Ch.2: Origin of the Headless Horse
A short while later, Applejack came into the sitting room/library with Granny Smith. When the elderly Pony heard about Discord's haunted house situation, she agreed to come over despite the rumored estate. After all, Discord's been such a dear to her with his helping with the baking while Applejack's out, and she's quite fond of "that darn rascal".
The sitting room library has been decorated as well for the party: cobwebs on the bookshelves; orange streamers with paper lanterns bearing the silhouettes of Nightmare Moon; and some black bat decorations that seem to be flapping their wings all by themselves.
"Hi, Granny!" Pinkie said, waving to the two Earth Ponies from the cushions that Discord had provided for them on the large red carpet by the chocolate-bar fireplace with its white fire. "You're just in time; Discord brought us snacks!"
Discord has indeed brought them snacks, samples for the food he's serving for his party. He has also made some tea for Fluttershy, Rarity, and Granny Smith (herbal peppermint, to be precise). Applejack then helped her grandmother settle down onto a pale green cushion as Discord then poured her a cup.
"Thanks for coming over, Granny Smith," he then said to her as Fluttershy then took the cup over to the older Pony. "Applejack and the girls told me that since you've been here since Ponyville was founded, so I figured you might know more about this place more than they do."
"Ah, I see they've told you about yer new home," she replied with a nod before taking a sip of the refreshing drink. "Well, I have heard the story behind this old place from my grandfather Apple Plump. He knows the story 'bout the Headless Horse as well because he knew him before his unfortunate demise." Everyone's eyes went wide at those words.
"WHAT?! Granny, ya never told me that!" Applejack stated with shock.
"Well, I didn't wanna scare ya," her grandmother explained. "You were 'round Apple Bloom's age back then."
"Oh…"
"Sooo…what can you tell us about what your grandfather told you about the Headless Horse?" asked Rainbow, obviously psyched about this connection between the Apple Family and the feared legend.
"Well, before he came to be the Headless Horse, that feller was once a Unicorn knight in Princess Celestia's Royal Guard," the pale green Pony answered. "His name was Midnight Gallop, and he was very heroic indeed.
"There were many stories 'bout Midnight Gallop. Some say he gallops through the streets of Canterlot at night, hunting for villainous Ponies wanting to do harm to the innocent. Some say that he uses his horn as a weapon rather than a sword. Others say that he had an interest in the supernatural due to unexplained encounters his father and grandfather before him had in their time.
"My grandfather knew Sir Midnight cuz he saved him from some bandits attempting to jump him. As I said before, he was always there to help the innocent.
"Anyway, Sir Midnight lived in this very estate which lives on the outskirts of what would come to be Ponyville. And he loved Nightmare Night as much as anypony else here. In fact, every Nightmare Night, he held a party here and invited friends and family, old and new, to join in the festivities with him. Everypony back at his time agreed that he held the best Nightmare Night parties." Granny's smile then became a frown. "Then that fateful night came…"
"What happened?" Rarity asked, not feeling up to finishing her strawberry-rose tart, as she was too engrossed into the story.
"It was around twenty to thirty years before my family first settled into what would later be Ponyville," the elder Pony answered, "Nightmare Night exactly. Sir Midnight left the party and his manor to get some fresh air and stood by the lone tree by the lake to view its beauty under the harvest moon. One of the guests who learned that information went out to fetch him in time for their ghost storytelling get-together…only to witness another Pony with him swing his axe and…" Granny then dragged her hoof across her throat with a cutting noise in her throat, making their faces turn pale.
"He chopped his head off?!" Twilight cried, her hooves on her own throat. Granny nodded in answer.
"Spike, you have the rest of this," Discord said, handing the little dragon his half-eaten apple fritter with a pale face. "I lost my appetite all of a sudden." Granny just continued:
"The witness stated that the murderer was her former fiancé with whom she broke off the engagement due to his insane obsession with her. When they caught him, he admitted like a maniac that he did murder Sir Midnight because he accused him of stealing away his fiancée. He also claimed that the headless body never fell to the ground but reared up with rage at its murderer before galloping away into the night. Some say he is insane as his former fiancée said. However, it's possible that Sir Midnight used his Unicorn magic to conjure up a dark magic spell at the last minute to make him immortal even without his head. Either way, they never found the body or the head.
"And that was how the Headless Horse came to be." Granny then sipped her tea.
"Wh-Wh-Whatever happened t-t-to the head?" Spike asked, the fritter shaking in his claws.
"No one knows," Granny answered with a slight shrug. "Some say it flew and landed into the very center of the lake when it was slashed off. Others say the murderer took it away and hid it somewhere where the Headless Horse could never find it. Either way, legend says every Nightmare Night, the Headless Head would come galloping to the lone tree by the lake, searching for it in vain. And they say that if anypony is there, it will steal him away to use his head as a temporary replacement until its real head is found…"
SNAP! CRACKLE! "AAUUGH!" Everypony but Granny cried out at the noise that came out of the fire. But upon noticing that it was only the fire, they chuckled at how silly they were acting.
"I need another drink," Discord sighed, pouring himself another glass of apple cider. "Of course, it's just something that nutcase made up, right?"
"Some believe so, but he kept on claiming it's the truth," Granny answered. "Those who didn't believe him think he's driven mad by losing his fiancée."
"Judging by your question," Rarity then asked, "I take it this ghost story about your new home doesn't affect you so badly, Discord?"
"Well, it did frighten me a little, but Nightmare Night is about ghost stories and other spooky stuff," Discord answered with a sip of his cider. "Even Pinkie Pie here knows that it's fun to get scared on Nightmare Night. And even a smart Pony like Twilight knows that there are no such things as ghosts and that there's always a logical explanation for these sort of things."
"Yeah, but that's only because she's too ignorant to pay attention to what's outside her own books," Spike grumbled, wincing when Twilight shot him a seething glare.
"Spike, one more comment like that, and no gems for a week!"
"He does have a point, Twilight," Applejack stated. "Remember that Timber Wolf incident? You were so into your studying that ya didn't react when he told ya he owed me one fer savin' his life, and ya didn't even stop 'im from—"
"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT! I GET IT! I NEED TO PAY LESS ATTENTION TO MY BOOKS!"
"Anyway, I can't let this Headless Horse, real or not, stop me from holding my party," Discord stated before bringing out a mailbag stuffed with letters. "I just got all these RSVPs from Derpy before you got here, all of them saying yes." Pinkie's eyes went wide with delight.
"They're really coming?"
"Of course, they are," he chuckled, showing them the RSVPs. "Cheerilee and the kids seemed extra excited."
"Probably from hearing that you're living with a spooky legend," Rainbow laughed before a thought came to her. "Wait, you're not inviting Diamond Tiara, are you?"
"Why not?" he answered with a slight shrug. "It seems only fair."
"But aren't you still in a bit of trouble with her?" asked Rarity.
"What trouble?" asked Twilight. Before Discord could answer her, one of his decorations, a red paper bat, fluttered over to him and squeaked into his ear. He then smiled when he understood and stood up from his tall red chair.
"They're here."
"Who?" asked Fluttershy.
"Hello, Fluttershy," a small but familiar voice greeted her. She turned with surprise, and there fluttering before her was her little Breezie friend.
"Seabreeze!" she gasped before giving him the tiniest hug she could muster. The Ponies then saw that with him are their other friends responsible for giving them their Keys of Harmony: Cheese Sandwich; Coco Pommel; Spitfire; and Silver Shill.
"CHEESE!" Pinkie cried, tackling him with a hug. "Oh, I've missed you so much!" Twilight then turned to Discord with a smile as the others went to greet the new guests whom they have not seen for quite some time.
"You've invited them over here, huh?"
"I just want my first Nightmare Night to be wonderful for everypony," he stated before giving her a sly smirk. "Besides, I couldn't help but get the nagging feeling that Cheese has it bad for Pinkie…if you know what I mean~"
