sponsored Rainbow Dash's Obstacle Course of Terror

[Bramble Rose]

Rainbow Dash stood atop a pedestal, her rainbow mane slicked back, a black cloak clasped around her neck with a fancy broach, flowing behind her constantly on the airless night in a mild breeze she made with her fluttering wings. She wore tall, snug black boots on all four legs, and in one she lifted up a wine glass full of fruit punch. Little fangs peeked out from the edges of her mouth. The perfect, villainous vampony. "What is a pony? A little pile of secrets! What secrets will you uncover in RAINBOW DASH'S OBSTACLE COURSE OF TERROR!? It'll be awesome cause I'm awesome!"

"Your first challenge - the Path of Nightmare Moon!" She gestured at the first segment of the course, where the ponies would start of climbing down a fake mountain, a couple of ponies working on tossing foam rocks down - then gathering them up from the bottom and tossing them down again. "First, make your way down the crumbling cliff!" Dash narrated. "Then dodge the horrible manticore!" she gestured at the middle of the path, where a single giant foam manticore tail kept swinging in a circle. Right after that was a big pool of water with platforms across it shaped like the arch of a river serpent's body. "Then make your way across the serpent's crossing! Careful, those platforms might look stable, but they aren't! Are you as awesome as I am to make it across?"

The middle of the area had a bunch of tennis balls hanging from it, all painted bright colors with fake wings stuck to them. A few ponies at either side had tennis rackets, and kept batting the tennis balls across the path. "Can you survive the second challenge, the terrible Parasprite Swarm? Or are you not as awesome as me? Nah, nopony's awesome as me! But even if you make it through, comes the most terrifying challenge of all!"

Dash gestured at the huge fake cave set up for the last third of the course. "Here, you will find yourself in the Cavern of Secrets! Can you dodge the changelings within and escape? Or will you be joining your previous contestants in the cage within? Ooooooooo!" She wiggled her hooves in a menacing manner.

​

[Mojo]

Haywire

"Obstickle Course'o Terror, huh? LET ME AT IT!" Haywire proudly proclaimed, dressed in a bright red devil costume that covered her entire filly frame. The blank flank filly was looking for a 'challenge' this Nightmare Night, and Rainbow Dash's setup looked just right for her. Of course, Haywire had to be on her best behavior tonight, having made a big ruckus at the Grand Galloping Gala several months ago. So, no firecracker rockets tonight, nor did she bring her frog or snake collection with her either. But she did have several pockets in her costume, hopefully to hold the candy she was expecting to receive tonight!

So for now, the devil dressed Earth filly waited at the Starting Line for the race to begin. She did some simple warm up stretches, her costume was amazingly light and form fitting, so it moved with her during all her warm ups. Haywire planned to conquer this obstacle course, and win BIG!

"I wonder who else is gonna run in this here thing?"

[Pretzelparty]

This was it, Presteza's favorite night of the year. Back home in Trottingham she always had a ball on Nightmare night, eating all the candy she could to her those days as a filly was so worth the tummy ache in the morning. It had been a tradition for her that every Nightmare Night the unicorn would dress up as her absolute favorite princess of all time; Princess Luna. As a little filly she would stay up late at night to see the beautiful night sky during that perfect moment all the lights in her manor and across Trottingham dimmed and she saw the beautiful site of the moon above and the shades of blue over the landscape. It mystified her how the princess could have become how she did in the legends, maybe if she was around she could have helped the princess realize somepony truly could appreciate those beautiful nights she spent her time on. All the way to this very night the normally golden tan mare had thought of Princess Luna as Equestria's most incredible artist and this night she was determined to speak with a pony she practically idolized.

On this night she had used a bit of magic to apply dye to her coat and mane as well as bought a pair of fake wings to complete the alicorn ensemble she wore. She had made sure to paint her horn a matching color to complete the look as well.

"What is a pony? A little pile of secrets! What secrets will you uncover in RAINBOW DASH'S OBSTACLE COURSE OF TERROR!? It'll be awesome cause I'm awesome!"

Hearing a voice nearby shouting words about an obstacle course.... and the promise of awesomeness, the mare's face lit up. The night was nowhere near over and this little artist could make due with a workout. With an eager smile on her face she galloped over to the cyan pegasus, going wide eyed a moment once she realized who it was,"By Celestia... yer Rainbow dash! Sweet costume by the way!" said the blue eyed unicorn, her eyes almost glowing with exuberance. From the sound of her voice it would be fairly obvious to rainbow dash if she had heard a certain scrawny looking earth pony named Pipsqueak speak on one particular nightmare night.

"So... ya said ya had an obstacle course for ponies ta do, care ta tell me the rules? can I use ... well what little magic I can use?"

[Duskfall]

Duskfall has already made his round delivering the Nightmare Night candy a week prior to the event. In terms of jobs that needed to be done, everything seems to be on the quiet side. However, very visibly, the entire Greater Equestria was abuzz about the festivities. Normally, Duskfall didn't really care about the holidays: it just meant that he would be up and about more often and across greater distances. But this holiday in particular, there were no tasks to be had, and Duskfall quickly found himself bored out of his skull in the approaching days on Nightmare Night.

Tonight however, Duskfall found himself on a train to Ponyville. True to himself, Duskfall opted to ride on top of the train. Chilly weather was about, so he donned a forest green sweater, covering his only wing. Since everypony was in costume, Duskfall figured that this was the time of year where he could openly walk about without a disguise and not have anypony bat an eye. This seemed to be true, but then again, ponies probably weren't paying close enough attention to realize that he was actually a changeling and not a pony dressed up like one.

After a few minutes Duskfall heard a pegasus dolled up like a vampony advertising a Nightmare Moon themed obstacle course. He listened intently to the description of the course, and stifled a laugh. Compared to what he does on a daily basis, running on the rooftops of skyscrapers (which isn't as easy as it sounds), this was nothing. Duskfall almost decided to put ignore it completely, but then he thought to himself, "Maybe I could wow some spectators with my running."

Duskfall made his way to the starting line, where he found a filly doing some warmup stretches. Warming up seemed like a good idea to Duskfall, but then again, Duskfall had already done some considerable amount of running to to get to the train station in Baltimare. Some light jogging would keep him in prepared for immediate action though, first to make sure he doesn't cramp in the middle of the event, but also so that Duskfall could make a quick escape should the ponies realize that he's actually a changeling.

[QuickLime]

Rainbow Dash's father decided to swing by Ponyville to see how his little star was doing. He beamed as he heard her voice booming loud about the obstical course she had set up, and moved to zip down, leaving a streak of rainbow behind him as he did so, flying around her in a gentle loop "Hey there darlin! I decided that since I missed Nightmare Night with you last year, THIS YEAR I wouldn't miss time with my little girl!" He said and grinned, moving a hoof up to gently and playfully muss that slicked back mane of hers.

"Very nice costume darlin"

He himself was wearing a costume that looked like a large prism, with colors all over, blending together beautifully, for he had painted it with liquid rainbow.

[PyroBlaze]

Pyro walked down the street, looking around at all the decorations for nightmare night. 'This place looks awesome! Glad I came here instead of staying home this year.' Pyro thought, stopping at the sight of an obstacle course up ahead. Pyro smiled and drew the hood of his costume over his head. Pyro's costume consisted of a white cloak with flames along the outside, a fake suit of fiery looking guard armor, and a fake longsword strapped to his back under the cape. It was amazing what you could find in Canterlot for costumes if you looked hard enough, and had enough bits to pay for it of course. Pyro's costume wasn't that expensive, and he could reuse it next year if he wanted to. "Obstacle course of terror? We'll see about that." Pyro said, making his way over to Rainbow's course. Pyro had taken off his sunglasses for the night, revealing his red eyes for all to see. Pyro started stretching and warming up a bit to get ready for the course. Pyro had actually trained a bit with the costume on back home, to see how the guard armor moved, so he was used to it and could move easily in it. The suit wasn't made of metal, so it was more flexible than the real guard armor, but it was pretty close to the real thing. After he had finished warming up, Pyro walked over to the starting line, looking down at a filly next to him and that was dressed as a devil. Pyro smiled at the filly before speaking to his apparent competition. "Hi, how're you doing? I'm Pyro Blaze. Nice devil costume, by the way." Pyro said to the filly, still smiling. Then Pyro noticed three others nearby. Two of them were talking to Rainbow, but the third was on the line just like him. Pyro looked the stallion over before speaking. "That's a very convincing changeling costume you've got on." Pyro said, a bit skeptical about it actually being a costume. 'I think he might actually be a changeling. It doesn't really matter though, as long as he doesn't cause any trouble.' Pyro thought before looking away from the stallion, watching the two that were speaking to Rainbow.

[RarityDash]

Nightmare Night was a fun night for ponies of all ages for a variety of reason, but one of Cloudchaser's favorite parts was all the cool attractions that got set up for it. It was hard to beat a good old fashioned haunted house, especially if Flitter was right there with her for it. This year, however, there was one attraction in particular that had the young weather mare excited. Her friend Rainbow Dash, the lead weather mare and Chaser's one time fellow trainee at the Wonderbolts' Academy, was setting up a full on Nightmare Night themed obstacle course. Something that combined the Nightmare Night fright with physical challenges sounded right up Chaser's alley, so she was quite excited to give it a go.

As fun as Cloudchaser found Nightmare Night to be, one part of it that she had never been so good with was the costumes. Good ideas just never came to her so she invariably ended up dressed up in something kind of ridiculous. This year she found herself dressed as a big puffy gray storm cloud. The costume was pretty much all fluff and padding with some cloth shaped like lightning bolts stitched on for effect. It really wasn't very good, and it was sure to get in the way for the obstacle course, but Cloudchaser supposed she didn't mind a good challenge. Besides, Flitter had told her it was cute.

Spotting Dash, who was sporting an admittedly much cooler vampony costume, Chaser cantered ahead. "Hiya, Dashie! Heard about this course of yours, sounds pretty sweet, so I'm game!"

She looked around then at some of the others prepared for the course. There was a filly dressed as a devil, a unicorn dressed as the night princess herself, somepony in a totally awesome changeling costume, a very rainbow painted stallion, and some other pony is super cool cloak and armor. Next to them, Cloudchaser's big fluffy gray cloud was all kinds of lame. She felt obligated to give a small sigh.

"Tell the truth, Dashie. My costume isn't that stupid and horrible, is it?" she started with a soft, awkward laugh.

​

[Mojo]

As Haywire finished her warmup stretching, she heard a voice behind her complimenting her costume. The red suit wearing filly turned to see a stallion dressed in fire armor and a hood. She stood, looking up at him in awe.

"Thank ya kindly, Pyro Blaze!" the blonde devil dressed filly neighed. "I made this hare outift mahself. My dumb ol' older sister wanted ta put me in some namby pamby costume, but that ain't mah style! Say, that's a swell lookin' armor thingie yur wearin'! Mah name's Haywire, pleased to meetcha!"

She reached out her hoof to shake. Although Haywire was going to try her best to win, she wasn't going to boast or brag. Despite her 'evil' appearance, Haywire planned to run a good, clean race. She didn't see the others gathering around as competition as much as she saw them as potential new friends to meet and greet.

[NeoExlucky]

Nightmare night was an amazing event for Gadget's Family. It was the one of the only two times of the year that all of his family enjoyed no matter what. Of course this time Time Spinner had been separated from his sibling for other reasons but Gadget was still having a blast. Swift luckily got tonight off from her royal guard duties so her family could come down to Ponyville where they always had the best Nightmare night attractions. Swift Blitz wanted to enter the costume contest but Gadget managed to talk her into letting him go to the obstacle course first. As the rough houser of the family, Gadget were always great at obstacle courses. Not to mention he heard a pony named Rainbow Dash was running it. Word was that Rainbow Dash was a great flier and this peaked Gadget's intrest.

The family decided that it would be best to theme their costumes together. Gadget was the Amazing Blue flier! His costume comprised of white eyes with a black outline. His mask and most of his costume was blue. The back of the costume, mostly his flank and legs, was black. His wings, mane, and Tail still stuck out so that he would be comfortable though.

He walked up to the starting line for the obstacle course and felt himself start to get pumped. He was quite the socialite and introduced himself to a unicorn that reminded him of a fire for some reason. "Are you excited for this course?" He asked still full of static excitement.

[Blueblood]

The cool autumn air was as crisp as a green apple, and Flying Brick sucked great refreshing draughts of it as she walked through the streets of Ponyville. How different the town looked from the last time she was here! It had been the height of summer then, during the Iron Pony competition. She hadn't done too badly there, if she said so herself, last minute stumbles notwithstanding.

Now, however, it was Nightmare Night. The tradition wasn't unknown in her home city of Stalliongrad, but not so much importance had been attached to it. The mare hadn't put too much effort into her costume, then; it was just a tight-fitting suit with the city colors on it. If anypony asked, she was dressed as one of Stalliongrad's champion gymnasts. She herself had the natural talent, if not the extremely rigorous training of one, so she felt it appropriate.

"What is a pony? A little pile of secrets! What secrets will you uncover in RAINBOW DASH'S OBSTACLE COURSE OF TERROR!? It'll be awesome cause I'm awesome!"

​

Well now that was something Flying Brick wasn't about to pass up. She trotted briskly over to the milling group where the contestants gathered. Right before arriving, the earth pony suddenly jumped on her forehooves and bounced lightly through a somersault before sticking the landing right in the middle of the crowd, making a proper entrance for an athlete. "Ha, dark one! You think it is so easy to frighten one built Stalliongrad strong? Is scarier dodging carts on city streets!"

She couldn't help herself; the teal pegasus' hammy performance were bringing out the theatrical in Brick, and she couldn't help but respond in kind. After all, the two of them were rather similar, being performance-driven athletes. For Brick, this wasn't about competition, this was about showing off her style.

[Lilia]

Shadowe followed the sound of other ponies, Colby keeping a steady pace beside him as he listened intently. He had managed to get his hooves on his father's ShadowBolt uniform, which his mother had gotten altered just for him. His normal forest green mane and tail were slicked back and temp-dyed dark blue, to go with the theme that he himself was an odd member of the ShadowBolts. He smiled when he heard a pony declare what the course was. This was his chance to shine, if he was allowed. Maybe this would net him his cutie mark?

"Colby, guide me buddy. Without you, I don't think I'll make it...Hi, everypony." He said, whispering his instructions to the dog at his side before raising his voice. A friendly bark from Colby was given in greeting as well.

[Bellosh]

Flash Sentry always had fun on Nightmare Night; ever since he was just a wee little colt. Not even enlistment in the Royal Equestrian Army changed this fact about PFC. Sentry. Thankfully, the Army granted him liberty this year to go out and join in the festivities, provided he turn up tomorrow morning for guard duty. Despite this, Flash was persuaded to come on down to Ponyville for the night, since it wasn’t too far away from where he was stationed in Canterlot.

Showcasing his love of the Daring Do franchise, Flash Sentry opted to dress up as the character Bravado, Daring’s sometimes rival/love interest. The most important thing he needed to do was get Bravado’s distinctive headgear right; a light beige bush hat with one side of the brim pinned to the side along with a chin strap. Flash also managed to procure a khaki explorer’s shirt to complete Bravado’s look… aside from going all out by dying his entire coat to match the fiction character’s coat color. But then again, costume playing didn’t always have to be an agonizing ritual of 100% perfection, right?

Roaming the bustling night time streets of Ponyville, it didn’t take long for Flash Sentry to find an attraction appealing to his sensibilities. As politefully quick as he could, the light orange pegasus cantered on over to Rainbow Dash’s Nightmare Night-themed obstacle course. Flash couldn’t help but admire Rainbow’s showmareship, even if she bragged about herself almost every other sentence. But tonight, a grinning Flash felt it amusing more than anything; maybe his REA experience could even give Rainbow’s awesomeness a run for its money. Naturally, the stallion accepted the challenge.....

[Bramble Rose]

Rainbow Dash lets out an *ack!* as the rainbow-maned stallion landed heavily nearby in order to muss her slicked-back hair. She looked up at him with a brief look of confusion before realization struck. "Ah! Dad! I'm working!" She gestured at the obstacle course. "I'm a scary vampony, and you're ruining my awesome scariness by being all... you know!" She mumbled quickly, "Good to see you too."

She turned back to her responsibilities, then. "Right! Unicorn magic is all right to use against the course, but no using it against any ponies or -heh heh- changelings! We have to keep this safe, after all! And no breaking anything!"

She jumped at hearing herself addressed by such a familiar nickname. "Ah, yeah!" she cried back, staring briefly at the bottom of her boot, then rubbing the tip of the boot over her chest nonchalantly, puffing herself up a bit so that others could admire her costume. "Cloudchaser! Nice to see you, too! Nah, it's ... well ... not as awesome as my costume, but what could be?" Rainbow Dash struggled with adjectives for a moment ... "It's, um ... y'know." She ventured an inquisitive "Cute?"

She snorted at Brick's entrance and boasting. "You can talk the talk, but can you walk the awesome?! We'll see if you bring it once it's been brung!"

Having addressed everypony asking questions, she sat back and looked over the growing crowd with particular satisfaction ... till her eyes focused on one individual in particular. She leaped out over the crowd, glided along a short ways, then landed in front of Duskfall heavily, getting in his face. "Hey! What are you doing out here?! All the Changelings are supposed to be in the Changeling Cave! Otherwise why have a Changeling Cave? You're going to - " she stopped dead, and peered a little closer at him, eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Waaaait a minute. You're not one of my changelings, are you? Trying to sneak through, huh? Well, you'll have to prove yourself like all the others, then!"

​

[Mojo]

Haywire watched in amazement at Rainbow Dash in her vampony costume, and then took a look around at the other contestants. Most of them looked like grown ups! The devil suited filly wasn't worried, she had years and years of practice running away from her older sister and from other angry ponies pursuing her when she got in trouble. She was at a disadvantage due to her lack of wings or magical horn, but that didn't bother her. Haywire was determined to try her best, win or lose. Besides that, the blank flank filly has never backed down from any challenge.

"HAY UP THAR, RAINBOW DASH!" Haywire shouted to make sure she was heard, "WHEN ER WE GONNA GIT STARTED?"

[PyroBlaze]

Pyro took Haywire's hoof and shook it. "You made that yourself? Now it's even more impressive. I wish I could say I made mine, but the most I did was put it all together. Anyways, it's nice to meet you too, Haywire." Pyro said, releasing the filly's hoof. Pyro looked over at the growing crowd around Rainbow and her obstacle course. "This place sure is popular, huh?" Pyro asked himself, chuckling at some of the costumes the others were wearing. Especially a Pegasus mare dressed as a storm cloud. Pyro then looked at a mare dressed as an athlete as she landed in the middle of the crowd. Pyro raised an eyebrow at this new mare's accent. "Stalliongrad? She's a long way from home." Pyro said to himself before turning to the other two ponies that had spoken. Pyro looked the two over. They were both dressed as superheroes. "Well hello you two. My name's Pyro Blaze. Everyone just calls me Pyro though. You can call me by either, it doesn't really matter. Anyways, nice to meet you two." Pyro said, smiling at the two superheroes. Then a young colt approached, wearing a suit similar to a wonderbolt, only more evil. Pyro gave the colt a friendly wave, smiling as the dog barked a greeting. "Hello to you too." Pyro called to the colt. Pyro looked over to the changeling pony as Rainbow landed near him to question why he was out here. "I think he was planning on proving himself, Rainbow. Did I hear you say that magic's fair game against the course?" Pyro said, smirking at Rainbow.

[Imagination]

An obstacle course? Well, that actually sounded pretty fun.

Trailblazer couldn't say no to anything the seemed this interesting! Path of Nightmare Moon? Crumbling cliffs?! Dodging manticores and snakes and loose flooring?! A typical day at the office, some might think, but at least if he makes a mistake here he won't die!

The adventurer was actually having a grand old time in Ponyville! Why Ponyville? Well why not? Good enough for Luna, good enough fo rhim! That was his thought process anyway. And these small town pleasures were pretty great! Good food, good company, and the costumes! Some of these ponies put some phenominal effort into them!

Now an obstacle course. Well who was he to say no? Sounds liek fun!

"Hey, count me in!" he called out ot the rainbow mare not long after an energetic little filly.

His costume? Oh, it was nothing... Except maybe one of the most memorable villains of all time! Well... Besides the Princess' alter-ego, Discord, the Changeling Queen, some evil king he read about... Anyway! He went as the mighty Ahuizotl- Daring Do's arch nemesis... He had taped up his tail so it wasn't so poofy and tied a little glove on the end of it. It wasn't too hard to make one to resemble the off abendage on the back of Ahuizotl's tail... The tricky part was finding the same shade of blue he had died the rest of his fur... As well as the neccessary purples and yellows. He wore some fake jewlery around his neck, and made some fake pointed ears to ear. Nice!

[Pretzelparty]

She turned back to her responsibilities, then. "Right! Unicorn magic is all right to use against the course, but no using it against any ponies or -heh heh- changelings! We have to keep this safe, after all! And no breaking anything!"

​

The unicorn jumped for joy at the cyan pegasus's statement,"Awesome! Good thing I kept ma brush with me!" she said proudly before taking off her saddlebag and pulling a fairly large paintbrush from it. It looked normal enough but it seemed the Unicorn had decorated it by painting it's handle and painting a tiny crescent moon on the ferrule. While she typically used magic in case of an emergency she figured tonight was a special night and she may as well pull out all the stops to win this competition.

Already the competition was building up, some fit looking pegasi and, a unicorn and even what appeared to be an earth pony in a changeling costume albeit a very convincing costume but Presteza couldn't tell the difference seeing as she'd never encountered a changling up close. This looked like it was gonna be tough but she was sure she could pull through this with some well chosen "brushwork" in the right places

The mare was about to say one more thing to Rainbow dash but it seemed she had gotten caught up talking with a stallion who looked like her could be her father. Seeing as she was busy she decided to take the chance to talk with some of her competitors, it couldn't hurt to get to know them. "But which one ta talk to..." thought the unicorn to herself before settling her eyes on a stallion dressed as a character from one of her favorite book series, Daring Do's love interest. She casually walked over, trying to seem the slightest bit regal as she approached Flash Sentry.

"'Having a good Nightmare Night, Sir Bravado?" she said in a playful tone. "I'll wish you luck on the course." The mare chuckled a moment before dropping out of character and saying in a still playful but a bit cocky tone,"Cause yer definately gonna need it with all this competition!"

[Blueblood]

"Bring on the awesome, and Flying Brick shall not disappoint!" The earth pony mare rose up and thumped her spandex-covered chest. She figured that she had planned for this pretty well; more elaborate get-ups would only slow down other ponies, and brought a risk of being caught in protrusions and the like.

The brick-red pony then took a look at her competition for the first time; not a bad line-up. Sure, you had a little filly in the front, but there were some pretty fit specimens. She gave a nod of approval; a good mix for a show. Looking for somepony near what looked like a starting line, and came up on a stallion who had... painted himself blue? Never much of a reader, Flying Brick had no idea what he was going for.

That didn't stop her from being friendly. Clapping Trailblazer on the shoulder with a paw that hit like a ton of her namesake, she called out loudly, "Hello, competitor! You are fit for the day, yes? I see you hold no fear, but what is the reason you are not in your born color?"

[Duskfall]

Duskfall mentally recoiled when Rainbow Dash got into his face. He wasn't exactly sure how to state her last statement. Was his cover blown, or did he mean something else entirely? Duskfall felt it wise to just accept it, and simply nodded. Almost unconsciously he began scanning his surroundings for routes and movement paths. The easiest route seemed to be just getting on top of a roof, going for the train station, and hopefully catching a train on route to anywhere but here. As long as they weren't out for his blood though. . .

A number of other participants started gathering around Duskfall. The one that caught most of Duskfall's attention was a mare who appeared to be dressed like some sort of super hero. . . or a gymnast. Duskfall never really could tell the difference (nor did he care). The mare was having a conversation with a stallion dressed up like . Azoota- Azootoo-, dog thing with a hand for a tail, that one villain from the Daring Doo series. From what he observed from the Stalliongrad mare, she seemed to be well versed in movement as well.

Now this obstacle course was no longer for fun.

Duskfall's livelihood was on the line. If this mare could successfully chase him down, and the Princess's or the Royal Guard wanted her to hunt him down? Game over. Then again, they might not even know about his existence, well the Princesses anyways. The Guard bloody well knew who he was. Duskfall approached the pair. The mare tapped the stallion with was appeared to be a considerable amount of force on the back.

"What?"

[SteelEagle]

The Mayor loved Nightmare Night far more than any elderly pony had any Celestia given right to. She had since she was a filly and had traveled the nation,the one night a year when she could be anything or anypony allowing her to blend in no matter where she happened to be. Ever since she was a foal she had a thing for picking out just the right costume to illicit laughter and smiles from everypony around, even if they only realized later how happy they were to have her corny sense of humor to guide them.

This year she had decided on a simple outfit for a simple excursion out on the town. She had always been a fan of the Globetrotters and their on the court hijinks. She had even saved up the money in her youth to buy a poster of her favorite player, and to this day she had it in the same storage that her parents had left it when it had come into her possession. She had taken it out a few weeks ago during a break in her work schedule and examined it thoroughly and soon she was ready with a costume idea lock, stock, and barrel. Everypony would love her for it.

She trotted into town with her colorful afro she had used the year prior when she was a clown and basketball shoes, spinning on her nose a basketball. She had been pretty good in her youth, no matter what various coaches said. It was during her trot about town when she spotted Rainbow Dash's obstacle course. She was more in the mood to get to the town's marketplace and start the festivities, but her aides had orders to start it without her should she be held up. And being an older mare seeking some youthful entertainment and to prove she wasn't an old croon, what better choice than an obstacle course?

She bounced the ball on her head some more until she came upon the course in it's entirety. She allowed the ball to land in front of her, where she put a hoof on it to stop it. Crumbling cliff. Jump over a manticore's tail. Jump across a pool in a serpent's line. Terrifying parapsrites. Evil Changeling cave at the end. Al in all, sounded pretty awesome, which made sense since Rainbow Dash was laying on the awesomeness pretty thick so far. The Mayor smiled as she kicked the ball gently towards the rainbow pegasus.

"Well, sounds like you have quite the adventure lined up, Rainbow Dash. I don't suppose you can look after my ball as I dominate it, eh?"

[Bellosh]

Not long after Flash Sentry arrived, one of the newcomers he saw really attracted his attention. The fancolt could recognize the distinctive looking Ahuizotl anyday, and so gasped in awe as he saw one somepony actually pull that complicated costume off. Desiring to commend the costumed fan for his efforts, the Bravado impersonator trotted in front of the other pegasus and excitedly said; “Hey, that’s a pretty neat Ahuizotl outfit! How long did it take you to make it?”

"'Having a good Nightmare Night, Sir Bravado? I'll wish you luck on the course. Cause yer definately gonna need it with all this competition!"

It looked like there were more Daring Do fans afoot… although it retrospect, it shouldn’t have been a huge surprise that an obstacle course would attract adventure lovers by the droves. Having found himself challenged by the pretend-Luna, Flash boastfully replied in-character; “Hah… I don’t need luck, mate. Let’s just hope you can actually provide a challenge!” The stallion couldn’t wait for the competition to begin.....

[Lilia]

Shadowe nodded to himself as he began to formulate a plan when a very distinct accent hit his ears. Haywire was here? At least she wouldn't recognize him right away! He smiled at the idea of magic being allowed, despite being a unicorn he was still unsure of himself in the magic department. Since he couldn't see, he wouldn't risk using what he was born to for fear of hurting anypony else. When he heard which pony was hosting the course, he cocked his head to the side. Rainbow Dash? She was all sorts of famous in Trottingham!

"Magic is okay, so long as we don't use it on anypony. Well, then...I guess I'll just have to lead the pack so I don't...miss...and do something horrible." He muttered, doing his best to get to the front of the group. He wasn't the fastest, or the biggest, but he was willing to try to just make it through the course. When he bumped into another pony, he gasped.

"Sorry, sorry! Colby? Where are you, buddy? I'm really sorry for that...I...uhm...." He panicked, not knowing whom he had run into.

[RarityDash]

"Cloudchaser! Nice to see you, too! Nah, it's ... well ... not as awesome as my costume, but what could be? It's, um ... y'know. Cute?"

"Ah... Thanks, Dashie!" Cloudchaser forced a smile even as she gave a small sigh. "Anyway, looking forward to the course! You just know I'm gonna ace it! Next to you, there ain't a weather pegasus in Ponyville who can match my speeds!" she added boastingly before looking away from Dash.

Cute. She supposed that's all this costume could be. Storms were awesome and scary forces of nature; they were powerful and strong and kind of cool. Dressing as a storm cloud though... it was really none of those things in the end. All it could be was just cute. Cloudchaser hung her head and wished for a moment she had just a little more foresight for this kind of thing. Next year she would be sure and tell Flitter her costume idea before she had committed to it in case she thought up something silly again.

The ponies arriving after her didn't make it any easier. A couple ponies showed up in costumes based on Daring Do characters and there was also a shadow bolt a superhero and a gymnast. Chaser was getting kind of disheartened until she spotted a pony in a rather loud colored afro wig. It was just anypony though, it was the mayor of Ponyville herself, and she was dressed in a basketball uniform. Cloudchaser approached her to say hi.

"Heya, Miss Mayor! Nice costume!" she started with a toothy grin. "Having a good Nightmare Night so far?"

​

[NeoExlucky]

"Now that doesn't seem fair." Gadget muttered to himself. He remembered days where his brother would use his magic too keep away some of his things, of course maybe had Gadget been better at flying he could have gotten those back much easier. Maybe now that he could fly it would be easier than it would be before. Plus Rainbow Dash would be fair about this whole thing...right? Gadget simply shook his head and stood much taller. He heard a filly talk to the mayor, or someone named Ms. Mayor, or maybe she was named Ms. Mare. Gadget didn't really have to deal with that in Canterlot.

[Mojo]

Haywire acknowledged the words Pyroblaze spoke to her.

"Thanks PyroBlaze, an' good luck ta ya!" the devil suited filly neighed happily. So far, he was the only pony in the group that had spoken to her. When Rainbow Dash announced that using magic was OK on the course, the blank flank filly grunted.

"Betcha she'll allow wings an' flight too! T'aint fair to all us that ain't got neither. Now I wish I had brought mah firecracker rockets! If'n them grownups is gonna use magic an' wings, reckon it's alright fer me to use any edge I kin git!"

Now Haywire was getting angry, and when she's angry, she doesn't exactly make the best decisions. She was determined to win, even if she was going up against grownups with wings and magic.