The Nightmare Before Harth's Warming Eve
Chapter 1: What's This?
Jack Skellington, The Pumpkin King, was a walking through the forest again to think in peace. He found the eight trees sitting in a circle around a newly sprouted tree.
"Hm, what's this?" he asked. Zero tailed him close behind. He walked up to the strangely and awfully new tree. It's door was that of a purple six sided star with six white stars surrounding it. "I've never seen this door before." He touched the handle that was shipped like half of a sun and half of a moon. He slowly turned it and the door swung open on it's own. White lights danced about inside.
"Arf arf!" Zero barked in panic. But just as he was about to run away, the white lights stretched out of the door and pulled the two of them in.
"WOAH!" Jack cried as he was pulled down faster and faster. Suddenly, he blacked out entirely.
***
Twilight Sparkle and her friends were preparing for Nightmare night. She had worn her hoof-stitched Starswirl the Bearded costume again, Rainbow Dash and AppleJack wore their Power Ponies costumes, Fluttershy dressed as a tree, Pinkie dressed as a giant cupcake, and Rarity wore a black dress with bat earrings, and Spike dressed as a skeleton.
"Alright everypony. Are we going to have a fun Nightmare Night, or what?" Twilight shouted.
"Yeah!" everypony else said. They all filed out of the Golden Oaks Library to do their own things.
***
Jack awoke on top of a hill beside a dark and deep forest. He slowly got up and took in his surroundings. It was in the middle of the night, there was an apple orchard nearby, and there was a town, far off into the distance. The cold night breeze blew through his skull and made him feel better. He saw Zero snoozing away happily. He tucked him away in his jacket. The only part that could be seen of him was his head. The apple orchard looked empty, so he decided to head to town.
On his way, many insects crawled around at his feet. He heeded no warning to them, until they started carrying cloth on their backs. He smashed every single insect with his foot. He kept walking down the path. The village was small, but the sound of it meant that it was awake, full of fun. So he jumped up onto a nearby house and looked down. There, on the streets, were dozens of ponies wearing costumes. They were incredibly small and colorful. He didn't notice a certain pegasus gazing down from above onto of a cloud.
"Weird costume, probably Lyra's. Let's get some scare on!" she whispered. She had just raised her hooves when, possibly, Lyra's costume flung itself forward with a green, gooey substance from it's hand. "Is that a changeling!?" she gasped. She flew of as quick as her wings could carry her to find Twilight.
Jack, on the other hand, was flinging himself from building to building with his Soul Robber. He clung onto one house, but accidentally hit a huge sign post straight in the face. He dropped onto the grpound and hazily looked up at the sign.
"Ponyville? Ponyville, hm, where have I... that's it!" he shouted, snapping his fingers.. "I must find Luna!" He ran through the streets, startling all the ponies in his path.
"W-W-What w-w-was t-t-that!" Fluttershy stuttered.
"I don't... wait a minute. Maybe my books have the answer!" she said as she ran off towards the Golden Oaks Library.
***
Jack pushed his legs to his limits. He went faster than he did to try and catch oogie boogie. He rushed up the steep mountain leading to the castle. The moon was full and bright, so he could see in front of him easily. Zero woke up and flew behind him. He reached the side of the castle and clambered up the stone wall.
His bony fingers had just touch the railing, when he saw two glistening triangles pointed to his hand.
"Halt! In the name of Princess Luna! State your name business and occupation." One of the two all too familiar Lunar Guards stated bluntly.
"Oh I really hate that rule Luna put in about you guards 1,000 years ago. I am Jack Skellington. The Pumpkin King. Also, one of the founders of Nightmare Night." Jack stated in annoyance.
"R-Right. Mr. uh Skellington. Please, come with us." The other guard said after a minute of hesitation.
***
Luna sat at her spot at night court, when there was a knock at the door. Relieved that court was interrupted, she walked over to the door to see two of her guards.
"What are you two doing here?" Luna whispered.
"Um, there is someone who wants to see you princess." The left one said. They both stood to the side, and a tall figure walked out of the dark.
"Jack?"
"Luna!"
They made a quick hug and Luna gestured him to enter night court. A wave of murmurs erupted from the ponies sitting at court.
"Oh, close thy mouths. Is it not okay to invite thy friends?" Luna asked. The murmurs grew quiet after she said that.
***3 hours later***
Court ended early that night. And Luna was thankful for this. She was finally able to get acquainted with a long lost friend.
"So, Luna. What's been going on since I was pulled from here?" Jack asked.
"Oh, I have... Just been released from the moon." She replied. Jack gave her a puzzled look. "Oh, yes a few moons after you left, I was angered at... both your departure and my sister's actions."
"What did Celestia do to make you angry?" Jack asked. Luna yawned.
"We shall... discuss this either tonight, or... some time today. For now, allow me to get rest please, Jack." Luna said. Apparently, it was a long night in court. Jack sighed as she slumped down onto the floor. He scooped her up to take her to her room. Though, there was one problem, he didn't know where Luna's room was. He swiveled his head around to find any Lunar guards. To his luck, there was one walking his way.
"Um, excuse me sir. You wouldn't happen to know where, Luna's room is. Would you?" He asked. The guard nodded and gestured a hoof for him to follow.
The walked up only a few flights of stairs, but walked down many winding hallways. They finally reached Luna's bedroom when the guard stopped. Jack nodded in appriciation, and the guard nodded back. Jack opened the door to her room, and was astonished at how massive it was. He found Luna's bed, and tucked her in.
"Goodnight Luna." Jack whispered as he silently closed the door.
