Chapters Light rain began to fall from the black sky above. The light from the moon could only be seen through the thin, foggy clouds. Apple Bloom sat underneath Scootaloo's porch, waiting for her to open the front door. Applejack stood beside her carrying on about how to behave at a friend's house.
"Now, ah know thas ahsn't your first sleepovah, but ah do wanna remand ya ta be good ovah here at your friend's house. Listen ta har parents, and be sure ta use ya mannahs." Apple Jack lectured.
"Alright, alright. Ah git it." Apple Bloom mumbled.
The creaky door opened. The orange pegasus filly stood inside, the left hoof on the doorknob. Turning her head to see who it was, she gasped with excitement.
"Apple Bloom! I'm so glad you made it!" She said, fluttering her wings.
"Me too!" The country pony chirped happily.
The two fillies began to walk inside, but Applejack stopped her younger sister. "Woah now, silleh filleh! Dan't ferget yoah sleepi'n bag."
"Oh, thanks AJ!" Apple Bloom said, grabbing her old, brown leather suitcase.
"Ah'll be back tamarrow to pick you up, alright?"
"I git it, AJ. Bye!"
"Bye, and have fun."
The wooden front door closed, and Scootaloo immediately ran to her bedroom, with Apple Bloom not far behind her.
"Wow! Cool bedroom, Scoot!"
"Thanks." The pegasus pony replied, looking at a poster of Rainbow Dash on her wall.
"Wow! You really do admire Rainbow. She's like, your idol or something." Apple Bloom let out a small chuckle.
"She can be like that, sure. But it's hard to resist when she's totally awesome!" Scootaloo replied, still looking at the poster.
"When's Sweetie supposed tah git here?" Apple Bloom looked at the clock on Scootaloo's wall. It read 9:15.
"I think the rain's holding her up." Scootaloo turned her head towards her bedroom window.
"It's not raining that hard." Apple Bloom replied.
"Now it is. Look outside!" Scootaloo responded.
Like her pegasus friend said, it was now raining much heavier than before. The two fillies couldn't see the rain very well, but they could certainly hear it. Wind howled as the rain poured onto the ground. At once a flash of lightning illuminated the sky, a loud roll of thunder quickly following it through the sky.
"W- what was that?" Scootaloo stared out the window, sounding frightened.
"Yah aren't gonna pull another trick on meh." Apple Bloom said, remembering the other day at school when Scootaloo was being a prankster like Rainbow Dash. Apple Bloom had been sitting at her desk, when Scootaloo said she saw the Slendermane outside. Apple Bloom had believed her, and when she turned her head to look at the window, Scootaloo had burst into laughter.
"What's so funny?" She remembered asking, and hearing Scootaloo reply "You looked! I made you look! Ha ha ha!"
Apple Bloom shook her head to clear her mind of how gullible she was.
"No- this isn't a trick. I could've sworn I saw a shadow of a pony of there-" Scootaloo continued.
"Probably our shadow... if you even saw anything at all."
"It was from back there, Apple Bloom. It couldn't have been from any of us. And what other ponies would be out in this weather, anyway?"
"Scoot, stahp try'n tah scare meh, 'cause it ain't work'n."
"I told you, I am being serious."
"Okay, what did the shadow exactly look like?"
"A short pony with a huge head- and it had really short hair, too. And there was really fat hooves."
"Oh my gosh, it's a scary monster! Run fer your life, Scootaloo." Apple Bloom didn't understand why her friend was carrying on with such a ridiculous topic.
"Stop the sarcasm, Apple Bloom."
"That's what ah'm ask'n you to-"
There was a knock at the door.
Scootaloo's dad went to go answer it. The two fillies peeked out Scootaloo's bedroom door to see who it was. Scootaloo's heart raced as she awaited the answer. They couldn't exactly tell who or what it was.
"Thanks, sir! Bye, Rarity!" A familiar voice squeaked.
The two fillies sighed from relief, although mostly Scootaloo, when they realized it was Sweetie Belle.
"Hey guys!" The pony said, sitting down in the bedroom.
"Hey."
"Howdy."
Sweetie Belle was wearing a rain jacket with matching rain boots, and a huge rain hat on her head. They were all probably made by Rarity.
Apple Bloom chuckled. "So is that the shadow?"
"What do you mean?" Scootaloo asked, not understanding.
"She has on boots and a hat. Sweetie was most likely the shadow of the small pony with the fat hooves and big head you just saw outside." Apple Bloom explained.
"Is that a fat joke?" The unicorn asked, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.
"No, Sweetie Belle. Right before you got here I saw a shadow like that. Your extra accessories make your silhouette look different than it would if you weren't wearing them. But still, it doesn't seem right." Scootaloo began to ponder.
The ponies remained silent. Then, Scootaloo decided to bring up another topic. "Hey guys, how about we go get some snacks? I'm hungry, and you guys must be really hungry!"
"But it's past nine already!" Apple Bloom responded.
"But this is a sleepover! What fun is it if we can't have late night snacks!" Scootaloo replied.
"Sure. Why not?" Apple Bloom sighed, changing her mind.
Sweetie Belle shook her head in agreement.
"Alright! Let's go to the kitchen." Scootaloo said, taking her friends through to the next room.
"Alright, let's see what we have here..." Scootaloo opened her pantry door, unleashing the hidden snacks.
"Wow! That's ah ton of snacks!" Apple Bloom was surprised at how much Scootaloo had.
"Everything looks so good!" Sweetie Belle added, eyeing the chocolate-chunk brownies.
"You want some? I made 'em myself." Scootaloo said proudly, a smile beaming on her face.
"Ah'll take one!" Apple Bloom replied.
"Okay, Scoot! And, I never knew you cooked." Sweetie said.
"Yeah, sometimes." Scootaloo said quietly, now holding the brownie tray for her friends to pick from.
"Ooh! These are delicious!" Sweetie Belle squeaked, brownie stuffed in her mouth.
Unlike the unicorn, Bloom waited until she swallowed before thanking and complimenting on the food. "Thanks, Scootaloo! This is really good."
"Heh, no prob, guys. Glad to see you like 'em." Scootaloo replied, picking up a brownie for herself.
As the fillies ate, the rain continued to pour. The water became heavier and heavier as it tumbled out of the skies above. Lightning crashed and thunder shook the ground. Wind howled through the town like Windigos. The storm received more life every second.
"Girls, I just wanted to remind you that I am going to bed in an hour, so be sure to also be in bed by ten. I'll be in my room if anypony needs me. Scootaloo, why don't you take your friends into your room and do something in there?" The orange filly's dad instructed her.
"Alright, dad. Come on, guys!" The pegasus said, flapping her wings as quick as a hummingbird up against her body. The three fillies ran into the bedroom unknowing to what would happen to Scootaloo's dad on the other side of the house.
"So guys, what do you want to do?" Scootaloo asked her two best friends, excluding Rainbow Dash. The three fillies sat on Scootaloo's bed.
"How about we have makeovers?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Oar we could jest tell scarah stories!" Apple Bloom suggested, raising her front hooves behind her head while making a scary looking face.
"Ooh, I like the story idea!" Sweetie agreed.
"Me too! Who wants to go first?" Scootaloo asked.
"Ah will! Now, if this story gits too scarah jest let me know." Apple Bloom began, "It was a dark, cold night in the Everfree forest. The wind ran through the trees like a stampede. Two little ponies walked through the forest... they were lost. Their mather had sent them out earlier to pick berrehs fer her, but they had found none. And now they were hungry and lost. The filly asked her brother, 'When will we find our way back home?', and the colt replied, 'We might never find our home. We're too lost in these woods!' So they continued, until they came upon a large lake. But it wasn't jest any lake- it was an acid lake. They knew it, too. But they were so hungry and thirsteh, they couldn't resist. So, they drank the acid water."
"That's it? It wasn't that scary." Scootaloo interrupted.
"Ah wasn't done yet. They died in the lake, but every night their ghosts come out, still looking for their mother. They are always looking for their mother... and some say that when they do find her, they will take her to the lake, and force her to drink the acid, and become like them. Muah-ha-ha-ha-ha-haa!" Apple Bloom ended, her voice sounding scratchy.
Sweetie Belle gulped. Scootaloo felt scared, but she didn't want to admit it. Suddenly, lighting struck again. Thunder rolled with it, as always. On the wall across from her window, the same pony shadow was there. The small short-haired, fat-hoofed and fat-headed pony. Scootaloo could've sworn she heard somepony say something.
"Mu... mu... mommy... " A new voice could be heard faintly in the background, although it sounded like it was screaming.
"What- what was that?!" Scootaloo jumped up from fright.
"What?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"I saw... I saw that shadow again... it was on my wall! And I heard somepony say 'Mommy'!"
"Scoot, you aren't gonna fool us!" Apple Bloom said, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm not trying to fo-" Scootaloo was interrupted by a familiar yell for help.
Dad? Scootaloo's heart began to race as she immediately ran out of her room.
Scootaloo ran as fast as her short filly legs would carry her. Barging into her dad's bedroom, Scootaloo was shocked. Her dad lay on the bed, and the TV was on. Stallions ran across the screen, throwing a hoofball between each other. The room was quiet except for the hoofball game that was on, and the only other sound was the turning of the ceiling fan above the bed. Everything was normal.
"Dad! What happened?!" Scootaloo said, amazed that everything seemed normal.
"What do you mean, Scoots? Oh wait. Is it because you found out that the Mustangian Timberwolves are winning against the Manehattan Detrots?" The stallion said, his eyes glued to the TV.
"Wha- no! I heard you scream. You... you yelled 'help'."
The stallion looked over at his daughter. Her two friends behind her nodded in agreement with Scootaloo.
"I didn't scream at all. Not even when the Timberwolves scored more than the Detrots. Now that's a reason to scream 'help'."
"But it was your voice. I know it was! Wasn't it...?"
"It could've been a neighbor." Sweetie Belle spoke up.
"But I know my dad's voice. This just doesn't seem right." Scootaloo said, turning out of her dad's room.
"Maybe it was your mind play'in tricks. Ya' know. Maybe you did hear it, but your mind made ya think it was your dad's voice and not anypony else's." Apple Bloom added.
"Maybe. But, I could have sworn."
The girls went back into Scootaloo's bedroom. They only had about 20 minutes until they needed to get to sleep.
"Can I tell a scary story?" Scootaloo asked, with inspiration from what happened only a few minutes ago.
"Let's hear it!" Sweetie replied, a wide smile stretching across her face.
"A long time ago there lived a small pony. She was extremely ugly, and she was judged because of that. One day, he had come up with her master plan. She was going to trade bodies with ponies until she, or he, I guess 'it' found the perfect body. The pony was also immortal. It was a hybrid between a changeling, who has the power to mimic bodies, with a foreign, unknown breed of immortal earth pony. She, or he, wasn't any sort of royalty, and their reputation wasn't helping them. So at night, when nopony sees them, they'd switch bodies with somepony, and then fool others to keep their new body."
Scootaloo's voice became quieter and scratchier than before. "And when the pony trades bodies with you, you are put into their body. And if the pony is in your body all night, then you are cursed to stay inside of it all day, until it has the powers to trade again. The pony can only trade at night, because that is when their powers are unleashed. But during the day, the pony is supposedly in Tartarus, where it rightfully belongs for being an impostor."
The room was silent. Then, the girls heard a knock at the front door. Scootaloo's dad went to go answer it. He wasn't expecting this visitor.
"You didn't scare meh!" Apple Bloom said, covering up her true emotions.
"Yeah! M- me neither." Sweetie added.
"Sure." Scootaloo could tell her friends were lying, but she let it pass.
Silence remained in the room. Sweetie Belle remembered hearing the door knock a little while ago and be opened, but had never remembered hearing it close.
"Your dad is taking a long time with the front door, Scootaloo." Sweetie Belle said.
"Let's go see what is holding him up." Scootaloo replied.
The three fillies ran to the front door. Her dad stood very still like a statue. His eyes looked straight ahead out of the doorway and into the pitch black night. The outdoors were still, and the only sound was his heart beating. It became slower and slower every second. Suddenly he shook his head, and looked down. Then, he turned back around and closed the door.
"Dad... are you... okay?" Scootaloo asked.
"Yeah, Scoots. Why would you ever say that?" The stallion replied, an innocent looking smile on his face.
"You- you were standing there- this isn't right."
"What's not right?"
"You weren't moving."
"I was standing."
"But, you seemed frozen. Like a statue."
"I was looking outside, Scoot."
"But you can't see out there! It's pitch black outside!"
"My eyes adjusted."
"B-but, you- oh!" Scootaloo grumbled.
"You girls need to go to bed. It's getting late."
"But we still have fifteen minutes," Apple Bloom began.
"Go to bed. All of you." The stallion said, trotting off into his bedroom.
"He's probably just tired himself. You know how ponies act grumpy when they are sleep deprived." Scootaloo told her friends.
As the fillies slept in their new bedroom for the night, Scootaloo couldn't get her mind off why her dad was acting so weird. I've gotta investigate , she thought.
Scootaloo crept into her dad's bedroom. The stallion stood on his back legs; his front legs were on the window sill. His beady eyes looked out the window and into the calm night. In a quiet, crackling voice he mumbled slowly, "I-I can... feel it."
Feel what? Scootaloo thought.
"I am so close to d-d-discover-ring my true... b-body."
After a short pause, he continued. "T-t-t-that one p-pegasus that kept arguing with me- sh-she reminds m-me of my old self. But I w-was an earth pony. Still, I feel like my n-next target is going to have to be her if I want to stay a-alive..."
Scootaloo gasped. What is wrong with her dad? Why is he acting crazy? Has he always been this way?
Unfortunately, she had gasped too loud- her dad had heard her. "Who... was t-that?" The unnatural voice asked.
Scootaloo froze. If she ran, where would she go? If she went to her room, her friends would be in danger. If she stayed, she'd be the one in danger.
"I said, who-o was t-that?" The snake-like voice continued to hiss.
"Scootaloo." Scootaloo said.
"Oh, daughter! Have you been eavesdropping on me?" The stallion asked. Although his head was turned towards her, his eyes were still looking out the window.
"Dad! Dad! Daddy! Dad! Please wake up! Dad! This isn't you! This isn't normal! Daddy!" Scootaloo screamed out of divine fear.
"What's wrong? Can I not think out loud sometimes? Scootaloo, now, don't be all mistaken by my weird things I said! S-s-scootaloo!" The stallion held out a hoof towards his daughter.
"Don't touch me!" She shrieked.
"May I say something?" He asked. His voice, unlike how it had been for the past few minutes, was now calm.
Scootaloo didn't reply. She remained frozen in the doorway of the bedroom.
"Y-you look v-v-very t-tast-t-y..." he said. His mouth hung open, and drool leaked everywhere. Scootaloo screamed.
His eyes finally looked away from the window. They were completely black, except for a small red glow around the outside.
"Daddy!" Scootaloo screamed again.
"Y-you look v-very t-tast-ty..." he repeated.
