The First Night
Young colts and fillies ran about the small playground laughing and smiling, each enjoying whatever game or adventure they played as much as they could before recess was over. The small fenced in area was only large enough for a few swings, see-saws and a slide, but to the unicorns of the First Royal Canterlot Magic Kindergarten, it was the best place in Canterlot. The chance to run free and play where ever they wanted, on grass no less, was what they looked forward too each school day and none wanted to waste the precious minutes of play that preceded their second bout of books and learning.
"Recess is the WORST!"
Well, almost none. One purple coated unicorn filly wasn't as excited about recess as the other foals. She was pouting near the corner of the playground in the shade of its only tree. Twilight Sparkle watched the other foals running around playing tag, swinging, and even a few fillies sitting around playing with dolls and giggling, all wasting precious study time.
Now, it's not that Twilight hated recess, in fact she rather enjoyed having time to herself where she could read what she wanted. She had already read past where the other kids in class had reached and it seemed that the teacher was going painfully slow through each subject, so the time to read and learn new material was precious to her. However, it seemed her teachers didn't think her recess was as well spent as she did. At first she could read in peace in her favorite spot under the tree. Despite having to deal with the occasional breeze turning a page before she was ready or the noise of chatter from a group of foals playing nearby, she could still get quite a bit of studying done during recess. But after her parents tried and failed to convince her to play with her classmates, they talked with her teacher Mrs. Brightly in order to get her help in the matter. So now Twilight wasn't allowed to bring books out to recess anymore and it didn't seem fair to her at all.
She kicked her hoof against the ground a few times in frustration at once again having her books confiscated before being let outside, which she thought should be illegal and made a mental note to check out a book on Canterlot law to see if it wasn't already. Her face scrunched up in annoyance at having to waste a recess of reading all so she could, "make friends", as her teacher put it.
"Why do I have to go and pointlessly run around when they could come read with me if playing together was so important?" Twilight mumbled aloud, as if voicing her frustration would force the universe to right its seemingly obvious mistake. "Its not like my joining in would affect what they did much, as they seemed to being doing just fine with out me, so what is that supposed to accomplish?" She lay down and grumbled as she continued to pout over wasted time.
So lost in her self pity over her "POW" study materials, Twilight failed to notice the three colts trotting towards her.
"Hey fellas look, its Nightlight Dorkle. Still afraid of the dark Nightlight?" The larger of the three asked mockingly as the two younger ones moved to each side of him and laughed.
Cerebral Stone was a dark yellow colt with a dark brown mane, a pickaxe adorning his flank representing his talent for mining, or as he put it destroying things. His two partners in playground dominance were the twins Stitch and Scratch. They both had white fur with random patches of grey spots breaking up the white and dark blue manes. Since neither of them had their cutie marks yet, the only way to tell them apart was that the "older" twin Stitch had a grey spot around his right eye while the "younger" Scratch had one on the left. If they were standing side-by-side it would be a convincing illusion of a mirror.
"What do you want Cerebral?" Twilight responded trying to not looked scared. She got to her hooves but immediately took a few steps back as Cerebral came closer.
"We just came to visit our best friend, right guys?" he turned to look at the two at his side who simply nodded with smirks on their faces. "Now that that goody four-hooves Armor isn't around, we can hang out more. Don't you want to hang out with us Dorklight?" he chuckled.
"Hey, don't make fun of Shiny. He's the best big brother ever!" Twilight shouted taking a few steps forward as wanting to defend her brother outweighed her fear. "Your just mad because he graduated magic kindergarten and you got held back." she retorted and proceeded to blow a raspberry at him.
Cerebrals' face twisted angrily and he moved quickly up to Twilight. Tripping while trying to move backwards, Twilight scrunched low to the ground and looked up at the bully. She wondered what torment he would do to her now that her brother wasn't there to protect her. After a few seconds of anger, Cerebrals' face relaxed and his mouth turned upwards into a crooked smile.
"Heh, trying to act brave but still just a stupid filly. I know, how about a dare to see how brave you are." he turned back towards the other two colts, who had moved closer to Twilight, almost encircling her. "I know about you being Princess Celestia's student next year, and how you get to move into the castle."
"What does Princess Celestia have to do with anything? You better not talk bad about her!" Twilight starting to feel the same anger she had when he insulted Shining.
"Of course i wouldn't insult the Princess, but I wonder why she picked such a scaredy pony to be her student and not someone braver?" he mockingly asked as he turned back towards Twilight. "Such a shame too, that the Princess is stuck with an egghead whose still afraid of the dark."
Still frightened of the larger classmate, but wanting to prove the princess's faith in her, Twilight stood up defiantly. "I'm not afraid of the dark! I just use a nightlight for a study on light affecting your sleep." she argued, using her go to excuse for her use of a nightlight.
Despite trying to convince herself that monsters don't exist by reading books on nocturnal creatures, she still found being alone in the dark frighting. Though she would never admit it to anyone.
"Then prove it. I heard that you get to stay the night in the castle this weekend." Cerebral looked around as if making sure no one was spying on them before continuing, "And I also heard you'll be staying in the north wing all by yourself."
"So, what about it?" Twilight questioned, already losing her earlier bravado as she wasn't sure what the bully was getting at.
"Well, you know there is a pony monster that stalks the north wing at night right? It made a deal with the princess after they fought to a draw that it wouldn't leave the north wing and would only come out at night, if it gets to eat any ponies it catches." Cerebral said the last line with force and raised his hooves as if to grab her. "It's a terrible beast that has the shape of a pony, but there are signs that it is in fact a monster from Tarterus."
Twilight's mouth opened in fright at what she was being told and the older colts use of a bad word. "Nuh uh! I've never read a book that mentioned a monster in the castle, and Princess Celestia would never put me in danger." she rebuked with less confidence that she had meant to express.
"But have you read all the books on Canterlot Castle?" he argued
"Well, no.", Twilight looked away from Cerebral's questioning gaze.
"Then how do you know it isn't mentioned in a book you haven't read yet?" Cerebral grinned maniacally at this. He could see the doubt on Twilight's face and new he had her scared. "And the princess keeps it as a second test for those who want to become her student. But since your just a scaredy pony and will fail the second test anyways, I don't need to tell you more about it.", he then turned as if to walk away but Twilight called out.
"WAIT!" she was almost hyperventilating, the thought of failing a test having destroyed any fear of the monster she had before. "What do I have to do?"
Cerebral slowly turned back towards her and put his hoof to his chin as if thinking. "Well, the only way to pass the test is to prove you aren't afraid of the monster. To do that you have to go down the hall at midnight and watch the old cuckoo clock on the wall. My dad says the bird for when it hits midnight is different from the others, so if you tell the princess what that bird looks like she'll know you went there at midnight and you weren't afraid of the monster."
"But how do I not get eaten by the monster? How will I know who it is if it looks like a normal pony?" asked Twilight, hanging on Cerebral's every word.
Cerebral paused for a bit, looking around, lost in thought.
"Ummm...Yo..You just have to know the signs." He quickly stuttered.
"First off, it doesn't look like a normal pony, but a huge one. One that's much larger than you, even larger than your dad. You can hear it coming by the noise its feet make, like a *sch sch* sound, that's it dragging its ghostly chains."
The older colt put his front hooves over his head and began to wiggle them around. "It also has deadly snakes for a mane, that reach out and slither in the air, looking to grab a hold of any nearby fillies.
"Its voice is raspy and sounds like its choking on the left overs from its last meal." Cerebral then grab his throat and made choking noises, Twilight flinching as he staggered around.
"If it sees you don't blink or turn and run, since it will run up and grab you. You have to slowly walk backwards while keeping eye contact and singing the 'ABC's'. If you can back away slowly enough you can hide behind a wooden door, it can't break those."
He pantomimed each action as he described it, making sure to act out how scared a pony would be. Twilight's eyes seemed to have enlarged to beyond her sockets as she continued to listen.
"Oh, and the most important thing is don't believe what you hear." he added after coming closer. "When it fails to catch you, it will change its voice to sound like somepony you know and try to convince you to open the door. You have remember that its just a trick and the beast will eat you if you come out."
By the end of the older colts story Twilight was as sacred as she had ever been. She was terrified of the monster Cerebral had described, but also didn't want to fail Princess Celestia's test, so was stuck going back and forth on which she was more afraid of.
Cerebral turned away from the now shaking filly and started to leave. "Well, it was nice knowing you Dorklight." he called back over his shoulder as him and the twins laughed.
"So, Big C, you think she'll actually do it?" asked Stitch once they were far enough away that Twilight couldn't overhear.
"No way, that scaredy pony will just hide in her room all night crying."
The twins then began to laugh, not because they thought it was funny, but because Cerebral had started to and it was best to do what he did.
"Besides," he continued, "Even if she was brave enough to sneak out, she would get in trouble with the princess herself. That'll teach that know-it-all and her goody four-hooves brother."
Cerebral rubbed his front hooves together as he smiled, in a villainous style so cliche that only a foal could do so without feeling...well foalish.
"Hey Cerebral," Scratch stopped and turned to the older colt, "What if the monster really does eat her? Won't we get in trouble?" His question was immediately answered with a hoof to the back of his head.
"There is no monster stupid, I made it all up." Cerebral chastised, silent wondering if maybe letting these two dummies in on his plan would be a bad idea. He turned from the twins and began walking towards the see-saws in order to think.
"Ah, now I get it." both brothers said simultaneously, and then hurried after their leader.
Twilight sat frozen in place all recess until the bell rang and her teacher came and ushered her inside. She kept trying to convince herself that the monster wasn't real and that Princess Celestia wouldn't make her face it even if it was. Still, she couldn't shake the doubt that Cerebral was telling the truth and what she would have to face when she went to the castle. She hadn't read all the books on Canterlot Castle yet, and it was possible that the monster was mentioned in one of those. Plus, her parents hadn't told her that there wasn't going to be a test.
Twilight continued to think in circles even through her teachers' lesson, though still managing to take notes and partly pay attention. She made up her mind to ask her parents when she got home.
That would solve everything.