Carousel of the Damned
(Based on the Carousel Pony pic series by Devilhooves)
Part 1: Missing
There are stories… Of a beautiful carousel deep within the Everfree… But as with all things in the forest, it is best left alone. For if pony hooves are to set foot on the carousel, they will forever become a part of it. Forever in pain, yet never allowed to die as they are impaled. This is the Carousel of the Damned…
It had been a week since she last saw Rarity. A whole week since her older
sister went missing...
The Police had told Sweetie Belle’s parents they would do everything they could to find her and not to worry about it when they came by earlier in the week. They asked her questions like when she had last seen her and where Rarity had been going when she went missing. Sweetie Belle didn’t understand most of the questions but she tried to answer them as best she could.
Her sister had been going over to Fluttershy’s place the day she disappeared for their usual spa date. They only discovered she was missing when Fluttershy came over to ask if Rarity was running late.
Sweetie Belle had never seen her parents so frantic as when the two ponies galloped all over Ponyville to find her older sister.
“When’s Rarity coming home?” She asked innocently, one night as they gathered around the dinner table to eat.
It was a full minute before her mother replied with a quivering “I don’t know...”, her voice indicating that she was beginning to lose hope that they would ever find their daughter ever again.
“But...” Sweetie Belle began before her father chimed in, “Just eat your dinner, Sweetie Belle...”
Sweetie Belle turned her gaze from one parent to the other as she observed the defeated looks on their faces, not believing what she was hearing from them. They had given up! Given up on finding their own daughter!
With a determined look and a rough shove, the pink and violet maned filly pushed her chair back from the table and trotted upstairs to her room. She had to do something. She NEEDED to do something! She wasn’t gonna sit around while everypony around her was giving up on Rarity!
Later that night, she packed her saddle bags and snuck out of the boutique with the help of a window and a rope made of bed sheets. If anyone was gonna save her sister it was gonna be her! But she wasn't gonna be able to do it alone...
She needed her friends.
Sweetie Belle galloped across Ponyville at top speed, skidding to a stop outside the gates of Sweet Apple Acres. Switching to a more sneaky walk she made her way to Applebloom's window, trying not to wake the rest of the Apple family or Winona.
Once below the youngest Apple's window, the young unicorn carefully scooped a a hoof full of pebbles into her hoof and threw them at her window. The pebbles made a barely audible clinking noise against the glass as she called quietly up to Applebloom.
"Psst!" She hissed softly as she lobbed some more pebbles at the window, making even more noise. "Applebloom! Wake up!" Sweetie Belle hissed a little bit louder and tossed her pebbles a little bit harder at the window.
Her efforts were rewarded with the glow of a lamp coming from the young earth pony's nightstand and the appearance of Applebloom's bedmaned head at the window. "Whaaaaaaat?!" She groaned angrily as she opened her window before looking down at her fellow Crusader with bleary sleep filled eyes. "Sweetie Belle?! Do ya know what time it IS?!" She asked with a low growl.
"Yes, I do! It's rescue time!" the horned filly replied with an air of determination that she emphasized with a stomp of her little hoof. "Now get your flank out here so we can get Scootaloo!"
"Wait, wait, wait," Applebloom stopped her friend as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "we're doin' what now?"
"We're gonna go find Rarity!" She elaborated while she waited for the red maned earth pony to begrudgingly get her stuff together. "Even if we have to go into the Everfree Forest to do it!" She emphasized this with another stomp of her hoof.
"Whoa! Hold on there, partner!" Applebloom yelled, running back to the window in a hurry. "Ain't no way and no how Ah'm goin' into that forest at night! So thank ya for comin', good night!" She emphasized her refusal with a rather loud slam of her window.
"But..." Sweetie Belle gaped as her friend walked away from the window, turning her back on her. "Please Applebloom! I need your help!"
Applebloom groaned at the whine creeping into the unicorn's voice and facehoofed. "Why Celestia? Why do ya'll let these things happen to me?" With that she turned right back around and opened her window again. "Fine, Sweetie Belle! Ah'll help, just stop with the whinin'!"
The unicorn filly smiled widely as she softly clapped her hooves in joy. "Yes! I knew you'd see things my way!" She beamed as she helped catch her friends saddle bags before Applebloom rappelled down to her with a bedsheet rope.
"If we somethin' happens to us out there, Ah'll buck your behind into yer head!" Applebloom threatened lightly as the two fillies galloped off to find Scootaloo, not knowing of the events the night had in store for the young Crusaders...
Chapter 1 end.
Authors note: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of a hopefully successful story! As always MLP: FIM and all it's characters belong to Lauren Faust, her wonderful coworkers and Hasbro!
Carousel of the Damned
(Based on the Carousel Pony pic series by Devilhooves)
Part 2: Into the Forest
Beware, beware, the calliope sound... The dread music which draws all ponies to their doom...
The two fillies galloped at full speed towards Scootaloo's place, Applebloom holding a lantern in her clenched teeth to light their way through Luna's night. Across the orchard and the fields all the way to Ponyville, they ran as if Nightmare Moon herself was chasing them. A half-hour later, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom came to a stop outside Scoot's house near the empty Marketplace. To their surprise, they found the orange pegasus filly sleeping on her stoop with a small pillow and a thin blanket.
Applebloom set her lantern gingerly on the ground before trotting up to the sleeping filly and nudging her with her hoof. "Hey Scootaloo!" She softly said as she started to shake her awake. "Come on, Scoot, wake up!"
The shaking seemed to do the trick as the orange filly groaned tiredly before opening one eye to look at her fellow Crusaders. "Whaaaaat?" She groaned, rather cranky that her sleep had been disturbed. She sat up in her improvised bed and looked at them both with a groggy questioning stare. "Do you featherbrains know what time it is?" She asked, getting even more grumpy.
"The better question is why are you sleeping outside your house?" Sweetie Belle chimed in, stepping up to the sleepy filly.
"Oh," Scootaloo replied, pulling her blanket over her shoulders to shield from the night cold. "my mom had someone over..." The little filly looked away, trying to hide a look of shame. "No big deal..."
"Uh... okay..." Applebloom coughed nervously as she decided to not push further the pegasus filly about her home life, "A-anyway, we're going to go look fer Rarity and we were hopin' you could come with us to look."