Go to Sleep: A Halloween Story

Canterlot City Public Library

The Rainbooms were driving to the public library to learn as much as they could about the legend of the Sleeper. If they were actually looking for the monster, it would be best for them to be as well-prepared as possible. The group walked into the library with great purpose and Twilight approached the librarian.

"Excuse me, do you have any books on the Sleeper?" Twilight asked the older woman.

"You're going to want to look on the second floor in the fiction section," the librarian replied.

"Thank you," Twilight said.

The group followed Twilight up the stairs and found the fiction section. Twilight turned to face the group.

"Alright, girls. Split up and search the entire section for anything regarding the Sleeper or at the very least the town's folklore," Twilight said. "Bring any books you find to the tables in the reader's section."

"Right!" the girls said.

The girls spread out and thoroughly searched the entire section for any books on the Sleeper. Once they found all the books they needed, the girls brought the books to one of the tables and began to read through them. Sunset focused on one book in particular out of the pile.

It was a small leather-bound journal of some kind with no title. She picked it up and opened it to see that everything in the journal was handwritten by someone.

This is the diary of Stygian, one of the local librarians.

My hope is with keeping this diary that I can provide others assistance with hunting a most vile abomination: The Sleeper.

This diary is to log my discoveries about the Sleeper and my attempts to kill the thing that took my family from me. May God help anyone who finds this should I fail.

Stygian, 1893.

This journal made Sunset's eyes widen. She showed this journal to the others.

"Girls! This is a journal from someone who's been hunting the Sleeper!" Sunset said.

Sunset's outburst immediately caught the other girls' attention. They all put down their books and looked at Sunset with astonished looks on their faces.

"What?!" Twilight asked.

"Someone's been hunting the Sleeper before?" Rainbow asked.

"Yeah. And they've written down everything in this journal!" Sunset said.

"Well, what are we waiting for?! Let's start reading it!" Pinkie said.

Sunset started to flip through the passages in the journal. The first few passages of Stygian's journal didn't really hold anything of note. Eventually, she found something that really caught her eye. Sunset motioned for the others to gather around while she read the passage.

August 6th, 1893

Nighttime has always somewhat bothered me, but ever since that night my daughter was taken, it is now my own personal demon. Whenever the sun goes down, I'm reminded of the child the Sleeper ate, and my wife who had hung herself out of sadness. Besides that, my first true hunt has been more than fruitful.

I was walking through the countryside when I spotted the monster. It flew through the air like how a serpent swims through water. Following close behind the creature was a large murder of crows and ravens. The creature landed on the nearby barn and seemed to be examining the house. I knew what would come next, so I didn't waste any time.

I jumped out of the bushes and raised my gun to finally kill the beast. I am certain the bullet I fired hit the creature as I saw it jerk backwards from the bullet. After that, nothing. The Sleeper stared directly at me with those terrible glowing eyes. Then... it smiled at me, a sick and twisted smile.

Fortune seemed to be on my side, for when the family ran outside to investigate my gunshot, the Sleeper flew away into the woods without incident. The family would be safe from the Sleeper's hunger tonight and I learned key information.

It seems that the Sleeper prefers to avoid direct conflict it can be avoided and guns won't work against the beast. I won't let this failure discourage me. If I can kill the Sleeper with a gun, I'll use every other method at my disposal to bring it down. My daughter and wife will be avenged! I will hunt the Sleeper till my dying breath!

Once Sunset had finished reading the passage, the girls were all taking stock of the information they've managed to gather from the diary. Twilight seemed particularly interested.

"So bullets won't kill the Sleeper?" Rainbow asked.

"That is a bit weird. So how would we be able to take it down?" Fluttershy asked.

"We have the journal, so we can figure out our strategy for hunting the Sleeper," Sunset said.

"Well, whatever we decide to do, we better hurry," Rarity said pointing to the window. "Because the sun's going down."

The sun was indeed going down. It wouldn't be long until the Sleeper came out to feed. The Rainbooms had to be quick in their hunt.

*****

Scootaloo's House

Scootaloo was very upset. Her friend Apple Bloom was missing, taken by the psycho that's been killing and kidnapping people around town. The two aunts she lived with have been some help, but the pain remained. She sat down on the back porch looking up at the night sky. The stars were certainly a beautiful sight whenever she was feeling down.

One of her aunts opened the door and spoke to Scootaloo in a tentative voice. "Hey, Scoots. You coming to bed soon? You'll catch your death out here."

"I'll be inside in a moment. I just want to look at the stars for a bit longer," Scootaloo said.

"Well, okay. If you ever want to talk... we'll be there for you," the kind woman said.

The aunt went back inside after that. Scootaloo continued to stare up at the stars until fresh tears came to her eyes. She banged her fist on the chair in frustration and sadness.

"Damn it! Why did this have to happen to Apple Bloom and Applejack of all people?!" she screamed into the air. "What did they do to deserve that?!"

Suddenly, a great horned owl flew down from the trees and settled on the back porch railing in front of Scootaloo. The large owl stared at Scootaloo with an intense gaze. Something about the owl's look felt creepy to Scootaloo. The owl was unwavering in its stare.

"Uh, hello," Scootaloo said cautiously.

A loud bloodcurdling scream tore through the night air, coming from the woods. Scootaloo jumped up from the chair and looked at the forest. Something about the scream sounded weirdly familiar to Scootaloo.

"HELP ME!!" Apple Bloom's voice called out from the woods.

It was her. It was Apple Bloom! She was alive and she needed help! Scootaloo ran over to the woods as her backyard didn't have a fence. She kept her ears open for any sign of Apple Bloom.

"HELP ME!!" Apple Bloom screamed again.

It was coming from pretty deep in the woods. Scootaloo headed in the direction of the screams until she made it to a rise in the land that had a small creek and an old well in the bottom. Scootaloo listened hard for any other sound from her lost friend.

"HELP ME!!" Apple Bloom cried out again.

This time, Scootaloo heard the scream coming from the old well. The killer must've put her down there or she was hiding down there and couldn't get out. Scootaloo ran over to the well and looked down at the pitch-black pit.

"Apple Bloom! It's me, Scootaloo! Are you okay?!" she shouted down into the well.

Weirdly, there was nothing but silence that followed. Scootaloo would've used her phone's flashlight to look down the well, but she didn't have her phone on her. While looking down the well, a pair of glowing red eyes flickered for a split second.

"What the... ?" Scootaloo asked herself.

A large black shape shot out of the well like a cannonball before crouching on the side of the well, staring right at Scootaloo, who had fallen backwards and was backing away. The figure was wearing a black cloak and stared at Scootaloo with glowing red eyes from underneath its hood. From what Scootaloo could tell, the figure was a bit shorter than her and Sweetie Belle. The cloaked figure tilted and twisted its neck in a way that not natural.

"Who... who are you?" Scootaloo asked with fear.

When the figure did reply, it was in a mimicry of Apple Bloom's voice. It was so creepy how it sounded just like her friend.

"Don't you recognize your friend Apple Bloom?" the figure replied. "I've been waiting for you."

Instinctively, Scootaloo got up and ran away. Due to the rise in the land, Scootaloo had to struggle against gravity to get away from the cloaked thing. She looked behind her and saw the figure flying towards her with lethal speed without the aid of wings. The red eyes followed her as she ran.

Scootaloo finally managed to get to the tree line by the time the cloaked creature got to her. The poor freshman found herself pinned to the ground by small, but strong hands. Through the creature's grip, she could feel sharp claws piercing her flesh. Nothing happened for a while at first. Then, she heard the figure speak.

"I don't want to eat her! I don't want to eat people anymore!" a timid child's voice said.

Another voice seemed to respond to that. This one sounded like that of a grown woman, deeper and a bit husky.

"But we must eat! We must eat to survive, be stronger, and make sure no one hurts us!" the older voice said. "Now shut up so we can do what we need to do!"

Before Scootaloo could say anything regarding this creature talking to itself, a set of strong jaws and sharp teeth sank into her shoulder with a vicelike grip. Scootaloo shrieked in pain as the creature tried to drag her back into the woods with no effort. Scootaloo kicked at the creature's hand, causing it to loose its grip on Scootaloo. The injured girl tried to get up and run towards her porch, but the cloaked monster pounced on her again and began slashing at her with its claws. Scootaloo continued to scream in pain.

When the lights to her house came on, her monstrous attacker growled in anger. It began to beat its fists on the ground like it was a child having a tantrum.

"No! [color=be4343]Must eat, must kill, must destroy!" the creature said with its deeper voice.

The next thing Scootaloo felt was the creature hitting her in the back of the head, rendering her unconscious. The cloaked creature then flew into the darkened forest as Scootaloo's aunts came to her with worry. They called an ambulance to help her and dragged her back into the house to stop the more severe bleeding. She would have story to tell once she woke up.

*****

With Strix

Strix woke up in a place she didn't recognize. It looked like an underground workshop of some kind, with tables and desks along the room's walls as well as scientific-looking equipment. She looked down and noticed that she was strapped to a wooden chair with tough leather straps. Strix tried to get herself free, but was unable to do so.

The door slowly opened to reveal her teacher Mister Thornheart. While happy to see him for a split second, she remembered that he was the one who placed her down there. The schoolmaster's appearance was different, too.

Thornheart was wearing a plain white shirt and a leather apron that seemed to be stained with... blood. The teacher also wore a pair of thick glass goggles over his eyes as well as gloves. Thornheart's grin was very creepy to Strix.

"Mister Thornheart... where am I? Why am I here? What's going on?" Strix asked with growing fear.

"You're in my special secret laboratory, dear. You're here to help me with a special project," Thornheart replied. "I need your help with an experiment I'm conducting."

"But why am I strapped to this chair?!" she burst out with fear. "What about my mommy and daddy?! I wanna go home!"

For that, Thornheart walked over and slapped the girl. Strix was shocked by what her usually gentle teacher had just done to her. Her eyes welled up with tears the mad schoolmaster continued.

"Ah, but you see, you can't go home. I need you here," Thornheart said. "You're going to help me unlock the secret to eternal life."

Thornheart walked over to one of the tables in the room and pulled out several vials of chemicals and a few knives. He approached the frightened girl with a toothy grin.

"Now then, let's begin," Thornheart said.