Your Wings Were Made For Angels

by Still Breeze

Jokers At Heart

Chapter 12: Jokers at heart

One month and six days ago…

The cool night air whipped around the soaring alicorn’s face. The silvery fur of his coat dropped below freezing. He was flying high and very, very fast. He plummeted downwards, throwing off layers of atmosphere as the air condensed around him and he could feel his cheeks being pulled backwards as he dove. Even to himself, it was unclear as to why he was travelling so fast. Maybe it was his excitement that he had taken on the task of the entire weather team to fill and clear the sky of different types of weather, and now there was absolutely nothing in his life to bring his spirit down. He smashed through several thick clouds, drenching his body in water, which quickly dried off in the mindboggling speed. The ground approached quickly and he was forced to pull up, spiralling into a large helix as his speed decreased to something he was more used to.

Breathing heavily from the adrenaline coursing through his veins, being pumped around his body from his hammering heart. He saw the princess’ castle in the distance. And again, only one room was illuminated, the princess’ bedroom in which he was in just over a week before. This was a night to enjoy, for he had no troubles, he had just secured a job in which his immense power was required and he was on his way to speak to the pony he didn’t have to watch what he said around. In fact, she knew more than him.

The stars twinkled in the sky above and the moon shone brightly. The ground was a patchwork quilt of fields and trees, blanketed with silver from the sun of the night. The balcony came into view and he glided down onto it he trotted into the princess’ bedroom and bowed inches from Celestia’s long, slender legs.

“A far more developed entry than before, I must say…” The princess of the sun commented.

“Thanks, princess.” Replied Cantor, returning to a standing pose. He scanned the room. “Hey, where’s Luna?” He asked.

“Attending to some extra work. Though she did ask me to tell you that she really wanted to see you again.” Celestia said, still unmoving except for her mane and tail that cascaded from her body in long, graceful locks.

“Aww, I feel flattered, princess…” Said Cantor, looking up at Celestia’s indigo eyes.

Celestia chuckled and turned to leave, instructing Cantor to follow. He obeyed, snuffing out the candles that littered the small room.

The pair of alicorns ambled down the hallway speaking about what had happened during the last week. Nopony was around, not even the guards, or at least, Cantor didn’t see any. “And Rarity can’t hold her drink whatsoever!” Cantor exclaimed.

“Really, now?” Celestia asked, genuinely slightly amused.

“Well, sort of…” Cantor replied. “I think it’s mostly for attention, but she’s a whole new pony in that mode.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah…” Cantor answered, followed by a hefty pause. “Oh, yeah, did you know what my cutie mark means?”

“I believe so, but we need to go somewhere I haven’t been in well over a hundred years.”

“Where’s that?”

“Right here…” Said Celestia, stopping dead in the middle of the long hallway.

Cantor looked everywhere, behind him, all he saw was the rest of the wide hallway with another branch to the left in which they had come from. In front, the hallway stretched on for at least another twenty metres before a wall with another heavy looking wooden door at it’s base. The moon set in the night sky dyed the concrete around the two ponies a pale, silvery blue. To Cantor’s left, columns forming archways held no glass, allowing the cold air of night to waft in and pool around their hooves. Beyond the archway – like windows, laid a small garden / courtyard. Bushes and hedges lined the paths and strong ivy climbed the walls. Usually vibrant flowers were transformed into varying tones of blue, accentuating the coldness in the outside world.

On his right – hoof side, where Celestia stood, there was a long, detailed portrait of the princess herself. Cantor turned to the other alicorn and asked: “Princess, don’t you ever get… creeped out, having pictures of yourself hanging around?”

Celestia simply smiled. “Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror, Cantor?”

“Yeah…”

“Do you get, as you put it: ‘creeped out’?”

“Only what my imagination makes me scared of.”

“And what’s that?”

Cantor vividly saw the scenario of one of his biggest fears; turning away from a mirror whilst the reflection stayed staring out. “I’d rather not say, if that’s alright…”

“I see…” Celestia replied, her horn glowing and the picture copying the aura. It slid upwards into the roof, revealing a small hole in the wall.

“What’s that?” Asked Cantor, turning in unison with Celestia to face the intriguing slot.

“Something not even my dear sister knows about.” Answered the regal princess, taking a step forward and inserting her long horn into the hole. Cantor erupted into fits of laughter as his teenage mind forced scenarios into his head. The area around the hole glowed a powerful, electric blue, forming symbols which looked like some kind of language. Around it. Cantor quickly lost his immaturity and focused on the beautiful colours and the majesty of the situation.

The wall split into several hundred pieces and fell back into the sides of the wall, revealing a darkened room, light filtering in from a series of mirrors and tiny corridors through the entire castle. “I don’t know what you’re laughing about, Cantor, it’s your turn in a minute.”

The orange maned alicorn exploded into more rapturous laughter before seeing Celestia’s only slightly amused face. “You- you're serious?”

“Yes.” Calmly replied Celestia. “Is something the matter?”

Cantor chuckled deeply. “Your majesty, have I informed you that I am sixteen years of age?”

“I don’t believe you have…”

“Well, I hope you understand that I am… rather immature.” He began to blush.

“I understand, Cantor…” She replied, her smile growing. “I was young once…” She snorted and her smile reached it’s maximum without showing teeth. “My sister, on the other hoof, isn’t as mature as I would hope…”

“We should get on just fine, then!” Cantor joked.

“Indeed.” Celestia returned.

The two alicorns had reached the end of the room where a golden seal bearing six gems of the elements of harmony was etched into the stone. The piece of amethyst in the middle had a hole bored straight through it. “What’s this?” Cantor asked Celestia, who was staring at the floor. The stallion followed her gaze and noticed he was stood atop some sort of mosaic. Gasping, he turned from the image on the floor to the image on his flank, then back to the floor, then once more back to his flank. His cutie mark was identical to the mosaic on the ground beneath his hooves; a slate coloured shield with a golden rim, cracked halfway through starting from the right – hoof side and disappearing behind a purple circle in the centre of the broken shield. Orbiting the purple circle were five other orbs of colour: red at the top followed by orange, green, blue and finally pink in a clockwise order.

“It… It’s my cutie mark…” Stated Cantor.

“Yes.” Replied Celestia, the single word carrying a lot of thought behind it.

“What happens now?” He asked.

“Now,” Celestia said, placing a gold clad hoof on his shoulder, “Now it is your turn…”

Cantor’s eyes shot back to the hole in the beautifully cut amethyst and he shook his head.

“What’s wrong, my child?” Celestia asked kindly, bringing her head level with his.

“You want me to put my horn in there?”

“Yes.”

“But… What will happen?”

“Oh, nothing bad, Cantor!” She laughed, catching on to the other alicorn’s nervous vibes. “In fact, quite the opposite.”

“What do you mean? What’s going to happen.”

“Doing this will be quite a pleasurable sensation.” She removed her hoof from his back and stepped closer to the opening.

”Would you feel more comfortable if I demonstrated what to do?”

“Actually, it’d make me feel a lot better. That is, if you don’t mind…”

“Not at all.” Replied the princess, who proceded to insert her very long horn only halfway into the gap.

Nothing happened.

“Is something supposed to happen?” Asked Cantor, knowing the answer before he even asked the question.

“Not with me…” Replied Celestia, removing her unicorn appendage from the wall. “If everything is right, which given the clear evidence, it is… then this door will only open for you.”

“But.”

“But what?” Cantor asked, now fearful again.

“This door hasn’t been opened since it’s contents – whatever that may be – was installed.” Celestia said, stepping backwards and allowing Cantor to approach the dark hole. "I have absoutely no idea what lies beyond this door."

“How long ago was it closed?”

Celestia carried an obvious sense of awesome wonderment in her voice when she spoke. “Cantor, you and I will be the first living things to gaze upon this room in over thirty seven thousand years.” She beamed, eyes twinkling.

“Wow!” Cantor gasped once again, leaning over not too much so it felt incredibly comfortable, as if the position of this hole was made for somepony of his exact height.

“Ready?” Celestia asked.

“Ready.” Declared Cantor. He slowly pushed the horn atop his head into the wall and felt no resistance until the stone struck his skull. Almost instantly, he felt something pulsing inside him. He felt it travelling up his body from deep within his belly into his chest. His horn glowed, sending an intricate pattern across the surface of the door in glowing blue light. Celestia grew wild with excitement as a mystery that had been with her for over two and a half thousand years was about to be exposed.

“It feels funny…” Cantor Called out.

“You’re doing fine, Cantor! Keep going!” She encouraged.

The stallion was merely conveying information, he had no intention of stopping; this sensation was something he had never felt before: it was as if a warm ray of sunlight was penetrating his soul, filling him with happiness and life. The stallion leaned into the wall, supporting his body as his back legs began to give in to the rising waves of pleasure. He scraped his right hind hoof along the scar on his left canon and snorted in ecstasy, keeping his unicorn anatomy firmly pressed into the slot.

He could feel his horn pulsating as immense amounts of pure energy flowed into the wall, turning gears that hadn’t moved for millennia. With every passing second, the waves of pleasure emanating from his horn and flooding over his body grew more intense. By now the throbbing feeling that began in the pit of his stomach had reached the top of his throat. His body rocked as it travelled upwards and into his brain.

“I feel… Ohhhh!” The stallion groaned as the unusual mass of energy reached his horn and a legendary magic flowed forth. His body shivered a little in the sensuality of the moment and his eyes became disaligned. He stayed inside the wall for a few moments until the feeling began to subside. As the vibrations left him, he pulled out from the door and staggered to the floor, just about noticing the beautifully detailed design that spanned the entire wall, illuminating the two alicorns with it’s azure glow before he fell. The door clunked and millennia year old air rushed out, blowing it’s stale smell across the two alicorns. The wall split in two, bisecting the wondrous hole in half and opening into the ancient room.

Celestia placed herself at Cantor’s side, merely watching and blushing immensely as she watched the twitches of pleasure leave what she was sure of now would be the savoir of her world. The young stallion’s eyes opened and in catching the embarrassed expression on the princess’ face, he too flushed completely red. “Oh, Princess… I, uh…” He was panting and his tongue was still flopped lazily from his mouth. He drew himself up as best he could, though he still breathed heavily and was still blushing violently. “Did what I think just happened… just happen?”

Celestia nodded.

“I’m sorry, princess, I guess I just… got a bit carried away… Though it’s incredibly embarrassing to say… that was the best feeling I’ve had in my entire life!”

Celestia laughed in amused joy towards his excited frame of mind. “Oh, Cantor… any doubt I had about you is now gone. I believe you are a wonderful pony and I am honoured to call you my friend.”

Cantor’s face lost some of it’s colour as he realised he had befriended the most respected pony alive. “Thank you, princess.” He said with a bow. “Now… should we?” He asked, nodding in the direction of the open doorway.

“Oh, yes!” Celestia cried in immense excitement, the sound of her fillyhood reminding her that, even now, there were still mysteries to be uncovered.

“Did you know that was going to happen?” He asked, playfully accusing the princess as they approached the doorway.

“I didn’t expect you to react in such a way, no…” she replied, still blushing intently. “Though I must say I’m envious…” Her sensual side flashed through her consciousness before she forced it back into it’s cage.

“Don’t be, princess. I feel as if I’ve lost my virginity to a wall…” Cantor laughed.

Celestia giggled too. “Young sir, I don’t expect I need to tell you that that doesn’t count…”

“Okay, princess…” Cantor replied, his heavy blush returning.

“Oh, my…” Gasped the princess as she peered through the doorway. A seemingly infinite void of darkness stretched out in front of her. She looked down towards the gold plate beneath her own golden shoes at the inscription. To Cantor, it was simply a jumble of scratches and symbols, but Celestia knew the ancient tongue.

“What does that-“ Cantor started, but was interrupted by Celestia.

“The Rife shall banish the darkness from within thyself.” She frowned, puzzled by what that sentence could mean. “What do you think, Cantor?” She asked, squinting into the darkness.

Cantor cringed at the void; the thought of spindly creatures sprinting from the cover of black, screeching the agonies of hell filled him with anxiety. He forced those thoughts out of his mind, replacing them with the knowledge that he had extremely powerful magic with which to defend himself.

“There’s only one way to find out, princess…” He sighed, looking up at the princess’ wise eyes.

Celestia took in a breath through her nose and held it there. “Let’s go.” She said.

The two alicorns stepped into the darkness and could faintly see something rising from the floor. Cantor hurried over to it and looked down upon it. It looked like some sort of bird bath, but really shallow, and not filled with water.

“Hey, princess, what is this?” He asked, pointing to the liquid barely visible in the small basin. Without hesitation, princess Celestia dipped the tip of her hoof in it and gave it a smell.

“And?...” Cantor asked, watching the princess’ face twist at the stench. “What is it!?” Cantor shrieked.

“It’s emulice.” She replied quickly, removing the golden shoe she had touched it with using magic and placing it carefully outside the dark room, into the one they came in from. "I expected that."

Cantor wondered how many ponies had seen the princess’ bare hoof other than herself. “What is… ‘emulice’?” Asked Cantor, puzzled.

“It’s the rarest resource known to ponykind; it’s extremely flammable and a single drop can burn for years.” She answered.

“The Rife shall banish the darkness…” Cantor echoed the message on the plaque below the ancient door. “We got a lot of darkness; gonna need a big fire…”

Before Celestia could react, Cantor lit the emulice in the dish and the flame travelled down the column the bowl stood on. Both the princess and Cantor stepped back, watching as the fuel ignited and spread out across the room in a spider web design from groves filled with the precious liquid cut into the floor. The fire moved into the room, lighting the walls and banishing the darkness from the place. The trail of fire reached the end of the room and appeared to climb the wall, creating a tribal design as more emulice burned. The fire circulated and presented proudly a stone orb on a short pedestal cut into a box in the wall. Celestia’s mouth fell open and her eyes were fixed on the large stone ball.

“What’s that?” Cantor asked as he trotted with Celestia towards the ’treasure’.

“Good heavens! The legend was true!” She awed.

“Wait, what legend?” Asked the stallion.

“It’s only a short one; legend has it that among the six elements, there is a seventh.”

“Wait, wait… So you’re telling me that the sixth element, ‘magic’ was the most elusive element around before Twilight discovered it…”

“Yes…”

“And that now there is a seventh!?”

“I believed the legend as much as I knew the element even existed.” Celestia replied. “I suppose it would have made sense, you know, seven being the most powerful magical number.”

“So… you didn’t even know it existed until now?”

“There was only the legend to go by, rumours, a myth, if you will.”

“What was the legend?”

“That there was a seventh element.” Celestia replied blankly. “That’s it.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it… You can probably see why I was sceptical…”

“I do, princess…”

“So what is this element?” Asked Cantor, examining the stone ball around the size of a watermelon, a broken shield carved into the front of it.

“I think you already know the answer to that…” Celestia replied, the fire burning around them caused her eyes to flicker as brightly as Cantor’s did even in the dead of night.

“I do know what it is…” Cantor replied, his eyes reflecting the fiery passion in his soul as he turned to face the princess.

“Sacrifice.”

Present day…

“You can’t go out like that.” Twilight Sparkle protested from under a dark grey hood.

“Why not?” Asked Cantor from the other side of the red door.

“Because, Cantor, there are foals out tonight, and you look horrendous…”

“Well you’re carrying a weapon!”

“It’s a scythe. It’s part of my costume. And for the record, it’s a tool, not a weapon.”

“It’s sharp, it’s pointy, it’s a weapon.”

“In that sense, anything can be a weapon.”

“That’s true. And on another note, you’re worried about me scaring foals, what about you? All the old ponies are gonna think the grim reaper has come to collect their souls.”

“It’s just a costume. They’ll know that.”

“Well won’t everypony know mine’s a costume too?”

Twilight sighed. “I suppose so…”

Cantor smiled in satisfaction that he had won. “But,” Said Twilight, “you’ve been hanging around with Rainbow and Pinkie a lot the last week. I think you’re plotting something.” She half closed her eyes and smiled softly.

“So, we’re… going to do a little prank… that’s what this whole night’s about.” Replied Cantor, putting on his most convincing grin.

“Who are you going to prank?” Twilight demanded, leaning towards the alicorn slightly.

“It’s uhhh… a public prank…”

“So this ‘little prank’ is going to be on the entire town?”

“In a word, yes.”

Twilight became thoughtful for a moment before accepting that it was all just fun and games.

“Alright. As long as nopony gets hurt.”

“Of course not. We’ve even rehearsed it!”

Twilight giggled into her blackened hoof.

“Spike! Are you ready yet!?” Yelled the unicorn towards the bathroom door, the sound of flushing ensued and out ran a large, bright orange pumpkin with a dragon’s head, arms, legs and tail protruding from the appropriate holes. It was a squeeze through the door and the costume deformed at the sides a little before the humorous creature popped through the doorway.

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” Spike called as he waddled towards the two ponies. “Do you know how hard it is to pee in this thing!?”

“Spare me the details…” Said Twilight, holding up a hoof and turning away. She was dressed as the grim reaper, scythe and everything. She had borrowed the ‘tool’ from Applejack, who would be running certain apple – orientated games on this night.

Fluttershy had barricaded herself inside her cottage and nopony could find out why she didn’t accept that they were merely costumes. Celestia knows what Rarity was up to. The posh unicorn probably didn’t want to partake in such degrading activities. Though if she did want to, her costume would be the best by far in terms of quality. Cantor however was definitely a sight to be seen… he was slashed with fake blood. It dribbled from his mouth and covered his rump, obscuring his easily recognisable cutie mark to any police ponies that may be in the area at the time.

“All set?” Asked Twilight, opening her door to reveal a partially cloudy night. Luna had done a fantastic job of the night sky, lighting every star as brightly as she could and drawing the moon close enough to appear massive, but still rather far away so as to not disrupt Equestria’s gravity.

“Alright, let’s go!” Said Cantor, motioning for Twilight to exit first. The unicorn left her house, flicking the light switch on the way out, throwing the library into total darkness, causing it to blend into the rest of the town. Twilight locked the door after Cantor left and Spike shut it harshly.

“I’ll see you later, Twilight.” Cantor called as he opened his huge, scraggly wings for flight, they too were drenched with ‘blood’.

“Be careful, Cantor…” Twilight replied as the alicorn too off into the night, quickly becoming absorbed into the darkness.

Twilight smiled to herself. “Let’s go, Spike.” She said as she turned and walked slowly towards the centre of town where she would probably spend the night chatting with Applejack. Her long, grey hooded cloak trailed behind her and as she pulled the heavy hood over her head, her face was thrown into shadow and her costume looked really genuine. The humorous pumpkin bounced along behind her. Still not grasping the concept of ‘Nightmare’ night.

Cantor silently cruised through the air, flapping his wings only three or four times in his entire journey to Rainbow Dash’s home. Along the way, he admired the night sky and relished in the cool night breeze that blew his rusty, blood coated mane behind him as he flew. The blue pegasus was stood on the edge of her cloud home, eagerly awaiting one of the biggest pranks she had pulled in her life. She rocked on her hooves and stared out across the pitch blackness. Most ponies’ lights were out and she lived above an unlit pathway. It was needless to say visibility was poor. A more suitable word would be blinding. The biggest light source was the town centre where a bonfire burned brightly, thrashing the thatched houses around with flickering images of ponies. The thump of a base speaker could be heard, but the music it was playing was unclear.

She was so focused on looking for an enormous winged alicorn approaching her house that she didn’t notice him creeping up silently behind her until he breathed demonically into her ear, to which she reacted involuntarily and bucked him with the strength of an athlete in his chest.

“Oohhhhh…” He groaned as the blow had knocked some of the wind out of him.

“Oh, Celestia! I’m sorry Cantor!” She fretted whilst still laughing.

“It’s alright, Rainbow, at least we know that I’m good at scaring ponies.” Replied the alicorn, rubbing his chest better.

Rainbow laughed some more before speaking. “So, ya ready?”

“Ready, let me just put my teeth in.” Cantor replied. Popping a pair of plastic fangs into his mouth and slipping his real teeth in-between the plastic gap. “oh-hay” He managed to mumble around the dentures.

Rainbow simply chucked and showed off by back flipping off of the cloud and soaring towards the town. Her spectral hair containing considerably more red through it. She landed just outside the town centre and began galloping towards it, allowing one of her wings to fall limply at her side. Blood covering the joint between the base of her wing and her back, leaving a long trail that rolled down her side to under her belly. She put on a limp and forced herself to cry.

As Cantor flew silently above, he admitted to himself that she was an incredibly talented actor. She looked like she had just been attacked by a wild animal. Which was good as everypony else would buy it instantly, even on a night like this if she screamed well enough. The blood strewn alicorn took his place on a cloud he had positioned beforehoof and waited for his cue. His deep red hooves dropped over the edge of the cloud and he peered downwards adamantly at the show.

The town centre was filled with happy, dancing ponies. There was special Nightmare Night music blaring from two large speakers on stage. It’s tempo upbeat and light-hearted, but with an eerie echo in the background. Ponies in all mannerisms of costumes bobbed up and down in time with the beat while others merely chatted and laughed with one another. It was around ten at night and the occasional wisp of cloud passed across the enormous moon, making them appear brown against the great stone in the sky.

“HEEEELP!” Came a horrific cry from somewhere outside of the town. The music silenced and everypony turned to where the incomprehensive screams were resonating from. “SOMEPONY PLEASE HELP ME!!!” Screamed a blue pegasus bolting into the town and stopping beside the large bonfire. Tears streamed from her panicky eyes and she seemed to not be putting pressure on her right foreleg.

“What’s wrong, dear!?” Asked a frantic mare dressed as a witch, rushing to the pegasus’ side and supporting her. The rainbow haired pony’s breath sounded raspy and panicked as she spoke.

“Please! Please help me!” Pleaded the frantic pegasus.

“What happened!? Who did this to you!?”

“HIM!” She screamed before spluttering and dribbling copious amounts of blood from her mouth all down her chest. The amber coloured witch jumped backwards and into the crowd of ponies that had gathered. The blue and red pegasus chocked for two more seconds before collapsing to the ground, eyes frozen open in pure horror.

“Rainbow!” Cried a hysterical pink mare who pushed her way through the crowd and threw herself onto her dead, blood – covered friend and sobbed loudly into her ruined mane. The whole crowd felt sympathy for the pony as she wailed.

Suddenly a large red and white being slammed into the ground from seemingly nowhere, causing the earth to tremble. The ring of ponies huddled around the earth pony and dead pegasus gasped as he looked up with burning orange eyes, accentuated by the bonfire and filled with rage. He turned to the pink pony and bent his ears behind his head. The bouncy – maned pony turned around and made eye contact with the creature. His eyes infiltrated her soul and burned through her eyes like red-hot needles.

The white beast raised his wings above his head, making him as tall as three ponies stood on each other’s back. The out of place and bent feathers too were covered in blood, dipped his head to the floor and growled like a dog, baring large white fangs set into raging red gums. The pink mare squealed in fright as he made the five metre gap between the two in one great bounding leap. He soared just above the two, landing just far enough to be able to build up a decent speed to smash into the terrified pony, sinking his large canines into her soft neck and tearing her away from her embrace with her rainbow – maned friend.

She screamed for all it was worth as the large white stallion gnawed fiercely at the smaller pony’s throat, making all the savage growls and snarls a rabid dog would make as he dug his teeth further inside the mare. The crowd did nothing but watch helplessly in petrified fear and disbelief as blood flowed like a fountain from the gashes in the Earth pony’s neck. Her screams of terror and pain grew more intense as her hooves scrambled uselessly at the face of her attacker. He scraped her along the ground, twisting and shaking his head violently, whipping up a dust cloud with the young pony. The muscles in his powerful neck became defined as he bit harder. He placed a large hoof on her heaving chest and pulled his head back forcefully, tearing out the entirety of the mare’s throat, leaving the blood gushing out of her as she lie gagging on the floor before falling silent herself, covered in her own arterial blood.

The blood-splattered alicorn turned slowly around the group, making evil eye contact with everypony there, sending them galloping into the night, wailing out of intense fear for their own lives. The bloody creature dropped the piece of flesh from his mouth in a horrifying glaring smile, thick red liquid pouring from his mouth and dripping to the floor below.

The ponies darted into their houses and bolted their doors shut. The messy alicorn strode over to his kills. He bent down to where the pink one lay on the ground and laughed manically. The two dead ponies also burst out in fits of laughter. The only inhabitants of the centre laughed on the floor together, their bodies warmed by the tall fire in the otherwise chilly night.

They laughed hysterically for a solid minute. Clutching their stomachs that ached from the strenuous laughter. As the stallion’s laughs began to lessen, his attention was drawn to the looks of horror worn on his now standing friend’s faces, their wide eyes focused on something behind him. He immediately lost his humour and rolled onto his hooves to come face to face with an unamused looking unicorn.

“Oh, hi Twilight…” He said sheepishly.

“It’s been less than five minutes... LESS THAN FIVE MINUTES!” Growled the purple unicorn through gritted teeth. “I let you out of my sight for FIVE MINUTES and already I see a pony rush past me screaming that you were killing everypony!” It was plain to the alicorn that she was not impressed. “What in Equestria were you thinking!?”

The stallion had no idea how to respond. His intention was to give the entire town a fright, not throw Ponyville into widespread panic. “It was just the prank…” Was all he could manage to say.

“That’s the prank. THAT’S THE PRANK!?” She asked, voice rising to new levels of danger and anger.

“Yeah.” Replied the bloodstained alicorn.

“Cantor! Everypony’s barricaded themselves inside their homes. I can’t stress how lucky you are that the foals were in the forest with Zecora! They would have been scarred for life! I can only imagine what happened here!” She yelled, clocking the two mares behind him. “And you two! Don’t think I’m any less angry with you!” She shoved Cantor out of the way, glaring at the two fearful mares in front of her. “I am furious with all of you! Think of what Luna is going to-“

The raging unicorn was silenced by regal chuckling behind her. She turned around to see who was finding humour in this dire situation. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw a dark blue alicorn smiling and laughing as her mane which resembled the night sky flowed in front of her. “Princess Luna?” Asked Twilight as the spirit of night approached the other four ponies.

“You three!” She exclaimed in glee. “You three really had me going for a second!”

Cantor, Pinkie and Rainbow looked nervously at each other, none of them knowing how to react to Luna’s expression.

“With all due respect, princess,” Twilight started, by now she had removed the hood from her head and it hung limply over her shoulders. “The whole town is in panic! How can you laugh at that!?”

The princess ignored her question and spoke to the three blood splattered pranksters. “I’ve pulled some practical jokes in my long time, and few could compare to what I have witnessed tonight! Well done you three!”

The jokers gazed up at the princess and smiled. Cantor was the first to address her. “Well, thank you, princess.” He gave a slight bow of his head. “I guess we should tell everypony everything’s alright though…”

“Indeed.” Replied Luna as she turned and bellowed with the royal Canterlot voice: “HEAR ME VILLAGERS! THERE IS NO NEED TO BE AFRAID! PLEASE RETURN FROM YOUR HOMES SO WE CAN ENJOY THE REST OF THE NIGHT!”

As she shouted, a wind picked up from nowhere and the ground shook.

“Maybe Luna’s an elemental too…” Thought Cantor to himself.

One by one, the doors of the Ponyville residents opened slowly and their inhabitants gingerly peeked out. When they noticed the princess smiling next to the pony who they thought was on some kind of rampage, the two ponies he ‘killed’ stood behind and laughing too, their fear dispelled slightly and they exited their homes. Gradually, a crowd gathered in a horseshoe shape around the princess.

“Villagers,” Spoke Luna in her normal voice. “I wish to point out that the scene you just witnessed was simply a Nightmare Night 'show' performed by these three ponies.” The residents of Ponyville turned their attention to the smiling alicorn, Earth and pegasus team and were sceptical before Luna added: “Let’s give them a round of applause!”

Everypony cheered and stomped their hooves on the ground, clearing the fear and returning the spirit to this night. Cantor turned to the two mares who were also involved and beamed. They too smiled at the appreciation. “Now let’s get this celebration resumed!” Declared Luna, yelling into her night as the cheers of the ponies increased and the music restarted, returning electric joy to the air.

“See, Twilight?” Said Cantor. “Everything turned out fine…”

Twilight groaned in her throat. “I suppose…” She murmured.

Her face suddenly grew a smile. “You three look awful – but awful in a good way; those costumes are… gross…” Her attention was drawn more to the gaping hole in Pinkie Pie’s throat. “How did you do that to your neck?”

“Cantor did it with a spell.” She replied.

“Oh, and what spell would that be?” Implored the unicorn, her tone becoming foreboding.

“It was in a big book of black magic I found in the restricted section of the library.” Cantor replied, hatching a scheme in his mind for when the conversation got dangerous.

“You went in the restricted section!?” Twilight exclaimed, beginning to redden around her cheeks.

“Well, yeah, I mean it is a library…” Reasoned the white alicorn. “And besides, I’ve seen you let ponies go in there before…”

“Yes, Cantor, but those ponies were…” She couldn’t think of another word, so she just went all out and said it. “...Perverts.”

“Ah, yes… While I was looking for that magic book, I came across some very interesting titles…” Cantor returned, raising an eyebrow.

“You didn’t!” Twilight asked in huge embarrassment and shock.

“I didn’t read any, no, but they sure looked interesting.”

The stallion cast a glance towards the princess before continuing. “’Futa gash splash’… I’ll have to give that one a go…”

“Don’t you dare!” Growled Twilight, blushing even more intensely.

“I think I just might…” Replied Cantor, dropping his eyelids halfway. Pinkie and Dash were in fits of laughter behind him.

“Don’t worry, Twilight… I wont…” He gave a trusting wink.

“Please don’t. I’d hate it if Spike found anything like that.” Said Twilight, her face returning to purple.

“I promise I’ll only go in there if I have to…”

“Which shouldn’t be ever.”

“Okay…”

“Anyway, you never did tell me what that spell was…”

“Yeah… it was something about making artificial flesh, with blood and everything!”

“That’s really dark magic!” Cried Twilight in mild protest. “What if it had’ve gone wrong? You could have killed pinkie!”

“I thought of that. She’s wearing a metal neck brace so I couldn’t bite her real neck.”

“Okay… Well I’m glad you thought it through…” The unicorn sighed in relief. “Let’s just enjoy the rest of the night…”

“Yes, lets!” Added Luna from in front of the fire.

The group of five ponies spent the rest of the night together, engaging in all the activities like apple bobbing, where Applejack winced at the sight of the three ponies. For the orange Earth pony had set up her stall slightly after the prank took place and it was a lot of fun to relay the reaction they received to her.

“Well I’m not surprised everypony reacted like that!” She yelled. “That sounds a tad too gory, even fer me!” Though she sounded distressed, she couldn’t hide her laughter. “I must say, you did a good job! I don’t reckon this town’ll be forgettin’ this Nightmare Night for a long while!”

The celebration aged on into the early hours of the morning. Many ponies had already gone to bed, but a few stayed back to help out, interested in talking more with the male alicorn who still only ‘recently’ arrived in their town.

“All things taken into account,” Said Twilight aloud as Pinkie Pie pulled her head from a bucket filled with Icy water, a crispy red apple grasped in her teeth, “This has been a really great night!” Everypony agreed and went about their conversations. The music had long since ceased and the only sounds were the gentle ambient crackles and pops from the glowing embers at the bottom of the once raging bonfire.

Comments

[Nightmare]

We Read This Before It Was Cool And Made First Too

[Deathpony]

this was perfect

[Still Breeze]

547623 You mean it?

[Deathpony]

547701 eeyup loved the prank

[Still Breeze]

547781 Thank you :) that means so much to me... (It's happy crying)

[fire]

sacrifice encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcThvrw6FyZJT3imJQgsPF1PTOq0lClctnF53bGzL__Xgpv6jrU4TA

[Souldrainr]

547784
If Cantor dies in the end I am going to hunt you down and kill you.

[Blazing_Mane01]

871376 Dude, there's a sequel.

But, unfortunately Still Breeze, I have to agree with him. Cantor is a very enjoyable OC. His death would be a tragic blow to everypony.

Plus, since the sequel is rated 'mature' for 'gore,' -- You know what? I'm just gonna keep reading this one, and then I'm gonna start reading 'Through Hell And Back.' It's a valid argument, I suppose; I mean, if you liked the first, wouldn't you try the second?

Then again, some of the worst games were sequels to really good games, like Metroid II or Zelda; Adventure of Link.

[the blazing tiger]

1990063
I didn't enjoy metroid II nearly as much as metroid I or metroid III

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

Holy throne, that was quite the prank!

[RC-0117]

6838354 I'm sad pinkies alive JK I just wish the rest of the elements were in on the prank to