//------------------------------// // Arrival 7: Nightmare Night // Story: Arrival at Dusk // by Vohira //------------------------------// Midnight laid on his bed and gazed at the clear night sky over Canterlot, with the full moon high on its path through the star filled sky. He really didn't need to look at his earth pony roommate to know he was sleeping, Dandelion’s quiet snores told the ex-human that much. He had a nightmare that woke him up so late, the one with him flying and getting hit by a car out of nowhere… again. Thought he supposed that the stress of the past two weeks got the better of him and that’s why that particular nightmare has returned. “Maybe I’m not so totally over with what has happened to me after all…” A quiet sigh escaped him. It was a quirk of his or maybe it was just the way with things that the bad experiences left a larger mark in memory than the positive… Dandelion turning to his other side brought him out if his musings as the bed squeaked under the weight of the young pony. With a long sight and a last look at the full moon imprinted with the face of Nightmare Moon, Midnight decided to try and fall asleep and just hope for the best. It was Nightmare Night after all tomorrow… That year’s Nightmare Night was kind of special as the celebration happened during Sunday. Luckily the Canterlot weather team worked overtime to be certain the the sky would be clear that evening, as the week before it was rather dreary. Late autumn was slowly giving way to winter with chilly winds coming from north. When Midnight came down for late breakfast, he was still half asleep. Without much thought he reached for his magic as he approached the breakfast spread, grabbed the glass pitcher of milk and tried to pour himself some of it into a bowl… key word being tried. When it slipped from his magical grip it shattered loudly on the floor spilling the milk, the sound making him jump with his heart suddenly racing. With wide eyes and now fully awake Midnight looked around spotting Mr. Soup and Mrs. Tender Rose running in looking for the source of the sound. “Uh… Sorry?” Midnight said looking at his hooves in embarrassment. He heard Mr. Soup’s quiet sigh and looked up to see him going to the kitchen. The orphanage matron on the other hoof… “Come here Midnight.” The red coated mare made a calling gesture with her hoof. Not seeing much of a choice the unicorn colt moved towards her and stopped just before her. When Midnight looked up he saw a fond but nonetheless slightly disappointed look on her muzzle. “I believe Magister Heartfire’s note said something about using Levitation Spell when you just learned it yesterday?” A blush made his way onto Midnight’s cheeks. “Not to use it on heavy things…” It was a disappointment when after learning the spell yesterday he was made aware that for now he was good enough with it to lift a small pouch with few pebbles in it, or that he could handle only two things at once... and that was with immense concentration. But the embarrassing thing in his thoughts was the note had had to give Mrs. Rose. As it said that he could now use his magic to lift very light things and that she should pay extra attention on him not to go beyond his limit… As the outcome of such an attempt was now made clear. It really vexed him that with above average Mana Pool he couldn’t do much more. “It’s a matter of experience and exercise…” Were the words of Magister Heartfire. If he could without further embarrassing himself, he would have grumbled about that aspect of magic out loud. In the meantime of his musings, Mr. Soup came back with a new full pitcher of milk, a brush, a scoop and some towels. Seeing the adult unicorn handle those thing with ease made him grumble and pout unconsciously. “You will get there in a few years.” Mrs. Rose sighed with some amusement in her voice, stroking hers charge mane in a soothing way. “Now go help Mr. Soup with cleaning and get some breakfast. You have an important evening before you.” “Yes, Mrs. Rose.” Midnight sighed and dodged her second attempt at petting him and went to help the resident chef. He was given the task of mopping the spilled milk with the towels. Wanting to spare himself more embarrassment or disappointments he decided on using just his hooves. The floor was cleaned in a matter of minutes after which Midnight sat at a table near the window with a bowl of cereals before him. “Alright, take two…” He whispered to himself frowning a bit in concentration. Taking care to think about what he wanted to achieve by imagining powering the three runes that made up Levitation Spell he pulled on his magic. It was an interesting concept, runes. They guided the intent of the caster until he could do the spell without them, at least the less complicated spells. What was truly intriguing for Midnight however was that majority of spells could be written in runes using several different combinations, as runes encompassed only basic concepts and the mage could decide that one combination worked for him better than another…     The spoon that he all but glared at was surrounded by a bright blue and black aura and slowly lifted into the air. Slowly it moved over the bowl, dipped into it and lifted again as it began moving towards him. By the time Midnight finished his breakfast moving the spoon required a fraction of his earlier concentration… still, it was not as instinctual as older unicorns around him made it look. It did not escape his notice that while he trained the usage of Levitation Spell in handling a spoon, Trixie joined him at the table and sent him light, jealous glares from time to time. She finally managed to connect with her magic - as did most of the rest of his Magic class. Looking at the blue coated filly made him somewhat nervous… and it all came down to the birthday present he bought for her as a part of set Dandelion came up with. It laid beneath his bed along with his Nightmare Night costume. “So you’re ready for the evening Trixie?” After a moment of silence he remembered something else that bothered him. “You do have a costume, right?” “Hmph, Trixie doesn't need a costume. Trixie will go as Trixie.” Her answer came after she swallowed her bite of daffodil sandwich with nose held high… that were two things that the ex-human found hard to adjust, eating flowers and the occasional arrogance of Trixie.   On a side note, he had tasted flowers once or twice and while the taste was surprisingly agreeable with his new taste buds, the thought just weirded him out a bit too much. “But isn't the whole fun in putting on the costumes?” “Trixie doesn't need to pretend to be somepony else to look great.” She said after taking another bite from her sandwich, the ex-human felt a small, sad smile tugging at the corners of his lips. Oftentimes he wondered if his presence will change things, but it was looking like it won't… at least for now. “Well, I’m going to do some reading and the I’ll try to get Summer Dew or Silvertongue to look over my magic exercises. You want to join?” To be honest Midnight didn’t have any other ideas on how to spend the rest of the day until evening. “Ok.” That’s all she said between the bites of her second sandwich. So with plans made the white coated unicorn colt went upstairs to dig through the few books he had borrowed from the library. When he finally decided one titled ‘Creating your first spell’ by Quick Quill that was first in a series of three, Trixie came in after a single knock with a book held in her mouth. She jumped onto his bed, laid down and began to read her own book on basic magical theory that he had read and found enjoyable. Luckily Dandelion was not in the room. After second time he had spent making fun of their little reading sessions and woke up the next day with a lot of toothpaste in his mane and on his pillow he gave up. Of course now he just had a tendency to hide their books from time to time. About two hours later Midnight and Trixie all but cornered a disgruntled Silvertongue and… asked him to oversee their magic exercises. It was surprisingly easy to get him to agree when a smiling Trixie mentioned his weird hobby of sticking close to, gazing at and being all polite to Summer Dew when he thought no one else was nearby. Midnight almost snorted in amusement there and then when the older unicorn colt tried to make frantic yet subtle shushing gestures, which earned the trio a few questioning gazes from the other ponies in the day room which included Summer. After that followed almost two hours of Trixie reaching for her magic time after time, to get herself familiar with the feeling. At the same time Midnight was building a tower out of wooden blocks using only Levitation Spell and trying to manage two or three blocks at a time… More often than not he had to drop the third block almost right away, but sometimes he managed to lift it up slightly. “You’re trying too hard Midnight, you’re thinking too much.” Silvertongue said as they decided to end their little lesson. Soon after there was an early dinner after which Mrs. Rose came in and informed them that those under age of twelve will form one group for the night and older ones another, with the younger ones going with her. “And also, happy sixth birthday Trixie!” The red coated mare almost shouted with a large smile as Mr. Soup came in with a massive cake on a trolley. It was blue with silver swirls and stars decorating it. Everypony in the room joined in and Midnight could see some embarrassment show itself on Trixie’s face alongside with a shy smile. “Thank you…” As quiet as it was said by the filly, all heard it. “All right! Presents!” Dandelion shouted jumping up and rushing upstairs. “Come on Mid!” Not having a choice Midnight also had to rush upstairs. When they both were going down, they run past Rumble and Bumble also going to their room. In the day room the older fillies and colts looked somewhat embarrassed as apparently they didn’t have presents for Trixie, exception being Cherry Blossom that gave to the blue filly what appeared to be pink diary locked with a small padlock. “Well, happy birthday Trixie!” Dandelion said with a large smile as he gave her a small package wrapped in brown paper. The filly didn’t waste any time and tore it open to reveal a filly sized, blue, magician cape dotted with gold and silver stars. “Do you like it?” “It’s very nice! Thank you!” She said putting it on and somewhat awkwardly hugging the earth pony colt. “And that’s from me Trixie, happy birthday!” Midnight said with a smile as he levitated a similar package to Dandelions towards Trixie, when the blue filly looked at him. As she opened it a matching blue, pointy hat was revealed.           When she put it on, Trixie rushed Midnight and hugged him without the earlier awkwardness and then took a step back. “What do you think? Doesn’t Trixie look great in it?” She paraded in her new costume before everypony who smiled or even chuckled in the case of the adults. “That really fits you Trixie.” Mrs. Rose said with fondness in her voice. “You look like a true, great magician.” Midnight said on an impulse. “Oh! Like… Great and Powerful Trixie!” The blue filly said trying to do a striking pose. Everypony chuckled warmly at that… except for Midnight who just smiled. After that came the time to enjoy the cake that surprisingly or maybe not, tasted of blueberries. Trixie pranced around in her new cape and hat making everypony smile, they even had a couple of games of hide-and-seek that involved everypony in the orphanage. When the sun began to set Mrs. Rose gave the word to go get dressed in their costumes. It was quite the interesting crowd that gathered not a half-hour later in the orphanages lobby. The older fillies and colts decided to dress up thematically with what Midnight could guess were Equestrian variants of Robin Hood characters. It was kind of interesting to see Silvertongue as their version of Robin and Summer as Maid Marian. Rumble and Bumble dressed up as clowns... Dandelion was a bit of a surprise as he dressed like a medieval bard, or something close to it. Midnight dressed as a royal guard found it all really surprising. One, they were lucky that through Silvertongue they could get some old, theater-class costumes from the spectacles that were long taken out of the repertoire for almost symbolic ten bits… And secondly, even if they didn't have Silvertongue a lot of the dressmaker's made costumes for a decent price. Well, their weekly allowance of ten bits wasn’t really much but they did manage to get that cape and hat for Trixie for less than he thought it would cost… Living in Canterlot had its upsides. Mrs. Rose decided to go dressed as a Timber Wolf. “All right then, I want you all back before nine. There is school tomorrow and I know you will probably party a bit more after you return.” She said looking at the older group as they murmured in discontent. “Now let’s go.” They all left with the older group immediately going in a different direction, which earned a sigh and a small smile from Mrs. Rose. When they went out a lot of other disguised fillies and colts were already wandering around with their parents. Sound of merry chatter, knocking and the ever present rhyme of “Nightmare Night! What a fright! Give us something sweet to bite!” was heard. Soon enough they began knocking on the doors and reciting the rhyme hoping to get some free candy. Trixie walked closely to Midnight and Dandelion, with the biggest smile both colts have ever seen on her muzzle. They talked to other fillies and colts, which more often than not ended with sitting down and trading candies. All in all Midnight and the other were having fun, until that is Mrs. Rose told them it was time to go back. When they all returned Mrs. Rose retreated to her office to rest a bit, leaving her charges alone in the day room discussing their time. “Hey I know! Let’s play truth or dare!” Cherry Blossom said with raised hoof and a grin. All of them agreed and sat down in a circle. “So let’s begin with Summer. Truth or dare?” “What? Why me?” Summer Dew glared at Cherry but ended up rolling her eyes and huffing in annoyance. “Fine, truth.” And so it went until was Midnight’s turn, who chose truth. “Do you like Trixie?” Unfortunately It was also Dandelions turn to ask question... “Uh…. yeah, we are friends after all.” Midnight answered, sweating a bit from all the attention focused on him. Then turned to Brass Bit. “Truth or dare?” “Dare.” Brass said, being the first to pick this one. “Smash an egg on your forehead.” Midnight said with a large grin, while Brass blinked, snorted and went to the kitchen. A muffled smacking sound was heard and the dark brown coated earth pony colt returned with some yolk running down his muzzle. When it was the second time for Midnight to pick, he chose dare not wanting to get embarrassed too much by Dandelion. “All right. Go to the bathroom and while it’s dark say Nightmare Moon’s name to the mirror three times.” Dandelion said in what he probably thought was a spooky voice, but just made him sound ridiculous. Midnight blinked, that was a bit different, but he shrugged and stood up. “Sure.” While he went upstairs to the bathroom the ex-human contemplated the strange dare. He knew about some of the more silly stories about Nightmare Night and Nightmare Moon herself, including that one about saying her name three times before a mirror and haunting you. Now that he thought about it, even Celestia said something similar but in regards to her True Name. Even if he now lived in a world filled with magic, this kind of thing still struck him as a bit odd. When he finally stood before the mirror in the bathroom with the only light coming from the hallway, he studied his reflection for a bit before coming to a decision. What was the worst that could happen? “Luna, Luna, Luna.” Despite everything it came out as a whisper. Midnight waited for a minute… two, and nothing happened. He chuckled. “See, silly old story.” He whispered to himself and turned around wondering why Celestia was so afraid back then when they met and he almost said Luna’s name. He left the bathroom not looking back. His reflection grinned, showing of fangs and cold, calculating, draconic, teal eyes gazed at his back. “Well, well… isn't that interesting.” A mare's voice whispered, before the reflection disappeared. On the staircase going down, Midnight shuddered as goosebumps spread on his back. When he entered the day room again the game has moved on. “You have taken ages up there…” Dandelion commented with a grin. “Were you afraid?” “No I wasn’t.” The game continued on for two more rounds, before Mrs. Rose ushered them all to beds. That night, Midnight’s dreams were filled with trudging through weathered mountain tops and valleys shrouded in blizzards, over which he could barely hear a mare’s voice calling him. During that night Princess Celestia watched over Canterlot from her balcony, smiling despite herself as she saw her little ponies enjoying the night. She was stirred from her musings by knocking. Turning around she entered her office and sat behind her ornate desk. “Come in.” The gray coated pony that walked in was dressed in a black suit, wore rectangular glasses and his platinum blond mane showed signs graying. The wrinkles under his eyes also were telling when it came to his age. “Ah, Dean Platinum Star I’m glad you answered so quickly.” The older unicorn bowed and smiled. “My Princess, how could I not? That you mentioned something that would interest me greatly in your letter notwithstanding.” Platinum said sitting in one of the two plush chairs standing before the desk. “Ever the charmer I see. But let’s get to the point, the finer details can be discussed in the future. What would you say, if I told you I have found you a potential apprentice? One that could benefit from your… interest in a rare field of study?” Celestia said leaning back slightly, observing the older unicorn. “Truly now? How… interesting.” The greying unicorn’s eyes twinkled with interest... and something darker.