Dadonequus Discord Part 144

>And the rest of the night went about the same way. With each house you and your group visited. There was either a pony waiting for you or the house was empty due to it's occupants also out enjoying the night.
>All in all, you all only got a modest amount of candy. Nothing to brag about. But enough for your group to be disappointed.
>"Well, this Nightmare Night is a total bummer. We aren't gonna have a lot of candy after we offer it to Nightmare Moon." Scootaloo looked in her bag with a frown.
"Well......do we really have to offer it to Nightmare Moon? I mean...Luna is Nightmare Moon and last I checked, the elements of harmony blasted that part of her into nothingness."
>"Anon, we have to make an offering every year. Even if Luna is good now, it's part of the tradition." Sweetie Belle stated, a little surprised you didn't seem to want to follow along with it.
"But, eh...."
>The looks of your friends really dissuades you from giving your opinion. You'd just have to respect their ways. Even if it didn't make sense. In fact, you'd have to ask Celestia about it when you get the chance. The whole day seemed sort of demeaning now that you thought about it.
"..ok, well then. What do you want to do now?"
>"Well, we all could go to the town square and see what everypony else is up to. Then we can go to Granny Smith's spooky maze. That's what you wanted us to do anyway, right Applebloom?" Sweetie Belle asked her friend.
>Applebloom nodded "Yeah, you all will love it. Granny Smith is actually really good at setting up some spooky scary scares!"
>riiiight, you forgot Granny Smith had mentioned something about that to you.
"That actually sounds like a good idea to me, everypony else is good with it right?"
>The rest agreed
>"I just want to let everypony know that if you get too scared. Then I will give you all encouraging words like a real Princess would." Stated Diamond Tiara, trying to sound like a Princess.

>"I dunno, you didn't have any words at all when you thought Anon exploded." Scootaloo said in a slightly mocking tone. Smiling a arrogant smile at her. Way to be like your idol Scootaloo
>Diamond Tiara gruffed and walked passed her with a "humph"
>"I'm sorry that I cared about Anon so much that I lost consciousness. If you were really Anon's friend. You would have fainted too" Diamond Tiara stated, using her adoration for you as a reasoning for her fainting.
>"I am Anon's friend. That's why he gave me these wicked wings. What did you ever get from him?" Scootaloo started to get annoyed again. In fact, you could tell everyone was getting annoyed from their fighting.
>"Nothing, but I've the only pony here who's actually been to his house!"
>"Wha?!" That catches Applebloom by surprise "Anon, ya let Diamond Tiara into yer house?! How come ya never invited us?"
>The look on Applebloom's face. It suggested some serious hurt. She was doing a good job of holding back her feelings before. But apparently not being invited to your house was a trigger. Because you knew "Us" meant "me"
"you all.....never asked?"
>Applebloom stops to think. She couldn't even remember if she ever did. And considering she had never seen your house. She'd have to believe you. She didn't think you'd lie about that. "oh"
>...bullet dodged.
"ok."
>And as for the two squabbling fillies
"Can you both please not fight? I don't want to remember my first Nightmare Night as a test of patience. Especially If I have to separate you two from a fight."
>Scootaloo just hovered ahead with a huff "Finnnneeeee"
>Diamond Tiara had to stop however. It actually terrified her that your first Nightmare Night memory would be an unpleasant one.
>"Diamond Tiara?...are you ok?" Silver Spoon asked, She could see. absolutely tell. Something was wrong with her.
>Diamond Tiara nodded and gulped "Y-yeah. Silver Spoon...as my best friend, can I ask you something?"

>Silver Spoon smiled wide from that. She enjoyed it at anytime Diamond Tiara acknowledged her in a positive light. "What is it? I'll do anything for you! All you need to do is ask!"
>Diamond Tiara nods "Thank you...ahrm..now...if I ever fight with any of my friends again. Including you, give me a big slap on the face. ok?"
>Silver Spoon didn't know what to say to that. She was offput by those words. She couldn't just slap her. "O-ok?...b-but can it just be a nudge instead?"
>Diamond Tiara shook her head "A slap. It's gotta be hard enough to knock me to not being in the wrong. Ok? You got it?"
>Silver Spoon began to grimace as Diamond Tiara's stare became harder, trying to gauge an answer out of her. "......ok"
>Diamond Tiara then turned back to you and nodded "Ok Anon, you don't need to worry about that anymore."
>Dammit, there had to be a way to get her disinterested in you without crushing her to bits. The poor thing. If she even knew a bit of the truth about you. You don't think her heart would take it. You'd just have to hope Filthy Rich was right. and that it was just a filly's crush.
>The six of you continued on to the town square. There were a few booths set up. A few games. and all the ponies were in costume and having fun. They all looked pretty happy actually. Though...again. No sign of the Mane six. But...you do see a larger crowd of ponies. both adult and foal. at a booth. Next to the booth was a giant bag. But you couldn't tell what it had inside. Only that the bag itself was as big as the booth.
>as for the ponies gathered around, every moment there was a pony walking away from the booth with massive disappointment on their faces. Including a familiar little pony who once again decided to be a pirate this year. Pipsqueak.
>"ahh bugger...." Pipsqueak said, yeah..geez. he looked pretty damn upset.
>"Hey Pipsqueak..you ok? What happened?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Does it have anything to do with that booth over there?"

>"hmm?" Pipsqueak looked up to the group, and then sighed again. "Hey everypony....yeah, it's got to do with the booth. But it's really more of my fault. I got caught in all the excitement and I ended up spending all my bits I did."
>"All your bits? on what? Candy? It doesn't look like you got very much" Sweetie Belle took notice of Pip's nearly empty bag.
>Pip nodded. "Sort of. you noticed the bag, right friends?"
>You all nodded
>"Well, it's full of delectable treats straight from the Crystal Empire. And to get it, all you need to do is win a ball toss game. I tried really hard I did.....but I couldn't hit the last target. And I used up all my bits. So I couldn't try again."
>Sweetie Belle then realized Pip pretty much gambled all his money away. "Pip, what are you doing spending your bits like that in the first place? If you knew you were going to need your money, then why did you use it all?"
>Pip gulped, and felt a nervous pain in his tummy. "I..I...I just wanted to win really bad. It's a lot of candy. I just got caught up is all. And not to mention each game was really expensive. It's fifteen bits per play. I just thought...maybe once, that's all I needed...and then, before anypony knew it. I had spent all my bits. all thirty of it."
>"Fifteen bits for a single play?! What?!" Sweetie Belle was astonished.
>"Fifteen bits is alot, but ya say that bag is full of candy?" Applebloom asked
>Pip nodded "It sure is, and it's got so many good candy treats. Really, they let us have a sample and it was soooooo heavenly. I knew I just had to have it......but I messed up pretty bad, I think" He looked down. He felt pretty ashamed of himself. He even began to cry.
>Sweetie Belle now started to feel sorry for him. "Come on Pip...don't cry."
>"But it was my entire allowance!...." Pip dug his head into his hooves and cried louder "And I only have myself to blame"

>poor little shota horse. he gave in to whatever hype was going on over there and spent all his cash. You know you shouldn't...but.
"Heya Pip, you know who I am right?"
>You stepped up to him, he looked up with tear soaked eyes. poor thing. "....are you going to hurt me?"
>.....oh right..your costume.
"No no..it's me. Anon"
>"o-oh....mnnn..if..if I can say" he sobbed "That's a smashing good c-c-c-ostume. I didn't recognize you.....I'm sorry if I don't sound very enthusiastic about it....."
"it's fine...look" You open your Saddlebag. and put about sixty bits on the ground next to him. "Will this cover your losses?"
>At first Pip did nothing but sob, but after a moment. He looked towards the direction of the bits. and his eyes went wide "W-what's this?"
"Money, I want you to have it."
>"A-Anon...I barely know you. And this is easily double the money I had. I can't possibly..." Pip felt in his heart that he couldn't just take it from you. He didn't even know if you needed it.
"Just take it. I've got a lot more in my bag. This is nothing. You just got to promise me something"
>"But good sir, I just can't. What if you need it?" Pip didn't want to screw you over.
>you roll your single eye, then look at him with a threatening look.
"Take it or I'll beat you up"
>Pip gulps "W-well, when you put it like that....I'd be very happy to take it" Pip starts to scoop up the bits and puts them in his bag. "But what's the promise?"
"Easy, don't spend your money so stupidly. Got it?"
>Pip nodded profusely, a small smile started to appear on his face. And then...he dove in for a hug. "oh thank you Anon, sir. You have no idea how happy you've made me! Now my mum won't get angry at me for spending all my bits like I did. You really are the hero colt that everypony talks about."
>....awwww.......adorable.

>You give him a gentle pat on the head. amazing really, what really added to his cuteness was that he was even slightly smaller than you.
"Don't mention it, now why don't you go enjoy the rest of your night?"
>"I will sir! And thank you again sir! I will never forget this!"
>And then Pip went off happily, with a skip to his step. Trotting away merrily.
>"Woah Anon, that was amazing. You didn't even have to do that. Considering he spent his money like that." Sweetie Belle said, seems she wanted Pip to be stuck bitless. Was it because she felt it would have been a lesson learned? Even then, she also seemed relieved that you made him so happy.
>You shrug
"Poor guy got swept up with whatever was going on over there. I felt he deserved a break"
>All the fillies around you looked at you with amazement and adoration....especially Diamond Tiara. She found your actions to be very sweet and heroic. But you tried to ignore that.
>"So..what do you want to do now?" Sweetie Belle asked.
>You look over to the booth.....you wanted to check it out.
"I'm gonna go spend my money stupidly."

>You walk over to the crowd to get a better look at what was going on.
>But then you feel a yank on your tail.
>You look back. Seems they knew what you were going to do because all five of them were looking at you as if you were crazy.
>"Anon, what are you doing?" Diamond asked first. She didn't want to think you were going to go do the same thing Pipsqueak did.
"I'm gonna go see what's up with that candy bag."
>"you mean yer gonna try to win that bag by blowin' yer bits. Anon, you got the same eyes mah sister gets when she gets competitive...well...eye" Applebloom warned, she didn't want you to blow all your cash.
"Trust me Applebloom, it's going to be fine. I got plennnnntttyyy of cash. And besides, I wanna see what's really going on here. Every pony that steps away from here hasn't won that bag yet. I wanna see if it's even possible."
>"But the line is so long. We're gonna be here all night if we wait. Anon, I'm with you all the way if you want to spend your bits. I can certainly compensate you if you spend too much. But I don't want to sit here all night" Diamond Tiara whined, in truth. She didn't want to wait at all. She wasn't too interested to see what's going on. But she stayed for two reasons. You...and the possibility of you winning the bag.
>Silver Spoon rubbers under her chin with her hoof thinking, then stepped up and took a deep breath.
>"LISTEN EVERYPONY. DIAMOND TIARA IS HERE AND AS YOU KNOW. SHE'S THE DAUGHTER OF FILTHY RICH. SO STEP ASIDE, OR THERE WILL NEVER BE A DISCOUNT EVER AGAIN!" Silver Spoon yelled, announcing her best friend's presence.
>Many of the ponies ahead of you gasp and step aside for your group to step up to the booth.
>Silver Spoon nodded, happy with what she managed to do and steps aside for Diamond Tiara "How was that?"

>"That was perfect!" Diamond Tiara giggled, a little evilly even, Then looked to Silver Spoon with a cheerful smile "You did a really good job Silver Spoon."
>Silver Spoon was very happy to hear that, and stood with pride upon doing a good job. "Well, it wasn't anything too special. We are a cut above most."
>Diamond Tiara nodded "we are"
>.....huh..it seems they forgot who they were standing next to.
>In fact, as they went to walk up to the booth. You and the CMC were staring at them. Hurt and baffled that they'd just say that so freely.
>"........oh" Silver Spoon said, cringing
>"....well...come on, you all know we didn't mean you. You all knew that right?" Diamond Tiara put her eyes on you, especially hoping she didn't hurt your feelings most of all.
>And because you didn't want any fighting. You just let it go, and nod.
"Yeah..we know. Otherwise you wouldn't hang with us. Though you gotta work on that a little Diamond, that's kind of how your old self would talk. Don't you think?"
>"...y-yeah...Sorry..I'm.." Diamond Tiara looks to the whole group, and hangs her head a little "..I really am. I just got caught up in the moment"
>Silver Spoon does the same, of course, she also got caught up in the moment. and apologizes for the same reasons.
"Well, it's fine with me. I mean, just don't let that kind of stuff get to your head. What about you girls? You forgive them?"
>They nod.
>"ah mean, they did kind of got us to the front. Ah guess I can understand getting caught up in the moment....we sorta did once, so ah remember what it's like" Applebloom said. You could guess what moment she was talking about. But you knew it was more than once...like with the whole Gabby Gums fiasco
"Well, let's not dwell on it. We gotta stay positive. Since were gonna be swimming in candy in a few minutes."
>The moment of truth had arrived. The six of you walk up to the booth.

>What you saw was some sort of ball toss game themed after the moon There were nine targets that looked like some ghostly bats.
>And the two owners of the booth. The runners....were none of than...
>Well..you couldn't be sure.
>It looked like the Flim Flam brothers. But their manes were black. And they had beards. Though the one that looked like Flam still had a mustache.
>And then as they looked upon your group with big happy yet greedy smiles. They began to smile.
>"Well now cousin, a group of foals have come to challenge our game" The Flim looking pony said. In fact, hearing his voice. You were now sure it was him. They both must have been wearing a disguise. Too bad they couldn't fix up the way they spoke. But...you'd run with it for now. You did have candy to win.
>"Indeed cousin. Though, I hope you all have the bits to play. It's fifteen bits a ball." The Flam pony said, sounding a little dickish about it.
>"Now now cousin, don't sound so dishonest. You know there's more to this game than just tossing A ball. Yes, that's right my little ponies. The benefit for this game is that everytime you hit a target, you get another ball! so you basically get free chances if you couldn't hit all the targets at once. In fact, the game is very simple. All you have to do is hit these nine targets to make Nightmare Moon appear. And once you knock her down. That big BIG bag of candy is alllllll yours to do with what you wish. Top of the line, premium goodness straight from the Crystal Empire itself. Well worth over a hundred times more than the simple fifteen bits it costs to play. Whaddya say? Come on, give it a try. It is very simple"
>Applebloom stared hard at the both of them "Haven't I seen you two before?"
>The Flim pony seemed to have recognized Applebloom for a split second, but then relaxed, leaned over and gave her a gentle pat. "Perhaps, maybe you've heard of us. We're the Ring Ding Cousins! I'm Ring Ding..."

>And then Flam spoke "And I'm Ding Ding. And we're just here to bring joy to everypony here. But we do so love games. So we couldn't possibly give away this prize without a winner."
>More like a couple of Ding Dongs. But whatever, you were game.
"I'll play, just don't be surprised when I win first try."
>How bad could it be? just use your magic, aim, fire. Done. Candy...easy.
>"Indeed young sir, We have no doubt that you will win your first try" Ring Ding said...even though you KNEW he was Flim.
>"Just put your bits on the counter and the ball is yours to toss."
>you reach into your bag for the bits, but as you go to put it down. Applebloom stops you.
>"Anon, maybe you shouldn't. Ah dunno, but somethin' about these guys don't seem right"
>You give her a reassuring and warm smile
"Hey, look. I got plenty of cash. So it's not hurting me any. Let me just give it a shot. If I win, We'll have so much candy. That we can all just get fat and roll home."
>Applebloom smiled a little from that, she found it humorous. But just the same. She wouldn't let go of your leg. "Anon, are ya sure? ah don't want ya to spend all yer money just cuz you got an itch to win"
"I'll be fine Applebloom. Trust me. ok?"

>Applebloom reluctantly removes her hoof from your leg and steps back. She didn't seem so sure. But she had no reason not to trust you. "...ok..ah trust ya Anon. And I'll be rootin' for you."
>"Me too! I don't want to get fat or anything. But having enough candy to last a few years sounds pretty sweet!" Scootaloo cheered!
>Sweetie Belle sighed "I don't think Rarity will let me keep it all. She'll probably whine that'd it'd be too unladylike to eat so much candy..but...I can still eat a ton before going home" Sweetie Belle giggled "You can do it Anon!"
>"Well, I have no doubt. It is Anon after all." Diamond Tiara said with a absolution.
>"Yeah, it doesn't look that hard. I can't believe so many ponies have been losing to this." Stated Silver Spoon as she gazed at the targets.
"Well then"
>You slam the bits down on the counter, and lean up so you can get into a ball tossing position.
"Let's get this over with"