//------------------------------// // A pup named Rahs Sparkle [ Nightmare Night bonus episode] // Story: Twilight gets a Puppy // by TDR //------------------------------// Twilight Gets a Puppy Nightmare Night special By TDR A pup named Rahs Sparkle [ Canterlot 7 years left] The thunder of little hooves running down the sidewalk was echoed by the rattle of candy in bags and pails all over the city. Foals from all over sought out the tightest grouping of homes to make the most of the time they had to get the biggest haul of candy they could. Guards were out in full force as well, whether in costume along with costumed foals or in uniform at various intersections, the entire city was being watched over with careful eyes to ensure that the foals running about were safe while having a good time. One particular foal had been running amuck for hours and was now on her way to the final stop for nearly every foal that night. Canterlot Castle. The little white filly darted down the street. This was not her natural coloration, but a spell she had mastered and wanted to show her teacher. She had a felt cutie mark of a sun stuck to her flank, fake gold hoof covers, crown, and necklace, the costume only added to her desire to show her teacher the spell. Felt wings flopped on her back and her mane and tail was loose and painted a multitude of colors like a sunrise. Of course she was not stupid and had already hit several neighborhoods. And she had a massive sack of candy floated along with her in her magic to show for it. As she galloped the scene froze with the filly in mid stride, a small subtitle appeared under her. [Twilight Sparkle] [11] [Magicus adroablus] The captions faded and the filly continued to run. A moment later a lumbering creature rounded the corner behind her and bounded after her. The creature had deep purple fur and a pair of floppy felt wings on it's back to match the coloration of the fur. He wore a rather large and oddly ornate headdress that seemed to mimic some ancient culture or another. Around his eyes were darkened by makeup that was drawn into a wadjet design around one eye. A massive bag of candy was gripped tight in the creatures teeth as he loped after the filly. The scene again slows with the subtitles. [Rahs Sparkle] [11] [ adorablius moon doggius] And again the scene speeds up with the pup rushing off. “Hey! Twily , Rahs! Wait up!” a voice called. Rounding the corner was a white unicorn stallion galloping full tilt after the pair ahead of him that rushed towards the palace. His blue mane was slicked back and a pair of false fangs were clearly visible in his mouth. A long bat like cape fluttered over his back , the black outside of it a striking contrast with his fur, though the bright red interior made it stand out further. As he galloped time slows to a stop once more with subtitles. [Shining Armor Sparkle] [19] [Bigbrotherus overprotectus] The scene resumed with more running. Waddling after the galloping trio was a much smaller figure. His purple scales were partially hidden by cloth designed to look like plate armor. He had a small wooden ax and a large red beard made of yarn. Perched atop his head was a helmet with large horns sticking out of it. A fair sized pillowcase full of candy was draped over one shoulder like a bag of loot. The scene slows once more to a stop. [Spike Sparkle] [5] [scalecoveredus adorableness] Soon it starts again and the baby dragon waddles onward. A few paces behind him was the final figure in the group. A smile crossed over her features as she kept an eye on the 'Spiking' before her, her ears perk up listening to her colt friend chase after his younger sister and brother. The mare was surprisingly pink, though she wore a rather tight black dress that covered her form fully. Her legs were covered in striped black and green socks than ran all the way up to her barrel. Her mane and tail were both shock white and a large pointed black hat rested on top of her head. She didn't have a treat bag but she had an old straw broom draped across her back. For the last time the scene slows. [Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, 'Cadence' ] [ She will hurt you] [Alicornius marefriendicus babysitterus] The scene and the chase resumed as the group approached the castle. “Having fun cadet?” One of the Royal Guards at the gate. “I haven't run that much since basic.” Shining Armor panted. “You're trying to catch a Sphinx and a mini Celestia. “ The guard chuckled.” I'm amazed you've kept up this well, oh vampire lord.” “Ha ha... well.. which way did they go?”Shining asked catching his breath. “You have to guess? Right towards the Princesses to show off their costumes.” The Guard smirked noting Cadence and Spike approaching. “Right I'll be after them....” “Hold on Cadet.” The Guard stated a bit quieter as he shifted closer to Shining. “ We're a bit light tonight as most of the Guards are out in the city. At best we're a skeleton crew watching the palace. Now I'm not some old timer worrying over everything , but something feels odd tonight. Some of the castle staff are acting odd and the Princess hasn't made an appearance in a couple of hours now. Usually she's the one hoofing out candy, and sneaking bits of it when no ponys looking, but tonight it's been her aside, Flowery Text, who's passing out the candy. Since you're headed that way any way think you can check on her, I know you're off duty tonight....” “Not a problem sergeant... I'll keep an eye out for anything odd.” Shining sighed.” Mostly because I know Twili and Rahs will be in the middle of anything that happens.” “HA.. well that's the truth. The Princesses students are an interesting bunch.” The Guard chuckled. “ Good luck cadet.” The inside of the palace had spared no expense in terms of decoration. Despite being the bustling hub of the entire city, as well as the capitol of the entire country, the palace looked like it had been abandoned for years. Cobwebs hung from everything, the lights were dimmed as all the candles were out and only softly glowing orbs of mage light floated around at random intervals moving like ghosts and softly humming. Dark corners hinted at horrific things as the moving lights made the shadows dance and shift, occasionally a maid or other palace worker moved through these shadows, usually in a costume of some kind to blend in, or scare a group of foals. There were however spots of bright light as a mage halo floated over the few patrolling Royal Guards along the path to the throne room. These bright beacons of light disrupted the chilling atmosphere of the castle and were often swarmed with little foals who found the experience too spooky for them to risk alone. Most of the activity of the night was in the main hall and throne room. Twilight and Rahs had already blown past that, the party atmosphere in the throne room was not to Twilight's liking, besides the Guard she had asked said the Princess wasn't there, so she must be in her room. Heading up the main stairs with Rahs thudding along behind her, Twilight took note that even in the areas the public wasn't supposed to go the decorations were well done. She did notice though the closer that Twilight got to the Princess's quarters the less depictions of Nightmare Moon there were. There were still plenty of cobwebs and pumpkins scattered about, but the star of Nightmare Night was Nightmare Moon, to see her visage missing from the decorations was odd. “ Come on Rahs we're almost there.” Twilight stated stopping at the top of the stairs as she looked down at the pup who was still in the middle of the stairwell. He was growling, his ears laid back to his head as he stared up at her, the fur along his back standing straight up as he was alternating between growling and hissing. Twilight blinked at that, Rahs only ever did that hissing growling thing when he was scared of something, and since she didn't hear her moms vacuum cleaner that meant....... The thud of a hoof above her on the landing drew her attention upward. Looking up Twilight was greeted to the sight of silvery blue hoof covers before her eyes. As her gaze traveled upward it turned into a midnight black coat on a very tall mare's legs, bluish silver armor covered the mare's chest and a helm of the same, capped her head. Black wings fanned out from her back stretching wide as the green eyed figure glared down at Twilight, a black spiraled horn jutted from out of the hole in the helmet. Her head and back were surrounded by floating blue mist dotted with stars. Her nebulous mane and tail whipped in an unseen wind as she bared her shark like teeth down at Twilight. “ Leave.” Nightmare Moon hissed. Twilight screamed out, rushing down the stairs, her bag of candy thudding on the steps for a moment before her magic flared up and grabbed it, yanking the precious loot away from the snarling mare. Rahs howled and took off after Twilight just as quickly, the pair of them rushing back towards the throne room and colliding with Shining Armor and Cadence only a few steps down the hall. “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Cadence stated her magic holding onto Rahs to prevent him from rushing away. That lasted long enough for a 'CHOMP' and the feeling of her horn getting slapped. Cadence frowned looking back at Rahs, who was sitting there calmly now munching on her magic. “What's going on?” Shining asked holding his sister as she flailed. “It's Nightmare Moon she's in the palace!!” Twilight flailed. “Seriously?” Cadence questioned. “ I thought au... Princess Celestia wasn't a fan of Nightmare Moon costumes.” “We saw her!” Twilight snapped. “At the top of the stairs!” Shining blinked, picking his sister up and putting her on his back, wincing a little at the eleven year olds weight as he walked into the foyer, his horn lit up and shone like a search light to the top of the stairs and around the rest of the room, showing nothing but decorations. “Well there's nothing here now.” Shining stated .” Are you sure you didn't just imagine it?” “Woof.” Rahs snapped. “You saw Nightmare Moon? NEAT!” Spike chipped in looking around excitedly and waving his wooden ax in the air.” I'll get her!”. “Seems both of them saw something that scared them.” Cadence commented.” That in itself is odd.” “Yeah they are normally pretty fearless.” Shining chuckled. “You don't believe us.” Twilight pouted. “We believe you saw something, maybe not Nightmare Moon though.” Cadence considered. Before another word could be spoken a loud groan echoed through the halls, the unearthly wail sending shudders down the groups spines. “There shouldn't be any sort of effect that does that!” Cadence winced. Twilight hopped down from her brothers back and considered a moment before darting up the stairs again, quickly followed by Rahs and Shining. “She was right here.... LOOK!” Twilight yelped. Shining blinked as he looked at the wooden floor of the landing, seeing a pattern of hoof prints that sparkled as if they they were full of stars. The path of them trailed off to a nearby hall and vanished. “So Nightmare Moon's a ghost?” Spike asked having managed to climb up after them. “There's no such things as ghosts.” Twilight snorted. “ What this is, is a mystery.” Shining sighed slapping his face with a hoof.” I know where this leads. So help me if this turns out to be another Galloping Ghost situation.........” “Galloping Ghost?” Cadence asked. “When Twily was five she was certain there was a ghost running around the neighborhood in the dead of the night. She woke up to go to the bathroom one night and looked out the window to see a glowing figure running down the street.” “Oh? What was it?” Cadence questioned. “It turned out to be Mrs. Danish from down the block. Her doctor told her she needed more exercise , but she was really self conscious so she only exercised and ran at night so no one would see her. The glow Twilight saw was all the reflective gear she was wearing so no one would think she was a burglar or anything.” “Nightmare Moon is in the palace, the Princess is missing, and there are moans of the undead filling the Palace.”Twilight stated.” Something is up and I wanna know what!” “Woof.” Rahs agreed. “Yep I'm in too” Spike added as he waved his ax in the air. “Alright, alright. I'll help.” Shining considered before smirking. “Okay lets split up gang. We'll search for clues faster that way. Twilight, you, Rahs, and Spike take downstairs, Cadence and I will take upstairs.” “Right!” “Bark!” “Whatho!” The trio rushed off towards the door at the back of the room barging through it into a deeper hallway. “Seriously is it a good idea to split up like this?” Cadence asked with a hint of worry. “We're in the palace, there are Guards wandering the halls, and Twilight is accompanied by a fire breathing Dragon, and Rahs.”Shining pointed out as he headed up the stairs. ”If there was a ghost I'd feel sorry for it.” “Good point, so what sort of clues are we looking for?” Cadence asked heading up after him. “We're not. I just remembered you promised to show me your quarters here in the palace.” Shining grinned. “ And with those three occupied....” Cadence blinked then, grinned as well as she moved up next to him, to press against his side.”Well aren't you a clever colt.” “I have my moments.”Shining grinned turning red at the contact.