//------------------------------// // Nightmare Night Special 3, Thriller [14] // Story: Stories in Stone, Capricorn's Curse // by TDR //------------------------------// Stories in Stone Capricorn's Curse By TDR Nightmare Night Special Thriller The odd time displaced theater was packed. Countless ponies and other creatures milled around the benches and aisles, speaking with each other in low mummers or varied shrieks as some of the still living met the dead ones. The curtain was down on the massive stage and as usual Pinkie Pie and Discord were bouncing around directing traffic and shouting at those on the other side of the stage curtain trying to get everything in some sort of order. The only difference this time was that a large golden furred Griffon was accompanying them. Jer'rahd rightly assumed it was the First Griffon, Mirth. For once however, the Kaisur family was in the audience, not back stage. Jer'rahd smirked at that happy to enjoy watching one of these 4th wall destroying events for once rather than be stuck in it. It seemed however that nearly every one he knew was on this side of the curtain. He, Luna, Dawn, and Rynthia sat next to Peach Blossom and Starfall. Bleu and Spike were behind them and Celestia, Elusive and Twilight were on the other side, with Cadence, Shining, Shin and Glimmer next to them. Pip and Scootaloo had chosen to sit far away from Luna, as had Hunter and Orange and Brush and Diamond Tiara. Clearly they wanted to keep away from Luna's death glare, or in Hunter's case, Jer'rahd. Most of the audience was in costume, and his group was no exception. Some how Luna had managed to convince every one to get costumes from a game she had been playing a lot of lately. Jer'rahd still wasn't much of a fan of the games Luna and his foals liked, but he was content with letting them enjoy the technological advances. Starfall had dyed her mane gray and was wearing some sort of blue uniform with a bit of chest armor. A tattered cloak covered her back with a hood that hid most of her head save her face and a few wisps of her mane. She had an eye patch over her left eye and carried around something that looked like long crossbow, though Luna and Dawn had called it a sniper rifle. Peach Blossom was dressed like he just came out of Appleloosa, a wide brimmed hat and a red poncho over a metal breastplate. He had on some odd pants, spurs and a belt with a large buckle that said 'BAMF' whatever that meant. His left front foreleg was made up to look like it was made of metal and he had a large weapon on his hip that Luna had called a 'big iron'. Their two foals weren't dressed up in the same group costume as every one else. Starlight was dressed as a bunny in a mini Guard uniform, and Orchid was dressed as a fox. Jer'rahd wasn't too sure what the foals were supposed to be , but they looked cute enough. Rainbow Dash was on the other side of Starfall and was dressed in a blue armored suit with a cannon like device on her foreleg. Her wings were also encased in the odd armor and despite being pregnant again, she seemed rather excited to be wearing the costume. Evidently she was one of Luna's teammates in the game. Big Mac sat next to her with their first foal, Zap, sitting on his head so he could see the stage. Big mac was dressed in a some sort of Japony looking attire and his mane had been dyed black pulled back in a top knot and dyed black. Like Peach Blossom, he had grown a beard for the costume, though his only accessory seemed to be a ornate bow. One of his forelegs was bare and covered in designs inked into the fur that looked like an angry Seamore, or Steven magnet what ever the dragon was calling himself these days. Zap was dressed like a fox as well, though one with much bigger ears that was wearing a elephant suit, probably from the same thing as Starfall's foals were. Twilight's costume was a little odd and Jer'rahd honestly wouldn't mind seeing Luna in something similar. The lavender mare was wearing a skin tight suit with a odd mask that had eight glowing red eyes on it. Her mane and tail were dyed black and she also carried one of those sniper rifle things like Starfall did. Celestia wore some sort of face visor thing with some sort of wing horn things that poked up over her ears and a blue dress that didn't do much to cover her legs. Her mane and tail were also black and she had an odd three pronged crossbow looking weapon. Her left foreleg was also done up in some sort of prosthetic looking armor and the rest of her limbs were covered in black leggings. Elusive was a far cry from his mothers. His outfit looked cobbled together from junk. His mane was spiked up the ends of it looked like they were sizzling. One of his rear legs was done up to look like a metallic peg leg as was one of his forelegs. He had some sort of ball launcher and a giant spiked wheel on his back. Shining Armor was wearing a black hooded cloak with a skull mask. He was also wearing a loth of leather and a big cloak . His two weapons were sort of bolt thrower things and evidently the inside of his cloak was laced with dozens them. Cadence was floating in mid air, mostly nude and covered in metallic body paint. She sat in some yoga pose or another with a bunch of metal balls floating around her in her magic, she also had a bunch of dots on her forehead around her horn and her mane was slicked back to the point that it was hard to tell if she even had any hair. . Shin.... Jer'rahd had no idea what Shin was supposed to be, he looked like some sort of little robot thing with a bird on his shoulder. Glimmer was wearing an orange jump suit with goggles and some blue glowy chest piece. He couldn't get a good look as she was hiding behind Shining to keep out of his sight. Jer'rahd was used to that by now, though it still upset him. He was impressed with Bleu and Spike's costumes more than any others. Bleu had dyed her head spikes bright pink and wore some sort of bulky body armor with a equally big cannon looking thing that looked like she ripped it off a ship. Spike carried a massive war hammer and was armored head to claw in what looked like super thick steel plate armor. It was a little more decorative than Jer'rahd liked, but it was the most impressive out of everyone he thought. Fluttershy had put on a massively bushy bead and an eye patch. She had a back pack with smoke stacks coming out that hid her wings and one of her forelegs was some sort of giant claw. She had a much smaller hammer than Spike and was sitting next to angel Bunny who looked like he was some sort of cannon robot. Applejack was dressed like a ninja robot thing with a green sword over her back. Jer'rahd probably wouldn't have recognized her in the odd form fitting armor and mask if she hadn't also been wearing her usual hat atop it all. The disaster Trio of Butterscotch, AppleBlossom, and Buttercup were dressed as turtle with different colored bandana's over their eyes and various ninja weapons. Wolf was dressed as another of the turtles with a purple mask, and Fox had on a bathrobe and was dressed like a rat. Like everyone else he had no idea what they were supposed to be. Jer'rahd himself was also wearing a face mask with a red visor. His mane and tail were dyed white and he was put in a blue jacket with a 76 printed on the back. He had some sort of prop 'rifle' thing as well to go along with it. Oddly he rather liked the jacket but he could have done without the rest. Luna was dressed like some sort of angel, with a halo and everything, her wings were changed to be white feathered and glowy yellow and her costume was deliciously tight in ,Jer'rahd's opinion any way, he wasn't sure how to take her being a blond however. Rynthia was bundled up in a snow pony parka with a little squirt gun looking thing and a cylinder of something on her back, probably her collected candy. Dawn was dressed in a pink and blue body suit with robotic bunny ears. She had a larger pink painted cardboard box with 'meka' written on the side, though that sat on the floor before them as it was a pain to carry. The little Kirin was currently stuffing her face with a bag of cheese triangles she had gotten from her earlier candy gathering. Talon had joined in the chaos and was dressed in some sort of armored suit with a gorilla mask that had a pair of glasses on its nose. Breezy had pulled his mane into some sort of topknot and had been trying to zip around on some sort of ice skates most of the night. He had a massive pair of headphones on his head and a 'gun' that seemed more like a speaker on a handle. He also kept talking about his mix tape whatever that was. It amused Luna though he was another one on her games team. Dusty had dressed up as a demon version of the same costume Luna wore, the two had been glaring at each other all night because of that. Of course taking the foals around to collect candy before this show had done wonders for tiring all of them, save Dawn, out. Of course Dawn and Rynthia had tried to quadruple their stash by offering to bring the 'Nightmare Moon tribute' candy directly too her. Granted their plan was then to conveniently 'forget' to give their mother the huge pile of candy and horde it themselves. Unfortunately for them, Luna had been making the rounds as Nightmare Moon and had swooped in snatching up both of her daughters as well as the candy tributed from the alter and flying off with it cackling as the girls screamed out in panic. This had started a small panic riot from the other foals who were in the group with them. It had taken Jer'rahd and the other parents quite a while to calm them down It was mostly the other parents however as Jer'rahd couldn't stop laughing at Dawn and Rynthia's expressions when they were scooped up to help much. Right now Rynthia and most of the others were barely staying awake. This 4th wall show was the last event of the night before they were to all be put to bed and he and Luna could figure out what to do with the several tons of candy that had been left in tribute to Nightmare Moon. Last year they had donated what they could gather to foals hospitals and orphanages across Equestria. Over the last few years they had gotten better at collecting the candy with the help of the Changelings and Nightmare Moon was fast becoming the fall's version of Santa Hooves to some foals. Jer'rahd wasn't sure what the show was this year, but he knew Rhede and Velkorn were at the forefront of it. He really hoped it wasn't a musical. He had no desire to experience true terror this Nightmare Night. ============================================================= Jer'rahd blinked as the audience grew quiet at the sound of a creaking door and hoof steps. The lights dim as a wolf repeatedly howled in the distance. A film started playing the light projecting on the curtains showing a foggy cloudy night. The clouds part showing the full moon in the sky. The scene pans down to show Velkorn in a simple spotted dress and Rhede in a bright red jacket. The two seemed to be talking about something, though as the moonbeam struck Rhede he doubled over in pain with a loud cry. The fur around his head seemed to writhe as small vines and leaves began to form. The jacket shredded as bark pushed out of his skin, his mouth opened as she gasped in pain, showing rapidly growing fangs. His hooves were enveloped in the vines that turned into claw like appendages. His eyes snap open slit like a cats and glowing gold. Velkorn screamed as the weretimberwolf roared and lunged at the Zebra mare. The curtain swiftly rose showing a movie theater seating with a number of ponies Jer'rahd recognized as members of the old 42nd. Velkorn was cringing and pressing into Rhede's side as the screams continued. Rhede however was happily watching the film and munching popcorn with a wide smirk on his face. Velkorn seemed to have enough and she rises and leaves the theater with Rhede tossing the Popcorn bucket aside and following after her. The scene changes to Velkorn storming off outside of the theater with Rhede following her. ==================================== Starfall, Bleu, Luna, and Jer'rahd all wince as music starts playing and Rhede started dancing a little to the music as he moved around Velkorn. “Luna....” Bleu whimpers. “Already on it, I've got a potent enough silence spell to block out the whole stage...” Luna muttered her horn already glowing. Starfall had quickly covered her foals ears with her wings and hooves just in case Luna wasn't fast enough. >” Nope!”< A great golden Griffoness stated popping into existence in the the air above Luna. She taps Luna's horn with a claw disrupting the spell. She was swiftly tackled by Jer'rahd and yanked down to the seats with them. “Seriously! Mirth? This will be torture!” Jer'rahd panicked.” I refuse to subject foals to Rhede's singing voice! I denied the Blackhoof from using it to get information because it was too cruel.” >” Calm down. Rhede's only lip syncing, Munificence is on vocals for him.”< The Element of Laughter placated, noting the death glares from the four remaining Beasts of the Moon, plus Twilight and Celestia.>” This is supposed to be fun, not something that will traumatize every one for years. Just calm down, it's all good.”< “It better be.....” Luna muttered. “ We are trying to make sure Rynthia has positive reactions to her father and mothers memories. Not screaming fear.” >” Yes well I better get back before.....”< Mirth yelps as Jer'rahd yanks her back down into the seat with them. Dawn climbs on top of her father's head glaring at the First Griffon God. “No, you're going to hang around a bit more, just in case he does sing and this is your idea of a joke.” Jer'rahd growled.” We won't suffer alone.” >”Ummmm.”< Mirth weakly chuckled. =================================== The beat continues in the back ground as Rhede catches up to Velkorn. “It's only a movie.” Rhede chuckled following after Velkorn. “I don't care what you say honey, this is not funny.” Velkorn snapped. “You were scared weren’t you?” Rhede chuckles. “While I might have been unprepared I can say I wasn't 'that' scared.” Velkorn sighed. Rhede chuckled as Velkorn walked off again.” Yeah, you were scared.” The pair of them move down an ally and the scene slowly changes behind them as they walk. As they are walking Rhede starts to sing to the music and the whole audience visibly relaxes as it's quite clear that it is not Rhede singing. “It's close to midnight and something evil's lurking in the dark.” Rhede grinned, making a face at Velkorn trying to get her to smile. “Under the moonlight, you see a sight that almost stops your heart You try to scream but terror takes the sound before you make it......” Rhede grabs his throat with his hooves as if he's choking himself and nearly falling over backwards, making Velkorn smirk a little. “You start to freeze as horror looks you right between the eyes, You're paralyzed.” Rhede froze in place on two hooves nearly falling over again and finally gets a small laugh from the Zebra though she walks on. He catches up quickly and the pair of them start walking past the Apple Family Graveyard, their hooves clicking onto the stage in time to the music, the scene behind them effortlessly changes, likely due to Discord's magic, or really skilled stage hooves. “You hear the door slam and realize there's nowhere left to run You feel the cold hand and wonder if you'll ever see the sun You close your eyes and hope that this is just imagination But all the while you hear the creature creepin'up behind You're out of time.” Velkorn finally seems at least calm as she smiles and the pair practically cantering along. Rhede and Velkorn head off stage as the lights come up on the graveyard. A bit of dirt starts to get displaced from in front of a grave and a hoof pushes up through the dirt. The creak of wood and stone can be heard as a stone tomb door slowly opens, a sarcophagus bucks and is pushed aside as another hoof emerges from the slight opening, pushing the stone lid off further. Figures begin to shamble out of the graves moving from out of the graveyard and into the street. A goat like figure stands atop one of the monuments the lights flickering a bit behind him showing flashes of a figure. As the lights came up it showed a grayish blue furred creature that appeared to be an emaciated Ram. A pair of black gnarled horns rose from his temples, the pair of them faintly glowing sickly yellow with splotches of shadowy gray floating around in the colored mix. Prominent white eyebrows rested over his eyes in a way that seemed to give him a permanent scowl. Like his horns his hooves were jet black and in need of a trim. There were small sections around his joints and cloven hooves that were devoid of hair, though they seemed to have small patches of scales, like a fish or a snake, that were a inky blue black. He wore a red collar studded with gold disks and spikes with a small silver bell hanging from it over his chest. Grogar started speaking, his tone carrying a weight of menace and no small bit of odd fitting pride. “The foulest stench is in the air The funk of forty thousand years” More zombies crawl out of the ground. “And grizzly ghouls from every tomb Are closing in to seal your doom” One of the undead shoves a sewer cover aside climbing up out of the hole in the street. “And though you fight to stay alive Your body starts to shiver” A few of the ghouls advance, one of them tumbling to the stage as it's leg falls off, clearly that wasn't make up. “For no mere mortal can resist The evil of the thriller.........” The spotlight turns to focus back on Velkorn and Rhede. The pair have both frozen in the middle of the street as a group of figures move out of the graveyard to surround them. The shuffling figures were mostly dressed in finery, though much of it was soiled in dirt and half rotted off them. Some of the figures were near skeletal, clearly actually dead, while others seemed to just be covered in makeup to make them look dead. Jer'rahd recognized Lyra and Bon Bon as well as Octavia and Trixie though he was unsure of the rest. Trixie seemed right at home on the stage, yet she was some how overacting being a shuffling corpse. Jer'rahd suspected Grogar had something to do with the truly dead zombies on stage and hoped Discord and Mirth had a tight hold of his leash. He heard several gasps from nearby one from Dawn who was still on his head and one from Rynthia who had backed up to sit against Luna. Well the show was hitting its intended audience well enough. As the undead closed in on Rhede and Velkorn, the stage shifting to spin around them as they went back to back, the lights dimming on everyone but Velkorn. Rhede seemed to vanish for a moment in the near total darkness. Velkorn seemed to notice he wasn't against her back either and she turned to look for him as the stage lights come up again. The focus of the spot lights was now soly on Rhede as the music hit a sudden fanfare. The Red stallion now looked just as dead as the rest of the figures on stage, his mane was mussed up and dark circles surrounded his eyes giving him the look of sunken eye sockets. His jacket and red fur were stained in dirt and his face seemed hollowed as his wide eyes stared back at Velkorn as she backed away from him. The music started again and Rhede begins to dance. The other monsters behind him also start dancing and mimicking his movements perfectly as he shuffles around in time to the beat rearing up on his hind legs to throw his hooves in the air.. All of the zombies suddenly whip back around staring at the audience, one of their heads rolling off to the floor in the process. Rhede turns back around from a spin and seems normal again as he continues singing. “Cause this is thriller, thriller night And no one's gonna save you from the beast about to strike.” They all continue with impressive choreography, a few of them even lending their own voices, surprisingly in tune voices with the chorus. “You know it's thriller, thriller night You're fighting for your life inside a killer.... thriller...... ” Velkorn runs off with the zombie horde in slow pursuit. She turned running up the steps of an old manor house, shoving her way inside and slamming the door behind her, quickly bolting and locking it. The house was a massive thing, with one wall open so the audience could see what was going on inside. Velkorn darted through the house to a central living area. The place was covered in dust and most of the furniture was hidden under sheets with all the windows boarded up. Jer'rahd was willing to call bullshit. Velkorn could have wiped the floor with those things, but then again this was a play...... The horde slowly followed after her, surrounding the house, Rhede no where to be seen. Velkorn shoved a chair before the door backing away from it only for a zombies hoof to burst through the wall and make a grab at her. She shrieked, pulling away to another wall only for another foreleg to smash through that making a grab at her as well. The floor boards shatter as another creature rises up through them shrugging off the splintered wood. The windows and walls were rapidly reduced to rubble as the Zebra mare backed up into a corner shrieking as the zombies closed in. Rhede himself bursts through the door, back in his zombie make up. He flings the chair aside as he and the others all close in on Velkorn. The stage quickly blacks out as she screams out with a high pitched whine of music. Suddenly everything goes silent save her scream and the lights come back on with her sitting in a chair in the theater lobby with a normal Rhede standing over her shaking lightly to wake her back up. “Hey? What's the problem?” Rhede asked half concerned half amused. “Come on, lets get home.” He helped Velkorn up and slips his black leg over her shoulder as she presses against her side trying to shake off the dream. As they head towards the door the music picks up again suddenly and Rhede slowly turned to look out to the crowd, his eyes slitted like a cats and glowing yellow. Grogar took that moment to start cackling like a mad stallion, his laughter echoing across the whole theater as the lights slowly start to dim once again the curtain falling. ======================================================== The crowd was silent for a few moments though the silence was broken by one very loud voice. A loud voice that was still seated on top of his head and was yelling at the top of her lungs with almost the power of the Royal Canterlot Voice. “AGAIN!!!!!”Dawn bellowed. The applause happened quickly after that, though there was still a little bit of crying and whimpering , mostly from some smaller foals.... and the flower trio.... Rynthia hadn't let go of Luna yet and didn't seem likely to do so any time soon. Jer'rahd took note that Mirth had vanished, though that wasn't unexpected. The gray unicorn smirked a little as he rolled his eyes lifting Dawn off his head with his magic before the giggling foal could scream out again. “Heh... way to go Rhede, first time your daughter sees you and you manage to terrify her.” Jer'rahd grumbled.