//------------------------------//
// Chapter 34- To Banish a Ghost 
// Story: Of Flame and Shadow 
// by Garuda IV 
//------------------------------//

		Flutterbat was laying down on a stray cloud up above Ponyville, hidden within her ever-growing swarm of vampire fruit bats. It started out as just a few dozen, but had quickly become a few hundred. Soon enough, she would have over a thousand bats under her command.

"Very soon, little one," she said as one of the bats landed on her hoof, "you'll all feed to your heart's content. And while you're all doing that, perhaps I'll go and have myself a midnight snack. I think that I'd earned it after tonight."

You still haven't told me why you're doing this, Fluttershy begrudgingly said within Flutterbat's mind.

"That's because I haven't told you... and why are you talking to me like that? I thought that you were suppose to be very shy."

Normally I would be, but I've learned that there's a time to put your hoof down and stand up, and this is one of those times.

"Whatever, it's of little importance to me how you act."

Fluttershy mentally sighed to mask her worry. Will you at least tell me what you plan on doing with my friends?

Flutterbat hissed angrily. "If they continue to interrupt me, then I'll bite them and turn them like I did with that rainbow-colored one earlier."

Rainbow Dash is the toughest pony I know. She's not going to be turned so easily.

"We'll see about that," Flutterbat returned as her gaze fell upon the unsuspecting town below her. "Speaking of which, I wonder what your boyfriend tastes like. Judging my his looks alone, I'd say that his blood would be a rather exotic cocktail."





On the outskirts of Ponyville, Luna, Discord, Twilight, Dark, Rarity, Pinkie, Applejack, and Rainbow were all running over towards the town. As they started to get closer, they noticed another group of bats flying past them. Following their flightpath, they saw that they were heading towards something hovering up above the town, partially hidden by the night sky. While they continued down the path, Twilight went over the plan one more time with them.

"So then, everyone know what they're doing?" she asked.

"Keep the bats in Ponyville and try and help Discord get ta Flutterbat ta remove that ghost from her," Applejack summarized.

"Pretty much."

"It doesn't sound nearly as much fun when you put it like that," Pinkie commented.

"But that's pretty much what we're doing," Dark said before a thought came to mind. "By the way, I haven't noticed any guards around tonight. Anypony know where they're all at?"

"They have tonight off, so they're all back home with their families," Luna answered.

"Well, good for them then."

"Don't worry, they'll be back on duty next week."

"Sound good."

At that moment, Pinkie skidded to a halt, causing everyone to stop and look at her, but before they could ask her what was wrong, she started having on of her Pinkie Sense Combos. And while her friends knew most of them, this one was a mystery to them as it included her left ear twitching, her right foreleg cramping, and her tail spinning around in a full circle seven times. Once she felt like it was over, Pinkie looked over herself.

"Huh. Well, that was weird," she calmly said.

"Pinkie, what was that?" Rarity asked. "I don't believe that we've seen one of those before."

"I'm not entirely sure," Pinkie admitted. "All that I do know is that in seven days, somepony will come here and then something will happen."

"Can you be a little more specific?" Twilight asked.

"Sorry, but that's all I can give for you."

"Is it because the guards are coming back?" Rainbow wondered.

"I doubt it, because if that would be the case, then I would've had one like that before they got her the first time, or when Dark first showed up."

"So it's somepony else then?"

"Yep."

"Sorry to interrupt," Luna spoke, "but I believe that we have somepony who needs our help at the moment."

Their attention redirected back to the task at hoof, they continued their way back towards the town.

"Hey, Rarity," Twilight called, running up alongside her as they neared Ponyville, "do you remember that paralysis spell that I taught you?"

"Of course I do," Rarity returned. "It actually came in handy a few times already."

"Good, because you'll need to use it against the bats when they try to attack us."

"Speakin' of them bats," Applejack cut in, "what about the ones that are still zonked out by Pinkie's sleepin' powder?"

"What do you mean?"

"What Ah mean is what are we gonna do when they wake up?"

"That powder is rather strong," Pinkie said, having heard their conversation. "It should keep them asleep until at least tomorrow... evening... ish."

"So we don't have to worry about them waking up and rejoining the rest of them?"

"We shouldn't," she happily answered before her face contorted into a questionable look. "Then again, this stuff has never been tested on vampire fruit bats before, so as far as I know they might, but I highly doubt it."

"Is this another one of your Pinkie Senses?" Rainbow asked.

"Nope, this is just a hunch... then again, I've been wrong before. Like how Flutterbat really would eat ponies if she wanted to."

"Don't remind me," Rarity said with a shudder.

"Eyes and ears up, everypony, because we're almost to Ponyville," Discord told them before looking to the weapon that Dark had lent him. "Nocturne, how's it going with the magical transfer?"

"Be patient," Nocturne snapped. "I don't do stuff like this very often, and besides that, your chaos magic is making this job of mine more difficult. Just wait for me and I'll tell you when you're good to go."

Leaving him to his work, Discord withheld anymore talking with Nocturne as they continued forward. But while they had hoped to get a bit closer, Flutterbat had taken notice of them and began her attack. While she didn't send any of them into the town, she instead split them up into two different groups. One went to attack the group of friends who came to stop her and save the pony who she was possessing, while the other group made their way over towards the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. Seeing them split-off and noticing the direction they were heading, Applejack's eyes widened in horror.

"They're goin' after my farm! Ah have ta go stop them!" she panicked.

"Don't you worry about it," Dark told her. "You stay here and help them get Fluttershy back to normal, and I'll go and stop them."

"Are ya sure that you can handle it?"

"I should. Besides, for a while now tonight, I've been getting the same feeling that I would normally get when I use my Amplify ability, so I think I can do it."

"... for the record, Ah'm not entirely sure about this."

"If I feel like I can't handle it, then I'll come for help. Does that sound alright with you?"

"Yes, it does."

"In that case, I'll leave you ladies and Discord to it then. Good luck to ya."

"You too. Just... please remember to try and not kill them all," Twilight reminded him.

"I'll do what I can, but I can't make any promises."

With a quick wave, Dark Shadowported back to Sweet Apple Acres to get ready for the bats that would soon be arriving. Stopping in place, they waited for Flutterbat and her bats to come to them. While they waited, they noticed that all of the bats that were flocking towards Flutterbat were not converging onto the rest of them.

"So, how are we going to do this exactly?" Pinkie wondered. "I mean, I know that we have a plan on how Discord's going to return Flutterbat back into Fluttershy, but what are we suppose to do until then?"

"Do you have your party cannon?" Twilight asked.

"Twilight, you know that I never leave home without it."

"Good. In that case, listen up, everypony, I'm going to use one of Shining's barriers while Princess Luna, Pinkie, and Rarity will stay within the barrier and shoot through it. Try to use stun spells or other spells to knock them out. Pinkie, no live ammunition or explosive rounds. That goes for concussive rounds since Rainbow and Applejack will be fighting them off by hoof."

"How am Ah suppose ta fight them when they're flyin' around out of my reach?" Applejack questioned.

"I believe I can help you with that," Luna said before she enveloped Applejack in her magical aura.

"What did ya do ta me?"

"I've briefly granted you a form of flight, Applejack. You may now run on air as though it were land."

Unsure about it, Applejack took an experimental step as though she were walking uphill, but when her hoof came half-way down, it stopped in mid-air. Taking a few more steps, she soon saw that she was off the ground. As she looked down, though, a worried thought came to mind.

"How am Ah suppose ta get back down... or stop myself from fallin' for that matter?" she asked.

"Worry not," Luna told her reassuringly. "You cannot fall down unless you somehow fall unconscious. As for going back down, just think as though you're going either downhill, or walking down a set of stairs."

Testing it out, Applejack thought about walking on a downward slope and quickly found herself back on solid ground again.

"Well, shoot. That's some useful magic there. A spell like this could make some of the chores a whole lot easier. Not ta mention how much easier barn raisin' would be."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. As much fun as that sounds, Applejack," Rainbow began, "we have something more important to do at the moment. Like taking care of these bats for example."

"Before you go," Twilight interjected before casting a spell on Rainbow and Applejack. "There. I just casted a spell on you two that'll increase your toughness so that the bats won't be able to bite you so easily. It should also help against Flutterbat if she tries to bite you too. Just remember to not go too far away and to come back into my barrier if you need to take a break."

"How can we do that?"

"It's one of Shining's special barriers that'll allow for allies to pass and fire through it, while it keeps the enemies and their magic and weapons out."

"Huh. Sounds pretty sweet. Anyways, let's get going, Applejack."

Giving Rainbow a nod, Applejack galloped up into the air alongside Rainbow as she flew at a matching pace directly towards the second group of bats. As the two mares closed in on the bat swarm, Rainbow had an idea.

"Hey, Applejack, can you give me a toss?"

Getting her meaning, Applejack grabbed Rainbow by her front hooves and spun around a few times before using her earth pony strength to slingshotting her directly towards the center of the bats. As Rainbow flew closer, she could already feel that familiar feeling from the speeds she was going. Pushing herself a to go a little bit faster, Rainbow was able to create another Sonic Rainboom, which made her pierce through their center. While the initial shockwave took out almost half of the group, Rainbow's speed caused a vacuum as she flew past, disrupting their flying and caused them to start tumbling towards the ground. However, since it didn't knock them out like her Rainboom's shockwave, most had managed to regain their flight before hitting the ground while those that did where knocked out from the impact of hitting the dirt.

With most of them taken care of for the moment, Rainbow began turning herself around for another pass while Applejack continued running towards the bats that didn't get knocked down. Once she felt she was close enough, she quickly spun around and began to buck at the bats, nailing two of them before using her tail to smack a few more away. Repositioning herself, Applejack struck at them again until she found herself surrounded. Looking around, down, and above her, she figured that she would be in trouble until Rainbow shot through them and hovered right behind her, backs to one another.

"You know," Rainbow began saying, "we never did finish that Iron Pony competition."

"What are ya suggestin', Rainbow?" Applejack wondered.

"How about a friendly little competition? Whoever downs the most of these bats wins."

"Sure, Ah'm up for it."

"Good, because here they come."

While the two were busy fighting the second group of bats up in the sky, Discord, Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie were all standing inside Twilight's barrier shooting projectiles at the incoming bats. While Luna and Rarity both used stun spells, Pinkie fired her party cannon, and Discord began using his chaos magic to put them to sleep. However, as the fight continued, Discord noticed that his spells were becoming less effective against them as the possessing ghost within Flutterbat was feeding them more death magic.

"They're starting to become more resistant to my chaos magic," he warned the others.

"Discord," Twilight called, "can you stop the ghost that's possessing her yet?"

"Nocturne hasn't given me the all-clear to do that yet."

"But it's already been five minutes," Rarity protested.

"And it'll take longer of you try to rush me," Nocturne shot back. "Besides, the spell that Discord will use won't be all that difficult or elaborate."

"What is this spell that you're planning on using, Nocturne?" Luna questioned.

"To put it simply, it's a spell that'll let Discord rip out the soul of his victim. Which, in this case, will be the ghost that's possessing your friend."

"That's rather barbaric," Rarity said.

"It's what I would do."

"While it's not exactly what I would do myself, I have to agree that it does sound rather appealing at the moment," Discord agreed.

"Are you serious?" Twilight asked, slightly nervous.

"Anything that harms Fluttershy in anyway will not escape me and the pain that I will bring upon them."

"As disturbingly sweet as that is," Pinkie began saying, "you all should start getting back to these bats, because you're starting to fall behind on the count. Oh, and Twilight's barrier is starting to crack."

"What?!" Twilight shrieked, looking up to see that the barrier was indeed damaged. "But how?"

"It must be the increased magic that they're receiving," Discord guessed. "The longer this drags on, the more in danger we'll be."

"Then let us waste no more time and thin out their numbers," Luna told them before firing another stun spell at a random bat.

"How do you think Dark is doing?" Twilight asked as she began to reinforce and repair the barrier, just to get what sounded like a chuckle from Nocturne. "And what is so funny?"

"Naïve, young princess," Nocturne chuckled. "If anything, it should be those bats that you should be worried about, not him."

As if on cue, a loud yet quiet boom sounded from Sweet Apple Acres. Looking over in the direction of the farm, they saw that the lights coming from there, along with the stars in the sky above, it were starting to be blacked-out.

"Heh. Speak of the devil."





A few minutes earlier at Sweet Apple Acres, Dark and his Shadow Dragon where doing what they could to keep the vampire fruit bats away from the orchard. While they managed to keep the first few dozen out, they saw a cloud of several hundred more heading straight towards them.

"So, what do you think?" Dark asked his Shadow Dragon, just to get a blank look in return. "Oh... right. Forgot that you can't talk or anything. Might have to fix that at some point."

Forgetting that one-sided talk, Dark charged towards the oncoming bat swarm with his Shadow Dragon flying at his side. Closing in on them, Dark charged-up his magic again. This time, he noticed that unlike the magical aura that would surround his unicorn horn, since he currently had two, his magic had instead gathered between them. And along with their new placement, he also noticed that his magic's color was now a green that matched his eyes and the fake tattoos on his chest.

Just like in Spike's comic, Dark thought with a satisfactory smile. When this is all over with, I better make sure that I remember to thank Twilight for this again.

Feeling that his magic was charged enough, Dark began to release a chain of green fireballs out from the magical orb between his horns into the oncoming bats. Most of them managed to hit a few dozen of them, causing them to crash into others and catch them on fire too, while those that missed soon fizzled out. But, despite the amount he actually got, there were still a lot more of them that had to be stopped. Charging his magic again, Dark unleashed it and threw-out a wave of green fire towards the bats while also making sure to aim high enough so that he wouldn't accidentally set the apple trees on fire as well. And while this spell had hit more than his fireballs did, it still didn't deter them from their current path.

Getting the feeling of worry from him possibly not being up to this, Dark began to frantically think to his magic lessons with Nocturne. Then, after a little while of Dark's Shadow Dragon buying him time to think it over, he came up with an idea. Recalling his Shadow Dragon back to him, Dark absorbed his minion back into his body before setting his plan into motion. Soon enough, his already black mane had turned into a black shadow that flowed in an invisible wind.

With a loud, and yet quiet booming sound, a blackness darker than even the darkest night exploded outwards from Dark, eclipsing even the night sky and light form the Apple house in his own darkness. Unlike normal darkness, though, this one was much thicker for the bats, making them feel like a fish trying to swim through mud. Mud, of which, Dark had no problems making his way through as he charged towards the bats, spreading his wall of darkness behind him as he flew. Not long after, he flew through the swarm of bats, catching them in his darkness and trapping them in place. They tried to struggle free, but soon found that they couldn't get out. Seeing that they weren't going anywhere anytime soon, Dark landed and looked out over towards the direction that his friends were.

"Wonder how they're doing over there?" he asked himself out loud before shrugging. "Meh. If they need me, then they'll come and get me. Until then, I guess that I'll just wait here and keep an eye on these guys."





Seeing that the wall of darkness stopped, Luna looked puzzling down to the Living Weapon that was Nocturne.

"What happened," she said, more of a demand then a question.

Nocturne chuckled. "Just a little something that we tried testing one afternoon."

"And that would be?" Twilight pressed.

"He told you about his Amplify already, right?"

"Yes, he said that he can absorb an element that he specializes in to increase his magic."

"And what magic does he specialize in?"

"Fire and dark magic."

"Correct. And what kind of magics does dark magic involve? Or rather, what kind of dark magic has Dark himself been using?"

"Usually it's shadows, but I don't see how that's of any importance at the moment. I mean, it's night right now. There isn't a shadow anywhere in all of this darkness."

"That's where your wrong, Twilight." Nocturne corrected, causing Twilight to give him her full attention.

"What do you mean? I don't see any shadows around here."

"You fail to see what is plainly in front of you, but I will not say anymore on this subject and spoil it... not yet anyways."

"As interesting as this sounds," Discord interrupted, "how much longer must I wait until you're finished?!"

"Oh, right. I'm done actually."

"And you're just now telling me this?!"

"I was busy talking with them," Nocturne defended.

"Alright, fine. If you're finished, then let's go."

"Probably a good idea," Pinkie said. "Because I'm starting to run low on my non-lethal ammo here."

"And I'm starting to get tired from casting so many spells," Rarity added.

"Alight then, girls," Twilight began. "One last push. We'll cover Discord and help clear a path so he can do his thing to Flutterbat."

"Where is she anyway?" Luna asked. "I can't see her with all of these bats flying around up there."

Before any of them could answer, a thunderous boom echoed throughout the night sky as a rainbow shockwave appeared almost directly above them. Seeing a rainbow-colored trail flying out from the center of it, they immediately knew that it was Rainbow and her Sonic Rainboom. What they didn't know at the moment, though, was that the Rainboom's shockwave had knocked out most of the bats flying up above them. That is, until they stated raining down upon the barrier and on the ground. Looking from the fallen bats back upward, they saw Rainbow hovering in front of Applejack with a smug look on her face.

"That still only counts as one!" Applejack shouted.

"What do you think those two are talking about?" Rarity wondered.

"If I had to guess," Pinkie began, "I'd say that they're having a contest to see who could beat-up the most bats as a tie breaker for their Iron Pony competition."

"Are they still going on about that?"

"Well, neither one of them have won yet."

"Another time," Discord spoke. "I'm heading up to get my Fluttershy back. You ponies cover me."

With a nod from the four mares, Discord flew out of Twilight's barrier and towards Flutterbat. As he made his way up with Dark's sword in his claw, Pinkie fired her party cannon at any bats that were trying to get close to him, along with Rarity, Luna, and Twilight, who dropped her barrier to help focus on covering Discord. Seeing the magical blasts and confetti exploding upon contact on the bats around him, Discord was allowed to keep his focus on his target. It didn't take much longer for him to catch up to her and float in front of her.

"So," Flutterbat began, "what are you going to do now? After all, your chaos magic doesn't work on me."

"Perhaps not, but mine does," Nocturne spoke for Discord.

"Wait, you sound like... Lord Nocturne?"

"In the flesh. Well, more or less. Now, be a good little ghost and return this body to its owner."

Flutterbat hissed. "No."

"I won't say it again."

"Neither will I."

"In that case, Discord, do it."

Feeling Nocturne's magic flowing through him, Discord channeled it into his paw, causing a black, shadowy claw to form around it. Looking from it to Flutterbat, he hesitated in fear of accidentally hurting her.

"What are you waiting for?" Nocturne impatiently asked. "Do it already."

"What if I hurt her?" Discord worryingly questioned.

"You wont. You'll just get the ghost's spirit, hers will be fine."

"But I-"

Discord was cut-off when Flutterbat charged at him and bit his claw, causing him to accidentally drop Dark's weapon. Feeling her fangs continue to sink into him, he started to wave his arm in an attempt to shake her off, but she was firmly latched onto him. Starting to get a little dizzy, Flutterbat released Discord's claw and hovered in front of him while he looked over the bite mark. And, much like before with her, he couldn't do anything to heal the wound.

Looking back from his claw over to her, Discord saw her lips covered in his blood. Bringing a hoof up to her mouth, Flutterbat wiped the leftover blood off of her lips and looked down at them. It was then that something in her snapped, causing her eyes to revert back to normal while she began to tear up. Looking from her blood-stained hooves over to Discord, she could see that his claw was bleeding from two fresh puncture marks. With eyes fully widened in shock and horror at what she'd done, her tears began to flow as she started sniffling. 

Seeing her like this caused a pang of sadness to course through Discord, but kept his distance as he remembered what happened last time. Even though he was cautious about it, it didn't stop him from slowly floating closer to her. As he got closer, he slowly began to realize that this wasn't the ghost, but Fluttershy herself who was in control, though brief as it was.

"D-Discord?" Flutterbat whimpered with Fluttershy's voice.

"Fluttershy? Is that really you this time?" Discord asked, getting an unsteady nod from her.

"P-Please... before I hurt you any more... p-please... stop me."

Seeing that she was being sincere about it, Discord sighed. "Very well. I'll set you free."

With a hint of fear and reluctance, Discord lifted his paw-turned-Shadow Claw and lunged towards Flutterbat. She didn't even have a chance to blink before she found that Discord's Shadow Claw was embedded in her stomach. The strange thing to her, though, was that it didn't hurt at all, but she did start to feel tired for some reason. Bringing his injured claw around, Discord gently held Flutterbat in his arm before grabbing onto something with his Shadow Claw and pulling it out of her. Once it was out of her, Discord saw that he had a firm hold on the ghost that had possessed her. With it completely removed from her, Flutterbat quickly fell unconscious and was now asleep.

Seeing her passed out like that, Discord lowered himself back to the others on the ground before turning her over to them to look after. With her back safely with her friends, Discord turned to take care of the ghost, but was stopped.

"Discord, are you alright?" Twilight asked.

"I'll be fine," he answered before glaring at the ghost still in his hold. "I just need to take care of this thing before I start to feel better."

"Before you go," Luna began, holding up a bottle to him, "you should drink this first. It'll prevent you from turning."

"Can Discord be turned into a bat pony?" Rainbow questioned. "I mean, he's not even a pony."

"Perhaps not, but he is part pony, and that alone is enough for him to change. Now drink."

With a small grumble, Discord took the bottle and downed its contents. Licking his lips from the taste, he tossed the bottle back over to Luna before looking back at the ghost.

"Now, I believe that I said something before about removing you from existence?" Discord threating asked the ghost.

"Wait, you weren't kidding about that?" the ghost asked.

"Not in the slightest," he hissed. "You threatened to take Fluttershy away from me by means of possession. And nothing, living or otherwise, is going to get away with that." Flexing his free claw, Discord tore a rift leading back into his dimension before turning around to the mares. "You mind getting her back home for me? I'll be back after I'm finished with this thing."

Not waiting for an answer, Discord and the ghost went through the rift and into Discord's dimension before he closed the rift behind them. With the two of them alone together, Discord let go of the ghost and dispelled the Shadow Claw that Nocturne granted him. Seeing this as a chance to flee, the ghost tried to fly away, but didn't get very far as he quickly found himself chained down to an invisible floor.

"What's the rush?" Discord asked with a small smile.

"I'm getting out of here and getting back to that other world, that's what," the ghost answered him.

Discord shook his head with a tsk. "That's not going to happen. You see, you're in my realm now, ghost."

"So what? You can't do anything to me anyways."

"Normally you'd be right, but I still have some of Nocturne's magic flowing through me. So, for the time being, I can."

Discord's smile turned to a malicious grin as he slowly neared the chained-up ghost.

"If you have that sort of power, then why are we here?" the ghost asked with a hint of nervousness in its voice.

Snapping his paw, Discord conjured several dozen bipedal, stringless puppets, each one looking old and worn while holding a pair of rusty knives. While they looked just like normal puppets with the way they were bent over and how their heads and arms were hanging limp, with another snap of Discord's paw, the puppets each twitched. One by one, they each jerked as they stood up straight, their doll-like eyes all staring at the ghost. With a jerk of their leg, they each took a step towards it, raising their rusted knives as they got closer.

"You see, ghost," Discord began, "the reason why we're here away from everypony else is because I didn't want them to see what was about to happen to you next. Luna knows of the nightmares that those poor mares would have if they saw this."

"But they're just puppets. Just a bunch of marionettes with rusty knives. They can't do anything to me."

"Oh, but that's where you're wrong. Since I created them, that means that those knives are all imbued with Nocturne's magic, so it will very much hurt," he told it before his expression turn sadistically dark. "But don't you worry about it, I'll make sure that they make your second death slow and painful. Just. For. You."





Everyone was gathered in Fluttershy's living room. While Twilight went to get Dark from Sweet Apple Acres, Rainbow helped tuck the reverted Fluttershy back into her bed while the rest of them helped clean up the still-sleeping vampire fruit bats that were scattered all around the house. And while it normally would've taken an hour or so to clear them away, with everyone pitching in, they'd managed to take care if them after only half that time. Once they were finished and made themselves comfortable, they began to wonder what was keeping Discord. Their curiosity was soon sated when he appeared in the middle of the living room.

"What too ya so long?" Rainbow impatiently asked.

"Sorry, just had to make sure that that ghost would never be coming back," Discord told them before turning his attention up towards the upstairs. "How's Fluttershy doing?"

"She's returned to normal, but she's very tired and is asleep up in her bed," Twilight answered him as she began healing and wrapping his injured arm.

Sighing in relief that Fluttershy's fine now, he turned to his friends. "Thank you all for your help tonight," he thanked, getting a round of "your welcomes" from them. "Also, Dark, sorry about dropping your sword like that."

"It's no problem. I went back and picked it back up," he dismissed. "Although, while I'm not bothered by it, Nocturne seemed rather pissed that you just dropped him like that. Heh. The guy wouldn't shut up about it until I absorbed Death Reaver back into me."

"Well then, I suppose I better apologize to him one of these days," he said before letting out a loud yaw. "But until then, I think that I'm going to bed."

"That sounds like a rather pleasant idea," Rarity agreed before giving a small yawn of her own. "But first, I need to go over to Applejack's place to get Sweetie Belle."

"Actually, why don't ya leave her there?" Applejack offered. "Ah'm sure that they'll be happy ta sleep over for tonight."

"That would be nice."

"Just so you should know, Spike is sleeping there too," Twilight spoke up.

"Aww, shucks. Don't ya worry none about him. After what's happened tonight, he's welcome ta sleep over too. Ah just hope he doesn't mind sleepin' over in a house with a bunch of fillies."

"Didn't look like he minded," Dark said under his breath.

His words didn't go unheard however as Twilight nudged him in the ribs with an elbow. Rubbing the sore spot, Dark looked over beside him to see Twilight acting like nothing had happened.

"By the way, Princess Luna," Twilight began, "if you want, you can stay at the castle for tonight."

"Sorry, Twilight," Luna replied, "but I have work to do tonight. So no, I won't be staying over, but I do thank you for the offer."

"Alright. Just remember that you're welcome to stay anytime you want."

"I'll keep that in mind."

With the night finally winding down, Twilight offered to teleport Applejack back to her farm while Luna offered to take Pinkie and Rarity back to their respective homes. With the two guys left alone, Dark gave Discord a quick farewell before Shadowporting himself back to the castle.

Now alone in Fluttershy's living room, Discord stretched himself out before locking the doors and windows, and turning off the lights. With the cottage hunkered down for the remaining of the night, he then teleported himself up into Fluttershy's bedroom. Seeing that she had indeed returned to normal and was asleep, he slid himself under the covers before wrapping himself around her. Settling himself down, he felt Fluttershy starting to stir. Looking down, he saw that she turned herself around in her sleep, burying her muzzle into his coat with a small smile on her face. With her snuggled up against his chest, Discord wrapped his arms around her, holding her close while slowly drifting off to sleep. But, before he did, he leaned his head down and lightly placed a kiss on Fluttershy's head.

"Sweet dreams, my dear Fluttershy."





At the Apple farm, Granny Smith and Big Mac had already made their way home and to bed by the time Twilight teleported Applejack and herself there. With a few quick words of gratitude, Applejack waved to Twilight as she teleported herself back home, leaving Applejack by herself. 

Remembering that Spike was sleeping over tonight, she walked over to the couch to see that it was empty. Wondering where in the hay that little dragon was, Applejack's mind began to wonder. She didn't dwell on it too long, though, and just figured that he was rooming with Big Mac for tonight. 

Walking over and up the stairs, she walked past her sister's bedroom and heard several sets of snoring coming through the crack of the open door. Peeking her head in, she saw the heads of the three fillies sticking up from under the covers, each of them asleep. Smiling to them, she closed the door to head to bed herself, completely unaware that hidden somewhere within that pile of fur, that Spike too was asleep with them.





Over in Twilight's castle, Dark removed his eyeband and the spells on his eyes, and was now in the shower scrubbing away the coat and mane dye from his costume... and some of the bat ashes that got on his coat after incinerating them. While the ashes and mane dye washed out quick enough, the coat dye required a bit more effort on his part, but the worst part was trying to get his back and neck, seeing as he couldn't see those areas in the shower.

"Stupid coat dye," Dark grumbled. "This is the last time that I go out in a Nightmare Night costume that involves dye of any kind."

After twenty minutes of him failing to scrub the dye out of his coat had passed, a knock echoed off of the door.

"Hello?" Twilight called through it. "Dark, are you alright in there?"

"I'm fine," he called back with a grunt. "Just having a hard time getting this dye off is all."

"You need some help?"

Dark blinked a few times to process that before his magic sputtered out on him and dropping the brush. While he did need help, he wasn't sure if he wanted Twilight to actually help him. Granted that they were together, but he'd never shared a shower before. At least, not since he was a foal and had to share bubble baths with his sister. As he became lost in his thoughts about it, he was unaware that Twilight had made the decision for him. Standing right behind him, Twilight took the brush in her magic and tapped Dark on the shoulder, causing him to spin around in surprise. 

"T-Twilight?!" he stammered.

"What?" she innocently asked. "You need a hoof with getting that dye out, right?"

"Well, yeah, but I didn't think that you would come in on your own like that."

"Do you want me to leave?"

"... well, you're already here, so might as well now. That is, if you want to."

"Well, I wouldn't be here if I didn't now would I? Now turn around and sit down while I work on your back. Also, I think that you've had enough fun with those horns, so I'll be returning them back to normal now."

Following her instructions, Dark sat down. As he faced away from the shower nozzle so that the water would pour down his back, Twilight reversed the spell she casted on his horns, causing the two curved horns to revert back into one unicorn horn. With him settled down, she walked into the shower with him, applied some soap to the brush, and began scrubbing the center of his back. As she began her work though, she noticed that his back muscles began to tense up.

"Easy there," she cooed. "Just try and relax, alright?"

Turning his head to look back at her, Dark gave Twilight an understanding nod. While this experience was new and somewhat strange to him, he soon began to relax himself. As he continued to think about it, he dipped his head down slightly to hide any chances of her seeing him blushing over the fact that they were both in the shower together now. Wanting to not make it awkward for himself, he began to strike up a conversation with her.

"So, are all of your Nightmare Nights like this?" he asked.

"More or less," she answered. "While our Nightmare Nights are eventful to say the least, they've never quite gotten this exciting before."

"So this is a first then?"

"Yep. By the way, how was your first Nightmare Night here? Well, minus the whole incident with Flutterbat and the vampire fruit bats."

"It was actually enjoyable for me," he happily said. "Although, I think that next time I'll pick a costume that doesn't require so much dye. By the way, thank you again for your part in helping me with my costume."

"You're welcome," she replied, scrubbing off the last of the dye. "Alright, done with that."

"Thanks Twi-"

"Now, onto the next part."

"Wait, what?"

"Now hold still. I don't want to get any of this into your eyes."

While initially confused, Dark quickly understood what she meant when he felt Twilight's hooves running through his mane with what he felt was like shampoo.

"My mane now?" he questioned.

"Well, you haven't actually showered yourself yet, have you?" she returned.

"How'd you know that?"

"Because I couldn't smell any soap or shampoo on you when I came in."

"... well, you wouldn't be wrong."

"Good, because you're doing me next," Twilight told him, causing Dark to snort with laughter while she playfully roll her eyes in return. "Yes, I know what that sounded like, but I'm serious. After all, you scratch my back, I scratch yours. Or in this case, scrubbing."

"Hehe, fair enough I suppose."

"Alright, all done," she announced. "Now, it's your turn to wash me."

Getting up, Dark moved around behind Twilight while she sat down in front of him. Once they were both seated, Dark reached for the soap and brush and began to work on cleaning Twilight. While scrubbing her back down, he made sure to be gentle with the brush and us light strokes so he wouldn't be too rough on her. When he was done with her back, Twilight took the brush from him and began working on her front while Dark got to work on shampooing her mane. As he continued to focus on cleaning her, he failed to notice Twilight's face completely flushed.

"So, um, Dark?" she nervously said.

"Yeah?"

"I was thinking about something..."

"Oh boy," he playfully chuckled while rinsing out her mane.

"It's about us."

Hearing what the topic was about, Dark put all playfulness aside and began to take her words seriously.

"Should I be worried?" he slowly asked, causing Twilight to turn completely around until she was facing him.

"No, it's nothing to worry about," she said, allowing Dark to sigh in relief. "It's just that... well... I'm not sure how to say it exactly."

"It's alright, you know that you talk to me about anything that's bothering you. Especially if it involves our relationship together."

"I know, but it still makes me nervous just to talk about it."

"Sometimes when I'm nervous about talking about something, the best thing that I find that works is just saying it as it is. Besides, it can't be that bad."

Twilight sighed before taking in a deep breath. "I was thinking about... maybe... taking our relationship up a little bit?"

Dark's mind shut down for a brief moment. After blinking his eyes a few times, his brain managed to reboot itself to the point where he could talk again.

"Well... didn't see that coming."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."

"No, it's alright. It's not that it's bad or anything, I just didn't expect that is all."

"So, you're not mad or upset then?" she asked hopefully.

"Of course I'm not mad. But are you sure that this is what you really want?"

Twilight nodded. "I've actually been thinking about it for a little while now, and I may have asked Cadence for some advice on it a few days ago over the crystal she gave me."

"Alright, but isn't it a little early in our relationship for us to be doing... that?"

"Actually, most ponies start being... intimate... after the first week or so."

"... so you're saying that we're actually lagging behind?"

"In a way, yes. But it's alright though, because I wanted to take this slower than what most ponies do anyway."

"Now that I think about it, that would explain why little brother would be making those noises when he'd bring a new fillyfriend home. But as for the part of us taking it slow, I actually agree with you there. However, are you sure that you want to-"

Dark's question was silenced as he found that his lips were occupied by Twilight as she kissed him and wrapping her forelegs around the back of his neck. Even more surprising was that the force behind it was almost enough to knock him down on his back. That was, until Twilight pressed a little harder and actually caused him to fall over backwards. Landing with a muffled "Oomph", Dark looked up to see that Twilight was laying on top of him while still making out with him.

Deciding to just go with it, Dark wrapped his arms around Twilight and pressed back with a kiss of his own. While it started out simple and sweet enough, she surprised him even more when Twilight started kissing him more passionately. It wasn't often that Twilight would be so forward like this, but it wasn't by any means unwelcomed by Dark. After losing track of how much time had been lost from them making out, Twilight pulled herself away, allowing them to catch some much needed air.

"Wow, Twilight," Dark panted, "I don't think that I've seen you so wound up before."

Twilight didn't say anything and instead looked down upon him with a half-lidded look before nibbling on his left ear. Feeling this new sensation, Dark squeaked while his eyes fully widened and his entire body shuddered before going rigid. Pulling back away from her playful nibbling, Twilight giggled from seeing his reaction.

"Looks like somepony enjoyed that," she said with a coy smile.

Dark gave her a small nod. "That was... different."

"Different bad or different good?"

"I'd have to say good... very good."

"Then I'll just have to keep it in mind. In the meantime, I believe that you said at Applejack's place that you were going to show me how much you love me, right?"

"Heh, that I did, even though I didn't get to finish saying it."

"Well then, now you can."

"Alright, but just so that we're clear and I don't accidentally overstep my boundaries, just how far were you wanting to go?"

Although the blush on Twilight's face increased out of embarrassment from being asked, she also found it to be rather thoughtful of him that he would ask her first instead of just jumping straight to it.

"Well... I wasn't thinking about going all they way. At least, not yet anyway."

"In that case, why don't you tell me how far you want to go, and I'll follow your lead."

"Alright then. But before we start, I have something that I want to ask you."

"Yes?"

Twilight pulled herself closer against Dark until the tips of their muzzles were touching. 

"How good are you with your tongue?"