//------------------------------// // Episode 22: Night of Frights // Story: My Little Pony: Sparkling Harmony // by Captain_Cosmos //------------------------------// It was a dark and spooky night in the town of Ponyville, Jack-o-lanterns were lit, spiders and webs hung from the buildings, and the town was crawling with tiny monsters and creatures. One group of animals walked up to a house and knocked on the door. After a second, the door creaked open, and they saw nopony there. Confused, they peeked inside, before a blueish mist started coming out of the house, followed by a creepy voice. ”Who dares to disturb the house of the night!” The foals jumped as the voice continued. "If you desire sweet treats of goodness, then you should not have come. For I am the darkness that will swallow all treats in this world. I am..." there was a sudden puff of blue smoke, and the foals saw a menacing shape in the cloud. After a second, the cloud was blown away to reveal...”NIGHTMARE MOON!” The foals screamed in terror, before chuckling, which got Nightmare Moon laughing. “Wow! That’s a sick Nightmare Moon costume Miss Sparkler!” One of the foals commented. Another nodded. “Yeah! You look JUST like her, except for the height.” Nightmare Sparkler smiled and nodded as she folded up her “wings”. “Thanks. Aren’t you lot just an adorable pack of farm animals.” She lit her horn and floated over a few pieces of candy from the bowl and dropped one into each of the foal’s candy bags. “There you go.” The foals smiled and nodded. “Thank you!” They all chanted. Sparkler nodded as they scurried off. “Your welcome. Have a good night. Oh, and remember, Nightmare Moon is watching!” She chuckled as she closed the door. She turned around and walked back to the living room, where Flappy was dressed in his wonderbolts outfit. Sparkler smiled. “Another successful performance. The foals are loving it.” Flappy nodded. “Squawk! I can tell. Their screams of terror are like music to my ears this time of year. Squawk!” Sparkler nodded. “I just need to make sure not to do it TOO well.” At that moment, she heard another knock on the door. She smiled wickedly. “Ah, some more victims.” Flappy flew to the door and peered out the peephole. “Squawk! Argh, Captain Twilight has arrived me hardies! Squawk!” Sparkler nodded, and smirked. “Then it’s time to pull out the haunted house protocol, Flappy?” She asked as she pulsed her horn and blew out all the candles. Flappy nodded and flew off while Sparkler disappeared. Outside, Twilight was dressed up as a pirate captain, she was smiling as she patiently waited. I wonder what Sparkler’s doing for Nightmare Night. She hasn’t said anything about her— At that moment, the door in front of her creaked open, and Twilight was met with a dark house, with no Sparkler. She raised an eyebrow as she peered in. “Uh, hello?” She received no answer. Her confusion doubled. Sparkler always answered the door personally, or Flappy for that matter. After a second, she suddenly heard a faint crowing, coming from inside the house. “Flappy? That you?” She asked as she entered the house, the faint crowing continued. She walked further into the house, and all of a sudden, the door slammed shut behind her. She jumped as she suddenly found herself in pitch black. “S-Sparkler? F-Flappy? What’s going on? Anypony here?” That got a reply. ”Ahoy there, Captain Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight froze as that creepy voice. “W-Who’s there?” The voice laughed as a blueish mist slowly surrounded her. “You are a brave pony for disturbing the house of the Night.” Twilight was getting antsy. “Uh, o-ok Sparkler. Whatever games you're playing...y-you can stop now.” ”I don’t know.” At that moment, Twilight heard a pop and blueish smoke enter her view from behind her. ”I like this game of cat and mouse.” Twilight slowly turned her head, and at first saw nothing behind her, and then a bright glow lit and illuminated the face of... “NIGHTMARE MOON!” Twilight shrieked. She curled up into a ball and squeezed her eyes shut. “Somepony help me!” For the moment, nopony said a word, and then Twilight heard the familiar sound of Sparkler’s laughter as candles lit all around the room. She opened her eyes and peaked out from behind her wings to see Nightmare Moon, or rather, Nightmare SPARKLER, on the floor, laughing hysterically. Twilight realized what had happened, and sighed in relief. “Sparkler? That was you?!” Sparkler nodded as she got into her hooves. “Yeah. It was. Oh you should’ve seen your face. Oh it was so worth it.” She continued to chuckle. Twilight frowned, before a smile broke out and she started giggling too. “Sweet Celestia Sparkler. You had me going there. You nearly gave me a heart attack.” Sparkler nodded. “And the best part? Flappy is a master at crowing.” Twilight chuckled. “So that WAS Flappy.” “Squawk! Yes ma’am. Squawk!” Twilight turned to see Flappy fly into the living room in a wonderbolt’s outfit. Twilight nodded. “Well. You two did a fantastic job.” Sparkler and Flappy nodded. “Thanks. The foals are loving my Nightmare Moon charade.” Twilight nodded, and then her eyes widened when she got a good look at Sparkler, she looked exactly like Nightmare Moon, save for the height, but more importantly... “Uh, Sparkler?” “Yeah?” “You realize your wings are exposed, right?” Sparkler nodded. “Yes they are.” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Did you change your plan on coming out?” Sparkler chuckled and shook her head. “Nope. Still coming out at the Music Festival.” “But your wings are exposed NOW.” Sparkler chuckled. “That’s my costume. Twilight, Nightmare Night is the time where you can don a disguise and go out as a completely different pony. Nightmare Moon has wings. So, by donning the appearance of Nightmare Moon, I can be out and about with my wings exposed, and all I have to say is that I used a wing spell combined with an illusion spell. That’s my cover maintained, and I can be myself for one night, well, more myself than Sparkler the Unicorn.” Twilight processed what Sparkler said, before smiling. “That’s ingenious. Nopony’ll suspect a thing.” Sparkler nodded. “Exactly!” She pranced around like a filly. “Ooh. I can’t wait til later when we go to that Nightmare Night party. It’ll be SO nice to just pretend like I’m not hiding anything. Even if it’s just for one night.” At that moment, they heard knocking on the door. Sparkler smiled. “Oh, more “victims”. BRB.” Sparkler trotted over to the front door and did her little skit for the foals. Whilst Sparkler was scaring them. Twilight watched with a smile on her face. “She looks so happy.” Flappy nodded. “Squawk! I kid you not, the only other time I’ve ever seen her this happy was when you first accepted her for who she really was. Sure she always wears a smile, but this level of happiness is rare for her. Squawk!” Twilight’s smile faded as she bit her lip, getting where Flappy was coming from. “I never would’ve guessed a pony like Sparkler could have such a troubled past.” Flappy nodded. “Squawk! You have no idea how many times I wanted to suggest homeschooling for Sparkler. To get her away from the torturous environment that the school was proving to be. Squawk!” At that moment, Sparkler came back from the door. “Why can’t Nightmare Night be every night? This is so much fun.” Twilight chuckled. “I’m glad you’re having fun tonight Sparkler.” Sparkler nodded. “This has to be the best night ever. Back in Saddle Arabia we didn’t really celebrate Nightmare Night. Sure most of the residents were Equestrian, but nopony really got in the mood. I never imagined this would be so much fun!” Twilight and Flappy chuckled. “Careful Sparkler. Your Pinkie Pie is showing.” Sparkler laughed. “Oh yeah. Pinkie was one of the first to knock on that door. Oh man her reaction. I am way too proud of myself for that one.” She finally came down from her giggling fit. “So, how’s your night been Twilight? That’s a nice pirate costume by the way.” Twilight nodded. “Thanks, and my night’s been good. A couple foal groups came by the castle, after which I came here. Now I wish I had thought to do a skit. I never saw it coming.” Sparkler nodded. “That was the point. Nopony suspects Nightmare Moon in a simple house like this.” She giggled. “Now. How about we go out and see the town? You said there were a variety of things to do in the plaza right Twi?” Twilight nodded. “Yeah. Ponyville really kicks it up a notch this time of year.” ... Out in Ponyville Plaza, there were a bunch of costumed ponies out and about playing games that were set up, mingling and trading candy, and just enjoying the festivities. Over at one of the games. A cow threw a fake spider at a web, and the spider hit close to the center of the web. The cow smiled and nodded. “Bullseye.” The cow turned to her warrior companion. “Beat that Dash.” Rainbow chuckled and picked up a fake spider. “Watch and learn AJ. I’m gonna land this snot dead center.” She aimed at the web, and threw the spider. The spider struck the web not QUITE dead center, but closer than Applejack’s throw. Rainbow smiled. “Aha! Closer than yours. Booyah!” Applejack rolled her eyes. “It ain’t over yet Dash.” ”It just might be. For the night is very displeased that her little ponies have not acknowledged her presence.” Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Where in tarnation did that come from?” She and Rainbow looked around, and saw nopony with them. ”Try looking above you. Featherbrains.” Rainbow and Applejack looked up, and saw a familiar monster flying right above them. “NIGHTMARE MOON?!” They jumped back in shock and clung to each other in fear. After a second, they heard laughing. They looked ahead to see Nightmare Moon land and laugh at them. They got a better look at the pony and realized who it REALLY was. “Ha ha. I gotcha.” Nightmare SPARKLER said while chuckling. Rainbow and Applejack let go of each other and glared at Sparkler. “Sparkler?!” “That’s you?!” Sparkler nodded. “Yep. This is my costume for the night.” She flared her “fake” batwings out. “The terror of dreams, the bringer of eternal night, I am...NIGHTMARE SPARKLER!” Applejack and Rainbow recoiled at the heightened volume, but quickly recovered and beamed at their friend. “Shoowee sugarcube. You certainly had us going there.” Rainbow nodded. “Yeah Sparks, you nail her look...minus the height. Nightmare Moon’s taller. But the armor, fur coat, the wings...wait a second.” Rainbow did a double take and swiftly moved closer to get a better look. “I don’t see any harness for those wings. How did you do these?” Sparkler giggled. “A wing spell. That combined with an illusion spell is what I used to don the appearance you see tonight.” Applejack raised an eyebrow. “A wing spell? I heard of a wing spell before, but I didn’t think you could give yourself specific wings.” “You can.” Commented Twilight, who came up to the group. “I did some reading on that wing spell from awhile back, you can give yourself specific wings if you focus your mind to picture them.” Rainbow looked between Twilight and Sparkler for a second, before smiling. “Awesome!” Applejack nodded. “That’s right impressive Sparkler.” Rainbow nodded. “You can teleport onto a cloud after casting a cloudwalking spell, and now this, I think studying with Twilight got to you.” That got everypony chuckling. Sparkler nodded. “I guess so.” She giggled before remembering something. “Oh, I nearly forgot.” She cleared her throat, lit her horn, and spoke in an elevated voice. “Fillies and gentlecolts. Tonight we are graced with a pleasant surprise. You know him as the Yellow Streak, the one, the only, the wonderbolts’ guest flyer...Flappy!” All four of them looked around for their parrot friend, but saw nothing. Sparkler raised an eyebrow. That was supposed to be Flappy’s cue. “Ahem. I said, give it up for...Flappy!” Still nothing. “Flappy?!” Sparkler groaned. “Flappy! That’s your cue!” “Squawk! Sorry! Sorry! Squawk!” They all saw Flappy zip in and land on the ground. “Squawk! Sorry I’m late, I was just talking to somepony. Squawk!” Sparkler raised an eyebrow. “Who?” ”Good evening My Little Ponies. I see we have an impostor among us.“ Everypony jumped at that voice and whipped around to see the REAL Nightmare Moon standing there. Twilight smiled after she came down from her moment of panic. “Princess Luna. You made it.” Luna nodded. “I would not miss this celebration for the world Twilight Sparkle.” She said as she changed back into her regular form, a chambray Alicorn standing not much talk than the average pony. Luna turned her attention to Nightmare Sparkler. “And just who has the courage to don the face of my alter-ego on this night.” Sparkler, who had been frozen in shock the whole time, hit the deck hard as she bowed to Luna. “P-Princess Luna! Ahem. Uh, I meant no offense! I swear!” Sparkler was shaking a little. Horseapples! This wasn’t a good idea after all! Applejack and Rainbow held their hooves to their mouths to hide their amusement while Luna looked down at Sparkler, before giving off a chuckle. “Do not fear My Little Pony. I am not offended by your costume choice. I am actually impressed at the level of craftsmanship on display.” Sparkler, after recoiling at Luna’s compliment, rather than disapproval, slowly rose to her hooves and nodded. “Ahem, it’s actually a combination of spells your majesty. Uh, illusion spell on top of a wing spell.” Luna nodded. “Impressive.” Twilight giggled and walked over to stand beside Sparkler. “Luna, this is Sparkling Medley, the new resident of Ponyville with a talent for music.” Luna nodded. “Ah yes. We have heard of her and her musical prowess. It is a pleasure to meet you Sparkling Medley.” For her part, Sparkler managed to not faint, whether the princess had heard about her through Twilight or by talk reaching Canterlot, she couldn’t say. After a second, she nodded. “I-It’s an honor to be in your presence, your majesty.” Luna nodded, before walking over to where Applejack and Rainbow were trying not to laugh. “Hello Applejack and Rainbow Dash, I trust you have been well.” While Luna talked with Rainbow and Applejack, Sparkler, Flappy and Twilight watched. “P-Princess Luna bought it.” Sparkler whispered, feeling her trembling legs on the edge of giving out. Twilight giggled. “Didn’t I let you know there’s no need for you to worry?” Sparkler nodded. “Yeah, but Twilight, SHE’S the OG Nightmare Moon, she could cancel my spell on the spot if she disapproved! That would’ve been my cover as a Unicorn blown!” She whispered. “Did you know she was coming?” “I...suspected she would.” Twilight admitted. Sparkler sighed. “That’s what I get for keeping my costume plans a secret.” Flappy chuckled. “Squawk! She’s actually really nice once you get past her intimidating appearance. She thinks I look cute in my wonderbolts outfit. Squawk!” Sparkler giggled. “Of course you do.” She sighed. “Well. She bought that my wings are just my costume. I just hope she doesn’t throttle me when she inevitably finds out that my wings are real the whole time.” Twilight giggled. “She’s not like that. I’m sure she’ll understand when you explain it to her.” Sparkler nodded as she saw Luna throw a spider at the web. “I hope so, I happen to like my life here.” To be continued...