//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Bringing Back the Festivities // Story: Guardians of Harmony: Nightmare on Halloween Street // by Postwarmonkey50 //------------------------------// Far away from Equestria, in a land that only a handful had known far too well, was the country that rivaled Equestria itself; the city of New Carinthia. Ever since their home was freed, many chose to abandon the old Capitol, for it would bring back too much painful memories. But thanks to the Grand Tree of Harmony, it had helped created a new capitol, one where not just the Caribou, but every creature, can thrive and live in peace together. From within the walls, many citizens had made newer buildings and other attractions that many could enjoy, as well as enjoying the final touches of the kingdom. However, from within the Citadel, was much larger at play. From within the council room, Thorin and Lizzie, along with their company, who were also known as the Council of Oakenshield, were going over the recent events of Caribouria. “So how goes the restoration of Caribouria?” asked Thorin. “From what our messengers have reported,” said Kili as he was the first to volunteer “The Houses of the Griffons, Dragons, Changelings, Yaks, Hippogriffs and Wolves have restored parts of their lands.” “And once that was all said and done,” said Kili’s brother Fili “Many of them have gone to the other houses and restored many of the others’ homes and lands and have been a tremendous help with their strength and magic.” “And what of the others?” asked Lizzie in concern. “Well, according to them,” said Bofur. “The Kirin, Buffalo, Deer, Minotaurs and Centaurs’ Houses have been restored to their former glory.” “The Deer are currently restoring all plant life throughout the kingdoms,” said Óin “And the Kirin are also using their fire abilities to try and restore the fires of the other Houses so that they could warm the homes of others, as well as help cook their foods.” “And the Centaurs, and Buffalo,” said Balin “Are currently trying to restore most of the kingdom’s books. Before Dainn came, many Centaurs were able to make copies of them and hid them for safe keeping to ensure that all knowledge would not be forgotten.” “And the Minotaurs are currently trying to train others for security measures to ensure that there are no thieves about.” Said Glóin “There are still many thieves about, even those who didn’t get the message that Dainn’s reign is over.” “Isn’t that the truth of the day.” Muttered Thorin. “Anything else?” “The Ahuizotles, Sirens and Harpies’ houses are restored as well.” Said Ori “The Ahuizotles are currently trying to find any of our lost artifacts that have been taken from Caribouria and are trying to restore them before bringing them home.” “The Sirens are currently using the songs to soothe the pains of many of those who have lost their homes,” said Dori “And the Harpies are currently trying to find others who had gone into hiding to tell them the news that the war is over.” “The Diamond Dogs, Abyssinians, Ornithians and Gargoyles need more time though.” Said Nori. “Their Houses are still under construction.” Said Bombur “They say that they’re about ninety percent complete, so it will take some time for them to be fully restored.” “Half of the countryside in their territories are also struggling to be restored.” Said Bifur “It will take some time before the greenery is restored so that people could plant food again.” “And their military will also take time for them to be restored.” Said Dwalin “But at the moment they’re trying to help the citizens rebuilt their homes before they can do anything else.” Thorin sighed whilst he looked down. “This is good news. For as soon as Caribouria is fully restored, we’ll soon open our borders to others around the world so that they can see Caribouria themselves, which is why I’m hopeful that we will succeed for the future.” Thorin stood up, with Lizzie and the others following suit. “Continue to monitor the other houses and ensure that those who do not have homes can have shelter until their homes can be restored.” Said Thorin. Soon the council leaves and were on their way to perform their duties whilst Thorin walked to the edge of the balcony, with Lizzie in tow. He soon stood and watched the entire city from there, with Lizzie standing by his side. “Are you okay Thorin?” asked Lizzie. Thorin sighed and said “The damage Dainn had left in its wake left the entire kingdom scarred and broken. It would take a long time before it’s fully healed.” “Thorin,” said Lizzie as she held onto him “We already accomplished so much thanks to you.” “Beau and the others were the ones that helped me.” Reminded Thorin. “But they were the ones to give you the credit because the people needed hope, to know that the Oakenshield line had not been severed.” Said Lizzie. The two of them continued to stare at the horizon as they watched many of its citizens trying to live their daily lives. “Beau and the others may have helped you,” said Lizzie “But because of your leadership, everyone was able to live their lives to the fullest like they did before. And right now, you need to focus on the now instead of the past and what’s to come.” Thorin couldn’t help but smile and held her close. “You always know to say the right things.” “That’s what I’m here for.” Responded Lizzie as she returned the gesture. “How are the children doing?” asked Thorin when he thought about the kids. “Freya and Silver Sentry are still fast asleep.” Said Lizzie “Once they’re old enough, they want to explore Caribouria.” “Agreed.” Said Thorin. He then looked down and said “But back to the topic at hand. Now that Caribouria is freed, what can we do to liven their spirit, something to celebrate over again.” “It’s quite the mystery.” Said Lizzie. “Too bad I turned down my brother’s invitation. For he really wanted me to spend Nightmare Night with Crystal, considering how much she admired me.” Thorin’s ears perked up and looked at her and said “Wait, what? What’s that?” “Oh,” said Lizzie when she looked at him “Silver explained that to me. Every year, they dress up in costumes and have parties that kids tend to get free candy. It’s kind of like humanity’s holiday called Halloween.” “Heh, almost sounds like Alfblot.” Said Thorin. He then paused, and lowly widened his eyes in realization. Then he had a bright smile and exclaimed loudly “That’s it!!” Lizzie was surprised by the outburst, “What?” Thorin grabbed Lizzie and kissed her full on the lips, surprising her before he broke it and said “You’re a genius!!” He quickly went back inside, with Lizzie not sure what just happened, so she followed him to find out why he was so excited. She saw that he was calling over the butlers and messengers. “Half of you, please send out invitations.” Said Thorin “I want every decorator, planner and caterer to the Castle at once. And send out invitations to everyone throughout Caribouria.” He then realized there were more room around, then he said “And be sure to send special invites to Equestria too.” Lizzie was surprised by this as the servants said “At once sire.” They soon left, with Lizzie wondering. What in the world is he planning? **************************************************************************************** Meanwhile, at Equestria, specifically at Ponyville, everyone had already placed orders for costumes and decorations for the upcoming Nightmare Night. Luna was especially excited, for she could go on her persona during the festivities. “This is so exciting!!” exclaimed Luna as she couldn’t help herself but feel giddy at the same time and danced around a bit. “You’re already making me excited Lulu.” Said Nebula with a smirk as he watched her bosom and posterior bounced. Luna instantly stopped and blushed, then immediately turned around and said with a flustered tone and pout “Oh, hush you.” “Can’t help it, you’re adorable whenever you do that.” Said Nebula as he walked over, gently held her in his arms and kissed her. “Plus I know how excited you get.” “Well of course,” said Luna with a slight pout, but then ended up smiling and kissed him back whilst also embracing him. “Nightmare Night is almost upon us and I am happy that I get to dress up in my persona.” “As long as you don’t go stir crazy my queen of the night,” said Nebula playfully “Otherwise I might have to use my secret weapon for this.” “Oh, stop.” Said Luna as she playfully slapped his chest whilst the two laughed. “And I’m also more than happy to be your first ever Nightmare Knight Commander.” Said Nebula. Then he looked at her with a flexed eyebrow and asked “Although, how the heck did you convince Beau and the others to become Nightmare Knights?” “I made them an offer they couldn’t refuse.” Said Luna whilst rolling her eyes and said “Plus it was put into a royal decree, knowing that Princess Twilight would refuse to take a break from school.” “I’m sure the students will understand.” Said Nebula. The doors soon opened, revealing both Princess Celestia and Platinum. “Which is why we need to be prepared for what’s to come.” Said Platinum. “Luna, are you sure about this?” asked Celestia in concern “Considering that we all had a close call with Cozy Glow.” “Fret not sister,” said Princess Luna “Everything will be fine. Plus with everything happening the people could use the distraction to have fun for the festivities.” “If you’re sure Luna.” Said Celestia in concern. “Honey,” said Platinum, “Why don’t we get ready for Nightmare Night too. I know that the kids have been looking forward to something like this.” Celestia managed a smile and said “Oh very well. The children could use the time to have fun.” The two of them soon left. But after the door was closed, Luna moved towards the window and looked at the countryside. “Are you sure you don’t want to tell her about a certain creature that stole your power?” asked Nebula. “I don’t want my sister to worry,” said Princess Luna as she looked at the horizon “For what happened back then was my responsibility.” “You know it’s not healthy to keep secrets from family.” Said Nebula “Cause sooner or later, you’re going to have to tell her, otherwise she’d end up doing more harm than good. Even though Capper, Trixie, Stygian and Tempest helped you, you won’t be so lucky next time.” Luna sighed whilst Nebula wrapped his arms around her whilst he was standing from behind. “I know. But when the time is right.” She then felt something behind her and said “Are you getting turned on, as the ponies would say?” “What can I say,” said Nebula with a smirk “Even after all this time, your booty is a Lucious as the moon.” “Oh, you perv.” Said Luna as she instantly broke free and tackled him over on the ground. The two of them bearing their smiles. “You’re trouble, you know that?” “From the day I made you faint?” said Nebula in a teasing tone. “Maybe.” said Luna with a smirk. The two of them kissed. Until they broke it when they saw both Celestia and Platinum enter the room. The two looked and saw two amused faces on both Celestia and Platinum the moment they entered in the room. “Having fun, are we?” said Platinum. Nebula ended up smirking and said “Like you’re one to talk.” Platinum also had lipstick over his face, which made both him and Celestia blush from their little action. Before they could say anything, a certain cross-eyed delivery pony, came in with a handful of letters and a salute. “Hey there your majesties.” Said Derpy. “Thought I’d deliver a letter that just came for you recently.” Princess Luna had a deadpanned and said “We always receive letters, Derpy.” “Not this one,” said Derpy as she pulled out a couple of letters “The letter here seems to have a picture of both an Oak and a Shield on the front.” The sisters were surprised and received the letters, with Celestia saying “Thank you Derpy, that will be all.” “Happy to help.” Said Derpy as she saluted before flying away. Princess Celestia looked at the letter and said “Well this is a surprise.” “Indeed,” said Princess Luna “It appears we have received a letter from Thorin Oakenshield.” “Really?” said Nebula “I haven’t heard from him ever since they visited us a while back.” The two of them opened their letters and, with their husbands, also looked through them. After much reading, they were surprised by what they have read so far. “Oh?” said Princess Celestia “It appears we have been invited by Thorin to attend Caribouria’s Alfblot festival.” “Alfblot?” said the husbands in confusion. “It says he will explain everything once he gets here.” Said Luna. “Hmmm,” pondered Celestia aloud, wondering what to do, then she looked at Luna and asked “What do you think Luna?” “Well,” said Luna “It’s been a long time since we’ve been to Caribouria. Plus I am also wondering what the festival over there is like.” “Maybe we should go.” Said Platinum. “If would give us a better insight of what’s going on.” “Plus we don’t want to be rude to ignore an invitation.” Said Nebula. Celestia and Luna nodded with smiles. “Very well then,” said Princess Celestia in agreement “We shall attend there.” “Oh, and I was so looking forward for Nightmare Night.” Pouted Luna. “Don’t worry Lulu,” said Nebula when he grabbed the side of her flank, making her flustered “I’m sure we’ll enjoy it no matter what.” Luna suddenly grabbed him, and looked at him directly in the eyes and said “You. Me. Bed. Now.” They instantly teleport without saying another word. Both Celestia and Platinum watched, but couldn’t help but smirk and look at one another. “How long do you think they will take?” asked Celestia. “About thirty minutes.” Said Platinum. He then suddenly held Celestia close, surprising her as he said “Although…maybe we can do the same whilst we wait for them.” Celestia then smirked and her horn ignited, causing the two of them to be teleported to their room too. ********************************************************************************************** At the same time, whilst the ponies and a handful of humans of Ponyville, everyone began to prepare the decorations for Nightmare Night, whilst at the same time, Derpy came along and flew around whilst holding a letter at the same time. She began to maneuver and trying to avoid all of the decorations, until she flew into a ghost decoration and was blinded, making her go stir crazy and flew straight towards Twilight’s castle. Before anyone could say anything or react, she instantly flew straight through the doors with a mighty crash. CRASH!!! From within the castle, both Beau and Princess Twilight heard the loud noise at their front door from their library, causing Twilight to grab Beau and the two teleport at the same time. When they, along with Moonlight, arrive, they saw the doors were smashed in and Derpy was able to poke her head through the sheet and was very dizzy. She shook her head, looked around and gave a sheepish smile. “My bad.” Said the cluts Pegasus. Beau groaned and facepalmed. “Why didn’t we bother to put the same protection spell on the doors like we did to the windows?” “I couldn’t focus on my spell on everything at once.” Protested Twilight. “Oh, come on, not again.” Said Moonlight in misery “We had to rebuild that door seven times already.” Derpy got up and saluted, whilst presenting letters to them at the same time. “Got a ton of letters for you and your friends, Princess Twilight.” Said Derpy before she saluted. Once she handed the letters to them, she immediately flew out of the door. Twilight sighed and used her magic to instantly fix the door. “Good thing you learned a restoration spell during your sophomore years.” Said Beau. “It was one of the easiest spells to learn.” Said Twilight with a smile, with a hint of pride. She then looked at her letters and said “I think we should call the girls and their husbands over, along with Spike and Emily.” “Good idea.” Said Beau “I’ll have everything arranged in the throne rooms” ***************************************************************************************************** A short while later, everyone was gathered in the Throne room to talk about what Derpy had given them. After going through the letter, they were surprised by this. “No way,” said Frosty “Thorin is inviting almost all of us to Caribouria?” “This is amazing!!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie “We got invited to another party at the kingdom, how exciting is that?!!” “And according to their letter,” said Spike “It says it’s related to Equestria’s Nightmare Night.” “I think we should go, considering that we’re all invited.” Said Emily. “But we can’t miss out on Nightmare Night, it’s only a week away.” said Applejack “She’s right,” said Bucky in equal concern “Even a quarter of the Apple Family is coming over to celebrate Nightmare Night, and Apple Bloom was really looking forward to spend time with Babs again.” “That may be so,” said Beau “But it’s also an invitation from Thorin himself, and when he sends an invite, it’s best not to ignore it.” “I agree.” Said Princess Twilight next to her husband “It might also give us an opportunity to visit another kingdom.” “And we should be excited,” said Bolt, “For we get to visit Caribouria again. Plus we’ll be able to see what they can offer.” “He does have a point,” said Silver “The only time that all of us were there was when Lizzie was going into labor.” Rainbow suddenly grumbled whilst crossing her arms “At least you and the others were lucky that you weren’t nearly eaten by monsters.” “Hey, normally I’d be angry too,” said Bolt when he turned to his wife “But we somehow made it and Lizzie really wanted to see Silver again.” “Then we should go,” said Princess Twilight after she stood up “For if it’s related to Nightmare Night and Humanity’s Halloween, maybe we can see what kind of holiday it is.” “Plus the big kicker,” said Beau with a smirk “According to the letter, Thorin is going to send his personal airship to Canterlot, that’s where they’ll pick us up.” “Wait,” said a surprised Frosty “Caribouria already has their own airship?” “Remember,” said Emily “Caribouria’s magic is more advanced than the others.” “Alright then,” said Twilight “We’ll go there first thing in the morning.” ****************************************************************************************** The next day, the Mane 6, their husbands, Spike, Emily and their kids were at the dockyard of Canterlot. But to their surprise, all of Ponyville was here too, as well as half of Equestria’s ponies have been invited. “Wow,” said Twilight in utter disbelief “I didn’t know half of Equestria’s ponies would be here.” “That goes the same for us.” They looked and, to their surprise, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, along with their husbands and children, were there too. “What are you doing here Princess?” asked Beau. “Apparently we were also invited.” Said Princess Luna. “Plus it had been far too long since we’ve been to Caribouria. So how could we say no to the invitation?” “We never even had the chance to meet Thorin either.” Said Platinum. “Are you sure it’s alright to leave?” asked Twilight, “I mean, after what Cozy Glow pulled…” “Twilight,” said Celestia in a motherly tone whilst holding her shoulder “We left the ponies we trust in charge to look after everything so things will work out.” “I’m just surprised to see a ton of ponies invited.” Said Beau. “It’s not just Ponyville and half of Canterlot,” said Princess Celestia, “The Crystal Empire and a handful of others were also invited, even some of the kingdoms beyond Equestria’s borders.” “Well it shouldn’t be all that surprising,” said Beau “Considering most of your ancestors are from Caribouria.” “Ship ahoy!!” called out a guard. Everyone looked up to the sky, and to their surprise, it was the biggest airship they have ever seen, whilst if was flying Caribouria’s flag. But before anyone else could react, smaller ships began to descend from the ship and flew towards Canterlot. Once that was done, many of the ships landed on the sides. One of the ships’ ramps had been lowered. And when they looked up, to their surprise, they saw a Caribou, standing at the top wearing royalty armour. He walked down with a human female in tow, as well as a company of Caribou Templar Guards. Beau couldn’t help but smile as he walked up to them. “Thorin and Lizzie, you old so and so’s.” said Beau as he hugged the both of them, to which both the latter returned. “Long time no see.” “Good to see you too old friend.” Said Thorin after they broke the hug. “Sorry we couldn’t have helped all of you with your magic crisis, but with Chancellor Neighsay gunning for outsiders beyond Equestria’s borders, we didn’t want to risk starting something.” “We didn’t want to take any risks that Caribouria could’ve lost their magic too, especially since our magical wards had warned us that a force had appeared to drain Equestria’s magic.” “No need to apologize,” said Beau “Truth be told it caught all of us off guard too, especially now that we have more Knights here.” "And Crazy Glow got what he deserved." said Bolt. At the same time, the mane 6 and their husbands, along with Spike, Emily, Celestia, Platinum, Luna and Nebula approached the two. “Good to see you girls,” said Thorin with a smile “I haven’t seen all of you since Lizzie gave birth to our children.” “How are the little dears doing?” asked Rarity. “They’re currently resting at the moment,” said Lizzie “especially since all of them are so excited for the festival.” “So what kind of festival are we talking about?” asked Rainbow. “Do not worry, we will explain once we get there.” Said Thorin. “Thorin Oakenshield,” said Beau “Meet the high ranking rulers of Equestria. Princess Celestia and her husband Platinum. Along with her sister, Princess Luna and her husband Nebula. Your highnesses, meet Thorin Oakenshield and his wife Lizzie.” Both sides bowed to one another, then stood back up. “It’s an honor to meet you.” Said Thorin. “I apologize to what Dainn had done to both of you all those centuries ago.” “It’s quite fine.” Said Princess Celestia “Because of Beau and the others that we have peace between our nations.” “And we were also surprised that not only did Humanity come from Caribouria, but our ancestors as well.” Said Princess Luna. Thorin hugged the two of them, which surprised them, then broke it whilst he said “I look forward to know the two of you.” Celestia and Luna returned the hug, then broke it. “Now then,” said Thorin as he pointed at their rides “Shall we go?” Everyone nodded in agreement and made their way to the ships. Once all of them were onboard, all of them immediately took off to the Airship. Once they were docked, the ship soon departed for Caribouria, where their answers would soon be answered.