//------------------------------// // What a Fright // Story: Sunny Knight: a Pony's Tale // by TheothersideofSunny968 //------------------------------// "I can't believe what I'm seeing" Sunny commented, stared wide eyed at the unwrapped gift from Rarity, frozen in place from shock and awe. "I know" Twilight commented, walking all around it to get a better view. "Rarity really outdid herself with this one. I mean, she mades the mannequins in her shop, but this.... This is like, amazing!" Twilight and Sunny were idolizing Rarity's gift to Sunny that he had just unwrapped. Before the two magic users stood a life sized, wooden, pony marionette. It was a complete duplicate of the one that was sent to Twilight from Canterlot, but Rarity had made this one herself. All joints had 360 degree flexibility, hinged jaws, the wood was sturdy, and the metal hinges Sunny recognized from the hardware stores in Canterlot. "That explains why we went inside the hardware stores when we went to Canterlot" Sunny commented, lifting up one of it's legs and putting it back down. Twilight levitated a spell book over to Sunny, with the pages opened up to a section she marked with a sticky note. "I came across a spell a while back that was originally meant for it." Deviant grins spread across both of their muzzles, but Sunny was the first to speak. "Think we'll have enough time to learn and practice it before Nightmare night?" "I think we just might" Twilight replied, the gears in her head beginning to turn. "Would you mind if I used it to prank Rainbow Dash? I owe her after what she pulled last year." Sunny smiled and bowed, motioning to the wooden pony with a hoof. "Be my guest. Just so long as I get to use him to get Applejack and Big Mac. I've never seen those two scared from a prank before." "That will be a first for me too. Oh! I have just the perfect costume for it too!" Twilight then galloped over to her closet and pulled out a black cloak with purple trimming. "This was accidentally sent over in a box from my brother. I think it was his. This would be perfect!" "Hey, speaking of costumes, what are you going as this year?" Sunny asked, trying to get an idea from Twilight for his own costume. "Well I was planning on going as Queen Chrysalis...." Twilight trailed off, feeling slightly awkward. She planned the costume long before Sunny and her friends had another run in with the Changeling queen. But now it seemed in bad taste. "Really?" Sunny sounded surprised and intrigued. "Holes in hooves and all?" Twilight began to lighten up a bit. "The hard part wasn't the holes in her hooves and wings" se began. "It was the voice changing spell I had a hard time with. But... It won't bother you will it?" "No, why?" Sunny asked, positioning the black cloak on the puppet, happy that it seemed to fit like a glove. "Well.... You know, with the whole 'Custard' thing...." Twilight gradually lead into it. "Oh don't worry about that, Twilight" Sunny smiled at his alicorn friend. "Just as long as you don't dress up as King-" "Da-da-da da-da!" Spike called out and burst through the library doors, he had put on his Nightmare night costume early to show off to Sunny. "All will fear the wrath of there frightening King Sombra!" Sunny and Twilight started at the little dragon as he stood there, like a miniature version of the evil shadow King. They both were very surprised at how accurate his costume was to the real thing. The grey face paint and crazy black wig really pulled the whole thing together. If it had been any other pony, Sunny would have felt uncomfortable. But seeing Spike as a bipedal, mini version of the villainous King, was priceless. "So what do you think?" Spike asked the two ponies, a little confused by their silence. To his surprise Sunny replied first. "Best King Sombra costume. Ever. Of all time." He smiled at the little dragon and held out a hoof for a hoof bump, to which the little King lookalike met with a dragon fist. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SJMizrTFiFo Although Nightmare night was just tomorrow night, and Applejack couldn't wait to have ton of fun with her friends, and even Sunny, her mind was fare from being at ease. She stood at one end of an orchard looking at another thrashed area. She ran her hoof over a tree that had been clawed and maimed. "Them wolves are back, eh?" Granny commented, breaking Applejack out of her trance. "Yeah, it seems like it" Applejack replied, worry hanging heavily in her tone. "It's gotten so bad, ah started havin' horrible nightmares 'bout them destroying th' orchard... Has this ever happen befor' Granny?" Granny Smith approached a destroyed apple tree and put her hoof to it, a forlorn look washed over her muzzle. "Ah've never seen anything like this before. And ah was th' first ta ever run into them wolves." "Ah wonder was caused them to act like this?" Applejack asked, stepping beside her grandmother. "Granted, for the past week, it seems th' damages has just been done bah' one lone feller, but still..." "How do ya figure just one of them varmints be doin this?" Granny asked, raising a brow to her eldest granddaughter as she rubbed her chin. Applejack then motioned to the ground. "One set of prints, darting from tree ta tree. Then they disappear. We placed ah spell that Twilight was able ta cook up, not one of them wolves should be able ta get into th' orchard..." "Well, we'll deal with it later" Granny commented. "But right now, we still need ta get ready fer Nightmare night. Do ya have a costume yet, Applejack?" The change of subject seemed to take Applejack's mind of things a little. "Sure do! Wait till ya see it! Ah wonder what Sunny's goin' as..." -Rarity's boutique- "Marvelous! Simply magnificent!" Rarity commented as she circled Sunny, who stood on a small podium surrounded by mirrors. "Rarity, you are a genius." "Ugh, not to sound ungrateful, Rarity..." Sunny ask looking back at the mare who was gawking at her own work. "But... What am I supposed to be again?" "Why darling, don't tell me you haven't heard of the play 'the Phantom of the opera'!" The fashionista gasped. "It's only one of the most popular plays in both Canterlot and Manehatten! I even hear that it's one of Princess Luna's personal favorites." Sunny had been dressed in what looked like former attire from a hundred years or so ago. A button up shirt, with long frilly sleeves and collar. A red silk vest over that, but most of it was covered by a black silk cloak with silver trimming. And the piece that separated It from being a vampony costume (other then the missing fangs ) was a white, half mask that seemed to mold to Sunny's muzzle. To be honest, Sunny kinda liked the mask itself. He just wished he knew more about the character he was portraying. Maybe Twilight had a copy of the play in her library. "Do you not like it?" Rarity nervously asked as she began running other possible outfits through her mind. "No no, i love it" Sunny honestly told his white unicorn friend. "Especially the mask and cape." The yellow unicorn then pulled the cape over, converting the lower half of his muzzle as he glared over his cape covered leg at the mirror. To Rarity's surprise, the stallion did truly look evil and deviant, much like the actual Phntom from the play. "I'm so glad you like it! Truly! It seems to really suit you! Not that you are some evil mastermind, but still, you play the part well." "Well when I heard that you were the one who helped Spike with his costume, I had to come and see what you might have for a stallion like me." Sunny commented, hopping down from the protium. "Oh it's my pleasure, Darling" Rarity sang. "Now, would you care for a preview of my own costume?" "I would love to!" Sunny said enthusiastically as Rarity entered into one of her changing rooms. Sunny spoke to rarity through the door, hoping it wouldn't bother the fashionista or distract her too much. "This whole night sounds like a lot of fun! Dressing up in costumes, passing out candy, eating some yourself, games, music, a costume contest, and staying out most of the night. It just sounds like so much fun!" "Oh it is, darling!" Rarity chimed in from behind the changing room door. "I read about the first time Princess Luna attended the year after she returned" Sunny commented. "It was... Touching." "It was indeed" Rarity commented, not thinking about where the stallion had read about such an event. It wasn't recent enough to be in the paper, but not so momentous as to be added to a history book, as of yet anyway. But she was more preoccupied with making her costume obey her will. And a moment later she was ready. "What do you think, darling?" Sunny turned his head to the dressing room door as Rarity stepped out, and struck a pose in her costume. Sunny, was honestly speechless. It was unlike anything he had ever seen. "What...." "I was inspired by a book Twilight leant me" the fashionista said as she began to do a catwalk. Her costume seemed to be a type of light weight armor that covered almost everything on Rarity, say for her face. She looked like she was made of tin or something. "The book was about something called an 'android', a robot in pony form. She was made to sit upon a thrown that stood above the clouds of a great city of lights, glamor, and elegance. Oh! And watch this!" Rarity's horn began to glow with a light blue aura as she began to cast a spell. Whatever she did, Sunny wanted to learn it. Her outfit began to glow the same color of light blue in the sections where her joints were, even after she stopped channeling magic from her horn, giving Rarity more of an 'elegant' machine feel. "Wow Rarity, I don't know what you were last year, but I'm willing to guess this one blows it out of the water!" Sunny complemented the fashionista. She lightly laughed at his competent, "why thank you dear. So do you know what Applejack is going as this year?" -Applejack's bedroom- Applejack struck a pose in front of her mirror, feeling proud and confident about her costume. She had talked to Twilight about what she should go as, wanting to go as somepony or something that would impress Sunny. From a small list Twilight compiled, Applejack liked the idea of this one the best. Swif-Strike the Bold! Who was a worrier mare from the early days of Equestria. The farm pony was dressed in a half suit of armor, mainly consisting of leg guards, a long sword (replica) that she wore on her back, and her mane and tail tied nearly up in a braided ponytail. From what Twilight told her, when she was teaching Sunny about the history of the first great Gryffin war, he seemed highly interested in this mare. Saying that she must have been increasingly brave to have seen it fit to only wear hoof guards. Twilight explained that the mare wasn't afraid of minor scratched received in battle, and that she actually presented her battle scares with pride. The yellow stallion found it very interesting. Which is why Applejack went to Twilight not only to get the costume just right, but also for help on what to do about the scars. Twilight helped Applejack make a putty like mixture that when applied to one's coat, would look and reflect just like a scar. Just as Applejack began to apply the putty, an oh too familiar mare burst through her bedroom window. "Hey AJ! You ready yet?" Rainbow asked, appearing to be glowing bright green all over. Applejack paused to get a good look at her normally colorful friend. She didn't know what the daredevil pegasus was planning, but she had covered up all of her natural coloring with some kind of green, glowing paint. The only things that weren't glowing green on her were her white eyes, teeth, and her irises, which were now recolored by red contact lenses. "Yeah, pretty cold, right?" Rainbow asked, feeling more and more confident about her work. "Bet ya can't wait for the show! I'm going to knock the crowd dead!" That was right, Applejack almost forgot that Rainbow along with Twilight and Pinkie were going to put on a show tonight after the fillies and colts returned from making their offering. Applejack smiled at her glowing friend. "It'll be a real show stopper, ah bet." "You bet right!" Rainbow smirked. "Now hurry up! The rest of the gang is on their way to town square!" With that, the normally cyan colored mare zoomed back out the window and into the night, leaving a slight glowing mist behind. Applejack was taking one last look in the mirror to make sure everything looked right. She normally didn't prep this much, but she really wanted to catch the eye of a certain yellow unicorn. The farm pony was so distracted, that she didn't notice the green smoke that traveled from the waterhole to her bedroom so many nights ago had begun to fill the room again. The green mist had traveled far in search of the one that it marked back when it still had claws of wood. The plan was to infect him, to take him over. But something prevented the green mist from doing so. As if the stallion was protected by an invisible barrier. Rather then dissipate into nothing, the mist found another suitable host occupying the room next door. One that could cause just as much pain to the yellow unicorn, if not more. As Applejack smiled once more in the mirror and was about to leave her room, when she fell to the ground, a pain shooting throughout her entire body. One that she had been experiencing night after night as she slept, as the moon rose into position. The room seemed to darken as Applejack's body began to shift. Her teeth began to grow long and sharp, her mane flung out into a wild bunch, wooden claws began to grow from the ends of her hooves, her normally bright orange coat began to grow darker and darker, and finally, as the freckled farm pony looked back into the mirror, the pupal of her eyes changed to that of a predator, her green eyes glowing bright in the dark. Applejack's conscious mind now being suppressed by a primal instinct unfamiliar to the average pony. She then arched her back and howled loud enough to echo through all of Ponyville, sending a chill down everypony's back. Applejack, or Applewolf, the leaped from her bedroom windowsill on the second story of the farm house, down safely to the ground where she immediately broke into a sprint across the apple orchard and went strait for town square where it knew 'he' would be there. The cause of the whole mess.