The Mare Who Cried Monster.

by ChromeRegios

Chapter 13

“Woah…” The sound escaped my lips, a moan of total terror. Well, not really, more like a gasp than a moan. I stared at him without moving, I guess I wanted to see if he was serious or not. If he really meant what he said. His eyes told me he did.

And as I stared at him, his head began to inflate. His tiny, round eyes shot out of their sockets and grew into throbbing black bulbs.

“Ohhh… my…” Again, the terrified sound escaped my lips. My entire body convulsed in a shudder of terror. His head is throbbing now, throbbing like a beating heart. His mouth opened into a gaping, gruesome leer, and green spittle ran down his quivering chin.

Move! I told myself. Move, Dashie! DO something! his disgusting grin grew wider as his enormous head bobbed and throbbed excitedly. He uttered a low growl of attack and reached out both arms to grab me.

“NO!!!” I shrieked. Leaning back, and with all my might, drove my hind legs into his flabby stomach, giving him a full forced buck on the gut. This will make Applejack proud.

It caught him by surprise. He gasped as it took his breath away. In his confusion, I spun around and started to run. He was right behind me; I could hear his panting breath and low, menacing growls.

I ran through a narrow aisle between two shelves. A rumble of thunder from outside seemed to shake the room. He was still behind me. Close. Closer… He was going to catch me, going to grab me from behind!

I reached the end of the row. I hesitated, but I didn’t know which way to turn! I couldn’t think fast enough. He roared a monstrous animal sound. Panicking, I turned left and started to run along the back wall of the room.

Lightning flashed outside followed by a sharp noise.

“Buck!” I realized to my horror that I’d made a mistake, a fatal mistake. I was running right into the corner! There was no exit here. No escape! The shelves were too cramp for me to fly and it was impossible to maneuver in my current position.

He roared again, so loud that it drowned out the thunder.

I was trapped…

I knew it…

Trapped!!!

With a desperate cry, I ran blindly – headlong into the card catalogue. Behind me, I heard the monster’s roar of laughter. He knew he had won.

Without me noticing, the card catalogue toppled over when I leaned over it. Drawers came sliding out, cards spilled at my feet scattering over the floor.
“Nooo!!!” The monster howled. At first I thought it was a victory cry, but then I realized that it was an angry cry of protest. With a moan of horror, he stooped to the floor and began gathering up the cards.

Staring in disbelief, I plunged past him, running frantically, my hooves thrashing wildly at my sides. In that moment of terror, I remembered the one thing that egg headed librarians hate worst: having cards from the card catalogue spilled on the floor!

Mr. Warts was a monster – but he was also a librarian. He couldn’t bear to have those cards in disorder. He had to try and replace them before chasing after me.

It took only seconds to run into the front entryway, turn the lock, pull open the door, and flee out into the rain, not even caring if my bag and my book are left inside anymore.

My hooves slapped the pavement as I ran, sending up splashes of rainwater. I could fly, but the injury I got from the other day prevents me to flap my wings that hard. I made my way to the street and was halfway up the block when I realized that he was chasing after me!

A flash of lightning cracked to my left. I cried out, startled, as a deafening burst of thunder shook the ground. I glanced back to see how close the monster was… and stopped.

With trembling hooves, I frantically brushed a glaze of rainwater from my eyes. “Scoots!” I cried. “What are you doing here?!”

She ran up to me, hunching against the cold rain. She was breathing hard. Her eyes were wide and frightened. “I – I was in the library,” she stammered, struggling to catch her breath. “Hiding. I saw it. I saw the monster! I saw everything!”

“You did?!” I was so happy, despite my rushing fear, I managed to give out a huge smile and hugged her tightly… wet, yet warm…

A sheet of rain swept against us, driven by a gust of wind. “Let’s get to the cottage!” I cried. “You can tell Fluttershy and AJ. Now maybe they’ll finally believe it!”

After a while, Scoots and I bust into the cottage’s den. Fluttershy looked up in surprise as well as smaller animals running across the room in utter surprise and fright. Applejack was conveniently outside heading to Fluttershy’s home as well.

“You’re dripping wet!” Fluttershy said, looking at the three of us as we went in.

“Well, ah just went to town and collect some of the earnings for today, ah don’t know ‘bout these two on why they’re wet.” Applejack pointed at us.

“It’s about the monster!” I blurted out. “Mr. Warts – he –“

Fluttershy shook her head and started to raise her hoof to stop me. But Scoots quickly came to my rescue. “I saw him, too!” Scoots exclaimed. “Dash didn’t make it up, it’s true! All of it!”

Fluttershy and Applejack looked at each other. They listened to Scoots. I knew they would. How ironic that they would listen to a kid, rather than a grown up.

Scoots told them what she had seen in the library. He told them how the librarian had turned into a monster and chased me into the corner. Fluttershy listened intently to Scootaloo’s story, shaking her head. “I guess what Dashie said is true,” she said, when Scoots had finished.

“Well, ah guess you aren’t lyin’ after all, Dash.” Applejack said, putting her hoof gently at my shoulder.

“Well, now that you finally believe me – what are you going to do, AJ?” I demanded.

She gazed at me thoughtfully. “We’ll invite Mr. Warts over,” she said.

“What?” I goggled at him, rainwater running down my face. “You’ll WHAT?!” He tried to eat me, chased me for almost all around the darn library, nearly bit my head off, and you’re going to invite him HERE? Are you nuts?!” I protested. “You can’t!”

“Dash, we have no choice!” Fluttershy insisted. “We need to invite him in here.” At that moment, both of them looked at me, reassuring me that everything will be okay.

But I know deep in my gut, that something will happen… that’s probably not good.