A cool autumn chill was in the air, brisk and yet somehow welcoming, the sound of ravens screeching somewhere in the distance. The moon was just rising over Ponyville, lights still illuminating the town, just like every other evening.
But on a second look, things were clearly not like ‘every other evening’. Witches, ghouls and other unspeakable monster roamed the streets, dragging themselves from door to door, all while hollowed-out pumpkins illuminated the slowly dimming evening.
It was unmistakable for any Equestrian, it was Nightmare Night!
“...so glad I finally have a night off,” Robert muttered, finding himself hanging up small glowing pumpkins around Carousel Boutique. “Sunset’s not under house arrest for the night, meaning I don’t have to sit around in the cold weather in that armor. The least they could do is make that crap good all year round, because I’ve been freezing my arse off for the past few days!”
Drawing his coat closer to himself, he began humming ‘This is Halloween’ under his breath.
“Oh dear, Shining’s not a slave driver,” Rarity remarked. “And I’m sure if you put in a request, you’ll get warmer armor! Shining did make sure you’re delivered a steady supply of testosterone supplements after all!”
“Maybe!” Robert said, backflipping off the step ladder before grabbing a fake gravestone and shoving it into the ground in front of him. “Hey, I thought these were supposed to have gone up weeks ago!”
“Oh well, business has picked up lately, I couldn’t find the time to actually decorate!” Rarity laughed sheepishly. “Between designing a costume for myself, one for my sister and taking commissions, a mare such as myself rarely has time to focus on… other matters. Oh! I just remembered, the Boutique should be playing a steady soundtrack of Nightmare Night related music, and it seems…”
“I got it!” Robert said rushing back inside before giving the boombox Rarity had set up a good solid kick, before it began blaring Marilyn Manson’s take on Halloween.
Rarity frowned knowing exactly who had chosen that song, before sighing: “Oh well, no accounting for taste I suppose…”
“Charlie loved Manson, so sue me!” Robert commented.
“I should, on account of lack of good taste!” Rarity sniped back.
“I dunno, I kinda like it! Jammin’, really,” Sunset commented as she walked in, leather jacket zipped up tight to protect her from the autumn chill. Flipping a few bits towards Rarity, she was handed a bag, presumably her costume contained within. “I dunno Rares, you should treat yourself! You’ve been up to your flanks in commissions, you should enjoy yourself for once! Nightmare Night’s a night for partying, and trust me that’s what this mare intends to do!”
“Excuse you, I am treating myself. My sister wants me to go trick or treating with her, and that’s what I shall do!” Rarity told her with a sniff.
“That still doesn’t sound like anything that you yourself want. More like something your sister wants,” Sunset pointed out.
“Exactly, and I, as her dearly beloved big sister…” Rarity started.
“Oh, honey, you’re missing out!” Sunset laughed into a mirror, as she began painting fake blood on her fur. “These halls of yours, they’re covered in cobwebs! Pretty sure you should get to clearing them out sometime!”
“Excuse you, I can ‘clear out the cobwebs’ any time I like!” Rarity returned.
“Keep telling yourself that dear,” Sunset snarked, Robert watching the exchange like a tennis match.
“I mean, I could chaperone Sweetie if you want…” he said bravely before Rarity turned to glare at him.
“NO!” Rarity barked. “I’m quite sure you would make a great chaperone, but I am not going to ditch my little sister just to ‘clean out some hallowed halls’.”
“You can say ‘present yourself’. It’s not that hard…” Sunset drawled.
“Excuse you, I am a lady! I shall not!” Rarity told her.
“Whatevs,” Sunset shrugged. “But suit yourself. Because trust me, a sexy zombie and a sexy witch duo? Between us, I’m pretty sure we’d have hands all over us! Go on Rarity, bewitch someone to your whims!”
“...how can a zombie be sexy, I’m pretty sure they’re dead by definition.” Robert pondered.
“Oh, so you want to find out?” Sunset said flirtatiously, turning to him.
“No thanks,” Robert drawled, in complete deadpan. “I’m not into necrophilia.”
“Suit yourself,” Sunset shrugged. “Because trust me, you’re missing out!”
“Do you have any standards?” Rarity asked. “Because you’re…”
“Presenting myself like a common whorse?” Sunset snarked. “Is that the phrase you’re looking for?”
“Ladies, please, you’re both pretty…” Robert drawled, going unheard.
“Why I never! I’m never going to stoop to your level!” Rarity shouted back at Sunset.
Eventually, even this got boring for Robert and he decided he was going to help Sweetie into her costume.
“What’s with my sister and that mare down there?” Sweetie asked innocently. “They don’t seem to like each other very much.”
Robert laughed as he did her makeup.
“Understatement of the century there…” he mused.
“So… What are the two going on about? And what’s a whorse?” She returned, tilting her head slightly in the process.
“...oh, Rarity’s really gonna kill her now…” Robert sighed. “Then she really will be a zombie!”
“Well, zombies are cool. As long as they don’t start going for your head,” it came back with a smirk. “But, really, what’s a whorse? You still haven’t answered me.”
“You’ll learn when you’re older,” Robert said simply, slipping a different shirt over his head. On it, read Team Jacob. He’d opted to go as the ‘teenage idiot who didn’t know any better’ this year. Well, it was a valid costume! Perfectly valid!
“But I wanna know now! I’m old enough to know! I’m practically an adult anyway!” Sweetie huffed back, crossing her arms with a pout.
“...oh, to be a kid again,” Robert muttered to himself really not wanting to be the one to explain this one. “Damn it, Shimmer! If you keep this up, I’m going to start disliking you for another reason! And I just got over my hatred of you for being a criminal!”
“Hello? I’m waiting! And if you don’t want to tell me, I’ll just get another adult to tell me! And then I’m gonna let Rarity know you told me about it. But if you tell me now, I won’t!” A devious smile crept across her little princess lips.
“...this is extortion.” Robert panicked, beads of sweat trailing down his face.
“No! It’s negotiation! Rarity told me all about it!” It came back, confidently.
“...Oh motherclucker…” Robert sighed. “Of course she did!”
“Why do I get the feeling several years from now, she’s going to be a nightmare in board room meetings?” he thought.
“Oh, uh, look at the time!” Robert thought fast, hurrying her down the stairs. “We don’t want to be late, do we? Trick or treating is starting in just a few minutes, and don’t you want to beat all the other fillies to the good candy?”
...though to be honest, Robert wasn’t entirely convinced Sweetie was a filly. More like a little demon in filly’s clothing.
“Don’t think this is over! We're gonna talk about this later!” She hissed back at him, with such a conviction in her voice that it almost let a cold shower run down his back.
“...what was that all about?” Rarity asked, peering over Robert’s shoulder.
“Nothing. Just negotiations,” Sweetie returned, in the most sweetly and innocent voice one could imagine.
“...blame Sunset,” Robert sighed. “You know what I said about gladly chaperoning your sister?”
“Yes?” Rarity asked.
“...I take it back. I take it all back!” Robert admitted.
“You’re barely wearing a costume, by the way,” Rarity remarked towards her roommate.
“I am so!” Robert refuted, gesturing down towards himself. “Like, I’m the teenage boy who didn’t know any better! It’s a perfectly valid costume!”
“...this is because you didn’t put in your order in time, isn’t it?” Rarity surmised.
“Noooooo...” Robert said a little too quickly to actually be even anywhere near believable.
“Maybe he was a teenage boy who didn’t know any better?” Sweetie quickly added as well, smirking playfully at him. “Who knows.”
Sunset cackled long and hard as she walked on by.
“Oh, she pegged you good!” the bacon-haired mare remarked with a wily grin. “Filly after my own heart!”
“I’m sure…” Robert drawled, before muttering to her: “Considering you’re to blame for my current situation anyways…”
“What, moi?” Sunset asked innocently.
“You know what you did…” the black ranger sighed tiredly in return, having a distinct feeling a long night of pain and humiliation was in front of him. This was exactly why he hated this holiday.
“Not sure I do, but I’ll accept the blame anyways! I’ll take it as a compliment!” Sunset remarked with another laugh.
“...yeah sure, you’ll be laughing out of your butt when Rarity finds out what you did!” Robert whispered back to her. “Then we’ll see who has the last laugh!”
Meanwhile, on the other end of town, a giant pumpkin house had seemingly popped up overnight. The holes cut inside it, illuminating the surrounding street like street lamps, while almost having a hypnotic pull to it. It was truly a sight to behold!
Standing at its door, a pony, covered by a pale white witch mask, as well as a witches hat and long cloak that covered her body was waiting, looking longingly down at the fillies passing by. All, while not moving a single muscle, just standing there.
“Uhm… Lady…” A trembling voice spoke up next to her, the pony immediately spinning her head around, before slightly tilting it.
“Oh, hello little one! What brings you here on such a… Delicious night like this?” She returned with a slight cackle, her head moving around a bit, but her eyes staying on the foal the entire time.
The white foal with brown spots, dressed up as a pirate took a step back and awkwardly returned: “Candy?”
“Uhhh! Of course! Of course! Of course! What else would one ask for on this delicious night?” she eagerly returned, nodding her head in the process. “You are here for your treat! Oh! I love treats! They are so… Mhhhm!”
The foal just looked at her with his eye, not covered by his eyepatch, and was just about to say something else, when she once again started rambling: “Ohhh! You’re the first one today! Oh, how I love the visiting foals and fillies each year! They fill me with so much joy. Come inside, come inside! Since you are the first one to come to my humble shack, you deserve a special price! As much candy as your body can carry!”
Without even waiting for an answer, the mare already was pushing the filly inside, something Pipsqueak didn’t put up much of a resistance, his thoughts far too clouded by the promise of all the candy he could carry. He didn’t even notice the door falling shut behind him on its own as she led him through the dimly lit corridors of the house.
“Not much further! We’re almost there!” The mare chuckled, before shoving him into her living room, or, how it looked right now, her candy vault. Cauldrons, upon cauldrons of candy, were piled up all across the room. “Take whatever you want, little one!”
Pipsqueak’s jaw almost dropped to the floor, as his eye jumped from one cauldron to the next. “That… That is all mine?”
“As much as you can carry! You can even take a little bite first. It will make this allllllll the sweeter,” the mare returned, holding out a small cookie with magic, her head tilting slightly in the process.
Without a second thought, Pipsqueak munched down on the cookie, before dashing to one of the cauldrons and starting shoveling its contents into his bag. All the while the mare looked on from the background, eyes fixated on the filly, her entire body perfectly locked in place in her current position.
Pip had almost filled his back to the brim when he felt his arms slowing down. At first, he didn’t think much of it and continued to shove, but quickly, it just grew worse. Within seconds, his hands had almost completely stopped and his eyelids were getting heavier by the moment.
“Awwww, tired?” The mare suddenly whispered into his ear, a cold, unnerving undertone in her voice. He could only nod weakly, a gleeful laugh ringing through his head. “Goooooooood! Very good! Now, that you had your treat, it’s time for the trick! Welcome to my graveyard of dreams!”
Her clawed hand digging into his shoulders, as everything for him went black. The last thing he heard, her maniacal laugh.
In her realm, Luna shifted the change in the power dynamics. Her eyes widened, feeling this force encroach itself into her lands. It was cold, it was uncaring, and it felt incredibly… Luna didn’t know how to describe it, other than it just felt wrong. It was like her own powers, but twisted. It wasn’t exactly like Nightmare Moon’s powers, but in some ways similar.
It couldn’t be.
And yet it could.
Luna had heard the legends of course, what the Neighponiese called a baku. The devourer of dreams.
It had another name though, something far more ancient and almost unspoken.
She, with a flurry, flew from her bed and descended into the world of dreams.
Her realm, as soon as she entered it, she noticed the difference. It felt so twisted, so dead inside. Fog covered the world, and strange creatures howled in the night. Dead trees laced the pathways, gnarled and twisting in the winds.
Buildings were all around her, but lay abandoned. Gone were the usual bubbles of ponies dreams, bright and welcoming. Instead before her, lay a ghost town.
“I know you’re there,” she whispered before calling with hardened eyes: “Come out! Show yourself, baku!”
Skeletons and ghouls rose up from the ground, but Luna quickly took them all down.
“I don’t have time for your minions, I’ve come to speak to you! Stop playing games!” Luna snapped, and with a wave of her hand, cleared away some of the fog.
A sharp cackle split the air, and something flew past the moon, a mare on a broomstick before she vanished from sight. The fog seemed to grow closer, wrapping itself all around Luna like a vice.
A voice rang out through the mist.
“Oh Luna dear, you didn’t have to get all dressed up for me…” the mare said. No, not a mare, Luna reminded herself. A monster. “You know, if you wanted to talk, we could just set a date!”
“So, you’re back,” Luna said. “And here I thought I’d have seen the last of you after I banished you from my realm the first time…”
“Oh dear,” the mare said, still dressed in her witch’s attire sans mask. Beneath it, a horribly scarred face, scorched by magical fire. “You should have realized. I always come back. Nightmare Night is my domain after all. Not yours.”
“Funny that, it’s not you that the holiday is named after…” Luna returned keeping a watchful eye on the mare.
“Yes, but I’m sure Giranbo’s Night doesn’t quite have the same ring to it!” said the mare, a shadow of her true monstrous form visible in the moonlight. A twisted semblance of a tapir. “Not that ponies would know who I am. Not after you banished me from the history books.”
“They don’t need to know,” Luna returned. “Not really. You’re not worth immortalizing. I will stop you, you know.”
“How? Weak as you are, and don’t think I haven’t noticed you’re not back up to full strength yet, you don’t stand a chance,” Giranbo said. “My domain encroaches on yours, you can feel it sapping your strength. What, did you think the whole ghost town you see before you is just for show? I’m taking over! Out with the old, in with the new. It’s my house now!”
“I will stop you.” Luna repeated, firmer this time.
“Blah blah blah, enough with the hero talk!” Giranbo replied, mockingly. “If you had the ability, you’d have done it already!”
“Let me correct that error then!” Luna said lunging forwards, fist drawn back.
“...really, good old fisticuffs?” Giranbo asked, catching the blow with her wrist. “...I thought you were supposed to be a master sorceress? Ooops, my bad! But if you want to turn this into a martial arts movie…”
Giranbo kneed her in the stomach, Luna coughing from the force of the blow before she teleported behind the monster. Giranbo spun, catching the kick between her wrists.
“Oh, we wouldn’t want to damage your pretty little horseshoes now would we?” Giranbo remarked, the two exchanging more blows, with the monster of a mare blocking every one of them. “Royal regalia is so hard to replace, and I’m pretty sure the knowledge on how to forge this stuff was lost over 1000 years ago! You do have royal tailors for this, don’t you? Or are they too afraid of pissing off the big bad Nightmare Moon?”
“SHUT UP!” Luna roared, still sore from that incident.
“Oh, did I touch a nerve?” Giranbo mocked, taking a step back to avoid the kick, Luna again attempting to buck her in the face. “You know, you really have only yourself to blame. If you hadn’t gotten yourself trapped in the moon after going completely cray cray for crayola, I wouldn’t even be here!”
“Wha…?” Luna gasped.
“Oh please, don’t play dumb. I know you’re more intelligent than that…” Giranbo said in a tone of faux-sweetness. “Don’t insult my intelligence by making me explain it to you.”
And Luna just knew she was correct, if she hadn’t been banished inside the moon, this monstrosity wouldn’t have returned.
“Times have changed though,” Luna said, eyes narrowed. “I’m no longer the only force on this planet you have to worry about!”
“Oh, you mean the Power Rangers?” Giranbo said. “I know of them. I’ve been at this for years, every Halloween since your banishment. They haven’t caught me yet, hell they don’t even know I exist. Oh, I don’t doubt you’ll soon be off to tell them, but let them come. I’ve got a special trick just in mind for them! Let’s see how they fight me inside my own domain!”
And with that, Luna found herself thrown out of the dream realm and back into her bed…
Meanwhile...
“...her spooky voice might work better if she wasn’t dressed like that. Just sayin’.” said a certain dragon on Mayor Madison Mare’s clown costume.
Robert had a different thought on it.
“And here I thought being the non-ironic clown was a dead horse genre!” he commented before facepalming as he remembered who he was talking to. “...no offense intended.”
“Sour Grapes.” Sunset replied.
“...eh?” Robert asked, turning to look at her.
“That’s what I think your pony name should be,” Sunset continued. “Sour Grapes. Given you’re… well, you know. So sour. The joke writes itself!”
“Haha, I’m very amused.” Robert drawled.
“Oh, lighten up dearie,” Rarity said to him. “Just let her be, annoying as Sunset may be, she does have a point. Nightmare Night is a time to enjoy yourself!”
“I am enjoying myself. I’m snarking at the nonsense!” Robert said. “I’m way too old for this anyways.”
“And yet you’re in a costume…” Rarity mused.
“Yeah, one that I threw together in five minutes just so I wouldn’t stand out.” Robert returned.
“Too late for that I’m afraid…” Sunset tittered.
Zecora, dressed as a witch with spiders in her mane and a long black cloak covering her, had foals and fillies at her heel, leading them through the spooky streets. A thin mist had started to descend, giving an eerie atmosphere.
“Listen close, my little dears, I'll tell you where you got your fears of Nightmare Night, so dark and scary. Of Nightmare Moon, who makes you wary,” she told as she blew a green mist into the air, a hellish horse beginning to descend upon the crowd. “Every year, we put on a disguise, to save ourselves from her searching eyes…”
“Guess who she’ll be finding then, eh Rob?” Sweetie said, elbowing a certain Black Ranger.
And then the hellish horse opened her jaws wide before exploding into green smoke.
“But Nightmare Moon wants just one thing: to gobble up ponies in one quick swing!” Zecora continued. “Hungrily, she soars the sky. If she sees nopony, she passes by. So if she comes and all is clear, Equestria is safe another year!”
“...you’ve got some weird bedtime stories, you know that right?” Robert said to Sunset, who was shivering a little. Maybe not from the cold.
“Wolf in your grandma’s nightdress?” Sunset snarked back at him.
Speaking of wolves, Scootaloo walked by dressed as one. “Hey, just asking? If we wear costumes to hide from Nightmare Moon, so she won't gobble us up, how come we still need to give her some of our candy? Seems a bit like extortion doesn’t it?”
“It’s to keep us safe kid!” Sunset answered before Zecora could. “If we don’t give her our candy, she gobbles us up!”
Robert could be distinctly seen rolling his eyes.
“Exactly, Scoots!” Sweetie squeaked. “Don’t you know? If she gets candy to eat, she doesn’t eat…” she gulped a little. “Us!”
“Still feels like extortion!” Scootaloo commented.
“Oooooh, you’re just going to make yourself Nightmare Moon’s first target then…” Sweetie Belle squeaked out nervously, cuddling close to her older sister.
“There there dear, I won’t let her eat you…” Rarity whispered calmly.
“...harmful to minors, much? Come on Sweets, don’t tell me you believe that old folk tale!” Scootaloo scoffed. “Besides, didn’t you hear, the Elements of Harmony purified her!”
“Or did they....?” Sunset asked, Scootaloo watching in shock. She couldn’t believe this grown mare was going along with this, she should know better! “How do we know they destroyed Nightmare Moon? She could have been split off from Princess Luna! She could be waiting, watching, lurking out there… in the dark!”
“Oh, grow up!” Scootaloo muttered. “Besides, we’ve got a lot of houses to hit tonight, and I ain’t going to wait around for you while you freak out over bedtime stories! Nightmare Moon’s just a legend now!”
“...I dunno, legends have a finicky habit of coming true these days…” Sunset mused, casting a glance around her. Out of the corner of her eyes, she spotted a strange house, shaped like a pumpkin. Seemed to be pretty popular with the kids, judging by the line of fillies and foals walking up to it. Strange thing is, Sunset had never seen it before…
“Don’t you have a club to hit or something?” Robert asked.
“And leave these fillies all alone to face Nightmare Moon?” Sunset asked.
“...you just want the candy, don’t you?” Robert surmised.
“Hey guys!” came a chipper voice, Vapor walking up and dressed as…
“Vapor!” Sunset squawked seeing her costume, which was little more than her ranger suit sans helmet. She whispered to her, her voice barely over a hiss: “Are you trying to expose your identity?”
“Hey, way I figure it, this is the perfect night to dress like this! It’s Nightmare Night, everyone just thinks I’m in a costume!” Vapor said, her tone a low whisper to her fellow Rangers. “They have no way to know I’m going as myself!”
Robert’s palm met his face.
“Lame costume, by the way,” Vapor said, passing him by. “It’s like you’re not even trying.”
“I’m not. I’m only playing chaperone,” Robert said. “I’m too old for this!”
Vapor looked at him like he’d just spoken heresy.
“Too old for candy, too old for dressing up! Never!” she said, apparently personally affronted. “Man, you’re not enthusiastic about anything are you?”
“Like I said, his pony name should be Sour Grapes!” Sunset mocked.
“Oh, it should!” Vapor agreed, slapping her knee as she laughed long and hard.
“I hate you all.” Robert groaned, Rarity patting his shoulder sympathetically.
“I know you mean love!” Sunset chimed in before turning towards Twilight, who was passing them by again. “Ooooooh, cool costume Twilight! Starswirl the Bearded, right?”
“FINALLY! Someone gets it!” Twilight cried triumphantly.
“You even got the number of bells right!” Sunset continued, giddily and acting like a little schoolfilly.
“You have no idea how many ponies thought I was something else tonight!” Twilight said in an exasperated tone. “Like, how do you literally get this wrong? He’s literally walking amongst us again!”
“...I honestly thought she was someone’s grandpa.” Vapor remarked as Twilight’s eyebrow twitched.
“...You sure you’re not a country singer, Miss Twilight?” Sweetie asked.
“Uuuuuuuuughh…” Twilight groaned, long and loud. “See what I mean?”
“Hey, anyone seen Shining?” Vapor asked, peering around.
“Well, last I saw him? He was dressed up as this freakish bat clown mix thing. He was with his marefriend, who by the way was dressed as a succubus and, well! I think we can do the math for ourselves!” Sunset laughed. “Lucky bastard!”
“Language…” Rarity corrected her, not really sure why she should bother.
“OKAY!” Robert shouted, blushing. “There’s some things I don’t ever need to know about my boss! That’s one of them!”
“Well, someone’s getting their cobwebs cleaned tonight it seems!” Sunset said with a wily, perverted grin towards Rarity.
“Oh, hush!” she harrumphed. “Honestly! There are children present!”
“...do I want to know?” Vapor asked leaning towards Robert.
“No, you really don’t…” Robert sighed.
“Why would anyone need their cobwebs cleaned? It’s Nightmare Night, it’s supposed to look spooky!” Sweetie said innocently and it took all of Sunset’s strength not to burst out laughing. Robert meanwhile, glared at the mare. “...wait, does this have anything to do with my earlier question? Which you still haven’t answered by the way!”
“What earlier question?” Rarity asked of Robert, not sure she really wanted to know.
“I plead the Fifth!” Robert quickly said.
“Robert…” Rarity asked suspiciously, now really curious.
“Oh, uh, Robert was telling me about whorses and…” Sweetie Belle said, innocently. Face of an angel, mind of a demon. Sunset finally lost it, and nearly fell over laughing, the witch.
“Was he now?” Rarity glared at the unfortunate black ranger.
“Hey, Sunset said it first, Sweetie just overheard it!” Robert said quickly.
“Hey, nice work throwing me under the bus!” Sunset said, offended and glaring at him.
“You have no one but yourself to blame,” Robert glared back at her.
“Seriously, what am I missing here?” Sweetie asked. “What’s a-”
“I’ll tell you when you’re older!” Rarity said quickly, glaring at both Sunset and Robert.
“Someone’s in the doghouse…” Vapor remarked.
“Oh let’s just…” Sunset said. “Let’s just keep going, we’ve got plenty more houses left to hit!”
“I knew it was about the candy!” Robert exclaimed triumphantly.
“No, I just don’t want to get gobbled up by Nightmare Moon!” Sunset replied with a small squeak.
“Hmm, maybe you should break off from the rest of us, go ahead with Robert and Vapor before you do any more damage…” Rarity commented towards her.
“Man, you suck you know that right? But fine!” Sunset said with a sigh. “Just sayin’ though. She was going to learn about that word eventually, you’d be surprised at how many fillies pick up curse words at an early age!”
“...why do I get the feeling you’re talking about yourself?” Rarity said, almost snidely towards Sunset.
“Maybe you should be pleading the fifth, eh Sunny?” Robert told the Red Ranger, in a snarky tone.
“Come on guys, less of you two flirting with each other and of us grabbing-” Vapor started.
“We’re not flirting!” her two fellow Rangers shouted, looking at each other in revulsion.
“Oh, fine! Whatevs, just stop being snarky with each other and have some fun!” Vapor said grabbing them by the arm and dragging them off. “Oooooooh, I have an idea! I just remembered! Forget the candy!”
“But what if I wanted the candy…?” Sunset whined.
“We’ll get some later! I just remembered, the Apple family has their corn maze out tonight, they’ve been working on it all year and I want to see it!” Vapor shouted excitedly. “Come on you guys! There’s a huuuuuuuuge line, and I don’t want to get stuck in the back!”
“...I can’t decide who’s more of a little filly, you or her!” Robert said looking between the two mares.
In any event, the two did eventually get into the maze, and quickly found themselves lost. The mist had turned into almost a fog, and Sunset lit up her horn bathing the path in front of them in a magical glow.
A bitingly chilly wind rushed through a nearby tree, making the branches let out a loud creak and the threesome shiver. Bats squeaked as they took to the skies, the moon shining through the fog like a beacon.
Screams came from somewhere deeper in the maze, and eerie groans and howls echoed from somewhere up ahead. Sunset knew it was all fake, but a part of her found itself drawing closer to Vapor, huddling within her wings. Or maybe she was just that cold. Pegasi feathers were surprisingly nice and warm, after all.
Robert drew his coat closer to himself, shivering a little. You could see his breath come out in small clouds, he knew it was supposed to be a cool night but this cold weather seemed to come upon them all too quickly! Weren’t the weather pegasi -something he still hadn’t gotten over by the way- supposed to keep it from getting too cool?
Then, something moved behind them, and letting out a battle cry he threw a kick.
“Congrats, you decapitated a scarecrow,” Sunset deadpanned as the straw dummy, dressed like a zombie, fell backwards now headless. “Bet you’re feeling really proud of yourself…”
“It could have been a dimensional beast!” Robert replied. “You never know!”
“I think this maze is starting to get to us…” Sunset observed. “Come on, let’s get out of here!”
Meanwhile, the three girls just came back from one of the many houses of Ponyville, enough spoils not to start tricking, just enough. Rarity was waiting for them a bit down the road. “So, how big was your reward?”
“Pretty damn poor actually! Just a few pieces of candy corn! I said we should play a trick on them. Something, like throwing some eggs at the house, or even better, making it look like his house is about to be blown away so he squeals like a pig, but these two here were being too nice.” Scootaloo cackled.
“Scootaloo…” Rarity tittered.
“Oh, come on granny! That’d be hilarious! You can’t deny that!” She grinned back, a devious smirk on her face.
“I don’t think it would be, no,” Rarity said sternly. “I could tell your aunts, you know.”
“Oh! You’re no fun! Rainbow would have totes helped me! Still so unfair that she didn’t have time for me,” Scootaloo grumbled, kicking a rock down the road as she did so.
“Hehe, seems not even you can’t escape my big sis’s authority,” Sweetie smugly whispered into her ear.
“Oh, shut it!”
A thunder crack and a yelp was heard in the distance.
“Sometimes I wonder about that mare…” Rarity mused hearing Rainbow’s distinctive cackle. “Is she really the best mare to idolize?”
“Better than you, lame granny! Rainbow’s so awesome! She is fast! Brave! And at least one-hundred-twenty percent cooler than you!” It came back from the orange filly, an excited spark in her eyes.
“If you say so… I personally, think that I can be cool. I’m an established business mare, ponies come from miles around to bask in my très magnifique outfits!” Rarity said in reply, casting a glance towards that odd pumpkin house. How queer, she’d never seen it before tonight. “And Scootaloo doesn’t know it, but she’d think I’m even cooler if she knew I knew who the Power Rangers are. And I know she idolizes them!”
“Awwww, leave Rares alone,” Apple Bloom said, dressed as the Bride of Frankenstein. “Lay off her, eh?”
“Ugh… Fine,” Scootaloo huffed back in return. “Rainbow is still way, waaaaaaaay cooler!”
“Not as cool as my big sis!” Apple Bloom said.
“Or mine!” Sweetie squeaked.
“Thank you, dear,” Rarity said, adjusting her witch’s hat.
“Yeah, yeah, you’re wrong, and so on, but can we get back to candy hunting now? We didn’t have much luck until now. The ponies here are being way too stingy! I want to have at least enough to hold me over till Hearth's Warming!” Scootaloo said gleefully
“I think we should slow down,” Rarity warned. “I don’t want you to get a tummy ache, that’s all!”
She only got judging looks in return.
“Man, you’re lame,” Scootaloo said. “That’s half of the fun!”
“I fail to see what’s so ‘fun’ about it…” Rarity remarked.
“See? Lame!”
“Fine then! Why don’t we go to Fluttershy’s and see what she has to say about it?” Rarity asked.
“...okay, that’s just super lame.” Scootaloo groaned audibly. “Besides, doesn’t she just hide under the bed until morning on Nightmare Night?”
“We’ll see,” Rarity smiled secretly, apparently knowing something they didn’t.
As they made their way to Fluttershy’s cottage, Scootaloo groaned again.
“This is just punishment isn’t it?” she asked. “Like, I’m sorry okay? I won’t call you granny again! ...okay, I won’t call you… that name, after that time!”
Rarity just knocked on the front door, gently and from inside came a call of: “Coming!”
“Nightmare Night, give us something sweet to bite!” all three fillies chorused on instinct, though not really expecting much.
The door slowly creaked open, revealing a seemingly empty cabinet behind it, only for something to step out from behind the door. A mare, dressed in a white, filthy gown, with a long, black mane hanging down to her waist emerged. Two blue eyes stared at them from beyond her hairy curtains.
Within the blink of an eye, three loud screeches echoed through the night and the three Cutie Mark Crusaders had jumped behind Fluttershy’s fence, carefully looking through the holes in it.
“Oh my… Did I scare you three?” Futtershy’s unmistakably timid voice asked, having ducked back behind her own door as well.
“Wait, FLUTTERSHY?” Scootaloo’s jaw dropped. Nervously, Apple Bloom and Sweetie peeked their heads out from behind the fence and saw that yes, it was the butter-yellow mare.
“Hello!” she said, waving at the trio.
“...Okay, uh, wow. Like I wasn’t expecting that!” Scootaloo said. “So, uh… Happy Nightmare Night I guess?”
“Do you three want candy?” Fluttershy asked. “I mean, I assume that’s what you’re here for, right? Just don’t eat too much, otherwise you’ll get a stomach ache!”
“...even you?” Apple Bloom sighed and muttered.
“By the way, dearie, you know who lives in that pumpkin house?” Rarity asked. “It apparently just popped up overnight! I’ve never seen it before, I was going to ask Pinkie but…”
“Hmm, yes, it’s really quite strange!” Fluttershy said. “I was going to go offer them a welcoming basket of fruit but I got so swept up in preparations that I must have forgotten!”
“I didn’t even know you were going to dress up tonight!” Sweetie said. “I thought you were just going to hide under the bed!”
“Sweetie!” Rarity chided.
“No, it’s quite alright!” Fluttershy said. “I was, until I stumbled across an idea! A movie actually, and I realized I could be so scary, nopony else would scare me!”
“...well, points for the unexpected I guess!” Apple Bloom admitted.
“Just… be careful tonight okay?” Fluttershy warned, pressing her fingers together nervously. “There’s a strange chill in the air, a wrong type of chill. I heard Princess Luna herself was supposed to make an appearance, and yet her not doing so? It has me worried. Maybe I’m just being paranoid, but…”
“Oh, don’t worry, we will!” Scootaloo said. “I think our haul’s almost done anyways, as soon as we hit that pumpkin house I think we should be done!”
“Be safe!” Fluttershy said as the foursome walked off, before she felt arms encircle her, and a warm breathy voice asking her to come back to bed. “Okay, I’m coming…”
Vinyl grinned before she slammed the door shut.
The four descended back into town, unaware of what was about to happen.
“...wow, they’re all lining up, aren’t they?” Apple Bloom noted of the pumpkin house, and the line of children leading up to it. “Must be some really good candy!”
“Oooooh, can we go?” Sweetie Belle begged. “Pllleaasssseee?”
Something in the back of Rarity’s mind told her not to, that this house was wrong. It was a wrong thing.
But looking at her little sister’s pleading face… How could she say no?
“Shall we?” she smiled.
“Yay!” the trio cheered.
Luna flew through the dream world, horrified by the sights before her. Foals and fillies laying prone on the ground, not responding to anything.
Mists flew from their heads, and Luna knew what they were. Their dreams, their desires. Their worst fears, and at this she flew into a rage. Her blood boiled, and her eyes darkened, briefly sharpening into slits.
She watched as the gathered dreams floated into the mouth of a giant monstrosity, and that was really the only way to describe it. It was wrong, it was a wrong thing. It looked like a stitched together mass of flesh, muscles and bones, with a glowing blue mouth in the middle of it's tapir-like head.
This had gone far enough, she decided right then and there. It was time to contact the Rangers.
And so she pulled them from their beds, their couches, and even from the maze, summoning the shadows to take them…
Finally the shadows released her, Sunset realized as she found herself inside Luna’s personal chambers.
At the other end of the room was Luna herself, looking haggard, sickly. She couldn’t help it, a gasp escaped from her throat.
“Lady Luna!” Shining shouted, tossing his bat-mask aside, revealing the clown make-up painted into his fur. “What’s happened to you? Tell me who’s done this!”
“...by the Mystic Mother…” Autumn whispered, looking near tears in her mummy costume.
“Giranbo…” Luna whispered weakly, the shadows seeming to grow darker at the mention of the name. It was a foul word, spat from her mouth and full of wretched hatred. The lights flickered, and a cold chill gripped the room. “None of you would know the name, it was banished from the history books. By my hand. She exists in every universe, and yet none of them. A multiversal singularity.”
“What is she?” Autumn dared to ask.
“A monster,” Luna spat before coughing weakly. “Even now, she’s encroaching on my territory. She used to come every Nightmare Night, before I was banished to the moon. And now, she’s returned in my absence. She takes…”
Luna coughed again, before that cough turned into a wet sob.
“Who does she take?” Sunset asked frantically. “WHO?”
“Oh no…” Robert realized. “Don’t tell me. Sweetie Belle!”
“Yes, correct. She takes children,” Luna said. “How did you…?”
“For as long as I’ve been alive, there’s been cold case files in the Newtech City Police Department. Probably every other city as well. Every Halloween night, in a different city, no predicting which… children, just a few every year, vanish. Then their bodies, the very next morning… they turn up, dumped like yesterday’s trash. At first, we all thought it was just random, but then… someone started putting the pieces together,” Robert explained, his voice barely masking his rage. “Nobody’s ever been able to figure out who’s been doing this, and knowing what I know now…? I’m not surprised. Because if all of this is supernatural in origin…”
The whole room stared at him in wide-eyed horror, just barely able to process.
“Shining, tell me it’s not true. It can’t be!” Sunset said to the Royal Guard.
“No, Robert’s right. I’ve been working on this case as well, and it’s happened here as well. Every Nightmare Night! We thought about shutting the holiday down, just in case…”
“Well then you should have!” Sunset raged, her mane sparking with embers.
“And if we did, we’d alert the killer that something’s wrong! They’d vanish into the winds, never to be seen again!” Shining shouted back at her. “So we’ve had no choice but to investigate them, and hopefully find a lead as to their identity.”
“...looks like you got one…” Autumn muttered.
“But it gets worse,” Luna explained. “She doesn’t just kill you. She takes your hopes, your dreams, and even your worst nightmares and gobbles them up. She’s a glutton. If I had the power, I’d go after her myself. Hell, I tried already. But I’m still weak, my full powers haven’t returned yet.”
“That’s why you need us…” Sunset realized before slamming a fist into her palm. “Well, let’s go.”
“What, are you crazy?” Autumn shouted at her, Vapor sobbing quietly in the background. On instinct, the kirin wrapped an arm around her. “You heard Luna! We’d be facing her in her own realm! It’s almost suicide!”
“Look!” Sunset snapped, fighting back tears as she shoved her teammate up against a wall. “I’ve made a lot of crappy mistakes in my life, but let me make up for some of them! I… I want to redeem myself, show Princess Celesta that she didn’t make a mistake not banishing me! I want to live up to what she believes me to be!”
She released Autumn, looking at the floor.
“So please, let me do this… I want to do something good with my life. There’s a reason I became a Ranger. Because… it’s probably the only thing I can do right! If I can’t save ponies, then what good am I?”
“Oh Sunset…” Shining whispered before putting a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll be with you every step of the way, you know. This doesn’t just affect you. It affects all of us.”
“Then let’s do this,” Sunset said, her gaze hardening as she wiped away her tears.
“Be warned, you’re entering her realm now,” Luna said as her horn glowed. “She’ll be at her most powerful.”
“She’s just another monster,” Sunset grinned cockily, her old fire back. “Haven’t you heard, blowing up giant monsters is what we do best! Ready?”
“Ready!” the others said.
“Good. Take Off! Wings Rise!”
And as they morphed, they descended into darkness...
Sunset honestly didn’t know what to expect. Maybe Giranbo’s realm was supposed to look more twisted, like something out of an H.P. Lovecraft novel? Instead, it looked relatively normal. Relatively.
It was still a ghost town after all…
Mist covered the streets, and an ill wind blew through the air. The moon was like a demented jack-o-lantern, devoid of it’s usual comforting presence. And a voice cut through the night air. Sunset recognized the song of course, her mother used to sing it to her. But the voice that sung it was definitely not her mother.
“Follow, sweet children, I'll show thee the way
Through all the pain and the sorrows
Weep not, poor children, for life is this way
Murdering beauty and passions…”
“...what the hell?” Robert wondered aloud.
“It’s Luna’s Lullaby,” Sunset told him as the voice continued to sing, echoing down from a house upon the hill. “But Giranbo, she’s singing it now! Probably her way of flipping Princess Luna off.”
“Come, little children, I'll take thee away
Into a land of enchantment
Come, little children, the time's come to play
Here in my garden of shadows…”
“I fail to see how that’s supposed to be comforting,” Robert said before snarking: “It sounds like the song of a serial killer. Or a pedophile. And this is supposed to be a lullaby? Give me Goodnight Moon any day.”
“The children love coming to the world of dreams,” came a voice, from somewhere nearby. “And who am I to stop them?”
“Giranbo…” Sunset hissed out, her mane crackling.
“Correct!” the mare laughed. “I’m guessing you’re Luna’s Dream Team? Her Power Pukes? Her Fearsome Fivesome? You want me to grab my autograph book?”
“Show yourself!” Sunset demanded drawing her sword. “And give those children back!”
“They gave themselves to me willingly,” Giranbo said, and finally Sunset saw her, atop the roof of a parking garage. “Why should I?”
Sunset teleported to her, slashing at the mare only for her blade to pass right through the witch.
“Oh honey, you may want to put that thing down! You’re going to take someone’s eye out, you know!” Giranbo laughed. Laser blasts flew through her, and there stood Robert, his opaque mask now no longer tinted, showing a look of unadulterated fury on his face. In his hands was his sidearm, gripped tightly.
“You shouldn’t play with guns!” Giranbo said, on him in the blink of an eye and soon grasping him by the throat. “It’s dangerous, you know!”
“And you shouldn’t keep your eyes off me!” Sunset said, running her blade through the witch.
The witch screamed in pain, and dropped Robert as he flew to the ground below, wings extended. Sunset pulled her blade away, the tip covered in green blood.
“Just… just for that,” Giranbo hissed. “You’ll die, slowly, and painfully, facing your worst nightmares till they drive you insane! I was going to let all of you pretties go you know, but… well! You changed my mind!”
She rushed towards Sunset, who vanished in a flash of light, before she was atop her and kicked Giranbo through the floor. The dust and smoke cleared, and out came a fireball rushing towards the yellow mare, Giranbo cackling in delight. “How about a little fire, scarecrow?”
The mare backflipped off the roof, and landed next to her team as the whole top portion of the building exploded in a cataclysmic ball of flame.
Then, from out of the eruption came the witch on a broomstick. She snapped her fingers, and the world shifted.
Groaning in pain, Sunset picked herself out of the dirt as she realized where she was now. In a playground, with bodies of familiar foals and fillies all around them.
“Pipsqueak?” she asked, shaking him and going to another filly. “Twist?”
She tried every one of them, attempting to rouse them. “Scootaloo? Wake up!”
But no such luck.
“Sweetie?” Sunset cried desperately. “Apple Bloom?”
“Ah, I see you’ve found my trophy room,” came Giranbo’s voice as the other rangers picked themselves out of the dirt. “My graveyard of dreams, if you will. It’s really quite a pity, most of them won’t achieve their dreams in their lifetimes, so all the better for me to have them! They won’t go to waste that way!”
Sunset roared, leading the team into battle as they charged the witch.
“They should still deserve the chance to try!” Sunset snarled, her horn alight. With a battle cry, she shoved her now glowing sword into the ground, and the earth turned to magma. Giranbo shrieked as her cloak caught fire, her legs burned and scorched before she finally managed to teleport away.
Atop an apartment block she wound up, Sunset directing her team to fire upon the witch. Giranbo soared down at them, dodging and weaving between the laser blasts.
“And you deserve the chance to FRY!” Giranbo snarled, tossing another fireball at them. Sunset waved her hand, and it split in half, the two fireballs flying past her and her team.
“Oooooh, you are a clever one. I can see why you’re the leader!” Giranbo complemented before looking around her at the now ruined playground. “Oh, but look. You’ve gone and made a mess of my house! Now we can’t have that, can we?”
Shadowy hands reached out and grasped each and every Ranger, squeezing them tight.
“Now, all I have to do is watch and wait,” Giranbo commented as she took up knitting, the needles creating some demented sweater, Sunset supposed. “It’ll only be a matter of time before your life leaves you. Now adult’s dreams aren’t quite as tasty, but what’s the phrase? Oh yes, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth!”
Shining had enough, calling down lightning and zapping the hands to dust.
“She seems desperate, why’s she fighting so hard?” Sunset asked.
“Because! Think about it,” Shining pointed out. “This is the one night of the year she can come to our world, and her time’s running short! As soon as the clock strikes midnight, she’ll be trapped in her dimension for another year!”
“So you figured it out huh?” Giranbo remarked, confirming it for them. “Well, aren’t you clever? It still won’t be enough to stop me! I have all the power in the world here, and you are nothing!”
“You’re insane…” Shining growled.
“Oh, I thought I was a Pisces!” Giranbo commented.
The shadows formed into shapes, and all of the foot soldiers of Rangers past or future faced them. Putties, Tenga Warriors. Piranhatrons, Craterites!
“...really? All the power in the world and this is what you choose to send up against us?” Sunset asked. “Man you’re dumb!”
Cutting down a Krybot, she slashed her way through Batlings and Hidiacs before spinning around to roast some Chillers in a wall of flame.
An energy blast, in the shape of the Royal Armada’s insignia rushed towards her before Autumn smashed through it with a powerful punch. Shining and Robert shot down the two Armada guards who’d created it.
Vivix and Tronics fell, by sword or gun.
But the soldiers just seemed to keep coming, it was like there was no end to them! Lord Drakkon’s Mastodon Sentries arrived, firing upon the Rangers forcing them to cover. They didn’t get a chance to breathe as Spanish conquistador-like troops, faced by the Dino Fury Rangers, forced them back out into the open, with all of the grunts swarming them.
“Who’s laughing now, huh, my pretties?” Giranbo cackled. “Like my minions? I’ve recently added a couple, what do you think? Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!”
“This is getting ridiculous!” Shining shouted as Tengas dogpiled him. And then it hit him. Wait, this was a dream world so that meant… “Everyone, dream big! These are our dreams as well!”
Giranbo’s eyes widened in horror as all five rangers grew to the size of a Megazord, throwing the grunts off of them.
“Powered up for more…” Sunset grinned under her helmet before Giranbo roared in rage, growing in size and resuming her monster form. “...uuuugh, just when I thought you couldn’t get any uglier! You know, I’m pretty sure there’s some makeup for that. Just saying! If you’re really that desperate for a date…”
“SHUT UP!” Giranbo thundered charging towards her, a blade extending itself from her arm.
Sunset readied herself, fists raised in a fighting position, ready to dodge out of the way, just in time. And when Giranbo was just in front of her, she did just that, only to be headbutted by the monster, knocking the air out of her lungs in the process. A swift slash sparking across her back a moment later. And before she even knew what had hit her, when the monster in front of her simply vanished.
“Hahaha, dreaming big. Yeah, that’s good!” Giranbo said appearing in front of her again. “I’ll be sure to swallow your dreams up for dessert! They’ll make a nice after dinner meal!”
Her moment of stupidity was quickly repaid as Robert shot her in the face with his sidearm.
“Yeah, word of advice?” the Black Ranger commented. “Best not to gloat. Now you’re going to give me my little sister back!”
“You have a sister?” Giranbo asked, locking blades with him. “Oooooh, who did I take? Tell me, tell me!”
Robert spun, and kicked the kaiju in the stomach before slashing her across the chest with a vertical strike.
“Oooooh, keeping quiet are you?” Giranbo mocked. “Don’t worry, I’ll pry it out of you eventually…”
The two clashed blades again and again, before the witch yawned. “Oh, I’m getting bored with you. Time to end this.”
Stabbing him in the stomach, Robert cried out in pain. Giranbo threw back her head and laughed, only to be slammed into a hillside as both Autumn and Shining leaped out of nowhere, kicking her square in the face.
“DAMN YOU!” Giranbo roared.
“Five against one,” Shining said, helping Robert up and healing his wound. “Doesn’t seem all that fair, does it?”
“No…” Giranbo grinned before she glowed purple and then a veritable army of clones stood before them. “It doesn’t!”
“Me and my big mouth…” Shining groaned.
“You wanna get nuts?” Sunset asked before she grinned. “Fine, let’s get nuts!”
“Well, if you want to dance with the devil in the pale moonlight…” One of the Giranbos returned.
Without another word, Sunset jammed her fingers into the ground below and started to pull up. The sound of the earth groaning and cracking echoed across the entire battlefield. With a loud roar, she pulled a large piece of the ground out from it, several buildings on it collapsing and raining down. But she wasn’t particularly bothered by this and simply started to spin around her own axis, before launching the giant piece of debris at the monsters, like an oversized discus.
Not even Giranbo had expected this and just stared at the incoming projectile, letting herself get swept off her feet as she was buried under mountains of rocks and buildings.
“Well, what do you idiots think you’re doing?” one of the clones called. “Get her!”
Several of her clones rushed forwards, arm blades extended before Shining teleported in the middle of them. Jumping, he split-kicked two of them before grabbing another by the side of her head and slamming it into the side of a building.
Another clone slashed him across the side, before Autumn knocked it away with a punch.
“...I mean, come on, does she really think these idiots can stop us? Heelllllllooooooo! We beat up foot soldiers daily!” the kirin said before her flames erupted burning away the remaining clones.
The original Giranbo pulled herself out of the wreckage, charging forwards. Sunset ripped an apartment block out of the ground, before she picked it up, and tossed it at her. But this proved to be a waste of time, as the witch just cut in two.
“Now, here you go again. You say, you want your freedom… Well, who am I to keep you down?” Giranbo sang tackling Sunset to the earth, the ground rocking and quaking beneath their weight.
Sunset rolled, pinning the witch beneath her, before Giranbo headbutted her again. Her visor cracked, even as she staggered away. And then she was consumed by flame, the monster breathing fire at her.
Sunset staggered away, her costume covered in scorch marks before Giranbo sped towards her at lightning speed.
Autumn wasn’t having any of that, and tackled her through another building, explosions erupting around them. The kirin began punching her over, and over, each time angier than before.
Giranbo cackled, before her form shifted. In front of Autumn, a nirik, whose flames died away to reveal an earthy grey kirin, with a bush-green mane.
“You’re doing it again, Autumn!” the kirin told her. “Endangering your people!”
“No, I’m sorry Rain Shine!” Autumn whispered, clutching her head and whimpering. “I didn’t mean to!”
Giranbo shapeshifted back to her usual form and punched her.
“You’re so easily used,” she tutted. “I can read your mind, I know exactly what you fear most. All of you!”
She strode towards Robert, shapeshifting again to a man, bleeding and wearing a police officer’s uniform.
“You put me in the hospital! It was your fault you know!” the man lectured, and Robert, who was holding his sidearm dropped it in horror and disgust.
Vapor tried to rush the witch, only for her form to shift to Zen-Aku.
“Look at you, so reckless! Here you are, getting your team in trouble again!” he said. “I don’t know why I ever put my faith in you!”
“No, I’m sorry, please…” Vapor whispered.
Sunset had finally had enough, and rushed Giranbo, blade drawn. And for her, Giranbo had a special surprise in store.
“Oh Sunset,” she said in the form of Princess Celestia. “Look at you. You’re trying so hard to prove yourself. Why? It’s not like I’ll ever take you back. You disgraced yourself! I don’t know why I ever took you on as a student! You always have been and will be an evil monster! You disgust me-”
Any further rantings were cut off as Sunset punched her in the face.
“No…” Sunset growled. “You don’t get to do that. I know Celestia hates me. She probably will for a long time to come. But I’m not going to stop trying. I will make her smile at me again! Just you watch. I will burn bright one day soon! And as for you? You’re dust!”
“You can’t even stop me!” Giranbo said. “You’re in my world, remember?”
And then the clock struck 12.
BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG!
“No…” Giranbo whispered, realizing what this meant.
BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG!
Luna appeared, towering over her and back at full strength. Her moon cut through the mist, shining bright over the city. Little by little, Luna watched with a warm smile as the foals and fillies began to wake once again. Turning back to Giranbo, she bared her fangs.
“Welcome to my world, bitch.” Luna said, before Giranbo was turned to dust with a scream as a bright light filled the air…
Back in Ponyville, the strange pumpkin house started to follow suit, slowly withering away until not even the dust in the wind was left. Where it had once stood, a large group of foals laid knocked out in the grass.
“...man, can’t we ever have a normal holiday?” Sunset asked, groaning in pain. Yeah, her whole body ached. “I mean, I shudder to think what Hearth’s Warming is going to be like!”
“Don’t even go there!” Robert warned. “For all you know, we might end up facing the Krampus! You probably just jinxed us!”
A large crowd had formed around where the fence had been, composed of parents and older siblings, now eagerly rushing towards them. Within seconds, the entire field had been filled with loud sighs of relief and countless hugs.
It was in this mess, Sweetie felt herself pulled up and pressed against something warm. “Oh, thank Luna, you’re alright!”
“What… Where… Who?” The filly groaned, her eyes slowly opening again.
“Oh Mystic Mother, don’t you ever scare me like that again!” Rarity sobbed holding her close. “I mean, Luna told me what was going on and I… I was beside myself with worry! If the Rangers hadn’t saved you…”
“I’m never letting you go out of my sight ever again!” Robert added, holding his adoptive sister close.
Meanwhile, Pipsqueak had different things to say.
“Cor Blimey! Princess Luna, is that you?” he asked, eyes widened in shock and amazement. “You saved us! Did you see that, mates? She saved us! Princess Luna saved us!”
“Oh, I… uh…” Luna stammered as Pipsqueak barreled into her, wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug. “Tis nothing. It’s what anyone would have done.”
“Yeah, but you did it! You’re awesome! Top of the morning to you, Princess!” Pipsqueak said. “I’m… I’m your biggest fan by the way, can you sign something for me? Like, wow!”
Nearby, Scootaloo embraced her aunts and Apple Bloom, her sister.
The nightmare was finally over, Luna realized. Giranbo was finally dead. At least, this universe’s incarnation of her. She was still out there, worlds away. But she had faith that someone in the next universe that stumbled across her would deal with her.
Nightmares only lasted until the dawn of a brand new day after all.