//------------------------------// // Time for Nightmares (Edited 3/5/16) // Story: The Prince of the Night // by keaton-furman-prower //------------------------------// The next day, Lucian trotted through the streets of Ponyville. While he was still somewhat unsure about the Doctor, he found his companion to be a rather pleasant pony to be around, and he was hoping to get to know her better. Finally, he arrived at his destination. The house was a rather peculiar blue color, and it was adorned with the image of an hourglass. Taking a deep breath, he knocked the door and waited for an answer. A moment later, a gray pegasus opened the door. “Hello, Derpy.” “Oh, hello Lucian! I'm glad you could come over!” “Yeah, me too. Anyway, I just wanted you to know that I really enjoyed our talk last night. You’re a really interesting pony.” “Of course she's interesting,” said a voice. “She's the impossible pony!” Lucian turned towards the interior and, with a hint of nervousness, saw the Doctor trotting out of the house. The chestnut stallion seemed excited to see him, as he had been when he first came face to face with him. “It's so amazing to be able to see you again, Lucian!” said the Doctor. “Truth be told, I'm still quite curious about you. If it's not too much to ask, could you show me some of your magic?” “Well, maybe later,” said Lucian. “Right now, I kind of wanted to chat with Derpy.” “Oh, that's fine too! Why don't we all go out for a little stroll?” “It would also be great if we could get some muffins!” As the two other ponies stared at him expectantly, Lucian sighed and nodded. Both Derpy and the Doctor giggled and jumped up and down, then began to trot in the direction of Sugarcube corner. As they trotted through the street, Lucian decided to ask the brown stallion a few things. “So, tell me, Doctor Trottant,” he began. “Just 'Doctor' is fine.” “Okay,” said Lucian. “What exactly are you a Doctor of?” “I have a Doctorate in Time Science from the University of Canterlot,” said the Doctor. “I've been fascinated by the inner workings of time for a long time, and so I studied hard so that I could one day uncover these mysteries. For example, I've always wondered whether it would actually be possible for the flow of time to be reversed, or accelerated, or manipulated in any other ways.” “You mean like time travel?” asked Lucian. “Exactly!” said the Doctor. “I want to travel through time! Do you have any idea what that would mean? We would be able to observe history as it takes place! Instead of museums, we'd be able to take children on field trips to the past! We could learn so much about the war between the three tribes, the spells of Star Swirl the Bearded, Nightmare Moon's fall from grace...” Lucian cringed at the mention of his former identity. Even now, transformed into a stallion and granted a new identity, he was unable to escape his past sins. However, this was forgotten when the Doctor said something absolutely shocking. “And the Crystal Empire!” Lucian stopped in his tracks. “What?” he said flatly. “Yeah, that was my first reaction too,” said Derpy. “Well, it doesn’t surprise me,” said the Doctor. “After all, it disappeared a very long time ago, and unlike Nightmare Moon, it has not been maintained in the public's consciousness by any sort of legend or tradition. In fact, the only reason I even know about it is because my family possesses an ancient map which dates back to roughly a thousand years in the past. Apparently, to the north of Equestria there was a vast territory made entirely of crystal. As I said, the map is very ancient and as such there's not a lot of information on the empire other than the fact that it existed. But imagine what we could learn from the Crystal Empire if we managed to create a real working time machine!” Lucian tried not to let the others notice as he shuddered. It was hard to think about the events that had occurred before his thousand-year banishment, but the fall of the Crystal Empire was particularly harsh. He shook his head. He couldn't allow the memory to invade his thoughts now. He needed to be thinking in the present, with his two new friends. …Well, it would be a bit of a stretch to call them 'friends' when he had only known them for a few days, so perhaps 'acquaintances' would fit better. “So, you wish to visit the Crystal Empire?” he asked. “Of course!” said the Doctor. “I’m quite curious about what they mean by ‘Crystal’ Empire. Did they live in a city made of crystals? Were there ponies made of crystals? Did they create crystal muffins?” “Crystal muffins?” said Derpy. “I can’t decide whether those would be amazingly delicious or painful.” “Well, there’s no way to know, unless you've managed to live a thousand years, which is quite ridiculous.” “Oh yeah, hilarious,” Lucian said, chuckling nervously. “Well, you see, there's so much that was lost when the entire empire disappeared. As I said, there's no record of it anywhere else. That map is, so far, the only thing I have that can prove that it even existed. Maybe they had crystal muffins, maybe they didn't. But the point is that there's so much that is lost when civilizations disappear without a trace. How many other empires might there have been in the past that even my old map can't remember? What secrets did they hold?” The Doctor sighed and looked off into the distance somberly. Who knew if building a time machine was even possible, but he would have loved, even if it was just for a day, to have the opportunity to see forgotten civilizations. To his surprise, the Lucian patted him on the back and looked towards him with an encouraging smile. “So, you want to build a time machine?” It did not take long for Lucian’s journeys to the Doctor’s household to become a part of his daily routine. While he knew that Star Swirl had experimented with time travel spells, he did not know if it was possible to create a machine that could truly travel freely through time. Even so, he kept going, partly to burn off his spare time, and partly to get to know the two ponies better. From what he had been told, Derpy had struggled with her condition when she was younger. Her eyes had been even less focused back then and she had found even relatively simple tasks to be incredibly hard. Indeed, she had often being ridiculed and even bullied for her handicap to the point that they had given her the nickname “Derp-face” as an insult. Ironically, her handicap had actually led her to save the Doctor at one point; during one of her shifts as a moving mare, she had accidentally crashed into an enchanted trash can that had been chasing him. After their exciting first meeting, the Doctor had helped Derpy with her condition, and even helped her find ponies who would treat her with kindness and understanding. Over time, their friendship had developed into something much deeper, to the point that they had moved in together, and even had a daughter. Dinky, who, in contrast to both her mother and father, was a unicorn, and a gifted one at that. “So, why aren’t you two married?” asked Lucian. “I mean, you definitely love each other, and you even have a daughter, so why not take the next step?” “We certainly could,” said the Doctor. “But we're not quite sure about what we ought to do. I do wish we could have a wedding someplace truly special, such as- well, if it were possible to marry someplace as marvelous as the Crystal Empire-” “You and your Crystal Empire,” said Lucian. “Well, perhaps the Crystal Empire may be a bit of a stretch,” the Doctor admitted. “But then there's the problem of money. To be quite honest, we've never quite been able to afford much, and having a big fancy wedding is really out of the question.” “Really?” asked Lucian, his face developing a look of concern. “Indeed. I struggled to pay all my fees when I was studying, and even though I did the best I could I still was left with debts,” sighed the Doctor. “So we can't afford a big wedding, and even a smaller one would put quite a strain on our finances, and we really can't afford to do that with Dinky.” “Our little muffin needs to eat, go to school, and have her toys!” said Derpy. “She's a growing pony, and she needs everything we can give her!” Lucian nodded sadly. It was not all hard to understand what his new friends were going through, working hard to provide for their daughter while having very little for themselves, unable to afford even a modest wedding. It was no wonder why the Doctor would want to build a time machine; for him and his family, it would be a great way to escape the hard life they had in Ponyville. At that moment, there was a knock on the door. “I'll get it,” said Lucian. He got up and trotted towards the door. As he did, his horn glowed with blue energy, which he then focused on the door. With a deep blue glow, it opened, revealing a little grayish purple unicorn filly. “Hello, Mr. Lucian!” she said. “Are you visiting daddy and mommy again?” “Yes, I suppose I am,” replied Lucian. “They were just telling me about you, in fact.” “Oh really?” The young filly walked in, shutting the door behind her. Her face was currently dominated by a large smile, and she was smiling as if she'd just received some very good news. “Hi mommy!” she giggled as she ran into the gray pegasus' hooves. “Dinky! How's my little muffin doing?” Derpy asked her daughter happily. “Great! But you said that we were going to work on my Nightmare Night costume!” Lucian swallowed hard. Although he had known for some time that Nightmare Night was coming up very soon, he had been quite indecisive as to what he was going to do. The previous year, when he had still been Luna, she had gone to the Ponyville festivities without a disguise, intent on dispelling any fears people may have held that she was still as aggressive as when she was Nightmare Moon. This year, however, that was out of the question. “So, would you like to help us with Dinky's costume?” asked the Doctor. “What?” said Lucian, having been caught off guard. “Oh, uh no thanks, I just realized that I don't really have any disguise of my own. I really ought to start figuring out what I'm gonna do.” “Oh, well, that's fine too,” said Derpy. “So, I guess we'll see you in a few days? Oh! We should plan out our Nightmare Night so we can all go together!” Lucian raised an eyebrow. He wasn't quite sure on what to say to this. “Uh, yeah, maybe. For now though, I got to make my costume. I'll tell you guys later.” Derpy and Dinky giggled, while the Doctor simply shrugged and smiled at the royal blue stallion. He in turn waved at the three ponies as he headed out the door. “Oh, hey Lucian,” said Spike. “What's up?” “Not much. Where's Twilight?” “She had to go out. Apparently, she's helping out with the Nightmare Night festivities or something.” Lucian sighed. He had been hoping Twilight would be able to figure out what he was to do for Nightmare Night. “So, what are you going to dress up as?” he asked Spike. “Me? Well, I was thinking I would go as some sort of monster-thing, like a vampire or wolf-pony-” “More like wolf-dragon,” said Lucian. “Well, yeah, maybe,” said Spike. “But enough about me. What about you?” “Well, I was actually gonna ask Twilight about that,” said Lucian. “See, last year, I was still, well, Luna. And of course, I went as myself since I was technically Nightmare Moon. As you may remember, that didn't exactly go over well.” “It would have helped if you didn't speak in an antiquated Equestrian dialect.” Lucian shrugged, and then trotted towards the kitchen. He then levitated two slices of bread, then focused his magic on them, causing them to turn warm and brown. He followed this up by pulling out a pair of jars, one from the pantry, full of peanut butter, the other from the refrigerator, full of zap apple jam. “I thought you would've eaten with the Doctor and Derpy,” said Spike. “Yeah, well they were a bit busy getting their daughter ready for Nightmare Night,” said Lucian. “And I feel happier when I make something for myself.” As he began to bite into his peanut butter sandwich, he began to consider what to do on the upcoming holiday. Acting as the Mare in the Moon was out of the question, given that he was now a stallion. Of course, since he was attempting to fit into what could be described as 'normal ponyhood,' he could always disguise himself. Not that he wasn't doing so already. “Hey, Spike, what do you think would be a good disguise for me?” “I don't know,” said Spike. “Like I said, I'm thinking about going dressed up as some kind of monster, so maybe you should too?” Lucian and Spike had been sifting through the library's section on Nightmare Night costumes and traditions, searching for anything that might catch their interest. So far, they had managed to find a few possible outfits. The blue alicorn had covered a couple of boots with fake fur and added claws to the bottom, and was currently wearing a pair of fangs. In addition, he had cast a spell to make his eyes look blood red, as well as deliberately messed up his hair to give it a 'wild' look, and had painted the tip of his nose black. All in all, it was a simple but effective costume. Lucian turned towards Spike. He was wearing a black trench coat which was much too large for him, some severely worn out black pants, a pair of dirty old black boots, a large white hat, a collar with a moon-shaped tag, and a wooden toy crossbow. Overall, it was somewhat underwhelming. “You would be...?” asked Lucian, doing his best not to laugh. “I'm Can Helsing!” said Spike. “The greatest monster-hunting Diamond Dog of all time!” Lucian let out an audible snort. “What?” said Spike, visibly annoyed by Lucian’s reaction. “Monster Hunting Diamond Dog?” “Let's just say there's not a lot of bipeds to choose from, except maybe humans, and who's want to dress up like a hairless ape?” said Spike. “And besides, Can Helsing is awesome, regardless of how many ponies think he sucks.” “Oh, of course he doesn’t suck,” said Lucian, hoping not to cause Spike too much trouble. “It's just that I think it could use a bit of improvement. Here, let me help.” Hesitantly, Spike walked over to Lucian, wondering what he was planning. He closed his eyes in expectation, hoping that whatever happened wouldn’t be too painful. “Done!” Spike opened his eyes to see a mirror being levitated in front of him. The whole process had taken less than a minute, but the results were impressive; the oversized trench coat had been shrunken down to fit Spike perfectly, the old pants and boots looked good as new, and the white hat had been turned black to blend better with the rest of the costume. Even the toy crossbow had been enchanted to have a brilliant silver color. The dragon in front of him looked just like a real monster hunter. “Wow! That looks awesome!” he said happily. “It sure does!” said Lucian. “Of course, the spells I cast on your costume are temporary, so they'll probably go out around, oh, midnight of Nightmare Night or so.” “Well, that's not so bad.” Spike chuckled as he admired his costume. “It's pretty cool, but...” “But what?” Spike looked back in the mirror and shrugged. “It's nothing, really. It's just that I didn't think that a princess- ah, I mean, prince! Well, I mean-” “Call me a ‘former royal’ if you must,” said Lucian, a hint of irritation in his voice. “Uh yeah. I didn’t think that a former royal like you would want to help me. I mean, I'm just a little baby dragon who spends his time doing chores.” Spike rolled his eyes slightly, but he couldn’t help but smile. “Thanks Lucian.” “Hey, no problem,” Lucian said as he gave the young dragon a noogie. “I’m back!” Spike And Lucian turned towards the door to see Twilight walking in. “So, are these your Nightmare Night costumes?” she asked. “You bet!” said Spike. “See, I'm going to dress up like Can Helsing, the greatest Diamond Dog monster hunter of all time!” “As for me, I'm a wolf-pony!” said Lucian. “Well, that sounds nice,” Twilight said as her eyes settled upon Spike. She then turned towards Lucian. “I have to admit, I thought you'd be reluctant to go out for Nightmare Night, Lucian.” “Well, I need to blend in with the ponies of Ponyville, and what better way to do so than participating in their celebrations?” Twilight smiled and nodded. Getting to spend some time as a normal pony seemed to be having a positive effect on the formerly asocial stallion. “That reminds me, I still don’t have a costume for Nightmare Night. Any ideas?” As she asked the question, she once again began to wonder what her guest and assistant talked about when she was away. They walked up to each other and began to whisper, occasionally taking a glance at her. After about a minute, they walked back up to her. “I think we know what you should dress up as, Twi!” said Spike, doing his best not to giggle. “Okay, what do you think I should be?” The young dragon and royal pony giggled as they whispered in her ear. Twilight shuddered. “I don't know if that's such a good idea, guys,” she said apprehensively. “Aw, come on, Twilight! I'm a wolf pony, Spike's a monster hunter, and we've already agreed to dress Owlowiscious as a Frankenstein monster, so we really need a vampire!” Twilight was not happy about the prospect of dressing up as a vampire. Although she had been fascinated by them in her youth, her teen years had introduced a certain series of rather sub-par books which revolved around a young mare infatuated with a creature that could charitably be called a vampire. Needless to say, they had killed her interest. More insultingly, said books happened to have the same name as her, forming an unwanted connection. Thus she had spent much of her life trying to distance herself from the subject as much as possible. And here were two of her closest friends just begging her to be a vampire for them. Finally, she sighed and nodded. “Okay, but please promise I won't sparkle.” “Relax, Twilight,” said Lucian. “With your last name, we don’t need to do that.”