Night of the Blanks

It was night time, but Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were still engaged to some lively activities they did together.

They both went to Sugarcube Corner, where they met up with Gilda and had a burping contest, much to the disgust of some nearby patrons. Then, the trio went to the catapults used for the Pumpkin Launching game, where Scootaloo got into a catapult, while wearing her helmet, and was launched into the air by Gilda. The young pegasus whooped through the air with Rainbow Dash flying beside her. Then, at the peak of her flight, Scootaloo started to lose altitude and was diving back down to the ground, but thankfully, Rainbow Dash caught her just in time.

After flying back to meet up with Gilda, Scootaloo whooped and shouted, "Let's do that again!"

Rainbow Dash laughed as she and Scootaloo got back into the catapult.

"Hey! Don't leave me out!" Gilda chided, as she got into the catapult with the two pegsi and pushed the lever, sending the trio up into the sky and into a pile of haystack.

All three poked their heads out of the hay and laughed. Later, the three were perched on top of a cloud together, looking at the moon.

"Dash! Gilda!" Scootaloo began. "I gotta say, this has been the most awesome night of my entire life!"

Dash and Gilda both looked at each other, before smiling at the young filly.

"Glad to hear kid," Dash said. "We're awesome after all."

"I'll say," Gilda agreed.

With that, Scootaloo hugged both Rainbow Dash and Gilda by their arms, who both gladly returned.

Gray Hoof was the first pony to sneak from the Everfree Forest to Ponyville, as he scouted around. He was careful not to be completely exposed to the moon's light, so as to not reveal his true form. He was surprised to see that civilians are all out and having a lively evening together.

'We must've been in the Everfree Forest, longer than we thought,' he thought. 'Such fools these ponies have now become. They should know better than to be wondering about at this hour, especially on....'

"HI!"

Gray Hoof jumped, startled at the sudden appearance of a Pinkie Pie.

"You scared me!" Gray Hoof panted, beating his chest rapidly.

"Oopsie daisy!" the Pinkie giggled. "I meant that as a surprise. Guess I must've overdone it," she giggled, to which Grey Hoof smiled a little.

"So," Pinkie began. "Who might you be stranger? I don't remember seeing you around here."

"I'm....uh," Grey Hoof stammered.

"Pleasure to meet you uh," Pinkie cheered, shaking his hoof. "My name is Pinkie Pie! Ponyville's Party Planner Pony Extraordinaire!"

"You throw parties too?" Grey Hoof gasped. "ME TOO!"

Pinkie gasped even more, "Really? YAY!!" On cue, a blast of confetti blew up from behind, along with the sounds of trumpets."This is going to be the best night ever!! I should throw you a 'Welcome to Ponyville Fellow Party Pony Party!'"

"I'd love that!' Grey Hoof answered with glee.

"Then I can tell that you and I are...." suddenly, Pinkie's pinkie senses began to act up. "Whoa, that's a new one."

"What?" Grey Hoof asked. "Is something wrong?"

"Nope!" Pinkie answered. "That's just my pinkie senses telling me something new and unexpected. Though I can't quite put my hoof to it, since this one is new and all."

"Uh, pinkie senses?" Grey Hoof asked, before taking a glance and gasped in horror to see a cutie mark on the pony's flank. 'She's been cursed. She must be sick.'

"How do you feel, Pinkie?" Grey Hoof asked in concern, while looking her over. "You're not sick are you?"

Pinkie Pie giggled, being tickled by the mysterious stallion.

"I'm not sick, silly-Willy," Pinkie laughed. "But I am ticklish!"

'Maybe you are, but you just didn't know it,' Grey Hoof thought.

"Anywho, as much as I'd like to stand around and play doctor and get tickled, I got a Nightmare Night Party to prepare for," with that, Pinkie Pie bounced away. "See you later, Alligator Uh!"

"Uh, yes," Grey Hoof replied uneasily. "See you later, alligator Pinkie?"

'It's worse than I thought, master,' Grey Hoof said in his thought.

'Yes, it is,' the master responded telepathically. 'See what has become of the ponies in Equestria? See how what it can do to a pony's mind for being under the influence of those marks they foolishly perceived as Cutie Marks, or marks of talents for so long?'

'Yes, I do master,' Grey Hoof replied. 'But hopefully, once this is over, we will no longer have to live in fear of those marks any longer. We can reshape Equestria into a more prosperous land, and we can finally rid ourselves of those marks.'

'Yes, Grey Hoof. Your efforts will be rewarded. With all their cursed marks, I will gain enough strength, even beyond that of the tyrant, Princess Celestia. We will overthrow her, and all the other princesses of Equestria, and I will become emperor of the new Equestria we have all dreamed of, and never again, will there be another curse mark.'

'Yes, master,' Grey Hoof replied, before shifting his concern to Pinkie Pie. 'Hold on just a little longer, Pinkie Pie,' Grey Hoof thought. 'For once my master rids you of that cursed mark, you will be free of those Pinkie senses that have plagued you and you will no longer talk gibberish.'

With that, Grey Hoof resumes his mission as he scouts out the town, before a found a safe place, hidden from all of the ponies' gazes, as he pulled out a horn, which he gave a huge blow and sounded the signal.

Meanwhile, from the Everfree Forest, Gladstone heard the signal and turned to the rest of the Sunny Town villagers.

"Awake the beasts!" Gladstone said, before he and the villagers both threw a piece of meat, which stirred the creatures awake.

Everypony were about to turn in for the night, when they heard a howl in the distance and the ground beneath them suddenly trembled.

"What's going on?" Spike asked. "An earthquake?"

"A stampede?" Applejack asked.

Rainbow Dash flew up to the sky to get some aerial surveillance and shouted, "TIMBERWOLVES!"

And on cue, a timberwolf crashed through one of the tents being set up.

"What in tarnation?" Applejack exclaimed.

Then, more timberwolves appeared and tore up the whole tents and games being set up for the festivals.

"HEY!" Pinkie Pie cried. "I just baked those cupcakes!"

Rainbow Dash was shielding Scootaloo beneath her wings, but one of the timberwolves crashed through a cart, sending several pumpkins flying into Rainbow Dash, burying her in a mess of seeds and crusts, while Scootaloo screamed in terror and quickly ran for her life.

"Scootaloo!" Dash cried, trying to go after the filly, but to no avail, as a timberwolf pounced on her and was about to clamp its jaws on her, when a lasso came and tied its jaws together. Applejack quickly came and kicked the wooden dog into pieces.

"You okay, sugarcube?" Applejack asked, helping her friend up.

"Yeah," Rainbow Dash replied. "But Scootaloo-"

The two were interrupted when another timberwolf jumped out at them, only to be stopped by Gilda, who shoved it away.

Gilda cracked her knuckles as she growled, "Gonna give these bad dogs some good beating!"

With that, Gilda swooped in punched several timberwolves until they were reduced to nothing but piles of twigs.

Everypony all looked at the griffon with shocking expressions.

"What? Too excessive?" Gilda shrugged.

"Gilda," Rainbow Dash said, sharing the same expression as everypony else. "Behind you!"

Gilda turned around to see a whole army of zombies and bone fiends emerging from the Everfree Forest. The worst didn't stop there, as the twigs around everypony all started to float in the air and the timberwolves all reformed themselves, bigger, and more angrier.

"ATTACK!" Gladstone cried, as he and his comrades all charged towards Ponyville.

Most of the ponies all screamed in fear, as they run around the streets in blind fear, while some, mainly the Mane Six, and Gilda both fought off the zombies and timberwolves.

Twilight zapped a few with her magics. Applejack lassoed some of the zombies with her rope, while launching a few apples and pebbles at the timberwolves, breaking their legs and causing the wooden canines to collapse. Pinkie Pie blasted some more away with her party cannon, along with Rarity who back kicked a bone fiend in the jaw, knocking its jaw off. Rainbow Dash, together with Gilda, both flapped their wings together, generating a strong gust of wind, and creating a powerful storm that blew some of the zombies away. Lastly, Fluttershy in the meantime was hiding inside the barrels. However, despite their heroic efforts, more of the zombies were still coming and began overwhelming the mane six's defenses, and breached into Ponyville.

Some of the adults were captured by the zombies, as they put them all in cages, net, while many little fillies were picked off by the bone fiends and being put in bags.

The zombies were about to return to the forest with their capture, when Rainbow Dash stopped them.

Rainbow Dash flew in and attacked the zombies, throwing many punches and kicks, releasing their prisoners. Angered by the interference, most of the zombies all jumped at the pegasus, who didn't hesitate in fighting back.

"Meddlesome freak!" one of the zombies called out.

"Freak?" Dash roared, punching the zombie in the face. "You should see yourself in a mirror."

With that, Rainbow Dash continued her fight, allowing most of the ponies, who were kidnapped, to escape and retreated back into Ponyville. Rainbow Dash looked to see none of them were Scootaloo.

'Be safe kid,' Dash thought in concern, before she back fisted a bone fiend in the face, knocking its head off.

The other zombies all ran back to Ponyville to chase down their prey.

"Here they come!" a little filly screamed.

Every pony all started to panic again.

"No, don't!" Twilight called. "If we scatter, they'll pick us off!"

"Twilight's right!" Applejack called. "If we stand together, no zombies can defeat us!"

With that, more of the ponies decided to join in the fight as well. A group of fillies and colts were cornered by a bone fiend, only to be saved by Big Mac who kicked a huge cart of anvil at the creature, scattering its bones. Button Mash quickly came out, with Pipsqueak, who quickly hold the skull in place, while the former used a golf club to launch the skull into the sky.

"Yeah!" the colts cheered.

"Go Button, go Button," Button Mash chanted repeatedly, while doing a dance, until a zombie gave him a jumpscare, causing the young colt to smack the zombie repeatedly in the face with the club, before he and Pipsqueak bolted, with an angry zombie chasing them.

Grey Hoof, meanwhile, was prowling through the alleys of Ponyville, until he spotted Apple Bloom.

"It's her!" Grey Hoof hissed, before he noticed her newfound Cutie Mark. "She's been cursed as well! No matter. The master will save her."

Grey Hoof broke into a trot as he was about to grab the filly, only for a runaway wagon to ram into him, making his presence known to Apple Bloom.

"Grey HOOF!!" Apple Bloom gasped.

"Yes, it's me," Grey Hoof grinned, as he stepped out into the light, revealing his zombie form. "I'm pleased that you still remember."

"Well, you're not that easy to forget."

"Then, I'm sure you remember that we don't like cursed marks. Pity that you have one now. But once I take you to the master, your skin will soon be cleansed."

"Sorry to break it to you Grey Hoof. But I kinda like my cutie mark, so if it's alright with you, I'd like to keep it."

"Out of the question! You're coming with me, understand?"

"And I say, NO!"

With that, Apple Bloom grabbed a nearby cream pie, and threw it into the zombie's face.

Grey Hoof spluttered and spat several pieces of the pie out, before he licked some.

'Mmm, delicious,' Grey Hoof thought, before he resumes chasing some of the ponies.

'FOOL!' Grey Hoof's master shouted in his mind. 'Get the ponies!'

'Yes master,' Grey Hoof obliged, as he joined in the fight.

As the battle kept on going, it almost looked as if though the ponies were winning, but more of the zombies kept on coming and were starting to overwhelm the resistance.

"There's too many of them!" Applejack called. "We can't keep this up."

"Perhaps not," a voice called out. "But perhaps we can even the odds."

The ponies looked to see none other than....

"Zecora!" Twilight gasped. "Princess Luna!"

Standing between the ponies and the zombies, are the zebra, the night princess, and most of the princess's night guards.

"And don't forget me!" Discord announced, popping out of a barrel.

"DISCORD!" Fluttershy shouted happily, jumping out of her barrel and into his open arms for embrace. "I feel much safer now."

"Yes I know," Discord replied, turning his attention back to the zombies. "Now, let's make Ponyville even more safer." With a snap of his finger, Discord stood, clad in a suit of armor, riding a flying pig, with a lance, and shouted. "CHARGE!"

Most of the bone fiends were skewered by Discord, who roasted them over a fire he conjured. "Roasted Fiends!" Discord called. "Get them while they're hot!"

The fiends shrieked as they escaped.

"Discord? Alive?" Gladstone asked incredulously.

"It can't be!" Three Leaf gasped.

Zecora meanwhile, threw several bottles of potions at the zombies, which all exploded into puffs of multicolored clouds. When the clouds cleared up, some of the zombies were left in disoriented states.

"My eyes!" one of them groaned, stumbling blindly.

"My nose!" another muttered, rubbing her nose.

"My leg!" another groaned.

Meanwhile, Button Mash and Pipsqueak were still being chased by the zombie from before, when Princess Luna zapped it with her magic, causing to be frozen in place.

"Princess Luna!" Pipsqueak cheered as he didn't hesitate to embrace his favorite princess.

"I'm glad to see that you're safe too, little Pip," Luna replied, nuzzling the little colt.

"Um, I hate to break this loving moment," Button Mash began. "BUT WE'RE STILL BEING ATTACKED BY ZOMBIES AND TIMBERWOLVES!!"

With that, Princess Luna and her guards looked to see the battle still going on. With that, Luna, together with her guards all charged into battle.

"I must help her!" Pipsqueak declared, as he pulled out a wooden sword and followed Luna.

Button Mash looked around. Not wanting another zombie to jump out at him, he quickly hurried after Pipsqueak.

With Zecora, Discord, and Princess Luna and her Night Guards, joining in the fight, things were starting to look up for the ponies. All except for a certain pegasus, who was zipping around, looking for her lost sister.

"Scootaloo! Where are you?" Rainbow Dash cried.

During the battle one of the zombie noticed a box moving on its own, to which it decided to investigate. Upon, lifting the box up, it revealed none other than Scootaloo, tiptoeing away with some chickens. Scootaloo quickly realized she is completely exposed and turns to face the zombie, while the chickens all scattered and clucked in fear. The zombie tried to grab Scootaloo with its hoof, but Scootaloo quickly ducked down in time, and with her helmet still on, she headbutted the zombie, leaving it in a dizzy state.

Scootaloo gave it a smile, before she went off, leaving behind a dust shaped like her. The zombie quickly shook off its dizziness, before it angrily summoned some bone fiends and together they chased the filly.

Scootaloo ran through a several food stands, knocking down some candies, boxes, and cartons of juices on the way to slow the bone fiends behind her.

Apple Bloom meanwhile, was hiding underneath a cart as she repeatedly talked to herself, "Not happening! Not happening! Not happen..."

Suddenly, the cart was flung off, and Apple Bloom found herself looked down by several bone fiends. The bone fiends all let out an ear piercing scream as they lunged and snapped their jaws at Apple Bloom, but Apple Bloom jumped through their legs and escaped the demonic fiends. The fiends all gave chase, only to be stopped by Big Mac, who quickly bucked their heads off.

Sweetie Belle was scurrying around, looking for Rarity. In her state of fright, she didn't see the web for the Spider Toss game ahead and accidentally got herself stuck in the web.

A zombie noticed her and with an evil grin, it slowly advanced on her.

"HELP!" Sweetie Belle cried, as the zombie bared its fangs. "ANYBODY!!"

Suddenly, as the zombie was about to bite down on Sweetie Belle, a flying pumpkin came flying and lobbed the zombie in the face.

"LEAVE MY PRINCESS ALONE!" a voice called out.

Rumble is seen, pulling a red wagon, with Button Mash, Snips, and Snails, riding inside, operating Pinkie's party cannon.

"Button," Sweetie Belle blushed.

Button then pulled out a wooden sword, along with Snips and Snails as they both charged at the zombie and beat it, repeatedly.

Gilda was fighting off the timberwolves, when a zombie threw a rock at her. Ticked, Gilda charged at the fiend, beating it senselessly. More of the zombies tried to help its comrade, only to be stopped by Pinkie Pie, who gave them all a jumpscare and made their skins fly off.

Some of the zombie ponies that were chasing down some little fillies, were stopped by Discord who appeared in a flash and stood before them. The zombies growled, attempting to scare the draconequus away, but in a flash, Discord appeared as a ninja, followed by several more clones of him dressed in the said attire, while performing some karate war cries, scaring the zombies away.

Later, Discord took notice of some timberwolves and zombies chasing after Fluttershy, who was helping some fillies escape. Discord quickly snapped his fingers and several custard cream pies came flying, smacking at Fluttershy's pursuers in the face.

Discord then blew a whistle and several beavers came out in suits of armor. Discord then appeared in front of the beavers, too also clad in armor, with a pointy mustache, while speaking in a french accent, and waving a cotton candy around declaring, "You don't frighten us you Twig Dogs! Go and burn your bottoms to cinder you stinkin' swarm pack of woods! I blow my nose at you so called, big bad wolves, you and your silly zombie masters!"

With that, the angered timberwolves and zombies all charged at Discord and his army of beavers. After an intense, and comical, fight, the zombies and timberwolves retreated.

Discord later summoned several lightning bolts which electrocuted some of the bone fiends, while making his face look life Forest Gump and said, "Mama always said, 'Magic is as magic does.'

"This isn't working," Gladstone growled. "We don't stand a chance against an alicorn, a zebra with dark magics, let alone Discord!"

Grey Hoof growled in irritation before he ordered. "Everyone! Retreat! We must report this to the master."

With that, all the zombies and bone fiends all pulled out as they retreated back into the Everfree Forest. After they left, every pony, griffon, and draconequus all cheered.

"We're saved!" Sweetie Belle cheered.

Suddenly, a scream was heard.

Scootaloo kept running around Ponyville, as the zombie behind her kept its chase for her.

She climbed up a stack of crates, but much to her dismay, the zombie was able to leap up to the top before her. It lunged forward, trying to bite her, but Scootaloo ducked down in time, as she jumped off the box and onto a trampoline, bouncing it off and onto a nearby haystack. She poked her head out to see the zombie was still after her and the chase continues. Scootaloo didn't look where she was going and crashed into a wall, leaving her daze, until she looked to see she was being cornered by the zombie.

"Don't be afraid, little filly," the zombie grinned, as it creeps up slowly to her. "It will only hurt for awhile. We'll save you. We'll protect you. But first, we must destroy your cursed mark."

Scootaloo stood paralyze as the zombie jumps at her with its jaws wide open.

"SCOOTALOO!" a voice cried. "NO!"

Just as the zombie was about to bite down on Scootaloo, a hoof shoved the little filly out of the way, and a bone crunching sound was heard, followed by a scream of agony.

Scootaloo looked up and wished she didn't. There, standing in her place, was Rainbow Dash, with her right hoof in the zombie's jaw.

"Let me go!" Rainbow Dash growled, before she punched the zombie in the face, forcing it to release her. Then, without hesitation, her wings spread out as she took off at a speed of light, while punching the zombie several times in the face, the gut, anywhere she can land a devastating blow to, until at last she kicked it into a barrel of pumpkins. Having enough, the zombie stumbled as it galloped away in fright.

"Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo shouted, trotting up to the older pegasus in concern. "Are you alright?"

Rainbow Dash was still growling, with the look of anger stamped in her eyes when Scootaloo came up to her, but it quickly softened when she looked at the little filly's frightened face.

"Yeah," Rainbow panted, "I'm okay." She hissed, when the pain from the bite caught up to her. "Can't say the same about my hoof though," she said.

Scootaloo tried her hardest not to look, but it was just too tempting and she recoiled at the sight of the mare's injured hoof.

"Rainbow Dash is hurt!" Scootaloo screamed. "Somepony! Help!"

With that, a whole group of ponies came swarming around the injured pegasus.