It was pouring rain during the night that all of the girls were coming over to Twilight's castle. For it was a great time for what they were
about to do that night and the atmosphere was a neat little coincidence as the now nearing holiday came closer with every passing
day.
But way up high through an open window, nine voices could be heard as many talked about current events. One was a little orange
Pegasus who was lying next to a cyan blue Pegasus mare with a rainbow style mane which almost mixed with the filly's purple mane.
She didn't know why she wasn't talking with her friends or why she felt a little scared to talk to the mare she was next to, but she did
know that she was comfortable where she was, the rain hitting the windowsill outside, giving it a soft pitter patter like sound, soothed
her ears as she almost fell asleep but shook her head to remind herself that, she had to talk a bit before going to sleep.
With a little effort to not try and disturb the mare beside her, the filly got up onto her hooves and casually walked over towards one
of the other fillies that had come over to the castle with their siblings. "How are you Apple Bloom?" she asked with a cute smile as she
spoke to the cream color coated and red-maned cowgirl known as Apple Bloom, sister to the mare known as Applejack.
"Oh, I'm just fine and dandy Scoots," she answered with her southern accent as the two friends hugged. "So Scootaloo, have ya
managed to talk to her yet?" she asked in which scoots responded with rubbing the back of her head with her hoof awkwardly.
"...You didn't even try, did you?!" she silently screamed which was fortunately muffled by the music and a rather hyperactive pink
pony, who was jumping and dancing with some of the group. "Why not!?" she asked with a confused tone of voice.
The Pegasus looked to the ground with the corner of her eyes nervously as she began to find an excuse. "I...I-I don't know why,
maybe I'm just not ready yet to say anything?" she asked herself and responded at the same time which caused Apple Bloom to bring
her hoof to her face in annoyance and disappointment.
"Do ya really think that's the only reason why ya can't talk to Rainbow Dash?, I mean when has that stopped ya before your
birthday?" she inquired with a little sass put into her voice before she was cut off by the last filly of the party.
"Talk to Rainbow Dash about what?" she asked rather innocently as she walked towards the two, her two-toned purple mane
bouncing a bit onto her white coat as she trotted with a cocktail of happiness and enthusiasm. The other two getting rather
hesitant with telling her the situation they were discussing.
"Guys?" she stated in a confused and concerned way.
"Oh don't worry Sweetie Belle," Apple Bloom stated with a reassuring smile which caused said Sweetie to become calm once more.
Apple Bloom continued. "We were just trying to figure out how to expand the CMC to other places," she answered with a white lie
which seemed to be able to fool her friend into not asking about it. Business wasn't really Sweetie Belle's strong suit so she would
not be interested that much.
"Oh, alright then," Sweetie said without even realizing that she had been had. "Do you guys wanna dance?" she abruptly asked with
surprising amounts of excitement in her eyes. "It'll be really fun, come on!" she shouted as she trotted towards the improvised
dance floor with a simple I-Pone 7 amplifier instead of the famous Vinyl Scratch, who seemed to provide her services to pinkie
almost every time she had a party, for free no less, and a cheap looking, small disco ball that hung from the ceiling.
The two looked at each other before turning back towards their friend." Yeah, sure!" they both answered at the same time. Apple
Bloom started to follow Sweetie towards the small dance floor. But Scootaloo didn't follow instantly which caused Apple Bloom
to turn around with impatience." Come on Scoots!" she called as she turned around to dance.
Scootaloo looked at the dance floor where her friends and their siblings were having what the Apple's called it, a "Hoe down," and
then to the cyan mare near one of the tables of punch and cider, who was having a little nap. She didn't know why but she had this
feeling of uneasiness when she looked at the mare. She did know from school that when you reached puberty, you started to have
feelings of attraction towards those that you liked. But she didn't know why she felt that way towards Rainbow Dash, she saw her like
a sister or even motherly figure in her life but not that way, did she?. Ever since her fifteenth birthday, things had become even more
complicated than ever. But she decided to put those thoughts into the back of her mind, for now, she could deal with that later on,
now she was going to enjoy the evening with her friends and that's it. With that, she happily galloped towards her friends to dance
her worries away with a smile on her face.
After about an hour of dancing, the whole group stopped when Twilight stopped the music on the I-Pone 7. With a rather large
book in her telekinetic grasp. "Girls!, I think it's time to make this party a little bit spooky!" she shouted as the ponies who had been
dancing stopped with heavy panting.
"Sugar cube, if ya don't mind me asking, what in tarn nation is that is your magic?" Applejack asked as she trotted over towards the
purple Alicorn. "Ah mean, what kind of "scary" thing be locked up in that book anyhow?" she added as she flicked her blonde pony-tail
(Ha, puns)to the back of her head.
Twilight looked back towards Aj with a smile. "I'm glad you asked Applejack," she started as she showed the book to the rest of the
group." This is a very old summoning spell book that I found while getting the library set up, I think it would be really fun if we tried
to summon something from the book," she finished as the rest of the group listened to her every word.
Suddenly the silence was stopped when Rainbow dash, who had gotten up thirty minutes ago. "That sounds awesome!" she yelled
as she hovered in the air with excitement. "Let's do it right now!" she demanded with full enthusiasm apparent in her voice.
"Yeah!" Pinkie also yelled. "ThisisgonnabethescariestthinguntilNightmareNight!, won't it be so much fun Fluttershy?" she asked the
yellow Pegasus who had not been talking that much during the entire event.
Fluttershy looked nervously around her as everypony looked at her, waiting for her response. "Oh...um, m-maybe we shouldn't be
messing around with that stuff. It could be dangerous," she advised as she awkwardly kicked the ground underneath her to try and
distract herself from their staring, she was failing miserably.
The soft, comforting hoof of Rarity gently patted Fluttershy's shoulder as she spoke. "Oh don't worry Fluttershy," she said in a
motherly like demeanor. "It'll probably just be nothing special darling, and if it is then I think we can take them on in a fight," she
reassured softly with a smile. "We ARE the Elements of Harmony after all," she added with a playful giggle.
With that, the room had been cleaned some what as the book was laid out in the middle of the room wide open as the group sat
around it in a semi-circle, Twilight sat in front of the book as she was the one who kind of knew how it worked. With a flick of the
lights, the room was somewhat dark, the candles that they had manged to find and Twilight's horn being the only things that
illuminated small amount of the room. As her horn's aura became bigger as she put more concentration and power into the spell,
she began to chant a strange spew of twisted words.
"On the stormy week before Nightmare Night, we wish to see the first creatures of fright," she began with a strange twang in her
voice as she chanted.
"For on this week is the barrier of resurrection weak and a weak creature tonight we seek," she continued as the others watched,
Fluttershy clearly uncomfortable with the event going on in front of her but was being consoled by Rarity.
"Oh don't worry darling, everything will be fine, trust me," she stated with confidence in her voice towards the strange sight that
she was seeing at the moment.
Twilight's horn began to glow even brighter as almost all her energy was put into summoning just a weak creature. But she continued
to chant the final words as if they were being ripped out of her mouth by unseen forces.
"So come forward king of the under night, let us see with our eyes, the original monster of fright!" she bellowed and wheezed out the
last words as she fell to the ground, her magic depleted.
The group rushed towards the Alicorn's side with curiosity and concern in their eyes. "Sweet Celestia!, Twilight are you okay!" they
cried as they helped Twilight to her hooves.
"Y-yes girls...I-I'm fine," she panted out as she used the rest of the magic that she had to pick up the top-hat, which had appeared
on the floor as she finished the spell. "T-T-THAT'S IT!" she shouted before being interrupted by the sound of laughter... that was
coming from the hat in question.
The entire group shrieked in terror when the hat began to enlarge as a figure appeared just under it, the figure grew and grew until
it was as tall as Princess Celestia herself, the laughing coming to a halt as the figure revealed it's self.
What stood in front of them was a very tall, slender pony. Except, there was no flesh or skin to speak of, he was a skeleton. He wore
a tuxedo which was a little bit torn but overall it looked as though it was kept in good condition, a small white rose was attached to
one of his front pockets. A red tie could be seen around his neck, almost like a noose it appeared so tight around it. There were no
mane or tail to see as he stood there with a smile on his bony face.
Speaking of his face, there was only one eye in his right socket, Which seemed almost as black as the other empty socket as he looked
right into their very souls. The very same top hat that had appeared was in his magical grasp, a wrathful red color, that came from
the horn on his head, the horn looked as though it was broken in half. The top hat being plopped on to the Skeleton's noggin hid his
horn from view. His laughs coming back up his non-existing throat, his teeth rattling as he cackled with relief.
The group stood there in silence, shaking in fear at the sight of this strange being in front of them. The silence being quenched when
the tall pony decided to speak in his raspy Louisianan accent. "Why, hello there little gals," he calmly hissed as he walked over to the
group with a little pip in his every step. "Did you mention Celestia just then. Why, I remember when she was just a little foal all those
eons ago."
He recalled with a smile on his fictional lips as he bent down to look the quivering group in the eyes. "And what good souls have I got
here then?" he echoed as he inspected the terrified group with his watchful eye.
"The Elements of Harmony if I'm correct, as well as the recently granted Princess of Friendship," he stated as he gleefully licked the
alicorn's face with a magical, black, forked tongue as she squirmed with disgust. "A pleasure if I do must say so myself."
The group jumped in a mixture of fright, anger, and awe at the skeleton as they separated. Rainbow Dash being the first to speak up.
"Who the hay are you!, how do you even know us or the Princess!?, she demanded with most of the anger in the group being in her.
The skeleton cocked his head to the side in a false shed of innocence as he quickly and suddenly appeared next to her, scaring the
daylights out of her.
"Well, after Tirek came down to me for the second time thanks to you, he wouldn't shut his yapper as he whined and complained
that "It wasn't fair","It was impossible", "It's like a Saturday morning cartoon show or something"," he remembered as he cringed at
the thought.
"As for ole Celestia? I've been around for a long time Miss Dash, I remember quite a lot." he stated with a cheeky grin. "I even
remember that I still had my wings at the time", he added with a grim frown." That is until they were cut off by a certain Draconwquus!"
he snarled at nothing as he remembered the event, but calmed down a bit to finish his answers.
"But, who am I?, I think I best show you in the best way I know how...HIT IT!" he shouted before he dissipated from sight.
Before the Group could react, the environment changed somewhat as spot lights and Tiny skeleton foals ran around with clipboards
and equipment, getting ready for whatever the mad pony had in mind. Then, before their eyes, the tall skeleton appeared once more.
instead, with a cane in his red magic aura. "Ready boys?", he asked the band of Draconic looking skeletons with saxophones, guitars
and other instruments that made up a Jazz routine. The main Dragon gave him a thumbs up to indicate that they were ready to go.
With that, the skeleton raised his cane into the air and shouted "Hit it, boys!", as he slid over to the Scared Fluttershy.
This is the lyrics to the song "Down Below".
Hey little gal, come on say hello,
step right up, I'm just a working Joe,
so here's a little info that I thought you should know
I'm just your average evil skeleton from Down Below!
Some of the little skeletons came from out of the ground with a hiss and started to dance, the Tall one began to break dance
with ease as the group looked on. The skeleton stopped long enough to pull a card out of his pocket and gave it to them.
Well Bub's the name, and soul collecting's my game,
to me, you all look all mighty the same.
But I do have to admit, even though you alike to me,
your souls look delectable like this town don't you see!
So I was chilling, ruling down at my place,
I had the most dull expression, on my face.
But then I felt something, it excited me too,
I felt the magic conjuring of you!
Bub looked straight at Twilight as she tried desperately to recover her magic but to no eval, as a mysterious ring had appeared
onto it without her noticing. The skeleton smiled devilishly when she finally realized this and relished in that fact by using his own
magic to force her to dance with him as the others had to watch, the same magic holding them back.
When I heard you'd try and summon an imp,
I'm like. "Why you trying to summon a wimp!".
So I used your own magic and here I am,
now I can execute my most marvelous plan!
Now, now, now, you look shy!,
I really don't know or could imagine why.
For where you're going, I can surely tell,
You don't look ready to be going to hell!
With a wave of Bub's hoof, the bound ponies started to be dragged by his magic towards a fiery gate that he had materialized out of
nothing while he danced with his little helpers. The band playing the song very well, even though it was kind of muffled be the screams
of the ponies, who tried to run and struggle but couldn't even move thanks to the skeleton's superior magic.
Now don't you fret, in fact, you all are in for a treat,
the folks down there are the best that you'll meet.
But unfortunately, this is the end of the show,
as you're all going down to Down Below!
The screams continued until they finally made it to the gate of Down Below as they slowly began to be dropped one by one, each
yelling at the top of their lungs as they fell into the abyss below, little devils playing violins to try and fail to calm them down as they
fell. The three fillies had been taking a little too long to reach the gate which annoyed Bub a bit, as his response was to calmly
take the three into a group just at the edge of the hell hole and eagerly bucked them into the pit. he began to sing once more as they
fell.
But unfortunately, this is the end of the show,
as you're all going down to Down Below!,
You're all going down to DOWN BELOOOOOOOWWWWW!
As the room became the same again as his magic stopped at his command, smiling with self-satisfaction of getting rid of them.
"Well... that get's rid of those pests," he giggled with delight as he turned around only to see the cowering wreck that was Spike.
He seemed to have come at the wrong time and it clearly showed as he stared in horror at the monster that had kicked his friends
down to hell, literally. "Ummm, perhaps it's time to open the Resurrection Stations then," he thought to himself as he grabbed Spike
with his magic.
"Maybe I should turn you to ash?" he teased as the Dragon cowered, tears running down his face.
With a quick chuckle, the Skeleton tossed the Dragon out of the window with the intent that he died from the fall. but instead of
dying, Spike conveniently landed into a barrel of water. After falling out of the barrel as it fell down, water spilling everywhere, Spike
stood up not knowing what to do.
But before he could do anything or write to the Princess, a gigantic red beam of magic came from the very same room he had just
been thrown out of. It punctured the clouds and even the sky itself as a dome made of what appeared to be red magical swirls
slowly cut the entirety of Ponyville off from the rest of the world.
After that, figures started to fall out of this demonic dome and into the streets, attacking anyone that they saw.
Before Spike knew what was doing on he was running for his life as a strange cross of a Goat and a squid chased him for an hour,
blood from his previous victims dripped from his body with each step he took. As Spike didn't know where he was going due to
the fear and adrenaline, he found himself in the dead end of an alleyway.
The fear was unbearable as he turned around to see the hungry, sadistically smiling face of the demon in front of him, screeching
madly with rage and somehow giggling insanely at the same time as he stood there.
Spike, without realizing that he took the fight option in the choice of Fight or Flight, grabbed a broken metal pole from a beaten.
rusty old gate and a trash bin lid. They both stared each other down as they both readied up for the battle
But, when the demon pounced and the small dragon closed his eyes, afraid for his life, the battle was already over.
When Spike opened his eyes the demon had been reduced to a pile of dust, standing over the pile was a stallion, In around his
mid-sixties. A horn could be seen on his head with smoldering embers swirling around it. The evidence of him using a fire spell
and incinerating the demon was very clear.
His dark cowboy attire gave him the impression of a very tough individual as he slipped his cowboy hat upwards to reveal the eyes
of a very old and experienced Unicorn, but also of a very kindly soul that seemed very concerned for the young Draconic boy.
His eyes also appeared to be on fire, but Spike chocked that up to the after effect of the fire spell being used, he had seen it before.
"Do ya need some help there, sonny?" he asked with a kind smile as calmly trotted passed the dust pile to get to the young Dragon.
Spike looked frantically around at the carnage that Skeleton brought with him." W-WHAT'S GOING ON!?" he screamed/asked as
the elder also looked around at the damages done to the nice town he had wandered into.
"I don't know what happened and I personally don't care," he stated as he began to trot back where he came from. "I'm just trying
to help as many people as I can, so if you want to help well then that's fine by me," he added as he continued onward.
Spike looked at the pile of dust that had been chasing him just a few minutes ago, then to the pony who saved him. After some
thought put into the situation and after hearing something else in the alleyway beside him, he quickly rushed down to the
elder's side.
Spike looked at the old Unicorn with a nervous glance, not sure if he should introduce himself to him, he HAD just saved his life
after all.
The older one was having the same thoughts, not knowing if the young boy should know his name or not, it's not like he didn't
know who he was, though. Who could forget Spike the Dragon, Saver of the Crystal Empire from the tyrannical King Sombra!
No, he should probably get it over with. It just make things awkward in the future, he's seen things weirder than him anyhow.
Without any hesitation the Unicorn turned towards spike, to tell him his name. Unfortunately for him, Spike had the exact
same Idea in his mind as he too turned towards the elder.
"My name is El...,"
they both stated before shutting their mouths, trying to let the other speak.
"My name is Spi...,"
This was going to be a very awkward evening indeed. With a little ego boost from his subconscious, the old one put a hoof on the
spike's shoulder in an attempt of comfort.
"My name's Eldur," he calmly stated as the Dragon looked into his eyes. "And I know who you are Spike," he said in a father-like way.
"I... I saw you fall out of that window just before that red beam came from the castle, d-do you know what happened?" he asked
in the kindest way that he could muster from his voice box. The reference the castle instantly caused Spike to ball into tears. even
though he tried his hardest to keep it quiet, Spike just couldn't bare the thought of what happened to his friends.
"Yes..., i-it was horrible!" Spike confessed to the Unicorn, who still had his hoof on Spike's shoulder. "I-I walked into the room and
saw them, being dragged into a pit of fire by a tall Skeleton with a top hat," he continued with tears still pouring down his little,
scaly face.
"The most horrifying part about it was-was the way he danced, singed, even as they fell one by one with a sick, twisted smile on his
face!" he finished with a frown as the two stopped to let him have a minute.
Afterward, they continued on their way through the ruined streets, carefully watching their backs in case a visitor decided to
join them.
They didn't know how many they would find, but they still did. Maybe they could find a place to hide afterward.