All around Ponyville, lights and orange lanterns were strung up along the many buildings, connecting them together like a massive, glowing spider web. The illuminated lanterns cast long, grotesque shadows on the forms that walked under them. The many other decorations included fake cobwebs, rubber bats on strings, and the occasional jack-o-lantern that grinned at the many ponies with an endless jagged smile. It was Nightmare night in Equestria and everypony was happily running around in their various monster costumes, laughing and calling for candy. In general, everypony was having a good time.
Twilight Sparkle, this year dressed as her teacher Princess Celestia, walked down the main street to meet up with Applejack at the apple bob.
"Howdy Twilight." Applejack waved as Twilight got closer. She looked at Twilight's costume, it seemed to be made of mostly cardboard but she wouldn't have been surprised if Twilight had actually grown wings. "That's a mighty fine costume you have there." She snickered.
"Thanks!" Twilight beamed. "This Nightmare night is going to be even better than the last!"
"Wanna bob for an apple?" She snickered. "Your majesty?"
Twilight struck an absurd, regal pose. "I'd be delighted."
Twilight leaned down over the tub, opening her mouth to grab one of the fruits that floated within.
"OUT OF MY WAY!"
Something suddenly sped past the two, bumping into twilight and sending her, headfirst, into the tub of water and causing a wave of water to come up and strike Applejack. The two froze in silence, just trying to figure out what just happened.
What happened was Lyra; the actual main character of this story, and she was in a hurry to somewhere. She didn't wear a costume like many of the others and instead she wore two saddlebags that were filled to the brim with various tools and papers. The bags were so full that every time Lyra turned she risked falling over and turtling herself. Regardless she darted through the other ponies with surprising ease.
"Out of my way!" She repeated. "This is official business!"
The ponies complied so they wouldn't be trampled by the mint colored unicorn with a crazy look in her eyes. Though, one pony refused to budge from her spot and held up a hoof at Lyra.
"Lyra stop right there." She commanded.
Lyra dug her hooves into the earth and managed to stop right in front of the pony, the bags nearly sending her into a summersault.
"Bon Bon?" Lyra looked at the pony. "What are you doing here?"
"I should be asking you the same question." Lyra's marefriend replied angrily. Unlike Lyra, Bon Bon was dressed up in a costume; a black and red cape with a collar and tiny horns. "Just where do you think you're going?"
"Monster hunting!" Lyra hopped excitedly. "And if I don't get there soon it'll be gone!"
She attempted to step past Bon Bon but because of her bulging saddlebags, she was stopped easily. Bon Bon wore a look of serious anger.
"Again?" She asked quietly. "What are you after now?"
Lyra, grinning ear to mint colored ear, leaned in so their faces were almost touching.
"A Human."
Bon Bon stamped the ground angrily. "Lyra! You can't just go off chasing myths anymore!"
"Myths?!" She sputtered. "I'll have you know that Humans are one hundred percent real!"
"That what you said on Hearts and Hooves when you were looking for Sea ponies! You found absolutely nothing that day and made us miss out on the Special Sompony party."
"I did so find them!" Lyra loudly proclaimed. The two of them were yelling at each other in the middle of street but nopony paid them any mind.
"Did you see them? Did you get evidence?"
"Well...no. But I could hear their mating call all day. I still don't know why you couldn't." She jumped up again, her bags bouncing with her. "And this time, I'm going to bring back proof. Then you'll see."
She spun around and pointed at the other ponies. "You'll all see!" She shouted at them but nopony seemed to really care. With her point sort of made, Lyra marched, with her head held high, past Bon Bon and down the road that led out of Ponyville.
Bon Bon watched her go and for a split second considered letting the unicorn go on alone. She quickly shook the thought from her head and begrudgingly trotted after her marefriend.
Somepony had to keep her from getting eaten.
***
The Everfree forest was a wonderful shade of horrifying this time of year. The clusters of trees that grew in the area blotted out almost all the moonlight that tried to pierce the dense canopy. Lyra stepped quietly through the long grass, her eyes quickly adjusting to the dark lighting. She finally broke out of the large trees and found a small clearing, Princess Luna's moon shone directly over her.
"Perfect." She whispered and quickly got to work. She crouched down behind a fallen log, set her saddlebags down and took out the contents; a small telescope, a stack of paper, scribbled on with notes and doodles, a large camouflaged blanket, a very long rope, and in large quantities, a mound of Nightmare Night candy. She absentmindedly levitated one up and into her mouth.
"Is that our handout candy?!" A voice shouted right behind Lyra, causing her to choke on and cough out her piece of candy. "I made most of that myself! With my own two hooves!"
Lyra quickly whipped around to face the voice. "Bon Bon!" She spoke in a harsh whisper. "What are you doing here?"
"Don't you start that again. I'm here to bring you back home before you get hurt."
"What?" Lyra was confused. "When have I ever gotten myself hurt?"
Bon Bon glared at her. "What about the time you tumbled down that hill when you apparently saw Slendermane."
"He was looking into my soul!"
"It was a tree. The earth pony inspected the various items. "What are you even planning? How is this going to capture a Human?"
"I'm glad you asked." She pointed to the various treats. "I believe that the reason why it's easier to spot a human on Nightmare night is because..." She paused for dramatic effect. "They have a sweet tooth!"
Bon Bon glared at the pony.
"You're insane."
"Nu-uh."
"Uh-huh."
"Nu-uh." Lyra denied. "As the official leader of the Royal Equestrian Cryptid Control program, it is my duty to find and contain this beast before it causes problems!"
"You're not a leader." Bon Bon retorted. "There's no such thing as the Royal Equestrian Cryptid Control program. That's just stupid. And you just want to have a Human to yourself."
"One day I will learn the mysteries of the Human hand." Lyra muttered, glaring out at the clearing from behind the log.
"I really must point out that Dragons have hands too." Bon Bon noted. "And there's one living in Ponyville right now; he lives with the town librarian who's probably drying herself off and sulking right now."
"Sacrifices must be made in the name of science." Lyra proclaimed. Her horn lit up and the candies lifted into the air. They danced and twirled into the clearing in some kind of odd dance, coming down in a neat pile right in the middle. The rope floated into the clearing after it, magically tying a loop on one end and setting it around the candy pile.
Lyra surveyed her cleverly thought out trap. "Great idea, isn't it?"
Bon Bon took one look at the thing. "Oh yeah." She admitted in the most sarcastic way possible. "That will totally catch a Human." She started to back away. "Well if you're just going to spend all night here, looking for an imaginary creature, I'll just go, alone mind you, to the Nightmare night party." She turned to leave.
"Wait!" Lyra called to her. She was already wrapping the camouflage around her, actually starting to blend into the earth. "You need to stay here!"
She raised an eyebrow at that. "And why should I do that?"
Lyra's eyes grew big and her lower lip began to quiver. She gave her marefriend a very pitiful look. "Because I need you?"
She couldn't really argue with that. Bon Bon sat down dejectedly beside Lyra who draped the blanket over her as well.
"You're lucky you're cute." She grumbled.
"Don't worry!" Lyra consoled her. "A Human will show up any second now!"
"A Humans not gonna show up."
"Will too."
***
"See anything?"
"...What?"
"Do you see anything? Any Humans?"
"Not yet."
"Are you sure?"
"I think I would know if I saw a Human...What do they look like anyways?"
"Large, hairless monkeys, but they don't have tails."
"Gross. You seriously want to find one?"
"I'm serious. This is my serious face."
"Fine, I'll keep looking."
"...See anything?"
***
"...Maybe we should try making calls."
"I'm not making animal calls."
"Please?"
"Stop doing that! Fine, what kind of call?"
"Human calls."
"What sound does a Human make?"
"...Hu~man?"
"..."
"...What?"
"You don't know as much about Humans as you claim, do you?"
"Just keep looking."
***
Neither of them knew exactly how much time had passed since Lyra had claimed that a Human would show up. They could still see Luna's moon in the sky above them but it had moved from its position and was now hidden behind the clouds. A cold breeze passed through the clearing, striking the two ponies and causing them to shiver. Bon Bon wrapped her cloak around her and looked out again, the entire clearing was empty, save for them. Not even one of the horrible monsters of the forest. There were some crickets before but the two must have bored them and they left. She looked to her left where Lyra was rapidly looking through various sketches and notes.
"Something wrong?"
Lyra paused to look at her, genuine sadness on her face. "It doesn't make sense! By all of my calculations, a Human should have been here!"
She shrugged, which was hard with a cape and a heavy blanket over her. "Maybe they're off."
"All of them!" She repeated, exasperatedly. "They're all wrong!"
She magically threw them up into the air, the many papers swirled through the air and floated back down to the earth like large, crudely scribbled on snowflakes. She levitated the telescope up to her eye and peered through it at the surrounding trees. She set it down slowly and stared at the ground.
"That's it I guess."
Bon Bon looked up at her. "What?"
"That's it; the Human's not going to show up." Lyra started to pack up again. "I guess you were right. We can go back to Ponyville."
She almost couldn't believe it but went along with it. "I told you Humans didn't exist."
Lyra nodded glumly. "Yeah, sure."
Bon Bon stood up and gave her a sympathetic peck on the cheek. "It's okay, we'll go to the Nightmare night Party; that will cheer you up."
The unicorn sighed. "Yeah, sure."
The two finished packing up and began the quiet trek back home through the forest. The only sound being the leaves that crinkled as they walked. They were soon amongst the trees again and could see the lights of town shining in the distance. Bon Bon suddenly stopped in her tracks.
"Wait! We forgot the candy!"
Lyra was still pretty depressed. "So?"
"We need something to bring to the party!" She took Lyra's empty bag and turned back. "I'm going back to get it."
Lyra shrugged and continued to walk to Ponyville, Bon Bon taking one of her empty saddlebags and trudging back to the spot. Everything seemed quite a bit scarier then back when she had been chasing Lyra through the trees. She easily found the clearing again and crouched down by the pile of sweets.
"Monsters eating candy, how absurd." She muttered as she scooped up the sweets into the saddlebag. She was too busy focusing on the candy and didn't notice the sudden crunching noises of stepped on leaves and sticks that grew closer and closer.
"How did she carry so much anyway?" Bon Bon mused. She stopped when her light was suddenly obstructed. She sighed and looked up. "Lyra, are you trying to scare me...." She lost her voice when she realized what was looking her in the eyes.
A large, hairless, tailless monkey that was looking down at her.
A Human.
Now Ponies are usually a very calm bunch. Their iron wills and bravery are renowned across the land and the ponies of ponyville were the bravest in the land. Bon Bon knew exactly how to react to what was happening and did what anypony would do.
She screamed.
The Human screamed back.
Bon Bon quickly dropped her bag and scrambled, blindly, back into the forest, running as fast as she could from that area as possible.
***
"So anyways, I really wanted to apologize about before." Lyra stated to, the now dry, Twilight Sparkle. They were beside the water tub once again. "I was just in a hurry and didn't see you."
"Well..." The librarian considered her words and eventually nodded. "Alright, I forgive you."
"Lyra!" Bon Bon shouted from behind them in the distance. "Lyra!"
"Yeah?" Lyra turned quickly, causing her saddlebag to swing around and strike Twilight again, sending her into the tub.
"In the clearing..." Bon Bon panted, finally stopping to catch her breath. "There was...a Human!"
"Really?!" Lyra eyes went wide. "Awesome! Did you catch it?!"
"No..." She gasped. "In fact I think I scared it off."
"No matter!" Lyra stamped the ground triumphantly. "We'll find it, you and me, together!" She wrapped a hoof around the earht pony and waved her other through the air. "We'll scour that dark, scary, dangerous forest, day and night and we won't stop until we find that beast!"
Bon Bon considered her marefriend's words and silently pushed her away and started to walk off. Lyra followed closely behind.
"Bon Bon! Where are you going?"
"I change my mind. I'm going to forget everything that happened today."
They walked off. Lyra hopping happily around her, babbling about all of the theories that she had and how she planned to capture the other monsters she knew about. Bon Bon barely noticed her rambling and kept on walking. She groaned.
"Why can't things around here just be normal?"
"Oh don't worry." Lyra replied. "Just wait till Hearth's Warming Eve and the flying Reindeer show up!"
Bon Bon groaned louder.
