The sun slowly rose over the capital city of Canterlot, into the partly cloudy, bright blue sky far above Equestria. The air outside was cool and damp with a light, thin mist shrouding the mountainside metropolis as others made their way into downtown for work or other activities.
The sunlight sliced through the blinds of my bedroom in thick, golden lines that streaked across the light blue walls. I slumbered peacefully, half underneath the sheets of my bed with one leg sticking out. The head of the black metal tower fan in my room turned back and forth gradually, spreading cool air throughout the room and letting off a low hum while it was on.
A ray of sunlight from outside hit my closed eye almost directly and jolted me awake. I squinted my eyelids shut even tighter and groaned before reaching a hand up and resting it on my cheek to block the light.
"Just five more minutes, please..." I muttered tiredly and yawned and started to doze off again.
As I began to get comfortable again, I was reawakened by the loud beeps of my alarm clock going off. My eyes slowly opened, lids bagging below them. My vision was slightly blurred the moment they opened, and they very gradually adjusted not only to what was around me, but to the bright sunlight that was coming into the room behind my back. I opened my mouth and yawned quietly, rolling onto my back and blinking slowly while staring up towards the light on the ceiling.
It was about a minute before I realized my alarm clock was still going off. I turned my head to face it and reached my left hand over to it and reached for the button to turn it off. I scooted my body closer, grunting as I stretched more. Why was the dang thing on the far side of my nightstand?
I kept reaching and reaching, and just before I could press the button to turn it off, I rolled completely off my bed and onto the polished wood floor below with a loud thud. I groaned and laid there, chest and face down on the floor, and slowly reached above my head and yanking the electrical cord out and silencing the alarm.
"Finally..." I muttered into the floor and slowly dropped my hand, letting go of the cord.
***
A few minutes had passed before I found the motivation to push myself up off of the cold, hard floor and go to the kitchen where I prepared myself a cup of coffee. At the same time, I was questioning my career choice. Three months in boot camp and soon to be four deployments on board an aircraft carrier, sitting at a desk and staring at two radar screens for sixteen hours straight. Fun, right?
The coffee pot was soon full and I grabbed a mug out from the cupboard and poured some in, my baggy eyes looking down as the steam rose from the cup and my ears catching the sweet sound of the coffee pouring in. I set the pot back down and the mug as well and turned to the refrigerator to pull some coffee creamer out. Recently, all I had been drinking was coffee with milk and a packet or two of sugar, but today felt like one of those days where I just needed a sweeter cup. Inadvertently, I poured a bit too much creamer in and made the coffee turn a light tan once mixed with a spoon, and extra sweet when I tasted it. But oh well, coffee is coffee.
I took my coffee over to the couch and sat down on it, taking another sip from the cup a second afterwards. Glancing down, I reached forward and picked up the remote for the television and pressed the power button. With no results, I kept pressing it, eventually I grew annoyed with it and set the mug on the coffee table that stood at my feet and turned the remote upside down and popping the battery storage open. Both were there, and I slid them back in, then slapped the remote in my hand a few times and pressed the power button again.
Bingo, the television turned on, right to a morning news report from a station I watched that covered national news, originating from Manehattan, ironically where I worked. What was on at the time was something about a meteor shower that would occur in a few days. Speaking of which, I was just that lost in sleepiness and trying to make myself some coffee that I didn't even know what day it was. The only thing I did know was, I was off work today.
I stood up, coffee mug still in my hand, and walked over to the calendar while taking another sip. The month is October, and according to just how many days I had crossed off, today was the 31st.
"Nightmare Night?" I stopped myself from taking another sip and eyed the date closely.
It was, in fact, Nightmare Night tonight. A favorite childhood holiday. And like always, Ponyville had the best festivities for it. Since I didn't have to be in Manehattan for work, I figured it would be a good time to go to town and enjoy all that went on during the Nightmare Night celebrations. It would also be great to get out of the apartment and not go straight to work.
The festivities started at around 6 o'clock that evening, and it was still only a few minutes past 9 in the morning. I had plenty of time to get ready—I just needed to pass the time until then, somehow.
I sat back down and watched some more television while downing the rest of my coffee while it was still warm. An hour passed, and I was finally wide awake. That was a first. I got up once again and put the mug in the sink for later washing and went back towards the bathroom. I stopped at the small closet between my bedroom door and the bathroom, grabbing a towel and going in to take a shower.
Starting the water, I stripped myself and reached a hand in, waiting until the water was comfortably warm, and stepping into the shower and pulling the curtains shut. The water hit my blue hair and forced it to droop over my eyes. I reached up and moved it out of the way of my eyes and picked up a shampoo bottle to wash my mane.
Once rubbed into my hair, I brushed my fingers through the soap and stood beneath the water as thin streaks of warm water flowed down my chest and all the way down my legs to the floor, the soap traveling with it until there was no more to rinse out. I opened my eyes again and picked up some body wash and squirted some into a body scrubber, and began rubbing it around my neck and my shoulders, then down across my chest and all the way down to my private areas, and finally to my feet. The water already began washing the soap off and quickly it all went down the drain.
I finished a few seconds later and turned the water off prior to stepping out of the shower and grabbing the towel I brought with me into the bathroom, and then began drying myself off.
Dried off and no longer greasy or sweaty, I put on some deodorant and picked up a hair brush to get rid of the slight mess that was of my mane. Afterwards, I walked out of the steamy bathroom with the towel wrapped around my waist and into my bedroom, and to the dresser across the room from the foot of my bed with just a few feet of room in between. I pulled one of the drawers open and put on some underwear as well as a dark blue t-shirt.
Seeing as today would be a good day to do so, I went into the small walk-in closet stuffed behind the bathroom and connected to my bedroom, and took one of my uniforms from work, pants and jacket, and slipped the pants on while leaving the jacket on its hanger until later.
My uniform was a bit of an urban digital camouflage mixed with Navy digital camouflage colors to be for the Lunar Marines, the military branch I was in. I picked the one jacket that had the least patches on and hung it up on a small hook hanging on the inside of the closet door. Once I finished buttoning up my pants, I took a pair of thick dark blue socks that matched my shirt and put them on, and then back into the closet where I grabbed my pair of black military-issue boots and brought them back to my bed where I sat down and put them on while tucking the bottom of my pant sleeves into them, and then tying the laces.
Once finished, I rolled up the sleeves of my jacket and put it on, buttoning up to the top and looking over myself in the mirror in the bathroom. I fixed the collar and made minor adjustments elsewhere, before grabbing the matching octagon-top patrol cap, as it was called by some due to it's appearance on the edges, off of my dresser and slipping it onto my head, and then my black and dark blue digital watch, completing my 'costume' for Nightmare Night.
I then grabbed my keys, wallet and phone and headed out the door, locking it behind me, and out onto the streets. The floral shop below my apartment was decorated magnificently for Nightmare Night with fake spider webs and bats hanging from where flower puts usually hung during the spring and summer, and at the time the mare who owned the shop was selling fake, black roses and other things for decorative reasons. Pretty soon, she would be putting out Heart's Warming decorations, and then it would be snowing. Ugh.
Much of Canterlot had similar decorations on lamp posts, and inside shops where Nightmare Night displays stood in windows, and clothing shops had transformed into costume shops for everyone of every age.
I made my way to the city's train station, but not before stopping by a cafe I normally spent my money at when I'm not in Manehattan or deployed out to sea. At the cafe I picked up a couple of sandwiches and a drink to have on the ride to Ponyville. Since it was last minute, I didn't know when the next train left Canterlot, and instead proceeded to check once I got to the train station.
The station wasn't any busier than it usually was on normal days and there thankfully wasn't a line at the ticket counter. I walked through the zig-zag line set up to the counter and stepped up to it. On the other side of the window was a mare with a colorful mane and a witch's hat on, and vampire fangs in her mouth.
"Good morning, sir!" She greeted happily with a grin.
"Good morning to you too, miss," I smiled warmly. "When does the next train to Ponyville depart?"
"Let me check," she then turned her attention to the computer beside the window and began typing for a few moments. "The next train to Ponyville arrives at noon."
"One ticket, round trip please," I took my wallet out of my pocket.
"Alright!" she began typing on the computer again. "What time would you like to return, sir? The Nightmare Night celebrations are affecting the schedule, meaning the next train back here won't come until about three in the morning local time. Is that okay?"
I nodded. 3 AM wasn't that bad when I thought about it. "That's fine."
I paid for my ticket and went to sit down in the large waiting area in the main hall of the station. The building itself didn't have much to it, other than a couple of small shops and a restaurant.
Seeing as it would be a while before the next train arrived, I began by eating one of the sandwiches I had bought just a little bit beforehand, and then the other one. Both hit the spot and I took a large swig of cola afterwards.
Time very slowly passed, and thankfully, it was noon. The train pulled into the station and those on board began disembarking, while the engineer got out to run a check on the outside. Boarding came about fifteen minutes later, and I sat down in the coach car, which was normal seating. It wasn't long before boarding finished, and we were off for Ponyville. It was a three hour trip down the mountain and to the small town.
About halfway through the trip, I noticed some of the other passengers were giving me looks of curiosity, one of them even speaking up from across the aisle.
"You military?" the stallion asked.
I glanced over and nodded after a couple of moments. "I am. This isn't my normal uniform, however. Just something for today, y'know?"
The stallion nodded. He then looked forward, and after a pause, he spoke up again. "My grandfather was in, and so was my father."
"Oh yeah?" I smiled. "What branch?"
"Grandfather was in the Air Force, father was in the Navy. You?"
"Marines. Lunar Marines."
The stallion nodded. "Oh yeah, I know of you guys."
Then, after a lengthy pause, "Might want to be careful, though."
"Hm?"
"Someone is known to go after older guys dressed up, mostly soldiers. He doesn't care if you're legit or not. And, let's say, he doesn't play nice."
I glanced back over, eyeing the stallion as he said his creepy warning. "How do you know?"
"He's been in the newspaper for the last few Nightmare Nights. Whoever goes missing because of him, never comes back."
It was eerie to hear, but it wasn't something I wanted to hear on a night that was meant to be for fun. All I did was nod. "Alright," and look out the window on my side of the car as colorful trees raced by, leaves flying off of the branches and onto the ground below.
The rest of the train ride was uneventful and the stallion hadn't said another thing to me. In fact, when the train pulled into the station, he wasn't even in the car anymore. Once again, eerie. I didn't think much of it and disembarked onto the platform.
Outside of the train, the air was somewhat brisk and a constant, cool breeze blew across the field of trees across the tracks and sent orange, yellow and red leaves flying everywhere, and eventually onto the ground where many others already rested.
I stepped off of the platform, onto a cobble path leading into town which was no more than a block away. As I walked, many of the leaves that had fallen onto the path were shriveled up and crunched beneath my boots at every step I made. Meanwhile, more leaves were falling from all around.
Despite my hate for winter, autumn was my favorite season of all. Not just because of all of the warmer drinks being served at cafes, but because of the color that came with it. I hadn't been off the train for five minutes and I was already falling in love with the scenery around town.
Ponyville, needless to say, wasn't an ordinary town. Not because of all of the things that happened in recent years in it, but because of just how friendly every one of it's townsfolk were. I hadn't walked that far into town before receiving a couple of compliments about my 'costume', or some friendly greetings.
The town wasn't super huge, but it had plenty of nice-sized homes and shops towards the center of it. Many of which, you could tell what they were. One bakery named Sugarcube Corner had a roof that was styled to look like the icing of a cake, and the white edges of decoration. Even the very top of the building had giant candles on it, just like a birthday cake.
Then there was a rounded building on the outskirts that was decorated externally like some kind of fancy building from Canterlot despite it's location. At the same time, it had a bit of a carousel appearance. Thus, I was right. It was a dress shop named the Carousel Boutique. And everywhere else I went, you could easily tell from the outward appearance of the building just what the place was.
I reached the center of town where many others were helping each other prepare for the events that Nightmare Night brought. Games were being set up, such as one where the objective is to toss a stuffed spider onto a fake cob web for points, another being to dunk your head into a barrel of water and pick out one or more apples, and much more. It was exciting, and I could feel my colthood rushing back to me and calling my name.
"Star Shooter!"
I snapped my head to the direction where I heard my name, immediately seeing a greyish-green stallion in a similar uniform to mine approaching. He wore an all-darker blue uniform and black military-styled shades over his eyes. I blinked a couple of times and turned to him. "Captain?"
The stallion walked up and stopped just in front of me. "That's Shadow to you, Star," he grinned and pushed his shades up into his mane. "I didn't expect to see you here. What brings you around?"
"The Nightmare Night festival. What are you doing here?" I tilted my head in confusion.
"I live here, remember?"
I blinked. "Oh, that's right! My bad," I blushed in embarrassment. "How's the wife?"
"She's good, she's good. She's working right now but I told her to meet me here when she's done."
I nodded and then smiled to him. "Will I finally get to meet her?"
"Perhaps," he winked. "I can't stay for long, however. I saw you and thought I would say hi, I've got to pick up some things at the market. Say, let's all meet back here at sunset, shall we?"
I nodded again. "Sounds good. I'll see you then."
Shadow smiled and slid his shades back down over his eyes. "Great! I'll see you later, Shooter," he patted my shoulder and then walked off.
I guess you do actually learn something new every day. I certainly didn't know my commanding officer lived in this town. Nevertheless, it would be nice to hang out with him somewhere other than work. On the contrary, I had to wait again for sunset to come, which was a good five hours away. Thus, I determined I would explore the rest of the town and hopefully be done before or right at sunset.
***
There wasn't much else to the town outside of its center, other than simple houses and very small shops here and there, but not nearly as frequent as closer to the town hall. On the outskirts of town sat a red stereotypical school house, which at the time was closed due to the time of day, yet I still noticed some young colts and fillies playing around it, either on swings or see-saws. All but a couple didn't have costumes on, and for probably a good reason.
I kept walking until reaching a dirt path that was mostly surrounded by trees and was covered in fall foliage. Curious, I began walking down the path, the leaves once again crunching beneath my feet.
The path was long, and almost seemed to go on forever. It wasn't until after ten or eleven minutes where I came to the end of the path, which was the white arch gate of a well-known apple orchard, which I was oblivious to. I stopped just under the arch and looked up at the sign hanging from it, which read Sweet Apple Acres in a fancy print, with an apple painted below the name.
I glanced back down and in front of me, looking over the orchard without going beyond the gate. The orchard itself was made up of a large red barn that also served as a house for the family that ran the farm. A few hundred feet to the right was a building shaped somewhat like a carrot, likely where carrots were harvested, though it didn't make much sense at an apple orchard.
Then, off to the side, I noticed a big, red stallion who, from his appearance, was likely four or five inches taller than me. He was carrying a wooden basket full of red, ripe apples over his head and was walking with some difficulty through a muddy spot close to the barn. It surprised me, probably as much as him when he tripped up and nearly lost his boots in the muck behind him. It wasn't long, however, before I felt like I was spying, and turned around to walk back into town. I hope nobody saw me.
***
With mostly all of the town explored, I began making my way back towards the center of Ponyville where I was to meet back up with Shadow and his wife. It wasn't that long of a walk and to the west, the sun was going down and meant I didn't have to wait long, if at all. Meanwhile, younger colts and fillies were running out of their homes dressed in various costumes and carrying trick-or-treat baskets.
I arrived back where I first met up with Shadow and looked around. No sign of him or his wife. I then decided to sit down on a bench nearby and wait for them to come, which I assumed would be any minute.
It wasn't long before the sun had completely set, and the younger colts and fillies were going from house to house, collecting different pieces of candy in their baskets, while I sat on the bench, still waiting.
"Come on," I muttered faintly and looked down to my watch, which read ten past seven. Shadow and his wife were beyond late. And as time went on slowly, I began to figure that maybe they either forgot, or just didn't come back to town for the festivities.
Sighing, I stood up and went towards one of the small bridges that crossed over a river that cut through the small town. Right across from the river was the central plaza surrounding the town hall, where a stage and a microphone was set up, as well as speakers around the plaza and multiple Nightmare Night decorations. This was where the mayor would give her yearly speech to kick off the night. It wouldn't be long before those celebrating the night would gather here.
As more time passed, ponies began gathering at the stage once trick-or-treating concluded for the night. I could count at least two hundred others there with more coming from all directions around the town hall, most of them dressed up as bumble bees, robots, ballerinas, and even ninjas. I stood towards the back of the crowd, waiting patiently with my arms crossed for the mayor to come on stage.
All of a sudden, on stage, a large puff of green smoke exploded upwards, and as soon as it faded, there stood the mayor, who wore a witch's hat, next to a zebra in an all-black hoodie. The crowd clapped in amazement as the two appeared and continued to watch as the mayor took the microphone in her hand.
"Welcome citizens of Ponyville, to this year's Nightmare Night celebration! As always, our grand festivities shall begin after our dear Zecora brings all of you good colts and fillies to the Nightmare Moon statue in the Everfree! Stallions and mares are welcome to come as well, if you dare," she finished in an obviously fake sinister tone, followed by a laugh, in which the crowd followed suit.
"If all of the colts and fillies would please, gather behind me, and stiffen your knees. For we are about to travel into the forest known as Everfree, in which where the Nightmare is waiting for all of your sweets!" Zecora rhymed in a thick accent. I rolled my eyes at that.
But just as expected, every trick-or-treater gathered behind her excitedly, as did a few older ponies. After a little bit, I shrugged it off and went to join the line, remaining quiet as I did so. Once everyone gathered, we set off out of town and into the dense, dark forest that was enough in itself to send a chill up even the toughest pony's spine.
We walked in a close group behind a hooded Zecora, peering around at our surroundings. The darkness of the night made it nearly impossible to see the path in front of us, though thankfully the zebra leader held a staff in her hand that had a glowing blue gem on the end that shed light in front of us.
Following a ten minute walk, we stopped before a large stone statue, twice my height, of a demonic-looking mare with the moon embed in her armor. And after another rhyme done by Zecora, the colts and fillies began setting some of their candy on the ground in front of the statue, to 'please' Nightmare Moon. I knew she was real, but she is Princess Luna now.
I stood there, watching, up until noticing a colt walking off to the side, seemingly following something into the thick brush and trees around the clearing the statue and us were in.
"Hey, don't go in there!" I watched him continue into the forest, not listening at all.
I glanced back to the others, seeing no one else had noticed either. I turned back and let my arms fall to my sides and jogged after the colt. He kept going and going, deeper and deeper into the forest, and soon I couldn't look back and see the statue or the others, and not long later, I couldn't find the colt either.
I kept jogging until stopping beside a tall, wide tree and resting against it. "Hello?" I called out and glanced around for the colt, and anyone else really. Unfortunately, no luck.
I sighed, looking back in the direction I believed to have come from. I could barely see anything, other than very small rays of moonlight piercing through the thick leaves of the trees above. Then, I heard the crackle of leaves crunching, like someone was walking towards me. I snapped my head to the direction of the sound the moment it stopped, and saw nothing. I looked down to my own feet, where no leaves were laying on the ground at all, suspiciously.
A very gentle feeling began creeping up my back, and I mean literally creeping. I slowly turned my head towards my left shoulder, where I saw a large black spider gradually walking up. I gasped and let out a shriek, swinging my opposite hand up and swatting the large insect off before running to another nearby tree, my heart racing from just the spider. If it wasn't obvious already, I hated spiders.
I heard the leaves crunching again. Where was it coming from? Was it the colt? Was it an animal? Was I being followed?
Then came the rustle of nearby bushes. I snapped my head to face them and saw the leaves briefly moving about, followed by a cold, quick breeze that made me shiver, and not in a good way. In the couple of times I had been to this forest, not one single time did I ever want to stay. Now wasn't a good time to either.
I began to slowly back away from the tree trunk I was standing beside, into a very slight clearing that was still dark and shrouded from above by trees. Footsteps could then be heard, and next, the crunching of leaves once more, approaching very slowly.
"Who's there? Just tell me who is there," I looked around me slowly as my heart started beating faster. It wasn't the colt. It couldn't have been the colt.
I slowly turned 360 degrees, keeping an eye all around me for whatever was approaching. As I did, my heart rate increased and the blood was really pumping. I clenched my hands into fists and held them up below my chest.
"I'm not afraid to fight whatever you are!" I shouted.
"But why would you want to do that?" Came a whisper from behind.
I froze right where I was and my bright red pupils shrunk to pinpricks. I whipped around, only to be met with utter darkness. Then, a pair of all-yellow eyes in the shadows opened, staring right towards me at my own height. My muscles tensed and I gasped in surprise, then began to take slow steps away from the eyes. The eyes just seemed to get closer. And closer.
Soon, I couldn't go any further, my back now against a tree. I pressed back against it and stared right back towards the eyes and breathing faster than before, and my heart racing.
"Stay back...whatever the hell you are!" I said as my fists opened up, palms sweaty.
"Mmm, but why would I want to do that?"
I panted softly, the fear slowly taking over. This wasn't usually me. But this was the Everfree, I had a reason to be scared. "Who are you?!"
The eyes stopped just a few feet away. After a lengthy pause, whatever it was spoke. "Who am I?"
"Tell me!"
There was another minute of silence. "I am nobody important to you. And I never will be."
"I'd still like to know!"
Yet another silence.
"What does it mean to you? After all, you can't do anything about it, Star Shooter."
Another arrow of fear hit me straight in the chest. "How...do you know my name?" My body began to tremble like a leaf in the wind.
"That is not important. What is, is you should go to sleep."
As the voice finished, I kept staring forward, right towards the eyes and oblivious to the pitch black cloud of shadows forming at my feet and creeping up my legs. My breathing remained quick and heavy, and my heart felt as if it would explode right out of my chest. I was that petrified.
"Please...go away...whatever you are," I trembled.
"Sssshhhh...ssshhhh...just go to sleep..."
The cloud of shadows worked its way up to my head, and soon, everything began to fade, and I started to black out.
It wasn't much longer before I fell asleep.
