"Good morning Nightwing!" Cheese sandwich yelled as he pulled back the windows blinds, causing moonlight to leak into the room. "Or rather, good night I suppose."
"Huh...wha?" Nightwing murmured as he rubbed his eyes. Nightwing was in a bed, which was weird because he didn't recall going to sleep. "Wait...it's night time?!" Nightwing asked in astonishment as he pulled back the covers and jumped to the window, where sure enough. It was nighttime.
"Now I know what your thinking, and no it's not nighttime. Well technically it is but it wasn't yesterday's nighttime." Cheese tried his best to explain.
"Cheese. What are you saying?" Nightwing asked.
"Well to put it simply." Cheese said as he grabbed a jack-o-lantern that had an evil looking smile as its face. "Happy Nightmare night." Cheese said in a spooky voice.
"What?!" Nightwing shouted in suprise. "How?!"
"I crushed a pill and put it in a glass of water that you drank. The pill dust that you drank makes you sleep for a long time. Or until someone gives you the anti-pill. Which I did." Cheese explained proudly.
"So you gave me a medication without having any idea about the kind of side effects that might have effected me in any way?" Nightwing asked.
"Well when you say it like that it sounds dangerous."
"Because doing something like that is dangerous!" Nightwing shouted.
"Oh well." Cheese shrugged. "You live and you learn."
"That's the problem, you don't learn! You just do something and makes absolutely no sense whatsoever!" Nightwing continued to yell.
"Awwww." Cheese cooed, now hanging upside down from the ceiling and facing Nightwing. "Where's the fun in making sense?"
"That's my line bucko!" Discord said, appearing in the room with a white flash.
"Gah!" Nightwing startled.
"Ah! Stranger danger!" Cheese yelled as he hid behind Nightwing.
Regaining his senses, and now fully aware of what was going on, Nightwing scowled at Discord. "Discord." Nightwing scolded the artwork of Picasso.
"Really? Picasso? I look nothing like-" Discord cut himself off as he looked into a mirror that he had just created. "Okay I'll give you that one." Discord sighed, snapping his claw the mirror then cracked and imploded. "Now then, what was I here for?" Discord asked himself as he stroked the white strands of a half beard. "Ah yes. I've come here to insure your alright. Via demands from your Teacher Lulu."
"I'm fine, the better question to be asked right now is what are you doing here?" Nightwing growled. "Your supposed to be looking for Soarin."
"That's the second thing I needed to tell you." Discord smiled, rapping his lion arm around Nightwing's neck and invading his personal space by scrunching his face's cheek against Nightwing's. "I'm afraid I've lost the trail to find your dear friend Soarin." Discord said in an obvious sad tone. Discord, Nightwing, and Cheese all vanished, only for the three to reappear sitting in a church.
Both Cheese and Nightwing were dressed in black suites along with a red tie. In the rest of the seats of the church were multiple Discords, some dressed in black mare-like clothing and makeup, along with others dressed in suits and ties. Some of the female looking Discord were crying while other female Discords had disgusted looks on their faces.
"Ahem." Both Cheese and Nightwing directed their attention to another Discord, this time dressed in a white priest outfit with gold lining on it along with a bishop had placed on his head the horns on his head sticking out from underneath the hat. Behind the 'Priest Discord' was a solid closed black coffin with flowers on top of it. An organ played itself as priest Discord opened up a large book, that was presumably a bible with nothing but mumbo-jumbo. "Ladies and gentlecolts, we are gathered here today. To witness the passing of a dear friend, a lover, and/or an enemy." The priest Discord said.
"You beat he was!" A Discord dressed in a black suit yelled from the back of the church.
Priest Discord raised a claw. "Please, save your words for when they are to be spoken. Speaking of which, a few words from Discord 1547." Priest Discord said, as a Discord dressed in a black suit floated up the stairs and onto the stage where he took a stand.
"So...um..." The dressed Discord mumbled as he rubbed the back of his head. "What can I say about our good friend Soarin? Well-"
"Discord!" Nightwing interrupted. "Enough with these gimmicks of yours and tell me why you can't find Soarin." Nightwing demanded.
"Fine." Discord sighed, snapping his claw talons the three returned to the bedroom. "If you must know, I was hot on Soarin's trail but then a huge wave of chaos energy blinded me from pinpointing his location. So I went to go see what caused the massive wave. And guess what I found?"
"Answer." Nightwing growled.
"Your no fun." Discord groaned, turning his back to Nightwing and folded his arms. "I found Flash and Lightning strike battling each other in the Mountain kingdom. Of course I was able to split them up and return them to normal but I took to long and lost the trail of Soarin. Happy?"
"No. Irritated beyond imagination? Yes." Nightwing frowned.
"Awww." Discord cooed as he grabbed Nightwing's face and turned it counterclockwise, making his face turn upside down. "Turn that frown upside down."
"Hehe." Cheese giggled. "Because his face is literally turned upside down. That's-that's clever."
"See? This guy gets it."
"Discord, if you came here to just annoy me I swear to Teach I'll turn you back into stone." Nightwing threatened.
"Please. You don't have that kind of power." Discord laughed off Nightwing's threat.
"Not now, but I can most certainly try." Nightwing growled. "Now put my face back the way it was."
"As you command, all mighty Nightwing. Last of the Shadow Knights." Discord said in a intense and dramatic voice. And with a snap of his paw, Discord returned Nightwing's face to normal.
"Thank you." Nightwing sighed, relived that his face was normal again.
"So Nightwing. Aren't we supposed to go to Ponyville and hunt down a dangerous monster?" Cheese asked.
"Oh that's right." Discord snapped his claw. "I'm supposed to tell you that what your looking for is in the Everfree forest."
"And, how do you know this?" Nightwing asked skeptical of Discord's reasons.
"Because of Jesus!" Discord yelled as he snapped his claw causing Cheese and Nightwing to vanish. "But seriously though, Picasso? Could you seriously not come up with anything better than 'artwork of Picasso'?"
Shut up Discord and go eat a mud pie.
"Ha ha." Discord slapped his knee. "Now that...that was funny."
Nightmare night. A time that was once full of frightened screams is now replaced with the sound of laughter and glee as foals dressed in costumes of all shape and size ran all around Ponyville. Three foals in particular were standing outside Button mash's house and were all dressed up and ready for Nightmare night.
"So Base, what are you?" Rumble asked to First base, whom was dressed in a white t-shirt with tiny light blue vertical lines across it, a red cap, with the insignia of a cardinal perched on a baseball bat, sat on his head, and a baseball bat that was held in his mouth.
Setting his bat down, First base said, "I'm a professional baseball player. I don't think I have to be a genius to figure out who you are." First base said.
Rumble was dressed in a blue Wonderbolt costume, was wearing clear circular goggles, and had his mane dyed light grey along with some silver. "You know it, I'm Silver lining. One of the best Wonderbolts there is." Rumble said proudly.
"And the oldest." Button said.
"Shut up Button mash." Rumble scowled Button.
"Speaking of which." First base turned his attention to Button mash. "Who did you dress up as Button."
"Night gazer." Button mash said simply. Button mash wore a dark grey cloak along with a pointy grey wizard hat, wore a fake longish grey beard that covered up his muzzle, and had a long wooden staff that was held in his hoof.
"Who?" Rumble asked.
"He's a wizard from a game I played. You'd have to play the game to understand."
"Say, where's Pip and Dinkie?" Rumble asked to no one in particular. "They should've been here by now."
"Hey." Button mash said through his beard. "Rumble's right, where are those two anyway?"
"Hmmm." Rumble pondered rubbing his chin. "Oh that's right."
"What is it Rumble?" Base asked.
"If I know my good friend Pip, he's probably already out gathering candy." Rumble said.
"What?!" Both First base and Button mash yelled.
"I thought we were gonna go Trick-or-treating together?" Button complained.
"Now wait a minute Button." First base said in calm tone. "Let's wait for Pip to get back, I'm sure he has a good reason for this."
"Well...okay." Button sighed in defeat.
'Looks like all those notes in my moms journal wasn't a total waste after all.' Base thought.
"Base is right, knowing Pip he's probably just gathering candy so he can place it on the Nightmare moon statue in the Everfree forest." Rumble assumed.
"Hey, let's go meet him there?" First base suggested.
"What?!" This time Button mash and Rumble shouted.
"Are you crazy, there's way to many dangerous things in there. Plus, who knows what my mom will do to me if she found out I went anywhere near that place?" Button mash rambled.
"Button your moms not that scary." First base smiled and rolled his eyes.
"She broke our table because I got a D on my math test." Button said.
"That's it?"
"The table was made out of stone and my mom broke it in two."
That sent both Rumble and Base aback as they stared at Button mash with wide eyes.
"Holy Mother of all things cool, how strong is your mother?!" Rumble asked in awe.
"Not sure, but she goes to the gym everyday for three hours."
"Regardless. The Everfree isn't dangerous anymore. Remember, the Deer now populate the entire Everfree, the only dangerous thing in the Everfree now are the Guards." Base explained.
"Base has a point." Rumble nodded. "Ever since those Deer came here there's been less attacks on Ponyville than before they came here."
"So you see Button, there's nothing to worry about."
"Well...alright I'll come." Button sighed. "But if I get in trouble, I'm taking you two down with me to Tartarus."
"Sure thing buddy." Rumble chuckled.
Meanwhile in the Great tree a Doe guard adorned in Whitetail armor ran through the halls of the Great tree. The Doe burst through the door to the high council room, where Fallwood, Springwood, Winterwood, and Summerwood were seated in their chairs and we're having a discussion. The seat for the Arbor suserro however was empty. The Doe guard bowed in respect at the four deer.
"Forgive my rude entrance." The Guard apologized.
"All is forgive dear Sister." Springwood accepted the apology.
"I request an audience with the Arbor Suserro er, Fluttershy as she wishes to be called."
"I'm afraid the Arbor Suserro is not present with us this night." Fallwood sighed. "She wishes to be with her animals in her cottage in Ponyville."
"Oh...I see, then I wish to share my news with the high council." The Guard requested.
"You may speak." Summerwood said.
"As you might already know, multiple of our outer rim guards have been found unconscious and unknown as to what caused them to become unconscious." The Doe began to explain. "Per orders from captain Birch we sent a squad to look into these disappearances." The Doe's eyes met the floor as her head became heavy. "The squad was found a while later unconscious and unaware of what happened to them."
"I see." Springwood said as she shut her eyes and sighed. "Tell me, of the squad members that were sent did one of them have some sort of relationship with you?"
"W-what?" The Doe blushed taken aback by Summerwood's question. "I-I don't understand what you mean?"
Springwood was about to continue her conversation, but stopped short when she saw that Winterwood and Fallwood were scowling her. Which she then shut her mouth.
"Forgive Springwood's unneeded question." Fallwood said, continuing to glare at Springwood and then turning back to the guard. "Is there anything else you wish to tell us?"
"N-no." The guard answered, still rattled by Springwood's question.
"Then that'll be all, you are dismissed." Winterwood said. Which the guard responded to with a bow and left the large doors closing behind her.
Once the guard had left Winterwood, Fallwood, and Summerwood resumed glaring at Springwood. "What?" She asked innocently.
"You know what." Winterwood sighed.
"Honestly Springwood, what in the Great tree were you thinking?" Summerwood covered his eyes and shook his head. "Asking that Guard about something that was clearly personal to her."
"Alright!" Springwood raised her forearms up in defense. "I admit the question was personal and should not have asked it. But cut me some slack I was just curious."
"You forget that it was curiosity that made both the Ponies and the Deer fall from Natures garden." Fallwood reminded Springwood.
"Was it really necessary to bring our religion into the matter?" Winterwood asked.
"Our religion is what makes us who we are, without it we would be nothing." Summerwood said.
"True, but-"
"Enough!" Fallwood shouted as he stood up from his chair and slammed his hooves onto the table. Catching the councils attention. "We are derailing from our subject at hoof."
The high Council looked at one another, their faces all agreeing on the same thing. "Fallwood is right." Winterwood sighed. "We are the High Council. The duty and lives of Everfree fall into our responsibility when the Arbor Suserro is not here."
"Agreed, now what shall we do about this situation?" Summerwood asked.
"Hmmmm." Fallwood hummed. "If this is a dangerous threat, perhaps it'd be best to let it come to us rather then try to find it ourselves." Fallwood suggested.
"Fallwood makes a point, I don't like the idea of endangering our kind but it would be wiser to protect our home rather than send squads of deer into an unknown kind of danger." Springwood said.
"However, if we do recall all of our troops back to the Great tree our citizens will become skeptical and might cause an all out panic." Winterwood added.
"You make a interesting point, the protection of our kind is of the utmost importance, but it will be very difficult to give them protection if they are in a panic." Summerwood said.
"What if we recall our troops and hide them from our kind. They won't know about the threat and they can be well protected." Springwood suggested.
"Seems reasonable." Fallwood nodded.
"I agree as well." Winterwood said.
"Very well. All in favor of retaliating our troops back to the Great tree for more secure protection say aye." Summerwood said.
"Aye!" The High Council said all at once.
Meanwhile in the Everfree forest.
Pipsqueak was currently dumping his bag that full to the brim with candy opon the stone statue of a perched up Nightmare moon. Pip was dressed in a dark grey jacket, wore a black top hat, had grey/black spots brushed on his face, and had set down his chimney sweeper. Dinkie was tapping her hoof against the ground impatiently, she was dressed in a school teacher suit, wore silver round clear glasses, had her mane tied back into a blond ponytail, and held a ruler in her mouth.
"Come on Pip, the others are probably worried about us." Dinkie said to Pip, setting the ruler in her hoof.
"Just a minute Sis." Pip responded, still dumping his candy. "I don't want to hold up the others just as much as you do. But I want to get this done now rather than later."
"But why couldn't you do this later?" Dinkie asked in worry, looking behind her.
Seeing her fear, Pip decided to say something to help calm her down. "Relax Sis, don't forget that the Deer now populate the forest and because of that there's not a single creature here that's dangerous."
"If that's true, why haven't we seen any?" Dinkie asked.
"Well..." Pip paused. Dinkie had a point, almost 1/3 of the entire deer population had moved from Whitetail to the Everfree Forest. Because of this almost every single bit of wildlife in the forest had been tamed by Fluttershy. But now, now the forest looked just as creepy as before the deer came to Everfree. It looked...abandoned. Pip now had a full taste of Dinkie's worry and dumped the rest of his candy onto the statue.
"Welp we best get moving Sis." Pip said as he rushed away from the statue and next to his sibling. "Don't want to keep the gang waiting."
"Ah-ha!" A voice shouted behind Pip and Dinkie, causing the two to jump six feet in the air.
After landing on their rumps, Dinkie and Pip faced the bearer of the voice, First base.
"Told ya they'd be here, you owe me one bit Button." Rumble smirked at Button mash.
"You can have it." Button said as he pulled a gold coin from his beard and placed it in Rumble's hoof. "Just as long as I return home with my flank intact is all I care about right now."
First base walked up to Dinkie and extended his hoof in front of her. "Need a hoof?" Base asked as Dinkie stared dumbfounded at First base's hoof. "Dinkie?"
Blinking twice Dinkie blushed as she placed her hoof on First base's, who lifted her off the ground.
"Oooooooooooh." Both Rumble and Button oohed as First base lifted Dinkie up. Which Pip scowled the two for.
"Th-thank you Base." Dinkie continued to blush.
"Sure think Dinkie, anything for a friend." First base smiled.
"Sorry to break up this little chat of yours." Pipsqueak interjected. "But I think we should head back to town and meet Applebloom, Sweetie bell, and Scootaloo at the corn maze like we originally planned, don't you think?"
"Yeah, your right." First base admitted. "Let's head back-oof!"
First base was cut off as something big landed on top of him. In a split second that weight was doubled.
"Base!" Dinkie shouted.
"Mate!" Pip shouted.
"Bro!" Rumble shouted.
"And Cheese sandwich!" Cheese shouted as he did a summersault off of First base and stood on his back legs as confetti exploded behind him.
Dinkie, Rumble, Button mash, and Pipsqueak looked at Cheese with odd looks.
"Ignore him, he's just insane." Nightwing groaned as he rolled off of First base. "Sorry about that First base."
"No problem-wait. How do you know my name?" Base asked as he lifted himself up.
"You and I met when you ate something that caused your body to go into overdrive." Nightwing reminded. "I also know the rest of you, Dinkie, Rumble, Button mash, and Pipsqueak." Nightwing said as he turned his head to the others. "Oh, and this is Cheese sandwich." Nightwing pointed to Cheese sandwich, whom was blowing up a thin balloon, which he then shaped into a cheese sandwich. "The insane knucklehead, who I'm going to punch later."
"Looking forward to it buddy." Cheese smiled.
"Hold on, how do you know who we are?" Rumble asked.
"I met Dinkie in her house because a colt from the future told me too, I know Pipsqueak because he and my Teach like to write letters to each other, I know Button mash because he was involved in a champion gaming match which I participated in, and I know you rumble because your bother Thunderlane is a friend of Sorain, who is a cousin of Flash, who is my best friend, and by the way Silver lining is a bronze player." Nightwing answered.
".....okay." Rumble said meekly.
"Now Nightwing, that's no way to crush little foals hopes and dreams." Cheese said rapping his foreleg around Nightwing's neck. "You gotta be more fierce and blunt and straight to the point."
"That's what blunt means."
"Not the point. The point is we need get these foals to safety before we go looking for the monster."
"Monster?!" Dinkie screamed, running behind First base for cover.
"That's right, Nightwing and Cheese sandwich. Monster hunters on the job!" Cheese said taking a Kung fu pose.
"Enough Cheese, I'll admit you were right about getting these kids to safety should be our top priority. But I'm pretty sure scaring them isn't gonna help." Nightwing scolded.
"No can do buddy, the spark has matured into a bursting flame. And besides-" Cheese paused as he closed the distance between a tree and himself. "We need to figure out how this got here." Cheese said as he held up a piece of paper.
"Where did that come from?" First base asked as Nightwing used his crystal to levitate the piece of paper in fron of him.
"Rules of the game. Scream once, permission to scare. Scream twice, permission to tag. Scream three times, permission to take. Find all eight pages to win." Nightwing read out-loud the words on the paper.
"What the hay does that mean?" Rumble asked.
"Ooh a game. I love games." Cheese clapped gleeful.
"Who ever left this must have been pretty stealthy." Nightwing concluded.
"Hey guys, no need for panic or anything but...where are we?" Pip asked.
Nightwing looked up from the paper and sure enough, they had moved. The statue of Nightmare moon was gone. Replaced by nothing but vegetation.
"What the?" Nightwing asked in confusion.
"I love this game already!" Cheese smiled.
"Base. I'm scared." Dinkie said frightened.
"It's okay, we're all together that's the important thing right?" First base asked Nightwing.
"Well I guess that is an upside." Nightwing rubbed his chin.
"What do we do now?" Rumble asked.
"Well, I studied maps of the Everfree a while back and I know that the Castle of the Two Sisters in on the far edge of the Everfree. If we head east we might find it."
"Wait, you want us to go to a Castle that could be haunted?" Cheese asked in a shaken and dramatic voice.
"By all means stay out in forest with over one-hundred things that could kill you in seconds." Nightwing stated as he trotted off heading east. The rest of the group looked at one another before chasing after Nightwing.
"The game has began."