Sugar Rush, Cloudy Skies and Maud Pie were at another house as the two young fillies were given two lollipops and two toffees. By now Sugar and Cloudy’s bags were half filled but they were sufficient enough as far as Sugar was concerned.

“This sure was a great haul,” said a beaming Cloudy as she and her sister rejoined their Aunt Maud.

“I can’t wait to dig in when we get back home,” said Sugar rush excitedly.

“Aren’t you girls forgetting something?” said Maud. Sugar Rush and Cloudy Skies looked at their aunt with confusion. “…Nightmare Moon is still prowling the skies…She’s looking for one filly or colt to gobble up…The only way to make sure you don’t get gobbled up by Nightmare Moon is to donate your candy to her statue.” Cloudy Skies trembled in terror at Maud’s words. Maud’s blank, emotionless demeanor was all that the filly needed to be reminded of the threat of Nightmare Moon. Sugar Rush meanwhile internally groaned. Of course they have to make a donation. Sugar Rush then looked at her haul. If the twins were to donate half of their candy they would only be left with three or four treats.

“Unless I keep the candy bars,” Sugar Rush thought. Maud then guided her nieces down a path making their way towards The Everfree Forest.

At The Canterlot Castle the Annual Nightmare Night Ball was well underway. The attendees numbered roughly two thousand all dressed in Nightmare Night themed attire. One of the musical acts was none other than Pixel Bit’s mother Sweetie Belle with her full band. Sweetie Belle was dressed as comic book hero Black Widow complete with a red wig and she was singing a soulful rendition of “I put a Spell on You”. Among the crowd that was taking it all in was Sweetie Belle’s older sister Rarity who was dressed in an elegant ballroom gown complete with a large white wig. Rarity’s husband Spike dressed in a golden battle armor. Applejack dressed as Dorothy and her husband Caramel dressed as The Scarecrow. Rainbow Dash dressed up as Wonder Mare and her husband Soarin’ Skies dressed as The Flash. Pinkie Pie dressed up as former villain Tempest Shadow of all ponies while her husband Pokey Pierce was dressed up as The Joker. Various other ponies, griffons, hippogriffs, dragons and changelings were dressed in costumes that represented all manner of pop culture references and horror themes. Lastly was Sweetie Belle’s husband Button Mash who was dressed up as Captain Equestria cheering her on. Flash Sentry approached the food table readying himself to indulge in some punch. He filled his tall glass with the cherry flavored drink and put it to his lips. As he chugged down the punch he felt something soft and quite squishy enter his mouth. Flash widened his eyes and spit out the object back into his glass. To his horror there were four realistic looking eyeballs within the glass. Flash grinded his teeth in rage. “Discord!” he screamed.

Across the ballroom was the crow of laughter from a familiar draconequus who was mingling with three Princesses of Equestria, Supernova and Starswirl the Bearded himself. Twilight Sparkle was dressed in her Mysterious Mare Do Well costume while Starswirl was dressed as mythical figure Lord Odin with an eyepatch over his right eye. Princess Celestia was dressed up as the character Maleficent, Discord was dressed as the comic book character Loki, Princess Luna was dressed as the comic book character Captain Marvel and Supernova was dressed as Batstallion.

“I can’t thank you enough for finally deciding to attend our Nightmare Night Ball, Starswirl,” said Celestia.

“It’s a pleasure,” said Starswirl.

“I must admit, Swirly, when you returned from Limbo I thought you were going to be the same boring stick in the mud that you were a millennium ago,” teased Discord. “But Twilight did good wearing you down.” Twilight blushed. It wasn’t common for the Lord of Chaos to compliment her on any occasion. She had always suspected that Discord might be jealous of her but she was certain that the draconequus had mellowed a great deal.

“Yes, I have learned greatly about friendship and comradery from Twilight Sparkle ever since I was rescued from Limbo,” said Starswirl. “But I have to admit I have seen great folly in today’s generation.”

Twilight displayed shock at her idol’s words. “What do you mean, Starswirl?” she asked.

“There is too much partisanship amongst Equestria’s citizens and one cannot have a simple discussion or debate without being described as an enemy of sorts,” said Starswirl.

“I was hoping you would not experience any of that, Starswirl,” said Luna sadly.

“Certain politicians who govern the cities across Equestria have taken on this divisive populism and demagoguery in their political messages,” Starswirl continued. “It breaks my heart to see that my fellow ponies consider non ponies not of Equestrian society.”

“I’ve tried to discourage this type of thinking amongst the local pony populace, Starswirl,” said Celestia. “But they do not listen and they accuse me of being complacent in the problems that non ponies allegedly bring about.”

“I do not understand how your little ponies could accuse you of encouraging lawlessness that citizens of non-pony origin supposedly commit,” said Starswirl. “There are reliable statistics that shows whatever crimes are committed by non-ponies, they are extremely low in number.”

“When me and Luna were courting they were accusing me of drinking ponies’ blood,” said Supernova with a scowl. “Can you believe it?”

“I’m sure there were only a few ponies making such ridiculous accusations,” said Starswirl with slight sternness. “But recently the certain politicians I’m talking about seem to have encouraged a lot more ponies to be bolder in their preconceived notions of other species that are not ponies. Such ponies have this message of making their cities “great again”. They boldly proclaim that non-ponies who take up residence in cities like Manehattan, Baltimare and Phillydelphia bring all sorts of ills such as crime and don’t assimilate well at all. These politicians compare the places where non-ponies come from to feces and that their cities should accept ponies from places such as our very own Canterlot. They refer to non-ponies as invaders and they adopt this elitist mindset when it comes to non-ponies seeking residence in their cities. Why should only academic scholars, nobleponies and business tycoons be the only ones who should be allowed to live in these cities? These particular politicians encourage their supporters to commit acts of violence and hostility to their critics and when the media holds these politicians to account they cry “Fake News”. I must commend you and your sister for not persecuting the media during your rule, Celestia.”

“Well, the media is rather unkind to me about eighty percent of the time,” said Celestia. “But some of their criticism is constructive and has helped me and the other princesses become better rulers of Equestria.”

“As unkind as the press may be, Celestia, they are not the enemy,” added Starswirl. “Never were and never will be. Remember that. It’s so sad these politicians cannot seem to grasp the consequences of their actions and their words. There were a few supporters who actually acted upon the words of these politicians mailing dangerous devices to other politicians who do not share such extreme views on non-ponies and other matters to cause bodily harm. These particular politicians allow their pride to consume them. Exactly when did Manehattan, Baltimare and Phillydelphia ever stopped being “great”? I would encourage these politicians to take into consideration that not all change is bad. I know that first hoof. Non-ponies who seek new lives in your cities do not automatically bring poverty, crime or laziness. It is a difference of cultures and ideas that was essential in advancing Equestria to great heights.”

“Well said, Starswirl,” said Twilight.

“Hear, hear!” said Discord.

“Having said that, however, there are those among the other side of the spectrum whose actions have veered to the point of borderline insanity,” Starswirl continued. “Too many of these individuals have become too emotional and too sensitive for their own good. While I agree that we must all be aware of how we act around others it should not be to the point of trotting on eggshells. Too many amongst today’s generation, particularly amongst the youths, are obsessed with political correctness and “safe spaces”. They hang onto every word claiming to find a “micro-aggression”. Honestly, there is no such thing as micro-aggressions. Either there is aggression or no aggression. I could remember having a lecture at a university here in Canterlot and afterwards I was confronted by a group of female students who told me that since I am quote “an uber-magical unicorn stallion” I could never grasp the emotional trauma that those in society face and that I should quote “check my privilege”. I honestly do not consider myself more privileged simply because I’m a unicorn stallion who has spent years honing my magical abilities. There are also far too many amongst our youths who want the finer things in life without having to work towards them.”

“My daughter has that problem,” interjected Luna. “She enjoys the perks of being a princess but she could never face the responsibilities that come with it.”

“Such a pity,” said Starswirl shaking his head sadly. “There are those amongst the citizenry who carry such a victim mentality and entitlement mentality. They want to work in a certain field with no skills or talent to bring to the table and when they do not get hired on the spot they quickly blame prejudice. You simply cannot expect to be cast in a musical if you never sang a day in your life. While I agree more has to be done to ensure that non-ponies and females get a fair share in life, quality always supersedes quantity. Too often when it comes to the arts non-ponies complain when ponies are depicted in roles that would represent a non-pony. Yet, it is quite alright when non-ponies are depicted in roles that would generally represent pony characters. Such blatant hypocrisy!”

“Speaking of that, Starswirl,” said Twilight. “my daughter accused Cadence of committing “cultural appropriation” just because she dressed up as Mistmane.”

“My goodness,” said Starswirl. “Why is it a crime if ponies partake in non-pony traditions and customs yet it is a birthright for non-ponies to partake in pony traditions? Instead of feeling threatened non-ponies should feel honored that ponies are acknowledging that there is a culture other than pony culture. When it comes to law and order, there are individuals who infiltrate a certain group who has concerns of particular crimes and these individuals latch onto this group’s emotions and exploit them for selfish reasons. The group then adopt an overtly emotional reaction to certain crimes and they carry a mob mentality towards an individual suspected of a crime. The group disregards the concept of “innocent until proven guilty” and throw proverbial stones at those who are accused of crimes without allowing the accused to defend themselves in a court of law. Mob justice is a trait of authoritarian regimes. Furthermore, an accusation alone is not proof of one’s guilt. It breaks my heart to see those among the female population become so vindictive, petty and devious. I’d like to stress that such females only represent a small fraction of the entire female citizenry. They push forth this message that all males are sexist, oppressive, sexual predators and that both genders can never coexist. It seems to me that the term “smashing down the patriarchy” means removing men from their positions in life and replacing them with those who are less qualified to assume said positions. You may say that I’m only saying that because I’m male but the very Elements of Harmony can attest that they would have never been able to overcome some of the perils that have befallen Equestria without the help of males.

Ponies, males and those who are heterosexual do not need to be marginalized or phased out of society in order for females, other species or those with certain romantic preferences to thrive. If it were the other way around ponies would be considered inherently evil. It is in everyone’s nature to have prejudices, not only ponies and you don’t have to be a politician or a business tycoon to be prejudiced to someone who is different to you. This phrase has been said on numerous occasions but I must say it again: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. There is only one Equestria. We have to learn to live with each other and that means respecting each other’s differences, whether in terms of culture, species, opinion, gender or politics. We must coexist with each other whether we like it or not.”

“How well you phrase it,” said Celestia.

“I second that,” said Supernova.

“Yep, you don’t have your great rep for nothing,” said Discord patting Starswirl on the back. “And that’s coming from me.”

“You gave me a good idea on what syllabus to teach our new roster of students at The School of Friendship,” said Twilight with a nod of approval.

As the evening dragged on a group of five members of the cooking staff containing a female Pegasus, a male unicorn, a female changeling, a female hippogriff and a male earth pony waded through the crowd and marched right up to Princess Luna with stern facial expressions.

“Princess Luna, we need to talk,” said the female pegasus.

“This is a rather inconvenient time, my little chefs,” said Luna. “Can it not wait?”

“No, we need to talk now!” said the male earth pony. Starswirl who was with Luna displayed a look of shock at the earth pony’s stern tone. Starswirl then looked back at Luna and wondered if she was going to allow her kitchen staff to be blatantly disrespectful to her.

“You can’t fire Giovanni,” said the female changeling chef.

“What?” said Luna with a baffled expression.

“Giovanni has worked for this castle for almost twenty years,” said the male unicorn. “He’s the best chef you’ve ever had and you know it.”

“Even Princess Celestia could vouch for him,” added the female hippogriff chef. “She loves his cakes.”

“He always ran the kitchen smoothly and made sure all meals were prepared and delivered on time,” continued the male earth pony chef. “The rest of the staff respects him.”

“This is wrongful termination of the worse kind, Your Highness!” said the female changeling.

“So after a unanimous vote we decided that if Giovanni leaves, we leave!” interjected the female Pegasus chef. “And be prepared for the rest of the kitchen staff to follow suit!”

“Yeah!” said the rest of the group in unison.

This was too much for The Princess of the Night to process. She always loved Giovanni’s dishes and it was easy to have a casual conversation with the griffon. Momentarily Luna suspected that Discord might be up to his shenanigans again. “Please do not make any rash decisions,” said Luna. “Stay right here. I’ll be right back.” In a bright flash Luna teleported from the ballroom to the locker room where she found Giovanni packing his uniform and his utensils in a large trunk. On his face was a mixture of sadness and anger. “Giovanni,” said Luna as she slowly approached him. “What is the meaning of all this?”

“Though you didn’t specifically tell me that the quality of my cooking has declined dramatically,” began the griffon. “I respect your decision to terminate my services. Just note, it would be extremely difficult to find another chef who can surpass my abilities and who can maintain the comradery of the kitchen.”

“I never fired you,” said Luna innocently.

“Your Highness, we were in the hallway when I asked you about Hyacinth Ivory’s whereabouts,” said Giovanni with his tone being a bit sterner. “You fired me on the spot without giving me a reason why. That was of course after you referred to Hyacinth as a “lazy harpy”. If that memory escapes you, the fault is not your own. Someone obviously spiked your punch.”

““Lazy harpy”,” said The Night Princess with a slackened jaw. “Hyacinth is one of the most resilient, hardworking maids this castle has ever had.” Luna then froze when she came to a sudden realization. There was only one individual who had a reputation of being ungrateful to all the work of the castle staff. Luna then turned to Giovanni and placed her fore hooves on his shoulder. “Giovanni, you’re not fired,” she said with a warm smile.

“Really?” said Geovanni with wide eyes.

“You are the best chef we’ve had in years and I simply love your dishes,” continued Luna. “You are free to work in The Canterlot Castle for as long as your health permits it.”

“Do you mean it?”

“From the very depths of my heart.”

Giovanni then fell flat before Luna and bowed profusely. “Oh, thank you, thank you, Your Highness,” said the griffon with a broad smile.

“Your most certainly welcome,” said Luna. Her expression then took a serious tone. “Now, if you’ll excuse, I need to have a little chat with a certain teenager,” she said with a scowl. Luna then teleported out of the kitchen.

Sugar Rush, Cloudy Skies and their Auntie Maud slowly trekked through the Everfree Forest until they saw the stone statue of Nightmare Moon in a distance. Already there were a handful of fillies, colts and adults surrounding the statue throwing candy into a large plastic container. After they were done it was Sugar and Cloudy’s turns to make their donations. Cloudy stopped about three feet away from the container and looked up to the statue. There weren't much details in the figure’s facial features. But the one feature that stood out was Nightmare Moon’s evil grin that revealed long, sharp teeth. Cloudy looked at the teeth and let out a whimper. She then rushed over to the plastic container and dumped all of her Nightmare Night candy not caring if her bag was completely empty afterwards. Next was Sugar Rush who took one look at Nightmare Moon’s statue and let out a soft growl. The unicorn filly did not consider the statue as one to be terrified of. She simply viewed the moss covered slab of concrete as a big, mean schoolyard bully who demanded all of your lunch money. Using her magic, she levitated candy that included numerous lollipops, jawbreakers, toffees and gums. After settling them into the plastic container Sugar Rush trotted away and looked into her candy bag containing the two large candy bars. “At least she won’t have a taste of these,” Sugar thought to herself.

Maud then stepped in her path and looked down at the unicorn filly with her trademark, emotionless stare. “…You’ve got two candy bars, Sugar Rush,” said the earth mare. “…If you don’t want Nightmare Moon to gobble you up, I suggest you cough up one of those candy bars.” Sugar Rush looked at her aunt with annoyance then looked back at the statue with an expression of rage. The filly’s body shook as she levitated one of the candy bars from the bag and into the plastic container.

“Can we please get out of here, Auntie Maud?” said a terrified Cloudy as she looked at Nightmare Moon’s statue trembling like a leaf.

“…Don’t worry,” said Maud apparently not noticing the horror on the Pegasus filly’s face. “…Nightmare Moon won’t gobble you up as long as I’m around.” As the Pies trotted away from the statue Sugar Rush’s pink, bouncy mane deflated displaying visibly flat hair under her Celestia wig which reflected the unicorn filly’s bitter mood.

The Pies were deep within the forest far away from the statue when suddenly there was an unholy screech which made them stop dead in their tracks. Sugar Rush and Cloudy Skies looked around frantically, fear etched vividly on their faces while Maud looked around with furrowed eyebrows. The Pies looked down the path where they came from and in a distance they see a crowd of bright female unicorn spirits flying in their direction. Sugar and Cloudy let out a piercing scream while Maud maintained her calm composure. Maud then grabbed both of her nieces, threw them on her back and made a mad dash through the forest. The female unicorn spirits flew past them and Cloudy managed to look at one of the spirits dead in the eye seeing nothing but white blurs. The spirits then took to the skies making their way straight towards Ponyville. Cloudy couldn’t help but think that those mares truly outdone themselves with such terrifying costumes and makeup.

The female unicorn spirits soon arrived in Ponyville and started turning over carts and destroying Nightmare Night decorations and props. They then moved on to nearby buildings, crashing through homes causing considerable damage. Nearby civilians rushed out of their homes screaming in panic. They took to the streets only to cross paths with the female unicorn spirits. Civilians ducked and covered allowing the female unicorn spirits to fly over them without causing bodily harm. The civilians looked on in shock and horror as the female unicorn spirits took to the skies once more heading straight towards Canterlot.

The Princess of the Night teleported from the kitchen and straight into Nidra’s quarters. “Nidra, you are in major trouble!” said Luna. She looked around seeing the magical force field she had created outside the room but no sign of her daughter. Luna then looked on the floor finding the sleeping bundle that was Hyacinth Ivory. The princess kneeled before the unicorn mare making a closer examination sensing Nidra’s magic flowing through Hyacinth. Luna then trembled with rage. She mentally scolded herself for not anticipating that her daughter would find some type of loophole to escape her punishment.

“When I find you, Nidra, you’re grounded for the rest of the year!” Luna said out loud. Suddenly she heard a distant screech outside. She jumped to her hooves and galloped over the window. From over Canterlot’s horizon Luna saw thirty, female unicorn spirits flying over the city. They were in white flowing gowns, had blurred eyes and long flowing white manes. Most frightening of all they were headed straight towards Luna’s position.

The revelers of Cotton Candy’s Nightmare Night Party galloped through the forest after making a rather orderly exit out of The Castle of the Two Sisters and across the tree trunk bridge. Amongst them were the children of The Elements of Harmony. If there were anypony who could handle what had just transpired it was their parents. “What are those things, Nightlight?” said Starburst as her brother struggled to keep up with her flying.

“I don’t know,” said a flustered Nightlight. “From what I’ve read I think it has something to do with Nightmare Moon and Princess Luna.”

“If that’s the case then they probably think Nightmare Moon’s still around,” said Gold Delicious.

“That can’t be good,” said a worried Cotton Candy.

“Gee, ya think?” said Claire.

“We need to get to our parents and the Princesses stat!” said Anthea as she rode on Turquoise’s back.

“Tell us something we don’t know!” responded Turquoise.

“And the party was going so great,” groaned Prism as he flew between Whirlwind and Icy Storm. “I think I hit it off with one of the hippogriffs.”

“Dream on!” said Whirlwind staring daggers at Prism.

“Such a shame to see a great party cut short due to real-life paranormal activity which defies all logic,” said Illusion still in his Daybreaker disguise.

“I should’ve seen this coming,” growled Nidra who was now back in her alicorn form. She then glared at Api, Pixel and Echo who ran next to her. “Leave it to you little brats to be the party poopers!” said Nidra.

“Hey, it’s not my fault this time,” said Api innocently. “These two could back me up.” The earth filly pointed to the unicorn filly and the pegasus filly who simply shook their heads in disgust.

Back at the Canterlot Castle the group of female unicorn spirits had Princess Luna completely surrounded in Nidra’s quarters. Using their unicorn magic, they conjured up wisps of magic that had the appearances of flowing ropes and threw them towards The Night Princess. In that moment Luna created a force field before the magical ropes caught her. The female unicorn spirits then started shooting beams of magic towards Luna’s force field in an effort to break it. The blasts rattled Luna quite a bit but she stood her ground keeping the force field up. Outside of the room Twilight, Celestia, Cadence and Starswirl teleported before the door in a bright flash. Twilight directed her magic towards the doorknob but it was blocked by the force field that was meant to keep Nidra in. Celestia then tried to blast through the force field with her magic but the force field absorbed it. Starswirl and Cadence tried to blast through with their own magic only for the force field to absorb it as well. Celestia flew straight towards the door in an effort to break it down but the force field halted her advance causing her to bounce off like a ball. She flew backwards and landed on the floor. Twilight, Cadence and Starswirl rushed to The Sun Princess’s side and looked back at the door. Twilight galloped up to the door and stopped. “Luna, what’s going on?” Twilight called out.

“There are about thirty spirits trying to break through my force field,” said Luna as she struggled to maintain his force field. “I know not where they came from.”

“Thirty spirits?” said Celestia as she rose to her hooves.

“They seem to be mares!” said Luna.

“Oh, dear,” said Starswirl gravely.

“What is it?” said Cadence noticing Starswirl’s expression.

“These spirits believe that Nightmare Moon still exist and that Luna is still trapped within Nightmare Moon’s body,” replied Starswirl.

“What?” said Celestia in horror. “What will happen to my sister?”

“They will latch onto her body and extract all of the magic she possesses until they are certain that Nightmare Moon is no more,” said the unicorn stallion. “She will be in the state she was during Tirek’s reign of terror.”

“Well, how do we stop them?” said Twilight desperately.

“The only way these spirits were summoned is because someone may have come across a book that I have written,” said Starswirl. “I left that book back at Celestia’s former castle without having the opportunity to test the spell. We must go back to the castle and find that book in order trap the spirits.”

“How long do you think we have?” said Cadence.

“In theory, the process in which these spirits do their task should take approximately thirty minutes,” said Starswirl. “I assume the distance between Canterlot and the old castle is roughly twenty minutes. So we may have about twenty-seven minutes to find that book and reverse the spell. I may need your guidance, Twilight and Celestia.”

“Very well,” said Celestia with worry on her face. “Anything for my sister!”

“What should I do?” said Cadence.

“Stay here,” instructed Starswirl. “Luna needs your full support.”

Twilight, Starwirl and Celestia started to gallop out of the hallway to carriages. Celestia then took one desperate look over her shoulder. Cadence gave her a reassuring nod as if to say that everything was alright.

Author's Note

On the little monologue that Starswirl had, I didn't want to be overtly political or sentimental. But recently with all the demagoguery and the political back and forth, I thought it would be deep for a character like Starswirl to address these issues. He doesn't take up for one group or the other. He essentially says that both sides need to take a chill pill.