
The three girls looked to one another, before shrugging and accepting Nightglow as the seeker.
“Be sure to turn your lights off when you find your hiding spot, we don’t want you to give yourselves away.” Nightglow advised.
“Well, that sounds reasonable enough; I mean, there are also enough glowing flowers here, we may not even really need our lights anyways.” Applebloom added.
“Well, I’ll get started counting then.” Nightglow forewarned the others before she smiled and began to turn her back to them.
The girls couldn’t help but to giggle as they began to move to the forest to find their hiding spots.
Applebloom had long since left the glowing flowers behind, before she came to a small outcropping of rock. There was just enough room for her to squeeze under. At first it seemed a bad idea as she shimmied herself between the cold ground and the slightly rough cold stone above her. As she continued, she found it seemed hollowed out a little, halfway under.
Deciding to double check for any danger, Applebloom used her flashlight to check for wild animals, snakes, and spiders.
She shivered from a passing thought of hiding here and something crawling or slithering over her body. At this thought she hesitated as she felt she was ready to flee to find a better place to hide.
At least, until she heard movement from somewhere nearby, She pulled the rest of her outstretched hand and foot under the stone and turned her flashlight off.
With baited breath she waited, shivering trying to ignore her teeth wanting to chatter.
She wasn’t sure if it was seconds or minutes that had passed before something broke through the brush from the direction she had come from.
It took her some time before she realized it was a person, moving in confusion. She could barely make out their feet. They had stumbled to a halt in front of the stone before moving about in a circle.
With her lungs screaming for fresh air, Applebloom bit her bottom lip as she tried to hold it in. After another second she covered her mouth and released the held breath she had been fighting against as quietly as possible.
The feet seemed ready to move back into the brush in a different direction, before they halted. Nearby, though with the strange echoing, there came a singing voice. It was high, but controlled, bringing attention from anyone or anything nearby, grabbing at the heart with how sweet the sound was.
“Sweet Bells chiming, sweet voices singing.
I’ve known such bitterness, I desire something sweet.
I will know this taste, when I tire of this little chase.”
The song, was short, as if only just thought of. Applebloom struggled slightly to get a better look. As she did, she could hear a choked sob from right by her, before faint lights appeared from nearby. A familiar soft glow, Applebloom recognized as from Nightglow’s flowers.
“Stay away from me.” Applebloom eyes widened as she recognized Sweetie Belles voice. As she moved to try and escape from her hiding spot, she found herself stuck on the stone above her.
Sweetie Belle’s feet were already moving away into the brush, before the lights of the flowers appeared. Just as they began to appear, they quickly faded, along with the laughter of Nightglow’s voice.
Applebloom gripped her hands into fists. She didn’t know what was going on, but she was going to find out. She worked herself free, not even caring that here clothes were starting to tear.
Her eyes teared up as some of her skin was scratched by the unyielding stone. She persisted anyways, until she was finally free where she then stood and turned in the direction she had heard Sweetie Belle going.
“Sweetie Belle!” After a few seconds of silence, Applebloom called out once again, “Sweetie Belle, where are you? Scoots, Sweetie? What’s going on?” Some part of her mind feared calling out for Nightglow. There was something wrong, and her instincts were screaming danger.
As she looked around, she placed her hands up to her mouth, struggling to overcome her welling fear. This was just a game, and Nightglow was just taking it a little too far. It was time for the game to come to an end.
As she took a breath, she stopped, and let it out. She listened to the sounds around her, which allowed the overbearing beating of her heart to sound loudly in her ears. There was silence all around in the forest. There was something dangerous enough to scare away many of the creatures of the forest, even the predators.
“Applebloom, is there something wrong? You were supposed to be hiding and waiting your turn, are you so excited as to give yourself away?” Nightglow asked, her whispered voice right behind the girls ear, sending a cold shiver through her body.
As Sweetie ran through the darkness, she bumped into something hard, falling into a pile of limbs.
“Ow, what the hay?” Scootaloo said in the darkness as she worked to untangle herself.
This was made more difficult as Sweetie Belle clung to her in fear.
“Sweetie, what’s wrong?” She demanded of the frightened girl.
“Nightglow is after me.”
Scootaloo suppressed a sigh and her sarcasm, just in case something had happened, “Sweetie Belle, this is a game where Nightglow has to find you. You know, for hide and seek?”
Sweetie looked up at Scootaloo, who then turned her flashlight on and kept it set just to where she could see the pale girl in front of her.
Scootaloo checked herself before saying anything else, seeign the wide eyes, and the look of true terror reflected in Sweetie’s eyes.
“S-she said she wanted to eat me, that the flowers were the souls of children she had claimed.”
Scootaloo thought she had meant to say more but broke down into cries and tears at that moment. With a steadying breath, Scootaloo wrapped her arms around Sweetie to comfort her and helped her to her feet.
“Look, maybe she was playing a trick? I mean Nightglow, would never-” Scootaloo was interupted by the terrified screams of Applebloom calling for help.
Suppressing a shiver, Scootaloo looked to Sweetie who seemed ready to faint.
Squaring her shoulders, the all too familiar look of determination appeared in her eyes.
“Come on, we need to check on Applebloom, now.” Scootaloo didn’t wait for Sweetie to respond as she started toward the direction they heard their friends voice.
“Applebloom, you okay?” Scootaloo asked as her flashlight came across the kneeling figure.
From the light, the two could see how filthy Applebloom was, including a painful looking gash across her back, though ti didn’t seem to be bleeding. The thought that it may not be as bad as it looked cross their minds, but the two girls wanted to make sure Applebloom was fine before leaving the forest and going straight home.
At this point, Scootaloo was willing to leave their new friend if she turned out to not be as nice as she was pretending.
“A-Applebloom?” Sweetie spoke hesitantly.
Her head rose into the air, her pink bow standing out in her mass of red hair, before she began to sniff the air.
“Uh-”
“I will know this taste, when I tire of this chase.” Applebloom sung out suddenly, her voice high pitched but controlled, not sounding like her own at all.
With a terrified cry, Sweetie hid behind Scootaloo.
“What’s going on? Applebloom, why do you sound so strange?”
Applebloom moved a hand back and moved it over the ground. There it began to glow as a stem of a plant began to grow, as it did, the bulb began to bloom as well, glowing softly at first.
All around, came a familiar pitched scream of pain, before it succumbed to sobs.
Applebloom, or at least her body stood, her clothing changing to a long simple black dress with a white trim.
Turning, she smiled at Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, “It has been so long since I last felt the warmth of a body. Thank you, though this body won’t last long, already without the original soul, it begins to die. I need more, I want more, let’s keep playing.”
Tears in her eyes, Scootaloo looked down to the flower, “I’m sorry Applebloom, I-I didn’t know.” Scootaloo whispered before moving quickly and punching Nightglow in the face, knocking her to the ground. “Sweetie Belle, run, get back home. Now!”
Sweetie Belle was stunned for a moment, but when Scootaloo screamed, she made her way onto shaky legs and began to run back in the direction of town.
“Why? Why did you do this, who, no, what are you?”
Nightglow laughed, her voice sounded strange, and unnatural coming from Applebloom. “You should be running, and hiding, Scootaloo. If I can’t find you when the sun rises, I won’t be able to come back for another year.” She sung out.
Scootaloo, gave her one more solid punch before she seemed out cold, and dropped her to the ground.
“Twilight. Gotta find Twilight, she might know what to do.” Scootaloo spoke to herself as she began making her way through the forest back to town.
Sweetie had made it back to town, and had been so scared, she ran straight to her and her sisters home. She had grabbed the spare key she had known about and was heading into the store front, where her sister had her own business.
She was just closing the door, when someone grabbed her hand. Sweetie let out a shriek, before she saw it was Scootaloo. She was about to hug her friend, before she stopped and took a step back.
“Who are you? Are you really Scoots, or Nightglow?”
Scootaloo walked in, closed the door, and slumped against the door, “It’s really me Sweetie.”
Looking up, Scootaloo could see the uncertainty in her friend. “I don’t blame you, after, after what happened with Applebloom. I-I still can’t-” Scootaloo squeezed her eyes shut and balled her hands into fists as she leaned forward, fists on her knees.
“Why, why did you bring her to us? Did you never really care about Applebloom and I?” Sweetie demanded.
“What? I’ve always cared about the two of you. You are my best friends. How was I supposed to know, Nightglow was... is, whatever she is.”
The two stood in silence for a few seconds, before they heard a tapping against the window. Looking, they could see Applebloom, smiling in a strange creepy way. Scootaloo did not often find herself scared, but this, was something that was moving beyond fear. It was just plain creepy.
“You know ya’ll are hurtin mah feelings, saying all that mean stuff about me.” She spoke, with a slightly altered version of Appleblooms voice. It was close, but the two girls staring out through the window knew their friend better.
“Come on, we need to go.” Scootaloo said urgently. She was wanting to get Sweetie with her over to Twilight’s, but now with Nightglow just outside the house, they needed a way out. She was concerned Twilight would enver believe her, which was why she wanted Sweetie with her, as well as to make sure she didn’t lose another friend.
The two girls moved further back into the darkness of the shop, trying to keep their eyes on Nightglow.
Scootaloo bumped into the rail for the stair case, looking back she made a quick decision. Grabbing Sweetie, she pulled her along heading up the stairs.
“Let’s hide for now, she can’t chase after us if she doesn’t know where we are.”
“But she has some kind of way to find us, I just know it. That’s how she found me. IT was like she just knew where I was sitting in the forest.” Sweetie complained.
“Hey, if we’re quiet, and careful, we may be able to get away.”
They stopped outside of Sweetie’s bedroom as they heard Nightglow’s voice downstairs.
“Run, run, run. I will come and find you. I’m having so much fun.
I can hear you’re heartbeats, I still want my other treats.” She sang out.
The two girls moved into the bedroom and closed the door before they moved further into the room.
Scootaloo spotted the open window, a slight cool breeze lifting the sheer curtains on the side just ever so slightly. Running to it, she could see Sweetie Belles room faced out to the street.
“Over here.” She said, turning to Sweetie Belle. She froze a she saw Nightglow, back to herself, a crazed look in her eyes, and a sinister smile on her lips. Sweetie Belle shuddered, and whimpered as Nightglow held her from behind.
“Oh, looks like I get my second treat for the night.” Nightglow spoke before turning and running her tongue along Sweetie Belles cheek.
Sweetie Belle reacted with disgust as she cried out.
“Don’t worry, I was intentionally saving the best for last, Scootaloo. I’ll give you a few seconds to run and hide again, before I come and find you. Right now, it’s time for Sweetie Belle and I to get to know each other a little better.”
“No!” Scootaloo cried out, as she moved to grab for Sweetie, Nightglow’s eyes glowed brightly.
A sudden force threw Scootaloo back, sending her out the window. She reached out for a hold, to keep herself from falling to the ground. She was barely able to grab the window sill.
She tried to pull herself up, as the screams of Sweetie Belle could be heard.
Unable to hold on any longer, Scootaloo’s grip slipped from the sill, and she could feel herself sliding down the slant of the second floor roof. She grabbed the edge of the roof, before she completely fell to the ground. She glanced down and saw she was still some feet from the ground.
Maybe if she dropped from here, she could make it.
Looking up to the window once more, Scootaloo gritted her teeth, before she let go.
There was a moment of fear and exhileration as she could feel herself falling through the air, nothing to touching her feet, pressing her to the ground. In that instant, she felt a sense of freedom she had never experienced before.
As sudden as the feeling filled her, it was gone as the impact of her feet and body hitting the ground knocked her breath away. In the last moment, she tried to correct herself and roll, but still she could feel the pain in her right ankle from not landing properly.
After hissing in pain, Scootaloo pulled herself up, and began to limp away, trying to get her mind to focus.
So far she was not pleased, two friends lost. Not just friends, two girls she loved, as close as family, were gone. She felt as though it was her own fault.
She was the one who introduced them to Nightglow, and she was still alive. She began to think, as she limped down the dirt road, that she had abandoned her friends. A part of her mind tried to argue against that. Her friends had been lost to a monster that was hunting them down, and was leaving her for last.
She looked forward, tears burning in her eyes. She did her best to ignore the feeling of the hot salted liquid flowing down her cheeks as she moved on.
The lights of Twilight’s home were just beyond a group of houses, not far from her own just around the corner. Voices rang out a short distance away.
Some had convinced Twilight to throw a party in celebration of Nightmare Night. She preferred close friends, and books, not often was she prone for large groups and loud noises and bright lights.
Scootaloo’s thoughts were interrupted by the ringing laughter from behind her. She glanced back to see Sweetie belle, in Nightglows dress, those faint red glowing eyes slowly walking in her direction.
With a quick look, Scootaloo turned right and continued on, now trying to apply more pressure onto her twisted ankle. It hurt, but she pressed on anyways. Perhaps if she could convince Nightglow she was hiding and kept her busy long enough to find Twilight, she could get the help she needed.
Scootaloo closed the door, her ankle still hurting, but she was still doing well with being able to put more weight on it.
Everywhere she went, Nightglow seemed so close behind. Scootaloo ran to the back of the house, past the living room and into the back hallway.
“Oh, dear, dear, Scootaloo. I can hear you.” Nightglow called out, the door of the house closing.
Scootaloo closed the door to her room and turned to face the bed. She took in her bed, chest, and closet. A desperate plan cam to her and she moved quick.
Nightglow walked into the back hallway and smiled as she moved to door after door. None seemed to have been a hiding spot for Scootaloo, until she came to the last door at the end of the hallway.
As she entered the room, she took a look around. The bed held a soft round rise under the blankets.
“Oh, where oh where, could my little Scootaloo have gone. I miss her so.”
Nightglow, pulled the blankets back only to find a stuffed pillow.
“Clever girl.” She complimented.
Scootaloo, held her eyes closed, hoping that Nightglow would leave soon.
Nightglow dropped to the floor and checked under the bed to find nothing there.
“Not under the bed. I must say, this is getting rather exciting, I know I must be so close.”
As she stepped around the bed, she saw a bit of clothing sticking out from under the closed lid. She lifted it to find nothing more than toys and clothes stuffed inside. She slammed it down, with a loud bang. This had been fun, now she was quickly beginning to feel anger.
“Nothing, where is that girl?” Nightglow questioned herself. She turned to leave, only to stop as a thought occurred to her. A long smile snaked its way across her lips as she turned to the closet.
Scootaloo waited as the silence continued on. It was hard to tell if Nightglow had gone yet, but Scootaloo wanted to make sure. She did her best to keep as still and as quiet as possible, until she began to notice a chill setting in about her.
“Look, at what I found.”
As the cold grew about Scootaloo, Nightglows soft voice singing right behind her, she could feel a faint bit of pain before the cold seemed to numb everything. All went black, as if she were falling into a deep sleep.