//------------------------------// // III - Seeking Her Champion // Story: The Night Mare's Nightmare Night Nightmare // by Corejo //------------------------------// Luna probably should have planned everything out better.  She had arrived in Ponyville expecting the streets to be empty.  Subtlety was on her mind.  Get in and get out.  What she hadn’t counted on were all the ponies pointing and shouting at her as she flew above.  The daylight didn’t hide her as well as the night, for obvious reasons.  That’s what she got for only travelling in the dark. How eager they seemed to speak with her, beckon her down to engage in chit-chat, as they called it.  Idle talk would not fit in her agenda.  She compromised with a smile and wave. First on the list, she had to find Pipsqueak.  Such a vivacious, young colt couldn’t be too hard to find, but the problem remained: she didn’t know where he lived.  And while Ponyville was no Manehattan or Canterlot, it still boasted an impressive number of houses, any of which could be his. She spotted the river that cut through town.  Nearby would be Pipsqueak’s friend’s home, if she remembered correctly.  A bank around to find her bearings with the river, and she spotted the house. The crunch of gravel welcomed her hooves like a long-lost friend.  The door’s frame washed full with magenta now that it stood in the light of the sun.  Off to the side of the house sat a trash can full of unopened and unfinished liquor bottles.  Smirking, Luna cleared her throat and knocked. “Sherry Surprise?” somepony inside shouted.  “Is that you?  You better not be playing hooky again!” The mother?  The little one was not home?  Luna grimaced as hooves clomped their way toward the door.  She hadn’t expected the mother. The magenta door opened, and a much more magenta mare met her gaze.  Indeed, it was the 'mommy juice' mare.  Luna flicked her eyes to the trash can, then back at her.  Act natural.  Hopefully she didn’t remember anything. Luna attempted a smile.  “Hello, dear citizen.  Is your daughter available?” The mare kept staring, wide eyed, her jaw working all sorts of motions.  She managed a sound not unlike a squealing hedgehog, and she promptly tumbled over backwards, tongue lolled, legs splayed in a most risque manner. Luna winced.  She remembered at least a small fraction, it seemed.  A push of a leg for dignity’s sake and Luna shut the door.  So yes.  School.  That was a daytime thing.  She had seen a school bell somewhere nearby.  Shouldn’t be hard to find.  She took flight. She found the school on the south side of Ponyville, its bell tower distinct among the buildings around it.  Luna remembered hearing it was run by a single mare: Cheerilee, which brought with it a slew of non-memories of her own.  Spit wads and whoopee cushions were apparently fears to harbor in the darkest recesses of the mind.  Luna sometimes wished life could be that simple for her. The doors of Ponyville Elementary seemed to have taken up the seasonal festivities.  Glitter-glue ghosts and patchwork pumpkins had been taped up beside macaroni monsters and feltwork frankenponies.  And bats.  But they were just plain, old paper bats.  They didn't even have googly eyes!  How come the bats never got any love? The others, though, smiled happy, bright-eyed smiles that Luna found positively cartoonish, and she couldn’t help but chuckle.  Yes, indeed, she would have her petition.  A clearing of the throat, and she knocked. Within, she heard what sounded like a mare quieting a group of foals, and hoofsteps grew louder.  The door opened, and Cheerilee cast a smile her way.  The smile was short lived, however, turning into the kind of face Staunch Ascetic had made the time she caught him in the romance section of the Canterlot Library. Clearly she was not on the list of expected ponies around here.  Nevertheless, Luna put on her best smile, hoping it didn’t come across fiendish, something her guards had once mentioned.  She strained harder not to look so. Cheerilee gave an exasperated chuckle.  “Princess Luna!  My... um, we weren’t expecting a visitor.”  She smiled sheepishly.  The classroom rumbled with the whispers of children. “Yes,” Luna said.  “I apologize for arriving unannounced.  But I have business with the little Pipsqueak.  Is he available?” “Pip?” “OoooOOOOooo,” Luna heard from the classroom.  Tiny hooves clip-clopped on the hardwood, and somepony else inside made kissy noises for some reason.  Cheerilee glowered toward the back of the room.  Pipsqueak hopped out from around the corner, smiling from ear to ear. “Princess Luna!”  Stars practically sparkled in his eyes.  “Is it really you?” “Yes, little Pipsqueak, it is me.”  Her voice bounced with a softness she herself rarely noticed.  Something about the little colt got to her the way no other pony did.  That wide-eyed wonder, like she was the greatest thing in the world to him. “Wow,” he said.  “What are you doing here?” Luna lifted her head high, taking on a regal pose worthy of her office.  “That, I’m afraid, little Pipsqueak, is confidential.  May we speak in private?”  She gestured around the corner.  He saluted and practically skipped toward the playground.  “I won’t be long,” Luna said to Cheerilee, who gave a tentative smile. “Um, is everything alright?” Cheerilee asked. “Yes, Miss Cheerilee.  I need but only a word with him.”  She turned to follow him out back. Pipsqueak was bouncing circles around a patch of dirt when she rounded the corner.  Luna smiled, ever amused by his excitement.  She took a seat and bid he calm down.  He plopped to the dirt.  “I have come on a very important errand, little Pipsqueak.” “What’s an errand?” “A… a mission.  Something that must be done, and is of utmost importance.” Pipsqueak edged closer.  “Well if you think it’s important, it must be the most important of all important things ever!” Luna held back a chuckle, keen on maintaining her air of urgency.  He really was too cute for his own good.  “Yes.  It is very important.  And it is something I cannot do alone.”  She straightened herself, closing her eyes, speaking from the heart.  “We come—” There was a noise at the window.  Luna glanced up at the windows lining Ponyville Elementary, and pressed against the glass were dozens of little snouts, each beneath a pair of curious eyes.  The foals jumped upon being spotted, and they scrambled to hide from view.  In the silence, somepony inside coughed. Luna let her gaze linger for a moment.  Anyway.  “We come seeking a champion,” she continued as if the interruption had never happened.  “A virtuous soul whose heart burns with a roaring fire to see Our wish fulfilled.  Who knows Nightmare Night is to be cherished as a reminder of life’s sacredness.  A champion who fears not litigation and laughs in the face of bureaucracy.  And that champion, little Pipsqueak, is thou.” Eagerness sharpened her smile to a finely pointed grin, but Pipsqueak seemed less than enthused.  “Um, Princess Luna?”  Pipsqueak looked up at her, concerned.  “My mother says I’m not to play with fire, or I’ll end up like Uncle Kaboom at last year’s fireworks competition.” “What happened to your Uncle Kaboom?” “He went kaboom.” Luna stared at him.  Something in the back of her mind told her to console the poor child for his loss, but another something wondered just where in the wide realm of Equestria he had gotten that in his mind.  It clicked, and Luna put her head in her hoof.  She was getting carried away with her old tongue again.  “‘Tis a metaphor, dear child.  Nothing more.  I will see to it you neither play with fire, nor go kaboom.” His face lit up.  “Oh, well in that case I’ll do it!  Whatever a litigimation is.”  He hopped up to all fours.  “Anything for you, Princess!” Luna smiled warmly.  “We—I knew I could count on you.”  She nuzzled him on the cheek. He blushed furiously, scratching at the dirt.  “What do I have to do?” “All you must do,” Luna said, “is tell every filly and colt you can that we cannot let Nightmare Night—” she paused to dig for a word better suited to his age, “—disappear.  Spread the word.  Have them implore, err, tell their parents to protest the P-B-WAY-F-C.  Nightmare Night must be saved.” He looked at her as any wonder-filled child would.  “Protest?  You mean you’re going to fight them?” Luna smiled.  “Not I, little Pipsqueak.  We.” “Wow!  You really must be the greatest princess who ever lived!” This time, Luna couldn’t contain herself.  She let out a laugh, happy for the first time since last night’s full moon.  “Can I trust you with this most urgent quest?” Pipsqueak snapped a salute worthy of her personal Guard.  “I won’t let you down, Princess!”  He raced for the door of Ponyville Elementary.  “Guys!  Guys!  You’ll never guess what Princess Luna said!” Luna blanked.  Well, she had expected a little more tact than that.  Oh well.  Her champion would perform valiantly, she had no doubt.  Word would spread, and if all went according to plan, every parent in Ponyville would back her.  She only needed one dissenting vote in the Layland to secure her victory. She rose from the grass, shaking away the stiffness in her legs.  Into the air she climbed, back for Canterlot Castle.  Her job here was done.   She had formed the snowball.  That night, she would roll it down the mountain.