Give me Something Sweet to Bite
Author's Note
Okay, I know what a couple of you are thinking, “Why am I posting a Halloween story at the end of February?” Well, I thought this would make sense in the story’s timeline. It’s simple as that. Now, that the elephant’s out of the room, let’s get on with it.
Give me Something Sweet to Bite
Gallus and Sandbar were heading into town with Geena, a blonde griffon, and a dark purple drake. The drake was pretty tall and lanky. He had eggplant purple scales all over his body with some wide lilac spines on his back and tail and long thin ears. He had artic blue eyes and matching horns that curved upwards and violet wings.
The griffon had banana yellow feathers and honey yellow markings around his brown eyes. The top of his head had a complete mop of feathers that gave him a shaggy look. His wings and fur were ginger orange, along with his tail that looked like a tiger, which had orange stripes on it, as well as his back. Lastly, his beak was long and thin like a woodpecker’s, and was marigold, just like his talons.
“So, Garry,” Sandbar said to the blonde griffon, “What do you usually do for fun.”
“Usually I like flying around and doing stunts,” the griffon replied. “Though I liked it if the weather was warmer.”
“Me too,” Geena replied. “I mean, we have feathers and still we’re cold.”
“Hate to know what the changelings are feeling,” the purple drake said. “We dragons never really dealt with this kind of weather.”
“Tanz, you do know that’s because you spend most of your life around pools of lava,” Gallus said.
“That’s true,” Sandbar commented.
“Yeah, I think Emma told me about that,” Geena said. “Hey, look, she’s right over there.”
Emerald was at the Ponyville Cafe with her sister, Peridot, and the rest of the cheer squad. “Guys, what are you doing here?” Emerald asked.
“We’re just heading around town,” Tanz replied. “How about you?”
“The girls convinced me to get some cocoa with them.”
“It was Tarsi’s idea,” Peridot explained.
“Wouldn’t blame her,” Gallus said.
“Cocoa’s ready,” Silverstream cheered. She gave the twins their cocoa and sipped away at her’s. Peridot was a bit confused at what she saw in her drink. The cream seemed to take the shape of a crescent moon.
“Why did they do it like this?” she questioned.
“You’ve got me,” Emerald said. “I’ve got a pumpkin for some reason.”
“Really?” Sandbar asked. “I didn’t know they were doing that now.”
“Doing what?” the twins asked.
“You’ve got something too?” Grace asked. “I’d show you mine, but... I already drank it.” Gallus started snickering at the girls not knowing why there were images in their drink.
“What’s so funny?” Garry asked.
“How could you not know,” Gallus snickered.
“Gallus,” Emerald groaned in frustration. The rest of the cheer squad walked over, confused about their drinks’ images and the snickering griffon.
“Friends tell what’s going on?” Dotta asked.
“Simple,” Sandbar said. “These are Nightmare Night theme drinks.”
“What mare night?” Tanz, Tarsi, and Geena asked.
“It’s a pony holiday,” Ocellus explained. “Pony dress up in costumes.”
“Foals go door to door and receive candy,” Silverstream added.
“And sometimes you go around for a scare,” Smolder grinned.
“Yona don’t like that part,” Yona shivered.
“Sounds interesting,” Garry said.
“Oh, trust me,” Shimmy Shake said. “I remember this one-time Lighthoof and I went as Celestia and Luna.”
“I remember that,” Lighthoof giggled. “So much candy.”
“You were fillies when you did that, weren’t you,” Gallus asked.
“Maybe.” The two mares giggled between each other.
“Have you told the other students about this?” Grace asked.
“It’s mostly they’ll find out eventually,” Smolder said.
The young six and their friends got to Rarity’s Boutique. “I’m sure that Professor Rarity will be making some costumes,” Ocellus said. They could see there were one or two costumes of a vampire and a superhero and they also heard the wearing of a sewing machine.
Walking upstairs, they found that Rarity was hard at work making another costume. “Hi Professor,” Silverstream said. This startled the mare and caused her to mess up on the costume. “Oops. Sorry.”
“It’s alright,” Rarity replied. “Just not so sudden next time.”
“Got it.”
“Um, Professor Rarity,” Tanz said, “We just heard about Nightmare Night. Is there anything you can tell about it?”
“Have Ocellus and the others told you about it?”
“Yes,” the foreign students said.
“Hmm, I don’t know what else I could tell you. But I can take a request for what costume you want.”
“Rockhoof,” Yona requested.
“A clown,” Silverstream said.
“I’ll happily take that vampire costume downstairs,” Gallus admitted.
“Do you know who Mega Pony is?” Sandbar asked.
“I think I could go as a witch,” Ocellus said.
Lastly, Smolder took a deep breath. “I’ll go with a princess,” she said.
“Ooh,” Rarity gasped. “I didn’t expect that.” She wrote down the requests from the students. “How about the rest of you?”
The foreign students didn’t know what to choose, so Shimmy and Lighthoof spoke. “How about we go as Celestia and Luna when they were still princesses,” Shimmy suggested.
“Alright then.” Rarity wrote it down. “Any other creature.”
“...I’m not sure,” Peridot said.
“I think I have an idea for you,” Silverstream said. “You and Emma could be a hydra.”
“A hydra?”
“Yeah, you two are twins. You’d be perfect for that part.”
“Yes. Very clever,” Rarity commented.
“Dotta... Can’t think of anything,” Dotta admitted.
“Me neither,” Grace added.
“It’s alright. You can think of something later,” Rarity said. “I have a lot of work to do.” She took a few measurements of the students that sent requests, she got to work. “Please ask Sunburst if he could cover my classes.”
“Got it,” Sandbar replied.
“Maybe I could help with the costumes,” Emerald suggested.
“Me too,” Tarsi said.
“That’d be great,” Rarity thanked. Everyone else left the boutique and head back to the school.
When they got back, they told the other students about the holiday, some of them having mixed opinions. “This just sounds silly,” Moss commented.
“I don’t think you would see a point,” Gale said. “It’s basically a day where any creature could be a changeling. You can choose what you want to be every day.”
“When would they even start this?” Flare asked.
“I think that it was because of Nightmare Moon,” Kelpie said.
“Whatever it is, I’m not interested,” Moss said. He flew off.
Pyther and Coral were with Peppermint Goldylinks and Strawberry Scoop who were explaining the holiday for them. “So, what happens when you’re too old for?” Coral asked.
“Sometimes you dress up for a party,” Scoop answered.
“You think this school will have one?” Pyther asked.
“Knowing Professor Pinkie, most likely,” Peppermint guessed.
Flare and Trud were just minding their own business until Auburn Vision snuck up behind them. The drake and yak looked back and saw a timberwolf mask growl at them. When they saw it wasn’t real, they didn’t find it funny. “What?” the colt asked. “I thought dragons would find this funny.”
“It wasn’t,” Flare growled.
“Why pony do that?” Trud questioned.
“Nightmare Night,” Vision explained.
“What?” the two questioned.
Ocellus saw what was going on and felt concerned. “I’m not sure if every creature is going to be up for this,” she told her friends.
“They’ll get used to it,” Silverstream reassured.
“If they don’t wanna be a part of this,” Gallus said, “That’s their problem.”
“I wonder what the others will dress up as,” Sandbar said.
“Yona curious about changelings,” Yona admitted. “Would they change form, or put on costume?”
“I think they would probably put on a costume,” Ocellus said. “Where’s the fun in just changing our form like we usually do?”
“You guys wonder what would happen if someone like King Thorax or Dragon Lord Ember found out about this holiday?” Smolder asked.
“I think it’d be funny,” Gallus said.
“Well, we’re going to do our own things,” Grace said.
“You do that,” Smolder said. The other students wandered off, leaving the young six to themselves.
“So, boys,” Shimmy said. “You know where Pate is?”
“Last time I saw him, he was in the lounge,” Tanz said. The mare headed to where she was told. She found the changeling looking through several stacks of pictures and books.
“Pate, what are you doing?” she asked.
“Shimmy. Hi,” the changeling said. “I’ve been trying to find out more about Nightmare Night.”
“Did you have to get so many pictures and books?”
“I was just curious. I wanna know how to do things right.” The cheerleader laughed at what he was doing.
“I appreciate that. I’ll help you out with what you need to do.”
“Th... Thanks, Shimmy.” Pate stood up from his seat, but accidentally knocked over a stack of photos. “Oops.”
“It’s okay, let’s just clean it up.” They started picking up the photos as the earth pony remembered something. “Listen, we didn’t really have a good time for a date. I had to help my mom with something and the girls were feeling cold...”
“No, I understand. Where did you even get these?”
“The books were from the library. I... I’m not sure about the pictures.”
“Okay. Remind me to get you more organized.” The two picked up the photos with the changeling feeling guilty. “Look, this isn’t your fault, let’s just have fun on Nightmare Night.”
“Alright. I’m still thinking about what to go as.”
“I can help you think of something.”
Elsewhere, Lighthoof was with Grace, Peridot, and Dotta. The different creatures were still had mixed opinions on this. “Any ideas on what you girls are going as?” Lighthoof asked.
“Dotta not sure yet,” the yak answered. “Yaks not get out of Yakyakistan very often. At most, Dotta and friends got down to Crystal Empire. See baby Flurry Heart. Cute pony.”
“I’m drawing blanks too,” Grace said. “I’d think I could go as a princess like you and Smolder, but I think it’d be redundant.”
“Maybe you could be ballerina,” Lighthoof said.
“I wonder how Emma and I would even go as a hydra,” Peridot admitted. “I mean... We have four legs altogether. It’s confusing.”
“Your sister’s pretty smart, I’m sure she’ll think of something.”
“Maybe I could be a ballerina,” Grace said. “Dotta, what do you think?” The griffon looked back and saw that the yak was still talking.
“Yak could make good guard,” Dotta spoke. “Though Dotta don’t know where rare pony would get parts for armor.”
“Dotta,” Grace cried. This managed to grab the yak’s attention.
“Sorry, Dotta get lost in thought.”
“Right. You have any idea for your costume?” The yak just shrugged.
“I’m still curious about the other,” Lighthoof admitted. They heard some hoof steps from outside and saw Professor Applejack walking in with a cart filled with pumpkins. “Ooh.”
“What apple pony do with big orange plants?” Dotta asked.
Applejack overheard them and backed up. “These are for jack-o-lanterns,” she explained. “They’re a decoration for Nightmare Night. You cut into them and make a certain design, mostly a face.”
“That sounds fun,” Grace commented.
“It is,” Lighthoof agreed. “When can we start?”
“It’s part of a class project,” Applejack replied. “You’ll get to cutting tomorrow.” Applejack carried on her way as the students were now curious, yet frustrated.
“Now yak have to cut a picture?” Dotta questioned.
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Lighthoof said. “Just... Keep focusing on your costume.” Dotta did so and went into deep thought.
Later that night, Emerald and Tarsi got back to the school, tired from helping their professor. “Girls, you’re back,” Silverstream said. “How are you feeling?”
“Worn out,” Emerald sighed.
“I see.”
“Your costumes are coming along just great,” Tarsi informed. “We already finish Ocellus’s and Sandbar’s.”
“That’s great. What about your costumes?”
“Tarsi helped fill in for Peridot,” Emerald replied. “Still trying to figure out how to make the legs work.”
“I’m sure you’ll be fine. We’re going to start decorating the school tomorrow. I can’t wait to make jack-o-lanterns.” She flew away with joy, with a confused dragon and changeling behind.
“Jack-o-lantern?” they both questioned.
The hippogriff into her dorm room, where Smolder was, sitting on the bottom bunk. “This is so exciting,” Silverstream cooed. “All the creatures from our kingdoms are going to have their first Nightmare Night. Smolder, what do you think about this?”
“It’s pretty exciting,” the dragoness replied. “I can’t wait to see if any of them have any good stories to tell. You remember the first time that you, I, and the other found out about this.”
“Yeah. Kind of spooky the first time around. You think they’ll get used to it?”
“Hopefully. Look, let’s just sleep on this. Nightmare Night isn’t for a few more days.” The two soon got to sleep wondering what the next day would bring.
Before they could get into a deep slumber a loud sharp scream was heard. They raced down the hall and found Coral climbing to the wall with a spider on the floor. “What’s going on?” the girls asked.
“Someone just threw a spider at me!” the hippogriff shrieked.
Yona and Ocellus weren’t far away and inspected the spider. “Spider fake,” Yona explained. She picked it up and showed it was made of rubber.
“Where did this even come from?” Ocellus asked.
Gallus and Sandbar came walking up and saw the spider in Yona’s hooves. “There it is,” the griffon said. “Sorry about this. I thought I heard something fall out.”
“Why would there even be fake spiders?” Coral asked now angered.
“There was a box of decorations,” Sandbar said. “I thought it was in the way so I moved it to the closets.” Coral just gave an angry huff and walked away. Some other students started walking up to where they heard the scream.
“False alarm every creature,” Gallus explained. “You can all go back to sleep.” Many of the students and walked back to their dorms.
“Once creature know spiders, bugs not so bad,” Yona said.
“Some spiders are actually incredibly poisonous,” Ocellus informed.
“Can we just go back to sleep?” Smolder asked. “I don’t want to be kept up again.”
“Right. Night guys.” The students head back to their dorms, hoping this time things will be quiet.
Morning arrived and things went on as usual, though the pancakes in the cafeteria had a classic jack-o-lantern faces on them. “Any idea what the party plans are?” Silverstream asked.
“I think Professor Pinkie would leave it as a surprise,” Sandbar guessed.
“Hey, guys,” Tarsi said. She flew up to the group along with Gale and Pyther. “I just had an idea for my costume.”
“What did you have in mind?” Gallus asked.
“A bumblebee.”
The griffon turned to Gale and Pyther. “And you two?”
“I’d probably just go as a zombie,” Gale replied.
“I’m going to go as a princess warrior,” Pyther said. “I’ll show off my strength and beauty at the same time.”
“...Smolder didn’t I think of that?” Smolder questioned lying her head on her claw.
“There’s probably still time to change it,” Ocellus said.
“Yeah, after eight hours of school. Rarity will be done by then.”
“There’s still a chance,” Sandbar said. “Just keep your idea in mind.”
“I’m going to tell Coral you’re changing your mind,” Pyther said. She, Gale, and Tarsi flew off.
“What princess warrior look like?” Yona questioned.
“Probably some armor with a ballgown,” Ocellus guessed.
A little while after breakfast, Pinkie was found hanging up bat-shaped streamers at one of the corners. “Don’t mind me,” the pink pony said.
“Are those bats?” Pate asked.
“Yeah. I thought it was about time I made this school a little spoooooky.”
“Not too spooky,” Yona requested.
“Where’s the fun in that?” Gallus said under his breath.
“Anyways, let’s get started,” Pinkie said. She bounced into her classroom as the students were right behind her.
In a different classroom, where Rarity would normally be teaching, Sunburst was giving the lessons. It wasn’t really anything special, it was just any ordinary day at the school.
After that, Smolder flew towards the boutique as fast as she could. “Please don’t be finish,” she said to herself.
When she got there, she walked in to see a tired Rarity hanging up manikin that had a clown costume on. “Afternoon,” the mare said. “How was school?”
“Pretty good. Did you finish my costume?”
“I haven’t gotten started yet. Is there a problem?”
“Well, I kind of wanted to update it. I heard that Pyther and Coral were going to go as princess warriors. So, I thought it would be nice if I joined them.”
“Hmm. I had a unique design for yours. Why would you want to change it?”
“I thought... Well...”
“You don’t have to change your costume because of anyone else. I think it’s great that you’re starting to like dresses.”
Smolder gave a nervous chuckle. “Well, I’ve actually taken a liking to them for a while.”
“Really?”
“Y... Yeah. I’ll help make the next costume while I explain.” The dragoness followed the fashion mare to the sewing room to make the costume. “By the way, can we make this quick?”
“Okay. I’ll just make a base and you can choose the design.”
Back at the school, Pinkie went back to decorating. Bat streamers, spider webs on the wall and in the corners, and some ghosts hanging from the ceilings. Gallus, Pate, and Kelpie walked into the room the mare was decorating. “Wow,” the changeling gasped. “This is amazing.”
“Thanks,” Pinkie replied. “I’m only just getting started.”
Kelpie flew up to one of the ghosts so he could get a closer look. “These don’t look very scaring,” he commented.
“That’s where our costumes come in,” Gallus told. “Hey, Professor Pinkie, when do we start on the jack-o-lanterns?”
“Just let me finish up here,” the mare replied. “Ask Applejack for some newspapers.”
“Got it.” The boys left the room to find their other professor.
They soon were in a classroom with their friends, who all had some pumpkins, markers, bowls, and carving tools in front of them. “So, how does this work?” Pate asked.
“You just have to cut the top of the pumpkin off,” Applejack explained. “Then you remove the insides of it and place them in that bowl. Once that’s done, you can get to carve a face.”
“Where’s Smolder?” Ocellus questioned.
“She flew to Professor Rarity’s boutique,” Silverstream reminded.
“I hope she gets back in time.”
Shimmy showed Pate how it worked. She removed the top and they looked inside for at the guts and seeds. “Let’s get to work,” the cheerleader said. Using the scoop, the mare and changeling scooped out the insides and placed them into the bowl.
Garry and Tanz were also working on their own jack-o-lantern, though they were going at their own paces. Garry was using his own talons to remove his pumpkin’s insides while Tanz was still cutting the top off. “You know the night will be over when you’re done,” the griffon joked.
“I want to do this right,” the drake stated. He managed to cut the top off and got his scoop out as Garry got out his marker and started drawing an image.
“Let’s see. I don’t want to do just a regular face. Maybe a lightning bolt.” He looked at the other students and saw they didn’t have any drawings on their’s yet. Soon, Garry got to work making a cutout line for his jack-o-lantern. “This is going to be so cool.”
He started carving, though at the speed he was going at his work was a little sloppy. “You know you could hurt yourself,” Tanz stated. Garry wasn’t listening, he found out that his knife had gotten stuck. He held his jack-o-lantern back so he could pull it out.
Tarsi looked over to the boys and could see what was going to happen and jumped in. She stopped Garry before he could pull the knife out. “Tarsi, let go of me,” the griffon ordered.
“You’re going to get hurt,” the changeling said. “Professor Applejack! We need some help back here.” The farm pony walked over to the trouble students and was surprised by the predicament.
“How’d yah get it like this?” Applejack questioned.
“I don’t know,” Tarsi replied.
“I was in the zone,” Garry explained.
“Look, let’s fix this before we do anything dumb,” Applejack declared. Tanz helped them safely remove the knife as Smolder walked into the room.
“What did I miss?” she asked.
“Hey, Smolder,” Silverstream said. “Just avoiding an ugly accident.”
“We still have a spare pumpkin for you,” Sandbar explained pointing to the spare vegetable. Smolder soon started getting to work remove her pumpkin’s insides.
“Any updates on your costume?” Ocellus asked.
“I’m keeping it the same. I also Professor Rarity about my love for dresses.”
“Good for you.”
“Hey, I’ve been thinking about something,” Silverstream said.
“What?” her friends asked.
“You know how dragons’ fire breath are different colors?”
“Yeah,” Ocellus said.
“Go on,” Smolder said as she cut the top part of her pumpkin off.
“I was thinking since we have dragons at our school now,” Silverstream explained, “We could have rainbow jack-o-lantern lights.”
“...Yona up for new colors,” Yona admitted.
“You say something about fire?” Flare asked.
“Flare, what color’s your fire?” Silverstream asked.
“What?”
“We want to give our jack-o-lanterns a different color flame,” Gallus explained.
“Ah. Mine’s red.”
“We’ll get the candles later,” Sandbar said. “Let’s just see if we can get these finished.”
A few minutes later, all the students had finished carving their pumpkins. They all had made various different shapes, some were traditional, some more creative, and some made a bit of a mess.
“That was fun,” Pate commented.
“Glad you enjoyed it,” Shimmy said.
“What are we going to do with these seeds and pumpkin guts now?” Flare asked.
“I’ll take care of those,” Applejack explained. “I’ll see if Pinkie wants to do anything with these.” She took the bowls of pumpkin insides away.
“What did you guys cut?” Tarsi asked.
“I made a diamond,” Tanz answered.
“I made a moon,” Pate replied.
“I can’t wait to get the candles out,” Smolder said.
Pinkie had finished decorating the school. Some of the students, especially the yaks, had helped her out. “There we go,” the pink pony said.
“Yak like decorations,” Trud said. “Not too spooky.”
The other students walked in to see her work. “Nice,” Pate commented.
“Did there have to be spiders?” Coral complained.
“They’re not real,” Lighthoof said. She walked up to the spiders on a web that was closer to the floor. Poking it revealed it was made of rubber. “See?” The hippogriff just walked off in a huff as Silverstream and Yona placed their pumpkins on the windowsill. Smolder and Flare walked up while carrying some candles and both used their fire breath to light them.
Smolder’s was basic orange while Flare’s had red flames. “Awesome,” Silverstream commented. “I wonder what the other colored flames would look like.”
“Here’s your answer,” Gallus said. He showed his jack-o-lantern had a green glow to it. Sandbar’s had a purple flame and Ocellus’s was yellow.
“I’ll go get mine,” Smolder said. She walked off to find hers as Flare looked around the school.
“So, what’s this party going to be like?” he asked.
“Still no clue,” Sandbar said. “Can’t wait to see it, though. You thought of a costume yet?”
“Probably a troll or something. How long until Nightmare Night?”
“A few days.”
“Oh, it’s going to be exciting,” Silverstream said. “I hope we get to go through the corn maze.”
“Corn maze?”
“You simply have to find your way out of a maze at Sweet Apple Acres,” Sandbar explained. “Trust me, it’ll be fun.”
A few more days went by, and the students got more and more excited. The entire town had gotten decorated to get into the spirit. Rarity was hard at work making costumes for all the creatures. It was hard work, but with some of the students helping out, she finally managed to get them done before the big night.
When it was Nightmare Night, the Young Six went to try on their costumes. Ocellus walked out in a black dress and pointed hat. She saw Smolder in a frilly blue princess dress, complete with a silver tiara and makeup. “My my,” the changeling said in a wicked voice. “Aren’t you a pretty?”
“Well, thank you miss,” Smolder said, catching onto her friend’s game. “Beg my pardon, miss, I don’t want to be a bother.”
“It’s alright deary. I won’t be turning you into a toad. Not yet probably.” Both girls giggled at this.
“Yak ready!” Yona declared. They looked over to see Yona dress up as Rockhoof while holding a trowel in her mouth. Sandbar was by her side in a green version of Mega Pony. Helmet, boots, armor, and a unicorn’s horn.
“Wow,” Silverstream gasped, “You look so cool.” The hippogriff now had a red ball on her beak. She also wore a blue afro wig, white cartoon-style gloves, and a blue dress covered with rainbow polka dots, and pink clown shoes on her hooves. Then the five heard a hiss before Gallus pounce on the clown. The griffon now had a black cape on with some fake bat-wings and fangs in his beak.
“How do I look?” he chuckled.
“Like a sparkling vampire begging for attention,” Smolder chuckled.
“I think you look good,” Sandbar commented. “I wonder how the others are doing.”
Shimmy Shake and Lighthoof walked into the room dressed up as Princess Celestia and Luna respectively. By the sun princess’s side was Pate, who was dressed up as a royal guard. “How do I look?” the changeling asked.
“Rather handsome,” Shimmy answered. This made her boyfriend blush.
“How about us?” Peridot asked. The twin dragoness waddled over to their friends as they now wore a hydra costume.
“How are you two feeling?” Lighthoof asked.
“A little weird,” Emerald responded. “It’s a bit... Tight. Still, it’s not uncomfortable.”
“Come on, let’s show the others what we look like,” Silverstream said. The students left the boutique and headed back to the school.
The school now had a spookier atmosphere. A fog machine was activated for some mist to swirl around on the ground. Some spooky, yet upbeat music was playing, which many of the students were dancing to.
“Just like last year,” Gallus said.
“It still looks fun,” Pate commented. “My princess, shall we join them.”
“Of course my loyal guard,” Shimmy said. The mare and changeling walked off to enjoy the entertainment.
“You finished your story?” Smolder asked Gallus.
“Oh, yeah,” the griffon smirked. “Let’s scare the pants off these guys.” The two walked off to have fun.
“Let’s see what snack there are,” Silverstream said. She and the dragoness twins walked over to the snack table. They got some punch and some cookies shaped like spiders, jack-o-lantern, and webs. Emerald and Peridot were having a bit of trouble holding stuff since they each only had one arm.
“Easy,” Emerald said.
“Why didn’t you put in more holes for our arms?” Peridot asked.
“It’s supposed to make us look like a dragon with two heads. I didn’t know it would be this hard.”
“Just think you’re running a three-legged race,” Silverstream said. “Wanna see me juggle?”
“Can you?” The hippogriff tried but only managed to drop her cookies on the floor.
“Welp, I tried.” She managed to salvage her fallen treats and flew off.
Sandbar and Yona had a crowd of creatures looking at their costumes. “Wow,” Kelpie gasped, “Those look amazing.”
“Thanks,” the colt replied. He looked at the hippogriff’s squid-monster costume. “Your’s looks cool too.”
“Scary too,” Yona commented.
“Thanks.” Coral and Pyther walked over to them while armored dresses. “Cool.”
“Why thank you,” the warrior princesses said.
“I think your costumes are pretty creative,” Sandbar commented. “It shows toughness while still showing you like to look nice.”
“That sounds like something Ocellus would say,” Pyther responded. “Where is she anyway?”
“...I’m not sure.”
The witch changeling was with Lighthoof, who were both dancing along to the music. “This is so much fun,” Ocellus cheered.
“Yeah, I know,” Lighthoof agreed. “Look at every creature’s costumes.” Zombies, chimera, breezies, all kinds of costumes. Some of the students were even dressed up as other creatures even dressed up as each other. Gale had dressed up as a zombie, Flare had dressed up like a changeling, and Moss dressed up like a griffon.
“I don’t know how you could stand all of these feathers,” Moss admitted to his griffon friend.
“They’re usually attached to us,” Gale stated, “Not on us.”
“Have you guys ever had this much candy?” Flare asked. He shoved a clawful into his mouth.
“Dude, I think you should slow down,” Gale said. The griffon and changeling stepped back as it looked like a sugar rush was about to start.
“Ocellus,” called a voice. The changeling looked and saw it was coming from Frida, who had dressed up like Pinkie Pie. “Where maze of corn?”
“I think that comes in later,” Ocellus explained. “Just enjoy the party right now.” The yak nodded looked over to some of the students dunking their heads in an open barrel. “Ooh, apple bobbing.” She, Lighthoof, and Frida all walked over to the barrel.
After waiting for the ponies to finish their turn, Ocellus removed her hat and dunked her head into the water. “What students do?” Frida asked.
“Simple,” Lighthoof explained, “You just dunk your head into the barrel and tried to get an apple with your mouth.”
“Sound easy.”
Ocellus pulled her head out taking a few breaths. “I couldn’t... Get one,” she panted. “You wanna try?” Frida nodded and walked over to the barrel. She dunked her head in, causing some water to splash out and she pulled her head back up with a smile filled with three apples.
“Great job,” Lighthoof congratulated. The yak spat out the apples and offered them to her friends. “Thank, but no thanks.” Frida just shrugged and took a bite out of one of the apples she won.
Grace, who was dressed as a ballerina, was walking around not knowing what to do. “What griffon friend doing?” Trud asked, dressed up as a yeti.
“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do,” the griffon admitted.
“Shouldn’t friend just have fun?”
“I know but... Gallus and Smolder just told me about this story about some moss that can eat magic.”
“Doesn’t griffon possess magic?”
“Probably. I’m sure I heard one of the professors said we have a little amount of magic, though it’s just for flying. Gallus and Smolder’s story sounded so real.” Some of the ponies who overheard what Grace said decided to keep the story to themselves.
“Howdy every creature,” Applejack said. The farm pony walked in dressed up as pony made of tin. “Any creature ready to head mah family’s corn maze?”
“Sweet,” Smolder cheered. “Let’s do this.” She and Gallus walked over to their teacher. Garry and Tanzanite, who were dressed up as a dragon and a skeleton respectively, walked up with them.
“Couldn’t we just fly over the maze?”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Gallus asked. “Anyone else?”
“Uh, how about me?” Grace asked.
“Yak want to go too,” Dotta said, who was dressed up as a fairy. “Yak want to show what yaks can do.”
“I like your spirit,” Applejack commented.
Geena and Tarsi walked up to their professor dressed up as a devil and a bumblebee, respectively. Garry and Tanzanite also walked up dressed as a dragon and a skeleton, respectively. "We're going now?" Tarsi asked.
"Seems like it," Smolder said. "You wanna join?"
"Of course," Garry and Geena said.
"Might as well," Tanz shrugged. The students that wanted to go through the maze followed their professor to the farm. Leaving everyone else at the party.
The maze entrance lied right in front of the students. There was definitely an eerie vibe to it. “Maybe I should’ve stayed at the party,” Grace shivered.
“This doesn’t look too scary,” Tanz said. “You saw the decorations at the party, this shouldn’t be much.”
“Don’t underestimate it,” Smolder said. “Let’s see what they can do.” She and Gallus led the way into the maze with the other students following behind.
It took only a few turns before many of the students started getting scared. “I think I’m going to turn back,” Tarsi said. She walked back but she didn’t know which path they went down.
“Calm down,” Gallus said, “We’re already in, we might as well try and find the exit.” They walked back to their friends and carried on with their exploration.
Several twists and turned later, the group was starting to feel lost. “Can’t we fly up and over the wall?” Garry questioned.
“I won’t if I were you,” hissed a voice. They looked around to see where it came from.
“Who’s there?” Geena asked. Out from the shadows, two ponies walked towards them, a stallion and a mare. They were both sickly green and had bolts sticking out on each side of their necks. They both had black and white hair, with the mare's being in a beehive style and they had stitches around all their joints.
While most of the students were scared by this, Gallus and Smolder knew who these two were. "You should probably do a different style," the vampire griffon commented.
"Yep," the stallion admitted.
"What?" Dotta questioned.
"Mac and I thought we try and do some scares in the maze together this year," Sugar Belle smiled.
"I like the costume pairs," Smolder commented.
"Thanks. Your dress looks good too." The dragonesss blushed as the mare's commented.
"Do you know an easy way out of here?" Tanz asked.
"Nope," Big Mac replied.
"You've got to do it the hard way," Gallus smirked. He and Smolder led the way through the maze as the students left the dressed-up couple behind.
"Those two look cute together," Grace commented. Suddenly, they heard some other footsteps. They looked behind and didn't see anyone. "Who's there?"
"It's probably the Apple Family," Tanz guessed. "Let's keep going."
They walked on until they came across what looked across a ghost. In reality, it was just Applebloom dressed up as a pale filly in a dress that had seen better days hanging from a rope that was tied around her waist. "Be careful," she whispered. "Pick your paths wisely."
"See, it's just her."
"But... If she's here," Tarsi said. "Who was behind us?"
"...Maybe it was Professor Applejack," Geena suggested trying to keep her cool. "Let's go this way." They turned at a fork in the road, with a bit of a habit of looking behind them.
Multiple footsteps were starting to heard now. And even Gallus and Smolder were starting to get worried. "You think Mr. Chaos is doing this?" the dragon princess whispered.
"I'm pretty sure I heard Professor Fluttershy said he was spending the night with her," Gallus replied. "She says it gets lonely from under her bed." A few snaps were heard, making the students jump. They looked and saw there were only bones painted white until another snap was heard.
"Who did that?" Tanz asked.
"Don't look at me," Grace said. The students were all flying after their first shock, so no creature should've been on the ground to snap a twig.
"Oh, I'm flying out of here!" Garry cried. He was about to take off until he rammed into... Something. It had stitches, but it didn't look like Bic Mac or Sugar Belle, it even had wings. From the lighting, it looked absolutely terrifying. He flew back to his friends and ran back down the maze.
"What was that?" Dotta questioned.
"I don't know," Garry replied.
"Look, we'll just stay down in the maze and we'll hopefully loose it," Tanz said. They kept running until they came across a tunnel.
"Great, now I can't see a thing," Gallus groaned.
"Tanz, can't you light this place up?" Garry asked.
"If you want me to burn the entire maze, I'll do it," Tanz replied.
"Hold on, let me try," Tarsi said. She gave her horn a glow until they saw a figure with two heads. They seven screamed, which made an eighth one scream.
"What creatures screaming?" asked a familiar voice. "Yona have trowel."
Gallus and Yona then looked at each other before they looked back to where the voice was. "Yona?" they both questioned.
Another glow was given from Pate, who was also with Shimmy Shake, Yona, Sandbar, Peridot, and Emerald. "Hey, guys," he said nervously. Yona felt a little embarrassed for getting scared.
"What are you guys doing here?" Geena questioned.
"We were wanting to take a try at the maze," Shimmy Shake explained.
"I felt we took a wrong turn," Emerald sighed. "It's doesn't help this costume isn't good for maneuverability."
"Agreed," Peridot sighed.
"Well, how about we just try and find out where the exit is together," Sandbar suggested.
"Good idea," Pate agreed. "You know which way to go?"
"Probably the way you came," Tanz said. They walked out of the tunnel and carried on until they could see a path that didn't have any corners down it.
"There it is," Yona cried. They all ran out until they could see something else, there was also a zombie, a witch, a clown, the princess of the night, and a big pink pony were all waiting at the end.
"When did you get here?" Smolder questioned.
"We were racing to see who got here first," Gale replied smugly.
"We had a hard time moving," Emerald explained.
“They have a point,” Ocellus commented.
“It’s kind of tying one arm behind your back in a fight,” Sandbar added.
“If you want to challenge,” Garry said, “I’ll gladly try this again.”
“Yeah, me too,” Geena said. “I want to see what other scares these guys have.”
“I think we’ll just head back to the party,” Peridot admitted. Her sister agreed with her.
“They’re right,” Grace admitted. “I think ballerinas were meant to dance more than run.” Soon, each student had chosen what they wanted to do.
“So, we’ll see you back at the party,” Silverstream said. She and her group of friends walked back to school.
“I’m starting to warm up to Nightmare Night,” Pate admitted.
“Good for you,” Shimmy commented.
“You guys do this every year?” Peridot asked.
“Yeah,” Sandbar said.
“You think you’ll be up for it next year?” Smolder asked.
“Of course,” Grace said. “If we were back in Griffonstone, this would just be some ordinary night.”
“Same in Yakyakistan,” Dotta added.
“Let’s get back and see if there are any snacks left,” Silverstream said. She started picking up the pace as her friends followed behind. The foreign students soon got ahead as the six junior year students all looked at each other.
“I say this is a success,” Gallus said.
“Yeah,” Ocellus agreed.
“Guys, don’t slow down,” Silverstream said. “We’re going to miss out.” The six picked up the pass in order to enjoy the rest of the night.
