I, am going to tell you, the reader a story. Now, before we get on with this story, let me get you a bit caught up so you're familiar with the situation these characters are going through. Now, this story took place on Nightmare Night. This story does not involve Luna, Celestia, nor Princess Cadence. Just a ol' legend about the dearest Princess Twilight Sparkle. Of course, being how this is a legend, you, the mare or stallion that I am about to tell this story too, must be thinking "Boy, just a ol' mare tale. There's no way this is real,". You are correct in a way. Than again, you're correct in your eyes. You see, I cannot force you to believe the story I am about to tell you is true or false. Now, you can believe the story I am about to tell you, or, you can simply...turn away and set off to find your own little epilogue.
Shall we begin? Oh, where are my manners? I, am Mauris. What a pleasure to meet you. Now, onto the story.
It was a rather, somewhat a chilly day in Ponyville. Fall had come around, and all the fillies and colts had had found their way to Rarity's boutique for it was merely two weeks until Nightmare Night. They had all requested for their own, hoof made costume of their choice. Some had wanted to be a lion, a zombie, a robot, and my absolute favorite. Princess Twilight Sparkle. Rarity had found it quite odd that some had been so attached to their princess, but at the same time it was rather nice that they had admired her oh so very much.
Now you see, Rarity had not been the one to dress up for Nightmare Night. Just a nice mug of tea by the fireplace in her favorite cashmere sweater while Granny Smith took Sweetie Belle and her fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders out to gather sugar and sweets was just fine. If needed, Rarity would in fact take over for Granny Smith and care for her younger sister, but if she had a choice, she would rather stay in her cozy chair sipping tea while having a rather mature conversation with dearest Fluttershy, for she had too despised the holiday as well as Rainbow Dash's crazy pranks.
They two had been dazzled when they had heard that Rainbow Dash's pranks had failed miserably without the thought of Nightmare Moon already on every pony's mind the year before. No lightning, no jump scares, no nothing. For once, the two had begun to regret not going for a bit of trick or treating, but it was quite obvious that there was to be a grand prank unlike any other, seeing how Rainbow Dash got a year of planning.
Oh, silly me, always getting distracted. Back to the real story.
Just like Rarity had expected, Rainbow Dash dashed through the door, knocking over all of her dearest costumes for the little fillies. Rainbow Dash raised her head up than proceeded to stand and tell Rarity what had appeared to be her 'greatest' news of all that year.
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! Rarity! I have the most fabulous, most glorious, most amazing news ever!" Rainbow Dash squealed and watched as Rarity rolled her eyes, attempting to lift the remaining manikin that Rainbow Dash had managed to knock over.
"Rainbow Dash, it isn't exactly the best of times at the moment. I am terribly stressed with all the requests the youngsters are making these days. What happened to grabbing a curtain for a dress and a cone with ribbon tied around the top for a hat? It sure was fashionable when I was younger. Oh, how all the others gawked at my fabu-,"
"Raarriittyy!!! Let me talk!!!" Rainbow Dash whined rather loudly as she stomped her hooves against the marble flooring.
"I am not going to stand here for another minute as long as you have that attitude Missy!" Rarity turned her rump against Rainbow Dash and proceeded on to finish the first, out of twenty Princess Twilight Sparkle outfits.
"Alright, alright I'm sorry!" Rainbow Dash slammed her rump against the floor and tapped her front hooves together rapidly.
"Now, what was it you wished to tell me dear?" Rarity looked down at Rainbow Dash. It was not a matter of time till she noticed what she had done and ducked down as Rainbow Dash shot up into the air and darted from room to room of the boutique. Silly Rarity. She should have known better.
"After all this time; I have finally; come up with a plan; so extraordinary; even Princess Celestia would want to join in if she wasn't so dang busy!" Rainbow Dash stopped in her, uh, tracks I guess is what we will call it, and flew down and around Rarity oh so very fast she nearly knocked the poor mare over! "I will finally become the best prankster, in Nightmare Night history!" Rainbow Dash declared before setting her hooves on the ground.
"For heavens sake Rainbow Dash, you know I am not into your little 'pranks'. Now leave me alone!" Rarity bit onto Rainbow's ear and dragged her outside of the boutique. She gave Rainbow one final push, and began to grab the bottom half of the doorway's handle and pull it close. As expected, Rainbow Dash proceeded to force the prank upon Rarity. She flew through the top half and firmly landed on the marble floor of the boutique.
"For the last time Rainbow Dash, I am not going to help you with this preposterous prank! I have work to do!"
Rarity stood behind Rainbow Dash, who had her rump against the floor. Rarity pressed her muzzle up against Rainbow's back and struggled to push her through the doorway.
"Oh come on Rarity! You're the only unicorn I know that can help me with this prank! It's not like Fluttershy or Pinkie Pie are secretly unicorns! Well...they do have a lot of hair..."
"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity separated her muzzle from Rainbow Dash. She stood in front of Rainbow Dash with a stern look in her eyes. "Despite me being the uh, element of generosity, I am afraid I am not able to help you with you 'glorious' prank of the year. I am just too busy. Plus, I am not the only unicorn! May I add that Lyra Heartstrings, Vinyl Scratch, Comet Tail, and even Holly Dash happen to live in this town. Not to mention T-"
"Vinyl doesn't even live here, I'm pretty sure Comet or whatever his name is in Canterlot, and who in the heck is Holly Dash!?"
Rarity groaned slightly and trotted over to her costumes, "Holly Dash just so happens to be a unicorn that lives somewhere around here. She has a yellow, blue, and purple mane an-"
"No thank you. Would you just help me with this Rarity? Please!?"
Rarity blankly stared at Rainbow Dash who at this point, was pacing around the room, "No. Why don't you just have Twilight help you!"
"Because! She's not a unicorn! Plus, how am I supposed to plan a prank with the person who the prank is gonna be on!"
Rarity raised one eyebrow and calmly walked over to her cabinet of fabric, "Well, to start things off, she does have a Unicorn horn, and two, how do you intend this prank to play out?" Rarity trotted back over to her manic-an.
"Sure she has a unicorn horn, but unicorns only have unicorn horns! Not pegasus wings too!"
"Answer the question Rainbow Dash..."
Rainbow slammed her rump against the flooring and looked up at Rarity who had appeared to work on the costumes, "Well, I was kinda planning on getting Zecora to like, put a spell or something on Twilight so her castle will be like a Haunted Castle, and she'd be all spooky and creepy and chase the fillies around in her castle and she won't know what was going on and than everybody would be scared of her!"
"So let me get this straight..Basically you're trying to turn Twilight's castle into a Haunted Castle for the fillies to explore and get all spooked, but you want it so Twilight won't know so than her citizens will hate her?" Rainbow Dash looked down at her lap for a second and thought things out.
"Uh, I think so. I mean, I asked Twilight to help me and like..agree with me but she disagreed after I told her to agree, so I want to have a Haunted Castle, and then as payback for her disagreeing after I told her not to disagree and agree, all the fillies will be scared of her!"
"So why would you need me to be apart of the prank if you'd get Zecora to help out with the whole prank?"
"It needs to be realistic! I need you to like, decorate her castle and stuff inside and out and make it all spooky and creepy, yet delicate and fancy so it's like the haunted palace of one of Equestria's rulers so the fillies will know how classy she is,"
"Answer the question Rainbow Dash. Well, the Zecora part. What will she do to chime in?"
"She'll...Well I don't know! Maybe she can like give Twilight a potion that makes her eyes go all googly like Derpy!"
"Googly?" Rarity asked in confusion.
"Yea, like googly eyes. Those little cylinder things that you glue on socks or, whatever to make it come to life. So, are you in? Will you please sneak into Twilight's house the morning of nightmare night and decorate her house, and then we can mix whatever Zecora has in store for us in her orange juice or something so she'll be ready to scare the fillies senseless!"
Rarity hesitated for a moment and calmly walked over to Rainbow Dash. She thought for a moment before patting Rainbow Dash on the head with her hoof. "Oh alright. But if you scare me in any possible way you will regret it,"
"Alright, alright. Can you just, get ready with the design! I want it to be perfect! That way it'll be the best Nightmare Night prank in history! It has to be spooky, and scary, and so frightening all the fillies will actually have Nightmares on Nightmare Night just thinking about the horror!" Rainbow Dash clapped her hooves together mischievously. she glanced over at the doorway in which a knocking sound could me heard and chuckled softly.
Rarity galloped over to the door. Her horn glowed as well as the top portion of the door and it opened to reveal AppleJack and Pinkie Pie.
"Why hello girls. Come on in," Rarity opened the bottom half of the door as well. AppleJack calmly walked in and Pinkie Pie bounced up and down by her side. "What may I help you two with?"
"Uh, hey Rarity. Pinkie and Ah want to check in on the costumes. We don't want another mix-up like last year,"
"Oh don't fuss AppleJack. I got your costumes so marvelous you'll be blinded by their glory if you dare to see them before Nightmare Night as arrived," Rarity squeeled softly and stomped her hooves on the ground once before trotting back over to finish up the first of the Twilight Sparkle costumes.
"Hey Rarity! I got the perfect design!" Rainbow Dash shot past Applejack and Pinkie Pie. She hovered in the air next to Rarity with a model of outside of the castle.
"Eh, Rainbow Dash. How am I supposed to figure out how to decorate the inside properly if you've only shown me the outside?"
"Who cares!? The inside will be dark and spooky. The outside, will be lit up by the lights and all any pony would be able to see would be bats, spider webs, spiders, more bugs. It'll be awesome!" Rainbow Dash stopped hovering for a moment and creeped over Rarity's shoulder as she hovered the drawing in front of her.
Rarity chuckled slightly and let out a slight cough, "Uh, Rainbow Dash. You don't expect me to do all this myself do you!?"
"No why? Can't handle a little work Rarity?"
"I can, it's just that...There are a awful lot of decorations here. How am I supposed to put this all together by myself in six hours! Twilight wakes up at six in the morning. Not to mention she is a very light sleeper. How am I supposed to throw all this together in six hours, without waking up Twilight, by myself!" Rarity stomped her hooves against the ground and whined.
Rainbow Dash chuckled slightly and slowly turned her head over to Applejack and Pinkie Pie. "Well, well, well. Rarity. I think we just found our decoration committee," Rainbow Dash trotted over to Applejack and Pinkie Pie. She squeezed in between the two and placed her hooves around their necks. Pinkie Pie was forced to stop bouncing, and she pressed her face close to Rainbow's.
"Pardon?" AppleJack pushed herself away from the two and stood besides Rarity. "What are ya'll planning?"
"Oh, nothing...fun that is. Well, fun for the fillies at least!"
"Rainbow...Please don't tell me you're talking about your Nightmare Night prank..." Applejack groaned slightly and squinted her eyes.
"This isn't just any Nightmare Night prank Applejack! It's going to be the best Nightmare Night prank in history! And we need it to be perfect, but at the same time, we need Twilight, to not know about it..."
Applejack raised one eyebrow in confusion, "Wait, you're going to play a prank on Twilight which involves making her castle seem like a haunted castle? How is this supposed to be the best Nightmare Night prank in history?"
"You see Applejack. We're gonna scare the costumes off those fillies. They'll enter Princess Twilight's castle, but Twilight will have a spell on her that will make her seem like a ghost of some sort. Then, the fillies will run and hide, but they can't hide from her, cause we'll lock the doors, and at the end of Nightmare Night, we'll let them out..And every year after that, those fillies will have nightmares of ever Nightmare Night from the horror they witnessed that night. Heck, even fillies and grown ponies will have nightmares. Despite if they went to the castle or not! They'll be so scared just by hearing the stories!" Rainbow Dash began laughing. She held her hoof over her stomach and just managed to stop herself from falling to the floor.
"How is this prank supposed to be on Twilight if we're scaring the fillies?"
"She won't know what happened, so when she goes out into town, all the fillies will be terrified by her!"
"Oh, oh! I want to help too!" Pinkie Pie wrapped her hoof around Rainbow tightly. She smiled widely and giggled.
"Are you on board Applejack?" Rainbow Dash held out one of her hooves. She kept it in place and looked at Applejack with a slight smirk.
Applejack slowly lifted her hoof, and pressed it against Rainbow Dash's. She hesitated at first, than set her hoof down.
"Yes...I am.."
"Good...Ponies..We got ourselves the best Nightmare Night prank..in the history..of...EVER!"
And so they had begun to plan their wonderful journey. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were in charge of getting the potion to set everything in place from Zecora as well as the decorations with the help of Rarity, and Rarity and Applejack where to sneak into the castle the morning of Nightmare Night to begin decorating while Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie encouraged the fillies and colts to head towards the castle. Everything had been set in place.
On this night, the beginning of the soon to be, Best Nightmare Night prank ever...had taken place...
Welcome Back. Whether you were just here listening to my beautiful voice, or if you decided to track this here story, I am pleased to see you once more. Where did we leave off? Oh yes! Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity had just agreed to help Rainbow Dash with her prank on Princess Twilight. Ehm. Shall we begin? Great.
Rarity paced back and forth around her boutique. At one moment, she was in the kitchen. In the other, Sweetie's bedroom, and lastly, she would end up back in the workshop. This pattern continued for she had been, well, worried as you could call it. She was the element of generosity. She was to give her best effort and make Rainbow's prank absolutely perfect. But what if it wasn't perfect! What if she let Rainbow Dash down and ruined their friendship! What if Nightmare Night was ruined and Rainbow Dash's reputation for being the best prankster in PonyVille was destroyed. Oh, how would Rarity be able to cope with the guilt of letting down one of her best friends after everything Rainbow Dash has done for her?
Luckily, if she had somewhat failed to operation that would take place two weeks from then, she would at least have Applejack to blame. After all, she would help with the decorations as well. Or maybe...She could mess up the who operation and the fillies would turn out to love it! Although, what would be the possibilities of that of all things happen?
Rarity sighed slightly and made it into the workshop for the seventh time. She sat her rump on the floor slowly and slowly turned her head over to the front door.
"Oh Rarity..What have you gotten yourself into? Sure it was quite a guilt tripping experience when you where working on Sapphire Shores' outfits for her big performance, but Sapphire Shores is just a celebrity!" Rarity stood and began to pace once more. This time, she slowed down and talked to herself in the empty boutique. "But Rainbow Dash is your friend...Not just some stranger. Your reputation would be ruined if you ruined those outfits, but you would be the one in charge of your reputation. But now...If you mess this up you would be the cause of Rainbow's reputation being ruined and that would just be heart wrenching!"
"Oh Rarity!" The muffled voice of Sweetie Belle could be heard from outside the boutique. Rarity turned slowly as she begun to walk up the staircase. Sweetie burst through the doorway. She held a large black paper in her mouth that sprinkled glitter onto the floor every. Sweetie Belle dropped it from her mouth and jumped up in down cheerfully. "Look what I made for you today in class!"
Rarity began to trot over to the drawing. Despite it's appearance with very little signs of actual drawing, which was covered up by orange and white glitter with blobs of glue in the most unwanted places, Rarity smiled softly. It wasn't the most gorgeous drawing she had ever seen, but it was her sisters. As Rarity squinted her eyes and looked closer at the picture, she had been rather surprised to see, that it was her boutique. Hung upon the outside walls where lit up bats. There were many carved pumpkins as well going down the path. Some where rather frightening, for a filly at least, and others where playful and silly.
"It's...very beautiful Sweetie Belle. When did you have the time to make sure a masterpiece?"
"Today at school! Do you like it!"
"I love it...It is a very generous gift..." Rarity tilted her head slightly and hovered the drawing up over to the wall. She got it nice and flat, than hovered over small pieces of tape to hold it up. "Thank you for the present Sweetie Belle, but I am very busy helping Rainbow Dash plan this year's prank,"
"Rainbow Dash is planning another prank? What after last time? Won't she be embarrassed?"
"Oh no Sweetie Belle. This year is going to be...well...Marvelous! We have everything planned out. It's like a playful haunted house that you and your friends will be able to explore!"
Sweetie Belle began following Rarity around the boutique. From the kitchen, to Rarity's room, to her room, and to the workshop. "What's so scary about a 'haunted' house?"
Rarity stopped in her tracks. She turned over to Sweetie Belle and glanced over to her drawing than back at the little filly that stood in front of her, "Well Sweetie Belle. This year will be extra special. It'll be more terrifying...than...than...Oh I don't know..It's so scary that all the other Halloween pranks and Haunted Houses will be shunned away. No one would even bother remembering them,"
"Really!?" Sweetie Belle gawked at Rarity as she smirked slightly.
"Yup! Just wait and see Sweetie Belle. The best Nightmare Night prank in the history of pranks ever is being planned right at this minute and you can't get any hints about it,"
Sweetie Belle pouted slightly, "Please Rarity?!"
"No. I simply refuse. Now, off to fix your bed. I will be very busy tonight. With planning the decorations for Nightmare Night and getting all the costumes ready in time for the big event," Rarity chuckled slightly and trotted over to Sweetie Belle. She kissed her little sister upon the forehead and shooed her away. Sweetie Belle galloped up the stairs and seemed to disappear into her room from Rarity's point of view.
Rarity chuckled slightly. Despite the fact that she was not a very big fan of the whole, Nightmare Night ordeal, she had been excited. To see Sweetie Belle gawk at the thought of the 'best' Nightmare Night prank in the history of Equestria, was rather charming. She had gotten full support from her sister, a playful drawing which had given her a range of ideas to choose from, and the confidence she needed. Now that she had everything planned out in her head for the decorations, it was time to start working on those costumes again.