"Oh come on, you'll be perfect for the role. All you need is a bit of dye for your wings and some new contacts. I already have the right type right here."
"Oh, of course. It's not like I'm something that would completely mess up the idea like, I don't know, a colt."
"We'll call it artistic license. Come on, Feldspar already has her costume ready."
It was the Stone family's first Nightmare Night in Ponyville, and Kind Face was particularly excited to help Obsidian and Feldspar with their costumes. She was especially excited upon hearing that the town was making a group contest. Whichever group had the best set of costumes would win the prize so long as everypony in the group followed a recognizable theme. What that theme was was up to each group to decide.
Feldspar had already dyed her mane and tail a mix of yellow, orange, and red; and she styled them to make them look like they were on fire. She was also wearing one of Kind Face's stick-on horns and a pair of red slit-pupil contacts, and her flank had been painted with a cutie mark of a blazing sun.
"Okay, fine. I'll do it."
Obsidian grabbed a brush and painted out his cutie mark, replacing it with a crescent moon. He then proceeded to dye his wings and fur black and put in the contacts that Kind Face had given him.
"Mua ha ha ha ha," he said in an exaggerated deadpan as if reading lines from a script, "the night shall last forever." He smirked at her. "There, happy?"
Feldspar giggled. "Yup!"
"Don't forget," Kind Face added, "the whole point is to dress up as something you're not, and considering how often you keep insisting that you're not an alicorn, tonight's the perfect night to be one. Besides, how many ponies would be able to play a role like that without using props?"
She smirked as Obsidian shook his head, smiling a little in defeat.
"Fine. You've got me there. So if Feldspar and I are going in matching costumes, what are you going as?"
Kind Face just smirked again.
"Observe..."
With that, she trotted back into her house. A little while later she came back with a rather peculiar costume.
She was wearing what looked like shiny, black plastic plate armor all over her body and had stuck a crooked horn into her head and transparent wings on her back. Just like Obsidian and Feldspar, she had put in slitted contacts, except hers were green.
On top of her armor, she wore a wedding dress, and she wore a circle of flowers on her head, making her look like...
"That is the second most insensitive costume I've ever seen."
"Well as long as nopony from the Crystal Empire sees us, we'll be fine. Besides, you should have seen what my Aunt Masquerade dressed up as last year."
"What did she dress up as?"
Kind Face almost explained, but she tumbled to the ground and burst out laughing before she could. After she caught her breath, she tried again with the same results.
"Okay, I'll just show you a picture later." She wiped a tear from her eye. "I think I still have one somewhere.
"Come on, guys. This night is going to be perfect."
They all headed out into the streets. Ponies were already milling about in costume. There were several superheroes and a few pirates, of course. One pony was, for some reason, walking around under a cardboard box calling himself "Metal Snake," and another had dressed himself in brown paper, claiming to be a "cattle rustler." The Crusaders had dressed up as a robot, an orange changeling, and some sort of zombie-like creature. Most of everypony else was setting up booths and games.
As they walked back to their usual idea-planning spot by the creek, Feldspar snuck behind some pegasus colts who were dressed up as members of the Royal Guard and hissed at them, showing off her plastic fangs.
They both flew all the way to the top of the tree beside them, yelling the whole way up.
"Is this the respect you show your queen? Abandoning your posts while screaming like fillies? Behold, you shall now be banished to... the SUN!!! AH HA HA HA HA!!!!"
"What?" They looked at each other, then back at the laughing miniature Daybreaker. "Wait, Feldspar, is that you?"
"Yup!"
"What are those? Contacts?"
"Of course, they are."
That voice did not come from Feldspar, but rather from someone behind them in the tree. They both turned around to see Chrysalis grinning at them.
They screamed the whole way down as Kind Face and Feldspar laughed.
"That's not even fair."
"Tell me about it."
They turned around to the source of that voice. They promptly jumped back upon seeing who was hovering behind them.
"Hey Kind Face, I think these costumes work a little too well," Obsidian yelled up at the pony on top of the tree.
"Nah, I think they're just right."
"Yeah, well, we're gonna go meet up with the others," one of the pegasi got back up. "We've got enough ponies to form a whole division of day guards, which means we're guaranteed to win the costume contest."
"Not if two corrupted alicorns and a changeling imposter steal the prize away right out from under your noses," Kind Face taunted.
One of the pegasi stuck out his tongue. "We'll see about that."
As they walked through the town, they passed a couple ponies dressed as bedsheet ghosts. The two ghosts gave their customary greeting, as required by tradition.
"BoooOOOOoooooOOOOOoooo..."
"Hi Mom, Hi Dad."
"Hi kids."
Gneiss turned to Kind Face while gesturing to her kids. "Is this your handiwork?"
Kind Face grinned. "Sure is. Like it?"
"It's very nice," she chuckled."
Quartz looked to Gneiss.
"I'm starting to think we should have gone to her for help with our costumes too."
"Well, you could always ask my aunt. She taught me everything I know."
They both chuckled. "Maybe next year. We're already an old classic."
They parted ways, Gneiss and Quartz heading further into town to help set up booths, and Obsidian, Feldspar, and Kind Face heading off to make their final plans for the night.
In a restaurant in Baltimare, a mare dropped to the ground. The staff and a couple patrons immediately ran over to her and attempted everything they knew from CPR to mouth-to-mouth.
Nothing worked.