Joe’s Donut Shop:
Like every other night for Joe, it was a busy one. Businessmen coming home from late work nights, or others just popping in for a quick late-night snack. But for the most part, it was a fairly normal night -Despite the large amounts of take-out orders from Twilight- really.
In a corner of the room, a jukebox played old rock and roll hits from 50 or so years ago, something Joe had bought up when his father first started up his shop give or take 20 odd-years ago. It began simply, just a small donut shop located inside an old train car, and given a fifties aesthetic with a neon sign on the outside of the building, checkered tile floors on the inside and small red booths with a curved stainless steel countertop.
After his father passed via a heart attack, Joe inherited the shop and continued his work, his dream of owning the greatest donut shop in the land. He’d like to think he’d fulfilled his father’s dreams and made him proud.
Joe smiled as he saw the Royal Guards taking the night shift chowing down on his donuts -His donuts, he thought proudly- for their lunch break. Another pair of guards danced to the tune currently playing on the jukebox, an old rockabilly tune with jazzy horns and even a harmonica. One guard had dark brown fur with a creamy underbelly, and her armor bore a dark red autumn leaf emblazoned on the armor’s centerpiece and on the horseshoes. The other wore similar style armor in design, but was light pink in coat color.
Joe smiled when the dark chocolate coated mare with the autumn themed armor came up to him and asked for a cup of coffee. He could tell she was trying to stay awake, as her eyelids were drooping.
“Long day?” He asked kindly, always making sure to listen to his customers and try and alleviate their concerns and help if he could. It was a business tactic, some would have said, to make a happy customer a returning one, but Joe wasn’t so cynical. He just liked helping ponies, and that was the end of it.
“Yeah… Tell me about it, my kids, soon as I woke up this evening for the night shift were crying up a storm,” the mare said, yawning slightly as she spoke. “Needed their bottle feeding, and in about a few hours they’ll need their diapers changed.”
“Ever thought of hiring a foalsitter?” Joe had to ask. “I can recommend a few ponies who be all too happy to help, really. For example, there’s this mare I know named Minuette who’s really great with kids. Very perky, and she’s looking to make a few bits on the side.”
“Joe, I appreciate your help, I really do, but I can handle my children on my own. My partner, she understands my problems and is always happy to take some of my workload for herself,” the mare continued, and gestured to her partner, who nodded at her words. “Besides, I’d rather spend time with my children, then let some other mare take care of them. They’re my girls and I love them for that, even when they’re making my life a living Tartarus.”
‘I can understand that, I suppose I’d be feeling the same if I had any children of my own,” Joe nodded. “My dad, even when I was causing him all sorts of trouble, still loved me anyways.”
“That’s always the thing isn’t it,” the mare agreed with him as behind her, the music changed to a more, soft jazzy tune. “Your children can do whatever they want, cause all sorts of trouble, but in the end… You’ll still love them, because they’re family. Family never gives up on family.”
“A wise statement, Guard Orchid.” a familiar voice, filled with loving and a motherly warmth that everypony knew said, and everypony in the room bowed at the voice’s owner as she entered the small establishment. Behind her, was the Doctor and Twilight. The Doctor was wearing a checkered suit, and a deerstalker hat for some reason. To only add to the oddity of him, an old-fashioned smoker’s pipe rested in his mouth, blowing out bubbles instead of smoke every so often.
“P-Princess Celestia, wasn’t expecting you at this time of night!” Orchid Blossom stuttered out. “I… I thought you’d gone to sleep already! I mean, once you were done raising the moon and all.”
“Yes, I normally would be, but somepony has gone around threatening my personal student and her family -And me, Celestia added mentally- so I cannot drift off to dreamland just yet.”
All the guards stood at attention at this statement.
“Whatever we can do to help, milady,” Orchid said. “Now, if there’s anything you require of us…”
“Yes, whatever you may have seen in the past few hours. Somepony slipped something into Twilight’s food and started making her see things, and the only place she ordered from within the past few hours…” Celestia trailed off, with Joe finishing for her.
“Was here. Yes, I understand,” he said. “I can inform you with the utmost certainty that I didn’t do it. I’ve been busy dealing with this bunch for quite a while now, as you can see. -Here, he gestured to the guards all around him- Guards have been coming and going for the night shift and keeping me busy, so I’ve had to delegate all of my duties to my waiters and waitresses.” he explained.
“And I have no reason to not believe you, Joe,” Celestia said. “But anything you and your patrons could offer would be of use. May we be allowed to speak to the wait staff?”
“Yeah, much as I’d like you to be able to do that in able clear this up, one of ‘em’s gone missing really...” Joe trailed off, rubbing his beard in thought. “It’s odd really, Enigma, -That’s her name, you see- was always a loyal one. Showed up every night and put in tons of hours, but for the past few nights, she just vanished! Right up out of the blue! Beginning to get me worried…”
“Enigma Nucleus, isn’t that Professor Periwinkle’s niece? The guy who always works in the Canterlot Observatory, studying the stars?” Twilight asked. “Been to see him a few times with my father, nice guy. Always happy to chat about space and its many wonders.”
“Now that you mention it, I think you may be right…” Joe trailed off. “They may be the same pony, I never asked, nor did she ever bring it up. Guess she didn’t want to be recognized as being a pony related to somepony of local fame. Can’t hold that one against her, really…”
“Wait,” Orchid spoke up. “Enigma? Stone gray fur, with a golden mane and an atom for a cutie mark?”
“Yes, that’s the one!” Joe exclaimed. “You’ve seen her?”
“Yes, I was walking on patrol with my partner, and at one point I saw her lurking about your shop, near the rear exit. Looked awfully shifty, now that I think of it,” she replied. “Damn it, should have reported this. If I’d known she’d gone missing, or something was ahoof…”
“It’s not your fault Orchid,” Celestia said kindly. “There was no way you could have known.”
“But at last, we have a lead!” the Doctor proclaimed with a rather excited shout as he took his bubble pipe out of his mouth, and everypony stared at him. “Come along, the game is still ahoof!”
“Who’s he again?” Orchid Blossom asked, looking rather confused. That sentiment seemed to be shared by everypony in the room.
“He’s… He’s, er, an assistant to helping me with this case. Local private eye, I guess would be the best way to put it.” the Princes of the Sun tried to explain, with Twilight nodding along at her lie.
“Consulting detective.” the Doctor corrected and Celestia could only sigh to herself.
Sparkle Family Household:
Meanwhile, back at Twilight’s house, Shining and Moondancer sat down to… Talk.
“So, you’re dating my baby sister?” he asked, his eyes staring right into Moondancer’s own. Credit given where credit was due, she didn’t flinch unlike how a lot of other ponies would have. Shining’s death glare, especially when it came to his baby sister, was rather infamous amongst the Guard.
“W-Well, hardly what you’d call dating… More like experimenting,” Moondancer stuttered out before she facehoofed. That probably wasn’t helping her case much. “...That’s not helping me any, is it?” she then asked, and Shining shook his head.
“No, not really…” He answered.
“Really, this is what we’re doing?” Moondancer asked in complete disbelief, throwing up her hooves in exasperation as she did so. “Sitting in your living room, interrogating me about my relationship with your sister while there’s a mare going around posing as Nightmare Moon and scaring the crap out of everypony?”
“I just want to look out for my sister, she barely has any friends as it is, and she worked hard to get them!” Shining explained. “Her little circle, which is basically just you, Minuette, Twinkleshine and Lyra. I… I just don’t want to see her getting her heart broken, and-”
“That’s the thing, isn’t it? Like I said, we’re not in love with each other, just experimenting and trying out new things!” Moondancer argued. Shining didn’t look convinced, and he crossed his forelegs and raised an eyebrow.
“But the way you speak, I may not know a lot about mares and I’ll be the first to admit I’m one of the densest stallions on the planet -Just ask my marefriend about my own high school years- but even I can tell you’re falling for her, and I suspect Twilight is going to start falling for you as well eventually,” Shining stated, and he noted how Moondancer’s eyes lit up at the prospect of Twilight falling in love with her. “See, right there! The way your eyes twinkled when I mentioned the possibility of Twilight falling head over hooves for you. It’s not surprising really, if you think about it,” he continued.
“What is?” Moondancer inquired, taking off her glasses to clean them. Shining sighed, and took off his helmet and sat it on a table to wipe sweat away from his brow with a soft cloth.
“You falling for her. I mean, how could you not? You two… You’re so alike, a shared thirst for knowledge. Learning everything you can about spells, about history, and about this planet,” Shining replied, gesturing to all the books lying scattered around the room. “I just don’t want to see my sister get hurt. It took her a very long while to earn her friends, and before that, she was this social-shut in. If… If she gets her heart broken in any form, I… I’m just afraid she’ll revert back to her anti-social self, not even bothering to try and make new ones and instead just placing her nose in her books. I… I just want to look out for my baby sister, you understand?” Shining said, a very audible sense of worry in his tone.
“I… I understand, and I promise I will never hurt your sister,” Moondancer said, in a completely serious and solemn tone of voice. Shining gazed at her intently, looking into her eyes for any trace of a lie, but found none.
“Alright…” he sighed, finally giving in. “You’ve convinced me.”
“Good, no we can get on to more important matters,” Moondancer replied, adjusting her glasses. “I’ve been working on a theory relating to Nightmare Moon, or more accurately… our imposter.”
“Oh?” Shining asked.
“Think about it, all the abilities she’s displayed so far… Teleportation, umbrakinesis, and flight. Any old unicorn could recreate these things if they knew the proper spells, but whoever’s posing as the Nightmare is just putting a bit more… flare if you will, into things. Dressing them up for his or her purposes, whatever they may be. Allow me to demonstrate,” Moondancer explained, and Shining nodded.
“Go ahead,” he replied.
“I realize this may make me a suspect in the case, but, watch…” Moondancer said, and her horn began to glow a light gray shade as the lights in the household began to flicker, and Shining nodded in understanding as the lights came back on.
“And I could easily recreate what you described to me in how Nightmare Moon teleported into my sister’s bedroom,” Shining said, before his own horn glowed pink and he turned himself into smoke and flew out one open window and then entered through another and resumed his normal form. “What we’re dealing with is a simple flim-flam artist, nothing more and nothing less,” he concluded.
“Question is… What is it they want?” Moondancer had to ask.
Canterlot Observatory:
The Canterlot Observatory, standing tall and proud over the rest of the city. Built on a hill that overlooked the rest of the city, its large white dome and huge golden telescope (Christened Luna’s Grace, by Celestia herself in tribute to her long-lost sister) were unmistakable amongst any other structure in the city. A winding cobblestone pathway led up the hill, flanked by iron railings on either side of the path.
It was this very path Celestia, Twilight and the Doctor now found themselves climbing up to greet the pony in charge of the installation, Professor Mercury Periwinkle and an old friend of Twilight’s father Night Light.
“Oh Twilight, it’s been so long!” Periwinkle said, eagerly shaking the mare’s hoof. “Oh, and Princess Celestia as well! My, such an honor!” he rambled, going on to shake Celestia’s hoof in a quite vigorous manner. Periwinkle was a light blue in coat color, with a red hat that had planets hanging from it and spinning like a baby’s mobile. On his flank, he bore a small silver telescope as his Cutie Mark.
“I… Er, forgot to mention he was a bit eccentric…” Twilight flushed nervously, laughing a little in embarrassment.
“I noticed,” Celestia said, in a rather remarkably deadpan tone for her.
“Come in, come in!” Periwinkle said, leading them inside the giant dome-shaped structure. He continued to ramble as he did so. “Why Twilight, I remember the last time you came here with your father. You were barely knee-high to a grasshopper!”
“Well… I do admit it was a rather long time since I’ve been here…” Twilight laughed nervously, her cheeks flushing even redder. Behind, Celestia and the Doctor stifled their sniggers with their hooves.
“Here, have some tea, it’s only right I treat my guests to some!” Periwinkle said and as his hooves trotted across the wooden floor a very audible creaking sound was heard. Soon, he was near a giant golden lever. He pulled it down, where it lay near a small cabinet. On top of that cabinet was a photograph inside a picture frame. In the photo, was him smiling with a golden-maned unicorn mare, presumably his niece.
The cabinet opened its twin doors, and a small little robot popped out carrying small little cups to a table, where Periwinkle gestured for Twilight and company to sit at. The robot placed the small cups down, and then went to retrieve a pot of tea.
“Ooh, very interesting! Genius really, personal servant! And all you have to worry about is oiling his gears every now and then!” the Doctor said in excitement. Periwinkle flushed at the compliment.
“Glad you think so!” he said as the little robot poured the tea into the cups one by one. “One of my finest accomplishments outside of studying the stars. Haven’t seen you around before, I must admit, you Twilight’s coltfriend?”
“N-No!” Twilight stammered out. “I… I’m more interested in my own gender,” she mumbled in embarrassment.
Hearing that, Periwinkle sighed and muttered “Rats! You two seem like a good pair, both remarkably intelligent if that stallion is who I think he is…” before turning to Celestia and asking: “He yours?”
“Not in the slightest.” the Princess of the Sun replied, although if you looked very closely, you could see the faintest hint of pink on Celestia’s cheek fur. Thankfully for her, nopony seemed to take any notice of it.
“So, what brings you here?” Periwinkle asked.
“It’s about your niece, Enigma,” the Doctor said. “We need to find her, she may have access information that’s rather important to us,” he said, telling the good professor a sort of half-truth, sparing him from his real suspicions. Noticing this and picking up on what the Doctor had done, both Celestia and Twilight sent him grateful smiles.
“Ah yes… her,” Periwinkle said sadly, shaking his head. “That’s… That’s sorta the thing, I haven’t seen her in the past few days. Hasn’t even shown up to treat me to my favorite brand of tea like she used to do, which is what forced me to make my little friend here…” he trailed off, patting his hoof-made robot on the head.
Twilight and the Doctor shared a look. If Periwinkle didn’t even know where his own niece was, and they seemed to be rather close, -at least at one point- then who else could they ask? Before they could ponder this question any further, an explosion of dark blue magic sent pieces of the wall flying towards them. Coughing, Twilight performed a spell to create small gusts of wind to clear away the smoke.
When it was removed from the air, her eyes widened when she saw the figure standing before her.
“Goodness Gracious!” Periwinkle shouted in shock and fear, blinking to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. “Nightmare Moon… But… But it simply can’t be you! It’s not time yet!”
“Ah, grand old prophecies… Never entirely accurate are they?” Nightmare Moon drawled as the Doctor stood up, Sonic Screwdriver in hoof.
“But he’s right, you’re simply not Nightmare Moon… Are you?” he asked, already having figured out what Shining and Moondancer had not that long before. His scans revealed exactly what he theorized. Underneath all of that fancy makeup, if you will, was just a normal unicorn. He sighed sadly to himself once he learned who said unicorn was and whispered a mental apology towards Periwinkle. “Just a normal pony, using a bunch of tricks and illusions to mask yourself.”
“Well, aren’t you a clever one?” Nightmare Moon said in a mock-cheerful tone. “But you’re right, I’m not Nightmare Moon. I just needed to be, to get ponies afraid… and to strike Celestia where it hurts, for what she did to me!”
“Did what to you?” Celestia asked in confusion.
“Oh, you’re so naive… You hurt others without even thinking of the consequences. What’s that old expression…? Oh right, karma’s a bitch!” the false Nightmare Moon spat before tossing a scroll towards the group, and Celestia’s eyes widened as she saw it, and what was on it.
“No, it can’t be…” she whispered in fear and horror before her eyes narrowed. “Where did you get that?”
“You’d be surprised at what sort of things you’d find in the restricted section of the library. You really should keep your secrets under better lock and key…” the false Nightmare Moon laughed before she took flight into the night skies and cackled once more. “Now, have fun you lot! Seeing what your dear Princess did in the dark! Every truth shall be brought to the light someday… I’m just helping things along a little I’d like to think!” she continued before teleporting away in a flash of smoke.
“Princess, what did she mean…?” Periwinkle trailed off as Twilight picked up the scroll, before she gasped and recoiled in horror at what she saw on it. An entire hive-like structure burning, while an Alicorn with a flaming mane who looked a lot like Celestia laughed in glee at the entire scene...