//------------------------------// // Fright Night // Story: And Why They Can Work Out For The Better // by musicman722 //------------------------------// “Mooom! Daaaad! C’mon! We’re gonna miss all the candy!” Yaocihuatl said as she paced near the door. This was it. This was the year she would strike out on her own. She was going to hit all the big houses this year with her friends. The ones with the nice ponies who give out the most candy that she wasn’t going to get if her parents weren’t so slow! She tugged at her costume for the fifth time to make sure it was on right, especially around the wings. This time, she went as a mummy since last year’s vampire costume pulled off the fake blood a little too well for her parents' taste. “Sorry, Yaoci. You’re father kept distracting me.” Ahuizota said as she descended the stairs. She had the idea of themed costumes since Yaocihuatl was old enough to get candy, and thus was dressed like Hapsheepsut, that one pharaoh lady from really long ago. She had the gold bands, makeup, and clothes to look like her. “To be fair, you do look ravishing.” Derring Do said, bumping his flank against hers. He himself was dressed as some warrior in similar clothes. He was going to go as King Tut, until Yaocihuatl kept calling him King “Butt” because he kept bumping into things. She didn’t get dessert that night, but it was still funny. Yaoci wondered if dad ever got clothes from tombs for them to wear. The tombs and her parent’s closet both had old people’s clothes in it. He did get that nice crown from the cat-combs of Prance that he let her wear once. She’d have to ask him at bedtime. “Can we go now?” Yaocihuatl rolled her eyes at her parent’s stalling and opened the door. She grabbed her bag in her mouth and took off down the street, her costume making a spooky contrail behind her. Her mom yelled something about it, but she couldn’t hear her over the sound of an amazing night ahead. The sun had just set, leaving the air matching the leaves strewn about the streets and hanging from the trees. A couple ponies were walking around lighting up the Nightmare Night lights, waving at the groups of families headed for the festivities. Giggles and screams filled the air, letting all know of the spooky fun that awaits them. Yaocihuatl bounded past them all to find the spot she would meet her friends at. She soon found them hanging around the dunk tanks trying to get their mean math teacher, Mr. Sawshank, to fall into the water. “Ha! That the best you can do?” He shouted at the kids throwing the balls, “You’d have better luck trying to get good grades in my class!” “Hey guys, sorry I’m late.” Yaocihuatl said. “My parents were taking forever. Did you get him yet?” “Almost…” Airsoft said. He threw his ball up in the air and gave a spinning kick to it with the help of his wings. The ball flew towards the target but missed it by a foot. He threw his hooves in the air. “Aw, come on! That was my signature kick!” "You sure the sun wasn't in your eyes?" Mr. Sawshank asked, cackling again. Good teacher, terrible personality. “Let me try.” Yaocihuatl picked up one of the balls and threw it. Like the others before, it swung wide of its target. “You couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn!” Their teacher said, but Yaocihuatl ignored him and threw another ball, missing again. Like her friends, Yaocihuatl wasn’t fond of him either, but right now she was more focused on how she missed an easy target. Being part predator, her mother was trying to develop her hunting instincts and that meant catching a moving target (usually Dad) with any method. So far she was pretty accurate though not nearly as good as Mom. "You see it too?" The unicorn filly to her left asked. "Yeah, I think he's cheating, Tails." Steam Tail, or Tails as her friends call her, was one of the super science-y foals in the class. With the help of her magic, she could figure out most of the homework in a minute or two. Right now, she was scribbling some math stuff in the dirt with a stick. It was a little tricky with her alien costume in the way. "According to my calculations, one of us should have hit him by now." She said. "I bet he's using some trick like the questions he gives us." "He would do that." Yaocihuatl said. She continued to observe the other players until she spoke again. "I think I have an idea. I just need a boost. Hey Airsoft!" The colt in the ninja garb jerked his head as he threw another miss. "What?" "Time to put those ninja skills to work." Yaocihuatl grabbed him, making him curl up, and chucked him as hard as she could with the help of Steam Tail's magic at the target. Everyone watched as the colt sailed through the air and landed butt first on the target. The look on Mr. Sawshanks face turned to horror as the seat dropped out from underneath, sending him into the water. A wave of cheer erupted from the audience upon seeing his fate play out. Not wanting to stick around and await their teacher's wrath, Yaocihuatl and her friends bolted from the scene. They found themselves still giggling in the food area of the carnival. "He's gonna be so mad next class." Steam Tails said, adjusting her costume. "It was worth it." Yaocihuatl said before biting into a caramel apple she picked up a minute. "But why'd you have to throw me?" Airsoft asked. Yaocihuatl shrugged. "I had a hunch he was cheating by using a spell to make the balls miss. Didn't think you'd actually dunk him." "I think he used some sort of magnet in the target and then filled the balls with magnets so when they got close they would be repelled!" Steam Tails said, only to be met with blank stares. Airsoft just rolled his eyes. "Crazy fillies." "Whatever. Now come on, we have a lot of houses to hit up tonight." Yaocihuatl said. She picked up her bag in her tail hand and led the way to the first street. Just as they had planned a week before, the three of them played Nightmare Night pinball, bouncing from house to house and collecting candy and screams at each stop. Along the way, they met several other friends who joined in their path to goodies, ghouls, and glory. "I got some Geeks." "Trade you my Andromedas for those Slippyhooves." "Aw, I can't eat these with my braces." "Think we should go TP that tree?" "I got a rock." "Do think Nightmare Moon will think our pumpkin patch is the best in the world?" The group of pirates, monsters, ninjas, and more made their merry way down the last street of the night when the scariest thing appeared before them. "Hey, runts! Where do you think you're going?" The school bullies. Rex, Red Rover's older brother, and his two toadies, T-bone and Toadstool. The three of them terrorized children on a daily basis, and by the look of the bag in Toadstool's magic, today was no exception. "Don't you know you gotta pay a toll to go through here?" Rex said. As a diamond dog, he stood well over the heads of the foals, and combined with his teeth and claws made for a fearsome enemy. Already, most of the group was quaking in their hooves. "What toll?" Yaocihuatl asked, "Besides, we don't got bits for a toll." She puffed her chest out and tried to make herself look bigger, like her mother said to do. Rex bent down, narrowing his eyes at the challenger. "My toll, and I never said anything about bits. Now fork over the candy or I'll give you something to scream about." He motioned for Toadstool to open the bag. It looked like they weren't the first victims. The more scared foals stepped up first to drop their bounty in, tears in their eyes when they scurried back. The ones who had some defiance were cured of that by T-bone's arm flex. Yaocihuatl was the last to give in. She stood stock still, candy bag gripped in her tail hand like a vise. It was a futile gesture as she faced two diamond dogs and a unicorn who were all bigger than her. "C'mon filly, drop the goods and scram." Toadstool said. "Yeah, that's it. Right in the b-oof!" His words were cut short by the sudden candy-bag-turned-mace in the face. It broke his magic hold on the bag, causing it to fall and some of the contents to scatter. He tried to retaliate, but only received another blow for his efforts. A solid blow to his chest and he was down for the night. Everyone was stunned by the display. The foals gazed in equal parts of fear and hope at the rebellion the bullies hadn’t anticipated. Yaocihuatl hopped off of Toadstool and bared her fangs at the other two with a hiss. A challenge between predators, which broke them out of their stupor. “You’ll pay for that, you little brat!” Rex said, lunging at Yaocihuatl. She grit her teeth and leaped, claws outstretched. Like the times she practiced with Mom and her cats, Yaocihuatl flew over Rex’s head and used her back hooves to push him into the dirt. With her impromptu springboard, she launched herself at the last one, ready to scratch his face out. However, Yaocihuatl didn’t account for T-Bone’s faster reflexes and much longer reach when she found herself held in place by his meaty paws. “Bad kitty.” He said, his voice sounding almost too big for his body. “Nap time now.” He began to squeeze his prey. “Signature kick!” A voice shouted, followed by the sound of something hard colliding very fast with something soft. All Yaocihuatl could see was the diamond dog’s face turn from menacing to comical surprise as he let go of her to grab more important things. She flapped her wings and looked down to see Airsoft pulling his leg out from under the huge dog. “You okay?” he asked. “I’m fine.” Yaocihuatl glided back down in front of Rex’s face as he pulled it out of the ground. After he finished coughing up dirt, she swiped her claws across his face, leaving faint lines. “That’s for trying to take our candy.” Another swipe, opposite claw. “That’s for stealing all the rest of the candy.” Rex howled in pain, though Yaocihuatl didn’t think she hurt him that bad and that he was a big baby. Enraged now, he searched for someone to take it out on. His eyes locked onto Airsoft, whose leg was still trapped under T-Bone’s chest. Seeing this, Yaocihuatl gasped. “Airsoft, look out!” The orange colt looked up in time to see Rex’s hungry, angry eyes fixated upon him before leaping forward. He screamed in terror, trying harder to escape, but to no avail as the jaws inched closer through the air. “Bad doggie!” Before Rex could reach him, a large, white mass collided with him mid-air and sending him sprawling. Rex only had a second before the same mass flew again and landed on his face, putting him to sleep for a while. “Now play dead. Good boy!” Steam Tail said, her magic dissipating from holding the heavy loot bag. The group of foals who stood transfixed by the amazing display of bravery all cheered when the last bully went down. “He’s gonna be really mad when he wakes up.” Steam Tail said. “Yeah, let’s grab the loot and run.” Yaocihuatl said. “Dibs on first pick.” “Hey!” Airsoft said. “But I saved you!” “My claws, my win, my pick. Besides, I started the fight. You’re lucky I’m sharing.” Yaocihuatl said, brushing her claws clean. “Now help me carry this thing. It’s heavy.” The foals grabbed the loot and scurried off into the night, eager to hit the last few houses to make up for lost time. The rest of the night went without trouble and so the foals ended up dividing their combined loot in the town square. “My first pick will be…” Yaocihuatl said, “The whole bag! Bwahahahahaha! The fighting queen demands tribute!” “I’ll tribute my hoof if you don’t cough up the candy.” Airsoft said, though he wasn’t serious. “Yeah, my alien body requires the power of sugar!” Steam Tail waved her costume around, standing on her hind legs for height. “Relax, I’m kidding.” Yaocihuatl said, calming the other silly protests. “No, but seriously, I want those licorice whips. Dad won’t let me play with his whip.” In the end, Yaocihuatl bounded to the meeting point she and her parents agreed on with full candy bag in tow. Once they were in sight, she creeped up on them before pouncing onto dad’s back with a ferocious yell. “Oh, hey Yaoci. Have a good night?” Derring asked the wrapped up predator that appeared out of nowhere. It was obvious he was terrified by the attack. “Certainly looks like it by the looks of that bag.” Ahuizota said, peeking into the dropped bag. “It was awesome!” Yaocihuatl said, changing her tactics to a not-a-hug stranglehold. “Me and my friends went everywhere! We even fought off scary monsters that tried to take our candy!” “Really? Did these ‘monsters’ by any chance hurt my little warrior?” Ahuizota asked. “Nah, they were more scared of me.” “I’ve no doubt about it. Now come on. It’s late and you have chores in the morning.” Ahuizota said, leading the way back home. “Awww.” “Also, you have to pay candy taxes.” Derring said, smiling at his attacker. “Hey!” “That’s how bribery works, sweetie. You pay us and we look away. Also, I want the Three Royal Guards.” Yaocihutl frowned. “Fine…Why do you have a bunch of leaves in your costume?” ***** Earlier “You know, we did promise not to follow her this year. She should be fine.” “We’re not following her, dear. We’re shadowing her. There’s a difference. I’m not about to let some crazy pony do something when we’re not around.” “Fine. But no interfering unless it’s an emergency.” “Deal.” … … “You know, there is a lot of screaming going on.” “Yes, Derring, and I hope none of it’s from Yaoci.” “I mean, I’m just noticing a lot of things going on. The night sky, your sexy costume, the low chance of other ponies seeing us...we could put in a few screams of our own.” “You got enough touching before we left, Derring.” “It has been a while since we’ve had time to ourselves.” “I know, and I’d love to, but I just want to make sure Yaoci will be fine.” “I’ll take a rain check on it then.” … … “Really? A toll?” “I bet that pup wouldn’t last a second against Rajah. Though the big one might, but he might be compensating for his lack of brains.” “You’re not bringing your cats to school again.” “One time!” “You’re still getting looks from the other parents.” “Yeah, well they can go- Wait, it’s Yaoci’s turn. Yeah! Right in the face!” “As much as I don’t like your idea of training, I have to admit it has its uses.” “Eat dirt, scumbag!” “Oh no. Dear, I think you should wait a few more seconds. Oh, one of her friends jumped in.” “Good thing, because I was about to tear him a new one.” “Wow, they really work well together.” “Oho! Claw his face off!” “I’m beginning to wonder who she takes after more.” “Aw, it’s over.” “Yes, and so is our job. We’re going to have to talk about the survival teachings.” “You’re no fun. Guess I’ll have to distract you with something, but what could I use?” “You are terrible.” “And you love me for it.” “I do, but save it for later. We have to meet her soon and collect our dues.” “I think I can manage that.”