Following Applejack proved to be more of a challenge than I thought it would be. I had gotten lost three different times because I would start to get a chill and look for what was causing it.
It was only thanks to lady luck that I found the group as they were leaving the edge of town again. It was concerning though that I kept feeling that cold grip every time I was close to the group. Almost like something was following them...
‘... Whelp, this is probably going to go south fast at some point.’ I thought as the group began to leave the city and walk into a dark forest, ‘Of course it's through a dark forest. At least it's a castle we're going to and not a mansion.’
“Everypony stick close now.” Applejack said from the back as Rarity led the group. Spike seemed to be having a conversation with the crusaders, but I was too far away to hear.
Despite the forest’s looks, it felt pretty nice to be in the heavily wooded area. I could hear the mice running in the foliage, the smell of the trees was amazing, and it just felt... normal.
The places I had been staying at were always carefully controlled, right down to the weather. It was all great, but it really took the spice out of life sometimes. I continued to think to myself as the ponies continued on with me following close behind.
Though as I walked with them I couldn’t get this smell out of my nose. It completely blocked any kind of forest smells and was completely awful to smell. I’m sure Rarity would’ve commented on it if she had smelled it, but that wasn’t the case.
It seemed like I was the only one who could smell whatever the foul stench was. Wasn’t too happy about that, ‘First only I could tell who's evil, now only I can smell that awful stench? This is getting unfair... wait.’ I moved towards the side of the road and got a look at spike to see him holding his nose, ‘So he can smell it too...’
In truth I didn’t know what to do with that information. Couldn’t exactly ask him what it was and he doesn’t seemed concerned about it... ‘Please let it be nothing.’
Not gonna lie, the whole walk through the forest was a little disappointing. Apparently they had a road right to the place since it was being refurbished, or something. One of the fillies had asked a question and I had only caught that much of the answer.
My thoughts of being ambushed in the forest were put to rest as the castle came into view. Though I could still smell that awful stench I had put at the back of my mind during the walk to the castle.
As the ponies began to cross the rickety bridge a shiver went down my spine. It wasn’t my kitty sense tellin me some evil doer was nearby, but the creepiness of the castle. Place wasn’t scary, just creepy.
“Everypony be careful.” Rarity called from the front as we all started to make our way across the bridge. It wasn’t a very fun experience with the various holes and the slight sway the cool wind made.
Once we got to the other side though everypony stopped and stared at the castle for a moment. I could only guess that they had those looks on their faces that most would get after completing a long quest. Since we had yet to do anything though my opinions on these ponies were slowly dropping.
“Can we go inside now?” while my opinion of Spike was on the rise.
“Alright, have any of ya thought about where ta put th’ cameras?” Applejack asked while I hid behind her tail as the others looked to her.
“Places that capture a wide area!” Scootaloo said quickly with the crusaders nodding in approval.
“I think the throne room and the place you girls took out Nightmare Moon would be a couple of good areas.” Spike said.
“Let’s get inside an start settin up then.” Applejack said happily as she began to move forward.
This action caught me by surprise as I was suddenly revealed. My eyes locked with almost everypony that had come into the forest... it was creepy.
Sweetie Bell was the first to respond, “Scruffy!” before rushing towards me and picking me up in her hooves.
“Who’s Scruffy?” I heard Applejack ask as Sweetie held me in the crook of her foreleg and up against her chest.
Rarity looked towards Spike with narrowed eyes while he held up his claws, “Don’t look at me. I gave him to Twilight.”
As Sweetie carried me to Spike, Applejack spoke up, “Somepony gonna tell me what’s goin on?”
“It appears we have one more to our team than we thought.” Rarity said while shooting Spike a glare.
Surprisingly enough he returned it with a glare of his own, “I would never bring Scruffy into a place like this. The last place I saw him was with Twilight.” he crossed his arms over his chest.
‘Wow, I didn't know he had it in him.’ I thought as I jumped down from Sweetie’s grasp and ran over to Spike. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Scootaloo starting to get that look again... ‘What stupid plan does she have now?’
Applejack finally got a good look at me as I stopped at Spikes feet, “So I’m guessin that there’s Scruffy?”
Spike picked me up and held me to his chest, “Yep, this is my little kitty, Scruffy.” he started to scratch me behind the ears in the way only he could.
As I purred Rarity spoke up, “We’ll have to find somewhere we can keep Scruffy while we’re investigating the castle. We can’t have such a cute little kitty get lost and scared in a big castle like this.”
Spike stopped scratching me and sat me down on his head, “It’s fine, Scruffy has always done what I’ve told him to do.” he said proudly as I caught movement out of the corner of my eye, “I promise you won’t have to worry about him.”
I watched as the crusaders approached the front doors and started to open them. My standing on Spike's head got the attention of the two elder ponies and I raised my paw to point at the three fillies.
Rarity shot me a confused look while Applejack followed my paw and saw the crusaders entering the castle, “Now gosh darn it, wait up you three!” the southern mare took off towards the castle.
Spike and I were right behind Rarity as she followed Applejack. I smiled as I realized I could still help, but that smile disappeared as we entered the building. The feeling of being watched bore into the back of my head and the castle seemed cold despite it being summer.
Then I saw it. On the other side of the room from the ponies, that seemed to somehow not notice it, was a small, black figure. Stood maybe as tall as Applejack, but it’s hard not to see it with it standing out in the open.
To be completely honest, when thinking of ghosts in Equestria I figured that the green ghost from Ghostbusters would be about the worse you could get. This thing though just seemed to suck all the cheer out of the room.
My eyes stayed glued to the black figure as Applejack and Rarity began to scold the crusaders for running ahead. Soon though they began to look around and talk about setting up the cameras, completely oblivious to the black figure.
Then it started to move towards the group ever so slowly.
“Scruffy, what’s wrong?” Spike’s question alerted me to the fact I had been growling a moment before. The figure stopped it’s approach at his question too.
Then it was gone. Just like that it just vanished. I stopped growling raised up to look around the room for it.
“Hey what’s wrong?” Scootaloo asked as she noticed Spike’s concerened look.
“Scruffy was just growling for some reason. I’ve never heard him do that before.” what Spike said confused me.
‘Have I never growled before? But I growled at this thing that didn't even send a chill...' a scary revelation went through my head, 'Holly crap I didn't even sense the thing, I just saw it.’ the thought of only relying on my eyes alone was a scary thought. The kitty sense was something that I had become overly dependent on.
As Spike started to help out and talk with them I readied myself for the rest of the night and to encounter the specter again, ‘I ain't fraid of no ghost...’