Nightmare Night has arrived in Equestria. Foals from around the nation dress up in costume going door-to-door collecting candy while others attend a carnival filled with games, food, and a haunted mansion. Meanwhile, at the School of Friendship, the eight most notorious students are studying for their final midterm exam.
“Okay, what are five small acts of kindness?” Peg asked her classmates.
“Holding a door open is one!” Sandbar responded.
“Writing a nice letter to someone.” Gallus added.
“Helping Headmare Twilight clean up the school.” Corn added.
“Complimenting someone.” Silverstream added.
“Just showing general gratitude.” Smolder chimed in.
“Those are great answers!” said Peg.
As they were about to move onto the next subject, Headmare Twilight, dressed up as Starswirl the Bearded, walked into the study lounge.
“Hey, you guys! Glad to see that you’re studying for exams, but tonight is Nightmare Night. Go have some fun!” she said.
“What’s Nightmare Night?” Corn asked.
“It’s an annual festival with a carnival, and a haunted house.” Sandbar responded.
“A haunted house? That doesn’t sound like much fun.” Corn said.
“Come on, Corn! It’ll be fun!” Sandbar said.
Corn gulped. “Okay, I’ll do it. But I won’t like it.”
The eight students walked over to the festival. It was packed with ponies of all ages as they were having Nightmare Night fun.
“You guys are going to love Nightmare Night. It’s the best holiday ever!” Sandbar exclaimed.
“Is there smashing involved?” Yona chimed in.
“Not usually, no.” Sandbar responded.
“Then Yona beg to differ. Holiday with no smashing is no holiday for yaks.” Yona said.
“Nightmare Night is a holiday for every creature. Don’t worry, Yona. I’m sure there’s something you’ll like.” Sandbar responded.
“Are you sure you want to go in the haunted house, Sandbar? It might be too scary for softies like you.” Gallus asked his pony friend in a sarcastic manner.
Sandbar scoffed. “I’ve been through this haunted house so many times. I’m pretty much immune to it now. But this is your first time. Are you sure you want to accept the challenge, scaredy cat?”
“Who ya callin’ scaredy cat?” Gallus retorted. “Haunted houses don’t scare me. Griffons are tough creatures, unlike sappy, little ponies like you.”
Sandbar just had to laugh at Gallus’s remark. “Whatever, Gallus, the griffon who’s scared of jack-in-the-boxes.”
“I thought you said you would never mention that!” Gallus retorted. He looked like he was ready to fight Sandbar.
“Knock it off! Both of you!” Peg chimed in. “We’re here to have a good time, not see a fight break out in public. Stop it!”
“Sorry, Peg.” Gallus and Sandbar said in unison.
“Anyways, Sandbar. Where’s this haunted house you’ve been telling us about?” Peg asked.
“Right over there!” Sandbar responded, pointing at an old, run-down house surrounded by a metal fence.
“Um, I don’t think that looks very safe.” Smolder chimed in.
“Yeah. Looks scary too.” Corn added.
“Maybe we should go back to the carnival.” Ocellus added.
“Carnival schmarnival! The haunted house is much more fun than some baby carnival that only Gallus would find amusing.” Sandbar responded.
“Sandbar!” Gallus retorted.
“Every creature’s right, Sandbar. We shouldn’t be here.” Peg chimed in.
“If you babies don’t want to go in the haunted house, that’s fine. But I’m going in!” Sandbar protested.
“Who are you calling a baby?” Corn retorted. “I’ll show you! I’m going in!”
“Yeah! Me too! I’ll show you that there’s nothing I’m afraid of!” Gallus added.
“Yona tough. Yona go in.” Yona added.
“Piece of cake!” Smolder chimed in.
“STAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIRS!!” Silverstream added.
“We should probably go with them, Ocellus. Make sure they get out unharmed.” Peg said.
“That’s true.” Ocellus replied.
The eight students walked inside the haunted house. It was an old, abandoned building that was deemed unsafe. Everything about the house was very dated; it looked like it was from the 1800s.
“See, every creature? This place isn't scary!” Sandbar said before he realized that his friends were no longer behind him. “Guys?”
An evil laugh was heard. The evil laugh was revealed to be coming from a ghost clown.
“W-who are you?” asked Sandbar.
“I am Otof, king of clowns!” the clown responded.
“Okay, Otof. What happened to my friends?” Sandbar asked the ghost clown.
“Oh, they’re fine. I just put them with their biggest fears.” Otof responded.
Sandbar started to worry. “You WHAT?!”
“Don’t worry. All you have to do is find them and get out! Piece of cake!” Otof said.
“Okay. Do you know where they are?” Sandbar added.
“That’s for you to find out, young man. Ta-ta!” Otof responded before vanishing into thin air.
“Well, that’s just great!” Sandbar said to himself. “Well, gotta find my friends before something bad happens to them.”
Suddenly, Sandbar heard banging coming from one of the nearby closets. He also heard screaming, which sounded like it was coming from someone he knew.
It was revealed to be Peg, who is afraid of the dark. “I gotta find a way to get out of here.”
However, whenever Peg would move, she would trip over something and fall to the ground.
“Oh, this is hopeless. Someone, anyone, HELP!” Peg screamed loud enough for Sandbar to hear.
“Don’t worry, Peg! I’ll save you!” Sandbar exclaimed in a heroic manner.
He ran up to the closet door and tried to open it, but it wouldn’t open. Suddenly, Otof reappeared.
“You really are a hay for brains, aren’t you? Even those with negative IQ points realize that a key is required to open that door.” Otof mocked the guacamole pony.
“Dude, mocking my intelligence is not cool!” Sandbar retorted.
“Now, if I were a key, where would I hide?” Sandbar spent about twenty minutes looking for the key to get Peg out of the closet, but he eventually found it. Sandbar unlocked the closet door and that had Peg rush out to give Sandbar a hug.
“Sandbar, my hero!” Peg gleefully said.
Sandbar blushed. “Aw, it was nothing, Peg.”
“Now we have to get the others. I do know that Corn is afraid of spiders. Now, where are spiders usually seen?” Peg wondered.
“Well, I went to see my grandparents the other day. So many spiders in their attic.” Sandbar shivered just at the thought of what he said.
“Then we have to check the attic. Come on!” Peg exclaimed as she and Sandbar went to the attic.
Corn and Yona were in the attic. It looked like they have already conquered their fear of spiders, as they have killed every single one in sight. But, a monster-sized tarantula went right towards them. And boy, did he look hungry! Corn shot a laser at him through his horn, but the spider sustained no damage.
“Aw man, we’re doomed!” Corn exclaimed.
“There no way Yona be able to smash big spider!” Yona exclaimed as she and Corn cowered in fear.
Sandbar kicked the door open and karate-chopped the spider into a thousand pieces. Corn and Yona went over to thank Sandbar while Yona gave him the biggest hug she ever gave anybody. She realized however that Sandbar looked uncomfortable and decided to let go. Suddenly, the four creatures began to hear screaming, which sounded a lot like Gallus. They ran over to see what was wrong.
Gallus was trapped in a room that kept shrinking. Suddenly, Otof appeared by his side.
“Who are you? Get me out of here, huh?” Gallus asked.
“Sure, I’ll help you. Just drink this potion.” Otof handed Gallus a potion that shrunk the griffon.
“Woah. Is it just me or did everything get bigger?” Gallus thought to himself, his voice squeaky-sounding. “Ah! My voice! I guess I did shrink! Well, at least it will be easier to get out of here.” Gallus said as he headed for the exit.
After Gallus escaped the shrinking room, Otof handed him another potion. Gallus drank it, and that made him grow back into normal size.
“Woah, that was weird,” he said, his voice back to normal.
“Well, at least you got out of there safe and sound, buddy.” Sandbar chimed in.
The potions began to fizz inside Gallus’s stomach, causing him to belch. “Whoops, excuse me!” he said sheepishly. His friends laughed.
Suddenly, they began to hear screaming coming from downstairs. It was Silverstream and Smolder being tormented by Otof, although Silverstream was much more frightened.
“What’s the matter? Don’t like clowns?” Otof teased.
“I don’t like clowns! They’re too creepy!” cried Silverstream.
“Can you stop bothering us? Please?” Smolder asked in an annoyed manner.
“What’s going on here, girls?” Sandbar asked.
“This clown guy keeps bothering us! Can you get him to stop somehow?” Smolder complained.
“I don’t know if I can, but you can. Just stand up for yourself! That’s what I did when I being bullied at my old school.” Sandbar advised his dragon friend.
Smolder began to gain confidence. “Thanks, Sandbar!” She walked up to Otof.
“Hey, creep! Leave my friend alone or you won’t like what’s going to happen to you next!” she threatened the ghost clown.
“Aw, isn’t this cute! She thinks she’s stronger than the king of clowns!” Otof teased.
His remark caused Smolder to become furious. Smoke began fuming out of her nostrils. This caused Otof to become scared.
“Woah, I can see you mean business. Okay, I’ll stop!” cried Otof.
“Also, tell us where Ocellus is!” Smolder demanded.
“I can’t t-” Otof began before being interrupted.
“TELL US!” Smolder yelled.
“Okay okay! She’s in the basement. I was trying to manipulate her shapeshifting abilities! Just to have some fun!” Otof cried.
The seven friends ran down to the basement to check on Ocellus.
“Ocellus, are you okay?” asked Gallus.
“I guess. It was crazy. I seemed to have lost control of my shapeshifting ability. Then, it stopped and now I’m back to being me.” Ocellus replied.
“Well, that’s good. Now let’s get out of this crazy house!” Sandbar added.
Once they were outside of the house, Sandbar started to feel bad about putting his friends in the situation they have been put in.
“I’m sorry, every creature. I thought going inside the haunted house was going to be fun, but I didn’t realize that it would actually be traumatizing.” Sandbar apologized.
“Well, it wasn’t fun at all! It was really scary!” Corn complained.
“Yeah! I didn’t know what was going to happen to me in that closet!” Peg chimed in.
“I know. I should’ve never took you guys to that house. I promise that next year will be much more tame. No haunted houses! Just games and food!” Sandbar said.
Suddenly, Sandbar’s stomach rumbled.
“Well, speaking of food, I guess it’s time to eat! Helping your friends overcome their fears could sure work up an appetite!” he said.
“I second that! Hayburgers, anyone?” Corn added.
“Sounds good!” Sandbar responded.
The eight students spent the rest of that night at the carnival where they should’ve been this whole time.
Author's Note
Moral of the story: don't visit abandoned buildings. They could be dangerous, or even haunted.