Stories Hurt Stories Heal

And so ended another Nightmare Night just as tradition would have it end, complete and utter chaos. After Pinkie had scared her friends she ended up being chased all over Ponyville. Her friends had been more mad at her at that moment than they have been in perhaps the entire time they have been friends. When they finally caught up with Pinkie, everypony gave her a huge scolding about how horrible the joke had been. Especially Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack who ended up going back to their homes after it was over to console their terrified younger siblings. After seeing how traumatized the young fillies really were, Pinkie felt so ashamed of herself. All she wanted was to have a little fun on Nightmare Night, but she didn't even consider just how much it would affect the others around her. Pinkie personally apologized to Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo and even went so far as to Pinkie promise that she would never pull a joke that horrible again.

After all was said and done, the others all made their way back home no longer wanting to stay at the library. Of course this upset Twilight a great deal seeing as she was really looking forward to the slumber party. Feeling dejected, she made her way back to the center of the library and proceeded to start cleaning up the mess that had been made. As she cleaned she saw little Spike snoring soundly on one of the many pillows that had been thrown around during the party. His little stomach was still very much extended from all of the sweets he had consumed and no doubt he would probably feel sick in the morning. For now though, Twilight merely smiled at the small dragon and placed a blanket over him as he slept on. She finished up her cleaning as quietly as possible and when she was done gave Spike a kiss on the forehead before heading out of the library. Before she left, however, she did notice something on the floor by the door.

The book of scary stories was lying right in the middle of the doorway as though it had been placed there perfectly. Twilight thought this to be very odd and lifted the book with her magic. She wanted to do a little more research on this book and find out a little more about where it came from as well as its mysterious owner. Twilight shut off the light to the library and made her way to her room where she plopped down on her bed and looked at the ancient book.

"What is it about you?" she asked the book as though it would answer her questions.

She used her hoof to flip through the pages expecting to find some inkling of knowledge as to where it came from or for that matter who it came from. The only problem was that besides the one scary story she had read to her friends, the remainder of the pages were completely blank. Twilight had to do a little double take of the book to make sure but found absolutely no words or anything on any of the pages. This seems strange, how can a story meant to house scary stories not have any scary stories written in it. Perhaps the owner simply did not finish the book and forgot about it.

Perhaps

(The next morning)

A rooster call could be heard throughout all of Ponyville which tells every citizen that it is time to get up and start the day. That went double for the Apple family of Sweet Apple Acres, especially since it was their chicken that was responsible for waking everypony up every day and they were always the first to hear it. The bright green eyes of one Applejack snapped open at the roosters calls and she yawned and stretched as she got up out of bed. She made her way to the window in her room and threw open the shades as the rays of Celestia's sun shown through. The orange earth pony smiled and stretched again taking in the warms of the beams of light. A knock on her door drew her attention to the doorway as it opened revealing a pink bow atop a red mane.

"Come on big sis, Granny made biscuits and gravy fur breakfast, gotta get at em for Big Mac eats em all" came the voice of her little sister.

Applejack smiled and grabbed her hat from her bedside table and made her way out the door as she set it atop her golden blonde mane. When she got down the stairs and into the kitchen, she saw her wide eyed and happy little sister chugging away at her glass of milk while Granny Smith set the table. Speaking of which, the elder green earth pony looked up at her oldest granddaughter and smiled.

"Well look who's finally up and at em, now come on and help me set the table" she said in her old country accent.

"Yes ma'am" Applejack responded. She then helped her grandma set the plates and food on the table and the two of them took their seats with Granny at the head of the table and Applejack and Applebloom on both sides of her. It was then that Applejack looked around and noticed that there was still one member of the family unaccounted for.

"Where's Big Mac?" Applejack asked her grandmother.

"He's skippin' breakfast this mornin', said he wanted to get a start on harvestin. When ya'll two finish I wantcha to go on out and help him yah hear"

Both the Apple sisters nodded and began to eat their breakfast. The biscuits and gravy their grandmother made was always so tasty. Course there wasn't any meat in it seeing as practically every pony in Equestria didn't eat meat but no matter seeing as how the gravy was still so savory and delicious. Both sisters had a look on their faces as though they were in fluffy biscuit gravy heaven but they knew they had to eat quick and make their way to the fields. When they both had finished they helped their grandmother clear the table before they headed out to the fields.

Sweet Apple Acres is called so for a very specific reason, that being that they literally had acres upon acres of apple trees that produced the finest and most savory apples any pony had ever put their muzzles to. Except for that one year Pinkie tried to prank them by replacing their crop with rotten apples, which Applejack still can't let go, but that was all in the past. The two sisters made their way to the fields of apple trees and looked for Big Mac, but saw no sign of him. Maybe Granny meant he was in the corn fields so they began to trot over to their rather large fields of corn.

"Now I don't want you straying to far now Applebloom" Applejack warned her baby sister, to which Applebloom groaned.

"Applejack how many times I gotta tell yah, I'm a big pony now and I can take care of muhself" she said and trotted off into the endless fields of corn.

Applejack just sighed and shook her head, her little sister was as stubborn as a mule sometimes but she loved her with all her heart. She then made her way into the fields in search of her big brother. As she made her way through the fields she couldn't help but admire their crops. The stocks were growing big and strong and the corn they yielded were ripening just as they should be. No doubt this year would reap a good harvest for them.

"AHHHHHH"

That scream pulled Applejack clear out of her thoughts. Her little sister was screaming and that meant that she was in trouble which kicked Applejack's big sister instincts into overdrive. The mare huffed and galloped rather quickly in the direction she had heard the screams coming from. She was running so fast it could give Rainbow Dash a run for her bits as she raced through the fields knocking over a good deal of stocks in the process. She caught a small glimpse of Applebloom in a small clearing and ran faster than she had run in most of her life. When she finally got to the clearing she skidded to a sudden stop sending dirt in all directions.

"Applebloom, what's wrong sugarcube?" she asked worriedly.

Applebloom gave no response and just sat there with a look of fear plastered on her face as she pointed her small hoof behind her sister. Applejack slowly turned around and jumped back when she saw what made Applebloom so scared. There, perched on a high pike, was the scariest looking scarecrow that she had ever laid eyes on. It looked nothing like a pony whatsoever, it looked more like a tall bipedal creature with to arms and legs and no middle. The head was the scariest thing about it, the sack over its head looked like it was made of skin rather than a sack and it had a mean looking expession on it's face. The Apple sisters backed away from the thing slowly before hearing rustling behind them. They both jumped and screamed just as the larger red pony with a green apple cutie mark stepped out from the stocks of corn.

"Whoa now didn't mean ta spook yah" Big Macintosh said.

Upon seeing his sisters faces of fear, Big Mac looked up at the scarecrow perched high and gave a small chuckle adn head shake. He walked right past his sisters and up to the scarecrow.

"Yeah I know whatcha mean, it's one ugly thing ain't it" he said giving the scarecrow a small punch.

"Ugly is one word, downright scary is another" Applejack said.

"Where'd it even come from" Applebloom said from behind her sister. Big Mac just gave a shrug and looked at the scarecrow.

"No idea just found him and put him up, no doubt this one'll keep them crows away"

Applejack slowly walked up to the scarecrow with Applebloom still clutching to her for dear life. When she stood in front of the scarecrow she turned and gave it a good hard buck. The scarecrow moved to the other side of it's position on the pike and went limp again. This made Applejack's smile come back a bit.

"Yah got that right, why this thing's so ugly it'll send the crows packing all the way to Phillydelphia" she said with a laugh. Applejack looked at her little sister who was still scared.

"Now don't you worry Applebloom, it's just a big ugly scare crow it ain't gonna hurtcha" she said calmly. Applebloom looked up slightly and maneuvered herself off her sisters back. She crept slowly to the scarecrow and gave it a little tap. When nothing happened she decided to give it a good hard kick which caused her to laugh a little, which also caused the two older siblings to laugh at their sisters antics.

"Well what we gonna name it" she asked them. Big Mac and Applejack looked at each other in confusion. They have had many scareponies in the past and never had a problem naming them. This one, however, was something different entirely and they had no idea what to do call him. Applebloom looked up at the scarecrow and looked at its old flannel shirt and looked closely at it. She noticed what looked like a name stitched into it.

"I think it's name is Harold" she said. The two other siblings looked at the scarecrow and nodded slightly at the name.

"Alright Harold it is" Applejack said. The name seemed foreign to them but if that is what the thing will be called then so be it.

"Well like ah said before, Harold is bout the ugliest thing I ever did see but if it keeps the crows away stick him as high as can be" Big Mac said with enthusiasm.

"Alright now alright, let's get back to the orchards and start harvesting" Applejack said. Applebloom quickly nodded.

"Ya'll said it, sides this thing is givin me the willies" she said and quickly ran away from Harold and out of the fields.

"Applebloom you slow down now" Big Mac said running after the little filly.

Applejack shook her head and started making her way out of the field as well but not before casting one last glance back at the scarecrow. The thing was so creepy and frightening it could scare a timberwolf. Then she noticed something else, Harold seemed to be back in the same position he was in before she had kicked him to the other side. That was odd seeing as how there was no wind at the moment and there wasn't supposed to be for a while. She just shrugged it off as being weird and followed her siblings out of the fields, leaving the terrifying scarecrow to watch over the fields.

And perhaps them.