Waking Night
by Crowmagnon
We ponies, as a whole, are creatures who derive security and comfort from the familiar. For that very reason, we must strive to expand the boundaries of what is known and familiar to us. I say this not merely so that we may enrich ourselves with new ideas and experiences, but to give context to that which is already known. It may well be that the comfortingly familiar hides unimaginable secrets that we have not even begun to explore.
-- From the journals of Moonshine, protegè of Princess Celestia circa 97AE (After Eclipse)
Twilight Sparkle, no longer in uniform, wandered down the streets of her home city and struggled to decide what she would do with her holiday.
At present, her course took her from the "Noble Quarter", the quite literal upper strata of Canterlot which housed captains of industry and the political elite, into "Lower Canterlot". If the Noble Quarter represented the shining crown of the city, then Lower Canterlot was its heart, lungs, and other necessary organs.
Lower Canterlot was where the vast majority of the city's ponies lived and worked. While virtually everypony in Equestria's capital enjoyed a high standard of living, the tower-like manors and mini-palaces of the truly elite gave way to the more crowded metropolitan structures housing those ponies whose labors gave Canterlot life.
Up above, the opulent mansions and high-end businesses which catered exclusively to ponies for whom price was no object all carried themselves with the same stuffy dignity that they held to year-round. Oh, sure, you would find imagery of the night sky everywhere in honor of the lost Princess Luna, but the buildings and ponies themselves preferred to be adorned in little, if any, public decoration associated with the holiday.
In actuality, the true celebrations would be held in private masquerades with just enough exposure to the public that everypony would know who the ponies everypony should know were. It was widely rumored that bizarre happenings occurred behind those closed doors, ranging from night-long orgies to eldritch rituals intended to summon demonic horrors of primal chaos.
It was Twilight's personal belief that most of these rumors were fabricated by the hosts of these parties themselves, in order to make their soirées seem more exciting and taboo than they actually were. Granted, as the daughter of a mere bureaucrat and a novelist, she had never actually attended one of these parties, but her first year in the Guard had given her the "opportunity" to provide security at the Grand Galloping Gala. The only interesting thing to happen all that night was when an inebriated Trixie had accidentally melted half of a massive ice sculpture depicting Princess Celestia in the prime of her youth.
The end result was a ballroom ankle-deep in frigid water, a herd of wealthy snobs complaining about their wet hooves and dresses, and Princess Celestia gently lecturing her student on the value of moderation while struggling to keep a straight face in the shadow of her own disembodied hindquarters.
By comparison, Lower Canterlot grew more open with their celebration the farther down the mountain one went. Shops and homes gradually transitioned from minimalist decoration in an attempt to imitate their neighbors in the Noble Quarter to streets that were decorated so ostentatiously that it was as if everypony was in a competition to see who could create the most gaudily eye-catching display. In fact, the houses along Bedazzle Boulevard were doing exactly that, according to a large banner hanging between two street lamps.
Most years, Twilight would have taken a moment to appreciate the differences in festive philosophies between the have-somes and have-lots found within the same city. Perhaps she would have paid a visit to the Canterlot Library during her free hours to explore the historical, cultural and psychological basis behind the contrasts. After all, "to protect the city, you must know the city as you know your self" was a saying that her favorite instructor had been fond of.
This year, though, rather than take an interest in the celebration, Twilight's mind was occupied with thinking of ways to keep her self away from such parties. Well, one in particular.
"Maybe I should just go," she muttered to herself as she walked down the street, paying no heed to the occasional odd look that she drew by talking to herself in public. "I mean, yeah, they're really more friends-of-a-friend, but Moondancer still went to the trouble of inviting me. What's the worst that could happen?"
Moondancer takes my arrival as a sign that I've changed my mind about going on a date, and it gets so awkward that I can't say no. We try it out, we have a good time, and things start to seem like they're working out. Then I end up getting killed in action while on a mission. Moondancer swears vengeance upon an unfair universe and secretly develops megaspells so destructive that the entire realm of Harmonia is reduced to a smoldering wasteland where the few survivors are either mutated abominations or murderous bandits.
"Okay, that is not likely, and... and really conceited." With a roll of her eyes, Twilight bitterly asked herself, "Why do you hate me, brain?"
I make awkward small talk all night, pretending that I remember anything about them besides their names even though the only reason I was ever part of their group at all was because we were classmates who all gravitated around Trixie, and I haven't said more than five sentences to any of them since I enlisted because I thought it was more important to focus on my training than to be a good friend.
Twilight's ears drooped. "Yeah... that one's a lot more realistic." Finding herself at one of the many lookout spots scattered throughout the city, she decided to stop for a bit and walk over to lean on the guard rail.
From this viewpoint, she looked over toward the palace. In a quirk of city planning which could only occur on the side of a mountain, the royal palace was situated at the edge of the Noble Quarter, allowing it to hang out over Lower Canterlot. As a result, while the wealthiest citizens had the most direct access to the palace itself, Princess Celestia could easily observe or address the capital's working class ponies who dwelt directly beneath.
Twilight propped her head up with a hoof and looked down at the open square beneath the palace. The elite could have their private masquerades, but the biggest party in the whole city would be taking place directly under the princess's nose. Even the Royal Hedge Maze, located beneath the palace to make it more accessible to the citizens and tourists visiting Lower Canterlot, was covered in tarps while the parties that had rented it out for the holiday converted it into a Waking Night attraction placed right next to the throngs of reveling ponies that would soon be filling the square.
There are a lot of possibilities for mischief down there, her brain told her. So many anonymous costumed ponies with Princess Celestia directly above them, and only a hoof-ful of Guards protecting her. It probably wouldn't hurt if I mingled with the crowd, just to keep an eye on things. Yeah, just enjoying the party with everypony else, and making sure nothing-- Wait, who's that?
"That" was a pony creeping around behind the Hedge Maze, looking around furtively to ensure nopony followed them. They wore a hooded cloak, making it impossible for Twilight to make out their tribe or cutie mark from such a distance, but she had the impression that they were a mare based on their build.
Suspicions aroused, Twilight climbed up over the railing and carefully made her way to the edge for a better look. The hooded mare opened up a loose flap in the tarps, and slipped into the Hedge Maze while she watched, so Twilight started to gather the magic she would need to teleport down to the level below.
"Don'tDoItThere'sSoMuchToLiveFor!" That was what Twilight heard, right before a yellow and pink cannonball struck her from behind, knocking the wind out of her lungs as she was sent tumbling over the edge. Careening end over end with another pony's legs clinging to her, Twilight saw a bright flash before everything went dark.
-----
Two minutes prior...
At the same time that Twilight was making her way down to Lower Canterlot, drawing dubious glances from ponies who were very careful to avoid eye contact, another pony cheerfully pranced upward with a dance in her heart, a song in her step, and a pair of goats helping her carry a large crate full of Waking Night decorations up the incline leading to the Noble Quarter.
When one of the goats bleated at her, Fluttershy looked back over her shoulder and replied, "Because they're so high up the mountain, silly Billy! Once we bring all these decorations up for them, they'll say, 'Good show, Fluttershy! It's just such a bother bringing the appropriate decor all the way up here! Now we can get into the Waking Night spirit!'"
Fluttershy looked ahead again and began humming to herself as she skipped along, using her wings to give her a little bit of extra bounce with each step. The goats rolled their eyes, but continued pulling without complaint until their employer suddenly gasped and stopped short, causing them to bump into her from behind. When the second goat bleated in annoyance, Fluttershy pointed up the road to a purple unicorn mare with a short-cropped mane was climbing over the guard rail.
"That doesn't look safe! Does that look safe? Oh dear, what's she doing?"
Ignorant of Fluttershy's concern over her actions, the unicorn stepped right up to the edge and looked down to the ground below with what looked, To Fluttershy, like growing determination.
The next thing she knew, Fluttershy was flapping her wings as hard as she could, shooting up the road, shouting, "Don'tDoItThere'sSoMuchToLiveFor!" She tackled the other mare, forgetting for the moment that Neighton's Third Law still applied. As an object in motion, she continued to be in motion, and the direction of that inertia happened to send both her and the unicorn tumbling over the edge of the cliff.
There was a bright flash. Then darkness.
-----
Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes, though she had to blink a few times when all she saw at first was a dark gloom. Her vision very gradually adjusted to the dim light, though, allowing her to see that she was surrounded by shadowy creatures with glowing eyes!
Feeling the unicorn held in her forelegs, she reflexively let out an "eep" and clung more tightly, causing said unicorn to wheeze and gasp when the air was pushed out of her lungs.
"Will you let go?" The unicorn gruffly pushed her back with her elbow to make her let go. Once she was out of Fluttershy's grip, she brushed herself off and started to look around. That was when she, too, saw the eyes glaring at her from the gloom and reflexively reared back into the pegasus. "Wha...? Where are we?!"
"Oh no," Fluttershy whimpered when she realized. "We're in the hedge maze! No, I don't want to look!" She clenched her eyes shut tightly and clung to the unicorn, who used a light spell to illuminate their surroundings with the glow of her horn. Sure enough, the "eyes" were simply firefly lanterns with patterns cut out of the coverings placed over them.
"Okay. I was able to teleport us down safely before we hit terminal velocity, but now I have no idea where I am in the maze, let alone which way that hooded mare went." The unicorn looked this way and that before taking a look at Fluttershy with her horn light illuminating her. "Wait... you're Fluttershy Will, aren't you? The motivational speaker?"
Fluttershy cracked one eye open and smiled up at the other mare. "Oh? You've heard of me?"
The confused unicorn replied, "Well... yeah, you and your husband have ads pasted up all over Lower Canterlot. I've seen some of your books at the store, too... but what the hay are you scared of? You're the ones who've been setting this whole thing up, so you know it's all fake, right?"
Fluttershy pouted at that and moaned, "I dooooo, that's the problem! Will and the goats worked so hard to set everything up, I want to be surprised like everypony else is going to be when they go through it. How will I know we did a good job if my head is full of spoilers?"
The unicorn raised an eyebrow at that before shaking her head so that she could get back on track. "Okay... forget I asked. Look, my name is Twilight Sparkle, and I'm an officer in the Royal Guard. Before you tackled me, I spotted a hooded pony acting suspiciously and sneaking into the maze here. Does that sound like one of your workers?"
Fluttershy shook her head. "No... no, not at all! Our goat friends have been doing all of the work, and the pony we have playing Princess Luna isn't supposed to come by until later."
"Then you have a trespasser, and I have no way of knowing how to get to them," Twilight somberly replied. "If I could just get out of here and find my way to the west corner, maybe I can try to track them, but there's no telling how long it'll take to--"
"Oh, you want to start at the west corner?" In an instant, Fluttershy sprang to her hooves and fluttered her wings to hover above the ground as she pointed a hoof down the way. "It's just that way, two lefts, a right, a left, a straightaway, and another left! Does that help?"
Twilight blinked. Several times. "Wait. How...?"
"Oh, I just like mazes," Fluttershy replied modestly. "My husband's a minotaur. It's kind of their 'thing'. Besides, I had to study the layout when I was planning everything out, so I know where we are."
Twilight's left eye twitched as she scrunched her face up, trying to reconcile several thoughts that had begun chasing each other in circles in her brain. "Wait, you designed all of this? So... but... spoilers?"
Fluttershy gasped and brought her hooves up to her mouth in horror. "Oh my gosh, you're right! That must be why the hooded pony's here! To get a sneak peek at the maze and ruin it for everypony!" With a flap of her wings, she started flying down the twisty arboreal paths.
"That... doesn't even make sense," Twilight muttered to herself.
No, her brain agreed, but the farther ahead the crazy mare gets, the higher the chance that she'll fly straight into the path of a suspicious pony of unknown motives and capabilities.
"Horseapples," she grumbled before taking to her hooves and chasing after the pegasus.
-----
After two lefts, a right, a reflexive blasting of a mechanical cockatrice that had popped out and startled Twilight, followed by a sheepishly whispered apology and another left, Twilight had caught up to Fluttershy and was keeping an eye out for signs of the intruder.
And to be honest, somepony trying to sneak a free preview before Waking Night kicks off is the most likely explanation, Twilight thought to herself. Probably a teenage dare. Maybe some petty theft or vandalism, but thanks to that cockatrice, there's a good chance I've already done more damage than the mystery pony will.
Still, as a member of the Royal Guard, it was her duty to investigate. It was difficult to look for a trail when their very surroundings were designed to draw attention, though. After leaving the stretch of glowing eyes, their course had led them through a section which was set up to look as though they were walking down the street of a town as drawn by a foal. Now the walls and floor of the hedge maze had been covered and made to look like an ancient temple straight out of a Daring Doo novel.
Suddenly, Fluttershy dropped down to the ground and threw out a hoof to stop Twilight. "Hold it... a trail," she whispered excitedly.
Twilight leaned down to inspect the ground alongside Fluttershy. After a moment's inspection, she groaned and brought a hoof up to rub between her eyes. "Fluttershy... that's part of the floor covering. It's painted on," she whispered, regarding the "drag marks" leading off to the right.
"Oh, I know. I came up with it. It's supposed to be a clue to help lead ponies through the maze to Princess Luna's secret resting place," Fluttershy whispered with pride in her voice before clapping her hooves over her mouth. "Oh no! Forget I said that!"
"That's... that's just... not the worst reasoning I've heard, actually," Twilight admitted. Whatever the hooded pony is up to, it would make sense for them to navigate using visual cues, and I don't have any better ideas.
With the unicorn taking the lead, they continued onward until Twilight's ears pricked up, catching the sound of voices around a corner where the narrow labyrinth opened up into a circular area staged to look like an open-air temple, the tarp above painted a deep blue with stars and moons hanging overhead. She immediately shut off the glow of her horn so that she could creep up and peer around the corner to eavesdrop.
"--thinks I'm in Prance, so this'd bettah not be a false alarm."
Fluttershy started to gasp at the sight of not one, but two ponies standing in the center of the maze, but Twilight quickly put a hoof over her mouth to muffle her. Both of the ponies were mares, from what she could see, with one being of average height and build while the other was quite noticably taller and more long-legged. Both hid their identities under hooded cloaks.
After getting a quick look at them, Twilight slowly released Fluttershy's muzzle and told her, "Be very quiet, and don't do anything unless I say so, okay?" When the pegasus nodded in understanding, she turned to watch the intruders again. To her chagrin, Fluttershy elected to join her, practically laying on top of her as they both peered around the corner.
The less-leggy of the two mares looked up at her taller companion and replied, "I wish it was. Celestia's sake, I wish it was, but the signs are all here, and that stupid Shining Armor won't... Never mind. Did you bring it or not?!"
The taller mare bent down until she was eye-to-eye with the other. "Have you been cryin'? Okay, yeah, I got it." Something moved beneath the tall mare's cloak, and when it came into view, Twilight stopped breathing for several seconds at the sight of a golden dagger wrapped in a pink aura of magic.
"Moonshadow's Fang! That's Moonshadow's Fang," Twilight hissed into Fluttershy's ear once she started breathing again.
Feeling Twilight's body tense up in horror, Fluttershy whispered, "What's a Moonshadow?"
Twilight narrowed her eyes as she watched the aura holding the dagger shift in hue as it was passed from one to the other. "A vampony. The vampony! She had the Fang forged to use as a weapon against Princess Celestia two hundred years ago, but she got beaten for good before she could use it. It should be locked up in the most secure vault in Equestria!"
Fluttershy gasped. "Oh my gosh, that's horrible! What are we going to do?"
"You stay out of sight," Twilight replied authoritatively. "This is my job, and I can handle it."
"Are you su--" Fluttershy started to ask, but with a flash of magic, Twilight vanished out from under her. This left the pegasus hanging in the air, and she fell to the floor before she could think to use her wings. When she landed, she let out a noise like a squeaky stress ball, which got the attention of the two unicorns.
"What was that?! A mouse?" The mare who had just taken the Fang clutched it close in her magic.
In reply, the taller one snapped, "Ain't no mice that heavy, ya mook! Somepony followed ya! Cheese it!" Both of them sprang to life and started to run in the opposite direction from the noise, only to smack against the wall of lavender magic that formed in front of them the instant that they were going too quickly to stop themselves.
While they were dazed, the "wall" wrapped around and over them, forming a dome to entrap the pair of criminals. Once they were secure within the force field, Twilight stepped out into view from a path across the way from Fluttershy, who could only watch with starry-eyed wonder at how quickly and efficiently the trespassers had been dealt with.
Focusing on the hooded duo, Twilight approached them with a stern glare. "My name is Lt. Sparkle of the Royal Guard, and by the authority vested in me, you two are under arrest for the theft of an extremely dangerous magical artifact! Now who are you, and what were you planning to do with Moonshadow's Fang?"
The taller of the two mares said nothing at all, but the other one one asked in a distraught, panicked voice, "Twilight, what are you doing here?! Y-you don't know what's going on!"
Twilight suddenly stopped in her tracks. "Did you just call me Twilight?" Her eyes widened in surprise as realized, to her shock, that not only did the mare recognize her, but Twilight recognized the hooded pony's voice. The conspirators had been speaking in hushed tones before, but Twilight quickly realized that the other mare sounded exactly like somepony very, very familiar to her. "Wait... Tri--?!"
Before she could even finish the name, the hooded mare started focusing magic into Moonshadow's Fang. The golden dagger instantly began to glow with a bright, hot light which grew to blinding levels while Twilight's mind was still reeling.
There was a flash of eyeball-searing solar energy, and Twilight could feel her force field vanish like a soap bubble in a fireplace moments before a solid buck struck her in the side, knocking the wind out of her lungs and robbing her of her balance. She could hear two sets of hooves galloping away, but couldn't make out which direction they were going.
While she lay there gasping on the ground, slowly getting her breath back and waiting for the spots to fade from her vision, she heard Fluttershy call out, "Twilight! Lt. Sparkle! Are you okay?!"
She groaned out something weak and unintelligible in response, but her mind silently asked, No, I'm not okay. My best friend just sucker-bucked me and made off with a weapon designed to kill the princess. Trixie... what the hay are you doing?!