We don't know all the things that happen on this scary holiday. These short stories reveal several of those things.
Nightmare Night.
The day when the borders of real and unreal become a very thin line. Strange things happen everywhere. Some bad, some just plain strange. And nopony is aware of them.
Is Nightmare Night just collecting candy and hearing the story of Nightmare Moon... or is there something else this particular night hides?
These are stories collected throughout the years. Read them, if you dare.
The following is an excerpt from a journal found from a journalist pony's belongings.
It can be so creepy at night. Especially when it's a stormy night. I ran as fast as I could, hoping to find some shelter. I was just trying to take photos of the unique landscape for the newspaper I worked for when the storm surprised me. Lightning struck loudly, making me run faster despite the fact that the rain was hitting my eyes hard.. I was beginning to lose hope when I noticed something in the distance. A building. I wasn't sure, but I immediately began to run towards it. Eventually I was right next to it and I noticed it was a small hotel. Out in the middle of nowhere. It also looked old, dilapidated. Still, it was better than nothing and so I went in.
The hotel didn't look any better on the inside. I could swear some of the furnitures I saw were about to turn into dust. I could hear the storm just as clearly as I could outside. I saw the reception desk in front of me and went there. Seeing nopony around, I rang the bell. Slowly a stallion with a coat of the darkest hue of blue rose from behind the desk.
"How may I help you, young mare?" The stallion asked.
"I would like a room for the night, please." I said. There was something odd about this stallion. I couldn't put my hoof on it, though. Maybe I was very exhausted from all that running? I actually couldn't care less. The stallion slowly went and got a key from a shelf.
"Room 113." He simply said.
"Thank you." I said as I took the key and began to walk towards a hallway.
Looking around, I noticed how dark this place seemed. There were only a few almost burned out candles lighting the hallway. I could barely see the room numbers. The storm kept raging outside and yet the only sound I seemed to hear was the creaking of the worn out wooden floor. I didn't care.
I eventually arrived at the room 113. I used my key to open it, but immediately stopped as the sound of a lock opening echoed throughout the hallway. I looked left and right, but I only saw the reception area, now seemingly far away down the hallway. It was so quiet and yet I felt nervous right then and there. I finally opened the door and went inside my room.
The room was pretty much what I expected after seeing the hotel's interior. It was small with only one bed, one table, one chair and one candle lighting the whole room. I would complain, but I was so exhausted. There was also one window, but all I saw was darkness. A lightning struck outside, lighting the room for less than a second. I was just glad to have a roof on top of my head and so I put my saddlebag down and laid down on the bed. Had I been any more tired than at that moment, I wouldn't know if I was awake or asleep. The candlelight flickered and died out. Just as well.
No sooner had complete darkness surrounded me when I began to feel dread. Something felt off. I didn't hear or see anything. Nothing. Then I saw them. A pair of red eyes glowing in the dark. They seemed to be far away. I tried to say something, yet I couldn't say anything. Did they come closer? How close were they? All I could do was just look at them, unable to move, terrified. What were they? I could hear my heartbeat intensify. To actually try to beat out of my chest. I could swear those eyes were staring right at me, right next to me.
I closed my eyes shut, too afraid to do anything else. I could hear another lightning strike. After that... nothing. I willed my eyes to stay close. For Celestia's sake, I was so afraid. I didn't know if I could ever fall asleep again.
But at some point I did and when I woke up I was outside. Confused, I looked around, but there was nothing around me except the landscape I was sent to photograph. My camera and my backpack were next to me. Was it a dream? Did I just have a nightmare? I checked myself. My coat was dry and there were no injuries. I checked my backpack. Also dry. It was like it had never gotten wet.
I managed to get to the nearest town. I'm writing this whole thing on this journal of mine right now. I don't know what happened to me or if I did experience all of that. Maybe, if somepony else finds that strange hotel and takes a room in it, they too would see those eyes. Those blood red, hungry eyes...
The pony in question was just admitted to a mental institute.
A stallion had just moved into a new house in Vanhoover. He was still trying to move all of his stuff inside, but it was quite hard for an average earth pony. He sat down, taking a break from the work.
"Why does it have to be such a hot day?" he asked, looking up at the sky where the sun shone brightly with not a cloud on sight. He quickly covered his eyes and sat down. "I so need a drink."
Suddenly there was a glass in front of him, containing water. Startled, he looked right, then left and saw a unicorn mare with a light blue coat and white mane and tail.
"Here." the mare said. "You look like you're about to faint."
The stallion looked at the mare for a moment in awe.
"Thanks." he said as he took the glass and drank the water. It was very cold. Just what he needed.
"Anytime." the mare said. "You look like you need some help."
"Oh you have no idea." the stallion said. "It feels like I've been doing this for an eternity now."
Without saying another word, the mare began to lift several boxes and moved them inside the house. The stallion watched her work.
"You're... quite strong." he said.
The mare didn't say anything and moved more boxes into the house. The stallion began to feel bad, like he was using this mare to do his work.
"It's okay now." the stallion said. "I can move the rest."
But the mare continued to work. She even took the boxes the stallion was moving off his hooves. While the stallion wasn't against having some help, this didn't sit well with him. Soon enough all the boxes had been moved inside the house.
"Thank you so much." the stallion said.
But the mare didn't stop there. She went inside the house and, to stallion's surprise, began to actually unload various items from the boxes and began to place them appropriately.
"Ma'am?" the stallion said. "I appreciate your help, but I think I can handle the rest now."
But the mare kept unloading the items. The stallion began to get annoyed, but at the same time he didn't want to be rude and tell her to outright stop and force her out. At the very least he tried to do his part in unloading and placing his items. But again the unicorn mare used her magic to take all of the items he had taken. The stallion rubbed his forehead. This was beginning to be too much. However, just as he was about tell the mare to stop, he noticed that everything he had brought with him had been taken out of the boxes and placed in appropriate places. The boxes were empty.
The stallion had no words as he looked around the house, his eyes finally landing on the mare, who was heading outside. She didn't glance at the stallion or say anything.
When the mare stepped outside the stallion finally managed to find his voice. "Thank you very much!" and he saw the mare heading towards the house on the opposite side of his. It was a beautiful two-story white house with a very beautiful yard.
He would have smiled if it wasn't for the fact that he felt so bad for letting the mare do almost the entire work for him. He began to think. Soon enough he got an idea and he went to the kitchen.
That night he trotted towards the mare's house, carrying a large apple pie. He had decided to reward the mare for her very generous help. He arrived at the house and knocked on the door. He waited... but there was no answer. The stallion tilted his head in wonder. Had the mare left somewhere? He knocked again, but there was no answer. The stallion sighed. He really wanted to reward the mare for her help.
"Hey! You there!"
The stallion heard a voice behind him and turned around. Another mare stood on the street, looking at him. The mare had a yellow coat with purple mane and tail. She also looked very confused.
"What are you doing there?" the mare asked.
"I was just going to give the nice mare an apple pie for helping me move into my home." the stallion said, pointing at his house.
The mare looked at the stallion's house and then back at him, still confused. "A mare that... lives in that house?"
The stallion nodded.
"Are you sure?" the mare asked.
"Yes, I'm sure." the stallion said. "Why do you ask and why are you looking at me like I'm crazy?"
The mare stayed silent for a moment. "Because nopony has lived in that house for years."
The stallion was very confused and turned around to look at the house only to see the house looking very different now. It looked dilapidated, completely abandoned. The door and all the windows were broken. The stallion was so shocked that he dropped the apple pie on the ground and turned around and saw the yard grass was much taller now. Unattended.
The yellow mare still looked at him, now even more confused. "Mister, are you alright?"
The stallion couldn't speak. He couldn't understand any of this. He eventually swore to the mare that he had been helped by a mare with a light blue coat and that he saw the mare heading towards this building.
"I think you should go back to bed and rest." the mare said. "You must have been dreaming."
And so the stallion was left alone. He looked at the dilapidated building silently. As he finally went back inside his house, he looked around. He couldn't get the mare out of his mind. That very helpful mare...
He suddenly felt really cold and then his ears perked up.
It was raining hard as a young earth pony mare left her work as a restaurant chef. It had been a hectic day for her despite the rain as there had been a lot of customers, all of who had big orders. It was good for business no doubt, but filling those orders had been very exhausting for her. She barely had any strength left to put up an umbrella on her. She just wanted to get home as soon as possible.
"Stupid rain..." she said.
She noticed a public carriage across the street and smiled. That's exactly what she needed. She walked to it and looked at the pony who was attached to it.
"Excuse me, is this carriage free?" the mare asked.
The pony looked at her and the mare suddenly got goosebumps. The pony was a pale looking stallion who looked like he hadn't slept in weeks. His eyes looked... empty. He nodded.
The mare slowly went into the carriage, glancing at the stallion several times. She suddenly felt nervous. But the heavy rain reminded her why she was even there and all the doubt went up in smoke. Once she was inside she took out a newspaper from her saddlebags.
"Trotter Street, please. And hurry." the mare said.
She felt the carriage starting to move and looked outside, not seeing anything but blackness. So heavy was the rain. The mare looked at the magazine and began to read it. However it quickly became evident that there were no interesting news. Equestria had been quiet for quite some time. Nothing was happening.
The mare began to feel even more tired than before and her eyes began to close. The carriage continued to move without a hitch. It wasn't even shaking even though the wind was blowing hard. With nothing to do, the mare closed her eyes and somehow managed to fall asleep.
It felt like the mare didn't get much sleep at all as she felt the carriage stopping. Opening her eyes, she immediately took notice that the rain had stopped. Since the carriage had stopped, she assumed they were at the Trotter Street. She disembarked the carriage and thanked the driver without looking at him. She still felt very tired.
It was then when she noticed something odd. Her surroundings were very different. As she looked around, she realized she had no idea where she was. She looked back towards the carriage, only to notice it was gone, and on the wall she now saw had a sign. It said "Trotter Street". The mare shook her head in disbelief. This couldn't be the street she grew up in. All of the buildings and street lamps looked too different. As the mare walked forward, a newspaper flew onto her legs. She picked it up and went wide eyed and quickly looked at the magazine she already had.
The year on the newspaper she picked up was 50 years from the future.
The mare couldn't believe it. It had to have been a typo. She began to run home now. But then she suddenly stopped in shock. The house she looked at right now, her home, wasn't there anymore. It was just an empty plot of land full of grass. The mare also noticed a cross in the middle. She slowly went to it and finally fainted.
The cross had her name on it and the date of death was the same day she had gone home from work and taken that carriage.
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.
It was the middle of Autumn. Cold winds were blowing all over Equestria. It didn't stop ponies from doing their jobs or enjoying their free time, however. In Vanhoover a light yellow coated earth pony mare with a black mane and tail was trotting at the docks heading to her sailing boat. The docks were quite busy this time of year as ships were coming and going from abroad. She waved at the sailors who in turn waved back. She saw her boat safely docked at the end of the pier and smiled. She liked sailing in the Luna Ocean for the air was always so fresh.
As she climbed into her sailing boat, a dark blue stallion wearing a sailor outfit approached her.
"Heading out to the ocean, huh?" he asked the mare.
The mare looked him, smiling. "Yes, it's a perfect say for it. Plenty of wind and no storm on sight."
"Even so, I would recommend caution." the stallion said. "The weather can be quite unpredictable out in the ocean."
"Oh I know that." the mare said. "It's not my first time there."
The stallion looked at her for a moment before nodding. "If you say so."
The mare wondered why the stallion had come to warn her. She was quite known in the docks as she often wanted to sail in the ocean. Thinking nothing more about it, she released her sailing boat and cast off.
Once she got the sail up, the boat began to go quite fast as the sails caught wind. The mare relaxed as she steered the boat, taking deep breaths. She wondered if she could sail all the way to Luna Bay in the north and back to Vanhoover. She was certainly going fast and the sail was holding very well.
She glanced back where she had come from and Vanhoover was actually very far away already. She wasn't worried, though. She had gone much further before and always been fine and managed to come back even in the dark. She could read the stars and use them to guide her back.
As she kept thinking about making a trip to Luna Bay, she suddenly noticed the wind dying down completely and just like that her boat stopped. The mare looked at the sails completely baffled. The wind had been so strong the whole day and now there was no wind at all. She looked back towards Vanhoover. She could go back, but the day was still young and she felt like not much time had passed since she set sail.
"So much for sailing to Luna Bay." the mare said a bit sadly. "Oh well. I came here to relax and that's what I'll do."
So she took out a book she had been reading for a few days now and lied down on a chair. At least the weather was still good and there were no black clouds anywhere. She took a deep breath as she began to read.
But she didn't even read a whole page when she noticed a fog suddenly rising up out of nowhere. And it rose way too quickly as she found out she couldn't see very far anymore. She had zero visibility.
"What is going on with the weather?" she wondered. "Did the pegasi make a mistake or something?"
As if things weren't weird enough she was starting to feel cold and she could swear it was way darker than it was supposed to be even with the dense fog.
"Okay... okay... this is nothing to be worried about. Just the weather acting up, nothing more."
DING!
It was then when she heard something quite close by. Her ears perked up at it and she looked around. It was actually a familiar sound to her.
DING!
There it was again. Where had she heard that sound before? Then she remembered. It was a bell sound.
DING!
She looked towards where the bell was ringing and she went wide eyed at what she saw. It was a ship. A very big ship. Bigger than what she has ever seen. And it was moving right towards her and her boat.
"By Celestia..."
DING!
There was no time to move away and she knew it. The ship was going to hit the bow of the boat. She quickly moved to the stern of the boat and prepared for impact, feeling very scared now. She watched as the ship kept coming towards her.
Then the ship hit the boat... and she couldn't believe what she was seeing. The ship was in great disrepair. Multiple planks were missing entirely and the sails were ripped to pieces. But her eyes were on the bow of her boat. She saw the ship moving right through her boat, clearly hitting it. And before she knew it, the ship had passed her, moving towards the dense fog.
DING!
And then the ship disappeared into the fog, but the bell ringing could still be heard. The mare fainted.
DING!
The sailors back at the docks were almost ready to cast off when the stallion that had talked to the mare noticed a boat slowly nearer to the docks. He recognized it as the boat the mare had taken and sailed off to the Luna Ocean. he decided to go and say hi to the mare one more time before they left.
But once the boat hit the pier, the stallion was horrified at what he saw. She was definitively the same mare he had seen, but her coat color was now as white as sheet and the color of her mane and tail was almost as white.
When the stallion called out to her, she didn't respond, and when others eventually tried to get her to respond and couldn't, she was taken to the hospital.
The doctors were absolutely baffled and couldn't determine what had happened to the poor mare.
What none of them knew was that the mare was still hearing something off in the distance. A familiar bell, ringing over and over in her ears.
