Beyond the Skies- Fright Night
It had been around two weeks since he had his first lesson with the sensei named King Pen, and in that time, Calvin had been taking part in a few additional lessons with the sensei. Some even took place back outside of the academy so that he wasn’t just comfortable with one kind of environment. King Pen and another sensei brawler that he happened to meet, named Air Strike, saw it as important for him to be comfortable to the changing environments, whether he was in a zone that was specifically strong for fire type skylanders or something completely different. That, and also the greebles that Buzz kept ordering with the Minions Monthly catalogue weren’t going to prepare him against other types of bad guys outside the academy.
Back in Equestria though, it was now in mid fall, and the month of October had just begun, meaning that there was one holiday that everypony this year seemed to be looking forward to the most: Nightmare Night. But unfortunately for Calvin… during the first week that he was noticing the changes, he had no idea what exactly they were talking about or why everypony was so excited for it. By the time that the decorations were being brought up and he saw some ponies carving out pumpkins for jack o’lanterns, he began to wonder if this ‘Nightmare Night’ was just another way to say Halloween.
There was only one way that he could confirm his suspicions though. Like his mother back home would tell him all the time, if you don’t know something… just ask the question. “Hey, Twilight… What’s Nightmare Night?”
In the moment that Twilight heard that question being asked, she was in the middle of having some cookies with milk while reading a new book that just came in for her. And as she heard that, the alicorn almost swallowed too much of her cookie without chewing it first as she was forced to cough it up in a trash can. “I-I’m sorry, what was that, Calvin?”
“Nightmare Night,” he repeated to her, “I keep hearing everypony talk about it, but nopony has really told me what it is… So, what is it?”
That… took a few seconds for Twilight in order to process, before she closed her book with her magic and set it back down on the cutie map table in the center of her castle. “Well…” she paused for a moment, realizing a new dilemma. Normally, when somepony would ask her what something was, she would give a rather long explanation that was full of information. But for someone of Calvin’s age, she needed to find a way to condense that kind of explanation to where it was somewhat shorter. “Nightmare Night’s a holiday at the end of the month, where everypony dresses up and goes door to door in order to get candy from other ponies houses. Mayor Mare also has the town set up some games for everypony to play, too-”
“That kind of sounds like Halloween back home.” Upon hearing that, the princess twitched. She honestly had no idea what kind of holidays or festivities Calvin had back home, and just now, he told her that one of Equestria’s own holidays sounded a lot like something back from his home. “Uh… are you okay?”
“W-wha-?” Twilight replied back, shaking her head before looking back at Calvin and chuckling a small bit. “O-of course, I’m fine! Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well… you were kind of staring off into space just now,” he pointed out to her, before following up with something else to ask her. “You know, when I mentioned the whole thing with Halloween just now.”
It was when he mentioned the name of that holiday again though that it gave the Princess of Friendship an idea as to something that she wanted to ask him. “Actually… now that you mention it, I’m kind of curious about this ‘Halloween’ that you mentioned. What is it like?”
“Well, it's kind of similar to what you were saying about Nightmare Night,” he explained to her. “It happens on the last day of October, where everyone, whether it be kids or adults, would go door to door around their neighborhood to go trick or treating. And when you mentioned the activities around Ponyville, that reminded me of a halloween festival that was held at the church near my neighborhood.”
At first, Twilight just blinked… but then looked back at Calvin with eyes of wonder and curiosity. “Wow! I never knew that your world had a holiday that was similar to ours.”
“And I honestly did not know that you guys had a holiday that was similar to one of mine,” Calvin replied back to her, before realizing something, “Though… now that I think of it… I just realized something.”
“Hunh? What is it?” The Princess of Friendship now wondered, a little curious to hear what he had just thought of.
“I don’t have anything that could serve as a costume,” he replied back to her as he put his hands in the pockets of his shorts. “I mean, the only clothes that I technically have are these ones, the training clothes from King Pen, and that other suit that Rarity gave me… You know, the one that didn’t burn to a crisp at the gala?”
Twilight remembered… and then realized that Calvin brought up a rather valid point. He didn’t have anything that could technically qualify as a ‘costume’ for Nightmare Night, but she did think of somepony who could help make one for him. “Well, maybe Rarity could make one for you? She did help us with our costumes before.”
“Yeah, but it’s hard to think of something when you don’t exactly know what you want to be,” the skyshifter replied back. “Almost every time I’ve been out for halloween, I’ve seen kids dress up as superheroes, characters from movies or TV shows, movie monsters and so on. And it’s a little hard to think of something when… well… when thinking about all of this reminds me of before I came here.”
Twilight knew what he meant, especially when Calvin told him about how he missed his family and the place that he called home. And since then, the Princess of Friendship was doing everything she could with the help of her friends to make Ponyville seem more like a home to him, just like how her friends helped make this castle more like a home to her as she looked at the chandelier that was hanging above their heads. “Well… let’s see… Back in your world, do you have movies?”
“Yeah, I do. When I was younger, mom and I would reserve friday nights as movie night,” he replied back, nodding his head in confirmation.
“Well… why don’t you think of a character from your favorite movie, and when we go over to the carousel boutique later, you can describe them to Rarity and I? Maybe even draw them out for her. She did say that she prefers visual references when a customer has a specific request for her to make,” she suggested to him as she trotted over to grab some parchment and a couple of pencils.
For Calvin though… nothing really seemed to click at first. He couldn’t exactly remember the last time that he saw a movie or what exactly that movie was or any others. But… there was one exception, that being one of the first movies that he saw when he was younger. One that would forever be one of his favorites.
“My word, these designs! That cloak! This is MARVELOUS!!!” An overly dazzled Rarity proclaimed as she disappeared into the back of her design studio to get the necessary materials that she needed. In that same moment though, Twilight was trying to understand more as to what Calvin had shown her… or more importantly, try to make sense of what it was.
“So… this character is supposed to be a wizard?” she asked, holding the piece of parchment that Rarity dropped on the floor in her mad dash of inspiration.
“Yeah. He’s in one of the first movies I saw when I was younger,” the skyshifter replied back to him. “He’s a wizard named Howl that lives in a moving castle-”
“Wait… moving castle?” Twilight then asked, trying to picture a castle like that of Canterlot actually moving on its own. “How does such an idea even work?
“Well, yeah, the movie is called Howl’s Moving Castle…” he told her, looking back at the princess as he took a seat in a nearby chair. “As for how it works… well, I’d rather not go into details, because it would kind of spoil the movie. And Spike told me that you had a strict rule of no spoilers for anything you haven’t seen or read back at the castle.”
That… was true. She had to put that rule in place when she was able to finally get Rainbow Dash to stop borrowing her Daring Do books, only to read the newest one and finish it before Twilight could be able to start it. It’s one of the reasons why she hated last minute meetings with delegates, especially when it cut into her ‘reading time’. “Tell you what… if somehow, you happen to meet another one of those displaced again and you get a copy of that movie from them, I’ll see it with you.”
“Really? You would do that?” Calvin then asked her, a bit surprised to hear such a proposal from her.
“Yes, I would,” Twilight said with a confident smile on her face. She was glad to see Calvin look happy in response to her offer, because no matter how hectic life would be like for somepony like her, she would find a way in order to be able to help him out and spend time with him. That, and she did need a break from the job of being a Princess every now and then. “Besides, it would be an interesting change of pace to see a movie from your world.”
“Really? I don’t really think the movies we have are that different,” Calvin replied back as he scratched the top of his head. “I mean… There are a lot of types, but back home, I couldn’t see a lot of them because of what they were rated.”
“There are ratings to those movies?”
“Well, yeah… I don’t remember them all or what some of them stand for, but I remember that some movies were G, PG, PG-13 and then there were those that were R rated. I just knew that R meant restricted, and that I couldn’t see PG-13 movies unless I had an adult with me, because I wasn’t old enough.” When Twilight heard Calvin explain that to her, she thought about how some of the things that were said were almost exactly the same. From what she knew, the rating system for movies sounded similar, with some being movies being for general audiences while others required a parent or legal guardian to be with a child if they were too young.
But instead of wanting to ask about that though, Twilight thought of a different question to ask. “Hey, Calvin… What kinds of movies do you like?”
“Well, it depends… though, it’s hard to think of all of them right now. Besides… it would be a bit hard to explain a majority of them, because back home…” For a moment, he stopped. Trying to think of the right words to say before he would tell the Princess what he was thinking. “Not every movie’s the same. There are a bunch of different types. Some that I have seen are movies that are based on actual stories and events, some are based on comics, books and games-”
“You mean like adaptations of a popular book into a movie?” she asked, surprised that such a thing existed in his world as well as in Equestria.
“Yeah, exactly like that! Though, I suppose it depends on what you are into…” Calvin replied back. “Though… sometimes some of the stuff my mom watches is a bit scary, and… well, creepy.”
That… had Twilight raise an eyebrow for a moment as she looked back at the young boy, a bit curious as she proceeded to ask a follow up question. “How so? Was she into scary movies?”
“I… don’t know. But one time when I was younger, I woke up late, because I needed to use the bathroom… and while I was up, she was watching this old movie, and one of the characters was trying to hide from something… before an axe came through the wooden wall they were hiding behind, and whoever was there said ‘Here’s Johnny!’. I… used to have nightmares about that same guy breaking through our home the same way.”
Twilight blinked upon hearing that. Even though she didn’t have much context, hearing that alone sent a shiver down her spine. Luckily though, she didn’t have to think about it much as Rarity soon trotted back into the room. “Calvin, dear… Can I borrow you for a second?”
“Um… Sure, I guess,” he replied back. “What is it?”
“Well, I was really tempted to begin your outfit, but I wanted to double check to see that your measurements were correct,” the seamstress replied back, “because it looks like you’ve grown a bit since the last time I saw you at the boutique.”
“I have?” he asked, looking around for a moment as stretching out the shirt that he had on. “I don’t feel like I’ve grown… but if you think it’s a good idea, then why not?”
“Thank you, darling. I was wanting to make sure that your measurements were accurate, so you could be as comfortable as possible when it's time for you to wear it,” Rarity replied back as she had Calvin follow her into the back of the boutique, using her magic to get some measuring tape so she could be able to start getting the measurements that she needed.
She first started with getting his height from head to toe, before measuring his arms, legs, waist, ankles, and wrists. Recording the results on a clipboard that had his previous measurements, Rarity jotted down the results down after each measurement. Though, it was when she was finished that Calvin then found it as the right time for him to ask a particular question. “So… out of curiosity, what do you girls normally do during Hallo- I mean Nightmare Night?”
“Well… most of us normally participate in the things going on around town,” Twilight replied back.
“Wait… Most of you?” Calvin questioned after hearing that. “What do you mean by that?”
“Well…” For a moment, the Princess of Friendship looked back at Rarity for a moment, before letting out a sigh as she looked back at Calvin after a few moments. “Fluttershy doesn’t really take part in Nightmare Night because of how easily scared she gets. Last year, she boarded up the windows and doors to her cottage and just waited it out until morning.”
“Oh… wow, I’m sorry to hear that. She’s… really missing out. Being scared sometimes is part of the whole experience,” he replied back. “What about everypony else?”
“Well, if I remember correctly, Applejack told me that her family are doing a haunted corn maze by Sweet Apple Acres this year that Granny Smith’s running,” Rarity then chimed into the conversation. “Though, I haven’t heard much as to what everypony else is planning this year.”
“Do you think it would be possible that something would be done at the school where Sweetie Belle and her friends go, too? Like a festival?” Calvin then asked.
“It’s… possible. But normally, if such a thing were to occur, we would be notified about it sooner,” Twilight replied back. “If many ponies were to host a big festival for a holiday such as this, sometimes ponies from the school would either go door to door in order to inform them about what’s going on. Otherwise, the mayor's office will get flooded with noise complaints.”
Around the time that Princess Twilight said that, they all heard the door to the boutique open up as somepony entered the building. And soon, they realized who that somepony was. “Rarity, I’m home!”
“I’m getting a weird feeling that you spoke too soon,” the Skyshifter told both Twilight and Rarity as the mares looked at each other for a moment, puzzled expressions on their faces as they tried to make sense of what he was saying.
“What do you mean, Calvin?” All Calvin did was point to the filly as both of them turned back to Sweetie Belle. This time, they were seeing her hold an orange piece of parchment in her hooves, as well as what looked like a notepad, but the parchment itself looked to resemble that of a flyer as three words stood out across the top of the page.
Nightmare Night Carnival.
“I saw a couple other ponies around Sweetie Belle’s age leaving the schoolhouse with the same flyer, so I kind of guessed she had one like this,” he then added on as Sweetie Belle now came trotting over to them, carrying the flyer with her magic as she set it on the table where Rarity was recording Calvin’s measurements.
“Sweetie Belle, dear,” Rarity then spoke up, putting the quill that she was using down on the table with her magic as she now picked up the new piece of paper. “What is this for?”
“Well, all of us got it on the way out from school today. The girls and I were thinking that we could go help out or just have fun there, since you normally spend Nightmare Night with Twilight and the rest of your friends,” Sweetie Belle replied, before noticing that Calvin was actually in the same room as a small look of embarrassment was present on her face. “O-oh... hi, Calvin. I d-didn’t see you there.”
“Hello, Sweetie Belle,” the boy said, waving to the filly with his hand, now that he didn’t have to hold his arms in an upright T position. “Rarity was just getting my measurements so she could help me with my Nightmare Night costume.”
“Oh, cool!” she replied back, before thinking of something. “Hey, I got an idea… How about you come hang out with the girls and I for Nightmare Night? The carnival’s supposed to have a lot of carnival games, catering from Sugarcube Corner, and many other fun things, too! Plus, Twilight won’t have to worry about having to keep an eye on you all the time.”
“Uh, Sweetie Belle? Why would you think I would be worried?” Twilight then asked.
“Actually… she brings up a good point,” Calvin admitted as he looked back at the alicorn now. “I’d rather not have you worry about trying to keep an eye on me while also trying to have fun with everypony else.”
Personally, Twilight was a little bit unsure of what to say. She wanted to make sure that he had fun, since this was his first Nightmare Night, but she also wanted to be there in case something did not go well for him. But then again, if his response to wanting to go to Griffonstone was anything, she didn’t want to come off sounding like the ‘adoptive mother’ again.
“Well, if you think it’s a good idea, then I’m fine with it,” the alicorn now replied, looking back to Calvin. “It’s still a bit of a ways though. It’s three weeks until Nightmare Night, so it would give you some time to see what you want to do with Sweetie Belle and her friends.”
“Thanks, Twilight!” Before she could react, Calvin pulled her into a hug that accidentally yanked a bit on the back of her neck before turning towards Sweetie Belle, the filly taking him towards their clubhouse so they could be able to come up with some special plans for the carnival… all while Rarity looked back at Twilight for a moment.
“You okay, darling?”
“Y-yeah... I just… didn’t expect for him to pull on my neck like that…” she said, holding a hoof up. “J-just give me a moment.”
Meanwhile…
“Ugh! Mother?! What is the meaning of this!?!” Kaos shouted as he stomped through the door of his study in the castle, only to find none other than his mother inside. Over the last two weeks, he was trying to comprehend the fact that Sombra somehow had the power to let his mother out of the mirror prison of oblivion that she was once in. That, also the constant nitpicking and his mother talking about how exactly she would do things as a way to try to get him to learn something. “What are you doing in my study?!!”
“What does it look like I’m doing?” Kaossandra replied to her son, who was standing at the table as she was preparing to perform a spell as a crystal ball stood in the center of the table.
“You are standing… in… MY STUDY!!” Kaos snapped again.
“Aside from that.”
“Well… what exactly are you doing anyways?!” That just had Kaossandra let out a deep sigh as she snapped a finger, causing the crystal ball to light up as she looked back at her son.
“I’m about to perform a scrying spell using the crystal ball here. Your new ally, Sombra, has told me much about the world below the Skylands. But with this, we could actually be able to see what it’s like down there.” That had Kaos stop talking, making himself think about why he didn’t think of such a thing sooner as he watched his mother cast her magic from a nearby chair. Originally, the crystal ball that was on the table was about the size of a ball from a game the Mabu would play called ‘Soccer’, but as she channeled more power, she had the ball grow in size, so both of them could be able to see what was there.
Though, after a few moments of cloudy smoke, what they did find was… to put it lightly, what they didn’t expect. It was a town that was on solid ground. Not an island like that of most of the skylands, but real solid ground. They first saw a huge banner that read ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ against an orange banner as they watched multiple different species of ponies putting up decorations, such as paper cutouts of spiders and bats as well as carving out pumpkins. A few of them were even holding up what looked like strange outfits as they watched some put on what Kaos saw as the dog spawn of trees.
They were able to see a few more places over the course of the spell, including what looked like a crystalline tree palace… which Kaos saw as infuriating, given it’s the one kind of tree that he could not be able to cut or burn down, a red barn with numerous apple trees and back in town, a pastry shop that looked like a gingerbread house. But it was as they were closing in that they heard something let out what could be described as a gigglesnort.
Just before the pony that Kaos saw as the living embodiment of pink pop in out of nowhere. “Oooooooh!! Hi there, snoopy bad guys!!”
“AHH!!” That moment caused Kaos to fall back off of his chair and back onto the floor as his mother just raised an eyebrow, before saying something herself as she let out a small chuckle.
“Oh, so THAT’S how it feels like… No wonder it was so fun to do that to the Portal Masters.”
“Oh, brilliant…” the two portal masters now heard a third voice enter the room as Sombra made his presence known. “Just what exactly are they doing now?”
“Hmm…” Kaossandra scratched her chin for a moment, before thinking of something. “Judging from what I’ve seen, some of the decorations and things that they are doing are no different from a holiday that some islands celebrate called Hallow’s Eve.”
“And how does that holiday work exactly?” Sombra now asked.
“Well, for one night of the year, children from all around the island… or Skylands in some cases, would dress up in costumes and go door to door all around the neighborhood, asking for candy. A process that they call ‘trick or treating’,” the dark portal master replied back now, “And judging from the brief glimpses of what we’ve seen, this looks no different.”
“Pfft, big deal! It’s a stupid holiday to get candy! How is this supposed to help us with our SINISTERLY EVIL plans for domination, mother?!”
“If you would let me finish…” Kaossandra glared back at her son, who just pouted as she picked up where she left off. “I believe this may provide us an opportunity. With the festivities of the holiday and the fact that everyone down there is dressing up, it is more than likely that we could send in a few minions in order to survey around the town, disguised as some of the creatures of their world.”
“And why would we do that?”
“If you were paying attention, some of their costumes looked to resemble that of ferocious creatures, such as dragons and the like… It still looks to be in the early stages, but I guarantee you one thing. When they hold that celebration… we’ll be ready,” she assured him. “Especially when they won’t be able to tell a costume from the real thing.”
The days that lead up to Nightmare Night flew by particularly fast for Calvin as everyday had something new come up. A few days after originally coming into Carousel Boutique, Rarity had finished his costume and asked him to come over again to try it on so he could feel comfortable moving around in it before the carnival. It wouldn’t look good for him to accidentally trip over any part of his costume that was too long, so this allowed for both the seamstress to make any final adjustments and for the boy to provide her feedback on those adjustments.
But it wasn’t just the final details of his costume that he had to work out though. There was also what he and the rest of Sweetie Belle’s friends were planning to do during the carnival. Several of the ponies that were in their class were either going to be participating in some of the major events of the carnival or volunteer at the carnival to get extra credit for their grade. Some ponies, such as a young pegasus colt named Rumble, had family members that were going to be volunteering for several of the carnival games that would be happening tonight.
As he let out a deep breath, he now stepped out of the carousel boutique. Looking more like that of Howl Pendragon as he began to walk around in his outfit towards the castle of friendship. The plan was for him to meet with Sweetie Belle and the others outside the castle since Spike was going to be joining them this evening for the carnival by their school. Though, it was as he was walking that somepony accidentally bumped into him… and when he turned around, he found that it was the last pony that he honestly expected to see.
“Fluttershy?”
The timid pegasus looked up, scared at first. Only to realize who exactly was talking to her a few seconds later. “C-calvin? Is that you?”
He first nodded in response to the pegasus’ question, before taking a moment to speak. “Yeah… Rarity made this costume for me, so my appearance is kind of different from what I normally wear,” Calvin explained to her, before looking around and asking a question. “So… where are you going? I can walk you over there if you like.”
“A-actually, I was just heading to the c-castle…” she said, shivering a little at the sight of somepony that was dressed up as a creature in the Everfree Forest called a Manticore.
“Oh, cool. That’s where I’m headed, too,” he replied back to her. “Wanna join me?”
“S-sure,” the pegasus squeaked, before scurrying over to his left side to hide from the light that was being given off from a pair of jack o'lanterns on somepony’s front porch, slowly following behind Calvin as he made his way to Twilight’s castle. When they made it, the two of them saw no sign of the Cutie Mark Crusaders anywhere as they entered the castle, just the sound of thunder going off as they walked through the castle doors.
“T-twilight? Hello?” Fluttershy asked, before letting out a scream as she saw what looked like a two headed dragon… or more likely, Spike in a suit that made him look like one as he chuckled a little bit.
“If you think that’s scary, wait till it’s done!” the dragon replied, before looking to Calvin. “Hey, Calvin, you look rather nice.”
“Why, thank you,” he replied back, bowing in respect since it would be something that Howl would do. “I appreciate the compliment.”
“I-I’ll just take your word for it,” Fluttershy responded, looking away for a moment, just as Spike soon realized something.
“Hey, wait a minute! It’s Nightmare Night, and you’re here instead of being holed up in your cottage,” the dragon spoke up as the pegasus now turned back towards him. “Does this mean what I think it means?”
Fluttershy, though, had a swift retort for the dragon. “That I foolishly forgot to stock up on food for Angel and had to go out to get something, but got spooked in town and come here hoping that Twilight had some lettuce I could give him.”
“I’ll just… wait outside,” Calvin said, before stepping out and leaving Fluttershy as Spike continued to talk without interrupting them. The Skyshifter himself didn’t mind waiting, but as he leaned against the outer walls of the castle, he turned his head to see Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, all in their Nightmare Night costumes and racing to join up with him. Apple Bloom was wearing a costume that made him think of a scarecrow, Scootaloo was wearing what appeared to be some kind of racing suit with a pair of goggles around her neck and Sweetie Belle herself had what looked like the robe of a wizard, fancy hat included. “Hey, girls.”
“There you are, Calvin!” Sweetie Belle proclaimed as the three fillies rushed over to him, only to notice that someone else was missing in that moment. “Where’s Spike? I thought he was going to be with you?”
“He’s putting the final touches on his costume,” the Skyshifter replied back to them, “Speaking of costumes, I like the ones you guys are wearing. What did you guys choose to be this year?”
“Ah’m a scarecrow!” Applebloom declared, moving her front hooves as he saw some of the straws of hay sticking out of the sleeves of the checkered shirt she was wearing.
“I’m a junior cadet of the wonderbolts!” Scootaloo spoke up next, striking a heroic pose as the lightning bolts on her suit began to flicker.
“And I’m a traveling wizard-” Sweetie Belle was going to try and get into a pose as well, but the hat she was wearing fell off her head and began to roll away from her. “Oh no!”
Calvin just smiled in response, before pushing himself off of the castle and grabbing the hat for Sweetie Belle before it can rolled off anywhere. Thinking of something to say, he looked back at the young unicorn and pretended to be the character he was dressed up as. “You’re wearing this hat? After all the effort your sister did to make you look pretty?” smiling, he gave the hat back as Scootaloo and Applebloom just stared at him.
“Um… what was all that about?”
“Oh, right. I almost forgot,” he replied, before turning towards the rest of the fillies, “My costume is based off a character in a movie I love named Howl. Just now, I recited one of the lines he would say… just with a few changes.”
“Oh, so this is what that wizard guy in the moving castle looks like,” Scootaloo then replied back, looking back at Apple Bloom for a moment before returning her gaze to Sweetie Belle and Calvin. “Gotta admit, when I heard you say you were going to be a wizard, I thought it would be something similar to that of Sweetie Belle’s costume, or more like the one Twilight did last year.”
“You really think I would try to go for the bearded guy? This one’s supposed to be of his apprentice, Clover the Clever!” Sweetie Belle pouted as she looked back at her friends. “She’s supposed to be WAY cooler-”
“Uh… Sweetie… Clover the Clever was a guy.”
“WHAT!?” Just as the fillies began to discuss among themselves and almost get to the point that they were bickering with each other, that’s when Calvin turned to see that Spike was coming outside. And he was startled by what he was seeing.
“Uh… what’s going on?”
“Scootaloo kind of dropped a bombshell on Sweetie Belle and told her that somepony called Clover the Clever was actually a he instead of a she.”
“Oh, that?” the dragon asked. “Everypony knows that by now.”
“Seriously?!!” They both heard Sweetie Belle cry out as they looked back at the trio, who were just now noticing that Spike was outside as he let out a deep breath.
“And just when I thought Fluttershy actually taking part in Nightmare Night was a bit of an eye opener,” he mumbled, before trying to change the topic of the conversation. “On a different note, I like all of your costumes.”
“Thanks,” Apple Bloom replied back. “We’ve all been working very hard on these!”
“I’m betting that everypony else we’re going to see at the carnival is going to say the same thing,” Spike replied back, before thinking of a different question to ask. “Speaking of which, you girls have any idea who's going to be there?”
“Well, I know that Rumble’s going to be there,” Scootaloo spoke up first. “His brother’s volunteering at one of the games this year. Though, I can’t say I know which one it is, specifically.”
“Ah think Diamond and Silver are going to be there, too, though her parents are gone on a business trip.”
Hearing those names had a brief memory come back in Calvin’s head, the one where a huge chompy pod was in the school garden, and those two fillies automatically assumed it was the Cutie Mark Crusader’s fault, even though they were in another place entirely. In fact, part of him hoped that the two of them learned their lesson and not automatically pointed fingers… or hooves at ponies they could not tolerate. But that was not the focus for tonight. Tonight was just about having fun with friends… well, there was also getting candy, too, but that was more of a bonus.
Though, it was just as they made it that they happened to notice one of the main attractions that was getting a lot of attention to the carnival… and the disgruntled pegasus that was sitting at the top of it. “I can’t believe you’re having me do this, Soarin. You told me that this was supposed to be a carnival game, not dunk the pegasus into a freezing tank of water!”
“Hey, it’s not my idea for this either. Yet, Bulk’s too big to fit in there, and Rainbow’s not going to be with us tonight. Plus, you did hear the captain earlier,” the pegasus replied back as he finished what looked to be a slice of apple pie as he turned to his friend. “Once you fall in, we trade off, and then, I get to sit up there.”
“And so far, it’s been nearly half an hour, and almost everypony who has tried has either missed or not hit it hard enough in order to knock me in,” the pegasus up top grumbled. “What did I ever do to you in another life to deserve something like this?!”
The commotion from both of the pegasi soon caught Calvin’s attention, turning towards Scootaloo for a moment as he looked at the filly. “Hey, do you happen to know who that guy is up there?”
“Oh, him?” the filly asked, looking back at the stallion up top. “That’s Thunderlane. He’s part of the Wonderbolts, like Rainbow Dash. If he’s nearby, then maybe Rumble’s here, too.”
“I’m right here…” they all heard what sounded like a disgruntled colt say to them as they looked at Rumble, who was dressed in what looked like a pegasi royal legion uniform. But instead of carrying a shield, he was stuck with holding a cardboard sign that pointed at the dunk tank.
“Rumble, there you are,” Spike then let out a sigh of relief. “Are you okay? What’s up?”
“Well… my brother’s not letting me leave until he gets dunked once. Then again, he would’ve thought that some ponies had better aiming when it comes to throwing.”
That… gave the girls an idea, as they all went up to Soarin, now asking for some balls as they had their turns to try and hit the target. Most of their throws were dead on, but it was when one from Spike that hit the target, pushed it back a few centimeters… and did nothing to Thunderlane that really got Calvin’s attention.
“Wait just a minute. That was right on point! How come he didn’t get knocked in?” Calvin then asked.
“Well, hello there…” Soarin said, now noticing him as he looked directly at him. “You see, you have to knock it back much farther in order to get him to fall. What’s the matter? You kids giving up?”
Calvin looked back at Scootaloo, who was being held back by her friends like she wanted to smack the Wonderbolt upside his face as he looked back at one of the balls on the table. Picking one up, he then looked back at the target and back at Soarin as he let out a deep breath.
“Okay… my turn.” Before Soarin could say anything cocky in response to the boy, Calvin held back his arms and threw the ball forward. Launching off, it knocked the plate back far enough to be able to have Thunderlane do an unexpected dunk in the water as his teammate just stared blankly, still trying to process what in the world just happened.
All before Scootaloo said two words to proclaim their victory. “Knocked OVER!!!”
Calvin was glad that it worked out, but as he looked back towards his friends, a small glimpse of something in the left hand corner made him a small bit uneasy. He thought he saw the shadow of a greeble. And not just one, but a few. At first, he tried to ignore it… though, when this began to happen again and again while he was out with the Cutie Mark Crusaders and they were having fun and games, he felt as if he needed to do something about it.
“Hey, Spike, where’s the restroom at?”
“Uh, it should be outside the carnival and to the left.”
“Thanks,” he replied back. But the moment that Spike’s back was turned, he moved in the opposite direction, outside the carnival and towards the backside of the school house. Holding the crystal around his neck and concentrating, he chanted a phrase he once said before as green magic began to flow from his hands. “Silent, but deadly…”
The green magic formed that of a leaf on the ground as Stealth Elf soon appeared in front of him. Only this time, she was wearing the ninja costume that Calvin remembered her having in Swap Force. As the elf landed on her feet though, she seemed… a bit puzzled by her surroundings. “Calvin? Is everything okay… and why are you dressed like that?”
“I’m dressed in a costume with my friends… as for your first question though, I’m not sure if everything’s okay,” he replied back to her. “I think there are some greebles trying to hide in among the crowd at the carnival here. If they realize I’m onto them, they might start attacking everypony and cause a scene.”
“So, this is a task that needs to be done quietly?” she asked, which only caused Calvin to nod his head as she spun both of her blades. “Alright. I’ll be out of sight then. Those guys won’t know what hit them.”
“Thanks, Stealth Elf,” he smiled back. “I’ll set aside some candy for you, if you want that later.” All he heard was Stealth Elf chuckle before she disappeared in a puff of green smoke as he walked back over to catch up with the rest of his friends.
“So, Greebles, huh?” Stealth Elf murmured to herself as she jumped onto the top of a building that was overlooking the carnival and the rest of the town. “Shouldn’t be too hard… Now, if I were a greeble, where would I hide?”
The elf scanned over all of the crowd, looking for anything that looked to be seen as ‘out of the ordinary’. Of course, everything in this town could potentially qualify as that… but she was looking for anything that was not either a pony, Calvin, or the dragon that was with him and his friends. She was sure that there was nothing stood out from inside the carnival after looking at the entire venue from three different rooftops.
Though, it was after looking at it for three times when the elf began to look at some of the things that were outside of the carnival that she began to find something. Signs of Greebles. More specifically, a club lying on the ground that a greeble would use… and also, what looked like empty candy wrappers that littered the ground. Following around the corner in a line, Stealth Elf narrowed her eyes. “There we go…”
Leaping back up, she followed the trail from the rooftops, carefully crossing from roof to roof as the life skylander got closer to the source. Turns out, a bunch of greebles had stolen what looked to be candy that was left out on the porches of a few homes, and by the time that Stealth Elf caught up with them, they had cornered one pony in an attempt to steal their candy bag.
“H-hey! Back off, this i-isn’t yours!” the earth pony snapped. She was around the same age as the ponies who were with Calvin at the carnival, but she had a silver mane, grey body and a pair of cyan colored glasses. And judging from her actions alone, she was not quite in a good position at the moment, as one of the greebles just yanked her bag away from her.
“Not on my watch, you don’t.”
Immediately, Stealth Elf’s first action was to somersault forward from where she was on the rooftop, landing in between that of the Greeble and the pony before striking down the greeble with her blades. As the others notices her and began to charge, Stealth Elf clasped her hands and blades together, performing the hand signs that she needed to activate her next move.
“Shadowsbane Blade Dance...”
Instantly, a pair of four magical blades began to float above the ninja, lashing out at the greebles as Stealth Elf went after each one. Of course, it turned out that it wasn’t just the standard rank and file greebles that were here, but there were also a pair of ironclads, which forced the life skylander to have to retreat into stealth and leave a scarecrow dummy of her behind so she could wait until they tired themselves down.
It took around a few minutes, but soon, she was able to defeat all of the Greebles. Putting her blades away, the life skylander turned back to the pony that was still standing there. “Are you okay?”
“Y-yeah. T-thanks for saving me…” the pony stuttered, before asking a question. “But who, or what, are you though?”
“Well, my name is Stealth Elf and… well, my name pretty much says what I am,” the life skylander replied back. “What’s your name?”
“Silver Spoon,” the filly replied back to her, “H-how did you know that those… things... were here?”
“Well, my friend Calvin thought he saw something-”
“W-wait, you know C-calvin?” Instantly, a small blush formed on the pony’s face, one that was very noticeable to Stealth Elf as Silver tried to look away.
“Yeah… Look, it’s a bit hard to explain, but the point is you’re safe now,” Stealth Elf summarized, attempting to get straight to the main point. “If you go back to the carnival, you’ll find Calvin with a few of his friends. I’ll take care of any more bad guys that’ll show up, okay?”
All Silver Spoon did was nod her head, before picking up her bag and galloping off back towards the carnival as the elf looked back up to the next rooftop, back to searching the town to see if there were any more greebles lurking about.
“Man, that was crazy…” Calvin let out a deep breath as he picked up the complimentary candy bag that they gave to all of the ponies who were at the carnival. It was almost completely filled with candy that he had gotten from all the activities and games that Apple Bloom and her friends were having him come and participate in, despite the fact that keeping up with them was a tricky challenge in itself.
Now though, he was lucky to find a place to sit down and catch his breath as he watched Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders begin to bob for apples. But, before he could even unwrap a candy bar and have a bite, that was when he heard something. “Calvin, can you hear me? …Dang it, leave it to Spitfire to say that something like this is ‘easy’.”
“I hear you, Stealth Elf,” the Skyshifter thought, dropping the piece of candy back into his bag. “Did you find anything?”
“Not just anything. I found exactly what you were concerned about,” the elf replied back. “I’ve already found two groups of greebles within the town, one of which was trying to steal from one of the ponies in the neighborhood. Though, the more that I think about all of this, the more that this doesn’t seem to make any sense.”
“Greebles in Ponyville itself doesn’t make any sense.”
“True, because normally, they don’t usually come this close to a densely populated area. Instead, they attack those who are traveling to and from different places, like merchants,” Stealth Elf added on, the sounds of her walking on rooftops echoing in the background. “If they’re this close, then someone might want for them to be. Like, there’s something here that they want to find, and they’re using the carnival as cover to do it.”
“Okay, but the only question in my mind is… what?” Calvin then thought. “It’s not like Kaos to try to be sneaky. If anything, he goes for the overly huge and dramatic entrances. Like, all the times he uses his big giant floating head as a way to try to induce fear.”
“You’re not wrong there…” the life Skylander replied back, before saying one last thing, “I’m going to be keeping an eye out for any other groups. Oh, and expect a pony named Silver Spoon to be looking for you soon.”
“Wait, what-?”
“Hey, there you are!” the sound of Scootaloo’s voice snapped Calvin back to reality as he looked up to find that there was now one more pony in their small group. “We were wondering where you were at, Silver Spoon. Almost thought that you were too scared to come join us.”
“That’s not it at all! I just got lost. That’s all,” the silver earth pony pouted. She was wearing a blue dress and what looked like a rather big hat with a bow on it. And oddly enough, this reminded Calvin of Sophie, the same character that fell in love with Howl in Howl’s Moving Castle. At first, he thought that was just a coincidence. Though, when Silver actually noticed him, he could actually see what appeared to look like a blush appear all over her face. “O-oh... Hello…”
“Hi there,” he replied back, getting up from his chair and walking over to her and the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. “It’s good to see you again… Though, I almost thought you were here with your friend.”
“Huh… Calvin brings up a point,” Scootaloo spoke up now. “Where is Diamond Tiara, anyways? Please don’t tell me that her parents forced her to not participate in Nightmare Night now.”
“N-no, it’s not like that at all,” Silver shook her head. “I saw her earlier at school, and both of us were going to meet up and join you guys. However, I haven’t seen her since then.”
“I think she’s just playing chicken because of all the spooky stuff going on,” Rumble grumbled to himself.
“Come on, Rumble. Don’t assume that,” Sweetie Belle responded back to the colt. “Diamond’s not like Fluttershy.”
Of course, in Calvin’s mind, he was thinking of something differently. “Stealth Elf? I know that you might be busy, but it sounds like Silver’s friend hasn’t shown up either. Can you be on the lookout for a pink pony around Silver’s size. She normally wears a tiara on her head too.”
“I’ll be on the lookout, but I’m on the trail of where all of these greebles are coming from.”
“Thanks, Stealth Elf. I really appreciate it.”
“And just when I thought things would begin to settle down for just a little bit…” the elf murmured to herself. It had been tricky for her in order to try and find something that could be a lead for her, but the only thing that she was able to find looked like a sloppy map written on a piece of tree bark in greeble handwriting. At first, it looked just like a bunch of scribbles on there. But… the more that she began to analyze it, the more she soon recognized a pattern.
On the map were what looked like a pair of X’s and one red circle on the self made map. The X’s matched that of the two different locations that she had found Greebles at and eliminated them, including the one where she found Silver Spoon. Retracing her steps, she began to think that the circle represented their main camp. And maybe, just maybe… she could find something there.
However, there was one slight thing that she needed to take care of. “Silver! Silver, were are you?” Looking down from atop the roof, she saw a pink filly wearing a tiara looking around for someone. “Darn it. The moment that I forget to grab my tiara and come back, I end up not finding her. Where could she be?”
“Oh no… that could be a problem…” she thought to herself, before looking at the filly from her position on the roof as she tried to get her attention. “Psst… Hey.”
It took a few seconds for the pony to look around and try to find out where the noise was coming from. But soon, she looked up to see the Skylander standing on the roof, a little startled by her appearance. “W-what the-?! Who... or w-what the hay are you? Are you a m-monster?”
“What? No. I’m not a monster,” Stealth Elf shook her head as she looked at the earth pony. “But I do know where you can find your friend. Silver Spoon, right?”
For a quick moment, the filly narrowed her eyes. Glaring directly at her. “Did you… do something to her?”
“No no no… it’s nothing like that,” Stealth Elf replied. “I’m making sure that monsters don’t try to ruin the carnival here… Which, by the way, is where your friend is at right now. She’s with the ponies you were going to meet up with.”
Diamond stopped, looking back in the direction of the carnival before looking back at the elf. “And how am I supposed to know you’re telling the truth?”
“Don’t take my word for it,” Stealth Elf replied, pointing towards the exit of the carnival as she saw what looked to be Calvin and the friends he was with leave the carnival. “Look for yourself.” The moment that Diamond Tiara fully turned around, Stealth Elf used her powers to go invisible as she got back on track to where she needed to be going.
If what she was reading on the map was correct… this circle was in the forest that was near the town. Meaning, it could be a much bigger camp than the small groups that she happened to find earlier. But unlike the other two, she decided to stay hidden, thinking that by doing so, she could be able to spy on them.
Once she was closer, she watched what appeared to be the leader of the group (since this one had some kind of fancy hat) hold out a crystal of some kind as a dark mist began to take form into a figure. But who it took the form of was something that made Stealth Elf gasp.
Kaos’ mother. “So then… did you happen to find anything of value?”
The other greebles looked at one each other for a moment, while another one let out a loud burp as they fell backwards into a pile of candy wrappers. But, the one with the fancy hat just sighed before holding out a series of pictures that it happened to have, pictures of Calvin as he was with his friends and when he was knocking Thunderlane into the dunk tank.
All of that… just made Kaos’ mother sigh before she turned around. “Really now, Kaos? This young child is the source of all your troubles? He looks just like you when you still had a head of hair.”
“I thought I told you to NEVER SPEAK OF THAT AGAIN!!!!”
“Still, I don’t see any proof that this child looks to be a threat… Even with what you and Sombra told me, I don’t see a single shred of-” Around that point was when the greeble showed one last picture, one that looked to be Calvin leaving the carnival, with the crystal around his neck partially glowing. “-evidence.”
“Oh no… That’s not good…”
“What? What’s not good, Stealth Elf?” she now heard the same person ask her mentally. “Did you find where the greebles are?”
“Yeah, but that’s not the only thing I found out…” the life skylander told him mentally as she scanned the camp where all the greebles were stationed. “I just found out that we got another potential problem that we have to handle with who’s working with Sombra and Kaos.”
“Seriously? What could be worse than either of those two?”
Stealth Elf took a moment to let out a small sigh, before speaking mentally again as she began to back away from the camp. “Kaos’ mom.”
“Woah there… Isn’t she imprisoned in that mirror that belonged to Kaos?” the Skyshifter replied back to her.
“Not anymore, from what it seems… and what’s worse is that she’s beginning to take an interest in you,” the Life Skylander told him, “The greebles weren’t sent here to cause trouble. They were here to spy on you. And they got a picture of you and your crystal glowing just before you summoned me.”
“That’s not good… not good at all,” she heard him respond back. “Are they doing anything else?”
As the elf turned around, she soon realized that the entire camp that was here only a minute ago was now gone. Empty. As if it never existed. “Calvin… They just vanished.”
“Vanished?”
“Like... disappeared. They’re no longer here…” she said, before looking into the center of the clearing and realizing something. There looked to be some kind of crystalline bead with a symbol on it. “But… they did leave something behind. I’m coming back to you. We need to talk about what happened tonight with that pony friend of yours. She must know about this.”
“And just when I thought that things could actually be calm for one night,” Calvin sighed, coming back into Twilight’s castle and returning back to his room. He set his candy bag down as he let out a deep breath, the bag toppling over as some of his candy from the night spilled out across the floor. Yet, out of all the things that he did collect… one thing stood out the most.
It was a feather. A red one that somepony gave to him because it looked like a special quill (since one of the booths was run by the owner of the Quills & Sofas store). But when he touched it, that was when something else happened.
He heard a voice. “I am Ember Valkyr, the heart of the phoenix. Call my name and I will let my flames help you anyway I can.”
He backed up for a moment, almost dropping the feather upon hearing that. And in that moment… he began to wonder to himself. Who was this person? Why did she seem so familiar?
And most of all… why did they share the same last name?
End Scroll 16