It was pitch black where ever they were and nopony could see anything. Twilight and Rarity lit up their horns and a dim glow spread around them in the dark tunnel they had entered. Rarity shrieked as she saw a spider web in front of her.
‘Be quiet! These walls aren’t sound proof, those manticores will tear down that statue if they hear us. Come on follow me.’ As he walked away, he kept hearing the quiet mumbles of ponies who were stumbling on unforseen objects on the ground. Sighing he said,
‘Can you lot be quiet?!’
‘Well it’s hard to see in here, it’s not our fault we keep hitting things.’ Said Rarity.
‘I’m not surprised, those horns of yours are doing a pitiful job of lighting up this area.’
‘Hey! These aren’t meant to be used as a light source you know!’ said Twilight feeling insulted.
‘Well that’s obvious. Looks like I’m going to have to help.’ Huffing he suddenly lit up his entire body in flames, but died the flames down a bit so his body was slightly smouldering and his tail and hooves were on fire, it was enough for the small space they were in, but it still bought him gasps from the group around him. None of them moved except Applebloom and Sweetie Belle who hid behind their sisters, peeking out to get a better view. Headless tried to ignore them and then one little voice spoke up.
‘Isn’t it cool Rainbow Dash?!’ It was Scootaloo. She seemed to care a lot about what that Pegasus thought. Rainbow just snorted in annoyance and stared at the walls. The pink pony jumped in front of his face and said,
‘WOW! You’re on fire! Does it hurt? Oh it must be really warm with all that fire on you. Is it hot? I’m not sure if I would like to be on fire, I couldn’t give anypony a hug then.’ Waiting for her to finish he said,
‘No it doesn’t hurt, I don’t actually feel anything aside from a slight tingling sensation.’ She was standing eerily close to him, ‘You might want to back up, you could burn yourself.’
‘So this is real fire?!’
‘Pretty much, there are a few differences but minor ones.’ He could hear a noise and turned to see that the purple unicorn was babbling like a baby.
‘How.. What? You’re a… This makes no sense!’ Rolling his non-existent eyes he said.
‘What are you talking about?’
‘You’re a ghost! I can’t even understand how you can even exist let alone set yourself on fire!’
‘Join the club.’
‘Wait, don’t cha know? How can ya not even know?!’ said Applejack.
‘I don’t question everything. I don’t find the need to. I accept it. Once I wanted to know why all this was happening, but I accepted that I wouldn’t find out. It’s easier this way. Otherwise I’d probably have gone mad long ago trying to find out the answers to unsolvable questions.’ He turned to move off but stopped when he saw a certain pink pony with a stick in her mouth with marshmallows on the end.
‘Are… Are you cooking marshmallows on me?’ She nodded and held the stick in her hoof to say,
‘Yep! I love marshmallows and couldn’t resist, if that’s okay? I always keep a bag on me encase of emergencies.’
‘Pinkie! We’ve been starving all morning and you didn’t tell us you had food!’ whined Twilight.
‘I’m sorry girls, but this was my emergency pack.’
‘Hmm, Pinkie…’ pondered Headless, ‘That wouldn’t have any relation to a “Pinkie Promise” would it?’ Pinkie gasped at him suddenly.
‘You didn’t break a Pinkie Promise did you?! You can Never. Break. A. Pinkie. Promise.’ She said it as ominous as Scootaloo had and was standing a little too close to Headless than he liked, he feared that her fur would start burning at any moment. Stepping back he said.
‘No I didn’t break one, I was just asking because Scootaloo made me participate in one.’
‘Oooo! What did you Pinkie Promise?!’ Laughing sneakily he said,
‘Sorry can’t tell you, I did Pinkie Promise after all.’
‘Aww, stopped by my own Pinkie Promise. She began munching on the marshmallows on her stick which were blackened but gooey underneath. Rarity came up to her and said,
‘Dear, where ever were you keeping those?’ Headless cut in and said,
‘My guess is her tail, you could fit a cannon in there.’ Without another word he turned and started heading off again. They all hurried off to stay within his light and were on their way again. After a moment of silence, Pinkie continued to cook marshmallows on him giving them to her friends. Headless tried to ignore the fact that he was their personal portable fireplace and focused on where he was going. This tunnel was an old one. He hadn’t been in here in years and it had gone downhill since the days he was alive. It was an old passageway which led to the outskirts of the city. It had been magically enchanted so you could only enter it from the secret entrance they had just entered. But that was years ago, when this tunnel was actually well maintained. If anything, the tunnel might be collapsed up ahead and they would just have to wait until the manticores had left before heading back to leave. Suddenly a small voice behind him caught his attention.
‘Hey sis, why were those beasts after us?’ It was Sweetie Belle who’d spoken. Rainbow heard her too and turned on Headless angrily,
‘Yeah! Why were those things after us?! They didn’t show up until you appeared!’ Headless was annoyed with her tone, he’d helped them hadn’t he? He got them away, he’d shown them this tunnel and now he was leading them out of here. There was no reason for her to be angry with him, but when he looked and saw the small shape of Scootaloo on top of her, he guessed she was just being protective and stressed that someone close to her was hurt. He still hadn’t answered and tried to pretend he didn’t hear.
‘Answer me!’ She yelled.
‘I wouldn’t yell so loud if I were you, you’ll bring the walls down.’ He said slyly.
‘You still haven’t answered me!’ Rainbow Dash said again but quieter, ‘Why were those manticores chasing us? And where are you even leading us?!’
‘My guess is that they were hungry, and I’m getting you out of this tunnel so you can leave without being attacked.’
‘But why were they chasing us?! Manticores rarely hunt in packs.’ After a pause and groaning, he finally answered them.
‘I guess… That is slightly my fault.’
‘I knew it! You sent them after us and you’re probably leading us into a trap!’ She said not taking another step after him. Turning on her, Headless said.
‘I did not send them after you! I angered one of them while I was trying to defend that little pathetic thing on your back, and it was just coming back to have payback and the meal I didn’t let it have. I don’t have to stand here and be accused of anything so good bye!’ His flames went out leaving them in darkness and his voice was heard once more, ‘When you finally get out of here, just push the rock with a carving of an alicorn in it at the end, that’s the exit. Of course that’s if you can reach it. Otherwise, you can face the manticores for all I care.’ Without another word he left them in their darkness and wasn’t heard again. Snorting Rainbow said,
‘Good riddance.’
Twilight lit her horn and the group continued through the tunnel. Occasionally squeezing pass fallen rock mounds, they finally found the rock he’d spoken of. Pushing it, it took a moment, but the wall in front of them shuddered, and then scraped against the floor as it slid out of the way blinding them with the sudden light. They walked outside and the wall moved back again, Headless was still nowhere to be seen.
They were near the edge of the forest and had now finally left the dark recesses of the Everfree forest. Scootaloo looked back though and wondered where the Headless Horse had gone. Looking over to the other ponies, they were all still trying to comprehend what had just happened.
‘This is unbelievable!’ exclaimed Twilight, ‘No book ever said ghosts were real, I always thought they just stories! We have to inform the Princess.’ Scootaloo wasn’t sure why, but for some reason, she felt it wasn’t a good idea to tell the Princess. But she was too tired to say anything and before she knew, had fallen asleep on Rainbow Dash’s back, enjoying the warmth of her body.
Within the forest, a certain Headless Horse was walking, not really looking where he was going, through the forest. He was getting frustrated with that talk he had with the blue Pegasus and kept mumbling to himself.
‘Where does she get off blaming me?! I don’t care if she was being protective, probably would’ve been better if I had never found that little runt. If I had never helped them, I wouldn’t have had to deal with them.’ Stomping his hoof he says, ‘And what is it with them?! They just give me a bad feeling all over. Well, at least they’re gone, I won’t have to deal with them anymore.’ He finally looked where he was and realised he’d made it to a certain clearing he knew very well. Up near a tree, was a rusted sword stuck in the ground, a pile of dirt covered in grass and weeds. Walking over to it, he looked it over. His grave was a reminder of his past life and his death. He recently hadn’t been coming here because it was just a marker for how far he could go. Forced to be trapped within the Everfree forest, never seeing anything outside his border. Lying down atop his grave, he noticed how quiet it was. Practically midday and no animals were about, at least here anyway. Nothing ever came to his grave. Going into a dozing state; not quite sleeping because he couldn’t, but not aware of his surroundings either, Headless waited for time to pass, hoping that maybe tonight, his Princess’s moon will shine through and make him forget this annoying day that has been.
The doctors fussed over Scootaloo, bandaging her limbs and putting cream on them to help the pain. She wasn’t seriously hurt, few bruises, swollen legs, she did have one sprained ankle but Scootaloo didn’t care. Her mind was filled with the Headless Horse. And she wasn’t the only one, Twilight had been in her library for the past few hours looking in ever book possible about the Headless Horse or ghosts. She’d sent a letter to the Princess, saying what they found, Spike was sceptical while he’d been writing it whether she was telling the truth but her friends backed her up. The Princess had said that she would make her way to Ponyville as soon as possible to hear more of this curious tale. Twilight busied herself by cramming as much information as she could about the ghost into her mind, it kept her from stressing out too much. Twilight’s friends were in just as much hysterics except Rainbow Dash who said nothing on the matter and stayed by Scootaloo the whole time. Fluttershy on the other hand had barely moved from the corner of the hospital she sat at, shivering all over, Applejack was by her trying to calm her down. Pinkie’s efforts of trying to make her happy with her party cannon had been less than successful. Scootaloo’s friends came up to her after the doctors had left and talked to her about what happened.
‘So Scootaloo, what did happen? How did you meet that Headless Horse anyway?’ asked Sweetie Belle.
‘It was so cool!’ she said getting excited and jumped straight into her story, ‘First while I was sleeping, I heard his noise. It was unlike any I had ever heard; a pony’s whinny, but like really loud, and weird. I was leaning out my window trying to see where it was coming from, but… uh well, I sort of fell out the window. But’s okay, I’m Scootaloo! I took charge of the situation and looked for the closest cloud to land on.’
‘Weren’t ya scared? I know I would be.’ Said Applebloom.
‘Nah, I ain’t scared of nothing. But when I landed on the cloud, a huge gust of wind pushed me over to the Everfree Forest.’ The two fillies gasped. ‘I was flying high above that forest, but soon my cloud started descending, soon we were scraping the tops of trees. Suddenly! ‘she paused, enjoying the excited and awed faces of her friends, ‘The cloud hit a tree and flipped over, causing me, to go tumbling down the branches of the tree. I think I hit just about every single one of them before finally reaching the ground. That’s how I hurt myself.’ She held up her bandaged legs.
‘But what about the Headless Horse?!’ said Sweetie impatiently.
‘I’m getting there… I’d reached the ground, but I wasn’t safe yet, this is the Everfree forest after all. And then, when I looked up, there he was, the Headless Horse was standing, Right. In. front. Of. me!’ She emphasised every word, her friends gasped. A small smile broke on Scootaloo’s face at the look of their wonder. ‘But not much happened after that... I couldn’t move so I had to sit there, and he was sort of odd. He kept asking for my name and said I could call him Headless. He asked how I got in the tree and he even asked if I was okay! He said he’d stay with me during the night and actually did. Then in the morning I heard a noise and it was a manticore. I still couldn’t move and the manticore was looking at me hungrily. Then Headless just stood in front of the manticore, and shouted at it. It was sooo cool! It was louder than anything! It almost blew that manticore off the ground. Then he lit his whole body in fire and burned the fur on the manticore. Needless to say, it ran off with its tail between its legs.’ They all laughed that this, with an image of a frighted manticore in their minds. ‘Then Raindow Dash showed up and you guys.’
‘Wow Scootaloo, that is soo cool! You must’ve been frightened.’
‘Me frightened? Nah. Nothing scared me!’ She puffed out her chest and smiled at her friends. Her eyes drifted over the room to Rainbow Dash, she wasn’t looking at them but she guessed she’d heard the story too. She still looked grumpy and looked out the window. Just then a nurse came in and ushered everyone out saying the patient needed her sleep. Scootaloo waved goodbye to her friends and was left alone in the hospital room. But how could she sleep?! Her mind was running wild with thoughts of the Headless Horse; had the tales been false? Was he really just a nice guy? Why can’t he leave the old city of Canterlot and how did he die anyway? She really wanted to know more. But her body protested and soon she was in a peaceful sleep.