//------------------------------// // Chapter 24 // Story: Trickster Priest // by Fresnor //------------------------------// Nightmare Night was one of the favorite holidays in Equestria of Xellos as few gave him a second look as he walked around. Everyone always expected to see strange things that night and he was always amused at the pranks that happened even if they were often rather weak without additional assistance which he frequently provided. Ponyville was relatively simple compared to some of the larger cities but that could be attributed to both the size and traditional nature of the founding earth ponies. It was a good thing though as a certain trio had been trying to find a way to incorporate their recent teachings into the holiday but Applejack had to draw the line when her sister nearly demolished the barn with her golems trying to get them to dance in sync. Early on Xellos was fine with watching how things just to see how things worked out before he added his own little touch. He currently had his eyes on Rainbow Dash and her cloud prank as he felt it was rather boring compared to what could be done. Before he could decide on what to do he felt a huge presence approaching and his eyes were drawn towards an approaching sky chariot. “Well now, it looks like things are about to get really interesting around here now.” With a grin the monster floated in the direction it was heading to find Luna leaping off to land in the center of town. He had to restrain himself as the princess proceeded to yell at the ponies of the town in the Royal Canterlot Voice, which caused more fear than respect. Shaking his head he landed by the insulted looking princess before she could storm off and tossed an arm over her withers. “Well hello Princess, fancy seeing you here tonight of all nights. I would have thought you would have been up in Canterlot terrorizing the nobles instead of down hear screaming at the ponies of Ponyville.” The princess had to restrain herself from going off on the monster as she shrugged off his offending appendage and took a few steps away from him. “Just when we thought this night could not get worse of course you would show up. What do you want monster? Haven't you caused enough problems for us?” Xellos just chuckled before reclining in the air next to her as she stomped away. “What? You don't enjoy seeing a familiar face other than your sister after your thousand years in the corner?” Luna froze for a moment before she turned her head to glare at the biped. “There is nothing we'd rather see less than you. Always since we met you you have vexed us without end. If we didn't know that you would just run away we would end you now.” With a roll of his eyes Xellos booped the princess with his finger before floating in front of her as her eyes crossed. “You rate the likes of Sombra and Discord ahead of me? I'm not sure if I should feel complimented or insulted that what little I've done means more to you than a pair of tyrants. You would think that not being banished or turned to stone since we've met would put me just a little higher than them.” Luna just glared at the monster as she started to growl lightly. “You blew up a mountain fortress with ourselves inside of it. And you expect us to just act as if it never happened? If we knew that you would not just run away again we would destroy you.” To punctuate her words the princess took a swing at Xellos with her hoof but he only only stepped backwards. Looking insulted the monster just turned away with a huff. “Well if that's how you feel about me then I'll be leaving then.” With that he vanished from sight leaving the princess to just grumble to herself as she marched off towards the Whitetail Woods. Xellos, true to his word, wandered around Ponyville for a while before he eventually came upon the princess once again. Taking a moment he watched as the night princess actually cut loose and have a bit of fun for once. Of course when things started going wrong for her and she started to throw a tantrum causing the monster to shake his head. “Oh dear. It seems I may need to step in before she does something she'll regret. Maybe it's time to bring back an old gag from the past.” “Princess, remember! Watch the screaming!” Twilight Sparkle tried to calm Luna down but after the reaction of the town, most especially Pinkie Pie, she had had enough. “NO, TWILIGHT SPARKLE! WE MUST-!” The princess' rant was interrupted as a pillow slammed into her face causing her to stop in shock. Shacking her head she tries to continue. “WE MUST-!” This time she is interrupted as a red fruit slapped wetly across her nose, leaving a streak of juices dripping off of it. With a twitching eye Luna brought a hoof to rub the liquid off before taking a taste of it. “Raspberry... Only one dares...” Her eyes dart around the area before they lock on a lone figure sneaking around the back of the crowd. Spotting him her eyes narrowed while her mane started flowing erratically around her. Lighting her horn she grabbed the mallet next to a nearby attraction before brandishing it before herself. “XELLOS!” With her cry of rage a path was cleared between the two allowing Luna an opening to charge after the monster. With a smirk, Xellos dodged to the side as the mallet came down smashing one of the recently animated spiders instead of the princesses original target. “Whoops! Can't you take a joke Looney? It always helped you in the past to stop screaming at your subjects, and that was a thousand years ago. Your sister sure hasn't done that for centuries.” The only response he received from the princess was another scream of rage as she once again tried to smash in his head. With an exaggerated motion he once again dodged out of the way subjecting another innocent spider to being splattered. Seeing that she couldn't be reasoned with he refrained from speaking as he continued to dodge around the area. Back where she was standing before the princess ran off, Twilight began to pick her jaw up off the ground before rubbing at her head in annoyance. “Really? You two have to do this now? Ugh, why can't these things ever be easy?” “Twilight!” Looking over she found Pinkie and Applejack running up to her with the farm mare in the lead. “What the hay is going on here now? First the princess caused those spiders ta go crazy and now she chasing after Xellos.” With a groan Twilight shook her head before glaring at the retreating duo. “Well I was trying to get princess Luna more accustomed to the current times but somepony kept sabotaging my efforts.” This time her glare was directed at Pinkie Pie who looked confused. “She heard about Nightmare Night and came to try and get the town used to how she really is. All the screaming and running away from her has been really making her depressed and every time she tried to being accepted you kept sabotaging her!” Pinkie Pie looked a bit worried though Applejack just looked even more confused. “Wait, wait, wait. How was Pinkie sabo-watsing her? She was just doing what she does every year during Nightmare Night. Everypony always does stuff like that on Nightmare Night so ah don't know why it would matter to Princess Luna. It's not like she... Uh... Uh oh.” The orange pony's eyes shrank to pinpricks as what she was missing finally came to her. Pinkie Pie was the one to speak up for the both of them as her mane deflated. “Like she has been gone for the past thousand years and doesn't know anything about the holiday about her that she thought she could use to be accepted and not feared.” Twilight nodded sadly as the party pony looked downcast about her actions that had hurt the princess. Looking off towards the path of flattened spiders Twilight moved to chase after the two that had were leading the destruction. As she ran she tried to think of a way to calm the princess despite the actions of Xellos. “Why must he keep doing this whenever she is around him? I would think that he would treat her nicer with how long they have known each other.” Eventually she finally finally caught up with them just as Luna's purloined mallet finally made contact with Xellos, sending him rocketing deeper into the forest. Panting as her rage faded away, princess Luna slowly dropped to the ground before she sighed and lay her head on her hooves as a tear fell from her eye. “Oh he is right. We have been gone so long that we have no idea on how to act in these modern times.” Twilight slowly advanced on the princess before she took a seat next to her. “Are you going to be all right, princess? This can't be easy for you, especially after you almost had the rest of town finally about to accept you.” Twilight winced as Luna sent a tearful glare at her before the princess sighed and lay down again. “Please do not remind us. If it was not for the pink one then none of this would have happened to us.” Neither of the two noticed the large group that was coming up behind them until one of them spoke up. “We're really sorry about doing all that princess Luna. We thought you were just joining in on the fun with all of us tonight. If we knew that you didn't know about all of this we wouldn't have kept running away screaming.” Turning the two found that Pinkie Pie had snuck up on them along with the entire foal population of Ponyville. One of the smallest of the group, a piebald colt, stepped forward to the front of the group. “We really are sorry princess. I was so excited that my favorite princess had shown up that when Pinkie said that you were here to have fun with us I just followed along.” Princess Luna just sat there in shock as she was suddenly surrounded by apologizing foals before a slight smile appeared on her face. Her eyebrow rose as she felt a heavier weight settle on her back causing her to turn to find an unwelcome face to meet her. “Well now isn't this turning out well for you. Now all you have to do is remember what I've told you and everything will be just fine. Now if you'll excuse me I think I'm going to try that new Whack-a-Spider game I saw a pony setting up in honor of our little show we put on.” As the three gathered adults looked confused at his words he leaned over and gave a little peck on the side of Luna's muzzle before vanishing, leaving them all in shock. Pipsqueak, the colt that spoke up, looked up at the princess innocently. “Princess Luna? Was that your coltfriend?” While Pinkie Pie looked amused, Twilight was wincing as she looked worriedly at the princess as her expression morphed from confused shock to rage. “XELLOS!”