No-Clop November 2017

Nightmare Night, Part 2

The Castle of Friendship was easily home to the biggest Nightmare Night party in town, thanks in no small part to an over-abundance of space in which to party. The entire grounds had been taken over by the traditional Apple family corn maze, and once you made it to the castle itself, even if you ignored the incredible job Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Rainbow Dash had done decorating the place, the scene in the main hall alone put every other party around to shame. Ponies from all over town were there, some from out of town, even, and all of them seemed to have the same topic on their minds at one point or another: the intriguing challenge sweeping through town, spearheaded by their local Princess.

“So how does a Changeling go about, er, that sort of thing?” Cheerilee was currently asking of Thorax, curiously prodding the smooth, featureless flesh beneath his tail, something she probably would have had the sense of mind not to do if her cheeks weren’t rosy with cider.

Thorax actually didn’t seem to mind, though; on the contrary, he looked thrilled at the chance to educate somepony about his kind. “Oh, well, you see, our transformations aren’t illusions, that’s a common misconception. We actually morph our bodies into whatever form we wish. You’re poking bare flesh because we naturally morph away our genitalia when not in use as a defense mechanism. When we do ‘whip it out,’ as it were, we of course have our natural anatomy, but since we’re equipped to coexist with other species, our genitalia is included when we transform into another species. Of course if we really wished to, we could independently morph the genitals themselves…”

“Ooooh, really?” Cheerilee gave a slightly tipsy giggle, her eyes lit up with aroused curiosity. “Tell me more…”

“Gladly! I’ve actually been practicing my options for if I win this challenge! I’m used to pony anatomy, but it sounds like there’s going to be some healthy demand for dragon genitalia as well…”

“Ooh, hehe, maybe you can give me a little preview…”

“What about your own?” Ember demanded abruptly from one side.

Thorax whipped around to look at her, grinning at his comrade in royalty and oblivious to Cheerilee’s disappointed pout. “Hey Ember! Um, what about my own--?”

“I mean, you’re perfectly fine as you normally are, you don’t need to change yourself to please everypony else!” The dragon lord folded her arms stubbornly. “They should just accept your junk as it is, along with the rest of you!”

“Oh, well…” Thorax shrugged. “Yeah, I sorta get where you’re coming from, as a species that’s generally always going to be what they’re born as, but fluidity of form is one of a Changeling’s defining traits! So really, if we’re going to be having a big mating party, I don’t mind being whatever gets my friends excited the most. Heh, after all, it’s not as though I’d enjoy it any less!”

Cheerilee cooed softly, running a hoof over his shoulder. “Aww, Thorax, that’s so sweet of you! I had no idea Changelings could be so kind. You know, I’d be just delighted to help you spread knowledge about your people to my students… maybe you’d like to tell me more about them… hehe, and about yourself? In private…?”

“O-oh! Uh… heh, wow, okay!”

Ember just snorted and looked away. “Hmph…”

Over in a corner behind them, meanwhile, a pair of well-dressed rich mares approached a trio of their old classmates huddled together again over some last minute details.

“So. Bloom, Sweetie, Scoot. Doing that silly chastity challenge again, eh?” Diamond Tiara said with a coy smirk. “I heard you all flunked the first run. Think you three are gonna hold out this time around?”

“Damn right we will!” Scootaloo vowed. “Hey, you two shoulda joined in!”

“Oh, we had a much better idea for how to spend the month,” Silver Spoon said.

“Really? What’s that? Sweetie Belle asked.

Diamond’s smirk turned downright wicked as she hugged her best friend close. “It’s called ‘Silvy and I have amazing sex every single day of the month, just to rub your muzzles in it.’ Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”

“…That’s cold, Di,” Apple Bloom grunted.

“Yeah, but it’s fun!” Diamond added, winking and strolling toward the snack table with Silver.

“…Reformed or not, she’s still a bitch.”

“Eeeyup.”

“Mmhmm.”

Beyond the rich mares at the snack table was the punch bowl and the cider barrels, the latter of which Rainbow Dash was guzzling down her fifth tankard from, finishing it off with an epic belch that echoed off the crystal walls.

“Whoa, nice one, Crash!” Soarin laughed.

“Pfft, that’s nothing, you should see me at the first day of cider season!” Rainbow boasted.

“Oh man, cider season,” Thunderlane groaned, drooling. “Clipper, buddy, you’ve got to come to Ponyville for that one sometime.”

Soarin nodded vigorously. “I’ll remember that, thanks Thunderthighs!”

“Hey, look at you three,” Starlight Glimmer said, walking up to them with a chuckle. “Isn’t Wonderbolts wearing Wonderbolt uniforms as their Nightmare Night costumes a little lazy?”

“Bah, I prefer to think of it as a built-in costume,” Rainbow countered. “What the heck are you dressed as, anyway? Are those overalls? …Does your hat have eyes?”

“Oh, it’s from this new game in the human world about a plumber who tries to save his Princess from a giant turtle with the help of this guy from a race of hat people…”

“Wow, what?” Soarin said, chuckling. “I think you lost me there.”

“…Okay, well, yeah, it sounds silly when I lay it all out like that, haha…”

“You’ve been visiting the human world?” Rainbow asked.

“Oh, hehe, yeah, just every once in a while. I’ve got a pen pal there, actually. Ah, speaking of which, here she is!”

“Who, me?” Sunset Shimmer blinked as she stopped beside Starlight, and blushed at the trio of toned, uniformed Pegasi. “Oh, wow, hi there.”

“Wow, what are you supposed to be?” Rainbow wondered. “Is your hair, like, made of squid tentacles?”

“Oh, it’s from this game back home--”

“Yeah, don’t bother,” Starlight muttered. “We don’t have video games yet.”

“God, I know, right?” Sunset groaned loudly. “And Twilight wonders why I prefer to stay in the human world… you’d think fingers alone would’ve gotten the message across, but I guess she can get that from Spike. Well excuuuuse me, Princess, we didn’t all have dragon assistants that grew up to be our fuck-buddies.”

“What’s so great about fingers?” Rainbow asked.

Both unicorn mares smirked at each other before Sunset answered, “Imagine your front hooves ended in ten flexible little dicks that can each be controlled individually, and you can stick them anywhere.”

Thunderlane’s jaw dropped. “N-no kidding…?”

Rainbow snorted dismissively. “Hmph, they can’t feel as good as a wingjob. Especially not one of mine, right boys?”

Soarin shuddered and nodded. “Girl’s got a point there…”

“Damn right!” Rainbow grinned and ran one of her primary feathers on each wing under both boys’ chins, making them quiver a little. “And that’s just a taste of what I can do…”

“Yeah, well, let Spike finger you sometime and then see if you still like wings better,” Starlight said, smiling lazily.

“Bah…”

Somewhere behind the crowd at the cider keg, the center of the main hall had turned into an impromptu dance floor, primarily because Discord and Celestia were cutting a rug across the room, catching much of the party’s attention as they wove a particularly aggressive tango around each other with expressions somewhere between old friends reunited, and rival predators fighting over a fresh kill.

“I confess myself a little disappointed, my dear,” Discord was saying. “You and your silly ponies had all this fun last year without little old me.”

“Oh? Is that jealousy I hear, Discord?” Celestia said back, her tone all tease.

“Jealousy? Hardly. Disappointment aside, I understand it was an exclusive club sort of thing. Limited availability and whatnot. It’s not as though you invited some random mail-mare to play instead of moi.”

“I played by accident!”

Discord looked around with a slight glare at a grey and blonde, wall-eyed pegasus standing just behind him, wearing a party hat like a unicorn horn.

Celestia chuckled. “Haha… yes… by accident. Ahem… I’m sorry to hear you couldn’t play again this year, though, my little pony.”

“That’s okay, I appreciate you thinking of me!” the pegasus said cheerfully, glancing past her. “Ooooh, snack table!”

The pegasus was gone in a flash, leaving Discord grumbling sourly.

“Not jealous at all, hm?” Celestia teased again, bumping her flank against his hip to get him dancing again.

It took a few hip-checks, but eventually Discord got grooving again. “Hmph… well, perhaps a smidgen. You know, I thought friendship was a more inclusionary concept.”

“Of course,” Celestia agreed, twirling away from him until they were a full wingspan apart, though still hand in hoof. “If it makes you feel any better, I really do regret not passing along an invitation back then, given the willingness you’ve showed this time. To be honest, I actually expected you to decline.”

Discord scoffed derisively, dipping Celestia backward as she twirled back into his arms. “Decline to participate in the most interesting game you ponies have come up with since my return? Whyever would I do that?”

“You’re not much for ‘rules’ and ‘structure,’ Discord.” Celestia hauled herself upright again, dancing around his snakelike body an arm’s length apart. “I daresay you’ll have a tough time staying motivated to abide by them. Why, I wouldn’t be surprised if you clopped out simply to escape the rules out of sheer boredom.”

“Is that a challenge, old friend?”

“Perhaps it is.”

Discord twirled her close again, a rose appearing between his teeth - though the blossom itself was just a dense cluster of thorns, while little rosebuds grew where thorns normally would. “Then I’m afraid I have no choice but to accept.” He offered the warped flower to the sun princess. “Though I think you underestimate my ability to bend rules.”

Celestia laughed and nibbled off a rosebud. “I think you underestimate just how binding Twilight’s little contract was.”

“Contract? I don’t remember any--… oh, you sneaky little alicorn…”

Celestia cackled. “Just remembered the table we all rubbed off on?”

“And what exactly did I ‘sign,’ then?”

Celestia merely wiggled her eyebrows, and before Discord could retort further, another princess swept a long pink wing up between them.

“Easy, you two, save the rival-sex for the first of December,” Cadance said, giggling. “Twilight wants all the players in the map room… it’s almost midnight.”

“Splendid,” Celestia replied, and offered Discord one last wink before she made to follow Cadance. “Good luck, Discord. We all hope to see you at the celebration party, I’m sure…”

“Hmph… oh, I’ll be there, you’ll see…” Discord grunted, and stalked after them.