//------------------------------// // Nightmare Royal // Story: Other Stories // by Partycannon_ //------------------------------// The sun finally fell as the moon shrouded the sky and a cold breeze swept over Ponyville. Today was Nightmare Night, the streets were bustling with ponies wearing spooky costumes and the decorations were just as scary. Although all seemed normal, a statue from the castle courtyard was missing yet again. “AHHH!” Apple Bloom yelled as she jumped out from a bush. “GET AWAY, GET AWAY!” Scootaloo cowered. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle giggled slightly as the chicken quickly corrected herself. “Hey Apple Bloom, we decided to help with your family’s hedge maze for a bit,” Sweetie stated with a smile. “Y-yeah, anything to g-get out of the cold,” Scootaloo faked a laugh. “Awesome! Maybe we can get our Cutiemarks in scarin’ ponies,” Apple Bloom smirked. “But before that what are yawl supposed to be?” “Robot of course,” Sweetie answered as she showed off her costume. Boxes spraypainted silver covered her barrel and lower hooves while foil tubes covered her upper hooves. “I made it myself but Rarity did clean it up slightly.” “A Changeling, it was pretty easy to make,” Scootaloo had a black toilet paper roll with holes cut out taped to her head. She flapped her small wings which was colored black and green. “Undead, obviously,” Apple Bloom stated proudly as she pointed her hoof to her charcoal black body. The color made her difficult to spot if it wasn’t for her bright red mane and tail. The trio heard the sound of leaves crunching under hoof and the dark hoof of Apple Bloom quietly pointed to the bushes nearby. With a understanding nod from the robot and changeling they all hid and prepare to pounce. The crunching came closer until they saw the stallion wearing a pirate hat and a plush shark eating his tail, the stallion looked ahead with a low hum. “AHHH!” the group yelled as they jumped from their hiding spots. The scared stallion flew into the air before dashing in a random direction, after rounding a corner the trio of fillies heard the pirate run into yet another scare and they giggled to themselves. “Hey, this is pretty fun! This totally beats being scared,” Scootaloo smiled brightly. “Eyup!” Apple Bloom said almost bragging. After many scares, chiming erupted and the Cutie Mark Crusaders jumped a small bit then looked to the Ponyville clocktower just out of view. “It’s already midnight? I guess I should go back and find Rarity,” Sweetie turned to the group. “Yeah, I should probably start heading back as well,” Scootaloo stretched. “Well thank yawl for the help! Ah’ll see yawl two tomorrow,” Apple Bloom promised. The trio nodded and began to leave before the all began to stumble to the ground. “W-why do I feel, s-so, tired,” Scootaloo questioned as she tried to force her eyes open. “And why is the clock… tower… still… chiming…” Sweetie Belle asked as she fell into a deep slumber. The fillies’ ears began to twitch as they focused on the chirping of birds before flapping away and then the discomfort set in. Apple Bloom was the first to awake before hugging herself, she felt cold, extremely cold. She felt her sharp jagged charcoal skin and her absent heartbeat, she began to call for Apple Jack but it turned into a soft whisper. The air felt wrong in her throat and her pitch-black pupil shrunk. The second to awake was Scootaloo, she screamed and began clawing at the ground. Droll flew as she twitched, her brain felt as though it was being poked with millions of tiny needles. Her wings flapped sporadically and sounded like that of a cicada while her horn threw magically discharged bolts of magic randomly. Finally, was Sweetie Belle and she turned to her friends with a resting frown. She noticed their odd forms yet did not feel fear. She thought logically without any emotion and quickly came to the conclusion that her and her friends were changed in some way. She wanted to feel sorry for their pain yet this was just something she told herself because she didn’t actually ‘want’ anything. She looked to her hooves and noticed small creeses of black lines. Sweetie became incredibly conflicted. “Well, well, well, look at which group finally decided to wake up,” a sarcastic yet familiar voice rings out. A creature magically appears in front of them, Discord. “You are probably wondering why you are here,” Discord said with a malicious grin. Sweetie Belle listened quietly while the other two were focused on their new forms. Discord rolled his eyes with a frown before snapping, suddenly Apple Bloom’s and Scootaloo’s discomforts fade to dull feelings. “D-Discord? Did you cause all of this!?” Apple Bloom pointed angrily. “Why would you do that?!” Scootaloo yelled. “Because it was in the contract, now you three will play in my game,” Discord laughed evilly. “There are one hundred players here tonight, if your group stands last then you will claim this item and I will be turned back into stone,” Discord showed off an item. Apple Bloom started; “Why in Equestria would we want tha-” Discord snapped and the trio’s eyes became swirls before returning to normal. “Nopony will stand in our way!” the filly smirked. “Now I rather not be watching a boring contest of pulling hairs and yelling mean words so I decided that whatever each pony dressed as for Nightmare Night will become that for the contest, have fun Cutie Mark Crusaders!” Discord turned into a cloud, his laughter still echoing. "That's odd, Discord said that there were one hundred but I am only sensing ninety nine," the robot thinks aloud. "Wait, you don't think the one pony in the pirate costume and shark-" the three ponies realized what happened.