When the school bell rang, about a dozen young fillies and colts trotted excitedly out the doors. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were having a conversation about plans for this year’s Nightmare Night. Apple Bloom jumped gleefully as she cried, “Woo-hoo! Now we can go to our clubhouse to make our costumes!” Scootaloo sighed, “Yeah. It’s a shame Sweetie Belle’s sick today. I hope she gets better by Nightmare Night.”
“Oh, boo-hoo-hoo. Wouldn’t that be a shame, indeed?”
The two CMC members turned to see Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon walk up to them. The CMC did not like these two aristocratic fillies at all, especially since the pair constantly teased the group for not having cutie marks. Diamond mocked, “Well, since you’re short one member, I guess it’ll be two Mustangeers instead of three!” The pair snickered wickedly before Scoots retorted, “Our fellow Mustangeer will be back before you can say ‘trick or treat’!” Apple Bloom whispered, “Uh, Scoots? I thought we were each going to have different costumes.”
Just then, they heard arguing.
“I dare you!”
“No, I dare you!”
“I dare you!”
“I dare you!”
The fillies walked towards a crowd of young ponies and saw that Snips and Snails were daring each other.
“Okay, uh…I double-dare you!”
“Nuh-uh. I dee-double-dare you!”
“All right! I triple-dare you!”
The crowd gasped before Diamond Tiara came up and demanded, “All right, what’s going on here?” Snips and Snails looked at her and then pointed hooves at each other, claiming in unison, “He dared me!” Snails explained, “Snips thought the legend might be true, so he wanted me to check it out!” Snips nodded, “Uh-huh. I dared him, but he dared me, too!” Apple Bloom then emerged, asking, “Excuse me, but what legend?”
Snails replied in an eerie tone, “The legend of the old house…” The crowd gasped once more. Snips added, “Yeah! It’s been around Ponyville since forever!” Twist came up and said, “Oh, I know that story!”
All eyes turned to Twist as she recollected, “I remember my great-granny Swirl told it to me as a way to steer clear of the woods. She said that a long time ago, a house made its way across Equestria for centuries. Whenever it brought misfortune upon a place where it was at, it had to be moved. Eventually, it came here to Ponyville about two or three hundred years ago. My great-granny told me if anypony got too close to it, bad things would happen.” Scootaloo asked, “Where is it now?” Twist said slowly, as if afraid to answer, “It’s near…Sweet Apple Acres.”
The crowd gasped again as they faced Apple Bloom, who was clearly in shock. She said softly, “Near Sweet…? But…” Diamond snickered cruelly, “Well, Apple Boo, looks like you’ve got a haunted house on your hooves.” Silver Spoon taunted, “Yeah! Why don’t you go check it out?”
The CMC gasped before Snips agreed, “That’s right! It’s near your farm!” Snails nodded, “Yeah! Make her go!” The other ponies, now curious, promptly pressured Apple Bloom to check out the haunted house. Eventually, Scoots stood up and said, “Hey! If she’s going, we’re all going!”
A few moments of silence later, every pony dashed away, save for the CMC, Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon. Diamond smugly said, “Why would I run away when I could see you experience the most traumatic moment of your life?” She snickered and continued, “I wouldn’t miss this for the world.” AB turned to Scoots and said sadly, “Well…it looks like we’re going after all.” Scoots sneered, “Yeah, though I'd hate for those two to tag along.”