//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Nightmare on Stirrup Street // by Waxworks //------------------------------// The Crusaders left the library much later in the day, looking far more tired than they had when going in. “Ugh, I’m exhausted and we didn’t even do any digging.” Scootaloo said. “And we didn’t even learn anything useful.” Applebloom said. “I learned that you can tell if a pony is dreaming by checking to see if their eyes are moving behind their eyelids! That means they’re in a state called REM, or ‘rapid eye movement’!” Sweetie Belle interjected. The other two turn and glare at her. “I thought it was interesting.” Sweetie grumped, kicking at the ground. “Well it doesn’t answer any questions about whether or not you could hurt another pony in their dreams, so we’re no further along now than we were before.” Applebloom muttered. As they trundled back to Scootaloo’s scooter, they saw Applejack galloping over to the treehouse. She barged inside, and there was some heated shouting, then both Applejack and Twilight dashed back out and headed in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack yelled at her sister as she galloped off. “Applebloom, stay here inside the library! Ah’ll come getcha later!” “What’s goin’ on?” Applebloom yelled at her sister as the orange pony cantered away down the road. “Well ah ain’t waitin’ here the rest of the day! Ah already spent the entire mornin’ in there! Scootaloo! Follow those ponies!” Applebloom commanded. Without needing further prompting, Scootaloo revved up her wings and took off, dragging the wagon behind her. When they turned onto the road leading to the orchard and the trees started to get thicker, they could see off in the distance, Applejack and her friends all gathered around a single tree, with the same police pony and Nurse Redheart from earlier that morning. Scootaloo felt her heart leap into her chest when she saw a blue, rainbow-maned form lying on the ground under the tree. Scootaloo jumped off her scooter, tossed her helmet to the side, and amidst calls from her friends to stop, ran toward the small crowd. “Rainbow Dash! No! Did she crash? Is she-“ Scootaloo began to ask, but stopped short as she was blocked by Rarity. She could faintly see Fluttershy sobbing into Big Mac’s shoulder, Twilight was talking to Nurse Redheart, and Applejack was saying… something to Rarity. Scootaloo saw her hero, her wing broken, leg twisted, and a hole in her neck. She was no longer bleeding, but there was a large trail of blood leading up the trunk of the tree to Rainbow’s favourite sleeping branch. She dimly felt somepony lift her off the ground, and she was dragged bodily away from the scene. Everything was kind of a daze for Scootaloo after that. The three fillies were kept together at Rarity’s boutique. She brought they food they barely ate, talked to them about some things Scootaloo didn’t register, and when night came, she stayed with them in the room with the light on. “Are you going to be okay if I go to bed, dears? It’s very late, and despite the excitement of the day, my body is only going to continue for so long.” Rarity said. Her eyes were droopy. She had removed her makeup earlier following the incident with Rainbow Dash and had never reapplied it. It allowed the redness from crying to show through. “We’ll be okay Rarity. Thank you.” Sweetie Belle said quietly. Rarity gave the three a sad smile and stood up from the bed. “Did you want me to leave the light on?” She asked. “Yes, please.” Scootaloo mumbled, her own eyes wide and haunted. Rarity nodded and stepped out the door, closing it behind her. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle then sandwiched Scootaloo in a big hug. “You okay, Scoots? You’ve been real quiet all day.” “I can’t believe she’s gone. She was my hero, and I was hoping eventually we could become the best of friends if only I could get her to notice me. But now she’s gone.” Scootaloo said. “I heard Rarity say to Twilight that that makes two ponies murdered today.” Sweetie Belle said. “That’s horrible! But how? Rainbow always sleeps really high up. Only a Pegasus could reach her, but there was a hole in her neck like a unicorn stabbed her with its horn!” Scootaloo fumed. “Nightmare Moon.” Applebloom said. The other two looked at her in confusion. “That’s Rainbow’s favourite sleeping tree. She always said that branch had the best shape in the whole orchard, so that means she was sleeping when it happened. Nightmare Moon is an alicorn, so she has wings and a horn.” Applebloom said, her face deadly serious. “But Rainbow is the fastest Pegasus, and a hardy fighter, how could anypony sneak up on her?” Scootaloo said. “Because Nightmare Moon got her in her sleep!” Applebloom said, poking her cheek where her scab was. “I don’t buy it.” Scootaloo said. “I’m sure Rainbow Dash would have put up a fight.” Sweetie Belle said. “Well we’d need to see the scene of the crime to determine that.” Scootaloo responded. Applebloom slapped the blankets with her hooves. “That’s it! We’ll go investigate!” “What, now?” Scootaloo said. “Yeah! We sneak out and go to the tree and see if we can find any physical evidence of another pony being there!” Applebloom said. “That’s a great idea!” Sweetie Belle squeaked. “I’ll get my flashlight! We’ll need to sneak past Rarity, though. She’s probably down in the boutique drinking. Especially after a day like today.” “No problem. Cutie Mark Crusaders sneaky investigators!” Applebloom said. The three waited a short while before Sweetie Belle cracked open the door and peered both ways down the hall. Seeing nothing, she motioned to the other two and they all snuck out toward the stairwell. Sweetie Belle went down a few steps, and sure enough, she spotted Rarity lying on top of one of her dress horses, an empty bottle of wine next to her on the floor. She beckoned Scootaloo and Applebloom to follow her, and the three snuck out the door, with Sweetie Belle grabbing a nearby lantern as they left the building. They opted not to take the scooter, as it was too dark to travel that fast, and instead trotted to the scene of the crime. Upon arrival, Applebloom lit the lantern and they saw that the spot had been cordoned off, with yellow tape surrounding the spot they had seen Rainbow laying on. A dark brownish stain covered the grass and a good portion of the tree trunk. Scootaloo gulped and sniffled a little, but kept her face as stoic as possible. “Okay girls. Let’s… examine the scene.” “What are we looking for again?” Sweetie Belle asked. “We need to find out whether or not Rainbow was attacked in real life or in her dream. She’da fought back if she could have, so ah think she was attacked by Nightmare Moon in her dream!” Applebloom said matter-of-factly. “That seems like a bit of a stretch, but okay. So let’s look at this.. She’s always in that branch, and we saw her here on the ground, so if there was any fighting, it would have happened up in the tree. Gimme a boost, girls.” Scootaloo said, propping herself up on the tree. Applebloom slipped underneath Scootaloo, boosting her up on her shoulders, then Sweetie Belle crawled underneath Applebloom and with some difficulty lifted the two fillies up. “Please… hurry!” Sweetie Belle said through clenched teeth. Scootaloo pulled herself up onto the branch, then reached down. “Pass me up the lantern.” She said. Applebloom lifted it up, and Scootaloo grabbed it. She then searched around, looking at the branches and the bark of the tree for any sign there had been fighting. The leaves of the tree, even on the branch itself, were relatively undisturbed. None of the smaller branches had been snapped or bent at all, and there were no markings on the bark of the tree beyond the bloodstains. Disappointed, Scootaloo looked down at her friends. “I don’t think anything happened up here. I mean, I’m looking, but I’m starting to think you’re right Applebloom. Nothing is broken, there’s no gouges in the bark, or even broken branches. Her… well, the blood just starts and that’s that.” Scootaloo said. “Not even a scratch anywhere?” Applebloom asked. “Look harder, there’s gotta be somethin’. A ripped leaf or somethin’? Cause ah really don’t wanna be right.” “Nothing.” Scootaloo responded. “Applebloom, I can’t-“ Sweetie Belle collapsed before she could finish, falling to the ground and dropping Applebloom. “Uff! Sorry.” “It’s alright, I’ll get down by myself.” Scootaloo said. She gripped the lantern in her teeth, hugged the tree, and shimmied down. Once there, she set the lantern down and looked at her friends. “Well, I’m forced to admit, I have no idea what happened here. There nothing up the tree, and there’s too many hoofprints around to say that somepony snuck up on her. Even if there were, the pony must have had wings. I think Applebloom is right.” “So… Nightmare Moon is back?” Sweetie Belle said fearfully. “She’s gonna gobble us up!” Applebloom rolled her eyes. “She’s not gonna gobble us up. If she was gonna do that, she’d have done it to Rainbow. We do gotta stop her though. Ah am plum out of ideas, though.” Twist was working in the shop downstairs, organizing the jars upon jars of sweets. She didn’t have too many responsibilities yet, having just recently got her cutie mark, but she wasn’t going to let her parents down. She’d made a few candies, and she was working on learning more of them, but until then, her responsibility was organizing the jars. However… if she could make something amazing, then maybe she’d be allowed in the kitchen more often. Maybe a really big candy cane! Twist pulled out the ingredients, and started cooking the two separate colours. She deftly separated the ingredients, mixed them together, and without much effort, she was rolling the candy cane in no time. It was coming out perfectly! She had the shape down, the colours were separate but melted into each other. It was the best candy cane possible! Her parents would be thrilled! She had just finished when she heard a rattling sound. She turned away from her candy cane to look at the shelf of different hard candies behind her. She heard the rattling again and saw movement on the upper shelf. She got out the step ladder and climbed up to the top, trying to see the source of the noise. The door chime jingled as she was reaching among the jars, and she turned to look briefly. A tall blue unicorn mare was there. “Oh, be right with you, jutht a thecond.” Twist said. The mare said nothing, but watched as Twist fumbled among the jars. The ladder jiggled ominously, but she almost had it. Somewhere among the humbugs? She grasped the jar and pulled, and the ladder shook dangerously. Twist lost her hoofing and fell toward the counter. The mare had picked up the candy cane she had just made, and Twist fell right on top of it. Luna looked at poor Twist, her jaw impaled on the candy cane. She idly lifted something white off the counter, and looked at it. “Oh look Twist, I found your thweet tooth!” She said, and giggled. The three Crusaders slowly make their way back to the Carousel Boutique. Their little lantern casting a flickering glow around them as they walk. All three of them are quiet as they walk, seemingly lost in deep thought. Sweetie Belle looks up and opens her mouth, then shuts it again and looks back down. Then she looks up again and stops walking. The other two turn to her in confusion. “What’s up, Sweetie Belle?” Applebloom asked. “Yeah, what’s up?” Scootaloo added. Sweetie Belle puts a hoof to her chin in thought. “Well I was wondering, if Nightmare Moon is attacking ponies in their sleep, does that mean we can’t ever sleep again?” “Until we figure out a way to stop her, yeah.” Scootaloo said. Applebloom’s eyes widened as she realized exactly what Sweetie Belle was implying. “Applejack! Granny! Big Mac!” “Rarity!” Sweetie Belle squealed. Applebloom dashed off back toward the farm, while Sweetie Belle scurried to the boutique, leaving Scootaloo alone. The Pegasus first made to follow Applebloom, then turned back to Sweetie Belle and galloped after her. Her scooter was at the boutique. That would be more help than simply running.