27!
All of them!
It was over! They had all been there! Nightmare Moon had lost! All they had worked for, prepared, met in secret over and prepared for was for naught! The eternal night would never come, Celestia’s rule would continue and in the grand scheme of things, the Followers of Nightmare Moon had been less than insignificant.
And yet, they had all come once again. Even the infiltrators and spies had returned, eager to support this new group, the new Followers of the New Moon. (All besides 3 little fillies who had school tomorrow and were excused)
“Friends! I… I am for once not sure what to say!” the leader announced from behind his little lectern. “I am incredibly humbled and happy to see all of you again. I am in fact so humbled, I have to apologize that we don’t have enough chairs for everyone. I just didn’t expect you all to show up again.”
“Is that the reason why I have to stand on the toilet?” Came a muffled voice from the bathroom.
“I am very sorry, next time we will meet in the school gym again. And not in my living room.” The cult leader continued as he considered throwing out the lectern since it was slightly uncomfortable having it shoved into your chest by the other cultists who were stacked up like apples in a cider press. With all of them wearing black robes, it was hard to tell where one of the ended and the other began.
“Now, my beloved cultists, starting with this night, we are no longer a secret society that meets to conspire for the greater good of Equestria! We are officially recognized as a non-profit, charity and activism organization under the banner of Princess Luna! We are entitled to act-“
“ONE MOMENT, BOSS!” came a loud voice from the crown. “I refuse to go on with this until we all stop and address the big elephant in the room!”
“There is an elephant in the room?” Asked another voice from the pantry, interrupted by a few munches “Is that why there is no space?”
“First of all: It’s a figure of speech!” The leader announced “And second: Don’t you eat that big blue mushroom in there! I think I overcooked it and made it hallucinogenic by mistake.”
“Ah! That’s why my mother is riding a T-Rex through the strawberries! Oh, look, waggles wuggles woogum!”
“Great...” the leader sighed as the pony in the pantry began giggling to himself. “So, what elephant are you talking about?”
“Well… THEM!” the other cultist said angrily and pointed towards two others. “Isn’t it questionable that we let them stay part of the followers after all they did?”
“You should be glad that I can’t spread my wings, Lower, because I refuse to be called an elephant in my own house without beating the snot out of someone!” One of the accused growled causing the accuser to tremble slightly.
“Now, now, honey, no assaulting the other cultists. He does have a point and I freely admit that we had some trust-issues within our group. But both Diamond Shadow and Twilight Sky want to be part of us in the future, even if we have to excuse the fact that they have been working for Princess Celestia all along. But we are no longer a secret society and report to our own Princess, so we basically can’t be spied on. Furthermore do I remind you all that a central part of our philosophy was giving Lady Nightmare Moon a second chance at ruling Equestria and if we do not offer a second chance to the infiltrators, we have forsaken our principles.”
“And throwing them out would be a big outch,
for Autumn would sleep on his couch!” a slightly raspy, aged voice rhymed from the group.
“Yes, Mama Midnight; that is a factor. But we are not a democracy here nor did we ever pretend to be. I say they stay so they stay! Now, for-” The leader began, but he was yet again interrupted.
“Boss, I do like these meetings, but can we please reschedule until we have more space?” The cultist in the bathroom asked carefully. “I mean… I am basically stuck in here and I don’t want to know what would happen if somepony else-“
“FINE!” the leader declared “We are officially recognized, so hold up Luna’s name in honour and we meet again next week! Could the founding members please stay a bit longer after the others are gone?”
“Erm… what about Electric Sky? Will she be alright in the pantry?”
“She will have a very long discussion with my radishes but I’ll keep an eye on her. Now out! I don’t think I feel my hooves anymore!”
The door bust open like a Champaign cork and the followers spilled out like delicious yet sticky little bubbles of sparkling wine. Only six ponies (not counting the one giggling and flailing in the pantry) remained. The leader removed the hood of his cloak, revealing the dark, grey face of a unicorn with piercing red eyes. A big patch of scared flesh reminded the world of an old acid burn he had caused himself. His mane was pitch black and slicked back making him look almost like a vampony from an old movie. There was a menace to this tall stallion. A dark authority that made the downtrodden look to him for guidance and help. His name was Autumn Galerina! He was a being of the mind. A schemer that hatched long and intricate plans for the sake of the princess of the night.
“Goodness, honey, could you please open a window? We really sweat up the place!” He asked politely while stretching his neck.
“Do I get to stay? I mean, I am not a founder AND I am a dirty traitor…” the mare in question retorted as she moved to the window, her eyes flashing menace to the pony who was still cowering from her.
“I was just saying what we were all thi-“
“Lower, don’t talk yourself into deeper troubles than you are already in! I don’t want to go knocking on the doors of the Crust family and tell them that I had to mop up whatever remained of their brightest child.” Autumn interrupted with a sigh. “And I am not going to throw you out of the house, dear… you pay the rent after all.”
“And I can give you a blowjob embargo whenever I feel like it.” The mare giggled as she opened the windows.
“As soon as we have no little fillies present, we instantly end up in the gutter…” Autumn groaned.
“Yeah, I know! It’s awesome!” one of the other followers giggled eagerly. She threw back her head, the cloak’s hood falling off. A bright, pink mane and alabaster coat were revealed together with a pair of emerald eyes and a terrifying grin. Her name was Lovestruck and she was one of the founders of the Followers. A brilliant, yet constantly broke young writer, specializing in romance and poetry. Sadly she tended to be on the saucy side of romance, which was a big no-no in Canterlot’s publishing circles and many critics simply dismissed her work as smut. The fact that she could live a humble live from her art did show though that ponies enjoyed some degree of smut.
“To be frank, I’m with the lass,
some naughtiness may come with class…” the other, cultists replied. She removed her hood as well, revealing a mane of greying white and black stripes. Though she had the almond eyes of a zebra and obvious stripes, but the shape of her face and ears outed her as a hybrid. Before her advanced age had assaulted her with wrinkles and saggy skin, she must have been a very beautiful mare. Her name was a tightly guarded secret, but she referred to herself as “Mother Midnight”, her “nom de jouer”. She was both a founding member as well as the landlady of the house they were all in.
Autumn went over to her and gave her a playful hug. “You can stop the act, Mama, the others are gone and we all know that you don’t speak a lick of real Zebra!”
“I have to keep up appearances.” The elderly mare replied while returning the hug.
“You are a follower, we all look amazing.” Autumn replied as he let go of her.
“So, what are we talking about?” Lower Crust, geologist and heir to a fortune asked, still eyeing the others carefully asked. The yellow unicorn was trying to become even smaller as the gaze of the other cultist hit him for a second and apparently hoped to hide behind his shaggy brown mane. And Lower Crust was already small for a stallion.
“Well, mostly I want to thank you all for coming back.” Autumn announced happily “I really didn’t expect you all to just show up after… you know… I completely humiliated us.”
“Heh, you were right with the Mare in the Moon being real!” the final member said. He was an incredibly fat pegasus, probably unable to lift his mass off the ground. His name was Nightingale and he made it proud with his amazing voice. He was pitch black with a magnificent white beard and mane with a single black streak. Nightingale was a great musician both with instruments and with his voice, but he suffered from incredible stage fright and only sold records of his work. He had helped writing several songs for the followers to praise Nightmare Moon. “After that I would have followed you to the ends of the earth.”
“The earth is round. We would never reach an end.” Lower added.
“Well… the journey is the goal, right?” Nightingale added quickly.
“I am very grateful for you all being with me all the way.” Autumn said with a huge smile “Now that we are officially recognized, we get this amazing plaque,-“ His horn lit up and he levitated a piece of now bent metal out from of the lectern “And we got a letter signed by Princess Luna to congratulate us for our Panache! I don’t know what exactly Panache IS but I am so happy about it!”
“It’s Prench, it’s tough to translate.” Lovestruck answered.
“Anyways, she wrote that she is very grateful that we have been cleaning up the Nightmare Moon statues during the year, especially the ones that get egged regularly. Then she says that Lovestruck and Nightingale’s *Fear Not This Night* is a song she really enjoys and finally, we get funds for regular washing of our uniforms. So we can use our fee for charity!” Autumn finished happily “And Lower, your idea about the heating plant has gone to the university. With our names on it!”
“Nothing for me?” Mother Midnight asked with a wink.
“She would mention you if we send her one of your cookies.” Lovestruck giggled “Speaking off… where is the buffet? I am hungry!”
“Don’t look at me, I was stuck on the faucet!” Nightingale answered “Erm… and Autumn, I kinda broke the knob.”
“Momma, we need a new knob.”
“Wonderful… First he turns my basement into a fungus farm and now a faucet. Can’t an old mare die in peace.” The elderly mare said, shaking her head.
“You will survive us all, Momma. Anyways, I kinda… have no buffet this time. I expected no more than four of us to show up and wanted to order pizza.” Autumn admitted with a sheepish grin.
“That’s it! We move this jig to Donut Joe’s!” Lovestruck declared loudly “I need sugar and I need it now!”
A cheer went through the ranks of the followers.
“Fine, but leave the robes here. I really want to use that royal coupon on our next wash!” Autumn said with a small sigh. He was almost instantly hit in the face with several black and purple robes. “We catch up with you after I make sure Electric Sky is ok.”
Quickly, the group pushed out the door, leaving several robes in their wake. Their leader looked after them for a moment. Slowly, a tear formed in his eye. They had all come back. They were still with him. And he was still their boss. “I am so happy…” he muttered, noticing the only other pony in the room.
“I told you that they love you.” She answered and put her robe away. She was a midnight blue pegasus, her mane and tail striped in shades of black and light blue. Her manestyle covered the right half of her face and the horrid scars her old life had left on it. Like all of Luna’s honour guards, she had been gifted with amber eyes, slitted like a cat’s and firm, leathery wings. Her name was Diamond Shadow and she was a traitor. She had been a spy in the name of Celestia ensuring that the followers were no threat to the safety of Equestria. Even when she fell in love with Autumn, she had remained loyal to the crown but ultimately, she gave in to him. This one mark on her career was enough for her to leave the secret service and ask for a transfer to the Lunar Guard. “I am surprised that I didn’t make any of them leave. He was right, you know. Phrasing aside.”
“OH, don’t spoil it for us.” Autumn said with a smile and walked over to his lover. “I won’t hold silly grudges anymore. I am a new and improved stallion! We all are! We are the Followers of the New Moon!”
“I’m not a stallion…”
“I noticed after we got the letter from the princess…” Autumn replied smugly, giving the mare a very unsubtle wink.
“Yes, that was fun… but we should have put it in an envelope so we could show it to them. Making furious love on top of it ruined the writing.” Diamond Shadow answered with a giggle. She approached the stallion slowly and with a slight sway in her hips.
“And then there was this papercut…”
“Oh, I didn’t mind helping you lick that wound…” The bat pony whispered with a sultry grin as she extended a wing and drew the stallion into a tight hug.
Autumn relaxed into the leathery feeling of the hug. Something pushed his robe aside. A weird yet familiar appendage, half as big and strong as Autumn’s leg snaked out and returned the hug. It was a tentacle, a mutation from the time he had been a student in the School for Gifted Unicorns with a scholarship in alchemy. His final experiment with a very unstable mutagen had left a permanent deformity and had him kicked out. Luckily it was coated in the same coat as the rest of Autumn and he usually managed to hide it in a scarf.
The two shared a hug that few others in Equestria would ever share.
“So… shall we join the others?” Autumn asked after a moment of tenderness.
“First we make sure that E.S. is still breathing. Then we can get some donuts.” Diamond answered before giving her lover a peck on the cheek.
“Sounds like a night our Princess would agree with!” the stallion said with a huge smile.
“Oh yes, she loves herself some donuts. Trust me, I guard her.”