//------------------------------// // Are You Scared Yet? // Story: Fear Made Manifest // by Jest //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash tapped her foot impatiently in front of the door to her room. When that didn't make any of her extra-dimensional guests appear, she began to pace, muttering to herself under her breath. “Maybe I wasn't clear with them,” Rainbow Dash remarked to herself. “This is their first Halloween since passing through the mirror. Maybe this nightmare night thing is actually like April fools or something and they are going to prank me.” Rainbow Dash sighed, stopped in front of the door and readied herself to knock once more. Thankfully that wasn't required, as a voice yelled from within. “Alright. Were ready,” Applejack announced. Rainbow Dash had to remind herself that this wasn't her Applejack, a point she repeated in her head several times. She didn't want to forget this fact and go to feel up the former pony thinking it was her Applejack. Something told the girl that doing so would put her in the dog house for quite some time. “Well? What are you waiting for?” Rainbow Dash shouted, stepping back from the entrance. “Were comin, were comin,” Applejack retorted. A second later and the door opened to reveal pony Fluttershy, and pony Applejack (who were at the moment human) standing in the middle of the room. One of whom had a paper mache apple tree covering the front half of her body while the other wore something stranger still. For Fluttershy was covered in differently colored stuffed ponies who had Xs over their eyes and had been pinned to the ex pegasus’ dress with long sewing needles. “What do you think? Not bad for such short notice eh?” Applejack asked, revealing that her head was absolutely covered in fake blood. “What the heck are you guys supposed to be?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “I got crushed by an apple tree, see?” Applejack retorted, turning to the side and sticking out her tongue as if she were dead. “And I watched all my friends die and there wasn't anything I could do about it,” Fluttershy whispered, the girl clearly on the verge of tears. Rainbow Dash sighed and ran a hand down her face. “Augh this is so embarrassing. What were you guys thinking?” “What are you talking about? I thought we did pretty good,” Applejack declared. “Let me ask you this. Why did you dress up as something so morbid?” Rainbow Dash demanded. “Because you told us to dress up as the scariest thing I can think of and getting crushed by Bloomberg was about the most frightening thing I could imagine,” Applejack explained. “When I said scary I meant like a monster, or a character from fiction, like me!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, gesturing down at herself. “I mean the big knife is scary but I don't see why you have that outdated hockey mask on,” Fluttershy whispered. “Improper equipment is pretty spooky. Imagine getting a slapshot to the nose with one of those old things,” Applejack replied. “Ouch,” Fluttershy winced. “Very true, quite frightening.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “I’m Jason! From Friday the thirteenth series.” When neither of the former ponies said anything in response Rainbow Dash sighed. “Of course you wouldn't know about him. Do you guys even have horror movies over there?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Why would we need that? I live ten minutes away from a forest that is filled to the brim with monsters,” Applejack exclaimed. “Yeah we kinda, sorta, fought a lot of things scarier than some guy with a single long knife,” Fluttershy added. “It's not a knife, it's a machete!” Rainbow Dash yelled, swinging the rusty metal weapon around. “Still looks like a big knife to me,” Applejack muttered. “Plus he doesn't even have two knives,” Fluttershy added. Rainbow Dash groaned. “We’ll deal with this later. Let's go see what the others are dressed up as.” “Err okay,” Applejack muttered. The farm girl hung back along with Fluttershy, watching as their host angrily stomped to the stairs and then down to the first floor. “I thought your costume was pretty good Fluttershy. You even got my hat in there,” Applejack muttered, gesturing down to her tiny pony self hanging above the other girl’s right breast. “Oh um thanks, its just a bit of folded felt. I have a lot of practice with making dolls out of you girls,” Fluttershy whispered. “Hold on a second, what was that last part?” Applejack inquired. Fluttershy blushed and looked away. “N-nothing.” “Hoookay then,” Applejack murmured. Rainbow Dash stopped at the bottom of the stairs and raised her hand, knocking twice on the heavy door. “Hey, are you guys almost done in there?” she shouted. “Just about darling,” Rarity replied. Rainbow Dash sighed and took a step back. “I wonder how awful these two are going to look.” “At least we don't think old hockey equipment and a large knife is scary,” Applejack muttered. “Concussions are no laughing matter Applejack,” Fluttershy admonished. Rainbow Dash seemed ready to offer some manner of argument, but was interrupted when the door to the guest room opened. And out stepped Rarity in a white wedding dress which was absolutely covered in mud. From head to toe there was barely more than a few square inches of white left unobscured by dirt. “Tada? Am I not horrifying?” Rarity declared in a dramatic fashion, right arm raised above her head. “Damn Rares. That is kinda scary,” Applejack remarked. “I can't imagine how it would feel to fall into a mud puddle on your big day,” Fluttershy murmured. Rainbow Dash however, groaned and ran a hand down her face. “Aww come on! This isn't scary at all. Did none of you understand what I was trying to say when I told you to dress as something terrifying?” “Oh, oh I did!’ Pinkie Pie exclaimed, squeezing past Rarity and stepping out into the hall. “Tada!” The group gazed at the now human Pinkie Pie with a mixture of confusion, and outright shock. “You look exactly like Sheogorath. I thought they didn't have video games over there,” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “I don't know what this video game thing is, I just dressed up as my uncle Sheo! He's the scariest person I know,” Pinkie Pie replied. “You mean that crazy guy that even Discord keeps his distance from?” Applejack whispered. “The very same!” Pinkie Pie answered. “Wait wait wait,” Rainbow Dash interrupted. “Are you trying to tell me that you know the fictional god of madness himself, in real life?” “I mean he's powerful but I don't think he's a god. Besides, once you get past his weird obsession with cheese he's not even that crazy,” Pinkie Pie explained, spinning her onyx cane which ended with what appeared to be a screaming face. “I… need a minute to process this,” Rainbow Dash muttered. “Let's just… go see what the other version of myself and Twilight have dressed up as.” The earth native didn't wait for a response and simply made her way over to the final guest bedroom. “What's with her?” asked Rarity in a hushed tone. “I think she’s worried about getting to this big party thing on time,” Applejack answered. “Either that or the mere existence of a fourth dimensional being has upset her,” Pinkie Pie replied. “Nah it can't be that. We know like… three of them. It's not that uncommon,” Rarity reasoned. “Right,” Rainbow Dash declared, stopping in front of the door. “Let's get this over with.” Before she could even answer however, the door burst open, and Rainbow Dash’s doppelganger stood in the entrance. The former pegasus turned human wore a leather jacket over a plain white tea, while her bottom half was covered by a pair of slightly baggy jeans. The only thing out of place were the two bloody stumps sticking out from her back. “Oh hey, less cool me. What do you think? Pretty scary right?” Rainbow Dash declared, turning in place to show off her wings. “That's not half bad,” replied the other Rainbow Dash. “Wait a second. Did you cut holes in my favorite jacket?” “Well duh. How else was I going to get the wings to work?” retorted the first Rainbow Dash. “Don't worry darling. I can patch that right up after the party,” Rarity consoled, patting the other girl on the back. “I…” human Rainbow Dash sighed. “It doesn't matter. Let's just find Twilight so we can go meet the others at human Pinkie Pie’s place. Now where is the egghead?” Pony Rainbow Dash gestured down the hall. “Twi mentioned that she was going to figure out the last of her costume in the bathroom. Something about getting the hair just right.” “What exactly was she dressing up as?” inquired the other Rainbow Dash. “Probably something nerdy like a failing grade,” exclaimed the extra dimensional Dash. “Oh oh! Do ya think it's going to be a giant letter F?” Pinkie Pie offered. “There's only one way to find out,” Applejack replied, gesturing to the bathroom at the end of the hall. “You girls stand back a bit. Just in case she is actually dressed up like a giant F,” offered earthican Rainbow Dash. “That does seem like a Twilight thing to do,” Fluttershy murmured. The human Rainbow Dash walked up to the door and knocked twice, taking a step back. “Are you almost done in there?” she asked. “Just about!” Twilight yelled back. “I got five bits on homeless pony,” whispered pegasus Rainbow Dash. “I’ll put ten down on giant F,” added Rarity. “Fifteen bits on giant red pen,” Fluttershy remarked. “You guys are all wrong. She's going to be lesson zero Twilight with the crazy hair and the buck naked,” Pinkie Pie declared. “Pfft no way. Twilight was here before, she knows that humans wear clothes all the time,” Applejack shot back. Before their argument could continue, Twilight appeared in the door, her body completely bereft of cloth save for a tie, her shoes, and a peice of paper with a large F stamped on it. “Ha, called it. Sorta,” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “What?! Why are you naked!” earth Rainbow Dash shouted. Twilight blinked and looked down at herself. “I’m not completely naked. I have my school tie on, and my shoes.” “That's still naked!’ Rainbow Dash shrieked, covering her eyes. “They wear clothes here darling,” Rarity pointed out. “Yeah that's what I thought too, so I decided to look at non winged Rainbow Dash’s phone when she was in the bathroom and I found tons of pictures of naked women out in public,” Twilight replied. “That wasn't… I wasn't… Oh god,” muttered the embarrassed Rainbow Dash who had crumpled into a heap. “Hey why are your chest thingies so much bigger than mine?” asked equine Rainbow Dash, who hefted her diminutive breasts bitterly. “And why do I care about this in the first place?” “I do feel rather inadequate when compared to you,” Rarity admitted. “Ha, I’m still the biggest,” Fluttershy proclaimed. “This isn't happening. This isn't happening. I must have hit my head on the door and I’m passed on the ground somewhere,” the panicky Rainbow Dash whispered to herself. “Nice Sheogorath costume Pinkie Pie,” Twilight remarked. “Is that the real wabbajack?” “Yeah! Uncle Sheo popped up and offered it to me. Said it would really put these humans in a spin. Whatever that means,” Pinkie Pie proclaimed, raising the staff above her head. “We should go out back and try it out!” Rainbow Dash proclaimed. “Yeah!” Twilight agreed. Together the six former ponies walked outside, leaving a twitching, slightly mad Rainbow Dash curled in a ball. “I hate ponies,” she muttered.