//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Nightmare Night: The Rest of the Time // by sgamer82 //------------------------------// “There’s a dragon in the boutique!” “Why is there a dragon in the boutique?!” “I don’t know why there’s a dragon in the boutique!” “Where’s Rarity?!” “I don’t see her nowhere!” “Look out for the tail!” The Cutie Mark Crusaders dove for cover as the tail of the dragon that had suddenly appeared in Rarity’s dress shop swept towards them. The dragon tried to turn to face them, but the boutique’s work room was too small for a creature its size. It apparently decided it didn’t like this, because instead of trying to eat the Crusaders it crashed its way through the dress shop’s roof, let out a mighty roar, and flew off. When the dragon was safely gone, the Crusaders burst out from under the table they had hidden under. “Rarity!” Sweetie Belle cried. She yelled over and over as she tried to find her sister. “What in the name’a Granny Smith’s ol’ dentures was that?!” Apple Bloom asked. “I’m not sure…” Scootaloo began, “but… I think that was our dragon.” “What?” “Didn’t you notice how long it was? That was more like a Neighpponese dragon than an Equestrian one.” “I didn’t notice anythin’ but a really big dragon in the room, Scootaloo. Now you mention it though, that couldn’t’a been our dragon. The colors were wrong.” “Yeah, that’s true. Our dragon had green and yellow. This one was white and… and…” “...purple…” Apple Bloom finished. “Rarity! Where are you?!” Sweetie Belle said, ignoring the other two. She was in tears now. Scootaloo went to the nearest window and looked outside. “Oh wow…” she muttered. Apple Bloom ran to the window to see for herself and gasped. Outside, where there had been ponies celebrating Nightmare Night, were now beasts, monsters, and everything in between. Apple Bloom saw her own brother, Big Macintosh, transformed into a large, red lion that roared at anypony that got close. Twilight Sparkle appeared to be keeping him at bay using Daring Do’s trademark whip. This was not being helped by the Mayor, who the girls had last seen re-using her clown outfit from last year, capering around them honking a horn. “It’s like something’s turnin’ everypony into their costumes!” Apple Bloom declared. “Oh this is bad this is bad this is very, very bad,” Scootaloo stammered. Sweetie Belle had finally stopped crying for Rarity and now was just crying. Apple Bloom walked over to her to explain the situation and let her know Rarity was all right… sort of. A loud wail told Scootaloo that Apple Bloom’s explanation hadn’t gone over too well, but Sweetie Belle was soon calmed down enough to see the situation for herself. “That is crazy!” Sweetie Belle declared. “What do we do?!” “I don’t know…” Apple Bloom replied. “Hm… what would Rainbow Dash do?” Scootaloo asked. “Get caught in the spell,” she heard Sweetie Belle say. Scootaloo looked up herself and saw a squad of pegasi fly overhead. They were tormenting the ponies whose costumes had turned them into flying creatures. In the center, leading the herd, Scootaloo saw a pony leaving behind a rainbow trail. “So much for that idea,” Apple Bloom muttered. “Well that’s just great!” Scootaloo fumed, “Twilight Sparkle’s outside! Rainbow Dash up there! Rarity’s flown off who-knows-where?! What do we do about this?” “What about Pinkie Pie, or Applejack?” Sweetie Belle asked. “I don’ know where Applejack is,” Apple Bloom replied. “And if everypony’s turnin’ into their costumes Pinkie won’t be any help to us. Remember what she was wearin’?” When they had last seen Pinkie Pie, she had given them the okay to head to Rarity’s to fix their costume. Then she had begun rambling about words that rhymed with stitches. At which point Pound Cake had stuck a pacifier in her mouth. “Oh right…” Sweetie Belle said as remembered Pinkie had been dressed as a baby. “What could’ve done this?!” “Oh I thought nopony would ever ask!” said a cheerful voice. Above the crusaders a new creature appeared. The creature had the head of a pony and his body was a mish-mash of all sorts of things. They took particular notice of the eagle’s claw, lion’s paw, and snake tail. “I know you!” said Scootaloo. “You’re that statue from Canterlot Gardens!” “Well remembered, young filly,” the creature said. “I am Discord, Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, at your service.” “Are you doin’ this?” Apple Bloom asked. “Indeed. I heard all about Nightmare Night and just couldn’t resist seeing it for myself!” At this a film screen and projector appeared out of nowhere. The projector turned on, displaying scenes all over Ponyville as everypony acted out their costumes. Scootaloo watched as a stallion dressed as a firefighter was working to put out the fires caused by Rainbow Dash and the Shadowbolts. Sweetie Belle gasped as she saw the white dragon she now knew to be Rarity face to face with a large purple dragon. Apple Bloom saw her elder sister, Applejack, dressed as the Tin Mare from the Wizard of Hoss, completely frozen in place. Twilight Sparkle, as Daring Do, was navigating the town, avoiding the various monsters everypony had become. Last but not least, two ponies the Crusaders had never seen before, a pegasus stallion and unicorn mare, were running from a ghost that resembled the Crusaders’ classmate Dinky. The mare had a crying pink foal in the grip of her levitation. “Why are you doing this to everypony?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Why? Why?! Look at that chaos! Only a couple spells and everypony’s doing anything and everything! You expect me, the very soul of chaos itself, to pass up an opportunity like this? I swore to be good, but only most of the time.” “So, what? This is the rest of the time?” Scootaloo asked. “Pretty much,” Discord replied with a shrug. “You ain’t gettin’ away with this!” “Oh, and who’s going to stop me, little ponies? You?!” Discord began to laugh until he took a second look at the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ expressions. “Oh, my. You mean it don’t you? You actually want to try and stop me!” Discord began to laugh so hard he began to cry. “Oh you naive little fillies! I’ve been defeated before, true, but it took both either your precious Princesses or six particular ponies. And in both cases they had the most powerful magical artifacts in all of Equestria! But okay, if you insist.” The Crusaders looked at Discord in surprise. “You really want to try and stop what I’m doing, I’m going to give you that chance,” he explained. “Why?” Sweetie Belle asked, only to be immediately hushed by the other two before Discord changed his mind. “I’m not without a sense of sportsmanship, little Sweetie Belle. And yes, I know who you are,” he rolled his eyes at the fillies’ surprise. “Three of those six ponies were your sisters after all. In any case, as promised, you’ll have your chance. The hint is in my little film here. Find the missing element within and you’ll have your means to end all this lovely chaos. You should have enough time to watch it once more before the horde shows up. Toodles!” With that, as suddenly as he appeared, Discord vanished. The eyes he’d rolled away earlier popped out behind him. Apple Bloom trotted over to the film projector and started it up again. “We’d better take a good look at this, if we’re only gonna get to watch it once.” “Until a hoard shows up?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Why would anyone dress as a dragon’s treasure?” “Somehow I don’t think that’s what he meant,” Scootaloo said as she sat down to watch. The film played again, once more showing their friends and sisters trapped in the personalities of their costumes. “I don’t see what’s missing,” Scootaloo said. “Of course we don’t see it,” Sweetie Belle replied, “it’s missing.” “Hm…” Apple Bloom mulled it over, “It’s got our sisters. An’ Twilight an’ Pinkie Pie…” In a moment it hit them at once. The most powerful magical artifacts in all of Equestria. The Elements of Harmony. The missing element was the Element of Kindness. “Fluttershy!” They cried out. “Of course! When Discord was messin’ up Sweet Apple Acres it was Fluttershy what made him stop! If we can get to Fluttershy, she’ll make him quit!” “But we don’t know where Fluttershy is!” Sweetie Belle told her. “Yes we do,” Scootaloo said. “Fluttershy’s not gonna go anywhere on Nightmare Night, so she’s sure to be at her cottage!” With that Scootaloo began to climb the dress shop furniture to reach the hole in the roof that the Rarity dragon had made. Once up she called down to the others. “I can see Fluttershy’s cottage from here! There’s some kind of big bubble or something around it and- oh… I think I just realized what Discord meant by ‘horde.’” “What?” Sweetie Belle asked, as Scootaloo rushed back down. “Do you remember that filly last year who said she wanted to be a zombie this year?” “Yeah… oh…” “Yeah.” Apple Bloom took a glance out the window and saw what her friends meant. A rotted, decaying filly was shambling towards the Carousel Boutique, with a good dozen or more rotted, decaying ponies right behind her. She immediately ran to her bag of candy and upended it. The other two Crusaders looked at her in shock, followed by anger when she did the same to their candy bags. “Apple Bloom! What are y-” “We don’t got a lotta time!” Apple Bloom said, interrupting Sweetie Belle and throwing her and Scootaloo their bags. “Take yer bags and fill ‘em with whatever you can find that’ll be useful. And not candy, we got more important things t’worry about righ’ now!” Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo’s jaws dropped. They closed their mouths when they realized Apple Bloom was right and started scouring the Boutique for anything and everything they could carry. Once they were properly equipped they left the Boutique out the back door just as the zombie filly and her friends began to start trying to break down the front door. * * * * * “Don’t you think that hint was a little too easy?” Discord, sitting on a rooftop watching the scene below, looked towards the voice and saw a miniature version of himself looking at him. The pegasus colt who had tried his hoof at a draconequus costume. Discord decided he would call him “Mini D.” “Hmm… perhaps. But then again, they are only fillies. The game’s no fun if there’s no chance of their succeeding. They know where to go, now to see if they can get there. Ah, there they go now.” Discord watched as the Cutie Mark Crusaders left out the back door of Rarity’s boutique. Tied to their sides were bags fit to burst with whatever they could carry. “The looting started early,” said Little D. “Seems they decided to try and prepare themselves. Let’s follow and see how prepared they really are. Come Tiny D!”