//------------------------------// // Epilogue // Story: Truth or Dare? // by Super Spike //------------------------------// Gold Watch walked into the classroom. It had been one week since he had gotten out of the hospital and he was holding crutches due to the burns that were still healing limiting his mobility. He then took a seat and looked around the classroom. Out of fifteen seats, only eight seats were occupied: Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Truffle Shuffle, Snips, Snails, Featherweight and, of course, Gold Watch, himself. He knew that the seven other seats would now be permanently vacant due to the game that he and his friends played three weeks ago. But he knew that he had to move on, as there was nothing that he could do to fix that. Cheerilee walked into the classroom and took a seat at her desk. She smiled as she saw that Gold Watch had returned after the incident at the haunted house. "Good morning, class," she said. "Good morning, Miss Cheerilee," the class said. "I would like to announce that Gold Watch has returned to class today after being in the hospital due to burning himself," Cheerilee announced. "We heard that he was with his friends in that haunted house," Apple Bloom said. "What about the rest of his friends?" "I'm sorry, Apple Bloom," Cheerilee said. "But due to circumstances beyond our control, they're never coming back." "You mean, our classmates that are not hear today are gone forever?" Sweetie asked in concern. "Not exactly," Cheerilee stated. "They've...well...been influenced in a way that can't be fixed." She then sighed. "I guess I should tell the truth: they were playing a game of truth or dare in the haunted house and it turned out that the house was real and if anyone lied or didn't do the dare in time, they would turn into cats. Only Gold Watch didn't because he completed all five rounds. I also went there when I was a filly and played a game of truth or dare in that house. Unfortunately, I was the only one to make out as myself. All of my other friends became cats because they failed to complete their dares." "Are you saying that the haunted house was real?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Unfortunately, yes," Cheerilee answered sadly. Sweetie Belle then lay her head on her desk and cried, knowing that Button Mash was not coming back. "Okay, class," Cheerilee said. "It's time to write an essay. I want you to write about something that you learned involving friendship." She gave each foal a piece of paper. "You all have one hour to complete it." Gold Watch smiled as he knew what he wanted to write. * * * * Dear Miss Cheerilee, I have learned quite a bit about friendship throughout the past few weeks. During Nightmare Night, I was trick-or-treating with my friends and we all stumbled into a haunted house. We all thought it was just any haunted house, but then we realized that it was anything but normal. We learned that seven previous foals played truth or dare there. We initially thought it was just a joke, so we played the game. But then we learned that playing the game had severe consequences. You had to play five rounds, tell the truth, and do the dare, or your life would be severely changed forever. We had to tell some important secrets towards each other. When we did, we learned a lot about each other that we didn’t know before. We had many differences, but over time, we began to bond. As we were passing each round, we learned that friendship can conquer anything, even if we can’t do it perfectly. Even though my friends’ life have been changed and will now live differently for the rest of our lives, we are still together and we will always be friends, no matter where we are or what our futures will be. After all, we have an idol, a gamer, a mailmare, a princess, a candy-lover, a Wonderbolt, a leader, and a ballerina. We will always stand together, no matter how different we are. Signed, Gold Watch Gold Watch smiled as he got out of his seat and turned in his essay before sitting back down. Once class ended, Cheerilee smiled and turned her attention towards Gold Watch. "Gold Watch," she kindly said. "Can you please stay?" Gold Watch became nervous. "Um, yes," he responded. "Am I in trouble?" "No, of course not," Cheerilee assured. "I just need to talk about your essay." "I understand," Gold Watch responded. Once everypony left, Cheerilee walked to Gold Watch's desk with the paper. "You're paper is excellent," she told him as she placed the paper onto Gold Watch's desk. The essay had an A+ written on it in red ink. "But I want to tell you something about the haunted house." "What happened to it?" Gold Watch asked. "Well, unfortunately, the officials were unable to figure out what had happened," Cheerilee answered. "The whole house was intact. There was no blood or damages. It looked just like any normal house." "So, what's going to happen?" Gold Watch asked in shocked. "Well, they can't tear it down," Cheerilee answered sadly. "They don't have the legal rights to do so. I'm afraid it's staying there." This horrified Gold Watch. "There has to be something we can do!" he exclaimed. "What about chaining the gates so that nopony can get in?" "We can't do that," Cheerilee answered. "That would be considered vandalism. We can, however, warn others." "How?" Gold Watch responded. "We can put a sign to warn others," Cheerilee answered. "The official said that was okay. Just as long as we don't damage the gates." "I see," Gold Watch said. "I kept you after school so that we can work together on doing that," Cheerilee stated. "Since we both went through similar traumatic experiences, I thought that it would be nice that we do this together." "Oh, thank you, Miss Cheerilee!" Gold Watch responded happily as he hugged his teacher. "No problem," Cheerilee responded. "I would do anything to cheer up my students." The hug then ended. "Now then, let's not waste time. We have a lot of ponies to warn." "I'm right with you," Gold Watch said in determination. * * * * Within an hour, Gold Watch and Cheerilee finished painting the text on the wooden sign, walked to the gate of the haunted house, and nailed the sign onto the gate. "Well, I guess we finished our task," Cheerilee said. "I hope that the other ponies take great heed on our message," Gold Watch said nervously. "I'm sure they will," Cheerilee said calmly. "Say, since you did excellent on the essay and working on the warning sign, how about I take you out for ice cream at Sugarcube Corner?" "Do you really mean that?" Gold Watch asked excitingly. "Of course," Cheerilee answered happily. "My treat." "You bet!" Gold Watch responded excitingly. "Then let's go," Cheerilee responded. Gold Watch and Cheerilee then walked off to Sugarcube Corner, knowing that everything would be alright for now. However, as they left, they thought about the warning sign that they placed on the gate. They hoped that the other ponies around town would listen to their sign. After all, it did have a good message. Once you enter, there's no going back!