Nightmare Night - In the Cemetery

[Necrose]

The day began as most other days in Ponyville tend to, with everypony waking in the morning and going about their daily lives, but today was different. Today was Nightmare Night, and almost everypony in Ponyville could barely contain their excitement as it was one of the most popular celebrations of the entire year. Almost everypony in town dressed up in some costume or another as per the tradition and visited the town square for games and food while fillies and colts went from house to house collecting candy before joining their parents or older siblings.

That, however, would come later in the day. It was still daylight and there was still much to do not only to prepare for the celebration, but in general. Businesses still needed tending, crops still needed gathering, fillies and colts still needed to attend school, but later, they would all go about their plans for the holiday.

For one stallion, however, his holiday would begin sooner rather than later. While most ponies were busy with their jobs and school, Necrose, Ponyville's undertaker, was pulling a wagon with a casket he made on it to the hospital, followed by the six ponies who made up the rest of the cemetery crew. It was the beginning of his own plans for the holiday, and while the funeral that would soon take place was legitimate and the family had few reasons to be happy on this particular Nightmare Night, they had graciously agreed to allow the semi-reclusive earth pony to use their loved one in his demonstration of a traditional Pomanian funeral.

At the hospital, where the deceased had been kept in the morgue until Necrose arrived as per an arrangement made between the hospital, the family of the departed, the mortician, and Necrose himself, the scarred earth pony stallion put the departed in the casket their family ordered for them and sealed it, then led his crew in loading it onto the wagon. From there, they took back streets and alleys to the home of the family of the departed and took the pony back into their house one last time through the back door, Necrose himself taking the wagon around front so the procession could actually begin when the family of the departed was ready.

Necrose's crew acted as the pallbearers for the funeral, taking the casket out of the house through the front door to the wagon and loaded it on while the family of the deceased followed close behind and watched as the cemetery crew did their work. Necrose could tell by the looks on their faces that the ponies cared a great deal for their loved one, whoever he might have been to them. Father? Uncle? Grandfather? He didn't know. All he knew was that the stallion was older than the rest of them and they approached him with the idea of his funeral being the one he demonstrated a traditional Pomanian funeral when they read on a flier he put up announcing his plan to demonstrate such a thing and to throw a Nightmare Night party in the cemetery later in the night.

From the older stallion's house, Necrose pulled the wagon, his crew and the stallion's family following behind. The undertaker, dressed in the outfit he ordered from Rarity, pulled the wagon around the town, passing shops or stalls he liked to visit or the houses from friends. Some ponies left their businesses or houses to follow the solemn procession out of general respect for the dead, others because they were curious about what a traditional Pomanian funeral was like, and still others because they knew the deceased personally. Regardless of why, more ponies joined the departed's last trip around Ponyville and followed Necrose out of town toward the cemetery in silence, save for the sounds of their hooves on the ground. Once in the cemetery, the young stallion brought the wagon to the grave he was to bury the deceased in, and after two of his crew helped him get unhitched, he helped them get the casket down from the wagon and lower it into his final resting place. A pony then read the dead their last rights and lead the group in a prayer for the dead.

The funeral would have been nothing special were they in Necrose's father's hometown of Tramplevania or in the home country of the ponies who founded it, Pomania, but in this part of Equestria, such a display was unusual to say the least, and most ponies who took part responded after the fact with a mix of respect for the dead and fascination with the procession leading from the house of the deceased to the cemetery and the rites observed when burying them. All in all, the black-coated earth pony felt the whole thing went over about as well as he hoped it would. Ponies wanted to know more about traditional Pomanian culture and the family of the dead was happy to have their loved one sent off in such a caring and professional manner.

It was still early in the day, however, and there was still much to do, not the least of which being getting the cemetery decorated for the party later. It wouldn't be until after the candy offering to Nightmare Moon and the foals had gone home to bed, and there were only seven ponies to decorate the entire cemetery. They had to get to work now if they wanted to be done in time to join the rest of the town in the square for the usual festivities that went with Nightmare Night.

The day passed and a good time was had by all, Necrose and his crew rushing back to the cemetery to make sure it was well lit for the ponies who said they would definitely be attending the undertaker's party. No sooner than the last candles and lanterns were lit and placed did ponies start showing up, most still dressed in their costumes from earlier, just as he guessed they would be.

[staegmasque]

Staeg hadn't exactly had a good run of things, these first few days in Ponyville--resources, while not exactly short, were certainly not plentiful. The magician, having left most of his assets and props back in Canterlot when he'd fled for Ponyville's safe borders, hadn't done much in the way of performing--even if he'd wanted to, his wounds needed tending to; trekking through Everfree mapless and afraid hadn't done him any favors.

Still, somehow, he'd made his way here and managed to blend in with the local color. He counted himself lucky--the Everfree wasn't a safe place by any stretch of the imagination, and he'd walked in blind. The magician, knowing Nightmare Night was coming up, had thrown together something last minute--capes and hair-gel, primarily--in order to have a costume of some kind, and not miss out on the fun. He told everypony he was going as the "Stallion of the Opera." It went over most of their heads.

Aimless, Staeg had pretty much wandered into the Ponyville Graveyard, hoping to see whether there was anything special going on around the area. Thankfully, he hadn't been wrong in assuming as much--there seemed to be a big party going on in the cemetery!

Staeg, without much else to do (beyond marvel at the time other ponies had put into their costumes), wandered around--as nice as the party was, he thought, and as much fun as everypony seemed to be having, well...what was a party, heck, what was a Nightmare Night without a good show? The magician smiled--it was no Nightmare Night at all, of course. Now if only he could find the pony in charge of festivities...

[Cyril_Valentine]

Cyril had been at home a few minutes earlier trying to get dressed. She had helped Necrose get ready for the party and was then off to put her costume on. Today was the day you were supposed to be something you weren't, so Cyril had opted to go as a demon. She dyed her wings, mane, and tail blood red and wore fake fangs. Simple enough, but it served well as a costume.

Right now she was just landing from flight into the middle of the party. Things were really starting to pick up. She greeted everypony with a smile. She knew quite a few of them, but right now she wanted to see Necrose. She weaved past the growing number of ponies and finally saw him. "Necrose!" She said as happy as ever. "Looks like the party is really taking off huh? I bet it'll be a blast with you as host!" She said, almost too confident of the success of the party. She looked around at all the happy faces with each of them fueling her own sweet smile.

[Necrose]

Cyril, the young pegasus who had been accepted by Necrose's cemetery crew as their unofficial eighth member for all the times she'd been in the cemetery to help maintain the place or move a funeral along, approached Necrose and complimented him about how well the party had begun and seemed to be going. The undertaker had to agree, seeing so many ponies show up, the vast majority of them wearing the costumes they were wearing hours before. Assuming everything went the way it had been planned, this would be the best Nightmare Night party in Ponyville history. And the first of many with even greater luck. "Yeah, well I didn't do it alone, Cyril," the big earth pony said to the pegasus, "Pinkie Pie is as much to thank for the party as I am. It was my idea, but we couldn't really have pulled it off without her. But the night is still young. Go, have some fun, dance with somepony. We can talk more later. Now is a time for having fun and making new friends."

[Rarity]

Nightmare Night was dark, as it should have been, but one figure walked towards Sweet Apple Acres that began to light up the night. The hundreds of shards of jewels stitched tightly upon Rarity's dress let out a shine. She stepped onto the Acres and noticed some ponies in the distance. She tossed her hair from her face and around her horn as she began to walk towards the cemetery. She certainly was grateful of the pegasus ponies, since they cleared all the mud on the farm. Mud with a dress like this would be horrific.

Rarity soon made it to the party, which looked more spread out than usual, and immediately recalled a Nightmare Night moment in her past. Her eyes shot open as she grabbed a tray with her teeth and ducked under a table. She positioned the tray in front of her, and used that area as her small little base. What happened when she was just a filly in Magic Kindergarten wasn't happening this night. She was determined to have a good Nightmare Night this year, nothing like the reason she didn't celebrate it. (If you guys had an order, sorry, I just figured it was everypony for themselves, since I was invited too~)

[staegmasque]

Staeg was wandering around aimlessly, his cape getting tangled and messed up by the wind, when he overheard somepony, a most peculiar mare, speaking to a huge black stallion--his eyes were green and his hair white. Altogether, he made for quite a sight, to say the least.

The magician, hearing that this 'Necrose' was the host, decided to saunter over and say a few words--he was having a good time, after all, and wanted to thank the pony responsible. He'd done shows for Nightmare Night before, sure, but the amount of improvisation and prop finagling he'd need to do for a show like this, with so little time, would be a real test of his abilities.

Ideas ran through his head--they were in a graveyard, first off, and that meant he wouldn't have to erect any debris for atmosphere. Second, there were already lots of spooky decorations--no need to decorate himself...that just left the material. How was he going to scare the pants off so many ponies on such short notice?

"Hello there," he said, "I was wandering around town and couldn't help but notice the splendid party you've put on here!" The performer gave a crooked smile. "But you know, there's something missing, and before you ask, I'll provide the answer--live entertainment, of course!"

The magician struck a pose. "Now then. I am Staeg Masque, a performer of not only great ability, but great renown as well! You see, I come from Canterlot, where performers like myself come from all walks, but no so good as me! I can sing, dance, act, do magic--I do it all!" He didn't want to seem boastful, but this was the pitch that had gotten him into the Summer Sun Celebration--no reason not to use it again.

[Cyril_Valentine]

Cyril nodded to Necrose and flapped her wings getting a really long distance jump. She landed gracefully just in time to see somepony in a really pretty dress hide under a table. Her head cocked to the side in thought. Why would she be doing that? Cyril went closer to investigate. She bent down looking under the cloth and noticed she was behind the pony. She poked her on the back, saying "Excuse me, why are you under a table? The food is on top of the table, silly."

[Necrose]

A unicorn stallion approached Necrose and complimented him about the party. Many ponies had since Cyril did first, so it hardly came as a surprise to the undertaker that still more ponies would want to do the same. Before the taller of the two stallions could say anything, however, the unicorn went into a spiel about how the event needed live entertainment and proceeded to introduce himself as one Staeg Masque and said that he could sing, dance, act, and do magic, that he could "do it all." Well, of course he can do magic, the scarred earth pony thought to himself after the other pony said that, He is a unicorn, after all. Still, if he could do something to further entertain the ponies who had come, it would make the party even better.

"Nice to meet you, Staeg Masque," the black-coated pony said when he was able to, "Can I call you Staeg, though? Anyway, I certainly don't mind if you do something to entertain the guests if you don't mind my asking how you inted to do that with your magic. Are we talking illusions, here? Conjuration? I can get you set up over by my house, if you like, but I'd like to know beforehoof what you intend to do, if you don't mind." Necrose wasn't worried that somepony might get hurt or anything like that. It was just that depending on what this Staeg Masque did, that was a possibility, and one that needed addressing.

[Rarity]

Rarity continued to shiver as the tray dropped out of her mouth. Her dress wasn't dirty or anything, so as far as the others could tell, she had no reason to be sad, or frightened. Once she heard a pony call out to her, she immediately jumped and hit her head. "Oww...! Dumb Table!" She yelled, before remembering she was at a party. She moved out from under the table as her eyes shifted all around the cemetery. She recalled once more what happened last time she celebrated it, and was less than anxious to find out if that was going to happen again.

"E-Eheh, quite sorry about that. I'm aware of where the food is placed, I've thrown a party of my own before..." After that sentence some words began to echo in her mind. ' I've thrown...I've thrown...I've thrown...' "Eep!" Rarity ducked under the table again, hiding from what she thought was going to happen.

[Cyril_Valentine]

Cyril tapped her chin with a hoof in thought. Hiding under a table isn't fun is it? The poor unicorn was missing out. An idea came to her suddenly. If the pony didn't want to come out from under the table, Cyril would join her! She slid under the table. It wasn't hard to do, the table was large and had plenty under space.

Cyril looked at the pony keeping her smile bright. "Im Cyril, nice to meet you!" She said with her normal chipper attitude. She then got straight to business. "Why are you down here? Your dress is really pretty, but other ponies can't see it if you hidden. Whats the matter?" Her eyes practically glowed with the sincerity of her concern, and her smile stayed, unfaltering.

[staegmasque]

Normally, Staeg would've said no and left it at that--an illusionist couldn't really do his job without the element of surprise, could he? But he wasn't about to argue with a pony thrice his size, magic or not magic. He cleared his throat, dispensing with the dramatics and shooting into his usual business-speak.

"I'm expecting thirty minutes to an hour, longer when allowing for encores. If you need information on my routine, well, I don't have many of my props, so the show will mostly be singing, dancing, and magic--my comedy routines are, shall we say, out-of-order for the moment. My magic is sufficiently powerful enough to create illusory copies of creatures up to and including mid-size dragons--certainly not up to the levels of some ponies, but it like to think my practice has garnered me good enough magic. Illusions aren't particularly magic-intensive, but they require good concentration to maintain."

He shifted on his hooves. "In lieu of costumes, I'll be doing numbers from a variety of plays, and I'll probably call a few members of the audience up to perform signature tricks--those, I cannot reveal ahead of time. I apologize, but they are my signatures, and the climax of the show. It'd be bad practice to reveal them. Suffice it to say, they're not dangerous."

He chuckled. "These shows are usually pretty taxing, depending on crowd size--I'll also be taking an intermission to refresh myself halfway down the line."

The magician smiled, his businesslike expression and manner gone. "I'm sure it'll be a wonderful show, Necrose. And I'm required to mention this as a performer-for-hire, so please don't take it personally, but this performance will, of course, be free-of-charge."

[Necrose]

Necrose listened to the unicorn talk about what his show would incorporate, and for the most part, he lined what he heard. It made perfect sense that Staeg Masque wouldn't want to reveal some of his tricks and the finale of his show, and the undertaker respected that. A performer of any variety who did so in public for the masses had to have some secrets, he reasoned as he listened to the pony talk. It all sounded good to him. "Alright, sounds good," the scarred stallion said when the average unicorn stopped speaking. "And hey, if you wanted me to pay, I would, but if you're not going to ask me for a single bit, how can I say no? You've got two hours, that's for everything, intermission and encores included. Come on. My house is this way. You've got plenty of room to work with over there." The black-coated earth pony indicated the direction they need to go and began walking. He stopped after a few steps, however. "Oh, and however you get everypony's attention, I suggest you make it hard to miss, even at the farthest reaches of the cemetery. I won't lie to you, Staeg Masque, my house is distanced from the actual burial grounds as it is for a reason." With that, he resumed walking.

[Rarity]

Rarity looked over at the mare now under the table with her. Rarity didn't want to speak the reason why she was hiding, but it was obvious that this pony wasn't going to let up anytime soon. Rarity sighed and got out from under the table, looking at the other pony. "Well, if you must know, it happened to be a while back in Magic Kindergarten, I don't suppose you've heard of it." Rarity threw a hoof past her forehead in a dramatic sense. She looked around and levitated a long red sofa to her side. "You see, that day...Nightmare Night of twenty years ago...it was THE. WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!" Rarity shouted and leaped to the couch, passing it and landing on the ground.

Rarity sighed and climbed up onto the red sofa, a little dizzy, and looked to the other mare, after laying her head on the small red pillow laying on the sofa. She spoke louder than her normal voice, and drew out her words, making the following incredibly over-dramatic. "You see, that day, twenty years ago, was the death of Nightmare Night. I was but a little filly, still as fabulous ever, of course. My mane was not as long, and I was as content with my looks. I first thought that fashion wasn't my true calling, I thought that everypony hated me, until, that one fateful day."

Rarity's eyes began to water as she continued to tell her story, even more dramatic as ever. "I remember it like was yesterday! Everypony was dressing up for the celebration in my Magic Kindergarten class. I took five hours to work on the most elegant of elegant costumes. As I strolled into the classroom, everypony stared in awe at my beauty. They were all shocked, and I was convinced right then, and there was when I would finally acquire my cutie mark. But then..."

Rarity continued, as tears dripped down her face. This was most certainly NOT a happy occasion for the purple maned mare. "A couple of my classmates decided to bring eggs to the celebration. As quickly as everypony stared in awe at my, even quicker, they took aim towards me, and tossed their weapons of mass nutrition. Not a second later, the entire class began to laugh at me. I backed up out of the classroom and scurried home. Never again did I attend a class at Magic Kindergarten, or EVER celebrate Nightmare Night again!" Rarity wiped the tears from her face. "This...is why I'm hiding. I've been invited to attend, and am afraid that somepony will re-create the events that took place twenty years ago." Rarity head slumped down, her tiara falling off of her head.

[Cyril_Valentine]

Cyril stared at the mare wide-eyed at her story. As it slowly progressed, growing in intensity, she slowly leaned closer, even to the point of losing her balance and having to catch herself. She even gasped at the climax of the story. This was terrible, she thought. She bowed her head in sadness for the white unicorn. Then suddenly, with a burst of flaming passion, she grabbed the tiara with her mouth and fluttered of the ground putting it back on her head.

She looked at Rarity in the eyes. Cyril had a determined smile. "Now what those ponies did, that was bad. But what you're doing, giving up because some ponies were mean, well thats even worse! Chin up! You can't keep yourself from having fun like this! You're supposed to live your life being happy, not afraid! If you give up, you're letting those mean ponies win! Do you want that? They don't deserve that!"

Once Cyril had started her pep talk, she just couldn't stop. Her heart was burning for the need to do the right thing, and if the right thing meant walking with Rarity the entire night protecting her from any and all embarrassment just so she could enjoy Nightmare Night, then so be it! She couldn't just stand by on this injustice to this pony's happiness! And did this mean the unicorn missed out on twenty Nightmare Nights because of that one event?! Cyril couldn't bring forth any more words to describe her feelings at this point.

Cyril looked at Rarity once more to speak. "Miss, I would be MORE than happy to make sure this is your best Nightmare Night ever! If somepony spills some drinks, i'll jump inbetween you and them. If somepony makes fun of you, heck, i'll make fun of myself to get the attention away from you!" She was so inspired at this point, she wouldn't, no, she couldn't take no for an answer. Then, lastly, she once more introduced herself. "Im Cyril, and you are?"

[Rarity]

Rarity listened to the mare, her eyes beginning to tear up again, not because of the sadness in her heart, but the sad truth that she had indeed been missing out on all those years in fear that she would be embarrassed again. "C-Charmed." She responded, a little afraid of this mares sudden enthusiasm. "You may call me Rarity." Rarity got up, off of the practical red sofa and levitated it back to someplace nopony would notice it. "A-Are you quite sure you want to do this? I mean, I wouldn't care to draw from your experience here at this party."

Rarity didn't want this mare to act as her personal bodyguard, even if having one would be fun. Walking around with a mare the entire night would be in itself embarrassing enough, but this mare obviously wouldn't take no for an answer. "If you're quite certain." Rarity didn't remember much from when she was just a small filly. All she could remember was collecting candy by chanting aloud a tune that was more than distant in her mind. She walked up to the table and noticed all the pastries sprawled across the place mat. The food was awry thanks to the shock the mare gave Rarity.

"Now...I'm not usually this picky when it comes to food, but I don't suppose they're serving anything besides sweets tonight, are they? Perhaps an apple pie of some sort, or even an apple turnover." Rarity was right, she usually wasn't this picky, but now that she had a colt in her life, she made it a habit to watch her weight, and what she ate. "If not, I suppose I can go without snacking on these for the remainder of the party, whatever else do we do these days on Nightmare Night?"

Rarity wasn't as clueless as Luna when she came to town, but since she hadn't celebrated it in twenty years, she could only assume the customs were slightly different. Rarity was ready to catch up on the years she had missed. Rarity stretched her legs out, and positioned her tiara just right. She stomped a hoof on the ground triumphantly. "Cyril. I'm prepared to experience Nightmare Night once more. I'll be just fine if you're truly going to stop anything atrocious, threatening to ruin my dress. Thank you, Cyril."