It was just another morning in Ponyville, the sun shining over everything. Inside her cottage, Fluttershy was filling her pet bunny Angel's food bowl when she heard a knock at her door. Opening it, she saw her coltfriend, Forrest.
"Hello, Forrest." She smiled, kissing him lightly on the muzzle.
"Good morning, my lovely." Forrest crooned, nuzzling his head under her chin.
"Well, somepony's in a good mood." Fluttershy noted.
"That's because tomorrow is my favorite night of the year: Nightmare Night!" Forrest cheered.
"Oh, r-really?" Fluttershy stuttered. "It must have have slipped my mind."
"Is something wrong, love?" Forrest asked. "You look a little... scared."
"I-I don't really like Nightmare Night." Fluttershy admitted. "In fact, it really scares me. All those ponies in scary costumes..."
"Scary?" Forrest repeated. "Maybe some of them, but not all... Anyway, when was the last time you went out on Nightmare Night?"
"I haven't gone since I was a filly." Fluttershy shivered. "It was the scariest night of my life. I swore never to go out on that night ever again."
"You don't have to spend every Nightmare Night hiding away." Forrest smiled. "Come with me tomorrow night."
"C-come with you?" Fluttershy whimpered. "I don't know..."
"Don't worry, beautiful." Forrest said soothingly. "Your love-leaf will keep you safe. You know I'd never let anything happen to you, right?"
"Yes, I do..." Fluttershy said uncertainly. Looking into her love's warm, caring eyes, she came to a decision. "Well, I suppose I could come outside. For a while..."
"Great!" Cheered Forrest. "What say we go out right after dusk?"
"Okay..." Fluttershy rubbed her knee shyly.
"It's a date!" Smiled Forrest, kissing her on the cheek.
The next evening, Forrest, dressed up in a tree-shaped costume, knocked on Fluttershy's door. The door opened to reveal Fluttershy in a beautiful butterfly costume, one that she had acquirred from a surprised Rarity that morning.
"You look great." Forrest smiled.
"Thank you." Fluttershy blushed. "You look... like a tree."
"Too silly?" Forrest asked.
"No, it's good." Smiled Fluttershy. "I've always wanted to be a tree, myself."
And with that odd comment, the two headed into Ponyville.
As they walked through the streets, Fluttershy was unnerved by some of the other ponies' costumes, but found that most of them weren't all that scary. Whenever she did see a costume that she found scary, she huddled against Forrest for support, something that he gave gladly.
When they reached the centre of Ponyville, the two became aware of a chariot pulled by two leather-winged pegasi flying right above them. To the awe of the crowd, the chariot landed, and it's passengers, Princess Luna (wearing a black, spider's web-patterned dress) and her royal consort, Gothic (wearing a bat costume) disembarked.
The crowd responded by bowing reverentially.
"Greetings, citizens!" Luna declared, in a voice that, though loud, was practically a whisper compared to the volume her last greeting held. "We have come to celebrate this most glorious of nights with you!"
The denizens of Ponyville, so terrified of her the previous Nightmare Night, greeted her gleefully.
Taking a moment to respond to their greeting, the princess of the night then noticed Fluttershy and Forrest.
"Miss Fluttershy?" She noted. "I must confess, I did not expect you to be here, given your behaviour last year."
"Oh, my coltfriend, Forrest, convinced me to come out." Fluttershy admitted.
"Your majesty." Forrest bowed.
"So, this is Ponyville?" Gothic looked around. "Quaint."
"Princess Luna! Princess Luna!" Called a small, spotted colt as he dashed towards toward Luna. He was wearing a scarlet-colored uniform, complete with a large black fluffy hat. "You're back!"
"Indeed I am." Luna smiled. "And please, young Pipsqueak, call me Luna."
"Okay... Luna." Pipsqueak chuckled in his distinctive Trottingham accent. "Have you come to scare us some more?" He asked hopefully.
"I CERTAINLY HAVE!" Luna bellowed, before issuing a diabolical laugh, lightning flashing behind her for effect.
Fluttershy, having never been too fond of lightning, quickly ducked behind Forrest.
"Whoa!" Pipsqueak gasped, his mane briefly standing on end. "That was great! Thank you, Luna!"
"Anything for such an ardent fan of Nightmare Night." Luna smiled. "Now, run along. I'm sure you'll want to get lots of candy for the offering."
"I will!" Pipsqueak nodded, before trotting off to the nearest house.
"Well, now." Chuckled Gothic. "You never told me you were so good with kids."
"I am just full of surprises, my love." Luna smiled back. "Miss Fluttershy, would you and your coltfriend care to join us?"
"Oh, I suppose so..." Fluttershy mumbled. After Night Mare Moon's return during the lunar eclipse, Fluttershy wasn't nearly as scared of the Princess as she once was, but she was still a little wary of the sovereign using her loud, booming voice again.
"Marvelous." Luna nodded. "Then let us enjoy the Night's festivities!"
At that moment, a boom of thunder and crack of lightning erupted from behind Fluttershy; Rainbow Dash was participating in her favorite Nightmare Night activity: Scaring unsuspecting ponies. As Rainbow cackled wildly, Fluttershy screamed and ran for cover.
"Rainbow Dash." Luna groaned. "I had hoped she had learned her lesson the last time."
Forrest, Luna and Gothic found Fluttershy trembling under a table.
"I kn-knew this was a bad idea." She shook. "I want to go home now."
"Okay, I'll take you home." Said Forrest. "And I'll stay with you until you feel better."
"You will?" Fluttershy asked. "But you love Nightmare Night!"
"Not as much as I love you." Forrest assured.
Fluttershy was torn. She wanted to go back, but she didn't want to deprive Forrest of his favorite.
"Perhaps you could give this night another chance, my dear." Luna interjected. "Nightmare Night is not just about frights, you know; There are many fun activities to try."
"How about it, honey?" Forrest asked. "You wanna try some games?"
"...Okay." Fluttershy agreed, climbing out from under the table.
The four ponies made their way to the rubber spider toss game.
"Spiders!" Futtershy gasped. "I don't like spiders."
"My apologies." Luna said. "I did not know that."
"You could always try the pumpkin launchers." Gothic suggested.
Fluttershy placed a pumpkin on one of the wooden launchers, pushed down gently, then let go, causing the pumpkin to fly all of three hooves forward.
"I guess I'm not very good at this." She sighed.
"One more try." Forrest encouraged her with a kiss on the cheek. "I know you can do it."
Emboldened by her coltfriend's display of affection, Fluttershy pushed down harder, and the pumpkin flew into the target, impacting with a satisfying "splat!"
"I did it!" Fluttershy cheered.
"I knew you could." Forrest nuzzled her.
"Next, why don't you and I try bobbing for apples?" Luna suggested.
"I don't know..." Fluttershy muttered. "I can't play against a princess."
"Do not worry." Luna smiled wryly. "I promise I shan't gobble you up if you beat me."
Smiling at Luna's little bit of humor, Fluttershy joined her at the basin filled with water and apples, attended to, as usual, by Applejack.
"And... go!" Applejack declared.
Fluttershy spotted an apple and dived for it. As she brought it up in her mouth, she noticed she had splashed Luna in the face.
"I'm sorry!" Fluttershy spat out the apple. "I didn't mean to..."
Luna, another wry smile on her face, dipped her hoof into the water, and lightly splashed Fluttershy with it. Giggling slightly, Fluttershy dared to splash Luna back.
"Looks like our ladies are getting along just fine." Smiled Gothic.
"Yep." Agreed Forrest. "We are two very lucky stallions, my friend."
Just then, the two mares' splash fight was interrupted by the distant sounds of thunder, shrieking, and laughing.
"Sounds like Rainbow's scaring somepony again." Said Fluttershy, a slight scowl on her face. "I wish there was something that could be done about her..."
"You modern ponies have a saying for this situation." Luna smiled. "I believe it goes: 'One good prank deserves another'."
Sharing devious grins, the two trotted over to their coltfriends, intent on enlisting their help.
Sometime later, Rainbow was looking for a fresh victim. Spotting what looked to be a promising target, she moved her stormcloud over him, and slammed her hooves onto it, producing thunder and lighting. The target, however, didn't even flinch. Frowning, Rainbow tried again, with the same results.
"What's with you, pal?" She asked, frustrated.
The pony turned, transforming into a giant shadow monster as it did.
"AAAAGGGHHH!" Rainbow screamed.
Trying to get away, Rainbow ran into three other shadow monsters, all of them looming over her. In her haste to escape, she ended up running her cloud into the ground. As she covered her eyes, shivering into terror, the shadow monsters' roars turned to familiar-sounding laughter. As Rainbow looked up, the shadows turned into Luna, Gothic, Fluttershy and Forrest.
"Gotcha!" Chuckled Fluttershy.
"You... How?" Rainbow babbled.
"Quite simply, really." Luna sniggered. "We combined my magic with Gothic's shadow melding abilities. A clever trick, yes?"
"Okay, you got me." Rainbow admitted.
"Perhaps next time, you'll think twice before scaring so many ponies half to death." Fluttershy said sternly.
"Okay, okay." Rainbow sighed sulkily. "No more stormclouds. Geez, I thought this was supposed to be a fun night..."
"Speaking of which." Forrest smiled. "There's one thing here you haven't tried tonight, Fluttershy!"
"Really?" Asked Fluttershy. "What?"
"Why, the traditional Nightmare Night dance, of course!" Forrest declared, offering his hoof. "Shall we?"
"We shall." Fluttershy purred, taking his hoof.
"My lady." Gothic offered.
"I... cannot say I have ever danced before." Luna admitted.
"Tonight seems like a good enough night to learn." Gothic smiled.
"Agreed." Luna smiled back.
Trotting onto the dance floor, the two couples began to dance. Luna was a little awkward at first, but with help and encouragement from Gothic, soon found her rythym. When the band's playing slowed down, the two couples snuggled together. Gothic savoured the feeling of Luna's flowing mane under his chin, while Fluttershy nuzzled into Forrest's musular neck. After what seemed like an eternity, the festivities began to draw to a close.
"I'm afraid the time has come for us to depart." Luna declared. "We must return to Canterlot."
"Will we see you again next year?" Forrest asked.
"Of course." Luna smiled.
"It was a pleasure to meet you Forrest, miss Fluttershy." Gothic nodded at each in turn.
"Likewise." Fluttershy smiled warmly.
"Ditto." Forrest nodded.
"Until next time, my friends." Luna waved goodbye. Stopping only to say goodbye to the excitable Pipsqueak, she and Gothic climbed into their carriage, and were lifted off into the sky.
"I suppose we should be going home, too." Forrest yawned. As he and Fluttershy began their walk home, he asked. "So, did you enjoy Nightmare Night after all?"
"Yes, I did." Fluttershy grinned sleepily. "I just might be persuaded to go again next year... given the right incentive."
She nuzzled against Forrest as she spoke.
"Ohhh." Forrest smirked knowingly. "Well, I think I can accommodate you in that respect."
Nuzzling against each other, the two pegasi headed to Fluttershy's cottage, for a well-deserved rest.
The End.
