Hit the Ground Running

by Flash_Game

Nightmare Night Pt.1

Author's Note:

I've been having a lot of trouble writing a fight scene, writer's block and all, so I'm splitting the chapter into 2 to give me a little more time. I need this to be good, in my previous storry, the fights sucked

Yes I am still going to finish cleaning up my other story. My only excuse is my new job being a night shift, I feel drained anytime I'm awake, sorry guys

I wiped my brow as I finished setting up the last decoration at our house. Jack-o-lanterns, banners and the sort were carefully placed around the building by none other than me

"Luis, dinner's ready," Noctis called from below

"Coming!" I yelled as I took one last look at my work. Satisfied, I jumped down from the roof and land in front Noctis, "What did you make?"

"Your favourite," she said giving me a quick peck on the lips

"Oh, you didn't...!" I tried to hold back my excitement, but Noctis giggled, which told me everything I needed to know, "Red, you're the best!" I pulled her to a deep kiss, and as soon as I was done, I basically ran to the dining table and sat down, eyeing the covered dish in the centre

Noctis gave me a playful roll of the eyes as she leaned in to uncover the dish, revealing lasagna. Vegetarian lasagna, but delicious nonetheless

My mouth was pretty much watering, but got distracted by Mars, the pup I rescued a little while back, "Hey, Mars," I said while petting the pup

"{Why is everybody outside wearing creepy stuff?}" he asked

"It's Nightmare night, and it's tradition to dress up"

"{What's tradition?}"

"Basically peer pressure from dead people. Now go eat your food," I pointed at his bowl to make my point clearer. When I looked back at the table, everyone was staring at me, "What?"

"That was... an interesting way to describe tradition," Blueblood said as Noctis handed him a plate of lasagna

"You know me, I don't take things too seriously"

"Thanks, mom," Nimble took a big bite out of his lasagna, "Hey, dad," he added looking at me

"What's up?"

"What are you dressing up as? I haven't seen it yet"

"Glad you asked," I said while Noctis passed me my plate, "Thanks, Red. I'm dressing up as..." I said with an air of suspense as I took out my pip-boy and equipped my costume, which is also a functional armour set, "The Minuteman General. I asked Cutting Edge and Rarity to help me make the outfit"

"Wow, dad. You look so cool!" Nimble exclaimed

"If a bit outdated," Blueblood added

"How outdated exactly? I'm curious," I asked, I wonder if the style is older or newer than on Earth

"A few years before I was born"

"You know, I never asked how old you were... I feel bad now..."

"Twenty four, so not that much older than you actually"

"Huh. Cool"

---

"Red, that was delicious!" I said excitedly

"Glad you liked it," she giggled out

I turned to Nimble, "Excited that your birthday's coming up?"

He stared at me, I wasn't sure what to think, but then he got up and hugged me as hard as he could, "Yes..." he happily whispered

My heart hurt to say the least, so I gently began to run my fingers through his mane as he began to cry happy tears. Noctis got up and joined the hug, "You know we love you right?" she asked

He nodded, "Thank you..."

Noctis and I stayed hugging him for a good while, just letting himself feel happy in silence. We kind of were interrupted by the sound of cutlery on dishes. I turned to the sound and it was Blueblood finishing his dessert, so I gave him a 'do you mind' look

"What? The brownies finished. I couldn't leave them there"

Nimble immediately perked up and wiped the tears off his face, "The brownies are ready?!!" he proceeded to give Noctis and me pleading eyes

"Yes you can..." I said with a playful head shake and a smile on my face, then shooting a knowing look at Noctis, which she returned

Noctis and I both got up, "I think I'll get a piece too," she told me

I was about to say the same, when there was a knock at the door, "Were we expecting anyone?" I asked Noctis, she shook her head, which made me look at Blueblood, who just shrugged, "Okay then..." I whispered as I walked to the door

Rick and Quick were standing outside, "Hey, Luis!"

"Hi Luis," Quick meekly said

Rick was dresses as Obi-Wan from the clone wars and Quick as Clover the Clever, How I remember that... I will never know

"Luis, why you dressing up for the 17 hundreds?"

"Har har. No, it's from Fallout 4. You know? The Minuteman General?"

"I thought that game was retro-futuristic atom-punk, not... historical?"

"Well, yes. But this is a museum recreation that then was restored and made into armour. In the game, the minutemen are a militia that [...] and so you may or may not be a synth in the game-" I looked at Rick who, was already done with his second piece of brownie, How... how long did I talk for? "Ahem... uhm... anyways..." I looked down at the time, "Oh! I have to go," I got up and headed to the kitchen to leave my dishes

I was almost to the door when Rick stopped me, "Where do you think you're going?"

"To Twilight's, I promised to help her with some... things," I hope everyone likes what we have planned

Rick turned to Noctis, "Hey Noctis! Do you know what he's doing?" I didn't hear the rest as I made my way to the library, but hey, Noctis knows all about my plan

I hummed to myself as I went over everything I needed for the show. The song was already selected, and then Vinyl Scratch would be the DJ for the rest of the event, just a small one-hour party in the middle of town. Still hasn't said a word. She's the sole reason my charades skill at level 3 now... I mindlessly shook my head as I knocked on the door of the tree house

Spike opened the door, "Sup, dude?"

"Are we ready?"

He smirked, "Pretty much, although..."

Twilight came around the corner, she was definitely surprised to see me"Oh! Luis, aren't you early?"

"Who's that, Twilight," another voice came from behind Twi. Then another pony came from behind her

"Moon Dancer?!!" As soon as her name left my mouth, I rushed to cover it

"You- you know my name??!"

"Honest slip up," I looked at her expectantly, "You don't buy it do you," she shook her head, "Well then... I guess I have a bit to explain, don't I?"

"Girls, what's taking so long?" a voice came from the dinning room

"The others are here too, aren't they?" I sighed knowing the answer

---

"Everypony happy with the explanation?" I said almost wanting to facepal- Did I just say 'everypony'? ... My slip ups are becoming more frequent. But... Do I really care that much?

"I guess it's fine," Moon Dancer said reluctantly, "But were you going to let Twilight forget about us til then?"

I shook my head, "Nah, I was going to mention something after the festivities, aka tomorrow. I just decided that worrying about the timeline is not worth it. Too much stress, and me just existing here already changed quite a bit. So... yeah," suddenly a thought entered my mind, "How long have you guys been meeting up for? If you don't mind me asking"

"Since you moved to Ponyville actually, more or less. Remember when I caught you writing to Rick when you first started building your house? Since then"

"Lyra moved to Ponyville after graduating, and we've coming here quite a bit too, but somepony didn't notice," Minuette mocked

"Sorry girls. I just got caught up in the moment and just... forgot," Twilight said with self disappointment

Lyra pipped up, "At least you didn't forget us for two years, right?"

"It could've been worse," I said, catching what Lyra was trying to do, "Rick and I lost contact for almost a year, yet here we are," I hope this helps

"Yeah, but you two have a weird friendship..." She sighed

I pinched the bridge of my nose, "Jesus Christ... Twilight, have you ever read about sarcasm? Because that's what Minuette used," said mare nodded in agreement

"Good to see you never change," they all shared a good laugh

"Sooo... Prince," Lemon Hearts said

"No need for 'prince', really, just Luis," I groaned

"Oh! Uhm, Lui?" she addressed me again

Close enough

"'Luis' actually," Twilight said before becoming embarrassed, "Sorry..."

"Pri- Luis, may I ask what your costume is?" Lemon asked

"It's from a game, the minutemen general," I said. Hitting the chest plate I added, "It's also actual armour"

"Can you guess what I'm dressed as?," Twilight excitedly questioned

"Groundline the Clean-shaven?" I tried my best to stifle my laughter as Twi's face contorted. As her face settled on wide-eyed and mouth hanging open, I couldn't hold my laugh anymore, "Starswirl the Bearded! I know! I know! Oh my god, Twilight!" I doubled over in pain, "Ow! Ow! My sides! I can't stop laughing!!!"

Meanwhile
==[POV - Noctis]==

As soon as Luis left, Rick turned to me, "Hey Noctis! Do you what he's doing?"

"Of course I do," I said as I continued collecting dishes

"Well...?"

"Sorry, it's a surprise"

"For me? How thoughtful," He said with a small hint of sarcasm

"For everypony actually," I corrected him as I entered the kitchen

"Hehe, too bad," even I could hear his smile. I came back into the living room and Rick was happily petting Mars, "Who's a good boy?" he cooed as Quick sat down next to him

"Noctis, young Gust and I are going to be hitting the turn early, as it were," Blueblood said opening the door, letting Nimble through

I stifled my laugh, "You better be a good butler, Blue"

He has confused for a second before looking down and realizing what I was talking about, he was indeed dressed as a butler, "Oh, haha. Don't worry, he's safe with me," he waved a final goodbye before leaving

"I'm liking this new Blueblood," Quick pipped up

"I'm not sure how he was, but at least he doesn't sound so... How would Luis put it? ... 'fresa' anymore," Rick added

Both quick and I looked at him, "Fresa?"

"Fresa is a very Mexican term. Uhhh... Valley girl, that's the accent I guess," he then looked around, a bit confused, "Where did Mars go?"

"Oh, he leaves every once in a while. Fluttershy's orders," I added

"Makes sense. He's not domesticated, right?"

"That's weird. How did Luis even tamed him? Anyways..." Quick stopped for a second to think, then added, "So what's he up to? He said he was doing his own experimenting, but that's it. He hasn't mentioned anything else"

"Well... we have three basements now. I have no idea how he made them, but he built them in a day. His powers are weird," I admitted, "The third basement is full of machinery and conveyor belts, he called that a factory. The second just has his workbenches, which he, uhm, upgraded. Apparently he can just tell them what to do and they'll do it, no idea how that works. The first basement is just for storage, we have extra chairs and other stuff there"

"Wait a minute. He has a factory in the basement?"

"Aye, but it's inactive right now, something about not having the right materials. Whatever. In the workshop, he made a research table. Again I have no idea how it works, he did explained it, but... what's a reseach tree?"

"I don't play that many video games, but I know. Basically he reaserches something and it unlocks the ability to reseach something else, usually branching out to similar, yet more advanced things. Therefore 'tree'," Rick stated almost matter-of-factly

"So he has some sort of hands-off research?" Quick asked

I shrugged, "I guess, he was researching a basic... something or other for abilities, or vehicles, I think"

"Oh my gosh! Human transportation sounds incredible..." she almost cooed

"I hope he's investing on electric, because you guys don't have fossil fuels," Rick remarked, "Don't get me wrong, that's good. I was surprised how clean the air smelled when I got here, and I went camping often back home"

"I think he said something about using fusion cores, the thing he uses for the big armour"

"I thought he only had one fusion core?"

I was about to respond, but Quick had a glimmer in her eyes, "I wanted to study that armour since I saw it..." she hummed

"Sorry, but he is very skeptical about anypony studying things he calls 'tools of war' and that armour classifies as that"

"Yeah, I know... oh well. It's not like the first time I've been told not to about the armour"

"The armour is also behind a three ton steel door that only he can open, so is not like I could show it to you"

Ricks expression started to turn into amusement, "That sounds like something he would do in a video game... That's so hilarious..."

==[POV - Luis]==

I stood leaning on the library next to the door, everyone else were getting changed to their costumes. Except Twilight, she was already in hers

"{Hey!}" I heard

"Huh?" I very elegantly responded as I looked down, "Mars, what are you doing here?"

"{Just seeing where you went!}" he happily responded

I crouched down and petted him, "I'm here. And if you go around town tonight, don't get in trouble"

He got on his hindlegs putting his front ones on my knees, "{I don't get in trouble}"

"You tried to eat one of Applejack's chickens like a week ago," I deadpanned

"{It's not my fault their made out of food}"

I sighed pinching the bridge of my nose, It's like talking to a five year old... "Just don't try to eat any other animal in the town, or around Fluttershy's house or Applejack's house," Mars flinched when I mentioned Fluttershy, She did use the stare on him after all

"{Nope!! No no nonono!! I learned my lesson!}" he had a terrified expression, ears folded back

I'm going to take a page out of Fluttershy's book, "Look, you're not bad, okay? Just made a bad decision. Fluttershy knows this. She might seem scary but she was just worried about the chickens. And remember, she has come to apologize to you every day since"

"{I know...}," he seemed a bit unsure

I petted him, "Anyways. Go have some fun!" I stood up. Mars was very much excited, tail wagging and happy dancing to boot, "Don't get home too late, okay?"

"{l won't!}" he exclaimed before running off

"Weird to think he's a dire wolf..."

---

In front of me stood a white mare with blue two-tone electric hair, and the only reason my charades skill leveled up fast in the past week: Vinyl Scratch. Of course she wore black leggings and a neon blue with black lightning designs torn-sleeve t-shirt. I had been helping set up the stage a little, mostly with the lasers and smoke machine

Okay, this should be good, I thought to myself before turning to the DJ, "I'm set here! Need help over there?!"

She messed around with the turntables before wiping her brow, then she came up to me and patted my shoulder and gave a thumbs up. She was good, everything was set

"Alright, if you say so," I started to make my way backstage, but stopped and turned back to Vinyl, "If there's anything else just tell me, okay," she responded with a lazy salute, I nodded and entered the backstage area, "Aunt Luna?" I called out

Nightmare Moon slowly walked from behind some barrels and meekly stood in the middle of the open area. Her armour as impressive as when a first saw it a few months back. "Nephew, I still don't believe this is a good idea..."

"Just trust me," I said as I appreached the disguised princess of the night, Princess of the knight, hehe... I got my thought back in order and hugged her, a sentiment she returned, "How are you?"

"Apart from looking like my biggest shame... I could be better," she said with a hint of regret, "How did you ever manage to convince me of this arrangement?"

"I don't know," Mostly because it wasn't even a speech check, "Maybe you wanted to put this behind you, and what better way than to face your fears head-on," I wonder if this is going to prevent the Tantabus...

"I suppose you are correct..."

"Hey! Prince! Are you in here?"

I turned back to the entrance to see Thunder and Lightning, the latter holding up a sroll, "Is that for me?"

The pale yellow stallion walked up to me and handed me the scroll, "This is important enough to make the captain not use our secure mailing system"

I nodded and broke the seal, then began to read in silence

Classified Official Report

Responsible Officer: CAPT SHINING ARMOUR
Report to: Prince C. LUIS G. D. of Equestria (name signed as per request)

Entry Dated 30th of October, 1094 After Discord

Changeling has been apprehended and charged with appropriate felonies
GEN Knight Spark status set as missing

Entry Dated 31st of October, 1094 After Discord

Private Rookie cleared of suspicion and given compensation (200 bits) as for the inconvenience

I slowly look up from the paper, one single thing echoing in my head, Knight Spark is missing...

Both brothers were looking at me expectantly, this time thunder spoke up, "Are we allowed to know what's going on?"

I rolled up the scroll and bonked Thunder, "Everything is fine," the brothers shared a look, They know it's above their paygrade

---

The show went without a hitch. Obviously Nightmare Night was the first song to play, then a few songs that fit with the times until the music devolved into more childish music, but you know? Life's good

---

Mayor Mare took the stage as soon as the music ended and called for everyone's attention. Luna, still disguised as Nightmare Moon, came back into the crowd with her own following of, basically, every kid in town, "Now children, the Mayor has an announcement. Play time will have to wait," she said with with a heartfelt smile. The children responded with an amalgamation of yeah's and okay's

I smile at the sight, Luna enjoying herself was awesome. I felt warn and fuzzy inside

Blueblood and Nimble, who were among Luna's posse, broke off from the group and walked up to me, "What's up?" I greeted them

"Why don't you show your dad how much you have gathered, Mr. Jones?"

Nimble extended his arms holding and overflowing pumkin basket, "Look!! We went to every house in town!" He then dug his hand into the goods and took a small chocolate bar and began to eat it

I patted his head, "Don't eat too much"

"No promises!" he said shoving the rest of the bar into his mouth

I chuckled to myself, "Don't worry," I said while slowly extending a tendril from my back, down behind my leg, and stealthily grabbed a small chocolate snack bar, "I can help you with that," I grabbed the bar from behind me, taking a big bite out of it

Nimble looked down at his bag and realized where I got the candy bar from, "Hey!! That's unfair!"

Noctis smacked my head, "Ow! Red! Why?"

Nimble grinned, "Mom, it's okay. I was going to give him a bigger bar, but I guess he already chose one," He then extended his bag to Noctis, "Want one?"

At that moment, something felt off. My senses went into overdrive, sounds were muffled, ponies were blurred. I looked around trying to find what it was. No enemies, not bad weather, no electrical issues. No one looked supisious or out of place. But the feeling was still there. Then, throught the noise, I heard it. A sound I heard just a few days ago, but this time I was IN the town not a half hour walk from it. I felt shivers slither their way down my spine

NEW SKILL
Detect Bloodthirst
lvl. 1

"Oh uh..."

Comments

[Spc jacko]

NEW SKILL Detect Bloodthirst lvl. 1

Shits about to get real I think.