Nightmare Night At Fluttershy's Cottage
It’s a time of fun and laughter, where ponies of all ages can pull pranks and enjoy sweets. It’s a night where all the colts and fillies get to dress up in hopes of getting candy, but of course for some it’s a night of unnerving noises and fears that walk the streets. This night of costumes and scary stories is known as Nightmare Night.
It was well known that Fluttershy didn’t like Nightmare Night; it wasn’t cute nor was it happy, no, it was dark and scary and that’s why she hated it. This year however she had her friends to see her through it so it wasn’t going to be so bad she thought; she’d just finished filling various bowls with candy and potato chips when a knock came at her front door.
“Oh they’re here early.” She thought aloud as she stepped towards the front door.
The knock came louder this time and Fluttershy hurried to answer it, she wouldn’t want to keep her friends waiting after all. As she opened the front door she found herself face to face with Pinkie who had a playful grin stretched widely across her face. She was dressed in white face paint and black eye liner with a torn and ‘Blood’ stained white lab coat.
“AHH!” Fluttershy recoiled as she was met with Pinkie’s costume.
“Oh… Pinkie your costume scared me, you… you’re here alone?” Fluttershy asked in slight surprise.
“The others said they’d be here in a little while so we can start the party early, ohhhh CANDY!” With that she bounded into the cottage as the door slammed shut behind her.
***
After an hour or so the others caught up with Pinkie; each were dressed in their own costumes. First was Rainbow who was dressed in a Canterlot royal guard’s uniform, she was followed by Applejack who wore a cheaply made costume made to resemble one of Equestria’s oldest ghost stories: Frankenpony’s Monster.
The others weren’t far behind them; Twilight wore her costume from last year which was yet again Star Swirl the bearded. Rarity and Spike however came as a coupled costume; they both wore black capes and fake teeth with elongated and sharpened canine teeth placed in for dramatic effect, as well as the gothic ensemble Spike also wore a moustache much to Twilight’s annoyance, but he thought it looked good and Rarity agreed so naturally he kept it on.
Rainbow knocked on the door several times impatiently. “Yo Fluttershy we’re here!!” she yelled and started banging on the door again. “I can’t believe we’re going to some lame not scary Nightmare Night party…”
“Now Dash ya’ll know that Fluttershy gets scared around this time of year, so we gotta help her through this.” Applejack scolded her rainbow maned friend as she and the others stood waiting at the door.
A few more knocks and the door opened slowly, but to the surprise of everyone gathered in front of the cottage the pony at the door wasn’t the yellow Pegasus they’d expected but instead they were greeted by the ‘blood’ covered pink pony in startling white face paint and black eye liner.
“Hi girls!” Pinkie greeted with a semi-unnerving smile.
“Hey Pinkie Pie where’s Fluttershy?” Twilight asked as the group wandered in and sat down.
“She’s here and there; you know… she did say she’d be out for a little bit, maybe she went to get more party stuff.” Pinkie pondered as she stroked her bottom lip with her hoof.
“She didn’t say where she was heading?” Twilight asked raising an eyebrow inquisitively.
“No…… It was the strangest thing… Oh well, I’m sure she won’t mind if we start the party without her.” With that Pinkie led her friends inside Fluttershy’s cottage.
***
Several hours had passed since they first arrived and there was still no sign of Fluttershy; what’s worse was that Pinkie had remained oddly silent for the entire time, only speaking up when one of them tried leaving the living room and even then it was to usher them back to where they were sat.
Rarity was starting to get worried; this wasn’t like Fluttershy at all she thought and so she started looking around for any sign of the missing Pegasus. In her search for clues she idly glanced around at the decorations that looked as if they were hung in a last minute rush and shook her head in dismay.
“Oh Fluttershy darling this is positively dreadful, how could you have left it like this?” Rarity thought aloud as she stepped closer. They weren’t placed with the usual care that Fluttershy would put into things; in fact they looked horrid by comparison of everything else she’d ever done, it was in that moment something caught her eye. There was a small red splatter on one of the banners with a few pink hairs stuck in it.
Her eyes grew wide at the discovery and she suppressed a scream; there was no way this is what it appeared to be, it couldn’t be…
“Erm… Twilight darling?” She tried to ask as nonchalantly as she could, but still there was a slight quiver that betrayed her fearful tone.
“What’s the matter Rarity?” Twilight walked over to where the other unicorn stood; she looked as if she’d seen a ghost Twilight thought, but of course such a thing would be absurd.
As Twilight approached Rarity she noticed the shoddily hung banners as well, but it wasn’t until she saw exactly what Rarity was looking at that she really saw the problem. Twilight’s eyes went wide to match her friend as the first few drops from the splatter dripped from the banner and onto the floor.
“Twi… Twilight dear, have you seen Fluttershy at all?” Rarity asked in a hushed whisper.
“No… come to think of it; don’t you think it’s weird that she left Pinkie here all alone an…” Twilight was cut off as she felt something sticky and wet touch her hoof. “Ra… Rarity….” She gasped.
Rarity’s stepped back in shock as she locked eyes on the sticky red liquid; she couldn’t believe her eyes, Fluttershy wouldn’t decorate in a scary theme and there was no other evidence of her anywhere but here.
Before they could vocalise their next thoughts Pinkie snuck up behind them.
“Hi girrrls, enjoying the party???” they jumped at Pinkie’s sudden appearance. “Ohhh What’cha hidin’ Twilight?”
Twilight had instinctively hid her hoof behind her costume when she answered. “Oh no…nothing, Rarity was just saying that my hoof needed a ponipedi… that’s all heh heh…”
“Ohh! That’s sounds fun, but you can’t do it here silly; there’s still a lot of partying to do!” She said happily and re-joined the other guests.
***
Yet another half hour passed and Fluttershy was still nowhere to be seen, it was at this point Pinkie stood up and made the announcement that she was going to search for the missing pony. Rainbow offered to accompany her in her quest and naturally Pinkie was happy take her along.
The two left the cottage leaving the other four to sit nervously until they returned.
“Applejack, Spike come look at this…” Twilight called them over to see the patch of what she was certain was blood.
“What in tarnation?!”
“Twilight did you cut yourself?!” the two asked out of shock.
“No… it’s not mine…. I think… I think its Fluttershy’s…” Twilight said, her voice quivering and her eyes almost in tears.
“And what makes ya think that?” the farm pony replied.
“There’s been absolutely no sign of her, there’s blood splattered in several places and don’t you think that Pinkie’s been acting even stranger than usual.” Twilight reasoned with a panicked undertone.
“Now Twi Ah’m sure Fluttershy’s fine, we can’t jump to conclusions.” Applejack stated reassuringly as she looked at the red stain.
“You’re right… I’m just being sil-LYYYYY!” Twilight screamed as she glanced into the next room and noticed a blood covered kitchen knife sat on Fluttershy’s kitchen counter; as soon as she screamed both she and Applejack went to inspect the kitchen.
The others remained in the living room still examining the blood stained and tattered banners. Rarity looked at the few pink hairs in the blood and stifled her vomit; this couldn’t be happening, there’s no way that Pinkie would harm Fluttershy it was just unthinkable. And yet there it was, blood and tangled pink hair that clung to a torn party banner.
“We have to search the house… maybe she’s still in here…. Maybe she’s still ok…” Spike suggested with a nervous hope that this was all big misunderstanding and that Fluttershy was really ok.
***
Applejack flicked the light switch and the room was illuminated with a dim flickering light that was barely better than being in the darkness. Twilight slowly approached the kitchen work counter and found the blade which was still covered in the slick, sticky red liquid, as she examined it further her eye caught several drops of the same liquid leading in a trail to a silver plate that was suspiciously covered up by a metallic lid.
She immediately fell ill as she lifted the lid and was hit by the foul odour of butchered meat, but the smell was nothing compared to the sight that waited beneath the lid. White fur, mangled and stained beyond recognition lay in a pool of blood with the only notable features being two long ears where a head should be and a soaked, torn fluffy tail at the other end.
“OH ANGE…URRRGH!!” Twilight couldn’t stifle her vomit any longer and let her bile spill into the nearby sink.
Applejack turned away from the grizzly scene and re-covered it before she joined Twilight in the sink.
“What in tarnation is going on?!”
After a few moments the two left the kitchen and regrouped with the other’s; after telling them what they’d seen they agreed to split up and search for the missing pony.
***
Fluttershy’s cottage despite how small it is seemed Labyrinthine in the darkness that filled it; the remaining guests split up into two teams Rarity and Spike and Twilight and Applejack, the former took the upstairs and the latter stayed downstairs. As Spike and Rarity searched the bedrooms they too became split up; Rarity searched Fluttershy’s room, it was exactly the way she’d imagined it, it was filled with cute trinkets and frilly fabrics. She just hoped that she’d still be around to see it again.
Spike on the other hand found her spare bedroom where Fluttershy had prepared seven makeshift beds for herself and her friends to sleep on; he sighed and became more distressed at the thought that such a happy night could turn out so horrible.
Downstairs Applejack and Twilight had just as little luck, they’d followed every blood stain and loose feather but there was still no sign of her; now, after several minutes of searching they only had one place left to search… the basement.
The basement door was bolted shut and looked like it hadn’t been opened in a while save for a few hoof prints left in the dust, it was an uncomfortable thought to imagine that just behind that door was Fluttershy or rather a dead Fluttershy… Twilight shook away the image from her mind, but it was only replaced with a more horrific image. It seemed the only way to make it go away was to open that door; Twilight lifted her hoof to pull the dead bolt out, but as the bolt screeched free she hesitated with another heart stopping thought.
‘What if… what if the image behind the door was something a lot worse?’ Again Twilight shook away the thought and took a deep breath before shakily opening the door.
Dim light from the staircase flooded into the basement illuminating only a few nearby objects. At first there was nothing, but as the light dissolved the darkness something began to glint in the darkness; Applejack opened the door wider to let more of the poor light flood in. In the centre of the room sat a blackened silhouette with a puddle of thick liquid lying beneath it; the musty stench of mould and damp mixed with a rancid smell like the one they found in the kitchen, and a sickening drip echoed through the darkness to break the suffocating silence.
Twilight approached the darkened figure and tried to illuminate it with her magic; she wished she hadn’t… As she drew closer the eldritch light that glowed faintly from her horn revealed dried dark red stains on butter yellow fur; it was in that moment Twilight realised what she was looking at…
Fluttershy….
Twilight let out a horrified shriek and fell backwards in shock; she was in tears as she clutched close to Applejack who trying to not to look at the gory image.
“…Twi…Twi snap outta it… we gotta check see if she’s still alive…” Applejack struggled not to break into hysterics like Twilight had, despite how much she wanted to.
Applejack shook as she stepped closer to examine the scene, she didn’t want to do it, but there was no other choice. As she inspected the gruesome sight she noticed that there were several deep cuts along Fluttershy’s neck and vital areas; every one of the cuts went through major arteries, it looked like she died several minutes after the first cut and the others were just inflicted for a sadistic pleasure.
The two would have paid their respects, but they had to warn the others and escape before Pinkie returned to do the same to them; with the utmost haste the two traumatised mares raced upstairs to reunite with Rarity and Spike.
***
They all regrouped in Fluttershy’s dining room several moments after finding the gruesome torn up corpse of their friend; Rarity broke down in tears as soon as she heard what the others had found and Applejack hugged her tight, everypony knew how she felt about the shy mare so it was no surprise that she took this news the hardest of all.
After several brief moments the front door slowly creaked open and loud, wet hoof steps echoed through the porch and into every room in the cottage. The sickly sound of something wet and heavy being dragged followed the thudding steps before being replace with an eerie, unnerving silence.
“Hey why’d you stop the party?” Pinkie said through a dark smile. “Girrrrls?”
The others ducked behind the dining room door while Applejack snuck out to survey the situation. She lightly stepped out into the darkness making sure to not alert the pink pony as she tried to see what she was dragging behind her; her surveillance was cut short as she heard something crunch beneath her hoof and attract the attention of Pinkie.
“Come out come out wherever you areeeeeee….” She grinned as she looked into the darkness where Applejack was concealed.
As Pinkie turned Applejack caught a glimpse of what she was dragging behind her and her heart jumped into her throat; behind her she dragged the tattered, limp and lifeless body of Rainbow Dash. Applejack gasped and clasped a hoof over her muzzle. ‘This can’t be happenin’!’ she thought as she tried to slink away into the darkened room with the others.
***
Pinkie had started climbing the stairs letting her hooves thud eerily with each step; this was their chance to escape and tell everypony what was happening, but they were too scared to move. Rarity was far too devastated to care what happened; she wanted to go to Fluttershy if only to say goodbye, but she knew she had to go on even if it meant that she wouldn’t see her love again.
Spike and Twilight left Applejack to comfort Rarity while they secured an escape. They ducked quietly from shadow to shadow as they approached the dimly lit front door; Spike stopped briefly to pay his respects to Rainbow as Twilight tried the door.
Locked…
“Nooo… No… No…” Twilight said in annoyance.
“What’s wrong? Just use your magic.” Spike said nervously as he kept watch behind Twilight.
Twilight focused on her magic; her horn became engulfed in an eldritch purple aura then like a flame snuffed out the aura disappeared. Again and again she tried, but no matter how hard she tried it wouldn’t work; worse still it seemed like her magic had been completely cut off.
“No, no, no!” she yelled in frustration, attracting Pinkie’s attention as she did. “Spike, I have no magic…”
“Tw…Twilight, don’t joke around…” Spike tried to mask his fear, but it came through regardless as he shook from his nerves.
The cottage fell deafly silent save for a few light creaks upstairs where Pinkie continued searching for her ‘Friends’.
“Urrrghhh….” Suddenly a creepy groan emanated from the nearby darkness.
“Sp…Spike was that you?”
“Twilight…. Don’t make creepy noises at a time like this….” Both Twilight and Spike were unnerved by the unnatural moan and drew closer to each other in defence.
“Arruugh….” It came again, louder this time and more grotesque with the sound of gargled blood.
Finally, they realised what or rather who had made the noise… it was the now moving corpse of Rainbow Dash.
“Da…Dash?” Twilight spoke in horror. “Dash it’s me Twilight….”
There was no answer save for another spine chilling moan followed by an awkward thud as Rainbow started moving towards them.
***
After Twilight and Spike left to secure the doorway Applejack and Rarity stayed huddled in the kitchen. Applejack lifted her foreleg and rested over Rarity’s shoulders, pulling her closer as she did; she was shaking and her body trembled with each soft sob, but Applejack just pulled her closer and held her in a tight embrace.
“Applejack…” Rarity looked up at the farm pony with tears in her eyes.
“…?” Applejack remained silent as she stared at the tears in the unicorn’s eyes.
“Why did this have to happen?” She asked as she felt Applejack tighten her embrace.
“Ah don’t know sugar cube… but Ah promise we’ll get outta this…” With this Applejack leant down and lightly placed a soft kiss on Rarity’s forehead.
Suddenly, a loud thud came from the next room followed by a scream of terror that shattered the silence. Then another thud, closer this time; Applejack pulled Rarity closer to protect her from what ever was outside.
“Stay here… Ah’ll see what’s goin’ on.” Applejack whispered and stood up from where they were sat.
“Applejack…?” Rarity reached out for the farm pony in desperation, but she’d already left.
Several moments passed and finally all sound ceased; Rarity huddled further into the corner and started to cry once more. Her thoughts drifted to her friends and everything that’d happened tonight; she didn’t care what happened to her anymore, she just wanted Fluttershy back. Then as if some twisted god had heard her prayers, there in the door way to the dining room stood the tattered blood drenched corpse of the yellow Pegasus.
“Flutter… Fluttershy?” Rarity could hardly believe her eyes, there was no way in Equestria that Fluttershy could be stood there and yet she was.
***
Twilight and Spike fled past the reanimated Rainbow Dash and into the kitchen, but despite her grievous wounds Rainbow was still ridiculously fast and caught up with them easily. Without her magic Twilight was as helpless as a filly and Spike may have been a dragon, but he was still a baby after all.
“Rainbow… stop please…..” Twilight begged as she and Spike backed into the kitchen.
***
Applejack’s eyes fluttered open and were immediately hit by the dim lighting; her vision was fuzzy and her head felt like it was it was spinning. She didn’t know what happened; the last thing she remembered was leaving Rarity in the dining room and…
“Rarity!!” She yelled as her vision slowly came into focus.
“Silly Applejack… she can’t hear you, she’s not awake yet…” An eerily cheerful voice giggled from her periphery.
“Pinkie…?! Pinkie what’s goin’ on?!” Applejack panicked and struggled in her chair.
“Ooooh! Goody! Their waking up!” Pinkie bounced cheerfully to the light switch and flicked it on.
Suddenly, Applejack’s eyes were stabbed by the harsh bright light as it flickered to life; slowly her eyes adjusted to the brightness and she slowly pried one eye open.
“Huh?”
“What?”
“Um?”
“Eh?”
A choir of gasps and surprised reactions rose from the group as their visions cleared and the saw what waited in front of them.
A fully decorated room and table with a large dark chocolate cake sat in the centre; the other ponies were sat at the table each were tied to their chairs except for Fluttershy and Rainbow who were still in the horrific state they were moments ago.
Finally Pinkie giggled once more and stripped off her ‘blood’ soaked outfit. “Surprise!!”
As soon as the word was given Rainbow and Fluttershy burst out into laughter; they quickly wiped the ‘blood’ off of their faces and started to untie their ‘captives’. Rarity was an emotional wreck after the events of the night and she quickly broke down into tears as soon as she realised that Fluttershy was alright; Fluttershy immediately ran over to Rarity and gave her a big hug to stem her tears.
“Oh dear… I’m so sorry Rarity; I didn’t mean to make you sad…” Fluttershy said softly as she embraced her unicorn friend; Rarity’s eyes were sore and her make up was smeared from her tears, but she was far too happy to care about either.
“WAIT! WHAT THE HAY IS GOIN’ ON HERE?!” Applejack shouted as Rainbow untied the rope that bound her to the chair.
“Fluttershy doesn’t like Nightmare Night soooooo I thought I’d show her how fun it could be.” Pinkie smiled happily as she joined the hug between Fluttershy and Rarity.
“Annnd when Pinkie told me about a prank this good I just had to get in on it!” Rainbow Dash explained and rubbed the muck from her mane.
“I’m… so sorry I scared you… if it helps I was scared too, but it was sort of fun… um I mean…” Fluttershy stated as she continued to comfort Rarity.
“But what about my magic?” Twilight interjected, her mane a dishevelled mess and her eyes sore from the harsh lighting.
“Ohhh, not so smart now are we my dear Twilight; perhaps Celestia needs to teach you more…” the voice was unmistakable; only one creature in all of Equestria had such and arrogant yet charming voice. The infamous draconequus: Discord.
“Discord!? I… I thought you were in Canterlot!” Twilight yelled in surprise.
Discord made himself smaller and took a bath in Twilight’s cup of tea; he stretched his arms and began drinking the tea that he was bathing in. “Ahhhh that’s better…” he cooed and sunk deeper into the warm liquid.
“As I was saying… I was in Canterlot, but I received a letter from Pinkie here; great tea by the way. It said something along the lines of playing a prank on all of you and helping my best friend Fluttershy…” With that he became full sized and teleported him self next to Fluttershy.
“And of course using my magic for good is soooo boring, so I just had to join in…”
“But… What about Angel?!” Spike quizzed uncomfortably.
“Yes, the smell was horrid. It smelled like rotting meat…” Twilight interrupted the dragon.
“Ohh right… him….” Discord said as he stroked his bottom lip with his paw. “I guess I should wake him up…” with that he snapped his fingers and a silver platter with a lid appeared on the table. “One ketchup covered rabbit coming right up.”
The lid rose to reveal Angel asleep and covered in ketchup; Discord smiled and tipped him onto the table which quickly stirred him from his slumber much to his annoyance.
“Oh I’m soo sorry Angel…” he lied with a devilish grin as the white rabbit kicked him. “Oh and as for the smell; I’m chaos itself. If I wanted to make a rose smell like a pigsty I can… it’s just that easy.” He continued.
“So this was all a joke?” Applejack concluded with a look of pure shock.
“Yup, Yup, Yup did we get ya did we did we?” Pinkie was extra energetic as she cut the cake for her friends.
Rarity looked up at Fluttershy and hugged her tightly. “You got us too well…”
Author's Note
Well ther we go my first attempt at horror; I don't think it's too bad, but you know, you guys are the judges afterall.
please let me know what you all think and have a happy Nightmare Night.
