Chapter One: The Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters

"I-I don't understand, Twilight. W-w-why are we going there again?" Fluttershy stammered as her friends arrived at her house that night.

"It'll be fun, Fluttershy, I promise," Twilight said with a reassuring smile. "It's not really haunted. Besides, you know that Rainbow Dash has been dying to hold a seance there for quite a while."

Fluttershy flinched at the word 'dying'.

"Yes, it just had to be on Nightmare Night!" the cyan pegasus exclaimed, bursting to the front of the group.

"So w-w-why am I coming?"

"It's no fun to have a seance alone!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, rolling her eyes as if it was obvious. "We've got to do the whole 'don't break the circle, no matter what!' thing, and you can't do it alone!"

"But if all of you go, then you'll still have a circle, I just don't see why--"

"Maybe now you can overcome your fear of places like that, Fluttershy," Rarity said helpfully. "It'll be a good experience for you."

"But..."

"Come on, it's not going to be Nightmare Night forever!" Rainbow exclaimed with frustration. "Are you coming or not?"

"I-I..."

As much as Fluttershy didn't want to go, she had to protect her friends. If only she could find some way to tell them the truth...work up the courage somehow... But if she didn't go with them, she couldn't tell them.

"Y-yess, I-I'll go."

"Alright! I knew you'd be up to it, Fluttershy!" Rainbow said, giving her friend a slap on the back. The shy pegasus ducked her head and kept walking, while the rainbow-maned mare just brushed it off as regular Fluttershy behavior. Except, normally, she would have bolted back into her house at the slightest touch, but now, she looked like she was walking to her execution. Rainbow just shook her head and flew after her friends. She's just trying to be brave, and for her, bravery is going to an execution, I guess. She sure is timid.

"Ooh, we're almost there!" Pinkie Pie squealed with excitement, bouncing up and down with an excited fever. "I am so nervicited!"

"Is she ever gonna learn that it's not a real word?" Applejack hissed to Twilight under her breath, who just shook her head.

"Pinkie Pie will say what she wants to say," the purple unicorn said, a small smile on her face. While Pinkie's randomness could annoy her at times, she was glad that she wasn't the only one who was a tiny bit nervous about going into the haunted manor.

The most curious behavior of all was Fluttershy's, who was just trudging along at the end of the group, looking sad and defeated, and not scared or nervous at all. What's up with her tonight? I know she doesn't normally enjoy Nightmare Night, but normally she's twitchy and super-nervous. This feels different.

Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but Rainbow's excited words cut her off.

"We're here, we're here!"

Author's Note

Sorry this is short...as you will soon learn, I write very short chapters. And I apologize for any mistakes--I couldn't get a proofreader and any other writers out there will know that we can't proofread our own work.

Once again, Nox Arcana's Darklore Manor and Hasbro's My Little Pony do not belong to me.