The Mare Who Cried Monster.

by ChromeRegios

Chapter 8

My first thought was to run. My next thought was to slam the front door. My other thought was to fly outta there to my home, but then again... I'll be leaving him alone with the other animals, endagering them of being eaten!
It's too late to run anyway. Mr. Warts had already seen me. He was staring at me through the half open door with those beady black eyes, an evil, thin-lipped smile on his pale, round face.

He saw me, I realized.
He saw me spying on him in the library.
He saw me flying away.
He knows that I know his secret. He knows that I know he's a monster.
And he's come to get me.
He's come to get rid of me, to make sure his secret is safe.

"Ms. Dash?" He called. I stared at him. I could see in his eyes that he knew it had been me in the library.

The sun had already gone down. The sky behind him was sunset-purple. His face looked even paler than usual in the evening light.

"Ms. Dash, hi. It's me, I went to your house earlier but your friend told me you might be at Fluttershy's so I came here..." He said then he was waiting for me to say something. But I was frozen there in panic, trying to decide whether to run or scream... or both!

"H-hi, Mr. Warts," I managed to say, not moving any closer to the door. Then I blurted out, "Fluttershy's not home..."

What the-! I knew instantly that it was a dumb thing to say! Not cool! Why did I say that?! I asked myself. How could I be so stupid?!

"I didn't come to see Fluttershy," Mr. Warts said softly. "I came to see you, Ms. Dash."

He knows! I thought. He really knows! I'm dead meat! I swallowed hard. I didn't know what to say. My eyes searched the front hallway for a weapon, something to hit him with when he tries to break through the screen door and came after me.

Mr. Warts' eyes narrowed. His smile had faded This is it! I thought. There was nothing around that I could use to fight him of.

A little glass flower vase. That's all I see. I didn't think it would be too effective against a roaring monster.

"Ms. Dash, I believe this belongs to you," Mr. Warts said, as he held up my blue canvas saddle bag.

"Huh?"

"I found it back in the stacks," Mr. Warts said, his smile returning. "I didn't know who had left it. But I saw the design of your cutie mark on the side of the bag, so I figured it was yours..."

"You~ you mean~?" I stammered.

"I always walk home after I close the library, so I thought I'd bring it to you," He said. "And when I got to your house you weren't there... the filly there told me that you went here so... well, you know the rest."

Was this a trap? And you mean to tell me, he WASN'T staying in Twilight's house?! Go figure...
I studied his face warily. I couldn't tell what he was thinking.

I had no choice. I pushed open the door more to let him in, and he handed me the backpack. "W-wow. Thanks," I said. "That was really nice of you."

He straightened his sleeves of his yellow turtle neck shirt... "Well, I figured you'd probably want to get started on a new book, so I put in the books you would probably like... namely Daring do," He said... You know, I always wonder... why does he wear a turtle neck shirt anyway?

"Yeah. Sure," I replied uncertainly.

"I guess you ran out of the library pretty quickly," Mr. Warts said, staring into my eyes.

"Uhh...yeah. I had to get home," I told him, glancing back to the den. The noises of the animals floated into the hallway.

"So you didn't wait around or anything after our appointment?" he asked. Does he know? I wonder. Or is he just trying to find out if it was me or not?

"No," I said, trying to keep my voice from shaking. "I ran out. I was in a hurry. I~ I guess that's why I forgot my...bag."

"Oh, I see," Mr. Warts replied thoughtfully, rubbing his chin.

"Why?" I blurted out.

The question seemed to surprise him. "Oh, it's nothing, really," He said. "I think somepony was playing a trick on me. Staying in the library after closing."

"Really?" I asked, opening my eyes wide and trying to sound as innocent as possible. "Why would they do that?"

"To scare me," Mr. Warts answered, chuckling. "Some kids don't have anything better to do than try to scare the kindly old librarian." But you're not a kindly old librarian, I thought. You're a monster!

"I got up to look around," Mr. Mortman continued, "and whoever it was high-tailed it." He chuckled again.

"I wouldn't want to be locked in there overnight," I said studying his face.

"Hmm? I thought you and Twilight were friends? Didn't you spent a night in her place at all?" He asked me again... Normally I say yes to that, but at this case... I need to lie about it, I'm sure Applejack won't mind.

"Nah, I rather be on my place than to stay in that musty library..." I replied, hoping my innocent act is working.

"Yeah, neither would I!" He exclaimed. "It's a pretty creepy old building! Sometimes I get so scared from all the strange creaks and groans." Yeah! Sure! I thought sarcastically.

Behind him, I spot Fluttershy coming home from town. I breathed a silent sigh of relief. Thank goodness she's finally home!

"Guess I'll say goodnight," Mr. Warts said pleasantly. He turned and watched as Fluttershy passed him up the pathway, heading towards me. I could have swarn Fluttershy glared at him for a moment befor turning her attention to me.

"U-uh... Thanks for bringing the bag," I said, eager for Fluttershy to get inside the house.

"No problem. See you next week." He hurried away.

As Fluttershy came in with the basket of groceries. I slamed the door shut and gave out a sigh. "Who was that?" Fluttershy asked, dropping off the basket at the table.

"That... was Mr. Warts, the temporary librarian at Twilight's." I asnwered eagerly. "I'm so glad to see you, Fluttershy. I have to tell you~"

"What did he want?" Fluttershy interrupted.

"He ... uh... returned my saddle bag. I left it at the library, see. I have to tell you about him, Fluttershy. He~"

"Oh, that was really nice of him," Fluttershy said, as she gets the food out one by one on the table. "How come you forgot it, Dash?"

"I ran out of there really fast, Fluttershy. You see~"

"Well, that was really kind of Mr.Warts," She interrupted again. "I remembered him though... He doesn't live in this direction, though. I think he lives way over the otherside of Ponyville."

"Fluttershy, I'm trying to tell you something!" I cried impatiently. My hooves were trembling wildly and my heart was pounding. "Mr. Warts is a monster!"

"Huh?" She turned away from the table and stared at me.

"He's a Monster, Fluttershy! A real one!" I cried.

"Dash..." She shook her head. "You see monster's everywhere."

"Fluttershy!"

"Stop it, Dash. Stop being so... over imaginative. I hope you were polite to Mr. Warts."

"Fluttershy!"

"Enough!" She yelled, though it's not really a yell... more like a whisper. "Please... just go home... Keep Scootaloo company instead... she's alone in your house isn't she?"

So once again, my wonderful 'freind' refused to believe me. I tried to describe what I had seen from my hiding place in the library. But Fluttershy just shook her head. She said I had a great imagination. I practically begged her to believe me!

But she said I was just lazy. She said I'm making up the story about Mr. Warts because I didn't like him much. When she said that, I got really insulted, of course. I yelled something back followed by me storming out of her cottage and back to my house.

And here I go again... After just apologizing to her about what happened last time, and just being helled by her, I yelled at her....AGAIN!

But that's just the beginning of my problem...

That evening I wen't back to my home and slumped unhappily on my bed, I thought hard about my predicament... Scoots had already fallen asleep on my bed, but somehow I hadn't woke her up when I flopped on the cloud mattress.

I had told too many monster stories, played too many jokes. So, I realized, I needed somepony else to tell my parents about Mr. Warts. I needed somepony else to believe the truth with me...

Scootaloo!

If Scootaloo came along with me and hid in the library and say Mr. Warts eat those critters and drink that pink stuff with his bulging head - then Scoots cloud tell Fluttershy. And she'd believe Scoots!

She had no reason not to believe Scoots. She was a serious, no-nonsense filly. My most serious no-serious friend... kind of.

Scoots was definitely the answer to my problem! Why didn't I thought of that?! Scoots would finally make Fluttershy realize the truth about Mr. Warts. I planned to ask her first thing tomorrow.

That morning. I woke up early and found out that Scoots in the kitchen. I told her I needed her to come hide in the library and spy on Mr. Warts.

"When?" She asked. "At your next appointment?"

"No. I can't wait a whole week," I said, whispering into her, even though my parents were downstairs and there was no one around. "How about tomorrow afternoon? Just before closing time. Around five."

"It's too boring," Scoots insisted. "I don't think I want to."

"I'll pay you!" I blurted out.

"How much?" She asked.

What a friend!

"Fifteen bits," I said reluctantly. I never save much though. I wondered if I still had fifteen dollars in my drawer.

"Well, okay," Scoots agreed. "Fifteen bits. In advance."

"And you'll hide with me and then tell Fluttershy everything you see?" I asked.

"Yeah. Okay. But I think it's boring." He was silent for a moment. "And what if we get caught?" She asked after a while.

"We'll be careful," I said, feeling a little chill of fear.

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