Stories of Nightmare Night

by RulerOfIce

The Last Dance

Author's Note:

Well this story was supposed to be ready for Halloween, but on the last day I actually came up with a small idea and changed the most of this chapter. I WAS originally going to exclude every canon character in these stories, but it just felt too good to pass up.

Enjoy!

Tempest Shadow was walking through a barren wilderness. She had been traveling for weeks now, maybe months. She wasn't sure. She had no destination in mind. Her survival skills had been in great need as food had been somewhat scarce. She looked up at the sky and clearly saw the stars.

"What I wouldn't give for a nice, comfy bed to sleep on." she said.

Tempest looked around, but saw nothing in particular and continued to walk forward.

"It looks like another night to sleep under the open sky." Tempest said.

Her broken unicorn horn suddenly sparked, making Tempest wince.

"What was that?" she wondered as she touched her broken horn.

She looked around again and this time she noticed a mist had risen up. It baffled Tempest.

"Where did this mist come from?" Tempest said. "I can't be anywhere near water... can I?"

The mist became thicker, forcing Tempest to fully stop. She had traveled long enough to know how foolish it would be to continue on with nearly zero visibility on every direction.

She sighed. "So much for trying to walk a little longer."

Tempest was used to walking long distances from the early morning to midnight and beyond with small breaks after several hours. She would have still walked almost an hour before setting up her sleeping bag if not for the mist. But as she was about to take out her sleeping bag, she noticed something that was impossible.

There, just within her vision, was a building.

"Where...? How...?" was all Tempest was able to say. She hadn't moved much. How had she missed the building?

Tempest looked at it for a while, wide-eyed. It looked somewhat worn-out, old, but sturdy. Tempest was suspicious of it, but after traveling for so long with so little, the temptation of finally sleeping inside a house removed all suspicions. So she walked to the door and knocked.

She waited. And she waited. What felt like forever, the door finally opened and Tempest nearly gasped at who had opened it. It was a stallion with a gray coat and light gray mane. Tempest's eyes, however, were looking at the stallion's eyes. They were red.

"Yes?" the stallion said, his voice sounding deep.

It took a few seconds for Tempest to remember why she was there. "Excuse me? Can I stay in your house for the night? It's... quite cold out here."

As she said that, Tempest actually now noticed how cold the weather had turned. It surprised her.

The door opened wider and the stallion stepped aside. "Come in."

Tempest noticed the stallion was wearing a black cloak. She didn't say anything and just walked in.

"Thank you." she said and looked around the house. It looked much better on the inside than it did outside. There were a lot of candles and the decoration was, as Tempest noted, high class. Was this stallion a noble?

The stallion walked past her. "The guest room is this way."

As he walked down a hall, Tempest followed him. It was warm in the house. Something she had missed. Yet she felt cold shivers on her for some reason. She just shook them off, thinking it was just because she had been outside for too long.

The stopped in front of a door.

"Here." the stallion said and opened the door.

Tempest looked into the room and saw it was quite a big room with just as high class furniture as she had seen on their way.

She smiled a bit. "Thank you again."

"Sleep well." the stallion said and left.

Tempest couldn't put her hoof on it, but she felt the stallion was somehow odd. Yet he seemed friendly enough. Tempest shrugged as she closed the door and headed straight to the bed.

"Well... it could be worse." Tempest said as she laid down on the bed. "At least this night I can sleep under a roof."

---

How long had she been sleeping? She had no idea, but she still felt tired. There was a noise. Tempest perked her ears, trying to identify the noise. It sounded old, but had a rhythm. Music? Slowly, Tempest got up and left the room. She headed towards the noise. She was positive now that it was music. It sounded louder.

"Why...?" Tempest asked, eyes half-closed. "Why do I feel so...?"

She came upon a closed double door. It opened as she was right next to it and what she saw took her breath away. It was a very large room that looked very different from the rest of the building. Everything was shining like the brightest gems of the world. But that wasn't the strangest thing about the room. Tempest also saw many ponies dancing along with the music with their partners. They all wore, Tempest noted, old looking clothes. At least none that she had ever seen, though she wasn't an expert.

And amidst all the dancers, she saw him. The stallion that had let her in, just standing still in the middle of the room, also wearing old looking clothes. Without even thinking, Tempest walked towards him, looking at him all the time. When she reached him, the stallion slowly offered his hoof. Tempest took it and before she knew it she was dancing.

"What...?" was all she managed to say. How was she dancing? She didn't know how.

All the while she kept looking at the stallion's red eyes. She could feel dancing faster. The world around Tempest began to blur. All she saw was the stallion. She could still feel moving around. She could still hear the music. She held tighter onto the stallion, feeling like she was going to fly far away if she let go. She was beginning to feel dizzy. What was she even doing anymore?

She finally closed her eyes.

---

Tempest woke up startled and was panting. She could feel sweat on her. It felt like eternity before she actually looked around. She was back on the bed she had fallen asleep on. But her eyes remained wide-eyed as she noticed her surroundings. The room was completely in shambles and disrepair. Dust was covering everything and part of the roof itself had fallen.

Tempest slowly got up. "A... nightmare? But I could swear..." She rubbed her forehead in disbelief. "I must have been so sleepy that I was hallucinating. Yeah, that must be it."

She left the room, noticing the entire building was in the same state as her room. Tempest just shrugged the whole thing and headed outside. She would continue on her journey.

In her room, on the bed, was a small note. There were five words written on it.

"Thank you for the last dance."