Nightmare Night 2012: Fanfiction Contest Winners and Entrants!

~~Chrome broke the image, so I'm tossing Luna up as a placeholder until he unbreaks it!~~ Fixed it!

That title image probably made you think this was a Sethisto post. But no! It was all a clever illusion to bait you to this, the finale post of the Nightmare Night 2012 October FanFiction event! It's too late now, you can't resist the spooky pony, and you have no choice but to click after the break to find out who you all voted for as spookiest story!

Not to mention the thrilling conclusion to a half-boiled three part epic. But c'mon. You know you want to anyways. Clickety-clack.

Ladies and gentlemen, boils and ghouls... it's been a long October. Today is Halloween, and there's candy everywhere. That is, for most of us. I'm sending a big ol' pony hug live from Equestria Daily's basement straight through your computer waves to all you pour souls still stranded in the chaos that was Hurricane Sandy. Hopefully these stories are enough to punch some ray of sunshine through your bleary day.

If you still have power. And internet. If you don't then I probably shouldn't bother explaining myself.

Back to stories! This was a long haul, and you guys have worked hard putting out some impressive stories. Like I said, it wasn't easy picking the best ones, and now we're going to see the best of the best! I'd like to first of all thank everyone for giving me ~~way too many Celestia-damned stories to read through~~ so many delightful stories to read. You all worked super hard, and even if you didn't make the cut, you still participated and successfully produced a story.

Anyways, the portal is mere minutes away from total coalescence and the Earth hours away from brutal subjugation, so let's not waste anymore time and get right to it! Here are the winners, their stories, and their random complements I threw in for some reason!

In third place, with 279 votes, I give you...

Won't You Help Me Pull My Wagon by KholdStareV

Won't You Help Me Pull My Wagon

Author: KholdstareV

Description: On the way home from a joyless Nightmare Night party, Twilight finds an old, abandoned covered wagon on the side of the road. A mysterious entity hiding inside begs Twilight for a favor. Giving into her generous nature, she reluctantly agrees. However, she may find that this one good deed may be her last...

For many people, this is exactly what they wanted out of a Nightmare Night story. A spooky forest, an innocuous party, and an evil spirit that runs ponies to their doom! It's classical, but it sure gets the job done when it comes to giving you chills! I also have it one good notice that the author has an excellent taste in kitchen appliances.

In second place, with 893 votes (what a jump!) we have...

How Everybody Loves Pinkie by Azure-Spark

How Everybody Loves Pinkie

Author: Azure-Spark

Description: When Pinkie Pie left home, she promised her parents she'd write home. A few years after the fact, she decides it'd be best to keep them informed of how she's doing.

This was a tough one not to like! The gimmick, while one that has been used before, is used very cleverly and gets your spine a twitcha-twitchin' when you figure it out. Not to mention you get to feel like a detective. Apparently the author has fantastic hair, too, the devil.

And finally, last but not least, with 991 votes, we have...

A Nightmare Night to Remember by Synactics

A Nightmare Night to Remember

Author: Syntactics

Description: We wonder why the Queen of the Changelings look so different from the rest of the hive. Is it simply the form she is most comfortable with, or something more?

As Sweetie Belle and the rest of the CMC descend into the hive of the changelings on Nightmare Night, they are about to discover the answers to these questions at the cost of their lives.

I don't like changelings. Creepy crawly... bug things. They freak me out. And Chrysalis's entrance in the season two finale is one I'll never forget. And this story managed to capture that and more, shooting it to first place! Not to mention the author makes great oatmeal cookies.

Congrats, Syntactics, and congrats to all entrants! Have some statistics:

As you can see, there was one heck of an offset between second and first place. Slow down there, slick, you're stepping on the little guys.

Now that's all, right? Winners are winners? Well... not exactly. Because hey, I helped review these stories too, and I wanna toss in my two bits. If those stories up there were the reader's choice, these are the judge's choice! These were my favorite Nightmare Night tales, and here's why.

Body of Work by The Gray Potter

Body of Work

Author: The Gray Potter

Description: In the back of the white marble archives, behind a rusted door, paint peeling and centipedes crawling under the frame, there’s a set of stairs. They buckle like cork, and descend into a lightless library coated in dust, pages, and runes. Here, Twilight Sparkle stumbles upon a perfectly preserved body. Her own body.

This story was spooky in a way that couldn't really be described. Finding your own dead body in a cellar and having it move every time you see it? I don't care where you're from, that's creepy. Couple that with excellent narrative voice and great pacing, and you have this eerie piece of work.

SKITTISH by JMac

SKITTISH

Author: JMac

Description: Miss Cheerilee's class takes a tour of a haunted cemetery. This is an old fashion ghost story.

Some people want grueling psychological horror or horrific monsters in their stories. But for me, sometimes a good ol' ghost story does the trick, and this story delivers in spades as promised. Giving you all the eerie vibes of a traditional tale from the crypt from your middle school days, it does all the right things with all the right tropes.

NIGEB by Aquaman

NIGEB

Author: Aquaman

Description: Fluttershy has been plagued by nightmares, and Twilight wants to help her get rid of them. But when the bookish mare begins to pry into the depths of Fluttershy's unraveling psyche, she finds more questions than answers. What do her dreams mean? Why won't they stop haunting her? And why does the creature she keeps seeing inside them seem like more than just a simple nightmare?

I won't sugar-coat it, this story terrified me. It's nail-biting suspense, bottomless intrigue, and haunting imagery. I was glued to every word, and I literally felt my heart rate increasing as I read along. Each sentence and scene has a purpose, and it all leads up to a conclusion that shot a thrill of fear-driven adrenaline up my spine. This isn't a story to read if you're planning to go to bed soon.

Anyways, after all that, the facts are clear: we have winners, but everyone did a phenomenal job, and you should all be proud of your role in making this the best Nightmare Night I've had to date. Seriously. And that's counting the time I got that bag of mint-chocolate candies. Do you have any idea how much I love mint chocolate?

Ladies and gentlemen, these are the stories of every other story writer who entered. Congrats to you all, and have a festive Nightmare Night!

Runner Ups:

All Entries:

Phew... Glad that's over with. Now I can finally focus on the task at hand. The portal's completion is nearly at hand! I can feel it!

Stick me with comment moderation duty... I'll show you "unstable"! I'll show you "ill suited to be a blog pony"! I'll show you "bad breath"! I'll show them! I'll show them all! AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!

What was that.

That sound.

No, not the sound of wailing damned souls, that's normal.

More like a "door-breaking-open" sound.

Oh dear.

Seth... come on... don't be irrational. There's no need for that kind of lang–hey! Watch where you throw that!

Ow! Ow! Ow! Arm doesn't bend that way! Doesn't bend that way! Ow, ow, ow!

Oh goodness, Phoe, not in the–hurmph!

Gnnnnnn...

Cereal. No. Please don't. Stop! Anything but that! Not the comments section! ANYTHING BUT THE COMMENTS SECTION AGAIN! PLEASE! NO, NO, NO!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

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