One by One

by DreamWings

Burden

Burden

Twist, stop knocking on my door. I know you're upset but really grow up a bit, death happens. Silver wasn' t even your friend, you didn't even notice she still existed. Nopony did. I knew her still and I barely noticed or cared when she was next to me. Let's face it, nopony cared WHO was gone, they only cared that she had been murdered by the mane-iac running around killing other ponies. They're afraid for themselves. Silver wouldn't be missed properly, not by anypony, not even me.

No Twist. I'm not opening the door. If I open the door you'd only try and talk to me; it's best if you think I'm not even here. The house is in darkness, it's silent, can't you get the message? I don't want you around, you'd only annoy me when I don't want annoying. I'm busy. I have to decipher this paper in order for my plan to go further; the list is more important than your prattle. I don't honestly care if you call through the letterbox crying that you're worried about me. Why should you be worried about me? Before all of this started you barely even noticed that I still existed... I'm not deaf, I can hear everything you're saying to me, even if I don't really want to.

It's all getting so hard for everypony, it almost breaks me up to see them so upset... almost. But I can't pretend to care, or even consider actually caring, if I'm to eventually reach my goal. I hope the next part of the job goes better than the last part did. Silver was a fool to not be on her guard, she was definitely a sitting target for the murderer. She shouldn't have stood out in the open so much, I warned her about that; she should've listened. In some ways it was a good thing that somepony had got rid of her before she'd blabbed to the cops about what we were working on. She was far too weak-willed for me; then again, it hadn't been my decision for her to join us in the first place. No, I just had to be the one to put up with her.

Poor Silver felt so alone without her evil dictator stood by her side. Almost as lonely as I think Twist is at the minute. She's still shouting at me. I think I heard a few tears being swallowed to protect her pride. It's only just hit her how alone she really is; how upset she's been since her coltfriend had left her and run off with another mare. Too many deaths for her to handle, she's lost all that kept her sane. That was bound to happen eventually, I could see it from a mile away. That's how it gets you, the weak can't fight against it, and guess what, everypony in this entire poxy town was weak. Even I was weak and foalish. Poor, poor Twist.

No Scoot! You can't care about these silly ponies. Get back to work already! I need to move on to my next pony; little does Twist realise what's going to happen next. It's probably best that she didn't know. I'm not sure it's even good that I know what's going to happen. The little filly certainly must never find out, it would upset her too much. I may be rash in my actions but I'm not heartless, I can't just watch somebody in pain and not act to help them, whatever it may take. This is a long and arduous journey we are facing and it isn't fun but it's got to be done.

Nightmare Night is over. My hero's old Shadowbolt costume stares at me from the chair at the other side of my little house. Twist has gone quiet, but she's still there. She'll leave soon, I know she will. I can't say I won't be glad when she leaves for good, I can't stand to listen to her voice all the live long day. It's always, 'Scootaloo this,' and 'Scootaloo that,' and 'Scootaloo, who's got my rusty horseshoe?'. They all think they're so hilarious with that old joke.

The clock tells me it's time. Thankfully I have a back door with which to sneak out of. They'll never catch me, I'll make sure of that. I will never be found, I can at least try to promise that, little filly, believe me I can. Not long now until the end of it all. Let's just hope we can all make it that far. I NEED to make it that far.

It's cold outside again. 'Tis the season to be sneaky'. My hoofsteps must be slow as I collect my gear to leave, or Twist might notice that the house isn't as empty as it looks. Thankfully I think I'm okay at being quiet; I've certainly had plenty of practice at it. Where is that pad and paper? I need to write out my new list, since my old list is almost finished with. Lists, lists, lists, all I do is follow lists. But nopony will ever find them, which is the best thing for me. I've done my research about what should be written on this new one.

Ugh, my pencil snapped. Did Twist hear? She must have the ears of an owl if she'd managed to, though I wouldn't put it past her at all. Pencil. Pencil. Pencil. Where are you? Ah, there's one. Okay, who's first?

'Owloicious.' Yes, he's the perfect first choice. Who after that I wonder. There's plenty of ponies that could do with recieving the special treatment that we will give them.

Babs Seed next, I think. Then Soarin', Spitfire, Fleur de lis, and Snails I think. Lyra and Bon-Bon involved me in a spat this morning; they'd be a perfect choice for me.

A noise? Darn, now I'll have to finish this later. Quickly, I need to grab my stuff and leave. Where is that darn key? Run Scoots, run.

RUN TWIST RUN.

Comments

[Geist]

Up and on the tally shall go,
as young scootaloo plots her goals.
And death shall come as darkness falls,
Leaving those who remain in fear and awe......

This is proving more fascinating as I go along. Even popped the above rhyme into my head as I went. I do like this back and forth of Scoots's thoughts and the events occurring to the others that your doing with the chapters, it feels like a good pace to me and I think your using the options presented with that very well. My only concern so far may be the miss-spelling of words or grammatical errors I've seen show up every now and then across the 17 chapters so far, but nothing that couldn't be easily fixed and didn't really hinder the reading anyway. That's just my honest opinion though. And I have to admit, I think I have the pieces to this mystery figured out for the most part, but, if the killer is who I think it is, then I must say I'm amazed and bewildered. A pony like that capable of killing grown stallions, an Element of Harmony, and Chaos Gods alike, among all the others, and managing to do it all with finesse, precision, and intelligence without even a clue to be left behind as to their movements..........somepony has gotten crafty........and powerful.

Again, I'm rather enjoying the tale so far and will be interested to see how it all plays out from here. Keep up the good work, DreamWings.

Take care and carry on.

[Divine Path]

Your role is unknown. Whether it is for the good or bad for the culprit.
But you are still silently walking down into the dark.
I shall read on.