• Published 4th Mar 2017
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Lessons From Ponyville Elementary - Blade Star



Now living in Ponyville with her family, a formerly retired human teacher returns to her old profession. A sequel/spin off of 'My Family and Other Equestrians', following on from 'Tales From Day Court'.

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Chapter 15 - Nightmare Night

We were now well on course for winter in Equestria. In spite of Rainbow Dash’s little misdemeanor at the weather factory, we would be seeing snow on the ground in a week’s time. At least, that was what was happening according to Lizzie. Cloudsdale had apparently moved Heaven and Earth in order to rebuild their snow stocks in time.

Before Ponyville was turned into a winter wonderland however, there was one event of importance to go; Nightmare Night.

It’s sort of the ponies’ version of Halloween, something that never really caught on in Britain in the same way it had in the States. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times our suburban house was visited by trick or treaters. And I never really bought into it anyway. Our kids were never particularly fazed by the idea either. School didn’t do much with it for fear of offending the Moslems or hard core Christians, and so we didn’t really notice when the calendar rolled around to October 31st. Here in Equestria, though, their version has really taken off.

When we had our first Nightmare Night here in Ponyville, Roger and I assumed it was a kids thing, and we thought Bones a little daft for playing dress up too. But as it turned out, all ponies, both young and old, feared being gobbled up by Nightmare Moon, and turned out at night with a disguise. That left me and Roger feeling a little silly ourselves. This year in contrast, we planned to join in on the fun. And so, I’d placed an order with Rarity to make me a costume.


The early evening of Nightmare Night found me getting dressed in our bedroom. Roger had already changed into his own little disguise, and I was just putting the finishing touches on my own. Rarity had done a tremendous job. I’d gone in for an old standby; a wicked witch.

No, you may not take that as a comment about my age.

Rarity had done me a jacket and dress, both black and ragged looking, along with a matching cape and signature pointy hat. Add in a fake nose from the joke shop and an attendant broomstick, and I looked the part to a T. After adjusting the nose one last time, and checking myself in the mirror, I headed downstairs.

Roger was waiting, just a tad impatient, at the bottom of the stairs in the hallway. Unlike my costume, his wasn’t meant to be scary. Unlike Halloween, Nightmare Night requires only a disguise, rather than dressing up as a monster. He’d used his own funds to splash out a bit himself and had had Elusive, his tailor up in Canterlot, make up the clothes for him.

As I got down to the bottom of the stairs, I found myself face to face with what seemed to be an old soldier. Roger was dressed in a white collared shirt with a dark green necktie. On top of that, he wore a khaki coloured jacket with green and red epaulets on the shoulders, along with khaki trousers, a dark blue belt, and the typical army boots. On his head was the famous 'kepi blanc', the white kepi of la Légion Étrangère; the French Foreign Legion. To Elusive’s credit though, it looked very much the real deal, aside from the lack of medals or rank insignia, but I put that down to modesty and respect for the real legionnaires than anything else. He grinned at me as I walked down to him.

“Well, don’t we both look absolutely ridiculous,” he commented. I shrugged my shoulders.

“Eh, no more than anypony else, dearest,” I replied. “I’m sure there’s somepony out there who’ll outclass us.” That made him snigger a little. Grabbing a small pouch filled with bits, which he attached onto his tunic’s belt, Roger threw open the front door.

“Shall we then?” The two of us stepped out into the festivities.


The sun had only recently gone down, but Ponyville was already coming alive again with ponies all dressed up in disguise. The various shops and stalls were being set up, which would sell food, toys, and of course offer everypony a chance to play those rigged carnival games. Still, it promised to be a fun night, and a chance to socialise with ponies outside of the school.

Leaving our house, we headed towards the town square where the festivities would start. Sadly, this year, Princess Luna would not be attending personally, but she did send us the usual greetings and thanks. She does enjoy this festival herself, despite her initial opposition to it when she first returned. That’s understandable though, considering she doesn’t like to be reminded too often of her misdeeds. At least, not by other ponies. Still, she loves this celebration now, since it is one of the few nights where everypony is wide awake despite the late hour.

As we made our way on, we passed all the decorations that had been hung up around the town. There were banners, bunting, lights, and spooky props hanging from the streetlamps. Costumed ponies bustled about ahead of us, and it wasn’t long before we ran into somepony we recognised. Though, in all honesty, she was the last pony I expected to see.

It was Fluttershy. Now, I know for a fact that the timid pegasus usually stays in on Nightmare Night. While some ponies might like it, she doesn’t particularly enjoy being scared. Last year, Lizzie had stayed home with her to keep her company. This year though, she seemed to be pushing the boat out a bit, a trend I’ve been noticing more and more when it comes to the Element of Kindness.

However, her disguise was, well, shall we say, a little lacking. You could tell it was her from a mile off. Her costume consisted of a long black dress, and little else. It didn’t exactly disguise her from a watchful Nightmare Moon. Still, we went over to say hello.

“Hello there, Fluttershy,” I called out as we walked up. The little pegasus startled for a moment when she saw us, but quickly fixed on us with her expressive blue eyes, and saw through our disguises.

“Oh, hi there, Margaret,” she replied after collecting herself. “Hello, Roger,”

“Hey, Fluttershy,” my husband greeted.

“I’m a little surprised to see you out here. I thought you preferred to skip Nightmare Night.” Fluttershy turned away bashfully.

“Erm, well, I thought that it was time I faced my fears,” she said. “And I didn’t want to make Lizzie miss it all again when she stayed inside with me.” It was commendable of her doing that, and it was good to see that she was doing her best to face her fears.

“So what are you supposed to be tonight?” I asked, interested to know, and not wanting to make a fool of myself by guessing wrong.

“Oh, I’m a guest at a masked ball, only without the mask,” she replied. It seemed a little silly, but it would be wrong of us to laugh, so I bit my tongue.

“I...see,” I replied after a moment. Still, it was a step in the right direction I suppose. “So is Lizzie out and about as well?” Fluttershy nodded.

“I think she was over by the apple bobbing stall,” she said. “She’s the one dressed up in the buffalo outfit.” Buffalo outfit? Ah yes, they were the Native Americans of Equestria. So I guessed we’d be looking for a pony version of Pocahontas. Or should that be Ponyhontas? I never could quite get the hang of all the puns in this world.

Letting Fluttershy go on her way, we headed for the town square and were soon weaving our way among the stalls and side shows. It didn’t take me long to pick out my daughter, even in disguise. After all, a mother always knows her kids.

Lizzie was with Rainbow Dash, who was dressed up as an astronaut. That seemed a little odd to me. As far as I know, Equestrians haven’t even launched a ballistic missile yet, or sent anything up into orbit. Where did the idea of a spacesuit come from? One of those comic books Spike likes to read perhaps? Could there be a pony version of Dan Dare? Even more strange, was the fact that the pegasus, despite wearing a full helmet, was trying to bob for apples. It was like watching a dog when it’s confronted with a glass patio door.

“Lizzie!” I called out, catching her attention. Turning around to face us, we got a better look at her. She had indeed gone for the whole Pocahontas look, She was wearing buckskins, fitted for a quadruped, with a few feathers poking out from behind one of her ears. Completing the stereotypical look was all the beads sewn on the garment along with a couple of bracelets. Leaving Rainbow to continue in her futile quest, she cantered over to us.

“Hey, Mam. Hi, Dad,” she said, briefly hugging us both. “Nice costumes. Rarity’s work?”

“Mine’s Rarity’s,” I replied. “Your father’s was made up by his tailor in Canterlot.”

“You see Fluttershy on your way here?” Lizzie asked. We both nodded.

“I’m not quite sure the poor girl’s got the right idea,” Roger commented. “But at least you aren’t spending this year all cooped up in that cottage.” Lizzie rolled her eyes at that.

“Have you seen any particularly good costumes so far?” I asked.

“Twilight and her friends have put a fair bit of effort this year. Twilight’s some sort of pony Roman soldier, Pinkie looks like she’s going to roller derby, Applejack’s a lion.” At this point, I cut her off as a thought struck me.

“What about your brother? What’s he come as this year?” I enquired. Lizzie though, shrugged her shoulders.

“I don’t know,” she replied. “I haven’t seen him yet.”

“Do you think he’ll be playing the mad King Sombra again?” I asked, turning to Roger. For some reason though, my husband suddenly seemed a little unsettled. A moment later, he recovered himself.

“Oh…er, I can’t see him using the same disguise twice in as many years,” he replied, a little unsteadiness in his voice. I racked my brain to try and think what he might choose.

“I wonder if…” My thoughts were then suddenly cut off.

From somewhere fairly close at hand, the three of us, and all the ponies around us, heard a sudden peculiar cry break through the usually still night air. It was a strange noise, like a sort of howling, the yip of a foxhound mixed with the screech of a banshee. I felt a shiver run up my spine as I heard it. However, it did give me a clue what my son would be tonight.

“That’s either Bones,” Roger commented. “Or a rabbit.” It did actually sound a bit like a rabbit’s squeal if I’m honest. But he was right; it was Bones with his damned silly war cry.

When Applejack is happy, excited, or elated, she will let off the typical cowpony yee-haw. Most people, and ponies, recognise it. Bones however, has his own take on it. Instead of a simple yee-haw or ya-hoo, he lets off this dreadful sounding yell as I’ve just described. The sound is sort of like this: yee-aay-eee, a high pitched yelp, a low pitched bark, followed by a long high pitched yelp, all strung together to create this eerie howl.

It was then that the silly bugger came galloping into town in his outfit.

A while back, Rarity had made him a grey shell jacket as a gift, having heard first hoof about his interest in the American Civil War. Now it was finally getting some use. Along with this grey coat, he wore his usual Stetson hat, although the brim on right side was now turned up and held in place by a small brass pin with a crossed swords motif similar to his cutie mark. In the centre of the hat was a brass badge made up of a laurel wreath, in its centre were the letters ‘CSA’. Wrapped around his barrel was a black belt holding his sword in its scabbard, a cartridge box with another 'CSA' motif, and a canteen. He cantered up to us, looking fairly pleased with himself.

“And you are supposed to be…what?” my husband asked him. In response, Bones touched the brim of his hat in a mock salute.

“Independent scout, sir, Morgan’s Brigade; Army of Tennessee, out on detached duty,” he reported, still grinning.

To this day, I’m not sure which is more peculiar, his fascination with ponies, or his interest in the American Civil War. Still, as you can see, he enjoys it. Continuing to grin, he turned his attention to our own outfits. He let out a low whistle.

“Wow, you three have really gone all out this year, ain’t ya?” he said with a bit of respect.

“And I see you finally found an excuse to wear the coat Rarity made for you, Bones,” I replied. He turned around in place, showing off.

“Do ya like it?” he asked. “All that’s missin’ is a LeMat and maybe a couple Colt six shooters. Anyway, you three havin’ fun?” I smiled at that.

“I guess so,” I replied. “Your Dad and I were planning to go around the stalls, play a few games, and then get something to eat.” Bones however, looked surprised.

“What, y’all ain’t gonna go in the corn maze?” he asked. Lizzie then jumped in as well.

“Yeah, Mam,” she agreed. “You should definitely check it out. Dash and her friends are going in there later, and it’s supposed to be really scary too.”

“Oh it is, is it?” Roger asked, with a knowing smile. “Well, then I don’t think we should pass it up. What do you think, dear?” He turned to me with his best puppy dog eyes.

“Alright,” I said. “We can make a family outing of it. But promise me, you and Bones, you won’t lose your tempers with each other when we get lost.”

With that, we headed for the corn maze.


The corn maze was a little ways outside of town and was, for want of a better word, absolutely massive. We’d definitely be getting lost. And trust me, my family do not react well to that. Still, if worst came to worst, I’m sure that Lizzie could fly up into the air and help us find our way out.

It did look quite fun though regardless. Ponies had filled it with cardboard cut outs of monsters, fake spiders, and there were even a few ponies inside, waiting to jump out and scare the unsuspecting. Lizzie in particular seemed quite excited.

“Dash says there’s a prize for the first ponies to make it to the middle,” she said, encouraging us along.

“Well, just as long as there isn’t a teleportation spell fixed to it,” Bones replied. “Ah’m not lookin’ to end up in a graveyard.” I looked at him in a bit of confusion.

“Bones, you do know that nopony gets half your references. You know that, right?” I asked.

“Lizzie’s read the Harry Potter books!” he replied hotly.

“Yeah,” Lizzie agreed. “That’s what happened in the Goblet of Fire. The prize at the centre of the maze was a port key. C’mon, Mam, how have you not read that yet? You’re dressed as a witch for goodness sake!” That made my husband laugh, an action he quickly tried to hide when I turned a glare on him.

It was then though, that we came upon our first little obstacle. Cheerilee of all ponies jumped out in an effort to scare us. An effort, which I might add, succeeded in scaring one of us. Dressed up as a zombie pony, she lunged out at us and tried to grab Bones.

He promptly screamed like a filly. Cheerilee was rolling on the floor with laughter, as were we all. The poor lad went bright red up to his ears when he realised what had happened.

“Oh, don’t pout, Bones,” Roger said. “Just be grateful Princess Luna isn't here to see you do that.” This just made him snarl irritably. Still, it’s always funny to see him get taken down a peg.


About twenty minutes later, we were well and truly lost. We’d come to dead end after dead end after dead end. True to form, neither Roger nor Bones would ask anypony we came across for help. Worse still, when Lizzie tried to fly up into the air to find the way out, she was promptly knocked out of the sky by what Bones described as a ‘Stall Field’. Apparently, they use it to prevent pegasi from flying when they aren’t supposed to, like now.

So we were stuck. We kept chatting for a while, but that soon got boring. It felt like we’d been in there for hours. In the end, it got so quiet that Roger started to sing one of the Legion's marching songs, though how he knew it I have no idea.

It was then though, that we finally encountered somepony else. I spotted a figure standing pretty much motionless at the far end of the path we were on. It seemed to be facing us, but didn’t say anything. What I did know however, was that I felt that I was being watched. Still, any port in a storm, as the saying goes.

“Cheerilee? Is that you?” I called out. The being didn’t move.

“Discord!” Roger called out. “If this is one of your practical jokes I’m going to set Charlie on you again!” Still there was no reply. Lizzie tried.

“Rainbow? We can all see you. You’re not hiding.” Still nothing. Bones was about to try himself, when all of a sudden, a pair of thin, flimsy wings appeared at the pony’s side, and began to make an ominous buzzing sound.

“Oh ponyfeathers.” That was all Bone managed to get out before the creature, hissing and screeching at us, its serpent like tongue lashing out at us.

The four of us ducked as it buzzed overhead, skimming under the stall field. You didn’t need a master’s degree to recognise the black chitin, blue eyes and insectoid wings that marked it out as a changeling. Of course, this one wasn’t dangerous at all; he was a friend of both Roger and Bones. It was Strong Shield!

“Ha ha ha hah!” The changeling laughed, doubling over in mid-air. “You guys should have seen your faces just now.” He then landed a little way in front of us, and reformed his usual disguise of a dark blue coated unicorn, with an eyepatch over his right eye.

“Ah didn’t know you were in on this, Captain,” Bones said, now quite relieved. Strong Shield smiled.

“Your old man asked me to join in on the fun, Rookie,” Strong Shield replied. “We figured that I’d be perfect for this sort of thing. After all, I can take any form I need to scare ponies, and to hide from them.”

“Hide from them?” Bones asked. The changeling nodded.

“Don’t think I’m going to let you off with just the one scare, Rookie,” he replied with a grin. “I’ll be keeping tabs on you from now until you find your way out. And you’ll never know where I am, or what I am.”

With that semi-ominous warning, he took off, and buzzed away into the night to start stalking us. I turned to Roger.

“I take it you’re having fun with this too?” I asked. He nodded with a goofy grin on his face.

“What’s that old adage, Bones?” he said. “If you can see Strong Shield, Strong Shield can see you. If you can’t see Strong Shield, you may be only seconds away from death.”


We spent the next ten minutes or so in a state of perpetual anticipation. We were looking for a way out, and were also constantly expecting Strong Shield to jump out from every corner to scare us again. Neither Bones nor I reacted to this well.

As we creeped around a corner to what seemed to be another dead end, we paused. Again, I got that feeling of being watched by unseen eyes. Off to the side, in my peripheral vision, I thought I saw something.

“Ah, that rock twitched!” I screeched, pointing to a small rock on the ground. Bones quickly pounced on it, but nothing happened. We turned around and headed back the way we came.

“That fence pole is moving!” I shouted out a moment later. But again, there was nothing to be found.

“Sorry, everypony,” I said as we kept walking. “I know it’s all fake, but this maze has just put me on edge.” Roger smiled and put a hand on my shoulder reassuringly. Bones too turned back to me.

“Don’t worry, Mom,” he said reassuringly. “It’s normal to get scared, and a mite paranoid in a situation like this. What’s important is to remember is that it’s all just for fun, and nothing can…IT’S THE WALL!” In fright, Bones fired off four or five shots from his horn before he calmed down.

He finally got a hold of himself and found the three of us staring at him, doing our best not to laugh again. He meanwhile, simply went beet red, and did his best to stammer out an apology.

“You know, Bones,” Roger piped up, with a very Celestia like grin on his face. “If I were Strong Shield, I wouldn’t actually be following anypony. I’d just let them think I was. Then they’d just drive themselves nuts looking for something that wasn’t there.”

I was, to be honest, getting a little bored of being in this maze. I’d much rather be out in the town square. And Bones had promised to help Big Mac with the hayride this year. Plus, Lizzie wanted to check on Fluttershy, to make sure she was having fun and not getting too rattled. I certainly hoped that she hadn’t found her way in here. While I was letting my mind wander, Bones turned to his dad.

“Ah’m guessin’ that’s what’s happenin', right?” he asked in a deadpan tone. Lizzie too stopped and turned to glare at him as the proverbial bit dropped with a clang.

However, Roger’s reply was cut off by another voice.

“Actually, Rookie, I’ve been following the four of you for about twenty minutes,” Strong Shield said.

All three of us, with the exception of my husband, jumped again in fright, as we found Strong Shield standing right behind us, in his usual uniform disguise. The old eyepatch wearing guardspony grinned.

“Kept you waiting, huh?” he said, before hoof bumping Roger.

“Okay, that’s it!” I said in a half serious scolding tone. “First thing tomorrow, I’m sending the Princess a letter telling her to keep you two as far away from each other as possible. When you’re put together you’re almost as bad as Discord!” Roger though, wasn’t quite done testing my patience.

“Darling, is this a bad time to tell you that I’ve known the way out the whole time?”

And with that, for the second time in his life, my husband suddenly found himself airborne, courtesy of a certain unicorn’s magic.


After being suspended upside down for a few minutes, Roger finally caved in and directed us all out of the maze. I think I’ll be quite happy if I never have to see another single piece of corn again. I mean, seriously, how are mazes supposed to be fun? You just end up with people all stuck together in a confined space. And that just makes tempers flare.

At least in this family.

After setting his dad back down on the ground, Bones said that he’d be heading off with Strong Shield and asked the guardspony if he wanted to lend a hoof with the hayrides. The changeling readily agreed, switching out his usual disguise for something that looked suspiciously like a Xenomorph from the Alien films, albeit pony sized.

Lizzie too said that she would be heading off elsewhere, mainly to seek out Fluttershy to see how she was doing. To be fair, Fluttershy’s decision to join in the Nightmare Night festivities this year was quite a big step, and it would be understandable if she wanted a friend on hoof.

So, once again, it was just Roger and me out on the town. As the night wore on, I began to see some small slivers of humour in his practical joke with Strong Shield, and as we walked around the town, we chatted about how he’d set it up.

“Well, you see,” Roger was saying. “I know for a fact that Strong Shield is a total workaholic, even more so than Shining Armor. Being in disguise all the time can be pretty taxing according to him, and he uses his time off at home to relax in his normal form. So going out after work is just more strain on him, and he’s never liked having to quietly sneak the odd bit of love from ponies in Canterlot.”

“So how did you convince him to come down here than?” I asked.

“Every now and again when I see him, he asks after Bones, checks on how he’s doing and what not. He’d never admit it, but Strong Shield does see him as something of a friend. And that means a lot coming from a pony whose entire species doesn’t really have a concept of friendship. So I suggested that he come down and see him tonight. That, and he does love practicing all those fancy stealth moves of his. That Queen Chrysalis didn’t make him an infiltrator for nothing.”

“He was good, I’ll give him that,” I agreed. “I haven’t been scared like that since I watched Event Horizon.” That’s something I intend to never do ever again as long as I live, by the way.

At that moment, we found ourselves walking into the little fairground that was always set up in town for Nightmare Night. There were all sorts of those rigged carnival games here, although to the ponies credit, they were all actually fair. There were plenty of foals scampering around at the moment. While we’d all been stuck in the corn maze, they’d all gone to give their offering of candy to the statue of Nightmare Moon that’s set up just outside the Everfree Forest specially for the occasion. I quickly picked out Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo at the pumpkin toss.

I tell you, that game would make any health and safety person have kittens. The kids can set up the catapult by themselves, and then hurl a massive pumpkin down range to try and hit a target. Still, they seemed to be having fun, although Scootaloo had so far plastered a few buildings with pumpkin matter, coming nowhere near the target board. Sweetie Belle on the other hand, seemed to have got it down to a fine art.

“Hey there, kids!” I called out as the two of us walked up. “Having fun?” The trio hurried over, giving Button Mash and his friends a chance to have a go.

“We sure are, Mrs. Owen,” Sweetie Belle, who was dressed up as a vampire, replied in her squeaking voice. “We just got back from the statue with Zecora.” She gestured to their now less full candy boxes, which were shaped like jack-o-lanterns.

“Well mind you don’t eat too many sweets tonight,” I warned. Even after all this time, I call sweets ‘sweets’, not candy. “I don’t want you three to have nightmares.”

“Oh, don’t worry, we’ll all be alright,” Scootaloo replied. “Princess Luna promised to come and save us if we do have bad dreams tonight.”

“You know,” Apple Bloom added. “Blade Star told me that the idea of candy givin' us bad dreams is just made up to stop us eating too much.” The other two fillies turned to her in surprise, and then looked to me for confirmation of such a fact.

“Uh oh, darling,” Roger quipped by my side. “Looks like the cat’s out of the bag.”

I was about to reply, when we were all cut off by the sound of laughter and chattering voices. It was Twilight and the others, including Fluttershy.

In stark contrast to the last time I’d seen her, the usually shy and quiet pegasus was now disguised in what looked to be a close approximation of her Flutterbat persona, complete with fake leathery wings, fangs and red eye contacts. She seemed to be having a great time.

The three Crusaders quickly scampered over to their respective siblings and adoptive siblings to hear what had happened. Fluttershy told Roger and I the whole story.

Not long after we’d come out of the corn maze, they’d all found themselves equally lost and couldn’t find Fluttershy anywhere. To their surprise and absolute fright, they’d suddenly found themselves set upon by the terrifying, and supposedly long vanquished Flutterbat, which was actually just Fluttershy in disguise.

After that, they’d taken off at a run away from the demon and found themselves stuck in a cave with even worse monsters, before getting tangled up in the creature’s giant web. Of course, none of it was real. Fluttershy, as I said before, was in disguise. The large monster they encountered was just Harry, one of the bears Fluttershy cares for, and the huge web that entangled them all was spun specially by the spiders she looked after. A fair few of Fluttershy’s animal friends had all pitched in to make the whole thing as scary as possible, and Twilight and the others had pretty much fallen for it and were scared out of their wits. I never thought I’d see the day when Fluttershy got everypony else running scared.

That was when Fluttershy had revealed herself and explained the whole thing. While she admitted that it had been fun to dress up and scare her friends, she didn’t like the idea of her friends actually being scared, even if she knew that they were in no danger. Roger and I could both understand that as a fair point. I always much preferred the obviously fake jump scares, rather than the Shining level stuff Fluttershy had performed.

In the end, she decided that that aspect of Nightmare Night wasn’t for her. She enjoyed the dressing up and candy part, but not the whole scaring your friends out of their wits part. That, she was more than content to leave to Rainbow Dash.

“There’s still on thing I don’t get though, Fluttershy,” I said as she finished up her tale. “I can see you marshaling all the animals to help you out. But I can’t see you cooking up something as scary as all that. How did you do it?” Fluttershy turned and gestured to the companion who was currently sitting on her back.

“I had a little bit of help there,” she explained with a smile.

And there, sitting on her back , with an evil looking grin of his face, was Angel Bunny.

I think I may have to agree with Bones; that rabbit actually is evil.

Author's Note:

Proofread by Sweetoldbob18.

Well, here’s the first chapter in the new and improved FiMfiction. As you may have noticed, none of the paragraphs are indented anymore. They are in the raw text, but not in the published version. I don’t suppose anypony has any idea how to fix that?