Part 7 – The Fifth Night
Baby Moondancer settled onto her chair in the play room at Paradise Estate. As had come to be normal occurance, Pearly stayed nearby and Baby Blossom watched over the small, white unicorn while she played. Both Pearly and Baby Blossom felt protective of her, Pearly in particular. Though it had been said Pearly had something of a temper, she disagreed wholeheartedly.
Every so often, Pearly would wander past the windows, looked out of them then returned to her cousin’s side.
“Don’t worry, Baby Moondancer,” Pearly said, “If she comes back, I’ll make sure she doesn’t bother you.”
Baby Moondancer just nodded.
Mr Stuffings sat on Baby Moondancer’s other side, her faithful guardian. She didn’t go anywhere without the teddy bear now, despite he had appeared in the room by his own power seemingly. He had not done anything else since, and so, Baby Moondancer had forgiven him.
“Lunch is ready, little ones!” Moondancer called.
Baby Blossom raced through to the dining room, while Pearly waited for her cousin. Baby Moondancer stood up and headed to the dining room, Pearly not far behind. A noise caught her attention. Baby Moondancer frowned and turned back.
One of the toys had moved.
“Oh no,” Baby Moondancer muttered.
She turned to tell Pearly, except Pearly was already gone.
Baby Moondancer shivered.
In the play room, the bricks were piled into a perfect tower. Baby Moondancer swallowed, lifted Mr Stuffings and went to investigate. The bricks were in line with each other, spelling out ‘baby’. She reached a hoof out, then jumped back when they toppled over.
There stood Applejack. Her eyes were blank, dark hair draped down her forehead and over her neck, her tail still, not a hair out of place. She stared at the baby pony, unmoving.
“Get away from her!” someone yelled.
Baby Moondancer turned around. Dazzleglow galloped into the room and stood in front of Baby Moondancer, and Dazzleglow put her tail around her.
Applejack turned her blank stare to Dazzleglow. They stayed like that for a few moments, neither moving, Dazzleglow’s frown deepened. The pink unicorn tapped Baby Moondancer with her back hoof and moved backwards. Still Applejack did not move. Instead, she opened her mouth and made a gutteral sound, almost like a growl. Baby Moondancer covered her ears and shut her eyes, the tears were already flowing. She was convinced she would hear that sound for the rest of her life.
“Keep away,” Dazzleglow warned once again, though the statement was a lot less confident this time around. Baby Moondancer heard the quiver in Dazzleglow’s voice, noticed the nervous twitching of her tail.
She heard more hoofbeats and she opened her eyes long enough to see Sparkler, her mother and two ponies she did not recognise. She looked over to where Applejack was, the pony with the dark hair and blank eyes, not shifting her gaze from Dazzleglow once.
Dazzleglow too turned to see who was coming, and in the split second she did so, Applejack was gone.
~
Pearly, Baby Moondancer and Baby Blossom sat in the living area, listening to the rest to the other ponies argue. Moondancer’s voice rung out the loudest, defending her daughter to her last and believed something was indeed bothering the little unicorn.
Others however disagreed, surely it had to be her imagination, no one else beyond Dazzleglow had seen anything, nor had the new pony done anything untoward to anyone else. For the most part, Applejac stayed out of the way, neither bothering nor speaking to anyone else. Others tried, of course, attempting to strike up conversation. The most they received, was a tilted head and silence. The growling was the only sound anyone heard, and this honour went to Dazzleglow and now, Baby Moondancer.
Baby Blossom nuzzled her neck and Baby Moondancer leaned against her.
“Dazzleglow’s in trouble because of me,” she said, looking down to the floor and her hooves.
“No, she’s not,” Baby Blossom assured her, “They’re trying to figure out why she scared you so bad.”
“She keeps doing stuff! You saw her!” She looked between Baby Blossom and Pearly. “Right?”
Pearly shook her head. “We didn’t see her.”
Baby Moondancer buried her face in her hooves. She felt Baby Blossom rub her back and what she assumed, was Pearly lying next to her.
The rest of the ponies returned to the living area. They sat down on the couches, chairs and the floor. The two ponies Baby Moondancer saw earlier were there as well, now with another who looked like them. There was a pegeasus pony, two earth ponies, orange and red, though they sat with and around Dazzleglow. Sparkler was there, as well as her mother, and Moondancer nudged Baby Blossom to move over. Baby Glory caught her eye and gave her a shy wave. She waved back.
Baby Moondancer leaned against her mother and felt Moondancer lick her mane.
“Baby Moondancer, you’re not in trouble, please don’t think you are,” Buttons told her.
“It feels like I am,” she answered.
“We just want to know what this pony has been doing.”
“But you don’t believe me! I already told my mama!”
“Tell Buttons too, little one. No one is going to be upset with you,” Moondancer said quietly.
Baby Moondancer took a deep breath and described the events both she, and Baby Glory, witenessed in the play room and the nursery. Baby Moondancer went on to describe the strange knocking from her bedroom closet during the night. The other ponies looked between them, some with raised eyebrows, others with a frown. She felt her stomach flip-flop with a wave of nausea, while tears brimmed.
“I believe you,” the green pegeasus announced. “My apologies, my name is Starglow. We come from the further reaches of Pony Land, like Dazzleglow.” She stepped forward and knelt down to Baby Moondancer’s level. “I believe you, little one. Dazzleglow told us a similar account.”
Baby Moondancer looked to Dazzleglow for confirmation, and the unicorn nodded.
“What you’ve dealt with sounds very frightening, and you’ve been so brave,” Starglow told her with a smile. She stood up and faced the other ponies, “As far as I’m concerned, I trust Baby Moondancer’s word and Dazzleglow’s.”
Sparkler cleared her throat. “I thought something odd happened to me too,” she said. She recounted her strange day in the nursery, when she heard hoofbeats from nowhere, belonging to no one. “I thought it was my imagination, and I certainly didn’t think it was anything to do with the new pony.”
Buttons sighed. “All right, there’s clearly something going on here,” she said.
“That much is obvious, Buttons,” Moondancer answered, now standing up. “What we need to do, is figure out how to stop it. And stop it from bothering my baby.”
“What about the Flutter Ponies?” Sparkler suggested, her head tilted to the side. “They’ve helped us before when the Smooze attacked.”
Dazzleglow, Starglow and the others frowned and looked between each other.
“I’m sorry, Dazzleglow,” she said, and nodded to the other ponies with her, “Friends. I forget you’ve never had to deal with the witches or the Smooze.”
“Good idea, Sparkler,” Buttons agreed, “It doesn’t hurt to ask.”
“I volunteer then,” Moondancer told them.
Baby Moondancer gasped and clung to her mother’s leg. “No, mama! Please don’t leave me!”
“I’m going too,” Dazzleglow said, standing up from the floor. “Starglow. You wanted to babysit, now’s your chance. I trust you’ll look after the baby ponies while I’m gone.”
Starglow’s face lit up with a smile and she nodded enthusiastically.
“And me,” Sparkler added.
“I guess it’s settled then,” Buttons agreed, “You three will go to Flutter Valley and we’ll stay here, see if anything else strange happens.”
The group of ponies dispersed and Dazzleglow let out a large sigh, then flumped to the floor. Happyglow immediately went to her side, though Dazzleglow smiled at her.
Baby Moondancer on the other hand, quivered next to her mother’s leg, inching closer and closer to her. Starglow also noticed and trotted over, a smile on her face and her wings spread. “Why don’t you show me around?” she asked, “Baby…”
“Moondancer,” her mother supplied.
“Why don’t you show me around, Baby Moondancer? I can think of no better guide.”
Baby Moondancer nodded, then started out of the living area. She looked back to her mother, who nodded with a warm smile, before Baby Glory, Baby Blossom and Pearly caught up with them.
Outside, Applejack heard everything.
My Little Obsession 