On Nightmare Night, it can be fun for ponies to be scared by one
Of Ms. Zecora's ghostly tales – such as this year's: what it entails
Is quite spine-chilling, for it tells of creatures who are naught but shells,
Who look like ponies at a glance, but who in fact will make you dance
With fear and horror, for there can be nothing worse than finding an
Example of these awful things. So when I say that this tale brings
These terrifying mutants to the town we love – Ponyville – who
Can claim they've not seen the abyss? Sleep with the light on after this!
Now has a reading by... er... me!
Reviews: The City of Doors (this review prompted the reading!) | PresentPerfect
Chapters (1)
And yes, the rather abrupt ending is deliberate, given the -- er -- inspiration...
That legitimately creeped me out. That was a fantastic story and you captured Zacora's style perfectly.
If I might ask, what was the inspiration for the story? I didn't quite get the reference
850897
Thanks very much for the compliment!
The inspiration was the two G3.5 "Newborn Cuties" cartoons, which are up on YouTube and are -- shall we say -- not quite as accomplished in their animation as FiM. To put it mildly. One of them is called "So Many Different Ways to Play", hence my title, and the other is "Over Two Rainbows". If you can bear to watch those, you'll see where some of my lines came from. "Butterfly", for example.
I had a terrible time deciding on the tags for this one: really it's a random comedy dark adventure crossover story...
852561 well, either way it was a success
Is this related to that flash game where Apple Bloom gets lost in the Everfree Forest?
3773851 You mean Story of the Blanks? No, not at all. This is a crossover with G3.5 of MLP, otherwise known as "Newborn Cuties" and generally considered the worst generation of the lot. If you watch "Over Two Rainbows" on YouTube, you'll see what I mean: the ponies' mouths really aren't animated for speech, for example.
I don't even this fic
6065826 That's pretty much what I thought when I wrote it.
6066786
Very clever. I love Zecora but I struggle with writing her rhyming all the time. This is pretty much what I aspire to. Have an upvote and fave.
6976607 Thanks very much! To be honest, I'm always a bit surprised when anyone even reads this fic, let alone actually likes it!
Indeed, these lines could just come from Zecora herself. I liked it
7104337 Thanks!
Though apologies for subjecting you to Newborn Cuties... 
7106931 I think I will get as many nightmares from this as these fillies probably had afterwards
How can an animation studio even... I mean.... WHHYYYY????
7106978 Here's something to think about: "So Many Different Ways to Play" was made in 2009. One single year before Friendship is Magic debuted. So Lauren Faust would already have been working on ideas for the show when "SMDWtP" aired.
7107305 *holds a brick wall in his magic, then slams his head against it*
Damn, why? Lauren was working on G4 since at least '09, if not earlier (she came to Tara Strong´s house one day with a bunch of drawings of Equestria and Canterlot while they had still been working on "Fosters Home", then send the drafts and short voice recordings of Tara to Hasbro), so they had basically accepted her idea months after this aired. At least it seems like they noticed the difference in quality...
I still can not believe that something like this aired in the same year as "Avatar" and "Star Trek". How cheap had the production been that they ended up with that?
Anyway, you turned this horror in a nice and quite fitting poem