It was another day in Ponyvile. And like any other day he found himself waking up and walking out of the house to yet another job. As he stepped out of the library. He went through his usual route passing through the usual places to his destination. He passed through Quils and Sofas with their paper crows propped across the edge of the roof, to Sugar Cube Corner with their pumpkin carvings placed in front of their windows. Finally after passing a field full of makeshift scarecrows he made it to Sweet Apple Acres.
The morning went by slowly as usual as he spent it shaking apples from his share of trees and placing them in baskets. After loading his quota he brought them in front of the barn where he met up with Applejack, "Hey, I got tha apples and-" Omni took a better look at her attire. She was wearing a series of patchwork clothing with straw stuffed underneath. More importantly her cowboy hat was replaced by a straw-woven hat, "Is...there any particular reason you're wearing that?"
"Huh?" Applejack blinked, "Don't you even know what today is?"
"Am I supposed to?" Omni asked. Applejack pointed towards a calendar nailed on the wall. He walked closer and studied the month and down to the earliest day not crossed off, "It's the 30th. So what?"
"What?" Applejack looked closer at the calendar, "Oh, wait a minute..." she brought out a pencil and crossed out the next day, leaving only one day left: the 31st.
"31st..." then Omni realized, "October 31st? Halloween's today?!" he them raced off back to town.
"Wait! I haven't given you your pay yet!" Applejack called, but Omni was too far gone by then, "And what's this 'Holloween' stuff all about anyway...?"
"Can't you check again? There's gotta be something over there..."
"Sorry, but there's not much demand for whatever costumes you're looking for, unless you'd rather go out tonight as a fairy princess."
"Thanks for nothing then..." groaning, Omnifarious marched off until he's out of the costume shop. How ironic the one time of day was near sold out of the products made just for that day.
"Afternoon, Omnifarious," he looked up to see Twilight greeting him with a smile, her saddle bag seen full of supplies, "Getting ready for tonight?"
"Twilight, did you know that Halloween was today...?" Omni asked, only to received a confused look as usual from the unicorn.
"Um, excuse me?"
"All Hallow's Eve? October 31st? ...The 31st day of the 10th month?"
"Omni, I think you mean Nightmare Night!" Twilight corrected, "Look, why don't take a walk with me? It's been a while since we talked like this," Omni sighed and followed Twilight down the street, "So, what's with the long face when I saw you leave that store?"
"Well, I wanted to get a costume for tonight but they have nothing in stock."
"Come to think of it, this is our Nightmare Night since we moved here, right?"
"Actually this is my first one period," Omni explained, "I grew up in a kinda religious family so we stayed away from stuff like this."
"Okay..." Twilight hid a cynical look, "Maybe we can work something out. New Moon told me he wanted you for something to do for Nightmare Night tonight."
Omni's eyes and ears perked up, "Oh yeah, and what's that?"
"When you said I can help out..." Omni groaned over a huge bowl of candy given to him, "I thought we'd be, you know, going out tonight?"
"We are going out. 'We' being me, Spike and Twilight," New Moon suggested.
"And why can't you give out the candy?! You've been here longer than anyone else in this library! Where are you going that's so important anyway?! Y-you don't even have a costume!"
"You don't need to know. You just need to stay here and do what I asked."
"Look, this is my first time doing something like this. The least you can do is-"
"The least I can do? The least I did was let you leave here for free!"
"I've paid my rent! On time-"
"Moving on!" New Moon interrupted, "Listen, I just need you to do this one little thing. Whatever you're planning, it can wait next year! Is that clear?!" while the two drove their noses against each other, there was a knock on the door, "I'll get that..." he went to the door and with his magic he pulled it open...
"Nightmare Night! What a fright! Give us something sweet to bite!" where a small herd of tiny little ponies stood on the other side, a princess, an astronaut and a ladybug with bags open ready.
"That's you're cue," New Moon said as he turned around passing Omni.
But in the black unicorn's place Twilight came over to the door beside him, "Hi, everypony. Great costumes," she then looked up from the kids to the elderly green apple pony, "Happy Nightmare Night, Granny Smith."
"I should have been asleep five hours ago," Granny replied in her tired, frazzled state.
"I'd better..." Omni went over to the candy bowl and grabbed three pieces of candy in his mouth, and came back to drop each one in one of the children's bags. He now wished he went for four pieces because out through the costumed children bulled through a small brown pinto pony dressed as a pirate, even having his very own eyepatch. He took a few swings of his tiny plastic cutlass before falling over off-balance. But he quickly recovered.
"Pipsqueak the pirate, at your service," he saluted in a british accent, "It's my very first Nightmare Night!"
"Since you moved here from Trottingham?" Twilight asked.
"No, my very first Nightmare Night ever!"
Omnifarious looked away and sighed under his breath, "Well...that makes two of us..."
Suddenly a giant chicken jumped out of nowhere with a giant squawk, "Enough chitchat! Time is candy!"
"Pinkie Pie," Twilight raised an eyebrow, "aren't you a little old for this?"
"Too old for free candy?" the oversized chicken squawked, "Never."
Omni sighed and tossed a piece of candy into Pinkie's bag.
"Say guys, how do you like my costume," Omni looked over Twilight's costume, which was a set of star-stitched cape and cap...and a beard.
"You're a wizard, right?"
"Uh-huh!" Twilight nodded excitingly, "Can you guess which one?"
"Sure. You're Merlin from The Sword in the Stone."
Twilight scowled a bit at the answer, "And...what gave you that answer?"
"You're wearing the same blue costume and a beard. All you need now is an owl and you're good."
The purple unicorn was about to rebut before the black unicorn came back, "Twilight, if you and Spike are ready, I'd like to got to the festival now."
After nodding Twilight turned back to Omni, "Aren't you coming too, Omni?"
Omnifarious volunteered to stay and give out the candy. So he won't be joining us this year." Omni's mouth hung open as he was interrupted by New Moon. He must really be set on making him stay here.
"Oh..." Twilight's tone saddened, "Well, we'll see you when we get back," the two unicorns and dragon (who's dressing up as a dragon; let's call 'im Double Dragon) stepped out the door and walked out with Pinkie.
Omnifarious wanted to have his first Halloween night outside, not inside. There must be some way to get it done. Soon he realized his answer was just waling away, and managed to catch up to Granny Smith before she got too far, "Hey, how would you like to take a break from all this while I look after them?"
As tired as she was, Granny took the opportunity to call it a night. And without a chaperon, the four little trick-or-treaters were left at the library with the only adult. But that doesn't mean they were staying there all night. They went out tonight for candy and that's what Omni wants. That's why after a while he came out with his own costume. He threw it right over himself so the kids were standing right in front of a ghost...with too many eyes...wearing pink flowers. Unfortunately his first impression on them wasn't a good one, "It's my first costume..." he hung his head low.
Now ready for candy, Omni followed the kids through town on his first quest for candy. They stopped in front of many houses and given many loads of candy. When they got their fill of treats, they stopped near town hall to contemplate their spoils.
"I got giant gumdrops!"
"I got juicy fruity jawbreakers!"
"I got blueberry bubblegum!"
"I got malty milk balls!"
Omnifarious dumped his contents from his own bag. But what he was given unfortunately wasn't something you can eat unless you have jaws of steel. "I got a rock..."
KRRAAAAAKAKKOOOOOMM!
There sounded a massive thunderclap right over their heads. It caused the children to run off scared. Soon after Omni was abandoned, the sound of thunder turned into the sound of laughter. He looked up over to the small black cloud overhead and spotted a pony in black and lightning-patterned spandex. And by his multi-colored hair he knew who it was, "Rainbow! Did you do that?!"
Rainbow Dash poked his head over the cloud he's standing on, "That you, Omni?" his laugh reached a higher note, "Oh man, did you make that thing yourself?!"
"Were you the one that did that?!" Omni snapped, "That wasn't funny!"
"Oh, come on! It's just a little prank! It's not like I was trying to hurt anyone!"
"But what if lightning struck someone? You could've seriously hurt someone doing that!"
"Well, I didn't so you can stop bellyaching," Rainbow pushed his cloud and started moving away with it, "Nice costume, by the way!" he flew off cackling, probably looking for someone else to scare half to death, which in no time was Cumilonimbus.
"&#%DAMN!" the white angel-pegasus shrieked as he fell off the cloud he was sleeping on.
Omni's really regretting going out wearing this...
"Ow!" something soft bounced off of Omni's head. He looked down and saw a roll of toilet paper on the ground.
"Sorry 'bout that!" a familiar voice called out and a pegasus landed near the ghost pony.
"...Faiz?"
"...Omni?" Mach Faiz turned to the ghost sharing his puzzled look, that was about to be replaced by his another air of laughter.
"Hey, this is my first night on this holiday," Omni snapped, trying to stop Faiz from laughing, "I would like some appreciation."
"Okay, I'll take your word from it. But still..." Faiz kept snickering, "You're wearing that?"
"What are you doing with toilet paper, anyway?" Omni sighed, trying to change the subject.
"Oh, this?" Faiz picked up the roll, tossing it with his hoof, "Just a little Nightmare Night mischief."
The gears turned in Omni's head until he managed to guess what Faiz's taking about, "You're using that?" he asked, pointing at the roll.
"Sure am!" Faiz grinned, "Wanna join in?"
It's not like he had anything better to do, but just because Faiz would risk going to jail doesn't mean he has to, "Nah, have fun." he waved off.
"More fun for me, then," Faiz shrugged and flew off.
Omni feels he need to get some sweets when the night's still young. Maybe Sugarcube Corner's still open...
Taking back his still empty treat bag up under his costume and ignoring an audible 'shink', Omni went on his way to buy some candy instead. But it only took a few steps to realize that the costume was being dragged right off him! He jolted still with the sheet hanging halfway over across his back and turned his head to see the form of a tiny little nightmare.
"Look what we have here," there stood Diamond Tiara with her own costume: a blue leotard with matching leg stockings and a headband holding back her pink-and-purple hair, "Somepony decided to go out on Nightmare Night like he always does back home: a wayward little pony hiding under his sheets like he's scared of the dark!"
Omni spun around to face the little tyrant, but after feeling his costume being yanked straight off, he spun back halfway and confronted Diamonds sidekick, Silver Spoon, wearing a green variation of Diamonds outfit.
"Hehe, good one!" Silver giggled and tossed the sheet aside.
Omni gritted his teeth and sighed, "It's good to see you too, girls... This might be a stupid question, but, wanna tell me who you're going as?"
"You're right, that was a stupid idea. But that's understandable so I guess I'll humor you," both Diamond and Silver were standing shoulder to shoulder, Silver twirling an iron staff while Diamond brought out a giant fan, "You're in the presence of two very stunning warrior princesses, boh of us deadly as we are beautiful."
"I might've guessed that..." Omni sighed, "And what may I honor these two 'princesses' with?"
"Well, since you asked, this happens to be your lucky night," Diamond smirked, "I just so happen to have a spare costume for you to wear. Show 'im, Silver!"
Silver spoon brought out another copy of their outfit, this one magenta in color. Looking more clearly it's more like a one-piece girls swim in, "And it's all yours."
That suit looks like a size 3. How are they supposed to make Omni wear that...? "I am not wearing that."
Silver scoffed, "We saw your costume. Why would you wanna pass up an opportunity like this?"
"What am I supposed to look like wearing that?!" Omni spat.
"You'll be the princesses' least competent yet equally ugly stepsister," Diamond frowned, "It's the role you're born to play!"
Omni gritted his teeth. He was about to tell the two off with future inevitable failure when a small crown lead by a large chicken passed by screaming their heads off. He then looked up to see dark clouds gather together. Doesn't matter if it's done by pony power or not, it's still unnatural. Anyway, that herald of a black chariot pulled by a pair of dark, bat-winged ponies. A shadowy cloak which was it's passenger jumped off and landed in the ground in front of all who stopped what their doing.
They removed their hood, revealing a tall, navy-blue pony. Her sparkling blue mane that's synonymous with the blinking night sky reminded Omni of Princess Celestia. Is this her relative or something? By the way everyone seemed to bow to the ground around her, she must be. Her cape dissolved into fluttering bats as she walked into the middle of the street stretching her large wings, causing the others to cower. With the girls away, Omni tossed his costume back over himself. From two of the eyeholes he could see everyone around the large pony shudder as she raised a hoof and...
"CITIZENS OF PONYVILLE!" the voice from her can very well be mistaken by the sound of thunder, "WE HAVE GRACED YOUR TINY VILLAGE WITH OUR PRESENCE, SO THAT YOU MIGHT BEHOLD THE TRUE PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT! A CREATURE OF NIGHTMARES NO LONGER, BUT INSTEAD A PONY WHO DESIRES YOUR LOVE AND ADMIRATION! TOGETHER WE SHALL CHANGE THIS DREADFUL CELEBRATION INTO A BRIGHT AND GLORIOUS FEAST!" unnecessarily, lightning flashed on cue.
"Did you hear that, everypony? Nightmare Moon says she's gonna feast on us all!" the chicken exclaimed, causing everyone else to scream with her and run off.
The tall pony calling herself Princess Luna could only give a shocked and confused look to the spectacle in front of her, "What? No, children, no! You no longer have reason to fear us! Screams of delight is what your princess desires, not screams of terror!" unfortunately, a stomp on the ground made the wrong impression as the people cowered some more. She strode on over to the town mayor, who's wearing a rainbow afro, "MADAME MAYOR, THY PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT HATH ARRIVED!" she offered her hoof to her, only for the mayor to noticeably shudder in her presence. The same went to mostly anyone she pointed to, "What is the matter with you? Very well, then. Be that way. We won't even bother with the traditional royal farewell." the blue pony then left, which was a bit rude considering she didn't even notice Omni standing right there while everyone else had their faces in the ground. But he seemed to be the only one to notice when someone's distraught...
He followed the direction Luna was going when eventually he met up with Twilight, "I take it you're worried too?" she asked.
"Kinda. Hey, do you think that's really Luna back there?"
"What are you talking about? Of course it's her! Who else could it be?"
"Let's ask her," The two ponies reached a woodsy clearing somewhere outside of town, where right in the open stood erect a large statue of a tall pony on its hind legs, appearing to be whinnying towards whoever's standing in its sights, about the same height as Celestia by the looks of it. And right in front of it lied a sulking blue pony that was Princess Luna.
"Princess Luna?" Twilight called, "Hi, my name is-–"
"Star Swirl the Bearded," Luna answered for her as she hopped back up, "Commendable costume! Thou even got the bells right."
"Thank you! Finally! Somepony who gets my costume!" Unfortunately it's too late to take back that off-topic statement, "Uh, I just came to welcome you to our celebration! My actual name is -–"
"Twilight Sparkle," Luna then bellowed, "IT WAS THOU WHO UNLEASHED THE POWERS OF HARMONY UPON US AND TOOK AWAY OUR DARK POWERS!" she then lowered back her tone, "Might we ask who is your friend?"
"Wanna introduce yourself?" Twilight glanced to Omni, but instead of being on the spot next to her he was circling around Luna, like he was examining a weird statue at the museum. And like a teacher scolding at a student Twilight hissed, "Omni?!"
"You have...quite a peculiar friend." Luna said, before Omni walke in front to face her.
"Are you...really Princess Luna?" Omni asked.
"Omni!" Twilight snapped.
"But of course," Luna answered, "Whom else could we be?"
"What happened? You look, uh..." Omni sized up the winged unicorn, "Big."
"OMNI!" Twilight pounced him and jammed her hoof over his mouth, "I'm so sorry! You see he-" but the damage was apparently already been done.
"HOW DARE THOU SO CASUALLY INSULT US! WHO ARE THOU TO JUDGE OUR PERFECTLY FIT PHYSIQUE, THOU WHOM CLEARLY HAS NO SENSE OF APPEARANCE OF THOU OWN!"
"I am so sorry, Princess Luna!" Twilight hasty apologized, "He doesn't know what's he's talking about at times!"
But Omni forced Twilight's hoof off of him. "Doesn't she look a bit different to you?"
"What are you saying? I don't see anything different about her!"
"Actually..."
"No! Let go of me!" I found Mach Faiz at the far end of the room dragging a different pony by the tail.
"Faiz, no! You don't know who that is!" New Moon cried.
"Can't you tell?! It's Nightmare!" Faiz said before he was pulled off of the pony by New Moon's magic.
"That's Princess Luna!" New Moon said, "Which happens to be Princess Celestia's younger sister!"
"Sister?!" everyone else exclaimed. Luna looked a lot different, and smaller that the Nightmare Moon I saw. Her coat was violet-blue with light-blue hair and tail. She wore a small blue crown and necklace.
And that's where the 'pause' button clicked.
"See? Right there," Omni pointed at the TV ontop of a paused-video VCR, "Can't you tell the difference?"
However, Luna was more interested in the TV set than what's on it, "This is quite the interesting device. What is it?"
"I'd like to know that myself," Twilight said, as curious as Luna, "I didn't even know he had something like this!"
"Please focus!" Omni said, pointing at the dark-blue pony, "You don't see anything different between this lady and the one on the screen?"
"Thou still have not introduced yourself yet." Luna mentioned.
"Eh, right. Wait a minute..." Omni pulled off his costume. "Remember now?"
"AND WHOM ARE THOU WHO CLAIMS WE ARE FAMILIAR OF?!"
"You mean you don't recognize him?" Twilight asked.
"I'm the guy you conned into binding with a magic book." Omni said.
"Magic book, you say? ...The Book of Virtue?" Luna leaned in closer and the gears started turning. When the answer came to her, her eyes widened as her voice softened, "...Omnifarious?"
"Yeah, nice to meet ya too."
"We remember now... THOU TOO HAD A PART IN MY REVIVAL! IT WAS THOU WHO SHOWN US THE ERROR OF OUR WAYS. FOR THAT WE ARE THANKFUL AS WELL!"
"So that's a good thing?"
"But of course," Luna replied, "We could not be happier. Is that not clear?"
"I sure that's because you've been yelling every other sentence. Don't you think that sets off a bad impression?"
"But this is the traditional royal Canterlot voice!" Luna explained, "It is tradition to speak using the royal 'we', and to use THIS MUCH VOLUME WHEN ADDRESSING OUR SUBJECTS!" that last outburst was strong enough to push Omni on his back.
"What Omnifarious meant was that's why your appearance was met with... 'mixed results'," Twilight assisted, "I think if you just changed your approach a bit, you might be met with a warmer reception."
"CHANGE OUR APPROACH!"
"Using your inside voice, for starters..." Omni implied.
"INSIDE VOICE?! PLEASE ELABORATE!"
"Lower the volume?" Twilight explained.
"Ohhh. We have been locked away for a thousand years. We are... not sure we can..."
Omni finally managed to get back on his feet, "Not too late to start."
And a good place to start was somewhere small, so the three walked to the outskirts to Fluttershy's small house.
"Don't worry, Princess. Fluttershy can give you some great pointers. She's delicate and demure with the sweetest little voice." Twilight knocked on the door.
"GO AWAY! NO CANDY HERE! VISITORS NOT WELCOME ON NIGHTMARE NIGHT!" the voice from behind the door was even louder than Luna's.
Twilight chuckled sheepishly. "Fluttershy, it's me, Twilight!"
Fluttershy cracked the door open and peeked out, "It is you," she opened the door a bit more, "Oh, and a ghost. ...A ghost?!" she yelped and shut the door back.
"Uh, no, just Omnifarious!" Omni called, "It's a costume!"
Fluttershy opened the door back just enough to see Omni pull the cover off, "Oh. It is you," she opened the door a bit more, "Ah, and Nightmare Moon... Nightmare Moon!?" the yellow pegasus yelped and shut the door back again.
Twilight laughed nervously, "Wait right here."
"No..." Omni held Twilight back, "I'd better handle this. Leave it to me..." he stepped to the door and was about to open it before... "Uh, a little..." Twilight groaned and used her magic to open the door and allowed Omni inside. After a split second of what happened to be a moment of silence, the door opened and he limped right back out, dropping to the ground in a torn and beaten heap, "Girl knows karate..." Omni grumbled before lying back face-down.
"Maybe I should handle this..." Twilight said and walked inside. A few loud noises, a couple broken furniture and near-zero resistance later, she was managed to shove the yellow flyer out the door, "Fluttershy..." she grunted, "you remember Princess Luna?"
"CHARMED!" Luna greeted.
"Likewise..." Fluttershy zipped back inside but Twilight levitated her back out and turned her to face the large visitor.
"TWILIGHT SPARKLE HATH SPOKEN OF THE SWEETNESS OF THY VOICE! WE ASK THOU TO TECHEST THOU TO US TO SPEAK AS THOU SPEAKEST!"
"Okay."
"SHALL OUR LESSONS BEGIN?!"
"Okay."
"SHALL WE MIMIC THY VOICE?!"
"Okay."
"HOW IS THIS?!"
"Perfect, lesson over!" Fluttershy made a break for the house but ran splat into the door.
"A little quieter, princess."
"HOW IS...THIS?!"
"Better. Right, Fluttershy?"
Fluttershy managed to peel her head off the door, dazed, "Yes."
"HOW... ABOUT...NOW?"
"Just a little more..." Omni slurred as he stumbled back on his feet.
"AND...how about now?"
"Yes!" Twilight cheered, "Well done."
Fluttershy was about to sneak back in when Luna dragged her back out and held her tight, "I THANK THEE, DEAR FLUTTERSHY! OUR NORMAL SPEAKING VOICE SHALL SURELY WIN THE HEARS OF THY FELLOW VILLAGERS!"
"Fluttershy!" the familiar clucking of a giant chicken came from over the small bridge, "You've gotta hide us! Nightmare Moon is here and..." when she saw Fluttershy in Luna's arms she squawked, "Ah! She stole Fluttershy's voice so she can't scream when she gobbles her up!" she screamed along with the other kids who ran off.
"NAY, CHILDREN! WAIT!" after letting her loud voice slip, she lowered her tone, "I mean... nay, children, no, wait." but it was too late as they were long gone.
"Well, could be worse..." Omni muttered.
"Come on, princess," Twilight said, "Time for plan B."
The three walked back into town square, where the folk there cringed to the ground at Luna's entrance.
"It is of no use, Twilight Sparkle," Luna said, "They have never liked us and they never shall."
"My friend Applejack is one of the most likable ponies around. I'm sure she'll have some ideas." Twilight said and spotted the scarecrow as she just presented a little pirate from falling into the applebobbing basket. But when she saw Luna coming, she met with the ground with the others. "Uh... Applejack, the princess is looking for a little advice on how to fit in around here."
"'Fit in'? Really? " Twilight snarled a bit and Applejack got the message, so she stood back up and jumped to Luna, "I mean... that's easy! All you gotta do is have the right attitude. Loosen up a bit, be positive, play a few games, have some fun."
"Fun?" Luna replied, confused, "What is this "fun" thou speakest of?" she was then lead to a nearby vendor with a bowl of spiders on a table, "Pray tell, what purpose do these serve?"
"Try to land the sp-sp-spiders on the web." the vendor whimpered. Luna scooped up a spider and tossed it lightly towards the web ornament, but landed on the ground near it instead. Luna looked back with worry from the blunder.
"You can do it, princess!" Applejack cheered.
Luna tossed another spider, this time landing it on the web, "Ha! Your princess enjoys this 'fun'!" she laughed, excited, "In what other ways may we experience it?"
"Twilight!" the purple unicorn followed the sound of New Moon in a hurry, who stopped right in front of her panting, "Twilight..."
"Is there something wrong?" Twilight asked, concerned.
After catching his breath, New Moon answered, "The library... You need to come and see this..."
Twilight and Omni had to wait until they got there to to actually believe it. The tree was a complete mess. Egg yokes splattered all over the trunk and toilet paper hanging on the tree limbs in places impossible to remove it unscathed.
Twilight stared up at the library in both awe and horror, "Who could've done this...?" a loud coughing can be heard from nearby, which turned out to be a jack-o-lantern, bruised, beaten and battered. "Oh my gosh! What happened?!"
"It was horrible..." the pumpkin wheezed, "They w-were waiting...they knew no one was guarding the place. So they..." the pumpkin couldn't finish, instead having to hack out gobs of pumpkin seeds.
"Please don't speak," New Moon soothed, "You did your best."
"Why wasn't he at his post?" the pumpkin sobbed, "This would never have happen if...if..." but that was all it could get out as his flame finally flickered away.
Sliding the jack-o-lantern's hollow eyes closed, New Moon was joined with Twilight and Omni before finally letting out a snarl. "When I get my hooves on that pony I am going to rip him apart...!"
"He mentioned someone supposed to being at her post," Twilight whimpered, "Does that mean..."
"It's been like this every Nightmare Night..." New Moon said, "Someone only does this whenever nopony's home. That's why I had Omnifarious stay behind! But you know what, I blame myself. I should've know better than to ignore my much better judgement and leave that idiot with something as simple as giving out candy..."
"Did you even tell him the real reason?" Twilight asked.
"He doesn't need to know," New Moon flatly replied, "It was supposed to be a straight-forward task. But as usual, he screwed it up! The moment he shows his face I am going to hold him responsible!" Twilight darted her worried eyes over to Omni, sort of thankful New Moon didn't noticed the blue pony under the sheet. It also means he shouldn't stay around any longer, and for good reason, "Wait a minute..." New Moon looked with a raised brow over to the flowery ghost, "Who're you? Why are you here?"
That's his cue for Omni to run off.
"Hey! Where are you going?!"
The closer he got, the more chaotic the trail seemed to have gotten. Beside the groups of ponies running all over without any sense of direction, the ground seemed to be infested with giant spiders! Omni saw that and got freaked out that he jumped onto the first table he saw. Pandemonium seemed to be all around him! What could've caused this...?
"BE STILL!" That outburst came like a shockwave as Luna stood over the cowering populace.
"Whoa, wait a minute!" Omni jumped off and approached Luna, "Whatever happened to inside voices?!"
"NO! WE MUST USE THE TRADITIONAL CANTERLOT VOICE FOR WHAT WE ARE ABOUT TO SAY," Luna bellowed, anger now noticeable in her tone, "SINCE YOU CHOOSE TO FEAR YOUR PRINCESS RATHER THAN LOVE HER, AND DISHONOR HER WITH THIS INSULTING CELEBRATION, WE DECREE THAT NIGHTMARE NIGHT SHALL BE CANCELLED! FOREVER!" the princess instantly fled away, leaving the town shaken in her declaration.
He wandered around to find someone to ask until he found Applejack, "What happened when I was gone?"
"I don't exactly know what happened myself," Applejack explained, "I mean, one minute we were all having a great time, then all of a sudden somepony cried foul and it all turned into a major frightfest, and not the good kind," the two stood looking around at the damage caused by what happened. Parents were comforting their children from the fun that was now ruined for them, "But more importantly, how are we gonna fix it?"
"I don't know..." Omni looked toward the direction Luna went, "But I better start somewhere..."
Omnifarious retraced Luna's trail until he reached the outskirts, where he could see a large pony's shadow moving on the bridge. He joined the princess who was sadly hanging her head, looking at the reflection in the river below. Omni scooted towards the princess and placed his arms on the flat-surface edge.
"Begone, Omnifarious," Luna said in a low growl, not taking her eyes off the water. "We have nothing to say to thou."
A few moments of silence passed before Omni spoke up, "So...I heard the party got a bit...lively while I was gone."
"It was a complete disaster, if that was what thou implied," Luna replied darkly.
"Oh... Well, I didn't exactly see what happened but-"
"An infant colt whom we aided claimed to the public that we we trying to devour him," Luna huffed, "Then, the giant talking chicken returned and then accused us as well. And like naive foals the rest actually believed it and went scurrying like rats. And no matter how much I appease them it only caused more pandemonium."
"I guess it didn't work out li-"
"Thou patronage is testing our patience," the princess snarled, "No more non-sequitur. Speak your mind, then leave."
"About what you said earlier...you didn't actually mean that, do you?"
"Thou would presume we would jest about something like this? We have tried reasoning with them but they refuse to listen," Luna scoffed, "If they are to behave like children, then we must treat them as such."
"Like I said, it could be worse. Let's try again, okay?"
"No. We no longer have purpose in this village," Luna then walked herself off the bridge, "So we will take our leave."
Omni followed suit, not wanting to lose her, "So that's it? You're gonna just quit and leave?" Luna didn't reply, nor turned her head as she kept walking further from the town. Being ignored like that was causing Omni to lose his patience, "I guess you'd just rather feel sorry for yourself that make any effort to make any real friends!"
That last outburst certainly got Luna's attention, so she spun around and countered with an outburst of her own, "HOW DARE THOU SPEAKEST TO YOUR PRINCESS LIKE THAT, FILTHY PEASANT!" her voice was nearly loud enough to push back whatever isn't nailed down, even a blue-furred pony who was being dragged bit by bit across the ground, "THOU PRESUME TOO MUCH! WE HAVE MADE MANY AN ATTEMPT TO BOND WITH YOU INGRATES! IT IS THEM WHO WOULD SPITE THEIR PRINCESS RATHER THAN PRAISE HER! THEY WILL NEVER ACCEPT THEIR PRINCESS LIKE THEY HAVE OUR SISTER! WE! HAVE! FAILED!" a sudden decibel increase was made for emphasis and that sudden force knocked Omnifarious onto his back. Upon getting back up he saw the princess weaken in the knees and knelt to the ground, her head tucked between her front legs. If Omni didn't know better he'd thought she was crying. She might be by the way her voice wavered just then. As he approached her he could see that she was visibly shivering.
Omnifarious never thought much of anyone, even if their royalty. But even he could see right now that she was feeling vulnerable. He sat down in front of her, this time being more careful of what to say, "You know, you were right about one thing, it's not your fault. Those guys really have been overreacting. But it's not exactly the first time this happened, not the worse either. I haven't been living in this town very long, but I knew enough to know they can be very stupid sometimes."
Luna stopped shivering and rose her head a bit from her position, though eyes not on his, "Is that so?"
"Oh yeah. It's like that time back a few months ago when I first met that zebra named Zecora," Omni reviewed, "I was delivering a package to her but got held up because the townspeople thought she was a witch or something. One thing led to another and some stuff happened that got Zecora blamed for it. I tried clearing things up with them and you know what they did? They tried to burn me at the stake!"
Luna's mouth opened for an inaudible gasp as her eyes eventually connected to Omni's, "How awful! What happened after?"
"Twilight and the others had to clear things up and bail me out. But at least no one's calling Zecora a witch anymore."
"But how does that day relate to tonight?"
"People here usually see what's in front of them. With Zecora they see some strange horse with stripes, so the first thing on their minds was to duck for cover. You see the similarities?"
"Perhaps..." Luna rose up in a sitting position like Omni was, "But how does that solve this predicament?"
"By doing pretty much the same thing. Get a chance to sit down and talk things over. Simple."
"And when there come a time where that fails as well?"
"Failure only comes when you just give up and stop trying. Think about it, if you leave now, you'll be leaving these people believing their princess really is a monster, or at the best-case scenario a spiteful princess. Do you really think that's what's best for you or them?"
"We do not," soon Luna was standing on her feet, with a face not of scorn of spite, but of spirit, "Very well, we shall try again."
"That's what I like to hear," Omni turned back for the town when he spotted a familiar purple shape in the darkness, "Twilight...?"
The purple unicorn emerged with a bashful smile from her hiding spot, "Sorry if I were eavesdropping, I didn't want to interrupt," she then looked on over to Luna, "He's right though, Princess Luna. It's like the saying goes, 'If first you don't succeed, just try again'."
Luna looked away for a bit, thinking it over before replying, "That may as well be true."
Twilight looked back down to Omni, "So, do you have a plan?"
"I was just thinking we gather a few people and talk it over. Hopefully they'll pass on the news and get this whole mess straightened out."
"That is a good idea. And I already though of one in particular..."
The giant chicken went clucking gleefully across town. It was then it saw something in the ground in front of its feet. It was small, it was colorful. It bent down to find out it was...
"Ooh! A piece of candy!" the poultry pecked away the wrapper and scooped the candy into its mouth. It didn't get the chance to pull back up before another was set in its sights, "Ooh! A piece of candy!" and another, "Ooh! A piece of candy!" and another, "Ooh! A piece of candy!" and another, "Ooh! A piece of candy!" and another, unsuspecting of the trail that led the chicken to a dark alleyway, where the trail ends and all that came after was darkness.
Omni jumped onto the large, overturned crate to keep his weight on the captive.
"That really isn't part of the plan, you know!" Twilight groaned.
"What? This is how you catch stuff!" Omni said, trying to stay on top of the thrashing crate.
"You better let me handle this," Twilight telekinetically turned the crate over and Omni off of it. With its freedom back the giant chicken was about to scramble before getting tackled by Twilight, stuffing a hoof in its beak, "No! No shrieking. No screaming or squealing either. Okay?"
"...Okay." the chicken muffled.
"There's something I want you to see. And I promise that it's safe, but you really, really, really can't shriek. Do you promise not to shriek?"
"Mm-hmm," the chicken nodded, so Twilight decided to remove her hoof. She and Omni stepped aside to reveal Luna. Seeing the princess emerged from the shadows, the chicken began to squawk fearfully before having to clamp her own mouth shut.
"Pinkie Pie, you remember Princess Luna, right?" Twilight greeted.
"Ah. The ringleader of the frightened children," Luna approached Pinkie, shyly rubbing her hooves, "Hast thou come to make peace?"
Pinkie was hesitant for a while, but was able to deliver a warm smile to Luna. She soon stretched a hoof out to the princess...
Until a loud thunderclap and lightning ruined it all and tore down whatever bonding was about to occur, "Nightmare Moon!" the chicken shrieked and scampered off.
Omni looked up to see a familiar laughing cloud, "%&#DAMMIT, RAINBOW!" he snapped at the cackling pegasus before she was too far gone.
The chicken was making her way out of the alley before Twilight popped up in front of her blocking her path. She put her hooves on its wings making sure it didn't go anywhere, "She's changed, Pinkie! She's not evil or scary anymore! And she definitely doesn't want to gobble you up!"
"...Well, duh," a question mark popped above Twilight, "I know that. Sheesh, Twilight. I'm almost as big as her, how's she gonna gobble me up?"
"Wait a minute, am I missing something?" Omni asked.
"So why do you keep running away and screaming?" Twilight asked.
"Sometimes it's just really fun to be scared!" Omni chirped.
"Fun? Pinkie Pie, you're a genius!"
"No, I'm not. I'm a chicken." Pinkie squawked.
"Princess Luna! I've finally figured out why you're having so much trouble being liked!"
"Forgive me if I withhold my enthusiasm." Luna deadpanned.
"I need to say I'm kinda lost myself," Omni added, "Care to elaborate?"
"Come with me. I'll explain everything on the way."
"I still don't understand what we're doing..." Omni muttered as he hid with Twilight in the bushes. From there they were watching the small trick-or-treaters leaving candy in front of the statue, one after another.
"Don't worry about it," Twilight said, "All we have to do now is watch and wait."
Among the last of them the small, brown-spotted pirate gave his candy to the pile. He looked up at the statue, "Goodbye, Nightmare Night. Forever..."
The wind suddenly picked up before everyone can leave. What came after was a booming voice, "CITIZENS OF PONYVILLE! YOU WERE WISE TO BRING CANDY TO ME! I AM PLEASED WITH YOUR OFFERING! SO PLEASED THAT I MAY JUST EAT IT..." the statue then turned black with lively hair and tail, coming instantly to life, "INSTEAD OF EATING YOU!"
The kids scream and ran out of the woods. With the area now empty, the statue that turned into Nightmare Moon turned into Luna, as she spat the fake teeth out, "I am not certain that did what you meant for it to do, Twilight Sparkle."
Twilight and Omni rose from the bushes, "Just wait." Twilight replied, confident.
"For what?" Luna jumped off the platform, "For...for them to scream some more?"
"Um... Princess Luna," the princess felt something tug on her tail and looked down to see Pipsqueak, "I know there's not gonna be any more Nightmare Night, but do you suppose maybe you could come back next year and scare us again anyway?"
Luna gave a confused look as she spotted more children emerged from the bushes, "Child. Art thou saying that thou... likest me to scare you?"
"It's really fun! Scary, but fun!"
"It... is?"
"Yeah! Nightmare Night is my favorite night of the year."
"Well then. We shall have to bring Nightmare Night back!"
"Whoa! You're my favorite princess ever!" Pipsqueak turned to his friends, "She said yes, guys!" and the kids cheered.
"See? They really do like you, princess." Twilight smiled. She then glanced over to Omni waiting for him to give his own output, even having to elbow him to get his attention.
"Oh! Right. Sure no one likes being scared, but this is the one time of year that turns into mutual entertainment for us. You just needed some time to be familiar with it is all. Just be moderate at what you're doing."
"Can it be true?" for the first time in a while, Luna shown a genuine smile, along with a clear expression of joy, "OH, MOST WONDERFUL OF- I mean... Oh, most wonderful of nights."
Later that night, Omnifarious sat against a nearby tree with huge bag of newly-obtained candy. He figured since this is his first time, and there's no point in Luna latting anything extra go to waste, he decided to sort through her offerings for whetever chocolates he could find, and leave the rest for her. But for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to eat them. No because chocolate's not his favorite, but because the chocolates were in wrappers, and wrappers and whooves don't mix, something Omnifarious didn't think over.
"Omnifarious," the blue pony looked up to see Luna aproaching, "Twilight Sparkle and I noticed you were not partaking in the festivities. So I have taken upon myself to search for you."
"Okay..." Omni waited for whatever else she had to say.
"And I felt I should thank you again for your assistance. Although it was mostly Twilight who helped me achieve my goal in bonding with the townsponies. But I supposed with what little contribution you made, you have at least convinced me to stay. So I suppose that counts for something."
"You say that like I was just in the way..." Omni boldly replied.
"Oh no, I did not mean it like that," Luna double-took, "I only meant that compared to the number of times Twilight had helped tonight, you only helped once. I meant no offense to that."
"Mmhm." Omni snorted.
Luna craned her head close to Omni's level, "But supposed you look at it this way: if you had not tried to convince me to stay in Ponyville, then perhaps I really would have been no better than Nightmare Moon. And I would look back on this night only with regrets," she gave a warm smile, "That is what I meant."
"Tell me something. Last time you were Nightmare, would you really had considered what I told you before the Elements took effect?"
Luna's smile turned into a frown as she looked away, "My times as such a pony are not ones I wish to remember."
"Alright, you don't have to answer," Omni said, "Just curious is all."
"But to answer your question, I truely would rather I did. Twilight was perhaps right about you. You do have the talent to form words of silver, albiet on rare occasions they hold equal value." with that, the princess lift Omni alone, with him taking in those last words. He honestly never though of it like that...
Meanwhile, the Book of Virtue opened with a new addition:
Dear Princess Celestia,
When you first sent me to Ponyville, I didn't know anything about friendship. I met somepony tonight who was having the same problem - your sister, Princess Luna! She taught me that one of the best things you can do with friendship is to give it to others, and help them find it themselves! And I'm happy to report that all of Ponyville has learned that even if somepony seems a little intimidating, even scary, when you offer them your friendship, you'll discover a whole new pony underneath. And even if my Star Swirl the Bearded costume didn't go over, this still turned out to be the best Nightmare Night ever!
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
And the headline to top it: Understanding.
"Omnifarious, what is it that you are doing with those items?" Luna wondered, pointing to the TV set hooked with a gaming console.
"This?" Omni gestured to the large joystick controller he's holding, "It's a video-game."
"Video...game?" Luna sat down close to Omni, "Please tell me the purpose in this 'video-game'."
"I'll show you," Omni scooted back to give Luna a clearer look at the controller, "You use the controller here to control the guy to beat up the other guy."
As Omni fiddled with the controller, Luna kept her eyes on the TV screen watching some guy with no shirt beating up a big guy with four arms until he fell unconscious.
"Liu Kang Wins."
"Interesting," Luna sighed in awe, "May I try?"
"Go ahead," Omni scooted aside for Luna to works the controls, "After picking the character you want, just use the joystick to move and the buttons to hit stuff."
"Very well," Luna, after taken to the character selection, chose a large man wearing a horned helmet before being brought to the arena. As soon as the match started, Luna went to work on the controls and beating the opponent senseless. After depleting their health the oppoenent became dazed.
"FINISH HIM!"
But Luna was already fiddleing with the controller randomly intil the screen turned dark. The horned man then uppercuts his opponent into the air, and smashed them to pieces with his hammer as they fell.
"Shao Kahn Wins."
"Flawless Victory."
"FATALITY!"
Princess Luna stood in front of the screen, mouth agape. A few seconds passed before she could finally speak up, "That...was...EXHILIRATING!" she squealed gleefully, "This is just like the gladiator arenas in the olden tmes but better! I had no idea this sort of thig exists!"
So throuout the night Princess Luna spent it playing the video-game until sun-up, amusing herself through victory to bloody, gory victory.
And that's how she got into video-games!
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