Nightmare Night was only two evenings away, but the spooky spirit of the holiday was far from a stranger in the crystalline castle in Ponyville. Princess Twilight wanted to throw one of the very best Nightmare Nights that Ponyville had ever seen.
Why would she make such a big deal out of this particular Nightmare Night? Why, because this would be the very first holiday that her students of friendship would have the opportunity of celebrating.
Naturally, she knew the best mare to assist her in this quest would be her dear friend, Rarity. The fact that Twilight felt warm and bubbly around the stylish fashionista was both not on her mind, and the only thing she could think of. Right now, her attention was focused on the bottle of wine in her hooves. A simple celebration to commemorate a job well done.
“What I really like,” Twilight said to Rarity as she topped up their glasses. “Is that the decorations are still so spooky! I definitely would have been too safe on the scare factor.”
“Well, darling, it’s like they say in fashion. To make something truly memorable, you have to be daring! Naturally, that means giving a good fright on Nightmare Night.”
“That totally rhymed,” Twilight snickered.
“Aren’t I just wonderful?” Rarity said slyly, raising her glass with a flourish of magic.
Twilight raised her glass in response, keeping her answer behind sealed lips.
“Speaking of frights,” Rarity continued. “I had the most ghastly one just last year from Rainbow. It’s amazing how that mare never wants to even so much as look at eyeshadow, but when it comes to fake wounds, she becomes a pro at makeup.”
“I think I remember that one! Fluttershy caught a glimpse of her from outside her cottage window and nearly died.”
“That’s not all that shocking,” Rarity said coolly.
“In Fluttershy’s defense, it was at nine in the morning.”
“I suppose. Then again, I’ve never seen you go out of your way to scare anypony, Twilight.”
“Well,” Twilight snickered. “That's because of when I was young.”
“Oooh, is it story time?”
Twilight raised a hoof to try and change the subject, but there was something about Rarity’s eyes that persuaded her to continue on with the story. This must have been just one of the many reasons she was such a successful entrepreneur. She knew just how to push a mare’s buttons.
Or a stallion's. ‘Cause stallions were cool too.
“Well, when I was really little, Shining decided to play a prank on me. He waited until around 3 am a few days before Nightmare night, when all the lights in the house were off. Our parents were already asleep, but Shining said he wanted to show me something in the bathroom. Me, being a young and impressionable filly, didn’t really know much better.”
“As one is when they are young and innocent.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” Twilight affirmed. She was sort of shocked that Rarity looked at her with such investment over a silly childhood story. It must have been the wine. “So then, he leads me out of my room and starts telling me about Bloody mane, and her stolen daughter. We get in the bathroom, and he says we’re gonna summon her.”
Rarity began to chuckle.
“What? Have I told this story before?”
“No, darling, I just see where this is going.”
“So then we said her name three times and said we had her filly, and then-”
“Shining shook you silly?”
Twilight blinked and shook her head.
“No, actually. She appeared. We screamed and screamed and screamed. And then when Mom woke up thinking we were dying, or something, she was gone.”
Rarity laughed out loud for a good moment as Twilight scratched the back of her head. Realizing she was the only one laughing, she abruptly stopped.
“Oh honey,” Rarity started. “You’re serious, aren’t you.”
“Yeah, actually.”
“You know that Bloody mane isn’t real, right?”
“After all the things we’ve seen in our adventures, Rarity,” Twilight said, smiling. “I honestly don’t want to take that chance.”
“No, I mean, I’m serious.” Rarity continued. “When I was young, I had a filly sleepover where we did the same thing. Of course, since we were all little filles, we spooked ourselves, but nopony came through the mirror to get us. It’s just an urban legend. Nothing more.”
Twilight looked down to her glass, silent.
“In fact, we could do it tonight!” Rarity said. “We can put that silly old fear to rest and have a grand little slumber party.”
Twilight looked up nervously, with many reasonable questions on her mind. Such as “It’s just the two of us and Spike, how is that a slumber party?” Or, perhaps asking “Do we really have to try and address a childhood trauma of mine with only half a bottle of wine in me?” But then Twilight realized this meant that Rarity would be staying the night with her in the castle.
“O-okay,” Twilight said nervously.
“I’ve definitely changed my mind.”
The lightswitch was flipped, and that meant the final light in the castle has gone out.
“Come on, Twilight. You’re a princess! Surely you can say a few silly words in an empty room of your own home, right?”
Twilight’s master bathroom was nothing like the small shared bathroom of her childhood home, but she could feel the same feelings of claustrophobia and isolation as she did when she was a filly. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, just as Princess Cadance had taught her.
”Alright, darling. Now you can see! All we have to do is say her name three times, then light the match, right?”
“R-right?” Twilight said, not so much answering, but repeating the question.
“Right! Besides. I’ll be here every step of the way.”
She felt the warmth of Rarity’s hoof grab hers in the pitch darkness. Twilight couldn’t help but smile as a warm, tingly feeling ran up the center of her back. Words felt caught in her throat.
Things were going to be okay.
“Ready?”
“Ready.” Twilight said. “One, two..”
“Bloody mane. Bloody mane. Bloody mane,” the two girls said in unison. “We have your little filly.”
Silence.
Twilight felt a hitch in her throat.
Then, nothing.
“See, darling?” Rarity said. “Nothing to worry about.”
Twilight chuckled to herself.
“I suppose you’re right. For all I know you could have completely pulled a prank on me and I would have NEVER recovered.”
“Twilight,” Rarity said softly, ”I’d never do that to you. But if it’s all the same, I’ve completely lost myself in the dark here, could you light that match?”
Twilight took the match on her counter, and struck it against the box.
She looked to her left, and there was Rarity.
“See?” Rarity said. “No tricks. Nothing to be afraid of.”
Rarity reached over and flipped the lightswitch, but light didn’t flood the room. Rarity stared at the lightswitch, perplexed.
“That’s odd.”
“Must be a bad bulb,” Twilight said with a confident tone. “Here, let’s just head back out.”
Twilight placed a hoof on the doorknob and turned, but it refused to relent.
“Twilight, if this is a prank, I feel completely betrayed by your innocence,” Rarity said flatly.
“I’m not pranking you, I-”
Then Twilight froze. Breath escaped from her mouth in a cool, fine mist. The match in her hoof burned ever so dimly. She remembered this. She remembered all of this.
She turned, and there in the mirror, stood not their reflections, but a mare with a long, black mane, draped over her face, matted against the outline of her features. Twilight gasped. Rarity turned but remained silent.
The mare in the mirror placed a hoof on the edge of the frame, and leaned toward Twilight and Rarity.
All the mares could do was scream. They leapt backward into the shower-tub, tearing down the curtain. Their screams pierced each other’s ears, but they were unable to contain their cries. Rarity flailed her hooves and the shower began to rain water down upon them. The mare crawled out of the mirror just as the match burnt Twilight’s hoof and went out.
Darkness. Three distinct voices whimpering. The distinct smell of copper in the air.
Twilight quickly lit her horn and saw the figure lumber toward them. She shot a blast of light towards the creature, but the energy of her attack only seemed to lengthen the dark mane and tail that dragged behind her. She emitted a sort of low drone, something between a scream and a locomotive growl.
Twilight wrapped her hooves around Rarity. Her friend cried for help. For anypony. For any creature. The hair in front of the mare’s face parted, and-
A beam of light burst into the room from a crack in the door, and there on the other side was Spike. The two quit screaming, only panting to themselves heavily.
“Will you two keep it down?” Spike grumbled. “I’m glad you two finally just decided to GET ON WITH IT, but did it REALLY have to be while I was in the castle? Jeez.”
Spike slammed the door. And the two mares were left laying in the tub, wrapped in a shower curtain. Twilight lit her horn once more, and the creature was gone. Rarity shut off the torrent of water that was ruining her mane.
“What in the world was that, Twilight?” Rarity asked, her voice weak and shaking.
Twilight stepped off of her broken shower curtain and turned the lights of the bathroom on with ease. The mirror reflected her restless expression back at her in perfect detail. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, just as Cadance had taught her. However, this time, it did little to lift the weight that was buried deep in her chest.
“Rarity, I never want to know.”