Trip?

by redactedandredacted

One

“Mischievous spirits from beyond,

Come to me, heed my call

Lend your power unto me,

So a scare we may give to one and all...”

Zecora ceased her chanting momentarily to assess the condition of a strange green mixture boiling over her fireplace.

"If this prank potion is to succeed, more poison joke is what it needs!"

As she said so, she tossed several dried poison joke plants into the cauldron. The mixture hissed and changed in colour from green to fluorescent turquoise.

Then with an approving glance over the potion, she turned about and resumed chanting at her summoning circle - a pattern of strange gems laid in various positions on the floor of her hut. They served to weaken the divide between the planes of existence, allowing her to interact with strange otherworldly beings.

Now, the mixture Zecora was brewing was something she had prepared specially for Nightmare Night, which was in three days time. This particularly potent potion, made using various magical plants, would cause the drinker to become afraid of nearly everything. Zecora smiled as she pictured a slew of unfortunate ponies running about like headless cockatrices, frightened of things which were completely harmless.

But in order for the potion to achieve the desired effect, Zecora required some supernatural assistance. Spirits, she had found, were unpredictable. Some were malicious, but some too were simply fond of trickery and pranks. It was one of these ghouls whom she was trying to commune with now, in hopes that it would be willing to lend her some ethereal essence (a prime ingredient in her potion).

The zebra closed her eyes. She could practically feel the presence of the spirits in the room around her. Most were apathetic towards her, but one seemed interested. Zecora thought it seemed a promising candidate, so she redoubled her concentration and tried to draw it to her.

As the ghoul approached, the enchantress grew excited. She could feel an aura emanating from the shade, one of malignant humour and mischief. This spirit surely was the exact one she needed. Soon he would enter the summoning circle, and Zecora could speak with him.

But then she felt another presence.

It appeared from behind her, and she realised that this one was approaching much faster. Worse, the second spirit had an aura not of playfulness, but of hostility and evil.

With terror, she recognised it to be a demon.

Zecora frantically jumped forth, knocking over the gemstones in a desperate attempt to destroy the rift she had created with the spirit world.

But she could not move quick enough.

As the demon came upon her, the zebra screamed. Then she fell to the ground, curled up in a foetal position. The demon invaded her mind, and Zecora was forced into the recesses of her head as this thing seized control of her every sense and function. She tried to cry out, but she was no longer in control of her own voice. The demon was now the puppeteer of her body.

Turquoise eyes no longer graced the zebra as she rose from the ground. They were now a brilliant scarlet.

{}{}{x}{}{}

Pinkie Pie yawned and roused herself from her sleep. Within moments of jumping out of bed, her mane was as poofy and curly as ever, and a bright smile spread itself across her face. She glanced at her calendar and squealed - Nightmare Night was just two days away now. She fondly remembered the hilarious pranks of years past, all of the scares and practical jokes she had played on unsuspecting ponies.

This year would be no different.

After washing up and inhaling a breakfast of absurdly sugary oatmeal, Pinkie Pie bounded out the door. She was headed towards Ponyville’s joke shop, to arm herself with various pranking weaponry.

Approaching the giant jester’s hat, she saw with disappointment that it was closed. However, her face was fallen for no more than a few seconds before an idea came to her.

I know, I can just go visit Zecora! I’m sure she would have some sort of freaky natural alternative to anything I need!

And so Pinkie turned and made for the Everfree Forest.

{}{}{x}{}{}

"Hiya, Zecora!" Pinkie chirped when the door to the hut was opened. "Why are you wearing your scary evil face-hiding hood again? Actually never mind! I was wondering if you had anything that would be useful for pranking ponies this Nightmare Night. Extra-super-spicy sauce to put on candy, exploding fruit, you know?"

Zecora carefully regarded Pinkie and said nothing, seeming to consider something. She stepped back inside, leaving Pinkie Pie humming unphased outside. Then the zebra-witch returned to her doorstep with a strange bottle of jet-black liquid and a cupcake.

"Oh wow! What's this? It's for me? How did you know I like cupcakes?"

"This potion will do for what you seek, to give a scare to the meek. The cupcake has some baked inside. Try it - you'll be quite surprised."

Confused but ecstatic that she had found the perfect prank so easily, Pinkie Pie gave Zecora a hug - to which the zebra grimaced with distaste - and thanked her heartily before making her way back home.

{}{}{x}{}{}

"Come on Pinks, this can't be THAT exciting. I need to be working on my costume right now,” Rainbow Dash complained as Pinkie Pie led her back to Sugarcube Corner.

“But Dashie, it totally is! Zecora gave me a freaky-deaky potion to use as a Nightmare Night prank! She didn’t say much about it, but it’s supposed to do something really scary!” Pinkie Pie emphasised these last few words by rearing up and imitating some sort of monster.

“That’s awesome! Hehe, Nightmare Night is the best for pranking.”

“Yeah! I thought since you like pranking almost as much as I do, you’d want to be in on it. Look! Zecora also gave me this cupcake! She said it’s kinda like a sample!”

“So you’re gonna try it?”

“Yupp!”

The pair entered the bakery, and Pinkie led Rainbow up the stairs to her room. The cupcake sat on a plate on Pinkie Pie’s bed like a trophy on a pedestal.

“Uh, Pinkie? Are you sure that cupcake is... safe?” Rainbow thought the cupcake looked almost ominous - it was black and purple, and made her fur stand on end just to look at.

“Don’t be ridiculous Dashie, of course it is! All cupcakes are safe!”

“Haha, yeah... Alright, I guess I was being kind of silly.”

Pinkie Pie trotted over to the cupcake.

“So,” Rainbow enquired, “you have absolutely no idea what’s going to happen when you eat that?”

“Well, I know that it’s going to be scary!”

“Wow, that’s pretty brave of you. I don’t know if I would do that.”

“Hey, if we’re going to serve them to our friends, we have to be sure that it’s safe, right?”

Dash frowned - that statement was far too logical for Pinkie Pie. The pink pony was now examining the cupcake, as if wondering how best to attack it. After a few moments’ consideration, she shrugged and threw it into the air, eating it in one bite as it landed in her mouth.

Rainbow Dash held her breath... but nothing seemed to be happening. Pinkie stood there unafflicted, an impeccable smile on her face.

“Pinkie?”

Then her smile began to waver. Pinkie’s vision started to blur and dim slightly. She started to sway, then abruptly collapsed to the ground. She turned her head to the side, and saw her pegasus friend approaching.

But then something really strange started to happen. Pinkie gasped as Rainbow Dash’s features began to be distorted. Dash kept approaching her, not seeming to realise the changes that were coming over her. Her eyes grew large, larger, until they were the size of dinner plates - no, garbage can lids. Her irises faded from pink to stark white, until her eyes were completely blank. Her wings shrivelled, feathers molting rapidly.

“Dashie!” Pinkie called out in alarm. But if the cyan pony tried to respond, Pinkie couldn’t hear her. Dash kept morphing - her legs grew longer, soon looking more like tentacles than legs. Her mouth spread open impossibly wide, and then to Pinkie’s horror, knife-like teeth filled Dash’s twisted grin.

“Pinkie...” the monstrosity called to her in a deep, demented variation of Dash’s usual squawk, “Pinkie Pie...”

Pinkie tried to rise to her feet, but she tripped - one of the monster’s long legs flashed out and snared her. Pinkie looked around the darkened room, looking for something she could use to defend herself. There was nothing within reach.

Pinkie wailed and screamed as the beast picked her up, dangling her in the air by one hind leg.

“DASHIE! What’s happening!? WHY ARE YOU-”

The thing slowly brought Pinkie above its gaping mouth.

“DASHIE NO!”

It let go.

{}{}{x}{}{}

“Pinkie. Pinkie please, wake up. You’re scaring me.”

The voice seemed distant and echoing, but gradually it came into focus. Pinkie Pie opened her eyes. Then she turned and saw - thankfully - a perfectly ordinary Rainbow Dash at her bedside.

“O-oh my... D-d-dashie, what happened? Am... am I dead?”

“No you aren’t dead! Thank Celestia for that...”

“Oh, okay! Great!” Pinkie said with glee. “Wow, Zecora wasn’t lying. That is a REALLY scary potion.”

“It sure seemed like it - you wouldn’t stop screaming. What happened to you?”

“Well you kinda just turned into a big ole scary monster-Dash, with a giant mouth and pointy teeth, and then you tried to eat me.”

Dash just sat there blinking.

“But now that I know that I’m safe, that was CRAZY AWESOME.”

Dash looked at her friend carefully. Pinkie seemed slightly insane at the moment. But then, she always did. It was hard to tell with Pinkie.

“So,” the party pony announced with a grin, “when are we gonna make those cupcakes?”

“Pinkie, I’m not sure if it’s a great idea to be giving our friends super-powerful hallucinogens...”

“Aw, come on Dashie. You remember last year, don’t ya? It’s fun to be scared!”

“I just... I don’t know.” Dash looked at the dark bottle on Pinkie’s dresser. “That potion gives me the creeps, Pinks. Did Zecora tell you that the cupcake would give you a massive trip?”

“No, but-”

“Then we don’t know if we can trust her! What if the potion does something entirely different than what she said?”

“Dash, you know we can trust Zecora - remember when she helped us with the Poison Joke? When she cured Apple Bloom’s cutie pox?”

Dash considered this for a while.

“Fine. I’ll go with you on this one. Are you sure you’re okay?” Pinkie Pie nodded. Dash sighed, then tried to put on an enthusiastic face, for Pinkie’s sake.

{}{}{x}{}{}

The next morning, Pinkie was (extra super) excited. Nightmare Night - the most prank-filled, goofy, mischievous holiday of the year - was tonight. And she was well equipped to give her friends the scariest night of their lives.

Pinkie Pie spent most of the day putting finishing touches on her costume - a bed sheet ghost that was in no way frightening. Later during the day, Rainbow Dash came over. The pegasus was sporting a flashy rock star costume, complete with a glamorous peacock suit.

When it was nearly dark, the pair grabbed the batch of cupcakes they had made yesterday. They giggled like fillies as they wrapped them up and headed outside towards Twilight’s house, where they had arranged to meet their friends.

At the library, Pinkie and Dash were greeted by Twilight, who had decided to forgo a magical history-related costume this year. Instead she had on a stylish vampony costume, with bat-like wings and fake fangs.

“Nice costume Twi!” Rainbow told her with a playful wink, “It’s a lot cooler than last year’s!”

Twilight shot her a deadpan look.

“Look Twilight! We brought cupcakes!” Pinkie Pie squealed, trying to bite back her mirth.

“Awesome! Thanks, Pinkie!” Twilight took the cupcakes from Pinkie and set them aside for later.

Gradually, more of their friends arrived, dressed in varied costumes. Typical party fun ensued, as the group prepared to head out and participate in the Nightmare Night festivities.

“Psst! Pinkie!” Rainbow Dash whispered, “We’re leaving already? When are they going to eat the treats?”

“Don’t worry, we’ll come back here afterwards, and they’ll eat them then!” Pinkie Pie assured her.

And so the group of six headed out into the night. They roamed around Ponyville, playing games and laughing. All the while, tension was building within Pinkie and Dash.

"This is going to be the best prank ever!" Pinkie whispered to her friend.

"I know!" replied Dash with a foalish giggle.

"This is going to be the best... prank... ever...!" Pinkie said again.

"Uh, Pinks? You just said that."

Pinkie Pie looked around, her world distorting oddly. The pegasus beside her seemed to be magnified slightly, and her head was fisheyed slightly.

"Whoa, Dashie... What's wrong with your head?"

Dash groaned. It seemed Pinkie was having aftereffects from the hallicinogen.

"Pinkie, I think you're tripping out again. Just try and stay calm, alright?"

Pinkie barely registered what her friend said, but she tried not to let on that everything around her was becoming anthroponemorphic.

The next house they passed gave her a sinister smile. A streetlamp casually tipped his hat to her as she sauntered by, dazed.

"Pinkie! Get over here!" Dash growled as Pinkie tried to shake hands with a mailbox.

"Dashie! Your costume looks so nice. It's like you're a real rock star!"

Dash grumbled something about being the more responsible one as she pulled Pinkie back to the group.

Luckily, their friends didn't seem to notice Pinkie's strange behaviour. Or if they did, they just wrote it off as Pinkie being her usual self, perhaps a little hyped off sugar. The group now gathered by the stage in town square, watching the band perform.

Much to Dash's relief, as Pinkie watched the performers, her condition seemed to cease.

"Pinkie, I'm not so sure if this is funny anymore."

"Don't be silly Dash-"

"Pinkie!" Dash interjected, "Are you even thinking straight? I know you think this is all a big joke, but what if these effects don't go away? You might need serious help!"

"Dashie, it's not so bad as you think. I'm sure Zecora will be able to make everything better if something goes wrong!"

Dash stated long and hard at Pinkie.

"...Alright. But we're never doing this again! It's just not worth it to get some cheap laughs."

"Oh, absolutely," Pinkie agreed absentmindedly. "Hey, I think we're ready to go back to Twilight's place!"

Rainbow Dash sighed uneasily, and then followed Pinkie back.

{}{}{x}{}{}

Back at the library and out of their costumes, the six friends were relaxing and munching on leftover candy.

“Cupcakes!” shouted Twilight with a giggle.

And then Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie watched - one anxious, the other excited - as the cupcakes disappeared one by one into the mouths of their friends.

They waited intently for reactions, which drew strange looks from the other four ponies.

"Ahem, the cupcakes are, um, delicious!" coughed Rarity awkwardly, misinterpreting their anxiety.

Fluttershy choked. The others all looked at her questioningly. Then Twilight, too, began to cough and sputter. Pinkie and Rainbow exchanged nervous glances.

"What in tarnation..." Applejack trailed off, staring wide-eyed at her two friends. Fluttershy collapsed to the ground, where she started to grow.

Beside her, a squawk came from the lavender mare. Twilight's coat was changing shades, becoming a dark violet, then deepening to pitch black. She looked at her hooves, which then sprouted long, spindly claws. Her body started to change shape, and the unicorn's eyes rolled back into her head.

Next, Rarity gave a wimper of fear as she realised that she too was transforming.

Applejack rounded on Rainbow and Pinkie, near speechless.

"W-wha, Ah... You? Y'all made those cupcakes, what in Equestria is goin' on here?!"

"I-I-I have n-no idea..." stuttered Rainbow.

"Now don't give me that crud! Ah wa- WHAAA!" Applejack was cut off as her tongue suddenly expanded and grew in length, shooting out of her mouth and whipping around like a crazed serpent. It would have been comical if it weren't for the pained, strangled screams coming from Applejack as she choked on her own appendage.

"Pinkie. What. Have we. Done."

"I don't think we've done anything, Dashie. You're probably hallucinating, just like me!"

"Pinkie! Look at our friends! What the buck is happening here?!"

"Did you eat a cupcake?" Pinkie asked in a patronising voice, "That was a silly thing to do."

“No, Pinkie, I didn’t!”

Pinkie just stood there smiling at her hallucinations. Slowly the pair were approached by four monstrosities. A warped and bloated Fluttershy several times her normal size. A jet-black Twilight Sparkle with massive forelegs tipped with long claws. A snarling Rarity with a balloon-like head. And a disgusting, slobbering Applejack, whose eyes had glazed over and whose tongue was now a dozen feet long. All of them were darker in tone, and had mouths full of blade-like teeth.

And none of them looked very friendly.

“PINKIE! IF THIS IS A HALLUCINATION THEN WHY HAVEN’T I TRANSFORMED LIKE--”

Rainbow’s words were cut short as she was batted across the room by a swipe of Twilight’s oversized arms.

Slowly, gradually, Dash’s words sunk in.

Pinkie screamed.

Comments

[Cog Archival]

Not bad. The build up to the final plot twist is pretty good, and the whole thing does a nice job of being creepy. I'll give it a mustache.

[redactedandredacted]

1495753 I appreciate it, sir! There was a fine line here between making things understandable and giving away what would happen. I like to think I hit the right balance (or at least came close).

[The Questioner]

Well, now THIS is a good story. The end was especially intriguing, although it was a TAD (read: pretty much) predictable. Nevertheless, a delightful little read, complete with evil Zecora, realistic Pinks, and typical heroic Dash (played rather well, if I may say so).

The only issue I can really find with this is the pacing. Although the beginning seems plausible, I'd suggest starting closer to NmN (is that how it's shortened?). Pinkie would likely be able to withstand most of the trip, being pretty much high all the time, and would thus have much shorter recovery time. Also, she's not spontaneous about her pranks, like she would be in the show. It makes sense that they would plan this, being Nightmare Night after all, but I think Pinkie would be a tad more... how to put this... just plain old Pinkie: Never quite sure what she's gonna do until she does it.

Thoroughly satisfying nonetheless,
~InfinityXanadu

[toafan]

F'naa.

This needs the [horror] tag, not the [dark] tag. It's fairly benign, but [dark] is not right at all. Unfortunately, [horror] does not exist here.

I didn't particularly like it. But it was short, so whatever.

[redactedandredacted]

1501266 Okay, yeah, but you're supposed to know what's going to happen. Think of every horror movie - you're practically screaming at the characters "Don't open that door you stupid bitch!" but of course they do anyways. Here it's the same thing. "Pinkie! They're real!" but of course she doesn't react that way.

Anyways, if you really think it's a good idea, it'd be really easy to change a few number words so this all happens in a day as opposed to three.

1501652 Your dissenting opinion has been noted. I know this is an annoying question, but I have to ask - What didn't you like about it? What DID you, if anything?

Also you're quite right, this isn't really a dark fic at all. But Dark is as close as we have to Horror on this site.

[The Questioner]

1501862
True, true. Though, you did apparently make a conscious effort to disguise the final plot twist, so I was just wondering if I wasn't supposed to know.

The timeframe shouldn't be too much of a problem; I don't really know though, so just go with what you think is right.
~InfinityXanadu

[toafan]

1501862 Well, I'm going to have to be brutally honest here: It felt kinda stupid and rushed. [[paranoid parser: that's "kinda (stupid and rushed)"; not "kinda stupid, and rushed"]] The rushed I understand, I saw the contest announcement a week or so ago and a one-week deadline doesn't leave much room for work. The other... I'm not touching that head-on.

My (possibly underinformed) belief is that really good (okay, probably best) horror has you on the edge of your seat a fair amount of the time, probably right up to the end -- the [horror] equivalent of a really good [tragedy] (stuff like West Side Story, for reference). Really, really good horror (best of best) would have 'dark' as well, there part of the horror comes from the potential in every person to reach these depths. Not that this is necessarily even trying for 'good' horror, but it felt kind of flat.
[[Part of me feels I should point out I'm more of the psychological horror persuasion, but another part of me argues that that's supposed to be what's going on here -- Pinkie Pie had no idea what she was doing to her friends up until like the last two paragraphs. Either way, I'm not getting 'the horrorz' here.]]

Hmm... It was technically well-written? You asked, and so I'm answering, but I'm kinda grasping at straws. This didn't 'stick' with me at all, I'm kinda like "okay, whatever, NEXT"; but your grammar and spelling were fine.

[redactedandredacted]

1503266 Ah, well this is the result of about three hours worth of work in total. I'm not very good, so it's hard for me to come up with an M. Night Shyamalan plot twist in that time frame.

1504131 I won't really try to defend myself here. I understand where you're coming from, andI guess a lot of people arent very frightened by descriptive nonsense. I wrote a story that would scare me. Might not have been the best strategy for a contest fic, but alas.

Thanks very much for the feedback. Chances are I won't be returning to horror anytime soon, but if I do at some point, I'll try and remember all this.

[toafan]

1505492 For comparision's sake, you might try the campfire/sleepover story in SS&E's hiccups. Storywise, it's similar calibre to this, but I think it worked a lot better.

[The Questioner]

1505492
I might have to agree with you on the contest thing, however those kind of stories do tend to be very interesting to read six weeks after writing them!
~InfinityXanadu