Dear Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk
You three are cordially invited to the All Hallow's Eve Celebration, October 31st at Sunset
We will await your arrival,
Van Tassel
Things were taking a turn for a better for the Dazzlings. As they were told, they did indeed get an invitation from the Van Tassel family, invited for their party. With only a little preparation, the girls got dressed up in formal dresses and walked to the party. Adagio sported a dress in pure purple, Aria's was blazed in a dark green, and Sonata Dusk showed off a pink and white dress that screamed of royalty. It was a half-hour walk, but it did not matter. The cold moor of the night did not help, unfortunately. So cold!
But they arrived in a nick of time before the wind blew harder. Their hair blowing behind their heads from the wind, showing off those beautiful curls. On the front porch, they could see a man dressed in a formal coat and pants, accompanied by dressy shoes and a scarf around his neck.
"Oh, Miss Dazzle, wonderful to see you," the man on the porch said.
"Good to see you to, Mr Van Tassel."
Adagio shook hands with the elderly man, and he shook hands with her sisters. With a small bow, he gestured to the inside of the house, allowing them to walk inside.
"Thank you sir, glad to be here," Adagio smiled, walking past him. When they passed through the door, a brush of nice warm air hit their tender skin. No longer was the cold. And music was in the air! There were a few guests clapping along with the melodies coming from the violinists. There were a few people joining hands and performing dances together, accompanying the sounds. Others were sitting around, chatting, laughing, having a few drinks. The maids were seen coming around, passing some food around and offering them to the guests.
"Well, this just might be the welcoming party we needed," Adagio smiled, putting her hands on her hips.
"Girls, you made it!" Red Threadmaster greeted.
Red appeared just from off to the side, walking to them with a few glasses of rum on a tray. She offered it to them, to wit, they all accepted from her.
"Thank you Red, very glad to see you," Adagio smiled.
"Thanks for the rum! I know what I'll be doing tonight," Aria chuckled, taking a swing of it from her glass cup.
Adagio stared at Aria with a scowl. "Throw up inside the house, you'll be sleeping outside."
Red chuckled. "I'm sorry?"
"Aria throws up after five shots of anything with alcohol," Sonata squeaked.
"I do not!"
"You threw up on The Hardrock," Sonata pointed out.
"I was seasick!"
"That's what you said when you threw up on Hoover's shoes," Sonata sing-songed.
Aria's cheeks blushed profusely. "Hehe, didn't happen, Sonata..."
Red rolled her eyes. "Bickering like this just makes me thankful I don't have a sister."
"Adagio Dazzle?"
Adagio's head turned. It was Burly Bones!
"Bones."
"Very lovely to see you again, Miss Dazzle, Miss Blaze, Miss Dusk. Good to see all of you here again."
Aria was busy swinging down another drink, raising her hand up for him to wait.
"If you wish to be the receiving end of Aria's stomach waste, I recommend you stand back as far away from her as possible. She can't exactly handle all that rum."
Aria swallowed the remains of the rum in her drink and wiped her mouth clean. "Don't tell me how much I can't handle," Aria hiccuped, "I'm good!"
"--And the drunk spirits return," Adagio deadpanned.
"Spirits?" A woman asked from the side. Adagio rolled her eyes, chuckling.
"It was only a figure a speech, Ms...?"
"Right, you don't know me. My name is Rum, Dry Rum, is thy name," she introduced. She shook Adagio's hand. "Sorry to startle you, but I was worried you might have seen a spirit."
"Oh you mean like the supposed spirit that dragged off that fool of a schoolteacher?" Burly Bones snarked.
All three Dazzlings stopped. Their heads slowly turned to look at both humans.
"I'm sorry, 'fool of a schoolteacher'? What exactly do you mean...?" Adagio asked.
"Oh dear, here we go again..." Red complained.
"We had a wonderful schoolteacher in this very town," Dry Rum began. "We mostly referred to him as Mr. Crane. Not only was he a wonderful schoolteacher, but he was very eccentric too. He studied all sorts of myths and legends of ghosts and spirits and--"
"--wasted all of his time chasing fairy-tales," Burly Bones interrupted.
"So we can agree on one thing," Red genuinely said.
"Now, hold on... What happened to that schoolteacher?" Adagio asked, leaning forward on the side of the bench.
"Oh come on, don't tell me you're actually buying that drizzle," Red complained.
"Please, Rum, continue."
"Right, right. Anyways, Mr Crane was invited to a party here just last year on this very night, on Hallow's Eve. But alas, the poor dear was too distracted by our stories that he didn't even see what time it had begun. It had just passed midnight, and Mr. Crane had to travel home as fast as he could. He scurried along, trying not to waste time, but then... he showed up."
"Who?" Sonata asked.
"The Headless Horseman..." Dry Rum said in an ominous tone. "The Horseman found Crane, and when he was found, he ran as fast as he could. He tried to make it for the bridge, and he managed to cross it in time. But it was too late. The Horseman threw his jack-o-lantern, and disappeared off into the night. People around here might say that he just moved away, and some like me know that he was carried away... because from that night on... we never saw him again."
Adagio for once actually start to feel a bit on edge. "Never?"
"Never."
"Oh come on, Adagio, its just an old tale to scare off people who are new around here," Burly Bones replied. "You won't let something like that scare you, will you?"
Adagio wasn't sure what to say. She wanted to say no, but she didn't.
"Oh please, you have to be joking."
The leader of the trio looked to the most popular man in town. "I don't know if it is true... but its important to know any myth and legend in your surroundings so you can prepare for the worst."
Burly Bones scoffed. "Suit yourself." And without another word, he just simply left Adagio alone to dance with the other guests. Most boring man ever, Adagio deadpanned inside. She looked back to Aria and Sonata who didn't change their expressions. They were a little concerned for sure, but they weren't sinking into the depths of fear like Adagio was.
"Don't you girls wish to dance?" Red ask.
"Mmm, no thanks, I think I'd just be depressing to have. You go ahead," Aria said, plunking down next to the fire.
"Me too. Besides, none of the men in here are cute..." Sonata pouted. She too, sat down near the fire for warmth.
"Adagio?"
Adagio looked to her sisters, and then back at Red. She simply shook her head, but Red could understand. She just simply shrugged and went off to join the rest of the dancing guests. Adagio, happy to just be with her sisters, sat down on the couch, cuddled up with a blanket.
"Rum, perhaps you can regale us in some more stories? Do you know any others?"
"I do, in fact. Have you heard of the Fair Folk?"
They shook their heads, saying no.
"Well the Fair Folk were some of the most disturbing manifestations to ever come into our world. They were the unknowable creatures of the forest. They used humans as playthings, torturing them, sometimes even having their bodies for food..."
While the rest of the guests ate, drank, and danced, the Dazzlings indulged themselves into spooky stories and wild speculations for hours, long into the night. And drank, of course. The actual rum helped them enjoy the story just a little bit more than usual. And with all that rum and whiskey, their fears were slowly melting away...
Hours had gone by, and the party had come to a close. The Dazzlings were laying about on the floor, dozing off from the whiskey and rum they had drank earlier, and were near the fire for warmth. They didn't even hear the sound of the man walking down the stairs to the open room. Only the clap of his hands woke them up.
"Alright folks, its time for you to go to your own homes," the man said.
The Dazzlings snapped out of their slumber when they heard the clap, all jolting up at once.
"Oh? It's over?" Adagio said, getting back up on her feet.
The only other people still inside the house was the couple who were telling stories on and on for the girls.
"Oh dear, look how late it's become," Dry Rum said.
"Um, sir, if I may, where is Red? Red Threadmaster?"
"She left the party hours ago, its past midnight."
All three of them stopped.
"P-P-Past midnight?" Adagio stuttered. Her head flipped back to gaze outside. It was pitch black outside, and it only made her eyes sink into her skull.
"Oh I'm glad I don't have to walk through Sleepy Hollow on a night like this."
"Say girls, don't you have to pass through Sleepy Hollow on your way home?" Another guest said.
"Why, um, yes," Adagio said.
"Well if anyone can handle the Headless Horseman, its you three."
"We can? I mean, yes, of course we can!" Adagio said with confidence. She looked away from everyone with an honest nervous face. "I think..." Truth be told, she wasn't sure. She heard the rumors, she heard them all. She wasn't one to truly believe in ghosts and spirits, but knowing the strange tales and myths and creatures that came from Equestria, the likelihood of ghosts was very likely.
But they had to get through there either way. There was no way avoiding the inevitable. Her sisters all got up, and they all left the house, together as a pack.
They walked for about ten minutes before approaching the sign that pointed straight for Sleepy Hollow. The sign that pointed to the glen was very old, its painted words faded from having stood for many years. It stood out of the ground, arched with a menacing tilt, like someone had ran right over it. With nothing more than determination left, they took big deep breaths and walked straight for Sleepy Hollow...