A Quiet Nightmare Night

It was early evening. The sun hung low, tinging the sky with a rich, vibrant herald of the coming night. So and So joined the rest of Ponyville, watching the display. It would only be a few minutes now…

The Sun dipped gracefully into the horizon, and with a last playful burst of light, disappeared. The Moon leapt up in its place, full and ominous and beautiful.

The Nightmare Moon.

Everyone cheered. Thus did the festivities of Nightmare Night begin.

Booths filled with food and games opened their shutters, tents featuring all manner of strange and spooky attractions were thrown open and, all around town, people lit and set out their hand-carved jack-o’-lanterns. Watching them come to life all over the city, their leering faces or goofy grins shining into the rapidly advancing dark, had always been one of So and So’s favorite Ponyville traditions. Alas, he missed the view this time. He was distracted by something far more important: a girl.

He first saw her just as the Moon rose. She must have been standing up on a hill or something, because he could have sworn she’d been in perfect silhouette against the bright, silvery, white of the rising Moon. He thought she’d looked up as he’d seen her, their eyes meeting for the briefest moment. And then the moment had passed, and she was gone.

He’d stood there for a long moment, wondering what had just happened. His ruminations were interrupted by a friendly slap on his back.

“Hey, man! Party’s starting, let’s go!”

So and So looked back to where he’d seen the girl. He furtively asked around to see if anyone else had seen her, and when they teased him about it, he let it go and got on with the festivities. Weird stuff happened all the time around here. And Nightmare Night was the weirdest time of all.

~~~

It was a few hours before he saw her again. So and So and his little crew spent their time productively trick-or-treating. The nature of trick-or-treating changed as one got older: the kids went house to house gathering free candy, the bigger kids went stall to stall inflicting drinks on each other. Both sides seemed to think they were getting the better deal.

Having worked their way near the gardens, and made brave by booze and revelry, So and So and Co. had decided it was finally time to confront the Hedge Maze of Horror. It was kid’s stuff really, but it was traditional. The screams emanating from within definitely didn’t send a chill down any of their spines. Definitely not.

The group hesitated before entering, but only long enough to have the yearly argument over who had to go first, and even that was cut short when Berry Punch, this year’s Hostess of the Hedge, came out to coax them forward. At thirty-six, the local publican was over a decade older than any of the twenty-somethings she was teasing, but she was looking pretty good in that sexy witch costume and none of the guys wanted to look like a chump in front of her, so the rest shoved So and So into lead and off they went.

Perhaps half of a horrifying totally-not-scary-at-all hour later, So and So finally escaped. He sprinted through the exit and kept going until he realized he was about to get lost in a corn field. He staggered to a halt at its edge, laughed at himself, and turned about to see how his friends were doing. Alas, he was alone. Apparently he had made it out first. Or maybe last. He must have lost everybody in there again. Happened all the time. Well, at least no one was here to see him fleeing like an idiot this time. He shifted his over-sized hat back into place and brushed his long-ish, auburn hair back behind it. He was honestly surprised he hadn’t lost it in there. The great captain’s hat did not like to stay on. He pulled a bit at his loose, billowy shirt, and rather more so at his tight, clingy pants and floppy boots. He dragged the little fake cutlass back to where it belonged. How had pirates fought in these ridiculous outfits!? He had another good laugh at himself and walked back towards the exit of the maze to wait for everybody else.

A little shock ran through So and So at who he saw there instead.

That girl! The one from before, in the Moonrise.

She was hovering at the very edge of the fairgrounds, looking in. Not quite outside the light, but not in it either. The Hedge was at the end of town, so he was actually a little further out than her, at bit behind. She hadn’t noticed him yet.

She was just standing there, gazing from booth to booth, tent to tent, and back, as if not quite certain of where to begin, or how. Unsure. Hesitant.

Maybe he could help. Maybe she was from out of town and had lost her friends, or maybe she was a tourist. Ponyville got those now, what with all the Princess stuff going on all the time. Maybe she was just hoping someone would see her standing there and offer to be her guide for the night. It was possible, right? Totally.

He started walking over before he could stop himself. It was Nightmare Night after all. A good time for adventures. And besides, if he just sat there and let her disappear, he’d be pissed at himself for days.

The girl heard apparently heard him coming. She turned to him when he was still a few steps away.

Hoping to keep up some kind of momentum, So and So whipped off his hat and flourished it into a (hopefully) elaborate bow.

“Good evening, miss.”

He tossed the silly thing back on his head and smiled.

It was maybe a second after he’d done it that he realized how stupid he must look.

But the girl smiled. It was a little thing. Subtle. But damn it was pretty. A maybe a bit flirty? Well, So and So could hope.

She flowed into an elegant curtsey, drawing her dress out with both hands as she dipped. Her costume was a sort of medieval peasant-girl kind of thing. It might not have stood out on anybody else, but she really made it work. A bit fancy, a little racy, but not overdoing it. ‘Classy’ would be a good way to describe it. Tight where it counted, and just revealing enough. Much more tasteful than the borderline lingerie a lot of girls wore on Nightmare Night. Not that So and So had a problem with borderline lingerie, mind you, but still. There was just something about a girl with some elegance…

“Good evening indeed, sirrah.”

So and So knew he should say something, but he hadn’t thought this far ahead. Too distracted by checking her out. He laughed to buy time.

The girl was, in a word, lovely. She didn’t have the overt beauty of, say, local heroine/fashionista Rarity. Nor was she what might be called cute, exactly. Her eyes had too much depth for that. Not sexy either, exactly, there was nothing so flagrant about her. She was kind of all of that, though. Striking. Unique.

“Is Ponyville treating you well, m’lady?” he managed. A generic question, but an honest one.

“So ‘tis m’lady, now?” the girl’s smile quirked higher. “How very polite…”

A light dusting of freckles graced her elfin nose and cheeks, white where the rest of her skin was a cool blue. It struck So and So as looking rather like stars on a clear night sky. Oh, man, he was gonna have to look for an opportunity to tell her that!

“For a pirate,” she finished, waving at his costume with one graceful hand. “But in answer to your question, well enough, I suppose. I am new here though, and I confess the customs of your town are a bit strange to me.”

Despite the rumors his friends might spread, So and So wasn’t what anyone would call a lady’s man. But even nervous and buzzed as he was, he recognized the invitation for what it was.

“Aha! Well, mayhaps I could be your guide through the, ah…” he waved a hand, trying to keep the old-timey timbre of their conversation going. “Labyrinth? Of our ways?”

“Mayhaps.”

She did that thing girls do where they smile and shrug and sort of turn one way and then the other. Being coy, they called it.

“But surely you have friends to see to, yes? It would be terrible of me to steal you away from them.”

“Oh, well-”

Just as he was trying to figure out what to say, his buddy Bullrush stormed out of the hedge maze, laugh-screaming. This was a fairly common reaction to the Hedge Maze of Horror. He was followed by another guy, then a girl, then one more guy, all of whom So and So had gone in with. He would have face-palmed at the timing of it if he could have done it without being too obvious. Bull turned, still laughing, to his friends as they clumped up around him. He looked about, and his gaze chanced on So and So. Then on the girl. His eyebrows rose. The he winked and turned away, clearly understanding what was happening.

So and So mentally gave the dude a bro-fist.

“They’ll be fine. So, this is the Hedge Maze of Horror,” said So and So, gesturing to it while walking away. “It’s mostly for the kids, of course,” he tried to look brave as he said it. The girl’s expression informed him that she wasn’t convinced, but he rolled with it. “But it’s tons of fun, if you’re into that.”

“Intriguing…” she said, looking once over her shoulder at his friends. She gave them a slight bow. “But perhaps later.” She turned for the town. “And thank you, for your willingness to help a stranger in her time of need. But what shall I call you, sir pirate? Surely you have a proper name?”

“Right! I’m…”

~~~

So and So wasn’t his full name. The entirety of it was So On and So Forth. His parents, you see, were both legendary speakers. Perhaps ‘talkers’ would be a better word. Either of them could hold up both sides of multiple conversations at once. Thus the excessively verbose name of their first son. It had taken a matter of seconds for the kids in his kindergarten class to shorten it down to its present state.

So and So had inherited some of his parent’s ‘gift,’ but mostly in terms of the written word, not the spoken. He could do it if he tried though. And try he did.

The girl had called herself Quiet Nights, and the name fit well. She didn’t speak much of herself, and deflected most questions in that area. She clearly wasn’t from Ponyville, or maybe even anywhere near it, but when asked about it, she had answered only “Up North. Tell me of this one,” she’d said, pointing him to Carrot Top’s display of caramel-dipped everything. As they walked through the festive streets of Ponyville, she was content to let So and So do most of the talking, only interjecting to ask questions about this game or that booth, or listen intently to the many little traditions of Ponyville, or make the occasional pleasantly snarky comment on them. There was no malice in it. At least, he didn’t think so. That seemed to just be how she was. And really, she looked honestly enthralled by the whole event, almost childlike in a way. Her enthusiasm was contagious, and they hit just about every corner of town, playing most of the games, sitting in on as many shows as they could catch (Nights was a sucker for a scary story, it seemed), and taking a bite or sip of nearly every little seasonal delicacy. Nights wasn’t just an enthusiastic guest though. She was a competitive one, too; she took full advantage of So and So’s attempts at ‘chivalry’ to clean his clock on well over half the games they played, all the while chiding him with a kind of charming bitchiness.

“Ha-hah!” Nights chortled after crushing him at the spider toss. She turned to him with a suspicious grin. “Are you going easy because I’m a lady? I thought you were a pirate, not some fool knight! Try again.”

He did better in the second round.

“And here I’d heard the pirate’s appetites were insatiable,” she teased, licking away a bit of crust from the pie-eating contest she’d just eked out a win at. “I hope not all the rumors are false.” That little remark, of course, compelled him to ask what, exactly, were these rumors she’d heard. She’d answered with naught but a coy smirk.

So and So rather liked her, all things considered. There was just something about her, something compelling that he couldn’t quite put a finger to. A lot of somethings, actually. He’d thought of her as ‘unique’ before, but he hadn’t known how right he was until he’d spent some time with her. The word fit almost everything about her. She had a bit of an accent, for instance, but it was so subtle he had no idea where it could be from. Her gestures, her smooth, strutting stride, even the cast of her features were all just so slightly, compellingly different. She spoke like someone from another time, and sure, she might just be playing a character, but if so, she never once broke from it. Maybe she was an actress? She was funny, and mysterious, and tongue-tying-ly pretty, of course, but even more than that, simply intriguing. It seemed impossible that she should be here in Ponyville, and with him, of all people.

As the eleventh hour of Nightmare Night struck, the pair was chased to one side of Ponyville’s main road by the tiny ‘Rarrrrr!’ of a pint-sized troll. She was just a costumed little girl, of course, but everyone scattered away as if she were the real thing.

Quiet Nights hopped aside as quick as anyone, joining the row of adults lining the road, but quirked an eyebrow to So and So.

“Damn,” he said. “Is it that time already? Well, uh, ah! Look! Over there.”

So and So waved her attention to the outside of town, and Nights leaned across him to look. He couldn’t help but notice how close she’d gotten. Her face lit up as she saw the first candle light up out there, in the dark.

“What is this?” she asked, rapt. “What do they do?”

“Just watch.”

Silence fell as that first tiny light appeared. It was little more than a spark, brazen against the engulfing shadows. Then the spark multiplied. It slowly grew, bit by bit, into a little line of flickering flames, a living trail of candles and torches and glowing, leering faces.

“The Ghost Parade,” whispered So and So.

The Parade broached the line between the darkness of the Night and the lights of the town. Frightening faces leapt out of the shadows, teeth bared, eyes aglow. Strange cries accompanied them as they menaced those closest to them. Quiet Nights’ hand gripped So and So’s shirt in what felt like honest fear.

He managed to keep a straight face.

The Parade of ghosts and goblins strode into the light, and were finally revealed for what they truly were: Just the children of Ponyville, in costume. Each one was dressed as some monster or devil or whatever hobgoblin they worried might lurk under their bed. Each carried a candle, or a pumpkin, or the one inside the other. Most kept to the attitude of the tradition, but…kids were kids. They playfully harassed the onlookers, or chatted amongst themselves, or, more adorably, tried to hide in their own crowd.

“They say the Parade scares away all the scary things,” explained So and So quietly, “so nobody has to be scared for the rest of the year.”

Nights watched them, wide-eyed, until the little procession fell into a giggling mess at the other end of town. The children snuffed the candles (but not the ones in the pumpkins) and doffed their masks and melted into the mass of people.

“What wonder they bring, these little lights in the night,” breathed Quiet Nights.

She turned to So and So. She’d linked arms with him at some point. He could feel the heat of her, smell her even, and he was kind of struck dumb by it. And by how deep he might fall into those eyes. He tried to tell her. Or maybe to say that thing he’d been thinking earlier about her freckles and the stars. But before he could, her smile of wonder went wry, like she knew exactly what he was thinking without him having to say it.

“We have different legends where I come from.” She danced away, into the now open street. So and So followed.

“Oh yeah? Like what?”

Nights let him catch up and wrapped an arm around his again.

“Where I come from, they say that Luna does the scaring. She visits many towns on Nightmare Night, using strange magic to be in many places at once. She poses as a stranger, they say, and she rewards or punishes those she meets according to their just deserts. But in one town, she does something special. She chooses some pretty boy or smiling girl and whisks them away for a night of untold pleasures.” She let that one sink in for a bit before leaning in with a grinning whisper.

So and So listened with undivided attention.

“And then she devours them whole.”

So and So had to laugh at that. Yeah, she’d gotten him.

“Do they say whether it’s worth it?” he asked, pulling away, but not too far.

Nights laughed in return.

“It is strongly implied. What do they do over there?”

The Parade generally marked a turning point on Nightmare Night. The kids would soon be put to bed, and from now till morning, it was the grown-up’s turn to play. Nights seemed to understand this without having to be told.

She pulled him to a series of water-filled barrels, demanding to know what this game was. He explained, and then Nights enthralled all in attendance with her apple bobbing expertise. She earned some looks for using her unexpectedly long tongue like that. So and So pretended not to notice, even though she looked right at him while she did it. The vigor with which she bit into her captured apple unnerved him a little, but still…

Pulling her head from the barrel, Quiet Nights whipped her long, flowing, blue hair into her hands and squeezed the water out of it, tossing it behind her with a smile when she was done.

“That was fun. Where to now, dread pirate So and So?”

Hmm. Yeah. So and So really liked her, all things considered. Though he was sincerely regretting wearing such tight pants at this particular moment. Wet hair was kind of a thing for him, especially locks as fabulously exotic as hers. They practically waved on their own in the cool night air…

~~~

And so the rest of the night went. So and So saw his friends another time or two, but they left him be. A good crew, they were. He called them such, because that was what happened when So and So drank. He got verbose. And perhaps a bit piratical. Quiet Nights seemed to like it, so he didn’t stop himself.

Having escaped the press of the pub and the general hubbub going on in the streets, the pair just walked for a while. It was a bit before midnight when they hit the edge of town again. Quiet Nights stopped there, and pulled away to stand before So and So.

“Well, So and So, I thank you for a lovely evening,” she began. “T’was very educational. And provided a truly surprising wealth of booty.” She shook the basket she’d picked up somewhere, which was now full of candies and pastries and little bottles of liquor and other loot from the evening’s festivities. “But I suppose I must be going now.”

Was there just the tiniest gleam in her eye, at that last phrase? Nah, it was probably his imagination.

“Ah. Well…”

Nights did that thing again, where she kind of turned one way and another. Just like when he’d first talked to her…

“Well!” he repeated. Then with a voice full of hope and false bravado. “I suppose I must offer to walk you home, m’lady!”

Hopefully to a hotel. One that was close. And where the concierge knew how to keep his smirks to himself. Ponville’s only hotel met at least one of those standards.

“Oh my!” The eagerness in Nights’ voice surprised even So and So. Pleasantly. “Such a gentleman! But are you certain, Sir So and So? The night is late, and the Moon is high. You know what people say about staying out late on a Nightmare Night. I wouldn’t want you to risk yourself…”

She quite clearly did. So and So might be buzzing a bit, still, but he was pretty sure he had that right.

“For you, my lovely maiden,” he bowed, taking her hand, “I will brave this terror. I have my hat, and my cutlass,” he brandished both, “and what sort of man or pirate would I be if I were to leave you to walk a dark road alone?” He kissed her wrist before returning it to her, and Nights giggled. She pressed up next to him, wrapping that hand around his waist.

“As you say. But only because you’ve been so polite. For a pirate. It’s right this way.”

So and So gladly fell in next to her. It wasn’t until later that he remembered that no one lived up this road.

~~~

“So,” said So and So, “What do they say, where you’re from, about staying out late on Nightmare Night?”

“Oh,” said Nights, “The same as everywhere else, I suppose. Ghosts. Monsters. Nightmare Moon devouring the unwary.”

“What about the wary?”

“The wary put out jack-o-lanterns, and so are safe.”

What they said in Ponyville on that particular subject was that Scary Stuff happened. Luna was out and about on Nightmare Night, after all. In the early evening, her pranks were entirely benign. She did little more than burst out from unexpected places and shout ‘Boo!’ She would even leave presents behind, to ensure everyone knew it was all good fun. But things got weirder at night. Once the Moon rose in full, Luna vanished, and it was the Nightmare’s turn to play. Everyone had a story about her, or had heard one at least. An uncle or cousin or great grandpa who had been hunted by timberwolves, or driven mad by living shadows, or disappeared forever. Those tales were why people put out the lanterns, at least in Ponyville: anything lit by a jack-o-lantern was safe. Or so they said. Those little fables had been told long before Luna’s return, and they continued to this day. Or night, as it were.

“Do they say anything about why pumpkins with candles in them make you safe? I always wondered about that.”

“I suspect ‘tis just because she likes them. But who can know?”

There were no jack-o-lanterns on the road So and So and Quiet Nights trod. It was, in fact, quite dark, lit only by the occasional glow of a lightning bug. Quiet too. The bugs and birds made their calls, of course, but the pair’s on footsteps were by far the loudest sound on the road. It seemed a little chilly out here, too. So and So hadn’t noticed before.

“So…you have family out this way?” he asked, after a long period of quiet. The words practically echoed through the silent woods.

“Indeed. ‘Tis not far now.”

Nights snuggled into him, resting her head on his shoulder. It took some doing, given that she was just a bit taller than him.

They walked on.

Nights leaned in even closer, and with her whispered words, So and So found any fearful thoughts of Nightmare Moon and her depredations suddenly banished.

“Would you like to play another game with me, So On and So Forth?”

He felt her breath on him. If he’d been half the Casanova his friends thought he was, he would have known just what to say. As it was, he felt his whole body melt and shiver all at once.

Nights didn’t wait for him to get it wrong. She giggled and pulled away. She hiked up her skirts with, it had to be said, an amazing grace, showing a glorious expanse of sleek, be-stockinged, smooth leg. He’d never held any special feelings towards feet, but as she slipped off one silky little slipper, he had eyes for nothing else. Nights tossed it at him and skipped away. He barely managed to catch it.

“Chase me.”

Nights ran off the road, and So and So just stood there for a second. He rubbed the warm little shoe between his fingers for a moment longer. Then he grinned and ran to follow. He didn’t even notice that he’d never actually told her his full name.