Dark was the night as the pale moonlight cast down over a cool, crisp autumn evening in the kingdom of Equestria. Tonight was a special night upon this land, the one night a year where all pony kind dressed up in costumes, playing fun and spooky games, and tons of goals getting stomach aches over overconsumption of candy. This night, of course, was Nightmare Night.
Nightmare Night, a night dedicated to the legend of Princess Luna’s transformation into Nightmare Moon a thousand years before. A holiday which continued after the defeat of Nightmare Moon and her return from her imprisonment on the moon. Except for a few years ago when Princess Luna nearly cancelled the entire event… but that’s a story for another day.
For now, all mares, stallions, and foals celebrated this spooky and kooky holiday with the upmost joy. Well… perhaps not every pony.
High within the mountains, in the little hamlet of New Haven, the Dark Order gathered to hatch a new diabolical plan to aid in their venture to spread evil across the Multiverse. The Legion of Doom, the Dazzlings, Darth Andromedis, Demettria, and the Seed family sat collectively around a circular table set in the Church of Eden’s gate. At the head of the table sat the Mysterious Benefactor themselves, representing the Dark One.
“As you all know, thus far we’ve already spread much destruction across the Multiverse,” the Benefactor spoke. “However, it is not enough to get what we want. To cement our reign across time and space, we must keep building our ranks and spreading evil. Which brings exactly to where we should strike next.”
The Benefactor turned toward Darth Andromedis and gave a small nod. The Sith Lord soon procured a holograph device from his robes and activated the device. It showed the hologram of a giant city across the table.
“Okay, so where the feathers is this place?” Cozy Glow spoke up.
“Hush now, young one,” Joseph Seed answered. “Do not question the path set before us by the almighty one sent by God .”
“Spare me the sermon, bible boy!” Cozy scoffed.
“Watch how you speak to the Father, demon horse!” Jacob Seed growled.
The Benefactor loudly cleared their throat, drawing their attention and soon they ceased their bickering. All was silent once more.
“The Dark One has ordered for someone to traverse to this city known as Gotham,” The Benefactor continued. “It is filled with criminals of very… special abilities. Having them in our ranks will bring us much closer to the day of reckoning.”
“And exactly who’s meant to travel to this crime-infested city?” Tirek asked.
At that moment, Chrysalis stood up with a sinister grin, displaying her elongated fangs.
“I believe the honor goes to me,” She boasted. “After all, it is I who has had the most success out of any of us here.”
“I beg to differ!” Adagio stood up abruptly. “In case you have forgotten, ‘we’ brought an entire galaxy to its knees with our power.”
“We turned Sunset Shimmer dark once again and actually blew up an entire planet,” Aria added.
“Not to mention all the orders we took from mean old Emperor Palpatine,” Sonata commented. “What a total mean jerk-face.”
“And you lost control when those rebellious scum destroyed that Death Star… twice!” Chrysalis countered. “And losing Endor to those infuriating little teddy bears… need I go on?”
“You want to throw down you black bug bitch?!” Adagio yelled.
“Bring it on, failure fish!” Chrysalis growled.
“ENOUGH!!!”
The force of the Benefactor’s voice actually shook the ground beneath their feet. The whole group had to hold on just so they wouldn’t fall to the floor. The Benefactor stood up from their seat, darting glares between the Dazzlings and Chrysalis.
“Since you all believe yourselves capable of this assignment, you will therefore travel to this realm… together.”
“I would never work with that gelatinous June bug over there,” Adagio grumbled.
“Nor would I wish to cooperate with the tone deaf sisters!” Chrysalis snipped back.
“Hey! Our doctor said our tone’s only ‘slightly’ deaf!” Sonata snapped back.
“Shut up, Sonata!” Aria barked.
“Thankfully, you won’t have to cooperate,” The Benefactor informed. “We’ve assigned you to separate tasks to accomplish throughout the city. Now if you’re finished with your petty squabbling… GET OUT THERE AND GET IT DONE!!!”
Chrysalis and Adagio turned back to face each other with grimaces upon both their faces before they both walked away with the other Dazzlings trailing Adagio. They departed from the church, back to their living space, and slammed the door behind them.
“Ugh, why?!” Adagio groaned. “We used to be all powerful sirens. Now we’re reduced to sharing the spotlight with bugs! If only we still had our amulets!”
“Well we don’t,” Aria spoke, rubbing her temples. “Get over it already; I’m tired of hearing you complaining about it.”
“Unlike the two of you, I’m not willing to give up and accept what we’ve become,” Adagio retorted.
“I can’t believe she’d call us tone deaf!” Sonata frowned. “We know exactly how to sing; we just… can’t.”
“For the hundredth time, would you shut up Sonata?!” Aria snipped.
*KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!*
A sudden knock at their door caused all heads to snap in its direction. Groaning to herself, Adagio stomped over toward the door and whipped it open. Just as she was about to shout at whomever it was, she stopped herself upon seeing… no one there. She nearly shut the door when her eyes peeked down and noticed a box at her feet. Picking it, she took one last look around before heading back inside.
“Who was it, Dagi?” Sonata asked.
“No one,” Adagio responded. “However, it seems someone left this for us.”
“Who’d leave a package for us?” Aria questioned.
Adagio looked back at the box, noticing a note attached to it. She picked it up, unfolded the sheet, and began to read what it said.
These should allow you to become again what you once were. You will not be able to regain your original forms, but they will allow you to bewitch any who cross you. However, all magic comes at a price. Soon enough, you shall need to decide to pay or to relinquish your power. The choice is yours.
- N
Adagio continued to studied the note for a moment with not a single clue as to who this came from. Nonetheless, she slowly opened the box to peek inside and what she saw instantly froze her in place. Aria and Sonata leaned over to check on her.
“You okay, Dagi?” Sonata asked concerned.
“What’s wrong with you?” Aria added.
Adagio gave no reply, merely turned the box around to show them the contents. All eyes from the Sirens went wide; their mouths hung open at the sight. Their amulets fully restored, sitting in the box. One by one, they slowly reached in and grabbed their treasures. For a moment, they just held them in their hands for the longest time.
“Can this possibly be?” Adagio asked in disbelief.
“There’s only one way to find out,” Aria replied.
She placed her amulet around her neck and took a deep breath. She suddenly belt out a musical note that was not high pitched or out of key, but rather a beautiful, harmonious melody. Hearing this, Adagio and Sonata quickly put theirs on as well and began to sing out. All three sirens belted out beautiful notes like their old selves again. Soon as they finished, huge smiles spread across their faces even a few tears gleamed out of their eyes.
“This is real!” Adagio smiled. “We have our power again; the Dazzlings are back!”
“I’ve missed the sound of my own voice,” Aria said relieved.
“What should we do now?” Sonata asked.
Adagio gave a wicked grin, as she gazed out the window.
“Before we travel to this ‘Gotham City’, I think we should show everyone that the sirens are back.”
“How’re we supposed to get there?” Sonata asked. “The note says we can’t turn back to our original forms. No wings to fly us there.”
“Luckily… we have these,” Aria spoke up.
She pulled back a sheet, revealing three Cleansweep broomsticks from the Wizarding World. They had been brought by their contacts in that world as a means of transportation should the need arise. With the knowledge they can’t grown their wings from their original form, now was most certainly the time. Each siren grabbed one broom and were about to fly out the door when a thought suddenly dawned on Adagio.
“You realize tonight’s Nightmare Night,” She smirked. “Perhaps we should partake in the festivities and… dress up a little. I have just the perfect outfits in mind.”
The three siren sisters joined hands, closed their eyes, and allowed their magic to take over them. They could feel it coursing through them as it overtook their bodies. When it faded, they looked down at themselves seeing they were dressed up as three ‘particular’ witches.
The Dazzlings, with wicked smiles on their faces, turned toward one another sharing the same thought. Then in typical siren fashion, they expressed their intentions the only way they knew how… singing.
<>
Ponyville…
In the quiet little town of Ponyville, the moon gleamed over the many little fillies and colts running all over town dressed in costumes and carrying sacks of candy. Not only that, but many of the older mares and stallions were playing an assortment of different games, partaking in festive activities, dancing, and talking. Nightmare Night was truly a night of celebration for all. The Mane Six and Spike were even dressed in their Power Ponies costumes.
However, the festivities and candy were not currently on the mind of one Twilight Sparkle. Her thoughts were preoccupied with the handsome alicorn prince she was currently walking with. Storm Shield decided to pay a visit to Ponyville for the Nightmare Night festivities, even dressed in his Jedi robes for the occasion. At the moment, he and Twilight strolled across the town. The entire time Twilight couldn’t help herself from either blushing, giggling, or saying something stupid, which did make Storm laugh a few times.
Ever since Storm returned from being sealed away in the Philosopher’s Stone, Twilight spent so much time with him. Originally it was merely to study him, asking him many, many, MANY questions about old Equestria and the Wizarding alliance. But after many months and piles of notepads, she’d run out of things to study and simply decided to spend time with Storm.
“So, enjoying Nightmare Night so far?” Twilight asked him.
“It’s been pretty fun so far,” Storm replied, with a smile. “Having been locked away for a thousand years, I had no idea my aunt had an entire holiday made specifically for her.”
“Yeah, it certainly has become quite the festival for every pony in town,” Twilight smiled back. “Course you should have seen it a few years ago when Princess Luna paid us a visit.”
“What happened?” Storm asked.
“Let’s just say because of fear, superstition, and Pinkie dressed like a chicken, the holiday almost got cancelled.”
This caused Storm to laugh, soon even Twilight started laughing along with him.
“Oh boy, now I wish I’d been around to see that,” Storm chuckled.
“Trust me, you don’t,” Twilight giggled.
Soon as the pair stopped laughing, they looked into each other’s eyes and immediately found themselves entranced. It was like in that one moment, there was no pony else in the world except these two. It seemed it would last forever… until Twilight finally snapped herself out of it upon realizing they were just outside the Everfree Forest.
“Oh my goodness!” She gasped. “Looks like we’ve travelled a little further than I thought. Perhaps we should turn back.”
Storm eventually shook himself free of his daze and nodded in agreement.
“You’re right,” He nodded. “Besides, I really should get back to Canterlot. Mother is hosting a huge party tomorrow; I need to be well rested for it.”
“Oh yeah, I can’t wait for it!” Twilight agreed.
Suddenly, a loud and menacing screech made the two freeze in place out of fear. The sound of something huge, followed by a landing on the ground behind them.
“There’s something really big and really scary behind us right now, isn’t there?” Twilight asked fearfully.
Storm gave no reply or even looked behind him, but merely nodded his head in confirmation. Both ponies slowly turned their bodies back around, only to come face-to-face with a dark winged creature with glowing eyes as red as blood: The Mothman.
Twilight gave a frightened scream and Storm readied his horn, ready to make a stand and fight. However, the creature did not attack nor even moved from the very ground it stood upon. The Mothman slowly turned toward Twilight, proceeding to stalk towards her. Storm readied to loose a blast of magic, but Twilight waved it off soon as her shock faded.
“Don’t shoot it!” She said loudly. “I don’t think it wants to hurt us.”
While Storm wasn’t certain if what Twilight said was true or not, ultimately he stood down for a moment but kept ready just in case. The Mothman paused before Twilight, who marveled over how big this creature was. Suddenly, it’s eyes glowed brighter and soon Twilight’s eyes glowed bright too, almost white like Sunset Shimmer’s. All at once, different images flashed through her head: A city engulfed in flames, shadowy assassins, and a large-winged creature flying over it all. Then all at once… it stopped.
Twilight’s eyes went back to normal, as she began to breathe heavily. She would have fallen right over then and there had Storm not been there to catch her. The Mothman gave another screech before shooting up into the air and back into the depths of the Everfree.
“What in my mother’s name was that?” Storm asked confused.
“I think that’s the creature Fluttershy saw a few weeks ago,” Twilight responded weakly.
“Well, what did it want?”
“I think it was here to give me a warning,” Twilight responded. “When it’s eyes glowed, I saw images running through my head. I couldn’t make out anything about ‘why’, but it felt like peeking into the future.”
Suddenly, loud screams emanated from Ponyville. Twilight and Storm quickly turned back around seeing bolts of lighting blasting everywhere. Quick as a whip, they dashed right back towards town.
<>
Frightened little foals and grown ponies alike ran amuck through town while the Dazzlings flew down on broomsticks and threw force lighting all around. The impacts ignited fires, building debris broke off, and below the Dazzlings was a mass of panic and destruction in their wake.
“It feels good to be bad!” Aria commented wickedly.
“Hey, fish face!”
The Dazzlings turned around spotting the Mane Six, Spike, and Storm Shield standing before them ready to fight.
“No pony comes to our town and starts wreaking havoc on our watch!” Rainbow Dash called out.
“Well actually there was Discord, Nightmare Moon, the Bugbear, Sombra…” Pinkie listed.
“PINKIE!!!” Every pony yelled.
Adagio merely gave a wicked laugh toward the gathered heroes.
“You stupid little ponies actually think you can stop us?” She laughed. “Well, I invite you to give it your best shot.”
“You asked for it frizzle head!” Rainbow called out.
The tomboyish pony raced forward to give them a good beating, but quickly found herself cut off soon as the Dazzlings began to harmonize. Their amulets glowed red as they sang, and Rainbow found herself entranced by their singing. She dropped to the ground, frozen stiff.
“So… beautiful…” She spoke dazedly.
“Rainbow, don’t listen!” Twilight yelled.
“Alright, ah’ve had it with ‘em!” Applejack growled.
She grabbed her lasso and gave it a good twirl before throwing it with such force. Just as it was about to land, the Dazzlings turned to the rope and sang once more. This time, the rope seemed entranced too and it coiled like a snake. Everyone watched as the rope quickly turned on them all and wrapped all around the group.
“What the hay!” Applejack groaned.
“Don’t worry darling, a little magic will get us out of here!” Rarity assured.
She lit up her horn and was about to cut the ropes, but the magic quickly fizzed out. She tried again… and again… and again… but the same result kept occurring.
“What’s wrong with my magic?” She asked confused.
“Spike, can you use your dragon fire to get us out of here?” Fluttershy asked hopefully.
However, Spike found himself entranced by the singing sirens. He just sat there with the biggest grin on his face.
“Yeah, I’ll get right on that,” He spoke dazed. “So pretty… I could cry…”
Seeing their enemies essentially useless at the moment, Adagio reached into her robe pocket and pulled out what resembled a silver glass bean. She chucked it away, and within seconds a large swirling portal opened up in the ground below them.
“We’d really love to stay and chat, but we have an army to build,” She spoke.
A loud buzzing suddenly filled the air as the group looked up. They spotted Chrysalis flying down and landing beside the Dazzlings.
“Thought you weren’t going to show up,” Adagio snarked.
“You think I’d allow my disdain for you interfere with our endgame?” Chrysalis retorted. “Now, let’s get this over with so I never have to interact with you again.”
“Couldn’t agree with you more,” Adagio responded.
“Have a good Nightmare Night losers!” Aria chuckled.
“Make sure to save me some candy!” Sonata giggled. “Some candy corn… caramel apples… chocolate bars… oh, and those popcorn balls…”
“SONATA!!!” The women screamed.
“Uh… I gotta go!”
The three sisters and the changeling turned towards the portal and jumped right through just as it closed behind them. Once they were gone, the effects of their singing reversed, and all went back to normal. Both Rainbow and Spike shook their heads, wondering just what happened to them.
“What just happened?” Rainbow asked confused. “I was about to deliver a beatdown on them and suddenly it was like I wasn’t myself.”
“Me too…” Spike added, massaging his head.
“Less talkin’, more gettin’ us free from this here rope!” Applejack shouted impatiently.
Rainbow quickly raced back over and used her teeth to rip the rope off her friends.
“Ah don’t worry about it A.J.,” Rainbow smirked. “I didn’t hear you complaining last night when we used rope—”
“EWWW!” Rarity cringed. “Seriously girls, not the time!”
“We need to get to the theatre right now and find out where they went,” Twilight spoke urgently.
The group raced toward Discord’s theater and burst right through the doors. They ran right down toward the projection room where Phantom-Dragon was hard at work on a device pointed toward one of the big screens.
“Oh hey guys!” He greeted. “I was just working on the…”
“No time!” Twilight interrupted. “The Dazzlings and Chrysalis went through a portal; we need to follow them immediately!”
“Okay, okay!” Phantom Dragon responded. “Luckily, I just finished recalibrating this device. It should work much more efficiently now.”
“Thanks P.D.,” Spike thanked him. “You sure are a pal!”
Twilight quickly turned toward Storm.
“Can you please make sure every pony in town is safe?” She asked him.
“Of course,” He nodded. “We’ll be watching and rooting for you to come back. Now you get in there and do what you do best.”
With a smile, Twilight actually hugged Storm, who was taken aback at first… but snuggled back after a few awkward seconds. Phantom Dragon soon flicked a switch and a portal opened up on the big screen just as Twilight pulled away.
“Okay, that portal should take you wherever they went,” He informed them. “Hopefully, it’s a much smoother landing.”
“Well, what’re we waiting for?!” Rainbow spoke determined. “Let’s go kick some bad guy flank!”
The group quickly dashed down toward the theater room. One by one, each of the Equestrian Heroes leapt through the portal. They may not have known where it was they were going nor where they were trailing their enemies to this time. But one thing was absolutely certain: It was sure to be one hay of a Nightmare Night.
