Cloptober concludes with a new chapter of Nightmare Night · 3:24pm Oct 28th, 2022
With two chapters of Midnight Rising released along with two M-rated chapters of Feathered Hearts - Continuation and Chronicles this month, all that leaves is the final thing I promised—a new chapter of Nightmare Night. I said I’d have one out in time for Halloween, and having worked on it steadily all week, I’m pleased to say it will be ready, launching Monday (Halloween) night.
The chapter is nearly draft complete at right around 10k words, and will probably be over 11k by the time prereads are received and I’ve completed editing passes, adding additional detail and fleshing out scenes a bit more. It’s a little light on clop, surprisingly, but it’s finally time for Sunset Shimmer to shine,
And since it is light on clop, there’s no reason I can’t include a teaser. Apologies for any editing issues since I haven’t given it a full editing pass yet:
Sunset smiled as she set her drink aside. “I see you’ve been doing a little redecorating and changed your fashion sense, Twilight. I’m glad that you’re finally cutting loose and letting your mane down a bit, but I can’t let this go on. I’m sorry to say, I’ve come here to bring down the curtain on this little party of yours.”
“Have you, now?” Twilight seemed amused by the statement, and so did many of the corrupted half-pony creatures around her. “And how do you plan to do that, Sunset Shimmer, when you know perfectly well that my alicorn power dwarfs yours as a unicorn?”
Sunset recognized it for the probe that it was, though she took it as a good sign that not even Twilight could penetrate her reinforced mental defenses. She couldn’t sense if Sci-Twi and Delta Requiem were close, which was a testament to the latter’s skill as a spellsinger. But she imagined the latter was taking extra care to slip them in unseen. She just hoped it would be enough to overcome the arcane energy detection abilities of The Nightmare’s former host, which she was surprised to see was the pony Rarity.
Have to say, that new look strangely suits her… Sunset inwardly conceded, wondering what the human Rarity would think of both that, and the fact that pony Rarity wanted nothing to do with dragons given they had become her human counterpart’s favorite creatures and partners on the other side of the portal. Sure be fun to watch the fireworks fly if THOSE two ever got together! She couldn’t help but grin at the image.
“Well, I suppose if I was the supervillain you’ve become, I’d stand here monologuing about it, reciting a rehearsed speech while loving the sound of my own voice. But I figured before I tried outright taking you down, I’d at least try to reason with—”
“Athena Cykes!” Twilight suddenly exclaimed, pointing at Sunset with a hoof. Her words earned some startled and confused looks from the other corrupted ponies, except for the Cyberponies, who grinned and nodded. “I knew that outfit looked familiar! I take it that was your Nightmare Night costume—or as humans call it, Halloween?” she asked with a cocked head and a wide grin.
Sunset blinked, looking down at herself to realize she was still wearing the white blouse, yellow skirt and blazer, altered black glove, blue tie, black nylons and mood-reflecting pendant of her Athena costume, which took on a surprised face with a circular mouth.
“Oh. Uh, yeah. There was a post-football Halloween party at CHS with Crystal Prep, since they were there as the away team. The school heads—and you’ll be interested to know that Dean Cadance is now Principal Cadance—offered a series of prizes for the best costume themes among all the school bands and teams. As you can plainly see, ours was Ace Attorney.” She didn’t mind striking up a conversation on an unrelated topic, as that gave Delta and Sci-Twi more time to infiltrate the castle.
“Attorney?” Nightmarity spoke up from the other side of the room, looking her over from head to toe. “With that outfit? A horrid combination of colors paired with an untucked blouse and a sloppily knotted tie? You would surely be found in contempt if you showed up in Equestrian court with such a short skirt and slovenly attire!”
Sunset stared at her, finding her uncannily like the human world’s Rarity for a moment. I wonder if she can play a keytar? “For the record, you just insulted your human counterpart, given she was the one who dressed me up like that?”
“She did?” The Nightmare-infused pony Rarity looked horrified for a moment. “Well, I will simply have to have a chat with her for that and many other affronts to our shared name! Not the least of which I am told is her unconscionable interest in dragons!”
“Now, now, Nightmarity. Don’t be too hard on her or Sunset here, given the portrayal is an impressively accurate one. If you don’t believe me, see for yourself.” She nodded over at Cyber Belle, who grinned and projected an image of the real character into the air.
“Hmph! Then I will simply have to take it up with the game designers! Especially if all the costumes are so improperly revealing or garish…”
“Actually, they’re not—okay, save one or two. And as for ‘Athena’ here, I admit she’s a surprisingly complex and sympathetic character in an interesting and entertaining series of human video games, even if it presents of a completely unrealistic view of the human and pony justice systems. So I grant you have a good taste in characters, Sunset Shimmer. Though I cannot say the same for my human counterpart, who I presume dressed as Phoenix Wright?” she guessed in some visible distaste.
“Right in one,” Sunset conceded, wondering what Sci-Twi would think to hear that. Or maybe she’s already here? She hoped, wondering how much longer she’d have to stall. “How’d you know?”
“Simply because he would have been the absolute last character I would have wanted to represent, given his ugly win-at-all-costs attitude, complete inability to plan ahead and willingness to accuse the innocent,” she replied with something approaching a sneer as she magically refilled her goblet and took another sip. “I would have chosen the character of Mia Fey instead, who honorably fought to not only free her clients, but right the wrongs done them...”
Yes, I’m subverting my own stories here. 
And this is more to give a taste of initial battle they fight, which is one of wits as Sunset tries to stall Eclipse long enough for their plan to be put into motion. Prereaders, I know I’ve kept you busy lately, but get ready to receive a new Nightmare Night chapter!
Look for it on Monday night. And after that, it’s back to upgrading existing chapters of Feathered Hearts - Continuation and Chronicles with more M-rated action. I’ve already finished one of those with three more in progress. Be looking for another blog on that later.
I'm looking forward to reading it. Now I should read apart of the newest chapter of Midnight Rising. I really shouldn't have waited until 7 p.m. but I got sidetracked with other things. At the very least I won't have to wait long until a different Unleash the Magic chapter comes out.
"Your costumes suck."
"Yeah, too bad. I like it."
"Our counterparts have very bad tastes."
"Especially mine."
Epic convo.
5694975
Please do! I’m eager for more feedback.
Hey, life happens. And you won’t have to wait long at all! It’s off to prereaders tonight, and you’ll see it posted by Monday evening.
5694979
Pretty much.
Thanks! And just think, that’s only the start of it... 