Prowling the streets of Manehattan in her trademark jacket and hat, Eventide took a certain amount of pride that even without wearing a costume many ponies would likely regard her as the scariest thing they saw tonight. She didn't even try to look menacing, a polite smile here, a well meaning grin there, she could send stallions running with even the smallest of civilities. She would likely end up receiving an earful from Starlight (or from Twilight if the alicorn even cared in the slightest) about how she shouldn't be out at all on Nightmare Night, let alone be visiting Manehattan. Truth be told Eventide had no real problem with Manehattan until she had seen the article about their 'changes' to the holiday, too bad for them, if they didn't want her to show up then they'd have left the matter well enough alone. The best part of the whole situation was that so long as she didn't kick up a fuss there was no legal measure that could be taken to remove her. None of her restraining orders kept her from visiting the city and the Nightmare Night revels had been advertised as a public event Everypony Welcome.
As she walked the streets of Manehattan she stared at the towering skyscrapers and fashionable shops done up with Nightmare Night decorations that were, for the most part, tastefully blue and black. Evidently she had not yet reached the offending district that had opted for red and yellow. If things had worked out differently she could have seen herself living in the big city, maybe she could have moved there after she'd finished with her adventures. She could have lived the high life, hosting parties with her amassed fortune, making friends with the locals and possibly even settling down. Manehattan was meant to be pretty open minded about things, perhaps she could have managed to start a family without being judged for her preferences.
"Hey, miss, miss!" Eventide snapped back to reality as a small group of foals came running up to her. A colt with vampire fangs, a filly dressed as a toilet roll mummy and a ghostly trio whose genders were indeterminate on account of the bed sheets they were wearing. "That's an awesome costume, miss! You even got the cutie mark right!" the vampire squeaked.
"Yeah, thing is kid this 'aint a costume. This is how I usually dress." Eventide deadpanned the whole thing and waited for the kids to run off, except they didn't.
"You mean you're her? You're really Eventide Trailblazer!? That's so awesome!" the mummy said with the entire group joining in on for the final word. Eventide blinked a few times in confusion then frowned.
"You uh... you do know who I am right?" she asked trying to make sense of what was going on. Normally the confirmation of her identity was quickly followed up with some unpleasant comment or look of disgust, sometimes the other pony would just go silent and walk off as if the interaction had never happened. This was new territory.
"Sure do, miss!" the vampire shouted, from the looks of things he was probably the eldest of the group, maybe about twelve years old. "When I was little I had your photos and everything! Mom got me reading these books about this mare called Daring Do who went on all these cool adventures. She was cool, but then I found out that you were doing stuff like that for real! I had your book and some newspaper clippings and everything!" the book he was talking about was probably her first autobiography, she'd written it when she was nineteen at what was regrettably the height of her career. The book covered the first three years of her once successful career as well as some anecdotes about her youth detailing how she came to realize what she wanted to do with her life. The book had been a bestseller at the time only to be pulled off of the shelves a little over a year after its publication.
"So when you say you had my book..." she was pretty sure she already knew the answer to her own question.
"My mom took it away, she never said why though," the kid looked a little downtrodden at that. It did answer the question that had been nagging in the back of Eventide's mind though, the kids weren't scared because they didn't know. None of them knew her as anything more than renowned explorer Eventide Trailblazer. There was something immensely pleasing about being judged for her career again, it had been too long. "Are you going to write another?" he asked with a twinge of hope in his voice.
"That's... complicated, kid. Maybe someday, but I wouldn't get your hopes up," she had written a second book four years ago, it had never made print. Her first book had been subject to a few small pieces of censorship by the princesses, her second one had been politely denied publication by them for its content. She winced at the memory, all of her hopes and dreams had rested on that book and after she received the letter denying her the right to publish it she hadn't left the house for a whole month. "Hey, kid, a few words of advice from me to you. Always tell the truth, even if somepony else tells you not to; always follow your dreams, no matter where they take you; and look after your family, cause family is probably the single most important thing in the whole world," she hadn't really realized the last one until she had lost her own.
Flashing the group of foals one last smile she continued on her way. The kids seemed a little confused by what she had said but that was to be expected. After all, they had no idea why Eventide should be looking so sad, they had never been told why her book had been pulled from the shelves.
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The streets she was walking now were adorned with reds and yellows, the fiery pallet mixing well with Nightmare Night pumpkins and similar decorations. Her trip to Manehattan had been made with the intention of letting off steam at the expense of a few other ponies. To shout and rage at the ones who had decided to take Nightmare Moon out of Nightmare Night. From what she recalled Princess Luna loved the celebration, there was no reason to change things, the night princess didn't deem it to be in bad taste. That one run in with the foals though had shattered her resolve, what would she be accomplishing here? Sure she would get some of the anger off of her chest but she would likely ruin the night for a few kids in the process, and if the previous encounter was anything to go by then the kids were perhaps the only ponies in Equestria who still liked her.
Before, she had strutted about the streets with an air of superiority, now she couldn't help but notice the way passersby looked at her. The adults would shy away, avert eye contact perhaps glare at her or mutter something under their breath. The kids though treated her like any other pony, not a single one of them seemed to care who she was. A new resolve began to form in her heart as she pressed on deeper into the festival, there was a stage up ahead and she intended to use it.
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Principal Chalk smiled as he surveyed the Nightmare Night festivities. It had taken a little bit of work to get the rest of the school-board to agree but nopony would be able to argue with the results. The new and improved Nightmare Night was a significantly brighter and more colorful affair, the kids were loving it and there hadn't been a single complaint all night! He didn't want to toot his own horn but he'd wager this was the most successful Nightmare Night celebration that Manehattan had seen in decades and nothing was going to-
"Hey!" Chalk shouted as another unicorn climbed up onto the stage. The band had been given a break and his speech had long since passed so nopony else should be up there- he froze as he recognized the mare, his face turning a deathly white. His legs shook and his jaw silently rattled up and down as he tried to work out what to say. Not once during all of his preparations for the festival had he planned out what to do in the situation that Miss Trailblazer decided to turn up. She lived in Canterlot, she was a notorious recluse, in the past five years Chalk had not once heard of her attending a Nightmare Night festival. At this moment he should probably be doing something, call security, politely ask her to leave, maybe even try to tackle her off of the stage. Instead though, as images of an impending disaster culminating in his dismissal from his position as principal flashed through his head he opted to go with the simplest solution and fainted.
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"Hello?" Eventide spoke into the microphone, "is this thing on?" with a few light taps that sent magically enhanced static through the festival she determined it was indeed on. As the eyes of the crowd turned to face her she saw a lot of confused looking foals and worried looking parents. Eventide sighed, took a deep breath and then began.
"Hello, for those who don't know me my name is Eventide Trailblazer. Over the past five years a lot of ponies have said a lot of things about me and about the mare Sunset Shimmer. I've said a lot of things too and a lot of that is stuff I regret. I'd like to apologize first off if my being here offends anypony, don't worry I'll try to keep things brief and then I'll be out of your hair. First of all I'd just like to say that while it is true that I was a close friend to Sunset, the nature of our relationship presented by the press is a complete fiction, we were never marefriends and we were certainly never..." she considered what word she could get away with in the presence of so many foals "...intimate." They probably didn't know what that one meant.
"For most of the last year that she was still in Equestria I saw very little of her, most of the questions I have been quoted as refusing to answer I simply didn't know the answers to, I was away on far off shores exploring strange and wondrous lands. Before that though I considered her a close friend. I can't speak for the last year but before that time I'd like to say that she was a kind and caring pony, just like any other. She had her flaws but who doesn't? She certainly wasn't the monster that she has since been labelled as, which I suppose is why I'm here tonight. The changes to this holiday sadden me but they don't surprise me. I'm not going to kick up a big fuss though, if this is how you want to celebrate then so be it. I would however like to question the motivations behind these changes. I read an article that stated that the main reason for the change was that the old holiday could be deemed disrespectful to a beloved mare, Princess Luna. I'm not going to try and say it isn't but I am going to say that if this is the only reason then it is just as disrespectful to hold the holiday with Sunset Shimmer as your symbol of fear. Like Luna she did some bad things, things that some might say were unforgivable, but also like Luna she wasn't always a monster. I for one have fond memories of her from before the...unpleasantness. I'm not going to make any demands or threats, I'd just like to say that if the aim was for the festival to cause no offense then it has sadly failed."
"Before I go though I would like to say a few words to the foals. A good friend of mine once told me that we should giggle at the ghostly and tonight I encourage you all to do just that. Have fun, eat your fill of candy and remember to be safe on the streets. Have a few scares and a few more laughs, enjoy yourselves but try to remember that this is a school night so don't stay up too late or you'll be in a lot of trouble with your parents in the morning. Have a spooktacular Nightmare Night and don't wander too far from your parents," ending her speech with a smile she was encouraged by the fact that there was no booing and nothing had been hurled at her. The adults seemed less angry at her being here and more confused. "Now then," she said into the microphone, "if anypony needs me I'm going to be spending the rest of this Nightmare Night at Manehattan observatory with somepony very special to me."
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To her dismay the observatory turned out to be closed for the night but she had thankfully had the foresight to bring along her own telescope. Sitting atop a small hill in the public park she adjusted her equipment and turned it to face the night sky. It was unlikely that her little escapade tonight wouldn't make the news. Had anypony recorded what she had said? Would the full speech spread across Equestria? She could hardly keep it from reaching Starlight but hopefully she would take the news well. The unicorn would likely be disappointed that she had decided to visit Manehattan but hopefully proud that she hadn't blown up at anypony. Regardless of her opinion on the events she would have a lot to talk about at the next meeting.
With a few final calibrations she turned the telescope to the Moon. Sure, what she was looking for could be seen with the naked eye on a night like this, but the extra magnification gave her a sense of closeness, of greater familiarity. Across the pock marked surface of the moon there stretched a great darkened imprint that covered almost half of its visible surface, the unmistakable image of a horned pony.
"Hey there, Sunset," Eventide whispered into the night. "How are things at your end? Is it really made of cheese up there or is that just a myth? Things are a little rough down here right now but I think they might be starting to look up. I'm going to have a family again Sunset, one way or another I'm going to make it happen. I'd talk to you more often but Starlight thinks it's bad for my health." Eventide sighed and turned her head away from the viewing lens. "Nine hundred and ninety four years," she muttered to herself. "In nine hundred and ninety four years I'll be dead, Sunset."