A Cloudsdalian Hengstwolf in Ponyville

It was the witching hour of Nightmare Night in Ponyville. The clap of thunder briefly drowned out the pretend screams of ponies from all ages alike in the streets outside.

The group of six was split: Twilight lied close to a handful of forest creatures and Fluttershy inside the latter's cozy blanket fort, she'd convinced her timid friend to read some ghost stories together; Rarity was occupied convincing Sweetie Belle to sleep despite her lil’ sis's insistence of her two friends still going trick or treating out there; Pinkie Pie was busy being... well, being Pinkie Pie, going from event to event to get as much candy as she could.

As for a certain farmer, she hadn't seen her friendly rival all evening. Certainly odd. That pegasus had never missed being part of that festivity with them. Perhaps she got sic-

“WAAAAGH!”

A pony's best imitation of a monster's screech suddenly hit Applejack. By instinctively turning her head immediately towards the origin of the sound, her fight or flight reaction subsided as her gaze laid upon the crappiest timberwolf cosplay she'd ever seen, and a half-contained chuckle that quickly became full-blown laughter soon followed.

The prank's perpetrator was not amused.

“Alright, drop it off, it's not that funny!” Rainbow Dash affirmed, trying to get a mask she was proud of just seconds ago off her face.

“Oh, hun, sorry,” Applejack regained most of her composure, “but it's clear ya can't capture the menace those brutes yer playin' as give off.” As if to prove her point, she lightly pinched one of Dash's cheeks, making her blush. The pegasus slapped the earth pony's hoof off her, hopping off the bush she ambushed her from.

“This is bullcrap! I can't believe Fluttershy of all ponies did a better job at scaring you last year!”

“Actin' like ya weren't runnin' for yer life that time, huh?”

“Yeah, well, I-I was like, at least 20% less scared than you anyways!” She averted her gaze.

Applejack sighed with a resigned smile, everything really was a competition to her.

“Look sugahcube,” she began walking out, “if ya really want to frighten me proper, maybe try an’ get the real thing next time 'round,” she suggested half-jokingly.

With a stumped Dash alone, she proceeded to pace in circles, thinking out loud, “It's not even fair, Flutters had the help of all those dumb animals. There's no place in this town where I could find some real freaky beast prop except for-”

Her two brain cells rubbed together for an idea.

“Zecora's house!”

Without missing a beat, the winged menace took flight and went down a familiar zone.

The tepid climate of the town abandoned the azure pony in favor of a colder one as she quickly reached civilization's outskirts, her view then only capturing the wild scenery of the acres of greenery ahead.

As she traversed above the damp meadows' shrubbery and below the canopy above her that obscured the pale lunar light, she had to admit the whole fully natural area was plenty nice to fly by, the classes she never paid any attention to mentioned something about evapotranspiration, high amounts of water in the air causing pressure differences which lead to breezes that pegasi particularly favored. Thinking about it, she was surprised that any of that stuck to her mind. Being around Twilight for too long must've affected her.

The ambience and passing thoughts made the trip feel shorter than it was, and in a tick she could already spot the fancy hut the occultist zebra called home. Her flight muscles took some rest as she landed in the clearing, cantering close to the door to knock on it.

No response. She knocked again. Still nothing.

She wasn’t home.

Dash muttered curses under her breath as she stepped back. No matter. She’d opened that door with mere brute force before… of course, that was back when she was 100% sure the zebra was a malignant foal-eating sorceress. She didn’t have a just excuse to break into somepony’s house this time, but did she need one? She was just going to borrow something of little to no importance for one night, and the only damaged property would be a loose door hinge.

Trotting backwards a little, she then galloped a short distance and thrusted into the air with all the speed she could muster. Next thing she felt was a sturdy impact against her forehead and her entire body meeting the unmatched force that is friction as it crashed unceremoniously against a wooden wall.

“Owww…”

She instinctively raised a hoof towards her head to massage it, only after opening her eyes did she feel some true relief by seeing she'd successfully made it in. There were some bottles and flasks that had fallen off their shelves, spilling liquid on the floor, and the door seemed to be more screwed than she'd expected, but she'd made it. Only that mattered.

Now, what even was there to "borrow"? All that could be seen was candles and potions, and by Celestia she had a worrying lot of those. The only other mildly interesting things were tiki masks of sorts, but they probably wouldn't even scare a foal. There were not many other rooms to explore, if any, so the plan was shaping out to be a lost cause. Dash kicked a conveniently placed wolf skull in frustration and made her way out of the hut.

...

Dash backtracked and picked the skull up in a rush.

“Holy hay, this is perfect!” She squealed with joy, hugging the cadaveric remains but rapidly regretting it after a certain smell of putrefaction hit her nostrils. “Eugh, when was the last time Zecora washed this thing?”

By then she should've known it was the real decomposed relic of a canine instead of the most authentic looking Nightmare Night decoration in Equestria but, as per her unofficial philosophy, common sense could sometimes be thrown out of the window in favor of reaching a goal. Besides, Zecora had no reason to keep part of an animal's corpse in her house—she was no hunter or anything! Even then, she admittedly thought those fangs looked mighty dangerous, though maybe it was but a deceptive appearance; she lightly brushed one of her hooves through the lower mandible's molars-

KRA-KOW!

Thunder struck in the forest, sending Rainbow Dash to a jolt and accidentally making the sharp teeth cause a small cut on her coronary band.

“Ow ow ow!”

Holding the "prop" with her other front leg, she quickly checked the damage: just above her hoof there was a small red gash. It hurt like a paper cut, but it was no big deal at all. At least, as far as she knew right then.

Whatever, she thought, a small price to pay for her little odyssey finally coming to an end. She flew back to Ponyville and, to her dismay, most ponies were already in their houses or heading to them; she correctly assumed Applejack was no exception. Needless to say, it was already past midnight when she took off to those woods... in her defense, she never did check the time the entire evening. Well, she'd just try her prank tomorrow, a late Nightmare Night surprise. Right at that moment hitting the hay sounded like a pretty damn swell idea to her too.

She felt more tired than usual.