• Published 9th Apr 2015
  • 1,460 Views, 49 Comments

The Night Mare Society - lunabrony



The Cutie Mark Crusaders have gathered to tell terror tales under cover of dark... can they handle it? Featured 4-11-2015! You guys. <3

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The Tale of the Pretty Pony

A week after the last story had been told, all four fillies once again sat around a blazing, flickering campfire. It was Saturday once more, tomorrow was Sunday, and on Monday Babs would be returning home to the city. There was still time for two more stories, however, and the four were going to take full advantage of it.

"Alright, tonight we-" Apple Bloom began.

"Hey, wait!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, and the other three turned to look at her with shocked surprise. Interruptions were nearly unheard of, and Apple Bloom even recoiled slightly. "It was my turn tonight!"

"Yeah, well..." Scootaloo began.

"What?"

"Well, it's like... you're cute, you know?" None of them wanted to tell her that while her company was more than welcome, her participation was in question. She was the cute one who brought snacks, surely she didn't have it in her to be... you know... scary.

"Well, nothing!" Sweetie insisted. "It's my turn, and I'm gonna take it!"

Babs and Apple Bloom exchanged a glance, but Apple Bloom sighed and made a 'go on' gesture with her hoof. "Alright, if y'insist," she said. The other three settled back, the dim possibility of tonight being a waste of time in the backs of their minds, but none of them daring to say this out loud.

Sweetie Belle harumphed, and threw a sprinkling of powder into the fire. The flames roared instantly, and sprang up in all sorts of mystical colors.

"You all don't think I can do this, I can tell. But let's see how you feel after... The Tale of the Pretty Pony."

---

The door of the shop sprang open as a customer entered, hitting the bell overhead and causing a lovely little jingling sound. The zebra behind the counter looked up as a beautiful mare entered, and quickly spat into his hoof to slick his striped mane back as she turned to close the door again.

"Good morning, darling," Rarity chimed, turning to face the innocently smiling zebra. The shop was filled with all sorts of dangerously exotic looking things, the shelves lined with trinkets and the walls lined with powders and masks. She gave a disgusted look of revulsion as she had to step past a silently screaming skull to approach the counter itself. "I was wondering if you might be able to help me."

The zebra just grinned wider, his gaze was unsettling somehow and Rarity took a step back. "Of course, young lady. Helping is what I do. What do you need?"

"I need a new mirror for over my work room, the one I have is just so... boring," she said. "I need something that screams 'Summer Sales!' The one I have now is... blase,* if you'll pardon my French."

"I have just the thing!" The zebra announced, and retired to the back. Rarity waited impatiently for a few minutes until he returned, pulling a large covered object, rectangular in shape with a dirty cloth draped over it. He swept the cloth off with a flourish, and Rarity gasped. The mirror was magnificent, various sparkling jewels inset around it's frame of all sorts of colors. She almost dreaded how much something like this would cost.

"It's magnifique!" she cried. "I'll take it!" Then, in a lower, hesitant tone. "How much is it?"

"Ten bits," the zebra said, and Rarity blinked. Had she heard that correctly?

"Ten?" she repeated.

"Ten."

Rarity pulled out twenty bits and laid them on the counter. "I'll double that and I'm still ripping you off for such a gorgeous piece," she said. "And I won't take no for an answer!" Her horn alighted, and the mirror levitated off the floor, floating carefully behind her as she left the shop. "Thank you, thank you!"

The zebra frowned as she left. "A word of caution, madam, whatever you do, don't you dare-"

The door slammed.

"...break it..."

Rarity took the mirror home, and within the hour it was set up, installed in the wall in her workshop where she could use the reflective surface to her advantage, and examine carefully every side of her designs, front and back, as she worked. As she bent down to pick up a roll of fabric from the floor, she did not notice that the reflection did NOT bend down, in fact, Reflection Rarity just smiled grimly, watching its counterpart, that smile fading as Rarity stood up again, completely unsure as to why there were shivers running down her back.

Glancing in the mirror, Rarity waved once, and the reflection responded in kind. She shrugged, chalking up her paranoia to overworking, and set the roll of fabric on the table. There were no further complications for the next few hours as she worked, the fabric gradually and skillfully taking on the appearance of a formal dress.

By the time Rarity was approximately three fourths finished with the outfit, sweat was pouring down her face and dripping from her chin, and her hooves ached with cramps. However a client was coming to pick up the dress two days from now, and everything had to be perfect. Rarity happened to glance up into the mirror, and was startled to see Sweetie Belle standing silently in the doorway behind her, watching her big sister work.

"Sweetie! I didn't hear you-" she began, whirling around. "-come in..."

The doorway was completely empty.

Rarity frowned. "Alright, enough's enough. That's enough work for today, I'm losing my mind." She stood from where she'd been working, glancing into the mirror once more, but of course Sweetie Belle wasn't there. She turned off the light and exited the work room, although if she had turned around, she just might have seen Reflection Rarity still standing by the worktable, watching her leave with a menacing smile on her face.

Unusually for Rarity, she did not sleep well that night. She tossed and turned in her bed, unable to shake the overpowering feeling that she was being watched. She got up in the middle of the night, sliding into fluffy pink slippers, and slowly peering her head out into the hallway as if she was a stranger in a hotel. There was nopony there, of course, and a quick peek into Sweetie Belle's room confirmed that the young one was properly asleep.**

There was little else to do, and Rarity made her way down to the first floor of the Boutique. The usual sounds of night life were active all around her, the subtle creaks of the shop settling and the summer crickets outside in the pale moonlight. There was still something wrong, but she couldn't put a hoof on exactly what it was.

Finally, Rarity entered the workroom, and was confronted by her own reflection staring back at her from the mirror. It was wearing the dress that she had worked so hard on the day before, although it had been completed to perfection, as impossible as it was, and fitted snugly against the mare's body even though it had not been designed to her measurements.

"You're up late, darling," Reflection Rarity said.

Rarity, who had known for some time now that something was wrong but been unable to pinpoint it, gave a little cry and stumbled backwards.

"Who... who are you?!"

"I'm you," Reflection Rarity said. "Isn't it obvious?"

"But you can't be..."

"But I am. Come closer."

Rarity stayed where she was for a moment, then very slowly inched forward. She didn't like this situation at all, but realistically the reflection appeared to be contained.

"I need your help," her reflection said. "Have you perhaps noticed that lately you have been hit by road blocks and mental absences? When you know you want to work but just can't bring yourself to actually do it? I am a materialization of your trapped creativity, locked deep away. If you want to do your best work, all you have to do is let me out."

"I don't think I can..." Rarity began.

"Of course you can. I'm not really even here. It's symbolism. Unlock your creativity, dear. Just break the mirror, I'll do the rest, and you'll be making designs you never even dreamed of. You'll gain worldwide fame, attention, and all well deserved!"

Rarity's heart was beating rapidly now, that did all sound well and good, of course. She picked up a paperweight from the desk, frowning. Could it really be that easy?

"That's it, darling, you got it!"

Rarity, although she was hesitant, was the generous type, and couldn't stand the thought of part of herself being locked away in some horrible fashion. She flung the paperweight, it sailed through the air and cracked the mirror, sending spiderwebs of fractured glass up through the pane. Reflection Rarity cackled with delight, and leaped through the glass, landing with a clopping thunk outside the mirror.

Reflection Rarity lit up her horn at once, a bright green laser of light shooting towards her counterpart. Rarity was caught off guard, and barely had time to fire back her own spell, the two lasers from the two horns coming to meet in the middle with a violent burst of light.

"You didn't think it was that easy, did you?" Reflection Rarity grinned. "I've been trapped in that despicable mirror realm for years now, watching you have all the fun, obeying your every move... I'm done being your slave!" Her horn blazed even stronger, and Rarity felt herself being pushed backwards, despite fighting back with all her strength.

"You can't!" Rarity argued. "My sister! My career!"

"Oh, I'll take care of them, don't you worry." The door behind Rarity slammed shut, and she was horrified to see that the mirror had cryptically changed positions... it was no longer on the workshop wall, but on the back of the door!

"Be good, Rarity. And maybe, just maybe, I'll come back to let you out." Reflection Rarity lunged forward with her powerful beam of light shooting from her horn, and Rarity was cast backwards into what felt like a freezing cold pool of ice. She shivered violently, then opened her eyes, staring at Reflection Rarity through a thick pane of glass. A glance behind her saw a horrifying thing. Not the workshop room that she might have expected to see behind her, but an eternal void of thick fog that stretched into infinity. A realm which contained absolutely nothing.

"No!" Rarity screamed, pounding on the glass with her hooves.

Reflection Rarity just cocked a grin, unable to hear a thing. She placed a taunting hoof behind her ear, shrugging. She made a note to take the mirror back to the pawn shop tomorrow. Her horn lit up with a powerful spell, and the pane of glass repaired itself, spiderweb cracks dissolving into a single, solid, unblemished sheet. Then she picked up a long curtain, and threw it over the glass, blocking the view of the silently screaming mare on the other side.

A mare who, as far as she was concerned, could continue screaming and begging for all eternity. Pleading for help that would never come.

Rarity sighed contentedly, as Sweetie Belle called from down the hall. "Rarity, is that you? What's all the noise?"

"Coming!" Rarity called, and left the workshop, closing the door behind her.

---

Sweetie Belle had a smug look on her face, and a look that was well deserved judging by the shocked look of horror on her friends faces. Scootaloo's mouth was hanging open.

"I, uh... I gotta go home," Scootaloo said slowly. "I think I left... the oven on... or something..." she made a run for it, interestingly heading not in the direction of her own house, but in the direction of Rainbow Dash's most recent cloud. Perhaps somepony needed a bit of comforting.

"Any questions?" Sweetie asked, and the two country cousins shook their heads immediately.

"Then I declare this meeting of The Night Mare Society closed," Sweetie announced, and as she poured water on the fire, the flames went out with a hiss and a thick billowing of smoke and steam.

Author's Note:

*This word requires an accent over the 'e' AND I CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO DO IT *JonTron ECH noises*

**Yes I know Faust has said Sweetie Belle does not live at the Boutique but she's there for now. Deal with it.

Comments ( 20 )

...damn...

That was genuinely terrifying. Sweetie's best at telling scary stories.

Very Japanese style horror, actually.

5939620 This one was inspired by Japan and Kiefer Sutherland... they're both on my watch list

The Pokèmon "è" is done by Alt+Numpad 0232. Not sure about the accent the other way around.

Those were awesome :o Now... I fear that Zecora's powder may have... done something... =\

Nice! Keep up the good work my friend.

5939691 Just a zebra, not Zecora!

5939704

Ah, okay. Thought I read Zecora first, then "the zebra" after.

... Now I'm even moreso curious about what Bad Things might come :o

"I need a new mirror for over my work room, the one I have is just so... boring," she said.

There is only one reason to need a mirror on your ceiling. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge. Say no more, say no more.

*This word requires an accent over the 'e' AND I CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO DO IT *JonTron ECH noises*

You could always do a Google search for "blasé" and copy and paste it. Or, like the Em Dash (—), which is what is supposed to be used to abruptly end a sentence(among other things, click the link), not a hyphen, which can be added by holding down the Alt key, and using the numerical keypad to the right of your keyboard, type 0151, you can get the "é" with Alt+130. I have a list of many of the Alt symbols on Google Documents, if you want to see them, I could send you a link via a private message. I think it is about twelve pages long at this point.

This chapter elicited emotions from me that I did not think I had for Rarity. I need to reevaluate my life.

~KBO.:twilightsmile:

It is pretty neat that every chapter has the same number of words.

5939875 Finally someone noticed that! The first two chapters had the same number by pure coincidence, and when I finished the third one it had 2,193, so I just did some careful editing to satisfy my OCD. At this point it's just another way I try to challenge myself creatively.

Is the zebra Mr. Sardo?

5939948 Inspired by? Yes. Ponified? No.

5939954
Ah yes, that would be Mr. Sourdough. Accent on the "dough".

Pretty cool one. Looking forward to more :moustache:

Will there be a sequel? Why was The Tale of the Last Guardian called The Tale of the Last Guardian?

5989229 A reaccuring character in the show this story is based off of.

5939902 Wait a sec! The story says "complete". Does this mean we aren't getting any more?

6017197 There is one more. The last chapter I was working on I was halfway done writing before I realized it was stupid and I haven't figured out how to rework it yet.

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