Displacement

by hornethead

Fright Night

Chapter 33: Fright Night

Down in Ponyville, away from the cold mountains, the weather was still comfortably warm during the day and the the group laid out on the warm grass by the lake were enjoying the warmth of the sun while it lasted. Sparks and Flash were tossing a Frisbee around, Sparks was launching the disc into the air while Flash would zoom up to catch it as fast as he could. Feather was propped up against a tree, reading a book he had brought. James was stretched out on a blanket, peacefully snoozing with his boonie drawn down over his face. His knee was healing nicely and he was starting to get around without his crutch. He hadn't even brought it with him today.

The human's nap was interrupted when his hat was suddenly whisked off his face, allowing the bright sunlight beating down onto his eyelids and waking him up. He raised an arm to shield his eyes from the sun before opening them to identify the being that dared disturb his slumber. Shadows fell across his face as he was now looking up into the faces of six mares.

"Hey, what brings you all out here?" He asked them.

"We were all out for a picnic day when we noticed the four of you over by the lake. Would you like to join us?" Twilight offered.

"C'mon! It'll be super duper luper fun!" Exclaimed a certain springy pink mare as she bounced around.

"Oh, I don't know. I was really enjoying my nap here." He said, retrieving his boonie and placing it back over his face.

"Too bad James, you're comin' with us!" Said Rainbow Dash as bit down onto the collar of his shirt and began to drag him away.

"Hey guys, a little help here, I'm being kidnapped!" The human called out to his three friends.

The three of them dropped what they were doing and trotted over to join the group. Flash swooped down and alighted next to Pinkie.

"What's going on?" Sparks asked the mares casually.

"We're having a little get together over here and were wondering if you handsome stallions would like to join us." Rarity said flirtatiously.

"Sounds good to me!"Flash said happily.

"Yeah, me too!" Agreed Feather.

"Some friends you are!" James shouted jokingly, eliciting a laugh from all of them as he continued to be dragged away.

The girls brought them all to a large blanket with a couple of baskets of food on it. The girls assured their new guests that there was plenty for all of them and began distributing it. James, who had pulled himself to his feet, limped over and sat down on the soft cloth with the rest of his teammates. Fluttershy surprised him by coming over to talk.

"Is your leg feeling all better now? I noticed you don't have your crutch anymore, but your still limping." She said to him in that sweetly soft voice of hers.

"It still has a ways to go, but it's a lot better than it was last week. I think I get the stitches taken out in a few more days."

"Oh, I'm so glad to hear that."

"Thanks, I can't wait to get its full use back. I haven't gotten to run in a while."

"Hey James, we was wonderin'," Applejack began, "now that yer leg is startin' ta heal, what's y'alls' plans fer Nightmare Night?"

"What's Nightmare Night?" He asked the farm pony.

Pinkie gasped with a sharp inhale of air, "You don't know about Nightmare Night!? It's only the most fantastical ecstastical super scary duper fun night ever! How could you not know!?"

James and the rest of the picnic attendees just sat there and gave her the 'Really?' look.

"Oh, right." She giggled.

Flash leaned over to his buddy and filled the human in, "Nightmare Night is a once a year thing where everypony dresses up in costume. Foals usually go door to door asking for candy. There's also usually pretty big party. It's pretty fun actually."

"Sounds familiar. What's it all about?"

This is where Twilight took over, "It goes back to over a thousand years ago when an evil pony called Nightmare Moon tried to take over Equestria and plunge it into eternal darkness. She was stopped by Princess Celestia herself and banished to the moon. After while, it all faded into an old mare's tale. Now, every year on the anniversary of her banishment, ponies dress up in disguise and foals go around collecting candy and offering it up as tribute to Nightmare Moon so she doesn't eat them instead. It's all very cute." She finished with a perky smile.

"The best part is all the pranks and scaring ponies though!" Dash added.

James' mind flashed back to the bas relief he saw in the old castle many months ago. The whole thing was very similar to the Halloween of his old home, yet.... different. There wasn't any mention of scaring away demons or sins or anything, just this Nightmare Moon' character.

"Sounds like a whole lotta fun, when is it?" He asked.

"Only five more days!" Pinkie shouted, jumping up on the spot.

"So, what do you think?" Twilight asked.

"Hmm, getting dressed up and scaring everyone? I'm in." The human replied with a devilish grin.

=====================================================================

Four days later, James was walking past the Clipper, as Myst had now returned, and into the Fixers' HQ. He entered the readyroom and made his way over to his locker. The stitches had been taken out from his knee and although it was still sore when he walked, it was only slightly so, nothing unbearable. He opened the door to his locker and rummaged around through the uniforms hung up in there until he came upon the one he was looking for. It was going to be his Nightmare Night costume, and although it wasn't all that original, he had made it himself and he was certain that except for the ponies he trained and his own teammates, none of the townsponies had seen it ever before. He reached in and took out one of the sniper's best friends and inspected it for damage, satisfied when he found none.

"Oh, this is gonna be good...."

=====================================================================

"James? Where are you? C'mon, we're gonna be late!" Sparks yelled out as he searched the are around the HQ, his costume a collection of bright shiny metal parts which encased him almost completely, except for his face which was painted silver.

The crazy human had told him and Feather to meet up with him there before they headed into town. Only now that they had arrived, he was no where to be seen. It was beginning to get dark and the unicorn was losing his patience.

"rrrRRRAAAAaaawwgh" Came a threatening growl from around a corner covered in bushes.

"Ha ha, very funny. I suppose your plan is to jump out from behind the building and scare me?" Sparks predicted sarcastically.

The engineer rounded the corner and.... saw nothing there.

"James?"

He heard a soft rustling behind him and turned around. Suddenly, where there had only been empty space before, a great green shaggy beast now stood.

"RAAAAAGH!" It bellowed at him, raising its powerful arms above its head.

"YAAAAHH! WHAT THE?"

The unicorn stallion reared back and fell onto his back, loose parts of his costume clanging together in a great clamor. Suddenly, the mottled creature burst out into laughter, the earth pony behind it soon following suit.

"Huh? Wha--. James, is that you!?" Sparks said, voice tinged with annoyance.

The mossy green monster lifted the front of its face up to expose another green, black and brown stripped face laughing beneath it.

"That was absolutely perfect!" James forced out through his laughs.

"Very funny, you're wearing you ghillie suit."

"Not tonight. Tonight I'm the swamp monster! What are you?"

Sparks stoically brought a foreleg up to his chest, producing a loud clang. "I'm the Steel Stallion! He was the main character in one of my favorite comic books as a foal."

"I thought we were going for scary, not corny!" James teased. "I mean, look at Feather."

The dark blue earth pony was clad in ripped and torn clothing, and a clever paint job had been added to make it appear as though his flesh had been shredded as well, exposing the flesh and bone hidden below. The illusion was especially well crafted on the left side of his face.

Sparks rolled his eyes, "Anypony can throw on some ripped clothing and make up, I constructed this from scrap metal myself." He said proudly.

"Yes, you are quite the master craftsman, er, pony. Now let's go, I want to see what it's like in town."

The three then set off to the small town of Ponyville to join the night's festivities. Flash and Myst would be meeting up with them later, right now he was spending time with his marefriend and she was showing her little brother, who had come to visit from Fillydelphia, around town. James couldn't wait to see how the evening was going to turn out. Halloween was already one of his favorite times of the year, hopefully this wouldn't let him down. As they neared the town, he could see decorations of bats and spiders adorned the buildings all around. Everywhere there were ponies in costume and various disguises, little foals running about, going door to door for treats. Closer to the town center several stands and games had been set up for the enjoyment of all the townsfolk.

They entered the town square and almost immediately ran into three familiar little fillies. A small red haired sea pony, a little ninja with a horn and a hat and a miniature purple haired pilot in a green jumpsuit and goggles with a white scarf tied around her neck. All of them had large bags of candy slung over their backs and were accompanied by a blonde lumberjack and a curiously jeweled butterfly.

"Howdy there Mr. Sparks, Feather and uh... James, that you under all that?" Greeted the lumberjack.

James cleared the strings of fabric away from his face, "Yeah, it's me. Nice costumes. How're you doing?"

"Absolutely fabulous. I think the gems on mine really bring out the beauty of such a delicate creature." Rarity expoused.

"He was askin' about all of us, not yer fancy get up Rare."

"Oh, of course. My apologies." The gilded butterfly said humbly.

"Any who, we was jus' a chaperonin' our sisters and their friend around fer treats." Applejack continued.

"Yeah, except Pinkie practically cleaned the place out already...." Applebloom said dejectedly.

"Hush 'Bloom, ya got plenty this year." Applejack said to her sister.

James knelt down to the foals.

"And what are you little ladies this evening?" He asked them with a friendly smile.

All three sounded off at once.

"I'm a merpony!"

"I'm the Mysterious Maredowell!"

"I'm the Angel of Whitecrest!"

The human's breath caught in his chest upon hearing the last one.

"She's almost as awesome as Rainbow Dash! Almost..." Scootaloo added.

"I'm sure she'd still be very flattered to know that someone was dressing up as her." James told the little filly.

"Yeah, except that nopony knows who she even is."

"I'm sure word will reach her somehow." James said with a wink.

James stood back up as Rarity began to herd them away, "Ok girls, that's enough, it's almost time for the offering. James, would you and your two handsome friends like to join us?"

He looked to his two friends who both nodded, eyes transfixed on the mare in the flashy costume.

"Looks like it's unanimous, lead the way."

James and company were taken out away from the town, with a large stream of other nightly revelers. They were all going into a large cluster of bushes, trees and other foliage. After walking down a small yet wide path they came to a clearing with a large threatening statue standing towards the back. It featured a terrifying looking alicorn mare with menacing armor and a ghastly visage. James stayed to the rear near against the tree line while the girls continued on ward, just wanting to observe the ceremony. One by one, the little foals would walk up to it and deposit a portion of their haul at the base of the statue.

Almost every one of them had finished when dark billowing clouds suddenly rolled across the sky, flashing lightning and throwing thunder. A chilly wind rushed through the clearing, howling a piercing keen and a haunting moan. Suddenly, with a particularly bright flash of lightning, the statue transformed from cold solid rock into the flesh and blood form of the evil it represented. She reared up on her hind legs, laughing maniacally, causing all the ponies before her to cower in fear.

Then, with dark slitted eyes and diabolical looking fangs and in a voice on par with the wail of the haunting wind itself, she addressed the huddled mass of terrified ponies.

"I, the Ruler of the Night, have returned! It has been long since I've eaten and my hunger is great, perhaps I can find a tasty little foal to fill my belly?" She proclaimed loudly while scanning the costumed crowd. "'Tis a Shame! I see none here! Then I suppose these treats will have to do," she said before leaning down and lifting the mask off of one of the little ponies' face, "instead of eating YOU!"

The children screamed and began to flee as she reared up again and laughed her devious laugh. James backed away from the oncoming stampede and laughed at the display. Soon, nearly all of them had escaped the scene, leaving just James and the frightening mare. Once all the children had left, the evil being standing up on the pedestal flashed and began to shrink, transforming into a slightly smaller and far less threatening Princess Luna. Slowly, James began to clap, having enjoyed viewing such an exotic custom.

"That was quite a show there!" He complimented.

Luna searched for the source of the voice having believed herself to be alone, "What? Who is there? I demand you show thyself."

"Oh, yeah," James removed himself from the tree line and removed the head covering of his ghillie suit, temporarily having forgotten it would practically make him invisible in the darkness and brush.

"Oh, 'tis only you. You are the 'human' that has entered our service, are you not?"

"That's correct ma'am, and may I just say that was an impressive performance. I don't think I've ever seen anything like that."

"You... really liked it?" She said almost skeptically.

"Well yeah, sure. I mean, 'dark' and 'scary' often finds it's way into my job description, so I learned to get comfortable with it."

"So I have heard."

The princess of the moon and stars began to make her way back to the town, James joining her at her side.

"So, ma'am, you're in charge of this night, yeah? I gotta say, I've enjoyed all of it so far, it must be fun getting a whole night for yourself once a year."

Luna's expression became one of indifference, "As much fun as one can have on the celebration of one's imprisonment."

"Oh... wait, so all the stories, the battle a thousand years ago, that was all about you?"

*sigh* "Yes, though everypony appears to have forgiven me for my transgressions now. And I will admit, scaring them is a bit fun." She said with a small half smile.

"So, if you don't mind me asking ma'am, what's the plan now?"

"I shall join in the festivities here for some time, however, this is but one of many stops I must make this night and I shan't stay for long."

"Hmm, almost like Santa..." James wondered out loud.

"Pardon?"

"Oh, nothing ma'am. Any way, if you will please excuse me, I'd like to go track down my friends, they seemed to have run off. Maybe we'll see you around town."

"Yes, of course. I bid thee farewell."

"Er... yes, have a good night ma'am."

James peeled off from the royal pony and ran into town to find his friends. After some searching, he had to stop and sit down, the night was brisk, but the ghillie suit was thick and it wasn't designed for a large amount of movement, he was starting to overheat. He took a spot on a nearby bench next to a mint colored unicorn in an odd clown costume. Odd because she was wearing the shoes with over sized toes when she didn't have feet and she was sitting in a manner that resembled his own posture. This caused him to do a double take. The unicorn just stared at him with a dumbfounded look. It was a little unnerving.

"Uh... can I help you?"

She just continued to sit there and stare.

"Are you ok?" He asked with some concern.

"Can I have one of your hands?" She asked abruptly.

"Wait, what? Uh... sorry, but these aren't detachable."

"Hm hm hm, no I want to make a plaster mold!"

"Uh, ok. What for?"

"Ohhhh.... nothing."

"O.... K....?"

"Meet me tomorrow at this address."

She handed him a card and hopped off the bench, disappearing into the night. James just watched as she went, a little confused at the whole experience. He sat there for a minute, wondering what the hell just happened to him.

"James."

"YAAAHH! The hell?"

Feather had materialized beside him, seemingly from the blackest of voids.

"You really gotta stop doing that to me Feather, you'll give me a heart attack! Christ, you're a silent sunovabitch."

"Who's--"

"Nevermind, what's up?"

"We've found Flash and Pinkie."

"Yeah?"

"Well, we could use you're help."

"Help with what?"

=============================================================================================

Thirty minutes later, he was laying in a cluster of corn, stalking two young ponies. Cautiously and quietly, he silently crawled closer to the two unsuspecting lovers, preparing for the his final action. At a snail's pace, he low crawled up to his final position. He could see both of them clearly now, nuzzling each other's necks, whispering sweet nothings. It was the perfect moment to strike. James reached up to his throat and clicked the mic button three times, signaling that he was ready. Then, he waited. After a few minutes, a bright red flare shot up straight into the sky, illuminating the whole corn maze. Simultaneously, the two ponies directed their vision to the night sky above. James took this opportunity to step out of hiding.

"RAAAAWWRR!'

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!" The pegasus screamed screamed while Pinkie just laughed. Flash immediately placed himself between his date and the perceived danger. It was then that a flash of lightning cracked through the air behind them.

James disappeared into the crop of corn while they were distracted and circled around to their rear. In no time, James, Feather and Sparks had them surrounded. James once again revealed himself and Flash's training kicked in. The pony spun and tried to buck the monster, but James simply side stepped it, grabbed a hold of one of his legs, placed his other hand on the pegasus' chest and twisted around, throwing him at Sparks who caught him mid air with his magic. Flash fought and struggled in the unicorn's magical grip before calming down and observing his surroundings. James took off his head piece and began to chuckle. Beside the human, Pinkie was in a full laugh riot.

"Ha ha, very funny. Now would you please put me down?" Flash said a little angrily.

"That was great!" Pinkie exclaimed, still laughing, "Especially the lightning!"

"Yeah Sparks, when'd you learn to do that?" James asked, still smiling.

Sparks looked at him quizzically, "Lightning? I didn't create that. I thought you some how arranged for it."

They all turned to Feather, "it wasn't me..." he told them.

Just then, rain began to pour down onto the group, which was strange because aside from Princess Luna's grand entrance earlier, there hadn't been a single cloud in the sky.

"Aw crap, I can't get this wet, it'll take a week to dry it out!" James said in annoyance.

The group dispersed and he began to head towards shelter but stopped when he noticed it was abruptly no longer raining. He turned around and looked behind him to see that it was only raining in a small localized space about ten feet wide. As he stood there confused, the rain suddenly shifted back to him, once again drenching him. James stepped out from it again, only to have it shift again. Then he began to run, zig zagging and side stepping, but everywhere he went, the rain followed. He tried to find the entrance to the maze, but gave up and simply barged through the stalks of corn, scaring many other ponies in the process, until he emerged from it. The rain was still on him and clearly not part of the maze. By now, he was soaked through and didn't even try to run, he just walked in submission to the persistent weather over to his friends who were waiting and now laughing hysterically. Finally, the rain stopped and a lone cloud descended to the ground, carrying a rainbow maned vampire bat doubled over in a fit.

"Well, that makes sense." He flatly muttered.

"You have to admit," Sparks said to him while walking over, "that was pretty good!" The engineer gave James a pat on the back causing his ghillie suit to squish loudly, which in turn only made them all laugh even harder.

"He looks like Rarity from the last time she got caught out in the rain and her hair got all clumped up!" Pinkie pointed out, eyes filled with mirth.

"Yeah, you got me good. Can't say I saw that coming." James admitted. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go hang this up to dry before mildew decides to build up."

"Ew, don't worry bud, I got you. Just stand still." Sparks told him.

James did as instructed as the unicorn's horn took on it's bright blue aura and enveloped the human with it. In an instant, there was flash and James could a sensation akin to a sunburn race across his body briefly. A cloud of steam shot out into the air as the water in his suit almost instantly evaporated. James checked himself and found that he was completely dry.

"Hey, thanks! When did you learn that little useful spell?" James asked, clearly grateful with his friend's assistance.

"Meh, you pick things up as you go."

Feather suddenly spoke up, "Ok, all pranking aside, it's getting late, who want's to go party?"

Pinkie began to bounce up and down, "Ooh ooh, I do, I do!"

"Mind if I tag along?" Rainbow asked.

"Sure, let's go." James replied.

Dash hopped off the cloud and kicked it back into the air over the corn maze, causing it to rain again and several shouts of annoyance to erupt from within the tall stalks.

"Oops..."

Comments

[SteampunkBrony]

ah gillie (sp?) suits. So much fun on Halloween.

[IMR1fley]

New chapter, yay!

[M3Xkillers]

best comedy-based chapter so far

I wub this story

[Night Sky]

oh lyra

[akatsukislayer]

1199406 That could have been less, awkward

[OneAmongOthers]

1199406
i.chzbgr.com/completestore/12/4/21/f41bRjzCUUqSceMa-kMF2Q2.png

[DianaWinters]

Party?

[Emerald Zweihander]

Again great chapter keep up the great work.

[XboxAnnihilator]

[Astarea]

scranton.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/rsz/mlfw2191_medium.jpg

[Sonson-Sensei]

me gusta

[SpeedyAstro]

Thou don't capitalize the sentence that says what the character did in dialogue.
What I mean is:

Don't do this: "I like pie!" Exclaimed Pinkie Pie.

Do this: "I like pie!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie.

Don't do this: "My name is Rainbow Dash." Said Rainbow Dash.

Do this: "My name is Rainbow Dash," said Rainbow Dash.

Do this: "My name is Rainbow Dash," Rainbow Dash did a flip in midair.

Do this: "My name is Rainbow Dash." Rainbow Dash did a flip in midair.

I did notice a few mistakes besides the ones I instructed you to do/not do above. Check them out, will you?

[User_Name555]

1199322 Understatement of the year.

[D48]

That was good, I liked having a bit of harmless fun as a change of pace, and I am hoping there is enough alcohol at this party to loosen James up enough to do something with Rainbow.

[Paladin Redflare]

Bumpercart Nightmare Night costume is best costume.... BUMP INTO ALL THE THINGS!

[FireShadowFox]

Needs moar RD shipping. Nuff said.

[ChainReaction]

Luuuuuuuv! Perfect Nightmare Night chapter!!! I cannot wait 'till the next.

[angry birdy 12]

One word: lol

[Ignis Mortis et Doloris]

I've used gillie suits on Halloween before, but my best stunt was when i went around in my GI BDUs and yelled at people in military costume for being out of uniform. I jumped out of a bush and yelled this:
DROP AND GIVE ME TWENTY FOR IMPROPER WEAR OF UNIFORM SOLDIER! I WANT TO SEE YOU SWEAT!
The man nearly pissed himself, and I was only 14

[damnaion]

lol

[Godiswithus3]

That was funny.

[The Crimson Reaper]

2691465 Two words: Comedy. Gold.

[the equestrian Ranger]

I have a strange feeling that I know what Lyra is going to do with that casting

[Edguy0009]

2691465
There’s a certain helicopter in the air and it soi soi soi.

[Equestrian Intelligence]

7733694
I like how we know its lyra

[SovietWafflez]

F#cking Lyra lol.