Such Horrible Things

by dramatic_spoon

The Pumpkin King

“...So is Aunty Pinkie and Uncle Joe doing the contest, or is Pumpkin and Pound Cake doing it?” Cumulus asked.

“I dunno,” Stratos shrugged.

“I was askin’ Tempy,”

“I don’t know either.”

The five reached Sugarcube Corner, only to find a crowd of other colts and fillies waiting outside, surrounded by a garden of carved pumpkins. An array of jack-o-lantern, covered in goofy grins, sinister smiles, and other faces and pictures stared back at the fillies.

“...That one looks like Almond Joy carved it,” Ribbon pointed to one of the pumpkins: a Smiling face with a pair of butterflies stared back at them.

“HI EVERYPONY!” A voice caused four of them to jump. Temporal, unaffected by the surprise, looked behind her.

“It’s Cream Pie.”

The colt beamed at the group. The fake vampire fangs barely stayed in his mouth as the others glared at him.

“You scared me,” Cumulus hid behind her brother.

“Well, duh, it’s Nightmare Night. You’re supposed to scare ponies.”

“Can we carve pumpkins yet?” Golden Breeze cut off, Cumulus’ response.

“What? Oh, yeah, whatever. Nopony’s inside,” Cream Pie motioned to the crowd, “Everypony out here finished.”

With that he spun around and headed back into the bakery. The others followed him into the shop: Pumpkin Cake wearing a Wonderbolt’s uniform, smiled at the group. A hole was cut out of the uniform, allowing her horn to stick out, while fake cloth wings stuck out of her back.

“Hi kids, here to carve pumpkins?”

“Eeyup!” Cumulus nodded.

“Well, just come this way.”

“...How come you’re wearing a Wonderbolts Uniform, Miss Pumpkin?” Ribbon asked.

“Pound lost a bet, so we had to switch costumes,” the mare chuckled.

The mare led the group towards a large table covered in plastic sheeting, newspapers and pumpkin slop. Pound Cake spun around, grinning at the newcomers. His mane was done up, with a plastic tiara atop his head. He wore a fancy princess dress colored pink, complete with glitter and stage jewelry.

“Hi kids! Get started?”

“...What costume is that?” Cumulus asked.

“It’s the ‘Pretty pretty princess Princess Cadance costume’.” Pound motioned to the fake plastic unicorn horn on his head, “Dunno why Pumpkin wanted to wear it in the first place. Anyway, who wants to carve pumpkins?”

“Is it really safe to let us use actual knives?” Temporal asked.

“Oh, don’t worry about that. They’re all enchanted so they only work on pumpkins,” Pound paused, “We learned from last time. So everyone get a pumpkin and a knife and get to work!”

The five foals sat around the table, as each of them took a medium sized pumpkin and knife. Ribbon started carving hers, while Golden Breeze, Temporal and Stratos took off their hats. Cumulus poked at hers with her knife before turning to her brother.

“This is hard, help me.”

“I’m busy.” Stratos replied, continuing to hack away at his pumpkin.

“Dad says you gotta help me when I do stuff.”

“Only if I ain’t busy.”

Cumulus’ response was cut off as someone else entered the shop. A large purple dragon, clad in a shiny golden cloth costume, stood there looking in. In front of him a timid looking pony stood. The colt’s coat was a soft shade of azure, while his mane was a darker green color. Instead of hooves, he had claws, and instead of a unicorn’s horn, he had a pair of smaller nubs. Atop his head he had a top hat and familiar looking cape. He blushed as Cumulus saw him.

“Hi Fireburst!” the filly took off towards the newcomer, when she found herself engulfed in a magic bubble.

“Whoa there, Cumulus,” Pumpkin trotted over, “You’re not flying anywhere with that in hoof,” She pointed towards the knife, still clutched in the filly’s hoof.

“You said it can’t hurt anypony,”

“Doesn’t mean you should be flyin’ around with it in hoof,” the older mare countered, “Now sit down.”

The filly pouted as the bubble put her back at the table. Pound beamed at the newcomers.

“Hi Uncle Spike. Hello there Fireburst?” he smiled at the colt, “Came here to carve a pumpkin?”

The colt, Fireburst, nodded in response and looked back up at Spike.

“Go ahead, I’ll be watching,” Spike chuckled, “Should I come in or wait outside?”

“Come in, you can help him.”

The colt trotted over to the table and sat next to Cumulus. Pumpkin placed another pumpkin and carving knife in front of the colt. The horn nubs glowed green as he picked up the knife and started to carve. Cumulus watched him, ignoring her own pumpkin.

“Hi kids,” Spike belatedly greeted the others, “Just you five?”

“Uh-huh.” Temporal responded.

“...Uncle Spike, what are you supposed to be?” Cumulus asked.

“I’m a dragon,” Spike chuckled.

“...Again?”

“You’re always a dragon,” Cumulus frowned.

“But this time I’m a golden dragon. And look,” Spike held up both forearms: Crudely made wall-eyed dragon heads flopped over his claws.
“I have three heads.”

“...You need to pick better costumes, Uncle Spike.” Temporal responded before returning to her pumpkin.

Spike slumped over, defeated.

“...I think it’s cool.”

“You’ve been a dragon every Nightmare Night,” Pumpkin Cake responded, “Heck, You’ve dressed like a dragon ever since we were foals.”

“...I like dressing like a dragon,” Spike continued to sulk.

“Done!” Ribbon grinned as she spun her pumpkin around. A goofy grin stared back at the others.

“That’s nice,” Pumpkin smiled at the filly, “Now, let’s go stick a candle in it and put it outside with the others.”

Ribbon followed Pumpkin outside while the others continued to carve.

“Done!” Golden Breeze placed his carving knife down and spun it around: a dashing grin stared out at Spike.

“Lookin’ good,” Spike chuckled.

“I’m done too.” Stratos picked his pumpkin up and showed it off: the pumpkin’s ‘tongue’ stuck out, while its eyes squinted at whoever gazed upon it.

“You two better go catch up with Pumpkin and Ribbon,” Spike replied, “I’ll stay here with the others until they finish.”

“Fireburst’s done!” Cumulus called out. Pound trotted over and peered at it: the profile of a snarling dragon.

“Very nice. How’s yours coming, Cumulus?”

“It’s too hard,” she pouted. Fireburst turned his attention and magic towards her pumpkin.

“I’ll help.” he muttered, “What do you want?”

“Carve me.” Cumulus smiled, “Oh, I have this for you too.”

Cumulus pulled out a Zap Apple and placed it on the table in front of the colt.

“...Thank you.”

---

Stratos placed his pumpkin on the ground next to Ribbon’s: a crude copy of Big Macintosh’s face stared out, illuminated by the candle within.

“...How come you made it look like Uncle Mac?”

“Because mom got made when I made one that looked like her last year.”

Cumulus placed her Pumpkin on the ground, next to her brothers: a well-made portrait of the filly stared back at the group.

“...Fireburst is really good at this,” Ribbon noted, “What did Temp ca…”

The filly trailed off as they looked at another pumpkin. Cumulus and Fireburst quickly ducked away, running towards Spike. Stratos paled, while Ribbon whimpered slightly.

“They said to carve something scary,” Temporal shrugged, “and I did.”

“Uncle Spike, can Fireburst come with us?” Cumulus asked.

“Well…” Spike scratched under his chin, “Burst, do you want to go hang out with your friends?”

“...Yeah.” the colt agreed.

“Alright then, you can go. Don’t light anything on fire and stay safe,” the dragon chuckled.

Ribbon, Golden Breeze, Stratos, Cream Pie and Temporal trotted over to the younger ponies.

“Miss Pumpkin said Cream Pie could come with us, so we’re going.”

“To where?”

“The Haunted House.”

Comments

[dramatic_spoon]

For starters, I really don't get the "Spike is now a full grown dragon so he has wings now."
What, is he going to undergo metamorphosis and coccoon himself like a caterpillar and emerge with more limbs?

So unless he marries a pegasus, any kinds he has aren't going to have wings.

I wanted to make Fireburst look less like Carnifex's Lavender or Kilala's Clarity and Turquoise.

Cream Pie is another generic vampire.

Originally, Pumpkin was going to wear the Pretty Pretty Princess: Princess Cadance costume, while Pound would have been a wonderbolt.
But I swapped it because it felt equally in character for how I write Pound.
...I noticed I always make Pound the goofy one and Pumpkin the Serious one.
I should reverse that later.

Spike is supposed to be a genric Dragon, but I think I made him KIng Ghidora.
And little Fireburst is just wearing his own version of Trixie's magician uniform.