//------------------------------// // Lesson Eight: Nightmare Night // Story: Schadenteacher // by Daemon McRae //------------------------------// It was finally here. Nightmare Night. Not only one of my favorite holidays, but this year might just prove to be my favorite Nightmare Night ever. In previous years, I had made a point to outdo myself every year, little by little. Not by leaps and bounds, as some creatures do. It’s too easy to reach your own skill ceiling that way. But this, this, was leagues above all of my old costumes. It did require calling in some backup from a Princess or two, not to mention signing some rather specific and threatening paperwork should I abuse the privilege, but I’ll be damned if it wasn’t one of the best and worst ideas I’d ever had. The costume itself took a great deal of setup, some magic, some covert tactics, and an appeal to Celestia and Luna’s natures as pranksters (one more than the other), but it was perfect. Now all I had to do was put it into action. -------------------- Not surprisingly, Nightmare Night in Ponyville was a big deal. Small towns love holidays, and with the addition of the School of Friendship, they now had an entire academy’s worth of young ones eager to learn about new holidays. Especially ones that got them free candy and let them play games all night, well past a normal bedtime. However, the children were not the target demographic of my horrible, awful idea. Mostly because it wouldn’t mean anything to most of them. Except one. But that’s for later. So it was with relative ease that I moseyed around town unaccosted. It was approaching sunset, where the real shenanigans would start kicking off, and so Derpy and I made a point to visit of our designated targets: a one Trixie Lulamoon, who, having taken residence in Ponyville lately, had opted to put on a show for the children designed just for the occasion. Some ghastly-themed tricks and candy-making spells mixed in with her normal fare, and a stern but amused Starlight on the sideline to make sure she didn’t get too out of control with her showmanship. Twilight and her friends may have gotten used to her by now, and the younger crowd adored her, but there were still some townsfolk who weren’t too happy with the magician. Although they seemed quick to forgive, as the show seemed to be gathering quite a crowd. Having taken the main stage (typically reserved for the town musicians and the evening’s host or hostess), she was making quite an impression. Although, anything relatively safe that gave parents a moment’s peace during one of the busiest nights of the year was most likely a welcome distraction. I did Trixie the favor of waiting till her performance was over to show her my new, brilliant costume. I knew she’d love it. Or run screaming. I know what I was hoping for. Now, here’s something I probably should have mentioned earlier: my costume came with a bit of a… ‘reveal’. It wasn’t obvious at first, but the payoff had amazing potential. So I made my way backstage with the crowd ‘ooh’-ing and ‘aah’-ing at the bright colors and admittedly clever magic tricks. I had to give it to her, her tutelage under Twilight and Starlight was paying off. Starlight raised an eyebrow at me as I waited patiently on the sidelines, now more wary of me given the prolonged exposure over the last several weeks, but I tapped the second half of my ‘costume’ I’d been dragging around, and she nodded sagely (she’d been a key part of acquiring it, as it had required some sneaking about the Castle of Friendship for some key components). I’d already promised not to ‘use it’ on her. Some time later, Trixie happily trotted off center stage, full of smiles and pride. A sensation I could see visibly leave her body as soon as she saw me. “Oh joy. Schadenfreude. What are you doing back here?” “Happy Nightmare Night, Trixie!” I exclaimed, maybe a little too happily. “Out with it, what’s the deal?” she deadpanned. Starlight chuckled slightly to herself. “I learned a magic trick!” She took a visible step back. “What in Celestia’s name…” With one swift motion I revealed the other half of my costume. “Ta-daaa!” “OH BUCK OFF.” she exclaimed, and took off running towards the other stage exit. I felt a surge of pride and accomplishment. “Yessssssss……” The plan was working. ------------- The next target was a student of mine, who I anticipated having some trouble finding. A worry quickly put to rest, as he and his usual group of pals were easy to spot going door-to-door looking for candy. I came across them just as they were leaving the Cakes’ residence with what looked to be a catering order’s worth of cupcakes. “Ooooh, cake!” a young filly cheered, smiling brightly as she ran off to stand in line for free dessert. I could just make out the bouncy mane of a particular party pony at the door giving out an impressive amount of baked goods. “Hi kids!” I called, as Smolder and her entourage finally noticed me off to the side of the growing crowd. However, Smolder wasn’t the intended target, although seeing all of their reactions at once would be magnificent. I love being efficient. The students all greeted me with varying levels of enthusiasm, waving at me or simply nodding with smiles as I appreciated their varying costumes. A couple of superheroes, some characters from some book or another that I sort of recognized, and… whatever Yona was dressed as. “Yona, I hate to ask, but who are you-” “Yona is the great pride of the Plains, Yodelhorn the Indomitable!” “Fantastic. You’ll have to tell me that story at school on Monday.” “Yona will be happy too!” “Hey teach, where’s your costume?” Gallus asked. Ah yes, Gallus. The intended target. In the few weeks I’d been teaching, he’d stood out as a bit of a chatterbox in class, with a tendency to not raise his claw when speaking. He wasn’t a bad student, but stood out enough that I’d recently only had to get as far as “That’s one” before he simmered down. “I’m glad you asked, little one! Here. We. Go!” I said, and performed the grand reveal with a flourish. As expected, the reactions were mixed. Some ‘wow’s’, a couple yelps as Silver and Sandbriar jumped, and the piece de resistance`, Gallus hiding in the back of the crowd with a cry of “Oh stars not the glitter!” The other kids gave him some smug looks as he poked his head around Yona’s back, at which point he blushed brilliantly. “I-I mean… that’s cool. How’d you, uh… how’d you do that?” Nice try kid. If I remembered my own school days with any accuracy, he wasn’t gonna live that reaction down. Having somewhat successfully accomplished my goal (I was admittedly hoping for a larger reaction, but I guess the kids had seen a lot worse since starting school here), I set off to my final goal. Princess Twilight. --------------- Now, given that most of the costume had been… ‘procured’ from Twilight’s castle, it had taken quite a lot of doing to make sure she’d remained completely ignorant to my plan. In fact, hers had to be the last stop, and I was positive she’d make me give everything back once I’d done my grand reveal. I did make a point to stop off and say hi to her friends on the way. Fluttershy and Rarity were, sadly, nonplussed by my shenanigans, both having had little exposure to my unique brand of, well, me. It probably didn’t help that they were taking a quiet evening in at Fluttershy’s cottage, enjoying some seasonal snacks and a moment of peace what with all of Ponyville busy elsewhere. I daresay the costume only really worked the better you knew me, which should say something about me. Something I blatantly chose to ignore. Rainbow Dash and Applejack, however, were quick to turn tail and run as soon as I showed them the full costume, with little more than an “Oh BUCK that” from Rainbow as they sped away. I did appreciate their matching hoofball uniforms, although they didn’t stick around long enough for me to say so. Pinkie Pie had been, and was still, up to her mane in trick-or-treaters, and I didn’t have the patience to wait in line. I was giddy with antici… ...pation. Twilight and Spike (another one of my Nightmare Night co-conspirators), were handing out their own candy to Trick-or-Treaters, and only really noticed me when my turn in line came up. “Schadenfreude, what are you doing? This candy is only for the kids.” “Oh, I know. I just wanted to show off my costume this evening.” “What costume?” she asked. Spike stifled a laugh. “You aren’t wearing anything.” “Au contraire, I come fully equipped with the scariest costume in all of Ponyville!” “Yeah, right. What, are you really Discord in disguise? That only works once, you know,” she drawled. I tapped my hoof thoughtfully. “Now that is a good idea, and a conversation I should really have with my best buddy later, but no. Somehow, I’ve come up with something worse.” She, like Trixie, took a step back. “Wh-what?” I smiled brilliantly, and rested my hoof on what seemed to be empty air. Then I ripped the concealment cloak I’d snuck out of her library off the other half of my costume. “SURPRISE!” The other, normally human, me yelled joyfully. It was art. It was a photographic moment that I will forever cherish. Twilight launched a good two feet in the air, yelling “NO!” at the top of her lungs, and teleported Celestia-knows-where before she even hit the ground. Speaking of hitting the ground, my double and I, along with Spike, were soon rolling in the dirt laughing. “Oh man, did you see her face?!” Otherden cried laughing. Spike could barely breathe. “That… that was awesome!” The laughter went on for a good moment, before Twilight teleported back, seething with anger. “Schaden! How… when did… what… WHAT THE BUCK.” “Hoh, my stars,” I panted, wiping a tear away. “Absolutely worth it.” “Give me back my concealment claok! And you-” she barked, pointing at the normally human me “-back in the portal, now!” “Absolutely, Princess Twiggly Wiggly!” he cheered, trotting into the castle. “So when is this… Halloween?” I called after him. “Tomorrow!” “SCHADENFREUDE.” Twilight yelled.