//------------------------------// // Writing Fiasco: The Speed Write // Story: Writing Fiasco // by Buttery Biscuit //------------------------------// Fountain Pen loved Halloween so much, it was his favorite holiday. He loved getting scared, he loved getting free candy, he loved the parties, and he loved dressing up. He couldn’t do any of those things this year, off of Equestria was in lockdown due to a virus outbreak. Which left Halloween canceled and Fountain heartbroken. He couldn’t go anywhere or see anyone but he would not let that sway him. Oh no. Halloween was happening this year, he would make sure of it. He watched so many scary movies, decorated his house, partied on Discord with his friends. Virtual Halloween! It was great, grand even. He didn’t think it could get any better until he saw that red Discord notification, he had been at’ed!  Who dare at him?! The audacity.  Fountain took to his laptop as rain pittered and pattered at the windows of his house. He searched through the Discord groups, finding the culprit who pinged him. Sofa and Quills Speed Writing. A speed writing group that he had joined in the hopes of becoming a much better writer. See Fountain, despite sharing a name with a famous writing utensil, was a terrible writer, communicator, both. He could barely even spell, but here he was, competing in contests with some of the best writers he had ever seen. Carefully he read over the message sent in #announcements.  Seer Today at 4:14 PM @here Hi all!  As I've been doing recently, I'm going to release multiple prompts for the Halloween contest!  We've got a choice from:  - Something sweet to bite - Windy Night - In Candlelight We begin on the hour!  Cheers! Fountain could feel his heart pumping with anticipation. Tonight was perfect, he was free, it was dark out, and it was raining something fierce. A perfect time to write something scary. He wiggled in his seat, excited to have another chance to write a horror fic for this group. The last one….the last one was yikes to put it as lightly and kindly as he could. It was unfortunate, Horror was something he truly loved, and he knew he could do it if he tried. So he was going to, and he had an hour to think about it. That was certainly a good amount of time to think of something.  He stared at his computer screen as he let ideas flow through his mind: Candy, but the candy is Sweetie Bell. So it is sweet to bite? No, too literal.  A pony whose teeth are cursed to be candy? Candy Pony? Noooooo. Candy but it’s really pony but they don’t know it, no not that one either. Maybe a windy night, very scary, branches tapping at a window as it rained. The shadows could make a creature. No not that one either.  Something something darkside? Something something use the force?  Fountain grumbled as he tried his best to put together a single cohesive story in his mind. The wind was not helping as it wooshed loudly outside, incredibly distracting he would call it. He rubbed his hooves through his sky blue mane as he stuck out his tongue in thought.  FUTZ “AH!” Fountain jumped as the power went out, probably from a tree branch in the power lines. He sighed perfect, this was just perfect. These things were timed and Fountain was not a fast writer, he wasn’t fast in general. He was lucky to get anywhere close to ten words a minute. He needed all the time he could get, and now the power was out.  Fountain got up in the pitch darkness, he lifted his laptop in his hooves. Two percent battery, the red warning flashed at him. He grunted as he cursed a string of curse words that would make even the most hardened sailor blush. He quickly placed it on his dark blue wings. He would have to use this to find his way in the dark and fast, before his laptop dies, before he missed the contest.  The floor creaked and groaned below him as he made his way to the emergency candles underneath the kitchen sink. He took his walk slowly, he could barely see. Did he want broken bones, because this is how you get broken bones. So he slowly made his way through the living room the blue light shining ominously along the walls of his house. It bobbed with him as he walked making the shadows dance something fierce. Even though he lived here his whole life, this place sure was creepy, by himself, alone, at night, in the complete dark. It wasn’t any better as the blue light turned red flashing steadily, he was running out of time, he dove for the kitchen cupboards below the sink. There Fountain found a candle and some matches. Just as the computer died, he had the candlelit. He had made it, that was a close one. Now to make it to the fuse box. Fountain opened the door to the outside, the fuse box was in the basement, and the basement could only be reached through an outside door. A very dumb house design. Fountain took one step outside and the wind was already rushing against his ears. He closed the big, brown, front doors behind him as he set out for the basement. Keeping one hoof covering the lit candle he made his way through some bushes along the side of the house, attempting to not get drenched, to have the candle stay on. The wind howled, and thunder crashed around him as he pushed through the wind. When had it gotten this bad? He hoped his parents were alright, having gone to Hoofsco for booze.  CRASH CRASH, went the thunder, the lighting was so bright he had to look away. Luckily the door was right in front of him. Fountain had to pull it, and hard, as the wind tried to push it close. He fought and fought and fought the door open, quickly slipping inside.   Basements. As a horror fan, Fountain hated and loved basements. He watched others be in them, he hated being them himself. Every time he was here all he could think about was every horror movie to take place in a basement. Especially since he just watched Basement Horrors Two: Black Mold.  Fountain took a deep breath as he descended down the basement stairs, those were just movies. Just movies. This was real life, not some horror movie! Fountain would be just fine, just like always. He had been down here so many times, this was just another one of those times. Still, though, his heart would not still as it beat rapidly against his chest. He felt like something was tied tightly around it as he struggled to breathe.  It was just a basement, in my house, was a thought he didn’t believe in. He closed his eyes tightly as he rounded the corner, just a basement just a basement just- Fountain opened his eyes and the scream could be heard in the next dimension. His candle was flush against a white eyeless pony, blood dripping from its mouth. Fountain held onto his candle tightly as his squeals went on and on. The lights flickering back on, it was over his life was over he was gonna die, by, by, by. An old, unconvincing, Halloween mannequin? Fountain took a closer look, it….wasn’t real? That’s when he remembered his mother mentioning buying up an old used Mannequin from Rarity, who was just going to throw it out. His mother must have made it up for Halloween.  “Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh,” Fountain whined as he laid down on the plush basement floor. He was gonna miss this contest. He sighed as he did everything he could to calm himself of the heart attack he just had. It was unfortunate he wouldn’t make it back in time, this would have made a killer story.