The Headless Pony


A My Little Pony Halloween Story

Baby Moondancer was the first baby back to the Lullaby Nursery. She tossed her damsel hat to the floor and peered into her treat bag. “Oooh... Yummy!” One little white hoof dipped into the bag and scooped out a chocolate bar.

“Hold it,” a friendly but firm voice said as a larger yellow hoof tossed the candy back into the bag. “Judging from the chocolate all over your face, Baby Moondancer, you’ve had quite enough candy for tonight.”

“Aw, Posey!” Baby Moondancer whined. “I’ve only had a few pieces!” The statement was almost true... She’d had a few dozen.

Behind her, the rest of the babies were returning from their trick-or-treating. Baby Firefly and Baby Surprise, in their matching monster suits, were comparing treat bags, trying to determine which had been the more successful little goblin. Baby Glory was scratching at the itchy netting of her ballerina tutu. Baby Cotton Candy, wearing a cowboy hat five times too big for her head, was giggling at Baby Blossom, whose drawn-on kitten whiskers had smeared across her cheeks. They were followed in by Sparkler and Sundance, who had accompanied them to ensure they stayed out of trouble.

After cleaning the chocolate stains from Baby Moondancer’s face, Posey gathered the babies around her in a semi-circle. “Is everyone having a happy Halloween so far?” she asked. Her question was greeted by six enthusiastic cheers.

“Well, there’s still more fun to come! Now, in the spirit of the day, who’s in the mood for a little ghost story?”

More excited exclamations filled the nursery.

Posey laughed and turned to Sparkler. “Sparks? Time for your story!” As Sparkler took Posey’s place in front of the babies, Sundance dimmed the lights until the nursery was lit only by a dim, shadowy glow.

“Have any of you ever wondered why you’re not allowed in Shadowland Forest by yourselves after dark?” Sparkler asked her audience.

“Yes,” chirped Baby Moondancer. “It would be fun to play hide ‘n seek there at night. Why can’t we?”

“Well, one reason is that you could get lost in the woods at night. However,” Sparkler explained, her voice lowering to an ominous murmur and her eyes glittering, “that’s not the true danger of Shadowland Forest. You see, each evening after the sun sets and twilight fades to night, the forest is haunted by the Headless Pony.”

The babies gasped.

“That’s right,” Sparkler continued. “Headless. The Headless Pony wanders Shadowland Forest in the darkness, always waiting for some wayward wanderer to pass nearby. For you see, the Headless Pony is searching for just one thing -- a new head.

“No one knows where the Headless Pony came from, or why it cannot pass beyond the outskirts of the woods, or what happened to its first head. All we know is that to venture into Shadowland Forest at night is to risk losing your head, literally.”

A collective shiver made its way through the baby ponies.

“Now, there was one baby pony who didn’t believe the story of the Headless Pony. This was long ago, before any of you, or even I, were born. Baby Crane was a little white unicorn with long black hair and the symbol of a magnificent crane taking flight. She had bright blue eyes, and a bright blue “baby” necklace to match. She wore that necklace everywhere -- it was her favorite possession in the world.

“Even back then, the legend of the Headless Pony was widely known, and all baby ponies were warned of it. Baby Crane, however, fancied herself a brave and sensible Little Pony who knew better than to believe in what she considered silly myths and ghost stories. So one blustery October night, she crept out of Lullaby Nursery and galloped off in the direction of Shadowland Forest.

“Now, you’ve all been to Shadowland Forest during daylight. Who can tell me what grows in the middle of the forest?”

“I know!” Baby Firefly exclaimed, beating her wings in excitement. “The Sweet Apple Tree!”

“Exactly,” Sparkler replied, nodding. “The tree that grows the biggest, juiciest, sweetest, shiniest apples in all of Dream Valley. There’s no mistaking a Sweet Apple. And the only place to find them is in the center of Shadowland Forest. Baby Crane planned to bring a Sweet Apple back to the nursery as proof of her adventure in the woods. That way, everyone would know where she’d been, and the legend of the Headless Pony would be proven false.

“Everything started out smoothly. No one heard Baby Crane as she left the nursery, and no one spotted her on the way to Shadowland Forest. The wind was howling when she reached the edge of the woods, rustling and shaking the branches of the trees. Despite the full moon, the forest seemed extra-dark that night, and for a moment, Baby Crane had second thoughts.

“However, she soon shook them off and trotted on, although at a faster pace than before.

“Shadowland Forest is not a huge place, and within a few minutes, Baby Crane reached the Sweet Apple Tree. She jumped up and grabbed a particularly large apple in her teeth. Now all she had to do was go back the way she had come.

“But as she turned around, she noticed that, in the dark, all of the trees had begun to look the same. She looked around. Which way should she head?

“It was then that she heard a hoofstep behind her, falling softly onto the bed of dried leaves on the forest floor.

“Slowly, she turned back toward the apple tree. Nothing was there...

“And then the wind shifted direction so that the branches overhead parted and let a bit of moonlight filter through to the shadows around the tree. There was just enough light for Baby Crane to see the pony that stood nearby. The pony who was nothing more than a body, four legs, and a swishing tail. The Headless Pony.

“Still clutching the apple (she was too frightened to think about spitting it out), Baby Crane took off running. She didn’t know what direction she was heading in. All she wanted was to escape the Headless Pony. Even as she galloped as quickly as she could, she was all too aware of the hoofbeats swiftly following her, getting closer and closer!

“Then she realized that it was looking lighter and lighter ahead. She was nearly out of the woods! She could see the open fields beyond the forests, and she only had a short distance more to go when-”

Sparkler stopped her tale short. The baby ponies had been listening intently, leaning farther and farther forward to catch the storyteller’s every word. Baby Blossom had leaned over so far that she now toppled onto her nose. “What happened?” she squealed, sitting back up. “What happened?”

Sparkler slowly shook her head. “No one knows,” she said mysteriously. “Baby Crane was never seen again. When her absence was discovered the next morning, search parties were sent out in every direction. One group of searchers was able to follow her little hoofprints over the fields and into the woods, all the way to the tree. They then followed them back toward the forest’s edge, in the direction Baby Crane had run. Right at the spot where the trees meet the fields, the hoofprints stopped.

“All that was left of Baby Crane was a Sweet Apple and her bright blue necklace. They lay at the spot where her tracks ended, abandoned at the edge of the forest floor.”

“But weren’t there more hoofprints?” Baby Surprise asked in a worried voice. “Couldn’t they follow the prints of the Headless Pony?”

“There was only one set of prints -- those of Baby Crane. There was no evidence that she had fallen victim to the Headless Pony... But what other explanation for her disappearance is there? Baby ponies don’t just vanish for no reason, you know.”

The baby ponies looked at each other, their eyes wide. None of them knew what to say.

Sparkler saw that they were genuinely frightened, and she looked around the nursery. “Oh, Sundance? Before you... Maybe it’s not a good time to...”

But she was too late. From the shadows in the corner of the nursery a cloaked, headless figure suddenly swooped toward the baby ponies! Baby Surprise and Baby Firefly screeched and flew up to the ceiling, where they sat shivering on the exposed beams. Baby Cotton Candy and Baby Blossom screamed and dove under a crib, and Baby Moondancer began to cry and hid behind Sparkler. Baby Glory fainted and fell over with a groan.

A shocked “Oh my goodness!” came from under the Headless Pony’s cloak. The cloak was tossed away to reveal Sundance with her head lowered near the floor. She straightened up and nudged Baby Glory until the frightened unicorn woke up. The other babies slowly ventured from their hiding places. The pegasi were covered in dust from their perches on the rafters, and Baby Moondancer was still whimpering.

“I’m so sorry, babies!” Sundance exclaimed softly. “I didn’t realize you were taking that old legend so seriously! Sparkler,” she continued, looking at the blue unicorn, “you are just too talented a storyteller! Next Halloween, I’m telling the ghost stories!”

Sparkler laughed, and one by one, the babies joined in. Even Baby Moondancer dried her tears and managed a giggle, although she was still sniffling.

“Are you all right, Baby Moondancer?” Posey asked, trotting up beside her.

“Yes,” Baby Moondancer sighed. Then her face brightened with a new thought. “But could I please have that chocolate bar now?”

Back to the library...
Back to CloverFlower Fields...