16| Hind's Blood
As Joseph woke to find himself sleeping on his stomach, he blinked his eyes and instinctively reached out with his 'arm' to paw at the bedside table, half expecting to find his mobile phone to check the time.
Instead of his hand like he'd hoped, Joseph's hoof felt over the table in the vain attempt to find his phone. It took several long seconds for his mind to register he wasn't in his own bed in his own home, that he was still trapped on this alien world.
"God-freaking-damn it," he angrily swore, using both his forehooves to push himself up from the tangle of sheets to glance around the room. As his eyes began to adjust to the darkness, he saw a contrasting, darker lump sitting against the wall opposite his bed; where he had put the bag of lanterns he bought.
In his zombie-like state from having just woken, he had to put a bit more comprehensive thought behind his basic-level telekinetic manipulation to open the bag and pull out just one of the lamps, a corked and full fuel bottle, wick, and a box of matches, all one by one. He had to be careful not to drop and break them.
He carefully set the fuel on the even surface of the bedside table followed by the lamp, pulling the cork from the fuel and pulling a length of wick from the spool. He managed to feed all but half an inch of the wick into the bottle after a few failed attempts given the lack of proper light, then fiddled with the lamp itself to try and locate the little hatch to the base where the bottle slid into.
He rotated the lamp until he saw the tell-tale little knob, then he upturned the bottle to soak the little bit of the wick he left sticking out of the bottle. He pulled it out so there was about three-quarters of an inch to light and put it into the base, closing the tiny door.
In his stupor, Joseph realised he forgot to ask how they actually work, and how to light one. In retrospect, the shopkeeper never told him how they work. He'd seen other ponies use them, and in turn foolishly thought they'd be easy to figure out by default, since, you know, they're lamps. Oh how wrong he was. The false assumption made him rotate the lamp to try and figure out how to light it once the fuel container was snugly inside.
'How do I...' Joseph absentmindedly wondered, continuing to look at the lamp for several more puzzled moments. Getting it in there was the easy part, but how did you light it?
Ugh, Nightmare groaned, this is painful for me to watch. Twist the vent on the top all the way open. Take the bottle out, light the wick, then put it back in. When it's burning sufficiently, you can open or close the vent to adjust the brightness of the flame accordingly, or to completely snuff the flame to turn it off.
"Heh, thanks. I knew that..." he sheepishly replied. Nobody was around that Joseph was aware of, so it wouldn't matter if he was talking to Nightmare Moon out loud.
He did as Nightmare instructed, and soon enough there was a bright, yellow-and-orange flame flickering away in the glass casing of the lamp.
"So how's everything working out in there right now?" Joseph half-asked, half taunted with a grin Nightmare couldn't see. He couldn't see her either, but that doesn't mean she wasn't rubbing at the chain and collar with disdain, as was his assumption.
The 'cage' has dampened enough of Chrysalis' influence to let me freely speak with you, Nightmare began. The door through which you came in was sealed by her magic to try and deter you, and at the same time keeping me where I was. Or am, rather, she bitterly corrected.
Joseph got up and grabbed the lamp with his magic to lift it up and around the room to let the light shine across the entire interior. It revealed the barest of amenities not unlike those of the guestroom of Golden Oaks, yet more spread out and with a few key differences. Namely, the addition of an armoire opposite the foot of the bed and a wardrobe set into the wall next to that.
He got to the door and opened it, the light from the lamp illuminating the immediate area around Joseph, yet cast the barest of flames to the end of the hall to his right, leaving only flickering, dancing shadows.
'Houses are so much different at night than during the day...' he mused. He'd only been here a grand total of two nights before Celestia shipped him off to Ponyville. He could navigate the house with relative ease during the day, but at night, it's a whole other story.
The hardest part in finding the kitchen was the mild disorientation from a combination of being half asleep, the glare of the lamp next to him, and the darkness in general. Even so, all he needed to do was go downstairs and hang a left at the bottom of the stairs. It didn't have any doors, so it'd take a special kind of stupid to miss an entire room.
Joseph treated himself to a glass of water and put the glass on the counter to use again at a later time, then made an attempt to find the bathroom. He had to open more doors than he'd like before he stumbled across the Asian-esque toilet set into the floor. They were easier to clean then the toilets on Earth. All you needed to do was scrub the bowl with a brush then clean the floor. The bowl acted like a drain!
He was glad there wasn't any cause to worry about stray drops from standing up over a western toilet like how he used to as his human self, but that revelation was a double-edged sword, putting it mildly.
He made a grab for the bog-roll, and tore off a length to wipe, then made his way back down to the kitchen to fetch another glass of water.
Didn't you just ha— Nightmare began.
Joseph barked; "Shut it!" He set the lamp down in the middle of the table, pulled out a chair and sat down. He slumped over the table defeatedly, resting his head in the crook of his foreleg and stared at the dancing, flickering lamp flame.
"What's the time anyway?" he grumbled.
Early morning, some time after three.
"There isn't a clock in this place; how could you possibly know?"
You'd know to if you paid any mind to your senses.
"...Senses?"
Or in other words, the latent abilities I—and now you—have.
"Teach me how to magic," Joseph asked mirthlessly.
It takes decades to learn how to properly learn, channel, and use alicorn magic, Nightmare said with contempt. Seriously, how would a human in their early twenties ever hope to control magic of a being that's thousands of years old is beyond me.
"Feh, just thought I'd try asking. Anyway, what's there to do at this time? I doubt I'm going to get back to sleep with Flubber everywhere inside my head."
Nightmare contemplated the question with a short 'hmmm'. The nightlife could have started to make their way back to their respective houses. Who knows, you might find a pliable stallion, she added with a small giggle, Joseph internally glaring at her.
"If the people on Earth are anything to go by, there wouldn't be any savoury people out at this time of night, so no thank you. Oh well," Joseph heaved with a sigh, "might as well see if there's something interesting happening."
He got up off the table, kicking in the chair behind him as he made his way to the front door, guided by the lamp. "Is money going to be an issue?" he asked upon realising he spent the last of his money on all the lamps and fuel.
Not unless you plan on buying something, Nightmare answered.
With a shrug indicative of saying 'oh well', Joseph snuffed the lamp and put it on the table just inside the door, making sure there were a couple matches to re-light it when he returned.
He exited the house, locked the door behind him, and peered out into the night. Per Nightmare Moon's statement, he saw a few ponies in groups of varying sizes–or simply by themselves–walking up and down the dimly lit street. As few street lamps as there were, it allowed the soft white glow of the moon to cast itself down on the street, both light sources giving contrasting shades of light up and down the street.
As he walked down the steps that lead up to his house, he glanced down the street to his right and saw a tired-looking pegasus stallion with a wing draped over a unicorn mare who was stumbling around as the stallion tried to keep her from falling over, walking down the street.
"I l-*hic*-luuuurrrve you, Scarecrow," she drunkenly cooed, slobbering him with a kiss, much to Scarecrow's bemusement.
"Every Celestia-damned week you do this!" he angrily replied. "Go to the clubs. Get drunk with your mare friends and dance until the morning. And here I am hauling your drunk plot home when I've got to go to work in four hours!"
"Mmmmm," she replied with a sloppy smile, "you're cute when you're mad at me..."
"Oh yeah? Well I'm about to turn into a great big fukin' teddy bear at this rate!"
She gasped loudly, her eyes widening as Joseph watched on with amusement, trying to refrain from laughing as they turned up a set of stairs to a house, presumably theirs. Scarecrow fished his keys from under a wing and unlocked the door to the house as the mare loudly exclaimed; "Really!? That means we get to cuddle all night long! You're so thoughtful!"
"Ugh..." Scarecrow grumbled as he literally dragged his marefriend inside. "Sometimes I wish I'd gone out with that flower mare from college..." The door closed behind the couple, Joseph struggling to keep his lungs from bursting.
"Is it—" Joseph had to take a breath to calm down as he wiped a stray bead of mirth from his eye. "Is it always like this?" he asked Nightmare.
I've never really been the kind to partake in social outings as she does, so I would not know. Although, before I possessed Luna there was often grand feasts with copious amounts of wine. That should count.
"Whatever... Let's just go and find more drunk people and their irate partners hauling them home. That was funny."
During his trip towards the boulevard in town filled with clubs, bars, restaurants and so on, the closer Joseph got, the more intense the vibrations became. His ears were assaulted by the cacophony of music reverberating from the clubs. It left him wondering how they were still standing, least the vibrations crumbled and wore away the construction of the buildings.
The amount of ponies still out at this time of night was staggering and, as Joseph aptly noticed, so were they.
Groups of ponies were congregating outside clubs as the cue of ponies outside each club wanting to get in dwindled as the night went on. There weren't more than a dozen in line at any one club. Other groups exited clubs screaming and bellowing about how awesome it was while stumbling over one another. That was the bouncer's cue to let in the next lot of scantily clad mares and their guy friends whom had the 'gettin' lucky tonight' look plastered all over their faces.
The clubs themselves had unique motifs and signs. One club, the Peppermint Hippo, boasted; "The finest dancers this side of Equestria!". The half dozen or so clubs, mixed with several more late-night restaurants, bars, amongst other, more adult themed entertainment venues dotting the street, also had their own motifs and themes. Each made Joseph balk with varying degrees of 'what the fuck?' while walking the footpath. Sandwich boards posted outside each place listed specials for the restaurants and bars while also showcasing guest appearances for clubs.
Towards the end of the street stood a club that had darker colours similar to that of his coat and mane, or rather, Nightmare Moon's. Mixed in were electric blues, vibrant purples, and the dash of white to accent and bring out the darker colours.
The sign denoting the name of the club read; "The Midnight Sun", which intrigued him. On the pavement stood an earth pony bouncer with an open sandwich board with "Special guest tonight! Nightmare Moon!" scrawled on it. His eyes went wide with shock at seeing this.
Relax, Nightmare began, it'll be somepony dressed up in a costume. Ponies will see the sign and think THE Nightmare Moon will show up, which will yield a higher turnover for the establishment. They're trying to capitalise on my return last week.
That turned Joseph's boiling worry down to a simmer and he turned his attention to the guard. What made him stick out like a sore thumb was the... unusual... outfit.
Atop his head sat a headband with a fake unicorn horn, while his sides had folded, also fake, wings strapped to them. His coat showed signs of having been dyed or painted black, as Joseph could see little splotches of his lighter blue coat that were missed. "Bit of a lazy paintjob..." Joseph mused to nobody in particular.
The bouncer's face just furthered the notion that the outfit was bad; there was a permanent scowl etched on his face.
His predicament amused Joseph quite a bit.
"Hold it," the bouncer said. "Aren't you a bit old to have no cutie mark?"
Joseph was taken aback at the rudeness of the question. "Excuuuuse me!" he retorted largely in jest, although his intent was to fluster the stallion.
The bouncer thickly swallowed. "Look, I didn't mean nothing by it," he defended, "it's just... I can't let you in without one. It's a policy we can't let any minors in until they get their marks. Even then we still have age restrictions."
Joseph simply raised his eyebrow questioningly at the cardboard-clad stallion, still hung on the question.
The bouncer just rolled his eyes in frustration. "Fine!" he conceded. "Go on ahead, it's my last shift here anyway... I still get paid either way," he finished with a mutter.
As Joseph victoriously opened the door, a brain-cell destroying, concussive sound wave of music blasted him through the entrance, causing him to stumble back with surprise.
The bouncer failed to stifle a laugh at the expense of the mare before him, saying; "Aw man, that made my night!"
Joseph straightened himself out with a shake, glaring at the guard. "Why's it that loud anyway?"
"It's the DJ tonight," he replied. "Calls herself DJ-Pon3... Something like that. I don't care, I'm clock watching until I get off at this point."
With an indifferent shrug, Joseph made his way inside to see this imposter Nightmare Moon. Would they be as badly dressed as the bouncer, or have a more convincing costume?
The music was nothing but the repeating eletronic untz untz untz. Given how ludicrously loud it is, he doubted he'd be able to hear Nightmare Moon talk to him inside his head.
The dance floor was packed like a can of sardines. It was a sea of writhing limbs, shaking heads, and general nonsensical dance moves. He scanned the mass of ponies through the flickering lights and colours the crowd was getting bathed in from equipment overhead, looking for the stage.
He spotted it in the far corner from where he stood. It wasn't very tall. The bench with all the mixing boards and record players sat flush with the top of the heads of the crowd, making it hard to see. In fact, he probably wouldn't have spotted it if it wasn't for the DJ behind it.
Two shades of electric blue ran through her mane as her dazzling alabaster coat flashed in time with each of the strobe colours. The thick, black-rimmed, purple-windowed glasses sat on her nose as she pumped her hoof, head banging, all the while flicking buttons and turning knobs.
The music stopped with an abrupt screech, making a lot of ponies wince and turn their heads in the DJ's direction.
"Alright everypony!" she declared through a microphone. "How're we all doing tonight!?" Her question was met with uproarious cheer and thunderous hoof stomps of approval. "Awesome! Hey listen, I gotta take a quick break so I can go check on our special guest so I'll be back in about ten minutes. In the meantime, I'll put on a short mix for you guys!"
The music returned with a vengeance and Joseph swore he could feel his brain cells dying from how loud it was. His eyes followed the DJ through a door off to the left of the bench, and he began to make a beeline to said door. Getting through the crowd was hard enough; Joseph felt like he too was dancing with how much effort he was putting into squeezing by everyone.
Eventually, he managed to get to the door. On it was a sign saying 'Employees Only'. He stole a quick glance around and, to his expectation, everyone was too busy dancing to pay him any mind. Even the bartenders across the other side of the room had their hands full with several lines of ponies twelve-deep.
He opened the door and quickly slipped inside, closing it behind him. The roar of the club dulled noticeably once he was inside. 'How is that possible?' he asked Nightmare, trying to see if she could hear him.
Sound inhibitors, she replied. Spells designed to dampen noise.
'Clever...' The hall before him had a door to his left labeled 'Restroom' and one at the end saying 'Equipment Storage' before it bent around to the right. Joseph tentatively trotted up to the corner and peered around. He saw four more doors; two on the opposite wall saying 'Changing Rooms', one at the far end of the hall which said 'Employee Break Room', and one more directly opposite the first two. He couldn't read what that door had on it from his current position though.
From the far end hall Joseph heard; "Is Nightmare Moon ready? She's due on shortly." The door opened and he saw the DJ walk out as he pulled his head out of view. There was a knock at the second changing room, a pause, another knock, then the door opened.
He then heard the DJ say; "Where is she?"
Another voice said; "What are you talking about?" Joseph heard the first door to the changing room open, then the second pony swore. "Shit! Why aren't they here? They're supposed to be here!" the masculine voice exclaimed.
Joseph assumed they were talking about the pony that was supposed to be posing as Nightmare Moon. "We have five minutes, what're we going to do!?"
"I could do it?" the DJ ventured. "I mean, the mix I put on lasts longer than I said it'd take before Nightmare was supposed to get on stage, so I doubt anypony would be looking at the clock to time how long it takes."
"Don't take this the wrong way, Vinyl, but you literally don't measure up to Nightmare's stature! She's as tall as Celestia!"
"Well, what else are we going to do!?" Vinyl countered.
The stallion gave a defeated sigh. "Fine, do it. Ugh, I need another drink..." He went back into the break room, shutting the door behind him.
Joseph heard Vinyl say under her breath; "Score!" before entering the changing room.
Ok, here's what you're going to do, Nightmare Moon piped up once both ponies were out of view. Go into the restroom behind you and wait for her to exit, all dressed up. Then, take off the disguise ring and pocket it. Follow her out onto the stage after she makes the big announcement. We're going to give them the biggest surprise of the night and none of them will suspect it's the real, well, me...
'I don't even know how to DJ! I just wanted to see the imposter!' he countered.
Look, trust me on this. do what I say and you'll be fine.
A devious grin spread across Joseph's face as he slipped into the restroom to hide.
Twenty minutes and one flushed toilet later, Joseph emerged from the restroom after he heard the door to the club open and close.
After all, he couldn't miss it when the music blasted into the hallway when it was opened.
Joseph took Nightmare's cue and waited by the door for Vinyl to make the declaration of Nightmare Moon's arrival while she was disguised as her. He was wondering what she'd look like. If the bouncer was any indication, it would probably be a piss-poor job. Then again, Vinyl's glee at being able to dress up as Nightmare suggested to him that the costume would be a bit more convincing.
"Fillies and gentlecolts!" Vinyl began once she silenced the music to speak into the microphone. "It is I, Nightmare Moon!"
When compared to Vinyl asking the crowd how their night was going, their response seemed to be a bit lackluster from what Joseph could tell. They still stomped and cheered, though.
Ok, now's your cue.
With that, Joseph threw open the door to the club, making sure it slammed on the wall. All eyes turned to him.
The entire crowd gasped in unison upon seeing Nightmare's form standing in the doorway.
Now, listen carefully and say what I say. You'll stick out like a mare in heat if you don't.
You've got to be kidding with that analogy! But yeah, fine, I see what you mean.
"How dare thee impersonate thine own Princess of Nightmares!" His gaze turned up toward Vinyl, who was looking at him with abject horror and shock, much like the rest of the crowd.
He stoically walked up to the platform as Vinyl, in her well made costume, took a few cowering steps backward. Her mane was dyed a deep blue, as was her tail. It was slicked back and came down on the right side of her neck. Her once white coat was either dyed or painted black—Joseph couldn't tell which—and the crescent moon cutie mark adorned her rear. Overall, it was certainly more thought out than the bouncer's.
"Sorry I'm late," Joseph said quietly towards Vinyl with a wink. "I was using the restroom." That seemed to deflate Vinyl's shock a little bit. "Just play along!" he said with a smile.
"Well why didn't you say something? And that's one hell of a costume! Where'd you get it? You even got the mane and tail right!"
"Doest thou wish to be sent to the moon for impersonating Us!?" he boomed, adding another wink.
Vinyl took the hint and cracked a smile. "Princess! Of course not; I only wished to join you on stage!"
"Thou art forgiven," he said with a joking sneer. He stole a glance at the crowd. Some were murmuring to each other, not sure what to make of this.
"I give you," Vinyl said with the slightest hint of unease, "Nightmare Moon!"
The club didn't say anything. You could have heard a pin drop.
"Epic costume!" one mare called out above everyone. That one statement earned a deafening roar of approval that rivaled the volume of the music.
Joseph sighed internally, thankful they bought the 'costume'.
"Now, I know it's a bit early, but I thought I'd kick everything off with a Nightmare Night themed song about Nightmare Moon! How does that sound, everypony?"
As if it was the only thing they could do, the crowd once more roared and stamped with gusto.
"Oh, I almost forgot!"
With that, Vinyl raised her right hoof which had some kind of remote attached to it, and pressed a button. A hiss and jets of dry ice smoke erupted from the stage as it began to raise. The two end sections of the stage extended on pistons, rotating to point speakers at the crowd as the stage kept raising. When it stopped, Joseph looked it over. The stage now resembled some kind of robot on legs with speakers as arms!
"Did you do this?!" he asked with incredulity.
"Yup!" she beamed. "Took me almost a year of designing and building, but I'm happy with it!"
Vinyl brought up a record and put it down on one of the turntables with a spin to show off, flicking switches and turning knobs as the techno beat blasted out into the room. Blue lights emanated from the speaker-arms with the beat, wafting harmlessly over the crowd.
Joseph watched with all due excitement as the music began playing.
"Welcome fillies and gentlecolts there's no reason to scream, your Lunar Princess is back she's walking up on the scene..."
Nightmare Moon managed to speak to him just before the music got too loud. Just do what Vinyl does and you'll fit right in. Also, don't do anything to make a fool of yourself!
Joseph was never the kind to go out to a nightclub, often electing to spend his nights watching movies or playing video games. His intention tonight was to see the imposter, and now here he was standing before a building packed with ponies cheering him on. It filled him with a strong sense of pride and as the night dragged on he found himself enjoying the show, finally able to come out of his shell and have a good time.
Two hours into the dual performance of Joseph and Vinyl, the club had dwindled in size to half of what it was when Joseph arrived. By this stage, everybody had begun to make their way home in the early hours of the morning.
It wasn't until the last of the music had finished playing when Vinyl stopped it to make another announcement.
"Alright everypony, closin' time! Time to skedaddle home; it's almost sunrise!" That was met with a chorused "Aawwwww" from the crowd. "Now now, I've got to clean up and sleep myself, and I'm assuming Nightmare here needs to have her beauty rest too! I'll put on a final track, though. Last call for drinks too! Thirty minutes until close!" She turned towards Joseph. "Alright, come with me into the break room and lets talk."
Joseph followed Vinyl through the 'Employees Only' door, down the hall, and through the door to the end. They entered and the same stallion from before was sitting on one of the sofas while drinking a cup of coffee.
"Hey, Vinyl, how did the..." His sentence was cut short when he turned to look up to her, noticing Nightmare Moon standing at least two heads taller than Vinyl. "...show... go..." He stopped drinking his coffee, his jaw almost unhinging as it hit the floor from the spectacle of the ebony mare before him.
"Oh, it went great," she casually replied. "The mare I hired to play Nightmare Moon was in the restroom when we were checking the changing room, but it worked out even better! After I went out all dressed up, she barged in and literally stole the show! It couldn't have been more perfect!" she blurted.
"Well, uhh, heh," he began uneasily, "I'm glad everything worked out for the better?"
"Damn right it did, Neon!"
"Where did she even get that kind of a costume? And why isn't she wearing the one we provided? It looks way too real to be something like what you're wearing."
Both Vinyl and Neon looked at Joseph. "What?" he said. Internally he was thinking; 'Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit...'
"Where'd you get the costume?" Vinyl asked.
"Oh! Uhm, can you give me a minute to change back?"
"Uhhh, sure," she replied.
Joseph left the break room and went to the restroom, both to use it and replace the ring on his horn. He returned not two minutes later as his disguised self.
"Better," he stated when he walked back in. "The costume, right. It's a little ring I put on my horn. I figured that since Nightmare Night is on the way, I'd get something that makes a costume as real as can be, and not the cheap knockoff the bouncer was wearing," he said with a giggle. "And before you ask, no, I don't have a cutie mark yet. Please don't ask why." Vinyl laughed as Neon cracked a wide grin when Joseph mentioned the bouncer. "What's so funny?"
Neon said; "Well it was his last shift here. I had to let him go after he kept letting in too many minors." He glanced down at Joseph's rear. "Speaking of which, you'd be classified as a minor too without one. How old are you, exactly?"
"How old are you?” Joseph countered.
"Thirty-five. Vinyl's twenty-eight. We co-own this club together. I manage it and she hires the performance, or plays herself."
"I'm twenty-four," he replied.
Neon just arched an eyebrow at him. "You're lucky. Anyway, back to business. Let me pay you for tonight, alright?"
'I came here to see an imposter, now I'm getting paid for banging my head for two hours? Sweet.' "Heh, I won’t stop you."
He magicked a bag of bits from thin air and levitated it over to Joseph. He took the cloth bag with his magic, opening it up to see how much was inside. The condition of the bits left something to be desired in comparison to the ones Luna gifted him, but money was money.
"Hundred and fifty bits," Neon stated. "Standard fare for a performance here."
"Geezus," Joseph exclaimed, "you guys must rake it in!"
"We're the two best DJs this side of Equestria, of course we do!" Vinyl said proudly.
"Anyway, I'd better get home and sleep. Had a Nightmare that woke me up before, so I'm due to catch up."
"Listen, before you go, I've got another gig in Ponyville for the town's Nightmare Night festival. It would be wicked if you could come and do a repeat performance!" Vinyl practically pleaded.
Joseph didn't need to give it much though. "Sure, I don't see why not. I'll probably be there anyway because I've already been invited ahead of time."
"Score!"
"Also, bring your music robot... thing... It's too cool not to bring! I'm sure you could decorate it for the occasion."
"Oh, I already plan on it! I'll see you later..." Vinyl trailed off as she went to bid Joseph farewell using his name, but it occurred that they weren't introduced yet!
"Eclipse," Joseph finished.
"Eclipse, right," Vinyl said. "Is it just Eclipse?"
"Pretty much. Kinda like Madonna."
"What's a 'Madonna'?" Neon asked.
"Singer from where I'm from, but that's a digression for another day. Anyway, I'll catch you at the festival, Vinyl!"
"Have fun, Eclipse!"
Joseph exited the building with more ease than he did entering. Outside, the streets were quite bare, save for one or two he saw opening up their stores on his way home.
It wasn’t until he began walking down the street his house was on that a golden-yellow blur shot past him like a bullet, knocking him to one side of the street, which was then followed by a black blur thundering past him, seemingly chasing what shot past him a moment ago.
“The fuck was that? Did you catch what it was, Nightmare?”
Whatever it was, was too fast. So no.
Shrugging it off, Joseph made his way inside and back up to his bed to catch up on a few hours of sleep.
After all, how bad could it possibly be?
Some references, as well as hints at what Chrysalis is up to, can be a bit hard to figure out, but I have a reason. I like to encourage people to think about these things without dropping breadcrumbs that lead to the big reveal. On this occasion, you'd need prior knowledge of a certain movie and an understanding of Greek Mythos to figure out what's going on.
(If you figure things out, please use spoiler bars otherwise it'll ruin it for others.)
Also, I got the idea for Vinyl's transforming sound stage from DJ Stylbator's Music Mech from Samurai Jack!
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YESSSSS, IT UPDATED!!!! The time to read is NIGH!
Enjoyable, I got a bit mixed up on the Who's Who back stage. I'm surprised no one knew the name of the supposed impersonator.
Nice update!
What does this remind me of? It seems so familiar.
6615996 I don't know what you're talking about
Oh hell fucking yes.
Can't wait to see Lulu's face.
6615996 It reminds me of the flash and blackout....
Now that was funny. I thought Vinyl was gonna lose bladder control (Piss herself) from how scared she was.
I like it finely time to just unwind and let your mane down so to speak and to get paid is a huge plus.
Harts Fire
6667706 if you actually paid attention to the comments, I replied to the comment saying that Chrysalis put him back
I LOVED THIS CHAPTER (kinda sounds like I loved this sandwich)
Can't wait for more
6812018
Hoo wee, been looking forward to your comment!
I'd chalk down Nightmare's behaviour to being a combination of psychopathic and narcissism, at least that's my headcanon in some kind of observable way. In a sense, her behaviour is yo-yo-ing because of these, playing events and Joseph to suit her needs: she's keeping his attention where she wants it to be. Joseph is beginning to wise up to her antics, so it's only a matter of time before he has her figured out.
I still don't completely understand how the references 'bogged down' the chapter. Do you mean too many, or by oddly made in the sense they didn't fit too well?
All that aside, I'm still dropping hints as to what Chrysalis is doing. People seem to be glossing over those a lot. Hint: People need to pay attention to the titles more often.
That was fun, may I have another? Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
6822575 I hope to release another chapter reasonably soon. After I do that I'm gonna try work on finishing another chapter for a different story, then it's back to this story.
but if i figure it out, it won't be a surprise
6829619 I'm giving you all the puzzle pieces it's up to the reader to put them in the right place.
You could've had the opportunity to use 'foal', but it's my opinion anyway :)
6944871 Don't be a child VS. Don't do anything that will make you look unwise. In this case I prefer fool over the pun.
The mentioning of Power Armour from the previous chapter got my thinking of Fallout, and based on the description, it's exactly where it came from.
Now I have, "Crawl Out to the Fallout," stuck in my head.
And, "Wanderer."
Also, "Atom Bomb, Baby."
I'm going to have a musical overload at this point.
So it is one week after the events of NMM being separated from Luna? Does this Alternate Universe then have already had a changeling invasion? I was wondering this for a bit, considering Chrysalis name seems to be known.
I know its NOT GONNA HAPPEN, but now I almost want someone to dress up as either Aku or Samurai Jack for Nightmare Night.
Just s tiny cameo/reference
I feel like Nightmare Moon should feel much more anger from being restrained. it doesn't seem in character of her to submit to talking to Joe and wanting to assist. if i were her, i would have attitude towards him.
I don't remember if I commented on this chapter one way or another (I don't see one here on finfiction and I don't think this is one of the chapters I edited... or is it?), but just wanted to drop by this chapter and say, before moving on to read the rest of what you've got so far, that I absolutely LOVE the idea of Joseph subverting everyone's expectations as to which identity is the "true" identity. It's absolutely brilliant and is one of the things that keeps pulling me back to this story despite the fact I don't read much fimfiction anymore.
Awesome party night! Also 250 bits to boot! Very nice!
Changelings on the move towards the end?
I guess a Changeling was planning to apper but than the original screwed it up?