Later that night, many of the students began walking outside the school doors. They were laughing amongst themselves and discussing what to do next for the remainder of Halloween. Sunset and her friends were among them as they gleefully exited the party together, sitting down on the small flight of steps outside the school doors.
"That was so much fun!" Twilight exhaled happily, tired out from all the dancing.
“So, what’d you guys wanna do now?” Sunset questioned.
“We should go Trick or Treating!” Pinkie shouted, slumping over Applejack as she struggled to walk due to her sugar rush.
“Um..Pinkie Pie.” Fluttershy spoke kindly, “don’t you think you’ve maybe had enough candy for tonight?”
“Hey! I’ll tell you when I’ve had enough!” Pinkie slurred as she started wandering over before tripping and falling onto Rarity, causing her to yelp as they both tipped over.
“Whoa, are you two okay?” Flash checked, snickering under his breath.
Pinkie Pie quickly sat up with an oblivious grin upon her face like nothing had happened, not noticing her red rubber nose had fallen off. “Alright!” she giggled, “I’ll save any candy I collect tonight 'till tomorrow, you guys happy?". Her friends either face-palmed, chuckled or simply rolled their eyes at the response while Pinkie began to adjust herself as she felt her face and noticed something was missing. “Has anyone seen my nose?” She asked curiously. Just then, Rarity sat up dizzily and crossed her eyes to notice the large red ball had somehow become attached to her nose during impact. She started to freak out and yanked it off her face as fast as she could, causing it to land on the pavement with a small squeak.
“Oh, there it is. Thanks Rarity!” Pinkie chirped, picking it up off the floor and sticking back on her face as Timber and Fluttershy helped the girls up off the ground and the group resumed their debate.
“Trick or Treating could be fun!” Twilight considered, “Nobody else seems to have any other ideas so, why not?”
“Yeah, but I did tell Apple Bloom and her friends we’d meet ‘em here and I wouldn’t wanna worry her.” Applejack mentioned.
“So, we’ll be back in time to meet them.” Rainbow responded, “Plus, we may even bump into them while we're out and surprise them.”
"Well, It guess it's settled then" Sunset shrugged, "Let's go Trick or Treating!"
"Woo-Hoo!" Pinkie cheered loudly, startling Fluttershy in the process.
"I've still got to run the party, but you guys all have fun and I'll catch up with you later!" Flash declined.
"Yeah, I'd rather hang back too if that's alright." Gloriosa agreed.
"I'll go with you guys, anything to hang out with my Twi-entist!" Timber flirted, his girlfriend rolling her eyes at the terrible pun but also letting out a small chuckle at the same time. The gang all said goodbye and promptly set off. They knocked on a couple houses nearby and stored their candy in the multiple pockets in Twilight's lab coat, as nobody had thought to bring any bags or buckets. Rainbow & Pinkie manged to prank some of their fellow students they ran into and even a couple from Crystal Prep, who unfortunately didn't take them as well. An hour had passed when Applejack recognized her house nearby, she pointed it out to her friends and they all decided to head over. The only one of their houses they had been to so far tonight had been Twilight's to drop off Spike, since he was getting tired.
“If Big Mac’s as generous as he was last year, then we’ve hit the candy jackpot!” Pinkie beamed as she skipped merrily towards the house, with Dash ecstatically running after her. Trick or Treating made them act as if they were children all over again, as the rest of the group followed behind at a much slower and calmer pace.
“You having a good night?” Timber asked, with his arm around Twilight as they walked together.
“Yeah, probably not as much as them but tonight’s been pretty fun.” She smiled in response.
“The night’s not over yet sugarcube.” Applejack added, “hope all that candy isn’t too heavy.”
“Don't worry, Rainbow and Rarity have probably already eaten most of it.” Sunset smirked cheekily.
“Hey! I'll have you know that I've not had that much!” Rarity proclaimed before releasing a large belch, making her friends laugh and herself blush with embarrassment. They all eventually caught up with their more energetic friends at the Apple's home, as Rainbow and Pinkie were rapidly knocking on the door and yelling at the top of their lungs.
“HELLO!” Dash shouted, before getting an angry look from Applejack.
“What in tarnation do y'all think you’re doing?” she snapped at them.
“No one’s answering the door” Pinkie whined as Applejack moved her out of the way and knocked herself, only to see they were right.
“Huh, well that’s odd. Maybe Big Mac went out to get some candy?” She suggested as she saw what looked like her brother walking in the distance. She began to approach him as she noticed he seemed to walk very slowly, almost with a limp of sorts. Applejack was confused until she started to think he may just be trying to scare them, which was rather typical of him on Halloween. “It’s not gonna work Big Mac, you can stop now!” She self-assuredly called, causing Big Mac to stop moving and slowly turn around to face her. His face was expressionless, his skin was pale and he could only utter a spine-tingling groan in return. The cocky smirk shortly began to leave Applejack’s face, she knew something was wrong as she began to back away. Rainbow and Pinkie gulped as the door swung open, revealing Granny Smith in the same condition as her grandson.
“ZOMBIES!!!!!” Pinkie screamed as she clutched hold onto Rainbow out of pure terror, her teeth chattering like they were novelty wind ups. Rainbow quickly activated her geode as she sped off, grabbed Applejack and ran towards the rest of their friends, who were all fearfully huddling.
“What’s….going….on?” Fluttershy stuttered, with tears appearing in her eyes as Big Mac and Granny Smith slowly staggered towards them.
“It’s wonderful isn’t it!” A mysterious warped voice proclaimed behind them. They all turned around to a grey slender figure, with a now zombie-like CMC standing beside him uttering unsettling groans.
“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity cried.
“What have you done to them?” Rainbow raged, being held back by Sunset & Applejack.
“All will be revealed soon.” the mysterious man laughed creepily, as more of their classmates & teachers stepped out and began surrounding them under his control. They came closer and closer and closer, It was almost like the whole school had turned against them. In a panic, Rarity activated her geode and created a protective shield around her friends in the group, but this didn't seem to phase the oncoming threat. “I don't know how long I can hold them, has anybody got a plan?” Rarity questioned nervously, as her friends were either shaking their heads or too distressed to answer.
“We’re gonna need some kind of distraction if we’re to get away!” Sunset answered, before turning around to see Pinkie searching for something in her large clown pants. Twilight was about to ask what she was doing when Pinkie pulled out a box of sprinkles and a cream pie. “I got something!” she nodded confidently, as her friends chose to follow her lead. “Okay, ready Pinkie?” Rarity asked hesitantly, getting a nod in reply. She then lowered her shields as Pinkie sprinkled the pie which began to glow. “Get down!” she called as she threw it towards the controlled students as it exploded, temporally blinding them. By the time the dust cleared, Pinkie and the gang had gotten away.
Eventually, they all found themselves cowered behind their now practically abandoned school, feeling incredibly confused, scared and out of breath.
“Is everyone okay?” Twilight sighed, getting nothing but exhausted exhales in return.
“What are we gonna do?” Pinkie freaked, grabbing and shaking everyone in hysteria. “They’ve got the whole school, what if they’ve got Principal Celestia or they somehow have Princess Twilight! We’re doomed! It’s a bug hunt, Game over man game over!” Pinkie annoyingly rambled on before Rainbow grabbed some candy out of Twilight’s pocket and shoved it into Pinkie’s mouth, turning her rant into inaudible mumbles.
“First of all, we need to figure who the heck this guy is and what he’s done to our friends!” Rainbow announced aggressively.
“I don’t know why, but I feel like this thing might be from Equestria.” Sunset suggested.
“It would make sense, that is where most of our problems seem to come from!" Rarity moaned, "oh, no offence.”
"None taken." Sunset rolled her eyes.
“Is it just the eight of us left?” Fluttershy began to weep.
“I hope not, that means they have my sister!” Timber worried. At that moment, a couple of shadows appeared above them and frightening the group. “Thank goodness you’re okay!” one of them spoke as they revealed themselves to be Gloriosa & Flash, whom everyone then hugged out of relief.
“How are you guys still normal?” Sunset smiled relievedly.
“We were just leaving the party when everyone started acting weird.” Flash assured them, “we’ve been trying to get back into the auditorium once we realized something was up, but we’ve locked ourselves and lost the keys!”.
“It’s true, we were looking around the school for help when we found you guys” Gloriosa added “and if we can get in, we have something to show you .”
“Likely story!” Applejack disbelieved.
“Yeah, for all we know this could be a trap!” Dash agreed, with Pinkie and Rarity following her doubtful lead. Twilight, Timber, Sunset and Fluttershy all looked around uncomfortably, not sure who's side to take. They wanted to believe that It was really them but they didn't yet know the extent of the mysterious creature's powers, so the disbelief in the situation wasn't unjustified.
“I think we should hear them out.” Timber stated, wanting to defend his sister.
"Of course you would!" Rainbow snapped as the two began to argue over who to trust, before Pinkie broke them up by unexpectedly throwing pies in their faces. The conversation soon fell quiet, as the group figured they had no choice but to believe Flash and Gloriosa and hope they were right in their choice. They all began to discuss any further actions to take, when Twilight had an idea.
“Sunset, where is your Equestrian monster book?” She inquired, causing her friend to have a sudden realization.
“It’s in the auditorium, I was reading it during the party!” Sunset exclaimed.
“Wow Sunset, reading during a party?” Dash smirked, wiping the cream from the pie off of her face and out of her hair, “You’re such an egghead.”
“Anyways.” Sunset continued, ignoring her friends rude remarks, “if we can find that book, we may be able to figure out who this guys is and how to beat him and get our friends and family back!”
“I guess that’s better than no plan, let's go.” Fluttershy sniffed, as they all headed towards to auditorium. They soon arrived at the locked door, which Applejack used her geode enhanced strength to kick down. Once it opened, they all walked in and saw a zombie-like Trixie, who was dressed as a wicked witch, tied up with the stage ropes and snarling at them.
"She tried to attack us earlier but we managed to subside her for now." Gloriosa explained.
“We also figured it would help to capture one in case you wanted to test out a cure.” Flash added as Sunset ran straight past her and reached under the food table where she found her book, sat down and began to read.
“Let’s see…Pony of shadows….Discord…..Windigos.......Changelings…....Plunderseeds....” Sunset scrolled through the pages, looking for something that could help until she came across a page labelled Kitharium with an image that resembled the mysterious creature from earlier. “Guys, I found something!” she called as her friends all ran over and gathered around the book. “It says he’s called Kitharium, the spirit of fear!” Sunset deciphered, “Legends say that many moons ago, Kitharium would steal away foals & fillies all across the land, feeding on their fears and using it to consume their magic and manipulate them into his own personal army which he would later use to enslave and overthrow Equestria."
"Hey, kinda like how you once enslaved all of Canterlot High into your own zombie army to take over Equestria!" Pinkie obliviously compared.
"Yes Pinkie, thank you for that remark!" Sunset sighed, as she continued reading. "However, he was thwarted by none other than Starswirl the Bearded and was banished to unknown dimension, which I'm guessing is us!"
“Does it say how he was defeated?” Gloriosa questioned anxiously.
Sunset scanned the pages but unfortunately couldn’t find anything. “No, it doesn't!” Sunset worriedly exhaled, “He’s supposed to be merely an urban legend.”
"Well that ain't good!" Applejack commented.
“So, what do we do?” Flash dreaded.
"For now, we're gonna need some sort of plan!" Twilight deduced.
"I've got it!" Pinkie pitched, "We take that book, head down to Sweet Shoppe, lock all the doors, grab ourselves a milkshake and wait for all of this to blow over!"
"Pinkie, we can't just wait this out!" Rarity disagreed, "Those are our friends and siblings out there, we have to do something to help save them!"
"Oh yeah, that was my next idea!" Pinkie backtracked innocently.
"How about this?" Sunset suggested, "There's ten of us and most of us have superpowers of sorts. So, I think we should split up into groups and each scan different areas of the school?"
"I don't know if that's such a great idea." Timber objected, "If we're the only survivors, then wouldn't make more sense for us to all stay together?"
"That's true, but it could make it easier for him.” Applejack mentioned, “whether he wants us or our magic, it’s better we’re not all in one place!”
"And if anyone comes across anything suspicious, we can always just text one-another?" Rarity added.
“Aright!” Pinkie announced in a gruff voice, as her bowl hat was now replaced with a military cap. “We'll have Sunset & Flash in a group, Rainbow & Applejack, Twilight & Gloriosa, Timber & Fluttershy and Rarity, you’re with me!” She aggressively declared, before clearing her throat, to restore her voice to it's regular feminine tone, and munching on a leftover toffee apple as the rest of the group sat in silence.
"I guess that settles that issue." Sunset blinked, who was going to discuss the issue of teams before Pinkie's interruption took care of it. The gang quickly discussed and decided on which areas each team would explore as they all said their goodbyes, wished each-other luck and all fearfully went their separate ways. None of them were sure what awaited them, but they're were hoping this would all be resolved soon.