“Ten bits say it’s a lecture of some kind.” Rainbow Dash said as she adjusted the grayscale wig that covered her namesake mane. Satisfied that her multihued mane was properly hidden she completed her Daring Doo costume she turned to face Applejack and Rarity. They were struggling to get Spike into the brown one piece that went with the timberwolf mask lying on the ground next to him, but the zipper had gotten stuck most of the way up, and, though the dragon would have never admitted it, he was a bit on the pudgy side. As a result, very little progress was being made.
“Any takers?”
“I’ll take ya up on that. Twilight’s been working on whatever this thing is since before Winter Wrap-up, and that mare don’t do things in half-measures.” Apple Jack drawled as she pressed on the baby dragon’s shoulders and Rarity tried to tug the costume up the whelp’s body to little effect.
“Darling, we need you to exhale and-“ Rarity began but was interrupted by Rainbow Dash darting in to practically stomp on the purple dragon’s belly and forcing every last bit of breath from the poor dragon’s lungs. Immediately the dragon slipped into the costume.
“Works every time.” Rainbow smirked and buffed a hoof on her chest, at least until she noticed the scowls on her friends’ faces as Spike struggled to recapture the wind that had been knocked out of him. “What? My dad used to use that trick with me whenever I got stuck in something.”
The other two ponies just shook their heads and turned their attention back to Spike who seemed to have mostly recovered from the incident. “Are you all right, sugar cube?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” Spike wheezed before climbing to his feet, “Where’s Pinkie? Shouldn’t she be here by now?”
“Yeah, I thought we were all going to meet up here at the Boutique so we could help each other out with our costumes before the party.” Rainbow said. Spike silently started counting down on his claws. When the last claw fell, the door to the boutique flew open and a green blur shot into the room.
“Did somebody say ‘Party’!?” Pinkie asked as she bounced up and down in the center of the boutique. The mouth of her full body Gummi suit flopped open and shut in time to her bouncing.
Rarity threw a red silk cloak over her shoulders and grabbed a picnic basket in her magic before grabbing Pinkie by the shoulders so she could get a good look at the hoof-stitched costume. “Pinkie, this costume has no buttons or zippers. How did you get in it?”
“The same way you get into any alligator, duh!” Pinkie replied with a laugh.
Rarity’s jaw worked silently as she stared at the hole in the gator’s mouth that was hardly big enough for Pinkie’s face to stick out of let alone to allow the entirety of her body to pass through. Finally the white unicorn decided it was best to not think to hard about it. This was Pinkie Pie after all. Rarity turned to Applejack who had slipped into a black outfit not unlike the one Twilight had worn when she broke into the Canterlot Library with Pinkie a couple years back. The earth pony was busy slipping her head into a very large apple carved like a jack o’ lantern. “Is that a real apple?”
“Would it matter if it was?”
Rarity nibbled on her lower lip as she debated the pros and cons of having a mane full of apple juice, but more importantly whether or not Apple Jack would care about any of that. Finally she sighed and decided to stop questioning the sensibility of her friends costumes.
Heading out the three ponies and baby dragon made their way between decorated stalls and around crowds of costumed ponies as they made their way across town to Twilight’s castle. As the castle came into sight, Apple Jack asked, “Hey, Spike, ya wouldn’t happen to know what Twilight has planned for us, would ya?”
“I wish, but she seems just as eager to keep me out of the loop as you guys. I did catch her laughing maniacally to herself the other day.” Spike said with a shrug. Apple Jack gave Spike a look that only lead to an even bigger shrug from the him as he added, “She does that sometimes. I’ve learned just to stay out of her way whenever she gets into those moods.”
As the group walked up the front steps of the Castle, the doors slowly opened with an eerie screech. A screech made much less eerie by the smiling alicorn standing in the brightly lit hall just beyond the doors.
“Twilight, why aren’t you wearing your costume?” Rainbow asked with a frown as she gestured to Twilight’s lack of adornment.
“Forget that! Where are all the decorations!?” Pinkie exclaimed as she shot past Twilight and gestured to the hall’s lack of adornment.
“I got a little behind schedule, if you’d believe it.” Twilight admitted with a sheepish smile, “But the throne room is mostly decorated for our party. I just need to grab some stuff from the downstairs pantry. We should be able to get it all in one trip if everybody pitches in. Then we can get down to the festivities.”
“We’d be glad to lend a hoof, Twi.” Apple Jack answered for everyone. Twilight smiled broadly and gestured for them to follow her as she led them down a narrow side passage that lead to a long stairway. Spike scratched his chin as he followed close behind Rarity. His eyes narrowed and he cleared his throat.
“I don’t remember there being a pantry down this way, Twi. Are you sure we are going down the right stairs?”
Twilight chuckled and gave the drake a dismissive wave as she replied, “It’s a recent addition. Which reminds me of something interesting I learned while reading Willow Wisp’s History of Horror: The Story of Nightmare Night! Did you know that Nightmare Night actually predates Nightmare Moon?”
Rainbow smirked and hovered over Apple Jack to jab her in the withers repeatedly with a hoof as she whispered, “Here we go.”
Twilight either didn’t hear or chose to ignore Rainbow as she rolled into full lecture mode. “The practices associated with this holiday actually originated during the Discord Era when the draconequus sent monsters into villages and towns all across Equestria demanding tribute in the form of either sweets or yearlings with the phrase, ‘Trick or treat, give us something sweet to eat!’”
“That’s simply awful!” Rarity commented which got a small nod of agreement from Twilight. Further back down the line Apple Jack’s patience had worn thin with Rainbow’s continued prodding and she reached back to swat at Rainbow.
“Do I look like I have any bits on me!?” She hissed as Rainbow dodged out of her reach.
“What was that Apple Jack?” Twilight asked, stopping suddenly and forcing the Rarity to pull up short or run into her flank.
“I was just a bit confused as to how something that horrible becomes something fun.” Apple Jack answered quickly as she gave Rainbow a dirty look. The pegasus merely laughed behind her hoof.
“Well, it started with parents dressing their children up as monsters to confuse the real monsters, and being sure to have sweets prepared just in case.” Twilight said, apparently satisfied with AJ’s cover and started walking again. Spike began to fidget nervously as the crystal walls turned to stone and the glowing crystal lanterns were replaced by smokeless torches. After glancing back at the others to make sure they were paying attention, Twilight resumed her lecture. “Post Discord the practice continued. Just to be sure. Gradually neighbors and even towns began to compete to see who had the best candy or best costumes, and it gradually became the Nightmare Night we know today, with Nightmare Moon replacing generic monsters after her banishment to the moon.”
“This is a really bad idea, Twi.” Spike said quietly from next to Rarity before Twilight led them into a large and dark room.
“Uh, Twilight, this doesn’t look like a pantry. In fact, I can’t really see anything at all.” Pinkie said as she squinted into the darkness. Suddenly Rarity let out a shriek and leaped backwards onto Apple Jack’s shoulders.
“Something slimy just touched my leg!”
Twilight began to giggle manically as torches burst into life all around the room. The walls and ceiling were covered in something wet, green, and very organic looking. On the far wall a series of four half completed cocoons stood waiting for occupants while a fifth held a purple alicorn. Twilight’s giggles grew into demented cackles as the other ponies turned to face the unhinged alicorn. Bright pink flames enveloped her and burned away the alicorn they knew and loved, leaving in her place a purple maned changeling queen. Abruptly her laughter ceased and she gave them a wolfish grin as she sing-songed,
The flickering torchlight danced over the changeling queen’s black and purple carapace as Spike sprinted from the room. Ignoring him, the changeling queen continued leering at AJ, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash, who all stared back with horrified expressions on their faces, frozen in shock. That only lasted for a few moments though.
“Eat this!” Rainbow shouted as she lunged forward and struck out with a wild right hook that connected solidly with the changeling’s face. Though she stumbled backwards, the changeling quickly recovered and deflected Rainbow’s follow up strike with her left hoof, leaving the Pegasus open to the changeling’s punishing counter jab to her ribs. Rainbow grimaced and pulled back from the changeling queen to drop into a ready stance. However the grimace was quickly replaced by a smile to match the queen’s own fanged grin. She was going to enjoy this.
“Get Twilight! I’ve got the bug!” Rainbow grinned wickedly as she lunged at the changeling. While she and the changeling traded blows, Apple Jack and Rarity rushed to the occupied pod and as one gave it a solid bucking. To both ponies surprise, the translucent shell didn’t shatter, only crack.
“Again!” Apple Jack shouted and they struck it again. The cracks spiraled out to encompass the majority of the pod, but still managed to just barely hold together. Rarity didn’t wait for even a moment before bucking one last time with both hooves. Her legs passed clear through the weakened chitin and unleashed a torrent of translucent ichor that under any other circumstances would have had the unicorn squealing as it drenched her from head to tail.
Apple Jack dove past Rarity to catch the alicorn as she fell from the cocoon. Her panic quickly turned to confusion as she finally got a good look at the alicorn in her arms. “Um, Rarity, ain’t this one of yer mannequins?”
Rarity looked down at the mannequin lying in Apple Jack’s hooves and her jaw fell open. Apple Jack glanced back to where Rainbow and the changeling were still duking it out. “Hey Dash! It’s a mannequin!”
“What?!” Dash exclaimed, looking over her shoulder to see for herself and in the process missing the brutal uppercut that caught her square under the chin. The blow sent Rainbow Dash soaring backwards in a beautifully parabolic arc to land in the center of the room. Rainbow’s face went slack as her eyes rolled wildly in their sockets.
“Oh no! Did I hurt you? I didn’t mean to! Not much anyway! Just enough to be convincing!” the changeling exclaimed in Twilight’s voice as she darted forwards to kneel next to Rainbow on the wet stone.
“Okay, what the hay is going on here!?” Apple Jack exclaimed, dropping the mannequin and trotting over to where Rainbow was slowly coming back around.
“It’s the thing. This was the thing I had planned.” The changeling gestured around them at the changeling gunk all over the walls while her eyes remained locked on Rainbow Dash.
“Twilight. Look at me.”
The changeling looked up at Apple Jack, who simply said, “Good job.”
The changeling smiled and looked like she was about to say something when a light blue hoof slammed into the side of her face, knocking the fake fangs right out of her mouth as Rainbow tackled her to the ground.
“HA!” Rainbow exclaimed triumphantly then frowned as the changeling changed back into Twilight Sparkle sans flames this time. “You know that’s pointless now, right?”
“This was the thing she had planned, Dash.” Apple Jack chuckled, then added, “I’m not sure whether I’m more surprised by the transforming or the fact that ya can actually box.”
“Wait, you mean I was beating the stuffing out of OUR Twilight? But what about the changeling fire and the transformation?” Rainbow asked as she stared down at Twilight who smiled up at her.
“It was flash fire potion, very carefully applied, along with a transformation spell that Luna taught me.” Twilight grinned as she climbed to her feet.
“The fighting?” Rainbow pointed to one eye that was starting to look a little swollen. “I can’t go around with a black eye from a bookworm!”
Twilight laughed rolled her eyes. “Half of Ponyville saw me fight with Tirek. I don’t think anyone is going to give you trouble over a black eye. Still, I’m sure you can think of some other way you might have gotten it.”
“Uh Twilight, I think you broke Rarity.” Apple Jack commented and waved a hoof in front of Rarity’s unfocused eyes. The unicorn’s left eye twitched but was otherwise unresponsive. Twilight trotted over and whispered in Rarity’s ear. There was a loud clack as Rarity’s jaw suddenly snapped shut and she slapped Twilight, but the alicorn just continued to grin at her.
“Bite your tongue!!” Rarity exclaimed. Then as she realized the extent of the situation her eyes widened and she wailed holding out her slime covered cloak, “My costume is ruined!”
A purple glow encompassed the silk garment and its wearer and all the slime covering them teleported two feet to the left. For a split second the slime hung in the air, a perfect outline of a pony, before falling to the floor with a splat. Rarity stared at the fresh puddle and then to her suddenly pristine coat and cloak.
“Better?” Twilight asked with a smile. Rarity nodded and Twilight turned her eyes towards the stairway which Spike had bolted as soon as the prank had been sprung. “I should probably go check on Spike and make sure he isn’t writing a letter to the Princess about this.”
Twilight began to trot from the room and Rarity followed after her. When Twilight noticed her following she stopped and held out a hoof, “Don’t worry, it’ll be fine. You girls should head up to the throne room. All the usual sweets and games are already there waiting for us. I’ll be up as soon as everything is in hoof.”
With that Twilight ran from the room. Rarity turned back to Rainbow and AJ with a frown. “I do hope he’s alright. The poor dear looked absolutely terrified.”
Apple Jack nodded in agreement, but then frowned as she realized something, or more specifically someone, was missing. “Where’s Pinkie?”
“Over here!” The others turned to see Pinkie waving from one of the unfinished cocoons.
“What are ya doing in there?” Apple Jack asked in bewilderment as she walked over to get a better look at Pinkie as she leaned on the cocoon’s lip. The poofy alligator costume filled the cocoon completely and transformed the hard shell into quite a comfy place to sit.
“Watching you guys, and waiting to be cocooned if Twilight really was a changeling!”
“That’s oddly fatalistic of you.” Rarity commented with a frown.
“Well, I did catch her sneaking out of the boutique last night with your mannequin and when I confronted her about stealing she told me what she had planned.” Pinkie said with a grin before patting the cocoon she was in. “Best seats in the house!”
“Girls, I’m really worried about Spike.” Rarity said, casting a worried glance towards the stairs. Turning back to the others she said, “I think we should go check on them.”
The others nodded and the whole crew began to head back upstairs. Well, except Pinkie, who was unsuccessfully trying to dislodge herself from the cocoon. “I think I might have an itty bitty problem.”
Apple Jack sighed and Rainbow rolled her eyes but they both turned around and trotted back to lend their friend a hoof. Rarity however didn’t turn around and instead continued up the stairs
~
By the time Twilight reached Spike’s room, the door was already shut and locked. Of course a locked door had never stopped the alicorn before, but she hesitated before using her teleportation spell to bypass the door. Instead, she reached out a hoof and gently knocked. “Spike?”
She waited, but when she didn’t get a reply she knocked again a little more loudly. “I didn’t mean to scare you. Please let me in, Spike.”
The alicorn let her head fall forwards to rest against the heavy wooden door. She had expected the drake to have been frightened. Why else would someone organize a Nightmare Night scare if not to scare them? But she had never meant to hurt her precious whelp, but it was becoming abundantly clear that that was exactly what had happened. This couldn’t wait. In a flash of light Twilight vanished from the hall and reappeared in Spike’s bedroom.
The room was a mess. The sheets had been torn from his bed and the drake’s toys and books were scattered across the floor around what looked like a large backpack. Opening the bag, Twilight found that underneath his favorite books the backpack held an assortment of homemade dry rations and a small selection of Spike’s favorite gems. It was a bug-out bag. Twilight sighed as a growing sense of guilt began to twist in her stomach.
Spike was nowhere in sight, but the corner of one of his blankets was sticking out from underneath the bed. Twilight bent down to look underneath and that was where she found Spike. He was curled up around his collection of six plushes made in the likeness of Twilight and her friends. Clinging to the dolls as though his life depended on it he had his eyes clenched tightly shut in an unsuccessful attempt to hold back the tears that ran over his cheeks. Twilight pressed her wings to her sides and carefully crawled under the bed to tenderly wrap her hooves around Spike.
“They killed them.”
Twilight frowned at Spike’s unexpected declaration. Shifting Spike around so that she could look him in the eye Twilight asked, “Who?”
“The changeling baker in Appaloosa, and the changeling nurse in Manehattan.” Spike replied with a sniff as he refused to make eye contact with her. Twilight’s eyes widened as she remembered the story in the newspaper a couple months back. For most ponies, the only thing they knew about changelings was the attempted coup during the royal wedding last year and paranoia had run rampant for months as the Guard pursued every lead they could in an attempt to track down Chrysalis and her brood. In more than a few cases when a changeling was discovered, ponies had taken ‘justice’ into their own hooves, sometimes even killing the changeling. Twilight had thought she had kept Spike in the dark about what had been going on across Equestria in the wake of Shining’s wedding, but apparently she had missed a couple incidents.
“They weren’t doing anything wrong. Their disguise slipped at the wrong time and their ‘friends’ and coworkers turned on them because they thought they had been replaced by a changeling rather than just being one.” Spike whispered, punctuating his statement with a hiccup. He looked up at Twilight and wiped his eyes before sticking a claw in her face as he hissed angrily, “That was fucking stupid.”
Twilight recoiled in surprise both at the anger in Spike’s voice as well as his profanity. She’d had no idea he even knew that word. She would deal with the drake’s language later, in the mean time…
“You’re right. It was a dumb, dumb idea and I shouldn’t have done that.” Spike’s mouth fell open and Twilight kissed the top of his head as she continued. “I didn’t think about the consequences for you if something went wrong. I’m supposed to be the Princess of Friendship, the culmination of the Elements of Harmony, and it feels like I’m lying to them every day. I… I wanted to just tell them. I wanted to just be honest with the first ponies I ever felt deserved to know the truth about the friend they think they know.”
“That’s not what happened though.” Spike pointed out as he found his voice again.
“No.” Twilight grimaced and felt her own eyes beginning to moisten as she whispered, “I was too afraid to go through with it, so I stole Rarity’s mannequin last night and turned it into a prank.”
Spike lay quietly in Twilight’s hooves listening to Twilight’s ragged breathing as she tried to hold her own tears of frustration back. Twisting around in Twilight’s hooves, the drake let go of his dolls and did his best to wrap his tiny arms around Twilight’s neck in the cramped space. They laid like that until a quiet knock and the sound of the handle jiggling broke the near silence. “Is everything alright, Twilight? Spike darling? May I come in?”
Twilight gave Spike a questioning look and he nodded. In a flash, Twilight teleported Spike, herself, and the blankets from under the bed to on top of the bed. Twilight turned the lock with her magic and the door slowly swung open as Rarity slowly stepped inside. Spike slowly released Twilight’s neck and sat up to give Rarity a teary eyed smile. Twilight forced a smile as turned to Rarity and gracefully slid off the bed onto her hooves. Or tried to anyway. Her hooves had gotten wrapped up in the blankets so instead of landing on her hooves, Twilight landed on her face with a loud thud that made Rarity and Spike wince.
“Are you alright, Twilight?” Spike asked as he leaned over the edge of the bed to look at the unexpectedly prostrate princess.
“I think my ego might be bruised, but otherwise I’m fine.” Twilight chuckled a little as she freed her hooves and stood up. Rarity nodded and trotted over to the bed and gently placed her hoof under the dragon’s chin.
“Is my little Spikey-wikey going to be alright?” Rarity asked before giving him a quick peck on the cheek. Spike blushed and nodded as Rarity picked him up and set the drake on her back. “Good, because I wouldn’t want those candied sapphires I commissioned from Bon Bon to go to waste.”
Twilight smiled as Spike’s face lit up and she followed close behind Rarity as she left the room. The throne room wasn’t far, but even before they reached the door they could hear the laughter of the other ponies echoing through the crystal halls. Her smile faltered as she thought about how it could have all gone wrong. Dozens of worst case scenarios ran through her mind as the trio approached the entrance to the throne room. When they reached the door however, Twilight couldn’t help but smile when she saw her friends.
Apple Jack was drunkenly stumbling across the floor towards a caricature of Nightmare moon with a large blue tail attached to the over-sized tack sticking out of her apple Jack-o-Lantern mask. Rainbow was heckling her the entire time while holding an ice pack to her face. Pinkie bounced on the side lines in the remains of her costume, having lost everything but the head of her suit in exchange for her freedom from the cocoon.
These were her friends, and they deserved to know the truth, but... Her eyes turned towards Spike as Rarity lifted a pouch of candied blue gems with her magic and gave them to him. His face lit up and he immediately started stuffing his little face with the exotic treats. The full truth could wait, at least until she could figure out the right way to do it. Using Luna’s transformation spell, Twilight assumed her changeling form and hurried to join the others in the night’s festivities.
Spike gave her a worried look but Twilight just winked at him. When no one seemed to find issue with Twilight’s chitinous visage, Spike relaxed and returned to his candies as Twilight was blindfolded for her turn at trying to pin Nightmare's tail.
It was Nightmare Night, true, but that didn’t mean everyone had to wear a mask to have a good time.