<(Readers POV)>
It was a bright sunny day in the land of Equestria, and in the small town of Ponyville, construction efforts were in their final stages. It had hardly been a day since the defeat of the Draconequus Discord, and yet, thanks to Twilight Sparkle, the town was already basically fixed.
It brought great joy to the citizens of Ponyville, they had bounced back from both Nightmare Moon and now Discord, two of the nations greatest threats. All across Ponyville ponies were celebrating, except for one place. In the Ponyville library, home of the aforementioned Twilight Sparkle, the atmosphere was instead one of great confusion.
Princess Celestia had arrived suddenly, requesting an audience with Twilight and her friends. She had been receiving letters from all across Equestria, all of them depicted something incredibly similar to one another.
"Massive Creatures, as big and bigger than an Ursa Major! They were clashing, beating each other with less mercy than Griffons and Dragons. Then the largest leapt thousands of feet into the air in an instant as the others flew, higher than Cloudsdale, and disappeared in massive flashes." Spike recited from one of the many letters sent.
Everyone looked around the table at each other, bewilderment written on their faces. "As big as an Ursa Major, and yet their still that fast?! That's impossible!" Rainbow exclaimed, knowing speed better than anybody. "That's not even taking into account the strength of these creatures, leaping that distance into the air, in an instant no less. They are breaking the laws of physics!" Twilight yelled.
"That's what I said, Twilight." Celestia stated calmly. "It's definitely beyond the power of the Elements of Harmony." All Seven others sitting at the table looked at her in Bewilderment.
"The Elements are Dimensional Level though!" Twilight exclaimed. "There are Universal and Beyond level creatures out there Twilight." Celestia reminds her student gently.
"Still... the most powerful being we've ever met, is Discord, he was hardly Planetary Level, you and Luna are hardly Planetary Level!" Twilight yelled. Celestia nodded in agreement, "Yes Twilight, those power scalings are correct. Yet we are far from the strongest." She explained.
"But that is not the point of this conversation." Celestia said after a minute of silence. "If we get the opportunity, we should attempt to speak with these creatures." A shiver went up all of their spines at the mere thought of trying.
That fear only increased as the entire planet seemed to shake, even Celestia looked terrified out of her mind. "I don't think any of us are going to try and think of any alternative scenarios." Celestia whispered. Everyone shook their heads.
All their eyes were drawn towards the window. Outside was more chaotic than when Discord had been there the day prior. All of them were up and out the door within ten seconds, finding themselves all staring at three massive creatures, the same creatures as described in the letters.
"Me and my Mouth." Celestia sighed, everyone could agree, despite the disrespect it brought. The group begins to approach.
<(???'s POV)>
Again, we come to this world. It's not even intentional, merely a series of coincidences that brought us here repeatedly. It does piss me off to no end that we can't seem to land anywhere on this planet that isn't uninhabited, yet I only seem to hit those places under literally any other circumstances.
I turn and punching Flame Daxian across the face, her blood immediately staining my armoured fist. Thunder Daxian responds by leaping onto my back, however it is no trouble to drive my elbow into her neck to knock her off, and then turn around and punch her in the stomach to send her flying into a large boulder.
In the brief moment of peace, I quickly raise my hands to my head to properly ensure my helmet is still firmly in its place, without any chance of it falling off. When I finish making sure it is, I jump back into battle with a roar.
As we continue clashing, Thunder Daxian begins to speak, "Feeling particularly angry today aren't we Prima?" She inquires tauntingly. "More annoyed than angry." I reply. "Annoyed because I've had to see your faces multiple days in a row now. You Family murdering Bitches!" Both of them snort in annoyance, seeing that their taunting isn't working like they wanted it too.
Our battle continues, each of us trying to gain an upper hand over the other, something which is much harder for them to achieve than myself, given that I'm significantly larger than either of them. A rather impressive sixteen meter difference between me and Thunder Daxian, as I stand at Thirty Six Meters.
Yet just because I'm bigger, doesn't mean I'm invincible to their attacks.
They manage to throw me off balance, then proceed to both turn and back kick me at the same time, knocking me into a nearby hill. I land on my back, and quickly start lifting myself up, frantically making sure my helmet didn't come off.
I roll over and blink a few times, trying to clear my vision. When it finally gets clear enough that I can actually see, I'm shocked to see that there is multiple of this planets inhabitants watching us with stunned expressions. Out in front is a Violet... Unicorn? With a Pink six pointed star, with five smaller ones around it, on her cheek.
How long had they been there?! Had they heard our taunting? Did they know about what had happened? This was going to make everything significantly more difficult.
So much for an easy trip.
"LOOK OUT!" I snap back to reality as I feel someone, likely Thunder Daxian, clamp their hands around my tail, followed by being pulled and flung into a nearby rock. I lay there, dazed, and trying to reorient myself to continue fighting, while silently thanking the gods above that my tail couplings didn't come undone, since that would have only led to the rest of my armour coming off as well.
As I'm trying to do this I hear Thunder Daxian begin to speak to the ones who had been watching us fight, and whom had tried to warn me after I became distracted. "So we have little watchers." She growled. "What do you want?"
I slowly push myself up, both Daxian's now have their backs to me. Quite a stupid decision, since they can't of possibly expected me to have been knocked out by such a weak throw. Nonetheless off a rock that I have hit several times, except much harder versions of it on different planets.
I see look past them, at those who had been watching. Their Ponies, that much I know for certain. Regular, Pegasi, and Unicorn's. Except there is more than that, a mixture of all three. A quick scan across this Universe's timeline let's me know she's called Princess Celestia, an Alicorn.
The others are called, The Elements of Harmony. By the names of, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and... Twilight Sparkle. The Unicorn I first saw.
Princess Celestia stepped in front of Twilight Sparkle. "You have entered into the Land of Equestria." She said in what I assumed was a powerful voice to her subjects.
"So? You think something that trivial. We are Megaversal beings, you have no say in what we do. OPTHOMANE PRIMA SHALL FALL!!!" Flame Daxian boomed. Thunder Daxian raised her fist, and at that I snapped into action.
Reaching into my power, I call upon the power of the Pseudo Force. Using it I grab both of them with Psychic and slam them into the ground almost 500 meters away.
In this time I jump in front of the Ponies, protecting them with my body Incase of another attack.
Both Daxian's slowly get up, growling at me as I got into a battle position, ready to lunge at them. When they did, I tapped into another of my long since dormant powers, and my body heat began to rise.
In an instant, my body burst into flames, and a quick swing of my fist sends a small thermonuclear pulse out, blowing both Daxian's backwards with rapidly forming burns. As I did this, I used the chance to raise a shield to protect those watching us, for I did not wish to kill an Innocents if I could prevent it.
I lunged at the downed Daxian's, attempting to pin them both down. But right before I can, they both vanish, causing me to power down out of surprise and to start tumbling along. As I get up I shake the dirt off of my body and send out a pulse, scanning the Universe in a matter of seconds. It's in these seconds that I come to the annoying conclusion.
"They're still in the Universe, yet I can't pinpoint their location because of all the magic in the air scrambling my powers. Lovely. Just Fucking lovely. Weakened by the Universe's magic, and unable to properly fight a magical opponent." I growl in annoyance. I then glance upwards, back towards the ponies watching me, and I'm only just now noticing the dragon tucked behind Twilight Sparkle's hoof.
I start walking towards them, arriving to their position in under fifteen seconds. I merely stand there, taking them in far below me, even if they stand on a hill. I then tap into another of my Powers, a violet glow surrounding me as I shrunk myself down to about 12 Feet, so as to appear less intimidating to the smaller and less heavily built Ponies, and Baby Dragon, while still maintaining the authority I need.
"Greetings." I offer, trying to break the ice that seems to have formed, now that we can actually speak to each other, without the fear of getting attacked from behind. Finally I catch movement from Celestia herself, a quick glance at Twilight Sparkle, it's not much but it's enough for me to catch.
"Greetings, Opthomane Prima." Celestia says. "Princess Celestia, Joint ruler of Equestria." I reply calmly. She raises a brow, "I know your name because those two said it, but how would you know mine?" She inquires. "I searched through the Timeline, and learned all of your names in the process."
"So you know of the Elements of Harmony?" Applejack's Southern accent reaches my ears. "As in the Weapons, or Wielders of said weapons?" I inquire in an either or tone. "Based on how you said that, I'm gonna assume ya know both." I smile softly, not that any of them can see it, due to my helmet.
"I do know both sets, Applejack." I say softly. "I also know about you being the Element of Honesty." My gaze moves from her to land on the other elements. "Likewise, I know that Fluttershy represents kindness, Rainbow Dash represents Loyalty, Rarity represents Generosity, Pinkie Pie represents Laughter, and lastly, Twilight Sparkle, whom is essentially the leader of what could be dubbed 'The Mane Six', represents the most powerful Element of all, Magic."
I shut my eyes, finishing up. "Together, the six Elements help to channel, The Magic of Friendship, the most powerful magic this world has ever seen." I open my eyes to eight surprised faces.
"Didn't expect me to get all the details right?" I inquire. "I was skeptical." Twilight said. "I mean, somebody tells you that they scanned the Dimensional Timeline and learned everything about you, you're bound to be skeptical." I nodded in agreement. "It would sound crazy, until proven that it was true, and even then it's still crazy because it actually happened." Twilight jumped forward, stopping right in front of me. "Right!"
As we continued with this banter, everyone else seemed surprised. "Is something wrong?" I asked. Twilight looked over as well, "You're all acting weird, what's wrong?" It was Rarity who spoke their surprise. "It's just, we've never seen you act like this before Darling." She said, putting her elbow in her left hand and splaying her hand. "You've never been able to simply, have a back and forth conversation with such energy."
Twilight merely blinked, seeming to be unable to fully comprehend what she had been told. My heart rate suddenly picked up as I looked at her, a flurry of emotions I never expected to feel pumping through my brain, there were even a few that I couldn't properly identify.
I found myself staring at her, and I honestly couldn't believe what I was feeling. Her mane, a mixture of blue, pink, the blonde almost seeming out of place on her. Her fur, a light purple, probably even Violet. Then her eyes, a mixture of pink and purple, resulting in one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen.
"It's not very often that I meet somepony who can actually respond confidently to my more scientific speaking." Twilight finally speaks, pulling me from my thoughts. With these new found emotions, I feel even more encouraged to prevent myself from making the same mistakes I've made in the past.
Celestia then steps up, "Yes, that is rather impressive." She says, looking at me at me. If I didn't know any better, which I most definitely do know better, I'd almost say she's jealous of me being able to do that while she can't. "But I believe there is another question that must be asked, one which I am.. less certain she can answer as quickly, for I feel it's a more sensitive topic." There's only one thing I uttered that could even begin to entertain that idea.
Yet... throughout that whole sentence, it felt like Celestia was walking a very fine line with her words. The fine line between Insulting my inability to confidently speak of what she is about to ask me, and a false sense of sadness for what she has to ask. And yes I said false, for the reason I previously stated.
"You mentioned that they were, 'Family Murders'. If you don't mind me asking, what happened between you and them?" She asks. I let out a sigh, it was exactly as I expected, what else could it have been. "It's exactly as it sounds, Thunder and Flame Daxian, along with their teammates, killed my family many years ago."
They let out sharp gasps at that. "How many of them are there?!" Twilight asked. "Seven Daxian's Total. Lightning, Thunder, Flame, Blizzard, Ocean, Element, and Empress Daxian." They all stared at me in utter shock. "You fought all of them at once before?!" Rainbow asked, whether that was in excitement or fear was unknown. "My first real fight was against all seven of them." I stated calmly.
"That sounds AWESOME!" Rainbow exclaimed. "I so wanna hear about that!" I very nearly freeze at that. I can't let them know! It'll drive a wedge between me and them, before I can even form a proper bond that might survive the blow! I can't make that mistake again. Not like I have so many times before.
"I'd tell you if I remembered what happened." I lied, taking great care so as to not give myself away to Applejack. "But whatever happened, it was enough to drive them off." They all blink, they Twilight speaks up again. "What do you remember?" She asks. I practically curse as she asks that question, and I quickly start throwing together a plausible cover story, one which covers my tracks by combining the truth with the lies necessary to give me a chance at not screwing up.
"We may wanna sit down, as this will take some time to explain." I say. They all quickly sit down, as do I. My gaze quickly travels over each of them, and I begin my story.
"So, just for a little context before I begin, my species is called the Primian's and we are very different from anything you have likely seen. When we hit the age of 18, we go through a process known as Evolution, which is basically a hyper-accelerated version on natural evolution. Yet, I was different from most." I pause, quickly checking through what I had said while scanning all their faces for any negative emotions, which I thankfully do not find anywhere, only genuine curiosity.
"You see, when I evolved, it was 2 Years early, and it was under a massive adrenaline rush. It caused me to be way more powerful than many other Primian's before me, and it also caused me to lack certain additions to my body. That being my wings, since they hadn't had time to be developed in my awaiting DNA." I pause again, silently reminding myself to not go to far into this part of the story, and also praising myself for not having to use a lie yet. If only I didn't have to go breaking that streak so soon.
"Anyway, I was coming home from Ballet class one day. My old friends were coming over to hang out, and I was rather excited. Yet when I turned onto my street, I found myself staring into a massacre. Spread across the road, was my family and friends. Standing above them was the Daxian's, what makes this especially disgusting is that they also killed their own kind, my aforementioned old friends were Daxian's too." I stopped and shut my eyes, making it appear as if I had arrived at the part of the story I don't remember. "All I remember after that was the beginning stages of entering Berserker Mode, then it's all fuzzy until I woke up on an asteroid in the atmosphere around my home planet several hours later." I felt disgusted with myself for the lie I was feeding them, yet it was necessary.
"For the following 30 Billion Years until today, I have followed them across the Megaverse, looking for the revenge my friends and family so badly deserve. Along the way, I've met many great acquaintances that I've come to be great friends with." Another lie. I've never had a true friend ever since I lost the Daxian's so long ago. All of those I've met since then are too afraid of my appearance, hence why I cannot remove this armour until the right moment.
I scan those in front of me, the only one not completely shocked is Princess Celestia, which honestly doesn't surprise me. She has seen a lot of atrocities in the past, and very few of them were peaceful. I quietly wait for them to recompose themselves, not that I'm in any rush, given that the Daxian's are obviously developing a new strategy to use against me.
It's Twilight who speaks up first. "Well, at least you had some new friends to help take away the pain from what happened." She said, attempting to make some light of the situation. "Yeah, I guess." I mutter quietly. She tilted her head slightly, seeming confused. "Did they, not help?" She inquired. I let out a sigh, the memories cutting through my mind, and subsequently my heart, like butter. "You are the first ones to actually listen to the full story." I reveal. "Nobody else finished the story, believing they were doing me right by not making me finish the story. Even though it did more damage by forcing it to continue festering." I stop, having slipped into a short rant without meaning too.
Twilight continued staring at me, meanwhile the rest of them were all looking at one another nervously. It wasn't unreasonable. Who wouldn't be apprehensive about someone like me.
It's then that Twilight suddenly stands up and walks over to me. She then sits down beside me, leaning against my side. I find myself staring at her confused, since this is the first time such a gesture has been done to/for me.
As if reading my movements, Twilight answers my question. "You just looked like you could use some comforting." She said. A smile graced my lips that showed through my discoloured eyes. "Thank you, Twilight." I say gently. She smiles brightly in response.
Twilight's smile then fell, as she looked at me again. "You mentioned something about a weakness towards magic?" She inquired. I sighed, I knew this was bound to come up eventually.
"Yes. I do have a Weakness to magic." I say. "Note that this isn't a Physical Weakness. Meaning I won't get hurt if attacked by someone using magic. Instead, it means that I struggle to do damage to those who have magic." I explain.
"That's reassuring." Twilight said. "Hm?" I inquire. "I'm really good with magic, as I'm sure you know, so without any severe risks of hurting you, I could try and help you adapt to magic, maybe even learn it." Twilight explains.
I sit there for a moment, my emotions fluctuating rapidly as I roll what Twilight said over in my head. It's the first time anybody has ever done something like this for me, not since my family passed.
"Twilight..." I pause, trying to gather my words. "I truly do not know what to say..." I look at her. "Thank You. I'll gladly accept your offer." I say.
I look up at the rest of the group, as if making sure that their ok with this. Their all smiling, appearing to be onboard with the idea. Except for Celestia.
Her face is still stern, almost distrustful in me. It almost looks like she is calculating, like I'm complicating something for her. I decide not to address this, for I doubt I would get a straight answer anyway.
Twilight then speaks up again. "What's, Berserker Mode?" I frown. I hate when I have to talk about this, it's the most likely place I could screw up, and give myself away. Still, I reply all the same. "Berserker Mode, is a form built completely off of rage. I have entered it one other time, but all I did was roar at the Daxian's, then I lost the form." Another Lie. I cannot count how many times I have entered Berserker Mode. I'm just pathetic like that, nowhere near the strength of my family.
"Well..." Applejack pulls me from my thoughts. "If that's the case, we should probably do our best to make sure you have no reason to get angry, and then get you associated, with Ponyville." She said. "I don't see any problem with that."
Collectively we all got up, but before we could start towards Ponyville, Celestia spoke. "If you have this under control, I will be returning to Canterlot." She said. "Safe trip Princess." Twilight said. "I hope we see each other again soon." She added. "As do I Twilight." Celestia returned, although her tone sounded almost... What? That couldn't be right!
She then backed up and her horn ignited. In a flash she disappeared, and we began to go to Ponyville. Them, to introduce a new friend. Me, to attempt to not screw this up, especially now that I have these emotions in my heart, unlike ever before.
<(??? POV)>
Opthomane Prima... I can't see the timeline clearly now that she is here. She's a wildcard... and I can't control her. I'll have to keep her on a tighter leash from now on...
Author's Note
My First Story on Fimfiction, but far from my First one ever. Constructive Criticism is welcomed as I wish to get better.
Chapter 2: Nightmare Night
<(Twilight's POV)>
Already Two weeks have past since Thomane came to Ponyville, and Ponies have thankfully accepted her. She's become accustomed to the town, although her armour hasn't been removed. When asked about it, she simply says that she can't remove it, for reasons she can't yet disclose, but promises that she eventually will. But still, the part of me that always wants to learn, it's desperately wants to know.
I already know that I've developed a crush on her personality, but it's hard to truly act on those feelings without a face to put them to. I hope to see her face sometime soon. Or sometime Period.
She's also been a huge help around Ponyville, specifically with preventing me from having any freak outs. I borderline had one the day after she arrived, when I didn't have anything to send to Celestia in my weekly friendship letter. There haven't been as many things as in my first year since moving to Ponyville, in fact by my estimations there will only be about a third the friendship problems this year, as opposed to my first.
My letters mostly consist of me talking about things Thomane has taught me. I've learned so much from Thomane, about as much as I've personally learned from Celestia. The rest is all stuff I've learned myself. I'm mostly just surprised by how much Thomane can teach, in a single sentence alone! It's all equivalent to a friendship lesson, which I would normally learn from a bigger scaled event.
But right now, it's Nightmare Night! A holiday that Thomane has commented about it being like one of the holidays from another world she's been on, a holiday called Halloween.
The costume I chose for tonight is a replica of Starswirl the Bearded, or more accurately, an apprentice, with a little modern twist. The cloak and hat are essentially the same, the latter only being smaller and with ear holes to allow it to sit on my head better. Underneath the cloak however is not the same. I'm wearing something you would more expect to find on an office worker, with grey nylon stockings under a grey figure hugging knee length skirt, white undershirt, and grey blazer over top of it all. I also threw on a pair of glasses that lacked lenses, since I didn't actually need glasses. All in all, I looked like a student ready to learn magic, that was also staying professional at the same time.
I totally wasn't doing this as a way to get Thomane's attention or anything. No. That would be crazy... Gah who am I kidding! Nobody that's who!
I'm love struck by Thomane's personality, and am hoping to charm her, somebody super righteous, into liking me with looks. Sure it may help, but it's not the driving force behind what makes Thomane decide these sorts of things. She may not have explicitly stated it, but I know it's true. Plus, my body is extremely petite and skinny, versus somepony like Applejack and Rarity, whose bodies are a lot fuller and more rounded, and overall more attractive by all of those standards.
But it's too late to change now, I've already made Thomane and Spike wait long enough as is. I walk over to my bed and sit down, magically levitating over the boots I got for this outfit. As I pull them on, I can hear an impatient Spike downstairs call out to me. "Come on Twilight!" He yells. "It's going to me mid-morning by the time we get there at this rate!" I then hear Thomane chastising Spike, and I begin making my way downstairs, just in time to hear her speaking.
"Spike, impatience is not going to get you anywhere, neither is yelling. In fact, if I were Twilight, I would deliberately start going slower just to punish you." She says. Spike just mutters sarcastically under his breath, which I only faintly hear, in reply. I can hear Thomane standing upright, huffing as if she were dealing with a fussy newborn. "Well if that's the attitude your going to take, you can very well stay right here for the night."
At that point I finally step into view, where I can see Thomane looking down at Spike with a stern look in her eye, as the baby Dragon looks down dejectedly. "sorry thomane..." Spike says quietly in an apologetic tone. Thomane's eyes soften considerably at his response, as she kneels down to Spike, giving him a gentle rub in the head. "It's alright, Spike." She says, giving the Dragon a little boop on the nose. "Just, think a little more before you take action, ok?" Spike nods and walks towards the Kitchen.
Thomane then sighs and stands back up, looking over in my direction. Surprisingly she actually does have a costume, or at least she has what is meant to serve as one. It's only a cape, but it honestly seems to change the whole appearance of Thomane, a big difference from just the golden armour that covers all of her skin.
"Nice Costume, Apprentice Twilight Sparkle." She finally says. A light blush comes over my face, why must I be like this? A simple compliment making me blush! "T-Thanks, Thomane." I stammer under my 'romantic' intoxication.
<(Thomane's POV)>
'God, Twilight... Why must you always be so adorable? And so Damn Beautiful?' It was far from the first time I had asked myself these questions, in fact I had asked them every day for the last two weeks now. But, could anybody truly blame me?
Twilight had me captivated with her beauty the moment I saw her, although the blonde in her mane still seems to throw her whole look off. Anyway, her beauty had me drawn in almost immediately, but now that I actually know her, I'm practically smitten by her.
"I like your costume too." Twilight says. I wrap my hand under the cape, raising it so I can see it better. "This, is just something I found and threw on. Figured that I'd might as well fit in for tonight. And with my armour, a guard captain felt appropriate." I say, letting the cape fall from my grip and back behind me. My tail was pointing more down than normal, allowing for the cape to flow behind me unaffected.
Then a knock came at the door, and Spike made his way over to open it. Whom was dressed as a bigger and darker version of himself. Then we heard him yelp as what sounded like at least three Fillies singing together.
"Nightmare Night! What a Fright! Give us something sweet to Bite!"
I raised a brow as me and Twilight begin walking to the door. "Could that be any more Complicated?" I ask. Twilight raised her own brow at me, "What else would we say?" She inquired. "What Earth uses for Halloween. Trick or Treat. A scary Trick, or a wonderful Treat." I explain. She nods in understanding. "That could work, but at the same time, it's just natural to say that." Now it was my turn to nod. "Not saying there is any problem with that. Just saying that it could be simpler."
We made it around the door, where we saw the fillies standing there, with Granny Smith watching them. A Ladybug, an Astronaut, and a Princess. "Hi everypony!" Twilight said happily, I simply waved. "Happy Nightmare Night Granny Smith." I offered. "I should've been Asleep Five Hours ago." She said grumpily and tiredly.
I quickly reach over and grab a bowl of Candy off the nearby table. Twilight then used her magic to put a piece of candy in each of the Fillies candy bags. Then a young colt squeezed his way to the front of them, he was dressed as a pirate. I recognised him as Pipsqueak, and he had only recently moved to Ponyville.
"Pipsqueak the Pirate, at your service." He paused, seemingly getting into character. "It be me very first Nightmare Night." Twilight smiled at him. "Since you moved here from Trottingham?" She inquired.
Pipsqueak shook his head. "No, it be me first Nightmare Night Ever!" He exclaimed. Then Pinkie Pie appeared, dressed as a chicken, looking serious. "Enough Chit-Chat!" She exclaimed. "Time is Candy."
I could feel my deadpan expression, and I fought the urge to facepalm so hard that I blew everyone away from the force. "Pinkie, aren't you too old for this?" I inquired. Pinkie just looked at me like I was crazy. "To old for free Candy?! Never!" Me and Twilight just rolled our eyes as she gave Pinkie her candy.
Pinkie then pecked all the candy out the bowl before bolting away.
Me and Twilight just sighed before walking outside, Spike close behind us. "Why do I have a sneaking suspicion that Pinkie will seriously get on my nerves tonight?" I asked. Twilight sighed, rubbing a hand over her face. "Because she probably will."
We started walking through Ponyville, stopping at a few houses so Spike could get some Candy, before reaching the centre of town, which had been transformed into almost a carnival like setting. Me and Twilight have been making small talk the whole way.
"So that's why I think I should start up a History Group. Because Ponies do not know enough about History." Twilight explained. "Yeah, you've only asked 25 Ponies to figure that out." I say.
Pinkie then appeared again. "Twilight! Twilight! Look at our Haul!" She exclaimed, shoving the bag right into Twilight's face. "Can you believe it?!" She then started pecking at all the candy, knocking more out than she consumed.
Pinkie went on and on, explain where she and the kids had went, and there was something about Granny Smith, before she was interrupted by a massive flash, followed by a clap of thunder. She let out a squawk before taking off, the kids close behind her.
I looked up at the source, a laughing pegasus in a shadowbolt costume. My eyes narrowed, a small surge of anger flowing into my system, which I very quickly worked to quell. "Rainbow, what the hell was that for?!" I demand.
Rainbow just continued laughing. "It's Nightmare Night, it's the perfect night for pranks." She said dismissively. I snorted, my frustration getting to me. "Uh-huh, mmhmm. You say that like I actually care about if a day is good for pranks or not. Just look at Spike." I say, gesturing towards the dragon who is now choking on his candy, Twilight helping him get over it.
"Oh relax. It's all in good fun." She then smiled as she looked in another direction. "Ooh, there's some more Ponies to prank." She didn't stay a moment longer and rushed off with her storm cloud to continue with her pranks.
I didn't do anything except sigh in disappointment before looking back to Twilight and Spike. "Found somepony else who's going to get under my fur tonight." I announce dramatically. "Woohoo." Spike whooped unenthusiastically. I rolled my eyes as Twilight helped him get back up, and he began gathering his candy.
"Come on, I think Applejack has some games set up. It'll probably be the most interesting thing that we can do tonight." Twilight and I begin walking towards where Applejack is supposed to be, the sounds of Spike's candy rustling as he runs to catch up with us is clearly audible.
We reach the area near Sweet Apple Acres a few minutes later. Where Applejack has set up games; Bobbing for Apples, (No Surprise there) another one where you launch pumpkins out of catapults into targets, and there is also a game where you have to throw a Spider at a Spider-Web, and hope it sticks there. It all looks relatively fun, not necessarily something I would be doing all night, but also not something that I would despise and refuse to do entirely.
"Hey, AJ." Twilight waves. Applejack looks over at us and returns the gesture. "Howdy Y'all, nice costumes." She says. "Thank you." We all say. "I'm glad to see that you've decided to join in, Thomane." I shrug. "I figured that this was something I could actually pull off, with my armour and all that Jazz." I say, rolling my eyes.
Applejack smiled, beginning to walk around me, further examining the costume. "You certainly did pull it off. You look just like a Knight, rather than a guard." I nod. "That is the look I was going for, since I don't look anything like a guard."
"Well, since you're here, you feel like bobbing for an Apple?" I could see Spike doing it, but I can tell Twilight is already preparing a reason as to why she can't, as am I. Were totally not just pulling random excuses out of our asses... However before we need to use our reasons, Derpy pops up out of the tank, the plug holding the water inside of it in her hand...
Before anybody can start moaning about the temporary loss of a game, Mayor Mare, whom is dressed like a clown, addresses a crowd on the dance floor. "Thank you, Everypony." Mayor Mare says. "And Welcome to the Annual Nightmare Night Festival!" The crowd Erupts in cheers.
Me, Twilight, and Spike wander into the crowd, all Interested in what is coming.
Mayor Mare continues. "Now, all of the little ponies that have been out collecting sweets should follow our good friend, Zecora and she will tell you the tale of... Nightmare Moon!" She starts laughing evilly, further pushing this facade. I get that she is trying to sound spooky, but with her dressed like a literal clown, it's impossible to take her even remotely seriously.
"Spooky voice might've worked better if she were dressed scarier." Spike muttered quietly, only me and Twilight heard him. "Agreed, Spike." Twilight just giggles at our words. Redirecting our attention to the stage, Mayor Mare gestures to an empty part of the stage, where a green smoke bomb goes off, which the aforementioned Zecora steps through.
"Follow me, and very soon, you'll hear the tale of Nightmare Moon." I had forgotten that Zecora only speaks in rhyme. This should be fun to listen to. If only just to hear the clever rhymes.
We follow Zecora into the Everfree Forest, where we eventually find a statue of Nightmare Moon. It was either put here many years ago by those who followed Luna, more accurately Nightmare Moon, or it was just recently placed here by somepony else for Zecora's story. Neither would surprise me, Equestria is a very strange place, especially in the past.
"Listen Close my little dears, and I'll show you where you got your fears, of Nightmare Night, so dark and Scary." Zecora began to speak and tell the story. She grabbed some green dust, probably enchanted, and blew it into the air where it formed into a depiction of Nightmare Moon. "Of Nightmare Moon, who makes you weary." She accurately described.
The depiction then slammed into the ground, covering the area in a green magical fog. "On Nightmare Night we wear a disguise, to save ourselves from her searching eyes." Eyes and a wicked smile appear behind two fillies. The moment they noticed them they both screamed and ran away. A head then shot through the smoke, revealing it to have just been Zecora.
"But Nightmare Moon wants just one thing," Pipsqueak runs away and ends up running into the statue. "To gobble up Ponies, in one quick swing!" Pipsqueak backs up and bumps into Pinkie, whose head is in the ground for some reason, causing her to jump into the air screaming. Then both ran away from the other.
Zecora threw one more handful of dust into the sky, which began forming Nightmare Moon's shadow form, which I only know about thanks to Twilight. "Hungrily, she sores through the sky's, but if she sees no ponies wandering about, she passes by, so if she comes and the streets are clear, Equestria shall be safe for yet another year!" The Ghost swooped around, scanning for ponies, only for the costumes to trick her before she flew into the sky and disappear in a bright green flash.
As sparkles rained down over Zecora, Pipsqueak walked up and tugged on the Zebra's cloak. "But, Ms Zecora, if we wear costumes to hide ourselves from Nightmare Moon, so she won't gobble us up, why do we still need to give her some of our candy?" He asked. Zecora smiled in response, lowering herself down to Pipsqueaks level. "A Perfect Question my little friend, for Nightmare Moon we must not offend." She blows another puff of Green dust into the air, Nightmare Moon forming in front of everyone. "Fill up her Belly with a treat or two, will stop her from coming back to Eat YOU!" Zecora boomed as the Nightmare Moon depiction leapt forward with a wide open mouth, far beyond what should be, and is, physically possible, and onto Pipsqueak, the resulting dust cloud covering all of us.
Pinkie and the children all screamed and charged up to the Statue. "Quickly! Everypony, let's dump some candy and get out of here!" She yelled. "Pinkie, you are seriously overreacting." I say, still trying to clear my vision of all that damn green smoke!
Then the wind started picking up, and the clouds began to spiral around the Moon, ironically. Everyone around the statue starts backing up in fear, staring up at the swirling clouds. Even Zecora looks fearful.
A massive flash goes off and a chariot appears in the sky, being pulled by 4 Pegasi Guards, only difference being that their wings look like those of a bat, than a regular Pegasus wing. Bat-Ponies, I believe they're called. It would just make sense. Riding on the Carriage being pulled behind them was a figure larger than most ponies, in fact they looked like Royalty...
I turned to Twilight, she did the same. "Is it?! Do you really think it is?!" Twilight asked. "Yeah, I think it really is her Twilight." We both look back up as the carriage flies overhead, stopping to hover over Ponyville. "Princess Luna." We both uttered quietly. Unsurprisingly, Pinkie had a different train of thought. Her thought process more consisted of, "AH! IT'S NIGHTMARE MOON! RUUUUUUUUUUN!" This, of course, caused everypony to start overreacting again, no thanks to Zecora's story.
As they all ran away, another flash of lightning followed by a large clap of thunder rung out from Ponyville, illuminating Luna's face and further confirming me and Twilight's already strong suspicions. But I'm still a little bit peeved by the Lightning, because I know it's Rainbow again, she's going to get what's coming to her at this rate.
Me and Twilight look at each other again, nod, and start running back to Ponyville.
We emerged from the Everfree Forest and ran into town, just behind Pinkie and the mob of Children she had following her. We stopped just below where Luna's carriage was hovering, just in time to see her drop from it.
Her landing was.. less than Graceful. I've seen Celestia preform landings like this one, Celestia looked like a filly would expect a Princess to look like after reading a fairytale.
Luna however... it was clear that she was inexperienced with such a landing, stumbling when she landed, instead of landing in a curtsy. She looked unfit to be preforming such actions. In fact, she much looked like she'd rather be doing something else than land the way Celestia, and Princesses as a whole, land.
She looked uninterested in what she was wearing, looking like Celestia except smaller and with a different colour scheme. I looked at Twilight, it doesn't look like she noticed it like I have, more curious about Luna's sudden appearance if I had to guess.
Of course, no-pony else noticed this either, instead only seeing the firm mask she wore, another replica of Celestia I could tell she wasn't happy in doing.
Ponies immediately began bowing to her, except for myself and Twilight. Spike stopped her from trying to approach, as if he was worried Luna might do something bad if she did approach.
Luna started walking towards us, wings spreading out widely as she kept her firm gaze upon the ponies in front of her. Most of them were trembling before her, and that quickly turned to full blown shaking as a small smile crossed Luna's muzzle. And then Luna started speaking...
"CITIZENS OF PONYVILLE! WE HAVE GRACED YOUR TINY VILLAGE WITH OUR PRESENCE, SO THAT YOU MA- MIGHT BEHOLD THE REAL PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT!" It was at this very moment that I learned just how loud creatures could be, without them being the size of a freaking building.
But what was with the stammer? Luna has been back in Equestria for over a Year at this point... right? Surely she's learned how to speak like creatures of the modern day by now. It's almost like she is trying to achieve something, as she's clearly hiding behind a false sense of inexperience.
I didn't hear the rest of what Luna said, but it had "Feast" in it somewhere, and that Rainbow Dash in trying to scare the Princess, a stupid decision if you ask me, made it sound malicious, that much I know. How do I know it had "Feast" in it? Well...
"Did you hear that, Everypony?! Nightmare Moon says she's gonna Feast on us All!!! RUUUUUNNNNNNNN!!!!!!" Pinkie Pie. As overreacting as ever.
Everybody started screaming and ran away.
Luna's expression went from her masked one, to one of Surprised Sadness. "What?!" She exclaimed, her voice having lowered significantly and her tone sounding hurt by Pinkie's words, "No! I-We want to turn this Celebration into a Glorious Feast! Not to Feast on you, Children!" Nobody listened to her, they were all too terrified by Pinkie's screams!
Luna turns to Mayor Mare, addressing her for some help with the Situation, but it seemed that her brain has suddenly gone stupid. Nobody is moving, so I step forward to hopefully start turning the situation around.
"Princess Luna." I say, drawing her attention onto me, "My name is Opthomane Prima. It's a pleasure to finally meet you." She nodded in greeting, offering a curtsy. "My Sister has said many things about you. I am deeply sorry for the loss of your family. I do have some experience with such, however it is not to the same extent." She said. "Thank you, Princess. That is, greatly appreciated." I nod to her.
After this I take a look around, ponies are all hiding in different places, watching me and Luna intently. They know I'm powerful and are hoping I'll, 'Defeat Nightmare Moon.' Staying here is only going to aggravate the problem.
"I think it's best if we continue our conversation back at the library." Luna looked around, ponies ducking back into their hiding spots as she does so. With a frown she nods in agreement and we begin making our way back.
We pass Twilight and Spike, the Unicorn immediately moving to follow us, but she is stopped by Spike holding onto her cloak. I stop and turn around just as Spike starts speaking. "Twilight, you can't follow them! That's Nightmare Moon!" He says fearfully, his eyes flicking from Twilight's face to Luna, whom I can tell has stopped and is turned around watching this.
"She is not, Spike." Twilight huffs annoyedly. Spike goes to try and protest again but I cut him off. I've had enough of Luna being bashed when she doesn't deserve it! "Spike!" My tone is dangerously low, "If you have nothing nice to say, then don't say anything!" Spike immediately let's go of Twilight's cloak, terrified under my admittedly harsh gaze.
"If you're this scared, then you can go and spend the night with one of the others." He nods and turns on his heel to start running in the direction of Rarity's place. Me and Twilight can do nothing but sigh at his behaviour, hopefully he'll learn to be a little more considerate of how his words and actions might affect others. A lesson Pinkie and Rainbow Dash seriously need to learn themselves.
We head back to the Library and sit down at the table. Things are silent for the most part, outside of the occasional shift in our seats. What is there to say? Luna is being seen as Nightmare Moon, to pony she used to be. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out. Average intelligence, on the other hand is required. Sadly it appears to be something everypony lacks tonight.
"Do you not think you were a little harsh on Spike?" My gaze rises from the Table to Twilight. "I could've handled myself better than I did, yes. But with how disrespectful he was being, and how disregarding he was of Luna's feelings, I'm afraid he had that coming." I say. Luna's head rises after I finish speaking, "We appreciate that you would do that for us." She says, her gratefulness obvious in her tone. "I've never stood for that sort of thing, and I have zero intentions on starting now." My gaze becomes harsher just thinking about it while I stare down at the table. "Especially when it's at those who have done nothing to deserve it."
Twilight perks up at that, not in a way that says she excited over what just happened, more that she is excited to help Luna out... It's probably for the better to let her take the reigns here.
"So, what does bring you here tonight, Luna?" Twilight asked. Luna's gaze turned to Twilight, "We have been having trouble adjusting to the modern day, Celestia suggested that we come and see you, Twilight Sparkle." She explained. "She said you could help us where she could not." Twilight smiled, "Please, just call me Twilight. And I'm more than happy to help you Luna."
'Why does it feel like she doesn't need help then?' I found myself asking, not out loud obviously. Luna clearly has adjusted really well, her almost saying the correct term of, "May", earlier proves that. Something is clearly being repressed, but why?
"Well," Twilight starts speaking again after her moment of silence. "I think it would be best if we first tackled your use of the Royal Canterlot Voice." Luna's eyes narrowed slightly, "But it is Tradition that we use such Volume to address our subjects." I raise a brow, which is shown as my helmet's eye socket opens further to reveal more of my eye. "Perhaps in your old day and age it was. But this is very different, Luna. It sounds more like you're just screaming at anypony and everypony." Yes it's counterproductive to what I already know, but until I can tear down this facade, I'd might as well be useful to Twilight's endeavour.
"What should we proceed with then, Twilight?" The Unicorn smiles as an idea immediately comes to her. "Volumes the issue, so we should naturally go see the pony that will help you quiet down." I let out a sigh. "Let's go see Fluttershy then." We stand up from the table and start our journey to Fluttershy's cottage.
<(Twilight's POV)>
As we make our way towards Fluttershy's, I can't help but keep glancing at Thomane, she's been thinking quite a bit since Luna arrived. At first glance it wouldn't be so off putting, seeing as most would suspect that she's thinking about how to help Luna. But when you've been exposed to her like I have, in which we've barely left the others side since she arrived and we've stayed especially close since my almost freakout two weeks ago, you tend to pick up on a few things, like when she's thinking on a surface or in-depth level about something.
What I'm seeing now is most definitely her in-depth thinking. The only type of thinking she's done since Luna arrived by my account, which is odd. She doesn't think like this unless she catches something that nobody else would at first. It's exactly how she stopped my freak out, she caught onto the signs nopony else did.
I want to question her, to know what she's thinking so I can help her, but I'm surprised by the sudden change of dirt to wood. We've made it to Fluttershy's cottage, I quickly direct my attention back towards Luna, who does look extremely nervous.
"Fluttershy's the best when it comes to a soft voice, if anybody can teach you how to stop accidentally using the Royal Canterlot voice, it's her." I tell her confidently. We reach the door and I give it a brief knock.
"Although she is timid, so we may have to coax her out." Before anything else can be said, the door opened and Fluttershy was there, surprisingly in a costume, a bunny suit, but still. "Happy Nightmare Night, Twilight! Thomane!" She looks over at Luna and offers her a brief bow. "Happy Nightmare Night to you as well, Princess." Luna returns the gesture.
"Fluttershy?! I thought you'd be terrified tonight? And that we'd have to coax you out to talk." I say. "No offense!" I quickly add. "None taken Twilight." She replies, her voice still meek, yet seeming to hold a sense of confidence that I've never seen in her before. "Ever since Thomane arrived," She nodded her head at her. "I have felt that I shouldn't let small things like this get to me. Not that I didn't try the same thing before, but Thomane's bravery acted as a push to make me try even harder." She explains.
I just find myself smiling, both for Fluttershy's achievement, and for yet another example of how Thomane is helping ponies out, without even directly aiming for the problem they're trying to solve. Even just her presence and actions were enough to make Fluttershy finally make some serious ground in conquering her fears.
"That's really flattering, Fluttershy." Thomane says. "I do appreciate it, but I think it would be best if we directed our attention to the topic at hand." She gestures towards Luna. "Of course. How can I help you tonight, Princess?" She asks.
"WE ARE HERE TO IMPROVE UPON NOT USING OUR ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE. AND YOU MAY CALL US LUNA." Luna explains, once again using the Royal Canterlot voice.
Beforehand, Fluttershy would have booked it back inside, but her fearlessness is really showing through as she hardly flinches from the yell, only really moving through ear twitches. "Wow. I knew Royal Canterlot was loud, but that, was much louder than I could've ever expected it to be." She says.
She clears her throat, gathering her thoughts for a few seconds. "For a start, you really should lower the volume. The Royal Canterlot voice is ok when you need to assert your dominance over somepony, like certain snobbish nobles, but using it all the time is just going to scare ponies." Fluttershy explains.
"I've already figured that out the hard way." Luna mutters under her breath. I look at her confusedly. "Luna... did you just talk in modern terms?" I asked confusedly.
<(Thomane's POV)>
Luna doesn't go rigid, or make any sudden movements to indicate that she's afraid of that. Only I notice that smaller signs, her eyes starting to move around in every which direction, missed by the others due to Luna's extra two feet on them, her tail not flowing in the same way, now a rigid line but still flowing a little bit to keep up the illusion, and her hands being wrung together as she tries not to fidget. If I wasn't already convinced that she was hiding something before, which I was as you already know, I'm 1000% convinced now.
"W-We, did say that we were struggling to adjust to the modern day, not that we have not entirely." For an on the spot excuse, it isn't actually all that bad, although it does little to hide the truth from me. However, it does have the intended effect on Twilight and Fluttershy.
"Ok, that makes sense. Sorry for thinking that you hadn't adapted at all." Twilight apologizes. "It is quite alright, Twilight. We never did say anything about how much we had adapted." Luna quickly replies.
"Well," I finally cut into the conversation. "we can at least say that this has helped. Luna has talked normally three times straight now." I say. "Not forgetting the other times she did back at the Library." I nod my head in the direction of the mentioned building as emphasis.
"She is right." Fluttershy nods in agreement. "And... Now?" Luna asks hesitantly, now that she's talking intentionally' rather than out of reflex. Once again, I must say, she is pretty good at deceiving ponies.
"Yes!" Twilight borderline cheers. "You've got it!" Luna's smile grows in what I can tell is genuine happiness. There is a level of truth to everything that is happening, a level which I haven't actually brought up until now. Luna is here to adapt to the ways of the modern world, more accurately, she is adapting to the modern world in the way that somebody wants her to. And there are very few ponies that would want to suppress Luna like that, and even then, I don't know why she'd do that. What could she be hoping to achieve?
Before another word can be spoken between us, another voice splits the air, one which fills me with dread. "Fluttershy! You need to hide us!" Pinkie Pie. "Nightmare Moon is here, and she's threatening to gobble us all u-" She freezes the moment she sees Luna, and before any of us, and especially not Luna, can get a single word in edgewise, a lightning bolt strikes around us, and while none of us actually move, it more than succeeds in making Pinkie let's out another shrill scream.
"NIGHTMARE MOON! RUN!" All the children with her all turn and start running as Pinkie let out a few clucks before sprinting off as well. Luna raises a hand towards them, opening her mouth to call out to them, before realizing it's pointless and letting both return to their normal positions.
As this happens, I feel yet another blow to my increasingly thin patients. Pinkie's overreactions on top of Rainbow's constant pranks, I'm going to snap before the night is over, and I seriously don't want to, so we need to get this situation turned around before that can happen.
"Don't get discouraged, Princess." Twilight tells her, voice as chipper as ever. "Now that you've gotten a grasp on a gentle voice, we can move onto the next step." Luna looks at Twilight behind her mask of unconfidence. "Which is?" She inquires. "We need to make it so that Ponies see a warmer side of you, so they'll feel more inclined to approach you." She explains, as solid as ever.
"How do you suggest we do that?" Luna asks. Twilight's smile widens and I can see the plan already. "We'll go see Applejack!" Luna seems to perk up slightly at that, appearing hopeful. We start towards the rest of the party again, but not before Luna stops and addresses Fluttershy again. "Thank you, Fluttershy. Your help is, greatly appreciated." She says. Fluttershy simply smiles and nods to Luna. We then start off towards the main Nightmare Night Party.
As we're walking back, I start putting focus into getting my patients back up. I do not want to know how I'll respond if they run out. As I'm doing that I feel a tug at my cape, looking down tells me that it's Twilight, looking up at me with concern.
"You ok, Thomane? I saw how you responded to Pinkie and Rainbow, and then were really hard to snap out of your trance." She explains. "Yeah, I'm fine, Twilight. Just, working on not exploding in both of their faces when something else stupid inevitably happens." We both let out a sigh at the last part.
"I have a sinking feeling." Twilight mutters. "Me too. A sinking feeling that a certain Pink, overreacting, party pony is going to cause Luna even more trouble." Twilight nods in agreement. "Here's hoping we can get through this before she gets there." I don't even need to look at Twilight to know her reaction to that. We both know that's wishful thinking at best.
Arriving back at the party goes about as well as one would expect. Ponies are all cowering away from Luna, discouraging her even more than she already was. "It is no use. They are all afraid of me, even to the point of quivering." The next pony I pass is doing exactly that, proving Luna's point. "That's why we're here. Soon they'll all be excited to be around you." Twilight says, ever optimistic.
We approach Applejack, although she doesn't notice us as she stops Pipsqueak from falling into the Apple barrel. "Careful partner." She tells him before letting him down to go play with the others. She turns around, probably to go do something else, only to freeze the instant she sees Luna.
I can tell her first instinct is to duck behind the barrel, but she briefly catches my gaze, my increasingly irritated gaze. It seemed to tell her all that she needed to know. "Princess Luna, or do you prefer Luna?" She asks. "Luna." Applejack nods. "Given your gaze, tonight hasn't really gone all that well?" A slight reference to both hers and my own, clever. Luna rolls her eyes. "That, hardly begins to describe it." She muttered.
"We were hoping that you'd be able to help Luna fit in a little better." Twilight explains quickly. "I'll certainly try ma best. All you need to do is loosen up a little, have some fun." Applejack turns and beckons us, namely Luna, to follow her towards the Spider tossing game.
"Pray tell, what purpose do these-" Luna paused as a spider got stuck to her glove after she mistakenly grabbed the bottom of it. "spiders serve?" She finished her question, grabbing it again while ensuring she didn't get it stuck again.
"T-T-Tr-Try to g-get the sp-sp-spiders stuck on the web..." A pony I recognized as Cherry Berry explained, pointing at the mentioned web. Luna's head tilted down towards the spider, and then she tossed it.
The spider bounced off the web and landed on the ground, which confused Luna, if her stiffened stance was anything to go by, but she seemed to connect the dots quickly, yet she didn't move, as if she were following a script.
"Try again Luna! You almost had it!" Twilight encouraged her. With the encouragement, Luna picked up another spider and threw it again, this time ensuring that it landed sticky side down, dead center of the web. "Ha! Your Princess enjoys this 'Fun'!" Luna exclaims, still sounding scripted as ever, while a few other ponies approach to see what she is doing. However Luna, aga- do I even need to keep saying it? She quickly put on a much more professional attitude. "In what other ways may we experience it?"
Applejack and Twilight take Luna to the pumpkin catapult game, where she proceeds to get a bullseye on her very first try, making her claim that the 'Fun has been doubled'. After this she goes and tells everypony to call her by her actual name, rather than by her title. But, again, it all sounds extremely scripted.
After that everyone starts towards the Apple bobbing station, everything seems to finally be going well, scripted or not. Then Pipsqueak falls into the barrel and Luna quickly jumps into action and rushes over to the barrel. And then, the worst possible pony for this moment appears.
"Hey, everypony. Anypony seen Pip? We ended up losing him after having to run away from-" She gasps as she sees Luna pulling Pipsqueak out of the barrel. "AAAAAAAAHHHHH! NIGHTMARE MOON IS GOBBLING UP PIPSQUEAK! EVERYPONY RUN!!!"
Exactly like the last two times, everypony starts overreacting and screaming as they run around. Pipsqueak is flailing in Luna's arms as he tried to 'escape' from her. "Help! My backside has been gobbled!" He yells as he jumps and starts running away from the frozen Luna.
Then her face curls into one of anger, it seems that everything is finally getting to her, via her script that is. Yep, this is scripted too. I can tell. "'It's a lie! Thy backside is whole and ungobbled, thou ungrateful whelp!" She stomps just as lightning strikes, after which I can hear a certain Pegasus laughing, because this is oh so funny.
Just then Luna's expression turns... a lot more twisted. A face that both tells me that, 1. Luna has actually veered half off script, and 2. Says, "Fine, you want to be scared of me, I'll give you a reason to be scared!". It's not the best look.
"Very well. Let us have some.. Fun." Luna reaches down and grabs a spider, which she then throws in front of a group of mares. All of them flinch at the action, which seems to stir Luna on. "No? Not enough fun? Then how about this!" She blasts the spider with her magic, turning it into a real spider. She then repeats the action on the basket of spiders, which all start swarming everypony.
They all started running around, ignoring Luna as she demanded for them to stop running. Eventually this resulted in her voice raising back to the Royal Canterlot Voice. "BE STILL!" Everypony was quick to obey the command. Twilight quickly jumps in, clearly hoping to try and get a grip on the already shattered situation. "Luna! Remember, you need to watch the screaming!"
Twilights words fall on deaf ears, as Luna seems to of, 'Made up her mind'. "NO TWILIGHT SPARKLE! WE SHALL USE OUR ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE FOR WHAT WE MUST SAY NEXT!" There's only one thing that can be at this point in time.
"SINCE YOU ALL CHOOSE TO FEAR YOUR PRINCESS RATHER THAN LOVE HER! WE MAKE A NEW DECREE! NIGHTMARE NIGHT, SHALL FOREVER MORE, BE CANCELLED!" Her screams echo over the whole town, telling everypony who heard it of the news.
Also we've veered back onto the script entirely.
But aside from that, things have indeed taken a turn for the absolute worst. In more ways than one.
<(Twilight's POV)>
I can't help but feel utterly crushed, we had gotten so close to finally solving this problem. And then everything went sour yet again.
"Ah shoot. We were so close, everypony was happy, Luna was happy. And now it's all ruined." Applejack sighs. I say nothing, completely at a loss. I look back up to Thomane, a brief gasp escaping me.
I can see Applejack look over from the corner of my eye, and then follow my gaze and freeze up as she sees what I saw.
Thomane's eyes are dilated, her fists tightly clenched, her aura having drastically shifted from earlier in the night. Her heavier breathing is also serving to put us on edge as she just glares in the same direction for an extended period of time.
Eventually this gets to a peak and I intervene. "Thomane? Are you ok?" Her head slowly shifts downwards and looks straight at me. "Define 'ok'." That gives me all the answer I need.
She obviously sees my knowledge and let's out a sigh. "Pinkie and Rainbow are just completely under my skin at this point. I'm going to explode on someone, more than likely them, at this rate." I place a hand on her arm. "Just, deep breaths. We'll handle this." I tell her encouragingly. "Here's hoping, Twi." She sighs.
I let my smile widen. "Now, let's go talk to Luna, again, and get her back here, again..." We're not in a good place right now.
We start chasing after Luna, only managing to catch up with her once we reach the outskirts of Ponyville, not far from the Everfree.
"Luna!" I exclaim, barely getting her to stop as she keeps looking down dejectedly. "Luna, don't give up yet. I'm sure we can still do something." I say. Luna just growls. "No. They've made their choice, and now reap the consequences." I frown. "But ponies love Nightmare Night. They look forward to it every year." Luna doesn't reply immediately, taking almost 15 seconds to. "Yes, clearly. I can hear their screams of joy as they run away." She growls, voice laced with sarcasm, before lowering her head dejectedly again and continuing away.
I just let out a sigh and turn back towards Thomane.
"What should we do now?" She sighs in a way that indicates she has an idea, but she doesn't like it at all. "We tackle the root of the problem." And that explains why she doesn't like it. Confronting Pinkie Pie is liable to degrade the last bit of her patients, but it's all we have.
———
It took a lot of time to get this set up, seeing as we needed to keep Luna hidden at this point, but we've managed, and now we await Pinkie to fall into the trap we've laid. And just as was expected, she comes hopping up the alleyway we now dwell in, munching on the candy we laid there without a care.
The moment she stands back up from eating the final piece of candy, I tackle her into the wall, holding her mouth shut as she tries to scream once again. "No! No more screaming!" I tell her sharply. I look down, let out a short sigh, and look at her again. "Pinkie, we've got someone we want you to talk to, but you really can't scream anymore. Ok?" She nods as best as she can with me holding her snout.
I step back and Thomane steps out of the shadows, followed by Luna. Pinkie almost screams again, but holds her own mouth shut as Luna comes to stand right in front of her.
"Greetings, young one." Luna's treading carefully. "I believe we started off on rather, poor, terms. And I would like to end any misunderstandings between us, so that we may go about establishing a stable friendship between ourselves." Pinkie retracts her hands and doesn't seem very scared of Luna anymore.
They reach out to clasp each other's hands and are about to do so.
And then lightning strikes, making Luna yell out in surprise. Unfortunately, that yell was enough to make Pinkie start shrieking again. I quickly grab Pinkie by the muzzle and quiet her again, but it's already far too late. Luna turns and run off, the sound of her crying seeming to echo as she runs.
Thomane tries to go after her, but Luna is already gone by the time Thomane can move even 5 steps. She hunches over and I glare up at the Pegasus on the thunder cloud, who is now in Hysterics.
Without any hesitation, I completely decimate her cloud, causing her to fall to the ground unceremoniously. I then grab her and push her into the wall too. "Rainbow! What the heck!?" I demand. "Oh come on, Twi. It's all in good fun." I glare at her before turning to Pinkie.
"Pinkie, Luna is not Nightmare Moon, and she is certainly not going to gobble you up." I say exasperatedly. For a few seconds, there is silence, and then Pinkie proceeds to start laughing. "Well, duh. I obviously know that, Twilight. I mean, I'm almost as big as her, how would she gobble me up?"
After hearing that, I'm left to stand silently for a moment. "Then... why do you keep running away from her?" I ask. "Because it's just a lot of fun to be scared." She says as if it was the most obvious thing. "See!" Rainbow exclaims.
Fun to be scared? That gives me an Idea!
"Pinkie! You're a-" "WHAT!?" I jump and let go of both Pinkie and Rainbow as I turn to look at Thomane. I can't see her body, but I don't have to, her eyes already hold more rage than anypony I've ever seen has held in their entire body.
Thomane starts towards us, her footsteps now stomps.
Both Pinkie and Rainbow start running away, the latter seemingly too scared to fly, and Thomane charges after them in chase.
<(Thomane's POV)>
We shoot out of the alleyway, and Pinkie and Rainbow stupidly stay together. Not that it would've mattered if they had split up, I would've just used the rift to bring them to me.
I grab them both by the backs of their costumes, hoisting them up to be on eye level with me. Everypony around us is staring in both confusion and fear.
"Whoa! Thomane? What are you doing? You heard us! It was-" "I KNOW WHAT IT WAS! AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHY I AM SO PISSED OFF!" I roar directly into the Pegasus's face. Both of them are now not daring to speak, now beyond terrified of my rage.
"YOU HAVE THE AUDACITY TO SAY THAT MAKING EVERYONE SCARE IS FUN!? WELL HOW ABOUT THIS? LUNA SURE AS HELL WASN'T HAVING FUN! AND NOW YOU'VE POSSIBLY DONE IRREPARABLE DAMAGE TO HER PSYCHE! YOU HAD FUN AT HER EXPENSE, NOT EVEN ONCE CONSIDERING HER FEELINGS AND HOW YOUR ACTIONS WERE MAKING HER FEEL!" I finally calm down slightly, at least to the point that I am no longer roaring. "And to think you call yourselves good friends." I growl.
I put them down on a bench, albeit rather harshly, and continue to glare at them.
But of course, Rainbow, being the dumbest of the group, doesn't want to take what I've said lying down, despite it being the exact truth, and her knowing that. I'm just hoping I can stay relatively calm this time.
"We didn't know it was hurting her like that! But even then she's just unable to have some fun!" And of course, Rainbow had to go and say the utter stupidest thing she possibly could've in response. I don't even try to hold back my rage this time.
"YOU ARE SUCH AN ASSHOLE RAINBOW DASH! YOU CALL YOURSELF THE ELEMENT OF LOYALTY? I CALL YOU SOMEONE WHO SHOULD HAVE NO FRIENDS! BECAUSE YOU CLEARLY DO NOT KNOW HOW TO TREAT ONE!" I let out a few heavy breaths as I try to prevent myself from taking the mare's head clean off with a swift punch.
"We're sorry, Thomane!" Pinkie says tearfully. I snap my head over to her. If she really thinks some tears and an apology is going to work for me, she has another thing coming.
"It's good that you're sorry, Pinkie. But that doesn't mean you're forgiven." Rainbow doesn't take to kindly to my response, like an idiot yet again. "WHAT DO YOU EXPECT US TO DO THEN? WE'RE SORRY!" She yells. Once again, a terrible decision on her part.
"I EXPECT YOU TO SIT HERE AND THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'VE DONE, AND SHUT UP RAINBOW!" I roar. "AND IF EITHER OF YOU GET UP OFF THIS BENCH, I SWEAR UPON THE SUN THAT I WILL-" "THOMANE!"
I turn over as I hear Applejack yell at me. She sighs when I do. "Good, we've got your attention." She steps up and places a hand on my arm. "We'll make sure they don't go anywhere, Sugarcube. You go take care of Luna." She tells me.
I look at her, and then over at Rarity and Fluttershy, who must've came when they heard my shouting, and nod to them. "Thanks girls." Me and Twilight then start off towards the Everfree, the place where I know Luna had gone.
"Twilight." I address her. "Yeah..?" She replies meekly as I don't look at her. "We're you really about to forgive Pinkie and Rainbow for their actions?" I ask skeptically. It takes her a few seconds to respond. "Well, yes, I was. That's what friends do. They forgive and forget." I sigh at her response.
"Twilight, you really need to be much firmer with your friends. You can't be so forgiving, or else they won't truly learn from their mistakes. By being firm, and occasionally getting mad, possibly even doing what I just did, they'll learn that their actions do in fact have consequences. By being like how you were going to be, they would've just thought that they could get away with such actions." She doesn't respond.
I turn and look down at Twilight. Her face is one of contemplation. It seems my words had the impact that they needed too.
We approach the clearing where the Nightmare Moon statue is, and as expected, Luna was on the ground still clearly crying from Pinkie and Rainbow.
Twilight immediately tried to run over, but I stopped her before she could even get moving.
"Twi, I need you to simply be quiet. Let the older girls talk. Ok?" She seems reluctant, but eventually nods.
We walk over to her, and as Twilight continues standing behind us, I sit down beside Luna. She looks up at me, her eyes still glossy from tears.
"It's nice to not see you following a script, Luna." Twilight sputters and Luna looks down at the ground. "I was that obvious?" I tilt my head. "As obvious as a rose among Daisies." She looks up at me. "How long did you know?" I look at her with a gentle gaze. "I knew something was up when you botched the landing Celestia made you do." Now it was Luna's turn to sputter, and Twilight to nearly choke on her own saliva.
"There was only one Pony on this planet that could stage something like this, and that is your Sister." I explain. "From what I've gathered, you are fluent in modern English, and have developed your own style of being a Princess. But it's all been suppressed by Celestia, for what reason I'm still figuring out." Luna looks back at the ground. "I also noticed you seeming uncomfortable in your current state." Her hand curls into a fist.
"To be perfectly honest with you Thomane, I want to maintain my Nightmare Moon state. Not the personality, obviously, but I feel weak without the power that state brought me. And I don't want to let my subjects down. Only Celestia has forbade me from using the state. And whenever I tried to reattain that form, she would always revert me, because my power was stagnant temporarily." She sighs.
"But she isn't here now. And knowing that she needs the Elements of Harmony to overpower the Nightmare Moon form, you just need to hang around until your power fully returns." She eyes blossom with hope. "Your life is not Celestia's to decide for. Do what you want, not what she wants." She looks down at her hand, clenches it, and walks a few steps away before her magic springs to life, surrounding her in a ball of light.
I stand up and watch as this happens. Meanwhile Twilight tugs on my arm slightly, earning my attention.
"Are you sure about this, Thomane? Now she is becoming Nightmare Moon. This seems counterproductive to our main goal." She says. I simply tap my helmet a few times. "I've got an idea already, Twilight. They'll trust her when we're done." She seems hopeful.
Luna finishes her transformation, landing hard on the ground and planting a hand to stead herself. A stark contrast to how she almost fell landing the way Celestia normally does. Even Twilight picks up on this change. Her eyes seem more full of life, her mane is flowing much more animatedly, and her movements are much more fluid. Also her Nightmare Moon body seems more stunning than her normal state.
"Now that I am no longer fulfilling my sister's plans, how are you planning to have them trust me?" I give her a smirk that shows through my eyes. "Mr. Gobblebottom will help us. Albeit he won't be an active participant, he'll simply be the catalyst." Both Twilight and Luna seem intrigued.
———
We walk back into the heart of town, ponies now legitimately terrified as me, Twilight and Luna walk side by side.
"So, what are you wanting to do first?" I ask. Luna's head tilts as she thinks for a moment. "I was so focused on other things that I hardly could enjoy the pumpkin catapults, so I'd say we should start there." I tilt my own head. "Say no more. Let's have some fun!" We start in the direction of the catapult game. Everyone watching us go, and the Elements confused out of their mind.
We're still perfectly in view as we start setting up our catapults. Me and Luna having zero issues in doing so, meanwhile Twilight is having a terrible time trying to pull her catapult back. "Would you like some help, Twilight?" Luna asks in a smug tone. "Oh ha ha, very funny."
After trying for a few more seconds she lets out an annoyed huff and shoots a look at us. "Oh quit looking so smug." We don't move at all. "Screw it, I'm using my magic. It's a balance since you two are bigger than me." She does exactly as she said she would. We all launch our pumpkins, earning ourselves a perfect tie.
It takes us each launching 6 Pumpkins before we realize that we'd be here all night looking for a tie breaker, and decide to call it.
We make our way back over to the Spider game, Ponies following behind us out of pure curiosity.
The three of us each pick up a spider and throw it at the web. It doesn't go all that well...
Twilight's sticks to the web perfectly, whereas mine and Luna's bounce right back at us. I catch mine with about as much as ease as is possible, Luna, however, doesn't have the same luck and gets hit directly in the face, the sudden impact bringing her to the ground.
Before I can react to what happened, a familiar young colt has appeared beside Luna.
"Are you ok?" Pipsqueak asks. "I'm fine, young one." She replies.
I place a hand on my chin, tilting my head as I look at him. "Nightmare Moon sure is scary, isn't she Pipsqueak?" I say thoughtfully.
He locks up briefly and slowly looks back at Luna, however the tension in his body is soon gone as he looks at he. "You're not scary at all!" He proclaims. "In fact, you look beautiful. Even more so than you did before, Princess." An unseen smile comes to my face.
Obviously, this was part of my plan. Instead of putting up a false wall of enjoyment, in the fundamental sense at least, I had Luna just have some fun, let everypony relax as they saw her just enjoying herself, culminating in what you just saw happen.
"I'm sorry about making you so upset earlier. I wasn't thinking about how my actions made you feel. But Thomane made me see how wrong I was." He looks up at me. "And, are you ok, Thomane?" He asks. "You were really angry earlier, and I was worried that it might've done something to you."
I stiffen ever so slightly, memories flashing across my vision. Pipsqueak's question, innocent and sincere, has just made me feel like I could curl into a ball and start crying. But I owe him an answer.
"Yeah, Pipsqueak, I'm fine. I just hate it when somepony's feelings aren't considered and are disregarded." I say. He seems satisfied with my answer. Luna gets back up and the crowd starts cheering for her. However I do notice somepony who isn't cheering, someone you could probably guess. That's right! Good old Rainbow Dash. Even Pinkie is clapping, however her mood is severely dampened from earlier.
"Well, what are we waiting for, Everypony?" Luna exclaims. "Let's all have some fun!" Her words are met with a roar of approval.
<(Twilight's POV)>
"Dear Princess Celestia, Nightmare Night as been a major success. Everypony loves having your sister around, and are excited to see her again. It helped me to see that even bad situations can have really good outcomes." I look up from the scroll I'm writing on as I sit on a barrel. I can see Luna playing the spider game for the Umpteenth time. She's really come to love that game, and has been playing it almost nonstop.
"I find it funny that I didn't know a thing about Friendship when I came here, and yet now I know that the best thing you can give to somepony, is exactly that." I pause in my writing, another thing that I learned tonight bubbling to the surface, something that I never even thought about prior to tonight, but now that I can see it, it makes absolute sense.
"However, I did learn something new tonight, regarding my existing friendships. At one point Thomane got really angry and Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, something I never would've done, or, at least, prior to what she told me soon after that. She told me that I need to be firm with my friends, hold them accountable for their actions. Otherwise they'll believe they can get away with treating ponies badly. I'm disgusted to say I let them treat your sister badly, and I nearly forgave them for it too. But Thomane did give them suitable punishment, as I previously stated." I smile, feeling satisfied with how I worded that.
"She's made me rethink the entirety of my friendship lessons, even building a new foundation for them to rest on. One I think is significantly better and more effective than the one I built up myself." My writing is interrupted by Thomane and Luna walking over.
"It is about time I start going home. 'Tia is probably wondering where I am." Luna says. "Thank you for everything tonight." She nods to both me and Thomane. "No problem Luna, although Thomane certainly did more than I did." She shrugs. "That doesn't mean your efforts weren't unappreciated." I smile at that.
She takes off. "Bye Luna!" Everypony waves. She returns it, and then shoots off in the direction of Canterlot.
After she is gone and out of sight, Thomane turns to me. "I'm going ahead back to the Library. I'll be in the shower." I nod, and she starts walking away. I notice Rainbow glaring at Thomane's back, something she is obviously aware of. I decide not to address it now.
"In summary, Thomane has shown me a very good way of ensuring Friendships don't become Toxic, and ensuring that nopony try's taking advantage of me. Firmer handling of my friendships. I hope you're happy with my new level of growth." I sign my name with my traditional 'Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle', and get it all prepared to send off.
I look over beside me at Spike, finally finishing his bag of Candy from earlier in the night. He looks over at me, and I hold up the letter, asking him my silent question.
"That's different." He says as he takes the letter. "What is?" I ask confusedly. "You didn't call for me. Normally you forget I'm right beside you and end up calling for me, even though I'm right here. It seems that Thomane has made you more observant." He then hits the letter with fire and sends it off to Celestia.
We get up and finally start going home, but Spike's words stick with me. Had I really been like that? Better yet, had I really been like that and never noticed? The more I think about it, the more I remember that Spike is exactly right. Both in what I had been doing, and that Thomane has made me more aware. I guess I'll have to write and additional letter to Celestia to tell her how Thomane has helped me in this department too.
A smile perks my lips as we continue back to the library.
<(Celestia's POV)>
This... doesn't seem right...
Twilight's friendship lesson is... shorter than it should be. At least in a sense it is. Her Friendship lesson about how giving Friendship to others is the best thing one can do is merely a sentence, it should be Five sentences, all about how some ponies can appear scary, but be a completely different pony underneath, yet, it's merely a single sentence.
Instead, her five sentence paragraph is dedicated to what Prima has said to her. It's all wrong! None of this should be appearing in her mind at all, nonetheless right now! But, it's all ok. I'll send her my preprepared contingency letter and get her back on track. Lulu will be back soon, I can get her help in shifting Twilight back to where she needs to be.
The sound of heels landing on my balcony come as a sign to get up. "Hello, Sister." I smile and turn around. "Hello, Lulu, how was-" I freeze. It's not Luna in front of me, but Nightmare Moon. My horn ignites and I prepare myself to fight back. "How did you come back?!" I demand. "It's me, 'Tia. I've merely reassumed the form the makes me the most comfortable."
It takes a second for that to register with me, and when it does I'm not at all pleased.
"Luna, I told you, explicitly, not to use that form anymore." I state in a low tone. "Yes, you did. But Thomane's words were more effective than yours were, Sister." She replies calmly.
That catches me off guard. "What!?" I exclaim. Luna just smiles at me with a aura that says, 'I've won this, you lose', and proceeds to explain. "Thomane made everything very clear to me. The fact that my life, is not yours to decide for. Therefore this decision is final, and you will not do anything about that."
I stand there for a few seconds, shocked by what I just heard. But then I force a smile to my lips. "Very well, Luna. If you ever need any help, I'm right here." She smiles. "Thank you, Celestia. And, Goodnight." She then proceeds to walk out of the room.
As soon as she is gone I let my smile drop. This is bad, very, very bad! Prima is corrupting Twilight and has already succeeded with Luna! It seems I'll have to deal with her first. Then I can go about reestablishing what I originally had in place.
Author's Note
Finally buckled down and finished the Chapter. Let me know if there is any way I can improve. I always welcome constructive criticism.
