"Remember Steel Wing, do not go to Ponyville after 9. Ponies disappear there still."
"Fucking hell, I should've listened to mum all those years ago." Steel said after entering Ponyville. The place was run down most of the buildings were collapsed, and not a single shred of life remained. The Everfree reclaimed the land and not even the animals would dare step into the boundary of the abandoned town. So why was he here? He wanted to prove that the Laughter was a myth. The Bearers died years ago, all because of an accident that Discord supposedly caused. Even then, reports of ponies going missing, odd lights, and a crazed laughter coming from the town can sometimes be heard.
He wanted to investigate the happenings, prove them all to be myth and legend, but now that he was there, he couldn't help but feel watched like every move he made was being calculated by some outside force. That, or it was just bad gas. He really hoped it was the latter, because if he really was being watched, he had no way of knowing it. His wings flapped nervously as he dredged onward into the center of the once prosperous town. He could only imagine what it would look like if ponies were milling about saying 'hi' and 'hello' to one another. Those were times long ago though, as the mare named Pinkamena Diane Pie, or Pinkie Pie to her friends, suddenly went berserk. Her eyes went wide, her pupils nothing more than dots, her mane went straight.... but Gods above... Those that actually escaped had said her smile was the most frighting thing in the world. Not even when the had seen Nightmare Moon, or Tirek, or even Discord, they said that that smile would be forever engraved in their memories.
Steel Wing of course, took interest in this. He was metal worker by day, but he was a ghost hunter by night. Well, 'ghost hunter' isn't exactly the right words, 'monster recorder' would be more accurate. He's captured Will-o-the wisps on camera, he's caught the majestic Pegabrine* on an expedition to the tallest mountain, He's even recorded a Badlands' Death Wasp killing a maulwurf. However this will be his biggest break in his entire career. If he can get so much as ONE picture of Pinkie, he'll be a journalist god among his peers. Of course he went against his mothers warnings that she told him when he was younger, but hey, no one said this job was safe.
He was honestly afraid that taking to the skies would make him an easy target, so he tried to stay on the ground as much as he could, of course the flapping of his nervous wings didn't really help. He spied around the corner market place and saw what he was looking for. The place looked lively, even after 30 years of disrepair set in. The roof was once looked like chocolate ice cream, now was near caved in, the paint was peeling upwards and the door was once a vibrant pink, now looked an off white color from sun damage. He swallowed heavily, and and took a deep breath. He opened the door slowly at first. It squealed in protest, but it the sound was eventually drowned out by the sound of a bell. A bell that would normally stop after the door was opened. However, it kept ringing. And it rang, and rang... There was no breeze, he was unsure how it kept on ringing. He turned away from the still ringing bell and walked forward into the lobby.
He felt as if he was diving into a horror story. He walked along side the tables checking each one. He put a hoof one and he examined it. "No dust... But how?" While he began to ponder this, the bell stopped ringing. He turned around to see the bell, only there was no bell. There wasn't even a door. His eyes widened in shock and confusion, and he looked back at the table to see a mound of dust and a rotting sponge cake on it. "No, no no no, that wasn't...." He looked back now at the door-less wall and began to walk outside.
"Screw this, big break or not, I'm not crazy enough to be in there. Hope the pictures of the whole town are though. Before he even stepped hoof in Ponyville, he took pictures of the whole town from above and from the sides. As he began to look over them, he couldn't help but notice something off. He looked at one of his pictures from the side and just next to the town hall he could see it; a small pink dot. The next picture showed the dot again, the next side angle showed the dot closer now. The more pictures he flipped through the closer it got. The second to last picture he could just make out a face, and when he flipped to the last picture, all he could see where those horrible eyes staring back him. He dropped his camera and it took a picture towards him. He grabbed it and flipped to it intending to delete it, but he went pale. His hooves began to shake and he began to turn.
"Hello~"
"AAAAAHHHHH!!!" He dropped his camera and began to run as fast as he could. He took sharp turns, crashing into things like toppled stands and trees, and finally came to a stop when he found the library. He bolted inside and slammed the door shut. He leaned back on the door expecting banging but nothing came. He was breathing heavily, and he gave a quick look around. Not that it did any good, it was pitch dark, so he fumbled with a small lighter and flicked it on. He saw books strewn all over the place, some with pages torn out, some even burned. However he stopped when did hear a bang on the door. He flicked the lighter off and hid under the coffee table.
When the banging stopped, he was relived, but suddenly terrified by the sound of the window being shattered. He heard her giggle as the glass crunched under her hooves. "Are we playing hide and seek? I love that game..."
He held his breath when he could her getting closer. *crunch, crunch, crunch, crun-* And then it seemed to stop. He slowly let out the breath trying to not make a sound. The giggling was closer now, almost on top of him. He swallowed again, suddenly he heard the table be flipped over. The hooves just came next his head when heard the voice next his ears.
"FOUND YOU!"
He screamed again, but this time he couldn't run, she had him pinned. Feeling for anything, his hoof tapped something, a piece of glass! He gripped it in his hoof and slammed it as hard he could to where he thought her temple would be. What he didn't know, was she had turned her head as swung so instead of the temple, he impaled her eye. She fell off of him and he got up and flicked his lighter. Now he got a good look. She was almost skin and bones, no muscle. Her mane was so long it dragged on the floor and it was a wonder how she could even stay up with those sticks she called legs. Now, though, her head was bowed and she ripped the glass out her eye. Her head stayed bowed as she grabbed it, but now it was as if she was starting to cry. He shoulders bobbed up and down, but then he heard not crying, but laughing, then laughing into growling.
"Hehehehehehehrhehrr grrrrrrrrrrRRRRRAAAAHHHHHHH!!"
"AHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
Author's Note
Pegabrine: The Primal Pegasus, said to be one of the daughters of Faust.
