True Scary Stories

*Hospital Edition*

By, Scootaloo…

Chapter 4: The Monster in the University Hospital.

A research student relates his

Shocking experiences at

Canterlot’s most prestigious

Hospital! Will you believe him or not?

Strange things started happening at the hospital around the end of last spring.

It began with patients waking up in the middle of the night, screaming. They all spoke of terrifying nightmares, and many of them had to be sedated. Some patients even transferred to other hospitals because of it.

The weird thing was that they’d all had exactly the same dream – a dream about some horribly disgusting monster staring down at them from their bedside.

But the really strange stuff started happening after that. There used to be a lot of stray cats around the campus, looking for scraps from the students.

One day, the cats suddenly disappeared, and it wasn’t that they’d stopped coming. It was more like they’d vanished from the area entirely and then people stopped walking their dogs around. According to rumors, the dogs were refusing to go anywhere near the school. Eventually, things started going missing in the hospital.

Organs, to be precise.

Transplant organs kept disappearing from storage. Some people came close to losing their jobs over it. And it wasn’t just two or three times that it happened. They tried to keep it from the research students, but we heard that it was a lot worse than that.

People started saying that there was something living in the hospital. The janitors would find strange messes that could only have been made in the middle of the night – traces of something that had crawled down the hallway, or weird stains that seemed to be caused by something dripping through the ceiling.

The late-shift nurses talked about hearing strange noises on the same nights that patients woke screaming.

There’s one last story, one you can never mention inside the hospital.

One day, the obstetrics department went crazy. They said that a newborn had disappeared in the night. If that were true, the police would’ve come and it would’ve been all over the news, but they say the “big shots” managed to make it all go away. It’s just a rumor, of course.

These strange incidents suddenly stopped towards the end of summer. Now there are almost no patients complaining of nightmares, and the cats have started coming back to the campus.

But still… what happened in the hospital that summer? Even now, just thinking about it give me the creeps…

*beep… beep… beep…*

*Your call cannot be reached, please try again later… *

*Your call cannot be reached, please try again later…*

“Nothing…”

“Ngghh…”

This is the third day in a row that you and Cadance haven’t been able to get in touch with Cherry. There’s no sign that she returned to her apartment, and even her family doesn’t know anything. Her parents have already filed a missing persons report.

“Well, you know her. She’ll probably just pop up somewhere like nothing happened.” You said, trying to hide the fact that you’re as much as worried as she does.

“I hope so,” Cadance replies with a gloomy expression. She’s worried about Cherry, of course, but the incident with Shining three days ago must still be weighing on her mind as well.

Cadance hasn’t seen Shining since then, and Shining hasn’t made any effort to approach her or you. Four people used to meet in this cafeteria between classes, but now there are only two.

“Hey,” She looks at you. “Let’s keep thinking. Isn’t there somewhere Cherry might have gone?”

“No,” You answered evasively. “I already checked everywhere.” It’s a lie, of course. You know where Cherry planned to go that evening, but you don’t want to bring Shining up in front of Cadance. Your awkward silence is mercifully broken by the bell signaling the start of the next period. “Well, I’ve gonna go.”

“…… Yeah.”

If you’re not mistaken, Cadance supposed to have class next period too, but she just sits there, staring off into space. Unable to come up with anything to say, you leave the cafeteria reluctantly.

Both Cherry’s disappearance and Cadance’s depression worry you, and both problems lead back to the exact same place. What the hell is Shining doing?

When Cherry went missing, the first thing he did was question Shining. After all, the last time he’d seen her was just before she stormed off to give Shining a piece of her mind. Shining responded with unequivocal denial, and acted like he hadn’t the slightest idea why Cherry has gone to see him. Perhaps that was only natural, as he was unaware that Cherry and you had witnessed him reduce Cadance to tears.

Did Cherry even make it to Shining’s house? She had been riding a wave of emotion when she’d left, and might have calmed down and changed her mind halfway there. Or perhaps she ran into trouble on the way?

You concluded – or, more accurately, convinced himself – that one of these possibilities was the truth, subconsciously denying the one remaining possibility: that Shining Armor was lying -- that he had met Cherry, and was involved with her disappearance.

When questioned by the police, You told the truth about Cherry’s destination only up to the train station, maintaining that he had no idea where she’d planned to go after that. He wanted to cooperate with the search, of course, but Cherry couldn’t have made it to Shining’s house. Shining Armor said so himself, didn’t he? In that case, he’d told the police everything they needed to know.

Not wanting to get the still-fragile Shining involved, he forced himself to accept this flimsy logic. But the conflict had built up inside of him without his notice, leaving unanswered suspicion to fester in his mind.

You’re deep in thought, paying no attention to your surroundings, but perhaps that is what allows you to catch sight of your friend’s back through the crowd of milling students.

“Shining?” At first, you assumed that he’s headed to the lecture hall, but it soon appears that he is instead going home.

Strange thing is… medical students have required courses in the afternoon. Though you’re initially supervised, your hesitation lasts for only a second. You follow your friend, taking care to stay far enough behind that you won’t be noticed.

Shining wasn’t going home, as became obvious when he boarded a train heading in the opposite direction. Your next guess was that he was going to see his doctor at the Canterlot University Hospital, but shining rode straight through the closest station. Where is he going?

At first, you felt ashamed for tailing your friend like this, but your conscious fell silent as Shining’s actions grew more mysterious. The stranger it gets, the closer you felt to discovering the truth behind Shining’s sudden transformation. Any knowledge would be welcome, no matter how slight it is.

Even you are beginning to thinks that there must be more behind Shining’s change than the accident alone. You want a more satisfying answer, one that will help you decide whether Shining can still be trusted… or not.

Shining gets off at a small station in a nondescript suburb of Ponyville. You followed, trying not to lose sight of him amid the other disembarking passengers. The area is quite desolate, with only a small bookstore, a convenience store, and a market in front of the train station. It’s easy for you to keep Shining in view. Though you knew this neighborhood was carved out of the Stallion Ridge Mountain foothills, there are still steep inclines and wooded areas remain that escaped assimilation. You’re amazed that such a quiet place exists less than an hour out of central Canterlot. Shining seems to know these streets. He moves quickly and purposefully through the suburban community, his eyes fixed straight ahead.

Before long, Shining reaches a house. Without ringing the bell or even knocking, he opens the door and vanishes inside, leaving you to wonder how Shining can treat the house as his own.

After waiting to see if Shining comes back out, you approached the gate and checked the mailbox for a clue to who ever lived in there.

Moonlight Shadow, it reads.

You never heard of anyone by that name among Shining’s acquaintances. Next, your attention is drawn to the thick was of leaflets sticking out of the small slot. This coupled with the general dilapidated feel

of the place, suggest that it has been abandoned for some time.

A small playground about two blocks away provides an adequate vantage point from which to watch the front of the Moonlight Shadow residence. Fortunately, it does not appear to be the sort of house that has a rear exit. You settled down on a bench to begin your stakeout. I should’ve brought more smokes.

One hour passes, and then another, but there remains no sign of movement around the Shadow residence. Soon, twilight settles upon the neighborhood as it slowly gets darker ever minute it passes.

After your one pack of cigarettes ran out, the stakeout became a battle against mounting impatience. You killed time by redialing Cherry on your cell and sending her short text messages, but your efforts are futile, as you knew they would be.

When the sky begins to turn deep blue and the streetlights came on, Shining finally emerges from the house and heads back towards the station with the same hurried stride. After some brief consideration, you decide that right now, investigating the house is more important than tailing Shining.

You rang the doorbell just to make sure. After the expected silence in response, you checked around you to make sure no one was watching and turns the doorknob.

The door is not locked…

The moment you entered the house, stale air thick with mold and dust fills your nostrils. It’s the unmistakable smell of a house that has long lain untouched. There is also a faint hint of something else in the air, something reminiscent of damp sewers and fetid cisterns. Flipping the light switch does nothing. The power must be cut off…

You use your cigarette lighters smallish-flashlight to illuminate the immediate area. In the thick dust covering the floor, you see several brand-new trails of footprints that could have been made by shoes – Shining Armor’s. You decide to follow suit and dispense with courtesy. You enter with your shoes on.