On October the 31st, at exactly 12:00 AM, Figaro and I stood in front of a very humongous pumpkin in the middle of a what patch in the middle of nowhere. Pumpkins exist in the human world well enough, but here in Punny Garden they’re ancient legends!
So there we were, standing in front of the pumpkin, which was totally humongous! We originally went to the What Field to look at the rising apple moon, but we happened to wander just enough to stumble across the giant pumpkin!
Fig and I gazed at it in awe! We were so shocked – a pumpkin in real life?! We were witnessing a mythical being in front of our eyes (if we weren’t seeing things, that is)!
As we were gaping wide-eyed, suddenly a VERY deep voice with a thick British accent broke into our thoughts.
“Today is the fated day.”
Fig and I both nearly shrieked at sudden voice! Fig went the pale ghost white he usually does, while my hairs stuck up on my neck.
I shined my flashlight through the field, but didn’t see anything.
“W-W-Who’s there?” Figaro asked, his voice quivering.
“Behind you,” the voice echoed. We flipped the other way again, and there was nothing but the pumpkin.
I gasped, and touched the pumpkin, which seemed to feel alive. “No way,” I breathed. “You can… talk?”
Fig, with his breath taken, whispered, “Not only did we discover a mythical being, but a talking one??”
“AHEM!” The voice boomed with a tinge of annoyance. We looked up, and Caramelle (a Carrot Punny that we know, who works at the What Field as a farmer occasionally), was standing on top of the magnificent pumpkin. Somehow she seemed… a little different. It was probably the moonlight eerily reflecting on her shiny monocle (which she doesn’t usually wear, by the way), or the odd bow tie she wore that day.
I squinted. “Caramelle is that you?”
“It is time for the Pumpkin to take flight,” Caramelle said in a spooky voice (while totally ignoring me), swinging an imaginary cape as a vampire does.
Just then, Pearson (a Pear Punny that owns the What Field Windmill Bakery that I met a few months ago) and two other Pear Punnies (both of whom also work at the bakery) emerged out of the What Fields holding what looked like three giant carrots, some rope, and four wheels. Their eyes were glassed over in a way I had never seen, almost as if these Punnies became zombies! Yikes! They put down the cargo, then worked together to turn the pumpkin around. On the other side was a tiny door that opened like Western-styled windows. Then, they motioned for us to go inside the hollowed-out pumpkin.
Fig tugged on my arm. Panicked, he loudly whispered, “NO WAY ARE WE GOING THERE. NO WAY. NO WAY. WE NEED TO GET THESE GUYS TO THE HOSPITAL. WE GOT TO GO-”
“Nah, something tells me this will be okay,” I replied (while I was still a little shaken from the jump scare earlier). “Come on, let’s go. If anything happens I’ll protect you.”
To Fig’s protest, we ended up entering the hollow squash. The little door locked to the side of us. Then, the Pear Punnies attached the wheels and three carrots to it. At first, I wondered why they would do that. Then, my eyes widened in shock as the carrots began to move on their own! For a few seconds, the carrots hopped around on the ground like fish out of water. Then, they started LEVITATING!! Whoa… no way we’re going to move, right? I thought in sheer disbelief. Caramelle sat on a stick attached to the back of the pumpkin, and the Pear Punnies stood to the side. Fig YELLED as the giant pumpkin began to shake as if a 7.0 earthquake was right underneath us!
With a BURST of energy, the giant flying carrots tugged the pumpkin on wheels, and we began to lurch forward. Once we started rolling down the hill fast, I felt us becoming seemingly lighter. Poor Fig was positively shaken as he desperately grabbed onto anything he could for support (in this case, it was the seat and my hair)!
“NO WAY!” I yelled into the air, sticking my head out of the window. To my amazement, we were actually airborne and flying about three feet above the ground! The giant carrots seemed to emit golden sparkles in the moonlight as they pulled us through the cool night sky. Soon, we were so high up that we flew alongside herds of bats heading out to circle the moon on Halloween Night. From afar, I could see the southern Punny Garden ocean and its moonlight reflection. I could even see the lights of Cheesecloth from a distance! It was positively magical as the clouds peacefully blew past my face. While our pumpkin ride felt rocky before, it was totally smooth now that we were in the air.
“Fig, look at all this!” I yelled, pointing outside. “Isn’t it amazing?”
With sheepish hesitation, Figaro (while holding on to my arm still) peeked outside. “That is… pretty cool,” he said, his tension now noticeably relieved. “Just don’t stick your head out too much, or you might fall out!”
“It’s okay, I won’t,” I assured him, still enjoying the breeze.
Even though I tend to be scared by things occasionally, Figaro is always right beside me. (To be scared with me, of course.) He always makes sure I am okay, no matter how scary things are to him. Like, every Halloween, we always go trick-or-treating together even though he’s fearful of jump-scares and spooky pranks. And when I go adventuring, he always brings safety gear and emergency stuff. Looking back on it now, I guess this was one of those times I remembered to be thankful for my best friend. Sometimes I get annoyed by his protectiveness, but I try not to since I know he does it because he cares.
When we finally touched down in the same spot (after about twenty minutes), Figaro and I stepped out. Pearson (at the sight of Fig’s expression when he looked at her) burst out laughing. “Surprise!! It was all a prank. Except for the actual ride, of course. We’re not actually zombies!”
Figaro breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness! I thought we were being kidnapped by possessed Punnies, like in the Cinderella legend.”
I laughed. “I knew it was a prank! That’s why I told Fig it should be okay.”
Pearson, Fig, and the other Punnies looked shocked as their jaws hung open. “What! How?!”
“Right before you opened the door, I saw your glassy contact lens stick out weirdly,” I told them. “That’s why I knew it was all a joke. Although I didn’t want to tell Fig because it would ruin the prank for him.”
“Oh my gosh.” Another Pear Punny (I forgot their name) shook her head in disbelief. “We spent so long preparing the zombie act!” They laughed and resolved to do better the next time.
“So you’re not possessed, either, Caramelle?” Figaro asked.
She chuckled. “No way,” she said. “I just used my extra deep and impressive loud voice to scare Punnies.”
After we had some delicious what pastries, Figaro finally asked Pearson how she made such a realistic looking pumpkin.
“What! Oh,” Pearson said, her mouth half full of a pastry. “That was just a huge gourd we put into a pumpkin mold, so it would grow like a pumpkin. Pumpkins aren’t actually real, of course, so we had to work hard to make it look real!” She laughed.
“Ooh, then how did you make those giant flying carrots?” I asked in wonder. “Those looked soooo real!”
Pearson looked shocked and took another munch of her bread. “Of course they are! We got them from the giant flying carrot farm next door. How silly of you to say that!”
Happy Halloween 2020, everyone! Make sure to stay safe in/out there tonight! Maybe even look at the sky to see if you can spot us flying in a pumpkin coach in the sky from far away 😉