The Little Pony Legend: A Kingdom of Friendship

by MaggiesHeartLove

The Scare Master

The sun was slowly setting, making way for the night to shed its lunar light onto the earth. Unlike most nights, ponies were out and about laughing and screaming with delight as plastic spiders, dangling from the tents of the booths, danced against the cold winds. Pumpkins lit up with happy spooky grins on their faces and cobwebs and scary clowns adorned the trees, streets and bridges.
It was that frightening yet fun night of the year once again: NightMate Night!
Ponies all around were dressed in their most frightening costumes; vampires, mummies, zombies, changelings, minators, werewolves, witches, lions and tigers and bears, oh my!
However, they were not all scary, some costumes were of mermaids, fairies, princesses, roller-skates, astronauts, soldiers, knights, superheroes, bumblebees, ninjas and even some dressed as famous Spirit World beings.
Buckets and buckets of candies lined up for all, this was everyone's favorite part of NightMare Night, all of the fun scares and candies they could eat until their teeth became rotten and their stomachs could take no more. Yes, all ponies were happy and excited during this time of year.
All but one…
Fluttershy flew from corner to corner, pulling down the shades of her cottage windows. She was as speedy as Rainbow Dash in a race, only this night she was in a race against time. After pulling down the last shade she hear windows clattering. The pony shivered.
"Fuzzy Legs, do you think you could secure those windows?" she asked her tarantula friend. The spider saluted and shot two sticky webs at the windows, closing them shut. All of Fluttershy's animals friends were inside with her, even her big grizzly bear friend. Out of all the nights in the year, this was her least favorite.
"And you'll alert me if anything scary comes close to the cottage?" she asked her bird friends who chirped in reply, "Oh, who am I kidding? When something scary comes close to the cottage!"
Out of all the nights in the year this was her least favorite. Fluttershy hatted NightMare Night for obvious reasons. She hated anything scary, the monsters, the spooky decorations, not to mention all of those jump scares that made her heart beat fast and her pulse to rush, the echoing screams that came out of her mouth rung deep into her memory. Even though Fluttershy had faced many dangerous things before, and I do mean MANNY in the past two years she had met Team Avatar. Even though she had become much braver now than she was then there was just something about NightMare Night that she just never liked. Naturally, she assumed it was fear, what other reason could there be for her not liking this holiday her friends so greatly enjoyed.
She flew up to her bear friend, Harry, and pleaded, "Please tell me my hiding place is ready."
Harry growled and nodded in a 'yes' and lifted up the helm of Fluttershy's bed. The pony peeked underneath and sighed in relief. "Oh, look, you've filled it with everything I need to survive this awful night."
Her animal friends had made their caretaker her own private bunker, complete with soft pillows, teary bears, her favorite books, a jar of peanut butter and some bread slices for her to munch on, a lantern and even a few vases with flowers to give the place a bit more color and beauty. It was perfect in Fluttershy's eyes, simple but efficient. Now she wouldn't have to leave until daylight tomorrow. What a relief.
"Thank you. Thank you all! Now I don't have to step a hoof outside until this whole thing is over. And best of all, I have all of my animals friends here, right Angel?…Angel?" the pony gasped in horror, "Oh no! Angel's still at Air Temple Island on a play-date with Pookie and Pabu! I was so anxious about getting everything ready that I forgot! I can't leave him out tonight, I have to go get him! But that means I'll need to go out… on Nightmare Night?!"
The pony squired in the corner of the room, covering her eyes in fear. She couldn't step outside, she couldn't. But what about Angel? Would he survive the night? She knew he was strong but just the thought of him being out there was enough for her to worry, she would never be able to rest knowing one of her dear animal companions wasn't wit her tonight. She gulped and stood up, her body still shaking.
"No, no. I won't be able to relax unless I know he's safe. I'll just go out for a little bit, get to Air Temple Island through the portal and get Angel back before anything scary happens. Easy, right?"
In all honesty, even she didn't believe herself. Never the less, Fluttershy swallowed her fear and approached the door. With a shaking hoof she turned the nob and walked out. Just as she had expected ponies in costumes were already out and about. Even though she knew they were her fellow ponies, they're costumes looked so real it was scary. Strange how she could be spooked by foam wings and plastic masks and not afraid to fight an armless waterbender alongside her friends.
The plan was simple, get to the portal, get Angel and go home. Although she probable wouldn't have minded skipping right to the go home part. She made her way across town, seeing ponies preparing for their NightMare Night festivities. They all looked so happy, why couldn't she have fun like them? Then again, she just couldn't' figure out who anypony could enjoy this night. There were balloons with ghosts floating within them, pumpkins with spooky carved faces, spiders dangling from practically everywhere and skeleton ponies hung against the trees and houses, making her all the more nervous. But even with all of the scary stuff her so called 'fear' wasn't the same as it used to be back before she became an airbender. Sure, a lot of this still gave her the creeps, but she didn't run away as easily as she did in the past. Her heart was still beating but mostly because she didn't want somepony to jump scare her. Even if it was just a prank she hatted jump scares, it didn't matter if it was NightMare Night or not.
She heard three little foals singsonging happily as they walked pass her. At least she could always enjoy the happiness of little children.
"Nightmare Night, what a fright! Give me something sweet to bite!" they chanted and showed Fluttershy their sharp vampire fangs. Fluttershy gasped and quickly flew away, shuddering at the sight of the teeth. They reminded her of when she became a vampire fruit bat by accident. Ewww, the sensation and memory was still disturbing for her. Strange, all she did was gasp and not scream.
Fluttershy flew upwards and decided to just fly over to the portal, not even giving a second thought. She just wanted to get home as soon as possible. She made it there in only several minutes and entered, finding herself once again in the human world. She changed into her anthro form once she arrived and landed onto the island. Strangely enough, there wasn't a soul to be seen. It especially didn't help that it was nighttime which made the place all the more frightening. She held herself as she walked along the island.
"Hello? Anybody here?"
"BOGABOGABOGA!!"
"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!" as an act of defense, Fluttershy through a jump kick at the scary stranger with the frightening mask of gee, purple and yellow. The person landed hard against a tree, causing the leaves to fall all around him and his mask came off. Fluttershy gasped once she saw who has frightened her.
"Bumi?! What are you doing?!"
"Right now, bleeding internally." he grunted as he stood up. Fluttershy rushed to help him, feeling horribly guilty for what she did.
"I'm so, so sorry! I just saw that mask and I reacted."
"That's okay. I was trying to scare Tenzin but I got you instead. Wait, what are you doing here? I didn't think you'd be into all this NightMare Night stuff."
"Oh, that's right. Republic City's having its first NightMare Night's festival here too."
Indeed, once the two worlds were united, the city decided to embrace some of Equestria's holidays, and one they were particularly looking forward too was NightMare Night. At the mention of candy, costumes and fun games they were sold. The children loved to have an excuse to dress up and whatever they wanted, and getting free candy was a plus. Not to mention all of the fun scares.
"And you know I can't say no for the chance to spook my little brother." said Bumi before taking back his fallen mask. "So, are you coming to the festival later? Raiko even had Varrick and Applejack's family make a spooky corn maze at the park. It's gonna be so much fun!"
"Actually, I came to pick up Angel form his play-date with Pabu and Pookie and be on my way. Do you know where I could find him?"
"He should be in Korra's castle with Bolin and Meelo. You sure you don't want to come to come?"
"I'm sure."
"But it'll be soooooper scary!" he said, using a spooky voice for emphasis.
"Don't remind me."
"The scariest maze that there ever was." he said, still using the voice in hopes of getting her excited, "Who knows what lurks inside?"
"Oh, I'm sure I don't."
"Is that a mummified pony that just leaped out at ya?"
"I don't know. Is it?"
"And what's that crunchin' sound beneath your feet? Maybe it's the bones of ponies that didn't make it out alive!"
At the mention of bones Fluttershy began to quiver, "B-B-B-B-Bones?!"
"And are those peeled grapes or a thousand slimy eyeballs starin' at ya from beyond the grave?"
"Please tell me they're grapes!" Fluttershy begged.
"Only one way to find out, Muahahahahahahahaha!" Bumi laughed maniacally for effect as thunder and lighting sounded and flashed from behind him. The airbender was silenced and Fluttershy, instinctively airbended him against the tree again. She gasped realizing what she just did.
"Sorry! Again! I'll just go get Angel and be on my way." she zipped away as fast as she could before she could do anything else. Bum rubbed his neck and got back up. It's a good thing he had thick skin.

Once inside the palace Fluttershy was relieved to see there wasn't many spooky NightMare Night decorations, aside from a pumpkin on the dinner table and a few NightMare Moon ornaments but aside from that nothing too horrifying.
"Korra? Hello?"
She immediately froze in place once she heard footsteps approaching, followed by the silhouette of what appeared to be some kind of hunchback creature coming at her from across the hallway. Just like before with Bumi, Fluttershy's instances kicked in and she got into a defensive stance, ready to attack whatever came her way, regardless of the frightened expression on her face. As the creature came closer she screamed while preparing to unleash an air blast with all of her might until the two figures came into view. A young human boy and a little dragon.
"You think it's scary now, just wait until it's done." Kai said while removing his green googles. He was dressed like a young Equalist, complete with the goggles, suite and fake electric sticks that were really just long blue glowing sticks he could make light up on command with a shake.
Spike was dressed in air nomad attire with a bald-cap over his scales depicting an arrow marking and carried a fake glider prop. "What do you think? I'm Avatar Aang! And Kai's an Equalist."
"Yeah, I caught that." Fluttershy said while calming herself down and stepping out of her defensive stance.
Upon seeing Fluttershy with them, Spike realized something. "Hey, wait a minute! It's Nightmare Night and you're here and not holed up in your cottage!" the little dragon smiled with excitement, "Does this mean what I think it means?"
"That I foolishly forgot Angel's play-date with Pabu and Pookie so I came all the way here from Ponyville to pick him up?"
Spike dropped his shoulders in disappointment, "Oh. I thought maybe you decided to come out with us tonight."
"Goodness, no! I couldn't be out tonight. I just couldn't."
"Technically speaking, you already are out right now." Kai said.
Fluttershy blinked. He did have a point, this whole time she had managed to bypass so many of the things that would naturally frighten her, and she even airbended Bumi in an act of self defense. Twice.
"Oh. I guess that is true." Fluttershy then squeaked in fear when a figure loomed over them. The sound of flapping wings was heard and a woman stood before her friend, who sighed in relief. "Oh, Korra. It's just you."
"Hey, Flutters. Angel, Fluttershy's here!" Korra called out and the said white bunny jumped out, wearing a vampire cape, and hopped into Korra's arms. "He insisted I'd make him a costume for NightMare Night." she said as she scratched the bunny's ears.
Spike tugged on her leg, "Korra, why don't you ask Fluttershy if she could stay out longer with us."
Korra looked down at him with uncertainty. "I don't think this holiday's up her alley, Spike."
Hearing these words made the anthro pony lower her ears in sadness and rubbed her arm. If only she wasn't such a scary cat she could have fun with her friends. It was clear they really wanted her to join and, in a lot of ways, she wanted to. But then what was stopping her.
"I don't get it." Kai said, "You guys have faced all kinds of villains, why is NightMare Night such a problem?"
"Kai!" Korra called him out by saying his name in a stern manner.
"No, he's right." Fluttershy spoke up, "Every year on NightMare Night I'm too scared to step a hoof outside. I've seen things that could make anypony quiver at the sight of it. I even faced the master of all evil himself, but this night just…I don't know." she felt Korra's comforting hand on her shoulder. The Avatar smiled.
"You have nothing to feel bad about. Some things just scare a person more than something else. Remember when I first joined the Fire Ferrets?"
"Yes. You were nervous but also excited. I would have hid once that spotlight hit me, but you were so confident."
"And how was I when I faced Amon?"
"Um…scared?"
"More like terrified."
"I'd say quiver and shake to the point you were about to cry..." she blinked when Korra arched an eyebrow and Fluttershy blushed in embarrassment, "Never mind."
"The point is, pro-bending in front of a crowd was scary, but facing Amon was even scarier. Heck, becoming a princess was scary too, but not as much as facing Zaheer."
"Is there a point to this?"
Instead of replying with a response, Korra clapped her hands and the room went dark. A spotlight shone over Fluttershy and she looked around once she heard tribal music playing played by drums and sticks by Spike and Kai. Korra appeared behind her, a spotlight shinning over her as well. She opened her mouth and started to sing.

(parody of "Snuff out the light", by Eartha Kitt)

Korra:
When I was a girl my motto was;
"Fear is none existent"
Times have changed, and so have I
Now I am more self-consistent

But you would be a dummy
If you think I'll flee from a mummy
Cause once reality arrives
They look better fake and they do alive

Using her magic, Korra manifested a mummy out of thin air, making Fluttershy squeak in fear. But the confident Korra only tapped it with her finger, which caused the thing to fall apart like the literal dummy it was. Fluttershy gently kicked it with her foot, finding the obvious truth that this was just plastic and nothing more.

Korra:
I studied well I learned the trade
This knowledge will never fade
I finally found that missing piece
To give eternal peace to me

It was always my ambition
To use this new intuition
And gain some small remission
From the vagaries of time

Every harsh learned lesson
Brought me down a peg
Fear tore me down!
Faith lift me up!
And now, my friend, I share this history with you

Korra manifested a few ghosts to dance beside her and Fluttershy. The ghost were adorable and baby faced but were only made out of cardboard, which Korra made sure Fluttershy noticed.

Korra:
So!
Shed on the Light
Claim your right
In a world of darkness
Shed on the Light
Win the fight
Free from a world of darkness

As Korra sang, she used her magic to bring the plastic bats to soar all around before reverting them back into their plastic forms once more the minute Fluttershy touched one of them. These creatures were just plastic and nothing more. The pony saw masks of all of Korra's former enemies: Amon, Unalaq, Vaatu, Zaheer, Tirek and even NightMara before making them disappear with a snap of her fingers.

I've looked fear right in the eye
The memories I can't deny
But now I know how to defy
What is real and what's a lie

Every scream and terror flees
Are nothing more but plastic trees
There are a lot of things we should fear, yes
But honey, this shouldn't cause you stress

Ha!

One by one, Korra demonstrated Fluttershy exactly what she was supposedly afraid of: Illusions.
The bast were only plastic toys, the spiders didn't do anything once she touched them, the ghosts were just sheets of white fabric and other were cardboard cutouts, the serpents were just streamers, the masks never moved at all, and the pumpkins were normal vegetables with candles inside of them. These were facts she already knew only now she was fully realizing these kinds couldn't harm her even if she wanted to. Maybe she had been caught up in the illusion of NightMare Night and there really wasn't anything to be afraid of. She joined Korra in her dancing while the Avatar sang and the two danced alongside the fake dragon decorations.

Shed on the Light
Claim your right
In a world of darkness
Shed on the Light
Win the fight
Here tonight!

NightMare Night comes once a year
So don't you shed a single tear
Bats and owls and coiled sea dragons
Crocodile and carrion beats
Swirling in the growing darkness
Once the sun wakes up and rises
You'll see right through their disguises

Shed on the Light
Claim your right
In a world of darkness
Shed on the Light
Win the fight
Here tonight!
Shed on the Light!

"Boo!"

Fluttershy:
"Really?"

Korra:
"That's my girl."

"You're right, Korra. There really is nothing to be afraid of. You know what, I will join you guys!"
"You sure?"
"I'm sure. I want to give this a try, I want to show myself there really is nothing to be afraid of."
Korra smiled and hugged her pony sister while ruffling her hair. "Wait till the others hear about this."
"Where are they, anyway?"

"And then it got very, very quiet and suddenly they realized the balloons had never been inflated!"
Team Avatar screamed in terror right before they started to laugh. They were all gathered upstairs in Korra's castle sharing fun ghost stories. They were mainly meant for both terror and humor.
Bolin then took the lantern and begging telling his ghosts story, "Okay, I've got a story to tell. It's called, The haunted sword of Wing Fung! Ooh-aaah!" he wiggled his fingers and made a haunting noise with his mouth. "Once there were three kids playing out in the yard with their ball. Once of them kicked the ball too hard and it flew over the wall…right into Wing Fung's yard."
He paused for dramatic effect.
"Wing Fu was a quiet old man with a fascination for swords. The older kid went over to his house and took the ball, but the middle one insisted they see Wing's word collection while he wasn't home. Being the rebellious little rascal he went inside, amazed to see the door wasn't locked. They tried to talk him out of it but it was too late, the door slammed shut and none of them could get out."
"Why didn't they just walk out?" Applejack asked.
"Because the door was mysteriously locked! Ooh-aaah! They walked deeper into the house and found an old sword hanging on the wall. Suddenly, they heard something down the hall of the dark. Oooh…they spun around and found nothing but when they turned around, the sword was gone…and they knew…the blade of Wing Fung was haunted!!"
The group screamed once more before laughing again. Rainbow Dash rolled down onto the floor, hugging her stomach. Rarity's turn was next and she levitated the lantern. "Nice story, Bolin. But did I ever tell you about the night that the mannequin came to life and haunted all the costumes?"
"What happened?" Flash asked.
Rarity gave him a deadpan look, "I just told you, darling. A mannequin came to life and haunted all the costumes."
Pinkie Pie squealed and fell backwards onto the floor, pretending to pass out. As fun as this was, an unexpected voice made them all scream once more.
"Hi, everypony."
"Ah!" the team calmed down once they saw it was only Fluttershy standing before them. Twilight turned on the light of the room and got up to see her friend, still amazed to actually see her here and not curled up underneath her bed like every NightMare Night.
"Fluttershy, what are you doing here? Is everything okay?"
"Everything is fine. In fact, it's more than fine. I've decided to join you in your Nightmare Night festivities."
Rainbow Dash scoffed, "Seriously? You? Out? Tonight?" Rarity nudged her arm, signaling her to show some respect to their timid friend. "I mean…awesome?"
"Every Nightmare Night, I shut myself in my cottage and refuse to come out until morning. But it's just like when I was afraid to sing in front of anypony. If I hadn't given it a try, I never would've found out how much I enjoy it."
"And we'd have missed out on how great you sound." said Mako, making Fluttershy blush.
"Fluttershy with us on Nightmare Night?" Bolin said with glee as he stood up, "That's amazing!"
"Amazing?" Rarity said, "Why, it's positively the most wonderful news I've heard in ages!"
Fluttershy couldn't help but blush, she had no idea her joining her friends tonight would make them all so happy. Pinkie Pie hopped around happily, "You can get dressed up in a costume with us and play Nightmare Night games with us and eat candy apples with us!"
"Don't forget the best part." said Applejack while wrapping an arm around Pinkie Pie, "Goin' through my family's corn maze! Varrick added some spooky additions, but I told him not to go too over the top."
"Oh, right. The maze." Fluttershy had nearly forgotten that one. Haunted mazes always had jump scares, she hatted jump scares. She was beginning to feel her nerves again, only to calm down once Korra placed her hands on her shoulder.
"Only if you're up for it." she said.
"Oh, I am! I am ready to take on Nightmare Night!"
The rest of the team cheered happily at the news…while Fluttershy morphed into her pony form and hid behind Korra's legs, shaking. The noise startled her a bit. Noticing this she giggled,
"Just practicing." she gave a nervous laugh. They knew they had to be patient with her, especially on her very first NightMare Night, but they knew she was braver than she seemed.

Rarity took Fluttershy to her Four Nations boutique, which had a big sale on costumes all week. She searched the ranks trying to find the perfect costume for Fluttershy, who stood behind her.
"Mummy? No. Lemur spirit? No. Vampire fruit bat? Ugh, definitely no. You see, Fluttershy, the beauty of Nightmare Night is that you don't have to dress up as something scary."
"So, what are you dressed as." Fluttershy asked.
Rarity was already in her costume, she wore a long sleeveless gray silver dress that reached the floor with a blue sash around her waist with a rounded pendant dangling low in front of the dress, adorned with a pale ribbon tied to both sides and wrapped around the left and right side of her dress. She had two separate long flowing sleeves and a white shawl around her arms, connected to the ribbon of her dress. Her hair was styled in a hight ponytail adorned with a water tribe hair-clip and two sides of her hair were adorned with the same clips, but styled into two braids.
"Oh, I got inspired by one of Jinora's stories. A long time ago, there lived a beautiful princess of the north named Yue, who bravely sacrificed her own humanity to become the moon spirit and aided Avatar Aang in defeating a Fire Nation invasion of the north. Regrettably so, she had to say goodbye to the first boy she ever loved." Rarity sighed dramatically, "It's both tragic and romantic. Plus, it's yet another opportunity for me to embrace my waterbending roots."
She went back to rummaging through the rack and found one costume, "Ooh! Yes. This one will look gorgeous on you. Period costumes are all the rage this year." she handed her friend the costume, but she did not look satisfied. "What? No good?"
"What if we encounter something terrifying and need to get away quickly? All those layers could slow me down, or worse, make me trip!"
"Oh. I never... considered that. Never fear!" she looked through the options once more and found one she was especially proud of, "Ooh, now this is a real stunner!" she pulled out a simple silk dark dress and an extravagant mask with her magic. The mask was blue with feathers.
"I call it "Masquerade"! Just a simple black dress underneath but with this ornately decorated mask!" she levitated the object near Fluttershy's face but gently shoved it away.
"A mask?"
"No?"
"They can just be so difficult to see out of."
"Yes, but this one has eyeholes." Rarity demonstrated by placing the mask over her face.
"W-What about being able to see what's to the left or right of me?"
Rarity still thought it was a good idea, but if Fluttershy didn't like it she couldn't force her. "I suppose your vision would be somewhat obscured. It's your first Nightmare Night out and about, and we do want you to be comfortable."
"What if I just wear the dress?"
"Oh, sure, dear. That's... fine." Rarity amped up all of her will power not to cringe at the idea. She instead smiled and allowed Fluttershy to enter the changing room to put the dress on.
"It's so plain, it's frightening." she said to herself before sucking in her lips. She spun around to see all of her friends already in their costumes.
Mako's costume consisted of a dark full body outfit with brown body armor around his legs and arms, foam katana swords in both hands and a mask of a strange looking creature, painted in white and blue. He was the Blue Spirit, an alter ego of Lord Zuko from his younger years.
Asami wore a long sleeveless red dress underneath a long flowing purple cape, a hood gently adorned around her head connected by a seashell broach, exposing her shoulders, which were painted with red markings, and the sleeves fell gently around her arms. She also had paint markings around her face and a large hat with a transparent veil. She was the Painted Lady water spirit, an old Fire Nation folktale her mother used to tell her when she was young.
Flash Sentry wore a United Forces uniform while Bolin wore a full body fire ferret costume, complete with whiskers and painted nose, and Pabu was dressed as his master, wearing Bolin's signature green clothing and a black wig.
Rainbow Dash was dressed as a zombie police officer, her hair was dyed white for the occasion and had fake blood around her torn up armor. Pinkie Pie was Kyoshi warrior, any excuse to wear face paint was fine by her. The costume was very authentic, complete with the insignia on the arm armor and the signature golden fans to go with it. Applejack was badgermole, also wearing painted on whiskers.
Twilight's and Korra's were probably the most personal and the most eye-catching. Twilight wore a costume that was red in color, with two flame-like decorations around her shoulders and a dark chocker necklace with a fire nation symbol on it. The corset of her costume was a sweetheart design with a single pale yellow stripe that began from the top of the neckline and ended to a pint around her waist, which had a golden slim sash. The skirt was designed to look like flowing flames with torn up leggings and a pair of ankle boots with the heel painted red. She wore long fingerless gloves with scales sticking out and a scale-like tiara on her head. Her eyes were painted with bat-wing makeup and her hair was messier than normal. Her tail was tired up into a long red tube, making it look all the more like a lion-'s tail. Her wings were tucked inside two fake dragon wings. She was dressed as a gorgeous dragon.
Korra's costume was white with a collar identical to the "V" shape one she often wore on her shirts, but this shirt was purely white with cyan blue outlines around the short sleeves and a symbol of Raava adorned the shirt, which ended with a cyan sash with a long ribbon on the left side. She wore long black pants with white boots with cyan outlines and armor around her arms. Her hair was styled into a half bun, with a headpiece identical to the top of Raava's head. She was, as she would call it, a Light Warrior like Raava.
Rarity's eyes sparkled at the sight of them. "Oh, my! Look at all of you! My costumes fit you to a T!"
"Hoo-wee, we're gonna have the best time!" Applejack cheered.
"Pabu and I are gonna be the talk of the town, right buddy?" Bolin asked his ferret, who shook his head removing the wig. "Pabu, don't break character."
Asami studied Mako's costume. "Uh, what are you suppose to be?"
"I'm the Blue Spirit." he said while removing his mask, and it was clear by the expression on Asami's face she did not know who that was.
"Lord Zuko's alter ego." he said, hoping to jog his memory to no avail. "From when he tried to kidnap the Avatar before they became friends?" still no reaction, much to his annoyance, "I'm gonna stop now."
Fluttershy stepped out of the dressing room, now wearing her long elegant black dress. The others studied her wardrobe choice and were quite puzzled by what exactly she was suppose to be.
"Hey, Fluttershy, where's your costume?: Rainbow asked, red paint designed to look like blood adorned the left side of her lower lip.
"I'm wearing it." Fluttershy demonstrated her simple assumable, smiling sweetly. But the others were still skeptical on what exactly her theme was.
Pinkie Pie gasped in realization, "I get it! You're a robber escaping into the night!" she said, but Fluttershy shook her head. "You're a ninja escaping into the night!" Pinkie asked again, while doing karate poses, but received the same reply. "You're black licorice escaping into the night!"
"Close. I'm going to a masquerade ball. Without the mask."
If Fluttershy had not said so there was no way the others would have gotten it. They had a hunch Fluttershy wouldn't want to try on something too extravagant but they thought she would be just a bit more creative than this. Korra studied the dress and her eyes sparkled with inspiration.
"It's cute. But I think it's missing something." using her magic, Korra levitated a Dracula cape from a nearby pet dummy for the costume pet line and tied it gently around Fluttershy's neck. The cape was dark with a red undertone and short enough for her not to get caught in anything. Next, Korra levitated a few black roses on display and decorated Fluttershy's hair with them, giggling her and over the shoulder look with a side crown of flowers on the right side of her head. Finally, Korra added a few copper spider webs around the waits of the dress and a bit of black lipstick and purple eyeshadow onto her friend's face. She led Fluttershy to a mirror and the anthro pony could not believe her own eyes. She never imagined she could look so good in black.
"Now, you're a pretty little witch." Korra said, smiling proudly at her work. The others had to agree, this costume was much better suited for Fluttershy. "What do you guys think?"
"You look amazing, Fluttershy!" Twilight said.
"So creative." said Pinkie Pie
"Great costume." said Applejack.
Fluttershy blushed at their compliments. "Thank you. And thank you, Korra."
"Anytime."
"Darling, how did you come up with that idea?" Rarity asked, feeling unbelievably impressed with Korra's creative choice.
"Well, I did learn from the master." The Avatar placed her fists together and bowed before the unicorn dressed as Princess Yue.
"You have done me proud today, grasshopper."

And so, the fun began. The whole city was bursting with NightMare Night fun, stands of candy and sugary sweets were around every corner, children and adults in their costumes, little spirits playing jump scares on the guests, making them giggle with delight. The Cutie Mark Crusaders played a game of pin the horn on NightMare Moon. Apple Bloom was dressed as a Platypus Bear, Scootaloo was a Wonder Bolt and Sweetie Belle was a Water Lilly spirit. A personal costume her sister made for her. Kai and Spike were playing a game of 'whack a ghoul' while Bolin and Pabu stocked up on NightMare Night candy. The young man was already holding buckets of pumpkin baskets filled with candy. Pabu carried his own basket in his mouth.
"Guys, look at all of this loot! I love NightMare Night!"
Mako's eyes widened at the sight. "Bolin, you're not seriously planing on eating all of that, are you?"
"Of course not. If I play this right I'll still have leftover candies by summer! Say, where are the girls?"
Mako nodded his head to where their girlfriends were playing a game where players shoot plastic pumpkins over a hoop. Asami had managed to get the ball in twice but Korra had her beat by four. On the final throw, the game's lights lip up, announcing Korra the winner.
"Oh, yeah! Undefeated champion!"
Asami scoffed, "One of these days Avatar, I'm going to beat you at a sport."
"You keep telling yourself that, sweetie." the princess patted the heiress on the back before spotting something that got her attention and she gasped, "Candy corn!" she zipped away to get the candy, practically causing Asami to tumble and fall before she regained her balance.
While the others were either playing games, winning prizes and candy, or laughing at the jump scares, Fluttershy stood idly by near the quietest stand she could find, which was a booth that sold cupcakes and NightMare Night cookies.
"Kid, you gonna stand there all night or you gonna buy something?" the vendor asked, who was a woman dressed as a witch complete with the pointy hat, a fake warted nose and witches dress.
Fluttershy gently stepped away with her hands behind her back. Everyone was having so much fun, but she just couldn't get herself to enjoy the festival. The jump scares weren't all that scary and children mostly laughed afterwords. No doubt they eased things down for the newcomers. The pony gasped when she felt Pinkie Pie's hand on her shoulder.
"Come on, Fluttershy! You're missing all the fun!"
The two headed to where their friends played the pin the horn on NightMare Night game. Rainbow Dash was next, with her blindfold on she placed the horn very close to the top. Once she removed the blindfold she smiled confidently.
"Good luck beating that, Fluttershy!"
Fluttershy fiddled with her fingers, "Well, um, it's just that…"
"Everything okay?" Flash asked with concern.
"It's just, if I'm blindfolded and somebody were to leap out in front of me, I'd blow them away with an air attack and they'd hit themselves against a wall."
The others blinked twice, not saying a word. Fluttershy did have this defensive reflex where she would air blast someone the minute she gets spooked. The last thing they needed was the destruction of public property.
"That's fine, darling." Rarity said kindly, "You don't have to do anything you don't want to."
"We're just glad you're here." said Twilight, "Why don't we go find another game we can play?"
Pinkie Pie waved her hand up, jumping in place like a student asking her teacher if she could speak. "Oh! Oh, I have another one I know you'll love! Bobbing for apples!"
The pony dragged all of her friends to where friends and families were bobbing for apples on several buckets of water with the red and green fruit. It seemed like a harmless enough game and Fluttershy was just about ready to join in the fun…that is, until she saw that one of the folks wearing a scary mask startled one person who had just rose up his head from the water, causing him to scream and drop the apple. The two only proceeded with laughing. Fluttershy didn't find it funny if it were her instead, and no doubt she would cause a great big mess if that happened. She looked down at her reflection in the water and the apples popping out.
Bolin noticed her uncertainty. "Fluttershy, what's wrong?"
"It's just that, um... What happens if, when my head is deep down in the water, some kind of scary monster appears? How would I even hear to know I was under attack?"
Once again, the others blinked twice. Mako rolled his eyes at this and quickly covered his face with the mask. Getting Fluttershy to loosen up was harder than it looked.
"Time for candy!" Pinkie Pie said before summersaulting away.
"It is?" Fluttershy asked.
Bolin rubbed his hands together while smirking evilly, "Oh yeah! Bring it on!"
"Don't you think you've had enough?" Mako asked while placing his hand on his hip and lifting up his mask to give his brother a stern look.
"Not these candies!" Pinkie Pie pulled from her back several home-made bags decorated with images of her friends, each drawn in crayon. "I made candy bags. Each bag has been made with each of you in mind, complete with each of your favorite candies! You know what they say: You can never have enough candy on NightMare Night!"
"Ha! Awesome!" Rainbow said as she took her bag, which indeed had all of her favorite candies, even the ones she had grown to like from the human world. "Sweet! Firecrackers!" the red candy were a lot like jawbreakers, only they were spicy. She happily popped one into her mouth and started chewing. "It's so hot I got to spit fire just to cool my mouth!"
Everyone already had their bags, all but Fluttershy, who was insisted by Pinkie Pie. "Here. Take it. Take it! What are you waiting for?"
"Well, it's just... What if when I'm eating one of these chewy taffies, my mouth becomes glued shut and I can't scream for help?"
Pinkie Pie blinked twice and gently took the bag away from Fluttershy so she wouldn't have to worry about such a thing happening. The others, who were already eating their candies, decided to stop. It didn't feel right to enjoy the sweets if Fluttershy didn't. The pony realized what she had done and guilt swelled up inside of her.
"Oh, goodness. We've only just started to celebrate Nightmare Night together, and I'm already taking all the fun out of it, aren't I?" Fluttershy dropped her shoulders in disappointment, only to have Korra wrap her arm around her in comfort.
"You're not taking out all of the fun." Bolin said, only to receive a punch on the shoulder by his brother. "Ow! What?"
"Just, like, ninety per—" Rainbow Dash was interrupted when Twilight threw a dandy wrap at her head. "…Some of it."
"I really wanna do this. But there's just so many things that terrify me about tonight. I know it's not all real but I couldn't possibly predict what might upset me."
Korra pondered for a moment until an idea crossed her mind, "Unless… you were the one doing the scaring!"
"That's a great idea!" said Twilight.
Rainbow Dash arched an eyebrow, "Her scaring us?" the pegasus bursted out laughing at the idea. There was no possible way Fluttershy, the most timid and meek pony they knew, could frighten any of them. She slowly stopped her chuckling once she found that nobody else was joining her.
"Oh. You're being serious."
Twilight rolled her eyes at Rainbow's remark before addressing back to Fluttershy, "The thing you hate is being scared, but if you're the one doing the scaring, then…"
"Then I can help you all have fun and I can still be a part of Nightmare Night!" the yellow pegasus squealed quietly with delight.
"So you like that idea?" Korra asked, even though she kind of already knew the answer.
"I think I do! And I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I think I have the perfect idea for how I'm gonna do it!"
Pinkie Pie squealed, "Really? Oh, this is so exciting!"
"Me too!" Fluttershy started making a spooky voice before slowly backing away, "Meet me at Air Temple Island in an hour." she briefly everted back to her normal voice, "Oh, I'm excited to see everybody soon!" she flew upwards to get started. She looked so excited and the others were just as eager to find out what it was she had planned.
"You really think she can scare us?" Rainbow asked, still feeling skeptical about the whole thing."
"Hey, if she can scare an equalist off of a plane with an angry stare I'm pretty sure she can handle a few NightMare Night frights."
Bolin started to quiver in fear, "Those eyes…it's like they see straight into your soul!"

Just as Fluttershy instructed, the group arrived at the island in an hour thanks to the magic of teleportation. Since most of the airbenders were at the festival, the island was half deserted with several Acolytes roaming around.
"Why did Fluttershy ask us to come here?" Flash asked while curiously looking around for any signs of the pony. Korra spotted an wooded red painted arrow near one of the trees pointing in a specific direction. She nodded her head to the others, gesturing them to follow. As they walked further into the island's woods following more and more arrows that led them to a specific location in the center of the woods. There stood a wooden table with various wooden chairs and cups of tea prepared for them. The table itself was set in an open circle around various trees, giving it a spooky forest-like atmosphere. This may seemed spooky but not really scary. Fog moved around their feet and Bolin started to quiver. Fog always was a scary touch. A voice called out from among the trees, echoing all around them.
"Welcome to Fluttershy's tea party!" the voice said, o doubt belonging to Fluttershy in an attempt to be scary.
"Did she just say "tea party"?" Rainbow asked, visibly showing her confusion and disappointment. She knew Fluttershy wouldn't be up to the challenge of frightening her friends.
"It sounds like it's a scary tea party?" Twilight said, hoping to make the most of the situation and give Fluttershy some confidence. Still, even if it wasn't what they expected maybe Fluttershy would surprise them.
"Have a seat. Don't be scared of what awaits you." said the spooky Fluttershy. They all took a seat around the table waiting patiently to see what Fluttershy had planned. However, some of them weren't really holding their breath. Fluttershy's spooky voice was heard once more, "Go on. Pass the sugar."
"Is she serious?" Mako asked in a whisper to Flash, who simply shrugged.
"Come on, be a good sport."
Mako sighed and did as Fluttershy instructed but found that the bowl that was suppose to have the sugar was empty, much to his surprise, but not great surprise. How was an empty bowl of sugar suppose to be scary?
"Oh, no! There is none! You're a terrible host!"
Mako had to place his mask over his face just to hide him rolling his eyes. Flash had to agree that was a pretty week scare.
"Rarity, put your coat on!" the spooky Fluttershy said once more.
"Why would I do that?" The unicorn asked in confusion.
"You need to cover up because no one has complimented your dressssssss!"
All Rarity could do was frown. Was not receiving a compliment really suppose to make her quiver and scream? Maybe back when but after all she had seen in the past two years, not getting a compliment was by far the least scary thing she could think of.
"Pinkie Pie, look to your left and ask your best friend to pass the cucumber sandwiches!"
Pinkie did as Flutterhsy said but was puzzled, "Huh? I can't. There's nobody there."
"That's right. Because she didn't care to show uuuuuup."
Pinkie arched an eyebrow, "Whaaa?"
"A friend who didn't come through. That must scare you to the coooore."
Even Bolin, who at first though he was spooked, only ended up face palming himself. This was just way too sad.
"Quick, everybody, look behind you!" from the tress dangled pieces of cardboard with drawings of random characters that Fluttershy had drawn herself. None of the images looked scary.
"Uh, what are those?" Rainbow asked.
"They're unplanned guests. Your woooorst nightmare. You don't have enough food for them!"
Nobody said anything on account of this was all just too cringe worthy. It was clear what kind of scares Fluttershy was trying to get by but, in all honesty, it just wasn't having any effect on them. Nobody even flinched when a toy cat suddenly landed on the table and fell to the ground. The toy was moving and meowing.
"Oh, no! There's a tiny kitten that needs a home! But you are over-scheduled right now. You don't have time to help!" The Team was silent for a moment before Fluttershy spoke up again, "I said, "You don't have time to help!" This should appear to scare you!"
They looked up and saw that the voice was coming from up on one of the tress. Once she realized her cover was blown Fluttershy flew downwards and landed before them. None of them looked terrified, not even the tiniest bit. If anything, most of them looked bored.
"Didn't work, hu?" she asked, lowering her ears in disappointment. "Guess showing up to a party and everybody be extremely disappointed in you wasn't upsetting enough?"
"It was a really good try, sweetie." Korra said as she stood up from her chair.
"But the scares at Nightmare Night are of an entirely different nature." said Rarity.
"But it was really creative, though." said Twilight, "I never would have thought of... all this."
As one of the cardboard drawings fell to the ground Fluttershy realized that she was only fooling herself. She just couldn't be a part of NightMare Night and maybe she shouldn't even have tried to begin with.
"Oh, I'm just not cut out for this. Just go on without me."
Rarity gasped, "Oh, no. We couldn't possibly."
"You have to. You've all been looking forward to tonight all year. I can't ruin it for you."
"You're not ruining anything." Asami said compassionately.
"We don't even have to go back to the festival." Flash said kindly, "We can have a good time right here."
But Fluttershy shook her head, "No, it's okay. I really want you all to have fun. I'll just go back home and curl up with a good book. It's how It spend every Nightmare Night. Please go. I'll be fine."
With that, she spread open her wings and flew off, leaving her circle of friends to sadly look onwards she flew away. After a brief silence, Pinkie Pie spoke up, "Eh, it's funny. I actually thought she had an idea for something really scary for a second there."
"She definitely tried her hardest." said Applejack.
Korra attempted to follow her but was stopped by Twilight, making her realize maybe the pony needed her space to think. She didn't feel right leaving her like this, but maybe it was for the best.

Hovering above the ocean, Fluttershy hugged her body, sighing sadly. "I did try my hardest." she said. She felt something move underneath her little cape, revealing to be Angel Bunny who was with her the whole time. He wagged his little paw at her, saying he wasn't going to let her give up yet.
"Or… maybe not." I suppose I could have tried something a little scarier." Angel smiled and nodded his head, boosting Fluttershy's confidence, "You're right! I've been taking baby steps! I think it's time for grown up ones! I don't suppose you have any ideas how I could do that?"
The little rabbit rubbed his paws together and growled mischievously. This was going to be good.

Back at the festival, Team Avatar decided to honor Fluttershy's wishes and enjoy the night. The group was heading towards the haunted corn maze that Applejack's family had made for the festival. It was just as the name depicted; a large maze made out of corn decorated with various NightMare Night decorates like ghosts and glowing jack-o'-lanterns.
"Everypony's linin' up for the corn maze, y'all! Let's go!" Applejack took the lead with the others close behind.
"Oh, yeah! I can't believe we're finally doin' this!" said Spike, excited to start the spooky fun. At the entrance stood a hooded figure. The stranger blocked their path and removed his hood revealing a large horse head. The group screamed in terror before immediately laughing. The figure removed the horse's head, revealing to be none other than Varrick.
"Happy NightMare Night, folks! Hope ya corn maze, added a few spooky adjustments."
"Oh, like your dirty laundry?" Korra said with a cocky grin while crossing her arms, making the rest of the group laugh.
Varrick pouted and gave a sarcastic laugh, "Ha, ha, funny." he allowed them to go in one by one.
"It's a good thing Fluttershy isn't here because she would never be able to handle this!" said Rainbow Dash as they walked deeper inside.
Korra looked down in sadness, "It doesn't feel right to just leave her." she got reassurance when Mako placed his hand on her shoulder.
"I know. But maybe it's best to have her at ease instead of getting jumpy at every corner."
"You're probably right." she suddenly felt something hit the back of her head, "Ow! Hey!"
"What?"
"Did you feel that?"
"No, why would--Ow!" Mako felt something hit him as well. The others were ahead of the couple who spun around to see something on the ground. It appeared to be some sort of black creature throwing nuts and candies at them. Hard candies.
"Hey, quit it!" Korra demanded, only to be hit in the forehead by a hard candy. "Ow! Okay, that was not a gumdrop!"
The mysterious creature kept on throwing hard candies at the two, forcing them to make their way and order the creature, or misbehaved child if it would kindly stop this nonsense. However, once they made a turn a mush larger silhouette of a mysterious winged creature emerged. The couple stood there, paralyzed.

"Hey, where are Korra and Mako?" Bolin asked, realizing the two were nowhere to be seen.
"Probably decided to take a different turn." said Rainbow Dash, "Bet Korra's trying to get a scare out of him."
"It's not like them to just leave without a word." said Flash, making Pinkie Pie quiver.
"Let's get movin', bet we'll run into them somewhere." said Applejack as she led the way. The group continued on their way, completely unaware that something was walking behind them. Pinkie Pie felt a presence and spun around, gasping in horror, making the others turn around in equal shock.
A large mummified anthro-pony appeared before them, towering over waving his hands, "Boooo… Eeyup."
The Team laughed with delight once they realized it was only Big Mac before continuing on their way. So far the maze was a real hoot, but that was only the tip of the iceberg. Suddenly, Rarity head crunching sound beneath her feet, which only increased and increased as the others walked in her direction. The unicorn slowly came to a stop, listening to the crackling noise.
"What. Is. That. Sound?"
Pinkie Pie was shaking as she slowly came to a stop. She looked down and saw what was beneath her. "It looks like... bones!"
The group screamed in terror at the sight of hundreds of broken bones beneath them. They looked so real it was truly terrifying. However, Rainbow Dash squatted down and examined the so called pony remains of victims and rolled her eyes.
"Looks like a bunch of dried sticks painted white to me."
"Hey, try to keep up the illusion, would ya?" Applejack said, making the pegasus pony stand up and shake her head. And here she thought this was scary. But the night was still young.
Rarity, Spike and Asami made a left turn and walked slowly into a deep dark cave. The light disappeared and all they could see was darkness. Bolin was already shaking in fear as he clung onto Asami's arm.
"Uh, Rarity? Could you give us some light, please?"
Rarity complied and lit up her horn to see where they were. The small bit of blue light shone all around, revealing that the group was not alone, but accompanied by an assortment of disembodied eyeballs, handing from the top and a disembodied head of Varrick, with a bruised eye and blood dripping from his lips. The voice had a recording of the man's actual voice inside, repeatedly saying.
"Help me…help me…help me…"
After a good scream the team ran out of the cave, laughing all the way at the awesome scare they had just experienced. Pinkie Pie and Bolin were the last two to walk out, both feeling creeped out by the scene, even though they knew it wasn't real.
"Ewwwww!"
"I can't believe Korra and Mako missed that!" Twilight said in between laughs.
"Seriously, where are they?" Flash asked.
"Agh! What was that?" Applejack spun around and fund nothing. Her ear twitched at the sound of something whooshing from behind them, almost as if something had just ran past them in a fast pace.
"Don't you know?" Spike asked, already getting scared again.
In all honesty, she didn't. She was the one who helped plan this whole thing, but that little feature she was not familiar with. Unless Varrick added one of his new little touches. "Uh, o-of course I do. It was, uh…"
The group instinctively huddled together at the sound of a ghostly moan surrounding them. "Korra? Mako, is that you?" Applejack asked, her voice shaking in fear, "If it is, it aint funny!"
"Wait, how can you not know if it's Korra?" Asami asked, "Don't you guys have that empathy sensing thing?"
Applejack gulped, "Yeah. And right now…not feelin' it."
"Me neither." said Rarity.
"Nope." Pinkie also replied, hiding behind Twilight and Flash. The moans became louder and right before their eyes they saw three glowing white creatures, floating before them, moaning loudly. They were ghost, but they didn't look fake. They were real!
Bolin scoffed and approached them, "Come on you guys, this is obviously one of Varrick's tricks." he approached the ghosts to examine them, "Seriously, this is beyond impressive. I can't even see the wires." Bolin looked underneath the ghost and found no whirrs at all, not even a recording or anything. "Any wires…actually."
One of the ghost gained up on him, moaning even louder for him to hear. That did not sound like any recording. The earthbender screamed in terror before running away.
"AH!! REAL GHOSTS!!!"
The group ran as fast as they could, away from the undead monsters all around the corn maze. This couldn't be real, it had to be some kind of joke, right? A part of the whole game. "Please tell me this is part of the show!" Asami asked hopefully to Applejack while running alongside her.
"No, it's not!"
"That's not what I wanted to hear! Of all the days to leave my glove at home!"
The Team ran and ran but the ghosts were still hot on their trail. Rarity held the helms of her dress in order to run properly, but she none the less accidentally tripped on her own costume. Seeing this, Spike quickly rushed back to help her back up.
"Fluttershy had a point with the layers on the dress." The two ran to catch up with the others. The group ran faster and faster towards a spooky looking tree with a glowing trunk. Applejack looked back to see just how far they were from the creatures, only to fall into a hole, with each and every one of her friends accidentally tripping over the other and landing into the ground bellow. The group groaned before sighing in relief once they realized they had lost the ghosts. Bolin helped Asami to sit up and Pabu crawled up to his head. Rarity studied their surroundings.
"What is this? Is it a tunnel? Where does it lead?!"
But that was the least of their worries once they heard the sound of a rock moving. The hole they had fallen into was now sealed shut once a stone covered their only exit. Whoever it was, they clearly didn't want them found. Or escaping.
Twilight lit up the room with her purple flames and her horn while Rarity also lit up the dark with her own horn. The princess turned to the country pony dressed as a badgermole. "Which way are we supposed to go now?!"
"Guys, relax. I can just bend the rock out." Bolin positioned himself and attempted to move the rock that shielded their exit, only to realize nothing had happened. "Hu?"
Rainbow flew upwards and tapped onto the surface. "Bad news, it's made out of metal!"
"Oh, come on!" Bolin got down in his knees and whined. Of all the times for him not to be a metalbender.
"So what now?!" Flash asked Applejack, who was already showing visible signs of franticness.
"Uh, I don't know! I don't know what's goin' on!"
Rainbow grunted as she tried to at least push the metallic cover out, "What do you mean? Didn't you help plan this?"
Before Applejack could answer they heard what sounded like a chair creaking. In the corner of the cave shown a light from a hole above, no doubt a way out, and underneath the light was the familiar silhouette of Granny Smith sitting calmly while rooking the chair.
Applejack gave a sigh of relief, "Whew. There's Granny Smith. Not that I was ever scared, 'cause I wasn't. I'm a pretty good actress when I wanna be." she calmly approached her grandmother, not even bothering to wipe the nervous sweat from her brow, and gently shook the elderly pony awake.
"Granny?"
But Granny did not reply…on account of her skeleton head had just popped right off and rolled down onto the ground, stopping at Applejack's feet.
"AHHHHHHHH!!!!"
Applejack ran off in terror at the sight and her friends followed suite. Out of all the spooky things they had seen, this skeleton of a beloved family member was truly terrifying to witness. There was no telling what could happen now, and they didn't want to stick around to find out. The group made a stop once they were in safe distance away, panting and sweating with their hearts racing like mad.
"Applejack, didn't you know about any of this?!" Asami exclaimed, still feeling horrified by the skeleton thing. Disembodied bones always gave her the creeps.
"Alright, I got to admit I didn't know about any of this, but maybe they're just tryin' to make it interestin' for me, too! I'm sure Granny Smith or Big Mac is behind this."
But just when she was feeing more at ease she heard the voice of her grandmother muffled from above them. They were right underneath the maze, particularly the area where they had seen the numerous eyeballs. Granny held a lantern while trying to scare the Cutie Mark Crusaders and the Airbender Children with her spooky tales
"Are those peeled grapes or eyeballs starin' at ya from beyond the grave?" the elderly pony cackled like a witch and Big Mac came in, stomping like a mummy.
"Eeyup."
The Crusaders and Airbenders playfully screamed at the show, but underneath Applejack was paralyzed in fear, her teeth chattering. "That's what we were supposed to do! I don't know why we're down here! This is really scarin' me now!" Pinkie Pie and Bolin both hugged her close with all of their teeth chattering.
Asami took in slow deep breaths to try and calm things down, "Okay, okay let's just think this over. Maybe we're just letting this whole thing go to our heads. Varrick is a wiz with special effects, so this is probably all his doing."
"Then how do you explain the ghost from before?!" Rainbow exclaimed.
"Okay, I can't explain that, but everything else has a reasonable explanation." the heiress suddenly felt the ground shake beneath her feet as did the rest, followed by the sound of stomping large feet. The group huddled together as the sounds became louder and stronger. They could see a shadow moving within the cave, coming closer and closer before revealing itself once it reached the light. It was a beast down on all fours with green scaly skin, red webbings and a large mouth of sharp teeth. The monster roared at the team, its breath creating a wind that caused their hair and costumes to bellow against the wind.
"How did that get down here?!" Pinkie cried out.
"Any rational explanation for that, Sato?" Rainbow exclaimed while pointing at the beast.
"RUUUUUUUUUN!" Asami screamed at the top of her lungs and the group ran off away from the creature that came after them. Twilight attempted to throw a fire blast at the creature, but it only stomped on her attack like it was nothing. Bolin hurled rocks at them, but the beast slapped them away with ease. This thing was unstoppable, there was no point in even fighting it.
The group ran and ran before they suddenly found themselves stuck in a large spied web. They all struggled to break free but to no avail. The more they struggled the sticker the substance became.
"I can barely move!" Flash said wile struggling.
"Me neither!" said Rainbow as she tried to pull her limbs off but only got even more stuck, "It's like glue!"
They heard the roaring of the beast coming closer and closer, its mouth wide open ready for the attack. Thinking fast, Twilight's horn glowed brightly and managed to instantly teleport the team out of the web, leaving the beast to get tangled up in it instead. The beast broke apart the web, roaring back at them as they ran out.
The group managed to finally exit from the tunnel once Applejack spotted an opening above them, big enough for them to leave. "There!" Applejack used her bending to lift them all out safely, finding themselves in the heart of Republic City part, specifically the very hole that Korra once used for her and Mako to hide in during the Equalist takeover.
The group panted in exhaustion, still feeling shaken from the experience, but the ride wasn't over yet. From the trees, they heard the sound of wicked deep cackling and saw a figure hanging from the tree branches. The figure spread out her large bat wings and flew down towards the group. The Team ducked in cover as the creature flew over their heads. The creature was revealed to be a half bat-half woman creature with dark yellow wings ears and glowing red eyes and a dress of darkness with spider webs. The creature hissed, revealing her long sharp fangs before zooming down and breaking Spike's pretend airbending staff in half.
Whatever this creature was, it was no doubt aimed to hurt them. She hovered before them, her wings flapping and her silhouette could be seen perfectly with the full moon shinning right behind her, increasing her frightening exterior all the more.
The Team had never been so terrified before, after everything they had experienced tonight this was truly a frightening scene. Their hands trembled, preventing them from being able to defend themselves, and their hearts were beating so fast they couldn't even think straight. What had happened for them to deserve this?
Suddenly, the creature's frightening expression softened upon looking down at the terror in their eyes, the sweat dripping from their brows and their eyes widened like saucers. The creature gasped, realizing what she had done.
"Oh, my!"
The creature slowly lowered down, stepping out into the light revealing that her wings were really clips ons, her ears were fake and her hair was in the color of a very familiar light pink. She lowered her ears and clapped her hands close to her heart, looking down with regret.
"I'm so, so sorry. Can you ever forgive me?"
The Team ceased their trembling and loosed their grips on one another. Their heart rates slowly died down, reverting back to normal once they saw who was the mastermind behind all of this. The reality of the situation was far more shocking than anything they had encountered tonight.
"Fluttershy?" Bolin rubbed his eyes to make sure the anxiety wasn't playing any tricks on him.
"It was you the whole time?!" Rainbow exclaimed in shock.
"I can't believe it!" said Twilight, her jaw practically dropping.
"Believe it." a voice called out from above the trees, revealing to be two cloaked figures who leaped down and remove their hoods, revealing to be Korra and Mako.
"You guys were in on it?!" Applejack asked in disbelief.
"Well not at first." Korra explained, "But when we got into the maze, Angel ambushed us and Flutteshy explained her whole plan."
"We knew if we tagged alone we'd spoil the act." Mako said, "With my keen eye and Korra's pony empathy you would have figured it all out."
The Team simply shrugged in agreement.
"Yeah, okay." said Applejack.
"Makes sense." said Flash.
Rarity's eyes were still wide open and a smile slowly appeared on her face, "That… was…"
"THE BEST THING EVER!" Pinkie Pie shouted with glee before smiling. *squee*
Rainbow Dash started flying around Fluttershy, unable to contain her excitement over the revelation. "It was way more terrifying than the most terrifying thing I could have thought of!"
"You out-nightmared the scariest part of the corn maze!" said Applejack.
"I've never been more scared in my life!" Bolin said while pounding his fists, "And it was awesome!"
Asami placed a hand over her chest, "My heart is literally vibrating! What a rush! Woohoo!"
"How did you do all this?!" Flash asked, wondering just how Fluttershy managed to stage up such a performance.
"After I left, I realized that I wasn't ready to give up on Nightmare Night. So I asked Granny Smith if I could try to make the maze even scarier for my friends."
"You came up with all of this?" Bolin asked in disbelief.
"Got me by surprise too." said Mako.
"I had some help."
The ghosts that chased after them earlier appeared once more, revealing to have been Fluttershy's bird friends hiding underneath glow in the dark bed sheets. The bunny in a Dracula cape hoped onto her shoulder. "After Angel got Korra and Mako out of the way he was the scary figure that kept scurrying after you in the maze."
Angel bowed before the audience and a spied climbed over Fluttershy's shoulder, "Fuzzy Legs made the sticky wall that made it difficult for you to see and move." the spider gave a salute, to which Applejack replied with a salute of her own.
"What about that monster from the cave?" Asami asked.
Korra chuckled, "That was no monster. That was Naga." she whistled and the gigantic beast came running out from the hole, removing the mask with her paw, and panting happily before licking Asami's face, causing her Pained Lady hat to fall off and stain her makeup.
"Wow! That was inspired!" Flash complimented.
"You have to do this every year!" Pinkie suggested excitedly and the others nodded in agreement. However, Fluttershy didn't appear to seem quite as eager as the rest of them.
"We could celebrate Nightmare Night together every year." she said as she removed the fake bat wings from her real ones and took off the fake bat ears, "But the truth is I really don't want to."
"You don't?!" Pinkie asked in disbelief.
"But you've done it." said Rarity, "You found a way that we can all have a fabulous time together."
The others wondered by she had come to this conclusion after all the effort and success she had done in this whole thing. But this whole experience had taught Fluttershy a very valuable lesson, and realized something about herself.
"Yes, but I've also realized something. You all may love Nightmare Night and I may be good at being a part of it, but it's no fun for me to see my friends feel like they're in danger, even if I know they're not. I really don't like it. It's just not my cup of tea."
Bolin took out a flashlight and shone it over his face, "Spoooooooooky tea?"
Fluttershy giggled as she shut off the flashlight, "No. Just regular tea. We do lots of fun things together, but I'm afraid this just isn't gonna be one of them. Actually, I'm not afraid. I'm perfectly fine with it."
"Then we are, too." Korra said, smiling proudly at her best friend, "I'm really proud of you, Fluttershy."
"We all are." said Mako, "And for what it's forth, I still think you're one of the scariest ponies I know."
Fluttershy blushed, "Awww, that's so sweet." the pony happily received a group hug from all of her friends, happy that even if she wasn't a NightMare Night kind of pony, that didn't mean she had to be afraid of it. Maybe that was what was holding her back. Frightening others, even if it's fake, just wasn't her thing, and her friends were perfectly happy with that.
Once the hug ended, Rainbow spoke up, "Since this will probably your last NightMare Night out, can you at least stay for the festival concert?"
Fluttershy smiled, revealing her sharp fangs. "Let's get our scream on!"

The audience of ghosts and goblins cheered as the Team Avatar gathered their respected instruments and Korra took the mic to sing. The Mane Six stood beside her, swaying their hips to the beat and singing alongside the Princess.

(Scream on by China Anne McClain)

Korra:
Ey! Ey!
Eeey!
Lost in the dark it's midnight
Midnight
Stuck in between I can't hide
Can't hide
Everywhere I turn they're out to get me on their side
I'm freaking out in
My, my, my, my, my mind!

There's something in the air
There's shadows everywhere
Never been so scared
Bewar-ar-ar-ar-are

All together:
I got my scream on!
I feel the vibe
(oh yeah!)
I'm torn between there and here
I got to choose the side
I'm on before the break of dawn
(yeah!)

I got my scream on!

Fluttershy:
Creeping around this madness
Madness
No horror tale can top this
Top this
Even in my heart they got me so divided
Got to take control
Sto-o-o-o-o-o stop it

There's something in the air
There's shadows everywhere
Never been so scared
Bewar-ar-ar-ar-are

All together:
I got my scream on!
I feel the vibe
(oh yeah!)
I'm torn between there and here
I got to choose the side
I'm on before the break of dawn
(yeah!)

I got my scream on!
I feel the vibe
(oh yeah!)
I'm torn between there and here
I got to choose the side
I'm on before the break of dawn
Yeah!

Fluttershy:
I just got to scream
I just got to scream
Yeah, I just gotta
Scream

I just gotta
Scream!!!

Using her magic, Korra created manifestations of ghosts all around the audience, who cheered louder and louder for the performers, enjoying every frightening minute of it!

All together:
I got my scream on!
I feel the vibe
(oh yeah!)

I'm torn between there and here
I got to choose the side
I'm on before the break of dawn
(yeah!)

I got my scream on!
I feel the vibe
(oh yeah!)

I'm torn between there and here
I got to choose the side
I'm on before the break of dawn
Yeah!

I got my scream on!

The audience cheered once the song came to an end and Team Avatar huddled together for yet another group hug with Fluttershy in the center.
"Now this is what I call a perfect Nightmare Night."