“Hey, Scootaloo, what are you up to?” Diamond Tiara asked. Scootaloo regarded her suspiciously.

“Just seeing if I could use that ramp,” Scootaloo gestured, “to fly over that tree over there. With my scooter, of course,” she said.

“Hey Scootaloo, did we miss it? Did you fly yet?” Applebloom and Sweetie Belle showed up, dragging a heavy camera along the ground. “What’s she doing here?” Applebloom asked, pointing at Diamond Tiara.

“I only wanted to watch,” Diamond Tiara said, hiding a sinister grin. “Silver Spoon’s busy today so I’m just checking on you blank flanks to see if you’re doing anything interesting. But I guess if you’re just up to boring stuff…”

“We’re not boring!” Scootaloo shouted. “Just stay and you’ll see!” Diamond Tiara smirked at Applebloom and sat down on a nearby log. Applebloom stuck out her tongue at Diamond Tiara, setting up the camera on Sweetie Belle’s head.

“Alright, Scootaloo, the camera’s ready!” Applebloom called. Scootaloo zoomed down the runway on her scooter, heading straight for the ramp.

“Get ready to take the shot!” Sweetie Belle said. The camera flashed just as Scootaloo touched the ramp. “Hey! That was too soon!”

“Sorry, I’m not used to this… wait, what happened to Scootaloo?” Applebloom asked. Scootaloo had rammed straight through the ramp, landing in a pit of mud. Diamond Tiara laughed cruelly as she turned to leave. Applebloom glared as a self-developing photograph slid out of the camera, drifting slowly to her feet. “Did you do that?”

“Do what? I’ve been here this whole time,” Diamond Tiara said. Scootaloo got up, prying her scooter from the mud. She examined the hole in the ramp.

“Hey! Someone replaced the wood with paper mache!” she shouted. Diamond Tiara snatched up the photograph and walked away.

“How nice of you blank flanks to provide me a souvenir for yet another failure,” she called behind her back. Silver Spoon joined up with her around a corner.

“They didn’t notice a thing,” Diamond Tiara said to her.

“Of course they didn’t. We replaced it all last night,” Silver Spoon giggled. “So how was it? Did it totally embarrass them?”

“I could tell you, but I was lucky enough to snag a picture,” Diamond Tiara said, waving the still-developing photograph in the air. “Dumb Blank Flanks must’ve bought a cheap camera. I never have to wait this long for my photos.”

Discord’s face appeared on the wall behind the two fillies as they stared at the photograph. “Well that’s just cruel,” he said to himself as he glanced over at Scootaloo dragging her muddy scooter back to the clubhouse. He looked back towards Diamond Tiara. “Prank target: located.”

“I think it’s almost done!” Diamond Tiara said as Silver Spoon leaned in close with a grin on her face. “See? There she is- crashing through the ramp and… wait. What’s that?” The photograph of Scootaloo’s failure had a large black smudge on the side. As the two fillies watched, the smudge developed, growing a pair of sinister eyes, a jagged horn, and a large evil grin.

“Is that… a ghost?” Silver Spoon asked. Diamond Tiara shook the film some more.

“No, that can’t be. Daddy says that ghosts aren’t real. Must be just a lame trick camera those blank flanks bought,” Diamond Tiara said. “Besides, what kind of a stupid ghost shows up in daylight? What’s with the funny face?”

Silver Spoon’s glasses fell halfway down her face as she backed up in fear. “I-it’s right behind you. GHOST!” Diamond Tiara’s mane stood up on the back of her neck as she turned around, coming face to face with the scariest ghost she had ever seen in her life. Granted, it was the only ghost she had ever seen in her life, but it was still pretty scary.

“RUN!” Diamond Tiara shouted, dropping the photograph and dashing away at top speed. Silver Spoon fumbled with her glasses and tripped over the fake broken ramp in an attempt to follow her, getting a faceful of mud. The ghost seemed to ignore her as it chased after Diamond Tiara.

“What do you want?” Diamond Tiara screamed at it. Two more ghosts appeared to her left and right, laughing sinisterly. She squeaked in fear and ran down the only path she had left, the dirt path to the Cutie Mark Crusader’s Clubhouse. She slid to a halt at the base of the tree.

“Wait… three ghosts? That’s just… Hey you three!” Diamond Tiara shouted at the ghosts, who stopped for a moment, confused. “I don’t know where blank flanks like you got such good costumes but you’re not fooling me. Why don’t you come out of there now that the gig is up? That’s right. I know who you are, Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetiebelle.

The window slammed open from the clubhouse above, and Applebloom’s head emerged. “What? Can’t you just leave us alone?” Diamond Tiara’s face snapped into an expression of shock.

“B-but if you’re up there… then who…” she turned back to the ghosts, who laughed evilly and continued their advance. Diamond Tiara screamed, running to the clubhouse door.

“Please, you’ve got to help me! There’s ghosts out here!” Diamond Tiara said. “I’m sorry for making fun of you and breaking your ramp!” Tears were streaming down her face as she pounded on the door.

The door opened and Applebloom stuck her head outside. “I don’t see any ghosts. Wait. You broke Scootaloo’s ramp?” Diamond Tiara looked around. The ghosts were gone.

“I…” Diamond Tiara wiped the tears off of her face and resumed her usual snooty expression. “Yeah, I did, so what? It wouldn’t have worked anyway. It would just fail like everything you do always does.”

Applebloom sighed and closed the door, retreating back into the clubhouse. As Diamond Tiara heard the tapping of her receding hooves fade, she noticed a face form on the treehouse door, approaching her at an alarming rate. “Applebloom, help! The ghost’s back!” Diamond Tiara shouted again, running back down to the ground.

“Like I’m falling for that again!” came from within the clubhouse. Diamond Tiara turned and ran away screaming as Discord chuckled from the shade of the clubhouse tree.

Next Chapter: Lyra Spots a Human Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 47 Minutes