A pack of chips, a six-pack of soda, a beanbag, and a shelf full of comics. Everything a group of fillies would need to spend a relaxed night in their clubhouse.
"Rainbow Dash always says that relaxing is her secret to being awesome," Scootaloo said with a chuckle. "Now all there's left to do is to wait for the girls to arrive... Speaking of them, why aren't they here yet?"
Scootaloo went to the window, looking around.
Nothing.
"Oh well, they'll arrive eventually."
She decided to spend her time waiting by reading a Power Ponies comic. Ever since Spike had introduced her to the series, she had been a dedicated fan herself. Even Rainbow Dash liked reading after all, so it probably wasn't an egghead-only thing.
*Buzz!-Buzz!*
Scootaloo jumped upon hearing the sound looking around, dropping her reading material in the process.
*Buzz!-Buzz!*
Searching the clubhouse, she finally tracked down the sound. It was a small handheld pocket radio, a handy little tool that could be used to communicate over a distance. Each of the Crusaders possessed one, and they proved useful in the past during various crusades.
"Hello?"
"Thank Celestia you're there! I'm so glad to hear you Scootaloo, you have no idea..." Sweetie Belle's voice blubbered off into an incomprehensible mess, before fading into crying. "Please, please tell me you're at the clubhouse!"
"Why wouldn't I be, we were supposed to meet up here remember? What have you been doing all this time, I've been waiting for..." Scootaloo checked the clock. "Hours? I really lost track of time while reading... Where are you girls anyway? Are you alright, you're crying..."
"Whitetail Woods. This place was supposed to be safe..." Sweetie Belle broke into sobbing again but eventually recovered. "There's something here, and it killed Apple Bloom, and now it's trying to kill me. You have to help me please!"
"Sweetie Belle, calm down, I can only help if I know the problem and... hold up, did you just say that Apple Bloom is death?!"
Sweetie Belle instantly broke into sobbing again, and Scootaloo forced herself to switch to damage control, ignoring the slowly rising wave of fear in favor of helping her friend.
"Alright, alright, calm down. Come to the clubhouse as quickly as possible and we get the adults... or do you prefer if I get the adults first?"
"No wait, don't leave! I need you! I have no idea where I am, it's dark everywhere and I lost track of the main path! You have to help me out of here! I... I don't want to die out here!"
"Alright calm down, and tell me what you see. We have a map of Whitetail Woods, maybe I can figure out where you are."
Sweetie Belle went silent, finally giving Scootaloo a moment to process all the information dropped on her in the last few minutes.
"Apple Bloom is death?"
She silently stared at the radio, now just as dead and silent as it was before.
"Is this a prank or something... no, this sounded way too genuine..."
She continued to shuffle around a box, before pulling out a map and spreading it apart.
"Alright, I got it. Can you tell me what you see?"
"..."
"Uh, Sweetie Belle?"
The silence continued.
"A circle of trees." The radio suddenly crackled. "They're positioned around some kind of statue of... a royal guard?"
Scootaloo quickly checked the map, looking for the described area.
"Scootaloo? Please tell me you're still there."
"I got you, you're at General Claymore's monument. Head the path south and you should head towards Sweet Apple Acres."
"Alright, thanks. Please stay, I don't want to be alone..."
The radio fell silent, and Scootaloo was left to wait, so waiting she did.
She waited...
...and waited...
...and waited some more...
No reply from the radio.
She waited again...
Scootaloo slowly got sick of waiting, reaching for the radio, but paused.
What if she would be inconvenient?
What if distracting Sweetie Belle would result in her death?
"Where are you?"
Scootaloo almost screamed upon hearing the new voice speak across the radio. "Apple Bloom?"
"Yes, I'm Apple Bloom."
Relief washed over the pegasus filly, recognizing the familiar voice.
"I thought you were dead. How did you escape?"
The radio was silent for a few seconds.
"I ran... Can you help me get to Sweetie Belle?"
"Sure, where are you?"
"Large tree, stands on a hill, alone."
"I got it. You're at the Giant Oak, that's not too far from where Sweetie Belle was. Head west and you will find a statue of a royal guard. From there take the path south."
"Where is West?"
"It's currently midnight, so the moon should stand in the south. Use that to navigate."
The radio went silent, leaving Scootaloo to herself once more.
She considered calling Sweetie Belle to tell her the good news but reconsidered.
In the end, she got the spyglass, aiming it at Whitetail Woods as she peered through.
"Come on girls, you have to make it..."
*CRASH!*
Scootaloo flinched, swaying the spyglass around. The sound had come from the forest, and in the silver light of the moon, she could see a few birds fly away in the distance, their dark shadows barely visible against the black night sky.
"WHAT WAS THAT?! OH SWEET CELESTIA, WHAT WAS THAT?!" Scootaloo quickly reached for the radio in order to reply to Sweetie Belle's distressed call.
"I think a tree has fallen over..."
"THAT WAS NOT A TREE SCOOTALOO, THAT WAS NOT A TREE!"
Sweetie Belle was panting again, and from the sounds that came over the radio, she guessed that her friend was running.
"Sweetie Belle, I need you to-"
*Click.*
"Sweetie Belle?"
No reply came.
"SWEETIE BELLE!"
The radio continued to remain silent, Sweetie Belle had silenced her.
"I'm probably inconvenient. Please be alright..."
"I lost Sweetie Belle. She's panicking and I don't know where she ran." Apple Bloom was talking again, giving the pegasus filly something else to focus upon.
"Just head further down the road, I will try to restore contact with her, but you need to get out of there too. It's not safe there."
"I want to go to Sweetie Belle."
"Just come to the clubhouse, we can wait together for her there."
"You're at the clubhouse? Alright, I'll come to you. I don't want to be alone."
The radio went silent once more.
"Thank Celestia, I think it left... Don't ask me why, but the creature just ran off. Sorry for silencing you, but I had to hide."
"What do you mean it ran off?!" Scootaloo replied. "I just directed Apple Bloom to my position, are you sure it ran off, or did it run after her?" Scootaloo was looking at her radio in terror, dread slowly filling every fiber of her body, as she started to realize the implications.
"Alright, just head further down the same road, and you'll get to the clubhouse. Join up with me or Applejack, whatever comes first."
With those words Scootaloo rushed to the window, looking outside. Fear for Apple Bloom was eating up her insides, but she didn't get to ponder on it, as something was running up the stairs of the clubhouse wrestling with the handle of the locked door moments later.
"Scootaloo, it's Apple Bloom! Let me in!"
Without thinking the pegasus filly rushed towards the door, unlocking it. Barely a second later it slammed open, smacking her in the head, the force of the impact sending her sparling to the ground.
"Ugh, apologize later Apple Bloom!" she mumbled rubbing her head. "Close the door and barricade it, the creature is-"
*Cling.*
Scootaloo paused, as her hoof bumped against something, causing her to look down. It was Apple Bloom's radio, both turned on and covered in some kind of red substance.
"She tasted like apple..." the creature said, speaking with Apple Bloom's voice. "I wonder if you'll taste like chicken..."
"AAAAAAAAAA!"
"It spoke in her voice..."
Sweetie Belle was hugging her radio as if her life depended on it, silently rocking back and forth as tears streamed down her face. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the commotion happening around her.
Royal guards were running around, shouting orders. Her sister was hugging her, saying words to her that wouldn't register in the unicorn's mind. A small part of her mind told her that she was probably trying to say something, but Sweetie Belle ignored it.
"It wasn't her and it stole her voice."
Author's Note
My first attempt of a horror story. I hope it didn't suck, I have minimal experience with this genre in terms of writing...
Please leave a comment if you're more experienced, and feel like telling me how to improve.
Mildly inspired by the game: Do you copy?
