The three fillies left their clubhouse. Applebloom and Scootaloo were going to find some flashlights while Sweetie Belle retrieved the cordless vacuum from her sister. Sweetie Belle arrived at Carousel Boutique, went inside, and found Rarity working on her latest dress. "Hey Rarity, can I borrow your vacuum?"
"Why would you need my vacuum?" asked Rarity.
"I need it so my friends and I can capture Slender Stallion with it."
"Oh, I should have known. Twilight came by and told me about that book you three borrowed from her. You can't just take my vacuum outside, it could get covered in dirt! And I just can't let you be outside too late, it could be dangerous."
"Oh, come on!"
"No means no, Sweetie Belle! Now just show yourself to your room and get to bed," said Rarity as she began working on the dress again.
"Okay, fine." Sweetie Belle walked out of the front door. She knew that once Rarity began to work on a dress, she would be fixated on it so much as to be unaware of her surroundings. Sweetie Belle took that as her chance to get away. She walked to a big tree stump just outside of the treeline of Everfree Forest, where her friends would meet her.
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Scootaloo followed Applebloom to the storage shed in Sweet Apple Acres. They were going to get flashlights and whatever else would be useful. When they searched the shed, only one flashlight was found. "Only one? Great," said Scootaloo.
"That's okay. If we stick together, one'll be all we need," said Applebloom. "Is there anything else in here that could help us out?" The two fillies looked around the shed for anything that could be useful to them.
"Hey, how about this rope? We could tie it between two trees to try and trip Slender Stallion."
"Great idea, Scootaloo!" said Applebloom. "It's startin' to get darker outside. Sweetie Belle is probably waitin' for us now. Come on, let's go!" Scootaloo found a burlap bag to carry the rope in. Applebloom and Scootaloo left the shed and headed to the meeting area. Sure enough, they saw that Sweetie Belle was already there. They also noticed that there was no vacuum around.
"Hey, I thought you said your sister had a vacuum!" said Scootaloo.
"She does! She just wouldn't let me borrow it. I'm sure there's some other way we could catch Slender Stallion."
"What about this burlap bag I put the rope in?" asked Scootaloo.
"Scootaloo, you're a genius!" said Applebloom. "Hey, Sweetie Belle, what else did you write in the notes besides the vacuum?"
"Uh, let me check. 'Talk to ghosts' and 'get out now while you still can,' " said Sweetie Belle.
"What was that last part?" asked Scootaloo.
"Get out now while you still can?"
"Yeah. I thought you only wrote 'talk to ghosts' and 'suck them up with vacuum.' "
"To be honest, I don't remember writing that last one. What do you think it means?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"Who cares? Let's go catch Slender Stallion before we scare him away with our talking!" said Applebloom.
"Yeah!" agreed Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. After Applebloom turned on the flashlight, the trio made their way into the forest
"Let's get deeper into the forest before we try to lure him out," suggested Scootaloo. The Cutie Mark Crusaders continued walking forward. When they finally decided to stop, they turned around to make sure they were far enough in. They couldn't see any light from Ponyville, so they were far enough into the forest now. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle took the rope and tied it on two trees, just in the perfect place to trip anypony who didn't notice it.
"Okay, now we gotta talk to Slender Stallion to lure him out," said Applebloom after putting the flashlight down on a stump so the light illuminated the trees in front of them. "What should we say?"
"I have something," said Sweetie Belle. "Hey Slender Stallion? Come on out!" The three friends waited for some kind of noise, but nothing happened. "You try, Scootaloo."
"Hey Slender Stallion, I heard you were chicken!" Scootaloo shouted towards the trees in front of them. "Why don't you come out and face us!?"
"Okay, I don't want him to get angry with us!" said Applebloom. The sound of rustling came from the left of where the flashlight was shining. "Did y'all hear that?"
"Slender Stallion, if that's you, do you mind stepping into the light so we can see you?" asked Sweetie Belle. The three fillies watched as a figure slowly moved into the light. It was a white pony dressed in a suit. This pony also appeared to have no face.
"Uh, do you mind stepping out of the light now?" Applebloom quickly asked after seeing the pony. The white pony slowly left the light, back where it had come from. The Cutie Mark Crusaders made a huddle.
"OH MY CELESTIA!!!!" They were all screaming at each other.
"Okay girls, we've got to calm down and think this through," whispered Applebloom. "Slender Stallion is right there! We can do this! Scootaloo, since you're the fastest, I want you to put Slender Stallion in the bag, okay?"
"Okay," replied Scootaloo.
"What about me?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"You and I will stay back until Slender Stallion is in the bag. Then we will all strike!"
"Could you step into the light again, Slender Stallion?" asked Scootaloo. The pony slowly made its way into the light. "Thanks." Scootaloo charged at the pony, jumped in the air, and tried to catch the white pony in the bag. The bag was only big enough to fit over its head. The white pony began to run, and ended up tripping over the rope.
"The rope trap was a success! Attack!" The Cutie Mark Crusaders pounced on the pony with a sack over its head and started to stomp on and kick it a lot.
"Ow! Stop that!" yelled a familiar voice. The three fillies stopped and stared at the pony with the sack on its head. They took the sack off and shined the flashlight on the pony's face. It wasn't even a face, it was some kind of fabric. Scootaloo took the fabric off of the pony's head.
"Rainbow Dash!?"
"Yeah, it was just me the whole time! Hahaha you should have seen the looks on your faces after you saw me the first time!" Rainbow Dash started to laugh.
"So this was just a prank!? Come on!" said Sweetie Belle. "You scared us half to death!"
"And then you started to kick me!"
"Yeah. I guess we're sorry about that," said Applebloom.
"Hahaha! How could you not tell that I just painted my legs and hooves white and wore a white mask? I still can't believe you three even thought Slender Stallion is real! Everypony knows it's fake; Slender Stallion is just a stupid story to tell your friends!"
Nopony saw the tall, white stallion in a suit standing behind a tree in the darkness, with a tear rolling down its faceless face.
"Come on, you three, let's get back to Ponyville before your families get worried." The Cutie Mark Crusaders followed Rainbow Dash back to Ponyville. They felt like this mission was a complete failure. When they finally got back to Ponyville, and Rainbow Dash had left them to go home, the three fillies began talking.
"At least it wasn't actually Slender Stallion," said Scootaloo. "The bag only fit over Rainbow Dash's head. The real Slender Stallion could have easily taken it off and gotten away."
"Yeah. And at least we have more ghosts to catch that could be easier than Slender Stallion," said Applebloom. "And maybe somepony will even have a vacuum for them!"
"Maybe Rarity will have a change of heart tomorrow," said Sweetie Belle. "Let's just all go home and get some rest."
The three fillies went their separate ways. Sweetie Belle walked into Carousel Boutique and saw that Rarity was still up working on the dress. "I'm home, Rarity."
"Oh, ha ha Sweetie Belle. I would have noticed you leaving. You're just trying to trick me into giving my vacuum to you, aren't you? That is not going to happen. And didn't I tell you to go to bed?"
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Author's Notes
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I must thank everyone who has favorited this story so far. As you can see, the chapters of the story will be "Day/Night (#): Title." I know that there will be at least several more chapters in this story; I still have the other two urban legends that Cheerilee spoke of in the first chapter. I am also up for any suggestions of what ghosts the Cutie Mark Crusaders could hunt. If you make a suggestion that I decide to write about, I will make sure to give you credit for the idea at the end of the chapter. Until then, have fun reading the chapters that I create myself.
P.S. I tried to listen to this song while writing the forest part; it didn't help me write at all, it just creeped me out a lot.