Continuity Disrupted

by Doug Graves

110 The Twilight Moon, Part One

October 30th, 1000 Domina Solaria

Twilight tugs at the black collar on her Nightmare Night costume, her hoof tracing along the purple mock armor covering her chest and withers, then the black band around her upper foreleg. Stupid fabric. While the colors match her coat fairly well, and she doesn’t mind the blues, the whole thing just screams of a dark, dominating personality screaming for attention. All it needs is a series of metal studs to complete the picture. Evil, if she sums it up in a single word.

Too bad she said aloud how much it fits Trixie, and how good she looks in hers, and now the mare won’t shut up about it. Stupid herd going along with Doug’s stupid choice. Even her traitorous assistant Spike is enthusiastically on board! He somehow persuaded Rarity to make his dragon costume even spikier, looking like a spooky sea urchin.

Her hoof stitched Star Swirl the Bearded costume feels so much better than this monstrosity! The robe, the hat, the bells, the way it drapes over her like a lumpy sack. It’s not like she spent hours making sure that every detail is completely authentic. Oh, wait, she did! You know, maybe nopony would notice if she included Star Swirl’s hat, the one Meringue helped design. Twilight flashes herself a winning smile in the mirror of her bedroom as she dons the floppy, bell adorned wizard hat. It goes perfectly with the rest of the costume, if she does say so herself!

“Twilight!” Spike yells from downstairs, exasperation filling his voice as it echoes around the library. “Stop staring at yourself in the mirror and come on! We’re going to be late for the Nightmare Night festival!”

“Coming!” Twilight replies cheerily. She might have wondered how Spike knows what she is up to, but then again she’s been going back and forth on what to wear for hours now. But, with the decision made? Nothing can get her down now that she has the hat of a master on her! She skips down the stairs, “What’s the rush?”

“Candy!” Spike implores, holding out his empty bag and shaking it up and down. “Spike want!”

Twilight merely rolls her eyes. “Of course you do.” The front door opens in her raspberry aura, revealing a small pinto colt in a red bandana, blue jacket and black eyepatch standing just outside the door and preparing to knock.

“Oh!” Pip Squeak says in surprise, his hoof staying suspended in midair. “Um.” He glances back to the three fillies standing behind him. One is wearing a lavender and white Princess costume, another a blue astronaut’s helmet, the last a red and black ladybug with antennae. Then his eyes go to his dam, wearing a pitch black beetlepony costume, a horn and wings with extremely realistic chitin.

“Nightmare Night,” his dam whispers back.

“Right-o!” Pip turns back to Twilight, a large cheeky grin. The four fillies chorus, “Nightmare Night! What a fright! Give us something sweet to bite!”

“Hi, everypony!” Twilight chipperly replies, her horn lighting and eight pieces of candy levitating out. Two find their way into each outstretched bag as she continues, “Great costumes. Happy Nightmare Night, Jay!” Twilight winks at the earth pony, “I don’t suppose you want any candy, too?”

“No, full up already. You wouldn’t believe how much everypony loves this holiday.” An incredibly lifelike forked tongue lashes out of Jay Squeak’s mouth, tasting the air. “Deeelicious.”

“Of course! It’s one of Spike’s favorites, too.” Twilight motions to the dragon leering enviously at the candy in the filly’s bags. She glances down at Pip, “You look like you’re enjoying yourself, too!”

“Indeed I am, Missus Twilight! Pipsqueak the Pirate, at your service. It’s my very first Nightmare Night!”

“Oh?” Twilight says, estimating the cutie-markless colt at about Meringue’s age. “Since you moved back to Ponyville?”

“Nope!” Pipsqueak replies with a shake of his head. “My very first Nightmare Night ever! You see, we-”

“Candy inspector!” Pinkie Pie shouts, swinging a baton in her hooves. She, like Twilight, is clad in the purple and black Nightmare Moon armor, clashing horribly with the pink mane and tail haphazardly poking out. Meringue is riding on her back, clad in rough dark blue cloth with a black collar around her neck, holding a clipboard and quill. “Random candy inspection! Need to make sure everypony’s candy is up to snuff.”

“Aww, you selected us last house, too,” Pip whines, the rest of the fillies joining in.

“I select everypony everyhouse. Now, put ‘em up! Let’s see those hooves!” Pinkie Pie swings her baton back and forth, nearly clipping Jay a few times. “Did I stutter, or do you want to be sputtering out substandard candy when the time comes?”

“No, Missus Pinkie Pie!” cries the cringing colt, holding his bag up above his head as he cowers on the ground.

Pinkie Pie reaches a hoof into Pip’s bag, looking the other direction as she sifts through. “Ah, hah!” She pulls out one of the candies that Twilight just put in. “As I suspected!” She waves the ‘candy’ back and forth, “This is worse than Minuette!” Pinkie Pie motions to the blue unicorn clad in a pink dentist outfit, a blue sticker of an eye on her chest. Many of the ponies going up to her come away disappointed, holding small bottles of toothpaste.

“I’m sorry,” Twilight says flatly, “I don’t see what’s wr-”

“Books?” Pinkie Pie interrupts, towering over Twilight to glare at her from above. “You’re giving out books about the historical significance of Nightmare Night!” She flips through a couple of the pages, “And the print is really tiny!”

“I’m also giving out candy!” Twilight says, holding up the bowl. Half of the pieces are candy on the healthy end of the spectrum, the other half miniature books with an abbreviated story of Nightmare Night.

Pinkie Pie rubs a hoof along her chin as she inspects the bowl. She takes a long look at Twilight, and then the hat atop her head. “Hmmmm,” she drones out, her eyes narrowing. “Twilight, if you weren’t a member of N-MAD, I’d be hitting you up with so many violations your library would run out of paper.”

Twilight gasps as Spike exclaims, “That’s a lot of violations!”

“What’s en-mad?” Pip asks, his eyes dancing between Pinkie Pie, Twilight, and Spike. “Does it have to do with that armor you’re wearing?”

“Nightmare Moon’s Army of Darkness!” Pinkie Pie taps the blue eye in the center of her armor. "Pretty cool, huh?"

“I’m a pirate!” Pip says with a nod. “Can I join your crew?”

“Sure!” Pinkie Pie whips a sticker out of her mane, planting a blue eye on the center of Pip’s jacket. “Now you too can terrorize everypony who isn’t a member of N-MAD! And speaking of terrorizing…” Pinkie Pie motions upwards.

“Ooh, this looks promising!” Rainbow Dash gleefully rubs her hooves together. The pegasus is wearing a black full bodysuit with purple accents, yellow lightning bolts on the hooves and chest, her cerulean wings sticking out. She hovers above a black stormcloud crackling with electricity. “Gotcha!” she shouts as she slams her hooves down, bolts of lightning slamming into the ground by the astronaut and ladybug.

“Aaah!” the ponies scream as two more bolts hit next to Jay and the princess, all four cowering down on the ground, their bags of candy spilling out.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight huffs, glaring at the pegasus cackling above. “That wasn’t very nice!”

“Oh, lightning up, old-timer!” Rainbow says with a grin and wink. “This is the best night of the year for pranks!” Rainbow zooms off to find more unsuspecting ponies while Twilight grits her teeth.

“Can we join en mad too?” the ladybug asks Pinkie Pie, slowly getting to her hooves. “I don’t want to be shocked again.” She looks over at Minuette, “And, I could use some more toothpaste.”

“Me too, me too!” chorus the other fillies as they surround Pinkie Pie, the mare pulling out more stickers.

“Okay!” Pinkie happy fixes each filly with a sticker, including Jay. “And, since you joined, you get a sweet signing bonus! And, one extra piece of candy from every house who is also a member of N-Mad!” She darts inside, returning with four large candy bars. “Enjoy!”

“Come on, Spike,” Twilight says with a groan, forcibly pulling the dragon away from the spilled candy. “Let’s get some candy for you.”

Spike groans initially, but quickly recovers as the fillies gather up their own candy. “Did you hear that, Twilight?” Spike says, rubbing his claws together. “We get extra candy from everypony who joins us!” He looks around, several of the houses showing little Nightmare Moon symbols. “We should convince everypony to join!”

“Here ya go,” Pinkie Pie says, shoving a roll of stickers into Spike’s claws, then a second roll into Twilight’s mane, it immediately falling out. Twilight levitates the stickers as Pinkie Pie continues, “Do you need a list of the rules and requirements?”

“A list?” Twilight says, eyes brightening as a thunderbolt echoes to the screams of ponies. “Ye-”

“No!” shouts Spike, tugging Twilight away. “I’m sure we’ll figure it out as we go along!”

“Okie Dokie!” Pinkie Pie turns back to the five newest members, giving them spools of stickers as well. “Now, go! Spread the terror of Nightmare Moon to all who will not bow to her reign!” She cackles maniacally as the fillies grab their candy and race off, eagerly searching for ponies without stickers.

Twilight and Spike make their way to the town square, filling Spike’s bag with candy and, to their surprise, passing out a few of their stickers. The festival is in full swing, with all sorts of games like bobbing for apples, a spider toss, and a pumpkin chunkin catapult. There are also booths with specialty foods, a haunted house, and signs for a wheat maze at Sweet Apple Acres. They first head to Rarity at an arts and crafts station.

“Welcome!” Rarity calls, sporting a more personalized suit of armor with silver diamonds stitched along the seams, the purple sections matching her tail. She motions to the tables filled with blue, purple, and black fabrics, her sewing machine, and jars filled with cotton balls. "Lots to do here! Come, join us!"

Several ponies are just finishing up making little Nightmare Moon dolls, one of the little fillies squeezing hers in a tight hug. “Thanks, Rarity!” she calls, letting the doll ride on her back as she runs up, a quick nuzzle to the white unicorn before she happily skips off, a sticker on both her chest and the doll’s.

“Aww,” Rarity quivers, her eyes wetting. She sniffs, careful not to smear her carefully applied black makeup. She glances over, “I’m so glad to see you’ve made it, Twilight! Loving the hat. Would you like to make anything here to go along with it, or perhaps something to make the hat go with the rest of your costume?”

“What I’d like is to have worn the whole costume, but somepony had other ideas.” Twilight glares as she looks around, trying to find the conspicuous human mysteriously absent. “I don’t get it, either. Why are we wearing the uniforms of Nightmare Moon?” Her voice drops, “And, shouldn’t more ponies be worried about this kind of thing?”

Rarity shrugs. “Doug has it in his mind that if we dress up as the things that frighten us, it will somehow inure us to their effects. And make everypony more comfortable about it because we are more comfortable with it.” She motions towards the south, “That’s why he’s with Fluttershy right now, trying to talk her into coming out for a second Nightmare Night in a row.”

“Fluttershy is scared of Nightmare Night?” Twilight rolls her eyes. “Gee, I had no idea.”

“Yes, and Doug thinks she should be able to overcome that fear. She, on the other hoof, barely even sat in the Boutique long enough to be fitted. I doubt we’ll see her, but who knows? Stranger things have happened around here.” Rarity shrugs, turning her attention to the main stage.

Mayor Mare, wearing a rainbow clown wig, walks up to a microphone, clearing her throat. The sounds of the festival die down as she announces, “Welcome, Everypony! I hope you are all having a nightmarish Nightmare Night!” The ponies cheer and stomp their hooves. “Now, all the little ponies who have been collecting candy should follow our friend Zecora to hear the legend of…” Mayor Mare’s voice quivers, “-Nightmare Moon!”

Scattered laughter comes from the crowd, none from anypony wearing a blue eye sticker.

Zecora steps up to the stage, spiders hanging from her mane and her coat shining white and deep black. “Follow, if you love mystery, to hear of Nightmare Night’s history.”

Comments

[DarkPhoenixx]

N-MAD!? I love it! DG you always have a way of surprising me w what you come up w. I hope you never stop writing,...at least not until after I'm dead and gone. Lol

[PinkDragonJr]

um okay. I have questions about Pipsqueak now...