After a night of candy gather candies the girls are back in the cubhouse. This time accompany by their older sister/role model, while there the girls decided it was a perfect time to tell scary stories.
It is Nightmare Night again and the crusaders are out having fun. Afterward the three girls return back to their clubhouse to tell scary stories to each other, but this time their older sister or role model is there to listen in onto their horrifying tales.
It was another dark and cold night in the town of Ponyville. However, the ponies in the town are outside and celebrating. Tonight is Nightmare Night, an annual festival honoring the alicorn of the night, Princess Luna. Before the candies the ponies gathered are offered to Nightmare Moon. But, now with the return of Princess Luna, the offering becomes void and all the little children can enjoy their bountiful sweets.
This night the three crusaders are with a group of other colts and fillies, going to house to house gathering candies. For this Nightmare Night, Applebloom was dressed up as the grim reaper. Her pegasus friend Scootaloo was dressed up as a ninja, while Sweetie Belle was dressed as a witch.
The three of them are part of a group of other children from their school. Snip was a vampire while snail was his undead minion. Pipsqueak was dressed as an admiral, Twist was a wolf, Dinky was a royal guard, and Feather Weight was Spider Stallion. Even Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were there, dress as princesses. This group of foals was being escorted by their teacher, Miss Cheerilee who was dressed as a mad scientist.
Together the pinkish purple pony escorted the group of foals to a couple of houses, each one giving the foals huge amount of candies. Afterwards Miss Cheerilee led her students to the center of the town, where they partake in many of the festival's games and activities. The crusaders bobbed for apples, toss toy spiders on webs and many more fun things.
The children stayed and played for a few hours until their teacher inform everyone that it was time to go. All the little foals gather up to their teacher and left the area. Cheerilee brought the group to each of the foals homes, one by one the group got shorter leaving only the three crusaders left.
When they got to Sweet Apple Acres, the yellow filly spoke up. "Excuse me, Miss Cheerilee."
"Yes Applebloom?"
"You don't have to take Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle home. Rarity and Rainbow Dash said they'll take care of it."
"Well alright then, you girls have a good night," their teacher said, as she left the three fillies in front of the farm.
With that done the three fillies galloped to their clubhouse, while carrying their bags full of candies. They got into the clubhouse and started pouring all their candies in the center. Their combine candies formed a small hill made of various sweets. The girls then jumped in and enjoy their mountain of sugary sweets.
After thirty minutes and a dozen of candy wraps later, the three crusaders tummies were full of sweet candy treats. As the three lie on the floor of the clubhouse, they stared at the mountain of candy. Even with all three of them the candy mountain barely shrunk down in size, its height tower over the little fillies.
"Soo...much....candy," Scootaloo groaned as she held her stomach.
"We...really....shouldn't...eat...that...fast," Sweetie Belle commented.
With the two filly down, only Applebloom had the strength to get up. She trotted to the huge pile of candy and start to put them away. "Come on girls, we have put this stuff away before they spoil."
The response she got from the two were two groans. But they got anyway and helped Applebloom store the candies. After another thirty minutes of storing the candies, the crusaders lay at the center again tired.
"What do ya girls want to now?" Applebloom asked her two friends.
Scootaloo gave her a shrug and went back lying on the wooden floor. Sweetie on the other hoof thought of an idea. "Hey Applebloom, I have an idea!" the white unicorn exclaimed.
Both fillies turned their eyes on the their unicorn friend, wanting to know what she has plan. "Why don't we tell scary stories!" she suggested, receiving a confuse look from the orange pegasus.
"Um Sweetie Belle didn't we already did that?" Scootaloo mention their previous attempt to tell scary stories.
"I know but, we had such a fun time making up stories and telling it to each other," Sweetie explain to her friends."Besides its Nightmare Night and seem appropriate."
"Well alright," Scootaloo said, as she got up. "Sounds fun, lets do it."
Applebloom got up herself and addressed her two friends. "Then it's settled, we go to our corner, come up with a story, and gather at the center to tell our story." After laying out the plan each of the girls went to their corner and brainstorm their scary stories.
Meanwhile outside two ponies were approaching the clubhouse. The two ponies are the older sisters of the two crusaders. One was an orange earth pony name Applejack, older sister of Applebloom, and she was dressed as a devil. Her companion is a white unicorn, older sister of Sweetie Belle, and she is wearing a steampunk outfit.
"Applejack why are we out here?"
"I told you Rarity, the girls are in their clubhouse."
"Why would they be in there, this late at night."
"Well you know those gals, can't wait to eat all them candies." The orange mare smile at the thought of the girls eating too much and getting sick.
As they got close to the clubhouse, Rarity remarked the absence of certain blue pegasus. "I wonder where Rainbow is? She said she'll meet us here."
"I'm already here," said a voice from nowhere.
This caught both ponies by surprise and jumped. After their embarrassing reaction, the next thing they heard was laughter. Out from the shadow was Rainbow Dash wearing a black suit covering her entire body.
"Man that was rich," she said in between laughs. The two other ponies just stare at their laughing friend in disapproval.
"Rainbow dear, just what are you wearing?" Rarity asked about the strange outfit Rainbow was wearing.
"Oh this?" she pointed to herself. "This is a black ninja suit."
"So you're a ninja?" Applejack ask.
"Nope," Rainbow replied. "I am the shadow," she explained as she backed up, her body blending in with the shadows. "You see me, now you don't. " She repeatedly trots forward and backward, demonstrating her point.
"OK we got Dash," Applejack spoke, clearly annoyed by her blue friend's antic. "Come on lets take the girls home." Before she go any further, she was stopped by the voice of her pegasus friend.
"Wait hold AJ," Rainbow stopped her friend, as she trotted ahead of them. "Follow me," she told them and they followed. The three ponies came across the clubhouse, Rainbow led the two under the building.
"Dash why are here?" Applejack questioned her blue friend.
"Well you see I was here earlier and overheard that the girls are going to tell some scary stories to each other, " she explained while lowering her voice.
"Is that all, why don't we go in and join them?" Rarity suggested.
"No wait, I want hear it from when we're not there."
"Why Dash?"
"Well I don't want the girls to feel that they're being judged, besides don't you want to know what how the girls act when we're not around?"
This question intrigued the two older sisters and they both agreed with Dash. The three found a perfect spot under the building and waited for the stories to come.
The three crusaders were finally done making their stories and they all gathered to the center. Each one holding a piece of paper with their story written on them. "All right who want's to go first," Applebloom ask her two friends.
"Oh oh I want to go first!" Sweetie Belle raised her hoof, eagerly wanting to tell her story.
"Okay Sweetie Belle you can go first."
Sweetie Belle picked up a flashlight and shine it below her face. "My tale starts when four friends are seeking shelter from some heavy rain. So they went into an old abandoned building, hoping to wait out the terrible storm. Unknown to them the building they entered had quite an infamous back in the day, this was a place where numerous murders had taken place. The building these four have just entered is called Hoof Bridge Hotel, or as it was also called....
The Hoof Bridge Hotel was a place created in a middle of nowhere, it serves as a place to rest as travelers come and go. Stopping by this place and leave the next day. Unfortunately, over the years the hotel deteriorates and the Hoof Bridge Hotel becomes a place for numerous acts of murder.
Room 11, a a mare was pommeled to death by her husband.
Room 19, a stallion was brought into that room and was hanged.
Room 07, a father smothered his son with a pillow.
To put simply each room of the hotel had one act of murder committed in them, this eventually earned the name Murder Hotel, for its infamous reputation. Then one day the owner just vanished without a trace, leaving this place abandoned.
Ever since then nopony ever laid a hoof onto this hotel, it was forever left to rot in time. Fading into obscurity, with only its infamous reputation surviving as stories to be told around campfires. However tonight this old, abandoned place shall be visited once again by four unlucky ponies.
On a very stormy night, the clouds were pounding the earth below heavily with showers of rain. The strong winds blowing so hard it can lift a small creature, and have them soar through the air. In this terrible storm four ponies were trudging through the heavy downpour.
The four ponies are named Ditzy Doo, Carrot Top, Lyra, and Bonbon. The reason why these four are in this predicament is because of their gray pegasus friend Ditzy, got them kicked out of their taxi due to her antics. Now they are forced to trot in this rain getting incredibly soaked.
The mood among the four was incredibly sour, Carrot Top was angry at her friend Ditzy. In the past she used to just shrug off her friends wacky antics. But as time goes by, her antics really start to anger the yellow earth mare so much, it took so much restraint to not snap at her klutzy friend.
The other two ponies in group, Lyra and Bonbon were also in a bad mood. A couple of years ago the two confessed their love for each other and lived happily ever after. Except recently this couple have been facing relationship problems. They fight and argue over everything, from big and small issues these two have been going at months. They went on this with their friends, in hopes it will quell the tension between the two, sadly this rain is not helping out in their relationship.
The two trotted and trotted in the pouring rain, their hooves getting dirty every step they took on the muddy roads. They are trotting for hours, each of the ponies are tired. They all just want to rest , but the rain is preventing them from doing so.
After more trotting Lyra spotted something at a distance, a big black structure can seen over the horizon. The green unicorn informed the rest of the group of what she saw and they all galloped to unknown structure. As the four got closer, they were able to identify the structure as abandoned hotel.
As they step into the hotel the group looked around, most of the rooms were not intact. Beds are missing, the roof is leaking water from the heavy rain and some were just locked up. They eventually found two rooms they can stay in, Room 09 and Room 15. Carrot Top and Ditzy Doo will stay in Room 15, while Bon Bon and Lyra stay in Room 09.
They said goodnight to each other left to go to respective rooms, Carrot and Ditzy trotted in silence neither pony saying anything to one another. They got to their room and went straight to bed, wanting to get this night over with. Ditzy said goodnight, while Carrot just ignored her and tried to sleep.
Later that night Carrot Top was moving a lot in her bed, she was having a terrible dream, a nightmare some would describe. In her nightmare she saw one stallion slicing up another stallion, then he started taking his entrails out of him
The dream was getting too intense for her and she is abruptly woken up. She sighs, glad the nightmare was over. But, then she noticed she was not on her bed and she stands on all fours. Looking down she jumped at the horrifying display in front of her. On the bed is her gray friend Ditzy Doo, her stomach sliced up and her guts pulled out.
Sicken by the scene before her, she covered her mouth with her hoof, to prevent puking. But, when her hoof touched her mouth, she felt a wet sensation. On closer inspection both her hooves were covered in blood, looking down on her body was stained with blood and there was a bloody knife near her left hoof.
Putting two and two together, Carrot came to a realization that she might have killed her friend. Scared she left the room going to her Lyra and Bonbon room, seeking help. As she got to Room 09, she didn't bother to knock and just barged in.
What she saw left her frozen is utter shock, Lyra was repeatedly stabbing the dead Bonbon under her blanket. Carrot Top yelled at her to stop, which she did and look around in confusion.When her eyes met the bloody corpse of her lover, she back up in shock. Looking down in her hooves which were bloodied, she started to freak out.
Seeing her friend in distress, Carrot comforts her unicorn friend and told her what happened. Apparently both Carrot and Lyra had a dream about some pony murdering another pony in a similar fashion as they did. Both mares decide to head to the reception desk to find some answers for this place.
They trotted in the heavy rain and head straight to receptionist room, much of the blood on them were washed off in the rain. They got in and found the place in complete mess like everything else in this place. They looked around and found some old files. Reading it both mares were shocked to find out that they were in the infamous Murder Hotel.
However, what's even more disturbing was the rooms where the murder took place. In Room 15, a stallion named Crankshaft sliced open a pony name Bed Head for hurting harming his daughter. Room 09, Flower Dance stabbed her husband after years of his abuse. So not only did they both slept in a room where a murder occur but, they are replicating the same murder years ago.
Fearing for their lives both ponies left the abandoned hotel and didn't stop until they came to a nearby town. Upon reaching Ponyville both Carrot Top and Lyra told the authorities of what happened at the hotel, they were then placed under arrest and await trial, while the police go fetch the bodies at the hotel.
"...to this day, nopony knows what cause the two to kill. But, somepony say that the Hoof Bridge Hotel is curse. Dooming anypony that sleep in their room to replicate the exact murder." Sweetie finished, trying to sound spooky.
Once she was down both of her friend stared, mouth agape at what they just heard. "Man Sweetie Belle, that some cray imagination you got there." Scootaloo remarked.
"Yeah seriously what goes around inside that head of yours?"
"Ah jeez thanks guys," Sweetie said, smiling at her friends praise.
Down below Rainbow Dash and Applejack were shocked to hear Sweetie telling such a gruesome story. Rarity took it the hardest, aghast that her sweet little sister came up with such a terrifying story.
Back above the three crusaders were deciding who the next pony should be, it was either Applebloom or Scootaloo. Then Applebloom thought of something. "Hey I got any idea, why do we do rock, paper, and scissor?"
Both Sweetie and Scootaloo gave their yellow friend a questionable look. "Applebloom we don't have fingers," Scootaloo pointed out.
Applebloom rolled her eyes. "We don't need fingers, we can just shout them out." She explained, getting two oh from her friends. Then Applebloom and Scootaloo faced each, on a count of three they both shout their choice.
"Paper!"
"Rock!"
"Applebloom wins!" announced Sweetie Belle.
The orange filly pouted as her yellow friend was preparing to read out her story. Taking the flashlight from Sweetie, she places the light right below her face and read her paper.
"Now y'all know about how dangerous the Everfree is right? The dark and mysterious forest is massive that it basically has its own ecosystem. Now the question I'm asking is why such a vast forest with a lot of trees, how come we don't see any lumber mills cutting down them trees here?"
"Well my dear listeners, the reason was because the last lumber mill that started to cut down their trees were faced with..."
The Everfree Forest, a dark and dangerous place. Nopony knows the exact origin of this mysterious forest, some say that the forest is one of the oldest living landmarks in Equestria. Whatever its origins are, eveypony knows to avoid this forest. For in this forest, the predatory creatures have made this pace their homes and will eat anything foolish creature that wanders into their homes.
Bloodthirsty creatures are not the only thing that lies in this dark forest. Like the name says, the Everfree forest is free from any influence from the ponies. The plants grow on their own, the weather move on its own, and the animals take care of themselves.
Because of these characteristic, most ponies feared the forest and tend to stay away from it. Those few brave enough to enter, never reached any deeper and usually stayed near the sides. With nopony bothering the forest, the whole forest remained silently peaceful for centuries.
That is until one day a pony sought to strip the forest of it precious trees. Mr. Filthy Rich, a businesspony seeking to make money from the Everfree forest. Logging are in high demand in Equestria and being the ever opportunist, he bought a logging company and put them to work.
He chose the Everfree forest since nopony else had and it doesn't belong to anyone. He was told that the forest was a spooky and terrifying place, and that by cutting down the trees he'll angering the forest. Rich dismissed these claims, and continued on with his operation.
A week after a sawmill was built near the Everfree forest, the light brown businesspony sent his lumberjacks to work. They steadily cut down the trees and slowly made their way further in. At this point Mr. Rich was visited by an inhabitant of the forest. This visitor was a zebra named Zecora, she was basically here to give the same warning the other ponies had told him before.
And like those ponies before he told her that he'll be continuing his operation, and asked her to leave. Before she left, she muttered about how much of a fool he was and left.
On Week two since this started, there has been some numerous incidents. There were attacks from the creatures living in the forest and some ponies getting infected by a blue plant called poison joke. These incidents have put ponies into the hospitals nearby. However, despite all this set backs, Mr. Rich was about to quit now. With his work force decreased, the businesspony hired ponies from the nearby town of Ponyville.
With the additional help from the Ponyvillian, Mr' Rich's workforce has been restored to full strength and are pushing even further into the forest. Then on the next day, something strange just happened. The once previous cut down trees were suddenly back. The stump that was previously there has been restored into a full grown tree again.
While some ponies find this disturbing, Mr. Rich sees this as another opportunity. If these trees can rapidly grow back, then that means that he'll have an endless supply of lumber. At the same time of this discovery, his secretary informed him that several of workers didn't show up. At this point he was too excited to care about some ponies who didn't show up to work.
For the next couple of days, things went smoothly. Trees were cut down and brought to the sawmill. Then the stumps once again grew up into trees again. However, at the same time more lumberjacks are mysteriously disappearing.
Family and friends of the missing workers have stated that they have never returned home. News of the disappearing ponies discourage other ponies to accept the job offer by Mr. Rich. Even some of his own workers are quitting, but it's not about the missing ponies, rather something entirely different.
According to them when they were cutting down trees, they can hear faint sounds coming trees they were cutting down. Not only that when taken to the sawmill, the workers there also heard the faint sound of screams coming from the lumber they were cutting up.
The workers couldn't take the screaming anymore and quit. And now with many ponies quitting, Mr. Rich had no choice but to participate in cutting down the tree with the few remaining workers he had left. Picking up his ax, he trotted to the last spot his workers were working on.
The spot he reached was where the stumps grow into trees. The brown pony then noticed the trees strange differences from other trees. Unlike the smooth surface of the regular trees, these threes were more bulkier in the trunk section of the tree.
The light brown earth pony refocus on the task at hoof. Raising his ax, Rich swung the weapon and plunged it into the trunk of the tree. Then he heard something, it was quick but he definitely heard something. Raising his ax again Mr. Rich hits the tree again and heard the sound again. Listening closely the sound was indeed a faint scream, the scream one would give when they are in pain.
Believing that the scream was just in his head, the earth pony swung his ax again and hit the same spot, receiving another scream. He continued to hack at the tree while hearing the scream at the same. The screams were starting to bother Rich, as he tried to quickly hack against the trunks, hoping to bring down the tree as fast as possible.
With one last strike the tree started to tilt. Moving to the side, the tree fell right next to him. Mr. Rich was panting from overexerting himself. He just wanted to go back to his office and relax. However, for some strange reason he wants to stay here.
He then looked at the stump he created, he trotted closer to it and kept both his eyes on it. He doesn't know why but, right now that looks really comfortable. He went up to the stump and planted his brown butt on it. Sighing in comfort, Mr. Rich didn't even notice the vines coming from the stump.
The vines surround the relax pony, once they have everything done, the vines tighten around the body, containing their prey. Mr. Rich tried to move , but noticed that his legs were not moving. Looking down he some tree bark covering his rear legs and they were spreading fast.
Then Mr. Rich came to a realization, he was becoming a tree. Then that means those missing ponies also turned into trees. At this point he started to feel disturbed, the trees he and his workers have been cutting down were actually the missing ponies.
Not wanting to become a tree, Mr. Rich pulled as hard as he can but, the vines were tied tightly around his body and legs. Meanwhile the tree barks were slowly creeping its way to the rest of the body. Looking down, his legs have fused with the tree trunk and soon the rest of his body is becoming a tree.
The creeping tree bark finally reach his neck, he futilely moves his head forward, hoping it would do anything. Instead his head was encased in tree bark, branches started to form from atop his head. Once the leaves started to grow, the transformation is completed. Mr. Rich has become a tree.
The next day when his worker came looking for him, they found the spot where he was working and turned their eyes on the tree. Looks of pure horror and shock appeared on their faces and they ran off. The reason was because on the bark cover tree, was a face in shape of Mr. Rich.
"And ever since then, nopony ever cut down a tree from the forest. For it will bring the wrath of the forest upon them!" Applebloom said in a spooky tone.
Once she was finished, she looked at her two friends, expecting a response from them. Sweetie Belle was at awed from hearing her story. Scootaloo on the other hoof....
"That story sucked," the orange pegasus stated.
"What?" Applebloom responded, shocked by her friend comment.
"Come on, seriously a tree?"
"What's wrong with that?"
"Oh I don't know maybe because it wasn't scary!"
As the two were arguing, down below Applejack was rather shocked by her little sister story and remind herself to have a talk with Applebloom later but, now it looks like a fight is about to break out.
Meanwhile Rainbow Dash was not bothered by Applebloom's story. In fact what bothered her the most was Scootaloo's attitude. Once she stops the fight that is about to happen, she gives the little filly a scolding.
Before either can go up, they were stopped by Rarity. She put her hoof mouth and shush them to silence, she then pointed up and told them to listen in.
Back above the two crusaders were arguing ferociously, Sweetie decided to butt in before this escalated. Putting her hoof in her mouth, she whistled. This got both fillies to stop their fight and looked at the unicorn.
"Please girls stop fighting," she gave both ponies a stern look. "It was starting to get good but, now all of sudden you're fighting."
Both fillies started to feel bad, especially the orange pegasus. "You're right Sweetie Belle," she said, then turned to Applebloom." Applebloom I'm sorry for what I said." she apologized.
"Sometimes I say things without thinking and I..." she was interrupted by her yellow friend.
"Scootaloo I forgive you," she told her friend. "Now why don't you go on with your story."
Scootaloo smiled and took out her paper, she then started to read its content.
"A long time ago there was once a serial killer that lived in Fillydelphia, back then he was quite well known and feared. The killer though he was invisible, that nopony can catch him."
"That was until his identity was revealed, forcing him to flee to his old family house in the outskirts of town. Thinking that he was safe, he was unaware of the group of ponies stalking him, wanting to exact their vengeance on him."
"But the thing with this group of ponies is that they are dead, after all...."
Fillydelphia, a large pony city located east of Equestria and Foal Mountain and Hollow Shades. The city was suffering from some heavy downpour. The soaking streets were completely void of anyponies, those few outside quickly galloped to their destination wishing to escape the rain.
One specific orange stallion was galloping through the rain, trying to reach his destination. However, his destination was not anywhere in this city, rather outside. Behind him a group of pegasus in gold armor is chasing him. The Equestrian royal guards are here to apprehend Bittersweet, aka the Variety Killer.
Bittersweet is a dark blue earth stallion, with short white messy hair, and a bag of money as a cutie mark. During the day, Bittersweet works as a cashier in a store. But, by night he is the notorious Variety Killer. In his six mouths of becoming a serial killer, Bittersweet has claimed the lives of ten ponies.
The Variety Killer earned his name from the fact that, unlike most killers who used the same method of killing, Bittersweet on the other hoof kill his targets in different ways. One pony was hanged, another was lit on fire and another pony got his head cut off.
The dark blue stallion managed to commit these murders while evading the authorities at the same time. But now the guards know his identity and are hunting him down.
Galloping at full speed, Bittersweet quickly made his way across streets in mere seconds, despite the heavy rain. The royal guards are having trouble chasing the pony in the downpour. The rain made it impossible for them to fly in and the rain was blocking their view of their target.
Hours of galloping and hiding later, Bittersweet finally got out of the city. With the guards far behind him, the stallion decided to stay low for a while. With no other place to go, Bittersweet thought about the old abandoned house near the cliff, his childhood home. As he trotted to his old home, he was not aware that he is being watched.
Bittersweet trotted nonstop for three days to reach his destination, eating up most of his provision getting there. When he finally got to his old home, he was surprised how the large house was still standing for all these years. Most of the windows around the house are broken, the white paint has turned into a light shade of yellow, and some plants started to grow around the house.
The stallion cracked opened the rusted front door and entered. Inside was the living-room, not much has changed since he left this place. The Furniture were still in the same spot, although they are all rotted up now. Aside from a couple of dusts and cobwebs, the place is still the same since he was young.
As he trotted around, the dark blue pony was reminiscing of a time he spends in this house. He remembered going to the kitchen when his mother made him his favorite food, and his father returning from work to spend some time with him. Truly this was his perfect life.
When he trotted pass the fireplace he noticed a picture frame standing over it. Picking it up Bittersweet saw a photo of young him and his two parents. However, there was a fourth pony in the picture, standing between his parents at the front. Upon seeing the him, the dark blue pony scowled and smashed the frame onto the wooden floor, shattering it. He remembered who that pony was, Emerald Bay, the pony who ruined his life.
Long ago when there was only three, his mother adopted Emerald after his aunt died. The green colt was welcomed into the family and the two parents loved him like a son. Even Bittersweet was happy to have a brother to play with. At first everything was good, that is until something in the young Bittersweet changed.
The little dark blue colt was growing envious of the green pony. Before his parents used to praise him, but now they are giving him all the praises. He wasn't sure why, but whenever he heard his parents praising Emerald Bay, he just gets angry. He soon started not playing with his adopted brother and outright avoiding him.
Then came the day of that terrible incident, Emerald Bay falling off the cliff side and on to a bunch of jagged rocks at the bottom. Both Bittersweet's parents were devastated by his tragic loss, even the colt himself was saddened by his sudden loss.
A funeral was held with an empty coffin since Emerald's body was washed away by the wave. After that day Bittersweet's family was never the same. His mother stopped taking better care of herself and died from her illness. His father became detached from life and soon followed his late wife leaving Bittersweet to fend for himself.
Waking up from his daydreaming, Bittersweet cursed Emerald bay. If it weren't for him he would have lived a normal happy life instead of what he is now, a killer on the run. Gathering all the essentials from the bottom, the pony went upstairs and entered his old bedroom.
Entering his old room brought back some childish memories: playing with toys, drawing in his coloring books, and reading his comic books. In his room was his bed, on the walls there are some old posters of movies he liked such as Daring Do and the Crystal Skulls, Top Pegasus, and Batstallion Begins.
Looking out the window Bittersweet saw how late it was getting. Deciding to call it a night, the stallion ate some his leftover food, read some of his old childhood books, and finally lying on top of his filthy bed. He stayed like that for a while until his eyes started to slowly close themselves, and then he slept.
Later that night several black figures converged on the old house, each one not bothering to be quiet as they made loud noises trying to get in. The noises alerted the sleeping pony upstairs to their presence. Getting up Bittersweet slowly trotted down the stairs, just in time to see the black figures breaking through the front door.
The dark blue stallion was horrified at what he just saw, standing in front of the broken door is green-coated stallion with blue mane. His appearance is what disturbed him the most, the green pony flesh was all rotted up, with few gashes of exposed flesh. His blue mane just laying hung around his face.
When the creature turned his lifeless white eyes at the pony on the stairs, he opened his jaws revealing his rotted yellow teeth and made a loud growl sound. The creature then charged at him and in response Bittersweet took out his knife and thrust it into the charging ghoul's eye socket.
As his knife pierced through the creature's eye, the green pony collapse down the stairs with the knife stuck in his eye. Losing his only weapon and hearing the sound of more the creatures breaking in, Bittersweet ran upstairs to get himself another weapon.
Returning to his room Bittersweet grabbed himself another knife. When he got the sharp weapon the door behind him, burst open, entering in was a ghoulish red mare with long white mane. She then immediately charged at the stallion, he again responded by stabbing the blade into her eye.
However, unlike the last ghoul this one didn't die when his knife pierced her white eye. Pinning him down the red ghoul snapped her mouth over her prey, but is being held back by a pair of hooves. Bittersweet bucked the ghoul off of her and quickly stood up. The red mare charged again, but the stallion was ready for her. When she got close Bittersweet stepped aside and pushed her out the window. The action was swift as her momentum lead to her crashing through the glass window.
Hearing the sound of more hoofsteps Bittersweet hid in his closet. In the dark closet space, the stallion can hear numerous ghouls entering his room. They trotted around for a bit until they all left, one by one. With them gone Bittersweet calmed down and analyze the situation.
First there are a number of ghouls out there looking for and he has no idea how many there are. Second, the first one he met was killed by stabbing him in the eye, but the second didn't die when he shoved the knife into her eye. To make sure the red mare was dead, he left the closet and looked out the broken window.
Down on the dirt ground is the red mare from before, she was not moving indicating that she was dead. When his eyes met hers flank he instantly recognized the cutie mark, it's two rose flower crashing against each other. This mark belongs to Rose Buds, one of his victims.
Rose Buds is the mare he used to date long ago, but then it turned out she was only going out with him is because she lost a bet to her friends. Angered by this, he pushed her out the window, killing her. To see her here sent a chill down his spine, he then thought about the green stallion he killed earlier. He was the pony that mugged a long time ago, he remembered tracking the guy down and use his own knife to stab him in the eye.
Realizing that the two ponies he killed were his previous victims from during his time living in Fillydelphia. He wonders if all the other creatures outside are also his victims. Sneaking around Bittersweet spotted nine undead ponies lurking around inside and outside the house. Eight of them he was able to identify, but the last a green stallion he didn't recognize.
He will have to deal with that pony later right now he has to take care of the other eight ghouls. Climbing outside the window he went into the nearby tool shed, and grabbed himself an ax. As he got out he came across another ghoul, Mr. Rubber, bashed his skull open.
Using the bottom of handle the dark blue stallion bash the ghoul's head, the ghoul fell down and Bittersweet continued to bash his head until he cracks the skull. While he was doing this another ghoul came out and galloped towards him.
Hearing his attacker coming towards him, he swung his ax back and hacked off one the ghouls legs. Standing up, he recognized the down ghoul and returned to the shed. Couple of seconds later he came with ropes tie in a noose.
Putting the noose rope around the ghouls neck he quickly dragged him to a nearby tree. Tossing the rope over a branch he pulled on the rope, raising the ghoul up by the neck and strangling him. With that taken care of Bittersweet his attention to the last seven ghouls roaming around.
The next hour involved the dark blue stallion uniquely killing each of the ghouls one by one. He doused one ghoul with oil and set the creature on fire, used his ax to hack the ghoul's head off, and impaled on with a long pointy rod. With six of the creatures dealt with all that was left is the last mysterious green one.
Bittersweet tried to remember who this pony is, but all he was coming up with is blank. He tried looking at his cutie mark, but it was blank. Meanwhile the mystery green stallion was tracking him down. He then spotted Bittersweet resting right outside the wall of the house. Bursting through the old wall the green pony sinks his disgusting teeth onto his prey's foreleg.
Shaking his attack off Bittersweet made a run for the cliff sides, he was hoping to push the ghoul of the edge and be washed away by the currents. He tried to get away, but the sudden attack wounded him, making him slow enough for the green ghoul to catch up him.
The creature leaped at the pony resulting in them rolling near the cliff edge. Bittersweet held the ghoul's head away so that it won't bite him. When he had his hooves holding his head, the pony got a clear view of the monster's face, then came a horrifying shock, it was Emerald Bay, his adoptive brother.
Distracted by this surprised the undead Emerald Bay sunk his teeth into Bittersweet's shoulder. The pain pulled him from his thoughts and bucked his brother off of him. He crawled nearer to the edge while quickly thinking about why his brother is trying to kill him.
As the more he thought repressed memories started to flash back into his mind. They were disorient and hard to process. But, eventually piece by piece they connected creating on clear scene.
It was him.
All him, all along.
His brother never accidentally fell of the cliff edge.
He pushed him off.
He remembered now.
When he was young his jealousy of his brother leads him to be resentful of him, then they came when he spotted his brother hanging from the cliff. Trotting up him, Bittersweet pushed him off and watched him fall. His expression was shocked of what he had just done. But his brother was equally shocked as the last thing he saw his brother grinning at him.
This whole time, he did it.
He ruined his own life, not his brother.
If he had never done it, he would've lived a normal happy life.
While the wounded brother was reflecting about his past life, the other brother charged at the distracted pony. This resulted in both brothers falling off the edge and facing their demise from the jagged rocks below.
"And that concludes the tale of the dead seeking vengeance," Scootaloo said, in a eerie voice.
Her two friends sat there in shock by such a gruesome tale, then a second later both fillies clap their hooves together, praising their orange friend.
"Wow Scootaloo, that is a mighty fine tale," Applebloom remarked.
"Yeah, it was such a thrill ride of shock and horror," Sweetie added in.
As the two continued to praise the secretly blushing Scootaloo, down below the three older ponies were once again shocked by what they heard. Especially Rainbow who never knew her little number one fan had some imagination.
Rarity was the first to recover and address the two of the current time. Seeing how late it was the three decided it was time to bring the three fillies home. Going up the steps Applejack knocked on the door.
"Girls it's getting late, time to head home."
"Alright sis just give us a sec," Applebloom answered.
Moments later the three crusaders all got out and followed their respective sister/ role model. Applejack led group farms main entrance. They all said their goodbyes and goodnight and went to their homes.
Applejack led her little sister back to their house, along the way she thought about having that talk with her. She can't imagine how Applebloom can create such spooky tale like that.
Rarity on the other hoof was still aghast that her sweet little sister can imagine such dreadful tales. Meanwhile Rainbow was flying Scootaloo home, in her mind she didn't know what to make of this. She doesn't know whether she should be proud or scared of what goes around in her head.
One thing is sure though, each of them will never look at these little fillies the same way ever again.
There is an old tale of a curse diamond told among the diamond dogs. It is said that this specific came from the very depths of Tartarus itself. The old story says that the diamond is a demon that feeds on the conflict between species, killing each other for possession of this gem.
This is how the cursed rock earned its name, Blood Diamond. Those who lay their eyes on this gem are put under its spell, they soon become obsessed with the jewel, wanting nothing more to have it for themselves. This leads to conflict with others who've seen the diamond and will end in bloodshed.
For so long scholars just dismissed this Blood Diamond to be a myth, nothing more than somepony crazy imagination. And for a time many ponies believed as well since no evidence was found, supporting this thing's existence.
However, unknown to those scholars this old myth will not only be real, but it was also found.
This all happened on a normal morning in a village called, Horseville. The ponies of this small village were starting to wake up from their restful slumber, and were about to start their day. Then came the visitor, a unique kind visitor.
Arriving at the front entrance of the village was a tall brown diamond dog. His body was covered in bruises and small cuts with blood leaking from the wounds. The dog himself was tired, evidence by him slowly walking into the small village.
Upon seeing him, many of the villagers flee into their houses. It was terrifying for them to see a dog in their village since most of them never reach this far into Equestria without facing the border guards.
The village leader orders the militia to confront the dog while their messenger heads to Canterlot. Gathering up their weapons the militia surrounded the lone dog asking what he wants. The dog didn't respond, instead it just collapses on the ground.
The militia confused by this display dragged the dog's battered body into one of the sheds, they also tied the dog's arms and legs as well.
With that taken care the villagers waited until the royal guards arrive. A couple of hours later two chariots full of guards arrived in the village. They got off the chariots and greeted the villagers, Captain Bronze Boot went to the village leader and ask him of the situation.
The elderly pony told the captain all that happened this morning, then told him about the dog they are kept in the shed. Hearing this the captain took a few guards with and have them position outside the shed, he'll be going inside and interrogate their prisoner.
Entering the shed, the pony captain saw that the dog was in no condition to talk. His body is badly injured and his mind must be woozy, as he kept saying random things. But, then his ears caught the words others, tunnels, and mountains.
Captain Boot listens on to the dog's rambling, even asking questions in hope to make him talk more. After hearing enough, the captain left the shed and ordered his troops to gather the rest.
When all the guards gathered in front of their captain, he explains the situation to them. From what he got from the dog, there are more of them located near the mountains. He then orders everyone back to the chariots and head towards the mountains.
They reached the base of the mountain, the captain ordered the pegasus in his group to scout out the area. While the pegasus tooked to the air, Captain Boot leads the other ground guards up the hill. An hour later the pegasus return and inform the captain of their findings.
Out of all the scouts sent, only one found something. That pony found a tunnel entrance near the top, he then told the captain about the dead diamond dogs near the entrance.
Surprised by this, the captain advises everyone to be cautious. The group of royal guards quickly trotted up the mountain, watching out for anything that might attack them. They finally reached the entrance where the scout found. Like the pony said the entrance had dead dogs around.
While the sign of a battle was quite evident, strangely enough there was no sign of the one who slain these dogs. He then at first thought it was a group of creatures, but seeing no other tracks aside the dogs, it could have been a rival dog faction.
Entering in the tunnel the ponies encountered more bodies, littering across narrow mine. As they continued forward Captain Bronze Boot noticed that the dead dogs all bear the same insignia displaying their faction. Could all these dogs turn on each other, he asked himself.
Seeing how vast the tunnel was, the captain order everpony to split up and explore each of the numerous channels. Captain Boot was paired up with Private Boulder Dash as they travel along the tunnels.
The two ponies then encountered a wounded dog near death. The Captain went up to the dying mutt and asked him a few questions. The answers he got varied, the dog mumbled something about the killing, the back stabbing, and the chaos. The one thing he kept mentioning something about a diamond, the cursed diamond as he called it.
The dog finally succumbed to his wounds and lay silent. With nothing more to gain from him the two continued on. They searched the entire tunnels and found absolutely nothing, except more corpses. With nothing found all the guards rendezvous back at the entrance.
With the threat of the dogs taken care of, the Captain decided to stay in the village for the night and head back to Canterlot by tomorrow morning. The royal guards went back to the village and they were kind enough to allow them to stay in their village.
Later that night the villagers set up a feast for the guards, they of course kindly accept their offer and joined the villagers in their feast. While eating, Captain Bronze Boot noticed Lieutenant Pole Star was constantly looking out the window.
Then suddenly one villager burst in and exclaimed that the dog has escaped. Upon hearing this the royal guards got up and left to search the escape diamond dog. While they all spread out and searched the village, Lt Pole Star went straight for the building where they are all sleeping.
Following his instinct the Captain followed the Lieutenant, he watched him enter the building and saw him going through his bags. At the same time the Captain saw something else enter the building, then the next thing he saw was his Lieutenant being attacked.
He rushed in to help his comrade, he burst through the door and saw the Pole Star and the diamond dog fighting each other. From the look of it the pony was holding something and the dog was trying to get it from him. Their fight leads them outside, soon everypony heard the commotion and arrived to find the two viciously battling each other.
The dog gave one strong punch and knocked the pony to the ground, releasing a bright shiny diamond from his hoof. The diamond caught everyponies eyes as they stared at the beautiful jewel. When the dog saw the diamond he stopped his assault on the pony and ran after it.
He was stopped when two of the pegasus guards struck him from both sides, this was enough to knock out the dog. Lt Pole Star recovered from his attack and trotted to his unconscious foe with a scowl on his face. He raised his spear and aimed at the dog. He was about to finish him off, but Bronze Boot stopped him.
He told him that they don't kill prisoners, and ordered him to put away his weapon. The Lieutenant grumbled for a bit, but halted when he forgot about the diamond. He looked up and saw everypony from guards to villagers staring at the diamond. He quickly snatched the gem and held it in his hoof.
The Captain asked where he found the gem and pony responded by saying that he always had it. He was obviously lying, but decides to focus on that later, right now he has a prisoner to question. Telling the crowd of villagers to disperse he asked his troops to bring him some chains.
Later the dog was slowly gaining consciousness, the first thing he saw was a pony in royal guard armor. Acting instinctively he tried to lunge at him, but was held in place by some chains. Seeing that the dog was up the Captain started questioning him, in particular what he was after.
The dog angry and demanded his diamond back. Asking further the dog angrily told the Captain that Pole Star stole his diamond, confused the Captain allowed him to continue rambling. Soon the dog was calming down and was able to give more clearer answers.
The dog's name was Rex and he told him about what happened to him and his pack. Rex explained that his pack leader found a perfectly crafted diamond in the mine. At first nothing happened, but then the dogs started acting weirdly. Soon the dogs became violent and were slaughtering each other for the diamond.
Eventually Rex was the only one to survive and he dragged himself all the way here. He warned the pony that the gem was cursed and will only bring bloodshed to all who saw it. The Captain was not sure what to make of this situation, the dog was obviously insane, but if what he says is true than everypony in this village is in danger.
Bronze then heard a scream from outside, he left the shed and saw a stallion thrashing on a mare. The Captain punched the stallion off the mare and stood in front of her. The stallion got up, but instead of charging at him he just ran off. Seeing him gone Bronze turned around to help the hurt mare, but then the mare punched him in the face.
The mare continued her assault on the Captain, forcing him to take drastic action. Raising his two rear legs, Bronze bucked the mare off her. She landed her head on the shed wall, breaking her skull opened. The Captain got up and saw the bloody mess he caused, he then heard more screams coming from somewhere and quickly trotted towards the source.
What met him there was absolute chaos, villagers and even his own guards were brutally fighting each other. In the center of it all was Lt Pole Star battling a couple of ponies while holding the diamond. Deciding to end this Bronze charge to the center and bash into the Lieutenant.
He dropped the diamond and the Captain picked it up, but when he did he couldn't get his eyes off of it. He started to get strange a feeling of desires, as if he wanted nothing then, to keep this jewel for himself. He was abruptly pulled out his trance when somepony snatched out of his hoof.
With the gem gone, the Captain suddenly felt a new emotion, this new feeling of rage. Bronze chased after the thief, when he got close he lunged at him. Pinning him down, the pony captain started to pummel the pony beneath him. He stopped halfway when he saw who the pony he was beating, Pvt Boulder Dash.
Regaining his focus the Captain ordered the injured private to hoof over the diamond. Boulder Dash refused to and kept it around his arms. The Captain aggressively pried the shiny rock out of arms and left him on the ground. He was about to leave with the gem when he suddenly felt a stinging sensation coming his back.
Turning his head he saw Boulder Dash with a knife stabbed in his back. The rage returned and he swiftly bucked the private in his face. The impact knocked a couples of Boulder's teeth out, he lay on the ground again beaten. Bronze Boot quickly trotted away the chaos around him, he soon found himself in a forest and was never seen again.
"To this day many believe that Captain Bronze Boot's remains can be found in the Everfree Forest, the legend also says that he buried the blood diamond somewhere deep in the vast dark forest, waiting to discover again and unleash its turmoil." Spike finished his story.
The three crusaders sat silently as Spike who is dressed as knight, finished his story. Then Applebloom quickly raised her hoof.
"Yes, Applebloom?" he pointed at her.
"Um yeah Spike, how did Rex knew Pole Star had the diamond?"
"Um well you see,,," Spike tried to answer, but couldn't find any.
Then suddenly Scootaloo spoke up, "yeah also seriously, Horseville?"
"Well why not?" Spike responded, "If Ponyville is a real place why not Horseville?"
Before the orange filly can speak up, Sweetie belle spoke up, "And another thing why was point of Boulder Dash? Was he supposed to be a close friend of the captain?"
As the three crusaders plus one dragon argued over his story, down below Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Twilight looked and smiled.
"Gotta hoofed to Dash, this was a great idea." Applejack complemented her blue pegasus friend.
"Well what can I say, the little guy should really hang out with other kids," Rainbow explained.
"Yes, I agree with Dash," Twilight remarked. "Spike is a growing child and read somewhere that interacting with other kids will help him grow up."
As the three stood listening in, Rainbow realized that she never asked Twilight what her costume is. Glancing over to her, the purple mare was wearing a black robe and witch hat.
"By the way Twilight, nice witch costume," said the blue mare. This earned her a glare from the purple unicorn.
"Witch? I'm dressed as Arcane Abyss, the greatest sorceress that ever lived." she corrected her friend.
"Well alright, but why did she looked like a witch?" asked Applejack .
"It's because Arcane was around before the appearance of the witches, you see...." as Twilight gave a short lecture explaining why Arcane Abyss wore black and the history of witches, the three friends tuned her out and continued to listen in to the fillies and dragon's stories.
Crimson Seeker, red color earth stallion living by himself in a small apartment room. He is currently unemployed and is about to lose his home, the red stallion has sent out his resume to many places, hoping that one of them will pick it up. Unfortunately he has heard no word from them.
Looking for other options, Crimson went on a computer and surfed the internet, looking for any available job. Sadly half of them had different requirements, while the other half was out of the city. As he was about to give up, he suddenly found an interesting ad.
This ad promises the pony a thousand bits for one night of work. The stallion was shocked by this payment, a thousand bits? He can live off that for a year. He continued reading and discovered that the place is outside the city and the only requirement is needed except to stay up all night. Sure he would lose some sleep, but the reward makes it worth it.
This is too good to be truth he thought to himself. He then stopped and thought more about it, this ad was too good to be true. What kind of job pays a thousand bit for a single night of work? Is this job dangerous, is that why it pays so much. Also he doesn't know who these ponies are, they could criminals doing something illegal.
The pony speculated some more, but in the end this was a huge opportunity and was willing to take the risk. Gather his supplies which consist of water bottles, a cell phone, wrapped sandwich, first aid kit, his resume, and some cookies. Carrying them all in his bag the red pony left his apartment and trotted all the way to his destination.
By the time Crimson reached the place the sun was setting and the skies were turning orange. The stallion came across a large fenced area, inside the fenced area was a row of tombstones, Near the side was a small gray building where the two fences connected to the side.
Seeing that this was the only building in the area, Crimson trotted to the front door and entered through it. Inside he found a blue unicorn reading by the counter. The red stallion went up to the unicorn and announced his presence to him.
The blue unicorn brought his book down and looked at Crimson. The red pony explained about the ad and the blue pony just took out numerous papers. He told him to sign his name on each one and told him to give it back to him when he is done.
Crimson Seeker read each paper before signing his name, apparently these papers are from the government evidenced by the royal seal. Whatever this was it must be really important if they are involved.
After signing the papers he gave them back to blue pony, who took it and put them in a file. The unicorn then took Crimson on a tour of the place. It was quite short as all he did take around the building, showing him the recreation room, the bathroom, lunch room, and a closet. His tour ended when the unicorn, Twin Peak, showed Crimson the vast graveyard.
The area was huge, it stretched as far as his eyes can see. The fences surrounding the graveyard were more heavily fortified than the normal fences. They were more higher and more sturdier.
With the tour done both ponies returned to the front, Twin Peak took the file and went for the door. As he was about to leave he told Crimson to read the paper located in the desk behind him. The blue unicorn took his leave and left the red earth pony by himself.
Wishing he brought something to pass the night, he went behind the counter and found the paper Twin Peak told before and read it.
New guy, follow these rules and you'll get through the night with ease.
1- Lock and cover all doors and windows before the sun lowers and the moon rises.
2-Ignore all noses coming outside.
3-Do not cause any loud noises during the night.
4-In a emergency under no circumstances are you to leave this place, instead head to the basement and lock yourself in until morning aka the sun rising.
Again follow these rules and you'll get your payment.
Confused by these rules, the red stallion nevertheless followed the first one. He went to each of the window and door, locked them and cover them up with very thick drapes.
With every window and door secured, Crimson Seeker went the front again, hoping to find anything to read from the counter. Looking through the drawers he found a bunch of books, he then took them to the recreation room where he started reading them.
An hour into reading the books the red stallion starting to hear some noises, remembering the rules he ignored them and continued reading. The noises got louder and more numerous, Crimson continued to ignore it until he heard the sound of breaking glass.
Alarmed Crimson went to investigate the source of the sound. He trotted along the narrow corridors and found the source. A window was broken and coming through it was decayed looking forearms.
Horrified Crimson screamed which caused more decayed forearms to break through the windows, panicking the red stallion tried to gallop to the front door. He was stopped when one of these things crawled through the shattered windows.
The stallion now got a full view of the creature, his entire body was rotten to the core, he looked like a skeleton with bits of his flesh still intact. The ghoul slowly got up and faced the red stallion. Crimson was disturbed by the ghoul's face, like the rest of the body his face was all rotten up, his eyeballs were gone leaving big empty holes in his eye socket.
The undead pony quickly trotted to Crimson, the red pony instinctively gallops away, but only to face more of these ghouls. Remembering the rules from before, Crimson went to the basement and locked the behind him. He continued down the stairs while hearing the sound of pounding by the door.
Reaching the bottom Crimson close and locked another, in the basement was a bed and some food and water. With nothing else to do the red stallion decided to wait on the bed until morning.
He tried to stay up, but he was tired and was getting drowsy. He fell asleep on the bed and slept for the rest of the night, while the ghouls upstairs tried to get in.
The morning finally arrived and the red stallion was awoken by a loud call from upstairs, he went up the stairs again and opened the door. On the other side was Twin Peak holding a cheque for one thousand bits.
He told the Crimson that his job was done and asked him to leave, Crimson wanted to know what hell were these things. At first Twin Peak was reluctant and warned him that he was under contract not tell anyone of what happened last night.
The red stallion was persistent and demanded the unicorn to answer him. Twin Peak sighs and decided to tell him the truth. Long ago during the terror of Nightmare Moon, the dark alicorn conjure up a spell that makes all the dead rise from their graves. To counter this Princess Celestia conjured up her own spell and made her sun harmful to the dead.
So after the Celestia banished her sister to the moon she personally went to each graveyard in Equstria and dispel the magic her sister has cast. Unfortunately, she missed one and that is where they come. It is their duty to make sure none of these ghouls break out of this place, In fact they are not even allowed to leave when they start attacking you. Instead you are supposed to stay here until they returned to their graves when the sun rises.
Shocked by this revelation Crimson just took the cheque and left this place, hoping to never do this ever again.
"And that is the story of Night Shift," Babs Seed finished her tale, while dressed as a robot.
The three other crusaders looked more confused then terrified, they remained silent for a bit until her cousin spoke up.
"Babs, what the hay is a computer?"
"Alright cuz, I forgot you ponies don't have any of them fancy gizmos as we do," Babs replied.
"Yeah what the hey is computer?" Scootaloo asked.
"And how you surf the internet?" Sweetie asked next.
As Babs Seed explained what a computer was to her cousin and two friends, down below Applejack and Babs Seed's parents were listening in. While Applejack and the father were smiling, the mother was less than pleased.
"I can't believe can not believe our daughter knew such a horrid tale,' the yellow mare with orange mane, said.
"Come now dear it wasn't that horrid," the stallion with darker shade of yellow and green mane, remarked.
"Yeah Aunt orange just let's just listen to the story," Applejack told the older mare.
"Very well," Aunt Orange sighs and sat down with her husband and niece and continued to listen in to the crusader's spooky tale.