The Crusaders present their scary tales to their fellow classmates at their school.
It Nightmare Night and the foals of the Ponyville Schoolhouse are getting excited. To make things even better Cheerilee decide to end the school day by having the Crusaders tell their spooky stories to them.
Today was Nightmare Night and all the little colts and fillies at Ponyville Schoolhouse were getting very excited. Every year Ponyville always put up a great Nightmare Night Festival in their town for all the ponies to enjoy and this year won’t be any different.
“Alright students settle down and listen up.” The school teacher, Ms. Cheerilee said to her students. The magenta mare is dressed up as the devil. “I know you’re all very excited for Nightmare Night and that you all can’t wait to go out and celebrate it, but we still have an hour left before school end.” She expalin as she points her hoof at the clock.
All the colts and fillies groan in response, realizing that this might the longest hour ever until school ends. Unknown to them however, Cheerilee crack a little smile.
“Now normally if this was any other day, I would have assigned everyone work to do for the remainer of the time we have left until school end. But, since it is Nightmare Night we’re going to something a little different.”
This got everypony attention and they all curiously wonder what their teacher has in store for them.
Cheerilee then trot towards the door of the backroom and stood next to it. “To get into the spirit of the holiday, I thought it would be a good idea to end the school day with some scary stories. And who better to do it then the Cutie Mark Crusaders!”
After Cheerilee said their name, the door of the backroom open and the three crusaders emerge out. Applebloom is the first to come out and she is dress as a mobster. The second was Sweetie Belle and the little filly is dress as an alicorn princess. Then lastly it is Scootaloo, who is wearing a dragon suit.
As soon as the crusaders appeared everypony in the room shout praises for them. They all remembered the previous times the crusaders told their scary stories and how much of an amazing time they all had.
The crusaders then waste no time as they begin immediately with Scootaloo.
“My story is about a young stallion that that has a hobby of collecting figurines and toys. His latest targets is a series of figurines called the Monster Mares, but unlike his previous purchases these figurines are manipulating the stallion, compelling him to keep on getting more and more of them to the point of obsession. Now the stallion will amass a huge collection of them, totally oblivious to the evil intentions of these…”
Murderous Monster Mares
It was just another Saturday afternoon for Knickknack as he trotted through the Riverlake Mall. The young unicorn frequently comes to this mall every week to visit his favourite stores and browse around to see what’s on sale.
After buying a couple of things Knickknack was just about to head home when he suddenly notice a strange new kiosk store. It was strange because this kiosk had a bunch of old looking items laid out scattered all in front of the little store. Knickknack glances through them and saw nothing he likes until his eyes caught the sight of something pretty. It was a small box containing five little figurines.
Now what caught Knickknack’s attention was the appearance of these little figurines. The figures are just mares, but with a different monster like features. Like there is one mare that has parts of a timberwolf, another mare with basilisk parts and another one that is just a shadowy creature shape like a mare.
“I see you are interested in those figures?” A sudden feminine voice asks.
“Whoa! Um what?” Knickknack replied, surprise by the sudden appearance of a mare.
“I said that you seem interested in those figures.” The mare repeated herself.
“Yes I am actually, these things are nicely made.” He complimented. “What are these things?”
“Oh those are the Monster Mares.” She answered. “They are a series of figures of mares with monster characteristics.” The mare then grabs the box of Monster Mares and explains each one. “See this wooden one is the Timberwolf Mare, this reptile looking one is the Basilisk Mare, this one wrapped in bandages is the Mummy Mare, this blank white one wearing a black suit and red tie is the Slender Mare and lastly this shadowy creature hiding behind a tree is the Hidebehind Mare.”
“Interesting, are there more of them?” Knickknack inquired.
“Oh yes a ton more, there are a one hundred of them if I remembered correctly.” She explained. “So are you interested in buying them or what?”
“Well I’m not sure, how much it is?”
“One bit.”
“One bit!” He exclaim. “You’re really selling this set of figures for only one bit?”
“You bet!” The responded, smiling.
“You got yourself a deal!” The stallion then proceeds to take out his wallet and pull out a single gold coin.
After giving the bit to her Knickknack trotted back home, intending to show his little brother the stuff he bought today.
“So you bought more of these Power Ponies card game.” Said Knickknack’s little brother.
“Yeah Ray, now we can we finally build a full deck now.”
As Knickknack put the cards away, Radiant Ray looks through the bag some more and found more card games, toys and even a board game. When he reaches the bottom the little brother spotted the Monster Mare box and pull out.
“What this?”
“Oh those are the Monster Mares.” Knickknack answered. “Don’t they look nice?”
“I guess.” Ray answered and looks at one of the Monster Mares. He stares at the Hidebehind figure and for whatever reason he feels a little unsettled. It felt like the little mare was really staring right at him, despite the lack any eyes.
“Hey Ray, are you done looking?” The older brother asks. “Come and help me open this stuff up.”
“Sure Knickknack.” Ray put the Monster Mares down left and the room with his brother.
Later that night Knickknack is sitting by his desk looking through his comic book. To his left are the five Monster Mares he set up on his desk, right next to the set of giant robots. His eyes caught a glimpse of them and his attention is now on the figures.
He picks one of them up with his magic and levitates right in front of himself. ‘Man I got to say these are some really nice figures. I mean I know I said it before, but these Monster Mares look really good.’ He thought in his head.
‘I mean look at this, it’s perfectly sculpted and painted.’ He rotates the figure around and notices the lack of any imperfection on it. ‘If they’re all this good maybe I should get more of them.’
The next day Radiant Ray is cleaning up the place, as part of his chores for day by his parents. When he enters his brother’s room to dust the place, he notices something on the desk. It was the Monster Mares from yesterday, but instead of five there is ten now.
“Hey Knickknack!” Ray called his brother.
“What?”
“Did you went out and buy more Monster Mares?”
“Yeah I did, don’t they look awesome?”
“Um yeah, but what happen to the Transmorphers?” Ray questioned.
“Oh those robot guys, yeah I tossed them out.” Knickknack answered.
“What!” The little brother shouted. “Why would you do that?”
“I needed more room for my Monster Mares.”
“Then why didn’t you just put the Transmorphers somewhere else?”
“Because they would have taken up space for more of my Monster Mares.”
“What you’re going to get more of them?” Ray asked. “Why?”
“You don’t understand Ray; these Monster Mares are some top quality figures.” He then picks one up and shows it to his brother. “Just look at it, no out of line paint, no dirt or cracks.”
“Yeah they look good, but I think you’re kinda getting obsessed with them.”
“Whaaaaat, nonsense.” Knickknack responded. “I’m not obsessed with them.”
Knickknack then turns around and headed out the front door.
“Where are you going?”
“Going out to meet a guy, apparently he has Monster Mares to sell.”
For the next couple of days, Knickknack continues to buy more and more of the Monster Mares. By now his appearance has changed drastically. His hair is messy and unwashed, his eyes red from tirelessly searching for the Monster Mares and his body skinny from the lack of eating he’s been doing.
‘Man my brother is a mess.’ Ray though in his head as he trots into his brother’s room. He stops in front of the desk which now holds dozens of Monster Mares. He picks one up and looks down at it.
‘I can’t believe these stupid little things are ruining my brother’s life.’
Ray closes his eyes and sighs. Then as he opens his eyes he quickly caught something. It happen fast, less than a second, but he caught sight of it really quickly. The little colt swore the figure he was holding just blinked.
“The hell.” He said to himself and stares at the little figure. He wants to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. When the Monster Mare didn’t blink, Ray attempts to poke one of the eyes; however before he could do it he suddenly heard the sound of something falling on the ground.
Turning to his left, he saw that one of the Monster Mare just fell down. Before he could even react, Knickknack came bursting into his room and saw the figure on the ground.
“Did you drop my Monster Mare?” The older brother yelled, his voice sounding very angry.
“It fell by itself!” Ray responded.
“Yeah right, you probably knocked her over when you were looking through them.” Knickknack then quickly picked the fallen Monster Mare of the ground and sigh a relief. “Thank Celestia nothing is broken.” The brother then glares at his little brother. “From now on, you’re no allowed in my room. Understood?”
“What you can’t-“
“Understood!” He repeated, interrupting his brother.
“Fine, jeez whatever!” Ray said and left the room angrily.
When Ray went to his room the little colt knew something was up. First the blinking figure, then the figure falling by themselves and lastly his brother becoming obsessive over them. He has read and watched many horror stories and movies before and this was a clear case of cursed items. Now all he needs to do is wait for the right moment and get rid of all the Monster Mares.
The next day the little colt pretend to head of somewhere but in actuality he stayed near the house and waited for his brother to come out. When he did Ray wait for him to be away from the house before galloping back in.
Once inside the colt grab a large bag and went straight for his brother’s room. There he dumps all the Monster Mares inside the bag and left the room.
He was then about to head out and toss them away when he suddenly felt the weight of the bag getting lighter. He looks behind and to his surprise there was a big rip hole in his bag. Not only that, but the Monster Mares were all moving.
The army of Monster Mares then turn their attention at Ray and charge at him. In seconds they swarm the colt, burying him under the sea of figurines.
Ray kept struggling and manages to destroy some of the Monster Mares, but many more remains and continue their assault.
“What the hell is going?” A familiar voice questioned.
Ray look up and saw his brother standing in front of him, both surprise and confused.
“Knickknack, help! Your Monster Mares are evil!” Ray shouted. “They’re trying to kill me!”
“Don’t listen to him Knickknack.” Said one of the Monster Mares.
“Yeah, your little brother is trying to keep us apart.” Said another.
“We all say you should get rid of him, that way he’ll never come between us again.” Another Monster Mare said.
“Don’t listen to these things Knickknack! You’re smarter than this; you know these things are obviously cursed!” Ray shouted before being silence by the Monster Mares.
“Quiet you! Let your brother decide what he wants.” A Monster Mare warned.
“I’ve already made my decision.” Knickknack said. Then using his magic he grabs a bunch of them and hurl them against the wall, breaking them to pieces.
Knickknack then proceeds to blast them all with his magical beam.
Now with a bunch of them off him, Ray frees himself and assists his brother in destroying the little figurines. The two brothers fought valiantly and destroyed every last one of the Monster Mares.
Once the dust settled, all that was left was broken pieces of figurines scattered across floor and two tired brothers.
“Well, that was five hundred bits wasted.” Knickknack jokingly said.
“You seriously paid five hundreds for all this junk.” Ray replied.
“Yeah and now since they’re all broken I won’t be able to ask for a refund.”
The two brothers then laugh at that joke and proceeded to get up and the get broom to clean up the place before their parents come back home.
After Scootaloo was finished telling her story all the colt and fillies clop their hooves in applauds for the orange pegasus.
When she was done her friend, Sweetie Belle trotted up and took her place as the next story teller.
“Alright fillies and colts, my tale is about a mare who finds herself haunted by some angry apparitions and with help from a friend, she found somepony to come and solve her ghost problem. However, the mare will soon find out why the spirits are angry in…”
THE BLOODY HOOF PRINT
Azure Luminous stood in her living room with a worry look on her face. What has the earth pony so worried is the bloody hoof print marked on her wall. So bloody in fact that the excess blood is leaking from the hoof print and is dripping down onto the floor.
The creepiest thing though is that it is still bleeding after the bloody hoof print appeared on her wall an hour ago.
She checked the wall and spotted no holes in it to indicate that the source of the blood was coming from within. This really was just a bloody hoof print that is bleeding.
Suddenly Azure heard knocking at her front door and she trots towards it. Opening door the blue mare found an elderly looking white unicorn mare with black hair and red eyes standing there.
“Hello, are you Miss Azure Luminous?” The old mare greeted and asked in a friendly manner.
“Yes that’s me.” She answered. “I guess you’re Spirit Whisperer?”
“That’s me.” The old mare nodded her head.
Azure then opens the door wider, inviting Spirit to come in. The old mare then trotted in the house and levitated her hat and scarf onto the nearby coat stand.
“Your friend told me that you being having problems of the supernatural kind, correct?”
“That’s right.” Azure answered.
“And that this has been happening for a while now?”
“Correct.” Azure answered again. Before the bloody hoof print appeared on her wall, the blue mare started witnessing strange things in her house. She heard low whispers coming from nowhere; she found objects in her house either being misplaced or outright destroyed and she recently been getting restless nights as she kept having nightmares in her dreams.
At first she ignore them, believing that this was nothing to worry about. But, now with the sudden appearance of the bloody hoof print she can no longer simply ignore it and looked for help.
A co-worker of hers recommended the elderly mare, Spirit Whisperer, the medium.
“So where is this bloody hoof print you mentioned?” Spirit questioned
“It’s right in here.” Azure led the old mare to her living room and pointed towards the wall where the bloody hoof print was.
“Hmm interesting.” Said Spirit as she trotted up to the hoof print and examine it closer. By now the bleeding hoof print has bled so much blood that it is now forming a little puddle on the ground beneath the print.
“Tell me dear, did this house have any kind of shady past?”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh you know like was there was murder at this house or that it was built on top of some sacred burial ground. You know those kinds of things that always bring out the restless spirits to haunt the place.” Spirit explained.
“No, the realtor didn’t mention anything terrible happening in this house and when I read up about this place, the land belong to no ancient tribe.”
“I see.” Spirit then went back to examining the bloody hoof print.
Sometime later Azure came back from kitchen with two cup of tea. She then places the tray on the coffee table and gave one of the cups to Spirit Whisperer.
“Thank you.” Spirit thanked as she sat on the same couch with Azure.
“So how’s progress going?” Azure asked.
“Oh I’m already done analysing the print.” She paused to take a sip from her cup. “Now all I have to do is make contact with the spirit and ask them why they’re so restless.”
“Oh alright then.” Azure said and drank from her cup.
“By the way, I don’t mean to impose but can I ask you something?” Spirit questioned.
“Not at all, go ahead.”
“How did you get that scar?”
On the left side of Azure’s face there was long scar line running down on her cheek.
Noticing how the blue mare was hesitant about answering, Spirit immediately backed off from her question. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to ask you a personal question like that.”
“No it’s alright; you’re not the first to ask that question.” Azure assures the old mare. “It happens a few years ago with my coltfriend. We got into an argument which then led to us fighting, resulting in him slicing my face with a knife.”
“What happened to your coltfriend?”
“Oh he was so he shocked at what he had done and galloped out the house. Ever since then I neither seen nor heard from him ever again.”
After their conversation was done, Spirit Whisperer went back to work and set up a ritual to call in the spirits.
Azure stood by and watches the elderly mare setting up the ritual with both curiosity and fascination.
Once she was done she called Azure over to join her in the ritual.
“OK is there is a reason why you need me for this?”
“Spirits don’t haunt places for no reasons, there is always cause for such hauntings. And you might be involved in this.” Spirit answered.
Azure just nodded her head in response and cooperates with her. She sat in the ritual circle with Spirit and watch as the old mare began her channeling.
A couple of seconds into this and nothing happen so far. However, just as Azure was about to end this she then felt a cold shiver down her spine. Suddenly the temperature in the room got really cold despite the warm weather outside. After this came the sudden sense of dread crawling all over her.
Azure then realize that the channeling has stopped and look at Spirit Whisperer. The elderly mare was frozen in her place spot, no movement at all.
“Mrs. Whisperer?” Azure calls out her name.
Then in one quick motion, Spirit Whisperer got up and tackles Azure to ground and screamed in her face. “YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU DID THIS TO US!”
Azure in her shock, punch the old mare off and quickly crawl away. She stopped when her back hit a wall, a wet and sticky wall. The blue mare soon realize she is underneath the bloody hoof print. When she looks up, her eyes widen in horror as she sees a leg coming out of the wall.
Azure bolted away from the wall and turn around to witness the whole show. The bloody hoof print was no longer on the wall, but instead on the leg that was pushing out of the wall. She watch in stun horror as the rest of the pony started emerging out of the wall.
Once all the way through, Azure finally have a full view of the stallion. He was a light brown earth pony with darker brown mane and yellow eyes. On the middle of his chest there is a stab wound that constantly bled blood. Just like his right hoof that also constantly bleeds.
The undead stallion stared at the blue mare as if it was glaring at her.
“T-t-th-they t-t-told m-me every-thing.” Spirit Whisperer said, getting Azure’s attention. “Th-t-they to-told m-me you d-did this t-to them. Th-they showed me everything!”
What the ghosts has shown to Spirit is that Azure Luminous is no ordinary mare. She is in fact the infamous stallion slayer. She has murder numerous stallions in the past, with the police never able to get a lead on her.
Now the ghost of all of her victims has come to take their revenge on her. And the one to carry out their vengeance is her very first victim, her coltfriend.
The story Azure told before was mostly true, except for the ending. The couple did fought and the coltfriend did slice her with the knife. But, after doing the stallion was so horrified at what he has done he tried to get the first aid kit.
However, inside the mare’s head, Azure snapped and stabbed him in retaliation. The knife dug deep inside the stallion body, leaving a rather big gaping wound in his chest. The stallion places his right hoof on his chest, covering it in blood.
His last act before dying was trying to get away, but the wound was severe and he place his bloody hoof print on the wall before he drop to the ground.
After the deed was done, Azure felt a great thrill from killing her coltfriend. It was an intoxicating feeling, something so good she wanted more of it and so begun her murdering spree.
The undead stallion then trots to frighten mare and grab her by the leg. He then begins to pull her towards the wall he came out of. Azure tried to resist, but her coltfriend didn’t show any indication that he was slowing down.
Once they were at the wall, the stallion trot right into it dragging his helpless captive along the way.
All Azure Luminous could do was scream in terror as she is being pulled into the wall. The screaming finally stopped and all that remains was utter silence.
Now that both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were done, everypony focused their attention on the last crusader, Applebloom. The little yellow filly however, has a big surprise for them.
“Now you all probably be thinking that I’ll be the one telling the story next.” Applebloom said and saw someponies nodding their heads. “Well you all guess wrong, because we have a very special guest to come in and tell us a chilling tale.”
Applebloom then proceed to point her hoof at the front door of the school. “So then why don’t we all say hello to our special guest, the one and only, Nightmare Moon!”
The door to the schoolhouse suddenly burst open and standing by the doorway is the dark alicorn herself, Nightmare Moon.
The dark alicorn trotted through the class room, making her way to the front. As she trotted by, all the colts and fillies reel back in terror by her appearance. Some even cowered as they hid under their desk.
“GREETINGS, MY LITTLE PONIES!” Nightmare shouted in her royal canterlot voice. “THE CRUSADERS HAVE INVITED ME HERE TODAY TO SHARE WITH YOU ALL A FRIGHTENING TALE.”
All the foals in the class remain silent waited patiently for her to continue.
“This is a tale older than me, a tale dating back to the time before the founding of Equestria. It was a terrible tale told by ponies that survives a horrible event and live through it to tell others about it.” Nightmare Moon explained, no longer using her canterlot voice. “This is a tale about a small little village being attacked by…
THE NIGHT INVADERS
Humble Rivers, an earth pony village that was once full of life but is now all extinguished. The villagers were all found dead and their corpses littered all across the streets as their houses were stained with their own blood.
This is what two ponies from a neighboring village found when they came to visit the village.
Shocked and horrified at what they discovered the two ponies immediately left and went back to their village, Sunny Hill. They then report the incident to everypony and the news surprised everyone.
This news has everypony worried and scared. The ponies began asking questions, such as who were the perpetrators that wiped out the ponies of Humble Rivers and were they going to be their next target.
Everything calm down a bit when the villager elder inform everyone that he has already send messengers to the main Earth pony capital asking for assistants and in the meantime he’ll post more guards around the village for better protection.
However, unknown to the village elder, his messengers would never reach the capital as they are lying dead in a ditch by the road.
Later that night as the villagers slept and the guards were on duty, a horde of cloaked figures descended upon the unsuspecting village. Despite how many there are the cloaked figures moves silently throughout the night.
They quietly killed all the guards all except for one who manage to activate the alarm. The warning bell rings and all the sleeping villagers were now awake.
Chaos then erupted in the village as all the ponies of Sunny Hill found themselves attack by numerous invaders. Some stayed and fight, while others tried to flee. However, in the end everypony died, both for the defenders and ones trying to escape.
After the slaughter a couple of ponies found themselves captured and group together. They watch helplessly as the cloaked figures finished off any remaining survivors in brutal fashion.
Once they were done the cloaked figures force their prisoners up and order them to follow their lead. The ponies then obediently follow their instruction and trail behind the horde, leaving their ruined village behind.
They travel a long distance and for many hours with no breaks. Those that were tired pushed themselves hard under the threat of death if they don’t keep up.
Eventually they finally arrive at their destination, an old mine once used by miners but was abandon after it tapped out.
When they enter the mine, the group encounter other prisoners. This includes the ponies from Humble Rivers.
While grouped with the other prisoners the Sunny Hill ponies learn from the others about who those cloaked figures are and why they were here.
Apparently those cloaked figures are members of a cult called the Followers of Forgotten God. They worship god so menacing and evil that any mentioning or references about him was erased from the history books.
Now for the reason why they are taking prisoners is because according to their legend, the Forgotten God sires numerous offsprings from many mares before his sudden departure and if those offsprings or their descendants ever drink from his black water, he’ll be reborn into them.
One by one the Followers forced each prisoner to drink the black water. Each time they did it always results in the black water melting the pony’s innards and soon melt the rest of the pony. They then scoop up the black water and move onto the next pony.
All the prisoners watch in horror as each of their brethren dies in a horrific manner. Their screams of agony were drilled into their minds just like the image of them melting was burn into them as well.
When it finally came to the ponies of Sunny Hill turn they pick one mare from their group. She was a young pony, the granddaughter of the village elder.
The Sunny Hill ponies yelled at their captors to leave her alone and even pleaded with them to take her place instead.
They however, ignore their cries and proceed to force the black water down her mouth.
The Sunny Hill ponies watch as the mare drank all of it down. They turned their heads away, not wishing to see her melt away like the rest.
However, there was no screaming. When they all look back they bear witness something strange. The mare coat began to darken, becoming black. Her eyes vanish and her mane and tail begin to fall off.
They had no idea what was going but apparently the cultist knew as they all started gathering before her.
The mare continues to transform until her coat became harden like a shell. Then that shell started to crack and the whole shell crumbles, revealing the mare’s new form.
The mare was now some kind of black sludge like being with two bright white eyes on her head. The sludge creature remain standing still until one of the cultists, their leader they presume approach the being and said something to her.
Whatever he just said got her to react violently as several tentacles emerge from her body and began thrashing around. This killed many of the cultists, but instead of running they actually embrace it and allow her to kill them all.
One of the thrashing tentacles smack a cultist near the cage where the prisoners are being held. The cultist’s head struck hard on the rocky wall, killing him instantly. The stallion was also the one holding the keys which is fortunate for the prisoners because now they can escape.
Once everypony was freed they all gallop toward the exit of the mine, all except for the Sunny Hill ponies. They were conflicted over the matter of the mare. They weren’t sure if they should leave without her.
However, once they realized she was no longer the same mare they all once knew, they all headed straight for the exit.
Along way they destroyed several pillars that were supporting the mine. The ponies were going to ensure that monster won’t see the light of day by collapsing the mine.
With enough pillars destroyed, all the prisoners manage to escape just in time as the entire mine collapsed.
All former prisoners rejoice, happy to be free and safe away from those freaky cultists and their monster abomination. While some were celebrating, some others stared at the mines with concerns.
Did they really stop the monster, or did they only delay the inevitable? After all, that monster is still in there, just trapped. For how long exactly, they didn’t know.
Did they only saved themselves and burden the ponies of the future with this monster?
They also didn’t know the answers to those questions and as far as they’re concern, time will only tell if they really did the right thing.
After Nightmare Moon was finish telling her tale all the foals in the class clop their hooves. Many still feel tense by the dark alicorn’s menacing appearance.
“Hey Princess Luna, you can drop the act now. I think they’re scared enough already.” Scootaloo said.
At that moment Nightmare Moon emits a bright glow and her form disappeared, revealing the princess of the night, Princess Luna.
“Hello, my little ponies.” Luna greeted in a friendly manner. “Class is almost over and I would like to share with you one bit of wisdom before you are dismissed. Because it is Nightmare Night, you’re probably going to face many things that might frighten you and that is Okay. It is Okay to be scared once in a while and that you don’t have to put on a tough guy act just to hide it. Just know this; fear is nothing to be ashamed about. Even the greatest of ponies experience fear in their life before.”
The school bell then rang, indicating the end of the school day. All the colts and fillies left the school house and headed off into the town, to enjoy their Nightmare Night.