Post by Eris on Oct 10, 2015 19:31:59 GMT -5
Autumn is here! Autumn is here! Orange and red and orange and yellow and orange and... hey did we mention orange things? Well, this /is/ a pumpkin field, what did you expect? Vines and gourds seem to stretch on forever, in neat little rows, and ponies wander up and down searching for The One. Or Ones. Some are more ambitious than others, and are rolling giant orange monsters down the field, while others are more modest in their selections, with little families of small pumpkins. A ride in a hay wagon is the only (acceptable) way of making it to the field, and when one disembarks, hot mulled cider and fresh apples await the soon-to-be pumpkin hunters.
Out in the field, Eris has tasked herself with finding a pumpkin or two with which to decorate the Chancellery. With this in mind, the little griffon wanders through the rows, checking pumpkins here and there with a discerning eye - all the while sipping on a mug of piping-hot cider.
Snapdragon didn't want to be here, but her aunt insisted. It would do her good, she was told, to get out of her room and away from the ghastly costume preparations that she was making. So, under protest she was bundled out of her hoodie, and into the scarf that she was given last hearthwarming. The one that takes four turns around her neck and still trails behind her on the ground. Room to grow into, she was told. Of course, on the first opportunity Snapdragon bolted from custody, into the verdure of the pumpkin patch, and she skulks there still, knocking experimentally now again on a gourd, doubting the sincerity of the whole affair.
"Hey! Snappy!" Y'know, did Snapdragon ever actually /tell/ Eris her name? I mean, she was the mysterious filly at the Canterlot train station, then... Ah, well. The griffon lights up when she sees her sweets-fueled punk-rock-machine filly friend, and gives her a wave. Eris flaps her wings once, wobbily hopping over a row of pumpkins (and landing with a stumble), then trots over to Snappy. "What's up? You picking out a pumpkin to carve, too?"
Snapdragon startles as she hears her name, her head snapping up, scanning around for whoever it is that's calling here, answering automatically, "I didn't do it!" But when Eris comes into view she relaxes visibly, putting on a mask of studied cool, "Oh hey." She gives the nearest pumpkin a knock without looking - or tries too. She misses with the first strike, stumbles, then dents the gourd when she stumbles for her footing, "Ah! Uh, y-yeah. Just, yanno, looking for the right one."
Amid the round-bellied gourds in the pumpkin field, there are, as most farms have, a few pony-scarecrows, assembled roughly from sticks and burlap and foal nightmares and a pinch of love. One such scarecrow has been listlessly twitching in the peppery autumn wind on the edges of the scene, and every time the camera cuts away from Snapdragon and Eris for a moment, when the shot is alternated back, the scarecrow is a few paces closer. In living rooms across the nation, small children shout warnings at the screen for the two young protagonists to LOOK BEHIND YOU!! It's even on a gaunt and splintery wooden post, just a discarded plank, really, and the entire thing, post and all, keeps closing in. At no point does it seem to move aside from the windchime-jangle of the limbs in the breeze, yet closer and closer it comes, until the camera cuts back to Eris, and by then it's /looming/ inches away behind her, tattered strands of old rags and burlap tickling at the back of the griffon's head.
Eris watches Snapdragon pull that smooth move, and grins. "I guess that's not the right one, then, huh?" She points a talon at the hoof-gash in the innocent pumpkin. "Well, I figured-" she stops for a moment as she hears some ominous music start up. Huh. "I, uh, I figured maybe I could get a few to decorate the Chancellery with, since it's so... stuffy and boring in there." Did not make Businesspony Magazine's list of Top Ten Workplaces. The ominous music gets a little louder, and Eris looks a bit worried. "Hey, do you hear that? It sounds kinda impending doom-y?" She looks around but sees nothing. Pumpkins, ponies, doomcrow. Er, scarecrow. The griffon shrugs, shakes her head, and points a talon towards the larger (read: unreasonably huge) pumpkins. "Maybe... one of /those/. We cou-" she stops as the haunting cello returns, fast-paced and urgent. There's something right behind her, isn't there? Slowly, her head turns around to se- GAH! She feels that chill that seems to follow Nettie, and that tickling burlap... and Eris jumps with a squawk. The griffellor falls onto the ground and scrambles back. "Aughwhugat the heck?!"
Snapdragon doesn't answer Eris' question about the music, but she is staring. She was watching Eris the whole time, but she never saw the scarecrow move. Not until it was /right there/, and now she can't take her eyes off of it. Fillies' eyes are big, but none of them are as big as Snapdragon's right now. They seem to fill her face as her mouth works open and closed, trying and failing to form words, or even to make sounds, though her hoof comes slowly up, pointing. Pointing!
The scarecrow topples forward with a lurch and onto all four hooves, springs creaking a bit, and of /course/ it's Nettleglum, who else creaks like that aside from Granny Smith in damp weather? "Good evening, dears. How nice to see you getting into the festive spirit for this most joyful and solemn of holidays," she deadpans. The plank that supported her as a scarecrow is still tightly lashed to her with rope and now that she's upright juts out along the length of her back like a second, slightly more termite-eaten spine. She peels off the burlap sack covering her head (Is this an improvement? Only you can decide.) and attaches it to a nail on the weathered board. Nettie looks from stupefied filly expression to wide-mouthed grifflet and understands totally-- there is a raw majesty to this season that takes the breath away. ._. Assuming you had breath to begin with.
Eris/had/ breath to begin with, but as the scarecrow animates, it's all taken from her in fright. This is it. Ghostfeather is here to claim her soul. The tales were true! She hasn't honoured her ancestors enough! Her eyes squeeze shut... until she hears the (only mildly less terrifying) voice of Nettleglum. Her eyes peek back open, and Eris stammers, "O-o-oh, it's you. M-miz Nettleglum." Finally, the grifflet remembers to breathe, and she does so with great gusto. ~Wheeze~ "I, uh, y-yeah, it's good. Good holiday to see spirit. Uh, I mean, good scary to you see." Stop, Eris, and think. "G-good to see you." A glance around at least confirms that shes not hallucinating this - Snapdragon can see Nettie, too. "I, uh, I... yeah. Pumpkins. Carve. Chancellery."
Snapdragon's left eye is twitching as Eris cringes beside her. She wants to cringe. She wants to shout for help. She wants to scramble away, screaming, but there's some sort of short between her brain, and the rest of her. If one were to listen very carefully one might hear the sparking, or maybe smell the ozone in the crisp october air. There's some development as Nettie lands on all fours, and Snapdragon inclines away, finally managing a strangled little, "aaaaaaah!" And then - and then it's like a switch has been thrown. The little filly's eyes focus, and a crooked grin pulls up the corners of her mouth, "Oh! Hey! I know you!" She points anew, and then throws a forehoof around Eris' neck, pulling her in, chummy like, "Eris! Eris! This is the pony who got me my candy!"
Snapdragon doublechecks with Nettleglum, "You, uh, are a pony, right?" She doesn't want to be rude.
Nettleglum usually prefers to carve Deathrattle Gourds (Who doesn't?) but with the season having been so dry they're quite nimble this year and she hasn't caught as many as she would otherwise like. Not that there's anything wrong with carving a pumpkin instead! Pumpkins are old friends, and who doesn't enjoy carving up an old friend? Twisting her head back at an angle inspired by Yogis and maw-worms, Nettleglum removes a small shiny sickle from her vest pocket and begins shambling among the spiniest and most thorny of the pumpkin vines. Of course, she remembers Miss Snapdragon-- 182 Primrose Court, second floor, corner bedroom, with the gingham patterned bed-skirt. ._. Nettie will have to apologize for the hoofprint she left in the salt-water taffy dune under the bed at some point. "Certainly dear. I know, the trappings of the court must add an aura of glamour to a pony that makes them seem unreal, but I assure you, I am quite as down to earth as anypony else, and put on my horseshoes one at a time and with with white-hot iron spikes just as everypony does."
D: Eris is so, so, SO glad she doesn't wear horseshoes. When Snappy pulls the griffon in, Eris's head bobbles, and she says, "Yeah, it's Miz Nettleglum. She works for Princess Luna, and lives in Ponyville." If the edge of the Everfree can truly be called part of Ponyville. And Eris is sure the things in Nettleglum's yard pose a zoning violation - but she doesn't know a pony (or griffon) that would hazard to enforce that. "It's, uh.... 'good' to see you, Miz Glum. What... what're you doing out here?" She follows along with Nettie (at a safe distance), and occasionally glances at the grourds they pass.
Snapdragon takes a moment to peer at her hooves before she trails along after Eris and Nettie. Maybe she should start wearing shoes. White-hot nails sounds pretty punk rock! "Oh yeah!" She's answering Eris now, "I know she works for Princess Luna, I mean, she was the one who talked to Luna and then Luna made the candy come." She remembers the day like it was yesterday. It was glorious. Like mana from heaven. She has no need to seek for the place where the bluebird sings to the lemonade springs. No. She knows where the big Rock Candy mountain lies. It's in her attic, "Are you looking for the biggest punkin?" She's talking to Nettie now, "For the palace party? Are you going to invite us?" She's subtle, "Will there be games, and music, and treats, and dancing?"
"Decorating, dear," comes the sepulchral and toneless reply from somewhere in the tangles of pumpkin vines, as Nettleglum slithers into one shadowy snarl of vine and then emerges an improbably long way off on the other side of a different row of gourds. "I have to put up a festive display." She lifts her head, and the sickle in her teeth, and brings it down at a sweeping angle across a vine. A gourd exactly the size and shape of a griffon skull bounces free from the patch and rolls to a halt at Eris' feet, staring up even before it's been carved. "I regret not, Miss Snapdragon. Her Majesty doubtless has her own plans for such an important occasion. As for her sister, I am sure she will invite as many of her friends as she can coax to Canterlot for some sort of revelry. Cake is usually involved."
Eris listens to Snapdragon's talking about... a palace party?! Eyes go wide, and she looks over at Nettie - just in time to see her slice a pumpkin off. A pumpkin that... Oh. Oh, my. She tenderly picks up the skullkin in shaking talons, then presents it to Nettie. "U-uh, here..." Eris can stare down a chimera and stalk a timberwolf, but Nettleglum, and the things that happen around her? Nope nope nope. "Well, uh... what'll /you/ be doing for Nightmare Night?" She glances over at Snappy, but already knows what the filly will be doing. Candy. Candy candy candy.
Snapdragon looks visibly disappointed, her mouth scrunching into a tight line, "Oh. Cake is okay. I guess." She kicks at a convenient rock before she's distracted by the skull-shaped gourd. She leans in close, with big eyes, staring for a good long moment before she gives Eris a nudge, whispering sotto vocce, "Hey. Hey. Did you notice that looks like a - uh? Huh? Oh! I'm totally going out Trick'r Treatin'!"
Nettleglum shambles back onto the path, trailing broken oozing ends of pumpkin vines, some of which are snaking up her back leg and hunched along the board. She takes the offered decapitated pumpkin by the crest-- er, stem-- and drops it into the burlap sack. "Oh, we have a marvelous family gathering every year, dear. Cousin Baleful, and Cousin Snidely... Aunt Lucrezia... oh, everypony will be there. I hear Cousin Dapplegrim is in a dungeon in Saddle Arabia. I do hope he's been taking lots of snapshots to show off."
Eris looks sidelong at Snappy. "Yeah, I know it looks like." How does Nettie find the most terrifying pumpkins? Eris taps on a large pumpkin with a talon, then looks over at Nettie again. "A family reunion?" She can only imagine what Nettie's family is like. Wait. No. She /can't/ imagine that, and it's probably better that way. "Oh? That, uh... that sounds nice." Gulp. Note to self: stay far away from... everything. She's seen Nettie appear from a cloud of flies, ooze out of a drain, and crawl from a sewer. Nowhere is safe. "Hey, Snappy, maybe you, me and Shutterbug could, y'know... get candy and stuff together." Because the three of them wouldn't get into any trouble at all, together. Just innocent candy-gathering.
Snapdragon finds that her trailing scarf has gotten itself caught, tangled in trailing vines and leaves. Those didn't seem to be there before. It's almost like they're following her, and as she tugs at her scarf she would swear that they were clutching at it on purpose! Stupid vines! "Uhhhh. That sounds, nice, I guess?" It really doesn't. Family reunions are so uncool. Eris' suggestion sounds much better though, "Oh! Hey! Yeah! We totaly should! I bet we'd get tons!"
Eris' image of Nettleglum's family reunion: Nettie, in the foreground. Behind her, a shambling mass of eyes, hooves, tentacles, and gaping mouths. Wearing a bowler hat. Nettleglum swivels one leg jointlessly and the rest of her body seems to give up on inertia and follows, moving down the row of pumpkins and examining them with a practiced eye. One of the two in her head, for a change! Too tall. Too round. Too orange. Aha, that one is... oh. That's Miss Snapdragon. Pity. Nettie was already picturing it on a fence-post with a candle in it. Maybe she can entice Miss Snapdragon to put a tealight on her tongue just this once? No? Miss Snapdragon would probably think differently of the family reunion were she to know Nettie's clan meets in Uncle Karloff's castle on the moors of Trotsylvania. "Surely you both plan to carve some festive decorations for the event, Miss Eris?"
Yeah, that's about right. Probably /two/ shambling masses, though. At least. For the record, Eris is not a fan of shambling masses that defy classification - especially if they're anything like Miz Nettleglum. Snappy's agreement to the hastily thought-up plan, though, snaps Eris out of her Nettie-family-nightmare, and the griff gets a smile back. "Awesome! I'll have to come up with a costume or something." She looks over at Nettleglum as if waiting for her to mention some horrifying costume idea - but is instead interrogated by the creaky mare. "Oh, uh, yeah. Pumpkins! Some for the Chancellery, and then prolly some with Shutterbug, too."
Snapdragon gives her scarf one final tug, yanking it free this time with enough force to send her tumbling backwards, tangling herself up in the trailing ends of the scarf until she's a neatly packaged snarl of particolored pony, just there, at Eris' talons. Struggling ensues, and very indignant sounds, interspaced with bit of conversation, "It's going to have to be...ever loving...a really good costume to...frizzafrazza...compete with mine!"
Nettleglum is so pleased. And they say the youth of Ponyville has no initiative and is not vaccinated against puce-ponypox. ._. Nettie happens to know both are false. She has access to the town reservoir, after all. "How delightful. You have all your carving supplies, I hope? I certainly have spare pumpkin carving kits, should you need them." Creeeeeeak...~ she angles back and dips her head into the burlap sack, removing the non-pumpkin contents with her teeth to lay at the forehooves and talons of the two of them. "And of course, they are age-suitable for young fillies. Small glowfly lanterns, no-point sculpting saw... no-point bone saw... lineaments and tourniquet, blasting caps, a binaural recording of howler monkeys-- you know, just the usual pumpkin carving necessities?" There they are, every one of them.
Eris uses her dexterous talons to help untangle the Snapdragon-knot. "Oh yeah? I bet my costume will blow your horseshoes off!" Note: she still has no clue what her costume will be. "Carving supplies?" Her head turns to face Nettie once more, still talons-deep in Snapscarf. "I... I can get some at the store, I guess, the little plastic knives and... and..." she peters off as the pumpkin surgery toolkit is laid out before them. Is that a container of Nettleglum Brand Enriched Strontium(tm)? And those saws... so sharp. And such explodey things... "This... this is /great/!" Grin. "What else ya got?!"
Snapdragon looks even more indignant as she's unparcled. Griffon show-off. Thinks she's so cool with her dexterous phalanges. Pft. She's perfectly (squirm) capable of (wiggle) getting out of this (struggle) on her ... oh hey! Explosives! "What's the tourniquet for, Mizz Nettleglum?"
"Well, naturally the kit is applicable to Deathrattle Gourds as well, Miss Snapdragon," explains Nettleglum without answering anything, really. "Surely you have carved a pumpkin before, Miss Eris. It is a lovely and relaxing pastime, dear, like taxidermy. The gentle rasp of the saw against the flesh; the soft, damp /snap/ as fibrous pulp from the body cavity is torn lose-- the cheerful glow through the eye-holes once a candle is inserted into the hollow husk..." Wait. Is... she talking about the pumpkin carving or the taxidermy now. Do you really want to know?
Eris knows the practice well enough! Shutterbug and Solar_Eclipse introduced it to her almost three years ago - and yes, she's certainly a fan of it. "Oh yeah, I love it Miz Glum!" Giving an experience not unlike tearing into your next meal, pumpkin-carving is certainly a griffon-appropriate activity. "This, uh... this'll do perfect!" She looks up at Nettie. "Are you... /sure/ we can have this stuff?" Pleasesayyespleasesayyespleasesayyes. Eris can always use more sharp things. Are there more explosives, too? Should she ask?
Snapdragon makes a small 'o' with her mouth as the tourniquet is explained to her, "I see." For what it's worth, she's a pretty good liar. It's easy to lie when you can change the subject so quickly, "I've carved my own punkin for three years in a row now! This year it's going to have fangs, and angry eyes, and, fire breath! Maybe. My aunt says that I need supervision with sharp things, but I'm sure she won't mind if I have this stuff! It's really neat! I'll carve the best punkin ever!" She's beaming, all smiles, and then there's a flicker of confusion as she asks, "What's taxi-derby?"
Nettleglum is a responsible adult and a member of Luna's court. Quite naturally, she creaks a nod. "Of course, dear. I'm only sorry I did not remember to bring the glow-in-the-dark stickers... though perhaps the Strontium will suffice." She stiffly slides the bone saw closer to Eris with a hoof. You may wish to clean it off first. You may also wish to have those stains forensically analyzed. She leaves the remainder of the equipment for Eris to collar. "Taxi-dermy, dear. It is how Miss Fluttershy makes sure love lasts forever." ._.
"I can supervise you!" Eris volunteers. She's the Chancellor, so clearly she's a responsible griffon. Yes, please try not to laugh too much when reading that. And clearly Snapdragon is a foal that can be supervised effectively. Especially by an ambitious young griffon. When that bone saw is pushed towards her, Eris looks positively gleeful - which is a possible thing if you don't overanalyze the situation. Nettleglum pushing a bone saw towards you... Yeah, no, don't think about that. The griffon packs a set of the tools (and blasting caps and howler-monkey recordings and strontium and...) into her side bag, then... uh... No, no, best not to hug Nettie. Eris offers a smile. "Thanks Miz Glum! This'll help a lot." Her gaze turns towards the pumpkins that are bigger than her. Oh, yes...
Snapdragon's eyes are big as she watches the saw passed from Nettleglum to Eris. Her smile is probably best described as gleeful, but it's edging towards manic. So shiney. So sharp. She reaches slowly out to touch it, but pulls back at the last moment before turning her eyes toward Nettleglum. There's awe there, and joy. For a moment it looks like she may cry, "Thank you SO much, Mizz Nettie. You're the best!" This is going to be the best Nightmare Night ever! Move over TPing ponies houses. This year she's got blasting caps!
Nettleglum is pleased to contribute to the healthy childhood of so many of Ponyville's young. Uncle Karloff always said it's important for the young to have a creative outlet, and popsicle stick lightning rods are so last season. This pose would like to say that Nettleglum beams back at the children. ._. Her bright smile says it all. ._. Do... you really need me to continue this gag? ._. "Of course, dears."
With weapo- er, carving kit in tow, Eris tugs on Snapdragon's scarf and points off towards the absurdly large pumpkins. "C'mon, Snappy - let's find a big one I can put in Town Hall! You can help me carve it wth this new stuff." Eris looks at the bone saw in her talons. "Yeah, we can give it a bunch of different faces, and then put the howler monkey thing in it... it'll be /perfect/! Mayor_Mare'll love it!" Eris bounds over a row of vines, then gives a wave to Nettie. "Thanks again, Miss Glum! Hope you have a... uh..." What's the right way to say it? "...bad day."
Out in the field, Eris has tasked herself with finding a pumpkin or two with which to decorate the Chancellery. With this in mind, the little griffon wanders through the rows, checking pumpkins here and there with a discerning eye - all the while sipping on a mug of piping-hot cider.
Snapdragon didn't want to be here, but her aunt insisted. It would do her good, she was told, to get out of her room and away from the ghastly costume preparations that she was making. So, under protest she was bundled out of her hoodie, and into the scarf that she was given last hearthwarming. The one that takes four turns around her neck and still trails behind her on the ground. Room to grow into, she was told. Of course, on the first opportunity Snapdragon bolted from custody, into the verdure of the pumpkin patch, and she skulks there still, knocking experimentally now again on a gourd, doubting the sincerity of the whole affair.
"Hey! Snappy!" Y'know, did Snapdragon ever actually /tell/ Eris her name? I mean, she was the mysterious filly at the Canterlot train station, then... Ah, well. The griffon lights up when she sees her sweets-fueled punk-rock-machine filly friend, and gives her a wave. Eris flaps her wings once, wobbily hopping over a row of pumpkins (and landing with a stumble), then trots over to Snappy. "What's up? You picking out a pumpkin to carve, too?"
Snapdragon startles as she hears her name, her head snapping up, scanning around for whoever it is that's calling here, answering automatically, "I didn't do it!" But when Eris comes into view she relaxes visibly, putting on a mask of studied cool, "Oh hey." She gives the nearest pumpkin a knock without looking - or tries too. She misses with the first strike, stumbles, then dents the gourd when she stumbles for her footing, "Ah! Uh, y-yeah. Just, yanno, looking for the right one."
Amid the round-bellied gourds in the pumpkin field, there are, as most farms have, a few pony-scarecrows, assembled roughly from sticks and burlap and foal nightmares and a pinch of love. One such scarecrow has been listlessly twitching in the peppery autumn wind on the edges of the scene, and every time the camera cuts away from Snapdragon and Eris for a moment, when the shot is alternated back, the scarecrow is a few paces closer. In living rooms across the nation, small children shout warnings at the screen for the two young protagonists to LOOK BEHIND YOU!! It's even on a gaunt and splintery wooden post, just a discarded plank, really, and the entire thing, post and all, keeps closing in. At no point does it seem to move aside from the windchime-jangle of the limbs in the breeze, yet closer and closer it comes, until the camera cuts back to Eris, and by then it's /looming/ inches away behind her, tattered strands of old rags and burlap tickling at the back of the griffon's head.
Eris watches Snapdragon pull that smooth move, and grins. "I guess that's not the right one, then, huh?" She points a talon at the hoof-gash in the innocent pumpkin. "Well, I figured-" she stops for a moment as she hears some ominous music start up. Huh. "I, uh, I figured maybe I could get a few to decorate the Chancellery with, since it's so... stuffy and boring in there." Did not make Businesspony Magazine's list of Top Ten Workplaces. The ominous music gets a little louder, and Eris looks a bit worried. "Hey, do you hear that? It sounds kinda impending doom-y?" She looks around but sees nothing. Pumpkins, ponies, doomcrow. Er, scarecrow. The griffon shrugs, shakes her head, and points a talon towards the larger (read: unreasonably huge) pumpkins. "Maybe... one of /those/. We cou-" she stops as the haunting cello returns, fast-paced and urgent. There's something right behind her, isn't there? Slowly, her head turns around to se- GAH! She feels that chill that seems to follow Nettie, and that tickling burlap... and Eris jumps with a squawk. The griffellor falls onto the ground and scrambles back. "Aughwhugat the heck?!"
Snapdragon doesn't answer Eris' question about the music, but she is staring. She was watching Eris the whole time, but she never saw the scarecrow move. Not until it was /right there/, and now she can't take her eyes off of it. Fillies' eyes are big, but none of them are as big as Snapdragon's right now. They seem to fill her face as her mouth works open and closed, trying and failing to form words, or even to make sounds, though her hoof comes slowly up, pointing. Pointing!
The scarecrow topples forward with a lurch and onto all four hooves, springs creaking a bit, and of /course/ it's Nettleglum, who else creaks like that aside from Granny Smith in damp weather? "Good evening, dears. How nice to see you getting into the festive spirit for this most joyful and solemn of holidays," she deadpans. The plank that supported her as a scarecrow is still tightly lashed to her with rope and now that she's upright juts out along the length of her back like a second, slightly more termite-eaten spine. She peels off the burlap sack covering her head (Is this an improvement? Only you can decide.) and attaches it to a nail on the weathered board. Nettie looks from stupefied filly expression to wide-mouthed grifflet and understands totally-- there is a raw majesty to this season that takes the breath away. ._. Assuming you had breath to begin with.
Eris/had/ breath to begin with, but as the scarecrow animates, it's all taken from her in fright. This is it. Ghostfeather is here to claim her soul. The tales were true! She hasn't honoured her ancestors enough! Her eyes squeeze shut... until she hears the (only mildly less terrifying) voice of Nettleglum. Her eyes peek back open, and Eris stammers, "O-o-oh, it's you. M-miz Nettleglum." Finally, the grifflet remembers to breathe, and she does so with great gusto. ~Wheeze~ "I, uh, y-yeah, it's good. Good holiday to see spirit. Uh, I mean, good scary to you see." Stop, Eris, and think. "G-good to see you." A glance around at least confirms that shes not hallucinating this - Snapdragon can see Nettie, too. "I, uh, I... yeah. Pumpkins. Carve. Chancellery."
Snapdragon's left eye is twitching as Eris cringes beside her. She wants to cringe. She wants to shout for help. She wants to scramble away, screaming, but there's some sort of short between her brain, and the rest of her. If one were to listen very carefully one might hear the sparking, or maybe smell the ozone in the crisp october air. There's some development as Nettie lands on all fours, and Snapdragon inclines away, finally managing a strangled little, "aaaaaaah!" And then - and then it's like a switch has been thrown. The little filly's eyes focus, and a crooked grin pulls up the corners of her mouth, "Oh! Hey! I know you!" She points anew, and then throws a forehoof around Eris' neck, pulling her in, chummy like, "Eris! Eris! This is the pony who got me my candy!"
Snapdragon doublechecks with Nettleglum, "You, uh, are a pony, right?" She doesn't want to be rude.
Nettleglum usually prefers to carve Deathrattle Gourds (Who doesn't?) but with the season having been so dry they're quite nimble this year and she hasn't caught as many as she would otherwise like. Not that there's anything wrong with carving a pumpkin instead! Pumpkins are old friends, and who doesn't enjoy carving up an old friend? Twisting her head back at an angle inspired by Yogis and maw-worms, Nettleglum removes a small shiny sickle from her vest pocket and begins shambling among the spiniest and most thorny of the pumpkin vines. Of course, she remembers Miss Snapdragon-- 182 Primrose Court, second floor, corner bedroom, with the gingham patterned bed-skirt. ._. Nettie will have to apologize for the hoofprint she left in the salt-water taffy dune under the bed at some point. "Certainly dear. I know, the trappings of the court must add an aura of glamour to a pony that makes them seem unreal, but I assure you, I am quite as down to earth as anypony else, and put on my horseshoes one at a time and with with white-hot iron spikes just as everypony does."
D: Eris is so, so, SO glad she doesn't wear horseshoes. When Snappy pulls the griffon in, Eris's head bobbles, and she says, "Yeah, it's Miz Nettleglum. She works for Princess Luna, and lives in Ponyville." If the edge of the Everfree can truly be called part of Ponyville. And Eris is sure the things in Nettleglum's yard pose a zoning violation - but she doesn't know a pony (or griffon) that would hazard to enforce that. "It's, uh.... 'good' to see you, Miz Glum. What... what're you doing out here?" She follows along with Nettie (at a safe distance), and occasionally glances at the grourds they pass.
Snapdragon takes a moment to peer at her hooves before she trails along after Eris and Nettie. Maybe she should start wearing shoes. White-hot nails sounds pretty punk rock! "Oh yeah!" She's answering Eris now, "I know she works for Princess Luna, I mean, she was the one who talked to Luna and then Luna made the candy come." She remembers the day like it was yesterday. It was glorious. Like mana from heaven. She has no need to seek for the place where the bluebird sings to the lemonade springs. No. She knows where the big Rock Candy mountain lies. It's in her attic, "Are you looking for the biggest punkin?" She's talking to Nettie now, "For the palace party? Are you going to invite us?" She's subtle, "Will there be games, and music, and treats, and dancing?"
"Decorating, dear," comes the sepulchral and toneless reply from somewhere in the tangles of pumpkin vines, as Nettleglum slithers into one shadowy snarl of vine and then emerges an improbably long way off on the other side of a different row of gourds. "I have to put up a festive display." She lifts her head, and the sickle in her teeth, and brings it down at a sweeping angle across a vine. A gourd exactly the size and shape of a griffon skull bounces free from the patch and rolls to a halt at Eris' feet, staring up even before it's been carved. "I regret not, Miss Snapdragon. Her Majesty doubtless has her own plans for such an important occasion. As for her sister, I am sure she will invite as many of her friends as she can coax to Canterlot for some sort of revelry. Cake is usually involved."
Eris listens to Snapdragon's talking about... a palace party?! Eyes go wide, and she looks over at Nettie - just in time to see her slice a pumpkin off. A pumpkin that... Oh. Oh, my. She tenderly picks up the skullkin in shaking talons, then presents it to Nettie. "U-uh, here..." Eris can stare down a chimera and stalk a timberwolf, but Nettleglum, and the things that happen around her? Nope nope nope. "Well, uh... what'll /you/ be doing for Nightmare Night?" She glances over at Snappy, but already knows what the filly will be doing. Candy. Candy candy candy.
Snapdragon looks visibly disappointed, her mouth scrunching into a tight line, "Oh. Cake is okay. I guess." She kicks at a convenient rock before she's distracted by the skull-shaped gourd. She leans in close, with big eyes, staring for a good long moment before she gives Eris a nudge, whispering sotto vocce, "Hey. Hey. Did you notice that looks like a - uh? Huh? Oh! I'm totally going out Trick'r Treatin'!"
Nettleglum shambles back onto the path, trailing broken oozing ends of pumpkin vines, some of which are snaking up her back leg and hunched along the board. She takes the offered decapitated pumpkin by the crest-- er, stem-- and drops it into the burlap sack. "Oh, we have a marvelous family gathering every year, dear. Cousin Baleful, and Cousin Snidely... Aunt Lucrezia... oh, everypony will be there. I hear Cousin Dapplegrim is in a dungeon in Saddle Arabia. I do hope he's been taking lots of snapshots to show off."
Eris looks sidelong at Snappy. "Yeah, I know it looks like." How does Nettie find the most terrifying pumpkins? Eris taps on a large pumpkin with a talon, then looks over at Nettie again. "A family reunion?" She can only imagine what Nettie's family is like. Wait. No. She /can't/ imagine that, and it's probably better that way. "Oh? That, uh... that sounds nice." Gulp. Note to self: stay far away from... everything. She's seen Nettie appear from a cloud of flies, ooze out of a drain, and crawl from a sewer. Nowhere is safe. "Hey, Snappy, maybe you, me and Shutterbug could, y'know... get candy and stuff together." Because the three of them wouldn't get into any trouble at all, together. Just innocent candy-gathering.
Snapdragon finds that her trailing scarf has gotten itself caught, tangled in trailing vines and leaves. Those didn't seem to be there before. It's almost like they're following her, and as she tugs at her scarf she would swear that they were clutching at it on purpose! Stupid vines! "Uhhhh. That sounds, nice, I guess?" It really doesn't. Family reunions are so uncool. Eris' suggestion sounds much better though, "Oh! Hey! Yeah! We totaly should! I bet we'd get tons!"
Eris' image of Nettleglum's family reunion: Nettie, in the foreground. Behind her, a shambling mass of eyes, hooves, tentacles, and gaping mouths. Wearing a bowler hat. Nettleglum swivels one leg jointlessly and the rest of her body seems to give up on inertia and follows, moving down the row of pumpkins and examining them with a practiced eye. One of the two in her head, for a change! Too tall. Too round. Too orange. Aha, that one is... oh. That's Miss Snapdragon. Pity. Nettie was already picturing it on a fence-post with a candle in it. Maybe she can entice Miss Snapdragon to put a tealight on her tongue just this once? No? Miss Snapdragon would probably think differently of the family reunion were she to know Nettie's clan meets in Uncle Karloff's castle on the moors of Trotsylvania. "Surely you both plan to carve some festive decorations for the event, Miss Eris?"
Yeah, that's about right. Probably /two/ shambling masses, though. At least. For the record, Eris is not a fan of shambling masses that defy classification - especially if they're anything like Miz Nettleglum. Snappy's agreement to the hastily thought-up plan, though, snaps Eris out of her Nettie-family-nightmare, and the griff gets a smile back. "Awesome! I'll have to come up with a costume or something." She looks over at Nettleglum as if waiting for her to mention some horrifying costume idea - but is instead interrogated by the creaky mare. "Oh, uh, yeah. Pumpkins! Some for the Chancellery, and then prolly some with Shutterbug, too."
Snapdragon gives her scarf one final tug, yanking it free this time with enough force to send her tumbling backwards, tangling herself up in the trailing ends of the scarf until she's a neatly packaged snarl of particolored pony, just there, at Eris' talons. Struggling ensues, and very indignant sounds, interspaced with bit of conversation, "It's going to have to be...ever loving...a really good costume to...frizzafrazza...compete with mine!"
Nettleglum is so pleased. And they say the youth of Ponyville has no initiative and is not vaccinated against puce-ponypox. ._. Nettie happens to know both are false. She has access to the town reservoir, after all. "How delightful. You have all your carving supplies, I hope? I certainly have spare pumpkin carving kits, should you need them." Creeeeeeak...~ she angles back and dips her head into the burlap sack, removing the non-pumpkin contents with her teeth to lay at the forehooves and talons of the two of them. "And of course, they are age-suitable for young fillies. Small glowfly lanterns, no-point sculpting saw... no-point bone saw... lineaments and tourniquet, blasting caps, a binaural recording of howler monkeys-- you know, just the usual pumpkin carving necessities?" There they are, every one of them.
Eris uses her dexterous talons to help untangle the Snapdragon-knot. "Oh yeah? I bet my costume will blow your horseshoes off!" Note: she still has no clue what her costume will be. "Carving supplies?" Her head turns to face Nettie once more, still talons-deep in Snapscarf. "I... I can get some at the store, I guess, the little plastic knives and... and..." she peters off as the pumpkin surgery toolkit is laid out before them. Is that a container of Nettleglum Brand Enriched Strontium(tm)? And those saws... so sharp. And such explodey things... "This... this is /great/!" Grin. "What else ya got?!"
Snapdragon looks even more indignant as she's unparcled. Griffon show-off. Thinks she's so cool with her dexterous phalanges. Pft. She's perfectly (squirm) capable of (wiggle) getting out of this (struggle) on her ... oh hey! Explosives! "What's the tourniquet for, Mizz Nettleglum?"
"Well, naturally the kit is applicable to Deathrattle Gourds as well, Miss Snapdragon," explains Nettleglum without answering anything, really. "Surely you have carved a pumpkin before, Miss Eris. It is a lovely and relaxing pastime, dear, like taxidermy. The gentle rasp of the saw against the flesh; the soft, damp /snap/ as fibrous pulp from the body cavity is torn lose-- the cheerful glow through the eye-holes once a candle is inserted into the hollow husk..." Wait. Is... she talking about the pumpkin carving or the taxidermy now. Do you really want to know?
Eris knows the practice well enough! Shutterbug and Solar_Eclipse introduced it to her almost three years ago - and yes, she's certainly a fan of it. "Oh yeah, I love it Miz Glum!" Giving an experience not unlike tearing into your next meal, pumpkin-carving is certainly a griffon-appropriate activity. "This, uh... this'll do perfect!" She looks up at Nettie. "Are you... /sure/ we can have this stuff?" Pleasesayyespleasesayyespleasesayyes. Eris can always use more sharp things. Are there more explosives, too? Should she ask?
Snapdragon makes a small 'o' with her mouth as the tourniquet is explained to her, "I see." For what it's worth, she's a pretty good liar. It's easy to lie when you can change the subject so quickly, "I've carved my own punkin for three years in a row now! This year it's going to have fangs, and angry eyes, and, fire breath! Maybe. My aunt says that I need supervision with sharp things, but I'm sure she won't mind if I have this stuff! It's really neat! I'll carve the best punkin ever!" She's beaming, all smiles, and then there's a flicker of confusion as she asks, "What's taxi-derby?"
Nettleglum is a responsible adult and a member of Luna's court. Quite naturally, she creaks a nod. "Of course, dear. I'm only sorry I did not remember to bring the glow-in-the-dark stickers... though perhaps the Strontium will suffice." She stiffly slides the bone saw closer to Eris with a hoof. You may wish to clean it off first. You may also wish to have those stains forensically analyzed. She leaves the remainder of the equipment for Eris to collar. "Taxi-dermy, dear. It is how Miss Fluttershy makes sure love lasts forever." ._.
"I can supervise you!" Eris volunteers. She's the Chancellor, so clearly she's a responsible griffon. Yes, please try not to laugh too much when reading that. And clearly Snapdragon is a foal that can be supervised effectively. Especially by an ambitious young griffon. When that bone saw is pushed towards her, Eris looks positively gleeful - which is a possible thing if you don't overanalyze the situation. Nettleglum pushing a bone saw towards you... Yeah, no, don't think about that. The griffon packs a set of the tools (and blasting caps and howler-monkey recordings and strontium and...) into her side bag, then... uh... No, no, best not to hug Nettie. Eris offers a smile. "Thanks Miz Glum! This'll help a lot." Her gaze turns towards the pumpkins that are bigger than her. Oh, yes...
Snapdragon's eyes are big as she watches the saw passed from Nettleglum to Eris. Her smile is probably best described as gleeful, but it's edging towards manic. So shiney. So sharp. She reaches slowly out to touch it, but pulls back at the last moment before turning her eyes toward Nettleglum. There's awe there, and joy. For a moment it looks like she may cry, "Thank you SO much, Mizz Nettie. You're the best!" This is going to be the best Nightmare Night ever! Move over TPing ponies houses. This year she's got blasting caps!
Nettleglum is pleased to contribute to the healthy childhood of so many of Ponyville's young. Uncle Karloff always said it's important for the young to have a creative outlet, and popsicle stick lightning rods are so last season. This pose would like to say that Nettleglum beams back at the children. ._. Her bright smile says it all. ._. Do... you really need me to continue this gag? ._. "Of course, dears."
With weapo- er, carving kit in tow, Eris tugs on Snapdragon's scarf and points off towards the absurdly large pumpkins. "C'mon, Snappy - let's find a big one I can put in Town Hall! You can help me carve it wth this new stuff." Eris looks at the bone saw in her talons. "Yeah, we can give it a bunch of different faces, and then put the howler monkey thing in it... it'll be /perfect/! Mayor_Mare'll love it!" Eris bounds over a row of vines, then gives a wave to Nettie. "Thanks again, Miss Glum! Hope you have a... uh..." What's the right way to say it? "...bad day."