Sponsored Twilight's Terror Time

[SteelEagle]

OOC- This is a SPONSORED thread. As what happens here is important for the story of Nightmare Night 2013, please roll with the punches as they say.

Nightmare Night, what a fright! Give me something sweet to bite.

Twilight had been preparing for this night for some time, the last several weeks especially so. Maybe it had been that her time had been taken up so sharply by royal tasks or perhaps it was a sudden influx of holiday spirit, but she had decided some time ago to make Nightmare Night memorable for everypony who came to the Library. Her friends had been similarly transfixed and her royal duties had been honed to a degree of efficiency that before had been thought impossible for somepony so new. This time had went to preparing her library for Nightmare Night, and it had not been an easy task. She had made modifications both subtle and significant from root to branch at her home, though she would have never even dared to skirt her librarian duties, making sure to feed the thirst for knowledge that everypony who visited had as quickly as she could. She had much to do.

Finally, on the morning of Nightmare Night, it all came together. The main foyer had little done besides some decorations and treats for visitors. A few blindfolds next to bowls filled with mysterious substances, a common Nightmare Night tradition made slightly scarier as she had spent a fair amount of time creating the substances. It was very important that her visitors had such a wonderful time so she made sure that they had an easy entrance to her little house of horrors for the night. After they had some wonderful punch, they could venture downstairs. Or would, since that was where the next step was. Scary exhibits to frighten the foals and terrify the adults as they were led down into her basement, and in turn they would soon behold the piece de resistance of her whole little show. It would be delicious!

She adjusted her little crown, examining herself in the mirror. She looked fantastic. Regal. She couldn't help but stifle a little giggle as she saw herself- could she be any more fetching? Of all the ponies to be, she was Twilight Sparkle- what a joy! She had never really considered how lucky she was, and vowed to redouble her already considerable efforts to prove to her fellows that she was worthy of their trust. Admiration. Of more. As she promised herself that, Twilight levitated her finery off and allowed her well-done Daring Do costume to shine. Maybe she could have done better but she had been busy. Very busy indeed.

But tonight, Twilight was going to have fun! Excitement! Nightmare Night for everypony and as a slight smile deviously crawled across her face, the door to the Library was swung open silently, and a sign out front came to life- "Princess Sparkle's Nightmare Night Madhouse!"

[stormchaser1991]

Stormchaser was flying by when he notice the sign outside of the library. He got closer to it to see it said Princess Sparkle's Nightmare Night Madhouse! Stormchaser just hover there in the sky thinking about it hmm should i spend sometime here with the princess what to do what to do i don't really have anything else to do well the only other thing is i was going to meet Stardust but i am sure she would get that made after all it is nightmare night and what kind of holiday would it be would some scary fun what the heck i going in. after that thought he landed outside the door and walk in "hello princess twilight how are you this fine night and looks like you are have a haunted tree of sorts" said stormchaser and laughing a little at this unattended joke stormchaser was dress as a vampire he had fake fangs in his mouth a nice dark cape and other vampire stuff ((i don't really know what all vampire wear))

[Mojo]

Tankena

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! The loud metal banging noise came from the green Earth mare who happened to be dressed in a full suit of armor she designed herself. Tankena, coming from a family of metalsmiths back in Stalliongrad, decided to go all out for Nightmare Night, using her skills to build a suit of armor that covered her from hoofs to head. Her helmet had a 'grill' on it that the she could peer out of to see. Though the costume did make a lot of noise when she moved, it is remarkably built to allow full freedom of movement.

Approaching the library tree slowly (best speed she could make in the armor) Tankena spotted a Pegasus going in ahead of her. Following him inside, she was stunned to recognize Princess Twilight Sparkle dressed as Daring Do!

"Greetings Comrade Princess!" Tankena shouted, moving to bow to her, but making very loud clanging and squeaky noises as she did so. Then the armor suited mare stood back up, making just as much noise as she did during the bowing. "I am Tankena! Knight from dee Square Table! Will there be fierce dragons to do battle with tonight? I will defend the honor of Equestria!"

Tankena was really getting herself 'buried' in the part she was playing. After a while, the Earth mare might actually begin to believe she really WAS a brave knight from long ago!

[QuickLime]

The young filly was rather excited to go to a "haunted" tree house, and was beaming ear to ear! Her Auntie QuickLime had told her all about Twilight, how she was a princess, and how she was so kind and had a huge awesome library! The filly was dawning a Robin Hoof costume, green tights, a green tunic, a red belt, green mask, and a pointed cap with a red feather " Though art to deliver to me some candy so that I might share it with the people!" She exclaimed as she charged in...before reddening a little bit and giggled "I'm sorry that sounds really rude...Woah..."

Her eyes widened as she gawked around the room "Miss Twilight you don't hold back! It looks amazing!"

[RarityDash]

Diamond Tiara gave the smallest sigh as she read the sign in front of the Golden Oaks Library and then glanced for a moment over at her father. In truth, she hadn't intended to spend Nightmare Night as her father's darling princess this year. She figured she was more than old enough to go off on her own without adult supervision. She had been hoping for a chance to meet up with Silver and sniff out those ridiculous blank flanks and give them the biggest and best fright she could muster. She even had the perfect costumer for it! She was dressed as a gruesome zombie with professional level makeup, splotched along her coat to give the appearance of blood, decay and exposed internal organs. Her face was especially ghoulish, with yellowed eyes and fake blood pouring from her mouth and from under the frightful matted wig she wore. She truly looked like an undead monstrosity and it was a shame she wasn't going to be able to use that to get a shriek or two our of Scootaloo or Sweetie Belle.

But alas, daddy wanted to tag along, and she was helpless to really fight it. Sure, she didn't exactly dislike spending time with her father--she had a lot of pride in him and his accomplishment.s... but just on occasion she found he could be somewhat embarrassing. As it were, the cowpony costume he had chosen didn't really mesh with her realistic horror vibe. With him along, even if she ran into a blank flank, she wasn't sure she could pull off an effective scare.

Though, she supposed that was beside the point. Twilight Sparkle, that mare who had come from Canterlot to Ponyville and then became a princess somehow, had set up some kind of horror house. Sure, there was a chance it was going to just be some silly display for dumb baby foals, but Diamond at least held some hope it'd be worth her while. A princess should be able to impress, right? Diamond sure hoped so.

"She is a princess, so it'd have to be good, right?" Diamond said, looking toward her dad. "We might as well take a look." She gave a small shrug and trotted into the library.

Inside, she saw a number of ponies already gathered. One was a mare dressed in a very realistic suit of armor that Diamond had to admit was pretty cool. Another was her classmate Rosehip, a fairly new addition to Diamond's class who she didn't know very well, though who hadn't ever really done anything to offend her either. Her costume, a green Robin Hoof get up, was okay, she supposed. Decently well made and detailed enough. Diamond had always found the character of Robin Hoof to be kind of stupid, but as costumes went, Rose could have done much worse she supposed. Princess Twilight herself had perhaps the most underwhelming costume of any of them there (excluding perhaps Diamond's dad, regrettably), wearing a pretty standard Daring Do outfit. With all her awesome experiences and powers, you'd think a princess would be able to come up with something better than just the heroine of some silly adventure book series.

She then glanced toward the princess, a jaded look in her eyes. "So Princess, this Madhouse of yours... I'm expecting something good," she said through a sigh. She was hoping to be proven wrong, but she doubted this Princess would have anything prepared that would actually surprise her.

​

[Bellosh]

This would be the last Nightmare Night ever for Filthy Rich.

Hahaha, not really. Or maybe so, depending on one’s point of view. In this case, this would probably be the last Nightmare Night that Mr. Rich would get to spend with his darling daughter, Diamond Tiara. Next year, she’d really insist on roaming the darkened streets of Ponyville with only her friends, leaving Filthy to stay home with his wife hoofing out copious amounts of candy to youngsters. But for this one last time, Diamond and Filthy teamed up to have fun together on this night of nights.

Filthy Rich always believed in using Nightmare Night as an excuse to indulge in flamboyant escapism, and he didn’t make an exception this time around. For tonight, he wore a flashy and colorful cowboy getup, having enjoyed tales of the Wild West as a youth. A white ten-gallon hat served as his costume’s centerpiece, accompanied by a light blue vest and a yellow bandana. To make himself even more old-timey, Mr. Rich even wore a fake bushy mustache. He looked comical, but the father had fun wearing it… and having fun was most important.

Diamond Tiara’s costume was a bit… out there to say the least. Any other year before this one, Filthy would have unquestionably forbade his sweet lil’ angel from wearing that at all. But Tiara was a growing filly; she couldn’t be sheltered forever. And if allowing her to go around town in a disturbing costume meant one last Nightmare Night at her side, then Filthy would relent to it. At least the stallion could admire Diamond’s craftsmareship, even if he found it hard to stare at.

"She is a princess, so it'd have to be good, right? We might as well take a look."

Apparently, Twilight Sparkle’s madhouse caught the attention of Diamond Tiara, if not exactly for the right reasons. “I’m sure everypony else has fun things to do too, Diamond Tiara,” he tried to subtly remind his sometimes spoiled child; “But this Madhouse looks exciting! Sure, why not?” Following her daughter inside, he saw a crowd of other ponies waiting and so in an exaggerated western frontier accent, loudly greeted; “WHOO WEE!!! Howdy everypony! What y’all waiting for.....?”

[stormchaser1991]

“WHOO WEE!!! Howdy everypony! What y’all waiting for.....?” Stormchaser heard this and turn around and he said cowpony Filthy Rich and what he think is zombie Diamond Tiara ((i don't know what the ponify term for zombie is)). "well i think we are waiting for Princess and i think she is waiting to see how many show up right now also it is a pleasure to meet you mr.Rich" said stormchaser as he shake his hoof turning to Diamond Tiara "and it also a pleasure to meet you" said stormchaser to Diamond Tiara giving her a small bow

[NeoExlucky]

Time Spinner had met a mare by the name of Aselia a long time ago. Back when they were foals they were very good friends but soon Aselia moved away and Time Spinner thought he would never see her again. However on this most frightful night, Time managed to reunite with Aselia and the two had spent roughly and hour or two together before they went their separate ways. Time Spinner and his family decided to theme their costumes together and went as super heroes. Time Spinner was White Lightning, the fastest Unicorn in all of Maretropolis. His costume was mostly red with a lightning pattern on his chest and hooves.

As he moved he found a sign for Princess Sparkle's nightmare night madhouse. Time was deathly scared of haunted houses and if he might even pass out if he was scared too much. However Aselia loved them and he was to spend the rest of the night with her, he might have to go through a few haunted houses. This one was by Princess Sparkle, maybe it was the scariest there was. If he were to go through it, the others might seem less scary! The unicorn made his way into the front room when he saw a bunch of other ponies in costume. He noticed all the different types of costumes, until he saw the most terrifying one yet. It was being worn by a filly but it looked so real..so very real. He jumped at the very sight of it, scared that he might be bitten at any moment.

"Eep!" He said as he hit the ground again and was shaking with fright.

[Blueblood]

From childhood, Prince Blueblood was of the firm opinion that such festivals as Nightmare Night were beneath royalty. Over the past year, however, he had come to realize that he was the only royal personage who actually thought so. He'd briefly hoped to rope in Princess Luna as an ally; after all, the holiday was pretty much about celebrating the most traumatizing event in her life. But no, she said it was "fun." It had certainly led her to opening up more to the commoners, so naturally he had been roped into going to Ponyville this year, in costume, no less!

Not for him would be the pandering to the gruesome or grotesque, oh no. The Prince was dressed as his favorite ancestor, Sir Drake Blueblood, the great sea Captain of old! Not that the portraits of him resembled any modern naval uniforms; Sir Drake had been a gentlepony of the Renneighsance, and Prince Blueblood had emulated his clothing down to a T; doublet, hose, and ruffed collar. He thought it made him look rather dashing, and quietly ignored the giggles from the common rabble.

Upon arriving, priority number 1 had been getting out from under Aunt Celestia's supervision. This was easily accomplished when she went in for a costume contest. Priority number 2 had been finding a venue appropriate for him. As this "Madhouse" was being hosted by Princess Twilight, he figured that it would be the best option.

Upon entering, he was not so sure. The first sight that caught his eye was that ridiculous piece of headgear called a "ten-gallon hat," under which was a pony wearing a flashy parody of a cowpony's work clothes. With him, he assumed, was his daughter, a genuinely creepy looking zombie. Let's see, what else? Robin Hoof, superheroes, a knight, and-

"Oh, Twilight, really?" Blueblood sighed. Royalty ought to be more impressive! After all the effort he put into re-creating his historical fashion, this was the best the Princess could do?

Well, no matter. What was this whole business about, anyhow? "I do hope," He said, casting an eye over her costume, "That this is evidence of effort going into the, ah, exhibits."

[Imagination]

A house of horrors?! Or rather a tree of terrors? Twilight's Terrific Terror Tree Time! Tea time tree terror...? There was no tea here!

Sidetracked, little Ruby Pinch had wandered up to this pretty neat-o display. Every time somepony did something like this, the little filly always shyed away in order ot do something less... well, terrifying. As fun as it was to get scared, her poor little heart could only take so much!

But this year was gonna be different! This year she was gonna go IN the hoaunted house thing! She was gonn come out just fine! It was gonna be FUN!

This year she had a costume she was actually pretty proud of. She did it herself, and if she had ot say so, she didn't do a bad job! She went to Nightmare Night as her most favoritest, bestest teacher of ever and all time: Miss Cheerilee!

... Okay, and maybe it was an attempt to kiss up since she didn't do her homework. But really, who assigns homework on Nightmare Night?! The audacity!

She had dyed her fur purple, and her hair too! She even did her very best to mimic her teacher's style! And of course, mommy helped. She even had Berry paint those three happy sunflowers on her flank! It was perfect! So she still had her horn sticking out just a bit, but it was still cute! Oh, she should've had Reno come as Big Mac, just to rub salt in the wound from the one time...

YIKES!!! ZOMPONY! And Filthy Rich was right next to it! He didn't deserve to be gobbled up no matter what some of those business magazines said!

"AAAAAH! Mister Rich! Run! There's a horrible, disgusting, flesh-eating-!" Oh, wait. The zompony wasn't trying to eat anypony. In fact it was just standing there. The dominos fell one at a time until... "O-Oh... Um... Hi Diamond~" she greeted her classmate with a nervous smile. Hey, maybe since her dad was there she wouldn't be as mean? Though between Pinchy and the 4th wall, most of the things she shouted pretty much still applied... "Great costume!"

[SteelEagle]

Twilight smiled as she saw her first guest of the evening, a lone pegasus on this most wonderful of night. Nightmare Night was not simply just for the young and energetic, but even the grown stallions and mares who were very welcome to the Madhouse. The first one came in as a vampony!

"That's a pretty nice costume. Welcome to the Madhouse, vampony!" Twilight giggled, playing up her character as well as she could. It was fun to see everypony having a great time, and she was sure that after tonight everypony who was anypony would see what she saw in the thrills and chills of a madhouse!

What followed the vampony was a mare after Twilight's heart, if that heart yearned for obscenely armored knights. She had enough REA protection to warrant a barracks in Ponyville if she ever wanted to have one built, but the energetic earth pony wore her obscene armor well. Twilight bowed with a smile.

"Oh, brave knight of the square table! Here most certainly be dragons...usually. My assistant is currently...err, occupied!" Twilight allowed a nervous laugh to escape as she waved the mare in, "welcome to the Madhouse, Knight!"

The first filly, of which Twilight had hoped a good number would enter, came next. She was dressed as Robin Hoof, that roguish hero of myth and lore. Quite adorable and she had the energy to boot! As she came to a stop inside, Twilight couldn't but but levitate two pieces of candy to her.

"Well, I certainly stand no chance against Robin Hoof, now do I? Take this as ransom...but be warned, Robin Hoof- this Madhouse is ready for you!" Twilight finished, licking her lips. She didn't often get to speak so lightly theatrically, and it felt darn good.

Another filly approached, this one tended to by her father. The filly wouldn't have been too familiar on the best of days, but the father- the father was somepony worth knowing. He was a businessman of some scale and while many considered his retailer some small-time affair, anypony who iunderstood economics and supply and demand knew his business reached a lot of ponies in a lot of sectors. His daughter seemed dismissive and none too impressed- who was she to judge? She was nopony. Twilight was somepony. But she kept that under wraps. At the very least, the filly had a fantastic zombie costume. Apropo for the night's events, unlike the father who looked and sounded a bit sillier. But tonight was the night to be somepony else, was it not? It was the spirit of the holiday!

"Well, look at you!" Twilight said as she levitated some candy for the filly, "quite the costume you got there. If I hadn't defeated zomponies before I'd have guessed you were the real thing! I think you'll find many things to frighten you tonight. And my my, look at the dashing cowboy! I hope you can keep your wits- and your little zompony- about you, Mr. Rich. Tonight's Madhouse promises to be a once in a lifetime experience!" Twilight led them in, almost ready to blow with excitement. So much fun stuff had been planned, and so little time too get to them all!

Then the fastest unicorn in all of Equestria showed up, a nice White Lightning costume by a stallion. Very adorable, and the glasses only added to the affect! They said eyes were the gateway to the soul, or the mirror. What did that mean for those with glasses? She had never given it much thought but she figured tonight would be a good chance to discover if rhyme had reason. Of course, he was a bot of a scaredy cat- boo. What was fun about a madhouse if all it took was a scary costume to set one off?

"It's okay, White Lighting. If she was a zompony I'm sure you could defeat her," She levitated a candy to him and ushered him in, "Welcome to the Madhouse, superpony!"

The next guest was Prince Blueblood. Twilight knew everything there was to know about Prince Blueblood, and maybe even things he didn't know. She was a voracious reader and had always known the royal family well. Recently, her interest had risen to a fever pitch and she had almost literally devoured every scrap of knowledge that could be gathered about every last member of the family, who they were, what they did, why they did it, where they came from, and from whom. It made identifying his costume easier, which was unique and cultured if a bit lazy. But what could you expect from him? Still, she'd be polite. He was at least making an effort.

"Oh Blueblood, you have no idea the effort that's gone into tonight's festivities. Give me a few minutes of your time and I'll give you an experience unlike any other!" Twilight said with unrestrained glee, little stars exploding in her eyes as she imagined the wonderful possibilities that the night held.

Finally, there was an adorable, timid little filly who was dressed as the local school teacher. Twilight couldn't summon up either name but she figured that it didn't matter- the whole ensemble was cute. What wasn't cute was her panic at the costume. By the- by Celestia, child. It's Nightmare Night. If a simple zompony costume scared you, how did you think a madhouse would be? She recovered fast, though. There was hope enough that Twilight would scare the color out of her by the night's end.

"Your costume is adorable! Where did you get the idea?" She asked the super obvious student, giving her a candy as she ushered her in, "and remember to stay safe in the Madhouse!"

----------------------------

Twilight looked at her guests and smirked. Time to start.

Blindfolds were levitated from their positions. Not weak, ineffectual blindfolds. Big black blindfolds with width and height wer tied very snugly around everypony's eyes.

"Ah! So the first rule of the Madhouse is that you must wear the blindfold at all times. If you take it off, you are kicked out and may no longer qualify to win the prize. And trust me- you want this prize," She said, gliding around her guests. She then levitated a bowl in front of each pony, young and old. Inside was a green liquid, cold to the touch and bubbling. It had taken some time to mix it just right, so hopefully it would have a scary feel to the guests. Especially the little ones.

"In front of you are bowls of one of the most vile, evil substances ever! Cerberus' blood! Stick your hoof in and FEEL it course with...EVIL!"

[NeoExlucky]

Time Spinner took his glasses of and put the blind fold on, only to put his glasses right back onto his face. He felt much more comfortable wearing the glasses than without, he had wore a pair all his life. He dipped his hoof into cerberus blood. He felt the cold, partially sticky, goo start to get on his hoof. His mind was making up so many horror stories about the goo, some being completely ridiculous stories. Maybe it would have helped if his cynical side was in control tonight, but this was nightmare night. Time Spinner might as well been a foal, for that was what this night was for him, a night for him to remember everything he did as a child and perhaps act like one. One doesn't get to have much fun working as a historian after all. Time Spinner pulled his hoof out of the goo with a small moan at the how disgusting it felt. That was more creepy than scary, though maybe the scary part was the ghost stories he was telling himself about the blood.

[Blueblood]

An experience unlike any other, eh? Prince Blueblood took a moment to reflect upon all the occasions in which their social paths had crossed. They were, admittedly, few, but quite memorable and (thank auntie!) unique. He favored his fellow royal with a wry smile. "Oh, I have no doubt about that, Twilight."

He stepped back to observe the rest of the guests. A filly came in and freaked out at the Zombie costume, eliciting a sigh from the Prince. He was quite certain, of course, that him was equal to anything the purple alicorn could throw at him, but having to listen to young fillies screaming the whole night long would be extremely wearing.

___

Blueblood submitted to the blindfold readily enough; it at least hid the rolling of his eyes as he sat through her hammy description of the 'Blood of Cerberus.' Really, to call it evil was practically a slander on the dog. But in the interest of humoring her, he gingerly put his hoof in the bowl.

"Ecchh." Performance aside, Twilight sure knew how to mix up a brew. Clammy and bubbly, that was a talent. He wanted very much to fling it off his hoof, but the alabaster unicorn feared getting any on himself or his clothes. He settled for holding his hoof out, vibrating it so that the substance would drip off quickly.

[RarityDash]

“WHOO WEE!!! Howdy everypony! What y’all waiting for.....?”

Diamond brought her hoof to her face an sighed deeply before looking toward the corner of the room. Seriously, dad, why? She knew he was going to be a horrible embarrassment, but this was even lamer than she had anticipated. She shot a cautious glance at her classmate RoseHip and then toward the others gathered around. She was pretty close to just wanting the night to be over at this point.

​

"Eep!"

Then a shriek came from an adult stallion Diamond didn't even know! Ha! That's right, her costume was terrifying. No matter how lame her dad was acting, she still had that. Seeing some adult stranger recoil in terror at the sight of her, restored some of Diamond's confidence. She smiled wickedly and started to move about like an actual zombie, lumbering ahead.

​

"AAAAAH! Mister Rich! Run! There's a horrible, disgusting, flesh-eating-! O-Oh... Um... Hi Diamond~ Great costume!"

Right away she was rewarded with another awesome reaction. This time it came courtesy of another of her classmates, Ruby Pinch. Ruby could be an overly excitable, overly cute ball of annoying. The costume she wore reinforced that. She was dressed as their school teacher, Miss Cheerilee. Of course, Diamond knew fully well and respected the power of sucking up to the teacher, but actually dressing up as her for Nightmare Night? That was just a little sad. Of course, with daddy hanging off of her she couldn't really give the other filly too much business about it. Instead she just smiled and laughed.'

"Thanks. Though I don't know, I'd probably say that your costume is far more terrifying," she said with a snicker.

​

"Well, look at you! quite the costume you got there. If I hadn't defeated zomponies before I'd have guessed you were the real thing! I think you'll find many things to frighten you tonight."

At the reply of the princess herself, Diamond rolled her eyes. Oh please! Princessing had gone to this one's head, hadn't it? She knew full and well that this Twilight Sparkle had fought Changelings and stuff, but actual zombies didn't exist! Even if they did, why hadn't anyone heard of this amazing exploit of the great Princess Twilight Sparkle? She didn't have any idea, but she took the offered candy all the same.

​

"Ah! So the first rule of the Madhouse is that you must wear the blindfold at all times. If you take it off, you are kicked out and may no longer qualify to win the prize. And trust me- you want this prize, In front of you are bowls of one of the most vile, evil substances ever! Cerberus' blood! Stick your hoof in and FEEL it course with...EVIL!"

As the princess continued, Diamond sighed and hung her head, thinking she finally understood. Princess Sparkle, as it turned out, was evidently one of those adults who really went overboard to get into the Nightmare Night spirt. She didn't know what was more embarrassing for an adult, seriously going full steam with the whole "evil, terror" schtick or doing whatever it was her own dad had decided to do. Well... she supposed it was pretty clearly still her dad, but that was beside the point.

"Blindfolds? Lame! How are you gonna impress us with your horrors if we can't even see them!" Diamond protested, even as she put the blindfold on.

She wasn't about to get beaten by this ridiculousness. She gave another sigh and then stuck her hoof into the bowl of whatever the slop in front of her was. It was cold and bubbly. Diamond couldn't even imagine how that was supposed to be scary. She kept her hoof in it for several long moments and sighed.

"Nope, not scared yet," she said, rolling her eyes under her blindfold.

​

[stormchaser1991]

"That's a pretty nice costume. Welcome to the Madhouse, vampony!"

"why thank you nightmare night is my fourth favorite holiday and i always love vamponys how they live in the lovely night luna brings" said stormchaser

"Ah! So the first rule of the Madhouse is that you must wear the blindfold at all times. If you take it off, you are kicked out and may no longer qualify to win the prize. And trust me- you want this prize, In front of you are bowls of one of the most vile, evil substances ever! Cerberus' blood! Stick your hoof in and FEEL it course with...EVIL

bring the first in line he give his blindfold and after a bit of trouble he got it on after which he put his hoof in the bowl she pass around for a couple seconds then took it out "well that was a bit sticky and i have felt worse but not that bad" said stormchaser

"Blindfolds? Lame! How are you gonna impress us with your horrors if we can't even see them!" Diamond protested, even as she put the blindfold on.

stormchaser turn his head to the way he heard the voice that doing nothing being he can't see because the blindfold "to answer you question we have more than one sense the princess is most likely going to make us use them and let us use out imagine and around the end she will let us remove the blindfolds and really scary us oh i love try to be scary isn't that right twilight" said stormchaser near the end of that he started to bounce around in place as he is trying to imagine what the princess has in store

[SteelEagle]

Twilight had to stifle a giggle as her guests stuck their hooves in the substance. Each and every one of them did not react any differently than she had expected, with either annoyed groans or unimpressed sighs. Good. True terror came with time and with the realization far too late that every step you took was part of a plan that you could neither hinder nor stop yourself from participating in. Her madhouse had been constructed not to terrify with jump scares that would be forgotten a day later, but to provide for each and every one of them an experience that they would remember for as long as the holiday was fresh in their minds. What Princess would she be without creating so many memories?

The substance bubbled soundlessly on their hooves, but it did not stay still. Instead, it soundlessly bounced around until it hit all four hooves softly, like little splotches that they would discount. The substance bubbled viciously for a few seconds as it seeped into their hooves without irritation. A hoof formed out of the substance and she gave it a slap of victory with her wing before it all returned to normal. All of it soundlessly. And all of it unseen, thanks to the blindfolds. Such fun!

"Maybe, Stormchaser. But you'll just have to see what I have in store for you by the end. But for now..." She smiled for nopony's benefit but herself as her horn lit up, "let's get the show on the road!"

A massive flash, one so bright that it cracked through the night sky and could momentarily burst through the blindfolds. A fierce, terrifying wind started blowing. Snow. A blizzard. A harsh blizzard. The winds howled- or did they simply carry one?

Then the blindfolds came off. The ponies were apparently in the middle of a field with a raging blizzard all around. Cuttings winds. Heavy snowfall. Visibility mere feet in any direction, except for in front where off in the 'distance' they could see the entrance to a cave.

Suddenly, they could hear from every direction fierce, guttural howls. More than that, they could feel a huge, ominous presence behind them- and closing fast.

"Cerberus certainly doesn't like you playing with his blood! Run to the cave or be DIGESTED FOREVER!" Twilight yelled over the blizzard, nothing more than a disembodied voice in the fantasy world constructed.

Howls.

Howls everywhere.

Hopefully it'd work, and they'd run to the cave- or as it was in reality, though they could not see, the staircase to the basement below!

[Bellosh]

"Well, look at you! Quite the costume you got there. If I hadn't defeated zomponies before I'd have guessed you were the real thing! I think you'll find many things to frighten you tonight. And my my, look at the dashing cowboy! I hope you can keep your wits- and your little zompony- about you, Mr. Rich. Tonight's Madhouse promises to be a once in a lifetime experience!"

Twilight Sparkle’s costume failed to disappoint, having opted for the time-tested Daring Do look. And according to her, this Madhouse wouldn’t disappoint either. “Don’t you worry one bit, ma’am!” Mr. Rich kept the act going; “If my little zompony wanders off, I’ll round her up faster than you can say lickety split!” As a display of jesting affection to drive his point home, the Cowboy patted Diamond Tiara’s back hard. Ha, acting like a Western rancher sure was mighty fun!

"AAAAAH! Mister Rich! Run! There's a horrible, disgusting, flesh-eating-! O-Oh... Um... Hi Diamond~ Great costume!"

Mr. Rich jolted at the sound of a blood-freezing scream, and he immediately looked to see… a miniature Cheerilee warning him of a monster- no wait, the filly figured out who Diamond was underneath her grotesque costume. And the stallion recognized the filly’s voice as Ruby Pinch, Berry Punch’s lovable munchkin of a daughter. “Well now lil’ missy,” Filthy congratulated, taking his hat off to Pinchy; “You look just like your teacher. Ha ha, I bet that if we put you and Miss Cheerilee together, we couldn’t tell who is who!” Well, not really… but little kids should always be humored when in the middle of acting adorable.

"In front of you are bowls of one of the most vile, evil substances ever! Cerberus' blood! Stick your hoof in and FEEL it course with...EVIL!"

The middle-aged earth pony knew the drill as he saw his vision completely obscured by the blindfold. This was going to be one of those events where you’d stick your hoof into food substances and pretend that it was something monstrously gross. Filthy Rich’s wisdom notwithstanding, his fun came from trying to guess of the true nature of the “blood of Cerberus”. Meanwhile, the kids and their open imaginations would-

"Blindfolds? Lame! How are you gonna impress us with your horrors if we can't even see them!"

Too bad Diamond Tiara couldn’t open herself to imagination. In a way though, Filthy Rich couldn’t really fault his little girl; a skeptical mind meant she wouldn’t fall for scams and other tricks when she grew up into a mare. But there was a proper time and place for such brazen skepticism… and now wasn’t the time to be rude. “Now now Diamond Tiara,” Mr. Rich broke character to gently lecture in the direction from where he heard Diamond’s voice; “You do what Miss Sparkle says and dip your hooves in the scary and icky blood.”

Filthy Rich followed his own instruction and touched the so-called blood. Just as he tried to smell the liquid substance, a sudden flash blinded him. When his sight came back, what the stallion saw defied his very comprehension; against all logic, he somehow warped into the middle of a blizzard! Filthy hardly couldn’t see any of the unforgiving landscape but a cave entrance off in the distance. He could hear howls too; ones very much like those made by accursed timberwolves… and he also felt something else draw near… something far more sinister than a timberwolf.

"Cerberus certainly doesn't like you playing with his blood! Run to the cave or be DIGESTED FOREVER!"

The cowboy-costumed stallion tried gathering his wits to come up with a logical explanation for this… situation. Filthy’s attempt failed within seconds; everything felt all too real too him. Fear overtaking him, the stallion lost himself to his paternal instincts and panickedly dashed over to his nearby daughter. “Come on Diamond!” shouted her father with the uttermost authority; “Run to the cave NOW!”

[Mojo]

Tankena was happy that the festivities were starting! Happily (but with a lot of effort) the heavily armor clad mare put on her blindfold and proceeded to move forward. Of course, in her armor, she could only move at one speed -- SLOW!

After bumping into a wall twice in her journey, the Stalliongradian Earth Pony reached into a bowl and felt what their host claimed to be Cerberus blood.

"Dis stuff feels like my uncle Gunski's borsch! Smells bad like his borsch too! I am loving this!"

Then she heard Twilight's warning and all the howling. This was especially scary for Tankena since her homeland had more than it's share of fierce, howling creatures in it. Though frightened, the armor clad mare could not run very fast, and the faster she attempted to run, the louder her clanging armor sounded. But run she did, and scream too!

"Next year, I make, lighter armor!" she shouted, clanging and banging her way into the cave.

[stormchaser1991]

After the blood feeling everypony got teleport to a massive what look like a blizzard and stormchaser barely heard twilight said "Cerberus certainly doesn't like you playing with his blood! Run to the cave or be DIGESTED FOREVER!"

after she said that he could see the cave in the distance and being the pegasus he is he started to fly to the cave but not fly fast enough to leave them just fast enough to catch up to twilight so he could heard her commands more easily when he caught up to twilight he just start to laugh

[NeoExlucky]

Time Spinner took off as fast as he could down the snowy path, towards the cave. He was scared and was fearing for his life, this was certainly going a bit overboard...wait a second...why would Princess Sparkle put them in a life threatening situation like this? Quickly Time Spinner's Cynical side took over and started he started to talk himself out of being scared. Surely Celestia and Luna wouldn't allow Twilight Sparkle to put them in any type of danger. That would just be an awful thing wouldn't it? Yes, surely all of this was some type of illusion, yes that's it! She was the princess of magic after all, she could easily create this type of illusion to try and scare them. Maybe they weren't even out the library yet, maybe they were just in some type of hallway in her house. Yes of course that was- THWACK! Time Spinner, who was deep in though, had ran into the side of the cave, instead of the entrance. He fell onto his flank and put a hoof up to head. "Ow..." He said to himself. His head felt like it was cracked with a large stick. His hoof fell down slightly and he noticed something. His glasses were gone. He quickly started to look for them but could find them anywhere. "Luna confound it." He muttered as he redirected himself as best as he could into the cave.

[Blueblood]

One of the little-noted benefits of participating in Nightmare Night as foal is that one develops a "fear tolerance" by receiving doses of terror in a safe environment, so that by the time that one grows up, a pony can better face the shocks and surprises of life. Unfortunately, as mentioned before, Prince Blueblood hadn't had any part in such festivities, leaving him a considerably softer touch in terms of terrors.

When the howling blizzard blasted through the room and whipped his blindfold off, the stallion gave a high-pitched yelp like a startled puppy, his widened eyes whipping back and forth for the source of the noise. Before he could recover his sense of reality or calm his shaken nerves, a series of blood curdling growls burst forth out of the darkness:

"Cerberus certainly doesn't like you playing with his blood! Run to the cave or be DIGESTED FOREVER!"

"Yaaah!" No need to tell Blueblood twice. He went from 0 to galloping in less than a second, and was one of the first to reach the stairs. He learned too late that there was a staircase there by missing the first step. The Prince tumbled head over hoofs down the stairs in a painful series of bumps and yells. "Ahh-" *Thud* "Oof'-" *Bang* "Gahh-" *Crash!* He lay at the foot of the stairs, moaning piteously, his ruffed collar sticking out at one end.

[NeoExlucky]

Time Spinner's eyesight wasn't the best right now but the sound of someone falling down the stairs were quite hard not to detect. He had to choke down a laugh as went to overlook the stairs. There was a fairly large stallion who seemed familiar. Time knew him from Canterlot but never actually met him before. Perhaps it was Fancy Pants...no that couldn't be, he wasn't here before this. No this was someone else. "Prince Blueblood?" Time asked, not knowing if it was him or not. "Are you okay?"

[RarityDash]

“Now now Diamond Tiara, You do what Miss Sparkle says and dip your hooves in the scary and icky blood.”

Diamond groaned as her dad decided to get all into it all of a sudden. "I'm doing it, daddy," she insisted while trying not to take too much of an attitude. Her hooves were fully submerged into the unpleasant slop in front of her.

"I'll even bathe in it if you want me too. Still won't be scary," she muttered under her breathed, shaking her head.

Just as she was convinced of how utterly lame this whole thing was going to be, something kinda awesome happened. They were all teleported suddenly to the middle of some wicked blizzard. The cold and the wind was biting and had her teeth chattering. More importantly,the blindfold evidently hadn't been teleported with her, because it was gone now. Diamond nodded in approval, just as a familiar voice spoke.

​

"Cerberus certainly doesn't like you playing with his blood! Run to the cave or be DIGESTED FOREVER!"

"Ha! This is more like it, Princess!" Diamond started with a smile, looking up into the sky, despite the bitter cold. "Teleporting several ponies at once to some far off land? Now that's how a princess should be using her magic to create a show for us! Where even are we? Ouside the Crystal Empire?" she added, looking around.

​

“Come on Diamond! Run to the cave NOW!”

Her father's insistent call to her caught Diamond's attention, reminding her of the cold and raging wind. There was no real danger of course. She knew this. Miss Purple Pony Princess wasn't going to let harm come to anypony on her little magical tour. All the same, she supposed she might as well play along. She shrugged and then rushed ahead.

"All right, Daddy. I'm coming..." she called back before breaking into a full gallop in the direction of the cave. Before she knew it, she was at its mouth.

​

[Imagination]

Pinchy was glad everypony supposedly liked her costume! She had to giggle at Diamond's comment, knowing full well that Miss Cheerilee could certainly be quite scary sometimes... Like whenever she says 'we're going to have a busy week after the break!' on Fridays. Nightmares of anticipated papers and projects aho! Filthy Rich flattered the filly with his compliment. Was it really that good? Maybe she could take over the class and nopony would notice! "Aw, thanks!" she said in response to both Diamond and her silly father.

Even the Princess liked her costume! She was about to explain her overly-elaborate inspiration on stealing her teacher's identity, but she was bribed with candy and moved along into the madhouse. No complaints from the filly! Candy rules! Who needs dental health? The way Pinchy saw it, candy companies were doing dentists a favor! If everypony brushed and flossed 3 times a day and ate healthy, dentists would be out of a job! Or so she thought... It seemed logical. Oh well. She has candy now, and that's for a dentist to lament down the line. She happily scarfed it down and proceeded into the madhouse.

Now she was being blindfolded! Fun! But... What's this? Cerberus' blood? Wasn't that unsanitary? She stuck her hoof in as she was told, and her silly mind convinced her that it was the real thing! "Yuck!" It felt icky... But not long after she withdrew her hoof, poor Pinchy saw a flash through her blindfold, and it was suddenly WAY cold. The poor shivering filly looked around her as the blindfold came off and did in fact confirm she was in some tundran wasteland! "W-Wha-?! How did we get here?" Oh, but then came the howling. The howling! "Cerberus certainly doesn't like you playing with his blood! Run to the cave or be DIGESTED FOREVER!"

"I'm sorry Mister Cereeberlus! I was just following ordeeers!!" the filly cried out as she fled for the cave. She didn't want to get eaten! Ain't nopony got time for that! She tried to stick with the group, but her little legs couldn't keep up with most of them. The mare dressed as a knight was about her speed, so she just stuck with her. When they reached the cave, Pinchy just stayed close to the mysterious armored mare, shivering still from both fear and cold.

She wanted her mommy... But knew better than to say that! In every horror book she ever read, the character who says stuff like that always gets eaten! Right after the zebra and the funny character... There weren't any zebras here and she didn't think anypony was being all that funny... Well except for Mister Rich... His cowboy act was pretty silly before this nightmare started.

[SteelEagle]

The ponies ran in their illusion to the cave, which was in all reality the staircase which led below. Twilight, who was gliding around with impish giggles of excitement at seeing her scary plan come together so well, had made sure to modify the staircase so that they wouldn't get hurt running down it seeing as they couldn't see the steps. After all, they had blindfolds on in real life and in the fantasy it was a cave! She didn't want anypony to get hurt. Scaring them, terrifying them, that was good, clean fun here on Nightmare Night, and somepony getting hurt would ruin the second part of the madhouse! The ponies ran into the staircase, one of them slamming into the side at first comedically but finding his way down nonetheless.

The cave was sloped and the ponies, unprepared as they were, slid down it. They soon found themselves in reality sliding down the modified staircase until they found themselves in the basement room, which not too long ago had been full of science-based machines. She had other plans in store for the room tonight however. In their fantasy world, they were in a deep, dark cave, with the sound of scurrying rodents and bugs in all directions competing with slow drips. In the darkness a single lick of flame appeared at the end of a hoof, and a much bigger, regal Twilight Sparkle appeared. Dressed in her best and looking entirely too peppy, she smiled and nodded at them all as behind them, the ominous presence did not vanish but simply seemed to guard the entrance to the cave. Twilight's horn lit and in the fantasy the fire expanded into a small ring around them, warming them up and lighting the area. In reality, Twilight was gliding around the small group of ponies in the basement, which was as dark as the midnight air.

"Good! You got here so fast. Have a small reward," Twilight was ecstatic and levitated a piece of candy to them. In reality, it was a normal chocolate. In their fantasy, each pony saw their favorite, most beloved candy.

"Now let's-" Twilight began before a massive roar from behind signalled that Cerberus, while stopped by the sie of the cave, was angry and still trying to get at them. It seemed so close that it's dank, dirty breath filled the cave with a nauseating smell. Twilight's nose wrinkled in the fantasy as she turned around, facing the same direction as the guests.

"Okay. We're still not safe from Cerberus!" Twilight stated. Meanwhile, a large, oval shaped spider silently snuck it's way into Diamond's mane, watching the filly from inches away with diamond eyes, hidden and motionless. A beautiful butterfly hovered completely silently behind Filthy's head, tracking it so it was always behind. A pair of blank, emotionless eyes in the dark above tracked Stormchaser. An enormous chameleon centipede crawled up into Time Spinner's tail, hidden by the gusts of wind from the open cave until it took the color of his tail and inspected the stallion. Pinchy had a floating doll of her favorite pop singer behind her, the string getting pulled but nothing coming out. Tank had a sword dangled directly above her head, whenever her head moved so did it so it twirled without knowledge above her armored form. Rosehip had a bitless bit bag the size of her head hovering above. And Prince Blueblood had a date- a beautiful mare who floated behind him, gaining every second.

None of them could see their new-found friends. None of them could sense it, at least not now. Nor could they see each other's tag alongs. All they could see was a cave entrance where now a huge snout stuck in, yapping with realistic teeth before it snorted angrily. The force was such that it blew out all the fire except for that which lay directly ahead, and even made Twilight vanish- a disembodied voice once more.

"Follow the fire deeper into the cave!" Twilight pleaded as the sounds of falling rocks and cracking bones surrounded them!

-------------

In reality, Twilight was all smiles as her still blindfolded guests felt the powerful illusion grow stronger as the substance sunk deeper and deeper into them. They had all taken a twirl down the modified staircase and were now in the basement, which had been rendered pitch black except for torches alongside the seven rooms that occupied the space. Upon her pleading, the eight ponies would walk towards the rooms. Six would go into their rooms alone, with Filthy and his daughter would go into the seventh together. With another small burst of magic, the six doors were opened soundlessly as she waited for them to enter. Phase one had ended- time for the terror to be turned up a notch! This was the best madhouse EVER!