//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: Not Just Ponies: Hawk Mountain Halloween 
// by Ardashir 
//------------------------------//

Bram jumped aside as the spellbolt flew past his face. Black-lined crimson light flared in his eyes. No heat, no crack of air, just a flash of light. Something about this felt wrong. 


As Bram thought that the unicorn charged past him right at the kids with a diabolic laugh. “BWA-HAHA! Did you really think Sombra was gone forever? Foals!”


Ponies and Changelings and Griffons and one small Dragon all screamed in terror as the monstrous unicorn leveled his horn at them. As he did Bram leaped on his back. He raced through the options in his mind. Grab the horn, yank the head back, punch him in the eye and most likely get trampled as the kids fled.


Let this work, let this work – WHAT?


Bram crashed through the rearing stallion face-first into the dirt. Sombra gave one last laugh, blew a raspberry at him, and vanished.


“It's an illusion!” Bram rolled over and spat out a mouthful of grass. How did ponies eat the stuff? The kids were racing here, there, and everywhere in a panic. Cobalt and his little brother hovered over the mayhem, wings buzzing and their father missing. Granch, Mewsette, and the rest of the adults were either trying to calm them down or howling in terror themselves. All save Superior Spell who rolled on the grass laughing. Comprehension and fury exploded in Bram. “He cast that! That little monster! That refugee from a glue factory! So help me, I'll – AHHH!”


A giant multi-armed insect-thing dropped before him with a roar. Massive clawed forelegs swung over his head. Savage mandibles came together like giant shears.


Bram rolled his eyes. 


“I'm tired of these illusions, kid!” He punched it in the nose. Gasped as his hand hit hard chitin. He blinked as he stared into his face with huge compound eyes.


It hissed anger, mandibles snapping in his face.


Bram dropped onto his back with a shriek and launched both feet into its stomach. Hard.


“Ow!” It shrieked and leaped back, forelegs wrapped around its body. Green flames consumed it. The monster vanished to reveal Cobalt's father, groaning and holding his barrel. His kids flew to him, exclaiming excitedly over how cool it had all been. He just groaned before looking at Bram. “Did you have to kick me so hard?”


“Me? You caught me off guard, for all I knew you were going to eat me!” The Changeling shrank back, ears pinned and looking miserable. Granch and Mewsette glared at him where they stood, calming the other kids. Emerald held her little sister close. Bram mentally kicked himself. He remembered just how recently Changelings had been accepted into Equestrian society, and how terrifying many creatures still found them. As well as how badly that fear upset the Changelings.


“I'm sorry, sir,” Bram walked over to the Changeling, knelt and lightly patted his withers. He slowly looked less crushed as Bram added, “I forgot myself.” With very good reason, he mentally added. “I apologize, and as soon as I get that brat Superior Spell over here so will he.” He looked around. Wide eyes looked at him, but everyone seemed to have calmed down. “Where is he?”


“He's gone.” Mewsette looked around the clearing. Her tail lashed slowly. She was not happy. “So is that silly mare Hot Trot. They ran off to hide.”


“They'd better,” Bram clenched his hands. He stalked into the middle of the clearing and looked around. The darkness was deep enough by now that he could only see to the edge of the trees. Beyond them lay impenetrable darkness. “Those two idiots! If they ran off into those trees in the dark, they'll break their legs.”


“I hope they do,” Granch growled. Mewsette shushed him. Granch ignored her, flexing his talons like he wanted to grip a pony's neck with them. “Of all the dumb stunts ta pull!” He looked at Bram. “You're supposed ta be in charge of this zoo. What do ya want ta do?”


“Go home and sleep for a week.” Bram put his face in his hands and sighed deeply. “But we have to find those two. Kids,” he turned to the assembled youngsters, “everyone, I'm sorry about this mess.”


“Is this normal for the human world?” Daddy Changeling sounded miserable. His children stood close by him. Cobalt looked delighted at this turn of events. “I was told things didn't get as crazy here as they do back in Equestria.”


“This is exceptional, sir,” Bram assured him. “Or it once was, anyway. I would like to ask you and Show Stopper and Miss Emerald,” he nodded at the unicorn and the dragoness, “to take the children inside the inn and wait for us to bring those two back.”


“What!” The Changeling paled and pointed a claw at the building. The plastered stones gleamed like bones in the firelight. “In there? Where all those people were murdered?” His smaller son looked almost as nervous as his father. Cobalt clapped his claws.


“Maybe we'll see Schaumboch's ghost with his bloody ax!” He grinned and tugged on his father's leg. “Wouldn't that be great?” His father looked ready to either run or faint.


Bram stared. This guy could turn into a giant insect from a 50's horror movie and a ghost story scared him? Before he could say anything Mewsette saved him the trouble.


“Oh, there's nothing to worry about,” she purred and swayed forward to stand beside Bram. “Mister Schaumboch spends his nights wandering Hawk Mountain. Doesn't he Bram?” She gave him a meaningful look as every other set of eyes turned on him.


“He sure does,” Bram nodded at her. “Doesn't come home until dawn and we'll be gone by then. I hope. You'll all be perfectly safe in there.” They looked skeptical, but began heading inside the inn. Bram only relaxed as the last of the kids entered. He poured water from a can over the fire. Granch and Mewsette watched in silence. “Okay,” he said as he finished. “Now let's go find those two before anything else goes wrong.”


“A-hahaha!” Wild laughter sounded above. Responding shrieks came from within the inn. “Puny mortals! The night! Will last! FOREVER!”


“Even I know not ta give the universe a set-up line like that!” Granch yelled as he took to the air, moving to keep some distance from the new arrival. Even Mewsette hissed and spat at Bram. He could only look apologetic.


A black winged equine form dropped to earth, eyes flashing and horn aglow with cold fire.  Everything about her from her silver barding to her emerald green eyes to the combination of long horn and batlike wings was the image of the Nightmare Bram had seen in so many Nightmare Night decorations. It, she, reared, boxing at the air with her forehooves.


A terrified equine shriek came from Schaumboch's Inn. “IT'S NIGHTMARE MOON! RUN!”


“She'll give us candy!” Cobalt yelled in delight.


“She'll eat us!” Another pony voice added. “Barricade the door!”


“No!” Bram spun and raced the tavern. He began pounding on the shut wooden door as terror set icy fingers around his throat. “The place is full of antiques! They're worth a fortune! I'll have to pay for them!” Behind him Nightmare Moon laughed a very familiar sounding laugh.


“She's trying to get in!” That sounded like Cobalt's paranoid pappy. It was followed by the crashing-popping-snapping sound of several hundred pounds of incredibly expensive and irreplaceable century-plus antique wooden furniture smashing into the door.  Bram tried to force it. It budged just enough to show him the piled and smashed furnishings. He stepped back with a groan.


“Now I'll have to become a dragon when the Veil comes,” he put his face in his hands. “It'll be the only way I can live long enough to pay all my debts off.”


“Bram! Vy is everypony so upset?” As the Nightmare spoke feline and griffon laughter began to fill the air. Past her Mewsette and Granch stood, holding on to each other like a pair of drunks trying to say upright, laughing helplessly. “I vanted to scare fillies and colts, but just a little. And vy do you have such long face?”


“Wait.” Bram twitched. “Nightshade?” He looked past her to the other two as they wiped tears from their eyes. “And you? You lunatics thought this was funny? I'm going to have to pay for those antiques! Does every creature from Equestria think it's funny to torment human beings?”


“Aw, come on, human,” Granch stood and walked over to him, setting one furred-and-feathered foreleg around his shoulders. His fake armor clattered as he said, “It's Nightmare Night. Halloween. What the heck ever. Everygriff is owed a good scare. Remember?”


Bram threw his leg off in disgust. “I'm glad you feel that way. When Hawk Mountain shows us the bill for that little stunt you'll get an even better scare.” He shot a dirty look at Mewsette and Nightshade as they watched, fighting to hold back laughter. “The same for you!”


“Human,” Mewsette purred out. “Remember. We get paid in gold and gemstones. I think it's safe to say we can afford to cover the damages to some old furniture. Besides if you're worried about the human law, what about that Changeling in there?” She flicked an ear towards the still-tightly shut door. “He almost crushed you.”


“That's different,” Bram forced himself to calm down. Nightshade walked over as he did, the sabatons on her hooves lightly clicking against the stones underhoof. Her eyes glowed green as they caught the fire and moonlight. “That'd be called self-defense.”


The three looked surprised at that, eyes widening and ears going back on those who had them.


“Human laws will get you in trouble for destroying historical property, but not for nearly breaking someone's neck?” Granch fluffed his feathers up and shook himself. “That's one bucked-up set of laws.”


“Why did you even do this?” Bram looked at the trio before realization struck. “Wait. Cynthia asked you to keep me distracted and this is what you decided on?”


“She asked us, yes,” Nightshade nodded. “But ve also decide to give newfoals and human children a for-real Equestrian Nightmare Night.” She shrugged, leathery wings rustling. “They seem to enjoy it.”


“No, Cobalt,” came a Changeling's cry from inside the barred inn, “you will not open the door so Nightmare Moon can eat us!”


Nightshade gave a fanged grin. “Most of them, any'vay.”


“I'm gonna have to talk with Cynthia,” Bram rubbed his forehead. Throbbing pain was starting up somewhere deep inside his head. “Right now we have to find Superior Spell and Hot Trot before they hurt themselves.”


Mewsette and Nightshade both looked a little sour, but they nodded agreement. Granch sat back on his haunches, forelegs folded over his chest.


“Ya sure we can't just let em get hurt a little bit?” He rolled his eyes as they all gave him dirty looks. “Yeesh. Okay, okay. Let's track 'em down before the ghosts and ghouls get them.”


“We should be so lucky,” Bram heard Mewsette mutter as he turned and walked up to the front door of the inn. He knocked on it loudly and waited for the panicked racket to die down inside before saying, “Show Stopper? You and the driver are in there, right?”


“Maybe,” Show Stopper replied, his voice shaky. “Who's asking?”


Bram put his face in his palm as he took several deep breaths. “It's Bram. I'm out here with Mewsette, Granch, and Nightshade. We're going to go and look for Superior Spell and Hot Trot. While we're gone, the rest of you remove the barricade from the door and wait by the bus.” He hesitated, and added, “Please don't destroy anything else.”


Bram walked back to the three Equestrians, checking in his pocket for a flashlight. He took it out and turned it on, frowning at the dim light it shed. He looked around and caught a faint gleam of metal beside the fire. He reached down and picked it up. It was the ax used for cutting the firewood, an impressive piece of work with a broad blade and a downward-curving spike in the back. He guessed it to have been liberated from a disbanded fire company. It made a reassuring weight in his hand.


“Afraid you'll run in to one of your monsters?” Mewsette nodded at the ax.


“Let's say I want to be cautious,” Bram replied. He pointed at the surrounding dark woods, a light wind whispering through the branches. “Bears and coyotes are around, and maybe worse. I've heard those stories about Equestrian monsters slipping through the Veil to Earth.” He tapped the ax's head against the ground. “Call it fire insurance. I take it in the hopes I don't need it.”


Granch peered at him. “Huh. Now you kinda look like that Sham-back guy. How you wanna handle this?”


“You and Nightshade go together,” Bram nodded at the griffon. “You can both fly, and she can see in the dark. They'd probably be easier to see from above. Mewsette, if you're willing,” he looked at her. Her eyes gleamed in the dim firelight and her black pelt gleamed like a piece of the night sky. “We'll go together. Your night vision is better than mine. Okay?”


“Good with me,” Mewsette grinned. “One thing first though.” Before he could ask what she reached down and with a sudden motion whipped her dress off to stand there as naked as a jaybird. She removed the belt from her costume and out it on. “What?” She made sure of her cell phone in one belt pouch as he gaped. Her fur and other parts of her anatomy rippled in very distracting fashion. “I've got fur. Clothes are more decoration than anything else. And this dress is too pricey for me to risk it prowling around in the woods at night.” She carefully folded the thin silk and returned to the bus. Bram heard a metallic clatter as Granch took his broken armor off and carefully piled it to the side. Mewsette came back out from the bus and walked to stand beside Bram. He felt the warmth radiating from her, or maybe his own temperature was rising. Certainly his face felt like it was turning fire red.


“Welp,” Mewsette tugged at his arm and headed off or the road down the mountain. “C'mon, human, let's get to it.” When he hesitated, she smirked. “I meant hunting for those two brats, not,” the translation spell she used broke down as it occasionally did with non-pony languages, leaving her 'words' a long rising yowl. The kind Bram heard from cats under his bedroom window. That cheery thought in mind, he followed her down the dark road, hoping she didn't notice what felt like an epic blush on his face. From behind came the sound of Granch and Nightshade taking flight, her soft wingbeats barely audible beside the heavy beating of his feathered wings.


Bram closely watched the road as he and Mewsette walked along it. Nothing showed where or even if Superior Spell and Hot Trot had used it. The wind blew softly through the trees overhead, bringing a chill. Not just a physical one either. He remembered stories he'd heard and read that said that the influx of Equestrian magic were bringing old legends back to life. The sightings of things like sea monsters, Bigfoot, ghosts, and UFOs had all climbed since the Veil opened. Even allowing for most of them being human error, pranks, or mistakes spawned by people seeing unfamiliar Equestrian creatures, some of them sounded disturbingly likely. Despite his storytelling earlier and his reassurances to the kids and their parents, he felt no desire to run into glowing giants or Shaumboch on this mountain.


“Hold it,” Mewsette pointed at the road where it lead up the mountain. “What's that way?”


“The River of Rocks, I think,” Bram began walking forward. Mewsette set her arm across his chest to stop him. “Wouldn't they be headed that way? I remember being told that pegasi and other fliers will seek the heights if they can.”


“Yes, but that little rodent Superior Spell,” Mewsette spat in disgust as her fur fluffed up, “is a unicorn. He'd prefer flatlands or the woods like most ponies. And with Hot Trot, they'd prefer someplace nice and quiet.” She turned and began heading back down the mountain. “Probably not too far away, either.”


“What makes you so sure they'd be close by? Ponies can run pretty fast.”


Mewsette turned to give him a cool look that mingled amusement with scorn.


“Human, the way those two were acting, they won't want to wait any longer than they have to settle down to business.” Her long tail lashed behind her in amusement. “I've heard about these 'love lanes' here, haven't you ever been on one?”


It took a moment for her words to sink in.


“No! I mean, the phrase is lovers' lane, and I never had the chance, I was too busy with family and then the Veil came and, well, Cynthia's a great lady but she's been too busy with becoming a New Whelp, and,” he sighed. “Look. Mewsette. Can we just find those two before they get in any more trouble?”


Mewsette looked at him, just long enough for him to feel uneasy. She gave a soft feline laugh and turned away. “Sure thing, human. Just don't be so jumpy. It makes people wonder why you're so defensive.”


Bram followed her carefully. Normally the dark didn't bother him, but this? This was real darkness. Anything more than ten or twelve feet away was a mass of shadows. He wondered if it'd been this dark the night he'd been born. Bram remembered an old story about how children born at midnight or nearly so could see in the dark. He stubbed his toe on something unyielding and bit down on a curse word. So much for that idea. Hawk Mountain at night was just too dark and creepy for him. He stumbled over another stone. “Ow!”


Too cluttered, too.


“Are you having problems?” Mewsette didn't bother to hide the amusement in her voice. She stood and waited for him to catch up, extending one paw towards him. “If you want, you can hold my hand.” He caught a gleam as of fangs bared in a smile under the gaze of her glowing green eyes. “I'll guide you.” When he hesitated she spat. “Human, don't be stubborn. I promised Cynthia I'd keep an eye on you.”


Bram took her paw in his hand, feeling the rough pads, soft fur and the bare tips of her claws prickling against his skin.


“And you don't want an angry dragon after you, right?” Bram said as they started forward again. The flashlight of his was worse than useless. Something meant for use in a dark house didn't work so well in a dark forest. “Oh, thanks again for helping me with this, Mewsette. I'm sorry about those two silly ponies.”


“No need to apologize,” Mewsette moved with careless grace in the dark.  She gave his hand a squeeze. “You can't control how fools act, whatever their species. No one's blaming the dragons for what that big one is doing down in Mexicolt.”


“Mexico,” Bram corrected idly as he kept looking around. Where were they? This place was a lot easier to navigate in the daytime. “I wonder how it got here. I thought all the big adult dragons were still restricted to Equestria's side of the Veil, something about the mana flow to keep their bodies functioning at full capacity? Maybe that'll make it easier for the Mexican army to stop it.”


“Probably not from what your human seeing-crystal, the television, showed,” Mewsette spat again, sounding truly angry this time. Her tail lashed and struck his leg. “Be better if they did. Then Cynthia and Volcano and the rest wouldn't have to go stop him themselves --”


She stopped speaking a minute too late.


“What?” Bram froze in his tracks. Mewsette said nothing. She just kept looking away from him, into the darkness. “Mewsette,” Bram chose his words very carefully. “What did Cynthia really tell you she and the other dragons were going to do down in Mexico?” He waited. Her hands dropped away, lightly flexing, nervously baring her claws. She began to step away, stopped with a sharp hiss when Bram took her  by the shoulder. He squeezed down, eliciting another hiss. “Mewsette, I want you to tell me what Cynthia and the rest of the dragons are doing. Here and now.”


“She made me promise not to say,” Mewsette looked at him, her eyes cold green coals. “Human, this is not the time or the place. Trust her. I do. I'm sure she'll be safe.”


“Mewsette.” Bram felt mild surprise at the snap in his voice. Mewsette must have been stunned too. She tried to step back before he took her by the shoulder again. She instinctively raised one paw and flexed her claws. He ignored it to say, “Tell me the truth about what Cynthia and the other dragons are doing. Now.”


Mewsette looked at him like she was thinking hard on her decision. Finally she simply said, “Cynthia told Granch and Nightshade and me that Volcano and the other older trueborn dragons were going to go to Mexico to stop that big one with the, what is it, cart-group?”


“Cartel. Narcotraficantes. Drug runners, gangsters, murdering lowlives.” He shrugged. “Take your pick. Later,” he waved his hands to keep her attention as she looked ready to start figuring her preferred term right then and there. “What else did Cynthia say about that Mexican dragon?”


Mewsette shrugged. “Just that Volcano said he was a disgrace, he was shaming all dragons by what he was doing, and they were going to stop him.” She turned to resume the search but stopped as Bram stepped in front of her.


“Who they, Mewsette?”


“Bram,” she looked tired and frustrated. When he refused to step aside she huffed and said, “The other dragons, trueborn and New Whelps. From here and elsewhere. Napalm and Tephra and his two girlfriends,” she glanced away, “and Cynthia and other New Whelps. And more, lots more, all they can get from across the country, maybe the planet. They'll hunt him and his followers down and kill them if they don't give up.” Mewsette smiled as she set her hands on her hips. “See? There's nothing to worry about.”


“No, nothing to worry about beside people I love and care about jumping into the middle of a freaking war – illegally, I might add – to fight it out with one of the biggest and nastiest dragons on the planet,” Bram clenched his fists, anger thickening his voice.  Mewsette took a step back, raising her hands with claws splayed, as he snapped, “Oh, and some people who call themselves my friends lied to me about it.” He stepped away from her and laughed, short and harsh. “Is this something they teach you in that Friendship School I've heard so much about? Lies and Deception 101?”


“I did not lie to you!” Now it was Bram's turn to step back as Mewsette spat at him. Her voice became a low rumbling growl as she added, “Cynthia didn't want you to worry, and she said Tephra and Volcano didn't want to chance anyone telling your human authorities about it because they might try to stop them --”


“With good reason!”


“And how well have they done?” Mewsette spat her scorn. “Our world isn't yours. When we see monsters or tyrants preying on innocents we take care of it, we don't let a bunch of useless politicians and other scat-hoarders waste time talking while people die. If Volcano and the rest tried to get permission to save lives, they'd be waiting until after the Veil covered the planet before anything got done!”


“Okay, maybe you have a point, but still!” Mewsette sniffed. Bram took a grip on his anger. “You can get arrested for this, sent to prison forever! And what if Cynthia or any of the others gets killed or crippled? Or they just fail?”


“They won't,” Mewsette frowned and looked away as her long tail lashed slowly, showing her unease. “Granch and all of us who know are sure they won't.” She looked back up and must have seen his unspoken question. “You need to have faith in your friends like we do.”


“What do the ponies have to say about –”


“I don't think any of the actual ponies know about this. Nightshade, though, yes. The Thestrals still feel odd to the other ponies and vice-versa, they're closer to us carnivores in some ways. The ponies? They would have complained about the dragons being violent and hasty and,” her face twisted in a brief snarl, “undiplomatic. Like when we went after the Yetis for aiding the Storm King back in the war. They meddled and stopped us.” She shrugged and walked past him, her clawed feet missing every single branch and stone or anything else that could make noise. Even distracted she knew how to move in the dark. “Ponies need to learn when not to care what others think. You know, Bram – Bram!”


He pushed past her. Before them the trail forked. Leaves rustled as he stepped on them and he barely avoided tripping over a rock but he didn't care.  Instead he just turned his flashlight on and said, “Mewsette, you go down one side on the trail and I'll take the other,” he pointed out the left-hand path for her and headed to the one on the right. “We still need to find those two and right now I think I need to do it alone.” He cut off her protest with a sharp, “Understood? I do not want to see you right now.”


She looked almost hurt. Then with an utterly feline hiss and spit of contempt she stormed down the other pathway. Bram heard her kicking leaves and branches aside. He bit down on the apology rising in his throat to head down the other path, stomping in anger. The devil with that cat if she didn't understand his anger at her dishonesty right now. The devil with all the Equestrians while he was thinking about it. They brought the damned Veil to earth and then had the nerve to not understand why humans were furious over learning they had a choice between losing their species or their lives. And that was when they weren't dragging people he cared about off to war zones. Like they had any right to behave like heroes from a bad Hollywood shoot-em-up.


Blasted meddling monsters from another dimension.


He shoved a branch hanging over the trail away harder than needed. Much harder.


It swung back and slap.


Pain lanced through his scalp, and something hot began running down the side of his face. He put fingers to it and looked at them. They were smeared with crimson, and he felt more blood running from the cut. Wonderful. A scalp wound. He cursed under his breath as he stopped to bind the injury. Better get it before the kids saw it. Let that skittish Changeling father see it and he'd probably run off shrieking into the woods or turn into another giant bug.


He froze as from very close in the woods he heard a frightened and familiar unicorn's voice say, “What was that? Was it that Sham-human?”


“Did you see a light?” Hot Trot's whispered and frightened voice answered Superior Spell. “Remember what that dumb guide said,” Bram ground his teeth, “he has that lantern he carries around to find victims with.”


Bram looked at the trees on either side of the trail. Clouds were overhead now, thin and wispy but still turning a night-black woods even darker. He stood still, listening carefully. Now he could hear it. The sound of hooves on fallen leaves and twigs. He turned the flashlight off. The last thing he wanted was for those two to get scared and run off at the sight of the light.


“Maybe we should leave,” Superior said in that shaky voice. It came from just beyond a nice thick bush. Too thick to get through without the ax. A tone of mockery sounded as Superior added, “We don't need that ignorant human savage finding us out here.”


That comment decided Bram. 'Ignorant savage', was he? Oh, he'd drag them back by their tails. He set the flashlight in a pocket, took the ax in both hands, pushed the branches aside with it and charged through.


Period clothes, ax, bloody face, and all.


Two equine faces turned towards him. Their eyes seemed to devour their faces as they shot wide. Bram raised the ax and shook it, yelling in a fury.


“I've been chasing you idiots for more than an hour --”


Superior Spell took one look, whinnied in terror, lowered his glowing horn and cut loose with a spell blast.


Bram knew only that a painfully bright blast of light went off in his face before something thudded into his chest like the hardest punch he'd ever taken. He felt his ribs shudder inside. Pain shocked along his breastbone. The breath rushed from his lungs in a gasp as he went head over heels backwards. There was a confusion of branches and dirt and blood and the chill night sky high above, stars shining around a crescent moon and some dark mass dropping groundwards from it. His next clear thought was of being on his back, gasping after air that just didn't want to come. There was a sickly-sweet taste in his mouth like he felt when recovering from a dose of gas at the dentist's office. He caught sight of Superior Spell and Hot Trot staring at him from a few feet away, their ears pinned and eyes wide and rolling in equine terror. He tried to speak. Only a pained wheezing escaped him.


“It's him!” Hot Trot danced on her hooves in terror. “That crazy Sham-whatever! Quick, stop him before he kills us!”


Superior didn't say anything. He just lowered his head, horn aglow, as he started calling up another spellbolt.


Bram stared and could only think, so it's not the Veil or dragon-hating paranoids or crazy dragons that finish me, I get killed by some scared horny teenager?


Superior's horn pointed right at his face. It glowed incandescent at its tip.


And a dark armored winged form dropped down between him and the two ponies with a savage hiss. “Vhat do you fool foals t'ink you're doing?”


Superior's spell dissipated. He backed away, eyes getting somehow bigger.


“V'ell?” Nightshade stuck her muzzle in his face. “Say somet'ing, you ass!”


His response was a scream. His horn glowed incandescent as his magic enveloped Hot Trot. She gave a wild whinny as he hurled her at the newcomer. Both mares shrieked, one in panic, one in fury. As Hot Trot and Nightshade collapsed in a pile the unicorn turned and fled up the trail back towards the inn, shrieking. “AHH! NIGHTMARE MOON! HERE! EAT THIS TAIL-LIFTING MARE! SHE'S NOT EVEN A REAL PONY ANYWAY!”


“V'at? Get off of me, you little hussy!” The Thestral gave a howl somewhere between a horse's whinny and a predator's shriek. “Ow! V'atch v'ere you put those hooves!”


“Oh please oh please oh please don't eat me Miss Nightmare Moon! I --” Hot Trot froze upon seeing Bram stand up, leaning on the wood ax for support. Her eyes got wider and wider as she looked from one to the other in horror, her jaws working silently.


If she faints, Bram told himself between painful wheezing breaths, I'm letting her lay out here, and the heck with it. Instead she flung herself at his feet, whinnying in terror.


“OH PLEASE MISTER SHAM-WHATEVER DON'T CHOP ME UP AND PLEASE NIGHTMARE MOON DON'T EAT ME LIKE THOSE PONIES SAID YOU DO I SWEAR I'LL STOP CHASING STALLIONS - “ She slowly lifted her head and looked at them both. “Wait, you're not ghosts, are you?”


“How did you ever guess?” Bram hissed through the pain in his chest. He took a deep breath and shuddered. It didn't feel like anything was broken. Just very badly bruised. He waved a hand at her. “Now get up, we need to get back to the inn and everyone else. And you,” he croaked through the pain in his chest at Nightshade. She looked abashed, half hiding her face behind one of her leathery wings as he said, “What's the idea of lying to me about what Cynthia's up to?”


“You mean her and the other scalies going to Mexico to kill that drug lord dragon? What?” Hot Trot smirked as Bram started. She seemed to be getting some of her nerve back. “Well, like, where else would they all go right now, and why?”


Bram groaned, only partly due to his injury, and sank back against a nearby tree for support. “Am I the only one who didn't know?”


“Sure seems that way,” Hot Trot didn't bother hiding a whicker of amusement. Nightshade came up beside her as she spoke. “You're, like, not too smart, are you? Ow!” She stepped away from Nightshade, flicking one ear back and forth. The older mare moved to keep her close, wings rustling and eyes shining balefully. “You bit me! That hurt!”


She gulped and shrank back against Bram as Nightshade spoke in a menacing hiss.


“If you t'ink dat vas a painful bite, filly, then I envy your ignorance.” Nightshade spread her wings out wide, eliciting a frightened whinny from Hot Trot. Nightshade tossed her head at Bram, dark mane flowing from under her helmet. Anger thickened her Trotsylvanian accent. “D'is human brought you out here, and you and d'at other young fool run off and get him injured. You haff made much trouble dis night, and if you vere vun off my herd, I vould bite your ears even more for vhat you haff done!”


Hot Trot cringed like an oversized dog under Nightshade's fury. Bram saw how scared she was. He moved to stand beside her and set one hand on Nightshade's velvet withers.


“Nightshade, the kid's sorry, and no harm done,” he winced at the fire inside his chest as he inhaled, “well, no permanent harm. Cut her some slack.” He fell silent as she set one wing against his mouth, shushing him.


“Bram, please to be silent,” she spoke sharply, her words almost hissed. “I do dis for her, more than for you. She iss Pony now,” she glared at Hot Trot, “or she t'inks she iss. But she knows no'ting of how ponies are supposed to act.” She towered over Hot Trot. “Ponies do not hurt others by being fools and if they do, they make apologies.” She extended one leathery wing and waved it at Bram. “If you are Pony, then act like one. Apologize. Now.”


Hot Trot looked from her to Bram and back again. Nightshade spread her wings wide and hissed, fangs displayed and eyes seeming to glow in the darkness. Hot Trot gulped, hurried to stand in front of Bram, and said in a rush, “Mister-Siegfried-I-am-so-sorry-I-didn't-listen-and-you-got-hurt.” She looked down. “I hope you can forgive me.”


“We'll see,” Bram pointed back towards the trail. Hot Trot hesitated. Nightshade gave a snort. The pegasus hurried onto the trail and started for the tavern. Bram inhaled deeply and winced as he followed her, his feet crunching over dry leaves. .


“Bram, lean against me.” Nightshade said as she moved up beside him. She set her wing on that side over his shoulders like a cloak. It felt warm and she smelled faintly musky, combining her usual perfume with an undertone of sweat. “I vill help you get back. That silly brat Superior Spell! He could have broken your ribs!”


“Almost feels like he did,” Bram said, leaning against her. Her coat was soft and warm, well groomed, muscles stretching and pulling underneath it as she moved at a slow walk. He patted her along her proudly arched neck, feeling her silky mane and the cold hardness of her metal and leather barding. “Where's Granch and Mewsette at, anyway?” He felt more than saw her answering shrug as the muscles rippled under her velvety coat. He looked skywards and caught sight of a darker shape against the stars growing larger as it descended towards them. “Never mind about Granch.”


“Never mind about Mewsette either,” a silky voice purred almost in his ear. Mewsette seemed to flow out of the forest night to walk alongside him. “Nightshade, looks like you found our missing foolish foals.” She cut her shining eyes from Nightshade to him. “Bram. Calmed down yet? Gotten over being angry because I kept a promise to another friend?”


“Mostly,” Bram answered after a few moments. With a rustle of wings Granch dropped down behind them all. Bram looked back at the griffon and cut off anything he might say with a, “Not entirely. Did you know about Cynthia and Volcano's real plans, Granch? About the dragons going to Mexico to fight and kill that big one in the news?”


“All the time,” Granch said easily. Bram stumbled and coughed. Granch added, “Whadda ya want, human? She told us ta keep you in the dark for as long as we could...”


“We've been doing a good job of it tonight,” Mewsette gave a purring laugh, joined by Nightshade's whicker and Granch's squawk-growl; Bram couldn't think of any better word to describe the sound he made. Mewsette added, “She also told us to knock you down and sit on you if you tried to follow her. Human,” she snarled as Bram began to complain, “Listen. For once. She is going into a war, she and all the other dragons. She's got Volcano and Tephra and all the trueborn dragons with her as well as most of the New Whelps. If they can't keep each other safe, what do you think you'll be able to do? And if you'd gone after them, what if they couldn't protect you as well as each other when they stop that monster?”


“Well, I --” Bram stopped as he thought, desperately. He mentally ran through everything he knew of that could wound or kill a dragon, and everything that could kill a human like him. The first list was much, much shorter than the second. “I don't want them to get hurt.” The other three had stopped as he spoke. “Can't you get that? I like them and I don't want to see them die.”


“You think we do?” Granch poked him in the chest, hard. Bram doubled up with a gasp. Granch sniffed. “You humans fall apart the first time you get hurt. What d'ya think is gonna happen if you chase after her an' Volcano an' Tephra an' ya get shot with one of those human bolt-throwers? Ya think the scalies are gonna have the time ta drag ya back ta some human hospital?” Bram looked up, anger and pain hot on his face. Granch was unimpressed. “Ya know it's the truth. When dragons decide ta fight, 'less you're an alicorn – or a griffon, a' course – you're a liability.”


Bram's self-control snapped. Today he'd been mocked, laughed at, frightened half to death, cut open, almost killed by a panicked pony, and lied to by people he called friends.


He'd had enough.


“I could take you, catbird,” Bram lashed out and slapped the griffon along his hooked beak. Granch's head snapped back, a little. “Hurt or not.”


He gulped when Granch looked back at him, the griffon's eyes burning with anger.


“Oh, really?” Granch set one foretalon against his chest and shoved him to the ground. Bram tried to get up, teeth set against the pain in his chest and head. Granch put a clawed foot on Bram's chest, held him down. He made it so casual it was insulting. Ignoring a wild punch that struck his chest, Granch hissed, “Ya want me ta show ya just who the badflank is here? Ponies flee – griffons FIGHT!”


Bram spat at him. Granch's eyes hardened as he raised the other forefoot high, a scaly hand tipped with five little curled knives. Mewsette looked horrified. Hot Trot was making herself scarce. And gentle, flirty, vain and silly Nightshade –


Was putting herself between Granch's talons and Bram.


“Granch!” He froze. She stood so close to him that Bram felt the velvety warmth of her body, smelled the tang of her sweat mixed with the sweetness of the perfume. She set one leathery wing over him, protectively. “Granch, Bram is right. Ve haff betrayed him and his trust, and now,” she lowered her head, long ears twitching, by Bram's face. “Now ve, I, make amends.”
They all watched in confusion as she set her head by Bram's face, putting one ear out to the side like she made it a target. Moonlight picked out her purple eyeshadow, lay in pools in her large eyes and ran silver fingers along her ebon-dyed flank.


“Bram, please to be biting ear.”


“What?” He blinked in confusion. Was this some weird pony kink he'd never heard of? “No! Why would you ask that?”


“Is how ponies are punished in herd when they wrong other pony. Like I did to that idiot newfilly.” Nightshade flicked her tufted Thestral ear at him. Her bat wings rustled as she stepped closer. “I, ve, haff lied to and betrayed some'vun who trusted us,” one wing flapped out at Mewsette and Granch, who both ducked to avoid a swat. “Ve haff wronged you. This is how I make amends for it.” She closed her eyes, shutting out their soft glow. “Please to be making it quick. And not too hard. Not v'ant hole in ear. Already haff piercings.”


Bram sighed, gave her velvet ear a soft tug, and let go. “Nightshade, no. Er, humans don't do ear biting, but thank you for the apology.” Nightshade smiled and rubbed her head against him gently. They both looked at Mewsette and Granch.


“Okay,” the Abyssinian huffed, her breasts bouncing distractingly as she folded her arms across them. “I apologize too. Not for keeping my word to a friend, but for lying to another.” Bram extended his hand. Mewsette took it in her own. He and the two ladies then looked at Granch.


“Glad that's settled, I was getting sick from all the sentiment.” Granch pushed his way past them. Nightshade snatched his tufted tail in her mouth. She bit down, hard. “Ow! Ya gotta do that, fang?” She just snorted and tossed her head at Bram, mane flapping. Granch rolled his eyes but turned around, grass and twigs underfoot crunching.. “Okay, human, I'm sorry I lied to ya. Even if ya did act like a dope there. I mean,” he puffed his chest out, “challenging me?”


“I'm glad I didn't have to settle it with you,” Bram said and meant it. He took a breath, it hurt a little less now, and looked around. “Hey, where did Hot Trot get off to?”


“How should I know?” Mewsette looked around “She said she was going back to the inn. Maybe she ran off again?”


Before she could say more, Nightshade rose into the air, her wings beating softly. “If she has,” the bat pony said, her eyes glowing in her anger, “this time I really vill teach her vhat ear-biting is!” She flapped off skywards, wings working hard for altitude to get above the trees. “Granch, come vit'!” The griffon crouched and leaped. Bram closed his eyes against the storm of small debris he raised as he rose after Nightshade into the moonlit night sky.


He looked at Mewsette, who shrugged and pointed down  the trail back towards the inn. “Come on, human, and let's stick together this time. I don't envy either of those two foals when Nightshade catches them, the mood she's in right now...”


A scream ripped through the woods, high and wild and shrill. Bram choked and felt Mewsette's claws dig into his palm when she grabbed his hand. The scream's echoes died out, bouncing around and off the trees and rocks as it ended.


“Human,” feline eyes looked at him in terror. “What you said before, about Killer Schaumboch roaming the mountain... His victims screaming even now...”


Another scream, hard on the heels of the first. But now they both recognized it. Too long and drawn out to be human, with the high quavering tone of an equine.


Both came to the same conclusion at once.


“Nightshade found Hot Trot and she's tearing her apart!”


They raced as fast as they dared back for the inn, somehow keeping their footing through leaves and branches and stones underfoot in the dark. Bram had only one thought in his mind. Please, Lord, not another lawsuit! I don't think I could take it!


#          #          #


“SO!” Hot Trot snorted, ears pinned, eyes blazing, and wings fully spread in pegasus threat display, digging at the ground with one forehoof. Superior Spell backed away from her in terror until his flank butted against the pile of firewood.


“JUST A TAIL-LIFTING PHONY PONY, AM I? 'OH GO AHEAD AND EAT HER, NIGHTMARE MOON, BUT SPARE ME'?” She hurled herself after the unicorn colt, reared up to use her forehooves. “EAT THIS, JERK!”


The assembled multispecies kids cheered as she plunged onto the pleading unicorn and began beating the stuffing out of him with her hooves, right in front of the inn. Enraged whinnies and equine screams filled the air, along with ripped out tufts of unicorn tail and mane.


Bram walked over to Nightshade, who watched with amusement as the little blue Changeling nymph sat on her back contentedly munching some candy.


“So,” he asked, pointing at the battle. “When are you going to remind Trot to 'start acting like a pony' again?”


She turned her long-lashed green eyes on him. “Oh, human, dis is vhat any mare vould do if her coltfriend tossed her to monster to save own life.” She looked back at the  fight and smiled wickedly, looking every inch the Nightmare. “Maybe two-t'ree more minutes.”


Bram turned and looked around the crowd of humans and ponies and dragons and griffons and more as they all enjoyed the humiliation Superior Spell was getting. With a sigh he leaned back against the wall of the hundred-year-old inn, the sound of Show Stopper's magics working inside as he repaired the damage, and looked into the clear night sky at a radiant full moon as the witching hour struck and one more Halloween became history.


THE END