“How’s it going in there?” Gentle Hope wondered..
The psychiatrist pony was by Solight’s bedroom door.
“Everything’s going great,” responded a familiar female voice.
“Do you two need any help putting on your costume?” asked Gentle Hope.
“No. We got it,” said a familiar male voice.
“Well, let us know if you two need any help,” she said. The psychiatrist pony trotted away.
In the living room was the group, sitting around as each of them were wearing costumes as today was Nightmare Night.
“So?” asked Melon.
“They’ll be out in a minute,” answered Gentle Hope. She sat down next to Cinna.
Jasper was currently in his Cursed Form, reading a book while smiling as it was the wolf’s first time celebrating Nightmare Night. Jasper was the only one not wearing a costume as he didn’t need one since nopony, except for the wolf’s friends, would ever expect Jasper to go as himself. Instead, everypony will think that the wolf is going as a Diamond Dog.
Jasper was excited. “Ahh, my first Nightmare Night. I can’t wait to check out the sights of the town for this holiday, including the treats too,” he said. The wolf chuckled as Jasper looked over at Dawn and Dusk. “And let’s not forget that it’s also their first Nightmare Night as well. The two of them look so excited as well.”
He was right as the fused alicorn looked excited. They couldn’t wait as it would be Dawn and Dusk’s first time celebrating the holiday as well.
“I can’t wait to go out and scare everypony!” said the colt.
“I just can’t wait to fill our bags with treats! We’re going to get so much candy tonight,” said the filly. “Too bad we have to leave after Nightmare Night is over. I loved making friends with everypony in town.”
Dusk nodded. “Yeah,” agreed the colt.
Apparently, the fused alicorn’s time living in Ponyville had been up, but Dawn & Dusk were able to convince Draco to let them stay in the town a little while longer as the fused alicorn wanted to celebrate Nightmare Night before they leave.
Cinna trotted over to the two with a smile. “Don’t worry, you two. We’ll help you two have fun on Nightmare Night,” they said.
That made Dusk and Dawn smile. After all, the colt and filly did want to have a fun Nightmare Night with everyone before they left for Canterlot.
“Banan,” said Banana Pie, smiling. It sounded like he was agreeing with the pegasus mare.
Today, the group’s plan for Nightmare Night was to check out some of the attractions as separate groups, while the other ones they’ll check out together. Then, the door to the room opened, and out trotted a familiar alicorn pair, Solar and Twilight, the two of them still partly fused together and wearing a costume.
“So, what do you all think?” asked the male alicorn, wondering.
No one was freaking out at Solight being partly separated back into two alicorns.
Spike, who was dressed up as a Druid, looked impressed. “Wow. You two look awesome,” he complimented.
Everyone agreed with the young dragon as they gave their own compliments too.
“Thanks. Shall we go then?” asked the female alicorn.
Everyone started heading for the door.
Twilight was trotting next to the wolf. “Thanks for the pendant, Jasper,” she said.
Jasper smiled. “It was nothing, Twilight,” he said.
The alicorn was wearing a pendant formed from concentrated poison joke which Jasper had created. The amulet still had the effect on its wearer, but, when removed, reverted any negative traits. This allowed Twilight and Solar to attend the Nightmare Night festival as separate beings while wearing an orthros costume. Not only that, but the effects of wearing the gem were controlled with a dial attached to it.
Once they were all outside, Jasper looked at the melon pony. “I’m heading for some of the game attractions. Want to come along?” he offered.
She nodded. “Sure. Sounds like fun,” said the melon pony. Melon then looked determined. “Besides, there’s one attraction I want to have a try at beating that I failed to do last year.”
Jasper looked both curious and interested. “I wonder which one you’re talking about?” asked the wolf.
“You’ll see,” said the melon pony, being mysteriously vague on purpose.
As for the pegasus mare, they looked at the unicorn stallion. “Want to hang out together, Banana Pie?” asked Cinna.
He nodded, smiling. “Banan!” said Banana Pie.
The young dragon was chatting with the female alicorn, while the psychiatrist pony was chatting with the male alicorn.
“Are you sure, Spike?” asked Twilight.
He nodded. “Yeah. I’ll be okay, Twilight,” Spike reassured.
“Make sure you watch him and that he doesn’t wander off, okay?” said Solar.
She smiled. “Don’t worry, I won’t let him out of my sight, Solar,” promised Gentle Hope. The psychiatrist pony decided to bring something up that had been on her mind. “By the way, where’s Winter Frost? I haven’t seen them ever since we all arrived at the Library.”
“Oh, well we decided it was better if Winter Frost stayed in Canterlot for the day to be with their parent since they haven’t seen them ever since we left,” the male alicorn informed.
Gentle Hope continued to smile. “That was nice of you two,” she said.
He nodded, agreeing. “Yeah. It was,” said Solar. “All right, everyone. Let’s split up for now, and then we can all meet up later at the pumpkin catapult. Sounds good?”
Everyone gave their own confirmation in agreement to the plan. Then, the group split up and went in different directions.
A Few Minutes Later
While the pegasus and the unicorn stallion were trotting through the town, checking out the snacks, it seemed that Cinna’s costume was gaining lots of pony’s attention since it looked so life-like and cute to the onlookers, but they also liked Banana Pie’s costume seeing how silly it looked. Pinkie Pie showed up in a clown costume in front of them without warning and stopping their trek.
She gasped before zooming over next to the unicorn stallion. “Eee! We match!” exclaimed the party mare.
He smiled. “Banan!” said the unicorn stallion.
“Hey there, Pinkie,” greeted the pegasus mare.
Pinkie Pie looked amazed. “Ooh! Nice cat costume, Cinna,” she complimented. “Looks so realistic.”
The party mare zoomed over to Cinna and was about to poke them.
The pegasus backed away quickly. Then, something caught Cinna’s eye. “What’s going on over there?” she asked, directing a hoof.
Banana Pie and Pinkie Pie looked over and saw that there was a pie eating contest involving four ponies eating banana cream pies.
Pinkie smiled, excited. “It’s Ponyville’s First-Ever ‘Nightmare Night Pie Eating Contest’! There were only a few Pumpkins left when we bought them and only made a few Pumpkin Pies, so we also made Banana Cream Pies as well,” the party mare informed.
That sounded interesting to the two.
“Who’s winning?” asked Cinna.
“Contestant number three. They’ve been scarfing down all of those pies,” answered Pinkie Pie.
Over at the contest, three of the ponies were looking a bit sick while the fourth pony, who was a kirin, was still going on eating without a break. Eventually, two of the ponies gave up, while the third pony fell unconscious.
A whistle was blown by the referee/announcer mare. “And the winner is Contestant number Healthy Light!” she announced.
Healthy Light stopped eating the pies after hearing that they won. Some of the ponies in the audience were clapping and cheering in support of the kirin’s win, while others were disappointed that the other ponies didn’t win. The mare handed Healthy Light a gold trophy that had a pie on top of it.
The kirin smiled. “Thank you. I’m glad to have been a part of this, and I can’t wait to see what next year’s contest is like if I ever come and visit Ponyville again,” they said.
Healthy Light trotted down the stage with the trophy in their mouth and was planning to go check out the next attraction but was startled and stopped in her tracks by Pinkie appearing out of nowhere again.
“Hey there, Healthy Light. My name’s Pinkie Pie, and welcome to Ponyville!” the party mare introduced. “Did you just arrive in Ponyville?”
Seeing as how she was a nice pony and that Pinkie Pie introduced herself, Healthy Light calmed down and put down the trophy in order to speak.
They nodded. “Yeah. I just came to Ponyville a few minutes ago,” the kirin informed. “I heard about it during my journey and about how you celebrate Nightmare Night, so I decided to come here as the last part of my journey and try it out. I even bought a costume from some store that was selling them. I’m only going to be staying here in town for a few hours before heading back home.”
She smiled. “Well, I hope you have a fun time here in Ponyville!” said the party mare. Pinkie Pie decided to introduce her friends to Healthy Light. “I want you to meet my friends. This-” The party mare directed a hoof at the pegasus mare. “-is Cinna…”
They waved a hoof at the kirin. “Hi there, Healthy Light. Nice to meet you,” greeted Cinna.
Healthy Light smiled. “Same here,” they said.
“And this-” She directed a hoof at the unicorn stallion. “-is Banana Pie. No relation to me or my family at all,” continued Pinkie Pie.
Banana Pie didn’t say anything, which caused his two friends to be concerned.
“Banana Pie?” the pegasus called out, concerned.
They both turned to find the unicorn stallion staring right at the kirin, blushing.
The party mare waved a hoof in his face. “Are you okay?” she asked.
He didn’t respond at all. As for Cinna, she turned back towards Healthy Light, but was surprised to find them staring back at Banana Pie, blushing as well.
The pegasus realized what was happening, and then had an idea. “Say, Healthy Light? Would you like to join me and Banana Pie?” offered Cinna, smiling. “We were going to go check out the other attractions.” She looked at the unicorn stallion. “Right, Banana Pie?”
He snapped out of it before nodding. “Banan!” agreed Banana Pie.
The pegasus mare looked back at the kirin. “So, what do you say?” asked Cinna.
They thought about it for a while before glancing at the unicorn for a few seconds and then nodded. “Sure. Sounds like a good idea,” said Healthy Light.
The unicorn stallion smiled, hearing that the kirin wanted to hang out with them. Afterwards, the three said bye to Pinkie Pie and continued on.
Meanwhile-Gentle Hope and Spike
The psychiatrist pony and the young dragon were enjoying themselves. They had been to a few houses and at least one food stall, filling up Spike’s bag with some goodies. Right now, the two decided to check out another attraction, Apple Bobbing, which was being run by Big Macintosh. The pony ahead of them was Derpy, who was wearing a ninja costume and already had her head in the water, searching around the bucket and trying to get an apple. Eventually, the bubbly mare took her head out with a red fruit between her teeth. Derpy smiled, happy that she had gotten an apple. The bubbly mare then trotted away with her prize and a head dripping with water.
Gentle Hope didn’t want to get her mane wet since neither of them had a towel on hoof to dry off with. “You can go on ahead, Spike. I’ll just watch,” said the psychiatrist pony.
He gave a thumbs-up. “Sure thing,” said Spike.
The young dragon approached the bucket and dumped his head in it. Spike searched around for an apple as the young dragon used his own head to feel the location of the apples. The young dragon went after the apple that was bumping into the right side of his head. After a while, Spike surfaced with an apple in his mouth. The young dragon grabbed the apple and took a bite out of it.
Gentle Hope clapped her hooves, impressed. “That was an amazing job, Spike. You got an apple on your first try,” said the psychiatrist pony.
He walked back over to her, proud. “Well, of course I did. After all, I am an incredible dragon,” boasted Spike. “In fact, I’m not scared of anything today. Nothing can scare me.”
Suddenly, there was a loud sound that was heard throughout the entire town.
“AWOOOOOOOOOOOO!” howled some creature, loudly. It sounded like a wolf.
Everyone who heard the howling was surprised as some of them looked around, wondering where the howling was coming from. As for the young dragon, Spike was surprised by the sound and ended up dropping his apple and hiding behind Gentle Hope.
The young dragon peeked out from behind the psychiatrist pony. “W-what was that? It sounded like it came from inside the town,” he said.
She nodded, agreeing. Gentle Hope chuckled. “Yeah, it did, and I have a feeling of who was doing the howling,” said the psychiatrist pony.
Meanwhile-Jasper and Melon
The melon pony was shocked as she was standing right next to the one who had done the howling: the wolf. Everyone else was staring at them.
Melon was quiet for a few seconds before she started snickering. “W-What was that about?” asked the melon pony.
He felt embarrassed. “It’s not my fault! I saw the moon, and then I felt like howling is all,” said Jasper.
That only made her laugh. The wolf grumbled before looking at everyone.
“Sorry, everyone. It’s all a part of the costume,” lied Jasper.
Luckily, the ponies believed his lie and continued on with what they were doing. As for Melon, it took her a while before the melon pony stopped laughing.
The wolf frowned. “It’s not funny,” said Jasper.
She smiled. “It is a little funny, Jasper,” admitted Melon.
He only grumbled in response.
The melon pony continued to smile. “I’m only kidding. You shouldn’t feel embarrassed of something that you do, just like your baaing,” said Melon.
Hearing that did make Jasper feel better.
The melon pony pointed her hoof at something. “There it is. The place where I didn’t do well last year,” said Melon.
The wolf followed her hoof to see that the melon pony was pointing at a darts game attraction involving balloons, and it had stuffed plushies as prizes.
“Darts?” questioned Jasper.
The melon pony nodded. “Yeah, and this time, I’ll win,” said Melon, determined.
The two went over to the darts game, which was being runned by a unicorn mare with a bulls-eye Cutie Mark.
She smiled. “Hello there, you two. Want to try a hoof, or paw, at a game of darts?” asked the mare. “You get enough points, you win a prize.”
The melon pony grinned. “Yeah. Definitely!” said Melon, in an excited voice. She looked at the wolf. “You want to play too, Jasper?”
He looked interested. “Sure, I’ll play,” said Jasper.
First, it was Melon’s turn. The melon pony was given three darts. She threw the first dart, which popped the balloon at the bottom near the balloon in the middle. Next, the second dart popped the one at the far bottom.
The melon pony was concentrating as she had one dart left. “Come on…” said Melon.
She threw the dart and it popped the balloon that was to the right of the middle balloon.
“Yes! I did it!” cheered Melon.
“Congrats. Now, pick your prize,” said the mare.
The melon pony then looked amongst the plushies until she found one that stood out and pointed at it.
“I’ll take that one please,” Melon informed.
She nodded, smiling. “Good choice. It’s the only one left l have in stock,” said the mare.
She went over and picked up a sheep plushie, and hoofed it over to the melon pony.
The melon pony smiled, happy that she won. Melon looked at the wolf. “It’s your turn, Jasper. Good luck,” she said.
Jasper smirked. “Thanks,” said the wolf. Jasper then picked up the darts that were placed in front of him by the mare’s magic aura.
The wolf concentrated as he stared at the target with one dart in paw before throwing it dead center, popping the balloon in the middle. After that, Jasper threw the other two darts to the left and right, popping the balloons that were next to the first popped balloon.
. “That was impressive,” the unicorn mare said. You hit the three highest point balloons,” said the mare. “Which prize do you want?”
He pointed at a cute owl plushie. “That one,” Jasper informed.
She went over and grabbed the plushie before giving it to the wolf.
The mare smiled. “Thank you, you two for playing my game. I hope to see you two again at my booth again next time,” she said.
Jasper smiled and waved before grabbing a shocked Melon’s plush toy and left, while a shocked melon pony followed from behind.
Melon snapped out of her shock. “H-How…?” asked the melon pony.
He grinned. “I used to play a game of darts back home as a hobby whenever I had nothing to do or nobody to hang out with,” answered the wolf. “I still play it alone.”
Back then before Jasper came to Ponyville, he would play a game of darts to pass away the boredom. The wolf still plays the game anyway.
She frowned. “Doesn’t it get lonely without anypony to play with?” asked the melon pony, concerned.
He shrugged. “Well, my teacher can’t play the game for certain reasons, and a few of his friends are either a sore loser, a sore winner, don’t want to play, or want to play a different game,” explained Jasper. “Anyway, let’s continue on. We still have a lot of attractions to check out.”
“Jasper, if you need anypony to play with when you’re feeling lonely, you know we’ll always be there for you, right?” asked Melon.
The wolf smiled. “Yeah. I know, and thanks,” said Jasper.
She smiled back. “No problem,” said the melon pony. Melon spotted something. “I’m hungry. Let’s go get some cotton candy from that booth over there.”
He thought about it as Jasper did feel a little hungry, so the wolf nodded. “Sounds good,” said Jasper.
The two then headed straight for the cotton candy booth.
Meanwhile-Solar, Twilight, Dawn, and Dusk
The four were trotting through the town as the fused alicorn was going from house to house, collecting candy, filling up their bag. It seems that everypony really loved both alicorns’ costumes and would even compliment them on it.
“Are you two having fun?” asked the female alicorn, curious.
The filly alicorn smiled. “Yeah! We’re getting lots of treats from everypony!” she exclaimed, excited. “I can’t wait to show this to Grandpa!”
The colt alicorn nodded, agreeing with Dawn. “Just wait until he sees all of our candy!” he said, also excited.
That got Twilight thinking. “Speaking of Draco, I wonder what costume he’ll be wearing when he comes to pick you two up?” she questioned.
The male alicorn thought about it. “Probably something that perfectly suits him. Like a dragon,” he commented. Solar chuckled. “You know? Since there are times when he’s angry like one.”
Unfortunately, there was a response to that, and it wasn’t the female alicorn’s.
“Well, I’m sorry if my choice in costume will disappoint you-” said a familiar voice.
Hearing the voice made the male alicorn freeze up in fear, especially since the voice came from right behind the split alicorn. They turned around to see the alicorn stallion wearing a suit of armor.
“-But I’m not a dragon. I’m a royal knight,” corrected Draco.
Dusk and the filly alicorn looked happy, and they galloped over to him.
The two showed their bag full of treats. “Grandpa! Look at all of the treats we’ve got!” said Dawn.
“We went to tons of houses, and everypony loved our costume! I can’t wait for next year’s Nightmare Night!” said the colt alicorn.
The alicorn stallion smiled at them before looking at Solar and Twilight. Draco wasn’t shocked seeing his grandfoal being partly split into the male alicorn and female alicorn currently wearing an Orthros costume. Back when the alicorn stallion had received a letter from Solight about them sending Winter Frost to Canterlot to be with his pet Cerberus, the Orthros’ mom, Titan, for the day, Draco had also received a letter from the wolf about the pendant that the alicorn had commissioned and wanted to let the alicorn stallion know as a head’s up.
“Nice costume,” complimented Draco.
Solar was kind of afraid yet kind of relieved that his grandfather seemed to have let the male alicorn’s comment pass.
“Thanks,” said Solar, proud.
“It suits you,” said Draco. Luckily, he was only joking as the alicorn stallion wanted to show the male alicorn what it felt like when one makes a rude comment about somepony else, especially one who is family.
That brought down Solar. “Oh,” he said. The male alicorn knew that he deserved it for what Solar said about his own grandfather. The male alicorn then changed the subject. “Have you come to take Dawn and Dusk with you back to Canterlot now?”
Draco shook his head. “No. I just came to join in since I needed a break from the Night Court,” the alicorn stallion informed. “So, I left Luna in charge of her own court since I trust her enough to run it by herself while I’m gone for a while.” He chuckled. “She also wanted me to bring her some treats from Ponyville since she herself couldn’t join this year, but promises she’ll be joining next year.”
Hearing that made both the male alicorn and Twilight interested.
“Princess Luna is coming here next year?” asked the female alicorn.
The alicorn stallion nodded his head, confirming. That made her excited as the female alicorn wanted to ask Princess Luna about what Equestria was like back in the day. Twilight would have done it before back then as Solight through some letters to the night princess after the Poison Joke incident, but for some reason, it was like something was blocking her every time from doing it, and it wasn’t Solar.
“Anyway, let’s enjoy what little of Nightmare Night that is left before it’s over. Shall we?” asked Draco.
Everyone agreed with the alicorn stallion, and then the five went on to have fun.
Some Time Later
After playing lots of attractions and eating snacks, while two of the groups went and collected candy, the four groups met up with each other at the last attraction: the pumpkin catapult. Its name was self-explanatory.
Jasper was carrying around his and the melon pony’s won prizes. “Well, Melon and I won and lost a few games, but it was pretty fun. How was everyone else’s Nightmare Night?” he asked curiously.Gentle Hope went first. “Well, me and Spike went around getting lots of treats and trying out the attractions. We won a few of the games and lost a few,” she informed. The psychiatrist pony had some of their prizes floating in her magic aura, while Spike was carrying a few of the rest.
The pegasus nodded. “Same here. Me and Banana Pie tried out some games and won a few as well before deciding to go around and check out the town,” she informed. Cinna directed a hoof at Healthy Light. “By the way, this is Healthy Light. They're a Kirin that came to Ponyville to check out Nightmare Night.”
Everyone greeted them.
The kirin smiled. “Nice to meet you, everypony. I hope we become friends in the future,” said Healthy Light.
The male and female alicorn approached the kirin. “Nice to meet you too, Healthy Light. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and this is Solar Eclipse,” she introduced.
They currently believed that Solar and Twilight were just two ponies in one costume. “Nice costume. An Orthros, right?” asked Healthy Light.
The male alicorn smirked, proud. “Yeah, and I’m guessing you’re supposed to be a vampony?” asked Solar.
The kirin smiled. “Yeah,” said Healthy Light.
While the three were talking about their costumes, the pegasus mare had flown over to their friends, except for the wolf, who had gone to conversing with Draco right next to the pumpkins.
Cinna was smiling. “Guess what? Banana Pie and Healthy Light like each other,” whispered the pegasus mare. “That’s why I brought them along with the two of us.”
Hearing that made Banana Pie blush.
“Banan,” said the unicorn stallion. Banana Pie did feel kind of embarrassed as he couldn’t believe that it was that obvious to Cinna that the unicorn stallion liked the kirin.
The young dragon smiled, confused. “Well, yeah? I mean, Banana Pie likes all of his friends, and everyone likes him too,” he said. “He’s a friendly pony.”
Melon chuckled. “No, Spike. Like, like how me and Jasper like each other,” she informed.
Spike was still confused. “Oh…Oh!” he realized, understanding. “You mean…?”
The melon pony nodded. “Yup,” confirmed Melon.
“Did they say if they were going to visit again soon?” asked Gentle Hope, curious.
The pegasus nodded. “Yeah. Healthy Light said that they’re thinking of moving into Ponyville by next year, seeing as how the town is different from where they live,” they answered.
The melon pony looked at Banana Pie, grinning. “Isn’t that great for you, Banana Pie? I bet you’ll be planning a welcoming party for them by then, huh?” she joked.
That made the unicorn stallion feel even more embarrassed as Melon knew exactly what he was planning to do, which made everyone laugh, vocally ribbing the reddening pony.
Meanwhile
Jasper was still conversing with the alicorn stallion, who was levitating Dusk, Dawn, Luna’s, and even the wolf’s prizes as Jasper was now picking out a pumpkin to put in the catapult. In the beginning, the two were chatting about Draco’s armor since it was the very same armor that the wolf made for him, but now they were talking about a different subject.
“It’s strange, but some time ago, while I was at the castle, there was a loud howling coming from the direction of Ponyville. As a result of this said howling, my wife, Frost, and Fang started to howl too,” said the alicorn stallion. “Do you happen to know anything about the howling, do you?”
Luckily, Jasper had a lie ready. “Well, first of all, it was me, I was in character as a wolf breed Diamond Dog, and second of all, your wife’s name is Frost and she was howling?” he asked, confused. “Also, who’s Fang?”
Draco shook his head. “No. My wife’s name is Cherry Fang, and she’s a werepony,” answered the alicorn stallion. “Frost is the name of one of the two heads of Solight’s pet Orthros, and Fang is the name of one of the three heads of my pet Cerberus, and Winter Frost’s parent, Titan.”
That surprised Jasper, hearing that Draco’s wife is not only a werepony, but that he also has a pet Cerberus.
“Wow. Your life is never dull, huh?” asked the wolf.
The alicorn stallion chuckled. “Yeah. It never is,” said Draco.
He found the perfect pumpkin to choose, a small, mini one. After picking it up, the wolf looked at the alicorn stallion, annoyed. “By the way, can you please tell Luna to stop popping up my dreams without permission? I know she wants to talk, and I’d like to avoid talking with Celestia by not coming to the castle, but she could send a letter asking if I’m up for a conversation in my dreams rather than burst into them, interrupting my dreams” said Jasper, annoyed tone. “There’s a reason why I’m using my own dreamcatcher as a security measure for my dreams against her.”
Draco looked concerned. “What do you mean she’s been popping into your dreams repeatedly? Also, are you okay, and why do you have a dreamcatcher?” he asked.
“Well, for your first question, I’ve been making dreamcatchers for ponies who have nightmares since Princess Luna can’t be everywhere at once, and as for your second question, I’m okay but I’d like it if she stops popping into my dreams, interrupting them. Also, while I use them for my nightmares, I discovered that they’re strong enough to prevent intrusions into one’s dream world after I saw that they were able to block Luna,” answered the wolf. “So, can you ask her to ask me for permission? If she starts doing this, then I’ll take down my dreamcatcher.”
The alicorn stallion nodded. “I’ll be sure to tell her that after I return back to the castle with Dusk and Dawn,” he said. “I guess she’s just curious about you since the last time any of us ever saw a Crystal Sheep was…” The alicorn stallion trailed off before looking sad.
“You okay?” asked Jasper, concerned.
Draco snapped out of it and looked at him with a fake smile. “Yeah. Anyway, I’ll go tell everypony that we’re ready to start,” said the alicorn stallion.
Draco trotted away while the wolf watched him, still concerned. Jasper then looked down at the small pumpkin in his paws.
The wolf had wanted to launch it in the catapult at first, but then felt reluctant. An idea had formed in his head. “Hmm…I wonder…?” thought Jasper. “Guess I’ll give it a try. After all, he said the potion might work on certain non-living and technically living things.”
The wolf reached behind his cloak and brought out a rainbow-colored potion. Jasper then placed the pumpkin onto the ground, uncorked the potion, and started pouring some of it onto the pumpkin itself. After putting the potion back and waiting a few seconds, nothing happened.
“Either this potion is slow-acting, or I grabbed the wrong potion,” he said. The wolf looked annoyed. “Seriously, Teacher needs to start labeling his potions instead of knowing them by colors…Though now that I remember, he did specifically say that the rainbow-colored potion was the one that–”
Jasper was interrupted as the pumpkin started glowing white, and then, its form was shifting and changing as the pumpkin’s form was becoming pony-like. He quickly, and carefully, picked the thing up as its form continued to change, until eventually, the transformation and the light stopped. The group trotted/walked over to where the wolf was, ready to launch some pumpkins, when suddenly, Jasper started crying with his back turned to them, causing the group to become concerned.
Cinna flew up to the wolf. “Are you okay, Jasper? Are you hurt?” they asked. “Do you need a hug?”
“No, but I do need some advice,” said Jasper.
That confused everyone.
“What do you need advice with? How to launch a catapult?” asked the alicorn stallion. “Because if you do, then I can help with that.”
The wolf shook his head. “No,” said Jasper.
He turned around, and in the wolf’s paws was a sleeping foal.
Everyone aww’d at its cuteness.
“Aww, what a cute foal. Where’d you find them?” whispered the psychiatrist pony. She didn’t want to accidentally wake the foal up.
Jasper sniffed. “I used my teacher’s special potion to bring my pumpkin to life as a pony, and it became this foal,” answered the wolf.
The next thing that happened, everything was silent as it took a few seconds for what he just said to register to everyone’s shocked brains. Suddenly, Draco started panicking, but he wasn’t the only one.
“Potion?! What potion?!” questioned the female alicorn, shouting.
The foal started to stir in its sleep, upset.
Jasper put a clawed finger to his lips. “Shh!” shushed the wolf.
The male alicorn covered Twilight’s mouth with a hoof.
“Do you want to wake up the foal?” asked Solar, sarcastically.
The female alicorn started to look sheepishly from behind the male alicorn’s hoof. As for the foal, she calmed down and went back to sleeping peacefully.
He sighed. “Now, does anyone have any advice about parenting? Also, separate question, can someone go get me a diaper for her?” asked Jasper, sounding both calm and worried.
The alicorn stallion snapped out of his panic as soon as he heard that and calmed down. While Draco trotted up towards the wolf, the pegasus mare volunteered to go get some diapers for Jasper.
“I have some advice about parenting from the tons of experience that I have from raising my own foal,” advised Draco. “I even raised one who still has a foal-like personality, and one who inherited that personality from him since they are him.”
It took Solar a few seconds before realizing that that was directed at him. The male alicorn would’ve felt insulted, but then Solar looked shocked as his mind started to be flooded with emotions as the male stallion realized that his grandfather was right, that Solar and the alicorn were one and the same pony.
The unicorn stallion noticed. “Banan?” he asked, concerned.
So did Twilight. “You feeling okay, Solight?” she asked.
The male alicorn nodded. “Yeah. I just need to go somewhere,” he said. “Come on, Twilight.”
The female alicorn nodded, and the two of them trotted away.
The wolf frowned. “I hope Solar’s okay,” he said.
The alicorn stallion nodded, agreeing. “Me too. I’ll talk with Solar about what’s bothering him after he comes back,” said Draco. “For now, we need to talk about parenting. My first advice is that you’re going to need a ton of diapers. Enough to last you for months.”
Jasper did not like the sound of that. “...I see…” said the wolf. “Well, being a parent is going to be a lot of hard work.” He realized something. “What about adoption? I’m going to need help with that.”
The alicorn stallion smiled. “I can help with that. I’ll just bring some paperwork over to the library tomorrow and you can sign them,” he informed. “Now, next is the crying that wakes you up in the middle of the night.”
Melon nodded, agreeing with Draco. “Yeah. Back when my younger siblings were foals, they’d cry a lot,” she said. “Woke some of us up in the middle of the night.”
A surprised Jasper had to stand there and listen to the alicorn stallion explain about parenthood.
Few Minutes Later
Once Solar and Twilight had returned from their trot with the male alicorn, and Cinna had returned with the diapers. The group, except for the wolf, launched pumpkins from the catapult in the meantime. With the attraction done and everypony else in town were heading back to their homes while others were packing up the attractions, it was time for the group to go home. A carriage with two pegasi from Draco’s Eclipse Guards flying it had arrived.
“Bye, everypony! We’ll see you again next time!” called out Dusk.
“Yeah! Can't wait to hang out with you again!” agreed Dawn.
The two, with a bag of treats and prizes floating in their magic, trotted into the carriage.
“You all take great care of yourselves. I’ll see you all later,” said the alicorn stallion. But before he got on the carriage, Draco looked at Jasper. “Jasper, take good care of that foal. Being a father is going to be a whole lot of responsibility.”
He nodded. “I will,” said the wolf.
The alicorn stallion smiled before trotting onto the carriage. As soon as he closed the door, the pegasi then flew off, heading for Canterlot.
Jasper smiled. “That was a fun Nightmare Night. Can’t wait until next year,” said the wolf. “And maybe, I might even enter the Iron Pony competition. Well, if they’ll let me enter.”
Gentle Hope smiled. “Don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll let you enter,” reassured the psychiatrist pony.
“Yeah. Though, you’ll have to go up against me,” said the melon pony. She had a proud grin. “I did get second place in the marathon this year after all.”
During the ‘Running of the Leaves’, one of the pegasus’ coltfriends, Chilli, had gotten first place, Melon was able to get second place, and Banana Pie was somehow able to get in third place before anypony else in his own special way.
Jasper grinned. “Can’t wait to go up against you. I just know it’ll be a fun year,” he said.
She grinned back. “Definitely,” agreed Melon.
“We’re thinking of entering too,” said the female alicorn.
Solar nodded, agreeing. “Yeah, but as Solight, and we’re going to win,” he added.
Both the wolf and the melon pony grinned.
“We’ll see about that,” said Jasper, determined.
“Yeah. We won’t let Solight beat us,” said Melon, determined as well.
The split alicorn only grinned in response. A few feet away, the unicorn stallion was chatting with Healthy Light.
“It was fun hanging out with you, Banana Pie. I hope we can hang out again next year when I come to Ponyville again,” said the kirin, blushing a little.
Banana Pie nodded, agreeing. “Banan,” he said, excited, blushing as well.
They smiled. “Until next time,” said Healthy Light. The kirin turned to look at the others. “Bye, everypony.”
Everyone waved while saying their goodbyes to Healthy Light, who then trotted off.
The wolf decided to bring up the next important thing. “Now then, on to the next note. Me and Pumpkin Surprise need to stay with one of you tonight since I can’t teleport back home because of, well, you know,” he said.
His friends nodded their heads, understanding. Cinna realized something. “Wait. ‘Pumpkin Surprise’?” she questioned.
“What? It’s the foal’s name,” said Jasper. “You like it?”
The pegasus mare winced a little. “The ‘Pumpkin’ part sounds good, but when you add the ‘Surprise’ to it, it sounds a bit…Well…” they said, pausing.
The melon pony decided to finish it for Cinna. “A bit blah. Like you didn’t put any thought into it is what she means,” she said.
That surprised the pegasus. “That’s not what I was trying to say,” she argued. Cinna calmed down. “What I meant to say is that it doesn’t fit right. You don’t have to quickly make up a name for the foal. You can start with Pumpkin, and then work your way until you find a name that fits. Sounds good?”
The wolf thought about it before nodding. “Fine,” he said.
Afterwards, it was decided that Jasper and Pumpkin would be staying over at the unicorn stallion’s house since he’s the only one of the group whose house the wolf has never been to before, and so the group bid farewell to each other for the night and went their separate ways.
Few Minutes Later
Back at the Golden Oak Library, sitting at a desk, was Solight, writing a letter. After the male alicorn, Twilight, and the young dragon made it back to the library, the ponies removed their costume and adjusted the dial to return back to being the single alicorn. Spike, not wearing his costume anymore, approached them.
Solight had a feeling on what the young dragon was going to ask. “You can only have a few pieces of candy for tonight before bed. Afterwards, brush your teeth,” they said. “But before you do, I need you to send this friendship report for me.”
He would’ve groaned as Spike wanted to eat lots of candy, but decided not to. The young dragon now looked kind of surprised. “Wow, Solight. Usually I write your letters for you, but now you’re writing the letters without needing my help,” he said.
The alicorn thought up a lie. “Oh, well…I just wanted to lessen your job for you,” said Solight. “After all, you’re my number one assistant and I wanted you to have more free time.”
Spike fell for the lie, and smiled. “Wow. Thanks, Solight,” said the young dragon.
They gave him a fake smile. “You’re welcome,” said Solight.
The alicorn gave the young dragon the letter, which he then blew fire onto it, turning it into smoke and going out of the open window.
Solight got up from the table. “I guess I’ll go to the kitchen and have something to eat before I go to bed,” they said. “You better not have more than a few pieces of candy. I’ll know if you did.”
The young dragon sighed. “I won’t,” said Spike.
He left for their room, while the alicorn went to the kitchen.
Meanwhile-Inside of Solight’s Mind
The male alicorn sighed as he looked around. “Well, it’s good to be back to this, I guess, and back to what we’ve been doing as usual,” said Solar Solight.
“Making sure that Solight lives a normal life in Ponyville while hanging out with our group of friends,” said Twilight Solight.
He nodded. “Yeah,” agreed the male alicorn.
She watched the alicorn trotting over to the refrigerator. “By the way, it was such a great idea of yours to have Solight get something to eat before going to bed. We were the ones doing all the eating, and they might be a bit hungry since they had been separated as us for hours,” said the female alicorn.
That confused Solar Solight. “No? I thought you were the one who had Solar go to the kitchen?” asked the male alicorn. “And even made up that lie to Spike as well?”
Twilight Solight shook her head. “That can’t be. I didn’t even make them do any of that,” answered the female alicorn.
That made him even more confused. “Then what did?” asked the male alicorn.
She watched the screen, starting to feel worried. “A better question is, who’s controlling them right now when we’re not even doing anything? We haven’t even agreed on what they should eat and they’re already choosing to make a cucumber sandwich,” said the female alicorn.
“The answer to that question is me,” said a familiar voice, sounding ‘me’ strongly.
The voice sounded very close, like right behind them, which it was. Then, two forelegs wrapped around the two’s shoulders, tightly. Solar Solight and Twilight Solight looked over their shoulders to see that the forelegs had belonged to a frowning Solight, shocking the two.
“It can’t be…” said the female alicorn, speechless.
“It is, and we need to have a long talk about what you two have been doing behind our friend, Jasper’s, back,” said the alicorn, in a disappointed tone.
Both Twilight and the male alicorn looked worried.
Meanwhile-Banana Pie’s House
The inside was very homey in the unicorn stallion’s own way as everything had stuff that either looked normal, was banana-shaped, or banana themed. Banana Pie even had pictures of all of the friends he had made either in Ponyville, or in other Equestrian universes that the unicorn stallion had visited over the years thanks to his unique ability to travel across the multiverse.
Jasper was laying down on the couch with the foal still in his arms. “Thanks again for letting us stay over for tonight, Banana Pie. Are we still on for visiting that one universe involving that one pony?” asked the wolf.
Banana Pie nodded. “Banan,” he answered. “Banan.”
The unicorn stallion then trotted towards their bedroom.
“Goodnight,” said Jasper.
Just as the wolf was about to close his eyes and go to sleep, Pumpkin started stirring a lot, causing Jasper to look down and see that the foal was waking up as her eyes were opening. Pumpkin yawned, and then looked around before the foal’s eyes settled on the wolf. Her only response was to stare at him, and Jasper’s only response to that was to boop the foal on the nose with a paw pad, causing Pumpkin to giggle.
He laughed. “It’s nice to meet you, Pumpkin. Today is the day you were born,” said the wolf. “I just know you’ll do great things in the future, my daughter.”
Jasper ended up staying up the night playing with the foal. As soon as they were both too tired to stay awake, they fell asleep.