Ponies mused as a portly and lovely mare hummed expertly as she hopped towards the trail leading away from the centre village. She was known lovingly as the Belle of Ponyville. And many stallions couldn’t help but sigh at seeing her so happy. Older mares smiled brightly as she passed by, leaving the musical notes of her songs behind, to stay with them to enjoy. Younger mares with their stallionfriends only hoped to have such a strong delightful filly of their own.
And then she bumped straight into a fence and fell on her back. “GAH!” Came her harsh and scratching voice. When Sweetie, so dramatic is she, decided after closing her eyes, tongue out, to act very well dead, opened them again, she only saw the view of a few ponies looking down at her, one of which, who she quickly identified as Rosemary (Sweetie was very good at remembering names! And smells) had held her hoof out for the young white mare to accept it. She shook her head and smiled brightly at her. It shot right through Rosemary's heart and warmed up such a cold autumns day better than a bonfire.
“Thank you though!” Sweetie Belle smiled. “All of you!” And she went on her way passing the gates and the trees and a few more buildings settled at the edge of the village. The ponies had waved her a happy goodbye, as the winds whistled.
Her gallop turned into more of a gentle walk, with a few skips of excitement in there, as she noticed the ponies shaking the trees so the leaves could fall and thus the tree will become anew! She loved this process, but chose not to dabble in it herself, after shaking a tree so aggressively it snapped. “To be fair, it was pretty thin..” Sweetie said to herself. Then, pushing those thoughts aside ever so slightly, she looked towards the wide open fields and saw her favourite tree. But without it's lovely green leaves.
The smells of leaves, wet tree bark, and yesterdays rain still rung in the air, as if the winds didn’t want to let them go, not even in favour of another equally as wondrous scent. She loved it. So much in fact. She had bought six pumpkin muffins for this occasion exactly. Of course, most of it going to her and her big appetite. She did almost get very visibly distraught when no chocolate muffins were available at Sugar Cube Corner. But she reasoned that it would hardly have been autumn without pumpkin.
Seeing the tree and how strong it was even after all the years of its life filled her with giddy. She galloped faster towards it. But she wasn’t only excited about the tree itself (kind of), more so that today is Soul's Day's Eve, and she’d be keeping up a tradition by celebrating it with her fillyfriend's! Her fillyfriends: consisting of her beloved strong AppleBloom, and her energetic and clever Scootaloo. She squealed. And seeing them standing behind the tree talking amongst themselves only intensified it. Her eyes got bigger and she felt an influx of sparkles and light exhibiting from her.
“GIRLS!!” She shouted across the field, and instantly the two ponies shot their heads towards her direction. Sweetie had figured they were just as surprised to see her, first time in five days, but really, Sweetie was moving incredibly fast now, letting her excitement guide her movements rather than her wits. And the sparks of light and glimmer didn’t help calm their fears. She only galloped faster, and faster, and faster.
“S-Sweets, Slow down!” Scootaloo yelled, a hoof next to their own mouth to hopefully lead their voice to carry on further. But Sweetie, in her all sparkling excitement, didn’t hear. And sooner than they could stop, and sooner than AppleBloom could get her lasso from her fannybag, Sweetie Belle crashed into them both. Which, considering they were standing in separate directions, was quite a feat, admittedly.
“HI APPLES!! HI SCOOTS!!” And then she turned towards the tree, her eyes full of stars. “HI BELHOOF!” Belhoof, having been the name of the tree that they’ve decided. Or more so, what Scootaloo decided, and the other two not having much of another choice, agreed. “Okay!! Okay!! Let gooooo!” AppleBloom giggled, trying to fake push the mare off of her.
“Yeah, Sweets, you don’t want to make Apples blush,” Scootaloo said, smirking devilishly towards a red in the face AppleBloom.
Who, despite her embarrassment, then pushed the sparkling mare off of them and tackled Scootaloo, both rolling along the lines of the gate that showed when Ponyville technically ended. SweetieBelle laughed eagerly. “You’re both soooo cute!” She glowed. Then as she saw how much fun the two ponies were having tackling one another, she jumped onto them herself and squeezed them both.
“So so so so cute!!” She said between laughs. “Let goooo, I’m no darn squeekee toy!” AppleBloom laughed.
“The type that Winona used to chew on, right?” Scootaloo chuckled. But between Scootaloo and Sweetie's laughs, AppleBloom was stark silent. SweetieBelle was the first to notice, naturally. She let go of both of them, Scootaloo laughing themselves into a stupor down the hill. “Squeak toy!!” the pony yelled.
“Scoots..” SweetieBelle said sternly, pointing towards the red haired mare who looked almost like she was a hot pot ready to explode. Scootaloo's laughs became dimmer and dimmer, then halted altogether. They rubbed their forehoof. “Sorry about that, Apps.” then Scoots rubbed the back of the mares mane.
AppleBloom sighed deeply, and a smile crept onto her face. “Dummy” she said, grabbing Scootaloo in her arm and rubbed their head till it was fluffier.
Scootaloo looked so completely different, that when the three would walk happily down the road of Ponyville together, people would be shocked when hearing that this pony was Scootaloo! Who was once a small orange mare with bright scarcely combed purple hair. Now? They, firstly, much preferred to go by they most of the time. And had dyed (and popularised) their coat a deep pleasant brown, and has gone almost the same route with their mane - though it was meant to be dyed a deep purple, and this was the outcome. A dusty slight purple, with bright auburn stripes. Mane and tail. Messily matched, as that was their image, so they would say. Their wings were still very small, and in fact, because Scootaloo has grown, their wings looked even smaller due to that. But they weren’t that big of a pony, actually. Very below average, Scootaloo still had a secret hope that they’d grow much more later in life. And their ears were fluffy, pointed, and pierced!! Pierced of all things!! Decorated in metal and steel things Scoots would find and clean themselves. It shocked many the old mares in the village, some would talk in hushed tones about how stunt school had changed the filly. Some would shake their heads angrily.
AppleBloom giggled seeing Scootaloo's mane grow larger. It was a neat trick of hers to both frustrate and annoy the pony.
“Ah ain’t gonna stop till ya pay your penance!” AppleBloom yelled. She still had her bright red hair, but dulled slightly in shine due to not washing it quite as often as she should. It was long, and would be bigger (an inheritance from her pear lineage) if she took care of it often. But she didn’t! Not because she was lazy, AppleBloom is a hardworking pony, and has even surpassed much of the work that her older sister had done when she was her age. In terms of farm work, that is. She couldn’t count the countless savings of Equestria that her sister holds.
Her hair, which she refused to cut due to mysterious reasons for it growing so vast and quickly no matter how many times she did. Granny called it the work of a witch, but AppleBloom shrugged it off and left it as it is. “Thas just how my hair is, ma!” She would call out as she hopped up the stairs of the Apple home. Her hair dragging along with her, earning herself a sigh from Granny. Long and red, brilliantly so. As SweetieBelle is the Belle of the village and some parts of Canterlot even. AppleBloom was the belle of the countrysteads and neighbouring farms and villages that believed in a more rustic style of living and ageing. She was once asked constantly by many stallions for her hoof, for a simple date at a cafe, to help her work loading the apples into her cart for delivering - but all for naught, as she smiled softly and rejected a great deal of them. Yet she wouldn’t say why, not even to her closest friends.
The three fillies talked amongst themselves next to BellHoof who stood idly, seemingly taking leisure in their banter. “…and that’s why I think it’ll be much better if we stopped by and snuck up on Rainbow.” Scootaloo said trustfully.
“Scoots, Rainbow is like, old, we’ll give her a heart attack.” AppleBloom rolled her eyes at such a proposition.
“Hey! She so isn’t!! Have you seen her race the younger ponies at flight school??”
AppleBloom instantly regret having even joked about that, as she knew Scootaloo would, even now with her own success and fans, stick by Rainbow no matter what. “Ohkaaay, ohhkaaaay,” AppleBloom said, slouching back against the tree. She looked around until her eyes rested on SweetieBelle, who was rustling on the other side of BelHoof. “Uh, Sweets? Whatcha doin?”
But all she got in response were a few loud inconsistent bursts of laughs. Scootaloo raised an eyebrow.
SweetieBelle hopped from behind the tree.
“OoOooOh” She said circling bits of oranged and red scrunched up leaves around her friends, who looked at one another (as they usually do) and smirked.
“BAH! Scary, huh? You’re soooo scared. You are soooo scared…” SweetieBelle looked at AppleBloom (the least scared of the group), to which she received an amusing laugh from the mare. SweetieBelle suddenly dropped the leaves and a slight dim green smoke carried up from the pile. She pouted and looked down sadly.
“Hokay, we get why you are excited about hallows eve,” she said to Sweetie, who had lifted her head up after seeing the smoke, and looked a bit too proud of her ability to levitate leaves for a good sturdy four and a half seconds and cause it to almost start a small fire. “But why are you excited for hallows eve?” AppleBloom turned her hoof towards Scootaloo who was leaning on the fence, eyes lidded, smiling deviously.
“Oh you’ll both see.” She said, attempting to sound secretive, if only it weren’t for her laughs there after.
“Oh, uh huh, you can’t keep a surprise even if it bit ya rear end!!”
“Oh shut it!!” Scootaloo punched Apples lightly. “You’re just upset because I have a secret plan to make our day great and you don’t.” She teased, at one point sticking her tongue out.
“We’re still going to Sugar Cube Corner though, right?” Sweetie asked nervously.
“I’ll do ya one better, let’s go see Jackie at the barn and I’ll tell you guys what I’ve got in store.”
Scootaloo rolled her eyes.
Sweetie wanted to roll her eyes too, though she physically couldn’t make herself do so. She knows exactly why AppleBloom loved visiting her sister whenever she was off work, so she obliged, smiling and nodding her head as Apples gestured towards the path down to the farm, outside of Ponyville. Even Scootaloo didn’t protest, agreeing, but looking irked all the while.
Sweetie hopped down the path, skipping over rocks skilfully much to her delight, then looked over her shoulder at her friends. “You guys wanna sing a song from my favourite musical-“
“Please don’t make us sing Wizard of Ox again, I beg of you.” Scootaloo bent down and bowed her head, fake shaking.
“I see the spooky festivities have already started.” AppleBloom laughed.
SweetieBelle pouted and stuck her head up.
“Why do you guys always know what musical I’m talking about?”
“Because ya only mention that one during autumn, Sweets.” AppleBloom smirked.
And so they walked on, with minor stops for intense conversation and fake arguments for added excitement, like when they were younger, except with less chance of it becoming real bickering. Here and there, fall ponies would do what they did best - make leaves fall, of course. And Sweetie would stop to woo at their work, and mention again how she broke a tree in half. A story that her fillyfriends know all too well by now.
When they had gotten off work for the weeks end, Apples with her delivering service, Scoots with her Soul's Day's practice show, and Sweetie with plastering posties of her local singing gig at a bar to every businesses window, which many didn’t really approve of, it was already well late in the afternoon. AppleBloom squinted her eyes and put a steady strong hoof over them to block out the soft yellow blare of the sun. It was heading downwards, wobbly though… Most ponies knew that Princess Twilight had been given a few practice tasks to set the sun (but not Luna's beloved moon), and she was far from good at it, the light flickered wildly like a lamp. “Hm.” AppleBloom spoke. “It’ll be gettin mighty dark out soon.”
To this, she heard SweetieBelle laugh nervously. “We’re almost there, right Apples?”
Scootaloo smiled. “Of course, I can almost smell the apples, and it’s not just you, Apples.”
AppleBloom nodded her head, and they walked on… that is... Until.
”GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH”
The three ponies jumped in surprise and shock and utter confusion. Their heads snapped towards the keeper of the voice, a stallion galloping out from the forests besides them and onto the main road. “Wha?” AppleBloom said in confusion. The stallion stopped and looked at them, sweating profusely.
“Hey, you alright?” Scootaloo stepped towards him to ask. He only shook his head with wide and crazed eyes. Scoots opened their mouth to say something else of possible encouragement to calm the stallion, but he had spoken before her in a rushed manner. “T-there’s something in there!” He shook, pointing a hoof towards the GallopingThickets.
“Yeah.. bears, bunnies, bats, some birds-“ Scootaloo joked, much to AppleBloom's dismay.
“N-no!! Not just those! Oh not just those,” he shook his head and looked Scootaloo in the eyes, so close they had to scrunch up their nose at such contact with him. “Lights! Sparks! Large! All kinds of things.. but.. there is no source..”
AppleBloom, Scootaloo, and SweetieBelle looked at one another. “Uh.. sir? Ah uh.. think you’re seein typical magic. Am I right? It’s supposed to do those things.” AppleBloom asked, not noticing SweetieBelle's ears rest downwards.
“No.. no .. this is something different! It attacked me!” And suddenly a loud burst came from the forest they were standing near. There was a white strong flash, and quicker than it had come, it went. The stallion shook, bending down close to the ground, then bolted the opposite direction, yelling in fright as he went.
The three ponies stood there baffled. Both looking in different directions. “That.. was weird. You guys saw it too, right?” Scootaloo asked, looking carefully at the forests. SweetieBelle shook uncontrollably, and AppleBloom only looked towards the stallion that had ran fearfully.
The rest of the walk was a bit quiet, save for Scootaloo's chatter about her planned plans if this plan doesn’t go as planned. AppleBloom kept a steady look towards where the stallion ran from, she squinted her eyes to see better in between the darkness of the trees. “APPS! You listenin?” Scoots shoved her to the point where the mare tumbled over and rolled downwards onto the forested cart-wheeled made path. “Oh..” Scootaloo said, holding a hoof to their mouth. “Apps, I didn’t mean to-“
“Guys!! Look!!” SweetieBelle pointed to a tree that had white starry sparks shooting from it dimly, so dim that Scootaloo had to strain their eyes to see it in the darkness, despite its colour.
AppleBloom, rubbing her head and giving Scootaloo a hard upset look, gained her composure, shook the leaves from her mane, and looked at the tree. She didn’t see anything anymore, but her friend's faces said otherwise.
“Yeah, that’s a cool light show. Must be,” Scootaloo tried to run excuses in their head. “Some ponies having fun with fire sparks…”
“It’s hardly even the season for that..” SweetieBelle stated, walking, in what seemed to be a sort of trance, towards the tree. AppleBloom got up and galloped in front of her. “Sweets! We don’t just go out into weird woods that we’ve never been to-“
“But Apples!! I saw the sparks! I want to know how it’s done,” Sweetie started to speedily speak, until AppleBloom held up a hoof and whispered to both ponies. “Unless we’ve got uh plan…”
The three mares looked at one another and chuckled quietly.
The plan that they’ve created was ultimately to follow the white sparks and glows where it lead. And my, did AppleBloom (the mane plan maker) think it to be quite the good plan, so long as they stood in the shadows, much to Sweetie's protests.
“I see it…” Scootaloo whispered, pointing a hoof, with a good attempt at keeping it from shaking, towards the brightest of the sparks, leading behind a tree. The three then decided to hop from one bush to another bush much closer. There were slight blue hairs that Apple hadn’t noticed before poking from the tree. She started wondering if it were a stray dog, and her gentle heart overshadowed her wits, and she removed herself from the bush, shaking her hair away (with SweetieBelle's slight magical help with the untangle), and walked towards the tree. This, SweetieBelle didn’t know AppleBloom was going to do, and she regretted it instantly.
“APPS!!” Scootaloo hissed, flailing with her hoof to try and reach the mare who only avoided her grabs and walked on. “Why do you both keep blindly following the light? The LIGHT!” Scoots finished with a yell. SweetieBelle covered her own mouth, as AppleBloom stopped in her tracks abruptly, and the owner of the blue hair was none other than an adult mare (or so it seemed) with a deep midnight coat it dared to blend in with the shadows of the forests, and her hair of silver and blue, eyes too. She looked at them with furrowed brows. AppleBloom backed up, realising that it wasn’t a dog, and she was incredibly dim in judgment.
The mare walked heavily towards AppleBloom, not having seen the others. Her eyes furrowed, and they looked tired. Apple swallowed. “You young mare really like to pester me,” she said, walking closer towards Apple. She was now so close, that AppleBloom felt her breath against her nose. “Don’t you…” Something told her this midnight mare didn’t want an answer.
A Scary Mare with a Long Tangled Tail
Scootaloo, watching from the bushes with Sweetie, looked the mare up and down, a large smile was on her face, and jumped out excitedly. Cutting in front of both AppleBloom and the mysterious mare. Girls look!! This lady is dressed like Twilight!” They said, looking the mare over as she growled lowly. AppleBloom raised an eyebrow, and noticed it as well now that the fear had washed off. This mare, though strikingly different in appearance to the new Princess, had hair just like her, not one strand out of place, except her hair ended in two, what they called pony tails. AppleBloom grabbed the excited Scootaloo and scooted her away.
“Thanks,” the mare said dryly, clearly not meaning it. She turned away and walked onward. AppleBloom, now embarrassed of her and her friend's behaviour, cleared her throat and yelled out “It’s a very dedicated costume, ma’am,”
The mare stopped and turned around, baring her teeth. But it reminded AppleBloom of what a dog would do. She stifled a laugh, though this was hardly the situation for it, she knows.
SweetieBelle, now gathering the courage to stand by her fillyfriend's side, squeaked. “Guys.. I don’t think she’s dressing up.”
“Oh…” Scootaloo whispered, slightly embarrassed.
AppleBloom had to somewhat agree, this wasn’t normal pony trick and gallop behaviour. And so her protectiveness was back front and centre on her mind. “Are you any chance alright? Why are you here all alone? Did you get lost? Where are your filly friends? Want us to show you the way out-“
The mare looked upset at every one of these questions, with varying degrees. She turned tail, and walked on.
“IS SHE A WITCH?!” Scootaloo bursted out, her words hitting the air aggressively. Sweetie could’ve sworn it even broke apart a few clouds here and there. AppleBloom shot the pony a sharp look, then turned back towards the mystery mare in question, except, she was now heading down a path that only led deeper into GallopingThickets. “M-Miss??” AppleBloom yelled towards her, but she had shown no look of interest, much the opposite in fact, she kept her steady walks and not even an ear flick had shown that she even heard AppleBloom yell her way. “Ive got uh family farm jus near by, miss. Come with us and we’ll show ya out.” She tried to take her hoof in hers, but was met with not only the feeling of cold fur touching hers, but the seething eyes of a mare who didn’t want to be touched, nonetheless being taken out of the forests she so sat in. And that’s when AppleBloom noticed.
Her hair was perfectly of perfectly upkeep. And she didn’t show much sign of distress besides sitting in mud sulking next to a tree and all. So she supposed maybe she just didn’t want the help. Then a scarier thought had entered the mares mind.. What if she was a witch, like Scootaloo had rudely pointed out? And the firdt mistake that they’ve made, was to even follow those lights in the first place. Possibly a trap? But then why was the stallion who ran far away from the forests perfectly unharmed? Just shaken?
She tried her best to shake such thoughts out of her head. Soul's Day's Eve sure gets ones mind worked up! “Uh.. maybe we should go follow her..” She sighed, looking at the mare disappearing into the dark, while she aggressively shot small white sparks this way and there.
“Come onnnn, Apps, we’re supposed to go to Sweet Apple Acres to set up pumpkins, right?” Scootaloo tried to reason. Though even she was concerned about the mysterious Twilight-mare that they had met. AppleBloom turned to her. “Remember when we were fillies an we used to help ponies in need?”
Scootaloo twitched her ears. “I mean. Yeah? But we hadn’t really done that in a while,” she rubbed the back of her head. “We have our jobs now. We can’t just go around helping every crazed pony dressed up as Princess Sparkles that walks into a dangerous forest.” She didn’t mean for it to sound rude or like she hadn’t cared, she very well did care, but she was also a bit scared.
AppleBloom swallowed hard, now hearing the hoof steps dimming the further the pony managed to go. “Maybe-“ She spoke, but was interrupted by a SweetieBelle hopping towards the very same darkening path that even the goddess's moon hadn’t lit. It must’ve been a way to discourage ponies from wondering deeper into them, yet the white mare, the most scared of the dark, bounced towards that very same path. AppleBloom's eyes widened. “Yer crazy, wait for us!” She said, shaking her head and running towards Sweetie who was now accelerating in her speed.
Scootaloo growled under their breath. The girls hadn’t got together often, and this was a tradition, the only tradition they kept up throughout the years since fillyhood, and now they were tugged on a tight rope to spend another day working. They followed with their head low and heavy.
Each tree looked as if it had eyes attached to them, tracking their movements. SweetieBelle giggled nervously. “Don’t they look like eyes?” She pointed out, her smile wavering on her face. “Don’t they.. kind of look like they’re watching us?” The questions seemed genuine, AppleBloom rolled her eyes. “Don’t start thinkin like that again, it’s probably jus it’s pattern.. is all..” she said looking over the trees that reflected a slight shine. Or maybe that was due to her eyes desperately trying to adjust to the darkness that lined them.
“I don’t really see her anymore,” Scootaloo said, one hoof over their eyes as if there were sun blaring into them. “‘Mm, yeah.. I don’t,”
“Found her!” Sweetie yelled brightly. “Why’s she.. going into the thickets..?”
The others looked in the direction Sweetie was staring at, to see the tail of the blue mare disappearing in between the tangled Young trees.
“Well, maybe that’s her home.” Scootaloo laughed. The others gave the pony a disapproving look, and Scoots stood straight. “Let’s go then.”
They squeezed their way through the brambles and bushes that hugged their bodies. Scootaloo, with their small frame, managed to get through with such great ease that the others were afraid they was lost until the pony's head poked back with a smile, waiting for them to do the same. AppleBloom had moderate troubles, mostly her hair getting stuck to each hungry branch wanting to grab onto the long strands. “Goddess dang twigs!!” She growled.
“Wanna cut your hair now?” Scootaloo snickered. AppleBloom smiled. “Shut up.”
But the biggest trouble, quite literally, was getting SweetieBelle through. First, her hooves got firmly stuck in between rocks, which scared her so tremendously that she shook and was only getting herself stuck deeper. Then it was her body, which the twigs thought best to grab onto her legs and hair and face. She was being squeezed no matter what, then was her rear, and tail, and finally she was pulled out with her friends help and with a PLOP she fell onto both of them, smiling gratefully. “Thank youuuu!!” She said, hugging them tightly as they strained to get away from her grip.
“N-no problem Sweets, now PLEASE let go.” Scootaloo breathed out, which felt very much like a final breath. SweetieBelle let go instantly, and they both, unprepared, fell onto their backs.
“Now..” AppleBloom looked around, and she saw the nameless midnight blue mare sitting behind a tree. It unnerved her instantly. She seemed to be doing something.
“M-Miss?” AppleBloom walked steadily closer to her. And she reasoned with the aching thoughts of danger with what would she do? She’s quite small, almost as so as Scoots. And I’m a strong mare! I’ll be able to rangle her and her witchcraft no matter what!” But as she got closer, and her two friends stopped in their tracks, her mind ignored her nerves, and she trembled heavily with each step.
“What do you fillies want from me.” The voice asked. And neither of them could give an answer, not only because of the fright of what this mare could do, but because they genuinely didn't know how to word their worries for her.
“Answer me.” The voice came again, and AppleBloom swallowed hard. She had to deal with many troublesome customers in her line of work, so she wasn’t adversed to a bit of conflict, but this felt tricky. “We’re only wonderin why you’re going so deep into the forest? We wanted to help you, ya know.. and..” she looked at the small view of the mare she could get. She was very still, like a rock, unlike the wind that blew across the trees, her hair only slightly was affected by it. Still. She didn’t answer. AppleBloom looked back at her marefriends and they shook their heads no quickly.
“You have no business in what I’m doing. None of you do.” The voice answered.
“It’s not safe here.” AppleBloom spoke sternly. “Business or not. It’s not so important to get yerself stuck here.”
“You all really want to know what I’m doing, do you?”
Apple looked at Scootaloo and Sweetie who shook their heads, Scoots sweating profusely.
“I mean. That’d help. Just tell us if you’ve got friends here, ya know? And we’ll leave ya alone. Promise.”
The mare got up onto her legs, and revealed herself fully from the tree, and into view of the three ponies. “I think it's best if I show you instead. Follow me then.” She stated, turning away faster than they could catch up. Seemingly deliberate in her speed and turns.
“We’re following a LOON!” Scootaloo whispered harshly towards Sweetie, whose eyes followed the mare understandably. They then, coming to the same clearing they thought they saw her run into, saw her nowhere. AppleBloom stuck a hoof in front of her two friends and looked around. “I-“
The clearing had a few perfect and deliberately set up pumpkins with lazily carved faces on them. The three ponies looked at one another.
“It’s.. kind of cozy..” SweetieBelle said, being the first to get passed Apple's hoof to walk around. From the bushes jumped the blue mare, scaring the wits out of the fillyfriends utterly. “Why do you DO that!” Scootaloo yelled, a hoof on their chest. The blue mare walked to the middle of the clearing that was covered in mainly dirt, and sat. She started, silently, work on lighting a fire, but she couldn’t get herself to. After about five minutes of light sparks flying each way, it felt like the entirety of the night, Scootaloo looked sadly towards SweetieBelle and leaned her head towards the mare who grunted with each failure of starting the fire, even with the mare's own horn.
Sweetie nervously stepped up, legs shaking. “If you don’t mind..” she said to the mare. Then with a lot of force, and praying to the goddesses she won’t embarrass herself, strained to start a fire with her horn. After a few rough tries with smoke, and many huffs from the mystery mare, a small fire stood there. Scootaloo sighed with relief, walking forward to nurse it. “Good job, Sweets,” she said, patting the white mare on the head while she smiled happily, tongue sticking out like a praised dog.
AppleBloom watched as the mysterious mare walked around the two, and stared hard at the ground, only to walk quickly towards the bush she had jumped out of many moments earlier.
“Stay here.” She spoke, feeling more like a threat than a friendly invitation.
The three were now completely alone, hopefully, in the middle of GallopingThickets, a forest they’ve never explored before. But perhaps their sister's have. It didn’t make them feel any better, as if they couldn’t find their way out, or got swallowed up by what may be a witch, they couldn’t even ask their sister's. AppleBloom sighed, looking at each pumpkin.
Scootaloo worked calmly on getting the fire in a state that can care for itself. SweetieBelle, next to her, watching the small flames flicker every now and then, looked at Scoots inquisitively. “Do you think Carrot Top makes carrot cake?”
Scootaloo suddenly stopped blowing at the flame. “Huh? Why wouldn’t she..?”
“Because I only always ever see her with a stand full of carrots. But never carrot cake.”
Scootaloo arched a brow and went back to work. “Sweets, why would she have carrot cake filling her stands.”
“Because she’s a carrot pony!!!”
“YES SHE SPECIALISES IN CARROTS! But it doesn’t mean she has never made carrot cake”
Sweetie pouted. “I’ve never seen AppleJack make an apple pie.”
“She so has though. Like, many times already.”
“So hasn't!” Sweetie said keeping her head in the air haughtily.
Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Hey blooms! Jackie makes carrot fritters doesn’t she?”
“Pie”
“Pie.”
AppleBloom grunted angrily and snapped her head towards the chattery mares. “Can y’all hush for one secund??”
“What are ya doing anyway?” SweetieBelle walked up to AppleBloom. Apples was mapping out where they had been to so far, and on another side, a possible way of getting out of the forests and onto Pony Road, if not the Ponyville Road itself. Basically civilisation.
“Wow!” Sweetie admired. The wooing made Scootaloo softly flap her wings towards the fire to speed up the process, then hurriedly ran towards the mares with excitement. “Goddess, Blooms, you did this?”
“Yeah! She did! Isn’t she a lovely artist?” Sweetie spoke.
AppleBloom sighed. “I’m not tryna to be a good artist, guys. I’m tryna figure out a way outta here. It’s clear that mare isn’t gonna help us out.”
“Yeah?” Scootaloo piqued. “What told you that?”
AppleBloom didn’t have any energy for fillyplay, and walked over to the fire that had doubled in size. The two others shortly after looking over the map (and failing to understand it) walked next to her, sitting down as well to bask in the warmth of the flames. The fire flickered dangerously, and it was entertainment enough for the tired ponies, until the energy will spring back, and they'll find a way out of here.
“Imagine if that burned us all.” SweetieBelle finally broke the stiff silence, her deep hearty voice cutting the air like a knife. “...imagine” she finished, not blinking.
Everyone stared at her immediately. AppleBloom rubbing her hooves together unsurely. “Guys. Ya don’t suppose Ms. (she wanted to say Witch, but decided with best judgment, not to). Uh…left us here on purpose...” the others stared at her. “Right? Right?”
Scootaloo breathed deeply, and smiled with their eyebrows arched. “D-don’t be ridiculous, Apps, why... why would she do that…”
Suddenly the bushes rustled, and all three ponies grabbed onto one another, Sweetie shoving both mares close to her fluff for protection. It rustled some more. AppleBloom expected a bear and quickly came up with mare to bear combat in her head. Scootaloo expected a pony eating monolithic golem that had no remorse, and Sweetie expected to see her sister, but larger, and angrier.
Out hopped the mystery mare with a mouthful of mushrooms. She walked calmly towards the fire, put them on a stick, and fired them. The three ponies sat there, baffled. The silence stayed for a few moments, then broken, by the mare offering the ponies mushrooms. SweetieBelle took it in her magic shakily and nodded her head in thanks. The three fillyfriends looked at one another. They really wished they had inherited a sort of telepathy together, just for moments like these.
“W-what’s your name, anyway?” Scootaloo had bravely asked. The mystery mare looked up only after her fifth mushroom stick was cooked. “It’s SilverLay.”
They looked at one another again. Never hearing the name before in their lives. “Uh… and... what were ya doin out here… all alone...” AppleBloom asked, looking at the stickered mushrooms Sweetie had given to her.
“I was trying to cast a spell to fill the forests with light to defeat the shadows that so heavily populate it at night, but morning, they rest. Yet I couldn’t get it exactly right… all the spells seem to work as they wish, and so I suffer...” she said, hanging her head low.
The three mares looked at one another. AppleBloom wearing the expression of confusion, Scootaloo's face sneered with a stifled laugh, and SweetieBelle cocked her head to the side.
“What’s the fun of making spells and such when ya can’t do it with friends?” Apples asked. “And not scaring stallions.” She whispered.
“I don’t have friends. And why would I.” She looked down at the ground, melodramatically.
“Because you’re sooooooo cute!!” Sweetie Belle squeaked, hopping over and wrapping her hoofs around SilverLay's neck. No sooner than she had, she got a rough shove onto the ground, and the mare turned around not meeting their gaze.
“I protect the night spirits” she finally spoke.
“The wahh..” Scootaloo asked.
SilverLay then showed with her hooves all that was around them. The shadows that the fires cast, the tree limbs that projected itself onto the forest floors, the stone shadows that dotted the ground. And including, the shadows of the mares.
“They are in need of my sole protection. I must be the one to help them. The night is theirs, and theirs alone. I cannot have any of the darkness covering them up completely, until their rightful rest.”
She took a large bite out of the mushroom, the stick included. “There is a fine balance to this all. You fillies wouldn’t understand my work. The work I do nightly. No, you wouldn’t understand. My night spirits are mine to protect, and in return, they give me-“
“Wow the flames getting really big, Scoots!” SweetieBelle eyed the fire with awe and amazement. AppleBloom kept a steady hoof in front of Sweetie, preventing her from getting any closer. Scootaloo smiled. “Thanks to you for starting it.”
“AND SO,” the mare spoke once more, this time with her voice raised, and her breath, like a dragon, exiting her mouth and hitting the cold air. “…the white casts of light, are my way of protecting what is MINE! The night spirits!”
“And if you three fillies think you can prevent me from protecting what is lawfully mine, and yes, I check the law every so often, then I will call the spirits of the night upon you. All of you.”
SweetieBelle stared at her shadow. “My... shadow?” She asked briefly.
“Yes!! Every ponies shadow! They are the night spirits. You,” she pointed a hoof towards the theee of them. “…have no clue at all how much work I do.” So she says up, and the girls stood with the mind to run as they saw the small sparks of light emitting from SilverLay's horn. “Night spirits!” She said, looking at SweetieBelle's shadow. “Stay near the fire, and don’t ever dim. For I will protect you. Under Lunar law.”
Scootaloo laughed, but was struck with a hoof to the mouth by AppleBloom. “T-that’s very nice of you Miss Silver.” She stated blandly. “To do that for them. If you, uh, don’t mind much though, my friend's shadow is coming with us.”
“My name, is SilverLay.” The mare's voice was now almost angry. “And you shouldn't forget it.”
AppleBloom looked around. “Riiiight… so uh. You don’t need our help here anymore...”
“Surely”
AppleBloom nodded. “Okay, well, maybe we'll see you around,”
“If you visit my forests. Yes.”
“Yours-“ Scootaloo was meaning to ask, but SweetieBelle shoved the smallest pumpkin muffin into her mouth.
“Happy Hallows Day!” SweetieBelle smiled warmly.
“Happy Friday the thirteenth.” SilverLay said sharply, as the group exited the clearing.
The three mares galloped lightly out of the path that they were once so harshly led upon on the hopes of helping a fellow mare. Balls of light led them exactly out the way they had came. Neither of them spoke on the romp out from the path, the squeeze out of the thickets, and the gallop out of the forest and back on the trail leading to Sweet Apple Acres. AppleBloom kept her eyes on the moon, thanking it silently for lighting the path to the acres well enough for comfort, even in the darkening days of a crisp autumn night. She could see her fillyfriend's breaths every time they huffed or spoke. And the leaves that had gotten into the path crunched with each of their hoofsteps.
But the nagging at AppleBloom's mind couldn’t be ignored. “Girls,” AppleBloom's voice broke the calm silence of the night, that even the wind didn’t seem to want to speak. “Ah think she was insane.”
“No duh?” Scootaloo scoffed.
“Well, I think it's sweet that she wanted to care of the shadows and the tree's shadow's.” SweetieBelle said quietly. The two others looked at her curiously. “You know? It’s like what Flutters does...”
The three girls walked in silence hence-then, smelling what scents the wind carried. Apples, oranges, even pears. AppleBloom lifted her head high up and took in a deep breath. Almost regretting it with how the icy air burned her nose. She scrunched her snout and looked at Sweetie, who was humming a song. “Midnight Mare, doo dooo dooo, midnight mare, dooo dooo doooo,” she smiled at her.
“Hm.” AppleBloom hummed. “What was her name again?”
Scootaloo and SweetieBelle stopped in their tracks. “Uh… I…actually don’t know.”
“Did she tell us?”
“She did.” AppleBloom said, daring not to look back at the forests.
“I think it was SlitherWay, like a snake?” SweetieBelle said. The others nodded in agreement.
“Let’s not forget that.” Scootaloo said.
“Yeah!” The others agreed. “Never,”
And then they forgot.
The three mares sat together on a log amidst a fire, eating pumpkin muffins (much to SweetieBelle's cocoa loving disappointments), and talked amongst themselves while dinner was prepared. They’d be sleeping over tonight at the farm, and to their surprise the night went on longer than expected. So much so that AppleBloom was given a stern granny talking to about being out late during autumnal's early moon fall. She, now with her best friends, smiled brightly, clinking a muffin towards SweetieBelle. “Like old times, eh?” AppleBloom beamed. Scootaloo smiled with a mouthful of baked goods that Jackie would only make just around autumn, and on specific dates, so it was somewhat of a well appreciated delicacy. And Sweetie hummed a tune in agreement.
“And sweets..” a sweet southern voice spoke, who, when the three young mares looked over, was coming from AppleJack who walked forward to admire the fire. “I do make apple pie ya know”
“…oh...”
“What’s Friday the thirteenth?” Scootaloo asked, staring out into the distance.
Author's Note
Happy Friday the thirteenth indeed! Hope my new story is well enjoyed.
