„Hey Bon Bon, I’m back!“
The mint colored unicorn closed the door behind her just as the first drops of rain hit the street. She walked over to the living room couch while grabbing hold of the lyre lying on it with her magic.
“I have to say, this weather schedule thing can really come in handy. I don’t remember much from my life before – well, this – but I’m pretty sure we didn’t have something like that.”
Bon Bon, a cream-colored earth pony with a pink and blue mane and the owner of the house, came in from the kitchen to welcome her housemate. The ever-present smell of candy she emitted was much stronger than usually due to the fact that she had actually been in the act of making new candy, an occupation that was not only her job but also her special talent.
“And you’re really using it to its full extent, Lyra. Maybe it’s because everypony has gotten so used to it, most ponies I know rarely check the weather schedule.” Almost on cue one of the town’s inhabitants passed the window, hurrying to get out of the rain as fast as possible. “Hay, you probably know next week’s weather better than some of the pegasi on the weather team.”
The unicorn, Lyra, sat down on the couch in her unusual pose, which a normal pony would find highly uncomfortable. However, Lyra was not a normal unicorn. As far as she remembered, she didn’t use to be a unicorn at all, up to the day when she woke up from unconsciousness to find herself face to face with a brightly colored, talking pony by the name of Bon Bon. Lyra couldn’t remember much from her life before that day, but she certainly kept a lot of habits. Habits which – surprisingly enough – barely made her stand out against all the other ponies in this town.
The dull yellow glow around her horn brightened a little as Lyra shifted from the standard levitation to a slightly more complex spell. Magic energy gathered at her front hooves and formed into two hands. She grabbed her instrument in the new appendages and started plucking the strings.
“Have you been making new candy the whole day?” she asked the mare who had become her best friend in these last months.
“Oh, that’s right, you probably wouldn’t know about this. I’m preparing for Nightmare Night. It’s one of the bigger holidays in Equestria…”
Bon Bon made herself comfortable on the couch as well and a wave of scents washed over Lyra. The unicorn could smell caramel, chocolate and a bunch of other things that were bad for your teeth. Not for the first time did the unicorn wonder just how the local candy maker had become friends with the towns dentist. She let go of that thought just in time to hear the end of Bon Bon’s sentence.
“…And everypony wears costumes. But most importantly, all the little colts and fillies go from door to door and ask for candy. It’s the most important time of the year for my candy shop.”
“So it’s like Halloween?”
“Hello-what?”
The words had left her mouth before she noticed them, and now Lyra herself tried to think about what exactly “Halloween” was, “I mean, I think it is. I think that’s another memory from my old life. We had something just like this Nightmare Night. People had costumes and there was candy, too, and everyone tried to make their costume as scary as possible.”
“That does sound a lot like Nightmare Night. It’s actually an old tradition to disguise oneself from Nightmare Moon, but the decorations are usually a bit on the eerie side. I guess it’s expected from a holiday called Nightmare Night. In any case, it’s nice to see that you actually seem to have some experience with this holiday. That should make things a lot easier.”
Both ponies kept quiet for a moment as they sat and listened to a little melody Lyra was performing on her lyre. After a while Lyra turned to her friend, grinning.
“So… Does that mean I’ll get to see you in a costume?”
“Of course! The time before Nightmare Night is the best time of the year for my business, which means it’s also the time I have to work the hardest. If I survive the next two weeks there’s no way I won’t jump at the opportunity to have some fun. I already have my costume for this year.” She paused for a moment before adding in her best teasing voice, “And no, you can’t see it before Nightmare Night.”
Lyra gave a playful frown at that. Then she let out an exaggerated sigh and announced with a grand gesture, “Well, if that’s how you’re going to be about it… I guess in that case I’ll have to get myself a costume so terrifying that you’ll think twice about keeping something like that from me again.”
Bon Bon had to chuckle at this, “Well, if you think you can find a costume like that you’re welcome to try. If I were you I wouldn’t get my hopes up, though. Anyway, as fun as this is, I should probably prepare one or two more batches today. It can’t be long now until ponies start to run my door in at the candy shop.”
The small silver bell at the top of the door announced another customer entering Carousel Boutique. Rarity, the owner of the boutique, looked up from her work at the mint green unicorn who was staring at the dresses and costumes draped over ponnequins all around the room.
“Why hello.” Rarity levitated her working glasses over to a small table and trotted over to the new customer. “Lyra, was it?”
“That’s right.” Lyra reached out a hoof and Rarity shook it. “I wanted to commission a costume for Nightmare Night, and I was told that you were the pony to ask about that?” It was more of a question than a statement.
“Indeed, darling. You’re still relatively new in town, aren’t you? Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll find just the right costume for your needs.” Rarity gestured over at a row of already finished costumes. “I supply the whole of Ponyville with costumes for Nightmare Night, and I dare say I make it look as fashionable as a pony could.”
“Actually, I have a specific design in mind.” Lyra levitated a sheet of paper out of her saddlebags. “I know it’s just a rough sketch, but it doesn’t have to be very accurate.”
Rarity took the sketch in her own magic and levitated it closer to herself, grimacing at the simplicity of the drawing. “Well, with those notes you added it seems easy enough to make. It’s not a difficult design, doesn’t need a lot of material, either. Only… No offense, but this hardly makes a costume. It hardly even makes a dress, though I’ll admit that I might be a bit biased in that regard.”
“I know it’s not a whole costume, there are some more parts to it. Speaking of, do you know where I could find something like… fangs? You know, fake fangs.” Lyra looked around a shop once more. “I don’t suppose you sell those, too?”
“No, certainly not.” Rarity had put on her glasses again and was now going through drawers, taking out fabric and yarn to examine it in the light and put it back again. “I recognize that things like those are part of Nightmare Night, but I have my principles. However, I’m sure Pinkie Pie can get you anything you need, if she doesn’t already have it at hoof. She sells all kinds of pranking supplies this time of the year, and she seems to take the ´all kinds´ part quite seriously. You’ll find her at Sugarcube Corner.”
She levitated an empty ponnequin to the window. “If you want, you can come right back after that. I need a break from this last commission” – she pointed over at the black work-in-progress she had been working on – “and your order is really quite easy. I should have it finished in an hour.”
Lyra watched the white unicorn set the last stitches to her dress when the bell signalized the arrival of another customer. An orange earth pony with a blond mane came in. “Hey, Rarity! Ah just wanted to look stop by and bring you some apples. Ah know this time of the year is almost as stressful for you as the time before the Gala and you always plum forget to eat something.”
“Why thank you, Applejack. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Rarity nodded towards Lyra. “I take it you already know each other? Of course you do, Pinkie Pie wouldn’t allow any ponies in Ponyville not knowing each other.” She chuckled at her little joke and turned back to the ponnyquin before her to take the dress off it with her magic. “You’re timing couldn’t be better. I just finished Lyra’s costume and for once I have no idea if it is perfect or completely off the mark. Apparently she has a plan, but she refuses to tell me anything.”
Rarity turned around to Lyra and levitated the dress in front of her with a coy smile. “But now it is finished and I do hope you’ll finally put my curiosity to rest. I assume you’ll want to try it on, anyway.”
Lyra nodded absentmindedly, her attention still fixed on the dress in front of her. It was amazingly detailed, considering the simple sketch it was based on, and it looked better than anything Lyra could have come up with. “I guess I should do that.” She began to look around the room, searching for something. “Uhm, do you have a room where I can put this on, or…”
“Oh, nonsense. Let me help you with that, darling, it will take just a second.” Rarity’s horn lit up and the dress disappeared in a flash of magic, only to reappear on Lyra’s body with another flash.
“Wow!” Lyra jumped a little at the sudden spell cast on her. Once the light had faded she looked down at the piece of clothing she was now wearing, a simple dress made of unassuming, dark grey fabric, covered in thin white lines in the shapes of spider webs. “It worked! That’s an amazing spell!”
“It’s nothing, darling,” Rarity replied with a modest flick of the hoof. “Just some simple magic, a free service for all customers of my boutique.”
“Really now?” Applejack asked with a sly look at the designer. “Ah don’t remember you ever doing something like that for me.”
“Well, you can’t exactly be considered a regular customer, can you?” Rarity said with a huff. “The only times I’ve ever seen you in here for business was when I designed that fashion-disaster for the Gala.”
“Ah still like that dress,” Applejack mumbled. “It’s functional.”
“Was it really that bad?” Lyra was examining herself from all sides in one of the pony-length mirrors.
“She wanted to wear galoshes at the Grand Galloping Gala!” Rarity whined. “Can you believe that?” She shot a glare at the farmpony. “And I can only hope you didn’t just imply that that… atrocity still exists.”
“Aaanyway…” Applejack began, shifting her eyes left and right. “Didn’t you say that you came here for a costume, Lyra. No offense, but that doesn’t exactly look scary, nor does it really look like a costume to me. And that’s coming from the mare who’s going as a scarecrow.”
“That’s right, I still have to test if this even works the way I imagined.” Lyra turned around and looked at Applejack thoughtfully. “Actually, would you help me test it? Just close your eyes for a few seconds.”
“Okay, ya got me curious at least.” Applejack closed her eyes, quietly humming a few notes to herself. A stifled ‘Oh, my…’ could be heard from Rarity’s direction. “Can Ah open my eyes yet?” She frowned when no answer came and peeked through one eye.
“Well. Ah’ll be…” Applejack fully opened her eyes and stared at the spot where Lyra had been standing. “Where did she go?” She turned around to Rarity, who was looking at something between Applejack’s ears with an amused expression. Applejack slowly tilted her head back to look up.
“Boo,” Lyra said.
“Hey Bon Bon, I’m back!” Bon Bon was in the kitchen again, pulling a fresh batch of hard candy out of the oven when Lyra came home. The unicorn walked through the doorway, brandishing her new dress. “And I got a costume for Nightmare Night.”
“Really?” Bon Bon turned around expectantly to look at her friend, but stopped when she saw Lyra’s ‘costume’. “…Really?” She raised a brow. “Did you forget it somewhere on the way?”
“Nope, this is it,” Lyra replied happily, taking a few steps towards her. “And it’s the scariest, most terrifyingly traumatizing Nightmare Night costume you’ve ever seen.”
Bon Bon gave an amused smile, turning back to her candy. “It sure is. I’m so terrified I forgot to be scared.”
“Hmm…” Lyra said from behind her. “Not the reaction I was hoping for.”
From the corner of her eye Bon Bon noticed something black moving around, she turned back around to ask Lyra what she was doing, but the words got stuck in her throat. Her eyes widened and her pupils shrank to the size of pinpricks as she took in the sight in front of her.
Lyra was suspended in the air by six spindly legs. They were pitch black and resembled the legs of a spider, but each one ended in a black, four-fingered hand. The unicorn’s horn was surrounded by the golden glow of her magic and her muzzle was only inches away from Bon Bon as she was staring her right in the eyes.
“Let’s try that again, shall we?” Lyra hummed in an eerie tone of voice, grinning to show the pair of shimmering white fangs in her mouth.
Author's Note
What happened? Is Lyra actually a monster from the Everfree, or maybe something even worse?
Spoilers: Nope.
Once upon a time, this chapter was the whole story. It was an idea I got practically as soon as I saw Lyra's spell in the comic. Today, it has become more of a prologue to the actual story.
Lyra tugged at the bandage around her foreleg. It was already coming loose and she would have to take it off soon, but she was actually quite glad about that; the fur underneath was itching horribly and more than once on that evening she had been tempted to just rip it off.
“Well, look who it is,” a voice from behind her announced. Lyra looked up to see Applejack and Rarity walking up to her, quickly taking in their costumes; Applejack was wearing a scarecrow costume, just like she had said she would. While it was a simple costume Lyra had to admit the earth pony really managed to pull it off. Rarity, on the other hand, was wearing a completely different kind of costume. Lyra wasn't sure what it was supposed to be, but the large fake butterfly wings strapped to the white unicorn's back, adorned with patterns of tiny gemstones and jewels in all colors, looked simply stunning.
“Ah thought y’all had commissioned a special costume from Rarity for this night," Applejack continued. "So, what’s up with the mummy outfit?”
Lyra smiled at the two ponies. “I thought it would be a little mean to scare all the small kids running around, so I threw something together this morning. I was just on my way to get the dress, actually…” She chuckled. “I’m afraid these bandages didn’t stand much of a chance against the Princess and her ‘Royal Canterlot Voice’.”
“Ah, yes, that was quite a tumult wasn’t it?” Rarity said. “I’m just glad Princess Luna enjoyed herself in the end.”
“Speaking of,” Applejack interrupted, “we’ve been lookin’ for y’all, actually. Ah’m not sure if y’all noticed, but Rainbow Dash is a little… well…” She looked over to her friend to help.
“…Unruly,” Rarity filled the gap. “It’s all just a part of her character, of course, but it gets especially bad during Nightmare Night. Besides her rather… overzealous pranking, she’s always boasting how she isn’t scared of anything. Of course there are things that scare even her, but I have to admit, she manages to keep up the façade admirably well.”
Lyra grinned. “So you thought I could try to give her a scare.” Then her expression changed to confusion. “But didn’t the Princess already do that before she went back to Canterlot?”
“Sure she did, and we all had a good laugh, including Rainbow. But y’all can guess what she thought of that…” Applejack tried to mimic the pegasus’ voice. “‘I wasn’t scared, she just startled me. It takes a lot more than a little thunder to scare somepony like me.’”
“If we want Rainbow Dash to actually admit that we scared her, a simple prank just won’t achieve anything.” Rarity concluded. “We need something that’s actually scary, something original; something like your costume, darling.”
“I see…” Lyra rubbed her chin with a hoof, the bandages on which were slowly unraveling. “I think I have an idea. Just give me ten minutes to change, and we can make a plan.”
Rainbow Dash trotted between the stands with food and games that had been set up in the marketplace. It had been a good Nightmare Night so far – a little confusing maybe, what with the whole Princess Luna/Nightmare Moon incident, but a good night nonetheless. The Shadowbolt costume Rarity had made for her was the best costume she’d ever had; Pinkie Pie’s chicken costume had been too good an opportunity to pass up, and the pink pony played along with her pranks so well that Rainbow almost fell off her cloud laughing; and even Princess Luna had enjoyed herself. Rainbow wasn’t too proud to admit that the Princess had gotten her good; she could appreciate a good prank even in the rare cases when she was on the receiving end. It was all in good fun, after all.
Still, she had made sure to immediately dispel any rumors that somepony had scared her. Princess Luna had pranked her good, but a small surprise like that was nowhere near actually scaring the future Wonderbolt. Rainbow couldn’t think of anything she would be scared of, as she made sure everypony knew.
“Rainbow Dash!” Rainbow turned around to see a mint green unicorn mare gallop towards her. As far as she could tell, the unicorn was wearing some sort of dress instead of a costume.
“Rainbow Dash! Finally…” The unicorn came to a stop right in front of her, panting heavily. “Alley! Monster! I need your help!”
“Whoa, slow down!” Rainbow cut her off. “Lyra, was it? Now tell me, slowly, what happened?”
Lyra stared at her with wide eyes. “There’s a monster in one of the alleys over at Bon Bon’s shop!”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow, smirking. “A monster, huh? You sure somepony didn’t just prank you?”
“I know what I saw!” Lyra shouted, then calmed down a little. “At least I think so… Can you just come and take a look? Everypony says you’re one of the bravest ponies in town.”
“Just one of the bravest? Don’t let those guys fool you, I am the bravest pony you’ll ever see around.” Rainbow Dash struck a small pose. “Alright, just show me that monster and I’ll give it a good whooping.”
Lyra led the pegasus to a small and dark alleyway, right next to Bon Bon’s candy shop. She stayed a few steps behind while Rainbow Dash went on ahead, stopping in front of a stone wall marking the end of the alley.
“Hm… it’s a dead end, all dark and stuff…” the pegasus muttered to herself. “Whoever led her in here knew what they were doing. Maybe it was Pinkie Pie; she certainly has the equipment to pull off something like that.” She turned around to Lyra. “Now where is that ‘monst– Augh!”
“Hm… You’re right, there’s nopony here but us.” Rainbow Dash stared with wide eyes at the creature towering before her. It was the unicorn mare who had led her here, but now she was sporting fangs and eight long black legs that went out from her body, along with her four regular green ones. Each of the new legs ended in a black, four-fingered hand and together they lifted the mare two feet above the ground. “Maybe… I’m the monster, then?”
Rainbow put a hoof on her chest, chuckling weakly. “Hah… heheheh, you got me. Not bad, that was a new one alright. Is it some kind of spell?”
“Hm… Does this look like a spell to you?” The unicorn brought her head a little closer to Rainbow Dash’s. The pegasus felt a small pinch of dread somewhere in her chest when she realized that Lyra’s horn wasn’t glowing. She didn’t know much about magic, but she had never seen a unicorn cast even a basic spell without the telltale glow of magic appearing around their horn. Hadn’t Twilight mentioned something about that once? Rainbow had just tuned her friend’s ramblings out, like she usually did.
“Ah, I get it. Somepony else is probably casting the spell for you,” Rainbow Dash tried to play it down. “Is it Twilight? I didn’t think she was the pranking type, but she always plans everything in advance, I suppose. I give you an ‘A’ for effort, but you’ll have to do better if you want to actually scare me.”
“Fufufu, you ponies, always so optimistic, almost naïve… That’s why Nightmare Night is my favorite day of the year; you still think you’re safe, even when it’s already too late.” Rainbow Dash instinctively flinched as the creature brushed one of its black hands past her cheek. “And you’re going to be an especially tasty one.”
“Okay… It’s been fun, but I’m out of here.” Rainbow Dash spread her wings and took off straight upwards. For any other pegasus the space between the two houses would have been too small to do that, but Rainbow Dash was the best flyer in Equestria (aside from, maybe, the Wonderbolts). Sure, she couldn’t fly as fast as usual, but she was already halfway to the roofs and in a few seconds she would just–
Something grabbed her left hind leg, stopping her ascent. Looking down, she saw one of the creature’s black hands wrapped around her leg. The arm was surprisingly strong, slowly pulling Rainbow back down to the ground despite the pegasus’ best efforts.
“Fufufu, not so fast. Won’t you at least stay for dinner? If I can’t eat you, I’ll have to find somepony else… Maybe one of your friends?” The creature let its tongue glide over its fangs. “You know, I think I might take a look at them, anyway. There’s always room for dessert, after all.”
That was all Rainbow Dash needed to hear. With all her strength she kicked at the arm that was holding her hind leg. The black fingers opened enough for the pegasus to slip out. As fast as she could she beat her wings, flying upwards past the edge of the roofs and from there towards the center of town.
Lyra looked after the fleeing pegasus, grinning around her fangs; this had gone even better than expected. She took the fake fangs out of her mouth with one of the black hands, wiping off the small traces of saliva before putting it back into the small pocket Rarity had sewn into the dress, where it was practically invisible. Then she lowered herself to the ground again and cancelled her spell, letting the arms disappear. She stepped out of the alley and quickly cantered the short way back to the marketplace; she wanted to meet up with Rarity and Applejack before Rainbow Dash did anything hasty.
“Well?” Rarity inched a little closer to the other unicorn, looking at her expectantly. “How did it go?”
“It went perfect! I think Rainbow actually bought it,” Lyra exclaimed happily. The two unicorns and Applejack were standing in the shadow of the small stand the Apple family stored their apples for the apple bobbing in, where Applejack had taken over the shift from her brother just a moment ago. They had agreed to make the stand their base of operations, since it was a little bit away from the activity surrounding the marketplace.
“Ah’d still like to know how y’all managed to hide the glow around your horn,” Applejack said, gesturing for her friends to follow her back to the marketplace.
“You know I can’t tell you anything about that…” Lyra frowned. Bon Bon had been a little hesitant to let her test one of her experimental creations, but so far the candy had worked without a glitch and hadn’t shown any side effects. Still, her friend wasn’t technically allowed to do this kind of experiments, so she wouldn’t tell anypony about it, no matter how nice they seemed.
She was snapped out of her thoughts by the yelling of a certain pegasus galloping up to the group. “Rarity! Applejack! Finally I found you guys!” Rainbow Dash came to a halt right in front of her two friends, visibly exhausted. “I need your help! There’s this crazy monster that’s–“ She blinked and turned around to Lyra with wide eyes. “You!”
“Huh? What about me?” Lyra did her best to look puzzled and slightly intimidated as the pegasus snarled at her.
“Don’t play dumb!” Rainbow Dash turned back to her friends. “I swear, she’s some kind of spider monster! She tricked me to follow her into an alley and tried to catch me!”
“Now hold on just a second, Rainbow Dash,” Applejack interrupted her. “Y’all can’t just go and blame random ponies like that. Do you at least have some sort of proof for that?”
Rainbow raised a hoof and opened her mouth to spit out more accusations, but stopped. “Well, uhm… no.” She frowned, but after a second the fervor was back in her eyes. “But I know what happened! She said she wanted to eat me!”
She took another step towards Lyra again, but Rarity stepped between them. “I’m sorry, darling, but without any sort of proof we can’t just take your word on something like this. This is a huge accusation you’re making.” She put a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder in a calming gesture. Then she trotted off into the mingling ponies with Applejack, leaving the pegasus to look after them speechlessly.
“If it’s any consolation, I believe you.” Rainbow Dash flinched at the sound of Lyra’s voice coming from right next to her, and turned her head. The unicorn was smiling, her clean white fangs glistening in the light of the streetlamps. “By the way,” Lyra continued, walking right past the stunned pegasus to join the crowd herself. “The ‘weird spider monster’ is called a Dryder. Just an FYI.”
“Hey Rainbow Dash, what are you doing?”
Scootaloo winced a little as her idol jumped up in surprise and hit her head on a low-hanging branch of the tree she was hiding behind. The filly took a step back in embarrassment, chuckling weakly. “Oh, sorry…”
Rainbow Dash rubbed her head with a hoof, hissing in pain through her clenched teeth. She looked at Scootaloo and wordlessly put a hoof in front of her mouth before gesturing the filly over to the tree trunk.
“What are you doing?” Scootaloo whispered, carefully sneaking over to Rainbow Dash. If the pegasus thought they needed to be quiet, Scootaloo would do her best to make as little sound as possible.
Rainbow Dash pointed at a mint green unicorn mare in a dress who was slowly walking past the stands, stopping to watch ponies trying their luck at the Nightmare Night games. As soon as the unicorn appeared to turn their head in their direction Scootaloo was yanked behind the tree, a blue hoof clamping over her mouth.
“That ‘unicorn’ is trouble, and I’ll prove it,” Rainbow Dash whispered, just as much to herself as to Scootaloo. “I know she’s some kind of monster, but she’s not going to hurt anypony here in Ponyville as long as I’m here.” She looked down at the orange filly who was staring up at her with wide eyes. “You believe me, Squirt, right?”
“Mm-mph.” Scootaloo nodded rapidly and gave a muffled reply through the hoof still over her mouth. Rainbow Dash quickly removed her hoof, allowing the filly to finally breathe again. Scootaloo took a deep breath, then peered around the edge of the tree, taking another look at the unicorn. “She doesn’t really look like a monster, though…”
“She doesn’t, now. But I saw her!” Rainbow Dash looked Scootaloo right in the eyes, a dead serious expression on her face. “She had those eight spindly legs and fangs, like some kind of pony-spider monster.”
“You mean a Dryder?” Scootaloo asked, earning a confused look from the other pegasus. “What? There’s not a lot of interesting stuff they teach us in school, so I pay attention when Miss Cheerilee talks about the cool stuff like cryptozoology…”
Rainbow Dash’s face lit up. “That’s perfect! You know stuff about that monster and I am just generally awesome. Together we’ll have that monster caught and unmasked in ten seconds flat.” She looked back at the marketplace, searching for the mint green unicorn, and let out a gasp; the mare was standing at the corner of a house, looking in all directions before sneaking into the alley behind her. “That’s our chance! Come on!”
“Where did she go?” Rainbow Dash looked to all sides while Scootaloo went ahead to carefully inspect a few wooden crates at the end of the dead end alley.
“I can’t find her,” the orange filly announced, trotting back to her idol. “Are you sure she went in here?”
“Of course I’m sure!” Rainbow Dash replied. “She must have gotten away somehow. I think she can… climb…” Her sentence trailed off and her eyes widened as she looked at Scootaloo. The monster was hanging in the air just above the filly’s shoulder, slowly lowering herself with four of the black legs and extending two more towards the filly. The monster looked up to notice Rainbow Dash staring at her and grinned, showing her fangs.
“Watch out!” Rainbow Dash pounced forward, missing the monster as it quickly pulled itself up again. Instead she hit Scootaloo, ending up in a heap on the ground with the orange filly lying on her chest. She pushed the confused and dizzy filly off of her and frantically got to her hooves, turning her head upwards just in time to see a figure disappearing over the edge of the roof.
“You’re not getting away this time!” she yelled, taking of as fast as she could in the space between two houses, flying straight upwards. Within seconds she was in the air over the town, quickly turning her head left and right in an attempt to spot any suspicious shadows in the dark.
“Come on! Show yourself already! Are you scared?” she shouted into the darkness, trying to bait the monster. After a short moment of impatient hovering she began to scan the roofs again.
“Aaaiiig-“
The scream was cut off as suddenly as it came. Rainbow Dash spun around to locate its source, before realizing where it had come from. “Squirt!” She dashed straight downwards, back into the alley, almost clipping her wing on a gutter.
When she reached the pavement of the alley, she was the only pony there. “Squirt? Hey!” She took a few unsure steps in a random direction.
“Come on, stop hiding. This isn’t funny!” She pushed one of the wooden crates over, looking behind it.
“Squirt? S-Scootaloo!” She frantically looked in all directions, trying to find a trace of the orange filly. The monster had said it would eat her friends. It hadn’t actually…
She shook her head, trying to clear it. Her legs were shaking from… rage, that was it. She was angry towards that monster. She was not scared. She wasn’t scared about what might have happened to the filly. She wasn’t even thinking about how the little filly might be trapped in a cauldron with boiling water, or rolled up in dough and cooked in a giant oven, or even eaten raw and alive, or…
“Scootaloo!” She galloped out of the alley, into the light of the marketplace. She had to find her other friends, immediately!
Lyra watched from behind the chimney as the blue pegasus hovered in the air over the alley, scanning the rooftops. She waited until Rainbow Dash was looking in away from her before she quickly sneaked back to the edge of the roof.
The orange filly had gotten back to her hooves, but was still shaking off the last of her dizziness. Lyra climbed back to the ground, careful not to make a sound until she was right behind the filly. Just as she wanted to grab her, though, the filly turned her head.
“Aaaiiig-“
Lyra quickly clamped a black hand over the filly’s mouth and grabbed her with four other arms while she galloped out of the alley. Thankfully, she made it the short way to the Apple family’s stand without anypony noticing them. Slamming the door closed behind her and leaning against it she finally relaxed and let out her breath, releasing the orange filly in the process.
“Ahhhh!” The filly immediately scurried back into a corner, backing up against a pile of apples and cowering. “I’m sorry! I’ll never skip curfew again, I swear! I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry–“
“Scootaloo? Well, Ah’ll be. What are you doing here?” Applejack stepped out from the shadows, chuckling a little as she gave the filly a pitying look.
Scootaloo looked at the earth pony with wide eyes. “I, uhm… Wha–?”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to terrify you that much.” Lyra chuckled, stepping a little closer. Her additional arms were gone again, as well as her fangs. “We should probably fill you in… The truth is, I’m not a monster. Applejack and Rarity want to play a prank on Rainbow Dash and I’m helping them.”
“That’s right, Ah’m afraid y’all just got caught in the middle of it.” Scootaloo turned her attention back to Applejack, trying to process everything she was hearing. “Rainbow Dash always boasts how there ain’t anythin’ she’s afraid of, so Rarity and me decided to try an’ get her down from it a little.”
“So, wait…” Scootaloo’s eyes widened as the words finally sunk in. “You’re trying to scare Rainbow Dash. But I thought she isn’t scared of anything!”
“We’re not just tryin’ to scare her, sugarcube; we’re goin’ to give her so much of a scare she’s goin’ to outright admit it.” Applejack’s face took a smug expression. “And it seems we’re doin’ pretty good so far. Nopony is afraid of nothin’. It’s high time Rainbow sees that, too.”
“I’m not sure if it’s really the costume, though,” Lyra spoke up. “She seemed really scared when I told her I would eat her friends…” She stopped and sheepishly grinned at Applejack. “Oh, uhm… sorry about that, I guess. Anyway, Rarity’s advice on acting seems to really help.”
“Trying to scare Rainbow Dash…” Lyra and Applejack nervously turned their attention back to Scootaloo, who was looking down in thought. If she told Rainbow Dash about their plans, their gig would be up.
Suddenly the filly’s face lit up. “I know!” She jumped up and galloped right past the two startled mares, opening the door. “I’ll be right back! I know how we can get Rainbow Dash for sure!”
Applejack and Lyra looked after the filly, then leered at each other.
“That was… weird.”
“Didn’t she say something about curfew just a minute ago?”
“I’m telling you, she’s a monster! She foalnapped Scootaloo, and I haven’t been able to find Applejack, either!”
Applejack and Lyra carefully trotted up to the group of ponies. Rainbow Dash was yelling at some of her friends; Lyra immediately noticed Rarity, right next to Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle.
“Now what’s that about not bein’ able to find me?” Applejack spoke up. “Ah’ve been around the whole time, organizin’ some of the Nightmare Night games.” For a moment Lyra was worried that the earth pony’s awful poker face might betray them, but if anypony aside from Rarity had noticed they didn’t show it.
Rainbow Dash’s face lit up in relief. “Applejack! Thank Luna you’re–“ Her eyes focused on Lyra, and she pounced the unicorn without warning. “You! Where’s Scootaloo?” She turned her head to Applejack, pinning Lyra to the ground with her front hooves. “Get away from her, she’s dangerous!”
“Rainbow Dash! You’re ruining her dress!” Rarity screamed, lifting the pegasus off Lyra with her magic.
“Let me down!” Lyra got back to her hooves, groaning and rubbing her head while Rainbow struggled against the magical grip she was in. “You haven’t seen what she did! She took Scootaloo! If we don’t stop her she might go for one of you next!”
“Oh my, Rainbow Dash.” Rarity stared at her friend in disbelief while she lowered the pegasus back to the ground. “Are you actually… scared of something?”
“What? No!” Rainbow stumbled back in surprise. “I-I’m not scared of her… Rainbow Dash isn't scared of anything! I’m just… cautious, that’s all.”
Rarity raised an eyebrow. From behind Rainbow Dash’s back, Applejack shot her a look that said ‘if that’s how she wants it…’. The earth pony placed a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder, causing the high-strung pegasus to flinch. “Ah think y’all are just seein’ things. Ah’m fine and I’m sure Scootaloo just had to go home, too. Maybe the Princess’ joke ‘surprised’ y’all more than you thought. Ah’m sure a few games of Spider Toss will calm y’all right back down.”
“I am calm!” Rainbow screamed, shaking the hoof off. “I mean… I… Ugh! Why won’t anypony believe me?”
“Now listen here…” Applejack grabbed Rainbow’s head with her hooves, looking her straight in the eyes. “Y’all need to finally calm down. Ah know you, Rainbow Dash, and trust me on this: If Ah honestly think competitive games are going to calm you down, y’all are having serious trouble. Now just follow me, play some games, play some more pranks if that’s what it takes and enjoy the evenin’! And no more talkin’ about some kind of monster goin’ around, do you hear?”
“But… I…” Rainbow looked around for support from her friends, but let her head hang when none came. “Okay… Maybe you’re right.” She pointed a hoof at her eyes, then at Lyra. “But I’ll be watching you! If you do anything suspicious…”
Lyra watched Applejack led Rainbow Dash away towards the games stands. The other ponies scattered as well, leaving her alone with Rarity. “Well, that went as well as we could hope.”
“I don’t think I have ever seen Rainbow Dash like this, and she still doesn’t want to admit that she’s afraid of anything.” Rarity put a hoof to her chin in thought. “I’m not sure if that is stubborn or ambitious of her… Either way, we need one more strike to get her to admit to it. Do you have any ideas?”
“I’m afraid I don’t. Her meeting Scootaloo really was a lucky coincidence, but I really thought it would be enough. Maybe we can–“
Lyra was interrupted by a small stone landing between her and Rarity. The two ponies looked up to see Scootaloo hiding behind a stand, waving at them.
“Quick, over here!” Scootaloo tried to whisper as loudly as possible. She waited until the two mares had reached the stand. Her face was beaming with excitement and her wings buzzed happily. “I did it! I managed to convince her to come over here!”
Lyra and Rarity shared a quizzical look. Scootaloo led them around the corner of the stand, bouncing excitedly. Another pony was hiding in the shadow of a tree a several feet away, looking around nervously.
“It took me a bit to convince her to come, but I have the perfect plan,” Scootaloo happily exclaimed.
Rarity took another step towards the figure, squinting slightly. “Is that…? It can’t be… Oh, my.”
The figure’s ears perked up, and it turned its head towards them. “Rarity? Are you the unicorn Scootaloo was talking about? She asked me to help you, so, uhm… I’ll do my best. If that’s okay with you…”
Rainbow Dash hid in the branches of a tree, scanning the crowd. Beating Applejack’s flank at Spider Toss had distracted her from her mission for a moment, but now she was even more determined than before to unmask that monster to her friends.
“Come on… Where are you?” she muttered rubbing her eye with a hoof. She had been sitting there for a few minutes, looking for any hint of mint green fur. Blinking sleepily she slowly turned her head, and almost jumped up. That unicorn was back, trotting towards the alley again. She seemed to be talking to somepony, but Rainbow Dash couldn’t make out who it was that–
She gasped loudly as she recognized the other mare entering the alley. Jumping out of the tree she dashed over as fast as she could, reaching the alley in seconds.
“Stay away from her!” she screamed, stopping at the entrance of the alley and flaring her wings in an aggressive pose.
The two ponies flinched and turned their heads. Lyra instinctively backed away from Rainbow Dash a few steps. The other pony just looked at her in confusion. “Rainbow Dash? What’s wrong?” the yellow pegasus asked.
Rainbow Dash stepped between her friend and the monster. “Don’t you dare lay a hoof on Fluttershy! You made a big mistake just now, you hear?”
“Oh, I’m sure Miss Lyra wouldn’t hurt me…” Fluttershy murmured from behind. “I was trying to be brave and look at the Nightmare Night stands, now that it has calmed down a little, but… Lyra found me and talked to me after I had panicked. She said she had seen a few adorable kittens here that might help calm me down.”
Rainbow didn’t look away from Lyra for a second, staring the monster right in the eyes. “A likely story. If that’s true, then where are–” She felt something brush against her leg and looked down. A pair of small white kittens were prowling around her forelegs, purring softly.
“Listen Rainbow Dash…” Lyra said, getting the pegasus’ attention again. “Maybe we had a bad start, but–”
“Save it!” Rainbow interrupted her. “I’m not falling for your tricks. You’re not going to eat me, or Fluttershy, or anypony! You got that?”
Fluttershy put a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder. “Rainbow Dash, don’t worry. I promise Lyra isn’t going to eat you.” Rainbow frowned. Something about Fluttershy’s voice seemed off to her. She turned around and opened her mouth to ask her friend about that.
No words came out. Rainbow Dash just stared at her friend. Fluttershy was grinning, beaming white fangs extending from her mouth.
“I am.”
“O-oh my, was that too much?” Fluttershy looked down at her friend in distress. Rainbow Dash had stared at her for a few seconds, unmoving, and then unceremoniously fallen over. Lyra had barely managed to catch her with her magic before her head hit the ground. Now the unconscious pegasus was lying on the ground, unaware of the two kittens trying to climb her back.
“Don’t be silly, darling, that was perfect!” Rarity exclaimed, trotting into the alley with Applejack. Her horn began to glow and Rainbow Dash floated over to her. “I don’t think Rainbow Dash will be able to play this down. Now, I propose we bring her somewhere safer and wait for her to wake up, what do you think?”
“Ohh…” Rainbow Dash slowly opened her eyes, putting a hoof to her head. She was in a bed, even though she couldn’t quite remember if she had gone to bed the night before. “What happened…? All I remember is…”
Her eyes snapped open. The monster, Scootaloo, Fluttershy. She frantically tried to focus her vision on the figures, recognizing the first one as–
“Augh!” She almost jumped, backing away from the mint green unicorn. She turned her head to the left in panic, stopping just in time to see the yellow pegasus standing at the bedside.
“Augh!” Rainbow scooted backwards another bit, instinctively looking away from the yellow pegasus, until suddenly her vision was filled with white, blue and lots of pink.
“Aug– Oww…” Trying to back up even further, Rainbow’s head connected with the wall at the head of the bed. The wall didn’t budge, leaving her to close her eyes again and hold her head until the pain would recede.
Pinkie Pie turned her head back to her friends cheerfully, still standing on the bed with her forelegs. “I think she’s awake.”
Rainbow Dash opened an eye again, glaring at her friend while she continued to hold her head. She noticed that all of her five friends, plus Scootaloo and that unicorn-spider-monster were gathered around her bed. “Okay, I’ll ask… What the hay is going on?!”
“Well,” Twilight spoke up, glancing at the other ponies around her. “From what I understand Rarity and Applejack were trying to scare you, and apparently decided to get help from Lyra,” – she pointed a hoof at the mint green unicorn – “Scootaloo and Fluttershy.”
Pinkie Pie bounced right in front of her, flailing her arms in a flurry of different gestures. “Yeah, it was the biggest and greatest and huge-est prank I’ve ever seen, and they played it on you of all ponies and I wish I could have seen it but I was still leading the kids around to gather candy, I think you saw me so you probably know that already. But I can’t believe they actually scared you, and not just a little scare but they really scared scared you!”
“Hold on,” Rainbow interrupted the tirade. “I wasn’t sca…” Applejack and Rarity raised an eyebrow in unison and she stopped, clearing her throat to cover up. “Yeah, okay! I admit it, I was scared! Are you happy now?”
Her two friends looked at each other, then back at Rainbow Dash. “Yes, actually. That’s all we wanted to hear.”
The seven mares and one filly stepped out of Fluttershy’s cottage, into the open. After a few more minutes of talking, Rainbow Dash had calmed down and was even able to laugh about the situation.
“I still can’t believe you of all ponies gave me that final scare!” She turned around to the yellow pegasus, who was still standing by the door. “Oh yeah, and thanks for letting me stay here, too, I guess.”
“Oh, it was all Scootaloo’s idea, really.” Fluttershy gave a shy smile, hiding behind her mane. “And don’t mention it… After all, it was my fault that you wound up unconscious in the first place…”
“I wonder if we can learn a lesson from this, too.” Twilight said to nopony in particular. “I already sent the Princess a friendship report last night, but if I send another one, she’ll be even more impressed.” She stopped, noticing the other ponies giving her odd looks, and blushed. “Oh, and another lesson in friendship would be important, too, of course…”
“Uhm… I learned something… maybe?”
Everypony turned around to Fluttershy. “Really?” Twilight asked, smiling brightly. “Well, then, tell us. I’m sure everypony here and the Princess would love to hear.”
“Oh, uhm…” Fluttershy looked down nervously. “It’s just that… I mean…” She raised her foreleg just a little and lowered it to the ground again, three times.
Lightning struck the ground just a few feet behind the other ponies’ backs, accompanied by loud thunder. Six mares and a filly jumped in surprise, shrieking loudly.
Fluttershy watched as they calmed down again, but then, one after another, began to hiccup uncontrolled. A few of them tried to fight it down, but none of them succeeded. Fluttershy giggled softly and turned her attention to the thundercloud in the air right above her friends. She smiled and waved at the two large birds, a falcon and an eagle, who stood on top of the cloud, each with one wing raised to their head in salute.
“Hic” “Hic” “Hic” “Hic” “Hic” “Hic” “Hic”
Author's Note
Post-Epilogue:
"So... I take it you enjoyed your first Nightmare Night." Bon Bon looked up from the book she was reading, smiling at the unicorn.
"That I did." Lyra closed the door behind her, trotting over to the couch her friend was sitting on. "Though I still say, seeing you in that costume was still the highlight of the whole night."
"It was a pretty awesome costume, wasn't it?" Bon Bon looked to the ceiling in mock thought, then back at Lyra, smirking. "Say it."
"Do I have to?" Lyra whined playfully.
"Say it, or no lunch for you." Bon Bon sang.
"Okay..." Lyra let out a sigh, pretending to force herself to say the words. "Your costume was still indefinitely better than mine and I pity everypony who didn't get to see you in it."
...
...You can blame Nightmare Nyx for that one.
Happy Nightmare Night, everypony. 
