The Corn Maze Frightful Fun

[RarityDash]

Gilda had a huge grin on her face as she waited in the darkness. She really did love this time of year. She could totally get behind the spirit of this so called Harvest Spook-Tacular. Any event that had at its heart scaring the stuffing out of lame ponies was alright in her book. She personally couldn't wait to do her part ensuring certain unlucky ponies would get a fright they never forgot.

That's why she had flown deep into the heart of the corn maze. She knew there was a haunted house set up, but for her money at this time of night, this had to be the creepiest place this festival had to offer. It was sprawling, desolate and provided this wonderful sense of isolation. The thought of getting lost here was surely enough to make anypony go timid. Gilda was determined to make it even worse.

She had painted herself up really good. There was black makeup around her eyes, which gave them a sunken look. Glowing neon green dye coated most of her feathers, creating an otherworldly effect. Her fur was dyed pitch black, allowing it to blend into the darkness of the night. To make it even better, she had streaks of red painted trailing off from her beak, mimicking the look of blood. The look was sure to terrify any pony. Heck, this far east most these ponies had probably never seen a griffin in the first place and would be terrified even without the dyes and make up.

Gilda hovered just above the corn watching intently for how it moved, waiting for a target. This was just going to be great. She snickered very quietly and then flew back down into the maze at the slightest sign of movement. Hiding entirely, she watched for the approaching pony or ponies, waiting for the perfect opportunity to give them a scare they'd never forget.

[Mojo]

since Crossover chars are allowed in Special Events...

Galloping into the maze are two odd looking ponies. One is a mare with black hat, wearing a cowgirl outfit and with distinct feline marking on her fur. Her name is Texas Tilly, and the large cybernetic stallion with her is named Silver.

"Hold up a minute, saddlepal!" Tilly shouted as the two of them slowed to a stop. "Whew! Got away from that thar buncha costumed youngin's!"

"AFFIRMATIVE. I HAD GREAT DIFFICULTY EXPLAINING TO THEM THAT NEITHER OF US ARE IN COSTUME."

"Didn't mind that as much as them kiddies kept a-yankin' on my tail! Was afraid them youngin's would try to see if I had a fake head on too!"

"YOU DEMONSTRATED GREAT RESTRAINT BY NOT RETALIATING ON THEM."

"Them was jist kids, or this here universe's equivilent of kids. Well Silver, whilest we're here, might as well try out this maze."

"AFFIRMATIVE MISS TILLY! I COULD USE MY INTERNAL SENSORS TO TRIANGULATE THE SHORTEST DISTANCE TO THE OTHER SIDE."

"Nope, I wanna jist go through here fer the fun of it."

"FUN AS YOU CALL IT IN THIS WORLD CAN BE DANGEROUS. REMEMBER THE DRAGON WE ENCOUNTERED LAST WEEK?"

"How kin I furgit? If ya hadn't used your force field, I'da got barbequed!"

"I AM PROGRAMMED TO PROTECT YOU, MISS TILLY!" Silver neighed as the two walked closer and closer to where Gilda was hiding.....

[RarityDash]

Gilda hid and watched. She could see two ponies slowly approach. She was unable to make out just what they were saying, but she soon she caught a glimpse of their appearances. Whoa, these two had really gone all out with their costumes. One was dressed like a cowgirl and had her fur all painted up like some kind of cat. The other was just... wow... He was dressed as some kind of mechanized robot pony or something. Gilda had never seen anything like it, even in the best Aquelian machine yards. For a costume, it looked quite real.

Just because these two were the type to go a little overboard when it came to the costumes didn't mean they were fearless. No, Gilda was so going to scare these two good. It would be just awesome too. Admittedly cool costumes or not, they were ponies, so they were still probably dweebs. They deserved it. She gave a good snicker as she prepared herself.

Then all of a sudden, just when they were coming right in front of her, she pounced! She let out a sharp, otherworldly shriek as she raised her talons and leered at the two menacingly.

[Mojo]

Texas Tilly screamed as she scampered behind Silver.

"WHAT IN THE SAM HILL IS THAT?" the frightened mare yelped.

Silver had no immmediate reaction, turning his emotionless face to examine Gilda.

"SCANNING. SUBJECT APPEARS TO BE OF THE EARTH SPECIES KNOWN AS GRIFFIN. SUBJECT IS FEMALE AND WEARING SOME SORT OF COSTUMED PRESUMABLY FOR THE PURPOSE OF INSIGHTING FEAR IN OTHER PONIES! IN YOUR CASE, MISS TILLY, HER MISSION WAS ACCOMPLISHED."

"Scared? I ain't scared? Who's scared?" Tilly growled as she walked up to Gilda. "So this world's got griffins in it? Why don't that surprise me none?"

"STATE YOUR DESIGNATION, GRIFFIN!"

"Yeah, what's yur name anyway, bird lion?"

[RarityDash]

Gilda was annoyed. While she had gotten quite the sweet little scream out of the mare, the stallion hadn't even flinched in the slightest. Worse yet, he recognized her for what she was and explained it to the mare, letting her fear dissipate. He did this all while still in character, talking quite convincingly like some kind of robot. With a costume like that, Gilda supposed it was no surprise he'd be crazy concerned with keeping up a character. Still, to not even flinch at something like that? This guy had to be quite the actor to pull that off. Gilda didn't like it. It was ruining her fun.

"Tch, boring...!" Gilda scoffed as she walked up to the robot-pony, ignoring their questions. "You're really a killjoy. You know that, Scrap-heap? It's no fun if they're not scared!"

[Mojo]

"Now listen here ya bird beaked pussycat!" Texas Tilly snarled as she walked right up to her, "you best shut that beak of yurs or I'm gonna punch ya so hard, you'll turn back into an egg!"

As Tilly growled, Silver placed one of his heavy steel front legs down to block her.

"VIOLENCE UNNECESSARY!" the cybernetic stallion spoke in his electronic voice. "QUERY MISS GRIFFIN. DEFINE TERM, KILLJOY."

"She called ya a scrap heap! I'll scrap HER heap fer her!"

"REMEMBER THE OLD ADAGE. STICKS AND STONES CAN BREAKS MY BONES BUT WORDS WILL NEVER HARM ME?"

"Good idear, saddlepal! I'll git me some sticks and stones and THEN I can wrangle with feather head there!"

"INCORRECT STRATEGY, MISS TILLY. VIOLENCE UNNECESSARY. THIS GRIFFIN IS NO THREAT TO US."

[RarityDash]

"Not a threat, huh?" Gilda sneered as she strut even closer to the robot-pony, passing right by the cat-furred mare who she was unconcerned with. "I have to admit, you got guts, Bucket Head, but do you really want to try me?"

Gilda smirked and moved her raised claw about. "We griffins are rather fierce predators, after all. I could take a dweeb like you any day."

[Mojo]

"Bucket Head?" Texas Tilly roared. "NO ONE CALLS MY PAL A BUCKET HEAD, BIRD BRAIN!"

With that, the furious bobcat striped mare leaped on Silver's back and then tackled Gilda to the ground with surprising force.

"UNNECESSARY COURSE OF ACTION!" Silver spoke as he fired his anti-gravity eye beams to lift Tilly up in the air and way from the angry griffin.

"HAY! PUT ME DOWN SADDLEPAL! I CAN TAKE HER!" Texas Tilly yelled as her legs flailed in the air as she floated.

"THIS IS A FESTIVE TIME FOR THE INHABITANTS OF THIS REGION. VIOLENCE WOULD SERVE NO PURPOSE. NO NEED TO ATTACK UNNAMED WINGED CREATURE. WASTE OF TIME AND ENERGY."

[RarityDash]

Gilda was surprised when the mare pounced on her. She was pretty strong. Gilda hadn't been expecting that. The stallion broke things up before they really got started though, pulling the mare off the griffin.

Gilda collected herself and stood back up. She noticed something very odd then. The way the stallion had pulled the mare back. It was really, really weird. She seemed to be held in mid air by beams coming from his eyes. Gilda blinked. Were there wires or something? Or had this dude really built some crazy floatation beams all for the sake of having an authentic costume? The beams we probably just some special effect and he was really using unicorn magic. Still, talk about obsessives...

"I guess you got your share or guts as well," Gilda said with a confident laugh as she looked at the mare, still floating. "But you're lucky, Mr. Scrap Iron here broke things up before I had a chance to show you what happens to a pony dumb enough to take on this griffin."

[Mojo]

"LET ME DOWN, SILVER! I AIN'T A GONNA LET THAT GOONY BIRD CRITTER CALL YOU NAME LIKE THAT!" the still airborne Texas Tilly yelled as she swung her legs towards Gilda.

"INSULTS TOWARDS ME, IGNORED. INSULT TOWARDS MISS TILLY, UNACCEPTABLE!" Silver spoke as he gently placed the feline-striped mare on the ground before talking up to Gilda with his red eyes glowing. "MISS TILLY IS A LOT OF THINGS BUT ONE THING SHE IS NOT IS DUMB. YOU WILL APOLOGIZE TO HER IMMEDIATELY OR CONFRONT ME ON THE MATTER!"

"Hold on thar, saddlepal," Tilly said in a stunned tone. "Weren't you a-sayin' this here matter didn't need no violence?"

"UNNAMED GRIFFIN CREATURE WILL NOT INSULT YOU AND ESCAPE THE CONSEQUENCES!"

"Better do what he says, birdy. I ain't never seen Silver this upset before."

[RarityDash]

"Aha! Finally gotta rise out of you, did I, bolt-brain?" Gilda snickered as she turned her attention back to the stallion. "Your little fillyfriend here is your trigger, eh?"

Gilda gave a harsh laugh. "Hate to break it you, pal, but this griffin ain't the type to apologize to no one. Especially not to lame-o ponies."

[Mojo]

"DEMONSTRATION OF FORCE NECESSARY!" Silver spoke as he turned his metallic head towards a dead tree nearby. The eyes of the cybernetic steed glowed bright red as twin laser beams shot out, completely disintergrating the tree in a flash of brilliant light.

"Whoa thar Silver," Texas Tilly said, her face showing her sudden surprise at her partner's actions. "Take it easy, no need to burn down the whole forest."

"DESTRUCTION, COMPLETE! I POSSESS LOWER ENERGY SETTINGS THAT CAN DO BODILY HARM TO OTHER CREATURES! WILL YOU NOW APOLOGIZE, UNNAMED GRIFFIN CREATURE, OR IS FURTHER DEMOSTRATION REQUIRED TO PERSUADE YOU?"

[RarityDash]

"What the--?" Gilda started, jumping several feet back at the display. She couldn't believe it. The stallion just shot some kind of death ray at a tree, burning it to bits.

Just how much did they spend on that thing? There was being obsessed with having a good costume... and then there was engineering your own death ray. It just really did not compute with Gilda. Either way, now Gilda was the one who was scared. As long as these crazies could fry her to a crisp, she had to play a little nicer.

"Alright, I apologize," Gilda said, shaking her head several times in defeat. "Just please... leave this bird uncooked, if you will."

[Mojo]

"RESULTS, SATISFACTORY. APOLOGY, ACCEPTABLE," Silver spoke as his red eyes dimmed to their regular level of light.

"Thanks lady," Texas Tilly said as she moved close enough to Gilda to whisper. "Tain't a good idea to git on Silver's bad side. He's rather fierce when it comes to protecting me. You might wanna git on his good side by bein' a bit more friendly."

"POLITE CONVERSATION MODE ENGAGED. PLEASE STATE YOUR DESIGNATION, GRIFFIN CREATURE!" the cybernetic stallion spoke.

"If'n I was you, I'd tell'm yur name," Tilly whispered again. "Don't make him angry. You wouldn't like him when he's angry."

[RarityDash]

"It's Gilda, if you really must know," the griffin replied somewhat apathetically. She glanced over at what had once been a tree again, still partly in shock.

"You two are really crazy, you know that?" she said, shaking her head in disbelief.

[DeadAccount]

Gingersnap loved the Harvest Spook-Tacular. It was the only time of the year where she could dress as anything she wanted to without anypony making such a fuss over what she wore. Today was going to be another great day Gingersnap could tell. She had worked on her costume, though she wasn't very good at working with fabric. Her costume was very unusual, but also creative. Her mane was brushed and braided as usual. She wore a green nighty with red polkadots all over, brown and black striped stockings with a hole in one legging, her most favorite blue and red western styled boots, cute alien antenna on her head, but all over her mane was spaghetti noodles strewn all over. She smiled, impressed with her costume, and trotted towards the corn maze. As she went deeper, she noticed a weird metal pony, another pony that looked like a cat, and a weird bird thing. What were they called? She didn't know, but decided she'd have some fun. Silently she creeped behind the bird thing so as not to be seen or heard, and sat on its head trying to stifle a few giggles.

[Mojo]

Silver suddenly turned his head in the direction of Gingersnap's approach.

"SENSORS DETECT THE PRESENCE OF AN APPROACHING EQUINE LIFE FORM!" the cybernetic stallion spoke as she settled in on top of Glida.

"Well will ya lookie thar!" Texas Tilly shouted, pointing a front hoof at the newcomer. "Howdy stranger! I'm Texas Tilly, this here big galoot is Silver and duh birdgirl yur a-sittin' on is Gilda! Bet she's plumb tickled to meet ya!"

"HELLO, EQUINE LIFEFORM! PLEASE STATE YOUR DESIGNATION!"

[DeadAccount]

Gingersnap leaped off of Gilda. It was no fun trying to scare someone when you were caught being sneaky.

Gingersnap looked at Tilly with curiosity. Sure, she'd travel to all different parts of Equestria on dangerous adventures, she even wrestled a python so large that if she wasn't careful it would have swallowed her whole, but she never saw creatures like Tilly, Silver, or Gilda before. Tilly and Silver looked the most interesting, an alicorn made out of metally things, and a weird looking pony with a silly pattern all over her body.

Gingersnap walked towards Tilly until she was up in her face and her nose smushed against hers. She stared at Tilly for quite some time, blinked once or twice, then said "You're funny looking! What are you? And what does des....desig....desig....desigificultation mean?"

[RarityDash]

Gilda was absolutely shocked to see a pony suddenly jump off of her head. What? Could this day get any weirder? She just wanted to strike terror in the hearts of some ponies, why was this being so difficult.

She looked at the new pony. She was a little earth pony foal, who looked like she would have been a delight to scare. She was dressed in what looked to be a homemade alien costume. She proceeded to question the other two. Gilda laughed.

"Careful, kid. These crazy ponies are dangerous," she said, smirking.

[Mojo]

Texas Tilly now realized that this was a foal, a child pony. And because she was a child, the striped mare let the offensive question pass.

"Well little lady, I'm jist a horse, same as you, only I look different, that's all," she said in a very polite voice. "And all my friend Silver was askin' fer is your name. We'd like to get to know ya better! You seem like a nice foal."

"AFFIRMATIVE!" Silver said as he turned his head towards Gilda. "INCORRECT STATEMENT, MISS GILDA. TEXAS TILLY AND I ARE NOT DANGEROUS."

"Shoot, we ain't dangerous at all! By the way, nice costume, kid!"

[DeadAccount]

Gingersnap smiled. Not too many adults liked her, and this was a surprise to her. She extended a hoof to Tilly and gave her a friendly hoofshake.

"I'm Gingersnap, and...thanks! I made my costume all by myself!" Gingersnap stood on her hind legs and gently knocked on Silver's head. "Are you really made of metal? i've never seen a shiny metal stallion before."

[RarityDash]

Gilda widened her eyes and laughed. She looked at the stallion, shaking her head.

"Not dangerous, you say?" she said cooly. She glanced to her side, toward what used to be a tree. "You tell that to that tree you murdered."

"Seems pretty dangerous to me, at least," she added with a laugh.

[Mojo]

"ACTUALLY, GINGERSNAP, MY BODY IS COMPRISED OF A STEEL ALLOY WHICH IS 23% IRON, 32% ALUMINUM AND.."

"Don't go recitin' all that thar scientific stuff to this foal, you'll scare her off!" Texas Tilly shouted before turning back towards the youngster. "Yep! He's made outta metal alright! Where are you from, Gingersnap?"

Silver turned his head towards Gilda as he responded to her remarks.

"NEGATIVE. MISS GILDA. MURDER CONSISTS OF ENDING THE LIFE CYCLE OF AN ASCENDGANT BEING. THE TREE THAT WAS DESTROYED WAS NEITHER LIVING NOR ASCENDGANT ACCORDING TO THE STANDARDS OF THIS UNIVERSE. HAD I TARGETED YOU WITH THE SAME BEAM INTENSITY, THEN THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN CALLED MURDER."

[DeadAccount]

"I'm from Fillydelphia of course! Just waaaaay over, to the left!" Gingersnap replied, stretching her body and pointing with a hoof, left. She fell over with a loud "Oof!" as she lay flat on her stomach and laughed.

"Hey," Gingersnap said, looking at Gilda and still lying on her stomach "What kinda bird ARE you? I've never seen one of you before in Equestria."

[RarityDash]

Gilda had to chuckle a little. She didn't know what ascendgant meant, but she was pretty sure trees were alive. That's what she had been told at least. Either way, it didn't matter so much. There seemed to be a more glaring contradiction here.

"Hear that, kid. He says he's 'not dangerous' then admits himself that he has a weapon with an instant kill setting," she said while smirking. "I'm not sure what dictionary he's using, but that sure qualifies as dangerous in mine."

"I'm a griffin by the way, kid," she said in response to the foal's question. "We mostly hail from Aquelia to the west."