A Quaint Little Road

by marking

Rating: mature
Tags: Profanity, Gore, Violence, Princess Celestia, Death, Alternate Universe, Princess Luna, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Horror, Other, Main 7 (EqG)
Length: 1249

Sometimes the path least traveled is that way for a reason

Starlight just wanted to go out for an evening stroll across the outskirts of Ponyville. On her way she finds a small little path and soon finds herself being dragged further in by its alluring sights and smells as it eggs her on to find out what lies deeper within. Unknown to her though something from within lurks and begins following.
(Part of Marking's Spooky Stories for Stormy Nights)
(Cover art by me :xxmarkingxx.deviantart.com)

Published 2019-10-05 20:30:01 UTC
Last updated 2019-10-05 20:30:01 UTC

A quaint little Road

Something Follows

'Its chilly today', thought Starlight as she took a peaceful stroll through the outskirts of Ponyville.

The Autumn chill in full swing as the barren trees surrounding the paths stood as a strong reminder that winter was gonna be coming in full swing this year. It had begun a bit earlier than usual, as colder winds struck the quaint town well before the end of summer. Starlight didn't mind though, she had always been very fond of the warm hues that this specific season always brought. It always seemed to bring with it the perfect ambiance to get cozy with every-creature as well as seeking the pleasant commodities of winter without being sequestered inside because of the cold. A perfect balance and in some cases one could even consider it the calm before the storm.

'Crack' the sudden noise disturbed the pleasant peace that surrounded her.

"Hello?" Starlight questioned as she looked around herself, seeking the source of said noise. A tad weird but nothing too off schedule for the town as ponies tended to be making their way back home at around this times. She shrugged at finding her query left unanswered and just assumed that it probably was a squirrel or some other animal making some last minute preparations before winter.

As such she continued her trek further into the outskirts farther away from the town, the gently breeze gently swaying the tree branches around her. Its melody enthralling her and pushing her to move just a bit further. After all one had to make sure to take as many opportunities to experience life to it fullest as they could muster. Soon enough though slowly being egged further away from town she found herself walking towards an unfamiliar paved road. It was weird to find anything new in or out of Ponyville nowadays with how long she had been residing in it. The tempting notion of there yet still being something else to find or explore alluring to her sense of curiosity and wonder.

'Crick Crack' Yet again a similar noise pierced her current serenity and brought her out of 'the zone' one would be so compelled to keep undisturbed.

*sigh* "Hello?" Asked Starlight a bit more annoyed now than last time at having her immersion broken yet again as she looked around and once more found herself completely alone to her thoughts.

Starlight Glimmer huffed as she attempted to get back to her past mindset. The task wasn't quite too difficult to follow through as a scent caught her attention; an enticing trickle of cinnamon with a hint of pumpkin tickled her nose as it quickly brought her mind back to the road leaving the weird cracking noises forgotten. As she cantered forward seeking the answer of where such a delightful smell could be coming from she noticed a single flicker light on the path. The slowly increasing smell only made the thought of figuring out what lied ahead only more interesting, perhaps a hidden shop never seen before?

*SNAP*

Starlight stopped dead in her tracks and looked around for the third time. This time though she wasn't intent on asking nicely if someone would reveal their presence. It took less than a second as Starlight released a sensory scrying spell. Anything with a beating heart would be revealed to her immediately, from the smallest mice to the biggest ursa major.

Confusion quickly took her as the spell came back......empty. There was nothing around her to cause the breaking of leave or the snapping of twigs. Maybe it was all just a trick of her imagination? Or maybe the air was just stronger than she first thought? Starlight was tempted to keep going down this line of questioning before she turned around and found herself standing before a single light post with a few pumpkins beneath it. There didn't seem to be much of anything special about it, though she could clearly see the cinammon scent wafted gently out of the light post and towards her. Shed be compelled to call this genius as the simple yet enthralling little road offered an amazing walking experience to anypony seeking to get away from things and be left to their thoughts for a few minutes. Now if only it weren't so far away from the town perhaps it'd have a lot more traffic and whomever thought of this would be properly rewarded for his or her initiative. Perhaps if she just-

*CRACKLE SNAP!*

"OK THATS IT!" Starlight shouted infuriated at being intruded upon once more by something. Once is mistake, twice is coincidence, thrice is a pattern, and clearly four means some-creature was screwing with her!

Starlight tuned the scrying spell to have a far higher radius this time as well as capable of registering irregular heartbeats. This time shed catch whomever was doing this and have a good word about it with them regarding stalking. She fired off her spell but alas it was for not as it once again returned empty. This only fueled her motivation of catching the perpetrator as such she increased the radius once more and let it go off...........only for it to return once more empty. Starlight began seeing red as she retuned the spell once more, this time thered be no escape, a 2 mile radius and the capacity to detect movement disregard things such as swaying branches or rustling leave. She charged her spell and discharged it with a victorious grin on her face, nothing could escape this time.

...
...
....

Only for it to return empty.
"Maybe I am overreacting just a bit." Starlight said almost incredulous at how quickly she had let her patience slip. Leaving in Ponyville had made her a lot more jumpy than she used to be she surmised.

It was at this point that she noticed how far down the sun had trekked almost ready to exchange places with the moon. Not only that but the gentle breeze once present had also seemingly vanished without a trace. She scanned her surroundings and noticed the sound or lack thereof around her. Not even the melody of insects or a single falling leaf.

*CRACK*

Once again the noise broke through, this time startling Starlight enough to shoot a bolt of magic towards the offending noise's direction.
There was no sound of a collision, no boom, nothing. Like her bolt simply ceased to exist as soon as it was out of viewing distance.

*SNAP*

"SHOW YOURSELF!" Starlight screamed reading another bolt one again but having it ready for self defence.

*Crack*

*Snap*

*CRACKLE*

*CLACK*

The noises began flooding Starlights senses as the noise seemingly came from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Slowly getting closer and closer. In her panick Starlight attempted to teleport only to find herself standing exactly in the same spot.

"WHAT!?" She asked before she tried once more and teleported exactly where she stood.

"NO NO NO!" Starlight said as she tried once more.

*CRACK CRACK CRACK!*

Once, Twice, Three time, Four times! But nothing worked, her teleportations were useless, her shields refused to erect, her bolts vanished.

"Please somebody! HELP ME!" She pleaded

*ThumpTHUMPTHUMP* She heard behind her before turning around just in time for the sun to fall into the horizon and the light post's light to snuff into eternal darkness.

Author's Note

Im no story writer but I wanted to offer peeps something more than an image :_)