Once Upon A Fright

Chapters

Act 2 : Bedtime
Act 3 : In the Dead of Night
Act 1 : Night on the Town
Epilogue : The Hunters

Act 2 : Bedtime

"Lyra, take off your costume already. I would like to go to bed before Celestia brings the sun up." Bon Bon had already put her own costume away, showered and was headed for bed when she noticed Lyra, still in full wardrobe, along with a small bowl of candies from the night's spoils tucked in one foreleg.

Lyra was munching happily despite herself, leaning up against the bed’s backboard. "Aww, come on, Bonnie," she started, mouth half full of sugary delights. "It's Nightmare Night! Let me sleep with it on, pleeease? I'll let you call me Spidermane and we can pretend I just saved you from the evil clutches of Dr. Octo-pony!" She finished speaking with one foreleg stretched-out wide and a suggestive smirk on her muzzle.

Bon Bon studied her marefriend and the ridiculous, extra tight costume for a second, then sighed. "No, Lyra, bed. I’m beat and that’s final. If you're so intent on wearing that thing all night then you can sleep on the couch.” She huffed, looking at the floor and away from the eyebrow wiggling her partner was giving her from under that mask. “By the way, did you ever even bother putting the jack-o-lanterns out like I asked you?" She peeked up.

Lyra blinked in surprise at the question, then smiled sheepishly. "Uhm, no, not yet, but-"

"March." Bon Bon looked up and cut her off sternly while she climbed slowly onto the bed’s top. "And either take off your Spider-whatever outfit or don't come back to the bedroom tonight."

Lyra groaned in misery, still sprawled out somewhat. She placed her candy on the nightstand, then trotted out the bedroom door. “Alright, I’m going… Keep my spot warm for me.”

Bon Bon hummed acknowledgement to the other pony, already busy finding comfort beneath her sheets.

Lyra stepped quickly out towards the front of the house and the jack o’ lanterns outside. All of the lights were out for the night, but she flicked on the one for the entrance with a hoof. The semi-hallway was bathed in a crisp glow.

All the while, Lyra grumbled over being forced to be responsible. I’m an adult, on my own, and I still can’t have fun. Her horn lit up quickly amidst her internal squabbling, and flicked the porch light switch.

Nothing happened.

“What the-” Lyra frowned and flicked it a few more times, watching through the door’s glass pane for the light that was supposed to turn on. Great, one really did burn out. She sighed in exasperation and began to open the door, but stopped. Something strange had caught her attention and made her ears to twitch.

Lyra blinked in the warm lamplight of her home and listened.

On the other side of the front door, she could hear a faint, scratching noise. It went on for a few moments, stopping and starting again. She stared until the scratching finally stopped.

“Huh.” Lyra straightened, then cantered a couple steps up to the door. Though closer, she couldn't make out any more sound. Must have been a raccoon. Probably wants my candy... Her eyes narrowed. Come on, Lyra. What’s the matter? Are Fluttershy’s pals scaring you?

Lyra still listened intently, and realized that her whole house was unnervingly quiet. She hesitated from approaching the door further, however, and instead stretched out her neck. With her ear mere inches from the door, she cautiously gripped the door handle in her magic. The knob slowly turned, and the door began to creak open.

"Lyra! Are you coming back or not?" Bon Bon called from their bedroom.

With a shrill squeak, Lyra jumped in surprise as her magic ripped the door open in one fierce motion. She would have screamed, but her breath had caught. Instead, she stood there, chest heaving, while staring at the empty doorway.

There appeared to be nothing beyond the porch but the empty night, and the fog that had rolled in after the sun first set.

“Phew…” Lyra exhaled and swept a hoof across her brow. She stepped outside, looking left and right at the farmland and woods that surrounded Ponyville. She let out another sigh of relief and stepped outside entirely onto the porch.

Sitting on the few, short wooden steps were a pair of jack o’ lanterns. Inside both were a pair of brightly burning candles. They were lightly enchanted, and would go for a long time, or until blown out.

Lyra lifted each pumpkin-top, doing just that. She felt a tempting desire to smash the pumpkins, too, but she knew Bon Bon would make her clean them up if she did. Her job done, she waltzed back inside, closing and locking the door behind her.

"I’m coming, Bonners!" Lyra called back, normalcy returned. "I was just... having some trouble with my costume! I'll just be another minute!" While hurrying to the bathroom, she began disrobing as quickly as possible. Her magic opened the hall closet and she threw her balled up costume inside.

The door to their bedroom was still open, and Lyra could see the stand lamp still glowing inside. “Coming!” she cheered.

Lyra charged into their shared bedroom, feeling a little anxious and lept under the covers, much to Bon Bon's voiced chagrin.

Bon Bon bounced in the bed several times, glaring out across the bedroom at the far wall as she did so. She had completely lost her comfortable position. A quiet exhale of breath later, and she asked, "Lyra, was that really necessary?"

Lyra took a moment to regain her composure before pulling out from under the covers and giving her marefriend a wide, cocky smile. "Aww, sorry about that, Bon Bon! Just thought you’d missed me."

Bon Bon harrumphed but returned a smirk to the other, far more boisterous mare. "I guess I did,” she answered, then rolled over and poked Lyra with a hoof. “All right then, you. Turn out the light and let's-” A yawn cracked her jaw without warning. “Get some sleep..."

Lyra snickered, but did as she was told and settled into bed. Her horn lit for a brief moment simply to turn off the last light.

The two ponies laid there for a few minutes, exhausted from the wild time they had enjoyed with each other and their friends. The peaceful quiet and darkness was only disturbed slightly by the sound of their own breathing and one another’s presence. That is, until Lyra's ears twitched again.

Lyra listened to the sound, thinking it was the wind or something mundane. Still mostly awake, though, she realized quickly it was the same sort of claws-on-wood sound as earlier. First, her eyes cracked open, then she raised her head slowly. Her ears twitched more, and pointed to the hallway. She had left the door to their room open and could hear the scratches from the front door clearly.

"What is that, Lyra?" Bon Bon was also leaning up in bed and facing their open door. Slight concern played in her voice and on her face. She could hear a noise now, too.

Lyra blinked, her night time vision making out nothing strange. "I'm not sure. An animal?” She really hoped they wouldn’t have to check it out. “Should we check it out?" she asked anyway.

Bon Bon shifted beside the other mare, thinking. "Hmm..."

The noise stopped all of a sudden, and both ponies listened intently.

"Looks like we won't have to." Bon Bon looked over at Lyra, then relaxed back onto the mattress. “It’s probably just a squirrel. If they make a fuss we can give them some of the candy corn.”

“Yeah…” Lyra stared a bit longer out of their bedroom door. “Hey, no way, the corn’s mine.”

“Go to sleep, Lyra,” Bon Bon all but growled from under her pillow.

Lyra giggled, then began to lie down again.

Only a few seconds had passed before the scratching returned again, louder and decidedly more persistent. It was less a scratch and more of a harsh, scraping.

Bon Bon was the first out of bed, making her way out of the room. “Alright, this is ridiculous.” She wore a look of determination.

Lyra called out to her before she reached the door. "Hey, wait!"

Bon Bon paused and looked back at her marefriend.

A few more seconds of what sounded like a hoof getting dragged over wood passed before Lyra spoke up again. "I'll go with you," she said, eyes darting towards the direction of the front door.

Bon Bon smiled and waited for Lyra as she crawled out of bed and caught up to her. “Are you alright? It’s just a pesky critter, Lyra.”

Lyra laughed, but not the whimsical, happy way she had all day. “Yeah… pesky.”

Bon Bon scrutinized Lyra a moment. “Alright you big scaredy cat, come on.” The two of them crept down the hall, keeping silent and listening intently as they approached. The scratching seemed furious, growing louder as they came closer and closer.

“Alright! Knock it off, would you?” Bon Bon yelled. Her left hoof kicked up the hall light switch without looking. The light came on as the two continued their approach.

No sooner had the two ponies trotted up to the door, than the scratching stopped again.

They both looked at each other in confusion and listened for a moment; nothing happening. Each expected to hear chittering or noisy animals making a fuss or maybe giggling, but it was quiet, instead.

Bon Bon broke eye contact with Lyra and crept in close, placing her ear to the door. She listened for a little while.

Her ear still to the door, Bon Bon began to speak. "It's okay, I guess. I think-"

The scratching returned again, as obnoxious and harsh as ever.

Bon Bon ugghed and tossed her head back. Her hoof came up to grab the handle, before a golden glow stopped it. She looked over at the unicorn exercising her magic. “Lyra?”

Lyra was biting her lip. “You know, the scratching isn’t so bad.” She grinned, and let out a few, pitiful laughs.

Bon Bon stared at the other pony, her head shaking in mild disbelief. “Lyra, I want to go to sleep. Are you really that scared?”

Lyra coughed, then shuffled her hooves in answer. Her eyes darted from meeting Bon Bon's and the floor

“The Everfree is on the opposite side of town, Lyra. There is nothing to be afraid of here.” Bon Bon heaved a sigh, but saw no change in her partner. The scratching, also persisted. “Hey! Knock it off!” She shouted, to no effect on the sound. “Come on, let’s just get this over with.”

Bon Bon moved to open the door, nudging Lyra aside.

Bon Bon gripped the knob in her hoof and turned her head back towards Lyra. “Look, I’ll even count down, okay?” she said with a confident look. After getting one back from Lyra, along with a nod, she proceeded. “Alright. Three... Two…” On one, she opened the door fast and wide.

The porch was empty. There wasn't anything on the other side of the front door but fog.

Lyra sighed in relief immediately and tried to flick on the porch light. Surprisingly, it blinked on, working properly unlike earlier. Phew, dodged that bullet, she thought in relief.

"What do you suppose that was all about?" Bon Bon asked, staring down their dirt path leading to the main road.

Lyra shrugged and trotted outside, a little curious. She absently studied the surrounding landscape "I honestly don't-" She stopped short. Her breath left her after catching sight of something in the White Tail Woods.

“Lyra?” Bon Bon called out from the doorway.

In the treeline, a little obscured by the fog, were two things, glowing in the dark. A strong wind blew past and Lyra's eyes were forced shut. She stopped long enough to rub them with her fetlocks. When she opened her eyes again and looked for the red dots, they were gone.

Am I seeing things? she thought to herself, confusion replacing worry. "Uhm. Bon Bon, do you see anything?"

"See what, Lyra?" Bon Bon asked, trotting up to Lyra's side on the porch.

Lyra searched the treeline again, scanning it for any indication of what she had seen moments ago. "I don't know, Bon Bon." She scrunched her face up in frustration. Well, what the hay was that?

Bon Bon stepped down one of their porch stairs. “Hey, it’s past midnight! Go away and let me sleep!” she yelled towards the woods. She snorted derisively, then turned and collected her Lyra. “Come on, dear, let's get back inside now.”

Lyra hesitated slightly, still looking with worried face, but let herself be dragged along.

The two mares sauntered back up the porch steps and into their home in silence. Neither one of them wanted to really talk or discuss what had just happened, but both of them wanted to go to bed. They shut off the porch light after locking the front door, hopefully for the last time that evening. The house was quiet once more; the restored silence was some small comfort to their tired eyes.

Lyra stopped at their bedroom door and ushered in her lover. She presented as much of an endearing smile as she could manage, despite her anxiety. After reaching the bed, Lyra stopped short on her side. She watched her marefriend crawl under the covers on the opposite end of the bed. “Night, Bon Bon.”

Bon Bon peered through the darkness, hoping her warm smile could reach the mare across from her. “Good night, Lyra.” She turned over and faced the far wall away from her lover. She heard the door shut, followed by the bed and covers shifting as a warm presence filled the spot behind her. A plaintive sigh escaped her and she closed her eyes.

A few minutes past by in relative quiet. There was no more scratching, though both mares were waiting somewhat for it to happen again.

Bon Bon murmured sleepily aloud one last time, then began to drift off, her thoughts disappearing for the night. A little later, and she felt the light sensation of a hoof creep up and slide across her withers. She giggled lightly and fidgeted. “Come on now, Lyra, it’s time for sleep.” She squirmed a little, but didn’t open her eyes or look back. No cute words or unhappy complaints came from her lover, but the tickling did stop.

Bon Bon hummed and snuggled into her pillow, setting off once again for dream land.

Annoyingly enough, the sensation from Lyra returned.

This time, the tickling was at her stomach; it began lightly flitting across her fur. Bon Bon started to giggle once more, squirming underneath the sheets. She wanted to be stern and tell Lyra to knock it off, but nothing except giggles escaped her lips. As if taking this as approval for their actions, the tickling spread over her in two places at once. Slightly more force was applied as it swept up and down her body, never staying in one place long enough for Bon Bon to catch it with her hoof. Her giggles rose to full fledged laughter and her squirming evolved nearly to thrashing as she fought against her attacking tickle monster.

“Lyra-” Bon Bon choked out her lover’s name between her breaths and snorting. “Lyra!” she finally had to shout.

Despite herself, Bon Bon managed to turn over in bed to face where she was certain she would find her mischievous marefriend staring back. She cracked open her teary eyes to find… nopony laying beside her. The tickling finally stopped, but she could still feel two pressures on her body; one below her neck, while the other rested against her cutie mark. “LYRA!” she shrieked.

Bon Bon tore the covers away and lept from her bed. She moved to have her back against the wall, staring at her bed with a look of horror. Just then, the bedroom door burst open. Lyra was in the doorway, her horn alight and casting a golden glow into the room. “What’s going on? Bonnie!?”

Bon Bon’s gaze darted between Lyra and her bed. “H-How long have you been gone?” Bon Bon’s face was completely aghast, with fear etched clearly across it.

Lyra trotted up to Bon Bon, and was immediately wrapped up in a fierce hug. “Pretty much since we got back to the room. I said I needed to use the bathroom, remember?”

“No I… I don’t recall you mentioning that. I’m sorry.” Bon Bon blinked away a couple tears that had formed.

“What’s the matter Bonnie?” Lyra held Bon Bon back out at leg’s length. “Did something happen? Why did you scream my name?”

“Oh, no everything is just… fine.” Bon Bon swallowed, then looked at the bed again. She really didn’t think she was that ticklish. “I, err- needed a glass of water is all.”

Lyra tilted her head; she didn't really believe Bon Bon. “You seem a little shaken up, Bonnie. Let me go get that water for-”

“No, it’s okay!” Bon Bon reassured.

Lyra blinked in surprise. “Are you sure?”

Bon Bon took a deep breath and continued gently. “I mean, no, that's fine, we’re both already up. I can go and get it myself.” She gave her most award winning, fake smile and trotted out of the room before Lyra could interject.

She was halfway down the hall when the grandfather clock in the living room began it’s chime, echoing throughout the house in the otherwise eerie silence. It was midnight. She noticed she had stopped in the hallway and listened to the chime until it had finished, plunging the house back into silence. She continued on.

“Come on now, BB. It’s just nerves… nothing to be-” Bon Bon stopped in front of the staircase on her way to the kitchen. Her ears swiveled toward the upstairs. It was faint, but she could barely make out the sound of… whispers, she thought. No, that can’t be right. Lyra and I are the only ones here. It’s the wind, yes. It is very windy outside. She turned her head to peer up the stairs and the whispers stopped. Just the wind... she repeated to herself.

Still, Bon Bon watched the staircase to the next floor for what seemed like hours, while only mere seconds passed by. Reluctantly, she pulled her gaze from the stairs and stepped slowly towards the kitchen door. I shouldn't have eaten all of that pie...

Bon Bon’s hooves clopped loudly on the kitchen tiles after she walked in. Her hoof flipped the nearby switch around the corner.

The light failed to turn on.

Bon Bon heaved an impatient breath. This is why I tell Lyra to turn off the lights when she leaves a room! She blew out the bulb…

Sighing the whole way, Bon Bon navigated the room with only the moonlight filtering in through a window above the sink. She successfully avoided the breakfast table and found the dishes cabinet, then pulled out a small glass with her teeth. The glass clinked down on the bottom of the sink, and she turned on the faucet, quickly filling it with cool water.

Bon Bon stared out at the cloud obscured moonlight through her window while her glass filled. “What a night…” she murmured, recalling the various events. She thought of how the party had been as crazy as it ever was, and how much fun games in town had been. Her remaining thoughts touched on the strange things she had heard, and felt… but only briefly.

Once full, Bon Bon took the cup in her hooves. Sitting on her haunches, she began chugging the glass. Her head tipped back and her eyes kept closed until she felt every last drop pour down her throat. Releasing a sigh of satisfaction, she brought her head back down to look back at the moon.

Bon Bon dropped her glass; it shattered against the kitchen floor.

A pair of glowing shapes were looking in through the window, which was in turned black as pitch. The shapes were red, and perfectly round. They didn’t look like eyes, at first. Bon Bon stared at them, and could slowly make out pupils behind their glow. They were only inches from the window.

The shadow obscuring the moon shifted. It wasn’t just a shadow, she realized.

The eyes belonged to that of a wolf, hulking and hunched sharply at its back. The creature looked unnatural to her, with a black coat and amber highlights throughout. They shifted in time with the twitching the eyes did, giving the appearance that the fur was smoldering or even on fire.

Bon Bon couldn’t look away; she was paralyzed.

At first, it seemed content with just staring back. At some point, it started to smile. A wicked sneer swept across its maw. As if in response, the window began to crack. The thin lines spread further and further like a spiderweb, moving from a point between its eyes until there were so many that Bon Bon couldn’t even make out the face any longer.

She finally found her breath, but all she could manage to do was scream bloody murder.

Turning to run, and still screaming, Bon Bon tripped over her own hooves. Her head hit the floor with a thud, and her body slid across the wood paneling from her left-over momentum.

The room became pitch black. Bon Bon could find no lights, sounds, or smells; only the blackness that surrounded her.

A bright light flickered on in the distance, followed by an echoey voice that was calling her name.

Bon Bon panted, her breath felt heavy and hard to claim. She had to will herself to move closer to the light, until she felt a pair of hooves on her cheeks.

“Bon Bon! Speak to me!” Lyra cried out again. She was cradling Bon Bon’s head in her hooves; a couple tears had dampened the fur around her eyes slightly.

Past Lyra’s head, Bon Bon could see the bright glow of the kitchen’s overhead light.

“What- Lyra, why are you crying?” Bon Bon felt confused, she remembered coming to the kitchen for some water, and then…

“You screamed,” Lyra exclaimed, still a little frantic. “I thought something had happened to you, and I found you passed out on the floor in the dark.” The panic in her eyes had left, but she still appeared very much concerned for her partner’s well being.

“Well of course it’s dark. You burned out the...” Bon Bon trailed off and stared up to the bulb hanging from the kitchen ceiling, bathing the room in magic. “...The light.”

Lyra looked up as well. “Really?” She paused, thinking about earlier. “Well, it looks like it’s working fine. Are you sure you pressed the switch down all the way? Or maybe they’re defective...” She turned back to meet her marefriend’s annoyed gaze.

“Yes, Lyra!” she snapped. “Of course I pressed the switch all the way, but I-” Bon Bon’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as the full order of events returned to her at once. “The wolf!”

Lyra tilted her head to one side slightly. “The wha-” She began, but was cut off by her lover’s panicked rambling.

“The wolf, Lyra!” Bon Bon all but shouted at this point. She shot up to her hooves and turned to completely face the other mare. “It was big! Huge!"

Lyra stared for a split second, then snickered and hid a small grin behind a hoof. "That's what she said-"

Before she could finish, Bon Bon shocked expression shifted to a scowl and one of her own hooves batted away her's lover's "I'm serious, Lyra. It was burning! It had red, evil eyes, and I think it was smiling at me!" Her own eyes became frightened again and she paused to look at the floor. "And- and-”

Lyra took a step back when Bon Bon turned and looked at her suddenly. “Bon Bon-”

Bon Bon took a moment to take a firm hold of Lyra’s shoulders in her grip and brought the other pony closer until their muzzles nearly touched; staring into Lyra’s eyes wildly, she punctuated each of her next words with a firm shake. “It. Broke. Our. Window. Just by looking at it!” The rant finished itself off with her pulling one hoof away to point towards the sink. She kept her gaze with Lyra in an attempt to convey her panic.

Lyra’s ears had laid themselves back, but one came up from confusion after hearing the claim. “Wait,” she said. “Red eyes?”

From what Bon Bon could tell, her message had gotten across loud and clear. The mention of red eyes lit Lyra’s face up in what she was sure was recognition, suggesting that she knew something, too.

That is, until Lyra peered behind her to the broken window in question and started to chuckle. It was a relieved sort of laughter, though, not mean or condescending.

Bon Bon scrunched her face up in confusion, unamused and still very much terrified. Whatever look she was giving her marefriend for her sudden outburst, it was working.

Lyra put a hoof to her mouth and stopped long enough to speak. “Sorry… Bonners, you do mean that window, right?” She pointed a hoof behind Bon Bon.

“Yes, Lyra, that window-” Bon Bon’s breath stopped short after she turned around; her eyes falling upon the window above the sink. She could see the moon’s glow and the dark clouds obscuring it quite well through the unharmed glass pane. “But- It nearly shattered right in front of me.” She whipped her head back around to her marefriend. “There was a wolf, Lyra…” she stuttered, her previous conviction falling flat.

Lyra gave Bon Bon a consoling, worried look. She got up and trotted over to the sink to inspect the window for herself. There was a light crunch as one of her hooves stepped on a broken, ceramic cup. Backing away, she turned back and questioned her lover in a calm reassuring tone. “Are you sure you didn’t just slip and bump your head, Bonners?” she asked, a gentle smile on her face rather than a sarcastic one as her tone might have suggested. “The window seems totally fine to me.”

Bon Bon stared blankly at Lyra. She put her hoof to the side of her own head; a dull throbbing made its presence known. It was probably from where she thought her head had hit the floor. She held it there for a moment while her marefriend trotted back to her side.

“Are you sure you didn’t imagine it? I mean...” Lyra was studying Bon Bon’s features, carefully trying not to upset her partner again. “Come on, lets go back to bed. We can worry about the glass when we aren’t so exhausted.”

Bon Bon only nodded dumbly for a moment, her eyes staring off into space. After she processed Lyra’s request, she blinked and looked up to her. “Y-yes. You’re right, Lyra. I probably dreamed the whole thing up. I would love to get back to bed.” She presented a small smile before motioning for her lover to lead the way.

Lyra gave her a consolingly look, then gave a nod strong enough to flip her mane. She turned about and trotted back.

Bon Bon sighed, but smiled as she followed the ridiculous mare and object of her affections.

Unable to help it, she came to a stop in the doorway. Her hooves hesitated from taking another step, and she bit her lip while looking back into the bedroom. She stared at the pale evening moonlight before turning to the wall switch, and turning out the light.

Lyra was already under the covers, and eyed Bon Bon, who seemed hesitant to get back into bed at all.

Bon Bon continued to look over the covers strewn awkwardly on her side of the bed; she occasionally glanced at Lyra, and then back to the bed.

Lyra spoke up after several moments of this, feeling confused by her marefriend’s indecisiveness. “I’m pretty sure it’s not gonna bite you, Bonnie.”

Bon Bon Looked up with a start. Her tail twitched a few times before, finally, she sighed and drooped her head. “No, I guess it won’t,” she replied, more to convince herself than respond to Lyra’s remark. She climbed into bed and pulled the covers neatly over herself, this time rolling to make sure her eyes never had to leave her lover's form. “Good night, Lyra,” she called softly. The first genuine smile she had worn in more than an hour crept across her muzzle.

“Night, night, Bon.” replied the the green unicorn, who rolled over to face the wall; already half-asleep at this point. She ended with a yawn, and was softly snoring in under a minute.

Bon Bon watched her lover’s steady breathing for a time; listening as she inhaled and exhaled. The sound was beautiful to her tired ears, and she felt a wave of calm envelope her. She closed her eyes, still a little hesitant to sleep, but eventually drifted off.

A persistent knocking began echoing through the bedroom door; coming from the front door of the tall house.

Bon Bon stirred first. She jabbed her sleeping marefriend with a hoof several times before calling to her in an almost drunken slur. “‘Lya… Lyra. ‘Ake the door be quiet.” She punctuated her command with a yawn before rolling over and pulling a pillow over her ears.

Lyra was awake after the third jab and moving out of bed when her Bon Bon began to yawn. Her hooves slid onto the cold wooden floor with a soft clunk.

“Alright, Bon BonBonBon Bon Bon…” she mumbled in reply, moving across the floor with her eyes still half closed. There was a thud and then a whump as Lyra walked face first into the partially closed door, then fell back on her haunches.

Lyra was fully awake now, and rubbing her sore nose with one front hoof. She put on a look of irritation, now noticing the noise that was responsible for taking away her silent slumber. After willing the door open the rest of the way with her magic, she trotted into the hall and towards the source of the racket.

What they hay now- What time is it? Lyra was already drawing conclusions. The most likely seemed that she was being pranked for Nightmare Night after all. The second she opened the door, there would be nothing there, while around the corner or up in the air would be a pile of giggling colts that had sneaked out.

Lyra stopped at the entryway, spotting the house’s old cuckoo-cuckoo clock. It was two in the morning. I love pranking as much as the next girl, but two A.M. is where I draw the line… A crisp image of the thing she had seen earlier crossed her mind, as well as her lover’s own incident. I’m gonna yell at these stupid foals so hard…

The knocks continued in a seemingly random assault. It sounded as though the knocker had a hoof the size of a stump.

Lyra had just reached the door and flipped on the entryway light, while her thoughts continued over possible reasons why anypony would be knocking on her door so late at night. Her mind stopped on one alicorn in particular as well as her parting words: “In fact, I will endeavor to speak with thee of comics again soon, Miss Lyra. Take care!"

All of the night’s oddities suddenly melted down to a clever prank by a certain Princess of the Night. Lyra smirked at the door. You are so busted, Princess.

“Hey, Luna! Great prank but the party’s over! We can’t all be nocturnal!” Lyra’s words floated for a moment as the knocking stopped. She eyed the door curiously, as if knowing it wasn’t over.

Sharp wracks began to assault the door in an old, cliched rhythm.

Thunk thunk thunk thunk thunk thunk.

Oh, for the love of Celestia. Before the final piece to the song could make its beat against the wood, Lyra ripped open the door in an attempt to capture the would-be prankster red-hoofed.

A powerful gale of wind flew in from the door and knocked the unicorn back onto her flank. The light above her went out as the sound of a door slamming shut rung from somewhere in the house behind her.

Lyra sat there, shivering from both fear and shock. Her widened eyes stared out into the night, seeing nothing but thick fog and her empty porch.

Lyra gulped, then spoke. “Luna? Are… you there?”

When no answer came, she stood up and quickly, but softly, closed the door with her magic; the lock latched itself secure quickly after that with another twist of her magic.

Okay. Have it your way. Stay the master prankster, princess. Lyra turned to inspect the wall mounted light switch. The hallway was pitch black now that the door was shut. her hoof flipped it a few times experimentally; revealing that the light had indeed gone out on its own somehow. Alright. It’s official. I’m scared now. She turned to the hall and began trotting to her room; the whole time her face remained expressionless.

Lyra waited until she had safely made it back to her bedroom sanctuary before calling out to Bon Bon. “Bon Bon, can we watch a movie or something? I don’t like this.”

The bedroom door shut behind her; somehow, even just leaving that open felt unnerving.

Lyra waited, expecting the cream earth pony to at least respond with a grumble. Nothing came however. Peering through the darkness of their room, she could make out a bulge on her lover’s side of the bed where she was lying. It was too dark to tell just how asleep she was.

Cantering over to Bon Bon’s side of the bed, Lyra placed a hoof on the bulge. The lyricist hoped to feel the warmth of her favorite earth pony beneath the covers; but, instead, felt her heart sink as the bulge deflated against the bed.

“Bon Bon?” Lyra said, calling out to the empty bedroom. “Bon Bon!” she tried again when no response came the first time. “Bon Bon where are you!?” The last call was directed more to herself than anypony else. Lyra’s lover was missing, and now she was ready to panic.

Bon Bon was vaguely aware that she was no longer in her comfortable bed and began to stir from sleep. Her legs stretched out and she felt a rough wood floor now beneath her. “Lyra…?” she called out to her marefriend.

Her eyes opened just in time to see a shape flit past somewhere in the shadows.

Bon Bon sucked in a quick breath and hurriedly took stock of her surroundings. She leaned up, eyes darting.

The room around her was nearly pitch black, save the thin beam of moonlight coming from a shuttered window. The walls were red brick, and a little familiar. The window letting in the scarce light was high up on the wall, and strangely narrow.

Bon Bon’s breathing quickened. Where am I? Why aren’t I in bed? she thought quickly.

Against the walls, Bon Bon could just make out shelves and bookcases, filled with familiar varying bags of sugar, flour and general baking goods. A music stand covered with papers stood in one corner, while stairs rose up to the ground floor opposite of it.

Bon Bon recognized these things. Wha- Am I in the basement…? She frowned, her brow furrowing. Her hooves thumped against the floor as she sat up, confused, and a little angry. She realized the window was narrow because it came level with the ground outside.

“How in Celestia’s name did I get down here?” The question hung in the air after she had stood up on all four hooves. She determined she was, in fact, in the center of her farm home’s basement. She slowly cantered in a circle at the room’s center. “Well, okay, strange.” The more she thought about the confusing surroundings, the more a bit of worry crept up on her.

Bon Bon brushed her mane back with a hoof and started for the stairs. Her entire body was beginning to feel tense and anxious.

The room was plunged into darkness for a split second. Bon Bon had just barely seen a shadow pass in front the window. The filtering light cut off for a brief moment.

When the light returned, the first thing Bon Bon noticed was that the room was now empty. A panicked, strangled gasp escaped her. Confusion alone kept her from calling out. She looked left, right and all around. The room where all of her shelves and supplies once sat was barren.

“Stop it,” Bon Bon said aloud. Her hooves began backing her up across the room, her eyes stuck to staring around herself. “Lyra, this is not funny.”

It was not as if they had never been there, lines of dust were present and disturbed from where all of the basement’s belongings once sat.

Bon Bon turned and wandered to one side of the room; next to the staircase. She placed a hoof on the brick wall, leaning against it for support while rearing to her hind legs. Her breath was getting raspy, simply from fear. Troubled, events from the night played out before her, trying to explain things. Her eyes darted around the room again in search of an answer to her unasked question.

Where Bon Bon looked, a piece of paper fluttered down from the ceiling. It passed through the beam of moonlight long enough for Bon Bon to make out a line full of eighth notes and quarter notes. Sheet music? Her head tilted slightly at the sight.

The mare slowly looked up.

On the ceiling, dog-piled in an array that defied all known laws of physics, was every object previously decorating the basement floor. Almost directly above where she stood. A screech of metal from one of the shelves made her ears twitch in alarm.

Bon Bon barely had time to push off the wall and leap away as the pile of furniture and supplies overhead came crashing down into the room. She screamed, loud and frantically. The clammer from the household refuse drowned her out. She hit the floor and kept her head down. Her hooves covered her eyes on reflex as a mixture of dust, powdered sugar, and flour kicked up into a cloud and filled the room.

Bon Bon coughed and did her best to avoid breathing in the concoction as best she could.

Once the last sounds of falling objects vanished, Bon Bon dared to peek out from the safety of her legs. She had felt a couple things certainly hit her, but didn’t feel too much pain. “Lyra!?” she cried immediately, but didn't get an answer. Once the cloud settled to the floor, she stood back up and began to shake her coat, mane, and tail free of a majority of the invasive substances on reflex. Eager to leave, she took a step towards the stairs as she had before.

Before she moved too far, something caught her attention.

Despite the mayhem, a shape lay directly in the moonbeam from the window, by itself.

Lightly coated in white, sat an old doll from her filly years. It was a stuffed, pink pegasus mare with a clouded sun for a cutie mark. Oddly, none of the cupboards or other items had landed with it at the center of the room.

Assuming it had just fallen from a pile, Bon Bon began to reach for it. A movement from beside the pile caught her eye as a hill of spilled flower began to shift and spread out; another small shape climbed out, little cloth limbs reaching into the open air.

Bon Bon’s mouth ran dry and she back peddled towards the wall. “Lyra…” This time, her voice was little more than a strangled, pitiful squeak.

The tiny shape, pony like in nature, began making its way out of the flour. It shook itself, then cantered toward the candy-maker as if it were perfectly normal. There was a gash in one of it’s back legs, spilling out its precious cotton in a trail. As a result, the limb was dragged behind the other three. It limped forward for what seemed like forever until finally coming to a stop in the moon beam alongside the other doll, where flopped down on its side.

In the direct light, Bon Bon could make out more of its features. The mane and tail were a swirl of blue and pink. Through the heavily white dusted coat, she could spot patches of cream. Finally, three small, individually wrapped pieces of candy adorned its flank. She recognized the patterns, but could summon no memory of Lyra ever mentioning owning a doll made in her likeness, and never had got one herself. The doll laid there for a moment and then peered up to her, lifting its head ever so slightly for its button eyes to meet her own.

A strong sense of longing washed over Bon Bon as she stared at the poor thing. She felt the desperate urge to take it in her hooves. To hold it tight to her chest. To tell it that everything would be okay. Tell it nothing would ever harm it again. That she would love and cherish it forever. She looked at the doll with a measure of motherly affection.

Giving in to the desires, Bon Bon moved forward and reached out with a hoof extended towards the tiny Bon Bon. A voice spoke as she began to come closer. Bon Bon halted.

The sound was coming from the other doll, her old pegasus. It had the crackled sound of an old, magic recording. It said in its pitiful voice, “Leeet’s playyy…”

The thing’s sound was old and warped, just like it was. Truthfully, the voice had creeped her out as a filly, but she held onto it as a keepsake despite that; left to collect dust in the basement.

What Bon Bon wasn’t expecting, was the moment her old toy began to shudder, then stood up at the doll of her had. It trotted, straight backed, over to the tiny plush version of herself.

The pegasus plushy looked at Bon Bon, and then at smaller Bon Bon. A rip formed along its muzzle and revealed a row of unnerving fangs. The newly formed mouth moved in tandem to the disturbing voice in its chest. “Leeet’s Playyy…!”

Accounting for as warped as Bon Bon could remember the doll’s voice being, it was decidedly different now. The sound it made sound wrong; it echoed and scraped with frightening harshness.

Up to this point, Bon Bon had been torn in her expressions between fear and anxiety. But what happened next pushed her right into absolute terror. The fanged doll leaped upon the small Bon Bon; its teeth began tearing it limb from limb, shaking its head back and forth with unnatural speed. Stuffing flew out of the plush candy-maker and its head was flew from the body.

The massacre before Bon Bon lasted for only seconds before there wasn’t much left of the tiny her she could recognize.

The once beloved fillyhood toy trotted over to stop just a stride from away from Bon Bon. It held a leg in its mouth, a patch of cloth hanging off the end. Her cutie mark was sewn into the limp piece of cloth.

The doll’s teeth opened and dropped the limb on the wood floor. Its button eyes fell from its head and revealed two new red beady ones.

“Play… with me?” it asked quietly.

Bon Bon began crying. Despite this and her overwhelming fear, she didn’t move yet. Instead, she was busy convincing herself she was dreaming. Her efforts offered little comfort. Her eyes darted to the stairwell beside herself.

The doll took another step forward, getting Bon Bon’s attention again. For the first time in minutes, a breath made it into her lungs. “G-go away. Shoo,” were her words of choice. One hoof gestured shakily at the toy, while the rest of her took a wobbly step towards the stairs.

The doll’s head recoiled slightly, the toothy mouth opening slightly. The basement was silent a moment, before the stuffed toy broke it with a piercing scream reverberated off the walls. The doll’s teeth gnashed, and Bon Bon screamed in return to the toy.

The mare leaped away from the tiny demon and climbed over a junk pile to reach the staircase. Her hooves tripped over themselves again and again, fueling her panic. “Lyra, Lyraaa!” she cried.

Bon Bon had her hoof on the basement door before she dared look back at the abomination behind her. Her hoof was jiggling the knob, trying desperately to open the door. It wouldn’t budge. She spotted the doll; it was still sitting in its spot on the floor, facing where she had been cowering in fear.

“Lyra. Lyra!” Her voice was strangled again, lacking enough oxygen to raise above a whisper.

The doll seemed to sense Bon Bon’s gaze. The small head snapped to face her direction, accentuated by a loud rip forming across its neck. By the time its head turned far enough for their eyes to meet, it was completely decapitated. The head rolled off onto the floor while its body fell to one side.

Bon Bon, wracked by sobs, decided she had seen enough. She threw herself against the door as hard as she could, desperate to force it open. Tears blurred her vision alongside the ragged breaths that filled her throat.

The door crashed open and Bon Bon leaped through. She was in the hallway. Not waiting, she slammed the door behind her. The entire time she screamed like a filly a fraction her age.

Author's Note

Act III Comes Nightmare Night

Act 3 : In the Dead of Night

“Wha-?” Lyra had not even a moment to react to the basement door flying open right in front of her, knocking her back in the process. Once open, a loud scream followed close behind the door. The entire house had been eerily quiet except for the slowly building rainfall outside, but no longer.

Bon Bon careened out of the basement and barreled into Lyra, screaming the entire time. The two ponies gasped in tandem, rolling onto and across the floor until they met the far wall.

“Bon Bon-?” Lyra tried to get out, but was cut short as the pony atop her fought out of her embrace. She earned a hoof to her chin for the trouble.

Lyra was completely surprised, more so when Bon Bon got up, only to whirl around and slam the basement door shut.

Following that, Bon Bon quieted quickly, just leaning her side against the door and sucking in deep breaths.

Outside, a crack of lighting sang out, followed by the gentle rumble of thunder. The lights were on in the hall and the house was still, with the exception of Bon Bon’s shaking hooves.

Despite the ordeal, Lyra tried to bring the other pony into a hug again; perhaps a little surprisingly, she was able.

Bon Bon kept her side pressed to the door, rapid breaths accompanied by gentle sobs keeping her nearly stock-still. The panic in her mind, in fact, almost kept her from even noticing Lyra, who was wrapped around her neck in a fierce hug and asking what was wrong.

Lyra squeezed tighter. “Bon Bon? Are you alright? What happened, why were you screaming all of a sudden?” She tried to get a look at the other pony and study her, look her in the face and get a hint of things. After spotting the wide eyed terror Bon Bon inexplicably possessed, she slowly looked away, instead. “Why were you in the basement? I- What is going on?” Her head rested across Bon Bon’s withers. “Something is going on, isn’t it?”

Still not answering, Bon Bon shakily took a few steps forward, then dragged a nearby chest of drawers in front of the basement door. She was muttering at the same time.

Lyra had let go when she moved, but pressed on with her questions. “Bon Bon? Come on, please talk to me, I’m scared. Why were you screaming?”

Bon Bon looked up at her once the door was securely blocked. “I-it was just a doll, Lyra.” She managed to struggle out the words in the midst of her fear.

Lyra’s brow was drawn in worry. “A doll?” she asked. “Bon Bon, I don’t understand.” She consolingly raised a hoof to the other pony’s side to try and coax out something sensible.

“I-it-” Bon Bon sniffed and shook her head, sending her loose mane from side to side. “There’s something in the house, Lyra.” She managed to say the claim flatly, then choked on another sob. “It’s in the b-basement. Little doll.”

Lyra took the pony up in a hug just as another flash of light lit up the windows. Overhead, the unreliable lights they owned flickered in and out again, making Bon Bon sob harder.

“Sshhh, it’s okay, Bon Bon, I’m here.” Lyra look around herself, especially the basement door, while taking her lover back up in another hug.

Bon Bon shook her head against Lyra’s shoulder. “No, i-it’s not alright. We need to go. I want out, Lyra. I want out now. There was…” she gasped in a breath, just now able to that her throat had cleared. “There was something in the bed earlier when you checked the door, and I thought it was nothing. After that, I saw the… whatever it was in the window. Red eyes, like a story tale monster or a dragon. And just now…”

Bon Bon pushed Lyra back gently with a hoof and looked at her. She could feel the moistened fur around her own eyes and had to blink to keep tears from obscuring her vision. “Something’s here, Lyra. I thought maybe I had just hit my head, but there’s no way I’m still hallucinating and seeing things.”

Lyra gulped, her mouth drew down in slight horror at the idea. Still, she did her best to comfort Bon Bon. “N-now, I’m sure it was just… a mouse?” She paused, and her thoughts went towards the things that had occurred around her earlier.

Another peal of thunder rolled over their house.

Bon Bon went on. “I don’t know how I got into the basement… but there’s something in there, and it wasn’t a mouse.” She looked over at the door, strangely calm now. She wondered why; perhaps Lyra’s presence was simply enough for her. “I think we should leave, Lyra. I don’t want to stay here.”

Lyra blinked away her memory of the fog outside, ears twitching to the sound of the heavy rainfall that had appeared outside. “Yeah… okay, we can head into town and… maybe knock on Top’s door? It isn’t far.”

Bon Bon sniffed again, running a leg under her nose and over her eyes to finish clearing them. “Maybe the Apples’ farm. It’s closer.”

“Yeah… Okay, let’s, uhm, get our coats then.” Lyra gave their big, beautiful home a quick inspection. It seemed as peaceful and kindly as it ever had. She had never thought of it as a scary place before, but now, she felt conflicted of that.

The two mares shared an understanding stare before making their way down the hall and towards the front door. They walked in a single file, with Bon Bon in the lead.

“S-so, do you think it’s a ghost-” Lyra began to ask, voice quaking slightly.

“Lyra,” Bon Bon shot back. “I don’t want to think about it, or discuss this any further at all. I… just want to go, please?

Lyra gulped, and nodded, despite her marefriend being unable to see it from upfront. “R-right,” she murmured in response. All the while, her head looked every which way, as if on a swivel. She spotted the shadows cast by her furnishings, unlit candles and plateware hanging on the walls or in curios. Nothing really seemed out of the ordinary.

The two ponies made their way down the long hallway quickly. Just as they exited into the living room, a squeaking noise caught Lyra’s attention from underneath the rainfall.

Lyra stopped in the middle of the floor, ears raised high to look for what she’d heard. “U-uhm, Bon Bon?” Her voice came out as a whisper, while Bon Bon kept up her quick trot towards the front door. “Bon Bon…”

Lyra shook her head hard in desperation, trying to get herself together. Come on, Lyra. You’re the brave one. You gotta buck up for your wife. Something’s really wrong here and… and something really dangerous might be here, too. You can do this- She finished the pep-talk to herself, just as the loveseat in the room squeaked, moving just a few inches from its spot in the corner.

Lyra’s eyes widened, and she stared at the furniture. “Bon Bon… Did you see-” She was cut off as the loveseat moved again, this time with a purpose. She could have sworn she had seen the legs bend.

Bon Bon turned around from her spot at the coat rack, busily shoving her front legs into her coat. “Lyra!?” she yelled back. “Hurry up, I want to go, now! Please.”

Lyra turned and faced her. “I’m coming, I… coming.” She started to trot towards the door and Bon Bon, ignoring what she was pretty sure she had seen. It isn’t important, she resolved in her head, clenching her eyes shut for a brief moment. You’re leaving now, and later… this can all be fixed.

A table screeched across the floor in front of Lyra, bringing her to a halt. She gasped, and stumbled back several steps. The table began shaking and dragging itself towards her.

Bon Bon looked over in time to see Lyra surrounded by shifting furniture. Her eyes widened slowly. Their house was suddenly filled with things walking around, shaking and jittering like convulsing little forest animals.

Lyra screamed and dove underneath the table, just as it slid towards her and swung with one of its stiff legs. Across the room a bookshelf toppled over, and from the kitchen came the bang and crash of metal on metal. Overhead, the lights had decided to flicker and blink chaotically, misbehaving along with everything else.

Lyra and Bon Bon grappled one another in a hug and shuffled away from their own living room. A bench was beginning to rattle its way towards them across the floor. Over the other sounds the ponies just barely heard each other scream.

Lyra forced her magic into working for her; subsequently, the door nearly flew off its hinges in her panicked grip. Despite her own mounting fear, she made sure Bon Bon was outside and safe before running out as well. "I'm right behind you, Bon Bon!" she cried into the rain. Together, they stumbled out the door, which Lyra slammed shut behind them.

Outside there was a storm in full swing with rain falling solemnly and dark clouds overhead. The sounds of nature completely replaced the chaos from indoors as if by a switch.

Lyra quickly turned on one hoof; she saw Bon Bon, already off the porch and halfway to the street. Not waiting, she galloped out after her. In the corner of her eye, flickered a shadow. She turned, in time to see something speeding across the ground in the distance.

Between the wind and roaring thunder, Lyra could barely hear Bon Bon yelling for her to hurry up. “Lyra, come on! It’s terrible out here!”

Lyra was having second thoughts, her eyes studying the flitting shape against the far treeline. “Bon Bon, get back inside, now!” She was worried that her words wouldn’t be able to travel over the storm, but didn’t feel half the relief she hoped for when her marefriend turned back and yelled her response.

Bon Bon stopped once she had reached the street and whirled around; her mane was completely sodden and hanging down over her face. “Lyra! I am not going back in there! And I’m shocked you would even consider going back inside!” Her eyes were desperate and pleading despite her stern tone.

Lyra skidded to a halt, finally getting close enough to not yell. She raised a hoof in the direction of what she had thought she saw, not wanting to argue. “I’d rather take possessed furniture over that!” Her horn lit up with a light spell as she spoke.

Bon Bon turned and looked to where her marefriend had gestured. Sure enough, what looked like a hulking shadow was flitting towards her across the grass; a flicker of red and yellow light swam over its fur. “Oh my Celestia.” She recognized its coat faster than she could process her fear and turned to charge back towards their house immediately. What is that!?

Lyra saw the red glow as well. “Bonnie!” she cried. Her hooves stuck to where she stood, watching as the other pony began moving again. Before she knew it, Bon Bon had galloped into the pool of light her horn emitted.

“What are you doing!?” Bon Bon screamed. Her hoof hooked Lyra’s neck and swung her around. “Run you stupid feather-brain!” Her voice was little more than a shrill squeal alongside Lyra’s own frantic cry.

Together, their hooves pounded back through the rain and up the stairs. They climbed quicker than was safe, but kept from stumbling or tripping, fear driving them. The two mares both crammed into the house side by side, with barely enough room to spare at their flanks to squeeze through.

Without bothering to look if they were still being followed, Lyra shut the door. Despite her quickness, she still had time to see the beast in much more detail.

It was like a wolf, but huge, like something out of a nightmare. Even scarier, the wolf had reached and surpassed where they had been standing in the middle of the street, and had been running with frightening speed towards them still. Something told her that it didn't just want to make friends.

Bon Bon slid the door's lock home, then dove away with Lyra following her.

Mere moments passed, then there was a loud crash, which Lyra supposed was probably the thing trying to smash its way inside. She had been sure that their door would be no match for it, but she looked up to see their sturdy oak door had remained on its hinges.

Bon Bon looked up as well, and sighed in relief. "What was that thing!?" she shouted. However, her attention was quickly drawn to the living room. Ahead of them, beyond the entryway, rogue furniture continued to move of its own accord, jumping around and fighting amongst itself noisily.

"I-I dunno!" Lyra legs shook beneath her from adrenaline and the burst of exertion as much as fear.

Neither of the two mares felt sure they were any safer inside, or that all their problems wouldn’t be present to join them soon enough.

Lyra pushed herself up shakily, torn between looking at either the thumping front door or the madness in her own home. “What now, Bon Bon?” She backed up against the wall, desperately wishing the other pony would join her in an embrace.

Bon Bon stood open mouthed as her recliner smashed the couch in two. “I-” She gulped, and moved against the wall as well.

Lyra felt the other mare shaking, too. We can’t stay here, she resolved, then took Bon Bon’s hoof in her own and moved forward. “We can’t stay here!” she repeated. Surprising herself, she built speed and began trotting, doing her best to circle around the more frantic looking pieces of jagged wood.

“Lyraaaa…” Bon Bon wailed, and shut her eyes, unable to keep them open. Together, they began moving through the upholstered carnage.

“We-We’ll get to the basement, Bon Bon!” Lyra tried to say, only to be interrupted quickly.

“No!” Bon Bon screamed; she opened her eyes and ran up beside Lyra. “Not. The basement.”

Lyra gulped, dodging a low swinging painting of herself and Bon Bon at the Summer Sun celebration. “R-right. The bedroom, then.” Doing less pulling now and more guiding, Lyra continued to weave between the madness, only to find her path blocked by what looked like a little doll.

Bon Bon shrieked from beside her and back peddled back into the living room, dragging Lyra along, too.

“L-Lyra!” Bon Bon cried, eyes locked with the little headless plush. She kept moving until her back hit a wall. The two found themselves trapped by the stairs, a set of chairs making to corner them.

Lyra had Bon Bon wrapped around her neck all of a sudden and was hard pressed to so much as move. She searched quickly for what to do; the clamor of the room, the banging of the door and the little doll crawling towards them around the corner all closing in around her. The crying from her wife made her force a decision out of herself.

Lyra looked up the stairs to the second floor quickly and couldn’t make out anything of immediate concern. “Upstairs, now!” she decisively shouted.

Without another moment lost, Lyra jumped forward and punted the doll. The plush soared through the air to smack into the wall, far away from them both. Quickly, she turned and grabbed Bon Bon’s hoof. “Come on!” she yelled again.

Bon Bon didn’t respond with words. Instead, she was halfway up the stairs in the time it took Lyra to blink. Rather than gawk at her marefriend’s attempt at putting the Wonderbolts to shame, she hurriedly followed behind her.

The hallway upstairs was dark, but at least it was quiet except for the noise following them from downstairs. Lyra stole a look behind herself to see one of the chairs trying to hop its way after them both.

“Lyra, come on!” Bon Bon called to her from down the hall. “In here.”

Lyra gave the stairs a last glance before galloping after her marefriend. “I’m coming,” she breathed. Her voice was strained and barely more than a croak. She briefly wondered how much she had been screaming thus far.

The door Bon Bon had found led to Lyra’s music room at the edge of the upstair's hall. They wasted no time in entering.

“Close-” Bon Bon paused and took a deep breath. “Close the door, Lyra.” She fought to keep her voice steady, to stay rational. “Oh Celestia, what is happening?” In the back of her mind all sorts of explanations played out, but none of them seemed very appealing, nor safe.

“I don’t know, Bonnie,” Lyra replied, grunting as she shoved a piece of furniture with her horn. “Come on, let’s block the door.”

Bon Bon and Lyra began barricading the door with a work desk and Lyra’s magic. They moved away from the furniture which they had piled against the door and found a spot in a corner. They sat together, huddled in fear, wary of it moving again.

Bon Bon spoke again first, breaking the relative silence. “So, what are we going to do now?” Downstairs, the racket continued.

Lyra turned to look at her in the relative dark. She whimpered and let her head fall against the other pony’s chest. Barely any moonlight came in through the window, and neither had even tried to turn on the lights; neither of them wanted to be found.

Bon Bon winced and ran a hoof over Lyra’s mane, making a calming sound. “Shh, Lyra, come on, it’s fine. We’re both okay, alright?”

Lyra picked herself, a little ashamed, and returned a more normal hug to Bon Bon. “We almost weren’t though…” she muttered, then looked up. “That… thing outside, it almost got us, I couldn’t even m-move.” Her voice shook slightly as she spoke, and she was forced to hug Bon Bon tighter. “Some brave pony I am…”

Her own claims from earlier that night returned to haunt her.

Bon Bon smirked lightly beneath her exhausted eyes. “You were fine, and we’re safe because of you.” She nuzzled Lyra’s neck and stayed there. “I wouldn’t want anypony else here.”

The room was quiet a moment, until Lyra snorted. “I wouldn’t mind a dozen guardponies right about now to lend a hoof.”

Bon Bon managed a wheezing laugh. “Or the princesses… Lyra, what is going on down there? What’s happening to our house?” She leaned back and made eye contact.

Lyra’s eyebrows were drawn in doubt while she answered. “I… don’t know, Bon Bon. Whatever it is, it isn’t normal, and it’s dangerous.”

Bon Bon stared a moment longer, then slowly lowered her own head to rest against Lyra. “Well, I guess we’re safe at the moment… What now?”

Below them the sound of glass shattering punctuated the rattle of wood for a brief moment. They stopped and listened, watching the door for a few minutes.

Lyra looked up and out the window. She thought she could see a little more gray in the sky. “I think we just wait it out…” she finally muttered, and squeezed Bon Bon tighter.

Time passed at a snail’s pace for the two terrified mares as they were forced to listen to their home being torn apart.

Bon Bon could hear pots and pans slamming and smashing against what she could only guess were appliances and glass jars she used to store her candy.

Lyra listened in horror as an unsettling tune sounded from a nearby room which she recognized as her lyre. She cringed every time a string was forced into a tone so distorted that it ended in a resounding snap. She couldn’t help but count the strings as they were destroyed, and was on the verge of tears when the last one broke. A deafening crash quickly followed which she assumed was her lyre being thrown through a wall.

The sounds of utter destruction of their beloved home being torn asunder continued uninterrupted, with neither pony at all willing to attempt another escape. They both continued to hold onto the hope that they were safe where they were.

The marefriends kept one another clutched in a tight embrace, unsure how much time had passed them by. Lyra could feel Bon Bon shuddering in her arms occasionally throughout the ordeal, and she guessed she was occasionally, too. It wasn’t until the noises died away that she noticed her lover had finally stopped shaking.

Lyra opened her eyes groggily. Despite the chaos, she had been exhausted, and still was. She picked her head up and looked at Bon Bon. Out the window were glimpses of sunlight, teasing her with the coming morning.

Lyra smiled. “Hey, Bon Bon… look.” She pointed her hoof out towards the brightening horizon. “Bon Bon?” The pony laying against her side didn’t stir. She wasn’t sure, but she didn’t think she could feel her breathing, either.

“Bon Bon,” Lyra repeated, and shook Bon Bon. “Bon Bon, please don’t be dead!” she began to shout in her desperate attempt for a reaction.

“Wha— Ah!” Bon Bon shot up and shouted, nose to nose with Lyra.

Lyra screamed back, surprised too. “Ah! Zombie!” She fell backwards, hitting her head on the floor.

Bon Bon was now awake and struggling to tear herself free from the frantic musician. “Lyra? What happened? Zombie? What?”

Lyra sat back up, staring at her for a second with a scrutinizing look. “Bon Bon! You’re okay!” she finally exclaimed, then collapsed against Bon Bon to bring her into a tight hug.

Bon Bon raised an eyebrow from her spot in the other mare’s ironclad embrace. “Lyra..." She began to say, then sighed instead. "Yes, I’m fine. I just dozed off…" Her ears flickered this way and that as she spoke. "Are you okay?” she asked quietly.

Lyra looked up at her with slightly tear filled eyes. “Mmhmm,” She replied back.

Bon Bon smiled warmly at Lyra, then spotted the sunlight pouring inside from the window. “Is it… is it over?” she asked slowly.

Lyra’s ears perked up alongside Bon Bon’s, who she still held tightly. She listened for a full minute to the quiet before letting out a small sigh of relief. “Yeah, Bonnie… I think it is.” Her horn began to glow. "Should I move the furniture away from the door...?" she asked.

Bon Bon had been about to acknowledge Lyra, when she heard a low whisper began to fill the room. Her head slowly turned to the crack under the door, just behind the desk. “Lyra, do you hear that?” She recalled the sounds, similar to ones she had heard earlier that night. The whispers were growing to a muffled uproar before going silent.

“Hm? Hear what?” Lyra, who seemed oblivious to the whispers, had been slowly releasing her grip; the moment she let go to stand up, Bon Bon was torn from her side.

Bon Bon’s head jerked sideways and slapped against the floor. A window on the far wall yanked itself open at the same time. “Lyyyraa!” Bon Bon screamed as she was dragged away by her rear hooves.

Lyra sat where she had fallen back on her rump, stunned, only to jump into frantic movement after hearing her wife scream.

Bon Bon’s rear end was out of the window already when Lyra finally grabbed hold of her hooves. Their fetlocks locked together and the unicorn found herself in a vicious tug-of-war with whatever haunted their home.

“Bon- Bon…” Lyra gritted her teeth and held on as hard as she could, already pulling with all of her strength. “Hold… on…” Despite her best efforts, she only seemed to be delaying the inevitable while her lover slipped slowly out the window.

When Bon Bon’s head cleared the sill, she ventured a look at the ground only to wish she hadn’t. Not only was there a two story fall awaiting her if she lost her grip, but two red eyes were down below, as well. The demonic looking wolf was there, waiting for them both. It circled the window from below, occasionally looking up and snapping its jaws.

“Lyraaa!” Bon Bon began screaming louder and kicking her back legs harder. She was completely out of the window now. “I’m sli- hipping!” she cried.

Lyra spotted the wolf as well. “Bon Bon! The wolf’s beneath you!”

“I… noticed…” Bon Bon grunted and felt like slapping Lyra were she able. Instead, all she managed was another choked sob while she struggled as fiercely as she could to get back inside. She regretted being such a weak earth pony, now.

Lyra, still clutching Bon Bon, was being pulled out, too. She was getting desperate, and began reaching around the room with her magic in panic. An object found itself in her grip, though she couldn’t see what it was. Without losing the grip she had on her wife, she hurled whatever it was out the window and at the wolf.

It had been Bon Bon’s trombone, an article that she had gone out and decided to try her hoof at music with. The sorely misused instrument connected with the wolf's head, just as it looked up.

A seething growl escaped its jaws, alongside a gout of flame. It looked at Lyra, then howled.

The croon shook the side of the house for several seconds, until it cut off abruptly.

There were books, sheet music, a stand, and multiple stools that quickly followed the trombone’s fate. The items all soared out the window, most of which the wolf dodged. “Let! Go!” Lyra screamed.

“Lyra, I’m slipping!” Bon Bon was moments away from plummeting to an early end.

Lyra’s sides and legs all ached, she couldn’t hold on much longer and she knew it. “Hold on, Bonnie!” With all her remaining might, magical and physical, Lyra wrapped Bon Bon up in her magic. Once completely enveloped, she spread her aura up her own hooves and pulled with everything she had.

At first, the war seemed to have reached a stalemate as Bon Bon’s exit slowed even further and halted, but as Lyra continued she found herself finally back-peddling into the room with Bon Bon in tow.

Bon Bon’s rear hooves seemed cemented to the window sill for just a moment, before pulling away with a pop. The resulting momentum sent the two mares tumbling clear across the room and into the opposite wall in a crash.

Not waiting, and gasping for breath, they disentangled quickly before standing up to embrace one another.

Bon Bon choked out a sob loudly, while Lyra’s head shot over to the open window. She slammed it shut quickly with a final, tired burst of her magic. “Come on, Bon Bon, we need to get out of here. It isn’t safe. Lets get to the attic—” She paused when she heard a scratching noise.

Lyra and Bon Bon looked over towards it in a flash. To their horror, one huge paw slammed onto the sill, crashing open the glass window. Its claws scraped onto the edge.

Lyra continued watching and cried out as another paw joined the first, more glass shattering in the now empty panes. Uh oh, she thought simply. The gears in her brain meshed together and she pulled free of Bon Bon in order to remove the door’s barricade.

“Bon Bon, help me!” Lyra began sliding the barricade away from the door.

Bon Bon hesitated; the wolf was now beginning to pull its head up to the opening where she could see its face. The wolf’s head turned sideways, a long grin curling up the side of its maw. She stared openly, legs shaking.

Lyra pulled away the desk, her final obstacle, and hurled the door open. “Yes! Let’s—” She spotted the wolf climbing through the window, looked at Bon Bon, then grabbed the other pony’s tail in her mouth quickly.

Bon Bon cried out, was yanked back, and broken out of her stupor all at once. “Yeee-ah!”

Lyra slammed the door shut behind them and began frantically trotting in place in the hall. "Bon Bon, we gotta move!” she cried, waiting anxiously for her wife to follow.

Bon Bon shook her head, then nodded. Together, they ran to the staircase, only to skid to another halt. A gaggle of chairs were blocking the way. “Oh, great,” Bon Bon remarked angrily.

The door behind them banged loudly and cracked down the middle, earning two shrieks from both mares.

Lyra looked at Bon Bon, eyes wide. “Where do we go!?”

Bon Bon looked for a way out, and was the first to take action. Leaping up, she grabbed a string hanging from the ceiling of the hall with her teeth. She tugged and a ladder slid out from a hatch. “Th’ attic, ‘uick!” she mumbled around the string, then spit it out.

Lyra didn’t wait another second and ascended the ladder to the highest floor of the house. Her pace hurried itself when she heard the splintering of wood from the door to the music room. “Hurry, Bon Bon!” she called behind herself.

Once they were both up the ladder, Lyra turned to pull it up but was stopped. The wolf had its front two paws on laid across the bottom rung, while its eyes leered upwards at the two mares.

Lyra whimpered and backed away, but shielded Bon Bon as the Wolf slowly climbed up the ladder.

Bon Bon panted, her chest somehow heaving harder than it had all night. “Get away!” she screamed. “Leave. Us. Alone! You’ll be sent to Tartarus you know. That’s where things that hurt others go!”

The wolf eyes visibly narrowed and it reached the top of the ladder. Its head popped into the room, ears laid back and its grin widening. A low growl rebounded off the walls.

“I don’t think that worked, Bonnie. I- I love you, you know.” Lyra and Bon Bon continued backing up away from it, though the creature didn’t seem to be in any hurry.

“I love you too… but this isn’t over… Maybe we can wave down a pegasus… or...” Bon Bon grunted angrily in defeat, which was answered back by a snarl from the wolf. She jumped slightly at that, then again when the wall behind her seemed to give way, and turned. It was in fact the attic window that overlooked part of the roof. She turned around completely and pushed it open with both hooves. “Lyra, we can get to the roof from- ...Lyra!?”

Lyra now had her wife in her magic as she leaped through the window with her lover in tow, hovering in the air.

Bon Bon screamed shrilly, watching in horror as the wolf leaped after her, but missed. The wolf slid across the roof’s shingles until it reached the edge.

Lyra skirted the edge of the roof herself, fueled by desperation, until she made her way back around the window. Her hooves only just found purchase on the old, building as she climbed up onto the flat at the very top of the roof.

Bon Bon and Lyra were as high up as they could go now, and they both realized that as they looked out across the surrounding grass fields around their home. Barely in the distance, they could see other homes, most with small plumes of smoke rising above chimney stacks.

Lyra gasped, then dropped her lover from the shock of what else sat atop the roof, waiting for them. Bon Bon oofed indignantly as she fell on her rump onto the ground.

Two earth ponies stood across from each other around what appeared to be a five pointed star etched into the roof of the house with a lit candle resting at each of its points, and a circle encompassing it. Bizarre designs, like runes, riddled the edges of the big drawing; at its center sat an urn. The lid of said urn was set to the side just outside the circle while the two ponies were throwing odd ingredients inside of it. The two ponies were mares, and familiar ones at that.

“Inkie… and Blinkie?” Lyra trotted up to them, only for Inkie… she thought, to stop her with a hoof.

“Please do not enter the pentagram,” Inkie, the all grey pony of the pair, stated flatly. “You have no charms, and we wouldn’t want you to be torn out of your body, now.”

Lyra looked at her bug eyed, then down at the ‘pentagram’, as the other mare had called it. “What are you doing on my… Did you draw that in strawberry jam?” She tentatively reached out a hoof, only for it to be smacked away soundly by Blinkie

“Terribly sorry, but no,” the light colored mare, Blinkie, began. “It’s fish blood, I’m afraid,” she responded in a monotone drawl. She stepped back into the circle and hoofed a small weed into the open urn nonchalantly.

“It’s better this fish than you yourself though, wouldn’t you say, Mrs. Fish?” Inkie chimed back in, pouring, a black sort of slime in after the weed.

Lyra was completely dumbfounded and sat down with a thump. Bon Bon did the same beside her, taking the scene incredulously; it was much the same reaction the pair often shared towards Ponyville’s periodic crazy events.

When finally Bon Bon finally spoke, her voice was gruff and course. “What. Are you doing here?” she asked, just before a crunching sound from the opposite direction made her head whip around completely. She spotted the source of the sound immediately, as it was hard to miss.

The wolf’s eyes were wide and staring; the two red wells were perfect circles, locked onto both Lyra and Bon Bon. In the morning light, its fur looked as though it were in full blaze.

“Lyra!” Bon Bon screamed, then backpedaled away.

“Get back, Bonnie!” Lyra tried to pick her wife up in her magic once more, but she was grabbed roughly by one of the other mare’s hooves.

“Never again, Lyra!” Bon Bon shouted. She didn’t look at Lyra, instead, the two of them only backed away from the oncoming horror, leaving Inkie and Blinkie between them and their pursuer.

The wolf followed them both up the roof until it cleared the lip of the flat, then stopped. It turned its head slowly to look at the two newcomers, instead. The wolf seemed to be staring at the oddity between it and its prey. Lyra and Bon Bon couldn't help but stare themselves.

Bon Bon had time to entertain the silly, panic stricken thought that it was just as confused as she was about Pinkie's sisters even being there.

At the center of the circle, which Inkie and Blinkie had said to stay out of, they seemed to have a flower held between them both. It was pressed between their hooves, in a sort of hoof bump. Together, they watched the wolf blankly, until it turned to face them head on completely.

Without waiting another moment, the two off-grey mares pulled their hooves away in tandem, letting the flower fall slowly towards the urn. The wolf followed the sight with its head.

At the last second, Inkie and Blinkie spoke together quickly towards Lyra and Bon Bon. “You should get down,” they said.

“What?” The other two mares asked, just as a blinding flash of light erupted out of nowhere from the urn, followed by a cloud of smoke which bellowed out from its opening, charging straight up into the sky.

Lyra screamed alongside Bon Bon and tackled her to the ground in a tight embrace.

Overhead, the smoke swirled across the roof in a tight circle. They managed to catch a glimpse of the wolf trying to turn and run, just before it was struck by the tip of the cloud. A piercing, furious howl vibrated the air itself around them.

Lyra watched as the thing scraped its claws at the ground, even as it was dragged backward towards the weird drawing and urn. As it was dragged, however, it seemed to decrease in size. The runes were also glowing brighter, until the wolf was lifted into the air above them when they reached their brightest.

In the wolf’s final moments, it just barely resembled the size of a mouse. With a final squeak of noise, its body fell through the urn’s opening.

Inkie stepped forward into the circle, hooves clopping softly on the roof tiles, and slammed the lid down on top of the jar. Blinkie then began scribbling more of the jam-like substance onto the urn with runes similar to the ones in the circle, before unceremoniously wrapping the lid to its jar with duck tape.

The urn did not so much as wobble once the runes were in place, and the dawn hours finally fell to a calm quiet for the first time that day.

Lyra and Bon Bon returned to their previous positions next to each other just to stare at the two strange sisters of Pinkie Pie in awe.

“What the buck did you just do?” Lyra somehow managed to choke out; she did so without first lifting her jaw from the floor.

Inkie hummed and tossed her mane slightly with one hoof, studying Lyra. “Oh, that was quite an impressive trick Mrs. Fish did right there. Don’t you think sister?” She turned towards Blinkie.

“Yes,” Blinkie agreed. “Perhaps she has her special talent in ventriloquism?”

Inkie hummed, eyes moving up and down Lyra in a way that made the other mare cringe back. “No, I’m sure that's a lyre on her flank, sister,” she stated arguably.

“Perhaps that is what she uses instead of a doll?” Blinkie offered quietly in contemplation.

Bon Bon groaned and Lyra facehooved. Neither of them were in any mood to deal with the creepy duo after the night’s events, but likewise weren’t about to let them deter them from some much needed answers.

Bon Bon decided to make her own attempt after Lyra’s question had been ignored. She composed herself as best she could with a hoof, despite her fussed mane and otherwise horrified demeanor. “Girls,” she began calmly. “Just what are you doing on our roof and what did you do to that…” Her eye began twitching, and she lost it, too. “Just what was the beast!?”

Inkie opened a small satchel and knelt onto the roof. From within, she pulled out a couple oily looking rags. She glanced up in between swipes at the mess they had apparently made. “A windigo, Mrs. Fish, would be the closest example I can give you." She positively chimed the reply.

Bon Bon growled through her teeth. “Stop, calling, us, Mrs. Fish.”

Blinkie continued on over Bon Bon for her sister. “Although, instead of disharmony, this one feeds off of fear. Very fascinating creature, really...” She began trotting around the circles, picking up the now extinguished candles and dropping them in little paper sheaths.

Inkie tsked derisively at Blinkie. “Really, sister, you shouldn’t compliment the things. They’re evil.”

Blinkie sighed. “But they’re still fascinating…” she replied back dreamily.

Inkie rolled her eyes. “Anyway, Mrs. Fishes, the more frightened you are of fear spirits, the stronger they become.” She looked over at the two shaking, exhausted mares with a bright and cheerful smile. “You two look awful, by the way,” she remarked.

Blinkie trotted past Lyra and Bon Bon and collected another bag, the outside of which seemed to be lined with brightly colored scales. She turned and addressed them somberly. “Perhaps, if you weren’t so easy to scare it may have left you alone?”

Lyra’s jaw dropped again. “...Did you just suggest this is our fault?” she asked in indignation. She took a moment to pick up her jaw, for fear she might dislocate it if she continued its abuse. “A-And you didn’t answer our question. What did you do?” Her expression was set solidly into a mix of confusion and anger, the emotions from the entire night ending up as one, massive jumble in her head.

Blinkie ignored Lyra’s inquiry and trotted over to the roof’s edge. “Ah, that. It’s simple really,” she declared, smiling back at the other two ponies. “The fear spirit is a corporeal and incorporeal phantasm simultaneously due to its bilateral existence across the magical planes. Drawing upon multiple energies the way it does, however, from so many realms of existence makes it susceptible to a quasi-state spell containment, better known as Starswirl’s theorem arcanis… uhm, are you two quite alright?”

Blinkie carefully studied the two mares that looked as though they had lost something. “Perhaps you should both lay down?” she offered.

Lyra shook her head, then sighed. “Yeah…” she affirmed back to Pinkie’s weird relative. “I think we’ll do just that."

“Ah, that’s good then.” Blinkie smiled again, then looked down at a grappling hook mounted to the edge of the roof and kicked it off. Afterwards, she trotted over towards her sister, who was now asking a question of her own.

“Well, now that this is all said and down, would you both mind showing us the way down?” Inkie began; the surface of the roof now looked quite clear of any evidence anything had ever transpired there. “My sister made the mistake of dropping our rope, earlier.”

Lyra could only stare at the other two mares in a defeated way at this point, having given up on wanting to say anything reprising towards the infuriating duo.

Bon Bon, at least, managed to do the talking. “We… We used the window from our attic,” she informed Inkie tiredly.

“Splendid!” Blinkie exclaimed, beginning a brisk trot to the edge of the flat. “I told you we didn’t have to use your rope again, sister,” she shot at Inkie.

“Oh, you only fell on our first attempt at a climb up. Don’t be so prickly,” Inkie quipped, following her sibling to the still open window of the attic.

Together, the four ponies collectively went back inside. The group mostly stayed quiet, though one of Pinkie’s sisters spoke up once more upon helping Lyra step back inside through the window’s sill.

“By the way,” Blinkie started. “We’re very happy to see you’re both perfectly alright and unharmed. Though, I will point out that the windigo's goal was merely to scare you, not harm you.”

Bon Bon deadpanned briefly at the lighter colored pony of the pair, then sighed slowly. Now she notices, she thought to herself. Just what are these two doing here? How did they know? I guess I should thank them… even if the way they’re acting is still weird. It’s almost like they’re… having fun with us. Her brow furrowed over the idea, while something tickled at her memory, though she couldn’t say what, exactly.

Together, they all started making their way through the attic and down into the house.

Inkie and Blinkie ended up leading the way, as Lyra and Bon Bon looked into one room after another, cringing at every broken belonging or damaged piece of property. There was a bit of trouble removing the entirety of the home’s debris from the stairwell, but with help, Lyra was able to handle it.

They mostly stayed quiet the entire time. Bon Bon again attempted to asked questions, to find out what Inkie and Blinkie were all about, but the twins either giggled and changed the subject coyly, or called her a fish, again. By the end of it, she didn’t care anymore. It certainly seemed like they were bent on keeping some sort of secret, and Bon Bon didn’t care if they did. She was just happy Lyra was safe…

Soon, they were all on the first floor and out the front door, which was nearly split in two upon close inspection. Outside, and lying on the porch, was a black trunk of sorts.

Inkie approached it and began pulling out a metal rod and stand.

Blinkie, for her part, simply turned to stare at Lyra and Bon Bon openly, wearing a tight smile. “So, as you both know, this was a very serious event that you both survived. It’s also not one that can be seen by the public eye.”

Beside her sister, Inkie continued to prepare whatever device she was now assembling. When she was done, she began pouring a silver and black speckled powder into a trap that rested at eye level on the stand's top.

Lyra and Bon Bon blinked at Blinkie, both of them once again adopting the shock from the sister’s irresponsible behavior. “You- Are you saying you don’t want us to tell anypony about this?” Lyra asked.

“Why not?” Bon Bon added, studying the device. The stand itself was covered in strange runes not quite like the ones on the roof, but definitely similar.

Blinkie smiled bigger, but didn’t answer right away. Instead, she looked slowly over at the tall stand.

Lyra swallowed and tried another question. “What’s all that for?” She found the courage to ask about it, even as Inkie returned with two pairs of black sunglasses.

Both of the grey mares dawned them before giving any response. For the first time since Lyra and Bon Bon met them, they smiled together in earnest. “Say, Pinkie Pie,” Blinkie chuckled.

There was an incredible, blinding flash of light in front of Lyra and Bon Bon. They stood in a sudden daze with blank stares adorning their features.

Inkie sighed and took off her sun glasses with one quick swipe of her hoof. “So, it’s my turn to give the story, right?” She turned her head to look over at Inkie, who likewise removed her own sun glasses.

“That’s right,” Blinkie replied, the odd, eccentric qualities of her voice now gone, and replaced by a more normal accent. “Try not to be too ridiculous this time.”

Inkie chuckled. “Alright, alright.” She coughed, then addressed the two unfortunate ponies that had been attacked through the night. “Ahem, Lyra, Bon Bon, I am so sorry that you both have to deal with this, but it’s alright. Government aid to help repair your home and furnishings will be mailed to you promptly.”

Lyra blinked, followed a second later by Bon Bon. “What?” they both asked, then turned to look at one another, just as confused as the other.

Inkie tsked and shook her head sadly. “I’m just so sorry that so much damage was done to your home before you could get back. It really is terrible. Those beavers will probably never be held accountable for what they’ve done to you both.”

Bon Bon’s eyes widened in disbelief as she turned to face Blinkie. “Beavers!?” she exclaimed.

Blinkie’s expression thinned after hearing the story that had been chosen, and she turned to face her sister.

Inkie nodded quickly, still facing Bon Bon. “Oh yes, the… red tailed south Equestrian butcher-beaver.” She flourished a hoof into the house, and over the chaos that still lay evident everywhere. “They’re very territorial and aggressive this time of year during the migratory season.”

Blinkie resisted the urge to facehoof, and instead managed to grin confidently towards Lyra and Bon Bon. Here we are, she thought. Masters of holding a straight face, and Blinkie somehow has found a way to crack mine.

Bon Bon gasped again, staring in pure shock into her home. “My... house!?” she screamed, then raced inside.

“Bonnie? Wait!” Lyra was right behind her.

Inkie turned and smiled self assuredly to Blinkie. “Okay,” she cheered. “All done, wanna go get some breakfast?”

Blinkie heaved a sigh and let her shoulders sink, still in the middle of putting away the memory distortion equipment. “Sure… why not.” The trunk clunked shut, and she hoisted it it up onto her back. “Beavers?” she asked her sister incredulously. “Really?”

Inkie shrugged, then smirked, hanging her own saddle bags laden with supplies across her back. “It could happen,” she professed back. Giggling, she made her way down the path with her sister, Blinkie, until they reached the road.

Together, the two ponies were gone before either Lyra or Bon Bon came outside to look for them again.

Derpy waved from where she hovered, slowly descending towards the earth. “Hi Lyra, hi Bon Bon! Wow, your package sure is heavy,” she remarked.

Bon Bon looked up morosely from where she stood, gently sweeping shattered furniture and wood chips off of her front porch. It had taken most of the day, and several naps, but she had almost finished cleaning the mess left by an alleged pack of migratory mammals.

Lyra was busy taking one such nap out in the sun over on a grassy patch. She awoke with a snort, bleary eyed, and looked up at Derpy.

“Hello, Ms. Hooves,” Bon Bon greeted quietly with a weak smile and a wave.

Derpy smiled bigger, then waved as well.

Unfortunately for the mailbox, just below Derpy, waving weakened her grip around the burlap package’s top. It slipped from her grasp.

Derpy held both of her hooves up to her mouth in surprise, while the bag she had just been carrying careened towards the ground. It plummeted until landing on the last undamaged object of the Bon Bon's home: the mailbox.

Derpy landed timidly beside the ruined mail unit. “Ah, geez Bon Bon… I’m sorry… again.”

Bon Bon sighed, but didn’t make any other outward show of disapproval. “It’s fine, Derpy.”

Derpy looked up bashfully, only to gasp in utter surprise. Both of her eyes straightened out and stared through the open doorway of her friends’ house. “Oh wow, what happened to your living room, Bon Bon?”

Bon Bon was still in too much shock to move from her position of self pity, leaving Lyra to investigate the sudden delivery. “The house? Oh… you know… beavers...”

Derpy whistled appreciatively. “Wow, beavers, huh? I didn’t know they could be so mean! Were they having a party here or something?”

Bon Bon only snorted in response, absently studying the damage still evident inside her house. She could hardly believe that she had been out partying so late with Lyra that her entire home had been vandalized by wildlife come morning.

By the mailbox, Lyra muttered sleepily as she unclipped the delivered sack, only for bits to literally begin pouring out. Her eyes widened immediately. “Bonnie…” she started quietly, then raised her voice cheerfully. “I think we can afford that table set you wanted to get last week, now.”

Bon Bon looked at the gold in disbelief, easily enough to perhaps even buy a new house. The sparkle of the gold lying on their front lawn caught the sunset’s brilliant rays, and matched her marefriend’s eyes.

Author's Note

Sorry it's late folks, but I do hope that you've enjoyed this Nightmare Night tale.

Thanks to Ludicrous for assisting so much towards it being finished. He will be releasing a series of tales starring Inkie and Blinkie the 'Hunters' come soon. If you would look forward to that I highly recommend checking him out. (He's getting good quick.)

Act 1 : Night on the Town

A deep, rumbling mixture of insanity and laughter echoed in Bon Bon's ears. The truly foreboding sound was coming from the next room over, and made her ears twitch in dread of what was to come. Her tail flicked at her side while a deepening frown creased her face.

"Lyra!" Bon Bon shouted over her marefriend's fake, evil laughter. "Would you hurry it up? We're going to be late for the party and it will be all your fault!" Her hoof banged loudly on the bathroom door in an earnest attempt to get her mint green friend to get the move on.

Lyra harrumphed, still admiring and adjusting her costume in the mirror. "Just a minute, Bon Bon!" she answered back cheerfully. "Pinkie Pie's Nightmare Night parties always go on for ages! We're in no hurry, babe."

Bon Bon sighed and slunk up against the wall, forelegs crossed. She looked down at the way she was leaning against the wall; on her hind legs. After living with Lyra for so long she had picked up the habit. It was one more thing that made her fit in around the craziness of Ponyville.

The trick-or-treaters were mostly finished for the night, not that Lyra and Bon Bon had ever expected to get that many way out of the way as their house was. With the foals, fillies and colts all being reigned in by parents for the evening, that meant it was time for the true Nightmare Night festivities to start.

Neither Lyra or Bon Bon were about to stay in for the best parts of the Equestrian holiday. Though, they did have a bit of a walk into town ahead of them. The two had moved into the remote farmhouse recently to be together, but doing so put them quite out of the way from Ponyville.

The choice of a farmhouse was also an odd one, in hindsight. Neither Lyra or Bon Bon could grow so much as a patch of grass if they tried and Bon Bon, at least, really didn’t care for manual labor.

Still, the purchase had been a joyous occasion, made only slightly less so by the fact the home was actually the furthest one from Ponyville while still being considered a part of the town.

Bon Bon sighed a second time, thinking about how much time was being wasted by Lyra, then addressed her other half again. "What are you even doing in there, Lyra?" she asked through the shut bathroom door.

Her marefriend's voice shouted back. "Costume switch!" There was a decidedly large amount of thumping in the bathroom that further worried Bon Bon. "Just in case we stop at Vinyl's party at some point, you know? I wanted something I could really dance in! It would be way too hard to dance in the 'Seapony from the Black Lagoon' costume."

Bon Bon growled and fell back to all fours angrily. "Lyra, I said we are not going to another one of Vinyl's parties. We can go to Pinkie's party, but that's it." She stamped a hoof in finality on the matter. There was absolutely no chance in Tartarus that she was going to another rave, or whatever they were, if she could help it. At least, not so soon.

The bathroom door swung open, and a tussled white and mint green maned head hung outwards to leer at her mischievously. "Aaw, come on, Bon Bon. Let's have a little fun tonight!"

Bon Bon deadpanned at Lyra upon seeing what she had on. "We will have plenty of fun, Lyra." Her eyes ran over the skin tight, blue and red costume that her marefriend had apparently changed into. "What in Equestria are you wearing?"

Lyra blinked, then grinned and stepped fully out of the bathroom while looking down at herself. "Do you like it? Rarity did such a good job with the pattern! Hee!" She spun in a tight circle, as a dog might chase its tail, still looking over herself.

"What is it supposed to be? Some sort of... sports team?" Bon Bon raised an eyebrow at Lyra; simultaneously, she began pushing the other pony towards the front door. If they didn't leave now to start their lengthy walk into town, she knew they would miss the beginnings of the late night festivities.

Lyra groaned and extended a hoof out in front of herself while being pushed along through the house. "It's Spidermane, Bon Bon! Spidermane! I talk to you about that comic all the time. Haven't you been listening?"

"Ah huh," Bon Bon murmured in acknowledgement. She opened their front door and pushed Lyra out with her head, not letting the other mare slow down even for a second. At least she didn't try dressing up as one of those... things, again.

Lyra went on, switching without pause from mild irritation to a voice filled with wonder. "He's awesome, and always sticks it to villains in style. Honestly, that superhero has been around for ages now."

The two's hooves clunked loudly on their front porch's steps until they made it to the dirt path leading to the highway. The road ran in one direction out towards the next town over, and in the other, went to the much closer Ponyville. There were fields stretching all the way into Ponyville on their left; to the right and across the road were the beginnings of the White Tail Woods.

Lyra paused at the foot of their porch stairs. "Wow," she exclaimed, then grinned and bounced on her hooves. "Look at all this fog!" She laughed excitedly and ran down the path a ways. "This is great! The weather ponies never do this! Oh wow, it's so spooky! This’ll be the best Nightmare Night ever.” More teehees escaped the mare as she twirled around and beckoned her companion after her. “Come on, Bon Bon!"

Bon Bon smirked and cantered after the other mare. "Coming, Lyra. Slow down. I know I said we’d be late, but I didn’t mean it.”

Lyra continued to laugh, cantering in a wild zig-zag from one side of the road to the other. All the while she was dipping a free hoof in the fog that roiled and hung all around them both. “This stuff is so fun!” she exclaimed. A moment later, and her horn lit up, the glow drawing in a large clump of the cloudy substance into a ball. She giggle more, an idea forming. “Bon Bon, catch!”

The ball of fog soared through the air towards the other mare, until it dissipated only half towards its destination. Lyra let out a disappointed sound and wilted some, tail drooping.

Bon Bon rolled her eyes and caught up with Lyra. “Well, it was fog, dummy. What did you expect?”

“Dummy?” Lyra scrunched up her face, then stuck out her tongue in retaliation. “Am not!”

Bon Bon sighed, but smiled. “Alright, alright. You’re not. Just, calm down, Spider- er... Spider..." She held a hoof up to her chin, struggling to think of the word.

Lyra's smile pulled down at one side until she was frowning slightly. "You live under a rock, Bon Bon," she proclaimed. "It's just, Spidermane. Totally not that complicated." She chuckled again, then started down the main path into town.

Bon Bon promptly addressed the accusation that had been laid before her. "I'll have you know, Lyra, that I'm perfectly happy underneath my rock. It's very cozy, normal, and quiet in here." Her voice had just a hint of playfulness in it. She stuck her nose up in the air, too, for effect.

Lyra grinned. "Is that sooo~," she teased. Her head bent over at an angle and rested on Bon Bon's back, eyes drawn up to meet the other pony's. After she looked back at her, Lyra continued. "Is there room for two under that rock of yours?"

Bon Bon scrunched her face up a little, fighting a smile. "Lyra..." she said warningly.

"Cause, it doesn't sound like a lot of fun in there if there isn't." Lyra chuckled and cantered ahead somewhat, tail swishing up to bat at the other pony's face.

"Lyra-" Bon Bon said again, but with more intensity in her voice this time.

Lyra grinned wider and kept going, now trotting backwards in front of her marefriend. "I think that we should sell that rock, don't you? Then we can go and buy a bigger rock, and paint it up to make it nice! And then name it-" Lyra cut off, stumbling and taken completely by surprise. "Ah-!"

A little ways away and deposited in the shadows, Lyra landed in a small, single pony heap at the side of the road. She groaned and shifted on her side. "Ow... I'm okay."

Bon Bon sucked in a breath, then trotted over to the shallow ditch. "The road curves there, love," she said flatly, then offered the other pony a hoof up.

Lyra accepted it, wearing a weak smile. She managed a sheepish laugh once she had been hoisted back onto the path. "Oops, well... I would have seen that if this fog wasn't so thick. Honestly, what were those weather ponies thinking? This fog is terrible." She looked around herself with a glare at the foggy landscape and cornfields.

Bon Bon’s flat expression shifted a bit more towards a frown the moment Lyra brought up the weather again, but sans the praise this time. "Blaming the weather now, are you?” she asked after a thoughtful hum, then began pulling her marefriend along to get them both moving again.

“Well, it is the weather’s fault-” Lyra started to say, then stopped mid sentence.

In the direction of their house, Lyra spotted a tall, looming shadow up on the far ridge. She giggled. "Hehe, hey, Bon Bon. Get a load of our house; it is sooo spooky tonight."

Bon Bon gave her special somepony a smile, then did just that. Their house loomed up and out of the fog, stretching upwards into the sky on its hill. "Oh, wow. No wonder we only had five trick-or-treaters this year." Her eyes studied up and down the crooked looking building. It practically looked as though it were a scene in a painting, the bright full moon peering just over the top of its eaves.

Bon Bon gasped, spotting something else in the dead of night. "Lyra!" she exclaimed, ears laying themselves down flat atop her head.

Lyra turned around fro looking over her left shoulder, before meeting Bon Bon's accusing look. "Hm? What's wrong?"

Bon Bon nipped derisively at the other pony’s closest ear, then continued. "You left the light on again! That's such a waste of magic! They burn out you know, and aren't cheap!"

Lyra blinked for a moment, then spotted the lights aglow in every corner of their home’s windows. I could have sworn I turned out at least a few… She faced Bon Bon, laughing ashamedly. "Oopsie," she managed, then rubbed a hoof behind her head.

Bon Bon grimaced a little at their home again, just for a second, then sighed and decided to let the oversight be. She turned and addressed Lyra. “Come on, goof-ball. I guess it can't be helped now.”

Together, the two ponies kicked up a steady pace, with Lyra snickering and falling in at Bon Bon’s side.

Overhead, the moon glowed brightly, offering a welcomed source of light, but it did little to help overall. The evening wasn't awfully dark out to begin with. However, the carpet of grey fog that stretched in every direction did a very good job of obscuring everything.

The two ponies could not see further than a just few strides of the ground out in front of themselves.

Lyra groaned again while absently adjusting the front of her costume with one hoof. “Seriously though, the weather ponies really over did it with the fog.”

Bon Bon smirked over at Lyra. It wasn’t like the other pony to let something bother her. Typically it was she that did the bothering. “I think you should just watch where you're going, Mrs. Heartstrings-"

Somewhere in the distance, a loud howl pierced the night, cutting off Bon Bon.

She froze where she stood and began shaking. "Uh- uhm."

Lyra burst out laughing a moment later. "Aw, don't be scared, Bonners. I'll protect you." She threw a leg over the other pony and got her moving once more, still chuckling. "It's nothing to be afraid of, after all, just timberwolves!"

Bon Bon let herself be led onward, staring around at the brightly lit fields of various farm pony families. "Y-yeah, just timberwolves," she remarked back sarcastically, with a trace amount of fear still in her voice. "You know, anypony with sense about them would be scared about timberwolves, Lyra..."

Lyra looked over at her marefriend with a smile.

Bon Bon continued, leaning over to nudge the other pony’s neck. "I guess that makes me glad I don't have just anypony, with me."

Lyra giggled and accepted her friend's nuzzle.

Just ahead, the lights of Ponyville were starting to come into view. It was a good sized town; not small or particularly large, but big enough that the sounds of partying ponies could be heard now, though. Strangely enough, much of the fog ended as well the closer they got.

Once the pair did get close enough that the music and happiness leaking from the town could be easily heard, Lyra began dancing rapidly on her hooves. She squealed in sheer delight from the sound of some very spooky sounding music and chorus. "OooooOoh! Bon Bon Bon BonBonBon! We're missing a song, a song! We have to huuuu-urryyyy!"

Bon Bon sighed and watched in dismay as her far more excitable partner began speeding into Ponyville proper, leaving her in the dust. Of course, this meant she had no choice but to run after her. "Slow down you-! Lyra! Oh never mind..." She exhaled in defeat, then pushed herself into a gallop of her own to chase after the other mare.

The sounds of the music quickly picked up all around Bon Bon as she neared the lively town's center. There were musicians at every street corner playing a haunting melody. Whatever song was being played, which was likely as not put together by Pinkie Pie, it was certainly a doozy. There was nopony in the streets that still went about their own business, rather than joining in, or at least listening.

Bon Bon smiled a little, enjoying the song, but still managed to groan, searching for the runaway Lyra. After a little looking, she could just barely make out the bobbing of a certain tussled, mint-green mane further ahead.

Bon Bon slid into the town square’s crowd, just as the song seemed to be coming to its peak. "Lyra..." She muttered, spotting her marefriend at the very center of the action. There were ponies dancing and flourishing their hooves excitedly everywhere. Once again, Ponyville’s ability to perform impromptu song and dance was a wonder to behold.

Bon Bon sighed, realizing there was no way she could match Lyra’s speed or nimbleness without knocking over other ponies in the crowd. She gave up hope of catching her marefriend, and instead joined the song, still building in intensity. When in Roam… she thought with a smirk.

The song quickly built in intensity, the ponies all taking part increasing the complexity of their choreography; unless they were simply fooling around.

Everypony around the town’s center was laughing as the final notes and bits of chorus from the song drifted away on the wind. Princess Luna had materialized at the center of it all, landing her storm cloud shortly after. She was subsequently swarmed by the costumed ponies around her, all of them clamoring to speak with or congratulate her on the performance. Pegasi and bat winged ponies wheeled overhead, all cheering or laughing with equal excitement.

Bon Bon smiled from her lonesome spot by a few bales of hay, having hung back somewhat from the nightmare show's epicenter.

“Wasn’t that great!?” Lyra exclaimed to Bon Bon, bouncing up behind the other mare.

Bon Bon’s eyes widened to their utmost and she almost jumped from surprise. A shriek that had threatened to leave her throat stopped itself just barely. Despite her spot at the edge of the crowd, somehow Lyra had come up behind her. She was used to that sort of thing, though.

Bon Bon turned around calmly to face the unicorn, smiling. “Yes, Lyra, that was a great song. Now aren't you glad we weren’t late?” A content bit of laughter left her as she spoke.

Lyra grinned from fuzzy ear to fuzzy ear and nodded rapidly. “Yup! Oh my gosh. Bon Bon, there is so much we have to do tonight and so little time! We have to hurry!” With that, she zoomed forward and encapsulated Bon Bon in a powerful hug around her neck, holding her against her own barrel.

Meanwhile, Lyra's eyes scanned the crowd, games, and activities at her disposal. “Now what do we do first!? Games!? The Party!? Candy?" she listed off. "Ooo, deep fried something sounds good, actually.”

Bon Bon tried to speak. “Hmmrfgle hrmf…” Unfortunately, her face was planted squarely in Spidermane’s armpit. With a bit of work, she wrestled herself free. “Uggh- Lyra, calm down. We’ll have time for everything, I’m sure.” Before her partner could bounce to another subject, she continued. “How about the party. It looks particularly grand this year.” And maybe you’ll burn off some of this energy if you dance for a little while…

Pinkie Pie’s party location was easy to see this year. The Town Hall’s outside was absolutely covered in decorations, and the inside probably was, too. Pumpkins sat on every step, while fake gravestones and other props of a gruesome design hung on the walls.

Lyra gasped, standing up on her back legs, then just like that, had once again taken the lead. “The party! Of course! Why didn’t I think of that?” She was already happily trotting away, and almost seemed determined to end up inside the building by herself.

"Lyra, would you wait?" With several years of being used to Lyra’s eccentricities under her belt, however, Bon Bon was able to catch up in time.

Lyra continued speaking. “Wow. Did you see the Princess, Bon Bon? Wasn’t she amazing? I can’t believe we were ever scared of her— And she’s here again this year! We have got to meet her!” She squealed. “Come on, I saw her go inside!” Her hoof flashed out and snatched up Bon Bon’s as if it were a piece of candy.

“Okay okay, I’m coming. Slow down.” Bon Bon wrestled her hoof back, but kept pace with the other mare as they moved through the sparse Ponyville crowd.

Lyra snickered and began trotting backwards. “That’s what she said.” Soon, they were standing beside the Town Hall entrance. A couple other ponies entering the building laughed, overhearing them.

Bon Bon did her best not to blush and grabbed Lyra’s hoof again. “Come on, you.” Quickly, thanks to Bon Bon’s shame, they ducked into the party scene.

Inside, the building was normally used as an administrative center. Now, a haunting celebration had taken over its entirety. The infamous Pinkie Pie seemed to have not spared an inch in decorating the place, although it was a little difficult to tell through the dim, swirling lights and hazy atmosphere. Adding somewhat to Bon Bon’s irritation was the fog rolling over her like a waterfall from the smoke machine, positioned right over the entrance.

To Lyra’s pleasure, more ponies than not were dressed as horrific things this year, rather than showing up in friendlier costumes. She was already studying as many as she could, looking to and fro over the crowd. “Look! Somepony dressed as Jason Horsies! And over there! Oh my gosh, bat ponies! Is that the right name for them? Oh, and there! I think that’s—”

Bon Bon drowned out Lyra’s excited exclamations, though the somewhat loud music and crowd of ponies did most of the work. Her candy wrapper costume crinkled against her fur while she slowly made her way further inside along with Lyra. They passed by a pair of zombie ponies, giggling while moaning the words ‘brains’.

“So Lyra, what should we do…?” Bon Bon had spoken loudly over the music to Lyra, and was almost shocked to find her mint colored counterpart gone, and already dancing out on the floor. Though, dancing was maybe too strong of a word for some of the ponies that wore overly complicated outfits. Lyra, at least, was certainly going buck wild in her tight, spandex-like super hero outfit.

Despite how Bon Bon felt, Lyra looked happy, so she smiled and looked for something to keep herself preoccupied with. She was sure that in just a few short minutes the other mare would drag her out on the dance floor, regardless.

“Hey, Bon Bon!” a familiar sounding mare called out.

Bon Bon’s ears perked up and she turned to reveal the voice as none other than Pinkie Pie herself.

The pink filly trapped in a mare’s body had popped up out of nowhere and was wearing a shark costume of all things. Two flippers hung down and flopped from the sides, bobbing along with her gleeful bouncing.

“Pinkie!" Bon Bon ginned and hugged the other pony. "Great party. You’ve outdone yourself… again.” A subdued chuckle made its way out of her. The other mare was a long time friend of hers. That was true for most of the town, but Bon Bon often worked together with Pinkie, too.

“Aw, thanks, Bon Bon!” Pinkie Pie nodded and smiled. “You have to try this. Also, goodie bag! Here you go! Happy Halloween, by the way!” She hoofed Bon Bon a cup of punch without warning, along with a slice of pumpkin pie and a little bag.

A strobe light passed over them, and one blink later Pinkie Pie was gone. Bon Bon looked around herself in surprise. How did she do that? And how in the name of Celestia’s flank did she know I wanted these...? And what the hay is a Hollow-ween?

After a big shrug, and a bit of suspension of disbelief, Bon Bon found an unoccupied series of tables made up to look like crates. She sipped on her drink and was about to start on her pie, when Lyra popped up.

“Hey Bonnie! Ooo, is that Pie? And Candy!?” Lyra asked. She craned her head forward towards the dessert, sounding a bit too excited. She tried to grab for some, just before Bon Bon pulled it away.

“Hey, this is mine-” She paused when Lyra’s hoof had found its way inside the little bag, only to smack it away swiftly. “Lyra! Pinkie gave me these, now if you would please just… You managed to grab some, didn’t you?”

While Bon Bon was talking, she had shut her eyes, which was the worst mistake when dealing with the mare known as Lyra Heartstrings. A crunching noise to her right let her know that some of the candy had been taken prisoner and devoured.

“You closed your eyes, silly." Lyra chuckled. "Easier than taking candy from a baby!” She attempted to toss another piece of candy into her mouth, but was taken by surprise when the piece was snatched out of the air. “Hey!”

Bon Bon was already chewing away, ignoring her friend's protests. “Serves you right. This 'baby' is hanging onto her candy, Spider-thief.”

Lyra pouted, feeling torn away from what was rightfully hers. So she widened her eyes in a sad, puppy-dog-like way, and stared at the bag.

Bon Bon rolled her own eyes back at the act of foalish behavior. “That won’t work, Lyra. I would have happily shared if you had asked, but now you have to get your own candy.”

Lyra’s eyes suddenly widened still to their brink. Crocodile tears spilled out, though her muzzle remained shut.

Bon Bon wasn’t impressed; it was a pitiful show compared to what she’d seen Lyra do before, but relented after a fashion and held up a single lemon-head in her hoof. “Well, maybe I'll give you a second chance...” she offered, coyly.

Lyra followed the movement of the piece of candy from left to right.

“You want the treat, girl?” Bon Bon continued, a wolfish grin on her expression.

Lyra nodded jerkily, grinning.

Bon Bon threw the candy off into the party, at least that’s what Lyra saw. "Go get it!" she called out, laughing a little.

Bon Bon hadn’t actually thrown the candy, and she hadn’t expected Lyra to really go after it, either. She watched, a little suspicious of whether or not Lyra was being serious, as she charged across the room.

“L-Lyra! Oh, pony feathers.” Bon Bon tapped her hoof on the floor. “She’ll be back- Hey, where’s that piece of candy?”

Bon Bon inspected her hoof carefully, and all around herself, but the lemon-head was gone. Her eyes widened further a second later. “Where’s my pie!?”

Lyra snickered, still running away, her magical glow safely encapsulating the single piece of candy she had been teased with, as well as further spoils of war. Nopony denies me pie… Not anymore, anyway. She continued galloping a bit, then began to turn around so she could return to Bon Bon. She planned to approach, while eating the pie, and with a smug look.

Rounding a pillar, though, Lyra bumped into something tall, dark, and soft.

Lyra oofed and fell back on her butt.

A voice shouted loudly in protest of the intrusion. “What is the meaning of-! Oops.” It switched quickly from a loud, stallion-esq tone, to that of a much quieter mare’s.

Lyra shook her head and blinked a few times, her candy and prank forgotten.”Oh I am so sorry, uhm, Miss, I-” The words froze in her mouth, and she stared up in wonder at the pony standing before her. “Princess Luna!”

The princess smiled upon hearing her name. She gave the littler pony a hoof up while raising one of her eyebrows curiously. “Ah, greetings stranger. You are correct, that is my name…”

Lyra stared, half ready to giggle uncontrollably or begin blathering out questions about what it was like to be a princess. Wings would be so cool to just have, she thought happily.

Luna, however, continued on first. “And... are you dressed as Spidermane?” The Princess’s voice raised an octave for just a moment as she spoke. Quickly, she then composed herself. A subtle cough later and her poise returned as if it had never left.

Lyra blinked at the question, then chuckled nervously. “Uhm, yes, actually.” She quickly looked around herself and double checked her pie was still alright, which it was. Phew. “Princess, you know about Spidermane?” she asked incredulously.

There were ponies all around Luna that whispered or looked, before then moving on. Ponyvilleans knew the princess just wanted to have fun, too, after all.

Luna responded to Lyra with a couple, happy nods. “I do! I have found that… I rather enjoy the interesting dialogue in comic books. I suppose you do as well… Miss?”

“Oh! My name is Lyra, Princess Luna.” She bowed slightly, then let her eyes widen once again. “Wait, are you dressed up as Batmare?!” Shock gripped her mind, realizing that the Princess of the Night would know of such creations, and more than that, like them.

Luna nodded, gesturing at the black armor she must have donned only recently. “Do you like it? I believe it is an exact replica of one of the more modern designs. Hah, modern. Well, except for the cowl. I find not leaving it out to be more comfortable.”

“Heh, it looks great, either way.” Lyra grinned lopsidedly up to the Princess, still unable to believe she was having such a conversation. Wait, she didn’t have a costume ten minutes ago. Where did she- She found herself frowning alongside the thought, and dispelled it, along with the frown. “Eh-heh, so, are… you having a nice night, Princess?”

Luna turned her head to look out over the dance floor and nodded. “Please, my little pony, just 'Luna' is fine. And yes, this is a fine party. I would complement Pinkie on the wonderful job she has done, but she does not seem to stand still for very long.”

Lyra chuckled and looked to, her mane tossing over to the other side of her horn. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that girl stay put for long, Princess.” She made the response with a happy look.

“That does seem to be the case,” Luna chuckled in return. After a moment, she turned to look down at Lyra again, who in return stared back as if by command. “My subject, I thank you for speaking with me tonight in such a normal way.” Catching Lyra by complete surprise, the Princess enveloped her in a hug. “But I must profess I was on my way backstage to get ready for a surprise performance of terror. It should be quite impressive."

Lyra pursed her lips in excitement at hearing the claim. "Ooo, really? I love getting scared! It's the best part of Nightmare Night." She laughed and clapped her hooves appreciatively on the ground. The thought of a performance, or another performance as was the case, from Luna was exciting.

Luna returned a smile back to the other, smaller pony. "That is good. I wouldn't want you to run away, after all." She entertained a deep chuckle, joined in by Lyra's lighter, tinkling laughter.

Luna continued, her voice becoming more excited again. "And after that, I plan on enjoying some more games! Oh, perhaps you would you like to join me, Miss Lyra?”

Lyra blinked, words jumbling up in her mouth. “Ah- er. Oh, actually, heh, Princess, my wife is probably looking for me. See, I have her pie and-”

Luna snickered suddenly, in a princess-y way, and interrupted with, “That’s what she said,” then nodded quickly. “Say no more! I do hope that I can again see you and your excellent choice in costume tonight, though. In fact, I will endeavor to speak with thee of comics again soon, Miss Lyra. Take care!"

Lyra opened her mouth to laugh again and thank the princess, but instead felt a hoof tug on the side of her costume. She turned to look at who it was.

“Lyra?” Bon Bon asked, having tracked down her runaway marefriend. “Were you talking to somepony?”

“Oh I was just… Luna? Where’d she go?” Lyra looked all around, across the crowd, and even overhead after thinking about wings, but failed to find the princess again. There was only lots of fog and other costumed ponies.

“Princess Luna?” Bon Bon asked, joining Lyra in the search. “ Are you sure? I didn’t see her.”

Lyra turned back to Bon Bon. “She was just here a second ago! She even had on a Batmare costume on!”

Bon Bon deadpanned at the other pony. “Nice one, Lyra. As if I’d believe that.”

Lyra pouted and stamped a hoof on the floor. “It’s true! She even knew what my costume was!”

Bon Bon yawned in an exaggerated way. “Uh huh. That’s cute and all, but I was thinking maybe we should go mingle with some other ponies now? Try and be normal for a little while, okay?” She made the suggestion pointedly, despite facing a now fuming Lyra.

“I was doing that! And she was standing right here, I swear!” Lyra insisted.

Bon Bon smirked, then rolled her eyes and quickly nuzzled her unicorn.

“Okay, Lyra, I believe you. Now come on, before you ruin your costume.” Bon Bon pointed to Lyra’s hoof, which had just been stomped on the ground. “Oh, and before I forget.” In one fell swoop, she swiped the pie, still hovering beside Lyra, out of the air. The tasty dessert disappeared in one big bite, which the candy-maker chewed and swallowed in seconds.

Lyra’s jaw dropped in disbelief. “Hey! That was mine-”

“Only because you stole it!” Bon Bon interjected back, laughing, then circled behind and pushed Lyra along some with her own head. “Come on, I was just talking to Carrot Top.”

Lyra’s eyes narrowed, pointed back at Bon Bon. “You owe me candy for the emotional trauma I just suffered there.” Her tail swished at the other mare’s head. “I’ll sue, even. Just watch me!”

Bon Bon laughed as her only reply.

Lyra snorted, still playing at being upset. “You heard me! I’ll ruin your costume unless you give me some candy! I mean, I was gonna unwrap you one way or the other, but now I’ll just be more forceful...”

Bon Bon interrupted and grabbed Lyra’s head with her hooves, then carefully turned it to face a table off in the distance. “See that table, Lyra? They’re giving out the candy over there.” She started laughing when Lyra groaned, blushing, and probably feeling more childish than normal.

"Now, why don't we-" Bon Bon gasped when Lyra, instead of waiting, ducked away to run straight for the table. The unicorn skirted around several ponies and their groups, just to get something that Bon Bon routinely made back at home.

“Watch out everypony, here comes Spidermane…” Bon Bon muttered.

Lyra and Bon Bon were weaving through the seemingly endless amounts of ponies, when they were forced to pause. Two mares were standing just in front of them. Posing, in fact, might be the better term. They were both in party gowns of some kind. While not exactly in theme with each other, they were very elegant looking; perhaps too elegant for a simple costume party.

Lyra and Bon Bon looked at one another, a little confused by the two ponies facing them.

Strangely, they both looked a little familiar, if not quite recognizable. One was a grayish-purple with a light grey mane, while the other was a light grey with a darker grey mane. Both of them were staring emotionlessly at both Lyra and Bon Bon, barring them from continuing past.

“What have we here?” The one on the right spoke; she had the purplish coat. Her short, straight mane bobbed slightly as she spoke.

Both Lyra and Bon Bon glanced at one another in uncertainty. “Uhm-” Bon Bon started to say, but was interrupted.

“A mare dressed as her fantasy,” the other one said; her long, straight mane nearly hung to the floor.

“Indeed. Silly little filly fantasy.” The first agreed in return. She tilted her head to the side just an inch.

“The other is dressed as her client’s desire. Don’t you think?” The grey coated mare succinctly went on.

The other one turned to her near twin, a slight narrowing of her eyes evident. “No. She is clearly meant to be a fish of some kind.” Her flat mane tossed as she turned back to stare at Bon Bon. “See how she is wrapped in shiny wax papers? Obviously scales.”

“A fish with that many colors?” the second scoffed back. “Not any fish I have ever seen.”

“Uh…” Lyra tried to get out.

“Are you certain that their costumes are not reversed and she is not the fish?” The purple coated mare pointed to Lyra. “Very few are red in color, that's for certain, but it would almost seem so.”

The slightly more monotone of the two mares hummed, but didn’t quite pause. “I see your point. Perhaps we shall come to a compromise.” Both ponies looked at each other and spoke in unison. “They are both in fish costumes.”

Bon Bon coughed, interrupting, and the two looked over. “Um, are you two hungry for fish?” She was getting a weird vibe.

“No,” they spoke again in unison. “Why do you ask?”

A fifth voice entered the confrontation. “Oh, Lyra! How are you- Oh, darling, you really shouldn’t let that costume drag so much.”

Bon Bon and Lyra both recognized the proper sounding voice that could only be a pony named Rarity. Lyra glanced over and then back to the twins, who seemed to be getting ready to leave.

“See you again soon, Mrs. and Mrs. Fish.” Inkie said.

“Soon meaning many things…” Blinkie finished for her sister.

Lyra and Bon Bon blinked a few times, feeling more unnerved than either thought they should, even for such a great costumed act like this one.

“Well, that sure was interesting.” Lyra laughed nervously, stepping away slowly alongside Bon Bon. She quickly waved and greeted the other, far more normal seeming mare that had just made contact. “Hi Rarity! Sweet costume… So this is what you were hiding behind that curtain, huh?”

“Do you like it?” Rarity posed and laughed. Her costume was an impressive silk gown, and of the sort to cling to her form. At the top unfurled a wide, red and black collar like a vampire’s. Were it not for the colors, though, it would look more like a peacock’s tail feathers.

“Sure do!” Lyra nodded, smiling, then looked at Bon Bon; her expression flattened some.

Bon Bon was looking over Rarity with a measured expression. “Hm, it’s nice," she said simply.

Rarity went on, not noticing or perhaps pretending to not notice Bon Bon’s lackluster compliment. “Oh, why thank you, both. I worked on it all last night. A bit last minute, but I get so many requests and so much work this time of the year.” She laughed, a bright and chiming laugh that seemed to fill the room. “So, how have you both been finding the party?”

“Great,” Bon Bon answered, smiling. Much of the flatness had left her voice. “My wife, Lyra, and I are really enjoying ourselves, aren’t we?”

Lyra laughed weakly as the other mare threw a leg over her withers. “Yup, time of our lives.”

Rarity made a delighted face and put on a huge smile. “You two are just adorable, really. I’m glad to hear that Pinkie’s party isn’t too much for you. Honestly though, I’m surprised that she decided to throw one at all this year.” She hmphed and continued. “Usually that mare’s too busy hoarding candy to remember her own special talent. It’s amazing! A full grown mare and still goes out trick or-”

A cheerful, sing songy voice interrupted the fashionista. “My eeears are burning!”

Pinkie Pie bounced up to the small circle of ponies, giggling furiously. The circle double in size, as both Twilight Sparkle and a hovering Rainbow Dash also accompanied her. Dashie, for her part, was busy devouring what looked like a giant bag of cinnamon flavored candies. She was also dressed up as some sort of adventurer by the looks of her hat.

Lyra waved happily to the new arrivals, as did Bon Bon, but a bit more shyly and with a timid smile.

“Oh, Pinkie. Actually we were just talking about you, darling…” Rarity laughed nervously and began eying the far wall. “Is that Fancy Pants I see over there? I must be off, girls. Tah! Nice seeing you both again!”

Pinkie grinned and stood up to wave goodbye.

Twilight, who had on a darkly colored witch’s costume, furrowed her brow and watched her other friend trot away hastily. “What was that about?”

Bon Bon spoke up first, being a bit hasty. “Oh, I think she was saying trick or treating is for little foals,” she laughed.

Pinkie tsked, shaking her head sadly. “Such a shame…” she murmured, then perked up, ears and all. “Oh, hey Lyra, Bon Bon. Have you two seen my sisters anywhere?”

Lyra and Bon Bon look at one another, then shrugged in tandem. “I don’t think so,” Lyra said. “What do they look like?”

Overhead, Rainbow shuddered and interrupted. “If Inky and Blinky are lost let them stay that way. They’re being super creepy tonight…” A few more pieces of candy were shoveled into her mouth.

Pinkie laughed in response, rolling her eyes. “Oh, Dashie, they were just having fun! They’ve gotten good at it, too…”

Beside her, Twilight rolled her own eyes, if for different reasons, and addressed the two mares standing before her. “Anyway, you two are the couple that Applejack helped move into the old farm on the edge of town, right? How’s the new house working out?” She passed a big smile between the semi-strangers. “You’re all moved in and comfortable now, I hope. I’m glad you got your new place before winter started.”

Bon Bon let out a relieved sort of laugh. "Oh, Ms. Element of Magic, you're really too kind. We got in fine! Really, just fine." She laughed again, rubbing one foreleg with the other.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at Bon Bon, but kept eating. “Seriously? Element of Awesome, right here!” She popped a few more candies up into the air for herself as she spoke. The only pony to pay her any mind was Pinkie, who bounced up to her level and swiped away said airborne candy. Immediately, a short sparring match began over Rainbow's bag of sweets.

Ignoring the chaos overhead, Twilight smirked and continued. "It's no big deal, Ms. Bon Bon? Oh, and you don't need to call me... that, heh." She traded between looking at both the Spidermane and a giant piece of wrapped candy. “I mean, it's really not that big of a deal.”

Lyra leaned her head out in front of Bon Bon with a cynical look, got an embarrassed one in return, then turned a bright smile towards Twilight. “Bon Bon’s just nervous, as always, Ms. Sparkle. But yeah, that house is great! Thanks for asking. We couldn’t be happier with it. It was cheap, maybe a bit far from town, but really cozy. The walk here was creepy, actually. All that fog...”

Rainbow floated by, still avoiding Pinkie. "What fog?" she asked, facing away to protect her portable horde.

Twilight gave her two friends a stern frown, but managed to nod to Lyra. “That's great. I'm really glad to hear it. I’m sure you two will be very happy there-”

A song kicked on overhead through the speakers, and lights were killed all around the Town Hall, leaving it in darkness. Seconds later, spot lights, blood red in color, shot on and lit up the stage at the front of the dance floor.

Ponies all around gasped and ooed, while up on stage, a looming figure stood up behind a wide console of instruments. The lights slowly shifted from red, to blue.

A dark cowl was thrown back by the figure, revealing a mane to match the color of the lighting surrounding it. “Helloooo, Ponyville!” the figure announced loudly.

Bon Bon and Lyra were surrounded by cheering, which Twilight, Pinkie, Rainbow, and Lyra herself joined in on. Bon Bon, however, face-hoofed. How does this always happen.

“Soooooo, who’s ready, for, the bass?” the words were slow and punctuated for effect. The unicorn up on stage, infamously known as Dj Pon3, levitated a vinyl record up and laid it down on the table before her. More excited voices kicked up from the teeming crowd of ponies.

A haunting choir from the side of the Dj began an eerie sounding back melody, while a deep rumble grew from the corners of the room. On stage, sparkly blue fog leaked out of the ceiling, and none other than a cackling, fearsome Nightmare Moon appeared overhead.

“Who wishes to be eaten, first? Hm?” Nightmare Moon asked with a snide twist to her words. Of course, despite the screams of delighted fear, she didn’t need to use the sound systems that the Dj and music required. “Or perhaps, I’ll just devour you all in one bite!”

The crowd shrieked louder with both screams of joy and fear.

Bon Bon and Lyra watched it all unfold, along with everypony else. Quickly, the bass dropped, of course. The cackling Nightmare swooped again over the crowd, before vanishing through the floor in an impressive show of magic and smoke.

Ponies all leaped out onto the dance floor as the music picked up, along with Twilight and her friends.

Lyra grinned from ear to ear, and looked over to the pony she had arrived with. “Uh, so how about some dancing, Bonnie?” she yelled, loudly, as the music’s volume had more than doubled.

Bon Bon sighed, rolled her eyes, then stepped down the stairs towards the dance floor. Her tail swished absently behind herself. “Just come on, you!” she yelled back. The two of them descended down together, fully ready to have the time of their lives for Nightmare Night.

Author's Note

Check back in on Halloween Night For Parts Two and Three...

This story is a little bit of an experiment and a simple change of pace for me. My other stories are obviously a big sink that take a lot of time and thought, and this one was just a fun break. Please enjoy.

Epilogue : The Hunters

Dear Princess Luna,

We write to inform that your hunch was correct, that a malicious spirit had moved into Ponyville's vicinity.

Last evening’s subsequent hunt resulted in the capture of a very interesting variation of Windigo. Rather than disharmony, it appeared to feed and grow off of the fear of ponies. It’s truly no small wonder that it feasted during Nightmare Night… What did surprise us, however, was the tenacity of its victims.

The two ponies in question were a couple known as Bon Bon and Lyra Heartstrings. We met them at our sister’s party last night, and are certain you met the unicorn mare yourself. You’ll be happy to know that they are safe, and the Windigo has been sealed. The mare’s memories have also been altered to obscure the isolated event, per the code.

We shall both continue to enforce the protection of Equestria from those that would do it harm, Princess. It is an honor to serve you.

Ever your faithful hunters,

Inkie and Blinkie Pie