When the sun set and the sky turned from a bright blue to a dark purple, Hollow Shades began to reawaken. The stage lit up with costumed ponies performing more creepy but upbeat ambience, and ponies dressed in silly or scary costumes emerged to open stalls and walk around to take part in the events.
And now that Rainbow Dash and the Cutie Mark Crusaders had prepared, they had decided to take action. Since it was sunset, there was still enough daylight to make the forest walk to the castle. Sweetie Belle had researched vamponies in the library, and everypony had come equipped with bulbs of garlic, and Apple Bloom helped to equip some wooden stakes. They tucked them away into their Nightmare Night costumes, invisible to the naked eye. They also got some cheap headlamps in case it got too dark.
The group stopped in front of the path leading toward the castle, and looked to one another.
“Everypony ready to do this?” asked Rainbow Dash. The Crusaders confirmed with a nod, Scootaloo’s a little hesitant. “Alright, let’s go get us a--”
“Ah, Rainbow Dash!” a stallion’s voice called over the chatter. “There you are!”
A collective groan sounded over the group as they recognised the voice, and they turned to see a stallion trotting over in a suit with a jack-o-lantern head. The head came off to reveal Crow Quill underneath.
“Lucky I ran into you,” he began. “We’ll be holding some competitions tonight and, I know this is short notice, but I was wondering if you could help by being on the judge’s panel?”
The armoured Pegasus ruffled her wings nervously. “Um, I dunno, I mean I kinda gotta--”
“Oh it will take no time at all,” Crow Quill promised. “A few minutes at best! And then we’ll move on to the next event. I’m sure your little friends will be fine exploring on their own for a bit! And I’m sure you all remember what I said about the castle… don’t you?” He added with a hint of threat in his voice, making the fillies nod uneasily.
Rainbow Dash’s eyes darted nervously between the Mayor and the Crusaders. She couldn’t just abandon the mission, but if she did, he would know something was going on. She would have to choose carefully.
She leaned down to the fillies. “Okay, I trust you guys. You get a head start and see what you can do, I’ll catch up when I can. If something bad happens, get out of there.”
The Crusaders nodded, keeping quiet so to not raise suspicion.
Rainbow Dash stood up straight and trotted over to Crow Quill. “So, what’s this about a contest?”
With the two ponies’ backs to them, the Crusaders too the chance to sprint onto the dirt path, heading toward the castle before it got dark.
By the time the Crusaders had returned to the castle’s double doors, it was almost pitch black. They got out their headlamps and flipped them on, looking up at the double doors. The moon was out and full, but the soft illumination wasn’t enough to show any stray rocks and twigs that might trip them up.
“You girls sure about this?” muttered Scootaloo. “I mean, it’s pretty dark… maybe we should wait till tomorrow evening and get a head start?”
“C’mon Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom spoke up. “We already came this far, ain’t much point in backin’ out now. Besides, we got these light thingies fer when it gets dark, right?”
“Well, yeah,” Scootaloo nodded. “I dunno, just… what if there is something in there?”
“In an abandoned castle?” asked Sweetie Belle. “C’mon, if there’s something in there, we can handle it. I mean, remember everything we’ve gone through together, even without an adult around!”
“Yeah, true,” Scootaloo agreed, and gave a nod with a more assured grin. “Alright, I’m ready.”
“Me too!” Sweetie Belle replied.
“Me three!” added Apple Bloom.
The three threw their hooves up into the air and cheered, “Cutie Mark Crusaders, Vampony Hunters! Yeah!”
Then the three stared at each other for a few silent moments, then giggled.
“Good times,” Scootaloo snorted.
The fillies trotted up to the doors, Apple Bloom pushing experimentally at one of them. To their surprise and confusion, the door had much more give this time, and slowly pushed open with a loud creak.
They looked at each other once more, and took a deep breath before walking inside the castle, not noticing the soft glow of candlelight coming from one of the high windows.