//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 - A Grim Memory // Story: BOOGEYMANE // by ChromeRegios //------------------------------// “You remember that incident?” Lightning spoke, as Applejack sits near her, listening closely. Lightning sighs... “The old pony story, Boogeymane... that father was once told me to scare me to sleeping?” Lightning asked, as Applejack tries to recall that memory... “Yeah, Ah remember that ol’ story of yer Pa.” Applejack said, remembering that story... “Well, it’s not just a story...it’s true... and he’s out to get foals and fillies... just like what happened back home...” Lightning said, with fear in her voice... Applejack did not understand what she means, but when Lightning said... ‘Just like what happened back home’, Applejack quickly goes back to that time, when several fillies and foals disappeared and was never found... Applejack thought that this might be it, but she didn’t believe Lightning on such thing... Lightning knows deep inside that Applejack won’t believe her one bit... so she didn’t bother to stop she went to her side of the story... ---Lightning’s Story--- It was the night of Nightmare Night... and every pony is out trick or treating... I was one of them... I was with other ponies, my friends... Gummy Bounce, Star Shine, Caramel Lush and Sweet Kiss... We went door to door, getting as much candy as we can, that night we gathered tons of candy, in every house we go we were given at least a bowl full... “This is so awesome!” Gummy said, while tossing and catching the bag of candy to the air... “Hey! Don't play with your food!” Caramel said, while leaning over to him. “Nah! It’s alright; it’s in my bag anyway.” Gummy shot back. “You better listen to Caramel...” Sweet Kiss said. “You might have a wicked bad tummy ache if you eat that later...” Star Shine who was with me and behind the three were looking over to the side of the street, over to an old house. Star Shine and me stopped... “Did you see that?” Star Shine said. “I did...” I said softly, “They say that... Boogeymane is in there...” I said, with a hint of fear in my voice... “Should we go in?” Star said, wanting to see if it’s true. “Are you crazy?!” I shouted, making the others look back... I should have never shouted...they should have kept going, but because of my voice, they turned and went towards Star and me... And went inside... “What happened ta them?” Applejack asked, curious to know... Lightning continues... We went inside with lanterns and explored that house... We saw that the house was wide, and spacious....It was dark, and had an eerie feeling to it. Despite my plead to go home, they all went through the house, I was forced to come along... The door closes behind us as we venture to the dark house inching closer and closer to the former living room. The living room was dusty, and filled with cob webs and drapes... It was scary enough for me to see spiders let alone the odd noises we keep hearing... “Guys, I have a bad feeling about this...” Caramel said, literally shaking in fear... “Don’t be such a filly,” Star said. “We just want to see if Boogeymane is really here...” But in reality, all of us but Star was scared of the dark... Gummy and Sweet kiss were cuddling to each other, terrified of what might jump out of the shadows... Star was in the lead while I Gummy and Sweet Kiss were behind him... Caramel was in front of me while I was far behind... My mind starts to imagining something’s lurking into the darkness... My eyes keeps shifting to the left and right, and swearing to myself that something or some pony is watching us from the darkness... Then... we all heard something... Something that made all of us go silent and listened for it to come again... then after a minute or two, there it was again... A loud bang coming from upstairs, we all looked at each other… then back at Star as he gestures us to go up... Star took the lead and we all followed closely behind as we venture to the second floor of the house... We all followed Star who was searching where the loud noise came from, Star stops at a door and listens... “This is it...” Star said, as he points to the door, all of us gulped as he opens the door slowly... it was a bed room... but it was filled with dozens of scratches and dark smears all over the walls... “What happened here?” I asked, as I went inside with Star. “Did, someone painted this room and got mad?” Caramel said as he went inside as well. “Ewww... It’s so dusty here!” Sweet kiss said, as she sees the room completely covered in dust... “Well who ever lived in this house, left in a hurry...” Gummy said, as he picks up a plate of donuts that haven't been eaten... “Or maybe the owner was too lazy to clean up and just left the house to rot...” Star said as he scuffles to the stuff... I was searching the room when I stumbled upon a key... it was hidden under a fallen pillow, I showed it to the others and went closer to check the key out... “Whats it for?” Sweet Kiss said, as she looks down at the key... “It’s for opening a lock, Duh!” Gummy said, and laughed at his own joke... Sweet Kiss puts out a tongue at him and looked back to the key... I was looking for something to open with a key... I looked high and low with my lantern to find some sort of lock... I raised my lantern to a top of a drawer to search. But when I shined my lantern above it something appeared in the mirror, it was dark, but has a face that you can only see in a nightmare. I was paralyzed, not moving at all... The figure in the mirror drew closer and closer, and then reached out to me... “AAAAAAAAHHHHHH~~~~~~!!!!” I screamed so loud that the others charged towards my aid... “What happened?” Star asked, with a worried face on him... I pointed out to the drawer mirror for them to see a dark figure in it, but nothing was there...anymore... Then Star spots something else, it was behind the drawer... Something is hidden behind it! “Guys! Help me with this!” He tried to push it out, as the others helped him push it as well... The drawer topples down revealing a locked door behind it... it has chains wrapped around the door, and a huge padlock on it... All of us looked at each other, then at the key Star was holding... Star knew that this was the key to it...the key that can open this door... Star nods and goes to open it, but I stood up and stopped him... He looked at me surprised... “Don’t do it Star!” I said, looking serious as I could... “Why not?” he asked as he holds the padlock... “I feel like there’s something in there! I think that we should not open it! Please Star!” I begged Star not to do it...he goes silent for a while then looks back at me... He ignored me and goes to open it anyway... I tried to stop him anyway I could, but every time i do so, my plans and I were pushed back... I had nothing to do to stop him; he reaches towards the lock and slowly puts the key in... I knew that there’s something behind that door that was not good about it, and the reason that there are chains and a huge padlock locking the door... and there’s nothing I could do to stop Star from opening it... Star removes the lock, and the chains fell down, with a loud thud on the wooden flooring... I watched as the last chain fell across the room... the door flung open and a gust of wind blasted inside of it... All of us looked at each other... “Well that wasn’t ba~” Star was cut off when something grabbed his hind hoof and drags him towards the open closet... All of us grabs his front hooves and starts to pull him out! He was screaming to the top of his lungs, asking us to help him... All of us tried all our might to pull him out, I looked at Star, as saw a single tear drops from his cheek... he smiles at me and told us... “Run...” We all suddenly knocked backwards as Star was dragged inside the dark area. “STAR!!!” We all shouted and went to the door, Caramel peeks in and called out, but there was no response... “Guys! I don’t see anything!” Caramel said, but then he was also grabbed in by the dark figure inside the door... “CARAMEL!!” Sweet kiss shouted as she watches Caramel sucked inside the door... I quickly stood up, and grabbed Gummy and Sweet Kiss. “Come on! We need to get out of here!!!” I shouted, as I pulled them down stairs... “W-w-what the hay was that thing?!” Gummy said, as he lags behind us... “How the hay should I know?!” I said to Gummy, but when I looked back, he was gone! “CELESTIA!! BUCK IT!!!” I shouted, nearly cussing out of my word... Sweet Kiss was already crying... we tried to run out of the house as fast as we can... but Sweet Trips and fell down the floor... I helped her up but something grabbed her hind hoof... She screamed for help... I picked up an old chair and hits the thing grabbing her repeatedly, it loosens her hoof just enough for me to pull her out to safely and charges outside... We both looked back in the house, but the creature didn’t came out...the door slams shut, leaving me and Sweet Kiss crying outside... That morning... Several Pony Police came looking for us, as well as the others, when we all failed to show up at dinner... They found us outside of that house and was brought to the Pony Stables... My parents came to pick me up, as well as Sweet Kiss’s Parents. We went home that night, but not without some scolding in the cart while we went home... I was not listening, instead my mind was somewhere else... I didn’t mention about that incident to anyone That morning, reports of missing foals was the main story of Daily Equestria. Those missing colts were... Star Shine, Gummy Bounce and Caramel Lush... They searched for them for months until they weren't found... Several weeks later... Sweet Kiss became missing, after another month passed she was never found... You know the rest what happened…