The late afternoon autumn sun glimmered through the windows of the seven pony friends' clubhouse with the occasional deciduous leaf dancing its way in and out of view. As Starlight poured tea for herself and her friends, the group watched the leaves collect among the cool, green grass. At one end of the table, a boy with a rainbow-colored mane and tail dipped his bread in honey and sipped the tea from his glass. The odd one out in a club full of girls, Logan Barrington considered himself grateful to have friends after he and his family moved to Coltonville.
"This tea is great!" Patch exclaimed after she also took a sip.
"Yeah," Melody agreed. "Your mom really outdid herself, Logan."
"Thank you so much," Logan replied.
"Halloween's tomorrow," Starlight said as she reached for a scone. "Can you believe how time flies?"
"Oh, I can't wait!" Bon Bon beamed. "I've got my costume ready. I wonder what kind of candy we'll be getting."
"Me, too," the other ponies said all at once.
"This will be my first Halloween here," Logan told the girls.
"Well, then," Sweetheart began. "I really, truly hope you have a good one!"
"He will now that he has us," Clover said. "I don't think there's anything luckier than—Whoa! Uh-oh!"
Clover leaned backwards in her chair, so caught up in the moment that she never caught herself tipping too far. Logan set his plate and teacup down and propped himself against Clover's chair, stopping her from taking a spill on the floor.
"Thanks, Logan," Clover said.
Logan waited until Sweetheart and Bright Eyes pushed Clover's chair back in front of the table so that he could hop back on all fours safely. "Anytime," he replied.
"Any ideas on what we can do to make Logan's first Halloween here a special one?" Starlight asked the group.
"We can show him how to TP houses," Patch offered.
"Great," Melody deadpanned. "Then we'll show him how to be an even bigger jerk than Teddy."
"Teddy isn't a jerk!" Sweetheart snapped. "He's a sweet boy once you get to know him."
"But you're the only one of us who has gotten to know him!" Bon Bon shot back.
"Girls!" Starlight exclaimed, quelling the incoming quarrel. "Who else has a suggestion? One that won't get us in trouble."
"Speaking of Teddy," Bright Eyes said. "I think it's time we showed Logan that he isn't the tough guy he thinks he is."
"What do you mean?" Logan wanted to know.
"Let's scare the living daylights out of him tomorrow," Bright Eyes suggested.
"That sounds like fun already!" Melody said, trying her best to restrain herself from snickering.
"I know!" Patch said. "Let's turn our clubhouse into a haunted house!"
"A haunted house?" Logan repeated.
"Yeah!" Patch went on. "With ghosts, skeletons, cobwebs and scary music!"
"That does sound like fun," Clover said. "I want to see the look on Teddy's face when he runs screaming out of our clubhouse."
"I don't know," Sweetheart told the girls with a shake of her head. "We shouldn't be having fun at Teddy's expense."
"Come on, Sweetheart," Melody chided her. "Remember when he started that food fight at lunch last week? He was the only one laughing."
"Only because we ran out of food to throw before he did," Patch sighed.
"So, are you with us or not?" Bon Bon asked Sweetheart.
"Oh, all right," Sweetheart conceded. "As long as Teddy understands it's just for fun."
"Then it's settled," Starlight said before turning to Logan. "Think you can get your dad to decorate this place?"
"I don't see why not," Logan answered. "After all, he built it."
"And I've got a demo tape from the Rockin' Beats we can use for music," Melody said.
"I can bake cookies as treats the other ponies," Bon Bon added.
"There's so much to do," Clover said. "You think we'll finish in time?"
"If it involves Teddy, I think we can manage," Bright Eyes said.
The girls and Logan gasped when they heard a knock on the door. "Is Logan in here?" a deep, masculine voice rang through, echoing inside the clubhouse.
"Yeah, dad," Logan replied.
"Dinner's ready," Mr. Barrington called. "Come on inside."
"Sorry, girls," Logan said, hobbling off his chair.
"Talk to your dad about our idea," Starlight said as he made his way to the door. "I'm sure he'd love to hear about it."
"I still can't wait," Patch said, rubbing her front hooves.
With the afternoon sun sinking deeper into the horizon, the seven girls decided at once to call it a day so they said their goodbyes and left the clubhouse. The girls and Logan skipped their usual gathering at the ice cream parlor to return home and dress up in their Halloween costumes. Since the clubhouse was on his yard, Logan was the first to inspect his father's work in making it over. He marched outside in his store-bought chain-mail armor and knight's helmet before gazing at his father's job on the clubhouse. He had boarded up some of the windows and painted ghostly images on the exposed panes. Logan then glanced at the signpost out front that read "Beware! Haunted!" before opening the door. He glanced at the plastic pony skeletons hanging from the ceiling along with the white sheets and fake cobwebs suspended from the rafters.
"So, what do you think?" Mr. Barrington father asked, waving to him as he pulled black curtains over the windows.
"Looks great, dad!" Logan answered. "I bet the girls can't wait to see it."
"Nice costume, son," his son complimented him. "Never thought I'd see my son in shining armor."
"Well, a knight is supposed to be brave," Logan said.
"Logan? Hey, Logan!"
"Yikes!" Logan shouted, jumping at the sound of his name being called, his helmet clanking shut. Soon, the clubhouse was filled with the laughter of his father and Melody who stood by the doorway. Logan slid his helmet open and gasped when he saw Melody dressed in a black hooded cape with a toy scythe in her hoof.
"Oops, sorry about that." Melody apologized. Sweetheart dressed as a nurse and Patch in a dinosaur costume walked up to her side as Logan recuperated.
"It's okay," Logan chuckled. "Where are the others?"
"Starlight, Bright Eyes, Bon Bon and Clover are trick-or-treating," Patch explained. "When they come back, we'll go and you can come with us."
"This place sure looks spooky," Sweetheart said, looking around the room with a gulp.
"Haunted houses are supposed to be spooky, Sweetheart," Mr. Barrington explained. "Ghosts like it when it's cold and dark."
"I've got the music," Melody said, giving Logan her cassette player. "Go ahead, Logan. Push the play button."
Logan set the cassette player down on the table, pressed play and raised the volume. Melody oohed through the speakers, her chilling voice accompanied by a on-and-off drum roll, a synthesized organ and off-key guitar riffs. Logan and Sweetheart shivered at the commotion that filled the room, both of them almost too afraid to tell it even was the Rockin' Beats creating this horror soundtrack.
"Ooh, scary!" a tiny voice emerged from behind the tape deck.
"Jing-a-Ling!" Melody exclaimed as she snatched the deck out of her little sister's reach. Logan stared at the toddler pony and her twin sister—both dressed as angels—as they attempted to reach the player.
"You brought Jing-a-Ling and Ting-a-Ling?" Patch asked.
"Mom wanted me to watch over them while she's working," Melody explained. "I don't think they'll be too much trouble."
"Speaking of which, I'm going to check on your baby sister, Logan," Mr. Barrington said. "You kids have fun, now."
"Bye, Mr. Barrington!" Sweetheart yelled with the two waving to each other as he walked back toward his house.
"Why don't we test this place out first?" Melody suggested. "The first batch of trick-or-treaters that come, we'll bring them over."
"See if Teddy's coming," Patch called out as Melody rushed over to the front walk. She recognized a pair of boys receiving cookies from Mrs. Barrington. The first was dressed in a cowboy outfit, complete with spurs and and a ten-gallon hat while the other had on a native's headdress made of feathers along with a matching grass skirt.
"Oh, hey Melody!" the cowboy called to her.
"Dandy! Buddy!" Melody greeted them. "How'd you like to prove how brave you are?"
"What do you mean?" Buddy asked her while adjusting his feathered hat.
"Well, rumor has it that the shack over there" — she pointed over to the clubhouse with her hoof — "is haunted."
"Haunted?" Buddy and Dandy each spoke in a disbelieving tone and rolled their eyes.
"This I gotta see," Dandy said, giving his cowboy hat a twist.
"Me, too," Buddy agreed and the two boys walked over to the clubhouse. They stopped when they saw Sweetheart in front of the clubhouse.
"I wouldn't go in here if I were you," Sweetheart warned them.
Dandy chuckled and said, "I don't see what's so scary about this place."
"No, really, I-I wouldn't," Sweetheart said, trying a more serious tone.
"Come on, Sweetheart," Buddy sighed. "Let us through."
"Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you," Sweetheart said, stepping aside.
"This will be a cinch!" Dandy told Buddy and the two walked inside the clubhouse, closing the door behind them.
"Wow, Sweetheart!" Logan complimented her as he approached her side. "That was really good acting!"
Sweetheart shook her head. "I wasn't acting. I'm really, truly afraid that this haunted house is a bad idea."
"This is just a warm-up," Melody explained, reuniting with the group. "Patch is in there with my tape player. Listen, she'll turn it on any moment."
Once Melody stopped talking, the creepy music from the Rockin' Beats echoed from inside the clubhouse. Sweetheart put an ear to the door and listened for any conversation between Dandy and Buddy. She heard nothing until a pair of shouts found their way to Sweetheart's ear.
"Oh no!" Sweetheart gasped. She flung the door open and froze when she saw Buddy and Dandy on the hardwood floor...laughing?
"Okay, I admit!" Buddy chuckled as Patch emerged from the curtains she used to cover herself. "You got us, Patch!"
"Yeah, you sure did!" Dandy also conceded.
Sweetheart began to smile and even chuckled when the two boys crossed her path and walked away from the clubhouse. Maybe Teddy getting a good scare won't be such a bad thing, she thought to herself.
"Look!" Logan pointed his hoof to the front lawn again. "Dad's getting some more trick-or-treaters."
"I'll bring them here," Melody told him before turning to Patch. "Go back in and rewind the tape."
"Sounds like a plan to me," Patch said, walking inside the clubhouse.
Logan watched as Melody brought over three more skeptical costumed girl ponies over to the clubhouse. Before long, a third group of trick-or-treaters came over and Logan trotted over to the front walk to direct them as well. He darted his head when some frightened screams erupted from the clubhouse which later turned into relieved laughter, drawing the third group in closer for the ride ahead of them.
"Your father sure did a great job on that house," Mrs. Barrington spoke to Logan.
"Sure did," he replied. "Have you seen the rest of the girls, yet?"
"I think they're coming right now," his mother said.
Logan turned around and grinned when he saw the other four ponies marching down the front walk, each of them with a pail of candy hanging from their costumes. Starlight wore a purple wizard's robe and hat while Bright Eyes was dressed in an archaeologist's outfit, complete with a pith helmet. Clover brought up the rear in her mummy costume until Bon Bon in her baker's outfit dropped her empty pail which rattled on the pavement.
"You ate your candy already, Bon Bon?" Clover exclaimed.
"I was hungry," Bon Bon sighed.
"What about the cookies?" Logan asked.
"Don't worry, those are safe," Bright Eyes said.
"I dropped them off with Mrs. Barrington before we went trick-or-treating," Bon Bon confirmed.
"They love the haunted house, you guys," Logan beamed. "It's a big hit!"
"What did your dad put in there?" Starlight wanted to know.
"Oh, the usual stuff," Logan answered. "Plastic skeletons, cobwebs, boarded-up windows and—" Logan's eyes widened as he looked down at the ground where the girls stood. "Snakes!" he interjected.
"How can snakes be scarier than ghosts?" Clover asked.
"No," Logan corrected. "There's a snake on the sidewalk!"
The four girls looked down and screamed at the ten-foot long snake sprawled across the sidewalk and around their hooves. The ponies danced around the creature before they all cantered down the walk towards the Barrington residence. Mrs. Barrington heard the commotion and opened the door only for the four girls to rush past her. Only after taking shelter behind a sofa, did their ears perk at boyish laughter from beyond the front door.
"Teddy!" Starlight growled, motioning a hoof to her three friends. Outside, Logan gave a disapproving stare at the prankster himself and was soon joined by the four girls. Teddy, dressed in his vampire outfit, cackled while rolling on the grass, his eyes full of tears.
"That wasn't funny, Teddy!" Bright Eyes yelled.
"If it's not funny, then why am I laughing?" Teddy asked before letting out another round of guffaws.
The girls and Logan looked at each other, sharing the same unconvinced stare and shrugged at the same time.
"You, too?" another boy called to them. The girls and Logan looked at the fence and saw Lancer in a butler's outfit waving to them along with Ace dressed in a soccer uniform by his side. The two boys met up with the rest of the group as Teddy finally recovered from his laughing fit, wiping tears with his cape.
"Come on, Lance," Teddy said. "That has to be the best prank I ever pulled. Did you see the girls running away?"
"I didn't miss a thing," Lancer deadpanned.
"All right, Teddy," Starlight addressed him. "Now, it's our turn."
"Your turn?" Teddy asked. "You'll never scare me, not even on Halloween."
"Is that so?" Bright Eyes asked. "Why don't you follow us? We have a surprise for you."
"Oh-ho!" Teddy chuckled. "I can't wait to see it."
"Neither can we," Bon Bon said, a wicked smile forming on her lips.
Teddy followed the girls and Logan around the lawn to the clubhouse with Ace and Lancer following close by. Teddy took one look at the decorated, dilapidated house and a lump slithered down his throat.
"What's the matter, Teddy?" Melody taunted, leaning in on his left side.
"Yeah, are you scared?" Patch asked him.
"N-no I'm not!" Teddy insisted. "I was just, uh, seeing what kind of ghosts would live here."
"Why don't you find out?" Bright Eyes asked.
"Unless you're chicken," Bon Bon said.
"Teddy," Sweetheart told him, "you really truly don't have to go in if you don't want to."
"I-I just don't want to go alone!" Teddy exclaimed.
"Okay, fine." Lancer stepped up. "I'll go in with you, Teddy."
"Thanks," Teddy said as he opened the clubhouse door.
After the two ponies walked inside, Starlight closed the door after him and started giggling. All of her friends, except for Sweetheart, followed suit.
"So, what happens now?" Bright Eyes asked.
"Me and Patch planned everything," Melody boasted. "I've got my tape deck in there playing spooky music and when they least expect it, Patch will jump out and scare Teddy!" She started laughing but slowed to a halt when she saw her friends watching her with hanging mouths and raised eyebrows. "What's the matter?" she asked.
"Melody," Logan said, pointing to his left. "How can Patch be in the clubhouse if she's standing right next to me?"
Melody's eyes widened at Patch who in turn gasped. She counted nine ponies with her hoof—herself, six friends, Logan and Ace—and shook her head which blossomed into a full-fledged a double take. "Someone else must have gone in?" she reasoned out of thin air.
"Everyone, listen!" Starlight shouted, putting a hoof to her ear.
"Melody! It's your tape deck!" Bright Eyes yelled, her voice quivering.
"It's probably just Teddy trying to scare us," Melody said.
Just then, the ponies heard a pair of blood-curdling screams from inside the house. The door flung open and Lancer bolted out of the house with Teddy hot on his tail. They each took shelter behind a tree and leaned their backs against it while catching their breath. Ace, Logan and the girls gathered around the duo whose faces had become whiter than vanilla ice cream.
"Are you two all right?" Sweetheart asked, once she thought they had calmed down enough to speak.
"Sweetheart," Teddy squeaked. "That place really is haunted!"
The girls' reactions ranged from gasps to screams of terror.
"Oh no!" Logan yelped.
"Tell us what you saw," Ace said.
"We didn't see a whole lot 'cause it was so dark," Lancer said. "But Teddy and I heard some squeaking from under the table."
"Was it a mouse?" Bon Bon asked.
"Didn't sound like it," Teddy said, shaking his head. "There was also some music, too, but it played really fast."
"My tape player hasn't done that before!" Melody exclaimed.
"Wait, that was yours?" Lancer asked.
"Yeah," Melody confirmed. "So, you're saying it went off on its own?"
"I didn't know it was even in there," Teddy told her.
"So, why'd you run out?" Patch said. "I was supposed to be in there with the tape player."
"Teddy said he felt something brush against his hoof," Lancer explained. "He thought it was my leg until we saw them."
"S-s-saw what?" Clover asked.
"The ghosts!" Teddy shouted.
"Ghosts!?" Sweetheart gasped.
Teddy nodded. "They knocked over a chair and crawled over to get us!"
"But my dad decorated the house himself!" Logan yelled. "There's no way it could really be haunted."
"Unless he found some ghosts on call," Melody said.
"There's only one thing to do," Starlight addressed the group. "We have to take back what's ours!"
"Are you crazy, Starlight?" Teddy shouted. "I'm not going back in there!"
"Teddy, that place just so happens to be our clubhouse," Clover said. "We're not going to let a couple of ghosts kick us out."
"Clover's right," Bon Bon agreed. "Where else are we going to have our tea parties?"
"Let's show those ghosts what we're made of!" Bright Eyes exclaimed.
"Yes, let's," Lancer said, wobbling back on all fours to join Bright Eyes. "With all of us going in, they'll be outnumbered."
Teddy looked on with widened eyes as the rest of the ponies walked back to the clubhouse. He had not realized one of the girls was missing until he turned around and saw Sweetheart standing over him.
"I'll go in if you go with me," she said, extending a hoof.
Teddy hesitated and backed his head away, letting out a whimper that only Sweetheart could hear. Teddy then noticed that her smile never left her face so with confidence coursing through his veins, he also smiled back at her.
"Let's go," he said, and the two began the trip back to the clubhouse.
Starlight peeked inside the door with her friends gathered around her in anticipation. She moved her head around the room from the cobwebs and sheets Mr. Barrington hanged from the ceiling to the mass of curtains piled up on the floor to the chairs spread across the room, some of them knocked over.
"I don't hear the music anymore," Bright Eyes said.
"Those ghosts owe me a new tape player if they wreck it," Melody threatened.
"Melody, your tape player is the least of our worries," Starlight told her. "We'd better find that ghost before it finds us!"
"Well, we can't do that if we're standing outside, can we?" Ace asked.
"Everyone, follow me!" Starlight said, turning to the group and moving her hoof forward. All eleven ponies bumped into each other, exchanging apologies as they crowded inside the cramped clubhouse. The place was darker than a tomb and filled with the breathing of nervous ponies as they looked around.
"Okay, ghosts," Patch called. "Show yourselves!"
The other ponies in the clubhouse gasped.
"Patch, what are you doing?" Sweetheart cried.
"I figure we should lure them out if we're ever going to catch them," Patch said.
"Let's check around our table," Starlight suggested. She, Bright Eyes and Lancer walked toward the left side of the table while Logan, Melody and Bon Bon made a bee line to the opposite side. Before any of the six could discover what was on the other side, a sudden blare of high-pitched squeaky music swelled from underneath the table. All the ponies in the room hit the dirt, more than half of them screaming.
"What's that noise!?" Teddy hollered over the racket.
"Sounds like my tape player!" Melody called to him.
"Your what?" Sweetheart shouted.
Melody ducked under the table and crawled until she pushed her muzzle against something hard. She put hoof over the object she disturbed and, realizing it was hers, snatched it and jammed one of its buttons. At once, the dreadful music stopped and Melody carried her tape player out from underneath the table.
"At least we found the source of that dreadful music," Bright Eyes said.
Melody cleared her throat.
"She didn't mean it that way," Starlight explained.
"Patch, you must have left Melody's tape player on after you left the clubhouse," Clover said.
Patch shook her head. "No, I didn't! I wouldn't leave it on like that. Besides, we never found the ghosts Teddy and Lancer saw."
Teddy pleaded his case. "We're not making it up!"
"Yeah!" Lancer yelled. "They were two little ghosts just like those!"
"Those!?" Bon Bon exclaimed. "You mean they're—"
Bon Bon never finished her sentence with the entire clubhouse dropping into a chilling silence. Every pony looked down in the direction of Lancer's outstretched fore hoof at two lumps moving across the floor.
"Ghosts!" Logan screamed.
The ponies, rattled by his cry, made a mad dash to the exit, tripping and falling over each other. Clover reached for the doorknob and tried pulling it in while the rest of the ponies wiggled their way out of the dog-pile.
"Hurry, Clover!" Melody pleaded. "They're getting closer!"
Some of the ponies cowered in fear and others sought refuge in their costumes as the mysterious lumps slithered closer to them. One of the lumps bumped into a chair that fell over while the other directed it around but got stuck. In its attempt to pull free, the lump's cover came off.
"Boo!"
The ponies froze in their tracks with Clover letting go of the knob. They slowly turned their heads until every one of them saw exactly what was underneath the lump that made them panic.
"Jing-a-Ling?" chorused the eleven ponies together.
Melody's little sister finished unwrapping herself from the curtain she hid underneath and waved to the stunned ponies. She crawled over to the other curtain on the floor and started tugging on it.
"And Ting-a-Ling!" Ting-a-Ling beamed, also waving as her sister tossed the curtain to the side.
"Gotcha!" the two sisters sang together and broke into a full-fledged laughing fit.
"You!" Melody shouted when she found the courage to speak. "You two scared us half to death!"
Jing-a-Ling and Ting-a-Ling suddenly frowned and walked closer to the rest of the group. "We sorry," they apologized together.
"Yeah, Melody," Patch told her. "They were only having fun."
"I guess you're right," Melody said. "We were, too, when we set this haunted house up."
"Hate to admit it," Starlight said with a nervous giggle, "but your sisters really got us."
"They really tricked us into believing our clubhouse was haunted," Sweetheart added.
"But how did they get the tape player to speed the music up?" Ace questioned.
"Let me have a look," Melody said as she picked up the cassette player. She pushed the play button which emitted the high-pitched Rockin' Beats music before she ran her hoof over the other buttons. "Ah, here's the problem," she observed. "If you hold the fast forward button while it plays, it goes at double speed." Melody stopped the tape which released the fast forward button. Then, she pushed play and let her music go at normal speed.
"Jing-a-Ling and Ting-a-Ling must have been doing that while we were in the clubhouse," Lancer guessed.
"And they must have sneaked inside when they saw me pretending to be a ghost," Patch added.
"I thought you were watching over them," Sweetheart told Melody.
"They're here now, safe and sound," Melody said, reaching over to hug her sisters. "That's all that matters."
"But how come we couldn't get out?" Bright Eyes asked.
Clover blushed as she turned the knob and pushed the door. "I forgot the door opens out, not in."
"It's okay, Clover," Starlight said. "That could happen to anyone."
"Well, that was fun," Teddy said as he marched to the door. "C'mon Ace, c'mon Lancer, let's see if Ms. Hackney still has those full-size candy bars!"
"Not so fast!" Melody called out to him. "Admit it, Teddy. You were scared."
"You girls didn't scare me!" Teddy shot back. "Jing-a-Ling and Ting-a-Ling did!"
"But they're girls, aren't they?" Lancer reminded him.
"Come on, Lancer!" Teddy shouted. "You were scared, too!"
"He didn't want to go here in the first place, remember?" Patch asked her.
Teddy clenched his teeth and let out a cross between a scream and a growl. "You girls make me sick! I'm going home!" he yelled as he reached for the doorknob. He faced the girls, Ace and Lancer as he rattled the knob and pushed the door open. He then turned to head outside but froze in his tracks when he saw a pony dressed in black blocking his path. Teddy's eyes averted from her face and shifted to what appeared to be a wooden stake she held with one hoof.
"Yipe!" Teddy cried and cowered inside his cape. The rest of the ponies in the clubhouse rolled with laughter as the pony outside removed her mask. Teddy removed the cape with one hoof and glowered at the girls when the pony showed her face.
"You should have seen your face when my mom scared you!" Logan yelled over he roaring laughter.
Teddy's face turned an even deeper red as he looked towards Mrs. Barrington. What he thought was a wooden stake was actually a plate of Bon Bon's cookies which she brought inside the clubhouse.
"Sorry, Teddy," she apologized.
"It's okay, Mrs. Barrington," Teddy said, giving her a chuckle. "Guess I'm not as brave as I thought."
"I thought you were brave coming into the clubhouse with me," Sweetheart said, smiling at him.
"Y-you really think so?" Teddy asked.
Sweetheart nodded. "Really, truly," she replied.
"Thanks, Sweetheart," Teddy answered, blushing.
"Here, my little ponies!" Mrs. Barrington called, setting the plate on the table. "I've brought some of Bon Bon's cookies, dig in!"
The ponies picked up the chairs scattered around the table and gathered around the share the treats. Melody helped her sisters up on the table and broke a cookie in half for the two of them to enjoy. All the ponies exclaimed with delight as they munched on their cookies.
"How was your first Halloween here?" Starlight asked Logan.
"So far so good!" Logan replied. "I can't wait for next year already!"