What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse

by AdrianJNovelle


Chapter 5

Lights lit up in the windows of almost every building in town as the deafening wails of the frightened girls echoed through the night.
A menacing - but strangely familiar - high-pitched laugh came from an alley near the mysterious shadow. A closer look into the alley revealed a magenta-maned pony with a pink coat and sky-blue eyes, dressed in her all-black spy getout. She pressed a red button and the shadow of the blue wacky, wailing, inflatable-arm flailing tube-man disappeared as the air within its source collapsed quietly to the ground.
Finally, Twilight and Rainbow Dash stopped running, out of breath and scared out of their skin.
"What...what was that?" Twilight panted.
"I...I don't know...but...I think it was the Slender Mare."
"I thought you said...if he moved...we wouldn't be able to...to see it."
The laugh reached their large ears. An annoyed glare appeared on both their faces.
"Pinkie Pie..."
They hurried back in the direction from which they came. Out popped the pink pony from the alleyway.
"Hi there!" she exclaimed instead of a "Boo!"
The pegasus and unicorn stopped in their tracks when they reached her.
"Pinkie Pie," Rainbow Dash began. "That was you!?"
She unzipped her outfit over her face. "Yup, that was me! Scared you both pretty good, didn't I?"
Rainbow Dash tackled her. "Listen here, you little worm! That was not funny!"
"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight called. "Get off of her!"
Rainbow Dash cocked her head. "But...but she pranked us."
"I don't care," Twilight shook her head. "Off."
Rainbow Dash got off of Pinkie Pie and helped her to her hooves.
"Pinkie Pie," she continued to the other pony. "What are you doing out here?"
"Playing along with your little Slender Mare game," she replied, a big smile glued to her face from cheek to cheek.
"Game?" Rainbow Dash inquired.
"Game? What game?"
"Your little hunt for the Slender Mare, silly!"
Twilight brought her hoof to her face and grunted. "Pinkie Pie, this is no game. We're not playing any game here - we're trying to find the Slender Mare. Or, in my case, not find him and prove Rainbow Dash wrong."
Twilight paused for a moment. "That was all you, wasn't it?"
"Yup!"
"And...there is no Slender Mare."
"Nope!"
"See?" Twilight turned her head to look the rainbow-maned pony in the eyes. "I told you so." An expression of contentment grew on her face.
"Woah woah woah woah woah," she began. "This isn't proof. We have a page right here..." Rainbow Dash searched herself for the page that was supposedly from the Slender Mare's book, but failed to recover it. "Twilight, where's that page we had?"
Twilight grunted. "We must've lost it when we took off running."
Rainbow Dash scoffed. "Great...Anyway, we had this page with names written on it right from the Slender Mare's book - it was wrinkled and everything!"
Pinkie Pie laughed. "That was no haunted page, silly! That was the invitation list for Shining Armor's wedding with Princess Cadence. I hid it in the bushes while you were seated at the fountain talking quietly."
"And the shadow?" Twilight asked.
"My wacky, wailing, inflatable-arm flailing tube-man decoration."
"Great," Rainbow Dash whined. "Not only have we woken up half the town and not found proof of the Slender Mare - we also got pranked by the most gullible pony in Equestria!"
"I'm not gullible," Pinkie retorted.
"Your shoe's untied."
"What?" Pinkie Pie brought her naked hooves up and stared at them.
"Pinkie, your prank was..."
"Outrageous," Rainbow Dash crossed her arms and planted her plot on the ground facing away.
"Impressive, but next time, please don't interrupt us in our efforts to hunt the Slender Mare."
"There's going to be a next time? I thought I told you there was no Slender Mare. Slender Mare could never possibly exist - something tells me he's just a myth for bedtime stories."
"See?" Twilight said with more enthusiasm.
Rainbow Dash did not reply.
"So...everything we saw tonight...that was all you?"
"Yup!"
"Well," Twilight yawned. "I don't know about you girls, but I'm going to bed."
Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash followed behind her as they trotted quietly away. They did not happen to notice the presence of a dark and eerie shadow as it lingered through the alleyway in silence.