The Ghost of Chicken Scootaloo

by Betty_Starlight

Chapter 7: Manifesto

The strange clear pegasus waved her little wings in their white costume up and down while saying in a faux dramatic voice, “I am a ghost, and I am cursed!”

The orange mare in the bed with a red mane, looks up from the pillow of her bed at the strange sight before her when she widens her blue eyes and says, “Why are you in my room? And why are you wearing a chicken costume!”

Scootaloo flaps her little wings more and says in a louder voice, “I am the Ghost of Cutie Mark Abuse and I have come to give you a warning! The marks are not cursed and are meant to be seen!” she flaps her wings some more, “Ooooo! You will listen to me, Augusta Hoofmyer, and allow ponies in this village to show their cutie marks!”

“That doesn’t answer my question!” The mare exclaims before she looks intently at the pegasus and frowns as she begins to grow visibly paler, “W-wait! I can see right through you!”

Scootaloo flaps her little wings severely at the other pony, “Yes! Because I am a ghost and am warning you not to make the same mistake I once did! Let ponies show their cutie marks! Ooooo!”

Augusta blinks, “You mean, curse marks? Those are awful and if we could just figure out a way to keep them from showing up during puberty or maybe just take them off somehow, like the Great Magenta Pony used to do, that would be wonderful!”

“NOOOOO!!!! These marks are an important part of who ponies are and you shouldn’t hide them anymore!”

The mare narrows her eyes, “Won’t other ponies hate and fear me if I don’t cover up the horrible blemishes on my flanks?”

Scootaloo widens her eyes when she realizes she’s losing her, and she flaps her wings once more for dramatic effect before saying, “Those marks make each pony special! They are meant to be seen!” she trails off as she continues, “Meant to be seen!”

The mare frowns at the ghost, “But the ponies here are civilized and we understand how important it is to keep those marks to ourselves! They have no place in society, where everypony is equal!”

“But they do!” Scootaloo tries her best to sound dramatic and serious.

“Why are you wearing a chicken costume?”

“I ugh!” Scootaloo chokes before regaining her composure, “I once hid who I was and what made me special, and wearing this suit is my punishment!” She tries her best to make her voice sound ethereal for her outro, “Don’t make the same mistake I did! BLEH!” Before she backs out of the room, so her incorporeal body goes out through the door.

<*****>

Scootaloo stands in the middle of the room after trotting in (literally) through the door and whispers to Sunny sleeping on the right edge of the bed in front of her, “PSST!”

Sunny, who wasn’t asleep, opens her eyes and raises her head to stare at the ghostly pegasus before saying lowly, “What did the mayor say?”

Scootaloo widens her eyes and says from behind her beak, “I think she understands, now?”

Izzy stirs on Sunny’s other side before laying on her left side and looking at the alicorn, “Huh? What?”

Sunny widens her eyes before looking up and saying back to Izzy, “None of this is actually happening! This is all a dream! Go back to sleep, Izzy!”

Izzy frowns, “Oh, good! For a minute there, I thought you were trying to use Scootaloo to convince the mayor to allow everypony to show their horrible curse marks!” she smiles, and breaths relieved through her mouth, “But well, we wouldn’t want that!”

Sunny rolls her eyes and says under her breath, “They’re not curse marks!”

Izzy grins wider, “Tell them that! He he!”

Sunny grimaces as the pegasus looks onward and frowns. Scootaloo asks Sunny, “Uh, what should I do now?”

Sunny looks back at Scootaloo frantically, “Uh, you just hide for now! Keep your eyes and ears open in town to see what’s going on, though!”

Scootaloo sighs and nods, “Uh, right!”

Sunny adjusts her forehooves underneath her pillow and closes her eyes once again to get some rest…

<*****>

A knock is heard on the door to Sunny and Izzy’s room when Sunny opens her eyes towards the door and says, “Hang on!” before getting to her hooves on the floor and turning her body right and trotting that way towards the door, prior to opening it to the left with her mouth. She looks at the orange mare with the red mane and tail and freckles behind the door and says, “Good morning, mayor!”

The mayor smiles, “Greetings Sunny!” she frowns, “Uh, please just call me Augusta! We’re friends now! I trust you rested well.” She smiles, “Now it’s time for breakfast and we can talk to you more about our way of life!”

Sunny looks up and says, “Hey Izzy! She’s back!”

Izzy stirs on her left side in the bed as she blearily opens her eyes, “Huh? What? Can I wake up now?”

Sunny widens her eyes when she thinks about the events of earlier this morning and she stares forward blankly while saying, “Yes Izzy! It’s time for breakfast!”

<*****>

Augusta smiles at the two ponies from the other side of her polished wooden table from behind her two biscuits and gravy, while Izzy hungrily devours her food with her blue magic and the orange alicorn looks onward and the ginger mare explains, “You see, I found a lockbox with some old books inside. All of these books were the same manifesto that had been written by the Great Magenta Pony long ago! They told me about how my marks are evil and how they shouldn’t even be on me!” she gives a resigned sigh, “Unfortunately until one of us can come up with a way to remove them like they once did here in ancient times, we can only cover them and hope their influence is weak enough to not cause other ponies to hate us!”

Sunny frowns, “But we show our cutie marks in the east and ponies don’t usually hate us?”

Augusta smiles at Sunny, “Are you sure about that? They probably all hate you secretly, you know?”

Sunny narrows her mouth and widens her eyes, “Uh, why would they hate me in secret? I mean, if they don’t like me, why even come around?”

Augusta narrows her eyes, “Well, how would you know? Who’s to say why they would keep coming around? Ponies do LOVE to hate, after all!”

Sunny frowns, “L-love to hate?”

“Of course! Ponies who flaunt are horrible and they ALL do it where you’re from! Please Sunny! Allow us to show you why you need to protect yourself better!”

Izzy continues to scarf floating biscuit number 4 while Sunny stares onward and says, “Flaunt? What do you mean, flaunt?”

Augusta lowers her shoulders and her gaze, “Well, ponies who show their cutie marks are clearly just trying to prove they’re better than everypony else!” She raises her gaze and widens her eyes, “It’s all explained in the manifesto! Please, before you continue, won’t you read it?”

Sunny continues frowning, “Uh, sure Miss Hoofmyer!”

Augusta leans forward as she continues to smile, “Just call me Augusta, please!! We’re friends now and we don’t need such formalities!”

“Uh, right! Sorry, Augusta! I uh, need some juice I think?” Sunny turns her head left to the unicorn, “Uh, Izzy?”

Izzy is just now swallowing her last bite when she happily licks her lips and stares at Sunny with wide red eyes, and says, “Uh, yeah Sunny?”

“I think I should study this manifesto from ancient times. Uh, will you be okay, without me?”

Izzy smiles and nods, “Oh, sure! I mean, maybe there’s a craft store or somewhere I can get supplies to make something neat?”

Augusta raises her chin at the unicorn, “Remember that if you do anything special or unique, to hide it so that other ponies won’t think you’re just showing off!”

Izzy turns her head to the orange mare and frowns, “Uh, what do you mean?”

Augusta shakes her head before staring back at Izzy intently, “Oh, you heathens! We’re all equal here! So, you can’t be different as differences only cause problems!”

Izzy blinks and frowns, “I uh, what?”

Augusta nods her head, “Yes, dear sweet Izzy! It’s all in the manifesto! I’ve had new copies printed and I invite you both to read it now and learn the error of your ways!”

<*****>

Izzy stands to the left of the door and stares at Sunny on the other side with wide eyes, “Strange how the mayor insisted we go back to our rooms after breakfast?” she blinks and raises her head, so her fluffy mane falls from her face, “Well, at least she provided reading material?”

Sunny breaths in and out through her nose before glancing towards the door on her right, “I’m actually more concerned about how she locked the door from the outside after we both came in…”

Izzy turns her head right to face the window as a striped glow visibly shows on her face now, “Yeah, and the windows are barred too!” she widens her eyes and turns her head back to Sunny, “Uh, you don’t suppose we’re prisoners here, do you?”

Sunny puts on the fakest smile in Equestrian history before giggling nervously and saying, “NAW! They definitely wouldn’t be doing something like that!” she widens her eyes, “Uh, r-right?”

(To be continued…)