Riddle of the Rusty Horseshoe

by Penumbra Quill

  “Not real? Can’t hurt you?” Stale breath brushed Scootaloo’s neck. Dreading what she’d see but knowing she had to look, she slowly turned. The Olden Pony was standing right next to her! The ancient mare reached out her hoof and shoved Scootaloo’s shoulder. Scootaloo stumbled backward.

  “She can touch us!” Scootaloo yelled. More ponies in the crowd turned to see what was going on. The Olden Pony cackled, the sound of dead leaves tossed in a winter gale.

  “NOW, WHERE IS IT?” the Olden Pony demanded.

  “Run!” Apple Bloom yelled. The fillies all scrambled away from the terrifying ancient mare.

  “Hey!”

  “Watch it!”

  “What are you doing?”

  Ponies yelled as the Crusaders and the Moon Sisters pushed through the crowd in a panic.

  “Wait!” shouted Ambermoon. “Even if we escape, aren’t the rest of these ponies in danger?”

  “I don’t know,” Scootaloo admitted. At that, Ambermoon turned and started running up the stairs, in the opposite direction of the exit.

  “Where are you goin’?” Apple Bloom called.

  “The stands aren’t safe! Somepony needs to stop the show!” Ambermoon yelled back.

  “Stop the show?” Scootaloo yelped. She looked at Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, panicked. “We can’t stop the show!”

  Apple Bloom pointed at the Olden Pony, who was closing in on them, moving surprisingly fast for her apparent age.

  “We got bigger problems right now, don’tcha think?” The fillies rushed to the top of the stadium. Ambermoon burst into the announcer’s booth, the others right behind her. The announcer pony turned and looked at them in shock.

  “Hey! You ponies can’t be in here!” he exclaimed.

  “We have to stop the show right now,” Ambermoon said firmly.

  “What? Why?” the pony asked.

  “Yes, why?” The Olden Pony was suddenly standing behind the announcer. He didn’t seem to hear her and just kept staring at the fillies. “Afraid I’m going to scare everypony? Cause them to panic?” With a wicked smile, she reached out and pulled a lever. All the lights in the stadium turned off, leaving everypony in total darkness.

  “What happened?” the announcer yelled. Outside the booth, ponies starting yelling and screaming in confusion and panic. Scootaloo couldn’t see anything. All she could hear was the laughter of the Olden Pony echoing in her ears.

  “I don’t even know where to begin.” Rainbow Dash flew back and forth as the Friendship Express chugged steadily toward Ponyville. Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Lilymoon, and Ambermoon sat sullenly in their seats. “What were you thinking?”

  “We told you—” Scootaloo began, but Rainbow Dash held up a hoof.

  “Do not mention the Olden Pony. The ponies in the stands said you started screaming for no reason, pushed through the crowd, ran up to the booth, and told the announcer to stop the show. Nopony saw anything following you.”

  “I know it sounds crazy. And at first we didn’t see anything, either, but it really was—”

  Rainbow Dash held up her other hoof. “No. Olden. Pony,” she said through gritted teeth. She shook her head and looked down at Scootaloo. “I’m just really disappointed in all of you. You were my guests. And you ruined the entire event.” She turned to leave. Scootaloo rushed over and grabbed her hoof.

  “I’m really sorry, Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo said. Rainbow Dash shook her head sadly.

  “Let’s just deal with this later. I’m going up to the front of the train. When we’re back in Ponyville, we’re getting your families together and we’re having a serious talk.” She flew out of the train cabin.

  Scootaloo stared out the window as the sun began to rise. She had never felt worse in her entire life. Rainbow Dash had never been this upset with her. Ever. Scootaloo could feel tears welling up in her eyes. The fight with Apple Bloom, the Olden Pony, and now ruining the Wonderbolts’ show? It was all too much. She buried her face in her hooves. A second later, she felt a hoof on her shoulder. She looked up and saw that it was Apple Bloom.

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  “Why? It’s not your fault I’m a huge disappointment to the greatest pony of all time,” Scootaloo said sadly.

  “No. I mean, I’m sorry about that, too. But… I’m sorry I didn’t believe you. And I’m sorry I was mean to you the other night. If I hadn’t said what I said about you bein’ scared of that story, you never woulda gone downstairs, and none of this woulda happened. It’s all my fault.”

  Scootaloo let out a long sigh and hugged Apple Bloom. “It’s not your fault, and I’m sorry, too,” she said. “If I’m being honest, I was just jealous. You and Lilymoon have been spending so much time together that I was just worried you’d forget our friendship.”

  “Oh thank goodness!” Lilymoon said, sounding relieved. Everypony turned to stare at her. She blushed and turned to Scootaloo. “I thought you were mad at me for some reason.”

  “No!” Scootaloo exclaimed. “You’re awesome. Things have just been different lately.” Scootaloo looked at Ambermoon. “But I guess different isn’t bad. It’s just… different.”

  “No matter what else changes, you’re always gonna be one of my best friends,” Apple Bloom said. “And when you’re in trouble, I’ll be there. So next time my best friend says that she sees a scary, old pony coming after her, I promise I’m going to believe her.”

  “That’s good,” Sweetie Belle said with a shaky voice as the train pulled into the Ponyville train station. “Because as your other best friend, I want to tell you that there’s a scary, old pony coming after us.” She pointed out the window.

  The Olden Pony was waiting for them at the train station.

  “Thought you fillies could hide from me, did you?” The Olden Pony leered at them, pressing her face against the train window. Sweetie Belle leaped back from it so fast, she knocked over Scootaloo.

  “No horseplay please,” a passing conductor warned them. Scootaloo watched as he opened the carriage door and passengers exited the train, passing the Olden Pony without a glance.

  “It’s just like at the Wonderbolts show. Nopony sees her but us,” whispered Lilymoon.

  “But why? And where did she come from?” Ambermoon frowned.

  “And how do we get rid of her?” Sweetie Belle wailed.

  “That sounds like a job for the Cutie Mark Crusaders! I call an emergency meeting to order!” Apple Bloom blurted. Despite the spooky situation, Scootaloo had to hold back a laugh. Leave it to Apple Bloom to follow club procedure, even when they were being stalked by a ghost story come to life.

  The last pony stepped out onto the train platform. Scootaloo hurled herself against the carriage door and slammed it shut, locking it before the Olden Pony could force her way onboard. Furious, the ancient mare scraped her single shoeless hoof against the glass of the window. It made a horrible grating sound.

  “WHERE IS MY RUSTY HORSESHOE?” the Olden Pony groaned.

  “Can we have this meeting somewhere else?” Scootaloo asked. The others were happy to agree, and they ran through the train car to the next one down the line.

  “Everypony, think,” Apple Bloom commanded. “Scootaloo, you were the first one of us to see the Olden Pony. Do you have any idea what you did to make her show up?” Scootaloo had been asking herself the same question ever since the slumber party. Unfortunately, she hadn’t come up with any answers. She shook her head.

  “You first saw her at our house, right?” Lilymoon asked. “So we should go back there and retrace your steps. Maybe that will give us a clue.”

  The train car shook with a heavy impact from its roof. The fillies froze and listened as heavy hoof-falls echoed above them. CLANK CLANK CLANK THUMP! CLANK CLANK CLANK THUMP! It was the sound of three horseshoes and one hoof. The Olden Pony was on top of the train. She was looking for a way in. And the emergency hatch was just over their heads.

  “She can’t chase us all if we split up,�
�� Scootaloo said. “Ambermoon, you run toward the front of the train. I’ll go to the back.” Ambermoon nodded.

  “I’m coming with you,” Apple Bloom told Scootaloo firmly.

  “Me too!” Sweetie Belle squeaked.

  “Guess that means we get some sister time,” Lilymoon told Ambermoon. Scootaloo didn’t think they seemed too happy about it. But there wasn’t time to discuss that, because just then, the Olden Pony popped open the emergency door above them and squinted down, her red eye rolling in its socket.

  “Did you miss me?” She brayed a terrifying laugh and lunged at the fillies.

  “Meet us at our house!” Ambermoon yelled as she pushed open the train car door. She dashed off in the direction of the engine, Lilymoon hot on her hocks. Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle jumped on the platform a moment later and raced in the other direction. The voice of the Olden Pony howled behind them:

  “You can’t run from me! I’ll find you wherever you go!”

  And that was the scariest thought of all.

  The CMCs ran until they reached the bottom of Horseshoe Hill, where they stopped to gasp for breath. Scootaloo wished she had her scooter. No way a three-shoed pony could keep up with them then!

  “Is she gone?” Sweetie Belle panted. The Crusaders looked around nervously, but it seemed they had finally lost the Olden Pony. Then Scootaloo had a troubling thought.

  “I hope that doesn’t mean she’s chasing Ambermoon and Lilymoon instead,” Scootaloo said.

  Apple Bloom looked thoughtful. “When did you become such good friends with Ambermoon?” she asked.

  Scootaloo shrugged. “I guess when she started being nice to me. She’s actually kind of cool, once you spend time with her.”

  “Yeah… but do you think you can trust her?” Apple Bloom pressed.

  “It was her candy cane that turned Twist into a werepony,” Sweetie Belle pointed out.

  “We don’t know that’s true.” Apple Bloom frowned. Scootaloo started to worry that they were heading toward another disagreement. But then Apple Bloom’s expression cleared. “I guess we just don’t have all the facts yet. And it wouldn’t be right to blame Ambermoon for anythin’ until we know the whole story.”

  “Right,” Scootaloo agreed with the tiniest sigh of relief.

  Hoofbeats sounded behind them, and the trio spun, startled. But instead of the glare of a single red eye, they found Lilymoon and Ambermoon.

  “I’m so glad you’re not the Olden Pony!” Sweetie Belle said.

  “Um, thanks?” Lilymoon said. “Now, let’s get to the house before she does show up.”

  The group climbed the hill to the forbidding home atop it.

  “Did you ever think about getting a welcome mat?” Sweetie Belle suggested as they all stepped onto the rickety porch.

  “No,” Ambermoon and Lilymoon answered in unison.

  Scootaloo led her friends inside to the giant staircase beyond the foyer. She pointed a hoof.

  “There. That’s where I first saw the Olden Pony,” she told them.

  “So we need to work backward from here,” Ambermoon said. “Before you ran in this room, we were in the kitchen.”

  “Yeah.” Scootaloo nodded. “I heard the Olden Pony in there. And before that, we walked across the yard… and before that, I was in the greenhouse, and before that—”

  “Wait. What were you doing in the greenhouse?” Lilymoon asked with a frown. Scootaloo blushed. Now that she thought about it, admitting she was running away from Ambermoon did sound pretty silly.

  “She got lost.” Ambermoon smoothly covered for her new friend. “I found her in the greenhouse.” Scootaloo shot her a grateful look, then picked up the tale.

  “And before that, I was in the kitchen. Which is where I went after I left the sleepover.”

  “Every part of that story sounds pretty normal, except the greenhouse,” Apple Bloom mused.

  “I’m not sure anything here is normal,” Sweetie Belle murmured, pointing a hoof. The other fillies followed it to see Blue Moon headed toward them, “walking” a pair of bats on tiny leashes.

  “Hello, Father,” Lilymoon and Ambermoon chorused.

  “Hello, hello.” Blue Moon grinned back. Scootaloo always felt like there was something off about that smile—it was as though you could count every one of Blue Moon’s teeth. And some of them looked sharp. “Enjoy your visit with your friends! I’m off to walk Bram and Bela.”

  Every time she encountered the Moon sisters’ odd parents, Scootaloo was glad she lived with Aunt Holiday and Auntie Lofty.

  The fillies headed for the kitchen. But after opening drawers to find only cobwebs and peering into the refrigerator, which seemed to be housing some kind of mold experiment, they decided to move on to the greenhouse.

  The air in the greenhouse was humid and heavy. Scootaloo almost felt as if she were swimming in a sea of plants.

  “Show us where you went on the night of the slumber party,” Apple Bloom prompted. Scootaloo tried to remember her exact path, but things looked very different in the daytime.

  “I ran toward the back,” she said, trotting deeper into the green glass enclosure. Her eye fell on a crooked ceramic pot. Now that she recognized. It matched the bruise on her forehead. “And I bumped into this!” She reached a hoof toward the soft feathery plant. Ambermoon quickly swatted it away.

  “Don’t touch that plant!” she said sharply. Scootaloo felt a knot form in her stomach. She already had touched it—two nights ago.

  “Why?” she asked, hoping to sound breezy. “What would happen if I did?”

  Ambermoon arched an eyebrow. “It’s a fear fern,” she explained.

  Lilymoon nodded in recognition. “Oh yeah! I didn’t know Dad was growing those.”

  “What do fear ferns do?” Sweetie Belle wondered. Scootaloo saw she was eyeing the plant as if it were a chimera ready to pounce.

  “They give life to the thing that frightens you the most. But only you can see it,” Ambermoon said grimly. “Sound familiar?”

  “Okay, yes. I bumped into that plant and picked it up,” Scootaloo admitted. “But I don’t know why it made the Olden Pony show up. I’m totally over my fear of her! Mostly.”

  “That still doesn’t explain why we can see the Olden Pony.” Apple Bloom frowned. “We never touched the fern.”

  Ambermoon didn’t have an answer for that.

  “So now that we know what caused the problem, what’s the cure?” Sweetie Belle wanted to know. Ambermoon and Lilymoon exchanged a worried look.

  “There isn’t one!” came a creaky voice from behind a cactus.

  The fillies whipped their heads toward the voice. It was Auntie Eclipse. When did she come in the greenhouse? Scootaloo wondered. Had she just been hiding there all along?

  “That is, there isn’t a cure unless you know me.” Auntie Eclipse chuckled uproariously. Scootaloo laughed, too, though she wasn’t sure what was so funny. She was just glad to know that there was a way to get rid of the Olden Pony.

  “Follow me. Let’s have some tea and a nice chat,” Auntie Eclipse said, making her way out of the greenhouse.

  Lilymoon and Ambermoon followed their aunt, and after a moment, the Crusaders did, too.

  Auntie Eclipse led the young ponies to the library. It smelled like dust and age and books. Light filtered down through grimy windows and cobwebbed shelves, casting eerie spotlights. Scootaloo knew that Auntie Eclipse usually didn’t let visitors into this place. But today, the strange, old pony seemed downright social!

  Auntie Eclipse patted some moth-eaten cushions and invited the fillies to sit. Apple Bloom plopped down on one, and a huge puff of dust exploded from it. She sneezed loudly. Scootaloo decided to just stand.

  “Get the tea tray, would you, dear?” Auntie Eclipse asked Ambermoon.

  “Are you sure that’s a good ide—” Lilymoon began, but Auntie Eclipse turned a sour eye on her niece, and she fell silent.

  Ambermoon returned with a tray of stra
nge small sandwiches and what appeared to be raisin cookies. Scootaloo watched as Sweetie Belle politely took one, and then dropped it in shock as the “raisins” moved.

  “On second thought, we’re not very hungry,” Sweetie Belle said.

  So much for trying to be polite, Scootaloo thought.

  Auntie Eclipse poured tea for everypony, but none of them took a sip. “It’s so nice you young ponies came to visit me.” Auntie Eclipse smiled. It seemed to Scootaloo that she’d forgotten why they were all there in the first place.

  “We’re hoping you can tell us more about the fear fern. Why did it affect all of us when only Scootaloo touched it? And can you give us the cure?” Ambermoon gently prompted her aunt.

  “Your father has been breeding especially strong fear ferns. Normally, they only work on the pony who touches them. But Blue Moon’s ferns are contagious. This little Pegasus,” Auntie Eclipse said, shaking an admonishing hoof at Scootaloo, “infected everypony she touched with her fear spores.”

  Scootaloo gasped. Not only was the Olden Pony’s appearance her fault… she’d spread the problem to her friends, too.

  “You said there was a cure,” Lilymoon reminded Auntie Eclipse.

  “So I did, so I did.” The old pony nodded. “Got it off a traveling salespony from Saddle Arabia many moons ago.” She rummaged around in a weathered cabinet and pulled out a vial of blue liquid. Auntie Eclipse held it up to her eye and shook the bottle. Then she nodded. “Should be just enough for you five in here.” Scootaloo’s heart sank.

  “You five?” she asked weakly. Auntie Eclipse turned her sharp gaze on Scootaloo.

  “Well, yes. How many ponies did you touch, dear?” Scootaloo started to count.

  “Um, both of my aunts. And Pinkie Pie and the Cakes when we were looking for Rainbow Dash. And Rainbow Dash…”

  “And Rarity. Miss Cheerilee. Big McIntosh. Featherweight.… All the ponies in line at the market when we squeezed past them—” Ambermoon added.