Author's Note

Hope you will like the start of my first horror story!

Chapter 1

"Goodbye, girls! See you in a month!"

Pinkie chimed once the train arrived.

The Friendship Express rolled beside her and a small group of assorted ponies. Mares, stallions, and foals stood beside one another. They all carried an assortment of bags that varied in size. A loud screech rang out as it soon came to a complete halt.
"Goodbye, Pinkie."
Twilight replied, wrapping her hooves around her friend for a moment.

"Remember to say hi to your family from me, Pinks."

Applejack added, warmly remembering the hearts warming she had spent with the Pie family.

"Have fun, Pinkie!"

Exclaimed Rainbow bumping her pink friend's hoof playfully.

"I'll take good care of Gummy while you're gone, have fun at the reunion!"

Fluttershy said with a bright smile.

"Bye, darling. I'll miss you."

Rarity whispered when hugging Pinkie.
Pinkie was going to the Pie family reunion at Granny Pie's citrine farm in vanhoover.

After the one week of partying, her entire family would stay and clean up, then help Granny with farming. The effort doubled as Granny Pie got older, but nopony was bothered by that. Besides, everyone loved spending time with her.

When the whole reunion would be over, The pink mare planned on staying on the rock farm for a few weeks.

"Seeya!"

Pinkie shouted as she stepped into the train.

Slowly, the doors closed and the train started moving.

The main five thought that the next month would be, well, boring.

They could never be so wrong.

ｔｈｅ ｎｅｘｔ ｄａｙ

Twilight Sparkle lifted up her muzzle to release a small yawn. After a few moments or so, she creeped out of bed.

After a quick shower and brushing her teeth, the mare began her habitual trip toward the lavish dining room.
"Good morning, Spike. Do we have any mail?" Twilight inquired. Purple hooves trotted solemnly on the castle floor.

"Mornin' Twilight. The only mail we have is this letter. It says 'to Princess Twilight', but it doesn't say who it's from."

Spike furrowed his brow whilst looking at it.
He quickly gave Twilight the letter before going back in the kitchen to whip up some pancakes.
"What could this be?"

She asked herself as she opened the letter.

ʸᵒᵘ ᶜᵃᶰ'ᵗ ʳᵘᶰ

"What in Equestria? Is this some kind of joke?"

Her thoughts couldn't help but be spoken out loud. "Who would write this?" She wondered, her amethyst eyes scanned the odd parchment. Sounds of knocking bounced throughout castle walls. It took a few second for their echoes to reach Twilight's perked ears.
"I'm coming!" She hollered before fluttering over toward the front door.

Inching closer allowed a peculiar sensation to trickle up and down her spine. But, why?

Twilight pushed open the massive door, instantly welcomed by the sight of her friends. However, they seemed a tad distraught.

Just a little bit really, it wouldn't even be noticeable to a majority of townsponies. Multi colored faces crinkled at random places and matched somewhat tense shoulders. If actually noticed, one could probably just say it was a slight discomfort from light. But, she saw it. Twilight knew her friends better than the back of her own hoof.
"Twi', we need your help."

Funny enough, it was her most stubborn friend who blurted out the statement. Applejack's emerald orbs locked onto her own.

"We all got a weird letter sayin' 'you can't run'. Do you know anythin'?"
Not once did her gaze falter from Twilight. This worked to her advantage, allowing the pony to search deeply into them.

A weird feeling was evident in those familiar pupils. The only time she could possibly recall such a look on her friend was at that one sleepover. It was like she'd seen a ghost.

"I got one too, but I'm sure it's nothing. Probably some big joke. I mean, it's just a letter." Twilight tried to reassure the now not so strong farmpony, and herself. It was just a paper, what could be so scary about that?

They've seen exactly what ought to be feared, dumb hoaxes aren't one of them. Why did she feel this way then?

"C'mon, guys, it's probably just Pinkie pranking us. She does that all the time! I would know."

Rainbow agreed in an attempt to sound brave. Her mannerisms instantly gave away inner thoughts.

Fluttershy eyed her friend, mostly watching her twitching muzzle. It seemed rather insecure much to Shy's surprise.

"Um, Dash, I know that Pinkie loves pranking, but her jokes are always... practical.More than this at least.

She would never have a prank like this.When she pranks somepony, she always jumps out of the bushes yelling 'surprise!'"

Fluttershy furrowed her brow, looking at Rainbow Dash.

"She's right.", Rarity began, "Pinkie only surprises, she never scares anypony." The mares remained silent for about several moments.

It could have been more for all they knew. All that was known was that someone finally said it, 'scare'. Nopony looked at their white friend.

Twilight coughed nervously before making a suggestion, "Perhaps Pinkie's trying a new type of prank. We shouldn't let her get under our skin. If we ignore it, we won't get fooled." Suddenly, the once thick air cleared away.

Such a suffocating feeling was unnerving to say the least.

Reasonable ponies shouldn't let stupid papers get the best of them. Plus, it probably was their silly little friend.

Without her around there was no pinkie sense, maybe that was getting them this way.

"You're probably right, Twilight.", Applejack smiled, "Say, anypony wanna have a picnic at the farm?"

"Sure!"

Everypony agreed, a cheerful demeanor quickly plopped back onto them.

ｔｈｅ ｎｅｘｔ ｄａｙ

Horrible blares cried out into void nothingness. These wretched screeches could only be compared to that of a nuisance.

Not a singular second passed with an end to this.

Rainbow Dash slammed a foreleg down on the alarm clock, it took a couple more hits to silence it.

"Aw yeah! Mornin', Tank!"Rainbow shook off any grogginess, leaping into the air.

It wasn't a good idea to start flying before doing a bit of stretching, but the cyan pegasus didn't care.

"Want some breakfast, buddy? I got your favourite lettuce!" The tortoise took just about as much time as possible to nod.

A funny little grin steadily trickled onto his lips.

No matter how long it took, she waited for the response. At this point in their relationship, they took lengthy measure to understand one another.

"I'll put it in your bowl." Rainbow replied with a gentle nod. "Oh wait- I gotta check the mailbox! Those tiny boots I ordered you should be here by now!" She dashed over toward the said mailbox in excitement.

Tank in lightning printed boots would be so awesome! A pet of the Rainbow Dash needed to have style.

She opened the mailbox, exited to see she had mail. But instead of a package with boots it was a letter in her mailbox.

"Wonder what this could be."

Rainbow mused to herself while opening the letter.

ʸᵒᵘ ᶜᵃᶰ'ᵗ ʳᵘᶰ

"Ugh, not this again."

Rainbow Dash scoffed as she rolled her eyes. This silly little note wasn't even funny, what's the point if it doesn't make anyone laugh?

"Hey, wait a minute..." She raised her brow, "This isn't- this isn't Pinkie's hoof-writing..."

I gotta clear her name.

There was no way that her friend could've pulled something like this. She was relieved to know that she could trust Pinkie. More than anything though, Rainbow was unsettled. In an instant, she caught sight of something in the corner of her eye. It was far too large to be Tank. However, when she looked, nopony was there.

Odd.

Hah, well I gotta tell the others. Yup yup!

Her stomach growled. "Right after breakfast, of course." Rainbow said aloud with a slight blush.

○○○

"Are you sure it isn't her hoof-writing?"Fluttershy asked.

"I'm totally sure. I've seen Pinkie's writing a thousand times before, and this is way different." Her eyes narrowed to a rather serious expression.

"Then who the hay is sending us these letters?" Twilight asked, mostly to herself.

"Perhaps some sort of new enemy?" The fashionista suggested.

"Ah really hope this is just a joke." Applejack pursed her lips, deep in thought.

Her knotted brow let the others know she was hesitant to carry on. Finally, she continued. "Every time ah go in th' shed to get some baskets, Ah swear ah can see a pony-shaped ...thing.Not sure what. Ah hope it is just my imagination."

"Whatever it is, we can't let it get to us!"Rainbow retorted.

"I know, darling, but just as Applejack said, I can also see a pony-shaped shadow when I'm looking for fabric. This is clearly not a joke."

Rarity responded, deep traces of fear edged along her speech.

"I couldn't sleep tonight, because I heard hoofsteps downstairs in the cottage!", the yellow mare blurted out, "none of my animal friends were out and about either!" Fluttershy allowed her fright to shine through more than the others.

Interestingly, she wasn't the most scared of this situation as was usually the case.

"When I found the letter in my mailbox, I saw a pony-thingy too." Rainbow, who previously was biting at her lip, jumped up into the air.

Anxiety led her to believe that even standing hoof on a floor would be bad news.

Everypony was trying to be brave, that much was painfully obvious by now, but seeing Dash in such a state was bizarre.

The group turned toward their oddly silent friend. Surely, she would know what to do?

Twilight cast a glance at her friends, feeling their eyes bore into her. Clearing her throat, she spoke calmly.

"I woke up in the middle of the night and found this note in my room." Twilight levitated a small paper and put it on the map.

ᵗʰᵉ ᵈᵃʳᵏⁿᵉˢˢ ʷᵃⁿᵗˢ ʸºᵘ

"What did I tell you?!" Dash exclaimed, slamming her hooves down onto the map, "This isn't a stupid joke! We have to do something!"

Her usual frustration had possibly exceeded it's limit.

Applejack bit her tongue in order to prevent any rash words. Her friend's anger was kind of contagious. Regardless, Rainbow Dash was right. This wasn't some prankster, it was obviously a stranger stalking AJ and her dearest friends. It could be seen that their intentions weren't friendly anyway. Even her family could be at risk.

"Ah know, sugarcube, but what?" Applejack said, trying to be calm. She flipped her hat over her eyes to hide her fear and worry.

"I could try to track the pony who sends these letters using the map. "The princess suggested, lightly tapping said map.

Twilight lit up her horn, and shot a tiny beam on the note. It went into the map, scattering it's essence across the surface. Suddenly, it shined at Ponyville.

"Well, that wasn't much help." Applejack's voice was just about an irritated growl by now, this surprised most of the mare's.

"Um, girls? I have an idea." Fluttershy said. "I-it's okay if you don't want to hear it."

"Sure we want to hear it. What is it, darling?" Rarity inquired, placing her hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder.

"If we have a slumberparty in the castle, the thing would have to come since it came to all of us last night. If we can catch it when it comes, that is." She explained, her focus direction to each of them in order to determine if they understood.

"That's a great idea, Shy! I'll get my stuff and be right back!" Rainbow shouted before she flew out the window. There was finally something to keep her mind off all this.

"I should get my things too." Rarity added, proceeding to trot out. She might be missing the chance to prepare a new Spring fashion line,

but at least she'd be in the comfort of her friends.

"Me too." The orange mare followed after Rarity. Fluttershy turned over toward them and jogged along side. Even if she didn't want to leave her animal friends, it was better than being alone.

"Great! I'll get everything ready!"

Twilight exclaimed before the last of her friends left her friends left her adobe.