| It was a crisp, foggy evening in the Haunted Woods. Batterflfies screeched and flew across the night sky, juxtaposed against the full moon.
“Are you excited to be Trick-or-Treating in the scariest place in all of Neopia?!” Hollis, the Blue Uni, asked. She was dressed in a sheet as a unicorn ghost.
“Um, y-yeah. I guess…” Filiberto, the Red Quiggle, replied nervously, his super hero cape floating in the wind behind him.
“Oh, don’t be nervous! We’ll get more treats than tricks. I’m sure of it!” the Uni said, galloping ahead of her friend. “Come on, let’s go to this house next!”
As Hollis continued full speed ahead, Filiberto chased after her.
“Wait! It looks like no one’s home. Let’s go to the next house!” the Quiggle cried, but the Uni was too fast.
Ahead of the pair was a decrepit old house with boarded up windows and only half of a door left hanging on its hinges. The roof was caving in and its shingles were hanging on for dear life. It seemed as if the concave shape of the roof made the building breathe as if it were alive.
Knock, knock, knock.
The Uni’s hooves rapped on the door. Just as Filiberto caught up to his friend, the broken door creaked open… |
Author: i_lovee_icecream
Date: Oct 27th
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"TRICK OR TREAT!" Hollis yelled as she adjusted her ghost sheet.
"Hollis, I don't think anyone's home," said Filiberto. "We should keep go-AGH! WHAT WAS THAT?!"
The Quiggle jumped twice his height before landing back on the ground, shaking, as his Uni friend laughed. She gestured to the webs surrounding the old door frame with her hoof.
"Relax, Fili, it was just a Spyderweb. The breeze must have blown it into you."
"O-ok, if you s-say so," he stammered, glancing around as the wind rippled both of their costumes. "Just the b-breeze..."
"Shhh! Did you hear that?" Hollis whispered, craning her neck to peek inside the house. "I think someone is inside!"
A creak came from the house, then another. The low groans of aging floorboards were unmistakable: someone, or something, was moving around in there. Filiberto gulped and turned to the street, ready to drag his friend along to the next house, and dropped his candy bucket. He couldn't see down the road, or even to the end of the broken fencing surrounding the old house. All he could see was thick, swirling fog.
He whimpered.
Hollis looked back at her friend and rolled her eyes. Then she realized he couldn't see her eyes under her sheet, so she knelt down and picked up his candy bucket, speaking gently to her nervous buddy.
"Come on, it's just fog! Let's see if there are any candles inside."
She put the handle of the bucket into his hands and stepped through the doorway before Filiberto could stop her. He took a deep breath and wiped his palms on his cape. Super Quiggle wouldn't be scared of an old house, so neither would he, right? That's what he told himself as he followed her inside...
| Author: dihybrid
Date: Oct 28th |
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... and the broken door immediately slammed shut behind them. The room was a victim to both time and abandonment: there was a chandelier overhead, now a skeleton of itself, with every crystal bead now replaced by a dangling Spyder egg sac. Portraits lined the walls, all their painted eyes scraped away and redrawn at odd angles in charcoal. The fireplace gaped like a missing tooth.
A single candle on a crooked table coughed to life with a green flame, spilling spastic shadows over a dusty candy bowl that read “TAKE ONE”. Hollis reached for the bowl, which suddenly read “TAKE NONE." She blinked furiously, rubbed her eyes, and opened them to see the sign had reverted back to its original listing. Filiberto clutched his bucket, while Hollis blamed the apparition on the dim lighting.
“Uh... trick or treat?” she implored.
The floorboards quickly responded with a slow creak, as if footsteps circled them from the walls themselves. The candle drifted off the table and bobbed down a hallway like it wanted to be followed. A lantern blinked awake along the wall, then another, until wisps of witch fire dotted the hallway in a path like breadcrumbs. Hollis nervously nudged Filiberto forward. He gulped, squared his cape like a real superhero, and took a step. A tiny voice from down the hallways dark piped up, cheerful and close: “Step forward if you will, but first..."
| Author: funny_haha_funny
Date: Oct 29th |
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"...answer my riddle."
"A riddle?" Filiberto blurted out without thinking. He tensed, as though expecting the little voice to retaliate. He looked at the path of fire marked before them, but didn't take another step.
"Every day, my outside is thrown away, while my inside is used. But on one night, my outside is used. What am I?"
Hollis blinked and tilted her head toward the Quiggle.
"Every day the inside is used, but on one night, it's the outside? What is it?"
"I don't know!" said Filiberto, twiddling his fingers. "I was thinking maybe something you peel or you unwrap, but when do you use the wrapper or the peel?" He paused and stared at the Uni. "Hollis...what do you think will happen if we get it wrong?"
"What, indeed?" the little disembodied voice interjected as though able to listen in to their conversation. "I guess you'll have to find out if you'll get a treat...or a trick." The last word seemed to end on a mischievous grin.
"The inside...the outside...the inside..." Hollis glanced at the wisps of fire, which continued to crackle merrily in front of them. She started to pace, stroking her chin. "The outside..."
Filiberto gasped. "A pumpkin!"
Hollis halted in her tracks. "A pumpkin? The insides of a pumpkin...but on Halloween night the outside is used for jack-o-lanterns...Filiberto, you're a genius!" The Uni jumped up and down in excitement.
"Very good," said the voice. "You solved the riddle. And now..."
| Author: precious_katuch14
Date: Oct 30th |
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“...I suppose I shall offer you candy, as tradition dictates. You’re polite trick-or-treaters, I’ll give you that. And clever too. But first… perhaps another riddle, if you dare...”
The witch fire lanterns brightened, illuminating more of the hallway ahead. Filiberto clutched his candy bucket tighter, his earlier triumph fading as uncertainty crept back in. The voice continued, still playful but with a hint of something else…
"I'm wrapped in green from head to toe, in Haunted Woods I make my home, I'm known by name but rarely seen, I tend the wild and growing things. Who am I?"
Hollis tilted her head, thinking hard. She glanced at Filiberto, who had gone very still, his eyes widening with realization.
Filiberto swallowed hard, his mind working through the clues. Wrapped in green... known by name but rarely seen... His mouth went dry as the pieces clicked into place. He'd heard stories whispered around Neopia about someone who lived hidden somewhere in these very woods. A mysterious Earth Faerie dressed in green who never left the forest. His voice came out as barely a whisper: "I-Ilere?"
The shadows at the end of the hallway shifted, and a figure began to materialize in the flickering green light. Large, glowing green eyes appeared first, followed by the silhouette of delicate, leaf-like wings. "Very good, little Quiggle," the voice said warmly. "You know your legends well."
She stepped fully into the light of the witch fire, and they could see her more clearly now; wild green hair, those luminous eyes studying them from within her dark green cloak with what seemed like genuine interest rather than menace. "Most who stumble upon my home flee the moment they realize who I am. But you two..." A small smile played at her lips. "You answered my riddles. You showed courage and wit." She paused, as if considering something. "For that, you deserve more than ordinary candy. Follow me, young ones, and I will give you treats worthy of this night, and perhaps a memory you'll carry far longer than any sweet…"
| Author: barrelchic22
Date: Oct 31st |
