The House on the Edge of Town

It was a clear and cool fall evening that one of Ponyville’s favorite holidays, Nightmare Night, fell on. Ponies wandered through the town showing off their mix of hoofmade and store-bought Nightmare Night costumes. The younger of the ponies squealed in delight as they went about Trick or Treating while the older, teenaged ponies snuck about pulling pranks. The sounds quickly drifted to areas near the outskirts of town, a hushed quietness gripping the empty streets. All was quiet save for a loud yelling coming from the center of town. A yelling loud enough to wake the dead which overpowered the natural quietness of the empty streets.

“I’m the bravest!”

“No way! I’m the bravest!”

The voices were distinct and easy to pick out. Once again, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were arguing with each other in the town square. The arguing went back and forth with each pony’s face getting closer and closer to each other until finally, their words devolved into a growling sound with each pony pressing their faces together. It almost looked like it was about to come to blows.

Shortly before the arguing had started the pair had been discussing Nightmare Night. More specifically they were talking about pulling pranks, scaring ponies, and eventually, the topic settled on their fears. Ultimately, the discussion on fears ended as the ongoing argument about who was braver. Naturally, Applejack thought she was the braver of the two while Rainbow Dash insisted that she was the bravest.

“That’s it!” growled Applejack, stomping a hoof on the ground instead of striking Rainbow Dash. “We’ll do a challenge to prove who’s the bravest!”

“Fine by me!” replied Rainbow Dash with a similar growl, a stomp of her hoof, and a flare of her nostrils. Thinking quickly, she came up with the perfect idea. She raised a hoof and pointed to a house way on the outskirts of town. “One night in the house on the edge of town!”

No sooner had the words left her mouth a flash of lightning illuminated the sky and the aforementioned house, and a loud peal of thunder split the night. Both ponies jumped in surprise.
Stories and rumors had swirled around the seemingly empty house for years. As long as anypony could remember, not a soul had lived there. There were stories of strange noises, random lights that would turn off and on, and it was even said that any pony brave (or stupid) enough to enter the house never came back out. Sure, most of the stories had been told as lessons to keep the foals from misbehaving on Nightmare Night, but with nopony brave enough to actually go inside the house there was no way to confirm if the rumors were true. And even if the stories weren’t true, it didn’t make the prospect of spending an entire night in an abandoned house any less scary. Applejack gave an audible gulp.

“Are y’all crazy!? You’ve heard the rumors! Ponies going in and never coming out!” responded Applejack to the challenge.

“Then admit I’m the braver one then! Besides, everypony knows those are just stories our parents told us to keep us from misbehaving!” retorted Rainbow Dash.

The pair of ponies ended up eye to eye again, growling at each other.

“I’ll never admit that!” replied Applejack hastily. “Besides! If staying in that house a single night will prove I’m the braver pony, then you’re on!”

The dark, foreboding house loomed over the pair of ponies, casting shadows over them. The lawn was unkempt, with grass and weeds taking over the entire yard, save for a single stone path leading from the front gate to the front door. Slowly Applejack glanced over at Rainbow Dash, who had the same idea to look at Applejack. They stared at each other briefly before turning back to stare at the house in front of them. Both ponies had a stoic expression upon their faces, with neither prepared to speak as to not give away how scared they truly were.

Both ponies stepped forward at the same time, walking in unison as they traversed the stone path to the front porch. Once there they both hesitated before continuing their journey.

Slowly and carefully they ascended the front steps of the porch. Each step caused the decaying and rotten boards to creak under the weight of their hooves, a few groaning loud enough to warn of a threat of breaking. With one final step to go, Rainbow Dash took a final step and let out a yelp; her hoof had gone completely through one of the rotten boards! Despite the outburst and the broken board, both Rainbow Dash and Applejack found themselves standing on the dilapidated porch. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Rainbow Dash spoke up first, still rattled slightly from nearly falling through the rotten wood of the steps.

“You know,” Rainbow stated, her voice strained slightly with a tinge of hesitation and fear, “If you just wanna just admit you’re too scared to go in, you can back out now, we can go back to pranking, and we can forget this whole thing.”

“No way! You’re the one that came up with this challenge!” retorted Applejack. “There’s no WAY I’m backing down!” Her voice was tinged with that same hesitation and fear that was in Rainbow Dash’s voice. “But if YOU want to back out… I mean, if you’re too scared, I’d totally understand.”

Rainbow simply shook her head and gave a gulp. “Look, I’m scared out of my mind!” she admitted, “But you know me. I don’t back down from a challenge.”

Applejack gave a nod and a gulp herself. “Me too… to both,” she replied. “So… let’s do this?”

“Yeah,” answered Rainbow Dash. “Sooner we do this…”

Applejack nodded. “The sooner we can get out of here.”

Both ponies approached the front door, porch boards creaking with each step. Once in front of said door, Rainbow Dash raised a hoof to knock on it. Applejack saw this and cocked an eyebrow.

“What? Just cause it’s abandoned doesn’t mean I can’t knock on the front door!” hissed Rainbow Dash in a whisper.

“Rainbow, you gosh darn featherbrain! Who in Tartarus is going to even ANSWER the door! Nopony lives here!” hissed back Applejack.

“Shut up! I’m scared and I fell back to knocking on the front door like I was taught!”

“Grrr, you shut up! I’m not the one knocking on the door to an empty house!”

The pair devolved back to their petty bickering, moving about to face each other. But in doing so, one of them managed to bump the front door.

The door opened slowly. Rusted hinges squealed as metal rubbed on metal, the sound bringing the bickering ponies’ argument to a halt. With how easily the door swung open, either it had been left unlocked for years or the lock rusted away from the passage of time. Now unable to say anything with how scared they were, the two entered the abandoned house and began to look around. Applejack went to the left, while Rainbow Dash went right.