//------------------------------// // Preparations // Story: A Night for Nightmares // by River Road //------------------------------// „Hey Bon Bon, I’m back!“ The mint colored unicorn closed the door behind her just as the first drops of rain hit the street. She walked over to the living room couch while grabbing hold of the lyre lying on it with her magic. “I have to say, this weather schedule thing can really come in handy. I don’t remember much from my life before – well, this – but I’m pretty sure we didn’t have something like that.” Bon Bon, a cream-colored earth pony with a pink and blue mane and the owner of the house, came in from the kitchen to welcome her housemate. The ever-present smell of candy she emitted was much stronger than usually due to the fact that she had actually been in the act of making new candy, an occupation that was not only her job but also her special talent. “And you’re really using it to its full extent, Lyra. Maybe it’s because everypony has gotten so used to it, most ponies I know rarely check the weather schedule.” Almost on cue one of the town’s inhabitants passed the window, hurrying to get out of the rain as fast as possible. “Hay, you probably know next week’s weather better than some of the pegasi on the weather team.” The unicorn, Lyra, sat down on the couch in her unusual pose, which a normal pony would find highly uncomfortable. However, Lyra was not a normal unicorn. As far as she remembered, she didn’t use to be a unicorn at all, up to the day when she woke up from unconsciousness to find herself face to face with a brightly colored, talking pony by the name of Bon Bon. Lyra couldn’t remember much from her life before that day, but she certainly kept a lot of habits. Habits which – surprisingly enough – barely made her stand out against all the other ponies in this town. The dull yellow glow around her horn brightened a little as Lyra shifted from the standard levitation to a slightly more complex spell. Magic energy gathered at her front hooves and formed into two hands. She grabbed her instrument in the new appendages and started plucking the strings. “Have you been making new candy the whole day?” she asked the mare who had become her best friend in these last months. “Oh, that’s right, you probably wouldn’t know about this. I’m preparing for Nightmare Night. It’s one of the bigger holidays in Equestria…” Bon Bon made herself comfortable on the couch as well and a wave of scents washed over Lyra. The unicorn could smell caramel, chocolate and a bunch of other things that were bad for your teeth. Not for the first time did the unicorn wonder just how the local candy maker had become friends with the towns dentist. She let go of that thought just in time to hear the end of Bon Bon’s sentence. “…And everypony wears costumes. But most importantly, all the little colts and fillies go from door to door and ask for candy. It’s the most important time of the year for my candy shop.” “So it’s like Halloween?” “Hello-what?” The words had left her mouth before she noticed them, and now Lyra herself tried to think about what exactly “Halloween” was, “I mean, I think it is. I think that’s another memory from my old life. We had something just like this Nightmare Night. People had costumes and there was candy, too, and everyone tried to make their costume as scary as possible.” “That does sound a lot like Nightmare Night. It’s actually an old tradition to disguise oneself from Nightmare Moon, but the decorations are usually a bit on the eerie side. I guess it’s expected from a holiday called Nightmare Night. In any case, it’s nice to see that you actually seem to have some experience with this holiday. That should make things a lot easier.” Both ponies kept quiet for a moment as they sat and listened to a little melody Lyra was performing on her lyre. After a while Lyra turned to her friend, grinning. “So… Does that mean I’ll get to see you in a costume?” “Of course! The time before Nightmare Night is the best time of the year for my business, which means it’s also the time I have to work the hardest. If I survive the next two weeks there’s no way I won’t jump at the opportunity to have some fun. I already have my costume for this year.” She paused for a moment before adding in her best teasing voice, “And no, you can’t see it before Nightmare Night.” Lyra gave a playful frown at that. Then she let out an exaggerated sigh and announced with a grand gesture, “Well, if that’s how you’re going to be about it… I guess in that case I’ll have to get myself a costume so terrifying that you’ll think twice about keeping something like that from me again.” Bon Bon had to chuckle at this, “Well, if you think you can find a costume like that you’re welcome to try. If I were you I wouldn’t get my hopes up, though. Anyway, as fun as this is, I should probably prepare one or two more batches today. It can’t be long now until ponies start to run my door in at the candy shop.” The small silver bell at the top of the door announced another customer entering Carousel Boutique. Rarity, the owner of the boutique, looked up from her work at the mint green unicorn who was staring at the dresses and costumes draped over ponnequins all around the room. “Why hello.” Rarity levitated her working glasses over to a small table and trotted over to the new customer. “Lyra, was it?” “That’s right.” Lyra reached out a hoof and Rarity shook it. “I wanted to commission a costume for Nightmare Night, and I was told that you were the pony to ask about that?” It was more of a question than a statement. “Indeed, darling. You’re still relatively new in town, aren’t you? Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll find just the right costume for your needs.” Rarity gestured over at a row of already finished costumes. “I supply the whole of Ponyville with costumes for Nightmare Night, and I dare say I make it look as fashionable as a pony could.” “Actually, I have a specific design in mind.” Lyra levitated a sheet of paper out of her saddlebags. “I know it’s just a rough sketch, but it doesn’t have to be very accurate.” Rarity took the sketch in her own magic and levitated it closer to herself, grimacing at the simplicity of the drawing. “Well, with those notes you added it seems easy enough to make. It’s not a difficult design, doesn’t need a lot of material, either. Only… No offense, but this hardly makes a costume. It hardly even makes a dress, though I’ll admit that I might be a bit biased in that regard.” “I know it’s not a whole costume, there are some more parts to it. Speaking of, do you know where I could find something like… fangs? You know, fake fangs.” Lyra looked around a shop once more. “I don’t suppose you sell those, too?” “No, certainly not.” Rarity had put on her glasses again and was now going through drawers, taking out fabric and yarn to examine it in the light and put it back again. “I recognize that things like those are part of Nightmare Night, but I have my principles. However, I’m sure Pinkie Pie can get you anything you need, if she doesn’t already have it at hoof. She sells all kinds of pranking supplies this time of the year, and she seems to take the ´all kinds´ part quite seriously. You’ll find her at Sugarcube Corner.” She levitated an empty ponnequin to the window. “If you want, you can come right back after that. I need a break from this last commission” – she pointed over at the black work-in-progress she had been working on – “and your order is really quite easy. I should have it finished in an hour.” Lyra watched the white unicorn set the last stitches to her dress when the bell signalized the arrival of another customer. An orange earth pony with a blond mane came in. “Hey, Rarity! Ah just wanted to look stop by and bring you some apples. Ah know this time of the year is almost as stressful for you as the time before the Gala and you always plum forget to eat something.” “Why thank you, Applejack. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Rarity nodded towards Lyra. “I take it you already know each other? Of course you do, Pinkie Pie wouldn’t allow any ponies in Ponyville not knowing each other.” She chuckled at her little joke and turned back to the ponnyquin before her to take the dress off it with her magic. “You’re timing couldn’t be better. I just finished Lyra’s costume and for once I have no idea if it is perfect or completely off the mark. Apparently she has a plan, but she refuses to tell me anything.” Rarity turned around to Lyra and levitated the dress in front of her with a coy smile. “But now it is finished and I do hope you’ll finally put my curiosity to rest. I assume you’ll want to try it on, anyway.” Lyra nodded absentmindedly, her attention still fixed on the dress in front of her. It was amazingly detailed, considering the simple sketch it was based on, and it looked better than anything Lyra could have come up with. “I guess I should do that.” She began to look around the room, searching for something. “Uhm, do you have a room where I can put this on, or…” “Oh, nonsense. Let me help you with that, darling, it will take just a second.” Rarity’s horn lit up and the dress disappeared in a flash of magic, only to reappear on Lyra’s body with another flash. “Wow!” Lyra jumped a little at the sudden spell cast on her. Once the light had faded she looked down at the piece of clothing she was now wearing, a simple dress made of unassuming, dark grey fabric, covered in thin white lines in the shapes of spider webs. “It worked! That’s an amazing spell!” “It’s nothing, darling,” Rarity replied with a modest flick of the hoof. “Just some simple magic, a free service for all customers of my boutique.” “Really now?” Applejack asked with a sly look at the designer. “Ah don’t remember you ever doing something like that for me.” “Well, you can’t exactly be considered a regular customer, can you?” Rarity said with a huff. “The only times I’ve ever seen you in here for business was when I designed that fashion-disaster for the Gala.” “Ah still like that dress,” Applejack mumbled. “It’s functional.” “Was it really that bad?” Lyra was examining herself from all sides in one of the pony-length mirrors. “She wanted to wear galoshes at the Grand Galloping Gala!” Rarity whined. “Can you believe that?” She shot a glare at the farmpony. “And I can only hope you didn’t just imply that that… atrocity still exists.” “Aaanyway…” Applejack began, shifting her eyes left and right. “Didn’t you say that you came here for a costume, Lyra. No offense, but that doesn’t exactly look scary, nor does it really look like a costume to me. And that’s coming from the mare who’s going as a scarecrow.” “That’s right, I still have to test if this even works the way I imagined.” Lyra turned around and looked at Applejack thoughtfully. “Actually, would you help me test it? Just close your eyes for a few seconds.” “Okay, ya got me curious at least.” Applejack closed her eyes, quietly humming a few notes to herself. A stifled ‘Oh, my…’ could be heard from Rarity’s direction. “Can Ah open my eyes yet?” She frowned when no answer came and peeked through one eye. “Well. Ah’ll be…” Applejack fully opened her eyes and stared at the spot where Lyra had been standing. “Where did she go?” She turned around to Rarity, who was looking at something between Applejack’s ears with an amused expression. Applejack slowly tilted her head back to look up. “Boo,” Lyra said. “Hey Bon Bon, I’m back!” Bon Bon was in the kitchen again, pulling a fresh batch of hard candy out of the oven when Lyra came home. The unicorn walked through the doorway, brandishing her new dress. “And I got a costume for Nightmare Night.” “Really?” Bon Bon turned around expectantly to look at her friend, but stopped when she saw Lyra’s ‘costume’. “…Really?” She raised a brow. “Did you forget it somewhere on the way?” “Nope, this is it,” Lyra replied happily, taking a few steps towards her. “And it’s the scariest, most terrifyingly traumatizing Nightmare Night costume you’ve ever seen.” Bon Bon gave an amused smile, turning back to her candy. “It sure is. I’m so terrified I forgot to be scared.” “Hmm…” Lyra said from behind her. “Not the reaction I was hoping for.” From the corner of her eye Bon Bon noticed something black moving around, she turned back around to ask Lyra what she was doing, but the words got stuck in her throat. Her eyes widened and her pupils shrank to the size of pinpricks as she took in the sight in front of her. Lyra was suspended in the air by six spindly legs. They were pitch black and resembled the legs of a spider, but each one ended in a black, four-fingered hand. The unicorn’s horn was surrounded by the golden glow of her magic and her muzzle was only inches away from Bon Bon as she was staring her right in the eyes. “Let’s try that again, shall we?” Lyra hummed in an eerie tone of voice, grinning to show the pair of shimmering white fangs in her mouth.