//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: A Truly Happy Halloween // Story: The Legend Of Dazzling Hollow // by FourShadow //------------------------------// Lavender and Fuschia had no idea what was about to lie ahead of them. They were just told to come upstairs to the second floor of the house, where upon walking, they could see a few other party guests hanging out. Most of them just moved upstairs to talk without the abundance of loud noises and what not. Somehow, even the Dazzlings found a way to make the upstairs fun. As the two costumed friends walked on by, they could see some of their classmates indulging in some of their own fun. Mostly from people playing some horror games in some of the various rooms. But up ahead, they could see Aria, Bon Bon, and Octavia waving at them, gesturing them to come on over. "Hey, come on over!" "So why did we need to come all the way up here?" Fuschia asked. "Because Trixie wanted to talk alone, although I question her choice of location... but she is here. Just go through the doors here, she should be down this wing of the house. Though fair warning, do not use the loo, the pipes are not responding properly," Octavia said. "Oh, well, alright. Thank you," Lavender nodded, walking through the double doors. And once they were inside, Aria and Bon Bon slowly closed it. The mischievous trio all shared a few hands of fist bumps and high fives. "So what do we do now?" Octavia asked. "Ladies, we just need to wait, and listen. They'll either come back this way screaming like children, or they'll use the other set of doors and scream back there. Either way, they'll finally understand what happens when you mess with any of my friends," Aria said, stretching her neck, making a few bones crack. "Sheesh. You sound like you've reaallly wanted to do this for a long time," Bon Bon said, a little concerned. "I've done stuff like this before. Believe me, I am the master of pranks. Although I'd like to see Rainbow Dash try and top me. There is nothing on this planet that can scare me--" "ARIA BLAZE!" Except for the shrill cries of her older sister. Adagio and Trixie stomped down the hallway, faces beat red like they were ready to kill everyone in the room. And their eyes were locked onto all three of them, but mostly Aria. "Aria!" Trixie glared. "What are you all doing!?" "We're getting back at them for what they did to you!" "What have I told you? I just want this stupid pranking to be over!" Trixie unlocked the doors, yanking them open so they could come out. Except, the two girls weren't directly in sight. "Where did they go?" They weren't in sight. In fact, all they saw was some ominous smoke and barely lit orange lights flickering in the hall. "Guess we're going to have to find them," Trixie grunted, walking into the scare hall. Adagio, equally annoyed, followed after her. And hesitantly the rest of the girls who were united in this prank followed after them. The entire wing of the mansion they walked through had been decorated and lit to the brim as a legit haunted mansion. It was almost pitch black, they only had a few lights here and there with just a bunch of noises. A pop-out ghost jumped out, making Aria jump, and it only made Trixie look at it with an unamused glare. She rolled her eyes, and just kept on walking. And another thing popped out to scare her, this time someone in a zombie costume, moaning and groaning as if they desired blood. "Hey Scott," Trixie said, passing by. The zombie pouted, saddened that he couldn't scare her. "It was a good try, Scott," Bon Bon said, patting his shoulder as they walked by. More noises played from small speakers and sensors that had been rigged. Stuff like maniacal laughing, or little flashing lights to make lightning flashes. And even with all of them playing, none of them were phasing Trixie. Not even when a coffin opened up and a makeshift Dracula stretched his arms out to grab, Trixie still didn't have any visible reaction. "Okay, Trixie, explain to me! How are you not afraid of any of this?" Aria said, flabbergasted. "I watched a lot of horror movies, I've grown desensitized now," Trixie deadpanned. "But what about Sunset Shimmer, that didn't--" "--Why would I not be afraid of her? Of course she scares me!" Trixie groaned. And another scare was attempted by a cardboard clown popping out from the corner. Trixie just rolled her eyes and brushed past it. One more door was opened, finally leading the group to the end of the scare-dome. Thankfully they didn't have to go much further, as Lavender and Fuschia were right there. Trixie moved closer, trying to get a look at them, but they didn't notice her. Their skin was pale and they were paralyzed with fear at whatever they were looking at. Just in front of them, there was a big-screen television standing in front of them, and on the screen was a creepy girl with dirty dark black hair covering her entire head. Trixie did shiver a little bit, but not enough to be running away. On her left she saw the double doors to exit the scare-dome and she opened them up, ready to drag them out. But then something else started to happen. The scary girl on the TV was getting closer and closer... and she started to come out of the television. The scary girl growled and moaned as she got closer, making both Lavender and Fuschia scream for their life. Declaring that it was enough, Trixie managed to yank both Fuschia and Lavender through the doors and everyone slammed them right behind the group once they were out. Finally freed from the scare-dome, they snapped back to reality. And they saw Trixie right with her. "What the--Trixie?" Fushcia stammered. "Wait, you weren't... why aren't... what is happening!?" Adagio glared at Aria, Octavia, and Bon Bon intensely. "Well? Do you three have something to tell them?" Aria wasn't laughing or taking joy in her revenge idea anymore. Thanks to the angry sister looming over her, she and the other two shrunk. "Well... we... might have set you two up to be scared as revenge." Lavender couldn't believe what she heard. "You did what?" "We hated how you hurt Trixie so we put you two in a scare hall to get payback for what you did to her." Lavender and Fuschia didn't have a word to say. Not one. They just looked at Aria with clearly upset looks, and started to stomp away. Trixie was also upset, sharing a glaring look but she didn't run after them right away. Aria however, did. Along with Bon Bon and Octavia who pursued them. "Forget it, Blaze!" Fuschia snapped, hearing them run after them. She was trying so hard not to explode, but she was on the verge of it. Lavender was too, based on her red hot face. Scared, angry, upset, there were so many negative emotions all rumbling together that it was hard to narrow down. And they completely ignored their surroundings as they stomped their way back into the main party room, brushing past all of the guests who were having a better time. "Wait. Hey, come back here! Look, I'm--" "--Forget it, Aria!" Lavender yelled, her cheeks now visibly red. "I get it! You wanted back at us, well guess what, you finally did it!" Aria tried to stop them, but it was no use. They burst through the doors, not looking back for a second. Adagio, equally stammered to see them gone, turned to look at Aria and Sonata with a look of disapproval. "Well Aria, I hope you are satisfied." "Why were you trying to stop me?" "You helped her, aiding and abetting in a prank that went against what Trixie wanted!" "They needed a taste of their own medicine!" "Enough!" The girls looked at Trixie who frustrated beyond belief. "I don't care about pranking, I never wanted to prank them back! I just wanted this problem behind me, all I wanted to do was talk to them to make up, but now I can't! They're probably going to head home and never want to see me, you, or any of us ever again. So now, thanks to you, my chances of putting this behind me are gone! Thank you so much!" Trixie threw her head back, groaning loudly, almost yanking at her own hair. "Actually, they're not going anywhere," Vinyl said. "What makes you say that?" Vinyl pointed to outside. Trixie took a look, seeing where Lavender and Fuschia had gone. Actually, they didn't really leave. They just walked outside, and sat themselves on a curb in between some cars, away from the guests and from everyone else, it seemed. Seeing that she had her chance, Trixie grew a smile on her face. "I know what to do." Trixie got an acknowledging nod from Adagio, and she walked through the doors to another party room to try and make it back to the front of the house. Aria was about to move forward until Adagio stopped her. "The best thing we can do right now is let Trixie handle this her way, and leave them alone," Adagio snapped, glaring at the girls responsible for the pranks. "And I expect you three to apologize." Aria, Bon Bon, and Octavia sunk where they stood. But they still looked outside as Trixie was walking towards them. Fuschia and Lavender sat on the curb outside the house, looking away from everyone and everything around them. The only thing those two wanted right now was to go home and never look back. This party wasn't worth it, even if they got scared. It wasn't fun without knowing what was planned, or even getting scared... by the girls who saved their school from complete magical mayhem and terror. But something unexpected happened; Trixie was out here, approaching them. "Hey." Their heads lifted and they were shocked to see a friendly face from their former friend. That girl they scared by mistake so long ago was coming back to them? "H-Hey, Trixie," Lavender froze, not sure what to say. "Mind if I sit with you two?" "Um..." Fuschia looked over to Lavender, who gave an 'okay' nod. "Sure." Trixie lowered herself down and sat her skirt covered behind on the curb with them. "I'm sorry you two were scared back there. I didn't tell any of them to do that." The two were shocked. "You didn't?" Lavender questioned. "No, I didn't. I'm really sorry, they can be defensive sometimes. They just wanted to stand up for me, and I didn't want them to do that... no matter how insane it was." "Actually, Trixie?" Fuschia said, interrupting her. Fuschia and Lavender looked at each other, and then back to Trixie. With a brave face, she spoke. "Trixie, I... I think we should be the ones to apologize, not you. What we did all those years ago was really horrible of us, and we didn't know it was going to scare you that much. We just..." Fuschia sighed. "We just wanted to show you not everything was scary." "All of those mean kids scaring you and picking on you, we didn't want you to feel like you were nothing. We thought if you came through that house with us and gave you a scare, we'd show you it was only us, and maybe you'd see that not everything is scary, we... There's no excuse for what we did." Trixie softly frowned. But she wasn't feeling as bad as she did so long ago. Honestly, hearing the truth from these two, and letting them open up to her honestly felt good. Great, even! "We didn't know it would scare you, and I can definitely say, we didn't know that floor was going to give out, so... I'm sorry. I'm sorry we took you into that stupid house, I'm sorry for scaring you... I'm sorry for being a bad friend," Lavender finished, sighing with her eyes tearing up a bit. "And I'm sorry too. Honestly, I wish I could go back and stop us from doing something so stupid... I understand if you don't want to talk to us anymore, and if that's the case, that's fine. We deserve it." Trixie didn't say a word, but instead, silently thought both of their words over. If she was a little girl again, she should have been frustrated or upset. But she wasn't. Trixie wasn't that little girl anymore. All she wanted was to finally move on from the past and make things better right here and now. And it didn't take a scientist or some magic to figure out that the former friends were telling the truth, just from their shaky voices, desperately trying not to break down crying. She stood back up on her feet, moving in front of the two of them. Lavender and Fuschia looked back up, seeing that Trixie had extended a hand out to help them get back on that feet. And she gave them nothing more than a hopeful and friendly smile. Lavender wiped a tear from her face, and got back on her feet, taking Trixie's hand. Fuschia took a hand as well, and the two were now facing Trixie, eye to eye. One of them was about to speak, until Trixie pulled them close and held them in a long, necessary, and much needed hug. The magician rubbed their backs, holding them close as they moved close to Trixie and held her in an equally necessary hug too. Adagio and the girls saw everything through the windows. None of them could believe their eyes. "They're hugging it out?" Sonata tilted her head. "But what about what they did, that's not something you can just..." "Aria," Adagio interrupted. "What they did so long ago was an accident. Accidents happen. What matters is whether you choose to learn, or make the same mistake." After a much deserved hug, the three girls finally broke out of it. Now all three of them were showing those friendly smiles from so long ago. "Can we start over?" Trixie offered with a smile. Lavender and Fuchsia nodded. "I'd like that." "Me too." "So... I guess what have you two been up to since then?" Trixie asked. "Not much. We've practiced instruments, tried out for soccer, tennis, you know. What about you?" Lavender asked. "Oh... usual. I have magic, so... that's a thing, that's happening, apparently," Trixie blushed, getting the two to giggle. "I'm now dating Adagio Dazzle, that's great." Fuschia grinned with a cheeky expression. "I will never figure out how you managed to land the hottest girl in school." Trixie blushed. "Fuschia..." "Come on, we've seen how all the boys look at her. She could get them to bend to her will with a snap of her fingers," Lavender exclaimed. "But she's not that kind of girl. Unless there's some scary alternate universe version of her that I don't know about?" "I don't... wha... never mind. Still though, Trixie, congrats on being in a relationship. That must be big," Fuschia continued, bringing the conversation back around. "It is. Honestly, being with Adagio has... it's made me so happy. I can't express enough how great she makes me feel. Whenever I'm around her, I feel confident, I feel... she makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, you know what I mean?" "I can get that," Lavender smiled. "I'm happy for you Trixie. You've definitely come a long way from that girl I met in 6th grade." The magician smiled back at them. "Thanks. Now could we talk to my friends, explain to them that we're all good?" The two girls nodded and walked with Trixie onto the sidewalk, following her back to the house. "How did you even find that outfit?" "What do you mean?" Trixie asked. "Well that outfit kind of makes you look attractive. Not that I swing that way, but seriously, you look great," Fuschia said. "Heh... I just, saw this. I thought I'd wear it, maybe get some more confidence?" The sound of a thumping bass from the party hit their ears once the doors opened up again, greeted to the sights of teenagers dancing and rocking out to the music. The 'bouncers', which were the jocks basically dressed as Secret Service people (paid by Adagio to make sure nothing bad or horrible went down for safety reasons) stood by, monitoring the party. And they were totally okay as Trixie, Lavender, and Fuschia walked on by the guests, finding Adagio and the girls over in a corner. "Hey," Adagio greeted to the two guests that they had just traumatized. "Adagio," the two said in unison. "I believe my sister and a few of my friends have something they'd like to say," Adagio stated, bumping her sister along with Octavia and Bon Bon to step forward. The three of them would have been resistant and still refused to say no, but after seeing how Trixie approached them from outside, their opinions changed. And it made it more painful to try and come up with a proper apology. "Lavender, Fuschia. What we did was wrong. Very wrong," Bon Bon started, stepping up. "When we brought you up there, we didn't want to hurt you or attack you." "We just wanted you to understand how Trixie felt to feel so scared and afraid. Though, looking back at what we did... there's no way to properly say that what we did was too far and over the line," Octavia added. "I don't expect you girls to accept anything we say, but... I'm sorry." "Me too," Bon Bon added. Aria sighed, scrunching her temples. "Okay. I'll say it too. I'm sorry as well. I don't know any other way to express it, because I am the worst with words, but... agh! I'm just so frustrated, I made you two upset, and now I made my older sister and her girlfriend upset, can I do one thing without making anyone mad!?" Lavender and Fuschia were a bit surprised by her out of nowhere burst, but they weren't mad. And when Aria stopped ranting at herself, she noticed the two girls weren't upset. "... You're not mad?" The two looked at each other and back to them. And they said nothing as they shook their heads. "You're really sorry?" Fuschia asked, wanting to confirm. "Ugh, yes! I'm sorry! What I did was stupid, and if I could undo that, maybe I would! But I--" Aria didn't finish. Fuschia had moved in and was giving her a hug. The middle siren didn't know how to respond, and hesitantly slowly moved into the hug. Bon Bon and Octavia weren't sure how to react either, that is until Trixie softly yanked them in so they could join in as well. "Come on..." Trixie encouraged, bringing everyone in for one massive group hug. Lavender moved in as well, and now all six girls were hugging each other. "So can we promise to move past this? No more pranks, no more trying to cause each other pain?" "Agreed," everyone said. Lavender and Fuschia looked at each other, and back to Trixie again with soft smiles. "Thanks for giving us another chance," Lavender smiled. "What friends are for," Trixie agreed. "I dunno about you, but I think after all of this, I'm going to go get some candy at the snack tables," Fuschia nodded, walking to the snack stands. "Me too, I'm famished," Lavender agreed. The two friends left, leaving the group of girls to sit by themselves, peacefully. "Okay, new rule. Next time any of you decide to tell me some backstory about someone who used to be a friend who did something bad, leave me out of it so we don't have a repeat of this," Aria suggested. "Or you could just not immediately jump to revenge seeking. I told you revenge never leads to happiness," Adagio shook her head. "You are such a hypocrite, you know that?" Aria pouted. "I know. But I look good doing it," Adagio winked, sticking her tongue out. "Wait, wait, Adagio. You didn't finish that story, what happened next?" Trixie asked. "Well Trixie, there wasn't really much to tell..." The next morning was much calmer than the dreadful night that had taken place before. Of course no one was there to see what had happened. In fact, as Red was walking towards that bridge, she stopped in front of it, noticing something big and obvious right before her eyes. A shattered pumpkin with a scary face carved into it, but something reflective inside. "No one had known what happened to us that night. Some believed we moved away. Others say we were carried away by the Headless Horseman..." Red squatted down, pulling something shiny inside the pumpkin. To her surprise, she saw a soft red pendant, shimmering as the sunset. She rubbed her chin, thinking a little. "This cannot be... those legends aren't real. None of it is." "Is that another pumpkin?" Red saw Dry Rum was walking over to her path, helped with the aid of a cane for her weak legs. "Another one?" "What is that jewel?" "Hmm? Oh, it's Adagio's pendant. I do not know why it is here... you said she was on her way home with her sisters, correct?" "I did," said Dry Rum, looking at the pendant for herself. "Must have been the horseman. This ought to convince old Bones." Just then, they heard the sound of a whinnying horse, clopping its hooves along the ground. And riding on the horse was Bones, with a smug face. "Convince him of what?" And he just chuckled, riding off to work. "We left behind a jewel from one of our adventures to throw off anyone looking for us. As for the horseman; I can tell you this. I do not know if what we had seen was real, or a figment of our imagination. But I know this. After that night, we chose to move and hide once again, set ourselves back on the road. The road that would take us to find our new home, and salvation. It didn't come that day... but we knew one day, we would finally find a place to call home." "The end." Everyone exchanged a few nods. "Not bad." "Eh, it was alright." Aria's mind however was not thinking about the story. "Wait, something just occurred to me. Where's that little girl we asked to lend a hand?" Aria rubbed her chin. "You mean that little girl?" Aria turned around, almost jumping in the air when she saw her. How did she even sneak up on them so fast? She was close to be on the verge of screaming when she saw her take her long black wig off, revealing a poofed up minty blue hairstyle that stuck up in the air, on a girl with tan pink skin. "Oh, hi Silverstream," Adagio smiled. "Adagio! Hi! I didn't know you were going to be at this party!" "Wait, you know this kid?" Sonata asked, gesturing a thumb to her. "I've been her history tutor for the past few weeks. And I have to say, I'm rather fond of her," Adagio smiled, ruffling up her hair, making her giggle. "I brought her here so she could hijack your prank plan... but it seems that also backfired." The little girl blushed. "Heh, sorry..." "That's okay. Besides, we should probably make sure we get you back to your school, I promised to look after you for a bit, but you shouldn't be out this late," Adagio said. "Aww, but can't I stay? This party looks fun!" "No," Adagio said sternly. "Aww..." Silverstream pouted. "You can go to these parties when you're older," Adagio said, walking her to the front door. She waved to her friends, letting them know she would take her home and come back. When she walked outside, she halted in her tracks. Her skin ran cold, and she felt paralyzed with fear. She couldn't move, not in front of that. It was dark, but she swore she saw a dark black horse trotting on the road just up ahead. The house was on a cul-de-sac, and it was smack dab in the middle. But when the horse got closer, her nerves started to get the better of her. She slowly took a step back, and felt like she was about to shriek, but she had no voice to speak. And the rider? The rider was in dark clothing, and there was no visible head. There was no head attached to that body, and she swore that pumpkin sitting in his arms was flaming. The walls were closing in on her, and she swore lightning and thunder was clapping ahead even though the only weather was the stars in the skies-- "Oh, Adagio, hey!" A big voice boomed from the headless horseman who showed up. A familiar voice, thankfully. One that made her soooo confused. "Bulk?" A head popped out from the top of the headless suit, revealing the head of Bulk Biceps. The coach of Canterlot High, and true to his word, he had the biggest biceps that anyone had ever seen. Students swore he skipped leg day just to have all that muscle in his pecs. "I thought I'd stop by, see how the party is going!" Bulk said. "Sorry for scaring you, my head got stuck!" "O-Oh, it's alright Bulk. No need to apologize," Adagio replied. "How did you even acquire a horse?" "A buddy of mine is a horse trainer! He let me borrow Moonshine tonight!" And the horse whinnied as a reply. "Heh, I see... Hope you two have a fun night tonight, and Happy Halloween," Adagio smiled, waving at him as she walked Silverstream to her car to take her back. She heard the smiles and laughter of nearby children in the neighborhood, all in awe at the sight of the big horsie that was here in this very spot of the neighborhood. She smiled, giggling to herself, thinking about how silly it was she thought the Headless Horseman had come back. Just like the scary ghost girl that had been conjured in middle school rumors, this was nothing more than a figment of her imagination. And to the various party guests, trick-or-treaters, or nearby passersby, it was just a fun sight to see among the many costumes, decorations, and candy tonight on Halloween. "Happy Halloween everybody!"