The beginnings of a crisp autumnal chill had hung in the air since the sun had set over an hour ago and by now, the sounds of celebration in Ponyville could be heard as far away as Fluttershy’s cottage. Unlike previous Nightmare Nights, the primrose pegasus did not hide under her bed shaking, but ever since the time when she and the woodland creatures had worked together to scare her Ponyville friends, she had developed a less stressed view towards the social event, although she would still stay at home out of choice.
However, rebellion was stirring, and Angel Bunny had galvanised support amongst his fellow woodland creatures that they would all like to go into town to share in the atmosphere and maybe play a few games. Fluttershy was not keen, but as she looked around at the woodland creatures, all of whom seemed to be wearing a mask or a cape or something reflecting the event, she found herself unable to say no. However she did put her hoof down as hard as she could by insisting that if they were to go, then they should all return before it got too scary (just to protect the little ones).
So it was that an unlikely looking procession of animals large and small set off to enjoy some of the fun on offer in the town. Some were lured by the lights, others by the games, but the youngest ones were more focused on free candy. They had been warned to be on their best behaviour because Nightmare Moon may come and frighten them, and although they believed deep down that it was probably Princess Luna dressed up, they still harboured a degree of trepidation, so all promised to behave, at least in line with the spirit of the occasion.
To get things started, Fluttershy took requests for candy apples, pumpkin muffins, and cinnamon rolls and just when she had memorised the list she went over to the Sweet Apple Acres refreshments stall to place her order. She recited the list over and over to herself, head down, focusing really hard on not forgetting anyone when she bumped into the dark grey flank of a Bat Pony.
“Oh my – I’m so sorry” whispered the timid pegasus as the detail of her order evaporated behind her eyes.
“Pardon me Ma’am” came a polite but gruff voice belonging to the owner of the flank.
“Eeeep!” whimpered Fluttershy, looking up into his citrine eyes, centred in which were vertical black reptilian irises. He stared back into her startled wide teal orbs and noticed the extended canine tooth that resided incongruously with the rest of her demure image.
“Beg pardon” he responded in an attempt to put her more at ease “But I can’t help noticing your tooth. Do you perhaps have Bat Pony or Thestral ancestry?”
“Umm, no” whispered Fluttershy uncertainly, pawing at the ground with her forehoof “I sort of got it when I banished an infestation of vampire fruit bats ...”
This piqued his interest, and he separated from his Bat Pony friends to turn and face her head on, focusing completely on his chance companion to the exclusion of anypony else.
“Sounds like you’ve got an interesting story to tell, Miss” he said with a gentle smile forming “My name is Noctis Blaze and I would be delighted to hear you tell it to me.”
Now the centre of another pony’s attention, Fluttershy looked down at the ground where she continued to paw nervously. Angel Bunny realised pretty quickly that the prospect of his getting a tasty treat were receding rapidly, and fixed her with an angry glare while he thumped his hind foot repeatedly against the boarding of the refreshments stall. The reverberations echoed loudly, breaking the primrose pegasus out of her withering indecision:
“Oh Angel Bunny” she doted, suddenly forcing herself to refocus “I’m so sorry. I forgot all about you and your friends. Now I’ll have to check what they all wanted again.”
Angel Bunny rolled his eyes at Fluttershy’s audacity to relegate his interests to second place and turned to give Noctis an evil glare. In his turn, the Bat Pony leant forward and reached down with his large hoof, gently rubbing Angel Bunny between his ears, oblivious of the volleys of evil daggers the lapine was firing at him.
Fluttershy looked up briefly from the smaller creatures she had been checking on to see Noctis petting her white rabbit and said “Awww”, then took the bold step of looking into his eyes, only to blush bright pink when she saw that he was looking back at her with the same genial smile across his face. Sensing her awkwardness, he chuckled and straightened up “Perhaps we could meet up another time and you could tell me your story, Miss?”
Fluttershy had turned so red she was unable to speak and brought up a forehoof to cover her mouth, but she couldn’t betray the sparkle in her large teal eyes. Noctis drew his forehoof up and threw her a playful mock salute before turning away to rejoin his friends; momentarily stunned, she sat back on her haunches and watched transfixed in his general direction, long after he had disappeared into the crowd.
Angel Bunny threw a comically exaggerated sigh and thumped his rear foot repeatedly against the stall once more to get her attention, but it wasn’t going to happen quite yet; she had other things on her mind, just for the moment. The spoiled rabbit gave up thumping, crossing his forelegs over the front of his body and contented himself with giving her an evil stare.
Fluttershy’s party did eventually get some nice treats, although what the primrose pegasus eventually ordered bore little semblance to what they had requested. However, none minded as they all got to stay a whole lot longer than they had been expecting. They also stayed long enough to see the arrival of Nightmare Moon in her chariot, and contrary to Fluttershy’s earlier concerns, even the little ones weren’t scared, all of them getting into the party spirit. Even when Princess Luna addressed the crowd in her Royal Canterlot Voice, some giggled and some hid, but peeked out with one eye so as not to miss the spectacle.
With the party in full swing, an aquamarine pegasus stallion with a yellow mane came out of the crowd and gave Fluttershy a playful punch on the shoulder. Instantly, he was pinned to the floor by a dark grey shape that had materialised as if by magic from the crowd.
“What do you think you were doing to this mare?” threatened a deep voice laden with menace.
“Don’t hurt me!” screamed the aquamarine stallion in a surprisingly high falsetto.
“Noctis!” commanded Fluttershy with more force than the Bat Pony thought possible “Leave him alone – he’s my brother!”
“Oh …” he whispered apologetically, helping the shocked stallion to his hooves.
The crowd that had been suddenly stunned into silence gradually resumed a myriad of individual conversations and began milling around between attractions once more; whatever having happened now being over.
“Hey, Hey, Hey” said the aquamarine pegasus still unable to control his shaking “That really wasn’t cool, y’know?”
“What was that for?” demanded Fluttershy, her gentle voice now raised “Have you been spying on me?”
“I admit” confessed Noctis “That I happened to have come back to where you were and couldn’t help but check up and see you were alright, what with all the little ones you were looking after.”
“Really …?” questioned the primrose pegasus.
“Yes” continued the Bat Pony “Because I like you and then I saw this guy punch you …”
“You big silly” she said, shaking her head and then looking back up at him with her big eyes, Noctis deflating visibly before her eyes.
“Yeah” said Fluttershy’s brother shakily “You were lucky you caught me by surprise.”
Noctis turned to look into the face of the aquamarine pegasus and just stared him down, not needing to say anything further.
“He’s not too bad as brothers go” said Fluttershy “His name’s Zephyr Breeze. You might want to say sorry.”
She could see the hurt he felt as he swallowed his pride and extended a hoof to her oftentimes wayward sibling. Zephyr hoof bumped readily, back to his usual self now that the threat to his person was passed.
“Thank you all the same” whispered Fluttershy, and the Bat Pony’s feeling of humiliation washed away.
“Oh I could so do something with your mane …” said Zephyr wistfully.
“What the …?” exclaimed the Bat Pony.
“He’s a stylist” explained Fluttershy.
“Not with my mane he isn’t” retorted Noctis flatly.
Fluttershy giggled at this and Zephyr just looked deflated.
“Well, just so long as nopony’s picking on you, then I’ll go” said the Bat Pony and turned to leave.
“See you round big fella!” shouted the aquamarine pegasus in a voice that sounded a little too high-pitched for a mature stallion and waved a forehoof just outside his peripheral vision.
“Seriously” he said in a more assertive voice, the very instant he thought Noctis was out of earshot “Where‘d you find him?”
“Oh, he’s really sweet” said Fluttershy, little pink patches forming on her cheeks while Zephyr made an expression like he was gagging on something very distasteful.
By now it had gotten late and Fluttershy rounded up her woodland creatures ready to head for home, Harry helping to carry some of the younger ones who were falling asleep as they had stayed up way beyond their bedtime. Fluttershy sang them all a gentle lullaby on the dark and winding way home and by the time they arrived at her familiar front door, all were ready for bed.
Although Fluttershy was tired and knew she would have to be up early to feed the woodland creatures, something nagged away at her thoughts, possibly even her emotions. Who was this Noctis? Did he want to know her better? What should she do?
It would be some time before she finally snuggled down to sleep tonight.