Sunset tapped her pencil against her chin, the dreaded blank page staring back up at her with contempt. The silence loomed over her and her friends as they all stared around the gym, desperately searching for something that would give them ideas.
“Oh! Cupcake jumpscares! We could launch them out of cannons! They could be Halloween colors!” Pinkie exclaimed with an excited smile.
Sunset shook her head. “No, Pinkie. Principal Celestia told us nothing that could potentially injure anyone.”
Pinkie furrowed her brow. “Cupcakes never hurt nobody!”
An eyebrow raised on Rainbow’s face. “Uh, except when your dumb cupcake carosel idea flung me off the bleachers.”
Applejack couldn’t help but snicker. “To be fair, that was more the contraption than the cupcakes.”
Sunset groaned and rubbed her eyes. “Guys, it’s almost Halloween and we don’t have any ideas for this haunted house.”
“I’m sure we’ll come up with something. Would you like me to go over the list of the most commercially successful haunted houses again?” Twilight said, lifting up her phone with an eager smile, as she did her best to ignore the eternity empty of ideas that hung in the intermittent silence around them.
Rarity flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Why not just do a costume contest instead? It’d be so much easier.”
“Principal Celestia is counting on us. We’re supposed to show off the school’s creativity for that contest in the paper, remember?”
“Um… maybe we could have people get into a bed with no stuffed animal and make loud noises in another room?” Fluttershy said fidgeting in her own seat as she tried to steer the group away from the earlier suggestions.
Rainbow burst out into laughter. “Yeah, and maybe we could give them a glass of milk that isn’t chocolate and tell them they have to make a phone call on their own tomorrow.”
“Oh! That would be scary,” Fluttershy added, giving the rest of the group a chuckle as well, all except Sunset.
A heavy sigh left Sunset’s lips. She tapped her pencil against the notepad, doing her best to imagine the amazing idea popping off the page. She positioned the lead on the line, hoping for it to start moving itself.
“Having trouble?” a voice called out, making Sunset’s pencil fly out of her hand as she jerked up in her chair.
She turned around to see Luna looming over her, uncomfortably close, adorning her usual bland, disapproving gaze. “Perhaps you could use the tale of the ghost that haunts these very halls.”
The girls all shared a nervous laugh as they looked between each other, hoping for Luna’s steeled expression to soften.
“But… ghosts aren’t real… right?” Fluttershy asked as she brought the hands buried in her sweater sleeves up to her face.
Luna walked over to the door of the gym, flicking the lights off and looking back over her shoulder to the girls. “If only they weren’t.”
Fluttershy squeaked and hid herself behind her hair, but the rest of the girls looked on in nervous anticipation as Luna slowly made her way back over.
“Back when I was a student here, there were whispers of a ghost. One that would come out at the beginning of Fall to sweep these halls looking for unsuspecting victims. Anyone caught alone would first feel the winds pierce them to their very core before the real horror came. The thunderous hoofbeats will echo all around them once the specter arrives and it will stop for nothing as it chases them wherever they go until finally catching them.”
Twilight let out a tense breath. “A-and then what?”
Luna let an ominous silence hang in the air. A chill descended on the girls as the last rays of the sun barely peeked through the darkened gym. Luna stared down at the frightened girls like a judge handing down a harsh sentence. “And then you’re never seen again.”
Luna circled the group. “Some say you’re whisked away on the ghostly winds, but that’s only if you’re lucky. Others say you’re added to the procession of hoofbeats, forced to run for an eternity for your captor to chase down other unsuspecting victims.”
Sunset gulped at the thought of an eternity of galloping. “Or perhaps you’re simply dragged away to join the ghost on the other side, tossed aside if you’re not the right victim.”
Rarity cleared her throat. “Who would be the right victim?”
“The girl the ghost has been looking for. The one to drag through to replace his lost wife. Some say the ghost was a prince that died the day of his wedding, and now he rides to steal back what he’s lost. Someone elegant and classy to make up for the day he lost,” Luna said with an indifferent stare as soon as she got behind Rarity.
“No…” Rarity said, putting a dramatic hand up to her chest.
Applejack let out a chuckle. “Looks like y’all are out of luck.”
“And some say the ghost is simply riding to seek revenge on those that captured his herd and sold them to the families of this very town.”
“W-wait, hold on now…” Applejack started.
Twilight shook her head to snap herself out of her own fear. “If no one knows for certain, then it’s probably just some dumb legend. No one’s ever actually gone missing… have they?”
“But that’s where you’re wrong, Miss Sparkle.” The girls fell silent again, unconsciously huddling close to each other and slowly coming to resemble Fluttershy’s terrified trembling.
“I was only spared from this horror because the ghost was sated by a girl a few years older than me. Willow. She was kind and unassuming, someone everyone loved to be around. As Halloween approached, she began wandering the halls alone, as if drawn by some otherworldly figure. One day we came to school to find only her backpack cut open by a blade and her things strewn everywhere, but she was nowhere to be found. She was never seen again.”
“Oh come on, that can’t be true,” Twilight said as she pulled her phone back out.
“The ghost disappeared for a few years after her disappearance, but is said to come back out every fall to find another perfect victim. We think Willow was unlucky because she shared the name of the girl the ghost had been looking for. If you wish to see for yourself, scrawl her name upon the statue in front of the school, if you dare.”
Twilight gasped and put a hand over her mouth. “She… she’s right! A girl named Willow did go missing 20 years ago.”
Luna cracked a quick smile as her ominous pacing finally led her back to the door. “Good luck with your haunted house, girls,” she said before slamming the door behind her and making everyone jump in terror.
The girls all looked to each other, suddenly a lot more uncomfortable to be there in the dark. Sunset took it upon herself to slink over to the light switch, every step sending chills through her body as she surveyed every dark corner, just to make sure. She flipped the switch and the gym flooded with light yet again and everyone let out a relieved sigh, except for Fluttershy who was curled up and trembling with her eyes wide.
“You know I think that’s a pretty good idea for a haunted house,” Sunset said, a sheepish smile coming over her face for being so terrified.
The girls all exchanged a relieved laugh as well, though the underlying terrified uncertainty remained.
Sunset rolled the piece of chalk in her hand. “Just a story…” she told herself. The chilly fall wind cut through her jacket and brushed her hair along her back, filling the void of silence around her as the darkness of night fell heavy on Canterlot High’s courtyard.
Her phone felt like it was burning a hole in her pocket. The only heat for miles after she wore it out digging for as much information as she could find about this Willow girl. Sunset pursed her lips as the nervousness gripped her stomach. Every part of the story checked out. The poor girl hadn’t been seen in decades and from what little she could scrape together from the article, she’d been at the school looking for something… or running from something.
Sunset closed her eyes tightly. She had to know for sure. Without a soul in sight at this hour of night, she walked up to the portal and put a hand through it, just for a moment. She thought about all the strange creatures and magic just on the other side of the statue, but ghosts?
An uneasiness pierced her gut and she yanked her hand back out. She shook her head. “I’m gonna feel so stupid when this does nothing.”
Her hand reached out, her sleeve slinking back to let the chill down her jacket as the chalk found its way to the concrete. With each letter her stomach sank even more. The wind picked up, cutting through all of Sunset’s clothes until a shiver ran down her spine. The last w was placed with a nervous tremble and Sunset couldn’t help but gulp as she took a step back to look at it.
The wind carried an ominous howl with every gust. Sunset held herself as she stared at the darkness all around her, hoping for a break in the cold, violent air. She bit her lip and gripped herself tighter, wondering if her curiosity had finally gotten the better of her. After all her adventures, would this finally be the night to end them. Her shiver got worse as she took another step back, her own writing staring her down like a beaker filled with a potentially explosive reaction simmering. Sunset’s heart pounded in her chest and for a moment it sounded like the thundering hoofbeats slamming down all around her.
Her eyes darted to the sidewalk, considering how far she could get if she started running now. Luna’s words echoed in her head and she knew she probably couldn’t outrun any entity that decided it was her time. Sunset closed her eyes tightly as the wind cut through her once again, grasping tightly at her gem and hoping she’d be able to find some way through.
The wind disappeared. The air remained cold, but the stillness let Sunset’s jacket comfort her again. A sigh of relief left her lips, and then a chuckle. “Really have to stop with the scary movies and weird internet stories,” she said as she took a step back towards the statue.
That’s one angle of the mystery solved. Sunset pulled the strap on her backpack tighter, deciding that was enough excitement for one night. She took one last look at the name scratched onto the concrete and wondered where that poor girl actually ended up. A task for another time, she thought. It was going to be a long night of planning for that haunted house and she really shouldn’t have waltzed out back to the school for this nonsense instead.
Sunset took in a deep breath and let her mind wander on the possibilities of the poor girl’s fate. Yet another mystery to add to the collection. Sunset couldn't help but shake her head at herself. Way too much of her time was wasted chasing these curiosities, but she knew she could never help herself. She figured if nothing else the effort could make for a better haunted house at least.
“Willow…” she whispered one last time.
Sunset yelped as her hair bit at her face and the wind threatened to take her off her feet. She brought her elbows up to keep her face covered as the whirlwind consumed her, almost sucking the breath right from her lungs.
It was nothing like anything she’d ever experienced. Sunset grit her teeth and blindly reached out for something to hold onto, but the force pushed her around until she fell to her knees. The horrific pounding started again. Sunset gripped her chest in fear and begged her heart to calm itself. The thundering in her ears shifted from dull, fantic pounding to a much more distinct crash of concrete and bone. Sunset’s breath caught in her throat. She’d spent half her life listening to the hooves of ponies on the Canterlot streets and couldn’t convince herself it was anything else.
She looked up into the darkness to find the school had been enveloped in a malevolent haze. The wind whipped around her surroundings until she didn’t even know if she was on the same planet any longer. She stared into the void, terror gripping her heart as she wondered what fate held for her now.
The darkness finally took shape. A malicious smile rode in through the mist and stared down at her as she shook in place, completely helpless. The hoofbeats slid to a stop and what little she could make of the concrete and the remnants of the statue disappeared into the all-encompassing blackness in front of her. A roar of violent wind through whipping branches shook Sunset to her core. The remnants of a voice? A scream, a cry, a laugh? She couldn’t tell through the intense fear gripping her.
She let her arms fall and took a look into the void staring her down. She could see nothing but the dim eyes staring back at her, studying her as if judging if she was worth it or not. In a flash, they sharpened at her and Sunset’s breath caught in her throat. This was it.
Her arms shot up above her head but it was no use as the figure descended upon her, gripping her in an otherworldly tightness and whisking her off her feet to her fate as she screamed in terror.
Sunset gasped and shot upright, opening her eyes to the warm sun flooding her room with light. She panted and looked around her bed in confusion as sweat dripped down her forehead.
Her breaths slowed and with one final sigh she laughed at herself. “Just a…” she blinked as she looked down to see her boots and her jacket still clinging to her body, and her backpack straps still clinging to her shoulders. “...dream.”
