Author's Note

I hope the grammar is a bit better in this one.

Stories and Memories (Edited)

Twilight and two of the main six set out from the library going out into the night of nightmare night, Twilight was dressed as Star Swirl the Bearded wearing long blue robes with a large wizard hat adorned with bells over her fake white beard. While Rainbow dressed as a Shadowbolt, its skin tight suit blending into the night with its deep blues and dark purples, the only thing that stood out was the yellow tinted goggles that hide her pink eyes. Pinkie was dressed in a chicken suit, the white feathers poofing her out quite a bit with feathers falling from her costume with every step.

Bouncing out the door Pinkie spoke in her hyper, not slowing voice like usual, “Come on slow pokes we’re going to miss the games!”

“Yeah Twilight, all the best prizes are going to be won!” Rainbow yelled back into the open door of the library.

“Rainbow, they're not going to run out of prizes, the event started two minutes ago. Some stands aren’t even set up yet.” Twilight replied in a slight huff as she closed the door behind her.

Bouncing along the road, Pinkie turned around to the girls behind her continuing back down the road as she did. “So Twilight, where’s Spike?”

“He's with the crusaders, they have a plan to go around every house in ponyville.” Twilight answered.

Walking through Ponyville they passed multiple stalls of foods and games, even finding Applejack tending a stall dressed as a scarecrow, “Howdy girls, fancy goin bobbing for apples?”

“Sure thing Applejack!'' Pinkie said as she bounced over to the open top barrel before plunging her head into its water.

Turning to Twilight, Applejack spoke, “So y’all got any plans for tonight?”

Pulling out a check list, Twilight replied listing off the checklist, “We’re going to go around for a few hours to meet up with Rarity, ask Applejack if she wants to come over for some scary stories later.” Realising what she just said Twilight asked, “So do you want to come over later?”

Smiling she answered, “Sure thing Twi.”

“Great and last on the list is meet up with Princess Luna, apparently she’s been looking forward to this all week.” Twilight continued.

“Well that’s nice Twi, after last year it should be nice for her to enjoy the whole night.” Applejack replied.

Looking over to Pinkie, Applejack saw her head thrashing about under the water of the barrel sloshing the once still water and apples about, “Come on Pinky! I want a turn!” Rainbow said impatiently, getting only a load of bubbles in response.

After a few minutes Rainbows head was in the barrel as Rarity arrived walking up to the girls dressed in a mermain costume, a long aqua dress adorned with sequins and a head dress of sparkling shells. “Evening darlings, having fun?”

Before anypony could answer, Rainbow Dash’s head launched out of the barrel as she gasped for air before diving back into the barrel, “I’ll take that as a yes.” Rarity said with a giggle.

“Rarity, so good to see you, care to try ya hand at apple bobbing?” Applejack asked.

Looking over to Rainbow and Pinky she saw the state they were in, their costumes were drenched with Pinkies missing a pillows worth of feathers. “No, I think I’ll give it a pass.” Rarity replied, not wanting to sound rude.

Turning to Twilight, Rarity spoke in a curious tone, “So Twilight, you all set for tonight? Can’t disappoint royalty can we?”

Smiling Twilight spoke, “Yep! Everything has been set, all we need is the princess.”

After an hour, playful screams could be heard as ponies court glimpses of Princess Luna flying overhead, her deep blue fur and stary mane blended almost seamlessly into the night sky. As she began her descent the playful screams of fillies increased as Luna spoke in her royal voice of old. “Ponies of the night, it is I, your Princess, your ruler and guardian of the night, hear me like I hear you. For the last thousand years this night has been the longest darkest night of the year, but instead of fearing it you have come to embrace like your Princess of old, so hear my royal decree and enjoy this night like any other.”

Landing, Luna walked over to Twilight and the others with a smile on her face as she spoke in a jesting tone, “Ah, Star Swirl, it is good to see you again.”

Smiling Twilight let out a light laugh as she replied, “It’s good to see you too Princess, how are things?”

Continuing her smile Luna spoke in a cheery tone, “Actually I’m well, I’ve been becoming more accustomed to modern times and made a friend.”

Rarity instantly jumped into the conversation, her voice becoming high and energetic, “Really, who is it, a knight, a noble or maybe royalty from a foreign land?”

Cutting her off, Luna spoke in a calm voice, “Calm down Rarity you already know him.”

“Him! It’s a stallion, oh is it that nobleman Fancypants!” Rarity almost squealed.

Trying to calm the gossiping pony she spoke in a louder voice, “Rarity please, compose yourself, it’s not Fancypants, it’s David.”

“David! Your friends with David! Oh this is even better, a lone stallion becomes best friends with a Princess, oh this sounds so romantic I can’t wait to tell the girls at the spa!” Rarity squealed.

Stopping Rarity before she could get too carried away Luna spoke in a louder tone verging on her royal voice, “Rarity! He’s just a friend and I would appreciate you not telling anypony! I would hate for ponies to start bothering him because of me.”

Quieting down Rarity composed herself muttering in a low tone to Luna, “Sorry…”

Turning to Twilight, Luna spoke, “Twilight I was wondering if it would be alright if I invited him to the scary stories later.”

Twilight’s purple eyes widened to her words as she answered in a cheerful voice, “Of course you can, why didn’t I think of it before! We could learn so much about his world just from a few stories.”

Lowering her head slightly, Luna spoke in a quieter tone, “Twilight, there's something else, he doesn’t exactly know I’m a Princess…” Feeling all eyes on her, she saw Rarity almost shaking with excitement as she continued, “...When we met, he didn’t know who I was and just treated me like anypony else, so I may have told him a little white lie about me not being a Princess.”

Speaking up, the element of honesty spoke in an unapproving tone, “Why would ya do such a thing?”

Looking up to her, Luna replied in a low voice, “You don’t know what it’s like, ever since my return everypony I talk to has been scared of me, not that I blame them, even the nobles in Canterlot barely tolerate me. But David doesn’t just tolerate me, he genuinely enjoys conversing with me. I just wanted a friend like any of you so I lied, I thought if he knew who I was he would find out who I was and judge me before he even got to know me like all of the others.”

All the eyes on Luna were on the verge of tears as they listened to her almost pleading words, Twilight taking a step forward rested a hand on Luna’s shoulder as she consoled her speaking in a calm comforting tone. “Luna, I can’t imagine how hard things have been for you, of course you can invite him and don’t worry, we won’t tell him.”

Lifting her low head up Luna looked to Twilight with a weak smile, “Thank you.”

1

Sitting in the main room, David sat with his right leg crossed over his left as he read the old newspaper he brought with him to this world, a lit cigarette rested between his fore and middle finger of his right hand as he held the paper. Hearing a knock at the door he leaned back in his seat yelling back, “It’s open!”

Opening the unlocked door Luna winced as she was hit with the strong smell of paint and smoke, stepping in despite her nose she saw the back of David’s head as he folded up his paper. Standing up he took one last drag on his cigarette before stamping it out in the ashtray on his side table, turning around Luna watched as he exhaled a fine warm cloud of smoke.

The moment he saw her he spoke with a smile in a cheerful tone, “Ah Luna, isn’t this a pleasant surprise, what brings you to my neck of the woods?”

Smiling back Luna spoke in an equally cheerful tone, “Twilight’s hosting a little get together tonight and I was wondering if thou would like to come, it’s nothing big or fancy just a few friends meeting at the library to tell a few scary stories.”

“Sure, I’ll grab my coat.” He said walking over to the coat rack.

Looking around the room Luna saw a few new paintings scattered about, the unfinished painting of David and his brothers was finished hanging from the wall in front of the chairs. Leaning against the stack of finished paints behind the easel was a finished piece in full view of anyone standing in the doorway, it was of a beautiful scenic painting making use of all the blues to create a stunning image of a star lit night with tall dark trees off in the distance while a shadow of a deer drank from the lake beneath the sky, breaking the perfect mirror the lake created of the sky with a wave of ripples.

Looking up from the stack of the paintings she saw the pile had grown somewhat and a new unfinished painting was now mounted upon the easel. This one was different; It didn't just make use of blues and blacks, but deep reds and lush greens. The painting was taken from the top of a hill overlooking the sky which was a mix of colours, deep blue almost black at the top slowly working down the canvas to a deep blue then a milder blue then to dull red and warm orange, on the left side was large bare tree its black branches arching over to the right under dark green grass shadowed by the sky.

Luna wanted to see more but the middle was fairly basic, just more of the same colours, but without the detail, the right side had even less, no paint, just faint pencil lines marking the distant hills and where the slow fade of colour should take place.

Stuffing the folded up paper into his overcoat he took his belt and holster over his jacket, putting his coat on he grabbed his hat turning to Luna as he spoke in a calm but curious voice, “So, any particular reason for this shindig?”

“Don’t thou know?” Luna asked in a slightly shocked tone.

“Know what?” he replied.

“It’s nightmare night.” Luna answered, getting only a confused look like she was speaking another language so she proceeded to explain, “It’s a holiday about Nightmare Moon, ponies dress up and go around demanding candy from others.”

Getting a light hearted huff David spoke in a light tone, “It sounds like Halloween.” getting a similar response from Luna he continued to explain, “It’s a holiday back home, god only knows how long we’ve been doing it. Rumours are it dates back two thousand years or more back to the original Britons, if I remember correctly, it was a festival for the gods when the harvest season ends and the dark winter slowly takes over, they believed the veil between worlds would become weak and evil spirits would come through. Unfortunately that’s the most anyone can know. The Celts weren’t known for their literary skills, most things we know were from word of mouth but you tell a story enough times over enough generations bits lost and changed. The Romans were better, they kept records but we don’t know what’s true and what’s not, the Romans didn’t exactly like the Celts in fact they were terrified of them so all the writings are quite biased.” Realising how much he had said he gave a light sigh, “Sorry I’m rambling again, now should we head off.”

2

Walking into the library David and Luna saw the lights were out with the main six apart from Fluttershy were sitting in the middle of the room already half-through a story, Rainbow Dash was telling the story holding an exaggerated tone as she did, “Looking up the mare saw what had been following her. The headless stallion raising his sword above his headless neck ready to cut her’s off, she knew what was coming and what he would do with it, he would take it as his own, he would wear it like at hat like all the other heads and he’s still out there, waiting for any ponies to cross his path with a slightly better head.”

Wincing slightly Rarity spoke, “Now that was dreadful, imagine wearing somepony else's head instead of your own, the fur would never match!”

“Now I don’t think ya quite got it Rarity.” Applejack said.

Drawing attention to herself Twilight spoke, “Regardless who’s next?”

“I think that would be me,” David said, making all of them jump.

Giving him a glaze, Rainbow spoke, “When did you get here?”

“About a minute ago,” He replied as he hung his coat up walking over with Luna as they both sat down joining the group.

“How come we didn’t hear you?” Rainbow asked spuriously.

“You were too busy listening to the story to take note of the door, now what sort of stories are we telling?” David asked.

Pinkie piped up “Scary stories!”

“Yeah, the scarier the better.” Rainbow added.

“Come on it's your turn, we’ve done three now: The Headless Stallion, The Mirror Pool Horror and Crystal Ghost. So you own us three.” Twilight said wanting to learn something from another world.

Smirking, David spoke, “I’m not sure this is fare, but okay I’ve got a few stories.”

Getting comfortable he thought of all the stories he was told as a boy and all the books he later read, “Now I’ve got two stories one from just over a hundred years ago and another from about thirty years ago so which one do you want? The strange case or the monster?”

The girls all started shouting, but Twilight was the only one that said a strange case while everyone else said monster so he leaned forward and began, “The year was 1817, the industrial revolution was well under way, it was an age of innervation and invention mankind was pushing the bounds of possibility. The world was changing faster than anyone could have imagined and one of its leading men was a visionary, a Doctor, Dr. Victor Frankenstein. Like many doctors he would study the dead, at first it was good to learn why the dead die so the living can stay living, but his ambition got the better of him, he began to experiment on the dead, it wasn’t long before he was kicked from the medical community.”

Wide-eyed, the girls all watched him intently as Twilight spoke, speaking for the group “What happened next?”

“A detective inspector from Scotland yard arrived at the hospital asking about him, apparently there had been multiple grave robberies in Scotland not long after Frankenstein was spotted nearby. After being discredited he was the main suspect, but he couldn’t just arrest him he needed evidence, so he searched Frankenstein’s office and found his old journal with all his notes and what he saw shocked his very soul.”

“Wh… what did he see?” Applejack asked in a slightly shaky tone.

Continuing he gave her his answer, “Sketches of organs and body parts with notes, his work was advanced, far more advanced than any other doctor in any field of study. But as he flicked through the pages it became less about healing and more about creating, it was clear that this man wasn’t going mad that stage was over a long time ago, by now he was completely mad if not insane. The final page was what shocked him, a full sketch of a man made from the dead.”

Sitting there the girls were all on edge not making a noise as they listened to him, “When the detective arrived in Scotland the town was in a state of panic, every grave was dug up, every body was taken man, woman and child. It didn’t take him long to find out where Frankenstein was and the moment he did the town followed, with pitchforks and torches in hand, the mob marched on the castle in the dead of night. And now this is the part of the story everyone remembers. The night was dark and stormy, lightning would strike the castle again and again as if god himself was laying siege to it, breaking through the gate the men were stopped at a portcullis, but through the iron bars they saw the doctor and his creation. A man laid out on a table, his skin was grey and covered in scars, a few wires were bolted to its chest leading to a machine. At the front of the mob the detective called out; “Frankenstein! Frankenstein! End this madness!” He yelled, but he was too far gone, shouting back; “Madness, you call this madness?! This is creation! No god, no divine intervention, just me!” The building would shake with each lightning strike that struck the keep, the madman walked over to the machine, the monster was wired too watching waiting for the right moment. And then it came, he activated the machine and the motionless body of the monster tensed and then nothing.”

“Is that it! That was the pay off! Seriously Fluttershy could tell a better ending!” Rainbow yelled in annoyance.

“Rainbow please be nice, we don’t know about his culture, this could be very important to his people.” Twilight remarked.

Sighing Rainbow replied in a huff, “I know but I was expecting more, I’m sorry David.”

“You should be, I’m not finished.” David replied, making Rainbow’s eyes light up as she leaned forward, “So where was I? Frankenstein walked over to his monster looking down on his failure, but then he saw it, it's cold lifeless hand began to move, its chest began to rise and fall and then it took a breath. Frankenstein began to laugh saying something under his breath before turning to the mob and repeating: “IT’S ALIVE!!!” Reaching under the table he turned a wheel tilting the table, the mob and Frankenstein watched the monster as it took its first steps. It was like a man, but wasn’t at the same time. It was seven, maybe eight feet tall, built with muscles on top of muscles, but its eyes were the worst part. Back home my mother would always say the eyes are the window to the soul, but this thing had no soul, its eyes were dead, they were completely fogged over. The monster was slow, its large heavy body moved like wheels on a train as it pulled out of the station. The detective saw this and pulled his gun on the beast, shooting it twice in the chest. Any normal man would have died, but this thing wasn’t a man or alive. It charged the mob throwing the portcullis up over its head while the mob stabbed it with their pitchforks and torches, but it did nothing, for you see, the dead can’t feel pain.”

By now the girls were all scared some of which were moving away from David while other moved in closer, mainly Rainbow and Applejack, “Running away the mob ran over the wooden bridge that connected the castle and the mainland while the mob dropped their weapons, setting light to the old rotten bridge, soon the bridge was completely engulfed in flame as creator and creation stepped onto the bridge. The monster was single minded, willing to walk into fire while Frankenstein yelled at it to stop, but it didn’t work. It just kept walking forward towards the fire, Frankenstein began to pull on the beast, but it was too strong as it continued forward. Getting more and more annoyed at his creation until he was almost upon the flames, he hit his creation in the vain attempt to stop it and it did. The monster turned to the doctor and grabbed him by the neck lifting him up with one hand before slamming him into the rotten railing, the railing might as well have been made of sticks for all the good it did, the moment his back made contact with the wood it snapped like a twig, sending the man over the edge down to the rocks and sea.”

The girls had shocked looks on all their faces as Twilight spoke, “So he was destroyed by his own genius…”

David nodded in response, “Yes and the monster just looked down at his creator, Frankenstein may have given it life, but he didn’t get it a soul, it felt nothing, it wasn’t a man, it wasn’t even an animal, it just stood there as the fire spread until the bridge burnt down taking the monster with.”

The girls just sat there processing it until Rainbow cheered. “That was awesome!”

“I'd have tah agree.” Applejack said.

Pinkie was hiding under her cushion as Rarity poked her, “Pinkie darling are you alright?”

The moment her hand touched Pinkie jumped up yelling, “IT’S HERE! THE MONSTER HAS COME FOR ME!” Landing on her cushion she realised who it was speaking in her normal high pitched voice. “Sorry.” ending it with a playful giggle.

“Did you say that story was over a hundred years old?” Twilight asked, resisting the urge to get a notepad and pen.

“Yes, why?” David asked in a curious tone.

“Just making a mental note, now don’t you own us two more.” Twilight stated with a hint of impactions.

“Okay umm, what was the other choice?” David said, sensing her eagerness.

“You don’t remember?” Twilight said with a displeased tone.

“I think it was a mystery story. You said a strange case of some kind.” Luna said.

“Thank you. The Strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.” David said smiling at Luna.

“Now thirty years ago during the time of the Ripper.” David started in a low voice.

“The Ripper? Who was that?” Twilight interrupted in a confused tone.

“A serial killer that terrorised the whole of London, but this story isn’t about him or the fact that he was never caught,” Getting looks of intrigued and disgusts from the ponies “This is about Dr Jekyll and how Mr Hyde came to be, now Jekyll was working on a way to strip a man of his dark half, believing that if he did, a man would no longer feel the urge to be cruel or maybe even lose the ability to be capable of it altogether.” Luna began to lean in watching him more intently as he spoke, “Everyday he injected himself with chemicals writing down what happened, each time little would change, his heart rate would go up by a few beats, he might feel a bit warm but nothing really affected him in the ways he wanted. By the twelfth. He was growing frustrated at his lack of progress, but this time the solution had an affect. In less than a minute he was on the floor in pain, about to pass out and then he did. When he awoke he was in a cold sweat with vague memories of a nightmare, he didn’t know what it was about, but he remembered the feeling, he was angry, angrier than he ever thought he could be.” Again his words hit Luna the hardest she knew these dreams and felt bad for the poor doctor, but she didn’t speak, she just listened hoping it would get better. “He locked himself in his lab following this lead, but the next day the paper arrived, the front cover was of a man who had been murdered near by, but the papers put it down to a drunken brawl. Taking another injection of chemicals he passed out with another nightmare, but this time he stayed awake longer feeling an intense pain in his head before passing out, and again he woke up in his lab with another newspaper this time a woman had been murdered, but this murder was strange they thought it was a mugging gone wrong, but her jewels were still with her so a state of warning was announced that a murderer was about, some thought it was the Ripper coming back to finish his work, but it didn’t seem right, this woman was beaten the Ripper always used a knife.”

Gagging Rarity winced to his words hating the image she was imagining as he carried on for the others, “With the increase in murders the streets were filled with bobbies.”

“Bobbies? What a bobby?” Twilight asked, confused by his choice of words.

“It’s Londoner for police.” He answered.

Continuing despite Twilight’s interruption he spoke, his voice still calm and low as he told the story, “So the streets filled with bobbies, looking for the man while the good doctor continued his work, this time the doctor stayed awake longer going to the sink to cool his burning face. Lifting his head from the water he wiped away the steam from the mirror checking his face, but it looked off. He couldn't pinpoint it, but then he saw it, his face began to twist and turn until someone else looked back at him. Then, he woke up. Rushing to mirror all he saw was his face thinking it was some fever dream, he continued his work like nothing had happened until he saw the newspaper on the front page, there was a sketch of a face, the face he saw in the mirror that was not his own.”

Reaching over to him Luna placed a hand on David's shoulder asking in a caring tone almost forgetting it was just a story. “What did he do?”

Turning to her he replied, “He read the paper finding out this man attacked a policeman, nearly killing him and now there was a warning that the attacker is armed, dangerous and still at large.”

Almost jumping, Rainbow yelled in an annoyed voice, “Wait, so you're telling us they only think he’s dangerous now?!”

Shacking his head David spoke, his tone unchanging, “No, now they know he’s dangerous, the first murder could have been a simple drunken brawl gone wrong, the second could have been personal, but now he’s not just dangerous he’s worse. When he attacked the policeman he took his gun.”

“What's a gun?” Rainbow interjected.

“Yeah half the stuff ya said doesn’t make a whole lotta sense.” Applejack added.

Sighing he lowered his head reaching to his side pulling his revolver from its holster, even now after three years of service it still felt heavy in his hand. Holding it up he showed it to the girls keeping his finger off the trigger as he spoke. “This is a gun, it’s a weapon of war, you can kill a man at fifty yards or more.”

“Pffft now I know you're lying, how can that possibly kill, it looks like some kind of paper weight!” Rainbow mocked.

Applejack turned to her blue friend with a concerned expression as she spoke in a lower tone. “Rainbow, he's telling the truth.”

“But look at it! How can that possibly be a weapon?!” Rainbow half yelled.

“Rainbow it’s true I was there when he killed two Timberwolves.” Twilight answered.

“It was five,” David added as he holstered his revolver again.

A collective “WHAT!?” came from all the ponies as David looked back up.

“There were three more in the woods, anyway should we get back to the story?” David answered.

Getting a collective nod of agreement David continued, “So Jekyll went into the bathroom not believing it, but then he saw something in the corner of his eye, looking back it was just the mirror, thinking it was just a trick of the light he continued to get washed. When he got round to the mirror he was greeted by a face that wasn’t his own, the very same face that was in the paper, and it moved, it moved on its own, smiling at him and said; “So now we finally meet, hello Jekyll, I’m Hyde.” Jekyll just stammered back; “No, no, you're not real! You're just some drugged up hallucination!” Hyde just smiled and lifted his hand clamping it around his neck and Jekyll just stood there, finding his own hand wrapped around his neck. He was then brought out of his trance by a knock at the door, but when he looked back to the mirror he saw Hyde was gone, at the door was a policeman saying Hyde had been seen entering his house so they searched the house and found nothing, they left. Afterwards the good doctor went back to bed where he found the gun Hyde stole, with that he stopped his work, he decided in that moment no more would die to his failure.”

Seeing Rainbow was about to speak, David spoke first. “For the love of god Rainbow, I’m not finished!”

Piping down Rainbow slumped down with a huff as David finished his tale. “So Jekyll went to bed, but when he awoke he felt stronger, tougher, even a tad taller. Looking in the mirror he fell back looking over his body, he wasn’t Jekyll anymore, he was Hyde. He spent the rest of the day as Hyde working in his lab working on a way to turn back. Later in the day the police were at the door, but it wasn’t just one it a small army’s worth, to start with they called in to Jekyll saying they know he’s hiding Hyde.” That last remark getting a slight giggle from Pinkie. “He didn’t respond just focusing on his work, but the men began to kick the door down breaking in, Jekyll ran to his room, barricading the door as he heard the men running through his home coming to his door. They tried to break down the door and the men called to him; “Jekyll are you in there,” but they heard a voice that was not Jekyll’s; “Go away please he’ll kill you.” Hyde was taking over Jekyll, feeling his anger growing at an ungodly rate, grabbing the gun Hyde lifted it pointing it towards the door and then.”

BANG, making everyone, but David jump as he slammed his fist into the floor, “Hearing the shot the police doubled their efforts breaking into the room finding only Hyde dead on the floor with the gun still in his hand, they never found Jekyll, it was like he had just disappeared. They never knew what he did or what he became, but the name Jekyll was remembered fondly as the good doctor he was.”

“Well that was horrifying.” Rarity stated.

“Are you kidding? Rarity it was great, who knew he became the monster.” Rainbow boasted.

“I don’t think he became the monster, more unleashed it.” Twilight corrected.

Glaring daggers at Twilight Rainbow replied, “Egghead”

“I think it was mighty chivalrous that he sacrificed himself to stop him.” Applejack added.

In an uneasy tone Luna spoke, “It was quite good, if I may be excused I need some air.”

Watching Luna leave through the door David stood up. “Back in five.”

3

Stepping out of the library David saw Luna with tears in her eyes as he walked up to her speaking in a concerned tone, “You alright Luna?”

Turning to him she wiped her eyes in an attempted to hide her tears as she spoke in an unconvincing tone, “Yes I’ll be fine.”

Pulling a metallic box out of his pocket he flicked it open pulling out a cigarette before putting it back as he replied, “Luna, any woman with tears in her eyes is not alright.”

“It’s just that story, it struck a nerve, that’s all.” Luna replied hoping he wouldn’t press it.

“Luna, a simple story can’t drive someone from the building in tears, so are you going to tell me what’s wrong or are we just going to stand here until you feel better?” David said his tone was caring but firm.

Releasing a heavy sigh Luna answered, “Remember when I said me and my sister had a pretty bad falling out?”

“Yes, you said you two made up and now are living together.” David replied.

Her voice hung low as she told him the half truths. “When we fell out for the longest time I became quite bitter and hateful, I wanted to hurt her, it was like poison spreading through me. Eventually I got to the point where I didn’t know who I was without that hate, that story just brought back some memories I would rather forget.”

Feeling his arm slowly wrap around her back rubbing her shoulder as she slumped into him listening to his comforting words, “Luna I don’t know what happened between you and your sister, but your not like that now and besides you said it yourself, you made amends with her, so it couldn’t have been that bad if she could forgive you.”

Leaning on his side Luna spoke in a shallow voice. “I know but it still hurts. Have you ever hurt anyone?”

Luna just stood there resting her head on his side, her eyes almost closed, unable to see David’s blank expression, as he stared off into the distance detached from the world around him as Luna waited for a response. After a while David shook it off with rubbing his heavy eyes with his off hand before answering her in a low almost shameful tone, “No, but I have failed them, sometimes I think that is worse.”

Standing there she felt his arm move from around her as they parted, lighting his cigarette he took in a breath of smoke offering it to Luna. Taking it between her fingers she just looked at it unsure what to do, so she asked, “What is this?”

“It's a cigarette, it's good for stress relief,” David answered.

Unsure of what to do she lifted the cigarette to her lips taking in a short breath, her blue eyes shot open as she gagged, coughing up the smoke. David let out a slight chuckle as he gave her a light pat on the back as she spoke in a disgusted voice. “How can you stand that?”

Taking the cigarette back off her, he took another drag before replying, “You get used to it.”

They stood there in silence for a time with Luna just staring up at the stars proud of her work, spotting this David, spoke drawing her attention to him, “Beautiful in’t it.”

Smiling Luna leaned on his side again enjoying the fact someone appreciated her work as she spoke, “I’m sure the princess would appreciate that.”

Wrapping his arm back around her his lit cigarette still in his hand as he held her, “I’m sure she would.” Lifting his other hand he pointed to a row of stars as he spoke in a pleasant tone as he began to reminisce, “You see those three stars up there? Back home we call them Orion’s belt.”

“How do thou know that?” Luna asked in an intrigued tone.

“My uncle was a sailor, whenever we visited him, he would take us out on the boat, late at night he would show us the sky saying you could have no tools no crew, but as long as you had the stars you could find your way home.” David said before stamping out the last of his cigarette, “Come on, I’m sure the others are waiting for us.”

Smiling, Luna followed him back in.

4

Sitting back down with the girls Rarity’s nose winced a bit to the slight smell of burnt cigarettes clinging to David as Twilight spoke, “Now I think you own us one more story.”

“Yeah, but can it not have a doctor in it this time?” Rainbow added.

“Rainbow’s right, that's getting mighty samey.” Applejack said.

Lifting his hands dismissively he spoke, “Alright, alright just let me think.”

After a few moments Twilight spoke in an impatient tone, “Can’t you think of anything?”

Looking up to her he spoke in a defensive tone, “Just give me a minute, I’m trying to think of something scary.”

Looking over to his coat, he smiled as he spoke, “Alrigh’ you want a scary story? I’ve got one. The siege of Osowiec.”

With that the girls all became giddy with excitement as he began. “Now two years ago the Russian army was out matched by the German forces, so they enacted the great retreat pulling back all their forces to regroup. But they needed a rear guard to cover their escape, they did this by holding forts for as long as possible to give their men as much time as they could to escape. Now these Russians were outnumbered eight to one, but they held the fort, repelling attack after attack until the Germans got impatient. They knew the Russians had no masks to protect themselves from what was going to come, one morning the Germans used a weapon, not a weapon of war, but a weapon of cruelty, they released a cloud of poisoned gas. It killed everything, the grass turned yellow and leaves turned black, but what happened to the men was worse. Once the gas cleared the Germans saw the horror they made, but still they advanced through the dead field. Fourteen battalions, eight thousand men advanced on the fort and then,”

“BANG” David slammed his fist into the floor making the girls jump like before.

“A German dropped dead, now the troops thought one or two might have survived the gas so they continued until,”

“BANG” David slammed his hand down again, still making the girls jump.

“and another German fell, but still they marched onwards. That was until they saw the doors to the fort burst open and an army of men that should have already been dead charged, the Germans just stood there looking at the hell they brought upon themselves. Only a hundred of the nine hundred Russians survived the gas attack but it didn’t matter the Germans were terrified of the sight they saw, crud bandages covered dissolved flesh that did nothing but catch the bits of blood and lung they were coughing up. The Germans went into a panic, trampling their own men as they ran away, the Russians took back their guns they had lost in the initial attack, by the end only a handful of men survived and the papers later called it ``The Attack of the Dead Men.”

“Now that’s a horror story worthy of tonight.” Luna said.

“Yeah that was awesome!” Rainbow cheered.

“It was super scary, like imagine not just one zombie but a hundred oh imagine if there was more like a thousand or…” Pinkie happily added.

“I think we get the idea Pinkie, it was rather heroic for those men to stay behind to defend the others.” Rarity said.

“So where did you get these stories from?” Twilight asked with an intrigued tone.

“The first two were books, the third was in the paper.” David answered.

Twilight’s eyes instantly lit up to the word of books as she spoke in a cheerful tone, “So you have scary stories in the newspaper that’s interesting.”

Shaking his head David smiled as he replied, “No, it was the news.”

Getting a collective “WHAT!?” from everyone.

Sitting there with an open mouth Twilight spoke in a bewildered tone, “Wait are you telling us that this attack of the dead men was real!?”

Getting a simple “myes” in response from David.

“HORSE APPLES!” Rainbow exclaimed.

“Rainbow, watch your mouth, we are in the presence of royalty!” Rarity remarked glaring at said mentioned pony.

“RARITY!” Twilight yelled making Rarity realise what she did, if her coat wasn’t white she would have turned white as a sheet as she realised she had just broken the promise they made to Luna.

“Ha somepony’s in trouble.” Rainbow dash remarked like a mocking child.

“Time and place Rainbow!” Applejack said like an annoyed parent.

Sighing Luna lowered her head as she looked over to David only to see he was gone, looking around she saw him by the door rummaging through his coat oblivious to what Rarity said. Letting out a collective sigh of relief the girls hoped he missed what Rarity let slip, sitting back down David held a newspaper unaffected by the looks the everyone was giving him as he spoke in a slightly triumphant tone. “You wanted proof, here!” He said holding out the folded up paper for Rainbow, but the second she reached for it he lifted it up giving her a light slap on the top of the head getting a slight laugh from the girls.

Handing the paper over to Twilight with a smile as his tone became slightly more cheerful, “Here read this.”

Reading it she saw the title Attack of the Dead Men, her smile soon faded as she read the facts finding everything to be true as she spoke in a shocked voice, “It’s true, it’s all true…”

Quickly taking the paper back David spoke realising these ponies weren’t like the men of the front, he was so used to the man’s world of the war were men could take anything in good stride, he had never taken time off from the moment he was at the front, he never left, never on leave, but the men that did would often say there was two worlds, the man’s of the front and the woman’s of home. He never really believed it until now, he had become numb to the things that would make civilised people sick and now he could barely understand why, he guessed this was just another thing the war had taken from him. Clapping his hands in a cheerful manner, he got everponies attention, “How about I tell you girls a funnier story.”

Getting a collective nod he started, “Okay, to understand this story you need to know what a bullet is.”

Reaching into his left breast pocket on his jacket he pulled out an assortment of metallic objects that clinked in his hand, in his hand was three medals and a bullet making Rarity pipe up, “Are those medals.” She said in an excited tone.

Lifting up the medal they saw the ribbon stripped with blue, white and red with a round iron medal with a picture of the king on one side and the words “For Bravery in the Field” on the other surrounded by ornate decorations. Looking at it David spoke. “Got this when I was promoted after the battle of the Somme, the Captain took a hit, so I moved him somewhere safe and took command leading the men across no man’s land, they even melted the German guns down to make these.”

Lifting the second one, they saw a bronze star with two crossed swords and an insignia in the centre saying, “1914” with a bright red, white and blue ribbon. “This one was awarded to everyone who took part in the campaign in France at the start of the war.”

Lifting the final one they saw it had a solid crimson ribbon with a black medal, it was in the shape of a cross with a lion standing proudly on top a crown with a words, “For Valour” underneath them. “Got this one after a failed advance into no man’s land, me and a handful of men got pinned in a shell crater. I was the fastest shot so I stayed behind, laid down some support, and was firing off so many shots the Germans called out Maschinengewehr, Maschinengewehr. They thought we had a machine gun in there, after the men were gone the Germans decided to fire a shell at me, luckily, it over shot, but it was a shrapnel shell and I was caught in the backlash. Got hit with a load of shrapnel in the back, had to lay there for six hours until night before I could crawl back to the trench, the men thought it was a bloody miracle, I thought it was a bloody pain in the arse.“

Letting out a chuckle, he saw the faces of the girls around him all mortified at what he told them, Luna being the only one to speak in a saddened tone. “How can you laugh at something like that?”

Giving a shrug he answered her in a nonchalant tone, “It’s the British way, stiff upper lip, take it in good stride and carry on. A lot of foreigner think our humour is quite dark, truth is, it’s like wine, like it or hate it, we have it dry.”

Hoping for a slight laugh out of the girls he got nothing as Luna spoke her tone still as disheartened as before, “That’s a horrible way to live.”

Giving another shrug he answered in an unfazed tone, “It’s just how we are, the world could end and yet we could still have a laugh, tongue in cheek that’s how we deal with it. Once I saw a car had crashed into a shop, the wall was completely gone and the next day there was a sign in the window saying we are still open just a little more than usual.”

Getting a slight laugh from the girls David placed his collection of medals back in his pocket leaving him with a single small bullet, “Now this, is a bullet, it’s like an arrow to a bow,” David said showing the girls.

“What’s that on it?” Twilight asked, noticing some markings on it.

Rolling it over in his hand he saw his name scratched into its brass side “Ah, it’s my name, there's a saying in the trenches ‘There's a bullet out there with your name on it’. So we started carving our names on them for good luck, and it worked, Jim got hit one night, we thought the poor bugger had brought it, but somehow the bullet bounced off the one in his pocket, the very one with his name.”

Placing the bullet back in his pocket with the medals he continued, “One night me and the men had some time off, so we headed off to the pub, had a few laughs, had a few drinks, there was even a few Russians with some advisor.” Chuckling to the memories David continued, “Now those Russians knew how to party, they showed us this dance & by god we fell on our arses more times than I could count, they even passed a bottle of something, got the men good and drunk but blimey I swear you could strip the paint off walls with that stuff. After a few hours one of the men burst through the doors yelling “JIM’S BIT THE BULLET!” Without missing a beat we all got up, grabbed our guns and ran out to him. Outside just across the road was Jim, slumped against the wall off a building, so we ran over to him shouting “JIM! JIM!” Shaking him, he woke up and spat a bullet in my face and said with a groan ``I think I cracked a tooth.” Laughing at the memory the girls began to join in as the mood lightened up.