Nightmare Night Bedtime Stories

“Spike, have you seen my book, History Of Advanced Magic?” Twilight said. The purple unicorn stood at one of the bookcases searching through all the books.

“History Of Advanced Magic? One Second,” Spike said.

He pushed the ladder over to one of the center bookcases and then climbed up to the top shelf. Without even having to search, Spike pulled out a blue book with a white star in the center.
“Here it is”.

Twilight’s horn lit up in a lavender glow. The book was snatched out of Spikes hand, nearly causing him to fall. He let go of the book and quickly grabbed onto the ladder.

The book levitated over to the librarian and was placed delicately in front of her. She lied down and then used her magic to turn the book to the first page.

Spike climbed down the ladder and walked over to Twilight, who paid no attention to him. “So what’s so important about learning about history?” Spike asked. “It’s already happened and what’s happened, happened.”

“Because Spike, it’s interesting.” Twilight told her assistant. “Like, did you know that teleportation was discovered by accident when Starswirl the Bearded…”

Spike’s instincts kicked in and his mind zoned out. He began imagining him and Rarity together in a field. The sky was orange like fire as the sun set in the distance. Their eyes met as they drew closer to each other. They closed their eyes, their lips less than an inch from each other.

“Spike!” Twilight barked.

“Huh, what?” Spike said, breaking away from his daydream and coming back to the real world.

“Were you even listening?”

“yeah, of course.”

“Then what did I say?” Twilight asked.

“Something about magic, right?” the dragon said. Twilight rolled her eyes.

“I don’t know why I try to explain things to you.” The unicorn went back to reading her book. Spike walked away and continued his daily chores.

The sun had set, but Twilight continued reading that book of the History Of Advanced Magic.

She hadn’t moved from that one spot all day. The only break she took was when she used her magic to light a few candles. She hadn’t eaten or drank all day either. Although, she hadn’t felt hungry or thirsty for she was so caught up into her book.

The sound of the wind blowing outside the library could be heard from inside, but it didn’t bother Twilight. In fact she found it rather soothing.

A window blew open letting in a chilly gust of wind. The fire on the candles went out, leaving the room in darkness.

Twilight jumped up from her spot, her legs feeling tingly. She quickly galloped over to the window and pushed it shut. It was at that moment Twilight realized she could have just used her magic to close the window. She let out a sigh.

Twilight froze up to the sound of the front door creaking open. “Spike, what are you doing up?” She said. There was no response. The wind blowing could have made Spike unable to hear her.

The door slowly creaked shut, quieting the sound of the wind.

“Spike?” Twilight said again. Right behind her she could hear tapping. The tapping seemed move from one end of the room to another. Twilight quickly turned around to see that no pony as there, Nor any dragon for that matter.

“Hello?” Twilight said. She walked to the bottom of the stairs and saw a shadow moving at the top. Her stomach started to turn in dear. She was afraid to go upstairs, yet she was curious to know who or what was in her home.

She slowly went up the stairs, one step at a time. On the sixth step a creaking sound echoed through the library. Once again Twilight froze up in her place. Her legs were shaky and sweat dampened her forehead.

Twilight waited for something to happen, but nothing did. She continued up the stairs until she was at the top. The room was dark. The only noise was that of Spike’s snoring.

The lavender unicorn looked around the room. Nothing was out of place, no pony else in the room.

“It was probably nothing.” Twilight whispered to herself. “I’m just tired.”

She walked over to her bed and then noticed, sitting next to her pillow, was a grayish-brownish doll with button eyes and dark yarned hair.

“Smarty Pants?” The mare was shocked to see her childhood doll sitting on her bed. “I thought I lost you. How’d you get here?” Of course, the doll didn’t reply. “Well, I’m glad you’re back Smarty Pants.” Twilight got into her bed and almost instantly fell asleep. She had a hoof wrapped around the doll and held it close to her.

The next morning Twilight was awoken by a knock at the front door. She took notice of Spike, who was still sleeping in his basket bed.

She let out a tired groan and then got out of her bed. The lavender mare went down stairs into the library and before she could get to the door there was another set of knocks.

Twilight opened the door and standing outside was her friend, Applejack. But she didn’t look right, though. She looked worried and full of anxiety.

“Applejack? What are you doing here?”

“It’s Big Mac.” Applejack said. “He’s missin’”

“What do you mean he’s missing?”

“Yesterday afternoon Big Macintosh went out to buck for apples to put in our apple cellar, but he never came home. Please Twi, help me find my brother.”

“Of course.” Twilight said. Applejack gave a slight smile.

“Thank you, Twilight.”

“Anytime. Have you talked to the others already?”

“Rainbow Dash is doing a fly check over the town, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie are askin’ other ponies if they’ve seen him, and Rarity is walkin’ around Ponyville.”

“Wow, sounds like you got a whole search party.” Twilight said.

“I also sent a letter to Zecora, askin’ her to search the Everyfree Forest.” Applejack informed.

“So, what are we going to be doing?”

“I need you to company me in searchin’ the orchard. Maybe he got lost or hurt while he was out there. I doubt it, though. Big Macintosh knows the orchard like the back of his hoof and he’s the toughest pony I know. But I can’t take any chances.”

“Well then, let’s go.”

With that the two mares began their walk to Sweet Apple Acres. Things seemed quiet around Ponyville that day. Hardly anypony was outside and those that were out were the ponies heading off to work.

“Look, here comes Rainbow Dash.” Applejack said. She pointed a hoof up at a blue Pegasus who was flying in their direction.

She stopped just over the two grounded ponies.

“Did you find him, Rainbow Dash?” Applejack called.

“There’s no sign of him, anywhere.” Rainbow Dash said. “I’ll keep an eye out for him, though.”

“Mighty appreciated.”

The pegasus took off in the opposite direction. Applejack and Twilight continued to walk down the road.

With in about fifteen minutes, the two mares arrived at the farm.

“Alright Applejack,” Twilight said. “where should we start?”

“I reckon we start in the sour apple fields and then work our way up.” Applejack said.

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Oh, and Twilight.”

“Yes?”

“Try and stay close. I don’t want two missing ponies.”

“I will.”

--------------------------------------

The two mares spent the next seven hours searching the orchard for Big Macintosh. They had searched nearly every square inch of the land, but there was no sign of him.

The sun was beginning to set and the sky had turned a beautiful orange. A breeze blew threw their manes as they began walking back towards the farm house.

“I’m sorry Applejack.” Twilight said. “We looked everywhere.”

“It’s alright, Twilight.” Applejack said. “Thanks for your help. You’re a real friend. How ‘bout I treat you to some cider. I like to have a mug or two after a long day and I’d love the company.”

“That would be great.”

Applejack smiled.

The two ponies were now out of the orchard and over the hill stood the Apple Family barn.

Applejack and Twilight walked to the side of the barn and in the ground was the cellar door. Applejack wrapped her hoof around the handle and pulled. It wouldn’t open.

“Huh, it’s locked.” The earth pony said, “Hold on.” Applejack walked over to a rock which was a few yards away from the door. She knocked the rock over and right where the rock was, was a bronze key. She picked up the key with her mouth and brought it over to the cellar.

Applejack opened the cellar door. There was a set of stairs leading down into darkness.

Just a little ways down the stairs was a switch. Applejack went down the steps and flipped the switch.

Nothing happened.

“Shoot.” she said. “Darn modern technology. Twilight, can you light your horn so we can see? When we get downstairs you can light a lantern.”

Twilight nodded. She closed her eyes and began to focus. Her horn started to glow a light lavender and at the tip sparked a dim light.

Twilight and Applejack made their way down the stairs, the light being only bright enough to see the steps below them.

When they reached the bottom of the steps they noticed that the floor was wet.

“Dang nabbit.” Applejack said. “One of the pipes must be leakin’. Twilight can you light those lanterns on the table over there?”

The unicorn slowly made her way over to the wooden table. On it were three lanterns. She focused on the lanterns and in an instant they lit up, lighting up the whole cellar.

“Much be...” Twilight began. She looked in shock and fear at the bloody horror before her. THe floor was flooded in dark red blood and intestines were spread out across the room. She was speechless.

Twilight turned to Applejack. The work pony’s eyes were tearing up. Her legs were rapidly shaking and she looked like she was about to collapse onto the blood flooded floor.

Then Twilight saw what Applejack was looking at. It was Big Macintosh. Or at least it was Big Macintosh.

He had been nailed to the back wall. His arms and legs spread apart. His stomach and chest region were covered in stitches and his blond mane was braided like some kind of doll.

But the one thing that caught Twilight’s attention was his eyes. They weren’t there. Instead there were two big black buttons.

Big Macintosh was completely disfigured. His mouth had been sewn shut and was forced into a smile. Below him were bits of guts and fluff.

Twilight could hear Applejack hurling behind her. She felt like hurling herself. She turned her head and stared at the gruesome mess one the floor. His lungs, liver, kidneys, and his eyes which were practically split in half with nerves still attached to them, were spread across the floor.

On the wall, written in the blood of Applejack’s brother, was a message of some sort.

“When the colt is too old to play,
He’ll never see another day”

“Applejack?” Twilight said. There was no response she turned around and saw her friend passed out onto the blood soaked floor.

Twilight’s horn lit up and Applejack was lifted up off the ground. “Come one, let’s get out of here.” She took Applejack up the stairs and they were welcomed outside with a light breeze and a sky filled with hundreds of twinkling stars.

She started walking back to the library. Twilight could have brought Applejack to the farmhouse, but Twilight felt uneasy about leaving her alone. Sure she would have Applebloom and Granny Smith, but she didn’t think they’d keep a psycho killer out of their house.

Twilight opened the door to the library and was introduced to a dark room. Her horn grew brighter and then a couple lights in the library lit up.

She stepped inside and the first thing she saw was her smarty pants doll, sitting upright on a chair, facing Twilight and Applejack. Really, Twilight didn’t think anything towards it, except for the fact that Smarty Pants had been in her room when she left.

Twilight brought Applejack upstairs and laid her in her bed. She tucked her in and walked away.

Twilight looked over at Spike’s basket and noticed that it was empty.

A terrible thought popped into her head. What if the pony that killed Big Macintosh took Spike? She shook the thought away. “Don’t jump to conclusions.” Twilight said to herself, quietly. “Maybe he went out or something.” But he never just goes out. “There’s a first for everything.”

The unicorn went to the stairs and down at the bottom step was Smarty Pants, looking up at Twilight.

“How did...did you...don’t be silly, Twilight. You’re just tired and paranoid, that’s all.”

Twilight went down the stairs, turned off the lights, and went back upstairs. She got into the spare bed and fell asleep.

Light shined through Twilight’s bedroom window and onto Twilight’s face. It was bright and made the unicorn have to shield her eyes with her hoof. Her eyes eventually adjusted to the light and she was able to move her hoof away from her face. Right in front of her face was her doll, looking directly into her eyes.

Twilight let out a ear piercing scream and then hit Smarty Pants off the bed. Twilight’s heart was racing and for a moment she felt paralyzed. But she was soon able to move and get out of bed.

She looked at Spike’s basket. It was empty. She then looked over at her bed, where she put Applejack the night before. But Applejack wasn’t there. There were dried blood stains on the sheets, but that could have been Big Mac’s blood.

Twilight started to feel worried and scared. She quickly went downstairs and then dashed out the door.

Panicking, Twilight began asking everypony if they’ve seen Spike or Applejack. But no pony was able to help. She even visited her other four friends and asked them. But they all said the same thing. “I haven’t seen her since earlier yesterday.”

She knew it was hopeless to ask more ponies and that she should just go home, but that doll was still there. It scared her. Terrified her actually. Something wasn’t right about that doll.

Twilight thought of sending a letter to Princess Celestia, but then she remembered Spike was gone.

She groaned. “What am I gonna do?” She said. Then an idea came to her. Zecora.

Twilight Sparkle walked down a path in the Everfree Forest. The tall trees that inhabited the forest blocked out the sun, making it seem like it was later than it really was.

Birds, that could only be found in the forest, squawked and they echoed through the forest. Bushes would rustle when Twilight got near them and at one point she came across a large patch of poison joke, which she had to teleport over in order to avoid touching them.

After another five minutes of walking she was able to see the lights of Zecora’s hut.

Twilight galloped as quick as she could to the door and then rapidly began hitting it with her hoof.

The door opened and there stood Zecora. “Who is outside my hut tonight?” the zebra asked. “Ah, it’s my good friend Twilight.”

“Zecora, something horrible is going on in Ponyville. My friends are disappearing and me and Applejack found Big Macintosh slaughtered in their apple cellar. I didn’t know who else to turn too. Please, help me.” Twilight said quickly. The words seemed to have streamed into one long sentence.

“Oh my. Please, come inside.” Zecora made room for Twilight to step into the hut and then closed the door. “Now please relax my dear, and tell me the story of before you came here.”

Twilight told Zecora everything that has happened up till now. She told her about finding Big Macintosh’s body in the apple cellar in detail, about bringing Applejack back to the library and then waking up to find Applejack missing.

“This is terrible indeed.” Zecora said. “I shall help you catch this fiend.”

“Thank you, Zecora.” Twilight said.

“First I must ask you something, my dear. Have you noticed anything else weird?”

“Well, my Smarty Pants doll mysteriously appeared in my home two days ago. It’s really creeping me out, too. I feel like it’s following me.”

There was a short silence between the two, until Zecora spoke up. “A thought has come to me, for I might know who took those three. It creeps around and silently roams, for the killer is the one that’s returned home.”

“Wait, you can’t seriously be suggesting that my doll killed Big Macintosh, Applejack, and Spike.” Twilight’s heart ached from imagining her friends dead.

“I know what I say is absurd, but please believe my word. Keep an eye on that doll or you too will fall.”

“Ok, ok.” Twilight said. “Let’s say it is my doll killing my friends. What should I do?”

“If destroying it is your desire, then you must cast the fiend into a fire.”

“What, I can’t burn my doll. I had it all my life, it’s special to me.”

“Then there’s nothing else you can do, so watch out for yourself or sure be doom.”

“Thanks for your help, Zecora.” Twilight said.

Zecora nodded and then Twilight turned around and left the hut.

When she got back into town she was greeted by her friend, Rainbow Dash, who looked worried.

“Twilight, have you seen Pinkie Pie?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“No, I haven’t.” Twilight said. Oh no, not Pinkie too.

“Man, I’ve been looking everywhere for her. If you see her let me know, ok?”

“Of course.”

Rainbow Dash took off and Twilight galloped back to the library. It was already late afternoon and darkness would soon shroud Equestria.

She walked into her home and the first thing Twilight noticed was that the door to the basement was wide open.

Twilight gulped. She slowly approached the doorway and then called out into the darkness beyond it. “Hello? Is anypony down there?”

“Twilight, is that you?” a high pitched voice responded.

“Pinkie? Yeah, it’s me. What are you doing down there?”

“It’s got me tied up down here. Please help me.” Pinkie Pie said, sounding like she was about to cry.

“I’m coming down.” Twilight informed Pinkie Pie.

“And hurry, before it comes back.”

Twilight focused on her horn and then it lit up. She walked through the doorway and down a short walkway. The floor was covered in blood.

The unicorn went down a flight of stairs and then saw in horror at the most gruesome sight she’s ever witness.

Hanging upside down was Spike. He was completely covered in blood. Twilight then realized that all of his scales have been removed and his eyes have been gutted out and sewn in their place were two green buttons.

Twilight stepped back. She stepped onto something soft which broke open, leaking out a sticky liquid. The librarian turned and looked at what she had stepped on. It was white with a mesh of green in it. It was at that moment Twilight recognized it as one of Spike’s eyes.

She almost screamed but was just able to hold it in.

Twilight turned back around and saw in a corner a small pile of gore and feathers.

The smell of rotting flesh lightly burned Twilight’s making it harder for her to hold back her cry. Tears ran down her face. Her heart ached with sadness and fear.

“Twilight, you there?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“Yes...I’m h-here.” Twilight responded. She walked further into the basement. She past by tables, which held sewing needles, thread, buttons, and knives.

Twilight made it to the back of the room where she found Pinkie Pie tied to the wall. “Pinkie, I’m here. Don’t worry, I’ll get you out of here.”

“Where? I can’t see.”

Twilight looked at the pink earth pony’s face and saw in horror that there were large, black holes where her eyes have been. “Oh, sweet Celestia.” Twilight said.

“What’s wrong?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“N-nothing.” The lavender pony slowly approached Pinkie Pie. She slowly turned her head and saw that next to Pinkie Pie was Applejack’s corpse, whose hooves were tied to the wall. Her stomach and chest area was cut wide open, but all her organs were not inside her. They were in a pile on the floor just under her. Her eyes were gutted out and replaced with buttons, just like the others.

“Wait, what was that?” Pinkie Pie said.

“What was what?” Twilight said.

“Something moved.”

“It was probably noth-” Something hit Twilight on the back of the head and everything went black.

Twilight regained consciousness. Her head hurt and she felt a lot of pressure on her chest, legs, stomach and head. “Wha-what happened?” she said. She tried to rub her head with her hoof, but she couldn’t move.

A dim light came on and Twilight was able to make out her surroundings. She was in her bedroom, strapped down on her bed.

“What’s going on? What’s happening?”

At that moment a brownish-grayish doll hopped up onto the bed and gave Twilight a little wave.

“Smarty Pants?”

The doll gave a little bow.

Twilight was speechless. How can her doll be alive. This wasn’t scientifically possible.

After a while of trying to collect her thoughts she was able to get some words out. “Why are you doing this?”

Smarty Pants didn’t say anything. Well, couldn’t say anything.

“I’m getting out of here.” Twilight said. She closed her eyes and focused. Nothing happened. “What? My magic.”

The doll jumped off the bed and soon returned with a purple horn with a rigid base.

“My horn!”

Smarty Pants began playing with the severed horn like it was a sword. He waved it around at Twilight like she was some kind of beast and he was a knight in shining armor.

He tossed it away and then hopped off the bed once again. Twilight struggled with all of her strength to break free from the straps.

Smarty Pants jumped back up onto the bed with a scalping knife.

Now Twilight’s struggle turned into thrashing. The doll approached Twilight’s face and readied himself to use the scalpel. He brought down the blade slowly and carefully. A burst of pain struck Twilight’s eye. She let out an ear piercing scream.

Smarty Pants began twisting the blade in the pony’s eye after a bit of torturing he pulled the blade, the eye still attached to the end. The veins and nerves connected to the eye snapped in half. Twilight screamed louder.

Everything went dark on one side of her vision and on the other side everything became blurry.

Blood poured out of Twilight’s empty eye socket.

Smarty Pants, due to his size, had a difficult time pushing the eye off the blade.

Twilight tried to break free. The pain was unbearable and made her feel light headed. But she didn’t give up. She struggled even harder.

The eye finally separated from the blade and went flying across the room. Smarty Pants approached Twilight again with the scalpel.

Twilight thrashed around and when Smarty Pants was nearly in Twilight’s face the strap on her front right hoof snapped and she hit the doll off the bed.

The unicorn quickly undid all her straps and then hopped out of the bed. She was about to gallop to the stairs but something stabbed her in the back of her leg.

Twilight jumped forward and let out a painful scream. She hit her head on the dresser and then something crashed onto the floor next to her.

In almost an instant flames rose up from the wooden floor.

She quickly got up off the ground and limped down the stairs. Halfway down, Smarty Pants jumped onto Twilight’s back. The surprise caused the mare to slip and fall down the stairs.

Twilight felt dizzy. She was lying on her back looking at Smarty Pants standing on her stomach. Flames blazed behind the doll. The roof was starting to collapse and smoke filled the whole library.

The doll brought the knife down onto Twilight’s stomach. A surge of pain struck the unicorn as she writhed in pain.

Smarty Pants stabbed her again and Twilight smacked him with her hoof. The doll flew over to the center of the library.

Twilight slowly got up and limped to the door. She turned around for a moment at her burning home. She watched as Smarty Pants started to get up, but the roof then collapsed down onto him.

“Burn in Hell.” Twilight said and then exited the library.

Outside, Twilight watched as the fire consumed the library. A tear fell from her eye. She sat down on the road, letting the blood flow from her stab wounds and empty eye socket.

Pony’s all over Ponyville gathered around the library and watched the tree home burn.

• One week later

Twilight stood just outside the Apple family orchard. She had a glass eye in her eye socket and stitches on her stomach and her back hoof.

Next to her stood Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity. They looked down at a set of lined up tombstones.

“Big Macintosh
A Hard Worker and a Loyal Brother”

“Applejack
A Dependable, Strong, Honest Friend”

“Spike
A Number One Assistant”

“Pinkie Pie
Full of Laughter and a Friend to All”

Fluttershy burst into tears. Rarity began comforting her by placing a hoof on her upper back.

Rainbow Dash and Twilight’s eyes began to water. Their hearts ached and it was becoming harder and harder to look at the tombstones.

“Now what do we do?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Carry on, I guess.” Twilight responded. “It’s what they would have wanted. But they’ll never be forgotten.” There was a long pause and then she spoke once again. “I love you all.”

All three of her friends smiled and they all gathered in for a group hug.