Chapter 7: October 31, Luna Eclipsed
YAHES 2: Season of Chaos
By: Bardic Knowledge
Chapter 7: October 31, Luna Eclipsed
The building of the entertainment centre was going much slower than I had anticipated. On the plus side, I did discover that I could pull even the tiniest bits of metal from the ground or even some molten metal from the mantle, but that was even more exhausting than normal. Getting the rubber for insulation was actually harder, but beyond that I was barely able to wire up half a room each day without being totally conked out the next day.
In the meantime, Nightmare Night was afternooning, and I had some enchantments to lay down before sundown.
The first couple were illusions of things that would pop out at people as they walked by. I also had a corridor leading from the house to the unfinished entertainment centre that was overlayed with an illusion that made it twist like that one passage in the Forest Temple of Ocarina of Time. The entertainment centre itself included a Mirror Maze illusion (and an upside-down-room illusion) and, to finish it off, a “ghost” from the Haunted Mansion ride that chanted “Come back... Come back... But be sure to bring your... death certificate...”
Which meant there were also a few illusory ghosts floating around the whole experience as well.
There were also a few clones of me around. I had been experimenting with how many I could make. Five was my best if I wanted them to do anything more than be solid and move and these needed magic capabilities to make sure things didn't degenerate or unravel during the festivities, though one was just sitting around in disguise as a scarecrow to be a jump scare.
However, I did get a pleasant surprise when I was visited by Princess Luna long before the festivities in Ponyville proper were to begin. Well, I say pleasant surprise, but my costume startled her quite badly.
My costume was Discord.
More specifically, it was Discord as imagined by Didjargo in his(?) “My Little Mages” series.
“Wh- why are you dressed like him?” hissed the princess.
“It's part of our deal,” I answered. I wasn't changing my voice, despite the want for “realism.” I wanted to assure people it was just a costume. “In exchange for a shard of his power, I occasionally spread chaos in his name. Plus, since it's Nightmare Night, I'm supposed to dress up scary.”
“Scary, perhaps, but his rampage wasn't even two months ago! Don't you think wearing that could traumatize somepony?”
I shook my head. “Most of what Discord did was with a chaos aura kinda deal, just saturating the air with chaos magic and letting it do whatever. Pretty much the only people he gave special attention to were the girls, you and Celestia, and me. I actually doubt anypony in Ponyville knows what he looked like, despite him calling it his 'chaos capital of the world.'”
Luna looked dubiously at me.
“I've been wearing this all day, so-to-speak, and I've had some visitors in that time. Regardless,” I cracked the fingers of my griffon-hand, then put it in a phone-shape before pulling the tip of the thumb out and pushing my index finger. Putting my hand by my cheek, I nodded. “Trixie? Confirmation for plan 'Halloween Town.' We're currently by the Otherworld.” (I had named my prospective entertainment centre the “Otherworld Entertainment Centre.”) “See you soon.”
I hung up my hand and held it out to the princess. “Shall we?”
As we approached Ponyville, a song familiar to just about anyone who was born after 1995 on Earth was becoming audible. It was something Trixie and I had been planning for a while, using a modified version of the song I had read in The Return of Princess Nightmare Moon way back when (Eidetic memory is so nice to have).
Fillies and colts of every age
Wouldn't you like to see something strange?
Come with us to get a fright
This, our town on Nightmare Night!
“What is that?” asked Luna.
“That is a parody of a very popular song back on Earth.” I paused to let the next verse pass.
This is Nightmare Night, this is Nightmare Night!
Pumpkins scream in the dead of night!
This is Nightmare Night, everypony’s in a fright!
Trick or treat till the neighbors gonna die of fright
It's our town, everypony's fright!
In this town on Nightmare Night!
“If we time it right, we should get there just in time for the verses pertaining to you.”
I am the one hiding under your bed!
Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red!
“To me?” Luna looked at me askance.
I am the one hiding under yours stairs!
Fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair!
So glad we recruited ponies to specifically sing those lines. “Well, sort of. See, the parody comes from an Alternate Universe story wherein you technically don't exist because it was always 'Princess Nightmare Moon.'”
“What,” growled Luna.
This is Nightmare Night, this is Nightmare Night
Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night!
In this town we call home
Everyone hail to the night time song!
In this town, don't we love it now?
Everybody's waiting for the next surprise
Round that corner, hiding in the trash can
Something's waiting now to pounce, and how you'll...
Scream!
“Like I said, alternate universe. The whole reason that one went mad was actually because she had been completely drained of love by the Queen of the Changelings. By the time she returned to her Equestria, She had come to her senses.” I smiled. “I actually quoted that story when you first returned.”
This is Nightmare Night
Red 'n' black, green 'n' blight!
Aren't you scared?!
Well, that's just fine
Say it once, say it twice
Take a chance and roll the dice
Ride with the moon in the dead of night!
“Really?” Luna frowned. “I'm afraid that time is a bit... fuzzy.”
Everypony scream, everypony scream!
In our town of Nightmare Night!
“'Eternal night is a bad for frost, trees, crops, and tides.' Something Princess Nightmare said on her return, slightly modified for my poor memory at the time.” Luna nodded in acknowledgement of my point. “We should get in position.”
I am the clown with the tear-away face!
Here in a flash and gone without a trace!
I am the "who" when you call, "Who's there?"
I am the wind blowing through your hair!
I am the shadow on the moon at night!
Filling your dreams to the brim with fright!
As the song continued, I wrapped us both in an invisibility illusion and lifted us with a platform. “Can you fake a Nightmare Moon form? You did in the show, but I-”
Luna smirked and with a flash looked like Nightmare Moon. I nodded and lowered us into place just behind the crowd watching Trixie and her temporary troupe performing the song.
This is Nightmare Night, this is Nightmare Night
Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night!
Nightmare Night! Nightmare Niiiiight!
I held up three fingers, then counted down.
Nightmare Moon might catch you in the back
And scream like a banshee
Make you jump out of your skin!
This is Nightmare Night, everypony scream!
Won’t ya please make way for a very special mare?!
Trixie pointed to us just before I dropped the illusion and Luna cackled over the song, scaring the crowd.
Nightmare Moon is Queen of the Nightmare Night!
Everypony hail to the Pumpkin Queen now!
This is Nightmare Night! This is Nightmare Night!
Nightmare Night, Nightmare Night, Nightmare Night, Nightmare Night!
In this town we call home
Everypony hail to the nighttime song!
La la la la-la la! WOO!
Everypony applauded at the end of the song, as Luna dropped her Nightmare Moon disguise. I floated upside down over the crowd as I joined in on the applause before announcing, “Ladies and gentlemen, our special guest star for this Nightmare Night, Princess Luna!”
The applause got louder. “Now, this is the princess's first Nightmare Night, which is understandable, considering the last thousand years, so let's show her a good time and try not to be too insensitive, okay? Being consumed by rage is no picnic, believe you me.”
As the crowd either moved on, went to speak with the Princess, or milled about talking, Twilight the Bearded and Spike Dragon-Dragon approached me. I flipped back over, staggering for a second from a brief bout of light-headedness, and raised a hand in greeting.
“Yo.”
Twilight gave me a flat stare, while Spike pinched his nose. “Discord, really?”
“Hey, I told you the terms of my deal with Discord. I think this counts as a little chaos in his name.”
With a sigh, Twilight dropped the subject. “So, Princess Luna seems to be fitting in well.” We glanced over to the princess, who was looking both mildly euphoric and rather perturbed at all the attention she was receiving.
Reason #1 why fame is no fun.
I nodded. “I was mildly surprised to find she wasn't speaking in Early Modern anymore, but on the other hand, I'm definitely glad I got Celestia to let her sit in on some meetings while she was recovering. Otherwise we'd be half-deaf and windblown from the Royal Canterlock Voice.”
“Royal what voice?” asked Spike.
“Basically, she speaks with enough volume and force to be heard everywhere in Ponyville, no exaggeration. The common theory, I think, was that way back before things like megaphones were invented, the princesses had to use it to be heard by the crowds they were speaking to.” I thought for a second, then added. “And it's technically 'The Traditional Royal Canterlot Voice,' but since it was best written as all-capital letters, people started joking that she had capslock on the whole time, hence 'Canterlock.'”
After a few moments of standing around just watching the crowd (which eventually migrated into the booths, so Luna could learn fun and experience a modern festival), Twilight coughed into her hoof. “So... Anything special happening this Nightmare Night?”
“Why, Twilight, how bold of you,” teased Trixie. She was in human form, dressed up as Schala from Chrono Trigger. As to how she knew Schala, we'd taken to playing emulated SNES games on my laptop (which I kept charged with a some magic through the actual plug), which, obviously, included my #1 Favourite Game Of All Time Ever, Chrono Trigger.
With a blush, Twilight attempted to backtrack. “I- That- You-”
I snickered, “She's joking, Twi. But as to your question, I've already headed off tonight's 'episode.' The whole conflict was about Luna being unable to grasp the concept of Nightmare Night and getting depressed that everypony thought of her just as Nightmare Moon and not as Princess Luna.”
Trixie nodded. “And Joe has been working towards this goal since the Gala.”
“Well,” I waved my hand in a so-so gesture. “It kinda started before then, when Princess Celestia brought Luna over for a visit before the Running of the Leaves.” I scanned the crowd during the lull in conversation. “I think I'm gonna go check on Rarity. I'm kinda surprised she's not out here already.”
I hugged Trixie, then raised a hand in farewell to Twilight and Spike as I walked off towards the Carousel Boutique. In the distance I heard “Help! My backside's been gobbled!” and I tensed up for a moment until I heard the reply. “Thy backside was merely the beginning!” followed by some shrieking laughter. Sounds like Luna was having fun. I smiled as a warm feeling rose in my chest.
As I got closer, I could hear a lot of nervous movement and loud fretting from inside, mainly about how late she was and “why could I have gotten this done sooner?”s. I knocked on the door and stepped inside a couple moments after.
There were two ponyquins there, one of them completely covered by fabrics of varying shades of white, and a bright gold mane-wig strewn haphazardly over its head. Rarity was comparing and measuring and adjusting the various white fabrics and some gold filigree on the second ponyquin.
“Yo.” I said in greeting. Apparently, this was enough to startle her into throwing everything she had in her grip all over the shop. I had to act fast to keep from experiencing some involuntary acupuncture. “Sorry, but I did knock.”
After a couple moments to catch her breath, Rarity sighed, “No, I was just concentrating too hard. I'm sorry I didn't hear you. What brings you by?”
“I was just coming by to check on you. I thought you'd be out there already.”
“Well, I was having some difficulty deciding on a costume,” she went back to work on the ponyquin, “and by the time I made up my mind to go as Lady Galadriel, I had a backlog of costume orders that had to be done before this evening, and, well...”
“Time keeps on slipping into the future.” I deadpanned.
“Quite.”
“I can suggest something simpler, if you'd like.” I was feeling a little prank-y and cued up an illusion of Naga the Serpent from Slayers.
Rarity paused, then looked at the image dubiously. “I thought humans generally wore... more clothes than that?”
I snickered. “Okay, I'm mostly joking. Naga's basically wearing a swimsuit, which would be a lot simpler for you to put together, though it probably wouldn't look right on a pony body.”
“Hmm...” Rarity tapped her muzzle. “Joe. I want you to make me a human.”
I immediately considered two jokes: “give me nine months” and referencing Fullmetal Alchemist. Instead, I warily asked, “Why...?”
“I want to get measurements. I do believe that this costume will work much better with human skin tone, rather than my natural white.”
“And we'll need to see what your human skin tone would be, in that case.”
This caught Rarity by surprise. “There's more than one?”
I briefly made a wall of portraits, each one being a differently toned person, from my own pale to Keith David dark. “Though, considering the template spell pulls from me, and my ancestry is entirely European, you'll probably be on the paler end of the scale. Maybe. It depends on whether it just uses my DNA or...” I shook my head. “I'm getting off track a bit here. Let's just find out. Let me know when to cast the reversal spell.” I closed my eyes, turned around, then cast the spell.
There was a thump or three as Rarity got used to two legs, then the sound of cloth on cloth, and all throughout, Rarity was doing a running commentary on her appearance and measurements, which I steadfastly ignored as best I could. I'm with Trixie, after all.
However, before Rarity could say anything about turning back into a pony, I got an alert that one of my Haunted Mansion clones had popped (via its memories flooding into me), and I immediately flashed away.
It turns out that some ponies are twitchy and lash out when startled, and one of these had just been caught off-guard by my scarecrow clone and punched him full on in the chest.
After the pony in the Mortal Kombat-looking costume apologized and I replaced my clone, I proceeded to forget that I had been waiting to turn Rarity back to pony and headed off to see Fluttershy and make sure she was holding up well for the holiday.
I was about halfway there when Twilight the Bearded teleported in front of me, and started speaking immediately. “So, are you going to turn all my friends into humans, or was Rarity a special case?”
I froze. “Oh. Right. I'll go-”
Twilight laughed, “Don't worry about it, Rarity's fine. She'll want to turn back later, but she's taking the opportunity to design a few other outfits.”
“Still.” I changed direction back towards Ponyville proper. Fluttershy would keep, considering she keeps her door locked on Nightmare Night.
I actually didn't see Rarity until the end of the night, after most Nightmare Nighters had gone to bed, and the lot of us gathered like we had last year (with the interesting addition of Princess Luna). Under her golden wig, I saw a couple strands of purple, which I took to mean that she had kept her mane's colour when transformed, which was rather surprising, since purple is not a normal human hair colour (Trixie's hair in human form I had merely thought was just platinum blonde, but apparently it was actually still pale blue). Her skin wasn't too far off mine, though, which neither confirmed or debunked my thoughts on the spell's capabilities.
And, since I know some readers would be wondering, she was modestly chested, a little bigger than Trixie.
Once our Midnight Society finished with the scary stories and an illusory showing of The Nightmare Before Christmas, I turned Rarity back to pony and we all headed back to our houses.
Trixie was teasing me about being alone with a naked Rarity the whole way back, despite all my reassurances that I'd had my eyes closed the whole time.
It was a good night, even if it felt longer than it could have possibly been.
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number 2 sounds more interesting time paradox's are always fun to do
I really like the idea and premise of option 2.
This is Star Swirl we're talking about. Odds are it's number 2. Plus I like the mentor paradox of Star Swirl and Celestia teaching one another.
Scorpion wins. FATALITY
Very glad to see this back in business, especially as the ripples continue to spread. Looking forward to more, especially whatever Gabby Gums digs up on Joe.
Personally, I vote Option 1, with the possibility that Starswirl the Bearded, after the first instance with the Pillars, became a Pseudonym that was used by his particularly powerful descendants that take up the mantle (explaining why the Starswirl Wing of the Royal Canterlot Library has so much in it, possibly incorporating the Restricted Section shown in either Forgotten Friendship or A Friendship Most Likely Forgotten: Part III).
Number two would seem to be the best bet I think. Otherwise you raise the question of why they didn't find ways to differentiate the two Star Swirls more. The other admittedly involves time travel but that's a risk in a world of high magic.
A delightful story bardic.
I am eagerly awaiting the next chapter.
Option 2. Remember the time loop? This is just a really really big one.
Nice to see this series is still ongoing. Writers block can be a pain so take as long as you need bardic. A long wait but decent chapter is much better than a short wait with a shoddy chapter. More power to ya bardic
I have a good exclamation why Twilight could read Starswirl book from Magical Mystery Cure but not from Shadow Play
princess celestia and princess luna know of Starswirl bad horn writing.
so they we wrote all of his work so it is easier to read his work. they never heard of Starswirl the Beardeds lost journal
I enjoyed season 1 and hope you finish season 2 at some point. I hate reading unfinished stories so I really hope it has an ending at some point.
Well, I'm fully caught up now. I don't have anything new to add beyond my comments on the last story, although I will give my feedback on your question on the off chance you come back to this.
Simply put, both your options are bad since they involve committing the cardinal sin of fan fiction. Do not jam in later material. It only ever makes a mess, and this is a perfect example of that in action. The one and only correct solution is to lock in canon at the time of planning/starting and ignore everything released later unless there's good reason to incorporate it. In this case, that means this story only treats seasons 1-3 as canon and ignores the later material unless it coincidentally ties in extremely well with your preexisting plans.
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Why was the story cancelled?