There once were three little ponies. They liked to call themselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
Every morning Apple Bloom would leave the farm. Granny would be in her chair appearing to sleep. She’d pass by the orchards where her big sister was bucking apples. Apple Bloom would always say “hi” to her older sister, and Applejack would always be too busy to notice her; she’d silently continue with her work. Sweetie Belle would wake up early in the morning and come downstairs to say “good morning” to her sister. Rarity would never respond to Sweetie Belle, she would always be concentrating intensely on making one of her new dresses. Sweetie Belle knew that Rarity had to complete those dresses for somepony important, so she left to the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ club house. Scootaloo would always arrive the latest since she lived out of town. She’d go into town on her scooter; heading toward the CMC club house. Almost immediately she saw her hero Rainbow Dash. She’d zig-zag around high above Ponyville, seemingly ignorant of every other pony below her. Scootaloo would follow Rainbow Dash for a bit and then head to club house.

Upon arrival, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle would already be at work. Recently, they had discovered that they each had a knack for making puppets. They had started out simple, but later on had become complex. The CMC made the puppets with mechanisms to allow them to move without the help of strings. They got the gears and mechanisms from a friend of Scootaloo’s parents. The gears would go into the legs and body parts to make them move. Sweetie Belle handled cleaning and fixing the exteriors of the puppets, Apple Bloom handled making the interiors of the puppets so they could support their own weight, and Scootaloo took care of making the machines that moved the puppets. They could only do simple things like bucking, waving, turning a page, or walking. The machines would always make a “tut tut tut” sound when they moved.

“Hey guys! Come check this out!” Scootaloo called out to the other two ponies.

“Uh, what is it?” both Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom said.

“This machine will help out in making the puppets! See, you put the puppet in this end, and it stuffs it and puts the machines that I make into them.” said Scootaloo cheerfully.

“Wow, thanks Scootaloo!” said Sweetie Belle.

“Yeah, this will definitely make things easier!” cheered Apple Bloom.

The time had come and gone, the sun was going down and Scootaloo had to leave for home.

“Hey, why don’t we have a sleep over?! We can sleep at the club house!” Sweetie Belle suggested.

“That’s a great idea! I’ve got some candles in the clubhouse already!” replied Apple Bloom

“Yeah! That’s a great idea! But I’ll need to ask my parents first, so maybe tomorrow as well guys?” Asked Scootaloo as she was left.

“ Yeah that’ll be awesome!” We can even work on the puppets!” Sweetie Belle yelled after Scootaloo.

“Jeez Sweetie Belle, you’re really getting obsessed with those puppets.” Said Apple Bloom.

“Well, we’ve come this far, might as well make as many as we can.”

Apple Bloom yawned “Actually, I’m pretty tired. I’m going to be heading to sleep.”

“Well it is pretty late. Alright then. Sweet dreams Apple Bloom.”

That night Sweetie Belle dreamed of puppets. She dreamed of a puppet of Celestia. Celestia was in a play with a puppet of Apple Bloom. They were putting on a play for many other ponies in the audience. The curious thing was, the ponies in the audience were puppets too. A squishy red matter was littered all over the floor. The puppets looked almost like the real thing, just like the ones that the CMC had made. As the sun began to rise, Sweetie Belle’s dream came to a close. There once were two little ponies.

Scootaloo arrived late in the evening the next day. Through the trees not too far from tree house she could see that Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom had already made a few more puppets and had them hung outside on the tree branches. When she arrived at the club house it was full of the ‘tut tut tut’ noises that their puppets made. Scootaloo was surprised to see how many they had done in just one day.
“Wow guys, you really are something else. I can’t believe you’ve already made this many!” shouted Scootaloo.

“Oh hey Scootaloo! Yeah, We really got a lot of them done. And they’re awesome!” Sweetie Belle shouted back.

“Hey there, Apple Bloom. You look like you could use a break.” Scootaloo told Apple Bloom as she passed her.

“Oh, Apple Bloom is really busy at work right now; don’t break her concentration.” Sweetie Belle gave a sheepish smile. “Hey Scoots, can you get that puppet book from the library again?”

“Sure thing. Oh yeah, I’ll be able to sleep over with you guys tonight!”

“That’s great Scootaloo!” said Sweetie Belle with a slightly malicious smile.

Scootaloo buzzed off on her scooter back into town. The day didn’t last long, as the sun was going down already. When Scootaloo arrived at Twilight Sparkle’s house, she could see Twilight concentrating heavily on her studies. She lit a candle and placed it near Twilight. Then she moved over to the shelf with the book that Sweetie Belle asked for. She felt a chill run down her spine as she grabbed the book that Sweetie Belle asked for.

“Ugh. You know Twilight, sometimes you give me the creeps,” she said as she turned around to face the still studying Twilight.

Scootaloo left Twilight’s house without saying another word. She sped back to the club house as the last rays of sunlight left equestria. The woods seemed to change and become a labyrinth in the dark. A little scream escaped her as a root grabbed onto her wheel and sent her to the ground.

“Aw man, my scooter’s busted.”

Scootaloo left her scooter and continued on hoof. The trees seemed to never end and she felt like she was walking in circles. After what felt like hours she saw the light of a candle next to some trees. Thinking it was Sweetie Belle she ran towards it and only focused on the candle, she didn’t see the bear trap in front of her. With a loud crunch her leg was caught in the trap and she let out a yelp.

“Oh good, you’re back,” said Sweetie Belle emerging from behind a tree.

“What the heck is this Sweetie Belle?” Scootaloo managed to let out.

“It’s to make sure that you won’t run away.”

“What are you talking about?!”

“You know, I really wanted to make a puppet of Celestia, But that won’t ever happen.”

“Answer me! What are you talking about?” Scootaloo yelled out in pain.

Sweetie Belle continued to ignore her questioning. “We did pretty well though. Now there’s no pony in Ponyville that hasn’t been made into a puppet. Well, almost.”

“What do you mean ‘almost?!’”

Sweetie Belle turned to face Scootaloo. She was smiling and wild-eyed. “There’s still a couple ponies left.”

“A couple left?” Scootaloo squeaked out in horror of her realization.

Sweetie Belle didn’t say anything else. She blew out the candle and darkness enveloped them. Scootaloo struggled to get away, but the bear trap had her tightly clamped. She could hear the sounds of knives being sharpened. And then, nothing. Only silence. There once was one little pony.

The moon was high above when Sweetie Belle had finished. It looked exactly like her friend. She knew she had done a great job with it.

“You know Scootaloo, I have to thank you for making that machine. I even modified it to make the puppets all by itself.” Sweetie Belle said to the puppet.

“Hehe, puppets…. Puppets…”

Sweetie Belle began chanting the word puppets. Her eyes wild and insane. She danced around the puppets; laughing hysterically as she danced.

“Puppets are amazing. They’re the greatest thing ever. Hahaha! I want to become one! I can become one. An amazing puppet….” Sweetie Belle said, followed by more hysterical laughter.

Sweetie Belle cleaned out the machine and turned it on. Nothing was going to stop her from becoming what she loved. She ran into the machine. She didn’t flinch or even scream. Not like Scootaloo had done. The first rays of sunlight came and nothing was left of last night. The entire town seemed quiet from the outside. The only thing that could be heard were strange ‘tut tut tut’ noises around the town. There once were no little ponies.