The Nightmare Before Hearth's Warming Eve

"Hey you!" Spike called.

"Who me?"

"Yeah you!"

"Couldn't be!"

Spike and a ghostly ghoul stood (well, the latter floated) still for a brief minute, before breaking out into chuckles.

Spike gave a smirk. "I liked that! I liked what we just did there!"

"Myself as well," the ghost smiled, before glancing at him curiously. "Though is there something you and your... oh my!"

"Huh?" Twilight said, noticing that the ghost was now peering intently at her black cloak. "Something wrong with my cloak?"

"Nothing dearest, though I must ask: where did you get that ghastly thing?!"

"Oh uh," Twilight said, squinting in thought and trying desparately to remember where she had gotten it from. "It was a... gift from my mentor."

"Well then, your mentor certainly has good taste!" the ghost smiled brightly. "Might I get her name for a bit of correspondence, dearest?"

"Er well..." Twilight coughed.

"Her mentor is Nightmare Moon," Spike said tersely, Twilight quickly throwing him a groan, to which he returned with a sheepish grin.

The ghost's jaw just about fell of her face. "Y-You... you are... Twilight Soulshard?!"

"Heh... yeah, that's me," Twilight said awkwardly. "But uh... anyway. Do you know where we can find a ghoul named Flutterfright... or one named Scarity?"

"Scarity?!" she said, a grin crossing her face. "You want to see mwah?! The student of Nightmare Moon herself!?"

"Yeah!" Twilight said, nodding. "You're lead ghost, right?"

"Indeed!" she nodded. "I've haunted over fifty-three homes over a course of five Nightmare Nights! I find it gives me time to observe mortals' fashion senses."

Twilight's eyes widened, an impressed look crossing her face. "Wow, that's pretty good!" She then scratched her head. "Do you think you're going to be up for increasing the numbers this year, though? Nightmare Moon really wants to intensify Nightmare Night."

"It'd be my pleasure, dear," Scarity smiled, before giving a brief chuckle. "Hmph, you know, when I first made the decision to become a ghost at the golden gates... I started to regret it immediately. But now days, I've grown to enjoy my time in death. It really isn't as bad as they say it is. Sure... it feels a little cold, but spooking people never grows old! And now I'll have all of eternity to perfect my fashion line!"

"Er yeah," Spike said, lifting a finger. "I gotta ask, and I mean... it's kind of a personal question, but... what kind of ghoul were you before you decided to become a ghost?"

"Oh, a regular ole' witch, dear," she said, smiling nostalgically. "I knew quite a bit of magic, and still do." She then gave a slight sigh. "Though I... just wasn't ready to give it up."

With a flick of her wrist, an old record player suddenly levitated out of the 'Carousel Botique' nearby, before beginning to play a song.

"She's going to start singing, isn't she?" Twilight muttered to Spike.

"Oh give her her moment, Twi, jeez..." he grunted.

With that, Rarity smiled brightly, cleared her throat, and indeed, began to sing:

"It's not... easy having yourself a good life,

Stitching all those generic sweaters,

For those who don't even know what's better.

You think it'll lead to a good time,

But that's not true, it can turn out blue,

Most don't even have a clue.

Ambition takes the soul away,

It can land your life astray,

That's why that one fateful night,

When I met the reaper's sight....

I couldn't decide,

Whether I should live or die,

Though I'd probably go to heaven,

I let my spirit out to fly!

Though my heart now feels cold inside,

Now I have the time to do it right!

Stitch your shrine, work then unwind,

I'm going for a ride!"

At that, she finished up the song with a dreamy smile, Spike giving a barrage of applause.

"Hey! You have a pretty good singing voice!" he smiled.

"Why thank you, dearest," Scarity said, bowing, while levitating the record player back inside her shop.

"Anyway, thanks for your cooperation," Twilight said, nodding. "Do you know where we can find Flutterfright? Apparently, she's head vampire."

Scarity raised her eyebrows. "Flutterfright is head vampire? Well... I suppose there are only about three in town, not counting Vinyl who does more of a horrible music thing every Nightmare Night..." She then shook her head, as if to shake off her thoughts, before pointing in a particular direction towards the Everdead forest. "Well, anyway. You can find her in her hut near the edge of the woods! Nice meeting you, my dear necromancer."

"Heh, thanks. You too!" Twilight called, before moving towards the forest, Spike in tow. "Well, she seemed nice enough. At least she was cooperative."

"Yeah, she seemed alright, I guess. Less snobby than you'd expect of a fashionita. But hey, everyone thinks dragons are horrible, fire breathing creatures that like burning stuff... " He scratched his head. "Well... which we kind of are. So the moral of this story is: sometimes stereotypes are true."

A minute or so later, they had reached the yard of Flutterfright's hut. Sitting in it was a number of strange, beastly creatures. Threstrals (giant, winged skeleton horses), a Felhound (a massive, four-legged creature with two sharpened talons hanging off its back), and even an undead Hippogriff (sort of a bird/horse combo package.)

"Er, right..." Twilight gulped, gazing at the yard warily. "I feel like I'm going to be crossing a mine field trying to get to her door..."

"Just teleport across it, and teleport inside if one tries to attack you," Spike suggested.

"Er... vampires don't really like being intruded on, from what I've read," Twilight said, sweat-dropping. "They aren't as territorial as lycan, but... well... yeah. Plus, it just seems wrong in general... Should we risk it?"

"Oh come on, Twilight. You're a necromancer, and know the crap out of dark magic. You can take some messily vampire!"

"Yuh huh," Twilight said in a not so assured tone, nodding slowly, before taking a deep breath. "Alright... screw it. Let's do it. Stand by me."

Spike then put on a trollish grin, before singing:

"Just as long as you stand... stand by me-"

"Uggggh... please, no more singing," Twilight groaned, rubbing her temples, before the two blinked across the yard to Flutterfright's door with a flash of purple light.

Immediately, she was greeted with all the sounds of hell. As her eyes widened in horror, every vicious animal in Flutterfright's yard turned their sights upon her, drool dripping from their fangs.

"Oh shoot shoot shoot shoot shoot!" she shrieked, swiftly pivoting and knocking on the door.

No response came...

"Uh, Twi..." Spike said, tapping her on the shoulder.

"I'm knocking, I'm knocking!" Twilight cried, still hammering away on the door.

"TWILIGHT!" Spike practically shouted.

"What!?"

"RAUUUUUUGHHHHHHHH!.!.!"

She twirled about just in time to meet the sight of two, sharpened talons bearing down on her, courtesy of the Felhound.

"EEEEEEEEEEP!" she screamed, her horn quickly whirring up and blinking the two away with a flash of purple light...

Gasping for breath, they found themselves inside Flutterfright's hut. It was a darkened place, though the two could hear the sound of something scurrying about their feet.

"O-OK!" Twilight gasped, taking a deep breath. "Remind me never to mess with Felhounds."

"Yeah..." Spike said, narrowing his eyes. "Though I hope vampires aren't as grouchy as you say they are."

"Well... as long as we explain what we're doing here-"

"Grouchy, hmmm?" a soft, though menacing voice echoed from the interior of the hut. "Well that's not very nice..."

Spike and Twilight froze at that, slowly turning about to face two, red, glowing eyes.

"You know, it's awfully brave to disturb a vampire in her slumber..." it chirped playfully. "That... or stupid,"

"Yeah... sorry about that," Twilight said apologetically. "We just need to-"

"Which are you,

Can you tell the truth?

Or are you just a little pile of secrets to boot?"

"Erm... depends on if you're about to feed on us or not," Twilight gulped. "Though the blood of a necromancer isn't the tastiest thing, I probably should add."

"Fresh blood is fresh blood," she oozed, her red eyes beginning to draw nearer. "And now that you've stumbled into this spider's web, I'm so dearly afraid that you, my friend, are-"

"Lumos!" Twilight shouted, her horn glowing a bright purple, revealing a yellow, now hissing vampire before her, her batwings folded at her side.

"AGGGGGGGHHH!" she shrieked, bringing a wing before her eyes. "ROTTEN MOON LOVER! YOU DARE TREAD UPON MY-"

Twilight drew nearer to her, glaring.

"Now then, are you ready to be nice?" she growled. "Or do I need to keep this up?"

Suddenly, Flutterfright lifted her wing, her face laced with horror as she gazed upon Twilight with apologetic eyes. Gasping, Twilight quickly dimmed her horn.

"Oh my..." Flutterfright squeaked. "I'm so sorry! My stupid instincts... I always have to meditate every time I wake up to control them."

"And... you didn't have the chance to meditate thanks to us," Spike said, sighing in relief (for Twilight's sake). "Was a good scare though, nothing like being put in mortal danger to get your blood pumping! Metaphorically speaking..."

"Heh, yeah," Twilight grinned. "It'd be horrible to see you in full swing on Nightmare Night."

Flutterfright nodded sheepishly. "I suppose... but please, let me make it up to you, though!" She then scurried over to one of her counters, whipping out a batch of rotten apple juice and spider-egg cookies and presenting them before Twilight and Spike.

"Flutterfright, you don't have to-"

"I insist!" she said firmly.

Spike held up a claw. "Er, sorry, but my stomach kind of went with the rest of me."

"Well, I guess I can't resist a good cookie," Twilight sighed, plucking one off the tray and merrily munching upon it. "Apology accepted. Though really, it was our fault in the first place... we shouldn't have burst in here like that."

"It's quite alright," Flutterfright said, nodding, as Twilight gulped down a cup of juice. "But... I have to ask, what are you doing in here? Terrorsville isn't known for burglars..."

"Er, actually... we kind of did it to escape your animal friends," Twilight chuckled. "Again, our fault... but uh... Threstrals, huh?"

"Oh yes, they're my favorite little darlings," Flutterfright beamed merrily. "You see, being a vampire, I tend to... stay secluded in order to resist drinking the blood of others. So I use them to keep me company. I wouldn't want to hurt my ghoulish brothers and sisters, you see."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "You seemed to be able to get your instincts under control pretty easily a second ago."

"Some days it's better than others," Flutterfright said, shrugging. "Today happened to be a good one. Though catching me on a bad day... can lead to a problem."

"What about your animals, though? How do you er... resist the urge?" Spike asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"Most of my animals have poisonous blood, or no blood at all," Flutterfright smiled. "Like Devil Bunny here." She pointed towards the floor where a small, black bunny was busy glaring up at Twilight and Spike.

"Er, hi there," Twilight said awkwardly, waving down at it.

The bunny merely continued to glare, before slowly making a slitting notion across its throat.

Twilight sweat-dropped. "Yeah... never was good with animals."

A second later, it hopped over to a black pillow, a pentagram drawn upon it, before laying down.

"Isn't he just the most wicked little darling you've ever seen?" Flutterfright chirped.

"I'd dance with that devil in the pale moonlight," Spike smiled, the bunny making a throat-slitting gesture towards him as well. Spike rolled his eyes. "Pffft, come on, I'm made of bones! You can't intimidate me-"

The bunny smirked wickedly before drawing a small, handheld bomb from a nearby crate in his little area and juggling it with one paw.

"Oh hell no," Spike said, his eyes narrowing.

"Anyway," Twilight coughed. "We were told that you're head vampire, is that right?"

"Mhmmm," Flutterfright nodded. "That's right. I lead the trio of us."

"Well uh... Nightmare Moon just wanted to let you know that Princess Luna has contacted her: said she won't be allowing any more feeding during her night. So if you're going to do that: be discreet."

"Oh um... I don't really feed on other side of the fence, but I'll make sure to tell the others. Don't want any rogue vampires on the loose, do we?"

"That's the idea," Twilight smiled, before nodding towards the door. "Anyway, we'll get out of your hair. Thanks for the cookies!"

"My pleasure," Flutterfright said, smiling humbly, as the two made their way from her hut.

☼☼☼

"Whelp, other than you nearly becoming vampire food, that went smoothly too!" Spike chirped.

"Yeah..." Twilight groaned. "Alright, I've learned my lesson: never break into a vampire's house unless you want to pay... in blood."

"So, what's next on the agenda?" Spike smiled.

"Well, I need to talk with the four some more but... I'm glad we got the introductions out of the way and such. I still need to meet Pinkie Slice, though."

"Speaking of her, what the heck is Pinkie Slice?"

Twilight raised her eyebrows. "Apparently, an undead accident relating to a boiler and a trio of dream demons."

"Do I even want to know what that means?" Spike said blankly.

"Nope. Nope nope nope," Twilight grunted. "Though it is quite wicked, now that I think of it. I thought you loved spooky stories?"

"Mmmmm, maybe later then," Spike grumbled, before gesturing to a nearby, massive, dead tree. Strangely enough, one with multiple, curtained windows and an ancient looking door upon it. "Whelp, there's the haunted treehouse we're staying in."

"Ooooo," Twilight said, her eyes twinkling. "It's as horrible as I imagined!"

Smiling, she led the way to the door, swinging it open to reveal... well... what was basically a library, and a very unused one at that. There were cobwebs lining every book, nearly a quarter-inch of dust on the floor, and ghostly sheets thrown over every piece of furniture.

"Hmmm... It's..." Spike started.

"Wow..."

A beat.

"IT'S HORRIBLE!" Twilight beamed, grinning, as she made her way inside. "Looks like it hasn't been used in years."

"Eh, well not everyone appreciates the art of studying scaring," Spike shrugged. "Most can just do it naturally."

"And I can't do it naturally?" Twilight glared.

"I'm not saying that," Spike grunted. "You can just do it better."

She threw him an apologetic glance. "Heh, sorry. Though that might be a lie. Without the necromancy I learned, I might as well just be a regular ole pony."

"Yeah..." Spike said, glancing about. "There's supposed to be a bedroom, right? I wonder where it's at..."

Twilight pointed up to the loft.

"Ah. There we are..." he said, fluttering open to it, before grinning. "Heh, check it out Twi, bed seems comfy."

Twilight followed him up, glancing at it curiously. "Heh... yeah, but what's that on it?"

She gestured to a book sitting upon it, one with the title: The Elements of Fear.