//------------------------------// // A Haunting Tale // Story: Krampus: A Beyond My Grave Story // by AnnEldest //------------------------------// “Wow, that really did escalate quickly didn’t it.” The voice of the one and only chaotic God echoed through the room. Spike was now in a room alone with the chaos God as the groups were given two hours to prepare for their performances. “Ya and so I guess now they're all going to see who can tell the scariest story.” Spike paced back in forwards in front of Discord who hung upside down off of the ceiling.  “Not going to lie,” Discord chuckled. “I don’t get how telling scary stories is supposed to bring everyone together, but I love it.” Discord snapped his fingers and a bunch of monsters and ghosts appeared to fill the room. “So why did you call me then? I’m usually the party crasher if anything.” “Well, I need your help.” Spike chuckled.  Discord paused for a moment as the room returned to normal. “You need my help? For what?” “Well it’s supposed to be a competition about which species can tell the scariest stories, and so we had to choose one creature for each species.” “So who all is telling stories then?” “Well, there’s me, Rainbow Dash, Skystar, Gilda, Rutherford, and Thorax.” Spike went through the list in his head and on his fingers. “You were chosen for the dragons?” Discord laughed. “Ya, and I honestly have no idea what to do.” “What do you mean?” Discord laughed again. “Well, I don’t know anything scary or how to tell a scary story. I don’t want to let Ember down.” Spike sighed as he thought of his original story which was only filled with doubt.  “Spike,” Discord broke out in more laughter. “Are you serious?”  “What?” Spike groaned. Discord snapped his fingers and crossed his arms. Spike stared blankly as he waited for something to happen. After a short moment, a large creature landed in front of the little dragon. It was larger, had several limbs, overgrown teeth, and black sharps that protruded from its body. “You’ve seen the creature demons made to destroy the world.” The image changed to that of a familiar serial killer. “You’ve battled literal killers without mercy,” Spike screamed as a dead filly fell in front of him. “And you’ve seen the worst this world has to offer and you can’t come up with one scary story.” The images disappeared and left one panting dragon. “Discord,” Spike growled. “I don’t need to be reminded of the horrors we have faced.” “I know, I just don’t get the problem.” “I can’t tell these stories, Spike groaned. “Luna would kill me and you know how she is about letting ponies know about this.” “Well, then don’t” Discord chuckled. “Don’t talk about the event’s, talk about the feelings and emotions you felt. Use your experience as the foundation.” Spike was about to reject the idea until he realized that it was actually good advice. “Well, that still doesn’t help me with a plot or characters or anything.” Discord rolled his eyes as he stretched his body out. “Well we have a little bit of time, so let’s come up with something shall we.” The room filled with more papers and even more useless ideas. The two went through many of their experiences and slowly decided that their ideas weren’t going to work. Either the idea wasn’t pony friendly, or there wasn’t a way for others to appreciate the experience. Most dragons wouldn't fall in line with the idea of a dead child and a grieving mother. “Maybe we’re looking at this wrong,” Discord suggested as he floated across the room.  “How so?” Spike groaned as he crumpled up another page. “Well it is supposed to be about Hearts warming isn’t it?” “Ya, but how do I tell a horror story about a holiday that’s the opposite of horror?” Discord brought out a book that had ‘ideas’ written on the cover. “Well according to my ideas book, at times like this it’s best to turn to someone for help” Discord dropped the book and looked down at Spike. “Well, I already did that,” Spike scoffed as he returned the stare. “Well after you’ve tried that, then you get your help to go get help.” Discord smiled as he quickly wrote down the new rule. “None of this is helping,” Spike groaned. “Well did you try Shredder, doesn’t he always help you with supernatural stuff?” “Discord,” Spike groaned. “This isn’t very, ‘supernatural’.”Spike”s claws filled the quotations that went along with the word. “Ya but like you don’t have a book or anything that has a story or anything?” Discord snapped up a book that was called Supernatural. “Not rea…” Spike froze as his words fell to a whisper. “What?” Discord asked. “Discord could you go into my secret library and get a dark yellow book titled The Marked Ones.” “Your wish is my command,” Discord did a majestic pose before snapping away. He returned only a few seconds after with the dark yellow book that had actual teeth sticking out of it. “Well, this thing is just, awful.” “Ya it’s not for everyone,” Spike chuckled as he quickly opened the book. He flipped frantically through the pages as Discord read over his shoulder. “Here!” Spike jumped. Discord looked at the page with big bold leaders at the top of the page. “The one that comes to take,” He repeated. “What’s this about?” “I remember Shredder mentioned it once, so I looked into it.” Spike quickly skimmed through the page and with it his smile grew. “No way,” he whispered in joy. “This could actually work.” he turned and quickly showed Discord the page. “Wow, that sounds terrifying,” Discord gasped as he went wide-eyed. “So is this what you’re going for?” Spike frowned as he realized another issue. “I don’t have any characters for the story.” “Oh, don’t worry,” Discord laughed. “I can help you with this.” “Well, there’s still…” “I got it all covered.” Celestia’s voice filled the room as she announced the unexpected turn of events that had come into play. “It appears that our guests have all decided in agreement that in order to show our cultures, they will see which species can tell the best scary story.” The princess’s voice showed her confusion and slight protest to the activity.  “Awesome!” one voice shouted above the crowd. Spike gulped as he peeked his head out from the curtain. He looked back to the leaders talking to their group. He still was in disbelief that things had turned out the way they did. He didn’t know how anything was going to turn out, but a part of him was quite curious. “Spike,” Twilight whispered. Spike turned to see the alicorn slowly crawling towards him. “How did this happen?” “What do you mean?” Spike whispered back. “I just really didn’t think this is what we were going to do for our main event.” “Either did I,” Spike laughed. “I have no idea how this came to be.” “And they agreed to this?” “Kind of,” Spike smiled. “I think they're driven by sheer competition.”  “What do they get if they win?”  Spike froze as he started to nervously chuckle. “Wellllllllll…. They did ask me that, and I kind of told them that you would give something really special to them.” Spike closed his eyes as he gave the biggest grin he could manage. “YOU WHAT?!” Twilight yelled in a whisper. “Spike!” She growled. Spike quickly turned as Rainbow Dash Dashed, pun intended, in and announced that the competition was about to start. “Oh, would you look at that?” Spike chuckled. “I must be going.” the little dragon quickly ran and disappeared into the crowd. “Spike!” Twilight called out in a growl. “Get back here!” Spike watched as he swiftly squeezed through the crowd. He pushed through until he finally found an opening. A line of storytellers laid in center stage, and he knew that he would stand there too. “Spike,” Ember called out. Spike jumped but quickly settled as he realized it was his not angry friend. “Oh hey, Ember.” “So you have a great story to tell right?” the dragon queen hovered over the little dragon in excitement. “Something that will show everyone that dragons are the toughest.” “I got a great story to tell, but I’m sure the rest are going to be great.” “Whatever,” Ember scoffed. “We’ll blow them right out of the lava.” “We’ll try,” Spike laughed. The first to go up was the famous rainbow lightning pony herself. She told a story similar to the one she had told the others the previous night. The crowd jumped and some even screamed in fright. To make her story more alive she had other pegasus fly around with props and lights meant to create ambiance.  “She never forgives, she always comes back. There is no escaping the Mare in Black!” With a ferocious roar, the crowd rose in screams of fear as loud screeches came from every direction. The lights turned on after a few moments of sheer terror to reveal the magic trick at play.  Spike started the wave of applause as he saw the familiar faces behind the play. Trixie, Starlight, Fluttershy, and her animals were all responsible for the amazing performance. The rest of the stories went on similarly with a few rising to the greatness of Rainbow Dashes.  Princess Skystar told the story of a great trench that laid at the deepest part of the ocean. All who entered would never be seen again. The atmosphere reflected great lights of light blue with the shadows of fish lining the walls; the deep dark ocean truly was around them. The Yaks were quite impressive as Prince Ruthford’s deep dark raspy voice running the story along. They told the story of a great underground beast that would come up at night and eat children in their sleep. The Yaks created great earthquakes to simulate the creature’s movement and they used horrifying deep growls and rumbles to create a horrifying web of monstrous shadows.  The griffons shared a similar style to the Yaks but had the advantage of flight and movement. They could pop in and out for quick strong jump scares and used their vocals for great screeches and horrifying night atmosphere. Their tail was of large birds that would sing a beautiful melody during the night. All who were unfortunate to hear it would be forced to venture out into the night where they would be eaten alive by the birds. The changelings showed great strength in their shapeshifting abilities and quick movements. Even Spike jumped at some of their jumpscares. Thorax shared the tail of a beautiful butterfly that would lure innocent victims into its grasp. Once it had them they would never be seen again. Spike was surprisingly happy to see his friend keep a strong demeanor at center stage. Thorax pulled through for his people and ended strong when he transformed into a hideous black monstrosity of pure terror.  Next up was the dragons, and that meant Spike would put not only his story to the test but his experience. He slowly walked up to the microphone as he covered his eyes from the stage lights. “Knock them dead Spike!” Ember cheered. The dragon looked down at his shaking hand as he realized that he didn’t have any big props or abilities waiting to be seen by the audience. He would just be a little dragon speaking for several minutes about a story he barely knew. He gulped as he looked down at the floor. The lights went dark and the room started to glow with low red light.  Spike looked up in curiosity as he had no idea about what was happening. A small glow behind the audience caught his attention. He squinted as he realized it was Discord or rather a small Discord. The little Discord waved to Spike and gave him a thumbs up. Spike shrugged back at him as his face was stained by confusion. The Little Discord rolled its claw as he pointed all around the room. Spike took it as a sign to just continue with his story. The dragon took a deep breath before he spoke. “They say that Hearth Warming is a time of giving; that it brought happiness and unity to the land of Equestria.” Spike was taken back as the lights began to change into a light rain of snowflakes. Snow appeared all around the little dragon as figures made of snow appeared behind him. Spike tried hard not to show attention to the unexpected display. “But many have forgotten that there was a time when this day brought only pain and disappeared.” figures of ponies draped in old cloaks manifested behind the dragon. “In the old days, ponies told stories of terror. They would speak of spirits that brought cold where wickedness lied. These were the wendigos.” “Wendigos are a go,” Discord whispered to himself.  Spike jumped as he heard the distinct cry of the snow demons above him. They swarmed in a hurricane of pain. “But these creatures were far from the only spirits of old. Some spoke of a spirit that came to reward the good deeds that few did throughout the year. One night of the year the spirit came to reward the ones who stayed in kindness. This story went through ages as a sign of hope that the evil spirits could be eradicated one day.” The stage went still as it showed the downfall of the windigos in Equestria.  “Nowadays the story of the giving spirit has become quite popular and is a stain upon the Heartwarming holiday.” The snow showed families enjoying holidays and gathering with friends and family. “However, many have forgotten the dark ages of old. They have forgotten that the spirit of Heartwarming was not a right, but only a privilege.”  The snow showed families fighting and stressing to get gifts. It showed children who were ungrateful for great decor was the center of the snow show. “Despite this, the dark spirits still linger and watch from the shadows. They have not forgotten their duty to right the forgotten meaning of the holiday. While it has gone unnoticed for many years, the raging storm of the dark spirits still comes to the surface. When belief is forgotten, and the Heartwarming spirit dies, a  much darker ancient spirit will come.”  The snow formed into a great blizzard. The wind howled as a roar startled the crowd. Suddenly a great figure made of black snow rose above the blizzard. The figure had large horns and carried a large sack on it’s back. Spike turned to see the horrific scene. He smiled as he realized that Discord was going to carry the team.  “And he only came with one gift.”  And as if the words were a cue, the figure dropped the sack as small black snowballs flew out and into the crowd. Many screamed but most gasped in approval. Spike smiled as he looked over to Little Discord. He mouthed a thank you to him and went back to the mike. He took another deep breath as his story continued. “Oh, we’re only getting started.”