Fluttershy and Timber began their way to the school library as originally planned, with Sunset wandering close behind as she became more cat like with every passing minute. They didn’t even know if Twilight & Gloriosa would still be there at this point, but Fluttershy was unable to get phone service to contact anyone else so for now, this was all they had to go on. They were hesitant to leave the science classroom at first, but they unfortunately knew they couldn’t stay there all night and were worried that Sunset may knock over and break something expensive or dangerous in her new form. The journey was mostly silent. Both Fluttershy & Timber barley spoke to each other and Sunset stayed mostly quiet with the exception of a few small meows, which led to Fluttershy having to awkwardly pet her. The biggest question on her mind was if Sunset would have any memory of her feline experience after she had been restored back to normal, if she could be restored back to normal that was.
"Are we nearly there yet?" Timber asked, his legs beginning to grow tired.
"Oh yes, it's just around this corner." Fluttershy replied, as they began finally to approach their destination. However, Timber noticed that something, or rather someone, was absent from their group as they made their last turn.
"Hey, where's Sunset?" He puzzled, as Fluttershy looked around to see she was indeed missing.
"Oh dear, she must be around here somewhere!" Fluttershy worried. She began calling out Sunset's name in a soft and slightly higher-pitched tone, much like she would do for one her animal friends.
"Who's there?" A familiar female voice called from inside the shadows of the distant library, catching their attention.
"That sounded like Twilight, didn't it?" Timber whispered, desperately hoping he was right.
"Twilight, is that you?" Fluttershy called, as Twilight and Gloriosa stepped out of the dark doorway and started enthusiastically running over to them. It may have only been a couple hours, but it felt like it'd almost been years since they'd all seen each-other.
“Thank goodness you two are alright, we were so worried!” Twilight smiled, hugging the two of them tightly out of relief.
"It's so great to see you guys too!" Fluttershy beamed, as she continued to scan the area of Sunset and puzzling how she'd explain her curious condition.
“Is it just the two of you?” Gloriosa sniffed, happily embracing her brother with tears in her eyes.
“well, not exactly.” Timber responded with an awkward chuckle.
Before Twilight could ask, she felt something brush against her and looked down to see Sunset standing on all fours, nuzzling at her leg and purring away while doing it. “Uh…hi Sunset?” Twilight stuttered uncomfortably, with a embarrassed blush slowly coming across her face.
"Oh, there you are Sunset!" Fluttershy sighed cheerfully, as Gloriosa wasn't sure how to react. Fluttershy called Sunset's name in the same tone from earlier and managed to catch her feline-like attention span, leading her away from Twilight before petting her behind the cheeks and stroking her head and back. "There you are, you're a good kitty!" Fluttershy chuckled, starting to enjoy herself as Sunset adorably purred away.
"Um, does someone want to fill us in?" Twilight requested, still incredibly baffled from what had just occurred. Fluttershy explained what had happened to Sunset, which only left them feeling more confused as they figured they had no real choice but to roll with the bizarre circumstances. The five of them continued rekindling and planning their next move, before they were all interrupted by a familiar scream from just down the hall.
“That sounded like Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy gasped. The five of them turned around to see Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie and Rainbow all sprinting fearfully towards them as everyone bumped into each-other and fell backwards into the library, crashing into a shelf and causing books to fly everywhere. As the group readjusted themselves, they noticed that some parts of their costume’s had become mixed up in the impact. Twilight now wore a Rainbow’s daring do’s hat, Gloriosa now wore Applejack’s eye-patch and Fluttershy now wore Pinkie’s clown nose. Twilight lifted the massive pile of books that surrounded them using her powers, and put them aside as everyone dusted themselves off.
“Sorry ‘bout that, ya’ll okay?" Applejack sighed, rubbing her head in mild pain as Gloriosa handed her back the eye patch.
"Yeah, I think we're okay." Fluttershy answered dizzily, removing the bulbous red nose from her face and throwing it towards it's correct owner.
“I think we lost him, so that's a plus.” Rarity commented, rapidly readjusting her disorganized hairdo.
“Something weird happened to Flash!” Dash elaborated, taking her hat back from Twilight, “I don’t know why but he started acting like a real werewolf!”
“Oh no, we were worried something like that would happen!” Fluttershy replied.
“What do you mean by that Sugarcube?” Applejack questioned, as Timber pointed over to Sunset. She was nuzzling up and being stroked by Pinkie, who seemed to have completely accepted her friend was acting this way like it was nothing out of the ordinary. Rarity and Applejack were speechless, while Rainbow found it hysterical.
"Awwww, she's so cute!" Pinkie giggled, "It's like a real life kitty cat, only more Sunset-y!"
“Anyways, what do we do now?” Gloriosa mentioned, as the all looked at each-other in hopes someone had a plan that wasn’t just running around like headless chickens. The group began discussing possible options and even mentioning their encounters while they were all separated, but nobody seemed to any ideas. That was until Twilight recalled something.
“Does anyone know where Sunset’s Equestrian creature book is? right now, it's all we have to understand Kitharum and Sunset isn't really in a position to read it!" She asked.
“Hold on! I think it’s in here somewhere!” Pinkie proclaimed, reaching into her over-sized clown pants and pulling out a unicycle, an axe, a hockey mask, a small television and eventually Sunset’s book. Twilight didn’t have the patience to question the logic behind it and simply scrolled through the book until they found the section marked Kitharium. She read and read every single word carefully for what felt like hours, but her efforts were sadly turning out fruitless.
"Hey, didn't you say you found Trixie?" Rarity mentoned.
"Oh yeah, we did!" Gloriosa remembered, "Twilight buried her under a pile of books earlier."
“Cool! where's that?” Pinkie cheered, before she felt something grab the straps on her suspenders as she was suddenly pulled back without warning and started screaming like a banshee.
“PINKIE PIE!” Rainbow yelled, as she and Applejack ran quickly after her. The rest of the group followed close behind as they all rounded the corner to see Pinkie had unfortunately now been taken over, standing creepily still next to the zombie-like Trixie and even Kitharium himself. But Pinkie looked slightly different than his other minions, with her eyes being slightly wider and her mouth more tilted. Her friends were all silent, apart from Sunset hissing at Kitharium as he caressed Pinkie's cheek.
“She truly is a magnificent one, isn’t she!” he grinned, before he faded away and began to posses Pinkie's body. The distorted sound of his voice was clearly visible, but was now combine with the usual upbeat squeakiness of Pinkie’s. “You know that it’s only a matter of time before you join us, so why not surrender now and save me the trouble!” they harmonized as Pinkie began limping towards her friends. Twilight instinctively dropped the book and telekinetically pushed Pinkie into Trixie, temporally knocking them over. Rainbow grabbed the book as the seven of them began to run.
"Okay, so we're doing this the hard way?" Kitharium smirked, releasing himself from Pinkie's body, "Good, it makes your fear taste better!"
The group kept running as other controlled students and even some of the teachers were lurking behind almost every corner. Eventually, they made it into the school canteen, which was the only place not overrun by Kitharium's army. Applejack used her geode enhanced strength to push the tables towards the doors, barricading them in as the terrifying groans of their classmates could be heard from outside every exit.
“We’re never gonna make it!” Fluttershy sobbed, bursting into tears as Sunset sensed her friends sadness and started nuzzling against her legs in an attempt to cheer her up. Fluttershy appreciated the notion, as she continued to pet Sunset while some of her other friends over to try and help.
"Don't say that Fluttershy, it'll all work out!" Rarity comforted uneasily.
"Yeah, we're gonna be okay!" Applejack reassured, despite them both worrying that she could be right.
"Are you sure there's nothing in that book?" Timber sighed, lightly hugging his girlfriend and sister.
"I don't know, but i'm scared!" Twilight regretfully answered, her eyes also beginning to water as the groans of the controlled became louder with each tear.
“Alright! That is enough!” Rainbow aggressively announced, standing on one of the tables like she was going to make a speech. ” Those are our friends out there! Our families! And we can’t keep fleeing like gutless cowards while they’re under his control! I don’t know about the rest of you but I’m gonna stop running in fear and I’m gonna stand up to him! You hear me you freak, I’m not afraid of you!”.
"Rainbow Dash, stop it!" Applejack snapped, as the zombie-like moans seemed to had somehow become less jarring. Twilight began to think. How had they gotten away from them so far? Pinkie's pie bomb at the apple house, her fighting off Trixie to save Gloriosa and even fighting her off again with Pinkie to get away a few minutes ago. Was there some kind of connection between them that she wasn't seeing. Then, she remembered Applejack mentioning her encounter with Kitharium and her parents in the band room and admiring how brave it was for her to overcome something like that. Then suddenly, it hit her like a ton of bricks.
"I've got it!" she claimed, startling the rest of the group with the sudden loudness of her voice, “they're powered by our fear, why didn't I see it before!"
"Okay, I think she's snapped!" Rainbow worried, as Twilight continued to give her reasoning and her explanation began to slowly make sense to the group.
"So, what's the plan then?" Fluttershy asked, uncertain what to do with this information.
"We have to go out there and face them head on!" Twilight declared.
“But darling, that’s a terrible plan!” Rarity criticized.
“Maybe so, but it’s the only one we’ve got! Now those are our friends out there and I’m gonna help save them, who’s with me?” Twilight stated, with a sudden burst of confidence. Though resistant at first, her friends all banded together and agreed to face the enemy head on. They searched and gathered supplies from around the room that they could use as possible weapons of defense. There wasn't much to work with, but were determined to somehow make it work.
“Alright, listen up ya scurvy dogs!” Applejack broadcasted, standing in front the doors.
“Not the pirate voice AJ!” Rainbow interrupted.
“Please, let me do it this once!” Applejack begged, as Rainbow rolled her eyes and let her friend continue with her speech.
"Those be our mateys out thar!” she continued in a gruff voice, “those be our classmates, our sisters, our familes 'n friends. 'n we be gonna get them back, whatever it be takin’! are ye ready?”
“I’m Ready!” Dash shouted.
“I’m Ready!” Twilight agreed.
“I’m Ready!” Rarity declared sternly.
“I’m Ready!” Fluttershy muttered queitly, still reasonably a little anxious.
“We’re Ready!” Timber & Gloriosa collaborated.
“Meow!” Sunset mewed confidently.
“Then let’s go!” Applejack finished. They all gathered together as Applejack slid the tables aside and opened the door to reveal the entire rest of the school outside the doors, with Principal Celestia & the Canterlot Monster Club groaning at them in the front lines.
“Sorry about this Principal!” Applejack smirked confidently, as she pulled out her sword and swung it around vigorously, causing their controlled classmates and teachers to slowly back away. "It's workin'!" She cheered triumphantly as Dash, Timber and Fluttershy began to throw leftover canteen food at them and Twilight use telekinesis to gently push them aside. Gloriosa stood at the back of the group, all of them closely huddled together, and guided Sunset as they followed along the way. The plan was completely crazy but seemed to be working quite well, as kept it up until they manged to make their way back into the gym, where they quickly slammed the doors shut before catching their breathes.
“Well, that kinda worked?” Twilight sighed. The gang all agreed and chuckled among themselves before they began to hear some suspicious growling. Everyone turned around to see Kitharium on the stage, with Flash, Pinkie, Trixie & DJ Pon-3 all standing alongside him.
“You think you can stop me! Fools! I'm every nightmare you've ever had! Your worst dream come true! I am everything you ever were afraid of!" He bellowed, but most of the gang put on a fearless expression. Gloriosa being the exception, slowly backing away from the rest of the group as KItharium began to attack. He used the power of darkness manipulation and tendril generation to strike, but they manged to bravely fight off his attacks.
“We ain't afraid of you!” Applejack declared, as the Equestrian monster grew angrier. That was until he saw one girl standing further away from the group, sighting her as his key to victory.
“Maybe you’re not, but she is!” Kitharium smirked, confidently pointing towards Gloriosa. The room around her went almost pitch black except for two dim mysterious lights. One shined over Gloriosa and another over Kitharium, like a couple of theater spotlights. Her friends tried to call out to her but Kitharium used his powers to capture them in his darkness, making their voices become muffled and inaudible to Gloriosa as he drew closer.
“You’re afraid you’ll hold them back, afraid they’ll never really accept you!” he taunted, as his shadows began to tie up her friends.
“Shut up!” Gloriosa muttered, as she looked ahead to see he’d taken the form of her old ‘Gaia Everfree’ transformation.
“You’re afraid, that deep down inside, you’ll never be able to separate yourself from ME!" he screamed, now mimicking her voice from the event. Gloriosa began to cry as she kneeled to the ground in defeat. “You know” Kitharium continued, now having transformed back into himself, “I may not have been accustom to this world yet, but you humans are so interesting. Especially you Gloriosa! You’re willing to let them fail because you’re afraid you will cause them to do so! You know, It’s almost poetic!” his grin grew wider as the lights began to fade and the room grew darker. “In fact, you know what! I’ll be kind and give you some of them back!”. After he spoke those words, the lights temporally increased as her friends were released and Pinkie & Sunset were restored back to normal. Sunset slowly stood back up on two feet and hugged her friends as Pinkie bounced over and did the same.
“But why would you do that?” Gloriosa asked.
“It’s to prove I’ve already won!” Kitharium laughed, as the room went black again, "It doesn't matter how many of your friends aren't under my control, they will never defeat me because you’re holding them back and you know it!”. The darkness kept closing in on her and her friends voices became harder to hear as Kitharium felt he could practically taste his victory. "Just say it, your afraid!" he exhaled creepily.
Then suddenly, images began flashing through Gloriosa's mind. Images of her with her brother and some of her with the group. She recalled her memories of that previous summer, Timber humorously falling into the lake while they were playing with some of the new campers. She remembered some of the times she spent with her friends from Canterlot high. Helping Pinkie bake the cake for the benefit concert, Fluttershy introducing her to some of the Forrest critters or even crashing one of Twilight's date with her brother. These memories were all so happy. Gloriosa wiped away her tears and stood up self-assuredly towards him, she knew what she had to do. “You know what? I’m not afraid!” she proclaimed, “You can play to my fears as much as you like, but I know deep down that they’re are my friends and they will stand by me! They will help me! They can defeat you!” as she finished her speech, a strange glow began to shine around her as the room began to light up. Her friends were now visible as they began to do the same.
“What is happening?” Kitharium groaned, shielding his eyes.
“Don’t you see it?” Gloriosa smiled confidently, “I do”
“It’s a more powerful magic than fear!” Twilight added.
“It’s the type of magic that help conquer it!” Sunset joined in, as all the girls began to lift of the ground.
“It’s the magic of friendship!” the eight girls declared simultaneously, as a blinding light emitted of them and completely lit up the room. Kitharium’s fearful screams could be heard as his darkness completely faded and he was gone. The girls all slowly drifted back towards the ground as they looked around to see the enchantments had been lifted as Flash, Trixie & Dj-Pon3 stood there confused and the groans from outside the door sounded more like confused mutters.
"We did it!" Gloriosa cheered, as the group all high-fived each-other and gave relieving hugs.
“So, you all saw me acting like a cat huh?” Sunset awkwardly chuckled, releasing a blush as red as Pinkie’s nose out of sheer embarrassment.
“Yeah, we did!” Twilight laughed, “but don’t worry, I’m guessing by the noise out there that it’s only the nine of us who’ll remember”.
“We won’t tell nobody sugarcube!” Applejack winked.
“But we will probably tease you about it for a month or so!” Rainbow snickered.
“You were pretty adorable if that helps” Fluttershy complimented.
“Thanks you guys.” Sunset smirked, as Flash ran over and gave her a hug. The doors opened as half the school wandered in, appearing to have no memory of their previously zombified states. The CMC all ran over to their sisters (or honorary sisters in some cases) in floods of tears.
“I’m sorry sis, this is all my fault!” Apple Bloom wept.
“Shh.. it’s okay, it’s all over now” Applejack comforted her sister, while Rarity offered to fix their costumes and Dash even claimed Scootaloo was pretty intimidating, which of course made her feel better.
“Why is it when something strange happens, it’s always you seven?” Principal Celestia sarcastically sighed, with Vice-Principal Luna following close behind.
“Do you remember what happened?” Fluttershy asked.
“Not really, we just feel like we weren’t ourselves.” Vice Principal Luna answered, “are we close?”
“More or less.” Sunset nodded.
The party then continued into the almost the early hours of the morning. Most of the students still felt strange but were able to enjoy themselves regardless. One person who was having more fun than before was definitely Gloriosa. She was dancing without a care in the world, getting competitive in the apple bobbing and was uncontrollably laughing after all of the pranks Pinkie pulled on her, even managing to prank her a couple times too. Twilight and Sunset were particularly happy for her, relating to her previous struggles and seeing the positive atmosphere she had now submerged herself in. Twilight was the first of the group to leave the party as it was getting very late and she needed to check up on Spike. As she said her goodbyes, she fell victim to another hand buzzer prank from Pinkie and gave Timber a quick kiss. She also decided to have a quick one to one conversation with Gloriosa before going.
“Thank you so much for coming, I’m glad you were able to have a good time!” Twilight approached.
“Thank you so much for inviting me” Gloroisa smiled, “This been the most fun I've had in years, you’re such a great friend!”
“Thanks, hopefully I’ll see you around.” Twilight beamed, before saying goodbye and leaving the gym. Sunset had offered to walk Twilight home, which she accepted as she was still feeling a little too shaken up to be walking home alone. The two talked the whole way there as Sunset began telling her some nightmare night stories from home, including the tale of Nightmare Moon which Twilight acknowledged as her favorite story of the bunch. Eventually, they made their way back to the house where Spike had been eagerly waiting for them. They could hear him barking from the other side of the door before they opened it and he ran straight into Twilight’s arms.
“Hey Twilight, how was trick or treating?” he yapped, cuddling up to his owner.
“It’s a long story!” Twilight chuckled, petting Spike and carrying him back inside before saying goodbye to Sunset.
On her way home, Sunset began pondering what she could write to Princess Twilight in her journal about tonight’s events. She figured it important to tell her about another Equestrian threat and what happened to her fellow schoolmates, though she probably wasn’t going to mention the 'acting like a cat incident'. However, she still wanted to also highlight how much fun the party was & how Gloriosa helped save the day, not to mention she wanted enough room to ask how the princess' Nightmare Night had been.
One thing was for sure, this Halloween had certainly been eventful to say the least.
THE END