//------------------------------// // Ponyville’s Nightmare Night Super Awesome Costume Contest Extravaganza! // Story: Fifty-Three Pickup // by blowngasket //------------------------------// Ponyville’s Nightmare Night Super Awesome Costume Contest Extravaganza! “I would like to thank you all for coming tonight. It gives us great honor in knowing that even to this day, such a wondrous holiday continues to be loved by both the young and the old alike. Whether you have come for the scares, or perhaps the sweets, let us be the first to say good luck to all of you dressed in all sorts of disguises, and may the Nightmare Night celebration begin!” The spotlight, stationed on a Princess Luna, had shut off. The room was left dark for just a second before the light shot back on and people started to cheer. Luna gracefully made her exit, having more towns to visit tonight. After all, this night only comes once a year, so she wanted to get to enjoy it for as long as possible. The party goers began to mingle, each sporting a different, unique, or just plain out there strange costume. The host of the party, more or less of most parties that Ponyville has, quickly made her way around, checking out the costumes and talking with the ones wearing them. This was a surprising act, considering her own costume was a large hazmat suit decorated with different kinds of candies, and bright pink words in the front saying ‘Partying is Infectious’! “Hiya Twilight!” She said, walking up to one of her friends. Twilight was sporting an authentic sphinx outfit, wearing the gold trimmed head dress and matching dress, a tail dangling off her back side. She had on gloves looking like large paws to complete the look. “Cute lion outfit!” “Thank you, Pinkie, but it is actually a sphinx, a grand creature known to guard ancient temples. They ask any who approach them a riddle, and if you do not answer correctly, they eat you up!” Twilight said, not realizing that Pinkie had been gone for some time. “…I didn’t even get to ask her my riddle.” Twilight said, slightly upset. Pinkie quickly made her way over to the next guest looking him over carefully. He was wearing a brown leather coat with matching colored boots and pants. Under the coat was a dark red shirt, cut low to reveal some of his chest. Finally, he was wearing a tricorn hat on his head, specks of brown hair showing through. His face was covered by a red bandana and a black eye patch with a skull over his right eye. She looked him over for several seconds, thinking hard at who he could be. “Umm…I wanna say…Perry!” His eye widened in surprise, nodding slowly. “How did you know? Was my disguise that obvious?!” Perry said, slightly panicky. “I knew it wasn’t a good idea to leave without my mask!” “Don’t be silly. I only guess it because I couldn’t recognize you! Awesome pirate costume by the way.” Pinkie said, laughing happily, the sound slightly distorted by the suit. Perry sighed with relief, thankful that he was successful in remaining incognito except to a few select people. “By the way, where is Fluttershy? I thought she was coming.” “I know. I thought we had her, but after Rainbow showed up in her costume…well it will take some time to remove the boards from the door. She insisted that I go none the less so here I am.” Perry explained, Pinkie quickly looked around for the culprit. She finally noticed her from across the room, and hurried off, Perry giving a slight wave, not really surprised about her spontaneous departures at this point. “Rainbow!” Pinkie said, approaching a rather disgusting looking zombie. Whoever did this was good, as it looked like flesh was peeling off her green skin, and part of her brain was exposed. Finally sealing the deal, was a fake eyeball dangling from her left eye. Other than that, she was wearing her normal clothes. “You look so creepy!” Pinkie shuddered, Rainbow smiling triumphantly. “Isn’t it?! If this doesn’t scare people, I don’t know what will.” Rainbow said proudly. “But…didn’t you cause Fluttershy to lock herself away again?” Pinkie asked curiously. Rainbow blushed slightly, chuckling nervously. “Kinda, I guess. It was bound to happen sooner or later. Speaking of scary, you should look for Scoots and her friends. Ponyville isn’t safe anymore.” Rainbow said, a large grin on her face. Pinkie nodded and took off, leaving Dash to start walking around, groaning like the walking dead she was pretending to be. Pinkie was looking around when she was stopped by Rarity. “What do you think, Pinkie? Isn’t it marvelous?” Rarity asked, showing off her own costume. It was a classical take on the Bride of Frankenstein look, her hair styled upwards in a tower that looks to have used numerous styling products. A colored hair gel gave the appearance of white lightning bolts going from the top to bottom. Her dress was a soft white, long flowing and adorned with yellow gemstones going up to down on both sides. Finally, there were matching white gloves, adorned with the same gemstones lining her dress. “Your hair…it’s huge!” Pinkie said, her eyes traveling the tower. “Everyone always notices the hair.” Rarity said, pouting slightly. “I think you look terrific.” A voice said from behind her. Pinkie peeked around Rarity, who turned around herself. Spike was fully garbed in a knight’s armor. Though obviously not real, he certainly looked the part, minus the light blush on his face. His normally green hair was easily concealed by the large helmet, only his eyes and mouth showing through the visor. “Aww. Thank you, Spike!” Rarity said, smiling at the teen. He nodded and flexed a pose. “Anytime, my dear Rarity. Spike the mighty warrior at your service!” He said, flashing a toothy grin. “Neato!” Pinkie said, looking over the costume. Spike gave her a thumbs up before she made off, looking for more of her friends. Pinkie continued her search, though it didn’t take long for her to find Applejack, wearing an oddly sexy witch outfit. The entire thing was in one piece, the top covering her chest a bright orange and showed more than Applejack normally did. The rest all black, barely going down to her knees. Finally was the matching witch’s hat with an orange rim. “Wow, you look cute!” Pinkie said, earning a slight frown from Applejack. “Don’t remind me. Just…never make a bet with Catacomb. Stupid pervert.” Applejack mumbled that last part, obviously frustrated with her appearance. “I like it. You should dress like that more often!” Pinkie said happily. Applejack stared at her blankly. “Yer joking, right?” Pinkie thought for a moment, before quickly shaking her head. “Of course not. If it was a joke, we would both be laughing!” She responded happily. “Well, if ya wanna see something funny, go find Ark.” Applejack said, smirking slightly. Pinkie’s eyes lit up from behind the plastic screen. She quickly bolted and eventually found, after much effort and eventual surprise, the cold man she had been seeking. “You…look…so…ADORIBLE!” Pinkie said, jumping up with excitement in front of him. He was wearing a fluffy looking dinosaur suit with plush yellow spines going all the way down to his tail. His hands and feet were completely pink with stubby white claws protruding from them. From inside the suits mouth, his head could be seen, staring blankly at Pinkie. She quickly pulled out some paper and a quill, Ark not really all that curious at where they came from to begin with. She scribbled down a word and handed it off to him. He grabbed it carefully with the stubby claws, taking a few seconds to read it. “Oh please please say that?! It would be so awesome of you.” “Rawr…Rawr?” The way he seemed to ask what he was doing made Pinkie squeal with delight. She quickly bolted off after finally spotting the three she was supposed to be looking for before she got sidetracked. It was by far one of the most interesting sets of costumes she had seen the entire night. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo where dressed up fully as miniature versions of Catacomb, Shining Armor, and Ark respectively. Applebloom was wearing the black suit and hat, her hair left to drift about like Catacombs. She even had the mischievous smirk he always had on his face. Sweetie Belle was wearing a slightly bulky gold colored box, drawn on it to look like Shining’s own full plate armor. Her hair was also styled up to look more like the man in question, though it still had its slight pinkish tone and curly bounce to it. Finally, Scootaloo was wearing jeans and a grey hooded jacket with the hood pulled up covering most of her face. She was trying her best to look apathetic, but the occasional smirk got out. Perry, noticing the group, casually walked over to them. He looked the three over, noticing something missing. “Why am I not included?” He asked, his tone sounding slightly depressed. The three looked at him closely, trying to figure out who the heck he even was. It took them a few minutes looking back at him and whispering to themselves for them to come to the conclusion. “Perry?” They all asked, slightly shocked. He nodded, surprising the three girls as this was the most they have ever seen of his face. “Well, Sweetie here was supposed to go as you.” Scootaloo said, attempting to remain emotionless. “I’m sorry Perry. I wanted to dress up like you! Honest!” Sweetie said, obviously sorry. “When I told Rarity what we were doing, she told me that if I dressed up like you do normally, she would disown me.” Perry remained silent for a minute, Scootaloo finally cracking and bursting out laughing. Pinkie, who had surprisingly remained quiet this whole time, joined Scootaloo in laughter. “Thank you for considering me, anyways.” Perry said, not all that shocked once he thought about it. “Well, nice costumes anyways.” He said. “Thanks. If you like it, watch this!” Applebloom said, getting into a mock fighting stance. Sweetie did the same. Both of them lightly simulated the fight that Shining Armor and Catacomb had all those weeks back. Perry and Pinkie watched, both of them smiling. It didn’t last long, as Sweeties odd shape caused her to start to trip, bumping into Applebloom. Both of them fell on the edge of a table, catapulting a bowl of fruit punch into the air and drawing everyone’s attention. The bowl landed and spilled all of its contents onto Scootaloo, completely staining her red. She stood there, completely dumbfound as everything started to smell fruity. Scootaloo never did find out why only Rarity and her friends, minus the person she was copying, was laughing so hard that day. Applebloom and Sweetie got up after recovering from the impact and walked over to her. "Sorry, Scootaloo." Scootaloo did her best to stay in character, simply shrugging it off. So many awesome costumes, and so little time left. She wanted to find her missing friend, who must be a ninja. He was a changeling, so he really could be anyone here. Anyone at…”Found him!” Pinkie shouted happily, walking over to the only unaccounted friend. Pinkie looked him over, not really sure what to think. Was he actually in costume, or not. He wore his usual black suit and hat, but the rest of him was different, yet familiar. His eyes were a glassed over blue, a slight white tint where the pupil would be. His skin was completely black, and shiny like armor. He had bluish green hair sticking out from his hat, going down to the base of his insect like wings. “Catacomb, that is you right?” She asked curiously. He grinned and winked before wrapping an arm over her. “What do ya think?” He asked, his voice more raspy than usual, but Pinkie could tell that it was Catacomb none the less. “Only day out of the year where I can relax like this in the open.” “Is it safe?” Pinkie asked, slightly concerned for her friend. “Probably not…” Twilight said, approaching the group. “…but so far all he got was compliments, so I guess it’s hard to complain.” “What? I wear a disguise all year round. This is the only day where I can be me, so I’m gonna live it up!” Catacomb said, proudly. The party continued on for another half hour, everyone talking and having a good time, with the exception of Pinkie. She remained at a table, counting all of the ballets everyone filled out for the nights costume contest. Finally it was the fated hour of the night as Pinkie approached the center of the room, holding the results in her hand. “Ladies and gentleman!” Pinkie said loudly, getting everyone’s attention. “The votes are finally in, and it is time to announce the winners of tonight’s costume contest. The votes were counted by yours truly, so let up begin! Spike, man the spotlight!” She said. He sighed, putting it together that he didn’t win, but couldn’t complain with a store bought costume. “In third place, tallied as a team. The Cutie Mark Crusaders!” Pinkie declared happily. The spot light shown on the three girls, who posed for everyone, the room giving them a round of applause. Scootaloo was still covered in fruit punch, probably adding to the victory they received that night. Ark was currently well known for causing…a mess of sorts, not that she knew about it any. “In second place, the terror from beyond the grave, Rainbow Dash!” Spike shifted the light at the walking zombie, who smiled and loudly groaned and shuffled about, earning an even louder applause than the girls. “Finally, in first place. He has come to suck out your love, and look stylish doing it, Catacomb!” The spotlight shown down on him, the room lighting up with cheers and clapping. “You are all so wonderful.” Catacomb said, taking a bow and accepting his praise. Applejack and Twilight watched as he soaked in all the attention. “Ya know he only won because he cheated.” Applejack said, not really surprised to see it end like this. “You got to give him credit. For such a numbskull, he can be clever.” Twilight said, shrugging slightly. Applejack couldn’t help but nod in agreement. Who would think that a changeling would be dumb enough to go to a Nightmare Night celebration as himself?