The five mares, still standing by their carriage let their eyes follow the path in front of them. It was a simple cobblestone road, flanked by pairs of dimly-lit lanterns accentuating the fog that was descending. A few hundred feet ahead of them was a simple courtyard, where the cobblestone formed a thirty-foot diameter circle, and on the side opposite them was a small staircase leading up to a truly massive home.
As best as they could tell, the once-whitewashed house was four stories tall; a pair of turrets at the back corners raised an extra two. The windows were covered by crimson curtains, denying anyone a peek at the interior. The house itself had been exposed to the mist for so many years, its pristine color had faded into a dull, lifeless gray. In the towers, roosts of owls, crows, and various other birds sat snugly. All of this was given an even darker, morbid coloration as a stormcloud rolled in from the west.
“Uh, we’re sure this is the right house, right?” Applejack asked, a hoof nervously tapping on the ground. Rainbow didn’t let that pass by, and jabbed a hoof in her rival’s side.
“Not scared, are ya?” she asked with a taunting grin.
“Ah am not!” AJ shouted back, looking a little flustered. “’S just… who in the hoof would wanna live out here?”
“Somepony who writes horror stories.” Twilight explained, partially to herself as much as the other mares. “A place as creepy as this would be great inspiration!”
“Maybe a little too great.” Rarity replied, casting a glance at particularly large spider weaving its web in the tree to their left. The five of them were about to head after Pinkie Pie when a clacking noise caught their attention; another carriage was coming. They turned and sure enough, its crimson aura was visible before the wooden beast itself rolled out of the mist, stopping on the opposite side of the road to theirs. A shadow shifted behind it, and a blue hoof pushed past the indigo curtain. The five ponies’ jaws dropped as one as Trixie stepped out of the carriage and dropped down to the cobblestone.
“And,” the “great” magician asked. “just what in Equestria are you commoners gawking a-ah-aaah…” Her eyes went wide as she recognized who she was talking to. That glimpse of shock faded fast, and was replaced by the haughty air they’d gotten used to in her first visit to Ponyville. Now, somehow she was the one looking offended. “Hmph! What are you fillies doing at an event as illustrious as this?”
Rainbow Dash’s eye twitched, and she took off like a bullet. She stopped only a precious few inches from Trixie’s face, glaring at the magician extraordinaire as she said, “Pinkie’s uncle is the one running this stupid thing, so ya better show some respect! A better question is, what’re YOU doing here?”
Trixie scoffed at the blue pegasus, and with a zap of her horn Dash went spinning like a top off into a nearby tree; specifically, the one holding the spider. The not-so-little arachnid dropped down onto Rainbow’s face, and motivated her into taking off into the air at nigh-supersonic speeds. The rest of the girls barely saw her transition from a pony to a speck in the air, and they could almost hear the silent screams of the spider as it was tossed over the horizon.
As all of this occurred, Trixie explained with a smug satisfaction, “I would have you know that I was personally invited by Mr. Nicodemus to provide the entertainment for tonight’s event. If it’s half as successful as my warm-up with your friend, this will be a night you’ll remember for the rest of your lives!” She took the moment to let out a particularly hammy evil laugh, and with a swish of her purple cape trotted off in the direction of the house.
Twilight glared and called out after her in a falsely friendly tone. “Careful walking this path by yourself, Trixie! I hear there are bears in these woods!”
It was almost imperceptible at that distance, but there was more than a little twinge of fear that went through Trixie as she walked away. The remaining four ponies shared a laugh with each other over Trixie’s acquired phobia, only to catch the faint sound of a hoarse pegasus screaming at the top of her lungs. It got louder and louder, until Rainbow Dash finally returned to ground with a solid impact on the cobblestone. She had a hoof to her chest, taking colossal breaths every few seconds, and wiping the sweat off of her brow.
She felt someone staring at her, and looked over at Applejack; the farmpony had an expression so smug not even Trixie could match it. Rainbow glared and panted out “That huff didn’t huff count!”
“Hehe, yeah, whatever.” Applejack replied. Now that all of them were gathered, they unloaded their bags from the carriage and started up towards the waiting house. As they approached the courtyard, the mist cleared, and even in the darkness, they could make out several other figures. Trixie, obviously, was standing close to the house, solitary and trying to look as distinguished as possible. There was at least one griffon, currently conversing with a light blue earth stallion dressed in business casual.
Rainbow Dash and Rarity immediately tried to split from the group and head towards the pair of stallions to the left side of the courtyard. Hoity Toity and Soarin, of all ponies, were attempting to have some sort of conversation. Sadly for the two fanfillies, a violet aura snapped them back into place, and Twilight frowned at them. “There’ll be plenty of time for socializing later. Right now we need to find Pinkie.”
Luckily, that wasn’t difficult at all. The pink mare was hopping up and down a short distance away, in front of a gray pony who looked very displeased to see her. Twilight and company approached and overheard Pinkie yammering about some story or other.
“…and I thought it had to be one of the bakers, but it turns out it was my friends the whole time!” She turned around and noticed the other five, before overdramatically gasping and grasping her companion by the neck, dragging her over to face her friends.
“And these are them! Weird coincidence, huh?”
“…Sure. Why not.” the other mare responded in an affected Trottingham accent. “It’s not as if you told me five minutes ago that they were here with you, or anything like that.”
Rarity observed the newcomer carefully, and it finally clicked in her head that this mare had been at the Gala. A string bass player, to be precise. “Oh, darling, is this that mysterious cousin you were telling me about?”
Pinkie’s face lit up like a star as the word “cousin” was mentioned. The mystery mare, on the other hoof, soured like spoiled milk. “Absoloonilutely!” Pinkie exclaimed. “This is Octavia!” She wrapped her other hoof around Octavia’s neck and hugged tightly; the poor gray mare looked like she was choking to death. “She’s Uncle Nickie Pie’s daughter, and my favoritest cousin ever!”
Once Pinkie finally deigned to let go, Octavia took a cautionary step away and stood on her hind legs, carefully adjusting her pink bowtie to its white collar; a fashion accessory entirely that Rarity appreciated in silence. Applejack, coincidentally, wondered why a pony would wear a collar with no shirt. The music mare coughed a bit, clearing her throat before falling back onto her front hooves and giving a polite and practiced smile.
“Yes, well, to be honest I'm not so sure Pinkie and I weren't switched at birth. It’s a pleasure to meet you all. Pinkie’s told me so much about you.” She noticeably cringed at that last part. Twilight couldn’t help wondering if she meant today specifically, or if Pinkie had been writing her constantly these last few years. “As my dear cousin said, my name is Octavia, and Nicodemus is my father; we’re very glad to have you all here. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’d really best be getting back to my friends before they start fretting.”
“What, without introducing me?” asked somepony behind her, in a slightly raspy mare’s voice. The others saw a white unicorn trot over, practically beaming behind her purple shades. Octavia’s misery only seemed to multiply her enjoyment. The gray mare sighed and gestured to her in defeat.
“Everypony, this is Vinyl Scratch. She’s a… close friend of mine.”
Scratch’s smile wavered for a second, for some reason; but that was dispersed as she greeted the others, reaching out a hoof to Rarity first. “Sup, Rare? Still doing the dress thing?” The unicorn nodded, shaking the DJ's hoof, and Scratch’s grin grew a bit. “Wicked.”
She looked over at Octavia, who was giving her an odd stare. Vinyl shrugged. “I’ve done some gigs for her. So, I’m guessing you’re the guest of honor?” the DJ asked, pointing a hoof at Pinkie Pie. The earth pony nodded vigorously. Vinyl nodded back, closing her eyes like she was contemplating something. “Sweet. Gotta say, you definitely look a whole lot more like the old colt than Tavi over here.” She smacked Octavia on the back with her hoof. “You’re smiling, for one thing!”
Pinkie giggled, and Octavia gave her such a glare that the other mares present could feel the wedge being driven between them. She snapped out with a hoof and grabbed Vinyl Scratch by her mane.
“Yowch!” went the DJ as her friend pulled her away.
“Sorry to cut this short,” Octavia called back to what Twilight suspected was everypony but Pinkie. “but we’re going to head inside. I need to have a little talk with Daddy.”
“So… why’m I going?” Vinyl asked, still trying to wriggle out of her friend’s grasp. Octavia just glared at her, which caused the unicorn to shrug, and give a calm wave to the other mares as she was dragged into the foreboding house. The door slammed behind the pair of mares, leaving Twilight and the rest sharing a few confused glances.
“She seemed nice.” Fluttershy said with a surprising lack of sarcasm. Angel Bunny shook his head in disappointment.
“Are you joking?” Rainbow Dash asked her. “That girl’s got a MAJOR stick rammed right up her—“
“—Assuming nopony minds, I think we’d best be heading inside.” Rarity alerted the others, looking up at the encroaching storm. A few drops of rain were starting to fall. But more interesting than the precipitation was the strange billowing shadow in the clouds. They seemed to disperse on command as the shade passed through them, until it finally broke free and descended towards the manor. The darkness seemed to grow darker around Princess Luna as she lightly placed her hooves on the ground in front of Pinkie and her guests.
“Luna?!” Twilight asked, in apparent shock. “What are you doing here?”
“Why would I not be here?” Luna asked, smiling with apparent surprise at meeting her sister’s student this far out of the way. “Any event such as this, by default, leaves an open invitation for my sister and I; we may attend at our pleasure. I am, however, more than a little surprised to see you this far out from Ponyville, Twilight. What brings you and your friends northeast?”
Pinkie Pie interrupted, jutting herself in-between the two mares and exclaiming “My uncle Nickie Pie’s the one that owns this awesome house! Isn’t that neat?”
Luna stopped mid-thought, and stared at Pinkie Pie. Her pupils widened a bit. “Nicodemus is… your uncle?...”
Her horn suddenly produced a strikingly bright light, ripping Pinkie Pie from the ground and dragging her up close to the Princess, who by now was smiling like a filly.
“Do you think you could introduce me?!” Luna squeaked. Pinkie was taken aback for maybe half of a second before she agreed, which elicited a squeal from the alicorn. “Oh, thank you! His Abyssal series is the most amazing thing I have read in a thousand years!” Nopony present seemed willing to alert the Princess she’d spent most of that thousand years trapped on the moon, presumably lacking books of any sort. Not even Twilight. She was far too busy sharing her boundless enthusiasm with the Princess.
They began naming off book titles to each other, each time squealing in unison as they both recognized it. This went on for nearly a minute until Twilight realized she had a shortcut. “Wait a minute, Princess, I’ve got his entire collection in my bag!”
Rainbow Dash averted her eyes from the insanity she knew was coming. The other mares watched in helpless confusion as an impossibly large number of books came out of that small saddlebag and swirled around the pair of fanfillies. Luna gasped and grabbed one of the books out of the air. “Twilight, do you think that Nicodemus might sign these for us?!”
The purple mare squealed. “I hadn’t thought of that! Maybe—hay, wait a minute.” Her horn still glowing brightly, the books she’d lifted were lined up in neat rows in front of her. She examined them closely, using that analytical stare to figure out what looked wrong with her.
“Horseapples. I think I forgot The Eyes of a Killer Limited Extended Release back at the library. This is my spare copy. Hmm… do you think I could take a copy from here and have him sign that?”
Applejack groaned loud enough for even the two mares wrapped up in their worshipping to hear her. “Girls, Ah can understand this is somethin’ ya both love. But can we please at least get in the hoofin’ house before ya go loopy-brained on us?”
Luna and Twilight shared a quick glance, and tried to blush as little as possible as they fell out of their stupor. AJ shook her head and asked Pinkie, “Anything we’re waitin’ on, Pinkie?”
“Nope!” Pinkie told her, looking up towards the front door. The porch was wide and, if not for the house it was attached to, it would look rather inviting with its pleasant summery decoration. The large brown doors remained shut, however. “Everything should be ready by now; Pompadour should be letting us in any second.”
“Good.” Rarity responded, pulling an umbrella out of her bag to repel the rapidly increasing downpour. “All this rain’s going to just ruin my poor mane if we don’t get inside soon. Wait a moment. Darling, who is Pompadour?”
“Oh, silly me!” Pinkie said, forgetting she hadn’t mentioned him. “Pompadour is—“
CREEEEAK, THOOMP
Every pony in the courtyard turned their attention to the big brown doors as they opened wide. Through it walked an olive green unicorn in a finely-pressed tuxedo, the aged stallion looking distinguished with his well-waxed pencil moustache and his balding but meticulously-combed white mane. His angular features were the definition of composure, and with a bow he gestured a hoof to the door, speaking to the guests with a posh, but surprisingly humble accent.
“Mares and Gentlecolts, please accept my gracious master’s sincerest apologies for making you wait in this dreadful rain for even a single moment. If you will please step inside, I shall escort you to the dining hall; Mr. Nicodemus will join you shortly.”
A roll of thunder passed in the sky above, motivating the guests to get a move on.
Pleased to get out of the rain, everypony approached the door as quickly as they could without degenerating to mob mentality. Ponies lined up, putting on their most regally-upheld stances as they trotted past the butler, presumably Pompadour. As they walked into the lobby, the luxurious crimson and maroon decorations caught their eyes.
They caught them so strongly, in fact, that no one noticed Pompadour’s withering gaze towards the rainbow-maned pegasus as she passed by.