//------------------------------// // Thriller // Story: The Nightmare Before Nightmare Night // by Silent Bob //------------------------------// All across Equestria my kind moved in for frights, Ready to make it the oh-so-perfect night. Even I was ready to give a good, ghastly run, The perfect scare prepared for the Princess of the Sun. "Someone has replaced me royal sweet stash with raisin filled cookies?!" she would have cried. "WHAT MADNESS IS THIS?! WHO HAS EARNED MY DESPISE?!" "BUAHAHAHAHAHA!" I would have cackled with a grin, flying high over Canterlot on my flank kicking Nimbus-2000 of win. "Happy horrors, everypony!" Unfortunately, my own plans were soon put down, When the treachery of Blackblood was brought to the crown. As the clock struck ten a tiny foal burst into the throne, A single crusader who came mysteriously alone. "Hah!" Nightmare Moon's chupacabra assistant beamed, Rotten having just finished blurting out her tale. "Totally called it!" "Uggggh," Moony grumbled, bringing a hoof to her face. "I hope you're not like this at the movies, Bloodfang." "Yeeeehahh! He totally called it, though! Shamoneigh!" "Yes!" Nightmare cried sorrowfully, her assistant and Moonwalker quickly giving her two apologetic glances. "I get it! I screwed up! I just really wanted to get him out of my mane is all." She then turned back towards Rotten. "So wait, Death went after him, though?" Rotten gave a nod. At that, Nightmare Moon chuckled, sighing in relief. "Ooooh he is so screwed!" "Gonna get his soul eaten! Yeeehah!" Nightmare quickly gave him a blank look. "I love you, Moonwalker, but I don't need any narration. This isn't a Diedco carriage insurance commercial." "Myyy bad!" "But yeah. Deathie said she'd be at Necropolis with his head on a platter by now," Rotten frowned. "I kind of just came as a backup option, in case she..." She took a deep breath, a small second of silence following before: "Deathie are you OK? So, Deathie are you OK? Are you OK Deathie? Deathie are you OK?" Nightmare Moon gave a growl. "MOONWALKER! Come on, this is serious!" He quickly snapped his mouth shut, his expression turning sheepish as he sulked back. "Anyway, Rainbow's wayyyy overdue," Rotten continued. "And so is Spike. He said that he'd come here too to let you know everything was alright. That the 'real' Twilight is all well and good." "Hmmm... this is worrisome," Nightmare Moon said, her words laced with apprehension. She then gave a deep, remorseful sigh. "This is my fault in the end... I need to set things straight. Put my hoof into matters for once." Rotten nodded in agreement. With that, she took a deep breath, turning towards one of the nearby guards. "Go tell the royal chef to go and dump the raisin cookies into the furnace. Seriously, those things don't belong in any dimension." "Dawwww...." She quickly rolled her eyes at that before saying, "oh, and can someghoul go get me my Nimbus, please? Time to shred up the night!" However, she then glanced worriedly out of one of the nearby blood-stained windows, towards the direction of the Everdead forest. "I just hope you're alright, student of the light… and especially you... my student of the night." ☼☼☼ ☼☼ ☼☼☼ Ding-Dong! With a smile, Twilight Soulshard made her way to the front door of her borrowed treehouse, levitating a large bucket of bubblegum and Recess candy. "You're sure the foals will love me if I give them nothing but bubble-gum and peanut butter cups, Spike?" she asked. "Of course!" he said with a smirk, currently sitting across from a film screen on an old couch. He and Pinkie were currently watching the ending of The Hills Have Eyes, their Nightmare Night party just coming to an end. "It's the best candy there is! At that, Twilight smiled and opened the door, the real world's versions of the Cutie-Mark Crusaders beaming up at her, each looking like villains from Friday the 13th, Hellraiser, and Michael Mareyers from Nightmare's Eve. "Cutie-Mark Crusader Slasher Villains!" they beamed. Twilight couldn't help but smiling. "Awwww, don't you three look simply atrocious.” The three gave cocked their heads at that, but apparently soon decided she meant it as a compliment. "Thanks, Twilight!" However, despite her approval, she quickly cocked an eyebrow. "Aren't you a bit young to be watching those films, though? Do your guardians know?” "Nope!" they grinned. Twilight rolled her eyes. "OK, girls. Here's your candy, then." At that, she levitated a literal boatload of bubble-gum and Recess cups into the large, already candy filled bags hanging at their sides. "Recess Peanut Butter Cups?!" Scootaloo said, her eyes literally watering. "Mhmmm," Twilight smiled. "Best. House. Yet!" the three beamed. "Thanks, Twilight!" "Haha, no problem girls. Have a good night." At that, she began to close the door as the three scurried merrily away. Though before she did, her eye caught something coming from the distance. A rolling fog was slowly starting to overtake the town, blanketing it in a surreal darkness. "Woah," bone dragon Spike said, poking a tiny head out of her hood. "Hey, what's with the fog?" the real Spike said, walking over to Soulshard’s side. "I don't remember the weather ponies scheduling anything for this evening." He then gave a brief smile. “Gotta say, it fits the tone, though. Shame they hit the tail end of trick or treating." Ignoring him, Twilight simply continued to gaze at it. "Alright, Rainbow, if you're leading this whole thing... don't go too crazy." ☼☼☼ ☼☼ ☼☼☼ "Alright, ghouls and ghosts!" Trixie grinned, marching in front of a line of ghouls who stood at the edge of Everfree forest, most of them with eager looks on their faces. "You all ready to have some fun?!" "Wooo yeah!" "Let's get this started!" "Heck yeah! I hope the Doctor is ready for… my take on history. HAHAHAHA!” Trixie merely gave a satisfied smirk. "Well then, you all already know what you're doing! Let's get ready to RUMBLE!" Following that, the crowd let out a cheer and began scurrying into the fog, previously having been generated by Trixie's horn. It was now as thick as any cloud in the sky, blocking out visibility save for a few feet ahead of oneself. "Witch of the West...” Applemoon called , stopping at her side and giving her an apprehensive glance. “This is the last chance to change things, ya know. You sure this is what our Twilight would want?” "Ugh! Quit worrying, will you?!" Trixie growled. "Take your family and go have some fun! Jeez!" Applemoon opened her mouth to argue more, though she quickly sensed it as a futile effort. Instead, she simply let out a sigh before turning towards Big Macinslash and Granny Sith. "Alright... let's uh... get this over with." The two then gave reluctant nods before heading into towards Sweet Apple Acres, Granny Sith raising a black hood over her head. ☼☼☼ ☼☼ ☼☼☼ "Woah..." Pinkie Pie called, now joining both the real Spike and Twilight at the door. "Is it just me, or is that fog getting thicker? It's like a big, rolling cloud!" At that, a few screams could begin to be heard, quickly joining in with a chorus of door slams and evil laughter. However, this wasn’t the end of it. The same chorus of horrific sounds could be heard from then on out, and like a rising orchestra conducted by the Devil, they gained in intensity as the night went on. "It. Has. Begun," Twilight gulped. "Dun dun dun..." her Spike said, rolling his eyes. “Heh. Must be a bunch of teenagers teaming up to really kick things up a notch,” the real Spike smiled. “Gotta say, they’re doing a good job.” “Yeah! It’s almost as good as Zecora’s Nightmare Moon story,” Pinkie smiled. “She did a really good job this year, too. Loved the blood-soaked fangs! Still wish I knew what I saw through her brewing pot though... but maybe it was just-" "Ooooh Piiinkiiieeee," a surreal, gravelly voice suddenly called from the fog, a black silhouette of a pony coming into view. Her good mood was immediately squelched. "H-Huh?" Pinkie peeped nervously, a shiver running up her spine. "W-Who's there?" Twilight's eyes widened. "Ooooh man," bone dragon Spike whispered. "This is going to be so friggin' wicked." "I don't know," Twilight whispered worriedly. "Out of everyghoul who could really go too far with this, it'd probably be Pinkie Slice..." "Oh come on. She'll have some tact. She's not that crazy..." However, following that, the voice then began to sing: "One and two guess who's coming for you? Three and four better lock your door..." Soulshard’s Spike quickly sweat-dropped. "Errrr... I can be wrong sometimes, though. Jeez Pinkie…” "W-What are you talking about?!" the real Pinkie Pie gulped, backing away from the door now and shivering slightly. "T-Twilight!" she gasped, turning towards her. "I don't like this... w-we should do as whoever that is says! Lock the door, quick!" "Easy, Pinkie," the real Spike said, rolling his eyes. "It's probably just one of those teenagers I was talking about… or Rainbow Dash.” He then narrowed an eyebrow in thought, before eventually concluding with a quick nod, “actually, yeah. It’s probably her.” Following that, he raised the same eyebrow. “I thought you liked a good scare, though, Pinkie?” "I-I do... but this..." she peeped, now hiding behind the couch. "I d-don't know about this... what’s with her voice?" Her eye then began to twitch. "O-Oh my... my Pinkie Sense is going haywire... something very bad's about to happen." “Pinkie, relax," Spike reassured her with a smile. "It's probably just some sort of voice distortion thingy." "Five and six grab a crucifix, Seven and eight better stay up late..." "OK, Rainbow Dash!" the real Spike called, glancing Pinkie's way with a hint of concern. "You've had your fun. Don't you think it's enough, now?" A beat of silence. The silhouette then dissipated, Spike quickly sighing in relief. Pinkie, however, continued cuddling into a little ball of fear, out of sight of the rest of her friends... "Pinkie. It's alright, you can come out now," Spike called. At that, she took a deep breath, nodding to herself in reassurance. However, just as she was starting to compose herself, a cold, hissing breath came to her ear: "Nine and ten never sleep again." "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPP!" "Pinkie!" Twilight cried, rushing over towards her. She made it just in time to see her feint body lying on the floor, and the burnt-abomination that was Pinkie-Slice grinning wickedly underneath a brown fedora. A split-second later, she gave Twilight a wink before somehow leaping inside the ear of the real Pinkie, the ghoul's body literally condensing into a thread as she did so. "Oh my gosh... that was... that was too much!" Twilight cried. "She was supposed to wait until Pinkie was sleeping and then pull some dream-related scare! Not this! Who planned this whole thing?!" "Twilight?" Spike said, rushing over towards her. "What are you talki-“ His eyes then widened in horror. “Oh my gosh, why is Pinkie on the floor?!" “I-I don’t know!” Soulshard cried. Spike then glanced at her suspiciously. "Twilight, what the heck is going on? First you start acting like a friggin' alien, talking to yourself and doing very Un-Twilight like things, and then I hear you talking about like you knew who was harassing Pinkie, and now this?!" He narrowed her eyes. "I haven't seen any meteors lately, so I don't think I've just walked into The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but still, I really need to ask: who are you and what have you done with Twilight?!" "The jig is up," bone dragon Spike whispered, as Soulshard backed away from the real thing, him taking menacing steps towards her. "S-Spike," Twilight called, throwing him a warm smile. "It's me, Twilight! Your Twilight. Can't you tell?" "I don't know who you are but you're not my Twilight! Sure, you've been fun to hang around lately, but that's just been a facade, hasn't it?!" Soulshard took her head frantically. "I'm telling you, I'm-" And then came the first chime of midnight, it from Ponyville’s automated clock tower. "Oh no..." she gasped. ☼☼☼ ☼☼ ☼☼☼ Inside her hut, Fluttershy quivered in her bed as the sounds of shrieks emanated from Ponyville, her animal friends drawing close to her for comfort. Too swept up in shivers was she that she didn't notice a pair of red, glowing eyes gazing in at her from the nearest window. "OK, Flutterfright," her counterpart whispered to herself, taking a deep breath. "Trixie says this will help her in the long run... so just... make it quick." At that, her eyes began to glow brighter. And as they did so, every single one of Fluttershy's pets suddenly found their own eyes rolling to the back of their heads. A second later they collapsed upon their caretaker's bed, the color fading from them as their irises shrank. "W-What?!" Fluttershy gasped. "N-No!" She couldn't even bring herself to say anything else, instead she immediately began gasping desperately for air. And at that, the conscience of a ghoul kicked into full swing. "No," Flutterfright said, her eyes narrowing in resolve. "No, this isn't helping! This is just... this is just being stupid! I don't care what that witch says!" At that, she immediately released the bit of mind control she had over her counterpart's animal friends, all except one. They immediately lept back upon their feet, glancing about in a confused manner, Fluttershy gazing at them wide-eyed in awe. "Oh my gosh!" she cried, her tears of sorrow turning into those of joy, a look of relief coming upon her like no other. "I was so worried! What in the world happened?!" Flutterfright gave a warm smile at that, before pulling the puppet strings of her countpart's version of Devil Bunny, forcing him to leap onto the yellow pegasus with a warm hug. "If he's as... cold in this reality as he is in mine, hopefully that will mean something," Flutterfright smiled. "Huh, who said that?" the real version of her squeaked, peaking out her window in curiosity, Flutterfright quickly giving a tiny eep and sinking her head out of sight. ☼☼☼ ☼☼ ☼☼☼ Rarity shivered as she tucked herself into her bedroom, gulping as the fog continued to grow in density. "Oh my... what in the world is happening out there?" she squeaked, rolling into bed and hiding herself under the covers. She then took a deep breath and shut her eyes, trying her best to block out the whole ordeal. However, it wouldn't be long before the outside world came within. "Rarittty..." a ghostly voice oozed out of the walls. "W-What?! Who's there?!" the fashionita eeped, peaking out of her covers and scanning her dark room. She was met with only silence. "Oh my... I suppose tis just the raven, nothing more," she sighed, her heart racing. "I mustn't let my imagination get to- EEEEEP!" Scarity appeared right over her covers, glaring down upon the terrified pony. "GHOST!" the mortal unicorn squealed, quickly leaping out of her bed and jutting to the door... CLACK-CLACK!.!.! She grabbed desperately at the handle, trying to rip it open, only to find, to her horror, that it had been locked. "Rarity..." the ghost said, its voice hollow, distorted and surreal. It even had a strange echo about it. "I am the Ghost of Fashion Future... I have taken a form that would be... comfortable with you." "O-Oh," Rarity peeped. "W-Well..." She then took a deep breath, trying her best to compose herself. "I-I suppose if you have a choice of forms, why not go with the one with such a beautiful mane?" "Oh, thank you, darling," Scarity smiled. "I must say, I wish I still had a corporeal form. Yours is much more pronounced." Rarity gave a chuckle. "You're too kind, and too hard on yourself, dear. Yours still looks positively radiant, literally speaking! I simply love the glow about it!" At that, Scarity let out a cough, her voice bearing even more ghostly distortion. "Anyway, I'm afraid we must exchange pleasantries another time, for I bear grim news from the future..." Rarity raised an eyebrow. "And what news is that?" Scarity took a deep breath, trying her best to force her conscience aside. "I'm afraid... the news I have to report is that... pink tiara's will soon be out of style." "W-What?" Rarity said, her breath staggered. "I'm afraid I did not speak incorrectly." "N-No!" Rarity whimpered, shaking her head rapidly. "This must be some mistake!" "Why do you say that?" Scarity said, quirking her head, noticing tears were now coming to Rarity's eyes. "Because you came a day late!" she cried. "Do you have any idea how many I just made to sell in Canterlot?! All the latest fashion reports said they'd be in style for nearly six months!" She then gasped for breath. "N-Now... they're all going to go to waste!" "N-Now calm down, dear," Scarity said. "Surely this won't-" "I won't be able to buy new supplies now! I'll either have to take out a high interest loan or my business will have to shut down! I'll be IN RUINS!" she shrieked, a few tears now visibly streaming down her face. "I'll never be able to help Sweetie through college... I won't be able to do anything now! Out all all the things that could happen, this is the... the... I can't even bring myself to say it!" With that, the ghostly mare's eyes narrowed as she stamped a defiant, silent hoof on the ground. "No, my dear, I'm afraid that it isn't the worst possible thing. In fact, it isn't even a thing." "B-But you just said-" "I lied," she sighed. "For you see, I'm not really the Ghost of Fashion Future." ☼☼☼ ☼☼ ☼☼☼ "Granny Smith?" Applejack called worriedly, trotting frantically through her house to find her suddenly vanished family. "Big Macintosh?! Apple Bloom?!" She entered the living room, her head quirking about like a pigeon's, at every which angle. "W-Where are yall?! I just saw ya a-" At that, a scraping sound could be heard on the nearest window. "W-Wah!?" With eyes widening, Applejack quickly turned, only to see nothing. "W-Who's there?!" she called, her eyes narrowing. "What'd you do with mah family?!" Another scratch on an opposite window. This time, however, Applejack turned towards it just in time to see a black shadow of a pony with brilliant, glowing yellow eyes. "WHAT IN THE WORLD!" she shrieked, stumbling backwards. "That's it! If whoever's out there don't stop right now, I'm getting Ms. Pepper!" Her eyes then narrowed. "N' let me tell ya, she'll do much more than make ya sneeze!" "I wouldn't do that if I were you..." a throaty, deep voice said, it coming from her door. It was quickly followed by a few more claw scrapes. "Oh, so you ain't just timberwolves, huh?! Well then good, I'll say again! GET OUT OF HERE NOW!" "Mmmm, well you're half-right about that I suppose," the same voice growled. As Applejack's eyes widened in horror, her front door was suddenly ripped off its hinges, sailing into the ground with a terrific CRACK, and revealing a grinning, overly furry version of Big Macintosh, his eyes glowing yellow, and his wolf-like paws digging into her wooden floor. Taking slow, menacing steps he entered the living room, a surprisingly agile furry Granny Smith following him. "You failed us, Applejack," they chanted, drawing ever closer to her. "We were taken by the children of the moon, your back turned to our doom. And now... you're ours to consume." "N-No!" Applejack called, her heart thumping like no tomorrow. At that, 'Big Macintosh' gave a wicked grin, reeled back on his hind legs, and just as he was about to pounce... "STOP!" Panting, a furry version of her galloped through the front door, and behind her Granny Smith, Apple Bloom and Big Macintosh. Applejack's jaw nearly dropped at this. "What in the name of all that is holy is goin' on!? Who are you, and why do you look like me?!" Applemoon took a deep breath, gazing at her counterpart with remorseful eyes. "I-It's a long story. All you need to know is that your family is safe and that I'm sorry... I'm really sorry." She then turned towards her own family. "I just couldn't go through with this whole thing! It was too much." The two nodded in agreement. "You're right... we took it way too far. This wasn't fun for noghoul..." "These three hooligans went and ponynapped us bout' five minutes ago, came in right through our windows," Granny Smith explained, before taking a deep breath. "Said they wanted to scare ya, for your own good." "This was for my own good?!" Applejack roared, storming in front of Applemoon and glaring daggers. "Look miss, I don't know who ya’ are, but in this town scarin' people like that ain't for nopony's own good!" "I know... it was stupid of me. I'm sorry! I'm truly sorry!" Applemoon cried. "We're sorry, too..." Granny Sith grunted, running a hoof across the floor in remorse. "We got shanghaied into this whole thing. Damned egomaniac…” "And who exactly is that?!" Applejack growled. ☼☼☼ ☼☼ ☼☼☼ As the bell tower of Ponyville continued to chime, Trixie walked merrily down Main Sreet, occasionally summoning demonic shadows and raising long-dead corpses from the ground to frighten anypony in sight. However, they weren’t her true target. That honor belonged to the one who resided in the large treehouse before her. “Alright, Twilight Soulshard,” she smirked. “It’s time to take a trip to the western side of the tracks.”