//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: My Little Nightmare // by White Magical Stache //------------------------------// Twilight stared up at the creature, her mind working furiously to try to identify it and a way to get away from it, but her thoughts were too clouded by fear to come up with any feasible solutions. The creature just sat still, leaning down to be just about a foot from her face, looking her over with its empty eye sockets. She couldn’t understand how it could see without eyes, but she didn’t care. All she knew was that she had to get away. That was all her mind would tell her. Run. Run. Run. That’s all she could think. She scrambled to her hooves and took off running, not caring which direction she went in. The creature made no effort to follow, instead simply watching her go in confusion. She ran and ran, but not for very long before she heard Spike scream and remembered that she’d left him back with the thing in the flowers. She turned around without a second thought and came into the clearing, where the skeleton now stood next to Spike, who had backed against a tree. “Get away from him!” shouted Twilight, illuminating her horn to see the thing more clearly, her fear now overshadowed by her concern for Spike. It looked over at her and somehow smiled, despite having nothing even resembling lips. “Please, please, I think we’re all getting off to a terrible start,” it said, turning to Twilight. “I’m not here to hurt you or your friend. I’m not even certain where ‘here’ is. Perhaps we could help each other? My name is Jack Skellington, Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, at your service.” He took a deep bow, and then extended his bony hand. Twilight watched for a moment, unsure of how to react, then turned to Spike, who was still backed against the tree, but looked much more confused than scared. Cautiously, Twilight took a few steps forward, her curiosity overpowering her fear, which melted away more and more with every second she was near Jack. As she looked at him now, he didn’t seem very menacing at all. He actually looked fairly comical, now that she got a good look at him, but he gave off a sort of feeling of fear, like the little voice in the back of your head would always warn you of him when he was there. “I’m Twilight Sparkle,” she said cautiously as she extended her hoof to his hand. He took her hoof and started shaking vigorously. “Oh, wonderful! I’m already meeting new people. Positively wonderful!” Jack exclaimed, smiling even more broadly. He looked down to Spike and released Twilight’s hoof to slap his forehead with his hand. “Oh, where are my manners? Here, please, allow me to assist.” He leaned down to pick up Spike, who scrambled out of the way to hide behind Twilight. Jack looked confused for a moment, and then sighed. “Ah, yes, I do have that effect on people. Can’t be the Pumpkin King without being scary, now, can you?” “Pumpkin King? Halloween Town? I haven’t heard of those…” said Twilight, thinking clearly now that her fear had mostly subsided. “Where is this Halloween Town? And why is foreign royalty in the middle of the Everfree Forest?” “Well, it’s really more of a title than anything,” chuckled Jack. “I don’t really give orders nor have subjects or anything of that sort. As for where Halloween Town is, it’s…far away. That’s about the best I can describe it. But right now, I’m more interested in knowing where I am, and who you are. More than just your name, I mean.” “Well, like I said, I’m Twilight Sparkle. I’m a unicorn pony, as you can see, and I live in the Ponyville Library and work there as the librarian. This is Spike, my assistant,” she said, moving out of the way to let Jack see Spike, who looked up at Jack for a moment in fear before his expression changed to one of wonder. “Whoa…you’re tall!” said Spike, looking Jack up and down. Jack chuckled. “Oh, and I’m the protégé of Princess Celestia herself,” said Twilight with pride, puffing out her chest slightly and closing her eyes. “Oh? She sounds important,” commented Jack curiously. Twilight’s eyes snapped open. “Important? Important doesn’t even begin to describe it!” she commented furiously. “She’s the head of Equestria, not to mention the most powerful pony around!” “Okay, I didn’t mean to offend,” said Jack. “I’m terribly sorry if I caused some offense, I simply haven’t been here before.” Twilight blushed as she realized how she’d reacted. “Oh, no, it’s nothing, I’m sorry, she’s just sort of my idol,” responded Twilight. “Well, come on, I’ll take you back to Ponyville and introduce you to everypony, but you’ll need to wait a bit for me to get them ready to meet you, since you have that…effect on ponies.” She used her magic to lift up all the items that had fallen out of her bags and placed them back in, also picking the few last flowers she needed. “Thank you very much,” replied Jack politely. “If I may, though, I simply must ask. Is all of Equestria as horrid as this…what was it, Everfree Forest?” He looked around in wonder, and Twilight shuddered as she began walking back down the path she’d come from, with Jack in tow and Spike on her back. “Thankfully not,” she replied. “This is the only part where everything is so dark and scary and…well, like you said, horrid.” “Oh, that’s a shame,” sighed Jack. “I suppose I’ll need to spend some time in here, then.” Twilight couldn’t figure why he would think it was bad that only the forest was so dark and dangerous, but decided it was a question based saved for later, as they continued down the path back to Ponyville. ----------------- The town that Twilight brought him to, Ponyville, was amazing to Jack. Everything was brightly colored, from the buildings to the inhabitants, to whom Twilight had said Jack was simply a decoration, animated by magic. While it had slightly disappointed Jack to not get to meet the townspeople, it hadn’t ruined his mood. This town was too wonderful for that, and Twilight had agreed to introduce him to her friends, anyway. “This is my friend, Pinkie Pie,” Twilight said as she brought Jack to a bright pink pony that had been standing around eating candy. Jack smiled at her color. This single pony was more brightly colored than all of Halloween Town. “Hello there,” said Jack, smiling and waving down at the pony. “My name is Jack Skellington, and contrary to what you might have thought, I’m not a decoration.” “Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie, bouncing up to look Jack at eye level for a moment. Jack chuckled at the pony. “You’re quite the jumper,” Jack observed. “It’s nice to meet you. Something tells me we’re going to be good friends.” “Oh, can we? I love making friends!” Pinkie shouted happily, bouncing around Jack and Twilight as they walked to the library. “Oh, Twilight, did you ever find those flowers for the dye for your costume?” “Yes, I did, Pinkie. In fact, that’s how I met our friend here,” Twilight said, motioning to Jack. “I’m sure the costume will look wonderful now.” “Oh, that’s great, Twilight!” said Pinkie excitedly, as if Twilight finding the flowers had been the most important thing in the world. “Um, excuse me?” said Jack. “I couldn’t help but overhear you talking about costumes, and I noticed a lot of costumes and decorations being sold in town. Might I ask what it’s all for?” “Oh, of course, I can’t believe I forgot to mention it,” said Twilight. “This is all in preparation for Nightmare Night, which is just a few nights away.” “Nightmare Night?” asked Jack, now full of interest. “What’s Nightmare Night?” “Oh, it’s great!” cried Pinkie Pie. “Everypony dresses up in costumes and goes around to other pony’s houses and gets candy and everything is scary and it’s all just great!” “That’s a very rough summarization, but for the most part, she got the main parts down,” said Twilight. “It’s a holiday where we all go out and have fun with games and candy and the occasional scare.” “Scares, you say?” repeated Jack, putting a hand to his chin in thought. “Nightmare Night…I like the sound of this holiday. I like it very much,” Jack said, grinning. “Well, why don’t you stick around for it? I’m sure you’d fit in just fine,” Twilight said smiling. “Oh, I think I will,” chuckled Jack. “Maybe I could help you prepare for it? I have a bit of a knack for this kind of thing.” “That sounds like a great idea,” Twilight said, nodding. Jack smiled. A whole new holiday, just like Halloween, but with a brand new audience, just waiting for his amazing tricks of terror. He chuckled to himself at the thought of everything he could do. “We’re here,” said Twilight, breaking him out of his day dream. He looked up and noticed that ‘here’ in this situation was a large tree with windows and a door. As Twilight and Pinkie Pie walked in the door, Jack had to duck down to nearly a third of his normal height to fit in the door. “SURPRISE!” yelled Pinkie as Jack got in the door. He turned to face her and saw her, Twilight, and four other ponies all standing around a table with cakes and other treats all over it. “What is this?” Jack asked. “Were you surprised? I knew it!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, laughing. “This is your surprise party to say welcome to Ponyville, silly!” Jack smiled. He was going to like it here.