Sponsored Applejack's Hayride and Barn Party

[Hippo]

((This is a sponsered thread and is ran by Canterlot.com Helpstaff. A lovely surprise is in store for those participating in Sponsored Threads, but we ask for this special occasion that a character can be inserted into one Sponsored Thread only, and that you only use one character within a Sponsored Thread.))

She thought it was a good idea. Applejack trotted out of the barn and she pulled out with her a large wagon. She had gotten some suggestions about what sort of activity she could unveil for this year's Nightmare Night festivities. She wanted to lure as many ponies as possible in order to better entertain her guests. And she agreed with her friends that the most important thing the party was needing was a nice relaxing hayride around Ponyville.

Tonight, Applejack was wearing sticks, all around her legs, wrapped around her mane and ears, and even placed carefully in her teeth. These sticks together was her costume for the event. She was a timberwolf. After being criticized that Applejack's original plan to be an apple wasn't scary enough according to her friends, she decided to change. That, and someone else she knew was already dressed as an apple.

Applejack arrived near Ponyville's center with her well-stacked hay wagon and shouted out to all the ponies around. "Hey you all! Come get a free relaxin' ride around Ponyville! And to all the ponies who ride all the way back to the Sweet Apple Acres barn house, there is a sweet surprise waiting for you!"

​

[Mojo]

Wishing Well

Young Wishing Well was having the time of her life tonight! Dressed in a white angel costume, the small Pegasus filly wore a simple white bodysuit with a golden halo attached to the front so the wire held it over her head. The costume had wing slots so she could fly, adding to her 'effect' of playing the part of an angel. The costume was designed by Miss Piccafilly, her guardian from the Equestria Orphanage. Piccafilly had thought that since the Hayride was a very well supervised event, she could leave the young filly in the care of AppleJack with full confidence.

Little Wishing Well flew over to where the Timberwolf costumed AppleJack was standing.

"Hello ma'am, I'm Wishing Well. I was hoping to join this hayride tonight, sounds really great!"

[QuickLime]

Harvest was wearing the perfect costume for her coloring! A cheerful scarecrow! Complete with a rag tag hat, a blue shirt with straw sticking out of it, and a fake crow sewn to her shoulder! Her wings flapped excitedly as she landed to be in line "Alright! A hay ride! These were just mah favorite thing back home!" She had just finished delivering her packages, and was going to stay and enjoy the Nightmare Night festivities! She had always heard Ponyville threw the best parties and now she was going to see them for herself! This was going to be so much fun!

[Bellosh]

“I can’t see a thin’ in ‘dis helmet!”

At the time she bought it from a Manehattan costume shop, Babs Seed’s choice of a heavily-armored knight seemed like a perfect selection. The filly wanted to spend Nightmare Night this year in Ponyville with her good pal Apple Bloom, but her parents refused to agree to it. Ponyville was too far away, and Babs had school the day after, so there was no way the filly could make it back home in time for class. But Babs wouldn’t be deterred, so she hatched a scheme with her fellow partner in crime, cousin Valen Orange.

The plan: find disguises which concealed their identities and head on a train to Ponyville in time for Nightmare Night. Babs choose to dress in a fake knight costume made of high quality cardboard; it’s defining feature being a face-concealing helmet that did a good job of shielding her entire face. As for Val, she mischievously figured that the role of a beautiful damsel in distress would suit him perfectly. Cousin Val always did enjoy dressing up in those outfits anyway, even if he couldn’t let anypony but Babs know about it.

One minor to the plan though; the helmet masked Babs’s face too well. Because of its excessive facial coverage, the goldenrod filly found it rather hard to see out of it; she especially lacked the field of vision to see anything directly in front of her. She and Valen were able to make it to Ponyville in time, but not without Babs colliding into numerous ponies and objects. But the important thing was that they successfully snuck out of Manehattan; now to find Apple Bloom!

Unbeknownst to Miss Seed, Applejack’s wagon pulled up right near her and Val’s current position. Stumbling around aimlessly towards the wagon, Babs wisely asked; “See anything in front of me, cuz.....?”

[Monochrome]

It was finally Nightmare Night! All the colts and fillies were excited, and Dusty Marbles was definitely no exception. The little grey unicorn bounced along the streets, careful not to step on her costume's tail or let anypony else step on it. Marbles had decided to go as a little dragon this year, the perfect match to the filly's love of shiny objects and tendency to collect them. The soft green fabric of the costume was dotted with small gemstones and had a row of red scales made of a glittery fabric down her back, and had a pair of plush darker green dragon wings neatly sewn onto it. She wore a headband that had some of the same scales that were on her costume trailing towards the back of her mane, and also had a plush pair of dragon ears, or fins, or whatever one calls those, over her own ears. She wore some fake sharp teeth as well. As she moved on, she suddenly skidded to a halt in front of something. An orange mare with a lot of sticks stuck to her stood by a big wagon, advertising a hayride. Marbles gazed at it for a moment, listening to what the pony was saying, and a grin creeping across the little unicorn's face as she did so. A surprise for riding all the way to Sweet Apple Acres? Marbles loved surprises! Marbles brushed her fluffy curls of blue and white mane out of her shimmering green eyes and eagerly trotted up to the mare running the hayride. "Ooh, I wanna go!" the little unicorn said to the mare, barely able to keep still.

[tacobob]

"Dad. Seriously, I really don't want to be seen in this thing!", a small blue filly pleaded with her father, "I look ridiculous!". The little Pegasus pony was dressed from head to hooves in a well made sheep costume. An adult stallion dressed in fine R.E.A armor shook his head sadly, "I'm sorry Blueberry. Your Great Aunt Modiste put a lot of time and effort into that costume and I promised her that you'd wear it for the entirety of Nightmare Night.". This did not please the filly who turned a slight shade of scarlet, "Oh come on kid, she also mentioned if you kept the costume on, she'd get you that thing you wanted for Hearth's Warming Eve."

The filly's face quickly cleared up, "Really? Seriously?". The stallion nodded his head. "Oh well. Guess I'll be wearing this thing then. Still gonna be miserable. Still gonna grumble.". Her father sighed and shook his shoulders, "Whatever kiddo. Now Daddy has some business to attend to. Your big sis should be here by now, but I'm sure Miss Applejack will take good care of you.", he smiled at the mare before trotting off towards Town Hall.

While grumbling to herself, she glanced at the other kids who were getting ready for the hayride. Thankfully, she did not recognize any of them so far . There was a girl in an angel costume, one as a scarecrow, another in a rather cool looking dragon get-up, and another kid in an knight uniform. Being fully covered up, the Pegasus pony wasn't sure if there was an colt or filly under there. Being a polite sort of of pony, she glanced up towards the mare, "Happy Nightmare Night Miss Applejack!", she managed to sound cheerful for once, "I like your Timber-Golem costume!"

(Pic done by Ask Blank Hooves http://askblankhooves.tumblr.com/ )

[Blueblood]

Might Batsman hadn't exactly planned to participate in Nightmare Night. Sure, his friend Psmith was in to the whole dressing-up thing, and who didn't like candy? Still, the large Earth Pony colt was never into large parties, and the whole thing had nothing to do with his life passion, cricket, so why bother now that he was growing up?

However, on the train down from Canterlot, he'd worn his cricket flannels, a tan jacket with red piping, a hat in the same style, and spotless white spats. Everypony seemed to think that it was a costume, however, and praised his selection of some rather obscure adventurer hero as his model. He gave up correcting them after the fifth one; after all, if they wanted to give him candy just for wearing a cricket uniform, who was he to object?

Feeling a little overwhelmed at the sight of all the outlandish costumes, Might found the hayride to be a relaxing prospect. "And a surprise at the end? Jolly good wheeze, this." He was about to clamber up on to the wagon, when he felt something bump his leg. It appeared to be a filly, or a colt, it was hard to tell, in a knight costume that hap apparently left out the eyeholes. "Oh I say, do watch it!" He rubbed at a small paper cut the cardboard had made on the back of his hoof, and winced.

Looking around at the others, he could see that he was probably the oldest, and certainly the biggest, participant so far. He turned to a pair of fillies, one dressed as an angel, and the other as a scarecrow. "Not bad. Nopony's making any mistake about your costumes, right enough."

[QuickLime]

The mare glanced over hearing's voice coming her way, she smiled softly at that "Well thank ya, my other costume idea gave me issues flying so I thought there wern't nothing like the classics" She offered him with a grin "Yer cricket uniform is very nice if Ah do say so" She was sorta oblivious to the chaos, but then again He was talking to her, she had a little tunnel vision and tended to only focus if she was involved in the situation "I dunno if wearing yer uniform counts, but hey most ponies won't know the difference"

[SteelEagle]

Valen had a different set of plans for his Nightmare Night. A nice relaxing upscale party in Manehattan, maybe a scary play. Nice, fun, and he didn't have to embarrass himself. A nice change of pace and it didn't involve Ponyville in the slightest, where it seemed existed a nexus of terror that tore his life asunder with every visit. He had even considered being the one to answer the door. After some debate with his parents they agreed, more concerned about their party than anything else. That proved to be his first and biggest mistake of the day.

Babs had been the first one to come and quickly pulled him, and his enormous bit bag, out of the home. She had quickly told him what the evening's plan was. Apparently while he had been ignoring her ramblings during the last meeting of the Manehattan Cutie Mark Crusaders, he had agreed to help her get to Ponyville for that town's festivities. She had spent the next week finding out the perfect costumes. That was all well and good by Valen, but Babs needed a partner in crime as both a travel buddy and meal ticket to and from Ponyville. Whoopee. He couldn't say no- she was stronger, faster, and had blackmail.

Her costume was cheap, but she had only bought it for the face-concealing properties. It was bit bulky but she made it work the best she could. Valen then tried to buy a similar costume. No, she had said. It'd look suspicious, especially on a colt as small as Valen. He suggested a musketeer, pirate, REA Officer- she had shot them all down and they were running out of time. She had already ordered his costume apparently, it just needed to be paid for. And they sure did pay for it. And he sure did get it. And he sure was wearing it. His damsel in distress costume certainly fit the billing. The hem of the baby blue dress was tight and long, constricting his back legs and making his steps smaller than they needed to be, but it was poofy enough that it rode high in the flank. He had a veil covering his face, a white one that didn't bother covering his face. Instead he had to rely on his modeling experience and skills with makeup on the train ride over. It wasn't perfect, but considering he had no lead-up and Babs was evil, it would have to do.

As she stumbled about town he had half a mind, even more than that really, to leave her behind. She could wander around town and get lost while he went back to Manehattan, but she had taken his bit bag and replaced it with her slightly more ornate bit bag that had been a present FROM Valen. He didn't have the bits for a ticket back, so he had to deal with her for as long as it took to get home. His parents would be none too happy that he left for the night and had spent another chunk of change on clothes, but he was acquiring a collection that made all the fillies at school jealous. Eventually that'd have to pay dividends, right?

"Cousin Applejack's wagon, Babs," Valen whispered after she had managed to cut a slice out of a passing pony in a cricket jacket, taking her in hoof and guiding her accurately towards the hay ride. His heeled-up hooves were hurting something fierce and while he was too close to Applejack for comfort in this scenario, it was better than walking around town. As they got in, Valen spotted a fetching filly in a well-done scarecrow costume and a grey unicorn dressed as a dragon. Not bad. One pony went as an angel, nice choice always, and a somewhat disgruntled blue filly was a sheep. Baawwww. At least she was polite to cousin Applejack. Valen pushed Babs into the cart with great effort, restricted by the costume. Then he couldn't get up himself. Uggh.

"Babs, a little help up, please?" He whispered, leaning in.

[Mojo]

As more ponies gathered to join in on the hayride, little Wishing Well became very excited. It wasn't often she got to meet other fillies and colts outside of the Equestria Orphanage. Still wearing her white angel's costume, the Pegasus filly took flight and began to hover around the others. Wishing Well was a little bashful, but still wanted to meet as many ponies as she could tonight. Looking down at Blueberry, the filly in the sheep's suit, the little blonde filly could see that she seemed to need a friend right now. Landing beside her, the meek Pegasus filly introduced herself.

"Hello there, I'm Wishing Well, and I love your costume! Did you make it yourself? How are you doing tonight?"

[Hippo]

Applejack looked at all the ponies around her, who seemed at least mildly interested in joining the hay ride. Some of them were just started their night it looked like as well. She looked at the white angel pony. "Sure thing, hop on board!" Applejack unlocked the tailgate to the wagon, and even provided a small step for shorter ponies to climb in.

She then saw a pony dress as a scarecrow. "Wow you're one of those fake farm pony things. I wish I had an idea like that!"

A smaller pony walked up, wearing what look like to be a large knightpony helmet. Applejack was stunned at first, but then smiled and bonked her on the head. "You must be a brave knight from Canterlot, what a pleasure it is to see you here."

"Come on then, lizard pony," Applejack said the the next pony around, a pony that was obviously trying to dress up like a large lizard of sorts. "There's plenty of room for everypony on the ride!"

A blue pony wearing a sheep skin complimented Applejack's costume. "Thank you, Miss sheep, your costume is also very cute, and fluffy, and soft." She turned to everyone pony around. "Guys, doesn't this pony look so cute and fluffy with their costume?" Applejack looked back at the pony and offered a step up to the wagon. While she did so, she asked. "Whats your name little pony?"

Applejack then spotted another pony, one who seemed a bit older. But that's didn't mean the hayride was any less fulfilling of enjoyment for somepony of an older class. "Howdy, obscure adventurer hero, would you like to take a relaxing ride in a warm bundle of hay?"

Applejack then saw another little pony, one that seemed grouped with the knight pony of earlier. This one looked like a colt, but was wearing a dress. "Hey little one, what kind of costume is that?"

​

[Bellosh]

By curious accident, Babs and Val somehow managed to stumble upon cousin Applejack’s hayride. Babs wasn’t so sure what to make of this development, as Sweet Apple Acres received no prior warning that the armored filly would drop by. Should AJ ask questions whether Babs was allowed to be here or not, the whole plan might unravel, and she’d be sent back to Manehattan along with his damoiseau in distress… Babs wasn’t sure what a damoiseau was, other than that it was one of those Prench words his upper-class Orange cousin enjoyed using on occasion.

"Babs, a little help up, please?"

“Shhh! Shimmer it down, will ya’?” Babs Seed harshly whispered, afraid Valen would blow their cover. No point getting caught now, right? Not after Val had helped the sight-challenged filly climb into the wagon. Pulling on the colt’s leg to help him in into the wagon, Miss Seed reminded him; “Don’t forget ‘dat if AJ figures us out, she’ll-”

"You must be a brave knight from Canterlot, what a pleasure it is to see you here."

For a brief couple seconds after barely noticing that cousin Applejack saw her, Babs breathed in heavily as she worried that the jig was up. A friendly boop to the visor later alleviated all such concerns; it looks like AJ didn't know any better! Relieved, Miss Seed said nothing to her older relative as she gave a final powerful tug to Valen's leg, finally succeeding in dragging him into the wagon. But now; where would they all be going.....?

[RarityDash]

Nightmare Night was a new concept to the young Tourmaline Glass, but it was certainly an intriguing one. It was a celebration of the innate fear that could grasp hold of a fragile mortal heart. It was birthed in the fear of power and the fear of the unknown. Reminded of the betrayal and assailment of all they knew and held dear by one of their trusted rulers, corrupted in body and heart by true evil, the ponies of the realm came together to make sacrifice to keep at bay that which still haunted them. For the same one thousand years Tourmaline and her compatriots had been lost in the folds of time, the ponies had forged from those ominous beginnings a more agreeable celebration that while made friendly still retained some of the darkness from which it had risen.

Intriguing was certainly the right word, though in truth Tourmaline wasn't sure she had much use for the day in practice. The dark roots of its history and the macabre aesthetics of it all couldn't hide that it was just another inane festival not all too different from the Crystal Faire she was so familiar with. It was all seasonal food stands, tedious carnival games and tawdry attractions. The only remotely interesting aspect of the whole ordeal was the masquerade. The chance to prepare a costume based upon a character she admired was the one reason she had ultimately caved to her parents' incessant demands that she accompany them to Equestria to experience a genuine Nightmare Night experience first hand at one of the festivals, which had ultimately lead them to the highly recommended proceedings occurring in the relatively humble town of Ponyville. Apparently, her delinquent classmate Flakey Shards was in the area from the Empire as well, but luckily Tourmaline had not crossed paths with her so far.

She had escaped her parents as well, who were likely off being typical tourists in the center of town. She was more intent to find the most peaceful and quiet way she could spend her first Nightmare Night--perhaps she'd even find somepony who could appreciate her costume! She was dressed as Animus, one of the fearsome generals of the demon king from the Untold Schism Saga, a series of high fantasy epic novels she had lately come to enjoy. Her costume included a long blood red hooded cloak, a face concealing black metal mask with glowing red eyes and large spiked boots. A mock up of Animus' battle staff finished the ensemble. She was proud of the look over all; her parents, pleased to see her get passionate about something, had helped her to make it perfect. All the same, she was not sure how well it would impress the ponies of this town.

It was some time then that Tourmaline heard some pony with a truly peculiar accent shouting off about a hayride. Now, wasn't that a quaint old tradition? It was a silly and childish thing really, but that it was advertised as relaxing caught the filly's attention. In truth, might that not be a good way to spend the evening? She could ride with this pony around this quaint little town and see all that was set up for this festival of theirs without having to partake in any of the annoyances of it herself. The more she thought about it, the more she decided why not give it a try.

"I suppose I would join you for this hayride, Miss," the filly said in a low voice, giving a small sigh as she looked at the mare who had made the call for the ride, who was dressed as a timberwolf.

She looked around at the rest gathered for the hayride, making note of their costumes. There was an angel, a scarecrow, a knight, a dragon, and a sheep among others. The costumes were mostly well assembled and creative enough, she supposed, though in all perhaps a little pedestrian. The knight was her favorite of the lot; it was well made and had lots of plating. Her eyes lingered on the sheep, however, as even with the costume she could recognize this filly as one she had encountered not very long ago at the Grand Galloping Gala. For whatever reason, she decided to approach this filly.

"A sheep? The costume itself is well crafted, I suppose... and it would certainly win you popularity back home," she said, looking at the costume more closely, reminded of her empire's fascinations with cute tiny sheep. "In fact, it's possibly a costume more suited for the Faire than for these proceedings, I might think." she added, wondering how quick she would be recognized through her hood and mask.

​

[Blueblood]

Might looked over to the scarecrow and gave a smile to the young filly. "You know, you're the first gel to get it right all night? Everypony else keeps calling me Doctor something-or-other. You're not from Trottingham, are you?" Most of the ponies here looked local, though on this particular night, it was hard to judge by looks.

He settled down with a sigh, partly out of resignation with his hostess' error on his costume, and partly out of relaxation. He wasn't sure how they did it, but the hay here was softer and more comfortable than the stuff back home. Out of curiosity, he bent down his head to sample a bit of it. *Hmm, I guess it's grown more for comfort than flavor. Fair enough.*

New arrivals kept coming; there was a damsel with the knight, of course, and then... "Now, that's a right swell get-up!" Might had to admire the crystal filly's threads; they exuded both menace and style in equal measure. Clearly, this was someone who took the holiday seriously. Complete opposite of him, of course, but he could respect that.

Speaking of respect, there was that comment about the sheep. "Oh, I dunno about that. If you've ever had a bighorn ram chase you across the hillocks, and you sprain your ankle and see him coming with the light of battle in his eye... well, you learn to respect the fluffy ones." The hearer might note the note of experience in his voice, but then the colt shrugged. "Of course, they probably grow bigger in Trottingham than in the Empire."

[Monochrome]

Marbles climbed on the wagon with a giggle and stood for a moment. She didn't know any of the ponies here, at least, as far as she could tell, so she just sat down in a random spot and found herself next to a pony dressed as a knight. "Hi! I'm Marblesh, who're you?" she greeted the pony in the well-made cardboard armor with her usual lisp. Marbles, easily distracted as ever, found herself only catching a scrap of the response from the pony she had spoken to as she began to glance around at everything and catch bits of other conversations as well. Marbles caught something about "respect the fluffy ones" from a stallion in a cricket uniform (Marbles wouldn't have had any idea what his costume was if her father hadn't played cricket before), the mare running the hayride complimenting some costumes, a filly in a costume of something Marbles definitely did not know talking to one dressed as a sheep about the sheep suit, and a few other things. Marbles shook her head and blinked a few times, then looked back at the knight-pony. "Shorry, what did you shay?" Marbles said.

[Mojo]

Wishing Well couldn't wait for Blueberry to respond. AppleJack had lowered the tailgate of the wagon and ponies were beginning to load up. The still airborne angelic looking Pegasus filly turned to the costumed sheep once more.

"C'mon friend! They're getting ready to go!" she spoke before flying upward, over the heads of the others until she landed on the back of the hay wagon. She sat at one end of the long benches that were on both sides of the wagon, hoping that when everypony was loaded up, she could make more new friends. She turned and shouted up towards her host.

"Thank you, Miss AppleJack, for doing this for us!"

[tacobob]

The little blue filly blushed deeply as her costume was brought up by older mare, “Thanks.”, her tone was not very thankful. “And I’m Wind Walker! We met not that long ago when you were doing your kissing both thing. I was with my sister’s best friend, Zelda the griffon.”, she slowly lost her the red in her cheeks as she mentioned the griffon, but decided not to bring up the whole incident with the crazy unicorn. As she was offered a seat, the little Pegasus pony made a motion to open her wings, but stopped when she realized the costume was holding them in place, “Ah nutbunnies.”, she grumbled as she was instead helped up into the wagon. “Thanks Miss Applejack!”

Once situated in hay-wagon, the little filly turned to the first kid who got her attention. It was a pretty little Pegasus dressed in an angel costume, “Thanks. I didn’t make it, my craz..er. elderly great aunt made it.”, she obviously wasn’t a fan of the costume. “My Grandmother used to make my costumes, but she’s gone now and my parents don’t like buying premade costumes from the store, so they got my father’s aunt to make it. So I’m a sheep. Baaaah.”, she groaned, “The name’s Wind Walker. Please ignore what my father called me. He likes giving me little nicknames.”

(Space for Wishing Well to reply.)

Wind Walker was feeling a little less self-conscious about her silly sheep-suit. While every-pony had a far better costume than she, they were all at least what would be considered ‘cute’. Then she came along. Tourmaline Glass, the crystal pony she had met during the 'Grand Galloping Gala' back in Canterlot. Unlike her brothers or sister, she did not spend the night on the dance-floor or at any of the fine entertainment venues, but instead had been dropped off at the 'kiddy section'. The little filly was rather snooty, but was very intelligent, but the little Pegasus managed to have a few things in common, like their shared love of fantasy novels and rather epic books. She also showed the girl how to play with an piñata, so the night wasn't lost. But her costume! Wind Walker's jaw dropped a little as she took in the whole thing. While the mask did cover her face, the filly quickly recognized her by her voice and her stance.

"Holy socks that General Animus costume of yours is amazing!", she gasped, "Even got the spiked boots thing going on and the staff is perfect! I didn't even know they made licensed 'Untold Schism Saga' costumes! I did see a few bad knock-offs at the costume palace, and the clerk got all nervous and red-faced when I asked if they made kid-sized versions.", Wind Walker did realize there were a few characters in those novels that just wouldn't work on a kid. Thankfully Tourmaline picked one of the 'safer' villains to go as. "As for my costume.", she grimaced and stuck out her tongue, "It wouldn't be suitable for any of those things, except maybe the 'Lamest Pony In Equestria' awards!", she groaned, "I wanted to go as 'Black Mask' from the 'Blade Masters' series, or even as 'Lady Parazonium', but my parents thought those were a little too grown up for me, so I'm a sheep. Baaah."

(Space for Tourmaline Glass)

While still admiring her friend's costume, Wind Walker glanced briefly over at the older colt, "Nah, they're sheep. They're fuzzy. And we shave their fuzz off and make clothes out it, and they don't seem to mind. If some silly farmer tried to shave General Animus, they'd get blasted into a million pieces!", she turned her full attention to the pony, "Oh, Trottingham? You from there? My colt-friend Fast Track is from there! And he would have been with me, but his parents don't like 'Nightmare Night' and think it's just an 'excuse to dress up all crazy and make a lot of noise.", she sighed as she spoke those words.

(Space For Might Batsman)

[SteelEagle]

Valen lived an unfortunate existence, constantly on the losing end of games that didn't have losers. It didn't come as a shock that he couldn't even summon the power in his current state. He was shocked that Babs hadn't accidentaly boarded the wrong train and they found themselves in Stalliongradm having to become street performers to earn their way back. Or that their costumes weren't cursed and they were transported to some far away location between time and space. So Babs' worry about Applejack realizing who they were and sending them back didn't perturb him in the least. He was worried more about Applejack realizing who he was and being a bit unsettled, not one iota of concern about being sent back. But here their interests aligned so best for both worlds that Applejack's ignorance was sated.

Valen put on an awfully fine prench accent. After all, he had spent a few months parading around as a prench model filly, so rest assured it was very good.

"Ahh, do you like it? Damsel in distress indeed, oui," He said simply as Babs helped him up, keeping his grunt to a minimum. He dusted himself off, but then his mind started to wander. Applejack had sounded a bit strange when she had run around complimenting all the costumes, and especially so with that sheep costume. But she was probably just tired after farming and setting it all up and trying to be as positive as possible. After all, that sheep costume did look awfully fluffy. As Babs and he settled, he allowed himself to take in the other costumes. Most of them were pretty good, even if Applejack's comments on them were odd. In any case, he had to keep that prench accent up.

"Knight, you can take ze helmet off, oui? No need to blind yourself now, yes?"

[QuickLime]

Fake..pony farm things...? AppleJack was a farm pony, so Harvest was confused as to why she wouldn't know what a Scarecrow was, but she tilted her head slightly and chuckled "Naw m'am! I right like your costume! Makes me wish I had gone with mah first costume idea!" Though the others attention was quickly engulfed by the growing crowd...she glanced at the Cricket player and chuckled "Actually sir I am! Cricket ain't one'a my favorite games but I do rather like the uniform! I'm right sorry that ya got confused!"

After that Harvest moved to get up in the wagon with the others and make herself comfortable, waving for some pony to come sit by her so that they could converse while on the ride!

(Anyone feel free to take Harvest's offer)

[Blueblood]

Might found himself seated by the scarecrow, who was apparently from his part of Equestria. "Oh, really? How's the old place doing, then? My folks sent me away to school, so it's been a while since I've been there." In the spirit of the holiday, he would let that blasphemous little remark about cricket pass. She at least knew what it was, unlike the hostess.

The sheep, also, seemed to want to speak to him, and he had to chuckle at her assessment of the ovine kind. "Oh, just ask your friend if they shave the Bighorn Rams, especially out in Fet Loch." He shrugged at her assessment of Nightmare Night. "Well, we just prefer a bit of quiet up there, really. My friend Psmith said that it was a stronghold of Lunar Loyalists back in the day, who didn't want to celebrate her being banished and all. Dunno about that, he talks a lot of rot."

[Hippo]

The orange mare was attentive enough to hear the names of the ponies. She wasn't deaf, but wasn't so observant to hint at possible tom foalery. "So your name is Babs, huh? Yeah, you and your cousin can ride in the back, no problem. Are you supposed to be the handsome knight that is protecting this helpless damsel in distress? Well let me help you create that image." Applejack grabbed a rope, and wrapped it around Valen several times so that he could not move his forelegs from his body as he sat in the wagon. "There, now you really are a knight trying to save a damsel in distress!" Applejack chuckled.

A black crystal filly approached, wearing an enormously evil-looking costume. Applejack raised an eyebrow at the impressive show of style, but wasn't sure what to say. Wind Walker obliged to share her name with Applejack, and she responded with a bit of ignorance. "What? Oh yeah! You and the griffon Zelda. Yeah I remember her name being Zelda. That kissing booth was a fun time, ah tell ya what." Applejack nodded her head to the filly and touched her costume a little to get a good feel of the soft fluffy fabric.

Afterwards, Wind Walker complimented Tourmaline's costume choice, and ever pointed out the reference. "Oh yeah, General Animus! Everypony knows that!" Applejack beamed across at the fillies as they spoke, wanting to cheerfully allow the ponies to be comfortable as they started their ride onto the wagon. But the cart was still filling up.

"Come on everypony, and we'll get going!" The angel pony and lizard pony sat onto their seats on the hay. "Get comfy, this is going to be a ride of a lifetime!"

​

[RarityDash]

"Oh, I dunno about that. If you've ever had a bighorn ram chase you across the hillocks, and you sprain your ankle and see him coming with the light of battle in his eye... well, you learn to respect the fluffy ones. Of course, they probably grow bigger in Trottingham than in the Empire."

Tourmaline glanced toward a colt as he spoke to her. She wasn't entirely sure what he was dressed as. It looked to be some kind of uniform or something Likely it was something that either hadn't reached the Crystal Empire, Tourmaline didn't have a interest in or both. Regardless, she acknowledged him with a nod as he spoke of the dangerous Rams.

"I would imagine so. The sheep of the Empire are very much prized for their small size and ostensible cuteness by the simpleminded and those far too quick to national pride," Tourmaline replied giving a small sigh. "I've heard of the much larger sheep you see here in Greater Equestria and they are very much distinct from their smaller, more docile imperial cousins. For one thing, the Crystal Empire sheep's wool grows in vibrant and gaudy colors."

​

"Holy socks that General Animus costume of yours is amazing! Even got the spiked boots thing going on and the staff is perfect! I didn't even know they made licensed 'Untold Schism Saga' costumes! I did see a few bad knock-offs at the costume palace, and the clerk got all nervous and red-faced when I asked if they made kid-sized versions. As for my costume. It wouldn't be suitable for any of those things, except maybe the 'Lamest Pony In Equestria' awards! I wanted to go as 'Black Mask' from the 'Blade Masters' series, or even as 'Lady Parazonium', but my parents thought those were a little too grown up for me, so I'm a sheep. Baaah."

"I suppose I am more blessed than I had imagined then. My parents helped me fashion this costume, which I pieced together myself from a number of places back home. It probably wouldn't have come together without them helping me locating some of the needed components," Tourmaline said, nodding. A smile was on her face under the mask. She was surprisingly glad to hear her costume praised by this filly. She had worked hard to make it look right.

"I'm not sure I'm familiar yet with Blade Masters. Is that something else that might prove interesting to read?" Tourmaline questioned then, curious. One thousand years of writing had happened without her, so she was definitely always on the look out for new reading material worth her time.

​

"Nah, they're sheep. They're fuzzy. And we shave their fuzz off and make clothes out it, and they don't seem to mind. If some silly farmer tried to shave General Animus, they'd get blasted into a million pieces!"

This comment actually brought a laugh from Tourmaline. She could hardly imagine such a ridiculous sight, but this was definitely the truth. Of all the demon king's generals, none were more ruthless than Animus, who with his blood magic could rend through foes with minimal effort, changing the tide of battles single-hoofedly. Were someone to try forcibly shaving him, they most certainly would soon find themselves in many places at once.

​

"Oh yeah, General Animus! Everypony knows that!"

The mare hosting the ride, dressed as a timberwolf started. Tourmaline shot her a cautious stare. Was that really so? The Schism Saga with all its books was and words was something she would have doubted the average pony would have completed. She even still had a few of the later books to work her way through as it were. Animus wasn't the most well known character of the work either. He was certainly memorable, but his presence in the works was kept limited; he wasn't one of the more developed, key antagonists nor one of the heroes. Tourmaline could only conclude this mare was clumsily trying to save face and cover for her own ignorance. Perhaps since those younger than her spoke of it, she believe it to be something she should know herself. Either way, Tourmaline saw no real call to embarrass the mare or otherwise call her out, so she just made herself comfortable on the cart near the others.

​

[Bellosh]

"Knight, you can take ze helmet off, oui? No need to blind yourself now, yes?"

Taking her helmet off? Was Valen CRAZY!? The reason Babs Seed got the helmet in the first place was so Applejack wouldn’t be inclined to send her back to Manehattan and tell on her parents and big sister. There was always the chance that AJ would do nothing, or maybe accept verbal confirmation that Babs could be in Ponyville… but the goldenrod filly hardly ever took unnecessary risks when being sneaky and stuff. “Your head must not be screwed on tight pal,” the filly quietly warned her Orange cousin; “I don’t wanna’ get grounded for-”

"So your name is Babs, huh? Yeah, you and your cousin can ride in the back, no problem. Are you supposed to be the handsome knight that is protecting this helpless damsel in distress? Well let me help you create that image."

Great; good job Valen. Couldn’t keep his big mouth shut, couldn’t he? Now AJ knew that Babs dressed as the armored knight, and now- hey, wait a sec! Applejack didn’t sound right at all; like if she just met Babs for the first time. Shouldn’t the big cousin express more emotion that both of her little cousins from Manehattan came over this year for Nightmare Night?

.....Meh, whatever. This meant Babs and Valen won’t be sent back home anytime soon, allowing the filly to lift her visor up without fear! Hooray!!!

"There, now you really are a knight trying to save a damsel in distress!"

Now that Babs Seed revealed her face to the world, other ponies could now see her snickering without remorse as Applejack tied up Valen’s forelegs with a rope. Oh, this was just so priceless; now he’d get a taste of stumbling around town! “Err uhhh, geez,” Babs thought on the spot; “It looks like yaw used ‘da forbidden, uhhh… rope of… oooooof… Nightmare Moon! Yeah, ‘dat’s right!!! As long as ‘da nighttime laaasts…eternal… mmmmm… I can’t risk freeing the Princess from her bounds without makin’ her sleep forevah.”

Wrapping a strong foreleg around Valen’s neck and pulling the girly-looking colt closer to her, the smirking “knight in shining armor” offered her sarcastic sympathies; “Tough break, m’lady.” As the hayride begun, Babs felt that this would be the funnest Nightmare Night yet.....

[Blueblood]

The elaborately dressed filly confirmed Might's suspicions about Imperial sheep. He shrugged at her assessment of preferences, though. "I dunno, maybe they're just being sensible. I mean, I'd certainly prefer getting wool from a small little cute thing than a big ol' ram who could toss me over a cliff if he jolly well wanted to." And given how large the older colt had grown, that was saying something.

The little drama with the Knight and Damsel in Distress caught his attention now and, not knowing much about what was going on, he applauded. "Oh I say, good show chaps!" He had a vague idea of it being part of some arranged entertainment.

[SteelEagle]

Yeah, okay. Something was off with Applejack, and Valen couldn't even count the ways. She was speaking in a funny manner, at least for her. She normally had a country flair and style to her that made her speech entertaining if sometimes a bit hard to understand. This time she had a more formal, if maybe entirely bland, speech about her. And what was with her not up with who was who? She didn't seem to register that it was odd for somepony to not know their cousins! But again, benefot of the doubt. It was entirely possible it was part of the act, however. She didn't want to let anypony know it was family who was aboard? More importantly, she didn't seem shocked at Valen's costume. Obviously she must have thought he was one of her female cousins. Everything was going to be okay!

...Nothing was going to be okay. Once again, a trip to Sweet Apple Acres was turning out negative for him. What was with his weird relationship with cousn Applejack where she was an awfully nice pony who nonetheless ended up tying him up with ropes more often than not. He'd probably need to see a psychiatrist after this, but it didn't help that he was dressed as a damsel for the benefit of his grinning, smirking, smarmy cousin Babs who ate it all up with a spiteful spoon. It was one thing to be a damsel in distress, he could appreciate the sweetness of the outfit. It was yet another to be under Babs' hoof the whole evening simply because she was stronger, faster, and had blackmail. It was another thing all together to be tied at the chest level with his forelegs strapped in with a damsel in distress outfit on and his smirking, smarmy cousin lapping it all up and giving him a tight neck hug.

He wanted to yell at her but couldn't. Applejack would then know what was up and they couldn't have that. The other guests would be awkward too, and that was bad. Instead, he would have to bear it. He wouldn't have to grin though.

"Laissez-moi aller, ou je peux vous le dire everypony environ somepony's garden goût ..." Valen whispered as he wiggled his way out of the hug of shame and fell into his seat. It was an odd, revealing position, his tail tucked between his legs and shooting back up the front side and messing up his costume, sitting up. It felt awkward and he couldn't get set, meaning he sure as heck wasn't comfy and he kept on leaning one way or another. One way, Babs. The other, a crystal filly who had an impeccable Animus costume. Good taste in works, and if he was going to be trapped, better to be trapped with a cute crystal filly with good taste.

"Vonderful costume. Good taste in literature, oui?"

He started falling a little, but not much. He saw across from him a scarecrow. Play the role, Valen.

"Ah, very nice scarecrow, vittle too realistic perhaps!"