1st October, 2015

Scootaloo had been excited for Saturday morning all week, and when Saturday morning finally rolled around, she hopped out of bed in a flash, already throwing her clothes on and washing up.

When she was done preparing, she headed for her home’s garage, stopping at the doorway as she peered in. It was her practice to always flip the lights on before going in, but the bulb must’ve blown, because no matter how many times she flipped the switch, the garage remained dark.

Scootaloo returned with a flashlight and gulped. She’d never liked the darkness, but she had to do this. Rainbow Dash was counting on her.

Creeping into the garage slowly, she kept her eyes and ears peeled, her mind constantly trying to tell her something was going to jump out from the darkness and eat her. She fought against such thoughts, but they were much too powerful. All she wanted to do now was find her ball and get out as quickly as she could.

Fear was such an odd thing. Scootaloo found the darkness foreboding and mysterious. She didn’t know if there were monsters in darkness, but she found it much scarier if she couldn’t see the monster than if there was actually one standing right in front of her under a light.

Perhaps it wasn’t exactly the darkness that she feared, but the unknown.

Finding her ball on top of a pile of boxes in one corner, Scootaloo grabbed it and sprinted out of the garage, slamming the door behind her and breathing heavily.

That had been quite the heart thumper for her, but at least she was now through the hardest part. She could now go on with the rest of her day.

Ball in hand, the young girl burst through her front door and grinned at the sky, only to be greeted with a flash of lightning and a torrential downpour of rain.

“Oh, come on!” she yelled at the sky.

She had waited all week for today. Today was the day Rainbow Dash said she would hang out with her at the nearby park to play some soccer. The star athlete of Canterlot High was Scootaloo’s idol. She was everything the young girl wanted in an older sister. In fact, Rainbow was like an older sister she never had; to spend time with her was like winning the lottery.

No, Scootaloo was not to be denied this day.

Donning a bright yellow raincoat and grey boots, she trudged out into the storm, pulling her hood low as the heavy rain pelted against her like watery bullets.

A little rain like this wasn’t going to stop her from having fun.

Wasting no time in splashing her way to the park, Scootaloo had arrived there in only six minutes. The park was devoid of people for obvious reasons, but she knew a little rain like this wouldn’t stop the awesome Rainbow Dash. She was Canterlot High’s star athlete, after all. She wasn’t going to be afraid of some wet weather.

And so Scootaloo stood under a fairly large gazebo and waited.

Fifteen minutes had gone by and there was still no sign of Rainbow Dash or any chance the rain was going to go away.

Scootaloo sighed to herself and retrieved her phone from her pocket. Perhaps she was just running late, or maybe she overslept. That wasn’t all too surprising, so she decided to give her idol a call.

She waited a few seconds before someone picked up on the other end.

“Hello?”

“Rainbow Dash! It’s Scootaloo! Just checking to see when you were coming to the park?” she had to yell over the heavy rain. “We were supposed to play some soccer!”

“Scootaloo? It’s pouring deer and bison out there, what are you doing out?”

“It’s just a little rain. You wouldn’t let a little rain stop you. You’re the awesome Rainbow Dash!”

“Well, yes, right, but…” There was the sound of a violent spat of coughs on the other end of the phone. “You know what, Scootaloo, I’m not feeling so good today. I think I might’ve caught something…” It ended with another series of coughs.

“O-Oh…” Scootaloo tried not to sound so disappointed. “That’s… That’s not good.”

“Tell you what, I can still come out if you’re really interested in playing-”

“No, no! Don’t. I don’t want you getting sicker out here in this weather. Don’t worry about it, Rainbow, you don’t have to come.”

“But-”

“Really, it’s fine. You should rest up if you’re not well. Don’t worry, we can always arrange another day.”

“You betcha, Scootaloo.” More coughing erupted on the phone. “I’m sorry. Hey, I should be back in the game in a few days. I’ll let you know when’s a good day and we can just play soccer all day, how’s that?”

“That’d be great! Okay, get well soon, Rainbow! Don’t cough your lungs out!”

“You got it. I’ll see you for soccer when I’m back up in good shape!”

Scootaloo put her phone back in her pocket and let out a deep sigh. Sure, she didn’t want Rainbow to come out here and get more sick, but she had been anticipating today’s activity all week. To have it canceled at the last minute put a dent in her day.

Right now, her disappointment was quite immeasurable, but she wasn’t going to let that ruin her day. She was still going to make the best out of it.

She looked at her faint reflection in her bright red ball. Rainbow had gotten that for her last month, and though it looked simple, it was autographed in permanent marker by one of the Wonderbolts and it was a very good ball to kick around. She understood how much it meant to Rainbow Dash, and promised to take care of it; it was one of Scootaloo’s most prized possessions.

So going back out into the pouring rain, Scootaloo placed the ball on the muddy ground and kicked it along, imagining there was an open goal on the opposite side of the field. Adding a couple of invisible defenders into the mix, the young girl weaved and dribbled around them, even kicking the ball under one of the defender’s legs to get by in her path to the goal.

“Rainbow would be so proud of me if she were here!” Scootaloo said to herself.

Scootaloo dribbled the ball far down the field, then went around a few trees before returning to the spot her imaginary goalposts were at. Drawing her foot back, the she brought it back for a powerful kick, but the mud under her foot gave way and she slipped on her back, knocking stars into her eyes as the ball went sailing away from the goal and in the opposite direction.

“Owowowow…” Scootaloo rubbed the back of her head and sat up. Her raincoat was now caked in mud.

She looked around, trying to see where her ball had ended up and to her horror, it was now rolling across the street.

“Nonono!” She scrambled for it, falling a few more times as she tried to steady herself. If a car were to come along now, there was always the chance of going right over her prized ball. She couldn’t let that happen.

“What would Rainbow say if you got that ball popped?”

She kept her eyes left and right as she ran to her ball, watching out for any oncoming traffic, and thankfully, there was none. She would be able to get her ball safely!

And then her eyes widened as she spotted where her ball was heading to: a sewer drain.

“No!”

Scootaloo ran harder, even doing a slide on the slick gravel and hurting her bum to get to it quicker, but she wasn’t fast enough to grab her ball before it rolled on into the darkness of the drain.

“Oh man!” She bent down and peered in, trying to spot her bright red ball. “Rainbow’s gonna kill me for this!”

A part of her held her back, not knowing what was down there. It was so dark and she couldn’t even see how deep it was.

“Man, how am I going to get it back now...?”

Just then, a pair of beady magenta eyes opened in the darkness and Scootaloo jumped back with quite the loud shriek, falling on her butt and scrambling back.

“Hey there, Scootaloo,” a high voice squeaked from within the drain. As she watched, the face of a clown emerged into the light. He had a white painted face, along with a red nose and red lips, and his hair seemed to be a fiery orange. “Lose something, did we?" The clown giggled, but there was an undercurrent of something that wasn't humour in it.

Scootaloo looked down at the clown more closely. She wasn’t afraid of clowns. He was hard to see in the drain, and she had never heard of a clown in a sewer before.

“What are you doing down there?” she asked him. “If you stay there, you might drown. The rain’s quite heavy.”

“Oh, why, the whole circus was blown away by the rain. Washed us all down here.” The clown laughed again and grinned, revealing a row of squarish teeth. “What are you doing out in this rain all by yourself? Don’t you have any friends?”

“I do, but… only my friend Rainbow Dash was supposed to meet me out here today.” Scootaloo looked up at the rain. “But she’s sick today.”

“Oh, that’s just too bad.” The clown shook its head. “Hey, how about I give her a balloon? Everyone likes balloons. Would you like one too?”

“Umm… No thanks. We don’t take things from strangers.”

“Ho ho, wise of you to say that, Scootaloo. Wise of you indeed. Well… I’m Nickelfool, the Prancing Clown. And you’re Scootaloo. We’re not strangers anymore, are we?”

“Nickelfool?” Scootaloo held back a laugh. “That’s really your name?”

“It’s a funny name, isn’t it?” Nickelfool laughed. “I love talking to children. I’ve been told I’m very good with them. Do you want to see me prance?”

Scootaloo nodded. “I wouldn’t mind. But it’s really dark down there. I can’ts see the rest of you.”

“Well, why don’t you come closer?” Nickelfool beckoned. “There’s a whole circus down here. There’s rides, and magic tricks, and candy! You like candy, don’t you, Scootaloo?”

Nickelfool smiled widely. Scootaloo felt drawn in by that smile. Clowns were supposed to smile, right? And it wasn’t as if she had any other plans for the day, since Rainbow was stuck being sick at home.

“There’s really a circus down there?” Scootaloo leaned closer and tried to look past the clown. “How’s it all fit?”

“You’d be surprised how big the sewers really are. Wuh-would you like to come see?” Nickelfool gestured with a gloved hand for her to come closer. The clown’s face suddenly went still, almost like someone had hit the pause button on the TV.

Scootaloo looked uneasily at the clown, who just stopped doing anything. Even his eyes seemed to have glazed over. For some reason, that sent a chill down her spine, and it wasn’t the rain.

“I-I don’t know…” Scootaloo was tempted. She really was, but no matter how she looked at this, it was more than a little sketchy. “Maybe I should just go back home.”

“That’s fine. But oh, without your ball?” Nickelfool held up her red ball in his hand. “It’s a really nice ball, kind of like the ones I have down here. Bright and shiny red bouncing balls. Come on. Take it.”

Scootaloo eyed her ball. Nickelfool had the ball turned towards her so she could see the Wonderbolt signature. She gulped. This was one of her most prized possessions. She couldn’t just leave without taking it. Rainbow had worked hard to get something as valuable as that, just for her.

“Take it,” Nickelfool called again, giving it a little wag. “Go on. It’s right here.”

The ball was held just out of reach. Seeing no other alternative, Scootaloo got onto her knees and slowly reached her right arm out for the ball.

“Yes…” Nickelfool breathed, his magenta eyes changing into orange ones. Scootaloo couldn’t see it, but the clown’s mouth had gotten wider and wider, wider than any human mouth could go. “Such a nice ball. Very bouncy…” And just as Scootaloo’s fingers brushed the ball, he hissed, “And once you’re down here, you’ll bounce too!”

Scootaloo felt something sharp puncture her arm, and then nothing. She could no longer feel her fingers. She looked down and where her lower arm usually was was now a bloody stump, with a torn bone jutting out of her upper arm, blood dripping down and pooling around her legs.

Then a second later, unimaginable pain shot up to her brain and she screamed, but nobody was there to hear her, and nobody was there to see her get dragged to a gruesome end.

And the rain continued to fall.

Author's Note

Well, this story came up on quite the whim, but here it is. I hope to make it as enjoyable and creepy as possible. Cheers!

The rest of the idea also came up from a poster we did a while back for the Bloodlines Continuity:
It'll be balls instead of balloons here. How will that play out? Well, we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?