Wish Upon a Star

Canterlot

"So, what should I use for the upcoming Nightmare Night?" Luna, princess of the moon, said. "Giant spiders? Creepy mixes between a Manticore and a Timberwolf? Mummies again? Or I could be a little more original and use Zomb..."

"Sister please, I know you are exited about your night, but this could be important." Celestia, princess of the sun, replied with a sigh. "We can´t let a magical interference slip by like it´s nothing, doing this, would bring severe consequences for the kingdom."

Even though, nothing had happened, Celestia couldn´t stop worrying about the implications of this event, her mind circled around distant memories where she had learnt, that not paying attention to this, could bring consequences. The Elements of Harmony seemed more than capable of defending the kingdom, but she and Luna were still the princesses of the kingdom, letting their nation unprotected would be a major mistake on their part. The train of thoughts was soon interrupted by a sighing Luna.

"Come on! Something bad would have already happened by now, and this is the only month of the year where I can completely let out and enjoy. It´s my night."

"You know how much I enjoy your happiness, but things could always get worse, besides, Nightmare Night is only a month away." Celestia noticed the sad look on her sister, but struggled to stay strong. "I promise you will have your big night."

"Last Nightmare Night you said the same, and I ended up signing papers all night inside the castle. This year I wanted to prepare my biggest comeback yet." Luna said, trying one last time, but only got an apologetic expression from Celestia.

"I´m sorry Luna."

The princess of the night, turned to leave her sister´s private room, but an idea crossed her mind. Without turning around to face Celestia, she said. "You know, sis? When I was on the moon, I used to dream about having the best Nightmare Night of my life, and even though, I´ve had a couple, trouble always seemed to get in my way of enjoying it, looks like this year will be the same."

Far from a sad look, Luna waited with a malicious smile for the effects of her words, and as she had expected, Celestia sighed in guilt before speaking.

"... Erm, Luna, you know? If you want, you can leave this problem to me." Luna´s smile got bigger as her sister finished speaking. "Go and make preparations for your night, if something happens, I will go to Ponyville."

Luna couldn´t help but to burst out from happiness, but decided to control herself. Going towards her sister, Luna planted a kiss on Celestia´s cheek.

"Thank you, sister! You are the best!"

Celestia realized what had happened, and sighed in response, just before Luna left the room.

"Ugh! I hate it when you do that!"

"I know." Luna smiled, then left Celestia alone. The princess of the night would need all the time and concentration to make her night, the best one yet, and nothing would change that.

Everfree Forest

Most of the day (and night), all that could be heard coming from this place, were roars and unnatural sounds, but not this day. Today, the screams of joy from three fillies, filled the sinister air. But there was something unusual, the casual roar from annoyance could be heard several feet behind the little ones.

Nemesis found himself running as fast as he could, trying to catch up with the fillies, who, for the creature´s dismay, were mounting a Manticore. The animal, agile as it is, dodged every obstacle, whereas Nemesis opted to destroy everything in his path. Trees and rocks were equally destroyed under the monster´s might, as he tried to reach the ponies.

He never noticed when the fillies, secretly decided to get their ´Manticore Rider´ cutie mark, and slipped away when Nemesis went to reach a fruit from a tree, which was the one Sweetie asked for.

Nemesis could barely hear the ´weeeeee!´ from the crazy ponies, and soon, he lost them amongst the nature of the forest. With no other choice, Nemesis jumped as high as he could, trying to get a glimpse of the fillies. It only took him two tries before he spotted them, a smile of relief would have been drawn on his face if he had lips. Wasting no time, he went running towards their direction.

It was ironic, Nemesis was a big powerhouse, yet, somehow he managed to move pretty fast. He wasn´t lacking agility either, and this proved useful to help him achieve his current objective: Catch the crazy fillies.

A minute had passed before he finally caught up with the little ones, he would need to find a way to retrieve the fillies without getting them hurt. The race continued for a few seconds, before an idea crossed his mind. Nemesis used his whip to catch them, successfully grabbing one, and placing her on his back. Apple Bloom and Sweetie were left.

"Hey! I wan´t to mount the Manticore again!" Scootaloo replied, but received no response from the running Nemesis.

The Manticore was still a few feet away from him, and the trees were making it difficult for him to grab the other ones. He tried once, but his tentacle only succeeded in slapping a tree. It was no use, he had to wait for an opening, thankfully, his stamina was above any level, he could continue running for the next two days without stopping.

Suddenly, an idea crossed Scootaloo´s mind. "Maybe I can get my ´crashing into a tree, while at full speed´ cutie mark." Nemesis reacted quickly at her words, and roared in response, making the filly sigh. "It was only a joke... or was it?"

Nemesis roared once more, but Scootaloo simply chuckled. Finally, after two more minutes of running, the creature found an opening. The clear space of the forest provided Nemesis with the perfect opportunity, he stretched his arms and released his tentacles, but he would need to get closer. Suddenly, Nemesis used the strength of his legs to jump forward, grabbing the two fillies from the back of the Manticore, who kept running forward. At least he wouldn´t have to worry about scarring the little ones by butchering a manticore.

While in the air, Nemesis used his left arm to grab Scootaloo from his back, placing her on his arms with the rest of her friends, and landed on the floor face up, crashing against a tree in the process.

"Weeeeeeeee!" The three screamed in excitement, none of them noticed as the tall tree falling on top of them, thankfully, Nemesis had, and moved out of the way seconds before the tree crashed into the floor. Gently dropping the three of them to the ground, the creature waited for the fillies to face him.

Nemesis was pissed, and the little ones would listen to him... even if all he could do was roar. Said and done.

"ROAAAAAAAAAR!"

"Sheesh! You´re starting to sound like my sister!" Sweetie Belle said, getting a ´seriously?´ stare from the two fillies, and Nemesis. Sweetie Belle let out a sheepishly smile in return.

The conversation was starting to get off topic, causing the creature to roar once more.

"We just wanted to get our ´Manticore riding´cutie mark." Apple Bloom said, Scootaloo followed.

"Yeah! We never knew he would take us across the entirety of the forest!"

"Also, we knew you would be here to save us if something happened!" Sweetie Belle was the last.

Nemesis face palmed, sighing in the process, he couldn´t believe in just how much trouble the three could get into, not that he was a role model either. His thought were diverted for a few seconds, as he touched his butchered face, it certainly hit him, but there were more important things at the moment.

"Roaaar!" It was more calmed, but it still sounded pissed.

The fillies understood that roar, but decided to play along.

"We didn´t understand that one." Scootaloo said, as the three gave a sheepishly smile, but Nemesis saw through this and crossed his arms. "Okay! We´re sorry for having mounted a Manticore without telling you." The three said in unison, making Nemesis release a groan.

Without them noticing, Sweetie had turned around to see their surroundings, noticing they could be a little far away from town, the thought made her release a worried look.

"Girls? I have the feeling we could be a little far away from home."

The fillies gave a sheepishly smile, while stretching their hooves in front of them, asking for Nemesis to carry them. The creature didn´t want to be assaulted by the power of the puppy eyes, and simply sighed. The fillies´smiles grew wider as they climbed the monster´s enormous arm, Nemesis took care they wouldn´t slip. Once all settled, the track back home began

The travel had been quite silent for the next thirty minutes, the fillies seemed to be tired, which was obvious, considering the fact that the had been playing for six hours straight, and it was quite late. Night was soon to approach.

Another fifteen minutes passed, and Sweetie had fallen asleep.

"It must be pretty cool to be you... well not more than Rainbow, but still." Scootaloo broke the silence, surprising Nemesis greatly in the process. Was she being serious? Nemesis wasn´t really loved by anyone before (at least not by the ones who didn´t die after meeting him). Others would simply mock him with calling him ugly, not that he was bothered about that, much less considering the fact that he was never in control, until this moment.

Then, it stroke him, it was the first time in his life someone admired him, it was heartwarming and bizarre at the same time, almost being ironic as well. As Nemesis wasn´t used to this kind of treatment, he didn´t reply her comment, then, she continued.

"I mean, you eat Timberwolves for breakfast, and Manticores for dinner, with Hydras being your lunch!"

"Yeah! And who would have thought you were so friendly and awesome, considering..." Apple Bloom cleared her throat. "How you look."

Far from angering Nemesis, the creature found himself quite pleased with their words, it was nice to have some people... ponies, look at him in this way. Nemesis turned his face towards Sweetie, who was sleeping on his arms, and wondered what she would think about him.

"Maybe tomorrow we can finally talk with Twilight, and she will just know how amazing you are!" Scootaloo replied, placing herself on Nemesis´ head. "I can´t wait for Rainbow Dash to meet you!"

"Everything´s going to be so good, you will stay with us! Pinkie Pie will throw you a party, Twilight will probably try to study you, mah´sister´s gonna ask you to help at the farm, and oh! There´s Nightmare Night coming, thankfully you don´t need a disguise!" Apple Bloom placed herself on top of Nemesis´head, pushing Scootaloo away, so she could have eye contact with the creature. "And since you´re our friend, and you don´t have a cutie mark, that makes you a crusader!"

Nemesis had gone through a painful moment before, the fillies had explained what was a cutie mark, and asked if he had one. Nemesis replied the obvious, never expecting that would be his greatest mistake. But right then, he was regretting nothing. Nemesis never roared, and simply listened to them, enjoying the moment.

"Actually, we could change our names to ´Nemesis of the Cutie Mark Crusaders´" Scootaloo implied.

"Wouldn´t that mean we´re enemies of ourselves?" Apple Bloom explained, making Scootaloo give a sheepishly smile in return.

"Ups! I guess you´re right!"

The irony of the situation couldn´t be higher, Nemesis, now one of the biggest predators inside the Everfree Forest, was carrying with him three fillies, not to eat them, but to protect them.

The group had finally reached the border of the forest, but there was a slight problem, Sweetie was sleeping, waking her up would be the most reliable answer, but Nemesis had another idea. Not wanting to disrupt her sleep, the creature ripped apart a big piece of tree bark, and placed multiple leaves before resting Sweetie there, then, ripped one of his trench coat´s belts, and made a small hole in the tree bark, Nemesis inserted the belt, so it wouldn´t be difficult for the fillies to carry Sweetie towards her home.

His large, black trench coat wasn´t only an aesthetic accessory, it was a power limiter, and ripping it off would bring serious consequences, but the Weapon X program had changed that, it had fixed his body. Mutating into something horrible was now out of the question, he was free to even go around without it, but it still had a nostalgic effect on Nemesis.

Once all set, the ponies prepared to head back home, but not before saying their good byes. It was a miracle Nemesis hadn´t butchered something this day, and they were now seeing Nemesis as something more. In return, the creature had found joy in the company of those three.

Nemesis observed as the three walked on the horizon, seconds later disappearing far from his sight, they were home.

Once alone, the creature began to march back to the Everfree Forest, but avoided going too far, just in case the fillies needed him, little did he know, that would be the case, as not so far away, a certain queen was beginning her march towards Ponyville. This was going to be a night nopony would ever forget.