A few months had passed since the incident at the tournament yet there was no sign of Grogar or the cult leaving the heroes some time to relax but Pendragon didn't like it one bit. For him, it was like the calm before the storm.

The town of Ponyville was celebrating one of their most favorite holidays; Nightmare Night. It was a night when foals dressed up in costumes and collected candy from the neighborhood while playing games and listening to scary stories and it was a tradition the human seemed to recognize from back home as he smiled watching the children of Ponyville run around in their costumes laughing and playing.

"Nightmare Night! What a fright! Give me something sweet to bite!"

A group came trotting by with bags full of Candy before spotting the human dressed from head to toe in his armor and needless to say they were in awe of how it shined in the moonlight along with his warhammer.

"Evening kids! Here for some candy?" He asked kneeling down with a smile when Spike came over with a bowl full of the stuff and began giving them each one piece. Spike had dressed up in the armor his friend gave him while Twilight came dressed in her princess outfit.

"So Pendragon. How are you liking your first nightmare night?"

"Just like home, minus the fact that we don't have to fight a headless horseman."

"Headless what?"

"Long story."

The three then left the castle to join the others at the town square where a huge party was held and among the crowd were the rest of their friends playing games and dancing. Rarity was dressed as a vampire countess which seemed to enchant Spike instantly with Pinkie being dressed as a court jester and Rainbow Dash dressed up as Zap from the Power Ponies.

"Howdy y'all!" Called applejack dressed up like a rodeo pony.

"Fluttershy's not here?" Pendragon asked when Rainbow swooped down to explain that she often locks herself up during Nightmare Night. The group spent the rest of the evening partying and playing games with the townsfolk as the midnight hour drew near, the mayor trotted up on stage in a witches costume to deliver a quick announcement before closing up the festival.

"Thank you everypony for attending this years Nightmare Night festival. Before we close up, all the little foals who have been gathering candy please follow the Princess so that they may offer it to...Nightmare Moon~! Muwahahahahaha!"

The ponies laughed at the mayors attempt to sound scary as the parents sent their children off with the Princess and her friends. Twilight explained the tradition of offering candy up to nightmare moon so that she would be too full to eat little foals but in all honesty the children did it to see Princess Luna, they came to a small clearing in the woods where a statue of Nightmare Moon stood covered in moss and vines showing how ancient it was and as the children offered up their candy the wind began to howl and an eerie voice started to echo from all around.

"Children of ponyville! I am pleased with this offering of candy you have given me so pleased that I might eat it instead of...EATING YOU!!"

The statue had suddenly been replaced by the mare herself making the children scream in fright. Pendragon was prepared to leap into action when their screams of terror suddenly turned into joyous laughter as Princess Luna returned to her true form.

"PRINCESS!" The foals gathered in a circle around her with some even hugging her as they laughed.

"Welcome little ones. Have you all had fun?" She asked in a warm smile while laying down to meet the children at eye level and while the Princess was busy with the children Pendragon looked at the statue of nightmare moon and had seemed to drift off in thought until Twilight tapped his shoulder to chat with him.

"Something wrong?" She asked while he looked at the silver hand marked on his hammer.

"I read the story about Nightmare Moon and it reminds me of a similar one back on Azeroth. Let me tell you of Prince Arthas."

Pendragon sat down on a nearby rock to tell the story of the Knights of The Silver Hand; the order he once served and of their most promising student Arthas Menethil. Arthas was the crown prince of the kingdom of Lordaeron and a personal protege of the orders leader Sir Uther The Lightbringer, he was brave and noble when facing the enemy but like all young Knights he was brash, hot tempered and hard headed. When the scourge invaded Lordaeron they sent a plague across the land that turned its victims into the undead and that was something the prince could not stand. The plague had reached a city called Stratholme and had already infected much of its inhabitants, when the prince saw this he ordered the entire city to be purged despite the objections from his superiors and even accused his own mentor of treason for disobeying him, it was not long after that the city was set on fire killing every man, woman and child.

"I was only a squire at the time but I knew that the prince had strayed from the light...sometimes at night I still see the bodies...their faces...so many innocent lives lost and for what?" Pendragon gripped his hammer in anger as if waiting to lash out at something until Twilight placed her hoof on his hand and simply smiled, the gesture seemed to soothe his anger when one of the children asked.

"So...what happened to the prince?"

All of the children were eager for him to finish his story, even Twilight and the Princess were curious to hear it.

"After the city was burned, Arthas went looking for the one responsible for spreading the plague; A demon named Mal'Ganis who lived in the frozen lands to the north....but he never returned." The children cringed in fear around the Princess before hearing the midnight chime of the town bell.

"Time to go little ones." Luna declared as she escorted the children back to town, it was then that Pendragon felt the sneaking suspicion that they were being watched and turned back to the forest only to hear the wind once more.

"Must be my imagination." He mumbled to himself before catching up with the others.

Later That Night

Luna had returned to Canterlot after helping close up the festival and was ready to go to bed yet as she trotted down the halls she noticed something was off, there were no guards to be seen and the atmosphere seemed to fill her with terror.

"H-hello?" She called out to the darkness with nothing but the sound of her voice echoing down the empty halls then as she turned around two burning red eyes stared down at her followed by a maw of razor sharp teeth and two ram horns.

"Hello my dear."

AHHHHHH!!!!

Luna's scream was so loud that all the nearby guards and her sister stormed into the castle to see Grogar entrapping her in a barrier of magic before vanishing without a trace.

"LUNA!!" Celestia had never felt so helpless, she allowed her one and only sister to be taken from her once again and feared for what Grogar and his cultists had planned for her but knew this was not the time for panic.

"Summon Sir Pendragon at once!"

"Yes your majesty!"

By the time the guards arrived in Sweet Apple Acres, Pendragon was already prepared to go to bed before noticing two pegasai swooping down on the families front door.

"What in tarnation?" Applejack groaned hearing the frantic knocking at the door.

"Do you know what time it is?"

"Forgive us miss Applejack but it's an emergency! We must see Sir Pendragon right away!"

"I'm here. What's the matter?"

"It's Princess Luna my lord! She was kidnapped by Grogar!"

When Pendragon heard this he became furious and scrambled for his armor and weapons along with a peculiar glowing stone marked with a strange rune.

"What is that?"

"Something in case of emergency." Pendragon said a quick incantation that burned a similar rune onto the porch before telling Applejack to get the others while he went ahead with the guards. One of Luna's night guards reported spotting a bonfire in the ruins of an old castle deep in Everfree followed by a confirmed sighting of Princess Luna surrounded by a strange magic circle.

"You sure it was her?"

"Yes sir! Orders?"

Pendragon had to plan this attack carefully, charging in recklessly could endanger the Princess and they had no idea how many foes they were up against. Twilight and the others arrived quickly on the scene and lead them to the castle that was crawling with cultists and inside could be heard the screams of Princess Luna.

"Twilight. You said you know the secret doors in this place?"

"Yes, from the journal we found here."

"Alright, then I want you and your friends to use those passages to sneak in and find Luna while we create a distraction." There was no time to argue. Pendragon lead the charge on the castle with a small squadron of guards to back him up, the fighting allowed Twilight and the others to sneak past what few guards remained and used the various secret passages in the castle while following the screams.

"Hang on Princess, we're coming!" Rainbow Dash flew ahead after spotting a doorway with a green light coming from behind, Twilight and Rarity blasted the two guards at the front while Pinkie blasted the door open with her party canon. The girls saw Luna surrounded by a magic circle of runes and cultists who were doing a strange chant as they used the Fel to pull something from deep inside her, needless to say the pain she was enduring was excruciating.

"AHHHH!!"

A strange black cloud appeared before Luna and slowly began taking a physical form. The first things to appear were a set of webbed wings and a horn then came two emerald eyes followed by a set of fangs and a maniacal laugh.

"It can't be...." Twilight had never been so frightened for she had recognized this form all too well, it was the first villain she and her friends defeated when they first became the elements of harmony; Nightmare Moon. The dark alicorn observed her surroundings and saw the ruins of the old castle before seeing Princess Luna lying helpless at her hooves.

"Interesting."

"Greetings lady Nigtmare Moon. I am Grogar." The necromancer bowed humbly before her as Pendragon and his squad stormed into the room.

"Nightmare Moon?!? Impossible!" A guard shouted before his captain spotted Princess Luna on the floor and gave the order to charge.

"No wait! Stay back!!" Twilight cried out but it was too late. The first two guards were knocked back by Nightmare Moons magic while the captain was pinned against the wall by her unusual strength, she began to sniff the captains neck as if inspecting a meal then out of nowhere.

"So thirsty...HSSSSSS!!!" Nightmare Moon sank her fangs into his neck like a wild beast making him scream in pain as the others stared in horror, only Pendragon held his ground after whispering a plan to the remaining guards.

"Twilight take this." He handed her the strange stone Applejack saw from before.

"What are you going to do?"

"Just be ready."

Nightmare Moon had just finished draining the captain of his blood as she dropped his corpse to the floor, the men cringed in fear after seeing the frightened expression on his face along with the two gaping holes in his neck.

"Exquisite." The dark mare cooed while wiping some blood off her lips as she neared Luna. As Nightmare stared at her other half she became disgusted all she could see was the weak, frail little mare who kept her locked up ever since she was defeated by the elements of harmony so to satisfy her rage she prepared to obliterate the Princess with one blast from her horn.

"Goodbye Princess." The moment she was about to fire a large hammer came swinging down at her from above forcing her to fly back a ways when she saw the human standing between her and Luna, Twilight and the others quickly gathered around the Princess as the strange stone began to glow brighter.

"Okay now what?" Asked Rainbow when her friend yelled out a spell that transported them out of the castle and straight to Sweet Apple Acres. The group was shocked by what had just happened while their friend used his magic to heal the Princess of any wounds that may have been inflicted on her.

"Pendragon, what just happened?" Twilight asked while handing him back the stone.

"It's called a Hearth Stone, we use them in my world to teleport back home it even works if you're on another continent but not when you're in another dimension I'm afraid." He paused for a moment as he heard the flapping of wings and spotted Celestia coming in for a landing.

"LUNA!!" The Princess wasted no time in cuddling her little sister as she roused from her sleep. Luna's vision was blurry but she could still make out the face of her big sister who was crying tears of joy while hugging her.

"Oh sister!"

"Celestia? What happened?" Luna asked in a tired voice while noticing the relieved expressions on the others, only Pendragon seemed concerned as he knelt before Celestia.

"Forgive me for cutting the moment short your majesties but we have a serious problem.

End

Author's Note

Nightmare Moon as a vampire. Genius!