TALES FOR NIGHTMARE NIGHT! A collection to read AFTER the lights are out!

by De Writer

THE MORGRIPE REPORT

The small cloud white mare with black mane and tail was industriously clipping the grass and weeds around the tomb of Colonel Goodheart. The marble of his monument was softly lighted by the moon overhead. Done with her weed and grass tending, she raked up the trimmings into a tidy pile, ready to gather them up and take to the tomb that she shared with the liches Zom and Junea.

Even though she had heard it before, she listened politely to the Colonel’s ghost as he talked to her while she worked, “Kind of ironic, you know, Bonnie, my mare. I fought in two Prance Incursion Wars and didn’t get a scratch. Home on leave, despite my name of Goodheart, it was my bad heart that got me! Heart attack and here I am!

“I am so glad that a mortal like you lives among us who have passed on. It helps to have somepony like you to chat with.”

Bonnie smiled, “It works both ways, Colonel Goodheart. I was abandoned as a small filly because of my stunted horn. If Zom and Junea had not taken me into their tomb, I wold have died that first winter. Since then, you ghosts and liches have taught me so many neat and useful things!”

Bonnie was just reaching her limited horn magic down to bind her tasty grass and weed clippings into a shock to take back to the tomb that she lived in, when a pony came charging up and careless hooves scattered her dinner!

The intruder announced breathlessly, “I am Melissa Newsnose, reporter for the Ponyville’s Dark Secrets magazine! I am here to demand . . .”

Very irritated, Bonnie did not wait to hear more. She pulled out a whistle and blew three sharp blasts!

Pulled up short, Melissa, now irritated herself, snapped, “What was that for?”

Bonnie replied angrily, “The police! It is after visiting hours and this cemetery is CLOSED! Whoever you are, whatever your errand, you will be arrested for trespassing.”

Drawing herself up haughtily, Melissa replied, “I am a
REPORTER working on a story. You have no right to …”

Return police whistles cut her off. There were nightwatch lanterns visible at the cemetery gate. Official voices called, “Miss Bones! Where are you? What is happening?”

Bonnie called back, “Over here by the Goodheart monument! We have an after hours trespasser!”

The police ponies converged on the scene. One addressed the reporter, “Melissa, I am afraid that Bonnie is correct. You have no business here at this hour.”

Argumentatively she retorted, “Then what is SHE doing here?”

Bonnie waited while the officer replied in a mild tone, “Miss Bones works here as a caretaker, usually in the evenings or after dark. She tends the graves and keeps the grass trimmed.”

Bonnie agreed, “And part of my payment from Duchess Red Hoof is the right to graze the trimmings.” She pointed to Melissa and growled, “Clumsy hoof there jurt ruined my dinner trimmings. I had some nice dandelion flowers and greens and a nice thistle bloom but she trampled them all and even scattered my grass.”

Melissa drawled, “Sorry, I am sure. You can just go pick some more. I am here to solve the Morgripe murder case.”

Bonnie looked up with interest. “Oh, have you found some shred of proof that he was murdered? Something not in the police reports on the case? Last that I heard, he was listed as a missing pony.”

One of the police ponies nodded. “That’s what we concluded. I was on that case. Bonnie here, stopped Morgripe, Gabe and Chaz from vandalism by knocking both Morgripe and Gabe flat. Chaz ran and brought us. He was spouting all sorts of nonsense about Miss Bones dropping from the sky on them! Gabe got up and ran too, abandoning Morgripe.

It appears that after Miss Bones picked up their tools and paint brush, that Morgripe got up and left on his own.”

Melissa pounced on that. “How do you know that she did not kill him, then?”

He replied, “Easy. The grass and sod where he and Gabe fell made excellent impressions. Besides, the spilled paint marked the spot beautifully. If he was killed, his body would have to have been dragged off or carried. She is too small to have carried him. Likewise, there were no deep tracks made by a heavily laden pony and no drag marks. There were some hoof prints going back to the gravel path. QED, he left on his own.

“I suspect that he finally actually saw Miss Bones during and after she flattened him. He was always liar and braggart. For years he and his buddies were saying that there was a monster in the graveyard. I think that he realized that his monster was a filly way smaller than any of them and knew that the truth would get out. Embarrassed, he just sneaked off and left town.”

Melissa snorted, “I saw the police reports. Very unsatisfactory. How could such a little wither horn as her possibly take on three ponies, all bigger than she is?”

Before Bonnie could respond to the insult, one of the police ponies cut in, “That last entry in the Morgripe file was made by constable Crager. That report came about because he saw Bonnie get ambushed by both Gabe and Chaz.

“She flattened both of them and put a sleeper hold on Gabe, knocking him out for ten minutes or so. Her involvement in the Morgripe case came up in conversation. She then provided a statement which gave us better detail but changed nothing basic.”

Bonnie acidly pointed out, “This LITTLE WITHER HORN will be happy to demonstrate how I flattened those evil ponies. All that you need to do is agree that I am not responsible for your injuries in front of these nice police ponies. Once you do that, the demonstration can begin at once.”

Melissa turned to the police ponies and demanded, “Are you going to just stand there and let her threaten me like that?”

Calmly one of them replied, “Ma'am, you have been nothing but rude and unpleasant since we arrived. We were called to deal with your trespassing in the cemetery after closing, which IS a crime, if a minor one.

“Bonnie did not threaten you, either. You asked a question that was very rude and contained a direct personal insult. She offered to answer it by a physical demonstration, which I gather, from your response you have refused.”

The other put in, “Bonnie has been most forbearing in not demanding your immediate arrest and removal. However, that is why we responded and what we must do. Will you come to the station house, or must we put you in manacles?”

As they led her off, Bonnie heard Melissa expostulating, “But I am trying solve the Morgripe murder case! She is a witness!”

Bonnie turned back to her work and found a pleasant surprise. The ghost of the Colonel had been busy. All of her clippings had been regathered. That was not all. There was a nice sized helping of dandelion flowers to replace the few that had been ruined by Melissa’s hooves.

The old warrior’s ghost smiled down at her from where he was sitting on top of his tomb. “Gathering that together and finding you more dandelions was pretty tiring, Bonnie.”

She smiled up at him and, gathering her meal with her weak magic, ghost floated up to his level to eat it. Her legs folded comfortably under her, as if she were resting on a nice cushion, instead of empty air, offered, “I know that was hard for you do do, Colonel. Here, even if you can’t eat any of it, at least you can share the scent of it.”

They completed her meal in companionable silence. Taking her leave politely, Bonnie went home, walking into Zom and Junea’s crypt through the door. As usual, she did not bother to open it, but simply passed through the solid oaken panels like she had been taught to do so long ago by the many ghosts who shared the graveyard with her adoptive parents, Zom and Junea. There were other liches of several sorts and a few vampires too. They all had good things to add to the education of an abandoned foal like she was.

She settled herself on the empty coffin shelf that had been her place since Zom and Junea took her in. The attentive liches that she loved so much, carefully tucked her in before retiring to their coffins to wait out the passing of the day.

The next evening they arose as usual and shared a quiet breakfast. Technically, only Bonnie ate the fried hay twists but her loving liches took pleasure and emotional nourishment from watching her eat.

Since ponies rarely look UP, Bonnie floated ghost-like, up and put her head through the stone roof of the crypt to look about. The way being clear, she floated over to the gravel path and trotted quietly towards the gate. She floated up to peer cautiously over the wall.

Sure enough, there was Melissa Newsnose sitting in the omnibus weather shelter, keeping an eye on the cemetery mail box. Bonnie went to the corner of the cemetery closest to the forest and emerged from the brush there, making it appear that she had come out of the Everfree. She trotted up the street to check the mailbox.

She was removing a letter and a note when Melissa spoke up. “I wish to apologize for my behavior last evening, Miss Bones. Would you be willing to show me where you encountered Morgipe, Gabe and Chaz? I really am working on a story for Ponyville’s Dark Secrets magazine.”

Bonnie chuckled, “You are new there, aren’t you? Your first story? Right?”

Melissa nodded as she got up. “Yes, it is. They told me that it was an important unsolved case. Why do you ask?”

Bonnie produced a key and opened the gate for them to enter. “Because PDS pulls that on just about all of their new staffers. Seeing how fast they catch on that is a missing pony case rather than a murder is part of their testing new hires.”

“You just blew their game, didn’t you?”

“Why not? They aren’t paying me. Besides, you can still make a good story out of his disappearance.”

Carefully locking the gate behind them, Bonnie escorted Melissa into the cemetery. Shortly she pointed, “I was doing some mortar repair on that tomb. Since I was behind it and down almost at ground level with the work, they did not notice me.”

Bonnie crouched behind the tomb. “When I heard enough of their plans, I jumped from here to the middle of the path, right between them and gave Gabe a double buck. I followed that with a forehoof strike at Morgripe. Chaz ran like a rabbit. While I was gathering up their hammers and prybars, Gabe got up and ran too. Morgripe just lay there blubbering. I got his paint brush.

“Since I had seen him, his tools were gone and his paint all spilled, I figured that he wasn’t going to do anything more and left to get ready for a Nightmare Night party. When I got back from that, it was nearly dawn. I looked, but there was no sign of him or any vandalism. Went home.”

Melissa looked everything over carefully. “I see. That was quite a jump, but nothing impossible. No wonder they thought that you fell from the sky!”

She made copious notes. “I have two more things to ask, Bonnie. First, what do you think happened to Morgripe? And second, would you please look over my story draft before I turn it in?”

As they were approaching the cemetery gate, Bonnie gave a cheerful laugh. “Sure. I will be happy to look over your story.

“As for that other one, I see three possibilities. First, it was after the Nightmare rose and was sharing the sky with Celestia. At such times, according to witches, the border between here and Nightmare Lands is thin. He may have wandered into Nightmare and vanished from this Equestria. Second, he may have gone into the Everfree, which is close by, to try finding my place to get even for being stopped. He was like that. Bad things can happen to any pony who does not know what he is about in the Everfree. Third, the police version. He left out of shame when he found out that the monster that he was talking up for years was a filly, smaller than any of them.”

As Bonnie was re locking the gate, Melissa said, “The Everfree angle was not in the police reports. Thanks. I think that I will use that one. As for your first one, do you really believe that?”

Bonnie gave another giggle. “I spend most of my time in a graveyard. I just had to say it!”

Comments

[Bronzedragon]

"He was always a liar and braggart." Just got back from a job found this for you. good wrap up for the Morgripe arc.

[De Writer]

9923517
Thank You. I did like it too. It was fun to write. Did you notice the other new tales in the Bonnie Bones arc?
Had a fascinating suggestion from a tumblr fan, which I am working on!
I mean, how does the Borderlands of Nightmare celebrate Hearthwarming? Consider that the Ancient Ones and those in Nightmare part of the Ponyville cemetery were interred before the Hearthwarming Invasion. It was originally the cemetery of Red Hoof.
However, they have accepted Canbe as part of their group and do celebrate Nightmare Night, which, from their point of view is also a new holiday. Roe, Molly, Sis and Mort are also modern but accepted, too. Not to mention that Bonnie Bones comes and goes at will!