Tonight was Nightmare Night, an ancient holiday dedicated to Princess Luna and her darker self, Nightmare Moon. Mildly terrifying decorations were set up on every house and street. Young foals would dress up every year in costumes and go about the town collecting candy from their friends and neighbors. A party, set up by Ponyville’s Premiere Pretty Pink Party Pony, was set up in the town center, with food, games, and music to entertain children and adults alike.

Free... she was finally free...

Webs were set up and around the buildings, along with spiders hanging from them, paper black cats, pumpkins, and bats were found plastered to the walls and roofs, and jack-o-lanterns with wicked faces were found on the steps of every home. The Sugar Cube Corner, and several other normally bright colored buildings were painted in black, orange, and purple to hide their usual candy coloring. Luna’s nightguard, the thestral ponies, were found hanging around various parts of the town, to ensure everypony was safe and secure while they partied the night away. Their tufted ears, fanged mouths, slit dragon eyes, and bat wings that were a natural feature of the aptly named batponies, fit in perfectly well with the decorum of the festivities.

The chains that bound her were finally broken...

Princess Luna herself was in attendance, watching over the festivities dedicated to her for the fifth year since her return, reveling in the adoration and praise the young foals showered on her as she spun scary stories from times long since past. A huge smile was found on her face as she scared the children with a scary face and a flash of lightning in the sky to emphasize the end of her story. She waited for the screaming and giggling to subside before she moved on to her next story. Her costume being as one of her thestral ponies, with fangs, bat wings, and dark red slit eyes.

Her magic was almost gone... but she had enough to drag herself away from her prison...

Twilight Sparkle, the recently crowned Princess of Friendship, was beside her, helping set the mood of the stories with her magic, conjuring fog to surround the children, making lightning strike in the sky, and whatever else helped the currently story along. Though not as exhausted as Rarity, she was still tired from helping Pinkie and the rest of the town set up the party, and so instead of participating in the festivities, opted to sit and help Luna with storytelling. Her costume was of a vampony, With a cape that had too high of a collar, a dribble of fake blood down her chin, and slicked back hair.

So hungry... so tired...

Rarity, a seamstress of decent renown, was found having fallen asleep from exhaustion on a fancy lounging chair in the midst of it all, an odd, but not surprising fixture that she seemingly had with her everywhere she went, in case she needed to faint. The white unicorn, her time spent making costumes for the holiday having taken its toll on her, slumbered away as the party continued through the night. She had no costume, and instead came in a black dress with her hair up in a bun, as she had no time to make a costume of her own.

She crawled through a forest, ancient and deadly, like her...

Pinkie Pie, the main pony to have worked on setting up the festivities, was running to and fro, making sure everypony was having a good time, the games were properly set up and working, and the snacks were filled. Excited chatter streamed from her as she zipped back and forth, no pony able to understand what she was saying as she was moving too much, but nopony really caring as just having her around brought a smile to their faces. Her costume was Discord, who had agreed to accompany her and make her look like him. He did so enjoy the chaos that seems to follow her.

Monstrous beasts everywhere, but not one dared to attack her...

Rainbow Dash, the local weather pony and Prankster Extraordinaire, was busying herself with pranks and such. Armed with several terrifying monster masks, lightning clouds, spiders and bats on a string, and various other tricks, she went about Ponyville stealthily, making sure that the adults were getting as good of a scare this night as the children were. Screaming, followed by angry shouts and a giggling Rainbow flying off to find her next victims. She was costumed to look like a ninja, with a sash around her face and a fake sword on her back.

Blue flowers filled with Discord's magic...

Applejack, Ponyville's most dependable pony, was busying herself with cooking up confections and such for ponies to enjoy. A small wood burning oven was found near her, brought into town so she could keep up with cooking pies and treats while the night went on. Her costume was a Timberwolf, covered in wood, and had a green glow to her eyes. A costume she made her own, with the exception of her eyes courtesy of Twilight.

...they seemed to shy away as she approached, not once touching her...

Fluttershy, a timid Pegasus who used to be afraid of her own shadow, had finally decided to join this year. Though she was still terrified, she was not so scared that she couldn’t enjoy hanging out with her friends on this night. Though, she still hid whenever she saw someone in a scary costume. Her costume was of a fuzzy, and somewhat adorable lion.

She was ravenous... had she been able to catch one... she would have eaten one of the beasts...

Spike, Twilight’s #1 assistant and Ponyville’s only dragon, was busy having fun with the other children. After having spent time running around town and getting candy, he was now sitting in front of Luna, listening to her stories as he munched on candy. He was dressed in his favorite costume, a dragon.

A scream... She watched as a zebra, eyes wide with fear ran from her... She followed...

All in all, the night was a good one. Despite the sounds and energy radiating off the party, the night was calm and quiet. Until a sharp scream was heard. All at once, all the music, talking, laughing and such stopped at once, and every pony who could turned their head towards the disturbance, as well as waking Rarity up. Zecora, who had been at home preparing for her own Nightmare Night show, was seen running away from the Everfree Forest, her eyes wide and fear apparent on her face. She looked as though she had seen a ghost.

A town... there was food in a town...

Stopping before Luna, she took her time to catch her breath before speaking. "A terrible f-fright I've had this Nightmare Night!"

Luna moved closer, placing her hoof on the zebra in the hopes of calming her. "A terrible fright? What has happened?"

"I must leave here soon! For I have seen Nightmare Moon!"

Through the streets she dragged herself... Ponies running from her... screaming... but that did not matter...

“Nightmare Moon? Impossible! I alone was the Nightmare, there was no separate being, and the elements have long since purified me of such hatred!” Though she attempted to assure everypony of this, the fear on her face was clear.

“She was like a skeleton, almost dead. She did not attack me, but regardless, I fled," More screams were heard coming from the direction Zecora had come from.

Snapping her head towards the screams, she saw ponies running from a shadowed figure slowly walking down the street.

Luna... she remembered Luna... but she could wait... the smell of food... it was driving her...

Stumbling down the path was a tall, dark alicorn. Her horn, as well as her body, were glowing faintly. She was using her magic to keep herself upright and walking. She looked very skeletal, Her ribs sticking out, her legs bony and thin, almost no muscle or fat anywhere on her body. Her stomach was nearly non-existent, merely a pouch where organs should be, and her once majestic mane, a sea of stars, was now hanging limply around her form, strands of dark blue. Her now grey coat was very dull, and had lost the luster it once had when it was black. Her wings were dragging along the ground, with few feathers left on them. Her hooves were chipped and damaged, and her horn was long and jagged, signs that they hadn't been used or taken care of for a very long time. Her mouth hung open, showing her pointed, predatory teeth, and a small fleck of saliva hanging from her jaw. The worst were her eyes, which were sunken into her skull. They were dull and almost lifeless, most of the color having gone from them. She looked like she hadn’t eaten in years. Luna simply stared in horror at the sickly thing before her, unable to move from the shock of what she was seeing.

"N-nightmare Moon! But... how...? You should not exist!"

The Nightmare Alicorn ignored her, trudging slowly into the town center, before she lifted her head to look around. She stopped to look at Luna for a moment, before her eyes settled on a table filled with apple based treats. Her dull eyes widened, and seemed to regain some life as she hobbled towards the table as quickly as she could. The few ponies that hadn’t run away by this time had quickly gotten out of here way as she made her way to the table. Once she arrived at the table, she slowly and painfully pulled herself up onto a bench, sitting before the feast.

Luna cautiously approached the table. The closer she looked, the more sickly the Nightmare seemed. Her eyes were wide, and filled with a feral hunger, as a small bit of drool spilled out of her mouth. Finally, she couldn’t hold back any longer, and dove into an apple pie, devouring as much of it as she could. Luna simply stared as she watched this nightmare, A being born of hate, envy, and malice, gorged herself on as much food as she could, looking more like a wild, starving animal than a threat to Equestria.

Slowly coming up besides Luna, Twilight spoke up, “L… Luna? Should we… do something about her?”

“I… No… let her eat…” Luna stuttered, confused, and somewhat afraid of the sight before her.

Nightmare finished her third pie, slowly stopping and looking up at the ponies surrounding her. Then, suddenly, she turned to the side, dropped her head down, and vomited. After she finished her heaving, she wiped her mouth with a hoof, and set back to eating more.

“My word! How long has she gone without eating!? To just keep eating after throwing everything up…” Rarity said as she held a hoof to her mouth, trying not to get sick herself at the sight. The others merely nodded, staring at the miserable creature before them with pity.

Finally... food...

Eventually, Nightmare stopped eating, her stomach visibly filled with food. Finally satisfied, she crawled off the bench, and made her way to a tub filled with water and apples for the Apple Bobbing game. She lowered her mouth to the water and drank her fill, her stomach filling up even more. Finally satisfied and sure she wasn't going to throw up again, she made her way towards a pile of hay bales that here being used as decoration, set up next to the wall of town hall. Nudging a Jack-o-lantern from atop one of the bales with her snout, she dragged herself onto it, before the glow of her horn disappeared, and she fell asleep.

Everypong was silent, looking on in terror and confusion. Only Applejack spoke out.

“She ate all muh Apple Cinnamon Fritters, those were muh favorites…”

Author's Note

Alright, chapter redone slightly.

Also, if anyone wants to help me as an editor for this fic, I would be glad to have the help.