The town square of Ponyville was currently in a festive mood. Most of the buildings had been covered with various humorous and scary decorations. In addition, there were all sorts of activities for ponies of all ages. Lucian in particular was taking note of the many ways he could enjoy himself at the party, trying to decide what would be the most worthwhile option.
“Yo, Lucian! come over and boogie out!”
Lucian's thoughts were interrupted by Pinkie Pie, who was currently moving her body in some of the most bizarre ways Lucian would never have believed possible in a pony. Many other ponies were also staring at her, trying to figure out just what she was doing. Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, was merely rolling on the ground, laughing harder than anypony.
“Pinkie! You are so random!” said Rainbow as she rolled on the floor laughing.
“I know!” said Pinkie Pie. “That makes it fun!”
Lucian rolled his eyes, and then walked over to Pinkie Pie. Nervously, he began to move his hooves awkwardly. Dancing was not among the many subjects he had studied in Canterlot. Rainbow watched his inexperienced dancing, laughing as several other ponies began to either laugh or groan.
“I think you students of Celestia ought to take dance classes!”
“Oh, yeah?” said Twilight. “Like you can do any better!”
Delighted by the challenge, Rainbow jumped in between Pinkie and Lucian and stood on her back hooves. She then began to move her body in short, rapid movements; first, her left front hoof, then her right front hoof, then her head.
“Oh! The robot! She's good!” said the Doctor.
“Well, yeah, better than Lucian, I guess,” said Twilight.
“Don't worry, Twilight, I'm pretty sure you can dance as well as anypony if you work hard,” said Spike, doing his best to encourage her.
Twilight groaned, then took a moment to look around at the various ponies. In addition to her friends, there were several other ponies, dressed in various other disguises; some he recalled seeing at some point during the previous Nightmare Night festival, and others who he didn't. The two ponies playing music caught her interest. One was a gray earth pony wearing a wolf-pony costume similar to Lucian's, and the second a white unicorn with a vampire costume similar to hers. In the lavender unicorn's mind, the unicorn, widely known as DJ-Pon3, made sense, given that she lived here in Ponyville, while the earth pony, Octavia, really shouldn't have any reason to come to the humble little town. Before she could ponder the matter further, however, the music stopped, and a different pony appeared on the stage.
“Hello everypony! I'd like to thank you all for coming to this year's Nightmare Night festival!”
The mayor of Ponyville laughed in her most evil voice as the celebrating ponies gathered around the stage. Unlike the comedic clown costume she had worn the previous year, she was now wearing an intimidating changeling costume. The insectoid body armor and wings, as well as the fangs and horn, and even the color of her green-dyed mane and enchanted green eyes all worked to give her an air of malevolence.
“Now, that works a whole lot better than that stupid rainbow wig,” said Spike.
“I hope the little ones have been very busy gathering candy, because it's time to hear the story of Nightmare Mooooooon!” she said, punctuating her speech with an evil laugh.
“Not bad,” said Lucian. “She sounds too elderly to be a threat, though.”
“Says the guy who waited a thousand years to plunge Equestria into eternal night,” Twilight said in a quiet voice that nopony else could hear.
The royal stallion responded by lightly punching her shoulder.
“And now, to present the story of Nightmare Moon, give a warm welcome to tonight’s storyteller, Rarity!”
The mayor smiled raised a hoof to present a trial of enchanted darkness, from which emerged a black unicorn who was wearing a pair of fake wings, blue body armor, and a fake moon cutie mark. In addition, her mane was dyed a dark blue, and her eyes were coated with purple eyeliner. However, her distinctive hair style, as well as her glee at being in the spotlight, made it quite easy to recognize her.
“Wow, Rarity really outdid herself with that costume of hers,” said Twilight.
“I know!” said Spike. “I mean, Nightmare Moon is terrifying, but she makes her look... so beautiful.”
Twilight giggled at her lovestruck assistant, then turned back towards her current house guest.
“I hope you don't mind having to listen to this, Lucian. I know you don't exactly like to listen to this kind of thing.”
“It’s okay, Twilight. I understand that it's all in good fun.”
The two ponies smiled at each other, then turned back towards the stage.
“Hello everypony!” said Rarity. “We're sorry that Zecora was unable to come to the festivities. We do hope she enjoys her journey to her homeland and brings back lots of stories for us!”
The other ponies cheered in agreement. Even if their favorite Zebra was away for the Nightmare Night festivities, they could still enjoy the show, especially if one of their most beloved fashion designers was presenting it.
“I hope you enjoy a tale of fright, on this most glorious Nightmare Night!”
“Beware! Beware you pony folk! This tale of terror is no joke! Nightmare Moon comes every year, to gobble you up, so you must fear!”
As she stood in front of the statue of Nightmare Moon, Rarity turned back towards the crowd that had gathered. They seemed quite amazed by how perfectly she emulated the rhyming style of Zecora, and she was feeling quite pleased with herself.
“If you are found by Nightmare Moon, you will disappear very soon! So therefore, you must wear a disguise, so she won't see you from the skies! And remember, if you do not try to disappear, she will devour you, as she does to ponies every year!”
At this, the excited unicorn cackled madly, and used her magic to create an illusory Nightmare Moon, which proceeded to chase several little fillies and colts away; Dinky screamed and held on to her mother, who nudged her gently with one hoof, as if to reassure her and tell her that there was no real danger.
“And most importantly, if you wish for her to leave you in peace, you must give her some candy, so that she may feast! For if her belly is not full by the end of the night, she will hunt you down, and you will never again see light!”
Once again, the black-colored unicorn gave a round of maniacal laughter as the illusory alicorn chased them around before disappearing. Immediately, several young ponies, and even a few older ones, ran to the statue and left a large amount of candy. One small earth pony colt in a ninja suit, however, hesitated before leaving his candy.
“Excuse me, miss Rarity?”
Rarity turned to face the young colt.
“Why, hello Pipsqueak!” said Rarity. “Is something wrong?”
“Well, Princess Luna was here last year, and she didn't seem to like being reminded of being Nightmare Moon. So why should we still give candy to her?”
“Well, while it's true that Princess Luna is no longer Nightmare Moon, there is no telling whether or not Nightmare Moon is truly gone. Some say that part of Luna's transformation was brought upon her by dark magic, and who knows? That darkness may still lurk, hidden in plain sight, in this very place... on this very night!”
As several little fillies and colts ran away screaming, Rarity giggled to herself. Even though the foals were all running in fear, she knew that, deep down, they knew it was all in good fun. And she couldn’t help but feel the tiniest bit amused by the way she could make ponies scatter just by shouting out a few words.
Had she noticed the strange shadow lurking just beyond the statue, she would have been far less inclined to laugh.
“I kind of miss Princess Luna.”
The lunar prince sighed as he looked towards the little colt dressed in a ninja suit. If he hadn't heard his name, he probably wouldn't have recognized him. He still remembered how, the previous year, during Luna's visit, he had been the first pony other than Twilight to offer his friendship to her, even going so far as to tell her that she was his favorite princess. His encouragement had made Luna happy, as she had never believed that anypony would love her more than Celestia.
Now, here he was, so close to the little earth pony who had changed his life, and yet his gender and identity had been completely changed, so he was unable to make him realize that he was the same as the princess who came to Ponyville a year prior.
“Did you say something about Luna, kid?”
Pipsqueak looked up at Lucian.
“Oh, it’s nothing really important,” he said quickly. “It’s just that Luna came here last year, and I wanted her to be here this year too.”
“Really?” asked Lucian. “What was that like?”
Pipsqueak’s face brightened up at the chance to share his story with somepony else.
“She tried to make friends, but then she almost canceled Nightmare Night because everypony was scared of her. So when I saw her, I went to tell her that I appreciated her and thought she was the best princess ever. And then, she decided not to cancel the holiday after all, and she even stayed around to have some fun! I wish she could come back.”
“Well, it sounds like you saved Nightmare Night, kiddo.”
The young colt immediately brightened up.
“You really think so?”
“Of course,” said Lucian. “If you hadn't been brave enough to go out and offer her your love, then she probably would have gone ahead and canceled Nightmare Night, and we wouldn't even be talking here and now, would we?”
Pipsqueak nodded excitedly, and then began bouncing along the road.
“I saved Nightmare Night! I saved Nightmare Night! I saved Nightmare Night!”
He then stopped. His head hung itself low, and his ears went droopy.
“But she's still not here,” he said dejectedly.
The prince of the night saw the little ninja pony's sadness, and patted him on the back.
“Hey, don't feel so glum,” he said reasurringly. “Just because you don't see her doesn't mean she's not here.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well,” Lucian said as he rolled his eyes, trying to sound innocent. “I honestly don't see why she'd want to miss out on the Nightmare Night festivities. She may have gone to another town, or maybe she stayed in Canterlot. Equestria is vast, and there's no telling where she wishes to be. But even if she’s not in Ponyville, she'll never truly leave you. She's a princess, so she watches over all of Equestria, keeping everypony safe. Who knows, she may be watching you right now, and you might not even notice.”
Lucian smiled as Pipsqueak's face developed a wide smile. He then began to bounce up and down, giggling at the idea of the princess of the night watching over her.
“Hey Princess Luna! Happy Nightmare Niiiiiight!!!”
Everypony went silent as the young colt screamed at the top of his lungs.
“If you can hear me, I miss you a lot! Please come to Ponyville soon! I love yooooou!!!”
Several ponies groaned, but Pipsqueak just giggled. Lucian did to for a few seconds, as he thought about how he would react if he had been on his balcony listening.
“So, you enjoying the party so far?”
Lucian had almost managed to catch an apple when Rainbow Dash interrupted him. He lifted his head towards her, slightly annoyed.
“I might have enjoyed it a bit more if a certain pegasus dressed as Daring Do hadn't interrupted me when I was trying to grab that one apple!”
“Oh, really?” Rainbow asked teasingly. “Why don't you just magic it to come closer, or whatever?”
“Isn't that cheating?”
“Maybe,” said Rainbow. “But that way you could protect yourself from the joke apples Pinkie and I put into the water.”
The lunar prince quickly pulled his head out of the tub, hoping that he hadn't accidentally triggered any booby traps. Rainbow, on the other hand, fell over, giggling.
“Aw man, that was priceless! I mean, if you'd bitten one of those apples, it would have been so funny, but that was just as good!”
“Wh- what exactly is in those joke apples, anyway?” asked Lucian.
“Aw, not much,” said Rainbow. “Oh! Here comes somepony! Hide!”
Before the royal blue stallion could respond, Rainbow Dash dragged him into a bush, as a pair of familiar faces arrived at the apple tub.
“Dude, I honestly don't think Princess Luna's gonna show any interest in you,” said Spike. “I mean you're cute and all, but you're, what? Two? And she's at least a thousand, and probably a lot more. I'm pretty sure there's a law that says you can't date her.”
“You're younger than Rarity, and you're still chasing her, aren't you?”
Spike couldn't help but blush as Pipsqueak giggled.
“Well, she's a princess! And she moves the moon! I don't know how you're ever gonna get her to notice you, since you're just a common earth pony!”
“I know I'm not big or strong,” said Pipsqueak. “But I was the first to ever show her kindness when she came back! Wouldn't she remember and cherish that for a long time?”
“I don't know, man. I'm pretty sure Twilight did that first.”
“Yeah, but she can't marry Twilight, can she?”
At this comment, Spike went silent, his eyes wide. The little white earth pony, on the other hand began to laugh.
“I knew it!” Pipsqueak said triumphantly. “You don't know how to answer to that! So, I win!”
“Well, yeah, I guess.”
“All right then! I can keep writing poems and making drawing about her and hoping!”
The young ninja-pony then proceeded to pull out a large green apple from the apple tub and hold it in a triumphant stance. Said apple promptly exploded, leaving him coated with rainbow paint.
“Wow,” said Spike. “I thought ninjas were supposed to, I don’t know, blend in?”
He giggled as he picked out an apple with his claws, only for it to explode into a cloud of pink cake batter.
“And I never knew Can Helsing was defeated by a cake batter monster!” laughed Pipsqueak.
“Did somepony say ‘cake batter’?”
Before anypony could figure out where the sound had come from, Pinkie Pie had hopped up to Spike and licked all the batter off in one lick.
“Eew!” said Spike. “Pinkie Pie! That's disgusting!”
“No it's not, it's cake batter!” said Pinkie. “So, you enjoy those joke apples?”
“You made those?” asked Pipsqueak in surprise.
“Well, duh! Who else?” said Pinkie. “Well, me and Rainbow Dash. I wonder where she is.”
Meanwhile, in a nearby bush, a certain pony in a Daring Do costume and her wolf-pony dressed companion were laughing their flanks off.
“Rainbow, that was amazing!” said Lucian once the two had calmed down a bit. “You sure are good at pranking ponies!”
“Thanks! But the truth is, Pinkie Pie's the one who does most of it,” said Rainbow. “Truth be told, I wouldn't be half the prankster I am now if it weren't for her. Anyway, what about you?”
“Well, I'm not much of a prankster,” said Lucian. “However, I did once meet a pony who enjoyed pulling pranks on other ponies, one of which struck me at a rather inopportune moment.”
“Really?” asked Rainbow, oblivious to the fact that he was talking about her. “What did you do about that?”
“I gave her a dose of her own medicine.”
The two ponies gave another round of chuckles, before Rainbow decided to change the subject.
“So, what do you think about that kid, Pipsqueak?”
“Well, he seems to be a nice kid,” said Lucian, doing his best to appear casual. “So, is it true that he was the first one to open up to Princess Luna?”
“Well, if you don't count Twilight, then yeah, he was,” Rainbow said with a shrug. “Before that she was angry about the fact that nopony liked her, so she tried to cancel Nightmare Night. Then squirt here comes along and tells her that she's his favorite princess ever, and suddenly she's happy again. Apparently, he has the idea that this means he's destined to be her knight in shining armor or something.”
“Well, he's a kid, so he can afford to let his imagination go crazy,” said Lucian.
“I know! That part about Luna marrying Twilight was so funny!”
The lunar prince's smile vanished almost instantly, and his left eye began to twitch. The rainbow-maned mare's eyebrow quickly rose as she tilted her head, trying to figure out why her companion was suddenly acting so strange.
“Are you all right, Lucian?”
“Uh... I'm doing perfectly!” Lucian said awkwardly. “Why wouldn't I?”
“Because you just had a mental image of Luna and Twilight making out?”
Lucian facehoofed while Rainbow fell over in her laughter. While happy that she hadn't noticed the real reason for his awkwardness, he still had to deal with the implications of romance, something he had not considered for a long time. The fact that he was an alicorn meant that he was doomed to outlive any friends and love interests, and so he had made an effort to not fall in love with anypony else.
This was not to say that he had no interest in other ponies; before his unwitting gender-flip, she had often found himself observing several stallions. Some were nobles, some were dignitaries, and some were common ponies. And, although she would never admit it, she had been quite fond of the Captain of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor, before discovering that he was deeply in love with Princess Cadance, Luna's niece.
And there was him...
He shook his head, bringing himself back to the present. Rainbow Dash was currently looking out at the apple tub, hoping to catch some more unwitting victims. Being so close to her was beginning to feel awkward; ever since his unwitting gender swap, his interests seemed to have changed, as he had noticed whenever he thought of how cute Twilight was. Rainbow, on the other hoof, was not exactly “cute” by his standards, but she was fairly attractive in her own way. And she was a big fan of Daring Do, which was made all the more obvious by her costume of choice.
I have to stop thinking about these mares, he thought to himself.
“So, what's on your mind?”
Lucian gasped in shock at Rainbow's sudden question.
“Oh, well, uh,” he muttered in confusion.
“What?” she said. “Was it me?”
“No!” he almost shouted, just barely catching himself from revealing his hiding place. “I mean, maybe a bit?”
The athletic pegasus smirked at him.
“Oh, I see. Were you worried about being caught in a bush with a girl?”
Lucian's royal blue face began to go red. This was going very differently than what he would have wished.
“Uh, yes? I mean, no! I mean, what I'm trying to say...”
“Don't worry,” said Rainbow Dash. “I'm just fooling around.”
The prince of the moon sighed in relief, glad that any interest the rainbow-maned pegasus may have had in him was purely humorous.
“Although, you are kind of cute.”
...Or not.
Twilight walked slowly to the library's door, her mind and body exhausted after a full night of collecting candy and watching ponies scare each other. She had managed to impress and even scare several ponies with her own costume, which she was pleasantly surprised by. What hadn't been so pleasant, however, was the fact that more than a few ponies had mentioned... those infernal books. She had thus made a mental note of mailing the author a copy of TvTropes: The Book. Hopefully, she'd learn a thing or two about writing. Or become so lost in its magnificence that she'd never write again. By now, the frustrated unicorn honestly didn't care which.
“Hey, Twilight, how's it going?”
Twilight turned away from the door to the Golden Oaks library to look at Lucian. He seemed nervous for some reason.
“All right, although I got several comments about my costume,” Twilight growled. “What about you?”
“Pretty good, until Rainbow Dash started acting weird.”
“Weird, how?”
Before Lucian could say anything, however, Spike walked up to them.
“Hey guys! Guess what? Pinkie Pie totally pranked me and Pipsqueak with some funny apples! And then we went off to Sugarcube Corner for some sweets! Pip and Pinkie got big chocolate cupcakes, and I got a rock. I was angry at first, but then it turned out that the rock was full of all sorts of tasty gems! I still would've enjoyed a cupcake, though.”
The tension that had been hanging in the air a mere minute ago dissipated, the two ponies awaiting his arrival laughed out loud. Spike shrugged, and then asked if they didn't want to go out for some more fun.
“I think we've had enough fun for one night,” said Twilight, yawning a bit as she did so.
“Some sleep would definitely aid me right about now,” Lucian said in agreement.
“Aw, but there's still a lot of stuff we could do! I mean, it’s freaking nightmare night! It only comes once a year! So why not?”
The answer came in a most unexpected way; at the very moment Spike finished, both the hands on the nearest clock tower lined up, causing the midnight bell to chime. At that moment, all of the temporary enchantments Lucian had placed on the baby dragon's disguise dissipated simultaneously; the coat grew back to its original size, the pants deteriorated to their former age, the boots accumulated several years' worth of muck, the hat and collar returned to their original colors, the moon tag became faded, and the toy crossbow lost its silver coloring.
Spike blushed intensely as he stood before his two pony friends in what must have been the most ridiculous costume ever. Meanwhile, Lucian and Twilight simply laughed.
“On second thought, I vote for calling it a night!” he said quickly, immediately bolting into the tree house.
Lucian chuckled as he shook his head. He then remembered something important.
“Wait! Shouldn't we go out and say goodbye to Derpy and her family?”
At that moment, a gray and brown blur landed in front of the two ponies, leaving an impact crater in the ground. To their delight, it was a gray mare wearing a bunch of paper bags.
“Please don’t tell me that you were going to leave without saying goodbye, now were you?”
“Of course not!” laughed Lucian as he stretched out his hooves and hugged Derpy. She seemed taken by surprise, but smiled and accepted the embrace regardless.
“I hope you're not trying to steal my mare now, Lucian. That would be quite rude, you know.”
The prince of the night let go in embarrassment as the Doctor and Dinky walked up to them. Twilight and Derpy chuckled, while Dinky trotted up to her mother.
“How was my little muffin's Nightmare Night?” asked Derpy.
“It was fun, mom!” Dinky said happily. “Especially when I chunked that pumpkin.”
The two giggled and embraced each other, eliciting a number of “awws” from the surrounding ponies. Even so, watching the happy mother and foal play together, Lucian couldn't help but feel sorry for them.
“I can't help but wonder what it would have been like if you'd been able to afford a bit more than paper bags,” he said sadly, observing Derpy's haphazardly-applied 'costume.'
“Yes, I suppose so,” said the Doctor. “But we're all together, and that's what counts.
Lucian and Twilight smiled as they observed the happy family and their resilience and determination; the Doctor and Derpy were determined to give everything they could for their 'little muffin,' and they would let nothing stand in their way.
“Well, it was fun to spend the night together,” said the Doctor. “However, it's probably past any of our bedtimes, so we might as well get going.”
“Tomorrow we'll need lots of strength to fight the forces of laziness around Ponyville.”
Everypony else laughed at Derpy's comment, with the exception of Dinky, who merely climbed onto her mother's back and snuggled in. Her mother gave her a loving look, and then looked towards her beloved, who nodded and shook the hooves of his friends.
“We had a great time, Lucian, Twilight. We should get together sometime soon!”
“I agree,” said Lucian.
“We'll have to fit it into our schedule, though,” said Twilight. “But I'm sure we'll manage.”
The Doctor and Derpy trotted away, carrying their child back home. Lucian and Twilight waved at them until they were almost out of view, and then turned to each other.
“Well, that was fun,” Lucian said with a yawn.
“Saying goodbye or Nightmare Night?”
Lucian paused for a minute, now entirely sure which it was. After a moment, however, he simply said “yes.” The two ponies laughed as they made their way into the library.
Neither of them noticed a shadow slowly moving not too far away from them. It, however, had most certainly noticed them.