It was quite a bustling day all afternoon, the whole town of Ponyville was getting ready for Nightmare Night and it had been a while since I did something during that event. I still remember the time when Princess Luna arrived and had trouble fitting in before me and my friends solved that issue.

Fast forwarding to the present, I was dressed up in my agent suit outfit and Rarity was dressed up as a vampire, she looked so beautiful, especially with the little foal bump. We left our house, holding hooves and watching the other ponies enjoying the event as it began.

"Well love, I believe you've done it again." I commented. "These ponies seem to absolutely like the outfits you made for them."

"Thank you darling, I always try to out do myself." she replied, kissing me. "But now is the time to make sure the finishing touches are done and then it'll be Nightmare Night time."

As we walked along, we saw Granny Smith and Big Mac with haystacks, as he pulled one from beside the cart, I saw Fluttershy shivering underneath. Oh, that's right, she's not used to Nightmare Night...

"Fluttershy? What're you doin' out and about?" Granny Smith asked her. "It's Nightmare Night, remember?"

"How could I forget? Oh, I don't suppose I could borrow a few pieces of hay from you?" Fluttershy asked in return. "I forgot to stock up on food for Angel, and you do seem to have quite a lot."

"We need it for the Apple Family Haunted Maze. The scariest maze that there ever was. Who knows what lurks inside?"

"Oh, I'm sure I don't."

I cleared my throat to get noticed which did the trick.

"Oh, howdy mister Bond!" Granny called.

"Good evening Granny Smith." I replied. "Uhhh Fluttershy, why are you hiding under the cart?"

She was shivering, struggling to answer. "B-b-b-b-because of Nightmare Night..."

"Oh not this again." Rarity said. "What happened to the Fluttershy that was more assertive?"

I looked at Big Mac who seemed to be somewhat out of focus. "And why aren't you comforting her?" I asked him.

Big Mac gulped, "Oh errr...about that-"

"Is that a mummified pony that just leaped out at ya?" Granny interrupted. "And what's that crunchin' sound beneath yer hooves? Maybe it's the bones of ponies that didn't make it out alive!" Her eyeballs went crazy too. "And are those peeled grapes or a thousand slimy eyeballs starin' at ya from beyond the grave?"

"Nope, it's the eyes without the face." I replied before pulling out a frightening jump scare with my mask.

Granny jumped in fright before chuckling. "Ya got me there, real good."

Rarity got Fluttershy back on her hooves. "So have you decided to come out with us tonight?" she asked her.

"Goodness, no!" Fluttershy replied, still shaking. "I couldn't be out tonight. I just couldn't."

"Technically speaking, you already are out right now."

"Oh. I guess that is true."

"So what if you stayed out a little longer with us? I know the rest of us would be super excited."

"You think so?"

"You would make them so happy if you joined in. They won't believe their eyes! Come on, Fluttershy, what do you say?"

Fluttershy pondered but then smiled. "Umm...okay, for our friends."

"Fabulous, let's go to Twilight's castle."

"Don't be so scared, Fluttershy," I said. "It's just an event we have once a year and it's fun."

"I know that..." she replied.

I looked back at Big Mac. "Oh and Big Mac, we're having a talk later."

Big Mac double gulped, I was beginning to feel suspicious, but that can wait. Fluttershy, Rarity and I walked to Twilight's castle where the rest of them were already there in the throne room.

"And then it got very, very quiet and suddenly they realized the balloons had never been inflated!" Pinkie said.

"Hi there girls." I called in a creepy voice

The mares screamed slightly, before noticing me, Rarity and Fluttershy.

"Got you, mares."

"Fluttershy, what are you doing here? Is everything okay?" Twilight asked.

"Everything is fine. In fact, it's more than fine." she replied. "I've decided to join you in your Nightmare Night festivities."

Rainbow scoffed. "Seriously? You? Out? Tonight?"

"Every Nightmare Night, I shut myself in my cottage and refuse to come out until morning. But it's just like when I was afraid to sing in front of anypony. If I hadn't given it a try, I never would've found out how much I enjoy it."

"And we'd have missed out on how great you sound." Applejack added.

"You can get dressed up in a costume with us and play Nightmare Night games with us and eat candy apples with us!" Pinkie exclaimed, jumping around.

"Don't forget the best part. Goin' through my family's corn maze!"

Fluttershy's face dropped a little. "Oh, right. The maze."

"Uh, only if you're up for it."

"Oh, I am! I am ready to take on Nightmare Night!"

The mares cheered except Fluttershy who got scared a little, before I picked her back up. "Girls, let's just take it easy one step at a time, for Fluttershy's sake."

Rainbow groaned.

"Come to my boutique Fluttershy, I may have a costume for you." Rarity said.

"Okay." Fluttershy replied, walking with her.

"We'll meet you girls, later." I assured as I left with them.

Arriving at the boutique, we walked in and Rarity went over a few spare costumes that didn't get picked.

"Mummy? No. Headless pony? No. Vampire fruit bat? Ugh, definitely no." she commented, swiping each dress on the line. "You see, Fluttershy, the beauty of Nightmare Night is that you don't have to dress up as something scary." she then found a light purple dress with white silks. "Ooh! Yes. This one will look gorgeous on you. Period costumes are all the rage this year. What? No good?"

"What if we encounter something terrifying and need to get away quickly?" Fluttershy asked. "All those layers could slow me down, or worse, make me trip!"

"Oh. I never... considered that. Never fear!" she picked out another costume. "Ooh, now this is a real stunner! I call it "Masquerade"! Just a simple black dress underneath but with this ornately decorated mask!"

"A mask? They can just be so difficult to see out of."

"Yes, but this one has eyeholes."

"W-What about being able to see what's to the left or right of me?"

"I suppose your vision would be somewhat obscured. It's your first Nightmare Night out and about, and we do want you to be comfortable."

"What if I just wear the dress?" she then walked into the changing room.

"Oh, sure, dear. That's...fine." she looked at me. "It's so plain, it's frightening."

"Now love, be gentle." I advised. "This is her first time actually being out for Nightmare Night, don't rush things."

"I know, dear..." the door behind us opened and the other girls arrived in their costumes. "Oh, my! Look at all of you! My costumes fit you to a T!"

"Hoo-wee, we're gonna have the best time!" Applejack declared as Fluttershy came out with her black dress.

"Hey, Fluttershy, where's your costume?" Rainbow asked.

"I'm wearing it." she replied happily.

Pinkie gasped. "I get it! You're a robber escaping into the night! You're a ninja escaping into the night! You're black licorice escaping into the night!"

"Close. I'm going to a masquerade ball. Without the mask."

"Oh, that's great! Isn't it great?" Twilight asked.

"Girls, that's enough now." I lightly warned. "Baby steps, remember?"

They nodded, thinking back to when Fluttershy was learning to perform in front of a crowd with her 'Flutterguy' voice. We left the boutique and with Pinkie's suggestion, walked over to Sugarcube Corner to play a few games Pinkie had set up. Starting with pin the horn on Nightmare Moon and Rainbow just had her turn.

"Good luck beating that, Fluttershy!" she boasted.

"Well, um, it's just that if I'm blindfolded and somepony were to leap out in front of me, I'd never have the chance to defend myself." Fluttershy said.

"That's fine, darling. You don't have to do anything you don't want to." Rarity assured.

"We're just glad you're here." Twilight added.

"We don't have to finish that game." Pinkie said. "I have another one I know you'll love! Bobbing for apples!"

Fluttershy gulped, now I was beginning to feel concerned. "What's wrong?" I asked her.

"It's just that, um...what happens if, when my head is deep down in the water, some kind of scary monster appears? How would I even hear to know I was under attack?"

"Time for candy!" Pinkie announced, rolling away.

"It is?"

Pinkie then brought out six bags on the counter. "I made candy bags. Each bag has been made with each of you in mind, complete with each of your favorite candies!"

"That's kinda cool." I replied.

"Here. Take it. Take it! What are you waiting for?"

"Well, it's just...what if when I'm eating one of these chewy taffies, my mouth becomes glued shut and I can't scream for help?" Fluttershy asked.

I turned away and lightly face-hoofed, don't tell me she's going back to her old and completely shy way.

"Oh, goodness. We've only just started to celebrate Nightmare Night together, and I'm already taking all the fun out of it, aren't I?"

"You're not taking out all of the fun." Pinkie assured.

"I really wanna do this. But there's just so many things that terrify me about tonight. I couldn't possibly predict what might upset me."

Twilight thought of an idea. "Unless...you were the one doing the scaring!"

"Her scaring us?" Rainbow laughed before she saw us looking displeased. "Oh. You're being serious."

"The thing you hate is being scared, but if you're the one doing the scaring, then..."

"Then I can help you all have fun and I can still be a part of Nightmare Night!" Fluttershy replied.

"So you like that idea?"

"I think I do! And I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I think I have the perfect idea for how I'm gonna do it!"

"Really? Oh, this is so exciting!" Pinkie said.

"Meet me at my cottage in an hour. Oh, I'm excited to see everypony soon!" Fluttershy left the shop.

"Well, that was a little odd, but at least she's learning at her own pace." I said. "By the way girls, you go on ahead. I need to have a talk with Big Mac."

"Oh, but why darling?" Rarity asked.

"He was quite hesitant earlier, I think there's something on his mind."

"Well if it's somethin' only a stallion can do, then be my guest, Bond." Applejack said.

I smiled and left the store and flew upwards to get a good view of the town. To my right, I spotted a big maze with a huge tree in the middle just off the apple farm, that must be where they're having the apple family maze as Granny Smith calls it. But now wasn't the time for that, I had to look for Big Mac. I spotted him coming out of the maze, looking around quickly and trotting away sneakfully.

I decided to go into sneak mode and follow him carefully by flight until he walked into the apple family home, I landed down gently and then tapped on the door and opened it. "It's only me." I heard a gulp in the distance, confirming my suspicions. "Big Mac, you ready to have our talk now?"

"Ee-yup." he replied as I walked into the living room. "Ah think..."

"There's no pony else around, so whatever we say we'll be kept between us." I assured.

"That's fine...so uhh, where should ah start?"

"Hmm, you can start by explaining the gulps you've been doing. I would like to know why you're doing that and why you hesitated on comforting Fluttershy."

Big Mac sighed. "Ah don't know why ah has to be like this...what happened yesterday, it just happened. Ah never felt so ashamed of myself..."

"Yesterday...wait you mean the family trip and you took to meet Pinkie's family?"

"Eeyup. When we got there, we were surprised to see a huge rock farm and a massive boulder. We got introduced to Pinkie's family and she had her three sisters too, Marble, Limestone and Maud. Applebloom got along mighty fine with Maud, but we had a bit of a rough time with Limestone. All the while, Marble kept looking at me a few times, blushin' away and ah was too shy to talk to her."

I remained silent, allowing him to continue.

"Then we ended up having bit of a quarrel because of how different our families are until Granny Smith explained about the Pie family's history and then everythin' was fine again and better than before. I sat by Marble cause Pinkie wanted us to so we would all be like a family, but she was still shy and ah just couldn't tell her because of Fluttershy."

"I see...so the main gist of it, is that you were too afraid to tell Marble that you and Fluttershy are already dating?"

"Eeyup...since then, ah've been out of it a few times, even when Fluttershy is by me...ah didn't want to tell her that ah was growing fond of Marble and risk losin' Fluttershy....ah love her."

"I'm sure you do, I know exactly how it feels to have a growing fondness for somepony. But that's all it is, your fondness for Marble doesn't mean you're seeing another mare behind Fluttershy's back, it means that you have a high amount of respect for her and from what I know from Pinkie, it's a huge compliment for the Pie family."

"Hmm ah never thought of it that way...so ah can still be with Fluttershy?"

"You can, as long as she is the one that your heart chooses."

Big Mac smiled and shook my hoof. "Thank ya Bond...ah wish ah had a brother like ya."

"Well, we were a few days ago back at the social event, so that's something."

"Ah guess it is."

We both shared a chuckle until I took a look at the time. "Oh, the event's about to start, we better go."

"Eeyup."

Big Mac and I left the house and over to the maze, when we got there, Big Mac went inside. "Ah gotta get into my mummy's costume now."

"Okay, I'll stay out here and wait for the girls." I replied.

Just then, I saw Spike and the girls arriving, apart from Fluttershy. Looks like Fluttershy's idea didn't work in the end.

"Oh, yeah! I can't believe we're finally doin' this!" Spike exclaimed.

"It's a good thing Fluttershy isn't here because she would never be able to handle this!" Rainbow said.

"Rainbow, I understand your disappointment that you can't do your lightning pranks this time, but please try not to drag down the fun out Nightmare Night the same way Fluttershy is." Rarity retorted.

"It's okay love, maybe when this gets going, the fun will be increased." I replied.

One by one, Spike and the girls entered the maze, Applejack stopped just as she was beside me.

"How did it go with my big brother?" she asked quietly.

"It's okay, after a long talk, Big Mac is feeling a lot better now." I answered, smiling.

"That's good to hear, thanks Bond. Ya comin' in?"

"I'll stay out here in case Fluttershy changes her mind."

"Okay." she walked into the maze.

Soon, several other ponies were inside and I watched it all unfold from above, there were a few screams happening in many places, but it was all in good fun. I spotted the girls however falling down a hole, but I was sure that there would be an exit for them, when suddenly I saw the hole being covered up by a huge circle. Then I heard a distant low growl from underneath...I knew then there was trouble brewing.

I swooped down and with my magic blasted through the hole and landed on a dark hallway, then I saw a huge green monster and behind me, I saw the girls and Spike trapped on a huge cobweb.

"I can barely move!" Rainbow yelled. "It's like glue!"

Twilight used her magic to teleport all of us to other side of the cobweb and they galloped towards the light, I decided to follow them and we were then outside, on a cliff, looking over the whole town. Then, I felt a swoop form behind and we saw it!

"No!" I exclaimed. "Flutterbat?!"

But there was the proof, it was Fluttershy alright, but as a bat, she looked at us before changing her expression. "Oh, my! I'm so, so sorry. Can you ever forgive me?" she asked.

"I can't believe it!" Twilight said.

"That...was..." Rarity added before she was cut off.

"THE BEST THING EVER!" Pinkie yelled in delight.

"It was way more terrifying than the most terrifying thing I could have thought of!" Rainbow commented.

"You out-nightmared the scariest part of the corn maze!" Applejack added.

"How did you do all this?!" Twilight asked.

Fluttershy explained. "After you left, I realized that I wasn't ready to give up on Nightmare Night. So I asked Granny Smith if I could try to make the maze even scarier for my friends. I had some help. Angel was the scary figure that kept scurrying after you in the maze. Fuzzy Legs made the sticky wall that made it difficult for you to see and move. And, of course, Harry was the especially scary monster."

"Wow." I said. "That is very creative and inspiring too. This is perhaps the biggest step you've ever taken tonight. I'm very proud of you."

"We all are." Rarity corrected.

"Thank you everypony." Fluttershy replied as we went into a group hug. "We could celebrate Nightmare Night together every year. But the truth is I really don't want to."

Pinkie gasped. "You don't?!"

"But you've done it. You found a way that we can all have a fabulous time together." Rarity added.

"Yes, but I've also realized something." Fluttershy replied. "You all may love Nightmare Night and I may be good at being a part of it, but it's no fun for me to see my friends feel like they're in danger, even if I know they're not. I really don't like it. It's just not my cup of tea."

"Spoooooooooky tea?" Pinkie asked.

"No. Just regular tea. We do lots of fun things together, but I'm afraid this just isn't gonna be one of them. Actually, I'm not afraid. I'm perfectly fine with it."

"Then we are, too." I replied. "Well girls, I think it's time we called it a night."

"Agreed darling, my little bump has been through quite a rough time." Rarity said, rubbing her stomach. "Mind if I get a ride home?"

"Anything for you, love." Rarity climbed onto my back and held on tight as we waved to our friends, flying back to our house and getting inside. We walked on in and took off our costumes, Rarity was quite a dazzle tonight, but her natural beauty underneath will always outshine, especially when she's with me.

As we got into bed, I looked back and I felt really glad to have helped Big Mac through his recent trouble, he was fond of Marble but that was all there is. At least I was able to help him stay focused on what his heart is telling him and that is that he loves Fluttershy. I hope those two keep on having private dates together. Next Chapter: What About Discord? Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 10 Minutes