//------------------------------// // Looking Glass // Story: Ashes to Inferno // by Sun Aura //------------------------------// Things had calmed down, in a way. People were still wary, not talking to her and avoiding her if a teacher asked the class to pair off. Yet stares and whispers were less common, only cropping up when she was the subject of attention instead of whenever she entered a room. It wasn't so much that everyone stopped hating her, more like the hostility of it dwindled. She no longer felt afraid to walk alone, though she didn't quite feel confident enough to risk that feeling to be truth. Even her nightmares had become more sporadic. By the end of October, usually nightmares only came if she'd had an emotionally draining day. It definitely improved the mood at sleepovers. Sunset could only hope that the one for Halloween night would be free of nightmares. Or at least only filled with the usual nightmares one gets after binge watching horror films into the night. Of course, that still left the rest of the night. And one thing about friends, is that they tended to want to do things together on such a holiday. “Isn’t this a bit much?”Sunset asked. “Well, you did agree to a group costume,” Rarity said. “And you did say ‘surprise me’!” “Okay, but Alice in Wonderland?” she questioned, looking down at the iconic dress she wore. “Well duh,” Pinkie giggled. “You are the one who ‘went through the Looking Glass’ into a ‘strange world’.” Four groaned at the joke, but Rarity smiled with false innocence. After all, it was she who made their costumes, all themed after the Alice series. Some parts fit, like Sunset as Alice, Pinkie as the Mad Hatter, Rainbow as the Dormouse, and Fluttershy as the White Rabbit. Others were based more off aesthetic, like Rarity’s costume as the Red Queen, or Applejack as the Cheshire Cat. “Just be glad she had to make these school appropriate,” Applejack said with a glare. “You make a mistake on the neckline one time,” Rarity rolled her eyes. “At least this world makes more sense than Wonderland,” Sunset conceded. “So,” Rainbow began. “Did you have Halloween in your Magic Dimension, or do we have several years to make up for it? Because I know a lot of the best trick or treat places….” “Like you weren’t going to drag us around anyway,” Applejack retorted. “Let me sound nice,” she waved her off. “We sort of had Halloween,” Sunset said. “It had different myths and origins attached, but we still wore costumes and went around getting candy.” “What kind of myths?” Fluttershy asked. “I-I mean, are they myths or real or…?” “A combination,” she said. “Remember what I told you about Vice Principal Luna’s Counterpart becoming ‘Nightmare Moon’?” “You did mention it,” Rarity nodded. “Very spooky,” Pinkie added, wiggling her fingers for emphasis. “The holiday was called Nightmare Night,” Sunset explained. “At first it was a way to remember and cope with one of our Princesses becoming the embodiment of Nightmares. Ponies would put on costumes of what they feared, to face their own ‘Nightmare’, and to remember what we all could become. The Princess even kept the Moon up to simulate Nightmare’s Eternal Night. But over time it warped into her being more of a boogeyman figure.” “How does that happen?” Applejack asked. “A thousand years is a long time,” she shrugged. “But by the time I was a kid, the story was that you wore disguises so Nightmare didn’t ‘come eat you’, and you could appease her by offering up some of your candy.” “That sounds vaguely cult-ish,” Rainbow pointed out. “The whole ‘candy sacrifice’ bit I mean.” “Fair enough,” she said. “But it was actually really clever and kind of sweet. The ‘candy offering’ didn’t go to Nightmare, obviously. The adults gathered it up and gave to kids in hospitals who couldn’t go out and get their own. Most kids figure out it’s not really ‘Nightmare Moon’ taking the candy, but it’s part of being scared so they’re happy to do it.” “That’s actually adorable,” Rarity smiled. “And less cult-ish,” Rainbow said. “On that note, who’s ready for candy?” “Spooky Scary Skeletons,” Pinkie sang, making the music blast out of her phone. It was fun. It was a lot of fun. So why didn’t Sunset feel right? Sure, they called her a friend, they trusted her more. Maybe it was just her own feelings. As much as she loved being here, loved being with them, it wasn’t her world. Just like Alice, she'd stepped through the Looking Glass and was in a world not her own. But, then again, it was different. Last time, she pushed away the closest things to friends she had because they could never know her, because she couldn’t tell them about Equestria and the first thirteen years of her life. There had always been that barrier, keeping her from fully being with them. These five however? They knew. They knew she was from another world, and they didn't care. Or rather, they did care. About her, all of her, including her full past. And perhaps that was the difference. Being allowed to know all of someone, even if you didn't quite know all of it yet. She didn't care about the Dimensional difference either. They were friends, and that was more important than what world she was from.