//------------------------------// // Chapter 01 // Story: Ghostly Glam // by EpicSmiley13 //------------------------------// “WAHOO!” Scootaloo cried as she plummeted down the rugged slope on her scooter. Behind her, the screams of Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle pierced the air. However, theirs were more cries of terror than excitement. They raced behind Scootaloo in the red wagon attached to the young pegasus’ scooter. Scootaloo turned right, then left, then left again, then right again in an attempt to dodge the treacherous rocks and debris that littered the mountainside. With every inch, their speed grew, and it soon became more of a struggle to avoid rocks. Scootaloo gasped as an exceptionally large rock appeared in their way. “Look out!” Sweetie Belle screeched. Scootaloo pulled a sharp turn to the left. The girls shared a simultaneous “phew” of relief. But they didn’t notice the slightly smaller rock in front of them… “EEEEEEKKK!” The scooter hit the rock, and the three fillies tumbled over. They began to roll down the mountainside. Thankfully, said mountain wasn’t very large, and the edge of the forest was right beneath it.* The Crusaders barreled into the trees and were flung in three different directions. “Ugh.” Sweetie Belle groaned and opened her eyes. She saw something shiny in front of her face. Blinking away her daze, she sat upright. Her eyes grew large, her pupils taking up most of the space. “Wow, pretty!” Half-buried in the ground in front of her was a shiny crystal necklace. It was in the shape of an eighth note, and in amazingly perfect condition. A strange feeling came over the unicorn filly. She couldn’t put her hoof on it, but something about the jewelry seemed…familiar. Carefully, she pulled it out of the ground and slipped it over her head. It felt familiar, too. But she was certain she had never seen it before… And speaking of which… “Hey, where am I?” Sweetie Belle looked around. She recognized this area, but she couldn’t exactly place a name. Splash! Sweetie Belle jumped at the sound. She turned around just in time to see a fish plop back into the water of the lake. “That’s where I am-the lake!” She said happily. The happiness disappeared when she remembered why she was there in the first place. “Um, Apple Bloom? Scootaloo? Where are you?” the young filly called. She bit her lip, realizing that her friends were nowhere to be found. With a worried expression, Sweetie Belle turned a full 360, searching for any sign of her friends. She saw the scooter and wagon lying on their sides, miraculously unharmed. A shudder passed through Sweetie Belle as a new feeling crept into her. It was a cold, fur-prickling feeling, the kind one gets when unidentified eyes are being trained on them. An alert went off in the young mare’s head that she was not alone. Before she could move, however, a soft voice reached her ears. “The melody will chime…” Goosebumps made Sweetie Belle’s fur stand on end. Melody? Chimes? What in Equestria was going on? Every bit of her being was seemingly frozen in fear and confusion. Her eyes shrank as a soft whistling broke the silence. There was a distinct tune, and it brought upon the strangest feeling. Sweetie Belle was absolutely CERTAIN she had heard it somewhere…but she could not place any names. After a full minute, her senses returned. Sweetie Belle took off through the trees like a bullet. The young unicorn was so focused on getting away that she didn’t notice the yellow filly in her way. She crashed into Apple Bloom, and they landed upside-down against a tree. “There you are! I was gettin’ worried,” Apple Bloom said. “Have you seen Scootaloo?” “Whew. Here I am.” the orange pegasus appeared with her scooter and wagon. She ran up to her friends excitedly. She turned around, revealing her flank. “Anything yet?” Apple Bloom examined her friend’s flank, then her own. “Nothin’, just dirt and bruises…” she said sadly. She then noticed Sweetie Belle’s silence. “You okay, Sweetie Belle? Ya look like ya just saw a ghost! And where’d you get that necklace?” Sweetie Belle looked down at the necklace still hanging round her neck. “Oh, I found it near the lake. It’s the weirdest thing; I think I’ve seen it before, I just don’t know where.” “Hmm…well, maybe it’ll come to ya later.” “I guess we can cross off Cutie Mark Crusaders Mountain Racers,” said a disappointed Scootaloo. She brushed off her helmet and put it on her head. “I guess we better head home. I don’t want a repeat of last time…” all three fillies shuddered at the memory. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom climbed into the wagon, and Scootaloo fluttered her wings. The scooter and wagon began to move forward, carrying them home. Sweetie Belle opened the door and stepped into the Carousel Boutique. She closed the door quietly, as not to disturb her sister, whom she assumed was hard at work. She tiptoed up the stairs to her room and quietly shut the door. I’m gonna need a good bath, she noted as she examined herself in the mirror. The shining necklace caught her eye. Sweetie Belle frowned. Why did the necklace seem so familiar? “There you a-GOODNESS!” Sweetie Belle jumped. She turned to the door, a nervous smile on her face. “H-hey, Rarity…” The white unicorn in the doorway frowned. She looked over her red work glasses with a disapproving glare. “Sweetie Belle, what in Equestria have you been up to!?” she exclaimed. “You look an absolute mess!” Sweetie Belle sighed. “I’ll go take a bath…” As she walked to the door, Rarity eyed her sister’s new necklace. “Sweetie Belle, where did you get that?” “Oh, uh…I found it…say Rarity, have you ever seen it before?” Sweetie held up the necklace with one hoof. Rarity scrutinized it for a moment. “I can’t say I have…” “Okay.” Sweetie Belle continued to the bathroom. She closed the door, but left a small crack in it. She took the necklace off before filling the tub with water and adding soapy bubbles. She slid in with a sigh. As she soaked, the young unicorn’s mind kept going back to what had happened at the lake. That tune was stuck in her head now…where had she heard it before? A sudden shiver went through her, even though the bath water was still warm. Biting her lip, Sweetie Belle risked a glance at the door. Through the crack she saw a shadow go by. She gulped, then relaxed. No need to worry, it was probably just Rarity. Still, the little filly stood up and, after donning her slippers, tiptoed to the door. She peeked into the hallway; nothing. She could hear Rarity’s sewing machine humming away downstairs. Sweetie took a deep breath and shook it off. She went back to the tub and washed away every bit of dirt from the day’s crusading. Sweetie Belle walked up to the water’s edge and smiled. It was a perfect day for a swim, and the lake looked so inviting! She dipped her hoof in the water and smiled. She stepped in up to her knees, then her waist, then up to her neck. The cool water felt heavenly. She splashed around a bit, giggling at a little fish that poked its head up and blew bubbles at her. Finally, she decided to dip her head under. Taking a deep breath, she submerged herself entirely. The world beneath the lake’s surface was as beautiful as it was above. Little fish of every color swam over here; they stayed on this end, well away from the squid on the other end.** Seaweed tickled Sweetie Belle’s hooves as she floated and swam under the water. Eventually, the filly grew the need to breathe. She started upward…and was jerked back down. Sweetie Belle looked down in surprise. A bit of seaweed was tangled around her hind legs. She kicked at them, swinging her arms around as well. The underwater plants held fast. Now a bit worried, Sweetie Belle kicked and thrashed, scaring away all the fish around her. Her lungs were growing agitated; she furiously fought the urge to take in the lake water. Sweetie Belle was now panicking. Her strength was slowly leaving her, and the stubborn weeds gripped her legs tight as ever. Black spots were beginning to flash in her vision. Her lungs and muscles screamed for air. And a soft voice resonated through her head. Let’s go a-swimming, Let’s go a-swimming, On a hot summer’s day. Oh, dear friend I’ll see you again Come with me to the lake And we’ll swim all day. Sweetie Belle frantically kicked and thrashed in the water. Tears streamed from her eyes, invisible beneath the rippling lake. Everything in her mind screamed against her aching lungs. But her tired body screamed right back. In defeat, Sweetie Belle opened her mouth, taking an involuntary breath. Lake water rushed into her lungs. She coughed and choked, but her breathing organs only burned and took in more water. Sweetie Belle stopped flailing. It was no use…she was going to drown. Countless memories flashed before her eyes: her friends Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, her teacher Ms. Cheerilee, her parents and dear sister Rarity, and some little filly she vaguely recognized, a little unicorn pony with a crystal necklace shaped like an eighth note… Sweetie Belle sat up in her bed, gasping for breath. It took her a few minutes to remember where she was. When she realized that she was in fact NOT drowning, she sat back on her bed and sighed heavily. The dream had been so very vivid. As she reflected on it, she remembered the song. It had had the same tune that the whistling had had in the forest earlier that day. That, and the voice was the same. Sweetie Belle sighed again. This was definitely freaky, but there was something so familiar about the whole thing. The drowning…the song…the little filly she had seen last…who had THAT been? It was strange; it was someone Sweetie Belle felt she ought to know. Like when you meet someone whom you’d been friends with when you were both in the diaper stage, but had never seen since. Feeling shaky, Sweetie Belle buried her head under her covers. Eventually she fell asleep, in the wee hours of the morning. She didn’t have another dream. Okay, there's chapter one! Reviews and constructive criticism are welcome!