The Nightmare Ends
“What’s going on? Wh-who are you?” Pinkie Pie called out into the dark, lying on her side. She tried moving her hooves, but couldn’t manage it. The feel of rope around her legs told her all she needed to know.
The room remained silent.
“W-what do you want? Is it cupcakes? Candy?” Pinkie continued to struggle her hogtied legs to freedom. “I know you’re there! Somepony answer me!”
A deep chuckle sounded from somewhere behind her. “If only it was about cupcakes and candy…”
Pinkie froze. It was a deep, vibrating voice she couldn’t recognize. It spoke slowly, savoring every syllable. Uh oh…
“Tell me… Why do you think you’re here…?” the voice asked.
Taking short, ragged breaths, Pinkie slowly turned her head around towards the source of the voice. She quickly found her head forcefully pushed back down and held in place by… something. It was too small to be a hoof and, if anything, felt more like a claw.
“Well?” The voice insisted.
“I-I-I don’t know…”
A small pair of glowing red eyes moved itself into Pinkie’s vision. “You’re here because you’ve made a series of grievous mistakes.”
Pinkie blinked up at the eyes. “R-Rose? Is that you?”
The stranger let out a loud, deep voiced laugh before refocusing their eyes on her. “The AI isn’t here to help you, little pony, and neither are your friends.” Pinkie felt its claw gently slide down her jaw. “It’s just you, and me…” Pinkie whimpered and shut her eyes. The stranger’s claw grabbed her jaw and forced her face up. “Don’t be afraid. I just want to talk, that’s all.” It followed up with a deep chuckle.
“W-why…? W-what did I do…?”
The red eyes approached her face. “You have been quite the problem lately, and have managed to greatly upset… an acquaintance of mine. You are going to fix that problem. One way, or another. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll–”
White light blinded Pinkie as a familiar voice called from across the shop.
“Rose? I’m here! And I managed to find– What the hay is going on here?!”
Twilight Sparkle stood in the doorway with a shocked look while Rose stared at her like a deer in headlights.
“AHA! I knew it!” Pinkie cried out.
Rose scowled down at Pinkie. “Shut up,” she said in her usual voice, standing up. “If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be doing this in the first place.”
“Rose, what did you do?!” Twilight demanded.
“Isn’t it obvious? I incapacitated her so we could get her to actually talk with Luna.”
“Don’t you mean Nightmare Moon?” Pinkie interjected.
“No!” Twilight and Rose simultaneously yelled at her. Pinkie Pie shrunk back in response.
Twilight placed a hoof on her forehead and groaned. “Just give me a second…” She inhaled a deep breath and slowly let it out. Twilight knew she wasn’t able to mentally reset herself like Alex could, not quite yet, but she was improving, and the exercise still helped anyway. “Okay…” She looked at Rose. “First off, Pinkie needs to be untied. Now. Second, where did you even get that rope?”
Rose stared back at her indignantly. “I borrowed it. And I’m going to return it as soon as we’re done here.”
“Did you ask for permission?”
“I said I’d return it, isn’t that enough? And even if I didn’t, I doubt Applejack would notice a single coil of rope missing.”
“Are you telling me you stole it from Sweet Apple Acres? How did you even do that so quickly?”
“I borrowed it. And as for that second point: I’m very time efficient.”
“Actually, how did you even get in here?” asked Pinkie. “All the doors were locked, last time I checked.”
“Open window – top floor,” Rose said curtly. She turned back to Twilight “Look, all this talk is irrelevant to the situation. Pinkie and Luna need to talk face to face, and considering the former’s habit of running away, I’d say the rope is a bit more than a necessity. On that regard, where is Luna, anyway?”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “She’s just outside – Look, can you just please untie Pinkie while I go get her?”
Rose crossed her arms. “Fine, but I cannot be held responsible for what she does after I let her go.”
Twilight shook her head and walked back out.
“You know I heard everything you said, right?” said Pinkie as Rose knelt down beside her.
Rose narrowed her eyes at her. “I know.” With a single yank, the rope came loose and Pinkie was finally able to free her hooves. But before she could get up, Rose clamped a hand around Pinkie’s mouth. “You are going to stay right here, you are not going to run off, and most importantly, you are not going to scream, either. Understand?”
A muffled “Okay” snaked its way around Rose’s fingers and she stood up, allowing Pinkie to do the same.
Rose looked through the doorway with a sensory pulse; detecting Luna and Twilight just around the corner. Timing it perfectly, she extended her hand to the door as Luna walked in and looked at Pinkie. “Pinkie Pie, this is Princess Luna. I trust you remember her?”
Pinkie’s eyes widened and she let out a few unconscious squawks, but managed to silence herself by shoving a hoof in her mouth.
Luna, on the other hand, looked much more focused as she approached the pink menace. “Ah, yes, the ring leader of the frightened children…” Her stern look broke down and she nervously rubbed one hoof with the other before extending it out to Pinkie. “Hast thou come to make peace…?”
Pinkie unclogged her mouth, staring at the offered hoof blankly. Twilight unconsciously held her breath as Pinkie stayed like that for several long seconds.
Just as Luna’s already uncomfortable smile started to falter, Pinkie smiled weakly and slowly extended her own hoof. Time seemed to stretch as their hooves came closer and closer to each other. Two feet… one foot… a few inches… a few centimeters… almost…
Suddenly, in a move that caught each of the other three completely by surprise, Pinkie pulled her hoof back, jumped up, and latched onto Luna’s neck with both of her forelegs. “It’s okay, I forgive you.”
Her words caught Rose’s attention. “Forgive her?! She has nothing to apologize for! If anything, it should be–” She stopped upon noticing Twilight vigorously shaking her head and waving her hooves at her. Rose rolled her eyes. “Fine. You forgive her.”
Breathing a sigh of relief, Twilight took a few steps towards the hugging pair. “I’m happy you conquered your fear, Pinkie Pie. I hope now you can see that Princess Luna never wanted to gobble you up in the first place.”
Pinkie broke her hug with Luna and gave Twilight a critical look. “Well duh.”
Twilight blinked at her for a few seconds. “Wait, what?”
“Sheesh, Twilight, just look at us!” Pinkie giggled. “I’m almost as big as she is, how is she gonna gobble me up?”
“Are you serious!?” The three ponies turned to Rose, who had just about enough nonsense for one night. “Do you mean to tell me that you’ve caused us all this trouble for nothing?!”
Luna put a calm hoof between Pinkie and Rose. “Pray tell, Pinkie, why did thou incite such fears amongst the children about Us?”
Pinkie giggled, took a few steps back, and held her forelegs apart. “Sometimes, it’s just really fun to be scared!”
“Fun…?” the other three muttered while sharing confused looks.
Twilight’s jaw dropped as an idea came to her. “Fun! That’s it! Pinkie Pie, you’re a genius!”
Pinkie blinked at Twilight. “Wow, twice in one night? I must be on to something.”
Her words went completely unheeded by Twilight who proceeded to gather the four of them into a huddle. “Alright everypony, I have an idea. Here’s what I need you to do…”
“Well this doesn’t look suspicious at all…” commented Sweetie Belle – dressed as a vampire – as she and her fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders peered inside the dark entrance way of Alex’s home, a pile of candy sitting under a lone light.
“That sure is a lot a’ Candy fer us to get from one house,” said Applebloom, who wore a frizzy black and white mane and tail that made her look like Mrs. Frankenpony.
“And there’s nopony watching it,” said Scootaloo, wearing a wolf costume.
The other two nodded in agreement, but all of them stayed where they were and waited.
And waited.
And waited…
“I think Scootaloo should go get it!” Sweetie Belle blurted out.
“Me too!” Applebloom followed up.
“Me?! Why should I be the one to do it!?” Scootaloo protested.
The other two retreated to the side of the doorway. “Because you’re in the middle and we voted on it!” said Sweetie Belle.
Scootaloo backed up. “Hey, no fair!”
Applebloom cleared her throat. “Scootaloo’s right. It ain’t fair fer her to have ta do it alone like this.” She gave Scootaloo a challenging smirk. “After all, she can’t help it if she’s a chicken.”
“I am not a chicken!” said Scootaloo, stomping a hoof.
Applebloom’s smirk widened. “Prove it.”
Scootaloo’s eyes zipped between them before catching sight of the sign above the door. Only the brave shall be rewarded. She looked back down the hall at its entrenched darkness, the candy seemingly miles away. Whatever courage the sign may have inspired in her was sapped away in an instant. “Uh… hehe… w-why don’t we all go in? Strength in numbers, right?”
Applebloom and Sweetie Belle shared a blank look. They looked back down the hallway and gulped. “Ah… guess that makes sense…” said Applebloom. “Alright… Ah guess Ah’ll go too…”
Scootaloo moved closer to them. “Come on, let’s all go in together.”
“I’ll stay out here, thanks,” said Sweetie Belle.
“Come on, Sweetie Belle,” pleaded Applebloom. “Scootaloo’s right! It’ll be better if we stick together. Besides, there ain’t anypony there!”
“You don’t know that!”
“Hellooooo?” Scootaloo called out into the darkness. “Anypony there?” The sound of silence answered her. “See? It’s fine. We just got ourselves worked up for nothing.”
Sweetie Belle looked back inside. Aside from the single circle of light with the candy, the rest of the hallway was pitch black. “I dunno…”
“Come on, Sweetie Belle. That sign above the door says ‘Only the brave shall be rewarded!’ If we all act brave, we can all get the candy!”
Sweetie looked up at the sign, then back down the hall. After a moment’s hesitation, she shuffled her way towards her friends. “Yeah… Okay, I’ll go too.”
“That’s the spirit!” said Applebloom. “Together!”
The three of them lined up in front of the automated door. Slowly but surely, they took tentative steps inside, making sure they kept their line.
WHAM!
Applebloom and Scootaloo let out a yelp and spun around.
“The door! The door! What happened to the door?!” Scootaloo cried.
“Where’s the handle?!” Applebloom shouted. “How do you open this darn thing?!”
“Uhhh, girls…?” Sweetie Belle said with a shaky voice. “W-we’re not alone in here…”
Applebloom and Scootaloo froze. With a speed that even a sloth would scoff at, they turned around to see what Sweetie Belle was talking about.
A pair of glowing yellow eyes was staring at them from the other side of the circle of light.
For almost a minute, nopony said anything. Aside from the careful breathing of the three fillies, not a single sound was heard during the three-against-one staring contest. Except only one of the four never blinked.
None of the three fillies were quite sure what to do. Something was definitely looking at them, but they weren’t sure if it could actually see them. After all, they couldn’t even see each other.
“H-h-hello…?” Scootaloo said hesitantly.
It didn’t respond.
“W-we’re sorry we intruded. If you could just open the door, we’ll be on our way.”
“Wait,” Applebloom interrupted. “Only the brave’ll be rewarded, right? Maybe we just gotta show it we ain’t scared.”
“But I am!” hissed Sweetie Belle.
“Applebloom has a point,” said Scootaloo. “We have to be brave! Let’s just take this one step at a time, okay?”
There was a moment of silence before Sweetie Belle spoke again. “Okay…”
Feeling out for each other, they started moving ever so slowly forward in a close huddle.
The trio stopped in their tracks when a low growl cut through the silence and into their ears. Their breath caught in their throats and they huddled together even more than they already were.
“I don’t like this…” whispered Sweetie.
“It’s okay, it’s okay…” Scootaloo repeated. “We’re fine…” The hesitation in her voice didn’t make her sound certain of herself, though.
Despite everything, they forced themselves onward. None of them knew why they were doing it, though. Their thoughts had already abandoned the candy and were completely focused on what lay in the shadows. It was as if the candy no longer mattered, that the only important thing was to conquer whatever monster they faced, to show that they were not afraid, that it would not scare them, and most of all, that they would not let it beat them.
A single gleaming claw broke free from the darkness and landed just inside the circle of light. The fillies simultaneously drew in a sharp breath at the sight of the pointy appendage. A long, metallic muzzle followed suit. Razor-sharp teeth glinted in the light as the growling turned into a snarl.
This time, no amount of self-induced courage would be able to move them, as the sight in front of them tapped into the most instinctive and primitive fears innate in every pony. They still couldn’t see the rest of it, but they didn’t need to in order to know what it was. Every single fibre in their bodies told them one single, solitary thing: run. Run fast, run far.
But there was nowhere to run to, and they knew it well.
Without warning, the pair of glowing yellow eyes suddenly turned a shade of light blue before quickly turning blood red. The creature’s maw gaped open as it let out a deafening roar and leapt through the light at the three fillies.
The only thing the Crusaders could do was scream.
And scream.
And scream…
Applebloom’s breath was the first to get exhausted and she looked up from the frightened little huddle with her other friends. “Hey, girls?” Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo kept screaming, so Applebloom gave them a firm shove, knocking them over. “Girls! Look! It’s gone.”
The other two quickly got themselves back to their hooves and looked around. The monster that had just terrorized them was gone and the door was somehow open again, revealing the rest of the town and letting in the cool night air.
“Huh? Where’d it go?” asked Sweetie Belle.
“I don’t wanna stick around to find out,” said Scootaloo, “let’s just grab the candy and get outta here!”
“Good idea, let’s do that!” said Applebloom.
Pinkie Pie trotted back to the festival with a smile on her face. After hearing about what happened with Luna, she couldn’t help but feel terrible about the fact that she helped cause her so much distress that she wanted to cancel Nightmare Night. Something like that was just plain mean, and there was no way she was going to let herself be a big mean meanie pants, no siree.
But Twilight’s plan was going to be perfect! It was going to fix everything, and everypony would be happy again! She just knew it!
As Pinkie caught sight of the festival, she stopped and felt a stone sink in her gut. The entire place was a mess. It looked like at least two stampedes had passed through. Stalls were knocked over, decorations were destroyed, fruit was obliterated, and other perfectly good foods were ruined. Pinkie’s smile vanished in an instant. It was all supposed to be in good fun! How could something like this happen?
Spotting a nearby group of moping kids, one of whom she recognized as Pip-Squeak, Pinkie trotted over to them. “Hey, guys, what happened here?”
Pip raised his head to look at Pinkie, although this time, he didn’t smile at the sight of her like everypony normally did. “Princess Luna canceled Nightmare Night forever…” he said. “I never thought that my very first Nightmare Night would be my very last…”
A pang of mixed guilt and regret shot through Pinkie’s chest. Pip didn’t blame her, but the knowledge that she was, at the very least, partly responsible for what he was feeling didn’t help her feel any better.
Despite it all, she put a smile back on her face and did what she did best. Just stick to the plan! “Aw, cheer up, Pip! Nightmare Night isn’t over yet! In fact…” She picked up Pip in one foreleg and poked him with the other. “We still have the annual candy offering to do! And who knows–” She winked at him. “–Nightmare Moon might give us another chance if we give her enough candy.”
Pip looked at her with wondrous eyes. “You really think so?”
“Yep!” She put Pip down and looked at the other kids around him. “I need you guys to round everypony up and get as much candy as you can carry. Tell them to meet me by the forest just outside of town, okay? Nightmare Night isn’t over yet, not if Pinkie Pie has anything to say about it!”
Their mood immediately improved, the foals cheered and ran in different directions. Pinkie watched them run off and giggled to herself. With phase one of the plan done, she set off towards the meeting point near the edge of the forest.
This was going to be great!
“Thank you so much, Pinkie,” said Mayor Mare as she and a large group of ponies traveled down the forest path. “I can’t tell you how much this means to them after everything that’s happened.”
“Aww, it was nothing,” said Pinkie. “Besides, they looked like they needed some cheering up!”
“They sure did,” said Applejack, who had also come along for the candy offering. “By the way, you wouldn’t‘ve happened to see Rose, recently, would you?”
Pinkie shook her head. “Nope! Why?”
“She said she was goin’ ta ‘fix this.’ Not sure what she meant by that, but I figured that had somethin’ to do with you. Guess not.”
“Guess not!” Pinkie Pie repeated to her. Ever so carefully, Pinkie nonchalantly separated herself from the rest of the group and stopped near the side of the road. “Pst, everything set?” she whispered into a bush. Her attention was drawn upwards into the branches of a tree when a glowing red hand gave her a thumbs up before disappearing into the shadows.
Grinning, Pinkie ran to catch up to the others, though she turned her massive grin into a much smaller smile just so she wouldn’t give anything away. At last, they all approached the statue of Nightmare Moon.
Aside from the chatter of small groups of friends, the area had been relatively quiet. That all stopped, though, when a long, drawn out howl sounded throughout the clearing. Its melancholic song rang in their ears, drawing everypony’s attention like a moth to a flame. Chills ran down their spines as the sound told them it could only mean one thing. There, standing on a large, exposed branch just above the tree line with the moon acting as a backdrop, was the unmistakable outline of a wolf howling to the sky.
Everypony froze, including Pinkie. When Rose mentioned she had something that could help, she wasn’t expecting something like that. The wolf stopped its howl and its head swivelled to look at the ponies in the clearing. A pair of bright red eyes could be seen against the sleek black silhouette. Almost as suddenly as it appeared, the wolf hopped off the branch and out of sight.
“Ah think we should hurry,” said Applejack, starting to hurry along some of the foals. “Somethin’ tells me it ain’t safe out here.”
“You’ve got that right.”
The sudden voice stole their attention and they all turned to see Rose, standing several meters away from them, fully illuminated with her tail calmly swaying behind her. But oddly enough, the most unsettling thing of all was the fact that she was smiling.
“Rose? When the hay did you get here?” asked Applejack.
Rose placed her left hand on her hip and began disinterestedly examining the claw-like fingers on her right. “Oh, I’ve always been here, Applejack. You’ve just never noticed.”
“Then what’re ya doin’ here? Where’s Twilight?”
“Not here. And I already told you what I’m doing.” Rose looked Applejack dead in the eye. “I’m fixing this.”
Rose suddenly spread her arms apart and a wall of flame sparked behind her, quickly spreading around the group of now increasingly terrified ponies, and forming a complete ring that stopped at each side of the statue’s base.
“What in the name of Granny Smith’s mane…” Applejack muttered.
It was at this moment that something came walking through the ring of fire behind Rose completely unharmed: the red-eyed wolf. Thanks to the light created by the fire, Applejack was able to see it for what it really was. It looked just like a timber wolf, but with obvious differences. The first was that it was smaller than an actual timber wolf, and the second was that it was made of metal instead of wood. It wasn’t terribly hard to guess where this one came from.
“What’s goin’ on here, Rose?!” Applejack demanded with a stomp of her hoof.
Rose chuckled and sauntered up next to the metallic wolf. She placed a hand on its back and tapped her fingers against it lightly. The wolf snarled at the ponies in response. “My job is very simple, Applejack. I’m just here to make sure no one runs away again. I have no actual business with any of you.” She laughed again as she began walking through the fire with the wolf in tow and pointed behind herself with a thumb. “But she does.”
A loud cackling caught their attention and all the ponies looked back towards the statue of Nightmare Moon.
Only it wasn’t a statue anymore. There, standing on the large stone base, was the actual Nightmare Moon in all her former glory.
Applejack’s jaw dropped and her heart sank. A lot of unexpected things happened tonight, but this was something else entirely. Everything was there: pure black coat, blue regalia and armor, giant ethereal mane and tail; it was definitely her.
Pinkie Pie had a difficult time keeping herself together. She knew this was all a part of the plan, but it all seemed so different in her head. The fire was one thing, but seeing Nightmare Moon like this again brought up some uncomfortable memories. It was almost enough to distract her from what she was supposed to be doing. Almost. “Quick! Give her the candy!”
Without much more prompting, the kids practically threw their bags of candy at the stone base. Nightmare Moon stopped her cackling and looked down at them with a fanged grin.
“CITIZENS OF PONYVILLE! YOU WERE WISE TO BRING THIS CANDY TO ME. I AM PLEASED WITH YOUR OFFERING. SO PLEASED, THAT I MAY JUST EAT IT, INSTEAD OF EATING YOU!”
Nightmare Moon began laughing again as the ponies started to scream for their lives. At the same time, a violent wind swept in and the ring of fire was immediately extinguished. The ponies wasted no time running as fast as their legs could carry them, leaving behind the candy and even bits of their costumes that got tossed off.
Seeing them all run away, Nightmare Moon stopped her laughing. Her body became enveloped in a solid white glow as her form shrank in size. When the glow disappeared, all that was left standing in place was Princess Luna, who promptly spat out a set of fake fangs. She didn’t want to look like that any longer than she had to.
Luna turned just in time to see Twilight Sparkle come out from hiding behind the stone base. “That was amazing, Princess!” she said.
Rose came running out of the tree line with the metallic wolf next to her. “That went better than I thought it would. And I must admit, I certainly had fun doing that.”
Luna furrowed her brows ever so slightly. “I am not certain that did what you meant for it to do, Twilight Sparkle…”
Twilight smiled at her. “Just wait.”
“For what?” Luna continued for her. “For… for them to scream some more?”
“We wait for them to calm down, first,” said Rose. “I wouldn’t know what it’s like to be scared like that, but I can imagine they’d need at least some time to recover. At that point, we just need to wait for Pinkie. By the way…” she looked at Twilight. “Well done with the fire. I wasn’t sure you’d be able to do it.”
Twilight chuckled. “I certainly did my best! But I think Princess Luna had more of a hoof in that than I did.”
Luna nodded with small smile when Rose raised a brow at her. “I… may have helped.”
Rose waved her off. “Whatever works, I suppose.”
“Could somepony tell me just what in the hay was all that?” The three of them – four if you include the wolf – turned to see Applejack coming back from the direction all the ponies ran in.
Rose smirked. “Applejack, tell me, what did you think of our little display?”
“Display? Is that what yer callin’ it?” said Applejack, making her way around the group to stand next to Twilight and keeping her eye locked on the wolf. “Y’all went and scared half the town ta death!”
“It was only a little Nightmare Night scare, AJ,” said Twilight. “A well-orchestrated one, if I do say so myself, but that’s all it was.”
“And what’s with that thing?” Applejack pointed towards the metallic wolf.
“A little something Alex put together based on artists’ renditions of timber wolves,” answered Rose. “He built it just for tonight to guard candy, even though it wouldn’t actually stop anybody from taking it. Construction-wise, it’s not bad. It lacks a few stabilizers and other relatively important components – which I’ve had to make up for – but otherwise it’s a fully functioning quadruped.”
“So what yer tellin’ me is that it’s just another robot?”
“It’s just another Liandri, yes.”
“Hey there, everypony! Great job! That was super-duper amazing!” They all looked toward the entrance of the clearing, this time seeing Pinkie Pie calling out to them. “Oh, and I have a little somepony here who has something to say to you!” Pinkie pulled out Pip-Squeak from behind her and gave him an encouraging nudge. “Go on, they won’t bite.” Pip-Squeak, however, didn’t move.
“If your problem is with this thing,” Rose said as she tapped the wolf’s head, “you have nothing to be concerned about.” This time, the wolf spoke with Rose’s voice. “It’s completely under my control, and can’t hurt you.”
“I ain’t sure if Ah’ll ever get used to that…” said Applejack.
Both Rose and the wolf looked at her and spoke simultaneously. “Which is why I’ll keep doing it.”
The group turned their attention on Pip as he and Pinkie approached them. “Umm, Princess Luna? I know there’s not gonna be any more Nightmare Night, but… Do you think that maybe you could come back next year and scare us again anyway?” Pip started out nervously, but by the end of his question, he was beaming.
Luna’s jaw dropped in surprised. Movement caught her attention and she looked up from him to see the rest of the children standing off to the side, silently watching them. She looked back down at him incredulously. “Child… Art thou saying that thou… likest me to scare you?”
Pip nodded. “It’s really fun! Scary, but fun!”
“It… it is?”
“Yeah! Nightmare Night is my favorite night of the year!”
Luna’s heart swelled as she smiled. “Well then, we shall have to bring NIGHTMARE NIGHT BACK!”
Pip’s face lit up. “Whoa! You’re my favorite princess ever!” He ran up and quickly hugged her leg before running back to the other kids. “She said yes, guys!” The other kids cheered at the news as they all started to make their way back to town.
Twilight walked up next to Luna. “See? They really do like you, Princess! They just had a different way of expressing it.”
“I suppose it is true, then.” Luna smiled warmly at her. “Thank you for everything, Twilight Sparkle. And thanks to you as well, Rose.”
Rose nodded. “All in all, I would say it was a job well– oh for crying out loud; Pinkie, what are you doing?!”
Pinkie Pie pulled her head out of the wolf’s mouth. “What?”
And so the holiday continued on as it did in previous years. While many decorations were still in shambles, the ponies cleaned and fixed things up just enough so that the festival could continue its usual celebration. Despite the fact that the candy offering was already said and done, much of it was still being given out and collected. After all, Nightmare Moon wasn’t the only one who enjoyed candy.
And while the celebration took on its usual flavor, this year held something extra, thanks to not just one, but two unusual participants.
The elevator doors parted and Rose walked out with a content smile. The security bots gave her a salute as she passed, but she ignored them. It was an automatic response anyway. Rose disabled the security checkpoint with a thought and walked through undisturbed to the one place that she could genuinely call a home.
Upon entering the Prototype Lab, Rose made a beeline for the docking station along the wall so she should finally remove herself from that confining body of a costume. “Good evening, Alex,” she said as she passed by. “I heard there was a problem with the system earlier. I trust that was the only issue with Pinkie’s visit?”
Alex didn’t answer.
As Rose reached the docking station, she peered back at him curiously. He was sitting in a chair by a deactivated holo-projector doing absolutely nothing. “Alex?” Still no response.
Instead of docking, Rose walked over to him to see if he was asleep. Sitting upright seemed like an odd position to sleep in, considering he usually did it lying down, but she ultimately had no experience in the matter. When she reached him, she found that he was, in fact, awake. The calibrator was still over his right eye and his left eye seemed to be staring at… nothing remotely important.
Rose curled a brow. “Alex?” When she didn’t get a response, she frowned and gave him a firm poke in the neck, right next to his jaw.
Alex jumped awake. “AH FUCK! What the- Oh it’s just you…” Alex took a moment to catch his breath. “When did you get back?”
“Just now. Is everything alright?”
“Yeah yeah yeah, it’s just…” He placed a hand over the calibrator and took a deep breath. “God damn, you scared the shit out of me…”
“I’m not talking about that. You were staring at the side of this terminal and were completely ignoring me. Did something happen?”
“I was…?” said Alex, lowering his hand. Rose nodded. “Huh… Yeah, I… I guess I just have a lot on my mind.”
“Like what?”
Alex pursed his lips and stared at the holo-projector, lightly nodding his head. After a brief pause, he said “Remember when we said that we should keep an eye on Pinkie? That there was something off about her? And not just in the usual sense?”
“Of course. What about it?”
“Well…” He looked up at her. “I just figured out what that off thing was. And it disturbs me. A lot.”
“I see…” Rose started walking back to the docking station. “For a moment, I was afraid the BCI might have caused some damage. So aside from the security issue and Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie, is there anything else that happened while I was gone?”
“What?!” Alex called after her. “This was not Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie! This-” He gripped his head in his hands. “This was something completely different! This was off the fucking chart!”
Rose backed herself into the docking station and her body locked in place. After a few seconds, all the lights on it dimmed completely as the body shut down. A few seconds later, the super-computer’s chassis lit up with its usual blue eye and swivelled to look at Alex. “And what exactly would it be?”
“Just look at the scanner data and you’ll see what I’m talking about.”
“I’m already doing that. I must admit, I wasn’t anticipating something like this.”
“You see?!” Alex was almost flailing his arms. “It’s quantum storage! We haven’t even figured this shit out yet! Not only did Pinkie Pie figure it out, she built a cannon for parties based on this tech!”
“Alex, calm down.”
“Calm down? Calm down? How the hell do you expect me to calm down about this? If she can do this, what else do you think she’s capable of, huh? What else does she know?!”
“It’s Pinkie Pie.” Rose brought the chassis’ head a little closer to Alex, causing him to pull his head away in response. “While I will agree that this begs the question of what else she’s capable of, you have to take into consideration what she has already used this technology for: parties and having fun. Considering that’s all she’s done with it for what we can assume is most of her adult life, I highly doubt she’s going to use it for much more than that. Now can we move on from this topic of conversation?”
Alex blinked at her for a moment and then sighed. He moved to pinch the bridge of his nose, but couldn’t quite manage it because of the calibrator, so he instead settled for resting a hand over his uncovered eye. “Yeah, I guess…”
“Good.” Rose moved the chassis back to its usual position. “Now then, onto the next subject. While I was out, I learned something I think you’ll find interesting.”
Alex lowered his hand and gave Rose a tired look. “And that is?”
“As it turns out, there is an Equestrian princess who controls the moon. Her name is Luna, and she’s Celestia’s sister.”
Alex blinked at her.
“I believe I win the bet,” she continued.
“Oh…” Alex turned his blank, thoughtless stare away from her. It took a few moments for everything to register before he finally said something. “FUCK!”
Later that night, in Canterlot
Princess Celestia walked through the massive double doors of her private bedroom and carefully closed them behind her with her magic, double checking to make sure the lock was secure. As an added measure, she closed the curtains on all the windows to make absolutely sure nopony could look in on her.
Satisfied that nopony was watching, she twisted a wall mounted candle next to her fireplace forty five degrees to the left and back. Hearing a barely audible click, Celestia used her magic to heave one of the few titanic bookcases that decorated her ornate room a few feet to the side, exposing a rectangular, otherwise unnoticeable hole in the wall behind it.
Celestia squeezed through the gap and forced the bookshelf back into its proper position, fully obscuring the hole. She pushed a button on the wall next to her with her hoof, a click signaling that the shelf was locked into place once more.
The room Celestia now found herself in was completely bare, save for the bright lights shining down from the ceiling and a large monitor that occupied the far wall.
As Celestia approached it, the monitor came to life, presenting her with the ever familiar image of a complex black mask in a darkened room that looked nothing like any sort of face to begin with. She had never seen the actual face of the individual who wore it, and she believed she never would.
“Give me a status report on Luna,” a distinctly male voice came from the screen. It had a slight vibration, as if coming through some sort of filter.
Always skipping the pleasantries, as usual. “She’s fine,” Celestia answered. “According to her story of tonight’s events, most of it went largely as expected.
“I hear the AI was involved. Did that not change anything?”
Celestia shook her head. “Surprisingly, no. From what Luna tells me, it was actually her who initially tried to help her reconcile with Pinkie Pie; not Twilight. She feels no different about it, though.”
“The AI is an it, Celestia. Do not let your judgement become clouded because it appears to have a personality.”
Celestia held her breath for a moment before nodding. “Of course.”
“And what about Laythem?”
“Pinkie Pie supposedly paid him a visit earlier tonight and managed to get a substantial amount of candy from him, but other than that, nopony has seen him all night. From what I understand, he’s recovering from some sort of injury, or perhaps illness, but for now it’s unclear.”
"My sources tell me the same..." The figure on the screen nodded, but remained silent for a while before speaking. “I must admit, Celestia, they don’t quite seem like the threat the Makderi warned me about, nor the one I envisioned.”
Celestia raised a brow. “No?”
The figure shook his head. “No. I will continue to give them the benefit of the doubt for now, as per your initial request, although I still want a close eye kept on them. If it turns out he actually is Kriegor, then both he and his AI will have to be dealt with as expediently as possible.”
“Without causing Equestria-wide panic, yes?” Princess Celestia cut in.
The screen let out a shallow chuckle. “Of course.”
What's this? Celestia has secrets! 
As I mentioned before, there IS an overarching main story which will poke its head in every now and then. This is one of those times.
*NOTE - PLEASE READ*: I understand that last scene might have some mixed reactions. I was aiming for something that got the reader's attention, and highlighted something that was going on behind the scenes. This was something that I've had planned out a while ago, and it was going to happen eventually. I decided to do it sooner rather than later so that things make more sense in the long run. I know exactly where I want to take the story, even if things may seem convoluted right now. Believe me, it will all make sense in the end, and it will all be tied up with a neat little bow. It doesn't affect the regular story at all, not for a long while. Just think of it as a parallel story line.
FOR EMPHASIS: Celestia is no one's bitch. There is a hierarchy, but she just happens to be one notch from the top. No reason to flip out over it.
In other news, I'm glad this arc is over. Writing Rose as a large focus isn't as easy as I originally thought it would be, but I like the way the arc turned out. I've already started working on the next chapter, and I also find it's much easier to write. Then again, the next one doesn't take place during an episode, so I guess that's kind of expected. Man, if I ever have to see Luna eclipsed one more god damn time...
And again, a special thanks to Rocinante for pre-reading this chapter!
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Now I hope that Celly gets into a scandal that would make Watergate look petty in comparison.
Only the very last scene with Celly and whatever it was is a really bad idea. :/ It came out of left field, and just...ugh.
3771499 I figured that would be one of the more common reactions to that scene, which is completely understandable. However, I had to include it sooner or later in order for everything to make sense in the long run, and I opted to do it sooner rather than later. Could I have done it better? Probably, but I was aiming for something that got the reader's attention and to make them aware of something happening behind the scenes. There's been a lot of odd things in the story that don't make much sense, like why Lyra has fossilized hand, what happened to Alex after flipping the switch back on the core, or even this. I will admit that. But in the end, I know exactly where I'm bringing the story, even if this scene was... less than subtle.
More now
>It’s melancholic song rang in their ears
I know that English can be confusing, but this is not the place to show it
That last scene... bleh. Feelings of bleh.
3785160 Just think of it as an aside. It's only there so things later on make sense and don't come out of the blue. Yeah, this came out of the blue, but hey, think of it like ripping off a band-aid. It ultimately won't affect what happens in the regular story until way later.
3786578
I get it, but I really like this story, and I don't like where this scene says the story's going. I really don't want to quit this story, but if it makes me feel bad by reading it then I probably will.
It's still upvoted and faved for now.
3790852 Define "feel bad..."
3791521
Characters I like being shown as bad. Like, not flawed, but intrinsically bad.
Right now, it's not like that, but I get this feeling it's gonna go that way.
Oh, by the way, did you read my comment a month ago? I thought it was a good suggestion:
3636824
3791594 If you're worried that I'm going to turn Celestia into an evil character, then you can stop worrying. It's not gonna happen.
As for your generator idea, here's how Power-Cores work within the context of the story: They come in various sizes, with bigger ones generating more power. If a Core is physically damaged and destroyed, it will explode, but won't cause much damage. On the other hand, if it overloads, the damage is catastrophic. Regardless of size, though, they all generate the same type of energy. Will Alex try to use the "magical energy" they generate to grant himself or the Liandri magical abilities? I will spoil the story in saying that he'll try. After all, who wouldn't? Although I won't say whether or not he succeeds.
3792143
Coolz. And coolz again. Thanks for taking the time to hear my questions and concerns.
And good luck with the story! I just started writing mine, so now I know how hard it can be!
Wanna pre-read?
I have to say that was a great Chapter. Thing seems to be moving along in the story. That there is a bigger plot to the story is great! I can't wait to see what happens to Fluttershy rabbit when Rows gits her hands on him. Can a AI want to have revenge? That the rabbit has a lot more intelligent's Then a normal animals Is apparent. Is Fluttershy Rabbit a spy for the whatever it is that Princess Celestia was talking to?
Dragonfox
>I must be onto something
*on to
>It’s melancholic song rang in their ears
*Its
Do not like it, not one bit. Celestia subservient to someone? Everything plotted out already....very sad in the way this turned.
Hmmm....
Didn't quite like the ending. It wasn't bad, it was just...not my favorite ending. Otherwise, great story!
Okay, that end just rubbed all the wrong ways...