Black Gold 3: Coping Mechanism (Yet Another Nightmare Night Special)
By Golden Flare
It was a crisp day in Ponyville, the air was cool, the sun was warm, and not only that, Nightmare is fast approaching. Yup, that's right, it's that time again; time for free candy, spooks and scares, and all around fun!
...At least, for everypony but one.
Golden Flare, Ponyville's Cutie Mark-less resident storywriter, has been moping all month about this day. For those who don't know, two years ago, Golden had had enough of Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie's pranks after a great humiliation and decided to get revenge as a deceptive, vindictive stallion named Shadow Blaze, but very soon, his pranks went too far, nearly reduced the town to rubble, and almost got arrested by the Royal Guard, so he burned his costume and washed his hooves of the whole ordeal...but the emotional and mental scars were still there...as well as a monster in his mind, biding his time...
Fast-forward to the Nightmare Night after that, Golden refused to celebrate the holiday again after what happened, but the monster within him wasn't having it. The lingering remains of Shadow Blaze from his mental scars had possessed his body and reenacted his pranking spree, only worse, especially since he nearly murdered the Cutie Mark Crusaders, but he was knocked unconscious and sent Golden back to face his punishment for all of his crimes: public execution. Twilight heard Golden calling out for help and ended up in his mind, finding Shadow Blaze enjoying his handiwork, she knew what she had to do and stopped the execution, revealing that Golden wasn't in control.
Enraged, Shadow Blaze took control once more and, with blades hidden within his wings, broke out of the guillotine and tried to mow Twilight down, but Princess Luna sedated him with a spell and went inside Golden's dreams to purge Shadow Blaze from his mind, and to do that, she banished him to the rift in between dreams and nightmares forever.
Now, still traumatized by his mistakes, Golden dedicated himself to never celebrate Nightmare Night again, lest he stir up his inner demons again.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
Golden got up from the couch and opened the door to reveal Pinkie Pie, dressed up as a old timey roller skater with a big smile on her face. He knew she was going to ask and he prepared for it.
"Hey Goldie! Me and my friends were going to Applejack's for the corn maze! Do you wanna-"
"No."
Pinkie was taken aback by Golden's quick and blunt answer, "But...why not?"
"Because I've caused enough trouble."
Pinkie sighed, "You're still upset about the whole Shadow Blaze revenge thing?"
"You don't get it, Pinkie! It's not something you can just move past! I can't hide behind a smile like a lot of ponies! I've barely even been outside of my house all month, that's how bad it is!"
Pinkie was sad, but she understood, something as traumatizing as that wasn't going to go away overnight, "...Okay. See you later."
Pinkie left and Golden closed the door, feeling lower than dirt for blowing up at his girlfriend, his GIRLFRIEND for Celestia's sake!
"Heh. Guess I am still a monster, huh? Still hurting ponies."
Pinkie moped the entire way to the corn maze, even when they were being chased by ghosts and monsters, and after Fluttershy revealing herself to be behind it all once again. Finally, her friends took notice and decided to confront her about it.
"Okay, what's up?" Rainbow asked, impatiently, "You've been bummed out all night and we wanna know why."
Pinkie sighed and explained her most recent interaction with Golden. The girls were mortified, Golden still wasn't over the whole fiasco and it was slowly killing him from inside his soul.
Rainbow groaned, "This is all my fault! If I hadn't pushed him so far, he wouldn't have to go through this!"
"Um...what happened now?" Starlight asked.
"Oh yeah. We didn't tell you." Twilight explained what happened the past two Nightmare Nights, which left Starlight in shock.
"Rainbow, you had to have known you would push him too far." Starlight chastised, making Rainbow feel terrible.
"What's in the past is done." Princess Luna said as she joined the group, "But the scars still linger on young Golden's heart, mind, and soul. There must be a way to help him."
The group of ponies began brainstorming, hoping to figure out how to get Golden out of his funk. Just then, Pinkie had an idea.
"I GOT IT!!"
Golden made himself a small dinner and ate it, nothing too fancy, but just enough to settle his stomach, especially with void that keep growing inside him. He got into bed and tried to sleep, wanting this night to be over...
...But Pinkie wasn't having it.
"WAKEY, WAKEY, GOLDIE BABY!!"
"GAH!!!" Golden fell out of bed, groaning.
Pinkie giggles as he snapped out of his dizziness and glares at his girlfriend.
"What was THAT for?!"
Pinkie just giggled again, "Just wanted to wake you up, silly!" she grabs his hoof, "Now c'mon! I wanna show ya something!"
Pinkie dragged Golden off of the floor and out of the door to his house, taking him to Sugarcube Corner as he fought against her grip.
"Pinkie, I know what you're doing, and it's not gonna work." he protested.
Pinkie stops at the door of the bakery and looks at him with a sad expression, "...I know you're hurting Goldie, but you can't shut yourself away every year of Nightmare Night. Please, give it one more chance...for me?"
Golden knew Pinkie and she knew him, and she knew that he knew that he couldn't say no to a face like, even if it's his girlfriend's. He gave her a tender kiss and looked into her eyes.
"Okay. I'll give it one last chance. For you."
Pinkie smiled and the two entered the bakery, greeted by everypony in Ponyville, even Lloyd Shamrock, Golden's brother, who Pinkie gathered for a Nightmare Night party. They ate candy, they played games, the two even had a make-out session in one of the booths. After the party was over, the two lovers and their friends and family joined them for Nightmare Night-ing to get more candy. Once that was done, they all said their goodbyes and Pinkie and Golden went back to his house to sleep the rest of the night away, together.
You know, this wasn't so bad, Golden thought, Maybe I can let go of the past. Thank you everyone. And thank you...Pinkie Pie. My love.
THE END
Author's Note
Yeah, I know, it's short, but I was pressed for time and I didn't have a lot of inspiration.
Happy Nightmare Night, everypony!!! 
