A Nightmare Night to Remember
"'It was a dark and stormy night...' That's how you start one of these kinds of stories, right, Spike?"
"If you're trying to lie or bore the readers, then yeah, keep going."
"Watch it, sass dragon. The princess giveth, the princess can taketh away...your gem allowance for the week."
"...Story sounds great so far, Twi! Keep going!"
I chuckled as my quill returned to the page and continued to write. "'Nightmare Night...a Ponyville tradition for years ever since the banishment of Nightmare Moon...but with Luna returned, one would expect the creepiness of the holiday to lose its flavor, right? Wrong. These are a few short yet true stories about myself, Twilight Sparkle, and my six best friends, and the strangest adventures we had this particular Nightmare Night. My first tale involves Pinkie Pie and I investigating a mysterious pumpkin patch for some creature Pinkie claimed was called 'The Great Pumpkin'...
-I: It's the Great Pumpkin, Twilight Sparkle!-
"...And each year, the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch he thinks is the most sincere! And look at this one!" Pinkie bounced around the various pumpkins across the field. Some were carved with silly faces, a rare few were sculpted by incredibly skilled ponies into shapes and figures, and a few sat bare, untouched and pure. "He HAS to come here! I've never seen a more sincere pumpkin patch in my life!"
Twilight giggled a bit. "Pinkie, pumpkins can't possibly be 'sincere', they're not really alive. And even if they were, I imagine with those faces, they would be more scary than sincere."
Pinkie stopped her hop and grinned. "Scary, sincere...two sides of the same 's'!" The pink pony continued to bound about, leaving Twilight to sigh and sit down next to one of the larger pumpkins conveniently carved like a small unicorn filly.
"I don't suppose you want to take a crack at understanding her, do you?" She chuckled a bit and leaned back to relax.
"No, not really."
Twilight jumped up and glanced down to the unicorn-carved pumpkin. "Did...did you just talk?"
"Why wouldn't I talk?" The 'pumpkin' suddenly hopped to her feet, quickly shedding the costume and revealing a yellow unicorn filly with an orange mane tied with a light blue ribbon and a cutie mark displaying a pumpkin. "Hiya, Miss Twilight!"
"Oh...Pumpkin Cake, it's only you..." Twilight sighed, wiping a bead of sweat off her brow. "For a minute there, I thought I was talking to a living pumpkin."
"Wouldn't be the weirdest thing I've seen tonight! Snips and Snails tried to dress up as a minotaur, but they made the costume out of a raggedy old bed sheet!"
"Speaking of costumes...why are you dressed up as a pumpkin hiding in a pumpkin patch!"
"Why, I'm waiting for the Great Pumpkin, of course!"
Twilight sighed lightly. 'So Pinkie's got Pumpkin believing this thing too, huh? For her sake, I hope Pinkie is right about this 'Great Pumpkin' thing.'
"Twilight, hurry, I found it!" Pinkie came bounding up from what seemed to be miles away in a fraction of a second, now standing mere inches away from Twilight's face. "Oh, hey, Pumpkin! You ready to see the Great Pumpkin?!"
"Am I ever, Auntie Pinkie!"
"Then let's go!" Pinkie bolted again, leaving Pumpkin Cake and Twilight to run after her. It was a rather short walk before the two arrived before a towering pumpkin rising nearly a story high. The pink mare stood atop it, hopping up and down on the large stem. "Isn't it AMAZING? Look at the size of it!"
"I..." Twilight stopped and stared. "But...how is this even possible? Even with magic, growing a pumpkin to this size would surely cause it to burst!"
"I told you silly!" Pinkie bounded down, landing just inches away from Twilight's muzzle as she bopped her nose with a hoof. "It's the Great Pumpkin's magic!" The party pony was back to jumping about around the gargantuan gourd. The alicorn princess submitted to Pinkie's madness and sighed, giving up on any research she might have attempted on the pumpkin for the sake of maintaining the childlike sense of wonder...if just for this night. "Now all we gotta do is wait until midnight! Then the Great Pumpkin will rise forth atop this big one here and give us presents!"
"If you're sure, Pink-wait, midnight? Aren't the Cakes going to wonder where Pumpkin is?"
Pinkie waved a hoof at her. "Nah. They know she's safe with me. After all, I AM Pinkie 'Responsibility' Pie!"
Twilight giggled. "I thought your middle name was-"
"SHH! We gotta wait now! The Great Pumpkin won't show up if we're talking!"
Twilight sighed again and simply smiled, sitting there with Pinkie and Pumpkin, waiting for the mysterious 'Great Pumpkin' to arrive. Of course, it was quite a wait, considering they had arrived at the pumpkin farm three hours before midnight. Still, the three of them were patient enough...including Pinkie, which certainly surprised Twilight. However, as midnight arrived and the clock back in Ponyville rang out, Twilight readied herself to leave. "Sorry, Pinkie...looks like there's no Great Pumpkin here tonight."
Pinkie's eyes remained fixed at the top of the gourd. "IT'S THE GREAT PUMPKIN!" Pinkie shouted out and pointed upward, stumbling onto her back and getting her head caught in a nearby jack-o-lantern. Twilight quickly glanced to the stem where a shadowy figure stood, seeming to be losing balance and leaning forward. As the figure dropped, Twilight acted fast with her magic and caught them several feet before they hit the ground. As she opened her eyes to see who she saved, she found herself face to face with a certain baby dragon.
"Spike! What do you think you were doing up there? You could've been hurt, or worse!"
"Coming from Miss 'Great Pumpkin Researcher'? Who knows what crazy kinds of ponies come out here at night! You're lucky I got finished trick-or-treating early and decided to come find you before something did happen."
Twilight set Spike down and groaned. "You're right. I should have been more careful." She pulled the young drake into a hug. "Now let's go home."
"Aw..." Pinkie pulled the pumpkin off her head, letting it drop to the ground with a splat. "I wanted to see the Great Pumpkin."
"Me too," Pumpkin Cake joined in.
"There's always next year, Pinkie...maybe throw him a party so he knows to show up next time."
Pinkie jumped up and gasped, her eyes going wide. "That's a GREAT idea! I've gotta get started planning! There's only three hundred sixty-four more days to go! Unless it's a leap year. Is it a leap year, Twilight? I mean, I guess one day wouldn't make a difference, but-"
Twilight shook her head and walked alongside Pumpkin and Pinkie as the party pony rambled on about her plan. Spike quickly ran behind the giant pumpkin and reached down for his bag, seeing that it had disappeared. "Oh, come on! I got so much candy this year too!" The young drake stormed off in a huff after the girls, not noticing the sounds of candy being munched from the top of the pumpkin. A mysterious cloaked figure with a pumpkin for a head tossed another hoofful of chocolate coins into its 'mouth' and grinned.
"And I still never got my candy back...what do you think really happened to it?"
"Not some mystical pumpkin pony, that's for sure, Spike...but I'll buy you more candy tomorrow to make up for the stuff you had. Now, what was next?"
"Didn't Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash go to some haunted house?"
"Ah, right! I remember now. 'The next story follows my friends Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, who are for some reason Ponyville's most popular couple, and their investigation of a house Dash was certain was haunted...'"
-II: Dash Ain't Scared of no Ghosts-
"C'mon, Shy, it'll be real quick! We'll just go knock on the door, and if nopony answers, we just move on!"
"Oh...I don't know, Rainbow..." Fluttershy hid her face behind her bag. This Nightmare Night, she chose to dress as a white rabbit, and the ears of her costume flopped down, covering her eyes.
"You've got your brave, strong marefriend to protect you, Shy. What could go wrong?" Rainbow Dash was dressed as Daring Do for the second year in a row, but this time, she wore a simple golden band around her hoof to symbolize the adventure she and her friends had with the real Daring Do. She walked over and pulled Fluttershy into a wing-hug to calm her down, and it worked almost immediately. Fluttershy melted into Dash's side.
"You're right, Dashie...I've got you by my side." Fluttershy stood back up and gave Rainbow a peck on the cheek. "Love you."
"Love ya too, Shy." Rainbow returned the peck and the two continued walking down the path they'd set on at the start of the night. At the end of it sat a towering, creepy and dilapidated old house. Fluttershy inched slowly along behind Rainbow Dash, the cyan pegasus marching proudly toward the door. "We just ring and knock once, get some candy and go home for the night. Simple as that."
"I-if you say so, Dashie..."
As they approached the door, they immediately noticed an empty bowl sitting just outside. A sign sat in front of it reading 'Take One'. Rainbow Dash immediately scowled. "Oh, heck no! I am NOT leaving this house without candy!"
"Dashie, I'm sure they just ran out of candy."
"No no no, Shy. See, here's how it works." Rainbow Dash picked up the bowl. "You take the bowl inside when you run out of candy. You leave it on your damn porch when you're hiding the good stuff! And since we didn't get our treat, we get to trick." Rainbow knocked on the door. "Hey, buddy, open up! Trick or treat, Nightmare Night and all that!" On the third knock, the door creaked open on its own, showing a dark corridor leading inside. "Oh, you wanna do this the hard way, then? Fine, we'll do it the hard way! C'mon, Shy, we're getting our candy!"
"U-uh, that's okay, Rainbow Dash, I'm just gonna-"
"Oh, come on, Fluttershy! This is a perfect chance for you to be indirectly assertive! Our candy is in there...let's go get it!"
"I...but I..." Fluttershy swallowed hard. "O-okay, Dashie...I trust you..."
Rainbow Dash once again strode confidently forward, Fluttershy trailing meekly behind. For whatever reason, the thought of trespassing on private properly didn't occur at all to Rainbow Dash. When she wanted something, she got it. Fluttershy just tended to come along for the ride, though she seemed much less afraid than usual, on Nightmare Night of all nights. "Wow, Shy, you're taking this all pretty well."
"I guess you just bring out the best in me, Dashie."
Suddenly, an eerie wail echoed through the hall as they were walking, which caused the two mares to jump slightly. Rainbow Dash was quick to defend her coolness factor, however, and immediately shifted to a defensive stance. "Who's there? Come on out!" There was no reply. "Ugh. Let's just find the candy and get out of here."
"You're not...afraid, are you, Rainbow Dash?"
The question would have surprised her coming from Fluttershy, but the question itself was what got her attention. "What? No way! I'm Rainbow 'Awesome' Dash! I'm not afraid of anything!"
A swift gust of wind came blowing down the hall this time, sending chills down Rainbow's spine. "Ah, jeez, guy must've left a window open or something." The two pressed on until they reached a parlor room of sorts. The furniture was dusty and covered in cobwebs, and the fireplace at the far wall looked as if it hadn't been lit since Luna was banished to the moon. "Man, this place is a wreck. What kind of pony would live here?"
"M-maybe a...g-ghost?"
"Nah, no such things." The fireplace immediately sprung to life and every wall was lit up with light, revealing paintings of various ponies who Rainbow Dash knew lived in Ponyville. Each portrait depicted them with a look of horror on their face, and it was only bothering Rainbow slightly until she came across a paired portrait of herself and Fluttershy with the same expressions. "Uh...Shy? You seeing this?"
Fluttershy came over to the wall and looked where Rainbow was examining. "What is it, Rainbow Dash? Something with the wall?"
"Wall? Shy, don't you see the-" Rainbow looked back, and the painting was gone. "Uhh...Shy, I think maybe we should probably go now."
"But...I thought you weren't scared."
"I'm not! It's just-"
The eerie wails returned as a shadowy figure appeared in the center of the room, slowly beginning to approach the two mares. Wind kicked up and spiraled around the parlor, and the moans and groans grew ever louder as the creature got closer to the two Pegasai. "G-get back! I'm warning you!" Rainbow Dash pointed an accusatory hoof, not that it did much to hide the fear building in her eyes.
"It's okay, Rainbow Dash...it's okay to be scared..."
"I...but...OKAY FINE! I'm scared, all right?! I'm scared out of my mind and I don't know how to deal with it!"
The moans and winds died out completely, and all that remained was Fluttershy doubling over into a laughing fit. "S-shy?! What the heck's going on here?!"
Fluttershy stood back up as her laughter calmed down. "Okay, Princess Luna. You can come out now."
"Prince what now?"
The figure vanished, manifesting into a dark cloud of magic that formed into the Princess of the Night herself. "P-Princess Luna?! What the heck's going on here?"
"Your partner had requested my aid in pranking you, young Rainbow Dash. And I was more than happy to play along for a good prank."
"It...it was all a prank?"
Luna nodded. "Even this house is not real...watch." With a bright flash of her horn, the princess dispelled the illusion surrounding them, revealing hers and Celestia's old castle.
"We're...out in the Castle of the Royal Sisters...? Seriously, how did I not notice this?"
"It was all part of the illusion. You see, Fluttershy came to me seeking assistance with something. When she told me it was to prank her marefriend, I was shocked. She never seemed the pranking type. But as for why she wanted to do it...what was the reason again?" Luna looked to Fluttershy, honestly stumped.
"I wanted to show I could be as brave as you...and I wanted you to admit you were capable of being afraid just like any other pony...I'm sorry, Dashie..." Fluttershy's gaze dropped to the floor. What happened next, she didn't see coming. Rainbow Dash bolted over and pulled her into a massive hug.
"That was AWESOME! I can't believe it! You pranked me! Oh, wait until Pinkie hears about this one!"
"Y-you're...not mad?"
"How could I be mad, Shy? I love a good prank, and this one was totally amazing!" Rainbow leaned in close and gave her mare a light kiss on the lips. "And you're right...I do act pretty fearless all the time, but I am just like everypony else. I do get scared, but I don't like to show it. I need to be strong for my friends...especially for you, Shy."
"I know...I love you, Dashie."
"I love you too, Shy. Now, let's get out of here."
"One last thing before you leave." Both Fluttershy and Rainbow looked to the lunar princess, who brought forth two rather large candy bars and placed them in each of their bags. "I believe these were promised to you from the start. Nightmare Moon can live without a few chocolate bars this Nightmare Night...but Celestia can't, so don't tell her I stole these from her private sweets closet."
"AWESOME!" Rainbow pumped a hoof into the air and hung her bag back over her back. "C'mon, Shy, we've got candy counting to do, and then Nightmare Before Hearth's Warming like I promised you."
The two walked out side by side, and Luna had a smile on her face. However, that smile quickly faded when a voice rang out across the starry night sky that shook every pony in Ponyville to their core.
"LUNA, WHERE IS MY CANDY?!"
"By the way, Twi." Rainbow Dash leaned in over my shoulder. "We've got about a half hour until the movie starts in front of the Town Hall."
"All right. I've just got one last story to jot down. And it's the most interesting, in my opinion. I'm still trying to figure out what happened here." My quill returned to the page for the third time that night. "'The third and final tale features Rarity and Applejack returning to Carousel Boutique after an early Nightmare Night celebration. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were sleeping over, and Applejack elected to help Rarity sort out the candy evenly between the three fillies. But what happened after the Crusaders settled in for a quick nap before the movie couldn't have been anticipated...'"
-III: Haunting at Carousel Boutique-
"Darling, are you certain Scootaloo likes gumdrops? I'm almost certain it was gumballs."
"Ah think so...we could just split 'em up between all of 'em."
"Yes, but we've done that with almost all the candy so far. And I know Sweetie Belle isn't fond of them."
"But then if we just split it between Scoots and Bloom, Sweetie ends up with less candy."
"Except for the fact that Scootaloo dislikes the peanut butter cups, and if I recall, Apple Bloom is midly allergic to peanuts, correct?"
Applejack nodded. "So with Sweetie Belle gettin' half the peanut candy, the gumdrops split between the other two..."
Rarity sighed in relief. "I think we're finally done, Applejack. We've finally come up with a solution that makes everypony happy." Sitting before the two mares were three perfectly even bags almost overflowing with candy. Compared to the gigantic garbage sack the Crusaders had been using to haul their shared treasures, it was much nicer to look at and exceptionally easier to manage.
"An' with a couple hours ta spare, too. The Crusaders can get some rest before we head ta the town square with the others for the movie."
"Ah, yes...A Nightmare Before Hearth's Warming. An adorable film for the fillies and colts with a subtle underlying tone of romance between Skelepony Jack and Sally Fetlestein."
"Ah ain't much fer romance, but them little underlings of the Boogeyman are a hoot'n a half!"
"I wonder who would be more trouble...those little troublemakers from the film, or our own?"
"Considerin' that's who they were dressed up as tonight, ah could barely tell the difference!"
The two shared a laugh and began moving the bags out of the way, making sure the name tags they had placed atop the piles stayed. In the midst of their casual conversation, however, the lights in the room suddenly went out. Rarity glanced around the room rapidly at first. "Did...did you bump into the light switch, Applejack?"
"Ah've been next ta ya the whole time, Rare. Did ya accidentally magic it off or somethin'?"
"I was too busy focusing on the bags...maybe I did flip the switch by accident." Rarity walked over to the wall where the light switch was, only to find it had not been touched. The lights had gone out on their own. The fashionista sighed. "I thought I asked Sweetie Belle to change the bulbs yesterday."
"In all fairness, the three of 'em were way too occupied with makin' their costumes."
"I suppose...I'll let it slide, just this once." Rarity's magic pulled the bulbs from their sockets, carried them to the garbage can and pulled replacements from the nearby cabinet. After twisting them all in, the lights still did not come back on. "What in the world...?" The lights suddenly began to flicker on and off rapidly before finally settling back to their active state. "Uhh...Applejack, you did see that, didn't you?"
"C'mon, Rare, y'all are pullin' my leg here, right? Ah bet ya put the Crusaders up ta helpin' ya prank me, right?"
Rarity gasped. "Applejack! How dare you suggest such a thing! A lady does not prank. Clearly the Crusaders are toying with us."
Applejack sighed and marched up the stairs to check on the fillies. A minute later, she returned with a grave look on her face. "Rare...they're sound asleep."
Rarity went more pale than she already was. "T-then...what-"
Suddenly, one of Rarity's pairs of scissors flew across the room, piercing into the wall and sitting there. Rarity shrieked and rushed over behind Applejack, trying not to panic. "A-Applejack! What's going on here?!"
"How the heck am Ah s'possed ta know?!" More random objects around the room started being thrown about. Even the traditionally-fearless farmpony was trying to find something to hide under. "Rarity, are ya sure ya ain't doin' this?"
"Darling, do you THINK I would be panicking like this if I were?!"
Finally, the objects stopped flying, and now the lights were back to flickering wildly. The ground began to rumble and Rarity began making her way to the phone on her vanity. "That's IT! I'm calling Twilight! She can explain everything!"
Within ten minutes, Twilight was on the scene. A bright violet wave spread across the room and scanned the surroundings. As the lights continued to flicker, Twilight waved her hoof toward the stairs. "Follow me, girls, and I'll show you the answer to this mystery." The two followed Twilight up the steps to Sweetie Belle's room where the Cutie Mark Crusaders were sleeping soundly...at least, two of them were. Sweetie herself seemed to be tossing and turning, and small sparks were flying out of her horn. "And there you have it."
"But...they're all asleep. How can they-"
"What is happening here, Rarity, is that Sweetie Belle is having a Magic Nightmare."
"A...what now?"
"Has she been practicing the magic lessons I've been providing for her?"
"Well, yes, but what does that have to do with anything?"
"Simply this." Twilight took a deep breath and began. "With Sweetie's magic finally beginning to develop properly, she is starting to have magic surges again, similar to that of unicorn foals. However, she is also currently having a nightmare, which is mixing with her magical fit and causing strange spectral-like occurances to happen in the area. It's a minor thing, nothing more. Though I would recommend waking her up before something else happens."
Rarity walked over carefully and nudged her sleeping sister with her hoof. "Sweetie Belle, wake up, please...you're having a bad dream."
Sweetie Belle tossed about a bit more before suddenly jumping up, gasping in shock. "H-huh? What happened?"
Twilight prepared to relay her entire analysis again, but the stares she got from Rarity and Applejack forced her to second-guess. "To put it simply, you were having a nightmare and your magic freaked out and made your sister and Applejack think the boutique was haunted."
"...Oh...sorry. Is it time for the movie yet?"
"Only a few more hours, Sweetie Belle...but you can stay up if you'd like."
Sweetie nodded and moved closer to her sister, nuzzling into her neck. "I think I'd like that..."
The sisters started walking back down the stairs, followed by Applejack and Twilight. "How about I make us all some hot chocolate?"
Suddenly the sounds of running hooves came out from Sweetie's room. "Did somepony say 'hot chocolate'?!"
Rarity sighed. "I suppose, when I said all, I meant all. Whether I wanted to or not..."
"Come on, Twilight! Ten minutes until the movie starts!"
I looked behind her to see all my friends ready to go. I smiled and looked back to the page. "Just one last paragraph. Gotta finish with a lesson, right?" I refreshed my pen's ink and finished the story with what I'd learned. "'The moral of this story is that no matter what you believe in or how things appear to be, if you go through them with your friends, you'll never forget them as long as you live. You will cherish the memories forever and teach generation after generation to do the same.' And signature at the bottom...Twilight Sparkle." I closed the book and set the quill down, finally heading out the door with my friends. I did have one last lesson, but this one was for me and not the book.
As long as you and your friends have stories to tell, and you all listen to one another, you'll never run out of new things to learn.
