Nightmare Night...
It was that time of the year again. Nightmare Night, the day where ponies would go candy hunting from house to house or scare each other, to name a few popular things. Normally, Star Twinkle would spend this day at home like any other day but that changed after his first Nightmare Night with his friends.
This gave the stallion a chance to actually appreciate the day a little more. He never really had the time to look at the decoration that everypony put all over Ponyville. His first Nightmare Night was not giving him the time for this. He never could take in the scary atmosphere that everyone tried to give to Ponyville on this special day. Needless to say, he was impressed.
Watching all the little ponies walking around in scary costumes having fun was making Star Twinkle pretty happy wandering around town. It almost made him feel bad for missing it all those years before. Better late then never, is what he kept telling himself.
The stallion quickly saw some familiar faces in the form of Granny Smith and Big McIntosh. They were loading some haystacks on a cart next to them. Granny Smith noticed the stallion and waved him over to them. He sensed how he was about to be asked to help them out.
"Hello, Granny Smith, hi Big Mac," Star Twinkle greeted.
"Hello there, Star Twinkle," Granny Smith greeted back. "Be a dear and help us with those haystacks," she said, wasting no time getting to the point.
"Sure," Star Twinkle replied annoyed. He just went on did as the elderly mare demanded. He picked up one of the haystacks and put them on the cart next to him. As he was about to pick up another one though, he quickly noticed someone hiding and shaking under it. "Fluttershy?" He asked confused.
It didn't take long till Granny Smith and Big McIntosh noticed the mare as well. "Fluttershy? What're you doin' out and about? It's Nightmare Night, remember?" She asked.
Star Twinkle didn't even think about that until Granny Smith mentioned it. From what his friends told him, Fluttershy usually spends Nightmare Night at home because she is too scared to leave the house so it certainly was a surprise to see her outside now.
"How could I forget?" Fluttershy replied as she came out of her hiding.
"Then what are you doing outside?" Star Twinkle asked.
"I need to buy some food because I forgot to stock up..." the mare replied nervously.
"But aren't you afraid to go outside at Nightmare Night? Can't you do that tomorrow?" Star Twinkle asked.
"Well, you see..." Fluttershy was about to explain but Star Twinkle was taking a shot in the dark because he had a pretty good guess.
"Angel?"
Fluttershy nodded. "Yes..."
Star Twinkle sighed. He was starting to wonder who of those two was the pet and who the owner. What kind of owner gets thrown outside to buy something for their pet after all?
Having remembered why she left her house, to begin with, Fluttershy quickly saw an opportunity after looking at all the hay around her. "I don't suppose I could borrow a few pieces of hay from you? You do seem to have quite a lot," she asked.
"We need it for the Apple Family Haunted Maze," Granny Smith replied. "The scariest maze that there ever was. Who knows what lurks inside?" She then added in a scary voice, which had its full effect on Fluttershy who began shaking intensely.
"Oh, I'm sure I don't," she replied.
Seeing how easily scared Fluttershy was, Granny Smith decided to get further with her scary performance. "Is that a mummified pony that just leaped out at ya?" She said, pointing behind the scared Pegasus.
"I don't know. Is it?" Fluttershy replied before she clung to Star Twinkle in fear.
"Could you please not-" Star Twinkle said, trying to stop Granny Smith from continuing but the Earth Pony mare was too much into her act already to quit now.
"And what's that crunchin' sound beneath yer hooves? Maybe it's the bones of ponies that didn't make it out alive!"
"B-B-B-B-Bones?!" Fluttershy replied.
"And are those peeled grapes or a thousand slimy eyeballs starin' at ya from beyond the grave?" She said as she literally pointed towards some peeled grapes next to the mare.
"Please tell me they're grapes!" Fluttershy replied in fear as she was clinging even harder to Star Twinkle.
"Oh, I'll never tell," Granny Smith replied followed by maniac laughter which was accompanied by conveniently placed thunder and lightning behind her.
This was the final blow to Fluttershy who was now screaming in fear and ran away from all of this.
"Please don't ever do that again," Star Twinkle asked of the elderly mare. He would like to not get more piled up on him.
It didn't take long till Star Twinkle found the mare again. This time she was hiding inside a barrel, which was still filled with water. Not the best picture of her right now. The stallion helped her out of the barrel, offering her his hoof. The mare accepted, she was really embarrassed and knew how miserable she must have looked to him right now.
"If you really are that scared of this day, then you shouldn't force yourself to get outside. This is bound to go pretty bad," Star Twinkle advised. He was thinking not only about Fluttershy's mental state but also about her safety. The stallion got worried just thinking about it and would like it if it wouldn't even come to this.
But Fluttershy knew all those things already. "I know...it's just..." she said before pausing again.
"It's what?" Star Twinkle asked confused.
The mare took a deep breath before continuing. "I am scared to go outside at Nightmare Night, I'm really really scared!" She said. There was no convincing needed for Star Twinkle though, pretty much everyone could tell who would spend one minute with her on this day. "But..." Fluttershy then continued. "Everyone is having so much fun on this day, including you and the others. Now that I am already outside, I was thinking of seeing the others..."
"Hey, that's a good idea!" Star Twinkle replied.
"You think?" Fluttershy replied happily for the first time which seems like forever.
"Yeah, sure," Star Twinkle said. "I bet you won't be that scared if the others are with you," he figured.
Seeing Fluttershy scared so much was certainly not making him feel well so he needed to help her out. He can't imagine how Fluttershy was hiding in her house every year because she was too scared to leave her house. This situation was making him remember how he used to hole himself up in his house as well. The difference was just that he was doing it willingly and not out of fear, that must be a lot worse. She and the rest of the girls were constantly helping him out with those kinds of things when they met and now someone else needed help, which was the perfect opportunity for him to repay this.
"I was on my way to Twilight's castle, everyone else is there to get ready for later. Just join us," he offered.
Fluttershy liked that idea. It was better than running through Ponyville alone with scary things all around the corner, an easy decision for the mare. "Let's do that," she said happily.
Star Twinkle was happy to hear that. "Then let's go," he said before he turned around to walk towards Twilight's castle. As he was on his way through, he suddenly felt Fluttershy getting really close to him, like a puppy clinging to its mother while walking through a dangerous forest. "Fluttershy...um..." was the only thing Star Twinkle could bring out in his surprise.
"I-it's still a little far so...I would feel a little safer if I'm with you..." she said in a sheepish voice.
"This close?" Star Twinkle replied nervously.
Fluttershy only nodded embarrassed in response as she walked literally right next to him. The mare was still scared, so Star Twinkle couldn't blame her reacting this way. That's what he was thinking at least. Apart from making him feel a little bit embarrassed, she was not getting on his nerves or bothering him too much so he just ignored her clinging to him this close and continued to walk towards the castle.
Later...
The two ponies opened the doors to Twilight's castle. It was very dark in the entrance hall, barely any lights were lit. Given how today was Nightmare Night, this was probably intentional to give the castle a scary vibe. It was a good dedication to the holiday but it was terrible timing with Fluttershy setting hoof into the castle today. The mare was about to leave as soon as she saw the dark hall in front of her and Star Twinkle needed to convince her to continue.
"It's okay Fluttershy," the stallion said. "It's just a little dark," he added.
"Yes but what if there is a monster inside this castle!? We wouldn't be able to see it if the room is this dark! It could jump us from every corner! Or what if the ceiling would collapse!? We wouldn't even know where to stand on to not get crushed!" The mare said in a panic, her eyes widened and wandering from one spot to another of this room.
Star Twinkle had no idea where this was all coming from all of a sudden. Here he was thinking that he was a little paranoid at times but Fluttershy was clearly on another level. It was also pretty unrealistic, something that Star Twinkle made sure to let her know.
"I think if there was a monster in here, Twilight and the others would have let us known that or take care of it already. And this Castle looks far from collapsing anytime soon so I don't think we need to worry about the ceiling dropping on our heads," the stallion explained. He couldn't believe that he needed to tell Fluttershy those things in the first place. Now it no longer looked like paranoia but rather an unhealthy amount of imagination.
Fluttershy seemed to have come to the conclusion that she was maybe overreacting a little bit and walked further inside the castle, she was still clinging to Star Twinkle, even more so than outside, but at least she was making progress.
"And now we just walk around the castle and look for the others, and prove to you that there are no monsters in here," Star Twinkle said as he took a few steps forward, slowly, with Fluttershy right next to him.
"Okay..." Fluttershy replied nervously.
The two slowly made a few steps forward only to stop shortly after as soon as something appeared at the end of the hallway. This something was casting a shadow on the walls that came relatively close to what Star Twinkle would call a monster. Like before, Fluttershy was clinging to the stallion in fear and closed her eyes, as if that would make the monster go away. Star Twinkle kept telling himself that there were no monsters in Twilight's castle but Fluttershy's stories and the way she was acting right now didn't help to make him feel sure about that.
Luckily, reality was hitting the stallion in the form of Spike, who was wearing a costume, funny enough, it was the costume of a two-headed purple dragon. One of the heads being Spike's and the other one being part of his costume, which he dragged after himself.
Needless to say, Star Twinkle was relieved. "Oh, it's just-"
"AAAAH!"
The same couldn't be said about Fluttershy though, who didn't notice that it was Spike wearing a costume due to her being way too scared right now.
After a few moments, Fluttershy managed to calm down, thanks to Star Twinkle and Spike, the later one apologizing for scaring her.
"You think it's scary now, just wait until it's done," he said, as he kept fighting with his costume to not let the head fall down constantly.
"That's okay. I'll take your word for it," Fluttershy replied. She clearly thought of it to be scary enough already.
Suddenly, Spike came to a realization after looking at Fluttershy. "Hey, wait a minute! It's Nightmare Night and you're here and not holed up in your cottage! Does this mean what I think it means?" He asked.
"That I foolishly forgot to stock up on food for Angel and had to go out to get him something but got spooked in town so I came here hoping Twilight had some lettuce I could give him?" Fluttershy replied nervously in with fear in her voice.
"Oh," Spike replied. That was definitely not the response he was expecting. "I thought maybe you decided to come out with us tonight," he said.
"Goodness, no! I couldn't be out tonight. I just couldn't," Fluttershy replied out of reflex. She completely forgot the reason for her visit for a moment.
"Technically speaking, you already are out right now," Spike pointed out.
"Exactly," Star Twinkle agreed. "And you did come here to hang out with the others, remember?" The stallion said.
Fluttershy, while looking a little bit confused still, remembered. "Yes...you're right..." she said with little confidence in her voice.
"Is that true?" Spike replied happily and with surprise in his voice. "Then let's go to the other. I know they'd be super excited," he added.
"You think so?" Fluttershy asked surprised.
"You would make them so happy if you joined in. They wouldn't believe their eyes!" Spike said happily, he already could imagine the smiles on his friends faces. "Come on, Fluttershy, what do you say?"
The mare considered this idea at least. She was here already, so there was no reason why she shouldn't go and at least say hello to her friends. It sounded like everyone was having a lot of fun already, the giggles and laughter echoed through the halls of the whole castle.
The three arrived at one of the library rooms of the castle, everything was dark in there, which was probably deliberately to set the atmosphere of this day. From the looks of it, Star Twinkle, Fluttershy, and Spike just stumbled in the middle of a spooky story that Pinkie Pie was telling everyone.
"And then it got very, very quiet and suddenly they realized the balloons had never been inflated!"
There was a possibility that this story was probably a lot scarier if they would have heard the rest of it but judging from that conclusion alone, it sounded more like a weird one. Despite that though, everyone did Pinkie Pie a favor and screamed, only to break out in laughter afterward. A clear proof that it was not the scariest story ever told.
Rarity was the one who wanted to top this story though. "Did I ever tell you about the night that the mannequin came to life and haunted all the costumes?" She started.
Rainbow Dash's interest was quickly peeked. "What happened?" She asked curiously.
"I just told you, darling," Rarity replied. "A mannequin came to life and haunted all the costumes," she explained, making this story sound even weaker than the last and causing only Pinkie Pie to fall over in shock.
Star Twinkle rolled his eyes. "If those are the scary stories, then I have no doubt that Fluttershy will get too scared today..." he figured, thinking about the mare's well-being.
Without a warning, Fluttershy turned on the lights. "Hi, everypony," she greeted them.
This caused everyone to scream in fear. Maybe it was because no one expected to hear Fluttershy's voice for today, or the "scary" stories that they told themselves so far, but Star Twinkle began to seriously wonder how easily scared the girls can get today.
"Fluttershy, what are you doing here?" Twilight asked, which pretty much took the words out of everypony else in the room. "Is everything okay?" She then asked, figuring that there must have been an emergency if Fluttershy was outside her cottage at Nightmare Night.
"Everything is fine," Fluttershy quickly assured. "In fact, it's more than fine. I've decided to join you in your Nightmare Night festivities," she announced proudly.
Rainbow Dash was immediately doubting that though. "Seriously? You? Out? Tonight?" She said in disbelieve.
"Well, she is out of her cottage now," Star Twinkle pointed out.
Since no one seemed to believe the mare so far, Fluttershy explained everything to them. "Every Nightmare Night, I shut myself in my cottage and refuse to come out until morning. But it's just like when I was afraid to sing in front of anypony. If I hadn't given it a try, I never would've found out how much I enjoy it," she said.
"And we'd have missed out on how great you sound," Applejack added, making the Pegasus blush in response.
It's just like Spike said before, everyone couldn't believe it at first. But once they got around that news, they came to the realization that one of their friends was joining them on this day.
"Fluttershy with us on Nightmare Night? Why, that's positively the most wonderful news I've heard in ages!" Rarity expressed happily.
Of course, Pinkie Pie was looking forward to it as well. "You can get dressed up in a costume with us and play Nightmare Night games with us and eat candy apples with us!" She said in excitement.
"Don't forget the best part," Applejack said. "Goin' through my family's corn maze!"
Of course, Fluttershy already knew all about the maze from Granny Smith, who did her best to make it sound as scary as possible. Too scary, judging from how Fluttershy reacted just by hearing that name again.
"Oh, right. The maze," Fluttershy said nervously.
Star Twinkle quickly signaled Applejack that it might not be a good idea to drag Fluttershy there yet. "Uh, only if you're up for it," Applejack added after she realized what the stallion wanted to tell her.
But Fluttershy didn't want to let her down. "Oh, I am! I am ready to take on Nightmare Night!" She said with some hesitation in her voice.
Whether she was ready or not, hearing that she was about to try out spending Nightmare Night with them was enough for them to be happy. They were looking forward to having Fluttershy join them on this day. They began cheering loudly to celebrate it, much to Fluttershy's despair who was jumping back and crawling on the ground, shivering in fear.
"Uh...Fluttershy?" Star Twinkle asked, grabbing the attention of the mare again.
The mare giggled nervously in response. "Just practicing," she said before she laughed nervously.
Fluttershy deserved respect for giving Nightmare Night a try after such a long time but her friends had a slight suspicion that it would not be the easiest task to make Fluttershy enjoy Nightmare Night as much as they all did.
Later...
Of course, like every Nightmare Night, everyone needed some fitting costumes as well, which is why everyone went to Carousel Boutique. Rarity already made some costumes for every single one of her friends, including Star Twinkle, who was inside the small changing room of the boutique while the girls changed in Rarity's room.
The stallion didn't waste much time and tried the costume on before he walked outside to present himself. Since Rarity didn't expect Fluttershy to join in, she still needed to find a costume for her but once Star Twinkle stepped out and showed himself, she couldn't help but giggle at the sight of the stallion.
"My, my, you look stunning!" The mare complimented. Of course, she would say that. She made the costume after all.
"It does look really good on you," Fluttershy complimented as well.
The stallion looked at his costume as well, and he had to admit that he liked it as well. He was wearing a white armor and helmet, similar to the ones that the Royal Guard was wearing only fancier and more heroic-looking.
"What do you say?" Rarity then asked in excitement. "I did a smashing job didn't I?" She asked as she got a little bit too close to the stallion's face.
"Y-yeah, sure!" Star Twinkle replied nervously. The mare was a little too close for his liking. "It does look really good, thanks Rarity," he said in honest gratitude, making Rarity giggle in response.
From how in awe Fluttershy was looking at the stallion, she seemed to like Star Twinkle's costume as well. "You look like a hero out of a fairy-tale," she commented.
"Exactly!" Rarity agreed. "Really fitting if you ask me," she added proudly.
But Star Twinkle was not too sure about that. "Hero" would be a long stretch for him. Wearing armor like this made him almost feel more like that pony in the black armor, who attacked him once if anything else. Not a really good thought to have at the back of your head while walking around dressed as a knight.
The stallion started to feel a little bit embarrassed to have the girls admiring him like that so he desperately needed to change the subject.
"What about Fluttershy? Did you find something fitting?" He asked.
"We are working on it," Rarity said before she went back to going through her costumes, in order to find something for her friend. Rarity was already dressed for the occasion and wore a sea-pony costume, which consisted of a long tail, she had over her hind legs.
The other girls were not done yet so Star Twinkle had no choice but to help out with the costume choice as well. But Rarity was already going through most of her costumes and came to the conclusion that they were not really fitting for Fluttershy.
"Mummy? No. Headless pony? No. Vampire fruit bat? Ugh, definitely no," she said as she went through one costume after another. "You see, Fluttershy, the beauty of Nightmare Night is that you don't have to dress up as something scary," she explained.
"Example number one," Star Twinkle said, referring to his knight costume which was anything but scary.
"Ooh! Yes," Rarity then said, which is usually a sign of her inspiration hitting her. "This one will look gorgeous on you. Period costumes are all the rage this year," she said as she presented the mare a beautiful, yet kinda traditional looking dress. But Fluttershy did not seem to like it at first sight, which was not unnoticed by Rarity. "What? No good?" She asked confused.
Fluttershy explained what she didn't like about the costume and it left Star Twinkle and Rarity a little surprised.
"What if we encounter something terrifying and need to get away quickly? All those layers could slow me down, or worse, make me trip!"
The first thing that came to mind to Star Twinkle was that she could always fly away to prevent tripping but since this was Fluttershy's first Nightmare Night, the best was to just play along so that Fluttershy would not feel too bad about it.
"Oh. I never... considered that. Never fear!" Rarity said before she turned around to fetch another costume immediately. As she turned around she accidentally slapped Fluttershy with her tail. Maybe it was a very subtle way from the gods of fashion to get back on Fluttershy because she didn't like the first costume.
"Ooh, now this is a real stunner!" Rarity said before she presented Fluttershy another costume.
"I call it "Masquerade"! Just a simple black dress underneath but with this ornately decorated mask!" She explained.
"A mask?" Fluttershy replied confused.
"No?" Rarity asked confused, wondering what could be the problem now.
Again, Fluttershy explained herself. "They can just be so difficult to see out of."
"Yes, but this one has eyeholes," Rarity explained, while even pointing at said eyeholes.
"W-What about being able to see what's to the left or right of me?" Fluttershy further pointed out.
There was no point in discussing this any further with Fluttershy so Rarity decided to just give up. "I suppose your vision would be somewhat obscured," she said before she put away the mask again. "It's your first Nightmare Night out and about, and we do want you to be comfortable."
"Why don't you just pick what you want to wear?" Star Twinkle suggested. He was a little bothered by watching this all without it going anywhere after all.
Fluttershy liked that idea and quickly managed to decide. "What if I just wear the dress?" She said, referring to the black dress that Rarity gave her already.
Being the fashionista, she was, Rarity was a little shocked to hear how Fluttershy didn't want to wear the complete costume but again, she gave into her friend's demands. "Oh, sure, dear. That's... fine," she said disappointed before she turned towards Star Twinkle. "It's so plain, it's frightening."
The stallion smiled awkwardly in response. "Perfect for Nightmare Night," he figured.
While Fluttershy was going to the changing room to put on her costume, everyone else walked into the room with their costumes on now. As the creator of those costumes, Rarity was highly impressed by how good they looked on the girls.
"Oh, my! Look at all of you! My costumes fit you to a T!" She said proudly.
Twilight was wearing a golden armor, which definitely was inspired to an old armor that the Royal Guards used to wear, Applejack wore a lion costume, Rainbow Dash looked like an astronaut, and Pinkie Pie was a disco dancer from times before Star Twinkle was even born.
"Hoo-wee, we're gonna have the best time!" Applejack said happily.
This was also the first time where the rest of the girls saw Star Twinkle and his costume. Rainbow Dash was the first one to show how impressed she was by it. "Cool costume!" She simply said. She probably liked to wear it herself.
"Our costumes kinda fit, don't you think?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah, looks like it," Star Twinkle replied. He couldn't help but think that this was maybe intentional from Rarity.
Pinkie Pie was about to jump over to the stallion as well but the roller blades on her hooves, which were part of her costume, made it quite hard so she decided to simply slide over to him. "Not really," she said as she slid past the two before sliding right back to them again on her way back. "If it were fitting, then you, Twilight, should be dressed like a princess so that Star Twinkle could save you," she figured.
Twilight lowered her eyebrows for a moment. "I am already a princess so I am glad that I am wearing something else," she said. The mare was a little oblivious to what Pinkie Pie was actually hinting at with those words.
Before things became awkward however, Fluttershy showed herself to everyone in her costume which consisted of the black dress that she chose before.
Seeing how something was clearly missing, Rainbow Dash asked the obvious. "Hey, Fluttershy, where's your costume?"
"I'm wearing it," Fluttershy replied.
Pinkie Pie immediately gasped. "I get it!" She said before she rolled over to the Pegasus. "You're a robber escaping into the night!"
Fluttershy shook her head.
"You're a ninja escaping into the night!"
Fluttershy shook her head again.
"You're black licorice escaping into the night!"
Fluttershy shook her head once more before finally revealing it to everyone.
"Close. I'm going to a masquerade ball. Without the mask," the mare explained.
No one really got it, not even Star Twinkle, and he was there when she was choosing that "costume". Still, the stallion was coughing into his hoof to signal that someone should say something.
Twilight quickly got it and reacted accordingly. "Oh, that's great! Isn't it great?" She said towards the rest of her friends, prompting them to say something as well.
"Oh, yeah," Rainbow Dash said.
"So creative," Pinkie Pie said.
"Great costume," Applejack.
It was obvious that they tried to not make Fluttershy feel weird, especially since this was her first Nightmare Night, and therefore, the first time she was wearing a costume. They didn't want to ruin all that. Still, it was a little bit weird.
Later...
For the start, the group decided to go to Sugarcube Corner to play some games. The first game was a classic pin the tail on the pony game, only as Nightmare Night variation. In this game, you had to out the horn on a picture of Nightmare Moon. There were more games to choose from but Pinkie Pie tried to hold off from them because she thought they were too scared for Fluttershy. It didn't matter though, everyone was having fun anyway.
It was Rainbow Dash's turn now. Pinkie Pie put a blindfold over her eyes, gave her the horn, and spun her around.
"Round and round and round you go, where you stop nopony knows!" Everyone said as the mare was still spinning around.
"Okay... go!" Pinkie Pie said, releasing the mare again to let her start.
Of course, Rainbow Dash had little problems losing her orientation and walked right towards the picture while adding a few spins and flips on her way to show off. She then pinned the horn on the picture on almost the right spot and removed her blindfold to look at her accomplishment.
"Good luck beating that, Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash said in a boasting tone.
Next was Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie was about to put the blindfold over her eyes but Fluttershy got a little nervous in response to that. "Well, um, it's just that if I'm blindfolded and somepony were to leap out in front of me, I'd never have the chance to defend myself," she explained.
Again, a pretty long stretch from her but then again, no one was forcing her to play so for most of her friends, it was okay.
"That's fine, darling. You don't have to do anything you don't want to," Rarity said.
"We're just glad you're here," Twilight added.
"Why don't we try another game?" Star Twinkle suggested.
Pinkie Pie liked to hear that. "We don't have to finish that game. I have another one I know you'll love!" She said before she pointed towards the next game. "Bobbing for apples!"
Fluttershy was walking up to the game and to the surprise of everyone, she gulped nervously.
"Fluttershy, what's wrong?" Twilight asked.
The Pegasus explained herself. "It's just that, um... What happens if, when my head is deep down in the water, some kind of scary monster appears? How would I even hear to know I was under attack?"
This was starting to sound ridiculous. "How does this mare live her daily life like this?" Star Twinkle wondered. It could be that Fluttershy was acting like this because it was Nightmare Night and she expected something scary to happen each second.
"Time for candy!" Pinkie Pie then said in an attempt to save the mood.
"It is?" Fluttershy asked confused.
Pinkie Pie jumped over to some candy bags, each of them having funny drawn faces of her friends on them. "I made candy bags. Each bag has been made with each of you in mind, complete with each of your favorite candies!"
Star Twinkle slowly walked over to his bag and looked inside. He couldn't help but try one of the sweets that were inside, one of them being one of his favorite. "Mhhh...dark chocolate," he said in a satisfied tone, making a weird face in the process, which in return put a grin on Pinkie Pie's face.
The rest of the group went to their bags as well, including Fluttershy, who for some reason was hesitating. Something was wrong once again, it seems.
"What if when I'm eating one of these chewy taffies, my mouth becomes glued shut and I can't scream for help?" She said.
The ponies looked at each other confused. This was getting out of hoof. Fluttershy's crazy imagination was almost taking over the whole thing.
Star Twinkle decided to step up and say what everyone else was probably thinking now. "I never thought I would be the one saying that but...aren't you being a little bit paranoid?" He said in the best way to not hurt the mare.
It didn't take long until Fluttershy was being aware of this as well after taking a look at everyone's faces. She started to feel bad. "Oh, goodness. We've only just started to celebrate Nightmare Night together, and I'm already taking all the fun out of it, aren't I?" She said with a frown on her face.
Of course, no one wanted to make her feel bad. "You're not taking out all of the fun," Pinkie Pie said.
Except for Rainbow Dash. "Just, like, ninety per—" She was about to say until everyone shot some glares at her. "...Some of it," she then added, putting it mildly.
It was natural for Fluttershy to be nervous to participate in Nightmare Night for the first time, especially since she was so scared of it for almost her whole life but ruining the fun for everyone else was definitely not what she was having in mind.
"I really wanna do this. But there's just so many things that terrify me about tonight. I couldn't possibly predict what might upset me," she shared with her friends.
The night was not necessarily ruined by Fluttershy's action but some things could definitely be improved. That is what gave Twilight the idea that might help the mare out.
"Unless... you were the one doing the scaring!"
Rainbow Dash immediately burst out in laughter "Her scaring us?" She said before she continued laughing uncontrollably before she realized how everyone was looking at her, asking her to stop. "Oh. You're being serious," Rainbow Dash then said in her realization.
Twilight explained herself. "The thing you hate is being scared, but if you're the one doing the scaring, then..." she said, prompting Fluttershy to finish.
It didn't take long until the mare connected the dots. "Then I can help you all have fun and I can still be a part of Nightmare Night!" She said with a smile on her face.
Star Twinkle quickly thought of this as a good idea as well. "And as a bonus, you won't get scared because you are the one doing the scares," he further pointed out.
It didn't take long until everyone was convinced that this was the best solution for the situation. If Fluttershy was not up to getting scared then she needed to be the one to do the scares.
"You like that idea?" Twilight then asked Fluttershy, seeing how everyone was pretty much on board.
"I think I do!" Fluttershy said happily. "And I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I think I have the perfect idea for how I'm gonna do it!" She said confidently.
"Really?" Pinkie Pie asked surprised. "Oh, this is so exciting!"
Fluttershy then walked outside with a teasing grin on her face and spooky voice "Meet me at my cottage in an hour," she said as she was outside the door just to peek her head inside again. "Oh, I'm excited to see everypony soon!" She added with her normal voice again.
Once the mare left Sugarcube Corner, the group was left there wondering what Fluttershy could have planned for them. Rainbow Dash was still doubting that Fluttershy would succeed in scaring them but she, as well as the others, were willing to give it a try.
Star Twinkle was actually pretty sure that the mare would come up with something good. "Well, as a pony who is scared of pretty much everything, maybe she has some decent ideas," he told himself.
One hour later...
As agreed, everypony was going to Fluttershy's cottage one hour later. After Fluttershy left so confidently, everyone had high hopes of this visit being rather scary. Her cottage, standing there in the dark, was already giving off a surprisingly very spooky vibe to the group. As the group opened the door to Fluttershy's home, they were greeted by a dark and empty room, which, again, looked promising.
"Welcome to Fluttershy's tea party!" Fluttershy said in a spooky voice, inviting everyone into her house
"Did she just say "tea party"?" Rainbow Dash asked unimpressed.
"It sounds like it's a scary tea party?" Twilight guessed.
Rainbow Dash could only sigh in response. She was not looking forward to this at all and could already smell that it would not end well.
"Tea parties can be scary..." Star Twinkle said. From his experience, awkward silence during a tea party could be the worst. That would only be a personal nightmare for him though, and he was pretty sure no one else would get scared by this at all.
"Have a seat," Fluttershy said, inviting her friends into her cottage once more. The ponies did what she said and sat down, waiting for whatever Fluttershy had planned for them. "Don't be scared of what awaits you. Go on. Pass the sugar," she asked of them. Rarity then did as she said and levitated the cup of sugar to Applejack who had to find out that it was empty. "Oh, no! There is none! You're a terrible host!" She added with a spooky voice again.
A clear fall on the face for this scary attempt...
But the scariness continued. "Rarity, put your coat on!" Fluttershy then asked of the mare.
"Why would I do that?" Rarity asked confused.
"You need to cover up because no one has complimented your dressssssss!" Fluttershy said in a scary voice.
Star Twinkle's back already started to shiver, not because anything here was scary but because he realized how bad this all was. And he had a slight suspicion that it was not getting any better.
"Pinkie Pie, look to your left and ask your best friend to pass the cucumber sandwiches!"
Pinkie Pie did as Fluttershy said and looked to the left. "Huh?" She said confused. "I can't. There's nopony there," she said pointing to the empty seat next to her.
"That's right. Because she didn't care to show uuuuuup."
"What?" Pinkie Pie replied confused. It was a really bad sign if even Pinkie Pie was thinking that this was weird.
Fluttershy did not notice how no one was impressed or scared by any of her...scares and just continued.
"A friend who didn't come through. That must scare you to the coooore."
Even listening to her explaining her scares didn't make it any better. In fact, it made it even worse, like a joke that someone explained to you after not laughing about it.
"Quick, everypony, look behind you!"
Everypony played along and did as Fluttershy said. A bunch of drawn pictures were hanging from the ceiling all of a sudden. The drawn pictures were ponies from some of those foreign comics that are popular among a lot of young ponies in Equestria.
"Uh, what are those?" Rainbow Dash said in an unimpressed tone once more.
"Well, the one on the farthest left is..." Star Twinkle started to explain until he noticed how everyone was looking at him. The problem was not the pictures itself after all but rather that some pieces of paper were not scary. "Uh...doesn't matter," Star Twinkle said in retreat. He would have liked to impress the girls about his knowledge with those shows after all. But again, that was not the problem here.
"They're unplanned guests. Your woooorst nightmare. You don't have enough food for them!"
This was almost sad. Maybe if someone was ready to put a lot, and the emphasis was on "a lot", imagination into all of this, then maybe this would end up being scary. But Fluttershy was expecting everyone to get scared by hoof-drawn pictures. Even if real uninvited guests would show up, there was a huge difference in feeling a little awkward and being scared, something that Fluttershy did not seem to understand.
The mare was not even noticing how her friends reacted to her "scares" and just continued. Her next "scare" included her throwing a cat wind up toy on the ground next to them. "Oh, no! There's a tiny kitten that needs a home! But you are over-scheduled right now. You don't have time to help!"
Another poor attempt from the mare...
"Wow...this really blows," Star Twinkle said out loud without thinking, earning him a glare from most of the girls in response.
Still, everyone could understand how the stallion was saying that he was not the only one getting a little bored by now.
"I said, "You don't have time to help!" This should appear to scare you!" Fluttershy then said after she heard no reaction from any of her friends. For the first time now, Fluttershy peeked out from her hiding place to see what was wrong.
"Why don't you look terrified? You showed up to a party and everypony was extremely disappointed in you. Can you imagine anything more upsetting?" She asked in a normal voice, wondering why no one was shaking in their boots.
"It was a really good try, darling, but the scares at Nightmare Night are of an entirely different nature," Rarity explained, trying not to hurt her friend's feelings.
"It was really creative, though," Twilight added. "I never would have thought of... all this," she said as she pointed towards Fluttershy's attempts to scare them all.
"I don't think anyone would have thought of this..." Star Twinkle said without thinking about Fluttershy's feelings again, earning him some glares from Twilight.
But nothing that Star Twinkle could have said would have made the situation worse anyway. Fluttershy was all aware of how bad she was in all of this. "Oh, I'm just not cut out for this. Just go on without me," she said with a frown on her face.
"Oh, no. We couldn't possibly," Rarity said.
But Fluttershy was insisting on it. "You have to. This is the night you look forward to all year."
Pinkie Pie then had an idea. "We could... stay here?" She suggested, which caused Rainbow Dash to immediately throw a look of disapproval at her.
"It's okay," Fluttershy replied in a heavy voice. "I really want you all to have fun. This is how I spend every Nightmare Night. Please go. I'll be fine," she said as she opened the door so that her friends could walk outside.
They didn't like leaving her like this but things just happened and Fluttershy wanted everything the way it used to be again and her friends respected that.
"Eh, it's funny. I actually thought she had an idea for something really scary for a second there," Pinkie Pie said.
"She definitely tried her hardest," Applejack said.
The door to Fluttershy's cottage closed again and Star Twinkle looked back. The last thing he saw was a big frown on the mare's face. He felt bad for her but at the same time, he could understand it. With Nightmare Night being the scariest day, or rather, night of the year, an easily scared Fluttershy was probably not too excited for it. Then again, Star Twinkle was at this point as well and used to spend his time alone at home at this time of the year. Fluttershy was different though, she wanted to spend time with her friends at this day but was just too scared, unlike him, who used to have no friends to spend time with and just accepted his situation.
"Am I supposed to stay with her so that she wouldn't be alone? No one else is walking back..." the stallion thought to himself. "She said she was fine though..."
It was hard for the stallion to decided what to do but eventually, he decided to go with the rest of his friends. Rarity went through all the trouble of making a costume for him and Applejack worked hard for that maze as well so he felt as if he needed to appreciate their work too.
"There should be enough time. Maybe I'll spend some time with her after we are done here," he then decided.
It made Star Twinkle feel better knowing that he decided to check up on her later. He knew that she would be home anyway so there was nothing that should get in the way of that. For now, he focused on having fun with the rest of his friends though.
Later...
The group arrived at the maze that the apple family has set up. After all the talking from Applejack, everyone was highly excited to finally go in there.
"Everypony's linin' up for the corn maze, y'all! Let's go!" Applejack said, keeping the excitement up as they finally entered it.
Star Twinkle looked a little bit worried though. "You know, after our last adventure inside a maze, I still feel a little weird about this," he said to his friends.
Rainbow Dash quickly took advantage of that. "What? You're scared now?" She said in a teasing tone.
Even if Star Twinkle was scared at this moment, he would definitely not admit it to Rainbow Dash. There was no way that he would do her a favor like that.
Everyone else seemed to be excited to finally go into this maze, however. "Oh, yeah! I can't believe we're finally doin' this!" Spike expressed happily.
It didn't take long until someone was greeting them at the entrance. It was a hooded figure who quickly removed it to reveal a horse mask beneath it.
Everyone screamed.
But the screams turned into laughter really quick. It was more random than it was scary after all. It was also a little bit obvious that Granny Smith was the one beneath that mask, which removed the scary factor as well.
The group was invited to walk inside the maze, hoping that the rest of it would be a little bit scarier.
"It's a good thing Fluttershy isn't here because she would never be able to handle this!" Rainbow Dash said to the other.
"Yeah, probably not..." Star Twinkle agreed. Judging from that tea party early on, this would have been already too much for her.
Despite the maze not being that terrifying to the group, some ponies were screaming from a distance so there was still hope that scarier things were ahead of them.
And one of those scares showed itself in the form of a stallion who was sneaking up on the unsuspecting ponies. A mummy! A big mummy appeared behind the group in an attempt to scare them.
"Boooo... Eeyup," the mummy said.
Everyone immediately laughed in response. It was obviously Big McIntosh. And while his size would probably give him some points when it came to being scary, it was still Big McIntosh, who was anything but scary, especially if you know him personally.
The group just continued their way and left the stallion who was returning to his corner again to wait for the next visitors that he could scare.
As they made their way through though, there were some sounds coming from beneath their hooves.
"What. Is. That. Sound?" Rarity asked nervously.
Everyone started looking down as soon as Rarity pointed out that sound. "It looks like... bones!" Pinkie Pie then said in fear, causing everyone to scream in fear.
But Rainbow Dash was taking a closer look at those bones. "Looks like a bunch of dried sticks painted white to me," she said unimpressed.
Star Twinkle's eyes widened in his realization. "So that is why I needed to paint all this wood white at work today," he thought.
Applejack was a little bothered by Rainbow Dash's reaction. "Hey, try to keep up the illusion, would ya?" She said.
Of course, Applejack did not want the work of her family to be in vain but the "scares" inside this maze were pretty unimpressive so far and really hard to defend. There is no denying that a lot of work went into all of this but this was supposed to be a scary maze and so far, the scary was not hitting the group all too well. There was still some of the maze left to discover though so maybe there was some heavier stuff coming up.
The group was walking through some kind of cavern. It was really dark in there so Rarity did everyone a favor and used her magic to create some light. As soon as everyone could see something though a bunch of eyeballs could be seen hanging from the ceiling...which kinda smelled like grapes. This could have been scary if Star Twinkle didn't already know that those were grapes. But despite that, the group ran out of the cave while screaming just to play along.
"Agh! What was that?" Applejack then said out of the blue, causing everyone to stop for a moment. She really was trying to sell that this maze was scary now.
But Spike actually fell for it. "Don't you know?" He asked nervously.
"Uh, o-of course I do. It was, uh..." Applejack then said as she walked closer to the others with a nervous look on her face.
Soon, the whole group was closer together, there must have been something that Granny Smith set up that not even she knew about, judging how scared Applejack was now. The answer then revealed itself in the form of three ghosts that floated in front of the group now. Star Twinkle was looking closer at them to find some strings or something else on them but he couldn't notice anything.
"Wow, those look really good," Star Twinkle said in an impressed tone. "How did you manage to do that Applejack?" He then asked. But all he received was dead-silence in response. "Applejack?" He then asked before he turned around to see that he was the only one standing there now. "Girls?"
Once the stallion realized that he was alone, the thought of those ghosts being real finally crossed his mind. The three ghosts let out some spooky moans and Star Twinkle started screaming before he ran away in fear with the three ghosts following him right behind.
"Hey! Where are you all!?" Star Twinkle screamed through the maze. "Argh!" The stallion then fell down a hole in the middle of the maze and dropped into a dark place. Ignoring the pain from the fall, the stallion looked around to find out where he was.
It was then when a light was starting to turn on in front of him.
"Ahh!" Star Twinkle screamed.
"Ahh!" Twilight screamed back. She was the one who turned on the light with her magic just now.
After this shock, both of them caught their breaths again. The rest of the group was inside this dark room, which turned out to be some kind of tunnel as well, all of them looking around nervously and scared. In the meantime, someone or something was blocking the hole where Star Twinkle came falling through, trapping him and the others inside this tunnel.
"What is going on here!?" Star Twinkle asked.
Soon, everyone was looking at Applejack in the hope to get some answers from her. To their surprise though, she didn't seem any less scared than the others.
"Uh, I don't know! I don't know what's goin' on!" She replied in a stressed-out tone.
"What do you mean? Didn't you help plan this?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Applejack was about to tell Rainbow Dash that this was not the case but she then saw how Granny Smith was sitting not too far away from them in a rocking chair, which highly calmed the mare down again.
"Whew. There's Granny Smith. Not that I was ever scared, 'cause I wasn't. I'm a pretty good actress when I wanna be," she explained as she walked up to the elderly mare.
"Wait..." Star Twinkle then said. "Wasn't Granny Smith at the entrance before?" He asked around.
"Ahhhh!" Applejack then screamed as she ran past the group in fear.
Wondering what this was about, the group looked towards Granny Smith, only to realized that her skull was rolling towards them. After a second of processing what was happening in front of them, the group joined Applejack to run away.
In the next corner, the group was catching their breath again. They were also praying to Celestia that this just now was not the real Granny Smith that they saw.
"Applejack, didn't you know about any of this?!" Spike asked, in the name of everyone else who was present.
"Alright, I got to admit I didn't know about any of this, but maybe they're just tryin' to make it interestin' for me, too! I'm sure Granny Smith or Big Mac is behind this," she guessed.
But that quickly turned out to be wrong as soon as everyone heard Granny Smith's muffled voice coming from above them.
"Are those peeled grapes or eyeballs starin' at ya from beyond the grave?" She said before she started laughing maniacally before you could hear a short "Eeyup" coming from Big McIntosh followed by a scream that some fillies gave from them.
Whatever exactly was going on up there was not important but it did prove that Granny Smith and Big McIntosh were up there and not down here to scare everyone.
Applejack started to become more and more nervous. "That's what we were supposed to do! I don't know why we're down here! This is really scarin' me now!" She said while her teeth started chattering while Pinkie Pie did the same right next to her.
But there was no time to get scared by this because the next thing was already ready there to get them. It came in the form of some kind of green fish-like monster that screamed at them and before probably going up to the group to eat them.
"How did that get down here?!" Pinkie Pie asked in fear.
"I don't know! We are down here too!" Star Twinkle said.
Pinkie Pie stopped screaming for a moment. "Oh! Good point," she admitted before the roar of the monster in front of her scared her again.
"RUUUUUUUUUN!" Rainbow Dash screamed.
That was a word that did not need any repeating. Everyone ran away from the huge monster but as expected, it came chasing them. This created quite some panic and the group could not focus where they were running to.
Before they knew it, they accidentally ran into a big spider web that stopped them in their tracks.
"I can't see!" Pinkie Pie said, who had the tail from Rarity's costume on her face.
"I can barely move!" Rainbow Dash said as she struggled in this web. "It's like glue!"
Meanwhile, Star Twinkle saw how the monster was drawing closer to them, eager to grab them as a snack. "It's getting closer to us!" The stallion informed, prompting someone to do something.
Star Twinkle's call for help was heard by Twilight who concentrated her magic. Shortly after, everyone was teleported outside and on the other side of the web. The monster ran into the web and didn't manage to break through to reach its prey.
"Let's get out of here!" Star Twinkle advised, causing everyone to run.
As it happened, the exit was not too far away and the group was finally outside again. They were all surprised to see that the exit led to a little cliff that was quite a distance away from the maze. Time to wonder how they would get down here quickly enough was not available since the next thing started to appear in the form of a hissing sound.
"What is it now!?" Star Twinkle said in a mix of fear and frustration.
The noise came from a dead tree not too far away, where something was hanging upside down from a branch. A strange sense of Deja Vu struck the group for some reason. It was a pony with bat ears and wings laughing at them. It was a bat pony. This pony came diving towards everyone to attack them, on the second dive, it managed to snatch away the second head from Spike's two-headed dragon costume.
Ghosts, a giant monster, and now a bat pony. Too many things to comprehend that quickly. No one knew why all these things were after them and they didn't know what to do. Everyone was struck by fear and shivered. All they could do was cuddle together and hoping that this was just a bad dream.
Everyone expected another dive from the bat pony but that did not happen. Instead, the bat pony looked confused and hesitant. It then began to slowly float down to the ground and lowered its head.
"Oh, my! I'm so, so sorry. Can you ever forgive me?" The bat pony said in a pretty familiar sounding voice.
Maybe it was the fear that clouded their vision but everyone just now noticed that this bat pony looked awfully similar to Fluttershy. The yellow coat and the pink mane pretty much gave it away but the voice is what confirmed it. On closer inspection, everyone could notice how the ears and wings were not real and that it was in fact, their friend.
"Fluttershy?" Applejack asked confused.
"All those scares just now?" Star Twinkle asked.
"It was you the whole time?!" Rainbow Dash asked.
Fluttershy nodded quietly in response.
"I can't believe it!" Twilight said in shock.
Rarity couldn't believe it either. "That... was..."
"THE BEST THING EVER!" Pinkie Pie added with an added squee.
The fear left everyone as soon as the danger of being eaten was gone and everyone smiled again.
"It was way more terrifying than the most terrifying thing I could have thought of!" Rainbow Dash added in her excitement.
"You out-nightmared the scariest part of the corn maze!" Applejack said.
Star Twinkle was sure that there were many things scarier than that maze but he decided to keep that to himself.
Twilight then finally popped the most important question. "How did you do all this?!"
Fluttershy gladly explained everything to them. "After you left, I realized that I wasn't ready to give up on Nightmare Night. So I asked Granny Smith if I could try to make the maze even scarier for my friends."
"You came up with all of this?" Rainbow Dash asked confused.
"I had some help," Fluttershy replied. The three ghosts from before showed up again and revealed themselves to be a bunch of birds that were just carrying some bedsheets above their heads. "Angel was the scary figure that kept scurrying after you in the maze," she said as her pet rabbit Angel showed up wearing a vampire costume. "Fuzzy Legs made the sticky wall that made it difficult for you to see and move," she said while a spider was crawling outside from inside her mane. "And, of course, Harry was the especially scary monster," she explained while the monster revealed itself to be her bear friend, who removed his mask in front of everyone.
Everyone couldn't believe it. The Pegasus mare that was afraid of her own shadow managed to scare all of her friends to the core. It was impressive, to say the least, that much everyone could agree on.
"Wow! That was inspired!" Twilight said.
"You have to do this every year!" Pinkie Pie agreed on.
Everyone quickly agreed that this was a really good idea since Fluttershy seemed rather gifted in this. The only one who, surprisingly, was not agreeing with that was Fluttershy herself though.
"We could celebrate Nightmare Night together every year. But the truth is I really don't want to," she said.
"You don't?!" Pinkie replied confused.
"But you've done it. You found a way that we can all have a fabulous time together," Rarity pointed out.
Star Twinkle seemed to have realized what the problem was though. "You don't like scaring us, right?" He guessed.
At first, everyone didn't believe that, especially since Fluttershy was so good at it but the mare confirmed it herself. "It's true. While doing all this I realized something. You all may love Nightmare Night and I may be good at being a part of it, but it's no fun for me to see my friends feel like they're in danger, even if I know they're not. I really don't like it. It's just not my cup of tea," she explained.
"Spoooooooooky tea?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"No. Just regular tea," Fluttershy replied with a smile on her face. "We do lots of fun things together, but I'm afraid this just isn't gonna be one of them. Actually, I'm not afraid. I'm perfectly fine with it," she said confidently and happily.
It didn't take long until her friends were all behind her decision. Star Twinkle himself could actually relate to all of that. For him, Nightmare Night is still something that he needed to get used to and he was not particularly a fan of getting scared if he was being honest. Her opinion on Nightmare Night is something that he could understand all too well.
But of course, his friends understood as well.
"If you are happy with it, then we are, too," Twilight said in the name of everyone else before the whole group ended up having a big group hug, including the animal friends of Fluttershy.
After this little adventure, the whole group decided to go home. The scares were all taken care of and everyone had a lot of fun. Fluttershy said that she was going home to read a good book under the cover of her own bed along with her animal friends. This sounded a little boring to the rest of her friends but this is how Fluttershy wanted to spend her Nightmare Night so everyone respected that. And while next time they will probably not spend Nightmare Night together again, it was still fine knowing that everyone was having fun their own way.