An Alien Walks Amongst Us

by Hazardus_Havard

Chapter Eleven - More Trick Than Treat

“It’s getting pretty festive around here.”

Bon Bon nodded her head, “We take our holidays quite seriously. You should see us when Hearts and Hooves day comes around.”

Streamers were placed all over the area, orange and black being the color choice in the area. Some spots of confetti and balloons could be seen haphazardly thrown around. Childish macabre decorations were placed in areas of high traffic as if to spook someone walking by. The numerous stands that were set up contained many things for sale related to the holiday or were there to add some fun for passerby’s, such as the pumpkin carving table filled with the younger ponies.

Anon stopped, looking out into the town. “It’s a… quick change from last week's pie fight.”

A whine could be heard, only then did he notice the proximity of Roseluck’s stand.

“S-So you’re s, still mad about last week?”

“Rose, I wasn’t mad. If anything, I was irritated.”

She pointed a hoof at him, “I-Irritation is nothing more than another form of anger.”

Bon Bon started, “So long as you don’t try and pull another mob hunting stunt, and everyone will try their best to forget that pie war you started.”

She looked down at her stand, playing with one of the holiday-themed bouquets she had set up to sell. “...I’m sorry about last week. I… I didn’t think everyone would be so enthused about the pie thing.”

“Or trying to force Anon into the Everfree.”

Anon coughed in his hand, “It’s fine, I am over it.”

Rose flattened her ears. “S-So you say…”

Anon rubbed his hand over his face.

“You have to admit,” Bon Bon started, “it was kind of funny seeing them run around with pies, flinging them around while trying to aim at you.” She gave a smile, seeing his frown. “At least no one got hurt?”

“Pinkie Pie kept selling pies to everyone. It went on for a whole day.”

Roseluck groaned, “Lyra and Twilight didn’t help things either.”

“No, but they certainly finished it,” Bon Bon said. “Seeing the two quickly grabbing every pie in the air at the same time and throwing them all back at the same time is something I will never forget.”

“I, I didn’t even know Lyra could do that kind of magic.”

Bon Bon gave an amused look, “Everyone seems to forget Lyra had gone through the same schooling as Twilight did. I pity the person that underestimates her in magical prowess.”

Walking up to her, he ruffled her mane, making her squeal from the unexpected response. Patting her mane back into place, Rose looked up at him. Anon made sure not to smile too widely at her, lest his canines are seen and having her freak out.

“Just don’t get so worked up about what happened, okay?”

She didn’t look reassured about things. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, Rose, I’m very sure. Everyone makes mistakes, just learn from them and move on.”

Letting out a sigh of her own, she redoubled her smile, looking like a heavy weight had been lifted from her. “I’ll try my best not to make the same mistake twice,” she said in a chirpier manner.

Giving her a nod, Anon walked away from her feeling better about things. Ponies were incredibly emotional about things and he didn’t want to mistakenly stir her up again.

The two walked away, Roseluck already having a small line forming up to purchase her wares. Whether to decorate or eat them, Anon was uncertain.

“You’re speaking has certainly improved in the last week,” Bon Bon commented.

“Being around customers for a week straight… it kind of forces me to push my skills to the test. It also helps that I’ve been around you most of the time, helping me with that.”

“Bah, I barely did anything, that was all you.”

Arriving at his destination, he looked up at the sign reading Creative Costumes. Lyra and Bon Bon had insistently bugged him to get a costume and referred to this place. Initially, he was to find something there and have it fitted out for his dimensions. Some talking between the owner and he walked out with a deal for costumes designed from him based on ‘human’ costumes.

Looking around the shop, Anon could see a few costumes on display alongside rows and rows of bags holding more silly attires that were for sale. Of course, with them being fitted for ponies, he stood out above them all, making him easy to spot.

“Good day to you, Anon.” Peppy the store clerk greeted him. “You must be here for your costume. Let me go get it real quick so you can try it on. I want to make sure it fits perfectly before you leave. Customer satisfaction is my key priority!”

“So what exactly did you wind up choosing for your costume?” Bon Bon asked. “You’ve been keeping it a secret for the last week.”

“You’ll see it tomorrow,” Anon said with a smirk.

Bon Bon harrumphed, giving a pout.

Peppy returned, quickly shoving Anon into a booth containing all the individual pieces of his costume.

“Check it out and tell me if anything seems off!”

He was impressed with the costume and how intricate everything was. The gloves fit like a charm, the boots were a perfect fit, and the suit itself didn’t squeeze him enough for it to be uncomfortable.

“The black makeup you requested is in the box labeled as such.”

“Black makeup?” Bon Bon said. “What did you make for him?”

Placing the belt on, he felt like his childhood wish had finally come true. He may even try to put it on after the holiday; it was too good of a costume just to waste around in a closet.

“Don’t forget to try out the little toys that you requested! They should work just like you described them!”

“I didn’t request any toys…” He paused, looking at his belt. “Oh crap, these work?”

“Well, yes. You did describe them alongside the costume that you detailed. As it is my profession to have the best costumes possible, it would be bad taste to leave out what you had described as the ‘important bits he never left behind’.”

Feeling around, he could feel the ‘toys’ that he was now packed with. If anything, his smile grew larger. They, of course, would need to be tested out at a later date but at the moment he couldn’t be happier.

Taking off his costume, Peppy boxed them up before meeting him up to the counter. Peppy pushed the box to him as Anon passed over a meager ten bits.

“Are you sure that’s enough?”

“Anon my dear, I should be paying you for the ideas you gave me for costumes last week! I was in a serious creative slump concerning my wares. With you walking into my store, I not only have a series of ‘alien’ costumes put out in time for the holidays but I also have a backlog of things I can put out at any given time!”

Peppy paused, staring off into nothing with a tilt of his head.

“You have been a great deal of help to me. I usually get somepony that comes out here every year to sell me specially made masks to help boost my sales. Clever little things, it was as if you became what you wore, and by the time the holiday was over, they’d vanish without a trace. So many ponies were eager to come in the next year for more.”

He walked over to one of his windows, staring out into the street. “I was getting worried since he still hasn’t arrived. Nightmare Night makes up a bulk of my sales after all. I do hope nothing bad happened to him. He was always so eager to sell his face masks to me with a smile…”

The pony once again stared at nothing, eyes glazing over. Bon Bon and Anon shared a look, Anon swirling a finger near his head. She laughed seeing his antics.

Peppy jumped around in the air, twirling toward Anon’s direction with a large smile.

“But with your help, I can now sell many, MANY costumes for YEARS to come!”

He galloped over to a hidden area he had in the back covered by an array of dark, red curtains. Pulling them away, he revealed to Anon the costumes he had been relentlessly working on for the past week, showcasing one of the ideas he had passed off. It was a hideous abomination, something that looked straight out of a high budget Hollywood film.

“This… THIS alone is one of the most terrifying things I have EVER seen in my life!” The pony chuckled, staring at the ripped flesh with a smile. “The minds of you humans sure do conjure up the most hideous of atrocities. And all I had to do was base them off that happy little mask seller's merchandise so I could do what I wanted this year. I can’t wait to get my volunteers to scare the town with this!”

“I don’t understand… why you won’t just sell this thing off instead of some of the more toned down ideas I shared with you,” Anon said, staring at the deadened eyes on the display.

“It kind of is horrifying, but also fun seeing something so new,” Bon Bon interjected. “We’ll all be playing a part in this year’s event.”

“Still,” Anon continued, “why choose this when some of the other creatures I listed would have been truly unique to you ponies? I know you’re going for the whole alien crea-tion angle with your promotions so this doesn’t make sense to me.”

The ponies already had zombies in their culture, albeit a very cartoonish one that barely conjured up anything with a true fear factor: Green ooze with an insatiable love of brains alongside the old fashioned green skin. What he had shared though, on top of his very basic understanding of costumes in his world, gave this pony a more frightening costume.

“I can use those next year! Besides Anon, I need to sell the idea that these new costumes are not only scarier than the normal ones, but I need to have them be memorable enough for everypony in town to know just where to get them!”

It didn’t make sense to Anon what he heard. But Peppy sounded like he knew what he was doing… probably. Peppy walked to his counter, taking a book out that had everything Anon had discussed with him.

“Our zombies were merely controlled by others, or if dead on the rare occasion, seeking out the living through their hatred of not being able to live. But to have them eating the flesh off of the living? And the idea of them passing off this infection to others in multiple ways? And I absolutely love how they’re not supposed to feel pain at all, that’s a new one for me!

“I’m going to need quite a few volunteers to be… eaten.” Peppy chuckled as he read some of the entries, eyes glued to the book. “I’m going to use everything I can to make a big impact this year, such as that fake flesh you told me about.”

“You’ve already got that made up?”

“Sure! It only took me two days straight without sleep, but I managed to make something that appears just like the real thing! I can’t wait to see this in action with someone’s flesh being torn off! I even set it up so the flesh could stay hidden until the person gets ‘infected’ and their skin starts to decay!” He let out a maniacal laugh, clapping his hooves together. “This’ll be the best Nightmare Night EVER!”

The pony walked over to his costume, staring at it once more. “Don’t you worry, I’ll use more of your ideas next year. I just wouldn’t want to use all the good stuff all at once…”

‘Maybe telling this pony about some of our cultures was a bad idea.’ Shrugging it off, he took his box and walked out the door, heading back to Lyra’s. ‘Whatever, worth it in the end just for this costume.’

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Arriving back at the house, Anon saw Lyra at her desk, currently working on another report. Hearing him enter, the pony turned to him. “Welcome back!” she said with a smile. “What’s with the box?”

“It is my costume for tomorrow.”

Heading for the stairs, Lyra immediately followed him to the room, trying to get a peek inside the box.

“Lyra, wait until tomorrow to see.”

Lyra harrumphed with a pout, being denied what she wanted. Once back downstairs, Lyra headed to her desk to continue working.

“Almost finished?” he asked, taking a seat on the couch.

“No, I’m reading some documents that the princess sent over about some reports concerning a species recently coming into contact with the griffons. They’re another bird-like species, but bipedal and fully bird. That is, not like the griffon’s chimeric features. It’s surprising to see them having gone unnoticed for so long.”

“Is there something wrong? You do not look too happy right now.”

The pony mumbled to herself, looking away from her work. “…I’d rather be doing what I was doing before.”

“And what was that?”

Lyra fidgeted in her seat, looking at Anon. “Um… well, that was when I was doing things with you when you got here…”

“We can still do that stuff, Lyra. So long as you get your work done first.”

“But I don’t wanna work!” Lyra whined, teleporting herself with her lyre on top of Anon’s lap. Anon grunted at the sudden weight on him. “See, we can do this instead!” she said, plucking a few strings.

“Lyra,” he said, pushing her hooves from the lyre, “I’m pretty sure that your work is very important and needs to be finished, right?”

She flattened her ears against her head, letting out a long-winded sigh. “Yeah…”

Grabbing her by her sides, he lifted her into the air. She let out a squeak as he forced himself to stand up, placing her on the ground while holding the lyre the entire time. The pony looked up to Anon with a pout and large eyes.

“We can play the lyre after you’re done with your work.”

“B-But… but I wanna play neoooow!” she whined, thumping her hooves about.

“You have responsibilities, Lyra. We can play the lyre after you finish your work for the princess.”

She grunted, placing her lyre down beside the couch. “Fiiiine,” she strained, dragging herself back to the desk.

“Don’t worry, I’ll wait until you finish.”

It wasn’t like Anon had much else to do for the day anyways. Twilight already had other plans for herself so she wasn’t set to bugging him for that day. Studying wasn’t something he felt like doing either. No, relaxing to Anon felt like something he should catch up on.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The rest of the day went by without an incident, so Anon called that a win in his book. He only had to encourage Lyra to finish her work as she grumbled on about wanting to do something else. Bon Bon had come by just as she had finished her last page for that day. It allowed the two of them time with Anon to play the lyre.

Bon Bon, to the surprise of both of them, pulled out a lyre herself. She claimed to know how to play herself and wanted to join in personally. It didn’t take much for Anon to know why she’d know how to play. It was kind of sweet, how he saw that.

Lyra looked slightly rustled having Bon Bon playing the lyre with her. It looked like she was jealous of both Anon and Bon Bon. Seeing this, the candy mare whispered to Anon for Lyra to sit in his lap while she played. It helped keep Lyra calm during her time playing.

Bon Bon wasn’t as good as her friend, but she was easily better than Anon was. Whenever Lyra went up to play, she switched spots with Bon Bon on his lap. A few hours of this and he had more than enough, especially with the two wanting hugs in between each session.

With how late it had gotten into the night, Anon went to sleep soon after that. He woke up to Lyra having to tell him she would be gone for most of the day with Bon Bon, needing to do something out in town. With the holiday, he was given the day off. All the shops in town would be closed. It left him with some rare alone time with himself.

With nothing to do, he was going to do it how he wanted: Dressed down in his costume. Sitting around all day like that, Anon felt surprised he hadn’t chafed anywhere. Magic was likely involved in that, he reasoned.

And so, Anon sat around, feeling pretty awesome with his costume. He did test some of his gadgets, noticing the high-quality craftsmanship on them.

Just as the afternoon came around, a knock could be heard downstairs. Peppy had come over, wanting to discuss some preparations he had been making for the holiday.

“So what you’re saying,” Anon said, staring across from the couch at him, “is that you’ve got every single unicorn in on this, most of who will be in on the act and pretend to be zombies, roaming around for their victims…”

“It was sadly needed so they wouldn’t mistakenly attack someone,” Peppy said with a frown. “I tweaked the idea so the zombies had gone after high-magical entities first, and then hunting down the rest. I wanted this little zombie run of ours to come out of nowhere. That’s where the real fun is!”

“Aren’t you afraid of anyone getting hurt by… I don’t know, defending ponies from these zombies?”

“I’ve already got that one covered. See, I got some of my trade ponies to work on a spell that will wrap around other ponies that get tagged, or ‘infected’. The spell was also retooled quickly to conjure up a few defensive shields and skins onto the infected. Sadly, it will slow them down tremendously, but I believe that’s a fair tradeoff. Besides, that is also how you described your zombies, with them all sluggish.

“Anyways, most ponies will run from one look at these things so I doubt they’ll try anything but a buck or two here and there. And most of the ponies that could do any damage are already in on this, with the few that aren’t being told what is going on while they are being ‘fed on’, right before they go off to do their own thing. After the first wave, the rest will be told about what’s happening by the refs I have. I’ll even have some props for zombies to mess around with until they meet some others to chase after. Oh, and you’re a safe zone.”

Anon nearly missed that, narrowing his eyes at the pony. “Safe zone?”

“See, since you’re not from this world, most of the ponies weren’t likely to go near you in the first place. Nearly everyone is fine with you now, but they still shy away. So then I thought, why not make it so the zombies just have a disliking of you, to begin with for some mysterious reason! And with that, the zombies were instructed to leave you alone. No one is to reveal this of course, but anypony with a good eye for seeing this will realize what is going on.”

This put a damper on the night for Anon. “Is there any way for them to not involve me in this?”

“Even if I wanted, gathering every single pony involved in this would take so long, it would already be night time when this all should be happening!”

“So I’m stuck with this…”

“Hey, think of it like this. With you being the safe zone, it makes it so you’re not involved with the running or anything else!”

‘That’s a pretty good point. I don’t want to see myself running around in this costume.’

“That’s all I think I needed to bring up with you,” Peppy said, getting up from his seat. Just before he left, the pony turned around to Anon. “Oh, and I didn’t want to say anything since it might have seemed rude but you should probably get your voice checked out.”

“…My voice is perfectly fine.”

“Anon, it sounds like you’ve been growling at me the entire time.”

Anon didn’t respond to that, merely crossing his arms, giving Peppy a frown.

“This is how I am supposed to sound.”

The pony raised a brow before rolling his eyes and leaving. With the pony gone, it left Anon with nothing to do once more. Once he started to feel bored, he got up from his seat to go upstairs and continue on his studies.

Time passed quickly for him and before too long it had already gotten dark outside. Standing in the bathroom, Anon checked himself one last time to make sure everything was in its proper place. Smirking at his reflection, he sauntered down the stairs, hoping for the other two to make it back soon.

And just in time, it seemed; Lyra was just walking through the door with Bon Bon. As he was about to greet them, he heard a scream coming from behind them. A few seconds later, a blast of light impacted the wall right beside him, forcing him to fall down the few remaining stairs. Catching himself before he could face plant, he looked at the two ponies that appeared ready to attack him, clearly panicking. Anon quickly concluded why they were freaking out.

“W-Wait! WAIT! It’s me-it’s me-it’s me-it’s me,” he screamed out repeatedly.

“…ANON?!” Lyra yelped back, seeing who it was finally.

“YES!”

“Why do you look scary like that?!” Bon Bon hollered at him.

Lyra nodded in agreement. “It’s… very intimidating.”

Anon cleared his throat. “It’s supposed to be,” he replied, getting somewhat into character.

Lyra walked up to him, poking his suit. She circled him, examining his costume, and playing with his cape for a little before standing in front of him. “Are you dressed as someone from your home planet?”

A smirk could be seen on his face. He grabbed either side of his cape, flaring it out. “Of course, for I. Am. Batman!”

Lyra opened and closed her mouth several times. “W-What? Batman… this is Batman?”

Bon Bon seemed to be only partially paying attention as she dragged the unconscious Fluttershy to the couch. It was difficult to work with her legs all sticking in the air the entire time.

“Did she seriously faint?” Anon asked as Lyra went back to playing with his cape.

“It might have something to do with the big, scary monster that is currently standing in our living room,” Bon Bon said, making sure Fluttershy was comfortable.

“Batman is not a scary monster. He is the dark. He is the night!” Anon flared his cape out, right before it got pulled back down by Lyra who went back to playing with it.

“What happened to your voice?” Lyra asked, now climbing onto the cape for some reason. “Your accent was already strange enough before but now it’s… well…. Bon Bon, help me here.”

“Gravelly.”

“Yeah, it’s more gravelly now,” Lyra said just as she reached Anon’s neck, wrapping both of her front legs around it. “I should totally get a cape like this.”

“Because this is how Batman talks,” he answered.

“It sounds like this Bat-man needs a cough drop,” Bon Bon said, trying to wake Fluttershy.

Sitting down on the couch, the three of them waited for Fluttershy to wake up. To pass the time, Anon started to tell them everything he knew about Batman and the awesomeness that the caped crusader represented to him. Bon Bon seemed mildly interested while Lyra followed along excitedly, having wondered just what had changed between the different Batmans, writing everything he had to say.

“It’s pretty impressive that Peppy managed to get a lot of the details right,” Anon said, playing with the grappling hook that was nestled in a pouch. “I mean, obviously most of this is of his design but it still screams Batman.”

“Are you going to use your gadgets out in town tonight?” Lyra asked, putting her papers on Batman away. “Oh! Please tell me you have shark repellent, I’ve always wanted to see that!”

“...Yeah, there’s shark repellent.” Lyra clapped her hooves with excitement. “But there are other things, like his grappling hook and the explosive gel.”

“So long as you’re not blowing things up tonight, I doubt anyone will mind you tonight,” Bon Bon said. “Just be aware of all the zombie activity tonight. Even though they won’t go after you, others may crowd around you for safety if they notice you’re not being attacked.”

“I’ll probably just hide out someplace until most of this blows over. Also, what part do you all play in tonight?”

“I’m going to be the first infected zombie!” Lyra answered as she hung off his cape, now swinging back and forth in the air. “Wheeeee!”

“And I’ll be the first victim to the first zombie,” Bon Bon chipped in, taking a seat in her chair once more. “Lyra will pale throughout the night from the applied costume she already has on. Then when she changes, I will be nearby so she can eat me.”

‘...Don’t say anything,’ Anon thought, coughing into his fist. “The costume is pretty impressive, Lyra. I can barely tell it’s on.”

“Peppy sure did do a good job, though if you look very closely you can see my fur is a slight bit thicker than it should be. Still, the material should hold out and work for the night.”

“Ooooh…” The three of them turned to a groaning Fluttershy, rubbing her head. “I just had the worst dream of meeting a scary, dark, horrible monster standing in the rooaaaAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”

And with that, she fainted once more.

Bon Bon groaned out herself, trying to wake up the pegasus once again as Lyra continued to swing on Anon’s cape. Anon could only hope that the night fared well for him.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ Canterlot ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Sitting at the throne was the princess of the night, looking off into nothing. With the evening having started several hours early that day, it left her in charge sooner than normal. Much like every year, there was no work to be done for that day. And Celestia, as usual, had gone off and hidden somewhere for some alone time due to the rarity of such things for either of them.

‘She has likely tucked herself away in her room, enjoying some sweets and a good book while her phonograph plays,’ Luna thought with some envy.

The preparations for her travel had already been made for that night for her departure to Ponyville. While other towns and their heads had petitioned for her in hoping she’d arrive at them, they never knew what her answer was until the very last moment: Luna never made a final decision until the night she was to leave. Sadly for them all, Luna had already decided to go back to Ponyville. She had things that were needed of her there that night.

Hearing a clipping of hooves coming from down the hall drove the princess out of her thoughts. Walking into the room was Sunshine Smiles with two night guards following on either side of him. Turning to them, Sunshine nodded to the two who crisply saluted to him, right before exiting the room promptly. Standing a few clicks away, he greeted his princess with a salute and a stony, attentive face. Luna merely tilted her head at him.

“Princess Luna, we have made the arrangements for our contacts in the town to meet us on the outskirts of Ponyville out of sight of everyone, as requested. I volunteer myself to collect this for you so that you may enjoy your night, your highness.”

“There is no need for that at this moment, I can do it myself.”

Breaking off his salute, he stood upright with a glow of his horn, levitating something out of his armor.

“There is nothing else to report other than a letter addressed personally to you.”

The princess levitated it, seeing the waxy seal of the sun on it, having already been slit. The guard saw the confusion on her face. “It was initially sent to Princess Celestia due to her not having a proper way to send it to you, in hopes it would arrive at you eventually.”

“Very well,” Luna brushed off, reading the contents of the letter.

She quickly frowned, seeing who the letter came from. Her frown turned away with a smirk, reading further on.

‘So she dressed it up in a costume for the evening. And a bat-themed one at that. Perhaps she is trying to butter me up, as the expression goes. She made the right assumption that I would arrive tonight.’

She continued reading, a flash of excitement spread across her face.

“A zombie run?” she exclaimed with a large smile.

“Princess Celestia had the same reaction, though with some… distaste to it.”

“Of course she would,” Princess Luna said, her smile lessening. “I had created these runs in the past to help teach every being how to handle the vile things while we took care of scrubbing the disease from existence. Still, they were quite enjoyable, and I had some fun preparing them every year. Sister cared little for them.”

Luna hummed to herself. “And though the magic to create them had been wiped out, I keep an ear out for such things in the unlikely chance they pop up. There is a reason why I keep my little agents around, Sunshine.”

“I… wasn’t aware such things truly existed.”

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of; after so long I’d imagine most would think of them as fictitious creations. I’ll have to remember to pass off such information like this to everyone under my wing. It is a difficult task to know what is needed when everything I know used to be common knowledge.”

“Ah… yes, my princess.”

Looking at the letter once more, Luna started to think about what her actions should be. Initially, she was to go over the gathered intel from her agents before meeting Lyra at the end of the night. Things would need to be changed now. There was no way she would want to miss such a chance.

“Captain, there’s been a change of plans. You’ll be gathering the intel from the ponies and keeping the guards with you. Afterward, you will immediately head back here to go over it and have it prepared for my return from the night.”

“Princess Luna, is it safe to do that what with the rebellious ponies still out there and no guards to protect you?”

“Your worry for my safety is duly noted, but not needed, captain. I am assured that they would not attempt anything directly to me. No, you and the guards will return here after you are done with your mission.” Having the guards away would allow her free reign to roam around and have some fun with the run.

Standing up from her throne, Sunshine Smiles bowed to her before leading her to her carriage. Walking down the halls, the princess could see her guards standing at attention on either side of her. A few of them were hidden in the shadows, tucked away from sight from everyone but her. She noted a few that could do with some training to better hide.

Arriving at their destination outside was a regal looking carriage with four guards at the front to drive it. Seating herself, Sunshine headed to the front of the carriage, giving an order to move out. They shot off into the sky with a silky smoothness that kept from disturbing the princess from her seat.

It was a relaxing kind of pleasure for the princess to ride in her carriage, always taking the opportunity when given to do so. Having it during the night only added to her enjoyment immensely, staring up at the stars as she came up with new ideas about their placements.

Playing with one of her star clusters that were built from her everlasting glow of colors, she hadn’t noticed the carriage descending until the trees started coming into view. Upon landing, Princess Luna stepped out of her seat, stretching her legs once on the ground. Sunshine Smiles quickly stood before her, awaiting further orders.

“You currently know what needs to be done, captain. Gather that intel and return to the palace post-haste with the information.”

“Yes, your highness,” Sunshine Smiles acknowledged, saluting her before returning to the carriage with the guards.

Gathering them, they head off into the forest just as the princess went into the town herself. With a slow pace down the road, Luna could see that the festivities had already begun. The streets and buildings were littered with a multitude of props and decorations to celebrate the night away as music played with a unique fervor she was unaccustomed to. Games were set up with ponies crowding around, awaiting their turn to play. Costumes of all kinds could be seen along with baggies full of treats, gathered from the night’s activities most likely.

Standing in the dark, Princess Luna could see a small group of ponies walking right past her. The shadows easily hid her from their sights or at least should have since one filly managed to notice her. She immediately shrieks, alerting the others of the group to her presence. They follow suit before placing candy in front of her and running off in glee. With a small chuckle, she levitated the treats, popping them away out of sight to examine later.

Turning back to the town and their games, she had a want to be a part of it and triumph over the silly games they had set up. Yet she knew that it was best to go and meet Lyra and her little project. It would seem rude of her to ignore them for later on, not just from the importance of the scenario but from the letter that was sent to her in the rather roundabout manner.

Pacing herself in what she hoped appeared to be a stroll down the road Luna could see the ponies pausing at their activities, clearly surprised to see her there for a second year in a row. While a few gave bows, most gave a wave and a smile, assuming she was here for no other purpose than the merriment they were currently experiencing. It was certainly something the princess was still in need of getting used to from the previous reverent of her and her sister as idols and gods.

“Princess Luna! Over here! Ooh-ooh-ooh! LUNA!”

The annoying yelling aimed at her turned her direction to a booth being operated by one of the Elements. Laughter, she easily remembered, due to the gleeful attitude the pink pony held.

“I am surprised to see you haven’t tried running off from seeing me,” Luna said, walking up to the stand. Sugary biscuits were on display, the gaily smiles of ponies staring back at her.

“That wouldn’t be any fun,” Pinkie said, waving a hoof. “Repeat actions dull the humor after all!”

“Ehr, yes… quite right...” It almost appeared like one of the biscuits was staring at her, eerily smiling.

“I hope you’re having fun here, and two years in a row. We’ll be the talk of the place. Ooh! What do you think of my costume?”

“It is… astonishing how closely you resemble a cupcake.” Luna had to look twice; had that biscuit somehow gotten closer? “Are you perhaps pulling a prank on m－”

“Hello!” Luna jumped, staring at the talking treat. “I am Crumble! Nice to meet you!”

“C-Crumble?”

The cookie pony did a sideways cartwheel, throwing sprinkles in the air. “The conjured cookie construct! Yay!”

It seemed that ponies were giving a wide berth from their stand. Luna turned to Pinkie who gave her a large smile.

“Pinkie Pie, just who, or what is this?”

“She’s Crumble!” The biscuit waved at her. “She was magically formed by a mysterious unicorn, oo-ooh! And I wanted something to help set up my booth for the holiday. Want a copy-Crumble?”

Pinkie passed something that looked exactly like the construct dancing on the stand, only it was flattened out. It held the same, strange smile the original had.

“No way! She totally wants a taste of the original and not some fake impostor.” She shook her behind at the princess, Luna giving an offended look. “Come on, I know you want some of this sweet thing right here!”

She held back her tongue, deciding it wasn’t worth arguing against a golem with little sense.

‘...Wait, golem?’

Now that she thought about it, golem’s were relatively easy to take down. While magically superior in many aspects, their one greatest weakness was their incapability to answer simple math. Automaton’s made of magical fractals could not seem to comprehend any form of math, their minds too preoccupied with keeping itself together and performing complicated tasks.

Though they could simply ignore the question as they’re inherently made to do, a lot of stories revolved around tricking them into doing math to win against one. It was quite common to have golem’s take around an abacus to help solve this problem.

‘It would be good practice against the golem Lyra made. Even better, as there doesn’t seem to be any unicorns, so I’ll be able to get away with none the wiser.’

“－my tail is a particularly fun part, but I know many that wouldn’t mind a nibble on my thighs. Oh! I’ve also been working on my magical essence so I can even grow larger than I already am or even have additional parts! Certainly gives you more to chew on, eh? Eeeeh?”

‘I’ll have to be careful with my question. Pinkie may act oblivious but she’s not stupid, from the reports I’ve read regarding her.’

“How about this. I haven’t met a golem in a long time and am… interested in how modern-day standards have developed to their creation. Answer just one question and I’ll have a… bite out of you.”

Crumble’s face seemed to light up with excitement. “Really?”

Luna gave a soft chuckle, “Really.”

“Oh, to be eaten by a princess, what a dream come true. I have to get the best I can out of this opportunity.” She stood up on her hind legs, pointing at the princess. “Make it an all-you-can-eat buffet with me for tonight and you’ve got yourself a deal!”

“Very well then.” The construct sat down, clapping her hooves together. “Say I have ten bales of hay and give away seven. How many do I have left?”

“Pfft, that’s all? You have… ah, there’s…” She scratched her head. Her face scrunched up, an eye tweaking. “N-N-Ninety-eats? Oh wait, it’s…”

As predicted, Crumble started to shake, collapsing on the table, muttering. “W-W-What…”

Pinkie blinked, looking down. “Um… Princess Luna? What’s wrong with Crumble?”

She made sure to look saddened, staring at the biscuit. “It appears that the golem spell form hadn’t changed since my times. Disappointing. Don’t worry, it’ll wear off in a few hours.”

“Poor Crumble,” Pinkie said, picking her up and placing her to the side. “You stay right here until you feel better.”

“N-N-Ninety-eats. I, hurk, I answered. I answered!”

“Ah, she did answer though!”

“It… appears she had. Unfortunately, the deal was for tonight and I can’t stay here all night to wait until she gets better. Perhaps you'll have someone else perform this... buffet of yours?”

Luna discreetly walked away, wanting to get as far away from the thing as she could. The whole thing felt nauseating to her. But she now had some form to combat against the golem that was causing her and her sister problems for the past few months.

Walking around, many ponies gathered the courage to confront her, giving their greetings or some festive treat-giving. She was having an alright time but was slowly becoming irritated at being unable to find her reason for coming to Ponyville.

“Oomph!”

Stopping in her tracks, Princess Luna stared down at the pony that had collided with her side. As if by coincidence, she saw Lyra on the ground, shaking her head in confusion. Looking up, she gawped at the princess before chuckling nervously. Luna’s brow furrowed, seeing how pale she appeared.

“Hello, Princess Luna,” Lyra weakly greeted with a small groan, still rubbing her head. She was barely capable of standing herself up straight. Had she had too much salt?

Bon Bon could be seen trotting up to her friend from the side, helping to pick her up and keep her standing before turning her attention to the princess.

“P-Princess Luna! Good evening! Um… how was your trip here?”

“It was uneventful, as usual.”

“Your guards, they’re um… not here… are they?”

‘A strange question to ask. Ah, wait, she’s wondering if I’m here to take their… alien away.’

“No, I am alone on this venture,” the princess replied smoothly.

Bon Bon seemed to relax while Lyra… looked paler. As amusing at it was earlier to see, the princess had not meant to impose such fright in her.

“Bon… Bon… It’s n-nearly t…”

Lyra’s little assistant blinked at her friend before she realized something. “Oh, right! Before we go, is there anything else you need, Princess Luna?”

Now is as good a time as any to see their project. Although Luna felt somewhat bad seeing Lyra in her current situation, if she could help in some way with the scenario and relieve her sister of some stress, she’d gladly do it.

“Yes, I would like to see this ‘alien’ of yours, if you don’t mind.”

Blinking at her, before nearly slipping from Lyra’s stumbling and groaning about, Bon Bon stood her back up before turning and pointing her hoof in a direction. “He should be down there, showing off his costume still to a group of foals and fillies.”

‘Showing off… his costume?’

Luna was confused at what she heard. Right before Bon Bon could leave with her friend, they were stopped with the princess walking in front of them.

“Yes, well I’d like to see the alien.”

“…Okay?” Bon Bon answered uncertainly.

The two stood in silence as Lyra continued to silently moan to herself.

“…Aren’t you going to be needed there to show it to me?”

“He is fully capable of introducing himself to you. While he still has difficulties speaking, Anon should be fully capable of holding a conversation as Lyra had already written previously. Now if there’s nothing else, I really need to help Lyra out further down that road. Much, much further down…”

Stepping to the side, Princess Luna allowed them to walk away from her.

‘An automaton of the size shown in those pictures should need someone to control it without a crystal to power its internals, and not once did we see one inserted anywhere.' She hummed in thought. ''Perhaps they gave its controls to someone else? Or is it overconfidence? This just makes things easier for me without them nearby.’

It didn’t take her long before she was met with a fairly large crowd of ponies strewn all about the place. Far off in the corner she could see—

Her head reared back, taking a few steps away.

‘Sweet Solaire, what in the damned fires of Tartarus is that?!’

The being towered over the group of young ponies as it grabbed its cape and flaring it out for the crowd who oohed and awed at his actions. She was expecting it to be tall, but the costume it wore was quite imposing. Garbed in a finely shaped black and grey suit, it scowled at the crowd below its feet, posing in some odd fashion that gave it a look that demanded its attention.

It was designed around a bat as the princess could see, from the tipped ears to the cape that hung at its back, and of course, the bat image etched forward for all with it being emblazoned across its chest. The most disturbing thing for her had to be the facial area, how its eyes were completely blackened behind the mask, yet still capable to show such fierce emotions. The thing was incredibly animated, well beyond such intricacies she was used to in any kind of golem.

A shiver ran down her spine, looking at the formidable creation in front of her. Lyra truly had done a lot of work setting this up. She almost felt bad, wanting to destroy its mental foundation. Such a magnificent specimen of the magical arts, to be taken down by but a dozen math problems.

Somepony bumped into her side, forcing her to look away from the imposing sight. Turning to her side, she could see a pony running off, apologizing as it ran away. Clearing her mind and regaining her composure, the princess turned back to the automaton, wanting nothing more than to get this over with so the rest of the night could be enjoyed.

Examining things once more, Luna could see the little ones currently running around it, swinging on its cape or poking at its costume. The ‘alien’ did nothing more than stand still with its arms crossed, continuing to scowl at nothing. She swore she heard ‘I’m Batman’ being whispered in the air as she approached it.

The moment she got within a body’s length away, the young ponies took notice of her and immediately ran away in mock fright. Princess Luna knew it wasn’t real with the way their screams turned into peals of laughter when they thought they were far enough away. Staring at the alien, its head turned to her. The automaton's eyes widened looking at her.

“Uhr… hello there,” the automaton spoke with a strange voice that caught the princess off-guard. “You are… Princess Celestia?”

Reeling herself from acting out in anger at the strangest idea that she could be her sister, she proceeded onward. “I am Princess Luna, my sister does not stay up during the night unless absolutely needed for it is my time of the ruling.” The being merely continued to stare, though its scowl had vanished she noted. “Since I was down in Ponyville for the festivities I thought it would be a good idea to check up on you, what with you being our resident alien after all.”

Princess Luna had to resist the urge to grimace at the stupidity of speaking to the spelled-up dummy.

“I am sorry; I should have realized who you are with how you look.” An eyebrow arched hearing that. His voice had turned from a coarse roar to a softer tone. “N-Not that there is anything wrong with how you look,” it said, mistaking her reaction.

The puppet chuckled, rubbing the back of its neck. Luna, watching its actions, noting the advanced motor skills the thing held over other automatons she had seen in the past. Crumble was able to get away with so much, being made of one, malleable form. This though? Was it possible she and her sister had missed something in their letters about this? They must have…

“To be blunt, I am surprised I have… not been met by either princess’s by now what with how I am an alien to your people.”

Luna could see her subjects off to the side, staring at the conversation taking place, talking to one another. That… does look a bit odd, doesn’t it?

“Both Celestia and I have many duties that we must attend to which made it difficult to properly have any time with you.”

‘A good enough excuse that has worked in the past.’

“Still, when I talked to Lyra about this… it was strange I was not called to the pal-ace to meet either of you.”

‘Did Lyra program this thing to make me look stupid?’

Looking around, while she saw ponies questioning both her and her sister on the alien's presence, she noticed that not a single unicorn was currently there. It was best to do this now before any could think to question what was going on.

“As… odd as it may be to ask of you, I just realized that in the documents, I felt they were personally lacking information on some of your intelligence. So I ask of you something of a quick question to test this: There are six apples. I take three and you take two. How many are left?”

“…What?”

Repeating the question once more, Luna stood there, staring at its dumbstruck expression. It was clear that the thing was already starting to overload from going beyond its simple programming for that night.

“Is this about those weird math tests from Lyra? I swore she sent in the sec-ond test that was better prepared but I guess I was wrong. I will talk to Lyra about this so we can send something better in as soon as possible.” The thing sighed, rubbing the bridge of its snout. “As for the answer, it is one apple.”

Princess Luna wasn’t expecting it to answer back. ‘It… must have been a fluke. Yes, certainly another question will have it starting to stumble in its answers.’

“If I am holding twelve rocks in my hooves and currently own eight baskets each with the same amount of rocks, how many rocks do I have?”

The automaton rubbed its chin before counting its digits, trying to figure out the question. “You’d have… ninety-six rocks.”

“…No, you’d have one hundred and eight.”

“Oh, I thought this was a trick question since you said only in the rocks in your baskets. With what you hold it would be that much.”

"S-Six times nine, subtract sixty-nine! What is the answer?"

It looked at her with a tilt of its head. "Oookay. That's... give me a moment." An arm went up, its digits scratching the visible chin. "Ah, tricky, that's negative fifteen."

"Ah... Bah..."

“Princess Luna, can we play with Anon now? He was showing us his cool gadgets!”

Much too confused at the situation, she slowly nodded her head at the filly that spoke to her. She jumped in glee before running up to… whatever that thing was.

It couldn’t be an automaton like she initially thought. They’re not in use nowadays very much due to their programming flaws that she just tried to abuse. Only someone like Pinkie would be… special enough to make one. The stupid creations were made to do simple things, like move rocks or clean things because of this, but still broke down due to mishaps. To have one magically programmed to fix such flaws have to be impossible, especially with how niche the magic was.

Looking at the costumed… whatever it was, she could see it pulling something from its very odd belt. Aiming at a light pole, it shot something right out of it before propelling straight into the air toward it, flaring its cape as if appearing to fly up. Gasps and cheers could be heard from the display, along with most of the crowd following it.

“Automatons… are not capable of such complex movements like that either,” the princess said to herself quietly. “Just what is this thing?”

All she could do was stand there, dumbfounded at the recent turn of events as she attempted to remember anything that could explain this from Lyra’s documents.

‘The pony never did state how she went about making those images of it, so maybe it wasn’t a golem in any of them. It wasn’t a spelled one, that’s for sure. So maybe she hired a minotaur to shave… and act the part? It would make sense, taking out a chunk of her pay to have one do such a thing. ‘

She shook her head at the ridiculousness of the idea.

‘No, that doesn’t explain the missing horns. They’re too prideful of them to remove their horns for any pay. I should know since I’ve tried before.’

The only other bipedal creature coming to mind for her that was around were those race of cats. She doubted that the newly found races would either be involved with this.

‘…It’s not like it’s real, right?’ With nothing at the moment making sense, either Lyra had made the greatest fool of her or she was just talking to an actual alien.

‘I-It’s not possible to make real contact with such things…’

The thought of what she and her sister was ready to do in the past and their actions, what could have been, what—

Luna shook her head, feeling silly about her actions. ‘No, this isn’t reasonable for me to just jump to these thoughts. I should hold out for a little while before thinking about this more thoroughly, or at least not until after the run.’

Before she could think more about this, a scream could be heard, interrupting her thoughts. This didn’t appear to be a scream of mock fright but of genuine horror. Running off in the direction where she heard the scream to see what the problem was, the princess skidded to a halt as ponies ran past her, many looking scared out of their wits.

“RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!”

“THEY’RE EATING EVERYPONY!!!”

“HELP!”

“ZOMBIES! ZOMBIES!”

‘I got worked up for that? Why would they seem that scared from some zombies?’

Princess Luna knew they were a scary thing to come across, but they weren’t enough to elicit such actions from them. Slowing walking forward to where the ponies ran from, it didn’t take long for Luna to see her first ‘zombie’ that night. It was multiple zombies that were currently lumbering around, looking for their next victim. She couldn’t help but let out a chuckle watching them stumbling on their hooves.

It had been a very long time for her participating in a zombie run. She had missed such things, having them all the time before she was banished. The rules were quite simple as well: Do not get caught or you were out. The horror genre was such a small thing in their world, but she knew everything there was to know about it, albeit from an aged point of perspective. But zombies, she knew zombies.

They were in character, the princess noted. Due to there being nopony around for them, they went back to ‘eat’ the brains of their victims, just as she expected. Her curiousness had her making way up to a few without being noticed to stare at their costumes and watch them feed. As dumb of a decision it was to do such a thing during the zombie run, Luna was too eager to see how their costumes looked.

“So what exactly—”

Her eagerness evaporated upon seeing the rotten, paled face of the zombies, their flesh having been torn asunder and fluids oozing off their ripped bodies. They seemed to ignore the original idea of simply gnawing on one’s head for the brains and went all out with devouring the very flesh of the being.

One of them turned their head towards Luna, its jaw hanging loose. This, in turn, forced others to do the same. The princess immediately ran away, her heart thumping at being seen. As slow as they were, there were just so many of them all around her now, it made escaping very difficult for her to do. Even in the skies, it seemed the morphed pegasi roamed the skies, taking a few dives at her, unafraid of any repercussions to be had for doing something to their princess.

She was not used to seeing such things in gruesome detail. They were eating flesh, not brains! And she knew for a fact that zombies did NOT eat flesh! In fact, if she was being accurate, eating brains was still wrong but widely used due to the tales passed around over and over until it morphed into what is now known. Zombies sucked on one’s head and drained their mind’s essence, turning them stupid and making another in the process.

It confused her greatly with how things have changed into this, though she was not complaining. It certainly was more terrifying to go up against the slow yet massively large crowd of them. Adding a new level of danger… excited her. Luna made a mental note to find out how they managed to make such costumes for future use to scare her sister at some point.

With a shake of her head, the princess cleared her thoughts to focus more on her participation in the run. She did not want to return to the castle, having been one of the first to lose. Her sister would not let her live it down for a very long time.

The zombies were quite slow, something that Luna was very thankful for. It was mostly a hassle for her to dodge around the massive amount of them that are currently all around. Running down the street, she could spot some other ponies that were also running like her though at a much slower pace, too confused or wondering where to go. One of the poor hapless ponies got jumped by a crowd of them, going down with his screams quickly muffled by the drove of undead unicorns, only to be replaced by the crunching of bones and tearing of flesh.

Having dodged around for a good half an hour, it led the princess into finding another group of ponies. Following them led her into a small bakery where they were all currently hiding out.

Luna wished she hadn’t trailed them to the building, finding it a tad boring. Many of them were crying or shaking in fright, uncertain about what they should do. They were a disorganized mess of subjects hiding away in this shop. With boredom seeping into the princess, she decided to try and make things more interesting for the night.

“Listen up, everypony,” Princess Luna said, standing up to her full height to the gaggle of ponies. “We’re currently in a crisis in the town and I need you all to be as calm and collected as possible.”

Taking direct order of the situation is already relieving the princess of her previous boredom as a small smile adorned her face, incapable of hiding it. All of the ponies direct their attention to her, feeling better about their situation knowing she was there.

“We need to take stock of the situation at hoof here and figure out where to proceed. Does anyone have any ideas?”

“Princess?” someone said in the crowd. “W-What about finding a way to fix all this? A cure?”

Ah yes, the cure. The run, she had read, had a win criterion for finding the cure for the virus. It was an odd thing to have heard of this from one of the ponies there, but it certainly added more challenge and motivation to go out where the zombies were.

…Still, the ponies around here were a pathetic bunch that needed more calming about the situation.

“We should probably figure out what we know about the zombies first if we are to go out there soon.”

A few whispers could be heard, discussing the idea about them leaving the safety of their building.

“Well… they’re very slow, so it should be easy to go around them so long as we’re careful,” one of them chipped in.

“There’s a lot of them out there though,” a second voice put out. “It’s not their speed but their size we need to worry about.”

“Can’t we have a few of us flying to watch out for that?”

“There’s some pegasus zombies out there in the sky as well, just as slow and numerous as the ground. Not sure if it would help us at all having eyes in the sky.”

“I… I think I saw Rainbow Dash up there. Even at half her speed, she’s still faster than any of us. She’d get us for sure.”

Most of the talks revolved around them planning how to go around the place and what to look out for. It didn’t take long for them to calm down to an appropriate level for the princess.

“What about a cure? Does anyone know where it can be located?”

Everyone looked to one another, finding themselves unable to answer.

“Do you know where it could be, Princess Luna?”

“No, I don’t.” They all groan, their hope of an easy win thrown out the door. “So that would mean we need to split up into groups and look around for it. Anypony that doesn’t want to be a part of this should stay hidden and keep doors locked. As for myself, I should go venture by myself since any group I do go with would be at an unfair advantage.” Standing up, Princess Luna fluffed her wings, getting ready to leave the building.

“But where should we look in the first place?”

“What about the source of the outbreak?”

“Could we even find where that would be?”

“We can make an educated guess. There’s also a few places hinted at by some of the ponies that were out there, talking and leaving those weird clues before this all started!”

“That’s right, some of them were talking about some… mad scientist and her carrying around antidotes just in case something went wrong.”

“So that could also mean we need to go to the library, the outskirts of Everfree, and the mayors.”

“Don’t forget about finding the first infected as well, we could just find them which could lead us to what infected them, which in turn could have us lead to a cure in some form.”

“How would we even go about figuring out the first infected?”

“Hey, I don’t know if any of you remember but Lyra was acting really weird before all of this started, more so than usual. She was all wobbly and looking incredibly pale.”

“I remember that as well, I just thought she had too much salt.”

“Okay then,” the princess said, making her way to the door. “It seems everypony here has an idea of what to do. I’m going to personally head over to Lyra’s and see if there’s anything there while you all go to the other locations.”

“Alright princess, just watch out for all those zombies!”

“And keep an eye out for Lyra while you’re out!”

“Don’t forget the alien!”

Just as the princess was about to open the door, she stopped hearing that. “Why would I need to keep an eye on that thing?”

“Because he’s our friend?”

“He might be frightened out there with all the zombies!”

“And he’s not a thing, he’s an alien!”

“He’s also very fun to be around.”

“And those hands of his!”

All the mares could be heard sighing hearing that, along with a few stallions. The princess, as curious as she was about that, didn’t want to stick around for more praises toward the anomaly that was Anon. Without looking back, she quickly shot herself into the sky.

Knowing that the night would help her more than it would the zombies, she placed a spell around her to help warp the dark around her better. Swimming around in the air was an endeavor for sure with how many pegasi were already turned. Luna was certain she saw Loyalty up there, growling-cackling while looking for her next victim. The princess was glad they were forced to be slow in their movements but she wasn’t certain just how much the rainbow-maned mare would follow that rule.

Quickening her flight, it didn’t take long for her to arrive at Lyra’s house. Knowing it would be a bad idea to go through the front door, she slowly descended herself to the second-story window. Not seeing anyone there, she teleported herself inside before immediately looking around for anything tied to the infection. The clues and such are typically quite obvious about what they are, to help prevent from unneeded snooping around.

Skimming through the contents on the desk, Luna came across an odd book. She would have ignored it, save for the name ‘Alien Diary’ written across the front. Her curiosity getting the better of her, she opened it to the first page.

day one of diary
lyra forcing me to write in this and any thoughts ive should be put she said to me
ii find it a of a pain but ii said yes with her
she told me to write in their words
it is difficult to do but she said for practice to get better
she said that ii would be the only one looking in this unless ii say so or if its askeed for
at least magic horse is giving me some privacy thats good
at this time its been over a week being here in this land of make believe
ii still find it hard to get over the fact that im here i will get gleauk back for this
writing is still difficult so ii am stopping for now

The princess flipped through a few of the pages before reading further.

Day why am I here?
Lyra says I stay at apple farm for another week. This time its with a rainbow colored pony named.
Rainbow is an interesting character to be around. She even showed me that she can manipulate weather.
That’s neat. At least my week with her won’t be boring. Not that my time so far has been boring.
The time at the farm, along with the ponies moving me about has kept me from thinking about home.
I’m feeling a bit homesick, and each day that goes by adds more to that feeling.
I can’t be sure if there is a way to get back ho
I have to leave. Lyras taking me to a lake now. She has a box with her too. I wonder what that’s for.

Reading more of the book made her realize it was, in fact, the alien’s diary of its time in Ponyville. Its writing seemed to have improved at a fairly good rate, though from what she read the alien’s speaking skills have gotten to a slow improvement rate in comparison.

Day Nightmare Night in Equestria.
I really need to write the actual day count in these things.
All the preparations have been made for tonight. I have my costume on and the zombie event is still on.
Lyra will be the first to turn. Peppy has all the unicorns all ready to be turned at his command.
I’m just glad they won’t come after me since I’m an alien. It’ll be amusing to watch them move away from me as I walk through them.
I was given a vial that’s supposed to be used as the ‘cure’.
It can only work if both Lyra and I are together. I suppose walking around the town as this goes on will give these ponies a chance to find me, if they do at all, that is.
It’ll all be moot once the town hall’s clock bell rings at midnight, leaving the cure unusable.
I don’t reasonably get why the cure would still work if someone had been fed on, but whatever I’m not going to nitpick the logic on this.
I hope these ponies can take my worlds’ zombies well enough. It should be interesting though to see their reactions.

“So the alien came up with these zombies?”

She wondered why they looked so much more terrifying than they should. It was something to look into later about the… alien.

Princess Luna blinked, looking down at the journal. She thought over everything that had occurred involving the alien and his caretakers.

Things started to click into place. Every report before the alien scenario showed Lyra as being studious in her work and highly talented in magic but never involved with magical theories or spell making. She didn’t have the kind of drive that someone like Twilight had for magic. The idea that she had made an automaton and invented new tools seemed so far-fetched, yet they went along with it for so long.

“...Oh no.”

The idea that it was real kept kicking around in her head. She wanted to refute it, yet after seeing it, nothing would allow her to think otherwise.

“No-no-no-no…”

And then there was the repercussion should this get out. Not even the council was on her mind, but of other nations. So many different treaties and trade deals revolved around the treatment of newly integrated beings.

Yet here they were, treating the alien as a thing. Thoughts on how they took away funding to force him to get a job, ignoring any kind of decorum that would normally be held to an ambassador floated around her head.

Luna closed the diary, placing it back down on the desk, staying her calm facade as she began to work. She went over to the windows, magically locking them before closing the curtains. The door was also locked with magical seals. A soundproofing ward was erected, along with an anti-magical scrying spell.

Another spell had her hoof glowing a dark blue. She started to write a magical scripture on the ground, her spell sticking to the ground like ink. It took no more than half a minute to prepare the runes needed. Old magic, but reliable.

Flashing her horn once more and the spell erupted with a swirl, a circle now forming over the area. In but a second, she could see Celestia’s form, currently sitting at a table, eating some sweets while reading a book. A piece of gentle sounding music played on her phonograph, a lulling scene taking place.

The scene was shattered as her sister shot up into the air, forming an ethereal champron and peytral before turning to Luna. Noting just who it was, Celestia seemed to hesitate, her armor formation halting. The spell flickered, fizzling off into nothing.

“L-Luna?” She looked around at the spell in front of her. “What is the meaning of this? Using a gate like this, and you even inscribed the ground? How could you thi－” Celestia clicked her jaw shut, seeing her sister barely holding herself together. “Luna, what’s wrong?”

“HE’S REAL-HE’S REAL-HES’ REAL-HE’S REAL－”

She started to run around the room, incapable of holding back the turmoil inside her, flinging herself around with reckless abandon.

“HE’S REAL-HE’S REAL-HE’S REAL-HE’S REAL－”

Things were thrown around the room, most of them somehow ending through the port. A chair, some books, and… Celestia was confused about the bowl containing fire, and why that existed in the first place.

“HE’S REAL-HE’S REAL- HE’S REAL- OH SISTER WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO!”

Luna collapsed in front of the port. “Every single nation is going to hear about our blunder and they’ll demand re-negotiations for breaking our treaties as they’ve oh so wanted those foul beings and we’ll lose so much face and the council will vie for more power and we’re gonna look like cretinous leaders of oath-breakers!”

Princess Celestia watched her sister let out an agonizing groan of despair, waiting for her to calm down.

“Luna, please. Explain to me what has happened that has made you so… volatile.”

She spat out a laugh, “Oh sister, you don’t want to hear this. I must say it, but to know what I say will fill you with such anguish you will have wished for King Neigh-Say’s return than to know of this truth.”

Celestia shuddered, hearing that name. “We have agreed to never speak of that name.”

Luna ignored her words, slowly explaining what had transpired that night involving the alien. She went into agonizing detail of how she had attempted to derail the previously thought automatons spell matrix, and then coming to the conclusion of its validity as a true being, watching it interact with others and move around as it had.

Her sister refused it at first, but Luna merely had to provide how impossible it was for anyone but master workers and beings with high magical outputs, not someone like Lyra in the latter, to even come close to creating something as intricate as the alien in golemancy.

“What are we going to do?” Luna asked. “If anyone finds out about this, we won’t be able to live it down for generations. Imagining the grandkids of some ruler just bringing this up in future negotiations irritates me to no end. I swear if that happens I’ll suffocate them in their sleep! Until they’re dead－”

“Luna!”

“Fine, I’ll only suffocate until they’re partially dead!”

“Luna, stay calm. Remember the Bucking-Ham Palace incident? Or perhaps the twiddly-winks event? We’ll do what we always do in these situations.”

“...Talk out of one’s behind and pretend we were doing things on purpose?”

“Exactly.”

“The alien is real, how are we supposed to convince that individual that what we said was not a cause for concern? I’ve read his journal and he thought we were going to banish him to the moon! Or at least he believed you were. You do have a good history of that, I seem to recall. Surely a cause for concern.”

Celestia glared at her sister.

“We’ll think of something like always. Perhaps he’ll even work with us on this. I’ll think of something while you finish your night there. Just come back afterward and have a good night’s rest. I have a feeling you’ll be needing it with all the work we’ll have to do in covering all this up.”

“Yes… right, you’re right. I’ll just continue as if things are fine. But if I may ask, how are you even holding up so well as you are?”

Princess Celestia let out a light chuckle, “Oh, I’m not. The moment this call ends I’ll lose my composure and probably throw some things around like you. Speaking of which, take these back,” she said, levitating the previously thrown items back through. “Clean up before you leave, and enjoy your… horrifying run.”

“Okay, and enjoy your not-so-relaxing-anymore time off.”

Just as Luna was collapsing the port, she saw a glimpse of Celestia throwing her head back, running around and throwing things as a scream was quickly cut off on her end.

Cleaning the room up, she noticed a clock on the wall. It was thirty minutes to midnight. She knew the alien had the vial, and perhaps if she was fast enough, she may be able to finish the run with some kind of win.

Removing her magical hoofsteps from the room, she went to the door. She could see the door down the hallway open. Opening it slowly revealed one of the Elements, Kindness, currently tied up in rope, hanging in the air.

“Fluttershy?”

The mare jumped in fright from the sudden voice. Swiveling her body, the pony turned her head to the princess, surprise clear on her face. “P-Princess Luna! W-What are you doing here?”

“I could ask the same of you.”

Fluttershy cowered at the princess. It was a pain to dealing with Fluttershy from her lack of confidence and ease of frights. Seeing she wasn’t going to answer back, the princess spoke herself.

“As you should be aware of the run going on, I am currently looking for the cure myself along with the… alien…”

“Anon? Oh, he’s um, downstairs right now taking a break from things. I came up here because he told me it would be a good idea to do so if I wanted to hide.”

“You chose the wrong room to hide in, it seems,” the princess said right before levitating the ropes down to the ground.

The pegasus immediately unraveled herself out of her bindings before scampering toward the bathroom of the room, likely to hide once more.

A twang, a snap, and Fluttershy once more found herself hoisted in the air from more hidden ropes.

Rolling her eyes, the princess once more brought her down to the ground in annoyance. This time Fluttershy managed to not get strung up before locking herself inside the bathroom.

“At least I don’t have to look all over town for him,” Luna said, walking down the stairs to the alien.

The character in question wasn’t particularly difficult to miss, what with his tall stature and unique costume. Sitting in the kitchen, the alien was currently drinking some kind of drink. Finding some reluctance with being around what was becoming clearer to her was an actual alien and not some fake tool or dressed up being, Luna pushed it down and made her way to him. Upon noticing the princess, he slowly set his drink down, wiping his mouth.

“Hello, Princess Luna,” he greeted her calmly and without the odd, growling voice from before.

“I am here for your part in the cure for the run.”

He looked quite shocked to hear that. “Oh wow, I honestly did not think the clues Peppy put out would help anyone in finding that! Really, I find the whole thing a tad convo-luted with the cure mixed in the run.”

Opening one of his clasps on his belt, he pulled out a vial with a blue liquid inside.

“I don’t get how giving this to the first zombie would make things alright. It’s not like how it is with vampires and killing off the head honcho could recon-vert some of the others. Anyways… I just have to administer this to the original infected and you’re all set. Have you f—”

“It’s Lyra.”

He chuckled at her answer. “Yeah, that was too obvious wasn’t it? I told Peppy about that and all but he just wouldn’t change it, not with how little time he had left to plan things. Oh well, there is always next year if there is another one?”

Finishing his drink, Anon stood up, placing the vial back in his belt before readjusting his costume. Before the two of them could do anything else, a banging on the front door could be heard.

“So maybe there were others that figured out the clues?” Anon said, looking out the window. “Oh, never mind, the zombies are just banging on the door. Maybe they saw you coming in, princess?”

“Or they saw you coming in and wanted to see who else would follow?” she answered back.

He simply shrugged at her answer. “Who knows? So where do you want to go now?”

“…Obviously wherever Lyra is right now.”

“I haven’t the sligh-test idea where she is at the moment. I sort of thought you would have her located already.”

“So where would she usually be right now?”

“Dunno, she is a zombie right now. For all I know she is eating someone. Though in fairness, most everypony is likely either doing what I am right now, hiding or had already changed.”

Princess Luna mentally sighed to herself. “Why not take a guess where she is right now. Unless you have any obligations to keep me from her yourself?”

“No, I think I can take a fair guess where she’d hole up right now,” he said, rubbing his jaw for a moment before heading to the door.

The moment he walked outside, the zombies crowding around the door shuffled back, giving him a wide berth to wade through them. The princess followed closely by him, keeping the zombie's plenty of space as she stuck close to him.

“I thought that there would be a few more ponies for me to be bugged by,” he said, rubbing his jaw. “Peppy’s plans didn’t go as well as he hoped it seems; at least you’ll get a prize at the end of this, whatever that is.”

“Why are you rubbing your jaw so much?” the princess asked, feigning a nonchalant attitude while trying to observe the alien now that she had a chance.

“It is… still somewhat difficult for me to speak for too long without being sore in the jaw. Your language is rough on it, you see.”

“I can certainly hear it.” The princess moved closer to Anon after a zombie attempted a jump at her, much closer than she was comfortable with. “So how has your time in our lands been?”

“It has been… interesting. Certainly not something I would ever imagine going through in my world, especially with all the magic. But I cannot say it has been horrible, Lyra and Bon Bon have helped with my stay here. Speaking of Lyra…”

Walking to the center of the town where they hold their marketplace, Anon walked up to a particular stand, making the princess confused at what was going on. Pushing himself over the counter, a grunt could be heard from him before he grabbed at something. Coming back up with him was a hideously deformed Lyra, covered in what appeared to be cut up fruits and smoothie blends. Her engorged belly showed just how much she had spent devouring the drinks.

“Of course you’d be here. Well, Princess Luna, I guess now you—”

A loud clanging could be heard all across the area without notice. The zombies that were surrounding them immediately stopped their groaning and stumbling at the noise.

“Well… that sucks. You almost had it there, princess.”

“There’s always next year!” Lyra spouted with a waving of her hooves.

Staring at her disgusting costume, Luna could see it now grotesquely moving around her body. Morphing her body, the costume could be seen dripping off her and onto the ground, accompanied by a few sparkles showing that the magic in her form was dissipating, returning the pony to her original form.

Within moments, the costumes remnants shriveled up until they turned into a floppy puddle at their hooves. Looking at the others, the same thing could be seen happening to everyone else.

A loud cheering roared from the ponies all around, dancing and laughing as if the previous scene was nothing to get worked up about. One pony, in particular, walked up to Princess Luna, holding some kind of package tied to his side.

“Princess Luna! Who would have thought that you would get so into this zombie run!” The cheering died down to allow everyone to hear the pony. “Now for anyone still not in the know, these zombies were based on Anon’s design from his world.”

Understanding could be seen on their faces, many had wondered just why they looked so different and hideous.

“Now, everyone should know that to win the grand prize you needed to find the cure and administer it to the original infected!”

“Still think that’s a stupid idea,” Princess Luna could hear Anon mumble to himself.

“Sorry you couldn’t get the cure to the zombie, but with how close you were in the end, I think to give you the prize should be perfectly fine. What does everyone say to that?” Many ponies cheered to that, congratulating the princess on winning. “So here’s your prize: The specially made human ingenuity of socks! Made especially by Rarity’s Boutique, you’ll get some unique colors not even out for order yet!”

Luna wasn’t sure how to respond to receiving a clothing article, let alone… socks. Levitating the box over to herself, Peppy nodded before turning back to the crowd.

“I hope that next year’s run will go better than this year!”

“And with more of us knowing what’s happening beforehoof!” a voice yelled out. Many ponies laughed at that.

“True, true,” Peppy acknowledged. “I will also have several more costumes prepared based on the human’s ideas up for sale in due time for anyone interested!”

Many cheered hearing that, talking about what exactly the costume pony had made up for sale. With all the hysteria gone from the previous zombie activity, everyone quickly went back to their stands for games and their houses to give out candy once more. Peppy had a group of volunteers collecting the odd goop that used to be the costumes.

Thinking back on the run, it was an entertaining event if somewhat contrived on many parts of it. Luna had to admit the alien was right on the cure part, which would hopefully be changed up in some way for the next year.

Her thoughts came to a stop, realizing she now had to deal with the alien. Luna had nothing to work with the problem she was in. Never would she have thought the scenario would have turned literal in any way.

Deciding to hold back and think on a solution to her current predicament, Luna proceeded to watch the alien interacting with the ponies for some time. As much as she wanted to ask him a thousand and one questions, she knew that holding up her current facade of calm would be crucial.

It wasn’t until the festivities were finally dying down that the princess decided it was time to confront the alien, forming some kind of plan involving everything so far. Currently, he was alongside his caretakers, speaking about their night from what Luna could guess. Walking up to the group, the three of them turned upon noticing her approaching.

“Anon,” she greeted,” once again I must mention that it is to my pleasure to finally meet you here tonight.”

“I am glad to have met you too,” he said politely.

“You previously mentioned that it was strange either I or my sister had done anything to see to you especially with what had been going on. As for an explanation…” She cleared her throat, trying to pull things off as smoothly as possible. “…We have been having to deal with certain things that made it difficult to speak to you at all.”

“It is not a huge deal; I understand that you would have things to do over talking to me.”

“Still, it was something that we should have set aside time to get to meet you and help you better transition yourself to our world. And seeing as we have some time tomorrow to properly sit down and speak with you, I’d like to invite you to the castle as my guest.”

There wasn’t time to set aside the next day, but it was of the utmost importance that both princesses get this out of the way and cover their tracks as much as they could lest certain individuals learn of what happened.

“Really?” the alien said, surprised to hear that.

“Yes, really,” Luna replied with a smirk. “We always have guest rooms set up for such things so there is no hassle in having you come right now. I know my sister especially would like to speak to you in the morning when she is up.”

A clapping of hooves could be heard to the side of Anon, Lyra looking giddy about the situation. “Eeeeh! We get to go to the castle, Anon! Won’t that be fun?!”

Before the princess could correct her, meaning the trip for him alone, Bon Bon jumped in. “We better pack some clothes up for him, Lyra. He’ll want to be as presentable as possible when he finally meets them in a formal setting.”

“We got to be quick girls, I do not think the princess wants to be kept waiting on us.”

As much as Princess Luna wanted to correct them, she thought doing so now would seem quite rude. Thinking on it though, it would make sense for his caretakers to come as well.

It didn’t take long for the three of them to return with a single travel case for the trip to the castle. Luna noticed that the alien had not changed out of his costume for some strange reason.

“Why are you still in your costume?” she asked him.

“It would take too long to change out of the costume,” he answered, “there are so many pieces I’d have to take off, and that’s not including putting on new clothes.”

“Could you not just go naked? Certainly, that would save you time in things.”

His face slightly flushed at what she said. “That’s not something nearly all humans would be comfortable with, Princess Luna.”

“If you say so,” she said, turning away from them. Walking toward the outskirts of the town, she looked around to where her carriage should be.

It was missing.

“…Ah, poo.”

She had forgotten her previous orders which prevented her from the access of said carriage. Luna had to think on the spot how to get them there without alerting the three on her big goof.

“…I will now perform an ancient spell which I came up with myself that will give the three of you pseudo-flight while it is up. It will be more like you are hovering in the air while being moved forward. You’ll have some level of control over it but for the most part, you will be tethered to me during the trip.”

Lyra’s eyes widened as a grin spread across her face. Bon Bon looked indifferent to the whole thing. Anon, it was hard to tell from his costume to read how he was feeling.

“It is safe to do this, right?” Anon asked, clearly uncertain about this.

“It’ll be fiiiine,” Lyra said, “besides, now you get to shove it in Dash’s face on how you got to fly! Oh!” She turned to the princess, concern on her face. “Just make sure to keep your magic from entering his head; that would be really, really bad!”

Turning away from them, the princess inhaled deeply, preparing herself to start up the ancient spell. It took some time to make sure she had it fully working from how little it’s been used for such a long time.

Aiming it toward the three, she enveloped their bodies in the magic, taking care to make sure none of it entered the mind of the human. Not that the spell needed to enter their bodies to work, but it wasn’t something she had needed to previously keep an eye on for her work.

The three of them yelped, being thrown up in the air without warning. “I hope you three don’t mind,” The princess said, a small grin appearing on her face, “but I want to get there quickly.”

Before they could respond, the princess shot off into the night air, forcing a scream out of them. It had been quite a while for the princess to travel at such speeds. Feeling a sense of freedom from it, she tried to enjoy herself on her trip while making sure the tethers were secured to them.

Taking a glance back at them, she saw three very amusing reactions from them. Lyra seemed to flail about, trying to find something to hold while she flew about. Still, she seemed to enjoy things. Bon Bon looked indifferent to everything with a blasé face, her body tilting from side to side. Anon, from what he was wearing, appeared as if he was truly flying, both arms stuck out and trying to keep some sort of pose. He looked quite impressive, the princess admitted.

It took only a few minutes to arrive at the castle for her, though she had to circle a few times to make sure she had her passengers settled before landing. It would be bad if they weren’t prepared for touching the ground.

“Oh crap, remember the superhero landing,” Luna barely heard, uttered from the alien.

Once on the landing pad, the three of them stumble about, trying to get their leggings. The human, comically, seemed to land with an arm shot to the ground. He then slowly stood up, putting up the imposing figure he presented back at Ponyville.

“That. Was. AWESOME!” Lyra declared, still trying to stand up straight. “Do it again, do it again!”

Her guards were already there, waiting for her return. They had been staring at the human, their jaws unhinged. Sunshine Smiles of all seemed uncertain about what to do, slowly turning to Luna. “P-Princess. I see you have returned. Everything with your previous orders has been completed.”

“That is good. Captain, as you can see I have brought guests to the castle. I need you to have someone escort them to their rooms and to be treated as ambassadors would.”

“Uh… Y-Yes, your highness,” he said, saluting her. “I will personally volunteer to take the… the group myself.”

“Make sure you have what we discussed ready and in my chambers after you have looked after them. I will be resting in my room for the rest of the night.”

Sunshine Smiles gave her one last salute before the princess walked past him, making her way down the hall and off toward her room with her box of socks. The two guards standing at her door saluted, opening it and closing behind her.

Princess Luna placed the box down, putting up a sound ward up to prevent any prying ears, just as she let out a loud groan and collapsing on her bed, exhausted. She hadn’t expected so much to happen, and for nothing to go her way.

A few minutes pass by, her head shoved in a pillow in thought.

‘There’s so much work to do. I don’t even know where to start. We’re going to need to reread every single report and take it seriously now.’

“What a night…”

“That hasn’t ended just yet, Princess Luna!”

Shooting her head up, she looked around for the eerily familiar voice. Horrifyingly, she saw that many places seemed to be covered in some kind of cracked, crumbly substance. The windows, the mirror, and even the door.

It was near the door she saw the small culprit, using some kind of magic to use her body to finish its work. A hoof pointed up toward the end of the door, its body forming outward into a kind of liquid substance that quickly dried into the same, crumbly substance like everything else.

“See, I was keeping this skill hidden from Pinkie Pie until I was done training, but I think it’s okay if you know it since I don’t plan on you leaving juuuust yet~”

“W-Wait, who are you?”

It turned around, throwing sprinkles in the air. “Yay! I am Crumble! I have returned for the deal!”

“Deal? Wait, how did you get in－” She looked at the box of socks, now seeing the lid off the top.

“Now a deal is a deal, princess!” She slowly walked up to the princess, the thing’s body getting slightly larger. “I can reform myself in so-ho-hooo many forms and shapes and sizes. And you are going to eat. Me. Up. Aaaaallll night!”

“No… NO!”

“Yay!”

Princess Luna’s cries throughout the night could not be heard, the guards standing there unaware of the horrors that were Crumble taking place in the room behind them.

~End Chapter Eleven~

Comments

[Earthpatriot117]

Oh my, has it really been a week already!? Xp

[Morphy]

And here I though confections couldn't be horrifying... -ly cute! Sorry Luna but you'll have to take one for the team.

I still have the image of Luna strutting around a jealous Celestia in her luscious socks; look what I got and you didn't, ha!

...can't wait for the next chapter of pony shenanigans.

[Alex3410]

Poor luna xD

[DarkSpider]

Once again, I'm happy they finally learn the truth. And I like to think that thing with Crumble (don't think that scene was in the original version) is karma on Luna for how she doubted Anon's existence for so long despite all the evidence

[toshibafox]

somehow listening to 'never going to give you up' by derpy hooves pmv on youtube summed up how I thought Luna felt when she learned Anon really existed.

[Princess Lulu]

“Now a deal is a deal, princess!”
this got me

[A Tin Can]

Huh, interesting little twist on non-consensual vore there at the end.

[Uros]

All eat CRUMBLE!

[Zobeid]

We’re going to need to reread every single report and take it seriously now.

This has been one of the puzzling things to me all along. Even if it was only a training scenario, wouldn't they want to treat it realistically? I mean, otherwise what is the whole point of the exercise?

[Onyx Wulfgar]

Poor Luna lol
Also f*****g finally! It’s about time they figured it out!

[Earthpatriot117]

Damn, I dont know whether to find the ending dark or hailorus. Xp
And I have to wait till next week to see what happens!

[Mist_Chaser]

A salespony who has magic masks and smiles...
A race of humanoid birds...
Many Zelda references spotted in this one chapter.

[Hominus]

“…No, you’d have one hundred and four.”

Im pretty sure 12x9 is one hundred and eight

[TheTownCrier]

Can't hardly wait for more shenanigans.

[Hazardus_Havard]

10095434
I will say the second one isn't a Zelda reference, but a D&D reference. Look back in a previous chapter and you'll see their race's name mentioned.
10095587
GAH. You're right, thanks for spotting that. For all my hard work checking errors and cleaning up the story in editing software, the one thing it can't do is math. I'm half tempted to start calling it the golem machine now.
10095654
Certainly more to come next week. Glad everyone is enjoying the story so far after all the work I'm putting in.

[Icy Creation]

“It’s getting pretty festive around here.”

YAY A NEW CHAPTER!
Sorry, I couldn't help it.

[Icy Creation]

‘She has likely tucked herself away in her room, enjoying some sweets and a good book while her phonograph plays,’ Luna thought with some envy.

Oh no, Luna wasn't informed...
That isn't good.

[Icy Creation]

Princess Luna’s cries throughout the night could not be heard, the guards standing there unaware of the horrors that were Crumble taking place in the room behind them.

Oh jesus ****ing christ...
That thing is terrifying.

[Icy Creation]

I really like this story already.
I hope it continues for a while.

[Always Breakfast]

10095682
10095741

To an extent. They're actually pretty rare until you hit the planetary scale -- we typically only get something as alarming as SARS jumping species a couple times a decade, and that's with some 8 billion candidate hosts running around in wildly varying states of sanitation.

Viruses are almost a non-issue in this specific case. Most viruses that jump species either originated in other primates or broke out through contaminated meat in countries with lax inspection (plenty of breeding ground to try mutating and people to try infecting). Most mutations capable of jumping flame out before ever finding a host, and a good deal that manage it score a whopping one infection because the mutation that let them do it is either too narrow to be widely pathogenic or it broke their transmission vector. Virus-wise, an alien would actually be a bigger threat to locals by accidentally carrying local viruses between them.

The bigger threat is germ infections, which often require little more than a warm body with fluids in it. Most of the deadliest diseases you're talking about weren't viruses, but parasites -- black plague, malaria, etc. The catch there is that most of them thrived specifically in poor sanitary conditions and unchecked pest infestations. Generally speaking something that aggressive and deadly isn't going to be part of normal body stasis for a civilized species (or even the pest species carrying it), or especially prevalent in a well-kept town. Unless an alien is either War of the Worlds style immunodeficient or drops into an openly hostile environment like the Amazonian jungle or an area of abject poverty, chances are they're not going to get much worse than the sniffles. And keep in mind even though their genetics are vastly different, we're dealing with a batch of aliens whose biology seems to roughly translate across, and that's what matters to germs -- so an infection that does happen would likely be quickly recognizable to the natives.

That's not a reason to be intentionally blasé about it of course. Any organized contact effort absolutely should be thinking about that kind of thing, and there's a reason we quarantined the Apollo astronauts just in case. But that comes from an abundance of caution. If the situation we're stuck with is that a mammalian space alien randomly crash lands near a moderately advanced and sanitary mammal-like civilization and isn't traveling around much, chances are surprisingly high that he'd be fine, barring the occasional Maretezuma's Revenge.

Of course as you said, magic kind of means all bets are off.

[AliCentaur Br0ny]

‘Maybe telling this pony about some of our cultures was a bad idea.’ Shrugging it off, he took his box and walked out the door, heading back to Lyra’s. ‘Whatever, worth it in the end just for this costume.’

Oh, the nightmares! What a way to get back at Princess Luna.

[Ashfur]

Oh hey, this story lives? I haven't seen it since its original run! Although that one kinda derailed around the time the human was kidnapped and encountered some discord-made humanlike creature. Kinda jumped the shark there, I hope that things stay in Canterlot/ponyville this time... or if it does happen, I hope it's handled better. Went too fast last time.

[Fireeaters]

Lol

[RedMage0661]

This chapter feels odd in places, like hearing an off key note in a melody. I have no idea if you are still adapting the original story or have moved on to new material, but a few things felt like they were glossed over or forced in. Most of the weirdness comes from the Luna and Celestia characters. Keep up the good work.

[Dragonwaz]

“I can’t wait to see this in action with someone’s flesh being torn off! I even set it up so the flesh could stay hidden until the person gets ‘infected’ and their skin starts to decay!” He let out a maniacal laugh, clapping his hooves together. “This’ll be the best Nightmare Night EVER!”

Can already tell Luna is not going to react well. Love the idea though I felt almost as excited for the event as the shop keeper.

Edit* Wow that misunderstanding plot setup for the zombies went way better than expected and finally the main misunderstanding plot hit the turning point.

[Dragonwaz]

10095434
Humanoid birds might be a reference to the MLP movie and the race captain Celano was. But the other is definitely the Happy mask salesman from Majora's mask.

[Mist_Chaser]

10096294
I was thinking Rito of BotW being a reference in this rewrite.

[RenegadeAlias]

10094917
Face-raped by a cookie monster.

[Thule]

10095001
Reminds me of this little thing from "The Hitchhiker's guide to The Galaxy"

[AvidSeason]

Honestly.....Crumble is a good cookie, probably. As long as she's part chocolate I'd at least try a bite.

[Sozmioi]

10095103

The only two things I can think of are: 1) you do things differently when they're real and when you're pretending they're real, and 2) meeting him would 'obviously' not actually work, so they had to make do with giving instructions.

[Zetar]

Your story is sincerely amazing, I hope you can continue with it.
Everything is hilarious.

[Jack-Pony]

10095834 [A friendly reminder, a response not on the chapter it was made in DOES NOT notify the respondee]
I'm just going to leave these right here...
https://businesstech.co.za/news/general/71652/the-biggest-killer-diseases-in-history/

[Noobly60]

So amazing!

[Viper Pit]

10096317
I thought it was to obvious

[Always Breakfast]

10098915
I mean...yes, you just listed exactly what I said: a bunch of viruses vanishingly unlikely to transmit to an alien species at all when only one candidate is available to try and evolve against, and parasite infections almost uniformly propagated by poor sanitation and unchecked pest infestations. Tuberculosis is about the only one there that transmits among a "clean" population, and that's because about 90% of people infected never develop symptoms at all.

Like, sure, malaria was absurdly deadly for hundreds of thousands of years when we were banging rocks together and pooping in pots we left in our bedrooms. But it plummeted over the last few centuries just as standards of living improved (we didn't even isolate the cause until the early 1900s, and the only known treatment was far too expensive to ship in the kind of bulk needed). Records in the US show death tolls over the entire 1700-1900 period that used to happen annually. It plummeted again when the CDC formed around 1950-ish as a federal effort to wipe it out, and other countries followed suit. Today it remains deadly in sub-Saharan Africa, where extreme poverty, poor sanitation, and pest infestations have persisted long enough for resistant strains to start cropping up. But almost everywhere else, the disease that once killed half of everyone ever now kills in the single digits -- and of those, almost exclusively people with underlying conditions.

Equestria doesn't seem that far behind mid-1900s Western civilization, and we don't exactly see ponies dying of dysentery. And even if an alien was dropped into, say, feudal pre-Hearth's Warming where they probably did, there's little reason to believe he'd be any worse off than the surrounding population. If anything, his awareness of hygiene centuries ahead of his surroundings would make him less likely to get sick, because he'd be making every effort to boil water, wash up, etc.

[Jack-Pony]

10099443 No, that is NOT what you said.

Viruses are almost a non-issue in this specific case. Most viruses that jump species either originated in other primates or broke out through contaminated meat in countries with lax inspection (plenty of breeding ground to try mutating and people to try infecting).

So, not only are you just wrong and not owning it, but you're arguing a completely different point. It doesn't matter how hygienic you think you are, diseases still spread, and as an alien from a completely different ecosystem you WOULD effectively be immune-compromised. Just look at what happened when the Europeans came to the new world, bringing small pox! The Europeans didn't see it as a big deal, but to the natives, it's a plague the likes of which they couldn't even imagine, let alone fight off!

Edit: I've said about all I have to say on the subject. Please look at the material available on how seriously organizations like the CDC, WHO, and even the ESA and NASA take foreign contagions. This isn't just something pulled out of thin air, it's generally viewed as being a very real threat.

[Always Breakfast]

10100338
So...you didn't read the paragraph right after that where I specifically talked about germ infections, even called them out as the bigger threat, and addressed those separately. And you also didn't read the part where I said people absolutely shouldn't be blasé about these things IRL, and that any organized first contact effort with an alien species should be considering it out of an abundance of caution. And you also are using the example of smallpox, a virus infection that exploded specifically because it was introduced between disparate civilizations of the same species, which is not possible here.

This doesn't just come down to Dangerous Things Exist And That's Bad. The specific pathogenicities and transmissibilities matter. If a human went to a far-removed human planet (or even visited aliens who themselves visited a different human planet), yes that would be a huge red flag because of dormant viruses getting carried between the same species ala smallpox. If a human went to an alien civilization that was very poor or not particularly advanced, yes that would be dangerous due to non-viral parasitic infections ala malaria -- albeit roughly the same danger it already would be for the natives, and he already knows how to minimize risk because you prevent most parasites the same ways.

If full-on world-to-world contact happened, you'd start to see viral stuff occasionally jumping the gap over a span of years/decades. But that's not even the real nightmare outcome, and it makes me think it's you that isn't fully appreciating what the CDC, WHO, etc would have to deal with in an alien contact scenario. The really scary part is viral infections getting carried around between locals by foreigners who are immune to them and may not even be able to detect or be vaccinated against stuff they can't catch. Rest assured all those organizations would have their hands very full with every pony who volunteers for Doctors Without Borders and accidentally brings dormant human viruses they tested negative for back to Equestria. Enjoy getting ebola while on vacation in Canterlot!

But none of these things are really relevant to the specific plot hook where one guy shows up and quickly gets moved to a clean town with modern-ish sanitary and medical facilities handy -- it pretty much dodges all the big bullets.

(Actually, now that I think about it, there is an unusual disease risk in the story, and ironically it's not to the main character. Depending on where Gleekman's shady contacts are, it might be more likely that Lyra or Bon-Bon might come down with some exotic overseas pony virus Anon picked up from Gleekman and/or the missile.)

[ClosetBrony]

Another excellent update. I remember how much fun there was to be had and there still is. I was just thinking. Did you predict the cat people 4 years before the movie came out? I think you did. Keep up the good work. I look forward to the next update.

[TallFreak]

Oh my god, Crumble. Luna is gonna have a long night

[EnderHooves]

He walked over to one of his windows, staring out into the street. “I was getting worried since he still hasn’t arrived. Nightmare Night makes up a bulk of my sales after all. I do hope nothing bad happened to him. He was always so eager to sell his face masks to me with a smile…”

Sounds like he met with a terrible fate, doesn't it?

‘Sweet Solaire, what in the damned fires of Tartarus is that?!’

THE TREE WAS RIGHT!!! PRAISE THE SUN!!!
Crumble No!!
Very nice chapter.

[Marker]

Hearing a clipping of hooves coming from down the hall drove the princess out of her thoughts. Walking into the room was Sunshine Smiles with two night guards following on either side of him.

Sunshine Smiles!
derpicdn.net/img/view/2012/3/20/3749.png

[AyanamiRei]

Crumbly is one disturbing character, I'll grant you that.

Also: I am having a real blast reading through your story! <3

Looking forward to seeing how Celestia & Luna navigate through this mess.

[Frazzle2Dazzle]

“Now a deal is a deal, princess!” She slowly walked up to the princess, the thing’s body getting slightly larger. “I can reform myself in so-ho-hooo many forms and shapes and sizes. And you are going to eat. Me. Up. Aaaaallll night!”

This... This is so wrong, and yet, I cannot stop laughing.

[Lioth]

“You have been a great deal of help to me. I usually get somepony that comes out here every year to sell me specially made masks to help boost my sales. Clever little things, it was as if you became what you wore, and by the time the holiday was over, they’d vanish without a trace. So many ponies were eager to come in the next year for more.”

OH SHIT ITS THE MASK SALESMAN FROM MAJORAS MASK!

[KvAT]

Now its time for the fallout to begun spreading. I love how Celestia kept enough composure to not lose her absolute sanity until after Luna went away xD

[chibilink]

Gathering them, they head off into the forest just as the princess went into the town herself.

Crumble no!
Crumble Yes!

[Comrade_Stallion]

He galloped over to a hidden area he had in the back covered by an array of dark, red curtains. Pulling them away, he revealed to Anon the costumes he had been relentlessly working on for the past week, showcasing one of the ideas he had passed off. It was a hideous abomination, something that looked straight out of a high budget Hollywood film.

When John Carpenter is a pony

[GrimDarkSurvivor]

"Food Ponies" being magically created constructs sounds like a good idea. This is the 3rd time I've seen a "Food Pony" get introduced as a character in a story.

[Prince Leviathan]

Crumble
The snack that enjoys back.