The Nightmare Before Nightmare Night

by Silent Bob

The Music of the Night

Nightmare Moon soared high above layers upon layers of fog, the scenery below whizzing by her in a blur. On the tail of her broom sat Rotten, gawking in amazement at their tremendous speeds. However, despite the thrill of the moment, Nightmare's face remained placid.

“Princess?” Rotten called. “Everything alright?”

“Hm... what?” Nightmare Moon said, shaking her head to snap out of it. “Yes… I’m fine, child.”

“Are you sure?”

The Princess gave a quaint nod, smiling slightly. “It’s nothing you should worry yourself with...”

“Oh… alright then,” Rotten said, frowning slightly as she gazed back downward.

However, after a few minutes more, Nightmare eventually took a deep breath.

"Nighttime sharpens, heightens each sensation,
Darkness wakes and stirs imagination,
Silently the senses abandon their defenses,
Helpless to resist the notes we write,
So why have you gone my student of the night...?"

A second of silence followed, eventually broken by Rotten.

"What are you singing about?" she asked, quirking her head.

"Mistakes..." she sighed, Rotten quickly giving her a glance of confusion that Nightmare merely chuckled at. "Don't be so surprised, young one. Someone in my position makes twenty times more than the average ghoul."

"D-Do they all weigh heavy?" she asked.

Nightmare Moon merely smiled. "Yes, but we learn to live with them."

However, she soon found her eyes moistening slightly, and it was not because of the wind.

"Well, some of us do..." she sighed. "Let's just say I should have let the dead lie..."

Ding!

Ding!

Ding!

Zecora lay in her hut, giving a sigh at the chaos she could barely hear coming from Ponyville. She grabbed a glass from her night table, taking a sip of water. However, soon after, something else joined the chorus of shrieks, her ears perking at a certain chiming sound...

She then took a deep a breath. "The bell tolls for thee, creature of the night. I hope you have learned something on the side of the light."

Ding!

"No! NO!" Soulshard shrieked, backing away from a now utterly perplexed Spike. She could feel it again... coldness leaping at every fiber of her being.

"I knew it!" the real Spike growled. "I knew it but didn't want to admit it!"

"I-I just want more time," Twilight whimpered, ignoring him. "More t-time."

A look of bafflement came upon the real Spike at that. "W-What?"

"AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!" Soulshard screeched, every part of her body feeling like it had been lit on fire.

Then came the decay...

First, it was bits of her fur, and eventually skin falling off.

"O-Oh sweet Celestia," Spike said, his eyes now saucers as he backed away from her.

"God... why did she have to go through with this," bone dragon Spike whispered.

Softly, deftly, you turned your back upon creation,
When long lives call for loving inclination,
But you opened up your mind, let your fantasies unwind,
Though the darkness you know you can never fight.
You belong to the music of the night..."

Ding!

And then, the pupils of the 'mortal' mare were entirely erased, giving way for whiteness to overtake them. Spike was now staring up at two, glowing white holes for eyes, his face a mixture of horror and awe.

Soulshard began taking deep breaths, the final process of the conversion ending before it started. Everything she loved about having a mortal ghoul's body... a normal pony's body... was now gone. The warmth? Gone. The trickle of blood through her veins? Forever stopped along with her heart. The feeling of her mortal coil being something besides jagged and twisted? No longer. It had all given way to the music of the night.

"You closed your eyes for a journey to a strange, new world!
Leaving all thoughts of the one you knew behind!
Now turn your gaze and let the music set you free!
It is here where you were truly meant to be..."

"Vile demon! You may have tricked me once, but not twice!" Spike growled, narrowing his eyes. "I took a five dollar course in exorcism at the Church of Celestiatology. You are so screwed this time! Now, IT'S TIME TO GO BACK TO TARTARUS!" he roared, holding two claws in a cross formation. "The power of Celestia compels you-"

"Spike..."

"The power of Celestia compels you!"

"SPIKE!"

"The- wah?"

A few tears could be seen dripping onto the wooden floor.

"W-What?" Spike gasped, shaking his head in disbelief. "B-But... demons don't cry... do they?"

"This one does..." she sighed, plopping down onto her flank as she gazed upon two dead hoofs.

They shivered along with the rest of her.

"T-Twilight... is it really you? What happened?!" Spike whimpered, before giving a slight, nervous chuckle. "T-This is a Nightmare Night prank, right? A really good one, like that thing with Pinkie?"

The Pink mare still lie on the floor, fast asleep.

"N-No," Soulshard gulped, shaking her head. "No... it's not a joke, and your Twilight should be fine by now..."

Spike's eyes widened. "W-Wait. You mean to tell me you're some... other Twilight?"

The Lich Queen nodded solemnly. "It's... complicated. I come from a land called the Nightmare Realm. Don't ask me how, or why, but... there are ghouls there who take after those on this side and..." She then took a deep breath. "Well... let's just say there are some things... not even our gods can explain."

"B-But why would you ponynap my Twilight?! To take her place? I don't see a goatee on you so I don't think you're her evil twin, even if you have crazy, glowy eyes... and come from a place called the Nightmare Realm... and... well whatever."

She took a deep breath. "It was silly... stupid. I wanted... a chance to experience something different. My kind have minds that are notoriously single-tracked. We are the essence of Nightmare Night after all; therefore we are built for scares... and scares alone."

Spike quirked an eyebrow. "So you came here to escape boredom?"

The Lich Queen nodded. "I tried to bring something different to the other side, but they just rejected it before giving it a chance!"

A small sigh came from the being's hood, and soon out of it slipped bone dragon Spike, the real Spike doing a double-take.

"Who the heck is that?!"

"Oh uh... hi," he said, simpering. "Yeeeeah... long story short, I'm uh... you. In a sense."

"You're... small," Spike said, quirking an eyebrow.

"Yeah, so are you," he grunted. "And purple."

"What's wrong with being purple?" he said, his eyes narrowing.

"Nothing... it's just a cute color."

"CUTE?!"

"Hahaha! Just messin' with ya. I'm sure you'll be a terrifying dragon some day. And who knows, if you screw with a bunch of necromancers maybe you'll become like mwah."

"Yeah... I'll have to remember to drink more milk then, I guess," he said blankly, before turning back to Twilight. "S-So what happens now?"

"Now..." the Lich Queen sighed, narrowing her eyes. "I'm going to call this madness off..."

"Wait!" Spike called, turning towards the limp body of Pinkie Pie. "Uh... what about Pinkie?"

"Oh... erm..." the Lich Queen sweat-dropped, scurrying over to the hyperactive mare's side and beginning to shake her. "REALITY-PIE! WAKE UP!"

"We all live in a yellow submarine!
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine!
We all live in a yellow submarine!
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine!"

Pinkie Pie and Pinkie Slice then gave a large giggle as they finished the verse.

Currently, as the song would suggest, they were riding inside a yellow submarine, it navigating through a sea filled with cherry chungas, party decorations, Gummy alligators with insane smiles on their faces, and strange, merry sea creatures, all wearing clown outfits (fit for sea creatures).

"Ooooo yeah! This is totally the best dream ever!" the real Pinkie beamed. "Thanks Pinkie Krueger!"

She quickly gave a cough. "It's uh... Pinkie Slice."

"Whoops, sorry! But yeah, I totally forgive you for that stupid dream about my friends not showing up to my birthday party and abandoning me!"

"Hah, yeah, sorry about that," Slicey simpered. "Thanks for setting me straight, though. I shouldn't be scaring people with their worst fears... shock and gross-out horror with witty humor is so much better! It's so easy and cool and who doesn't love when things pop out at you?!"

"See, now that is the best kind of scare!" Pinkie beamed, before looking in the periscope... only for an evil, jagged looking set of bloody teeth to pop up within the small viewing window. "EEEEEP!"

"Hahaha!" Slicey beamed, before giving a slight smirk. "You know what's even better than shock horror, though?"

"What?!" Pinkie said, bouncing away from the perescope.

"Friggin' zombies!"

"Pony Ratzi Zombie Mode Activated - Level 12!" a disembodied voice called.

"Wooooo yeah!" the two cheered, as zombies equipped with scooba gear with swastikas upon them swam towards the submarine.

"Choose your weapon!"

"Oooo! Oooo!" Pinkie bounced. "Ummmm... give me a giant bass I can slap zombies with!"

"I'll take a rubber hammer!" Slicey called.

The two weapons appeared in their hooves.

"Yayyyy!

"FIGHT!"

"Haha! It's time to do what has to be done by us to defend our sub against the enemies and live up to FULL. LIFE. CONSEQUENCES!" the two chanted at the same time, before double-taking, looking at each other and dropping onto the ground in laughter.

"Pinkie!" Slicey said, still giggling. "I need to kill fast... and hammer too slow!"

"OH NO! HAHAHAHA!"

The two then lept to their feet, striking a combat pose.

"ZOMBIE RATZI GHOSTS! PREPARE TO DIE!"

"Oh crap!" Twilight gasped, continuing to shake Pinkie. "Our Pinkie must really have her in a tight grip... who knows what horrors she could be experiencing right now."

At that, however, a voice made itself known, one which she hadn't heard in years upon years:

"Hah! And It's nothing compared to what I'm going to do to you."

"What in the world..." Twilight said, her eyes widening as she turned to face Trixie, a bolt of lightning cascading down behind her. For a moment, she stood as a silhouette.

"Woah!" her Spike called. "Gotta admit, that looked pretty cool."

The real Spike nodded in agreement, before the look of bafflement that had been hanging on him the last hour returned once again. "Is that... Trixie?!"

Twilight gave a nod. "Trixie Elphaba, to be exact."

"It's Wicked Witch of the West!" she growled, storming in front of Twilight as her eyes narrowed.

"Well... that'd be kind of awkward to say in regular conversation," fleshy Spike grunted.

Bone dragon Spike nodded in agreement, before chuckling slightly. "Hah! I knew I'd like you."

"What's not to like?" Spike smiled.

"What's going on, Trixie? You haven't partaken in anything Nightmare Night related for years..." Twilight said.

"Well, that's until I got the chance to run it," she grinned. "And you can't say it hasn't been a blast, HAHAHA!"

Soulshard's eyes widened. "A blast?! You let our Pinkie go completely out of control! Who knows what kind of scars she left on the real one!"

SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP!.!.!.!

"NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN!" a Ratzi zombie growled, currently being slapped in the face with a large fish.

"Wooo yeah! Ratzis and zombies together?! How could something be more awesome to beat up!?" Pinkie grinned.

"How about... Ratzi zombie robot ninjas riding SHARKS... WITH FRIGGIN' LASER BEAMS ON THEIR FRIGGIN' HEADS?!" Pinkie Slice cried.

Pinkie's jaw dropped to the floor of the sub.

"YEEEEEAHHHH!"

"I shudder to think what else is going on in there!" Twilight cried.

"I'm just continuing where you left off," Trixie smirked. "Only... with improvements. We're bringing true horrors to Ponyville! If you take a look around you'll see it isn't that bad."

"Ain't that bad?!" a voice called from the door, Applejack, Applemoon, Rarity, and Scarity quickly scurrying in. "You made me think mah family had been taken by werewolves!"

"And that my business was about to go under!" Rarity growled.

Trixie shuddered in rage. "What?! Shouldn’t you two be quivering on the floor in fear at the moment?!”

“Our counterparts called the whole thing off,” Applejack smiled.

Trixie slammed a disgruntled hoof onto the floor. “Ugh! They would have been the perfect frights! And they would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn’t for their meddling consciences!”

"Ugh! Come on tin ghoul! Have a heart why won't ya!?" Applemoon groaned.

"A heart?!" Trixie laughed sarcastically. "I am a necromancer for crying out loud! A ghoul! My heart is as black as the night! As it should be! As yours should be!"

Applejack gave a glare, storming in front of her. "Nightmare Night isn't just about scares. It's about having fun with scares! I don't know how it was a hundred years before, but things have changed!" At that, her eyes widened as she caught sight of somepony... or someghoul, in this case. "Wait a minute, Twilight?!"

Soulshard simpered, waving slightly. "Her uh... counterpart."

"Don't worry, everypony..." the real Spike said, shaking his head. "She's cool... I think."

"T-Twilight," Applemoon gasped. "You've been here the entire time!?"

"In a... manner of speaking," Soulshard sighed.

"She came here to experience something new," bone dragon Spike said breathily. "Because we wouldn't give her the time of day."

"No," Twilight said, shaking her head. "It's not your faults... I was being selfish... I shouldn't have abandoned you all on Nightmare Night." She then quirked her eyebrow, glancing towards Applejack. "You know... what you said gives me an idea, however."

Applejack narrowed her eyebrows in confusion. “So wait, if you’re her counterpart, what happened to the real Twilight?!”

“She should be safe, our Rainbow’s taking care of things,” bone dragon Spike said, gaining sighs of relief from… most of the group.

"Hello!" Trixie waved, growling at Twilight. "You're not carrying out any new ideas! Not anymore! Because I'm about to take your place as the student of Princess Nightmare Moon!"

"Nightmare Moon?!" Rarity gasped.

"B-But we..." Applejack stuttered.

"Different Nightmare Moon," Twilight grunted, before turning back towards Trixie, attempting to force a warm smile. "Elphaba... remember when I used to call you that? When we used to be good friends? Remember when we used to hang out on the Black Mountains? When we swam in the blood lake below Necropolis, trying our best to conjure dead fish to scare each other with?" She took a deep breath. "What happened to you? Why are you working with Blackblood of all ghouls?"

"Because Blackblood knows how I feel!" Trixie shouted. "He knows what it's like to be the underghoul! To be underappreciated!" Her eyes then narrowed. "To have something they've always wanted dangled in front of them..."

The Lich Queen shook her head. "Trixie... I-I regret... coming back. I really do... the other side of the gates were truly paradise... yet I just couldn't let my former life go."

"You're lying! You're just trying to get me to buzz off!"

"I'm not," Twilight whimpered, tears forming around her glowing eyes once again.

"She's tellin' the truth, sugar," Applemoon nodded.

A look came upon Trixie at that. One that had been blocked out by her stress and angst for many years: sorrow.

She then took a deep breath. "Y-You... were my only friend in the world, Twilight... when you died I felt... I felt like being an apprentice to Nightmare Moon was the only thing I could have had going for me..."

"You became obsessed, didn't you? Lost sight of everything else?" Twilight said, her eyes laced with sympathy.

Trixie gave a slow nod. "It... I don't even know what to think." She suddenly gave a glare. "Stop trying to confuse me! We aren't friends anymore!"

Twilight took a step closer to her. "We'll always be friends, Elphaba, even if you don't realize it at the moment..."

"I-I-I..." she gasped, shaking her head. "I d-don't know..."

The Lich Queen's eyes narrowed. "If being an apprentice to Nightmare Moon means that much to you, I'll give you the chance to become it." She then gave a slight smile. "I hereby challenge you to an honorable necromancer duel. If you win, I'll give up my title to you."

Trixie's eyes widened at that. "Y-You would do that?"

"For a friend, I would."

"Awwwww," bone dragon and normal Spike said, before quickly contorting their faces into disgust. "I mean, uh, ewwwww, gross... so sappy."

At that, the sound of two mare's stifled sniffs could be heard from the door.

"It's so utterly bizarre," Rarity said, wiping away a few tears with a hankerchief. "But so lovely at the same time..."

"I'm with you there, darling," Scarity whimpered, wrapping a cold, ghostly hoof around her counterpart.

Twilight then raised a hoof. "However, before we do this, I want to put Nightmare Night on pause, and I'll need your help for that."

“A-Alright,” Trixie gulped. “I’ll lend you a hoof.”

Twilight then gave a nod, making her way out the door with Trixie in tow.

"Attention all ghouls! This is Twilight Soulshard! Please cut whatever you're doing immediately! Nightmare Night is put on hold for now!" she roared with her projected, demonic voice.

"NO! NO! HUMANS WOULDN'T DO THAT!" Lyra screamed, currently strapped to a chair. Her eyes were lynched open by metal claws, viewing footage of a human just about to dig into a slab of supposed pony meat.... "NOOOOO!"

"Hahahaha!" Heartstab grinned. “Sometimes they liked to serenade it in barbecue sauce, too! I hear they thought it’s delicious!”

"Attention all ghouls! This is Twilight Soulshard! Please cut whatever you're doing immediately! Nightmare Night is put on hold for now!"

"W-Wah?"

"Brushy brushy brush...." Coledecay grinned wickedly, currently moving a massive drill towards a horror-stricken Colgate's face, her strapped to a dentist chair. "Hehehe..."

"N-No! Please! I like my teeth the way they are!"

"Mmmmm," her counterpart grunted, pausing the drill for a second. "Why so serious, Colgate? Why... so... serious?!"

Colgate merely gave a gulp, Coledecay smiling wickedly in return.

"Wanna know how I got these cavities?" her counterpart grinned, showing her rotten, yellow teeth, Colgate shaking her head rapidly in response. "My father... was a coffee drinker... and a fiend. One day... he comes home with an entire box of sugar..." She then gave a cackle. "And he forces me to drink a cup of it... oh.... so.... sweeeeeeeeet...."

Colgate gave a shiver.

"And as I chugged it down... do you wanna know what he said?"

"N-No..."

Her manic-laced grin stood upon her as her eye began twitching. "He said... 'Why so serious? WHY SO SERIOUS?! You'll be a dentist.... and a success! HAHAHAHAHAHAH!'"

The drill then whirred to life again.

"LET'S PUT A SMILE ON THAT FACE!"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPP!"

"Attention all ghouls! This is Twilight Soulshard! Please cut whatever you're doing immediately! Nightmare Night is put on hold for now!"

"Awww man..."

"It's Friday, Friday,
Gotta get down on Friday,
Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend, weekend,
Friday, Friday,
Gettin' down on Friday,
Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend!"

"NO! NO! Make it stop! By Celestia please make it stop!" Vinyl cried, currently trapped inside her home with her maniacal counterpart.

"Oh it gets better," Vinyl Screech grinned. "This chorus repeats FIVE TIMES DURING THE SONG! HAHAHAHAHA!"

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

"Attention all ghouls! This is Twilight Soulshard! Please cut whatever you're doing immediately! Nightmare Night is put on hold for now!"

"Oh, pickle..."

Inside the Everfree Forest, Slendermare trotted about merrily, the Cutie-Mark Crusaders and pretty much every other foal from the town currently ensnared inside the many black tendrils that stretched from his back. However, in one he held a magic music rock, it currently emanating:

I'm soooo happy!
Happy and lucky me!
Things that bother you!
Never bother me!"

"Uhh... Slendermare," Scootaloo whimpered. "We've uh... been frolicking around the forest for like... two hours now. Can you just eat us or whatever you're going to do?"

Slendermare ignored her, continuing to frolic.

"Things that bother you,
Never bother me,
I'm so happy and fine! Haha!
Burning in the sunlight haunting in the moonlight,
Having a wonderful time!"

"Ugggh..." Scootaloo groaned.

"Attention all ghouls! This is Twilight Soulshard! Please cut whatever you're doing immediately! Nightmare Night is put on hold for now!"

"Hooray!" the foals cried.

Slendermare merely sulked slightly, shutting the music rock off.

"Ahhhh, what a marvelous adventure that was, Doctor!" Dr. Whooevenstein grinned, the TERRORDIS just touching back down in Ponyville. He currently wore a sombrero as well as other souvenirs... such as several Dalek laser cannons laced into a necklace.

"I must say, it was much better than I thought it would be!" the Doctor smirked. "When we ran into those Daleks in the Ancient Badlands, I thought we were goners!"

"Hah! Well I must say, the sounds of their shrieks as I pummeled them with the TERRORDIS nearly drowned out the drums! I'm almost glad we ran into them... no pun intended!" Doctor Whooevenstein grinned.

"That was a brilliant idea, by the way," the Doctor smirked.

Whoovenstein merely shrugged. "Couldn't have done it without that forcefield you jury-rigged."

"Why thank you! A bit of magitech, actually, wasn't really my invention," the Doctor noted with a smile. "Amazing what you can learn from these ponies."

Whoovenstein rolled his eyes at the Doctor's modesty. "Nonetheless, absolutely brilliant!" He then turned towards Derpy Hooves. "I must say, your assistant really helped out. I'm glad we were able to pick up that muffin replicator in the New Lunar Republic!"

"Likewise!" the real Doctor beamed.

Nom-Nom-Nom-Nom-Nom!.!.!

In the back of the TERRORDIS, both Derpy and Derpy-Stitched were chowing down on and swimming in a sea of muffins, both worm-filled and raisin-filled, each with warm smiles on their faces.

"Best adventure yet!" Derpy Hooves smiled, before eyeing a worm-filled muffin with a hint of disgust. "You kind of have a weird eating habit, though, Stitchy."

"Right back at ya," her counterpart smirked, sticking out her tongue.

"Attention all ghouls! This is Twilight Soulshard! Please cut whatever you're doing immediately! Nightmare Night is put on hold for now!"

"Ugggh..." Whoovenstein grunted. "Looks like all good things..."

"Must come to an end..." the Doctor finished for him.

The two then looked at each other, smiled widely and:

“Hahahaha!”

And at that, the shrieks and sounds of frights emanated from Ponyville died down, ghouls and ponies alike stepping out from inside various buildings to gaze curiously at the Lich Queen.

"Alright! Thank you everyghoul!" Trixie called. "Now, can everyone gather to the graveyard?" She then turned towards Twilight, giving her a somewhat forced smile. "Alright. Time to settle things the honorable way."

"Right," Soulshard nodded. "It will be a hideous battle my friend. One worthy of song, and one that hasn't happened in years."

Trixie gave a confident grin. "I just hope you're ready for an..."

"EPIC ZOMBIE DANCE OFF AND RAP BATTLE!" the two cheered.

The entire contingent of ghouls in Ponyville were now gathered at the town's lone graveyard, peeking at the two as they faced off against each. Even some of the regular ponies had joined them, curiosity overtaking them. On top of that, their counterparts and them, after a bit of chatting and apologizing, were now actually starting to get along somewhat well.

"That wasn't really horse meat the human was eating," Heartstab had said to Lyra. "It was actually just dog meat... sorry for scaring you that way."

The human-loving pony merely smiled in return. "I'm just glad you're admitting it, at least... archaeology and humans in particular are kind of my thing."

"Yeah... I can't believe I actually did that," Flutterfright had squeaked to her counterpart. "After all the things I learned in vampire school about abusing mind control... it was so terrible of me..."

"No worries," Fluttershy replied, smiling warmly. "You're not a bad vampire. You've just been listening to the wrong ponies... or ghouls, you call them?"

Flutterfright nodded shyly.

"I can't believe I made you listen to Friday... even we're afraid of that song!" Vinyl Screech grunted, sulking her head slightly.

"Hah, well. You can make it up to me by letting me show you some real music when this is all over," Vinyl smiled.

"Alright, you two!" the real Spike grunted, standing between Trixie and Twilight and wearing a referee shirt. "I want this to be a nice clean fight! No conjuring rap demons and..." He turned towards bone dragon Spike, him hovering a few feet away. "Uhhh... what else shouldn't they be doing?" he whispered.

"They can't use their magic to influence their opponent's zombies..." bone dragon Spike whispered back.

"Ah! Right!" Spike nodded. "No using your magic to influence the opponent's zombies!"

"Right!" Trixie called.

"Understood, Spikey," Soulshard smirked.

"And no calling the referee Spikey!" Spike grunted. "Seriously, you're embarrassing me in front of my counterpart, Twilight..."

"Sorry," she simpered. "You're just so much more adorable than my Spike, though."

Her Spike then gave a slight grumble. "…I can be adorable."

"Stick with me and I'll show you the ropes," the real Spike winked towards him. "Seriously, the more adorable you act, the more gems you get."

"I don't eat gems, though," bone dragon Spike grunted.

"Then what do you eat?"

"Eh, the souls of unborn children. Stuff like that."

The real Spike began backing away from him at that...

"Hahaha!" he cackled. "I'm just kidding, jeez! I don't really eat anything."

Sighing in relief, Spike turned back towards the two competitors. "Alright, are you two ready?"

"Ready!"

"Just like old times, eh Elphaba?" Twilight smiled.

"Hmph," she winked. "Let's just hope you've been practicing since then."

"Twilight! You're up first!" Spike called. "Uh... can't believe I'm saying this but... conjure your dead!"

And at that, Twilight’s horn began to glow, the legion of ghouls letting loose a tremendous cheer.