//------------------------------// // Through the Streets of Salem // Story: G5 Adventures in Hocus Pocus // by ponydog127 //------------------------------// “Oh, cheese and crusts, he’s lost his head!” Winifred spat as she watched Billy crawling around in search of his lost head after Max and the ponies smacked him with the tree branch, completely flinging his head off. “That Thackary Binx! Billy, which way did they go?” But since Billy couldn’t speak (thanks to the stitches on his mouth), Winifred only gave a shriek of annoyance. “Billy, listen to me, follow those children you maggot museum and get my book, then come find us. We’ll be ready for them. Quit staring at me! Get moving down that hole!” Billy grumbled and proceeded into the crypt, following the sound of the group’s voices while the sisters flew outside the cemetery gates. “They’re here. I know they’re here. But, where are they. Sniff them out, Mary,” Winifred said, but after a moment of sniffing, Mary frowned. “They’re…they’re… oh, I can’t. They’ve gone too far. I’ve lost them.” “I’ll have your gutts for garters, girl!” Winifred snapped, pulling Mary over by the ear. “Confound you! Very well… we must outwit them. When Billy the Butcher gets here with my book we shall be ready. SARAH!! We must start collecting children.” “Why?” Sarah asked stupidly. “Because, you great buffoon. We want to live forever, not just until tomorrow. The more children’s lives we snatch, the longer we shall live.” “Right! Let us fly!” Sarah declared, but Mary stopped them before they could fly off. “Sisters, I have an idea. Since this promises to be a most dire and stressful evening I suggest we form a calming circle.” “I AM CALM!!” Winifred shrieked, but Mary wiggled her finger scoldingly. “Oh, sister, thou art not being honest with thy self. Are we? Huh? Huh? Come on.” So, the sisters began to take deep breaths and walked around in a circle before the gate, holding hands and thinking about things that made them happy, but suddenly, they heard a loud noise before they shrieked-- a giant metal monster was stopping right in front of them! “Whoa…” the bus driver said smoothly, opening the door. “Bubble, bubble, I’m in trouble!” “Tell me friend, what is this contraption?” Winifred asked. “I call it a bus,” the driver said. “And its purpose?” Winifred asked. “To convey gorgeous creatures such as yourselves to your most forbidden desires.” The driver’s smoothness made the witches giggle amusingly before Winifred spoke again. “Well, see, we desire children.” “Well that may take me a couple of tries, but I don’t think that’ll be a problem. Hop on up,” the driver offered, and the sisters got on the bus with Sarah sitting in the driver’s lap and taking control of the wheel. XXXXXXXXX Meanwhile, the Dennison siblings, the Equestrians, Hesperia and Allison continued to follow Binx through the crypt, trying to ignore all of the creepy things around them. Sunny was ahead of the group with Zipp, Misty and Binx, and after a moment, Sunny turned to look at the cat-turned human. “Binx? You said you knew about Equestria before. Is that true? Or was I just hearing things?” “Indeed,” Binx nodded. “But it’s things only me and my sister saw late one night… a month before All Hallows Eve.” “Would you mind telling us about it?” Zipp asked, and Binx reluctantly sighed. “I can tell you what I know, but I don’t know if it will be helpful. Well… me and my sister were doing our evening chores when we noticed hoofsteps coming from the nearby forest. We assumed one of the village horses had gotten loose, so we went to look for it. But what we found was a creature with a horn and wings… a deep violet color too.” Misty gasped at that, eyes growing wide. “Opaline…” “She must’ve been around for longer than we thought,” Hitch said, hearing the conversation. “At least 500 moons or more.” “What did she do when she saw you?” Zipp asked. “Well… she never saw us,” Binx shook his head. “She was slowly gathering herbs and berries before she flew out of sight.” “Do you know what kinds of things she collected?” Hesperia asked. “No,” Binx shook his head again. “But I take it whatever it was, it isn’t something good. The aura around her seemed... evil and rotten to the core.” “Trust us…” Misty shuddered. “Wherever Opaline is, there’s trouble.” “Uh… am I the only one totally lost?” Max asked. “Who the heck is Opaline?” “It’s a long story, Max,” Pipp sighed. “But it’s better if we deal with these witches first before we deal with the forces of Opaline... for all our sakes.” After a few minutes, Binx had led everyone to a rickety old ladder, and he rested on Max's shoulder as he climbed up to open the lid to the sewer and they looked around… until he noticed they were right in the path of the very bus the sisters were on. “Binx, look out!!” Max shouted and ducked just before the bus hit the manhole... but there was a loud thud afterwards. “Speed bump!” he could hear the driver shout. “Binx…?!” Dani felt her blood run cold when she heard the thud up on solid ground. “Up the ladder!” Sunny cried urgently. “Come on!” “Hurry!” Misty shouted, clearly worried. One by one the group proceeded up the ladder and onto the street. The bus was now gone, but when they saw Binx, their hearts fell… Binx had been completely flattened. Max panted at the sight, not believing what he saw as the ponies' eyes grew wide-- Izzy putting hooves to her mouth as Max finally spoke. “Oh my god…” Dani sobbed into Pipp’s wing, allowing the pink pegasus to comfort her and Allison, and the others bowed their heads in respect for their fallen friend. Max, however, was the lowest of the group. “This is all my fault…” “Max, it’s not your fault,” Allison was quick to reassure. “It was a complete accident… all of this was,” Sunny said. “But… at least he’s going to be with his family now.” “Yeah, but…” Hesperia sighed. “...I wish he didn’t have to go… like this.” As the group tried to console themselves, Misty was first to notice Binx’s flattened body suddenly lifting back to shape, Binx taking in a huge breath. “Look!” Quickly, everyone turned (some a little later than others) to see Binx waking up. “I hate it when that happens.” That's when Binx noticed the others' fearful and slightly disturbed expressions. “I told you, I can’t die,” the cat reminded, just before looking toward the younger girl. “Dani, you alright?” Dani nodded in a state of relief. “Yeah…” “Okay then, let’s go!” XXXXXXXXX At the same time, the bus with the witches on it continued to drive down the road, up until Mary screamed, “STOOOOOOP!!!” Once the bus had screeched to a stop, Mary turned to Winfred. “I smell children…” she sing-songed. “Marvelous,” Winifred smirked, and the sisters departed the bus and stepped out onto the street, which were full of kids in disguises, going around from house to house. “I’m very confused,” Winifred said as she smelled around. “I smell children, but I don’t see children. I’ve… I’ve lost my powers!” “Enough, enough, enough!” Winifred slapped her across the face. “Sorry,” Mary apologized. “We are witches, we are evil!” Winifred told her sisters crossly. “What would Mother say if she could see us like this?” “Mother…” Mary and Sarah chorused, but their faces of sadness turned to delight when they saw an older truck dressed as a devil appear from a house nearby. “MASTER!!” they cried out, running up to him and bowing. “What kind of costumes are these? It’s the Sanderson sisters, right?” he asked. “At your service!” Winifred bowed. “Haven’t seen you for centuries, but what the heck, why don’t you come in? Come in to the non-smoking section.” XXXXXXXXX After recovering from Binx being brought back to life, the kids, ponies and Hesperia ran around town until they found an officer on the side of the street. “Officer!” Dani cried. “Officer!” “Officer, we need your help,” Sunny said. “It's a total Halloween crisis!” “What's the matter?” the officer asked them, and Dani urged Max to come forward. “Well, um, well you see… I just moved here. Well you see… it’s like this… I… I um… I broke into the old Sanderson house and I brought the witches back from the dead,” Max hesitantly explained and held up the book. “See? I even have the book.” “He didn't think the curse was real, but it was,” Misty said. “And now those witches are gonna eat all the kids in Salem and we need help stopping them!” The officer looked at the ponies, and then over at Max. “You lit the black flame candle?” “Yeah,” the teenage boy nodded, and the officer climbed off his bike. “Okay, let’s get on the sidewalk.” “And he's a virgin,” Dani added, and once they were on the sidewalk, the officer pulled Max closer. “Are you a virgin?” “Yeah.” “Really?” “Look, I’ll get it tattooed on my forehead, okay?” “Officer, this is not a prank-- really!” Allison added, and Zipp nodded. “People could be in serious danger around those three freaks!” “Hey! I put my life on the line to protect this community and you punks pull this?” the officer sneered. “Get outta here. Take that cat with you.” This was enough to get the group to run off, just as a blonde woman came out of the nearby store, and the officer chuckled a bit, earning the woman's attention. “What’s so funny Eddie?” “Ah, just a bunch of kids and people in horse costumes yanking my chain,” Eddie rolled his eyes as they got on the bike and rolled off. “They thought I was a real cop.” But if the Sanderson Sisters succeeded in their plan, they would need something far more than a police officer to deal with their problems.