After the incident with Twilight accidentally using "Want it Need it" on me, nothing really happened for the next long while. Twilight stopped freaking out about sending Celestia letters every week, and we resumed with her having me undergo various types of testing. Now that she knew about me using magic to allow myself and my gloves to levitate, she began running various types of magical tests to see if I was able to cast any spells. Unfortunately for both of us, said tests always ended in failure. First, she wanted to see if I was able to levitate anything besides my body and hands by placing various objects in front of me to see if I could make them float. I was unable to make anything she sat in front of me float, from the simplest book to the lightest quill. She then tried to see if I could possibly teleport, explaining that it was a simple spell that unicorns learned early on in their lives. I myself knew the basics of teleportation, as I often teleported when I was in control of the thing or person I possessed when I was still sealed within the Master Crown. Unfortunately, it seems as though that in my current state, I wasn't able to perform basic teleportation. All of my attempts resulted in me still being in the same spot, regardless of how much I focused. Lastly, she tried to see if I could create magical shields, she explained that this was a spell unicorns were often taught later in life. This test ended the same way as the others, with me not being able to create a simple shield. Similar to teleportation, I also knew how shield spells worked thanks to Magolor as he was able to conjure up shields that only extremely powerful attacks could break. Both of us were somewhat upset that I wasn't able to cast any spells, with me trying to cheer Twilight up by saying that my magic probably wasn't strong enough to use these types of spells. It appeared to wok a little, as our tests went back to being somewhat normal. Though, it was at time like these that made me miss having limitless power when I was sealed within the Master Crown, with me only being able to use said power after I took over the beings that wore me.
Nonetheless, as the days came and went, so too did the current season as we were now in what I presumed was the middle of autumn. The leaves on the trees slowly began changing from various shades of green to various shades of orange, yellow, and red. The temperature also began to grow a little bit colder as well, making me thankful for my scarf as the slightly chilly weather didn't bother me much. It was also during this time that I noticed the residents of Ponyville seemed a lot more cheerful and excited as they began to slowly decorate Ponyville with various kinds of decorations such as carved pumpkins, rubber bats and fake spider webs, and even various stalls and tents were starting to be set up. Curious as to what was going on, I decided to ask Spike about these developments during a trip to the library.
"Hey Spike? Do you know why ponies are setting up decorations and stalls? Is there a big even happening soon or something?" I asked.
"Huh? Oh yeah, I guess you wouldn't really know about this. Everyone's getting everything together for Nightmare Night!" the young dragon exclaimed.
"Nightmare Night?" I asked.
"Yeah! Nightmare Night is where everyone is able to dress up with costumes and have fun doing various activities one night every year. It's also a time of being scared and having fun being scared. The best part though, is that you can get a ton of candy by going to other ponies' homes!" Spike says with excitement.
"I guess that at least explains why everyone's putting up all of the decorations. And you said that it's a time for ponies to be scared and have fun being scared?" I asked.
"Yep. Like I said, Nightmare Night's one of the scariest times of the year. I plan on getting as much candy as I can!" Spike said.
A time where ponies are able to have fun and be scared and enjoy it? If ponies are getting scared then some of them may give off some fear that I can absorb to get stronger. I guess it wouldn't hurt to participate, I would be having fun while converting the fear the ponies around me are feeling into magic that I can use to become stronger. It was pretty much a win-win situation.
"I guess it wouldn't hurt to join in." I said. "I guess I'll need a costume if I plan on enjoying everything Nightmare Night has to offer."
As such, after I left the library after a few small tests that Twilight had me do, I made my way to the Carousel Boutique to find Rarity. When I arrived, I found Rarity working on a costume in her workshop.
"Hey Rarity." I said to let her know I was here.
"Hello Null, it's good to see you. I'm sorry, but I can't really talk right now. Nightmare Night is one of the busiest times of the year for me as a lot of ponies tend to give me orders to make costumes. Thankfully, it doesn't seem that there are as many as last year, I ran out of a lot of materials before I was almost done." Rarity said while she was busy sewing.
"Oh, that's ok. I can come by later." I said.
"No, it's fine. What would you like to talk about dear?" Rarity asked.
"I was hoping you could maybe help me make myself a costume. I just heard about Nightmare Night, and I kind of want to join in." I said.
I saw Rarity begin to think over what I had just said, before turning to me and saying "Hmm, I suppose I could help you with making a costume. It was quite fun making your outfit, so I wouldn't mind making something else. Let me finish this real quick, and then we can talk about how you want your costume to look, ok?"
I agreed and waited for her to finish with the costume she was currently working on. It didn't take too long to finish either, so, once again, I found myself right beside Rarity as we began to design my costume. It took some trial and error because both of us had some trouble trying to figure out what sort of costume I wanted. Rarity wanted the costume to be somewhat cutesy in design, but I didn't really want that. I wanted the costume to have a sort of interesting theme about it, one that would make it stand out. Eventually, we both managed to agree on a design that worked perfectly, and Rarity said she would have the costume finished and delivered by the morning of Nightmare Night. And with that, I headed back to Fluttershy's house as I was now looking forward to Nightmare Night.
And so, the day of Nightmare Night arrived. I was pretty excited as I couldn't wait to go out and enjoy tonight, especially if the costume Rarity and I made had turned out perfectly. The box containing my costume arrived earlier today, and I opened it to make sure everything for the costume was in the box, which it was. Eventually, the sun began to dip below the horizon as the moon slowly moved up into the sky as day slowly turned to night, with me taking this as my cue to go put on my costume. Thankfully, Fluttershy allowed me to use her bathroom as long as I wanted so that I could properly put on my costume. Taking the box in with me and shutting the door, I took everything out of the box and once again made sure that everything that Rarity and I had made for this outfit was inside, before I began putting on my costume. It took a few minutes, but I was able to get everything on easily as I stared into my reflection in the mirror after I had finished putting everything on.
First off, the costume already had a similar design to my normal outfit, with the hood and cape and everything. However, that was were a lot of the similarities ended. First off was the hood, with the the main part being completely red instead of white that stopped at the silver rings around my ears, with the tips of the ear part of the hood being black. Instead of a scarf, a black cloth with a brown belt that had a silver buckle wrapped around my body. Attached to this belt was a small clip where a small bottle with a cork was held within a sort of holster, the bottle being filled with water. The cape itself was also completely black, with there being two silver buttons at the front so that it gave my cape the appearance of a sort of coat. A silver line ran across the bottom of the cape, with small silver lines running towards the top of the cape and disappearing under the cloth. The cape also had small pockets that were held shut by silver clips, with there also being holsters at these sides that also held bottles, though these had a somewhat rectangular shape, were empty, and were corked by a star shaped cork. Finally were two things, the first being the cloth on the bottom half of my body was red, but the front had a silver gear design on it. The opening of the hood also had a similar gear design lining the edge of the hood. The last thing was that a small silver chain hung from the end of the right ear part of the hood, with there being a small silver gear attached to the end of it.
After giving myself one last look over in the mirror, I was happy to find that the costume came out perfectly. Everything Rarity and I had designed, from the bottles and corks that I was sure she had trouble getting, to even the little chain hanging from the right ear of my hood, was exactly as how we made them to look. I would have to make sure to greatly thank her when I got to Ponyville.
Seeing as how I was finished putting on my costume, I left the bathroom and made my way back down the stairs where Fluttershy was waiting for me.
"Oh my, I love your costume Null. If you could remind me, what was it that you wanted to be again?" Fluttershy asked.
"I guess I kind of wanted the costume to resemble a sort of alchemist, though I decided to go with the gear design to make it a little more unique. Anyways, are you ready to head into town?" I asked.
Fluttershy's smile disappeared and was instead replaced with a small frown as she looked away from me. I could also begin to feel a small amount of sadness rise within her as well.
"I'm sorry Null. But, um, the thing is..." Fluttershy began saying, however she began to trail off as she got quite. After giving her a few seconds, I decided to ask what she meant.
"Is what?" I asked.
"The thing is, I don't really like Nightmare Night." Fluttershy admitted.
Now that right there sort of shocked me. Fluttershy, the mare I saw wrestle with a bear and win, was scared of other ponies wearing costumes and fake decorations being put up? Though, actually, living with Fluttershy these past few weeks has taught me that, even though she was quite caring and even brave when taking care of animals, she was somewhat skittish. Once, when I came back from the library one day, I found Fluttershy hiding under a blanket from a small spider that had managed to get inside.
"I don't like all of the scary costumes that some ponies wear, and I also don't like the decorations that are put up. Because of this, I usually stay here and wait until Nightmare Night is over. I'm sorry that I can't join you Null. I do hope you enjoy your first Nightmare Night, though." Fluttershy said.
"It's ok. I'll come back once I'm done having fun in town, you just stay here and do what you usually do on Nightmare Night." I said as I began to head out the door where a small pillowcase that Fluttershy was lending me sat next to the door. "I'll try to bring you back some candy as well."
"Thank you. I would appreciate that." Fluttershy said.
After grabbing the pillowcase and headed out the door, I made my way down the road under the light of the full moon. A few minutes later, and I eventually made it to Ponyville where it looked like the activities and fun were underway. I saw a few booths here and there selling various sweets, small attractions such as bobbing for apples and a game were you launched a pumpkin with a catapult at a target (I would have to try that one later), and everyone was dressed up in various costumes as I also saw small foals going around and getting candy.
Eventually, I made my way to the library as I hoped to join Spike and Twilight if they decided to go around town. I knocked on the door before Spike opened it and greeted me, already in his costume. His costume was that of a dragon costume, which I thought was a little redundant considering he was a dragon, but it looks like it was well made so I decided not to bring it up. The main part of the costume was a dark purple, with the underbelly being a bright green. There were spikes on the back and tail that were dark green, and it also had two horns at the top with there also being yellow eyes that had slited pupils.
"Hey Null! Glad you could make it! Nice, uh, potion brewer costume?" Spike said.
"You're pretty close, and thank you, I'm happy that it turned out so well." I said. "I assume we're waiting for Twilight?"
"Yeah. She's been up there for a while now. She needs to hurry up, I want to go and get some candy." Spike said, after which we both began to hear what sounded like the jingling of bells. Both of us turned to look at the stairs as Twilight slowly made her way down and reached us as she began to walk around, showing off her costume
Twilight's costume was pretty elaborate, as she was wearing a long cloak and somewhat pointy hat. The cloak itself had a somewhat constellation theme to it, as there were yellow stars and crescent moons on it, with the edges of the cloak having small golden bells. The hat also had a similar theme and design as the cloak, with there being a bell hanging from the tip of the hat. Finally, Twilight was wearing a fake beard that hung a couple of inches below her chin.
"Um, are you that one grandpa from the Ponyville Retirement Village?" Spike asked.
Twilight stopped walking around a turned towards the both of us. "What? No, I'm Star Swirl the Bearded." She said.
Spike gave a blank stare as I gave Twilight a look of confusion as the name did sound somewhat familiar, though I could not place why.
"One of the greatest spellcasters of pony history?" Twilight asked.
Both of us continued our looks, though I feel like I was on the verge of remembering where I heard that name.
"Spike, did you even read that book I gave you about obscure unicorn history?" Twilight asked, as it finally clicked for me. I remember were I heard the name Star Swirl the Bearded before, as I read it in one of the history books here in the library. More specifically, one Twilight brought out during our tests involving my magic. Essentially, from what I could gather, Star Swirl was a brilliant spellcaster who created a lot of powerful and useful spells that are often used today. He was quite well known during his time, but the book said that Star Swirl mysteriously disappeared one day without a trace. Some speculated he died of old age as he was somewhat old, others suspected that he went off on some sort of quest in the hopes of discovering new types of magic and spells, and there were a bunch of other theories as well. Regardless, he was considered a well respected figure in history.
"Well, um..." Spike began before knocking could be heard coming from the door. "I should probably go get that."
Spike took off for the door as Twilight let out a small sigh as she turned to me.
"Anyways, it's good to see you too, Null. I like your alchemist costume. I do like the gear theme you have for it." Twilight said.
"Thanks, I'm glad everyone like it." I said.
Spike eventually walked back to us. "Twilight, we have some trick-or-treaters at the door."
"Alright. Let's get them some candy and then we can head out, ok?" Twilight said. A bowl filled with a variety of different candy was held in Twilight's aura as we made our way to the door, where three fillies were dressed in various costumes as an old mare stood behind them. The mare in question had a light green coat, a white mane and tail that were both styled in a bun, a cutie mark that appeared to be some sort of pie, and an orange handkerchief around her neck that had apples on it. I recognized her as Granny Smith, who was Applejack's grandmother and, from what I remembered from Fluttershy, apparently was involved with Ponyville's founding. I've only seen her around Sweet Apple Acres every now and then when I visited, but I never had the chance to interact with her personally.
"Happy Nightmare Night everypony, I like all of your costumes. Happy Nightmare Night to you as well, Granny Smith." Twilight said.
"I should have been asleep five hours ago." Granny Smith replied.
As Twilight levitated the bowl in front of her, a small earth pony colt wriggled his way between two of the fillies and made made his way through before slightly tripping and getting back up. He had a white coat that had various light brown spots scattered about, and had a brown mane with a short tail. He was also wearing a pirate outfit, as he was wearing a red bandanna, some sort of black shirt, and an eyepatch with a skull on it covering his right eye. He also had a small toy sword in his mouth.
"Pipsqueak the pirate, at your service." The colt said as he introduced himself. "It's my very first Nightmare Night."
"Since you moved here from Trottingham?" Twilight asked.
"Nope, my very first Nightmare Night ever!" Pipsqueak responded.
Before Twilight could hand out the candy, Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared out of nowhere wearing a chicken costume, clucking a bit before she began talking.
"Enough chitchat! Time is candy!"
"Uh, Pinkie? Not to be rude or anything, but aren't you a little too old to be doing something like this." I asked.
"Too old for free candy?" Pinkie said before she began clucking a little more. "Never."
Sensing a little bit of annoyance from Twilight as she rolled her eye, she handed everyone, including me as well as she levitated a small piece of chocolate into my bag, a piece of candy and put it in their bags. Twilight moved her cloak around a bit so the bells would jingle, catching Pinkie's attention.
"Do you like it?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah! Great costume, Twilight, you make a fantastic weirdo clown!" Pinkie said before she began to walk off, only to come back and rapidly peck at the candy in the bowl before taking off. I had to hold back a laugh as I found the comment to be a little funny.
"A clown? Look at the borders on these robes. These were hoof-stitched!" Twilight said as she held up the end of her cloak.
"Don't think about it too much Twilight. Let's just go and have some fun!" I said as I began heading towards the main area with Spike close behind me. I saw Twilight roll her eyes again, albeit with a small smile, as she walked to catch up with us as we began heading out into town.
Before we decided to head towards the festivities and attractions that were set up, we decided that we would go around and get some candy. This was done via trick-or-treating, as we would knock on ponies' doors and they would give us a piece of candy. The candy we got was quite varied, from small pieces of candy corn, lollipops, to even chocolate bars. Eventually, once we had finished, we headed towards the festivities that were set up around the middle of town. Spike was struggling a bit to hold the basket he brought as it was overflowing with candy, while my pillowcase still had a bit to go before it became to heavy. All around us were ponies dressed up in different outfits, from different animals, characters from history and folklore that I learned about while going through Equestria's history, to even demons and angels. Though, all around me, I could sense small amounts of fear from the ponies as they jumped whenever one of their friends jumped out to scare them or they were scared from the fake decorations. Anyways, I could feel myself slowly becoming energized by just being here, and I was also excited to see what sort of attractions were set up around here. As we walked around, Twilight began to talk about how she was surprised no one knew who Star Swirl was, as the ponies who gave us candy also incorrectly guessed who her costume was based off of.
"Star Swirl the Bearded is only the most important and powerful sorcerer of the pre-classical era. He created more than two hundred spells, and he even has a shelf in the Canterlot library named after him. Maybe I should start up a pony group to teach ponies about history, I bet everypony would love it! Wouldn't you both?"
"I guess I would be interested. I am enjoying learning about the various myths and legends about Equestria, so I suppose it would be fun learning more about its history." I said.
"Thank you Null." Twilight said before she stopped, causing Spike to bump into her and drop his basket, causing a lot of the candy held within it to fall out. "Hey look, we're here already! Should we get something to eat?"
Twilight turned to both of us as Spike burped due to the candy he was eating. Twilight, for possibly the third time tonight, gave an eye roll as I sensed her being annoyed once again. Pretty soon, Pinkie Pie showed up once again as she held a bag filled to the brim with candy.
"Twilight, Null! Look at all this candy we got! Ah! Can you believe it?" Pinkie said before she began to once again rapidly peck at the candy in the bag before continuing. "Anyways, we just went to Cheerilee's house, and got a bunch of goodies from there. Didn't we, Pip?"
"Sure did!" Pipsqueak replied.
Pinkie Pie then began to talk more about the various houses her and the others visited and what kinds of candy they got from there. While she was talking, I began to notice a black cloud with what appeared to be a rainbow tail sticking out from behind it slowly move towards us and right above Pinkie. I saw Rainbow Dash in some sort of costume as she raised her hooves up, before bringing them back down onto the cloud. The result was a loud bolt of lightning striking the ground nearby as Pinkie let out a loud squawk as she and all of the foals took off in various directions. I began to hear laughing as I looked back up to see Rainbow Dash cackling like crazy. Her outfit appeared to be some sort of black and purple jumpsuit with yellow lightning bolts on it. She wore goggles over her eyes as well, with the rims being purple and the lens being the same yellow as the lightning bolts on her outfit.
"Rainbow Dash, that wasn't very nice." Twilight said to the still cackling pegasus. It took a bit, but eventually, Rainbow Dash was able to calm down enough to where she was able to talk.
"Lighten up, old-timer. This is the best night of the year for pranks! And besides, everypony likes being scared." Rainbow Dash said.
"Look what you did to Spike!" Twilight said as she pointed to Spike, who was currently choking on some of the candy he was eating.
"It's all in good fun." Rainbow Dash said before she turned and seemed to spot something nearby. "Oh! There's another group over there!" She then flew to the side of the cloud, and then began to push it towards who I assumed were her next victims.
We both looked back at Spike as he seemed to not be choking anymore, though it looked like he was incredibly drained. Seeing this, Twilight levitated Spike onto her back as we continued on. Not without hearing another thunderbolt go off nearby that was followed by more screams.
We eventually made it to what appeared to be an attraction for bobbing apples, as there was a large wooden tub filled with a light green liquid with apples floating within it. Applejack seemed to be the one who was running this attraction as she stood right next to it. Her costume appeared to be that of some sort of scarecrow, as she was wearing a sort of straw and patchwork outfit that had straw coming out of it in places, and instead of her normal hat, was wearing a straw one with a sunflower on the side.
"Happy Nightmare Night Applejack!" Twilight called out.
"Howdy you three! Nice costumes. With that beard, Twilight, Ah reckon you're some sorta country music singer. And Null, you like you're about to brew some kind a potion or somethin'." Applejack responded.
Twilight let out an annoyed grunt as I couldn't stop myself from chuckling as Spike also laughed as well. She turned to both of us and gave us an annoyed glare before turning back to Applejack as she began talking.
"While y'all are here, ya' feel like bobbin' for some apples?"
"I would, but unfortunately I can't." I said.
"Oh, right. Forgot about that whole thing where ya' don't have a mouth and can eat through you're skin. Honestly, that there is a little weird and creepy on its own." Applejack said.
While I did agree with her, I still had my other eye I hadn't shown anyone since I got here. That alone would probably freak out some of the residents and may even give them nightmares as well. It sure did freak me out when I first saw it and stared into it. Before I could dwell any further on it, I began to hear cheering and applauding coming from nearby. Looking over, I saw a crowd had gathered in front of a small stage where Ponyville's mayor, who I learned whose name was literally Mayor Mare, was dressed up in some sort of clown costume as she looked like she was about to address everyone. Curious as to what was happening, all of us joined in with the crowd.
"Thank you, everypony. And welcome to the Nightmare Night festival!" Mayor Mare exclaimed. This was met by more cheering coming from the ponies around us.
"Now, all the little ponies who have been out collecting sweets should follow our friend Zecora to hear the legend of... Nightmare Mooooon!" Mayor Mare continued before she began to laugh maniacally.
"Spooky voice might work better if she wasn't dressed like that." Spike said.
"Couldn't agree with you anymore on that." I said.
Turning our attention back to the stage, Mayor Mare raised her hoof and pointed towards one edge of the stage, where a greenish mist began to accumulate. Eventually, a figure walked out of the mist, revealing herself to be a zebra whose hair was let down and was covered in spiders, had golden rings around her neck as well as dangling on her ears, and wore a black cloak as well. I also heard about Zecora from Twilight when I asked her if anyone lived in the Everfree forest out of curiosity, with her telling me about Zecora. Supposedly, she lived in a sort of tree similar to Twilight, albeit on a much smaller scale, and brewed various concoctions that were often used as medicine to cure the effects caused by the various flora and fauna of the Everfree Forest. I was kind of surprised I never ran into her when I first arrived here, as Twilight also said the road to her house connected to the main road that ran through the Everfree. Though, if there was one thing that Twilight said about Zecora that was unique, was that she tended to rhyme a lot.
"Follow me, and very soon, you will all hear the tale, of Nightmare Moon." Zecora said as she began walking towards the Everfree Forest with the rest of us, mostly the various foals that were here, along with Pinkie Pie, following behind her. I myself was kind of curious about Nightmare Moon, as I had only just gotten to her chapter in the book Twilight let me borrow from the library about the various myths and legends of Equestria.
After a few minutes of walking, we eventually made it to the entrance of the Everfree Forest. For me, this would be the first time since I arrived here where I would be willingly going back into the forest. I wasn't really too keen on exploring it, as I was still a little bit creeped out by it even after I have gotten out of it. It didn't really help that I also both read and heard about the dangerous creatures that lived here, from powerful manticores that were possibly one of the apex predators of the forest, cockatrices that were able to turn creatures into stone, to even creatures such as timberwolves. The last of those three I found the most intriguing, as the book I read about them stated that timberwolves were the souls of canine animals that would wander around the forests they died in and would possess a tree that was close to where they died. This allowed them to keep on living, and also allowed them to reconstruct their bodies easily if they were taken down.
Anyways, we didn't really travel too deep into the Everfree Forest, as about maybe 5 or so minutes of traveling, we followed a road that split off of the main one that led to a big clearing. In the middle of said clearing, however, was a giant statue of a pony rearing up on its hind legs. As we got closer to the statue, I was able to make out a few features. These were that the statue seemed to be that of an alicorn as it had both wings and a large horn similar to that of Celestia's, the alicorn seemed to be wearing some sort of armor, and that the mane and tail of the alicorn seemed to have a similar flowing effect to Celestia's own mane and tail, albeit it wasn't moving due to it being made of stone. As we reached the statue, Zecora began to talk.
"Listen close, my little dears, I'll tell you where you got your fears of Nightmare Night, so dark and scary." She began as she held a pile of green dust and blew on it, scattering it and creating a greenish mist similar to the one she stepped out of back at the stage. "Of Nightmare Moon, who makes you wary."
The mist then rose up into the sky, creating a lifelike copy of the alicorn the statue was based off of. Looking down at us, it dove towards us and, upon hitting the ground, caused more of the green mist to surround us.
"Every year, we put on a disguise. To save ourselves, from her searching eyes." Zecora said, as I looked as an apparition of piercing white eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth appeared behind a few foals. Noticing this, the foals began screaming as they ran away.
"But Nightmare Moon wants just one thing: to gobble up ponies in one quick swing!" Zecora continued, shortly followed by two more screams. Looking over, it appears that Pinkie Pie and Pipsqueak accidentally backed into each other and also startled each other.
Zecora then tossed more of the green dust into the air, allowing it to form a dense cloud of green mist. "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!" While Zecora was saying this, the apparition of Nightmare Moon popped out of the mist and appeared to be searching for something. After looking around a little bit longer, the apparition flew up before its form dispersed back into the mist that also began to fade away.
"Uh, Miss Zecora..." I heard Pipsqueak say as he was right in front of Zecora. "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?"
"A perfect question, my little friend." Zecora began as she pulled out more of the dust. "For Nightmare Moon you must not offend." As she finished, she once again blew the dust into the air, causing the apparition of Nightmare Moon to appear once more.
"Fill up her belly with a treat or two, so she won't return to come eat you!" Zecora said. This was followed by the apparition to lunge forward at the group with its mouth open, revealing its sharp teeth once more. It then bit down on us as it dispersed, causing the foals and Pinkie Pie to scream in terror.
"Quick! Everypony, dump some candy and get out of here!" Pinkie shouted as she began to dump some of her candy in front of the statue and was shortly followed by the foals doing the same thing.
I was somewhat enjoying what was happening, as the fear everyone was giving off was giving me a lot of energy. I was also somewhat intrigued by the mist Zecora was using to create those apparitions and was somehow even controlling them. Even though she wasn't a unicorn, was it possible that she was able to use magic? If not, then Twilight wasn't kidding about her being skilled in brewing potions and other things. However, this train of though wouldn't last much longer, as lightning suddenly began to strike. At first, I though Rainbow Dash had followed us in hopes of scaring everyone after the whole show explaining the story of Nightmare Moon, but a quick look up into the sky immediately proved that to be false. The wind began to rapidly pink up as I saw clouds begin to condense together and block out the night sky, only allowing the moon to remain visible. Then, a bright flash of light came from the moon itself as a silhouette of something in the sky began to rapidly descend. As it got closer, I was able to make out what appeared to be what I first assumed to be pegasi pulling some sort of carriage, only for me to be proven wrong as the ponies had bat wings instead of normal feathered wings that pegasi had. They were also wearing a mix of silver and black armor as well. There was also a hooded figure riding the carriage as well, though I wasn't able to get a good look as the carriage took off in the direction of Ponyville.
"It's Nightmare Moon! Everpony run!" Pinkie said as her and everyone, except Twilight, Spike, and I, took off running back towards Ponyville.
I turned towards Twilight, who had a look of concern on her face. "That doesn't look good. It looks like that carriage was heading for Ponyville." I said.
"Yeah. Come on, if we hurry we can catch up to it." Twilight said as she began running back towards the dirt trail as she levitated Spike onto her back. I began following her shortly after, as we ran, or floated in my case, as fast as we could back to Ponyville. It didn't take us long to catch up with the others as we made it back to Ponyville, with them screaming and panicking, causing the nearby residents to turn and look at them in confusion. However, their attention would then shift to the carriage overhead as it flew over Ponyville. Eventually, it reached where the area where the stage was from earlier, before coming to a halt and floated in the sky. As the three of us made it to where the carriage had stopped, we watched as the hooded figure riding the carriage hopped off and landed on the ground, causing a few nearby ponies to back away in fear. Once on the ground, the figure slowly removed the hood hiding their face, revealing them to be what I assumed was a unicorn, though one with a somewhat long horn. As they did this, I watched as all of the ponies around us slowly crouched down in what I assumed was them kneeling out of fear. I heard a gasp from next to me, and saw Twilight looking at the unicorn in awe.
"Princess Luna?!" Twilight said.
Wait, this was Princess Luna?! Celestia's sister who ruled along side her and was the one responsible for raising and lowering the moon?! Needless to say, I quickly turned back to the unicorn with my interest now being caught by her. I watched as Luna slowly began walking forward, and as she did, I saw the robe she was wearing transform into a swarm of bats that flew away as she spread out her wings as I was able to get a good look at her. Her fur and wings were dark blue in color, and her mane and tail were blue in color and also seemed to flow even though there was no wind. It was also similar to that of Celestia's as it had an ethereal look to it. Her cutie mark was that of what appeared to be a black cloud that I assumed to represent the night sky as there was a crescent moon in the middle of this cloud. She wore a black tiara and black regalia similar to that of Celestia, albeit in the middle of Luna's regalia was a crescent moon that was similar to her cutie mark. I watched as Luna approached one of the kneeling ponies who, upon seeing that she was in front of them, quickly covered their head in their front legs as I felt the ponies fear greatly rise. Seeing this, I saw Luna smile before she raised one of her front legs and began to talk. If there was one thing I could say about Luna's voice, it was this: loud and powerful. To the point where I had to cover my ears due to the sheer volume of the voice and struggled a bit not to be sent flying by the force of her voice.
"Citizens of Ponyville! We have graced your village with our presence, so that you might behold the real Princess of the Night! A creature of nightmares no longer, but instead, a pony who desires your love and admiration! Together, we shall change this dreadful celebration, into a bright and glorious feast!" Luna said, before thunder struck behind her, making her even more intimidating. I once again looked around as I expected to see Rainbow Dash nearby on her cloud and had just caused that bolt of lightning to strike. Unfortunately, I was proven wrong once more as I didn't see her.
I saw Pinkie Pie stand up nearby as she began to talk. "Did you hear that everypony? Nightmare Moon says she's gonna feast on us all! Everypony run!" Pinkie said as she and the foals near her began screaming and running off. This seemed to cause a chain reaction, as suddenly, literally everyone here got up and began running off in different directions as I felt everyone's fear skyrocket.
"What?" I heard Luna say as her voice was no longer as loud and forceful as it was earlier. "No, children, no! You no longer have reason to fear us! Screams of delight is what your princess desires, not screams of terror!" She said before turning to Mayor Mare and pointing a hoof at her. "Madame Mayor, thy Princess of the Night hath arrived."
Mayor Mare responded by gasping and then covering her face with her hooves in fear. Luna then proceeded to do the same thing with another pony next to Mayor Mare, only to get the exact same result. "What is the matter with you? Don't you see that we are nothing to fear?" Luna said. She once again began pointing to nearby ponies, and the result was the exact same: every time she pointed to a pony, they would gasp in fear and then cover their faces. I began to sense some annoyance coming from Luna as she huffed and continued speaking. "Very well then. Be that way. We won't even bother with the traditional royal farewell."
After saying this, I watched as Luna slowly began to walk away back towards the Everfree Forest. Once everyone made sure she was gone, the ponies around us slowly began to rise back up off of the ground and began to nervously talk about what had just occurred.
"I'm gonna go talk to her." Twilight said as she began to back towards where we had just come from, only for Spike to grab her cloak.
"You can't talk to her! She's Nightmare Moon!" Spike said as I felt the fear within him slowly grow.
"No, she's not." Twilight said as she pulled her cloak out of Spike's grip with her aura and resumed walking. "I saw the Elements of Harmony change her back to good. But it looks like she's having some trouble adjusting after being gone for a thousand years."
"Mind if I join you? Because I need some context as to what's going on." I asked.
"Of course. Come on Null, I think I know where she went. Stay here Spike, we'll be right back" Twilight said as she levitated me onto her back and we made our way back into the Everfree Forest.
Along the way, Twilight essentially gave me an abridged version of the legend of Nightmare Moon and how it related to Princess Luna. Turns out, after ruling over Equestria for such a long time with her sister, Luna slowly became jealous as no one seemed to appreciate or enjoy the hard work she put into making the night sky. As such, one day, Luna refused to lower the moon to allow Celestia to raise the sun as she wanted Equestria to experience a never-ending night, however, this jealousy transformed Luna into Nightmare Moon, the alicorn that was featured on the statue that I had seen earlier. This led to Celestia and Nightmare Moon fighting against each other, before Celestia used the Elements of Harmony to banish Nightmare Moon to the moon. Fast-forward a thousand years later, and Nightmare Moon was able to escape her banishment and kidnapped Celestia, once again plunging the world into an endless night. Twilight and the others then set out to find the Elements of Harmony and stop her, which they did. This resulted in Nightmare Moon turning back into Princess Luna who regretted everything she did, and was forgiven. After that, no one had heard or seen Luna for a long time. That is, until today.
As Twilight finished explaining everything to me, we arrived back at the clearing of the statue of Nightmare Moon and found Luna laying down in front of it while looking at the statue. I hopped down from Twilight's back as we approached her, with me sensing a little bit of sadness coming from Luna as I assumed she didn't like to be reminded of her past. I saw her head raise up in alarm as Twilight accidentally stepped on a stick, alerting Luna to our presence as she stood up and turned around to face us.
"Princess Luna? Hi, my name is-" Twilight began before she was interrupted by Luna.
"Star Swirl the Bearded. Commendable costume, thou even got the bells right." Luna said as she slowly approached us before looking at me. "And I assume thou is some sort of alchemist, judging by the many bottles thou has on thyself."
"Um, thanks. I had some help making this, and I'm quite proud of it." I said.
Twilight began to talk once again as she seemed deligthed. "Finally, somepony who gets my costume! Anyways, we just came to welcome you to our celebration! My actual name is-"
"Twilight Sparkle, and the being who my sister claims to be called Null." Luna began, before swapping to the loud voice she had used earlier as she began to slowly fly off the ground as clouds once again covered the sky as rough winds appeared once more. "Twilight Sparkle, it was thou who unleashed the powers of harmony upon us and took away our dark powers!"
"And that was a good thing, right?" Twilight questioned nervously.
"But of course." Luna began as she once again swapped back to a normal volume and everything also went back to normal. "We could not be happier. Was that not clear?" She asked.
"Kind of sounds like you were just yelling at her." I said.
Once again, Luna's volume went back to being loud. I questioned for a moment how her voice was not hoarse after doing all of this yelling. "But this is the traditional royal Canterlot voice! It is tradition to speak using the royal 'we', and to use this much volume when addressing our subjects!"
"That might sort of explain why everyone was scared of you when you showed up. If anyone as intimidating as you showed up somewhere and started yelling as loud as that, then yeah, the residents are probably going to fear you." I said.
"Then, how do we fix this?" Luna asked.
"How about just simply lowering your volume while talking?" Twilight suggested.
"We have been locked away for a thousand years. We are... not sure we can." Luna admitted sheepishly, as her volume returned to normal.
"We may know somepony who can help. Follow us." Twilight said as she began to walk back out of the clearing. Luna looked at me with a questioning look, though I simply did my best to shrug, kind of hard with not having shoulders, and the both of us followed Twilight out of the Everfree Forest and along the dirt path leading to Fluttershy's house. Eventually, the three of us made it to the lttle dirt bridge right in front of her cottage.
"Don't worry Princess Luna, Fluttershy can give you some great pointers. She's delicate and demure with the sweetest little voice." Twilight said as we approached the door.
"Um, actually Twilight. This may not be a good idea." I said.
"Why's that Null?" Twilight asked as she knocked on the door.
Coming from behind the door, Fluttershy's voice rang out and was the loudest I have ever heard Fluttershy speak. "Go away! No candy here! Visitors not welcome on Nightmare Night!"
After Fluttershy's yelling stopped, Twilight looked at me to explain what had just happened. "I tried to have Fluttershy join me for Nightmare Night earlier, but she said she's never really enjoyed it. As such, she told me that she was going to stay inside until Nightmare Night ends." I said.
"If that's the case, could you get Fluttershy to come out here? Even if for a few seconds?" Twilight asked me.
"I'll try, I guess." I said as I approached the door and knocked on it. "Fluttershy! It's me, Null and Twilight. We sort of need your help for something real quick!"
I heard a faint click as the door was now unlocked and opened a tiny bit. I saw Fluttershy peek out of the opening of the door filled with fear, though I felt her fear slowly disappear as she saw me and Twilight. "Oh, Null, Twilight. It's nice to see you two." Fluttershy said as she opened the door all the way and was now able to see Luna. "Nightmare Moon?!" Fluttershy yelled out as she slammed the door as I felt her fear return once more.
Twilight let out a nervous laugh as she turned to Luna. "Wait right here." I watched as Twilight opened the door and went inside before the sounds of various things being knocked into were heard before Twilight came back out, pushing Fluttershy in front of her.
"Fluttershy, you remember Princess Luna, don't you?" Twilight asked.
"Um, yes." Fluttershy said as I felt her fear was skyrocketing quickly.
Luna then began to speak loudly once again. "Twilight Sparkle hath spoken of the sweetness of thy voice. We ask thou teachest to us to speak as thou speakest."
Fluttershy let out a quiet "Ok." as she began to shrink away as her fear continued to rise. If I didn't do something, Fluttershy was probably going to lock herself in her house again.
"Fluttershy, everything's going to be fine." I reassured her as I went up to her. "I'll be right by you, ok?"
Fluttershy gave a small nod as my attempt to calm her down seemed to have worked a little as I felt her fear diminish a small amount. The next small bit was spent with Luna trying multiple times to find an appropriate volume for her voice, with the her volume slowly decreasing after every attempt. Eventually, Luna's voice was now at a normal volume as I felt Fluttershy's fear gradually fade away, not completely, but enough to where she wasn't going to bolt away in the next second.
"And... how about now?" Luna said as her voice was now a lot quieter than before and was at a somewhat normal volume.
"Sounds a lot better than before. What do you two think?" I asked Fluttershy and Twilight.
"It's, a lot better than before." Fluttershy responded sheepishly.
"I think it's perfect. Well done Princess Luna." Twilight said.
"I thank thee dear Fluttershy!" Luna said as her voice once again risked blowing out my eardrums. She then grabbed Fluttershy in her own aura, which was dark blue in coloration, and hugged her a little too hard as I saw Fluttershy have the wind knocked out of her. "Our normal speaking voice shall surely win us the hearts of thy fellow villagers!"
"You're, welcome." Fluttershy responded weakly.
It was at this moment that I heard a squawk from further down the path to Fluttershy's house, and saw Pinkie and the foals from earlier with her, looking towards Luna and Fluttershy with fear. "Ah! Nightmare Moon's stolen Fluttershy's voice so she can't scream when she gobbles her up! Everpony run!" Pinkie said as she and the foals ran back down the path.
"Nay children, wait!" Luna said before realizing she was still speaking loudly, before lowering her volume and trying again. "I mean, nay, children, wait."
"Dangit Pinkie." I said, somewhat annoyed. "Look's like we're going to need to find another way for ponies to not be intimidated by you."
"Don't worry you two. It's time for Plan B." Twilight said as she began walking back towards Ponyville. Before we followed her, however, Luna and I brought Fluttershy back inside the house and set her on the couch as she had passed out from earlier. Seeing how I didn't really need my pillowcase full of candy at the moment, I set it down beside the couch as well before the two of us ran back outside to catch up with Twilight.
We eventually made it back to Ponyville. More specifically, the area where all of the attractions of Nightmare Night were. As we passed everyone, they once again knelt down out of fear or tried to quickly move away from us as we approacjed. Upon noticing this, Luna let out a sad sigh.
"It is of no use you two. They have never liked us and they never shall."
"My friend Applejack is one of the most likable ponies around. I'm sure she'll have some ideas on how to help you fit in." Twilight said as we approached Applejack's attraction and watched as she saved Pipsqueak from falling into he tub before setting him on the ground. She then turned towards us as she heard us coming, and upon noticing Luna, quickly knelt in fear as we approached.
"Hey Applejack. We were hoping that you could maybe give Princess Luna here some advice on how to fit in. You know, to show that no one needs to be scared around her?" I asked.
"Really, 'fit in'?" Applejack asked, to which I gave a nod to. "Ah suppose ah can try and help y'all." Applejack said as she stood back up. "Well, fittin' in is pretty easy. All you gotta do is have the right attitude. Loosen up a bit, be positive, play a few games, have some fun." Applejack said as she led us towards what appeared to be a giant web set up between two pole with a basket of fake spiders nearby.
"Fun? What is this 'fun' thou speakest of?" Luna asked as she picked up one of the fake spiders. "Pray tell, what purpose do these serve?"
The pony who I assumed was running the attraction spoke up while kneeling down on the floor. "Try to land the sp-sp-spiders on the web."
We turned back to the net and watched Luna as she began to prepare to throw the spider she was holding. She then tossed the spider towards the net, only for it to land on the ground a few inches in front of it. Looking back towards us we all gave her our support as Twilight and Applejack cheered her on while I gave a thumbs up, which Luna probably didn't understand. She then turned back towards the net with another spider in her hoof and tossed it, the spider this time successfully landing in the middle of the web.
"Ha! Your princess enjoys this 'fun'! In what other ways may we experience it?" Luna asked.
Seeing this as an opportunity to try out the attraction I saw earlier, I led the three of us to the catapults that were launching pumpkins at targets. The pony running the attraction, who also knelt down in fear upon seeing Luna, explained that the way it worked was that you loaded up the pumpkins into the catapult and you needed to try and fire the pumpkins at the targets. Excited, I quickly loaded up a pumpkin into a nearby catapult before adjusting it to make sure that it would hit the target. Once I made sure I was confident on where it was aiming, I pulled the lever on the side of the catapult and watched as it sailed through the air and hit the target directly on the bulls eye. After that, it was Luna's turn as she levitated a pumpkin into her catapult and began adjusting it. Once she was confident that her catapult was lined up the way she wanted it, she pulled the lever and we all watched as the pumpkin sailed through the air and also hit the target on the bulls eye.
"Ha ha! The fun has been doubled!" Luna said in triumph. After which, the small crowd that had been gathering around us cheered as I saw they were finally warming up to her.
"Why don't you try bobbin' for apples? We got the best apples in Equestria here princess." Applejack asked.
"We would like that. And, I ask that thou call us... me... Luna, fair Applejack." Luna said before she turned towards the crowd around us. "Hear me, villagers! All of you may call me Luna!"
It looks like Luna had successfully managed to get everyone here in Ponyville to warm up to her. I could hardly feel any fear coming from the ponies around me as they all began to talk happily about Luna. However, all except one. Curious, I looked over and saw Luna was the one who I felt the fear coming from as she was looking towards something. Curious as to what it was, I followed her gaze and saw Pipsqueak, who had once again tried to bob for some apples, fall into the tub. Acting quickly, Luna immediately teleported to Pipsqueak and lifted him out of the tub by grabbing the back of his shirt with her teeth. That's when everything started to go wrong as I heard Pinkie and looked over to her as she was talking.
"Hey, has anypony seen Pip? We lost him the last time we had to run from–" Pinkie then let out another terrified squawk as she saw Luna holding Pipsqueak with her mouth.
"Pinkie, wait! It's not what it looks like-" I started to say before Pinkie screamed and interrupted me.
"Nightmare Moon is gobbling Pipsqueak! Everypony run!" Pinkie said as the foals that were with her also began to scream before they all began running in different directions. Noticing this, Luna set down Pipsqueak who ran off as she was now concerned.
"Tis a lie! Thy backside is whole and ungobbled, thou ungrateful whelp!" Luna said, once again, with lightning striking behind her. At this point I wasn't even going to try and see if Rainbow Dash was here as she probably wasn't. However, this unfortunately caused Luna to go back to being a little intimidating, as the crowd began to step away from her. Seeing this, I felt Luna begin to panic as she began to try and compose herself before turning back to the crowd.
"Fair villagers, please do not back away. Let us join together in... fun!" Luna then picked up a nearby spider that had come from the spider toss game and tossed it over to the crowd, who looked at it a bit awkwardly. "Not enough fun for you? What say you to this?!"
What followed next was Luna charging up magic in her horn before firing a beam at the plush spider. After the beam struck it and the light faded away, it was revealed that somehow, the spider had turned into that of a real one that quickly began scuttling about. This caused everyone nearby to begin to panic and scream as they backed away from the spider. Unfortunately, this wouldn't prove effective as Luna shot another beam towards a basket filled with more of the fake spiders and turned them real. Everything descended into chaos after this as everyone began panicking and running around to avoid the spiders. Some were not lucky as the spiders crawled onto some of the ponies, causing them to freak out even more. All throughout the area, ponies were running into each other, trampling some of the decorations, and even knocking into some of the attractions. All the while, Luna was panicking as well, trying to calm down everyone around us.
"Please, do not run away!" A pony crashed into a barrel of apples, spilling them all over the ground.
"As your princess, we command you!" Two ponies crashed into each other as another ran into a stand. Poles that were set up around the place were falling down as ponies climbed them to avoid the spiders. I began to feel Luna's anger begin to rise as the chaos around us continued.
Luna raised her hoof to the sky and, as lightning struck behind her, went back to her loud and booming voice. "Be still!"
Everyone around us stopped and turned towards Luna as I felt the fear within them begin to rise. Slowly, all of them began to kneel down out of fear once again.
"Luna, calm down! We worked together to fix the screaming, remember?" I said before Luna turned to look at me and I jumped back a little. Her eyes were now shining with an ethereal white light as her mane rose up behind her and the amount of power she was giving off was causing me to shudder.
"We shall not, Null! We must use the traditional royal Canterlot voice for what we are about to say." Luna said as she began to rise into the air as the wind picked up as clouds began to swirl in the sky like before, only leaving the moon visible. "Since you choose to fear your princess rather than love her, and dishonor her with this insulting celebration, we decree that Nightmare Night shall be canceled! Forever!" This was followed by more thunder striking as the ponies around us began to rapidly talk about what Luna had just announced. Then Luna flew off towards the Everfree Forest, leaving everyone around to process what had just happened.
Applejack let out a sad sigh as she began to speak. "Shoot. We had everything goin' our way. Luna was happy, everypony in town was happy. Now, look at 'em."
I didn't need to feel negative emotions to know that everyone was upset at what had happened. Several ponies were consoling others as possibly their favorite night of the year had been ruined for them. The foals were especially upset, as several of them were crying and saying that they were looking forward next year. I myself was kind of disappointed, I had been looking forward to this day for a while now, and it was ending with the possibility of it never being allowed to be held ever again. I needed to fix this.
"Twilight, Applejack." I said as the two ponies in question turned to me. "I'm gonna go talk to Luna and see if I can convince her to allow Nightmare Night to keep happening. If that fails, start helping ponies fix the decorations that were knocked over, as if this is the last Nightmare Night, make sure that it ends on a good note. If I do succeed, make sure Pinkie doesn't cause everyone to freak out again if I bring Luna back."
They both nodded to me as we went our separate ways. Twilight and Applejack going around while helping to restore the decorations and attractions that were messed up in the chaos, while I made my way to where I saw Luna fly towards. I had a pretty good idea as to where she went to.
Looks like I was right.
It didn't take me long to make it back to the Nightmare Moon statue, considering I had now walked the path that led to it twice now. When I arrived, I found Luna sitting down on a nearby boulder that was at the edge of the clearing, a little bit away from the entrance to the clearing. She was directly facing the statue, so she didn't notice me coming to her until I spoke up.
"You ok Luna?" I asked.
Luna jumped a bit as she turned and found me right by her. Sighing, I could feel the sadness she was feeling as she began speaking. "While I thank thee for thy concern, though I am afraid that I am not doing well."
I hovered over to her and sat myself down on an empty space next to where Luna was sitting. Well, it was more like me floating my body down onto the the surface of the rock. "You wanna talk about it?"
She looked over to me and sighed once more. "I suppose. You see, I have been staying within the castle for a few months now. Ever since dear Twilight and her friends freed me from the form that I took all those years ago..." Luna said as she pointed towards the statue. "I have been hoping to stay away from my subjects for the time being. I wasn't too sure as to what they thought of me, even after all this time. My sister kept insisting that I go out and interact with my subjects, but I insisted that I stay within the castle. That is, until today. Celestia told me that I needed to go out tonight and have fun with my subjects, insisting that I would enjoy the festivities here in Ponyville. However, it seems as though everypony is still afraid of me. It certainly doesn't help that they constantly remind me of the part of my past that I wish to forget."
I could sort of see that. Back in the day, before I was placed on Landia's head so that she could guard me, everyone both feared and wanted the power of the Master Crown. Countless times someone would place me on their heads and use me for purposes both good and evil, only for me to take over in the end and wreak havoc on my surroundings. I guess it sort of came with the territory of being a part of a powerful and cursed artifact of infinite power.
"I guess I can sort of understand that." I said as Luna turned to me. "You were hoping to see that, after all of this time, that everyone would accept you as who you were, and not just as some being that terrified everyone in the past. Um... No offense." I quickly said as Luna began to glare at me on that last part.
"None taken." She said as I continued.
"Regardless, you see everyone there in Ponyville celebrating your past as a sort of celebration and not just them celebrating who you are now. I guess it doesn't help that this today is supposed to be a day where everyone can have fun being scared... Wait a second."
The realization hit me so hard and fast it was as though a brick had been thrown at me. The same realization was also part of the reason I was so excited to celebrate Nightmare Night as well. I thought back to what Rainbow Dash had said earlier when she was scaring everyone with that cloud.
"Lighten up, old-timer. This is the best night of the year for pranks! And besides, everypony likes being scared."
Everyone likes being scared.
"That's it!" I said as I hopped down from where I was sitting with Luna looking at me curiously.
"What is?" Luna said as I turned back around at look at her.
"Nightmare Night is a day where evereryone comes together to celebrate sure. But it's also a night where everyone has fun scaring others and being scared. They weren't truly terrified of you, they were having fun being scared by you!" I said.
"That, does not make any sense. How is me scaring my subjects considered 'fun'?" Luna said as she looked to be even more confused.
"I'll explain more while were heading to Ponyville. I have a plan, but it's going to involve both of us, and you bringing back your past a little bit." I said, waving Luna to come with me. Deciding that she had no other choice, she hopped down from the rock she was sitting on as we headed back to Ponyville.
It was about time that I saw what my third eye was capable of. And if it was anything like when I first looked into it, then this should go perfectly.
Once we got back to Ponyville and met up with Twilight, she told that she had the same revelation I had when she found Pinkie and tried to stop her from freaking out. She apparently did this by making a literal candy trail into an alley where she cornered Pinkie and talked to her. Nevertheless, I told Twilight and Luna about my plan and Twilight thought it was a pretty good idea. However, Luna still remained somewhat skeptical about the whole thing. After going over the plan, it was agreed that Luna and I would head back to the Nightmare Moon statue while Twilight and Applejack would lead the foals to us so that we could carry out our part of the plan. About roughly thirty minutes later, and Luna and I were in position.
It had taken a bit of force, most of the work being done by Luna, but we had managed to move the alicorn part of the statue into the nearby foliage, leaving only the base of the statue. Luna then stood up onto the platform and managed to cast an illusion that would make it seem as though the statue was still there, while Luna was within the illusion, ready to play her part of the plan. I myself was hiding to the side of the statue a little bit into the forest. By taking off my costume, I was able to effectively blend in with the darkness the trees provided. Now, all we had to do was wait.
Thankfully we didn't have to wait long, as Twilight, Applejack, and a lot of foals that had been here earlier were walking into the clearing. Eventually, they made it in front of the statue and began placing candy down in front of it, possibly as their way of saying goodbye to this holiday. Pipsqueak was the last of the group to place down some candy as he walked forward and placed possible have of his bag onto the growing pile of candy.
"Goodbye, Nightmare Night. Forever." Pipsqueak said sadly as he began to turn away. However, he immediately stopped as the wind in the clearing picked up immensely as Luna's loud voice echoed around everyone.
"Citizens of Ponyville! You were wise to bring this candy to me. I am pleased with your offering. So pleased that I may just eat it... instead of eating you!" The illusion of the statue faded away as, in its place, was Luna disguising herself to be that of the actual Nightmare Moon. Looking exactly like the statue, the illusion's fur was black in coloration, with its mane and tail being the same as Luna's. It was wearing some sort of light blue armor that covered its body, and the illusion had sharp fangs as its eyes were glowing white. With Luna making herself known, I felt the fear of everyone in the group, except Twilight and Luna, begin to rapidly rise as Luna continued with the next part.
"However, I feel as though you shouldn't be let off that easy, as you celebrate and make a mockery of me on this fearful of nights. As such, I feel as though I should leave you all to the mercy of my most feared and vicious creation." Luna said.
Now, it was my turn. Quickly rustling some of the bushes and leaves nearby me by rolling through them, I managed to drag everyone's attention away from Luna as they looked over in my direction as I could feel their fear continue to build. Once I made sure to close my eyes to make sure as to not give away as to who I was, I slowly began floating up a few feet off of the ground until I was level with some of the lowest branches of the trees, thanking that my body was perfectly camouflaged with the darkness around me.
Then, I opened my third eye.
The reaction was immediate. I felt the fear and anxiety of almost everyone within the clearing rise to the point that I almost thought they were going to have a heart attack. I simply assumed that, from their point of view, there was only a massive red eye peering at them from the forest that they could only assume belonged to some sort of unspeakable horror that lurked within the darkness. After what was possibly roughly ten seconds of nothing but deafening silence, the wind howled through the air. This seemed to snap everyone out of their fear induced paralysis as they all started screaming like crazy and ran out of the clearing, leaving only Luna, Twilight, and myself. Once everyone was out of sight, the illusion faded as Luna was now standing in its place, spitting out a pair of fake fangs she had to wear as Twilight walked up to her. As fast as I could, I quickly put back on my costume as soon as the last ponies were out of sight, and joined them as well.
"Twilight Sparkle, Null, I do not think that what we had just done was the right thing to do." Luna said as she still was questionable about the plan.
"I'm sure it did, just give it a few seconds. Regardless, how did you do that Null? It was only an eye staring at us from the darkness, but I felt like my heart was going to stop." Twilight said as she looked at me.
Thinking fast as I didn't want to reveal my third eye, at least not yet, I said the first logical thing that came to my mind. "Um, you see, all it was was just me making a cardboard eye and using glow in the dark paint to allow it to be easily seen. The rest was done by everyone's imagination as their mind raced as to what sort of creature they could come up with that would have an eye like that. And with me rustling all of that foliage, they could only assume it was something big."
"Well, regardless, I still don't think your plan worked." Luna said.
"Just give it a couple of more seconds." I said.
"A couple of... Hm?" Luna said as she looked down and saw Pipsqueak lightly tugging on her mane.
"Um... Princess Luna. I know there's not gonna be any more Nightmare Nights, but do you suppose maybe you could come back next year and scare us again anyway?" Pipsqueak asked Luna.
" Art thou saying that thou... likest me to scare you?" Luna asked.
"Hmhm. It's fun. Scary, but definitely fun!" Pipsqueak said while nodding.
"It... is?" Luna said.
"Yeah! Nightmare Night is my favorite night of the year!" Pipsqueak said.
"Well then, I suppose we will just have to..." Luna began as she swapped back to being loud. "Bring Nightmare Night back!"
Pipsqueak was pushed away a few feet due to the force of Luna's voice, though he had stars in his eyes nonetheless. "Whoa! You're my favorite princess ever! Hey everyone! She said yes!" Pipsqueak said as he ran back to the group of foals who had also came back.
"See? In the end, it was all about having fun while being scared. Even if you made a somewhat awkward first impression, I can confidently say that you have at least one fan who supports you." I said while looking at Luna.
Luna looked towards the foals all talking happily among themselves and what they might want to be the next Nightmare Night. As they did, I saw a smile form as Luna looked happily at her subjects.
The rest of the night was filled with fun and festivities as Twilight and Applejack had managed to help set up and fix everything that was knocked over and ruined during the chaos from earlier. Everyone was having fun enjoying the night while it was still going as everyone, including Luna, were enjoying everything that tonight offered. Luna also took some time to scare a couple of ponies here and there, whether it be placing a fake spider on someone's head or jumping out of the tub used for bobbing apples to scare anyone who put attempted to get an apple. She was also given the pile of sweets that the foals had put in front of the Nightmare Night statue that we put back up after our plan had been carried out. She was definitely happy about all of the candy she now had.
I myself, managed to get some revenge on my own. I once again took off my costume once I saw Rainbow Dash scaring people with her thundercloud and then quickly floated into the cloud with Rainbow Dash being unaware of my presence. Right as she was about to hit the cloud and scare Twilight, Spike, and Luna who were just under us, I quickly poked my face out of the cloud and opened my third eye. Immediately upon seeing it, Rainbow Dash stopped dead in her tracks as we stared at each other for a few seconds, before she screamed for her life and flew back to town. Popping back out of the cloud, I turned back towards the group on the ground as we all began laughing at what I had just pulled.
Eventually, once it started to get late, everyone began heading back home to either tuck in the foals for bed or to simply relax for the rest of the night. Making it back to Fluttershy's house, I found that she had woken up sometime after I had left, with her leaving a note on the couch saying that she simply went to bed a little bit early. Feeling tired myself, I took off my costume and exchanged it for my normal outfit as I settled in myself as I went over everything that happened tonight. Thanks to the fear everyone had given off tonight, I felt the magic within me greatly increase. While not enough to use anything other than levitation, I could tell that I was definitely close to being able to use something new. I had met Princess Luna who was just someone who felt out of touch with the current time. It was nice to get to know her a little, and I felt like we definitely established some trust between each other.
Finally, there was my third eye. The theories I had as to what my third eye was capable had been proven earlier tonight. To put it simply, any living thing that looked into it would succumb to immense feelings of fear and anxiety, stopping whatever they were doing once they began looking into it. This meant a few things, mainly that if I ever needed to get energy quickly, all I would have to do was simply open my eye and the fear that was given off by those who looked into it would allow me to absorb it and convert it into energy. Unfortunately, I couldn't really just go around and have everyone around me look into it. I did promise Celestia that I wouldn't harm anyone, and I guess forcing ponies to look into my eye could potentially cause me to harm them mentally.
Anyways, I guess I now had a way to sort of defend myself if I ever found myself being threatened by anything or anyone. And all it would take was me just simply opening my third eye.