The sun broke through the windows of the Ponyville Library, the resident of the building slowly stirring awake as the rays illuminated the room that she was currently in. Twilight let out a yawn as she fully woke up, her wings ruffling a bit as they adjusted themselves back into place.
Twilight looked at her feathery appendages, seeing some of the feathers were out of place or a bit damaged from her constant moving on the bed. Guess I’m gonna have to do some preening later today. Twilight inwardly chided herself as she made a mental note to include the new task in today’s agenda.
The sound of soft snoring brought her attention towards the other side of her room, where she saw the sleeping forms of Sparklez and Fluttershy, the man currently wrapping his arms around the waist of the sleeping mare, with her having her back against the man.
Twilight smiled a bit at the cute display. It seemed kind of ironic as last night Sparklez had been inclined to sleep downstairs on the living room sofa, leaving the guests bed for Fluttershy, as he wanted for the shy mare to feel as comfortable as she could.
Only for the shy mare to refuse, as she didn’t mind sleeping on the sofa, saying that she had been used to sleeping on a sofa in the past when taking care of large animals requiring a large sleeping place. After a little while of both individuals stating their reasons for them to give the bed to the other, they agreed they would share it, although Sparklez said that he would give the bed to Fluttershy if she found it difficult to sleep.
Well, that certainly wasn’t the case, rather the other way around as Fluttershy had a gentle smile from being in the man’s embrace.
“Didn’t want to disturb them,” Came the voice of a certain feline, bringing the mare’s attention to the base of her bed. “They look so cute together.” Kerry said as she looked at the two sleeping individuals.
Twilight giggled a bit before getting out of bed. “I can agree on that, but we better wake them up so we can decide what to do today.” Twilight said as she walked to the side of the guests bed which had Sparklez resting on it.
“Sparklez, wake up, it's morning already.” Twilight said as she nudged the man’s side with her hoof, eliciting some grunts in response.
“Five more minutes, still too tired.” Sparklez said sleepily as he shifted a bit on the bed. Which resulted in the mare that was in his embrace to slowly wake up, as her slumber had been disturbed.
Fluttershy yawned a bit as she slowly opened her eyes. She tried sit up, but found resistance which confused her a bit. She craned her head a bit until she managed to see Sparklez’s arms wrapped around her body, making her let out a small eep of embarrassment at the embrace.
The strange sound was more than enough for Sparklez to make him slowly open his eyes, curious as to what would make such a sound like some kind of squeaky toy. What he wasn’t prepared for was to see the slight blushing face of Fluttershy as she was trapped in his embrace, like a large stuffed animal.
Sparklez looked at her a few seconds longer before slowly moving his arms away from her, finding their situation a little more than awkward. Really glad none of the guys are here to see this, they would never let me live it down. Sparklez said mentally as Fluttershy scooted away a bit, stretching her body and wings.
Kerry giggled a bit at the two’s predicament, finding it cute and amusing. “Oh you guys really look so cute together, it’s just adorable.” Kerry said as she smiled at the two with a genuine smile. The other two just looked away from each other, Sparklez rubbing the back of his neck while Fluttershy kept her faint blush.
“Kerry, I think that is enough teasing,” Twilight said with a small smile. “So how did you two sleep? I’m guessing good.” Twilight asked, as she went to wake up a still sleeping Spike, who seemed to have a dreamy look as he pronounced the name of a certain white fashion designer.
“It was, pleasant,” Sparklez started saying a bit uncertain. “Wasn’t really expecting to wake up to a pony in my arms though.” He said as he noted how weird that sounded.
“Well, I, think it was really nice?” Fluttershy said in a small tone as she played with her hooves, hoping that what she said didn’t sound weird to the man.
“I see,” Twilight said as she started nudging the sleeping form of Spike, who took hold of his blankets to make a barrier of fabric around his body. “Spike, time to wake up, we’ve got a busy day ahead of us.” Twilight said as she pulled the dragon’s covers off of him with her magic.
“Alright, alright, just give me a second. And I was just about to kiss my damsel in distress.” Spike said the last part under his breath as he got out of his basket, stretching a bit to wake up his body even more.
Twilight just giggled at her number one assistant’s response, before she faced the other three individuals in the room. “So, anyone want some breakfast?” Twilight asked. Her question was answered when a small gurgle could be heard from Sparklez, who immediately gave a sheepish smile. “I guess that’s a yes.” Twilight said as she walked towards the stairs leading downstairs.
The others soon followed, Sparklez thinking of what he would have to do today, if he were to use what he learned yesterday to its full advantage.
Last Night
Sparklez and Company had arrived at Twilight’s library and home, Fluttershy having join them on the way there and Applejack having to go as her home was towards another direction, while Pinkie said something about making sure Gummy didn’t eat all the cookie dough or something. “So that is how you take the stuff out?” Rainbow asked as they started entering the tree-house, Twilight going in first. “And here I was thinking it was something more complicated.” Rainbow said as she put a book on a table inside the library.
“Believe me, even I can’t believe the things that things that seemed most complicated are actually simple, and the simple looking ones are the more complicated ones.” Sparklez said as he thought about early that morning, who knew punching wood could be so complicated.
“I’m just glad that we managed to get the wood that you needed,” Twilight started as she took a seat near the table on the living room. “Still not sure how you are going to use it in the first place, the book doesn’t really tell me how to do this, crafting.” Twilight said as she recalled other entries inside the book that Sparklez had with him.
Sparklez paused a moment to think, he could try to figure it out now, seeing as it could be a very straight forward procedure, yet again, things aren’t normally like he would expect them to be, and he could waste a lot of time trying to figure this out, and it was already dark.
“You mean this?” Rainbow asked as she suddenly had a set of two runes floating in front of her. Her hand glowed a bit as it showed that she was holding an object, in this case, that being the few logs of tree that she had collected earlier.
But at the moment, there seemed to be two extra glows coming from the two rings, catching the attention of the man, already having his jaw wide open at how Rainbow was able to figure out what to do. “How, what, but I don’t even…” Sparklez stammered, still stunned at these.
Rainbow gave the man a small smirk, enjoying that she was able to learn something before the man. “Yeah, it was totally easy, no need to thank me.” She said as she went to grab the second orb, which stood next to the other one which had a two by two grid. “I know I’m awesome and nothing caGYAARGH!” She yelled as soon as she touched the second orb, her hand showing a few faint sparks of electricity passed through her hand.
“Rainbow!” Fluttershy exclaimed as soon as she saw her friend getting hurt, she flew to her side to check on her.
Twilight was the next to react, as she was worried about what this magic could further do to her, and she wasn’t able to do anything. “Rainbow, what happened? Are you alright?” Twilight asked as she went to examine Dash’s hand, doubting that Sparklez himself would know what to properly do in this circumstances
.
Rainbow shook her hand a bit more before looking at it for herself, a small frown on her face. “What the hay? Was that suppose to happen?” Rainbow asked to Sparklez, who was looking at the still two floating runes in front of Dash.
“I umm, not sure, I did tell you things are not as I remember right? So I’m guessing we need to do something if we are to craft something.” Sparklez said as he crossed his arms, thinking about how they could go around this predicament.
Rainbow rolled her eyes, already knowing what the man was talking about. “I know that Sparklez, what I want to know is why I got zapped!” Rainbow exclaimed as she pointed to her arm which had been the victim of said event.
Sparklez only gave a confused shrugged, not sure himself at that. “Best guess, it was you making the wrong crafting recipe.” He said as he thought about every aspect of the new crafting HUD. “Hey Twilight”
Hearing her name, Twilight turned to face the man, having finish checking Rainbow for any injuries. “Yes Sparklez, what is it?” Twilight asked as she walked towards the man.
“I’m not really familiar with magic and all, but do those runes have any meaning here?” Sparklez asked as he eyed the design of the ring, it was very unique in its own way, and it even had some of the weird letters that Minecraft was known to have.
Twilight had a smile on her face, seeing this as a chance to share her knowledge with Sparklez, “Well, that is quite a good question. Magic is the energy that resides within every living thing and object. All ponies have this inner magic and are use in different ways, earth ponies are-”
“Twilight!” Rainbow interrupted the lavender alicorn before she could get any farther in her lecture on magic and the use from different races. “We aren’t here to listen to biology class, just answer Sparklez’s question.” Rainbow said as she rubbed her eyes a bit annoyed.
“Please do, I think I would have fallen asleep in the middle of it, no offence.” Kerry said as she sided with Rainbow Dash on the matter. Although Sparklez gave a frown, wanting to hear the mare explain the principles of magic, even if he wouldn’t understand half of it.
“Oh, okay then, sorry got a little carried away there.” Twilight said with a sheepish smile, which made Kerry and Rainbow roll their eyes. “But you are right. So runes are basicly the physical state for a spell to be cast, which can be used to cast spell normally as a unicorn would, or even intensified the power of the spell. Making it very reliable if you aren’t a unicorn and want to do a magic trick or two. Although it can be tiresome and sometimes risky.
“But even I don’t know what this rune is meant to be, it has the glyphs on the outer rim, but it lacks the pentagram that channels the magic to what one wishes it to be.” Twilight finished as she eyed the two runic discs, still hanging in the air despite Rainbow not having used them for quite some time.
The group fell silent, they really didn’t have a way to solve this, not even Sparklez could think of something that may have been useful. Gruugh, this is gonna bother us for too long, and we need to figure this out if we want to escape this sick game. Sparklez thought to himself, frustrated at the current situation.
“What if, umm, you join them together?” Came the sudden voice of Fluttershy, who had not talked a lot since they arrived at the tree house, bringing now the attention of everyone present. “I-I mean, if that’s okay.”
Sparklez stared at her for a second longer before turning to Rainbow, her having a look similar to him like ‘how did we not think of that?’ Rainbow got up as she looked at the set of rings again, before bringing both hands up to touch the runes.
But she didn’t get to do it as she saw the rings start spinning slowly, each one turning the opposite direction of the other. Rainbow looked at this a bit weirdly, really finding this whole thing really creepy.
“Okay so, do I just move my hands or do I actually push them?” Rainbow asked, if she could avoid getting zapped again, she would take it. “Seriously though, any ideas?”
Sparklez rolled his eyes, clearly seeing the hesitation of the human mare. “Alright Rainbow, stop stalling time and just try what you think will work.” Sparklez said, a bit amused at the cyan mare’s behavior.
Rainbow gave Sparklez a small glare of annoyance before letting out a sigh, she moved her hands a bit closer to each other, seeing the rings to the same and spinning faster the closer they got.
When they were about to touch, she closed her eyes and looked away, expecting it to do something similar as to when she tried to grab the light/energy before. But the only thing that happened was the sound of air passing through her mane for a moment before it ended.
After that, she dared to open her eyes, wanting to see what came to fruit from her action. When she looked back, she found a small wisp of white mist floating in the air. Like second nature, she reached out and let it slide into her hand, swirling between her fingers.
As soon as that, she noticed a new image appear on the squares in her, Hot Bar? At least that’s what she remembers Twilight calling what she could see on her face. The object proved to be another block of wood, only that it had a small four to one side and it resembled a stack of planks of wood.
“Well?” Came the voice of Twilight, hoping to get the answer that she and everyone else needed. “Did it work?”
“Umm? Was I suppose to get more wood like that?” Rainbow asked, not really at anyone but more so to herself, just how was she able to do this, it was too bizarre from what she normally does.
“If you have planks of wood, then yes.” Sparklez said as he gave a small pat on Rainbow’s back. “I knew you could figure it out.”
Rainbow shuddered a bit at the man’s touch, having reach the base of her wings and sending an electric feeling through her spine, which registered as a blissful sensation. “Y-yeah, hey look at the time gotta go now guys see ya!” Rainbow said said rather quickly as she quickly stormed out of the tree house, not giving anyone in the room time to react.
Sparklez looked towards the open door which the mare had exit through. “Umm, what was that about?” Sparklez asked as he looked to the lavender alicorn.
“I’m not sure what was that all ab-” She was interrupted when she heard a loud yell of irritation coming from outside, a ways away.
“Curse this wingboner!!!”
Twilight took a time to register what she just heard, before a faint blush formed in her face, trying to hide it from the man. “Oh never mind, it was nothing probably.” Twilight said as she cleared her throat.
Sparklez tilted his head a bit, confused from what he heard and why Twilight was suddenly acting strange, the same being said of Fluttershy who seemed to paw the ground with her hoof, with a tint of blush hidden behind her mane.
“Ok then, so what do we do now?” Sparklez asked, not sure if they could try to decipher the last ability that he was aware of at the moment, placing blocks.
“Well, I guess we better go to sleep. I got a spare bed in my room that you guys could use.” Twilight said as she started ascending the steps towards her room…
Sparklez kept pondering on what to do. Maybe he could try to learn how to place blocks, and maybe be able to make a temporary wall by Fluttershy’s house. Although maybe he should make some tools first, he only needed the rest of the wood that Dash had forgot to leave before her sudden departure.
His train of thought was interrupted when the baby dragon, Spike, walked into the kitchen, holding a scroll with a seal of the sun.“Hey Twilight, didn’t manage to give you one of Princess Celestia’s letters yesterday, with you being all out with Sparklez and all.” Spike said as he held out the letter for Twilight to grab.
“Oh, that must be the letter I sent regarding finding somepony to teach Sparklez.” Twilight said as she used her magic to levitate the piece of paper out of Spike’s claw. Opening it, Twilight proceeded to read the contents out loud.
“‘My dear friend, Twilight. I am sorry to say that we don’t poses anypony within our guards that may posses the skills that Sparklez seeks.’” Twilight said as her ears dropped a bit, knowing that this was their only chance at finding somepony to train Sparklez.
Sparklez expected as much, what was he to expect when most likely this land was inhabited only by animals, and maybe mythical creatures? Rainbow and Fluttershy were pegasi, and Rarity was a unicorn, although he never heard the word alicorn before. Who is to said there isn’t a medusa in this place, or a centauro, or even a freaking satyr!...Why does that sounded like Narnia to him?
He was brought out of his thinking by Twilight speaking again. “‘However, some of my guards have told of rumors of someone that may have this skills that Sparklez needs, but we lack knowledge of his whereabouts at the current moment.
“‘But fret not, for my guards will do everything in their power to find him, it could take them around a week or two, but we are not sure. In the meantime, do be careful, for I fear for the safety of all of you and my subjects when facing this threat.
“‘Good luck everyone, my bless, Princess Celestia’” Twilight finished, a bit of a smile as she finished reading the parchment. “I guess we found somepony huh? That was kind of lucky.” Twilight said with a bit of a chuckle.
Even Sparklez was surprised, he actually didn’t expect for them to find anyone. Maybe the world didn’t hate them so much afterall.
Twilight suddenly had a face of disgust as she started sniffing the air, a smell in the room making her hold her nostrils close. “Oh dear Celestia, what is that smell?” Twilight said as her voice sounded a bit more squeaky from holding her nose.
Sparklez looked confused, before starting smelling the room, he did catch a faint sharp aroma, and it was familiar. Raising an arm, Sparklez smelled his armpit before backing away and gagging a bit from smelling the horrid smell. “Yep, I need a shower, and new clothes.” Sparklez said as he faced Twilight, who was now keeping a little distance, same with Fluttershy as she carried Kerry on her back, who seemed unaffected by the smell.
“What smell?” Spike suddenly asked, unable to get the stench that was Sparklez from wearing the same clothes for about three days and not taking a shower either.
“Never mind Spike, Sparklez, take a shower already. It stinks in here, and you are so going to Rarity’s after your shower, to get something else to wear.” Twilight said as she finally exited the room, not able to take the smell anymore, soon followed by Fluttershy.
Sparklez was a bit hurt at the act of the ponies leaving the room like that, but he had to admit, he stinks, and a lot! “So buddy, know where the bathroom is?” Sparklez asked as he looked down to Spike, seeing as he was the only one that knew this house apart from Twilight.
“Up the stairs, second door to the right.” Spike said, leaving the room to check on the girls.
Sparklez gave a sigh, going towards the stairs to go to the bathroom. Today was going to be very weird and annoying if he was to go as he was to Rarity’s. “I get something good in the morning and then it gets pushed back by this. Hopefully I can avoid pepo-ponies looking at me in disgust of my stink.” He said as he finally entered the bathroom, where he could possibly get rid of most of the stench.
Twilight was walking along with Sparklez, Spike coming along as well seeing as they were going to Rarity’s place. He couldn’t miss any chance he could. “Well at least you don’t smell anymore, good thing I had that perfume that I bought in Canterlot last time I was there.” Twilight said as a grumpy Sparklez walked alongside her.
“Yeah, but couldn’t you have something less feminine like? Something to just disguise it?” Sparklez asked, a bit irritated after being forced to wash himself with hair conditioners and shampoos, seeing as ponies didn’t really wash their skins, but rather their fur.
The whole process had made him smell like tulips and daisies, but then Twilight comes in and says that the clothes still smell, so they needed to sort that other than washing the clothes, seeing as they were his only ones at the moment and humans...Yeah, you get the idea.
“You do realize Twilight is a mare right? Even I expect her to buy stuff like this, even if she hangs around books more often that stallions.” Spike joked, which earned a glare from the mare.
Sparklez just sighed in defeat, knowing that there was nothing to be done now, he even got some giggles from mares that passed him by, having been able to smell the perfume that was clearly for mares, and not stallions. I just want to crawl into a hole and die of embarrassment now. Sparklez thought as they came near a carousel, wait no, it was a building?
“Well this is the place, Carousel Boutique, best place you can get a personal suit made for you.” Twilight said as she went to knock on the door, normally she would have expected for Rarity to call out saying ‘coming’ in a sing song way, instead she calls out to the door.
“It’s open, just a second please, I’m just finishing with another client.” Rarity’s voice sounded from inside. Twilight looked back at Sparklez, motioning him to come in, already walking inside. Sparklez soon followed, looking at the interior he noticed the high regal design and decorations that adorned the walls, ceiling, floor, well basicly everything was high and fancy in one way or another.
And he could also see the mannequins for equines which were used to hold suits or dresses of any kind, he could see a sewing machine, some fabrics, Rainbow Dash being measured, some gems and...Wait, Rainbow?
Sparklez had to take a double look, because he could see the human mare standing in a podium where a measuring tape was taking her waist size and hips at the moment. While Rarity is still busy, humming as she works, Rainbow is staring at the new group with surprise in her eyes.
“Alright Rainbow, I’m nearly done. All that is left is to know your new wing span and we are done.” Rarity said as she used her magic to guide her friend's wing to an open position, taking measurement of the appendage.
“Rainbow? What are you doing here?” Twilight asked as she would rarely see the prismatic mare come here for an outfit to be made or dress.
“Hey, I didn’t want to come here, but since I can no longer use my Nightmare Night costume, and I don’t have time to make a new one, I had to come here to get a new one in time.” Rainbow exclaimed in her defence, wanting to save some of her pride.
“Oh Rainbow dear, no need to feel ashamed of yourself, why I think this is incredible. A whole new set of clothes to be design for humans, and I get to be the first one. Oh it is just marvelous.” Rarity said as she lost herself in her own fantasy land, new designs running through her mind even as she worked.
“Nightmare Night? What is that?” Sparklez asked, scratching his head in confusion.
Rainbow decided to answer the question before Twilight, knowing that she would go into the actual history instead of what it was. “Nothing else than the best night to scare ponies, and get sweet from others.” Rainbow said as she remember a past Nightmare Night of hers.
“Wait, you mean like Halloween?” Sparklez asked again, the description resembling his own holiday, did that meant he was a few months forward in time here in respect to Earth? He was sure it was late summer when he made the livestream.
“Halo-what? Whatever, the point is, you have to dress up or else Nightmare Moon will get you and gobble you up, whooohoooo!” Rainbow said as she added the comically ghostly wail.
“Ok, someone tell me who this Nightmare Moon is and what is this Nightmare Night about?” Sparklez knew about his own lore regarding the birth of Halloween, but he doubted that it would resemble the one from here.
“Well, originally it was a tale told to ponies to be reminded about the bringer of eternal night, and how she was banished to the moon, but over the course of centuries that had chance to be accepted into pony society, making the mare in the moon be an evil spirit who would get colts and fillies, and the only way for them to escape that fate was to disguise themselves as anything but a pony.” Twilight finished her lecture just as Rarity finished with Rainbow, letting the mare get off the podium.
“Well that sounds mighty dandy, when is this gonna happen anyways?” Sparklez asked, been one that always liked the holiday event, even as an adult.
“In a couple of days, four days actually, that’s why I need to get my costume done Asap, hear me Rarity? Wait, what is that smell?” Rainbow said as she sniffed the air, coming from the man who had now an annoyed look. “You, smell like flowers….ahahahahaha” Rainbow bursted laughing, not believing Sparklez was using a perfume so girly.
“Please, I had enough already, I just want to get my measurements taken for a dozen clothes or so to use.” Upon finishing that sentence, Rarity gave a gasp, her excitement risen once again by the man’s words.
“Oh I would be honored, I already got ideas for Rainbow, but you, I got plans all laid up. white tie, black tie, cocktail dress, royalty adequate, espo designs, oh I could go on, it is just-”
“Too much.” Sparklez said as he facepalmed, really, this mare was as crazy as Pinkie Pie, in the sense of coming up with ideas.
“What?! No no no! You are the first human that will have the honor of wearing my work, you must let me do this, you must, you must! You Must!!!” Rarity was now begging, to be allow to do this once in a life opportunity.
Sparklez exhaled, knowing that she would go on no matter what. “Alright, I’ll let you.” This earned a squee from the show mare, before being stopped by Sparklez raising a hand. “I’ll let you do two designs, I really don’t want to wear high class clothes all the time.”
“Wait, what do you mean all the time, you surely must have a small selection of fine clothes if you decide to go like this.” Rarity said as she eyed the wear of the man.
“No, I have to change clothes all the time, preferably everyday. I take it ponies were cloth mostly for special events.” Sparklez asked as he looked towards the other two mares in the boutique, Twilight nodding to him while Rainbow simple shrugged with a smile.
“Oh why yes, of course, clothes represent a very important part in pony society, it represent our view of different events in the transcurso of time and it would be just outrageous if you were to present inappropriate for an important event.” Rarity finished with a flick of her head, making her mane bounce thanks to the well comb coil that was her hair.
“Well, I guess that ponies casual wear is going around naked.” Sparklez said as he picture what it would be like if humans did...brrrgh, lets not think of that shall we? “Unfortunately for humans, we need to wear some sort of wear all the time, I can explain you later, but for now, I rather just make my point clear regarding humans wearing clothes.” Sparklez finished as he went to the podium, wanting to be done with this already.
“Well, while it would be fun to see you get humiliated by Rarity, I have some places to go, have fun.” Rainbow Dash said as she took flight, going through the door and disappearing out of sight.
Sparklez looked at the door before smiling and shaking his head. “That Rainbow, too full of herself.” He then looked at Rarity, who was starting to get his measurements. “Hey Rarity, can I ask for two things?” Sparklez asked, trying not to move to much as to not mess up his measurements.
“Well of course you can darling, what is on your mind?” Rarity said as she took Sparklez chest measure.
“Well first is that if I can get simple shirts of sorts, not sure if you know which one I would be talking about, but at least something simple and casual.” Sparklez asked, feeling that it was necessary to let her know.
“Hmm, I’ll see what I can do, and what was that other thing?”
Sparklez grinned a bit, having the idea playing in his head. “Would you take a second request for a Nightmare Night Costume?”
The next few days passed normally, or as normal as one can get when monsters could appear at any moment in the dark, but luckily they avoided appearing inside the town. While Sparklez took advantage and tried to build some type on defence around the area of Fluttershy’s house.
Unfortunately, he hadn’t been able to do much progress as he took some time figuring out how to place blocks. Who the hell thinks that to put blocks you have to punch mid air with your left hand?! Sparklez didn’t know.
But he could worry about that later, today was Halloween, or as the locals like to call it.
“Nightmare Night! What a Fright! Give us Something Sweet to Bite!” Came the chorus of a group of two colts and two fillies, all of them dressed up in different costumes as to hide from the Nightmare that would try to eat them.
“Wow, nice costumes everypony.” Twilight exclaimed, this year dressed up as a vampony, her fake teeth sticking out of her mouth. “Here is some candy for you, and don’t forget to have a little extra for Nightmare Moon.” Twilight said as she levitated a few pieces of candy to each of the children, who gave their thanks before going away, off to the next house.
“Well, at least somepony decided to go as something ponies know” Spike teased Twilight, bringing back the even of Nightmare Night a few years ago.
“Oh please Spike, I learned my lesson from that time, at least you decided to go as something that isn't ironic.” Twilight said as she remember how Spike dressed up as a dragon of all things.
“I know right? This time I’m going as my true inner self.” Spike proclaimed as he brought his chest armour piece out, the clanking from the other metal parts resonating through the room.
“Hoping to catch a damsel in distress buddy?” Came the voice of Sparklez as he came down the stairs, wearing a simple black t-shirt, surprisingly it felt like any ordinary t-shirt of his, only this was made of a mixture of silk and wool, which was strange to say the least, but it still worked.
And for trousers he had a full on beige polyester jeans, or at least he tried to imagine they were jeans, which were layered to be thicker than normal. But he still wore the same thin shades, which was the only thing that allowed him to see what he was doing minecraft related.
“Not just any, but none other than Madame Filigree, the fairest of all the mares in the kingdom.” Spike said as he had a goofy grin on his face, thinking of the white mare.
“Well its good to know the kid is enjoying the night already, came a voice coming from the stairs, the owner being kerry who sported a pair of bat wings on her back, giving her a sense of evilness. “And look at me, I’m Gary!” Kerry said as she jump the last few steps down to the floor.
The feline turned around a second later, looking to the top of the stairs that she had come down from. “Come on Flutters, no need to be shy.” Kerry said as she kept staring to the top.
“I-I’m not sure, don’t I look ridiculous?” The timid voice of the pegasus sounded from upstairs, only a strand of pink hair was visible.
“It’s ok Fluttershy, we aren’t gonna judge you. We are all friends here, so need to worry about it.” Sparklez said, hoping to ease the mare’s worries.
There was a bit of silent before the sounds of hooves on wood could be heard, coming into view one could see the the small fake antennas coming out of Fluttershy’s mane, as she wore a round yellow costume with black stripes and a stinger, and finally her wings were covered in blue reflective paper, making them look insect like.
“Aww, aren’t you cute? You are FlutterBee tonight.” Kerry said as smiled at the mare. It had taken her a lot of talking to convince her of coming out tonight.
Fluttershy blushed at the compliment, but smiled none the less. “Thank you.”
Kerry then turned her attention to Sparklez, but looked confused because of his lack of outfit. “Aren’t you coming?” Kerry asked to the man as she had been hoping for all of them to come together.
“Oh don’t worry, I am coming, I’m just not gonna use my costume yet.” Sparklez said as he grinned, he was expecting this to be a surprise.
“Well then guys, we better go now, the rest of the girls should be waiting for us where I told them to be.” Twilight said as she opened the door with magic, letting the one waiting outside that they were finally leaving. “Sorry to keep you waiting Knievel.”
“Knievel fine, where this gonna be again?” Knievel asked as he looked at the rest with their costumes, even he had gone into the spirit ands decided to dress up, a potted plant served as his costume and he was content with it.
“It will be near the plaza, we are gonna meet with the girls as we are expecting somepony else as well.” Twilight said as she lead the group, knowing the way to their destination.
“So what are you gonna dress as Sparklez?” Spike asked, wanting to at least have a hint.
“Not telling, at least until everyone is present.” Sparklez responded as they continued walking.
“Is it something related to the adventures that we had?” Kerry asked as she decided walking instead of riding on Fluttershy’s back.
“Nope, you guys are just gonna have to wait and see.” Sparklez said, seeing as they have been walking for a while, going a bit aways from the central part of the town. “Erm Twilight, why did you want to go this far out?”
“You’ll see.” Twilight grinned a little, doing the same thing that Sparklez was doing to the others. Sparklez in response just rolled his eyes, seeing what Twilight was meaning.
Sparklez was then aware of a new voice, as it shouted to them. “Hey ya’ll, how ya doing?” It was Applejack calling the rest of the girls as she wore a cowboy get up, .
Rarity was seen in an elegant dress, resembling that of a princess. Guess Spike picked the right costume after all. Next was Rainbow Dash, who had an explorers style costume, the jacket looking like one of those from the old movies of treasure hunters, with a pair of short camo green jeans and a explorers hat to complete the outfit.
And lastly was Pinkie Pie who was...a fox? “Pinkie, why are you dressed up as a fox? Colour and all?” Sparklez asked as they came nearer the group.
“Oh that is such a fun question, well I was once going through the forest and then I heard this really funny sound like Ring-ding-ding-ding-dingeringerin, and then I heard like Wapa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow, and then it went like Jotchof-tchoff-tchoff-tchoff.
“So then I decided to investigate, and I still kept hearing those funny noises, and then I find out it was a fox, a fox I tell you, and he was making the most funny noises I have ever heard, my favourite one is this one, Jacha-chacha-chacha-chow. Its so funny.”
(Don’t look at me! It was her idea not mine!)
Sparklez was about to question as if there was any better reason than that, but decided against it. Being around the pink mare for about a week tends to make the weird seem normal.
“Seems like you forgot your costume dofus, or were you gonna go as a human and claim you were a pony?” Rainbow Dash said with a small smirk, enjoying to tease the man whenever she had the chance.
“No, I have it with me. Just give me a moment.” as he said this, he reaches inside his pockets and pouches, pulling out some wisps of energy, before they covered his whole body, making it impossible to see him.
“Hey, what’s up with the light show?” Rainbow asked as she tried to watch through the bright mist. But it soon faded away, to leave on its place a man clad on a black sort of armour, a few fins sporting out from the gauntlets, a black cape that covered most of his body if he choose to and a dark mark, with what seemed pointy ears.
The girls, apart from Rarity looked at the suit strangely, never seen something like it. “What are you suppose to be? A zombie with a thing for black?” Rainbow asked, not getting what it was.
Sparklez tried to keep a straight face, as he wanted to get into character for the next part. “I, am vengeance, I am the protector of the innocent, the bringer of justice, I am the night…” He paused there, to add dramatic effect. “I am, the Batman!” Upon that he let out his chest, revealing the insignia of a bat planted on the middle of the costume chest.
Rainbow stared at the man for a moment, before a bit of laughter started to come out of her. “Batman? Really? That is the most hilarious name I have heard in my life, hahaha.” She laughed at this, finding the character too funny.
Sparklez dropped his seriousness when he heard Dash start laughing. “I should have figured that you wouldn’t understand the character of Batman, and yours nearly looks like Indiana Jones in my world.” Sparklez said as he crossed his arms, the fins in the gauntlets folding neatly.
“Sure sure, whatever. But I got to say the costume looks neat.” Rainbow said as she held a fist in front of her. Sparklez giving a smile returned the fist with his own.
“All courtesy of Moi.” Rarity said as she did a small bow. "At first I thought it was a bit inadequate, but when I saw it on Sparklez, oh my, I can certainly see mares falling for a stallion if it was made for them.”
“That’s... nice to know?” Sparklez wasn’t certain how to respond to what the mare had just said, so he decided to change the subject. “So, who are we waiting for anyways?” Sparklez asked as he looked around, not seeing anyone around.
“We are waiting for somepony who is considered the symbol of Nightmare Night, plus, you already met her.” Twilight responded as she looked at the night sky.
“Really? But you told me that the spirit of Nightmare Night was an evil spirit of sorts, and that it was banished to the moon.” Sparklez said a bit confused now.
“And that’s because I was once that evil entity you so speak of.” Came a sudden voice which made Sparklez jump a bit, not expecting someone to sneak in like that.
Turning around, Sparklez managed to see the shape of a familiar looking alicorn, her mystical mane waving in the air even though there was no wind that would indicate it. “It’s good to see you again Sparklez, but I dare say, I never expected you to dress like a servant of the night.” Luna commented as she looked at the man and then back to everyone else.
“Well this is nothing more than me playing as a character that people have created, wait, you sound, different.” Sparklez said as the monarch of the night sounded different of what he remembered his first visit.
“Ah yes, I normally use the old canterlot vocabulary when in meetings of high regard, but we, I mean, I try to use the normal one when in normal social gatherings.” She said before addressing everyone.
“Sorry if I’m past my schedule time, but someone was eager to come take a visit.” Luna said as she looked back, into the darkness of an alley. A silhouette could be seen walking towards them, but it was bipedal and slanky.
When it came into the view of the moon light everyone had a look of surprise. There stood a human, it wore a weird set of brown trousers, the right leg was green and had lime green polka dots, while the left one was a shade brighter than that of the pant at the waist.
It wore a brown shirt jacket, which was on top of a yellow shirt which had its left sleeve being full of thin lines, while the right one seemed to be disproportionate in size from the shirt by a bit.
Finally it had a light skin tone, its hair was black with a few shades of white, its eyebrows and goatee where pure white, and he wore a fedora, where two antlers sprouted out from the top, one being the antler of a elk the other a twisted horn of sorts.
The human gave a smirk before looking up to the others, staring back were a pair of red eyes on yellow orbs. “Why hello everypony, did you miss me?”
“D-discord?” Fluttershy spoke softly, not believing that the voice of the reformed spirit of chaos was standing right in front of them looking like a human.
“Oh what this old thing? Well is not really old but is nothing special really, just a shapeshifting spell, courtesy of draconequus magic” Discord said as he removed his fedora, showing that the antlers were actually part of his head as always.
“Umm, one question.” Sparklez said as he looked at the human that he was sure was before a giant serpent like thingy. “Just why are you a human? Or close to one?” Sparklez asked, still a bit weirded out not just by what was happening, but also his appearance, it was too odd for the ones like him.
“Why this is my costume, you like it? It was inspired by you, not that I would have needed it anyways, but I couldn’t pass the chance now could I?” Discord said as he simply rubbed the knuckles of his hand against his chest, making the whole scene seem like nothing.
“Discord, remember that I only allowed you to come as long as you keep your, pranks, as you like to refer to them, toned down to a public standard.” Luna said, her eyes having a menacing glare.
“Oh come on Lulu, you know that this night is for the pranks and fear as much as the fun games, and who is to say this isn’t one big game night?” Discord said, being at face level with the princess.
“Hmm, that actually reminds me of something from back on Earth.” Sparklez said as he remembered that little piece that he was referring to. “Actually, I think we could pull it off here.”
“What are you talking about?” Rainbow asked as she was confused by what was Sparklez talking about.
“You’ll see, Dis, you think you can do something for me?” Sparklez asked, holding the human draconequus by the shoulder.
Discord looked at the man for a moment with a look when he called him Dis, but it soon turned into a grin as started to get a feeling that he would like what he was going to do. “This time, I’ll follow your lead.”
“Ok guys, this is what is going to happen…”
The crowd was gathered around town hall, ponies were conversing with each other, complimenting each of their customs or any of the good activities that they did.
Soon their attention was brought forth as Mayor Mare, this year dressed as a salmon (Don’t ask) walked to the podium, ready to announce the beginning of the Nightmare Night festivities. “Welcome Fillies and Gentlecolts, to the celebration of Nightmare Night!”
The crowd erupted into cheers as they stamped their hooves hard on the ground, making their enthusiasm clear. “Thank you everypony, and let us celebrate once again this night with the Nightmare Night Festival.”
“As you all know, we all know the legend of Nightmare Moon, and how she will gobble you up if you fail to offer some of your sweets to her, whooooo” Mayor Mare continued with her speech as the ponies conversed with each other.
“Now before we start the celebration I like to-” She stopped mid sentence when she felt a chill run down her spine, like a ghost had passed through her, the ponies in the crowd were a bit confused as to why the mare had stopped, that was until a colt started screaming, pointing at a shadow that seemed to move about like a snake.
“What is happening?” A mare in the crowd said as she looked at the shadows, which soon started to take form as they came to rest near some stands close to the crowd, a sinister mist starting to seep all around them, but that was soon filled by a strange music
[Shadow 1]
♪Colts and Fillies of every age♪
♪Wouldn’t you like to see something strange?♪
One of the shadows seemed to sing the song, making the ponies get scared a bit more, and it got worse as they heard a new voice come from behind.
[Shadow 2]
♪Come behold a ghastly sight♪
♪This our town, on Nightmare Night♪
The ponies soon heard hoofsteps coming from behind them, but as they went to see they came face to a group of ghosts who seemed to be screaming in an eternal screech.
[Ghosts]
♪This is Nightmare Night; It is, such a fright!♪
♪Pumpkins scream, in the dead of night!♪
With those words, pumpkins came down from the air, smashing into the ground on impact, except for the last one that was caught by a black gloved hand, which leaded to a man completely black, but his face showed one of horror, as he continued singing.
[Sparklez]
♪This is Nightmare Night, everyone turn out a light♪
♪Trick or treat, ‘til your neighbors gonna die of fright♪
The ponies at this point were confused, but still had that fear present in them, which returned as soon as they heard a new voice from behind them, but recognise it as one from a farm mare they all knew.
[Applejack]
♪It’s our town, everypony scream!♪
♪Nightmare Night is on the scene♪
Their attention was brought away from the farm mare when they saw a set of glowing red eyes coming from an alley. Slowly to be revealed to be Spike, but his armour seemed rusted and destroyed, plus his fangs were longer than normal.
[Spike]
♪I am the one hiding under your bed!♪
♪Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red!♪
Their attention shifted to see now a human slowly walking out of another alley.
[Discord]
♪I am the one hiding under your stairs!♪
♪Fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair!♪
The last sentence was proved right when his hands shifted to show live snakes and spiders seemed to crawl out from his fedora, before lowering themselves down with their webs.
Soon the ponies found themselves surrounded by the others, feeling themselves trapped, but not in a hopeless way as they once thought before.
[Applejack, Discord, Sparklez and Spike]
♪This is Nightmare Night, This is Nightmare Night♪
♪Nightmare Night, Nightmare Night, Nightmare Night, Nightmare Night!♪
As each one said that line, they disappear in a cloud of bats that they have seemed to become. Not sure what to expect, Mayor Mare wasn’t prepared for Rarity in a demonic outfit, to approach the edge of the stage where the podium rested.
[Rarity]
♪In this town, we call home♪
♪Everyone hail to the Nightmare song♪
This time the crowd was prepared for a sudden Rainbow Dash on a Shadow Bolt outfit, gliding over the crowd.
[Rainbow]
♪In this town, don’t we love it now?♪
♪Everypony’s waiting for the next surprise!♪
But the crowd wasn’t prepared for a little feline with bat wings to appear out of one corner, and surprisely, start singing.
[Kerry]
♪Round that corner, colts hiding in the trash can♪
♪Something's waiting now to pounce, and how you’ll...♪
The crowd were surprised when out of nowhere came out the iron golem, only this time he seemed to have lava running on the inside of him.
[Knievel and Kerry]
♪Scream! This is Nightmare Night♪
♪Red and black and creepy slime!♪
♪Aren’t you scared?...
They then saw Twilight coming out of the dark, right next to the golem and the cat. Now she looked like a proper vampony, her fangs seemed to be part of her mouth, and her normal feathery wings were now a pair of leathery bat wings.
[Twilight]
♪...Well that’s just fine♪
♪Say it once, say it twice♪
♪Take a chance, and roll the dice!♪
♪Fly with the moon in the dead of night!♪
At this point, the ponies were now enjoying the song, rather than being plain scared by it. Even joining the song at some points for the fun.
[Rainbow and others]
♪Everypony scream! Everypony scream!♪
[Rarity and Mayor Mare]
♪Nightmare Night is on the scene!♪
There was a moment of surprise, because at the moment of the next verse, Pinkie Pie had appeared in the middle of the crowd, having a dark clown costume on top of her fox outfit.
[Pinkie Pie]
♪I am the clown with the tear-away face!♪
She then removed her face like it was a masked, revealing nothing behind it, not even blood or anything that a face resided there before. Making a few of the ponies to shudder at the creepiness.
♪Here in a flash, and gone without a trace!♪
In a cloud of pink smoke, she disappeared out of view, making her statement true. They then expected for somepony else to appear, but all they did was hear the voice of the animal caretaker that lived near the edge of Ponyville. But her voice alone was enough to make hairs stand on end and send chills down the spine.
[Fluttershy]
♪I am the ‘who’ when you call ‘who’s there?’♪
♪I am the wind blowing through your hair!♪
The wind that blowed at the last part made them notice the new shadow with pointy ears, that now appeared on the face of the moon, feeling fear for a second as it brought bad memories.
[Sparklez]
♪I am the shadow on the moon at night!♪
♪Filling your dreams, to the brim with fright!♪
By this point, everyone somehow knew the lyrics for the song, now singing along with all the ones responsible for the song.
[Everyone]
♪This is Nightmare Night, this is Nightmare Night♪
♪Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night!♪
♪Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night!♪
[Applejack]
♪Spooky creatures everywhere♪
♪Everyone’s out to scream and scare♪
[Discord and Spike]
♪That’s our job! You got that right♪
♪In this town on Nightmare Night!♪
[Rarity and Mayor Mare]
♪In this town, don’t we love it now?♪
♪Everyone’s waiting for the next surprise!♪
[Rainbow and Twilight]
♪Nightmare Moon might catch you in the back and♪
♪Scream like a banshee, make you jump out of your...♪
[Knievel, Kerry and others]
♪Skin! This is Nightmare Night!♪
♪Everypony scream!♪
[Spike]
♪Won’t you please make way for royalty?♪
Looking towards the dirt road leading away from the town square, one could see as a pair of bat-ponies were pulling a cart of a sinister look, on it stood a dark alicorn, with a waving mane of a deep blue, it wore a set of light blue armour and its eyes were crystal blue slits.
All the ponies were a bit scared by the mare, but tried to hide it as they knew this was still part of the act, even if the mare snarled at them every so often.
[Rainbow and Sparklez]
♪Nightmare Moon is queen of the nightmares now!♪
♪Everypony hail to the Nightmare Queen now!♪
[Everyone]
♪This is Nightmare Night, this is Nightmare Night.♪
♪Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night!♪
As the crowd continued singing, Nightmare Moon walked towards the fountain in the middle of the plaza, when she touched it, she started sinking into the water, the water turning to be like the actual sky of the night, a faint glow coming from the small stars that appeared on the water.
The group who was responsible for the act, gathered around the fountain, looking at it with an evil smirk.
[The group of friends]
♪In this town, we call home♪
♪Everyone hail to the Nightmare song!♪
As if that was a call, Princess Luna started rising out of the water, wearing a dark cape that seemed to flap on an invisible wind, all of it happening while everyone continued chanting the song.
[Everyone]
♪La La La La-La Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night!♪ (Repeated)
As the music started fading, a swarm of bats came from behind Luna, giving her a sinister look, as she laughed with the base evil laughed that she could do. “Happy Nightmare Night everypony!” Luna announced, as the other friends gave a bow, like performers do after they are done with their act.
The crowd erupted into applauses, stamping their hooves as loud as they could, making it clear that they had indeed enjoyed the spectacle.
Rainbow Dash, who was next to Sparklez, nudged the man to bring his attention, giving him a smirk. “Its official, best Nightmare Night, ever! Thanks to you” Rainbow said.
Sparklez gave a chuckle, nodding to the mare. “Told you it would be fun.” Sparklez said before looking forward, seeing the crowd coming towards them to ask them about the act.
The celebrations continued after that, everypony enjoying themselves doing different games and activities which had a Nightmare Night theme. There were even some colts and fillies humming or singing some of the parts from the song they were given earlier.
While everyone else was enjoying themselves, Sparklez and the girls, plus Spike and Kerry, sat on a table enjoying each others company as they talked. “...And when Knievel jumped out like that, did you see the looks on their faces? Hilarious.” Kerry said as she rested on Sparklez lap, opposed to Fluttershy’s back as it would ruin the work done to her outfit.
“Not as much as when they saw me for the first time, kitty.” Rainbow said, now back in her normal outfit instead of the Shadow Bolts one. Same being for the rest of the group.
“Yeah right, it was my performance that let out the most thrill on the matter.” Rarity said as she played with her hair as to help keep it the way she normally does.
“Rares, standing on a stage doin’ sweet nothing, doesn’t make ponies get excited.” Applejack retorted as she ate a slice of apple pie, humming in content at the flavour of the sweet treat.
“I actually think Fluttershy did the best out of all of us.” Twilight said, bringing attention to the mare in question.
“I agree.” Sparklez added as he looked at the mare with a smile. “I could see those ponies trembling when you started singing, who would have known that projecting your voice with the help of Discord could do that.” The man said as he removed the Batman mask from his face, quickly turning into a white mist and disappearing into a pouch on his back.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Fluttershy said meekly as she played with her hooves. “I didn’t really do much like you guys.” She said, giving a smile to them. “But I did enjoy it a bit, even if it sounded scary.”
“Oh don’t worry Fluttershy, everypony gets scared of something.” Pinkie said as she wrapped a hoof around the mare. “I get scared if I run out of chocolate chips for my cookies. Chocolate chip cookies are meant to have chocolate chips! No chips, means they are just cookies, and no one likes chocolate chip cookies with no chips!” Pinkie said with a hint of worry as she imagined the scenario.
“Umm, right. Either way it was fun tonight, all thanks to you Sparklez.” Twilight said as the rest of her friends nodded in agreement.
Sparklez rubbed a hand on the back of his head, flattered at the compliment. “Oh please, I just gave an idea. Dis was the one that did a lot of the job, speaking of him, where is he? And for that matter, Luna too?” Sparklez asked as he looked around the place, searching for another human and a large pony of royal inheritance.
“I do believe the princess invited Discord for a game of spiders and webs. Its her favourite afterall.” Rarity said, before hearing a yell of frustration, coming from a stand where Discord could be seen tossing a spider plushie towards a net, made to look like a web.
The spider just bounced off from the net, landing on the ground where a few others lay as well. “Curse this game! How can I not be able to make a stupid toy rest on a net?” Discord said as he tossed another spider, this time falling short from the net. “Gharrg!”
Luna was next to the draconequus, resting a hoof on his shoulder for reassurance. “It is ok Discord, I didn’t fare well with the game either, just try to throw it in an arch motion.” Luna said as she demonstrated, tossing the spider over in the air, before falling neatly on the net and resting there. “See? Easy.”
Discord grumbled a bit under his breath, before a smirk formed on his lips, “Yeah, or I can do it my way.” Discord snapped his fingers, before the spider plushie turned into a real arachnid creature, but it soon reverted back into a toy suddenly, Discord now looking a bit tired all of a sudden. “Curse it, I hate having my magic so limited.” Discord said as he crossed his arms in frustration.
“It is ok Discord, we will find a way to fix this.” Luna said before taking the spider in her magic, putting it in front of Discord. “So shall we try again?”
Luna offered, which Discord responded by taking the toy in his hand, and throwing it in the air towards his target, only to go over it. “Oh for the love of…”
“That Discord, quite the fella.” Applejack said, looking back to the group she was with. “Still can’t believe he is with us after all the trouble he cause’ in the past.” Applejack said with a chuckle.
Sparklez was a bit curious about this, and looked to the lavender alicorn for an answer. Twilight seeing the man’s questioning look, she just mouthed ‘I’ll tell you later’ before going back to the conversation at hand.
Sparklez shrugged it off for the time being, just enjoying the company of his friends. He was distracted for a moment as Rainbow commented on something. “Wow, didn’t know they were using hot air balloons for decorations this year.”
Sparklez looked towards where the mare was looking at. In the sky he spotted a large white balloon, which seemed to have a face painted on it with its eyes closed, making it look almost real. And under it were some set of tentacles that ended in what he believed to be pincers.
But something surprised him a bit, it suddenly started opening its eyes, revealing what seemed to be flames of some sort, and they even seemed to move. But the next thing he heard, sent shivers down his spine. As he heard a crying whine that could indicate the presence of one thing.
Sparklez stood up making Kerry fall to the ground, fear was clear on his face as he looked up, which made the girls confused. “Sparklez, is something wrong?” Twilight asked, wanting to know the reason for the man’s sudden change in behaviour.
Sparklez just kept staring at the flying beast, as he could see it’s mouth starting to open slowly, a pit of fire that seemed to increased in intensity. Sparklez knew what it was about to do, and he needed to get everyone out of the area now. “GHAST!”
The ghast fired its fire ball, which flew towards a stand near to where the group of friends were. The blast managed to hit about a dozen ponies near the blast area, making them scream in pain from the explosion and fire.
Ponies were now in a panic, running away from where the source of the blast came from. The ghast fired another blast, this time it hit the roof of a building, sending debris in the air, some managed to fall on top of fleeing ponies, burying them.
“Sparklez! What is going on? What is that?” Rainbow asked as she looked around, seeing all the terror that was unfolding.
“There is no time, we got to get these people out of here. I’ll deal with this thing.” Sparklez said, already starting to walk away, only to be stopped by a hand grabbing his arm.
Turning around, Sparklez saw that it was Rainbow Dash, giving him a determined look. “You are not going to do this alone dude, we are helping you with this.” Rainbow said as she motioned to the others, although Fluttershy was hiding under the table they were using moments ago.
Sparklez was about to respond to her, when another explosion occurred near them, making him turn to look as the whole area was now on fire. But he looked in fear and angered as a few ponies ran around with on fire, one or two of them being helped by other ponies in trying to smother the flames out.
But his vision was focused on a few bodies laying on the ground, unmoving and even one on fire. He turned away from the scene, looking back to the girls with a serious face. He wanted to tell them to leave him to face the creature for himself, that way they wouldn’t be at risk of suffering a similar fate as to the ponies he saw.
But he knew that the longer they stood arguing, the more ponies would be getting hurt or worse. “Ok then, but we still need some of us to help get the others out of here.” Sparklez said, looking at all of them.
Twilight nodded before facing to Rarity. “Rarity, you, Pinkie, Fluttershy and Spike should help the residents, we’ll handle this ghast before it causes any more damage.” Twilight said which Rarity acknowledged by giving her a nod, already going to depart with the others.
“You too Kerry.” Sparklez said as he looked at the feline. Who in turn was giving him a small glare.
“No, I want to help you against this guy, I want to be helpful.” Kerry said with determination in her voice, making her intentions clear.
“Kerry, please, you can be helpful by helping the others get out of here.” Sparklez said as he looked at the cat, before kneeling down to her. “But I would like you to protect Fluttershy as well Kerry.” Sparklez said, hoping that she would do what he asked if it involved the shy mare, knowing how the two were close.
Kerry took that into account, she knew that if a ghast managed to appear here, then it was likely that other monsters would as well. “Alright, I’ll go with them. But you be careful now, you hear?” Kerry said, a small look of worry on her face.
Sparklez nodded to her before standing back up. “I will.” With that, he took off, going towards where the ghast was, ready to face it before it caused more chaos.
Sparklez ran through the streets, passing by fires that burned on the ground. “Just how the hell did a ghast get here?” Sparklez asked out loud, the current event not making sense to him.
“I know, even the book said that they only appear in the nether, the dimension that we are trying to get to first right?” Twilight said as she flew alongside the man, Rainbow flying over them and Applejack galloping right next to the man.
“Does it matter? All that matters is that we have a creep here in the town, and if we don’t do something then we are done.” Rainbow said as she kept her eyes on the beast, which at the moment was firing more of the fireballs at buildings, setting them aflame.
“Ah’m with Rainbo’ on this one, we have to get rid of the varmit first, then we can figure out how it got here.” Applejack said as she galloped at full force.
“Then we better hurry up get this-”
“Watch out!” Rainbow interrupted Sparklez as she changed her course of flying, the others looking ahead to see a fireball coming their way. The group quickly dodged to the sides, letting the orb of flames pass right past them, before exploding upon reaching a building wall.
They all looked up, seeing the ghast now staring at them, already charging a new fireball to fire at them. “Ok, we got his attention, now what?” Rainbow asked as she looked to Sparklez quickly.
Sparklez seemed to stop and think at that moment, taking into account that their enemy was able to fly, and he wasn’t sure Rainbow could kill the creature safely at a close distance. Which meant that the only way to kill it at the moment, was the riskiest.
“Hit his fireball back to him!” Sparklez said as he took out his Sandslash.
“What?!” Was the response of the girls as they thought that the man had gone crazy. Before they could question his sanity, they heard the loud cry of the ghast, as it launched another fireball at them.
Sparklez readied his blade, and waited for the ball to get closer. “I’m sending this one right out of the park!” Sparklez said as he swung the blade, connecting with the fireball in the last moment, making it go to one side as he changed its flight course.
The girls were a bit amazed at the feat, but were soon brought out of it as Sparklez took some wooden looking swords and tossed one at each of them. “Its dangerous out here without a weapon, take these so we can at least have a chance against this guy.”
The girls followed his instruction, taking one wooden sword each, Applejack being the only one taking it on her mouth as she lacked hands or magic. “Ok Sparklez, should me and Rainbow try to go and attack it in the air?” Twilight asked, which Sparklez responded with a shake of his head.
“Its too risky, I don’t know if it can use those tentacles of his.” He paused for a moment when he had to reflect another of the fireballs, making it go back up and behind them. “And the closer you are, the easier it will be for it to hit you.”
Rainbow growled a bit, making her first option unusable, and if they tried to hit the fireball as their only way of offence, then it would result in one of them getting hurt. “Isn’t there another way?” Rainbow asked, before having to deflect another fireball, this one going into the sky. “We don’t know how to reflect them back at him?”
Rainbow was right, they didn’t know how to properly deflect the fireball back at the ghast, his previous attempts on the matter was clear proof. If only they could have more time to learn it.
“Applejack, watchout!” Twilight yelled as a fireball was coming towards them, not being able to see it because of the smoke that was quickly forming from the fires. Applejack managed to see it, and prepare to swing at it, just as well as Twilight.
They both managed to hit it at the same time, making it go back to about the same direction it came from, missing the ghast by going too much to the right. Wait, that’s it! Sparklez thought as realization dawn to him. “Everyone, get together!” Sparklez yelled, which the girls all did since they trusted Sparklez when it came into matters regarding these monsters.
The ghast was starting to feel annoyed, seeing the group still standing after all of its attacks, this time, he started gathering as much of the infernal flames from within him that he could muster, determined to get rid of the the pests that plagued this world.
“Get ready, its gonna be a big one.” Sparklez said as he got into a stance, the girls following his example and doing the same to their own accord.
Feeling the burning at its peak, the ghast let out the fireball that it had been accumulating, this one being at least three time larger than a normal one. But this left the ghast exhausted, having taken more effort than normally.
The girls had looks of fear when they saw the massive ball of fire heading towards them, but they were thrown out of it when Sparklez started yelling. “Stay together, if we don’t defeat this thing, then it will continue to destroy everything.” Sparklez said, hoping to make the girls get more confident, even if he himself was scared.
The ball came closer, each passing second seemed to go in slow motion, as fear crept slowly to them, fear that if they didn’t hit this fireball like the others, they would most likely not make it. But they had to do it if it was for the safety of the others.
At the last moment, Sparklez shouted as he brought his Sandslash towards the fireball. ”Now!”
They all brought their swords towards the ball of fire, hitting it at the same time before it started to fly backwards, making the ghast look in shock and fear, as this one was coming right towards it.
Sparklez looked at the fireball, as it flew straight for the ghast. We did it. Sparklez thought to himself as he smirked, but it soon disappeared as he saw a shape head right towards the fireball.
The shape stood in the path of the fireball, before it took an object out of somewhere, before hitting the surface of the ball of fire with it, sending the projectile back towards the group.
“W-what?” Applejack stammered as she saw the object coming back to them after they had deflect it.
“Hit it again!” Sparklez said, getting ready to hit the fireball back towards where it came from. What he didn’t expect is for the shape to appear right on top of the fiery rock and hitting it towards the ground, making it explode on impact.
The group didn’t have time to prepare, as the blast was strong enough to send them in the air. They would have landed back on the ground, but the shape zoomed towards them and hitting each of them with tremendous force, sending them flying over some of the houses of the town.
“Please everypony, calm down, we must have order.” Mayor Mare yelled over the crowd of ponies, trying to calm them down enough so they could evacuate the area efficiently.
Rarity and Pinkie were trying to calm the crowd as much as they could, the task probing to be more difficult than it sounded. Fluttershy worried about what was happening with the others, but was eased a bit thanks to the feline that was accompanying her.
“Fluttershy, we need to get all of these ponies to safety, we have yet to find Discord and Luna too.” Kerry said as she rode Fluttershy, trying her hardest looking for a certain iron golem. “And Knievel too.”
Fluttershy responded with a small shudder, the feeling of fear was making itself clearly visible. “Kerry, I’m scared, what if something bad happens to our friends?” Fluttershy said, small tear forming in her eyes at the possible idea.
“Hey, don’t say that, they are our friends and they are tough. They can handle a simple ghast.” Kerry said in hopes to give confidence to the mare, understanding her worries perfectly.
Before she could respond, a loud yell was heard making everypony cower in fear. “BE STIIIIIILLLL!” The voice of Luna could be heard as she used her Canterlot Voice, a still humanized Discord rubbing his ears from the noise assault.
“Citizens of Ponyville, you all must get a hold of thyselves, for if we are to sucumb to fear we will not be able to achieve anything. So I ask of you to remain calm and leave the area as fast as you are able.” Luna said, projecting her voice so everypony could hear her.
The ponies started moving orderly, following the words of the lunar monarch as best they could. However, that was broken when a certain pink mare’s tail started vibrating. “Twitcha twitch, twitcha twitch!” Pinkie said, making everypony look up, knowing by now what that meant.
To everyone's horror, they saw the shapes of Sparklez, Rainbow, Twilight and Applejack, coming right towards the middle of where the ponies were gathered at the moment. Luna reacting quickly, used her magic to catch the falling forms, just as they were about two metres from the ground.
Oh no. Kerry thought to herself, now worry for the safety of her friends. But even more worried for Fluttershy who was now streaming a few tears, seeing her fears coming to reality.
Luna set them down on the ground, making everypony else to back away so the Princess could check on them. The rest of the girls hurrying to their side as they too were worried for their friends.
“Sparklez, Twilight Sparkle. Please talk to us.” Luna said, checking for the man and the alicorn. Pinkie and Fluttershy checking on Rainbow Dash while Rarity checked the farm mare.
They soon started to stir, waking up after being launched across the town by something. “Oh mah head, feels like somepony decided to use it as practice target for apple-bucking.” Applejack moaned at the pain she was feeling. The others giving their own versions of complaint from the pain.
They were all brought out of this when they heard the familiar cry of the ghast, looking up they noticed it coming through some smoke coming from the fires in the town, as it seemed to ready for another charge of its fireballs.
The ponies were starting to panic again, seeing the floating mass of death that would most likely end them unless they got quickly got away. Luna was preparing a teleportation spell, wanting to take as many of the residents as possible, as she was aware that the creature was susceptible to her magic.
“Hold it!” A voice suddenly called, the ghast reacted to it as it held back the fireball, closing its mouth and then looking downwards to a spot away from the line of sight of the crowd.
All attention was brought towards the source of the sound, a screen of smoke the only thing blocking their view, a silhouette could be seen from within.
Soon, the smoke gave way as a bipedal creature emerged, who showed to be female because of the body shape, her skin being of a shade of silver, as lines adorned part of her skin. She wore a pair of blue jeans, the ends rolled up a bit, as it was held from the waist by a double belt that folded to make a triangle, as the buckle showed an S and P made of silver.
She had a purple t-shirt which stood out against the silver shade skin, as she wore a small jacket that covered only the top half of her torso, on the left side one could see a patch of a blue cat face sewed to it.
Her tail and mane where of a whiter shade than that of her skin, making it stand out. A pair of gold earrings glinted in the light from the fires, as they were clipped on a scarred injured ear. And she looked at the ponies with a malicious smile, staring at them with her white eyes, which seemed to stare right at their souls.
“No need to kill them all. We are only here to give a message.” The white human mare spoke, as she looked towards a certain group that she had been informed about. “And have some fun.” She finished giving them an evil grin.
The ponies were staring at the new arrival with terror, scared that this new individual would be willing to kill so freely. But two members of the crowd stared at her in shock and denial, not believing who it was. “Paw.” Fluttershy whispered as she trembled in fear at what her friend was doing.
Luna immediately stepped forward, taking command of the situation as well as protecting her subjects from harm. “You, We demand to know the reasons behind thy traitorous acts against Equestria and its citizens. Furthermore, we command from thee to surrender this instant!” Luna commanded, looking at the mare with a face of authority, Discord walking next to her as he held some degree of authority as well.
Paw, merely chuckled, amused by the actions of the monarch. “And if I don’t?” She asked innocently, not taking the situation seriously like she was talking with foals.
Luna gave a glare, starting to charge her horn for a spell, Discord snapping his fingers before turning back to his normal form, although he looked a bit more tired than normal. “Then there will be dire consequences.” Luna threatened, taking a single step forward to make her point clear.
Paw mockley thought about it, humoring them before giving her answer to them. “How about you two just stay nice and quiet, and you won’t have to get hurt?” She asked before she saw Discord snap his fingers again, suddenly feeling chains wrapped around her arms and legs. Paw gave a small shake of her head before looking at the two powerful being with a disappointed look. “I guess that’s a no.”
In a flash, Paw’s hands glowed a bit before grabbing the chains restraining her arms and breaking them as if they were toothpicks, then spread her wings and launched herself to the air, the force strong enough to break the chains grabbing her legs.
Discord gave a grunt at seeing the chains break so easily, he cursed his limited powers and having used so much earlier today with the show. “You are not getting away that easily!” Luna shouted as she launched a spell towards the mare, which soon exploded near the Paw in a bright flash.
Paw was blinded from the flash, not being able to see what was going on around her, until she felt someone grab her arms from behind, restraining her from escaping. As her sight came back she looked behind to see Discord holding her in place.
She turned to look at the front to see Luna glaring at her, “We will ask you once more, stand down and we will avoid any inconvenience.” Luna said, glaring daggers at the mare.
Paw chuckled at this, finding the whole thing entertaining. “Oh you are right, there will be inconveniences.” At that, she reeled her head back, hitting Discord on the jaw, stunning him momentarily for her to bring his body around, using him as a weapon to hit Luna, making her drop a few metres through the air.
As Luna fell, Paw got out of Discord’s hold before grabbing him by the tail, and started to spin him around, Discord too disoriented to know what was going on. After the sixth spin Paw sent Discord towards Luna, making them both collide in mid air.
Luna and Discord tried to get out of their predicament as fast as they could, but they were stopped when a sudden force hit them from above, sending them rocketing towards the ground with immense force.
The ponies down below had barely enough time to move away as the two bodies fell to the ground, making dust rise up as the ground cracked a bit. Paw soon descended down, landing a distance away from the crowd, they saw the unconscious forms of the Princess and the spirit of chaos.
“Well that was annoying, and here I wanted to just give a message.” She looked to the two forms laying on the ground before giving a smirk. “Well, one of them was given already at least. Anyone who tries to intervene on the path to the cleansing will suffer or perish.”
Paw looked at all the terrified faces of the ponies plus a few glares from the group that she was told about. “That is, if you get the chance.” She gave a grin as she started walking around them, keeping her distance like a predator to its prey.
“You all are guilty for destroying this land of its nature, going and building on top of it as if it was some kind of playground, with no regard to what damage you are doing.” Paw said as she paced around, keeping her distance from the crowd.
“At this rate, we will destroy the land that we live in, and will waste time trying to figure out a solution to the problem.” She came to a halt at that, looking at the ground. “When in truth, we are the problem.”
“That is what my master has shown me, and is the future of this world. And the only way to cure it, is to get rid of the plague.”
“That is horse feathers!” Came the sudden yell from Rainbow, having enough of this mare talking about this madness. “Then you would be no different from us!” Rainbow said, remembering part of the lies she had being fed when possessed by whatever had taken over her.
Paw merely look at the mare with an indifferent look, before smiling a bit. “That would be true, if not for what my master has planned.” She said, giving a grin to the mare as she glared at her.
“Who the hay is this master you speak of? Is it Discord’s sister?” Twilight asked, standing up to go next to her cyan friend, staring intensely at the white stripped mare.
Paw raised a finger, waving it lightly to the sides. “Uh-uh-uh, spoilers.” She said before giving a chuckle.
“You are getting on my nerves, you know that?” Rainbow asked as she went to reach for something, her pouches appearing as a mist seeped out of it and landing in Rainbow’s hand, forming itself to be the red lightning bolt crystal.
“Rainbow Dash, a shame you couldn’t join us to fulfill this plan, but no matter. There will be others.” She said as she eyed everyone within the crowd. One pony in particular that was with the group of before.
Rainbow growled at the other mare, as the gem in her hand glowed a bit before expanding out to form the lighting sword that she had used when fighting Sparklez. “Not if I take you out first!” Rainbow yelled as she launched herself to the mare, clearing half the distance in the fraction of a second.
Paw didn’t react at the action much, simply bringing her left hand up before a gray mist formed around her hand and…
TWHNK!
Paw managed to stop Rainbow’s attack with a dark purple dagger. The design looked demonic in nature as the hilt seemed to glow a bit from the gem that was encrusted in it. “As always, charges in without thinking.” Paw said before pushing back Rainbow’s blade, proceeding to deliver a hard punch to the mare’s stomach.
Rainbow leaned down to the punch, the air in her lungs being push out by force. Not even having enough time to recover, she received Paw’s knee to her jaw, sending her head reeling back.
Paw twisted around as she used her momentum to deliver a kick to Rainbow, sending her into the air. Rainbow could see the world around her spin, trying to bring herself straight as quick as she could, however, she didn’t get the chance as she saw Paw fly right on top of her, as she spun around in mid air before sending a hard kick to Rainbow’s back.
Rainbow screamed in pain, having felt her wings receive most of the impact before she came crashing down to the ground, a few feet away from her friends.
Paw fluttered down and landed softly on the ground. Seeing the further terrified faces of the residents of the town. Colts and fillies wearing tears on her face as they watched the whole scene play out.
“This is another example of what we will do to you. All those who refuse the gift that my master offers, will be treated as an enemy with no chance of redemption.” She brought her knife up as she rested it on her hand. “Speaking of said gift, I think one is due for today.” She said before slicing the blade against her hand, making a deep cut.
However, blood didn’t come out, instead a black liquid started flowing slowly out of the wound, accumulating itself in the palm of the mare. As the goop rested on top of the hand, it seemed to heal the wound quite quickly, making the flow of the goop come to a stop.
The goop then seemed to move on its own accord, rising slightly on the mare’s hand and changing shape like a lava lamp. “And I know who will get it too.” She said before flinging her arm out, making the goop get launched from her hand, and heading right towards the group of friends that was attending to Rainbow Dash.
Sparklez saw this, being the only one that hadn’t recovered yet after his little trip across town. He tried to desperately to stand up and run, but saw that the blob would hit its mark long before he got there.
The girls squeaked in surprise as they braced themselves together, not having enough time to avoid it even if they wanted to. They closed their eyes, then the sound of something sticky hit a hard surface, followed by clanking metal.
The girls opened their eyes and look towards the direction the sound had come from, only to gasp in fear. “Spike!” Twilight yelled as she scurred away from the girls to run towards her dragon assistant.
Sparklez ran quickly to Twilight’s side, just in time to stop her as she was about to grab Spike, who was covered in the black goop. “Sparklez, What are you doing?! I need to help him!” Twilight fought against the man’s hold, trying to help Spike as soon as possible.
“You can’t, that stuff is-” Saw as the rest of the goop disappeared into Spikes mouth, the baby dragon gagging as he tried to spit or vomit the vile substance out. All before a white mist surrounded him, changing in shape and size as it did its work. “-what affected Rainbow.” Sparklez said in a low voice.
Twilight stopped fighting as she saw the purple dragon get surrounded by the mist. Sparklez let go of her as she sat on the ground, the fear of what was happening got to her. “N-no, Spike.” Twilight said as she let a single tear fall out, just as Spike was released from the mist cocoon.
Spike had grown larger and taller than he used to be, about the same height as Sparklez if not a bit shorter. He had a sleeveless purple jacket with a white line going across it, the jacket only covering the top part of his torso.
His hands seemed to have increased in size as they now seemed to be as large as his head if he made it into a fist. His hands covered by dark gray gloves which seemed to go over his wrists, as well as he had a pair of black bands on each arm.
He wore a simple pair of dark purple jeans, which was held on by a white belt. And surprisingly enough, he wore a large pair of white trainers, as they were larger than what shoes normally were in the front, probably because of his large toes.
And it seemed that his spines had grown larger as well, standing up on his head. Spike was still looking down as he shook, holding his head as he rested on his knees. “T-twilight.” Spike spoke with a strained voice, looking up for them to see his teen like appearance, and his eyes flashed momentarily from his emerald green eyes to white orbs. “H-help me!”
“Spike!” Twilight exclaimed again, this time in fear and hope seeing Spike still in his senses, but for how long, no one knew.
Paw looked at the dragon with a small scowl, her shot being intercepted by the reptilian being. She suddenly felt a sharp pain go through her head, she knew that it was due to using her ability to bring others into her master’s cause. “Well, not the one I was aiming for, but still works. Strange he managed to resist it like that.” She said before turning around and starting leaving.
“We’ll meet again, unless you die here today.” Paw said as the patch on her jacket started glowing faintly, before a small rift formed in front of her which lead to blackness.
Sparklez saw the mare start to leave, but he wasn’t about to let such a person to walk freely like that. Knowing that shouting at her and giving away his plan of attacking her, Sparklez sprinted forward as fast as he could, summoning the Sandslash to try and hold her down.
Paw was about to enter the portal when she sensed the man sprinting to her. She let out a sigh as she shook her head. “They never learn.” She said before bringing her right hand up and making a fireball appear on top of it, before she turned around and threw it towards the man.
“What?!” Was all that Sparklez managed to say as he was taken by surprise as he didn’t expect the mare to use that type of attack. He was hit by the fireball and sent reeling back to where the girls were, a small trail of smoke coming from his chest.
She was about to leave when the ground started rumbling, as heavy footstep sounded from her side. She turned towards the source to see a pair of fists going down on her, sending her to the floor which made the ground crack a bit.
“You pay for hurting master!” Knievel shouted as he brought his arms back up to land another blow on the white mare. Only to be stopped as she caught his hands in hers.
“So the idiot wants to play the big hero? Then I guess you deserve a quick death.” Paw said as she stood up, before using all of her force to lift the golem in the air and brought him back down to the ground.
She didn’t stop as she took one of Knievel arms and started pulling the it with great force, the golem screaming as he felt the joint of his arm screeching in pain, before it finally gave up as it came loose from its owner.
The watchers of the crowd looked on with disgust, while it certainly wasn’t a pony where the consequences of the act would have been different, it was still disturbing to watch as one could imagine what it would be like if it was done on a living creature like them.
Knievel shakily stood up to his legs, bringing his remaining arm to try and hit the mare. His movements were sluggish, the mare simply stepped to the side each time the golem tried to hit her. After the fifth one she had had enough fun before taking hold of the dismembered arm she had and swung it around, hitting the body of the golem and cracking it a bit in the process.
Knievel took a few steps back as he held his injured body, but didn’t have time to react to the second attack from the mare as she attacked his legs, breaking one of the appendages.
Sparklez looked on in despair as he saw his friend getting slaughtered out there, the pain from the fireball still making it impossible to move at the moment, the others too stunned to do anything as they just kept watching.
Paw looked at the kneeled form of the golem as it took hard breaths. “Any last words big guy?” Paw asked as she played with the fractured arm of the golem that she was using as a club.
Knievel looked at the mare with as much hatred as he could manage, before replying an answer he had heard his master say on one occasion.“Go...to hell.”
“Very well then.” Paw said as she brought the arm around again, this time spinning three times before delivering the final blow to Knievels body, the golem breaking into dozens of pieces as his head was sent flying up, landing back down in front of the group of friends.
The head of knievel looked at the face of those that were in front of him, seeing a few faces with tears as well as some of anger. He turned his eyes to see the dumbfounded face of Sparklez as he stared at the eyes of the golem. “Sorry, master.” Knievel said before letting his iron eyelids slowly drop close, encasing his ruby eyes.
Sparklez had so many emotions running through him at the moment, but one was bigger than the others, hate. A feeling that he normally didn’t express on his normal everyday life, and this hate was directed towards the white stripped mare who was dusting herself off.
Paw looked at the man, he was shaking from what she guessed was anger, if his angry face was any proof, she then looked to the dragon as it seemed to fight even harder to deny the truth of her master’s words. She then looked up to the sky, where the ghast remained floating in waiting, not wanting to disobey a member of the master’s top warriors.
“If you see the dragon get defeated, start attacking that group, but ignore any other pony that you see.” Paw said as she pointed to the group of friends that were looking at her as well as Spike.
The ghast gave a low whine, giving its affirmation to Paw. The mare gave a nod before turning to go through the rift, slowly smiling as she thought to herself. They are gonna be fun to play with. Before she passed through the rift, closing as soon as she went through it.
Sparklez was screaming at himself in his head, for being a failure and not being able to stop this murderous woman and letting her get away. But he was brought to reality when a scream sounded to his right, coming from Twilight as she was now being held by the neck by no other than Spike, his eyes now turned to white.
Sparklez, pumped with rage and adrenaline, he charged straight to the lizard, he wasn’t about to let another friend be taken away like that.
Spike saw the man coming as he brought his sword towards him. He let go of Twilight as he jumped back to avoid getting sliced by the Sandslash. “Paw is right, this world is stained with destruction, and we are the cause of it.” Spike said as he took a stance, bringing his arms up into a fighting style. “So I’ll make the masters will a reality, whatever it takes.” At that, his fists seemed to catch fire, but the flames were of a green colour opposed to the normal yellow and red.
Sparklez stood ready, his blade drawn, facing the dragon, he was still high on his anger surge. Twilight and the others worried now, their friends were about to fight, and the end result would probably not be good. “Bring it on, Drake boy.” Sparklez said. Spike then took a deep breath and exhaled, letting out a torrent of green flames toward the man and the girls.