Season 2 Chapter 3: Nightmare Ni-HERESY!!!
-Xavier's Recap-
It's been little over a month since I sent Princess Celestia that letter under 'Plottimus Saggington.' Although Twilight's sense of humor needed working on, I felt like I was able to tell Dash, and when I did, she was rolling around for a while in laughter.
"You know, I'm surprised you can actually get away with that!"
"Hey. Celestia told me that her job was boring and stressful. Humor'd brighten up her day."
The next week, I went to Sugarcube Corner where for the first time, I saw Mrs. Cake not pudgy. In fact, I already knew what was going on. Especially how happy she was. It was clear that she lost her 'weight' in the hospital. She had just got back that morning, telling me that she had twins. I congratulated her. Pinkie wanted to throw her a party for it, but I didn't think she would be ready to handle a Pinkie Party yet. My concern however, was how they came out. When I asked, she said they came out wonderfully. The reason I asked is because she was really frightened during our first encounter. I don't know much about pregnancy or child birth besides not drinking and working while pregnant, but I'd feel terrible if I was the cause for any deformities or attitude problems. I told this to Mrs. Cake, and she giggled, saying I was being silly, but sweet. Mr. Cake was still a bit on edge with me around, but I'm guessing he was trusting his wife and Pinkie's judgement in me. At least he's respectful towards me.
After Celestia's last visit, Twilight seemed to relax more with her studies. That meant more time she could spend with me and Dash. She was pretty glad that she got to spend more time with us. I was pretty happy with her being more available. I was actually thinking about calling it off with her. Glad I was patient. Now that she had more time for me, I decided that we could start going places. There was a show coming to Ponyville. I was excited at first, but I found out it was a historical play. Dash and I looked at each other. This wasn't our cup of tea, but I stomached it for Twilight since it was our first herd activity. I think movies kinda spoiled me. Twilight figured out that we didn't really enjoy the show (Rainbow may or may not have been the cause of it) and felt bad that we had to bear it for her. Me being the nice guy, I told her that being with her is what made it bearable. Funny thing... I'm not usually that charming.
-End of Xavier's Recap-
October 15th, 2186 CE
London, Earth
It was total chaos. The screams of death everywhere. I was running down into a street with two of my squad mates following close behind. We heard a blood-curdling terrifying sound that echoed the entire city. That's when we knew we had very little time to get to our rendezvous point and meet up with the others. We were getting close when bullets ran past my head, barely missing. There were Marauders, indoctrinated and turned Turians, firing at us from several stories high from inside another building. My squad and I took cover and returned fire. I took out my N7 Crusader and started firing. I had activated my shoulder-mounted Hawk missile launcher. It had locked on to the one I was focused on and launched a hawk missile at it. The explosion had knocked the Marauder out of his cover. Before it could regain itself, one shot from my surprisingly long ranged and highly accurate shotgun (I mean seriously, it might as well be a scope-less sniper rifle). One of my squad mates used 'biotics' to pull another marauder from the window. If our guns didn't kill it, the fall sure as hell did. The last marauder standing was pretty hard to reach. It was killed none the less by an unknown sniper. I guess it was safe to say that it was clear.
Soon enough, we made it to our destination. It was a well fortified area that was heavily defended. We didn't really know how long it would take a Reaper to notice and completely obliterate it. The Alliance soldiers opened the gate so we could enter. We were safe for now. I took off my helmet to get some fresh air. Twilight and Rainbow Dash did the same.
"Good work pulling that Marauder out of that building, Twi."
"It was nothing. I just used a little magic." She said. I rubbed behind the anthromorphic ponys' ears. They both appreciated it. We had people to meet, however. Luna and Celestia were planning on meeting here with their pony and threstral division for reinforcement, but I needed to meet up with the rest of my crew. Rarity was coordinating with the squads outside the base while Fluttershy was healing the wounded. Applejack was rallying the troops. Bro was on sniper duty while Jeff and Jack were on stock. There were troops everywhere, from squads that were stationed here at first, to remnants of other squads and battalions, Turian, Asari, Krogan, Salarian, Geth, and even some pony scouts. We were inside of a garage building.
"Things are pretty hectic out there." Rainbow Dash said. "If you never found our planet, we could've ended up like those robot zombies."
"Yeah. You've definitely held your part in saving Equestria and all of Equuis from the Reaper threat." Twilight added.
"Thanks girls." It took a while for me to notice the girls were giving me sultry looks, completely naked. "Where'd your armor go?"
"You know, we never did thank you properly." Twilight said, approaching me.
"Yeah. It'd be a shame if we died before doin' it once, you know." Rainbow followed.
They both were right in front of me. I wrapped each arm around them, bringing them both in for a three-way kiss, groping their soft but firm breasts.
"ART THOU HAVING FUN WITH THE PRINCESS'S STUDENT, HUMAN?!" A new and not to mention loud voice out of nowhere called. Strange. I thought it was just the three of us. The voice sounded like Luna's, but she wasn't supposed to be here yet.
I quickly let go of Rainbow and Twilight. "Vice Admiral Luna! I-I uh... didn't expect you to be here so soon. You and Admiral Celestia are here with reinforcements?"
"WE ART NOT APART OF THY TERMAGANT AND LUST-FULL'D DREAMS!"
"Termagant? Wait..." I clapped my hands twice as the ruined garage we were in lit up. Luna was in the corner, and not the anthromorphic pony Vice Admiral, but the pony-pony Princess. I didn't.... Then I remembered something Celestia said, which echoed through the room.
"Don't worry about Lulu. She can walk through other people's dreams, but usually to keep them from having nightmares. It's called dream-walking."
"...Oh..." I narrowed my eyes at the Princess.
"WE TOLD THOU THAT WE WOULDST KEEP AN EYE ON YOU, BEAST!!" Luna said.
"So you really can just walts up in someone's dream and spy on them? That's fucked up, princess." A TV remote appeared in my hand as I pointed it to her. I hit the lower volume button multiple times.
"Watcheth thy tongue, human, shouldst I bring forth thy deepest nightmares to present."
"First off, what's your deal?!" Yeah, I was pretty livid, and to be frank, I felt a bit violated.
She looked around. "Thou and thy kind hast proven to be a threat to us, our sist'r, and our people. we hast already been through thou Jeff's and Jack's deepest of dreams and now yours. we now knoweth what kind of pow'r thy people holdeth." I laughed out loud. She stared at me dawning a worried look. "What doth thou find so funny?"
"You. You're a joke. You come up in my dreams, my friend's dreams, and my brother's dream without our permission so you can find out our military secrets? You're a fucking joke." I said. Almost instantly, she was wearing colorful clothing, a rubber nose, and a clown wig.
"What are thou. . ." She looked at herself in a mirror that appeared out of nowhere. "We are not thou jester! How are you doing this?!" She said, amidst panic.
"You've stumbled into a lucid dream, my dear. Most of my dreams are lucid. This world you see around you is utterly fictional and isn't mine, but it's my dream, and I have complete control over it. Since I'm magic resistant, that means you have barely any control here." I wrapped my arms around my anthromorphic fillyfriends again as they laughed at her.
"Thou dare laugh at thy princess?!"
The ponies laughed in her face. "You aren't our princess. They are." Rainbow said, pointing outside to Admiral and Vice Admiral Celestia and Luna who were also anthromorphic, walking out of their shiny gold and midnight blue Kodiak shuttle with their equestrian emblem on it. The royal guards were now dawning roman looking armor.
"Cease this at once!"
"Sure." Everything froze in place as I pushed the 'pause' button. I let go of the remote and it floated beside me. She tried to move, but her hooves were covered up to her knees in cement. She tried to charge her horn, but I made one of those de-magicking rings and put it on her horn instantly. "Ready to talk like adults now?"
"What doth thou want, beast?"
"I want you to pay for intruding (and cockblocking me) on my dream like this. Man's dream is supposed to be our sacred space which holds our deepest secrets and desires, and not for someone else to just tread upon without permission. But being the oh so nice guy I am, I actually want us to be cool. You don't know a thing about me besides the fact that I have a thing for your sister's student. But I guess I'm just a monster to you unless I look like this." I turned myself into a brown pegasus pony with a black short cut mane. "Kinda prejudice if you ask me. 'Oh he's different than from what I'm used to so he must be dangerous.' Oh wait... more like 'Oh he-ith be-ith different-eth from-eth what-ith I'm-eth useth to.' "
"Doth not mock our way of speaking!" Luna looked absolutely livid.
"Hey. It's my dream. I can do what I want." I said, turning back into my own form, this time wearing my casual hoodie and jeans. "Like I said before, you shouldn't even be here. In fact, I can do many things to you right now while you're vulnerable. Many far uncomfortable and humiliating things." I said, grinning while stepping towards her.
"Thou wouldn't dare!"
"Oh, but I could. However, I'm not even close to being the monster you turn me out to be." I snapped my fingers and we appeared in my bed room, Luna now being free.
She stared at me for a moment. "Thou doth not belongeth in these lands. Why art thou here?"
"To answer your question, we know we're kinda out of place here. We don't know how we came here, or if we'll ever go back to our own world, Earth. We just appeared here one morning. It's not our fault for being here, but if we're stuck here for the rest of our lives, why not make the most of it?" I sat down on my bed.
"How doth we knoweth thou aren't a wolf in sheep's clothing?"
"To answer that question, we wouldn't need to be. I'm able to hurt Discord simply by punching him. Me, Jeff, Jack and my bro, we four could've killed a lot of ponies already if we're as bloodthirsty as you believe us to be, but to be frank, you pose more of a threat to the world than we do."
She glared. "Now just what doeth thou mean by that?"
"You control the moon. In fact, last year before we arrived, you were trying to make it so that it'd be night time all the time. Plants need sunlight. Without sunlight, plants will die, and your ponies would starve to death. And on a direct approach, you could always slam the moon onto the surface and annihilate all life as you know it. We humans can't do that."
"Thou said magic cannot affect thy kind."
"Can't use magic either. There are no traces of magic in our bodies. Twilight actually took samples and scanned me. You know, after we... you know... started our relationship."
"Thou jest!" Luna looked pretty surprised.
"What? It's true. The herd thing is new to me, but both Twilight and Rainbow are 'involved' with me. Ask your sister. Or you could visit Twilight's or Rainbow's dream and ask them yourself. Look. We aren't here for trouble. We just want to live our lives, ya know? Make friends, and be happy. And to be frank, I like it here. It's mostly peaceful here, I'm loving the guy-girl ratio, I have loving lovers and friends, something I never had back on my world if you don't count Jack, and besides the magic factor, things are much simpler here."
"Doeth thou miss thou own realm?"
"Yeah. I mean, it wasn't our choice. We were kinda thrust here by some unknown force. Didn't even get to say goodbye to my mom and dad. I also think about all the internet memes I'm missing, all the movies and games that came out and stuff, I was gonna see Star Wars VII when it first came out! The original Han Solo was gonna be in it! I'll never get to see him kick ass." At least I'll be safe from spoilers. Luna stared at me, clearly not having the faintest clue about what I was talking about. "But still, if I'd have a choice to go back, I probably wouldn't. If anything, I'd like to send a note letting my parents know that their children are okay and are living happy lives, and that we're taking care of each other. Maybe send them a photo with the gang along with our new friends in front of their house."
Luna nodded her head, looking to the side. "We see. We guess we may hast jump to conclusions. We wouldst like to apologize for judging thou for thy differences. We hast never seen nor dealt with a being such as yourself. We had assumed thou were yet another beast. Thou knowest of our story. We shouldst know how it feels to be different. We will not both'r thou in thy dreams again."
"Hey hey hey, I kinda have an idea. This is pretty cool talking to an actual person in dreams instead of projections. We could do things we can't do in real life here, and now I can actually do 'em with someone. You know I kinda don't mind you being here. I just ask that you ask first."
"Thou're willing to alloweth me to enter thy dreams? Even though it is sacred to your people?" Luna looked at me, surprised.
"Sure. Just ask first. Now, I don't think I'm going to be waking up anytime soon since tomorrow's a night time holiday, so wanna just chill?" I snapped my fingers. We ended up on a Caribbean tropical beach.
The princess looked around at the trees, down at the sand she stood on, and t the clear blue waters in front of us. "This environment is rather nice. We've never seen nor heard of a beach like this before."
"It's because this place isn't on Equestria. We're on Earth in one of Jamaica's beaches."
"Just one more question." Luna looked at my two anthromorphic fillyfriends who were now playing out in the water. "Why are they like that? Doeth thou not value them as they are?"
"First of all, you're gonna have to learn to stop talking like that. 'Do you not value them as they are?' is what you mean to ask. No on talks that way anymore, and frankly they'd find it kinda weird. Secondly, I do, but here's the thing about dreams that I thought someone like you would know. Dreams are seen as manifestations of memories, fears, obsessions, our anxieties, and our deepest desires. I just know how to control them."
"How?"
"Years of gaming, concentration, and understanding. Oh, and practice too. To answer your question about them," I gestured towards the girls. "They still have pony features like head, tail, and hooves for feet, but like I said, deepest desires." And my subconscious may be telling me I'm a furry lover.
"We see. Well, we believe thou- i mean you will be waking up very soon."
I looked around, and she was right. My surroundings started to waver.
"Thou will see us again very soon."
"Practice speaking in present speak!!!" I called out.
Monday 10/31
I woke up from my Mass Effect dream at around 4 o clock in the morning due to movement. Said movement being Twilight getting off of my bed and leaving a note saying she was heading home for preparations. I turned to the other mare in my bed who was on her back, snoring. Looking at her now made me think about what Luna asked me back in my dream, about liking them the way they are. I do like 'em the way they are. To me, the cuteness helps magnify the way I see their character. I pondered and thought why they were anthro'd in the first place. Maybe I really do miss the curves and bust of human chicks. Oh well. I didn't want to move or wake her up this early in the morning. I already knew that I most likely wasn't going to go back to sleep. Glad I'm a nerd who always sleeps with his 3DS nearby.
Hours of Fire Emblem: Awakening later, I felt a little shuffling from my side. Rainbow was waking up. "Morning Skittles."
"Hey, what time is it?"
"Time for you to get a watch." I grinned at her. She shot me a look before getting up. "It's 7 o clock. I don't think anyone's up yet."
She groaned, getting out of the bed. Now that she was awake and up, that means I could get up too. After three minutes of mustering the strength to even remove the warm comforting covers off of me I got up and went downstairs to grab a bar only to find Hiroto making breakfast.
"Sup Hiro."
"Hey."
"Cookin breakfast?"
"Yup."
"Cool. Thanks dude."
"Hm."
After our short exchange, I went to the living room and sat down. Rainbow soon came down after and sat beside me. "Have I ever told you that human toilets are weird?"
"Yeah, at least around twice a week."
"You know what today is, right?" She asked, grinning at me.
"Halloween?"
"What? No! What's a Halloween?"
"Thirty-first of October. Dress up in a costume, house to house for candy. We say 'Trick or Treat' but we all know we're getting treats and not tricks."
"I guess that's the human version of Nightmare Night, just without Nightmare Moon."
"I guess so."
"Who're you gonna be?"
I looked at her with a smirk. "Wouldn't you like to know? I don't think you'd know the character even if I told you. It's better if you saw me in it."
"Yeah, you'll have to take a wild guess at who I'm going as. I bet you'll never gue-"
"Wonderbolts."
She had a shocked expression on her face. "Wha?"
"Sorry Skittles, but that was kinda predictable."
"B-but... Argh!!! Now I gotta go as somepony else!" She said, leaving out of the front door.
I guess she's going to be busy. After breakfast, Jack took everyone who was interested to go get their costumes from Rarity. I went to check the list to see if anyone had actually regarded holiday breaks. Two people actually signed the list to see if we could make costumes. Those ponies are going to be quite disappointed because I can't make clothes for shit, not that I'd try or would even want to.
I decided to walk around the town a little bit. The ponies were setting up decorations and games for tonight. When I walked over by Rarity's, there was a huge line in front of her building. I guess she was really busy for a while. She's probably gonna have a tub of bits to wallow around in after this is over. Applejack was placing a barrel in the middle of the walkway near the Town Hall. Now that I think about it, if this is a pony holiday, they didn't celebrate it last year. I'll just ask later.
I didn't really bother anyone for a while. Eventually I got bored and headed to pay Fluttershy a visit. I knocked on the door. I know I didn't see her in town today. I knocked again. This time, her bunny opened the door. He had an irritated expression. That was until he saw it was me. He held his paw on the door and I knew he was thinking about slamming it, but I shook my head at him. He knew that I would kick the door in on him if he tried.
"Who is it?" I heard a meek voice say from upstairs.
"It's-a me. Xavier."
"Oh.. Hey.. I'll be down there in a moment... if that's okay.."
"Take your time, pretty pegsi."
I could've sworn I heard a feint 'eep'. After a few minutes of having a winning stare off with Angel, Fluttershy finally came down, hiding behind her mane.
"So.. what brings you here?"
"I was just stopping to visit the wonderful mare that's graceful enough to spend time with my sis."
Not even her mane could hide her blush. "Oh... well.. no problem? ...oh my..."
"Sorry. Maybe I should tone back my charm a bit. Say, do you plan on attending Nightmare Night?"
"NO!" She shouted. I jumped, never expecting her to raise her voice like that. "I mean... no... I'm sorry." She started to walk in her kitchen.
"Aw... That's a shame. Sis would've loved it if you could hang with her during Nightmare Night, you know. You're kinda like a second mom to her." This made her stop right in her tracks.
"A... A second...m-mom?"
"Yup. I mean you were the first pony to take her in and help her, and you did protect her from that flying vase. Not to mention before she met the three fillies she hangs around with, and before the school started up again, she did pretty much spend almost the entire day with you."
She tried to hide it, but I could see her smile. "I-I will... think about it.."
"That's great!" I said, scratching behind her ears. When I did that, she made a quiet high pitch 'eep' noise. My stomach tightened at how adorable I found it. I wanted to scoop her up and hug her, but she's not a stuffed toy. "So... uh, need help with anything?"
"Um... no.. not really..."
There was a knock on the door.
"...Second thought, can you get that? ...if you don't mind..."
"No probs, Flutters." I went to the door and opened it. It was Bri standing there looking excited, but her facial expression changed to confusion when she saw me instead.
"What're you doing here?" She asked.
"I was just seeing if Fluttershy wanted anything, oh sister of mine."
She saw Fluttershy behind me and glomped her. "Hi Miss Fluttershy!!"
"OOF! Hello Brianna." Fluttershy only managed to pat her head with her hoof a few times, nuzzling her a bit before letting her go.
"Hey Fluttershy! Are you going to go trick or treating with me?!" Brianna asked rather loudly. Fluttershy cringed at her lack of volume control.
"Uh, Brianna, inside voice please." I told her.
Fluttershy looked at Brianna, then at me, then back at her again. "I think... I'll give it a try.. This is going to be your first Nightmare Night, right?" My sister nodded her head. "Oh is that so? Because it's going to be mine too."
My sister gasped. "Really?! What's your costume gonna be?"
"I-I don't know yet, sweetie, but I suppose I'll come up with something."
I smiled at both of them. I couldn't help but to smile whenever I saw my sister getting along with someone. "Hey uh, Flutters, can I talk to you in private?"
"Oh... Sure.." Fluttershy and I walked out the front door. "What is it?" She asked curiously.
"Just wanted to thank you again for taking such care of my sister. It means a lot to the three of us." I said.
She blushed, smiling at me. "I'll be happy to have you and her around.. and your brother too if that's okay..."
I gave her a quick scratch behind the ears before I headed back inside. However, my sister looked at us both with a look I know all too well. You know the look your best friend gives you when you talk to/about a crush you have? Yeah, she was giving me that look. What she said next confirmed it.
"I ship it!"
We stayed at Fluttershy's for a while before it was time for us to head home and get ready for our first Nightmare Night. When we arrived home, my sis just had to open her mouth.
"She's nice you know."
"Bri."
"She's pretty too."
"Bri."
"She's kind."
"This is gonna be a thing with you, isn't it?"
"Yup!" She said cheerfully.
I gave out a sigh and went up stairs. I passed Hiroto along the way. "Hey uh, Hiroto. It's time."
"I have you covered." He replied as I opened the door to the attic. I was then shown the work he did that I gave him the bits for. Tonight was going to be awesome.
-No one's PoV-
Twilight had walked out of her library, wearing a wizard's hat, cloak and fake beard, with Spike dressed as a dragon in tow. Nopony had a clue who she was, all assuming she was just a random old man. She met with Pinkie Pie who was dressed as a chicken. Applejack, dressed as a scarecrow, stuck with her little apple bobbing game where you dip your head in the liquid and fish for apples.
Fluttershy, wearing a cape, bat-shaped hair clips and fake fangs was walking around town beside Brianna who was wearing a white shirt with a lime-green stripe going across the middle and pink shorts, her hair tied in a medium-sized ponytail. Traevon was wearing blue shades, headphones, large gloves, black pants, his roller blades, and a bright yellow shirt with black sleeves, having light blue-green Japanese letters on the front. He was hanging with Vinyl Scratch who had her mane brushed all the way to one side and was wearing thick rimmed, lens-less glasses, and Octavia wearing half of a white mask and a black cloak.
Jack was wearing armor with a few glowing bits and a red stripe and had 'N7' on it with a few 'weapons' attatched to the armor. He was giving a piggyback ride to his little brother who was wearing an orange gi with a small patch that had Japanese symbol on it and a large one in the back, blue boots, and a blue short-sleeved t-shirt under the gi, and two blue wristbands. Following them was Jeff who wore a vest of 'ammunition' over a red tank top and blue jeans. His belt had the nuclear symbol on it. Shades covered his eyes.
After helping Xavier with his costume, Hiroto, wearing a red hat, blue jacket, and a black t-shirt underneith, having 6 red and white balls clipped to his belt, had decided to hang out with Diamond Tiara who was dressed in a princess manner, and Silver Spoon who was dressed as a cat.
Jack, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie had joined the clown-dressed mayor on hearing the tale of Nightmare Moon along with the rest of the crusaders with Scootaloo dressed as a wolf, Sweetie Belle as a vampire, and Apple Bloom as the Bride of Frankenstein. Jonathan, being the brave fighter he was dressed as, didn't flinch at the projections like the others. In fact, him and Twilight were the only ones that didn't flinch. Everyone else was frightened by the effects. Even Jack was being a scared soldier. To top it off, a charriot being carried by two of the bat ponies Xavier had fought off was flying over their heads. Everyone was screaming except for the studious unicorn and the fearless kid.
Everyone had ran back to town to hide. Twilight wanted to see who the newcomer was, who revealed herself to be Princess Luna, who was last seen by Ponyville as Nightmare Moon. Even though Twilight knew that she meant no harm, that surely didn't mean the other ponies didn't.
"CITIZENS OF PONYVILLE! WE HAVE GRACED YOUR TINY VILLAGE WITH OUR PRESENCE, SO THAT YOU MIGHT BEHOLD THE REAL PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT!" Luna started, using her 'Royal Canterlot Voice'. "A CREATURE OF NIGHTMARES NO LONGER, BUT INSTEAD A PONY WHO DESIRES YOUR LOVE AND ADMIRATION! TOGETHER WE SHALL CHANGE THIS DREADFUL CELEBRATION INTO A BRIGHT AND GLORIOUS FEAST!"
Pinkie made things worst by screaming, "Did you hear that everypony?!? Nightmare Moon says she's gonna feast on us all!!!" That got everyone in a panic until another voice echoed in the air.
"I hear the sound of Chaos! The sound of Heresy!"
Heavy footsteps were heard as a large red hulking being wearing Red Armor which had a winged skull in the center. One of his tan painted shoulder guards had an arrow pointing upwards and the other one having a black silhouette of a raven with a blood drip in the center. The being's helmet's red eyes glowed as he looked out at the sight of cowering ponies infront of him. He gripped his boltgun with his large mechanical hands.
"I stand ready."
After it said that, Twilight looked like she was about to bolt any minute. Princess Luna looks at it. The holiday was mainly about how frightening she is, but she was intimidated by the alien. It took steps towards the two, both of them looking up at it. It seemed like an intense moment. It was a good stare off for a while. Half of the ponies raised their heads to watch the stare-off between the one they know as Nightmare Night, and whatever the huge hulking red thing is. It was then that it decided to break the silence.
"Sup, Twi?" it said in Xavier's voice.
-Xavier's PoV-
"Xavier? I-Is that you?" Twilight asked, still looking like she'd wet herself any moment.
"Yup. It's me."
"You're huge! What are you even supposed to be?!?"
"Xavier the Space Marine." I said, taking off my helmet. "And I take it you're supposed to be Gandalf?"
This caused Twilight to throw her hooves up. "UGH! I give up!"
"She's supposed to be Starswirl the Bearded." Luna said, causing Twilight to beam at her. "I thought you were a lot...smaller in structure. You have grown well since our last meeting."
"It's the costume. I'm kinda elevated." I told her.
"Well, we are happy to see thou, human, but it seems the town still thinks of me as a beast." Just like how you saw me. When Luna looked around, the ponies bowed, shaking in their hooves. "I think we should leave."
When Luna started to walk off, I put my helmet back on. Twilight had a sympathetic look on her face. "I'm going to go talk to her."
Spike out of nowhere came up and grabbed her cape. "You can't talk to her! She's Nightmare Moon!"
"No she's not. I saw the Elements of Harmony change her back to good, but it seems like she's having some trouble adjusting after being gone for a thousand years." She said, walking off.
"Awaiting orders." I said in my Space Marine voice.
Twilight rolled her eyes. "Come with me, Space Marine."
"Yes my lord."
Following Twilight, we saw Luna heading through the Everfree Forest.
"Princess spotted."
Twilight facehoofed."Ugh, Xavier can you give it a rest already?"
"Halt, Princess!" The princess stopped and looked at the two of us.
"What is it thou want from us?"
"I'm sorry, Princess Luna. I don't think I introduced myself. My real name is-"
"Twilight Sparkle. IT WAS THOU WHO UNLEASHED THE POWERS OF HARMONY UPON US AND TOOK AWAY OUR DARK POWERS!" Is it really that necessary to yell?
"And that's a good thing, right?" Twilight asked.
"But of course. We could not be happier. Is that not clear?"
"Negative!" I said.
Twilight shot me a look fro a second before returning her attention back to the princess. "Well, it sounds like you're yelling at me."
"But this is the traditional Royal Canterlot Voice! It is tradition to speak using the royal 'we', and to use THIS MUCH VOLUME WHEN ADDRESSING OUR SUBJECTS!!"
"You know, that might explain why your appearance was met with 'mixed results.'" Twilight said.
"Yeah. Last year, I might as well been Godzilla with the way ponies were running around trying to get away from me, but unlike you, I made the most of it." They couldn't see, but I was grinning under my helmet. "They were scattering around like ants after you drop an ant farm! Heheheh."
"Yeah, well your fun was responsible for collateral damages." Twilight said.
"No it wasn't. Ponies not being careful where they were going were responsible."
"Anyway!" Twilight said, rolling her eyes again. "I think if you just changed your approach a bit, you might be met with a warmer reception."
"It worked for me." I told the princess.
"CHANGE OUR APPROACH?"
"Lower the volume?"
"Oh.... We have been locked away for a thousand years. We are.. not sure we can."
"But you just did." I smirked under my helmet. "Just use that voice."
"We will try."
The two went ahead. I just stayed put. Twilight turned her head. "Xavier, are you coming?"
...
Twilight facehoofed. "Come on, Space Marine!"
"As you command."
We were approaching Fluttershy's house. "Don't worry, Princess. Fluttershy can give you some great pointers. She's delicate and demure with the sweetest little voice." Fluttershy's lights were out. Twilight knocked on the door and we got a response.
"Go away! No candy here! Visitors not welcome on Nightmare Night!"
And another voice. "And no scary horses allowed!" Brianna...
"Fluttershy, it's me, Twilight."
Fluttershy cracked the door open. "Oh... It is you. Ah, and Nightmare Moon." It took a second. "NIGHTMARE MOON?!?" She shrieked and slammed the door. Did she even see me?
Twilight had to go in there and drag her out, although it was hard to do when my little sister was trying to pull Fluttershy back in, so I gave Twi a red metal hand.
"Xavier?" Brianna asked.
"Yup."
"Fluttershy, you remember Princess Luna?"
"CHARMED!" Her RCV frightened Fluttershy and had her rush back into her house, or would have been had I not been standing in the way.
Fluttershy hesitantly turned back to Luna. "L-Likewise..."
"TWILIGHT SPARKLE HATH SPOKEN OF THE SWEETNESS OF THY VOICE! WE ASK THOU TO TEACHEST TO US TO SPEAK AS THOU SPEAKETH!!!"
"Okay.."
"SHALL OUR LESSONS BEGIN?!"
"Okay..."
"SHALL WE MIMIC THY VOICE?"
"Okay..."
"HOW IS THIS?!?"
"Perfect.lessonover." She tried to squeeze between my armored legs, but couldn't fit.
I knelt down to Fluttershy and she started to cower. In my Space Marine voice, I told her. "Fear denies faith. Faith is our shield." Twilight and Brianna facehoofed. I hugged Fluttershy. "Don't worry, Flutters. I won't let anything happen to ya while I'm around." I said in my normal voice.
"X-Xavier?"
I took off my helmet... "Yup." ...Before putting it back on. Fluttershy seemed to calm down, but that didn't stop Brianna from giving me that look again. I aimed my boltgun at her. In my Space Marine voice, I yelled "EAT BOLTGUN!"
She literally tried to bite my boltgun. She's my sister after all...
Fluttershy was still shaking even though a little bit when Luna approached us. "How is this?"
"That's actually good." I told her. Fluttershy agreed.
Luna snatched Fluttershy from my hold and gave her what I assumed is a god-like squeeze hug. "I THANK THEE, DEAR FLUTTERSHY! OUR NORMAL SPEAKING VOICE SHALL SURELY WIN US THE HEARTS OF THY FELLOW VILLAGERS!!" And you were doing so well too, until you broke Fluttershy.
As if the universe was mad at Princess Luna, Pinkie Pie and her mob of children were headed to Fluttershy's but saw her limp in Luna's grasp. And of course, Pinkie told the foals that Luna had stolen Fluttershy's voice so she couldn't scream while she's eaten or something along those lines, screamed, and ran away.
"NAY CHILDREN! WAIT!" She boomed, before remembering her lesson. "I mean... Nay children, wait!"
I'll be honest. I actually started to feel a bit bad for Luna. She wanted to be loved, not feared. However, I also understood a bit more what was going on. It's happened to me too when I was a kid, being the center of something and not knowing fully what was going on, and it didn't feel very good. This holiday celebrates Nightmare Moon, a scary entity that ponies actually have fun fearing. Like Halloween, but with multiple entities instead of one.
"Hey, uh, Luna? Maybe you should have a little fun, you know, with scaring the ponies."
"But you don't understand, we do not wish to be feared by the children!"
"But everyone wants to fear you today. The fact you've been away for...a long time... and I can understand how you don't get what's going on, but this is a fun holiday for everyone. The problem is, you don't know that everyone is actually having fun right now with being scared of you, which kinda makes it at your expense, but they don't know that. It's quite clear when you think about it." I looked at the shivering pegasus on the ground. "Well, everyone loves being scared on Nightmare Night except for Fluttershy." Why is she dressed like a vampire then?
Twilight thought for a moment. "You know, Xavier, you just might be right! Princess Luna, maybe you fit in best by just not fitting in!"
"So if what thou sayeth is true, then perhaps we shall continue using thy Royal Canterlot Voice?"
"Eh, maybe not as much as you already do. I'd stick to speaking normal volume most of the time unless you really need to get everyone's attention." I told her. "You should probably pay attention to how Celly treats her subjects and follow her example."
"And just why do we have to follow her example?" Luna pouted. Oh boy...
"Hey. I'm not the oldest sibling either, and following a few of my older bro's examples saved me a lot of trouble over the years, so trust me. From one younger sibling to another."
The alicorn smiled. "We see."
"It was pretty much the same when I first came to this town during the day, last year. Ponies running around in a panic, when all I was doing was looking for my runaway sister." I gestured towards my sheepishly smiling sister. "And quite frankly, it was hilarious while it lasted. To me at least. Frankly, I'm kinda envious of you. You have a holiday where you get to pull pranks on people and little kids and get away with it scot free. As long as they're harmless."
"Again, we must say that we have greatly misjudged you, human. Maybe we have been too negative about this entire ordeal. If the ponies enjoy the festival, I shouldn't try to change it."
"You can just call me Xavier, thank you. So go out there and be the friendliest yet scariest Nightmare Moon ever." I told her.
"Huzzah!" Luna cheered as she reared up and galloped to Ponyville.
As we watched her gallop away, Twilight placed a hoof on my leg. "You never cease to amaze me with the crazy yet sensible things you say. How did you do it?"
"Experience. First of all, humans had a holiday back on my world which is a lot similar to Nightmare Night. The scares are all in good fun and kids get lots of candy and treats. Jack likes it because he'd spot chicks in sexy costumes, but that's besides the point." Twilight giggled at the last sentence. "Also, I also know how to be the center of something I didn't know the concept of. Ever hear about a roast?"
"What does this have to do with cooking?"
"Not that roast. There's a kind of roast where a person's friends and family would make fun of each other, but most of the jokes are at the person's expense."
"That doesn't sound very nice..." I heard Brianna say from behind. Twilight agreed.
"Well, the person being 'roasted' is usually being picked on by people who loves and respects him, so the person doesn't usually take it to heart and laughs with them. Even he or she gets to crack a few jokes back. Anyway, I was being roasted by my friends and my brother in Elementary School, and didn't know why they were saying such mean things to me. I didn't know what a roast was and took everything the wrong way. So yeah, I know how Nightmare Moon felt about this holiday."
"Wow.. that's very interesting." Twilight said, having written down everything with a pen and notebook that I hadn't even seen her take out.
I smirked at her. "You think so? Maybe I should gather our friends and roast you one day." Twilight chuckled giving me the 'please don't' look.
"Fluttershy, let's goooo! You said you would spend Nightmare Night with me!" Brianna whined.
"B-But... N-N-Nightmare Moon..."
I turned to look at my sister pulling on the hoof of the shy pegasus. "But you saaaaaaaiiiiiiid!" In response to this, Fluttershy tried to pull back without hurting Brianna, so Brianna did one thing that nobody could see coming. She gave Fluttershy the stare. I know about Fluttershy's hidden ability. I've seen her stare be used several times when animals got out of hand, or when someone messed with her pony, animal, or human friends. Never would I have known that Bri would pick it up from her, let alone use it against her.
The rest of the night went pretty well. I couldn't really join in many games. Sis tried that apple fishing game, but I stopped her after I told her how many other ponies had their mouths in the water. This grossed her out a lot. I got Rainbow Dash to take a break from pranking others in her Shadowbolts costume. Man does she look good in that tight uniform... I can almost see her featu- Moving on, Fluttershy and Brianna pretty much followed me around, the former to make her less frightened and because she gave her word to the later. After a couple of hours of playing the other games, Dash had decided to head back home to call it a night after pulling a few more pranks on the way.
Twilight and I weren't ready to head home just yet. She had volunteered both of us for volunteer cleanup work (without my consent of course). We also ended up seeing Luna off when she had to return to her castle. She had a lot of fun for the most part. I told her ways to give me a warning when she could hang out in my head in the future. Before she took off, she wished me and Twilight good luck with our relationship, which left Twilight's head beet red. After Luna left, Twilight and I went to the park to watch the stars (I got the idea from her outfit... it had a bunch of stars on it.) As we were lying there on our backs, staring up at the sky, I checked my phone for the time.
"Hey, Twi. It's a few hours 'til tomorrow. Should we head back?"
"No, not just yet. I'm enjoying our little alone time."
"Are you now?"
"Yeah. Like, how often are we alone together when I'm not studying?"
"Not very often since you're almost always studying."
"Well, this is... nice."
We lied there for a moment, staring at the stars. Twilight, trying to be sneaky, started shifting closer to me. I just pretended to not notice. When she tried to lean in for the kiss though, her lips only met my hands. She gave me a puzzled and offended look.
"Sorry. I don't kiss dudes." I said, gesturing to her beard.
Twilight left her annoying laughing boyfriend behind, going home.