Just a Little Batty

by I Thought I Was Toast

Total Eclipse of the Heart

“Begone foul demon! Thine cooties have no hold over me here!” Rearing back to scree at the heavens, I bared my fangs in a triumphant grin as the clouds parted to let the stars and moon shine down upon me. The Nightmother filled me with her blessing—moonlight soaking into the very core of my being—and I leapt up to meet my enemy with a roar.

“I. Am. The Night!”

Swooping under the Nightmare’s soft, velvety hooves, I shot into her shadow and emerged on the other side unscathed, quickly turning about to buck her in the rear. Tough as Tartarus, though, she danced to the side with a titter, and long, curly eyelashes fluttered at me as she sashayed backwards with a stupid sway to her hips.

“Hah! You think that’s enough to save your precious little Diamond Tiara! Even as we speak my dastardly cooties infect her with their insidious magic!”

“You monster!” I lunged again, and the foul temptress whipped me with her tail—the scent of sugar and spice hitting me harder than a maul to the face as she sent me tumbling to the ground. “She’s only twelve! She has so much more to live for!”

“Twelve? Twelve?! She’s thirteen now!” The Nightmare gave a titter far more frightening than any madmare’s cackle. “Soon, the only thing she’ll have left to live for is me, and all the unspeakable things me and my cooties will do to her!”

“Fie! Have you no honor?!” Scrambling back to my hooves, I blocked her follow up strike. “I am the one you want!”

“Hah! Me? Want you?” The Nightmare flashed her fangs in a grin as she slipped by to slap me with her tail again. “I. Am. You!”

“Aaa— Achoo!” All the stupid perfume and glitter sent me tumbling to the ground. “Fight me without your devilish tricks, you cur!”

“Awww… but where’s the fun in that? I’m just fighting like Mom taught us!” There was another giggle as my double twirled to slash at me with her dress; the razor sharp lace and frills cut me where no sword had before, and I was forced to backtrack so I could lick my wounds.

“Give in to the Dark Side, Night!”

“Never!”

“The cooties claim us all!”

“Not on my watch, fiend!”

“The smoochies will last forever!”

“Noooooooo!” I leapt forward to smite the demon, and—

“Nightingale Mooncrest!”

—I blinked as Miss Cheerilee rapped my desk with her pointer.

“That is the third time today, young filly.” Cheerilee furrowed her brow at me. “If you would please stay after class, I would like to speak with you during recess.”

“Ooooh, somepony’s in trouble!”

“Cheerilee never uses the pointer!”

“Better get that bat some sunscreen, cause she’s gonna be getting burn— Ow!”

“Shut up, Snips.”

“What? She can take it! Rumble said she trains by going into the Everfree to wrestle with—“ I flinched at the bad dad word. “—manticores! Manticores!”

“Shut up, Snips.”

“But Rumble said—”

“Hey! Don’t drag me down with you. That was one time, and she told me it was just a cub.”

From the front of the class, Miss Cheerilee continued to write the next set of problems on the board, stopping for a moment to consult her book with a hum. “I am so very thankful—” Her ear flicked as she resumed scratching her chalk on the board. “—that the rest of my class understands how important it is to not stay distracted during class! It would be just so incredibly disappointing to have to hold back even more of you from recess!”

The rest of the class immediately shut up except for the occasional glance or snicker.

My neck blazed with the heat of a thousand suns as I raced to catch up with my assignments. Shrinking into my seat was no escape from the glance the girls were all sneaking my way, and I felt like flying as high as I could just so I could shrivel up in solfire and shame.

A real Platoon leader would never let their guard down for something as stupid as a daydream.

“Okay, everypony!” Miss Cheerilee clapped her hooves and spun around. “It’s time to keep on learning the magic of proper punctuation!” Only groans and moans accompanied her applause. “Now, now, everypony. Punctuation is the very cornerstone of good writing skills! Besides, today we’re learning about the incredible and amazing world of dashes!”

“Pfft!” Scoots rolled her eyes. “Not Rainbow? Don’t care.”

The rampant giggling and whispers that came from Scoots’ comment had Miss Cheerilee furrowing her brow. Then, with a sigh, she shook her head.

“One strike left everypony. We’re already more than half an hour—”

Brrrrrrrrrrrring!

“—late….” The rest of the school house was already empty. Glancing at me, Miss Cheerilee smiled as she saw me still scribbling away, and she moved up to my desk to sit down and meet me at eye level. “So… what’s going on, Night?”

“Nuffin’,” I muttered around my pencil.

“It is most certainly not nothing.” Miss Cheerilee put her hoof on my paper to force me to look up. “Hard working students like you only start to slip when you have a lot on your mind.”

“I’m not slipping!” Wings rustling violently, I huffed and crossed my hooves even as my neck burned black once more.

“Not yet, but I can’t help but worry for you, Night.” Shaking her head, Miss Cheerilee glanced out the window to watch the rest of the class. “I’m glad you aren’t fighting with your friends anymore—”

“We weren’t fighting!” This time my wings flared. “I was just avoiding them, because— because—” Biting my lip, I looked away as Miss Cheerilee gave me a small, sad smile.

“—but you’re still just as distracted.” She lifted her hoof to ruffle my mane, and I immediately went back to work. “I won’t pry if you don’t want, but I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me.”

“Mrgmmmffffff….” Grunting, I frowned and let the sound of my pencil talk for me. Only when I finished the page did I set everything down, closing my eyes to stare the evil Nightmare Nightingale down.

“It’s nothing anypony can help me with.” I frowned as I opened my eyes to move onto the next sheet. “Not you. Not the girls. Not even Mom and Dad. I just gotta work it out on my own.”

“I see….” Her tone said otherwise. “Well, there’s only so much lenience I can give you, then.” Setting another packet of work on my desk, she got up to move back to her desk and take out her lunch. “Please understand that it’s nothing personal.”

“It’s lighter than I was expecting, actually.” Picking the papers up, I tilted my head at her.

“Well… considering that the last time I gave you extra work like this, you had fallen asleep in class?” Miss Cheerilee giggled. “Let’s just say it wouldn’t be fair to give you something bigger this time, and leave it at that.”

“But—”

“No.” She held up a hoof. “It would completely defeat the purpose to give you even more when I know you have a lot on your plate. With any luck, that’s just enough for you to finish with ten minutes to scarf your lunch down before recess ends.”

“R-really?” I squirmed a bit more. “But…” Biting my lip, I shook my head and went back to work. “Thank you, Miss Cheerilee!”

“Alright, class! With recess over, I have a few announcements.” Miss Cheerilee beamed at us like the Nightmother herself. “First, I have the equish homework you neglected to grab before heading out to recess!” The collective groans of the class did little to ruin her warmth. “You’ll find I’ve stapled it to all the problems you missed out on before recess; I’ll be expecting both to be done and turned in by the beginning of school tomorrow.”

“Awwwwwwwwww!”

“But we’ve got chores, Miss Cheerilee!” Apple Bloom skipped straight for the big guns, pouting up at our teacher with eyes that could spear an adult through the heart at twenty paces.

“And sports!” Whoops, double that. Scoots was joining in.

“And jobs!” Or quadruple it. Sweetie was going whole ham, pawing at her cutie mark before looking up with actual tears in the corners of her eyes. “Between my sister wanting help, and Button Mash’s cutie mark crisis, I don’t think I’ll have time to sleep, let alone get extra homework done!”

“Cutie mark crisis?” Button blinked. “I thought we were gonna—”

“A very important cutie mark crisis!” Sweetie blushed and shoved a hoof in his mouth—completely destroying the group pout’s momentum as she broke eye contact. “I promise it’s not just playing games at the arcade!”

“That may be, but I’m afraid my hooves are tied.” Miss Cheerilee’s smile grew even warmer as most of the class shouted similar excuses. “Maybe you all should have thought of that earlier when I was trying to work you through it.” For an instant, actually, it seemed less like the soft caress of moonbeams, and more like the hungry, licking flame of the sun. “Of course, I’m willing to talk about it if that’s what you all want, but that means we’ll most likely miss some of the rest of class, and then I’ll be forced to give you that as homework too!”

“No!” The response was instant as everypony’s tears evaporated like they’d never been there in the first place.

I just rolled my eyes, putting the finishing touches on the single extra sheet we’d received, and setting my pencil down to eye it critically for a moment. I nodded when everything looked good, and put the real homework in my bag for later.

“Next announcement, then!” Miss Cheerilee began passing out another packet. “We will not be having math class this week—” There was much cheering. “—but that doesn’t mean I won’t be giving you math homework.” The groaning returned. “This packet is due friday, and it covers everything we’ve learned so far this year,”

“So it covers nothing?” Silver smirked as she got the teacher to titter.

“This school year, Silver. Nice try, though.” Dragging out a ginormous, rolled up scroll, Miss Cheerilee dropped it on her desk with a thud. “I’m sorry. I know you’re all busy, and more homework is bothersome, but it will be worth it, I promise. The reason there’s no math is this!” She patted the scroll. “With Hearth’s Warming come and gone, it’s time for us to start talking about this year’s school play!”

A few cheers mixed in with the groans this time.

“I thought long and hard about which play we should do this year, and I’m happy to say that I finally narrowed it down to three for you! They are Snow White, The Little Mermare, and Beauty and the Bat!” Unfurling the scroll, Miss Cheerilee pinned it to the board and gestured to the roles written at the bottom of it.

“You know the drill everypony! The roles are random and the votes are secret! I want you all to take out a piece of paper to write your vote on it. When you bring it up to drop in the ballet box, write your name on the top of the ghost leg. I’ll count up the votes while you all have fun finding out just which of three roles you might get, and then I’ll announce the winning play so we can start practicing lines!”

Scrunching my face up, I quickly wrote down Beauty and the Bat—cause old thestral princes were awesome, and everypony was totally gonna vote for that one—and then I cantered to the front of the class to look over the scroll. My gaze cut through all the names to find the column for Belle, and my hoof shot straight up it to sign my name up top.

There was no possible way I was gonna get shunted into the spotlight if I put my name over the main character, right?

Yeah…. There was no way in Tartarus. That’d just be silly.

Shuffling to the side, I squirmed in agony as the rest of the class fought over the slots they thought would get them the roles they wanted. Scootaloo and Applebloom quickly joined me on the side—having had the exact same idea as me, putting their names directly above Snow White and Aerial. Silver soon followed after shrugging and picking hers at random, and together we watched Diamond and Sweetie duke it out with the other fillies for the slots next to ours.

“Everypony ready?!” When all the slots were finally filled, Miss Cheerilee peeled off the secondary scroll hiding the path to everyone's doom.

We crowded up to the board like a bunch of piranhas hungry for scraps, and I tried not to let the jostling get to me. After several elbows to the side, I made my way to the front, and my eyes tore their way through the ghost leg.

Left. Left. Left-right. Left.

“Yes, yes…. Take me away from the dreaded role of princess.” I grinned as my eyes slowly drifted towards the minor role of Chip the teacup—

Right. Right. Right.

—only to veer right back towards Belle and make me sweat.

Left. Right. Left. Right. Left, left. Right, right. Left-right. Left.

I breathed a huge sigh of relief as the last leg on Belle’s column took me off of a girly, frill-filled doom. Anything was better than—

My eyes hit the bottom of the chart to see I’d hit something a million times better and worse.

Maybe… Maybe I’d get lucky and Beauty and the Bat wouldn’t win? Just cause I wanted it to didn’t mean—

“And the winner is Beauty and the Bat by a landslide!” As Miss Cheerilee stood up to beam at us again, she gestured to the three piles of paper before her—one much larger than the other two.

“Yayyyyyy!” As the rest of the class cheered, I settled on my haunches.

“Fewmits.”

“Yes! Silver! Look! That means I get to play Belle!”

A slightly more colorful bad dad word slipped out of my mouth.

“Hey, Night!” The sea of foals broke as Diamond pushed her way through to me! “Night! Night! I got the part of Belle! Isn’t that great?! All it cost me was half my allowance for the week and all my pudding cups for a month!”

“Yeah…” Sweetie sighed, a pudding cup in hoof, “...I really should have pushed for more there. I ended up getting Chip….”

“That’s great!” I barely managed a grin. “If you’ll excuse me, though, I really need to talk to Miss Cheerilee.”

“Why?” Diamond blinked as we headed away from the throng. “You didn’t get Gustave the griffin, did you?” Her face squicked. “I can’t imagine you being able to pull that off.”

“No….” I poked my hoof at the ground.

“Then what did you get?”

“I got mrgmmrgmrfff….” Biting my lip, I looked away to mumble into my mane.

“Come again?” She tilted her head.

“I got Beast!” I huffed, crossing my forelegs in front of me. “And I was really hoping that I wouldn’t end up a main character, alright?”

“Oh?” Diamond tittered. “Poor, poor, sweet Nightingale.” Lifting a hoof to her forehead, she swooned back a step. “Forced into a role she does not want! Whatever will she do?!” Her wink left me blushing black. “Sounds like the perfect fit to me! Come on, Night! Be my big, strong, handsome beast!”

“Diiiiiiiiamond!” My ears splayed flat as my head tried to retreat into my chest floof. “Stoooooop! It isn’t funny!”

“You’re right.” Silver looked at me over the ridge of her glasses. “It’s hilarious.”

“Guys!” I rustled my wings, and looked to the other crusaders for help.

“Oh for the…” Applebloom massaged her forehead. “It’s just a bit a ribbing, Night. If ya don’t want her to tease you, you shouldn’t get so dang flustered.”

“Yeah!” Sweetie giggled. “She’s only doing it cause you’re adorable when you’re like that!”

“Am not!” My neck blazed hotter.

“Are too.” Scootaloo gagged. “Bleugh. If you don’t like it, then just tell her no already. I’m sick of all the sappy tap dancing.”

“You’re just annoyed you already lost the bet.” Rumble smirked as he came up to peck her on the cheek.

“Bleugh! Ewww!” This time I was the one gagging while Scoots burned hot as the sun; I closed my eyes to look away, and the Nightmare looked back at me making kissy faces.

“The cooties come for you, Night!”

Shaking my head, I risked opening my eyes to see the rest of the girls except Diamond smirking at me.

“Seriously, though, Night.” Diamond’s pout was worse than a kicked puppy. “Do you really not want to be Beast with me? We don’t have to make it weird! We can talk to Cheerilee about getting rid of the kiss.”

“K-kiss!” I stumbled back with a squeak like I’d just been axed.

“Yeah?” Diamond tilted her head. “Isn’t that why you didn’t want any of the main parts? All the plays this year have kissing scenes.”

“I— I think—” Gulping, I found my throat was beyond dry. “That just makes it so much worse…. I need to think about it.” As Diamond sagged, I tried to ignore Silver’s glare, and I glanced at Miss Cheerilee as she went through the ghost leg marking who had what role on a master sheet. There was still time left. I could—

Glancing back at Diamond, my heart lurched for a second, and I sighed. “Look… we can at least practice our lines a bit.” I glowered at Silver in turn. “You’re trading parts with me if it gets too weird.”

“Hmph. Fine.” Silver rolled her eyes. “But you better—”

“And that’s everypony!” Miss Cheerilee clapped her hooves together. “Everypony get back to your seats so I can pass out lines, and then we can start our first in class rehearsal!”

Slinking back to my seat, I sank in it with a thump and closed my eyes to see the Nightmare cackling madly in triumph.

“Ohohohohoho!” The Nightmare backpedaled as I advanced in a flurry of hooves. “It’s no use now, Dame Nightingale! My cooties have latched on to the both of you! I only have to wait!”

I winced as she danced past the shackled Diamond once more—my eyes lingering, my guard lowering. Big, heart-filled eyes stole my breath away, and then my lungs emptied further as the Nightmare bucked me into the wall.

“It’s impolite to stare~” Tittering, the madmare danced back again, her eyelashes fluttering. “Or did you decide I was right all along? Why else would you release the beast?

Biting my tongue, I ignored the urge to look back and advanced. “Diamond said it didn’t have to be weird!”

“Screehee!” My foe went back to twirling away from every attack. “So you’ll trust her, but not me? Not yourself? She’s more infected than you are!” Her half-smirk grew into a hungry beast for a moment, sending all kinds of shivers down my spine. “Just you wait. Soon the both of you will be mine! Ohohohohoho!”

Leaping back, the Nightmare faded into the shadows, and I charged over to Diamond to free her from her chains.

“Niiiiiiight.” Diamond moaned as I broke her bindings with my bare hooves. “The smoochies must last forever….” Puckering her lips, she pushed her muzzle towards mine.

“Darn it, Diamond!” I pushed her back with a hoof and slung her over my back. “Just hold on! I got ya! A quick trip to medical, and we’ll—

“Niiiiiiight.”

“No, Diamond, stop.”

“Niiiiiiiight.”

“Diamond, no!”

“But the smoochies—“

“—will happen over my dead body.”

“Niiiiiiiight.”

“I’m not gonna kiss you!”

“Geeze, Night, cooldown. That scene doesn’t happen for like, three more acts.”

I blinked to find all the girls staring at me, Silver in particular was smirking.

“I mean, I get it. You really want to break the curse, but you at least have to wait for Belle to reach the castle.”

Diamond blushed a little, shaking her head before turning back to Rumble—who had got Gustave the Griffin, of course. “Let’s just… get back to practice.” She took a deep breath before scowling at the cocky ‘hunter’ and his orange minion. “Hmph! Idiot! And just why should I marry you?”

Applebloom snorted from the sidelines. “I don’t think Belle is supposed to be that high and mighty. Ain’t she basically Twilight?”

“But I’m a princess!”

“No, you ain’t.” Bloom nodded at me. “Not until our Beast here gets a taste of you.”

“Screep!” I fell over as a goat bleated off in the distance.

“Really, Bloom? No need to be crass.” Diamond huffed. “Fine. I’ll try and cut back on the haughtiness.”

“Nah, you’re cool.” Scootaloo wrapped a hoof around Rumble and waggled her brow. “I mean, there’s no way I’m playing this LeFou guy right! Colt’s about as cool as Pinkie’s habanero cupcakes!” Everypony shuddered. “So, yeah, I say you just go nuts, Diamond.”

“Why, thank you.” Diamond sniffed. “At least somepony appreciates my acting.”

Silver was the one to snort this time. “It isn’t really acting, and you know it.”

“If a haughty princess says it’s acting, then I promise you, it’s acting.”

“Again—” Silver rolled her eyes. “—you’re not a princess until you kiss the big fuzzy lug.”

“Guys.” I knocked my hoof on the stage floor and everypony went quiet except for a few coughs and some sheepish grins. “Thank you. I’d appreciate getting a chance to practice today. The little we got to do in class really didn’t help my nerves.”

“Well, since you asked nicely.” Rumble grinned and waggled his brow at me, sucking in a deep breath as Sweetie Belle began fiddling with the piano. “How about we jump to my song?”

“Oi!” Scootaloo beat him to the punch as she slugged him in the shoulder. “You aren’t supposed to start the song doofus, that’s me.”

“So? It’s not like Diamond is playing her part straight.”

“Hey!”

“No excuses!” Scootaloo thwapped Rumble with her wing again. “This is like, the one actually cool thing that LeFou gets to do for the entire play. Everypony loves the Gustave song, even Rainbow Dash!”

“What a shock, everypony. Rainbow loves the Gustave song.” Silver rolled her eyes. “I can’t imagine why.”

“It is pretty nifty.” Apple Bloom chuckled. “Bet ya Sweetie’s just boiling with jealousy.”

“Am not!” Sweetie crossed her hooves as she puffed out her cheeks in a huff. “Besides, I’m Chip, not Mrs. Potts!”

“Yer still jealous, ain’t ya?” Bloom stuck out her tongue. “At least you aren’t stuck playing Lumiere. Ponies’ll laugh their tails off seeing Lumiere speak like a hick, but they’ll laugh even more at me speaking all fancy. Either way, I’m up horseapple creek without a paddle.”

This… still wasn’t practicing, was it? I squirmed from hoof to hoof as the banter continued back and forth for what felt like forever.

The clock had to be broken. No way it was just five minutes.

“Guys, come on! Can it and get back to practice!” My sigh of relief caught in my throat as Diamond winked at me. “I want to get to Beast’s castle today.”

There was a round of snickers as I melted on the spot, Sweetie picking the piano back up as Scootaloo hastily scrabbled through her lines.

“Screw it!” Tossing her script over her shoulder, she took a deep breath; She puffed out her chest as far as it would go, and flared her wings out as she let the music take her.

“Golly, it bugs me to hear you, Rumble~ All ruffled like feathery tar~ Stallions want to compete with you, Rumble~ But none seem to quite reach the bar~ Not a pony around as inspiring as you~ You’re top rooster around,no lie~ Everypony looks up and gives way for you~ And I think I’m starting to know why!~”

Scoots sauntered up to her coltfriend, slugging him in the side and handing him a juice box as she forcibly turned his lips up into a smile with her wings. I facehoofed at the shameless preening, and bit my lip from trying not to say anything about how smug they both looked. Scootaloo looked over to wink at me and waggle her brows, and I groaned as she continued her song.

“No pone’s fun as Rumble~ No pone’s well done like Rumble~ No pone crows at the morning sun like Rumble~” Scoots jumped in the air to do a quick loop.

Rumble floofed his chest. “For sure, there’s no pony quite as fluffy!~”

“Darling, I wish he were mine!~” Sweetie tittered like Rarity at the christening of her favorite ship.

“Ya can ask Twi, Rainbow, or Pinkie~” Apple Bloom drawled with a roll of her eyes.

“And they’ll look to the sky and just whine!~” Silver smirked.

Grabbing the rest of the girls, Scoots dragged them into reluctantly tossing Rumble into the air—his insubordinate, narcissistic smirk supported by one forehoof as he laid lazily on his side.

“No pone’s cool like Rumble!~ The top bird like Rumble!~ No flyer’s got quite the ruffage like Rumble!~”

“As a pegasi, I’m overly elagent!~” His horseapple-eating grin grew with each line from the girls, and he paused in mid toss to flex and kiss his guns.

“My what a pone that Rumble!~”

As the girls caught him one more time, Scoots was back to sauntering around her coltfriend.

“Here’s five hoofbumps!~ Here’s twelve, you rock!~ Rumble’s the greatest!~ Aaaaaand he’s the biggest co—”

Miss Cheerilee—who had been silently listening to our antics as she graded papers—coughed.

“—rooster!” Scoots smiled sheepishly at my glare, but nonetheless went on.

“No pone struts like Rumble!~ No pone’s nuts like Rumble!~ When a fight breaks out, no pony guts like Rumble!~ For there’s nopony quite as bulky or fiesty!~”

The jerk of the hour flexed again. “As all know I’ve got muscles to spare!~”

Scoots smirked as she saw me grimace. “Not an inch on him’s boney or pasty~”

“Oh, yeah~” Sweetie swooned—giggling and fluttering her eyelashes as a spare breeze somehow snuck inside to elegantly toss her mane.

“And for sure you know I’ve got aaaaaaall the maaaaaaaares!~” Rumble wrapped his wings around the rest of the now glaring girls.

Scootaloo nipped his ear in punishment before dancing away with a wing thwap. “No pone’s smug as Rumble~ No pone’s snug as Rumble~ In a game of chicken, none have ever beaten Rumble!~”

Rumble reared back with a whinny. “There’s none that can beat me at intimidating! Ha!~”

“Ten wins for Rumble!~” The girls were still glaring.

“When I was a colt, I ate ten bales of hay!~ Every meal to help make my day!~” Rumble continued flexing. “And now that I’m big, I eat twelve bales of hay!~ So that all listen to what I have to saaaaaaaay!~”

The rest of the girls—one giggling, the rest resigned, came back together with Scoots for the final stanza.

“No pone dives like Rumble!~ Goes through hoops like Rumble!~ Then struts around with gold medals quite like Rumble!~”

“I use feathers in all of my uniforms!~” Rumble plucked one of Scoots’ feathers to put it in his mane.

“Ah! One more time!~” Scoots flinched before getting the rest of the crusaders to toss him in the air again.

“Who’s the king of the flock!~” Up he went.

“And another round!” Scoots buzzed up to meet him.

“Who’s cream of the crop!~ Who’s stallion to win!~”

“Can it be?!~ There I see!~”

“Ask the crowd and the five adoring mares beneath me!~”

“There’s one pone around that never backs down!~”

“His name’s R-U-M-B— R-U-M-B-L— Rummmmmmm Ballllllllllllllll!~”

Only the sound of Rumble hitting the ground saved my face from caving when it met my hoof.

“Ow….” Rumble rubbed his backside. “What the hay was that for?”

“For letting your head swell up like one of Pinkie’s baloons, doofus.” Scoots snickered. “Don’t act like you didn’t deserve it.”

“Hey! I didn’t see you complaining when—”

“Now, now. No more fighting, children. That was a wonderful first attempt.” Cheerilee stood from her seat to beam down on us like fresh moonshine. “As long as we tweak the lyrics a bit, I see no reason not to let Scoots have fun with her song in the actual play.” Frowning slightly, Cheerilee shook her head. “Although I’d really prefer we stick to calling Rumble his actual role.”

“Already on it, Miss Cheerilee!” Sweetie waved a mess of notes and chicken scratch above her head before going back to muttering under her breath. “Freaking E-rated play. We’re all thirteen…. We can handle something spicier….”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that!~” Miss Cheerilee singsonged as she turned to look over the rest of us. “Now then. If you don’t mind, I’d like to call your practice here and pick up tomorrow. If you practice too much, you’ll just ruin all that enthusiasm. It's much better if you don’t get too far ahead of your classmates.”

“Yes, Miss Cheerilee!” We all chorused back.

“And Night?”

“Yes?” I fought the urge to squirm.

“Try and have a bit more fun with it? Not everypony gets to be Beast.”

“I am trying….” Glancing.away, I kicked the floor.

“Try harder then?” She smiled. “Trust me. It might be nerve wracking, but standing in front of a crowd can also be just as exhilarating. I do it all the time with you and the rest of the class, after all.”

I idly flipped through my script in the soft, warm shadows of my room. My face scrunched at some lines, smiled at others, and blushed at all the stupid, mushy romantic bits. It would be difficult, but I was starting to think I would be able soldier through this without asking Miss Cheerilee for a new part.

Well, as long as Diamond kept her promise of skipping over the kiss….

My ear flicked as the doorbell rang, and the rumbling moan of a giant Dadosaurus who ate too much of Mom’s cooking followed.

“By the Nightmother… I swear if it’s those sunblasted door to door salesponies again, I’m going to take that cream of theirs and shove it down their throats.” The mumbling of several bad Dad words slipped through the wall. “For peat’s sake, we can’t even get horn rot.” A massive fwump signaled the door being bucked off its hinges. “Yeah?!”

There was a pause with some scattered grumbling from below.

“Oi, Night! You got company!”

I glanced up, face scrunching in confusion before sticking my head through the wall to see Silver wave up from below. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to help you practice for the play.” Silver shifted her saddlebags. “I even brought props.”

“Come down and get her, will you?” Dad smiled up sheepishly from beside her. “I gotta grab all the bits of door before—”

“Tempered! You know you aren’t supposed to buck your way through the walls unless its an emergency!”

Dad flinched. “Yes, dear. Don’t worry. I was about to fix it.”

“You had better.” Mom snorted as she flew down to smile at Silver and offer her a homemade chocolate chip cookie before she thwapped Dad with a wing. “I mean, really, it sets a bad example.”

“Tell me that when the walls aren’t made of clouds.” Dad chuckled as he hefted Silver on Mom’s back. “Go on and take her up first. I’ll fix the door like it was new, then we can talk about my punishment.”

Mom squinted at Dad for a moment, turning to eye the setting sun for just a moment. “Finish fast enough to get me some chocolates from Bon Bon, and we’ll keep it to manual labor.”

“Oh?” Dad smirked. “What kind of manual labor?”

“You know how we’ve been waiting for some recruit to slip up bad enough to fix Discord moving all of Princess Twilight’s heavy, crystal furniture two inches to the left just to mess with her?”

“Hah!” Dad puffed out his chest. “Rookie work? That’ll be child’s play!”

“Well, it turns out he enchanted it to be immovable, so you’re going to have to move the rest of the castle two inches to the left instead.”

Dad blinked for a few seconds before bursting into uproarious laughter. “Now that’s a challenge. I love it!” He pecked Mom on the cheek. “So what is it, really?”

“Diaper duty for a week, and you give me a massage every night before bed.”

“Deal!” Dad grinned, jumping up to begin swiftly gathering the scattered tufts of door. “I’ll make sure to pick up the oils from Zecora tomorrow!”

Mom just rolled her eyes, shaking her head as she flew up and out of sight to put Silver on the specially enchanted cloud. Pulling my head back inside, I galloped through the house to meet them, and found them giggling over something Silver hastily shoved back in her saddlebags as I rounded the corner.

“So, what’s up?”

“I told you.” Silver patted her bags. “I’m here to help you practice.”

“I don’t know….” Something in the way Mom was beaming at me left me squirming and looking away. “Miss Cheerilee said we were supposed to wait until tomorrow.”

“Trust me, you need the overtime.” With a smirk, Silver walked past me to head towards her room. “Isn’t that right, Mrs. Glory?”

“Oh— Ah— Ahem!” Mom coughed only for it to devolve into a fit of giggles. “Yes. It’s very important that Silver teach you how to— to—” She snerked, unable to finish with a straight face and having to bite her hoof not to laugh. When she finally got control again, all she could manage was waving me towards my room. “Just go and see for yourself, dear.”

“Fine….” I pouted but nonetheless followed after Silver, my hoof pausing on the door before I went in. “Why do I feel like I’m going to regret this?”

“Oh, stop being such a drama lama.” Silver huffed from the other side. “That’s Rarity’s thing.”

I rolled my eyes, but finally managed to push open the door. “You know, most lamas call ponies the dramatic ones, right?”

“So?”

“Dunno.” I shrugged. “I was just kinda hoping you’d take the bait so I could avoid—”

Glancing at the bed, I took stock of the props she’d gotten out. A frilly chrome and silver dress, a couple of really old, scratchy records, and a large, thick, Yakyakistani fur coat. Given the names on the records, I’d almost think she was stupid enough to insist on practicing the one scene she should know I’m not gonna do.

“—whatever this is.”

“This.* Silver gestured to the costumes. “Is where we practice your big kiss scene with Diamond.”

“Ewwwwwwww!” My face scrunched. “Silver! What makes you think I would possibly do that scene with you when I don’t want to do it with Diamond!”

“Well, first things first, you owe me one.”

“I owe you one.” I arched a brow. “And how exactly did that happen again?”

“I didn’t end your existence when you went to smooth things over with Diamond, right?” Silver squinted at me. “Besides, I don’t care what you say about not wanting to do it with Diamond; you’re totally just in denial.”

“Am not!”

“Are too!”

“Am not!”

“Prove it, then.” Silver smirked, tossing me the jacket. “If you really don’t have feelings for Diamond, then the kiss won’t be weird at all.”

“But I’m trying to figure out my feelings for Diamond!” My wings rustled violently, itching to flare as I stomped a hoof.

“So you admit that you’re in denial.” The smirk grew insufferable.

“No! I’m just— Ugh! Why do you even care?!”

“Simple.” Silver’s grin hardened into a grimace. “You already broke Diamond’s heart once. I’m not going to stand for you doing it again.”

“Did you just—” I blinked a moment before advancing forward with a growl. “Are you threatening me?!”

There was a slice of wind that managed to cut through the clouds, blowing my wings over my eyes as a result. When I looked back, my eyes widened as I saw Diamond, dressed in a long, elegant dress that reflected light so well it was painful. And before her stood a guard, no, a Silver Knight. She stood between us, posture so reminiscent of Princess Luna’s guard that I stopped, then blinked… and it was gone.

Silver took a deep, measured breath. “I’m just protecting my best friend from ponies who might hurt her.”

“I’m not going to hurt her.” I released a slow breath.

“For now.” With a tsk, Silver frowned at me. “But the longer you wait to give her an answer, the more she’ll get her hopes up again.”

“What do you want, then?! Do you want me to say no?!” My fangs bared themselves.

“No, I want you to—”

“Girls!~” The voice of doom itself was a singsong bass as it boomed through the walls of the house. “Are you alright?~ You wouldn’t happen to be fighting, would you?~” His knocks threatened to cave the door to my room in, and my eyes widened—the darkness instantly welcoming me as I sank an inch or two into the shadows. “Because my wife thinks you’re fighting, and she would just hate that!~”

“No! Everything’s fine!” I shushed Silver as she opened her mouth, giving her a pleading look. She arched her eyebrow for a few long moments before nodding, allowing me to back away with a sigh.

“Quite.” She stretched her jaw a little. “Things are just fine, Mister Mettle.”

“Excellent! Because I may be knocking to respect your privacy, but we’re also asserting our authority by coming in anyways!”

And thus Dad bucked down his second door for the day—smiling like a loon under moon as he made his way in with Mom. Mom, for her part, rolled her eyes and thwapped him with a wing.

“You literally couldn’t wait ten minutes, could you?” With a pointed look at Dad, Mom began to gather bits and pieces of my door up to fix it.

“Well, I would’ve waited an hour, but somepony wanted me to be a responsible, authoritative father-figure.” Dad walked up to examine me and Silver up and down before tutting and turning away. “Didn’t even give her a shiner, squirt? For shame.”

I sunk further into the shadows before what he said really registered. “Huh?”

“Tempered! Don’t go encouraging her to be a deviant!” Mom clucked as she put the finishing touches on my door—pointedly ignoring Dad’s tongue. “We’re going to get enough of that in the next few years.” Nodding at her hoofwork, she turned to squint at us. “Now, then. I thought you two were practicing for the play. What exactly is the prob—”

From behind her, Dad winked at me before giving a deep, subsonic scree. There was the whistling cry of Rolling Thunder from the twins room, which was quickly followed by the wail of a waking Red Dawn. Mom looked over her shoulder at the noise, glancing briefly at Dad with narrowed eyes before looking back out the door as the wails doubled in volume.

“I can go take care of it if you want, dear.”

“No, no….” Mom sighed. “It sounds like they’re hungry and that needs a mother’s touch. You take care of this. Just… spin them a tale of all the stupid fights you got into as a colt, and why fighting is wrong and they shouldn’t do it.”

“Yes ma’am.” Dad gave a lazy salute as Mom left to go deal with the terrible twosome.

“So!” He turned to us with a grin when the coast was clear. “I could spin a fatherly yarn about all the fights I got into when I was your age, but I think you both already know when not to fight.” His eyes glinted merrily in the darkness even as his grin grew predatory. “You two? Might just need a good ol’ fashioned fight. Come on. I know you want to. Take a swing.”

“Dad!” I squeaked, shrinking into the shadows completely mortified. “It’s not like that!”

“Really? Because I only get like that when the nobles up in the Undercity threaten your Mom.”

Silver let out a chuckling snort, and I glared at her momentarily.

“It’s nothing, really…. I just overreacted to something Silver said….”

“If you say so.” Dad shrugged. “Of course, if somepony threatened me not to go chasing after your mom like that, I would have punched their lights out. That said, as your father, I’m legally obligated to punch the lights out of any mare or colt stupid enough to break your heart, so I can kinda see where Silver is coming from.”

I said nothing, squirming as I mulled his words over.

“Okay, maybe I do want to punch her….”

“Hah! That’s the spirit!” Dad slapped my back. “Too bad you’ll be grounded if you do, but it’s the thought that counts!”

“Yes….” Silver adjusted her glasses. “And no matter what you seem to think, Night. I don’t want you to just tell Diamond no. I think you should take the risk. I’m just trying to… nudge you in the right direction.”

“You think a freaking kiss will make things easier?” I frowned.

“Sure.” Silver shrugged. “If its too weird, you just tell her no after the play.”

“And if it isn’t weird?” I whispered holding a hoof to my lips.

“Then—”

“Then you and I get to have a long, long talk!” Dad slapped my back again, his rumbling laugh setting off the just quieted twins again.

“Tempered!”

“Oops….” Dad chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked out the door. “I’m going to go help Morning. You two don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, you hear?” He bounded out the door before I could respond, leaving me with Silver and her accursed props.

“So… no offense, but I can barely stomach the thought of kissing Diamond. I don’t think practice is going to help….”

“I came prepared in case you said that.” Silver didn’t even miss a beat, smirking as she reached into her saddle. “Had to stop by the Barnyards Bargains’ warehouse to get it out of storage though.”

“To get what out of storage?” I warily stepped forward as she rummaged through her bag.

“Behold, the greatest marketing scheme Barnyard Bargains ever attempted.” A lump of densely folded cardboard came forth to unroll into a cutout of a starry-eyed and dimpled cutout of Diamond in a princess outfit.

“How…” I shook my head. “How long did it take to get that picture.”

“Four days, seven hours, and twenty-two minutes.”

“That doesn’t make any—“

“About an even three weeks factoring in school, meals, sleeping, lessons on how to fake dimples like that, and the many and varied demands of a bored tyrant in a tiara.”

“I… I think I’m just not gonna ask.” I picked up the yak fur coat and threw the dress at Silver. “Just suit up so we can get this over with.”

“Never fear, Belle, my dear! I. Am. Here!” Rumble jumped through the still unpainted cardboard arch that was going to be the castle’s door. His brow was wagglin, his wings were flared, and he was grinning like a loon under moon as he strutted up to me like Equestria’s Luna-given gift to equine kind.

Luna grant me strength; it was almost impossible not to gag at the sight.

Scoots and the rest of the ‘villagers’ followed—complete with pitchforks from Sweet Apple Acres and Golden Harvests. Their attempts at scowling almost made up for Rumble’s Rumbly-ness, and I smirked just a little as I stepped between him and Diamond.

“You fiend! You monster! Keeping my sweet, helpless Belle here in your bile clutches!”

“Vile.” Sweetie coughed into the tea cup shaped sleeve of the costume Rarity had insisted on making. Her giant chipped hat wobbled from the movement, and she almost tripped over her similarly shaped skirt as she tried not to tumble over.

“Your Belle?!” I put everything I had into the roar. “From what I hear, she’s turned turned you down so many times your blood’s lost a humor or two!”

“Wha—” Rumble’s wings flared as he jabbed me in the chest. “No mare has ever rejected Gustave the Griffon! Unlike you filthy excuse for a beast, I am irresistible! Fawns fawn over these rock hard pecs!” He flexed his forehooves and wings. “Nannies faint before they can even bleat! Mares moan from a simple—”

“Pssst!” Scoots kicked Rumble in the shin as she saw Cheerilee look up. “Ixnay! Ixnay!”

Rubbing his forehoof, Rumble grumbled. “Such an exquisite catch as Belle is only worthy of being chased by a Gustave! I demand you release her at once or I’ll—”

“Lest I.” Sweetie coughed again.

“—or I’ll burn you and this castle to the ground!”

“Enough, Gustave.” Diamond stepped out from behind me, scowling. “I’m not being held against my will, so you and your lackeys can go jump off a cliff.”

“There’s one right out back.” I grinned. “Be my guest.”

“Hmph!” Rumble put his hoof on his wooden sword. “I’d expect no less from a blood-sucking mongrel such as you. You’ve had your warning! Prepare to die!”

As he unsheathed his blade, the flat clipped Diamond in the face as she ran in to ‘stop’ him. My heart caught as she tumbled back with a surprised squeak—actual, honest-to-Luna tears in her eyes.

Somepony growled as my body decided to act of its own will. Instincts kicked in, ponies were flipped, and I found myself panting over a swirly-eyed Rumble—one hoof pinning him to the ground.

Everypony who wasn’t in the Junior Guard was staring at me with starry eyes, while the other Crusaders snickered behind one hoof. I blushed, glancing at Miss Cheerilee, but she simply shook her head before returning to her grading.

“I know ya got a thing against losing to Rumble, but come on, Night,” Apple Bloom snickered. “It’s just a play. Not the ring. Yer supposed to run and lead the mob away from Belle.”

My blush burned blacker. “I, uh… thought I’d wing it?”

“Please stick to the script for this, Nightingale!” Miss Cheerilee called from her seat. “I may be fine with some ad-libbing, but that really is too much.”

The shadows beneath me formed into somepony grinning with far too many fangs. “Yes, let’s pretend it was totally about that. Ohohohohoho!”

The Nightmare had returned.

“Sorry!” Hastily scrambling off Rumble, I pulled him to his feat, set him on his hooves, and slapped him on the back, causing him to topple right back over. “I can fix him!”

“But I don’t wanna be a cat toy….” Rumble mumbled, little orange chickens still spinning around his head. “I wanna grow up to be a dog biscuit.”

“Ohohohohoho!”

“No, really! Some water will make him right as rain!” I ran outside for a cloud as the rest of the class giggled. One mist and a shower later, Rumble was blinking up at me with a blush to mirror mine.

“Really, Night? I know I was laying it on kinda thick, but you didn’t need to piledriver me.”

“Ohohohohoho!”

“I said I was sorry already!”

“Ohohoh-ack!” I stomped on the Nightmare’s face as she dared peek out of my shadow to make kissy faces at Diamond. “Spoilsport.” I let out a breath as Cheerilee talked to Sunny Daze and Peachy Pie about all the things that could go wrong with being roller skating feather dusters. “Don’t think I won’t get you for that, my pretty.”

“I kinda doubt that.” Muttering under my breath, I turned to sneak a peek at Diamond as she practiced waltzing for that big, stupid scene of ours with Silver. “You aren’t even real. Go away; I’m too busy to daydream right now.”

“See, you say that, and yet you’re just kicking back, relaxing, and wishing you were Sil—”

“Hey, Miss Cheerilee!” Diamond glowed as she twirled about. “I think I finally got it! Can we try the ball scene! Can we? Can we?”

Say what?

I blinked.

No, no, no, no, no! Don’t give the little beast what she wants, Diamond!

“Ahem, I believe you mean what we want.” A small poof of clouds heralded the demon appearing on my shoulder. “Go on, do it.”

“I don’t know….” I rubbed the back of my head. “Maybe we should practice having Rumble fall to his death again.”

“But I’ve already died like five times today!” Rumble tossed his hooves in the air with a huff. “I don’t want to fall on my face anymore!”

“Uhhh…” I hastily looked around.

“You gotta face the music sometime, Nightingale.” Silver smirked as she twirled Diamond slowly towards me.”

“It’s true, we haven’t touched that scene yet, have we?” Miss Cheerilee glanced at the clock. “Times almost up, but I suppose you and Night can at least practice the waltz together.”

“Oh my gosh! Really?! Yay!” Diamond was spinning with Silver one second and prancing in front of me the next. “Come on, Night! Let’s dance!”

“Screep!” Bodily lifted against my will, I fidgeted helplessly as Diamond twirled me a time or two before she set me down in the middle of the stage.

Taking a step back, she bowed, and I followed suit, gingerly stepping up to her after we rose; her shoulder met mine, the music swelled, and—with a weighty pause—I slowly took the lead.

One. Two. Three. One. Two. Three.

Just like marching, only so much harder.

My heart hammered a million times a minute as the Nightmare kept egging me on. My frogs were sweaty, my costume was stuffy, and a burning black flame crawled up my neck as the whole class paused in their cleaning to watch.

“Do it.” The shoulder demon whispered in my ear as we both swung back for a moment, briefly breaking contact from one another. Swinging back in, our shoulders jostled each other, and I winced as her hoof met mine.

“Sorry.” She muttered, blushing. “It’s been a while since I last really practiced.”

“S’fine.” I had to try really hard not to dive too deep in those sparkling eyes. “I haven’t done it since last Heart’s and Hooves.”

“Oh? Me too. Maybe we should make a habit of dancing together more than once a year, then.”

“I’d… like that.” I bit my lip. “But I still don’t have an answer for you….”

“Well, try not to keep me waiting.” She tittered as I twirled her, her tail tickling my nose as it passed. “Somepony else might ask me to the dance, then.”

“Lucky them, I guess….” My hooves skipped a step, but I managed not to tromp over Diamond’s hooves.

“You don’t sound too happy about the idea.”

“I’m— I’m not….”

“So you want to go to the dance with me again?” She smiled coyly.

“Y-yes?” I squirmed.

“But you don’t know if you wanna go out with me?” The pout drew my eyes to her lips.

“N-no. I mean, yes!”

“It has to be one or the other.”

“We—” I gulped. “We should really be practicing our lines.”

“I think I just want to waltz right now.”

She leaned in closer.

And closer.

And closer.

Her face was less than half an inch away, and her pout left her lips that much nearer. The music swelled with my hammering heart as I started to close the last little bit of distance.

“Do it. Do it. Do it!” The shouting cootie phantom was nothing but a bug to flick my ear at.

“Doooooooo iiiiiiii—”

Brrrrrrrrrring! I jolted back as the school bell broke through the dream.

“Oh, come on!” Sweetie tossed her hooves up with a snort as Silver sighed and shook her head. The rest of the class glared at the offending bell that they normally revered, while Miss Cheerilee was biting her lip with a torn expression.

“Well, then…. That’s all for today, class. Finish cleaning up, and we can pick up with the ball scene tomorrow.” Dotting the last i and crossing the last t on her work, Miss Cheerilee slipped her papers in her bag.

“But— But— But—” Sweetie gestured wildly at Diamond and me before letting out a whine so high that my ears folded back. “Why?!”

Miss Cheerilee frowned. “I’m sorry, Sweetie. I’d normally stay a little longer like usual, but I need to get ready for my plans later tonight.”

“B-b-but—”

Miss Cheerilee’s smile was small, but firm. “Contrary to what you and the rest of Ponyville think, I do have a life outside of teaching.”

“Pfft!” Scoots buzzed her wings. “Doing what? Reading up more stuff to teach us?”

“Well, actually…” Miss Cheerilee bit her lip, cheeks darkening.

“Oh, you can’t be serious.” Silver deadpanned. “You have a date?”

“Wha—” Miss Cheerilee’s eyes widened as everypony beared down on her, questions flying faster than she could keep track. Her eyes flicked between Apple Bloom, Sweetie, and Scootaloo with growing horror, and she rapidly shook her head.

“No, no, no, no, no! Calm down, everypony! It’s not a date!” She sighed as the rest of the class backed up to look at her, eyes demanding an explanation.

Reaching into her saddle bag, she pulled out a mask that had more than a few jaws drop. “I… have to tag in on a championship match with my sister.”

“You’re the incredible Flower Power?!”

“Your sister is the amazing Mystery Mare?!”

“You two are the best wrestlers in the league!”

“Children, children!” Cheerilee waved the little mob down again. “Please, I’m only doing this as a favor for my sister! There’s a reason why Flower Power only handles a few tag team matches a year!”

“So mysterious and aloof!”

“Always arriving when the Mystery Mare needs her most!”

“I can’t believe you’re Flower Power!”

“Yeah! This is so cool! Our teacher is gonna save Mystery Mare from losing her title to the Loon Under Moon and Dread Dawn!”

“Everypony, please!” Miss Cheerilee finally started to head towards the door with all the speed of a glacier. The class hung on to her the entire way, even as she went out the door.

Only me and Diamond were left behind—the only two who hadn’t surged forward at Miss Cheerilee’s admission. We were still standing there, almost shoulder to shoulder, painfully aware of what had almost-but-not-quite happened.

“You can go if you want.” I murmured looking off to the side. “I’ll join you and the other crusaders at Sugar Cube Corner in a bit, but somepony has got to finish cleaning up the set.”

“I don’t mind staying to help.”

“Screep!” My shoulder burst into flames as Diamond set a hoof on it, the heat quickly climbing up my neck.

“Seriously, Night. You don’t have to be embarrassed. It’s just the two of us here. As friends. Nothing more.”

My ears flattened at the slight edge that crept into her voice.

“M’srry.” I managed to peek at her.

“Nothing to be sorry about.” She frowned as she picked up the scattered costumes to hang them on the rack.

“Yes, there is….” I moved the set pieces to the side and flew up to the lights to double check them after turning them off.

“No. There really isn’t.” With a huff, she pulled her own sparkling silver dress off. “Not unless I say so.”

I stayed silent, knowing better than to engage this battle any further.

“No!” She thwapped the back of my head, refusing to let me retreat. “I know what you’re thinking. Stop being an idiot. I had fun today. Don’t ruin it.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” I took a deep breath. “The mare is always right.”

She thwapped me again, giggling like a loon under moon. “And now you’re getting cheeky.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t play dumb with me!” The titters turned to laughter, and her hoof dived to tickle me true.

“Stop.” I caught her hoof before it could land, and she pouted at me. “Seriously. Go find the others, please….” I bit my lip. “Today gave me a lot to think about. I don’t need more right now.”

Diamond looked at me, her grin slipping. “I… wasn’t trying to.”

“I know.” I smiled. “Just give me a few. I promise we can do professional tag-team tickle-fighting after we all get a milkshake.”

“Okay….” Her ears splayed back as she headed towards the door. “Don’t keep us waiting too long.”

I waved as the door clicked shut, staring after her. When I was sure I was all alone, I got back to work on storing the set.

“Don’t worry…. I won’t.”

“Oh, I’m so proud of you, my little light in the night!” Mom pinched my cheeks after she made the last few adjustments to adjustments to the costume Rarity had finally finished for me. “I remember a time you would have hidden in your closet at the thought of playing a character like Beast!”

“I would be hiding in my closet if I could.” Shaking myself away, I grumbled at my mane in the mirror and tried to mess it up more. “I’m just glad it doesn’t look like a poodle. Did you have to wash my hair with the lame shampoo?”

“Yes, Night. I did.” Mom chuckled. “You’re a handsome prince tonight, and that means your mane needs to actually behave for once.”

“My mane behaves on its own!”

“Your mane pretends to behave on its own—just like your father. He has to put up with it too on occasion.”

“Only when you force me into it, dear.” Dad laughed from his spot by the door. “Now are you finished yet? She looks about ready to explode, and I want a picture before we have to pack it up and head out.”

“You can always take a picture after the show.” Mom squinted at my mane before assaulting it with the brush again. “And I’m sure you’re going to be taking plenty of pictures during it.”

“It's the principle of the matter.” Dad grinned. “This is a night of many firsts.”

“I already told you it’s not like that!” I squeaked. “It doesn’t count if the play makes me kiss Diamond!”

“Then strike while the iron’s hot, and make a move before the play does.”

“Dad!”

“What?” Dad grinned his dad-liest grin. “All I’m saying is—”

“Nai! Nai!” There was a soft popping sound from the nursery as a giggling menace crawled out of my shadow.

“Little rascal!” With a roar of laughter, Dad moved forward to scoop Rolling Thunder off me before he could ruin Mom and Rarity’s work. “You’re supposed to be in bed!”

“Papa!” Rolling giggled before popping away again. “Wan Ooona! Wan ooonies!”

“Oh dear….” Mom sighed. “I told you not to read him To the Moon and Back before bed today. Now he’s going to keep trying to slip by Fluttershy to sneak out and find the moon ponies.”

“Ooonies! Ooonies! Teeheeheehaahaa!”

Oh most wondrous of nights, he was in the vents again. I really shouldn’t have showed him that.

“I told you we should have gotten Pinkie.”

“Pinkie is already looking after the Cake’s twins tonight! It would have been cruel to saddle her with another set.”

“She can handle it.” Dad chuckled as he poked a hoof in the ceiling to search for Rolling only to wince as the bugger nipped his frog. “Son of a— Okay, she could probably handle them all at once.”

“Never underestimate the demon.” I muttered under my breath.

A few more bad dad words slipped out as the doorbell rang, my brother’s giggling only intensifying as Dad finally plucked him out of the convection vents.

“Floof!” Rolling’s forehooves barely poked out of his fluff as he spread them.

“Somepony took after his father.” Mom giggled at the sight. “You’re going to need your first trimming sooner rather than later.”

“The stallions of the Spirit Chaser line are hairy beasts, indeed.” Dad nodded sagely before winking at me. “Some of the mares, too.”

The doorbell meekly rang again, sparing Dad from Mom’s incoming wrath.

“Oh, go get the door, you lunk.” Instead of a thwap, Mom violently shooed Dad away with one wing. “Leave your pretty princesses to get ready if you really want a picture before the play.

“M’not pr’tty.” I glowered under my breath.

“Now, now, Night. None of that,” Mom tsked. “Every filly’s pretty in their own way, even you.”

“Eeeenope.” My scowl deepened.

“Would you prefer handsome, then?” Mom giggled as she continued to eye me up and down for any little fittings that needed to be made after my brother’s assault. “Because you make a very handsome prince.”

“Mrgmff….” I squirmed. “Moooooom, come on!”

“Fine.” Mom sighed as she took one last critical glance at my mane. “I suppose we’re done, then. No messing it up until you’re at least backstage after the opening scene.”

“But I can mess it up?” I looked up hopefully.

“It’d be foalish to think you weren’t planning on it anyway.” Mom snorted. “As long as you wait until you become Beast, I’ll be happy.”

“Deal!” I did a quick loop and ran to the living room where Dad was chatting with Fluttershy—a yawning Rolling Thunder curled up beneath her wing.

“—really appreciate you doing this on such short notice.” Dad was already counting out bits. “Please, take a little extra for the inconvenience. I know just how much of a hoofful they can be.”

“Oh… no, I couldn’t possibly do that.” Fluttershy smiled. “I just love watching the little angels for you. Pinkie and I even swap stories about them.”

“No, I insist.” Dad pushed the money forward. “Not only is Rolling starting to teeth, but he’s started to make a habit of wandering the convection vents; trust me when I say this is going to be earned before the night is out.”

“Well, if you insist….”

“I do, and I already made a list of other things to watch out for. Thestral foals don’t fly as much as pegasi, but our shadow magic causes its own slew of problems.” He turned to me, and picked up the camera from the coffee table. “Hey, sport! Looking sharp! Let me just—” There was a flash before I could do anything.

“Screep!”

“Hah! Your face! I don’t know how that gets you every time. Now, say cheese!”

“Cheese!” The flash was less pronounced this time, even if it still had me blinking spots from my eyes.

“There’s a good girl.” Dad squinted at the polaroid. “Look at that, Miss Fluttershy. She makes such a perfect, little Beast.” He glanced towards first the single candle in the room and then back towards her. “You’re sure you don’t need more.”

“No, this is fine.” Fluttershy smiled before taking the picture. “There was a mix up with one of Twilight’s spells a while back, and— Oh, how cute!~ Her face is just perfect!”

“There’s a reason I always need to catch her off guard with the first shot.” Dad smirked. “Now go on back to your mother to get that packed up. I don’t want Miss Cheerilee piledriving me again just because we accidentally flew through a cloud or something.”

“Gotcha, Dad!” I started canter back to the bathroom.

Continuing on to the bathroom, I found it closed with the kinds of construction noises that always accompanied Mom getting gussied up for a date with Dad. I eyed it cautiously, not sure of what to make of the fact, but eventually I just shrugged and went to my room to carefully take everything off.

Mom had made Dad drag out his dress uniform; that wasn’t a good sign.

As we were circling above the schoolhouse, it was quite clear they weren’t the only ones who’d dressed up. They were still the best dressed by a mile, but everypony had put on at least a bow tie. There were also way more ponies than I thought there’d be, even a couple other guards among them. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think Mom and Dad had—

“Huzzah! We told you she would land a leading role, Tia! Such is her right as my future captain!”

“Uuuuuugh….” I put my head in my hooves and wondered if a headlong dive would be enough to get me outta the play. “Tell me you didn’t, Dad.”

“Umm… well…” Dad smiled sheepishly. “I only meant to mention it to her in passing, but then she mentioned it to Princess Celestia, and Princess Celestia figured the play would make for a nice, simple night away from the castle, and Princess Luna just loved that idea, so… yeah….”

Deep breaths.

“Are all the princesses gonna be there?!”

Or not.

“No, no.” Dad waved for me to settle down. “Princesses Twilight and Cadance are covering for them.”

“Well, can somepony cover for me?!” This was not deep breathing. This was the opposite of calm and collected.

“I think they both, uh…” His smile got even more sheepish. “I think they want to see you in particular. I mean, they could have picked any play in Equestria and just walked in, right?”

“Shush, you. You’re not helping.” Mom flicked Dad with her tail.

“Well, what do I even say?! I’d be freaking out too if the princesses did this to me as a colt. It’s like that time you walked in on those ballet lessons my dad forced down my throat when I was ten.”

“They made you more dexterous, didn’t they?”

“They also made me the laughing stock of the school when you told everypony about them.”

“Mom, Dad! Not helping!”

“Look, Night.” Mom flew closer for a nuzzle. “They aren’t expecting a world class performance. They just want to see the cute, little filly that insisted on following us to work.”

“Mmmmrgmrfffagmrff….” Closing my eyes, I forced my breathing to calm as I clicked my way through the sky. When I opened them, the stars seemed to twinkle brighter. “Okay, I’m going in.”

“Have fun, sweetie.” Mom darted in for another kiss. “There’s nothing to be nervous about.”

“Yeah, you got this champ.” Dad chuckled. “Go break a few legs for me. And remember. If things really get that bad, you can just picture everypony in their underwear.”

“How does that even—”

Mom and Dad broke formation before I could question them more, circling down to their get tickets at the schoolhouse below. Sighing, I curved off to the left to dive down and approach the stage. I landed smoothly on the grass, and scampered up to the stairs behind the stage without so much as a squeak.

I was unflappable, unconquerable, and the undisputed alpha of the colony. I would walk out on stage, give the greatest performance anypony had ever seen, and I would convince my Luna-forsaken twitchy leg to stop quaking before I did!

Stomping the offending hind leg a few times for good measure, I took another deep breath before going backstage, and by the Nightmother was I glad I did. Everypony was darting about as they made last minute changes and checks. Costumes were mismatched, Snips and Snails were blowing on set pieces that still had their paint wet, and every other pony was taking the time to desperately practice lines one more time.

“Hey, Night! You made it!”

Diamond and the others waved at me from near several racks of costumes, and I hastily moved over to hang my Beast costume up so I could start tossing on the Prince outfit for the beginning of the play.

“I told you she’d show.” Diamond smuggly collected a couple bits from the others.

“I almost didn’t….”

“But you still did!~” Diamond smirked. “For only true love’s kiss can—”

“Wrong play, Diamond!”

“What? Ugh, you’re no fun!”

“Eurgh. Drown me in tree sap, why don’t you?” Scoots gagged, knocking Rumble away with a wing when he tried to do just that with a kiss. “Dude! Not funny!” She ruffled her wings, and looked away with a huff—cheeks flaming black as everypony else giggled at our suffering.

“Five minutes, everypony!” Miss Cheerilee rushed past with a headset dangling around her neck. “We’re emptying the reception and seating the audience now!”

“I’ve got this. I’ve got this. I’ve got this.” Fidgeting as I mumbled under my breath, I tuned out the others’ chatter. My stomach butterflies were whipping up hurricane after hurricane, while my frogs were the sweatiest they’d ever been. Not even Diamond made me—

“Hey.”

“Screep!” I jumped as I was ambushed by a nuzzle to the shoulder. Diamond had snuck up beside me, and was beaming up at me with a smile as soft as moonlight.

“Get it together, soldier. You can’t let a little old play scare you after having wrestled manticores, can you?”

“It was just a cub, and you know it.” I bit my lip. “Besides, I know how to fight…. I’m not good at acting.”

“Neither am I, but I’m still here.” The smile turned mischievous. “I need my Night in shining armor to get me through this. Who else can take the tomatoes for me?”

“You’re awful, you know that.” The tips of my lips twitched as the storm my stomach butterflies were whipping up changed course for warmer, headier skies. “It’s no wonder my dad likes you.”

“Two minutes everypony!”

“What’s not to like? I’m flawless.” Diamond gave a haughty sniff before she devolved into a tip tap of tittering. “You know what my Daddy does when he has to give a big speech to his investors? He imagines them all in their underwear.”

“That’s what Dad said to do.” I blinked. “How does that even help? Most ponies don’t even wear underwear.”

“That’s why it works, doofus!” Diamond pushed me towards the curtain with a giggle. “Just try it!”

I hesitantly peeked out, the spotlights dazzling my eyes even through my shades. The audience was chatting and laughing, with only a few looking towards the stage right now, but I knew that would be changing soon enough. With a deep breath, I closed my eyes, and did as Diamond told me.

Then, I opened them, and snorted at the sight of Dad dropping his pants to actually show me his underwear—covered completely with Mom’s cutie mark.

He winked at me and waggled his butt as Mom blushed darker than Nightmare Moon. She held her head in her hooves, sighing, while the rest of the town just laughed at the sight, looking between the two of us before standing up to do the same. They waved at me even as the Guard did their best to stare straight and not break form, but that became increasingly hard as both diarchs fell into a fit of giggles.

“I told you we should have dressed up, Tia. Just look what we missed out on.”

“Screep!”

“Hail, young Nightingale! Take heart in the shamelessness of thine father!”

“Mom’s going to kill him if she doesn’t die from this.” I pulled back from the curtain giggling even as I continued to burn black.

“It’s showtime, everypony! Get in position while I—“ Miss Cheerilee made the mistake of poking her head out of the curtain. “Why is the audience already in their underwear?! That’s never a good sign!”

Shaking my head, I took my spot on the stage. One last glance towards Diamond, and an exchange of smiles later, I turned to face my doom as the curtains finally parted.

“Long, long ago, in a kingdom long forgotten, there lived a thestral prince of great renown.” Truffle Shuffle’s voice cracked halfway through the opening line, his new and surprisingly deep tenor swerving back into the mousey squeak he’d had the first six months I’d known him.

“A perfect specinnamon of celestial physique, he—” The speakers sputtered a bit as he flipped through his cards. “—was sought by many a princess for his power, wealth, and grand… grand…”

“I knew we shoulda sicced Sweetie on him.” Apple Bloom glowered under her breath as she went through the motions of serving me fine cheese and bloodwine. I channeled my inner Bitterbite—raising my nose as high as it would go, even as I sipped the Beet Positive—and I made sure to wave Bloom away like an insect when I was done.

“Fame!” Miss Cheerilee’s whispers bled in as static through the mike as Truffle finally managed to keep going. “Yet, even with the world at his beck and call, the prince hungered for more. In truth, he was nothing but a loafsome and slothily beast.”

Sweetie twitched beside me, scowling at the amazing job our new castle butcher was doing. I, on the other hoof, had to fight not to giggle as relief flooded through the last of my butterflies. The princesses were trying not to smile with every mistake.

If that was the standard I needed to beat, I was in the clear.

“One morning, the prince had just finished his elevenses, and was preparing to hang up to chillax through the rest of the day. However, a knock on the doors forced him back to his throne to listen to whatever foal dared to interrupt his sleep, and when it was nothing but an ancient and twisted hag that was brought before him—begging for shelter from a fierce and wild storm—he scoffed and instantly refused her, ordering his servants to kick her out.”

Stomping up to my throne, I sat on it and did my best to look down on Pina Colada like she was worse than the mud on my hooves. She actually flinched at my scowl—which made me feel like dirt—but it meant I was doing my part.

“The old nag warned him not to act in haste, and she asked if she could at least have a simple loaf of bread for the road. Instead, he refused her again, and took to the job of booting her from his home personally. The servants implored him to take pity, claiming it would be no trouble to give her some food, but he was adamant.”

Hefting Pina with a squeak, I flew to the edge of the stage and chucked her into the pile of pillows that lay waiting for her.

“As her body hit the snow, however, the storm exploded around the prince, the awful whinnying of Windigoes nothing compared to the icy cold stare of hatred before him. The hag was gone, replaced with the most-honorable Nightmother.”

“We had hoped the rumors untrue, foul curr.” A scowling Dinky stepped onto the stage, dressed in my old nightmare night costume. “But clearly thine family has fallen far since we left for other lands.”

“Tia, look! Look! It’s me! Project thine voice farther, little me! You do not give the Royal Canterlot Voice justice!”

“Weep, foalish prince! For thine impudence has earned thee a most foul curse this day!” Oh sweet Nightmother, Dinky had started using that sunblasted spell again. I didn’t need any prompting to fall prostrate with my ears ringing like that, and the lights needed no prompting to burst in a rain of glass.

The curtain closed on the prologue with everypony who was onstage completely deaf and everypony offstage scrambling to clean up the broken glass. Even with the sight of the princesses giggling at us as the curtains dropped, I couldn’t shake the pit that had rolled back into my stomach.

Everything kept getting worse, and there was nothing I could do about it.

The lights kept flickering no matter what we did, and ponies were walking about the stage like it was coated in eggshells even though we’d cleaned up all the glass. Diamond’s dress had caught on a nail and torn as she rushed out on stage for her big entrance, while Rumble had—somewhat impressively—ripped his costume as he was flexing on one of his ego trips.

And no matter how in character that last one was, we really didn’t need Rarity fainting because of it.

So our tailor was down and unable to make repairs, while half the backstage crew was stuck fixing the lights. If it were up to me, we’d have been making a tactical retreat, but here I was, a squirming mess on a hoofmade throne that was just a little to small for my butt.

Truffle was going on about Belle’s perilous journey through the forest and up the mountain, every other word squeaking at this point as construction noises could be heard in the background. He finally got to the point where Belle reached the door, and I swallowed my butterflies to stand and imperiously stalk to the doors hiding Diamond.

Too bad the throne decided to come with me.

Ignoring the snickers from the audience, I tossed open the door to roar at the ‘intruders.’

“Who dares enter my do— Aaack!” Instead, I ended up clutching my chest in a coughing fit as I found Diamond staring up at me with a pout turned up to eleven. Her eyes could have punctured adamantine, and the fake tears only made things worse.

My neck was on fire as the snickers in the audience turned to laughter as I fell on my butt—right back into the seat—while Silver smirked as Belle’s father at me.

“You want my blessing, then you’d better let us inside before the cold gets us.”

My neck burned blacker as the audience laughed even harder, and I glared at Silver until she rolled her eyes.

“I mean, ah… no… what a horrible hideous beast. Run, my sweet, little Belle. Run, and I shall hold him off.”

The complete and total deadpan left a few ponies clutching their gut on the ground.

“You could at least try, you know,” I hissed quietly in her ear as I raised Silver by the scruff of her neck.

“Daddy, no!” Unlike Silver, Diamond took the initiative and actually played things straight this time, stomping right up to me and kicking my shins in an effort to get me to drop her ‘father.’ “Take me instead, you brute! My father is just an old fart, and he’ll give you terrible indigestion!”

“I do no eat ponies, you foals!” I reared back with a roar and a whinny before tossing Silver in the offstage pillows like I had Pina. “If you insist, however, I will spare your father’s life.” I grabbed Diamond’s pastern and pulled her towards me with a squeak. “You must only serve me for the rest of your days, doing anything I require of you.”

“A-anything?”

“Anything.” I jerked her closer with a growl. “You can start by making me a sandwich. The kitchen is down that way.” I pointed, almost shoving her on her way.. “Lumiere! Cogsworth! Potts! See that our new guest knows the ropes, and provide her room and board! I shall be tending to the garden while I wait!”

I stomped off stage as Apple Bloom, Pipsqueak, and Bee Bop poked out from the other side. As soon as I was out of view, I fell to the ground in a heap, and curled up for a minute or two.

“I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.” I peeked out from behind the curtain to watch Bee Bop rapping her way through all of Mrs. Potts’ lines as she explained all the duties of being a maid to Belle.

“I gotta do this. There’s too much going wrong already for me to bail now.”

Two hours of pain and embarrassment later, I was still a quivering wreck on the floor.

It didn’t get easier, just doing it didn’t help, and the only ponies who seemed to be trying were me, Rumble, and the rest of the girls. Even Silver started trying after seeing the trainwreck that was Mrs. Potts rapping like some sort of wannabe gangster.

Shivering like mad at all the craziness the mob of extras had pulled while Rumble chased me, I jumped when Miss Cheerilee put a hoof on my withers, hoofing me my last costume change for the night. She tried to smile at me, but it looked like she was as close to collapsing as me.

“Just one more scene, Night. I decided that we’re cutting the epilogue.”

“Really?” I looked up with a squeak. “I can— I can do it.”

“Everypony’s ready to drop as it is.” Miss Cheerilee shook her head. “We’re calling curtain after the curse is broken. All you need to do is make it to the kiss, alright?”

“Yes… Ma’am….” I flopped back to the ground, too spent to really pay attention to the stirring butterflies in my stomach.

With all the speed of a glacier, I put on my dress uniform like a prisoner heading to his trial. Rarity had had Princess Twilight do a thing at the place to it so that I could pull off the transformation back without any smoke and mirrors, but that meant the whole thing was buried under a mountain of glue and yak fur until I— until I kissed Diamond.

I shivered at the thought.

Only that fact kept me going as I woodenly put one leg before the next: one stupid kiss was all that was left. Run now, and Rarity would probably make me wait ages to get my uniform back. All I had to do was peck Diamond on the lips like Silver and I had practiced.

One. Stupid. Kiss.

I walked onstage to find Diamond already waiting for me. She was fidgeting as I came up to her, neither of us really looking at each other until Silver gave a threatening cough.

My breath caught as we both looked up at each other. She was… perfect…. Her mane had been done up so there was a small bun in the back—the rest flowing past her shoulders in waves as smooth as silk. Eye shadow, glitter, and rouge made her face a canvas more pretty than Luna’s night ever was. Her silver dress sparkled like the stars as the spotlight shone down upon her, and her tiara glimmered like a little moon upon her brow. The only thing missing was her confident, knowing smirk, but that was back and out in force as she waited for me to say something.

“I— I thought the intermission was taking a little long.”

There was chuckling in the background, but all I really heard was her giggling.

“Would… would you care to have this dance with me, milady?”

“I would love to, my noble steed.”

My hoof almost burst into flames as Diamond took it, but I still pulled the sun closer to dance with it like the moon. We took turns leading as the music rose and fell, the out of place rapping of Mrs. Potts’ signature song nothing but static in my ears until a steaming Sweetie finally tackled Bee Bop to the ground.

Still, we danced. We spun with nothing but the instrumental, letting the dance guide us to the moment my stomach was spinning for. As the music reached the climax, I leaned in to peck Diamond on the lips.

And then I paused—my lips on hers as star-shaped fireworks lit the night. I barely noticed the costume working its magic and leaving me to dance with her in my dress uniform.

As I pulled back, we both gave a little squeak.

I looked down at her; she looked up at me.

My lips hesitantly met hers again.

“Yes.” The pounding of my heart was so loud I couldn’t hear myself answer her.

“W-what?”

“Yes, I will be your fillyfriend. I… I want to do icky colt things with you.”

I was vaguely aware of the curtain dropping as Diamond lunged like a hungry predator to pull me to her again. I could barely hear the audience loudly demanding an encore. Dad’s rumbling laughter just barely managed to make it through my heady haze, while my friends snickered and chanted somewhere off to the side.

None of it really mattered as Diamond nuzzled her way deeply into my chest.

“She said yes!”

The third kiss was my breaking point, and I toppled over with a screep and a bleat.

Author's Note:

Behold! The incredible finale art as drawn by Kam3e433!

Fun Fact: The final chapter was previously only gonna be called Beauty and the Bat until I came up with the name for the previous chapter. Penumbra is an astrology term referring to one celestial body being partially in the shadow of another, while an eclipse is—as you all probably know—being completely within the shadow.

Anyways, it's been fun folks, but this is officially the end for this volume of Batty. I do have plans for a sequel or two—one five years from now in her senior year, and one covering her training in the guard beyond that—but this is the end of what I've got for Night's fillyhood days. If I get a particularly good fit of inspiration, I might make a couple more one shots on the side, but as of now, I'm out of episode ideas and this is a good place to stop.

Comments

[Gerald Greytalon V]

Ahhhhh this was great

[badninja]

Nice ending. It was sweet and I do wonder how they will be in five years?

[semillon]

This is one of the best written stories on the site, and this was a wonderful chapter. I'm excited to see what's next.

Thanks

[Efadd]

“Here’s five hoofbumps!~ Here’s twelve, you rock!~ Rumble’s the greatest!~ Aaaaaand he’s the biggest co—”

E rating’s getting demolished

[Morphy]

Yeay! They finally kissed! *Kermit flail*

[King Kenya]

Night was cast as the thestral? I call type casting. It’s right up there with Bill Nighy being cast as an artsy stoner. This has been absolutely smashing, every inch of it.

[Mythic Night]

“Alright, class! With recess over, I have a few announcements.” Miss Cheerilee beamed at us like the Nightmother herself. “First, I have the english homework you neglected to grab before heading out to recess!” The collective groans of the class did little to ruin her warmth. “You’ll find I’ve stapled it to all the problems you missed out on before recess; I’ll be expecting both to be done and turned in by the beginning of school tomorrow.”

That should actually be “ponish” according to the show.

[I Thought I Was Toast]

9615500
Thanks for the catch but Equish is a far superior ponyism to ponish.

[Shadow Star]

“Excellent! Because I may be knocking to respect your privacy, but we’re also asserting our authority by coming in anyways!”
that's weird I didnt know the family changed their last name to Turner.

[LunaRisen-Web_System]

GET ON WIT-

Oh they did kiss...

[Hazel Mee]

...and suddenly Tia's 'Nightmare sense' started tingling! Somepony's gonna have to be exiled to the Moon to save Equestria from the cooties!

Very cute finale! Merci.

[Spiceywolf15]

I can't believe its over! I found this back when it was still a one shot! AAAH my favorite story on this site is over! I cant wait for the sequel!!!

[Level Dasher]

This was certainly a fun story to go through with you, Toasty. Can't wait to see what the next installments bring.

[Silver Echo]

Holy Nightmother! That was one hell of an ending I loved it. Silver being over protective and Night being so adorable.... I could feel the feelings it was great.

WELL DONE !

[Bloody_Tofu]

Woot!!!

[Honey Lavender]

It's... it's over. I don't believe it... it's over and our Nightingale has really grown as a character. Been a hell of a ride, man. I still remember when this was a one-shot and we were all imploring you to continue on... amazing work, Toast. Gonna take a bit for the ol' feels to recover

[redmar]

This was a good ending. The lead roles for the play were not surprising but that is the point. I expect that Nightingale will still have some trouble with it but that's not important.

[djthomp]

That was great.

[DoctorDerpy]

Hhhhhh so cuuttteee
I love this fic. Cannot wait for the next one!

[CrustyKing]

Dang, this was great! Thank you for your hard work!

[Jphyper]

This was amazing! It's another story that I did not want to stop reading! Lots of fun, lots of emotion... I think my favorite little detail is how Night is able to see Pinkie in full color despite being color-blind to everything else. Because Pinkie Pie. Still, you'd think she'd have made a bigger deal out of this, but I suppose that's something for another story.

As much as I like this, however, be warned that I have a funny way of showing my appreciation: by nitpicking the heck out of it in hopes of making the story even better!

Chapter 1

“—the no-good, yellow-bellied, two-faced daughter of discord.”

"Discord" should have the first letter capitalized.

Chapter 3

Now is everypony coming inside.”

This should have a question mark.

Chapter 5

I could see where she was going with the lessen, and hastened to switch the lights off as soon as she was done.

The underlined word should be "lesson" and I don't think it needs a comma after it.

“Ooooh-wheee-oooh...” Snails stage whispered only for the nearby crusaders to slug him in the shoulder. “Ow! How’d you even find me?”

This seems more like something Snips would do. Snails isn't really smart enough to make a reference or question anything. Since he knows full well how dim-witted he is, he especially wouldn't question anyone outsmarting him.

Chapter 11

And what do you mean l<i>ike her mother?!</i> Just how old do you think I am?!”

You didn't fully italicize the word "like". The "l" is still normal.

Chapter 17

The girl’s adrenaline had petered out on the climb up, and they were back in Luna’s realm

The apostrophe should be after the "s" because it's referring to more than one girl.

“A year is forever when your a foal!”

you're

Dad held a hoof out to comet, and the little guy flew in to nuzzle it.

"Comet" should have the first letter capitalized.

Chapter 19

“You ever heard of sushi?” I could hear the sadistic smile in the sergeant’s voice.

Sushi is just rice and seaweed. The correct word here is "sashimi".

Chapter 20

“Even the best guards have their limits… I learned that lesson from dad yesterday.!”

You have both a period and an exclamation point at the end here. Pick one.

“Yer parents are all waiting’ for ya on the bleachers.”

Because you have the apostrophe, I assume you didn't intend for that "g" to be on the end there. AutoCorrect can be a pain sometimes.

Chapter 21

and Uncle Zephyr turned green as Dad proposed a contest of some kind.

How would Night know this if she's color-blind?

Chapter 22

Huffing quietly, I muttered under my breath. “In the darkness, she brooded.”

The period after "breath" should be a comma.

“You’ll be doing more than sleeping on the couch if you’re wrong….”

An ellipsis only has three dots. You need to get rid of that last one. It's an error I see off and on throughout the whole story.

The final chapter had so many little things like these that it would be easier to just copy the whole thing into a word processor and fix them myself, which is something I don't have time to do at the moment.

[I Thought I Was Toast]

9617176
Well, I fixed most of the examples you gave me, but the ellipses thing isn't actually wrong. It might just be regional--I have double checked every so often having heard it both ways--but the reasoning behind having ellipses with full stops is that ellipses only signal trailing off. They do not signal the end of a sentence, and thus full stops are still required after complete sentences when they trail off with the ellipses.

[Jphyper]

9617291
I was taught they are themselves a form of full stop, just like the exclamation point, question mark, and the fairly-unknown interrobang.

[I Thought I Was Toast]

9617376
So was I, but a different editor once raised it as a point, and I looked into it enough to find out it is actually a thing, and I kinda prefer it, personally.

[Fistfire]

Loved the picture

[Jphyper]

9617429
Much like how I prefer using the infamous Oxford comma, then?

[Munro]

what an amassing ending ! what a great story !
i honestly can barely remember when i first found and read it.
and then before you know it, you follow along until the end

[I Thought I Was Toast]

9617686
Funnily enough, I double checked again when you brought it up. One site called it the 4-dot ellipses, which implies it’s less two different punctuations performing their individual roles, and that it’s instead its own thing. So technically, I might be doing it wrong if there’s actually a 4-dot ellipses character. That’s like, super technichal, though. Most folks don’t even notice the couple of times auto-correct didn’t fill in the ellipses character and instead left three full stops.

[Luna Ravenwolf]

It's sad to see this story end but I'm glad it ended with such a heart warming scene

[MixMassBasher]

Well that was an enjoyable tale. Thanks for writing. Look forward to the sequel.

[Dorath]

“You’re the incredible Flower Power?!”

“Your sister is the amazing Mystery Mare?!”

“You two are the best wrestlers in the league!”

If things really get that bad, you can just picture everypony in their underwear.”

“How does that even—”

Night has a point, that doesn't make any sense ...

“Hail, young Nightingale! Take heart in the shamelessness of thine father!”

“Why is the audience already in their underwear?! That’s never a good sign!”

What kind of plays do they have in Ponyville?

Dinky ... as old-time Luna ...

Thank you for giving us this story, and I look forward to possible squeals.

[Alicorn Capony]

This is one of the cutest fics I've ever read. The worldbuilding was fantastic and the constant lightheartedness made everything so warm and fuzzy. I was worried about this being the end for Night, so I'm glad to hear there will be sequels.

Thank you for writing a memorable fic that brought me joy to read.

[The Old Plug]

Wonderful story! Loved every moment here. Amazing world, fantastic characters, and situations that hold life while gripping the soul. Well done!

[Wir sind verloren]

Observation: Batponies?
Statement: You have my attention.

[LotusTeaDragon]

This story was so much fun to read, and I'm glad to see you're going to continue her story.

[SamuelK28]

It didn’t get easier, just doing it didn’t help, and the only ponies who seemed to be trying were me, Rumble, and the rest of the girls. Even Silver started trying after seeing the trainwreck that was Mrs. Potts rapping like some sort of wannabe gangster.

I'm done.

[SamuelK28]

I started this fic by listening to the audio readings of the first thre chapters. Usually within the first couple of pages of a book I'll either be not putting it down till the end or give it a miss. This story had me hooked from the beginning. It has just got better and better as it has gone and reminds a lot of the first half of Past Sins with Nyx and the CMC, another one of my favourite Pony fanfics. The only chapter that could use some closure is the Santa Maneico chapter as Night seems to get no recognition at all for saving Sweetie's life and the ending of that one seemed very abrupt. I can't wait for a sequel, maybe another camping adventure, I'd love to seem get to the end of the trail of courage and if you ever decide to publish this I'd happily buy a physical copy.

[Crystal Treasure]

I'm sad to see it end, but I love the way it ended. Great story.

[Peachy Moon]

This was an amazing journey. Thank you for taking us all on it

[SolidFire]

I figured I should finally leave a comment on this story. This was a wonderful journey you brought all of us on, and I'm super glad I stayed for the whole thing. I remember reading this when it first started, loving the first and only chapter at the time, only to be surprised just a few days later with an update and a promise for more. You gave us an adorable little bat to fall in love with, a quirky family, and endearing quest to follow them on. I loved everything about this, and as much as it pains me to see it end, I know you'll do some great things with the continuation of Night's life as a young adult in the sequel. Looking forward to it!

Keep up the great writing!
~SolidFire

[SviMik]

That's the best ending an E-rated story can have! Now we need a M-rated sequel. With more details.

[lazyreader19]

Ack, no! This can't be how it ends! I need more Thestralized fluff!

Hnnnnnng

Loved it though, too much to commentate...

Loved the "Gustov" song for Rumble, that was funny and I loved the kids trying to break PG-13

Daydream Cooties was a fun personalization of her fears and "icky Colt stuff" feelings. I almost want to imagine Luna could see the daydreams as well xP

“Tia, look! Look! It’s me! Project thine voice farther, little me! You do not give the Royal Canterlot Voice justice!”

Speaking of Luna! Loved this part to bits! As well as the literal underwear advice 😂

Gosh, I'll miss the slices of life here and the Mixed-but-thestral shenanigans and the adorable fledgling guard-to-be flopping around with her squishy little friends and newly expanded family....

So much fun, fluff, and hilarity! Thanks for the good read, it was a pleasure!

[I Thought I Was Toast]

9724484
The thing is, the story is from Night’s perspective and *she* thought he was a jerk. He really wasn’t that much of a jerk as far as kids can go, though.

[FictionalNightmare]

9724524
Yeah, she gets it, but Do you really think she’d just throw away the animals she’d raised and taught for years so someone could eat them for dinner?

[I Thought I Was Toast]

9725563
Teach? They aren't show chickens, there's nothing to teach them, and is it any fairer to let her carnivore animal friends scrounge on their own or die? I mean, just think about it.

"Oh, goodness no, Harry! Don't eat that, you don't know where it's been. Do you want to get sick? No, no. Come here and I'll get you Elizabeak's Grandma's second coisin once removed. Poor dear choked on a piece of metal she thought was a corn kernal in the middle of the night, but that's why we need to be careful with what we eat off the ground, right?"

And yes, Harry the bear is an omnivore, but omnivore's still need meat to some degree.

[FictionalNightmare]

9725581
I’m not saying meat can’t be eaten, but it seems off that she’d literally let them eat her sentient animals.

[FictionalNightmare]

“Simple.” Silver’s grin hardened into a grimace. “You already broke Diamond’s heart once. I’m not going to stand for you doing it again.”

My Celestia! It’s not her damn fault! It was extremely sudden, and Di should have known she wouldn’t react well! One of the things I hate about this story.

[I Thought I Was Toast]

9727597
Alright, I’ll bite. In what way was the kiss sudden? Silver had that ‘conversation’ with Diamond after the talent show in fall, but the Hearth’s Warming chapter is in winter—arguably one month or more later if it takes place late December like Christmas. So not counting all of the time the two of them were oblivious to their feelings, that’s still a month of putzing about on Diamond’s end as she figures out how to tell Night.

So, sudden for Night? Perhaps. But it was not so sudden from Diamond’s perspective, and it was even less so from Silver’s. Given how long SS has known DT, I don’t see why you have trouble with her siding more with DT.

[Eroraf86]

SCREEEEEEEE

I liked this story. I loved the lore you came up with, and Night is adorable. You have done the Nightmother proud.

[Geminii]

I didn’t need any prompting to fall prostate

*coughgiggle*
prostrate, possibly?