It Was a Dark And Stormy Night
It was a dark and stormy night...
“Ugh, I can't believe our carriage crashed in the middle of nowhere on the way to the party in Canterlot, what are the odds?” asked Rarity, as the Mane Six, Starlight, and Trixie walked through the storm. And, being Rarity, she made sure to avoid any and all mud puddles.
“We were in the middle of nowhere on a dark and stormy night, what did you expect?” Trixie snarked with a raised eyebrow.
“I...honestly don't know...” the fashionista admitted. “But did we have to end up in such a muddy place?!”
“Kinda difficult for it to be a dark and stormy night and there not to be mud, Rare,” replied Applejack simply.
“Well the stallions pulling our carriage said they should have it fixed soon,” Twilight interjected. “Let's just find somewhere to hunker down from the storm while they do it.”
No pony in the group noticed the stallions working on their carriage suddenly finding a looming, bat-shaped figure over them out of nowhere.
“And given it's a dark and stormy night, Trixie is guessing wherever we find will be creepy and potentially haunted,” Trixie stated.
“Must you say such things, darling?” asked Rarity with a shudder.
“Trixie calls things as she sees them.”
“Oh come on, what are the odds of that?” asked Twilight, looking around as they continued down the road...and sure enough came up on a large, abandoned looking castle with creepy Gothic architecture that just so happened to have lightning flash ominously behind it the moment it came into view.
“...Trixie called it...”
“Hello? Anypony here?” asked Twilight as the group trotted into the castle, the door slowly creaking open with a noise that echoed throughout the dark room. Lightning flashed outside the windows, bathing the room in flashes that showed long abandoned furniture. A staircase covered in cobwebs heading up to the upper levels.
“...I don't think anypony's here...” Fluttershy said, cowering behind the group.
“I must agree with Fluttershy, darling,” Rarity pointed out, looking around the room and giving a disgusted look at the cobwebs covering the room. “It looks like no pony has been here in years...”
“Well at least that means they won't mind us crashing here until our ride's fixed, right?” Rainbow Dash asked with a smirk.
“So long as it's dryer than outside, Ah'm fine with it,” Applejack said, shaking off her wet fur almost like a dog. “Even if it's so dark Ah can hardly see anythin'...”
“There's probably some candles somewhere,” Twilight replied, giving an analytic look to the room. “Or a torch, it is an old castle after all...”
“Which also means its probably haunted...” Trixie pointed out, keeping an eye out for ghosts or ghouls.
The lavender Alicorn rolled her eyes. “Trixie, enough! Ghosts don't exist!”
“Trixie's multiple consecutive yearly visits with the Ghosts of Hearth's Warming Past, Present, and Future and the ghost that heralds them would beg to differ!”
Twilight gave an annoyed sigh. “Let's just find some lights.”
The unicorns lit up their horns and began scanning the room. Rarity gave a disgusted look as the true unkept state of the room was brought to light. “This place is absolutely filthy...” she muttered, producing a feather duster from her luggage (You never knew if a hotel's cleaning staff was punctual after all...) and began dusting.
“Really, Rarity?” asked Applejack with a glare.
“What? It's a crime for these beautiful antiquities to to be covered in so much dirt and dust!” the fashionista replied, sticking her nose up in the air indignity.
“But no pony is ever gonna use it after we get out of here!”
“The bats will probably like it,” said Fluttershy cheerfully, pointing up at a bat hanging upside down from the ceiling.
“BATS?!” asked Twilight, looking up fearfully. She started to tremble slightly as she looked up at the bat. “Well, doesn't seem to be a candle down here, let's try upstairs!”
“Yeah, there's nothing down here,” said Rainbow Dash, looking around.
Starlight nodded as the group walked up the stairs, the unicorns leading the way up to the next floor with their horn glow...and her noticing one less light than they had unicorns. “Rarity, are you coming?”
The fashionista continued cleaning the desk before her. “I'll be up in a second, darling. Just want to finish what I started is all.”
“Alright, but be careful...” Twilight's graduated student replied, the group slowly trotting up the staircase, the stairs creaking loudly with every step.
Trixie sighed. “If she gets her soul sucked out by a ghost-”
Twilight shushed her. “Don't talk about stuff like that...”
“Oh...right...”
As they ascended the stairs Fluttershy swore that the bat's eyes followed them. She couldn't tell exactly what kind of bat it was from here. But she wanted to say it was a vampire bat. But so long as they gave it space it should leave them alone.
Rarity began to hum to herself as her friends hoofsteps and the creaking stairs drew distant. She wasn't afraid to be alone here. After all, she was a black belt, surely if anything did come after her, she'd be fine.
“Hello there, lovely Rarity, is it?” asked a charming, voice behind her.
Rarity jumped and spun around...and found herself staring face to face with a tall, handsome bat pony stallion with blue fur, red eyes staring back into hers. His clothing was regal, black and red. His mane and tail were likewise black, and his Cutie Mark was a bat. “Oh...hello there...Sorry for intruding in your home. We honestly believed it was abandoned.”
“Oh, it is no problem, my dear...” he said, voice smooth and polite. “My apologies for not keeping house better. I certainly would have cleaned up if I had known such a lovely mare as yourself was coming by.”
The fashionista blushed as the stallion took her hoof and gave it a kiss. “Well if we had intended to stop by, I assure you we would have informed you. Our carriage broke down you see.”
“You truly are a polite one, Rarity, and far be it from me to allow such a beautiful mare to be stranded in this weather, allow me to help...” said the stallion.
Rarity gave a small, fluttered chuckle and made eye contact. “That is quite...”
The stallion's eyes began to pulse and circle, Rarity's soon following.
“...lovely...of...you...”
The stallion smirked, slowly moving closer, puling back his lips to reveal prominent fangs. “What better way to help you, than to make you able to fly?...Though you may find afterward you do not wish to leave...”
The others continued searching the upstairs for any sign of candles, but the main hallway had no sighs of any.
“We'll have to search the rooms...” Twilight finally said. “Let's split up...”
“Trixie is staying with Starlight,” Trixie asserted. “What? We're in an old, potentially haunted castle, like Trixie would be caught dead alone in here...course of words intentional.”
“I'm with Applejack,” Rainbow Dash called.
“I'm with Fluttershy, because it looks like she REALLY needs somepony to help giggle at the ghosties,” said Pinkie Pie, pointing to the shuddering pegasus who looked like she was more tempted to hide in the drawers than search them..
“Alright,” Twilight replied, the groups all wandering off their separate ways through the creaking, spooky old house. The lavender Alicorn jumped as a door suddenly swung open...then noticed the floorboard she'd stepped on had merely risen up enough to open it...or at least she thought so, it was hard to see in the low light. Trotting in...she gave a gasp, finding herself in a rather large, spacious library. “There has to be candles in this room somewhere, you can't have a library with no light to read by...” she said, beginning to look through the drawers.
As the lavender Alicorn went about her business, she didn't notice the door slowly shut on its own, a breeze heading her way and blowing through the curtains.
Looking through the drawers of a dresser with a large mirror on it, she shuddered, feeling a sudden chill. “Ugh, of course an old castle would have a draft...Ah! There was are!” she said, finding a candle and quickly picking it up, eager to get both light and warmth. She used a quick fire spell to light it, bringing an orange glow to the room...And then freezing up at the sight in the mirror.
Behind her was a mare dressed in white, stringing black mane over her face. The figure raised a hoof and put out the light, plunging the room into darkness.
“Um...I...I don't see anything Pinkie Pie...” said Fluttershy, still looking around their surroundings like something was going to pop out of nowhere and get her at any moment.
Pinkie Pie hopped over to a drawer and open it, putting her head in. A drawer nearby opened and her head poked out of it and looked around. “Me neither! Let's try the next room!”
The yellow pegasus nodded, trying to find a room that looked less terrifying, Pinkie Pie hopping around after her...when a balloon floated by and the pink party pony allowed herself to be distracted by it. Bouncing after it, she was lead into another room, the door closing behind her with a slam, causing Fluttershy to jump. The shy pegasus looked behind her and jumped. “P-Pinkie Pie?”
Pinkie Pie followed the strange floating balloon until it stopped. She blinked, eye following the string down to see a white hoof wrapped around it. Looking back up, she saw the balloon move aside to reveal a clown smiling at her. “Oh! Hello!”
The clown merely offered the balloon.
“Oh! Thank you! I love balloons! It's even my Cutie Mark!” she replied, reaching to take it...when the clown's lips parted to reveal razor sharp teeth and he lunged forwards, biting her hoof. “Ouchy! Why'd you...do...that...” she said, feeling woozy all of a sudden. Then starting to laugh...and laugh...and laugh...
“P-Pinkie Pie. T-This isn't funny...” said Fluttershy muttered, looking around fearfully for the pink party pony.
As she looked through the doors lining the room, trembling all the while, she looked in door after door...
Only for one behind her to slowly open. “Hello Fluttershy! Hehe!”
Fluttershy jumped several feet in the air, then gave a small sigh of relief as she recognized the voice. “Thank goodness, Pinkie Pie don't scare me like that!”
“Sorry, Fluttershy! I just want to make you laugh!” replied the pink party pony, not moving out of the shadows of the door.
Fluttershy trotted over...right as Pinkie Pie emerged and was lit up by a lightning flash, wearing full clown get up...and her smile revealing razorsharp teeth lining her mouth.
“And laugh and laugh and laugh....”
The pegasus' eyes shrunk to pinpricks. “P-Pinkie Pie?! W-What happened to you?!”
Pinkie kept laughing as she took a step forwards, causing Fluttershy to step back. This repeated a few times until she reached up and grabbed a rope from the ceiling hanging from the ceiling. “Time for a ride Fluttershy!” she said without an ounce of malice, pulling it and opening a trap door.
Fluttershy gave a scream, her wings locking up as she fell into the opening which closed behind her.
“Say hi to Dr. Frankenstag! He's really lonely!”
“Well we didn't find nothin',” said Applejack, the group coming back together in the main hallway.
Starlight blinked, looking around to notice the group was far smaller than before. “Where's Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie? It's not like Twilight to just disappear.”
“And it isn't like Fluttershy to just run off in a spooky place like this...” Rainbow Dash replied, looking around. “And Rarity's still missing.”
“Trixie warned you this would happen, but no pony ever listens to Trixie!” Trixie replied dramatically. “They're probably already de-”
“Now everypony calm down,” said Applejack, being ever the serious one. “We don't have any clue where they are, but let's not jump tah any conclusions here.”
“Applejack's right,” Starlight replied with a nod.
“Well we'd better go find them, it's not like the answers are going to fall right out of the sky,” Rainbow Dash replied...then heard the sound of something heavy landing right behind her. “...I had to say it, didn't I?” She turned to see Pinkie Pie standing there, still laughing mad with sharp teeth. “Pinkie Pie?!”
The Wereclown laughed. “Hello Dashie! Wanna come laugh with us? And laugh, and laugh, and laugh! HAHAHA!” she cackled as the clown that changed her appeared next to her and joined in.
The cyan backed away from her, eyes wide, the rest of the group doing the same until a cold chill came went up their backs and they turned to see something else. “T-Twilight?”
Twilight's fur was now white and mane hung stringy as she floated translucent in the air before them, the ghost next to her. “Or come with us and haunt this house forever!” the ghost said, giving a creepy smile.
The group backed away from the four as they slowly approached them. They tried to run, only for a door to open and out to march Fluttershy, who looked like she'd been stitched together and given about two or three extra feet of height and mass. Bolts emerged from her neck and her mane standing in the air with skunk-like markings. “Or you can come down stairs and have the nice scientist down there make you like me...if you want to I mean...”
“Join us...join us...join us...” the monsters chanted, backing them up further and further.
“What do we do?!” asked Applejack, looking around in panic.
“I'll just teleport us out of here!” Starlight replied, powering up her horn...right as something flew down and looked her in the eyes. “R-Rarity?”
Rarity, now dressed like a vampire countess with proper bat ears, wings, and two little dots on her neck, smirked. “Yes, darling, but it's Countess Rarity now,” she said, before opening her mouth to reveal fangs and lunging forwards at Starlight, covering both with her cape and wings. When the cape was thrown out, the two rose up cackling, Starlight's ears now like a bat's with wings to match and two little dots on her neck. “Now come, let's let them join our little group, shall we?!”
“Sounds good to me, they look delicious! Do you think Applejack's blood tastes like apples?” Starlight questioned with a smirk to show her fangs.
“Let's find out! Don't worry dear, we won't suck you dry, just take a little sip to turn you!”
“...SMOKE BOMB!” yelled Trixie suddenly, letting off a huge smoke bomb that left the monsters coughing and let the group run.
“Let's get outta here!” Applejack yelled, the group galloping down the stairs and heading straight for the door. The farmer threw it open, only to find a big Timber Wolf barking and snapping at the door. She gave a yell of pain as it bit down on her leg, prompting Rainbow Dash to slam the door shut, shattering the Timber Wolf's head to splinters (of course being a Timber Wolf, that wouldn't keep it down for long).
“You okay, AJ?” the cyan pegasus asked, looking at the injury on her leg.
“Y-Yeah, Ah'm fine! Let's just run!” Applejack yelled, the group running down a hallway...only to run right into Fluttershy, who seemed to be like running into a brick wall.
The pegasus whimpered. “You don't want to come stay with us?” she asked, almost sounding sad.
“But you were just upstairs! How did you, when did you...” said Rainbow, looking around in surprise. “And you're too big to fit through the windows! How did you get down here?!”
“I don't know!” cried Fluttershy, looking just as confused.
“Come on, join us, it will be so much fun!” Pinkie Pie chimed, hopping over with her monstrous grin and wereclown partner.
“Yes, darlings, and if you let me change you, you get to be the same species as the owner of the house! And you get a lovely outfit to go with the change,” Rarity said, flipping her mane as the vampire emerged from the darkness. “Look, Starlight already has her's, isn't it wonderful?” she asked, the mare in question emerging next to her in full vampire countess outfit.
“Yes, join us. Then we can all be equals as monsters...” replied Starlight with a fang-revealing smirk.
The group tried to run, but found Twilight and the ghost that changed her waiting for them. “We've got a great library! And being a ghost means you can phase through the cover to read the pages while the books on the shelf!” she said, oddly still her adorkable self.
The monsters slowly closed in, saying “Join us,” over and over again. The survivors simply ran inside the nearest room and slammed the door shut.
“This is a bad idea! We're going to turn out to be locked in the room with a monster!” Trixie advised, the group responding by looking around for a monster waiting to pounce, but finding none.
“Okay, so how exactly are we supposed to get out of this?” asked Rainbow Dash, looking around as the trio pushed everything possible against the door.
Applejack looked around and noticed the window, lightning crackling outside it. “We can jump out the window!” she yelled, rushing over to open it.
“Good idea!”
The orange Earth Pony put her hooves to the window to push it open...and suddenly stopped, staring up as the clouds opened and the full moon shown down on her. She stared up, almost like she was in a trance.
“...Applejack?” Rainbow Dash asked...then blinked, noting the bite mark on her leg begin to glow green, the mare's eyes soon joining it. “...That can't be good...”
The two remaining ponies watched as Applejack's body mass increased, hard wood growing over parts of her body and hooves becoming claws. Fangs grew in her mouth as her muzzle changed shape and she transformed into an equine-shaped Timber Wolf. She slowly turned, giving a howl to the heavens, Rainbow able to smell the rancid breath of a Timber Wolf from here. “Come on, Rainbow, Trix. Join the pack with meh! Yah'll love it!”
The two gave a scream and bust through the door. As they ran, Twilight dove at them, forcing them to dodge, the pair of vampires flew at them and forced Trixie to let off a fireworks style explosion to daze them.
“The backdoor!” yelled Rainbow, pointing at the door at the back of the haunted castle.
Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared in their way with an explosion of confetti. “Come on! Join the party! You'll really like it!”
“...Look! A cake!” Rainbow Dash yelled, pointing to the side.
“Where?!” asked the wereclown, looking that way and letting the two run by. The one that changed her facehoofed.
“Almost there!” Trixie exclaimed...right as Fluttershy stood in front of them.
“Um...please stop trying to escape and join us...it's not as bad as you'd think...” the Franken Pony said...then just stood there as they ran by and out the door, giving a strangely cute pout.
“Alright, now we're...home...free...” said Rainbow Dash, noting they were now in a dark, scary graveyard.
“...You just had to say it, didn't you?” Trixie questioned with a glare.
They then heard an evil laugh, and turned to see the vampire who'd turned Rarity floating ominously in the air with their converted friends and fellow monsters (including the two stallions fixing their ride who were now vampires) standing beneath them. “Come now, no need to run, we've got plenty of room here for everypony here at Castle Dracolt!” the lead vampire announced with an affably air.
“...So Count Dracolt is the villain...somehow Trixie didn't see that coming...” muttered Trixie in annoyance.
“Alright, looks like we'll have to take him...” Rainbow Dash said, cracking her forelgs confidently.
Dracolt chuckled and his eyes glowed, suddenly graves began to burst open, hooves reaching out around their legs as lightning struck around him.
“...Trixie doesn't think we can take him...”
“...Shut up and run!”
The two screamed, running and flying as fast as they could as the monsters took chase after them.
“Join us! Join us! Join us!” chanted their monsterfied friends as they chased them.
“Not good, not good, not good, not good!” repeated Trixie as the two fled, seeing several zomponies rise up in front of them. “Tea cup! Tea cup! Tea cup!” she yelled, blasting them and turning their rotten heads into tea cups. But for every one tea cupified zompony, three more rose to take their place.
“Keep running!” yelled Rainbow Dash, flying towards, but noticed the lightning seemed to strike frighteningly close whenever she tried to fly too high.
“Thank you Captain Obvious!” the azure showmare replied, then gasped. “Watch out!”
“Huh?” Rainbow asked...right as a zompony pegasus flew right at her, mouth open and ready to bite down on her. She dove down and flew back up, slamming into it hard enough into its chest to shatter it into dust and bones, sending its head flying into the air. “Hah! Gonna have to try harder than that to get me!” she exclaimed proudly...right as the head fell back down and landed on her shoulder, biting down hard. “OW!”
Trixie gulped. “Rainbow Dash?”
Rainbow turned around with a ghoulish moan, flesh quickly decayed at an accelerated rate and holding the zompony's head in a hoof. “Join us Trixie...” they both said.
The azure showmare gave a scream, running for it as all the monsters came rushing after her. Applejack bit at her tail, Twilight tried to phase into her, the vampires tried to dive and sink their fangs into her, Pinkie Pie jumped after her and took snaps at her with her those sharp teeth of hers, the unicorn having to throw as many smoke bombs and illusions as possible (and turning zomponies' heads to tea cups). But the gate to cemetery was right there! She had to get there and then maybe she'd be safe! She used a large smoke bomb to avoid several of her monsterified friends, feeling (and smelling) Applejack's breath on her back, rushing out of it. She was so close!
So naturally, this being the situation it was, she tripped on a stick when she was in a few feet of the gate. “...Trixie should've seen that coming...” she groaned, rubbing her head and looking up...to find the monsters had her surrounded in a circle. “Uh oh...”
“So...um...who gets to turn her?” asked Fluttershy. “...I can have the mad scientist do it if no one else wants to...”
“Well she IS the only other unicorn, so it would be fair if she became a vampire...” said Rarity.
“Hey! Yah've already got five vampires!” Applejack growled. “Let meh turn her! Then we'll have more Weretimberwolves!” Her packmate nodded.
The group began to argue about it for a few moments until a cackle rang out and they looked over to see a green skinned witch in traditional garb standing nearby. “She already has the look, I think she'd be a perfect witch.”
Dracolt tapped his chin. “Good point. Let's go with that...” he said, motioning for everypony to move.
She slowly approached the cowering Trixie with a potion in hoof. “Time to be a wonderfully wicked witch!” she said, cackling as she threw the potion on Trixie...and to everypony's shock, it phased right through her, revealing her to be an illusion.
“HA! IN YOUR FACES!” Trixie said on the other side of the gate, blowing a raspberry and then running off.
The monsters stood staring for a second before the witch gave an annoyed huff and sulked off.
“...So...how about I order a pizza and we start to make this haunted house a home?” Dracolt asked. “We can get toppings everyone wants on the pizza (no garlic obviously), and me and the girls can eat the pizza stallion.”
The group looked at each other, then nodded and gave words of agreement, heading back to the house as one big, strange family.
A few minutes later (after Trixie had in story ran all the way to the 'safe zone'), the entire group emerged from an Enchanted Comic, unharmed and back to normal.
“Alright, just to check, is everypony back to normal?” asked Twilight, checking herself.
Everypony looked at one another and nodded. “Yeah...”
“See! I told you I could do a basic party hypnosis spell right!” Starlight said with some pride. “Besides Sunburst helped me make it.”
“You think we'd have LET you do it if with didn't trust you?” Rainbow Dash replied with a smile that made Starlight smile in return. “That was kind of fun. Kinda like playing a survival horror game in VR...and then being the monster at the end...only with pizza...now I want some real pizza...”
Fluttershy looked uncertain. “I didn't like being scared...o-or scaring you...but it was kind of fun hanging out as monsters at the end there...” she said with a tiny smile.
“Being a Weretimberwolf was kind of fun too,” said Applejack replied. “All big and fierce!”
“And I looked absolutely fabulous as a vampire,” Rarity replied, flipping her mane.
“I'm just glad everypony seems to have enjoyed it, after all, part of the reason was to get over any potential fear or trauma that our past run ins with mind magic may have caused,” replied Twilight. Mind magic in Equestria was an interesting topic. While it could (and had) been used for evil in the past, there were still a large number of beneficial uses. One of the most useful (and the one she'd intended to use on Discord with the Elements boosting it) was reforming spells that gave a sociopath or psychopath a heart or forced them to experience their victim's suffering as their own (sadly most of the ones it'd be most useful doing it too were too powerful to do it to). Another was more casual in nature, namely party hypnosis. Celestia herself had had it done to her at a royal celebration for fun, and ponies with hypnosis Cutie Marks were regularly hired for such things. Of course, using it to enhance an Enchanted Comic was a new thing, but not a stretch, and made for a good trust exercise. It essentially made for a very in depth live action roleplay.
The lavender Alicorn glared at Trixie. “Which kind of makes you winning defeating the point, doesn't it?”
Trixie smirked. “It would...assuming Trixie had any trauma or fear of such a thing,” she replied with a chuckle. “...She's a stage magician, hypnosis is part of her special talent. And Starlight has taught her many variations of it, which naturally required first hoof experience...she trusts Starlight.”
Starlight blushed, but looked appreciative. “Thank you, Trixie...” she said, though praise and trust weren't the reason she was blushing. The reason she was blushing was the context of some of those hypnosis sessions involved Trixie wanting to be hypnotized into a fantasy where she was the most powerful, popular, and successful unicorn on the planet. It at least let her vent...
“Well regardless, now I can give Cadence the go ahead to try it with Shining, he still has some issues with mind magic after...ugh...the Chrysalis thing...” Twilight replied, giving a small shudder.
“Yeah...Anyway, there's still Nightmare Night left out there,” said Rainbow Dash, looking out the window. “...Wanna give it another try?”
“...Can we just continue from the part where we're monsters hanging out and having fun?” Fluttershy asked with a small shudder.
“...I can work with that,” Starlight said with a small smile.
The End
