//------------------------------// // Ch.16: Nightmare Night! // Story: A Hairier Problem: Rise of the Furball // by BlueBastard //------------------------------// Rise of the Furball Chapter 16: “Nightmare Night!” During the time when Queen Faust worked to turn the uneasy peace between the three pony subspecies into one single, unified population, she had encouraged the Earth ponies to restart an ancient tradition of holding a harvest festival at the end of fall. Having been largely forgotten by ponies during the period when Wendigoes created an unending blizzard that destroyed all crop production, Faust insisted on the resurrected tradition to be expanded and include unicorns and pegasi. In time, it assisted in her goal of a unified Equestria as one of the major examples of promoting harmony between ponies, and would continue even after she passed the throne to her daughters. Then, shortly before the harvest festival was to be celebrated all over Equestria, Luna’s jealousy and insecurities were allowed to manifest in her rage against Celestia, resulting in the birth of Nightmare Moon. By the time even the farthest reaches of the country had heard of Luna’s attempted coup d’état, the festival was largely forgotten as everypony was scared that the princess-turned-monster would come after them, if not one of her monstrous minions such as werewolves or the vampiric batponies. The following year, well after Celestia had tearfully banished her own sister to a thousand years on the moon and the New Lunar Republic crushed under her subsequent rage, the lone alicorn insisted that the harvest festivals resume. However, as the reign of terror caused by Nightmare Moon was still fresh in the minds of the populace, rumors circulated of her return, and so to avoid mass panic Celestia was forced to change the harvest festival into a yearly event dedicated to everything scary and what goes bump in the night. While it hurt Celestia to have effectively villainize her sister, the newly created Nightmare Night was a success in every respect and helped turn the terrors of old into mere folklore and simple young reader level scary story material. Much to the sun princess’s relief, Luna was amused at the idea of a holiday dedicated to her, at least after making a major scene in Ponyville unannounced for her first public appearance following her restoration. As for all the other creatures of the night who were Nightmare Night icons, they had disappeared over the years or become more docile over the years, such as the batponies no longer needing to drink blood thanks to genetic drift. Or at least that was what Silver Spoon had wanted to believe. But after months of being dragged along by Diamond Tiara and that ghost werewolf on some scheme to expose Apple Bloom as one of those monsters of yore, with the pretense of needing such activity having been thrown in her face, the young silversmith had never been more scared, even on previous Nightmare Nights. “…and so that’s the plan, got it?” asked Diamond, who was dressed up as a miniature éclair. “Yeah…” half-heartedly answered the gray filly, whose own costume, that of a slice of French Cream Pie, had yet to be put on.  She and Diamond were in Silver’s room, as while Silver had survived falling into the river she hadn’t totally escaped unharmed. As it turned out, she’d broken her left foreleg at some point during the smashing against things in the water, not feeling it until she’d already been brought to Ponyville General. Now she was forced to wear the foreleg brace if she wanted to get anywhere, much like how Apple Bloom had needed to wear one although she only had some kind of severe cut, not a broken leg. “Great. Now, get your costume on,” continued Diamond, oblivious to the unsure undertones in her companion’s voice or her own volume when she muttered, “This would have been so much easier if you hadn’t stupidly broken your leg!” “What was that?” said Silver, turning to fully look at Diamond. “Uh, just muttering to myself how we’re gonna get Apple Bloom tonight!” lied Tiara. Silver had a fairly good idea what had really been said, but between the lingering effects of the pain medication she’d been prescribed and her unwillingness to argue with her only friend, Silver just didn’t feel like making a point of it. At the very least, all she had to do was be the lookout tonight since she couldn’t really do anything else thanks to her busted leg. “Silver, Diamond, it’s time to go!” called up Silver’s mom. “Coming, mom!” replied Silver.  “Okay, can you help me get into this thing, Tiara?” Diamond nickered. “If I have too…” “Y-you want me to come along?” cautiously asked Raspberry, currently manning the desk at the Traveler’s Retreat. “But of course, darling!” replied Rarity, dressed up in her old Princess Platinum costume from the one time she played the role in the Canterlot Hearth’s Warming Eve pageant. It wasn’t exactly the same; the cloak had been mostly ruined by mildew and masonry residue, a result of its storage bin having been damaged due to having been in a box that suffered flood damage when Spike had 'helped' Applejack 'help' Rarity in fixing the not actually broken water pipes, then forgotten in the wake of Ceberus having laid siege to Carousel Boutique a year ago. What had been salvageable was incorporated into a new cloak, visually the exact same but slightly thicker as to keep Rarity warm in the event this Nightmare Night was chillier than usual. “But I don’t have a costume.” “Why didn’t you tell me?! I make clothes for Celestia’s sake, plus after that last gem delivery a week ago I would have happily made you a new costume from the ground up!” “I-I’m sorry…” Rarity just shook her head. “Raspberry, Raspberry, Raspberry…what am I going to do with you?” “Leave me here?” Raspberry then gave a squee-grade grin. Rarity just looked unamused. Her horn then lit up, encapsulating the hapless non-costumed mare. “I will not stand by and let somepony like you sit out Nightmare Night. Come, surely I can make something out of what I left lying around at home.” Unwillingly being forced to hover as Rarity turned to leave, Raspberry flailed her limbs wildly, trying to break free without using her magic. Rarity couldn’t know that fact, not yet. So, instead, Raspberry cried for help. “What’s going on?” came Cashmere, walking in from the kitchen in the house area of the Retreat. “Miss Rarity, what are you doing to Razz?” “Oh, I’m sorry!” apologized Rarity, still leaving Raspberry hovering in the air, “but she doesn’t have a Nightmare Night costume, so I’m going to take her to be fitted and then she will help chaperone the Crusaders for candy.” “I, uh, what?” was all Beryl could say. “Oh, don’t tell me you’ve never experienced Nightmare Night, ever!” dramatically exclaimed Rarity, much to Raspberry’s mild annoyance. “Didn’t have the time, usually I tried to schedule one of my gem trips around the end of the harvest season. I never saw the point, you know what my fillyhood was like and I’ve never wanted to make a costume because money is always tight.” “Well, I think Miss Rarity will see to it that this year is different, won’t you?” asked Cashmere. “And Razz, dear, you can take the rest of the night off. Nopony comes to the Retreat this late on Nightmare Night anyway, so Ascot and I can handle it. We’re old coots as it is, so we tend to just stay inside and pass out candy to any fillies and colts who come around. But you’re young - you should have the chance to experience a fun night like this!” By that point, Heliodor had come in and, upon seeing his usual perch was now unstable and hovering in the air, chose a nearby table. “Oh, and I’ll make a costume for little Heelee, too!” squealed Rarity. Heliodor, however, had a sinking feeling in his gut as a reaction, giving Raspberry a ‘what the hell is she going to do to me?’ look. “A fashion makeover, to both of us.” Said Raspberry, equally as uneasy as her pet. Rarity then suddenly took the chance to bolt out of the Retreat, the hapless unicorn in her aura taken along for the ride. Heliodor merely facewinged before taking off to follow. He dreaded what the alabaster fashionista was going to do to them. He soon got his answer when Rarity almost literally tossed his mistress into the Boutique. He quickly rushed to her side, even though he knew she wasn’t hurt, but the sudden loud click of the door lock made him pale. “R-Rarity?” whimpered Raspberry, now unsure of what was going on. “You two. Will. Be…” She then turned around, her eyes and muzzle distorted with a crazed look, “FABULOUS!” The various tools around the workfloor became ignited with her aura as were pieces of fabric, all of them spinning in one large circle. Raspberry and Heliodor clutched each other, screaming in terror, as the ensemble descended upon them like a ravenous beast. Lightning Dust anxiously moved about the inside of Rainbow Dash’s home. It was bad enough that she was cooped up inside a building of some kind, her wolf side was practically screaming in her head to be let loose. Normally she was able to sneak out to the Everfree during such nights, thankfully rare as they were, but as agreed she needed to tell Rainbow she was doing so. The issue at hoof was that Rainbow Dash had disappeared. Dust had been taking a nap on the couch when Rainbow had last come home, so all she remembered was the blue Pegasus saying something about getting ready for Nightmare night. But that had been fifteen minutes ago, before all sound from the upstairs stopped. Investigation found the master bedroom to be in a state of total chaos (which, despite every logical reason to believe so, was normally extremely clean and tidy in contrast to the way RD treated everything on the ground). “R-rainbow?” cautiously called out Dust. Dash’s disappearance had spooked her badly, with every odd noise making her fur stand on end. She’d even allowed her fangs to be put out simply to help reassure herself that whatever she might face, she wasn’t totally defenseless. Suddenly, the entire house went pitch black. “AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!” screamed Dust.  In her panic she accidentally fell on her back, her four legs pointed up into the nothingness. Frozen with fear, she paled as something in a horribly strained tone, as if perpetually choking, started to whisper things in tongues she didn’t understand. Then they became things she did understand such as “Nightmare Niiiiiiiiiiiight…What a friiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight…give me somethiiiiiiiiing…” The hyperventilating only increased as the voice became louder. Then, suddenly, from the top of her view game two giant, glowing eyes, attached to a nightmarish Shadowbolt that was the source of the strange voice and shouted; “SWEET TO BITE!” Acting on pure instinct, Dust didn’t even have time to process her actions before she immediately shifted to full wolf form, righted herself, and then dashed under the nearest thing she could see. It then occurred to her that she could see better in the dark when she was a wolf. The lights then came on, the shadowbolt having restored the lighting spell in the lamp fixtures, revealing it to be only Rainbow Dash. “Oh, man!” laughed Rainbow, keeling over and clutching her chest, laughing all the way down. “Your face…Oh, Celestia, your face! I didn’t think I was that good!” Dust’s first thought was to immediately attack Rainbow and bite down on her neck so hard it would crush the windpipe. She bared her teeth in anger, but she willed herself back in control, although doing so made her realize how easily she’d lost control from something as simple as a prank. That scared her much more than Rainbow had, prompting her to start tearing up. Rainbow immediately realized her prank had gone too far, although considering how fearless Dust usually was, the idea a rather simple scare tactic had reduced her to tears made no sense. “Aw, geez, I’m sorry, Dust…” apologized Rainbow, removing the headpiece and goggles so her six-color mane fell free. “You should have told me that you’re not one for scares. After everything we did back at the academy-“ “That was a different me!” Lightning snapped back, her physical state somewhere halfway between pony and wolf as she slowly forced herself back to normal. “Back then I wasn’t a werewolf, I wasn’t so insecure about myself because sometimes I don’t know what is real or not since I’m now something that all my life was said to be a myth!” She started to choke, big fat tears starting to come down. “D-don’t get the wrong id-idea, Dash, it was a good prank and if I was half the mare I used to be I w-would have done th-the same…but…but my gut reaction when you revealed it was you…I just h-had to stop myself from killing you simply out of fear!” Rainbow involuntarily took a half-step back at that revelation, but then continued forward and took her troubled flatmate into an embrace. “But you didn’t, Dust. I’m sorry I put you in this position, if I’d even had the slightest hint a scare like that would have set you off I wouldn’t have dared to do that.” “I-its okay, Dash. It’s Nightmare N-Night, after all. Best night of the y-year for pranks.” “More like prank, since that was the only one I’d planned.” Dust broke the embrace, her eyes red from the tears but giving Rainbow a hard enough ‘what are you talking about’ look that the blue Pegasus had to give a sheepish grin as she responded. “I promised Scootaloo that I’d chaperone her and her friends around, since I’m her adoptive big sister. No time for pranks, even though I honestly would love to do what I did that one year all over again.” “Wh-what did you do?” Seeing the opportunity to cheer up the cursed mare, Rainbow got up and retrieved her Shadowbolt mask, donning it once again before going into excruciating detail about how she pushed a cloud around and fired thunderbolts at unsuspecting ponies…and her own shocking surprise. “Wait, Princess Luna used your own prank against you?!” chortled Dust, who was of a much better mood. “Yeah, it was embarrassing, luckily only Twilight and Spike were there to see it since they’d been my targets.” Admitted Dash, whose blush could be seen through the mask. “But, times change, so I’m playing it low key this year and hanging out with the girls on the ground.” “As a Shadowbolt once again?” “Nah, I only brought this thing out so I could prank you with it. I’ve got a different, less threatening one already prepped for me back upstairs. As for you…” Dust shrugged. “I figured I would just spend a night in the Everfree again, I gotta go wolf form soon and it’s not going to do me any good cooped up in your house or in public.” Dash nodded in agreement. “Yeah, that makes sense. But you could stick around that clearing where the Nightmare Moon statue is. Normally it’s safe, but just in case it would be nice if you patrolled the area to keep it clear from any monsters. Some occasional growls while the kids and chaperones are doing the candy ritual thing would help set the mood, too.” Dust then gave a conspiratorial grin, her fangs once again showing, “does that mean I can take some of the candy when nobody’s looking?” Dash rolled her eyes. “Like a werewolf needs any more reason to be hyperactive,” She chuckled. “I’m so ready for CANDY!” exclaimed Scootaloo, who to nopony’s surprise was wearing an Iron Mare costume. “Yeah, it kind of stinks that our cutie marks won’t be for candy collecting,” said Sweetie, dressed in her own “pretty princess” outfit. Visually, it looked similar to the one Rarity was wearing although the elder unicorn was busy subjecting Raspberry and Heliodor to the Carousel Boutique Horror Show, the main difference being Sweetie’s crown was a more traditional closed-top headpiece. At its highest point sat the magnificent diamond centerpiece with smaller gems of various colors dotting the rest of the crown. “Or candy eatin’!” added Babs, who had decided to dress up as a changeling of all things. Clad in a form-fitting catsuit with holes cut at random in the leggings to simulate the signature appearance of the changelings, a saddle carapace and wing attachments made of cardboard were tied around her middle, and a cheap pair of plastic vampire fangs completed the look. “Or dressin’ up in costumes!” agreed Apple Bloom. She was dressed up in a rather simple costume:  Carmine Sancaballo. She wore a blood-red trenchcoat and a large red fedora, similar to those worn by the world famous thief who was a semi-regular antagonist in the Daring Do books. She then playfully mimicked the character by reaching for the diamond sitting upon Sweetie’s head. “Stop right there, Sancaballo!” announced Daring Do, who swooped down and “tackled” her enemy away from the prize. Rainbow then swooped around and put Apple Bloom back on the ground. “Great costume, by the way, you even have the hoof boots and everything!” “Would ya believe those were mine a long time ago?” said Applejack, who was wearing of all things a Wonderbolt costume. She even had fake plastic wings the same shade of orange as her coat, although they were cast in the folded position as having them in an open pose would be problematic for a pony who normally didn’t have wings. “They’re mah old rain galoshes, but Granny preserved ‘em for Apple Bloom so well that they seem to fit the part.” “Speaking of preserved, look who’s coming,” said Rainbow, motioning to an approaching figure. Amazingly, it was Fluttershy of all ponies, wearing her old Private Pansy costume. Rainbow had to voice what everypony was thinking; “Fluttershy, don’t you usually hide at home during Nightmare Night?” “Y-yes, normally I would, but…” replied the armored mare, “I figured it would be alright this time, just hanging around with you girls.” “Whoopee! This is going to be the best Nightmare Night EVER!” exclaimed Pinkie, her costume of choice being a giant Gummy suit, with Gummy himself (attached to her mane by way of clamped jaws) dressed in a mini-Pinkie suit “It’s going to be an interesting one for sure!” said Twilight, who somehow managed to glide in and land without tripping, with Spike on her back clutching on for dear life. All the other ponies gathered gave a quick ground stamping applause for the alicorn. “A little higher on the approach next time, but otherwise that was good!” approved Rainbow Dash, “although…you do still need to work on choosing costumes other ponies actually would know.” Twilight nickered in annoyance. “I’m Wysteria the Wise! Please tell me somepony here knows who she is!” Silence. “Apprentice to Star Swirl the Bearded? First Archmagus under the newly formed Equestrian Crown under Queen Faust?” More silence. “Hey, at least it’s better than that Coperneighcus costume you drafted up,” commented Spike, who was wearing a giant phoenix outfit. “That thing made you look like a beet.” Twilight sighed. “I told you, Spike, that idea went down the tubes when I couldn’t work in a way to accommodate these.” She partially unfolded her wings to prove her point. “If there was some way I could keep these from springing up involuntarily, then I could still go around as a unicorn. But, since this is the night meant for scaring and my control over my new appendages isn’t perfect, this costume is better for me. After all, you even said as such earlier…Spike, are you listening?” The dragon didn’t hear anything, as his full attention was on the diamond in Sweetie’s crown. Sure, the little gems around it looked like sweet little candies, but the centerpiece was one of the most delicious looking gems he’d ever seen in his life. The fountain of drool coming from his mouth was evidence of such. It was only when he was aware that everypony was looking at him with concern that he snapped out of his trance. “Oh, uh, sorry, trying to avoid getting sick on candy again, but I’m so hungry and that diamond…” Sweetie Belle shook her head to dissuade the dragon. “I wouldn’t recommend even thinking about it, Spike. Rarity had this diamond special ordered from Raspberry Beryl, who said this is the largest diamond she ever sold.” “Speaking of whom…” began Apple Bloom, gesturing with her head towards more approaching figures. This time, it was Rarity in her original costume escorting Raspberry and Heliodor. The gathered ponies looked on as Rarity arrived with her companions, sporting her improvised on-the-spot costumes. Raspberry Beryl, done up in a slightly filly, slightly country style pleated dress, with a medium red cloak over it all. Her mane was done up in two long pigtails that seemed sort of the same as how Granny Smith looked in the old pictures of her as a filly. Heliodor was a grumpy phoenix wearing a midget-sized dragon costume. He hated it. Then he hated it more when he realized it was colored like Spike. “Well, um…” snickered Pinkie, “guess we have a pair of paired opposites!” “Indeed.” Said Rarity. “Admittedly, I did intentionally make Heliodor’s costume similar to Spike, but only because they are similar in their relations to their pony partners.” “Wait, Raspberry, you think of Heliodor as a younger brother?” questioned Twilight before shooting a disapproving look at Rarity for putting words in the other unicorn’s mouth. “No, not really, although the idea they’re dressed up as each other is cute,” replied the cloaked mare, “but I see Heelee as just a close friend and companion. That said, I wasn’t originally planning on being out tonight until Rarity dragged me out of the Retreat, so I don’t know what’s going on tonight.” “What do you mean you don’t know what’s going on?” asked Pinkie, before doing an exaggerated gasp, “Oh, don’t tell me you’ve never celebrated Nightmare Night before!” “Never had the chance, nor interest, nor even enough money for a costume in the event I had the other two.” “Well, then!” exclaimed Rainbow, hovering over and draping a foreleg around the unicorn, “You’re with the right group of ponies to do it with!” To say Raspberry was nervous was an understatement. She’d gone from happily manning the desk back at the hotel, to now having been stuffed into a costume (which was admittedly quite nice, especially the cloak) and spending the night with the six most dangerous ponies possible. And their younger counterparts, including Apple Bloom who still gave off an unsettling aura of…something, Raspberry didn’t know what it was any more than she did last time, but it wasn’t good. But…she thought, daring a smile while pretending to follow what the discussion at hoof was about, perhaps I’m just getting worried about nothing. If I can prove to the six elements I’m a good pony who doesn’t want to hurt anypony, then that could be the ticket to me finally breaking free of my cursed life. Bolstered by the thought this was the end of all her troubles, Raspberry  eagerly agreed to help chaperone the Crusaders while they collected candy. There were mentions of some candy-giving ritual to some statue of Nightmare Moon, but every instance of that reminded Raspberry that the secrets she kept were far scarier than any inert statue. Diamond hurriedly placed the last of the bait on the path before darting to safety. If anypony learned she’d purposefully not been with the group being led by Zecora for the candy-giving ritual (which was stupid, everypony knew Nightmare Moon didn’t really exist anymore now that Princess Luna wasn’t being confused for her anymore), it would be a world of trouble coming her way. But with Silver Spoon having stayed behind in Ponyville as the cover, claiming Diamond was busy using the little filly’s room, Diamond only needed to get back before anypony realized the truth and she was home free. And Apple Bloom? Well… “Now you’re going to get yours!” whispered Tiara. While she wouldn’t be there to see what happened to the monster in Apple Bloom’s skin, just knowing the task would be accomplished was enough at this point. Then, as if giving a signal to an unseen watcher, she motioned with her hoof, and then took off into the forest. She didn’t need to fear any of the creatures, her friend from the other side had ensured none of those beasts would cross her path tonight. As it was, she made good time and was back in Ponyville before anybody noticed, meeting up with Silver Spoon and where she’d put her stored costume. “Finally!” exclaimed Silver, “you were kind of pushing it for time there!” “Oh, give it a rest, I got it done, didn’t I?” chided Diamond, moving to put the éclair back on. Silver then stopped her. “Diamond…what happened in the Everfree?” “What are you talking about? I set the trap, so you-know-who will deal with the rest!” “Then what’s the blue stuff on your hooves? And more importantly…where’s your cutie mark?” Panic registered in Tiara’s brain as she immediately looked down at her hooves. They were spotted with blue pollen. Then, slowly, she turned to look at her flank. It was blank. All thoughts of her glorious revenge on Apple Bloom were immediately replaced by a shrill scream of Diamond Tiara having become the very thing she loved to mock. It was only the first of multiple scares the town would endure that night.