Chapter 1: Old Sleepy Hollow
“I dare you to sneak into the old cemetery place and come back out with proof you were there.”
The corner of Rainbow Dash’s mouth twitched only a fraction, but she was afraid it could have been enough to reveal the small flicker of hesitation. Seven other foals stood around, waiting for her to either take the challenge or forfeit the dare and therefore giving her point over to the colt who issued it.
“Oh is that all?” Rainbow Dash raised her hoof to gloat. “I could do that any day of the week!”
The brown pegasus colt smiled, as if he knew he had her cornered.
“You have to go at midnight—exactly midnight!” Several gasps followed, and a few whispers about how gloomy the cemetery looked at night. Rainbow Dash held her tongue, afraid an immediate rebuttal would come out more like a squeak than a growl. She was surrounded by a number of fillies and colts, most of them were earth ponies and unicorns from Ponyville and a few others, pegasus school mates from Cloudsdale. It had been a year since the day she had gotten her cutie mark and since then Rainbow Dash had been in a perpetual cycle, grooming her image as the coolest filly in Cloudsdale, in these types of situations where she was being looked on by possible admirers, she could not afford to lose her cool.
“I know you’ve got something snarky to say, Rainbow Crash!” The colt’s sneer was wide and toothy. “So come on, spit it out! Tell us how cool you are!” All the other foals watched her, waiting for a response.
“I—” This wasn’t starting on the right hoof. Dash’s voice caught in her throat as her internal thoughts blossomed with images of crooked tombstones, creaking metal fences, thick as soup fog, and the creatures that loved to dance just outside of your peripheral vision in the darkness.
“But Sleepy Hollow is off limits after midnight, don’t you know that?” a filly named Ginger who was also in on the game tried to caution them, but the colt didn’t listen.
“If you’re too chicken to go, Crash, just admit it. I promise we won’t laugh.” But it was too late, behind him a couple of fillies were already struggling to contain their giggle fits, most likely due to the ridiculous expression stuck on Dash’s face. Furrowed eyebrows and puffed out cheeks as if she were holding in a giant build up of dragon’s breath.
‘Dammit Dumbbell, one day I’m going to kick your flank so hard it’ll break inwards’
A little white filly jumped in between them. Her eyes were bright and her smile extra wide, revealing a set of front teeth that were larger than the average as she trotted in place excitedly, gaining everyone’s attention.
“You’re both going out to find the ghost of Sleepy Hollow? That is so cool! Can I come?”
Dumbbell rolled his eyes. “She has to go alone, Quack.”
The little white filly wilted slightly but tried to save face. “I promise I won’t get in the way.”
“Wait a minute.” Dash’s ears pricked forward. “What ghost?”
Quackers turned her way. “You don’t know about it? Oh, well I guess you wouldn’t. It’s more an earth pony thing.”
“I don’t care. If I have to go to this Sleepy Hollow place then I wanna know about it.” A few other foals, most of them earth ponies, were also interested, so bolstered by an audience,Quackers told them:
“There are some ponies who say Ponyville was terrorized by a cannibal back when this place was still new, and you could hardly tell the difference between safe forest and the Everfree. When the big town hall at the center of the town was a big wet pile of lumber, there was a pony, a stallion I think. He was really old, but really strong too! He practically built half of ponyville by himself! But he didn’t like the fact that he wasn’t as strong as he used to be. He didn’t like that at all. Anyway, nopony knew that he wasn’t like…well, normal. And that he often went off into the forest to hunt rabbits and squirrels.”
One filly flinched. “You mean he…ate bunnies?”
“Yep, and birds too, I think, if he could catch them.”
Rainbow Dash didn’t know what was worse: her new rolling visions of a blood-smeared earth pony burying his teeth into raw flesh or the fact that right in front of her, Quackers didn’t seem phased at all. In fact she looked excited just to be talking.
“But anyway,” Quackers continued. “Nopony were suspicious of anything because he would always come out of the forest looking fine. He probably got cleaned up in the stream, though a few noticed he never touched the food laid out at the big communal dinners. No, he would just stand off to the side and…watch the unicorns.”
“Um...why unicorns?” A little yellow unicorn named Banana Splash tilted her ears back cautiously.
“Be quiet and maybe you’ll find out!” shushed Ginger as Quackers continued.
“My dad says when Ponyville was being built and stuff, there weren’t a lot of unicorns because most of them still lived in Canterlot, but there were a few. That the old earth stallion would watch them, real strange like. But still, he didn’t bother anypony and nopony minded his weirdness, until one day those unicorns disappeared. Not all at once but one at a time. There was at least a family, first the mom, then the child, and when the dad went mad looking for them, he ran into the forest and didn’t come back.”
Banana Splash gasped and hid her nose between her front hooves, quivering slightly.
“How did anyone find out?” a colt asked.
“They found bones while out cutting down trees. A lot of rabbit bones, a few bird bones, all over the ground, you know. At first, they didn’t think it was too big of a deal. They knew bears lived in the forest but they were rare and were afraid of ponies. Not a one was seen during the three search parties. Each time they went out they covered more ground. But one day the leader of the town and a few others went deep into White Tail Woods and that’s when they saw it.”
“Saw what?” Rainbow Dash and the colt and filly all asked in unison, their bodies were tense.
“The unicorn bones. Next to a fire pit that was long burnt out. They found out it was the cannibal when the next unicorn went missing, a posse made a beeline for that exact same spot and caught him in the act! They rescued the poor unicorn a-and they...” Quackers paused and looked down at her hooves solemnly.
“Yeah? What did they do?” Dumbbell stamped his hoof down as he demanded.
“They dragged him back to Ponyville and put him on trial. He confessed to eating those unicorns. A monster or a spirit, or something, told him he would live forever because unicorns have magic in their blood. He was executed three days later.” For emphasis, Quackers put her hooves up against her throat and made a pained expression with one eye squeezed shut, with her tongue hanging out of her mouth. “They hanged him!”
It was a sharp silence that followed. None of them moved or whispered or even coughed.
“His body was the first buried in Sleepy Hollow but they didn’t mark his grave, but oh, he’s there.” Quackers said. “And the legend is…on the midnight of the new moon—”
The fact that the new moon was that very night resurfaced in Rainbow Dash’s brain.
“—his ghost wanders through White Tail woods, searching for lost ponies. And if he finds one he takes their bodies all for himself!”
Everyone flinched and at that moment a heavy breeze bustled past, disturbing their manes and the tree branches overhead.
“I’ll do it. I’m not scared of some stupid cemetery,” Rainbow Dash spoke in defiance. “But since I’m in the lead in this game, I’ve got one condition.”
Dumbbell’s haughty smile lost some of its vibrance, turning into more of a scowl. “What condition?”
It was Rainbow Dash’s turn to smile as she pointed a hoof at the brown colt. “You’ve got to come with me.”
There was a hushed gasp which stretched across the circle of ponies, accented by one or two hasty whispers. Dumbbell looked as if Rainbow Dash had just insulted his mother and was hanging onto his poise for dear life.
“W-why me?” he demanded.
“Think about it, does anypony here even know what the inside of a morgue looks like? I could bring back any old thing and none of you could confirm or deny I actually went there.”
All of the fillies and colts went silent.
“And besides, most likely there won’t be any way inside and if that’s the case, as it most likely is, then a witness can vouch for me.” Rainbow Dash set an icy stare Dumbbell’s way. “And that might as well be you.”
Dumbbell’s ears went flat as the trickle of laughter washed over his head. Rainbow Dash knew she had cornered him in his own trap. Backing out now would brand him a coward, something any other colt could survive as his friends would understand their unwillingness to trek down to the graveyard after midnight. But Dumbbell was a complete blowhard, always finding some way to put himself at the center of attention and took pains to elevate his accomplishments above any others.
“But if you’re too chicken to go—”
“Shut up, Crash,” Dumbbell cut her off and brushed past her so harshly he nearly knocked her flat. “Let’s just go already. I ain’t afraid of no graveyard.”
A filly stepped up as if to follow and stopped mid-stride, seeming to hesitate. Her nervous smile seemed to reflect the anxious mood of the other colts and fillies.
“Well I guess it’s all settled. We’ll see you both tomorrow!” She waved at them and galloped off. The remaining foals did the same, going their own separate ways to find some entertainment in the waning day. Dumbbell and Quackers stayed behind, the later let her ears dip a little.
“I can come with you, if you want some company,” she said. Rainbow smiled appreciatively but the back of her mind was trying to think of an excuse. The little buck toothed pony was a real scatter brain and Dash wasn’t sure if she could handle both her and the bullheaded dork.
“Nah it’s okay. I’ll be fine!” she said. “Besides, it might feel less scary if there’s three of us.”
Quackers frown turned into a knowing smile, as if she really did want Rainbow Dash to experience something special, and galloped away. Then only Dumbbell was left who was marching away from her at a heated pace.
“You’re going the wrong way, idiot,” Rainbow Dash quipped and trotted in the opposite direction. She heard him stop and turn around to catch up.
“It’s not like I see this place from the ground as much as you do,” he complained.
“Well you ought to, it's actually pretty cool down here.” said Rainbow Dash, but Dumbbell dismissed her with a snort. Dash rolled her eyes. Maybe forcing him along wasn’t the best idea, not that there was any chance at going back; if she tried she might never hear the end of it.
The day was cooling, the sky set in a dark evening blue and the light just beginning to mute. It wouldn’t be long before the moon traded places with the sun. Dash noticed the road they were on was empty, which would make taking a certain shortcut a lot easier.
“Hey, come on, follow me!” she said and flew off the path going west into a big open field.
“Where are you going?”
“Just follow me! It’s already getting dark and I know a shortcut!”
They flew over the field and stopped at a wooden fence which stretched the length of the field from the Ponyville schoolyard to the Everfree Forest. Laying beyond it was a massive field of apple trees.
“Wow, what’s this place?” Dumbbell stood upright, letting his forelegs rest on top of the fence post.
Rainbow Dash didn’t hesitate and jumped over the fence and walked into the rows of tall apple trees.
“This place is called Sweet Apple Acres, it’s the biggest farm around here,” said Dash. “If we cut through it from here we’ll save time, so lets get a move on.” She took another step, paused, and turned around. “And before you even think about it, don’t steal any of the—”
Dumbbell was hovering near a middle branch where a set of red juicy fruits hung invitingly. He eyed them greedily and reached out to pluck one.
“I said don’t touch those!”
Dumbbell stopped short, resting the flat of his hoof on the fruit. His eyes glittered with impertinence when he turned back to her. In one swift motion he plucked the apple, brought it to his mouth, and took the largest bite possible. After a few solid chews he looked down with a smile and tossed the apple back and forth between his hooves.
“Sorry I didn’t catch ya. What were you saying?”
“I said don’t touch the apples,” she growled.
“Oh.” Dumbbell looked at the apple and shrugged. “Okay.” And he tossed the barely eaten fruit into the dirt like a rock. Rainbow Dash managed to keep herself from launching straight at him.
“It wasn’t ripe enough anyway.” Dumbbell said with a wry expression, still tasting the fruit on his tongue. He looked up and grimaced. “Aw man, it’s already getting dark.”
“Because you’re slowing us up more than a dead turtle!”
“What?” the colt touched down in front of Dash with a sneer. “I don’t hold anypony up!”
Rainbow Dash grinned. “Oh really? Then prove it!”
Dumbbell frowned and opened his wings. “You’re on!” And they kicked off at the same time.
By the time they reached the end of the orchard, the sun had nearly set. Only a trace amount of light remained in the sky. It was more than enough still to notice the tiny foot trail leading into the dense wall of oak trees that met them like solid silent monolith of nature. The two foals hesitated on the orchard side of the fence. Peering over it, they could only see about twenty yards into the trees, which were lined so thickly, beyond was nothing but a blue black canvas.
“Wow it’s dark in there.” Rainbow Dash shifted her gaze to the shadowy tree tops. “Why don’t we just fly over it?” she asked.
Dumbbell leaped over the fence and found the little dirt trail. “What’s the fun in that?”
Dash rolled her eyes. “So that we know where we’re going!”
The colt flew up and over the tree tops, escaping Rainbow’s line of sight for a few moments. Half a minute later he came back, landing next to her with ease. “I know which way to go, there’s another trail real close by. Go on and look, if you fly up high enough you can see the top of the chapel.”
She checked herself and sure enough she could just make out the pin needle like spire sticking out through the tree tops, only slightly.
“We should just fly over,” said Rainbow Dash. “Nobody would see us.”
“Fine if you’re too much of a coward to just walk then I’ll meet you there.”
Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure what upset her more, Dumbbell actually wanting to take the slow way or him calling her a coward. Her back stiffened and she grit her teeth. “Why do you want to walk anyway?”
“Why are you such a baby?” he retorted. “It’s not like we’re going through the Everfree Forest.” He had already started in, pushing past the low scraggling branches and leaf litter that covered the trail. A sudden breeze whistled and rattled the branches, making them sway and bow like claws that wanted to pick them up the way some birds snatched up a mouse. Rainbow Dash stood in the open and contemplated flying over the trees, or better yet, going home and letting Dumbbell wander around in the forest until sun up if he wanted. But she could already imagine what he would tell the others and with a sigh of resignation she followed him in.
To Dash’s surprise, Dumbbell was correct. The little rabbit trail curved into the much larger trail and cut down the middle of White Tail Woods. The trail was wide and well worn and further down was a juncture with a large sign sitting right in the middle.
Near the top of the sign post, on a slab of wood pointing east, the name of their destination was printed boldly. ‘Sleepy Hollow Cemetary’ it read, when Rainbow Dash read the words another breeze caught her mane, ruffling it earnestly. Dumbbell took the lead and went down the eastern trail first, saying they needed to hurry before it got too dark to see.
“So do all earth ponies do this?” Dumbbell asked curiously. Rainbow Dash shot him a questioning side glance.
“Do what?”
“Why do earth ponies bury all of their dead underground?” he reiterated. “I mean that’s a lot of holes to dig isn’t it?”
Rainbow Dash grimaced and shrugged. “And you’re asking me for what reason?”
The colt frowned though he responded without a hitch. “Geeze, I just thought you’d know. You spend all your time down here with that scared yellow pony anyway.”
For some reason, mostly because he was a jerk, Dumbbell would never call Fluttershy by her real name. Something else that always frustrated Rainbow Dash. It was either ‘Klutzershy’ or ‘the klutz’, names meant to make the shy pony feel bad, but with time and a few knocks on the head later, Dumbbell finally internalized the fact that it was best to not use those terms when she was in hearing distance.
“Me and Fluttershy don’t spend our time in graveyards,” she stated.
“It probably takes a long time to bury a pony, and wouldn’t they eventually run out of space?” Dumbbell continued. “I mean eventually all of Equestria would just be one big graveyard. Cremating seems a lot easier.”
Cremation was the typical way most pegasi dealt with their dead. It was impossible to bury anyone in a cloud city, so besides the option of using mountain crypts, spreading ashes to the wind became the most popular method of honoring the dead.
“Earth ponies grow stuff. Do you think their special talent is to be fertilizer?”
Rainbow Dash turned to him incredulously. “What?”
“I dunno, I mean what other reason is there to put dead ponies in the dirt?” He stopped for a moment and pawed at the dirt under hoof. “Otherwise isn’t it a real waste of ground?”
“I don’t want to waste my time going down your line of thought, Dumbbell.”
“Or you think this could be some big conspiracy by the earth ponies to take over Equestria?”
“What are you talking about?”
Dumbbell jumped ahead and turned in front of her in excitement. “Zombie takeover!”
“No.” Dash said, she managed to be calm. “That’s stupid.”
The colt’s brows furrowed but he still smiled. “You can be as boring as a stick sometimes.”
Rainbow huffed and ran past him. “That’s just the effect you have!”
Jesting and ribbing the young foals raced down the old funeral trail, used many times by ponies still mourning their dead.
After five minutes running at a gallop, Rainbow Dash and Dumbbell reached the cemetery. The trees pulled back and tapered as the road cleared into a big open courtyard. A wall shielded the north side, framed by tall leaning ash and oak trees. Just over the courtyard wall they could still see an army of trees, and even further away and high above, the deep blue mountains of the Unicorn Range.
There were no tombstones on the lawn, but a well stood between them and the building, partitioned by a clumsily erected wooden fence with a wide gap between two of the poles. Directly behind the well, at the very top of the hill, was the chapel. lt sat quaint and unassuming, built out of sandy brick and topped with a blue shingled roof. A steeple sprung out on the east side of the structure, and a small metal chimney poked out of the west. A row of violets ran around the perimeter, only stopping at the opening to a tall oak door.
“Doesn’t look like much does it?” Dumbbell said under his breath. They were both squatting down behind a set of wild orange berry bushes, peeking over to try and see through the windows, but the windows were black, it was too dark to see inside from a distance. Another minute passed before they nodded to each other and crept forward at the same time. The place did look lonely but it had to be maintained by somepony. The grass was cut and the row of violets were not cluttered by weeds.
Dash made it to the tall window first. It was high off of the ground so she had to fly up and land on the narrow sil to see inside. The interior was swathed in deep shadows, what could be seen was simple. It was a small sterile room with a long counter that curved back like a ‘U’, cutting the room in half. In the half nearest the windows and the front door there were four chairs, or actually single sitting benches with no cushion, and a very tiny waiting table wedged in between two of them. There was nothing else to be said about the front half of the room but Dash could easily tell, even in the darkness, that there was a doorway behind the counter. She tried to concentrate on the opening, maybe she could make out some shapes on the other side. Instead of making out anything discerning, Dash felt a prickle of tension penetrate her blue fur and pinch her spine, and her breath hitched ever so slightly.
“Do you see anything?”
Rainbow Dash nearly jumped out of her skin when Dumbbell’s brown coat, appearing almost black in the falling light landed on the sil right next to her. To her relief she was able to contain her surprise and Dumbbell hadn’t noticed, he pressed his nose against the glass and squinted his eyes into a comical shape in an effort to see something on the other side.
“The door’s locked,” he muttered after he pulled his nose away from the glass. Rainbow Dash tried to appear disappointed by this but inwardly she couldn’t help but feel relieved.
“Too bad I guess,” she said with a slight smile. But then Dumbbell jumped off the ledge and performed a cursory glance of the lawn before turning back to face her.
“Too bad? Huh, it’s not over yet until we find another way in!” He ran around to the back of the building, leaving Rainbow Dash to teeter nervously on the edge of the window sil until she finally dropped off. She landed and stamped her hoof down angrily.
‘Is he serious?’
In such a short amount of time the moon was already in the sky, surrounded by stars. They were concentrating so hard on their current task that neither of them even noticed the change, and their vision relied solely upon it . It was something Rainbow Dash was not comfortable with.
She followed the colt around, barely noticing the rickety little gate she had to pass over to reach the rear of the chapel. The ground it was built on sloped gradually into what Rainbow Dash first assumed to be a wheat field before her eyes finally registered what she was seeing. Before she found Dumbbell she saw the cemetery first, the view was enough to give her pause. This was the first time she had ever seen such a place. It was like a massive post card had fell on top of the forest and crushed the trees under its weight, leaving behind a bewildering site. Rows upon row of headstones, narrow square and round-ish rocks poking out of the ground at odd angles moving as a wave does on the slopes and rises of the hilly country below them. It was vast and it all felt forlorn.
“What are you daydreaming about, Crash? Get over here!”
Rainbow Dash snapped out of her drifting imagination and found Dumbbell by the chapel again. Next to him, there were two large cellar doors set in cement. He already had one door open, cautiously inspecting the inside.
“You know it’s going to be way too dark in there to see!” Rainbow protested, hoping more and more that he would get as nervous as her and leave. “I’m not interested in tripping and breaking my nose because I’m walking blind.”
Dumbbell took her words into consideration as he rubbed the bottom of his chin. “You make a good point, hmm” His ears tilted while he thought and Rainbow Dash sat, waiting for him to admit defeat.
“Wait here.” he said and flew back around to the front of the chapel before Rainbow could say anything. Somewhere nearby a cricket chirped twelve times before he returned with two small lanterns in hoof.
“Hit the jackpot!” He put the lanterns down in front of the cellar door and struck a pose, exceedingly proud of himself. To Rainbow Dash he looked like a dog who was happy he had fetched a stick.
“This place is so quiet, nopony even put a lock on the shed door. Heh, lucky break.”
“Lucky break.” Rainbow Dash snatched one of the small lanterns away. “Right.”
“Aw, don’t tell me you’re getting cold hooves.” Dumbbell teased. He turned the knob to release the gas in the lantern and a small flame breathed to life.
“No way, you wish!” Rainbow Dash pulled the other lantern close and copied his actions. It was easy for Dash to pull up some reserve of bravado, if Dumbbell wanted to play tough, she could play his game for as long as he wanted. She looked down into the open cellar. Even when she held up her lantern it barely put a dent in the gloom, but she was able to see the stairs.
“It’ll be easy. We just go in, pick something up, and walk out. Easy.” Dumbbell held his light source up and took his first step into the unknown. The unease fell over Rainbow Dash like a sheet. She glanced behind them in a sudden fit of paranoia. What if the groundskeeper was around and had not made himself known?
They slowly made their way down with Dumbbell in the lead. The stairs were wooden and thankfully sturdy so they did not groan under their weight, granted they were both fairly light. Rainbow Dash could practically smell exposed soil and maybe mildew. Soon they were in what they perceived to be the basement. It was dirt brown, nothing like the clean office she had seen through the window, this was nothing more than a dirt floor and stone brick walls supported by two pillars on the farthest sides and a big archway. Under that arch stood another big door, it looked very ancient, and as they approached, Rainbow Dash felt her heart beat grow faster. From what she could tell, Dumbbell’s eyes were full of wonder, maybe mixed with a little bit of the fear she felt. Perhaps his bravado was finally tempered.
“This is it.” Dumbbell put the lantern down and reached for the knob. “If it doesn’t open, we’ll give up, you ready?”
Rainbow Dash would never admit it, but she felt a slight panic setting like badly digested food in her stomach. Maybe she really was afraid of what they might see, but at the same time she felt strong. She wanted to be the cool filly with rumors to spread. She wanted to start a freaking legend about the dark mysteries of the place where earth ponies prepare their loved ones for burial, and all of her classmates would clamour forward just to tell her how brave she was.
“Yeah, let’s do this.” She moved forward, forcing herself to stand strong in front of those imposing wooden doors.
‘I will not be afraid... I will not be afraid. Be the cool pony. Be the hero.’
She nodded a final time. Dumbbell took a deep breath, and turned the knob ever so slightly. The door reacted exactly the way they expected a big lonely basement door would. With a long deep creek, as it slowly opened.
Author's Note
I decided to try my luck at writing a story for October. Or at least start one. I was feeling the spirit of Andrew Gold's Spooky Scary Skeletons a bit early.
Can you hear the xylophones?
Chapter 2: What’s Hidden
The lanterns revealed dark green wall paper with white floral pattern divided evenly by unlit sconces, other than that the walls were bare. Their eyes adjusted as they walked inside the empty hallway with a row of doors spaced apart on either side. It reminded Rainbow Dash of the hospital. She’d been there once or twice, the most memorable visit was after an
unfortunate slip from a tree branch. She had been wheeled down a long stretch of scrubbed pearly white hallways just like this one, only this hall lacked the pleasant pictures and flower arrangements.
The passage was more narrow than a hospital’s hallways but wide enough that two adult ponies could pass each other comfortably, so it was more than enough for two foals. The dirt muted their approach, but the wood floor was solid and creaked slightly. The telltale sound of hoof steps was unavoidable, so they had to take each step cautiously to avoid making extra noise.
Rainbow Dash kept her eyes trained on the doors. They were closed, but she had the distinct feeling their adventure would not conclude until they explored the other side of at least one of them.
“A lot of doors, aren’t there?”
It was as if Dumbbell had read her mind.
“We should check some of these out,” he whispered. Dumbbell paused to inspect one but Rainbow Dash did not.
“Nu-uh,” she said. “I want to see what’s at the end of the hallway first.” Going by the plainness of her surroundings, she was sure there would not be much. She hoped.
“Suit yourself...”
They turned a corner and were faced with an even longer hallway. At the other end was another set of large double doors, just like the ones they had passed through earlier. The light peeled into the gloom on the other side. It was open a crack.
Rainbow Dash stopped in her tracks, eyes wide, and grit her teeth. She turned and scuttled back around the corner, far enough, she hoped, to hide the light.
“Somepony might still be in here!” she whispered after she set the lantern down. All at once a myriad of consequences for their actions crossed her mind. What if they were caught? Even if the doors were not locked, this was still trespassing. She felt her resolve begin to slip, and in dark corners she was starting to see traces of... She blinked and gazed into the flame. It was only shadows, that was all.
“Hey, we can’t go that way.” She looked away from the light and tried to spot Dumbbell. “I don’t think—”
She scanned the hallway five times over and spun around to see if Dumbbell had passed her, but the passage was empty.
creak
It was the smallest of noises, one she would have missed completely if she weren’t already on edge. She swung her lantern around tensely, but lowered it with a sigh when she saw a blond tail sticking out of an open door in the central glow of her light.
“What are you doing?” she asked after stomping her hoof. Dumbbell didn’t answer right away; he went over the threshold as if he hadn’t heard her.
Dash followed him to the opposite end of the hall cautiously; What was his problem? Separate, in a place like this?
‘Maybe with his back turned I could just walk out of here and—’
“Hey, Dash! Get in here, you gotta see this!”
Dash peeked through. The room was dark and sterile, just like the hallway. A second later her teeth clenched in reaction to the change of atmosphere. Why was the room so cold? She stepped all the way in and was met by a large metal structure that glinted like a polished shield.
It was a table set up on thin legs and wheels held together with screws and tubing, cleaned with medical precision, like a stretcher from a hospital. Only this was different, there were no pillows or cushioning for a pony to lay on comfortably, and that metal must have been really really cold.
There was a hole at one end and a bucket placed underneath. She had never seen a thing like it before yet Rainbow Dash understood its purpose.
“Eugh.” She went around it cautiously to where Dumbbell was waiting, standing by the wall facing the door. She noticed a couple of sinks were installed on the east side of the room next to a row of shelves with glass windows; they looked empty save for a scale and some indistinguishable pieces of equipment that Dash couldn’t make heads or tails of.
“What is all this?” she asked.
“Cemetery stuff.” Dumbbell said as if the answer were as easy as spelling his own name. He hadn’t even given the strange instruments any real look over. All of his attention was on what Rainbow Dash at first thought was just a flat wall. A closer look revealed it was an entire wall of drawers.
“What are these for?” Dash touched one with a hoof. It felt even colder than its surroundings.
“Oooh.” Dumbbell scanned the rows eagerly. Each one had a handle and a little white square card embedded in the center. Rainbow assumed something was supposed to be written on those cards, but the cards were all blank.
“I think I know,” he said in a conspiratorial whisper. He glanced at Rainbow Dash with a glint of mischief in his eye. “Let’s open it,” he said.
Dash yanked her hoof back as if the cold surface of the drawer had suddenly gone as red hot as an ember of coal.
“L-lets do what now?”
He measured her reluctance and grinned wickedly.
“What? You scared?”
“No I’m not!” Rainbow’s retort was quick as lightning. “But I’m not stupid either.”
“Right, says you. I bet it’s empty, and even if something is in here it won’t hurt us.” He had to stand up on his hind legs because the set of drawers closest to him were still above his head. Then he slipped his hoof into the latch of the sliding bolt lock and it came undone with a solid click. Rainbow Dash glanced backwards nervously expecting their only exit to creak again.
“When did you become an expert? I mean ...” She paused for a moment. “This can’t be where they put —”
“Ok, here we go.” Dumbbell pulled but nothing happened. He braced himself and pulled again. It rattled a little and seemed to give but the result was the same.
“Are you gonna just stand and watch, or are you gonna help me?”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “You need a filly to help you open a drawer?”
Dumbbell scowled but didn’t answer her, instead he pulled with all his might.
“It’s just...stuck!”
With a final pull the drawer came open with a loud rattle. It slid out at least six feet then halted. Dumbbell tumbled and fell on his rear, stood up and staggered backwards. After rubbing out the soreness, he craned his head up to try and see into the dark portal the drawer created but he was not tall enough to see over the lip.
“Well, you opened it. So look!” Rainbow Dash forced herself to speak past her chattering teeth.
The colt hesitated and turned to her. “Hey if anything does jump out, you’ll pull me back won’t you?”
Rainbow Dash acknowledged him with a flat expression. “What do you think?”
Dumbbell’s disappointed expression deepened into a frown as he muttered something under his breath and turned around. He hovered a couple of feet and held his lantern over the side.
“It’s empty,” he said with a sigh. “I told you there wasn’t anything to be scared of.”
Rainbow felt her ears go flat. “Whatever, just close it and lets get out of here already.”
Dumbbell couldn’t hold back his smugly satisfied look as he pushed the drawer closed and relocked it. “Nothing to be afraid of,” he repeated.
“We can’t actually take anything,” Rainbow Dash said as they left the room. Inwardly she sighed with relief when the temperature around her went back to something more comfortable.
“We’ve got to find something nopony would miss.”
“And how do you know what somepony would or wouldn’t miss?” Dash asked crossly. “It’s stealing either way.” It seemed perfect common sense to her but Dumbbell shook his head.
“This place was left practically wide open. Whoever works here shouldn’t be surprised if something goes missing.”
“That’s just it, what if the ponies who work here, are here?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“We’ll just say we got lost.” Dumbbell shrugged. “I mean what's the worst they can do to us? Tell our parents? If they can even do that!”
“Well I—”
“We’re already here and I’m not chickening out,” Dumbbell cut her off. “If you want to go home, well I’m not stoppin ya.”
Almost caught off guard, Rainbow Dash shook her head and knit her brows to a serious point in the center of her forehead.
“I’m not going anywhere.” She had come too far and was in too deep to run away. “As if I’d let an idiot like you wander off alone. You could get completely lost without another pony telling you what to do.”
“Is that what you think?” Dumbbell dropped his light and jumped in front of Rainbow Dash with his face set in a resolute frown.
“In that case why don’t we split up.” he said. That was not a suggestion, Rainbow Dash quickly noted. It suddenly felt as if the chill had returned.
“This place can’t be so big, so we split up, see what we can see, and meet back at the big doors we came through in ten minutes,” said Dumbbell. When Dash’s response didn’t come fast enough he added, “Or do you need somepony to hold your hoof?”
“Right, fine.” Rainbow Dash felt rigid as she stubbornly pushed her way past. “If you get lost I won’t go lookin’ for you.” It was a last half-hearted attempt to shake him but she had a feeling it did not work. Then she walked away without looking back.
She felt that the best idea would be to try the nearest door and see what was inside, but she did not want to be anywhere near Dumbbell and his obnoxious taunting. She did not want to leave a room and happen by him, only to have him look at her with his stupid churlish grin that wrinkled his nose, and show his teeth as if he were an actual threat.
‘He might be if he’s thinking up a bunch of lies in that dumb head of his.’
She knew Dumbbell was not beyond flipping the story on its head if she did not keep her cool. He would tell everyone she was a coward and talk about how cool and collected he was. Dash grimaced. Not if she had anything to say about it—and she would after she found something super awesome to show the others.
Rainbow Dash walked confidently on until she reached a new junction. She moved to the corner, listened and peered around it the way she had imagined royal guard ponies would from old mission details her father read to her once from a historical fiction book. The corridor was long and empty; she pricked her ears forward to pick up any noises and heard nothing. But hearing nothing was a good thing. Two more corridors branched from her position, leading off to places unknown and, she noted to her surprise, a set of stairs, most likely leading up to the top half of the chapel she had seen through the outside window. She figured the upper level stood an even better chance of being inhabited by someone, so she turned away from and picked the right corridor on a whim, it did not look any different from the left.
Her next door opened to a similar sight with the metal table in the center of the room, cloistered by tall glinting pieces of medical equipment, but it all looked ancient, much older than anything she had come across during a hospital visit. Slowly she let her light roam over the area and was greeted with another familiar sight.
“Oh great, more drawers...” The first one she had encountered had been empty, and she was lucky for that, but there was no way in Tartarus she would push her luck twice. Inhabiting the same space was a large cabinet which contained bottles big and small of colored chemicals, cotton swabs, neatly coiled tubes, and a big bulky thing that looked like the most awkward coffee maker ever. Rainbow Dash frowned and wondered who in Equestria would want to drink coffee in a place like this.
The lantern light drifted just to the left, revealing the pony watching her stiffly from the corner.
Her heart jumped almost as high as she did, almost high enough to clear the metal table in the middle of the room, instead she landed unsteadily and fell back on her hip. She stared up at the pony on the shelf with eyes as wide as saucers, waiting, daring it to move. She did not run because a part of her brain was already registering her error.
It was an anatomy model, the same kind the teacher would bring out during a science lesson.
“This may be on your quizzes so pay attention class. The overall length of the equine intestine is much taller than any pony, averaging twenty three feet.” said the teacher. “This area of the lower intestine is called the Cecum or water gut, it holds bacteria which helps break down our food during digestion...”
She remembered that day; Hoops had yelled out a loud mock cry of disgust before belching. It had gotten him detention for the second time that particular week.
Her thoughts returned to the model, with a bulging eye sticking out from the side of the head that had no face, exposed ribs and guts and everything else rendered with realistic precision. But none of it bothered her as much as the smile. Somepony thought it was a good idea to give the figure a big wide glassy-eyed grin that beamed across the room and followed Rainbow Dash wherever she went.
Alone in the dark room, it was like standing on the edge of a bad dream. A moment passed in silence with no sound or movement, and finally she decided it was safe to exhale.
“Stupid doll,” she muttered darkly and turned away. She could feel its glass eyes watching her while she investigated the cabinet near the door. Looking up, she saw a sign stuck to one of its doors.
“Look Alive!” Was all it said in cherry red writing plastered with smiling faces and yellow stars.
“Oh, funny.” she sighed.
A breeze or a presence, she could not really tell, went by, and the door she came through swung open. She froze as she felt hair on her back rise, a pinching sensation along her spine. Even if it was just a draft there was no way the door could just...open. She had closed it behind her, not slightly but fully latched. She heard it click and a breeze could never—
There was a crash, and the room went dark.
Rainbow Dash shrieked, she couldn’t help it. Her sense of direction lost, she hit a wall somewhere as she scrambled for the door.
“What was that? Who’s in here?” she asked shakily. She thought she heard something moving and pawed fervently for her exit but it was not where she expected it to be. Where was the door? She had been standing just next to it...
“Dumbbell?” she called out again to the empty room, thinking the colt must have snuck in while her back was turned, and now he was trying to scare her.
“Did you seriously break my lantern? Why’d you do that?” Silence followed. He was determined to play this through and Rainbow Dash was ready to beat him.
“It wasn’t funny, you jerk! Now I can’t see!”
She heard the recognizable click and rattle of a morgue drawer sliding open from the opposite side of the room and swallowed, trying to even out the waver in her laugh.
“Yeah, gee, good job, you can open a drawer all by yourself and I’m sooo impressed.”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and start to walk aw-SLAM!
She felt her thoughts shatter into hundreds of pieces,the drawer slammed with enough force to make her heart drop into her stomach.
“Dumbbell w-what the hell are you doing?”
And then it rattled open. And shut again.
Crap.
“I-I get it! You don’t have to prove anything!” she said. The tremor forced her voice to hitch.
SLAM!It was even louder that time, like an angry minotaur. It was the kind of force that ripped doors off hinges. Rainbow Dash lurched back and cowered in the pitch black as the drawer opened, and shut, opened and shut, bang, bang, bang, BANG!
“S-stop it! Stop it!” Rainbow Dash screamed at the top of her lungs. Her voice felt tiny and useless under the racket. If she could see anything, the tears would have blurred her vision. She bolted through the door,and took to the air like a startled bird. And just like a panicked bird, fear compromised her sense of direction.
Thud.
The wall stopped her pretty effectively. She lay in a heap, dazed, the pounding in her head mimicked the violent pounding of the morgue drawer still going on like an automated machine in the room behind her. Bang, bang, bang...she got up, picked a direction and stumbled away. Her head hurt but she knew it would hurt less after she got away from that terrible noise. Blind, she felt her way down the hallway until she reached the junction but could not see the right direction. All of the passageways looked the same when well lit, so there was no hope that she could tell them apart in nearly complete darkness.
Thump, thump, thump, came the sudden clopping of heavy hoofsteps, far too heavy to be Dumbbell’s. Rainbow Dash froze mid-step and her breathing went hollow. She could feel ice leaking into her veins when she realized there was no light. Who would walk around in the dark? Someone was coming towards her and there was nowhere to hide. She thought for a moment in her panic that if she just lie still he might pass her by, but she immediately tossed away that notion. There was no way a pony could walk so close and not see her laying on the ground like a petrified rodent hoping the cat could not catch her scent.
‘Please don’t see me move’. she thought; there was no choice but to get out of sight. She crawled until she felt the smooth bump of a door hinge rub against the side of her face, and reached for a latch. There was barely enough time to think. Too scared to even utter a prayer that the door would stay silent, she pulled it open as much as she dared and slipped inside. It clicked shut softly and she pushed back as much as she could. She immediately learned there was not much room to move at all when she slapped against something solid, and what felt like several closely packed objects shifted,rattled and rocked under her.
Thump,thump,thump, the hoofsteps were closer. Dash could almost estimate when the pony or whoever passed the room she explored earlier, as they did the mysterious banging of the drawer ceased, there was a brief silence before the hoofsteps continued down the hall, closer to her hiding place. For a moment the thought of calling out crossed her mind. She would open the door and step out in front of the cemetery worker and say she had gotten lost out in the forest and ran in here to hide. Yeah, that sounded solid. What were the odds some old grave digger from Ponyville would recognize her? And if he questioned her wings, she would say she was still having trouble flying.
But when the hoofsteps stopped in front of the door she hid behind, her utterances turned into stones lodged inside her throat, the bar shifted and her breathing halted completely. It was not a full turn, barely even a half turn. The movement was halting as if the pony on the other side was hesitating, probably debating if they needed to retrieve a light source. Rainbow Dash hoped he would, then again, going by the confident stride she heard on the wooden floor, he probably didn’t need one.
The bolt turned one final time but the door stayed closed.
It seemed to say: ‘You’re fine where you are.’ The deadbolt released, shuddering back into place, and the hoofsteps continued on until Rainbow Dash heard nothing.
For a long time she just sat there, trembling in a dense haze of paranoia. After waiting to be sure the coast was clear, she got up and tried to let herself out. But the door did not open and rattled against the door jamb. Rainbow Dash stared at it, stupefied.
“What in the…?” Dash stared at the lock and tried again.
“Open up you stupid—” she grunted and hit the door with her shoulder. “Uhng! Let me out of here!” But no matter how much she tried, the door would not budge. She sighed and leaned against the right wall, forcing her back hooves to hit the wall on the opposite side. It had taken her a little while to notice just how small the space was.
‘This can’t be happening. I can’t actually be stuck in here can I?’
She attacked the door again,trying to ignore the buzz of panic she could feel bubbling in her stomach.
“This sucks,” she said out loud, suddenly not caring if anyone heard her. “Let me out of here!”
She snarled and backed up the four steps she was allowed before her rump hit a nearly invisible shelf behind her. She snorted like a bull and charged forward. There was no change, not even a shift or a dent; she may as well have flung herself to a wall. She bounced off it and landed on her back with a cry of pain. Something above her rattled and came loose from its holdings and fell down, striking just above her right eye.
“Gah!” She curled in on herself in an effort to compress the explosive pain. It ricocheted from the front and back of her skull like a bunch of lit firecrackers contained under a helmet.
“Dammit...” she drawled through her teeth and kicked the wall. At that moment she felt the pressure of light moving across her taut eyelids.
“Dash?”
Rainbow Dash heard the voice, but she could barely stand the dim light because of the pain.
‘Wait, a light?’
“Rainbow Dash is that you? How did you get in there?”
Dash slowly stood up and kept her head bowed, loathed to the idea of banging her head a third time, she swallowed and called out in a low voice.
“Is that you, Dumbbell?”
“Yeah it’s me,” she could hear the confusion in his voice. “There’s...there’s a box in front of the door!” he said.
“There’s a what?” Rainbow Dash pressed against the door and furrowed her brow. “Can you move it?” she asked.
She waited, she could see the light flicker and settle again and pressed inwards as she heard the box scrape against the floor.
“Yeah I think so, it doesn’t look too heavy” said Dumbbell. Then Rainbow Dash heard the scraping noise again as the box was slowly pushed.
“Hurry,” she whispered, her voice sounded hoarse. “Theres somepony else walking around out there.”
“Stop being stupidly obvious.” Dumbbell retorted as he grunted under the strain of pushing the box. The scraping sound was long and deep, cut in between with his panting.
“Ok, it’s outta the way, try and open it now.” Dumbbell finally managed to say after a painfully long minute. She didn’t have to go for the latch again as it was already unlocked, she pushed and the door swung open easily.
“What happened?” asked Dumbbell.
“This better not be your idea of a joke!” Rainbow Dash stuck her nose in his face. Dumbbell jumped away like he was trying to avoid getting bit.
“What joke?” he huffed. “Look, I didn’t shove the box in front of your little hidey hole, miss “coolest in flight camp”, I didn’t even know where you were till I heard you screaming for help.”
Rainbow Dash glanced down both ends of the hall, or at least as far as she could perceive along the edges of illumination. The coast seemed clear.
“Look,” she said, and brought a hard gaze back on her schoolmate. “We need to get out of here, now!”
Dumbbell stumbled back a couple of steps before glancing over Dash’s head and over his shoulder.
“Alright, alright, geez. Don’t yell at me because some old crank swept you into his broom closet.” he complained. “You should be thankful that I was close by.”
“And you didn’t see anypony walk by here? Seriously?”
“Nope.” Dumbbell picked up the lantern and started to walk the way he had come, when he caught the glint of something from the corner of his eye. He stopped and turned, it was coming from the closet.
“Hey what’s that?” he asked.
“Nothing important, let’s get out of here before whoever that was comes back!”
“Just give me a sec,” Dumbbell glanced at her defiantly. “I’m going to find somethin to take back, even if it fell out of a broom closet.”
Rainbow Dash thought she could hear noises coming from her left, though it could have been her imagination, it felt like a long cold draft of air pressing against her mind and she could feel her lips curling back to curse at him. Before she could, Dumbbell’s light shone into the small closet fully, and everything about him went rigid.
“What,” he murmured. His balked as lines of stress creased onto his features. “What the hell is this?”
Rainbow Dash's scolding words suddenly felt too heavy to let out. Her eyes immediately jumped from him to what was inside the closet. Slowly she walked over until she was just behind him and looked up. The drone of air gained volume and she leaned in despite her fear. At first the unknown shapes draped in shadows met her with misunderstanding, before she tilted her head, squinted, and tried picturing them as something known. When her mind finally grasped it, she screamed.
What sat above them were racks. Wood racks fitted with rows upon rows of unicorn horns that hung with their tips pointing to the floor, their bases sat upwards, still connected to jagged pieces of pale skull.
Author's Note
And here be chapter 2! I hope you enjoy it.
Of course I have to give credit because I'd feel like an ass if I didn't.
Belligerent Sock and Vexy helped a lot with grammar.
and of course John Hood for helping me with idea stuff.
