Exploring Equestria

by A_guy_from_Earth

27. The Greatest Night

Sheim and Max were lying on the roof of the Castle of Friendship. Sheim enjoyed the last days of good photosynthetic conditions before long cloudy late autumn and winter, Max have been just having rest after his shift.

Suddenly, Sheim turned to his colleague.

“Hey, Max…”

“Huh?” physiologists responded.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure. Bring it on.”

“Okay, then… Why princess Luna comes every Thursday to the Castle when your shift begins?”

Max shuddered.

“What? How did you find it?..”

“Well, I’ve stayed late in garden, working, for three weeks in a row, and noticed how she teleports in the rose bushes and then goes to the back entrance.”

“Oh… Well… Remember the time when Zet’rar and I went with princess to help her to prank her sister? Well, it turned out so that I had to apply my massage skills on Her Highness. And… She liked it. Liked a lot. And made me her personal secret masseur.”

“Heh, not bad, not bad… You won a jackpot!”

“Yeah, it would be really great, if only Her Majesty wasn’t so demanding.”

Suddenly they heard a loud shout “YYYAAAAAAAAAAZZZZZZZZ’!!!” from the side of the town park.

“What was that?” Sheim jumped up.

“Oh, it’s just Tryviež and Čarnabor, they’re fishing. And, as I think, they have just caught something big,” said Max, who didn’t even moved his ear.

“I hope they didn’t catch Steven. And… they’ve actually returned to Ponyville?”

“Speaking about Steven, he is not even there – he’s visiting his relatives in the West Sea. And speaking about our Dregovian friends, yes, came back two days ago. I’ve learned it from Zecora this night. You know, the weather was awful back then, so she had spent entire night in the Castle before she could return home?”

“I remember it.”

“Well, I’ve spent the whole night chatting with her. Amazing mare. I haven’t met such smart person for years.”

“I see…”

“And, speaking about Zecora, I must take the order from her.”

“What order?”

“You know what’s gonna be this night? Nightmare Night! So I ordered some transformation potions as an addition to costumes. One of them is for you. Trust me, when you use it, you’ll be scary as hell.”

“Well, I’m looking forward”

“But for now, let’s gather our comrades and ask princess for permission to leave earlier.”

“Right!”

Stallions stretched themselves after long lying and returned to the corridors of the castle. Very soon they found the rest of their crew and went to Twilight with their little collective petition.

Researchers found princess of friendship in her library. She was with Spike and Rarity.

“Oh, guys?” Twilight smiled when she noticed servants entering the room. “What brings you here?”

“Princess,” Edez stepped forward as the leader of the group. “Considering today’s night celebration, can we have your permission to leave earlier?”

“Why, yes, of course!” princess responded. “You are going to celebrate too?”

“Yes.”

“I see. If you want to have great holiday, you have to prepare for it well.”

“Yeah, making a costume takes quite a time,” Zet’rar said.

“You make costumes?” Rarity exclaimed. “By your own? Oh, you could tell me what you want to have, I would be glad to make them for you!”

“We appreciate your kindness and generosity, miss Rarity,” Affi said. “Buuut… We’d like to add some “special details” to our costumes, and we don’t think that there would be enough time for you to add them to all our costumes.”

“Um, what special details?”

“As you may know, in Europonia ponies sometimes add simple – or not – mechanisms to their carnival costumes to make them more realistic and impressive. We want to do the same with our Nightmare Night costumes here.”

“Ooh… That would be interesting to see. I’m looking forward. But remember” I will be a strict judge!”

“Understood. So… we go?”

“Sure!” Twilight said. “See you!”

Researchers bowed to her and left the room.

Soon after they were outside on the way to their home.

“Is everybody ready to have fun?” Edez asked his colleagues, smiling.

“Oh yeah!” they responded.

“Ah, it’s so wonderful!” Oma smiled. “We could not hide our body features from others and have fun without anyone suspecting us! Nightmare Night is the greatest holiday! And that was amazing idea, Bluve!”

“Thanks,” biologist said. “You know, for a four-armed being having only few hours in a day to spend without sticking arms one to another is a torture. Even one more hour for normal arm position would be a blessing.”

“Yes, I would have no need to hide what my hair can do,” Oma said.

“And I would have no need to hide my dorsal limbs!” Zet’rar added.

“And I would have no need to hide my teeth!” Kor added.

“Yep, that would be great!” Edea summed up. “But first, let’s make sure that everything would be OK.”

His teammates agreed, so when they came back to their town’s headquarters, they immediately began the preparations. They have many things to do: finish the costumes, apply make-up, add the hiding devices and other details and accessories… It was near work and, sometimes, risky. Sometimes painful. But, nevertheless, it was exciting. Researchers spent hours to create the perfect images, and now they were ready to impress the townsfolk. So, when the Sun hid behind the mountains and darkness filled the streets, they went out and headed to the epicenter of celebration, the Main Square.

Their friends were already there, managing the entertainments or just having fun. Princess Luna was in Ponyville too – after the night when Twilight and friends introduced the holiday to her, she came to the town for each celebration.

“All folks are there,” Affi said when she finished scanning. “Ready to surprise everyone?”

“We sure are!” her friends responded.

“Let’s go then!”

And Team One walked to the Square.

“Oh… my… goodness…” that were the only words of dozens of ponies when they saw researchers in their costumes. Nine servants were an amazing sight, impressive and fearsome. Even shy Calma and tiny Pippi looked pretty scary.

Ponies stopped what they were doing just to look at researchers. Edez as a ghost of a stylish noble, Kor as a nightmare beast, Affi as a psychopathic murderer, Oma as superviallain Mane-iac, Zet’rar as a post-apocalyptic warrior with mechanic insect limbs on his back, Karin as some evil spirit, Calma as cyborg, Max as a tribal warrior and Sheim the leech (or another kind of final boss in a dungeon). Team One sure put a lot of efforts in creation of those images.

“Wow… That’s some cool costumes!” Rainbow Dash said.

“Jeez, Zicht, what’s with those scars?” Applejack exclaimed. “Ah know ya had them in tha first place, but now it’s look like ya cut yer face again! And ya too, Anti!”

“I’ve just highlighted my scars with make-up,” Max rushed to clear up. The truth was that those were his sensor organs in maximum activity mode. Obviously, he couldn’t tell it, so he has to make up something really fast.

“And I just used a lot of make-up,” Affi said. She was calm because what she said was true.

“Oh my… Lierre, my dear, what did you do to yourself?” Rarity worried when she saw the gardener.

“Oh, this is just some rags, moss, lichen, powder aaand… a tiny bottle of bone growing potion from Zecora,” Sheim pointed to his protruding ribs and joints, “and tropicamide,” he pointed to his eyes, which are now were entirely black as a moonless night in the depth of a forest.

“Tropicamide?” ponies surprised.

“Yep. Just add few drops more, and you’ll get such eyes as mine now.”

“You mean these are… your pupils?” Rarity surprised.

“Right. The result is impressive, but it makes your eyes very sensitive to light. That’s a flaw.”

“Still, it is sooo cool! I want to try it!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“You really want it?” Sheim responded. “It might be very dangerous for a flyer.”

“I don’t mind it! I can handle it! So, do the thing!”

“Hold your horses, not so fast! First, you have to prepare your eyes! Wash them with cool water and spend some time adapting for dim lights.”

“Got it!” blue pegasus said and flew away right before he was about to add some more details.

“Ah, never mind.”

“Gosh, Lierre, your costume is great! And your too, guys! I’ve never seen so many amazing costumes at once!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie. “They are really scary! Right, Fluttershy?”

Poor yellow pegasus who was afraid of Nightmare Night celebration since the very fillyhood and who haven’t a slightest idea of how she agreed to join her friends this year, now was just shocked.

“See? She’s so impressed she even can’t talk!” Pinkie Pie continues.

“I think that there’s another reason for this…” said Oma.

“Seriously, your costumes are the best!”

“Um, Pinkie…” Affi gently tapped pink pony on shoulder and with no word pointed somewhere behind her.

“What?..” Pinkie surprised and looked where telepathist pointed. “Uh-oh…”

There was Rarity. When she heard that her precious costumes that she worked on for weeks were not called the best, she froze. It was shock, but, at the same time, she felt rage and urge to do some painful things. So now, despite having elegant – and even attractive – costume and make-up, because of her gaze and dark aura she was scarier than a dozen of Nightmare Moons.

“I didn’t mean to! Your costumes are also great! Oh, dang, yiiip! I mean your costumes ARE great! Amazing! One of a kind!” pink pony gibbered when she realized what she has done.

“Okay…” that was the only thing white unicorn said, and then she walked away.

“That was a close call,” Spike breathed deeply.

“Yeah,” other bearers of the Elements agreed.

“… but ya really did a huge job making those costumes,” Applejack said. “Ah guess that’s for the costume contest?”

“You bet,” Kor and Pippi agreed.

“Your costumes are amazing, true, but…” Twilight said, “Zicht, your costume looks simpler comparing to your friends’ outfits. Don’t you want to win a get a present from princess Luna?”

“… there are reasons for my unwillingness,” Max responded.

“Hmm, I see that Didinga is Mane-iac, but what about other your costumes?” wondered Spike. “Is it a depiction of certain characters, or is it just an image?”

“Actually, both variants are right,” Affi answered. “Some of us cosplay certain characters from fiction or mythology, other are just represent an image.”

“So… who is who?”

“Why wouldn’t you try to guess?” telepathist asked and looked at Spike and youngsters that gathered near their group.

Little fillies and colts actively participated in this improvised quiz.

Since there were no such characters in Equestrian culture, in the beginning many foals guessed that the rest of Team One just represents some certain images, types of characters. Researchers kept their mouths shut, but eventually Zet’rar, Max, Affi and Calma confessed that their current outfits are images. Karin said that her costume can be described as a representation of image, but only partially. Edez, Kor and Sheim said that they represent certain characters.

And that was the problem.

“Okay, okay, we’ll tell you what our characters are,” said Edez, seeing how even the smartest ponies failed to guess. “I’m a… Ghost from one popular Europonian comic book.”

“What Ghost?” youngsters wondered.

“Just Ghost… From the comic “Mystery of Skulls”.”

“Never heard about it.”

“It’s a new comic, already popular in Europonia, but unknown here.”

“Oh… Still, your costume is cool!”

Unlike the team leader, Sheim refused to tell right away about what character he represents.

“I thought somepony would be able to guess who I am now,” he said and turned to the princess. “Personally, I was hoping for you, miss Twilight. Considering how much folklore research books you have, including ones from Europonia…”

“Wait, you are representing one of Europonian mystical creatures?” alicorn surprised.

“Yes, and. Moreover, it’s a Champian creature. It’s believed that northwestern regions of my homeland is the place it lives.”

“Northeaster Champia… Champia… Oh… Dear Celestia… I-is it Ankou?”

“Correct, Your Highness.”

“What is this Ankou?” some youngsters wondered.

Sheim leaned to the foals and spelled:

“The spirit of Death itself,” and make a creepy smile.

Young ones yipped and rushed to hide behind the nearest adults. Sheim smiled again, but now he tried to make less creepy expression to assure foals that he isn’t a threat.

“And what about you, Erő?” Pinkie Pie wondered.

“Oh, this time I’m supporting my friend Lierre and also “cosplay” one of Champian mystical beings.”

“And what being?”

“The legendary Beast of Gévaudan!”

“Oh dear…” Twilight shuddered.

“Huh? Is it really so terrible?” Applejack and Rarity were surprised by Twilight’s reaction.

“The Beast of Gévaudan was awful pony-eating monster, who killed dozens of villagers!” alicorn said. “Moreover, there is a lot of evidences proving that it was real.”

“What?”

“Hmm… It doesn’t look scary to me,” Pinkie Pie said, examining Kor. “You look more like a hairy pony with long fluffy tail to me.”

“Well, and what about now?” Kor said and made a wide grin.

This moment Pinkie turned pale – stallion’s mouth was full of huge razor-sharp teeth! As a verekan, he has two rows of teeth, but now they were modified: one row was a set of typical pony teeth, and second row was row of verekan predator teeth, and he could hide one of the rows for certain time. This time Kor just switched his set of teeth to more appropriate one.

“Oh my…” other ponies who saw this shuddered as well.

“Do I look like a beast now?” Kor asked, continuing to smile.

“Definitely.”

Kor managed to scare everyone around but Spike. However, that was not because little dragon was so brave, Spike just was distracted – he looked at Oma. She cosplayed a character from his favorite comic, so he, as a true admirer, he couldn’t just pass by and not to examine the costume.

“Hmm, you know, Didinga, you really succeeded in creating attractive supervillain character,” Spike said, “however, there is one little thing.”

“What thing?” Oma wondered.

“I don’t want to sound like I’m looking for faults on purpose, but I think that your image lacks some realism.”

“Why?”

“You see… Mane-iac’s mane form ten or twelve… well… hair tentacles, and tail form about five or six such ones. Your mane form only four, and your tail form only three.”

“Well, I agree that this is a flaw, but… The thing I – and my friends too – care about the most is the functionality, and not the exact external match,” senior sociologist smiled and… using one of her hair tentacles, she grabbed a caramel candy from little dragon’s basket and put it into her mouth.

Other witnesses were surprised as well.

“See? Maybe I don’t look exactly like Mane-iac, but the functional match is one hundred percent!”

“How did you do that?” many ponies asked, but Twilight’s question was the loudest.

“That’s a secret!”

“… wow… Just wow,” it was the only thing Spike could say at that moment.

“That’s how we make costumes in Europonia: external match matters, but functional match is more important,” Kor said.

“I se… Holy cow, Erő! What’s with your teeth?” Spike exclaimed when he looked at Kor.

“You’ve finally noticed?” officer spelled. “Do they make me scarier?”

“I’m pretty sure you’ll be able to scare even timbervolves now.”

“And… all your costumes are the same?” Rarity asked in slightly trembling words.

As a response, mechanic insect legs attached to Zet’rar’s back moved. At the same time, Bluve raised her right foreleg, and with a clicking sound a blade appeared from her cyborg armor.

“Oh my…”

“Damn…”

“Don’t ya think that it’s an overkill?” Applejack sincerely wondered.

“No. This is the pursuit of excellence,” Bluve gave resolute answer.

“Okay, have it yer way…”

Ponyvillers learned what they wanted, so they returned to what they were doing before Team One arrived. Now researchers could join the celebration and have free time.

“So, what are you going to do now?” Twilight asked.

“I dunno… Maybe we’ll just hang around a bit and entertain ourselves and some townsfolk,” Affi said, and many of her colleagues supported her.

“Well, I have two things to do this night,” Sheim said. “First, help Rainbow Dash to get black eyes just like mine, and second is to find Maud.”

“Ehm, why do you need my sister?” Pinkie Pie sincerely wondered.

Sheim lowered his head and spelled:

“After our visit to Dodge City she just doesn’t give me a moment’s peace…” he was trembling. “But this night I’m gonna get even!”

“Oh my…” some bearers of the elements spelled.

“I’d better warn Maud,” Pinkie Pie said and was about to run away, but Sheim stopped her.

“I’d not recommend to do this now…” he said with steel in his voice. “Besides, I have to help Rainbow Dash first…”

“Who was talking about me?” voice of the blue pegasus came from above, and in a moment the pony landed near the company.

“You’ve finished all the preparations?” Rarity and Spike surprised.

“Yep!” Rainbow Dash smiled and turned to Sheim. “Lierre, do your thing!”

“As you wish, my friend, as you wish…”

And he did the procedure – drip about seven drops of tropicamide into each eye of a pegasus. What came right after it was one of the loudest and horrendous screams Ponyville ever heard. It sounded like a yell of a being tortured for hundreds of years. Even researchers were horrified. But, eventually, everything ended well: Rainbow Dash rolled on the ground, covering her eyes and wailing for a couple of minutes, then the pain gone away. She stood up, looked at her friends and asked:

“How do I look?”

“Well, yer eyes are just like Lierre’s,” Applejack responded honestly.

“Really?” pegasus exclaimed and ran to the nearest mirror she could spot. “Aw yeah! Awesome! Like a true monster!”

“Indeed,” some of researchers agreed.

“Thanks, Lierre! Now I’ll be able to scare anypony!” blue pegasus smiled and flew away, waving to Sheim.

Now it’s necessary to mention that Rainbow’s screams worried all ponies in the town, and many of them ran to see what happened. Everything was over when most of townsfolk finally came to the place of incident, but Sheim didn’t pay so much attention to it. The most important thing was that Maud Pie was among the worried ones. Planetologist spotted gray mare dressed as a member of geological expedition working in the deer lands northeast of Europonia, and quickly approached her.

“Oh, who do I see?” Sheim said and looked in the mare’s eyes.

“L-Lierre?” Maud surprised. “I-is that you?”

“Yes, it’s me, mon chéri,” he spelled and made the creepiest smile he was able to.

“Y-you look scary.”

“I am. But don’t you worry, mon chéri, no scary monsters will come close to you this Night, because the most dreadful of them is now at your service.”

“Uh-huh…”

“So let’s enjoy this night together!” Sheim spelled and before Maud Pie said anything researcher dragged her away.

Pinkie Pie could only pray silently for her sister.

The incident was over, so ponies slowly returned to their regular tasks. However, for others this is was the beginning of the Nightmare Night’s adventures.

“Um, miss Calma!” Bluve felt somepony touching her foreleg and turned her head. There she saw Sweetie Belle, who was also wearing a cyborg costume.

“Oh, Sweetie, it’s you,” Bluve said. “What do you need?”

“Well, you see…” little unicorn spelled timidly. “Your costume, miss Calma.”

“… and what’s with it?”

“Well, I’ve already been everywhere in the town, and you are the only pony except me wearing the cyborg costume! So, please, could you join me for trick-or-treating?”

“Um, honestly, I don’t know, but…” … and right at this moment Bluve’s stomach treacherously growled.

Everyone standing near fell silent. Sweetie Belle, who was right next to Bluve, was just blinking in confusion. Eventually, in few seconds Edez broke the silence and addressed Bluve, who was now beet-red.

“Well, if you need it, I guess you can go,” he said.

Bluve just gave a nod and touched Sweetie Belles’s shoulder, quietly saying “Let’s go.” Young unicorn had finally come to her senses after it, and cheerfully responded. Soon after both ponies disappeared behind the corner of one narrow street.

Researcher’s company thinned out, so others decide do separate. Zet’rar and Oma decided to spend some time together, Affi and Edez said that they would just walk around the street for some time, and Kor, Karin and Max went to the food and entertainment stands to take part in some contests. Bearers of the Elements did the same: Rainbow Dash flew away to scare townspeople, Rarity remembered about some unfinished tasks and went to her boutique together with Spike, Fluttershy said that she had enough of Nightmare Night for now and went home in company of Pinkie Pie and Applejack. Twilight decided to hand out for a bit and later return to the Castle.

However, before coming back to the Castle, Twilight wanted to ask Edez some questions, so she ran to catch up with him.

“Um, Berg, excuse me, but I wanted to ask you about the character you represent,” princess of friendship said when she reached the researcher.

“Sure, princess,” Edez responded.

“It’s just… knowing how much Europonians care about their traditions, it’s very unusual to see such dandy ghost character from them. I mean, it’s more like that some artists from Eastern Kingdoms would rather create such character.”

“I see. Well, to be honest, the comic book where my character appears for the first time was inspired by Easter Kingdoms’ comic books. We, Europonians, follow traditions, but we also keep eye on the modern trends, so… don’t be so surprised, Your Highness.”

“Oh, I understand now. But, still, the character you represent looks amazing, it’s really impressive image of supernatural being, however identify it as a ghost is hard. I mean, it is so unlike other ghosts!”

“It’s so, and even in the comic book this character was mistook for a demon for few times, but… Nevertheless, it’s a ghost. And you know, why? Because when it’s the time, he might just disappear…”

Edez twitched unnaturally, and the next thing Twilight remembered was a powerful gust of wind that raised clouds of dust. Alicorn was disoriented, but she quickly pulled herself together and dispersed the dust clouds. Everything happened in few seconds, but now Edez was gone. Huge stallion just vanished – there was no trace of him on the street. Twilight turned around, looking for him, but saw nothing.

“Wow…” was the only thing she could say at that moment. She knew that this pony is very fast for his sizes, but this fast?.. It was unbelievable.

“How could he…” Twilight was about to say, but suddenly another dusty gust of wind came.

“As I said,” she heard Edez’s voice, “this character could disappear an appear from nowhere, which is typical for ghost, so… he is a true ghost.”

“Heh, I see you chose the character that fits you for one hundred percent.”

“Thank you, princess. So, what would you like to do now?”

“Hmm, maybe just hang around a little, eat some snacks, see how my friends are doing, and then return to the Castle.”

“Then would you let me accompany you for this time?”

“Sure! Let’s go, my friend.”

Meanwhile somewhere among the rows of stands on the market square…

“I’m sorry for causing inconveniences, but I leave you alone as soon as I will be sure about being far from Luna,” Max said to Kor and Karin.

“Fine, but… What’s all the fuss about? I don’t understand. Why you avoid princess Luna?” wondered Karin.

“You know about the situation between Sheim and Maud? Well, in case of me and Luna things might become very similar or even worse.”

“What? Seriously? Geez, what princess found in such creepy guy…”

“Oh, isn’t that famous servants of the Castle of Friendship?” sudden stallion’s voice came from a side.

Researchers turned to the source of sound and found five ponies: earth pony stallion dressed as an adventurer escaped from a death trap, huge pegasus stallion dressed as a legionary, tall pegasus mare dressed as an ancient goddess, small unicorn mare dressed as a fairy and tall unicorn stallion with a broken horn dressed as a post-apocalyptic raider.

“Ehm, do we know you?” Max and Karin asked.

“I don’t think so,” earth pony said, “but one of your friend, Calma does.”

“Wait… You’re that group of policeponies that came here for vacations?” Kor surprised.

“Yes, we are,” earth pony nodded. “Allow us to introduce ourselves: I am Hidden Path, and there are my friends and colleagues, Cloudbreaker, Razor Edge, Grace and Dim Silhouette.”

“You know, your vacation is longer than usual one,” Karin said.

“Well, if you don’t take one for several years, one time you might just get kicked out for six or seven month from your workplace,” Razor Edge responded.

“Oh… Well, we know some such “examples”,” researchers spelled. “Still, it’s nice to meet you. And we are…”

“Lemme guess,” Cloudbreaker broke in. “You’re Erő, Zicht and Pippi, right?” he named all three correctly.

“You know it from Calma?” Kor asked.

“Calma told me, and I once told my friends about you,” Hidden Path said.

“So, what brings you here?” Max asked.

“Well, I just wanted to see friends of my special pony…” Hidden Path began.

“… and he dragged us with him,” Grace added.

“Thank you,” Hidden Path hissed at her and turned back to researchers. “Well, you are enjoying the celebration, I see?”

“Yep, quite so,” Karin and Kor responded, but then they pointed at Max and said “But he doesn’t.”

“Why so?” Dim Silhouette and Grace surprised.

“Well, there are some objective reasons,” Max said.

Suddenly Hidden Path made a few big steps towards Max.

“Hmm, perhaps this is the first time I see a pony who could not be ashamed of his appearance only one day in a year and use this flaw,” he said, looking at physiologist’s face.

“Same here,” Max responded. “and, I guess, it’s hard to tell whose case is worse. I mean, I have some big scars on my face, but you…”

“And I have much bigger ones all over my body except face and hooves,” Hidden Path said.

“Well, at least now I can see why Calma like you so much.”

“Huh?”

“She had some hard times, because of which she got several big wounds. I see that something similar happened to you, but you keep standing. You’re like her, and you’re strong. You see, Calma is strong girl, but she need protection and consolation. So take care of her.”

“Thank you. I will.”

“Um, pardon me, mister Zicht, but why you are aiming to avoid the celebration?” Dim Silhouette wondered.

“Well, you se… Oh, verdorie!*” [* “Oh, damn it!” (Dutch)]

“My dear Zicht, here you are!” Canterlot voice thundered above all eight, and then the pony it belonged to landed right between them. This pony was a dark blue alicorn dressed as queen of an Amazon tribe.

“Princes Luna?!” surprised Karin, Kor, Cloudbreaker and Razor Edge.

“My dear Zicht?” Dim Silhouette and Grace exclaimed.

“Oh, good to see you, miss Pippi and mister Erő,” princess of the night greeted the researchers and then turned to the ponies of the Second Department. “Oh, major Path, I didn’t expect to see you there!”

“MAJOR Path?” researchers surprised.

“Yes, this brave stallion is one of the most dedicated officers that Equestria has ever seen!” princess Luna said and turned to the female subordinates of major Path. “Oh, and I heard that you were surprised by me calling mister Zicht “my dear”?”

“Yes!” Grace and dim Silhouette exclaimed. “For what merits?!”

“My dears, you just don’t know all his talents! He is so good!”

“Excuse me, princess, but it sounded quite ambiguously,” Max said.

“Oh, it’s nothing! There are more important things right now!” princess of the night said and came closer to Max. “You remember about the special service we talked about?” she whispered.

Biologist had no other options. He just sighed and gave a nod.

“Great! Then let’s go!” princess Luna smiled and lifted Max above the ground with her magic.

“Vaarvel, vrienden! Denk niet ziek van mij! Onthoud me!” [Farewell, friends! Don’t think ill of me! Remember me!] Max said while Luna was carrying him away.

“Vi kommer komma ihåg dig!” [We will remember you!] Karin said and lowered her head.

Kor let a single tear to fall from his eye.

“Jeez, what’s the business with him and princess?” Cloudbreaker wondered.

“Well, once princess Luna forced him and another our friend, Allegro, help her with some private business, and somehow Luna really liked Zicht, especially his skills as a masseur,” Kor explained.

“Massage skills?” officers of Second Department could not believe it.

“That’s what they said. Well, Zicht could not avoid contact with princess Luna, so we’d better hide somewhere. He’d be very mad when he find us.”

“Agree,” Karin nodded and looked at the officers of the Second Department. “See you!”

And researchers run away.

“Wait!” Hidden Path exclaimed, but it was too late.

“Oh, now I won’t be able to hug Erő!” Dim Silhouette said in disappointed voice.

“Say what?” pegasi surprised.

“Haven’t you seen how fluffy he was? Oh, it would be a pure bliss to hug someone so fluffy!..”

“Um, I do not want to upset you, Dim, but mister Erő represented the Beast of Gévaudan, legendary pony-eating monster,” Razor Edge said.

“What??? Oh… I’m hopeless…” Dim Silhouette sat on the ground and cover her face with hooves.

Other members of the group came closer to comfort her, but suddenly they heard a surprised voice.

“Hidden?” the voice sounded familiar. Hidden Path recognized it.

“Calma?” he responded and turned to the speaker. His guessing was right: there was Calma together with white unicorn filly. Both of them were dressed as cyborgs.

“Wow!” Hidden Path surprised. “I didn’t expect you to wear such costume.”

“Well, I actually like robots,” Bluve responded – and it was absolute truth.

“And who is the young lady with you?”

“Her name is Sweetie Belle, she is a sister of one my friend. Our costumes are similar to each other, so we teamed up to support each other.”

“It makes trick-or-treating way more effective!” Sweetie Belle said.

“Really?” Hidden Path surprised.

“Just look at this!” young unicorn said and showed the officer her basket, which was almost full. “And we’ve only started!”

“I see. So, have fun then!”

“Thank you!”

“See you!” Bluve said, and Hidden Path waved to her.

“Cyborgs” walked only twelve meters or so when Sweetie Belle suddenly turned to Bluve and said:

“You know, miss Calma, you and mister Hidden would be a cute couple!”

Researcher’s and officer’s “WHAT???” could be heard everywhere in Ponyville.

“Young one gets right to the point,” Cloudbreaker spelled when echo of boss’ scream had finally faded.

Hidden Path just hit his subordinate and led everyone to remote part of festive area.

Bluve managed to calm herself down, so she could continue helping Sweetie Belle to get free candy. However, her face still was a bit reddish.

Cyborg duo was quite successful, but then it happened so that they met… some not the nicest ponies: arch-nemeses of the CMC, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

“Huh?” young earth ponies surprised when they finally noticed two “cyborgs” standing near them. “What are you doing there?”

“Hello to you too,” Sweetie Belle responded emotionlessly.

“Why you aren’t with your sister?” Diamond Tiara asked.

“Is this Calma from the Castle of Friendship?” Silver Spoon wondered. Bluve just gave a weak nod.

Sweetie Belle was about to respond to Tiara, but pink earth pony stopped her.

“Wait! I know the reason! It’s because your robot costume is sooooo lame!” she said.

“Hey!” little unicorn resented. “They’re not lame! And we’re cyborgs!’

“Your costume is so awful your sister just couldn’t stand it! So she just ran away!”

“Yes! Yes!” Silver Spoon agreed. “Lame and outdated! When robots were a thing? When we were in a kindergarten?”

“Yes! Or even earlier!” Diamond Tiara supported.

“It’s not true!.. Stop it!” Sweetie Belle cried. Those two were so irritating that she was about to yell insults at them. However, before she did anything, Bluve stepped forward.

“Um, you want something, miss?..” rich fillies wondered – the adult’s behavior was odd.

And then… Saying no words, Bluve stood on hind legs and spread her forelegs. She shook the spread limbs, and in a second each foreleg separated in two.

At this moment all three fillies barely managed to keep their jaws in place.

“Well, what would you say about “robot suits” now?” physiologist grinned, the “lower pair” of her forelimbs was fold on her chest, the upper left limb was on her side, and with her upper right limb she pointed to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

“Wow! That’s so cool! How did you do that?” exclaimed white unicorn.

“… h-how?..” was the only thing rich fillies could say.

“That’s a secret,” Bluve responded and looked at her young comrade. “Let’s go, Sweetie! We have many other things to do!” she put her forelegs in “proper” position and stood back on all four.

“Sure!” Sweetie Belle chirped and ran forward together with Bluve, leaving dumbfounded rich fillies behind.

Meanwhile at another part of festive area Affi noticed familiar silhouettes of two huge spotted unicorns wearing quaint uniforms – something average between fantasy armor and uniform of an officer of Victorian times. She decided to prank them. Using her telepathy skills, she sneaked right between two stallions and then she said:

“Hey, why so serious, guys?”

“Akchtyzh!..” giants exclaimed and, finally, noticed a mare standing between them. “Stop… Anti?..”

“Correct!” telepathist smiled.

“Geez, that’s not how you treat others!” Čarnabor said.

“But it was good one, isn’t it?” Affi smiled again.

“Yeah… You look really scary,” Tryviež said.

“Thank you. I worked on this image for quite a time. And… I see, you are enjoying the Night as well? Honesty, I’m surprised that you chose Ponyville as the place to be during the celebration.”

“Well, if princess of the night comes here, then this town would fit such simple ponies as we,” Tryviež responded.

“I wouldn’t call you, guys, simple ones,” Affi thought. “Say, those suits of yours… are you representing some mythological character, or is it just an image?”

“To be honest, these are our ceremonial uniforms,” Čarnabor said.

“Ceremonial uniforms?”

“It’s problematic to find something for our sizes. And to order a costume is quite expensive.”

“I see… You know, other guys from our gang hang around there too. Didn’t you see them?”

“I think we saw Calma…” Tryviež responded. “A blue mare in cyborg suit, together with a filly in the same costume. They were running around, exclaiming ‘We are Borg, resistance is futile!’”

“Oh, then it’s definitely was Calma.”

“I didn’t know she like such things.”

“Well, now you know.”

“So… Ehm, wanna drink with us?” Čcarnabor offered.

“If you ask… and pay for me… then yes,” Affi responded.

Unicorns looked at each other and grinned.

“Deal,” they said.

And, thus, a company of Europonians went to beverage stalls.

Zet’rar and Oma aimed to spend some time alone, enjoying company of each other, but what they could do with their “costumes” attracted a lot of attention, so now they just couldn’t get away from groups of kids that attacked them from everywhere.

“Do something cool!” they all begged.

Researchers tried some simple tricks they could do with their “additional limbs”, but the number of those tricks wasn’t infinite, and kids get bored and tend to ask more if you repeat the same trick. Thus, Oma and Zet’rar were at an impasse now.

“Do something cool! Please!” young fillies and colts continued to beg.

“Okay, here goes nothing…” Zet’rar muttered, made a deep sigh and continued. “Hey, kiddies, how about to do something else instead of cool? Like, SHOCKING!”

“Huh?” young ones surprised.

“You know, in school and kindergarten, sometimes, you read and learn short poems, rhymes that help you to understand language better. They often have no significant meaning, they are simple, cheerful and kind. Well, how about nightmare version of those poems?”

“Riiiiight!” Oma understood Zet’rar’s plan. “The evil parodies of foals’ rhymes! In some regions of Europonia they are pretty popular.”

“Really?” kids surprised.

“Wanna hear some?” Oma asked.

Foals looked at each other and dared to listen. Oma made a villainous smile and gave Zet’rar a nod.

“Well, here goes the first one…” technician said.

“A young colt played at the site of construction,

But the building’s formwork was prone to destruction…

There was no scream or even a tweet –

Only colt’s hooves stick out from concrete.”

Some foals became paler.

“That’s creepy,” some of them said.

“It looks more like sadistic rhymes to me,” said the colt in mad scientist costume.

“These rhymes are also known as sadistic rhymes, so…” Oma said. “Well, my turn!

One little colt thought that night snack is a breeze,

But one clumsy move, and he was locked in deep freeze.

His tiny weak body soon turned in ice.

But he stopped night-eating, and this is nice.”

“I’ll tell one more!” Zet’rar said.

“One little foal went for a swimming abroad.

The water was nice, but he haven’t noticed a boat…

Well, now we all have the most wonderful sight:

Half-foal to the left, half-foal to the right!”

“Shocking, isn’t it?” Oma asked, her villainous grin became even scarier.

“Y-yeah…”

“Uh, I think I have to go!” one foal said, and all his friends somehow suddenly remembered that they have other things to do. Thus, they all quickly left researchers alone.

Zet’rar and Oma were finally happy to remain alone, but now, after working as entertainers for kids, they were tired. Neither Oma, nor Zet’rar wanted to do anything.

“Those kids exhausted me,” Oma said. “Indeed, young ones are cute and nice only when there are few of them.”

“Agree. I’ve lost all ardor,” Zet’rar complained. “What shall we do now?”

“I dunno… The only thing that comes to my mind is to return to the Castle and relax on some of its sofas.”

“Well, sounds good to me. Maybe if we lay down on the same sofa together, I’ll regain my strength and we will have fun?”

“You’re perv!.. What are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Oma grinned and ran forward.

“And you are calling me dirty?” Zet’rar laughed and ran after Oma.

Soon they were in the Castle. The huge crystal building was now dark and empty – all ponies and dragons that lived and worked there were on the celebration. So now all this palace with dozens of luxurious rooms belonged to them. They could do anything and anywhere.

But…

As soon as Oma and Zet’rar entered the main hall, they heard moans and groans. It seemed that whet researcher had in their excited minds has been already happening somewhere in the Castle, and they weren’t part of this fun.

Researchers were surprised. They were outraged. Who was those lovebirds? They decided to find out. In a minute, they found that the source of the sound was on the second floor, somewhere in guest bedrooms. When Zet’rar and Oma got to the place, they saw that one of the doors was opened. Near it pieces of clothing were visible in bright moonlight. Researchers looked closer and shuddered: those were part of princess’ Luna’s costume. If so, than she and Max have already?.. Faces of both turned red in a second. Researchers couldn’t believe that. It was so embarrassing and shocking, but they couldn’t help looking in the opened room.

They silently approached the door, took a deep breath, slowly peeked…

… and what do you think?

Indeed, there were Luna and Max. Both of them were on a bed, and Luna was moaning, and it was because of Max. However, the reason of Her Highness’ moans was the massage – which, judging by expressions of both ponies, has been continuing for quite a time.

Zet’rar and Oma were so surprised they just froze, standing in the doorway. Max noticed them. He was shocked, but then his expression changed. With some simple gestures he said “Get out, you didn’t see anything.” Oma and Zet’rar understood the hint and left them.

“Well, now the only thing I can do is to cite our Dregovian friends,” Zet’rar smiled. “Max, ay maladets!” [approximate translation “great, dude!”]

Oma smiled as well.

Luckily, there was more guest bedrooms on the fourth floor, at the opposite side of the Castle.

“… well, I guess it’s time to remind those creatures what is nightmare,” Quasi said, wiping his mouth and looking in the poorly lit dead end behind him. “It’s Nightmare Night, after all…”

Two decapitated pony bodies lying there were still bleeding. What were their heads was now pulverized on the paving stones and the walls. Everywhere around were pieces of rag, which were once costumes of the victims.

Quasi looked at them and then turned to brightly and colorfully illuminated mount of the Canterlot Castle. He grinned and said “Well, I guess it’s time to start the main preparations.”