A Nightmare Night You'll Never Forget

by WolfsFury

II: Arrival of the King and Queen

Twilight, Spike and a very hesitant Fluttershy reached town as the moon began to rise over the horizon, marking the beginning of the festival. Fluttershy had already freaked when a small group of fillies dressed as skeleponies ran past them, shouting greetings before bounding down to the next house, bags rapidly filling with lollies. It had taken Twilight's magic to separate the scared pegasus from the tree branch and several comforting words assuring the 'skeleponies' were just a couple of fillies, before they progressed any further. By this point many residents were already out and about, watching over fillies and colts as they went house to house for the night's delicious treats.

Twilight however was more captured in the way the town square had been set up. Much like last year with decorations everywhere, activity stalls set up, with banners and flags bearing the Mare on the Moon insignia along with carved pumpkins, hanging fake skeleponies and other ghouly things. Originally there had been a huge banner up welcoming the princesses but that was taken down earlier that day by none other than Twilight herself. Twilight had warned the mayor not to put anything up, the three of them were here to enjoy the day, not ruin it for the other ponies as their presence would normally.

That was also partly the reason behind the three Princesses chosen costumes, although Twilight's did little to hide herself and she was looking forward to the arrival of Celestia and Luna. However, in Celestia's defence, Luna didn't give her much say in the matter.

They passed two ponies, who stopped in their tracks and bowed, receiving a smile and dip of the muzzle from Princess Twilight as she passed, before finally moving on their way. She was still getting used to that, and quite frankly was annoyed by it. Sure she had wings and a crown now, but she was still a pony.

"T-Tw-Twilight!" Fluttershy stuttered, catching Twilight's attention again and the alicorn-dressed-as-a-dragon turned around to see, through the cutout holes of Fluttershy's costume, the pegasus's wide eyes and if the visible shaking of the cloth wasn't enough, the whimper she made and quick duck-and-hide behind Twilight told anypony she was frightened of something. That something was rapidly approaching as well.

"Hey Twilight! Hey Spike!" came an excited voice from in front of her and as she turned her head around she was met with two black figures with fangs and bug-like wings - but one thing stood out, their eyes. She smiled at them as they approached. That smile quickly faded when the two of them dropped to their knees to bow.

"Oh come on you two, it's bad enough everyone else does it," Twilight said, her tone on the verge of annoyance, as Applejack and Pinkie Pie rose with smug grins. It was a clear indication they had deliberately done that to stir her up and it had obviously worked.

"Aw, sugarcube don't feel bad, you are a Princess afterall... We're just teasing ya, aren't we Pinkie?"

"Yep! Saaay Twilight, are you that... thing from the swamp?" Pinkie asked, looking at Twilight's costume with curiousity.

"Do I seriously look like that?" Spike interrupted, sounding very unamused and causing Pinkie Pie to turn around, confused.

"I'm Spike," Twilight finally said, pulling her friend's attention back to her and then pointing a clawed-hoof at her assistant, "and he's me."

There was a brief silence before Applejack and Pinkie Pie toppled over with laughter, leaving both Spike and Twilight standing there with rather confused looks.

"What's so funny?" Twilight asked, annoyed. Applejack lifted herself up, laughter subsiding and attempted to answer.

"Sorry Twi, Ah was just tryin' ta imagine if you really were Spike and Spike really was you," she said, pulling her Changeling partner up from the ground and dusting off her coat.

"Ah-huh," came the response from both the dragon and alicorn.

"Say, you two wouldn't happen to have seen Fluttershy, would you?" the changeling-farm pony asked, and lifted a brow when it was Twilight's turn to laugh as the alicorn turned around to reveal... what might have been a white rock had it not been shaking violently.

"Oh Fluttershy-" Pinkie gasped and bounded over to the shaking 'boulder', picking it up and squeezing, bouncing up and down, "-it's so good that you could come! This is going to be soooo much fun! A-And we'll make sure Nightmare Moon doesn't gobble you up this year!"

"C-ca-nt -br-ea-th-"

"Pinkie!" Twilight and Applejack said in unison, causing the changeling pony to freeze mid-air (and while normally they would have then stared and wondered how that was even possible, they had long since given up on trying to understand and find logic, and instead, just went along with it), still hugging Fluttershy. She glanced from Twilight and Applejack to the blanket-covered Fluttershy and she quickly released her, dropping both of them to the ground with a sheepish grin and muttering something of an apology.

"I-I'm okay," Fluttershy said quietly and then jumped again as somepony wearing a zombpony costume ran past, making the other four laugh once more.

Twilight turned her attention back to Applejack with a question, "have you seen Rainbow Dash or Rarity?"

"Yeah, Rarity's waitin' for us up where Princess Celestia and Luna are coming in from," Applejack replied, looking and pointing a hoof in her direction, "and Rai- RAINBOW! Don't ya dare!" the pony's voice startled Twilight and the four of them looked up to see what she was yelling at. Sure enough, Rainbow Dash was poised to strike her thunder cloud.

"C'mon Rainbow, you did that last year," said the alicorn to which Spike and Applejack nodded.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and jumped off the cloud, flapping twice and then landing firmly on the ground with a smug grin, "so? A good prank never gets old."

"Maybe but-"

Twilight was abruptly cut off by a loud crack of thunder from behind them, accompanied by flashes of lightning. The sky had quite suddenly darkened, storm clouds rolling in from seemingly nothingness. No rain fell, but flash after flash lit the small town of Ponyville.

"Wh-what's going on? I didn't order any storms for tonight! Where did these clouds come from?" Rainbow asked, almost frantically. She turned to face Twilight and was taken aback by the evil grin on her face, "what are you smiling about?"

"Come on girls, or we'll miss the Princesses arrive!" Twilight replied and let their own memories dance back to Princess Luna's entrance from last year and they sped off after her.

"Girls? What about me?" Spike shouted after them.

Twilight turned around with a giggle, "well you're playing as me - so that makes you a girl for tonight!"

Spike lifted a claw to protest but realised it was futile and bolted after them.

---

Many of the other ponies had followed Twilight's lead and assumed this was all supposed to happen for the arrival of Celestia and Luna and as a result they formed a crowd around the elevated platform they were due to arrive on, thunder and lightning still flashing and crackling.

"This is gonna be soooooo gooooooood," Pinkie Pie said, narrowing her eyes at the sky and looking around for the Princesses chariot. The group of fillies and colts from last year surrounded her, shaking with eager excitement.

Then there was quite suddenly a blindingly bright flash that forced the residents of Ponyville to turn their heads, followed by several small explosions on the ground not far from them and when they finally could look again, before them stood a wall of shadowy black smoke. Everypony was utterly frozen to the spot, curious, fearful and staring in wonder when a hideous laughter rang out from the shadows and seemed to echo off invisible walls. It was accompanied by an even more sinister one that sounded more like two voices acting as one and many ponies took a weary step backwards.

A shining metal hoof shot out from the shadows and landed on the platform with a loud 'clunk', followed by another black hoof. Two sets of green eyes suddenly appeared within the darkness and then the two creatures both took another step forward. The foggy smoke began to fade and revealed the two creatures. On the left stood a creature as tall as Celestia, black in colour with teal coloured mane and piercing green eyes. On the right stood a much shorter unicorn, mane and tail moving and shifting like shadows, armour wrapping his neck and hooves and a red cape over his shoulders and back. Both of them had devilish grins on as they saw the entire crowd freeze in fear.

And then there was Pinkie Pie.

"Oh my..., IT'S QUEEN CHRYSALIS AND KING SOMBRA - RUUUUUUUN!!" she screamed, half frozen in mid-air, and bolted off in the opposite direction. Fluttershy had followed in hot pursuit.

Chrysalis blinked in sudden surprise, turning to face Sombra momentarily until he crouched low and then shot himself up, head held forward as a predatory roar escaped his jaws. Who knew ponies could even do that? Just like last year when they first met Luna, the same group of fillies who had grouped around Pinkie when the crowd was gathering, screamed and chased after her as fast as their little legs could carry them. Sombra chuckled, his voice deep but smooth and hissing, and lifted his foreleg in the air, standing proud before the fear-frozen ponies. Chrysalis had turned her head back towards the crowd before the fillies had taken off and was now in the air, transparent wings humming at an amazing speed to keep her aloft.

King Sombra lowered his head slightly, parting his jaws and licking his lips, then grinning and launching himself off the platform into the middle of the crowd, his steel shoes creating a loud thud as he landed and all ponies in the immediate vicinity having either followed Pinkie's example or moved just in time as the crystal king gazed around upon his would-be victims as they screamed and took off in the opposite direction. He let out a rough laugh, causing yet more ponies to run away in fear.

All the while Twilight Sparkle was sitting there thinking, this is the best Nightmare Night ever.

"Uh- Twi?! How do we fight them both?" came a shaky voice from behind her, startling her and as she turned she found the voice had come from Rainbow Dash.

"Fight? Well I suppose we could mock fight... just for fun but not for real, someone could get hurt!" Twilight replied, using a hoof to gesture and smiling. She returned her gaze to her friends, who were all giving her rather weird looks.

"That's King Sombra and Queen Chrysalis, why aren't you taking this seriously?!"

"Why are you taking it seriously? Calm down girls... it's not really them," the alicorn said calmly and directed their attention to Chrysalis, who had somehow snuck up on them and was standing behind her group of friends. Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Applejack turned their heads and as the changeling queen smiled, all three jumped back in surprise, brief screams escaping them that were all interrupted as Rarity fainted and their attention momentarily diverted. That was when Chrysalis did something unexpected.

"Oh- Rarity, sorry! Is she okay? I didn't mean to scare her that much!" came her echo-like voice and drew looks of utter confusion from the changeling-farm pony and adventurer pegasus. They heard a giggle from behind them as Twilight passed them and sat beside Chrysalis, earning now shocked expressions from her friends.

"Oh calm down, you forget what night it is. Surely if I can make something like this, two alicorns with thousands of years magical experience can do a far greater job than anyone could possibly imagine," Twilight said, still smiling as her friends' stares returned to Chrysalis, who was in fact happily smirking.

"Yah mean to say-"

"That's Princess Celestia?!" Rainbow blurted, interrupting Applejack and both staring with wide eyes, glancing at each other and then up at 'Chrysalis', who nodded in confirmation. They both stared dumbfounded, until shiny teeth within a grey muzzle moved between them and into their vision, scaring both and causing them to jump away, leaving the intruding Sombra laughing to himself.

"You're having way too much fun, Luna," Chrysalis said, her voice somewhat stern and causing Sombra to stop his laughter and look up at her.

"And you're not having enough, sister," he replied, walking up to her with a mad grin, "if there was one thing I learnt from last year," he said, turning to face the still shaking Rainbow and Applejack, "it was that ponies liked being scared on Nightmare Night."

Chrysalis shook her head, "I knew this was a bad idea. There are boundaries Luna, you don't cross them - now look what we did," using a hoof to direct Sombra's attention to the town square, and the tails, manes and ears of hiding ponies, who were in fact starting to peer over at the scene.

Sombra sighed, he was only having fun, and in a flash of blue his body was replaced with Luna's - magical contacts still visible in her eyes, giving her the appearance she was using dark magic, and the summoned armour and cape still strapped to her body. In a separate golden flash beside her, Chrysalis faded to reveal Celestia, her jewelry fading into existence.

The two sat down beside Twilight, Luna slightly sulking at having to down her disguise so soon, "I was having fun," she said, not looking at Celestia who was preoccupied watching the ponies who had hidden, come out from behind stalls.

"Do not be afraid, citizens of Ponyville, we were-"

"Having a bit of fun"

"-being foalish."

"Oh Celestia, don't be so hard on yourselves, I thought it was good," Twilight said, brightening Luna's mood dramatically and both shared a high-hoof as Twilight praised her, "and it was even better than last year's entrance!"

That was probably the best part of being a princess now, although they were still, by far, her elders and superiors, she could at least not feel so nervous about general conversation around them anymore, and friendly physical contact, that normally would have been frowned upon (such as a high-hoof) was now just a regular part of being real friends with the sun and moon princesses.

The sun diarch slowly shook her head at the exchange and chanced a look at the three of Twilight's friends still present as Rarity came to.

"Oh.. I had the most horrible dream," the white unicorn began and both Twilight and Luna swapped evil glares, "that awful changeling queen returned.... and so did that horrible crystal king... good thing it was just a dr- WAAAAH!" she screamed suddenly, as Luna had shifted back to Sombra form and was holding her head over Rarity, grinning like the mad king the real Sombra was, and causing a fresh wave of fear to run through the poor pony's body.

"Luna!" Celestia scolded, picking 'Sombra' up in her golden magic and levitating 'him' away.

Rarity, having hidden behind Rainbow Dash after getting to her hooves the moment Sombra was lifted in the princess's magic, looked at the rather annoyed Sombra fighting in Celestia's magic as he hovered several hoof-lengths off the ground, with shocked curiosity, "Princess Luna?!"

"Let. Us. Go." Sombra said firmly and quickly regretted it as Celestia's magic vanished and he face planted onto the ground. He lifted his head up enough so that his muzzle wasn't stuck in the ground and quickly flicked to her normal 'armoured-Luna' form with a scowl, "We love you too, sister."

"W-wait, so there is no Sombra or Chrysalis?" Rainbow asked, rather cautiously and fully aware that both were more than likely capable of shapeshifting to look like Celestia and Luna. However, Celestia shook her head, while Luna scowled at her sister before saying, "ask her," and both turned to Twilight. As a result, so did everyone else.

"You knew?" Rainbow asked, accusingly.

"Well, yeah. Someone had to know. Now I'm not sure about you guys but I think, for tonight, you two should turn back - they look really lifelike, I knew and you still had me fooled," the purple mare replied with a cheerful smile, turning back towards the other two princesses and catching the sudden excitement on Luna's face. Without warning (or chance for Celestia to protest) Luna shifted back to "Sombra-Form", stood and moved over to where Twilight was sitting catching a rather hurt and if anything, hesitant, look from her sister.

"Well, I suppose since everypony knows now," Celestia began, staring into the sky as she contemplated it and then, with a glowing golden light and a small smile, her fur blackened and her mane fell into a single aqua colour.

---

The group had moved off to a quieter area, minus Rainbow Dash who had gone off to look for Fluttershy after Pinkie Pie and the her group of trick-or-treaters returned and she was missing. Technically they were still within the town square, but they were away from most of the activity, happily sitting at tables and talking. At first it had been awkward, what on Equestria do Princesses like talking about? Until Pinkie Pie asked Luna if she'd be posing as Nightmare Moon again during the treat offering ceremony. Celestia had frozen and the rest of them glared at Pinkie Pie until Luna, still as Sombra, laughed and stamped her hoof on the table, saying she would and laughing at their stunned faces. No doubt they were thinking about how strange.. and almost wrong it was to ask her to play the part of a character they'd all much rather forget, and even more so that she was so willing to go through with it.

Then again, Twilight thought, she did it last year...

After that however, Pinkie Pie had raced off with the group of foals to snag more lollies and with her the conversation died and moved to a different topic. One Twilight was not too happy about either.

"So Twilight," Luna began with a cheeky look, "found a nice, strong stallion to warm your bed yet?"

Twilight froze. She did not just ask that. Her cheeks grew hot and Applejack slung a black hoof over her spiked-backplate, a sly smile on her face, "you keepin' secrets from us, again?"

She did just ask that.

"N-No!"

And with the rest of them bursting into laughter - even Celestia letting the stray giggle slip - along with a now very red Twilight, she was simply glad to have that dragon mask on and silently cursed the... "uniqueness" of Luna's vocabulary.

---

The room was lit with three candles, each a different colour flame. One was blue, another green and another red and they were all placed in seemingly random spots around the room. One would think someone was preparing some archaic spell, but this was just Discord's chambers and Celestia and Luna had given up trying to make sense of what he did, much like Twilight and her friends with Pinkie Pie.

The draconequus was however, at this very moment, looking over his balcony and down at the lights of the element bearer's home town.

That was all he needed. View of his... test subjects.

In his claw he held two red rocks, split shards of a whole gem, and bringing his eagle claw to eye level his carefully placed them end-to-end of each other and tapped the spot they connected. With a smirk, he watched as a white flame flared into being at the connected spot and like magic the two gems liquefied, moving and shifting and then rising up into the air before him as he retracted his hand. The liquid crystal bobbed up and down, encased in white flame and the draconequus focused his eyes on the moon, still climbing up into the starry night sky.

It was a little while off 10pm, and upon the clock striking that late hour the gem would solidify and his spell would activate.

Oh the joyous ride his subjects would endure! Oh the joy indeed, Discord thought wickedly as he once again laid his arms across the balcony railing and waited. Waiting was not his strong point, but he was technically obeying Celestia's rule of staying in the castle.

There was no way he was getting in trouble for this. Okay, maybe a little. But this was definitely worth it.

Author's Note:

a/n: AND SO IT BEGINS.

You know the drill, comment, thumbs up, fave or watch if you like and want more :D

Comments

[WolfsFury]

2233790

I think that's what got most people :P

[Jdts7]

Just wondering, are their attitudes/behaviors going to change as well as appearance?

I discord!

[WolfsFury]

2234737

You'll have to wait and see.
All I'll say is who they play and who they really are will have a huge affect on... everything.

Muahahahahahahahaha!!

Yes, <3 Discord

[thereallegend123]

With a smirk, he watched as a white flame flared into being at the connected spot and like magic the two gems liquefied

So, it's not really magic?