Author's Note

Character is a male unicorn with dark blue fur(hard to see in the dark), a messy black mane tipped with red. The red is specifically blood red, also no cutie mark. And irises are also blood red.

The Bet

“So let me get this straight. Nightmare Night is a holiday where ponies dress up in costumes, go door to door for candy, while saying a certain phrase, involves spooky decorations, and is about getting scared?” I asked.

“You got it! Sounds exciting, doesn’t it?!” Pinkie yelled.

“Sounds just like a holiday back home,” I said.

“Interesting, tell me more. I would love to see how your world’s Nightmare Night compares to ours,” Twilight said.

“So basically it started as a way to protect people from evil spirits. Then after many, many years it became the holiday it is now. Dressing up and going door to door for candy. Sorry I couldn’t give more info, it’s not something I really thought to look into. Also back home it’s called Halloween,” I said.

“That’s ok, just from that small bit of information I can gather that our holidays have very similar origins. Nightmare Night was originally meant to protect ponies from Nightmare Moon,” Twilight said.

“I still can’t believe she used to be evil. Luna’s one of the nicest and most caring ponies I’ve met,” I said.

“Thanks to us! What are you talking about?” Rainbow said, crashing in.

“Nightmare Night,” I answered.

“Nightmare Night is awesome! Scaring ponies is the best! I get them every year!” Rainbow said.

“Knowing you, I don’t doubt it. Does Pinkie ever help with scare pranks?” I asked.

“Nope! I like to stick with free candy and getting scared!” Pinkie said with a large smile.

“Alright. Just curious, when it comes to scares, what kind of stuff have you done in the past?” I asked.

They proceeded to explain and honestly, I was disappointed.

“That’s it? Bedsheet ghosts? Fake eyes on strings? Fake skeletons? If we had magic back home, our scares would be way WAY more intense. Though I give credit to the bear in a monster costume plus Flutterbat,” I said.

“Oh yeah? You think you can do better?” Dash asked.

“I know I can. Good thing I’ve been studying up on illusions and hallucinations, cause come Nightmare Night you’re gonna be calling me Tantabus,” I boasted.

“You really think you can do something comparable to what Princess Luna did? She’s a princess! An alicorn! You’ll be lucky to get me to jump,” Dash mocked.

“You know what? I’m willing to bet. 15 bits I can scare you just as bad, if not worse than Luna unintentionally did with the Tantabus,” I said.

“I’m no coward, make it double!” Dash bet.

“Oh! Oh! I wanna bet too! Make it triple!” Pinkie yelled.

“Alright, that's 45. Meaning if I win, I get 90. But if I somehow lose, then that’s 90 bits I owe,” I summarized.

“You know what? I’ll go easy on you, you only have to pay 5 bits to me when you lose,” Dash said.

“Ok, you’re gonna regret that. Pinkie? Your prize?” I asked.

“All your Nightmare Night candy!” Pinkie yelled.

“Alright. Twilight, you’ve overseen this bet. Making you, a princess, a witness. So nopony try to back out,” I said.

“Are you sure you want to do this? This seems excessive,” Twilight said.

“It’s just a friendly wager, right Dash?” I asked.

“Yeah, I just wanna see what he’s got,” Dash said.

“Alright….if you say so,” Twilight said.

“Nice. I Pinkie Promise that you’ll face unimaginable horrors!” I said cheerfully.

[A FEW DAYS LATER]

With some help, I had set up my own haunted house. Using the magic I learned, I casted a bunch of spells to make whoever was in there feel like they were experiencing the illusions for real. However because of what I had in mind, no colts or fillies were allowed in. Plus for the adults, I had waivers for them to sign. I also made some posters to promote it with some help from the Mane 6. Once the sun had set, I stood out front ready to greet any pony curious enough to enter. I was dressed up as Sombra.

“Step right up everypony! Get ready to behold true terror! Enter my house of horrors! I guarantee you’ll run away screaming! It's even more terrifying than Nightmare Moon herself! So much so, no colts or fillies allowed!” I yelled.

I quickly gathered a crowd, including the kids even though I said they weren’t allowed in. That’s fine, they can just stay outside. There was a lot of chatting, so I had to pull out a mike to be heard.

“QUIET!!!” I yelled.

Everypony shut up.

“Good. Now that I have your attention, I wanted to say a few things. Since this is my first Nightmare Night, I wanted to make it memorable. How? As you all know, I’m originally from another world. As such, I wanted to bring some horrors from my world, to all of you. Nightmare Night is all about getting scared, so I hope you all are ready. I guarantee you’ll face more horrors than in any Nightmare Night before. So much so the Princess of Night herself would cower in fear!” I announced.

“Quite the bold claim, can thou prove it?” I heard from behind me.

Luna had arrived, in her Nightmare Moon get up.

“Of course! If you don’t believe me, enter for yourself! After signing a waiver of course. Yes, it’s that intense,” I said.

“Not now, we will supervise the first few trips to ensure nothing goes awry. Especially if a waiver is necessary for entrence,” she said.

“Enough talk! Let’s do this!” Rainbow yelled.

“Alright! Rainbow and Pinkie first!” I said.

The 2 perked up, signed without reading, and walked in, I let out an evil laugh and teleported inside to the observation booth where I could keep an eye on whoever entered. When they 1st entered, they had smiles and excited looks, conversing happily. But after a short while their cheerful expressions switched to confusion, they walked forward slowly as if examining something. Then their expressions switched to horror, they shook their heads and rubbed their eyes. They muttered to each other trying to make sense of what they were seeing.

“Ha ha ha….that’s not going to be enough,” I said to myself.

“Is this really necessary? This doth seem like too much,” I heard Luna say behind me.

Guess she followed me in.

“They agreed to it, and you know that Nightmare Night is about scares,” I argued.

“Very well, if thou says so,” the princess said.

Just then we were interrupted by screams. We looked out the booth, and saw the 2 panicking. Both looking down at themselves in horror and screaming, then they turned their heads as if they were looking at something terrifying, and began to run. I had no idea what they were seeing, but I’m glad it was effective. After a few minutes, less than 10, they found the exit and left.

“Let’s go see if they’re ok, shall we?” I asked Luna.

“Yes, let’s. We must ensure thou didn’t go too far,” she said.

We teleported outside, and saw the two ponies curled up with tears in their eyes.

“So how’d it go?” I asked.

I didn’t get a response at first, but then Dash spoke.

“You win….” was all she said.

“Ok….was that too much? Should I have toned it down?” I asked them.

“You Pinkie Promised….you did exactly what you promised,” Pinkie said.

Was she trying to say I did the right thing?

“You’d rather go through that then me break my promise?” I asked.

Pinkie nodded.

“Ok, but for real. Should I tone it down, or what?” I asked.

“We are heavily considering that thou should stop if it installs this much fear in them,” Luna said.

“I mean…we did agree to it. So if anyone’s to blame it’s us. He didn’t try to hide what he’d do,” Dash said.

“You know what? How about this, if anypony wants to go through the same level of terror they did, let me know. Otherwise I’ll tone it down if you decide to enter,” I told the crowd.

A good majority had already left just by seeing the two exiting, the remaining looked hesitant to engage.

“Now hold there, what exactly did ya make them see?” Applejack asked.

“I dunno, I just casted some spells on the house to make them see scary stuff when they entered. I had no control over what they specifically saw,” I said.

“What did you see, darlings?” Rarity asked.

Dash and Pinkie’s eyes widened and they shook their heads, guess they didn’t want to talk about it. Just then my horn felt off, then there was a flash of light, and-

"What the f-!" I yelled.