"Ah, that rainbow wig just KILLS it for me!" Spike complained, looking at the mayor of Ponyville in her clown outfit. It was Nightmare Night, and everyone was supposed to dress up as something. Apparently nothing the mayor said in an attempt to be scary WAS scary, according to Spike.
Twilight thought for a second, then a devilish grin came to her face. "He never read the spell book by Starswirl-the-Bearded, so he probably never read, IT."
Spike was having a relatively good evening. He found lots of candy-givers, and was snacking on a relatively large candy bar when he saw Mayor, passing out balloons to some of the fillies. Spike shrugged. What was the point of balloons on Nightmare night? "Hello there little dragon," Mayor said as eerily as she could, "care for a BALLOON?" Spike looked like he was about to laugh.
"Nah, I don't want a balloon, this is NIGHTMARE night, not CARNIVAL night."
"Oh, but, I insist," Mayor said with a grin, "take one." She shooved the whole bunch of balloons in Spikes' face, who tried batting them away but only got them to pop. Pop! Spike got something in his eye. Another 'pop', something fowl got in his mouth! After all the balloons were popped, Spike sat spitting in a puddle. Wiping his eyes, he saw, it was a puddle of blood! "AH!" Spike said, looking at the Mayor. But she was gone.
Spike figured the blood was just a gag, and tasted some. His eyes grew wide. That didn't taste like any fake blood HE'D ever tasted!
Then Spike shook his head. No way he'd be scared by a clown! "*ftt* that's kids stuff." Spike said, casting the idea asside with a throw of his claw.
Behind a nearby building, Mayor, Twilight and Pinkie watched Spike.
"It didn't seem to work," Mayor said, looking a little down. "I may have made the fake blood a bit TOO realistic!" Pinkie said bemoaningly, "I should have added more sugar and made it less sweet."
"I think it worked perfectly," Twilight said, eyebrows raised, "we got him to start thinking. If we just keep giving him little scares, he'll come around in no time..."
Spike couldn't help himself. The thought of balloons filled with blood was a little bit more than he was expecting. That made the whole thought of balloon giving an almost sickening twist."What if, what if?!" Spike said suddenly, "what if those balloons were really HEARTS?!"
Then Spike stopped, shaking his head. "No, that's silly."
Then Spike saw Mayor again, giving some younger fillies and colts hugs. That'd make sense, again, for a CARNIVAL. Then Spike froze. As Mayor held one filly, she pulled out something from her wig. A knife! What was she gonna' do to that poor pony!
"Look out!" Spike yelled, running up to filly. Spike grabbed the filly, a little grey pony with a pink princess dress, and set her to one side. "What do you think your doing?!" Spike yelled at the Mayor, who's blade was concealed now. "Clowns aren't even part of a NIGHTMARE! And besides, their supposed to be FRIENDLY!" The nearby ponies looked at Spike with surprise. Spike was apparently uneducated at the fear factor usually affiliated with clowns. So, they thought nothing of Spike's outrage.
Mayor knew this and smiled evilly. "Are we?" Mayor said, then a black cloud enveloped her. "Are is our happy appearance only a DISGUISE! A shroud to cover up who we REALLY are?!" As the cloud started to dissolve, Spike could see clowns all around him, all laughing! Some were covered in blood, others had zaney, crazed looks on their faces as they held either bunches of balloons or knives!
Spike buckled. Any one of them could close in one him! With a mighty yell, Spike ran as fast as his tiny legs could carry him.
The group of clowns stopped. Zecora, who's hair was teased into an afro, chuckled first. "It seems our dragon friend has yet to see, how all costumes come with mystery. What you may see on the surface skin, says nothing of what truely lies within'."
"You know, I couldn't have said it better myself!" Rainbow Dash said, shaking the white face paint off her face and mussin' her already rainbow hair down so it fell about her shoulders.
"That was a delightful prank darling." Rarity said, "though I think I'll keep the facial makeup. It makes me look quite bold."
"Thanks for helping us Derpy Hooves." Twilight said, acknowledging one crazy-eyed clown nearby. Derpy let loose her balloons and nodded with a smile. Dinky Hooves appeared behind her mother, holding her head in her hooves. "I didn't even need to get my head cut off!" SHe said with a smile. Twilight smiled at the creative optical illusion Ditzy Doo had done for her daughter. Her pink princess dress had shoulder pads near the neck, so Dinky could poke her head out of the middle and make it look like her head was taken off her shoulders.
"Thanks for helping me out, guys," Twilight said, looking at the whole group of clowns, which included Pinkie Pie as well. "I'm sure Spike will never have any disbelieve in the fear over clowns again!"
That night, Spike was putting away some books when one fell from the shelf. He noticed it was a book he hadn't seen before, and looked at the cover. "'It'? How original a title is-" Then he flipped it open to the middle, reading only about a paragraph. Dropping the book, he yelled and ran to his bed, dove under the covers, and passed out from exhaustion.