Witchcraft is Magic

by wingdingaling

Chapter 8: Before the Dawn

Chapter 8

Before the Dawn

On a path deep in the woods, far from Ponyville, Courtney and Molly ran one last investigation before the dawn. And they found much more than they ever wanted to.

It had been there. There was no doubt that the greatest source of their fears had been on that path in the woods, searching for prey to sate its endless hunger.

Every sign of its presence was there. The offensive, putrid smell of sulfur. The footprints of the beast. And all around were the same slightly singed twigs Zecora had found.

"We shouldn't be here," Molly whispered, almost hesitating to have said anything at all, frightened that any noise may summon the evil creature to them. For her the fun had ended, and she wished she was back at her home, safe in her bed.

Courtney said nothing. As terrified as she was to be following the footsteps of the beast, she tried to remain calm. She knew that the singed twigs meant that it had fed on something. And recently at that, given how some of them still felt warm. Worse still, there was a tattered jacket nearby, showing it was a pony that was devoured. She cautiously looked around, hoping the monster had gone far away, and wouldn't come rampaging back to consume them.

As she walked down the road, Courtney found hoofprints that ran toward the scene of the incident, presumably from the owner of the jacket.

"This is bad, Molly. It's getting stronger," she said. She knew that she couldn't handle it on her own, and she hated the alternative option, but she had to do it. "We're going to need my mother's help for this."

Molly let out a defeated sigh. She couldn't stand Courtney's mother anymore than her friend could. But, if it meant that she or Courtney didn't have to handle the beast, she was fine with it.

"Let's go find Bruce. Then we'll talk to mother tomorrow," Courtney said.

They were both ready to head home, but Molly was going nowhere near Courtney's mother.

And with utmost caution, they both made their way toward the door between their worlds.

---

Back in Ponyville, a shadow lurched to an open window.

It was fortuitous for the creature, for an open window meant a way inside. And a way inside would mean it could find the child within and take its place.

Once it had, it could have all the fun it wanted, destroying furniture, breaking dishes, and whispering evil thoughts to the parents as they slept. And best of all, no matter what it did, the parents couldn't stop it. They would never know what happened to their child, and the creature could cause trouble to its heart's content, until it grew bored and killed the parents.

The creature jumped up to the sill and smiled wickedly at what it saw.

It was in luck. The open window was the one in the daughter's bedroom. Nestled in her bed, the filly lay peacefully, unaware of what horror was to await her.

The creature paced back and forth on the window sill, padding its paws, looking over its latest victim. Its tail twitched in anticipation of the fun it was about to have. It lowered its body, ready to jump into the bed, steal the child's tongue, and send her to its shadowy home.

Until it was overcome by a darker shadow.

Turning around, all it saw was a giant, clawed hand lashing out for it. Then it saw a great, yellow eye. Then teeth. Then only darkness.

Bruce licked his chops as he swallowed the changeling, glad that he caught it in time. Any longer, and he would have had to thrown it into a fire until it relinquished the filly. With one last look at the foal, the werewolf saw she was safe, and closed her window to keep out anymore unwanted visitors.

Closing a window was one of the easiest ways to keep out unwanted guests. He didn't understand why more people didn't do that. Already, he had to close another window to keep out a troublesome westie, before the ponies in the house suffered its mischief. But thankfully, it seemed that other people had the good sense to close their windows at night.

The filly in her bed stirred, and Bruce quickly ran away before he was seen.

He chose a dark hiding spot in an alley between two homes, and watched as more creatures from his dark home scurried about, seeking refuge from the attacks of fearful light dwellers.

These were different from the ones he had been handling. These were not trouble makers. They were animals like him who were lost, afraid, and desperate to get home.

Bruce thought there had to be some way to keep them safe, and he thought he had just the idea to help them. That in mind, he trotted away to the Everfree Forest.

---

That night, Fluttershy's cottage sat quietly. Much quieter than it normally was at the early morning hour. Nocturnal animals would scurry about, squeezing in the last few moments of playtime before the dawn, and the diurnal species would be up to start their day of sundry activities. But tonight, the only noise came from the wind silently rustling the lupins that had been planted earlier that day.

Every animal huddled inside their homes, for fear of their night visitor.

Inside, Fluttershy peeked out from behind her chair to check on her animal friends. Her eyes scanned the whole room from top to bottom.

The animals were all as undisturbed as ever.

She understood the behavior of an animal when there was danger, and so far the entire night was spent in fearful alertness.

Angel Bunny huddled closer to Fluttershy, fearfully awaiting the moment the monster would arrive.

"It's going to be okay, Angel. We just have to wait a few more minutes," she assured her rabbit.

The sun would be up soon, and they would all be safe from the monsters of the night by then. But even then, she would likely hesitate to ever leave her home again.

Suddenly, she was accosted by the sound of tiny scurrying feet all around her. It was as if every animal in the house had stirred and become alerted to something. Soon, every animal had disappeared, and the only one with her was Angel.

They both knew what was happening. It was an alarm call.

Fluttershy knew what was coming, but she could only rely on the deterrent power of the lupins to keep in at bay. Tightly, she hugged her bunny and waited for what was to come.

They heard a noise outside, like something very large was walking around. The faint clicking noise that came with it brought to mind Mr. Bear's claws on a hard surface. Fluttershy guessed that it meant the monster was on the bridge out front. But, she planted lupins there too! Then again, it was only a few clusters. Maybe the monster wouldn't be deterred by so few of the flowers?

Fluttershy remained hopeful, placing her trust in the protective properties of the colorful flowers. She huddled closer to her bunny, feeling like her throat was in a vice. She could barely breath, let alone scream in terror.

The sound happened once more, closer now than before.

The lupins weren't working. The monster was going to get her.

Now it was next to the house. Fluttershy could hear it rummaging around outside, searching for a way in.

The blinds had been drawn, so she could only see the edge of its shadow when it passed by the window.

It was coming closer toward her.

Then it stopped.

The sound animals scurrying outside sounded loudly.

Fluttershy heard a munching noise that nearly made her vomit.

"Oh no...The poor animals!" she whimpered.

The lupins failed, and now her animal friends were paying for her mistake.

The munching stopped, and the monster resumed walking closer to the door.

In a surge of terror, Fluttershy gasped sharply as she scrambled away from the window to another hiding place under the stairs. With any luck, the monster wouldn't be able to smell her through all the dust bunnies.

Angel knew something had to be done about the monster. Ever since he was born, Fluttershy had taken care of him. And now it was time for the bunny to look after her.

Summoning all of his courage, Angel slowly hopped to the back door to go outside and confront the beast.

The bunny hesitated when he reached the door, knowing he would be no match for it. But, he had to protect Fluttershy. He unlocked his bunny door, and hopped outside without a second thought.

Fluttershy heard the noise of the bunny door swinging, and knew what Angel had done. Dreading the worst, she ran to the door to save him. She didn't know how many animals she lost, but she wasn't about to lose another. Especially Angel.

Forgetting her fear of the monster, she unlocked her door and walked out into the night.

Nothing was there.

Neither Angel, nor the monster were anywhere to be seen. Altogether, it was heartbreaking that she lost her precious bunny, and terrifying that the monster could silently devour prey and disappear without a trace.

She heard a noise.

The same soft footfalls she heard earlier, now closer than she ever heard it.

She felt a breath of hot air on the side of her face, and with a shriek, ran back into her home.

It was too late for her to close the door.

With the monster so close, it was able to charge inside after her.

Fluttershy ran to the far end of the room, and saw the monster stuck in her doorway.

The werewolf clawed rabidly, trying to free itself. It growled and snarled, growing more irritated with every passing second.

Fluttershy thought that she could see it slipping ever so slightly out of the door frame when it stopped to stare at her. Its harsh, yellow eyes locked into her own, telling her that once it got free it would be the end of her

Her anxiety faded slightly when she saw something small and white hop in from under the werewolf and look at her.

"Angel Bunny!?" Fluttershy gasped when she saw her rabbit was okay. She was gripped by terror again when she saw him hop face to face with the monster.

Even though she couldn't understand the werewolf, she understood Angel well enough. He was telling her there had been a misunderstanding, before he took hold of the werewolf's hand and started pulling.

Fluttershy didn't know what to believe. If what she read was true, werewolves were merciless, pony-eating monsters that were nearly impossible to track because they assumed the form of ponies by day. Still, there was that manticore who only had a thorn in his paw. Who was to say that the werewolf was any different?

On shaking knees, she walked toward the monster, trying not to look it in the eyes. Once she was close enough, she reached out and took its other hand, pulling as hard as she could. Her fear had enfeebled her, but Angel was scurrying as quick as he could to free the monster.

Looking at the bunny, Fluttershy wondered why he wasn't afraid. He was normally as timid as any rabbit around new animals, but this monster must have been different somehow.

The werewolf made a noise, bringing Fluttershy's attention to it. She briefly looked into its piercing yellow eyes, and with a gasp, jerked away as quick as she could. But, since she still held fast to the werewolf's hand, she ended up pulling it in with her.

Now, it was in her house, and her exit was blocked. Fluttershy cowered before the monster as it walked toward her. She could smell its breath on her face, rancid and flowery.

Flowery?

Looking at the monster's mouth, Fluttershy could see the stem of some kind of plant in its teeth. Next to it, a purple petal.

"Do you....D-Do you like my l-lupins?" She asked it.

The monster grunted.

"Um...Angel?" She couldn't understand a thing it said, so she looked to Angel for assistance.

According to the bunny, he was complimenting her, saying the flowers were 'the pearly gates,' whatever that meant. It also said that it could smell them from miles away, and after the work it had done, it felt like it deserved a 'nosh.'

"Oh. Th-Thank you," she said, still shaking from the encounter.

Apparently, she was grossly misinformed about the lupins.

The werewolf grunted more to Angel, who in turn spoke to Fluttershy.

It seemed the werewolf realized that she must have been good with animals, and wanted to know if it could bring any that it found to her.

"I'd be happy to help. Do you, um...Do you have a name?" Fluttershy said, feeling more confident now, but not so much as to approach the beast.

The werewolf stared quizzically at her.

She realized that it was something of a silly thing to ask. No matter how good she was at understanding animals, they didn't actually use words to speak, so there was no way to discern a name from the beast, even from Angel. But if she was going to see it again, she had to call it something.

"Well...You are kind of fluffy. I could call you Mr. Fluff-and-Stuff. If that's alright with you, I mean," she offered.

The werewolf responded by bumping her with its snout. Even though the creature was completely foreign to her, it was perfectly recognizable as an affectionate action.

After feeling the monster's soft fur, and his whiskers tickling her face, Fluttershy started to wonder why she was afraid of him in the first place. Apparently, lupins weren't the only thing she was misinformed about.

This unusual creature was just as much a delight as any species she knew about, and would make a wonderful guest for tea. But, before she could offer, she heard another shrill whistle. This time close by.

As soon as he heard the noise, the werewolf backed out of Fluttershy's back door and into the yard, where it bounded around the front.

From inside, Fluttershy cracked her blinds to peek out, and saw her new friend run across the bridge to two strange mares. Something was very odd about one of them to Fluttershy, though she couldn't put her hoof on it. Maybe it was her manestyle?

But, the other one wasn't so much odd as unnerving. From where she stood, Fluttershy swore the other mare's eyes were glowing. That against her pitch black body made her look like one of the creatures she heard lurked in the dark during Nightmare Night.

"Have yourself a nice snack did we?" She heard the dark mare say.

The werewolf made a noise and wagged his tail.

"As long as you weren't seen, it's okay."

They walked away when the werewolf grunted again.

"Call you Mr. What? How did you come up with that?" The dark mare asked as they all left.

Whoever they were, they were friends with the werewolf. More than that, at least one of them understood him. They had to be nice ponies too, Fluttershy guessed.

She backed away from her window, only then feeling the overwhelming effect of what had just transpired. Whatever was happening, and whatever she learned about it did not coincide with one another. And now, she was going to be seeing more creatures like Mr. Fluff-and-Stuff around her home.

"I guess I'd better find some new books," Fluttershy said to Angel.

---

Even in spite of the late hour, Scootaloo couldn't get to sleep. Partly because she had been scolded by her adoptive mother extensively and was grounded for the next month. But mostly from the exhilaration of the night's adventure. She wished she could have shared the details with somepony, but no matter how she tried her mom wouldn't hear a word of what she said.

How often was it that a filly and her friends followed a ghost light, escaped a giant, rabid rat monster, befriended a witch, rode on the back of a werewolf, patched up a plant creature, and walked through the barrier between two worlds? It was by and large an adventure that could compare to the things Rainbow Dash told her about when she went adventuring with her friends. But at the same time, it was much, much more far fetched.

Even then, she kept thinking about what more could happen. If Granny Smith's stories were true, then the barrier between the worlds would only get thinner as Nightmare Night approached. Maybe she could get her mom to see the dark creatures for herself, and then dazzle them with her aerial stunts. She knew Rainbow Dash would love the chance to show off in front of a new crowd. Then again, she'd probably be blown away by the dark world.

Rainbow Dash had a lot of talents, but she wasn't very creative. The way Scootaloo saw Courtney cast the same spell two different ways when she opened the portal between their worlds was something that her mom couldn't do, even if she could cast magic.

And all the varied creatures that roamed the streets were cool to see. Not to mention the different animals that were there. Maybe they could even find a playmate for Tank there. Having a pet werewolf would be the best thing ever! Or maybe something that could fly?

Courtney said that gargoyles were pretty tame, and they were easy to take care of because of how little they ate and how easy they were to train. She knew her mom was going to be thrilled by the dark creatures.

"Scootaloo..."

What was that just now?

Nopony else was awake, and the only ones there were herself, Rainbow Dash, and Tank. And unless the tortoise learned how to talk, there may have been somepony in their house who shouldn't have been. Somepony who knew her name.

Slowly, Scootaloo went to her door and peeked into the hall.

She couldn't see anypony there, but somepony definitely said her name. Even though she was confined to her room for the rest of the night, she had to check on what was happening. She crept out of her room and almost turned on a light, but stopped when she realized that if she did, she would reveal herself to the intruder. Or worse, her mom.

"Scootaloo..."

It was definitely coming from downstairs.

Scootaloo crept to the stairs as slowly as possible, knowing that more than likely Rainbow Dash was waiting in her room, listening for her to attempt to break the rules of her punishment.

Finally, she reached the stairs and saw a shadow slide away from the landing.

Maybe one of the dark creatures found its way to her house somehow. Or maybe it was Courtney and Molly visiting her. And maybe if it was, she could show Bruce to her mom.

Scootaloo's pace quickened, along with her slowly building excitement. She was down the stairs in no time.

Whatever was making that shadow, it was gone. But if she learned anything about the dark world, it was that nothing was what it seemed.

The orange filly crept around the living room, searching for the unknown intruder. To her, everything was as still and quiet as it ever was so late at night.

A sudden chill gripped her. As if some windigo had passed through their living room, leaving only its frigid trail behind to linger. Then she saw something outside the window.

She couldn't be too sure what it was, but it was easily spotted the way it was glowing with a dim light against the darkness.

The closer it came, the more Scootaloo realized that it was a pony she was looking at. And it was slowly walking to the front door.

That was scary enough, but more still was that it was nopony she knew. And even more when she saw the stranger walk right through one of the columns on the front porch.

Scootaloo's attention was drawn to the front door when another pony walked right through it. It was a green earth pony stallion with a lank, grey mane who stopped and stared right at her.

After the stallion, came the other pony from outside, who walked straight through the wall next to him. The newcomer was a purple pegasus mare with a turquoise mane, and hollow, dead eyes. Not that her eyes were missing. Only that they seemed like they had no life or love in them.

Scootaloo looked at the two, realizing that she could see right through them. It was almost as if they were...ghosts! But, how bad could they be? Remembering how nothing was as it seemed, she swallowed hard and slowly approached the phantoms.

The closer she got, the more she felt like she wanted to run, but it would be so impolite to her guests from the dark world. That was, assuming that was where they were from. For all she knew, ponies didn't go to the dark world when they died.

Now she was standing right before them, under their ethereal gaze.

Scootaloo's ears folded to her skull as she shivered paralyzed to the spot she stood. All she had to do was make simple pleasantries with them, just as it was with any new pony she met. And the same held true with the dark creatures she met. Steeling herself, she decided to start with the basics.

"H-Hi there...I'm Scootaloo," she stammered.

Neither ghost did anything. They continued to stare at her, saying nothing, and moving not an inch. Until one of them reached for her.

Scootaloo's paralysis broke and she backpedaled away from the ghosts. But it seemed they were not about to let her get away.

They walked closer to her, slowly becoming more terrifying with each step. The closer they came, the more they decayed, and became less like ponies, and more like a monster straight from Rainbow Dash's campfire stories.

Scootaloo could feel the cold hoof on her face when a bright light shone behind the phantoms. And they both slowly faded from existence.

Outside the window, the sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon, ushering in the dawn.

Scootaloo let out a shuddering sigh, relieved that nothing more could happen to her in the presence of light.

"SCOOTALOO!!!"

Looking to the direction of the voice, all Scootaloo saw was a blur, until Rainbow Dash landed on the ground in front of her.

"What did we just talk about!?" Dash shouted.

As Scootaloo suspected, Dash was awake and listening for her to leave her room. But with her sleep schedule thrown off, she ended up falling asleep, only to find her daughter's door open when she awoke only a second ago.

"It was the simplest thing! Come straight home after school, no scooter, and no leaving your room for any reason after sundown! After sixty minutes of carefully laid rules, you break the biggest one! Did anything I say get through to you!? Can I even trust you to do the right thing anymore!? Now go to your room, and don't come out until I get you!" the pegasus ordered.

It was too much for Scootaloo to handle anymore. Her mom was mad at her, she was almost attacked by a ghost, and she knew that Dash wouldn't bother letting her explain a single syllable of it. She couldn't even look at her adoptive mother. With her head hung, tears leaked slowly out of her eyes as she quietly sobbed.

It was the first time that Dash ever saw Scootaloo cry. And seeing her that way brought tears to her eyes as well. She was only trying to keep her safe, but she didn't want to sound like she was some kind of villain for doing so.

"Scootaloo, come here," Dash beckoned.

Scootaloo made no movements. She only continued to cry.

"Honey, it's alright. I'm sorry," Dash said as she cautiously approached her filly and gently put her hooves around her.

She only ever wanted the best for Scootaloo, and now was the first time she ever had to lay down the law. It was like being punched in the stomach for her, but it had to be done. If anything happened to her daughter, if those ghosts ever got her, she wouldn't see any reason for herself to go on.

For the next few seconds, Dash basked in the warmth of her foal's embrace. There were still a few more hours until she had to go to school, so she decided to spend that time with her.

"Come on, Scoots. Let's get you back to bed," Dash said as she guided Scootaloo back upstairs to her room and tucked her into bed.

Scootaloo was asleep in less than a minute, and Rainbow Dash stayed by her side until she was woken up to get ready for school.

---

"An' there was this big, scary nuthouse on a hill with all kinds o' creatures inside, all different from each other too. An' it had a garden with all these trees that had really yummy fruits, an' these weird moving plants that drank blood. There was even a bugbear, but it weren't like the bugbears here. It was like a big monster from a fairy tale!"

Apple Bloom was no stranger to waking up early. She was often up as soon as dawn broke. But this time, she was awake even before that. The filly had barely slept at all, and was divulging the adventure she just had to Winona from the time she woke up, to long after the sun rose.

The dog happily listened to her, and was even happier to learn that the creatures she was with looked after her they way they did. The one that she called 'Bruce' sounded especially interesting. According to Apple Bloom, he was a strange, two-legged mix of a timber wolf and a dog like herself. She couldn't picture exactly how that would look like, but if he was as nice as Apple Bloom said Winona thought she would have liked to meet him.

Apple Bloom also talked much about two other creatures called Courtney and Molly. They both sounded very friendly, but they were not without their oddities. Apple Bloom had said one of them drank blood, not unlike the weird moving plants that she mentioned seeing in the asylum. And the other she said used a strange, shadowy kind of magic, even though she was an earth pony.

That reminded Winona of what she saw. She jumped off the bed, and circled around to the side of it.

"What're ya doin', girl?" Apple Bloom asked her dog.

Down on the floor, Winona started nudging at something that wasn't there before.

Upon investigation, Apple Bloom found a stack of books that she didn't recognize as any that her family owned.

She reached for the book on top, and examined the cover. It was brownish in color, with some kind of star surrounded by strange symbols on it. When she examined the spine, she found its title to be The History of Witchcraft.

It was almost as good as revisiting the dark world. Now Apple Bloom was going to be able to learn about its history. But what did the other books hold?

Apple Bloom reached down for the others, and discovered titles like A Practical Guide for Magical Defense, Seeing the Unseen: A Guide to Exorcising Evil Spirits, and even the wildlife encyclopaedia she was reading earlier.

The filly brimmed with glee at what she had been given. But, she couldn't just sit there beaming over her books. It would be time for school soon, and she had to cram in some study time.

She decided to start with the book about the history of the witchcraft, and cracked the cover open, anticipating what she was about to learn. And what things she did learn.

From the opening paragraph, to the page she was currently on, she learned much that not even Granny Smith could tell her. In fact, Granny had it all wrong.

Witches weren't the evil old hags from the stories she knew. (As a matter of fact, she thought Courtney was quite lovely). They were actually called upon by the non-magic folk to take care of many problems, ranging from curing illnesses, to growing crops, to protecting against evil spirits.

And their magic was far from unnatural. In fact, their magical powers came from all sorts of natural sources, such as the elements, animals, plants, celestial bodies, and even darkness itself. And the only conduit they needed was themselves. It almost sounded like anypony could do it.

Apple Bloom thoughtfully looked up from the pages, earning a confused look from Winona.

"What if anypony could do it?" she quietly asked herself.

Her thoughts were abruptly ended when she heard her door open.

Standing in the doorway was Applejack stone-faced as ever. It was as if her face never changed from how it looked last night.

"Yer awake. Good. 'Cause we're havin' that talk now," she said.

"What talk?" Apple Bloom asked.

"The one I said we were gonna have last night."

Apple Bloom had completely forgotten about that. She was feeling so light-hearted only a moment ago, and now she had to own up to what she had done.

"First thing's first: what the hay were ya doin' out there?" Applejack began as she walked to the side of the bed.

Apple Bloom hesitated to answer, knowing how it would sound. But, she knew that her sister would never let up until she gave a truthful reply. And if anypony could smell horse apples, it was Applejack, so even trying to lie was pointless.

"I was...lookin' fer the ghosts in the woods..." Apple Bloom said.

"The ghosts," Applejack said doubtfully. Not that she didn't believe what her sister said. Only that she couldn't believe that she would do something like that.

"I remembered what you said happened to Red Sky. How he died when he was chasin' one of 'em in the woods. I mean, I hardly knew him, but when I heard he died, I was sadder than I'd ever been. I thought that if anything happened to somepony I cared about, like my friends, or you...I don't know what I'd do. I only wanted to help," the filly explained.

There was only truth in Apple Bloom's words, and if she was being honest with herself, Applejack couldn't be mad at her for her reason. But still, she was very, very disappointed, not to mention dead scared of what may have happened to her.

"Apple Bloom," Applejack began, as she sat down next to her sister's bed, "I need ya to understand some things. The first is that I appreciate the bravery o' what ya did. But, more importantly, ya should know how stupid, dangerous, and plum irresponsible what ya did was. Ya went to the woods to find this ghost. Then what? Ask it nicely to leave?

The second she heard those words, Apple Bloom's spirits fell even further. Enough to make her ears droop. Then again, what would Applejack know about any of it? Apple Bloom was pretty sure that some of the dark kin would leave if she tried asking.

"After what happened to yer classmate, ya decided to take up the job without knowin' a dang thing about it. An' ya got yer friends involved too. It's beggin' for disaster!" Applejack finished.

"I coulda done it if somepony taught me how," Apple Bloom grumbled.

"Oh yeah? Where'd ya plan on learnin'?" Applejack's eyes were then drawn to the books on the bed. Books that she knew didn't belong to anypony in the house. "What're those?"

"Books. I got 'em for Nightmare Night," Apple Bloom replied.

Technically, this was true. In all her years of living with Applejack, Apple Bloom learned how to avoid her sister's lie detection by giving vague answers, or telling half-truths. It was never foolproof, but it worked well enough for now.

"Alright," was all Applejack said before she got back to the subject at hoof. "I know ya only wanna help, but I can't let ya. Ya never knew ma an' pa, but they'd be crushed if I ever let anything happen to ya. I got a responsibility as yer sister to keep ya safe. An' even though they're long gone, I ain't gonna disappoint our folks. Ya don't know what's out there, an' I sure as hay ain't gonna let it get ya."

"I don't think you know what's out there," Apple Bloom answered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Applejack said.

"It's not like you’ve seen scary stuff runnin' around."

Applejack didn't have an answer to her sister's rebuttal. She didn't believe in lying, but she wasn't about to worry her sister with the story about what she saw at the library. She decided it was time to end their conversation.

"Come on. It's almost time for school. Granny made oatmeal fer breakfast," Applejack said. And that was all she said before she left.

Apple Bloom watched her sister go, thinking over what they just talked about, when something occurred to her.

"Is it me, or did she not actually say there were no ghosts?" she asked Winona, who was still laying on the bed.

If Applejack hadn't seen anything, she would have said so. The mere fact that her sister dodged the topic made her think that she knew more than she was letting on.

"Come on, Apple Bloom! Get movin' or yer grounded another week!" she heard Applejack's voice call.

Apple Bloom didn't have to be told that she was grounded for what she did, but didn't plan on being grounded any longer than she needed to be.

Hastily, she packed up her school supplies, and the books she had, and she and Winona trotted downstairs to breakfast.

Author's Note:

I think some people are thinking Bruce is kind of a jerk for driving away a westie, but the kind he's dealing with isn't a terrier. In Irish myth, a westie is a kind of feary (or fairy, for the folks who prefer that spelling) that enters a house from west side on the wind, and the way to stop it is to simply close the window. There's also a much more malevolent kind of west-entering spirit called a luagh that steals human souls.
For anyone curious about what the creature that Courtney and Molly are tracking is, sorry, but no spoilers. Just that it's always hungry, and it's loose in Equestria.
Sounds like Fluttershy is about to get some spooky new friends in her life. I'm not too sure if we're going to actually see them, since that part was written more to have some kind of closure between Bruce and Fluttershy. Still, that would be neat. I'll have to figures something out, though.
Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo are still going to be haunted by those ghosts for a while. Here's hoping nothing happens to them. In the meantime, they can both take solace in one another's company.
And as for Apple Bloom, she is going to be able to further her understanding of the dark world, and maybe even get her family to understand as well. We'll have to keep reading to find out.
Rock on until the next chapter, won't you \m/