The Witch's Mosaic

by My Little Scribbler

Rating: teen
Tags: Diamond Tiara, Applejack, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Original Character, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Tragedy
Length: 5490

The CMC look for a witch said to kill foals to make a mosaic made of bones and horse hoof glue.

According to an old story passed down through the Apple family, there used to be a witch who would kidnap all foals who approached her home so she could rip out their bones and make glue from their hooves to create a grisly piece of art. At first, the Cutie Mark Crusaders thought it was just another old mares tale, but when Diamond Tiara mysteriously disappeared, they had to find her, even if it meant the risk of encountering a murderous witch.

Published 2012-05-17 17:04:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-05-17 17:04:01 UTC

The Witch's Mosaic

The Witch’s Mosaic

Apple Bloom sat on her bed, quiet and subdued as she gingerly rubbed her sore shoulder. Through her bedroom window, she was watching Applejack standing outside, talking with Filthy Rich and his wife. The wealthy couple were crying and shouting in anger and desperation, although Apple Bloom could not clearly hear what they were saying. Eventually, the couple left Sweet Apple Acres, leaving Applejack to watch on with a sad parting.

It was not long until she heard Applejack knocking on her bedroom door. “Apple Bloom, can I come in?”

“Come in.”

Applejack entered the room. “Apple Bloom, we need to talk.” She sat down on the floor in front of the bed, keeping her gaze level with her sister. “I just got done talking to Mr. and Mrs. Rich, and he’s worried sick about Diamond Tiara. You and your friends were the last ones to see her, but y’all won’t tell us what happened. Now, I’m going to ask you again, do you know what happened to Diamond Tiara?”

With her eyes beginning to water, she slowly nodded her head.

“Well, if you know what happened to Diamond Tiara, why won’t you say anything?”

There was a long pause before Apple Bloom could work up the nerve to speak. “Because...I’m afraid.”

“That y’all get in trouble?”

“No, that you won’t believe me.” Apple Bloom wiped away the tears from her eyes, her face twisted with distress.

“Why wouldn’t I believe you, Sugar Cube?”

Apple Bloom nervously rubbed her hooves into her bed sheets, her mouth pursed into a tight crease.

“Look, Lil’ Sis, whatever it is that’s bothering you, please tell me. I promise not to be mad or to judge you.”

“Do you Pinkie Pie swear?”

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

Apple Bloom let out a nervous sigh. “Well, it all started at the camp out...” She recounted her story to her sister, speaking in an even tone as she told her what happened four days prior.

* * *

Every year, the Apple family would hold different events for the community, one of which was the annual camp out where foals were invited to camp in the middle of the apple orchards. With a few tents set up and a fire going, the little foals were roasting s’mores over an open campfire.

Scootaloo had her stick dangling into the fire, allowing the marshmallow to be set ablaze. After blowing out the flaming treat, she said, “So, what are we going to do?”

“Perhaps we could sing campfire songs,” suggested Apple Bloom, carefully holding her stick by her teeth.

“Or we could identify the constellations,” suggested Sweetie Belle. “I borrowed a book on astronomy from Twilight.”

Snips was standing by the fire with Snails, hopping up and down as he said, “Oh, let’s go collect mushrooms.”

“In the dark?” asked Scootaloo.

“Uh, I suppose...” The stick of marshmallow Snips held fell out of his mouth and into the fire. “Oh pigeon feathers!”

Sweetie Belle turned to Featherweight and Dinky. “Do you two have any ideas?”

“Umm, I would like to sing some songs, too,” replied Dinky.

A humph of disgust echoed from one unhappy filly. It was Diamond Tiara, the only foal who was not holding a marshmallow over the campfire. “It’s bad enough that my dad made me go to this stupid camping trip, but I’d rather not waste my time doing something so namby-pamby as sing campfire songs.”

Apple Bloom irritably sighed. “Then what would y’all want to do?”

Diamond Tiara sat up straight with a sinister looking grin on her face. “I say we tell ghost stories.”

“But I don’t know many ghost stories,” said Apple Bloom.

“Don’t worry, I know a good story that will scare you right out of your horseshoes.” Diamond Tiara loudly cleared her throat before beginning her story. She spoke in a low and sinister voice, waving her fore hooves up to her chin to emphasize her words in an attempt at grandiosity. “Not so long ago, there was this filly who would visit her grandmother every day to bring her some apples from her parents’ farm. She was always warned not to take shortcuts through the Everfree forest at night, but one day, she disobeyed her parents and wandered off into the forest all by myself. As she was trotting along the dirt roads, she heard a clopping sound as if some pony was following her.”

Dinky and Featherweight were watching Diamond Tiara with utter fright, huddling next to each other. Snips and Snails were simply staring off with goofy grins on their faces while the Cutie Mark Crusaders only rolled their eyes.

“She walked along the trail, but the sound only got louder as she got further along. As she galloped faster, she looked behind to see that she was followed by...The Headless Horse.”

Dinky and Featherweight let out screams of fright.

“Oh that’s just silly,” said Sweetie Belle. “There’s no such thing as the Headless Horse.”

As if to prove her wrong, an equine shape appeared in the darkness just outside of the campfire light. The lone figure was cantering toward them like a looming shadow.

“Aw! It’s the Headless Horse!” shouted Dinky, knocking into Featherweight in her mad dash to escape.

“Headless? My head is still attached to my shoulders, thank you very much.” As the figure got into the firelight, it was revealed to be Applejack. “Howdy, I was just here to see how y’all are doing.”

Diamond Tiara scoffed. “We’re fine, I was just in the middle of telling a ghost story.”

Applejack plopped down next to the fire. “Aw, the Tale of the Headless Horse. I remember hearing that story when I was a filly. In fact, it reminds me of another story I heard, one that has been past down through my family for generations. It’s called the Tale of the Witch’s Mosaic.”

The foals eagerly gathered around Applejack, their large eyes gleaming with interest.

“Hey, what about me?” demanded Diamond Tiara, but no one was listening. Dejected, she slouched next to the fire and reluctantly listened to Applejack’s story.

“Tell me, do you young ‘uns know anything about that old abandoned house at the edge of the Everfree Forest?”

There was a round of headshakes from the foals.

Apple Bloom was the only one who spoke up. “Oh, I know that house. It’s the one outside of Ponyville toward Fillydelphia.”

“Yep, that’s the one,” said Applejack. “However, that old house has been there long before Ponyville was built, but no pony has lived there for ages.”

“Then why’s it still there?” asked Scootaloo.

As Applejack talked, she lowered her voice to sound creepy and scary, much like what Diamond Tiara did. “Legend has it that the house was once lived in by a crotchety old witch.”

“Ha, a witch,” chastised Diamond Tiara. “There’s no such thing.”

“Oh, but witches do exist,” said Applejack, still maintaining the voice. “Sometimes, a unicorn will try and harness black magic. Although such magic is powerful, it can corrupt and twist the one who wields it, causing the unicorn to be something...more. One such witch used to live peacefully in that home, until one day, three colts visited her, carrying explosives they found in an abandoned mine. Those colts were up to no good, ya see. They were plotting to scare her away, but the witch saw them and they blew up the explosives in her face. The fires from the explosives gave her horrible scars and the noise left her permanently deaf. Out of revenge, she took an axe and...” Applejack ran her hoof across her neck, making a swish noise in her throat, followed by a mocked gurgle to imitate a dead victim’s last breath.

The foals were all watching Applejack, their eyes wide with terror. Even Diamond Tiara gave Applejack her undivided attention.

“Once she killed them, she then stripped them of their bones and their hooves. For reasons that are known only to her, she made a mosaic in a secret room of her basement.”

“A mosaic?” repeated Apple Bloom. “You mean like that arts and crafts project Miss Cheerilee gave us?”

“Yes, but instead of paper, she used the bones of the three colts.”

There was a collective round of gasps.

“Not only that, she used their hooves to make the glue for her mosaic. Once she was done with the colts, she decided to kill any pony who trespassed on her property. Any time a foal came too close to her house...snap!” Applejack slammed her hooves together, letting out a loud clap. “She would pounce and hold them in her magic, then drag them down into the basement where she collects their bones and hooves for her grisly artwork. Even to this day, the witch still lives in her home, watching for any foal to foolishly come near her home.”

Once the story ended, there was no noise aside from the crack of the fire and the sounds of crickets in the night.

Only Diamond Tiara broke the silence. “So, is this story true?”

“Of course not,” said Applejack, with a laugh. “That was a story Granny Smith heard when she was a filly and she told me and Big Macintosh. It’s nothing more than an old legend. Oh, speaking of Big Macintosh, I should probably go and see if he needs help loading up that apple cellar. Y’all have fun now.”

As Applejack left the group, the foals were still staring off at her in stunned silence. As the night went on, the foals lifted the mood by singing songs and identifying constellations. Even Diamond Tiara did not protest. By the time it got late, the foals crawled into their tents to get some sleep.

As the Cutie Mark Crusaders snuggled up into their sleeping bags, Scootaloo asked, “So is the house real?”

“Yes it is,” answered Apple Bloom. “In fact, I know how to get there.”

“Do you really think the story was fake?” asked Sweetie Belle.

“Of course it’s fake. The house probably belonged to an old hermit that ponies liked to poke fun at.” Apple Bloom curled up into her sleeping bag.

“If it’s fake, do you think you could take us there?” asked Scootaloo.

Sweetie Belle gawked at Scootaloo as if she grew an extra head. “Why would you want to go there?”

“I just want to check it out for myself. Would it be okay?”

“I don’t see why not. I can take you there tomorrow afternoon. It won’t take long.”

“And what are we going to do there?” asked Sweetie Belle.

Apple Bloom stared out at the roof of the tent in thought. “I suppose we could find proof that the witch did or didn’t exist. We could be...myth busters.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a great idea,” said Scootaloo.

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADER MYTH BUSTERS, YAY!”

The next morning, after the other foals packed up and went home, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had other plans as they told their parents they were going to go off and play, not telling a soul about their trip toward the famed house of legend. With only some essential gear tucked into their saddlebags, they trekked the trails running along the Everfree Forest until they found the old building looming in the shade of the trees.

The building looked like a dragon had been sitting on it, causing the roof and walls to sag inward. The building’s paint was chipped and faded into a white glaze over rotted wood. Every window was cracked but stubbornly in place. With the windows dark and the front door open like a giant maw, the building almost looked like the skull of a dead giant.

Scootaloo swallowed nervously. “Okay, who’s going in first?”

“You should do it since you’re the bravest,” insisted Sweetie Belle.

“Me? No thanks, you can go in before me.”

“But I asked you first.”

“So?”

“You guys are being silly,” interjected Apple Bloom. “I told you before there’s no witch, and if you two are so afraid, then I’ll go in first.”

Apple Bloom approached the house with her friends following close behind. She casually strolled into the gaping maw of the house as if to show off her bravery. Despite all the holes in the building, the interior was almost pitch black as if the room was full of ink. Apple Bloom pulled out her flashlight, gripped it firmly in her teeth, and aimed it out into the room, finding the interior just as dilapidated as the exterior. Cobwebs and dust coated every rotted and broken piece of furniture, exposed to all the elements except for the burn of the sun.

Movement caught Scootaloo’s eye followed by the creak of something standing on the old wood floor. “Did you guys see that?”

“See what?” There was another loud creak followed by wooden chairs splintering, startling Sweetie Belle. “I saw that. Maybe we should get out of here.”

“Oh, come on,” said Apple Bloom as she swung the flashlight around, “it’s probably just a squirrel or a...”

The light fell upon a small dark figure crawling its way out of the debris.

“What in the hay!” shouted Apple Bloom.

The figure was covered in a black sheet that concealed its face and body. It rose up from behind the furniture, letting out a loud wail, stretching out its hooves and shouted, “I’ll turn your hooves to glue!”

Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo ran off screaming as the aberration sleeked toward them, standing on its back hooves with its front hooves outstretched like a zombie.

Apple Bloom smirked, confidently standing her ground. “Ha ha, nice try.” She spun around and bucked the monster over. While the intruder lay on its back, Apple bit down on the hood and flipped it off, revealing it to be Diamond Tiara, squirming on the ground, tangled in the sheet.

“What are you doing here?” demanded Apple Bloom, standing over her.

“I was trying to scare you, what does it look like?” snapped Diamond Tiara as she wiggled a hoof free.

The other two Crusaders approached Diamond Tiara with a mixture of surprise and embarrassment plastered on their face.

“I knew it was her the whole time,” said Scootaloo.

Sweetie Belle in particular was positively fuming with anger. “Why are you here?”

“I overheard your plans to come to the house, so I decide after spending a boring night camping out at your place, I thought I might have a little fun here.”

Sweetie Belle glared at Diamond Tiara. “Come on, girls, let’s get out of here.”

Without another word, the Cutie Mark Crusaders abandoned Diamond Tiara as they left the house. They angrily trudged along the trails away from the house back into Ponyville.

Sweetie Belle squinted her eyes against the bright morning sun. “I can’t believe Diamond Tiara did that.”

“Well, at least she didn’t humiliate us like she usually does. Although, next time, I won’t invite her to go camping with us—“ Apple Bloom was interrupted by a sudden scream that came from the house.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders froze in their tracks, looking on at the empty house, but nothing else came out of the building.

“It must be Diamond Tiara trying to scare us again,” said Scootaloo. “Let’s get out of here.”

The three fillies traveled along the road, occasionally looking back to see if Diamond Tiara was following them. She never did.

The next day in class, Diamond Tiara’s desk was unoccupied once the bell rang. Although seeing an absent student was not unusual, Apple Bloom could not help but feel a sense of unease as she looked at that desk; something felt wrong.

Cheerilee trotted into the classroom, her face concerned and serious as opposed to her usually cheerful self. She turned to her students and said, “Class, I have some bad news. I just got word from Mr. Filthy Rich that Diamond Tiara has gone missing.”

There were some curious mutterings among the class.

“Mr. Filthy Rich asked me to tell you all that if any of you have any idea of where Diamond Tiara is, you should tell him right away. In the mean time, we should all hope that she’s safe.” She picked up a piece of chalk and began writing on the board, continuing the lesson like normal. While her back was turned, she did not notice the look of shock on the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ faces. Their minds were working throughout Cheerilee’s lesson, formulating theories on what must have happened to Diamond Tiara, especially after that scream they heard.

By the time the recess bell was wrung, Apple Bloom glanced at Diamond Tiara’s empty desk with worry as she trotted out of the classroom with the other Cutie Mark Crusaders. It wasn’t until she was outside did she ask, “Do you gals reckon anything happened to Diamond Tiara?”

“I don’t think so,” replied Sweetie Belle. “She seemed just fine when we left her at the house.”

“What if the witch got her?” asked Scootaloo with an evil grin on her face. “That would teach her not to pick on us.”

“I told you there’s no witch,” said Apple Bloom to Scootaloo. “Although I think something terrible must have happened to her and we need to check it out.”

“Why?”

“Because it was my idea to go to that house in the first place. If anything happened to Diamond Tiara, I might be responsible.”

Scootaloo blue a raspberry in disgust. “Since when did you grow a conscience? Fine, if it’s that important to you, we can go over there after class.”

“Thanks,” said Apple Bloom. “I’m sure it won’t hurt to check the house out just in case.”

Once the class ended, the foals traveled back to the abandoned house. From the inside and the outside, the old building seemed no different than it was yesterday. In the glow of their flashlights, neither a single speck of dust seemed out of place, nor any furniture appeared to have been moved. Every creak of the floorboards under their hooves felt like it would give way at any moment but held firm.

Scootaloo let out a loud sneeze. “I don’t see any sign of Diamond Tiara...and this dust is really hurting my eyes.”

Apple Bloom pushed over a few chairs, coughing as she kicked up more dust. “Yeah, I’m not finding anything either. Perhaps we should...” She nearly fell over when her right front hoof hooked on something on the floor. She backed off, and to her surprise, she saw what appeared to be a metal handle attached to the floor. “What in the hay is this?” Curious, she set down her flashlight before gripping the handle with her teeth and pulled, opening a trapdoor in the floor. She gripped the heavy wooden door with all her strength before letting it plop down onto the floor, kicking up more dust into the air to choke her throat. The Cutie Mark Crusaders gathered around the trapdoor to see a flight of stairs leading down into a basement.

Scootaloo hovered over the door. “This is quite a find, Apple Bloom.”

“I had no idea this was here.”

“Maybe Diamond Tiara went down there,” suggested Sweetie Belle.

“Only one way to find out.” Apple Bloom retrieved her flashlight and tiptoed down the stairs, the other fillies reluctantly following. Apple Bloom covered her nose with one hoof as a strong odor tickled her nose. The smell strengthened with each step she took. At end of the stairs was an open door that led into more inky blackness.

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo pulled out flashlights from their saddlebags, clutching them in their teeth.

Once the foals reached the bottom, they began to feel nauseous from the stench. Although the floor above was musty and run down, the basement appeared to be in relatively good condition with the walls well maintained and the furniture in one piece with nary a coating of dust anywhere. But the origin of the smell was not visible, still hidden behind the vale of black encircling the flashlight beams.

“Yuck, what’s that smell,” complained Scootaloo.

“I don’t know, but let’s get out of here before...” Sweetie Bell noticed something in the dim light: a hint of red stained on a large wooden block. “No way...” She approached the block, and as her flashlight’s beam was drawn along the floor, she noticed various cutting instruments neatly aligned near the wooden block. Upon closer inspection, she could plainly see evidence of coagulation caking the wood.

“Is that blood?” asked Sweetie Belle, nervously.

“Yes,” Apple Bloom leaned over to examine the stains, “it looks fresh, too, like it’s been there recently.”

“But who left it there?” asked Scootaloo. “I thought no pony ever comes down here.”

“I don’t know. I say we keep looking.” Apple Bloom turned her head away from the mess, hoping to look at anything more wholesome. However, running her flashlight along the walls only revealed more of the knives and cutting tools throughout the room before uncovering a rotted sliding door leading into an adjacent room. Every instinct told her to stay away, but her morbid curiosity got the better of her. She approached the door and slowly slid it open. She peeked inside, and froze in stunned horror.

Before she could tell her friends what she found, she jumped with a fright, dropping her flashlight in the process, as she heard a sudden creak from upstairs.

“What was that?” asked Sweetie Belle, looking up at the ceiling as if she was trying to see the intruder through the floor.

The creaking got closer, and the three fillies realized that the sound was actually footfalls of a behooved creature.

“Wh-What if that’s Diamond Tiara?” suggested Apple Bloom.

“Well, I’m not taking any chances.” Scootaloo flew toward the door leading to the stairs and closed it before sliding the latch in place.

As soon as the door was closed, the footfalls were heard running down the stairs as if someone wanted to stop Scootaloo from closing the door. The footfalls stopped at the foot of the stairs, followed by a hoof rapping on the door. The intruder never said a word. It just kept hitting the door, putting more force to the blow with each knock.

“Quick, find something to block the door,” whispered Apple Bloom. The three fillies grabbed a hold of the cauldron, but before they could move it into place, they gasped as they saw a magical haze on the latch as it slid unlocked. As the door squeaked open, the fillies hastily turned off their flashlights and ran in all directions, finding a place to hide. Scootaloo ducked into the cauldron, Sweetie Belle hid behind the cutting board, and Apple Bloom found room under the table.

Whether the figure saw the fillies, it did not react. It just stood there, waiting and watching.

Apple Bloom peeked out from underneath the tablecloth. In the dim light, all she could see was a silhouette of a mare, standing like a statue in the dull light that washed down the stairs. Apple Bloom could not distinguish any other details except for what appeared to be a horn on top, suggesting she was a unicorn.

At long last, the unicorn walked. She looked like nothing more than a shadow as she traversed toward the open door to the extra room.

To Apple Bloom’s horror, she noticed there was a light coming from the flashlight she had dropped. She’ll find us, I just know it. We have to get out of here. She tried to sneak out from under the table, but the loose floorboards let out a loud squeak as she stepped on it. She froze, fearing she had been discovered, but the unicorn did not react at all. She just stood there, staring into the room.

Apple Bloom suddenly remembered Applejack’s story: “They were plotting to scare her away, but the witch saw them and they blew up the explosives in her face. The fires from the explosives gave her horrible scars and the noise left her permanently deaf.” She ducked back under the tablecloth just before the witch came out of the room. In the green light the unicorn conjured from her horn, Apple Bloom could see hooves that were burned black followed by skin that was equally burned and free of fur. From under the tablecloth, Apple Bloom could not see any more of the witch beyond her hooves, which slowly slinked toward her friends.

“Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, don’t let her see you,” said Apple Bloom. “Remember, she’s deaf.”

The witch stopped not far from the table as if she heard Apple Bloom.

Can she hear after all? thought Apple Bloom, her heart racing. Maybe she’s hard of hearing like Granny Smith.

The witch turned toward the table, slowly approaching it.

Oh no, she’s coming this way. As Apple Bloom watched the witch come closer, she imagined her hooves getting chopped off and ground up into glue. Oh please, Celestia, don’t let me die like that.

The hooves clopped against hard floor with a magnified clatter with each step the witch took toward Apple Bloom.

Apple Bloom could see the witch’s light shine through the cloth as the witch lowered her head toward the tablecloth. She shook violently in fright, quietly weeping as she saw the witch’s shadow through the cloth. A burned hoof slowly reached underneath the tablecloth, threatening to pull it up. Apple Bloom could only watch helplessly, knowing that at any moment, she would get a glimpse of the witch’s horribly damaged face but it did not happen. The hoof slid back out. Something else caught the witch’s attention. She slinked away from the table, heading toward the cutting block.

Apple Bloom had to stifle a gasp when she saw Sweetie Belle’s tail poking out from behind the cutting board. She tentatively poked her out from underneath the tablecloth, but she was too late to provide any warning.

The witch let out a shrill hiss like a snake. Her horn glowed an unearthly green light as her magic grabbed Sweetie Belle by the tail and forced her out of hiding.

“Ahh! Let me go!” shouted Sweetie Belle, kicking helplessly as she was lifted off the floor by her tail.

The witch let out another hiss as she dangled Sweetie Belle over the cutting board.

Even in the dim green glow of the witch’s light spell, her body looked black like a shadow to Apple Bloom as she peaked out of the tablecloth, but the little filly could now see that the witch’s eyes were visibly a solid green like carved jade.

“You let her go,” demanded Scootaloo as she flew out of the cauldron, raising her hooves out of a challenge for a fight.

The witch used her magic to hold Scootaloo suspended in mid air. The little pegasus fought against the magic, trying to wiggle free like a rat caught in the talons of a hawk, but the witch’s grip was too strong for her.

“No, please, let me go.” Sweetie Belle kicked and struggled as she was telekinetically lowered, her head forced against the chopping block.

The witch telekinetically picked up an axe and raised it over Sweetie Belle’s neck.

Thinking on her hooves, Apple Bloom grabbed an axe next to the table by her teeth and ran toward the witch, not considering if she would be heard. She swung her axe and struck the witch in the horn, imbedding the blade halfway through.

After just one blow to the horn, her magic released its hold on Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. Her axe unceremoniously dropped to the ground, too.

Apple Bloom could feel the tug of the witch’s magic trying to pull her off, but with her horn damage, the tug was weak. She clung to the rough and bare skin of the witch as she fought to keep herself from being pried free. The witch’s hisses stung her sensitive ears.

Scootaloo rushed to her aid, bucking the witch’s horn with her full strength and cracking the horn off with a loud snap.

The witch hissed with anger as her magic was cut off. Although her telekinetic hold on Apple Bloom was released, she still swung her shoulders violently and bucked Apple Bloom off.

Apple Bloom toppled to the floor, causing a sharp wave of pain in her shoulder as she hit the floor. Although the room went dark once again, she could hear Scootaloo grappling with the witch, grunting and crying as she struggled. In the dim light, Apple Bloom could barely make out the image of Sweetie Belle quivering in fright behind the chopping block next to the axe that nearly took her life. Fighting the pain in her shoulder, Apple Bloom grabbed the axe with her teeth, and blindly swung it in the dark. It struck the witch in the neck, burying the blade deep into the jugular.

The witch let out a gurgled screech as she tried desperately to breath through her cut windpipe. She knocked into Scootaloo as she toppled over, pinning the little pegasus as she shook violently in her death throes.

“Help, get her off of me!” shouted Scootaloo. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle reluctantly gathered around Scootaloo and helped pull her out from under the witch.

The witch’s twitching body slowed to a stop once Scootaloo was free.

As the three fillies stood there checking their injuries, shaking and too jaded to run, an acidic smell stung their eyes. Even in the dim light, they could see the witch’s body liquefying, burning a dent into the solid stone floor.

* * *

Once the story was over, Applejack looked at her sister in stunned silence.

“You don’t believe me, do you?” asked Apple Bloom, lying on the bed.

Applejack had no idea what to believe. She was normally good at determining if someone was lying to her, but Apple Bloom seemed so sincere and frightened that it seemed unlikely she was lying. Not to mention it was unlikely that Apple Bloom would try to fool her own sisters with such an outlandish tale. Nonetheless, her stubborn skepticism still nagged at her conscience. “There’s just one thing I don’t understand, what did y’all see in that room, the one with the sliding door?”

“I...saw it.” Apple Bloom was in tears, pressing her hooves against her face. “Oh Celestia...it’s real...”

Applejack, not wanting to push the subject any further, said, “Well, I’ll leave you alone now.” Without waiting for a response, she trotted out of the room, thinking about her sister’s story.

After hearing Apple Bloom’s fantastic tale, she left the farm and headed down the lonely roads along the Everfree forest. Despite Applejack’s skepticism, she had to see the house for herself.

As the old abandoned building loomed into Applejack’s field of vision, her imagination ran wild as she remembered Apple Bloom’s story. Shoving those thoughts aside, she pulled out her flashlight as she entered the rundown place. It did not take long before she saw the open trapdoor just as Apple Bloom had left it.

With an increasing sense of foreboding, she walked down the crooked steps and entered the basement. Her heart pounded with fright as she saw the numerous cutting instruments that covered the walls as well as an equine-shaped stain on the floor next to a chopping block as if whatever it was that had lain there melted away.

Just when she considered leaving, she saw the door to another room. A part of her was still in denial and before it could be silenced, she had to find out what was in that room. She quietly trotted toward the open door and noticed Apple Bloom’s flashlight on the floor, it’s battery drained. What she saw inside the room made her heart pound in her chest. Her flashlight illuminated what appeared to be bones faceted to the wall. Each bone was interwoven and arranged in a puzzle that covered the entire wall from end to end. As she leaned in for a closer look, she realized that the bones were equine in shape and clearly too young for adulthood. Every kind of bone that could be found in a pony was on that wall...with the exception of hooves.

“Oh my Celestia,” said Applejack, dumbfounded.

She ran her flashlight along the wall and that was when she noticed something twinkling off to the right side. She cautiously approached the object, her eyes focused on the twinkling. Once she was close enough, she got a good look at the object and she dropped her flashlight in shock. Without bothering to pick it up, she galloped out of the building without looking back.

What she saw was a diamond-encrusted tiara glued amongst the bones.

The End