Vacant

by Marcellus Jones

Repercussions

Author's Note:

For lack of a better term, shit gets real.

A candle sitting on a small table next to the rocking chair lit fire on its own. It began to levitate, the light bounced back and forth.

"How does spontaneous combustion sound?"

"I don't think that's a good idea, what if it burns down the whole house?" Sweetie Belle tried to talk the spirit out of it.

"I'm already dead, so it wouldn't concern me all that much. I do have other ideas though."

The candle set itself on the floor, but stayed lit. It was the only source of light in the entire house. The Cutie Mark Crusaders huddled around it.

"Like moths to a flame..."

The spirit caused the fire to erupt in an inferno, the sudden change in the size of the flame forced the three friends to dive out of the way. They were nearly burned by the flame. They let out shrill screams and the specter laughed maniacally.

"Don't play with fire, children. Oh, I have another idea, we can play pin the tail on the pony."

A nail rose from one of the wooden floorboards and floated in the air. It danced around in the air slowly before gaining speed and lodging into Scootaloo's coat. It hit her in the flank, where her cutie mark would be if she had one.

She began to scream and cry and gallop in circles. The pain from the nail being lodged in her skin was unbearable for her. The spirit laughed again.

"Look at her go! Round and round the mulberry bush, the filly chased the weasel. The filly fell down and oh, what a sound. POP GOES THE WEASEL!"

A disembodied hand grabbed hold of Scootaloo's leg and pulled her to the floor. She struggled against it, but it was too strong. It began to drag her down the hall.

"APPLE BLOOM, SWEETIE BELLE, HELP ME!" she begged.

They both grabbed hold of Scootaloo's front legs and tried to pull her.

"Hey, I wouldn't do that if I were you..."

"What do you mean?" Apple Bloom kept a firm grip on Scootaloo's leg.

"Let's just say she won't be 100%."

"Let go of her!" Sweetie Belle squealed.

"As you wish. Just remember you asked for this."

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle fought against the pull of the spirit. The spirit yanked back one more time before letting go. Scootaloo collided with her friends and the three of them toppled over.

"I can't feel my back legs, that nail didn't strike a nerve did it?" Scootaloo was still crying and in unbearable pain.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle froze in total shock. They could not believe what they were seeing.

"What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?" Scootaloo was petrified.

Her friends were at loss for words. They covered their eyes with their front hooves and turned away. They started crying too.

"What have we done?" Sweetie Belle sniffled.

Apple Bloom was speechless, the three of them continued crying. Scootaloo was still confused as to what was going on. The spirit chimed back in again.

"I warned you that this would happen, you two didn't listen."

"She's going to die!" Sweetie Belle squealed, coughing from the excess crying.

"What? How? What do you mean?" Scootaloo coughed, she began to spit out blood that was pooling in the back of her throat. She rolled over slowly and was horrified by what she saw. Her back legs had been completely severed, ripped off by the spirit. Her body was torn completely in half, she could see her intestines. Blood was all over the floor. It looked like someone poured gallons of red food coloring into a pond. The sight caused Scootaloo to faint. The spirit's demented laugh could be heard once more.

"Not so full of yourself now, are you?"

"Why are you torturing us like this?" Apple Bloom cried, still covering her eyes.

"Discipline, children need to be punished for doing bad things. Trespassing was your crime, your sentence is death."

"You're sick," Sweetie Belle sniffled.

"You still have a chance to live if you leave your friend behind. Her soul is mine, you will be spared but she will not. I'm being awfully generous allowing you to reconsider. You will suffer the same fate as her otherwise."

"Scootaloo?" Apple Bloom ignored the ghost's taunting and turned her attention to her hopefully unconscious friend.

"She's bleeding out! What are we gonna do?" Sweetie Belle panicked.

"I have an idea! I learned this in a first aid course I took with my sister," she untied her bow, letting her mane down. She wrapped the bow around Scootaloo's waist and tied it as tightly as she possibly could.

"How is that gonna help her?" Sweetie Belle raised an eyebrow.

"Redneck tourniquet, it puts pressure on that wound, it'll slow down the bleeding. She's lost a lot of blood already, I don't know if it will save her. I don't think anything vital was damaged though so if she can hang on, we might be able to save her. She'll never be able to trot again, but at least she'll be alive," Apple Bloom tried to remain optimistic, given the circumstances.

"I hope you're right. If she dies, I don't think I'll ever forgive myself," Sweetie Belle looked down at the floor.

"Nice try, I applaud your efforts. Seems to be a day late and a bit short, unfortunately."

"No way," Apple Bloom couldn't believe it.

"See for yourself."

Apple Bloom reluctantly checked Scootaloo's pulse. She froze in shock. One of her closest friends had just died right in front of her. She didn't know how to register that in her mind. She kept telling herself she was just knocked out.

"Scootaloo, wake up, you're gonna be okay!" Apple Bloom shook what was left of her body. It fell cold and limp.

"Scoots? Stop fooling around, please wake up, don't leave us," Sweetie Belle begged.

It was to no avail. Scootaloo had passed on, when that sank in, they began to scream and cry again.

"SCOOTALOO, NO!"

The spirit spoke again, "This is why we don't go to places we don't belong. You do bad things, bad things happen."

"You're a monster!" Sweetie Belle seethed.

"Maybe so, but you're next."

Comments

[29000 Kevin]

It has taken me half a year to comment and two months get this account working but Jesus you weren't kidding in the author's note...

Now looking at the list of "Can we rescue what's left of the CMC?"

- The only plausible rescue coming is if Rarity and Applejack alerted the mane 6 six that their sisters are missing and it's very late plus they are not being supervised by an adult could result in them searching for them. However if Scootaloo or another member of the CMC did not put ghost hunters in the list of crusading then the mane 6 will stand little chance of finding the CMC unless Discord uses his GPS tracking on Fluttershy spell but uses it for the CMC instead but if he's not there...then well their doomed.

-Maybe if Sweetie Belle or Applebloom faint and go unconscious then Princess Luna could pull a Rescue and save the day or join the trap...

-Maybe a relative of the ghost visited it's house at night and hears the screams and could stop the ghost.

-Maybe there's a conveniently nearby priest to save the day or night.

-Maybe an organisation called "Ghost Busters" has set up in ponyville.

-Maybe a cack team of armoured ponys crashes into the house with UH-60 Blackhawk Helicopters and M1A2 Abrams tanks.

-Maybe a Russian Carrier Strike force destroys the door without killing anypony using a Su-33.

-Maybe...okay I'll stop that's just my ideas of rescuing some truamtised fillys..

[Marcellus Jones]

9567467
These ideas are brilliant. If I use any of them, I will definitely give you credit.

[29000 Kevin]

9568397
Well those are only the what if they are rescued ideas not the red liquid suspiciously flowing on the walls and floors ideas..

[Marcellus Jones]

9568426
True. I don't think I'll have all 3 of them die. We'll see.

[29000 Kevin]

9568442
Well let there be hope for those poor soul's.

[Marcellus Jones]

9568445
I think you'll like the ending.