Taming the Storm

by Wolfie 03


IV (FS/RD)- The perfect night for pranks

October 30th, 1004 A.D. (After Discord)

“Nightmare Night! What a fright! Give us something sweet to bite!”



The shouts of foals going door to door resounded through the air that chilly October night. It was a night when everyone dressed up so that 'Nightmare Moon' wouldn't recognize and 'eat' them.

Rainbow Dash had never been afraid of the legendary figure and having actually fought both Nightmare Moon and Discord meant that she had bragging rights this year. Knowing that she would never really fear this particular night made her feel as though it was her duty to help others get the full experience. And this year she was going all out, with a hoof-stitched costume of a member of the Shadow Bolts, the greatest fliers of the Everfree Forest. It took the impatient pegasus months to finish it and get the size just right, considering how after each set back she gave up for a few weeks before resuming her work.



Dash knew that Rarity or even Fluttershy could have done it faster but she wanted to surprise everyone that she could. It had been a pain in the flank, especially keeping such a good prank a secret, but knew it would make it a Nightmare Night nopony forgot; starting with Fluttershy.


The costume clad pegasus flew to her friend's cottage where she knew the timid mare would stay if she didn't do anything about it. Rainbow hovered up to the door and tried to sound like a little filly after knocking on the door.

“Nightmare night, what a fright. Give me something sweet to bite.” Dash tried to stifle her giggles as she heard shuffling from inside.

She hadn't bothered to land and was waiting with a storm cloud nearby, the perfect accessory for a night like this; it helped that the chilly night was clear, making it so nopony would expect the trick she was going to play.



Just as the cottage door was slowly opening for a timid teal eye to peek out, Dash gave her cloud a resounding hit that caused it to growl and produce a bight flash of light. At the sudden noise, the door slammed faster than Dash could blink with a half-quiet 'eep' of fright.

Rainbow Dash had to land due to her gut busting laughter at the response her prank had from the cream-yellow mare.

“Oh, oh that was awesome! You should have heard yourself Fluttershy! Ah ha ha ha ha ha!” The brash pegasus laughed for another minute but trailed off when she didn't hear anything from the cottage. Rainbow Dash shakily stood as she chuckled a little more while looking towards the door that remained firmly shut.

“Fluttershy? Come on! It's Nightmare Night! I know you have that one costume you've never worn yet.” Dash was slowly losing her glee at the continued silence.

“Fluttershy!” The canary pegasus inside merely cowered on her couch with the covers hiding her completely.

Fluttershy knew what day it was and while she had thought it was sweet of Dash to get her a tree costume, she also knew of the cyan mare's family tradition. Both Dash and her father had always spent the night scaring others without discrimination. Rainbow would scare foals her own age or near enough to her age while her dad went for the slightly older ponies; and while they made sure everypony knew it was all in good fun, it was so scary when ponies scared others.

Ever since the older stallion had passed Rainbow Dash had been keeping the tradition alive; while she had tried to get the timid mare to join in, Fluttershy always avoided going out or doing anything on this night.

Dash pulled her hood off and glared at the doorway as she lost patience.

“Fluttershy! Open up.”

“No! There's no one here, and no candy! No visitors on Nightmare Night!” Rainbow raised a stunned brow at the desperate shout from inside and continued to glare at the doorway.

“Grrr, you're still going to just hide away from everything huh?! Alright, fine, whatever. Who wants to go around with a scaredy-pony anyways? You'd just get scared by the little kids running by with costumes on. Go ahead and meet Nightmare Moon on your own then, I'm going to go and have fun like normal ponies do.” With one last glare at the doorway, Rainbow Dash flew into the air while grabbing her cloud heading towards the town that was slowly starting to become more active for the night.


It was still early in the evening, meaning that she would be able to get more pranks in before too long. Rainbow hovered in the air above the market place, watching the different stalls slowly go up with ponies already in costume. The prankster waited for just the right moment, when everything was the quietest to strike her thunder cloud giving the ten ponies setting up the main activities a large shock.

They all gave shouts of surprise which were soon covered by obnoxious laughter as Dash fell backwards while kicking her four legs in the air.

“Oh ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!” The workers glared at the costumed pegasus in the sky who took note of who she got to make sure everypony was properly scared.

The cyan mare grabbed hold of her cloud and flew further into the town; most other ponies were still inside getting ready for the night so she couldn't scare anypony yet. She soon came to Sugarcube Corner to find a large chicken exiting the shop.



“Heh heh heh...” Dash rubbed her hooves in anticipation and waited for just the right moment when the large poultry would least expect it. With a loud bang and flash of light, the large chicken jumped into the air with a loud squawk of fright.

“Baacckkaa!” Rainbow Dash laughed even more at this response, not having expected Pinkie Pie to already be in character for the night.

“Oh ah ha ha ha ha ha! I got you pretty good Pinkie Pie!” Pinkie looked up from her frightened crouch and smiled at the pegasus.

“Gosh Rainbow Dash, you sure did! Are you going to come get candy with me and the others?! It's the best night to get free candy!” Dash raised a brow at what the party pony planned to do with her evening and that she got 'others' to go with her.

“Who’d you convince to go with you? And why would I go around getting candy when I can make sure it's a night nopony forgets with awesome pranks? I may need my pranking buddy to help...” Dash suggested with a smirk to the poultry below who seemed just as confused as Rainbow was about going to get candy.

“Why would I miss out on free candy?! It would be lotsa fun to go pranking with you, but I gotta meet Pipsqueak, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Pina Colada, Noi and the new filly Dinky! We're going to collect all the candy we can and give some to Nightmare Moon!” The cyan pegasus shook her head at the easily amused pink earth pony who was just as happy to go with a bunch of foals as she would to go pranking on the best night ever.

“Riiiighttt... Alright Pinks, I'll see you later then; I've got ponies to scare!” With a mighty flap, Dash flew off once more with her cloud in tow to catch unsuspecting ponies on their way to the center of town.





The pranking pegasus found an older light-green earth pony leading the Cutie Mark Crusaders as they went to meet classmates to go traveling with. Without a pause, Dash set up her cloud just out of sight of the four ponies and prepared for another prank well done.

As a flash of light and crack of thunder ripped through the air, the ponies below all jumped into the air with shouts of fright; the Crusaders drew back to back as they nervously scanned the surrounding area while Granny Smith gave a yowl of fright before trying to lead the stampede away.

“It's ah storm! Run fer safety girls!” The trio glanced worriedly to the older mare before scanning the skies to find the prankster enjoying another fit of laughter.

“Ah ha ha ha ha ha!” Scootaloo brightened even as the other two fillies frowned at the prank.

“Rainbow Dash! Oh, uh ha, you sure got them good!” The Crusaders glared at the pegasus as she pretended to not have been scared while their chaperone (they still weren't completely trusted) had turned back when she noticed that they weren't following to find the girls speaking with the 'Shadow Bolt'.



As the older mare slowly made her way back, Rainbow got a better look at the girls' costumes. The earth pony wore a black and white tall wig with stitches all along her fur, the unicorn wore a black cape with her mane slicked back, and the pegasus was wearing gray fur with wolf's head over her own. Dash nodded in appreciation of their costumes before strutting herself.

“Pretty cool costumes; not as cool as mine though.”

“What are ya supposed tah be?” Rainbow frowned for a moment before taking an obvious tone of voice.

“I'm one of the Shadow Bolts of course; the greatest fliers of the Everfree Forest!” Three pairs of eyes widened in recognition of the coolness of the costume and the girls grinned at the older pegasus before being cut off by their chaperone for the night.

“Girls, we got tah git goin' if'in y'all want tah get candy fer the night.” All four ponies looked to the older earth pony in slight surprise, having almost forgotten about her as they spoke.

“Sorry, we gottah go.”

“It is a nice costume.”

“Yeah, it was totally awesome and you really got us good! We'll see you later right Rainbow Dash?!” Scootaloo gazed hopefully towards her idol who shrugged indifferently.

“Yeah, maybe. But it may be when you least expect it!” Dash waved her fore-hooves in a menacing manner while grinning towards the girls.

The pegasus didn't wait before flying away with her cloud once more, the group of ponies continuing on their way to the main activities to meet with other foals to travel with.






Rainbow Dash had to be careful with how many ponies she scared at once; it was easier to scare ponies in small groups than whole crowds after all. The time while the various stalls were setting up was perfect for it, with not as many ponies gathered as of yet. The prankster also had to time everything just right, using the storm cloud too often near each surprise would make it less of a shock.




The pegasus soon found herself over the Boutique, where Applejack was getting a costume from the fashionista. Dash watched curiously as the two mares argued about the scarecrow design that the farmer wanted to do and while it was amusing to see Applejack become flustered by Rarity's attention it soon grew dull; but the cyan pegasus knew just what would help liven up the atmosphere.

Dash tried to hide her laughter when she saw the result of her prank, recalling how strong and formidable the orange farmer was. The orange mare had jumped so much that she knocked into the shelving and made a huge mess of the Boutique; Rarity had reacted similarly and made her own mess, though much smaller in comparison to the jumpy earth pony.

Rainbow left the area soon after watching the two apologizing with a mad cackle, she wasn't sure why Applejack was so nervous but it was worth it. With one last chuckle, the cyan mare flew off to find her next targets.


Back at a grass covered cottage on the edge of town, under red and white checkered blanket with butterflies on it, hid a canary pegasus from the possible frights of the night. She shivered slightly at the distant sound of thunder, knowing that the weather was supposed to be clear that night and who exactly was to blame for the fear inducing sounds.

The small white rabbit who shared the home with his owner hopped over and reassuringly patted the pile of blankets and pony. Fluttershy stopped shivering for a moment as she picked out of the crack she left just for such situations; upon seeing the rabbit next to her, the animal care-taker poked her head out farther as she gave him a small smile.

“Oh Angel Bunny.... I'll be alright.... You know this is what I do every year on Nightmare Night....” The rabbit deadpanned the mare and pointed to the sky just in time for another crash of thunder to resound through the air, sending the timid pegasus to flinch back with an 'eep' of fright. Angel tapped his foot on the couch they were both on as he crossed his paws over his chest.

“O-o-oh, I know it's just some, some clouds... But, they can be rather startling, which is why she's using them....” Fluttershy frowned as she eyed the rabbit peeking into her blanket cave.

Angel tilted his head at the mention of 'she' and raised an inquisitive brow at his owner; guessing what he may be asking, the cream-yellow mare sighed before looking back at the rabbit.

“... You know her... Rainbow Dash has always liked... pranks.... But she really likes to do them on this holiday.” Angel frowned at the sadden tones of the pegasus and patted her hoof, which earned him a smile. Emboldened by this, the white rabbit started to make gesture to pose his next question; Fluttershy looked carefully at each movement and once he finished she sighed once more.

“Yes, she did come by earlier to ask me to come with her.”

More rapid motions from the rabbit distracted the pegasus from another crack of thunder in town.

“Yes, I do have the tree costume she got me a month ago. I was a little surprised when she remembered how I said I wanted to be a tree....”

Angel frowned at how happy the pegasus was in remembering but seemed so sad when it came to the present night. He posed yet another question, and when Fluttershy wouldn't respond, he hopped in place annoyed before restating it.

“Sigh.... Yes, I'm sad about tonight.... I would have wanted to 'hang out' but she wants to pull jokes on others. I know she wouldn't normally hurt or let others be scared of something, but it's different when it comes to, to pranks... She probably does it as much as she does on Nightmare Night because she misses her father....” At the curious brow of the pet, Fluttershy put her hoof to her mouth before continuing.

“Oh, I haven't told you yet. Her father died when she was fifteen and she was on her own after that. They used to go out on Nightmare Night and prank others together.... But she knows that I don't like it and how nervous I am on this night... She probably thinks I'm useless and won't want to hang out with me again....” Fluttershy's head dropped to her hooves as Angel joined her in the cocoon of blankets and rubbed her back as the timid mare quietly sobbed while flinching at each crack of thunder.


As the evening wore on, Dash had pranked nearly everyone in town before the festivities really got started. She had to slow down in order to make others unsuspecting and tried to think of a fresh way to get others in the mood for frights. The brash pegasus soon found herself over the Library Tree-house and realized with glee that she hadn't gotten Twilight yet, something she was going to correct as soon as possible.





Luckily it didn't take too long before the lavender unicorn walked out wearing a dark blue cape with stars on it along with a large dark-blue pointed hat and long white beard. Rainbow raised a brow at the 'costume' before shaking her head; the town egg-head was still very much an egg-head after all. The joke-loving mare thought it was hilarious how Twilight got upset with Pinkie Pie about what her costume was and made a mental note to do something similar to see the bookworm grow more frustrated.

The sky-bound mare followed Twilight and found the perfect opportunity to scare the lavender unicorn as she checked on the various stalls in the center of town. Spike was showing off his haul of candy as was Pinkie Pie when thunder crashed and bright light flashed through the air.

Rainbow Dash could hardly contain her brawling laughter at both of Spike's and Pinkie's reactions; she would have thought that the pink earth pony was expecting the surprise but it was as though she never had been pranked in the first place. It was even more funny to see her lead the stampede of young children as they ran in terror.

“Ah hahahahahaha!”

“Rainbow! Look what you did to Spike!”

“Calm down old timer!” Dash could hardly contain her smirk at the twitch of the lavender mare's eye at the mistaken identity.

“It's all in good fun. Oh hey look! Another group!” Rainbow spotted a group heading towards the center of town and flew off to give them a taste of Nightmare Night.


The Shadow Bolt soon grew bored since she had pranked everypony around; not even surprising Pinkie Pie for the umpteenth time (she never expected it!) was losing it's fun. Just as she was about to dissipate the cloud and figure out some new way to prank others the sky grew dark and the wind picked up.

“There's no storm scheduled tonight, what the hay is going on?” Rainbow frowned as a black chariot flew rapidly by with dark coated pegasi pulling it.

“What kind of pegasi are those?! Who are they? Who's under the cloak?! They better not mess with my town!” The bold mare took off in high pursuit of the chariot, wanting to be sure of what they may be planning. If it was a good prank she might take part, but nopony messes with her town and gets away with it.


The cyan mare soon found herself in an interesting position. It seems that Princess Luna had decided to come by for a visit and everypony was scared stiff; helped, no doubt, by the flash of light and loud crash of thunder that appeared due to Rainbow's speed as she tried to catch up to the pegasi who had a head start on her.



As the Princess tried to speak with the townsfolk, Dash stayed up in the air as she thought about the possibilities of her prank in correlation with the visiting Princess.

(With everypony already nervous 'cause of Princess Luna visiting, they won't notice me following behind with a storm! It's the perfect prank, all I need to do is follow her around waiting for just the right time. Alright Rainbow Dash, time to be awesome.)



With this thought firmly in mind, the cyan pegasus went in search of the frantic Princess to find her and Twilight talking about being accepted in town while they sat by the statue of Nightmare Moon in the Everfree forest. Dash tried to freak out the lavender unicorn by making a storm appear behind the Princess but could tell that it wouldn't work and gave up shortly after, though it was still funny to watch the egg-head being blown back from Princess Luna's volume.




It was as they went for the small cottage between town and the forest that the prankster got another brilliant idea. She shot off in search of a large chicken leading a small group of foals (Granny Smith slowly trailing behind them); she found the group as they continued to go door to door while being overly cautious of a certain dark coated Princess of the night.

“Hey Pinkie Pie!” At the amused shout, the large poultry gave a curious squawk and looked around.

“Backa?” Dash rolled her eyes (not that anyone could see it behind her gold tinted glasses) and flew further down.

“Pinkie, over here.” Soon she had everyponies' attention and leaned forward in an informative manner. As they all drew closer to hear, Dash tried to hide her smirk at what she had planned.

“What if you went to Fluttershy's to hide from Nightmare Moon? It's just on the way to the statue where you could try to offer candy so she doesn't get you.” Pinkie brighten at the suggestion and turned to the kids behind her.

“What do you think guys? Let's go to Fluttershy's and hide!” The pink mare's words were greeted with shouts of agreement from the kids as they followed the leading earth pony to the cottage outside of town.




Dash was barely able to hold back her laughter until the group was out of sight and fell to the ground in hysterics. Granny Smith shook her head and turned to go back to the farm; it was well past the time when she would be in bed and couldn't keep up with the hyperactive mare and children.

Applejack frowned at the 'Shadow Bolt' busting a gut in the middle of the street and walked up to the pegasus after giving her grandmother a short farewell.

“Rainbow, what are ya doin' in the middle of the street?” Dash was barely able to stand as she turned towards the farmer.

“Ha ha, oh er, heh heh, nothing. I've got some pranking to do, gotta go.” The prankster was about to fly off when her tail was pinned down by a strong orange hoof.

“Whoa nelly.... What pranks?” Rainbow's eyes widened behind her goggles at the threatening tone of the farmer and she recalled how she had pranked Applejack while she was at Rarity's.

“Oh, er, just some pranks.” Dash tried to remain nonchalant but the orange mare had turned her gaze skyward and found the dark gray storm cloud.

“Rainboooww...” In her annoyance, Applejack had slackened her grip on the prismatic tail giving Rainbow Dash a chance to pull away into the sky.

“What's wrong, scare of a little thunder you scarecrow?” Rainbow smirked at the blushing earth pony and flew off before Applejack could collect herself and retort or retaliate.


Rainbow Dash hoped she hadn't missed the chance to see her latest prank and speed to the timid mare's home to see her latest work. She got there just in time to see Pinkie's reaction to Fluttershy's obvious terror and though she couldn't hear most of what was said, she heard the scream loud and clear.

“... stolen her voice so she can't scream as she gobbles HER UP!!!” The foals following their poultry chaperone screamed as well and they all took off back to town.





After Twilight reassured the Princess that they would just try 'plan b' and lead the way back to town, Rainbow Dash dropped to the ground in front of the two storied cottage in hysterical laughter.

“Ah hahahahahahahaha, Pinkie Pie is too much! Oh, this is awesome! The best pranking year ever!” As Rainbow Dash smacked the ground with a hoof the timid mare was slowly coming back to her senses and frowned at the other pegasus.

“Rainbow Dash, that wasn't nice at all.” Dash wiped a few tears from under her goggles as she smirked at the canary mare.

“Oh come on Fluttershy, it's just a harmless prank.” The animal lover didn't let up from her frown however, something that was slowly killing Rainbow Dash's joy of a prank well done.

“What if you hurt Princess Luna's feelings?”

“She's fine, it's all in good fun.” Dash stood firmly as she looked at the other pegasus, trying to dismiss her fears.

“.... It might be fun for you, but not everyone likes to be scared...” Rainbow flicked her ears forward at the quiet retort and frowned in turn.

“Nopony is getting hurt, and sometimes ponies should just get over being afraid.” Fluttershy crouched at the sharper tone but felt that she couldn't let her oldest and bravest friend continue to scare and maybe even hurt others' feelings.

“... Maybe, it's hard to not be afraid..... And they, they might not like that somepony who helps protect them is trying to scare them... Possibly...” Rainbow frowned even deeper as the topic seemed to shift from a general view to a seemingly specific one.

“It's just one night of the year.”

“But maybe, they know you... You always try to, to scare others... During the year.” Fluttershy couldn't help but take a step back as she stared at the ground.

The brash pegasus took off her hood to get a proper look at her friend with a deep frown.

“Yeah, I prank others during the year but I never hurt anypony; it's all in good fun.” Rainbow Dash tried not to contemplate how she had been willing to prank the timid pegasus many times before but had been talked out of it by Pinkie Pie with facts of how Fluttershy would take the prank way too seriously.

“But, but maybe... It's not 'in good fun' for others.” Dash stood in surprise at the sudden almost tearful tone of the cream-yellow mare and could only watch in silence as Fluttershy quickly retreated back into her home.



With a final frown to the small cottage, the pegasus took to the air once more in search of Pinkie Pie to make sure everything was good between the two of them. Rainbow Dash didn't really want to think about who Fluttershy may have been talking about nor why she would feel that way.


The pegasus soon found the pink earth pony with her marefriend and the Princess of Night in a side alley trying to make peace between them.

The urge to prank rose in the playful pegasus and she couldn't help but strike at her cloud just as the two parties were about to shake hooves. With a shriek of 'Nightmare Moon!' the large poultry took off for the exit while Luna watched in concern.

Rainbow was laughing so much that she hardly heard the chiding tone of the lavender unicorn before Twilight went after Pinkie Pie.




“Shesh Twilight, I'm almost as big as she is, how is she going to gobble me up?”

“Then why do you keep running away screaming?” Twilight frowned at the pink mare under her hooves who seemed just as confused as the unicorn about what was going on. Rainbow smirked at the confusion on the unicorn's face as she realized that she and Pinkie shared reasoning when it came to pranks, proven by the earth pony’s next words.

“Sometimes it's just really fun to be scared.” Rainbow folded her hooves across her chest as she smirked while Twilight merely thought about this before turning to Princess Luna with a smile.



The pranking pegasus watched in curiosity as the unicorn came through with yet another plan to try and get the Princess of the Night integrated into the town.

“Alright, Pinkie you go ahead and make sure the kids go back to offer their candy to 'Nightmare Moon'. Princess Luna, if you could come with me. You too Rainbow Dash.” The pegasus jumped to attention and saluted the studious pony.

“Sure thing...! I still get to prank others though right?” Twilight rolled her eyes at the question but nodded all the same.

“Yes, you'll be able to scare others.” Dash frowned at the choice of words but didn't comment as Twilight led the way to the Everfree Forest.



Once they got to the clearing, Twilight moved the statue so that it was hidden in the brush behind it's pedestal and turned to the dark maned Princess.

“Alright Princess Luna, could you please set up and make it appear like you are the statue?”

“... I am not sure of what thy hope to accomplish, but I shall do as you ask Twilight Sparkle.” Rainbow watched in curiosity as the Princess changed her form to look like she did as Nightmare Moon and stood in the same shape as the statue before her.

“Rainbow, I want you gather storm clouds for when the time is right. I know you've had lots of practice and you should be able to tell when is a good time.... Get in position, I think they're coming!” Twilight shooed the 'Shadow Bolt' who flew up and grabbed the needed clouds for the greatest prank of the night.




The cyan mare could hardly contain her glee as she watched the kids lay out their candy and knew it was the moment for a gust of wind to draw attention to the now alive 'statue'. Just as Luna was getting to her dramatic portion of her speech, Dash made the show 20% awesomer with her control of the weather to add to the mystic show.




Rainbow was thrilled at how well it was working and was pleased to see Luna warming up to the spirit of pranking. She tried to continued to follow the lunar Princess as she provided the best opportunities for scaring others, but the Princess turned this attention around and starting to pull pranks on the brash pegasus instead.

The first reversal was when Rainbow Dash tried to prank Twilight as she made her report to Princess Celestia; Princess Luna gave the pegasus a fright of her own when she set off the storm cloud early, catching the unsuspecting mare by surprise sending her retreating through the skies at the unsuspecting sounds. Rainbow soon returned to the town and tried to act as though nothing had happened and continued her mission to show the townsfolk a 'proper' Nightmare Night.





Soon though, no matter what the prankster did Luna was there to reverse it. She couldn't even reach for her storm cloud before the Princess was there setting it off before her and ruining the surprise. Dash became so annoyed by this that decided to call it a night early and dispersed her cloud before going on her way.



Rainbow Dash watched as she flew over town as other ponies enjoyed themselves with the Princess taking par. The pegasus couldn't remain still as she thought about the very first few Nightmare nights she had done with friends until she was big enough to join her father's pranking spree, in particular one of her oldest and kindest friends.

Fluttershy had never liked the holiday, not even once. It was dark, scary, and everypony wore costumes meant to scare making it even harder for the socially-frightened mare to stand being out with crowds around her. Rainbow had always been there, trying to encourage the shy pegasus until she started to play pranks on others with her dad. Fluttershy never went out on Nightmare Night after that and stayed in her home under the covers.

It was as Dash watched the Cutie Mark Crusaders escape their chaperone's detection in order to stay up later than they usually could that she decided to try one lat time to get the timid mare out of her house.


“..... Fluttershy?” The cyan mare had taken off her costume as a way to not frighten her friend and as a sign that she was finished for the night.

Silence rang through the cottage, causing Dash to flip her ears back in worry.

“Fluttershy? The night's pretty much over, and I'm not going try and play a joke on you.” Rainbow knocked on the door a little more before resting her head against it. She had a feeling that Fluttershy was still upset with her and that was the reason for the silence.

“..... Sorry...” The bold mare muttered into the door, unsure if she wanted to be heard or not and whether the quieter mare inside did actually hear her attempt at reconciliation. Just as Rainbow was starting to trot away, the door opened slightly as an invitation for the usually brash pegasus to enter.



Once Rainbow Dash was inside, she found her quarry sitting on the couch in the center of the room while Angel Bunny hopped back to his owner after having opened the door.

“Hey...” Fluttershy couldn't look the cyan mare in the eye as she waited for Dash to say what she wanted; the timid mare was pleased to note that Rainbow took off her costume, having remembered what the original Shadow Bolts tried to do and unhappy that Dash dressed like them for the night.

“Uhmmm, I wanted to, to ask you... If you wanted to go with me next Nightmare Night...” Fluttershy sighed as she looked at the cyan mare.

“You know I don't like this holiday Rainbow Dash.... I don't want to scare others, they might get really scared...” Rainbow frowned slightly as she scuffed a hoof along the ground.

“Well yeah but, it's just not the same doing it by myself.” Fluttershy shook her head slowly at the other pegasus.

“What about the others? Can't they go... 'pranking'... with you instead?” It was Rainbow's turn to shake her head as she replied.

“Pinkie collects candy like crazy on nights like this and no one else really want to go pranking.... What if, I'd just want to, you know... Just hang out in cool costumes?” The canary mare looked in worry to her friend who wouldn't look her in the eye. She had never seen the brash pegasus want to just 'hang out in costumes' since having joined her father in an annual pranking spree.

“What's wrong? Are you not feeling well?” The animal care-taker rushed to her friend's side and rested a hoof on her forehead in concern; Dash jerked away and scowled at the other pegasus.

“I'm fine! I just, wanted to hang out with one of my oldest friends.” Fluttershy backed away quickly and looked at the ground once more.

“O-oh. Okay.” The two mares stood near one another, unsure of the current topic.

“Did you want to hang out or not next year?” Dash scowled at the ground as she posed the question once more, nervous about the more than likely denial considering her behavior on every previous Nightmare Night.

“... Oh, uhm, I, I guess... If we don't do anything too scary...” Fluttershy scrapped a hoof as well, hoping that their friendship was perhaps on the mend to what it used to be before things grew hard after Bifröst died.

“Cool.” Rainbow Dash smiled briefly in response before deciding to truly call it a night.

“Alright, see you later Fluttershy.” The cyan mare lightly bumped the canary mare's shoulder and turned to leave.

“Goodbye... Thank you for coming. Have a nice night Rainbow Dash.” Fluttershy timidly waved to the retreating mare who smirked in return before heading home.




The bold pegasus returned to her cloud home satisfied with her day; she showed a lot of ponies the meaning of Nightmare Night, helped the lunar Princess, and even got her best friend's agreement to go out with her next year.

(At least I won't be doing stuff on my own next year.... Maybe I can get Fluttershy to warm up to the holiday and start getting out more, it's not as fun being on my own...)