Apparently the spell that turned her friends into fillies don't let them remember everything clearly, and thankfully had a time limit. Of 24 hours. Joy.

And in her many years of ruling, Celestia had weathered diplomacy with Griffons, negotiated treaties with the Dragons, and kept harmony in Equestria. But nothing—absolutely nothing—had prepared her for this.

She glanced down at the costume she had managed to cobble together in a moment of desperation: a ballistic SWAT outfit from the mirror world, salvaged right before the portal closed when her Sunset went in. In the dim light, it looked as though she'd been sent on a secret mission rather than dressed for Nightmare Night. Meanwhile, the foals with her looked adorable.

Tempest Shadow was decked out in a newly polished, gleaming armor set, upgraded with dark materials and intricate detailing that would make her adult self proud once she remembers (Celestia hopes the armor adjusts its size for the wearer. Also how did she get those materials for Nightmare Night?). Sombra, in richly clothing and regal crown, looked every inch a true noble prince. Tiny Chrysalis wore a lush, crimson velvet gown with a high collar, giving her the air of a vampire duchess despite her small stature. Midnight Sparkle was in shining, if slightly oversized, knight’s armor, and little Nightmare Moon… well, she’d opted for her own armor, but the effect was still chilling on such a small filly.

And then there was Sunset. She wore a replica of Celestia’s own royal regalia, complete with a sun-themed tiara and an additional white robes, looking like a tiny, radiant version of Celestia herself. It was… unsettlingly adorable.

"Is your version of myself your idol?" Celestia asked, slightly moving the faux tiara Sunset wore with her hoof. It was tilted to the side before she moved it.

The filly nodded.

They strolled down the Canterlot streets, and Celestia found herself torn between exasperation and amusement as they joined the throngs of foals already trick-or-treating. The group’s presence didn’t go unnoticed. Fillies and colts squealed when they saw Celestia.

One brave little colt in a royal guard costume walked up to her. “Princess, what are you dressed as?” he asked.

Celestia gave him her most dignified smile that was almost a grin behind her balaclava. “A secret operative for emergencies,” she replied, making a quiet gesture. The colt nodded in awe, clearly imagining her saving Equestria in her unique gear.

A few minutes of talking to children went by, before she looked at her group, “I’ll be far away from their doors.” she stated.

Chrysalis' ears swerved to the back of her head. "You won't be with us? But we gotour costumes now." She mumbled.

"What— oh no no no no! That's not what I mean." Celestia frantically waved a wing around, "What I mean is I'll be the farthest from the doors. I'll still be with you little ones." She clarified, looking skyward as if wanting divine intervention.

That seemed to satisfy them, and Celestia sighed with an inner smile. These were the former rulers, conquerors, and feared villains of various Equestrias—reduced to pint-sized candy collectors.

“So, which house shall we start with?” she asked, adjusting the tactical goggles she wore.

Midnight Sparkle pointed to the nearest door with a confident grin, and the whole group trotted up to it, group knocking on the door, bouncing in anticipation. The door creaked open, revealing an older unicorn stallion with a beard.

“Trick-or-Treat!” they chorused and brought up their bags, minus Celestia, who stood stoically behind them.

The stallion practically beamed. "Awh, how adorable! What are you all supposed to be?" He asked.

"Guard!" "Nightmare Moon!" "A prince!" "A vampire.." "Princess Celestia!" "A knight!" They all responded after the other, smiling.

The stallion smiled, using his magic to grab the prepared (comically large in the background) bowl of candy, when he looked behind them and froze, spotting the alicorn looming behind them.

Actually, now that the stallion thinks about it, she was larger than usual. As in, "that's a draft horse not a pony" larger than usual. There was literally a looming shadow over them and the moonlight was behind Celestia.

"I'm an operative, Trick-or-Treat,” Celestia said, her tone pure sugary-sweet, masking her exhaustion as her face stayed locked in a perfect Resting Bitch Face.

The noble stammered something incoherent, his magic fumbling to drop an excessive amount of candy into each foal’s basket, his eyes darting nervously back to Celestia, as if worried he’d incur her wrath if he wasn’t generous enough.

At every house, it was the same routine—Celestia waiting at the back, receiving varying degrees of shocked and terrified looks from adults who, in their attempts to please the foals, practically threw candy at them. Every time, she gently reminded the foals to wait until later to eat their treats since none of them had had a proper meal yet. This caused a bit of grumbling among her crew, but even they could tell she meant business.

She began to notice adults slipping a little more into the foals’ baskets as they progressed, while the foals giggled over their growing haul. She figured it might be her presence and not just their convincing costumes. Who would dare to risk giving brussels sprouts to the foals when Princess Celestia herself was right there, standing in judgment?

Unfortunately for them she had to teleport half of candy back to the original bowls, to which tiny Sombra screamed in frustration at her like a pissy bitc—

Thankfully they went to a few snobby and arrogant nobles houses for the Trick-or-Treating, so she got to release her emotions by looking as scary as possible; removing the tactile goggles and putting it above her eyes, removing her balaclava to grit her teeth as she spoke "Trick-or-Treat", and unfurling her wings a bit.

Safe to say the nobles wouldn't do anything bad for weeks, or look at her in the eye.

The real surprise came when she noticed something just past the houses, lurking in the shadows. Paparazzi.

Great. No doubt tomorrow’s headlines would be full of wild gossip and plenty of exaggerated accounts of Princess Celestia’s “reluctant participation” in Nightmare Night festivities.

Or the fact she was acting like their mom.

Not to mention, she’d also caught a few journalists and photographers lurking behind the hedges, cameras making noises every now and then as they recorded her every motherly “Trick-or-Treat” and resting expression, especially her adults-turned-children friends being adorable. Oh, the headlines tomorrow were going to be something.

Finally, as they were walking back down a cobblestone path, her shoulders aching from holding herself together in the face of the most grueling assignment she’d had in ages, Sombra piped up with a mischievous glint in his eye.

“Hey, Tia,” he smirked. “Let’s hit one more house. Just for the candy. Pleaaaase?”

OH YOU SON OF A—!

She agreed after the others pleaded with puppy eyes.

(The photographers and journalists now have another headline where she was glaring at unsuspecting noble while speaking "Trick-or-TREAT" in the most disappointed tone ever.)

(She almosy regrets loving Halloween—or Nightmare Night.)

“GET BACK TO YOUR EQUESTRIA!” Celestia bellowed, attempting to push a squirming Chrysalis toward the portal, which shimmered ominously in the middle of her training room. The portal was tall enough to accommodate her alicorn stature, but she’d underestimated just how stubborn her tiny companions could be.

“I don’t wanna!” Chrysalis shrieked, planting her little hooves down with a magical resistance that, frankly, defied physics. Celestia, draft-horse-sized and all, was straining against the sheer obstinacy of this pint-sized changeling.

Celestia gritted her teeth.

How is this tiny thing so heavy?

Celestia was beyond tired. Trick-or-treating had been… chaotic, to put it mildly, and while she had managed to get the foals to eat a proper meal before diving into their candy hoard, wrangling them afterward had been its own form of Tartarus and hell combined. Now, she was trying to usher them all back to their respective Equestrias, and it was proving to be harder than ruling the kingdom itself.

Nightmare Moon, thankfully, was asleep, snoring softly under a pile of candy wrappers she had claimed as her bed. Midnight Sparkle had been cooperative enough to head for her portal without a fuss, but the rest? Not so much.

Absolutely not so fucking much.

Sombra, however, was another story. The little tyrant flailed and shrieked as Celestia attempted to steer him toward his portal. “NO! I’M NOT GOING BACK! I WANT MORE CANDY!” he yelled, voice echoing through the room.

Before Celestia could even respond, a tiny hoof shot out from beside him.

SMACK! Filly Sunset, who had up to now remained rather calm, had slapped Sombra hard enough to stun him into silence, looking at him in pure annoyance.

“Thank you, Sunset, you get Sombra's candy. Just five pieces.” Celestia sighed in mild relief, though she had no doubt Sombra would start wailing again as soon as he recovered.

"Midnight—Midnight dearie thank you for being patient and NIGHTMARE MOON GET BACK HERE OH MY GOD—" Celestia’s horn flared, grabbing the tiny princess out of the air before she could devour an entire section of padding.

“What is happening? Are you stupid once you wake up? Gotta charge your mind?” Celestia muttered, lifting Nightmare Moon like a doll to eye level, who merely giggled as her tiny hooves flailed, refusing to talk.

"And—TEMPEST! NO!" Tempest had made a break for it, sprinting to the far side of the room.

As Celestia lunged for her, tiny Nightmare Moon took the opportunity to start chewing on one of the training dummies, apparently convinced it was made of cotton candy. Celestia managed to snatch her up by the scruff like a wayward kitten, barely dodging a mouthful of fluff.

She turned back toward Tempest—who had once again darted off— she chased her and promptly tripped on a rogue candy wrapper, sending her crashing face-first onto the floor with an undignified squawk, her crown skidding off somewhere with her.

“Haha! She fell! The fool fe—” Sombra’s taunt was cut short as Celestia’s magic flared. She lifted him up, gave him a little (not a little) shake for good measure, and then flung him unceremoniously through direction of his portal as he let out a surprised yelp as Celestia also chucked his bowl of candy to the portal.

Celestia staggered to her hooves, mane askew, eyes twitching, and gave the room a final, frazzled sweep before her mane blazed into fire.

“Plan B for you foals." She calmly stated, "I'm going to let you keep all of your candy, if you go inside your Equestrias. If."

The room went still. The foals shared glances, a mix of awe and sudden obedience softening their expressions. They nodded in unison, an agreement finally reached.

True to her polite reincarnated human nature, Midnight Sparkle was the first to go. She offered Celestia a quick, dignified bow and slipped through her portal without so much as a complaint. Tempest, after a brief goodbye nod that was almost sentimental, walked through hers.

Chrysalis, on the other hoof, required a bit of magical… assistance. With her little limbs kicking in protest as she held a bowl of candy, Celestia lifted her up and floated her toward the portal, sighing as she hovered there for a final, somewhat sarcastic "Goodbye, Princess Celestia." "Be lucky you won't remember most of this day, idiot. I'll miss your Fluttershy persona-self." The moment Chrysalis’s hoof disappeared, Celestia dropped her magic, watching with profound relief as the portal closed.

Finally, there was Sunset. Celestia was about to nudge her gently forward when, to her astonishment, a familiar white hoof emerged from the portal. It reached toward Sunset, guiding her gently through as her friend waved bye at her. The same hoof then plucked the overflowing bowl of candy out of Celestia’s magical grasp. Celestia stared, half-convinced she’d imagined it.

But as the portal began to close, she swore she heard a warm voice, soft and fond, floated back to her.

“Thank you.”

...

"Well that wasn't ominous at all!" Celestia exclaimed to herself.

She's going to need to clean the whole floor from the candy wrappers.

She's going to punch her friends once they turn back into adults in the next couple of hours.

She smacks them in the back of their heads with a newspaper the next day that had headlines of "PRINCESS CELESTIA: SECRET MOTHER?" and "PRINCESS CELESTIA JOINS NIGHTMARE NIGHT".

Author's Note

I don't know why I made Sombra like this lol, I think I just wanted him to be a spoiled brat???