//------------------------------// // Nightmare night special // Story: My little Pony: Uncommon Connection II // by Spitfire16 //------------------------------// It was the beginning of a dark and stormy night on Nightmare Night. Near Everfree forest was an old manor. While the building looked intact, there was wood nailed in a few spots on the roof, a few windows that had been boarded up. It was questionable if anyone even lived there. Next to the door was the only window with blinds, although one could see a few openings in them. Inside were spider webs, dust and ruined floors. White cloths were over all the old furniture giving the manor the classic horror feel, creaks coming from the upper level in the manor could be heard. Carefully walking down the hallway upstairs was Trixie. "T-This is nothing….the Great and Powerful Trixie has nothing to fear….a dilapidated old house like this doesn't have any ghosts or anything like that….that w-would be ridiculous….hehehe…. Even if anything were to show up all she would have to do is-" The sudden sound of thunder crashed into the background. Hearing the thunder Trixie yelled and ducked to the floor, cowering. "Huh?" she raised her head, "O-Oh…it was only…..t-thunder…I-I-I knew that…" A dark hoof slowly drifts out of the shadows and taps Trixie's shoulder. Once she felt the tap on her shoulder Trixie stood still for a second before very slowly turning her head to the source of the hoof. Upon turning the view changes to a look outside the mansion while Trixie's screaming is heard, echoing throughout the local forest area. What happened to Trixie was unknown... Nightmare Night.... A few hours later on the same stormy night a knocking on the manor's door echoes throughout old run down house. No reply came from the house and the door slowly creaked open. Peeking into the manor was André. "Hmm…" he pondered as he checked the inside, "okay. It's all clear." Following behind him was Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Babe and a shaking Fluttershy. They were all wet from the rain. Each step they took mud followed behind from their shoes and hooves. They all walked until they got to the foyer. There was a fireplace with a burning fire, already lit. There were chairs and tables around, stairs and doorways leading to different parts of the manor. "Do you think it's okay to just barge in?" Twilight asked the others feeling as if they were intruding. "It's that or the hurricane out there." Babe replied, "I'm sure it's fine." Twilight dismissed Babe's notion by shaking her head, "Not that. I mean is it alright for us to just barge into somepony's home like this?" "Someone's home?" Babe questioned as he looked around, it was pretty obvious there was nobody living in the manor. "Twilight, this place is deserted. We're probably the only ones here." "But there's a fire in the fireplace." Twilight pointed out to Babe. André and Rainbow Dash were standing by the fire to dry themselves off from the rain downpour. "That's just our luck, then." André replied to Twilight's observation, "It's nice and warm." He rubbed his freezing hands together. "Yeah" Rainbow agreed as she also enjoyed the warmth of the well-lit fire. She stretched before shaking herself dry, the water from her coat splashing onto André who tried to shield himself. "Hey!" he shouted. Rainbow giggled at André "Oops. Sorry about that." "Yeah, yeah" André smirked tediously, "very funny Rainbow." As Rainbow Dash and André continued drying off Babe looked around the foyer after noticing they were one head short, "Where'd Fluttershy go?" he asked his three friends. The four looked around until Twilight spotted Fluttershy's shaking pink tail under one of the covered tables. Twilight used her magic to pull Fluttershy from under the table. Babe approached the shaking pegasus, "What's wrong Fluttershy?" "T-This spooky old house is what's wrong!" "Spooky?" Babe questioned with a slight chuckle in tone, "But it's just some abandoned house." "It doesn't look like anypony else's around, either." Rainbow Dash added. Nothing her friends said would convince her, "Still…it's Nightmare Night and…s-scary things go bump in the night..." she said to the group in a cowardly fashion. "Don't worry about it." Twilight said as she approached her timid friend, "Nightmare Night's nothing to be afraid of. Besides, we can't make it back home in this storm. We just have to wait it out here." Babe nodded, "Yeah. Nothing bad is going to hap-" "AAAHHH!" a loud yell echoed throughout the manor taking Twilight and the others by complete surprise. Fluttershy quickly dove under another in fear, "W-W-W-What was that?!" she asked frantically, barely finding the courage to speak. "Somepony's here," Twilight stated to the group, "and they sound like they're in trouble!" "But where are they?" Babe asked. "It came from upstairs." André said as he looked around cautiously. "Well gang, it looks like we've got a mystery on our hooves." Rainbow bravely spoke up, "Let's split up!" "Good idea." Twilight agreed. Babe eyed the two in doubt. "It is?" he was against the idea but didn't want to show it. "Rainbow Dash, you search the west wing. Babe and I will search the north wing. André, you take Fluttershy and search the east wing. If anything happens we'll meet back here. Everypony understand?" "Roger!" Rainbow nodded. Babe placed his hands in his pockets. "Got it." He calmly stated. "I guess." André said rather reluctantly. "But why do I have to look after Fluttershy?" Twilight walked over to André and signaled him to crouch down to her level. "Don't let her hear you." Twilight whispered in André's ear, "You're the one who understands Fluttershy the best. Calming her down when she gets scared seems right up your alley." André understood and nodded responsibly. "Good." Twilight perked up with a smile. "Now, let's go!" Rainbow, Twilight and Babe all went out to investigate their assigned locations in the manor. Fluttershy was still cowering underneath the table. André went over to the table standing at Fluttershy's tail. "Hey, Fluttershy, follow me. We have a pony to find." "I don't wanna!" Fluttershy yelled out from under the table. André raised an eyebrow. "You don't wanna? But we've gotta." "No we don't! We can leave!" She argued. "But Fluttershy, all the others have gone to see who was screaming. We can't leave and let them down." Fluttershy remained quiet. "And you're not alone." André continued, "I'll be with you. I won't let anything happen to you, Fluttershy. I swear." After thinking for a few seconds Fluttershy crawls back from under the table and faces André. "Does that mean you'll come with me?" he asked with hope. Fluttershy slowly nodded. "Yes... Sorry that you're stuck with such a scaredy-pony like me…" she lowered her head regrettably. "I'm sure you'd rather be with Rainbow Dash…" André chuckled. "You don't have to apologize. I enjoy being around you as much as Babe does." "Really…?" Fluttershy asked as she looked up at her human companion. "Yeah." André smiled at her as he stroked her mane gently. "Let's get searching." The two now began their search in the east end of the manor. They headed up a flight of stairs with André leading. They pass by a multitude of picture frames on the wall. They all had strange and creepy looking ponies on them. It appears as if the pictures were watching them. André didn't bother looking at the pictures as he continued climbing the stairs, Fluttershy however noticed this but kept following behind André. "K-Keep it together…Fluttershy….keep it t-together…." "See anything unusual?" André asked as he walked passed a mirror. Fluttershy was approaching the same mirror. "Um-" she turned her head and saw her own reflection. "AAHH!" She screamed in horror. "Fluttershy!" André quickly goes back to check on Fluttershy. "What's wrong?" Once he looks at the mirror and back at Fluttershy he realized that she was frightened by her own reflection. He could only sigh. Fluttershy blushed in embarrassment. "Hehe…oops." "Quit messing around Fluttershy." André continued down the hall. "Come on, there's nothing to be afraid of." Fluttershy inhaled then exhaled to catch her nerves. "Of course." She replied, she looked back at her reflection thinking how silly it was to be afraid of herself, she giggled "…scared of my own reflection, how-" The reflection in the mirror suddenly began to move even when Fluttershy didn't. Fluttershy shook her head thinking she was seeing things and stares into the mirror again. After staring at it for a few more seconds the reflection in the mirror began to put on a slow grin while her mane covers her face. The reflection crawled from out of the mirror while singing a very disturbing tune... "Fluttershy…Fluttershy…Fluttershy, can hardly fly…." Fluttershy looked in horror before screaming at the top of her lungs. Meanwhile in the other side of the manor Rainbow Dash heard the sound of screams. "Huh? That scream sounded like Fluttershy. Ugh, figures. Anything can scare that pony." She started to fly down the hallway. "I mean, seriously, there's nothing to be afraid of in this place. It's boring!" At the end of the hallway Rainbow turns the corner and looks down the next hallway seeing more room doors. As she continued to walk down the hall she noticed a lonely book lying on the carpet, the book was being shined on through the windows by the moons light. "A book?" Rainbow questioned. "I wonder if it's a Daring Do book…" she walked over to the book, curious to know what it was. "Huh? 'Cupcakes'…? Ugh, lame, I was hoping for Daring Do and the Stone of Eons. Hey, wait a second..." it didn't take her long to notice that Pinkie Pie was on the cover of the book. "Pinkie Pie…? When did she write a book?" Meanwhile in the north end of the manor Twilight continued her search for the pony screams the gang heard earlier. "Nothing but a dining room." Twilight observed. "What do you think Babe?" there was no reply, Twilight checked her surroundings and saw that Babe was nowhere to be found. "Um, Babe, where are you?" Still no answer came but a sound coming from the kitchen filled the room. Twilight flinched at the sounds and looked at the kitchen doorway. The sounds got louder and louder. The sounds went from clanking and clattering to the sound of approaching footsteps. "W-Who's there?" Twilight gulped. Tap…tap…. "Don't come any closer…." Tap….tap…. "I'm warning-" Before Twilight finished her sentence Babe walked out of the shadows. "Yo, Twilight, this place is great." He said while chewing on some of the food he found. "This place's snacks are the bomb! We should live in here." "Oh, Babe. That was you making all those noises inside the kitchen?" "Yeah. I was hungry." Twilight placed her hoof on her forehead in relief. "Oh, heh… I should've known." "What? You think it was ghosts or something?" Twilight giggled when Babe mentioned ghosts, "At first, yeah… It's sort of silly for me to think that, huh?" Babe shook his head. "Nope." "Really? Why's that?" Twilight asked. Babe smiled and closed his eyes. What happens next was terrifying, his head began turning in 360 degrees. The sound of bone cracking completes the rather horrifying sight. Twilight's jaw dropped and her eyes shrunk. Once Babe's neck finished turning and got back to normal it was shown that his eyes and mouth were emitting some strange white light. The sounds of faint static like screaming was coming from his opened mouth. Twilight was struck in fear… "It's coming…" Babe said in a sadistic voice as he remained still in front of Twilight. Twilight was so horrified by what she saw she could barely move and couldn't find words to express the horrors she was seeing. "It's here….." Babe suddenly appeared behind Twilight. Without even giving anything any second thought Twilight quickly ran out of dining area. Not too long later Fluttershy was still shaken up from what she had seen in the mirror earlier. She was closely watching behind herself to make sure nothing was following her, not paying attention to where she was walking. "A-André….I think something is going on in this house." André taps on Fluttershy's shoulder and she looked up at him. "BOO!" André jumped at her with a white table cloth over his head, giving him the appearance of a ghost. "AAAAHHHH!" Fluttershy screamed in fear. André removed the cloth from over his head and started to laugh while Fluttershy nearly turned pale thinking he was really a ghost. It took Fluttershy a second to realize André pranked her. "ANDRÉ!" He continued laughing, unable to help himself. "Why'd you scare me like that?!" André placed the cloth on the floor and wiped the tear out of his eye. "I'm sorry Fluttershy," he continued laughing "You were open." Fluttershy didn't get what was so funny and she unknowingly gave André the….stare…..the prankster automatically felt a shiver down his spine when she gave him the stare. He quickly stopped laughing and put on a serious yet still intimidated composure. "I'm sorry Fluttershy. I swear that I won't scare you again." "Good." She stomped her hoof making André flinch, "You could've scared me death! I hope you've learned something." "Yes ma'am." he lowered his head in shame. Clank! "What was that?" André asked himself as he looked around for the metal clanking noise. Clank! This time Fluttershy heard the sound. She squealed in a panic. André and Fluttershy looked down the hallway and the saw the shadow of walking armor on the wall at the end of the moonlit hallway. "Something's coming…" André said in a tone to keep Fluttershy calm, "What is that…?" Despite André trying to keep Fluttershy calm she responded with a horrified "RUN!" "Run?" André questioned as he looked back at the scared pegasus. Fluttershy blindly runs in the other direction it didn't take long until she ran into another set of armor that was mysteriously stationary in the center of the hallway. "Oh no," she said as she saw the metal armor in from of her, slowly looking up to the armor's head "oh dear…" Glowing green eyes came from the helmet plating. "T-there's a monster that way too!" Fluttershy jumps onto her friend and unintentionally tackles him to the floor, tightly wrapping her arms around him, shaking in fear. The two metal armors had the two cornered in the hallway as they slowly approached from both sides. André noticed a door right across from where he and Fluttershy were sitting. "W-What'll we do!?" she asked with her face buried in André's chest. André stands up while still holding Fluttershy. He went over to the door and opened it. Seeing that it was an empty with a light switch above he turned the light on and put Fluttershy into the closet. She could only look at him as he placed his hand back on the door. "No matter what happens, stay in there, Fluttershy." Fluttershy extended her hoof out to André only for him to close the door. After putting Fluttershy in the safety of the closet he puts his back against the door to make sure none of the suits of armor would get the chance to get inside the closet. "What are you doing?!" Fluttershy asked as she pounded against the wooden door. "Open the door!" "I'll lure these guys as far away from you as possible!" André spoke from behind the door "When they're gone run as fast as you can back to the foyer and get the others!" Fluttershy remained quiet. She wanted to help but knew there would be little to nothing she could do. "Just sit tight in there and wait a few minutes before you go. They're here – I have to go. Come on, come at me, bro!" Clank, clank, clank! The metal footsteps got closer. "Over here! Follow me, you stupid metal monsters!" André's voice got lower and lower as he ran farther away from the closest. Clank, clank, clank! The footsteps followed after him. "No…" Fluttershy lowered her head, her mane covering over her eyes. She felt helpless and weak not being able to help. "Twilight…Babe…Rainbow Dash…where are you guys?!" A door to one of the rooms slowly opened. Twilight poked her head into the room to check for danger. "H-Hello? I-Is anypony….in here, Rainbow D-Dash, André, Babe, Fluttershy?" she called out as she turned on the lights "There, that's better…" The lights flicker on and off before going completely off leaving Twilight alone in the dark. "What the – oh, not now…." Two glowing circles appeared in the darkness and a larger circle appeared below the two smaller circles. A quiet eerie version of the lullaby song Twinkle, twinkle little star begins to play. "Twinkle….twinkle….little….star" "W-Who's that?" Twilight asked frantically. The two smaller circles begin fading in and out as if they were eyeballs blinking and while the lullaby was coming from the circle below. The circle was moving in sync with the song as if it was someone singing. "How I wonder what you are….up above the world so high…..like a diamond….in the sky…." "Babe?" Twilight questioned the only possible person that could be behind this "This isn't funny…." "When the blazing sun is gone…." The singing continued as Twilight backed away "When the nothing shines upon…" Twilight continued to back away until her flank hit the room's door, she had nowhere else to go. "Then you show your little light…." The three circles disappear and the room is completely dark again. Soon the TV is turned on and gives the room light. Twilight briefly covered her face from the brightness of the TV. Once she puts her hoof down she saw that Babe was sitting in a chair directly in front of the TV that was displaying static. "B-Babe…" A forced smile formed on Twilight's face as she saw the back of her friend. "…." He didn't reply. Twilight started to take slow steps forward "What're you doing here?" "…." Still no reply. "We've got to find André and the others, and get out of here!" Before Twilight could get any closer the door to the room is opened. Twilight turned around and cried out in horror but much to her surprise Babe was standing in the doorway. "Twilight?" The lavender unicorn's eyes shrunk "Babe?" she couldn't believe her eyes, there were two Babes and her mind just couldn't comprehend what was going on. "Yo, where've you been? I've been looking everywhere for you." "B-B-B-B-B-BUT….you were just-" Twilight looks over to the chair and saw that no one was sitting in the chair. Babe didn't see anything and was confused by what Twilight was trying to show him. "But…there was…you were…" Babe held the door open for the scared mare "Twilight, c'mon. I don't need you wandering off like that." Twilight didn't say anything she just left out the room not wanting to even think about who could've been sitting in the chair assuming there was somebody there in the first place. Babe noticed the television as well and saw the static "Why were you watching static?" Babe questioned Twilight as he closed the door. Right after the two left the room 'Babe' reappears in the chair directly in front of the TV. The TV then appears to have turned itself off afterwards leaving whoever the human figure was to sit in the dark alone... Moments later Fluttershy sorrowfully found herself walking down the hallway heading back to the foyer. "Why'd he do that…? If I wasn't such a scaredy-pony….André would still be…" before she could finish her sentence Fluttershy spots André at the lower level of the foyer "A-André!?" Hearing Fluttershy's voice quickly got André's attention. Fluttershy happily opens her wings and flies into André making him jerk back a little. He wraps his arms around her and pats her head gently. André sighed in relief as he held Fluttershy, "Thank goodness you're alright." "I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier…" Fluttershy apologized as the two broke their hug. "Aw, don't worry about it." He smiled "Come on, we've gotta find the other's." Before the two could come up with a plan to find their friends Rainbow Dash has already found them. Her legs were shaking with each step, "Hey…guys... Wh-what's up…" she asked trying to hide her fear from the two. "Rainbow Dash, you're ok!" Fluttershy shouted in joy as she trotted over to her but despite Fluttershy's happiness Rainbow Dash was far from alright. "….I-I wanna go back to Ponyville now….." It was obvious to André she was scared "What's wrong?" he asked. "Books…evil…horrifying…cupcakes…Pinkie Pie…" Rainbow Dash could barely form complete sentences. What she had experienced truly scared. "Rainbow calm down. We gotta find the others first." Rainbow Dash flew over to André, sweating and still shaky, she grabbed André up by his shirts collar "We can come back for Twilight and Babe in the morning!" the scared pegasus yelled "This place is haunted! We all need to get out of here while we can!" André couldn't believe what he had just heard from Rainbow Dash. He placed his hands on her hooves to get her to release her grip on his shirt "You're the Element of Loyalty!" André reminded Rainbow Dash with a shout "They're our friends, Rainbow, we have to-" A sudden thundering boom came from the outside followed by the sounds of disturbing and hollowed screams. "…We have to come back in the morning because this place is haunted." André instantly corrected himself. "Guys!" Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and André heard a familiar voice call out to them. They quickly turned to the stairway it came from. It was Twilight who called out to them, she ran up to the others while Babe took his time and walked. They were all reunited. "Where the heck have you guys been!?" André asked in a worried tone. Twilight tried to get her thoughts together, she raised her hoof off the ground ready to explain herself "W-We've….I don't know!" She was unable to come up with an answer. She was too scared to get her thoughts together even so she still had no idea. Babe took a quick glance at all his friends, their faces said it all: 'We're scared!' Babe crossed his arms in wonder "What's wrong?" he asked with a smile "You all look like you've just seen a ghost." The word ghost never really meant anything to André but now it made his heart race. He pointed to Babe with a shaking finger "Don't toy with us, Babe. I mean it, man." Knock, knock! "AAH!" André, Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy yelled in sync as they jumped back. Babe raised an eyebrow at the four. "Guys, it's just the door." He made his way up to the front door to see who was knocking. "Babe! Don't open the door!" André pleaded. "Why not?" Babe asked as he placed his hand on the door, he looked back to André and the others "It's probably just someone else who wants to get out of the rain." "Bad things usually happen when doors are opened in movies!" Babe rolled his eyes at André's reason and ignored him. The second Babe opens the door thunder crashes in the background, giving two hooded pony figures dark and creepy appearances. Babe gasped at the sight. "Close the door!" Twilight yelled at him. One of the figures took a step forward. "Now what in tarnation are ya'll doin' out here?" "Applejack…?" Twilight rubbed her eyes with her forearm to make sure she wasn't seeing things. Rarity stood beside Applejack in clothes suitable for the weather. "Staying in such a dilapidated house? I must say I believed you all had better taste than that." "We heard from some ponies 'round town that ya'll were headin' for this place. We managed to find ourselves a carriage ride that'll bring us all back home in the storm." Applejack explained with a smile. "The carriage is waiting at the gates." Rarity pointed "Come now, everypony. Let's get out of here before the storm gets any worse." Babe placed his hands on his hips appearing as the only brave one of his group "You guys didn't have to come out and do all that for us." André pushed Babe aside "Babe, shut up. Guys, let's go!" André, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Twilight wasted no time in rushing out of the manor. They made a quick dash toward the carriage that was waiting for them at the manor's entrance. "Everypony who wants to sleep over at my house say I!" Twilight shouted out to the group as they all raced to the carriage. "I!" Rainbow, André and Fluttershy all quickly answered. Applejack scratched her mane in confusion "Ah've never seen them so twitchy before. Is everything alright?" "Everything's fine." Babe answered as he shut the door behind himself "I don't know what's wrong with those guys. But whatever it is, they seem like they've seen a ghost or something. Oh well. A Halloween sleep over party at Twilight's does sound fun." "Yer darn tootin' it does! Ah've been busting my flank the past couple'a days so Ah could use some relaxin' at Twi's." "As could I" Rarity agreed. Applejack, Rarity and Babe made it to the carriage and they all boarded. The carriage begins pulling away from the old manor. Babe looked out to it through the carriage window. Faint laughter could be heard as the carriage pulled away. It was coming from the manor. November 1st 7:30AM Early the next morning Babe woke up and rose out of bed, stretching. He looked out the window and saw the sun. He got out of bed and noticed that Twilight wasn't sleeping in her bed. Seeing this he went downstairs. Once he was there the first thing he noticed was that Rainbow Dash, Twilight and Fluttershy were all laying very closely to André on the floor while Applejack and Rarity shared the couch bed together. Rainbow and Fluttershy were under André's arms and resting their heads on his shoulders. Twilight was laid out across Rainbow, André and Fluttershy's legs. They were all huddled together as if they were just the survivors of a horror movie. "Okay…?" Babe said in confusion "That's sorta weird. Actually…I didn't even know I could wake up this early. I think I'll stop by that 'haunted' manor and see if anyone's to pawn off or something. If we're going to be staying in Equestria then I'd really like to live there." With that in mind Babe got ready to head back out to the old manor, for reasons….obvious enough not to explain. "ZZzz….ZZzzz…"Rainbow snored amongst the sleeping friends. "Come play with me…" a faint voice spoke from the darkness of Rainbow Dash's dreams. Hearing the voice made Rainbow cringe, toss and turn. "Play with me…" The now familiar voice spoke out again, this time sounding closer than before. Rainbow knew who the voice belonged to and she began to sweat as her dream was starting to turn into a nightmare, then from out of the darkness came a clear image "PLAY WITH ME!!" The dream version of Pinkie Pie screamed out. "AAAAAHHHHHHH!" Rainbow screamed as the view switches to outside the library. After a 20 minute walk Babe found himself at the gates of the old manor. He opened the gates and walked up to the front door. The manor and the grass were all still a little wet from the rain brought on by the previous stormy night. As Babe approached the front door opened, walking out of the house was Trixie. "Trixie?" "Who dares approaches the Great and Powerful Trixie unannounced?!" Babe snickered as he placed his hands in his pockets "It's me." "Oh. You're that Babe guy. What do you want? Trixie's very busy." "I don't want anything. I just came back to see if anyone was looking to sell this place for a reasonable price. A little elbow grease here and there and this place will be back up in no time." "Sell?" Trixie questioned "This place hasn't been for sale in years. It can't be brought." "Why not?" "They say the old Hoofington family still haunts it. They vanished suddenly years ago when the house was just a few years old." Babe cocked his mouth to the side. He didn't really want to question it. If it's not for sale it's not for sale. "How are your other friends doing?" Trixie asked. "Twilight and the others? They're fi-" "Great." Trixie rudely cut him off not sounding interested anymore. "Now, Trixie must be on her way." She proudly stepped down from the welcome mat. Babe ignored Trixie's rudeness and went along with a change in subject. "You're leaving?" he asked as he stepped in front of her "C'mon. Don't be so cold. Let's hang out for a while." "You and Trixie? Seen…together?!" She sounded a bit disgusted at the notion. "Like you have anything better to do," Babe said smugly "Besides, I'm sure André wants to see you. If nopony else in Ponyville likes you, André definitely will." Babe reminded Trixie of her previous humiliation in Ponyville "Wonderful…" she sounded a bit discouraged "but the Great and Powerful Trixie doesn't need friends. Friends need Trixie! So Trixie guesses you could 'hang out' with her for a little while." "Glad you see it my way." Babe happily smiled "Friendship is magic, I'll tell ya that much." Trixie and Babe turn their backs to the old manor and walked down the manor's walkway. Babe puts his hand on Trixie's back before turning back to the manor while smiling revealing fangs and glowing yellow feline eyes.