A Machine for Ponies

Impenetrable fog wrapped around the pitch-black night sky, forming a wall so dense Fluttershy could barely see a couple of metres ahead. The broken cobblestone beneath her made an eerie crack every time she took a single step, it being the only audible sound within the silence of the run-down street. Imposing buildings loomed over her on either side, any distinguishable features they may have once had were either hidden by shadow or had worn away.

Fluttershy's breath froze on contact with the freezing air, forming a tiny cloud of frost just above her muzzle as her teeth quietly chattered. She was afraid of what the darkness around her may be hiding, even though she knew deep down there was nothing to be scared of – monsters were things of fiction, and anything she did see was just her mind playing tricks on her.

She wished she was dreaming, but it was all too real to be a simple nightmare. She'd made of the mistake of wandering too far into the Everfree Forest after Angel had went missing, and she couldn't find her way back – until she noticed what seemed to be houses. She'd walked onto the streets of the seemingly abandoned town, presuming it to be Ponyville, and had gotten lost within it's winding alleyways and labyrinth-like structure.

Now, fearing for her safety, she cautiously trudged on, her hooves shaking from the fear and anxiety that was gradually building up within her. “There's no such thing as monsters... no... s-such thing as monsters...” she constantly told herself, barely able to spit out her words – despite this, her own reassurance did nothing to quell her nerves. She constantly looked around in a frenzy of schizophrenia, sometimes noticing what she thought were glimmers of light in the windows of some buildings – yet they were nothing, vanishing in the blink of an eye.

The darkness seemed to encroach upon her as the fog grew more and more dense, constantly making Fluttershy feel more isolated and terrified. She tried to think how other ponies would feel in her situation – what would Rainbow Dash do? Probably just fly out of there, she thought. Fluttershy would've done the same – but the freezing cold had sapped her strength, leaving her restricted to travel by hoof.

She tried to recite Pinkie's song in her head – how did it go again? Giggle at the ghoulies...? She stared into the darkness, mustering her will to stifle a pathetic chortle – however, the biting cold made it almost impossible, and she found herself no more encouraged. There was nothing in this place for her, and she felt panic beginning to take the reign on her emotions, her nervous disposition hindering her to no end.

If only she was an alicorn, or at least a unicorn – then she could conjure herself a nice, warm coat. One of the brittle stones shattered beneath her hoof – Fluttershy flinched up in fear from the sudden noise, looking around swiftly, before she realised it was merely a stone. She whimpered quietly, disappointed with herself for having been so easily frightened as she pressed on throughout the night.

Her friends would find her, she told herself. They'd come to her house, ask her to go trick or treating on Nightmare Night like they always do – then, when they saw she wasn't home, they'd go looking for her. She was certain of it. Just how long would she have to wait, though? Just a minute within this purgatory-like limbo felt as if it lasted a lifetime.

Suddenly, Fluttershy froze. She heard what seemed to be the creaking of a rusty hinge – it was far away from her, but she knew what she'd heard. Then, as soon as it had started, it suddenly cut off, silence once again filling the night air. Fluttershy decided she must be going in the right direction – so, she continued straight along the street she was in, tantalised by the prospect of something actually living within this desolate place.

It didn't take long for her to reach a dead end, however. A weathered brick wall blocked any further movement – Fluttershy hung her head, distressed that she could now confirm she was completely lost. While looking at the floor, her eye caught something – there, on the floor, seemed to be a tuft of brown fur, just laying there. Fluttershy approached it with curiosity.

Picking up the tuft with her hoof, she looked it over, her expression becoming confounded. She looked over the tuft, peering at it closely, noticing what seemed to be dashes of ink splattering it – at least, she thought it was ink. The darkness muted all colours, making it impossible for her to discern what exactly the liquid substance covering the tuft was.

She looked to her right, noticing something extremely strange – that wasn't the only tuft, there was in fact a trail of them, seemingly leading down an even darker alleyway. Fluttershy gulped, beginning to slowly trod down the path – obviously, she didn't want to, but she felt she had no choice and she was desperate to know what that creaking sound she'd heard earlier was.

The buildings around her seemed to warp the further she walked, coming together to form what seemed to be an entrance – a tiny archway, leading into what Fluttershy could only imagine was some sort of cavern. She stepped inside, not finding herself to be surrounded by cold stone, but instead, cold metal. Her hooves made a metallic clang with each step, her surroundings still barely visible.

The area around her gradually grew more expansive, before Fluttershy realised she was in some sort of large chamber. She gave another muted whimper, noticing that the trail of fur had stopped. Around her seemed to be large machines with conveyor belts attached to them, with what seemed to be hooks hanging above them. Fluttershy gulped once more, uncertain as to where exactly she'd stumbled into – but she noticed that the passageway continued further, and she chose for now to ignore what was around her and to press on forward.

She seemed to enter another tunnel-like passage, the space around her once again becoming cramped and enclosed, before reaching an intersection where two paths forked off. She chose to take the right pathway, before reaching another intersection... then another, and another. It was at this point she realised she was now lost within the complex, having forgotten what ways she turned.

Mist still loomed around the derelict area, making things even harder than they already were to distinguish. Fluttershy could tell she'd entered another chamber, this room even darker than the last, as she finally felt what little courage she had drain out of her body. She had to stop, as she felt completely unable to search any further. Noticing more conveyor belts, she went to lean over one, her panic having made her nauseous, demanding that she rest her body.

As she slumped over the conveyor belt, she immediately recoiled up in shock – realising that she'd touched something squishy and sticky. That's when she noticed a pungent smell within the air, certainly like nothing she'd smelt before – it made her cringe in disgust, and it only added to her nausea. Resisting the urge to be sick, Fluttershy decided she'd had more than enough of the constant darkness as she searched desperately for a light switch.

Finally, her hoof stumbled across a tiny lever, which she immediately pulled – suddenly, a ear-screeching grinding noise tore through the air as the room was illuminated in a terrifying shade of red, as the conveyor belts and machines around her suddenly came to life. To Fluttershy's utmost horror, she immediately realised that the squishy substance she'd laid over were what only could be described as entrails and offal.

The conveyor belts began to roll, processing the revolting organs down a chute. Fluttershy screamed, realising her chest fur was now covered in blood, leaving her imagination to only wonder as to what this place was. Immediately turning, prepared to flee without a moment's hesitation, Fluttershy suddenly heard what seemed to be the grinding of metal against metal, making yet another screeching noise – however, this was growing louder, coming closer to her.

Fluttershy was desperate to escape, but she dread to think what was coming down the pathway. She hurriedly dived behind one of the conveyor belts as the screeching grew progressively louder, before coming to a halt in the room itself. She could hear what seemed to be something sniffing the air – in quite a repugnant way, mixed with garbled snorts and groans.

Her lips quivered, her body trembled as she hoped to all that was Celestian that she wasn't noticed. Covering her eyes with her hooves, she did her best to not make a squeak, before breathing a sigh of relief as the screeching started again, drifting away as whatever had once stood there left the room. She slowly pushed herself up, her legs quaking, feeling as if they could give way any moment.

Fluttershy whimpered quietly, a tear rolling down her cheek as she asked herself the mandatory questions – who would make a place like this? Where was she? More importantly, how did she get out? She threw away all notions of subtlety and decided she only had one chance – and that was to bolt the way she'd came, do her very best to remember which pathways she'd gone down and to escape as quickly as she could.

The whole complex had been lit up with the dim red lights, which helped to guide Fluttershy as she wasted no time in breaking into a gallop, beginning to charge down the winding pathways, hoping she was going the right way. She paused as she noticed a figure at the end of the hallway, standing there stoically and unflinching. Fluttershy looked at it closely, and could make out that it seemed to be a pony – but something wasn't right.

She slowly began to trot towards it, doing her best to make out who or what it was, the red light that everything was drowned in doing nothing to aid her in identifying the pony. Just a few metres away from it, she realised that it seemed to be covered in scars and wounds, and seemed to have a deformed snout of which seemed to resemble more that of a pig's than a pony.

It suddenly gave a low groan, Fluttershy screaming once more, turning around as she prepared herself to dash away once more. She tried to imagine what the creature behind her was – some sort of horrific, reanimated creature? Or a psychopathic pony who'd became so deranged they decided to start murdering others?

Just as she put one hoof in front, she froze once more, as she heard the creature speak – and bizarrely, in a familiar tone;

“Fluttershy?”

It knew her name. The reason behind this could only be something terrible, something dreadful. Fluttershy slowly turned around, looking up at the mutilated creature with a fear-stricken expression. “Y-yes...?” she timidly asked, prepared for it to ask for her brains, or something along those lines.

“I didn't expect to see you here! I thought you'd hate a horror house!” it suddenly exclaimed, as it proceeded to pull off it's face – which was then revealed to be merely a mask, Pinkie's face emerging as she beamed at Fluttershy. “It's not as good as last year's, if you ask me.”

Fluttershy blinked a few times, her hooves gradually beginning to stop shaking as she simply stared at Pinkie for a while. She walked up to the pony, looking over her, trying to make sure this wasn't some sort of trick – but, sure enough, she was wearing a costume, and now she was thinking rationally it seemed to be a very fake-looking costume. “You... mean... all of this... was just a horror house?” she finally managed, speaking with disbelief.

“Uh, yeah? Duh! It does say the Ghastly Ghoul House of Horrors just outside in big writing, after all,” Pinkie continued.

“B-but... I came in from some sort of derelict street, and there was blood and entrails everywhere, and some sort of creature, and, and-” Fluttershy spluttered before Pinkie cut her off.

“Yeah! They set up in an old district this year to save money. You came in through the back to avoid paying bits? That's sort of uh, illegal, Fluttershy! Oh, and that fake blood is really convincing, isn't it? They even made the foamy body parts smell of rotten eggs!” Pinkie exposited, as Fluttershy suddenly began to feel very, very stupid.

“S-so... y-you mean... all this time I was just at the fairground?” Fluttershy whispered, feeling overjoyed yet also feeling quite foolish.

“Well, yeah! Duh! The haunted house is the best bit, too! I don't blame you for coming here first – but you should have told me, I'd of loved to of gone with you!” Pinkie replied, chortling as she realised her friend had thought everything was real.

“I... d-don't believe this... I, uh. Oh my goodness. Um, can we just go, Pinkie?” Fluttershy asked Pinkie, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

“Sure we can! Let's go check out the rest of the fair, huh?” Pinkie asked, Fluttershy compliantly nodding. Throughout the night, Pinkie commended Fluttershy on her zombie costume, saying that the fake blood and her pale face made it look extremely realistic – Fluttershy responding with a simple, awkward nod, and, other than that, they both had a brilliant time celebrating Nightmare Night at the fair - and it was discovered Angel had been asleep at Fluttershy's home all along.

Happy Halloween & Nightmare Night!