The Night of the Moondancer

Moondancer was busy preparing for a Nightmare’s Night party that Lemon Hearts had invited her to. She was somewhat nervous about going to the party, and she was fixing up her costume. It wasn't much, mostly just a cape with plastic fangs, some fake blood on her lips, and dark eyeshadow. She was obviously dressed up as a “vampire,” but it was a cheap costume, and it wasn’t much, but she hadn’t dressed up for “Nightmare Night” since she was a foal and wasn’t sure if she would do this again.

“Moondancer, are you ready yet!?” she heard Lemon Hearts shout from below.

“Yeah, I’ll be down in a minute!”

The mare looked at herself in a mirror as she adjusted the plastic teeth and cape and sighed, “Yeah, I’ll be down. Luckily, this stupid costume was only five bits.”

She then trotted down to see her friend looking nervous. Lemon Hearts was dressed in a massive Erlenmeyer Flask on her head, and her lab coat was splattered in green goo all over. A homage to the time she got her head stuck in one as a foal. The bright yellow unicorn slowly came over and said, “Moondancer, it's just a party; it's not like a super big test.”

“I would rather take a test! I’m not sure about being around so many strangers,” Moondancer shivered as she never really attended massive parties before.

“Relax, you’re just having social anxiety. I'll be with you every step of the way.”

"Ok, just don't leave me hanging," Moondancer replied as she was led by Lemon Hearts out of the house. It wasn't long until they entered the streets of Ponyville, with the butter-yellow coated unicorn still somewhat nervous, seeing she barely knew anyone outside Minuette and Lemon Hearts, who both insisted on her going. She usually didn’t care for these parties, but seeing how Twilight's party was for her, she couldn’t help but feel that she should try getting out more. The walk took quite some time, but it was fun seeing that most ponies here really got into the spirit of the holiday; with all the houses and public buildings decorated in Nightmare Night decorations, foals were dressed up in costumes, going from house to house gathering candy, the adults even dressed up some for the big costume contest, and others just getting into the spirit of the holiday.

When the two reached Sugarcube Corner, Moondancer saw the place was fully decorated and strung up in jack-o-lantern style lights, orange and black streamers, and paper ghosts fluttering in the wind and giant plastic skeleton ponies outside. It looked almost like a haunted house, and she could tell Pinkie Pie put a lot of work into making the place scary but also inviting.

As they approached, Moondancer could feel her anxiety getting worse as she approached the doors. The mare could hear the music blasting and saw ponies going in and out, talking and laughing loudly. Moondancer stood outside, completely terrified, with her social anxiety growing seeing so many ponies surrounding her. Lemon Hearts noticed as she came over and whispered, “Hey, are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

Lemon Hearts then whispered, “You don’t have to do this. I mean, Fluttershy is probably all alone in her cottage, and she wouldn’t mind some pony hanging out with her.”

“What, no. I mean, I have nothing against her; it’s just that I came here to try being more sociable, so that’s what I’ll do.”

“Ok, I’ll be by your side throughout the night.”

“Ok, fine, I’m not a foal,” Moodancer mumbled.

The two then headed inside, and not to her surprise, a massive party was going on. The entire cafe was converted to an enormous dance floor, where Vinyl was at the DJ table getting out the massive beats. There was a bobbing apple station, a bar full of drinks and punch, and tons of candy and snacks strewn about. Moondancer stood near the bar, not really seeing anypony she could recognize immediately. The mare then spotted Twilight across the way in a shiny gladiator costume hanging out with her other friends, which peeved Moondancer abit. She knew they had made up and were on good terms now, but it stung abit seeing Twilight with her new friends and how she had forgotten all about her.

Lemon Hearts nudged her and suggested, “Why don’t we go say hi?”

“Um, okay,” she said slowly as she trotted over. As they got closer, Twilight smiled, waved a hoof, and said, “Hey, Moondancer, Lemon Hearts! I'm so glad you two can make it!”

Moondancer was abit hesitant to talk to Twilight, then said, “Yeah, I'm having a ton of fun.”

Lemon Hearts was really excited as she chirped, “Oh, I can’t wait; it’s been so long since we had a party like this!”

“I know, right!? I haven’t seen a party like this since the Summer Sun Celebration.”

“I know, right? Pinkie Pie really went all out, and Vinyl is killing it with the music.”

“Come on, let’s try some of the games!”

Twilight then led her two friends to where they were bobbing for apples. Twilight and Lemon Hearts started to get really into the game, but Moondancer’s glasses kept slipping off her nose and splashing into the water, and worse, her fake fangs came out and fell in as well. This got quite a few laughs from the crowd.

Embarrassed, she stepped back and waited for Twilight and Lemon Hearts to finish. They then went dancing, and Moondancer saw Twilight and Lemon Hearts interacting with other ponies more naturally and seemed to be having a good time. But she didn’t know how to dance and saw that nopony was talking to her. So she slowly trotted back to the bar not wanting to intrude on her friends having fun. She was going to wait until Lemon Hearts got bored then they can leave. Looking for somthing to drink to pass the time thats when she spotted a bottle with a dark red liquid, and read the label on it, “Blood Punch,” the unicorn never heard of it but was hoping it was alcoholic, she started to drink, gulping it down greedily.

After taking a few gulps she had to admit it was good, being a strong, very sweet drink with a robust tang. After finishing it, the night became a blur as she felt a tingling sensation over her and thought it was just really strong. She then started feeling a weird sensation from under her cape, like something was itching around her shoulder blades. Then ponies started complimenting her costume even more so than before; one even asked how she really did look like a vampire; this made Moondancer rather confused, as she knew her costume was cheap and wasn’t that well put together. Then suddenly, she had to squint as all the lights from the stage were irritating her, and then she covered her ears as the music became overwhelming; she moved away from the party even more and was heading to the exit.

That was when she spotted another pony in a vampire costume. The mare had a dark grey coat, a dark blue mane, and shiny gold eyes. She also had fangs and a cape almost exactly like hers, and Moondancer had to admit something about this pony attracted her but she couldn't put a hoof on it. Moondancer then greeted her, “Hey, nice to see we thought of the same costume.”

The mare turned and, with a smile, said, “Same to you; I didn’t expect to see another "vampire" skulking about.”

“Yeah, thanks, I think my costume could use some work, though.”

The other mare giggled behind a hoof as she nudged her, then added, “Yeah, costume wink, wink.”

Moondancer gave her an awkward look, then shrugged as she asked, “So, um, what’s your name?"

“Sorry, my name’s Echo. And you?”

“Moondancer.”

“Oh, that’s such an awesome name!”

Moondancer's cheeks flushed red, at being told her name was awesome. She had never received a compliment like that before and said, “Thanks, so um…do you want to hang out? I'm not really into parties, and I don’t know a lot of ponies here.”

“Yeah, of course!”

They then started chatting for a while; they had a lot of similar interests as they were both into books and were interested in science, magic, astronomy, and history.

Echo then started to eye the apple basin and pulled on Moondancer’s shoulder, “Hey, I want to try bobbing for apples. I’m actually really good at it. Wana come?”

“Oh sure,” Moondancer replied. She was baffled but shrugged, and then she went to “Bobbing for Apples” one more time.

Moondancer watched as Echo pulled apples out flawlessly, and everypony stood around and cheered her on as she went on pulling every single one out. Pinkie Pie then skipped over and cheered, “Echo got every apple, apple bobbing once again! Well done!”

She then hoofed her a trophy filled with candy as Echo took it, and then the mare turned to Moondancer and said, “So why don’t you try? I’m sure you can do better.”

The mare was hesitant, as she had recently humiliated herself before but she wanted to make a good impression with Echo. She then took off her glasses and waited for Pinkie Pie to refill the basin, then hoofed her glasses over to Echo; then the mare blinked and started to look around. Almost instantly, she realized her vision was normal, and she could see things clearly now. She always had really bad eye sight her entire life and had to wear glasses since she was little. But now it was as if she never needed them at all.

The mare started to feel more confident just by the fact she could see without her glasses. Moondancer then came to the basin and started ducking her head in, grasping one into her teeth, and then grasping them as they sunk into the flesh of one of the apples. Oddly, she wasn’t even wearing her fake fangs anymore, but her teeth sank in relatively easily, and as the juice entered her mouth, she couldn’t help but start sucking it out into her mouth for a bit.

She then spat it out and ducked her head back in, pulling them out one by one with ease just as her friend did, and everypony just watched in amazement as she, like Echo, was able to pull them all out. Once again, Pinkie Pie bounced over, laughing, “Oh wow, well done, Moondancer! Here’s your trophy!”

She then hoofed her a trophy filled to the brim with candy. After getting a round of applause from the crowd, she came over to Echo and said, “Well, that was fun! I can't believe I was able to get so many apples!”

“Yeah, it was so awesome! It's good that the ponies here think our fangs are fake.”

“Um, yeah, sure,” Moondancer laughed, thinking it was some joke.

Echo hoofed back her glasses, and Moondancer quickly put them on, then the grey-coated mare suddenly asked, “So…do you wana dance?”

Mondancer hesitated, as she wouldn’t mind dancing with her new friend, but the lights and noises were still irritating, with Vinyl suddenly dropping the bass, making her have to throw her hooves over her ears. Echo became worried as she looked her over and asked, “Wait, where’s your earplugs!?”

“Earplugs?”

Moondancer then took out some little black foam plugs and plopped them into her ears. They helped deafen the music quite abit. Then Echo gently tilted her friend's head up and sighed, “You don’t have daywalker eye contacts either? This is your first night out, huh?”

“What are you talking about!?”

Echo removed her friend's glasses, then gently placed plastic films over her eyes, and whispered, “Luckily, I have spares.”

Moondancer blinked as the intensity of the flashing stage lights seemed to have lessened quite abit, “um…thanks?”

She then fixed the glasses on her friend and added, “Yeah, that's no problem. Listen, when we're back at the mountain, we should talk about some rules for visiting the daywalkers; you could’ve gone blind or deaf coming to this party without some eye and ear protection.”

“Um…ok?” Moondancer was starting to grow concerned. Was this some weird roleplay? Or was Echo actually being serious?"

“Now, come on, let’s dance!”

Echo dragged her back onto the dance floor by the hoof. They put their trophies aside and went onto the dance floor. The two started moving to the beat, and then they began to groove. Echo got into it, moving her hips to the beat and enjoying herself.

Meanwhile, Moondancer was much more hesitant but slowly started to enjoy herself and get into a rhythm. The yellow unicorn couldn’t help but stare into Echo, feeling a connection, and maybe it was the mood; perhaps it was that “Blood Punch” she drank earlier, but she was actually enjoying herself and was having a blast. But as the night dragged on, she started to feel abit nauseous, and they eventually left the dance floor. Then Moondancer said, “So, I think I’m going to head to my friend’s, friend's house.”

“Oh, you have a daywalker friend, too? That's super cool! Pinkie Pie and I are pretty close as well!”

Moondancer rolled her eyes at the role-play but decided just to play along. Then she said, “Yes, I have a daywalker friend. Anyways, I need to go wash up and take this costume off, and then we can hang out some more. My friend is probably going to stay later than me anyways.”

“Ok, no problem!”

The two then trotted off through the streets, and it was rather late. Most of the festivities ended, and most foals had long gone to bed, with the only ponies out taking down the massive stage where they hosted the Costume Competition. Echo just looked around at the decorations still up and squealed, “Oh, I love the daywalkers, Nightmare Night! It's just like Moonfest! Don’t ya think?”

“Yeah, Moonfest…” Moondancer was starting to feel awkward as this “roleplaying” was fun initially, but it sounded like Echo believed she was a vampire pony. But maybe it’ll be over by tomorrow morning. She then got to Lyra's home and went straight to the bathroom as she started feeling queasy and started to barf her guts out into the toilet.

Afterward, she took off her cape and looked at her reflection, and to her horror two leathery bat wings sprouting from her sides. She paused and took a moment to think as she waved them, and seeing them flap, the realization that this was real overwhelmed her, and the mare gave out a loud, piercing shriek that somehow shattered the bathroom mirror. Echo then barged into the bathroom and asked, “What's wrong? Are you ok!?”

Moondancer turned to her and cried, “No, I’m not ok! I'm a batpony!”

And Echo blinked and stepped back, looking rather horrified herself then said, “Wait, you’re a daywalker?”

“Yes, I'm a daywalker or whatever that means!” Moondancer snapped. She got up, seeing that now everything Echo said was making sense to her, calling other ponies daywalkers, the contacts, and the earplugs. All the evidence pointed to one conclusion.“Yo…you’re actually a batpony!?”

Echo slowly took off her cape, showed off her batwings, flapped them, and said, “Yeah, I thought you were one, too.”

Moondancer then pointed to her wings, flapped them, and snapped, “What is happening to me!?”

Echo gulped, looking just as confused, and said, “I don’t know, I swear! I have never heard of a daywalker turning into a batpony before. Heck, you still have your horn!”

“Did you do this to me!?"

Echo reared her head being abit offended and snapped, “No, of course not! Bat ponies don’t go around turning ponies into bat ponies, ok? That’s some stupid myth you daywalkers came up with!”

Moondancer didn’t fully trust her new friend, seeing she was a batpony, and didn’t tell her, but at the same time, it was because she thought she was a batpony, and Echo seemed genuinely confused about how she turned into this.

Looking around, worried, Echo said, “Listen, we can talk later; we need to go now.”

“Why!?”

“Because daywalkers can’t know about us! I’m risking a lot just being here and showing you who I am!”

Moondancer shook her head, “No,” and replied, “No, I can’t. I have to tell Lemon Hearts about what’s happening to me. She’ll think I got lost or something.”

“Ok, write her a note saying you got sick, but you can’t tell her you’re a batpony, please; she can’t know about us.”

Moondancer could see Echo was scared, then said, “Alright, I'll leave out being a batpony, but you will help me turn back to normal, right?”

“I’ll help you return to normal. I know we just met, but you have to trust me. I know somepony who might have the answers. We’ll visit him tonight and hopefully find some way to turn you back to a unicorn.”

Moondancer started writing a note to Lemon Hearts, telling her how she got sick and had to go home to Canterlot. She apologized about the mirror and gave her a sack of bits to repair it. She then sighed, “It’s better than nothing. Hopefully, she won’t come check on me until tomorrow.”

“Then come on! We have no time to lose!” Echo cried, taking a hoof to her friend as they flew off into the night. Moondancer stumbled at first, trying to adjust to her new wings. But with Echo’s help, she eventually was able to maintain her momentum and started to get the hang of flying through the air and headed up towards a mountain in the distance, hoping that this could all be resolved soon.