Even for the adults, Nightmare Night was always quite the experience. It was a magical time where fillies and colts rang doorbells, got treats, told scary bedtime stories and cooked smores around the raging orange glow of a campfire.
Tonight, three ponies roamed in a group together. Two fillies and a colt. Together, they were all dressed up in proper costumes. Shining’s metal armor clicked and twisted together awkwardly as he leaned forwards, putting a hoof on Twilight’s withers. “Okay, Twilight. Think you can handle this all by yourself?” He asked. The tiny filly vibrated with excitement, nodding enthusiastically. “Then go get them, tiger!” He said. Twilight didn’t dare hesitate a moment longer, galloping away and buzzing her wings as she approached the door to a house.
“You’re not going to join her?” Cadence asked, her cloak concealing her wings and a giant witch hat covering most of her mane.
“My bag’s already full.” He said, looking back at the fabric bag perched on his back, almost overflowing with candy. “And I wanna see if Twilight’s ready.”
“Ready?” Cadence asked, turning to face the front steps of the humble abode.
When Twilight reached the door to the house, flush with the other Canterlot homes around it, it became painfully apparent that she couldn’t reach the doorbell. She stood up on her hind legs, pushing her hooves to their tips and reaching for the doorbell. Unfortunately, it still wasn’t enough.
But, like it wasn’t much of a big deal, Twilight’s wings buzzed, and she gained an extra few inches of verticality, just enough to ding the doorbell. Then, she fell to the ground, patiently waiting for the door to open.
“I still can’t believe she can almost fly already.” Cadence said, shaking her head. “I didn’t start practicing until I was six. I still can’t fly really well, and Twilight’s doing it like it isn’t a big deal.”
“What? You can fly just fine!” Shining turned to look at her in shock. “Remember last year? You kept up with Twilight the entire time during her magic spurt. That’s not something to brush off.”
“Oh, whatever…” Cadence said bashfully, before straightening her face out again. “Yeah- that’s another thing.” The door to the home opened, and a stallion with a bowl of candy walked out.
“Candy!” Twilight shouted, being one of the few words she knew.
“Twilight’s magic surge was… intense. Really intense.” Cadence continued. “I told you before, I used to help out a lot taking care of the foals in the orphanage, and no Pegasus has ever had a surge nearly that bad before.” Cadence shuddered, unsure if her shudder was coming from bad memories involving Twilight’s spurt, or the chilly fall wind that permeated her coat.
“So, what?” Shining asked. “You think she’ll be a Wonderbolt?”
“A Wonderbolt?” Cadence asked. Twilight once again used her wings to fly upwards, quickly scooping half of the bowl into her candy bag. The stallion at the door didn’t look particularly pleased with the outcome, looking down at his half-empty bowl with a frown. “I could see it. Although… she is really into books. She might turn out to be a big nerd.”
“A big nerd?” Shining asked.
“She might even become a teacher one day. Who knows.”
“A big nerd? Really? She can’t even read the words in her books.” He laughed. “Wonderbolts can like books, too, you know. Reading and being a Wonderbolt isn’t one or the other. They can do both.”
“I dunno… I could see her reading a good book.” Shining rolled his eyes, looking down as Twilight merrily gallivanted back towards the two. She sat down, holding up her now full fabric bag for the two to see.
“Candy!” Twilight said.
“Very good, Twilight!” Cadence congratulated with a smile. Twilight smiled back, although her smile looked less wholesome and more devious. “Are you ready for the next house?” She asked. Twilight pondered the question for a minute, her face furrowing as she chewed through the sentence, trying to work out what she had said. When she finally did, however…
“Candy!” Twilight repeated, bringing her bag closer to her face. “Candy!”
“I think Twilight’s done for the night.” Shining observed. “Let’s go take a seat somewhere, and Twilight can… enne-dualge.”
“Indulge.” Cadence automatically corrected.
“We can go back to the house?” He asked, pointing down the crowded street.
“No… too far away.” Cadence began looking around. “Twilight isn’t going to wait that long to eat her candy.”
“Doughnut-Joes?” He suggested. Cadence’s eyes landed on the distinct structure of a small, mom-and-pop shop building with a large sign of a doughnut being suspended above the entrance. Cadence was about to agree when, unfortunately, Twilight heard the words ‘doughnut’ and gasped loudly, looking up from her candy bag.
“Douh-nut?” Twilight asked. She gripped the bag of candy closer to her chest, her wings buzzing excitedly. “Douh-nuts!” She exclaimed, suddenly gaining speed. Cadence watched in, at this point, bored bewilderment as the filly soared above the crowded street. Cadence and Shining both exchanged glances of exasperation.
“Well… I guess we better go catch her before she hurts herself.” Cadence said as melodramatically as possible. She took to the sky, following the speedy filly at a good distance across the road.
“Hurts herself?” Shining snorted, following beneath Cadence, and unlike her, having to fight his way through the crowd, his armor clicking loudly as ponies kept accidentally running into him. “I don’t think Twily is even capable of hurting herself. You know how sometimes, you gotta let the foal touch the flame to learn? I don’t think Twily Is capable of touching the flame.”
“Better safe than sorry!” Cadence said, landing on the sidewalk and behind Twilight as the distracted filly casually meandered into into the shop. Shining was a good few seconds away, having to battle through the crowd instead of having an easy glide over like the two privileged wing-owners in front of him did.
The moment Shining crossed the border between the outside world and Doughnut-Joe’s, his fur was flushed with a very pleasant warming sensation. The air was quite humid, and he could practically taste the sugar in the air. It was a welcome release from the battering fall wind.
Behind the countertop of Doughnut-Joe’s was, of course, Joe himself. Despite the street being decently busy outside, with Nightmare Night and all of that, it was quite the opposite of busy in here. Joe was resting his chin on his hoof, his eyes glazed over as he read over a newspaper.
“Dooh-nuh-“ Twilight’s voice died in her throat with a little gasp as she laid her eyes onto the glass display case. She put her front hooves up, mouth watering, as the dozens of doughnuts stared idly back at her, almost tauntingly.
“Wh- Oh?” Joe flinched back, being startled as a purple Pegasus seemingly materialized in front of his counter. “Why, hello there, little filly!” He said exubrientialy. He looked up and towards the two remaining ponies. “Ah, the Sparkles! My most loyal customers. What do I owe the pleasure?”
“Douh-nuts!” Twilight said, looking up at Joe expectantly and tapping her hoof against the glass, impatience clear.
“Oh, somepony’s hungry?” He asked. Twilight harrumph’d, tapping the glass again.
“Wait- do we have any bits?” Cadence asked cautiously. Shining paused to think for a moment, before looking down and into his own personal candy pouch. Although it was full of chocolates, lollipops, and wrapped taffy, it was completely devoid of any and all gold currency. Joe watched as Shining’s face turned to one of apologetic sympathy.
“No problem, kids!” Joe quickly said. “No problem at all! You’ll three have to convince me you’re worthy of Joe’s own doughnuts by-“
“Dough!” Twilight shouted, her face now turned to one of frustration.
“Hold on, Twilight.” Shining said, stepping forwards and pulling the filly away from the counter. Twilight angrily stomped onto the ground, but didn’t resist, and didn’t pull away, much to Shining’s relief.
“Err- where was I?” Joe asked the room. “Right. Convince me you’re worthy of Joe’s doughnuts by telling me about you three’s costumes. Whoever has the best costume gets a doughnut on the house!”
Twilight, although more than likely not understanding what he had said, still frowned upon realizing her doughnuts were further away than she would’ve liked. Cadence and Shining looked at each other, and after a few gentle nudges from both parties, Cadence decided she was the one to go first. She confidentially stridden forwards, her black cloak dragging on the ground behind her.
“I am the Wicked Witch of the West!” Cadence said, twirling around in her circle so her cloak would flutter in the humid air. Her hat was long and pointy, and she had green eye shadow that made her gaze turn dark. “I’ll get you, and your little dog, too!” She raised her voice into an ugly crackling.
“Witch. Very nice, very nice.” Joe nodded. “Always good to see somepony embracing the new film-o-sounds. Next!”
Cadence took a step backwards and let Shining boast forwards, puffing his chest out proudly.
“I am the royal guard, Shining Armor!” He proclaimed. The armor he was wearing looked as if it had been fished out of a dumpster. It wasn’t particularly golden, instead a faded bronze. The surface was far from clean, with a hundred little scratches all over it and multiple big bangs. “I will protect Princess Celestia at all costs!”
“Of course!” Joe laughed, leaning forwards and looking at the last contestant, Twilight Sparkle. “Can’t have a royal guard without a princess, now, can we?” He asked.
“It’s all we could get her to wear.” Cadence interrupted, pushing Twilight’s flank forwards and closer to the counter as Shining backed up. “She just kept tearing the wig off, and we got her little golden shoes- it was just a disaster.”
Twilight looked much like herself. There was no cloak, armor, or eye shadow. Instead, right on top of Twilight’s forehead was the ends of a tube of wrapping paper. It had been folded in on itself to make a pointy Unicorn horn, and with some trickery, stuck her forehead, turning her from a Pegasus into an Alicorn.
“She’s supposed to be Princess Celestia.” Shining cut in.
“I can see it.” Joe nodded. “I can definitely see it.”
Twilight’s eyes crossed as she looked up at the horn, her frustration deepening. She reached her hooves up, and with a swipe, the horn came off. Her wings buzzed as she came eye-level with Cadence, sticking the horn onto her instead.
“Ugh-“ Cadence quickly removed the horn. “We can’t both be Alicorns.” Cadence planted it back onto Twilight’s head, her muzzle turning into disgust.
Joe sighed, leaning back and tapping a hoof to his chin. “Well, gosh. I just can’t choose who has the best outfit!”
“It was definitely me.” Shining cut in, again. “Just for the record, I got my uncle to give me the armor, it’s definitely me who’s the best-“
“I can’t choose! So, I think I’ll give you all doughnuts.”
“-oh, that works too.” Shining nodded. “Yeah- that, that- yeah.”
Joe dipped behind the counter, disappearing from sight. Twilight didn’t hesitate to buzz her wings once more, flying upwards and leaning over the counter.
“Free on the-“ Joe popped up, jumping in fear as the purple filly was now no less than half a foot from his face. He cleared his throat, the box of doughnuts in his aura straightening back out in recovery. “A-hem. Free on the house.” He placed the doughnuts on the counter.
“Oh, wow!” Shining took the box in his own magic, slightly straining under the stress. “Thanks, Joe!”
“Ah, don’t mention it. You kids have a good night!”
Twilight looked infinitely star-struck by the box, flying above it and closely following it, her mouth watering as the trio moved towards a nearby booth.
Shining’s magic fizzled out and the box of doughnuts thumped onto the table. Cadence and Shining sat down opposite of each other, and Twilight sat directly on the table, not caring a single bit for table manners. She didn’t wait much longer before flicking the top off of the box of doughnuts with a feather, taking the nearest doughnut, and beginning her devouring.
“Geez, did she have anything for dinner?” Cadence asked, watching as Twilight fought between the size of the doughnut and how far her jaw could unlock.
“Of course she did. She’s just…” Shining glanced at Twilight. “Just… Twilight-ing.”
“Twilight-ing?” Cadence laughed. “Sure. I’m hungry too.” She took one of her own doughnuts, balancing it on the bottom of her hoof. Shining did the same, although with the assistance of magic, it was significantly less messy than both Twilight’s and Cadence’s magic-less methods.
Shining didn’t immediately bite into his doughnut, however. He stared at it intently for a moment, the sounds of the two other Pegasus in the room not caring for his hesitation. He took a deep breath, looking up at Cadence.
“Cady?” He asked. Cadence made a choking sound, swallowing her doughnut and making a sound that was slightly reminiscent of a ‘go on, I’m listening.’ “Do you ever…” He paused. “Nevermind.”
“No-“ Cadence coughed. “I’m listening.”
“Do you ever…” He looked at Twilight, now laying down on the table and finishing her last doughnut. “Do you ever still get those thoughts? About running away?”
“Oh.” Cadence lowered the doughnut back to the table. “Well… it’s been a little while, but…” She frowned. “Sometimes. Not as bad as before, though. A Pegasus can only fly the nest if they had a nest in the first place. I never considered the orphanage my home, and because I was moving in with you guys, I didn’t really… have a place to call my metaphorical nest.”
Shining mouthed the words ‘metaphorical’ but listened anyway.
“If I was going to fly the nest, I already would have. I’m too old, now.”
“Oh… okay.” Shining still stared at his doughnut. “And… Twily?”
“Twily?”
“She has a home. What happens to her?”
Cadence’s eyes darted to the filly, now onto her second doughnut, and without a single thought nor care in the world as she happily ate. As much as it pained Cadence to admit, the day that Twilight would fly her nest would be… less than bittersweet.
“She’ll be fine.” Cadence said dismissively. Shining smirked his cheek in concern. “Twilight’s smart. She’s a fast flier, fast leaner… When she flies the nest, she’s going to do something great. Like become a teacher, or a Wonderbolt.”
“A teacher or a Wonderbolt, huh?” Shining asked, his concerned smirk now turning into one of humor. “No in-between?”
“No in-between.” She agreed. “Now, eat your doughnut. We still have to offer candy to Nightmare before we go home.” She leaned forwards to the little filly. “You hear that? Offer your candy, or Nightmare will haunt your dreams! Oooh!” She tried to make the filly scared.
Twilight didn’t have a single clue what she had just said. Nor did she care.