Night Fright

by Peewee the Dragon

Did I Scare You?

I struggled as my mother tugged me along behind her. Following us was a large of Ponies, holding flaming torches as they marched somewhat reluctantly. "Come on, Peppermint," she said as she pulled me along.

She was treating me like a Filly, the way she held my hoof, as if I would wander off if she let go. I was eighteen for Celestia's sake!

The path was covered in long dead grass; flowers that were long past withering to the ground, muffling our many hooves. The whole patch of land seemed as if it hadn't been cared for in years.

As we reached the familiar gate, we paused. It towered over us, making it look even more intimidating than it already did. We carefully peered through the cold iron bars. Awaiting our eyes was a mansion, tall and dark, even more chilling than I had expected.

I had been there before, though it was relatively light outside. Never before had I seen such a sight; just one glance sent shivers running down my spine.

I looked back at the younger Ponies, the ones I babysat. Pipsqueak and Button Mash, and saw that they were not happy be here.

Pipsqueak was only eight, with a short brown mane and tail that matched his brown spots. Button Mash's dark complexion made Pipsqueak's seem even paler.

Button Mash was nine, with a short orange tail and mane. He and Pipsqueak were great friends, but they got along with me pretty well, too.

We loved to visit the mansion, but when the half the town is with us, carrying torches, we were scared. What mom was going to do?

The name plate seemed to gleem tauntingly, mocking us all. "SOMEPLACE ELSE," it read and when my mother's eyes scanned over it, she sneered in disgust.

In her opinion, everything and everypony had to be perfectly normal, and if anything, no matter how small, was out of place or seemed odd, she would go out of her way to return 'her town' to peace.

You see, she was the Mayor of a small town called Ponyville. The name fit her personality. She was average. Or in other words, she was boring. That was probably why Dad left, if only he had taken me with him.

"Why can't we just him alone?" Pipsqueak suggested, looking pleadingly at his mother.

"Yeah, he hasn't done anything," Button Mash tried to assure them. It didn't work. "Can't we just go?"

"It's your fault," his brother, Gamechanger, blamed, pushing Button Mash, "you just couldn't keep your mouth shut."

For that, their mother rapped Gamechanger across the back of his head.

Gamechanger wasn't my favourite pony. He was sixteen, almost seventeen but no matter how old he was, he was a bully. He never stopped picking on Button Mash.

"He did the right thing," their mother insited looking at my mother, as she stared at the house with burning in her eyes.

"He's a weirdo. There's no place in this town for weirdoes," she spat.

Just as the words left her mouth, lightning cracked above us, lighting up the dark, starless sky. The heavy gate swung open, as if by magic. I could the torches shake as their holders became frightened by the unnatural behaviour.

Derpy who was in front of the group pointed at the house, her hoof twitching rapidly.

"Th-th-that isn't a good sign," she stuttered, her face frozen in fear. My mother just continues to stare at the building before he slowly approached it, her hoof still securely wrapped around mine.

We were only a few inches away from the front door when it, to, creaked open, causing everypony to look around wordlessly, "Just like last time," Button Mash whispered, "It's the ghost."

"Shut up," Gamechanger slapped his head. 'Don't hit your brother," their mother scalded, yet her hoof again made contact with Gamechanger's left temple.

Pipsqueak's mother nuzzled her son's head, speaking somewhat confidently, "There is no such as ghosts honey." When she finished her sentence, even she seemed to be questioning her words.

Mother turned to my friends and I, looking me deeply in the eyes, "I'm gonna prove it to ya, kids," she muttered, then turned to the crowd, "Let's go."

As our hooves carried us closer, Cheerilee who was standing next to Pipsqueak's mom spoke up.

"Did anypony call and make sure this is a good time? Maybe we could come back later," her eyes were hopeful, though doubtful, too.

"Yeah like when it's light's out," another pony added.

As we stepped inside, we found ourselves at the bottom of a black staircase. Every inch of the house was either black, grey or blue, making everything seem dull.

The slam of the old wooden door echoed through the musty air, successfully making everypony jump. That is everypony but my mother. An older Pony at the back of the group tried to open the door, but all he managed to do was wiggle the doorknob.

A sudden breeze surrounded us, blowing out the torches. The usual warmth that I felt when I had visited earlier had gone, instead replaced by a cold, unwelcoming feeling.

"Oh, buck," muttered Derpy, her body scared stiff.

Mother didn't seem to have any sort of reaction to any of that though, because he just continued to lead us through the hall. However, when he tried to enter a room, the door closed.

It was as if we were being guided through the house to a certain spot; doors would open to let us through, but would close when we were going the wrong way.

We were lead to a large room. The fireplace burned brightly, lighting the space. We heard a loud sound from the from, but when our heads whipped round to see what it was, we only saw a black curtain.

A small crow swooped down, soaring right above our heads, distracting us all. Lightning filled the room, and all of our eyes returned to where they had previously been. We caught a slight glimpse of a black cape as it follwed it's owner's body into the darkness of the side hallway.

I noticed that my mother's grip was loosening, so I took my chance to slip my hoof away, unnoticed by her.

Everypony was looking at each other, hoping that they had an explanation.

Three bolts of lightning lit up the hallway, letting us see the outline of the Pony, but by the strike, they were gone.

Mom tried to get a better view. She probably thought that her eyes were playing tricks on her. She began to make her way over to where we had seen the caped-pony, closely follwed by the crowd and I.

With one final crash from the weathet outside, the hallway was revealled again, but this time, instead of an outline, a skull, covered slightly by a cloak, popped up in front of us, causing my heart to beat wildly and everypony behind me to scream.

It came closer, making us all back away, some cowering against others.

It stopped and waited for a moment, observing us, until it's face slid down, revealing himself as a Stallion holding a mask.

I felt a smile tug at the corners of my mouth as I saw his familiar his familiar face. He must have noticed, for his deep brown eyes met mine and I could tell he was smirking behind the mask, which he held in front of his mouth.

As soon as he had removed his mask, sighs of relief had come from the other Ponies. He revealed the rest of his face teasingly, "Did I scare you?" To which they all nodded vigorously.

"That's him mom, that's-" Pipsqueak tried to say to his mother, but she shushed him.

"Hi," Button Mash smiled at Night Fright.

Since my mother would have been furious if I had said anything, I just smiled at him kindly, shaking my head. He did scare me a bit, but it was fun to tell him the opposite, just to see him see smile knowingly.

"Well you didn't scare me," Mom spoke, stepping up. "Maybe you scared them, but you didn't scare me."

Of course both Night Fright and I had seen her jump, even the slightest bit. We knew that she had been startled.

"Well that's too bad isn't it? I guess I have to try a little harder next time," he smiled, seeing through his lies.

Night Fright moved to place his mask on one the dust covered chairs.

"There won't be a next time," mother told him, ice in her tone.

"Oh really?" Night Fright added doubtfully.

"Oh really," came her reply.

"No next time, huh?" He questioned, removing his cloak and placing it beside his mask. He was wearing a clean baggy white dress shirt, which stood out in contrast to his dark surroundings. "Why is that?"

"We want you out of town," Mom spoke bravely, though in my mind she was still a coward. I looked at Night Fright apologetically, letting him know that I didn't feel the same way as my mother. The other ponies didn't seem to persistent, but they didn't oppose. "We have nice normal town, normal Ponies," he said walking around a bit, "Normal kids," she briefly looked back at me, "and we don't need freaks like you telling them ghost stories."

Night Fright just walked the centre of the room, brushing his mane.

"So you don't believe in ghosts?" He asked.

"I do," Pipsqueak cut in, smiling at Night Fright.

"Me too," came the voice of a cowering Derpy.

"Hush up," Cheerilee spoke up, turning to Night Fright. "You see what you've done? Aren't you ashamed? Young Ponies are impressionable." She was going to go on, but Button Mash interupted.

"Show them the cool stuff you did for us," but when he said that, his brother slapped his head again.

"Shut up, that's supposed to be a secret," Gamechanger complained, causing there mother to hit Gamechanger.

"Don't hit your brother." What she didn't expect was to feel a strong sudden wind blow itself against her head, showing her how Gamechanger felt. She lifted her hoof to her right temple, gazing around shocked.

We all looked at Night Fright, who turned towards us, his face holding an extremely annoyed expression.

Mom and Night Fright seemed to be having a stare down.

"You're weird. You're strange. And I don't like you," Mom sneered, "you're scaring these kids. Living up here all alone." So badly did I want to scoff at my mother's excuses.

"I'm not alone," Night Fright told us. "And you're right; I do like scaring Ponies. Yes, but it's just for fun. Don't you kids enjoy when I do my little, you know," he waved his arms, not knowing what word to say.

Button Mash, Gamechanger, Pipsqueak and I all nodded our heads without hesitation.

"Well the fun's over," Mother announced, "back to the circus, you freak." I looked at Mom in disgust. How could she have said that? "And do yourself a favour, okay? Don't force us to get rough with you. Because will if we have to."

Throughout his speech, Night Fright's eyes been filled with hurt, but you had to look closely to see it.

The townsponies seeme to oppose my mother's threats. I didn't blame them; I didn't want to hurt Night Fright, he was too kind.

"You're trying to scare me, aren't you?" Night Fright asked. "I'll tell you what, we'll play a game. Anypony here like games?" His voice was gradually getting louder, until he yelled, "Hello! Game time!" He stomped his hooves on the ground twice and I could see that this was only the beginning.

Comments

[TEK101]

Interesting enough start, but I'll have to see more before I make a final decision on liking or not.

[Dimiein]

i enjoyed this, there were some very obvious errors that should have been caught as you edited but they didnt ruin the experiance just make you look lazy. will follow and hope for more.

[Peewee the Dragon]

4269520 After going the chapter I saw the errors. With the next one I promise not to make any.

[Vindraaj]

This is based off of the Michael Jackson movie isn't it?

[Peewee the Dragon]

4289528 Kind of yes, I mean that's where I got the idea from.