Innocence

Every year, during Nightmare Night, a few foals always venture a tiny bit too far into the Everfree Forest. Farther than they went last year, farther than their friends went, farther than they went themselves.

And, every Nightmare Night, one of them goes missing.

It’s always chalked up to it being the Everfree Forest and whatnot. They assume a Cockatrice got to the foolish foals. Or maybe a manticore.  Or maybe, they just fell off a cliff. Those were abundant in the Everfree.

And this year was no exception.

Four small foals approached the edge of the Everfree, all four of them shaking, yet three of them determined to make the fourth renounce her title as “na-na-na-boo-boo, I’m better than you”.

“If you guys are too…chicken,” Diamond Tiara hissed through chattering teeth, “you can just back out. I wouldn’t, uh, hold it against you. It’s…It’s pretty scary in there.”

Scootaloo let out a loud snort of laughter. “Hah! As if! We’re not chicken, right guys?” Turning to see her two partners in crime, she was severely disappointed.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were both looking at her in a way that said “hey, maybe we are.” Scootaloo sighed, and took the first few steps into the Everfree. “See? Nothing. Come on; we’ve got to beat Diamond Tiara’s stupid record.”

With that, the spoiled unicorn leapt into the Everfree with defiance. “No, you won’t chickens!” She shouted, mocking the two ponies still at the other side of the forest’s edge. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle exchanged a single glance, before steadily walking in to join their friend, and their enemy. When all four of them had steadied their hearts with deep breaths, they pressed onward, determined to embarrass the other party.

About two hours later, it didn’t feel as though they had made any progress.

The same dark, uninviting trees.

The same depressed vines, wrapping around those uninviting trees.

The same ominous birds, resting on those depressed vines around those uninviting trees.

The same sounds - okay, you get the picture.

“Hey, what’s that?” Scootaloo shouted, pointing at the entrance to a cave. “I bet none of you guys have ever been in there, Tiara!”

Diamond Tiara began to shake and shudder. “Nopony goes in those caves, you idiot.”

Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. “What, are you chicken?”

“She’s telling the truth.” Scootaloo turned in disbelief, to see that Apple Bloom was also shaking. “That cave has a terrible monster in it, and it…it takes anypony that gets too close!”

“And if you ask me,” Sweetie Belle whined, “we’re already too close…”

Scootaloo released a puff of air. “Yeah, whatever. I’m going in.”

“Scootaloo, no!”

The orange Pegasus ignored her friends’ protests, and got closer to the cave entrance. The closer she got, the more her bones shuddered.

Finally, she was about five yards from the entrance, when…

Yellow, glowing eyes appeared.

“Who dares to come near my cave!?” A raspy voice demanded. Scootaloo drew into a small ball, shaking and shuddering as the eyes crept closer.

“Please don’t eat me,” she whimpered.

“Who dares to come near the mighty, the fearful, the ferocious…

“Rainbow Dash!”

With that, a cyan Pegasus wearing a black costume leapt out from the shadows, scaring all four of the foals. As they screamed, the cyan Pegasus frowned. “Why aren’t you guys running away?” She asked, quickly getting irritated.

“Rainbow Dash, that wasn’t funny!” Scootaloo shouted. “You scared me!”

Rainbow Dash frowned. “It wasn’t meant to be funny. Now, run, before you get hurt.”

“Dammit Rainbow Dash, I’m going to-”

Scootaloo’s sentence was interrupted by a roar that seemed to pierce through reality itself.

Rainbow Dash’s face contorted into a twisted frown, and, scooping up the orange Pegasus, she dashed off into the night, taking the foal as far away from there as possible.

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom glanced at each other, and both ran off, knowing that if something scared Rainbow Dash, it was something to be afraid of.

The only pony that stayed was Diamond Tiara, who was whimpering and babbling in fear. Neither Apple Bloom nor Sweetie Belle returned for her, as they were far too panicked.

Rooted to the spot, she could only stare in horror as a hulking mass…Slithered? Crawled? Walked? Levitated? She couldn’t tell. All she could see was a mass of…limbs, all pulling this being closer and closer to its prey.

A hissing noise was audible as it drew closer. That hissing noise slowly became clear words, full of malevolence.

“May death be your final pain, young one.”

Diamond Tiara simply whimpered in fear. She truly hoped this was a prank.

Then again, the way its legs bent to hang off of trees didn’t make it seem like a prank.

And neither did the appendage that jabbed into her throat, letting only a small gurgle out of the foals’ mouth. Slowly, delicately, the monster extricated the unicorn’s head from the neck. As soon as they were separate, the limp, bleeding body was left to fall onto the ground, and the appendage raised above the rest of the body.

And so did several other appendages, each with the face of a disappeared foal, staring out but never seeing, acting as a new pair of eyes for the beast.

As soon as it had confirmed that no other prey was lurking around, it slowly dragged its way back into the cave, the dead body in tow.