Fluttershy's friends were a little surprised when they heard she was planning on spending Nightmare Night the way she had every year—huddled comfortably inside her cottage. She had just befriended the Lord of Chaos, they said, surely there couldn't be anything scarier than that?
"Discord might seem scary at first, but deep down, he's nice," she said. "On Nightmare Night, there are too many scary things...if I try to find the nice part of one, I'll be scared by another as soon as I do!"
They had all agreed that was a good point. And so, as the sun set and Nightmare Night fully began, Fluttershy had closed all her curtains, turned off the houselights save for a lamp next to her, and sat down to read, a small batch of bat-shaped sugar cookies by her side.
It was several hours late in the night when a knocking came at her door. Fluttershy jumped, the book dropping from her hooves as she huddled in her cozy blanket. Maybe if she was silent, they would go away.
“Nightmare Night, what a fright, give us something sweet to bite!” a foal's voice called. A few seconds later, the knocking continued. “Hello? Is there anyone home?”
"Go away, please!" Fluttershy shouted. "No candy here!"
"Aww...but please, miss?" the young voice said. "I walked a long way..."
Fluttershy slid to the floor and slowly crept towards the window, raising her head enough to peek out the very bottom part. A young filly stood there, dressed like a bee, with a beehive-shaped bucket in her mouth.
The filly was alone, and didn't seem scary at all. ...and she did have a few treats in the goodie bag Pinkie had dropped off that she could part with. She crept into the kitchen, grabbed a few small pieces of chocolate, then slowly opened the door.
"Here you go," she said, dropping them into the filly's bucket. "But this isn't a home that usually gives out candy, understand?"
"Thank you, miss!" the filly chirped. "Do you think you could help me with one more thing?"
Fluttershy frowned, glancing back inside at the safety of her cottage. But she couldn't just leave a little filly who was asking for help all alone... "Well, what is it you need help with?" she asked.
"Do you think you could help me find my head?" Fluttershy stared blankly. The filly stared blankly back with a frozen smile.
The filly's head popped off her shoulders and rolled down the hill, leaving nothing behind but the stump of her neck. Fluttershy stared for a few moments, inhaled deeply, and screamed her lungs out.
"Ah! Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" a familiar voice said from inside the filly's neck. Her scream slowly petered out, though she still stared at the headless foal in horror.
A moment later, Discord's head popped out in place of the filly's, and he shook himself like a dog, transforming back into his usual body. "No more sonic warfare, please," he said, covering his ears. "I prepared for everything but banshees tonight."
"Discord?" she asked in disbelief.
"In the flesh!" he said, standing up on his hind legs and dancing a small jig. "Oh ho, who knew a pony holiday could be so fun?"
"Discord..."
"So I was surprised when the others told me you weren't out and about!" he continued. "I wanted to check up on you, share a little Nightmare Night spirit..."
"Discord!"
He blinked and fully looked at her. Her ears were flattened, her face was red, and steam practically poured from her nostrils. "Oooh...you're mad," he squeaked, face falling as his ears and horns went limp.
"Yes, am I!" she shouted. "I can't believe that you would...you would scare me like that!" Her shoulders started to shake. "That was...that was too mean..." She sniffed, tears welling up in her eyes.
Discord began to panic. "Oh, um, ah..." He knelt down and opened his arms, offering a hug. She sniffed and slowly stepped forward, accepting it as he wrapped his arms around her and patted her back. "I'm...I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to upset you."
"But you wanted to scare me?" she said, a tinge of bitterness in her voice.
"Yes, but...I thought that's what this holiday is for!" he said. "Ponies scare each other, laugh it off, and get free candy! Right?"
She sighed, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "...Discord. Do you think I'm the kind of pony who enjoys being scared?"
He opened his mouth...then closed it. His ears somehow became even limper. "...no. No, you're not, are you?"
She shook her head. “And a scare isn't something you can easily laugh off,” he said. “Especially when it's cooked up by a master prankster with near-perfect illusions.” She nodded.
Discord was frozen for a second, then hugged her even more tightly. “Sorry sorry sorry,” he said quickly. “I really didn't want to terrify you. I just wanted to have fun with you, and…are we still friends…?”
“Yes, of course!” she said honestly. “You might have scared me too much, but you didn't mean any harm, did you?” He rapidly shook his head with a rattling sound. “And are you going to try and scare me or prank me again?” His head shaking became even more rapid.
She smiled, patting his back. “The best thing to do after making a mistake is to apologize, find out what you did wrong, and do better in the future,” she said.
“Okay,” he said in understanding. “…I'm truly sorry I scared you. What I did wrong was scaring you without thinking about whether you would actually find it fun. In the future…no pranks or tricks. Or at least not scary ones.”
She beamed and nodded. “Very good. Thank you.”
“Well, I have the best teacher,” he said, patting the top of her head. “…so. If you don't partake in the scares of the day, how do you celebrate Nightmare Night?”
“I…don't, really,” she said. “It's always just a little too scary for me. So I usually spend the night inside, reading.” She gestured through her open door towards her couch, blanket, and book, all looking warm and inviting.
“That looks…rather cozy,” he said. He twiddled his thumbs for a moment before looking up. “Could I…join you?”
“Are you sure?” she asked. “You seemed so excited for Nightmare Night…”
He grinned and held up a pillowcase that was bursting at the seams with candy. “You're not the first house I've hit,” he said. “And if I stay, I'd be more than willing to share some of my loot with you as an apology.” He held out some chocolate bars with various different fillings.
She licked her lips. Her sweet tooth wasn't huge, but she did like candy… “You're welcome to stay,” she said, leading him inside. “It might be a bit boring for you, though.”
“I've already found my excitement for the night,” he said, floating over and plopping on the couch. “Besides…a fun book, good food, and wonderful company sounds like a lovely way to spend the night.” He handed her a king-size candy bar from his stash. In turn, she gave him one of her sugar cookies, and held out the blanket for him to share.
The two of them huddled together under the blanket, Discord lighting the room with tiny jack-o-lanterns as they shared sweets with each other. Fluttershy kept reading her own book, while Discord summoned a book of scary stories, which he proceeded to read backward and upside-down.
Fluttershy sighed contentedly as she leaned against her friend's side, a caramel apple lollipop sticking out of her mouth. Discord let out an equal sigh of contentment, and she glanced up to spot a small smile on his face.
He noticed her watching and looked down. “I have to admit,” he said. “This is a pretty nice way to spend the holiday.”
Her smile widened, and she went back to her reading. Perhaps she wouldn't mind spending more Nightmare Nights with Discord…as long as he remembered to leave his tricks and scares at the door, of course.
