“I still don’t see why you’re mad.” I told an angered Lydia while Drake was finishing up a slice of apple pie given to him before we left the farm. When Lydia saw the chance to escape from Jacqueline’s taste testing of the feast, Lydia was angry at both me and Drake.

“You two just… left me! We had more important things to do than have a large dinner.” Lydia sighed a bit as she rubbed her belly. “I will say… the food was good and they were pleasant folk, I don’t know if an all apple feast is a good choice.”

“I don’t know about you but I think it’s fine.” Drake said as he licked his fingers. I rolled my eyes before we headed out the farm and once we went through the archway with name of the farm written on it, I stopped to cave Lydia and asked.

“So what’s next on your list?” I asked her, crossing my arms as I spoke and waited for an answer. Lydia looked over at the Beastkin as he pulled the list out.

“Well, there’s the Coffee place or… weather.” Drake said, earning a groan from the Magi.

“I don’t know if I could take anymore food…” Lydia groaned. Seeing as we’ll have to skip over Blake’s moon cakes, I sighed after realizing that the only person I knew that was left in charge of the weather was none other than the town’s own egotistical skyborn. Speaking of which, I could hear her now though what she was yelling didn’t process through my head in time before something crashed onto Lydia, sending both of them onto the floor. Low and behold, Rachael makes her appearance by crashing into Lydia. The latter groaned quietly at the pain she currently felt.

“Whoops, my bad.” Rachael said, getting off Lydia and helping the groaning magi up. Lydia was halfway covered in dirt and mud that she fell into.

“I’m guessing you’re in charge of the weather…” Lydia asked in annoyed time before glancing up at the sky.

“Yup! Name’s Rachael, nice to meet you.” The Skyborn introduced herself. Rachael was a short Skyborn, be it only five foot one, she was athletically fit for a Skyborn with shoulder length rainbow hair and goggles. Lydia arched a brow at her before speaking.

“Yes well nice to meet you… also you forgot to clear the skies.” The Magi pointed out that the sky was cloudy.

“Eh, don’t worry about it. I’ll get around it after practice.” Rachael said in her normal tone, which was cocky. I groaned at this, while me and Rachael were indeed friends, her cocky tone irritated me to no end.

“No matter how much you practice, you always end up making a hole in the ground.” I told Rachael with a frown, my arms already crossed as I spoke. Rachael shot me a glare before Lydia spoke.

“If you don’t mind directing me to a Skyborn or a Beastkin on the weather team other than you so they can clear the skies.” She asked, trying to dust herself off.

“Wait what!?” Rachael yelled at the Magi. “I said I’ll do it!”

“And yet the sky has clouds, meaning that you can’t. “ The Magi shot back at the irritated Skyborn. Drake and I looked back and forth of the two before Rachael spoke.

“I can clear the whole sky in thirty seconds flat.” She stated with her arms crossed.

“Okay, prove it.” Lydia said. Rachel smirked as she pulled on her goggles and blasted off into the sky. Like she said, in thirty seconds the sky was now clear and Rachel had time to spin Lydia around, sorts cleaning her.

“There! Thirty seconds flat!” Rachel said proudly. I stood there in silence, mentally groaning as she said this. She’s known to take almost anything as a sort of contest on being the fastest.

“Can we go one second without you inflating your ego?” I asked out loud, making myself known to the goggle wearing skyborn. “And can you please do your job without trying to show off for once? Seriously, you can’t even go a single minute without boasting over speed.” I told the skyborn.

“Hey, can’t help if I’m too awesome.” Rachael said with a grin. Lydia, on the other hand, was still stunned as her hair was now disheveled. “Ah, well, anyway… got to go!” with that, she zoomed off away from us. Drake looked up at the Magi who now came to her senses.

“Whaa…” was all she could say.

“What’s next on the list?” I sighed out, rubbing my head from the headache Rachael left me with. I honestly couldn’t wait to go back home and simply crash onto my bed. “We’re wasting daylight the more you stand there dumbstruck.” I said snapping my fingers in front of Lydia, to be sure I caught her attention, each snap of my finger caused sparks to come out.

“Huh… what?” Lydia said, making me frown as Drake rolled his eyes as he read the list.

“It says that we also have to find the one who’s doing the decorations, one that does the music, and… I believe that’s it?” Drake said, rereading the list. I sighed in relief at this before motioning for them to follow me once again, this time our trek through town wasn’t as uneventful as before. It was nearly midday, so people were going about their day like normal, some were helping prepare for tomorrow’s festival while others simply did their daily chores. Soon enough we found the person in charge of the decorations, another magi woman just two years older than me working within her boutique. She was busy putting up some decorations. She wore a white dress shirt and a dark purple skirt with light blue streaks on it. Her hand glowed a light blue colour as she moved the decorations a bit.

“Oh wow…” Drake said. Looking over at the young Beastkin I saw the familiar love struck look I’ve seen before. I grimaced at the many memories Sophia had given me, her many attempts in wooing me, her many love letters and borderline obsession. I nearly filed a restraining order until she decided to back off, though it didn’t deter her attempts but it did stop her from nicking some of my old clothes. How she got into my home is beyond me, perhaps I need a guard dog or something. With a sigh, I called out her name.

“Sophia!” I called out for her and within an instant, her gaze snapped towards out direction.

“Oh Isaac!” she said happily before seeing Lydia and her happy smile turned to shock. “Oh my Lords! What has happened to you!”

“Ah, well, you see…” Lydia tried to say before Sophia came over to drag Lydia off to a chair.

“Don’t worry darling, I’ll have this fixed in no time~” Sophia singsonged as she went to work on Lydia’s hair.

“Hey, do you know that… angel…” Drake sighed a bit as he said that to me. I snorted a bit, holding back a laugh afterwards, does he really? Judging by the look in his eyes, he no doubt meant his words.

“Her name’s Sophia Belmont and… you know what nevermind.” I said, ultimately deciding not to break his fantasy. Drake looked at me for a moment before looking back at Sophia. After a few minutes she was finished and Lydia had clean hair.

“There you go darling, good as new, now then…” she soon came back over to me with the smile. “How can I help you Isaac~?” she asked in her singsong tone. I leaned back a bit, uncomfortable with how close she was.

“I’m just giving these two a tour, Lydia over there was sent by the Princess to oversee the preparations.” I said to her, taking a step back as she took a step forward. She saw this and stopped, knowing full well of the still unfinished restraining order at home.

“Oh! Well then…” her smile was still there as she turned to Lydia. The two of them talked for some time before Lydia smiled at her as she walked over to us.

“Looks like everything is going fine with the decorations.” Lydia said happily.

“Of course darling, I do my best with I got…” Sophia started look behind us before adding. “Umm, Isaac can I ask… is you friend Blake around?” As she asked that I saw a bet of nervosity in her face. Blake and Sophia don’t have a great friendship due to how the two do things, they always get into fights about something, almost everything even. I shook my head as an answer.

“No, she’s busy making mooncakes for tomorrow.” I told her, gaining a relieved sigh from her as result. She quickly compose herself before speaking.

“That’s good… er well, you get what I mean. Well then I shouldn’t… keep you from your job.” she said with a little stran about keeping the three of us here.

“I think we could stay for a little while…” Drake said happily before Lydia spoke up.

“No we have to get going. We still have to find the one who does the music for the event.” Lydia said before ushering us out of the place. “Have a nice day Sophia.” When we exited the boutique in a hurry, Lydia wanting to get her list done pronto and rather not waste time on simple chatter. I didn’t see the need to be rushed, we still had all day left but Lydia wouldn’t hear none of it. The three of us continue walking until we started to hear someone singing softly.

We come up on a cottage just outside of town, home of the town’s own animal caretaker Angelina Calliope. The owner of the home loved all animals, even those within the Everfree Forest. She was sitting out in the grass with some birds singing along with her. The soft spoken woman was wearing a yellow and green sundress as her hair was pulled back to show off her face a bit. Her smile as she sang made me smile a little as well. Lydia smiled at the song she was singing before Angelina finished her song.

“That was amazing.” Lydia said, getting the attention of the Angelina. She jumped before dashing off to hide behind a tree. Lydia blinked at this before looking at me. “What? Did I do something wrong?” With a look of worry, I went over to Angelina.

“Ange, are you alright?” I asked nervous woman as she shook from the sudden spook. The shy Skyborn peeked out behind the tree as I asked this.

“O-oh… h-hello Isaac…” Angelina greeted me. “D-Didn’t realized that… I’m g-going to h-have company t-today…”

“Sorry about that, we’re just here to check on how you’re doing with the entrainment for the festival.” I told her in a calm tone, helping her calm down. Angelina is known to be frightened easily, it’s common knowledge and the townsfolk knew never to sneak up on her or raise your tone so suddenly unless you wanted to see Angelina shake like a frightened cat. “She didn’t mean to sneak up on you and scare you.” I added.

“I-I-It’s fine… n-no harm d-done.” Angelina said with a smile as she stepped out behind the tree. She took some breaths before looking over at the other two. “H-Hello…”

“Hi there… sorry for spooking you.” Lydia said with a smile. Even though Angelina smiled at Drake and Lydia she shifted uncomfortably as she tried to keep eye contact with them but failing. I stood beside the nervous skyborn and looked at the two.

“She’s shy around people but she’s got heart of pure gold.” I told them with a smile. It was true, Angelina has done many good things for the town but never asked for anything in return. “Anyway, sorry dropping in on your practices. We’ll be on our way.” I said to Angelina before walking passed Lydia, giving her a side glare for having spooked Angelina. Lydia gave me a frown as I walked off. As the two talked, hearing Angelina try to talk back but still be quite as ever I notice that Blake was walking towards us.

“Yo.” she said as she came up to me. She still wore the same outfit as before, albeit had a few bits of flour on her shirt as she carried a basket. “How goes the tour?”

“Hate it, mayor better pay me good money this time.” I told her with a little frown. Blake chuckled a bit at this.

“I don’t know about that… also Mooncake?” she asked, offering me one from her basket. “I got strawberry and blueberry filling for sweet and some savory ones as well.”

“Don’t mind if I do.” I said with an immediate smile, taking one of the tasty moon cakes not really caring if they had filling or not. I took a bite and hummed before swallowing and saying. “I needed this so much.” I said before taking yet another bite. Both Lydia and Drake looked at me curiously as I finished up my moon cake. I noticed them looking and arched a brow at the two of them. “What?” I asked them. Blake leaned over and waved at Angelia.

“Hey Ange, got some Mooncakes for you!” Blake said with a smile.

“O-oh, thank you.” Angelia said as Blake walked over to the Skyborn and gave her two smaller bags of Mooncakes.

“I tried to make some for your animals as well, hope they turn out alright.” Blake added as the shy Skyborn smiled a bit.

“I believe they will, thank you again Blake.” Angelina said with a smile.

“Excuse me, but who are you?” Lydia asked, frowning at Blake.

“Blake, nice to meet you. Mooncake?” Blake asked, showing off the cakes in her basket. Lydia’s expression shifted to look more sick and green.

“Uhh, no thanks.” she said as Drake asked for four of them. Blake looked over at me with a questioning look about Lydia.

“It’s a long story.” I simply told her before looking at Lydia. “Are we nearly done?” I asked her, wanting to go home as soon as possible.

“Mm! That’s it really.” Drake said as he pulled the list out and looked up at the sky. “It’s also getting late so we should be going to the place we’re staying which is… the Golden Oaks Library.” Hearing the name of our last destination, I sighed a little knowing that it’s across town before saying.

“I’ll catch ya later Blake.” I said with a wave before going ahead of both Lydia and Drake. “Let’s go you two.” I told them. They followed me without a word and our trek across town was… oddly quiet. Normally the streets would be busy with many of the townsfolk going about their day but I could only see a few passing people before we finally stopped at the giant tree that just so happened to be the town’s library. “Here we are, Golden Oaks.” I told them.

“Thank you Isaac for giving us this tour.” Lydia said before Drake nodded.

“Yeah, it was fun!” he said with a smile. “Maybe we can see eachother again after the festival?” Before I could answer Lydia stepped in and turned the young Beastkin around.

“Sorry but we have a lot of work to be doing right now and need to work on it right away.” Lydia said as she started to push Drake inside, despite his protests. Soon the door closed, leaving me by myself outside as the sun was setting. Despite the rudeness of her action, I decided not argue and turned around with the intent to return home only to hear many people yell the word surprise from within the library, normally I wouldn’t be spooked by something like this but then I remembered that this could only mean Dianne is there, which meant hilarity would ensue. Weighing my options I decided to head back home. As the sun went down I got back to my house and walked inside, I saw the place was cleaned and spotless and the sounds of Skyler playing games greeted my ears.

“OH COME ON! THAT’S THE FIFTH TIME!” Skyler yelled, answering which game she was playing. Walking into the living, room, I was greeted with tv displaying a loading screen with a tooltip of a type of greatsword.

“I see you cleaned up the place, thanks for that.” I told her, thanking her for the clean floors and tables. “That tour took way longer than I would’ve hoped and it was abysmal. One of them even spooked Angelina!” I said, exclaiming the last part in disbelief. This got a reaction from Skyler once I uttered those words.

“Why would they do that!? Angelina is the nicest person in town.” She frowned a bit as she crossed her arms. “That’s not nice.” I sat down on the couch next to her just as her character respawned.

“Stuck on the dragon?” I asked, knowing the answer. With a frown Skyler answered with a simple.

“Shut up.” She said just above a whisper. I chuckled a bit as I helped her get past the dragon. It took a few tries but sooner or later she defeated the dragon. She let out a cheer after this, seeing the words Heir of Fire Slain fade in after almost two hours spent dying over and over again. She flopped back onto the couch and let out a sigh. “That took way longer than it should…” Skyler stated. At the mention of time, I looked up at the clock and saw that it was nearly time for the Princess’s arrival.

“Oh shit.” I said slowly before suddenly realizing the gravity of the situation. “Oh shit!” I yelled, hopping up to my feet and surprising Skyler as a result.

“What’s wrong?” She asked as I panicked.

“It’s almost time for the princess’s arrival!” I exclaimed in a panicked tone. Before I could give her time to react, I told her to get dressed while I got ready myself. I hurried upstairs and took a quick shower before putting on a fresh pair jeans and a clean shirt that unfortunately had sleeves but they weren’t long. When I got downstairs, I saw that we had only a few minutes before the event and Skyler hurried down the stairs dressed to go out as well.

“I’m ready, I’m ready!” Skyler yelled as she almost stumbled and fell onto the ground before catching herself. Seeing that she was alright and well, we both hurried out of the house and made our way across town to the town hall. Luckily we made within the last minute and saw the large gathering of people, eager to see the princess. Blake saw us rush in and gave us a wave as the rest of the townsfolk chatted with themselves as they waited.

“We made it.” I told Skyler, panting for air after having ran across town to get here. Skyler was no different, she looked about ready to collapse but out sheer willpower, she stayed standing up. “I don’t think think… no nevermind, can’t feel my legs.” I said, slowly regaining my breath. As Skyler laughed at that the event started. The Mayor, a middle aged woman with silver hair wearing a light brown suit, started to give a speech about the importance of the holiday and something else that I didn’t listen too as I was more focused on getting feeling back in my legs. Soon it was time for the Princess to show herself. Music played and birds flew up as some curtains parted to show… nothing. The Princess wasn’t there and this caused mass confusion before the mayor looked through still opened curtains, seeing if the princess has wandered off only to come back and announced the dreadful news.

“She’s gone!” The mayor said, her voice taking a panicked tone. The gathered townsfolk, save for me, Blake and Skyler muttered amongst themselves worryingly. It was until I felt the sudden drop of temperature that I knew something wasn’t right. I notice that on the ground and on the walls the shadows started to shift and move. They all started to make their way up to where the Mayor was and coalesce into a solid form. Black wings burst out of the shadows as they melted away to show a raven haired woman with black and blue armor on. The Mayor stumbled back as the townsfolk gasped at this. Black pits for eyes scanned the crowd before she spoke.

“Sorry for being late my subjects, but don’t fret. Your Queen has arrived.” She said, her voice was as smooth as silk with a feeling of a sharp tone as well. I didn’t care much for her words as I shivered from the cold, it was seriously cold and I didn’t like it one bit. Blake and Skyler noticed my shivering.

“D-D-Damn t-the cold!” I exclaimed loudly. Skyler nodded, shivering and her breath was coming out in white puffs. The only one that didn’t seem cold was Blake. The guards that were around charged at the woman only for her to bat them aside as if they were nothing.

“Now now, do you know who I am?” the woman asked with a smirk. When no one answer her the smirk disappeared. “Really? No one?” She asked before muttering to herself.

“You’re the Lady of the Moon! The Witch of Shadows. The Nightmare!” A familiar voice called out, looking over I saw that it was Lydia.

“Well… I prefer now Queen Moon but… that kinda works… not really.” The Shadow lady said with a little annoyed. I began snapping my fingers to lit a flame, earning only sparks as a result. I kept trying over and over but nothing but sparks were made from each snap. The woman seemed to hear my snapping and glanced over to my direction. Unaware of her gaze, I kept trying to get a simply flame to ignite. After a few more tries with nothing but sparks Skyler tried to help with using her hands to make a windshield.

“FuckFuckFu- Yes!” I said as a single flame was finally lit ablaze the tip of my thumb. “That’s a win for me!” I said victoriously, feeling my hand warm up from the little flame.

“Well, isn’t that interesting.” A voice said. Both me and Skyler looked up to see that the Nightmare was kneeling near us, her pale skin look deadlike as her solid black eyes stared back. Skyler pulled back away in fear as I stare at the woman. “I’ve seen much, but to make a flame in my presence is… admirable.”

“Umm...okay?” I said, a little confused at her closeness. I used my other hand to keep Skyler back behind me in case the woman tried anything. Blake didn’t move as the rest of the townsfolk stepped back, only the rest of the guards tried to do a sneak attack from behind but only got knocked aside by the shadows.

“I do wish to stay more, being banished for so long does put me out of the loop, and I do have so much to do so-” before she could finished Lydia made a circle in the air and thrust her hands forward, a beam of purple magic shot out towards the Nightmare. Without looking the Dark Celestial raised her hand up and a few tendrils of dark blue magic shot out of her hand and blocked the blast. The sound of something shattering was heard as the spell from Lydia was broken, shocking the purple Magi.

“But… how..?” was all she could say as the Nightmare looked around at the others.

“Farewell my subjects, I do hope that you all will bow down to me soon.” With that she disappeared into shadows and left. The cold weather quickly turn back into warmth and that I now realized, the lights brighten. Everyone around me was shocked, frighten, or both.

“Well then, anyone know what the fuck just happened?” I asked just before swallowing the flame, feeling its warmth within me. Skyler felt the warmth I was emitted and held tighter against me, still cold after the encounter. “Who the hell was that?” I asked out loud while the mayor tried to calm the crowd down.

“That was… the Nightmare.” Lydia said as she got close. “A being of Darkness, Princess Celestia banished her to the moon for a thousand years for trying to plunge the land in complete darkness. I read all the books and seen the signs and tried to warn the Princess about this but… she sent me here.” Lydia said with a frown. I gave her an odd look of disbelief, really not knowing if were true or not but that didn’t matter right now. Looking down at Skyler, I said to her.

“Go home and lock the doors, don’t let anyone that isn’t me in.” I told her as she clung to my arm. She looked at me before shakingly nodding and letting go before quickly running off back home while the rest of the townsfolk ran about in a fit of panic. I then looked back at Lydia before asking. “I assume you know how to stop her?” I asked her. She stared at me for a few moments before saying.

“This has nothing to do with you.” she said before making her way to out of the building.

“Well… that was rude.” Blake said with a frown. She looked down and helped me up. “You okay there Isaac?” She said as I was helped up.

“Yeah, for the most part. So what do think we should do?” I asked her, gaining an arched from her as to what I meant. I rolled my eyes and said. “Come on, you of all people should know we’re not keen on staying by the sidelines. Remember the Diamond Dog Raiders?” I asked her, gaining a snort from her. The memory of the event was clear as day, one day a daring gang of raiders called Diamond Dogs had attempted to sack the town but thanks to me, Blake and handful of others, we beat them to submission.

“Yeah…” Blake said before she notice that some people, Rachael , Angelina, Dianne, Sophia, and Jacqueline, following Lydia. “Maybe we should follow them.”

“Sounds like a plan.” I told her, gaining an odd look before she said.

“That wasn’t a plan.” Blake said, a little confused at my words but it didn’t help that I looked back at her with an arched brow and said.

“Your point?” I asked her. When I received no retort or answer, I looked forwards towards the group before saying. “Onwards.” I said, taking the lead.

End of Chapter II

Author's Note

-List of Names-

Twilight Sparkle: Lydia Aurora
Spike: Drake
Pinkie Pie: Dianne Pye
Rarity: Sophia Belmont
Fluttershy: Angelina Calliope
Rainbow Dash: Rachael Dawn Wind (Wind is a real surname, it's Finnish)
Applejack: Jacqueline Smith
Scootaloo: Skyler Hawk