//------------------------------// // Chapter 31- Nightmare Night // Story: Of Flame and Shadow // by Garuda IV //------------------------------// Nearly a week had passed since the gang returned to Ponyville and Dark had found his costume for Nightmare Night. But, although he knew what he wanted, the tricky part was getting the materials needed for it. While some temporary dye for his coat and mane were provided by Rarity, and the cloth for his wrists and pants were easy to get, the bigger problems were the horns, and the weapons. He didn't worry about the eye color since Twilight had taught him a spell to temporarily change them after she saw what exactly he and Spike were talking about. So then, that left him with the last two. While Dark did have an armory of weapons, he never heard of or made any warglaives, so he didn't have any. The closest he did have were some curved swords that were never used since everypony liked using spears. With an idea, Dark flew over to Ghastly Gorge, found some rocks and a sturdy stick from a tree branch, created a makeshift hammer, and began reworking the swords. It was a simple enough change when he thought about it. All he had to do was just heat up two of the sword hilts and forge them into one piece, thus making the two curved swords into a makeshift warglaive. Of course, he made sure to keep both blades turned in the same direction, less he make a different type of weapon entirely. It took some time, but with the makeshift forge station, he managed to create his project... mostly. What was unique about this weapon was that each grip was covered by a shield, which again, he didn't have any of, and he couldn't make any because he didn't have the materials to make or even properly shape one. Then again, this was just for show, so it didn't have to be an exact replica. So, instead of making it metal, Dark had a different idea. With a quick trip to Sweet Apple Acres, he found Big Mac. Dark remembered the Apples saying that he did some carpentry, so perhaps he would be able to help Dark out this time. Thankfully for him, Big Mac seemed up to it and said that he would try and have it done in a few days. Now, while he did say that it would take a few days, he wasn't specific about how many, so it wasn't until the day before Nightmare Night that he was done and had them painted. In return for Big Mac doing this for him, Dark agreed to help with the family's corn maze. And he had to admit that even though he helped work on it, it did seem like fun, especially with all of the decorations and other stuff that they put in it. Although, they did kick him out a few times so that he wouldn't see everything that the maze would have in it. With that done, all Dark needed left was his horns. While Twilight had taught him a spell to change the color of his eyes temporarily, what she didn't teach him was the spell that could change his horn. Or in this case, change it to the two curved horns that his character had, which she told him that she would do before they went out on Nightmare Night. It was now the evening of Nightmare Night as Dark stood in his old bedroom in the castle, finishing up getting his costume set. He'd already gotten his coat and mane dyed, including the green runes on his chest and arms, which he had to do by claw, styled his mane back like Killidan's, wrapped his forearms in the cloth and put on his pants, had Twilight change his horn into two horns that jutted out from the sides of his forehead out ahead of him before curving back, and finally, changed his eyes to an eerie green. Everything with his costume was just right... that is, except for the eyeband that he also wore over his eyes. Reaching into his Shadow Storage, Dark pulled out a familiar black strip of cloth. "Didn't think that I'd ever use this again," he said to himself, remembering when he first put it on after his first fight with Shining. Shaking his head free from those memories, Dark put on the eyeband, causing his green eyes go start glowing through the black cloth. Looking into a mirror, Dark was pleased to see that he looked rather close to what his character did, minus his draconic tail. With a satisfied nod, he looked over to the desk that he laid his twinblades on and levitated them over beside his. With another look in the mirror, he saw that his magical aura also changed green as well. Feeling as though his costume was complete, Dark strapped the twinblades onto his back and made his way out of the room to meet up with Twilight and Spike. Down in the lounge, Twilight and Spike were waiting for Dark. They had made plans to head on out at 5:45 P.M., and it was currently 5:30 P.M. As he said that he would, Spike was dressed as a dragon with purple scales and green spines, but what has different this time were the two dummy heads sitting on either side of Spike's own head. While he was sitting on the couch with his costume, Twilight was pacing around in a Sailor Luna costume that she'd made herself. Which, besides the white clothes, included the wand and tiara. "What's taking him so long?" Twilight wondered out loud. "Calm down, Twilight," Spike told her, "we still have another fifteen minutes before we need to head on out." "I know, but we're both done already." "Yeah, but Dark had all of that dyeing to do, which is why he started early on it so he wouldn't accidentally make us late." "I know," she sighed. "Guess that I'm just a bit anxious to get tonight started." "Yeah, me too," Spike agreed before Twilight resumed her pacing, unaware that Dark was just on the other side of the door listening in. Smiling at their eagerness, Dark was about to push open the door and join them when a different idea came to mind. He remembered reading Spike's comic to understand his character a little bit better, and with a grin, he Shadow Melded. Thanks to his training sessions with Nocturne, Dark was now able to sneak through any cracks no matter how small, just as long as they were in the shadows, allowing him to sneak into the lounge without being detected. "Relax," Spike told Twilight, "if you keep this up, you'll start to wear out the carpet even more than you already have." Looking down to her hooves, Twilight saw that the carpet was indeed being worn down where she'd been walking. "Oops, sorry about that," she meekly apologized. "So, how do you think his costume will turn out?" "Well, he seemed to have everything that he needed for it, so it should be alright." "Well I don't know about you, but I can't wait to see it." Smiling, Twilight gave him a nod before noticing a black fog coming out of the middle of the lounge and spreading across the floor. Jumping up on the couch, Twilight and Spike began looking around at it until eventually the entire room became engulfed in a veil of dark mist, leaving little light to see. "What is that?!" Spike shouted. "Looks like the same black mist that Dark uses," Twilight observed. "Not that," he said before grabbing Twilight's head and pointing it in front of him. "That!" Squinting her eyes to see better, Twilight was just barely able to make out a pair of glowing green eyes staring back at them. Jumping back against the backrest of the couch out of surprise, she and Spike continued to look worryingly at it. A few seconds later, green runes on its chest and the weapons in it's claws began to glow through the black mist. As the mist began to clear away, showing the outline of the bipedal creature concealed in it, it spread its wings out and shot off the ground up into the air and hovered. "You are not prepared!" When the black fog faded enough, Twilight and Spike could see that it was Dark in his Killidan costume. While Spike was looking at him with eyes wide in surprise of how well it turned out, Twilight gave him an amused smile with an eye-roll. "Dude! You look great!" Spike cheered. "Thanks," Dark returned, landing down on all fours and holding his warglaives in his magic and rubbing Spike's head. "Don't forget, though, that you're the one who gave me this idea with that comic book." "Yeah." "So... you're really going out to Nightmare Night as a dragon?" "Not just a dragon, but a three-headed dragon." "So I see," he chuckled before looking over to Twilight. "And you're looking rather cute tonight, Twilight. Who are you going as?" "T-Thank you," Twilight said with a blush. "I'm going out to Nightmare Night as Sailor Luna." "Who now?" "She's the main character of this story of a school filly who's fighting evil while also trying to go out with this cute colt who attends her school." "So," Dark began saying as he slowly made his way over to her, "you're a heroine who fights bad guys?" "Yep." "So then, since my character is suppose to be a bad guy, and yours is good, then what are you going to do to me?" A sly smirk formed on Twilight's lips. "I will punish you." "Oh, really?" he questioned with a throaty growl, their muzzles nearly touching each other. "You would challenge me, Sailor Luna?" "You're evil, and I must stop you." "You, my dear, are not prepared." "Oh for the love of Celestia, can you two stop with the flirting?" Spike groaned, causing the two to turn to him. "If you two keep this up, we'll be late with meeting up with the others at Sugarcube Corner." With a slight groan of annoyance, Dark and Twilight separated and began to follow Spike out of the castle. It wasn't until a few minutes had passed in silence that it was broken. "Hey, Dark," Spike began, closing the castle door behind them as the full moon shined down upon them, "how are you making those swords glow green like that?" "I used some of that glow-in-the-dark dye Rarity gave me on them," he answered. "It's actually working better than I thought it would." "That's cool." "By the way, Twilight, why did you teach me a spell to change my eye color, but not my horn?" "Because," she began to explain, "you would probably use it to scare Blueblood or something like that." "... meh, I suppose you're right," he shrugged. "So anyway, you said that you and the other girls had already made plans for costumes for Nightmare Night, right?" "Yep," she answered. "Then does this mean that the rest of them are wearing costumes like yours?" "Sorta. The others are going to be wearing the costumes of the other Sailor Lookouts." Dark cocked an eyebrow. "If so, then why did Rainbow agree to this? I'd thought that she wouldn't want anything to do with something like this." "You're right about that, but it was a group decision and she was the only one who voted against it." "Wait, you mean Applejack voted for it too?" "Yep. It was either this, or she'd go as the Tin Mare from the Witch of Oz." "Huh. I never would've guessed. But what about her family's corn maze?" "That's easy, Granny Smith and Big Mac are running it. Though, there isn't much to running it from what they told us. Mostly it's just welcoming ponies to it while Big Mac tries to scare everypony inside the maze." "Heh, sounds like fun." With an agreeing nod from Twilight, the three made their way through town to Sugarcube Corner. During their walk, they would pass up young fillies and colts running around with candy-filled bags, while others and some adults were playing games that had been set out to play. It didn't take them too much longer for them to finally reach their destination and open the door to see their friends there. This also included Sweetie Belle as a ballerina, Apple Bloom as a pirate, and Scootaloo as a werewolf. And while they were all there, Dark noticed that Fluttershy wasn't among them. But before he could ask where she was, Rainbow was already on him. "Whoa, dude!" Rainbow exclaimed. "That's an awesome costume you got!" "Thanks, Rainbow," Dark returned. "That wouldn't by chance be Killidan, the Traitor, would it?" Everyone looked to her in surprise. "You know who he's dressed up as?" Twilight disbelievingly asked. "Of course I do," she proudly said. "But I thought that you liked Daring Do?" "Don't get me wrong here. I still love Daring Do, but after reading each book like nine times over, I tried exploring new stories, and this one was one of the good ones that I found." "But it's a comic." "A minor detail," she dismissed. "Well, I must say that you look rather... how do I say this exactly?" Rarity wondered. "Ooh, ooh, let me guess," Pinkie suddenly spoke up. "Let's see here. How about spooky? Scary? Bad guy-ish? Oh, I know! How about a total bada-" "Pinkie!" Applejack exclaimed, covering her mouth with a hoof. "Watch what you're sayin' around our sisters." "What was she gonna say?" Apple Bloom wondered. "Nothin' y'all need ta hear until you're grown up." "Hey, can I hold one of those swords?" Scootaloo asked. "No way," Dark told her, "these things aren't to be played with." "You mean those things are real?" Twilight questioned. "They were the only things I had. I don't have any fakes with me." Twilight gave him a scolding look. "Dark, it's dangerous to bring real weapons out on Nightmare Night." "Sorry," he apologized. "I'll put them away if you want." "Yes, please." Listening to her, Dark dropped the two warglaives into the shadows below him and back in with the rest of his weapons. "Better." "So, back to your costume," Rainbow redirected. "Why'd you pick him?" "Saw him on the cover of one of Spike's comics and decided to go with it," Dark explained. "And a good pick too. If you ask me, when it comes to cool characters in general, Killidan takes the cake." "He took a cake?!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Why would he take somepony else's cake? That's not very nice of him." "It's an expression, Pinkie." "Oh, right. Well, never mind then." "Speaking of costumes..." Dark smirked, looking directly at Rainbow. "Tell anypony about this and you'll regret it," she warned. "Considering that you're going outside in that, I don't think that I'll have to." "Speakin' of which," Applejack began, "we should probably go on ahead and start the party huh, Pinkie?" "You bet!" she agreed. Looking around, Dark was reminded of a question that he never got to ask. "Hey, where's Fluttershy?" "The poor dear doesn't really care for Nightmare Night," Rarity began to explain, "so she stays inside her cottage with her animal friends until the night is over." "That's too bad. So then, what about Discord?" "Last I heard, he was going to be staying with her to keep her company," Pinkie piped up. "Suppose she would feel better if he was there with her." "Yeah, but enough talking," Rainbow said. "Let's get this party started already." "But what about us?" Scootaloo asked. "Yeah," Apple Bloom agreed. "Remember, y'all said that ya would take us out ta get candy." "And you won't let us go alone because of those timberwolves," Sweetie Belle reminded. "You're still worried about them?" Dark questioned. "Not to sound rude, Dark," Rarity began, "but despite us going on dangerous journeys, we're not as used to such dangers as what you are." "So we didn't want the girls ta go off on their own tonight," Applejack added with a sigh. "But Ah guess that we forgot about it with the party and everythin' else." "So you need somepony to watch over them," Dark summarized. "If they're ta go out, then yeah." "Okay, let's go then." "Are you sure about that?" Rarity asked. "It's no problem. Besides, it'll give me a chance to see all of the Nightmare Night decorations." "In that case, lets get going," Scootaloo eagerly said. "As Pinkie said; time is candy. And we've lost plenty of both." "Okay," Dark chuckled. "Hey, wait for me!" Spike told them. "I'm not gonna miss out on free candy." With the three fillies and Spike gathered around him, Dark began to lead them out into the streets to begin their candy hunting. With all of the young ones running about, he made sure to set some rules for them so that they wouldn't get split up, namely to stick together as a group. He would let them decide where to go, but were to not get far away from him. So, the four of them decided to start at the end of Ponyville and make their way down from there, which meant that their first stop would be the house of Ponyville's musicians. It was an odd house Dark had to admit, with how the house appeared to be split in half. Walking up the dirt path with them to the front door, Dark stood behind while the four kids knocked on the door. A few moments later, the door opened to Vinyl Scratch. "Nightmare Night, what a fright, give me something sweet to bite!" the four chanted "Hey, kids," Vinyl chuckled. "Nice costumes." She then used her magic and deposited a piece of candy into each of their bags. "So, where are your sisters at? I thought that they'd be here with you." "They're havin' a party with the rest of their friends," Apple Bloom answered. "Heh, bet it's gonna be sweet with Pinkie there," she said before looking up to Dark. "Whoa now, who's this?" "Hello, Miss Vinyl," Dark greeted. "My name is Dark Flame." "Oh, yeah, I remember now. You're the half-dragon, half-pony guy. Sweet costume by the way. Also, you can drop the miss." "Alright, and thanks." "So, you looking out for these kids tonight?" "Yep." "Well, I wish you luck then. From what I've heard, they can be quite a hoofful." "So I've heard," he chuckled. "Well, happy Nightmare Night, and see ya around." "Yep, latters, and happy Nightmare Night to you too." With a wave goodbye, they made their way over to the next house and continued down from there. After hitting a few dozen houses, they all looked down to see their bags already almost half-full. Jumping with excitement for their current haul, they were about to make their way to the next house when a voice called out to them "Hey, Crusaders!" Turning around, Dark saw a pink filly with a light-purple and white mane wearing a tiara, and a gray filly with a light-gray mane, wearing costumes of Princess Celestia and Luna respectively. "Hey!" Apple Bloom waved. "Y'all havin' a good night?" "Shaw, of course we are," the pink one haughtily answered before noticing Dark and cringing back. "What is that thing?!" "Hey, that's not very nice," Sweetie Belle chided. "And to answer your question, that's Dark," Scootaloo answered them. "W-What is h-he?" the gray one nervously asked. "Relax," Dark told them, "it's just my costume. By the way, who are you two?" "Oh, right," Apple Bloom began. "Dark, this is Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. They used ta be the school bullies, but we helped them turn themselves around." "'Use to'?" "Eeyup." "I'm still sorry about that," Diamond said. "You were being pressured by your mom," Sweetie Belle understandingly said. "so it couldn't have been all from you." "Well, maybe a little, but that still didn't give me the right." "Oh, just drop it already," Spike impatiently said. "Look, it happened, and now it's over. So let's just forget about it and continue getting ourselves some more candy." With a round of agreements, Dark followed the six to the next house and knocked on the door. When it opened, Dark saw a magenta earth pony with green eyes and a two-toned pink mane in a flower costume. "Hello, girls," she warmly said to them. "Hello, Miss Cheerilee," they all returned. "Hello again, Cheerilee," Dark greeted. "Hello," she happily returned to him. "And who might you be? It's rather hard to tell with your costume." "It's me, Dark." "Oh. Well, it's nice to see you again. I don't believe that I've seen or spoken to you since that one day after the attack on Ponyville." "Yeah, it's been a while." Cheerilee proceeded to give the kids their candy. "So, I take it that you're watching over the children tonight?" "Yep. The others are having a party of their own, so I decided to go on ahead and supervise them." "Well, that's very nice of you," she said as she finished giving out the candy. "You all have a wonderful Nightmare Night, and I'll see you kids at school next week." "Goodnight, Miss Cheerilee," the young ponies said in unison, "and thank you for the candy." With their business done, they moved onto the next house. About an hour and a half had passed before they cleared every house in Ponyville and were now heading over to the town square where Mayor Mare stood. Once enough ponies were gathered, she asked that those who'd collected candy to follow her and Zecora into the forest. Feeling slightly uneasy about letting a bunch of kids and two mares go into the forest alone like that, Dark decided to tag along, a gesture that the two adults willingly accepted. "It's good to have a little muscle," Zecora said to Dark as they lead the group of kids into the forest, "I can hear the forest's occupants bustle." "They're nothing to worry about," Dark told her. "I can see them, and right now they appear to just be curious as to what's going on is all. They don't seem to intend us any harm." "Probably from your eye's green glow, I'm sure that they would strike fear unto any foe." "Their only green for the costume. Other than that, they generally glow gold when I want them to." After another five minutes of walking, they finally came to a clearing in the forest with a lone statue in the center of it. Looking up to it, Dark saw that it was a statue of an alicorn, probably Nightmare Moon if his guess was correct. After all, she did have the armor. As Dark continued to stare at the statue, Zecora began speaking to the children there, telling them in rhyme about the history behind Nightmare Night and why they would give some of their candy to her. Of course, Dark had already heard this story, so he already knew about it and ignored it as he continued looking at the statue. A few moments later after a nice pile of sweets were laying at the base of the statues, he began to notice the statue was beginning to crack. "Citizens of Ponyville!" an ominous voice echoed throughout the clearing, causing Dark to start looking around for its source, "you were wise to bring this candy to me. I am pleased with this offering. So pleased that I may just eat it, instead of eating you!" Seeing something out from the corner of his eye, Dark turned around to see Nightmare Moon herself looking down upon them, eye glowing and teeth shimmering in the moonlight. Remembering the tales he heard from Twilight, Dark wondered how it was that she was here if she really was defeated. He was snapped out of his musing by the sound of the young ponies screaming, reminding him that they were in danger with her around. So, it was with that train of thought that Dark gave his wings a mighty flap, and tackled Nightmare Moon off the pedestal and into the forest. Once he felt like there was enough distance between them and the group of kids, he threw her off of him and reached his claws into his armory for his new warglaives. Pulling them out, Dark charged Nightmare Moon, swinging wildly to not give her a chance to retaliate. "Wait! Stop!" she cried, but was ignored by Dark. "I'm not who you think I am!" "You sure about that?" Dark questioned. "Because last I looked, you were Nightmare Moon. I thought that the stories behind Nightmare Night were a fake, but I see now that I was mistaken." Raising his warglaives, Dark was ready to charge Nightmare Moon again, but something caught his attention from his side. Giving a quick glance, he saw that it was Zecora running over to them and stopping herself between Dark and Nightmare Moon. "Enough of this madness!" Zecora exclaimed to Dark. "Don't you know that you're attacking Luna, Her Royal Highness?!" "Of course I know that Nightmare Moon is Princess Luna. She's like the evil half of her that was cleansed from her." "It is true," Nightmare Moon calmly said before she changed back into Luna and spit out a pair of fake fangs out of her mouth, "the Nightmare was cleansed from me by the elements." Dark blinked in confusion. "... wait... what? What's going on here?" "The year that I was freed by the elements, I came to Ponyville for Nightmare Night as a way to help integrate myself into modern times," Luna began to explain. "Needless to say that the ponies weren't very welcoming to me at first, as they all believed that I was still Nightmare Moon. I was having a hard time fitting in, but then Twilight Sparkle came and helped me try to fit in. Even that had proven difficult for me, but I eventually found a way to help the ponies by scaring them. It wasn't out of fear that I would scare them, but for the spirited fun of Nightmare Night. Ever since then, I would be there playing the part of Nightmare Moon." "... huh. So that stone statue was actually you all along playing possum?" "In a manner of speaking." "... oh, crap." "Excuse me?" Dark immediately dropped his weapons and bowed to the ground. "I'm sorry!" "Sorry for what?" Luna confusingly asked. "I'm sorry that I just up and attacked you like that." "Oh, that. While I admit that I wasn't expecting that, there was no harm done." Luna paused as a question came to mind. "Weren't you told about my involvement with this?" "Not until just now." Luna sighed. "Well then, that explains a lot." "Twilight and her friend will have some explaining to do, next time that they see you," Zecora rhymed with a smirk. "I guess," Dark said. "You think that they would remember to say something about that." "Anyway," Luna began, "now that we have rectified this misunderstanding, perhaps we should return to the children. I'm sure that they're confused and a little scared of what just happened." Returning his warglaives back to storage, the three made their way back to the clearing where they met up with the young ponies, Mayor Mare, and Spike. Upon arrival, the colts and fillies all ran up to them, asking about what was going on. With a quick explanation of some miscommunication, they quieted down and left the clearing to return back to Ponyville. Once they got back into town, Dark, Luna, Spike, and the Crusaders split from the others and made their way over to Sugarcube Corner to meet up with the others. It didn't take them long for them to arrive and see them playing Nightmare Night themed games. Hearing the bell over the door ring, Twilight turned to see them walking in. "Hello, Princess Luna," Twilight welcomed. "It's good to have you back. How's Nightmare Night been for you so far?" "Evening, Twilight Sparkle," Luna returned. "It has been rather entertaining and exciting." "Well, that's good to hear." "Because somepony didn't know that I was playing the roll of Nightmare Moon out in the clearing and attacked me." Twilight's eyes widened in shock. "What?! Who would do that?!" "Twilight?" Dark spoke with a raised eyebrow. "You should already know who." Twilight's jaw dropped in disbelief. "... you didn't." "He did," Luna answered. "I'm actually quite surprised that he attacked so quickly." "I'm sorry again, Princess," Dark apologized. "It's just-" "Combat reflexes, I know. I've had my fair share of those in the past before my banishment... and perhaps a few afterwards." Closing her mouth and shaking her head, Twilight walked up to Dark and gave him a bop on the head. "Oww! Twilight, what was that for?" he complained as he rubbed the sore spot. "For attacking Princess Luna, of course," she told him before turning to see Luna deadpan at her. "What?" Before she knew it, Twilight was bopped on the head too. "Oww! Princess, what was that for?" "He's not entirely at fault here," Luna told her. "Remember that nopony told him that it was actually me and not the real Nightmare Moon." "... I suppose so," Twilight sighed before turning to Dark. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you, and that I hit you on the head for it." "It's fine," Dark grumbled. "Though you could've been a bit more gentle. That really hurt." "You're a big colt, you can handle it. Besides, your regeneration will heal it." "Doesn't mean that it doesn't still hurt." "Alright, that's enough," Applejack intervened. "We better start headin' on over ta the maze before it gets too late." Following Applejack's lead, the others and Luna made their way over to her family's farm. Along the way, she looked down and noticed her sister's haul. "Looks like y'all had quite a successful night." "Sure did," Apple Bloom smiled. "Even met Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon along the way, and they joined us." Applejack remained silent as Rarity took over for her. "Those fillies," she began, "have they been nice to you three?" "Yep," Sweetie Belle answered. "Or, they're trying to at least. They're still trying to get used to acting nicer to ponies, and sometimes their old habits will pop back up, but it's nothing to worry about." "If you say so." "Trust us," Scootaloo said to them. "We've been helping them and we know what we're doing... for sure this time." "You know that that doesn't usually work, right?" Rainbow questioned. "I know, but it's the truth this time. Also, I still can't believe that you are wearing that for Nightmare Night." "It was a group vote and I got outvoted," she grumbled. "That's because the other costume choices that you wanted were the Mighty Morphin Pony Rangers, and the characters from the Demon May Cry series," Rarity said. "And while the first one might've been alright with, I will not allow myself to be associated with such a violent and brutal genre as the latter option. Although, I must say that I do like how sophisticated and suave that Dergil character can be. Even if he is a bit evil." "Pfft, you would. Personally, I like Vante much better with his twin crossbows and his sword. Not to mention his moves." "Of course you'd like him," Applejack chuckled, "he's almost as flashy and of a show-off as you are." "She's got you there, Rainbow," Pinkie said with a laugh. "... I'm sorry, but I have no idea who you girls are talking about," Dark chimed in. Pinkie sighed before wrapping a hoof around his shoulders. "Darky, Darky, Darky. You have so much yet to learn." "How about you, Princess Luna?" Spike wondered. "What about me?" Luna asked. "What costume would you want to wear if you could?" Luna thought about it as they continued down towards the maze. And after a few minutes of thinking, she found her answer. "If I had to choose, I would say Liana from Fellowship of Fables." "Hey," Rainbow spoke up, "doesn't she have a sister named, Deona?" "Yes, she does. And as it turns out, Liana worships the moon while Deona worships the sun." "That sounds rather similar to you and Princess Celestia," Sweetie Belle observed. Luna giggled slightly. "That they do, and I wouldn't be surprised if they somehow were based around my sister and I." They were about to start up on another topic when they came upon the maze entrance where Granny Smith was welcoming ponies in. Seeing the group coming closer, she waved them over. "Well, howdy there," she welcomed them, receiving a greeting of her own. "So, y'all ready for the maze?" "That we are, Mrs. Smith," Luna answered for them. "Ahh, Princess Luna. You'll have ta forgive me for not bowin' ta ya, due ta my old achy joints." "It's quite alright, Mrs. Smith." "Thank ya kindly, and feel free ta call me Granny Smith, or just Granny." "Very well, Granny Smith." "So then, everypony ready ta go in?" With a round of confirming sounds, Granny stood aside and let them in, but not before telling them that she had hidden bag of candy somewhere in the maze for anypony who could find it. As they continued walking through it and explore what it had to offer, they noticed some of the props from last year, being the dried, white painted sticks imitating bones, and the fake eyeballs dangling by strings inside a dark tunnel. Continuing through the maze, they eventually came across Big Mac in a zombie costume, trying to scare anypony passing by him. But while Spike and the Crusaders screamed at him, the others began to laugh at him in good fun, which soon led to him joining in too. They'd cleared most of the maze by this point, and by now, Dark was starting to dart his head from side-to-side, almost like he was expecting something. After continuing this after a few more minutes, Twilight became curious as to what was going on with him. "Something wrong, Dark?" "Hmm? Oh, it's nothing, just... looking around," he replied. "Uh-huh," she deadpanned. "Look, I'm not exactly allowed to talk about it." "Talk about what?" "He's talkin' about a little somethin' that he added ta the maze is all," Applejack answered. "And we asked him not ta tell anypony about it. Though I must agree with him, we haven't seen it yet." "Well, what is it exactly?" Seeing a shadow looming over them, they all turned around to see what it was. "That," Applejack calmly answered, pointing at shadow in the shape of a dragon standing almost as tall as the maze. "What is that?!" Twilight asked. "Just a new spell Nocturne taught me during my training sessions with him in Ghastly Gorge," Dark answered. "Apparently, I'm able to make clones of myself using my shadows." "Ohh, you mean like a Shadow Clone?" Pinkie asked. "... yeah, I guess so." "Is it gonna hurt us?" Sweetie Belle nervously asked, hiding behind Rarity. "Nah, it'll be fine, isn't that right?" Dark asked the shadow dragon, getting an affirming nod from it. "Whoa, that's sweet," Rainbow said. "So it's sentient?" Twilight questioned. "Yes it is, but it's also bound to me," he explained. "If I wanted to, I could order it to do something, like patrol the maze and scare the ponies inside it for example?" "How many can you make?" "Just one dragon right now. As for a kirin and pony version, I'd say about two, maybe three if I try and push for it." "Not bad," Luna commented as she looked it over. "A bit rough, but not too bad." "Thanks, Princess." "You're- what are those?" Looking in the direction of where Luna was pointing her hoof, everyone turned up to the sky to see a bunch of bats flying across Sweet Apple Acres. Instantly recognizing them, Applejack stomped a hoof with a snort. "Confound them bats!" "What's so wrong with them?" Luna questioned. "They seem like ordinary fruit bats to me." "Them varmins ain't just some fruit bats, they're vampire fruit bats." "... so what's the difference?" "The difference is that these ones suck the juices dry from any apple that they see, that's what!" "Alright, then why are they flying over your apple trees and ignoring them?" Applejack was about to retort, but as she continued to look up at the bats, she did indeed notice that none of them were flying down to eat her apples. Instead, they all seemed to be moving towards a single location. "Hey, Rainbow," Applejack addressed, "could ya fly on up there and see where they're headin'?" "One sec," she said before flying up and taking a look. After getting up high enough, and with a bit of squinting to see into the distance with only the moonlight, she was finally able to see where it was. Noticing the familiar cottage over by the Everfree Forest, Rainbow immediately flew back down with slight panic on her face. "Well?" Applejack pressed. "Where are they headin'?" "You're not going to believe this," Rainbow began, "but they're all heading straight for Fluttershy's cottage!" "In that case, we need ta get there right away! Princess Luna, could ya watch over the girls while we go help Fluttershy?" "I would be happy to help, Applejack," Luna answered. "But Ah wanna come with," Apple Bloom protested. "Nah-uh. You're stayin' with the princess and will follow her like you would me," Applejack firmly stated. "That goes for you two as well." "Same with you, Spike," Twilight added. "What? But why me too?" he complained. "Because we don't know if this will be dangerous or not, and if it is, then I'd rather that you stay here with Princess Luna where it's safe." Spike began to grumble as smoke began rising from his nostrils. "Fine." "Good. Now, those who are coming gather around so I can teleport us there." "If it's all the same to you, Twilight, I think I'll just Shadowport myself over there," Dark suggested, getting an understanding nod from Twilight. "As for you," he began, turning towards his shadow dragon, "you're to stay here and help look after them. You're also to follow Princess Luna's words as though they were my own." Then, before anypony else could speak up, Twilight teleported herself and her four friends over to Fluttershy's cottage while Dark used his Shadowport. Arriving at nearly the same time by the bridge leading up to her home, they saw that the bats were flooding into her cottage through all of the opened windows. As they watched the bats flying in, they noticed Discord standing out front, stroking his beard as he stared at it. "Discord!" Twilight shouted as they ran up to him. "What's going on here?" "I have no idea," he answered, sounding completely perplexed. "I've never seen anything like this before." "Well, do you know what happened before all of this started?" "Hmmm. Well, last thing I did was get my sweet, dear Fluttershy some apples for her to eat. It's rather curious, though, when I think about it." "What's curious?" Applejack wondered. "Well, when I gave it to her, instead of eating it like she normally would, she began to... I suppose 'suck on it' would be the proper wording." Twilight felt a weight in her stomach as she recalled a similar incident. "If you think that something is wrong, then why haven't you done anything to help her?" "I would if I could, Twilight, but when we became a couple, Fluttershy and I made a sort of magical pact where I couldn't use my chaotic magic on her, or any of the animals, without her permission. If it wasn't for that pact, then I would've fixed this up long before you all got here." "But what about that time when you turned her into an orange?" "That was before we made our agreement." Twilight sighed. "So, you can't do anything to help her?" "I'm truly sorry, but I cannot. Not without her approval." "In that case, we'll go on in and find out what's wrong for ourselves." Turning from worried to determined, Twilight led them up to Fluttershy's door while Discord opting to remain back behind. Knocking on the door, they waited for an answer, but instead heard the screeching of the bats. After the third time knocking, Twilight opened the door and she and the others walked inside the dark cottage, their only source of light being the moonlight through the windows and open door. Just as the last of them entered, the door slammed shut behind them, but while they could barely see anything, Dark on the other hoof could see everything. And what he saw brought him unease and worry as he saw Fluttershy sitting with her eyes closed on the far side of the room, out of the moonlight and with a swarm of vampire fruit bats flying around her in a vortex, while others were perched on ledges near where she sat. "What are you doing here?" Fluttershy asked them, her normally soft and smooth voice now coming out as a hiss with a slight hint of malice "Fluttershy?" Rainbow called as she walked up in front of the group. "Don't come any closer." "But why? And can you please come out into the moonlight so we can see you?" "There's no need for that. After all," she opened her crimson-red eyes that glowed in the blackness, "you won't be here for much longer."