It was Halloween in Canterlot, that very night that celebrates the insane, the ghoulish, the horrifying, and the sorts of things that puritans rail against every year. And, if the author is to give his honest opinion, they would rather avoid to ensure a lack of fear and scares. But anyways, you didn't come hear for my opinion, you came for a story. Halloween was roughly analogous to Nightmare Night in Equestria, and Ponyville had a record of a few odd ones, as that festival was entirely based around fear of the evil form of one of the ruling Diarchs of Equestria (at least, at the moment). There was no Nightmare Moon in the Equestria Girls universe, but Canterlot had its own fair share of horror stories and ghosts, and most people had a fair share of skeletons in their closets. But that is a matter for later. Our focus shifts now to the farm on the edge of town.
Sweet Apple Acres had a number of traditions that it followed during Halloween, one of which was to have a party and invite the children of Canterlot to have some fun, fun which included apple bobbing, making caramel apples (not to be confused with the person, who was from elsewhere in the country and most certainly was not being cooked), and there was all the usual trick and treating, a most tragic distortion of a charitable activity. The Apple Family had invited their close friends over, and in amongst the usual residents of Grand Pear, Applejack, Pear Butter, Apple Bloom, Big Mac, Bright Mac, and Granny Smith, were close friends and other such relations.
As the sun started to set, Apple Bloom stepped out of the farmhouse and looked out upon the fields to see the lights from the large party that was going on in the centre of town. Canterlot always hosted a Halloween party that had the biggest names and best DJs in the business, including one local Vinyl Scratch who marketed herself as DJ Pon-3 for the most part. Due to their responsibilites at the farm, the Apples had not gone, and the kids who had been there earlier to have fun and partake in the traditional activities that the Apples had on offer were now probably down there. Applejack had invited her friends over for a sleepover, and Apple Bloom had done the same. It was a good thing the farmhouse had plenty of space, and the younger kids were all down in the basement, where sleeping bags and activites had already been prepared for them should they get bored in the night. The Rainbooms, of course, were upstairs as that was where they could fit them.
"Enjoyin' the Sunset, cuz?" asked a voice behind Apple Bloom. The girl turned around to see none other than her cousin, Babs Seed, dressed as a redcoat from the late 19th Century.
"Yeah, it's nice," Apple Bloom replied. "But nowhere near as much fun as spendin' time with family or friends."
"I suppose this did rather bring us together," the New Yorker replied, her eyes firmly fixed on the concert going down below. "I wonder what they're up to down there?"
"Ah wouldn't know," Apple Bloom sighed. "Scoots is a little sad her mom couldn't come up tonight. She'll be helpin' out down there."
"Sounds fun," added another voice, that of Sweetie Belle. "Of course, I prefer being up here. Between you and me, I find Halloween a little scary."
"That's the entire point," Scootaloo retorted, by this point coming over to join the group. "I mean, why did Cozy Glow choose going down there to being up here with us? She went to that party last year!"
Apple Bloom smirked. "Well, Ah thought it were fancy dress tonight," she said. To reinforce the point, she was currently dressed as a cowboy, complete with stetson and (fake) revolver. "Ah'd have thought you'd have wanted ta come in that fancy frock o' yers from the Fall Formal."
"Shut up, OK? That was one of the most humiliating nights of my life!"
"Rumble seemed to like it," Sweetie Belle replied, noting Scootaloo's anger at that embarrasing incident being brought up. It seemed they had touched a very raw nerve, so Babs intervened to change the subject.
"So, what movie do yo guys wanna watch tonight?" she asked. "How about Ghostbusters? That'd be fun!"
"That's not really a horror film," Rumble said, having headed over to where they all were. "How about The Woman in Black?"
Sweetie Belle went pale. "No thanks," she said. "I got enought nightmares from all the anachronisms!"
"Or what about Goosebumps?"
"That could work," Button added. "Why not a scary video game medley?"
"Or Doctor Who?" Pip interjected quickly, with a grin. "That's always good for a scare."
Diamond Tiara had joined the group by this point, dressed as a (admittedly very modest) witch. "What about Shed 17 as a film option?"
"NO!" everybody else chorused loudly.
"Well, that puts that possibility down," Silver Spoon sighed. "Are we going to agree on anything today?"
Suddenly, bright flashes of light were visible in the distance, and bangs could be heard as lights of various colours flashed furiously below.
"What in the?" Bright Mac called, running outside and seeing the commotion. "What's makin' all that light?"
"Probably some light effect from the show," Scootaloo answered.
Some more percussive bangs were heard, which went on for a few minutes, followed by screams. Lights and other flashes flared up, when suddenly, all fell silent. Blobs could be seen running about, and all hell had broken loose.
"Does anybody have any idea what happened down there?" asked Grand Pear. "It's like gunfire down there!"
About 15 minutes later, Bright Mac suddenly noticed the blobs getting closer, and a dust cloud rising as something approached Sweet Apple Acres. He waved his family members and the friends back indoors, and waited for the dust cloud to get closer. It was then he could finally see what was approaching.
Nearing his position were assets from Canterlot City Police Department, or CCPD for short. Mostly consisting of heavily armoured SWAT units, several squads approached that looked like they had taken a beating, with damaged uniforms and helmets that needed some repairs. Behind them came some machine guns, and a few mortar teams, as well as a pair of Stryker armoured vehicles that sounded like they were on their last legs. They had holes in some of their armour plating, as well as their engines sounding like they were on the verge of failing, straining like they would explode. The lead vehicle came to a stop, and a familiar face to the family got out. Police Commisioner Swift Order looked as bruised and battered as the rest of his men, his face covered in grime and blood on his armour. He walked up to Bright Mac. "I wish we met under better circumstances."
"How can Ah help ya, sir?" Bright Mac asked.
"Is the farm available?" Swift Order asked in response.
"There's only us here, what do ya-"
"We need to fortify it immediately." Swift Order turned back and began barking orders. "Mortar Team 1, get on that silo! Mortar Team 2, take position behind the shed over there! Stykers, position with the frontal armour on the road, and offload the infantry squads!"
The police units began moving about as fast as they could, with the infantry knocking over carts and trucks and setting them up as defensive positions. "Move, move!" shouted one Sergeant. "Caine, Gorman, get those trucks over and make cover!"
"Machine guns, position inside those windows to give yourself an arc of fire! Let nothing escape the killbox!"
Applejack suddenly overheard the commotion, seeing men and vehicles running about, and ran outside. "What's goin' on, pa?"
"Get back indoors and barricade yerselves in," Bright Mac replied. "Get the weapons from the basement and arm yerselves." He looked back to Swift Order. "What happened down there?"
Swift Order looked back to him. "We got attacked. Something arrived in the middle of the part whilst we were on riot watch, and it and several others of these... things started killing the festival goers. Eating them, hacking them apart, slicing them in two like a zip being undone, one person was even boiled alive in caramel oil."
"Good God," Bright Mac replied.
"We barely got out alive with the kit we got. For all we know, Canterlot is gone. We are the only military or police prescence in this area, and as such we need to hold the line until reinforcements arrived. I've got confirmation that General Grogar and an armour colomn are on the way, and the Marines under Captain Sombra are proceeding here as fast as they can. But they won't be here until dawn."
Bright Mac nodded. "We have ta hold the line. Ah volunteer ta fight alongside ya."
Behind him, he saw the Crusaders, their friends, the Rainbooms, and even his own mother take defensive positions in the farmhouse, all weapons trained on the fields in front of them. Bright Mac grabbed a rifle, and took position behind some logs.
Before them, an ominous buzzing noise started up.