The Nightmare After Nightmare Night

by SaddlesoapOpera

Tricks

PART TWO – TRICKS

Lock, Shock and Barrel scurried up to the mouth of the zigzagging alleyway. The three mischievous trick-or-treaters crowded on top of one another in a struggle for the best viewing angle.

“It’s so…bright,” said Lock from the top of the pile, squinting through his Devil mask at the strange four-legged creature trotting along next to Jack down Halloween Town’s main street.

“And…dainty!” added Barrel from the bottom. He raised his skull mask and slurped at an orange and black swirled lollipop.

“Yeah…” agreed Lock. Barrel joined him in an exaggerated “BLECH!”

Shock murmured something behind her witch mask.

“What was that?” asked Lock, cupping a hand to his ear.

Shock repeated herself: “…I like it.”

“You WHAT?” said her two cohorts in unison.

Shock removed her mask. Her beady eyes were sparkling and sweat beaded on her forehead. “I dunno what’s wrong with me, but I like it! It looks…nice!” She bit her lower lip. Her fingers tightened anxiously around the edges of her mask. “I…I think I wanna brush it!”

“You don’t even know what it is!” said Lock incredulously.

“I DON’T CARE!” she snapped. Lock and Barrel slapped a hand over her mouth from above and below and hissed out a chiding “SHHHHHH!”

“Did you hear something odd just now?” asked Rarity. Her ears shifted slightly.

Jack paused for a moment to listen. “No – only the usual screams, howls, snarls and the like.”

“….Oh. I see. Very well, then.” Rarity suppressed a shudder as they resumed their tour. “But as I was saying, I feel simply mortified about being so…undignified earlier. If I’d known you were royalty…!”

“Think nothing of it – screams are my stock in trade.” Jack smiled. “But as for royalty, it’s really more of a ceremonial–”

“JACK! There you are!” A pear-shaped man wearing a formal suit complete with an excessively-tall top hat jogged up to Rarity’s skeletal tour guide. His face was like a chalk-white mask locked in a dismal frown. “You can’t keep wandering off like this! It’s almost time for Halloween!”

Jack leaned forward and rested a comforting hand on the man’s shoulder. “Not to worry, Mayor – I did some planning, and my revisions shouldn’t take more than a few hours. I’d never let a year of preparation go to waste. Everything will be fine, I assure you.” Jack reached into his suit jacket and produced a slip of paper. “Here…I wrote down the key points on the way back from the Hinterlands.”

The Mayor took the paper and looked it over. After a few moments his head spun around with a mechanical creak, revealing a second, far happier face on the opposite side. “Brilliant as always! I was a fool to doubt you, Jack!” The Mayor ambled off, cheerily humming a macabre little tune.

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “You spend the whole year preparing for this one holiday?”

“Absolutely!” said Jack, beaming with pride. “If anything, I wish we had more time. My designs can be fairly complex.”

Rarity shook her head ruefully. “Oh, believe me, I know the feeling. First there was the Grand Galloping Gala, and now even if this whole falling-into-another-world-full-of-bizarre-creatures business hadn’t tripped up my schedule, I’m still not certain I would have finished my costume in time for our Nightmare Night celebration.”

Jack stopped undead in his tracks. He looked his visitor up and down. “Your costume isn’t finished? It looks fine to me!”

Rarity covered her dainty laugh with a front hoof. “That’s kind of you to say, but I’m not even wearing my costume right now. And as I said, I’m fairly sure I’ve missed the whole affair, anyway.”

Jack pounded a bony fist into his upturned palm. “That won’t do at all! You can’t attend a holiday celebration without a costume!” He pondered the dilemma for a moment, tapping a finger against his skull, before his expression brightened into a cheery rictus. “I’ve got it! You can finish your costume here! Our masquerade shops are second-to-none – you’ll be able to find whatever you need!” He stooped down to face Rarity eye-to-eye-socket. “And as for missing out…well, I wouldn’t worry. Time in Holiday Towns like this one doesn’t always pass as it does elsewhere. You may well be able to get home in time!”

“Really? Oh, that would be just marvelous!” Stars shone in Rarity’s eyes. “Whatever would I have done without you? You’re my knight in shining barding, Your Highness!”

“You’re most welcome!” Jack rose and cleared his throat. “But please…just call me Jack.”

Twilight Sparkle blearily raised her head and took stock of her surroundings. The clearing was similar to the one in Everfree, but with fewer door-trees and less canopy and underbrush. There were almost no leaves on the trees at all, in fact.

Twilight was lying on the hard-packed earth at the base of a pale-barked tree. She still wore her robes and her pointed hat was on the ground next to her, but she’d lost her beard in the howling winds that had sucked them through the door. She got to her hooves, put on her hat and started looking for her friends.

“Pinkie? AJ? Dash? Fluttershy? Where are you?” she called out. As she trotted forward she nearly stepped on the straw hat from Applejack’s scarecrow costume. She magicked it up…

…and revealed her Earth Pony friend’s severed head.

“AAAAAAHH!” Twilight screamed in terror and galloped in place in a panic. Her panic only deepened when Applejack’s head opened its eyes and screamed back.

Before her fear could take over completely, a hoof tugged at Twilight’s robes. She turned to face the Pony, ready to share her terrible discovery, but there was no friendly gaze to meet hers – only a gaping neck-hole stuffed with straw.

Twilight unleashed an even bigger scream.

“Stop screamin’ an’ help me!” said Applejack’s head while her body sat down and crossed its front hooves. “I’m awright…ya just startled me, is all.”

Twilight’s jaw dropped. “A-Applejack? You’re…y-you’re a…”

“I know! A scarecrow. An’ it’s powerful strange, I don’t mind tellin’ you. M’head came right off when we landed and I’ve been stumblin’ around fer a while now tryin’ to find it. But I didn’t make much progress without bein’ able to see.” Applejack carefully reached down and picked up her head. She frowned in concentration as she tried to put it back in its proper place.

“Here…let me help,” said Twilight. She ignited her horn and sewed the burlap of Applejack’s neck to that of her shoulders with conjured twine.

“Thank ya kindly,” said Applejack, craning her repaired neck from side to side.

“I heard screams…is everypony all right?” Fluttershy’s soft voice had come from somewhere above and behind Twilight.

“Fluttershy…?” Twilight turned and looked around, leaning to peer past the tree against which she’d woken up.

“I’m here, Twilight…” The tree twisted, revealing a shape not unlike a cyan-eyed equine face three quarters of the way up its trunk. “Oh, my!” said the tree. “How did you all get so small?”

At a total loss for words, Twilight simply stared up at the Fluttershy-tree with her eyes wide and her jaw slack.

The tree stared back for a moment before finally seeming to take stock of the situation. “…Oh! Well, this isn’t so bad, I guess…” Fluttershy’s cheeks brightened with a sap-coloured blush. “I mean, I’ve always wondered what it would be lik–”

As Fluttershy waved her “limbs” experimentally, Pinkie Pie dropped out from between her upper branches and landed on the ground in a puff of dust and white feathers. She hopped to her feet, met Applejack’s gaze, and then took off like a shot, squawking in fear and flapping her feathered front legs.

Twilight Sparkle slid an exasperated front hoof down her face. “Oohh-kay…apparently our costumes are real in this world. We’ll just have to make do until we can find Dash and Rarity and get back to Equestria.”

“Hold on a minute,” said Applejack, “Fluttershy wasn’t dressed up as no tree! She didn’t have on a costume at all!”

Fluttershy shifted anxiously, dropping a few autumnal leaves. “Um…I may have tried to hide under a pile of branches when the wind got really loud…”

“Huh. Well, awright…but what about you, Twilight?”

Twilight waited for the still-panicking Pinkie to pass between them before answering. “I’m not sure – I feel fine. Maybe it’s because I lost my beard. I mean, without the beard the costume isn’t finished. This way, I look more like Star Swirl in his early days as a wandering lore-hunter and adventurer…”

Twilight straightened. Her gaze turned stern and determined, and her voice slowly rose in volume. “Exploring Paleopony-Period ruins for secrets of eldritch magic…travelling to far-off places with my faithful companions…confronting frightful monsters with my mighty magic…” Twilight’s horn glowed under her hat; she conjured a jewel-topped wooden staff. “…and defeating evil – wherever it may lurk! – in the name of THE UNICORN KING!”

Twilight laughed boisterously and swung the magicked staff forward, blocking Pinkie’s path. The chicken-Pony stopped in her tracks. “No time for running about now, my fun-loving friend!” Twilight boomed. “We have damsels to rescue and treasure to find! Ha-ha-HA!” Twilight pointed her staff in an apparently-random direction and strode forth with total conviction. “Onward…TO GLORY!” Pinkie tagged along, her head bobbing happily as she walked.

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Treasure..? What treasure?”

“There’s always treasure,” said Twilight without looking back. “Trust me!”

The scarecrow turned to the tree next to her and frowned.

Fluttershy shrugged. “She seems to know what she’s doing…” she said, and twisted her branches and roots into something like a four-legged stance. She trotted off after the pair, her long stride making up for her slow gait.

Applejack shook her head and followed.

“CITIZENS OF PONYVILLE!” Luna bellowed, flapping her wings to hover above Ponyville’s town square, “YOUR PRINCESS HAS SO ENJOYED TONIGHT’S FESTIVITIES THAT WE HAVE DECIDED TO HOLD AN ENCORE! NIGHTMARE NIGHT SHALL BEGIN AGAIN!”

The gathered throng of Ponies stared up in silence for a long moment, until a pale yellow foal dressed as a princess spoke up:

“…More costumes?” she asked meekly.

“More candy…?” added a lavender Unicorn foal dressed as a firefighter.

“More Princess Luna?” said Pipsqueak the pirate, his unpatched eye brightening.

“VERILY!” said Luna.

The foals cheered and stomped applause. The adults soon joined them, and then got to work on restarting the celebration.

Spike stood up on Zecora’s back and leaned past her head for a better view of the proceedings. “Huh!” he said. “They took it better than I thought they would!”

Zecora turned away from the crowd. “For now it seems they took it well, but later? Only time will tell.”

“Awww, don’t worry! Twilight and the gang will be back before you know it.”

“The alternative is endless night; for all our sakes…I hope you’re right.”

Rarity poked her head through the costume’s shop’s half-open door. “Hello? Is anypony there?” She gently rapped a front hoof on the door-frame. When no one responded she trotted inside.

The shop was well-stocked with both raw materials and completed ensembles for every taste – assuming that those tastes tended toward the spooky and macabre, of course. The shelves and racks were heavy with clothes and fabrics in every colour of the graveyard and every pattern from spider-web to bats. The main room was dimly lit by a pair of flickering wrought-iron chandeliers. A crudely-stitched fashion dummy wearing a simple earth-toned dress sat limply on a chair in the back corner.

“Not much for a Sunday brunch at the country club,” mused Rarity, “but for Nightmare Night?” She giggled a self-satisfied giggle. “Oooh, I am going to be the envy of everypony!”

She magicked up a few bolts of assorted fabric. “That Jack…such a helpful King!” At Rarity’s mental command the hovering cloth split into smooth-edged shapes. “And that voice…!” Rarity shivered with delight.

“…You should hear him sing.”

Rarity yelped in surprise and turned around. The bolts of cloth tumbled to the floor.

The fashion dummy – more of a rag-doll, Rarity now noted – was standing up on its own and looking down at her with wide, friendly eyes.

“O-oh! I beg your pardon!” said Rarity as a faint blush coloured the bridge of her nose. “I thought nopony was here.”

The doll bit her lower lip. “Yes, sorry about that…I was sewing some socks and I must have fallen asleep. I’m Sally.” She offered Rarity a hand.

“Rarity.” The white Unicorn held out a front hoof; Sally shook it. “I didn’t mean to impose. Jack said I’d be able to finish my costume here.”

Sally gasped in horror and covered her mouth with a hand. “No costume? Oh, dear! Of course you can work here!”

Rarity smiled. “Splendid! Now…I don’t suppose you have a ponnequin or a clothes-horse lurking around here, do you? Something I can build my dress on?”

“Well, I have dummies, but they’re really more for folks…like me.” Sally’s eyes brightened. “No, wait!”

She jogged over to the store’s back door and went out into the back lot. She returned a moment later, leading a skeletal reindeer by its bridle. The undead construct regarded Rarity passively with its empty eye sockets.

“My…creator…built a team of these for one of Jack’s less well-thought-out ideas,” said Sally. “This one was left over, and I couldn’t bear to see it get dismantled, so I kept it.”

Rarity forced her disgusted grimace into something resembling a smile. “Oh, that’s…perfect!” she said through clenched teeth. “I’ll get right to work!”

“A-ha!” said Twilight, pointing her magicked staff down the road, “A town! We’ll be able to find out more about our quest there!” The robed Unicorn continued to take the lead. Pinkie Pie the Chicken walked along at her side, and Applejack the Scarecrow and Fluttershy the Tree brought up the rear.

“So it’s a quest, now?” said Applejack doubtfully.

“Well, we are trying to find Rarity and Rainbow Dash,” suggested Fluttershy, “and if anypony we know could be called a ‘damsel,’ it’s Rarity.”

“Precisely!” agreed Twilight cheerfully.

Ahead, something shiny deep in a thicket caught Pinkie Pie’s attention. She squawked curiously and stuck her head into the underbrush. When she pulled free, her companions shared a shocked gasp.

“*B-Kawk!*” she crowed triumphantly. “Look, everypony! I found a ticket to something!”

The leather-winged mass covering Pinkie’s eyes shifted slightly. Its gleaming red eyes narrowed menacingly, and it bared a daunting array of needle-sharp fangs.

Twilight tipped her hat to reveal her horn, and then used the crystal topping her staff as a focusing lens for a narrow beam of battle magic. With a bright flash and a burst of smoke the ticket shrieked and flew away, trailing smoke from its flaming rear end.

Pinkie blinked the soot out of her eyes. “Awww…” she said, “why’d you do that?”

“Shewt! Why d’ya think she did that? It was a huge, black–”

Twilight Sparkle cut Applejack off. “–Tie affair. Snooty and stuffy. Not your style at all.”

“Oooohhh. Phew! Thanks, Twilight! You’re a lifesaver!”

Applejack shook her head in disbelief, but a moment later her features twisted in consternation. She turned to Pinkie Pie. “Hay now – wait a minute! Ya can still talk?”

“Well, duh,” said Pinkie Pie. “I’m not a mime – I’m a chicken! *B-KAWK!*”

Applejack’s eyes narrowed. After a long, silent stare at her pink friend she sighed and muttered:

“…Let’s just go to th’town.”

“Woo!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Adventure!”

“That’s the spirit!” said Twilight.

Zecora kicked a few more pieces of wood into the fire heating the black iron cauldron on the street in front of Sugarcube Corner and then cautiously smelled the bubbling mixture she’d prepared. She jerked back after only a tiny sniff.

“Lo! This mixture packs a mighty kick – I hope that it will do the trick!”

Spike hopped up and down, trying to get a peek over the lip of the cauldron. “What’s this brew for, Zecora? Are you going to put on another show? Or is it some kinda…um…some…” Spike yawned. His hopping slowed down, and he flopped down onto his back. A moment later he was snoring.

Zecora chuckled. “It will keep the Ponies going strong, in case Miss Sparkle takes too long.” She picked up a ladle in her teeth and scooped up some of the dark liquid. She gently pressed on Spike’s tail with a front hoof; his jaw unhinged, and Zecora poured the potion down his throat.

An instant later Spike’s eyes snapped open. He leaped back onto his feet and started jogging in place.

“OhwowZecora!Thatstuff’sgreat!Ifeeltotallyawakenowthanks! Hey!IthinkI’mgonnagohavesomemorecandy!Okaybye!”

Spike streaked away at triple his usual speed.

“A most clever idea, wise maiden of Pundamilia!” said Luna, dropping down out of the black sky like a bird of prey. “Thy hedge magic has served Twilight Sparkle and her companions well in the past, or so her letters to Our Sister have suggested.” Luna trotted over to the cauldron. “However, searching an entire world may take them longer than thy potions can last. This calls for TRUE MAGIC!”

Luna ignited her horn and focused on the boiling brew. Its bubbling intensified, and it took on a dim glow the same shade as Luna’s deep blue magic.

Zecora eyed the supercharged potion warily. “Your Majesty, do You think that this is safe for them to drink?”

Luna spread her wings. Her eyes blazed white-hot. “DOST THOU DOUBT OUR MAGICAL PROWESS?”

The Zebra stood her ground. “I would never so rudely presume, O Princess of Darkness and Gloom.” She gave a curt half-bow. “…But spells can sometimes lead to trouble – and mixing spells can make it double!”

“Thy concerns are duly noted,” replied Luna before taking to the air. “ATTENTION, CITIZENS! FESTIVE PUNCH IS SERVED! COME ENJOY SOME NOW!” After a short pause she added: “THAT IS NOT A REQUEST!”

“That’s it, you macabre thing, you…hold still,” muttered Rarity as she magicked the last black pearl into place along her ornate gown’s hem. As ordered, the reindeer skeleton modeling the couture remained perfectly motionless. With the trim complete, Rarity stepped back and admired her hoofiwork.

“Ooooh!” said Sally. “It’s…beautiful!”

“It is, isn’t it?” said Rarity with a self-satisfied grin. “I’ve really outdone myself this time!”

The gown’s innermost layer was spider-web-patterned black lace and fishnet, covered by several shades of black and purple satin. Black pearls and the occasional vivid amethyst accented the seams and trim. An ornate braided-silver tiara set with a large black diamond and a matching set of silver shoes completed the ensemble.

“Would you like some help trying it on?” Sally asked.

“Most kind,” replied Rarity.

While Sally helped her into her masterpiece, Rarity airily inquired: “So-o-o – just out of curiosity – is there a Pumpkin Queen?”

Sally paused in adjusting Rarity’s tiara and cleared her throat. “Um, well, not exactly, but…” she smiled nervously.

Rarity raised an eyebrow as she stepped into the last silver shoe. “…You? You’re betrothed to royalty?” Her tone took on a haughty, sneering edge.

Sally wrung her hands together and stepped back. “W-well, it’s really more of a ceremonial–”

“I’m sorry, dahling,” said Rarity, magicking up a large pair of scissors, “…but that simply won’t do.” She looked up at the rag-doll, narrowed her eyes and chuckled a sinister chuckle.

A few minutes later, Jack’s spidery skeletal fingers crept around the edge of the costume shop’s door.

“Sally? Rarity?” Jack half-opened the door and popped his head inside. “How are things go–”

Jack Skellington had overseen the year’s most terrifying holiday more times than he could remember, but what he saw made his eye-sockets widen and his jaw drop.

Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Fluttershy cautiously trotted down the cobblestone streets of Halloween Town, looking at the freakish townsfolk with much the same worried expressions that the folk themselves wore.

“This place ain’t natural…” said Applejack. “Everypony’s got paws like Dragons!”

“Yeah!” said Pinkie Pie. “And they walk around on their hind legs! How weird is that? *B-KAWK!*” She flapped her front legs for emphasis.

“Eyes on task, girls,” said Twilight firmly, looking over her shoulder at her companions. “We need to find somepony who might have seen Dash and Rarity. Wait…where’s Fluttershy?”

The three Ponies retraced their steps, and soon spotted their arboreal ally back around the corner they’d just turned.

Fluttershy was pressed up against a building’s wall, anxiously half-turned away from another animate tree. The creature was leaning against the same wall, propped up by a branch. Its knothole-face wore a sinister grin.

“Don’t worry ‘Shy!” shouted Applejack, ‘I’m a comin’!” Applejack galloped ahead of the group and skidded into a turn in front of the dark-barked tree-monster. She unleashed an apple-bucking kick made only slightly weaker by her straw-filled state.

Small skulls and bones rained down like so many apples from the tree’s upper branches. “*URGH!*” it groaned. “Right in the periderm!” The tree keeled over, cradling its lower trunk with its limbs.

“Oh my!” gasped Fluttershy. “Applejack! Why’d you do that?”

Applejack raised a stitched eyebrow. “Uhh…I was rescuin’ you?”

Fluttershy frowned. “But he wasn’t attacking me!”

“He wasn’t…?”

“No! I was just telling him about our missing friends!”

“Well then how come you were all cringin’ and the like?”

Fluttershy’s syrup-coloured blush returned. “Oh…um…he also…” She turned partially away, her willowy mane of twigs half-hiding her face. “…said I had nice branches.”

“It’s t-true…” groaned the fallen tree. “You could be a m-model!” Fluttershy’s blush deepened.

Words failed Applejack.

Fortunately, the rest of the group chose that moment to trot over.

“Huzzah!” said Twilight. “The party’s reunited. Now we just need to find Dash and Rarity.”

A husky voice from a nearby alleyway answered Twilight: “WAY ahead of you!”

A pair of gleaming yellow lenses came into view first, followed by their streaked-maned wearer.

Twilight’s expression brightened. “DASH! It’s you!”

“The one and only,” said Rainbow Dash proudly. The Pegasus still wore her Shadowbolts uniform but the crude stitches were now small and neat, and the colours were more vivid – the blacks and purples abyssal, the yellow accents shining. She slicked back her multi-coloured mane with a front hoof. “Oh…and I went ahead and found Rarity for you guys, too.”

“Really? That’s GREAT!” said Pinkie excitedly.

“Woohoo!” cheered Fluttershy softly.

“Lead th’way, Sugarcube!” added Applejack.

Dash turned and took to the air, hovering along ahead of her four friends. A few blocks later, the Ponies came to a stop at the back of a large crowd gathered in the town square.

“Oh, cool – we’re just in time!” said Dash.

“In time…for what?” asked Twilight, a note of suspicion colouring her voice.

At the head of the crowd, an immaculately-dressed white Unicorn trotted up to the top of a wooden stage. She magicked up a pair of small objects, and then let them drop before her: a bat-bowtie and a lock of brown hair tied with a black ribbon.

“Citizens of Halloween Town!” Rarity intoned, her imperious voice echoing off the farthest walls, “This year, Halloween shall be MINE!”

The assembled masses murmured in confusion, but the first to speak up did so in support:

“I’m all for it!” shouted a grizzled old witch. “About time a lady gave it a shot!”

“PO-NY!” bellowed a massive aproned zombie with a cleaver buried in his forehead.

“I really like her mane!” added a young trick-or-treater.

“Rarity…?” whispered Twilight in shock. “Dash! What’s the meaning of–” Twilight turned to face her friend, but the Pegasus had taken off…to fly over and stand at Rarity’s side.

“I brought them just like you said…Your Majesty,” said Dash with a brief bow.

“Dash! No!” shouted Twilight. “Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!”

“Ah! My friends!” said Rarity, casting a glance to the back of the crowd. “Join these humble townsfolk in welcoming their new ruler! Gaze in awe upon…THE PUMPKIN QUEEN!” Rarity indulged in a lengthy bout of malevolent cackling.

“I don’t want to say I told You so…” said Zecora between gasping breaths, “but nimewaambieni hivyo!”

The Zebra was galloping through the streets of Ponyville alongside Princess Luna. A huge stampede of wild-eyed costumed Ponies was in hot pursuit, some of them carrying pitchforks or torches between their jaws.

“Burn the witches!” shrieked a red-maned beige Earth Pony. Her pupils were as small as pin-pricks.

“No mercy!” added the twitchy, green-maned pink Earth Pony next to her.

“Spiders! Spiders everywhere!” screamed their blonde-maned rosy friend before collapsing and slapping at her conspicuously spider-free flanks.

“We could not have anticipated this!” insisted Luna. “It was just a simple energizing spell! Warrior Unicorns used to use it all the time before going into battle!”

Zecora cast a sidelong glance at the Alicorn beside her and raised an eyebrow.

Luna winced. “…Oh.”

The pair rounded a corner, and barely skidded to a stop in time to avoid running into a wall of golden light.

The blazing glow faded, revealing the imposing presence of Princess Celestia.

“My dear Sister…” said the alabaster Alicorn sternly, “care to explain?”