"Anon, are you sure that this isn't a bit too much?" Sunny asked as she checked her reflection in the weird little compact that I was almost entirely convinced was a magical artefact by this point. Seriously, even if it didn't have an alicorn design and everything, I could feel the magic in it, and I wasn't even an artificer. Wait, I'm getting distracted. She turned to face me, her now-black ethereal wings spread and a lot more solid looking, just like the horn and the rest of her coat. "I appreciate the effort you put into the spells, but I'm getting chills looking at myself."

The spells in question were illusions that not only turned her coat black as pitch and made her pupils look like those of a cat, but it also made her mane and tail appear to flow in a nonexistent breeze. She gave me a nervous smile, revealing some illusory fangs, as she fidgeted about with her silvery plate helmet. Dunno when Izzy became a blacksmith, because that stuff looks like legit armour. All said and done, this was an amazing Nightmare Moon mock-up.

Shaking my head, I smiled at her as I started applying my own 'make-up' for the Nightmare Night 'Fright-shion' show. "You look amazing, and I'm not just saying that because I take pride in my spells," I responded, transforming into Princess Cadance. It was a really easy transformation given that we'd been the same height when I was sealed away. It was just a matter of changing my eyes and mane, tweaking my facial structure, growing a pink coat, and applying her cutie mark. "The only thing that would make it better would be if we could have done something to make you look taller. Still, super intimidating!"

Little Miss Starscout watched in interest as I began to alter my transformation piece by piece. First, I began to adjust my coat to a pink just a few shades outside of black. Next, I gave myself cat-like pupils and fangs to match up with Sunny. The crystal heart on my false cutie mark cracked in half and faded grey. Using the same illusion spell plate I cast on Sunny's mane and tail, I gave my own the same flowing effect. Finally, I began to don the steel helmet, peytral, and greaves that Izzy made to my specifications.

Once I was finished, I levitated over a hand-mirror from a nearby table and began to look at my work. Oooh, I didn't actually think it was possible to make Auntie look intimidating... But goodness, if I don't look sexy, too. Turning to face Sheriff Trailblazer, who was looking for his costume in the trunk it was supposed to be in, I struck a sultry pose and in my best bedroom voice—my own voice, though, not Auntie's—asked, "What do you think, Sheriff? Are you ready to have your heart broken?"

As soon as he turned to look at me, he froze like a deer in headlights. HItch's eyes slowly grew wider, and his cheeks grew flush. Oh no, did I give him a fear boner? I had far more class than to take a peek, but I could sense just the slightest hint of lust among all that fear. Mr. Public Morals indeed.

"I, uh, wow," he managed to get out as he looked from me to Sunny. "You both look great, and here I am, unable to find my costume." He finally managed to start moving, as he gave the trunk he'd been searching a good kick. "I know I put it in here."

Gosh, I wonder what ever happened to it.

Turning to my fellow 'alicorn', I gave a shake of my head. "What a shame," I said in a teasing tone. "Without a costume of some sort, he can't really partake in any of the festivities. I guess it's just gonna be a mares night out~."

That got a wave of disappointment out of Nightmare Sunny. "Aww, but I was looking forward to spending the night with all of my friends." She gave me a pleading look, and asked, "Is there anything that you can do so that Hitch can still participate?"

I pretended to give her question some real thought. In truth, I had planned all of this from the moment I heard what Hitch's costume would be. Seriously. A moustache and your disco outfit is your costume? Nah dude. Ain't havin' that weak-ass shit on Nightmare Night. So on top of all of the illusions I'd made for Sunny and myself, there was one last spell slate that I'd brought for just the occasion.

After a few moments, I acted as if I'd just had a wicked eureka moment, and went over to the bag that I'd brought all my kit in. "There is this one spell, but Hitch will have to be the one to cast it," I said, fishing out the ceramic rectangle and levitating it over to the uncostumed stallion. "Just start to channel your magic out through your hoof like you're gonna do plant magic, but push it into every etched line on this slate."

He gave it a suspicious look, holding a green glowing hoof just above it. "This isn't gonna turn me into a newt or something awful, is it?" he asked. "Because if that's the case, I might have to fine you for misuse of magic."

I feigned offence at the implication that I would dare turn him into a newt. Even if I did, he'd get better. "You wound me, good sir," I responded in a teasing tone. "I guarantee it will give you a Nightmare Night you'll never forget."

It was torture trying to hide the smirk or excitement I felt as he pressed his hoof against the spell slate. As soon as the spell took hold, several things started to happen in quick succession. First and foremost, Hitch's face became softer and more feminine, and this was quickly followed up by his mane and tail growing out to Sunny's usual length. He soon lost a few centimetres in height, and his musculature became much less pronounced. There was one more change to happen, but it wasn't the sort of thing I could actually witness without some serious personal space invasion.

Sunny quickly caught on to what was happening, and she let out a startled yell of "Anon!" I think it was that yell and my inability to contain my laughter that drew the attention of Zipp Storm, Izzy Moonbow, and Jazzy, who seemed to be lost in trying to find her own costume. The others slowly gathered around a dumbstruck Hitch as Sunny tore into me. "I can't believe you did that!"

"What, what did she do?" came the now very feminine voice of Hitch. "Whoa. Did everyone get taller?"

Pushing back the hood of her archer superhero costume, Zipp gave the very marely sheriff an appraising look. "I don't know how to tell you this, but..."

This was quickly interrupted by Ms. Moonbow exclaiming, "Anon turned you into a mare!"

It was all I could do not to fall to the floor. My laughter was coming so hard and fast that I was actually beginning to have trouble breathing. "H-hey, Hitch got a costume, and we get a mares night out that he can be included in~!" After managing to catch my breath, I slipped into the circle and threw my foreleg around the shell-shocked former stallion. "Come now, I think you'll make an excellent minion for the Heartbreaker. You're gonna turn so, so many heads..."

He—Or should I use she while the spell's in effect?—swallowed, giving me a slightly angry, slightly scared look. "This is temporary, right?" Hitch and Zipp both asked in unison. This was pretty quickly followed up by Zipp's hasty, "You wouldn't do something like this as a prank otherwise, right?"

I nodded, rubbing my cheek against the newly minted mare. Gotta admit, he's very pretty this way. Almost my type, too. "Oh, absolutely. By midnight, he'll be reunited with the boys," I agreed. After a moment's pause, I tapped my free forehoof against my lip and pulled away to give Hitch a serious look. "Although... I'd recommend not acting on any bicuriosity while you're like this. Pretty sure you'll be stuck until you give birth if you get yourself preggers."

They all stared at me like I had nine heads, but then Jazz got a look about her. There was an excitement in her emotional aura as she took in Hitch's temporary female form. "Anon isn't wrong, though," she said, causing everyone to switch their stares to her. "Hitch was a handsome stallion... Maybe not Rocky-handsome, but handsome..." Girl, just ask him out already. "And now he's a really good looking mare, and it would be a crime not to make her look her best."

I gave a very toothy smile as Izzy started to mirror Jazz's excitement. "Oh! We'd have to come up with a name for the costume~!" she added, beginning to bounce on the spot. "Oh! Oh! How about Harness Pathfinder?"

Cheeky little shit's been reading my mind!

It was at that point that the door to the prep room—really it was just the storage room—opened up to reveal Princess Pipp. "Alright everypony, we're starting soon," she called out, looking around. "Anon, looking good, but I'm not introducing your costume as Nightmare MILF. The earlier discussed Heartbreaker title should be fine." Then her eyes locked on ~~Hitch~~ Harness. "Oh my hoofness!"

~ 11 ~

"You're probably wondering why I made a spell that turned Hitch from a stallion to a mare for a short period of time," I commented to my phone as I sat down, waiting to be called out to walk out on stage. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught the aforementioned sheriff sitting rather stiffly on one of the provided folding chairs. Our local fashion experts had done a good job braiding her mane and tail to make it more like Sunny's. "I mean, who just does that to a friend, right?"

I let out a chuckle that probably sounded way too sensual. I think I'm getting way too in character, but that's half the fun of this holiday. "Back in Ponyville, Nightmare Night was a night of sweets and scares." I inclined my head toward Hitch angled my camera so that the audience could see. "More than that, though, it was a night of fun and games. The more daring ponies often engaged in miniature prank wars. I remember one year, Rainbow Dash was doing her usual storm-cloud prank, scaring ponies with lightning and the like. Well, after she gave Emerald a scare one too many times, I borrowed a catapult from the pumpkin artillery game and shot her out of the sky. Absolutely hilarious times."

The slate with which I pranked the stallion levitated over, and began to spin gently above my hoof. "Was it a bit mean not to tell him what it was before I let him cast it? Probably." I giggled, levitating the slate back out to the bag in the storage room. "Anything would've been better than the 'Hitch, but with a moustache' costume that was originally on the table, but hey; dude's gonna have a really unique night, and who knows. Maybe he'll even learn something about himself in the process."

Rocky Riff, who was perched just behind the stage curtain, pointed to my gender-bent friend, and then nodded his head toward the stage. "Here's Hitch," I could hear Pipp call out, "as Harness Pathfinder!"

~~Hitch~~ Harness was a bit reluctant to go out on stage. After all, as a stallion, she'd been the most eligible bachelor in all of Maretime Bay. You wouldn't believe just how many mares lusted after him, but were too shy to approach. When the summer oestrus season kicked in really late, there were so many horny single mares directing their lust at the guy. Her confidence as a mare wasn't nearly as strong, and there might even have been some worry that this might affect their perceptions when the spell ran its course.

Based on the whistling and the cheering when she finally stepped out onto the stage and made her way down the catwalk, I didn't think there was any risk of that happening. Maybe it was the fact that they all recognised that their sheriff was hot regardless of whether he was Hitch or she was Harness, or they were just that damn impressed by the courage it must've taken to do such a daring disguise, but there was a lot of cheers and wolf-whistling. Based on the amorous emotions I could feel backstage, a lot of ponies might've learned something about themselves. Ha, I'll probably get a bunch of questions about that next, so I may as well head that off.

"You're probably itching to know about that spell," I explained to the camera as a heavily blushing Harness returned back stage and headed out into the audience. "It was originally something of a gift I made for Auntie Cadance's second honeymoon with Shining Armour. As the Princess of Love, her domain covered many spheres, but for all the love she had to offer, they were a monogamous couple. That didn't stop them from getting experimental, or trying to give Flurry Heart a sibling." I shook my head with a throaty chuckle. "Shiny never ended up with foal, but several other same-sex couples that would later gain access to the spell certainly did."

I watched as Izzy hopped out on stage, covered in a smattering of different temporary coat-dyes. I should've made something for her, too. All your friends, huh? "I'm sure there are ponies out there that would love to get their hooves on this spell, but it's not, nor was never intended to be, permanent," I warned, looking back to my phone. "In a previous Vlog, I mentioned something called 'morphic resonance'. It's not just a changeling thing. All living creatures have a morphic resonance, the magical instructions that define a creature's existence. Repeated use of transfiguration spells on living things over short periods of time has the tendency to damage its morphic resonance, and if it breaks down completely... Bad things happen. Like, eldritch horror bad things. It's not easy to change a resonance, and it is well beyond any of my spells' abilities to do so to another creature."

As Izzy returned to the backstage area, passing through to join our other friends in the audience, I started readying myself for my go. Sunny was also practising the imperious demeanour prior to being called up on stage. "This is your love bug Queen Anonymous, signing off," I whispered, before ending the video recording. Turning to my young friend, I called out, "Knock'em dead, Sunny!"

"Trading the shine of the sun for the dark of the moon," announced Pipp in a spooky voice, "it's Sunny!"

When she was called up on stage, she took a steadying breath and threw on a dour mask. The moment she marched out, the entire building went quiet. There was even a record scratch as the ambient music Pipp had been piping into the place went quiet. The silence continued for a good half minute before I heard Starscout break character by greeting the crowd with a gleeful, "Hey, everypony!" Just like that, the crowd erupted in cheers and screams of faux terror.

Even before Sunny returned, I started making my way towards the curtain. I met her with a raised hoof, which she bumped with her own armoured hoof with a resounding clank on her way past. She seemed so excited that her costume was a smashing success, and I had to admit that the excitement was contagious. My turn could hardly come soon enough.

"Presenting the Queen of Lust, Heartbreaker," came Pipp's announcement, "it's Anonymous Flicker!"

I easily slid between the curtains as I sashayed my way up towards the end of the stage. Unlike the intimidation factor of a stern face that Sunny's Nightmare Moon costume required, mine required a different approach. My eyes remained half-lidded as I gazed out at the audience, gently biting my lower lip. Once I reached the end of the runway, I struck a pose with my wings spread, my tail flicking before I spoke. "Greetings, my lovely subjects," I haughtily greeted the crowd. "Shall we put your hearts and your beds to the test?"

Much like with Hitch before, there was a great mixture of fear and lust in the air. Passively feeding on that might not have been the best of plans, because as I made my way back to the curtain, I might have gotten a bit too into it and flagged at the audience on my way past. In my defence, I skipped lunch. "Whoa," came Pipp's voice to the side of the stage as whoever was operating the lighting redirected the spotlight off of me. "Easy, mare. Remember, this is a family friendly event!"

~ 11 ~

Honestly, I wasn't all that surprised to come across Misty in the back room some twenty minutes later. She was getting kind of daring using her communication brooch to talk to Opaline directly in Mane Melody, where anypony might come in. Then again, the poor lass was really bad at being a villain. The sooner she figured out that alicorn would cast her aside when she outlived her use, the better.

Let's see, what's the scheme tonight? More attempted foalnapping? Gonna get Misty to try and jar one of Sparky's literal fire farts for Opaline to huff? I wondered as I quietly locked the door to the back room so that nobody would intrude. Oh look, Bitch Pudding asked Misty to lay out the plan, and immediately started talking over her. Surprise surprise.

"Get these Ponies to use their magic, so we can figure out how it works," the smoky Opaline all but snarled at Misty, "and then take it from them!"

It was in the middle of Opaline's god-awful 'evil' laugh that I chose to reveal myself. I chuckled just loud enough that both Misty and the apparition snapped their attentions over to me. "Nah," I matter-of-factly interrupted. "I think after you had her try to foalnap Sparky and she brought you back some dragon fire—you're welcome, by the way—she's more than earned a Nightmare Night where she can enjoy herself with the others."

The apoplectic expression on Opaline's face was so satisfying. "Is that so, Anonymous?" she growled back, and I could actually feel her rage over the connection. Probably an effect of getting a bit juiced up on dragon fire. "And why would I ever allow that?"

To Misty's surprise, I levitated the necklace off of her, and put it around my neck. I held the attached artefact up so that I could stare Opaline down with bedroom eyes. "It's either she gets the night off," I huskily whispered, "or you and me are gonna have a date night on your bed with my ovipositor until you're ready to be a good little fire alicorn who treats her minion like an actual pony with feelings and needs." For good measure, I gave the locket a good shake. "So, tell Momma Anon what it'll be."

To Misty's credit, she didn't intervene. Then again, I really don't think she even understood that I was suggesting I dick down her boss with my egg-laying parts until she mellowed the fuck out. I don't think she ever got the birds and the bees... Or is that the birds and the breezies? I can never remember. Instead, she was looking from the necklace to me with a look of worry.

Then of course, you had the alicorn apparition floating in front of me. If I'd thought Opaline had looked enraged before, she looked like she was gonna stroke out after visibly shivering at my 'offer'. I don't think anyone had ever talked to her like that before... never mind being offered behavioural correction through being treated like a broodmare.

When Opaline sighed and relented with a "Fine," it was all I could do not to praise her is a good nymph. "But she's to be back home no later than tomorrow night, and its up to you to deal with the aftermath of whatever she gets up to while in your care."

As soon as her projection withdrew to rest inside the necklace, I tucked it inside my the peytral of my costume and walked over to Misty. "Don't worry; I'll give this back tomorrow," I commented, tapping the shiny metal going across the front of my barrel. "Let's keep work and fun separate, now."

With that out of the way, I wrapped my tail around Misty's leg and led the stunned pony out into the party at large. Someone might've assumed that—given my earlier display—me leading the hooded, masked filly around by my tail was some form of sexual harassment. Really, that was just so that she couldn't shy away from hanging out with the others. She could try to hide it all she wanted, but there was a part of her that enjoyed being around them.

As I spotted the group gathered around, I grinned and dragged Misty that way. "Hey, ladies!" I called out, getting everyone's attention. Heh, even Harness looked. "Look at who I found being a little wallflower."

For a long moment, she seemed paralysed when looking at Sunny. It wasn't fear, mind you—just surprise. The moment Sunny spoke up, however, the spell was broken. Meanwhile the moment she realised that there was a mare that looked just like Hitch where the stallion should have been, she slowly turned her head to look at me. Damn, she learned quickly where to look when something fucky's going on.

Once that was out of the way, most of the others started bombarding her with questions. Pipp especially was interested as to what Misty thought of the party, and the 'Fright-shion' show. Meanwhile, Izzy, Sunny, and Zipp were all trying to do their best to get her to enjoy all the many facets of the party. The punch, the games, the music... It was a bit rough at first, but once she finally got it in her head that I wasn't about to let Opaline punish her for tonight, she finally got into it.

While all of that was going on, I stuck by Harness near the punch bowl. Much like the sheriff-turned-mare—The mariff?—I was more than content to sit back and make sure things didn't get too rowdy. As a queen, it was my duty to watch over the well-being of my swarm. That meant being vigilant and making sure that nobody took advantage of any of them. Even if I teased the sheriff about getting stuck like that until she gave birth, I'd seen the way some of the stallions were looking at her, and if she didn't enjoy herself as a mare tonight, forcing that on her for a year would be worse.

It wasn't like I couldn't relate, and I said as much. Once upon a time, I'd ended up in quite the similar situation. Admittedly, my situation was a lot less temporary, but I knew damn well what it was like to be in an unfamiliar body, and what it was like to be the 'wrong' sex. It seemed to make her feel a bit better. It probably would've meant more if I wasn't the one responsible for this, but hey; I was taking responsibility.

Towards the end of the party, something unexpected happened. Somepony approached me. I mean, getting approached for conversation isn't anything weird per se, but rather what was weird was what I was approached about. Remember my whole in-character bit on stage? Yeah, Posey of all ponies came up to ask me if that was a serious offer. I knew she was something of a high-strung pony, but I never would have imagined she'd come up and ask me to help her destress.

Given that I was pretty sure I was going through a period where my changeling queen body was extra fertile—that was pretty much the only thing that explained the Momma Anon thing and starting to think of my friends as my swarm—I turned her down. The worst part of being hyper-compatible with pretty much everything as part of your biology meant that I had to be exceedingly careful about that sort of thing... and it wasn't even like being with mares was safe either. Almost any genetic sample was technically enough for my body to convert into something usable to inseminate my bug eggs. Changeling biology is so fucking weird.

~ 11 ~

Toward the very end of the party, once all the foals and elderly had gone home to retire for the night, that was when the alcoholic drinks came out. While I was more than happy to play the responsible adult and only have a single vodka cooler, I couldn't deny that things were gonna start getting wild. Even if it meant keeping my eye on six ponies instead of just one, I didn't mind; to be honest, I kinda wanted to see what sort of chaos erupted.

Then our hostess whipped out a goddamn karaoke machine. Lemme tell you now, this was easily my favourite part of the night. Sunny, Pipp, Zipp, and Izzy, I expected to participate. In that regard, I certainly was not disappointed. Nothing could top Harness getting tipsy and trying to sing one of her favourite rock ballads, but even Misty got in on the action.

Something weird started happening the longer karaoke night went on though. I could feel something stirring in my chest. At first, I thought maybe I'd consumed more alcohol than I thought, but the longer it went on, I realised that I'd felt something similar a long, long time ago in another world. It was a Heartsong.

How can this be, though? I mused as a pegasus mare by the name of Windy sang one of Pipp's more recent songs. I'm outside Harmony's domain now, and I haven't been suckered into any of the music magic in the last fifteen years since that time. Funny enough, I noticed that the cutie marks of five of my six little ponies were shimmering a bit as they took their turns. Maybe unity magic has replaced Harmony magic as the catalyst?

When somepony threw the microphone over to me, I smirked as I caught it in my magic. "You know, there's something I'd like to try," I crooned into the mic. "I feel something I haven't felt in so long, and I think you're all gonna like what happens next."

The venue fell quiet as I let the magic flow through me. Seemingly out of nowhere, an eerie string instrument began to play, accompanied by other instruments, and I lifted the microphone to my mouth. "Oh, you want music magic? Well... I don't see why not~!" I sang as I hopped up onto the catwalk.

"When I walk past a mirror, I ask myself,
'What face should I wear?'
I feast upon the love everypony gives me.
Isn't that lovely?"

Jaws began to drop as I shed my disguise, leaving me in my natural form. My mane and tail were still under the effect of the enchantment, so they flowed free like a fog. It was probably the most intimidating I'd ever looked, what with the armour. More so, it felt like I was baring my very nature to them, and I was loving it.

"Can't just stay in one form; it's my nature.
You'll find I'm fair.
I'm far too sexy for you to handle,
Beyond compare~!"

Instinctively, I knew that I was reaching the chorus of whatever this was. With a bit of flourish, I spread my wings and took to the air. I spread my forelimbs and pirouetted through the air as I reached the crescendo.

"I'm a changeling (glamorous and sleek)~.
I'm a changeling (quite the naughty freak)~.
Darling, I'm a changeling (make you quiver in your bed)~.
Don't you cry now, I am super fine..."

"I'm a changeling~.
I'm a changeling~."

When next I touched down on the floor, it was in front of the pony that had propositioned me. Her cheeks flushed as I ran my armoured head underneath her jaw and brushed past her, inadvertently brushing against her chest with my tail as I turned to sing the next verse, earning a bunch of shrill whistles from the audience.

"Hush, pretty pony, don't say a word;
I can feel your lust.
I'll be anyone you want me to,
In me just trust."

"Can't just stay in one form; it's my nature.
You'll find I'm fair.
I'm far too sexy for you to handle,
Beyond compare~!"

Once again, I spread my wings and took to the air for the chorus.

"I'm a changeling (glamorous and sleek)~.
I'm a changeling (quite the naughty freak)~.
Darling, I'm a changeling (make you quiver in your bed)~.
Don't you cry now, I am super fine..."

"I'm a changeling~.
Ooh, I'm a changeling~.
I'm a changeling~."

Touching down on the stage, I held the mic close to my mouth and, in my dual-layered voice, said "Oh, I'm so naughty." Maybe the tone was a bit too flirtatious, but based on the cheer that erupted from the crowd, the song was well-received. That said, I did feel more than a bit drained. I'll probably be feeling that tomorrow.

It almost felt like the phenomena was powered by my own magic, rather than anything ambient. That'd definitely explain where all my energy went. Is that something I can activate at will now, or was it just the situation that provoked it? Not that I really minded too much, but I'd have preferred being a conduit for an external force than some external force using me as a fucking magical speaker.

Even as my little ponies rushed over and managed to drag me over to the side of the room, I smiled. "What in Equestria was that?" Sunny asked as I sagged against her. "I've never felt magic like that before, but you were filling the room with it."

This was quickly followed up by Izzy seizing me by my shoulders and shaking me. "You've got to teach me how to do that!"

Then of course Pipp was there with her ever present phone. "You have got to let me post that online."

Maybe the funniest reaction, however, was my favourite sheriff's. Well, ~~Hitch~~ Harness was technically the only sheriff I'd ever met, but that's not the point. I would've expected to have gotten in trouble with her for singing a lewd song, but instead, she was caught up in hysterical laughter with Zipp.

"Did you see Posey's face?" Zipp cackled, as she sipped at what looked to be some sort of wine cooler. "I didn't think she could turn that colour!"

That got a snort out of Harness, who elbowed the mare and responded, "You missed it earlier, when she propositioned Anon right in front of me!" Finally, she laughed so hard that she fell over and turned into a giggly little mess on the floor, and I imagined the others weren't that far behind. "I don't know which one looked more mortified!"

Ah youth, how I missed ye.

Author's Note

Yeah, fuck you, Opaline; it's the Bug Song now!