Comet's Tale

The cool autumn breeze rustled the leaves outside the Golden Oak Library as Twilight Sparkle, Comet Tail, and Spike made their final preparations before heading out into the town's Nightmare Night festivities. The scent of caramel apples and roasted pumpkin seeds wafted through the open window, carrying with it the distant sounds of foals laughing and ponies celebrating.

Twilight adjusted the broad-brimmed, star-speckled hat on her head and turned to Spike with an expectant smile. "So, what do you think of my costume?" she asked, striking a dramatic pose.

Spike, dressed in his usual dragon self (because, as he insisted, he was already the best costume), tilted his head and squinted at her. "Uh... are you supposed to be that kooky veteran from Ponyville's nursing home? The one that feeds crackers to pigeons?"

Twilight's jaw dropped. "What? No! Spike! I'm Starswirl the Bearded!" she snapped, stomping her hoof. "Did Comet teach you anything about unicorn history? No, scratch that, PONY history? Starswirl was only the most powerful conjurer of the pre-Equestrian era! He was the teacher of Clover the Clever, one of Equestria's founders!"

Spike blinked, clearly unamused by her outburst. Before he could retort, Comet, who had been quietly observing, smirked and quipped, "You're overestimating his attention span. If it's not about gemstones or comic books, I doubt he retains the information for more than five minutes."

Twilight facehoofed while Comet chuckled. Shaking her head, she turned to her coltfriend—only to stop mid-motion as she finally took a good look at him. He stood there with a plain white sheet draped over him, two holes cut out for his eyes.

Twilight arched a brow. "Please tell me you're joking."

Comet blinked at her, his expression unreadable beneath the cloth. "What? It's a classic."

"You mean lazy," Twilight deadpanned.

"I considered dressing up as Fleeing Whisper, the great archmage of the West," Comet said, lifting a hoof as if to make a grand declaration. "But halfway through realizing how much hoof-sewing that would take, I got dizzy and decided this was a better use of my time."

Twilight groaned, but there was a hint of amusement in her sigh. "You are impossible."

Before Comet could respond, the doorbell rang, followed by the excited, high-pitched voices of foals.

"Nightmare Night! What a fright! Give us something sweet to bite!"

The trio turned to the door, and Comet, still draped in his ghost sheet, trotted over to open it. Standing outside were three foals: Rumble, dressed as a miniature Wonderbolt; Dinky Doo, wrapped in a tiny fire fighter costume and Pipsqueak, the smallest of them, proudly wearing a tiny pirate coat and a red bandana.

Comet chuckled and levitated a bowl of candy toward them. "Alright, alright, here you go." He dropped a generous hoof-full into each of their bags.

Pipsqueak's face lit up. "Thank you, sir! This is my first Nightmare Night ever!" he said excitedly, bouncing on his hooves.

"Oh yeah?" Comet asked, amused. "You don't have Nightmare Night back in Trottingham?"

"Nope! We've got the Harvest Moon Festival instead. It's all about stories and singing and sharing pies. But this—" Pipsqueak's eyes shone as he looked around at all the spooky decorations. "—this is amazing!"

Comet smiled and turned to Rumble. "And how on earth did you convince Thunderlane, Miss Chestnut, and Ditzy to let you three roam around alone?"

Rumble smirked. "We're not alone," he said, puffing up his chest.