• Published 18th Apr 2015
  • 16,640 Views, 1,360 Comments

Fear Me, for My Name is Twaith! - Michael Hudson



My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I am a wraith.

  • ...
90
 1,360
 16,640

Spoopy

Berry Pinch swallowed hard as she and the other foals from around this part of town looked upon the new structure. It was a large, gothic manor, with black paint on every portion of the outside. No light came from within, and purple curtains made sure nopony could peer within. The only indication of why it was there was a sign stating, House of Illusions: Enter if you DARE! With Nightmare Night only having been a few weeks ago, and Discord even closer, the current theory was that it was built by ghosts, when in actuality, it had been prepared by Luna shortly after Nightmare Night so as to give her poorest subjects some fun.

Pinch felt herself be nosed forwards, and glared at the friend who had done so. The other filly sheepishly grinned at the angry eyes, and swallowed hard. "Come on, you've seen worse things than ghosts, so you should be the first to check it out, right Pinch?"

Pinch's glare deepened for a moment, before the image of a purple mare in a black cloak, riding on top of a fleet of popsicles entered her mind. She glanced back at the house, sitting there in the autumn chill. It had appeared just as suddenly as the stand, and no one had ever said the mare had left, so it was possible that the friend had stayed, and this was her new trick. At least, she hoped. She took in a deep breath and stepped forward on her own this time. "Alright everypony, I'll go see what this is about!"

A sigh of relief escaped the assembled crowd, and a twinge of annoyance went through Pinch as nopony said they would come with her. She took one more look at the entrance, before shutting her eyes and running up. There, she blindly groped for the handle, until she accidentally opened it, and fell through the pitch black entrance. All the fillies and colts outside saw was Pinch being eaten by the darkness.

What Pinch saw though, was a slide. She was immediately zooming through a long, narrow shoot, lit by purple, enchanted flames that outlined where she was going. Once the filly's heart had started beating again, she couldn't help but squeal in delight as she was taken into the depths.

Once she got to the bottom, she splashed down into a heated pool, courtesy of Sunset. The filly's head burst from the the water, and she coughed a few times, before panic set in. She reached out, and felt grooves all around her in the pool for her to cling to. She panted for a bit, spending a moment to enjoy the warm water, before pulling herself out.

Before her now was a large room, with few lights. Pinch could only tell its size due to the small lights above her that made her think of stars gazing back down. Other than that, she could see a set of five doors in front of her. One had nine wisps of white ingrained into the wood, the next a crescent blood moon, then a mirror and a small light for the next two. The last one though, was a door made of black ice, and it was only now that she saw that a time was embedded into each door. And right now, only the mirror, the light, and this one were open.

She gently pushed against the cold door, her hooves sticking slightly, as they were still damp from her splashdown. Entering the cold room, she could hear a thumping in the background. A heavy creature's steps, accompanied by its claws scraping at the ice. The hair on the filly's back rose before she swallowed hard, taking off down one of the many slick paths.

Her hooves slid on the thick ice, and the echoes of her trotting filled the air. She wished they wouldn't, and tears almost came to her eyes as she heard the pounding of the beast grow louder. She slid on her hooves as she saw a towering mass in the distance, trying to slow down at the intersection she found herself at, and saw icicles spring from the ground, just before slamming into them. They hurt, but they also gave a way to block the creature.

It was at this point that others would have screamed, but Pinch stayed quiet. She knew no one was there to cry out to, and so simply took off down another path, unable to see the spikes as they slid back into the ground. This routine happened two more times, with each bringing the beast closer, before all that lay in front of Pinch was a long hall with seemingly no end.

Looking back, the outline of a chimera appeared, and it roared.

She ran, her legs crying out for rest, but not receiving any. She needed to reach the end of this hall before it got her. After so many problems with her life, she did not want to go out like this. And yet, her muzzle stayed shut, even as tears came down her face.

Twilight jumped as Pinch crashed through the enchanted curtain, and came barreling into one of the tables set up in the underground room. She almost immediately floated down towards the filly, getting ready to shout surprise, or congratulations like Luna had told her to. This way, the foals would know all was okay, and she would explain that they had always been okay. Looking at her pink friend on the ground though, in the fetal position, the jubilation halted within her. She swallowed hard, and whispered, "Are you okay?"

Pinch looked up, blinking as she tried to clear her eyes. She noted the large, green eyes, the black cloak, and purple fur, and felt the tears well back up. "Wh...why do you want to kill me now?"

Twilight paused for a moment before lowering herself and whispering apology after apology to the little filly as they snuggled. Looking up and towards the gift shop further in, Twilight knew she would get back at Luna for having failed at making a ‘fun’ house.

======+++++======

Celestia smiled as she saw Twilight skating with Berry Pinch in the castle yard, hot cocoa being made at the side by Spike, all as an apology to the filly for what had happened. She sipped her own tea, before looking back to her sister. "So, what did we learn?"

"That ponies have become pansies since my time."

"Luna."

"Fine! That we should not try to make a fun house the scariest thing on the planet. I'm sorry."

Celestia nodded, before laying down beside her filly of a sister, who was currently stuck in a block of ice that was as big as herself, and only let her head stick out. "You know, I think this is a good look for you. I bet the nobles would love it for the party tonight. Better than some old swan for the ice sculpture."

Luna only gave her sister a glare as she sipped the juice box that had been set up on top of the ice. "Just shut up and push me closer to the fire."

Author's Note:

Based off of a comment (I think) for a haunted house. I'm sorry that this is about all I have to show for Twaithtober, but life just hit me like a dump truck this month. Those who follow me or kept up with the Twaith blogs probably know why. However, life does show signs of stabilizing, so hopefully I'll be a better spoopy author soon. I keep saying that, don't I?

Yes, you do.

Wait, who are- Oh sweet Celestia!

See you all, tonight. And remember, Happy Halloween.