Chapters When the school bell rang, about a dozen young fillies and colts trotted excitedly out the doors. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were having a conversation about plans for this year’s Nightmare Night. Apple Bloom jumped gleefully as she cried, “Woo-hoo! Now we can go to our clubhouse to make our costumes!” Scootaloo sighed, “Yeah. It’s a shame Sweetie Belle’s sick today. I hope she gets better by Nightmare Night.”
“Oh, boo-hoo-hoo. Wouldn’t that be a shame, indeed?”
The two CMC members turned to see Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon walk up to them. The CMC did not like these two aristocratic fillies at all, especially since the pair constantly teased the group for not having cutie marks. Diamond mocked, “Well, since you’re short one member, I guess it’ll be two Mustangeers instead of three !” The pair snickered wickedly before Scoots retorted, “Our fellow Mustangeer will be back before you can say ‘trick or treat’!” Apple Bloom whispered, “Uh, Scoots? I thought we were each going to have different costumes.”
Just then, they heard arguing.
“I dare you!”
“No, I dare you!”
“I dare you!”
“I dare you!”
The fillies walked towards a crowd of young ponies and saw that Snips and Snails were daring each other.
“Okay, uh…I double-dare you!”
“Nuh-uh. I dee-double-dare you!”
“All right! I triple-dare you!”
The crowd gasped before Diamond Tiara came up and demanded, “All right, what’s going on here?” Snips and Snails looked at her and then pointed hooves at each other, claiming in unison, “He dared me!” Snails explained, “Snips thought the legend might be true, so he wanted me to check it out!” Snips nodded, “Uh-huh. I dared him, but he dared me, too!” Apple Bloom then emerged, asking, “Excuse me, but what legend?”
Snails replied in an eerie tone, “The legend of the old house…” The crowd gasped once more. Snips added, “Yeah! It’s been around Ponyville since forever!” Twist came up and said, “Oh, I know that story!”
All eyes turned to Twist as she recollected, “I remember my great-granny Swirl told it to me as a way to steer clear of the woods. She said that a long time ago, a house made its way across Equestria for centuries. Whenever it brought misfortune upon a place where it was at, it had to be moved. Eventually, it came here to Ponyville about two or three hundred years ago. My great-granny told me if anypony got too close to it, bad things would happen.” Scootaloo asked, “Where is it now?” Twist said slowly, as if afraid to answer, “It’s near…Sweet Apple Acres.”
The crowd gasped again as they faced Apple Bloom, who was clearly in shock. She said softly, “Near Sweet…? But…” Diamond snickered cruelly, “Well, Apple Boo , looks like you’ve got a haunted house on your hooves.” Silver Spoon taunted, “Yeah! Why don’t you go check it out?”
The CMC gasped before Snips agreed, “That’s right! It’s near your farm!” Snails nodded, “Yeah! Make her go!” The other ponies, now curious, promptly pressured Apple Bloom to check out the haunted house. Eventually, Scoots stood up and said, “Hey! If she’s going, we’re all going!”
A few moments of silence later, every pony dashed away, save for the CMC, Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon. Diamond smugly said, “Why would I run away when I could see you experience the most traumatic moment of your life?” She snickered and continued, “I wouldn’t miss this for the world.” AB turned to Scoots and said sadly, “Well…it looks like we’re going after all.” Scoots sneered, “Yeah, though I'd hate for those two to tag along.”
Just about a mile from Sweet Apple Acres, an old house lay nestled in the woodsy hills. It was a most unusual sight compared to most houses. This one was square like the others, but its windows were only on the second floor. The left window was twice the size of the right window and only the latter was on a box-like bulge. The porch was shaped like a carousel cut in half and there was a sharp waterspout that hung upside-down from the left edge of the porch roof. On the top of the house, there was a crooked chimney on the right side and a tree limb shaped like a deer antler on the left.
The house sat on a lawn strewn with bramble bushes and strange black vines with blue thorns. There were bare trees on either side and a curvy cobblestone path connected the front porch to the front of the lawn. The beginning of the path was where Apple Bloom stood in fright. Diamond Tiara dared, “Well, go ahead, Apple Boo. Just run to the house, ring the doorbell, and get the hay out of there.” Silver Spoon added, “Yeah, it’s nothing more than a…dare .” Both snooty fillies snickered quietly.
DT whispered, “Though I wouldn’t be surprised if she gets caught...in a trap.” The two ponies giggled cruelly as Apple Bloom became more frightened when she heard that. Scootaloo reassured her nervous friend, “Aw, don’t listen to what they say. You’re going to be fine. So what if the house is haunted? It’s not like a ghost is going to catch you. But maybe if there’s a grumpy old housekeeper, then you’re a goner for sure.”
AB glared at her and said, “Thank you so much for your calm words.” She took a deep breath and whispered, “Okay…I’m going in.” As Apple Bloom began to cautiously walk up the path, Scootaloo said, “Uh…be careful.” The snooty fillies both shouted derisively, “NOT!!!” Scoots scowled at them as the two ponies chuckled nastily.
Apple Bloom knew to not let it get to her, so she carefully weaved through the curvy path and made it to the porch. She placed pressed a hoof on each step before climbing to make sure there weren’t any booby traps. She was relieved when she made it onto the porch without any surprises. She slowly walked up to the door and froze. Several moments had passed before Diamond Tiara called out to her, “Hey! This could be your chance to earn your cutie mark! Don’t let it slip from your hooves!”
The yellow Earth pony considered it, and though she was not naïve to believe it, she knew she had to be brave. Otherwise, DT and Silver Spoon were going to call her a yellow-bellied chicken and the whole school would follow suit. At this juncture, Apple Bloom didn’t really have a choice. Before she could think twice, she shakily raised her hoof and pressed the doorbell. The ringing started normal before deepening into eerie bongs. AB didn’t like the sound of that.
Oh, that was a big mistake, my dear.
Apple Bloom ran as fast as she could from the porch. She was only a few feet from the fillies when she became stuck in something! She looked down to see that the cobblestone beneath her now acted like glue, anchoring her hooves to the stone. She cried, “Help! HELP! I’m stuck!”
Scootaloo tried to rush in, but she was held back by the snooty fillies. DT remarked in a tone that almost sounded afraid, “Don’t try to help. She’s a goner now.” Apple Bloom then screamed, “SOMEPONY, HELP ME!!!” Just then, the door flew open. The fillies were amazed when they saw a pink unicorn with a blue mane and tail with red stripes burst onto the porch. What really surprised the ponies was that the unicorn didn’t have a look of anger or malice, but rather of concern and shock.
Her blue eyes widened behind her dark pink glasses and she cried, “NO!” In a blue flash, she teleported herself from the porch to behind Apple Bloom. The unicorn lowered her horn and zapped away at the adhesive stone that rendered AB immobile. Scootaloo and the rich ponies looked at this heroic feat in amazement before Scoots caught sight of something emerging from the brush on either side of her friend and the stranger. The fillies, including Apple Bloom, saw that the vines were rising up. Scoots cried, “Look out!” Thankfully, the mysterious pony freed AB and teleported her to the edge of the lawn.
The vines were swooping down just before the unicorn teleported the filly to safety. The thorny plants collided at the exact spot where Apple Bloom was. Unfortunately, one stray vine had missed the mass entirely and headed for…
“AAAGGH!”
Apple Bloom turned back to see the stranger lying down on the path. She was barely breathing and she was practically still. The fillies looked in shock when they found the reason why: the vine’s thorns had slashed her neck. The CMC just stood there in silence, but almost immediately, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon ran away, shouting:
“Help!”
“Help!”
“Apple Bloom’s a murderer!”
“She killed somepony!”
“She’s a killer!”
The door closed by itself and the shingles beneath and above the windows closed in around the edges as if the house was in sorrow. The furnace lit itself up and smoke began rising from the chimney. Though very subtly, the house groaned as if it was mourning.
Ruby…Ruby…
The chimney was still smoking by the time the paramedics came to wheel the pink unicorn away. A bandage had been wrapped around her stiffening neck. She lied very still as the stallions lifted the wheeled cot and began to roll her away. A small black vine sprouted from the ground and wrapped itself around her tail before losing grip.
Rube…I didn’t mean it…
The paramedics continued to wheel her until the cot became stuck. They noticed that a black vine had enveloped one of the wheels as if it was trying to hold the cot back.
No! Don’t-you-dare-take Ruby…
However, the stallions managed to pry the cot from the vine, with the exception that the small plant held the now-detached wheel. Without anypony noticing, the vine sunk back underground with the wheel still in its grip.
…away…
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo watched as the paramedics took the unicorn inside the back of the ambulance cart. AB walked sadly up to the cart before the stallion in front pulled it away. As it drove farther and farther away, Scootaloo said, “No sirens…Never a good sign.” Apple Bloom knew that somehow, it was her fault, but then why would the stranger give her a key?
Just after Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had run away, the unicorn was barely awake enough to use her magic. A blue aura pushed away a small part of the brambles at the edge of the lawn and opened a secret door covered with grass. Underneath the door was a box. Apple Bloom walked towards it to open it and found that there was a key inside. The key was golden and had the sun and moon emblem found on the Equestrian flag. AB looked back up to the unicorn, who smiled weakly before laying her head down on the path and closing her eyes.
Now that her savior had been taken away, Apple Bloom looked down at the key in her hoof again. She sat down on the ground and mournfully said, “They’re right. I am a murderer.” Scootaloo wrapped her arm around her friend and comforted, “She sacrificed herself to save you.” With tears now welling in her eyes, AB choked, “But I wish she didn’t!” While she was weeping, water formed on the windowsills of the house. A crack then formed on the left window, causing a small leak as if the house was crying with them.
Why, Ruby? Why?
Author's Note
Just to clear any confusion, the italicized lines between paragraphs was the house thinking. The "AAAGGH!" , however, was Ruby shouting out. Before we continue on with the story, I will disclose Ruby's full name: Ruby Lips.
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo slowly walked back to Sweet Apple Acres. Since Applejack and Big Mac went to deliver pies for a few days, Granny Smith was the only one to greet the fillies. “Girls!” she cried. “Where in the name of jumping junebugs have ya been? Don’t ya know how worried I was?”
Apple Bloom stayed silent until she was on the brink of tears. Barely containing her sobs, she ran upstairs to her bedroom. Granny Smith asked, “Huh. I wonder what’s the matter with her.” Scootaloo spoke, “Somepony…somepony…” She couldn’t bring herself to say ‘died’, so she said, “…got hurt saving Apple Bloom. She thinks it’s her fault for what happened to her saver.”
Granny Smith nodded in understanding and said, “Oh…What exactly happened to her?” Scootaloo explained solemnly, “You see, there’s this haunted house near here and we went to check it out. Apple Bloom…got stuck on the path leading to the house, but then this pink unicorn came out the door and saved her. She got Apple Bloom to safety, but one of the thorny vines got her in the neck. We don’t even know if she’s still alive or not.”
The elderly pony asked, “I’m truly sorry about what happened to that pony. Now about the haunted house…” After a long silence, she continued, “Let’s save that story for tonight. It’ll be a good one.” She winked, causing Scootaloo to be curious.
In her bedroom, Apple Bloom was fretting and fussing about the incident. She had thrown the key across the room, not wanting to be reminded of just how much the pony who saved her life had to give up for Apple Bloom. She remembered that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon saw the whole thing…and called her a murderer. She knew it wouldn’t be long before the police showed up to take her away. What would her family think of her if she went to jail? What about her sister?
Apple Bloom found this constant worrying to be exhausting. She thought, I can’t keep this up. I might as well grab some shut-eye to relax. She climbed into bed and softly hummed Applejack’s lullaby to herself. After a while, she was fast asleep.
The entire room had become red and the windows of the old house were lit in a chilling yellow. The door opened and out crept a shadow, which reached the bedroom. The shadow reconfigured into an eagle claw as it loomed over Apple Bloom. A moan could be heard when the claw readied to strike her. Just as soon as it dropped…
Apple Bloom woke up with a gasp. She looked around to see that it was now nighttime. She got out of her bed and looked out the window. She was sure the house was in the direction she was looking, so she went to her trunk and pulled out a telescope. She said to herself, “I might not get a cutie mark in astronomy, but I might as well use this for observing.” She set up the telescope near the window and adjusted it until she could see the house…or that strange flying object coming towards the lens.
She gave a cry as she ducked, unintentionally bumping the telescope and making it spin. A few moments later, she opened her eyes and saw a paper airplane on the floor. Curiously, she opened it, only to be chilled by what she read: ‘You are going to pay dearly for what you did to her.’ She knew that whoever, or whatever , sent the message wanted revenge, but a part of her wanted to believe that it was just a random note mistakenly blown in the wind. The next note was no mistake.
Another paper airplane flew in just as soon as Apple Bloom read the first one. She was hesitant to open it, but she gathered all of her courage to read what this new one said. Her pupils shrunk when she knew that the message was not random. It read, ‘Give me the key and I will forget the incident entirely.’ Apple Bloom knew that nopony else knew about the key but her, Scootaloo, and her rescuer. That left only one other witness: whatever was inside the old house.
Apple Bloom shakily looked through the telescope and saw the house all quiet in the hills where it laid. She suddenly had a feeling, a feeling that just wouldn’t go away. A feeling that somehow, someone in that house was watching her. She slowly backed away from the telescope to ease her anxiety until she felt something brush on her back!
“AAAHH!”
She turned to see Scootaloo, now all startled from her friend’s scream. “Geez, AB,” she said. “It’s only me. What’s got you so spooked?” AB gulped and whimpered in a scared tone, “These!” She showed the letters to Scootaloo, who, after reading them, became just as nervous as Apple Bloom.
She asked, “You don’t think we’re being haunted, do you?” Apple Bloom answered shakily, “I-I-I don’t know. It might be whoever’s in that house.” Scoots said in a voice stronger than moments before, “Well, whoever’s in there sure wants the key so badly. Too badly.” “What do ya reckon we do?” AB asked. Scoots then whispered the plan in her ears.
The Earth pony’s pupils shrunk again and she backed away from her friend, protesting, “Oh, no, no, no! I’m not going up there again, not after what happened.” The Pegasus argued, “Look, it wasn’t your fault you got stuck on the path. By the way, how did that happen?” Apple Bloom replied, “I don’t know. It was weird because none of the other stones were as sticky as the big one. Come to think of it, it wasn’t even sticky before I went on the…porch.”
The fillies then looked at each as if they had the same revelation. They both cried, “The house!” Scoots gasped, “So it is haunted! I knew it!” Apple Bloom asked in confusion, “But then what about the unicorn who saved my life? She was definitely not a ghost.” Scootaloo suggested, “Maybe she was kept prisoner until she freed herself to save you.”
Just then, they heard a voice call out, “Oh, gals? Do ya wanna hear Granny tell you a scary story?” Apple Bloom replied, “No thanks, Granny! Thanks for the offer, though!” Granny called up again, “Are ya sure? It’s about the house ya were making such a big fuss about!”
Scootaloo and Apple Bloom sat near Granny Smith’s rocking chair by the fire. Apple Bloom asked, “So what exactly is in that old house?” Scootaloo asked while making scary gestures, “Ghost? Zombies? Aliens from another world?” Granny Smith chuckled, “No, no, nothing like that. But I have heard rumors that there was a creature inside, a creature of unspeakable horror.”
Both fillies remained silent as the elderly pony continued, “They say that long ago, the house was built to keep the creature contained. This monster was very powerful and could bring massive destruction…or was it chaos? I can’t seem to remember. Anyway, its power could only reach a certain distance like, say, the front lawn. If the house ever got broken, the critter’s power would expand and cause misery to all who lived near it.”
Apple Bloom asked, “But what about the pony who saved me? She practically came out of the house when I was in trouble.” Scootaloo asked, “Yeah, was she a prisoner or something?” Granny Smith answered, “Well, I don’t know about that for sure, but I’d say that she was very lucky. I’ve heard that once ponies enter the house, they never come out. ”
Both fillies gasped until Granny smiled as she suggested, “Why don’t ya visit that pony if she’s well enough and ask her about the house?” Apple Bloom said, “But, Granny, I don’t even know if she’s still alive!” Her grandma said, “Well, ya never know unless ya find out.” She gave out a yawn before getting off her rocking chair and continuing, “Well, I think that’s enough talk for tonight, fillies. Time to hit the hay. Tomorrow’s Nightmare Night, ya know, so ya best get some shuteye.”
As soon as Granny Smith left the room, Scootaloo turned to Apple Bloom and said, “What do ya say, AB? Granny Smith said that we’d never know unless we find out. Let’s go back to the house and find out what’s going on.” Though very hesitant, Apple Bloom sighed, “All right, we’ll go. Besides, we can’t even visit the pony who saved my life since visiting hours have ended for the day.” Her face straightened and she continued in a determined tone, “We’ll go back for her…and to clear my name.”