//------------------------------// // Midnight Onwards // Story: From 12:00 to 3:33 // by Shadowflame //------------------------------// Within a minute or two of waiting for Sweetie Belle, the other two crusaders joined her back in the boutique's main room. Two minutes in the darkness, which was more than Sweetie could bear to be alone in there. She'd never felt like this in the dark. It was as if... something, were clutching onto her little body... something cold and forsaken. Sweetie Belle shivered again as she looked to the other Crusaders, "Well, w-what do we do now?" "Well..." Applebloom replied, looking a bit uneasy herself, "Ah think we better do as the book says an' keep movin'." Scootaloo nodded, not as visibly frightened as the other two, "If we want to keep the Midnight Stallion from blowing out our candles, then we can't stay in one place for too long. Follow me, girls." Scootaloo picked up her candlestick in the crook of her hoof and began trotting through the boutique. Applebloom followed, carrying her own candle in the same manner, while Sweetie Belle brought up the rear, her candle levitating close to herself, as if it were a shield. As the crusaders moved through the boutique, Sweetie Belle could only glance at everything they passed by. Everything in the boutique seemed to have turned a shade darker of their former colors, blackened by the night. But never before had Sweetie seen everything quite this dark, even during the darkest of nights. She shivered with the uneasy feeling that it wasn't just because it was dark inside. Something else was at work here, and Sweetie did not care to find out what it was. 12:34 AM Sweetie Belle continued to follow Applebloom and Scootaloo through the boutique, making extra sure to keep close to her friends. The last thing she wanted to do was to lose sight of them and end up alone in the darkness. But after making their way upstairs for about the fourth time that night, the crusaders passed by the open door of Rarity's work room. But as Sweetie Belle looked inside its open doorway, she noticed that something felt... off. There was something different inside the room, but she couldn't quite put her hoof on it. Curious, Sweetie made her way into the work room, finding herself surrounded by its familiar features. There were sewing machines, rolls of cloth, and spools of thread scattered around the room, as well as a few mannequins. But like the rest of the shop, the darkness made it seem like an entirely different place; one that a filly should never enter alone. A pincushion, with its plastic thorns, looked almost like the claw of a monster in the dark. A pair of red eyes looked up at Sweetie Belle from the floor, only to be revealed by candlelight as a couple of loose buttons. Sweetie shook her head to clear her thoughts. The dark was just playing tricks on her eyes, and she knew it. ... Or at least... she hoped it was just that. She glanced through the room for the original reason why she had entered, intent on finding out why the room seemed different. She could've just been searching for some random object out of its place, but... she knew it was more than that. It felt as if... she could feel something was in there, something she hadn't felt before. Her body might have been shivering from the cold, but she knew this new feeling wasn't just another cold wave. It felt more like icy needles in her skin, rather than a cool draft. Sweetie Belle looked through the room, until her eyes rested on the mannequins, a few of them holding a few of Rarity's commissions, both finished and yet to be completed. Even in the dark, Sweetie could make out the beautiful designs of the dresses. A few of them were adorned with jewels, while others sported frills and fancy folds. The sight of them was a pleasing, aesthetic escape for Sweetie Belle's senses. It had only been 30 minutes since they began the Midnight Game, but she was already anxious for it to be over. As Sweetie admired each one of the dresses on the mannequins, her sight drifting down the line of pony figures, her eyes fell on the last mannequin in the room. It was a pure white figure, just like the other mannequins, but instead of a dress, this one wore a pure black tuxedo. Sweetie Belle frowned to herself when she saw it, I don't remember Rarity ever working on this one. She walked up to the suited mannequin to get a closer look, to where she was standing only a foot away from it, Yikes, it doesn't even have any of Rarity's personal flares anywhere on it. She wouldn't make something like this, right? But... as she thought that, another thought instantly followed; the answer to her question. Her eyes widened slightly, "Th-that's because...... Rarity doesn't m-make suit commissions." Her breath grew cold in her lungs, as if a devil's hoof were wrapped around them in a choking squeeze. She looked up slowly at the mannequin's face, struggling as her muscles seemed to refuse to look it in the face out of terror. "Th-then.. What. I-is. This?" ... Sweetie Belle stared at the blank, white figure, her body shaking uncontrollably as she feared the worst. "It.... It's..." It moved. The room was plunged into darkness as a cold gust of wind blew out the little filly's candle. Sweetie wasted no time or thought as she turned tail and ran out of the room screaming at the top of her lungs... At least, she believed she was screaming. She couldn't hear anything past the loud thumping in her head of her terrified blood racing through her ears. She had come within a foot of the Midnight Stallion! She ran as fast as her tiny legs could carry her, through the darkened building. Everything was just dull shapes and shadows, though Sweetie could have sworn she saw the Midnight Stallion's figure in them. Behind her, the other crusaders had heard her blood curdling scream, and had come racing after their friend, only to find her running in a panic with a dead candle. Sweetie didn't hear anything around her through the sound of her heart pounding through her ears, but she did make out a distant call of her friends, "...Sweetie!... -your candle!" Sweetie Belle instantly came to a screeching halt. She had been too concerned with running for her life that she forgot to relight her candle! She dove into her saddle bags, trying to find a match. All the while, her mind panicked, Oh, no! Oh, NO! How long has it been? Five seconds? Ten seconds?! OH, NO! I think it's been more than that! I can't relight my candle, or else the Midnight Stallion- In a hurried panic, Sweetie grabbed a hold of the nearest object in her bags: The cylinder of salt. Grasping it in her mouth, Sweetie quickly opened the canister and spun in a circle, letting the salt pour out as her head moved with her body. In a split moment, she had a solid line of salt surrounding her, more than large enough to contain her tiny form. With her circle in place, Sweetie let her shaking legs give out under her and she slumped down onto the floor. Swettie tried to catch her breath, but her heart was still racing too fast. She had cut it close, and she knew it! She had almost let herself become victim to a demon's cruel torment, by barely even a second at most. But despite the pounding of her blood in her ears, Sweetie managed to focus enough to grab her candlestick which she had dropped outside of her circle. By using the same method of magic, she lit a match she found in her bags and relighted the candle, sending its light through the room she was currently in. Looking around, Sweetie noticed that she now sat in the Kitchen. "Wow... D-did I really run that far?" She knew that Rarity's room and the kitchen were on completely different ends of the boutique, separated by a staircase no less. But despite being there already, Sweetie couldn't remember even travelling down the stairs. She had only been focused on running away... ... had she really been that terrified? Sweetie Belle's body quaked and shivered, even more so than when she had first started the game. But if it were any consolation, she reminded herself, that she was now out of this Celestia-forsaken game... but her friends weren't. As if on que, the other crusaders entered the kitchen as well, spotting Sweetie Belle sitting in the middle of a salt circle on the floor. Scootaloo groaned inwardly as she set her candlestick on the tile floor so she could speak, "Well, looks like Sweetie Belle's out." But she paused when she noticed that the unicorn was shaking uncontrollably in place, "Are you okay?" Sweetie vigorously shook her head, "N-no, I'm not! I- I- He almost got me! I've never been so scared in my life!" Her outburst made both of her friends wince. Applebloom stepped forward and put a hoof over the salt circle and onto Sweetie Belle's shoulder in an effort to comfort her, "Look, Sweetie Belle, just calm down. Yer out of the game, so ya have nothin' ta be 'fraid of." Sweetie instantly grabbed ahold of Applebloom's hoof with an iron grip. The unicorn looked up at the yellow filly with pleading eyes, "Yes, I do! Both of you girls are still in the game with that demon! Please, don't go! It isn't worth it! Just quit now!" Scootaloo would've rolled her eyes at that, but given her friend's expression of pure terror, she rested on replying, "Sweetie Belle, you're over exaggerating. We'll be fine." Tears were now coming out of the corners of Sweetie Belle's eyes, "No, Scootaloo! Don't do it! Please! Let's all just quit now!" Applebloom gave Scootaloo a wary glance, "I dunno, Scoots. She does seem mighty terrified." Even by listening to Sweetie's cries, her own fur was beginning to stand on end. Determined to protect her own ego, Scootaloo turned around with a humph, "Fine, you two can stay behind if you want. There's no way I'm coming this far and then chickening out." That left Applebloom, standing between Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, between danger and the only safe spot in the boutique. Applebloom sighed as she turned towards Sweetie Belle, "Ah... Ah'm sorry, Sweetie Belle. But Ah can't let Scootaloo keep going with somethin' crazy like this all by herself." The earth pony then picked up her candlestick and ran to catch up with Scootaloo, despite Sweetie's tormented screams, pleading for them to come back. ________________________________________________________ 1:43 AM It had been a trying task to ignore Sweetie's pleas in the darkness, but after half an hour or so, it seemed that Sweetie had given up on trying to call them back. Either that, or she had fallen asleep, Scootaloo had joked. Applebloom had to admit, this was probably one of the latest of nights she had spent awake. She knew she should've been extremely tired by now, but to her surprise, she wasn't. Perhaps this whole game was scaring her enough to subside any drowsiness. Even if it did or didn't, the darkness and the feeling in the room only unsettled Applebloom. So, in an effort to distract herself from it, she tried conversing with Scootaloo. "Ah hope Sweetie Belle's alright." She wondered to the pegasus. Scootaloo rolled her eyes, "Don't worry about it. She's inside a salt circle. The book said the demon couldn't get her as long as she stays inside it, so she'll be fine." "Well, Ah wasn't thinkin' about that." Applebloom replied, "Ah was just wonderin' if she's calmed down or not." Scootaloo paused, "I'm not sure about that. She did seem really scared, but the demon didn't even get to her." Both of them fell silent as they thought about it. How could a pony get so scared by something they only saw? "Ah wonder what the Midnight Stallion looks like?" Applebloom thought aloud. Scootaloo had the same thought on her mind as well, "Maybe... maybe it's a pony with giant fangs, that could rip a dragon apart!" That image unsettled Applebloom, but not as much as the image she conjured, "An' what if has claws instead of hooves?! It'd rip us apart if it got ta us!" "Or snake eyes that'd stop anypony in their tracks!" The duo instantly became more wary of the darkness in the hallway, as if anticipating the abomination of a creature to jump out and tear them to shreads. "A lizard tail!" "A gryphon beak! "Spikes on it's back!" "A second head!" Applebloom suddenly froze in place, her eyes wide and looking straight ahead at the path they had been traveling. Scootaloo stopped just before her friend, only to notice that the yellow filly's fur was visibly bristling, and even growing paler. Applebloom managed a gulp, not taking her eyes away from what they saw, "O-or, maybe... it's a white stallion in a suit... with... no... f-face..." Scootaloo raised an eyebrow, but before she could ask, Applebloom raised a trembling hoof to point out in front of them. Scootaloo followed the hoof, until she saw what was in the darkness. Beyond their candlelight, Scootaloo and Applebloom saw a white figure at the very end of the hallway. It just stood there, right in the middle of the hall, staring at the two fillies. It certainly looked like a pony, but it had no eyes, no nose, no mouth, nothing of any distinguishment on its face, if it could even be called one. Applebloom wasn't sure if she was hallucinating or not, but it seemed as if the darkness was thicker around the figure. Applebloom felt her legs freeze in place, unwilling to move, as if they were being held down by the very gaze of the ghostly white figure. However, her conscious screamed at her to get away. This... thing wasn't natural, and even the most innocent of foals would've known that. The temperature in the room dropped with every second that the demon and the crusaders stared at each other. Despite the desire to be brave in this instance, Applebloom noticed that both her own legs and Scootaloo's were now shaking uncontrollably. "S-scoots?" "Y-y-yeah?" Scootaloo answered back through chattering teeth. "W-we n-need ta get ou-out of he-" The Midnight Stallion took a step towards them. Their candles went out. The whole hallway was plunged into darkness, yet both of the terrified fillies could still see the Midnight Stallion through the dark. Without the light of a candle, the stallion's white coat contrasted with the darkness that swirled around it, making it look more ominous, more demonic. More deadly. Scootaloo and Applebloom turned tail and ran the opposite direction, screaming at the top of their lungs. Scootaloo, familiar with quick thinking in dangerous instances, thanks to many almost-accidents on her scooter, quickly placed her candle on her back, balancing it up with her wings while she searched her bags for a match. Within a few seconds, Scootaloo had retrieved a match and relit her candle. Having kept track of the seconds, the Pegasus counted that 5 seconds had passed. But Applebloom, in her panicked run, tripped over herself while trying to find the match in her bags. She let out a yelp as she fell to her stomach, her dead candlestick clattering onto the floor. To Scootaloo’s eyes, time seemed to slow as she counted the seconds. Applebloom’s candle clattered to the floor, echoing through the hallway as the time ticked away. 7… 8… Applebloom struggled to reach for her candle as she quickly hopped back onto her hooves. But Scootaloo knew it was too late for her to relight the candle and ward off the Stallion. There was only one last resort, “Applebloom, run for the salt circle!” 9… Applebloom hesitated. She hadn’t kept track of how many seconds had passed. 10. Too late. The darkness thickened around Applebloom as she made her desperate attempt to run away. But she found her path suddenly blocked by a horrifying, deathly pale figure. The little filly glanced up, only to see the grim face of the Midnight Stallion staring down at her. Applebloom tried to backpedal away from the demon, but her shaking legs gave out beneath her and she collapsed to the ground. “Applebloom!” Scootaloo ran to protect her friend, but the Midnight Stallion’s cold gaze stopped her hooves in their tracks. The Pegasus found herself frozen, unable to move as terror and fear gripped her heart. The pale stallion reached a hoof down towards its helpless victim on the ground, before touching a pale arm to her forehead. Applebloom screamed bloody murder, as if the demon’s touch was molten steel burning her flesh. Scootaloo could only watch from the side as the earth pony writhed in agony, trying to get away from the stallion. The pegasus’ legs refused to move, despite the desperation to aid her friend. She was too scared, lest she suffer the same fate. Applebloom clawed at the demon’s hoof on her head, so hard that it might have drawn blood if the monster had any. Tears streamed out of her eyes as she screamed, “STOP! STOP! I DON’T- AGH! “ She wailed as the pain grew more intense, but to Scootaloo’s surprise, the Midnight Stallion retracted its hoof from the filly. But that only made Applebloom scream even louder. Her eyes flew open, but from Scootaloo’s candlelight, she could see only cloudly white eyes in her sockets. Applebloom cried and screamed, writhing on the floor, ”NO! PLEASE! APPLEJACK, BIG MAC, GRANNY! DON’T LEAVE ME!!” Scootaloo’s heart stopped when she realized what the stallion had done. Like the book had said, the Midnight Stallion would torture the minds of those who lost its game. For Applebloom, it tortured her by using her family in the filly’s thoughts. The little Pegasus couldn’t stand any more of this. Ignoring the fear clutching onto her like dead weight, she willed herself forwards, so she was standing beside Applebloom’s form on the floor. Immediately as she did, Scootaloo felt her body stiffen like ice, not willing to get any closer to the monster standing before her. Loyal to her friend, Scootaloo moved her candle towards the stallion, shouting, “Get away from her!” The blank gaze of the stallion drifted towards the filly, piercing her soul with the white mask it called a face. For a moment, it did not move, and neither did Scootaloo, even though every fiber of her being was screaming at her to run. But, as Scootaloo watched, the Midnight Stallion let out a noise, one that chilled her to the bone. It was hoarse and scratchy, but it couldn’t be mistaken for anything but an amused laugh. Instantly, the stallion disappeared, leaving two fillies in the darkness. Scootaloo’s body relaxed somewhat, with the demon gone now, but for a moment, her legs refused to move. She found herself wondering if the stallion was going to reappear… but after a minute or two, the demon did not return. Beside her, Applebloom’s screaming and wailing descended into pitiful sobs and whimpers. The flow of tears out of her eyes remained steady, as did the whiteness of her eyes. And all the while, she whimpered out little, broken words, “Please… come back…” Scootaloo caught her breath again, slowing the rapid beating of her heart. She was thankful that the stallion was gone, but she knew they couldn’t stay there for long. They needed to get back to Sweetie Belle and the salt circle. Gingerly, Scootaloo poked Applebloom with a hoof, “H-hey, Applebloom?” The Pegasus was amazed by how dry her throat suddenly felt, “Are you alright?” The filly didn’t respond, as if she hadn’t heard or felt Scootaloo at all. She only curled into a ball on the floor, breathing in ragged gasps as she cried to herself. “Uh, oh… this isn’t good.” Even if her friend couldn’t stand up, Scootaloo wouldn’t let her stay here. She was coming with her, if it was the last thing she did. Picking up her candlestick in her mouth, Scootaloo grabbed Applebloom’s curled up form in her hooves and began dragging her through the house. It was a slow process, and Applebloom’s constant whimpers and little cries to whatever horror she saw only worried Scootaloo more. As she pulled her friend, the Pegasus kept a wary eye out for the Midnight Stallion. She was still in the game, and that meant she was just as likely to get caught by the demon at any moment. She thought it was her imagination, but once or twice, she could have sworn she saw the stallion’s face peering back at her at the end of every hallway, at the end of every room. Scootaloo let out a sigh of relief when she reached the kitchen, where Sweetie Belle sat waiting with her candle. She was still in the salt circle, but her look of worry made it seem like she had been thinking of jumping out, no doubt from hearing Applebloom’s screams. Sweetie’s hoof covered her mouth in astonishment when she saw the state Applebloom was in, “Oh my Celestia… w-what happened?” With Sweetie’s help, Scootaloo managed to get Applebloom’s body over the chalk line without breaking it. Scootaloo winced, “She-… The Midnight Stallion got to her.” Sweetie Belle gasped, tears at the corners of her eyes, “Oh no. I-I told her not to go!” She sobbed, “I didn’t stop her, so it’s my fault.” Scootaloo sighed, more to reassure herself than anything, “Listen, Sweetie Belle, it looks like I’m the only one left in this game. There’s only a few hours left, but I think I can still win this. Just make sure Applebloom’s alright until we finish this.” “Wait, no!” Sweetie Belle cried out, “Don’t you see what happened to Applebloom?!” She stroked the filly’s head comfortingly, as the stallion’s victim continued to tremble on the ground, “She’s in worse shape than I’ve ever seen her! I’m not going to let the same thing happen to you!” Scootaloo paused. Sweetie Belle had tried to stop her before, but this time… it actually struck the Pegasus. She had seen the Midnight Stallion in all of its horror. She had seen what it could do. If she wasn’t careful… Scootaloo shook her head, “No, I’m sorry, Sweetie Belle, but I can’t forfeit this, not when we’ve come this far already.” She started to head out of the kitchen with her candle, “Just whatever you do, don’t step out of the circle. Take care of Applebloom.” “Wait!” Sweetie Belle’s mind raced as she tried to think of a last resort to stop her friend, before she remembered, “Scootaloo! Look!” Scootaloo turned, “What?” Sweetie Belle took a deep breath, mustering her courage, “If I step out of this circle, then the Midnight Stallion can get me, right?” The unicorn filly lifted up a leg, just at the edge of the circle, “If you don’t quit now, then I’ll step out of the circle. If you don’t come back now, I’ll let the Midnight Stallion torture me.” Even as she spoke the words, Sweetie could feel her entire body shaking. She didn’t want to see the demon again, but she knew she’d have to if it would get Scootaloo out of this horrible game. Scootaloo’s eyes widened, “You wouldn’t…” Sweetie lowered her hoof closer and closer towards the ground outside the circle, as if she were making a threat. Scootaloo gasped as she realized the unicorn was serious, “Sweetie Belle don’t! I don’t want you to get hurt!” “Then come into the circle and quit now. I won’t let you keep playing this game!” Scootaloo stopped, staring at Sweetie Belle, slackjawed, She’d really do it? Just to keep me from getting caught by the Midnight Stallion? For a moment, neither of them moved. They just stared at each other, as if they were playing a game of chicken, to see who would break and give in first. Scootaloo’s face was contorted in surprise, but Sweetie’s was a glare that made it clear she wasn’t going to give up on her decision. She really would sacrifice herself to bring her friend away from harm. But after a minute, Scootaloo sighed, stepping towards the salt circle, “Fine, you win, Sweetie Belle.” She then stepped over the chalk line in defeat. Sweetie Belle breathed a massive sigh of relief, slumping back down into the salt circle, which had grown more compact since she was now joined by the other two crusaders. And there they sat, just waiting in the darkness with their candles, unable to leave the circle, unable to do almost anything. After what seemed like an hour, Scootaloo sighed, “I guess this means we lost.” Sweetie Belle was the only one to nod in response, since Applebloom was still in her state of shock, “Yeah…” Scootaloo’s shoulders slumped, “We got ourselves into this thing for nothing, and Applebloom had to pay for it… seems harsh doesn’t it?” The pegasus’ question was met with silence, making her raise an eyebrow, “Sweetie Belle?” She craned her neck back, only to see the unicorn was shaking in place. Sweetie’s teeth chattered in response, as she lifted a trembling hoof in front of her, “S-s-sc-oots? Scootaloo followed her hoof, until her blood turned cold at what she saw. There, standing in the kitchen, was the pale figure of the Midnight Stallion, staring at them with its nonexistent eyes. A cold breeze whipped through the kitchen, blowing Sweetie Belle's and Scootaloo's candles out. They would've been running by this point, overtaken with fear. But they both dared not move an inch out of the safety of the salt circle. Even in the pure darkness, the stallion's white face was visible to the pair of terrified fillies, and both of the could feel every muscle in their bodies shake in terror, and every hair on their backs stood up on end as another cold wind whipped over them. Sweetie Belle could only manage a squeak, but Scootaloo managed to shout, "W-we played your stupid game! G-get out of here!!" The Midnight Stallion made no response, no movement, not even a shift in posture. The demon stood there as still as stone, as if waiting for the fillies to slip up and fall out of the circle. In fact, it looked as if it were daring them to do so. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle remained quiet the entire time, not able to take their eyes off the stallion as they held onto each other and Applebloom, unwilling to let go of each other. They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, with only the blackness of the stallion's night swirling around them like a dark tempest. But then, the silence was broken when a deep, grating voice chuckled, sending a sharp chill up the fillies spines. The Midnight Stallion chuckled through its own skull, echoing through the room, I can't wait... to play again... I'll be watching... until you are... alone and ready... hek hek hek. Suddenly, the Midnight Stallion vanished into thin air, as did the thick darkness around the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo glanced around to find the kitchen was again in its regular state during the night, not as dark as before. "W-what happened?" Sweetie Belle asked. Scootaloo shook her head in confusion, "I don't know." Her eyes then fell on the clock that was hanging on the wall. It read 3:33 AM. Scootaloo let her legs collapse beneath her as she realized, "It's over... the game's finally over." Sweetie Belle after catching on as well, did likewise, falling onto her back in relief that it was all over. But another thought struck her, "W-what did the-... It mean when it said it'd be watching." Scootaloo shivered on the ground as she thought about it, "I... "I don't know..."