It’s still night outside, even though a full hour has passed since the sun was supposed to rise. Our parents said that we shouldn’t worry. That everything’s going to be okay. That the Princess will be here to save us any second now. But I’m not blind. I may miss the point occasionally, and I may be a bit slow on the uptake sometimes, but even I can tell they’re just trying to make us feel better.
They’re even letting us have this sleepover at my place on such short notice, and the reason is obviously so that we won’t be too scared to go to sleep. But it isn’t working. Both Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara, despite how well they’re trying to hide it, are both too afraid to get any sleep.
I asked them if I could put my nightlight on, to which they told me that it was okay, but even that didn’t help them. And, to be honest, I’m scared too. How can I not be? The Princess hasn’t shown herself yet, and there’s some big, scary monster out there threatening to take our sun away from us. My hooves are shaking, my hairs are standing on end, and I’m taking long, steady breaths as I listen carefully for signs of Nightmare Moon.
I want to go downstairs and ask mommy if she and the other parents can come sleep with us, but… downstairs is pretty far. The light in the hall is out, so I’d have to walk through the dark until I find it. And, what if they’re not there? What if Nightmare Moon has taken them away, but missed us because she doesn’t know we’re up here?
No! I’ve got to be strong! Diamond’s too proud to admit that she’s afraid and will just refuse to leave the room, and Silver Spoon won’t leave Diamond’s side. I’ve got to do something to take our minds off of this whole thing… Something… Anything…
“I can’t get any sleep,” I say after taking some time to build up my courage. The sounds of me talking cut through the long silence up until now, and it feels weird. I think I even startled them a little bit. But, if I can do something to help them, then… “I-I was really excited… about today. So, I’m not tired at all…”
“… Yeah. Same here,” Diamond Tiara says, followed by a nod from Silver Spoon. “Seriously, what’s taking the Princess so long?”
Okay, here goes nothing. “Y-You know, I’ve got some board games in my closet. M-Maybe we could play until we fall asleep?”
The room falls silent again, and a few minutes pass without any answer. Well, since I didn’t hear a ‘no’, I decide to get up and move over to the closet. Quietly, of course. If Nightmare Moon is looking for us, I can’t make too much noise, or she’ll find us…
The floorboards creak, and I stop dead in an instant, holding my breath as I stare straight ahead. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon have also stopped breathing. There’s a shadow in the light of my nightlight ahead of me. And it’s moving, shifting side to side.
Please don’t come in here… I-I have to hide, so that Nightmare Moon will think there’s nopony here, and then move on. But, I’m telling my leg to move, and it’s not doing anything. Same for my other legs.
Oh my gosh… She’s banging against the window. She’s trying to get in. I have to hold my breath. I have to avoid making any noise. Try as I might, a tiny whimper escape my mouth the light flickers momentarily. The shadow is still there, and it is still banging on the window.
But, why hasn’t she attacked us yet? Maybe, she hasn’t noticed us? Should I dare to look behind me? If I see her, she might see me, too. But, not knowing is driving me crazy. I have to know. I have to turn around.
Slowly, quietly, I turn my head around to look over my shoulder. And Nightmare Moon… isn’t there. I breath a sigh of relief, as I find that what was making that noise was actually just a tree branch shaking in the wind. Nightmare Moon hasn’t come for us yet. I guess we’re safe.
I make it over to the closet safely, and open it up to look inside. Let’s see… Monopony might appeal to them, being rich, and the daughters of successful business ponies and all. But, I was never very good at it myself… Ker-plunk? Loud. Very loud. Mousetrap? Oh, wait. I think I lost a few pieces for that a few years ago.
Hm? What’s this? Mum’s old costume box? Oooh. Isn’t it neat when you’re looking for something, and then come across something from your past like this? Like finding a treasure chest! I never actually used any of these before. I always bought my Nightmare Night costumes from Carousal Boutique. I wonder what could be in here?
Stupid daddy! Why did you leave me up here with these two? They’re only fillies! What if Nightmare Moon shows up? What are they going to do? It’s so dark in here. I can’t see anythi- What was that?! Oh. It’s just Silver Spoon breathing. Stop that, Silver Spoon!
I wish I could see. At least then I’d know if Nightmare Moon was in the room with us or not.
… I also wish daddy didn’t leave us here all on our own. Why should I have to ask for him to stay here to watch over us? He’s my daddy, he’s supposed to protect me at times like this!
“Hey guys, do you mind if I put my nightlight on?” Alula asks. She has a nightlight?! Why didn’t she say something earlier?! Whatever, I’ll just tell her it’s okay…
… But, if I speak too loudly, Nightmare Moon might know that I’m here. And then she’ll come to eat my soul. But, if I say nothing, it’ll stay dark, and I won’t be able to see anything, and then I won’t know if Nightmare Moon’s about to eat my soul or not.
I… I have to say something… “I-I guess it can’t be helped,” I whisper without turning my head. “Go on, just t-try not to make too much noise. I-I’m trying to sleep over here.”
It’s still dark. I can hear faint shuffling sounds behind me. I told her to be quiet! After about a minute of her shuffling around, I hear a click, and then the room suddenly lights up a bit.
Okay, so now it’s bright enough to see my own hoof in front of me. But still, Nightmare Moon could be out there. We have to be quiet… Breath slowly, and quietly… Don’t roll around in the sleeping bag…
“I can’t get any sleep.” Alula! Quiet! “I-I was really excited… about today. So, I’m not tired at all…”
… W-Well, it doesn’t seem like Nightmare Moon has found us yet. I think It’s safe to talk… “… Yeah. Same here. Seriously, what’s taking the Princess so long?”
“Y-You know, I’ve got some board games in my closet. M-Maybe we could play until we fall asleep?”
Games? I’m too tired to play games right now. But, she’s right. I can’t go to sleep right now. I… guess we could play a bit to pass the time. But, what if we’re too loud, and Nightmare Moon finds us? What if we’re too distracted by the game, and she sneaks up on us? What if-
The floorboard creaks. And I suddenly hold my breath. As does Silver Spoon. W-What was that? Was it Nightmare Moon? Alula? Our parents? My imagination? I… I want to check, but, I can’t move. My body feels like it’s frozen solid.
I-I can’t hold my breath any longer. I need to breath. Slowly. Quietly.
“Hey guys!” Alula? What’s she doing? Nightmare Moon will hear her! “Check it out!”
“Hey guys! Check it out!” The two remain still in their sleeping bags. Maybe I shouldn’t be doing this, but… I want to do whatever I can to help them feel better. “Guys, we don’t have to worry about Nightmare Moon anymore!”
The two suddenly gasp and sit up straight. “R-Really?!” Silver Spoon asks, turning around to look out of the window. The happy look on her face dies down instantly when she sees that it’s still night outside. “Wait… y-you lied to us…”
“No I didn’t,” I tell her, drawing her attention back towards me. Both she and Diamond Tiara look at me with strange looks… and I can’t blame them, since I’m wearing a fake horn prop on my head, and wearing a tiara that I found in my mum’s costume box. “You don’t have to worry about her anymore, ‘cause there’s a new Princess in town!”
“… Uh, what?” Diamond asks, tilting her head and looking at me like I’m a crazy pony. But, she doesn’t seem as afraid now, so I guess it’s working… even if not how I intended it to.
“That’s right! Princess Celestia may not be here, but Princess E… E-ro-ra…”
Silver Spoon raises an eyebrow. “Aurora?” she asked me. She always was better at pronouncing big words than everypony else in our class.
“That’s right! Princess Erroria!” … I didn’t pronounce it right, did I? Darn it! I’m being such a dork in front of Diamond! “I-I mean, Princess Er-Error… ia…” Argh! Why can’t I say it right?!”
“Pft!” Did Diamond just laugh? Or rather, she held back a laugh. And, she’s smiling.
Okay, it’s working. I’ll just work with it. “That’s right! Princess Erroria! Here to bring forth the light on Princess Celestia’s behalf!” I flare my wings for dramatic effect. “Nightmare Moon shall not harm us as long as I am here!”
“And, what exactly can you do against somepony like that?” Silver Spoon asks. She always has to be a party pooper, doesn’t she? With her logic, and her reasoning.
“Well, I, er…” I turn around and run over to the costume box. C’mon, there has to be something in here that I can use… “Aha! Look! I’ve got this!” I pull out a small wooden sword with my teeth and run back over to them. “That’s where you come in, Knight Silver Spoon!” I tap the sword against both of her shoulders, and watch as her face lights up.
“M-Me? Knight to a Princess?” she asks. I give the sword to her, and she stands up and raises it up high. She looks pretty happy. That’s one down, and now for Diamond.
“B-But she’s right,” Diamond says. “There’s no way two fillies can defeat Nightmare Moon…”
Now what do I do? I’ve already played the knight card, and the only other thing I found in that chest was…
“… That’s exactly what Nightmare Moon would say!” I shout as I toss the black cape from inside the chest at Diamond Tiara. Oh, I hope this works! “You’ve been here all along, just waiting for us to go to sleep! But I’ve seen through your disguise, and now, you’re gonna get it!”
I run towards Diamond, who is looking pretty confused at my sudden outburst, and grab the pillow from Silver Spoon’s sleeping bag on the way. Then, I throw it at Diamond’s face. The pillow falls, and she simply stares at me with wide eyes.
… Did it… work?
“That’s exactly what Nightmare Moon would say!” Alula shouts as she throws something towards me. What is it? A cape? Why did she-
Before I can finish the thought, she yells something about a disguise, and then throws something else at me. Something soft, and fluffy. I can’t tell what it is, because it’s covering my eyes. When the object falls, and I can see again, I can see that it’s a pillow. Silver Spoon’s pillow, to be precise.
Why did she throw this at me? And what was all that about a disguise? Okay, let’s just think about this for a second. Alula’s crazy, but not this crazy… I don’t think.
A black cape… Princess Erroria and Knight Silver Spoon… Defeating Nightmare Moon…
“S-So! Have you had enough yet, Mare in the Moon?” she says as she takes a step towards me.
Oooh. Now I get it. She’s pretending that I’m Nightmare Moon! This must be one of those silly games she was talking about earlier. I’m way too mature for something like this. To be running around, playing make-believe and having pillow-fights. But… Silver Spoon’s smiling right now. She seems happy.
… W-Well, as the more mature pony here, I suppose I should play along, since these two are obviously scared out of their minds over this whole Nightmare Moon thing.
“So, you’ve learned the truth,” I say as I throw the cape elegantly around my body. “That’s right, Princess! I, Nightmare Moon, have posed this filly’s body! And there is nothing that you can do to stop me!”
Diamond Tiara struggles to put the cape over her body. She looks so cute, fumbling around with that fabric and trying not to lose her temper with it. I should probably help her, but the urge to just watch this go on is too strong to resist.
“That’s right, Princess!” she says as she finally gets the cape on. “I, Nightmare Moon, have posed this filly’s body! And there is nothing that you can do to stop me!”
“First, it’s ‘possessed’,” the egghead Silver Spoon says. “Second of all, she’s not fighting alone! I will defeat you, and take back my friend!” Good! They’re both getting into it! And, actually, so am I.
“That’s right, Nightmare Moon! The power of love and… uh… other stuff, will defeat you!”
“Oh? And what can you hope to do against me, little filly?” she asks. Man, she does the ‘evil tyrant’ voice very well.
“This!” I shout as I throw another pillow into her face. This time, she grabs the pillow and growls at me… I hope I didn’t make her mad…
“How dare you?! Take this!” she throws the pillow back at me, but I dodge it easily enough. “How about, two blasts of dark magic?!”
She throws two pillows at me this time, and while I manage to dodge one, the other one manages to hit me. “Gah! Knight Silver Spoon, defend me!”
“Take this you foul demon!” Silver Spoon shouts as she throws her sleeping bag over Diamond.
“You think that that will stop me?!” Diamond shouts as she flails about underneath the sleeping bag. By the time she throws it off, Silver Spoon is already waiting for her, and tackles her onto my bed behind her.
“No, but this will!” Silver Spoon begins to rub her hooves back and forth along Diamond’s sides, sending her into a fit of laughter as she kicks her legs in every direction.
She’s tickling my fillyfriend! T-This isn’t fair! If anypony should be tickling her, it should be me! Should I stop her? But, they seem to be enjoying themselves… and, how do I do that, without ending our game and sending us back to sitting in darkness, unable to slee-
Wait… Outside, it’s… “Knight Silver Spoon, stop!” Silver Spoon does stop, and turns to look at me, along with Diamond Tiara. “Look, outside! It’s the sun!”
“Hey, you’re right!” Silver Spoon shouts as she jumps off of the bed, and runs over towards the window. Diamond and I join her, and indeed, there are ponies running outside, looking at the beautiful sun rising up into the sky.
“That must mean… we did it!” I announce as I pull my Diamond into a big hug. “We saved you! We defeated the evil Nightmare Moon!” I release Diamond and turn around to leave the room. “C’mon! Let’s go tell our parents!”
The sun is up! The sun is rising above Ponyville! That means that Princess Celestia has defeated Nightmare Moon! We’re safe! We’re not going to be eaten! We’re-
GAH! A-Alula! Let go of me! Why do you always do this?! I know you’re excited, but you only ever do this to me, and never to Silver Spoon! Why is it always just me?!
“We saved you! We defeated the evil Nightmare Moon!” We didn’t do anything! … But, at least, that little game was able to distract me from my lack of sleep. So, I guess it wasn’t a totally stupid plan, after all. “C’mon! Let’s go tell our parents!”
“Wai-” It’s too late. She’s already out of the room. “Geez. Where does she get all that energy? Stupid athletes…”
“Hey, look,” Silver Spoon says, pointing at something outside the window. “It’s the Princess!”
“No way! Where?” True enough, Princess Celestia was riding into town… but, who’s that beside her? She looks like… “N-Nightmare Moon?!”
“N-No way! It can’t be! Why would Nightmare Moon be… A-Anyway, maybe it’s just somepony who looks like her. Look, she’s not attacking anypony. See?”
Well, I guess that’s true, but…
“Hey, you guys!” Alula calls out as she re-enters the room. “C’mon! Let’s go give our cookies to the Princess!”
“Oh yeah!” Silver Spoon says. “I totally forgot about those!”
“Well, we did work hard on them,” I say as I walk towards the bedroom door. “It would be rude of her not to taste them.”
“Uh, sure,” Alula says. “Then, let’s go, while she’s still accepting offerings!”
Before I can say anything, Alula is already off. “Hey, wait!” I shout as I chase after her, with Silver Spoon tagging alongside me. “S-Stop… running… stupid… athlete!”
Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my GOSH! This, is, awesome! The Princess, is eating our cookies! And, she likes them! And, she approves them! And, she’s smiling at us!
Oh, this is truly, truly amazing! The only thing that would make this better is if I could marry Diamond Tiara right here and now!
“These are very well made,” the Princess says as she approaches me. “But then, that should be expected of a Princess, I think.”
Huh? W-What is she-
“Alula!” Silver Spoon whispers to me. “The horn! Lose the horn!”
Oh! I forgot I was still wearing that! I quickly yank it off, and bow to the Princess, to apologise for offending her. “I-I’m so sorry, Princess! I didn’t mean any offence! We were playing, and, I forgot about the horn, and I-”
“It is quite alright, child,” the Princess says, raising my head with her hoof beneath my chin. “Tell me, what are your names?”
“A-Alula, Your Highness.”
“D-D-Diamond Tiara,” Diamond says, bowing as she introduces herself. Silver Spoon stutters for a few moments. It doesn’t seem as though she’s going to get past the first syllable. “… And Silver Spoon.”
The Princess smiles at the three of us, and I suddenly feel a lot more relaxed. And, from the looks on their faces, so do Diamond and Silver Spoon.
“These cookies, were clearly the product of much hard work, but also of the harmony between three very close friends.” Oh my gosh! I swear my face is turning red! The Princess just complimented us, in front of all of these ponies!
“Y-Your words are wasted on us,” I say, as I’ve read in the storybooks before.
“Not at all. You three exhibit traits that are very important when forming a strong friendship. You are loyal towards each other…” She looks at Silver Spoon as she says that, “You have fun together…” She looks at Diamond for a moment, and then her eyes move over to me, “And, though you have your own ways of showing it, you are kind-hearted young fillies, who care for each other when it matters.”
No way… The Princess, really thinks so highly of us? “Y-You can tell that, just from our cookies?” Diamond asks, a hint of scepticism in her voice. I have to admit, I don’t quite buy it either.
“Not just from your cookies. I am… quite a good judge of character. I have lived for a thousand years, after all.” Oh. I guess that makes sense. The Princess leans down towards me, and whispers: “Young love is never easy, but I wish you the best of luck.”
Okay, now my face is definitely red! “H-H-H-H-H-”
The Princess leans back up, smiles once more at us, and then moves on to the next group of foals to offer her something.
“Hey.” Alula doesn’t respond, so I try poking her. She then turns to face me… Why is her face so red? “What did she say to you, huh? And how come she only said something special to you, and not to us?”
There’s a moment of silence, where she doesn’t say or do anything. How dare she ignore me like that?! And she has the nerve to call me her friend?! Not that it’s true anyway, but still, if you’re going to pretend, you should at least do it well!
Suddenly, she jumps forward, wraps her forelegs around me, and starts laughing like a maniac. “W-What are you doing?! Let go!” Oh great! And now my daddy’s laughing at me! I try to push her off of me, but she’s too strong!
She eventually lets go of her own accord, and laughs once more as she faces me. “She wished us good luck!” she says, before turning around and running over to her mother.
Silver Spoon walks up to my side and fixes my tiara, which was knocked to the side momentarily during the hug. “Honestly, why does she always do that to me? And she doesn’t ever attack you like that.”
“You really don’t know?” Silver asks, giving me a questioning look. ‘Know’? Know what? Is there something I’m not being told here? She sighs and shakes her head. “Well, I’m sure you’ll catch on sooner or later,” she says in a mumbled voice, before walking over to her own parents.
I watch as she leaves, and as my daddy walks towards me. “Catch on to what?” I asks, but receive no reply. Instead, the three of us say our goodbyes as we go our separate ways. It’s way past our bedtimes, so our parents want to get us to our homes and into our beds as quickly as possible.
Well, whatever. I’m sure it’s just another one of Alula’s crazy habits, like taking random photos of me when we’re hanging out, or offering to share ice-creams or milkshakes, or offering to feed me during lunch. That’s it. That’s all there is to it. She’s crazy, and I’m just the unfortunate victim of her insanity.
Phew, that’s a load of my mind. I think, now that I’ve got that mystery solved, I can finally get some sleep now. In fact, I could probably fall asleep right here, on daddy’s back. Pft. Yeah right, if I was a kid, maybe. But I’m not a kid anymo-