Chapter 17: Nightmare Night Preparations
***

“I thought that was you I saw getting off the train.”

Twilight looked up from the book she’d been reading to smile as Rainbow crossed the study. “Hey, Dashy,” she said happily getting to her hooves just before her marefriend reached her, greeting her with a quick kiss.

“That is one definite plus for this place; none of your guards standing just inside the door.” Rainbow said with a smirk.

She laughed. “Yeah, I guess that’s true; we do get a bit more privacy here.”

“So why are you back early?”

Twilight sighed, she didn’t want to keep secrets from Rainbow, and she’d find out soon enough; she doubted Celestia would want to keep it a secret any longer once Sunset forgave her. “Well it turns out Sunset is actually Celestia’s daughter.”

Rainbow looked at her sharply. “What really? Like her actual daughter?”

“Yep. Apparently, she’d kept the pregnancy a secret, but then Sunset’s father was killed by Achlys when she first appeared, and Celestia had to put her in an orphanage to hide her.”

“Dang… that sucks.”

Twilight nodded. “Yeah, but the worst part is that in the ten years Sunset was her student, Celestia never told her the truth.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah, ouch… So, that’s why we came back, Sunset needed to get away from Canterlot and Celestia for a bit to process everything.”

“Sounds like it.” Rainbow said glancing toward the door frowning. “So… does she know about you and Achlys?”

Twilight nodded again. “Yes, we told her just a little while ago. She seemed to take it alright, but I think it might take her a bit to forgive Spike. It was most likely him that killed Sunset’s father in the battle; back when he was Deimos.”

“Oh yeah… yikes.”

“Yeah… Anyway, while I’m pretty sure Celestia will make it public that Sunset is her daughter once Sunset forgives her; it would probably be best to keep it to ourselves for now.”

“Gotcha. I won’t say a word,” Rainbow agreed. “So, uh, as far as Nightmare Night goes; I did talk to Scoots and Apple Bloom during flight training this morning. Sounds like none of the crusaders have their costumes picked out yet, and they thought a group costume sounded pretty cool.”

“Oh, great! I don’t know if Sunset will still want to participate, but I’m pretty sure the fillies still do.”

“They were going to find Sweetie and then I told them to meet here at the castle since I thought you were back.”

Twilight nodded. “That sounds good. It will be a good distraction for the fillies at least… Rainbow; I need to tell you; I’ve decided to officially adopt Winter and Dawn.”

Rainbow blinked. “I thought you already did that?”

She smiled. “No, I only named myself as their legal guardian. But when I told them about how I was connected to Achlys… Dawn decided that I was kind of their mother already and asked me to adopt them.”

“Heh. She did huh. That’s kind of cute. But you were already taking care of them, so it’s not like it really changes much,” Rainbow said with a shrug.

“It just makes them officially my daughters,” Twilight told her.

“So, yeah, doesn’t really change much.”

Still smiling, Twilight nuzzled Rainbow. “Thanks for supporting me in this.”

“Hey, you didn’t think I’d stop loving you just because you have a couple daughters now?” Rainbow said with a laugh, gladly returning the nuzzle.

A knock on the door got their attention, both looking to see Feather standing in the open doorway.

“Yes, Feather?”

“Trixie is here to see you, Princess.” Feather told her.

Twilight blinked, not having expected that. “Oh. Alright, you can send her in.”

Rainbow sighed dramatically, and Twilight gave her a small smirk. Feather nodded and stepped aside letting Trixie enter.

“Hi Trixie, how’s the community service going?” Twilight asked smiling as she crossed the room.

“Alright, that’s actually why I’m here; the mayor asked me to help out with the town holiday preparations, especially Nightmare Night. She wanted to know if any of the castle or grounds would be available?”

“Not the castle,” Twilight told her, shaking her head. “The ballroom won’t be done by then and there’s still a lot of work going on throughout the castle. The grounds might be useable but they’re not much more than open fields right now, and being so far from town square… I don’t think the grounds will be much use. Probably best to wait until Hearths Warming when the castle is complete to hold any town functions here.”

“Alright, I’ll let the mayor know. She wasn’t expecting the castle to be ready anyway, but thought we’d ask.”

“So you’re helping out with Nightmare Night?” Rainbow asked.

She nodded. “Yep, I’m helping with some of the general setup, but I’m also going to put up a few illusions and other spells to enhance the atmosphere around town square. Low lying mist, swarms of bats flying overhead, that kind of thing.”

“Sound like fun.” Twilight said with a grin.

“Think you can actually pull it off?” Rainbow asked skeptically.

Trixie gave her an annoyed look. “I happened to be top in my class in illusions when I graduated from Celestia’s School.”

“You went to Celestia’s School?” She asked, disbelief clear in her voice.

“Rainbow, didn’t I tell you…” Twilight interrupted, then paused thinking back. “Oh, I guess I didn’t.”

Trixie rolled her eyes.

“Tell me what?”

“Trixie did attend Princess Celestia’s School, she even graduated a year early,” Twilight told her.

“You mean she went to school with you?”

She glanced at Trixie. “Uh, well no, Trixie actually graduated twenty-nine years ago.”

Rainbow snorted. “What!? She’d be like fifty!”

“Forty-six,” Trixie corrected.

“There’s no way!” Rainbow said in disbelief.

“Rainbow, it’s true. Trixie is what’s known as a wingless alicorn, she has a greatly enhanced lifespan and stronger than normal magic for a unicorn.” Twilight explained.

“What, really?”

Twilight nodded. “She’s just been hiding it because she thought ponies would think she was some kind of freak.”

“Huh…” She looked over at Trixie. “So you’re really forty-six?”

“Yeah, I am,” she smirked. “And I’ll likely still look just as good even when I’m four hundred and six!”

“You’ll live that long!?”

“It varies;” Twilight told her. “Most known wingless alicorns lived around a thousand years, though some lived much longer. Starswirl lived to be almost two thousand.”

Trixie nodded. “In any case, the kinds of illusions I was talking about are pretty simple. Really just about any unicorn with even a moderate talent for illusions could do them, let alone the princess of magic herself.”

Twilight shrugged. “Yeah, I probably could, but I’m definitely not as practiced at illusions so you’ll probably do a better job than I would… now that I think of it; have you spoken with Apple Bloom about her illusions?”

Trixie shook her head. “I’ve heard a few rumors around town, but I haven’t actually talked to her since we brought her home. She has some pretty good illusions along with that time magic of hers?”

“Yes, you really should talk to her about them. Maybe even talk to Rekaj as well; he’s the one that gave her the magic and taught her. His magic is different than ours, so you won’t be able to learn his spells, but they might give you some ideas.”

She thought about it a moment then shrugged. “Sounds promising; I might have to do that.”

Twilight smiled as the wards she’d place on the castle alerted her to new arrivals. “Well if you want to ask her, come on; looks like Apple Bloom and her friends just arrived and they’ll probably head for Winter and Dawn’s room.”

“Nah, I wouldn’t want to keep them from their friends.”

“We’re just going to be discussing Nightmare Night costumes,” Twilight said waving her concerns aside. “Besides, I’m sure the fillies would love to see you again. You were one of the ponies that saved them from that prison after all.”

“Well, I suppose I could at least say hi,” Trixie gave in, though she was smiling.

~~~

“Winter, Dawn, you have visitors.”

Dawn looked up from the drawing she was working on just as Apple Bloom Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle trotted past the guardmare at the door. “Thanks, Lieutenant Silver!” They said, waving as they passed her.

She smiled and gave them a nod before heading back to her post.

“Rainbow said you got back early!” Scootaloo galloped over to the desk where Dawn and Winter were sitting at their large work desk. “Those your Nightmare Night costumes?” She asked looking at the drawings the sisters had been working on.

“Scoots said you wanted to do a group costume, she said something about comic book characters?” Sweetie asked taking a look herself.

“Yeah!” Dawn told them eagerly. “We’re all going to be dressing up as Power Pony characters.”

“Who’s that?” Apple Bloom asked.

Dawn looked at her surprised.

“What? I’ve never read any comics!”

“Me either,” Scootaloo said, shaking her head.

Sweetie just shook her head. “But I do remember Rarity mentioning something about getting pulled into a comic book one time. I think she said it was Power Ponies.”

“It was! Twilight told us about it,” Dawn said with a nod.

“Here.” Winter said putting one of the comics on the desk in front of them, open to a two-page spread that showed the whole team.

“I’m going to be Mistress Mare-velous!” Dawn said pointing to the character on the page. “Winter is going to be Fili-Second, and Twilight and Rainbow are going to be Masked Matter-horn and Zap,” she finished pointing to each.

“Spike is going to be one of the villains,” Winter added. “And maybe Sunset as well.”

“Huh, but that only leaves two of the hero characters.” Apple Bloom pointed out.

“I like her look!” Sweetie said, pointing to Radiance on the page. “I could go as her.”

“That’s Radiance. I think Twilight did say that she was who Rarity became when they got pulled into that enchanted comic,” Winter told her.

Sweetie smiled. “I’ll be her then.”

“That just leaves this one…” Scootaloo said frowning looking at the pegasus in an all-green outfit.

“Saddle Rager,” Dawn told her.

“I don’t know.”

“And that would still leave me without anypony to be,” Apple Bloom pointed out.

“Yeah…” Dawn frowned having realized that herself. “Maybe one of you could be another villain?”

“Hmm… maybe. I’d rather be a hero though.”

“We could ask Spike,” Winter suggested. “He may know of some other characters you could be.”

“Yeah, lets ask Spike,” Apple Bloom agreed.

Dawn nodded and started for the door. “I think he was working on his costume idea too; his room is this way!” She said and led the way. The entire end of the residence wing on the second floor was the royal suite. It was connected to the living room as well as the fillies’ room that took up the space just before. Spike’s room was at the other end of the living room, along with one extra bedroom suite. Both were connected by a short hall that ran alongside the main hall which in turn followed the outer wall between the two staircases. The guest suites set aside for family and friends connected to the main hall as well.

They were just crossing the living room when the door to the main hall opened and Twilight entered with Rainbow and Trixie.

“Trixie!” Dawn exclaimed excitedly and ran over to give the showmare a hug.

Trixie laughed and gladly returned it. “Hi there, Dawn.”

Twilight smiled. “Hey girls, here to discuss Nightmare Night costumes?” She asked.

“Yep.” Scootaloo replied for them all.

“But we ran out of characters; Sweetie wants to be Radiance, but that does only leave Saddle Rager…” Dawn told her as she released Trixie. “We were going to ask Spike if he does know of any other characters for Scootaloo and Apple Bloom to be.”

Twilight nodded. “He’s the one to ask. I bet there is though; even I know that most those superhero teams are always adding new characters and changing their roster.”

With a nod, Dawn hurried over to the door to Spike’s room and knocked.

“It’s open!” They heard Spike call from inside. Dawn opened the door.

“Hey Spike, we need some help with costume ideas!” she said as she entered the room.

Spike was at his desk working on his own costume idea by the drawing and comics spread across the top. “What do you need?” He asked as the rest of the group entered. As large as the bedroom was it didn’t feel crowded.

“We’re out of characters,” Apple Bloom told him.

Dawn nodded. “Sweetie wants to be Radiance, but that leaves only Saddle Rager. And I do not think Apple Bloom or Scootaloo want to be her.”

“It is kind of a lame costume.” Scootaloo said with a shrug.

Spike gave a soft laugh. “Her costume is a little boring.”

Rainbow snorted trying not to laugh remembering what happened when Fluttershy got angry while playing that role.

“Let’s see…” Spike thought for a moment. “Since I’m doing a character from later in the series there’s really no reason we couldn’t use other characters that come from later on.” He glanced at Apple Bloom. “Hey Bloom, put your wings on for a second.”

She looked up at him curiously then shrugged. The mark on her shoulder began to glow and her wings appeared folded against her sides. Opening them she looked up at Spike. “That good?”

He nodded, glancing between her and Scootaloo. “I think I know the perfect characters!” He said with a grin, then got up going over to the bookshelf that held all his comics. Scanning along one of the shelves he found the issue he was looking for and pulled it out, opening it to a particular page before turning it for Apple Bloom and Scootaloo to see.

“Oh Awesome!” Scootaloo exclaimed seeing the page that depicted a pair of pegasi fillies not much older than them, one with a yellow coat very close to Apple Bloom’s with a mane and tail that seemed to be made of flames. The other sported an icy blue coat and white mane that made her look a lot like Winter, but the comic character also appeared to be covered in frost with an icy mist falling off of her. Both were wearing matching costumes but with different color palettes complimenting their elemental appearance.

“The Frostfire Twins,” Spike said, grinning. “Scorch and Shiver.”

“Yeah, that’s much better!” Apple Bloom said with a nod.

“Do you think you could do an illusion for the flaming mane and tail?” Spike asked her as he set the comic down on his desk.

She just grinned and after a moment her mane and tail both seemed to burst into flames that quickly replaced all her hair.

“Perfect!”

“Dang, that’s pretty good… you’re going to make the rest of us look bad.” Rainbow said with a good-natured smirk.

Twilight laughed. “You haven’t seen what Dawn and Winter are planning to complement their costumes.”

“What are you going to do?” Scootaloo asked looking over at the sisters.

Dawn grinned and both her wings and horn faded away, and even her colors changed to match Mistress Mare-velous.

“Oh wow, you look just like the character.”

“And you can’t even tell you’re not actually an earth pony!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed.

She nodded. “And since my magic is gold, if I levitate a rope, it will look just like her golden lasso!”

“Yeah, that’s perfect!” Scootaloo agreed.

“So what are you doing, Winter?” Rainbow asked curiously.

Winter grinned, lighting her horn and with a flash of movement that they all saw as little more that a streak of her icy colors, she was suddenly right next to Rainbow. “I am going as Fili-second,” she said and with another flash of movement and a blast of air, she was back where she started.

“What the…!?” Trixie exclaimed wide eyed.

“How did you do that!?” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, her voice squeaking with her excitement.

“Yeah, that’s just… how!?” Rainbow stared at her in shock.

“It’s a spell called accelero,” Winter told them.

“It’s a speed spell,” Twilight clarified.

“Could I learn that spell?” Sweetie asked looking up at Twilight.

“Possibly, it’s a very difficult one, we could work on it if you want, after our current projects of course. But fair warning, even Sunset said it took her months to learn.” Twilight told her.

“Months!?” Sweetie squeaked. They’d all met Sunset, and knew she’d been Princess Celestia’s student before Twilight.

Twilight smiled at her reaction. “Maybe we’ll work up to it.”

Sweetie blushed, “Yeah… that’s probably a good idea.”

“It is a very difficult spell,” Winter told her.

“Well dang, you three will really steal the show. Next to you the rest of us are going to look boring.” Rainbow said with a sigh.

Twilight smirked over at her marefriend, “You know I can shoot elemental beams from my horn already?”

Rainbow groaned.

“That’s not fair. Rainbow and I can’t do anything like that.” Scootaloo objected sounding a little upset.

Spike glanced at Apple Bloom. “Do you think you could do an illusion for Scoots costume as well to give her the frost and icy mist?”

Apple Bloom frowned. “Ah could, but only when she’s in sight of me and it would take some concentration.”

“That’s no good.” Scootaloo said sadly.

Trixie stepped forward. “Don’t worry; The Great and Powerful Trixie, has got you covered!” She said enthusiastically giving Scootaloo a smile.

She just looked back at the showmare looking skeptical. “Really?”

Trixie snorted. “Of course, illusions are my specialty! In fact…” Her horn lit up and with a flash Scootaloo’s colors changed to the blue and white of the character and frost appeared to form all over her as an icy looking mist drifted off of her. Even her eyes changed to the crystal blue the comic character sported.

Scootaloo looked at her blue frost covered hoof with wide eyes. “Whoa, cool!”

“That’s pretty good,” Rainbow admitted seeing Trixie’s work.

“How long will it last?” Sweetie asked, knowing a little about illusion magic.

“Oh yeah, would it last all Nightmare Night?” Scootaloo asked looking up at her.

“Well, this one will only last about ten minutes,” Trixie told her. “To make it last all night, I’d just need to enchant a piece of your costume with the illusions.” She picked up the comic in her magic and pointed to a large oval jewel that both characters had in the neckpiece of their costumes. “Yeah, this jewel here will work nicely. I’ll just enchant that with the illusions so that they’ll be cast on whoever wears it.”

“That would be great! Thanks Trixie!” Scootaloo exclaimed smiling.

“You’re welcome,” Trixie told her smiling as well.

“Scootaloo,” Twilight cut in. “I think I know a way you could take it even further.”

“Really?”

“You remember when I told you about some of the things pegasus magic can do?” She nodded. “What else besides controlling the flow can it do with air.”

Scootaloo thought for a moment then her eyes widened in excitement. “You said it can control the temperature!”

Twilight smiled and nodded. “I’ll teach you how to chill the air around you, and maybe if we have time, I’ll show you how to send out a blast of cold air out in front of you.”

“Awesome!”

“And Sweetie. I can teach you a really simple illusion spell to imitate your character’s power bracelets.” Twilight said with a smile for her student as well.

“Oh cool!” Sweetie said, not really knowing what her character’s powers were.

“Great, so I’ll be the only one with the boring costume,” Rainbow groaned.

“Oh, don’t worry, Rainbow, I’m sure I can add some special effects to your costume for you,” Twilight assured her. “Anyway, why don’t we all work on getting our ideas together, and tomorrow we can take them to Rarity after school so she can get started.”

“I’ll let you get to it, then. I just wanted to say hi,” Trixie said, still smiling. “Apple Bloom, I’d like to see more of what you can do with your illusions sometime.”

Apple Bloom looked up at her surprised. “Oh, sure thing!”

“And Scootaloo, right? once you have your costume, just bring it to me and I’ll add the illusion enchantment.”

She nodded. “Okay, thanks again Trixie.”

“Bye, Trixie!” Winter and Dawn called both waving along with everypony else.

Trixie smiled and with one last wave left the room.

Sweetie smiled looking at the drawing she was working on of her costume. She still didn’t know much about the character or her powers, but she did like the look. She was just about finished.

“Hey Sweetie.”

She looked up, seeing Spike and Winter right next to him. “What is it?”

With a grin, Spike held one of his comics for just her to see, open to a page that showed Radiance, and her eyes widened. In the picture Radiance was flying… with a pair of purple butterfly wings. She looked up at them again grinning. She’d been practicing flying with Winter’s flutter wing spell and had been hoping to surprise the other crusaders with them.

Winter grinned back seeing her excitement and leaned close. “I’ll teach you how to change the color of the wings.” She whispered.

Sweetie eagerly nodded. This was going to be quite a Nightmare Night!

~~~

Laying on her bed, Sunset closed the folder holding the records Twilight had provided about her father, and sent them back to the desk. She’d read them all already and as happy as she was finally finding out who her father was, she really wished it hadn’t come with the other revelations… especially finding out Spike was likely the one who killed him.

She’d liked Spike, and considered him a friend. When she’d first arrived he’d simply greeted her, despite having seen her at her worst, he didn’t make a big deal about it and hadn’t held it against her. He’d been friendly and helpful despite how she had treated him in the other world. And in just the past week they’d spent several hours talking about comics with the fillies, and he’d offered to let her borrow his copies without any hesitation.

And then he’d told her he’d probably murdered her father.

With another heavy sigh, she glanced toward the nightstand where the communicator compact was laying. It should be the weekend over there… And she could really use someone to talk to just then. Someone who wasn’t connected to the whole mess. Reaching out with her magic, she levitated it over, setting it on the pillow in front of her and opening it.

“Friends,” She said, not knowing who would answer. It took a few moments, but eventually the compact chimed that it was connected and the mirror changed, displaying a familiar freckled face.

“Heya, Sunset!”

Sunset smiled already feeling a bit better just hearing her friend’s voice. “Hey AJ, so you ended up being the one to hang onto the compact?”

“Heh, yeah, we decided it was between Rarity and Ah, being the most responsible, and we all agreed that as responsible as she is, Rarity would likely end up losing it in the ‘organized chaos’ that’s her room.”

Sunset laughed softly. “Yeah, I could see that.”

Applejack looked at her concerned. “You alright, sugarcube? You sound a little down.”

She sighed. “Twilight took me to Canterlot to see Princess Celestia.”

“She’s not still mad at you, is she?” Applejack asked concerned. Sunset had told them all about what had happened between her and the princess.

“No… It’s… Everything was fine at first. She was so happy to see me and I apologized and everything. But then… later that night… Celestia came to talk to me.”

“What happened?” Applejack asked.

“She told me that she’s my mother.”

“What? Really?” Applejack raised a brow. “But isn’t that a good thing? Ah mean, you told us that you used to wish that Princess Celestia was your mom…?”

“Yeah… but she never told me before now, and I was her student for ten years. In all that time she never told me.”

“Ah see… Yeah, Ah imagine that would be pretty hurtful to find out she was keeping the truth from you, especially since it was something you really wanted.”

“The worst part though, is why she didn’t tell me… You remember how I was when I first came over there. She didn’t tell me back then because she was afraid that me knowing would make me worse…”

“Ouch… Ah can see why you’re upset,” Applejack said then frowned. “So why didn’t she raise you herself if she’s your mom?”

Sunset sighed. “That I actually understand. She told me my father was a captain of the royal guard, and that they’d intended for him to raise me, so she’d kept her pregnancy secret. But then he was killed in a battle with a powerful alicorn that attacked Canterlot just a couple months after I was born. Celestia almost won, but the alicorn escaped. Before she did, though, she’d threatened to destroy everything Princess Celestia cared about. She knew that I would be her first target if she ever found out about me. So to hide me, she put me in an orphanage.”

“Hmm. Ah can’t imagine that were an easy choice for her. And considering all the stories you told us of when you were her student; it does sound like she loves you.” Applejack told her gently.

“I know she does… I was happy to see her again too… it just hurts that she didn’t trust me enough to tell me before now.”

Applejack gave her a curious look. “Sounds like you already plan on forgiving her.”

Sunset sighed again. “Yeah, I guess I am… I just need some time.”

“So that’s not what’s really bothering you, is it?”

“No… but they are connected. You remember Spike?”

“Twilight’s little puppy?”

Sunset snorted remembering her own surprise when she’d first seen him. “He’s actually a dragon over here, and he’s a bit bigger than me now.”

“Oh wow, come to think of it; he did say he was a fire-breathing dragon.”

“Yeah, but when we all met him, he wasn’t as big as he is now. I remember seeing him when I stole Twilights crown and back then he was barely half my size. Anyway, it turns out he’s actually an ancient dragon called Deimos, that’s thousands of years old, and he actually worked for that evil alicorn I was talking about.”

“Little Spike? Really?”

“Yeah, but when we met him, he didn’t remember all that. After the battle, to hide him, the alicorn turned him back into a hatchling and locked his memories away, then Twilight ended up raising him; so Spike was who he was when Twilight raised him. But apparently that alicorn came back recently and gave Spike back his memories from before.”

Applejack stared back for a moment thinking. “So… Spike used to work for an evil alicorn. He doesn’t anymore, right?”

“No, He sided with the princesses in the end.”

“So why is that bothering you?”

“Because back when he was Deimos, he fought in the battle where my father died… and he told me that, most likely, he was the one that killed him,” Sunset sniffed, tears coming to her eyes, and shook her head. “I like Spike, he’s been nothing but kind and accepting of me, despite what happened at the Fall Formal… He didn’t even make a big deal when I showed up; he just said hi like I was an old friend. But now, I can’t think of him without thinking that he’s the one that killed my father… that he’s the reason I grew up in an orphanage not knowing who my parents were.”

Applejack nodded. “He’s sorry about what he did back then?”

“Of course he is. He said he hates who he used to be. And he and Twilight told me because they knew I might figure it out on my own and they didn’t want me to think they were hiding it. I want to forgive him but… I just don’t know if I can.”

“You don’t think you can forget,” Applejack said understanding. She thought for a moment, clearly wanting to help. “Alright, you said he didn’t have any memory of before when he grew up with Twilight?”

“Yeah.”

“So without his memories, Spike really wasn’t the same dragon was he,” Applejack told her. “Mah suggestion is that you try to separate them in your head. It was Deimos that killed your pa, and he died when that alicorn locked his memories away. Spike is a different dragon.”

Sunset considered that nodding slightly. “I… that does make sense. I just don’t know if I can.”

Applejack smiled reassuringly. “Ah’m sure you can. It may take some time, but Ah know you can do it.”

Giving a weak smile, Sunset nodded with a little more confidence. “Thanks AJ.”

“Anytime, Sunset. Whenever you need to talk, don’t hesitate to call.”

“I will,” Sunset said smiling a bit more. “So, what’s been happening over there?”

Applejack gave a small laugh. “Pinkie went on a matchmaking spree again.”

“Oh no… who was it this time?” Sunset asked, glad for the distraction.

~~~

Dawn led the charge up the stairs and down the hall to the living room of the royal quarters, Winter and the Crusaders following on her tail. She barely beat Apple Bloom and Scootaloo who both took wing in the hall. “Looks like they are not here yet,” she said looking around as she entered.

“That’s okay, lets grab our costume designs!” Scootaloo said continuing on to the fillies’ room where they’d left their drawings from the day before.

“And we can make some last-minute changes if we want,” Sweetie said following. “Rarity always says it’s a good idea with any design to step away, and come back for another look later, even if you don’t end up changing anything.”

Dawn hurried into their bedroom dropping off her school bags and retrieving the drawings they’d all done the day before, quickly passing them out. Then they all went back out into the living room to wait for the others.

“It will be so great if we can get all the special magic effects working for our costumes!” Scootaloo said excitedly.

“It will be a lot of fun,” Winter allowed with a smile, glad they were all so excited.

“And if we have time, maybe we could plan a bit of a show like Sunset suggested.” Dawn said grinning.

“Is Sunset going to be joining in too?” Apple Bloom asked curiously.

Winter and Dawn exchanged glances. “Um… we’re not sure,” Dawn said softly.

“She was going to; but might not want to now,” Winter said sounding a little sad.

“Why not?”

“I’m afraid that’s my fault,” Spike said coming into the room.

Apple Bloom looked up at him. “What do you mean?”

Spike sighed. “You remember how I used to be Deimos?” The three crusaders nodded, that was one week none of them were likely to ever forget. “We found out that Sunset’s father was killed at the Battle of the Fetlock Hills.”

Apple Bloom raised a brow, not seeing at first how it was connected, then her eyes widened in realization. “You mean you…?”

He nodded sadly. “There’s a very good chance that I was the one who killed him.”

“Oh…”

“Anyway, because of that, we’re not sure if she still wants to be a part of our whole costume theme.”

“I hope she does,” Winter said softly.

“For now, though, we’ve got a few minutes before Twilight gets back and we may still need to wait for Rainbow, so why don’t we all check over our designs and make sure they’re ready for Rarity,” Spike suggested, getting five nods in return.

It was a few minutes later that the door opened, and they all looked up. “Sunset!” Winter exclaimed surprised but happy to see her.

“Hey, we get a few more for our Power Ponies team?” Sunset asked sounding a little hesitant and avoiding looking at Spike.

Dawn smiled and eagerly nodded. “Sweetie is going to be Radiance and Apple Bloom and Scootaloo are going to be the Frostfire Twins.” She said, happy to see Sunset as well.

“Oh, the Frostfire Twins, good choice,” she said a little more confidently then did a double take when she saw Apple Bloom with her wings that she definitely hadn’t had the last time she’d seen the filly. “Wait, since when do you have wings?”

Apple Bloom laughed. “Ah have wings whenever ah want them.”

“But how?”

“Magic of course!”

She raised a brow. “So, in addition to some crazy time magic and illusions, you can give yourself wings whenever you want!?”

“Yep!”

Sunset gave a soft laugh. “Sometime you’re going to have to show me everything you can do,” she said and glanced around noticing the drawings they all had in front of them. “So, you all have your costume designs ready to take over to Rarity?”

“Yep, we’re just looking them over one last time while we wait for Twilight and Rainbow.” Scootaloo told her.

“Sounds good, I have mine all ready as well,” she said.

“You still want to join in?” Winter asked hopefully.

Sunset looked at her and nodded. “Yeah, I still want to.”

“Sunset… if you’d rather I didn’t…” Spike started hesitantly but stopped when Sunset held her hoof up.

“Spike…” She sighed, finally looking at him. “As far as I’m concerned; Deimos is dead. You may have his memories, but you’re not him. You’re Spike; that’s all there is to it.”

Spike gave a slow nod, that he understood what she was saying. “Okay,” he said softly.

She gave him a sad smile. “It may still take me some time to really put it behind me, and for things to go back to normal between us. But I’m going to try.”

“Thank you.”

“For now, let’s just try to focus on Nightmare night.”

“Sounds good,” Spike agreed.

With one last weak smile she turned to the fillies. “So lets see, we’ll have seven Power Ponies now huh? Looks like Spike and I will have our work cut out for us.”

“Do you still want to make a show for the town?” Winter asked.

“I think it would be fun. But for now, we better just get our costumes going. We still have a couple weeks to make plans,” Sunset told her.

The door opened again, and this time Twilight entered. “Oh, Sunset! How are you doing?” She asked, clearly surprised she was there, but pleasantly so.

Sunset gave a small smile. “I’m alright, Twilight.”

Twilight glanced between her and Spike. “Well, we were planning on taking our costume designs to Rarity, if you have yours ready?”

She nodded. “I drew it up this morning. It’s in my room.”

“Alright, then you can grab it on the way.” She glanced around at the other. “And everypony else is here, great! Rainbow’s on her way, she’s going to meet us at the front gate,” Twilight said. “So, let’s head out.”

“I’ll bring a few of the comics in case Rarity wants to see the characters we’re going as,” Spike said gathering the comics they’d been using as reference.

“Good idea!” Twilight nodded, then once he’d gathered them, she turned to leave. “Let’s hurry, we’ve kept Rarity waiting for our ideas long enough. I’m just glad most of our costumes will be fairly simple.”

She started back out the rest following with their designs. Smiling Winter fell into step beside Sunset, behind her sister and the crusaders.

Author's Note

There was some official art of the power pony characters that showed they looked a little different than when the mane six were playing them, so I'm using them as a reference. Except, in those, the Masked Matter-horn was a unicorn, but I actually prefer the idea I saw in a few fan fics that came out after that episode where she was actually a pegasus with an artificial horn that gave her the elemental magic.

Obviously, I've also made up a few new characters. Dark Star, who Spike is playing is supposed to be a villain who's arc would start out with a bunch of the other villains in the series suddenly working together for an unknown reason and it wouldn't be until late in the arc that Dark Star would be revealed, and they'd find out he was actually pulling the strings in the background the entire time. The Power Ponies would manage to free one of the villains, Lexia, my idea for a Lex Luthor type villain but as a female bat pony, from his control. They'd then have to work together with Lexia to take Dark Star down, freeing the rest of the villains under his control in the process.

As for Apple Bloom and Scootaloo's characters, Scorch and Shiver; the idea there was a story similar to the Maximoffs in the MCU where they start out being manipulated into working for one of the other villains but eventually realize they're on the wrong side and end up helping to defeat the villain in the end. They'd then show up a few times in other stories before eventually joining the team.

Anyway, Nightmare Night will be coming in the next chapter.