Vicarious

by Closer-To-The-Sun

Rating: teen
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Thriller, Spike, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Horror
Length: 3203

Three little fillies and a young dragon tempt fate by playing with an Ouija board on Nightmare Night.

"Vicariously I,/Live while the whole world dies./Much better you than I." -Tool, 'Vicarious'

Spike brings a Ouija board to the Cutie Mark Crusader's slumber party on Nightmare Night. However, things get really strange. It is just a game, right?

Written for the Poniverse Nightmare Night Contest.

Published 2014-10-28 22:40:08 UTC
Last updated 2014-10-28 22:40:08 UTC

Vicarious

“Are you girls ready for our Nightmare Night Slumber Party?”

“Ah don’t know, it seems like a real spooky time ta have a slumber party, Scootaloo,” the yellow earth pony remarked as she laid her sleeping bag on the wooden planks of the treehouse.

“I have to agree with Applebloom. Besides, shouldn’t we be out getting candy and stuff?” the white unicorn entered the room of the treehouse with her saddlebag bouncing against her back.

The orange pegasus brushed it aside as she shined the flashlight on her friends, “Come on, we’re not little fillies anymore, Sweetie Belle, we’re young ponies! We get to do cool things now, like this slumber party, on the spookiest night of all!”

Sweetie Belle opened her bag and started to unpack the contents, “I guess so. So what are we gonna do tonight?”

Sitting on her laid out bag with a light in her hooves, Applebloom added, “Yeah, you were all secretive when ah asked what we were gonna do at this sleepover.”

As the earth pony finished her statement, the sound of something coming up the walkway to the treehouse was fast and loud. As sudden as the sound happened, the source of the noise showed himself, “Hey, sorry I’m late!”

“There he is, the dragon of the hour!” Scootaloo pointed to the young reptile.

Making his way into the small treehouse, the dragon sat down on the floor, setting the wooden box he had held under his limb next to him. Catching his breath, he started to talk, “Sorry, I had to sneak out tonight. Twilight was making me give out candy to all those small ponies.”

Scootaloo patted him on the back, “It’s alright, Spike, you’re here now and that’s all that matters.”

“So what’cha bring with ya? Scootaloo’s been sayin’ that ya brought somethin’ fer our slumber party,” Applebloom asked.

Sweetie Belle, who’s eyes were fixated on the wooden box, reached out to touch it, “What’s in here?”

Quickly, Spike grasped the wooden box with his claws and out of the unicorn’s reach, “Don’t touch it! This needs to be handled super carefully,” he set the box on the floorboards in front of him and opened the lid upwards, “Fillies, I present to you….tonight’s entertainment.”

As the opened all the way up and fell back to hit the wooden planks, the contents within were revealed. The three ponies gazed inside with wonderment. Within the plush and padded interior of the box, there were six white candles, a small piece of wood with a circular piece of glass in the middle of it, and a large board with letters, numbers, and numerous stranger markings upon it.

Spike reached in and pulled out the candles. “Here, place these candles around us in a circle. We need to have these candles to give us light.”

“Can’t we just use our flashlights?” Sweetie Belle asked, tilting her head.

The dragon shook his head, “No, it needs to be candles for this to work!”

“Well, can ya tell us what it is ya got there?” the earth pony asked.

“In a minute, in a minute! Just get those candles up first.”

A little puzzled, the ponies obeyed the dragon and placed the candles in a circle, around where he was sitting. Carefully, Applebloom took a match to light each one.

Once the candles were in place and lit, the ponies returned to the center to see that Spike had taken the last two items out of the box. He had placed them upon the small box, elevating them off the floorboards. In his claw, he held the small piece of wood.

“What is it?” the white pony asked as the girls gathered around the board.

“This, my dear ponies, is called a Ouija board.”

Each of the ponies started at the board. Taking a closer look at the board, there seemed to be letters of the alphabet burned into the board’s surface, along with numbers, a number of strange symbols, and the words yes, no, and goodbye.

“A what board?” Applebloom asked aloud.

Scootaloo, who was barely containing her excitement, erupted, “It’s a Ouija board! You use it to talk to spirits of the dead and other supernatural things! I’ve always wanted to try this out!”

Sweetie Belle looked confused, “We can talk to dead ponies with this?”

“Yup,” Spike nodded.

“But how?” Sweetie Belle asked.

Raising his claw, the dragon revealed the small piece of wood, “With this little planchette.”

“With that lil’ piece of wood? Ah don’t see how somethin’ like that would do much of anythin’,” Applebloom pointed out her concern.

“Enough questions, let Spike tell us how to do this!” Scootaloo was getting eager to start.

“Alright, sit down and shut up. Here’s how this game works. First, we all place our hooves or, in my case, claws on this,” Spike held up the planchette to show to each of the fillies. He even looked through the glass hole with one of his eyes, “With it, a dead spirit will move it around the board and spell out stuff, allowing us to communicate with it!”

Applebloom tilted her head, “Just like that?”

“Just like that,” Spike confirmed with a nod.

“Where did you get this old board from? It looks really old,” Sweetie Belle asked, noting the age of the board.

The dragon replied, “I found it in the library when I was cleaning one day. I think it’s Twilight’s, but I didn’t want her to know I was going to take it tonight, so I didn’t ask.”

“Enough talk!” Scootaloo demanded, “Let’s play!”

At the pegasus’ words, Spike placed the small wooden piece on the board. “Come on, everypony put your hooves on it.”

Scootaloo placed her hooves on first, followed by Applebloom. However, the white unicorn was hesitant.

“D-Do we have to do this tonight? It’s really spooky….too spooky for me,” she admitted as she held her hooves close to her body.

“Come on, Sweetie Belle, this will make the night even more awesome! It’s the perfect night for this!” the orange pony edged on.

Sweetie Belle reluctantly placed her hooves upon planchette. As she did, the piece of wood started to move across the board. This startled both Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, causing them to reel their hooves back with a slight scream. Scootaloo laughed.

“Haha, sorry, it was just too good to pass up!” the pegasus spoke in between her laughter.

Applebloom hit Scootaloo with both of her hooves, “That’s not funny!”

“Don’t do that Scootaloo, it ruins the fun of this,” Spike tried to bring order back to the game, “If anypony tries to push the planchette around, it won’t work right.”

Scootaloo finally was at the end of her laughter, “Alright, alright. Sorry, these two are just such scaredy ponies!”

All four placed their hooves or claws back upon the wooden piece. The candles that surrounded them seemed to flicker slightly as they all waited in silence. A gentle breeze from outside was blowing, the only audible sound until the dragon spoke up.

“If there is a presence here,” he spoke in a loud and firm voice, “please make yourself known.”

Suddenly, the entire treehouse grew cold. The temperature dropped and each of the youngsters felt it.

“D-Did a spirit do that?” Sweetie Belle asked aloud.

As if on cue, the planchette moved beneath the hooves and claws. It slowly dragged across the board until the glass portion of the planchette was over ‘Yes’.

“Oh my gosh, it works!” Applebloom exclaimed loudly as she saw result.

Sweetie Belle looked up from the board, “What do we do now that we’ve contacted a spirit?”

Scootaloo was the first to answer, “Ask for its name!”

“Spirit, I ask you, what is your name,” Spike asked aloud.

The planchette started to move again. First, it started to move around the board, creating a large figure eight. Finally, it moved to ‘A’.

“’A’? What kind of name is that?” Scootaloo asked.

“It’s still movin’,” Applebloom pointed out.

The spirit moved the planchette around the board again, creating more figure eights before landing ‘Z’.

“Az? That makes even less sense than the just ‘A’. Who names their pony ‘Az’?” Sweetie Belle commented.

Spike interrupted, “Maybe it’s an fake name. It might be too scared to give us its full name. Is this true?”

The planchette moved to ‘Yes’.

“This is so cool! We contacted a spirit!” Scootaloo couldn’t contain her excitement of this, “What should we ask?”

“Oh! How ‘bout mah family’s apple crop? Will it be a good harvest this year?” Applebloom asked.

Without Spike having to ask the question formally to the spirit, the piece of wood moved across the board to a few different letters at a swift pace. First it landed on ‘A’, followed by ‘B’, ‘U’, ‘N’, ‘D’, ‘A’, ‘N’, ‘C’, and finally ‘E’.

“Abundance? That’s great news,” Spike spoke up.

Taking her hooves off of the planchette, Applebloom clapped her hooves together happily.

“I got a question! How about we ask how my sister’s fashion line will do in Manehattan next month?” Sweetie Belle seemed to be believing in the board’s ability.

Az, the spirit, took control of the small piece of wood. It quickly went to ‘S’. Than it moved to other letters after wildly moving each time: ‘U’, ‘C’, ‘C’, ‘E’, ‘S’, ‘S’.

“That’s great for Rarity!” Sweetie Belle chimed happily.

“My turn to ask a question!” Scootaloo stole the spotlight as she cleared her throat, “When will Sweetie Belle die! Haha!” The pegasus thought it to be a humorous question to ask.

“Scootaloo!” Applebloom scolded.

“That’s not something you ask a Ouija board,” Spike’s tone was strict and almost a warning.

Sweetie Belle looked absolutely frightened at the thought, “Why would you ask such a thing?”

“It’s just a joke, Sweetie Belle, lighten up,” Scootaloo brushed it off.

The planchette on the board started to move and started to spell. ‘S’. ‘O’. ‘O’. ‘N’.

The unicorn retracted her hooves back in a flash at the result. She started to breath heavily, “Wha….What did it just spell?”

Spike and Applebloom were dead silent as they were processing what they had just witnessed. Scootaloo, on the other hoof, responded.

“It’s just a game, Sweetie Belle. I’m sure Spike was just pushing the thing around to scare you,” the pegasus insisted.

“I wasn’t pushing it….” the dragon’s voice was just as frightened as Sweetie Belle’s.

“Nor was ah….” the yellow earth pony added.

“Oh, so you think it was me?” Scootaloo put her hooves on her chest to point to herself, “Come on, I’m not that mean. I thought it was just Spike running with my joke.”

Sweetie Belle started to back away from the board, “I don’t wanna play anymore….”

“Don’t be scared. I know, how about we ask our spirit, Az, if you should keep playing,” Scootaloo placed her hooves back on the planchette and motioned for Applebloom and Spike to follow suit. As Spike and Applebloom returned to the planchette, Scootaloo asked out, “Should Sweetie Belle join back in the game?”

Without wasting a second, the piece of wood quickly moved to ‘Yes’.

“It looks like we got an answer,” the pegasus looked toward her unicorn friend.

Sweetie Belle shook her head rapidly, “No, I’m not playing.” She held her hooves close to body.

When Sweetie Belle stated her refusal aloud, the surrounding candles flickered violently, as if it was in response to the unicorn’s decision. This caused all four to look around in bewilderment.

“What was that?” Spike asked out loud.

Before anypony could answer, the planchette moved across the Ouija board. Each looked on as it hovered over a few letters. ‘R’. ‘E’. ‘D’. ‘R’. ‘U’. ‘M’.

“Redrum? What’s that?” Applebloom asked, repeating what they all had saw.

Scootaloo gave an annoyed grunt, “Mm….I think this spirit or whatever is just being stupid now….dumb thing….”

Spike opened his mouth to give his opinion, “It could be like what it did ear-“

The dragon was interrupted by the planchette moving again. Instead of moving across the board to a letter or something of that sort, it aggressively flew off of the board and hit Scootaloo right on her underbelly.

“Oww! What was that for, Spike!” Scootaloo gripped her body, covering where the wooden piece had hit her.

“That wasn’t me, I swear!” the dragon was shocked of what had happened.

Applebloom picked up the planchette, which had landed between Scootaloo and herself. “How did this fly off the boar- Oh Celestia! Scootaloo, your stomach!” The yellow pony pointed to her friend’s body.

Scootaloo moved her limbs to reveal where she was hit. Not only did the planchette hit her square in her torso, but it also looked liked it had viciously scratched at Scootaloo’s body, almost as if it was trying to draw blood.

“This is bad….this is bad!” Sweetie Belle was starting to freak out. Her hooves covered her eyes.

Applebloom placed the planchette on the Ouija board and went to check on her friend’s fresh wounds, “Oh mah….did the board do this on purpose?”

Spike watched on as Applebloom investigated Scootaloo’s body. However, his eyes were drawn to the board as he saw the planchette move on it’s own.

“Uh….guys….?” Spike pointed at the board.

All four watched on as the planchette slowly moved across the Ouija board before finally rest upon ‘Yes’. It answered Applebloom’s question.

“Did it just move on it’s own?!” Scootaloo was visibly frightened as she started to back away from the board.

Sweetie Belle started to breath heavily again. However, this time she was holding her hooves up around her neck, “Help me!” she struggled to speak, “I’m….I’m having trouble breathing….”

Spike rushed to Sweetie Belle’s aid, “How this is happeneing?”

“I….I felt some pressure….on my body a moment ago….and now it’s….as if I’m being….choked….” Sweetie Belle’s responses were almost forced. She continued to gasp for air.

Applebloom placed her hooves upon on the planchette and asked, “Are ya doin’ this to our friends, Az? Please stop it!”

The piece of wood moved to ‘No’.

“But why?” the earth pony pleaded.

Instead of getting an answer, the spirit in control of the board moved the planchette to the number ‘9’. Slowly, it moved to the next number, ‘8’. Then ‘7’. ‘6’.

“Applebloom, take your hooves off the planchette!” Spike ordered as he saw what was happening.

The filly wasted no time in following the orders. The piece of wood continued to move by some strange power. ‘5’. ‘4’.

“What’s gonna happen when it reaches zero?” Scootaloo asked with fear.

‘3’.

“I really don’t want to know….”

‘2’.

“Please stop….please stop….”

‘1’.

The planchette slowly moved across the board, back to the zero. It rested there with the glass over the number.

The treehouse was silent and the candles were extinguished, casting the room in darkness. Sweetie Belle didn’t feel the pressure as if somepony was choking her. Scootaloo wasn’t feeling the pain of the scratches upon her body. Everything seemed to go back to normal.

“Is….Is that it?” Applebloom asked innocently.

Destroying the stillness of the calm treehouse, a strange and otherworldly power erupted from the Ouija board. Black smoke and purple lights shot upward and poured into the room. The sound of lightning filled the air, causing the ponies and dragon to rush away from the epicenter, terrified in their screams.

A portion of the black smoke seemed to be chasing after Applebloom in particular. It surrounded her and quickly muted her horrified cries.

“Applebloom!” Scootaloo cried out to the earth pony. She got up on her hooves to rush to her aid, however the pain from scratches seemed to be intensified with each step her hooves made.

Finally, Applebloom was released from the smoke. Her appearance was different in one major way. Her eyes were blank, completely white and devoid of her irises and pupils.

“Applebloom?” Scootaloo spoke cautiously.

When the yellow pony spoke, it was obvious that it was not their friend. Instead of speaking the language they all knew, she started to talk in some ancient language in a deep, demonic voice. Her eyes seemed to glow like nothing the others had ever seen as she chanted something over and over.

The chant caused a brighter energy to shine from the board.

Scootaloo shouted in horror, “She’s possessed!”

Sweetie Belle, who was fighting to breathe as well as speak, “Who….What are you?”

The creature within Applebloom’s body spoke in a raspy voice, “I am a servant for the demon you unlocked.”

Spike’s eyes narrowed, “D-Demon?”

“Correct, the demon that once dwelled within this board is now liberated. And thanks to the four of you, my master Azazel is once again free to as he pleases,” the creature’s words were joyous of the occasion.

“There was a demon in that board?” Scootaloo’s breathing was at a rapid, panicky pace, “And….we were talking to it?”

The deep voice came from Applebloom’s body again, “Yes, you were talking to my master, Azazel. Eons ago, he was trapped within that board by a powerful unicorn. However, now that you have set him free, he shall scorch the land and enslave all of creation.”

“Wh-What’s gonna happen to us?” Spike asked, quivering.

The voice boomed as it came out of Applebloom, “Do not worry yourself, less dragon, for I have a use for you. Or rather your body. I will take it to house myself after I shed this pony’s body.” Immedately after the demonic voice finished, a large, black claw reached up out of the commotion that was coming from the Ouija board. It went directly for the small dragon and dragged Spike down into the board.

“Spike!” Sweetie Belle called out in horror as she watched her friend being pulled into the source of the strange energy.

“As for the unicorn, she will perish under the pressure she is experiencing. She is of little concern for Azazel or myself.”

This statement shocked Sweetie Belle as she continued to struggle to breathe in the next breath of air. Each time, it was becoming more and more difficult. She was passing out.

“As for you,” the voice directed corrected itself to Scootaloo, “the one who dared to mock the great Azazel and his power, you shall be used as a vessel for him.”

Scootaloo was frozen in terror.

“Fret not, little pony. It’s actually a great honor to house such a powerful demon such as Azazel. Of course, you will be trapped within your own body, unable to speak, unable to move, and only feel an indescribable pain as your body slowly deteriorates. And your mind will start to slip away….fading into oblivion.” The voice paused as it heard an unearthly rumble from the board, “Well, it sounds like my master is ready to take possession of your body. I hope you’re ready.”

Rising from the board, some sort of shadowy entity towered over Scootaloo. The young pegasus tried to back away from the creature. Her movement stopped as she reached the wall of the treehouse. She knew she was trapped. The last thing Scootaloo saw was the black entity lunging itself at her.

END