Looking in the mirror, I carefully snapped my horn into place.
The cone-shaped cardboard had an elastic band to keep it snug on my forehead, while the small gem in the tip had been enchanted to glow dimly in the night. My peytral and crown smelled of paint and were obsidian black; my flank had been splattered with ink. I squirmed as Mom painted a moon on my flank, giggling occasionally as her wings tickled me.
“You need to stop fidgeting if you want an accurate cutie mark, little moon.” Mom redipped her wing in the coat dye.
“Mrgmmf! I’m trying to!” My tail flicked as she began on my other side. “It’s just really hard not to.”
“Well, Princess Luna doesn’t have a zigzag for a cutie mark,” she giggled. “My little filly as a princess with her guard. How did you rope the others into this crazy scheme?”
“I promised them most of my candy.” I smiled.
“Oh? So you plan to live off of all the candy-coated cockroaches and chocolate grasshoppers your Dad and I made?” Mom put a little extra oomph into her wing work.
“Mrgmmf— Heeheeheehaa!” I fought a losing battle to keep still. “M-maybe. I-it’s not like anypony but us and Pinkie Pie will eat them.”
“You know that Princess Luna loves them.” Mom grinned. “Princess Twilight does too, though she hates to admit it.”
“Pfft!” I stuck my tongue out. “Like the princesses would ever come to visit.”
“Well, there’s already two princesses in the house.” Dad chuckled deeply as he stepped into my room. “One of them said something about needing to gobble up little imposters.”
“Is Princess Luna really here?” I squinted suspiciously.
“She is, indeed. Says she wanted to check up on us.” Dad ruffled his wings and puffed out his chest. “I always knew I was her favorite.”
“If she’s here to steal you back from me, she’s got another thing coming.” Mom lightly swatted Dad with a dye-covered wing. “We both agreed the move to Ponyville was for the best. Besides, shouldn’t you be on the ground getting ready to hoof out candy instead of chatting with the princess?”
“I should, but it’s been far too long since the princess ordered me to chat.” He grinned, walking up to pat me on my withers. “I also wanted to see Night before the others got here. You look great, sweetie, and if anypony says otherwise you just smack them in the kisser.”
“He means ignore them.” Mom waved Dad away with her wings and a kiss. “I don’t want you getting in any fights.”
“We got in fights all the time,” Dad pouted at the door.
“You mean you picked fights you couldn’t win.” Mom covered her mouth and giggled. “I’m not sure which was worse: all the times you dragged me into one of your messes, or whenever you thought you could actually beat me.”
“How about the time I finally managed to beat you?” Eyebrows waggled as my dad gave another grin.
Giggles became outright laughter. “I let you win that time, silly. Losing was its own reward.”
“Why would you ever want to lose a sparring match?” I squeaked, looking up at Mom with my head cocked to the side.
“Well, Night,” Mom whispered awful loudly, “sometimes you’ll meet a colt who thinks he’s the hottest thing since the sun itself. He’ll strut about, squawking like a peacock, and you’ll just have put him in his place.”
“Like you did with Dad.” I giggled.
“Yes, just like that,” Mom agreed. “This colt will never learn his lesson—”
“Hey!” Dad snickered. “I resent that!”
Mom chuckled, pulling me closer with her clean wing. “He’ll never seem to learn his lesson—even if you stomp it into him so much he knows it by heart—and one day that might make you take things too far.”
She hummed. “When that happens, it’ll be for the best if you just suck it up and lose for once.”
“Why, though?” I pouted. “What sort of reward could there possibly be for losing?”
“Well…” Mom hesitated. “It ended up making your father my very special somepony.”
“Yeah, I figured that much.” I squirmed a little in the hug. “But how does that even work?”
“You’ll find out when you’re older,” Dad rumbled. “For now, let’s just say it has to do with how boy cooties and girl cooties interact with each other.”
“Wait! You mean cooties are real?!” My eyes widened. “You told me I was just being silly! And Sergeant Smiles always makes me spar with Rumble on Sundays! I don’t want to get infected!”
There was a roar of laughter from Dad.
“Not in the sense you’re thinking, Night.” Mom ruffled my mane. “You’ll learn all about it a couple years from now. For now, you should just enjoy Nightmare Night.”
“Lame,” I pouted, crossing my forelegs only to jump up as the doorbell rang
“They’re here!” I bolted through the house, grabbed my saddlebags, and prepared to jump out the door.
“Aha! So there is an imposter! Thine backside shall be mine to gobble, thou ungrateful whelp!”
I froze momentarily before turning to take in the grinning princess of the night. She pulled a candy-coated cockroach from the bowl on the coffee table without breaking eye contact with me. She tore into it with a crunch that left flecks of sugar and bugbits dotting her muzzle in a most unprincessly way.
Resisting the urge to take a step back as she moved forward, I saluted instead. “Princess Luna, forgive me! I thought my Dad was joking!”
Princess Luna blinked, face scrunching as she licked her lips clean and bent her head down to look at me. “Oh, sweet, little Nightingale. It’s always so adorable to watch you try to emulate my faithful guard, but it ruins all the fun if you fight the fright tonight of all nights.”
“But there’s nothing to be afraid of, Princess!” I kept as still as I could.
Princess Luna arched a brow. “Your quivering hind leg begs to differ.”
Well, I tried to keep as still as I could. The crunch of candy still filled my ears like breaking bones as I imagined Nightmare Moon biting into my backside.
Stupid, silly, ungrateful imagination.
Princess Luna was best princess, and it was an insult to her majesty to compare her to that monster. I was— I was going to—
There! Finally got my leg to stop!
I was going to make sure I didn’t do anything stupid, like quiver or run or cry.
She gazed into my eyes, humming. “Hmmm… yes… you really are as devoted as your father is, aren’t you? You will make a fine addition to my guard someday.”
It took every bit of will I had to not hop up and down in circles screeing my glee to the stars.
The doorbell rang again, and Luna dismissed me with a wave of her hoof. “Fie! Go! Have fun with your friends, and earn a worthy tribute for me!”
“As you command, Princess!” I squeaked, turning to leap through the door and glide in a circle to the porch. I managed to land before my excitement overwhelmed me, and I giddily began hopping in a circle.
“Screeheeheeheeheeheehee! Yes!”
The others flinched as I leapt about them, ears splaying to try and mute me. Ignoring their discomfort, I shrieked to the moon above. As I did so, however, I noticed the glow from the gem in my horn was reflecting off most of their armor.
“Screeheeheehee?”
I trailed to a stop, blinking. My eye narrowed as I beheld four suits of reflective, light grey armor and one spiky, charcoal one. The other crusaders peeked out of closed eyes, one by one, to find me glaring at them with all the power and grace of Luna my costume bestowed unto me.
“You’re all in Solar Guard costumes.” I definitely did not pout.
“I’m not!” Diamond crowed, strutting forward with her snoot held high. Looking back over her shoulder as she reached me, she frowned. “I told you all it mattered, but no. You all thought I was over obsessing!”
“Well, shoot, y’all.” Apple Bloom scratched the back of her head. “I think we done messed this up.”
“Probably should have coordinated with Night more.” Sweetie Belle nodded.
“Pfft! It isn’t that bad!” Scoots waved a hoof. “At least the others talked me out of a Wonderbolts costume. They are part of the military, so I could have just—”
“You’re not helping, Scoots.” Silver stuck a hoof in the pegasus’ mouth before hastily pulling it away. “Eww! Don’t lick me!”
“I’ll lick you if I want to!” Scoots shot back.
“Girls!” I huffed and the others fell silent, looking at me. “There’s no point in arguing over this. I thought I was obvious enough, but, clearly, I wasn’t. Did you think I was going as Celestia or something?”
“Hay, no.” Scoots waved a hoof. “What do we look like? Idiots? You just said we needed to go as members of the royal guard.”
“But why would a Solar Guard be—” I sucked in a deep breath. “Sorry. Sorry. I’ll just drop it, okay?” I shuffled from hoof to hoof. “This… does kind of mean you’ll get less candy than I promised, though.”
A series of groans came from everypony but Diamond.
She just put a hoof around me and grinned wickedly. “Not me, though. Right?”
“No, not you.” I smiled. “In fact, you get extra candy.”
“Yes!” Diamond thrust a hoof in the air. “I mean—” she sniffed, quickly composing herself in a salute, “—Thank you, my Princess of the Night!”
Silver Spoon nudged Scootaloo with her hoof. “She’s definitely looking for something sweet to bite.”
Diamond tittered as I nodded, and we all gathered ourselves for a fun filled crusade of pushing doorbells and getting candy.
The door creaked open to reveal the majesty of Princess Luna and her contingent of not-quite lunar guard. Trumpets—or rather a trumpet—blew while hoof stomps and fanfare announced our glory to Mister Waddlesworth.
Lowering the trumpet from her lips, my faithful herald, Diamond, announced my presence to the bemused stallion while the others saluted. “Behold, Her Royal Highness, Princess Luna of Equestria!”
I smiled and sucked in a breath—my escort doing likewise. “Nightmare Night! What a fright! Give us something sweet to bite!”
The elderly earth pony brought his head down and squinted through his glasses. “Well, ain’t this a surprise. I haven’t had visitors all night!”
“Yeah, that’s because—”
Apple Bloom kicked Scoots.
“Does my heart good to see fillies running out and about, respecting our princesses.” Mister Waddle reached for a bowl by the door. “I tell you what, whippersnappers. If you want extra prunes, you just go and take them.”
He held out the bowl and we all took one. As he started to frown at the sight, I shuffled slightly and took a few more, shoving one right into my mouth. He smiled at that and patted my head before heading back inside and closing the door.
The others stared at me as I chewed and swallowed. “What? Didn’t you see him? Besides, there’s nothing wrong with prunes!”
“Sure, there’s not.” Scoots rolled her eyes.
“Oi, Rumble! Look who’s here!”
Two familiar colts in guard costumes—one lunar, one solar—trotted up to us as we were about to continue down the street. The spikes. The filigree. The darker tones. There wasn’t a pip out of place on Pipsqueak, and Rumble was similarly suited in his radiant armor. I had no idea how he got spray painted cardboard to reflect that much moonlight, but he was a glow of greys and silvers
“I see we had the same idea, lass.” Pipsqueak grinned before eyeing the other crusaders. “Well, almost. Bloody solar guard always steal the spotlight, am I right? Rumble even picked the buggers over the Wonderbolts this year. Poor sod seems to have gotten it in his head that it’ll land him a fillyfriend.”
“Eurgh….” My face scrunched as I thought of the earlier talk with my parents. Stupid colt was only a year older than me. If he wanted a fillyfriend… How much time did I have left before my cooties kicked in?
“That only works if there’s a damsel in distress, I think….” Sweetie cocked her head to the side. “Slay the dragon. Save the princess. Have a slumber party. That’s what all my sisters books say.”
“Well, we could find Spike and Twilight if ya need a dragon to slay.” Apple Bloom rubbed her chin. “I don’t think that’ll count, though.”
“Pfft!” Scoots waved a hoof dismissively. “Slaying a baby dragon doesn’t even register on the awesome scale. I think there’s a green dragon in the Everfree, though. We could go hunt that.”
“Do you three even hear yourselves?” Diamond huffed as everypony else just stared at the founding crusaders.
“Well, we’d still be missing a princess, and I doubt Twi or Princess Luna would be happy with us heading that far in the Everfree,” Apple Bloom muttered.
“And that’s assuming we can find this dragon’s cave in the first place,” Sweetie hummed.
“Well, I don’t know how we can find the dragon, but we do have a substitute princess right here.” Scootaloo looked at me pointedly.
I turned my gaze towards the patch of utter black that was the Everfree on the horizon and gulped. The lights from the town barely made a dent in it, and it was like the maw of some giant beast. Even with buildings between us and it, it formed an imposing backdrop. We’d skirted the edges plenty of times. But plunging into its depths in the middle of the night? Hunting dragons?
“Girls… you aren’t serious are you?” I kneading the ground with my forehooves.
All three blinked and looked at me. “Umm…”
I bit my lip as their hesitation grew. I swear, if they said yes and I had to go get an adult…
“...no?” Their final answer was not as comforting as it should have been, and there was a rather awkward silence following it.
“Anyways!” Pip broke the spell when he hastily came up and wrapped a hoof around me. “Us Junior Guard need to stick together! Care if we join your escort, Princess?”
“I’d be up for guarding a princess.” Rumble saluted me with a cocky grin. “Not that she needs it.”
“W-well, I… uh…” I squirmed in Pipsqueak’s grip.
I didn’t want to say no, but I also really didn’t want to say yes. Pipsqueak was nice enough, but Rumble was just so...
“I think we’re alright, you two.” Apple Bloom came to my rescue.
Rumble frowned, which made me frown in kind. His wings were flaring a little, so I pulled away from Pip and set myself in a wider stance. His wings flared more—expanding completely—and he pawed at the ground with one hoof. He opened his mouth to say something, kinda scowled when nothing came out, and finally sighed.
“This isn’t the place….” He pulled Pip away from us. “Come on, Pip. The platoon leader is clearly in one of her moods.”
“Oi! We can still—”
Rumble shoved a hoof in the pinto colt’s mouth. “Really, Pip, it’s fine. Let’s just go.”
They nodded to the other crusaders and trotted off. My ear twitched as they started to whisper to each other when they made it a little bit into the distance—catching bits and pieces of the conversation.
“Sorry, mate. Not much of a wingpony, am I?”
“Don’t be. I shouldn’t have really expected anything different.”
“Well, maybe if you weren’t such a bloody tosser to her she’d have said yes. I mean, crimey, I coulda swore you two were about to start a brawl right there.”
“Hey! It’s her fault this time. I was just trying to—”
“You even listening to us, Night?” Apple Bloom poked me, causing me to squeak and flare my wings slightly. She arched an eyebrow at me. “Guess not. We’re trying to figure out which neighborhood to hit next. We already went to all the good houses in this one. Scoots, Sweetie and I want to head to Maple so we can get something from Bon Bon’s, but Diamond and Silver want Caramel’s.”
“Aren’t those both on Maple?” I flicked an ear, but Rumble and Pip had fallen out of range. Oh, well. The girls needed me anyways.
“Yeah, that’s kind of the problem.” Scoots rubbed the back of her head. “They’re probably the two best spots in town for candy—being candy makers and all—but that’s only because they compete for attention with each other. Whichever one we hit last will give us more to… what’s the word? Cam… com…” She stomped a hoof. “Sweetie Bell!”
“Compensate.” Sweetie giggled.
“That!” Scootaloo nodded. “Bon Bon hands out these massive chocolate bars and Caramel gives entire bags of soft caramel chews. It’s your first Nightmare Night here so it’s only fair you choose.”
Oh dear…. They wanted me to choose between them again.
“Do I have to?” I ruffled my wings and poked the ground. “Can’t we just split for a bit so everypony will be happy?”
The rest of the crusaders looked at each other, before almost simultaneously facehoofing.
“We’re bucking idiots…” Scoots groaned, putting her head in her hooves. “How did we not think of that last year? We sat and argued about it for like half and hour and never thought of that.”
“At least we’ll all get what we want this year,” Sweetie sighed. “Maybe if we use the puppy dog eyes they’ll take pity, and give us extra to make up for it.”
“I doubt it, but we can try.” Apple Bloom shook her head. “We all good with splitting for Maple Street and meeting back up afterwards?”
A chorus of agreement went up from the others while I just nodded. I looked between them as they broke up into two groups and bit my lip. Chocolate and caramel both sounded good…. I didn’t know who to go with.
They started to move off, and I just sort of stood there. Just as they noticed I wasn’t following and turned to look back, I made a decision and bolted for Diamond and Silver. As I looked at the others apologetically, they smiled and waved, so I tried to stand taller and smile back.
It was only for a little bit, after all.
My hind leg quivered slightly as the castle loomed before us.
It hauntingly reached up toward the stars—the highest points like bestial claws—as if to drag one of the beautiful lights down into its abyss. The branches were now twisted and gnarled, while the fortifications resting in the boughs had become spiked, dangling rattling chains. Windows flashed as a few drifting storm clouds occasionally spat out lightning and bats hung from the battlements.
It was very different from the castle I came to visit every Sunday.
“Huh…” Apple Bloom gazed upwards alongside me. “The paint job is new this year. I wonder how she got it done so fast.”
“Magic,” Silver deadpanned.
“Well, duh!” Scoots rolled her eyes and snickered. “I think Bloom is looking for more than that, though.”
“It definitely looks better than before,” Sweetie murmured. “Sparkly pink, purple and blue weren’t exactly the right colors for a haunted castle.”
“The castle is normally pink?” There was a momentary flashback of Pink before my eyes, and I shuddered. “Such an unnatural color.”
“Pfft! Try a sappy color.” Scoots blew a raspberry. “This new castle is way cooler. Twilight should really just keep things like this.”
“You say that now, but wait until you’ve entered… the Castle of Nightmares!” Thunder sounded right behind us, and we all jumped as a raspy laugh filled the air. “Got you!” Rainbow Dash zooped off into the distance, cackling madly in her witch’s robes and hat. A poor enchanted broomstick desperately trailed after her contrail, feebly trying to match its owner’s pace.
“Castle of Nightmares?” I squeaked, looking back up at the towering structure before us.
“Aww, yeah. Sounds like things turned out great this year.” Scootaloo pumped a hoof in the air. “Come on! Let’s go!”
She dashed to the door and pushed herself against it, forcing it to rumble open with the ominous grating of stone on stone. The darkened hall I glimpsed within was somehow even darker than the castle walls—unnaturally so—and I had to squint just to make the faint outlines of furniture within.
“Uhh… g-girls?” I ruffled my wings. “I’m not so sure this is a good idea.”
“Well, real guards have to face bigger dangers than some dusty castle full of fake monsters, right?” Apple Bloom shrugged.
“R-real guards also know when they’re outclassed.” I tried really hard not to stammer, but even I couldn’t see in there. Even as Scoots ran in and the torches lit, the silver flames barely illuminated more than a few feet in front of them. The rest of the girls moved in after Scoots, while I creeped in more carefully.
As I slinked inside, the doors slammed shut and the scrabble of claws on stones filled the air as a villainous cackle echoed through the hall. I turned to catch the villain in the act, but they were already gone – a secret passage sealing behind them as they retreated back into the castle.
“Was that Spike?” Apple Bloom squinted at the now sealed passage before walking over to examine the grey stains the bloodsoaked beast left on the floor. “Hrmmm… Stubby, ketchup clawprints. Yep, that’s Spike.”
“Pfft! Lame.” Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Twilight will need to try harder than that to get us!”
There was the sudden, shrieking snap of rusty metal before the chandelier above her started to plummet downwards. The fragile flames of its candles went out as it rushed downwards, plunging Scoots final moments into darkness. Only I could see her outline as she tried to run and tripped on a crack—her cry lost to the rattling chains of the chandelier.
“Scree!” Without thinking, I gave a mighty flap of my wings and vaulted over to the downed pegasus. I shielded her with my body—hoping the spikes would only manage to pierce me instead of her—and I tensed as the ornament finally reached us. The spikes began to press into my body and time seemed to freeze as my little, batty life flashed before my eyes.
Wait. Time wasn’t frozen…. The chandelier had just stopped.
Twisting my head to look up, I accidentally bonked it on a piece of the chandelier. It swung slightly—lightly scratching my back—before it began to retract with a grinding noise.
I could feel Scootaloo’s heart racing next to my own. I could faintly hear it if I really tried, and, as the candles relit themselves, I found her pupils were as wide as her irises.
“That was… awesome!” She wriggled out from under me to gaze upwards. “She didn’t have that last year!”
I took a few deep breaths to try and calm my pounding heart. That had been way to close.
“Is Princess Twilight trying to kill us?!” I wailed, the echo carrying its way along the halls.
“Calm down, Night,” Apple Bloom soothed. “Princess Twilight has gone just about plum crazy the past couple years when she does this. Worries herself to pieces over everypony’s safety.”
“She actually had a small break down the first year worrying whether or not something would go wrong,” Sweetie murmured.
“That doesn’t make me feel better,” I whimpered, the unnatural darkness weighing down on me. “I… I can barely even see in here…. It’s—” I gulped, “—it’s just wrong. Like, Everfree Forest level wrong.”
“Oh, Night…” Diamond Tiara came up and wrapped a hoof around me. “If you want, we can turn around and head back outside. I won’t mind missing the castle if it makes you uncomfortable.”
“I can go too.” Silver stepped up. “Maybe we can play the festival games some more or something.”
Deep breaths. Deep breaths. Mom and Dad always said the job got tough sometimes.
“No… no…. I’m fine.” A shudder down my back said otherwise, so I forced myself to go still. “We already split up when getting candy. I’d rather stay here with everypony.”
“You sure?” Diamond frowned in the silver candlelight.
“I’m sure.” I looked into the murky blackness beyond. “I can handle this….”
Hopefully.
“Well, let’s get going then!” Scootaloo bounded ahead without a care, and, as she did so, more torches lit her way.
Every so often—in the sinister shadows between each light—I’d catch the outline of a suit of armor lurching towards her or somepony jumping from a door in the hallway. Her squeals and shrieks of laughter echoed down the hall, and filled me with a mix of relief and apprehension. Butterflies—both good and bad—started flitting about my stomach, and I slowly, hesitantly took a step to follow.
“That filly needs to learn to slow down,” Diamond huffed, glaring after the pegasus. “Bolting off like that. Didn’t she even hear Night?”
“It’s alright.” I smiled softly. “Actually, I think it helped a little. We should go catch her before she gets too far ahead, though.”
“I can go grab her before she gets too far if y’all don’t want to run.” Apple Bloom looked between us all, settling her gaze on me. “I figure you want to take things nice and slow without pulling the whole castle down on us?”
Nodding, I looked out to where Scoots had faded into the darkness. “That’d be nice if you don’t mind, Bloom. I’d rather not—”
“Ahhhhhhh!” A familiar filly’s shriek of terror faintly echoed from far in the distance. The tiny clip clop of hooves soon followed, and then Scoots came blasting past with a contrail—her wings buzzing like mad to give her more horsepower. “Run before she gets you!” She screamed at us as she ran past, forcing our ears to splay back.
A moment of silence passed.
“R-run before who gets us?” Sweetie bit her lip, turning to face the dark depths of the castle.
“Teeheehee…”
“I don’t know, but did any of you hear that just now?” My ears barely caught the noise, flicking to try and locate it.
“Teeheehee…”
“It’s a mite hard to hear with Scoots screaming her head off.” Apple Bloom snorted, waggling her ears.
“My ears are still ringing,” Diamond huffed.
“Teeheehee…”
“There!” My ears went taut, straining to catch any remnants of the sound as they turned and twitched.
“Teeheehee…”
Where was it— Oh!
Two torches lit to illuminate a painting on the wall I hadn’t been able to see before. It depicted a Twilight Sparkle far different than the Princess of Friendship—clad in spiked, full-body armor with a flowing, dark charcoal cape. Two enormous bat wings had replaced her normal pegasus ones, and she had enormous fangs that left me feeling both small and a little insulted. Her piercing blue eyes left me—
Wait. Blue? I froze, a growing horror clawing at my chest.
“No. No. No, no, no. No.” I scrambled back, falling on my rump as I tripped over the others who had started to come over.
“Night? What’s wrong?” Diamond asked, a slight tremor in her voice.
“Her.” I pointed at the portrait.
“P-Princess Twilight?” Sweetie squeaked.
“No,” I whispered. “Worse.”
“Teeheeheeheeheeheehee. Figured it out, did you?” The eyes blinked and the canvas on the portrait stretched as somepony began to tear their way out from behind it. “Now who wants some cupcakes: made of fillies, for fillies.”
“Ahhhhhhh!” The other crusaders shrieked as a Pink hoof ripped through the painting with a moon forsaken cleaver.
“Screeeee!” My own scream was much louder, the Pinkness standing in perfect relief against the darkness—brighter than ever before. I ran and ran and ran and ran, until I could run no more. Only when I was sure she was no longer chasing me did I slink back home to shiver and sweat beneath my blankets.
Sleep didn’t come until long into the next night.