Ch.8 - Nightmare Night...
"Pinkie, I appreciate that you're giving it your all for my birthday, but walking all the way from Sugarcube Corner back home blindfolded is losing its appeal. Fast."
"Aw, come on silly-filly! A surprise isn't a surprise if you see it coming, and then all the ponies that helped set it all up would be sad and wouldn't get to yell SURPRISE!" This last bit she yelled right next to Midnight's ear, much to the kirin's immense discomfort.
"Can you at least tell me how close we are?" she asked, holding a hoof over her ear in an attempt to protect it from further harm.
"Almost ther-re!" Pinkie sang out, hopping ahead a few lengths.
"We really are this time," Scarlet, who had been helping to guide the kirin most of the way, said. "Trust me, when you see what she did with the place, you'll say it was worth double the distance."
Midnight merely grumbled a bit and let out a snort. She really was looking forward to what Pinkie had in store for her, and so far she'd been having a pleasant day, but she'd also tripped several times now, fouling her mood a bit. 'It's just a little further,' she told herself. 'Besides, what's a few trip-ups compared to tonight?' And a smile began to make its way back onto her face.
After the incident with the owlursus, Nightmare Night had slowly but surely wormed its way into the kirin's thoughts until it was practically all she had thought about for the past few days. While this wasn't her first one, not by a long shot, nor was it her first one in Ponyville, this Nightmare Night was going to be special. This would be the first time she was going to truly enjoy it like everypony else did.
Growing up, it had been the one night of the year she could go out in public as herself, saying that she was dressed up as a dragon-pony hybrid to hide the fact that she wasn't dressed up. During her three years wandering the cities she hadn't celebrated it at all, choosing to risk flying around during the night, ducking from cloud to cloud and basking in the light of Luna's moon as she turned yet another year older. She may have also scared the daylights out of some bullies for a few bags of candy; cakes were expensive in the city after all. Then last year she'd spent her first Nightmare Night in Ponyville hoofing out a few treats then retreating to her room for her first birthday cake in four years. She'd only known Sapphire for about two or three months at that point and hadn't shared the occasion with her, or anypony for that matter, until she'd had reveal it on Squeaks' adoption papers.
This year she was going to go all out for her favorite holiday. First a birthday party with her family and friends, then they were all going to get in costume, head out into town, trick-or-treat and play games until they all dropped from exhaustion, sugar crash, or both. As her smile grew at the thoughts of what all would be happening that night, her wings began to flap and her tail whipped about in anticipation. The flapping even gained her some altitude, which was good because that meant she sailed over several rocks which Scarlet was sure she would have tripped over.
"Okay, we're here!" Pinkie called out a few minutes later.
Scarlet pulled Midnight back down to the ground and made her sit down.
"Are ya ready?" Pinkie asked, sounding just as excited as Midnight was feeling now that they finally made it.
"Yep," Midnight said, bouncing in place as the party pony worked her up.
"Alright then," Pinkie said, drawing it out. "On three! One... twoooooooo... THREE!"
Scarlet whipped the blindfold off her.
"SURPRISE!!!" everypony yelled out. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIDNIGHT!!!" In front of her was all of her family and friends, decked out in party hats, some holding gifts while others blew noise makers.
Midnight ignored them; she was too fixated by her house.
It was made up for Nightmare Night like no house she'd ever seen before. Fake bats roosted under the second story eves while several owl figures in various poses stood watch on the edge of the roof above them. In the upper windows she could just make out black cut-outs, most likely of either monsters or horror scenes that would be illuminated from behind once night fell. The store front window had been painted (with what she hoped was washable paint) over with a scene of a haunted house on the left and a haunted castle on the right with a large full moon, complete with the Mare in the Moon, sitting between them. The front door's upper corners were covered with the traditional Nightmare Moon head cut-outs while its window was also painted over, this time completely blacked out with only a set of evil-looking cyan draconic eyes and a fang-filled smile. To the side was a small, gated cemetery, complete with tombstones and a fake dead tree. Scattered from the cemetery all the way back to the storehouse were dummies made up to look like zombies in various states of decay and position. That side of the house had a flock of fake bats "flying" into a large black tarp folded and cut to look like a cave mouth set against the cliff face and covering the store room door while the other side had goblins climbing up the walls. Finally, the shed had been splashed with red paint in several spots and a sign hung on the outside said "WE ALL NEED OUR POUND OF FLESH". In short, it looked like Nightmare Night exploded all over it.
"So, ya like it!?" Pinkie asked with a smile. "I even made sure not to use any spiders or cobwebs!"
All Midnight could do was fly up to the house and inspect the decorations more closely, taking her time eyeing each piece.
Everypony's smiles began to fade as they looked from Midnight to each other and back worriedly. Sure, they had to take down some of the decorations Midnight had already set up to do so, but they hadn't thought the kirin would have minded at all. Summer, Sapphire, Squeaks, and Windrunner were especially troubled by her reaction; this night was all Midnight had talked about all week.
"Pinkie," Midnight said evenly as she came back down.
Everypony tensed.
The kirin reached out and pulled Pinkie into a bone-crushing hug. "It's WONDERFUL!" she gushed. "I mean, this is all just AMAZING! You all did this while I was out this morning?" she asked, turning to look at the rest of them. They all nodded and, to their surprise, Midnight's eyes actually started to get wet. "I just can't believe it; it's PERFECT! I just wish you had all done this a week ago!"
"But then we couldn't have done it for your birthday silly!" Pinkie squeaked out.
"But I can only enjoy it for a day; two at most before it all has to come down!" Midnight said, looking longingly at the decorated house.
"Oh Midnight, that's what camera's are for!" And without missing a beat Pinkie whipped out a camera and took a picture at point blank range.
Midnight dropped Pinkie with a pained grunt as she covered her eyes too late, rubbing them to try and clear her vision and stop the stinging. Was this her version of birthday punches or something?
"Well, we'll keep that in mind for next year," Summer said, coming up beside her. "Right now, I think you'll want to see the inside as well."
"Inside?" Midnight asked, blinking her vision back into focus.
"You don't think Pinkie stopped out here, do ya?" Rainbow said, opening the front door. "Thought ya would 'a learned better by now!"
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Midnight took another bite of her birthday cake and hummed happily. Double-layered chocolate cake with mint frosting and peanut butter in the middle holding the layers together. It would have tasted even better with powdered sapphires but everypony else needed to have a piece, too. As she washed the bite down with orange-colored chocolate milk (a gimmick for the holiday), she looked around her decorated home again with a large smile.
Just like on the outside, it looked like Nightmare Night had exploded everywhere. Almost every flat surface had some kind of decoration on it, the curtains over the windows had been replaced with black funeral shrouds, the rug in the living room was now a smiling Jack-o-Lantern, and bats, owls, ghosts, and other flying creatures and spooks of the night hung from the ceiling by string. Even the fireplace had been decked out for the holiday, the bricks painted a sickly green and the fire burning inside it was black with a bit of blue licking out near the top of the flames; Twilight's hoof in the decorating she was told.
The party was Nightmare Night themed as well, as if attempting to burn the kirin out on the holiday. A valiant, but laughable, attempt. A black and orange checkered table cloth covered the dining room table, the party games had twists suited to the holiday (pin the horn on Nightmare Moon, for example), as had all the party cups, plates, and utensils. Most of the games were set up in the still unused room between the dining room and the front, which Midnight had given up trying to turn into something useful and now just referred to it as the "whatever" room.
The foals were having fits at the very idea of dessert before dinner, followed by even more dessert later on after that. All the pillow knights were there, as well as the CMC and Spike, all of which were gathered near the blue and black dragon piñata like a pack of wolves under a suspended sheep, cake slices already polished off.
Her presents and cards were all stacked on the couch and out of the way until the party ended. Among them was a bottle of Pumpkin Spice rum from Berry, a Nightmare Night record from Vinyl, and a non-horror novel from her mother. "Honestly Midnight, how can you like those things?" Summer had asked her daughter when the gift had been opened. "What most ponies would think if they could see your little library!" Midnight's only response was to wave at the holiday decorations around them and raise an eyebrow.
Her two favorite gifts were from Sapphire and Squeaks. Sapphire had gotten her a basket of gems carved into various holiday shapes, such as bats, pumpkins, and the like. Squeaks, insisting that she use her own allowance to get her mother something herself, had gotten her a wooden bookmark etched with a dragon and a bat circling around the moon. Midnight had immediately taken out the book of stories she had gotten Squeaks for her birthday and replaced the bookmark. The little bat filly was so happy that she liked the gift she'd been fluttering around the house since then, just nearly getting airborne several times.
"I'm making you dinner tonight," Scarlet had said proudly when she'd given Midnight her birthday card. "My own mom's special recipe: fried deer steak!" It certainly sounded good, and even now the hippogriff was in the kitchen and, discreetly, cutting up the defrosted deer meat they had caught during their first hunt together and preparing the other ingredients. She had tried to apologize for the mess she was making of the counter, what with the blood spatters, but Midnight had said it added to the décor.
"I gotta say, Midnight, that after seeing all this I'm surprised you were so low key about it last year," Berry told her as she returned from the kitchen, taking a swig of her chocolate milk. "It must have been killing you to just sit around inside all night."
"I agree," Sapphire said, balancing her cake slice on her wing. "I mean, I know why you like today but you never said anything about going all out like this."
"Because I never could go all out like this!" she told them, duel notes of exasperation and bliss in her voice. "Every year I saw houses done up and parties going on but I couldn't be a part of or have any of that! Now I can and, as Vinyl likes to say, I plan on dialing it all up to eleven."
Sapphire and Berry shot each other an amused look. It was another unknown side of her that neither one of them would have guessed at, but at least this one didn't have the potential to squash anypony or set the town on fire. Both also had to agree, however, that at some point the kirin would have to get tired of the theme.
"So, where and when do you want to meet up tonight?" Berry asked, motioning at the foals and baby dragon still talking excitedly under the piñata.
"Well, how about in town square, say, an hour after dinner? That'll give us time to eat, get into our costumes, and see some of the town decorations before we all head out trick-or-treating." Midnight suggested.
"Sounds good to me," Berry said. "I'll ask Derpy how that sounds to her when she's done playing with Pinkie." The two ponies were playing some kind of connect 4 game using Nightmare Night decorations as pieces. "She's determined to beat Pinkie at least once."
"So who is going to be part of our little pack tonight?" Summer asked as she trotted over and away from Orange, who had been roped into another party game. To everypony's surprise, Midnight had actually been friendly to the pegasus all day. Perhaps she was just too happy about everything else to remember to be rude to him. It was certainly an improvement, even if it turned out to only be temporary.
"Well, there's Squeaks and Autumn, then we're meeting Berry, Pinchy, Derpy, Dinky, and Twist at the town square. We'll start from there, then pick up the CMC when we run into them so Granny Smith can head on back to the farm to help Big Mac with that corn maze of theirs, then we'll do the same thing with Spike, and then we keep going 'til somepony drops," Midnight told her.
"That's an awful lot of foals to keep track of and ride herd on," Summer told her, knowing that Berry and Derpy would be at the town festival while Midnight took the foals out trick-or-treating. Applejack and Rarity would be helping out with the festivities while Rainbow apparently had her own plans for the evening.
"Relax mom; Sapphire, Windrunner, and Honeysuckle will be there with me, not to mention Scarlet and Tight for at least a little bit." In fact she was sure that at least Scarlet would be with her group all night. The hippogriff wasn't seeing her nearly every day like she had been when she first arrived in Ponyville, but when she did she still stuck around for hours at a time.
Honeysuckle had arrived unannounced on their doorstep two weeks before, saying that she was ready to take Midnight up on her offer to live in Ponyville with them. The reason why she had changed her mind was that after a local newspaper had done an article on Long Line's, a lot more stallions had started coming to the restaurant. Most were all nice but at the same time many of them had a wistful eye on her whenever she was out front and it had made her uncomfortable. After Long Line and Grill Mate had asked a few of them what was up, they told them they had come to see "the pretty mare in that article about this place". The photographer had gotten Honey to put on some makeup for the shoot and, as was the purpose of the product, she'd caught the eye of many a stallion. When she'd showed them the picture it hadn't been so surprising; even just a dab of makeup made Honey that much more attractive in their opinion. Long story short, she'd decided she didn't like all the attention and had left for Ponyville with Long Line's blessings. Midnight had put her to work with her newest idea: bringing a cart filled with firewood to sell in town at the market, like how AJ brought her apples to town. It was a success, even if that meant that Sapphire had less to do up front.
To all of their surprise, Squeaks had taken to Honeysuckle very well, not even hiding behind Midnight when they reintroduced the two. Having previously met probably had something to do with it but Squeaks still acted a lot more comfortable around Honey sooner than she had around Windrunner or Summer. She had even requested Honey to be her babysitter when Midnight and Sapphire had gone out for poker night instead of Windrunner, allowing the pegasus to hang out with Rainbow instead. Whatever the reason, Midnight was happy to see Squeaks getting over her fear of strangers.
"Everything's under control," the kirin assured her.
"Uh-huh," Summer said skeptically, looking at the others.
Midnight never had to deal with the whole lot of them, each and every one, hyped up on sugar and excitement. But she seemed determined to put herself through the wringer and they all silently prayed to Celestia that they wouldn't ruin her evening too much.
A tug on her wing brought Midnight's head down to look at Squeaks. "Hey, mom? Can we do the piñata now?" she asked, the excitement and happy air of the party winding the filly up so much she was hopping in place as she looked up at her mother with eager eyes.
The adults all looked over to see a small crowd of equally eager young eyes staring back at them.
"Alright Squeaks, just let me finish this slice and I'll be right over," Midnight told her, pulling back up and, to Summer's and Sapphire's chagrin, shoving the rest of her cake slice into her mouth. When she had finished the display, to the laughter and/or disgust of those present, she wiped her mouth with the napkin provided by Summer and marched over, picking up the bat and giving it a few test swings. "Alright, let's take this dragon down!"
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With a final jerk and a squeak, Squeaks was belted into her costume. The filly looked herself over once more in the mirror as Midnight pulled and pinched at her own costume a bit.
For her first Nightmare Night, Squeaks was a moth. Midnight had come up with the idea after admitting that she had thought Squeaks had looked like a grub wrapped up in all those blankets when she had first brought her in out of the cold. They had all quickly decided that a grub wasn't a really good costume idea for an eight-year-old. Sapphire had proposed a butterfly instead and while they liked that better it just didn't fit her either. Midnight had then suggested a moth, since she was a thestral and thus nocturnal like most moths. The agreement had been unanimous. Her costume was made up of a pair of feathered ear clips that doubled the size of her ears to act as antennae, a fuzzy orange collar, and wing-mitts in the shape of moth wings, the same color as her own wings, connected to a clear strap rapping around her barrel and back. She also already had a few fruit-wraps for "fabric" for her to snack on in her candy bag.
As they had set about designing her costume, Squeaks had heard of "themed group costumes" and she had immediately started begging Midnight for them to do that. Midnight had told her they could it next year but, seeing as this was the first time she'd be in costume as well, she wanted to be the antagonist from The Rainbow Factory. She was even planning to ask Rainbow to make a quick run to Cloudsdale to get an official weather factory uniform. To her surprise, Squeaks had dug her hooves in and wouldn't be swayed from the idea. She told her that this was also their first Nightmare Night together and themed costumes would be perfect to show that. This argument, and the threat of a truly heartbroken Squeaks, and a promise not to ask to do it again next year had finally broken Midnight down. After some deliberation, they had decided the kirin would be a lantern with Squeaks as the moth that would flit around it. The thestral filly had then gotten Sapphire in on the theme as well by proposing she be one of those ponies that used to go around lighting the old gas street lights. To Midnight's surprise the pegasus had agreed to the idea and their theme was set.
Rarity had been all too enamored with the idea of group costumes and had eagerly taken on the job of making their costumes. Midnight had used the last of her royal checks to pay for them and felt it a check well spent. When they had gotten the costumes back, the unicorn had a surprise for the kirin. Her costume now included an actual light bulb, battery powered, inside the lamp that would light up for about five minutes at a time. To reactivate it one merely had to stick the end of Sapphire's stick into a hole on the side, as if she was lighting it for real. "I just know you all will look so cute together! Now if you'll excuse me, I need to work on Sweetie's and my costumes!"
Windrunner and Honeysuckle had been spared the theme and had their own costumes. Windrunner, having lived in the desert all her life, had chosen to go out as a seapony, complete with tail, fake pearls, and seaweed. "The point is go out as something other than yourself, right?" she had asked when they had stared at her choice of costume. Honeysuckle had chosen to go out as a "pumpkin creature", coloring her whole body in orange body paint, mixing the paint with some black to make the groove lines, then dying her mane green and adding some leaves for effect. Midnight was sure it would take her the whole hour to get ready, but she was done just as the others got finished with their costumes and looking as if a professional had done it. Midnight made a mental note to see if Rarity could use that kind of talent.
Speaking of talent, Scarlet, their chef for the evening, had flown out the door as soon as dinner was over to get her own costume on and meet them in the town square on time. The fried deer meat, breaded and fried in oil in strips, had been very good, even more so covered in the orange sauce she had made for it and laid out on a bed of rice. Midnight and Squeaks had certainly enjoyed it while the others had their fried pumpkin slices. She just hoped the bathroom breaks wouldn't interrupt their night out too much.
As they all got ready to leave there came a knock at the front door. Beating them all to it and snatching the bowl away from Sapphire, Midnight peeked out past the paint over the window as much as she could. "What's the magic words?" she sang out once she saw who it was.
From the other side of the door came a timid "Nightmare Night, what a fright; give me something sweet to bite?"
Opening the front door, Midnight smiled down at Autumn and scooped a few pieces of candy into her candy bag.
Summer had heard about the theme costume idea and had hopped aboard the idea as well. On Midnight's stoop now stood Summer dressed as a witch, Autumn as her black cat, and Orange as her cauldron. Originally, Orange was supposed to be her broom, but Midnight had fallen over laughing when she'd seen Rarity's design. "It... it looks like you shoved it up his plot!" the kirin had guffawed, rolling on the floor of the boutique, much to Summer and Rarity's chagrin. In the end they had given up on the idea when Orange himself had agreed with Midnight, albeit with more tact. Now his costume was a lot more like Midnight's; they both had their wings hidden and going through doors was a lot more tricky.
There was the obligatory cooing over Autumn and Squeaks as they left the house, the bowl of candy left on a stool outside with a note for foals to take only three pieces each. As they made their way down the street, Squeaks looked over at the new houses along the road, starting right next store and going on back into town. "Hey mom, has anypony moved in to the new houses yet?" she asked.
"Not as far as I know," Midnight told her, stretching out her wings one more time before folding them back in for the night. Sapphire closed the flaps in the costume that allowed her wings to stretch if need be and lit her bulb for her. "I get the feeling you're getting a kick out of that," Midnight said wryly.
"Maybe," Sapphire said back with an impish smirk.
Windrunner, Honeysuckle, Summer, and Orange exchanged glances but didn't say anything. Ever since their little fight the two of them had been acting... closer.
"Don't worry about it Squeaks," Midnight said, turning back to her. "If we get neighbors, we get neighbors. If we don't, we don't. I'm sure the crown did all this building and funding for something." The kirin looked dramatically back down the road. "For now, Nightmare Night awaits!"
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Their group made their way through the town square, Midnight and Windrunner taking everything in with every bit of excitement as the foals were, to the amusement of the rest of the adults. Stalls of all kinds were up and decorated for the occasion, some selling sweets or drinks while others hosted games. On the side closest to town hall was a stage with a band upon it, playing music that was both country and appropriate sounding for the night, which had set about a half hour earlier than expected. Perhaps Princess Celestia was giving her sister a sort of treat?
As Big Mac passed them pulling a hay wagon filled with ponies, they caught sight of the rest of their party. Dinky, Pinchy, and Twist ran forward to meet Squeaks while Berry and Derpy followed behind them. Dinky was a firemare, Twist a bat, and Pinchy, strangely, was a lady bug. Midnight fully expected the brash filly to be in a hero costume or the like, like her mother who was dressed as Daring Do. Derpy... had paper bags on her hooves and head. "I'm the bag lady!" she said proudly. When she was sure Dinky wasn't looking she leaned in closer and whispered. "I couldn't afford a costume for us both but she really wanted me to come out with everyone tonight."
"I wish you would have told me," Midnight whispered back. "I could have helped gotten you something!"
Derpy only shook her head. "That's alright; I'm just glad I could think of what to call myself."
Midnight let the conversation drop. She'd already seen Carrot Top walking around in costume and it was starting to irk the kirin that if the two really were friends then why didn't she lend her a few bits for a proper costume to make Dinky happy? Tartarus, how much did that ghost sheet that other pony was wearing cost? For that matter, how little were her jobs paying her if she could only afford one costume for a filly?
She silently snorted and waved the thoughts away. Dinky was happy, as was Derpy, and she'd been looking forward to this night. She'd concern herself with Derpy's predicament tomorrow. Besides, what was with that lady bug costume?
"I kind of took advantage of her on that one," Berry admitted. "See, she mistook Lady Pug, a diamond dog from one of the Daring Do books, and thought I read Lady Bug. She finally realized what was up after I got the costume, but I told her I wasn't getting another one and to make the best of it; she has. Besides, she looks so cute in it."
The others nodded. She was rather cute in the get-up.
The other foals, however, weren't as convinced.
"Are you thure thereth a mutant lady bug in the bookth, Pinchy?" Twist asked. Their friend was trying to convince them that the Daring Do books featured a mutant lady bug in one of them.
"Of course I am! Look, I've even got some green goop for radioactive spit!" The filly ducked a hoof onto a pouch by her wing and pulled out some sort of green slime. Dangling said hoof in front of her mouth, she allowed the green stuff to drip a bit as she advanced on the others. "I hunger for your liver!"
The foals shrieked in delight as they ran away from the radioactive lady bug, ducking behind their parents for safety.
Laughing, Berry and Derpy said their goodbyes as they left to join in the various activities around the square while the rest of them went ahead to trick-or-treating. Berry made sure to tell Pinchy to go easy with the green goop; she wasn't getting her another can at 5 bits a pop.
"What about the others?" Summer asked, adjusting Autumn's cat ears which had gone askew.
"We'll meet them on the rounds," Midnight told her. "Remember that Pinkie and Granny Smith are watching them until we meet-"
"MIDNIGHT!" By some divine will Pinkie didn't bowl the kirin over in her mad rush over to them. "You'rehereyou'rehereyou'rehere!" she cheered, hopping up and down as the CMC and a few other foals came up to them, Granny Smith slowly bringing up the rear.
"I would hope so," Midnight said calmly, gently pushing the party pony back a few steps.
"Didya get any candy yet?!" She squawked, appropriate as per her costume a chicken. The kirin swore she could hear her make chicken noises as she pecked the ground.
"No, we were just getting started," Midnight told her, looking over the newly arrived foals. Apple Bloom was dressed as Frankenpony's Monster, Scootaloo as a Marewolf, and Sweetie Belle as Count Vlad Trotish. The three other foals with them were Sunny Days, dressed as a princess, Peachy Pie, dressed as an astronaut, and a new colt to town.
"Pipsqueak the Pirate, at yur service!" the little colt, even smaller than Squeaks, said, saluting them all.
"Ah hope it's alright we brought them along, Midnight," Apple Bloom said. "When we went ta git candy from their houses, we found out their families were sick and couldn't take 'em out. We were kinda hopin' they'd come with us," she finished with a hopeful grin. Indeed, all the foals were looking up at her hopefully.
"Oh... well..." Midnight stammered under the assault. "I... guess it's alright," she finished with an awkward smile. A cheer went up from the crowd of foals. "Windrunner, can you fly to each of their houses and let their parent know who they're with?"
The pegasus nodded, got the addresses from the foals, and flew off like a fishy bullet.
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Even with the addition of three more foals, bringing the total of the cute, costumed horde up to eleven, they all behaved well enough. Scootaloo and Pinchy may have had a tendency to run off ahead and Pinkie may also have worked them all up into terrified screams at the least bit of provocation, but Midnight and the rest where equal to the task of keeping them together and somewhat calm. The party of chaperones increased when Scarlet and Tight joined them on their third block.
"He had all week to fix it!" Scarlet said accusingly, meaning Tight and his manticore costume. It had apparently gotten stuck in some machinery and she had returned from Midnight's to find him still patching the holes up.
"When did I have anytime for that?" he shot back. "We've been busy all week while the Apples have been getting things ready for tonight!"
"Then you should have kept it safe like I did!" She posed, showing off her owlursus costume. Both were clearly hoof stitched by themselves, but Scarlet had put more care and consideration into hers, evident by the placement of the stitches and the detail she had put into it. One example was how she had tied her wings to her front legs and the set of fake teeth in her beak.
"Both your costumes look fine," Midnight said, forestalling anymore arguing. "Just help us keep an eye on the foals."
Said foals were a lot more ingenious than the adults first thought. Instead of running together as a mob from one house to the next, they had each paired off and went to a different house on the block, then worked in a counter clockwise motion until they each hit every house. Using this method, they made shorter work of each block than any of the adults had expected. The arrangement made it easier on the adults as well, needing only a lookout at both ends of the block and the rest stationed in the middle instead of following them house to house.
Midnight was the only one to complain about the arrangement.
"But mom!" she whined, to the befuddlement of the rest. "Pinkie's doing it!"
"Midnight, you may be a grown mare and can make your own decisions, but that's also the reason you can't trick-or-treat anymore! It's just so... unsettling! And if Pinkie was sticking her tongue into an electrical outlet, would you want to as well?"
Midnight refused to be deterred. "You took me out when I was seventeen!"
Summer placed a hoof over her face. "Midnight, that was out of pity. Pity and some vague hope at the time it would help mend what we were going through. It was the most embarrassing thing you ever put me through and since we're both adults I'm telling you I won't do it again. If you want to escort Autumn or Squeaky up to the door that's fine, but if I see you asking for candy as well I can promise the fun and games will stop right there. Do you understand me?" Summer had not once raised her voice nor did it become a growl once during her little speech, which made it all the more unnerving to the kirin. Midnight meekly nodded understanding and shrunk into her costume a bit more, edging away from her mother and closer to Sapphire.
"Don't look at me for sympathy; I agree with her," the pegasus told her, arching an eyebrow under her disheveled top hat. "Midnight, honestly, doesn't it seem just a little bit awkward for a grown mare to go up to a house and ask for candy?"
"Not tonight," the kirin mumbled under her breath.
Before anypony could say anything else, Pinkie popped up in between Scarlet and Tight. "Hey, why's everypony acting all unhappy? Did you all forget it's Nightmare Night?"
"We were just telling Midnight how she's too old to be trick-or-treating anymore," Summer told her, eyeing the pink party pony and her very full candy bag.
"Too old for free candy!?" Pinkie squawked in disbelief. "NEVER! That's the whole point of Nightmare Night!"
"Not really helping out here Pinks," Scarlet said.
"Besides, aren't there plenty of treats back at the festival?" Honeysuckle pointed out. "Even if she doesn't get any candy out here at the houses, won't she be able to get all she wants back there?"
That picked the kirin's mood back up. "And it's not like this is going to be the last Nightmare Night either," she admitted.
"See? Just because you can't go trick-or-treating doesn't mean you can't enjoy Nightmare Night," Summer said, turning to greet a returning Autumn.
Before she could respond, Pinkie sidled up to Midnight and the two quietly exchanged a few words. After a quick movement of hooves, the kirin began to make her way over to her mother. "Well mom, you're only half right," Midnight said, a grin spreading across her face.
"What do you mean, Midni-AHHHHH!" Summer's question ended in a scream of panic as she turned and was greeted by a snarling snake in her face. The unicorn flew back a few lengths, Autumn caught up in her magical grip.
Midnight nearly fell on the ground laughing, the plastic snake still clutched in her hoof. "I can still trick!"
-----------------------------
"I can't wait to do that to Twilight! You should have seen her during Winter Wrap Up!" Midnight told them later, still laughing, as they made their way back towards town square. Her laughing only increased when Sapphire smacked her with a disapproving wing.
"That wasn't funny, and don't you dare!" the pegasus said, trying not to show that she found it just as funny in retrospect.
"I beg to differ!" the kirin laughed. "And dare I do! I bet I scare the bells right off her costume!" The Starswirl the Bearded costume was good, but you could hear the unicorn coming a block away. A very easy and tempting target.
"I agree with Midnight!" Scarlet wheezed. "The old snake in the face! Classic!"
"Yes, well, let's just see how funny it is when I stick a fake spider in your face," Summer said. After recovering from the scare Midnight gave her with that snake, she'd actually laughed with them. What she'd just said was less of a threat and more of a reminder how much a double edge sword pranking was. Eventually, one of your victims was going to get their revenge.
The kirin's laughing quickly cut off and she shot her mother a mixed look of disbelief and fear. "You wouldn't!"
"Of course I wouldn't do that to you," Summer said. "But somepony else might and you should be prepared for that if this is your course of action for the night."
Midnight didn't say anything but moved closer to the group of foals they were trailing into the town square. It was unlikely any of them would stick a spider, fake or not, in her face.
"Hey mom, look at what I got at the last house!" Squeaks said happily, sticking her hoof under her mother's nose. On it was a black spider hoof ring, and a rather realistic-looking one at that.
Thus the ponies in the town square they had just entered were treated to the scene of a kirin, shrieking bloody murder, trying to get away from a bat filly by attempting to climb up on her mother's back.
"Midnight! I... can't... hold...!" Summer gasped as she tried to, unsuccessfully, pull the kirin off her with her magic.
"KILL IT! KILL IT WITH FIRE!" Midnight screamed, not even registering her mother's difficulty. The sides of her costume were being battered as her confined wings tried to unfurl and take to the air, the one place she was sure the hell-spawn from Tartarus couldn't follow.
Sapphire, Scarlet, Orange, and Windrunner leapt forward to pry the kirin off her mother only to have her try to use them to stay off the ground. "You know... you can breathe fire," Scarlet grunted.
"Not while it's on Squeaks I can't!" Midnight shot back, her eyes never straying from the offending toy. If she looked away, it would get on her and nest in her ear, or hide in her costume and wait until she was in bed to climb into her mouth, or just sit next to her face until the next morning until she woke up, then climb into her screaming, paralyzed mouth. In short, the kirin had a fear of spiders. Not phobia-levels bad, as Summer had seen her calmly smashing smaller ones under hoof or setting them on fire (not because she was a psycho candidate, but because she could breathe it, it was a more realistic option), but sticking one right in her face, no matter what size, was sure to set her into panic mode. It was reassuring, however, to see that her maternal instincts hadn't been overpowered by her fear of the toy.
Squeaks looked up at her terrified mother with confusion and slowly increasing fear of her own. It was just a spider ring, but if her mom was that scared of it, shouldn't she be as well? Thankfully her grandmother hobbled over and explained what was going on.
"Squeaky, it's just your mom doesn't like spiders very much. Putting a spider ring right under her nose like that just gave her a bit of a scare. I think it would be for the best if you put that back in your bag or, better yet, trade it with one of your friends for a piece of candy or a bat ring instead."
Squeaks nodded and turned back to her friends, almost all of which were staring at the frightened kirin. "It's just a spider ring!" Spike scolded the kirin. "You've faced a hydra and the Lord of Chaos without flinching, but a spider ring is what terrifies you?"
"Spiders are unholy abominations from the deepest pits of Tartarus," Midnight said in a disturbingly calm voice. "They are either to be killed on site or avoided at every possibility."
While Spike had her mother distracted, Squeaks snuck over to Sunny Daze. "Any chance you'd want to trade for this?" Squeaks asked, indicating her spider ring. Sunny nodded and picked out an orange gumball from her bag. Squeaks eagerly pulled off the ring and made the exchange. With the offending ring now gone, Squeaks made her way back over to her mother.
"Mom, the spider ring is gone now; you can come back down," Squeaks called up to her.
Seeing that there was indeed no longer a spider adorning any part of her daughter, Midnight hopped off Scarlet's and Windrunner's shoulders. In the struggle to keep her up, Sapphire had managed to open the wing pockets on her costume. "Sorry about that," Midnight said, pulling Squeaks close and looking embarrassed now that her wits were back.
"I think we should leave your wings out," Sapphire said, coming over and resting against Midnight's side. "There's just no way we can hold you up like that again."
"Sorry," the kirin apologized again, using her wing to help hold up her pegasus friend and give her a bit of relief. They stayed like that for a bit while the others caught their breath as well and worked the soreness out of their backs and withers. Summer and Autumn examined Orange's costume to make sure Midnight's leg hadn't gone through it, Scarlet had Tight rubbing her back, and Windrunner had taken to the sky, doing some loops and making light shine off her seapony tail like some weird disco ball. Squeaks carefully squeezed herself between Midnight and Sapphire, nuzzling them both. The remaining foals and Pinkie sat down and went over their individual hauls, making trades and popping some of their favorites into their mouths.
"Hi everypony!" They all turned to see Twilight, her Starswirl the Bearded costume jingling, approach them. "Is everypony alright? What was all that screaming about?"
"Yeah," Berry agreed, coming up with Derpy on their other side. "I wouldn't be surprised if the whole town heard you."
"Just got scared by a spider ring," Midnight told them, not meeting their eyes.
"A spider... ring?" Berry asked, an eyebrow going up. "All that commotion was because of a spider ring?"
"It startled me," Midnight said defensively.
"A spider ring startled you that badly?"
"How about I stick a rubber snake in your face and see how you like that?" Midnight told her irritably. One way or the other, she wasn't going to hear the end of this until after Hearth's Warming.
"What's all the fuss about?" Vinyl asked, trotting up with Lyra in toe. The DJ was dressed up as a twittermite, a costume both her personality and mane style lent itself towards, while Lyra was wrapped up as a mummy.
"Midnight got spooked by a spider ring," Berry told her, her face a mix of exasperation and humor.
Make that Hearts and Hooves day.
Predictably, both unicorns fell on the ground laughing. "Aw, is ittle Midnight afwaid of a ittle bug wing?" Vinyl choked out.
"May I remind both of you that your costumes are highly flammable?" Midnight said, miffed.
"How was the trick-or-treating?" Berry asked the foals, getting out of the perceived line of fire.
"Oh, it was great!" Pinkie exclaimed. "We went to so many houses and got so much candy!" She stuck her full bag under Berry's nose to show her just how much candy she had. "We stopped at Cheerilee's house, then Matilda's, then Colgate's, and while she gave us all mints she said they were better for our teeth than normal candy, which is fine but-"
*BOOM*
"PUCKAWK!" Pinkie squawked/screamed, bolting up and running around in panicked circles, followed by almost all the foals. Only Squeaks, Autumn, Spike, and Dinky did something different, and that was to duck under their mothers. In Squeaks' case, disappearing entirely under Midnight, while Spike choked on a mouth full of candy.
All the adults looked up to see Rainbow Dash, laying on a small, dark storm cloud with her costumed legs kicking up in the air as she laughed her head off.
"Rainbow!" Twilight shouted up to her. "That wasn't funny!"
"Aw, lighten up old timer!" Rainbow called down, poking fun at Twilight's costume and revealing her own to be some sort of spin-off of the Wonderbolts uniform. "Tonight's perfect for pranks!"
"But look at what you did to the foals and to Spike!" She waved a hoof at the spooked foals, Pinkie, and a recovering Spike.
"Come on, Twilight, it's all in good fun!" Rainbow called back.
A small jet of blue flame hit the cloud, cooking it away and causing the unprepared pegasus riding it to drop to the ground.
"Ow!" Rainbow yelped as she impacted. "What the hay!?"
"Oh, come on Rainbow, it's all in good fun," Midnight said with a smirk.
"Alright, I see how it is," Rainbow said as she got up. "But you'd better watch out Midnight; a bucket of spider rings doesn't cost that much."
The kirin's only response was to growl.
"Good comeback though," Rainbow said with a smirk. "Got a few others stashed by my house, so no big deal. Long night full of pranks still ahead!" With that she took off, sailing over the houses and out of view.
"Now that you all have gotten a few pranks out of your systems, we should head over to the stage," Berry told them. "They'll be doing the candy offering soon."
"Candy offering?" Squeaks piped up from under Midnight's wing as the group continued on.
"It's where... oh, you'll see in a bit. I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise for you, now would I?" Midnight told her with a nuzzle.
-----------------------------
They found a large open section for them all to sit down together on the dance floor farthest away from the stage. The foals all gathered in the middle while the adults ringed around them. Squeaks and Autumn stayed with Midnight and Summer, sitting between their front legs while sucking on lollipops.
"Has Autumn ever done this part before?" Midnight asked her mother as the band on stage wound down their song so Mayor Mare could get up to speak.
"No, we've put it off until this year. I guess it would be silly to ask if Squeaky has done this before. Do you think she'll be alright with it?"
Midnight shrugged. "I think if Autumn can handle it, Squeaks can. Besides, she knows Princess Luna from the times we've been up to Canterlot before; I don't think she'll be scared."
"Right, I remember; first when you went up to adopt her and then when Princess Celestia wanted to ask you a few things?"
"Yep," Midnight said with a nod. The excuse for the second trip up to Canterlot to see the princesses was that Princess Celestia wanted to ask her a vague series of questions about kirins.
"Well, I hope you're right. Out here in the country it's a lot easier to make a scary atmosphere around the Nightmare Moon statue than in the city."
Midnight nodded again. "Between the cabbies and folks on the street yelling and teens defacing the statue, not to mention all the pigeons sitting and taking a dump all over it, it never was a really scary experience." And after she had read the tale of the two sisters, it was even harder for her to be scared of a pony that was locked all the way up in the moon. How could she even get down to feed on anything?
"Yeah," Scarlet agreed. "The whole Nightmare Moon story is a lot less scary in the city. My mom and dad took me out to a small town one Nightmare Night to get the real scary deal for once. I'll tell ya; BIG difference."
Squeaks, who had moved forward to participate in some more candy swapping, turned to ask what they were talking about, but then applause started as the band gave the stage over to the mayor, and she looked back to the front. She could just make out the mayor's rainbow afro wig over the heads of every pony else.
"Thank you everypony, and welcome to the Nightmare Night Festival!" she called out over the crowd, eliciting another round of applause. "Now, all the foals that have been out collecting candy should follow our friend Zecora to hear the legend of..." here the mayor paused for dramatic effect,"... Nightmare Moooon, muhahahaha!"
"It would sound scarier if she wasn't dressed so silly," Spike muttered. Most of them agreed with him.
"I'm surprised they got Zecora to do the story. I thought they were all afraid of her barely a year ago?" Sapphire said as she moved closer to whisper to Midnight.
Midnight just shrugged.
Squeaks took a step back towards Midnight and Sapphire. She'd met the zebra a few times but couldn't stop being just a little afraid of her. Something about her was just... off, and Squeaks avoided her whenever she could while the zebra was in town.
Green smoke exploded on the stage, and out trotted Zecora, decked out in a witch's shawl, her mane a ghostly white and flowing about her head instead of up in its usual mohawk. Mini skulls clacked around the edges of her shawl and fake spiders were clipped in her mane. 'Oh goody' Midnight thought sourly. Then again, from here they looked like circles with some legs sticking out of them, not like that realistic spider ring. She could deal with that.
"Follow me and very soon, you'll hear the tale of Nightmare Moon," Zecora said, flourishing her shawl as she descended from the stage.
"Oh, this is going to be good," Midnight said, an evil smirk growing on her face. "Between Zecora's rhyming, the way she's dressed, and doing it right under the statue in White-Tail Woods, she'll be having the foals wetting themselves."
"That's rather mean, wanting to scare the foals so badly," Sapphire scolded, but with a smirk.
"Maybe," Midnight said with a shrug, "but I'll also bet they'll look back on it with a smile."
"Will it really be that scary?" Squeaks asked, taking another step towards Midnight as they got up to follow.
"Maybe, but just remember: all it is, is Zecora telling a tale and I'll be right here next to you if it gets that bad," Midnight told her with another nuzzle, using it to gently push Squeaks back towards her friends.
"Come on Squeaks, it's not scary at all!" Pinchy told her, looking back from the front of the group of foals. "They just tell us the Nightmare Moon story, we drop a few pieces of candy in front of the statue, then we come back here for all the games and prizes!" A cheer went up from the foals, and Squeaks felt a bit better at that.
Their group and several others followed Zecora into White-Tail Wood a short ways until they reached a clearing, a large statue of Nightmare Moon on the opposite side. All the foals huddled a little closer together when they saw it, with Pinkie right in the middle of them.
Zecora stopped at the base of the statue and whipped around to face them, startling the foals in the front. "Listen close, my little dears, and I'll tell you how you got your fears. Of Nightmare Night, so dark and scary," here the zebra pulled some green powder from under her cloak and blew it into the air. "Of Nightmare Moon, who makes you wary." The green smoke curled up into the air and coalesced into the form of Nightmare Moon. The apparition snarled down at them, then dove into the gathering of foals, exploding into a green fog cloud when it hit the ground that enveloped the entire clearing. "Each year we put on a disguise, to save ourselves from her prying eyes." All around them, sets of cat eyes emerged from the smoke, followed by yelps and screams of foals, along with one or two adults. One set of eyes materialized right next to Sapphire, who let out a loud "eep!" and hopped away, pushing herself up next to Midnight. They both looked at each other in surprise, then blushed and looked away. They didn't move apart, however. "But Nightmare Moon wants just one thing, to gobble up ponies in one quick swing!"
From her place near the back of the group, Squeaks looked nervously around as her friends went about screeching like Nightmare Moon herself was on their tail. She had taken a few steps back towards her mother herself, and looking back she could see that Autumn was already on Summer's back, covering her head with her cat-feet booties. Then she saw Midnight and Sapphire standing together and looking, well, happy and amused. Squeaks felt her own fear fade away a little. If her mom wasn't scared, then she shouldn't be either. It was still weird she'd been so scared of a little spider ring earlier, but she guessed it was something like how she was scared of the Everfree Forest. That was one of the reasons the filly was still scared of the zebra, but she swallowed her nervousness and turned her attention back to the story teller.
Just as the green dust cloud began to dissipate, Zecora threw another hoofful of it into the air, clouding the clearing once again. Again, a green apparition of Nightmare Moon emerged from the cloud and began to search the area for foals. "Hungrily she soars the sky. If she sees nopony, she passes by." This time, foals hit the ground on their bellies, trying to stay out of sight. "So if she comes and all is clear, Equestria is safe another year!" 'Nightmare Moon' flew up into the sky and disappeared again.
"Uh, Miss Zecora?" Pipsqueak asked, tugging gently on her cloak. "If we wear costumes so that she doesn't find us and gobble us up, then why do we still have to give her some of our candy?"
"Y-Yeah!" Pinchy spoke up, trying to not sound scared. "If she can't find us, then why do we have to give up our loot?" Many of the foals had looks of agreement now that 'Nightmare Moon' wasn't flying over their heads.
"Perfect questions, my little friends," Zecora said, never once losing character to the short line of questioning. Immediately some of the foals lost the little courage they'd gained. "For Nightmare Moon, you must not offend!" For a third time she blew the green dust, which again took on the form of Nightmare Moon. None of the foals looked brave anymore. "Fill up her belly with a treat or two..." The smoke Nightmare stalked forwards, ghostly fangs glistening in her mouth. Squeaks could feel her own courage draining away. Moving like that, she looked like some predator from the Everfree. "...so she won't return to come. Eat. YOU!" Zecora's voice boomed as the smoke monster jumped, mouth agape, and landed among the foals, once again exploding into a green smoke cloud.
They all screamed again, and Midnight could here Pinkie squawking over all of them. "Everypony, dump some candy and let's get out of here!" she cried, running forward to throw candy at the base of the statue. All the foals followed suit except for Squeaks and Autumn; Squeaks jumped back towards Midnight while Autumn was still holding on to Summer.
"Come on; you don't want Nightmare Moon to go hungry and come back, do you?" Midnight asked Squeaks with a playful smile. The bat filly shook her head, but it still took a gentle shove of Midnight's nose to get the filly to make her way forward. Autumn refused to go forward herself, so Summer stepped up and began making her way towards the statue with the both of them. Just as they were half-way to the statue, something changed. It was subtle, almost unnoticeable, but it made every pony in the clearing freeze up and look around wearily. Midnight felt a shiver run down her spine and she looked down at Sapphire. The pegasus was looking up at her, a look of blossoming fear in her eyes. Something wasn't right. "Squeaks, mom," she called out, doing her best to mask the sudden nervousness she felt. The wind was picking up and a large bank of clouds was beginning to cover the sky, but not the moon for some reason. The kirin's voice was all the warning they all needed to bunch up close to each other. Squeaks bolted back to them and held onto Sapphire; if her mother needed to fight, she couldn't do so with her latched on. Windrunner took to the air over the group.
Scarlet, seeing the two of them ready themselves, unhooked her wings from her costume and took to the air next to the pegasus. "What can I do?" she asked. Her tone, to Midnight's approval, was more serious than eager. The few disguised lessons the two had been putting her through were rubbing off.
Before they could answer her, a light shone in the sky, like lightning, only without the ensuing thunder or jagged rip in the sky. This was more of a ball of light, and it quickly disappeared as something massive flew out of it, racing down towards the ground and, from the looks of it, right at them.
Now everypony was really beginning to panic. "Stay with the foals!" Midnight barked at the few other adults in the clearing, most of whom looked like they wanted to run as well. Most of them remembered their small charges and began to huddle some of them around themselves. Berry and Derpy were doing a great job running herd on their group, stroking manes and keeping the foals from panicking as they slowly backed into the trees to get out of sight.
Pinkie, however, took the opposite course of action. "It's Nightmare Moon! RUN!" The pink party pony screamed as she bolted from the clearing, several foals, including Pip, Sunny, Peachy, and the CMC chasing after her.
Midnight snorted in their direction. As one of the bearers, she knew perfectly well it wasn't Nightmare Moon. That, and if this really was a threat, she'd just made their job a whole lot harder. At least Twilight was staying close. When Midnight looked back up at the approaching form, she saw something was off about it. Now it looked like many smaller forms and the two out front, who were pulling some sort of chariot, looked sort of familiar as well. "Thestrals?" Midnight said out loud, squinting at them.
This got Squeaks' attention, and she too looked up. "Yeah," she said slowly. "Yeah, they are!" Hopping up first onto Sapphire's back, then onto Midnight's, she pulled herself up her mother's neck to get a better view. "I think those two up front are two of Princess Luna's guards!"
Almost upon them now, Midnight realized that Squeaks was indeed right. Blasting over them, she recognized the two guards pulling the chariot, even spotting Night Skimmer fly by right next to it. Many of those who followed, however, she didn't recognize. When the cloud of bat ponies had passed by, Midnight realized that it was heading straight towards town. "It's alright everypony!" she called out, relaxing her stance. "They're not dangerous, but I do need to talk with them. Mom, Berry, Derpy; I need you all to watch the foals. Sapphire and Windrunner; I need you to come with me." She paused for a second. "You can come too Squeaks," she told the filly holding onto the back of her head.
"Can I do anything?" Scarlet asked again from her place next to Windrunner.
Midnight hummed as she looked up at the hippogriff. "I guess you can join us, but you do whatever me, Windrunner, or Sapphire says, understand?"
The hippogriff snapped a salute. "Yes ma'am!"
Midnight groaned silently to herself. Scarlet's playing was unknowingly going to blow her cover one of these days.
"Why do you need to talk with them if they aren't dangerous?" Tight asked as she and Sapphire jumped into the air.
"Because I'd like to know why Princess Luna's personal guards are leading a herd of thestrals into town," Midnight told him. "Just stay with the others!"
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Two chapters in one month?!
WHO ARE YOU?!
Hot darn! Slow down tiger, I think you might be over compensating for past delays here!
*CENSOR EDIT*
When this happened it just hit me. If Luna magics the spiders in this story all hell is going to break loose. Gonna get my popcorn.
Alondro forces Midnight to watch a certain older Doctor Who episode... which culminates in...
img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20141211035407/tardis/images/5/5f/Third_Doctor_Great_One.jpg
And afterward, every night is Nightmare Night for the poor kirin.
6760541
I've had half a year to work these things. Expect another one next week.
6760596
Fluttershy bucks up my favorite holiday, she suffers.
6760695
And there's another planed for next week!
I'm having too much fun to slow down now!
6760777
Fuck. You.
Fuck. You.
Merry Christmas!
6760602
'Nitor' from Latin means brightness. Also that name is used in Minecraft mod called "Thaumcraft"
'Aerum' came from 'Aer' which means air. Thus I personaly translate this 'Aura'.
Also
means 'My Queen, Lady of night'
6761010 A little note: it is rather disturbing to think of hunting in a world where practically every living thing is sapient. Even the spiders.
*points* Like that one on top of Midnight's head.
6761016 I get lots of coal for Christmas... which I then burn and release CO2... which will soon melt the North Pole entirely, thus granting me revenge on Santa using his own punishment against him! MUWAH HA HA HA HA!!
*Truly, Alondro is the most diabolical of evil masterminds.*
Okay I think there may be a little something blossoming between Midnight and Sapphire here. Also Honeysuckle? Okay I need to get this out then. Onward, onward Flutterponies victory is sweet. Onward, onward Flutterponies victory is sweet.
Now that that's out of my system I think you may have had a hoof in this Ink. Equestria Girls: The Witching Hour.
Wait for it....
Oh the Irony!
Nightmare night shall be cancelled
6761148
"Mea" instead of "meus"; it's an adjective and thus has to match gender, number, and case with the word it modifies. I like "mannula mea" for "My Little Pony" in Latin, even if "Mannulus Meus" works just as well; the main characters are all mares so casting the term in feminine gender is apropos.
Just gotta mention, as a member of a hunter heavy michigan family with private property(in the backyard), Pan fried, flour breaded, butterflied backstrap steaks(especially a little rare) are one of the best home foods I have ever had. It's the reason for us to get at least four deer for our household.
6762570 after a while, you are right. Regina is She.
6762570 Also, did only me is confused because, in English most of names don't have particular gender?
6762611
Latin's quirky like that, though at one point English had it, too... it's just lazy speakers over time "filed" away the gender marks on most words.
Two chapters in a week, it's a Christmas miracle!
Glad to see this story updating again, this is probably my favorite going thru the seasons style AU on the site.
There's no romance tag on this story, and quite frankly I'd like to keep it that way, so if you can avoid any more ship-teasing with Midnight and Sapphire I'd appreciate it muchly.
Going to get so many Thumbs Down for this...
I guess you could say, that Sapphire really...
( •_•)
( •_•)>⌐■-■
(⌐■_■)
...Turns Midnight On...
secure.static.tumblr.com/78b36fcb4f798a64f1a9f95830d3b925/oaqqulz/UVMmww61i/tumblr_static_i_regret_penguin.jpg
orig10.deviantart.net/9aca/f/2015/086/5/b/yet_another_sonata_dusk_meme_by_sonatadusklover-d8nc4zx.png
6762590
Hells yes
6762774
But there is a Slice of Life tag, and falling in love is a part of life, so sorry but no.
6762835
I would like to point out that while MLP did a Christmas episode for Halloween you did a Halloween chapter for christmas (ish)
Dangit, I binge-read all of Witching Hour up til now, and now there isn't any more written yet. :(
Great story so far. I'd actually quite like to meet a goat-minotaur hybrid at some point. Maybe from one of Iron Will's wives who carried him about, maybe? It'd be nice for Midnight to meet someone who's as unique as she is.
I like it I like it and this makes too chapters close together I am hoping this is a trend.
6763159 If there's going to be romance, be honest and slap a romance tag on. "Slice of life" need not imply any mention of romance at all. They are certainly not incompatible, but there's no inherent connection. (Unless you're taking "slice" far too literally, in which case there's a distinct lack of births and deaths so far. You can have a perfectly reasonable S of L story with seven-year-olds playing make-believe in the forest.) None of this coy "I'm going to deliberately refrain from using the tags the way they ought to be used because it's funny to make people have to guess what tags I'm not using that are actually in the story after all". That often gets a downvote and a report from me, even if it's not misplaced Tragedy.
Your story, your choice. Ship all you like, but don't lie to me with tags.
6763558 "who's as unique as she is."
There isn't any, sadly. If you read all of it, you'd know she is one of a kind. While there are many other Hybrids, from many different combinations. There are no Kirins like her. No half ponies, half dragons. An event happened many thousands of years ago, can't remember if Celestia ever did tell what that event was, but the entire race of Hybrids had suddenly just vanished without a Trace, and Midnight is the first and only one Celestia has seen since then.
So there is no one as unique as she is. She is the only one of her kind. She is Unique from ponies by being a Hybrid. And She is Unique from Hybrids by being the only one of her race, a race not seen in thousands of years so no one but Celestia and Luna even knew such a Race could exist.
awesome
6763163 I am both Glad, and slightly disappointed, that you're the only one that has reacted to that post and had been positive about it. I was expecting more people to laugh, and even more poking fun of how Cheesy and horrible that was.
However, I still regret nothing!
6772384
It's my special talent!
Yeah, loving the little bits and pieces of MidnightxSaphire you've showed us. Nice and slow buildup as they get closer to each other. And the way Squeaky and Saphire interact shows some promise in the fact that she wouldn't be adverse to the idea.
One thing... one thing I hope more than anything is that Midnight actually puts a stop to Pinkie and the other ponies antics. Playing pranks and playing around stops being fun when you make someone cry... or in this case cancel the entire holiday. Eh, maybe the relocation of the thestrals will help? Or at least I think that's what's happening.
6773098
she didn't this time; just extended an invitation to do so.
6773276
I figured deer would be a separate population at first, too, then we saw one included among the pets during Fluttershy's adoption drive backed by the PonyTones. *shrugs* Show wants to say deer are lower on the food chain, better for Midnight.
Midnight is a lantern, Sapphire is a lantern lighter. If nobody makes a joke about Sapphire turning Midnight on, I will be highly disappoint.
I just got done reading the entirety of this story and the first again. It's been so long since an update, I'd completely forgotten what'd happened. Hopefully this will continue to update.
Very good work, loved the story so far, keep it up.
6778973 I'm of the same mind about their costumes, and maybe it's Rarity's revenge for saying Orange's costume looked like a broomstick was shoved up his plot. Small wonder that Sapphire has to stick something into Midnight to (delete as applicable: turn her on/make her come on/light her wick), I'd say.
With that fear of spiders, midnight would not like meeting guardian.
But at the same time, I kinda want to see her reaction to him.
If you don't know what i am talking about.
This will make you understand.
orig05.deviantart.net/389d/f/2012/229/a/8/spider_pony_by_atryl-d5bh0ki.png
YUM!
WRONG they say NIGHTMARE NIGHT WHAT A FRIGHT GIVE US SOMETHING SWEET TO BITE
i thought it was
some music
(original)
(sfm[leave annotations on])
(sfm with lyrics)
fine i will add that too
i will also add
i have to add this
i will add in the reference to that as well.
i will just reference the episode
I think it should read: "Midnight could hear Pinkie squawking" other than that, great so far!
6778973 Someone already took care of it.
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YOU'RE GONNA BE MY NEW MEAT BICYCLE!
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Can l park my bicycle here?