Dark Trance

"So we gotta go through the Everfree Forest, at night, on Nightmare Night, looking like a bunch of weirdos and 2 ponies?" Austin asked rather sarcastically.

"Yep...It's the only way to possibly get some answers." Twilight responded.

From what should've been a night out collecting candy and having fun in costumes, a curse is now plauging all of Equestria, and once again, it's up the Elements of Harmony (Plus 2) to stop it. Somehow.

"Okay but lemme ask you this, Twi. What happens now? You're a vampire, and Dashie is a shadowbolt. AND Fluttershy is a werepony, and I'm Pinkie Pie, and my...marefriend is now Rainbow Dash. How will we even use the Elements, and what if our new forms come with.....disadvantages?"

"Well, we'll have to cross that bridge when it-...wait, what do you mean disadvantages?"

"Twi, you're a vampire. Vampires need to drink blood to stay healthy. Fluttershy is a werewolf, and is now possibly feral. Dashie could possibly do what she did when Discord attacked and ditch us. And me and Jen are now ponies, but we also happen to be ponies with...abilities. Such as breaking the 4th wall, and breaking the sound barrier."

"Well how would that be considered a disadvantage?"

"We have no idea how to use them."

"Oh yeah..."

"So what will happen then? We can't have you biting everypony. And I don't want to deal with catching RD and Fluttershy when they go nuts."

"Austin, we have our minds, our bodies are just....different."

"But how long until our minds go? Huh?"

"...."

"Exactly. So let's get to Zecora's place before your vampony hunger pangs kick in."

We arrived at Zecora's house shortly after, luckily for us, without having to fight on the way over...We knocked on her door, expecting the worst...Zecora opened the door and smiled, looking....rather...normal. I guess she didn't dress up tonight.

"I expected you would arrive soon. I knew of the curse when I saw the moon..."

She let us in and we all sat down around her caulrdon.

"We were hoping you could give us some clue as to how we can fix the curse before sunrise."

"The curse, yes, I know it well...Gather 'round for the legend I need to tell..."

She explained the curse was from long ago, created by an ancient cult of sorcerer's and spellcasters, though none of them were a unicorn. These earth ponies figured out their own magic, using rituals and curses to smite those they felt would be a threat to their cult. From illnesses to deaths, the cult knew no bounds. The were eventually found out by Celestia, and were...dealt with. But before the cult's disappearance, they left one last curse to only be awoken by one colt. He would be the last decendant of the cult, and the only one who could exact revenge for what Celestia did to them. And it would only be woken on Nightmare Night, on the night of a full moon.

"So how do we break the curse?"

"The answer to that rests, within the confine's of the decendant's chest."

"Are you saying we need to tear out his heart and-"

"What?! No!" Zecora took a break from her rhyming and sighed. "Look, it's in a magical chest somewhere below Ponyville! The only way it can be opened is with the key the decendant carries with him at all times."

"Oh. Well, that's both clean and we don't have to kill anypony."

"Beware about him you pony folk. The decendant's spells-"

"-Are no joke. Yeah, we get it."

Zecora grumbled a bit, then hoofed us some potions.

"These will help you in your quest. Now go and find the decentant's chest."

"So what are they?" Twilight asked.

"I don't know....wait, they have tags. Hold on...Okay the red one is some sort of ek-toh-plah-zem." Pinkie read aloud.

"You mean 'ectoplasm'?" Austin said, facehoofing.

"Yeah. Apparently it can give anything that drinks it a special possession of some sort."

"I guess that's for AJ..."

Pinkie left AJ's straw husk and poured the fluid into Applejack's mouth. She slowly rose up and smiled, finally being able to walk without Pinkie's help.

"What else?"

"We've got the Poison Joke cure, but this ones to drink. Ummmm...We have....blood wine...Warning, does not contain actual blood."

"For Twilight I guess."

"We also have this thing." Pinkie used her ghost-levitation powers to hover a strange collar. It looked too big for a pony, or anything of the sort...

"Is that a belt?" RD asked.

"No, the tag says it's a silver-infused dog collar. It's supposed to keep were-ponies at bay."

"For Fluttershy then."

"We also have a few healing potions, and that looks like that's it..."

"Huh." Austin said. "Well, let's get that collar on 'Shy..."

Fluttershy wimpered a little but she understood what needed to be done. We strapped the collar around her neck and tightened it just enough to make sure she can't slip it off, but not quite enough to make it uncomfortable. Fluttershy didn't really like it, but she did enjoy the little bell that jingled when she walked.

"So Pinkie, you okay now?"

"Yeah, I've managed to figure out how to hover and walk and stuff! It's kinda fun!"

"Well, now what? We know what to do, just not how to start."

"We do have a few minutes to kill...maybe we can go back to Sugarcube Corner and look for clues." My rainbow-maned girlfriend said rather smartly.

We all looked at her, then looked at each other.

"Agreed." We all said in unison.