//------------------------------// // Chapter One // Story: The Terror of Nightmare Night // by Vanilla Mocha //------------------------------// Cool autumn winds filled the air as the small coffee shop on Ponyville Lane closed for the night. Brewing its last coffee for the day, the hostess, Vanilla Mocha, sat patiently behind the counter. The unicorn was closing her restaurant early today- she wanted everything to be perfect for tomorrow night. In less than twenty four hours she would be back here, dressing the place in party decorations. As the drink finished, she poured it into the cup and gave it to her customer. "Here's your Vanilla Cappuccino, Mr.Galaxy." Mocha gave him the coffee in her light yellow magical aura. A pegasus stallion by the name of Galaxy Nebula took the coffee with a smile. "Thank you, Mocha." Galaxy Nebula is a dark blue stallion, Tardis blue for you whovians. His short, almost spiked, black mane rested on his shoulders as he sat at the counter, almost inhaling the drink. As Mocha turned the kitchen appliances off for the night, the bell on the door rang. Looking up, she saw two more ponies trot in. A mare Vanilla Mocha recognized as Breeze entered, along with their friend Charming Thunder. Charming was a bright red unicorn with a shaggy yellow mane, whereas Breeze was a dark grey batpony, her two toned navy blue hair fitting nicely with her complexion. Galaxy waved his hoof to his friends. "Hey, guys." Charming Thunder trotted over to his buddy, Breeze following behind. "Hey, Nebula! Saw ya' in the window; thought we'd come over and say 'hi'." Thunder glanced over at Breeze, who smiled sheepishly. "Hi." She said, before her attention turned completely to Vanilla Mocha. "So tomorrow's your party, right?" Mocha smiled. "Yes! I'm looking forward to seeing all of you there. We're going to have lots of snacks, we're going to watch a movie and-" Charming Thunder raised and eyebrow, and cutting Mocha off he said, "This isn't going to be like last year, is it?" Mocha's smile faded as memories came back from a year ago. She had hosted a Nightmare Night party at her house, and half the guests ended up leaving because it was 'sissy'. Sighing, she looked up at the stallion. "I'll do my best to make it spookier." "'Spookier'? Sorry Vanilla, but you just can't do that. You're not the most scary pony." Galaxy Nebula replied. "Yeah. I hate to complain, but, Vanilla... your idea of Nightmare Night is for foals. Last year was ok, I guess, but this year we'd like something... Fun. And fun means scary." Breeze added. "Not to be rude, but these ponies and I could always go to another party-" Charming began. "We'll be here tonight." Galaxy cut him off quickly. Breeze, glancing at Galaxy, looked puzzled, but decided it would be best to be nice to their hostess. Mocha had put in her effort to make it the best for everypony that was invited, and even though they preferred spending Nightmare Night being scared, they wouldn't mind to at least spend a little bit of time with their friends. "Wow, thanks! I knew I could count on you guys!" Mocha's face beamed with excitement. The sun was now set, and Galaxy was done with his coffee. As the three ponies left, Mocha quickly wiped the counters, double checked the locks, and closed the shop. As she stepped out of the door, she was confronted by two more of her friends. "Daffodil Spark? Paradise Oasis? What are you two doing up at this time?" Mocha trotted over to them. "We were about to ask you the same!" Paradise, a white furred Pegasus with a ginger mane replied. "I thought you were closing early." "Well... I was. But then I had a final order for a vanilla cappuccino, and I couldn't put down a customer and friend." Daffodil, an orange earth pony mare, asked, "That was a friend? They didn't even want to come to your party! Maybe Galaxy was being nice, but geesh Mocha, they just talked bad about you!" "What do you mean? Galaxy said they'd come." Vanilla Mocha smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, after he and his friends talked down your party techniques." Daffodil replied. Vanilla Mocha sighed, realizing this. Paradise sat her hoof on Mocha's shoulder. "Don't worry, they just like to be frightened a lot more than most ponies. I'm sure your party tonight will be great!" "Aww, thank you Paradise," Mocha smiled, "Speaking of which, I need to finish inviting everypony!" Daffodil chuckled. "Don't let us stop you. Goodnight, Mocha! We'll see you at the party!" She and Paradise waved as the unicorn waved back before dashing into the night. When Mocha arrived home, she fell onto her bed. "Gahhh..." She had five more letters to send out, and luckily her coltfriend was coming over to help her. Mocha needed to close her eyes. She had a long day at work, and was now worried that everypony wouldn't like her get-together. Minutes later she heard a knock. Eclipse, she thought to herself. A smile on her face, and slightly blushing, she ran to the door to open it. Outside was the tall batpony stallion she had been waiting on. His dark grey fur against his thick, black mane made his bright red eyes even more appealing than usual. Unlike most batponies, he had the normal characteristics of a regular pony, but had the most obvious bat feature- bat wings. Other batponies, like Breeze, also had thin pupils, large fuzzy ears, and natural fangs. The white unicorn smiled and kissed his cheek softly. Now it was Eclipse's turn to blush a little. Chuckling, he trotted inside. After getting dinner and catching up on each other's day, they sat down together at Mocha's dining room table and discussed the last few invitations. Mocha wrote them out as Eclipse put them in the envelope and added the addresses. "Let's see... Hmm, oh! My friend Frosted Shard would like to come, for sure. She loved it last year! Dear Frost, I will be hosting a..." Her voice faded as she began to write. "And.... Why didn't we do this last night?" Eclipse asked her, questioned as to why they were finishing half the invites tonight when tomorrow would be the party. "Because, I had run out of envelopes, and all the shops were closed. Besides, mailing them is much more fun than hoof delivering them. Knowing Derpy Mail, that company will get them out there within a few hours." Mocha smiled. "And.... Done! Here ya' go." She gave her coltfriend the letter as he reached for an envelope. Looking at her list, Mocha read off the next names. "Looks like my friends Tacitus and Garfield are next." "Garfield? You mean the orange cat that eats everything that just recently moved here from 'Jon's House'... Wherever that is?" Eclipse asked as he finished licking the envelope shut. "Well... Yeah, pretty much. He's really nice and funny when you get to know him." Mocha said as she began writing her letter to Tacitus. Eclipse shrugged. "Well... Ok." He smiled. Glancing over at the list of names, he read aloud, "Shadow Wing and Quillton Brooks?" Mocha nodded in response. "Those are the last two." "I remember Shadow Wing from school! He and I are both bats, aren't we?" Mocha looked up at him, and as she opened her mouth, he said, "That was rhetorical." "Oh..." "Silly Mocha~" He nuzzled her, "Yeah, we were friends in school. After we graduated, we went our separate ways. It'll be great to catch up with him!" "I sure hope everypony likes the party... Last year didn't go so well." Mocha said as she started Quillton's letter. "Why wouldn't they?" "It was really... 'Sissy', don't you think?" Memories of apple bobbing and not-so-scary Nightmare Night stories flooded Eclipse's mind. He remembered that the majority of the ponies left the party, making Mocha feel rejected. Vanilla wasn't going to do that this year. She was determined to make everypony stay, even if that meant making it spookier. "There's just so many ponies to satisfy. I don't want my friends to think I'm favoriting some over the others. But if I don't make it scary it'll seem like that." Eclipse smiled. "Mocha, calm down. It'll be fine, trust me. We're gonna watch an old horror film and have snacks and drinks for the first part. I know everypony will stay for that." Mocha looked up into her coltfriend's illuminating red eyes. "You're right." She wrapped her front hooves around him in a hug. "I love you~" Eclipse hugged back. "I love you too..." "Hey, guess what?" "What, Mocha?" "Here." She hoofed him Tacitus' and Quillton's letters. "These need envelopes." Smiling, she nudged his side, and continued writing the last letter. "Ugh....fine." ~~~ Morning had come and gone. Afternoon was dawning, and the city of Canterlot was getting its Nightmare Night street decorations put up. Mocha's shop had been closed all day, and she was just now unlocking the front door. With Eclipse by her side, she knew she could get everything ready for the party. Stepping inside, she quickly ran to the back-room, where a pile of boxes lay. "I got all of this down yesterday-It's Nightmare Night decorations. Also, there's some movies in that box over there," Mocha pointed to a box in the far right corner of the room, "Since you're better with horror than I, would you mind finding the best movie? Just.... Not too scary." Mocha smiled sheepishly. "Of course, sweetie." The bat stallion smiled. "Thank you," Mocha's sheepish smile turned into a normal, wide smile, "I'll take this box and start decorating." She lifted a box up with her magic. "Alright. I'll be back here, and I'll even take out the cute decorations from these boxes. We... Aren't really fillies and colts anymore." He said, holding up a smiling, fuzzy plushy of Nightmare Moon. "Heh...." Mocha walked out into the foyer, and began hanging up decorations. Minutes later, blue, black, and grey streamers hung above the door and windows. Eclipse walked out with two more boxes not long after. "Thought you'd like more to work with." He sat them down and smiled. "Oh, thank you! Hey, how does it look so far?" Mocha pointed at the streamers. "They look great, sweetie." Eclipse replied before heading into the back-room. Determined to make this the best Nightmare Night party her friends have been to, Mocha continued decorating. The plain wooden walls of the coffee shop were transformed into the night sky- moons and stars decked the walls with their glistening shine, as they reflected any light that rested on them. Fake spider webs haunted the underneath of tables and chairs, and even a little bit covered the bell above the door. On each table, instead of the little vase with flowers, sat a motley arrangement of bones held together by spiderweb, with artificial black roses woven in between. "Yes... This looks good. Scary, but kinda pretty." Mocha whispered to herself. "Yes, it does, Vanilla Mocha." Mocha jerked up. "Huh? Who said that?" The voice Mocha had heard was faint, like a very quiet whisper. The voice itself seemed.... Familiar, but she couldn't recognize it. Looking around, she saw nopony. All that sat behind her were two more boxes of decorations. A tall hoof-held mirror stuck out of one of the boxes, while the other was already half used, obviously not as full. "It was probably just my mind playing tricks on me..." Shrugging it off, she continued decorating. "Vanilla Mocha..." The voice sounded again, still just as faint. Mocha couldn't tell whether or not it was from a colt or filly- it was too quiet to tell. "Alright... Eclipse, are you pulling a prank on me? I know how you love Nightmare Night." Mocha walked into the back-room to find her coltfriend reading the back of a movie. "Hey, Mocha- does this one look good?" Vanilla sighed. "Eclipse... Are you calling my name? Please be honest..." "Calling your name? No... I don't think I did. Why?" "I keep hearing things. Please don't pull any pranks on me. I know you love doing that on Nightmare Night, but can you please wait until I'm done decorating? I don't want to get distracted and not finish before they get here..." "Of course, but I wasn't calling you." Glancing at him, Mocha sighed. "Fine. But I'm still kinda creeped out." She slowly walked back into the foyer of the restaurant, and continued finishing the decorations. Minutes later she heard the mysterious voice again, only a little louder and clearer. Suddenly the voice didn't seem so strange and unidentifiable... It was not only familiar, but Mocha realized that it was... Her own voice. Looking behind her again, she decided to stop the noise, and to do that, she'd have to find the source. Carefully looking around, the cafe looked the same. The one and a half full boxes, the streamers, bones, webs, roses, stars, moons... The boxes. "Perhaps Eclipse hid something in there? I know he likes to go far with Nightmare Night... But I can't blame him. It's his favorite holiday after all." Mocha approached the boxes, and as she did, she noticed the small mirror. "I don't remember owning this..." "Vanilla Mocha...." Suddenly, she stopped. The voice... Sounded closer. Looking into the mirror, she jumped from fright. Instead of seeing her reflection, she saw a pony similar to her. Also a white furred unicorn, the mare in the mirror had short, straight hair for her mane and tail. Her hair was also ghost white like her body, and it had countless thin streaks of black in it. Her face wore a wicked grin as her glowing green eyes met up with Mocha. She also had no white in her eyes... Instead, they were black like the night, and her green irises illuminated like lanterns. Her cutiemark was identical to Mocha's, except it was the wrong color. Instead of a golden star, it was black. Mocha screamed from fear, panicking. Eclipse ran into the room, and stood beside Mocha, and calmed her down. "Th-there was a p-pony in the mirror! I swear!" Mocha exclaimed, clinging onto the stallion. "Yes, silly. That's your reflection." "But it wasn't me!" Nuzzling her, he said, "Mocha... Look. The windows are open, you have decorations everywhere, and you were up a long time last night. You're probably just tired, and mistaking it for something else." "But it wasn't anything else, I promise!" Eclipse sighed. "I don't know what it was. But it's gone, yes?" Mocha nervously looked back at the mirror. "Well... Um, yes." "Good. Now, go get your costume and change. The guests will be here within twenty minutes. I'll clean up and start the snacks." "Well... Alright." Mocha forced a smile and used her magic to put the boxes and the mirror behind the counter for the time being. Grabbing her costume, she went into the filly's room to change. Minutes later she came back, wearing black cat ears and paws. Her long brown tail was braided back, and she had put pink paint on her nose, and was wearing whiskers. Eclipse looked up from what he was doing when he heard her hoofsteps. He smiled at the sight of the mare, and blushed lightly. "Me-ow!~" He exclaimed, trotting over to her. Mocha giggled, nuzzling his neck. "I guess I should get into my costume?" Mocha looked up at the clock. "Oh, yes! They'll be here in less than ten minutes- I can't believe I lost track of time!" Eclipse wasted no time in grabbing his costume and changing. Already a batpony, he slipped on a cape and fangs. Brushing his mane back, he began to look more and more like a vampire. Mocha finished preparing the snacks, and as if on cue, when the last one was done, the bell on her door rang, and the first few ponies entered. A tall brown unicorn dressed in a long white robe with a long red sash entered first. He was also wearing a small golden crown on his head. "Hello, Ms. Mocha. Thank you for inviting me to your Nightmare Night get-together." The stallion smiled. "Hi, Tacitus! And it was no problem. Hey, you look pretty good as a roman emperor." She chuckled. "Thank you, and being a cat suits you, your quirky personality and all." He lifted his muzzle into the air, "Is that... Coffee?" "Yep! I have that, along with hot coco and apple cider. Would you like some?" "Yes, please." "Ok! I'll be there in a minute to pour it. Would you mind waiting by the counter?" Mocha asked him. "Not at all." Tacitus smiled, and walked in. As he stepped inside, Vanilla was confronted by Breeze, the batpony mare. She was dressed in a big dark grey spider suit with long, realistic legs. The sides of the costume was covered in big, dark red bulging eyes. Breeze wore a matching cap on her head, and dark makeup. "Hiya, Breeze!" Mocha welcomed her with a smile, "Happy Nightmare Night!" "Ya know you don't look very scary?" "Heh... Come on in. We're watching a horror movie." "Fine. Oh, and Happy Nightmare Night." As the batpony walked inside, Vanilla's smile faded. Daffodil, whom was wearing a scary yet pretty black and purple witch costume, approached the unicorn. "Don't listen to her, she should know you wouldn't be dressed as something scary. Besides, you look really cute as a kitty cat." "Thanks, Daff. You look good too! I... I just don't want to let her down, or any pony else for that matter." Daffodil Spark trotted inside, and as Mocha watched her, she saw Tacitus at the counter. That's right, the coffee... Looking back outside the door, Mocha saw nopony she recognized. Letting it shut, she trotted back to the stallion. "Sorry to keep you waiting." "It's fine, really. What kind of coffees do you have?" Mocha pulled out her autumn menu. "Anything in here is in stock." After moments of searching, he found one. "May I have the Pumpkin Spice Latte?" "Why not?" Mocha took the menu, "And tonight, everything is free of charge, of course." She smiled as she poured some into a cup. "Luckily Eclipse and I had everything ready-" "Did somepony say 'Eclipse'?" Shadow Wing cut her off, walking into the shop. The stallion, who was a full-blooded batpony like Breeze, looked around. Eclipse flew in and welcomed him. "It's been forever!" Eclipse said, hoof-bumping his old school buddy. "Ah, so you're a full bat now, are you?" Shadow asked him. "Nope. I'm part pony, part dragon, and part bat. I'm just using my wings as apart of my vampony costume." Shadow chuckled. "I am my costume! I just consider myself a 'fruit bat' to be fair..." Mocha felt a tap on her back. It was some of her friends- Frosted Shard, Quillton Brooks, Paradise Oasis, and Garfield. "Hey, guys!" "Hay is for horses," Garfield the cat said, "I prefer lasagna." Everypony chuckled at him, except for Quillton. "Actually, it is very unnatural and unhealthy for cats to eat lasagna. Most cats need more vitamins, minerals, and proteins to survive, found in such foods as fresh water fish, small inland birds, and garden snakes. Back in 700 BC, cats would also commonly feed on-" "Woah, Frost- cool costume. What is it?" Paradise cut in. "Oh, um, this thing? It's just a little something I threw together. I'm supposed to be a Neighponese samurai for Nightmare Night." Frost explained. "It looks amazing!" Mocha commented. "Why, thank you! Your cat costume is pretty unique too. What about you, Paradise?" Frost asked. "I'm a fairy princess." She wore a light pink dress, with a matching tiara and little antennae on her head. She wore little pink slippers with a light green bow on the tip of each one, and her red mane was long and wavy. "Daffodil helped me last night- she and I were walking back from Rarity's Boutique when we met up with you when you were closing shop." She smiled at Mocha. "I was forced to go as a pink princess by my stupid adopted brother Nermal, so don't make fun of me or else I'll teleport you to a volcano!" Garfield, the orange cat, said. Everypony chuckled at him. "I'm serious!" "Quillton, that's a very nice, um... Black hoodie and jumper you're wearing. What's your costume again?" Mocha asked the earth pony stallion. "I am the twelfth Doctor, my favorite doctor. And thank you, though honestly, must I correct you. This isn't a 'black hoodie and jumper', this is a suit made with fine precision created for inter-dimensional traveling purposes only. Normal clothing cannot simply stand the harsh circumstances of such teleportation, so I had the best of the best from Canterlot make me this outfit." "Oh, that's very... Specific and thoughtful. Heh... Hey, who's ready for the movie?" Mocha called out to everypony. "I am!" Paradise cheered. "What exact is the movie?" Galaxy Nebula asked, walking in. His costume was his evil counterpart, his eyebrows down and his smile wide. "It's about the Headless Horse. It's an old horror film I found in the back-room. It looks frightening just by the small paragraph on the back of the case!" Eclipse replied. "The... Headless Horse?" Galaxy questioned. "Yep!" Mocha smiled. Galaxy facehoofed. "I knew that... I was just thinking out loud." "I'll go ahead and start it." Eclipse said, getting up. He was sitting at a table talking to Shadow Wing and Charming Thunder, who had also come moments ago. Charming was wearing a grey and brown werewolf costume. Turning off the lights, Mocha sat down with her friends. She had brought pillows and blankets from her home and had arranged them on the ground beside the couches, where Breeze, Charming Thunder, Quillton and Galaxy Nebula sat on one, and Frost, Tacitus, and Shadow Wing and Daffodil sat on the other. Paradise sat on the soft blankets next to Mocha, and Garfield the cat lay on the end on the blankets, closest to the screen. Eclipse started the film, and then snuggled up against Mocha. "So, this is an old movie, like thirty years old?" Charming asked, "Because I prefer things in color." Breeze snickered at Charming's comment. "Actually, it is in color. It's in grey." Quillton added. "I thought old movies were in black and white," Daffodil asked. "No, technically speaking, 'black' and 'white' aren't colors." Quillton replied. "He's right. They are simply pigments and shades. When you combine all the colors you get white, and when you have the absence of all colors you get black. They're essentially shades and tints." Tacitus explained. Daffodil was even more puzzled. "Then why do we go to school when we're little and learn that those are colo-" "Can you be quiet? Some of us want to watch the movie!" Frost exclaimed. After a few more snickers from Breeze and Charming, they quietened down. ~~~ The small filly wandered aimlessly through the thick forest, her heart beating quickly. Thump... Thump, thump. Thump... Thump, thump. Nervously, carefully, slowly... Step after step the small filly continued through the woods. The moon shined brightly as the darkness of the forest surrounded her. Suddenly, there was a sound. Snap! The filly froze. Crickets chirped, and then they got quiet, like as if they were jumping away. Snap! There it was again. As the headless horse made its way through the forest, tension rose. The foal's eyes widened, and large tears ran down her cheek. "Oh no..." She looked around her, frightened. "Y-you found me! Nooo! I don't have your horseshoe, I swear!" She began running, but she was too weak. As the headless horse approached, she grew slower and weaker. Paradise was shaking. "Celestia, this is-" "Lame? Everypony knows the story of the headless horse!" Charming cut her off. "Vanilla Mocha, not to interrupt, but may I have a refill on my latte?" Tacitus asked. Ignoring the others, Mocha sighed and forced a smile. "Of course, Tacitus." She stood up and trotted into the kitchen with the brown unicorn behind her. "You know, the movie isn't that bad. I think this was a superb idea of a party!" He said, sitting down on one of the stools by the counter. "Heh... Thanks. It's pretty hard making everypony happy." "They're happy. I've been around a lot of ponies- being a professor, and now a colt and filly schoolteacher, I've seen ponies act like how those grown mares and stallions are. They just want to act cool on Nightmare Night, and since this is not exactly their style, they just want something to do since they do not particularly like parties in this fashion, that's all." "Wow, I never thought about it like that," Vanilla smiled, "Thanks, Tacitus." "No problem." He smiled back. Vanilla Mocha poured the coffee into his cup and watched him go sit down. Being the clean, tidy mare she is, she wiped down the counter and sat back to watch the movie before she put the rag back. Though she was much farther away from the screen, it was still just as much enjoyable yet scary. "You will die!" The headless horse screamed. "Ah-Eeeik!" The filly in the movie shrieked. Galaxy Nebula raised an eyebrow. "How does the headless horse talk? It doesn't have a mouth." "More importantly- how does it eat?" Garfield the cat asked. "Shh!" Eclipse interjected. Mocha couldn't help but chuckle. It was true, the movie didn't seem as freighting when it was taken too realistically. Sighing, she rang out the damp rag, and began to walk back into the room. "Vanilla....Mocha..." It was the voice. "Wha-huh?" Mocha stopped. Looking behind her, she saw the boxes she had sat there earlier. Sticking out of one of the boxes was the mirror. "Vanilla Mocha..." Vanilla stepped closer to the mirror, and she saw the same odd reflection as earlier. "Who are you and what do you want?" Mocha whispered. A wide grin stretched across the new mare's face. On the other side of the room, the lights seemed to fade. "Um... Guys? The 'Exit' sign up there is dying..." Frost looked up at the dark red sign that used to be bright just a few minutes ago. "A-and hey, who shut those curtains?" Paradise looked towards the window. "I could see the streetlights out there just a minute ago!" "And why is the movie fading? It's a tape, it doesn't do this!" Shadow Wing exclaimed as the movie began to fuzz out on the screen. The sound became staticky before it too faded out with the screen, which went black. "This wasn't planned... Was it?" Quillton asked. "Who cares? This is awesome!" Breeze exclaimed, flying up into the air. "Well, I care! I can't see!" Garfield responded. "Everypony, calm down!" Eclipse shouted. "I'll find a light switch and fix the movie, ok?" "Aww... The party was just getting good and spooky!" Charming commented. Eclipse ignored him and stood up. Knowing the cafe by heart, he walked over to the lights. He switched one on... But nothing happened. Perhaps that's the fan? Clicking it off, he hit the other switch in the wall. Still, nothing happened. "Ok... Any unicorns here with bright magic?" "I'll help you out." Tacitus lit up his horn, it glowing dark blue. The room illuminated in the dark shade, yet everypony could see each other. "Thanks, Tacitus." Eclipse said with relief. "My pleasure." Looking around the cafe, the ponies could see the closed curtains and eerie decorations. The air around them felt cold and dry, and the hardwood floors felt oddly warm and sticky. Sudden realization hit Eclipse. "Where's Mocha? I don't see-" The stallion was cut off by a shrilling, bloodcurdling scream. Garfield jumped. "Gah! It sounded like that dying pig was over here!" He shouted in annoyance as he pointed to the kitchen behind him. Tacitus moved closer towards the kitchen. The scream, like the movie's audio, was fading quickly. "This is so spooky! And we underrated Mocha," Breeze said, "I didn't know that a mare could change in a year. Oh well!" Turning to her friends Galaxy and Charming, she smiled. "I totally had faith in her this whole time!" "Yeah, sure you did... Anyways, I want to investigate a little bit myself. I wanna know where that noise came from!" Charming lit up his horn, which was also blue, and at once the light landed on the mirror. The light reflected off of it, casting a ray of light blue across the room. "What's that light blue color coming from?" Paradise Oasis asked, noticing the reflected ray. Everypony gathered around behind the counter and saw the boxes... And the small, white hoof-held mirror. Eclipse gasped when he saw the reflection in the glass. "Mocha?!" The unicorn was trapped inside, crying. As she heard her name she looked up. Her eyes were already red, and the scared look on her face only became more worried when her eyes met everypony else's. "Vanilla Mocha? How'd you get in there? Not even I have established time travel, much less inter-objectial travel." Quillton said. Eclipse glanced at him, then turned his attention back to his marefriend. He opened his mouth to talk, but before he could, Vanilla interjected. "Beware of The Terror..." She said in a surprisingly calm voice. "Do... What?" Daffodil asked. "B-beware of T-the..." Before she could finish, the unicorn faded into the mirror, leaving behind only darkness. "No! Noooooo! Ok, Mocha, cut it out!" Eclipse yelled furiously. There was no reply. "The....Terror? What did she mean by that?" Paradise asked. "What does it matter? Mocha is in the holiday spirit!" Galaxy replied, Breeze and Charming Thunder at his side. Eclipse faced them angrily. "What. Does. It. Matter?! I know my marefriend better than anypony here! She'd never do that- not even something much less spooky for that matter!" "Um... Guys?" Garfield the cat asked. "Dude, calm down. It's true, she could be coming out of her comfort zone." Shadow Wing said. "Guys?" Garfield asked again. "Well I for one think that we should find Vanilla Mocha." Frosted Shard declared. "Guys?!" "I agree, Frost." Tacitus trotted over to her for extra light. "But still, Paradise had a point. What was 'The Terror' that Mocha was talking abo-" Daffodil began. "GUUUUUUYS!!!!!" Garfield yelled. The room became silent and everypony's eyes turned to the fat orange cat. "Thank you." He smiled, appreciating the attention. "Now.... To my point. What is THAT?!" Garfield screamed, pointing behind all the ponies. Everypony turned around and saw a huge mare behind them. As tall as Celestia, the half transparent ghost-like pony stood behind the counter, where the boxes were. Her fur was as white as Mocha's, and her mane as straight as a ruler. Her mane was pearl white, and it had black streaks in it. She wore a pitch black choker around her neck, and her eyes literally glowed green. The most interesting features had to be her eyes and cutiemark. Her eyes weren't like anypony else's; were here should have had been white in her eyes it was as black as the night, and the irises glowed like lights. Her cutiemark oddly resembled Vanilla Mocha's star, but instead, it was just a single black star. "I am The Terror, Vanilla Mocha's worst nightmare! And I shall be yours surely as well!" The ghostly mare bellowed. As she broke into psychotic laughter, everypony screamed from freight.