Wild Access Spin-Off: Dare to be Scared

by The Bricklayer

Rating: teen
Tags: Sunset Shimmer, Anthro, Lightning Dust, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Romance, Original Character, Comedy, Sunburst, Crossover, Vapor Trail
Length: 5238

Nightmare Night in Ponyville. Sunset Shimmer and Robert Williams challenged to a dare. Spend one night in Ponyville's most haunted house. What could possibly go wrong aside from snarking? Well, if you're Sunset Shimmer, a lot more than you'd think...

It's that time of year again, Nightmare Night in Ponyville. Robert's first with an actual girlfriend. ...Well, marefriend as it is, and he intends to make the most of the night by giving Sunset her first real Nightmare Night. However, Lightning Dust intends to enjoy the night in another way: By daring Sunset and Robert to spend a night in Ponyville's most haunted house. Trouble is, scaring Power Rangers isn't quite so easy when they've seen pretty much every ugly thing in the book... Is it? Well, maybe it is if they are afraid of one thing in particular...

(Wild Access Spin-Off, a little knowledge of the main story is at least required)

Rated T for language and sexual innuendos. Set during Season Five, Episode Fifteen of MLP: FIM, The Scare Master

Published 2017-10-24 16:20:06 UTC
Last updated 2017-10-24 16:20:06 UTC

"If it bleeds, you can kill it."

Night had fallen over Ponyville, and a distinct excitement was in the air tonight over the small settlement. There was a chill in the air as the full moon rose in the sky, and bats squeaked and chittered as they flew from the apple trees of Sweet Apple Acres. A wolf howled somewhere from within the Everfree Forest, the long lonely cry echoing across the valleys that hid the town from the rest of the world.

All over Ponyville, decorations and lights had been set up on every block, every street corner. Weeks of preparation finally coming to a head as the most beloved night of the month drew closer and closer.

“Happy Haunts and Happy Nightmare Night!” A banner streamed across the town hall’s front entrance read as leaves, once settled on the ground, were kicked up and blown in the autumn winds.

Ponyvillains, just going about their night and excited for what the weekend would bring suddenly let out yells of shock and/or excitement as a monstrous black shadow flew overhead, briefly covering the moon. Bat-like in form, it was an obsidian shade of black, with silver detailing, blood red eyes and twin axe like wings. It let out a loud screech as it flew towards the direction of Sweet Apple Acres before taking a sharp turn upwards and flying directly into a bank of clouds only to vanish.

Clapping and cheers rose up as one of the guardians of Ponyville that had appeared in the last couple of years made an appearance seemingly in honor of Nightmare Night. Despite the rather frightening appearance, everybody knew the Vampire Fruit Bat based mechanical giant known as a Wild Zord meant no harm. To them that is. If you were an Org or some sort of real-life monster, that was another story entirely as so many creatures intent on destroying the Earth’s environment had found out. Those axe-like wings weren’t just for show, after all.

Two observers, on the other hand, were of a different mind. One, with dark brown hair and stubble on his face wearing a black and orange jacket -a police badge stitched onto the right breast- looked less in awe. He was more amused while his ginger-haired unicorn companion, wearing a black suit and tie and glasses wore an expression of the exact opposite demeanor.

“No offense Sunburst, but I thought your friend wasn’t supposed to make an appearance till Nightmare Night precisely?” Robert Williams, Orange Kitsune Ranger and certified snarker… Well, snarked. “Last I checked, we’re still a couple of nights away from that,”

Sunburst raised an eyebrow.

“That was the plan, yes… But he told me and I quote directly here “He didn’t want to upstage the true ruler of the night, the Lunar Invictus, Princess Luna”. Not joking on that.”

Robert sighed to himself. “Yeah, suppose a giant mechanical bat that Bruce Wayne himself would be proud of would kinda upstage the Princess of the Night wouldn’t it?” He deadpanned.

“You would know about making a show of things,” Sunburst replied, the tiniest hint of a smirk gracing his lips as he stroked his goatee with a finger. “But then again, that is your catchphrase, isn’t it? How does it go?” He mused to himself before Sunburst snapped his fingers in remembrance.

In unison with Robert, the former sounding more annoyed at the theft of his favorite phrase than anything else, Sunburst said: “Sa… Dohade ni Ikuze!”

“...You’ve been spending way too much time around me,” Robert muttered in distaste. “Snarking doesn’t suit you one jot. I preferred it when you were just a simple high-school science teacher…”

“Simple high-school science teacher who had to put up with you on a daily basis and had to fight monsters, also usually on a daily basis… So I suspect anypony like that would have grown a spine sometime…”

“Who said anything about you needing to grow a spine?” Robert inquired.

“...Well, you were probably implying it…” Sunburst trailed off.

“I WAS NOT!” Robert shouted.

On Sunburst’s shoulder rested a small mechanical crimson and gold parrot, on her neck a gold emblem of a thunderbolt. One of her wings met her face as she shook her head.

“Ay… You two are like fire and ice right now…” Navi muttered to herself. “C’mon, Nightmare Night’s in a few days and you two are arguing about something as silly as a Zord upstaging Princess Luna. You’re supposed to be having fun! Besides,” Navi added, turning to Robert. “Wouldn’t you do the same “Mr. Go-Big-or-Go-Home?”

She was referring to Robert’s first real battle with his Zord, where he’d explained that in his books, (At the time at least) that if you got a Zord, you made a big, brash entrance. Go big or go home he’d said in those exact words.

“Who asked you?” Robert huffed, crossing his arms and storming off before he whirled around to face Navi. “Besides, I do plan on having fun on Nightmare Night… Just not upstaging anybody, that’s all!”

“Oh, so you’re going to be playing kissy-face with your girlfriend, Ms. Sunset Shimmer?” Navi chirped, and if she could, she would have made a cheeky grin.

“N-No!” Robert stuttered out a little too quickly to be believable. “Almost certainly not, you hentai! Bloody bird…” He muttered, walking off as Navi sniggered. Sunburst gave her a look and sighed, shaking his head.

“You’re way too mature for your age…” He mumbled and Navi beamed proudly.

“Ever heard of the terrible twos?” She asked cheekily and Sunburst facepalmed. He knew he should have seen that one coming. What he also should have seen coming next was Robert managing to yell out a cheeky remark as his form of personal revenge.

“Oh, speaking of fun-times, bet you and your husband are going to be having quite a bit of that once he shows up. Because I know he absolutely loooovvvessss Nightmare Night!”

The only other sound besides Robert’s cackling was Sunburst’s rapid stammering out of “N-No! T-That isn’t happening, you hypocrite!”

“Suuuuuureeee… Whatever makes you feel better. I’m betting on you getting the night of your life!” Robert called back and Sunburst groaned.

The Animarium:

“So, this is Halloween huh?” Princess Shayla asked as she observed the Rangers walking about in their costumes, a sort of first run to see if they’d fit. Vapor’s costume wasn’t too far removed from her usual Wonderbolts uniform, except it being a cheaper and unofficial version of the real deal. As much as Vapor would have liked to wear the real thing, she suspected she would have gotten in a lot of trouble with her boss if she did do that.

“Well, technically it’s called Nightmare Night now, but… Yeah, basically.” Vapor replied.

Her fellow Wonderbolt in training, on the other hand, Lightning Dust had opted for something… different. After Robert had mockingly nicknamed her “Asuka Langley Soryu” during a battle due to her bitchiness, she’d gotten curious as to who this “Asuka” was. A few hours of digging, (And a bit of help from Fluttershy of all ponies) and she’d found out.

So there Lightning stood, in an aqua and silver version of Asuka’s EVA plugsuit that showed off every curve in her body. Honestly, all of the other Rangers had a sneaking suspicion on why, or rather whom she was wearing the outfit for, but didn’t dare voice their suspicions aloud. As mentioned before, Robert hadn’t mockingly nicknamed Lightning Dust “Asuka Langley Soryu” without very good reason.

To everyone’s surprise, and Robert’s amusement, Sunburst had opted to dress as the traditional Grim Reaper type figure. However, because he’d forgone the skull mask, his glasses and goatee made him look absolutely ridiculous.

Sunset had repurposed her flamenco dress from when she and Daring had gone to Neighrazil to retrieve the Crystal of Dualities. Sparkling red and yellow, it bore a frilly skirt and short, poofy black sleeves with the train going all the way down to her legs. To top everything off, it had a belt with her Cutie Mark of a setting sun on it and Sunset had placed a red rose in her mane. This time, not to blend in with local color, but just because it worked as a costume. Aside from that, this meant Sunset was very pleased she didn’t have to get a costume custom made at high prices this year.

Robert, on the other hand, had surprised everybody by opting for no costume at all. Well, at least for the moment. He was still making his, he’d told everypony he wanted everything to be absolutely just right for the go big or go home type surprise he’d prepared.

Vapor leaned over to Navi and whispered: “Bet you fifty bits that he’s going to go for a red pirate style long coat, gold buttons and all.”

“I’ll take that bet…” Navi snickered, knowing how much Robert practically worshipped the ground a certain Captain walked on.

“Well, sadly I admit because of my two 3,000 year sleeps, I missed out on a lot of Halloweens or when I was awake last time to help the Rangers, I never did get the chance to go down to Earth and see what the holiday was all about,” Shayla sighed to herself. Sunset put an arm around her comfortingly.

“Yeah, I know what you mean. I never had any fun on Nightmare Night either,” Sunset admitted sadly. “When I was just a filly, I was always studying new spells trying to get Princess Celestia to just hand over Alicorn Princess status. By the time I got that idiocy knocked out of my head, I was far too old to just go out and do trick or treating or any other kid stuff. The way I grew up, never really did have a childhood to be honest…”

Vapor’s jaw dropped in shock.

“Wait, wait, wait… Back up a moment. You mean to tell me you haven’t had a single Halloween, either of you? Not one?” Vapor asked, barely able to believe her ears. “Well, we’ll just have to fix that! Both of you, you’re going trick or treating and that’s that!” she stated firmly.

“Well… I dunno…” Shayla trailed off.

“Aw come on Princess, loosen up a little! You can’t just spend all your time up here on the Animarium singing to the Deer Zord and spending time chatting with the Wild Zords. You’re almost as bad as Twilight with her books!” Lightning shouted.

“Well, alright then! I’ll do it!” Shayla said, snapping her fingers and her form shimmered with a blue glow before she transformed into a ponified version of herself, wings, horn and all.

“Er, Princess…” Sunburst stammered out nervously, pressing his fingers together. “M-Might want to l-lose either the wings or the horn. The l-last thing we need is to explain why there’s another Alicorn Princess walking about. Your regular attire works as a goddess of nature, but I don’t think either Luna or Celestia would be happy about you impersonating royalty,”

“But I am royalty!” Shayla whined childishly with a small pout. It was rather cute actually.

“I-I know you are, but the last thing any of us needs is the Royal Guards arresting you and throwing you behind bars for whoever knows how long for faking your identity as a member of the Equestrian Royal Family,”

Shayla sighed and harumphed before she snapped her fingers again and lost the wings. Sunburst sighed and muttered “Oy vey…” as he rubbed his temples.

“Relax, I’ll keep an eye on them. Pinkie Promise,” Robert stated.

“Ya gonna do the sacred motions, Rob?” Lightning asked. Robert groaned.

“Do I really have to?” He muttered, arms crossed. His marefriend gave him a look.

“Alright, fine…” He grumbled, never being able to resist her no matter what she did, before saying “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye…” in distaste. Sunset’s eyebrow raised.

“The motions as well, Robert. Comes with the package.” Sunset added.

“AW COME ON!”

The resulting shout could be heard all the way on the other end of the Animarium, and several of the Wild Zords, the Kitsune, Thunderbird and Swallow Zords chiefest amongst them laughing their heads off at Robert’s misfortune. Sunset had him on a lead, completely.

Carousel Boutique:

Nightmare Night had finally arrived, and you could feel the excitement in the air as the yearly appearance of Princess Luna arrived closer and closer. Robert was currently using a sewing machine to stitch together the last pieces of his costume, Alice Cooper’s Paranormal playing in the background. Once he was done, he threw it on revealing it in all of its glory. The costume in question was a black cloak, covered in red clouds. The cloak of the Akatsuki organization, and in Robert’s mind… The ultimate form of irony.

“Wow, so this has been what you’ve been working on…” Rarity’s voice chimed in as she stepped into the room, dressed up like a succubus complete with little bat wings stitched onto the back of her costume and on her boots. Robert raised an eyebrow, half wondering if that was for a very specific pony’s benefit or she was showing off her design skills to everypony for a bit of shameless self-promotion.

“Well, either way… A certain somepony’s going to get the shock of his life…” Robert smirked to himself with a small chuckle as he imagined Zephyr's reaction upon seeing Rarity dressed up as a literal sex demon.

“Have to hand it to you, Robert, there’s a certain… edgy appeal to it, even if I don’t know quite who you’re supposed to be,” Rarity complemented as the Orange Ranger did a dramatic spin for no other reason than to just show off a bit.

“It’s a Japanese thing, you wouldn’t get it unless you read Manga or watched Anime. Fluttershy maybe would get it, but I don’t think anyone else will. This is pretty much my private joke really, combined with a bit of irony. Okay, a whole lot of irony,” Robert explained.

“Well, whatever floats your boat dear…” Rarity trailed off. “Glad to see some originality in your costume and not just spandex, it’s very popular this year. Been my most popular request,”

“Gee, wonder why…” Robert remarked with a wink of his eye and he and Rarity couldn’t help but share a laugh. “Anyways, you and Zephyr have your fun, okay?”

“Oh, trust me, dear, he will be having fun… Very much, indeed…” Rarity commented with a flirtatious smile before walking off with an extra sway in her step. Robert smirked to himself as he stepped out of the Boutique and onto the kid-infested streets, he knew it. He pulled the hood of his cloak over his head just as Sunset and Shayla walked up, Shayla glancing curiously at everything around her in interest.

“Wow… And here I was suspecting something different…” Sunset muttered. Robert raised an eyebrow. “Sorry, just Navi and Vapor had a bet going on that you’d dress up as a certain Captain.”

“...Why does everybody think that I worship the ground he…” Robert muttered in frustration before he shook his head. “No, never mind, I don’t want to know the answer… Anyways, shall we, Sunset-Hime?” Robert asked, holding an arm out. Sunset smiled as she linked arms with him.

All around them as they walked the streets, little fillies and foals ran up to front doors shouting “Nightmare Night, what a fright! Give us something sweet to bite!”

Teenagers, on the other hand, had different activities planned. There was the classic TPing of a house or the old Ding-Dong ditch gag. (Both of which Robert was very amused by.) Others choose less juvenile activities, like bobbing for apples with their significant other -such as with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle- or playing games like throwing fake spiders at targets like Spike and Apple Bloom were currently doing alongside the youngest Apple’s coltfriend Rumble.

And then there was the local zebra known as Zecora, recounting her yearly tale of the Legend of Nightmare Moon in her cloak, mane let down with a fake spider in it. “Listen close, my little dears, I'll tell you where you got your fears of Nightmare Night, so dark and scary, of Nightmare Moon, who makes you wary. Every year, we put on a disguise, to save ourselves from her searching eyes,” she stated, before pulling out a small bag and throwing a green mist into the air from it which formed a projection of Nightmare Moon herself flying high above them. “But Nightmare Moon wants just one thing: to gobble up ponies in one quick swing! Hungrily, she soars the sky. If she sees nopony, she passes by. So if she comes and all is clear, Equestria is safe another year! Be warned, for Nightmare Moon you must not offend. Fill up her belly with a treat or two, so she won't return to come eat you!”

Then, the Nightmare Moon projection came down and just as it was about to swallow Zecora whole it exploded into a fine dust causing a few shrieks amongst the younger crowd.

“So, this is what Nightmare Night is all about? Tales to frighten and pranks?” Shayla asked as she observed some of the creepy decorations all around her, like false graveyards, giant cobwebs and realistic skeletons hanging from trees.

“Well… Yeah, but ponies want to get scared by all of this stuff. They like it, it’s all in good fun, you have to remember,” Sunset explained. Then there was a crack of thunder and ponies screaming accompanied by raspy laughter.

“And that?” Shayla inquired.

“Er… Yes, that…” Sunset admitted her face flushing red. “That’s just Rainbow being an ass as usual with her yearly stormcloud prank. It’s gotten old actually, and predictable… Yet, somehow it always works…”

“Anyways…” Shayla asked. “Why don’t we just go up to a house and see what this trick or treating thing is all about?”

“I’d… I’d actually like that, considering I’ve never done it before…” Sunset Shimmer murmured sadly before perking up. “Why don’t we try Rarity’s boutique?”

Robert quickly spoke up, remembering Rarity’s costume and what she and Zephyr were probably doing right now and trying very hard not to think about it reminding himself he had a perfectly good marefriend and that Rarity was a happily married mare. ...Although he would freely admit he envied her husband at the moment.

“Er, best not…” He quickly said. Both Shayla and Sunset turned to stare directly at him. “Let’s just say Rarity and her husband are probably enjoying Nightmare Night like most normal grown adults do and leave it at that okay?”

Sunset and Shayla both bore a look of confusion on their faces before a dawning realization hit Sunset and she flushed bright red. Shayla still looked confused, and Sunset leaned over and whispered something in her ear.

“Oh… OH!” Shayla gasped, now as red as Sunset. So, a few moments later, a still blushing Sunset and Shayla walked up to the tall gleaming crystal spires of Friendship Castle and knocked on the doors, where they were quickly greeted by Princess Twilight dressed as a female Royal Guard.

“Aren’t you two a little old for this?” Twilight asked, looking at both Sunset and the mare with her -After all, Twilight still didn’t know what Princess Shayla even looked like- in confusion.

“Well, I never had the chance to experience a proper Nightmare Night and neither did my friend here, so Robert (Here Sunset gestured to Robert, fiddling with his cloak absentmindedly a few feet behind them) offered to chaperone us,”

“Aww…” Twilight cooed while Robert made a “Blech” expression at the sweetness of it all. He didn’t do warm and fuzzy. “That’s so sweet of him! He’s a real gentleman… Oh! I’ll get the candy!”

Twilight quickly returned with a jack-o-lantern themed bowl of candy right from Sugarcube Corner and gave out some of it to both mares before tossing a box of Haribo Milk Bottles to Robert, remembering Pinkie telling her about his love of them.

Eventually, their bags laden with candy delights galore, the company of three made their way back to the town square, where they were just in time to see Zecora leading the kids off to the safer part of the Everfree near where she lived so they could pay their candy tribute to Nightmare Moon’s statue. Sunset then pulled out a small fob watch and opened it and watched the minute hand count down.

“1… 2… 3,” Sunset counted down. Sure enough, a few moments later, screams echoed from the forest. “And that would be Luna’s yearly arrival…” she stated before she saw the un-eased look on Princess Shayla’s face.

“Relax Princess,” Sunset reassured. “Like I said before, all of these scares are in good fun. The children know that Luna’s going to surprise them every year like that and she knows they know, and they go anyways. It’s like Sky-Diving, gives your body a healthy source of adrenaline,”

“If you say so…” Shayla murmured, not looking entirely reassured. Just then, Vapor and Lightning walked up, returning from the corn maze the Apple Family set up every year for tonight.

“Speaking of healthy good sources of adrenaline...” Lightning began with an excited look on her face, having heard every word. Both Robert and Sunset mentally groaned, having a bad feeling about this. “I heard the old Cornstarch House is especially “Active” around this time of year if you get my drift.”

Robert and Sunset shared a look. Buttered Cornstarch’s manor, one of the oldest houses standing in Ponyville, been there right since the beginning when it was founded. He’d made his living as a farmer, like most of the settlers of Ponyville, and his home had been the source of many a grand party in its heyday. However, those glory days of old were now long since gone, just like Cornstarch himself. “Hah,” Lightning snorted. “I bet neither one of you would be able to stand the sheer haunts that house has got cooked up!”

“...You do realize what we do pretty much every other day, right Lightning?” Sunset drawled out, completely deadpan. “I think we’ve seen pretty much every ugly or scary thing in the book by now.”

“Have to agree with Sunset here, ghosts are simply not scary anymore. If they’re even there, that is,” Robert put in skeptically, sure Lightning was taking the mickey out of him, as it were.

Lightning scoffed before she smirked. “In fact… I dare you both to go into it for about an hour, and if neither of you gets scared out of your wits I’ll let Rarity dress me up like a little Victorian Age doll or do whatever you two want me to do!”

Sunset smirked, and Lightning inwardly groaned. Somehow she suspected she had set herself up for a sucker’s bet. Sunset and Robert had a point, they’d be hard to scare. Probably impossible. But surely one of them had to be afraid of something right? “And if I win, well… You, Robert… W-Well, I don’t know yet what I’ll ask you to do, but it’ll be something nasty I’m sure!”

Vapor facepalmed. “I’m really sorry about all of this… I swear, I didn’t know she was going to pull this.”

“Tartarus… I’ll do this, just to prove Lightning wrong…” Sunset muttered in distaste before turning to Princess Shayla. “I’m really sorry about me and Robert having to do this and leave you, but Lightning’s ego needs to be taken down a peg or two,”

“Right here you know…” Lightning muttered, going ignored.

“No, no… I understand,” Shayla said. “Besides, what’s the worst thing that could happen to you two?”

“I’ll keep an eye on her, make sure she doesn't get into too much trouble,” Vapor offered as she looked at Shayla. “Hey, you ever seen the corn maze the Apple Family set up? Really great!”

Meanwhile, Robert and Sunset found themselves walking up to the old Cornstarch Manor. It had long ago allowed itself to fall into disrepair, the front statue in the garden missing its head, boards on the shattered windows, and ivy climbing up the peeled paint walls. Thunder cracked as lightning flashed in the sky above them.

“Nice touch,” Sunset deadpanned before shouting “Great job on the special effects, Rainbow!”

A shout of “Damnit!” echoed from the clouds. Robert turned to Sunset as they entered the manor, pushing the doors open with a creak. Cobwebs covered every inch of the home, and strange eyes could be seen in the darkness.

“How’d you know it was her?” Robert asked.

“It’s Rainbow, scaring the crap out of people with lightning flashes is her thing. Plus, it figures that Lightning would drag her marefriend into this,” Sunset replied as a cardboard standee of a ghost in a sheet popped up from out of nowhere, presumably somepony’s idea of a “Jump Scare”. Robert rolled his eyes.

“Who you gonna call?” He deadpanned and then, a cardboard version of Basco ta Jolokia from Gokaigers popped up as they rounded another corner. Robert simply punched his head off with a roll of his eyes. “Yeah yeah, you’re old news, Basco. Got that?”

“Pretty sure the name of the manor isn’t the only thing corny about this “haunted house”,” Sunset teased, using air quotes. “Well, okay… Those and that pun.”

“Yep, no ghosts here… No real ones anyways,” Robert remarked as a recorded sound of a wolf howling played somewhere in the background. Palm met face as the Orange Ranger shook his head. “Really? That old thing?” He thought to himself.

As they continued wandering through the house, snarking at every “Fright” Lightning had put up for them, even an admittedly well-thought out mirror style stage magician projection of the ghost of old Cornstarch himself. Nothing took. Even the snarking at absolutely everything was getting rather boring by now.

“I say we blow this joint and leave,” Robert sighed. “I think the results are in by now, don’t you?”

Sunset nodded and as they made their way to the entrance, a giant clown, covered in blood dripping from his pale white fate cackled at them as he leaped out of nowhere. Sunset suddenly let out a scream and pulled out her Crystal Saber slashing at the clown widely. Head came off, revealing circuits and wires. Even as the now animatronic clown fell backward, Sunset recoiled in horror as she saw the clown, still somehow managing to function, try and stand back up. Her senses went into overdrive. Everything was over, she’d be just another one of those ponies that had gone missing over the years. Her picture would be in the paper, sure, but her body would never be found.

Not one single sound came from Sunset’s throat, before she started to sob, just in fear out of what might happen to her. Hoofsteps came running down a stairwell as Lightning suddenly appeared and turned off the clown.

Meanwhile, Robert was holding his trembling marefriend tight, her sobs slowly turning into hiccups. Lightning wanted to make a joke about how it turned out there really was something Sunset was afraid of but found she just couldn’t. It felt… wrong, now.

“You… You two can just go. I’m sorry, I’m very sorry… If… If I had known…” Lightning murmured in self-disgust. She wanted to scare them both, but reducing Sunset to tears and make her cry like a baby? That went beyond playful fun, it was just cruel. She’d ruined Sunset’s first real Nightmare Night and she knew it. “Just… I’ll clean this mess up and report to Rarity’s in the morning.”

Sunset continued sniffling as Robert walked her back to her home. As soon as they entered, Robert pulled a cover over her as she laid down on the couch and handed her the wolf plushie she loved so much from her childhood.

“Here, I’ll go get you a glass of cold milk, would that help?” He asked softly. Sunset whimpered, but still let out a nod. Soon, Robert returned and sat down beside her as he put an arm around her. Sunset took the cold glass gratefully.

“Hey… What went wrong back there? I’ve never seen you scared like that in my entire life, not once…” Robert asked in confusion.

“It’s… nothing, you’d probably laugh at me if I told you…” Sunset muttered as she took a sip of the milk.

“Hey, I don’t think that was what you’d call nothing. You were crying Sunset, I barely ever see you do that… And it’s never because you’re afraid,” Robert replied.

“Alright, I suppose I can tell you…” Sunset replied. “It’s… It’s just silly, really. Old childhood fear. When I was Princess Celestia’s student, I did at one time attempt to be more sociable instead of going head-on for Alicorn status. Some of these older boys, jocks from high-school really, dared me to read this book about a serial killer dressed as a clown. I couldn’t sleep for a week after reading it, I needed Princess Celestia to tuck me into bed and check my closets for clowns like I was a little girl, for crying out loud!”

Robert gave Sunset a soft kiss on the lips. “Hey, we’re all scared of something. The Island of Illusions proved that.”

“Yeah… But seeing that clown, it brought all of those old memories back,” Sunset whispered before she nuzzled into Robert’s shoulder. “Hey, promise me one thing… If a clown based Org does appear… You’ll keep me from freaking out, okay?”

“Well, we’ve already got Jindrax, and he’s a clown…” Robert trailed off and Sunset laughed, just a little.

“Yeah, but I don’t think he’s what you call scary. He’s a clown alright, but in the more goofy sense.” Sunset replied and Robert nodded before Sunset returned the kiss, but with slightly more passion and the two began capturing each other’s lips over and over. As Robert ran his fingers through Sunset’s hair and continued kissing her and holding her tight, a thought occurred to him.

“Damnit! Navi was right all along…”

Author's Note

Okay, so a bit early, I admit but hope you enjoyed this little jaunt I've cooked up. Okay, I admit if any of you are a fan of Dubs Rewatcher, the idea of Sunset breaking down in a haunted house was inspired by his story "Tears and Tootsie Rolls". Sorry if it took me so long to build up to the big scene mentioned in the description, but as soon as the Shayla sub-plot set in, I decided why not have her and Sunset experience the fun side of Nightmare Night together instead of this just being a plain OC/Anthro Sunset story? And yes, I apologize for the no sex scene between Robert and Sunset at the end, but there's a reason I'm avoiding writing out these scenes which will eventually be revealed in the main Wild Access story. Finally, an explanation for the joke in the chapter title. Basically, it's a reference to a Supernatural episode. Basically, Sam's surrounded by a manifestation of his worst fear, clowns and he keeps repeating the above words Dean had told him like a mantra even as he shoots the clowns, even if it doesn't work on them.