A scout troop of young ponies from Canterlot had been marching through the Everfree Forest all day long, and when it was just about sunset, they decided to set up their tents for the night. While some were busy finding out where they put the marshmallows in their backpack, and others had problems figuring out the forest map, their leader, a zebra by the name of Zebron, who had had many endeavours in the forests and mountains in Equestria and a whole lot of badges on his left backpack that showed it, found the matches and began to fire up the campfire that formed the centre of the sleeping area.

As the logs that formed the fire slowly got warmer and warmer, an earth pony scout colt with a light brown skin and a cutie mark of a smiling sun shining over a forest full of treetops, asked Zebron, “Would it be a true trip to the Everfree Forest if we don’t sit together and tell each other spooky stories over the campfire?”

Zebron replied, “Of course we’ll have some spooky stories to tell each other. It would indeed not be same if it was something we didn’t bother.”

While this conversation proceeded nicely, they were interrupted when another colt, this time a pegasus with a light blue hue, a short mane and a cutie mark of two soft skies and some drizzle falling down from them, had tried to set up his tent on his own and it had fallen down on him. The earth pony giggled a little bit, while Zebron went over to him to give him some tips and advice.

“It’s nice to show an initiative to learn to do things on your own, and much courage for such a young pony has been shown. But using the stakes that such a tent need, is just as much important as giving the construction the needed heed.”

The pegasus nodded, “Thanks, boss. I’ll see if I can do it better this time!”

When the sun had set and the ponies were beginning to feel quite hungry for some marshmallows, biscuits and s’mores, Zebron said it was time to sit around the campfire for the usual announcements and eventually the stories they had been waiting for. Zebron announced, “On this second day of a three-day trip, we’ve walked quickly without sparing a single hip. We may feel tired right now, but when we finish tomorrow, the accolades will be waiting patiently in both a line and a row”.

The four scouts sitting around the warm flare knew that getting through the Everfree Forest was one of the greatest achievements a boy scout could receive, and one that would make most of their classmates at the Canterlot school jealous.

Another pony, a unicorn colt with light grey skin, a bit chubby and who hadn’t gotten his cutie mark just yet, asked a question to Zebron that the others around the fire was wondering about too, “Zebron, when are we going to start tonight’s story telling? I can’t even imagine how scary telling a ghost story in the middle of the Everfree Forest at night would be. It would be super-scary, and awesome, and even scarier”. His eyes were big of excitement.

Zebron answered his question, “It may not be a ghost story we’ll end up telling, but at least it will be a story that your minds will find compelling. When I start speaking the words of the tale, you’ll feel that you may want to bail.”

The earth pony said, “It better be something interesting then. Come on. Tell us this story.”

Zebron said to that, “Okay, you have waited patiently for this moment. I will no longer hold you in patience and torment”. She raised her focus and began the story.



There was once a story about,
How a pony on Nightmare Night so stout
Whose festive night went worse than the plan,
And off to the troubled worlds she ran

It was the afternoon before the Nightmare Night,
Six ponies from Ponyville began planning so slight

It was a nice sunny afternoon, and the ponies we all know so well, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy, were hanging together at the Carousel Boutique, putting together some plans for the Nightmare Moon that would be held at the town square later that night.

Pinkie Pie was excited and spoke loudly, “This is going to be the best Nightmare Night ever!”

Twilight Sparkle asked Rarity, “Have you finished the Nightmare Night costumes that we have planned to wear tonight?”

Rarity said, “Of course I have, darlings. I finished the last touch on Fluttershy’s bunny costume three days ago, and the others were finished long before that. This may be my chance to show the Canterlot fashionistas that my designs can be more than just pretty or nice. They can give quite some chills to those who look at them too”.

Fluttershy gave a tiny little smile that was almost unnoticeable. Then, Rainbow Dash, who was rather unconvinced that Rarity could provide something that would actually scare the townsponies, and that she wasn’t one to be scared by mere decorations and spooky stories, began to talk to the others.

The rainbow one said, “Nothing can scare me at this day”,
Then the pink one said, “I have something that’ll make your bravery run far away”

She started her story, a story of fear,
“When the moonlight bounces off the midnight’s tear”
“The costume you’re wearing will feel so right, not least,”
“That its spirit will make you become a big beast”

The rainbow pony didn’t feel any loss of bravery,
She felt that the story was for its night quite so savoury
But the other ponies stood there a bit shook,
They had to admit that the story had held them on a hook

When Pinkie Pie was finished with her story, Rainbow remained unmoved, but the others were feeling uncomfortable, a tiny bit chilly, and somewhat surprised. In other words, they had been scared.

Rainbow said, “Do you really believe in such dull, old bedtime stories?”

Rarity replied, “Well, strange things have happened on Nightmare Night before. I’m still mildly afraid of what could happen, even though I know that curses aren’t what they look like. Does anypony remember when we met Zecora?”

Applejack said with a stern look on her face, “Ah still remember it like it was yesterday. Apple Bloom had no business goin’ into the forest alone just like that!”

Twilight frowned silently, and then said to her friends, “Maybe it’s time to put on our costumes and get ready for tonight”.

They took out their costumes they had prepared for it,
On which the point was the scariness, not the costs in bit
The rainbow pony had a wolf costume, with fur so thick,
Her friends gave her “The colourful hunter” as a nick

“It’s simply marvellous, Rainbow! I must say I did an extra good job with your costume. It’ll look great and impress everypony around you”, Rarity exclaimed. “Now it’s time to go!”

They trotted off to the village, with such many decorations,
That the town’s many ponies felt ready for the celebrations
Tonight would be a special night for a lot,
They even had the apples ready for bobbing in the pot

The six ponies entered the town square,
The awes and laughs they had when they saw the decoration so fair
Was the reaction shared so often by the townsponies they could point it on a pin,
When Mayor Mare said to the town, “Let the Nightmare Night begin”

The six friends quickly went off, each to their own, to different areas of the town square. Pinkie Pie went trick-or-treating with the fillies like she usually does, Rarity was on the lookout for upperclass visitors she could mingle with, apparently unaware of the concept of Nightmare Night, and Rainbow hid behind house corners to surprise ponies, and a lost bear, who were passing by.

And so the night time feast began with food and scares,
With games and story times so fun they could keep away nightmares
The moon stood proud and shining on the night sky,
And everypony had the greatest time of the autumn passing by

The six ponies had a great time being there,
Laughter, candy, costumes, chats and fun, with everypony and their bear
The townsponies felt both fun and fright,
As the town bell began to approach midnight

After a particularly successful scare, Rainbow walked to the surrounding forest to plan how to scare the ponies even more. “Hmm… maybe some fireworks would be great? Oh, or maybe a giant thunderbolt soaring down from the sky”, she wondered.

The rainbow one hid in the forest, planning her next scare,
When the bell struck twelve, she had no intentions to care
But the moist of the loose leafs in the treetop
Formed a drop and fell on her, a cursed drop

She barely had time to think about the drop that fell so sorted,
As she quickly began to feel very distorted
She began to feel rage and doom,
Just as she had originally planned with her costume

When the cursed drop had finished its spell,
She had transformed into something that nopony could tell
How much of a monster she saw she would be at the feast,
As even though she couldn’t collect her remaining thoughts, this would be the night of the beast

She felt a need for food, rampage and pillage,
While the other ponies was unaware down at the village
She walked with her clawed paws back to the town,
While her old thoughts were replaced with wolf instincts, certainly no clown

When her five friends saw her, they looked at her in shock and aim,
Frozen in horror at what she became
As she howled and ran off to the pastries and sweets,
This would be no night for mere tricks and treats

Twilight was the first to break the frozen silence, “R-R-Rainbow? Is that you? Can you speak? Hello?”

Rarity said to herself, “I think I may have made the costume a tiny bit too realistic”. Then she said to the group, “Didn’t Pinkie predict something like this?”

“I think she did. It’s surprisingly moist to be so late in the night. Of course I didn’t really believe Pinkie, but where does she get all of her knowledge? Does she collect old, dusty myth books or somethi—“, Twilight was interrupted when Rainbow ran through them and ran off to the town square.

She devoured all the food, clawed through the bobbing bucket
Destroyed the speech scene, the rage of her struck it
The water from the bucket and spoon from the scene,
This was the night of “The colourful hunter” that wasn’t simply mean

Her friends tried to talk and reach in to her,
But her anger and instincts caused her mind to blur
She was more wolf than pony now,
Her growls so loud was louder than the passing crow

“Rainbow, come to your senses! I know you’re still in there somewhere!” Twilight shouted to Rainbow.

“You’ve become a mean party pooper. You’ve ruined this fun night.” Pinkie shouted in the same direction as Twilight, with a stern and a little bit sad expression on her face.

Twilight thought for a second, then said to her friends, “Alright, girls. We need to distract her away to a safe place in case it’s only a temporary effect. The forest should be safe enough. Applejack, you’ll be the rodeo clown, so you can get her attention. Fluttershy, fly up to her and grab her ears. Rarity, you’ll block the side streets so she’ll go straight into the forest.”

At the risk of their lives, her friends had a plan,
They had to lead her into the Everfree Forest until enough time had ran
They used magic, flying and running so strong,
They soon had the upper hand on her so long

Off to the forest, full of trees, monsters and grass
She walked in hope that enough time would pass
For her nightmarish night to finally stop,
Which nothing that had ever happened on that night could ever top

But while the town had hopes so high,
That the end of one of their ponies wouldn’t be nigh
And though their hopes were high on a scale of ten,
They never were to see her, ever again

And if you hear a wolf’s howl in the darkness of the Everfree,
Maybe it’s the hunter, you’d better run to be



“The end, of a story you may remember and fend”, said Zebron. “Who’s up for more s’mores? I feel they’ll be soft and delicious in their cores.”

The fourth pony in the group, a unicorn with a light red hue, a white mane, and a cutie mark of snowy mountain tops, said to Zebron, “Wait a minute. I’ve read about those six ponies in contemporary history class. They never mentioned any eternal wolf transformations.”

The pegasus also spoke out, “It was a pretty good story, but I doubt it’s real. Even though the Everfree is full of monsters and beasts, I doubt that she’s really out there”.

“Let’s get to bed now, young folks. Let’s calm down our shaky yolks”, said Zebron.

Right after that, they heard soft steps not too far away. The earth pony said, “You don’t think that could be…”

The conversation was hanging in the air for about two seconds, and then they all heard a loud howl that couldn’t be very far away. The colts yelled in shock, and even Zebron was a bit surprised by it. He said, “Maybe it’s best to grab some stuff and run away? Maybe we’ll see the light of the outside plains before the night becomes day?”

They picked up some food and half-full backpacks and walked as fast as they could. After a half-hour, they were out of the forest and relieved that they hadn’t been caught by what they all assumed to be the hunter.

They reached Canterlot before lunchtime, but had run out of food, had barely slept and had had to drink water from a fishing river. The colts knew that there would be several medals, diplomas and much respect from their trip, but the memories of the night, the story, and the howl, wouldn’t be forgotten so easily. And who knew exactly where The Colourful Hunter was now?