Summer shifted to fall as the weather got chillier and leaves began to change in color. The months had passed with barely any exciting events, aside from the Keyblade wielders traveling out to other worlds that needed their help in defeating the Heartless. The Running of the Leaves, an autumn event for Equestria involving stampeding in a race to knock the leaves out of their trees, wouldn't have been fair for everyone else competing if the humans-turned-ponies took part, easily outrunning the Equestrians without much effort.
During those months, Aqua had finished crafting the magical crystal communicators from the pure white crystals Rarity got for her. She immediately put them to the test with a few experiments, calibrating the right magical frequencies needed for them to communicate with six others of the same design, to whom someone should receive a call from the sender, and the long distance across several million light years from point A to point B. They were also able to fit snugly in the wielders' ears and were able to mold with their ears when they transform back as humans or something else in another world, which was the first of many tests needed to be done first. Luckily, there wasn't any painful repercussions with the transforming crystals.
Today was that time of year in the season as decorations for Nightmare Night were being set up in Ponyville. Candy was being bought for the foals, costumes were already fitted for the evening, and with some hope, there wouldn't be another Heartless attack like last year. Unfortunately, not everyone was excited for the holiday.
Down in Fluttershy's cottage, the pegasus mare was preparing to steer far away from anything involving scares, terror, and heart-stopping fright. With some of her animal friends to help keep her company, she panicked as she began closing her blinds and curtains to avoid everyone in their scary costumes and pranks. Her animal friends helped her close the windows and lock her doors as she checked under her bed, filled with non-scary activities to wait out the night.
"Ok, I think that's everything I need to survive the night. Thank you, everyone," she said to her animal friends, glad to help their caretaker. "Now I won't have to step outside until Nightmare Night's over." Before she could begin hiding under her bed for the holiday, her pet rabbit, Angel, tugged on her mane to get her attention. She looked down at the spoiled bunny, holding an empty pail and showed it to her with a leer. "Oh, no. You don't have any carrots? Do we have any other fresh veggies you might enjoy?" Angel growled, insisting on having carrots and no other vegetables to sate his hunger for the night. "Maybe some hay?" He threw the empty pail and pouted. Fluttershy gasped in fear as she looked at the window concealed by her curtains. "But...that means I have to go out...on Nightmare Night!"
She peeked out the window, looking out at Ponyville as evening was coming near, some ponies already wearing their costumes as they got the rest of the festivities ready for a night of scares.
Sora hummed a little tune as he got himself ready in his usual costume he had worn the last two years for Halloween/Nightmare Night. He didn't care if anyone else thought he should have at least gotten a new costume, but ever since it became an outfit of his when he first entered Halloween Town, it was practically a staple to his appreciation of one of the few best holidays of the year, although Christmas was the highest holiday on his list. He gave himself a once-over in the mirror, making sure every part of his outfit was on right, the mask was still in good condition over his right eye, the black makeup on his upper face was dark enough to make him look sinister, and the fake fangs weren't bothering his real teeth and jaws.
"Alright. Halloween time yet again," he said to himself. "Hmm...I wonder if I should visit Halloween Town again. Hope Jack's behaving himself and not getting on Santa's nerves."
He soon heard a knock on his bedroom door, stepping away from his mirror now that he was ready and opened it, revealing Kairi in her outfit she wore last year as the polar opposite of Sora's. "You couldn't have come up with a new costume for Halloween?"
"Hey, this is a staple for me to wear every Halloween," Sora reasoned. "And look who's talking, wearing the angel version of my costume. Not really original if you copied someone else's designs. Copyright infringement, missy."
"You weren't complaining about it last year," Kairi countered with a smirk.
"I was distracted by how it looked on you to even care," Sora countered back, showing his "fangs" as he stalked closer to the "angel" at his door. "Maybe I should...corrupt the angelic heroine and turn her over to the darkness."
Kairi giggled as she backed away with a sultry grin, stopping against the wall in the hallway while pressing her hooves against Sora's chest. "My heart is pure, oh demon of darkness. You cannot change me with your power."
"Oh, I have ways to make you mine and prove you wrong." Sora pressed his muzzle against Kairi's, licking his lips as he roleplayed the demon prepared to transform the angel caught in a corner into a demon like him. "Already, my charms have weakened you just from confronting me, and you'll soon be hypnotized in my gaze, obeying my every command in a matter of minutes."
"No! That can't be," Kairi said with a mock gasp as Sora wrapped his forelegs around her. "I cannot fall into the hands of darkness! My power...it's fading."
"You're already mine." The couple giggled, Sora moving in and kissing Kairi, catching her off guard before she closed her eyes and kissed him back with a slight moan.
Before they got too far into the moment, someone they didn't notice walk down the hall spotting them. "You two think you can find a room to continue whatever romp you're about to start?" Sora and Kairi were startled as they pulled away and looked at Riku. He was in his costume, though unlike the couple, he wore a different one, dressed up as ninja, wearing all black that contrasted with his fur and hair, his muzzle concealed by a black cloth to hide most of his face. "You don't want to sweat off your makeup, do you, Sora?"
"S-Shut up, Riku!" Sora said, knowing his friend was smirking underneath his cloth mask. "And it's not makeup! It's like...face paint!"
"In other words: makeup." The tan pegasus growled, ignoring Riku with a huff. "Anyways, if you're finally done applying your makeup, the girls are down in the library telling scary stories...Except Fluttershy, since she doesn't like this holiday."
"I kinda wished she did," Kairi said. "She's missing out on a lot of fun."
"I figured she wouldn't be scared of fake ghouls and ghosts when she's faced actual dangerous, scarier animals in the past," Sora said. "The Heartless are scarier than a Halloween costume."
The trio walked down the hallway to meet up with the girls, the dim lighting fitting for the holiday. As they rounded a corner, they heard a screech of fright as their shadows extended out on the other side, but when they saw who it was that screamed, they were shocked to see Fluttershy outside her cottage. And on Nightmare Night, no less.
"Fluttershy?" Kairi asked. "What are you doing here?"
"I thought you were holing yourself up in your house," Sora said.
"W-Well, I was...but I forgot to stock up food for Angel and had to go out into Ponyville to get something and got too scared so I thought Twilight might have some lettuce she could let me borrow," Fluttershy explained.
Sora and Riku looked at each other with an unamused glance. "So, the spoiled little rabbit forced you outside because he was being a picky little rodent?"
"I don't spoil him that much," Fluttershy mumbled to herself, scuffing her hooves against the ground as she looked down nervously.
"I actually thought you were going to try to give tonight a shot," Kairi said.
"Goodness, no!" Fluttershy exclaimed. "I couldn't be out tonight!"
"...Well, you kind of are right now," Riku stated.
"...I guess that's true," Fluttershy said.
"I think you should try to give Nightmare Night a chance," Sora said. "The others would be excited to have you join in. I mean, last year, they were hoping you'd be their white mage to complete the set."
Fluttershy thought about how the others would feel if she did join them. Granted, she has faced scarier monsters and got caught in the middle of some confrontations with Heartless, Nobodies, and many dangerous creatures native to Equestria. She's even faced Nightmare Moon, Discord before his reformation, Sombra, the changelings, even Tirek, and they were terrifying compared to the spooky decorations and costumes the foals wore out in town. It was difficult for her to summon any courage, but she's been trying with many different things in the past, getting more assertive and getting less anxious around other ponies. Maybe she should have joined last year, thankful she didn't when the Heartless ambushed Ponyville that night.
"...I guess I can give Nightmare Night a chance tonight," she said.
"Really!? That's great!" Sora said. "Trust me, Fluttershy. You'll start loving this holiday just like us!"
"As much as you love Christmas?" Riku asked.
"Probably not that much," Kairi said as Sora leered at his friend.
The four ponies made their way through the castle and headed for the library, where the rest of the Mane Six were in the middle of telling a few horror stories. They weren't exactly considered scary as they cracked the door open to hear, at least to the Keyblade wielders, but they would have been interesting if they got the full story.
"Hey, how about we give them a scare?" Sora suggested with a sneaky grin.
"What do you have in mind?" Riku asked, going along with whatever horror prank he had planned.
"Hey, guys!" Spike said as he came around the corner, wearing yet another dragon costume, only he handmade this one with a second head matching his own, being a two-headed dragon for Nightmare Night this year.
Fluttershy shrieked in surprise and barged into the library, which startled the other five mares as they screamed too. "...Ok, not what I had planned, but they got scared...And are you seriously a dragon again for Nightmare Night, Spike?"
"No. I'm a two-headed dragon," Spike corrected, fixing the fake head back up on his shoulder. "Big difference."
Sora facehooved, making sure not to accidentally bend the pumpkin mask on his head. "Can't even come up with anything original, yet everyone gives me flack about my costume I wore for the last three years."
"Fluttershy, I thought you were going to stay at home," Rainbow said, not expecting her long-time friend to actually be out and about during Nightmare Night knowing she was terrified of the holiday.
"Is there something wrong?" Twilight asked.
"No, everything's fine," Fluttershy said. "In fact...it's more than fine. I've decided to join you all on Nightmare Night."
The room was silent as they processed what the timid pegasus had just said. The ponies looked at each other, thinking they all heard something different, but they looked back at Fluttershy, both surprised and confused.
"Uhh, you serious?" Rainbow asked. "You? Out on Nightmare Night?"
"I always shut myself in my cottage every Nightmare Night and refuse to come out until it's morning. I was afraid of all the scary things around the holiday, and even though I'm still afraid of them, I've been more afraid of what we've faced in the past. So, I'm going to try to be brave and join everypony tonight." Despite her bravado, Fluttershy was still really nervous about her facing Nightmare Night and all the fright it brings.
"Fluttershy with us on Nightmare Night?" Rarity asked, she and the rest of the mares overjoyed at the news. "Why, that's positively the most wonderful news I've heard!"
"You can get dressed up in a costume with all of us, even though Sora and Kairi are in the same costumes as last year-" Sora growled as he heard Pinkie utter that part to herself. "-and play Nightmare Night games with us and eat candy apples with us!"
"And don't forget about the best part. Goin' through mah family's corn maze!" Applejack added, which made Fluttershy wince as she ended up bumping into Big Mac and Granny Smith earlier, the elderly mare terrifying her with what lies beyond their "spooky" maze. Applejack noticed Fluttershy's nervous glance, completely forgetting they'll need to take it slow for the pegasus and her first official Nightmare Night. "Uhh, only if you're up for it, sugarcube."
"Oh, I am," Fluttershy said with a little confidence. "I am ready to take on Nightmare Night!"
The girls cheered, making Fluttershy whimper at the sudden cheering as she tried to swallow her fears to what lies ahead. "Alright! Let's go get in our costumes!"
"Hey, are Terra, Aqua, and Ventus joining us?" Sora asked curiously.
"They're at the boutique right now," Rarity said. "Aqua was doing some fitting for their costumes, and helping Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo in theirs. I think you, Riku, and Kairi will be a little surprised as to what they'll be wearing this year."
Inside the Carousel Boutique, Ventus and Terra were already in their costumes as they waited for Aqua and the Crusaders to get into theirs. Ventus was dressed as a burglar, wearing a black cap over his head, a black eye mask, a black and white striped shirt, and had a sack filled with "money" strapped over his shoulder, while Terra was dressed as a werewolf, fake fangs in his mouth while wearing a full-body suit of scraggy fur, his muscular figure making him as intimidating as one.
"You girls just about done?" Terra asked.
"Just about," Aqua responded. The two stallions didn't wait long as a burst of flames appeared before them along with a flash of light, the flames an illusion as the blue unicorn stood in them while wearing her Nightmare Night costume. She wore a black cloak that dragged along the ground, the hood of her outfit with curved black horns, and she held a staff with a green orb placed firmly at the end, dressed up as the wicked witch the wielders knew: Maleficent. "Kneel before me, fools! Mwa ha ha ha ha!"
"...Maleficent?" Ventus questioned with a blank stare. "You're dressed as her?"
"And I don't think she ever laughs like that," Terra added.
The mare drooped and grumbled under her breath. "It was the best I could come up with. At least be thankful I didn't paint my face green. Otherwise, I'd look exactly like her."
"Actually, she does have a lot more intimidation than you do," Ventus said. "It's that cold look in her eyes and that sinister smirk she wears that make her more threatening."
Aqua growled, rolling her eyes as she ignored the two critics. The door to the boutique opened as the rest of their friends walked in, Fluttershy huddling close between Sora and Riku for protection as she was still a little worried about joining the others despite her efforts to be brave. As soon as they saw the costumes they were wearing, all eyes went to Aqua and her Maleficent cosplay outfit, Sora and Riku unamused by the Keyblade Master's choice.
"...Aqua, why are you dressed like Maleficent?" Riku questioned.
"Ugh. Can all of you stop judging me and my decision of costume for tonight!?" Aqua pleaded. "I've been busy making those communicator crystals for us and didn't have much time to think of something better! Besides, we can also poke fun at the witch after all the trouble she's given all of us, especially last year with her insane idea to open a portal to the Realm of Darkness here in Equestria of all places."
"...Fair point, I guess," Sora said after the blue unicorn brought back the moment that almost cost her her life. Shifting the topic away from Aqua's past while trapped in the dark realm, he looked around, finding no sign of the Crusaders. "So, where are those three troublesome little fillies I can't help but love? They already out getting candy?"
"We're right here!" they announced as they stepped out of one of the changing rooms.
As everyone looked at them, everyone but Aqua gawked at the fillies' choice of costume for this year, the Keyblade Master stifling her giggles at their reaction. The trio were dressed up like Sora, wearing custom jackets that matched three of his Drive Forms' designs while they held cardboard Keyblades they crafted and drew. Scootaloo's was Valor Form with two over the top designed Keyblades with more feathers and lightning bolts drawn on the blade than there is blade. Sweetie Belle's was Wisdom Form, though unlike Scootaloo's fake Keyblades, the unicorn filly's could pass as one with its music note-shaped design. And Apple Bloom's was Master Form, one of the Keyblades she dual-wielded matching Sora's Kingdom Keyblade while the other was something she made, almost matching the Element of Honesty in design, though it was colored differently and had more apple patterns on the blade. The only thing they lacked were their hair spiked similarly to Sora's and a taped on cutie mark matching his over theirs.
"Oh dear lord," Riku uttered with a groan, shaking his head in disbelief. "Now we've got three more Soras running around."
"At least they don't have actual Keyblades, otherwise that'd be a real nightmare," Ventus muttered.
Sora had no idea whether he should be flattered by how much of an idol he was to them or be amused by how they tried to mimic him and three of his many powerful forms. He approached the Crusaders, all three fillies looking up at him with cheeky grins.
"You girls are going to be the death of me, you know that?" he said, patting each of them on the head.
"Hey, they're great costumes, right?" Scootaloo asked.
"Aqua made them for us when Scootaloo and Ah came around thinkin' of a costume for Nightmare Night this year," Apple Bloom said.
"Too bad we didn't have any time to change our hair to look like yours, or find any wigs that came close to your mane," Sweetie Belle added.
"Just don't go trying to find any Heartless with those 'Keyblades' while you're out getting candy," Sora reminded the trio, all three fillies saluting to him before running off and giggling, setting off to enjoy their evening.
Sora looked over to Aqua, the mare shrugging her shoulders with a grin. "I did pretty well recreating those designs from three of your Drive Forms, huh?"
"A little too well," Sora said. "You sure you didn't have enough time to make those three their costumes perfectly while also making your own and our communicators?"
"Ok, enough stalling!" Rainbow interrupted. "Let's get in our costumes and have some fun!"
The pegasus dashed off into a changing room, snatching one of the costumes Rarity had on display on one of the many racks in the room. The others followed suit, grabbing their costumes and making their way into the changing rooms. Fluttershy lagged behind, unsure which of the costumes she wanted to wear out of worry over what might happen to her if something terrified her.
"See anything you want to try on?" Aqua asked, levitating a few different outfits. "There's a mummy, a monarch butterfly, or maybe a-" She the pulled out an outfit with a pair of fake bat wings for a pegasus, reminding her of that incident with Flutterbat and quickly put it back. "...Uhh, ok, maybe not this one."
"Umm...I don't really know," Fluttershy murmured.
"Well, the whole point of Nightmare Night, or Halloween, isn't to always dress up in anything scary," Kairi assured. "Just look at my costume."
"Hey, how about this one?" Sora grabbed a hanger and held out a dress that was once popular at royal balls several centuries ago. "You can be the belle of the ball and wow the guests with this stunning dress." Fluttershy seemed a bit reluctant staring at the long dress. "...Too fancy?"
"What if we encounter something terrifying and need to get away quickly?" Fluttershy asked. "All those layers could slow me down, or even make me trip!"
Sora slowly blinked, then put the outfit back on the rack. "Ok, I'll take that as a no, then."
"Or what about this one?" Aqua levitated a simple black dress, which only had one layer and didn't drag behind, but it also came with an eye mask decorated with gems and feathers. "This isn't as long, and Rarity calls this costume the 'Masquerade'. Be all mysterious while dressed for a fancy masquerade ball?"
Fluttershy looked at the large mask and the lack of peripheral vision it gave just from wearing it. "Umm, won't it be hard to see through that?"
"It's got eye holes," Aqua assured, putting on the mask to show the pegasus, though it didn't seem to prove her point as it looked like it would be hard to look left and right without constantly twisting her head.
"W-What about being able to see what was around me?" Fluttershy asked, trembling slightly at the thought of what would happen to her when she couldn't see what was coming for her.
Aqua took off the mask, seeing Fluttershy's reasoning with the overly flashy mask. "...Ok, you might have a point. But, this is your first ever Nightmare Night, right?" The mare nodded her head in response. "Well, that's fine. We don't want you to feel uncomfortable. For me last year, I was still a bit reluctant joining in a festivity involving monsters, pranks, and wandering in the darkness, only instead of surviving for my life, you go around getting candy. It's understandable."
"Ok," Fluttershy said. "How about I just wear the dress?"
"Ok, whatever you want." Fluttershy took the dress for the costume, leaving the mask behind as she headed off to an empty changing room.
As soon as she disappeared, Riku was the first to crack, facehooving with a groan. "Well, so much for her joining us being a good idea. She's so nitpicky."
"Easy, Riku. We know how Fluttershy is," Sora reminded. "Let her ease into it first, and if she doesn't like it after tonight, then she doesn't have to do it again."
After a bit of waiting, Twilight, Rainbow, Applejack, Pinkie, and Rarity stepped out and revealed the costumes they wore: Twilight was dressed as an pegasus soldier back before Equestria was founded in gold armor, Rainbow was a pony astronaut with a white full-body suit and a clear helmet, Applejack was dressed as a lion, Pinkie was an athletic roller skater for some reason no one will question when she dressed up like a chicken a couple years ago, and Rarity was a merpony, a glittering blue tail fin dragging behind her while she had a blue seashell accessory behind her ear. They were expertly-designed costumes, Rarity being the creator as her business can get busy with requested costumes, and Riku was glad his glowing muzzle was covered as he eyed Twilight in her outfit, who looked pretty good in armor that didn't cover all of her body.
"Well, everypony look incredible," Rarity said. "My costumes fit you all to a T...But where's Fluttershy?"
"She's...changing into her costume," Terra answered.
Fluttershy eventually did come out, wearing the masquerade costume sans the mask. "Uhh, Fluttershy? Where's your costume?"
"I'm wearing it," she said.
The girls looked at each other in confusion, baffled by the "costume" the pegasus picked. Pinkie, however, skated around Fluttershy as she began making random guesses.
"I get it! You're a robber escaping into the night!?" Pinkie guessed, but Fluttershy shook her head. "You're a ninja escaping into the night!?"
"Pinkie, I'm the ninja," Riku said. "Ninjas don't wear long dresses. It drags them down when they need to flee if they're caught."
"Oh! Wait! You're black licorice escaping into the night!" Pinkie randomly guessed, making the stallion facehoof at the absurd guess.
"Close," Fluttershy said, another harder facehoof from Riku as he groaned in exasperation. "I'm going to a masquerade ball. Without the mask."
"...Uhh, that's great!" Twilight said, though she and the others knew that the mask for a masquerade ball was an important part of the costume as those kinds of balls were the masks were meant to conceal the face of the guests.
The others reluctantly agreed, playing it off since they want to make Fluttershy comfortable with joining them on Nightmare Night. Now that everyone was in their costumes, they headed off to Sugarcube Corner and began setting up fun, non-scary games for Fluttershy's sake. The first one was Pin the horn on Nightmare Moon, where they tried to put a paper horn on an insultingly crude drawing of the Mare in the Moon while blindfolded. At least they were able to make fun of Nightmare Moon now, and Luna would have enjoyed "accidentally" placing the horn somewhere on her dark persona in this game.
Rainbow was up next with the blindfold, her space helmet taken off so she wouldn't peek if the cloth was wrapped around the glass dome. Sora and Riku spun her around to try to disorient her, which seemed to have worked as the pegasus tottered around and staggered over to the picture. However, despite how dizzy she was, she managed to get really close to placing Nightmare Moon's horn on her forehead, only the horn floated in front of the drawn alicorn while the point aimed for her muzzle as if it was picking her nose.
"Well, that's one way one can use their horn if they can detach it," Ventus said while the others laughed at Rainbow's placed mark.
The mare undid her blindfold, seeing where she placed her horn once her eyes quit spinning around in her head. "I was close, but I'm winning so far! Your turn, Fluttershy!"
Rainbow tossed her friend the blindfold, but Fluttershy seemed a bit reluctant putting it on. "Well, um, it's just that if I'm blindfolded and somepony leapt in front of me, I wouldn't have a chance to defend myself."
"...Seriously?" Riku questioned irritably, earning a hard nudge in the side by Twilight.
"That's fine, Fluttershy," Twilight assured, giving her coltfriend a dirty look before looking back at Fluttershy with a grin. "We're just glad you're here with us."
"We don't even have to finish the game!" Pinkie said, skating off somewhere to grab something.
"Hey, I didn't even get to go!" Sora whined.
"You probably would have won, regardless," Kairi said. "Or any of us with good hand-eye coordination after getting spun around like an uncontrollable top."
"Here's another game we can enjoy: bobbing for apples!" Pinkie came back, somehow able to bring in a giant wooden tub filled with water and apples bobbing around on the surface.
Fluttershy approached the tub, again seeming unwilling to play the harmless apple chomping game with a worried expression. "Fluttershy? You ok?"
"It's just...umm..." Just from the hesitation in her reasons why she didn't want to play, everyone had a feeling there was another terror-based excuse coming up. "What happens if, when my head is deep down in the water, some kind of scary monster gets me? How would I even hear to know I was being attacked?"
The room was silent, all of them baffled by the excuse. What was turning into a night of fun scares and pranks was slowly turning into a boring party. Riku resisted the urge to facehoof again, but he was too stunned in disbelief at how ridiculous it was when they're clearly safe inside the bakery and with no chance of having anything scary happen to them.
"...Time for candy!" Pinkie finally said as she rolled away, thankfully changing the topic. She pulled out several bags filled with an assortment of candies, each bag decorated and drawn with everyone's faces made by the pink pony herself. "Each bag I made for everypony has all your favorite goodies, as shown by my five-star artwork."
"So, which one's mine and which one's Ven's?" Sora asked as he pointed at the two bags with both their faces.
"Ha ha, funny," Pinkie said sarcastically, pushing the one with his face toward him. "It's this one!"
"Are you absolutely sure?" Sora asked, actually getting Pinkie to second-guess herself as she turned the bag around just to make sure.
Everyone else got their bags and began eating some of their candy, Sora and Ventus getting the correct bags after teasing Pinkie Pie a little. Fluttershy was the only one who didn't get hers, yet again nervous about what's going on in her head.
"Here, Fluttershy!" Pinkie said, handing the pegasus her bag of favorite candy.
"...Well, it's just..." As soon as Fluttershy began to talk, everyone knew there was bound to be something dangerous with a bag of candy.
"Here we go again," Terra muttered to himself.
"What if I'm eating one of these chewy taffies, my mouth becomes glued shut and I can't scream for help?" Pinkie slowly grabbed Fluttershy's bag and lowered it back down behind the counter, the room completely silent. "...Oh my. We only just started to celebrate Nightmare Night together, and I'm already taking the fun out of it, aren't I?"
The others hesitated to give a response, not wanting to hurt the mare's feelings despite how hard she's trying to enjoy the holiday she disliked. "No, no...Not all the fun."
"She kind of-" Twilight quickly shoved the cloth over Riku's face in his mouth, gagging him to stop himself from regretting what he was about to say.
"I'm sorry," Fluttershy apologized. "I really want to do this, but there's just so many things that terrify me about tonight. I can't possibly predict what might upset me."
"...Unless...you were the one doing the scaring," Aqua suggested, surprising everyone at the idea.
Riku pulled his veil out of his mouth, readjusting it back over his muzzle as he looked at Aqua like she was insane. "You really want Fluttershy to try to scare us? I don't think she'd even terrify a timid rabbit with a wolf mask."
"But it might help her get used to the holiday," Aqua explained. "When easing someone into doing something they aren't comfortable with, it's sometimes better for them to take charge and do things their way."
"Oh. Great idea," Riku said sarcastically.
"Actually, it does sound like a good idea," Twilight said. "Fluttershy wouldn't be afraid of anything when she's the one doing the scaring."
"I like that idea too!" Fluttershy said, though most of the group didn't seem to think it would work. "And I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I think I have the perfect idea for how I'm going to do it!"
"...She does?" Ventus questioned.
"This is gonna be exciting!" Pinkie squealed.
"Meet me at my cottage in an hour," Fluttershy said, trying to sound spooky, only for it to be ruined by her excitement. "I'm so excited to see everypony soon!"
She then ran out and headed back home to prepare, giving them a haunted house they'll never forget. "...So, who's going to guess Fluttershy's idea isn't going to be scary?" Sora asked, everyone's hooves raising in the air in a unanimous agreement. "Thought so."
"Probably wasn't a good idea to have her join us after all," Rainbow said. "We know Fluttershy, and she's not all about scary stuff."
"The point is that she's trying," Twilight said. "And who knows? Maybe she really has a spooky idea for us that she's been holding us out on."
After an hour of waiting, snacking on some of their candy Pinkie made for their bags as well, the eleven ponies made their way to Fluttershy's cottage. Even though the outside of the pegasus's home was fitting for the holiday, they wondered what she had planned for them inside. They reached the door and knocked on it, the door slowly creaking open eerily as there was some hope for Fluttershy yet. The room was barely lit, which was already a good start, the living room bare of the pegasus or any of her animals, the only thing of note was a table with a set of teacups and a teapot, several chairs for guests to sit in as well.
"Welcome to Fluttershy's tea party," Fluttershy's voice echoed in the room, trying to sound spooky, but what her "scary" idea was didn't match with the setting before them.
"Please don't tell me she said 'tea party'," Riku pleaded, earning a hard punch in the side by the alicorn. "Ow!"
"It sounds like a scary tea party?" Twilight said, trying to play off the illusion for Fluttershy.
"Have a seat. Don't be scared of what awaits you." They took a seat around the table, wondering what kind of terrifying things Fluttershy thought of involving a tea party. "Go on. Pass the sugar." Looking around the table, Applejack found the pot for the sugar, but when she took off the lid, there was no sugar inside. "Oh, no! There is none! You're a terrible host!"
"Uhh, what?" Applejack questioned with a scratch of her head.
"Rarity, put your coat on!" Fluttershy said, only confusing the unicorn.
"Why would I do that?" Rarity asked.
"You need to cover up because no one has complimented your dreeeeeess." As hard as Fluttershy was trying to sound scary, it wasn't working as she was hoping. It was more of a dim, boring tea party than anything haunting or remotely scary, as expected from the timid pegasus. "Pinkie Pie, look to your left and ask your best friend to pass the cucumber sandwiches!"
Pinkie looked to her left, her neighbor happening to be Terra, but there wasn't any cucumber sandwiches around. "Uhh, there are no sandwiches anywhere."
"That's right, because he didn't bother to bring anyyyyy," Fluttershy said.
"...I'm so confused," Pinkie said.
"I think we all are," Sora mumbled.
"A friend who didn't bring anything they promised. That must scare you to the coooooore." The group at the table looked at each other, some of them unable to take much more of the awkward "scariness" of the situation. "Quick, everypony, look behind you!"
They turned around in time to see some cardboard cutouts fall from the ceiling and hang from strings, the cutouts looking like a bunch of random mares. One of them, to Sora, looked like a pony version of Tifa with a similarly long black mane, black clothing, even black gloves on her forehooves and black boots on her hind legs.
"Uhh, what are those?" Rainbow asked.
"They're unplanned guests," Fluttershy responded. "Your worst nightmare. You don't have enough food for them!" From behind the couch, where it was obvious where Fluttershy was hiding, a toy kitten was tossed out beside the table, letting out recorded mewls while its legs tried to walk while it laid on its side. "Oh no! There's a tiny kitten that needs a home! But you're over-scheduled right now. You don't have time to help!" They could see Fluttershy poke her head up to see everyone's reactions for a brief moment before she hid back behind the couch, holding an empty can by her mouth to make her voice echo. "I said, 'You don't have time to help!' This should appear to scare you!" Fluttershy grinned and poked her head up again, but no one was even remotely close to being scared. "Why aren't you terrified? You showed up to a party and everypony was extremely disappointed in you. Can you imagine anything more upsetting?"
Riku smacked his head into the table, letting out a frustrated groan, but keeping his mouth shut to avoid getting smacked around by everyone. Even though the others were either just as baffled and bored by Fluttershy's "horror" theme, Sora was the first to explain it to her.
"Well, Fluttershy, it was a good try and all, but Nightmare Night and Halloween horrors are on...a much higher level than this," he said. "Very creative; a haunted dinner table's a good start...only if it was more haunted and not just a normal tea party...with a lack of things for the party."
The others murmured their agreements and nodded their heads, though it didn't help much as Fluttershy seemed disappointed that she failed. "...Oh...I guess I'm not cut out for this." She hung her head and sighed sadly, kidding herself in thinking she could ever enjoy Nightmare Night like everyone else. "You all just go have fun without me."
"Oh, no, darling!" Rarity said. "We couldn't possibly do that!"
"You have to," Fluttershy said. "This is the night you all look forward to all year. This is how I always spend my Nightmare Night: hiding in my cottage and waiting until it's over." They tried to interject, but Fluttershy turned away and began cleaning up her living room. "Just go. I'll be fine."
Even though they wanted her to still join them, they respected her wishes and began filing out of the cottage. "I really thought she had something there for a moment," Pinkie said.
"At least she tried her hardest," Applejack said.
They didn't notice, but Fluttershy's ears drooped, knowing she barely tried at all. While the Mane Six left, the Keyblade wielders stood outside the cottage. They wanted Fluttershy to see how fun it was to scare and be scared on Nightmare Night, but what she needed was a little bit of advice, and a little bit of help from some of the experts.
"We need to show Fluttershy how it's done," Sora said. "She was doing so well just by being with us tonight."
"Sora, she was afraid of eating candy while we were in Sugarcube Corner," Riku reminded. "I doubt there's any hope for her after hearing her freak out over something getting her while in our company."
"She's been able to reform Discord while she dealt with his random shenanigans, and she's able to face dangerous creatures, like a manticore with a thorn in its paw, without so much as batting an eye," Ventus said. "If she's brave enough to face real, dangerous stuff like that, then she can handle Nightmare Night. It's a lot more difficult being brave than it seems. I'm sure the first time any of us have been in a scary situation, like facing the Heartless, we all didn't know what to do and began to panic, right?"
Ventus had a point that they all could agree on; though they may be brave to everyone else who sees them fight the Heartless, there's always a fear they had of failing or knowing someone had lost their heart to the dangerous creatures of darkness. They were brave because they needed to be to save those defenseless against the Heartless, and despite Riku's complaints with Fluttershy's timidness tonight, he had to admit that when the darkness swallowed him up and left him stranded in Radiant Garden, formerly known as Hollow Bastion at that time, he was terrified and had no idea what to do.
"Ven has a point," Terra said. "Fear is an emotion no one can ever live without. And fears can either be conquered in an instant in a dire circumstance, or it could take a lot more time than others might think."
"But what did you have in mind in showing Fluttershy 'how it's done', Sora?" Aqua questioned skeptically.
Sora grinned fiendishly, baring his fake fangs with a sinister glint in his eye. "Oh, I have a cunning, deliciously wonderful idea, and we're going to pull it off on the other girls."
"What were you going to do?" Sora shrieked and leapt toward Riku, the white stallion catching his startled friend in his forelegs as Fluttershy had overheard them from behind her front door.
"Well, she's starting to scare everyone unintentionally at least," Kairi said. "So, that's a pretty good start."
"...I wasn't scared!" Sora exclaimed in denial, Riku leering at him in annoyance as he still held him. "I was just...pretending!"
He yelped as Riku dropped him, hitting the ground with a thud. "He screamed like a girl."
"I did not!" Sora denied.
"Well, I actually had a better idea to really scare the girls," Fluttershy said, flinching a little as she felt a furry foot thump against her foreleg. Standing beside her was her pet, Angel, crossing his arms over his chest with a leer that said, "Who's idea was it again?" "Oh, I mean, Angel had an idea."
"Your pet demon of a rabbit?" Riku questioned. "...What, we throw carrots at them with creepy faces carved on them?"
"Actually, it involves my other animal friends...and a change to my costume," Fluttershy said. "But...what were you going to do, Sora?"
Sora stood back up, brushing the dirt off his costume. "Well, it involves a wardrobe change for me, Aqua, and Terra, but maybe we can combine our ideas and make it a super scare prank." He then walked up to Angel, being wary of any carrots he might be hiding behind him that he could use to smack him in the muzzle. "So, you evil little bunny, what's in that devious little mind of yours?"
Angel gave Sora an impish grin, rubbing his paws together in sadistic glee.
Out at Sweet Apple Acres where the Apples had the corn maze set up, Twilight, Pinkie, Rarity, Rainbow, and Applejack waited by the entrance as they waited for the others to catch up. Spike joined them after his costume was finally ready and got a bit of candy from the neighbors before they ran out.
"Hey, where'd they run off to?" Rainbow asked.
"I thought they were behind us," Twilight said.
"There they are!" Pinkie pointed out, Riku, Kairi, and Ventus the only ones walking toward them while Sora, Aqua, and Terra were nowhere to be found. "Or there's half of them. Hey, where's the other half of you guys!?"
"Aqua wanted to check on the map back in the castle," Kairi said. "There was a Heartless problem in one of the other worlds, and it looked like it was getting out of hand."
"Terra and Sora joined her to help take care of it," Riku added. "Not sure when they'll be back, but I think they're going to miss out on the rest of the holiday."
"That's kinda strange," Applejack said. "Sora always loved Nightmare Night. Don't make a lick of sense for him to leave."
"Well, Aqua and Terra didn't want me to miss out on anymore fun while I'm still a kid," Ventus grumbled. "I'm not that young, and I'm mature enough to have my own fun and fight whenever I'm needed."
"And we're the chaperones, unfortunately," Riku said as he and Kairi laughed.
"If only Fluttershy could still join us. It's too bad," Rarity said.
"I knew she wouldn't handle this kind of stuff, anyway," Rainbow said. "I'm kinda surprised she actually stepped outside her house. When we were fillies, she was always afraid of going around Cloudsdale to get candy and I shared some of mine with her when I got a good haul."
"That was nice of you to do for her, Rainbow," Kairi said.
"And nopony can deny free candy!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"Might as well try to enjoy the rest of the night without them, then." They made their way to the entrance of the corn maze, the five mares and baby dragon unaware of the knowing looks from the Keyblade wielders as they trailed behind them.
The corn maze started with Granny Smith jumping out of nowhere, wearing some kind of weird, realistic horse mask while the rest of her body was veiled in a cloak. It was startling to see, but they laughed it off when their hearts stopped pounding and made their way inside. They ran into Big Macintosh, dressed as a mummy, failing to scare them as they passed the stallion, through a path of "scattered bones", which were actually sticks painted white to look like bones, and they walked through a dark passageway filled with hanging "eyeballs" staring at them, although they were actually peeled grapes painted to look like giant eyes. It wasn't all that terrifying as it was all fake, but Kairi, Riku, and Ventus knew it would be a lot scarier as they spotted a figure run past them.
"W-What was that!?" Applejack asked, spotting something scurry behind them as they went through the walls of the maze.
"What was what?" Riku asked.
"How did you not hear that?" Spike questioned.
"You guys must be hearing things," Ventus said.
They suddenly heard strange moaning sounds coming from one of the paths of the maze. Floating eerily before them were three ghosts, their bodies glowing ominously as their arms were raised up, hovering closer to the group.
"AHHH! GHOSTS!" The mares and Spike screeched, running off in fright.
Riku, Kairi, and Ventus ran right after them, fleeing from the haunting spirits chasing them. They knew exactly who, or what, was underneath the glowing sheets as they pretended to be frightened. As they saw the fleeing Equestrians turn a corner, the "ghosts" flew up and intercepted them, the trio of Keyblade wielders quickly running up to another path and hid behind the wall of corn. They heard the mares and baby dragon shriek as they ran back, being chased by the pursuing "ghosts". The stallions and mare peeked their heads around the corner, keeping up with them while avoiding being seen.
As the fleeing ponies and dragon ran, Rarity yelped as she tripped over the tail of her merpony costume, hitting the ground with a grunt. "Maybe Fluttershy did have a point with too many layers on the dress when fleeing from scary things!"
Spike noticed the unicorn had fallen, quickly running back to help his crush back up on her hooves. Hearing the moaning "ghosts", they hurried back up to the others, having no clue where to run to hide while running through the twisting turns of the maze.
"What happened to Riku, Kairi, and Ven!?" Rainbow asked.
"I don't know!" Twilight said. "We must have gotten split up!...Wait, can't I just-?"
The alicorn's train of thought was derailed when she heard Applejack yelp, quickly skidding to a halt as she almost fell into a hole by a spooky looking tree, the farm mare already unfortunate to fall in. Rainbow hovered beside her, only to have Pinkie bump into Twilight while she skated out of control, sending the both falling in, desperately grabbing Rainbow Dash and causing her to fall in after them. Rarity and Spike soon fell in after them, not paying attention to where they were going as they were too worried about the spiritual entities chasing them.
The ponies and dragon groaned, thankfully escaping the "ghosts" as they flew off. "Where are we?"
"Are we in a tunnel?" Spike asked.
Up above ground, Riku, Kairi, and Ventus snuck up to the hole. While the others down below began to get up, they quickly moved a boulder and covered up the hole, Kairi using a variant of the Gravity spell to increase its weight without crushing it, making it ten times heavier than normal.
"Alright, phase one is complete," Ventus said, the "ghosts" floating down behind them. "Great work, guys."
The sheets were flung off, which happened to be Fluttershy's many bird friends underneath, all of them tweeting merrily at their performance. The illuminating light on the sheets faded, just a simple glowing spell on the costumes to make them look spooky while it's "worn".
"Alright, time to let the others down there to begin the next phase," Riku said, reaching a hoof up to his ear to tap into the magic of his communication crystal. "Sora, Aqua, Terra, the rabbits are in the hole. Commence phase two."
"You talking about Angel and any bunny girlfriends he might have behind Fluttershy's back or the girls?" Sora asked, his rhetorical question making the stallion's eyes roll while he heard him snickering like a five-year-old playing hide and seek in a terrible hiding spot. "Ok. Phase two is a go."
"You know you're lucky Aqua made these so we can talk to specific people just from our thoughts, otherwise Twilight would have been in on it, too," Riku reminded, his eyes growing wide before he winced and shut his eyes. "And she's probably going to kill me for scaring her half to death in there."
"Yeah...That's gotta suck," Sora said, hearing Riku growl angrily in response. "Ok, gotta get into character. Good luck with Twilight later this evening!"
Riku grumbled and let out a frustrated sigh, leering at Ventus and Kairi. "Why am I the one who always gets in trouble with my significant other?"
Ventus and Kairi looked at each other, shrugging their shoulders as their response.
Twilight lit up her horn to illuminate the dark room she and her friends were trapped in. Looking up at the covered hole, she summoned her Keyblade and leapt up to strike the rock. However, as soon as she struck the boulder, it bounced off as if it was made of the toughest steel ever forged, barely leaving a chip in it. She tried levitating it away, but it was just as impossible as trying to break it as it weighed far more than she could magically lift.
"Ok, we're stuck down here," she said. "Where are we supposed to go, Applejack!?"
"A-Ah don't know!" Applejack said. "Ah have no idea what's goin' on!"
"You and your family planned this!" Rainbow exclaimed, trying her chance to break through the rock, only to wince and hurt her back hooves after trying to buck it. "Ow!...How do you not know how this maze was supposed to go!?"
"M-Maybe they're changin' it up for me," the farm mare said. "Ya know, makin' sure Ah don't give away all of the scary parts of the corn maze?"
"Hey, what's that over there?" Spike asked as he pointed out a silhouette of somepony from the light of Twilight's horn.
They could see a familiar looking spiky mane and the mask hanging over their right eye from the dark figure standing on the other end of the cavern. "Oh, it's Sora," Applejack said, she and the others breathing a sigh of relief. "Ah thought y'all were off with Aqua and Terra savin' a world from the Heartless. Guess ya wanted to shirk off on your duties to have fun tonight, huh?" He didn't say anything, which began unnerving everyone at his silence while standing there creepily. Applejack cautiously approached him, swallowing the lump of fear in her throat as her heart began racing nervously. "Uhh, Sora? Sugarcube? Ya feelin' alright?"
She reached a hoof out to touch him, his hoof quickly shooting up and grabbing hers tightly, a pair of claws on his hoof clenching tightly on her foreleg. Her breath caught in her throat from the shocking reaction, but before her heart could slow down to a normal rhythm, the eyes on the mask opened on their own, revealing glowing yellow irises while a sharp, crooked red grin appeared on its mouth. Sora let out a creepy, guttural breath, the same creepy, sharp-toothed grin from his mask appearing on his lips, opening a yellow eye that stared directly at the mare dressed in a lion costume.
"I'm feeling hungry," he said in a dark voice, the reverberating echo making the ponies and baby dragon's spine crawl and tremble in fear. The dark stallion stuck out his tongue, licking his lips as he clenched Applejack's hoof harder. "Hungry for pony hearts!"
"S-Sora!? What happened to ya!?" He rose his other hoof, brandishing his claws as he readied to thrust them at Applejack.
Twilight quickly shot a Fire spell at Sora, the stallion letting go of Applejack as he leapt up toward the ceiling, avoiding the fireball. "Everypony run!"
"No need to tell us twice!" Pinkie screamed, the group running for their lives as they fled.
"You can run, but you can't hide!" Sora cackled as he gave chase.
Twilight knew she wasn't skilled enough to take on Sora, even in this strange demonic form he was under. All she could do was try to shoot spells at random to try to slow him down, which seemed to not do much as he kept right on them while avoiding each spell fired at him. They ran through the cavern, quickly ducking under a small gap into another hall to avoid the pegasus. They saw his legs stomp by, all of them holding their breaths as they waited for him to pass. They expected him to look under the gap and find them, but he continued walking, his heavy breathing and sadistic giggling disappearing as he went down another path.
"...I think he's gone," Spike whispered.
"Ok, what the hay is going on? Why did Sora turn into a monster?" Rainbow questioned. "Is that Vanitas guy taking control of him again?"
"That's impossible. Sora trapped him in his heart with the enhanced powers of the Keyblades of Harmony," Twilight said. "I don't know what happened, but I really hope that it's some temporary form."
"...Or maybe he's pulling a prank on us," Pinkie pondered. "I think all of them are pulling a prank on us! And you're all in on it!"
"Pinkie, he chased after us, too!" Spike said.
"Sure he did," Pinkie said skeptically. "And I'm sure what's going to happen next is a giant sword or knife that'll be flung at us and miss my head by mere inches!" From across the hall, a giant, dark blade embedded itself in the wall mere inches from Pinkie's floofy pigtail mane, flung by a powerful force in the darkness. Everyone gasped and turned to face a creature with glowing yellow eyes, the sound of armor clanking with each step it took. "...Yipe."
Stepping into Twilight's illuminating spell, a dark armored knight approached them, a dark mist appearing around the exposed parts of the suit of armor it wore. The ponies and baby dragon shrieked as they fled back through the gap and down to wherever the exit was, the animated, demonic armor grabbing the hilt of the stone sword and crumbling the wall away with a push. It shot a hoof forward, commanding a giant, land-walking fish monster to chase after them, letting out a roar and ran on all fours after them.
"A living suit of armor!? Under Ponyville!?" Twilight exclaimed. "I don't think there were any Heartless from what I've been taught that looked like that!"
"Then maybe it was actually a ghost!" Rainbow said, looking back as she heard the roar coming from another monster. "AHHH! Run for it!"
As soon as they rounded the corner, they ran into a giant spider web, getting caught like helpless flies as their flailing only got them more stuck. "Help! I can't see!" Pinkie screamed, getting web around her eyes.
"I can't even move!" Rainbow exclaimed as they all grunted while trying to pull themselves free.
"You guys need a hand?" a voice called out from behind them.
Twilight managed to tilt her head to see their savior, only to gasp in horror as she didn't expect to see her again. Stepping forward, illuminating the area with a dark blue glow was Aqua's darkness, Torrent, her icy-blue hair spiked back while her eyes glowed yellow in the darkness.
"T-Torrent!?" Twilight exclaimed. "No! But how!? Aqua's not upset!"
"Feelings can be hidden oh, so easily," the unicorn said with a sinister chuckle. "Blame, punishing herself for her sins, it can really weigh a heart down. Turns out she's been hiding a lot from all of you, even Terra." Ice formed around Torrent, turning into several Keyblades as the air around them got colder. "You'll be perfect as my first victims for foiling my chance to escape from Aqua's heart. And I'll gladly take my revenge on you first, Twilight Sparkle."
The weapons of ice shot forward, the girls and Spike screaming as they flew right toward them. Surprisingly, her aim was off as she cut them free from the web, giving them a chance to escape while they had the chance. As they ran, pillars of ice shot up down the path to try to trip them up, hearing her maniacal laughter behind them as she slowly pursued them.
"Where are Riku, Kairi, and Ventus!?" Rarity screamed. "Are they still in that corn maze!?"
"They won't save you, ponies!" Jumping out from an adjacent corridor, Demon Sora blocked their path. "Gotcha!"
Right as he was about to pounce them, the behemoth of an armored knight charged through the wall, shocking the dark pegasus as he was tackled into the other side of the cavernous hallway. Thankful for the surprising distraction, the five mares and baby dragon continued fleeing, feeling hopeful as they managed to find the exit. Running outside, they found themselves farther away from the corn maze after falling into the hole earlier, only they stood on the edge of a cliff outside of Ponyville.
They flinched when they heard maniacal laughter behind them, looking back to see something perched upside down from the branch of a tree above the cavern they exited. A large pair of bat wings extended from the creature, flapping off its perch and dove down toward its prey. The ponies and dragon ducked as it swooped down and nearly got them, but it came back around and managed to snatch Spike's second head for his costume, ripping it off and tore it to shreds. After tossing the stuffed head down at the entrance, hovering in place to reveal what it was in the moonlight: Fluttershy dressed up like Flutterbat with fake bat wings, ears, fangs, and colored contact lens' to make her eyes look red.
Stepping out of the cave were Sora, Torrent, and the enchanted suit of armor, the trio of terrifying, insane monsters stalking closer to their victims. The terrified group huddled toward the edge of the cliff, Twilight wielding her Keyblade as she pointed it shakily at them, trying her hardest to be strong despite the three dangerous monsters being far stronger than her naturally and too traumatized to remember she could use her Links to get an upper hoof. Seeing how utterly scared they were, Fluttershy hovered down in front of the far more dangerous beings.
"Oh my. I'm so, so sorry," she said. "Can you ever forgive me?"
Torrent, Sora, and the armored stallion looked at Fluttershy, the rest of the Mane Six and baby dragon stared at her in shock. "Fluttershy!?"
The pegasus nodded meekly, the three behind her letting out a sigh. "Well, at least this lasted a lot longer than I thought it would have." The armored stallion took off his helmet, revealing himself to be Terra, the smoke around his face and the glowing yellow eyes disappearing as he took off the armor piece. "That was kinda fun, though."
"Wait, Terra?" The others looked at Sora and "Torrent", the icy mare using her magic to dispel the illusions she cast: stopping the rest of the smoke coming from Terra's knight costume, changing her appearance back to normal, and returning Sora's costume back to the way it was. Sora grinned widely as he sat up, putting his forelegs behind his head. Now that they realized the whole thing was just a scare prank, Twilight looked around, finding no sign of Riku, Kairi, or Ventus anywhere with them. "...But, where did-?"
"Over here, Twilight!" Riku called out, he, Kairi, and Ventus leaping up to meet them. "Have fun going through our version of a haunted maze?"
"...It...was..." Rarity began, but Pinkie interrupted, expressing everyone's thoughts for them.
"THE BEST THING EVER!!!!" Pinkie squealed.
Seeing everyone was excited about going through their maze, even though they were in a lot of danger, Riku sighed with relief. "Good. That means I'm not in trouble."
"Oh, you are in a LOT of trouble, Riku," Twilight said, clonking him on the head with her costume's helmet. He grumbled, rubbing his head while wishing he shut his big mouth. "I actually thought we were all in trouble, and I almost blasted Sora with magic! Who's bright idea was it to make us think we were going to die in there!?"
"Uhh, it was mostly my idea for the three of us to dress like that and scare the daylights out of you," Sora said, chuckling nervously. "So, don't blame Riku. He was just part of the distraction to lure you girls into our maze." Twilight flung her helmet at Sora, smacking him in the face as he fell over on his back in pain. "Ow...Riku, you owe me for that."
"Fluttershy, that was awesome!" Rainbow complimented her friend. "That was the scariest of scariest things I could have ever come up with!"
"Well, I didn't really come up with all of it," Fluttershy said. "Sora had most of the idea, and we had a little extra help." The pegasus's animal friends soon came out, most of them in their costumes: the birds flying in with their ghost sheet costumes, Harry the bear taking off his mask as the scary fish monster as he waved to everyone, Angel dressed in a vampire's cloak as the mysterious, skittering creature that surprised them earlier, and a little spider Fluttershy called Fuzzy Legs that had made that huge web they got stuck in. "And Angel had the other half of the idea they combined."
"You have got to do this every year!" Pinkie said. "Think about how many ponies would want to come and see this for Nightmare Night!"
The others agreed, though Twilight preferred leaving out the creepy golem of iron armor crashing through the cave walls, a psychotic demonic pegasus corrupted by darkness, and a unicorn of darkness with the power of ice. "I guess we could celebrate Nightmare Night together," Fluttershy said, taking off her fake bat ears and fangs. "But the truth is I really don't want to."
"You don't?" Sora asked in confusion, sitting back up while rubbing his sore muzzle from Twilight's flung helmet. "But you did it. I think you had a scaring everyone for real, even ripping off Spike's twin's head. Poor Spines. I knew ye well."
"Maybe, but I think I realized something. You all might love Nightmare Night and I might be good being a part of it, but it's not fun for me to see my friends feel like they're in danger," she explained. "I really don't like it. It's just not my cup of tea."
"Spooooooky tea?" Pinkie asked, rolling up to the pegasus while somehow able to hold a flashlight in her hoof while wearing those skates.
"No. Just regular tea," Fluttershy said, gently pushing Pinkie back a little. "We do a lot of fun things together, but I'm afraid tonight's not going to be one of them."
"Well, at least you gave it a shot," Aqua said. "I think it's perfectly fine if you don't want to join everyone in something you don't like. Just don't feel too pressured about fitting in if it involves something you don't feel comfortable doing."
"Right. I'll keep that in mind," Fluttershy said. "As long as everypony else is fine with it?"
"Of course it is," Twilight said. She then looked at Sora, glaring angrily at him as she held her Keyblade up. "Now, as for you, Sora."
"Hey, you threw your helmet at me! Isn't that enough!?" he asked, his answer an angry alicorn dressed in fake armor charging at him, the gems on her chain for the Elements of Loyalty and Honesty lighting up as her strength and speed increased. "YIPE!" Sora jumped back, avoiding a vertical slash that hit the ground, causing the earth to crack. "Uhh, Riku, ask your girlfriend to stop trying to kill your best friend!?"
"Sorry, but this whole thing was your idea after all," Riku said. "I'm not going anywhere near her when she's that angry."
"Aqua and Terra were in on my plan too! Go for them!" Sora shouted as he continued avoiding the wildly slashing swings coming from Twilight. He pointed at them, only to find no sign of them as they walked back toward town, Terra stripping out of his dark knight armor. "Hey! Where are you going!?"
"I think you've got the brunt of her anger covered," Aqua said. "Terra and I are gonna spend the rest of the evening on a late night date."
"Good luck, Sora!" Terra called out as the couple waved a hoof before disappearing down the hill.
"Traitors!" Sora shouted, running away from Twilight while the others laughed at his unfortunate misery."
Sora groaned in agony as he sat outside at a table, watching foals running around getting scared or gathering candy to offer to Nightmare Moon. Twilight managed to catch him and wail on him helplessly, earning a few bumps from the blunt side of her Keyblade, mostly on his head. She managed to ruin his costume, some tears or scorch marks from when she actually decided to hit him with Fire spells, and crumpled the pumpkin mask that now laid down on the table before him.
"Ok, I guess I deserved it," Sora said to himself. "Went a bit too far with my performance, but that was the point: scaring them." He lifted up his mask, the poor pumpkin face bent in awkward angles as if it was crumpled into a ball and pulled apart with several wrinkles. "Now I need to make a new mask...and tailor my costume."
"Maybe ya need a different outfit," Applejack said. She sat at the opposite end, dropping Sora's bag of candy Pinkie made for him. "Also, ya did deserve that beatin'."
"I know," he said. "You alright, though? I didn't leave you with a traumatic scar, did I?"
"Ah'll admit, ya startled me and nearly made mah heart leap outta mah chest, but Ah'm good," Applejack assured. "But that weird face of yours while in that illusion made me think that was really you. Was that whole voice part of it, too?"
"Actually, I had this little gizmo that changed my voice." Sora lowered the collar of his costume, revealing a small black microphone clipped onto it with a small wire connected to a device attached to the inside of his shirt. He twisted the dial, turning it on as he spoke into the small mic. "Applejack, I am your brother. Fear me, for I am a demon and want to devour your soul."
"Ok, that explained the creepy voice," Applejack said. "Ah thought Aqua had changed it with magic, but Ah guess she might have to be close enough to ya to make it like that."
"Oh yeah. That would have ruined the illusion if she was around me." He took off the voice changer, no longer finding any use for it unless he wanted to prank someone with it. "I'm gonna be real sore in the morning after the beating Twilight gave me."
"Ya think she'd be a Keyblade Master faster than y'all?" Applejack asked curiously.
"I don't think she's even close," Sora said. "She may have a lot of magical and physical strength thanks to her Links, but learning by the book won't help her much in real combat. I had to learn on my own while I was with Donald and Goofy, and I got more experienced with every dangerous encounter."
"Even with all the skills ya have, Ah thought for sure ya already were a Keyblade Master," she said. "But savin' several worlds, most of the time on your own, and stoppin' lots of bad folk out there plannin' to destroy them worlds was considered a surefire way to bein' one."
"Yeah, but I have to be tested to prove I'm worthy of being a master," Sora said, leaning back in his chair as he looked up at the stars. "Riku and I were kind of against each other during our exam, and only one of us could succeed as a Keyblade Master. He managed to do it while I fell for Xehanort's trap: hook, line, and absolute sucker...Our exam was nothing but a trap anyway, and we were too late to notice. If Riku didn't come to save me, I would have ended up as one of Xehanort's thirteen seeds of darkness..." He looked back down at Applejack, grabbing his candy bag and pulling out a piece to eat. "I'm a really lucky guy after surviving all the stuff I've been through."
"Eeyup," Applejack said in agreement. "Well, if your Nightmare Night's over now that your costume's all ruined, Ah'm gonna find Apple Bloom and make sure she didn't cause too much mischief with the rest of her friends."
"Might as well head back to the castle, then." Sora stood up and grabbed his bag of candy. "I need to wash off my face paint and get some ice or something from my lumps. I'll see ya in the morning."
After saying his goodbye to Applejack, Sora made his way back to the castle, popping a few pieces of the mixed candy Pinkie made. At least it wasn't all rock candy, to everyone else's relief, otherwise he'd have a stomachache before he even took one piece. He immediately headed for his room upon entering the Castle of Friendship, stripping out of his torn costume and tossed it aside, reminding himself to get it repaired. He took out the fake fangs, then made his way to the bathroom, washing away the black face paint in the sink.
While he washed his face, his mind thought back to how much luck he had in the dangerous situations that should have killed him. He couldn't help but think what might have happened if he didn't survive in those moments: what would happen to his friends, the worlds, if the villains were able to succeed or not. Looking into his reflection, his face dripping wet but free of his makeup, wondering what could have happened had Riku not made it in time to save him from Xehanort's clutches. He didn't ponder the thought for too long, shaking his head before grabbing a towel and drying his face off. He didn't need to worry much about the outcomes of the past as they've already happened. What mattered was the universe's future, and stopping Xehanort from destroying that future with his plans. Not only that, but he wondered where Starlight Glimmer was at this moment, still wanted and possibly planning something to get her revenge on them for stopping her cultist plans to steal every pony's cutie marks. He had a bad feeling something was going to go wrong when they encounter her again, hoping it was a just the sugary treats as he walked over to his bed and continued scarfing his candy down.