Chapters Scootaloo didn't think. She just ran when she saw the terrible, faceless pony. She didn't know where her friends went. Her only thought was 'AAAAAHHH!!' as she fled.
It was just after sunset. Scootaloo, Sweetie Bell, and Apple Bloom had all gotten lost in the Garden Maze during their class trip. They were more afraid they'd not be found until the next day, at least until IT showed up.
She could describe it fairly well- a tall, paper white, slender pony in a black suite with a red tie. It had no mane, no eyes, mouth, or anything. Just looking at it had filled her eyes and ears with static, and gave her a terrible headache.
Scootaloo slowed down and looked behind her. The freakishly tall pony wasn't there- but neither were her friends. She thought about calling out to them, but it would also give away her position to the white pony.
Giving a sigh, Scootaloo continued down the path she'd been running on. Several twists and turns later, she came upon a small dead end circle, with a dead tree in the center. Pinned to the tree was a small piece of paper. Scootaloo took a closer look, and saw that it was a crude sketch of the creepy pony, and a bunch of pine trees. Something told her it was important, so she took the paper down from the tree and put it in her schoolbag. She barely noticed as a low base beat began to resonate from all directions around her.
Continuing on her way, she doubled back and came to a small statue. It was so weathered down, it was unrecognisable, though it vaguely resembled a pegasus. Another paper lay at the foot of the statue, which was absolutely covered in scrawling letters, reading "NO" over and over again. She stowed this paper in her bag with the other. Now she'd found two. How many more, she didn't know.
She turned to her left to go down that direction, and her heart skipped a beat when the faceless pony stood there, motionless. Screaming, she ran down the opposite direction, using her small wing sto propel her foreward. She didn't stop running until she ran out of breath and her sides were in stitches. She found herself in front of a small fountain, trickling water down in cracked spots. There was another paper at the top, untouched by the water. Scootaloo check behind herself to see if she was still being pursued, and was releived to find that the mysterious pony was no longer there. She scaled the fountain, leaving her schoolbag at it's base. She reached up and grabbed the note, which read simply "HELP ME" in hasty, barely readable equestrian. She turned back to her bag to put it with the others.
The mysterious pony stood inches before her, tendrils of darkness writhing behind it, flowing out of it's back. Scootaloo screamed, fell flailing into the fountain, and was silence by the Slender Mare.
AppleBloom hadn't been paying much attention to the direction she'd run when the faceless pony frightened her and her friends. So it was certain she'd trip on a gnarled root poking up out of the ground. At least this time she didn't chip a tooth.
Rising to her hooves, she checked behind her for sign of the unnatural figure. Nopony was there, and she sighed in relief, stiffening when she realized that neither of her friends had been able to follow her. She was lost by herself in the garden maze, with a scary pony on the prowl.
"Sweetie Bell!" She called. "Scootaloo!"
When no one responded, she held her head low, kicking at a stray stone. They couldn't hear her. Thats all.
Not wanting to risk running into the faceless pony by back tracking, Apple Bloom continued through the maze. She left Apple seeds from her lunch behind so she could find her way back, or her friends could follow them and find her. The path she walked was mostly strait, a few dead ends branching off to the sides. After what seemed like forever, the path took a right, leading into a small glade with a reflecting pool and a few trees. She would've walked right on past them had she not noticed a piece of paper pinned to one. Closer examenation showed that the paper read "always watches, no eyes" in incredibly messy handwriting, along with a sketch of a cirlce with x's over where eyes would be. Apple Bloom, feeling this could be something she needed to show her friends, took the paper down and folded it into her saddlebag. She noticed a faint base note playing at a slow rate, something she hadn't noticed earlier. Apple Bloom continued through the glade, oblivious to the implications of the note she'd found.
It wasn't for a long while that Applebloom came upon another feature of the garden maze- it was a small alcove of stone, placed amidst the high, thorny walls that imprisoned her. Another note was resting in it, this one depicting a single tree, and the hastily scrawled words "LEAVE ME ALONE". This note, along with the one she'd already found, began to frighten the poor filly. What had she and her friends gotten themselves into?
She simply took the note, stowing it away with the other, and continued on her way.
Eventually she turned upon a dead end, and was forced tor turn back. She screamed so loud her throat hurt when she was confronted with the faceless, freakishly tall pony. Applebloom turned back around and tried to push through the thorny bushes, tumbling out through the other side. She found herself in front of a fountain, a fountain tainted with blood.
Scootaloo's mutilated corpse bobbed up and down in the blood-saturated water, swirling around in it's light current. Applebloom's eyes leaked tears of fear and sorrow, and she found herself running down the nearest path. She didn't watch where she was going, and ran into another dead end, this time, with the eerie pony standing at the end. She turned to run, but the pony appeared there too. She tried to scream, but her voice was dampered by the well of tears. Her death was swift and silent- she was dead before he first drop of blood hit the dirt.
Sweetie Bell's high pitched scream sounded out across the maze as she ran, terrified of the pony that made her eyes go all staticy and towered over her with it's non-face. She kept running until her voice wore out from her initial scream, when she paused to take a breath for another.
She would've done so had she not noticed a piece of paper sticking out of the hedges next to her. Pulling it out, she examined the paper, which had a crude sketch of a tree, the well dressed pony, and the word "FOLLOWS" written on it.
"Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, look at-" she stopped when she saw that her two friends were not with her. Sweetie was scared and alone, with nothing but a piece of paper with her. And that odd base resonance.
She put the paper in her bag to show her friends later, and continued upon the winding path laid out by the maze. All the side path's she discovered in the first ten minutes were dead ends. She pause momentarily when she thought she heard a scream, but it was too faint to make out. Continuing her walk in the maze, she came across another feature of the maze, though it looked rather demolished. It was a stone wall, and it looked like something ha been torn out of it. Another paper stuck out from bits of rubble like a flag. Sweetie investigated the paper, finding it read "DON'T LOOK... OR IT TAKES YOU", along with another crude sketch of the odd pony.
Takes me where? Sweetie Bell wondered. She put the note with the other one, and followed the path on her left.
The spooky, suited pony stood at the end, motionless as a statue. Sweetie screamed, running away and shaking her head in vain to clear away the static. She ran until she hit a tree, amongst a reflecting pool and a few others.
She looked around- no tall pony in sight. She did notice a trail of apple seeds leading out of the clearing.
Apple Bloom must've left those, Sweetie Bell thought. Maybe I can find her by following them!
Sweetie let the trail of seed lead her to a dead end, where it looked like Apple Bloom ad run through a hedge. Sweetie followed through it tentatively, unsure of why she'd do so. Sweetie was confronted with a fountain trickling blood filled water, and a corpse floating in it. Sweetie started crying- who would do that to somepony?- and checked around the fountain. Scootaloo's bag lay at the base, along with a loose page, reading "HELP ME". Sweetie refused to believe the dead pony was her friend, though she did take the page and the bag.
Sweetie Bell was deathly scared now, and had lost the Apple seed trail. She decided to take a random path, leading her to a dead end. There she saw a sight most grown stallions would vomit at.
Apple Bloom was torn apart, her limbs completely severed, her eyes crushed into the dirt, and her jaw hanging on by a single ligament. her bag lay next to her, covered in it's owner's blood, but otherwise untouched.
Sweetie sat on the dirt and cried, more so than she ever had before. Both her friends were dead- she now had every reason to believe the corpse in the fountain was Scoots- and she was likely next.
After what seemed like forever, she got up, and threw Apple Bloom's bag over her own, and Scootaloo's. Silent with sorrow, she wandered the maze, eventually coming upon the area she'd met with the horrible, horrible pony. Another note lay on the ground. Sweetie picked it up, and read "CAN'T RUN" from it.
The note didn't lie. She looked up and stood face to face with the unnaturally thin- the Slender Mare before her. She tried to run, but the weight of the three bags she now carried proved too heavy, and she soon ran out of breath. The last thing she saw was the Slender mare, through eyes near blinded with static, and her own tears.