Twilit Nightfall

Chapter 4: Already Gone

"Spike! Luna! Are you two ready for Pinkie Pie's party?" Twilight shouted from her spot at the foot of the stairs.

It had been about a day, which was a bit unusual for Pinkie, Twilight noted, because the energetic pink mare normally put together a party at the drop of a hat. Not that Twilight, Spike and Luna were complaining, though. It was more the fact that Pinkie, while a very good friend and an amazing lay (according to her marefriends Ditzy Doo and Rainbow Dash, anyway), Pinkie rarely considered that anypony may have plans or that they might not want a huge party.

"Not yet!" Luna called back, "I am attempting to find something to wear...."

Spike, who had come out from the bathroom after a quick shower, and Twilight looked at each other before bursting into fits of giggles. Twilight trotted up to her room, where Luna was searching in vain for something to wear.

"I should probably mention that Pinkie's parties are largely informal," Twilight said in between giggles, "She rarely ever does anything too serious."

"Ah," Luna said sheepishly, "Then I guess leaving my regalia behind would be a good idea, then?"

"Yup!" Twilight said enthusiastically, "It would also keep ponies from treating you too much like royalty, I think."

"Thank you, Twilight," Luna said, "I appreciate the help."

---`

A few minuets later found Spike, Twilight, and Luna entering Sugarcube Corner, where Pinkie Pie burst out of the ceiling exclaiming, "SURPRISE!!!!!"

Twilight and Spike, who had been to many of Pinkie's parties before were more than ready for her antics. Luna, on the other hand..... Not so much. The lunar Princess practically jumped out of her fur when Pinkie appeared. She landed on her hooves, a little shaken, but relatively fine.

"Pinkie, Ah think you done went and gave the poor girl a heart attack," said a pony with a slight Southern twang in her accent. Luna looked around and found the source of the voice, remembering her name as Applejack, who was surrounded by Twilight's other friends, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash.

"It is alright, ladies," Luna said with a smile, "Apparently it is something I must get acquainted with if I am to be friends with you all."

With the introductions out of the way, Luna, Twilight, and the rest of the girls proceeded to party. The usual cake, refreshments and games were there, with some decent music going on, courtesy of Vinyl Scratch, and occasionally her fillyfriend Octavia. They partied pretty hard, til Pinkie called everything to a stop.

"Okie doki, everypony!" Pinkie said, gathering everyones attention, "It's time for all the little colts and fillies to get home and get some rest. If I could have Cheerilee and Ditzy escort the foals home, I'd really appreciate it!! I'll even save you some of those banana nut muffins you like so much, Ditzy!!!"

The named mares, Cheerilee,  the local school teacher, and Ditzy Doo, the occasional goof up mailmare, nodded and began to round up the foals. Before Ditzy could get too far, however, Luna beckoned the mare over.

"Miss Doo," Luna began, "I know what you have done in service to Equestria and for my sister. And I want to thank you for your service."

Ditzy nodded, closing her eyes. At first glance, it seemed that Ditzy was wall-eyed, but upon closer inspection, it turned out that her left eye was made of glass. Not very many ponies knew about Ditzy Doo, the retired Solar Guard, but those that did were asked to keep things quiet. Ditzy said her reasons for doing so were because she wanted a quiet life for herself and her daughter, Dinky.

"Thank you," Ditzy said, "But I was only doing my job."

"Nonsense," Luna said, "It may seem that way to you, but to me, to the sister of Celestia the pony, it means the world to me. Should you need something, ask, and I will do my best to give it."

Ditzy gaped for a moment before nodding slowly and muttering thanks. She turned and continued gathering up foals and a reluctant Spike who was stubbornly refusing to leave, even though he was starting to fall asleep on his feet.

After Cheerilee and Ditzy had left with the foals, Pinkie got everyone's attention again and said, "Since this is Princess Luna's first Pinkie Party, and because the kids are all gone, it's time to break out the hard stuff!"

Everypony cheered, though none as loudly as Applejack or Rainbow Dash. Once the cheering died down, Pinkie once again started speaking, "Even if most ponies have been to my adult parties before, I still gotta tell the rules. Don't need the Town Guard coming in and breaking us all up, now do we?"

Looking around, Pinkie waited as murmurs of ascent went around the room before moving on. "I only have three rules when it comes to my super-fun-time adult parties!! Rule number one!" Pinkie said, "Is that you don't try and hurt somepony!! The last pony that did that... Well, let's just say he met Pinkamena. Rule Number two! Don't be a meanie pants and try and start fights. We're all here to PARTY!!! So that means you go and play Soul Calibur or Mortal Kombat if you wanna fight!! And Rule number three!!"

Pinkie paused here, to make sure that she had everyone's attention, before saying, "Have fun! I want to see smiles on those faces ponies! DJ, pump that shit!!!"

Vinyl, who had been behind Pinkie the whole time flashed a grin and her horn lit up in pale grey light (oddly enough, her magic was the same color as Octavia's fur. Apparently a strong enough emotion, like love, makes your magic change color. Go figure.) and the music started up once more.

Smiling with her work done, Pinkie made her way over to Twilight and Luna, bringing  a couple of cocktails with her. She hoofed over the drinks and Twilight said, "Pinkie, I could hear the 'K' in Kombat. I'm pretty sure it's spelled with a 'C'."

Pinkie giggled and asked, "Are you seriously gonna be a grammar Nazi, Twilee? Cause it's a party!! None of this 'grr, imma check your spelling for accuracy' stuff! Have fun, let loose!"

After her statement, Pinkie bounced away to check on the other guests. Twilight's face met her hoof and Luna stood there wondering what in Tartaurus a Nazi was.

~,~,~,~

Several hours later, and several Cream Soda mixed drinks (Pinkie described them as nothing more than Ginger Ale and a cream flavored drink called Vodka. Luna found them irresistible.) later, Pinkie had to send Twilight and Luna back to the treehouse, even though the party was still in full swing.

"B-but Ah dun wanna...." Twilight complained through a drunken haze when told she needed to leave.

"Twilee, Twilee," Pinkie said clucking her tongue like a mother hen. She had consumed more than her fair share of the drinks that night as well, but she still seemed just as sober as when the party started. When asked, Pinkie usually looked around conspiratorially and said something about the cupcakes she always eats absorbing the majority of the booze, even if there were no cupcakes at the party. Others just attributed it to Pinkie being Pinkie and left it at that.

Continuing with her sentence, Pinkie said, "You gotta go home cause you're drunk."

"But!" Twilight began to protest before a pink hoof was shoved in her mouth.

"Go home Twilight," Pinkie said, "You're drunk."

With a huff and a hiccup, Twilight, who was leaning heavily on Luna, was lead back to her library by the lunar princess. They made it back to the treehouse without any incident, for which Luna was grateful. They went inside and Luna helped Twilight up the stairs and into her bed, with Luna collapsing shortly after Twilight.

~~~~

A few hours later, or maybe it was only a few minuets, Twilight couldn't be sure, the lavender mare woke with a start. She wasn't sure what it was, but there was something wrong. She shrugged and laid her head back down to try and get back to sleep when she heard a crash and a quickly silenced yelp.

At the sound of the yelp, Luna also woke up, looking around blearily, some of her mane stuck to her face. She saw Twilight getting up, the alcohol not quite out of her system just yet, and stumbling towards the door, her horn alight with a minor stun spell. Luna heard another crash and a very familiar yell before Twilight bolted out of the room and down the stairs.

What Twilight saw stopped her blood cold. The library was trashed. Most books were still intact, but were tossed about the floor of the library as if a tornado had blown through. The front door was wide open and the window was shattered. Just outside of the front door was a pegasus, silhouetted in the moonlight, a slightly wriggling bag strapped to her back as she prepared to take off.

"Count Dracul sends his regards," the pony said as she tossed a letter onto the floor in front of Twilight and took off with a flap of her wings. Twilight recovered from her shock in time to make it to the door before a scream that would haunt her for the rest of her life echoed through the night.

Spike the dragon, his head poking out of the sack on the back of his pegasus captor screamed out, "Twilight! MOMMY! HELP!!"

The haze of alcohol still in her system prevented Twilight from saying anything more than some incoherent protests. Her magic flickered once, then died, as the pegasus turned and flew off into the night. Luna, who was a little better off in regards to the alcohol, came down the stairs a little too late to stop the pegasus, her form already a speck on the horizon. She looked over to Twilight who looked up at the retreating form of her surrogate son and began shaking.

Twilight's eyes became glazed over with the power she was channeling instinctively. Her body shook in rage and grief. Her coat turned white and her mane and tail were like fire. To anypony who was still about at that hour, they would have described Twilight as channeling the power of Celestia's sun itself. The ground at Twilight's hooves cracked under the power she was bringing to bear. And her rage flared like the sun.