The silence stretches as the chariot hovers in the dark sky. A gap in the clouds allows the pure white moon to illuminate Nightmare Moon as she lands, small puffs of dust scattering away from her blue crystal shod hooves. She stands regally, head slowly turning to regard each of the ponies in front of her.
The white eyes narrow. Half of the ponies sink to the ground, peeking through forelegs as they whimper and shake. Bags of candy lie forgotten next to the fillies, their eyes reflecting the light of her own. More than a few try to muster the courage to slink away, but cease their attempts as soon as her eyes roll over them.
The other half are standing. Not quite at attention; obviously, they have been imperfectly trained. She can see the occasional tremor, though more from the ponies wearing emblems of a blue eye, the same that adorns her charioteers. The same as Nightmare Moon. The armored ones, and the black clad fillies, lock eyes with her, puffing their chests up and standing straighter. Until she comes to the tall one, separate from the others except for a single guardsmare. He regards her coolly, his mouth curling to a scowl. She takes a deep breath, bellowing in the Royal Canterlot Voice,
“CITIZENS OF PONYVILLE!!”
Gale force winds erupt around her! They blow those standing to a kneel, the ones already cowering on the ground sliding back several inches and leaving furrows in the dirt. The storm clouds above crackle with lightning, briefly illuminating the pony as she raises a blue hoof to the sky.
“WE HAVE GRACED YOUR TINY VILLAGE WITH OUR PRESENCE!! SO THAT YOU MAY KNOW THE TRUE PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT!!
A hoof slowly pulls the hood off, revealing a dark blue horn. Her eyes no longer shine as voids of white, her cobalt mane waves behind her, freed from its clothy prison. She steps out of the rest of her cloak, spreading her wings. Her mouth pleasantly smiles to the crowd, her voice dropping ten decibels but still deafening.
“We Are A Creature Of Nightmares No Longer! Instead, A Pony Who Desires Your Love And Admiration!”
Princess Luna steps forward, bowing slightly. The ponies cowering on the ground gradually get to their hooves, only to drop down in respectful bows. Princess Luna looks towards Ponyville, her eyes narrowing at the teal banners depicting Nightmare Moon’s regalia, or scowling caricatures of her head. She turns back to the crowd,
“Together, We Shall Change This Dreadful Celebration Into A Bright And Glorious Feast!”
“Aah!” screams Pinkie Pie, bolting up into the air. She hovers for a few seconds as she shouts, “Did you hear that, everypony!? Princess Luna says she’s going to turn this place into a feast! FOR HER!!” She lands, kicking up a cloud of dust as she sprints away. “RUN!!”
“Aaah!” all the sticker wearing fillies scream as they chase after Pinkie Pie. The mares chase after their fillies, only slightly less screaming for them, but mostly for the young ponies to slow down and not ruin their costumes. Then the non-sticker wearing ponies bolt away, caution thrown to the wind as they stampede away.
“No!” Princess Luna cries, stretching a hoof out as if it could catch the fleeing ponies. “Screams of happiness are what your Princess desires, not hopelessness!” Her breath leaves her body with a heavy sigh, her hoof coming down as her shoulders slump. Princess Luna looks around at the candy littering the ground, then the two ponies, dragon, and human lingering behind.
“Princess Luna? I’m sorry.” Twilight Sparkle smiles up at the alicorn, the bells on her hat jingling.
“For what, Magic?” Princess Luna sighs, glancing back at Ponyville. “The screams of terror of the fillies as they run away? They are not yours. You only sealed your union recently.” Her eyes flick to Doug, narrowing. Her voice returns at a bellow, “YOU, However, Must Bear Responsibility For Their Upbringing.” She quiets down, if only slightly as Doug grits his teeth, his eyes not leaving hers, his hand coming up to his neck. “We thought that by making use of our insignia that this situation would be prevented, not exacerbated. We do not give permission to impersonate ourselves lightly.”
“I haven’t done anything to antagonize them, your Highness,” Doug says, spitting out the last two words, “or turned them against you in any way. You did that all on your own.” He adjusts the neck of his cuirass, grunting at the clink of metal. Beside him Fluttershy quakes in her armor, inching to stand behind Doug and out of Princess Luna’s sight.
Princess Luna growls, then sighs as her face falls. “You are right, of course. It is entirely our own doing that has set these ponies against us, now and before. It seems that no matter how hard we try, we cannot escape our past.”
“Well, maybe there is,” Twilight says with a soft smile. “We should be able to show these ponies that you’ve changed, that you no longer are Nightmare Moon!” Her smile grows even larger, a hoof coming up to settle against Princess Luna. "We just need to figure out a way that you don't come off as so intimidating. Unapproachable."
Princess Luna slowly nods. “Yes. You display wisdom similar to that of the origin of your commendable costume." She turns, looking down at the armor underneath the hat. "If Star Swirl were to ever defect, that is." She sighs, turning back to look at Ponyville. "I suppose if we are able to present ourselves more appropriately, then ponies will accept us.”
“It’s worth a shot.” Twilight grins, following Princess Luna's gaze to the ponies inside Ponyville. They are gathering around Pinkie Pie, who is standing up on the stage and… shouting at them? At the very least she is riling up the crowd, whipping them into a frenzy of activity. She shakes her head, her hoof coming up to rub her horn. “Well, first we should work on your speech. I know Doug has talked to you about the Royal Canterlot Voice before, but maybe we can keep toning it down. It's... fine when addressing crowds, but could be a little quieter when you're so close. We just need to find you a tutor!” She glances up, looking for Fluttershy, only seeing Princess Luna laying down, Doug sitting next to her. Twilight walks up, only to spot Fluttershy on the other side of the alicorn.
Princess Luna’s frown and sigh is muffled by the armor clanking back and forth, the mare inside shuddering. “Please?” she booms out. “We Ask You To Teach Us To Speak In A ‘Tone Down’.”
“Try it again, but lower,” Doug grunts out, one hand rubbing his ear as the other strokes Fluttershy’s back. He whispers to the mare, “You’re doing great!”
Princess Luna grins from ear to ear, excitedly belting out, “SHALL OUR LESSONS COMMENCE?”
“Okay,” whimpers Fluttershy, unable to make eye contact with Princess Luna and focusing entirely on Doug. Her breathing soon matches his fingers as they dig in, then loosen, then dig in again. He blows her a kiss, drawing out the smallest of smiles from her. “Okay,” Fluttershy says again, slightly louder, this time able to turn and look at Princess Luna.
Twilight realizes that Doug’s hand wasn’t so much scratching as it was holding the mare in place, but now has shifted to longer strokes as she relaxes. “This is great!” she says, both mares looking over at her with slight exasperation. “Once you master how to speak in appropriate volumes, then we can move on to fitting in and having fun!”
Princess Luna stares at Twilight for a few seconds before she turns to Doug. She asks in a quiet voice, “We are unsure of the common parlance. Does using the phrase-” her hooves come up to make air quotes “-‘fitting in’ and ‘having fun’ together refer to the act of congress?”
Twilight raises an eyebrow, answering as Doug opens his mouth. “Yes? I do find our meetings to be quite fun. Sometimes you get together because you have to, but a lot of the time we’ll still do something even without a quorum! It just depends on what we’re feeling!”
Princess Luna’s mouth gapes open slightly as she stares at Twilight.
“Besides, if you want to make a decision that only involves you, then you don’t need to go through the whole process. Nopony minds, we’re pretty informal like that.” Twilight smiles and nods, silence stretching for a few seconds before she continues, "So, I'm sure Doug can help you with that. And Fluttershy; she went over a lot of the rules and such that we have. I enjoy it so much!"
“Oh.” Princess Luna looks to Doug. The human is pressing his hands against his face, covering his eyes and most of his mouth and nose. She starts off yelling, her voice slowly lowering to a normal volume, “We Look Forward To Finishing Our Lesson on speaking in appropriate volumes, then.”
“It sounds to me like you’re well on your way already!” Twilight grins, winking at Doug, though he completely misses it. “I guess I’ll leave you to your lessons.” Her smile turns to a hard set grimace, “I need to go find the ringleader of the frightened fillies.”
Twilight goes from having to strain to listen to anything but the Princess’s booming voice to straining to listen to it as she nears Ponyville. Rainbow Dash is zipping from one end of the festival to the other, still atop her dark cloud, but no longer shocking anypony. Instead, she keeps relaying instructions from Pinkie Pie. The pink pony, still clad in Nightmare Moon’s armor, is pointing every which way, coordinating dozens of ponies.
“Pinkie!” Twilight shouts as she teleports onto the stage, “What are you doing, going on about Princess Luna turning this place into a feast?”
“She is?” Pinkie Pie shakes her head. “I mean, She Is!” Pinkie Pie motions to the decorations being created, showing Nightmare Moon, manticores, and other monsters. “And we’re here to put a stop to that!”
“No!” Twilight exclaims, stomping a hoof. “You don’t understand!”
“Oh, I understand plenty!” Pinkie Pie spins to the edge of the stage, addressing everypony, “Hey! Who here wants Nightmare Night to be a feast for Princess Luna?”
Activity around the festival stops, ponies turning to watch Twilight and Pinkie Pie in silence.
“And, who here wants Nightmare Night to be a feast for Nightmare Moon?”
The crowd stomps, multiple ponies whooping and hollering.
“What?” Twilight shouts as Rainbow Dash zooms over.
“Don’t you get it?” Rainbow Dash says, her voice even raspier than normal. “Or do we need to spell it out for you?”
“I don’t understand why you refuse to accept Princess Luna! She’s reformed, she doesn’t want to gobble ponies up, or terrorize them! She wants there to be peace, and harmony, and friendship among us!” Twilight paws at her Nightmare Moon armor, grunting as she tries to strip the cloth off. “We shouldn’t be wearing this if it reminds her of that time!”
Rainbow Dash drops down, her hoof pressing against Twilight’s and stopping her from taking off the armor. “You really don’t get it, do you?”
Twilight grits her teeth as she raises her head, glaring into Rainbow’s eyes.
Pinkie Pie steps over, motioning to the festival. Ponies are putting away food, the snack stations closing. The games are swapping out for ones designed to inflict fear, more signs made for the scarier attractions. “Don’t you see, Twilight?”
Twilight shakes her head. She stops trying to remove her costume, Rainbow letting go of her hoof.
“We represent the true spirit of Nightmare Night!” Pinkie Pie motions to one of the new banners going up, a harsh depiction of Nightmare Moon cackling as lightning shoots from her horn. “And with that the founder, Nightmare Moon! Who would cast everything into darkness were she not afforded the respect and admiration she deserves!”
“What?” shouts Twilight, backing up a step.
Pinkie Pie casts her foreleg, motioning to the sticker wearing ponies, now comprising the entirety of the town. She stops at Twilight. “Each of you took an oath of loyalty to Nightmare Moon! It might not have been very long, and you might have made that choice for the wrong reasons, but you made it all the same! And now? We go! To spread terror to everypony who does not accept the true reason for Nightmare Night!”
Twilight’s mouth gapes open as lightning strikes the air around Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash nowhere near a stormcloud.