Why You Should Be Scared of the Dark

Why You Should Be Scared Of The Dark

Prologue

A pillow collided firmly with Applebloom's face, sending her sprawling to the floor and signalling the end of their rapidly escalating game. While Scootaloo outwardly apologised for her over-zealous throw, secretly she was crowning herself the undefeated pillow fighting champion for yet another sleepover. Honestly it was a wonder her cutie mark wasn't hurtling bed linen, such was her aptitude for it.

“Ya always get too rough,” complained Applebloom, rubbing the lump where her head had hit the hard floorboards.

“You just need to dodge better is all,” said Scootaloo, ruffling her wings. Sweetie Bell giggled, but she was quickly silenced by Applebloom's vicious stare. “Now what are we going to do?” she asked, trying to deflect her friend’s angry gaze.

Twilight had been kind enough to let them stay over at the library and taking them out of their sister's hooves for an evening, but having exhausted most of the generic sleepover activities the Cutie Mark Crusaders found themselves at a bit of a loss.

“Not another pillow fight, that's for sure,” said Applebloom, and Scootaloo quickly dropped the cushion she had been raising in suggestion.

“Ooh, I know!” Sweetie clopped her hooves together in excitement. “What about ghost stories!?”

Scoots jumped up. “That's a great idea!” She paused. “Do you know any?”

“Um... No.” Sweetie sighed. “What about you, Applebloom?”

“Ah hate ghost stories,” came the grumbling response.

“Liven up Applebloom, I said I was sorry.”

“Y'all ain't the ones with a bump the size of an egg; it's easy for you to say. And you don't know any stories anyway, so there's nothin' we can do about it.”

“Duh,” said Scootaloo. “We're in a library. Where else are you going to find a book of ghost stories?”

Applebloom had to admit she had a point.

“Okay crusaders, let's find a scary book! The one who finds it gets to read it!”

As they bumped hooves, a chill wind suddenly ran through the library, blowing out the lantern. There was a deafening slam from behind them, and after jumping a good foot into the air, they rushed to cower under their blankets.

“What in the hay was that?” whispered Applebloom.

Sweetie shivered. “I don't know, but it was really loud...”

Scootaloo, however, couldn't resist the opportunity. “Maybe it was the library ghost? Some say he still haunts here today, making little fillies jump by slamming his hooves down.”

“That wasn't the sound of hooves,” chided Applebloom. “Go see what it was, Scoots. Unless yer chicken.”

“I'm not a chicken!”

“Prove it,” said Sweetie Bell, as Applebloom started making soft clucking noises.

“Fine, I will.” Scootaloo edged out from her covers, moving as slowly and quietly as possible while her friends stared out from under the blanket, wide-eyed.

“Well?” called Applebloom. What is it?”

No reply.

“Scoots?” Sweetie's voice shook a little. “Scootaloo?”

No reply.

Just as they made to peek out, Scootaloo jumped up in front of them.

“BOO!” she yelled, sending them both jumping back with loud yelps as Scootaloo fell into peals of laughter.

“Don't DO that!” shouted Sweetie, voice cracking slightly in her indignant rage.

“Oh come on, how am I meant to resist such a good opportunity? You’re the ones who made me go look.”

“What was it?” asked Applebloom.

“A book.”

Sweetie raised an eyebrow. “What book?”

Scootaloo held it up, an enormous green volume. Even in the dim they could make out the gold lettering embossed on the front.

Why You Should Be Scared Of The Dark

(and other stories to tell with the lights off)

The pegasus relit the lantern, flipped it open and read the first page.

“Hello, dear reader. I'm here to offer you some advice. Put this book down and walk away. Contained within are six very real stories which I had the misfortune to document, and any one of them could make your mane stand on end and turn white in an instant. This is not a book for the faint of heart, or the weak of constitution. So if you feel up to the task read on, and pray that you survive the night...”

“R-real stories?” asked Applebloom, lower lip trembling.

“Of course not,” said Scootaloo. “It's just there to set the mood.” And then, with a sly grin, “Or maybe it is real. Maybe we shouldn't read it because then the monsters will come for... US.” She shouted the last word, making them both jump again. “Man, you guys are too easy.”

“So... are we reading it?” Sweetie looked from Applebloom to Scootaloo, their faces half-shrouded in dancing shadows from the lantern.

“No!”
“Yes!”

Their response was simultaneous.

Scootaloo sighed. “I said it first, so we read it.”

“Nuh-uh, ah said No way before you said Yes.”

“Did not.”

“Did too.”

“Did not.”

“Did too.”

“Shut up, the pair of you!” Sweetie bit her lip. “I say we read it. How can we not after it basically jumped at us?”

“That's exactly why ah'm sayin' we shouldn't!”

Scootaloo hushed her. “It’s two against one. Okay, I'll read the first story, and then we'll pass it around.”

She opened it to the contents.

WHY YOU SHOULD BE SCARED OF THE DARK

BY DAWN SHIMMER

• Why You Should Be Scared Of The Dark
  
• Dead Spiders
  
• Frozen
  
• Pulling Teeth
  
• Behind You
  
• Adaptation

“Some of those sound like I really don't want to read them,” said Sweetie. “What was that one about spiders?”

“Dead Spiders,” said Scootaloo.

“Yeah, dibs not reading that one.”

“That's fine,” said Applebloom. “Y'all can listen to me read it instead.”

Sweetie was suddenly filled with panic. “Wait, no, I've changed my mind! I'd rather read it than listen to it...”

“Too late,” said Scootaloo. “You called dibs.”

Applebloom nodded sagely, resigning Sweetie Bell to her fate.

“Okay,” said Scoots, “I'll read the first one, then Applebloom, then Sweetie Bell, and then we go in that order again. Deal?”

The other crusaders agreed, and Scootaloo turned the page. The lantern cast angry shadows on the library walls as she began to read.