Of Nights and Changelings
“Hey, Sunny!”
“What’s up, dudes?” Sunny Glaze asked as she walked over. Her friends shared a furtive glance.
Short Stature nudged his brother, Ghost Note. He got the message and responded, “Just had a great idea... That old hag won’t know what hit her!”
Blunt Force gasped in horror. “Don’t hit the principal! She’s really fragile.” A deadpan look got cast her way.
Short continued for his brother, “So the plan is, we’re going to sneak into the gymnasium and accidentally break a few things. Now here’s where it really gets interesting...”
“Bzzt bzzt bzzzt bzzzzzzzzzzt. bZzzZZt BBBBZZZZZZZZZZT!” Articulated Swift Form to her hole-ly friend.
“Oh, stuff it Swift. I’m not going to join your crazy bee cult,” sighed Blank Slate from his perch on his desk. His brother face palmed on the adjacent desk.
Swift frowned. “Come on guys, can’t we have some fun? I’m so bored!” She glared at Blank. “And it’s not a cult. We’re an independent study group trying to combine our efforts to get A’s!”
Soft Spoken spoke softly, “I’d hate to agree with mah bro on this one, but you’ve been buzzing nonstop for 20 minutes. But we wouldn’t be in here if it wasn’t for Pun Bun.” He directed his gaze at Pun.
Pun giggled energetically. “Ooh, I get it! ‘We wouldn’t bee in here’! Because of Swift’s bee cult! Hehehe.” She continued chuckling to herself.
“Ugh, shut up! It’s because of your incessant laughing and Swift’s crazy cult stuff that we got caught by their principal, Nightmoon Mare or whatever her name was.” Blank finished his rant with a hard face-desk.
Soft sighed. “What Blank was trying to say is that we were totally humiliated by you two. I don’t know why their principal had to tell principal Chrysalis about us.” He slumped in defeat, his quiet voice barely reaching his friends ears.
After a few long moments of silence, Swift began, “What if we… got revenge?” Blank perked up with intrigue, a devious smile forming on his face.
The four teenagers crept down the hallway, sticking to the shadows. It was after school hours and all of the students and administration had gone home for the night. All except Nightmare Moon. She always stayed after everyone else had left and nobody knew why. Her office was coated in light-grey dust, with small craters littering the wall. There were rumors that she stayed in there all night, trying to take control of the county government and ban all overhead lights in schools... And replace them with little floating moons... The principal really liked the night.
But thankfully it made the school easy to sneak through. Before long, they had made it to the dimly lit gym.
Sunny Glaze broke the silence as she gazed nervously around the echoey room, “So what’s the plan now?”
“Uh, this is pretty much as far as I got, in terms of planning,” Short said awkwardly. “Anyone got any ideas?” Everyone glanced at each other.
“Really now?” Blunt questioned, rubbing the bridge of her nose. “You mean we came all this way, snuck into the school in the dead of night, probably broke a few laws, and you don’t know what to do?! I can’t bel-”
She was quickly cut off by Ghost covering her mouth. “Shh, I think I hear something.” The group quickly drew silent and listened. A faint creak could be heard coming from one of the hallways. A whispering wind blew through the room, echoing faint promises into the ears of the sole occupants. Distant screams filled the quiet void. Sunny and Blunt shivered slightly, unconsciously grabbing ahold of each other.
As for Ghost, all sounds had ceased, not even his curt breaths in the cold air could be heard. He slowly turned around and gestured to his fearful companions to follow as he led to them to what they could only hope was safety. Coffee would be nice too.
“Bzzt bzzt. Bzzzzt…” Swift buzzed nervously. A bead of sweat cascaded from her brow. The changeling group had arrived near the front of the school and they were looking for the best way in. Soft had been courteous enough to grab a map of the school last time he had been there. The decrepit hallways echoed and dust was kicked up from the first disturbance in a long time. Rotted green curtains draped across the windows, rustling slightly from the-
“Why does it seem like no one's used this hallway in a long time?” Blank asked.
Pun giggled before starting in an ominous voice, “There are rumors… Many rumors, all telling different stories, all finding their own reasons… But they all have one thing in common; This is the infamous western wing of the school, run by Black Snooty’s mysterious older sister. Nobody knows her name or what happened to her, but there have been whispers of another school. A School of the Moon where the sister was transferred to forcefully…”
Soft face-palmed. “Oh that’s just a load of horse crap. Everyone knows that this part of the school was abandoned due to a rat infestation or something. It’s on the county records for Chrysalis’ sake!”
Swift clasped her hands around Soft’s mouth. “Bzzt bzt bzt-bzt bzzzzzzt bzzzt,” she buzzed urgently. A lengthy silence permeated the air before a dark voice cut through it like butter.
A clasping hand could be heard. With menace dripping from her voice, “Oh, yes. Welcome, my little changelings, to my home. How unfortunate a time thou had to arrive; I haven’t even finished preparing for your visit.”
Everyone froze before slowly turning to see the speaker.
…
…
…
…
“Sand!” Nightmare Moon shouted in her raspy voice.
“BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ-"
All around the school, loud clangs could be heard as doors slammed shut and windows bolted closed, shades drawn. The newly trapped students all turned their heads in terror as all of their avenues of escape were suddenly cut off.
Sunny gulped. "Anyone have some pants I could borrow?"
Author's Note
Here is the first chapter of a short story I'm writing. I was going to make it longer, but I figured I would upload what I had for feedback. The story will probably be only a few chapters long.
On another note, if you haven't seen my blog posts about my inactivity recently, then I'll give a rundown here.
I'm really bad with commitment and I have no clue where I was going with my other multi-chapter stories, so they are going to be on indefinite hiatus. Thank you all for the support and stuff though. In the future, I'll probably just post one chapter stories or stories with only a few chapters in them, hope you enjoy!
On another another note, Sunny Glaze, Blunt Force, Short Stature, and Ghost Note are all students in Nightmare Moon's school and the other students are in Chrysalis' and are changelings. They don't have any special powers and they don't look like bugs or anything. It's pretty much just the name they're school goes with (like the Shadowbolts) . The Nightmare Moon principal thing is just a fun thing I decided to do and isn't a headcannon or anything and Nightmare Moon in this story is a separate entity from Luna.
One last thing, this is not going to be a grimdark. This chapter may seem like a setup for one, but the story will be a comedy with some comically over exaggerated scary scenes.
5/9/16 - Edited. A new chapter will probably be up in the next few days. I finally figured out what I'm doing with each character. Sorry about taking so long.
How To Break Everything (feat. High School Students)
View Online
Of Nights and Changelings
How To Break Everything (feat. High School Students)
Screams echoed through the corridors as wind gusted apart rotted curtains. Somewhere, a door blew open, slamming against a wall. And deep within the compound was the decrepit auditorium, filled with the remains of past students.
“Man, there was a lot of popcorn out there,” Blunt Force remarked. Oh, and of course, three terrified students and Sunny Glaze were cramped together in a dark, stuffy broom closet.
“Ooh-ooh-ooh, spooky!!” Sunny Glaze cheerfully commented. The others turned to glare at her. “What?”
Short Stature shook his head. “How did you know this place was here?” He asked.
Ghost Note smirked. “I have my ways...”
“Come on guys, can you keep it down? I don’t want to be caught.” Blunt shifted uncomfortably.
“Oh, loosen up a bit, why don’t you?” Sunny stopped when a loud song began blaring from within the room. “That’s my phone!” She giggled. “Can someone get it out of my pocket? I can’t move.” Blunt sighed in exasperation.
--[Ring Ring Ring]--
With a panicked shriek, Swift Form bolted down the hallway, leaving the others behind.
Pun Bun scratched her chin. “Hmm, sand? Not much I can do with that.” Nightmare Moon blinked in confusion. “Oh, right.” Suddenly, Pun took off running after Swift.
“Hmm, just you and I… With nobody left to hear you scream!” Nightmare Moon cackled. Blank and Soft glanced at eachother before screaming and running in opposite directions.
With a malicious smile, Nightmare Moon lowered her head and muttered, “Oh, you can run all you want.” She paused. “Huh, that sounded a lot more menacing in my head.”
--[Simultaneously]--
Swift Form ran blindly through the school, kicking up dust as she did so. A quick glance around the shadowy hallway confirmed her worst daydreams. She was alone. In a dark, frightening and abandoned building! A door to her right slammed open as air seeped in from a cracked window allowing a billowing wind to blow through the corridor. Dust filled the air and forced Swift to cough violently before she covered her mouth with her shirt.
She shivered in fear. “Bzzt…” She whispered through the rough cloth of her clothing. Her slightly muffled voice echoed through the desolate hallway. “Bzzzzzt…” No one but the wind responded. She took a furtive look behind her in the vain hope that Pun, Soft, or- or even Blank Slate had found her! But alas, it was not so. Instead, when turning to face forward once again, Swift found herself about to harshly collide with a rotting wooden door. It was far too late to stop, but she had just enough time to slow down before tumbling into the obstacle.
Her shoulder collided with the collapsing obstacle, sending waves of pain coursing through her body. A loud cracking sound bounced around the narrow hallway as the door shattered into hundreds of splinters and fragments. Swift crashed painfully into the dark room, the aged tiles covering the floor cracking slightly from the impact. She lay motionless for only a few seconds before pushing herself up and grasping at an injured shoulder.
Blinking through tears, Swift took a moment to assess her surroundings. What she saw caused her eyes to open wide and a gasp to escape her lips.
--[Cut to next scene]--
Pun Bun bounced through the hallways, a bright smile upon her face. Each classroom was a journey in and of itself. She would rummage through the dusty drawers finding all sorts of hidden gems. A slightly-used pencil here… an expired and almost-empty pack of gum there. There was no shortage of treasures to be found and Pun was determined to find them all.
No desk left unturned!
No gum left unscraped!
No suspicious-looking ghost thingy unviolated!
Pun skidded to a stop, backtracking to where she saw the mysterious apparition. She cast a glance into the desolate lavatory, toilet seats cracked and water dripping onto the dirtied tiles. A red smear ran across the far wall, long dried liquid spelling out illegible warnings. Brief flickers of light seemingly appeared and disappeared from the corner of her eyes. A soft giggle was barely audible, echoing through the room. But not a spirit was to be found.
With a wordless shrug, she pivoted on her heels away from the ridiculously creepy bathroom, but quickly stopped when a cold breath ran down her neck. With a shiver, she twisted around once more to find herself staring directly into the soulless eyes of a ghostly apparition.
“You really need to work on your complexion,” Pun stated, backing up awkwardly..
--[Some arbitrary time beforehand]--
Blank Slate stood deathly still as the shadow passed by the door. His steady breathing was the only break in the otherwise suffocating silence. The creature paused, its shadow casting the whole room into darkness. Blank held his breath; his disguise was certainly superb, but what if it wasn’t good enough? Lamps can’t breathe, after all.
He silently put on a quite fashionable mustache that he pulled from seemingly nowhere. Better safe than sorry, he thought.
The shadow swiftly departed, leaving Blank behind in complete silence. Thin rays of sunlight filtered through the dusty air, illuminating small patches of the room. The room he was in appeared to be a rundown classroom. Battered and broken desks littered the floor, many of them in multiple pieces. The cracked walls were littered with tiny holes and an upturned tabled graced the far wall.
Satisfied that he was safe, Blank pulled off his lamp costume, filled with newfound determination. He let out a relieved sigh and glanced around the trashed room with ambivalence. A ticking clock echoed throughout the class. Everything was still.
…
Too still.
“AHHAH!! You’re so dea- oh wait, he’s not here,” a voice shouted from farther down the corridor sounding suspiciously like Night “The Mare” Moon. Dejected footsteps soon followed.
“Phew,” Blank muttered in relief. He glanced around with a moment's hesitation. With nary a sigh, he stepped through the overgrown do-
“Why hello there,” a malicious voice whispered from behind him. “I’ve been waiting for you...”
Blank froze in place as his eyes widened to the size of saucers. “Oh, sh-”
--[Probably later]--
“-it,” Soft Spoken whispered. His words were quickly stifled by the ridiculous levels of dust polluting the air as he ran down through the building. A fork in the soon hallway presented itself before him. His mind wandered as he impetuously turned continued down the left path. What could he possibly do? His friends were no doubt all imprisoned in the deepest, darkest, and unimaginably dangerous depths of the school by now.
A single whimper escaped Soft’s mouth as he took note of his surroundings. The walls were covered in an inexplicable amount of blood. Either that or the painters were really liberal with fifty gallons of red paint. Would he ever find his best friends or Pun ever again? How could he even survive this? What was Chrysalis really doing in the broom closet last week?
Soft’s gentle footsteps kicked up small puffs of dust with each stride. The frequency of doors to his sides were slowly diminishing with each passing second. He had no clue where anyone was. He didn’t even know where he was! He was most surely screwed.
“I’m screwed, I’m screwed, I’m screwed,” Soft endlessly repeated under his breath. A door slowly came into view at the end of the long passage. With a sigh of relief, he leaped inside and slammed the door shut. Instead, it bounced off a soft white plush of a unicorn with a shoddily produced purple mane inexplicably lying on the ground.
He blinked. “Huh. What a strange and irrelevant object…” He kicked it outside and slammed the door with a bang. Quickly turning around, Soft found himself in a small closet filled to the brim with random objects entirely irrelevant to the story.
“Dang nabit! Of course I found myself stuck in a closet full of irrelevant and random objects! What next?! Am I going to find everyone else by some freak accident?!” He shouted before looking around, as if he expected some freak accident to suddenly progress the story. With a sigh, he stomped his foot once more, causing a crack to emanate from the floor.
Soft looked down with wide eyes. “Crap.” The ground suddenly collapsed inwards with a cascade of tiling crashing through the newly created pit, his body following closely behind.
--[Everything is broken]--
After much discourse, the Nights came to the unanimous decision to vacate the closet. The residents of the auditorium lounged around quietly, silence filling the room. Every few seconds, a munch would come from Sunny Glaze, as she bit down on another piece of popcorn.
A tapping soon joined the rhythmic munching as Blunt Force began hitting the ground with her foot. After a few seconds, Short started clapping quietly, the sound bouncing sharply around the room. The makeship beat slowly sped up, nearly reaching its peak when Blunt suddenly breathed in deeply.
“Can we all refrain from breaking into song?” Ghost interjected, causing Sunny to violently fall backwards with a handful of popcorn flying into the air. The others simply sighed in disappointment.
“Well, what else are we supposed to do? I'M SO BORED!!” Sunny shouted from the ground.
Ghost shook his head. “For starters, you could actually he-” He was swiftly cut off by the ceiling above him collapsing in a shower of dust and a student’s plump body harshly landing on him. A quiet groan could be heard coming from the pile.
Blunt and Short stared in surprise as Sunny stared intently at her phone’s bright screen. The person on top of Ghost lay still, the gentle rise and fall of his chest being the only indication of his current state of existence.
After a moment of silence, the student stirred and fell to the ground with a thump. He groggily lifted his head and opened his bright green eyes, confusion evident in his stare. The student glanced around the room before settling on the fresh causality of the short lived battle between him and poor ceiling maintenance. His eyes widened as he qu ietly spoke.
“Oops.”
Author's Note
So... You know that thing I do? You know, writing?
I did it again. And I regret nothing. Sorry, this took so long to make, but I did warn you guys in the description for the story! So, like, you have every right to complain, but you can't say you didn't see this coming.
I mean, it's only been what? A year? Phsst, that's nothing!
For this chapter, I had these wonderful people help out with proofreading and editing:
Balls
DedotatedWAM
and
NapoleontheLesser!
I hope yall are excited for the next chapter! 
It will probably be a while. 
