Later in the day, once school had finished, the Cutiemark Crusaders all met up at Apple Bloom's farm house, Scootaloo bringing her Ouija board as promised and Sweetiebelle bringing a few of her older sister, Rarity's scented candles as instructed by Scootaloo for the ritual.
"They're scented; I hope that's okay..." Sweetiebelle worried as she used the Unicorn magic from her horn to light the candles.
"I'm sure they'll be fine; the instructions say that ya can only light the room with candles; didn't say they couldn't be scented." Scootaloo reassured as she and Apple Bloom set up the game. Once everything was set up, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo sat across the board from each other with their hooves placed onto the Planchette in between them. Sweetiebelle, however stood aside with a quill and a few scrolls to write down the letters that the board would point to so she could read out what they spelled.
"Why do I have to be the Scribe again?" Sweetiebelle questioned with a slight whine.
"Because, you're a Unicorn; it'll be easier for you to write the words down quickly with your magic than it will for one of us to write with our mouths..." Scootaloo explained, before she and Apple Bloom began to move the Planchette in circular motions around the board to activate it.
"Are there any spirits here that would like to speak to us, tonight?" Scootaloo was the first to ask a question. The Planchette quickly shot up to the word, 'yes'. Apple Bloom was already beginning to feel uneasy as that familiar thickness was beginning to return to the air around her, but she needed answers.
"Are ya the ghost of Bartholomule?" Apple Bloom decided to ask. The Planchette frantically shot over to the word, 'no' much to the Cutiemark Crusaders confusion.
"Then who are ya?" Apple Bloom questioned with a raised eyebrow. Sweetiebelle jotted down the letters that the board had spelt out as quickly as she could and she was absolutely stunned by what the letters had spelled out.
"Firefly..." She gasped much to Scootaloo and Apple Bloom's horror. Firefly was the Pegasus-Pony that was supposedly brutally-murdered by Bartholomule, but then why was she haunting Apple Bloom?
"If ya look through the Planchette's looking-glass, you'll be able to see the spirit." Scootaloo piped up as Apple Bloom took the Planchette in between her fore-hooves and held it up to her eye. She wanted to see if the spirit talking to them really was indeed Firefly and not Bartholomule trying to manipulate them. She dropped the Planchette back down onto the board, however when she caught sight of a pastel-pink Pegasus with her head completely smashed apart. Blood and brains leaked down what was left of her face, quite a few of her teeth were missing, causing her tongue to hang out and one of her eyeballs was loosely hanging by its cord from its socket.
"What happened?! What'd ya see?!" Scootaloo asked out of both excitement and concern.
"That's Firefly, alright..." Was Apple Bloom's only response as she placed her hooves back onto the Planchette.
"Are ya the spirit that's hauntin' me?" Apple Bloom decided to ask, next. The Planchette moved to, 'no'.
"Do ya know who is?" Apple Bloom asked again. The board began to spell out something else as Sweetiebelle quickly began to jot down the letters once again.
"Bartholomule..." Sweetiebelle whimpered as she fearfully backed away from the scroll.
"What does he want from me?!" Apple Bloom demanded. The board began to frantically spell something else out as Sweetiebelle rushed to write everything down.
"What's it say?!" Apple Bloom impatiently questioned, wanting to get to the bottom of things once and for all.
"It says, 'he's coming...please go'..." Sweetiebelle whimpered at the two sentences that the board had just spelled out. She had never felt so terrified in all of her life.
"Did Bartholomule kill ya?" Scootaloo decided to ask an unrelated question much to Apple Bloom's annoyance. The board began to spell something else out and Sweetiebelle's heart dropped into her stomach once she saw what the letters had spelled out.
"He's here..." She gulped. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo exchanged worried glances as Apple Bloom took the Planchette back in between her fore-hooves and held it up to her face to look through it. She saw Firefly's spirit once again, but this time she was frantically pointing off to the side with one of her fore-hooves. Apple Bloom slowly turned both her head and the Planchette toward the direction that Firefly was pointing in but was utterly horrified when a large Colt-like spirit with a full-body cover and elongated, Donkey-like ears came charging toward her aggressively, whinnying violently all the while.
Apple Bloom was knocked down onto her back, causing her to drop the Planchette back onto the board.
"Apple Bloom!" Scootaloo and Sweetiebelle cried out in unison as they rushed over to their best friend's aid.
"Are you okay?!" Sweetiebelle panicked as Scootaloo helped Apple Bloom back up onto her hooves.
"Yeah, I'm fine but I think somethin' bit me..." Apple Bloom groaned as she reached a hoof up to gently feel the Horse-teeth-shaped bite marks on her left cheek. The Cutiemark Crusaders glanced back over to the board as it rapidly began spelling something out on its own, without any of the Phillies touching it.
"Quick! What's it saying?!" Scootaloo ordered as Sweetiebelle quickly took up her quill and a scroll to write down the letters that the board was spelling out.
"I'm gonna kill ya?!" Sweetiebelle gasped in horror at what the letters had spelled out. The three Phillies then screamed in terror as the Planchette was sent flying from the board and smashed onto the wall, behind them. A mysterious breeze then blew out the scented candles, leaving all three of the Phllies in complete darkness. Apple Bloom struggled to open her bedroom door so she and her friends could escaped, but it wouldn't open. It was as if the weight of a full-grown Colt were pressing up against it.
"Apple Jack!" Apple Bloom cried out desperately as an evil, sickening laughter began to fill the room. Much to the three Phillies' relief though, the door flew open, causing them to all three fall to the floor.
"Apple Bloom?! What's goin' on?" Apple Jack questioned worriedly as the three Phillies clung to her forelegs. It was then that she noticed the Ouija board on her younger sister's bedroom floor.
"Oh, so this is what ya'll were doin'...Apple Bloom, I'm surprised at you; I thought we raised ya better than that..." Apple Jack scolded as she angrily stormed past the three Phillies and took up the board into her mouth. Apple Jack then brought the board over to the fire place in her living room.
"Apple Jack, no! The instructions say ya can't burn the board!" Scootaloo warned as she clung to Apple Jack's hind-leg in an attempt to stop her.
"Watch me..." Was Apple Jack's only response, before stubbornly tossing the board into the fire. She stepped back, however when the fire flared up, nearly bursting out of the fireplace itself, the fire turning an eery color that neither Apple Jack or any of the Cutiemark Crusaders had ever seen before, but as quickly as the fire had flared up, it calmed back down and returned to normal.
"Well, that was weird..." Apple Jack noted. Apple Bloom just knew that she wasn't going to sleep very well that night; she would have to ask Scootaloo and Sweetiebelle to spend the night with her that night.
TO BE CONTINUED...
