Fluttershy would likely never claim Nightmare Night as one of her favorite holidays. However, a lot had changed in the last year since the last Nightmare Night. She could sing in front of crowds, she had performed at the Equestrian Games, and one of her best friends had died. Looking at all that, it was hard to be afraid of something as innocuous as a holiday. Still, Fluttershy had no intention of going outside that night. Just because it wasn’t scary didn’t mean she was completely comfortable with it yet.

That was until Angel Bunny announced he was out of carrots. Why he hadn’t brought that up sometime during the day or when he had noticed his carrot supply running low, Fluttershy had a fair idea. Fluttershy sometimes worried that if Angel applied any more ‘tough love’ she’d wind up with bruises.

So that was how Fluttershy wound up walking the streets of Ponyville just as the finishing touches were put on the Nightmare Night decorations. She’d just get the carrots and return home. No big deal, right?

“Fluttershy? What are you doin’ out and about on Nightmare Night?” Granny Smith called out as she spotted the Pegasus.

“Angel ran out of carrots and decided to wait until now to tell me. Speaking of food for Angel, would you mind if I took a little bit of your hay?” Fluttershy asked politely.

“Sorry Fluttershy, we need all of it fer the Apple Family Haunted Maze!” Granny Smith replied, “It’s the scariest maze that ever was! Who knows what lurks inside?!”

“Granny Smith please…” Fluttershy protested weakly.

“Is that a mummified pony that just leaped out at ya?!” Granny suddenly shouted, startling Fluttershy, “And what’s that crunchin’ sound beneath your hooves? The bones of those who didn’t make it, perhaps?!”

“Granny, quit pickin’ on Fluttershy!” Applejack trotted up, just before Fluttershy could go full panic mode.

“I ain’t pickin’ on nobody!” Granny grumbled.

“Anyway, strange to see ya’ll out on Nightmare Night Fluttershy,” Applejack remarked.

“I had some last minute errands to attend to,” Fluttershy responded as she fought to get her heart rate under control.

“Well, now that yer here, why not come with me to the castle? Everyone is gonna be there, if you catch mah drift,” Fluttershy had to think about it a moment before realizing what the apple farmer meant.

“How did Duskfall manage that? Human Fluttershy is even more timid than I am,” Fluttershy noted.

“I dunno. You’ll just have ta ask her,” Applejack shrugged. That was incentive enough to get Fluttershy to follow Applejack to the castle.

“OK, now that everyone, including pony Fluttershy, is here we need to establish a single ground rule!” Duskfall called out to everyone gathered in the cavernous library. There were a few groans at her statement, “Relax, it’s nothing bad. It’s just my inherited OCD can’t stand the idea of saying ‘pony’ or ‘human’ before each of your names. So, one of each pair is gonna have to choose a new name for themselves. The only thing I ask is you put a little more thought into it than simply naming yourself something like Applejack 1 or Rainbow Dash Alpha.”

“Oh! Can I be called Prisma?!” Human Rainbow asked excitedly.

“Like the app?” Sunset asked.

“No! Like a feminine form of Prismo!” Human Rainbow corrected.

“Like the Adventure Time guy?” Human Pinkie asked.

“Yes!” Human Rainbow nodded energetically.

“That makes a strange amount of sense that you’d want to be called that…any objections?” Duskfall surveyed the room. No objections were raised, so the motion carried.

“Alright! Now the best pickles in the Multiverse will be mine!” Prisma cackled.

“I don’t know this lunatic,” Rainbow deadpanned.

“Who’s next?” Duskfall surveyed the room.

“I wouldn’t mind being called Artemis,” Human Fluttershy offered.

“Goddess of wild animals? What a fitting nom de plume for any Fluttershy,” Discord remarked approvingly.

“Well, shoot, I ain’t no good with names, but maybe ya’ll can call me Appletini?” Pony Applejack suggested.

“Now there’s a name we haven’t heard in a long time,” Pony Pinkie quipped.

“Sounds like there’s a story behind that name,” Human Applejack observed.

“To make a long story short, the Elements ran into a magic plant that had various physical effects on them. Applejack was shrunk down to the size of a mouse, so Spike nicknamed her Appletini,” Duskfall explained.

“Well, that’s three down, two more to go,” Chrysalis remarked.

“Well, I already go by Pinkie Pie,” Pony Pinkie began.

“But my full name is Pinkamena Diane Pie,” Human Pinkie continued.

“So do we start calling one of us Pinkamena full time?” Pony Pinkie wondered.

“Or does one of us get called Diane?” Human Pinkie finished.

“We could just call one of you the Pink Lord of the Sith,” Sunset snarked.

“Too wordy,” Both Pinkies dismissed the idea.

“If you really wanted to be on the nose, then we could call one of you Cotton Candy,” Lyra joked.

“Not happening, harp butt,” Human Pinkie dismissed the idea.

“It’s not a harp, it’s a lyre!” Lyra pouted. Bonnie giggled before pecking her marefriend on the cheek.

“We could call pony Pinkie Full Moon,” Moon Dancer chuckled.

“Are you implying something, missy?” Pony Pinkie fake growled.

“You could stand to cut back on the sweets, sweetie,” Human Pinkie smirked.

“Betrayed by my own sister slash interdimensional doppelganger!” Pony Pinkie clutched at her heart dramatically.

“What about Sakura as a name? Their petals are pink,” Luna offered. The two Pinkies mulled it over for a second.

“Sounds good to me,” Human Pinkie decided.

“Same here, but now we have to choose who gets the new name,” Pony Pinkie noted.

“How does a round of Rock-Paper-Scissors sound?” Human Pinkie suggested, “Winner takes the new name?”

“I’m down,” Pony Pinkie agreed. Before anyone could ask how they planned to play a game meant for hands with hooves, they had already preformed the ritual chant, “I win!” The newly named Sakura cheered.

“Dang it,” Human Pinkie grumbled.

“And then there was one,” Harmonia stated.

“You can’t rush perfection, darling,” Pony Rarity complained.

“And if one of us is going to give up our name, it has to be perfection,” Human Rarity agreed.

“It’s not like it’s a permanent thing,” Sakura said reasonably.

“Only when we’re with our counterparts,” Artemis reminded.

“Still, how often does one have an opportunity to rebrand oneself?” Human Rarity asked.

“Even if it is only a part time thing, we still have to put our best hoof forward,” Pony Rarity said firmly.

“Aphrodite?” Artemis suggested.

“I’d rather not be named after an unfaithful shrew,” Human Rarity said flatly.

“I suppose one of us could go by Bella,” Pony Rarity mused, “It is similar enough to the second part of our name.”

“That just smacks of unoriginality and I don’t think either of us could stand that,” Human Rarity remarked.

“I might have an idea,” Duskfall spoke up.

“Is this going to be a Twilight worthy name or naming after a goddess?” Discord taunted.

“Surprisingly neither,” Duskfall replied drily, “Anwyn, a derivative of Anwen, Welsh meaning ‘very fair’ or ‘beautiful’. It’s both fitting and not a particularly common name.” Both white Unicorns turned it over in their heads.

“I can get behind that,” Human Rarity decided.

“Yes, it has a certain appeal,” Pony Rarity agreed.

“Why do you know a Welsh name?” Prisma asked.

“A book series called Children of the Red King got Tom interested in Welsh things for a while when he was younger. Fun fact, King Arthur’s first appearance was in Welsh mythology,” Dusk answered happily. Sharing knowledge was fun.

“So, who gets the new name?” Sakura asked excitedly.

“We could play Rock-Paper-Scissors,” Human Rarity giggled. Pony Rarity rolled her eyes good naturedly.

“I will think of a number between one and ten. Whichever Rarity is closest in their guess will receive the name Anwyn. Is this acceptable?” Harmonia asked. Both agreed to the terms and after a moment of thought, chose their number.

“Nine,” Human Rarity decided.

“Four,” Was pony Rarity’s choice.

“The number was five. Pony Rarity is hereby dubbed Anwyn,” Harmonia announced.

“Really? Five? You had a wealth of choices and you chose five?” Discord heckled.

“You simply fail to appreciate equilibrium, Discord,” Harmonia huffed.

“Now that all that is out of the way, it’s time for scary stories!” Both Pinkie and Sakura shouted.

“Oh dear,” Fluttershy whispered to herself.

“I’ll go first!” Sakura happily chirped.

“It was a Tuesday in Ponyville-”

“Ahh!” Half the room fake screamed.

“That’s not the scary part, you goofballs!” The irony of a Pinkie calling anyone else a goofball was not lost, “Anyway, it was just a regular day in Ponyville. A certain pink party pony was going about her usual baking routine when she noticed her baking soda had gone missing.

“‘That’s odd’ she said to herself. She had made sure everything was properly measure just like always before starting. Then she noticed a white trail on the floor. Licking it, she discovered it was a trail of her missing baking soda! Nose to the ground, she followed the trail all across Ponyville and eventually found herself at the burnt out ruins of Golden Oaks. There she ran headfirst into someone. She looked up to see who it was. Where a face should have been was an empty void! IT WAS THE SLENDER MARE!” Sakura shrieked.

Fluttershy flinched away as the rest of the room broke into fake exclamations of fear and giggling. Artemis noticed her counterpart’s distress.

“I need to use the bathroom. Would you show me where it is, Fluttershy?” Artemis requested. Fluttershy seized the opportunity and the pair left the library.

“You don’t really need to use the bathroom, do you?” Fluttershy asked hesitantly.

“You looked like you weren’t having fun. So, what’s wrong?” Artemis asked gently.

“It’s Nightmare Night. I know I shouldn’t be afraid after everything that I’ve done and seen, but I can’t help it!” Artemis looked curiously at the frustrated mare.

“Well, why don’t you tell me what’s so bad about Nightmare Night. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays,” Artemis revealed.

“It is?!” Fluttershy was shocked.

“I love all the cute costumes and adorable bats and spiders. I also have a bit of a sweet tooth, so even after I outgrow trick-or-treating I have the day after candy discounts to look forward to. I know Nightmare Night and Halloween aren’t exactly the same thing, but they seem pretty similar to me,” Artemis shrugged.

“But ponies are constantly out to frighten you. Doesn’t that bother you?” Fluttershy asked, mystified.

“My Rainbow- er, Prisma, I guess, made sure I could handle a few jump scares. I don’t enjoy scary movies at all, but on Halloween when it’s all in good fun? I’m fine with it. Didn’t you grow up with your Rainbow?” Artemis questioned.

“I did, but my Rainbow is usually gentle with me, even when we were kids,” Fluttershy answered.

“And Zephyr Breeze has never tried to scare you so you’d hide in your closet and lose your morning bathroom time?” Artemis inquired.

“Oh, he tried that…once,” Both Fluttershy grew wicked grins remembering what they had done to their respective brothers for that stunt.

“I guess we both have our hang-ups. You enjoy singing, but even with the Rainbooms I’m terrified of going on stage. I enjoy Halloween, but you hate Nightmare Night,” Artemis observed.

“I’d still like to have fun with our friends. I’m already here. Leaving now would just feel like a waste,” Fluttershy confessed.

“I feel the exact same way about playing in the Rainbooms,” That decided, the pair returned to the library.

“So, who’s ready to change into our costumes?” Anwyn asked the crowd. There was a great cheer and they all headed to her boutique. In short order the ponies, Discord, Harmonia, Chrysalis, Thorax, and Pharynx were in their preplanned costumes. Now all that was left were costumes for the visiting humans, Sunset, and Fluttershy.

“I wanna be a ninja!” Prisma instantly called out. Such an easy request was simple to fill.

“Can I be a gorgon?” Artemis asked hopefully. In short order a Greek toga and fake snakes were assembled.

“Ah’d like to be a tin man,” Applejack requested.

“Hmm, that was supposed to be Appletini’s costume next year…” Anwyn muttered.

“Ah don’t mind. Ah can go as Toto instead,” Appletini shrugged.

“One day you are going to run out of Wizard of Oz characters to dress up as,” Anwyn quipped.

“But today ain’t that day,” Appletini chuckled.

“I want those bell bottom pants!” Pinkie squealed and shook her head to turn her mane into an afro.

“I knew I was going to regret sewing this the moment I decided to do it,” Anwyn grumbled as she gave the item of clothing over to Pinkie.

“It could’ve been worse, darling,” Rarity snickered, “She could’ve asked for a polka dot skirt.”

“Small mercies,” Anwyn sighed, “What will you be choosing, dear?”

“A naval captain, perhaps? Just perfect for being seduced by a pretty mermaid,” Rarity teased as she selected a captain’s hat and uniform. Both Raritys tittered at the joke. While everyone was either laughing or weirded out, Sunset simply picked out a gas mask and a red jumpsuit.

“Well, that leaves just you, Fluttershy. What’ll it be?” Anwyn asked.

“My first thought is to go as Flutterbat, but that feels a bit lazy,” Fluttershy frowned.

“You could play it up a bit as more vampiric, but I see your point,” Anwyn acceded.

“Your Fluttershy can speak with animals, yes?” Rarity asked suddenly.

“I can,” Fluttershy replied. Rarity squealed and snatched up a fancy ball gown.

“Disney Princess!” Rarity held up the dress for inspection.

“That makes a silly amount of sense,” Prisma commented.

“If you all think so, then I don’t mind,” Fluttershy said and soon she was wearing the dress.

With costumes all chosen, the party moved to Sugar Cube Corner. Sakura and Pinkie worked together to set up games like pin the horn on the Nightmare, bobbing for apples, and musical chairs. It was a nice, low key affair to help ease Fluttershy into regular Nightmare Night activities. Surprisingly, Luna managed to avoid taking an out of season swim.

As those activities were winding down, Pinkie and Sakura dug out bags filled with everyone’s favorite candies.

“I even managed to get some Every Flavored Beans for you, Discord~!” Sakura exclaimed.

“On the one hand, I know you can buy those in the human world. On the other hand, I wouldn’t put it past you to have somehow acquired the real thing. Now the question becomes: Do I want to dive into that rabbit hole?” Duskfall mumbled to herself. Ultimately she decided the headache wasn’t worth it.

“So, Fluttershy, is there anything you’d like to do tonight?” Discord asked as he popped a bean in his mouth.

“I know you’ve been going easy on me tonight, so maybe I can return the favor and try and scare you all?” Fluttershy said hesitantly. Neither Rainbow could stop from laughing at the idea of Fluttershy trying to scare them, but quickly shut up after receiving a room full of dirty looks. Fluttershy told the group to meet at her cottage in an hour and slipped away.

“This should prove interesting,” Lyra remarked.

“It’s always the quiet ones…” Bonnie trailed off ominously.

“I look forward to her attempts, whatever they are,” Discord stated confidently, not telling anyone that Fluttershy had asked for his assistance.

“Just so long as she doesn’t go full yandere on us,” Duskfall snarked.

“I do not believe such a thing is in Fluttershy’s character, even as a joke,” Harmonia noted.

“Who would she even go yandere for? Rainbow?” Chrysalis wondered.

“That’s an interesting question,” Artemis said neutrally.

An hour later and the crew arrived at Fluttershy’s cottage.

“Oh, this is wonderful. I’ve always dreamed of living in a place like this,” Artemis sighed happily. Duskfall opened the door and two things were immediately obvious. First, Fluttershy had expanded the room to accommodate the number of guests, likely with Discord’s help. Second, the large table was set as if for a tea party.

“Welcome, friends, to Fluttershy’s tea party~” Fluttershy’s voice drifted across the room, but it was difficult to tell where exactly it was coming from. Everyone sat at the table.

“If someone would use the sugar?” Fluttershy requested. Anwyn lifted the bowl of sugar with her magic and put a small amount into her own cup, “Oh no! The sugar is actually cyanide! Anwyn has died!” In a flash of light, suddenly Anwyn had vanished.

“Always the quiet ones!” Bonnie reminded.

“This just got very entertaining,” Discord quipped as he took a bite of a cucumber sandwich.

“The cucumber sandwiches were dipped in ricin! Discord is no longer among the living,” Another flash of light and Discord was gone.

“Trust nothing, message received,” Duskfall smirked.

“Behind you!” Fluttershy suddenly called out. Everyone turned and saw five life sized pictures drop from the ceiling.

“Fluttershy, have you been taking manga from the other side of the portal?” Artemis asked.

“Uh… no? Why?” Fluttershy sounded confused. Artemis got out of her chair and pointed at each of the figures.

“Ranma Saotome, Bulma, Utena Tenjou, Rei Ayanami, and Usagi Tsukino,” Artemis listed off.

“Well this just got existential real quick,” Duskfall groaned, “I shouldn’t be surprised at the parallels, and yet I am…wait, I know why I’m surprised! Pony media is only the equivalent of the 80s! The Equestrian version of The Shining only came out two years ago! Revolutionary Girl Utena, Sailor Moon, and Evangelion all came out in the mid to late 90s! This requires research!”

“Down, Duskfall, maybe the Neighpan entertainment industry is ahead of its Equestrian counterpart? Whatever the case, it’ll keep until tomorrow,” Moon Dancer soothed Duskfall back into her seat.

“‘Sailor Moon’ did you say?” Luna’s ears perked in interest.

“‘In the name of the Moon, I will punish you’,” Artemis giggled.

“I must know more!” Luna demanded.

“I think you are all getting a little distracted. After all, Rei did pull out a knife and kill Artemis when she approached,” Fluttershy sighed in faux disappointment and Artemis vanished in a flash.

“Right, murder stuff going on,” Prisma reminded herself. A small dog then walked out of the gloom.

“Aw, look at the cute puppy!” Thorax went to pet the dog, who happily licked the Changeling.

“Thorax has been mauled to death by a vicious animal,” Fluttershy announced.

“Dang it,” Thorax said before vanishing.

"Why is my brother such an idiot?" Pharynx lamented.

“So how long is this gonna go, Flutters?” Rainbow asked.

“Oh, I won’t be killing all of you…tonight anyway. Just as many as it takes to make the lesson sink in,” Suddenly the chairs they were sitting in began to melt into the floor. Those with wings were quickly in the air. The Pinkies took a wild guess of ‘the floor is lava’ and jumped to a nearby couch. Sunset used magic to levitate above the ground. Moon Dancer chose to teleport to join the Pinkies on the couch. Appletini, with her trusty rope, lassoed a ceiling beam and shimmied up to safety.

“Well, shoot, I ain’t in the right costume fer meltin’ away,” Applejack complained mildly as she, Coco, Bonnie, Lyra, and Rarity disappeared into the floor. Bonnie and Lyra were hugging each other as they met their dramatic doom.

“Not even trying to save your friends? For shame~” Fluttershy rebuked the survivors, “I think that calls for an extra special final elimination round.” Suddenly a bolt of lightning caught Rainbow and she vanished. A volcano appeared and erupted, coating both remaining Changelings in fake lava before they vanished.

“Everyone to the couch!” Duskfall ordered. Harmonia, Luna, Appletini, Sunset, Prisma, and Duskfall joined the Pinkies on the couch, “Now create a shield with every defensive shield you know!”

The shield sprang into existence not a second too soon, as acid rain started to pour down, followed by meteors and a swarm of locust. Just as suddenly as the calamity started, it ended.

“Congratulations to the eight of you for surviving. You win Nightmare Night!” Suddenly everything was restored to normal and everyone, even Fluttershy was gathered in the expanded room.

“That. Was. AWESOME!” Rainbow shouted.

“Fluttershy, darling, that was truly inspired!” Anwyn complimented.

“Oh, I can’t take all the credit. Angel Bunny gave me a few ideas,” Fluttershy demurred, “And of course I couldn’t have done any of it without Discord’s help.”

“I only supplied you with the Magic. It was you who turned it into something special,” Discord said warmly. The clock on Fluttershy’s wall chose that moment to strike midnight.

“Tonight was a fantastic night, but I think it’s about time to get everyone home,” Sunset remarked.

“Sorry we ran out of time for your family’s maze, Appletini,” Fluttershy apologized.

“I’d take somethin’ as fun as this over a maze any day o’ the week. Ya’ll don’t need to apologize for it!” Appletini insisted.

“Can we expect something like this in future Nightmare Nights?” Anwyn asked.

“I don’t know about that. I had a lot of fun doing this,” Fluttershy began.

“Future yandere serial killer,” Bonnie snarked before getting ribbed by Lyra. Fluttershy ignored her.

“However, I’d still prefer to have a quiet night with my animals, if that’s OK?” Fluttershy confessed.

“Whatever makes you happiest, we’ll all support you,” Chrysalis replied and everyone else made noises of agreement.

“Come on denizens of the other side, tomorrow is a school day. I wouldn’t want you falling asleep during first period,” Duskfall teased as she led the humans and Sunset back to the castle with Harmonia following behind.

Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief as the last of her friends exited her cottage and the dimensions returned to normal. She was exhausted, but as she headed up to bed and pulled up the covers, Fluttershy fell asleep with a smile.

Author's Notes:

Discord was dressed as a Tree, Harmonia was dressed as a Draconequus and if asked, they'd both say they were dressed as trash. Yes, it is a reference to an Undertale comic, no I am not sorry.

Luna was dressed as a Paladin, Chrysalis was dressed as Celestia, Lyra and Bonnie were dressed as a ketchup bottle and mustard bottle respectively, Moon Dancer was dressed as the Fourth Doctor, Duskfall was dressed as the Nostalgia Critic, Thorax was dressed as a jackalope, and Pharynx was dressed as a Changeling Drone (wet blanket that he is). I think that's everyone who I didn't directly address costumes for in the chapter.

If the EQG crew and the Equestrian crew are going to spend any serious amount of time together, the name thing had to be sorted out sooner or later. It was so hard to scrape by just with Human Rainbow together with Pony Rainbow. I hope the name choices were at least acceptable. Also, while making all the humans or all the ponies choose new names would've made things easier, it also would have come off as incredibly racist/speciesism.

The main thing I want to bring attention to is how I view the two Fluttershys.

Both Fluttershys are timid by nature. However, pony Fluttershy has borderline Avoidance Personality Disorder, probably due to the bullying she suffered during flight school. Human Fluttershy is just generally timid and is capable of standing up for herself, somewhat. The reason I think this is due to the scene in the first EQG movie where human Fluttershy talks back to Sunset. Season 1 pony Fluttershy would have never done something like that.

As of this moment, I don't know how exactly I'll get each of the pony/human pairs to have one on one time, but I do plan on having them all have a nice chat with each other or doing something to showcase a difference sooner or later.

I'm sure no one is surprised to hear this chapter was a btch to write. Having to juggle the vast majority of the cast in a single chapter, especially with all the moving parts of Fluttershy's little death game, was exceptionally difficult. I had to make a spreadsheet just to make sure I wasn't forgetting anyone.

Also, I suck at writing horror except for psychological horror. So forgive me if Pinkie's little creepypasta about the Slender Mare was underwhelming. I take full responsibility for that.