//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Halloween Hijinks // by Indefintehiatus //------------------------------// It was a cold fall day at Canterlot High, the wind blasting off what's left of the trees and the beaming heat of the summer sunshine seeming like a distant memory. However, many of the students were excited as tonight was no average night, It was Halloween and nobody had a bigger love for this frightfully festive occasion than the schools' resident party planner. Pinkie Pie absolutely adored the holiday, she had been hyping it up for months now and was as giddy as ever knowing that her favorite time of year was finally here once again. Her friends couldn’t help but chuckle at her enthusiasm but at the same time, they were quite excited themselves. Rainbow Dash had been grinning with delight thinking of all the hilarious pranks she could pull and Applejack was looking forward to all the delicious apple-related treats she could sell at the school costume party that night. Like every year, Rarity had offered to help make the costumes for her and her friends. While she usually preferred designing more elegant clothing, she did have a love for the surrealism and creativity this task invited her to explore. Jack o lanterns, fake cobwebs and small plastic skeletons were draped all around the school, but the gym was something else entirely. There were glowing pumpkin-shaped lights overhead the stage, Orange balloons attached to the speakers, skull lanterns above the door, paper ghosts on the walls, blood-spattered hand-print stickers on the disco ball, the chairs were blanketed in cobwebs, creepy dolls dangled from backboard, pumpkin-orange streamers patterned across the ceiling and Pinkie was currently decorating the food table with some of the spookiest cups and plates she could find at the mall, atop a blood-red table cloth with dozens of miniature tombstones and decorated Jack O lanterns upon it. She was quite proud of herself for this one. “Wow Pinkie!” Sunset spoke astonishingly, walking into the room with Rainbow, Applejack & Fluttershy by her side, “you’ve really outdone yourself this year.” “Well of course I have.” she chuckled in return, “When Principal Celestia said we were going to have this party, I knew it had to absolutely Spooktacular!” "Is that even a word?" Sunset smirked, to which Pinkie simply shrugged. “Well I’ll say, you've certainly done a great job!" laughed Applejack, “I’ll have Big Mac drop off the toffee apples and the one's for apple bobbin' later tonight before the party!". “Okie Dokie!” Pinkie beamed, her mouth-watering at the thought of the Apple families tasty toffee treats. “Hey, there’s some candy in that orange bowl over there if you want some?” She announced, before her and Rainbow cheekily grinned at one another as the two of them sat down on the stage. Applejack began to suspect something while Fluttershy and Sunset both shrugged at each other and curiously wandered over to the table, sighting the bowl that Pinkie had mentioned. It was bright orange, with tiny black skulls patterned onto it and many small wrapped-up chocolates inside. Sunset reached in to grab a piece but before she entered the bowl, a plastic zombie hand suddenly burst out amongst the candy, which caused the two girls to let out a fearful shriek before following it up with playful laughter. Or rather, Sunset began to giggle while Fluttershy just stood completely still, looking like she was on the verge of tears. Pinkie and Dash chortled at their successful prank, as Applejack took pity and went over to comfort their shy friend. “There we go Sugarcube.” she comforted, patting Fluttershy on the back, “it’s just another one of their silly pranks, it’s fake, it’s okay”. She tried best she could but Fluttershy could barely muster a whimper in reply, it was like she'd been petrified. “Honestly you two!” Applejack snapped at Rainbow and Pinkie, who were still snickering like children, “Y'all should know better, you know that Fluttershy doesn’t like this kinda stuff!” “Hey! What makes you think I had anything to do with this?” Rainbow huffed, before getting an eyebrow raise from Applejack. “Okay, so maybe it was my idea?” she confessed, “I’m sorry Fluttershy.” “Yeah, I’m sorry too.” Pinkie added, with a clear tone of guilt in her voice. “It’s fine girls.” Fluttershy reassured them, “I was just a little bit startled, that's all.” "It was a pretty good prank." Sunset congratulated, "I'm sure you two have more planned for tonight?" "Oh yeah, just you wait and see what we've got planned!" Rainbow confirmed, summoning a small maniacal chuckle to her face. “This is incredible!” Twilight praised, holding a large cardboard box, as she and Rarity entered the room with Spike following close behind them happily wagging his tail. “There you are!” Sunset said happily, “what kept you two?” “That’s my bad, darling.” Rarity replied, “I was busy assisting Sweetie Belle and her friends with their costumes for trick or treating tonight and Twilight offered to help me out." "Oh right, thank's for helpin' out with Apple Bloom's costume!" Applejack appreciated, "Can't wait to see what it looks like tonight!" "Well, she certainly loved it!" Rarity smirked proudly, "Oh, speaking of costumes…” Rarity paused as she began opening a cardboard box that Twilight was carrying with her. “I finally got the last of the new material I wanted for some of your costumes in the mail today, let’s see here…” she continued, rummaging through the package. She soon reached in and grabbed a pair of pale-white vampire fangs in a small transparent plastic case. “These are for you Fluttershy!” Rarity called, as she passed them to her before reaching in the box again and pulling out a roughly designed black eye-patch with a tag attached that had small skull and crossbones on it. “And this one is for Applejack!” She continued, throwing the prop Applejack's way before she pulled out a large, shiny, red rubber clown nose that squeaked in her hands as she grasped it. “...And I believe, this is for you Pinkie Pie!” Rarity finished before Pinkie swiftly ran over and grabbed it herself, promptly sticking on her own nose and squeezing it excessively, giggling gleefully with each honk that emitted. Rarity simply smiled and rolled her eyes as she closed the box, which was now empty except for some styrofoam peanuts, and disposed of the package in a close-by trash can. “The rest of the costumes and parts are back at my place ready for tonight so we can all head over there before the party, I'll help out with any make-up that may be required." Rarity concluded, as the girls all began thanking her for working on the costumes and anticipating how the finished product would look. All except for Twilight, as something important suddenly occurred to her. “Oh no, I completely forgot!” She exclaimed, “I haven’t had time to find a costume for tonight, the thought had completely slipped my mind!” “No need to fear Twilight!” Rarity bellowed, abruptly putting her hand over her friends’ mouth, “you can simply come by with the rest of the girls and I’ll fix you up something fabulously frightening!” “Thank you Rarity.” Twilight spoke gratefully, taking Rarity’s hand off of her mouth, “Sorry for the short notice, it’s just I haven’t done this kind of thing in a long time.” “It’s no problem at all darling, I’ll even whip up a little something for Spike to wear as well.” Rarity assured, gaining a concerned look from the canine companion. “Now I’m going to try and think of some ideas, why don’t you go think of some as well?” She suggested as she pulled out her sketchpad and pen, trying to imagine what costumes would suit them best. Twilight nodded as she and Spike walked over to Sunset, who was sat down reading a dusty brown book with some peculiar images on the cover. “What’s that?” Twilight asked curiously, sitting down next to her. “Oh, Princess Twilight sent it to me a few days ago.” Sunset answered, “it’s a book about old monsters and creatures from Equestrian history, she recommended I take it in case we ever run into a similar threat in our world.” "That's amazing! Let’s hope nothing too bad comes out of that book.” “Yeah, are you excited for the party tonight?” “Sure, it’ll be fun. I invited Timber and Gloriosa along too, I hope that’s okay?” “I’m sure it'll be fine, It'd nice to see them again. Did you tell them it was a costume party?” "Yeah, I wonder what they're gonna be dressed as? I've still gotta figure out what I'm gonna be tonight?" "I'm sure you'll think of an idea. If not, Rarity will probably find you something. " They kept chatting away for quite some time, Twilight even falling for Dash & Pinkie's candy-bowl prank and reacting similarly to how Sunset did, until they turned to the window to see the sun was beginning to set, giving off a beautiful orange color in the sky behind the multiple bat stickers Pinkie had placed there earlier. “My goodness, it’s getting quite late!” Rarity stated, “We really should start heading to mine and getting into costume.” “Oh right, come on Spike!” Twilight called as she and Spike followed Rarity out, who confidentiality suggested some ideas for Twilight's costume as the exited. “This party is going to be so awesome!” Dash exclaimed she sped out the door, with everyone else following behind her. Pinkie, who was yet to remove her clown nose, made sure to do a triple check of everything before she left, parties were a pretty serious business as she’d tell anyone. After making sure every little thing was in place, she joined the rest of her friends as they all headed toward Rarity’s house to get ready.