My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship

by Danieru

30. Nightmare Night

It was that time of the year again. The time where you could dress up in a costume and go from door to door to collect candies or play various games in town. A day dedicated to the Legend of Nightmare Moon.

Nightmare Night.

Star Twinkle had his own experiences with this celebration. It was a day like any other for him. The only difference was that it was a lot noisier at night. Like most celebrations and holidays, Star Twinkle was alone at that moment and didn't know how to spent his time. At Nightmare Night, Star Twinkle would usually dress up in something, where nopony would recognize him. It made it easier for him to take part in the celebration while still avoiding social contact with any pony.

But that is not what he wanted this time. He prepared himself to go outside and have some fun with his newfound friends.

"Well, this is it...Nightmare Night..." Star Twinkle said with concern.

His plan was to go outside and spend some time with his friends. He wanted to see another site of Nightmare Night.

After putting on his costume, he was ready to go. Star Twinkle was wearing a costume that looked like a robot. His costume consisted of a gray armor with two wings on his back and a helmet, all made out of wood and painted by himself. It was not the best costume but for him, it was perfectly fine. He was ready to leave now but somepony knocked on his door. It was three fillies who were dressed as a princess, an astronaut and a ladybug, accompanied by Granny Smith.

"Nightmare Night! What a fright! Give us something good to bite!" The three fillies sang cheerfully in front of Star Twinkle.

Even though he was planning to go outside most of the day, he prepared some candies, in case something like that would happen. He put some candies inside of everyponies bags but got startled after one pony jumped out of the crowd of fillies.
It was a little colt dressed as a pirate, who seemed overly excited and thus tripped in front of Star Twinkle.

"Pipsqueak the pirate, at your service. It's my very first Nightmare Night," the little pony introduced himself.

"Careful little guy. I got enough candies for everypony," Star Twinkle assured, before putting some candies in his bag too.
"In a way, it is also my first Nightmare Night,"

"How come?" The little pony asked.

Star Twinkle didn't feel like, telling the whole story since he didn't want to bother this child with his previous problems. "It's a long story," he simply replied

Suddenly another pony dropped out of the crowd demanding some candies. "Candy! squawk !" Pinkie Pie said, imitating a chicken.

She was wearing a chicken costume and behaved like a chicken. If it was any other pony, Star Twinkle would have asked why a full-grown pony was still going from house to house to collect candies but since it was Pinkie Pie...

"You know, I should be surprised...but I'm not..." said Star Twinkle before putting some candies in her bag as well.

Pinkie Pie showed him a happy smile and left along with the other children.

"See I told you, Star Twinkle wasn't a gloomy, mean and unfriendly pony," Pinkie Pie said when she left with the four ponies and granny smith.

Star Twinkle, of course, heard all that and felt offended. Though he couldn't deny it. Those ponies probably heard all kind of rumors about him in the past.

When they left, Twilight and Spike approached Star Twinkle. "Good evening, Star Twinkle," Twilight greeted before she was presenting her costume, waiting for Star Twinkle to know what it is supposed to be.

Spike's costume was easy to identify, he was wearing a full-grown dragon costume. But he had no clue about Twilight's costume. She was wearing a blue cape and a blue hat with stars and moons on it and bells that hung from her hat and a long beard.

"You're Trixie, right?" Star Twinkle guessed.

Judging from Twilight's reaction, that doesn't seem to be the case. "I'm Starswirl the Bearded!"

That didn't ring a bell at all for Star Twinkle. "Oh! Yeah! That one. Right..."

"You don't know who that is, right?" Twilight asked.

"Nope," he replied boldly.

Twilight seemed disappointed to hear that and decided to enlighten Star Twinkle a little as they went to the town's plaza.

"Starswirl is only one of the most important wizards that ever lived. He invented over two hundred spells! One of them being the amniomorphic spell!" Twilight proudly explained.

It was like Twilight was speaking in another language. He was no unicorn and therefore couldn't use or understand magic very well. Star Twinkle didn't even want to ask what this "amniomorphic spell" was, in fear that Twilight would explain it to him, confusing him even more.

"...He even has a shelf in the Canterlot library of magic named after him," Twilight added.

"Okay! I get it! He is pretty important!" Star Twinkle said slightly annoyed.

Twilight then stopped her long explanation about Starswirl and focused on the decoration and the celebration around her.
They arrived at the town's plaza where everything was decorated in Nightmare Night style. Scary decoration, games, and ponies dressed as almost anything what you could imagine.

"Should we get something to eat?" Twilight asked but Spike spent most of his time eating candies and was most likely not hungry at all.

Pinkie Pie who was still accompanying the four fillies approached Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike, sharing her stories on how her Nightmare Night went, so far.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was sitting on a storm cloud above Pinkie's head. She was wearing some kind of dark suit. It reminded Star Twinkle to the suits that the Wonderbolts wore. Rainbow Dash kicked the storm cloud, to release a thunder, frightening Pinkie Pie, and the fillies, who ran away in fear. Rainbow Dash was laughing but Twilight instantly scolded her for pulling off a prank like that. Spike seemed to have suffered the most of this prank and was choking a little on his candies from the shock. But Rainbow Dash didn't show any regret and left to prank some other group of ponies.

Nightmare Night was a strange feast for Star Twinkle. It was all about scary things, costumes, and candies. Star Twinkle only liked all those things to a certain degree but not to the point where it annoys him. If it wasn't for his friends, then he would probably complain about everything.

Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike went to Applejack, who wore a scarecrow costume. She was taking care of the apple bobbing and some other games in the town's plaza.

"Happy Nightmare Night, Applejack!" Twilight greeted.

"Howdy, Spike, Twilight, Star Twinkle. Nice costumes," Applejack replied. "With that beard, I reckon you're some sorta country music singer," Applejack complemented on Twilight's costume.

Needless to say, Twilight was annoyed that Applejack didn't recognize her costume as well.

Applejack offered the three to try some apple bobbing but their attention was quickly grabbed by the mayor, who was speaking to the town folks near the town hall.

“Thank you, everypony, and welcome to the Nightmare Night festival!” Said the mayor who was wearing a clown's costume along with a colorful Afro-like wig. “Now, all the little ponies who have been out collecting sweets should follow our friend Zecora to hear the legend of...Nightmare Moon!“

Suddenly a green smoke appeared next to the mayor on the stage, where Zecora appeared. She was wearing a black cape and had a different mane-style then usual with plastic spiders in it. Zecora was inviting everypony who was interested to hear the story of Nightmare Moon to follow her to the outskirts of Ponyville. Star Twinkle, Twilight, Spike, some other fillies and Pinkie Pie decided to follow her and listened to the story she was about to tell. They stopped in front of a statue of Nightmare Moon.

“Listen close, my little dears, I'll tell you where you got fears of Nightmare Night, so dark and scary, of Nightmare Moon, who makes you wary,”

She then used some kind of dust that transformed into an image of Nightmare Moon, diving down to everypony and scaring them. She was really good in scaring them, even Star Twinkle got goosebumps from Zecoras story.

“Every year, we put on a disguise, to save ourselves from her searching eyes. But Nightmare Moon wants just one thing: to gobble up ponies in one quick swing! Hungrily, she soars the sky. If she sees nopony, she passes by. So if she comes and all is clear, Equestria is safe for another year!”

Pipsqueak, who accompanied the group approached Zecora and asked why they still need to give candies to Nightmare Moon.

“A perfect question, my little friend. For Nightmare Moon you must not offend. Fill her up her belly with a treat or two, so she won't return to come eat you!” Zecora said, once again blowing some of her dust in the air, which made another ghost-like picture of Nightmare Moon appear, which once again jumped into the crowd of ponies.

The fillies and Pinkie Pie were screaming in fear and Pinkie Pie quickly suggested to drop their candies in front of the statue in order to satisfy Nightmare Moon.

It was interesting for Star Twinkle to hear the full story of Nightmare Moon. He never knew the whole story of Nightmare Night because he never participated in it like this before.

Suddenly a strong gust was blowing through. The crowd of ponies looked up to the sky and noticed how the clouds were moving on its own and blackened the sky. Then a chariot, pulled by two Pegasus with bat wings on their backs dived down from the sky. There was somepony sitting in the chariot, covered with a black hood, who jumped out after the chariot got close enough to the ground. When the pony landed, it removed its hood and revealed herself as Princess Luna.

She slowly walked up to the citizens, who cowered in fear just by looking at Princess Luna but she returned a smug smile.

"CITIZENS OF PONYVILLE!" She shouted in a really loud echoing and hurtful to the ears voice that literally blew everypony in its path away.

"WE HAVE GRACED YOUR TINY VILLAGE WITH OUR PRESENCE SO THAT YOU MIGHT BEHOLD THE REAL PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT! A CREATURE OF NIGHTMARES NO LONGER, BUT INSTEAD A PONY WHO DESIRES YOUR LOVE AND ADMIRATION!
TOGETHER WE SHALL CHANGE THIS DREADFUL CELEBRATION INTO A BRIGHT AND GLORIOUS FEAST!"

Her words were not threatening at all but everypony slowly backed away in fear. And Pinkie Pie didn't make the whole situation better. “Did you hear that, everypony? Nightmare Moon says she's gonna feast on us all!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed before she screamed and ran away with the crowd of fillies accompanying her.

But Princess Luna was confused to get that kind of reaction after her speech.

“What? No, children, no! You no longer have reason to fear us! Screams of delight are what your princess desires, not screams of terror!” She said while stomping her hoof on the ground, scaring a pony in front of her in the process.

She then approached the mayor. “Madame Mayor, thy princess of the Night hath arrived,” she said demanding the mayor to shake her hooves but the mayor was too scared to even stand up. She then tried the same with some mares right next to her but always got the same reaction. Eventually, Princess Luna gave up and got a little angry by everyponies behavior. “Very well, then. Be that way. We won't even bother with the traditional royal farewell,” she said annoyed before she left the plaza.

Twilight felt a little sorry for Princess Luna and attempted to go after her but Spike stopped her.

“You can't talk to her! She's Nightmare Moon!” He said pulling on Twilight's cape to stop her.

“No, she's not. I saw the Elements of Harmony change her back to good. But it seems like she's having some trouble adjusting after being gone for a thousand years,” Twilight replied

"I'll go and talk to the princess. Are you coming too?" Twilight asked Star Twinkle.

It was not like Star Twinkle had anything better to do so he minds as well go with Twilight.

"Sure, why no-"

“Actually!”

But they were interrupted by somepony who overheard the conversation. Steel Hammer was suddenly approaching from the back and interrupted Star Twinkle. He was dressed as a knight, wearing a shining gray armor and helmet.

"I need to borrow my employee for something if you don't mind. We have to do some work back in the Iron Hammer,”

“We do?” Star Twinkle asked confused.

“No problem, I understand,” Twilight responded.

Star Twinkle then followed Steel Hammer to the Iron Hammer. He was not looking forward working on Nightmare Night. Especially since he attempted to take part in the festivities.

“Yesterday you said: that you would close the Iron Hammer because of Nightmare Night,” Star Twinkle questioned.

"I did. I did some changes to the Iron Hammer, specifically for this day," Steel Hammer replied.

“Changes?” Star Twinkle asked.

When they arrived at the Iron Hammer, the anvil-like building was decorated with bright lights and decorations like bats or paper ghosts. The Hammer on top of the building was changed into a broomstick.

“Well, what do you say?” Steel Hammer said proudly.

"What is all this?" Star Twinkle asked confused.

"Just for today, I transformed the Iron Hammer into a playground, fitting for Nightmare Night! I figured, that we should take advantage of all the scary atmosphere in Ponyville. This will surely boost the business and drive away any competition!" Steel Hammer explained.

"What competition? We are the only workshop in Ponyville!" Star Twinkle replied annoyed.

"Of course, we are! And we will prove it to everypony!" Steel Hammer said confidently.

Steel Hammer's words didn't make much sense but Star Twinkle didn't feel like telling him that. He had no idea what to think about that.

“And what is this work, you were talking about?” Star Twinkle asked.

“I'm glad you asked!” Steel Hammer replied with a smug smile on his face.

Star Twinkle noticed that smile and instantly got a bad feeling. Whenever Steel Hammer smiles like that, it meant that something really annoying or stupid is coming up. And in most cases, Star Twinkle was the one who had to do those annoying or stupid things.

...and he was right...

Steel Hammer tried his best to get as many ponies as possible to gather around the Iron Hammer. Star Twinkle was convinced to stick his head through a hole in a wall so that other ponies could throw pies on his face. Needless to say, Star Twinkle was not looking forward to this. “I'm pretty sure, when I started working for him, this is not what I agreed to...”

“So, who wants to try his luck?” Steel Hammer shouted.

Eventually, some ponies showed up and tried to throw pies in Star Twinkle's face. Nopony hit him directly, whether it was on purpose or not, Star Twinkle was happy about that. It was mostly fillies, who threw the pies after all.

He could see how most of their parents were giggling at Star Twinkle but except that, it wasn't as bad as he thought.

That was until Pinkie Pie showed up, who looked very determent.

“Personally, I don't like this waste of delicious pies...” she said in an unusually serious and calm tone. “...But this looks like so much fun!” She said in her usual silly way.

She suddenly had a whole tower of pies in her hooves and prepared to throw every single one of them in Star Twinkles face.

“Oh...no...” Star Twinkle thought before he closed his eyes to prepare for the worst.

A little while later...

After a good while of pie-throwing, Steel Hammer decided to close the game, much to Star Twinkle's relief.

Pinkie Pie spent almost the whole time throwing pies into Star Twinkles face. Maybe it was because of the numbers of pies but for some reason, he felt like the last minutes never happened. As if got hit so many times that it may cause him to get knocked out by pies. Star Twinkle didn't know if he should be happy, annoyed or sad about that.

“Good job, Star Twinkle!” Steel Hammer congratulated.

“Yeah, whatever. I'm done, right? I need to wash off the remains of all those pies. They were apple by the way,” Star Twinkle said annoyed while whipping of some remains from his mane.

This caught Steel Hammers attention, who looked at Star Twinkle again with a smug smile on his face.

“Wash of? I think I have something in mind that could help you with that,” Steel Hammer said almost maniacally.

And once again, Star Twinkle had a really bad feeling about that.

Before he knew it, Star Twinkle was sitting on a bench over a little waterhole. Ponies had to throw balls at a sign next to him and whenever they hit, Star Twinkle would fall down into the water.

Again, most of the ponies who threw the balls were fillies and they didn't even come close to hitting Star Twinkle, making this game not as bad as he thought.

Until suddenly a little colt showed up in the middle of the crowd. The other fillies next to him looked at him amazed but Star Twinkle didn't know why. He had a light brown coat color and a blonde mane.

The little pony took one of the balls in one of his hooves and looked determent at the sign. It was at this moment where Star Twinkle realized something about him.

He had a baseball as a Cutie Mark. That could only mean that his special talent was playing baseball. After realizing that, Star Twinkle knew what was going to happen next.

The colt was throwing the ball with deadly precision and hit the sign right in the center, causing Star Twinkle to fall straight into the water. He could hear how the other fillies were cheering for the colt beneath the water.

Fortunately, Steel Hammer also closed this game and Star Twinkle was finally free to go.

He decided to go back to the town's plaza where he split with Twilight and Spike before. But they were gone.

“Oh yeah! She wanted to talk with Luna, didn't she? I wonder how that turned out...” Star Twinkle wondered.

He then heard her voice behind him.

"Star Twinkle, I'd like to introduce you to somepony," Twilight said, making him turn around.

He was then greeted by a very loud "CHARMED!" That Princess Luna shouted into his face, causing him to crawl on the ground in fear.

Twilight just looked down at him in disappointment and smiled at Princess Luna embarrassed.

"Ahem..." She said before moving her head down to meet eye to eye with Star Twinkle.

"I was thinking about, introducing the Princess to you, since she has some problems to fit in," Twilight explained.

"You don't say..." Star Twinkle replied boldly.

"Star Twinkle!" Twilight said almost disappointed. "The princess is trying really hard to get accepted by everypony,"

"Well, her entrance from before didn't help her much..." Star Twinkle countered.

"I thought from all ponies that you would understand how she must feel..." Twilight said.

Star Twinkle didn't know how to reply to that. In fact, if it wasn't for Nightmare Moon, Star Twinkle would still be alone. He at least had to try to help her. He pretty much owns that to Princess Luna.

"Well I guess playing some games should be fun," Star Twinkle suggested.

But Princess Luna showed signs of confusion on her face.

"Fun? What is this "fun" thou speakest of?”

The two ponies then pointed at some to a bowl filled with plastic spiders. Princess Luna didn't quite understand.

“Pray tell, what purpose do these serve?” She asked.

A pony in a bumblebee costume, who cowered in fear next to Princess Luna explained that she should try to land one of the spiders to a net, not far away.

The princess still seemed confused but she gave it a try. Though she missed at first, she tried again and hit the spider in the middle of the net. There was a sudden burst of excitement in her eyes.

“Ha! Your princess enjoys this "fun"! In what other ways may we experience it?” She asked.

They then suggested that Princess Luna should try the pumpkin launching game. The Princess put a pumpkin in a catapult and fired it. The pumpkin hit on of the targets a few meters away. Again, Princess Luna seemed to enjoy this.

“ Ha ha! The fun has been doubled!” She exclaimed happily.

This time, everypony around her cheered for the princess. It seems like Princess Luna was finally accepted by the villagers.
But there were many more games to choose from.

“Why don't you try bobbin' for apples? We got the best apples in Equestria here, princess,” Applejack suggested, who saw the whole thing and tried to help out too.

“I ask that thou call us... me... Luna, fair Applejack,” The princess then turned to the villagers next to her. “Hear me, villagers! All of you! Call me Luna!”

Just by having some fun, Princess Luna managed to convince the town folks to accept her. Moments like this remembered Star Twinkle if he would have gotten any friends just by having fun. But that was not important right now. Right now he was happy for Luna.

“Seems like everything worked out just fine,” Twilight said relieved.

“Looks like it,” Star Twinkle replied

Twilight then noticed how something was stuck inside of Star Twinkles costume and pulled it out with her magic.

“Is that pie?” She wondered.

“Yeah, it's a long story...” Star Twinkle replied, not really feeling like explaining anything.

The princess was following Applejack to the apple bobbing game. Suddenly, Luna charged to the tub with the apples and pulled out Pipsqueak, who fell down into the tub.

Pinkie Pie could be heard in the distance, who mistook that as an attempt from Luna to gobble the little pony up. Pipsqueak, who didn't exactly knew what was happening, ran away in fear, believing in Pinkie Pie's words. This offended the princess. After all, she just saved the little pony and didn't try anything like that.

“'Tis a lie! Thy backside is whole and ungobbled, thou ungrateful whelp!” She exclaimed angrily.

But that didn't make the situation any better because everypony backed away in fear again. Luna noticed that and tried to calm the villagers down.

“Fair villagers, please do not back away. Let us join together in... fun!”

She then threw one of the plastic spiders to the villagers but that didn't seem to work. Slowly anger and desperation were building up inside of her and she decided to use more serious methods.

“Not enough fun for you? What say you to this!?”

She then used her magic to turn the plastic spider into an actual spider, which only scared the villagers even more. After turning all the spiders in the bowl into real spiders, panic spread really quick. Ponies were running away in fear, crashing into each other or the decorations.

Princess Luna did her best to stop them but she was either ignored or the ponies were too scared to listen. Eventually, Princess Luna put a hold on the commotion by letting out a loud scream.

“BE STILL!” she shouted, which echoed through the whole town. It actually worked and everypony stood still or cowered in fear again.

“Princess, remember! Watch the screaming!” Twilight advised.

“NO, TWILIGHT SPARKLE! We must use the traditional royal Canterlot voice for what we are about to say,” Princess Luna replied with glowing in her eyes.

She then flew up above the ground and spoke to the villagers one more time.

“SINCE YOU CHOOSE TO FEAR YOUR PRINCESS RATHER THAN LOVE HER, AND DISHONOR HER WITH THIS INSULTING CELEBRATION, WE DECREE THAT NIGHTMARE NIGHT SHALL BE CANCELED! FOREVER!”

She then left to the outskirts of Ponyville, leaving a sad bunch of ponies.

“What should we do now?” Applejack asked.

“You mean, what can we do now?” Star Twinkle replied.

“What do you mean, Star Twinkle? We can't just give up yet!” Twilight said.

Star Twinkle understood that but he also felt like Luna was right.

“You know...I can kinda understand her... I mean...She just came back after thousand years just to find out that there is a celebration with the sole purpose to fear her. Maybe it's better if this whole Nightmare Night thing is canceled.
Then in a few years, nopony will even remember that Nightmare Moon ever existed!” Star Twinkle explained.

Twilight knew where Star Twinkle was going with that but she refused to give up on Luna. But she had the feeling that there was one more chance to make Luna rethink everything.

“You'll talk to her,” she said with a serious tone in her voice.

“What?” Star Twinkle replied confused.

“I believe...no...I know that you can convince her return,”

“Why?”

“I think you know why...” she said hesitantly.

Star Twinkle did know...He was alone and had not believed in friendship many times before. But he had friends, who believed in him and made him return to them every time. There was a lot of pressure on Star Twinkle. He didn't like that.
But he knew that he would go to Luna, no matter what. Because Twilight is believing in him right now.

“Alright...I'll try...” He said before he walked to where Princess Luna was flying to.

He found the Princess next to a statue of Nightmare Moon outside of Ponyville. She was clearly upset and looked at the statue in despise as if she cursed the day when she became Nightmare Moon.

"What should I say to her? I had problems too when I first came in contact with my friends but her situation was completely different! She has to suffer from the reputation that she built as Nightmare Moon
…wait..."

While Star Twinkle thought about what he should say, the princess turned around and noticed his approaching. This caught Star Twinkle off guard and let him forgot every word that he prepared in his head.

"Uh...Good evening?" Star Twinkle greeted.

But the princess only looked back at him with a sad expression on her face.

"Come on, don't just stand there, Star Twinkle! Say something to make her feel better!"

"Nightmare Moon, huh? Am I glad that she is defeated," He said before he realized that Princess Luna was Nightmare Moon.

"Uh...I mean...”

"It's okay..." Princess Luna said, interrupting Star Twinkle. "I'm glad that she is gone too... Nightmare Moon...I...was filled with hate and jealousy for my sister, who everypony looked up too. It is only fitting that our subjects see us as a scary monster, who doesn't deserve any love or admiration..." she said, lowering her head in sadness.

"Must be hard to have a holiday that constantly reminds you to that...” Star Twinkle said absent-mindedly.

Princess Luna looked back at Star Twinkle confused. She was not sure if that was supposed to cheer her up or make her even sadder. Star Twinkle noticed that Princess Luna reacted rather depressed to that statement and panicked.

“Argh! I mean...uh...I didn't want to say it like that...it's just...”

“How am I supposed to cheer her up again? I don't know how to do that! I'll only make things worse,”

”Why did you even come here Star Twinkle?”

That was an easy question. It's because Twilight convinced him to. But he couldn't just say that.

“I was supposed to cheer you up again but it didn't seem to work, right?” He asked frustrated.

Princess Luna facial expression remained unchanged as if she didn't listen to Star Twinkle. She probably wants to be alone and Star Twinkle wasn't doing her a favor at all.

“There was something that I realized before I talked to her. What was it again?” He wondered.

His eyes then observed the Nightmare Moon statue in front of him.

“Wait, that was it!”

"You are not Nightmare Moon!” Star Twinkle exclaimed.

Princess Luna was surprised by Star Twinkles sudden outburst.

“I know...I was Nightmare Moon and that will never change...” she replied with her head still focused on the ground.

“No! What I mean is: You are Princess Luna. And if Nightmare Moon gives everypony a reason to be scared, then it's up to Luna to give them a reason to love her," he explained.

Those words seem to have sunken into the princess's heart.

“Right now, the statue in front of us and you are two different ponies. And if you still believe that you are responsible for their fear, then it's up to you to change that! If you give up now, then you mind as well can call yourself Nightmare Moon again,”

Princess Luna's eyes widened after hearing that. She seemed to have a little fear in her eyes but also determination. Her sadness was washed away and she began to smile again.

“Thank you, dear Star Twinkle!” She said smiling at the green pony.

"Was that really coming from me? Since when can I be so wise?" Star Twinkle wondered.

"My sister told me about you..."

"What?" Star Twinkle asked.

"She told me that you are a complicated pony. And that you have your own way of thinking about things,” she explained.

“Thank you...I guess?” He replied confused, not sure if that was supposed to be a compliment.

"You remind me to somepony I knew long ago. You should know him, Twilight is dressed like him," Luna hinted.

"Oh, that bearded guy?"

Princess Luna chuckled a little after hearing that.

"When it comes to learning new spells, nopony could beat Starswirl but friendship was something that was a little more complex for him. He always put too many thoughts into it and was unsure of how to understand it properly. But he was a good friend nonetheless," the princess explained.

“So...does that mean, that you come back to Ponyville?”

“Yes, dear Star Twinkle...We will no longer let Nightmare Moon control our life!” She said determent. “But we still don't know what to do...” she added.

Twilight showed up at that moment and decided to check up on the two ponies. She noticed how Princess Luna's mood changed and was relieved.

“I'll take it that everything went well?” Twilight asked happily.

Princess Luna approached Twilight and asked if she had an idea on how to convince the villagers to like her again.

They came up with a plan to talk with Pinkie Pie since she was the one who always seemed to make the situation to the worst because of her fear of Princess Luna. They lured her into a dark alley with some candies and Twilight jumped at her, covering her mouth so that she won't scream.

“No! No shrieking. No screaming or squealing either. Okay? There's something I want you to see. And I promise that it's safe, but you really, really, really can't shriek. Do you promise not to shriek?” Twilight assured.

Pinkie Pie nodded in response and Twilight removed her hooves from her mouth. Princess Luna then emerged from the shadows and Pinkie Pie was about to scream again.

“Pinkie Pie, you remember Princess Luna, right?” Twilight said introducing the princess.

“Ah. The ringleader of the frightened children. Hast thou come to make peace?” Princess Luna said offering her hoof in order to make peace.

Just when things seemed to work out somehow, a thunder appeared behind Princess Luna, caused by Rainbow Dash, scaring Pinkie Pie who ran away in fear.

But Twilight was prepared for that situation and told Star Twinkle to wait outside of the alley. He stopped Pinkie Pie in her tracks and pinned her down on the ground.

“Calm down Pinkie Pie! She is not Nightmare Moon anymore. We changed her back with the Elements of Harmony, remember?” Star Twinkle said trying to calm down Pinkie Pie.

She made a surprised face and simply replied:

“Well, duh.”

That response confused everypony.

“I know that. Sheesh. I'm almost as big as her, how's she gonna gobble me up?” She said calmly.

“If you know that, then why are you running away every time you see her?” Star Twinkle asked.

“Sometimes it's just really fun to be scared!” Pinkie Pie said.

Star Twinkle couldn't get behind that logic, just like everything else Pinkie Pie is saying but Twilight seemed to get an idea from that.

Although she didn't explain her plan, Star Twinkle and Princess Luna followed her to the statue of Nightmare Moon once again.

Twilight seemed to have informed Princess Luna of her plan too. Star Twinkle and Twilight waited behind the statue until a group of little ponies appeared in front of the statue. It was the same group that was with Pinkie Pie before.

Pipsqueak placed some candies in front of the statue with a sad face.

“Goodbye, Nightmare Night. Forever,” he said.

Then suddenly a strong gust was blowing through. It was caused by Princess Luna who replaced the statue and looked just like Nightmare Moon.

"CITIZENS OF PONYVILLE! YOU WERE WISE TO BRING THIS CANDY TO ME. I AM PLEASED WITH YOUR OFFERING. SO PLEASED THAT I MAY JUST EAT IT...INSTEAD OF EATING YOU!

Everypony screamed because of Princess Luna's appearance and ran away in fear. Star Twinkle did not understand how that would help Luna to get on better terms with the villagers. So did Luna after she transformed back to her normal self.

From that point on, it was a fun night for everypony.

Princess Luna was having fun and everypony slowly accepted her not only as their princess but rather as a friend. But Twilight was confident that her plan will work.

Eventually, Pipsqueak came back and talked with Princess Luna.

“Um... Princess Luna. I know there's not gonna be any more Nightmare Night, but do you suppose maybe you could come back next year and scare us again anyway?” Pipsqueak shyly asked.

“Child. Art thou saying that thou... likes me to scare you?” Princess Luna asked confused.

“It's really fun! Scary, but fun!” He replied.

“It... is?” Luna asked confused.

“Yeah! Nightmare Night is my favorite night of the year,”

“Well then. We shall have to bring NIGHTMARE NIGHT BACK!” She exclaimed, pushing Pipsqueak away with her voice.

Pipsqueak was glad to hear that and happily informed his friends, who waited for a few meters away, still hiding from Princess Luna. But after hearing the good news, they cheered in happiness.

“See? They really do like you, princess,” Twilight said.

“Can it be true? OH, MOST WONDERFUL OF-” She said in her loud voice before she switched to a more quiet voice. “I mean... Oh, most wonderful of nights,”

From that point on, the night was a little more quiet in terms of screams regarding Luna. She was playing games and scared ponies for fun without them running away in fear. It didn't take long until the villagers accepted her again. Star Twinkle was just happy that everything went well for Princess Luna.

“I knew that you could convince her to rethink everything,” Twilight said.

“I just said that she had to take things in her own hooves if she wants to earn the love of the villagers,”

“Well, whatever you said, it did help in the end. Hey, do you want to hear the letter that I prepared for Princess Celestia?”

“Sure,”

She then took a moment and read out the letter.

“Dear Princess Celestia,
When you first sent me to Ponyville, I didn't know anything about friendship. I met somepony tonight who was having the same problem -- your sister, Princess Luna! She taught me that one of the best things you can do with friendship is to give it to others, and help them find it themselves! And I'm happy to report that all of Ponyville has learned that even if somepony seems a little intimidating, even scary when you offer them your friendship, you'll discover a whole new pony underneath. And even if my Star Swirl the Bearded costume didn't go over, this still turned out to be the best Nightmare Night ever! “

That almost sounded like, what Star Twinkle was experiencing. Did they saw a new pony underneath him too? He didn't feel like he had changed that much. But maybe his friends saw that differently?

“What do you think?” Twilight asked.

“It's good,” he replied.

Twilight seemed happy to hear that and smiled.

“Should we get something to eat?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah,” he replied.

Star Twinkle then followed Twilight through the plaza. It was quite the night and he didn't eat anything for a while.

They both walked side by side and tried to find someplace where they could eat something.

Outside of Ponyville...

Two Pegasi were sitting in front of a campfire.
Both seemed to wait for something to happen.

"Hey boss, look how many candies I got," a gray Pegasus with a green mane said, presenting a yellow Pegasus with a blue mane and metallic wings on it's back, a bag full of candies.

"What? Where did you get those from?" The metal winged pony replied surprised.

"From Ponyville..." the gray pony replied.

"Are you...you can't just visit the town!" The metal winged pony replied angrily.

The other Pegasus jumped by the metal winged ponies reaction and quickly put the bag with candies behind him out of fear.
Shortly after, the metal winged Pegasus sat down and calmed himself down again.

"I hope that we can get a signal soon. I'm tired of waiting here..." he said annoyed.

"Yeah...me too," the gray pony added.

"You have no right to say that! You wandered off to Ponyville, even though we are supposed to stay away from it for now!" The metal winged pony screamed.

“Sorry, boss,” the gray pony apologized.

“I mean, take Cloudwatcher for example, he is...” He looked around confused. “Wait where is he?”

The frustration was growing bigger any second inside of the metal winged pony, who just listened while rubbing his hoofs against his forehead.

"Boss, look how many candies I got!" Another gray pony with a dark blue mane said, carrying a bag full of candies as well.

"What? You were also in Ponyville?" The metal winged pony exclaimed.

"Yeah, it's so much fun! There are games and ponies in costumes and candies..." But he was interrupted by the other gray pony.

"You better don't talk to the boss, right now. He is really angry at us..." the gray pony with the green mane advised.

"Does that mean, he doesn't want any candy?" the gray pony with the blue mane asked.

The metal winged pony didn't say anything and only glared at them.

"...no..." he said before he took out some candies of the gray ponies bag. "I really hope that we can get some action soon..." he said while putting some candies into his mouth. "...Mhh...at least it's good..."

Author's Note:

I didn't expect this chapter to be this long XP.

But whatever.

Sadly, Germany doesn't celebrate Halloween but I still wish everyone a happy Halloween , if you happen to read this now ^^.

I hope you leave a comment in some sort, sharing your opinion on this story or chapter.
I would really appreciate it ^^.

See you in the next chapter ^^.