//------------------------------// // Chapter 19 : Nightmare Night Pt. 1 // Story: A Twilight Landing // by MerlosTheMad //------------------------------// October 31st 2023, Tuesday 6:55 PM Halloween Twilight slowed her own chuckling at Jo, and the familiar third person antics of Trixie, even if they were coming from a completely different source than the showmare herself. She turned, a twinge of confusion sprouting in her from Alice's question. "Scared? Oh, uhm, not really. If you stop to think about it logically, as long as you know there's nothing really dangerous, then nothing is all that frightening." She walked beside Alice down the hall towards the stairs, where Jo stood waiting. "I guess I kind of made a bad impression this morning, huh?" Alice laughed hard enough that her fake beard bobbled. "Well, maybe, the fair and party will be great though. You'll totally have fun, but let us know if something happens that you don't like. It's kinda lucky you are a human. If you were still a pony, you really would be stuck inside. Even on Halloween, I don't think people would believe the talking purple unicorn was a costume." She tittered more, picturing in her head a Twilight Sparkle in pony form gallivanting with them between bars, the concert, and haunted houses. Twilight gave Alice a wan smile, stepping out of the building after Jo, who seemed to have taken right to walking around with her nose in the air as Trixie might. "Yeah, that is one benefit to my predicament I guess," she responded to Alice. Her hand raised up to be studied briefly, flexing slightly, and being the ever present reminder of her current human status. "Speaking of the party, and the fair for that matter, be really wary of strangers tonight, okay Twilight? Remember everything we talked about. Oh, also, don't forget the story we came up with either. You shouldn't need it, but it'll help. Most of all we don't want to get caught up with anything to do with the police. Because I don't even know what will happen if-" Alice groaned, throwing her hands up in the air. "Jooooooo..." Her voice was a deep, bloated croak. "Alright, alright, sorry. Anyway, one last thing Twilight." Jo kept walking and turned to give Twilight another concerned look. "About guys, just...avoid them. Okay, well, don't avoid them, but stay brief with guys tonight, okay? Most of them that look our age will at some level, just want to get into your pants. I'm not even kidding." Alice groaned again in the background. "That is really prejudiced, you know." Meanwhile, Twilight blinked in confusion and looked back flatly. "But Jo, I'm not wearing pants." Jo returned the flat look, pause for pause, then sighed. "...No Twilight, no you're not." She stepped around a small parade of trick-or-treaters and slipped behind Twilight for a moment. "What I meant was they just want to sleep with you, in the very intimate and personal sort of way. Which reminds me, if you get a drink and set it down, don't walk away from it, someone could put something in it-" Alice spoke up. "Alright, easy, Mom, we'll all be fine." She smiled at Twilight. "Tonight's about fun, and this is a really nice town so we don't have to worry about that sort of stuff, especially not with me keeping an eye out! Now, to get back to something that's actually interesting and probably important, let's talk about you, Twilight." Jo quirked an eyebrow at Alice. "Me?" Twilight looked over at Alice, pointing a finger at herself questioningly. "Yup!" Alice nodded several times in quick succession, sending her long beard flopping up and down. "I was wondering just now about what you said. Did you ever figure out why or...how, you became a human, Twilight?" Alice tilted her head. From out of sight and behind Twilight, she gave Jo a serious look, as if to say 'keep quiet'. "Or even an idea of why? I mean, I gotta say it seems a bit...random, you know?" Twilight paused a second in the cool evening air. It was a little chilly; colder than she had expected, but still pleasant. Earth's temperatures were much harsher than Equestria, she noticed, and they should be, considering the 'all natural' weather patterns. Turning around gracefully in her lavender, slipper-like shoes, she answered Alice with as much speculation in her voice as she could muster. "I haven't a clue, Alice." Twilight spotted Jo elbowing Alice, obviously upset she was asking questions again, and continued on quickly. "But, I have lots of ideas, and it helps me to think about them." Thankfully, that got Jo to look up and stop assaulting her friend. They both paid full attention to Twilight now. "The one that makes the most sense is that because magic doesn't exist here, then perhaps it's impossible for a pony to, as well." Twilight watched Jo cease elbowing Alice over what she imagined was bringing up a touchy subject, which wasn't exactly the case. Now, the currently platinum blue haired girl looked interested herself. "That...makes a lot of sense actually." Jo admitted. The three of them fell in line with each other, sort of. The sidewalk wasn't quite big enough, so Alice brought up the rear slightly. "But what about the crystals?" Twilight made a thoughtful sound. "Yes, those. I've never seen crystals like that in Equestria myself. It could be magic's acceptable form here? Still, even assuming these wild guesses are right it doesn't explain my body changing. If a pony can't exist in this world, why would I become a human? Shouldn't I just fade from existence? Or die?" A whimpering sound came from behind Twilight, and she turned around. "Twilight, don't say that!" Alice hugged without warning and with the strength of a worried friend. Twilight's eyes widened in surprise a fraction, then relaxed and patted the other human's back consolingly. "Relax Alice, I'm just speculating my hypothesis here. Obviously I'm fine and there's nothing to worry about. Maybe it is worrisome to consider, but I need to know why it didn't happen and why this," she gestured to her strange, two legged body, "did happen." "Leprechauns?" Jo offered, then sighed out beside them both in response to Alice still clinging to their mutual friend. "Am I going to have to go back for a crowbar?" She eyed the show of friendliness with consternation, poking Alice's robed back with a finger. Alice picked up her head from Twilight's shoulder and grinned wolfishly. "No, you're saying it wrong, it's 'Is the Great and Powerful Trixie going to have to-" Jo would have socked Alice in the arm for the smart alack remark, but she was cleverly hiding behind Twilight. Instead she settled for cutting her off. "Trixie doesn't take kindly to know-it-alls, fool." Twilight laughed at that. That's for sure. Wait a second... Jo went on. "So how would you like Trixie's great and powerful foot up your-?" Twilight took a few steps back after Alice started giggling madly and danced away from Jo. She watched, smiling, enjoying the sight of a very interesting and familiar type of friendship, not to mention Jo acting like Trixie. For that matter, seeing the infamous 'legend in her own mind' herself, all over the internet, and in the cartoon show that mimicked so much of Ponyville, had been quite the shock itself. The implications of humanity glimpsing our world... how much of their 'fiction' is actually real? I wonder, will Celestia ever be able to find me? I had hoped that this cosmic coincidence would lead her straight to me, but if it isn't as big of a coincidence as I thought, then... Twilight shook her head and dispelled the disparaging thoughts, instead going back to Trixie, which was oddly a nice change of pace for once. She thought back to a strange thing called a 'fanfiction' which had been found on the internet. She had only read one, but they looked interesting and were in her 'to do' pile of things. In the fiction, she and Trixie were friends, where rather than somepony who hated her, Trixie approached and asked for forgiveness for what she had done. It had been an interesting read to her. I need to finish watching that show, maybe we could watch some of it tonight after the party? Twilight zoned out some, the blurry image of Alice sprinting by in her wizard robes, away from Jo, only being half registered. A part of Twilight ached again for her notepad of inconsistencies of her and her friend's depictions. One of her hands cupped her chin in thinking manner. Although, I should probably get back to looking into those wormhole things...but if the only way to make one is a theoretical machine the size of a solar system itself, then I don't think I'm getting home anytime soon by my own power... Some of the theories she found were disquieting to say the least. What she knew she needed, was to figure out why what had happened, happened to her, how to reverse it, and of course, what those crystals were, exactly. But how do I do that? Twilight frowned at the thought, then sighed. She was doing it again, she realized, thinking too hard and right after making a deal to relax a little, too. Even she had limits, and she had found them several times before. Her free time had been spent learning everything she could about the curiosities of mankind, so much so that she really hadn't taken the opportunity to gain her bearings at all. Twilight's shoulders slumped again, the hand dropping from her chin to join her other. She crossed her arms at her front. The almost ever present measure of guilt that poked at Twilight when she thought about returning to Equestria or helping the Earth returned as well. Here I am, going out to party, when back home everypony is, in all likelihood, grieving me. But I just don't know what to do... It felt as though she were being pulled in two directions, something she was very familiar with. It's sort of like I moved to Ponyville all over again, except worse. Do I study? Or do I enjoy my friendships while I can? Twilight shook her head, tossing her purple mane of hair back and forth, and managed a smile pointed up at the moon; that human moon that so strangely sometimes appeared during the daytime, and was so very small. The 'man' in the moon. Goodness, our worlds really are two sides of the same coin, aren't they-? "Twilight, hey! Did you hear me?" Alice's voice suddenly rang in Twilight's head like a dinner gong. The blonde girl shook her shoulder, and managed pull her out of the bog that her mind was mired in. "H-huh?" Twilight looked over, then smiled a little sheepishly. "Geez, I'm sorry girls, I was another world away again." Jo did her trademarked eye roll, Alice let out her normal, light hearted giggle. "No kidding. What's on your mind?" Alice asked, then pulled both other girls by their arms so they'd at least get walking again. Twilight blinked a moment, thinking if anything had been worth bringing up. "Oh, nothing really, but..." A thought came to her, that touched a little on an earlier subject. "Well, I don't know if it even holds water here, what with magic being non existent." She waved a hand about as she talked, clearly showing her chagrin and disapproval of the merest notion of that. "Only as far as we know." Jo added, looking over. She was also currently fighting to pull Alice hand off of her arm, something that was proving really difficult. "Right." Twilight agreed, nodding. "But anyway, magic in Equestria is never random, unless a force known as Chaos is involved, which, as I've explained before is tangible." She traded her focused expression between the slightly lost looking humans. "Harmony is its opposite. Harmony acts with purpose, consistency, all to keep the world balanced. In a way, ponies are an extension of it. Though a direct connection between us has never been scientifically proven." She held up one finger sagely to seal her point. Alice 'eeed' out loud, and finally released Jo's arm, and Twilight's too. "You guys are like little furry druids. You have no idea how bad I want to-" Jo pulled on Alice's beard and let it snap back up to slap the girl's chin, which brought out a surprised yelp. "Would you let Twi' talk?" She crossed her arms, staring daggers at the motor mouth present, who apologized in return, and quietly vowed revenge on Jo to just herself. "Ah-" Twilight watched a moment in quiet, at a loss. Normally, with Applejack and Rainbow Dash, her only reference for a friendship the likes of which Jo and Alice shared, she could tell when they were play fighting, and really fighting. The difference with her human friends, was simply that she couldn't always tell, not quite. "A-anyway, thank you Jo, I think." She grinned weakly at the nodding Trixie-Human. Or was it anthro? Gah, I need to stop thinking about that whole 'internet' incident... She shivered a little and continued with her other speech. "Anyway girls, as it so happens my point is simply this, nothing happens without a reason, be it magical through Chaos or Harmony, or possibly something non-magical that stirred up that reaction. For something this random, it would have to be Chaos oriented. I still think Discord got free again, but that just seems so unlikely..." Twilight scowled at the ground at the merest thought of the creature's name. "Wouldn't Discord just turn you into a book or something else equally ironic?" Jo asked airily, she waved a dismissive hand, keeping her eyes ahead. She didn't mind talking about magic with Twilight, but a part of it always reminded her of how little she could do to help. Alice hopped in. "Okay, so Discord is just as evil in the show right?" She walked ahead of the other two girls, taking to walking backwards as they talked. She gave them both thoughtful looks beneath her wizard's hat. "I get the feeling he's more so, and Twilight hasn't seen that part of the show, Alice." Jo replied. "Not sure if I want to, either." Twilight frowned a little, remembering absently the way her home had smelled like coleslaw for weeks after he'd been resealed. Alice drooped. "Oh." Then she perked up again. "Well! In that case I think it supports my theory even more!" Twilight stopped walking, suddenly interested. The other two girls stopped as well. When no one spoke Twilight stepped up to Alice. "Go on." She prompted in an adamant tone. Her eyes shone with interest at whatever her normally, completely lackadaisical friend had to offer. Jo certainly never speculated with her. And everyone on the computer laughs at me... Alice relaxed her stance and smiled. "Well, think about it Twilight, you landed safely in the backyard of someone who could help you, in a form that wouldn't get you into trouble... I think that Harmony might have protected you." Twilight's eyes shone for a moment longer, then a hesitant frown creased her face. "Eh..." she quavered out. "I dunno Alice, if I was still a unicorn, I could have been trying to reach home by now, even without my books." When the other girl looked a little downtrodden from her words, she added, "but, you may be half right. After all, I still can't explain my safe landing. I'm not sure anypony, even Rainbow Dash could have survived that. I already theorized why my landing was relatively soft, though." She looked down at her hands, getting back to the original question. "But, why these? It has nothing to do with my potion, and a harmonic force shouldn't extend so far as to change my body in the first place. I've seen remarkable stuff happen because of it, the Elements of Harmony showed me that." Her eyes looked up and met her friends'. "I'm starting to think somepony was responsible for this, rather than my potion and a set of coincidences." Her stare turned into a serious glower slowly. Jo blinked at the hateful look that Twilight was suddenly giving her. "Uh, hey now, well it wasn't me." She smirked, trying to bring the other girl out of her funk. She raised a blue-gloved hand to grab Twilight's shoulder, then stared at it, an idea coming to her. "Maybe this was Trixie's ultimate revenge plan, huh Twilight?" A short laugh escaped after her. Alice looked over at Jo, her own worried expression lightening up, while Twilight's was merely incredulous. "Trixie?" Twilight blew a raspberry into the air. "As if, she's not a magician in the slightest, let alone somepony that could do a spell like this. Who knows though?" She began walking down the sidewalk again after a second party of laughing children strolled by, leaving the other two girls little choice but to follow. "No, no, there are a lot of things that could change a body like this in Equestria, myself, or the Princess to name two... Oh geez, the Princess! Do you think this is a test!?" Her eyes slowly began widening further and further. Everyone could almost hear the sound of gears churning in the girl's purple head. Alice and Jo had to act quick, as Twilight suddenly turned around and almost made to sprint back to the apartment by the look of it. "Twilight!" They both shouted out. "That's stupid!" and "There's no way this is a test, girl!" both called out from either human respectively. Twilight fought in their grip for a moment, but stopped quickly to merely hang there. She cooled herself and calmed her sudden sporadic breathing, taking in the words of her friends. "B-but, it makes sense!-" Alice grabbed Twilight's chin and pulled her to look over, cheeks pushed up in an amusing fashion. "Twilight, that would make no sense, and sounds horribly dangerous. You don't think Celestia sending you to a strange world as the local inhabiting species sounds absolutely ridiculous? Come on, Hasbro already made a barely believable movie plot out of that." She couldn't keep the smile off her face, from either Twilight's silliness, her face, or the remaining fact that it was still actually Twilight wigging out in front of her. Cartoon show plot? I'll have to ask about that later. Twilight stood up on her own, and was released, acknowledging Jo's own comforting look and Alice's smirk with an apology of her own added to the mix. "I- You're right, that is ridiculous, girls... But who else-" Jo held up both of her gloved hands in a flash of movement, cutting off her purple gowned friend. "Twilight, come on, let's go back to the house if you're that keen on talking about it." With that, she started back in the direction towards the apartment. Alice nearly broke the sound barrier getting in front of Jo and cutting off her escape. "Whoa! Whoa. Whoa! Nice try, Jo, but there's no way you're getting out of getting out of your house, not tonight." She put both of her arms up in an exaggerated fashion on the other girl's shoulders, barring her path. Jo began to open her mouth angrily, but Twilight beat her to it, though her face was apologetic. "I'm sorry girls, I got off on a... as you put it, a 'rant'," Twilight took in a deep breath then, raised a hand to her chest, then brought it out calmly. The other two waited patiently and watched quietly. "Alright! Forget I ever said anything, at least until we try and figure it out again..." Twilight danced back several steps in a surprising show of balance. Her smile grew as she moved further back. "Well? Let's go party like Pinkie Pie planned this whole thing!" Alice grinned back widely in response, and although her expression was a little smaller than a pony's, it could have rivaled any Twilight thought she had seen before. "Aaaalright! That's what I'm talking about, and don't you worry Twilight, I've already got all kinds of great ideas we can take down as notes!" "I'm pretty skeptical about the 'great' part." Jo stepped out of Alice's grip finally, then sighed. Alice stuck out her tongue. "Neeeh. Come on, we should get to the party already or we'll be late! Then we can go to the fair with plenty of time! There's games and rides, and- Oh, Equestria doesn't have rides! These rides are sorta wimpy, Twilight, but you might like them. I also want to go to the Haunted House and see if it's as good as last year." All the while she had grabbed Twilight by the hand, leading her deeper into the center of the city. "And the haunted haayriiide, ooohohoho, this is gonna be fun." Twilight tried stammering a response to everything that Alice said. "Ah- Well- I mean, that sounds like a lot of-" Before she could finish, nearly jogging Trixie caught up and interrupted. Jo caught up to them and waved a dismissive hand. "You mean you want to play fair games. I said I'd rather check out the concert first, or maybe get some food. Why drag Twilight into that?" If fact, stop actually dragging Twili- Jo was so caught up in the poise she used, still acting very 'Trixie-like' with her nose in the air, that she almost tripped over another party of trick-or-treaters. Twilight put a hand up to her mouth, reflexively reaching for her magic and finding nothing, while Alice stopped walking and started laughing so hard she was bent over at the waist. "Sorry! Sorry, my bad." Jo apologized quickly, having narrowly stumbled around the kids and their sour looking parent. Her stumbling took her off of the sidewalk, where she glowered at Alice, stooped awkwardly over sideways from nearly falling. "I think you should worry less about food and more where you're going Miss Great and Powerful." Alice smirked, as smug as could be, and skipped past the other woman. Jo grumbled to herself, until Twilight walked past her, pushing her after the blonde. "Come on, 'Trixie', let's just trust the partier, I've found it's best not to fight them." Twilight laughed, falling beside the other girls once again as they made their short trek across the town, occasionally breaking up a fight between them. With the sun setting deeper on the horizon, a fitting orange glow descended over the sky. The lights from taller buildings and the town square began to shine over the roofs of buildings. The perfect atmosphere for horror and fright was to be had this year. A clammy wind came in from the Great Lakes, bringing with it the promise of rain later that night. For now, the howl of the wind merely sounded over the rooftops as a faint echo. The chilling ambiance was punctuated by the orchestra of ghosts and ghouls coming out to frolic in the streets, all of them eager to try their hand at scaring others. Or perhaps, just to try and get a tasty snack. "GUWAAH!" A gurgling roar shouted without warning from right beside Twilight's ear. She shrieked, hands flailing around her head as she fell against the porch's wall. Her eyes and head whipped over quickly to face whatever was responsible for the terrifying noise, which had made her certain in her heart she was about to be eaten. She spotted the creature that had been responsible just in time to see Alice put the whatever-it-was into a headlock. "Penny, we're here, finally! Yay!" Alice hugged the taller form—which was apparently a person—tightly to herself. Being shorter, she had them almost bent halfway over to touching the ground. "Stop it! No- No Noogies!" The masked shape fought and shoved against the shorter girl latched onto their side. They managed to struggle their way out of Alice's clawing grip, earning an 'aaw' of disappointment from the bearded blonde. "You're like a lamprey, you know that?" The stranger tore off their mask with a gasp, a glare clear on their face. Alice straightened up and took up a pose, stroking her beard with one hand. "The most attractive lamprey you ever saw!" Another form opened the front door to the big house the trio was standing outside of. From behind them, echoed loud music of a chaotic variety. Snickering slightly, the person addressed Twilight first, the victim of the prank. It also seemed Alice and the stranger were busy facing off against one another. "Sorry about that," the second human apologized for their masked friend, "Penny is sort of a monster at heart anyway, so she can't resist trying to scare people. She's been getting trick or treaters all night. Welcome to my home. Well, not mine really, I just rent a room." Twilight looked over. She could still feel her eyes wide from the shock, and the rush in her veins. "Scared? Who's scared. I wasn't scared. Hah!" The effort to get her face to smile was monumental, and she felt it only manage to twitch rather than look confident. "Hi!" She tried greeting the stranger instead. "I'm Twilight, nice to meet you!" Her hand shakily rose up to commence with greeting her new friends. "Ahhuh, I'm Jeremy." The gentlecolt tipped his hat, still chuckling. "Or Van Helsing, I guess, but I'm not really good at getting in character so I'm not going to attempt the accent. But I apologize in advance if I mess up the personality." He chuckled, stroking the odd patch of hair that humans seemed to grow on their faces sometimes. "So, are you three supposed to be a themed costume set? Or are you just random Wal-mart outfits?" Twilight shakily lowered her hand again after he didn't take it. "Oh, the costumes, right." In her mind, she quickly ran over the explanation and 'act' which the other girls rehearsed with her. "I'm uh, dressed up as Twilight Sparkle of course, Jo's dressed as Tri- as a character named Trixie, and Alice is Starswirl the Bearded" She smiled, recalling happy memories of studying the famed unicorn's magic by candlelight. Twilight took in an excited breath and continued. "His arcanum of spells was over one, thousand, long! In addition, he was the father of the amniomorphic spell! It was a fascinating set of rules for enchantment which could modify the shape of living creatures itself. The Royal Canterlot library even has... an entire..." She noticed the odd look the man was giving her, and she calmed down, lowering her up-stretched arm. "Well, ahem, it's nice to meet you... Van Helsing, was it?" An ashamed smile worked its way onto her face slowly. The broad shouldered human smiled bigger over his widened eyes, and gave a nod. "Yes." He answered simply. "So, did you have a real name?" He tilted his wide brimmed hat back with a single finger, raising his chin some. The pose made him seem even taller. Twilight stared a moment, then shook her head, sending her hair flying from side to side. Shoot, what was my persona's name!? A hand touched Twilight's arm, nearly making her jump again. "Are you alright, Twilight?" Jo's voice entered the fray, like a calming wind of sanity. Twilight pulled in a breath and sighed in relief, looking over thankfully at her friend. "Yeah, I'm fine, thanks Jo." Alice hopped up between to throw her arms around both their shoulders. "Hey, it's Van Helsing! Twilight, are you okay? Sorry about Penny, I shouldn't have insisted you go up first. At least now I think I know where your scare tolerance is at." "O-oh, I wasn't really scared, Alice, just caught of guard..." Twilight busied herself with absently smoothing the front of her costume. Alice brightened at hearing this. "Awesome! I'm sure something will get you later tonight though." "Alice..." Jo spoke up warningly. Smirking, the fellow in the doorway moved aside for the masked girl to go inside. She was grumbling an awful lot. The bearded Alice continued. "So, Jeremy, may I introduce the two lovely ladies accompanying me tonight?" Beside her, Jo muttered under her breath to not say it like that, while Twilight continued to reign in her nerves. "This, is Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia's personal student and the librarian oooof Ponyville!" "Your friend from out of town, swell." Jeremy spoke out, nodding again to a sheepish looking Twilight. He continued. "And I remember Josephine." He bent at the waist after sweeping his hat off his head, his hand moving to lift Jo's own, and place a kiss on the back. He straightened up again; it all happened in a flash. Alice's eyes and grin widened, Twilight gasped in surprise, while Jo looked about ready to catch her sparkly light blue hat on fire out of pure rage. Over Alice's suddenly accomplished sounding giggling, Jo spoke. "And now, I remember you." A lot of the anger in her face faded as her dour tone of voice set in. "Do you have to be so creepy, dude?" "Creepy?" Twilight said questioningly. "Do they not like each other?" Alice had begun to scowl, but whispered over to Twilight, "Jo's just being sensitive. They've barely ever talked before." The Equestrian's head tilted in confusion, not quite catching on. "Well, Jo," Jeremy replied to Trixie, while offering one gloved hand to Twilight, palm turned up. "If you would not deign to accept my advances, perhaps your friend, would?" He looked over and winked at Twilight above a roguish expression. Twilight's eyes widened. "Buh?" Her mouth hung open a bit like a fish's. Jo wrenched herself out of Alice's arm and stepped between them both, her giant wizard hat obscuring either from one another, despite her being a bit shorter. "Listen, guy," Jo set her glare on him solidly. "Mess with me all you want, but as long as we're here just leave her alone." "Jo! Come on, really?" Alice took up a stance between the two with her arms on her hips, which nearly pushed Twilight against the wall. "He's just joking because you're so easy to get a rise out of. No need to be rude, or mean." As an after thought, she added. "If you really think that Twilight can't handle herself, then why'd you bother thinking of this?" Jeremy stepped in between them both, further pushing Twilight against the wall, where she was now well and truly sandwiched. "Guys...?" She croaked out. "Alright, ladies, chill. Look, I'm sorry, Jo, I was just joking. Acting in character a bit. I didn't mean for that to get taken any other way than funny." Jeremy motioned his hands in a settling fashion. "Shall we go inside and forget about it? There's pizza with any topping you could want, and they're playing Xbox Three in the— Is your friend okay?" Jo's wary look turned to confusion, and then shock after she spotted Twilight behind herself. "Ah— Twilight, are you alright?" Twilight shuffled sideways towards the door and put her hands down from pressing on the wall. "Just peachy," she answered with a lopsided smile. "How about that pizza? I rather liked that stuff." A short laugh got out of Jeremy at hearing that. "Yeah, let's head inside and I can introduce my other friends to Twilight, and maybe show her the dungeons and dragons game, and—" Alice was abruptly cut off by Jo. "What kind of party is this?" Jo glanced inside, where she could clearly hear Rob Zombie being played, and see the flash of strobe lights around the entrance. Alice looked at her and shrugged. "The best kind? A little bit of everything, I think. Van Helsing throws the best Halloween parties!" Jo squinted her eyes beneath her tall blue wizard's hat. "Who?" With that, Alice laughed. "I mean Jeremy. All our friends— Well, my friends, come here almost every year. I've tried inviting you before... but I stopped, a while ago." She studied the ground a moment, then spoke again quickly. "It's great. Upstairs there should be great games, and downstairs is a great time!" She looked expectantly at Jo, one eyebrow eyebrow raised. "So...?" Jo looked taken aback. "So what?" Alice folded her arms. "So, what are you?" Jo blinked, then relaxed some, and sighed, finally catching on. "Alright, I'm sorry," she muttered, taking off her hat and wig to readjust them both, but mostly to keep from looking at Alice. "I overreacted just then. I'm just on edge is all." A finger booped her nose, and made her look up again. Alice was smiling. "Well stop," she reassured in a friendly tone. "There are no creeps here, just a bunch of nerds and really, really nice people. Hey, there are some cute guys here too." After pausing to look up and roll her eyes, she continued. "I mean, that you haven't acted like a royal jerk to already. Come on, loosen up, try and re-associate yourself with society. I don't think Twilight kicking you out of your cave by happenstance was a coincidence. This is like, your second chance." Jo frowned and looked at the door looming before her. "I really doubt that Alice. As if I would with Twilight here, anyway. But... maybe I cou-" Something felt off to her all of a sudden. She looked around, trying to figure out what it was. Then, it dawned on her. "Where the hell's Twilight!?" 8:01 PM Twilight studied the two newcomers introduced as Alice's friends. One was very tall, the girl that had tried (and failed of course) to scare her. The man named Van Helsing speaking to her wore a large brimmed hat and curious outfit. It was adorned with several, obvious weapons of a human design, though they appeared to be mostly fake. She hadn't caught that earlier, but now it unsettled her just a twinge. Come on Twilight, the girls told you about everything to expect tonight, if you weren't ready to experience an alien culture you should have stayed at home and just read about it some more! The thought sounded very tempting, although she couldn't deny the spring in her step once she got closer to the music. It wasn't at all what she was used to, but did have a strange allure to it. Twilight realized that she'd been spoken to again and missed something. "I'm sorry, what was that!?" The music was perhaps a fair bit louder than she was used to, as well. It reminded her of a unicorn she had met once that had experimented with vinyl gramophone records and sound amplifiers. "I said, if you need anything, just give me a holler!" Van Helsing smiled, tipped his hat again, then hurried off somewhere into the house, namely, the darkened, brightly flashing section. Twilight shrugged and looked behind herself. "Oh, where is everypony?" "Outside, I would think." The taller human sighed out. "Hey, sorry for scaring you before. I didn't mean to do it that bad. I'm Penny, by the way." Penny folded her arms and grinned. Twilight waved her hand reassuringly. "Oh no, you didn't scare me! I was just...surprised, that's all." Laughing a little, she wasn't sure how convincing her voice actually sounded of that. Suddenly, a massive sphere of floating snakes drifted by Twilight's face. Stiff as a board from the waist up, Twilight backpedaled across the floor until she met a wall with her back. "Snakes!" The menacing, writhing mass of hissing reptiles hung in the air, defying all sense and logic with its very existence. "Geez girl, are you for real?" Penny chased after Twilight and put a hand on her shoulder, keeping her steady. "Are you okay?" Twilight looked over at Penny, eyes wrought with terror and her lungs heaving air. "I- why shouldn't I be afrai- Oh, so what is-?" Looking back, she saw the floating ball of snakes turn to face her. Beneath the wiggling, wobbling mass of rubber costume parts, a human face peered out, slightly confused. "Oh- Oh thank goodness..." Twilight put a hand up to her front, trying desperately to catch her breath again. "Huh, a gorgon... very clever." She exhaled a heavy breath and bent over, resting her hands on her knees. "Wow, you must have a pretty bad phobia of snakes, huh?" Penny chuckled some and pulled Twilight a few feet away from the wall. "Come on, you're invading Bob's personal space." "Huh, who's Bob?" Twilight looked back behind herself. The wall she had run into was actually the biggest human she had ever seen, in her life. Which actually wasn't that many. Still, he absolutely towered over her. "Ah- I am so sorry, Mr. Bob." Perhaps it was just her used to being the same size as everypony, or taller than Jo, but this man made her feel small. The size difference was comparative to the Princess' height difference with her pony body. The tall human, wearing the strangest, squarest pants ever, smirked. "It's fine girl, and so are you." Twilight stared a moment, then tilted her head. "What?" Penny pulled Twilight away by her shoulders, steering her away and through the sparse crowd. "Yeah, Bob's kind of strange, he's well meaning, but if there's someone in this party that will make you shake your head, it's him." She laughed, still nudging Twilight along and into the next room. This one was towards the opposite end of the house, and seemed to be a little quieter. "Anyway, listen. I owe you for that scare I gave you, how about I make you a drink and get you a slice of pizza?" If Twilight's ears could still perk up, they would have. "Pizza? Oh yes please! Cheese is my favorite, but I also like onion, black olive and mushroom if there is any." The spot Twilight seemed to have been directed to was a row of stools, reminiscent of a saloon, or a bar. "That's some odd taste, girl. Actually, I forgot to ask for your name. I must be out of practice at meeting new people. What did you say your name was?" Penny tilted her hips and rested on hand on them. Twilight sat in one of the seats offered to her. "Oh, I didn't, I'm Twilight Sparkle. It's nice to meet you, Penny." She folded her hands in her lap smartly, taking up a polite posture with a smile. "Ahhuh," Penny nodded slowly. "That's cool, what about your real name, though?" Absently, the other girl fanned her hair out, while staring at Twilight's a moment. "My real name? Oh, it's... uhm..." Twilight began to panic a little. What was it? What was it!? Okay, think, Twilight, think! What was a good, female historical figure that she would believe? Ooooh, okay, who was that flying human you thought Rainbow Dash would admire? Aloud, Twilight said, "Amelia...?" She smiled in a none too confident way in a last ditch effort to reinforce her attempt at lying. Penny blinked. "Cool name." She returned the smile, laughing a bit. "Alright, well wait here Amelia, I'll be right back, okay? I think I've got just the thing. You aren't driving anywhere tonight, right?" Twilight was caught off guard by the random question from the retreating human. "Oh, no I don't have an automobile license!" Penny turned and stopped walking to raise another eyebrow, then shrugged and went. "Alright, be right back!" Twilight sighed in relief from having pulled off the conversation. "Well, that went well." She looked around herself, expecting Jo's usual input. "Huh, where'd they go?" With some embarrassment, she recalled that her friends had been nowhere to be seen since she came inside. Hadn't they followed me? "Amelia? So you're one of Penny's friends?" A deep voice asked from behind Twilight. Not registering the words from the stranger, Twilight turned the swivel chair she sat in to point towards the long counter. Out of the corner of her eye a bit of movement finally caught her attention. "Uhm, hello?" The voice asked again. "Amelia?" Twilight straightened up at the repeated sound of the stallion's voice. It was obviously a stallion's, coarse and powerful. "I'm sorry, I respond better to Twilight right now. I didn't realize you were...talking...to me." She turned to face the speaker, and trailed off into staring openly. "Well," the stallion chuckled, flashing his perfect smile in a grin, "who else would I be talking to?" His costume, if it even was one, consisted of two, curious red horns on his forehead and red painted face. He wore a very smart looking suit for an outfit. It took Twilight a moment to see, but the little goatee on his chin was fake. Altogether, the burly human had a very refined look about him though, at least compared to the present company in general. "I'm Satan, nice to meet you." He said politely, then winked. Twilight stammered a little in response to that. Nopony had ever winked at her like that before. What is wrong with me? She thought, feeling a blush building on her face. Coughing as loudly and fiercely as she could, she downed the glass of water beside herself quickly. The act made her cough again right after. "Woah, easy, the party's just started girl." The human laughed friendlily and patted her back. "That was mine by the way." "E-excuse me," Twilight coughed again, then looked up with an embarrassed expression. "I'm just new to the whole, uhm-" she realized too late she couldn't say 'being around humans'. Or could I say that? Instead, she went with, "partying, thing. I just met Penny, actually. I'm here with Jo and Alice. D-do you know them?" "Ah, Alice, I see." The human snapped his fingers in a curious fashion, which got Twilight to look at her own curiously. "I don't know the other name, though." Twilight looked up from studying her lavender painted nails, they still got her attention whenever she studied them. "Oh, well she's nice, they both are." Satan nodded his head again and replied simply in turn. "Eeyup," He leaned back against the bar counter, elbows propped up to survey the crowd behind them. Twilight blinked at that. There was only one person, or pony, rather, which she knew that ever answered so simply. Maybe... she thought. "Well, sorry again about that. I'm Twilight Sparkle! Nice to meet you." She gave the gentlecolt a winning smile, eager to find the answer to her latest hypothesis. The human gave a laugh of triumph in return. "Heh, you said that, and I thought I recognized that cutie mark." He gave Twilight's flank a glance, then winked again at her, as though he'd said something terribly clever. "You're doing a great job at playing the part, by the way. I can barely tell your voice apart from Tara Strong right now." He smirked and turned back to face the bar. "Haven't watched the show in ten years, admittedly..." Twilight's eyes widened at that, a slight heat building beneath her face again, though she felt both embarrassed, and a little offended this time. "Wha- Oh, the show, right." The man had already confirmed her suspicion really, but she proceeded anyway. "So," she began dryly, fighting back the heat in her cheeks more easily this time. For some odd reason, it had migrated to her stomach since having that strange tasting drink. "You used to watch the show about Equestrians?" The name of the cartoon had escaped her. "My Little Pony?" Satan turned around and busied himself with his paper plate and its contents. It appeared he was putting seasoning on food. "Oh yeah," he smiled again. "I used to love the show. Wow, that was at least eight years ago... Time flies, you know?" Twilight considered his words before answering. A brief flash of the first time she had met her friends back in Ponyville crossed her mind. "Yeah," she answered slowly, droning the word. "Time has a funny way of doing that." Her head felt a little wobbly, and she sighed and swiveled the chair around to lean on the counter. Fighting the dizziness from the somber thought, Twilight straightened back up to look around the room nonchalantly. She searched for Jo, or even Alice, somewhat seeking an escape from the man, or her thoughts. Why do I want to get away, though? She looked back at the human, who was taking a bite of his food and paying her no mind. I don't mind talking to somepony else, even a stranger. Certainly not one I can actually have a conversation with. I think I've already spoken to him more than I have Jo in the last week... Twilight drifted in her thoughts for a moment, leaning back in her seat to keep from swaying, which she seemed to start to do with the music. The sounds instilled a heady feeling in her, one that she wasn't readily sure she enjoyed or disliked right away. Accompanying the strangeness she felt, the room also felt warmer, and her stomach seemed to keep trying to match it. "Here you go Amelia, two slices of pizza and a strawberry sour mash!" Penny had reappeared as if from nowhere, happily placing another paper plate before Twilight. "Now we're even! At least until I scare you again." Laughing, she sat beside Twilight and bumped her shoulder. Didn't she just leave? That was fast. Twilight grinned over at her and laughed along too. "Oh, in Celestia's name, please don't. I think I've had all I can take tonight." "Already?" Alice's head materialized between Twilight and Penny without any warning. "Geez, Twilight, we haven't even gotten started yet! We still have the whole night and tons to do, not to mention all the stuff I want to show you. As was once said, the fun has not yet begun!" "Alice! It'sh great to see you. Where did you and Jo go?" Twilight smiled happily at her friend. It seemed she was accumulating friends rather quickly, as well. Alice tilted her head in a curious fashion. "Well, we were talking, about you, and then you were gone." Before Alice could say another word, Twilight made a groan of understanding and pressed a hand to her forehead. "You're right, I'm sorry Alice. I just followed the human in the big hat and...well, his hat was big. I guess I didn't notice you didn't follow me, then I sort of ended up over here along with Penny." Penny reached a hand around Alice's face and waved. "Hello!" "Wait, I gotta ask, is she pretending to be like a humanized Twilight Sparkle stuck on Earth? Because she just referred to us as humans." Satan looked up and over at Alice. "Hey Alice, it's me, Dale. Just call me Satan tonight though." "Dale!" Alice's face stretched out into a huge smile as recognition and questionable happiness transformed it. She spun around Twilight's stool and hopped up onto his knee. "I haven't seen you in forever. Tell me, how do you feel about a girl with a full beard?" One of her hands stroked the long, full white hair she had hanging below her chin. Twilight's eyes widened at the show of what appeared to be more, strange human-courting rituals. Alice chose that moment to switch subjects, and quickly just before 'Dale' could answer her. "Ooh, you got food already, Twilight. Jo's already helped herself I'm sure, even though she's looking for you." Twilight shook her head slightly. "Oh geez, should I go find her?" She began to stand up, then blinked, her legs felt funny. Alice shrugged, scootching further onto Satan's lap as she did so. "Nah, she'll find us. When she does you can be sure you won't get another moment alone, either." Penny leaned in from over behind Twilight, perhaps eager to be included. "Yeah, what was the deal with the over protective sister act?" Her eyes flickered up to Twilight. "Are you helpless or something?" Twilight sat back in her chair, convinced by Alice, and gave the other mare an incredulous look. "Wha- Helpless? I'm the Element of Magic, I am not helplessh." Angrily, she took up her glass of strawberry drink and drank it. She let out a sigh and continued. Wow, that was good! Odd after taste though... "I mean, I don't want to brag, Penny, but I'm probably in the top ten of Equestria's best spellcasters. I'm only twenty, too! The next youngest is probably at least in his forties." "Ix-nay some on the pony-neigh, Twilight..." Alice muttered, laughing absently. Satan leaned forward around Alice. "Okay, I gotta ask, were you raised on My Little Pony? Because you are way too into this." He chuckled heartily. Alice began waving her hands in front of herself. "Aaah, hey, Twilight, what kind of pizza is that?" The once-unicorn hummed, then looked at her plate, remembering suddenly aware that she'd been brought food. "Oh, this topping looks like...like..." Her eyes focused on the strange, red slices of what might be...tomato, she assumed. "Hm, I'm not sure, Jo has never bought this kind before." Penny made a look that consisted of a twisted mouth and a raised eyebrow simultaneously. "Why does Jo have to have bought it before? Has she kept you in her basement your entire life?" Twilight looked up, confused. "What? Oh, uhm, what I meant to say was- I'd never really had pizza before meeting Jo, and she only gets vegetarian just for me. She's a pretty great friend." Nodding, she looked over to gauge the direness of the conversation with Alice, who gave her a calm smile and a quick nod. Well, they said it's not so bad if people think I'm out of the ordinary, but I would still like to fit in... "Oh, you're vegetarian?" Penny looked at the pizza. "Yes, I...really don't condone the slaughter of millions upon millions of helpless animals, period." Twilight rubbed one of her ashamedly, then sighed and folded them in her lap again. "Sorry, that was rude of me." Penny traded a look with Alice, who shrugged. "Fair enough I guess. I can pick that pepperoni of the pizza if you don't want-" A flapping cloak attached to a girl in a blue knee skirt and wizard's hat all but skidded into her. "Twilight! I mean, uhm, Sandra. There you are, I was worried you had, uhm, left without me." Jo gave Penny an apologetic look, getting a derisive sniff in return. "How is everything?" Twilight couldn't help but giggle at Jo. "It's been fun. Penny here got me food, and Satan was keeping me company until Alice showed up." She grinned as big as she could and took another sip of her drink, and a bite of the cheese slice of pizza on her plate, ignoring the other one. "That's me, showing up at complete random!" Alice jazzed her hands to either side of her quickly for effect, then slid off her seat's lap. "You girls ready to go dance? Or should we all hit the fair from the get go?" She poked Twilight it the side to get her attention. "What would you like to do, Sandra? "Sandra? I thought you called her that." Penny folded her arms and looked between Jo, Alice and Twilight. "Wasn't your name was Amelia?" She gave Twilight a funny look. Twilight, frozen holding her pizza have way to her mouth, looked over at Jo with just her eyes. "Uhm." Jo looked with a strange look, confused, piecing together things. They answered Penny with their explanations at the same time. "Sandra is actually her middle name," and "That is my family name, I picked out Amelia as my chosen name." Penny tilted her head. She could tell Jo had the look of complete calm, and Twilight had the look of someone lying. The latter was so obvious she had to be joking though. "Heh," she started chuckling. "How could Sandra be your family name? Is that another pony thing, Twilight Sparkle?" Chuckling more and more at the new girls, she leaned back and took a sip of her drink to calm down. "Yes." Alice responded, then looked flatly at Twilight. "It is a game that normal ponies play. She is a normal pony that brushes her teeth." Satan slammed the the counter, laughing uncontrollably already. "Yes! Haunting Nightmare. Aw man, I haven't watched those in forever." The horned man grinned wider, then added, "Luna is best princess. Wow, I haven't talked about ponies in years. Who's your favorite, guys?" Alice and Jo began speaking over one another, then stopped and waited for the other to go. In the end, Twilight jumped in instead and began saying, "Well, I think that-" and Alice interrupted her by jumping up and down. "Hey, I know, let's head out to the fair and stuff now. Shall we, guys?" Penny blinked in the ensuing quiet in the group from the strangeness going on. Okay, what am I missing here? she thought. Twilight wasn't sure what came over her, but she spun her swivel chair around in a blur as quick as she could and hopped up, her stance eager and out stretched. "As Equestria's emissary to the good people of Earth, we say that our party go to the haunted house which we hath been told of, forthwith!" Alice and Jo stared up in shock at Twilight, who held her pose. They both slowly panned down to look at each other. Jo wore an expression of worry, while Alice wore one of delighted glee. Penny sighed and stood up. "I'm out. You girls have fun." 8:40 PM Twilight held up the costume's hem some, so as to keep from dragging over the grass. Although, it wasn't quite long enough to touch the ground on her. "So you helped make this, Penny?" Penny nodded, having decided to come along anyway. She was used to Alice in any case. "Yup, Alice and I sewed it all through last month for you, although I didn't know it was for you. I assumed it was a commission she took on." Shrugging she shot Twilight a warm smile. "It looks great on you by the way. You're really beautiful, I'm jealous. If you don't mind my asking, how much did she charge?" Twilight held up a hand to her chest and looked down at the dress. Beautiful? "O-oh, uhm, she didn't," she replied absently. "Wow," Penny's eyes widened. "That's some favor. She paid me a hundred bucks to do your cutie marks and the framework." Twilight nearly missed a step in confusion, assisted by the fact that she still sort of felt funny. "Bucks? What do deer have to do with this? Actually, never mind, I don't think I want to know..." She gave the blonde a sad look. "Oh, Alice..." In her head, she mourned the poor, defenseless bucks. Alice looked over from chatting with Satan, who had ended up coming along anyway, after some copious stroking from Alice's beard. "What? What did I do now?" She held up her hands innocently. Jo mumbled from behind them all. "What haven't you done?" "Hey!" Alice squinted her eyes at Jo, then switched to an overjoyed look and hopped back to walk alongside her friend. "So, Jo, hold my arm so I don't get scared in the haunted house?" Jo smirked and tilted her head, resulting in something that looked like a perfect mixture of both reluctance and consideration. "Yeah, I don't think so. I'll stick with Twilight and Penny, I think." "It's two to a group." Penny spoke up, looking back at Jo. "I used to volunteer for the Halloween haunted house a few years ago, it's always been two to a group for ten minutes or so. It's to keep the place from getting crowded." Meanwhile, Twilight was busily weighing her options, and recalling Penny grabbing her at the party. "Uh, girls? You know, I don't feel all that steady right now. You know how my legs can get..." Not even trying to, she wobbled sideways a moment for effect. Goodness, I'm shakier than Dash during a Wonderbolt's show... She blinked into the now relative pitch dark of the night and straightened, hands to either of her sides. "Maybe I'll just wait outside and you can tell me all about it?" She gave Alice a weak smile, then Jo. Jo returned a searching gaze to Twilight. Alice awed out loud, throwing back her head enough her hat fell off. She spun around low, snatched it up and put it on Twilight's head. "Come on Twi', you can go in with me. No chickening out now! Or should it be Scootalooing out? Or maybe Pinkie Pieing out now that I think about it..." Twilight frowned a little. I swear I know less about what they're talking about when they bring up Equestria. "Well, okay Alice, I'll give it a shot." She adjusted the hat placed lopsided on her head. "It'll be fun, Twilight, what can go wrong!?" Alice whooped as the party of five walked up into the front yard of the town's dedicated haunted house.