Equestria Noir Case 13 "Blue Moon"by Jacoboby1ChaptersChapter 2 "Blood Moon"Chapter 3 "Nocturne"Chapter 4 "Lust"Chapter 5 "Trapped"Chapter 6 "Face Thy Darkness"Chapter 7 "Destroy Thine Evil"EpilogueChapter 1 "Preparations" Chapter 2 "Blood Moon"Chapter 2 “Blood Moon” “I can’t honestly believe that was a Vampony,” I said to Twilight. We were sitting together, as Forceps examined Platinum Blade’s very cold body. “They’re a myth, a story to keep foals from running outside past bedtime.” “Private, the Mare in the Moon was an old mare’s tale until Nightmare Moon came back,” Twilight pointed out. “Somehow, I don’t think a Vampony is as farfetched.” Forceps walked over to us, his dark face grim “I hate to say it, sonny, but your marefriend is pretty close to the money on this one.” “How so?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at the old stallion. “The cause of death was rapid hypovolemia, or blood loss.” Forceps looked back at the body, and tapped the marks on the neck with a gloved hoof. “Whatever did this sucked the blood out, like juice through a straw.” “Like I said,” Twilight said, shaking a little, “we may have a Vampony on the loose.” I rolled my eyes, and looked at Forceps. “Did you find anything else on the body?” “I found this caught in her armor,” Forceps replied, pulling out a strange medallion on a broken chain. Etched on it was a picture of the mare in the moon, only the eye was blood red, and a single teardrop of blood came from its eye. “It looks like Nightmare Moon’s colors,” Twilight observed, taking the medallion in her magic and setting it on her hoof, “only the eye is different. I’m going to run by the library and see what I can find out about this.” I nodded. “I’m going to look around where Platinum was attacked.” I looked at Forceps. “Get Dunnit on the phone, and tell him to inform her family of the bad news” Forceps nodded and returned to the body. When I looked into the blood red eye of the medallion I couldn’t help but shudder for some reason. I’ve seen that symbol before, but where? Better yet, when? __________________________________________________________ Luca sniffed the bloody ground around where Platinum’s body had been. He looked at me with those yellow eyes of his, and I could see guilt in them. I rubbed the wolf’s ears in comfort “it’s okay boy, we’ll find out who did this.” His nose suddenly went to the ground and he howled at a nearby bush. I walked over and saw what he was barking at. It was an old musty book. It was relatively dry but its pages were yellowed. I opened the book and looked inside; there was no writing on the pages. No words, no entries, nothing. Not even a title or something to determine who it belongs to. I put the book inside my trench coat. It may have appeared to be junk but you never know with a case like this. I noticed another object on the ground. It was shiny and metallic so I picked it up with my magic. It was a necklace; it had a crescent moon with a sapphire on it. It was well crafted and beautiful. I wonder if it was a gift for somepony? I put it inside a plastic bag and slipped it into my trench coat. I was about to leave when- “Um Excuse me-“ “Ah!” I said, in shock. I turned around to see a strange looking pony. He was clad in a black suit, with a white shirt, and a red tie. I couldn’t read his expression, maybe because he didn’t have a face. An odd choice for a Nightmare Night costume… “I’m terribly sorry but I’m looking for somepony running around with a flashlight,” he explained, in a very odd sounding voice. It didn’t sound threatening, just lost. “No, I haven’t seen anypony running around with a flashlight,” I replied, with a shrug. “Have you seen anypony in a black cloak with a blue lining?” “That guy?” he asked, tapping his blank chin with his hoof. “Yeah, I did see him run off into the forest. Didn’t even stop to say hello, how incredibly rude.” “Did you see where he went by any chance?” I asked. “No, I’m afraid not,” He answered, with a shake of his blank face. “I’ve been running around all day trying to catch that flashlight fellow, and I didn’t pay the other fellow any mind.” “Why are you chasing a pony with a flashlight?” I felt compelled to ask. “The guy keeps stealing the flyers I am putting up!” he said, in obvious frustration. “I’m trying to promote a monster rock concert. I don't know why he is taking them! I keep catching him, and sending him back; but for some reason, more ponies with flashlights show up! You’d think it was a game or something!” “Sorry” I said, with a frown “If I see the guy I’ll let you know.” He nodded. “Thank you good sir, I am happy to have your assistance in this matter.” “You’re welcome Mr-“ “Just call me Slender,” he said, with a wave of his hoof. “Now I’m afraid I must be on my way.” He turned on his hooves and walked into the forest. “What a nice guy,” I said, with a smile. I looked back at Luca who was hiding behind a tree. “What’s gotten into you?” He whined a little, and his head gestured towards the direction behind me. I looked back, the mysterious pony was gone. I forgot to compliment him on such a unique costume. I wonder why I’ve never seen him before… This just keeps getting weirder… ______________________________________________________ Midnight found Twilight and I pouring over book after book, searching for the symbol. So far our efforts have been about as fruitless as persuading a Parasprite to go on a diet. Twilight tossed another book into the ever growing pile next to her, “Nothing! All these books in the library and not one of them mention the symbol!” “It looks like a religious icon,” I observed, studying the medallion again. “Try looking up ancient cults,” I suggested, glancing over at Twilight. She nodded, floating a book down off one of the shelves. “Cults of Ancient Equestria,” she said, reading the title aloud. “Let’s see, Celestia’s Witnesses’, Order of the Philomena, Red Light, Wrath of the Lamb. Ah ha!” She exclaimed, pointing at an entry. “Here’s the symbol!” I ran to her and looked over her shoulder. Sure enough the symbol was there among the other cults of Equestria’s past. I read the entry aloud, “The Cult of the Blood Moon… see Mare in the Moon?” “Never thought I’d have to dig that out again,” Twilight said, pulling another old book out from a shelf. She opened it and scanned the pages. “I’ve never read this far back in the story before.” “Just look for the symbol” I said, looking over her shoulder as she turned the pages. “Maybe it will explain what it means” Twilight stopped at one of the later chapters of the book “Here it is, The Cult of the Blood Moon was established shortly before the banishment of Nightmare Moon.” “That was a thousand years ago,” I added. “What’s a symbol doing in modern times?” “There’s more,” she said, looking over at me then back at the book. “This cult believed that by drinking the blood of Nightmare Moon, they could gain immortality. While nopony knows if actual immortality was possible, the blood of an Alicorn is said to have extraordinary powers. Upon drinking the blood, ponies were said to become incredibly strong physically; but they also went insane. Many attacked and killed ponies that had wronged them in the past, raped ponies they lusted over, and stole whatever they desired.” “Sounds like the blood made them feel like they could get a free pass,” I said, grimly. “What happened to them?” “According to the book, they disbanded when Princess Celestia used the Elements of Harmony to defeat Nightmare Moon, banishing her,” Twilight replied. “That’s all it says. There's no mention of who founded it, or even what its purpose was, beyond worshiping Nightmare Moon.” “Did Celestia ever tell you about this?” I asked, looking at her. She shook her head. “No, I’ve never heard of anything so… evil to have come out of Equestria. I can’t believe nopony ever told us about this in history class.” “They probably wanted to keep it from becoming a witch hunt,” I said, sagely. “I remember this one case County had way down in Saddlem. A bunch of ponies believed they were infiltrated by a witch cult. They hunted down their neighbors left and right, often for personal gain.” “So what do we do now?” Twilight asked, closing the book “All we have is a dead body, and some guy running around in the woods biting necks.” I put a hoof on my chin in thought. “Then we'll have to go to the source.” “What source?” Twilight asked, looking at me curiously. “Princess Luna herself…” __________________________________________________________ We arrived at Canterlot around one in the morning. Rainbow and Raiden flew us there by sky chariot touching down on the deserted grounds of Canterlot Castle. They quickly flew off so they wouldn’t be spotted. I looked around; the night guard hadn’t noticed us, thanks to an invisibility spell that Twilight cast on us. She and I ducked into a nearby bush as the spell wore off. “I’m not as good as Trixie when it comes to illusion magic, it seems,” Twilight said, blushing a little. “It’s all right.” I patted her, comfortingly. “Now, do you know where Luna’s room is?” “You’re just going to barge into her bedroom in the middle of the night; and ask Luna about something she probably has bad memories about?” Twilight asked, chidingly. “You can’t just do that, Private.” “It’ll take too long to get an appointment,” I explained, “and I want the answers to come from Princess’ lips. Preferably before she has time to prepare some cover story.” “All right, what do you need me to do?” Twilight asked, obviously still uncomfortable with the whole idea. “Pretend you’re paying a surprise visit to Celestia,” I explained, while peeking out, looking for guards. “The guards will be more focused on guarding you then they will on me.” “I guess,” she agreed reluctantly. She pulled me in, kissing me on the lips. “Just be careful.” I kissed her back, I felt strangely disappointed when she stopped kissing me. I shook my head and smiled at her lovingly. “I’ve leapt into burning buildings, and gotten shot at. What’s the worst that could happen?” Famous last words… _____________________________________________________________ Twilight’s surprise visit worked perfectly. The guards left the Night Court to handle guarding her, allowing me to sneak in unnoticed. I didn’t see any Lunar stallions as I walked the marble halls of the night wing. They must all be out on watch or something. I looked at the map of the castle that Twilight gave me, and then checked my watch “1:30…Luna should be back in about half an hour to switch places with Celestia. I’ll catch her right before she-“ I pulled out my gun and aimed at the ceiling, where I thought I heard a sound. I didn’t see anything in the high arched ceilings so I put my gun away. This whole Nightmare Night thing has gotten me jumpy is all. Now where is Luna’s-? “AMBUSH!!!” Suddenly a huge weight fell on my shoulders, slamming me to the ground. I felt something try and grab me around the neck. My horn glowed and whatever was on me flew off and crashed into a nearby wall. It looked like a Lunar Stallion. He had a grey coat and yellow cat like eyes that glared at me. He was smaller, though, probably no older than a colt. He must be a trainee or something… “GET HIM!!!” Oh shi- Another mini Lunar Stallion landed on me, slamming a frying pan onto my head. I started seeing stars, and fell to the ground in a heap. The last thing I saw before I fell unconscious was 24 yellow pairs of eyes looking at me. All belonging to Lunar Stallions. My grey eyes closed as I slipped into unconsciousness.... ______________________________________________________ When they reopened again, I felt myself lying on something soft. It was dark so I couldn’t see anything… I tried to get up, but I found myself unable to move. I could see moonlight peeking from somewhere nearby. I lay still waiting for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. Once they had, I looked down at my legs, and saw that they were tied together with an intricate series of ropes. I was hogtied and not happy about it. Those jerks tied me up! I can’t believe I lost to a bunch of ten year olds! Tailspin will never let me live this down! I gotta call for help! “MMMPH!!!” Was what came out of my mouth. I must gagged or something if I couldn’t create a comprehensive sentence. I wiggled in the bindings trying to break free. Unfortunately, the ropes held my legs tightly in place. I tried to conjure up magic but the familiar feeling of having it blocked came up. They must’ve stuck an inhibiter ring on my horn. I scooted over on the very soft surface making my way towards the moonlight. I heard a clinking sound as I moved; and felt a slight tug at my neck when I got just close enough to reach the moonlight. Those twerps not only hogtied and gagged me, but they collared me like a dog to this soft place! I need to have a word with their mother’s when I get out of… Oh Celestia no! I managed to get my hooves towards the moonlight, and what they felt, was a curtain. Not just any curtain mind you, but the kind you put on a bed. It hit me like a piano dropping on my head. I was on a bed! I was tied up and on some kind bed! I rubbed my muzzle along the blankets, they were silk! Only rich ponies can- Wait, if I haven’t left the palace then, this room probably belongs to either Twilight or one of the princesses. I turned my muzzle around studying the linens; the moon shaped markings on the many pillows told me exactly who this bed belonged to. I was laying hog tied in the bed of The Princess of the Night Herself! Okay Private, don’t panic. Maybe when Luna comes in she’ll see this whole situation and understand this is all just a crazy mistake. Then again, what if she doesn’t, and arrests me for trespassing? No, she would see that I am clearly held here against my will, and release me. Wait, what was that smell? I sniffed my belly and my eyes grew wide in shock. Those kids covered my belly with Essence de pure chaleur. Cologne used to attract mares and put them in heat! They were hoping to turn me into a harem slave! This bad! Very bad! Luna hasn’t had a stallion in over a thousand years. Sure, she’s been back in Equestria for a while, but she hasn’t taken a lover since. One whiff of me and she’s bound to pounce on me like a Changeling on a love struck couple. What do I do if Luna decides to make me into her harem slave? Do I refuse? If I do, I would be denying Royalty! She would probably lock up Tailspin or something to keep me here! Do I accept? Twilight would hate me forever! I can say goodbye to the most wonderful mare in existence! No matter which way you look at it… I’M SCREWED!!! I tried desperately to break the ropes; but escape artistry was never my strong suit back at the academy. There was no hope of breaking out of these bindings, and even if I did the chain and the inhibiter ring are still a problem. Twilight, if she does make me into a sex slave, know I will always love you! Squeak… I stiffened as I heard a door open. All right Private, don’t breath or anything, maybe they won’t notice you shaking like a leaf. I heard a very refined voice speak on the other side of the curtains, “What is that wretched smell? It smells like what some of the nobles wear when my sister comes to court” Sister? Oh crap! That’s Luna! Why did I feel longing for her instead of fear, like I should? I heard hoof steps. She was coming closer. I tried to stay as still as possible but then a hoof reached up and opened the curtains surrounding the bed. I blinked at the light of the room, and opened my eyes. Luna was smaller than Celestia. Her coat was midnight blue and shone in the moonlight. Her mane was long and ethereal like her sisters, but it seemed like a tiny night sky was in it. Her wings were tucked at her sides and looked like she could easily cover my whole body with one of them. Her teal eyes blinked in surprise upon seeing me. She rubbed them with her silver shoed hooves and looked at me again. She spoke a name, one that I didn’t know, yet was familiar somehow. “Nocturne….?” Chapter 3 "Nocturne"Chapter 3 “Nocturne” Nocturne? Who now? I watched as the Princess climbed onto the bed and pressed her muzzle to my cheek. I was being nuzzled by royalty! I tried to speak but what came out was, “Mmphkrmrmph!” “We know. We are glad to see you again as well, Nocturne!” Luna exclaimed. “We cannot believe it’s really you!” I can’t believe it’s me either, but that’s a different story. I stiffened as Luna pressed her angular head into my neck. This is not good at all. I have to get the point across that I’m not this Nocturne. “Why do you not embrace me, Nocturne?” Luna asked, then she looked at me. “Oh, that would explain it.” Her horn glowed, and the gag came out of my mouth.“Your Highness, I’m-“ She covered my mouth with a hoof. “No need to be so formal, Nocturne, We have told you many times to call us Luna.” She removed her hoof and I spoke frantically, “I wouldn’t know anything about that!” “Are you unwell, Nocturne?” Luna asked, with a raised eyebrow. “What are you speaking of?” “I should be asking you that question, You- I mean, Luna” I said, shaking my head. “I’m not Nocturne!” Luna’s turquoise eyes turned from disbelief to a slow rising anger. I’m in trouble… Suddenly I was lifted by her magic, and slammed down onto my back, on the bed. She pinned me down with one hoof, her nose inches away from mine. “You are an impostor then! Our Lunar Stallions wouldn’t have brought you here like this if you came here legitimately! Who are you?” “I’m Detective Private Eye!” I said, frantically. “Your crazy Lunar Stallions knocked me out and tied me up here!” “We will see if you are lying!” Her horn glowed a bright cyan as she touched my horn. Suddenly I saw my life literally flashing before my eyes, I saw myself as a foal in my dad’s forelegs. I saw myself defending Potso after he was wrongly accused of stealing food at the picnic. Moongale singing at the school play, Tailspin being born, Larksong and I kissing for the first time, Twilight and I sleeping next to each other at her brother’s house. All my cases solved, and unsolved… When it was over Luna’s fury had subsided, and she looked at me with sympathy. “Forgive us. We had to know if you were being truthful.” “What did you do exactly?” I asked. “Did you just read my mind?” “Not your mind, ” Luna explained, her horn glowing again as I felt the ropes go lax on my legs, “just your memories. We know it was a breach of privacy but we had to make sure you were not simply an assassin, trying to slay us.” I wiggled out of the ropes and I felt the collar around my neck unlock. I pulled the inhibiter ring off my horn with my newly freed hooves. I looked up at Luna and bowed my head. “Please forgive me for intruding, Your Highness.” “We wish to know what you are doing here,” Luna demanded, looking down at me. “We did not see that in your memories.” “Couldn’t you just look into my head again and find that memory?” I asked, with my head still bowed. “We could, but looking up a specific memory is like finding a needle in a haystack,” she replied. “We can see you are an honest stallion. So, why are you in our chambers?” The Lunar Stallions didn’t remove my trench coat so everything was still there for me to show. I pulled out the strange medallion and held it up to her. “This was found on the body of a dead solar guard, are you aware of its origins?” Luna’s eyes went wide and she looked at me. “That belongs to the Cult of the Blood Moon, a cult that worshipped…” she replied softly, hanging her head in shame, “us.” “You mean Nightmare Moon,” I asked, looking at her. “No,” she answered, shaking her head. “We are not a separate entity from Nightmare Moon, Detective. She is part of us, or she was, until your friend Twilight Sparkle defeated us.” I tried not to figure out the specifics of this whole evil side business. I decided to move on. “Is it true that worshipers drank your blood?” “Tis true,” she replied, nodding. “They did drink of our blood and the blood of others, back when we were Nightmare Moon.” “To gain immortality?” I asked, blinking at her. “Yes,” she answered. “Though, we have little memory as to how it came about. Nightmare Moon was active most of the time in our dealings with the cult. We are not sure about the specifics as to what happened.” “How do you not remember this?” I asked, curiously. “Are you asleep or something when Nightmare Moon is active?” “In a way,” Luna explained. “When we changed into Nightmare Moon we went into a stasis almost. It has been a while since that has happened though.” “How does Nocturne fit into all of this? Judging by the way you reacted to me, he must have been somepony special.” A faint blush came to Luna’s cheeks, and she ran a hoof across the bed. “We are sorry to have mistaken you for a lover of ancient past.” She smiled at me slowly. “You bear a striking resemblance to him.” “Wouldn’t he be dead by now though?” I asked. Luna shook her head. “No, we remember that Nocturne was one of the first to drink of our blood. He must have become immortal. That is why we believed you to be him.” This Nocturne guy must have been a member of the cult. A pretty high ranking member if Luna held him in such high regard. “What was Nocturne like?” “He was a proud member of the original Lunar Stallions, before my banishment,” Luna replied, wistfully. “He was brave, and strong with a strong sense of justice. He was our most loyal follower, and we quickly developed feelings for him.” “He sounds like a great stallion” I said, smiling a little. “He was, although he seemed reluctant to get close to us at first. I suppose we must’ve intimated him,” she said, with a faint blush, “but soon we became close. Our last memories before our banishment were of being together with Nocturne.” “Do you recognize this at all?” I asked, pulling out the crescent moon necklace. “I found it near the body." “Tis odd” Luna said, tapping her hoof on her chin. “That looks like one of the necklaces that Marigold would make for our lunar stallions.” “Who was Marigold?” I asked. “She was a Lunar Mare,” she explained. “Originally, she was wanted to be a solar guard, but back then she didn’t get far because of her gender. The Lunar Stallions sort of adopted her as one of their own. She was kind, and very pretty. We all loved her like a little sister.” “So, she made these necklaces for them?” I asked, looking at the crescent moon. “Her hobby was making jewelry,” Luna reminisced, with a small smile. “She was the pony that made my regalia.” She gestured to the black regalia on her chest. The Lunar Stallions that joined the cult probably kept their necklaces. Now that I think about it, the culprit did bear a striking resemblance to me. Maybe that was Nocturne… “I also found an old book next to the body” I said, pulling out the book. “Did this belong to Nocturne, by any chance?” Luna nodded. “That was his diary.” “All the pages are blank,” I pointed out. “It’s a magical diary," she explained. "You write a question in it and the diary will bring up the answer, as if it were the pony it belonged to.” I made a mental note to try that when I got back. I slipped the evidence back into my trench coat, and bowed my head before Luna. “Thank you for your time, Your Highness.” Luna smiled, “You need not address me with such formality, Detective. Please call me Luna.” “Very well, Luna.” I said, with a smile. “I will continue to investigate this matter.” “Also, please forgive my Lunar Stallions for tying you up,” Luna said, with a blush of embarrassment. “They are as loyal as German Shepherds, and simply wished to protect me.” I nodded; I guess I couldn’t argue against loyalty. Though, I would’ve preferred if they simply escorted me, rather than tying me up like an offering. As I walked out of Luna’s room, I experienced an odd feeling of guilt. I wonder if this Nocturne holds the answers I’m looking for? ________________________________________________________ “Well, how did it go?” Twilight asked, as we rode the train back to Ponyville. “I learned that I, apparently, resemble an old lover of Luna’s, Nocturne,” I replied, shaking my head. “That, and it seems that he was the one in charge of the cult.” “I’m too tired to think about it anymore,” Twilight said, yawning widely. “We’ve been up all day and night; I’m hoping to get some sleep.” I smiled as she leaned against me, and put her head on my shoulder. Her breathing was slow and rhythmic. I nuzzled her on the head and a smile came to her face. “Sleep well, my Twilight,” I said, kissing her on the head softly. She’s beautiful, so beautiful, and brilliant… I know, she’s something else… Shame she doesn’t let you act on your love for her… What are talking about? You know you want her… She said she’s not- She just doesn’t know what she’s missing; you've just got to show her how wonderful it can be… I shook my head, odd how the voice appeared again. I looked over at Twilight as she leaned against me. She did look beautiful; I found my eyes wandering down her body and down to her flank… Come on Private, get a hold of yourself! I decided to distract myself and pulled out Nocturne’s diary. I opened it to the first page. Luna said you just had to write in it? Well, let’s try it. I levitated out a pen and started writing “Hello, my name is Private Phelps Eye. Who are you?” When I finished writing words formed themselves from below my writings. Hello Private, my name is Nocturne. This is Nocturne’s diary! Now I can ask the stallion directly. I wrote again, “Do you know anything about the Cult of the Blood Moon?” Again words appeared below it, or should I say word? Yes. “Can you tell me?” I asked, on the paper. No, Disappointed, I was ready to close the book when words appeared again. but I can show you. Say what now? Let me take you back a millennium ago, The pages moved by themselves to a later page in the book. I watched with wide eyes as the spine of the page seemed to glow, and a blue mist started to seep out of the book. Suddenly a bright light enveloped my vision, and everything went black… ___________________________________________________________ I opened my eyes and found myself staring in a mirror. I wasn’t my image reflected back in the mirror though. The stallion was big; his coat was the same grey and his mane the same brown. His eyes were a soft brown, though. The pony I was seeing seemed to be fussing with his brown mane, as though he was going on a date or something… He stopped messing with his mane and smiled at himself. “Thou wilt be fine, Nocturne,” he told himself. “Luna just called to speakest with me. Thou wilt be fine.” So this was Nocturne! No wonder Luna mistook me for him. He and I look almost exactly alike, except for our eyes and body shape. He was certainly more muscular then I am, probably from years in combat. He walked over and picked up a strange medallion, etched with a closed eye. He slipped it over his neck and tapped it. The medallion made a sound like the unsheathing of a sword and black armor formed on him. His coat retained its grey color but his mane disappeared under the helmet. He looked back at himself in the mirror. His eyes were now bright yellow and cat like, defiantly a Lunar Stallion. He smiled at himself, and I saw that he had piranha like teeth. I hated to imagine what he had to use them for. He didn’t have the bat like wings of his modern counterparts, probably because he wasn't a pegasus, but a unicorn. I guess you can’t change what wasn’t there in the first place. He walked out, and I saw that we were standing in a barracks of some sort. All around me were Lunar Stallions, clad in similar armor to Nocturne. They were doing the things soldiers usually did while off duty, played cards, talking about this or that, drinking. One Lunar Stallion waved at Nocturne to get his attention, then spoke to his fellow soldiers. “Look everypony! Nocturne’s trying to look all fair for somepony!” My host rolled his eyes. “Thou speakest nonsense, Blackstar.” Another Lunar Stallion pointed at Nocturne. “No, look at his coat! So well groomed. He’s venturing out to see a fair lass!” I felt my host turn bright red. Blackstar spoke again, “So, speakest friend! Tell us who ist thy lucky lady!” “Tis no one,” Nocturne retorted. “I’m merely off to see Princess Luna!” Nocturne suddenly covered his mouth as he realized he said that out loud. Everypony in the room stopped what they were doing, and stared at him. One, wiry, thin, Lunar Stallion stood up from his card game. “What makest thou think Princess Luna wants to deal with thee?” Nocturne looked at the ground, I felt a wave of embarrassment wash over him. “She merely wishest to speakest to me.” “Thou?” the thin stallion asked, with a look of disdain. “Thou art only a cadet! Why wouldst she want to speakest to thee?” “I don’t know, Nightwind,” Nocturne confessed. “I'm merely answering her summons.” “Perhaps thou and she art doing more than simply talking battle strategies!” Nightwind accused. Nocturne’s fury became evident; he growled low like a lion. “Thou darest slander thy Princess?” Blackstar looked at Nightwind grimly. “Thou shouldn’t have said that, my friend. Nopony ist more loyal to Her Highness than Nocturne." “I simply wished to make sure he’s not taking advantage of our Princess!” Nightwind muttered, darkly. “Bastard!” Nocturne cried, as he leaped with terrible ferocity at Nightwind. The two knocked over a card table as they began hitting each other. I felt Nocturne’s pain and pure fury as he wailed on Nightwind. “Please, stop fighting!” I heard a feminine voice speak up. Immediately the two stallions stopped fighting and looked up. I saw a beautiful white coated, blond maned, Pegasus mare, with equally beautiful silver eyes. She looked down at both of them with obvious disappointment. The two stallions got up and dusted themselves off. Nocturne looked at the young mare apologetically. “Sorry Marigold, I shouldst not have lashed out at him.” Nightwind simply snorted and walked off. Marigold walked up to Nocturne and looked him over, “Thou art not hurt, are thee?” “I’m fine, Marigold” Nocturne replied, with a smile. “I wast simply trying to defend Princess Luna’s honor.” She smiled. “Thou shouldest not worry about the other Lunar Stallions; I’ll keep them from starting bad rumors about thee.” She reminded me of Twilight almost… Nocturne nodded. “I’m going to speakest with the Princess now. Thou takest care of thine self, Marigold.” A faint blush came to the white Pegasus’s cheeks, as she walked off. Funny, I wonder if she cares for Nocturne as more than just a fellow soldier. __________________________________________________ I found myself standing in front of a pair of double doors. Nocturne let out a sigh and was about to knock on it, when they swung open for him. I saw Luna. She looked the same as she did now, but her clothing was different. She wore significantly more jewelry then she would’ve in modern times. She smiled upon seeing Nocturne. “Nocturne, we art pleased to see thee.” “Thou wanted to speakest with me, Princess?” Nocturne asked, his head bowed. She nodded and gestured for Nocturne to come in. Luna closed the doors behind him, and Nocturne turned to her. Luna reached out with her hooves and pulled Nocturne into a tender kiss. Nocturne blushed a little, but slowly returned it. They were lovers! Holy crap, Nocturne is kissing the Princess! Luna stopped kissing him for a moment, and pressed her head into Nocturne’s chest. Nocturne wrapped his forelegs around his princess, a big smile on his face. “Princess…” “Yes, my stallion?” Luna asked, as she pressed herself against him. “I love thee.” Suddenly light filled my eyes, and we seemed to have left this scene behind… _____________________________________________________________ I was standing in some kind of forested area. Nightwind was walking beside me, and Luna was in front of us. She looked back at us. “Nocturne, art tho sure 'twas around here?” “I’m sure, M'lady,” Nocturne, my host, answered with a nod. “The meteorite landed right around here” The trio stopped at a nearby crater, as Luna’s eyes scanned it. Inside the crater was a small blue stone. It was seeping some kind of blue mist that seemed almost alive. Wait… Luna walked towards the rock, and the mist suddenly swirled around her. Nocturne and Nightwind tried to jump into the mist, but they were knocked back by a strange force. Nocturne hit a nearby tree after being blasted away and fell unconscious. When he came to, he looked around, spotting Luna lying on her side nearby. Nocturne ran to Luna and looked her over. “Luna? Luna, art thou all right?!” Slowly but surely Luna’s eyes opened, only instead of her normal turquoise pony eye, she had reptilian ones. “We hast never been better, my stallion…” Chapter 4 "Lust"Chapter 4 “Lust” The scene flashed again and I found myself with my ear pressed against a door. I could tell I was still Nocturne. I heard a regal voice speaking on the other side of the door. “Luna, tis not like thee," the voice said, trying to sound gentle. “Thou hast had the moon up for so long, 'tis been night for at least a day.” “What art thou saying, sister?” I recognized Luna’s voice speaking, although there was a noticeable edge to it. “That we dost purposefully keep the moon up?” “We art not accusing thee,” I figured this had to be Celestia speaking. “We wishest only for thou to speakest to us, if not as thy fellow ruler, than as thy sister and friend.” “When hast thou ever been our friend? “ Luna asked, in a sinister tone. “Thou just wantest everypony to worship thee during thy precious day.” “Luna, thou art being unfair," Celestia said, pleadingly. “Tis not fair,” Luna said, stamping her hoof. “Thy subjects sleep and doest horrible acts during our night, but during thy day everypony are happy and joyous. Thou just wantest us to lower the moon so it canst continue!” “Luna!” Celestia exclaimed, with obvious shock. “Good night, sister!” My host had the good sense to hide behind a potted plant to keep from being trampled by Luna, as she stormed out of the room. Nocturne watched as Luna stomped away. Just then Celestia came out; her mane was pink as opposed to her tricolored mane in modern times. Like Luna, she too wore more jewelry than her modern counterpart. She looked over with her violet eyes to where Nocturne was hiding. “We knowest thou art hiding there, child of the night.” Nocturne walked out and bowed his head before the princess “Forgive me, M'lady, I heardest the shouting and felt compelled to investigate.” “Always so inquisitive, Nocturne,” Celestia said, with a bemused smile. “Thy curious attitude couldst get thee in trouble, one day.” “I only wishest to make sure Lu-, I mean, Her Highness, ist all right” Nocturne said, a faint blush coloring his cheeks. “We too worry for our sister,” Celestia said, closing her eye in thought. “Perhaps she shouldst speak with thee” “I am but a humble servant, M'lady!” the Lunar Stallion exclaimed, way too fast. “Dost thou thinkest us blind, child?” Celestia asked, smiling. “We art well aware of thine relationship with our sister.” Nocturne turned as red as a tomato. Celestia certainly didn’t mince words. “If thou disapprove…” Nocturne said, his ears flattening. “Far from it,” Celestia said, lowering her head so she was level with Nocturne. “We believe 'tis sweet that Luna hast found a pony to share her troubles, and joys with.” “I am glad to hearest that, M'lady,” Nocturne said, sighing in relief. “Though, art thou aware of what thou art taking on, by being Luna’s lover?” Celestia asked, with concern. “Couldst thou elaborate, M'lady?” my host asked, tilting his head in confusion. “We art immortal,” Celestia replied, in a somber tone. “Thou art not the first stallion she’s been drawn to. We wantest to be sure thou art ready for when she dost outlive you…” “Thou art saying she wilt be there for the rest of my life,” Nocturne said, in slow realization, “but I wilt not for all of hers.” “We art sorry to break this truth to thee,” Celestia said, with compassion. “We simply wishest for thou to realize it sooner, rather than later.” Nocturne got quiet for a while. I felt a vast amount of emotion coming from him, anger, guilt, even a little sorrow, all leaving the Lunar Stallion in a sorry state. He opened his now yellow eyes and looked at Princess Celestia directly. “I wilt consider this, M'lady, but I shalt not deny Luna the comfort she needeth right now.” Celestia smiled and walked off, her expression unreadable. The scene flashed again… _____________________________________________________ Nocturne was walking down the halls of Canterlot Castle when his ears perked up. He thought he heard a cry come from a nearby corridor. My host broke into a run and came upon a most disturbing scene. The Lunar Stallion, Nightwind, had Marigold pinned to the ground. His eyes were not yellow, but instead were blood red. Marigold let out a muffled scream as Nightwind pressed his hoof to her mouth. “I wilt take what I desire of thee…” Nightwind said, in a disgustingly sick tone. Nocturne leaped out from the shadows and tackled Nightwind. The two stallions tussled a little before Nocturne managed to sink his piranha like fangs into Nightwind’s leg. Nightwind let out a screech of pain, and leapt backward. Nocturne growled low as he stood protectively in front of the white pegasus. “Thou wouldst defile Marigold?” Nocturne roared, outraged. "Hast thou gone mad?” “Always the goody four hooves, Nocturne," Nightwind hissed, his head low and his fangs bared. “What dost Luna see in thee, anyway?” “Thou speakest madness,” Nocturne growled, his yellow eyes meeting Nightwind's. “I wilt bring thee before Celestia! She shalt judge thy fate!” Nocturne leaped towards Nightwind but suddenly a bright flash occurred, and the Lunar Stallion was gone. Nocturne growled in annoyance. “Hiding behind glamor spells, I see! Fine! Run like the coward thou art!” “Nocturne…” My host turned around to see Marigold looking at him with shining silver eyes. “Thou hast saved my life, and my honor.” “Tis nothing, Marigold,” Nocturne said, with a small smile. “I wouldst doest the same for anypony.” “Thou art so brave,” Marigold said, looking down. I could see a faint blush come to her cheeks. She stepped closer to the Lunar Stallion and met his yellow eyes with her own silver ones. “Forgive me…” “For wha-“ Nocturne was cut off when Marigold planted a kiss on his cheek. Then she flew off at a speed that would make Rainbow Dash proud. Nocturne reached up and touched his cheek where he was kissed by the lovely mare “Marigold…” Well, isn't this an interesting development? The scene flashed again… ____________________________________________________ When I came back, Nocturne had just opened the door to Luna’s room. I recognized the basic shape, but a lot of the decorations were different. Then again, things were bound to change in 1000 years. Nocturne’s eyes, however, were only on the silhouette of the mare behind the curtains of the bed. He tilted his head, and asked, “Luna?” “Thou hast come, my stallion.” Wait, that voice was defiantly not Luna’s. It sounded too, evil… Nocturne’s eyes grew wide as none other than Nightmare Moon emerged from behind the curtains. She was as big as Celestia; her coat was as black as a starless night. She was wearing a strange blue armor, including a helm of some sort. Her ethereal mane was similar, but it seemed almost… alive. Her turquoise reptilian eye looked right at Nocturne. “Doest thou find our appearance suitable, my stallion?” “What hast happened to thou, Luna?” Nocturne asked, his jaw dropping “Thine body…” “Tis a change to inspire a more, loyal, response from our subjects.” Her sneer dripped more evil then all of the bastards I’ve jailed, combined. “The mist,” Nocturne said, slowly. “It hast changed thee." “We art now a being the subjects will not only worship, but fear,” Nightmare Moon said, smiling evilly. “We plan to create a night that shalt last forever. Soon everypony wilt appreciate the night we’ve worked so hard to create.” “M'lady,” Nocturne gulped, nervously. She walked over to him, her ethereal mane seemed to caress Nocturne on the cheek. “Our sister hast made it clear to thee that thou art mortal?” “How didst thee-“ “We art not blind, nor stupid, Nocturne.” She said, with a smile. “Thou needest not worry about mortality any longer.” “What dost thou speakest of?” “We speakest of… our blood,” She replied, holding a leg before him. “ Thou hast only to drink of our blood, then the mist will enter thee as well. It shalt grant thee immortality, too. We canst be together forever, my love.” Nocturne looked down at the leg that Nightmare Moon was holding before him. His teeth showed as he opened his mouth, then… The scene faded… _____________________________________________________ My grey eyes blinked open, I was lying on a couch in Twilight’s house. I looked up and saw she was standing over me, looking concerned. “Are you all right?” “Yeah, I’m fine,” I said, with a nod. “I activated the diary, and then…” I went on to explain every tiny detail about what I had witnessed in Nocturne’s memory. Twilight raised an eyebrow when I finished. “It’s odd that he cut you off just as you were about to find out if he founded the cult.” “I think he might’ve,” I said, deep in thought. “What time is it, anyway?” “After the diary activated, you kind of passed out,” Twilight explained. “You were out all day, it’s almost seven at night now.” “Did you find out anything else while I was out?” I asked. “I did go back to the scene of the crime, but all I found was an odd paper stuck on a tree, and this box here.” She held up a small brown box. “I didn’t open it yet, though.” I levitated the box with my magic and held it in front of me. It didn’t appear to have any extraordinary markings or anything. Just a simple lock with a crescent moon shape. “Hold on a sec!” I reached into my coat, and pulled out my lock picking kit. After two whole minutes of picking at it, it finally gave way. I should’ve kept it closed… Suddenly, a blue mist came out of the box and entered my nostrils.The force of the mist entering me, knocked me back. Twilight screamed in shock, as I fell to the floor in a heap. I felt, strange… “Private, are you all right?” Twilight asked, frantically. “Say something!” She looks so… desirable. Doesn’t she? Yes. I closed my eyes, and faded into darkness…. ___________________________________________________________ When I awoke, it was still dark out. I was back on the couch with a blanket over me, how thoughtful of Twilight. I got up and shook the blanket off me. Looking over at a nearby clock, I saw it was just past ten p.m. Twilight should have company. Yes… You know where her room is. I’ve never actually entered it before…. Time for a change. Yes. I walked up the stairs to where I knew Twilight’s room was. I slowly opened the door and peeked in. Books were tucked everywhere, a telescope looked out towards the beautiful night sky. I heard soft breathing, and saw Twilight asleep on her bed. Twilight… I walked to her bed and looked at her, so beautiful, so brilliant, and so desirable… You want her. I do… How much? More than anything… Claim her. Make her yours. I crawled onto the bed, causing Twilight to stir in her sleep. I nuzzled her neck slowly, Her eyes suddenly shot open, and she looked up at me with confusion. “Private? What are you doing in my room?” “I got, lonely…” I said, slowly. “I wanted to see you.” She blushed a little, and smiled “All right, I guess we have been busy lately.” Too busy… Far too busy to appreciate you. Twilight lifted up the covers and I slid under them. I began kissing her tenderly; she let out a small squeak as I ran a hoof along her side. She broke away from our kiss. “Private, what’s gotten into you?” “Am I not allowed to give the mare I love what she deserves?” I asked, my voice husky with desire. “I just wasn’t expecting you to be so,” she paused, searching for the right word, “forward…” “I just think the time for talk is past,” I said, leering at her. “Let me show you how much I love you…” “Private, what are you-“ She was cut off when I kissed her again roughly. I pressed my coat to hers and kept the kissing her hard. I wanted her… Take her. Make her yours… “Private,” Twilight gasped, breaking away again. “Are you sure you’re okay, you’re acting very strangely.” “I’m fine," I replied, looking at her hungrily. “In fact, I'm better than ever…” “You’re being so aggressive,” Twilight said, nervously. “This isn’t at all like normal.” “Good,” I said, simply, “because when I’m normal, nothing happens.” “What are you talking about?” Twilight asked, worriedly. “Private, you know I love you.” Then she should let you act on it. She looked up at me with those wonderful amethyst eyes. I flipped her over so she was on her belly. “Then let me act on it, Twilight.” I said, climbing on top of her. “Private, what are you doing?” She looked back at me, incredulously. “I told you I’m not ready!” She just doesn’t know what she’s missing. “You just don’t know what you’re missing,” I said, roughly pulling up her tail. “Private,” she said, sobbing. “Stop! This isn’t…” “Shh,” I growled softly, in her ear. “You will soon see what I can provide…” “PREVENTUS PHELPS EYE, GET OFF ME!" Twilight shrieked, as I was hit by a huge blast of magic. It sent me sailing across the room into the far wall. I fell down in a heap, the voice suddenly silent. Wait, what did I almost do? I looked up as Twilight stood over me, her face streaked in tears. “Sorry Private,” she said, as her horn glowed again. As everything faded to black, only one thing crossed my mind… What have I done? ________________________________________________________ Chapter 5 "Trapped"Chapter 5 “Trapped” When my grey eyes finally reopened they were greeted by almost total darkness. I felt extremely light headed, and somewhat nauseous. Was I hit by an aesthetic spell? I guessed so, judging by how much my head hurts. I cast an illumination spell and looked around. I was in the spare room at the library, the one Twilight thought to offer me when I first came to Ponyville. It was almost perfectly square with only one small window, high up beyond my jumping range. My light found the door and I walked to it. I gave it a push, but it wouldn't budge. I tried to pull on the handle with my magic, locked? I knocked on the door. “Twilight? Twilight, are you there?” No answer. I turned and tried to buck the door. My legs literally bounced off the wall. It appeared to be wood, but it was as solid as steel. What the hell was going on? I started to panic. I was trapped…. No! No! Celestia No… I slammed my hooves on the door and shouted, “Twilight! Where are you? Let me out!” “Private,” I heard a familiar voice speak from the other side. “Oh, thank Celestia. Twilight,” I said, with a sigh of relief. “I was so worried I’d be trapped in here.” “…” “Twilight?” I said when silence greeted me. “Twilight, come on, let me out.” “Private, I can’t…” Twilight replied, softly. “What are you talking about?” I shouted. “Open this door!” “Private, after what you did…” Oh, Luna! No! Memories of what I almost did came flooding back to me. I realized with horror what I tried to do to Twilight. What I did… “Twilight, I’m sorry!” I said, frantically. “I don’t know what came over me! I’m so, so, very sorry!” I heard a sob on the other end. “I believe you, but until I can figure out what happened to you, I can’t risk it.” “Twilight, please,” I desperately cried. “I didn’t mean to do it! Please, just let me out!” “I’m sorry, Private” Twilight said, sobbing. “I just can’t trust you right now.” No! No! NO! Not again… “Twilight, please,” I begged, tears streaming down my face. “Please, don’t leave me in here. Please, let me out. I want to be with you." “I know you do,” Twilight said, sobbing all the more, “but I just can’t risk you doing it again! I’m sorry, Private. You’re just going to have to wait until I can figure out what happened.” I looked around at the small room around me; the walls seemed to be closing in. I was trapped… “Twilight!” I cried, slamming my hooves on the door. No answer… “Twilight, please!” I cried, desperately, pounding even harder on the door. I heard noises from outside! What were they? I can’t stay in here! “Twilight!” I began desperately bucking the door. NO! NO! NO! “Twilight, I’m sorry…” I fell to the floor and buried my face in my hooves. A crack was heard and I looked towards the window. I couldn’t reach it from my position and I couldn’t levitate up to it if I wanted to. It was raining outside. A storm was coming… Storms. Trapped. NO. I curled up into a ball. I was trapped! I was helpless… I wanted Twilight. I wanted her here, with me. Twilight, I love you! Let me out… __________________________________________________________ When next I opened my eyes, I found myself lying on a soft bed. I looked up and saw I was back in Luna’s room… How did I get here? “You are awake,” I heard a voice speak up next to me, I looked over and saw Luna looking back at me, her turquoise eyes filled with deep compassion. “How did I get here?” I asked, looking at the Princess of the Night. “I was trapped…” A shudder ran through my body as I remembered the walls closing in on me. “We heard your cries when Twilight Sparkle trapped you,” she replied, her face turning somber. “We know what it is like to be trapped.” “You must have good hearing,” I said, burying my face in the bed. I was too tired and too ashamed to bother with formalities. I felt Luna scoot over beside me, and wrap one of her large wings around me. I instinctively scooted closer to her, cuddling in. “Your mother must have had wings if you react this way,” Luna observed, gently nuzzling me on the head. “You are troubled…” I told her what happened. The box, the blue mist, and most importantly what I did to Twilight. “You are a victim of Miasma,” Luna said, knowingly. “Miasma?” I asked. “Isn’t that an ancient word for disease?” Luna shook her head. “We speak not of a mere disease. We speak of the substance known as Miasma. Long ago this substance threatened to cover all of Equestria. It causes living beings to give in to their darkest desires… We believe it was what turned us into Nightmare Moon in the first place.” “I wanted Twilight,” I said, closing my eyes in shame. “I can’t believe I did that.” “Nopony is truly invincible, Private.” Luna said, gently. “We all have a dark side in us that causes us to do evil. All we can do is try and overcome it.” “You talk like my mom” I said, smiling slowly. “Well, she never said the royal 'we' whenever she spoke.” We both laughed a little, I felt safe and comfortable sitting here in the wings of the Princess of the Night. “Forgive us for prying,” Luna said, slowly, “but why were you causing such a clamor about being locked up?” I flushed in embarrassment “I… I have Cleithrophobia” “Fear of being locked in an enclosed space?” Luna guessed. “Yes, I can’t stand being trapped in a room” I said, bowing my head in shame. “What caused this?” Luna asked, with concern. “When I was seven,” I explained, “I was playing outside when this storm came out of nowhere. I was too far away from the house to get to it in time. So, I took shelter inside a garden shed. While I was inside a tree branch got hit by lightning and fell, blocking the way out. I spent all night in that shed, unable see anything, things would bang alongside the walls as the storm went on. I was so terrified…” She nuzzled me gently on the head. “Have you told anypony about this?” “Only my parents, and I think my brother knows about it,” I replied, keeping my head down. “Twilight Sparkle didn’t know about it when she locked you up?” She asked. “No,” I admitted. “I never told her about that.” “It’s hard to admit fear like this,” Luna said, knowingly. “Maybe if you had told Twilight then and there that you were afraid, she would’ve let you go.” “What good would that do?” I retorted. “If Twilight knew about that, how could she ever see me as the strong pillar? I’m supposed to be the one in control! I’m supposed to be…” I shook my head. “Forgive me, Luna. I shouldn’t dump all of this on you.” She shook her own head in turn “It is refreshing that a pony is willing to confide in us. We understand now what Twilight Sparkle means to our sister. We simply know what it’s like to be trapped. It’s not a good feeling, and it can leave one with terrible scars. We will help you, however we can.” “Thank you, Luna,” I said, smiling slowly. “I do feel better talking about it.” “Come,” she said, getting up. “Let us get you some air.” We climbed off of the bed, and Luna led me out to a balcony. I looked up and saw the night sky in all its glory. The stars were glistening like a million tiny diamonds on the midnight blue canvas of the sky. I looked over and noticed Luna was simply looking at me. “It’s a beautiful night,” I said, smiling at her warmly. “It is,” she replied, but then she lowered her eyes to her hooves. “It's a shame nopony cares for it.” “Are you kidding me?” I asked, looking back up at the stars. “On a night like this, Twilight would probably drag me out for star gazing. Then we’d just sleep together in the moonlight." “We never realized our night could be so,” she paused for the right word, “romantic.” “It is,” I replied. “Did you make all those stars?” “No,” She said, with a slight chuckle. “They were already there when we were born. We are unsure of who put them there first. We simply rearrange what is there, to make it more beautiful.” “So, you made constellations?” I asked. “Indeed.” She pointed with her hoof at Orion’s belt “Named after a pony Tia had a crush on about fourteen centuries ago. He was always so proud of that belt of his; we put it in the sky to commemorate him.” She gestured to Taurus. “Named after a pet we owned at the menagerie, about twelve thousand years ago. Tia never liked bulls so we made that red star Aldebaran to give it a rather ferocious appearance.” “Sounds like you put a lot of thought into each one,” I said, looking up at her work. “It’s nice to know somepony appreciates what we have done.” Luna smiled. “We only wish more ponies cared for our night like you and Twilight Sparkle.” “I should probably get back to Ponyville” I said, with a sigh. “It was a pleasure talking with you, Luna.” “The pleasure is ours,” She replied smiling at me, but then her eyes fell on my open trench coat. Nocturne’s diary was sticking out. “Pray tell, did you find anything out about Nocturne in that diary?” “Nothing I think you wouldn’t already know about” I answered, shrugging, “but maybe it’ll work better if you write in it.” I levitated out the diary, passing it to Luna. Luna’s magic reached for a quill and ink and she began writing in the diary. “We are Princess Luna…” I looked over her shoulder as Nocturne answered: Hello Luna, I am Nocturne. Luna smiled with glee at me, and kept writing “Is that really you, Nocturne?” I’m afraid not, Princess, I am merely a memory of him. “Then tell me,” she wrote down, "is Nocturne still alive?” Slowly the word formed… Unlikely Luna’s eyes looked confused “We do not understand, he drank of our blood when we were Nightmare Moon.” “You don’t remember much of what happened when you were Nightmare Moon,” I pointed out. “It took me a while to remember what I did to Twilight, maybe Nocturne knows what happened.” Slowly words formed on the diary. Let me show you the last part of the tale… Light enveloped both me and Princess Luna. Here we go again… _________________________________________________________ Nightmare Moon was standing, surrounded by five strange ponies. Each bore an Element of Harmony. One bearing the Element of Loyalty, a pink pony with a blue mane was glaring at Nightmare Moon. “This is as far as thou goest!” “How didst thou find us?” Nightmare Moon asked, looking around at the five ponies surrounding her. A white Pegasus with a blond curly mane spoke almost scarily like Pinkie Pie, “'Twas easy silly. That nice Lunar Stallion told us where thou wast hiding.” An earth pony bearing the element of Honesty and also a striking resemblance to Applejack face hoofed. “Surprise, thou art not supposed to gloat! ’Tis the villains job!” A turquoise pony with a rather refined tone that reminded me of Rarity spoke up, “Tis no matter, Applejack. Tis only important that we hast captured the monster!” Applejack? No way! An earth pony that looked almost exactly like Fluttershy looked up at Nightmare Moon. “Um, if thou dost not stop hurting ponies, we wiliest, um…” The pink pegasus from before rolled her eyes. “Posy, for once in thine life try to act brave whilst we vanquish this villain.” Nightmare Moon laughed. “Celestia sends this to stop us? We must say thou art all quite amusing, but we must ask, who spookiest of our location?” My host moved from the shadows “I didst…” “Nocturne?” Nightmare Moon said, looking at my host in disbelief. “Thou told them where we wast?” “I didst,” Nocturne said, with a slow nod. “I told them and thy sister, so that they couldst stop thee.” “Our sister?! Nightmare Moon asked, in absolute shock. Just then Celestia descended from a skylight with a pony on her back. She was a pink color with a white mane and a violet strip running through it. On the unicorn’s head was the Element of Magic. She hopped off Celestia’s back and glared at Nightmare Moon. “Thy days of evil art over, Nightmare Moon!” Celestia glared at Nightmare Moon. “Thou art surrounded, and out classed, Nightmare Moon. ’Tis no way thou canst escape.” “Thou thinkest thou canst stop our eternal night?” Nightmare Moon gloated. “With a bunch of mares that hast never even touched the Elements of Harmony before?” “Thou underestimates just how much power these mares hast,” Celestia said, firmly. "We shalt give thee one chance to surrender.” Nightmare Moon glared at Nocturne. “Thou wouldst betray us, Nocturne? Thou wouldst betray the pony thou loved?” “You are not Luna…” Nocturne replied, sadly. Nightmare Moon’s reptilian eye dilated in shock. “Everypony now!” The Element of Magic shouted, her element glowed brightly and fired a beam at Nightmare Moon “Right behind thee, Twilight!” The pink pegasus shouted as her element activated. “Tis going to be fun!” Surprise exclaimed, with absolute glee. “I’m not sure if thou wouldst call this fun,” Posy said, as her element activated. “Just put all thine hearts into it!” Retro Applejack cried as hers activated. The refined speaking unicorn glared at Nightmare Moon “Thy time is up, monster,” she shouted, as her element activated. The elements concentrated on Celestia’s horn and it shone bright as the sun “For thy crimes against Equestria, We hereby banish thee to the moon for one thousand years!” A blast of rainbow light fired from Celestia’s horn and hit Nightmare Moon square in the chest. My host looked away as the light grew brighter. Suddenly Nightmare Moon shot through the skylight and towards the moon, where she would remain for a thousand years… Nocturne bowed his head but looked up when Retro Twilight approached him. “Thank thee. Twas not easy for thee to tellest us where she wast.” “Why didst thou tellest?” Firefly asked. “I thought thou loved her.” “I didst” Nocturne replied, sadly. Celestia walked to Nocturne. “Thou hast done an honorable but painful thing. We shalt not ask anymore of thee Nocturne; thou hast done all we couldst possibly ask of thee.” “I, needst some time, Princess.” Nocturne said, staring miserably down at his hooves. “Come subjects, he needst some time alone.” The retro mane six followed Celestia out, all except Firefly, who stopped and put a hoof on Nocturne’s shoulder “Just remember thou didst the right thing, if thou didst not nopony would’ve been able to stop her.” He smiled at the pink Pegasus. “Thank thee, Firefly. May thy descendants always be as honorable as thou art.” “Or they shouldst be as awesome as me” Firefly said, smiling. “Awesome?” Nocturne asked, with a raised eyebrow. “Tis a new phrase I’m trying to catch on.” Firefly said with a shrug, as she flew off. The scene faded as Nocturne looked up at the moon. It now had craters in the shape of the Mare in the Moon, the same shape it would have for a thousand years. __________________________________________________________ Nocturne was lying on a field. It was night out and he was just staring up at the moon, I noticed he was no longer wearing any armor. He turned as a Marigold landed not too far away “Nocturne, thou hast been up here for a long time. Almost a week in fact” “I appreciate thy concern, Marigold,” Nocturne replied half-heartedly. “Tis not helping thee cope with the sorrow in thine heart,” Marigold said, as she sat down beside Nocturne “Her cult hast been dismantled, her night tis over.” “But she’s gone” Nocturne said coldly “What matters now?” “Nocturne,” Marigold said, looking at him. “Why dost thou care?” Nocturne shouted at the white pegasus. “I care because,” Marigold looked down suddenly, not finishing her sentence. “Speakest! Why dost thou care! What couldst possibly bring thee out here when everypony else ist out celebrating Luna being gone for a thousand years?” Suddenly Marigold pressed her lips to Nocturne’s. The former lunar stallion was caught off guard by this sudden display of affection. Then she slowly pulled away and looked down in shame. “Forgive me, I simply canst not stand to see thou suffer,” she said, staring at the ground. “Marigold,” Nocturne said, blinking his brown eyes. “Thou art always putting thine self on the line for others,” Marigold said, bringing her eyes up to meet Nocturne's. “Thou defended me when others hast turned away. Thou art gallant, and strong! I just can’t stand to see thou suffering alone! I love thee, Nocturne!” Nocturne just held Marigold's gaze. I could tell he was going over every scenario in his head since he first met her. Searching for all the signs he'd clearly missed, all those times when she seemed to speak in half meaning sentences. All those times when she seemed to want more out of her friendship with him. I can relate. Slowly, Nocturne met Marigold’s lips with his own. The white Pegasus’ wings spread as the kiss grew deeper. The scene faded… _____________________________________________________ I opened my eyes, and saw Luna was looking on in absolute shock. “Nocturne betrayed us?” “Luna?” I said, looking at her. “You saw?” “Saw our love run into the arms of another?” Luna shouted, her voice filled with fury. “Saw him betray us to our sister when we needed him the most! Saw he didn’t accept our offer of immortality, when it meant we could be together forever? Yes, we indeed saw!” “Luna…” Then I noticed a faint blue mist seeping from my clothing. It moved towards Luna as though it were alive. I looked up. “Luna! The mist!” She ignored me. “You think you can hide from us Nocturne?” she shouted to the night sky. “You are in the Everfree Forest like Private Eye said! We will hunt you down and destroy you!!” She suddenly flew off into the night, towards the Everfree Forest. I tried shouting back to her but no such luck. She moved with such speed that she was long out of earshot. That and I don’t think she would have listened me, anyway. I looked down for the blue mist, but it was gone. If the Miasma wasn’t on me… Then it was on Luna… Chapter 6 "Face Thy Darkness"Chapter 6 “Face thy Darkness” I managed to persuade the Lunar stallions to give me a lift to Ponyville. They landed on the town’s outskirts, and I jumped out of the sky carriage they provided. I looked at the pair of yellow eyed guards. “Go and tell Twilight Sparkle what happened, I will find Luna.” “One of us should go with you,” one of them suggested. “I appreciate your offer, but I’m better off alone. I’ll attract less attention that way.” The Lunar Stallion looked ready to object, but his partner put a hoof on his shoulder. “Look Aegis, this guy can handle himself. You go warn Twilight Sparkle, and I’ll summon the guard. That way we both can be doing something.” “Very well,” Aegis said. “I trust you will fly swift, Stalwart?” “Like always,” Stalwart replied, with a smirk. The two Lunar stallions flew off, and I walked into the Everfree Forest. I didn’t know what dangers awaited me in this dark place, but I knew I had to find Luna, and put a stop to this evil. I enter of my own free will, Nocturne. ____________________________________________________ My flashlight illuminated the path ahead of me. I had no idea where I was going, or what I was looking for. I knew Luna ventured into the forest alone. The question is, where did she land? I thought I heard a sound and turned, but nopony was there. I walked a little ways and my eyes fell on a piece of paper on a tree. Upon closer inspection, I saw it bore an odd message. Why do ponies fear the dark? I wonder what it means? Another sound, I turned around quickly. I thought I saw something disappear behind a tree. Why do ponies fear the dark? What is that supposed to mean? Is it a fear of the unknown? Is it because it distorts what we want to see? We fear what we can't see, what we see but don’t want to see. I really should write some of this down for a book. As I held up my flashlight, I heard a voice behind me, “Now you will see why Ponies fear the dark!” I screamed in terror and turned around. I fell on my back, breathing heavily. I saw a tall, imposing figure, clad in a black suit, standing over me. He was pony shaped, with long slender legs and a blank face. Wait, slender legs? “Slender?” I asked, looking up at the figure. “Private Eye?” I heard his voice ask, even though he had no mouth. He backed up giving me space to stand. “I apologize; I thought you were the pony with the flashlight.” “You’re still looking for him?” I asked, climbing to my hooves. “You scared the crap out of me.” “Again, I apologize,” Slender said, rather politely. “I simply cannot tolerate thieves.” ` “What’s with the paper?” I raised an eyebrow, pointing at the paper hanging on the wall. “It’s a question I ask my… victims,” Slender answered. “You’re a killer?” I asked, narrowing my eyes; my horn at the ready to pull out my gun, should this creature try anything. “Not a killer, I do not kill my victims” Slender replied, raising a hoof. “I merely scare them off." “Just because they steal pieces of paper?” I asked, eyeing him suspiciously. “It’s more than that,” Slender explained, slowly. “The ponies who come to Everfree do not understand the danger within it. I try to scare off ponies from entering it, to protect them. Unfortunately, many do not understand my warnings. So, after a few centuries of doing this, I began asking the question on the paper.” “So, why do Ponies fear the dark?” I asked him. “The strongest fear in your race, and many others, is fear of the unknown,” Slender replied. “True fear comes, not from simply facing the unknown, but of being helpless to face it when it comes. It’s the inevitability of the darkness that causes us to fear it. Sure we can light the way but in the end, a flashlight will always run out of batteries.” “You must’ve been doing this a long time” I said, in understanding. “Five thousand years,” Slender replied, looking up as if he was reminiscing. “For five millennia I’ve lived in this forest, trying to persuade ponies to stay away. Many do not listen, and they suffer insanity upon seeing my face.” “Well, I’m not going insane,” I pointed out, “and I’m looking right at you. Why is that?” “That is because you do not fear the unknown,” Slender said, sagely. “You instead run towards it with reckless abandon. You are unusual in that aspect.” “So that’s why I’m not going insane,” I concluded. “That, and I’m not trying to scare you,” Slender explained. “Now, what has brought you a second time to this place?” “I’m looking for Princess Luna,” I replied. “She should’ve flown by here about ten minutes ago.” “I know of the one you speak,” Slender said, turning around, “but the way is dangerous, even for one such as myself. She ventures to the ancient palace of the Princesses; it was destroyed ages ago, and was the hideout for Nightmare Moon. I will lead the way, but know that it is dangerous. I fear for your safety.” “You said it yourself, I hunt the unknown with reckless abandon,” I said, with steely grey eyes. “I must stop this evil, if I don’t then many ponies could get hurt.” I heard a soft laugh escape Slender. “You are bold; I hope you may keep your bravery when you face darkness.” We ventured on side by side, deeper into the darkness. __________________________________________________________ As we walked farther into the forest I talked to Slender. “So, you said something about a monster rock concert you were trying to get together?” “Yes,” Slender replied, looking at me. “Every Nightmare Night I try and convince the other monsters in Everfree to do a little get together. Most are mindless beasts who would probably eat more inhabitants than the food provided. Some, however, have enough intelligence to have a good time,” “Sounds like quite the party,” I said, with a grin. Slender gave a soft, rather creepy sounding chuckle. “Yes, although the shape shifters are always trouble.” “I too have trouble with shape shifters,” I said, rolling my eyes. Swarm’s little prank still held in my memories. “You want to know an easy trick to tell if somepony is imitating another pony?” Slender asked. “I would like that very much,” I said with a smile. “Smell,” Slender replied, simply. “Smell?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “Indeed, smell. Most shape shifters don’t think to mask their scent when they change forms. Once you know that, you can spot a disguise any day of the week.” We stopped when we came to an old rope bridge leading to a fog covered castle. I looked at the bridge. “There’s no way we’re getting across that while it’s in this condition.” “Shall we turn back?” Slender asked. “No” I said, looking at the bridge. “I’m not going to let this stop me from getting to Luna.” “Good” Slender said. “I will assist you in your endeavor then.” I looked over at Slender, my eyes growing wide as black tentacles came out of his back. They twisted and writhed as if they were alive. The tentacles stretched along the bridge latching onto key points where the bridge seemed the weakest. “That’s amazing!” I exclaimed, looking at the tentacles. “How do you do that?” “Sometimes the unknown needs to reach for you,” Slender replied, cryptically. “Now go, I don’t know how long I can hold it steady.” I moved quickly across the bridge and looked back at Slender. “Thank you! I hope to repay the debt I owe you one day!” “Stay alive,” Slender said, his blank face facing me. “Just stay alive to tell me of how you faced the unknown.” I smiled at him and ventured towards the fog covered castle. The ruins were made of stone and the gate was wide open. Somepony was here… ______________________________________________ I walked into the main room and saw the Altar of Harmony. The Elements once were kept here in their dormant state before Twilight activated them. The stones that once held them were long gone, but the altar itself was relatively intact. I heard an odd voice speak… Tenacity has entered. “Who said that?” I asked, looking around. Nopony answered, and that definitely wasn’t the regular voice. It sounded too deep, like it belonged to a dragon. I ignored it, and ventured deeper into the castle ruins. The halls twisted and turned until I came to a large chamber with a strange altar in it. On the altar stood a single coffin. I walked to it and removed the lid. There was Nocturne, as he looked before. Looking younger, cheeks fuller, body bloated, and on his lips, blood. Fresh blood trickled from the corners of his mouth. “Private!” I turned around and saw Luna looking at me, concerned. “We waited for you. We found out where Nocturne was hiding!” “Why is he here?” I asked, looking at Nocturne in bewilderment. “He should be dead.” “He lied about not drinking blood!” Luna answered, slowly. “We remember the activities that he performed for the cult! He is immortal! He is a drinker of blood!” He’s a Vampony… I looked down at Nocturne; it did indeed look like him. He looked asleep, almost content, but something was wrong… “Private! Use that!” Luna ordered, pointing to a strange sword resting on a stand. I looked at the blade; it was a long sword, an ancient weapon. Its leg and hilt was black. The hilt bore an image of a strange eye, resembling the one on a Lunar Stallion’s medallion. “What is it?” “It’s a Blade of Night,” Luna explained. “An ancient weapon of war used to kill Lunar Stallions. Using it on him shall slay him forever!” I used my magic to lift the weapon off its stand. It felt light in my magic; I barely needed any concentration to levitate it at all. I walked to Nocturne and looked down as a cruel smile came to his face. How could he do this? Lie to Luna! Betray her love! Hurt ponies and smile like it’s all a game to him! I held the blade up high to stab him. I was going to remove his foul stench- Wait… Indeed smell. Most shape shifters don’t think to mask their scents when they change forms. Smell… I began sniffing Nocturne. “Why are you not using the blade on him?” Luna shouted “After all he has done!” “Don’t you mean after all she has done?” I asked, with a small smile. “What do you mean? “Your glamor spell isn’t working. I don’t smell blood on Nocturne, but exotic perfume. One I remember Luna was wearing when we were together. Only you wouldn’t think to mask a scent, as you didn’t think I would consider smelling it. This isn’t Nocturne! This is Luna! You are an impostor!” Luna suddenly broke into a maniacal laugh, most unbecoming of her. The glamor spell broke and the coffin vanished, replaced by Luna lying on the ground with the blue mist swirling around her. I looked up as Pseudo Luna was replaced by the dark coat of… “Nightwind” I exclaimed. The ancient Lunar stallion smirked at me with his piranha like teeth. His eyes were not yellow, but instead blood red. “You are a clever pony. You truly are Nocturne’s descendent.” “I’m Nocturne’s descendent?” I asked, taken aback. “Did you think that diary would speak to just anypony?” Nightwind asked, looking at me “It wouldn’t so eagerly reveal its secrets to just some common fool. You are Nocturne’s descendent, and I lured you here.” “For what purpose?” I asked raising the Blade of Night and pointing it at the Lunar Stallion “What possible purpose could you have to lead me here?" “A trap,” Nightwind said, smoothly. “I pretended to be Nocturne so your curiosity would lead you to find the diary. Once you discovered Nocturne’s name, I knew you would go to Princess Luna to seek answers. Then you would use the diary to try and find out about him. All to lead you and Luna here.” “Again, for what reason?” I shouted. “So that you may unlock the seal on Luna’s blood,” he said, licking his fangs. “Seal?” “Before Nocturne died he put a seal on his diary. Should it be destroyed by a powerful artifact, the barrier keeping the miasma from entering Luna would be destroyed.” I looked back at Luna; she was sound asleep clutching the diary in her forelegs, right where I would’ve stabbed… “The problem is only Nocturne’s descendants can destroy the diary. That's why I needed you.” Suddenly, I felt my entire body fall under a powerful spell. Nightwind’s horn was glowing blood red and I felt my whole body move on its own. “I was hoping you would do it of your own free will; but it looks like we will have to do things the hard way.” “The cult leader,” I said, while I struggled against his spell. “It was you, wasn’t it?” “Indeed.” Nightwind sneered evilly. “I was the true master of the cult. Nocturne never had a role, but I made sure history remembered him as such.” “You lied to Luna!” I yelled, as I was forced to walk towards the diary . “Of course I did,” Nightwind said, lining the tip of the Blade of Night up with the diary. “I had to keep my mistress from falling prey to useless emotions.” “You’re mad!” I growled. “The miasma has turned you into a monster!” “The miasma has granted me the power to gain whatever I want," he retorted “It has granted me power beyond imagining! You were just too weak to give into its power!” He was insane! He was going to put that stuff in Luna! Try as I might I couldn’t stop him from controlling my hooves, and forcing me to plunge the blade deep into the diary. Ink spurted out of it like blood, and the miasma left my body and entered Luna. The mist swirled around her, blowing me several feet back. Nightwind looked on with insane red eyes. “Welcome back, my mistress!” The mist stopped swirling and standing before me was Nightmare Moon, in the flesh… “Oh, if it isn’t my precious little betrayer, come back to play?” Chapter 7 "Destroy Thine Evil"Chapter 7 “Destroy Thine Evil” I simply stared at Nightmare Moon. I’d seen pictures of her, but to see her in the flesh was something else. Evil seemed to radiate off her as she sneered at me. “So, Tia sent only a single stallion to slay us this time?” “What have you done with Luna?” I shouted at her, trying to sound braver than I really felt. She laughed. “Foalish boy, do you not get it? We are Luna.” “No,” I said, as Nightmare Moon descended the steps of the altar, walking towards me. “You must know you are outmatched." I pulled out my gun and fired two shots at her; but she blocked them with some kind of force field, sending the bullets flying. My magic was cut off when Nightmare Moon fired a blast of magic towards me. Nightmare grabbed my gun in her magic levitating it away She looked at me in disbelief, and chuckled. “Bullets? You think to stop us with this pathetic weapon?” “It was worth a shot,” I said, shrugging weakly. “Now, you let go of Luna right now, you monster!” “Maybe Luna doesn’t want to be let go,” she said, snidely. “She’s always wanted to be Nightmare Moon, now she has the chance.” “She can’t want this!” I cried. “She can’t want to be a slave to you!” “She is a slave to nopony,” Nightmare replied. “Except to our sister. She is the true evil one, locking us away, and denying us our eternal night.” “You’re twisted Nightmare Moon!” “Oh, must this end in insults and violence?” she asked, smiling slyly. “I know what you’ve suffered, Preventus.” “Nopony calls me Preventus!” I yelled, as I tried to tackle Nightmare Moon. She sidestepped, causing me I crash into a pillar. As I fell to the ground in a heap, she stepped on my back with one hoof, pinning me down. “You struggle so much, Preventus. Raising a brother on your own, risking your life day and night for others. You’ve suffered so much, and what do you get in return? Nothing.” “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, struggling against her weight on my back. “Oh, but we do. We know how long you’ve suffered. A father who tossed you out after killing your mother with that drug, a love with Twilight Sparkle that can never be repaired now.” She’s right; Twilight probably hates me for what I did, and dad… “We can make everything right, Preventus. Join me, and together we can destroy Celestia, and take control of Equestria. We can put your father’s fate in your hooves, grant Tailspin everything he could possibly need. We can force Twilight Sparkle to be your mate.” I pondered her offer. It would solve a lot of problems, but I would never be able to forgive myself. I refuse! I fired a blast of magic at Nightmare Moon’s face catching her by surprise. She yelped in pain, allowing me to wiggle out from under her hoof. I glared at her as I sprang to my hooves. “You can take your offer, and shove it!” “You would deny yourself a way to fix all of your problems?” She snarled at me. “We can make you a king among ponies, and grant you everything you could possibly desire.” “Is that what you told Luna?” I asked, smirking. “You speak nonsense!” Nightmare Moon thundered, glaring at me evilly. “Luna gained everything she could ever want! Fear, respect, and a night to truly last all eternity!” "What did that get her in the end?” I asked, slowly. “She’s just your prisoner. You claim to be Luna, but you forget it’s not fear she wants.” “What are you talking about?” “Luna!” I exclaimed, trying to get through to her. “Luna, don’t listen to her! She’s just trying to convince you that she’s the only one you need.” Nightmare Moon growled low, “You truly are a foal. We told you already, we are Luna.” “No, you’re not,” I snarled, as Nightmare Moon and I began to circle each other like two prowling lions. “You’re the miasma. You’re trying to convince her that acting on selfishness will get her the respect she wants, but all she really wants is love.” “We have given everything to Luna. She was nothing before us. A mere filly living in the eternal shadow of her big sister!” “Luna, don’t listen to her! She doesn’t know how much ponies do love your night.” Nightmare Moon’s eyes blinked, but instead of the reptilian eyes, the eyes were Luna's. “Our night…” Nightmare Moon blinked again, and the reptilian eyes returned. “You think to confuse us! You pathetic worm!” “Luna, I know a lot of ponies do bad things at night, but it’s also a time of love. Many a couple has found love under your stars. I myself found love while in your night. Luna, your night is wondrous. I know ponies don’t say it often, but it truly is.” Luna’s eyes appeared again “Love, during our night?” “Don’t listen to this foal! Think of the betrayal we suffered at the hooves of our sister, and his ancestor!” “No,” Luna replied, to her evil counterpart. “We have caused the suffering. We have nopony to blame but ourselves.” “You would listen to this stranger, over the one who gave you all this power?” “You stole away the only ponies who ever loved us!” Luna cried, shaking Nightmare Moon’s body madly. “We never desired power. We only desired somepony to appreciate our night. You are the deceiver here!” “What are you doing?” Her eyes kept switching between Nightmare and Luna. “You cannot destroy us! Miasma cannot be destroyed! Only absorbed!” Only absorbed? I knew what I had to do if I wanted to free Luna. I ran to Nightmare Moon, grabbed her head and forced her fangs into my leg. I screamed in pain as the miasma began to leave Luna and enter me. Slowly Nightmare Moon’s armor melted away to reveal Luna. She looked up at me frantically, as the miasma entered me. “Private! What have you done?” “I took the pain on me,” I replied, weakly, as the blue mist entering my blood. “I gave it a new host to think of.” “You sacrificed yourself for us?” Luna asked. “Why? We have done nothing to deserve this!” I fell on my side as the miasma traveled deeper into my veins. Luna cradled my head in her hooves. “Luna, my yolk is easy, I can face it…” I closed my eyes slowly. _________________________________________________________ I stood in total blackness facing another me. The other me wore an evil smirk on its face. “So, you decide to face me this way? You are even more foalish then I thought.” “You’re the voice in my head,” I said, slowly, “the one who told me to abandon Dinky in that fire, the one I’ve overcome every time…" “I don’t know about this voice you speak of,” evil me, said with a smirk, “but now we will act out all our darkest desires.” “You forget,” a voice said, from behind me. I turned to see Nocturne moving up beside me. “He does not face you alone.” Behind me more and more ponies appeared, everypony I helped, everypony I became friends with, everypony that now has a better life because of the actions I took. Nocturne glared at pseudo me. “Your time is up Miasma. Neither this body, nor Luna's is your playground. Now begone! You who would take so that you may live cannot stand to see ponies who give so that others may live!” Pseudo me screamed as a light came out of everypony’s eyes. The light broke through the darkness and the miasma was expelled from my body. ___________________________________________________________ In reality, I coughed and the blue mist left me. The mist hung in the air and took on the form of a monstrous face. The face roared in anger at me, “Your pathetic race has lasted too long. Twice you’ve escaped my grasp!” “I don’t know about round one,” I said, as Luna helped me up, “but you certainly didn’t win round 2.” The mist distorted itself and entered Nightwind’s body. The Lunar Stallion’s body writhed, as if he were possessed. He looked at me with his red eyes and smirked. “Now you shall face me, AND ALL THE POWERS OF HELL!" Suddenly the mist turned into blue fire, as Nightwind transformed into a colossal black dragon. He snapped at Luna and I with razor sharp teeth, blue mist seeping out of his nostrils. “Hang on, Private,” Luna called, as she picked me up and tossed me onto her back. She spread her large wings and we took off into the air. As I looked back, the dragon came out of the building and blew a stream of fire towards us, hitting Luna directly on the wing. She cried out in pain, sharply banking to the right. Unable to maintain my grip, I slipped off her back. I fell towards the misty abyss below. I closed my eyes, preparing for the last sound I heard to be the sickening crunch of every bone in my body, as I smashed into the ground. Then I heard it… "PRIVATE!" I opened my eyes and saw Rainbow Dash flying towards me at sonic speed. She swooped down, grabbing me in her forelegs. I looked up at her in disbelief. “Dash, what are you doing here?” “Saving you again, and this time I brought back up!” “Back up?” I looked over and saw Fluttershy grabbing Luna. A lasso was tied around the Alicorn’s leg, and she was being pulled up by Applejack and Pinkie Pie. Dash dropped me off on the other side of the old rope bridge, and I saw that all six of the elements came. Twilight ran to me and threw her forelegs around me. She buried her face in my chest and kept saying, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” I rubbed a hoof along her back. “It's okay Twilight, I’m here. I'm sorry too.” “Hate to break up the reunion, sugercube,” Applejack said, looking across the bridge, “but that there dragon is headin' right for Ponyville!” Luna looked up from her position on the ground. The dragon was making it’s way towards my new hometown. “If that miasma gets to Ponyville then the entire town will become as corrupt as we were!” “How do we stop it?” Rarity asked, looking up at the colossal dragon. “Will the elements be enough?” “Miasma cannot be destroyed,” I replied, tracking the dragon with my steely grey eyes, “only moved. If we destroy its host, then we should be able to stop it.” “You're suggesting using the Blade of Night?” Luna asked. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully, when I nodded. “It should be able to slay Nightwind, but the Miasma would block the blade before it could reach the host.” Twilight let go of me, and appeared to be doing some quick thinking. “If we use the blade as a lightning rod for the Element’s power, it should allow the blade to break through the miasma and hit its host dead on.” “So let’s quit talking about it and do it!” Rainbow grinned, smacking her hooves together in determination. “It’ll take some time to get the Element’s charged up,” Twilight said, as she opened a chest containing the Elements themselves. “I’ll keep it busy! You wouldn’t happen to have a spare Blade of Night on you?” I asked, looking at Luna. Luna nodded and her horn glowed. Suddenly a star twinkled, and a Blade of Night fell from the sky, stabbing itself into the ground front of me. “It’s a more modern design; we should be able to stop him with this.” I nodded, and lifted the blade out of the ground with my magic. I looked at the rest of the group. “You guys get those Element’s ready! Luna and I will fly around and keep him busy." The group nodded and I leapt up onto Luna’s back. I looked back at Twilight who looked at me with apologetic eyes. I mouthed the words she desperately needed to hear… I love you, and I always will. She smiled widely at that as Luna sprang off the ground and into the air. We flew towards the dragon and I yelled, “Hey big, and ugly! Over here!” The monster turned, and roared at me launching another torrent of fire at us. This time Luna was prepared, she dodged the fire and got me close enough. I swung the Blade of Night with my magic and cut the beast across the right side of his muzzle. It screeched in pain and I heard a cheer from the ground coming from Pinkie Pie, "The fate of Ponyville is at stake, plunge that sword into that snake!” The dragon glared down at Pinkie Pie and roared, “You stay out of this!” Pinkie began half-heartedly waving a flag with an N on it “Nightwind, Nightwind he’s our man if he can’t do it,-“she shouted the last bit, “GREAT!” We swung around for another pass as I saw the girls gathering in a circle below. I hung on as Luna dodged a claw coming at us. Luna looked back at me. “There’s no way we can get a good shot in with that thing moving.” She was right, this dragon may be massive but if we couldn’t get a clean shot in we were dead. I asked Luna, “Where is Nightwind in that thing?” Luna flew several yards away from the beast and blinked her eyes. When she looked back at me her eyes were glowing green, like night vision goggles. “We see him! He is where the heart would be.” If only that thing would sit still, then we’d have a clear shot. Suddenly, massive black tentacles came out of the forest and wrapped themselves around the black dragon. Nightwind roared and screeched as the tendrils wrapped around his arms and neck. He was immobilized. Thank you Slender… Luna flew us within the light of the moon as a colossal rainbow beam came from the ground. I looked down and saw that Twilight and company had activated the Elements down on the ground. I held out the Blade of Night and the rainbow beam went into the Blade. I held the Blade to my face and said in an almost trance like tone… Blade of Night, Destroy this blight, Fly swift and sure! That evil die and good endure! I used my magic to fire the blade like a missile towards the trapped dragon. The element’s magic allowed it to pierce through the miasma, and hit the host dead on. The dragon let out a roar, writhing and twisting in pain. Slowly the dragon stopped moving as the miasma left the dragon, like a mist through a pipe. Luna flew down and landed next to Nightwind. The Lunar Stallion lay on the ground, with a sword plunged into his black heart. I looked at Luna with a smile. “It’s over.” Luna smiled back at me. “You are a brave one, Private. We can see you are truly Nocturne’s descendent.” “You aren’t mad that he gave you up to Celestia?” I asked. “Sometimes, one must see that the one causing the hurt is oneself,” Luna replied, softly. “We do not blame Nocturne; he was just trying to save us from ourselves. In the end, it led to us finally being free of Nightmare Moon, and the darkness in our heart.” “Everypony has a dark side, Luna,” I said smiling at her “The key, is accepting that dark side as a part of you. If you keep denying it then it will only try all the harder to destroy you.” “What did happen to that Miasma anyway?” Luna asked, looking around “Where did it go?” I looked around too, indeed the miasma was gone. Probably looking for another host, let’s just hope it knows you don’t mess with Ponyville. Luna and I landed where the girls were. The girls were proudly displaying their elements and looking deservedly pleased with themselves. “Is everypony all right?” I asked, as I jumped down off Luna's back. “Can you say, BEST, WIN, EVER?” Rainbow Dash grinned triumphantly. “Ooh, I’m so excited I could just scream!” Fluttershy said, with a smile. She took a deep breath and let out a quiet, ”Yay!” Rainbow simply facehoofed. Rarity looked at everypony and said hastily, “Come girls, let’s give Twilight and Private some time alone.” All the mares began to walk away except for Luna who remained, looking at us with a tilted head. Applejack walked back to Luna and raised an eyebrow. “Beg pardon, Yer Highness, but why are ya lookin' at 'em like that?” “We are curious to see how mating habits have changed over the centuries,” Luna replied, in a tone that reminded me of Twilight, after she’d decided to study quantum physics for fun. Applejack began to pull Luna away. “Come on, Princess. Ah’ll show you how to bob fer apples properly!” “You are all no better than Tia!” Luna said, almost childishly, as she was dragged away. I chuckled a little. I guess Luna had a bit too much curiosity in- I looked back at Twilight who had her head bowed. I saw a tiny tear streak down her face and land on the grass below. I reached out a hoof and tilted her head up to face me, tears were starting to form in her eyes. “Private, I’m so sorry….” Twilight said, her voice catching with emotion. “I should be the one apologizing, after what I did…” I said, shame causing my cheeks to burn as I looked down at my hooves. She shook her head quickly “I know it wasn't really you, it was the Miasma. I am sorry I had to lock you up." I kept my head bowed in shame. “I should’ve just told you…” “Told me what?” Twilight asked, tilting her head. “I should’ve just admitted I was scared.” I felt tears of my own forming. “I should’ve admitted I was terrified of being locked up, but I was too stupid, and filled with pride to admit it.” I forced my eyes to raise up and meet Twilights. “If I did tell you what happened, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. We could’ve handled this together.” Twilight stepped into me pressing her head into my chest. I felt her tears soaking my trench coat, but I didn’t care. I wrapped my hooves tightly around her, so thankful she hadn't left me for good. Her voice was muffled as she pressed herself into me, “I should’ve told you why I wasn’t ready…” “I guess we both have fears we need to tell each other.” I said, resting my head on top of hers. Slowly she moved her head so she could look up at me. “It’s just that, I’ve read so much about how things can go wrong. I’m paranoid that maybe I’m not good enough, or I’ll say something stupid. Now I see that by not telling you, I allowed the Miasma to have a stronger hold on you.” I then told her why I was afraid of being locked up. I explained to her everything, why I was scared, why I desperately wanted to be let out. “I didn’t tell you before, because I was afraid I’d look weak,” I said, closing my grey eyes. “You’re not weak, your one of the strongest stallions I know,” Twilight said, nuzzling my cheek. I nuzzled her back, lovingly. “It may seem that way to you, but the truth is, I’m a mess like everypony else. Twilight, you’re the one who makes me strong.” I gazed deeply into her beautiful amethyst eyes. “That’s why I love you, and why I always will.” "I love you too, Private. More than you realize," Twilight replied, her lips moving closer towards mine. As the dawn rose we kissed each other lovingly, clinging tightly to one another. I didn’t want her to ever let go. I wanted this mare with me forever… I love you, Twilight, and I always will… EpilogueCase 13 Epilogue Spike paced back and forth in his knight costume as Twilight and I got dressed for Nightmare Night. He looked impatiently towards the spare room where I was changing. “Come on Private, we’re going to be late for the festival!” I emerged from the room clad in a set of dark armor and helmet. My eyes were snake like and yellow and my teeth had piranha like fangs on them. Spike let out a yelp at my appearance “Dude that’s creepy, is that you, Private?” I tapped the eye on my chest and I turned back to regular Private wearing the armor. “The Lunar stallions felt bad for offering me up to Luna, so they let me borrow their armor for tonight.” “Cool!” Spike said, striking a heroic pose in his Knight armor. “What do you think? Do I strike fear into the heart of enemies everywhere?” I smiled a little and transformed back into my Lunar Stallion form “Foul knight! You shall fall before the might of Lord Nocturne!” Spike caught on to what I was doing and held up a foam sword “Back, beast of the night! I, Sir Spike, shall slay thee in the name of Princess Rarity!” “No! Not the foam sword of epicness!” I cried, in mock fear. “My one weakness!” “That’s right, beast!” Spike said, swinging the sword at me. “Now thou shalt taste my blade!” He leapt on top of me and we wrestled with each other. Spike managed to get on top of me and, plunged his foam sword to the left of me. I made a fake gasp of pain and held the sword fake protruding out of me. “I have been slain! I, the mighty Lord Nocturne, have been slain by Sir Spike!” Spike stood on my belly, and struck another heroic pose. “Now your evil shall never harm anypony! I Sir Spike hast saved the Princess from thee” “Impressive, Spikey Wikey,” I heard a voice say, causing Spike to tense. He slowly turned and saw Rarity smiling at him; she was clad in her old gala dress and giggled at Spike’s blush. She spoke in her most princess like voice, “Thank you Sir Spike, We knew you would save us from that wretched monster!” “I prefer the term intimidating!” I said, from my position on the floor. “You’re supposed to be dead remember!” Spike said, looking down at me. “Oh right” I replied with a nod, flopping back limply. “Ack! I’m dead…” Spike looked back at Rarity who was simply smiling at him. “Nothing could stop me, M'lady.” “Oh, my hero” Rarity said, before planting a kiss on Spike’s cheek. Spike turned as red as a tomato, and fell over on the ground in sheer embarrassment. I pulled the foam sword from my side and looked over at Rarity “I see you’re joining the celebration this time.” “I don’t usually go to Nightmare Night because of the rather garish activities,” Rarity sniffed, as her magic picked up unconscious Spike and put him on her back, “but I thought I’d give you and Twilight some time tonight, and I’d watch Spike.” “You take good care of him, M'lady," I said, with a deep bow. “I shall, Lord Nocturne,” she said, with a mock curtsy before leaving the library. Rarity had volunteered to watch Spike during the festivities, so Twilight and I could spend Nightmare Night together. It was good for our relationship, although Twilight was a little reluctant to let the little dragon go. I looked back and saw… me? No, Twilight dressed in my trench coat and fedora! “Where’d you get that stuff?" I asked, incredulously. “Well, my Starswirl the Bearded costume got a hole in it, and I couldn’t fix it in time,” Twilight explained. “So, I decided to go as somepony I equally admire.” I blushed a little. “You flatter me, but you could’ve asked me to use my clothes.” “I know,” Twilight said, apologetically, “but they were right there, and I just sort of wondered if they fit,” “If it’s any consolation,” I said smiling, “You look good in them.” Twilight smiled, and imitated my voice, “Detective Private Eye, solving crimes in the blink of an eye!” I facehoofed as she used the horrible slogan we still haven’t gotten rid of. Then I heard a knock on the door. “Looks like we got trick or treaters.” I opened the door and was greeted by Tailspin dressed as a Wonderbolt, Dinky dressed as a ballerina, and Pipsqueak dressed as a mask less Mare-do-Well. They sang together “Nightmare Night, What a fright! Give us something sweet to bite!” I laughed as Twilight came with the bowl of candy. I smiled at the trio, “You three look ready for Nightmare Night” Tailspin smiled. “Ponyville Nightmare Night is the best! Everypony has their houses all decorated and stuff!” “It’s a great place to have a Nightmare Night,” Pipsqueak said, excitedly, “especially a second Nightmare Night ever!" Dinky held out her bag. “Would you please give us some candy Mr. Eye?” “All right,” I said, as Twilight and I levitated candy into their bags. “Who’s watching you kids tonight?” Tailspin was ready to explain, “Well she’s also participate-“ Suddenly Pinkie Pie, dressed in what appeared to be a chicken suit appeared out of nowhere and glared at the trio. “Enough chit-chat! Time is candy!” I raised an eyebrow at Pinkie. “Aren’t you a little old to be trick or treating?” “Too old for free candy?” Pinkie gasped, her blue eyes growing wide in shock “NEVER!!!” I rolled my eyes and tossed a few treats into Pinkie’s bag. “So, where’s Swarm?” “I’m over here,” the changeling replied, appeared alongside Pinkie Pie. “I decided to go as myself this Nightmare Night” “I guess I can’t-“ I was cut off when Swarm suddenly transformed into Pinkie Pie. “Perhaps this form is more suitable,” Pinkie 2 said, with a mischievous grin. Pinkie 1 just laughed. I rolled my eyes. “You guys can’t use that shape shifting trick on me anymore, I know how to beat it.” “Oh really?” both Pinkies asked at the same time. They suddenly swapped positions at lightning speed until they were standing right beside each other smiling at me. Challenge accepted… I sniffed both of them, only one of them smelled of baked goods. “This Pinkie,” I said, pointing to the Pinkie on my right, “is the real one!” “Wrong!” left Pinkie exclaimed, smiling. “I’m the real Pinkie Pie.” “But how?” I asked, my jaw dropping. Swarm changed back into his changeling self. “We figured you would try that smelling trick so Pinkie sprayed me with scent of baked goods.” I let out an exasperated sigh as the couple laughed. The group moved on to the next house engaged in excited conversation. I looked at Twilight who was trying desperately not to laugh out loud. “I guess even the world’s greatest Detective has trouble with Pinkie Pie.” I just rolled my eyes at Twilight. I closed the door to the library, and we walked to the party. _____________________________________________________________ “So what’s so great about Starswirl the Bearded, anyway?” I asked, as Twilight and I strolled into the celebration. Everywhere I looked ponies were celebrating Nightmare Night. Ponies were dancing, bobbing for apples, trying out the pumpkin catapults, and playing all sorts of fun games. Twilight went into full scholar mode. “He created over 200 spells and has a section dedicated to him at the Canterlot Library.” She rolled her eyes at me. “Sadly, my attempts to teach some ponies about history haven’t gone well.” “So he created 200 spells by himself?” I asked, with a raised eyebrow. “In his prime mostly,” Twilight explained. “Later in his life, however, he did some odd habits. He was on the search of some seventh element or whatever.” She shrugged. “I still haven’t figured it out yet, it might have something to do with that Chanting you keep talking about.” So far I hadn't given much thought to the Chanting since Manehattan. It hadn’t happened in a while, so maybe it was just a fluke. On the other hoof, maybe this Starswirl guy knows about what it could possi- KABOOOM!!! I leapt ten feet into the air grabbing onto a nearby store sign. I looked up, and sure enough Raiden and Rainbow Dash were sitting on their storm cloud, laughing their tails off. I frowned at them. “Having fun with your new toy?” Rainbow, dressed in an odd purple and black flight suit with a skull on her flank, chuckled. “Lighten up, Private! Nightmare Night is the greatest night for scares!” Raiden, who was dressed as a heavy metal rock star, laughed as well. “You should’ve seen the look on your face! Priceless!” The couple kept laughing as I slowly started to smile. Raiden raised an eyebrow, “Private? Why are you smiling?” “Look behind you.” Slowly the couple turned to gaze upon… “It’s not nice to scare ponies like that,” Slender said, in his creepiest voice. Raiden and Rainbow screamed in shock and flew off before Slender could chase them. Slender suddenly teleported away leaving behind a creepy laugh, and I climbed down from my perch. “Who was that?” Twilight asked, as I came down. “Somepony with an incredible costume,” I replied, as we walked away. ____________________________________________________________ “I’m sorry but that rainbow wig just kills it," I said, as I watched the Mayor give her speech for the Nightmare Night festival. She was clad once again in a clown costume. Look I know clowns are scary as hell but rainbow wigs aren't scary. She didn’t get the memo. “Citizens of Ponyville, I am pleased to welcome you to the Nightmare Night festival. Tonight shall be a night of true scares!” Twilight nodded. “Yup, rainbow wig kills it.” “Now will all the ponies who wish to-“She was cut off when the wind suddenly grew strong. Clouds of green smoke formed on the stage and Zecora appeared from that smoke. She was clad as a witch with spiders in her hair. How she managed to get her hair that long is beyond me, probably a wig of some sorts. She smiled at the crowd. “Fillies and Colts of every age, would you like to hear something strange? Sit back and see a sight, this show shown on Nightmare Night!” Everypony cheered and although the Mayor looked a little ticked at her speech being interrupted, she just smiled and walked off. Zecora blew a strange green powder “This is Nightmare Night, Ponies scream with sheer fright” The powder swished and swirled in the wind and made various shapes some of the images flew over the crowd and took on spider and snake forms. Some screamed at the sight and all three of the flower girls fainted. Honestly those three freak out at everything! Ponies began to sing along to this rhyming: This is Nightmare Night! Everypony make a sight! Trick or treat! Slender appeared behind Colgate and whispered, "Tiill the neighbors gonna die of fright…''' Colgate screamed and Slender disappeared again. Geez, that guy was good! The crowd continued: This our town! Everypony scream! On this night where moonlight gleams. Pinkie suddenly appeared from behind Lyra and Bon Bon. I am the pony hiding under you bed, Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red! Swarm appeared behind Big Mac and was about ready to scare him, before Big Mac countered the changeling: Ah am the one hidden' under yer stairs! Leg’s like snakes and spiders in mah hair! Swarm crossed his forelegs together and literally buzzed off. The crowd kept singing: This is Nightmare Night! This is Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night!! Raiden, who was providing the accompaniment, played a few notes on the piano. Vinyl smirked from her position next to the sound board and spoke creepily into the mike. In this town, we call home Everypony hail to the pumpkin song! Mayor smiled and sang as well. In this town! Don’t we love it now? Everypony’s waiting for the next surprise! I looked around wondering where the next voice was coming from. Round that corner, guy hiding in the trash can Something's waiting now to pounce, and how you'll…. KABOOM!!! I leapt up again and saw Rainbow on her storm cloud again laughing like mad. Scream! This is Nightmare Night! What a sight! Rainbow turned to a the flower girls who recovered from their embarrassing faint. Aren’t you scared? All three crossed their legs at the same time. Well, that’s just fine! We all continued the lyrics. Say it once! Say it Twice! Ride with the moon in the dead of night! Fluttershy who appeared out of nowhere flew as fast as she could, away from all of the singing. Everypony scream! Everypony scream! Big Mac chuckled and walked to where Fluttershy was flying. We all continued the chorus: This is Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night!! Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo sang together, Sweetie Belle in particular seemed to be holding the group together musically. Tender lumplings everywhere! Life’s no fun without a good scare! I added to the chorus: That's our job Twilight smiled. But we’re all right, The rest of the town continued. In our town on Nightmare Night Mayor continued In this town, don’t we love it now? Everypony’s waiting for the next surprise! Zecora’s dust transformed into Nightmare Moon herself and the conjuration seemed to sing the next chorus as it perched on top of the stage. Nightmare Moon might catch you in the swoon, And scream like a banshee, Make you jump out of your skin. This is Nightmare Night, everypony give a fright! Won't ya please make way for a very special pony? The clouds above parted and Luna’s chariot descended to thunderous stomps from the crowd. I guess everypony wanted to welcome her this time because she was caught in the spirit of her own holiday. Our gal Luna is Princess of the Night you see! Everypony hail to the ruler of the night now! This is Nightmare Night! This is Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night! In this town we call home! Everypony hail to the Princess song! The song ended and everypony laughed and cheered as Luna descended from her carriage and landed on the stage. Luna looked on as everypony was not fearing her, but enjoying that she was here. She smiled at them and opened her mouth, I really should’ve covered my ears. "CITZENS OF PONYVILLE, WE HAVE RETURNED ONTHIS NIGHT OF-" She realized she retreated into Royal Canterlot Voice and flushed in embarrassment. “We mean, thank you everypony for coming to this celebration,” she said, in a much gentler voice. Luna looked on at the crowd as they hushed to listen to what she had to say “We have never formally apologized for what occurred last year. We come not to terrify and scare, but to join in this glorious celebration of night. For my night is not simply for myself, it is a gift to everypony here.” She looked at them, and continued, “Which is why, I too shall join in.” Slowly the stage lights dimmed and Raiden got up from his place at the piano and went behind the stage. I heard Organ music come from nowhere and then a howl from a distant wolf, and then… Raiden appeared on the stage no longer clad in his flight suit outfit but in a red jacket. Several ponies, particularly mares, cheered at the sight of Raiden on stage. Raiden spread his wings and began to sing as the music took on a more pop number: It's close to midnight and something evil's lurking in the dark Under the moonlight, you see a sight that almost stops your heart You try to scream but terror takes the sound before you make it You start to freeze as horror looks you right between the eyes You're paralyzed! He flew along the crowd and kept singing as he twirled in the air as if dancing on air. 'Cause this is thriller, thriller night And no one's gonna save you from the beast about strike You know it's thriller, thriller night You're fighting for your life inside a killer, thriller tonight Luna herself appeared from the fog this time as her Nightmare Moon form. Some ponies screamed at the sight of her but Luna simply smiled. This was all part of the fun. She sang to the crowd alongside Raiden. You hear the door slam and realize there's nowhere left to run You feel the cold hoof and wonder if you'll ever see the sun You close your eyes and hope that this is just imagination, girl! But all the while you hear the creature creeping up behind You're out of time Raiden and Luna flew into the air and sang together 'Cause this is thriller, thriller night There ain't no second chance against the thing with forty eyes, girl Everypony cheered at the duet between these two. Who knew Luna could hold her own alongside Raiden? I guess when you spent a thousand years on the moon you had to have something to do. Thriller, thriller night You're fighting for your life inside a killer, thriller tonight Raiden flew upside down over the crowd as he sang the next lyrics. Night creatures calling, the dead start to walk in their masquerade There's no escaping the jaws of the alien this time Luna smiled as Nightmare Moon and sung the next part: They're open wide This is the end of your life Lightning crashed overhead and Luna appeared suddenly between me and Twilight. She looked over at me and bared her fangs at me They're out to get you, there's demons closing in on every side Suddenly she turned into a mist and my body moved on it’s own. I walked towards Twilight and planted my lips onto hers. My face turned beat red as some of the crowd cheered at my apparent bold move. Twilight’s face also flushed in embarrassment as Luna reappeared. They will possess you unless you change that number on your dial Raiden appeared and flew back to back with the Princess and sang the next part with her. Now is the time for you and I to cuddle close together, yeah All through the night I'll save you from the terror on the screen I'll make you see this is thriller, thriller night 'Cause I can thrill you more than any ghost would ever dare try Thriller, thriller night So let me hold you tight and share a Killer, diller, chiller, thriller here tonight Raiden and Luna circled each other in the air as the song became more intense. I looked around at the crowd and I saw Rainbow looking on Raiden with eyes filled with awe. I chuckled a little, Raiden did have that effect on ponies. Cause this is thriller, thriller night Girl, I can thrill you more than any ghost would ever dare try Thriller, thriller night So let me hold you tight and share a killer, thriller, ow! Then Luna perched herself on the stage and spoke in a deep and fearsome voice. Darkness falls across thy land The midnight hour ist close at hand Creatures crawl in search of blood To terrorize thine neighborhood Raiden sang as Luna narrated her dark tale I'm gonna thrill ya tonight, ooh baby I'm gonna thrill ya tonight, oh darlin' Thriller night, baby, ooh! Luna continued drawing her most fearsome smile she could, the crowd was loving it. The foulest stench is in the air The funk of one thousand years And grizzly ghouls from every tomb Are closing in to seal your doom She flew spread her wings out wide and spoke in an even more evil tone And though you fight to stay alive… Your body starts to shiver… For no mere mortal can resist… The evil of…the thriller!!! She laughed manically as the stage darkened and the show ended. Everypony cheered at Luna’s display and stomped so hard I feared the stage was going to break. Luna and Raiden appeared one last time to bow before the crowd. Luna’s eyes were tear filled as she looked upon her subjects. ____________________________________________ “We did not think it would work,” Luna said, as I ran into her after the celebration died down, “but everypony seemed to enjoy our display.” “All you had to do was loosen up a little, Princess” Twilight said with a smile “Have some fun once in a while” Luna gave a playful smile “Now we understand what you mean when you say fun” Twilight laughed at the inside joke. I looked at Luna. “It was an honor working along side you, Princess.” She shook her blue head and smiled at me. “You have made us realize just how much everypony does enjoy our night. Now we can live, knowing that our subjects do indeed like us.” Luna flew off to join the crowd, and Twilight looked at me. “She’s not really bad once you get to know her.” I looked on and saw Slender sitting on a roof nearby. I couldn’t tell, but he seemed to be watching the town in the night. I wonder what he hopes to accomplish now? Some mysteries should remain mysteries I guess… Otherwise they wouldn’t be very much fun to be scared by… Maybe that is why ponies fear the dark… Chapter 1 "Preparations" Chapter 1 "Preparations" Equestria Noir Case 13 “Blue Moon” Written By Jacoboby1 Edited by: ShatteredIllusions Dedicated to: Aegis Shield Chapter 1 “Preparations” Spike paced the library floor impatiently. He looked to the door to the room where I was changing. Twilight and I were going to show off our Nightmare Night costumes. The celebration was only a week away and I always looked forward to it every year. “I'll just be a minute, Spike!” I called, from inside the spare room. I looked at myself in the mirror. Red shirt? Check. Tan overalls? Check, Blackbird? Check. Holstered in gun belt? Check. Brown coat? Check. Yep, Malburn Raystar from Firebird is ready to roll. I opened the door and held Blackbird in a very stylistic pose. Tailspin who was sitting nearby reading a book looked up and frowned. “What exactly are you supposed to be?” I looked at my brother and opened my forelegs to show myself. “Space Cowpony.” Tailspin sighed. “First of all there are no cows in space, and second of all haven't you worn that thing every Nightmare Night since Firebird got cancelled?” Spike looked at my brother with a raised eyebrow and asked, “Wasn’t that like, 8 years ago?” Tailspin rolled his eyes. “Some ponies just don’t know when to move on.” “I like it,” I grumbled. Tailspin rolled over to me and put a hoof on my shoulder. “Why don’t you go and pick a different costume this year, I’m sure you’ll still be fine at the celebration.” I sighed, relenting, and holstered Blackbird. “Where’s Twilight? Is she still getting changed?” Spike nodded. “She should be out soon.” All three of us looked up as Twilight descended the steps from her room wearing her costume. She was clad in an ornate robe with stars adorning the blue fabric. She wore a large wizard’s cap on her head, with bells along the rim. She also wore a fake white beard around her neck. “Great costume, Twilight,” I said, with a smile. She smiled back at me. “You really like it?” I nodded. “Yeah, you look just like Hordalf from Lord of the Horn Rings.” Her jaw dropped and she shook her head. “Private, I’m Starswirl the Bearded!” I blinked, the name not registering in my brain. “Father of the amniomorphic spell?” She asked, trying again. Private’s brain has failed to search, please try and rephrase that sentence so his brain can compute it. “Didn’t you read that book I gave you about obscure unicorn history?” She asked, narrowing her eyes accusingly. “Um, Tailspin, didn’t you say you wanted to look at costumes?” I looked pleadingly at my brother, starting to sweat. “Nope,” he replied, still looking at his book. “I'm not bailing you out of this one.” “Traitor,” I mumbled, under my breath. I looked up at Twilight apologetically. “Well, there’s a reason why it’s called ‘Obscure’ unicorn history.” She sighed and levitated off her costume. “Aw, well, I guess I can’t expect you to pay attention to every book I make you read.” “History was never really my best subject,” I said sheepishly, shrugging. “At least not ancient history.” Twilight just sighed, and went back to the checklist she had on her desk. “That’s costumes all done, now we just go to make sure all the decorations are set up in the town square.” “Decorations?” Spike gasped, in shock. “I forgot! Tailspin, we were supposed to help decorate the school!” Tailspin face hoofed. “I can’t believe we forgot! Come on, let’s go before the crusaders decide that pyrotechnics is their special talent.” With that the pair ran/rolled out without another word. Twilight looked over at me with a small smile. “I find it ironic that a detective would fall in love with a show like Firebird.” “If it’s a good enough story, then it doesn’t matter who the characters are,” I replied, sagely. “You ever think of writing a book of all those things you say?” Twilight suggested. “Maybe, when I’m retired,” I mused, taking off my costume's brown coat. “You have any more costumes for me to try?” “There's a box in the closet,” she answered, pointing with her hoof. “Spike bought a bunch of them for materials.” I went inside the closet and searched through the boxes until I found the one marked “costumes”. I opened it and dug through the clutter until I felt something metallic. I pulled it out, and saw it was a Lunar Stallion helmet. Lunar Stallions are the most recent additions to the Equestrian Royal Guard. They started out originally as Luna’s personal guards. Most were pegasi with wings that resembled bats, thanks to Luna’s magic. Although their appearance is quite scary at first, they have been known to save many lives while on the watch. As I stared at the helmet, something seemed… familiar almost. I shook my head and set the helmet back in the pile of costume gear. Maybe I’ll just go as a detective this year. I already have everything for the costume. ___________________________________________________________ Twilight walked along beside me, checklist levitating in front of her. Twilight had dragged me along to make sure everything was perfect for Nightmare Night. As she talked to herself, I saw ponies around me decorating their homes for the night. Pumpkins were being carved into Jack o’ Lanterns. Bats, and fake spider webs were being hung everywhere. One spider looked a little too realistic for my tastes, causing me to jump as we passed it. Twilight giggled a little. “You’re afraid of spiders, Private?” “I’m not scared of them,” I replied, half honestly. “I just don’t like it when they crawl near me.” Twilight just smiled and rubbed against me. “Don’t worry, Private. I’ll protect you from all those big scary spiders,” she said, in the most agonizingly sweet voice I’ve ever heard. I just smiled and pecked her on the cheek, “You’re lucky I love you so much.” “Come on,” she said, as we walked on. “We still got a lot of work to do.” I nodded and fell in besides her once more, looking at all the decorations for the celebration. “Ponyville sure likes its holidays it seems.” “What was Nightmare Night like in Manehattan?” Twilight asked, curiously. “Oh, it was the best!” I exclaimed, smiling at the memories. “You would have entire city blocks where everypony would just party. I remember I would take Tailspin out in his little Wonderbolt costume and-“ KRACK!!! I leapt nearly out of my skin as I heard a crack of lightning behind me. I looked up to see Raiden and Rainbow Dash. They were rolling around laughing on top of a storm cloud. Twilight frowned at Dash, “It seems somepony didn’t learn her lesson from last year.” “Lighten up, Twilight.” Rainbow grinned down at us. “Nightmare Night is the best night of the year for pranks.” “We’d never get to do something like this in the city,” Raiden said, with a laugh “Private, I don’t think I’ve seen a pony jump that high in my life.” “I’m starting to regret hooking you two up,” I grumbled, hanging upside down from a store sign. “Aw, you’ll get over it,” Raiden said, smugly as, he turned to Dash. “Come on! I’m going to show you how to make a real light show with this thing!” The excited couple flew off with their new toy storm cloud laughing all the way. I got down from my perch and dusted myself off. “Let’s just hope they don’t scare any old people to death.” Twilight just shook her head. “Some things never change, I guess. It’s good to see them getting along though,” “I guess,” I agreed, straightening my hat. “Let’s go check out everything else.” We walked a little further and saw Applejack setting up her apple bobbing station. She waved heartily, upon seeing us. “Howdy, guys. Everything’s just about set up over here.” Twilight smiled happily. “Luna will love it, Applejack.” “Luna?” I asked, looking over at Twilight. “Oh, I didn’t tell you!” Twilight exclaimed, as realization dawned. “Princess Luna is coming to Ponyville again this year.” “Princess Luna is coming?” My mouth gaped open in absolute shock. “We’re going to be hosting Royalty here?” Twilight smiled a little guiltily. “Sorry I just heard about it yesterday, and I only told my friends. I didn’t think to tell you that she would be coming.” I didn't know why I felt excited, and not nervous. For some inexplicable reason, I’ve always felt a special connection with the Princess of the Night. When I was a colt I would get mad at other ponies whenever they played games about Nightmare Moon. I felt sympathy for her plight of being trapped on the moon. I didn’t fee it was something we should make a game out of. Suffice to say, I was not popular when recess came… Applejack simply smiled. “Hopefully this year we can keep Pinkie’s yap shut long enough for the princess to have some fun.” “Speaking of Pinkie Pie,” I said, my horn glowing grey, as a pink pony fell from a nearby tree. I looked over at Pinkie with a scolding look on my face. “Pinkie, how many times do I have to tell you to not sneak up on me like that.” Pinkie looked up at me with a big grin. “Hiya, Private. Sorry for sneaking up on you like that, but I’m practicing my spy techniques!” I facehoofed. “That’s gotta be the worst sneak attempt I’ve ever-“ “Who are you talking to, Private?” I heard another voice ask from behind me. “I’m talking to Pinkie, Pinkie.” I then realized what I said. I whirled around and sure enough, there was another Pinkie Pie. I looked between the two Pinkie’s my jaw dropping. “There are two of you now?” This is bad! Very Bad! One Pinkie Pie is enough but now there are two of them? This could mean the end of Equestria as we know it! Pinkie 2 looked at Pinkie 1 with big grin. “Swarmy, you’ve gotten pretty good at imitating me! We had Private completely fooled!” Say what now? Pinkie 1 smiled and transformed back into the red manned white unicorn, the Changeling, usually looked like. They both started laughing out loud at my dumbfounded look. My ears flicked in anger and I retorted, “Not funny you two!” Suddenly Swarm transformed into me and imitated my voice perfectly. “Not funny you two!” This caused even Twilight and Applejack to start laughing. I looked at Pseudo Private with a frown. “Swarm, cut it out!” “Swarm, cut it out!” He imitated me. “Look at me, I’m Private Eye. I’m the world’s greatest detective and I can’t figure out that there is only one Pinkie Pie.” Everypony kept laughing out loud except me. “You two will be the death of me!” Swarm suddenly transformed into Fluttershy and imitated her sweet voice. “Aw, Private, you can’t hate us too much, can you?” pseudo Fluttershy asked sweetly, giving the biggest puppy dog eyes ever. “Damn it, Swarm!” I said, face hoofing. “You know I’m helpless against that!” Swarm transformed back into his normal unicorn form and just laughed out loud. Twilight trying very hard to contain most of her laughter. She looked at the pair. “All right, that’s enough you two, Don’t you have sweets to make?” Pinkie nodded. “Yeah, but we were waiting for the oven to be done, it was soo boring…” Swarm transformed into Pinkie right there. “So we decided to play around with my transforming ability.” Pinkie giggled. “Then Swarmy showed me how he can imitate everypony perfectly.” “Anypony?” Twilight asked, with a raised eyebrow. “Do me!” Swarm smiled, as he transformed into her. “Hi I’m Twilight Sparkle, I like books, studying, magic… and detectives,” he said, that last bit, with a very sly smile I’d never seen Twilight wear. Twilight blushed bright red, and I couldn’t help but laugh. Swarm left with a giggling Pinkie Pie. I looked over at Twilight. “They do say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” “Somehow, I don’t think I’ll consider that flattery,” Twilight said with a sigh. Applejack, who finally stopped laughing, got up and smiled at us. “Ya'll take care now; I gotta take care of mah-“ She suddenly turned around. “Aw, tarnation! Derpy, for the last time, ya bob fer apples, not fer the plug!” She ran off to rectify the mistake of the cross eyed Pegasus. Twilight and I laughed and walked on, just as the sun was about to set on the day. _________________________________________________________ “That should be everything” Twilight said, finally ticking off the last item off the checklist. “All we need to do now is head back to the library to drop off the checklist.” I nodded and looked up, the moon was shining brightly tonight. Its light dappling the town. I felt calmed during a clear starry night like this. I could never explain why, I just felt better at night. But that’s when I heard a howl; I recognized it as Luca’s. “Twilight! That’s Luca’s howl!” Twilight looked over at me. “Him howling on a moon lit night is a bad thing?” “It’s the tone of the howl I’m worried about,” I replied, grimly. “Somepony is in trouble!” I took off running with Twilight falling in beside me. “Private, what’s going on? How can you understand what Luca is saying?” “I can’t explain it,” I said, as I kept running out of town. “I just know Luca is calling because somepony is in trouble.” “I knew you liked the wolf, Private, but this is too weird,” Twilight observed, as she kept up with me. “How do you know?” “I just do” I answered, looking back at Twilight. “That and I’ve been training Luca to howl if he comes across somepony hurt.” “I pray to Celestia that it’s nothing too serious,” Twilight said grimly. We stopped when we got to the edge of town. We were right smack dab on the border to the Everfree Forest. Twilight looked around nervously. “There’s something in the air, Private, I don’t like it” My magic wrapped around Blackbird, in case anything came out and attacked us. Luca wouldn’t howl like that if it wasn’t an emergency. The question is what was cause for it? HEEELP!!!! “It came from this way!” Twilight said, taking off into the bushes, with me in hot pursuit. We leaped over the bushes and came onto the scene. Luca was standing protectively over a young mare. He was howling at a strange black figure in a blue cloak. I pulled out my gun. “Back away with your hooves in the air!” The mysterious pony looked at me. He looked just like me, only his eyes were a cruel red, and his mouth had blood seeping from it. He hissed and ran with blinding speed into the woods. I fired a couple of shots after getting over my stupor, but I didn’t hit him. I swore under my breath and looked over Luca. He looked at me a little guiltily as he stood over the mare. “You kept him from hurting her more, that’s what counts.” Luca seemed reassured by that , as Twilight lowered herself to the mare. Her eyes grew wide, “Platinum Blade?” I looked at the mare, she was a unicorn mare with a white coat and a long platinum blond mane. i imagined that was how she got her name. She was well built with scars on her body, She’d obviously seen battle. I looked at Twilight, curiously. “You know her?” “She's a friend of Shining’s in the royal guard,” Twilight explained “but she’s supposed to be in Canterlot. What is she doing way out here?” “She was probably sent to help guard during Nightmare Night,” I suggested, as I examined the mare. I noticed the golden armor she wore, “She’s a solar guard?” “Yeah, one of Princess Celestia’s personal fighting forces” She said with a nod “She’s essentially the female counterpart to all those solar stallions you see.” “I didn’t know they had female counterparts,” I said, with a hoof on my chin. “She doesn’t look hurt beyond-“ She let out a gasp, and fell back. “Private, look at her neck.” I tilted the mare’s neck and pushed aside her mane to reveal, two small red punctures. The edges looked white and worn. Something bit her. Twilight looked at me grimly. “Private, those look like bite marks of a Vampony…”
Chapter 2 "Blood Moon"Chapter 2 “Blood Moon” “I can’t honestly believe that was a Vampony,” I said to Twilight. We were sitting together, as Forceps examined Platinum Blade’s very cold body. “They’re a myth, a story to keep foals from running outside past bedtime.” “Private, the Mare in the Moon was an old mare’s tale until Nightmare Moon came back,” Twilight pointed out. “Somehow, I don’t think a Vampony is as farfetched.” Forceps walked over to us, his dark face grim “I hate to say it, sonny, but your marefriend is pretty close to the money on this one.” “How so?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at the old stallion. “The cause of death was rapid hypovolemia, or blood loss.” Forceps looked back at the body, and tapped the marks on the neck with a gloved hoof. “Whatever did this sucked the blood out, like juice through a straw.” “Like I said,” Twilight said, shaking a little, “we may have a Vampony on the loose.” I rolled my eyes, and looked at Forceps. “Did you find anything else on the body?” “I found this caught in her armor,” Forceps replied, pulling out a strange medallion on a broken chain. Etched on it was a picture of the mare in the moon, only the eye was blood red, and a single teardrop of blood came from its eye. “It looks like Nightmare Moon’s colors,” Twilight observed, taking the medallion in her magic and setting it on her hoof, “only the eye is different. I’m going to run by the library and see what I can find out about this.” I nodded. “I’m going to look around where Platinum was attacked.” I looked at Forceps. “Get Dunnit on the phone, and tell him to inform her family of the bad news” Forceps nodded and returned to the body. When I looked into the blood red eye of the medallion I couldn’t help but shudder for some reason. I’ve seen that symbol before, but where? Better yet, when? __________________________________________________________ Luca sniffed the bloody ground around where Platinum’s body had been. He looked at me with those yellow eyes of his, and I could see guilt in them. I rubbed the wolf’s ears in comfort “it’s okay boy, we’ll find out who did this.” His nose suddenly went to the ground and he howled at a nearby bush. I walked over and saw what he was barking at. It was an old musty book. It was relatively dry but its pages were yellowed. I opened the book and looked inside; there was no writing on the pages. No words, no entries, nothing. Not even a title or something to determine who it belongs to. I put the book inside my trench coat. It may have appeared to be junk but you never know with a case like this. I noticed another object on the ground. It was shiny and metallic so I picked it up with my magic. It was a necklace; it had a crescent moon with a sapphire on it. It was well crafted and beautiful. I wonder if it was a gift for somepony? I put it inside a plastic bag and slipped it into my trench coat. I was about to leave when- “Um Excuse me-“ “Ah!” I said, in shock. I turned around to see a strange looking pony. He was clad in a black suit, with a white shirt, and a red tie. I couldn’t read his expression, maybe because he didn’t have a face. An odd choice for a Nightmare Night costume… “I’m terribly sorry but I’m looking for somepony running around with a flashlight,” he explained, in a very odd sounding voice. It didn’t sound threatening, just lost. “No, I haven’t seen anypony running around with a flashlight,” I replied, with a shrug. “Have you seen anypony in a black cloak with a blue lining?” “That guy?” he asked, tapping his blank chin with his hoof. “Yeah, I did see him run off into the forest. Didn’t even stop to say hello, how incredibly rude.” “Did you see where he went by any chance?” I asked. “No, I’m afraid not,” He answered, with a shake of his blank face. “I’ve been running around all day trying to catch that flashlight fellow, and I didn’t pay the other fellow any mind.” “Why are you chasing a pony with a flashlight?” I felt compelled to ask. “The guy keeps stealing the flyers I am putting up!” he said, in obvious frustration. “I’m trying to promote a monster rock concert. I don't know why he is taking them! I keep catching him, and sending him back; but for some reason, more ponies with flashlights show up! You’d think it was a game or something!” “Sorry” I said, with a frown “If I see the guy I’ll let you know.” He nodded. “Thank you good sir, I am happy to have your assistance in this matter.” “You’re welcome Mr-“ “Just call me Slender,” he said, with a wave of his hoof. “Now I’m afraid I must be on my way.” He turned on his hooves and walked into the forest. “What a nice guy,” I said, with a smile. I looked back at Luca who was hiding behind a tree. “What’s gotten into you?” He whined a little, and his head gestured towards the direction behind me. I looked back, the mysterious pony was gone. I forgot to compliment him on such a unique costume. I wonder why I’ve never seen him before… This just keeps getting weirder… ______________________________________________________ Midnight found Twilight and I pouring over book after book, searching for the symbol. So far our efforts have been about as fruitless as persuading a Parasprite to go on a diet. Twilight tossed another book into the ever growing pile next to her, “Nothing! All these books in the library and not one of them mention the symbol!” “It looks like a religious icon,” I observed, studying the medallion again. “Try looking up ancient cults,” I suggested, glancing over at Twilight. She nodded, floating a book down off one of the shelves. “Cults of Ancient Equestria,” she said, reading the title aloud. “Let’s see, Celestia’s Witnesses’, Order of the Philomena, Red Light, Wrath of the Lamb. Ah ha!” She exclaimed, pointing at an entry. “Here’s the symbol!” I ran to her and looked over her shoulder. Sure enough the symbol was there among the other cults of Equestria’s past. I read the entry aloud, “The Cult of the Blood Moon… see Mare in the Moon?” “Never thought I’d have to dig that out again,” Twilight said, pulling another old book out from a shelf. She opened it and scanned the pages. “I’ve never read this far back in the story before.” “Just look for the symbol” I said, looking over her shoulder as she turned the pages. “Maybe it will explain what it means” Twilight stopped at one of the later chapters of the book “Here it is, The Cult of the Blood Moon was established shortly before the banishment of Nightmare Moon.” “That was a thousand years ago,” I added. “What’s a symbol doing in modern times?” “There’s more,” she said, looking over at me then back at the book. “This cult believed that by drinking the blood of Nightmare Moon, they could gain immortality. While nopony knows if actual immortality was possible, the blood of an Alicorn is said to have extraordinary powers. Upon drinking the blood, ponies were said to become incredibly strong physically; but they also went insane. Many attacked and killed ponies that had wronged them in the past, raped ponies they lusted over, and stole whatever they desired.” “Sounds like the blood made them feel like they could get a free pass,” I said, grimly. “What happened to them?” “According to the book, they disbanded when Princess Celestia used the Elements of Harmony to defeat Nightmare Moon, banishing her,” Twilight replied. “That’s all it says. There's no mention of who founded it, or even what its purpose was, beyond worshiping Nightmare Moon.” “Did Celestia ever tell you about this?” I asked, looking at her. She shook her head. “No, I’ve never heard of anything so… evil to have come out of Equestria. I can’t believe nopony ever told us about this in history class.” “They probably wanted to keep it from becoming a witch hunt,” I said, sagely. “I remember this one case County had way down in Saddlem. A bunch of ponies believed they were infiltrated by a witch cult. They hunted down their neighbors left and right, often for personal gain.” “So what do we do now?” Twilight asked, closing the book “All we have is a dead body, and some guy running around in the woods biting necks.” I put a hoof on my chin in thought. “Then we'll have to go to the source.” “What source?” Twilight asked, looking at me curiously. “Princess Luna herself…” __________________________________________________________ We arrived at Canterlot around one in the morning. Rainbow and Raiden flew us there by sky chariot touching down on the deserted grounds of Canterlot Castle. They quickly flew off so they wouldn’t be spotted. I looked around; the night guard hadn’t noticed us, thanks to an invisibility spell that Twilight cast on us. She and I ducked into a nearby bush as the spell wore off. “I’m not as good as Trixie when it comes to illusion magic, it seems,” Twilight said, blushing a little. “It’s all right.” I patted her, comfortingly. “Now, do you know where Luna’s room is?” “You’re just going to barge into her bedroom in the middle of the night; and ask Luna about something she probably has bad memories about?” Twilight asked, chidingly. “You can’t just do that, Private.” “It’ll take too long to get an appointment,” I explained, “and I want the answers to come from Princess’ lips. Preferably before she has time to prepare some cover story.” “All right, what do you need me to do?” Twilight asked, obviously still uncomfortable with the whole idea. “Pretend you’re paying a surprise visit to Celestia,” I explained, while peeking out, looking for guards. “The guards will be more focused on guarding you then they will on me.” “I guess,” she agreed reluctantly. She pulled me in, kissing me on the lips. “Just be careful.” I kissed her back, I felt strangely disappointed when she stopped kissing me. I shook my head and smiled at her lovingly. “I’ve leapt into burning buildings, and gotten shot at. What’s the worst that could happen?” Famous last words… _____________________________________________________________ Twilight’s surprise visit worked perfectly. The guards left the Night Court to handle guarding her, allowing me to sneak in unnoticed. I didn’t see any Lunar stallions as I walked the marble halls of the night wing. They must all be out on watch or something. I looked at the map of the castle that Twilight gave me, and then checked my watch “1:30…Luna should be back in about half an hour to switch places with Celestia. I’ll catch her right before she-“ I pulled out my gun and aimed at the ceiling, where I thought I heard a sound. I didn’t see anything in the high arched ceilings so I put my gun away. This whole Nightmare Night thing has gotten me jumpy is all. Now where is Luna’s-? “AMBUSH!!!” Suddenly a huge weight fell on my shoulders, slamming me to the ground. I felt something try and grab me around the neck. My horn glowed and whatever was on me flew off and crashed into a nearby wall. It looked like a Lunar Stallion. He had a grey coat and yellow cat like eyes that glared at me. He was smaller, though, probably no older than a colt. He must be a trainee or something… “GET HIM!!!” Oh shi- Another mini Lunar Stallion landed on me, slamming a frying pan onto my head. I started seeing stars, and fell to the ground in a heap. The last thing I saw before I fell unconscious was 24 yellow pairs of eyes looking at me. All belonging to Lunar Stallions. My grey eyes closed as I slipped into unconsciousness.... ______________________________________________________ When they reopened again, I felt myself lying on something soft. It was dark so I couldn’t see anything… I tried to get up, but I found myself unable to move. I could see moonlight peeking from somewhere nearby. I lay still waiting for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. Once they had, I looked down at my legs, and saw that they were tied together with an intricate series of ropes. I was hogtied and not happy about it. Those jerks tied me up! I can’t believe I lost to a bunch of ten year olds! Tailspin will never let me live this down! I gotta call for help! “MMMPH!!!” Was what came out of my mouth. I must gagged or something if I couldn’t create a comprehensive sentence. I wiggled in the bindings trying to break free. Unfortunately, the ropes held my legs tightly in place. I tried to conjure up magic but the familiar feeling of having it blocked came up. They must’ve stuck an inhibiter ring on my horn. I scooted over on the very soft surface making my way towards the moonlight. I heard a clinking sound as I moved; and felt a slight tug at my neck when I got just close enough to reach the moonlight. Those twerps not only hogtied and gagged me, but they collared me like a dog to this soft place! I need to have a word with their mother’s when I get out of… Oh Celestia no! I managed to get my hooves towards the moonlight, and what they felt, was a curtain. Not just any curtain mind you, but the kind you put on a bed. It hit me like a piano dropping on my head. I was on a bed! I was tied up and on some kind bed! I rubbed my muzzle along the blankets, they were silk! Only rich ponies can- Wait, if I haven’t left the palace then, this room probably belongs to either Twilight or one of the princesses. I turned my muzzle around studying the linens; the moon shaped markings on the many pillows told me exactly who this bed belonged to. I was laying hog tied in the bed of The Princess of the Night Herself! Okay Private, don’t panic. Maybe when Luna comes in she’ll see this whole situation and understand this is all just a crazy mistake. Then again, what if she doesn’t, and arrests me for trespassing? No, she would see that I am clearly held here against my will, and release me. Wait, what was that smell? I sniffed my belly and my eyes grew wide in shock. Those kids covered my belly with Essence de pure chaleur. Cologne used to attract mares and put them in heat! They were hoping to turn me into a harem slave! This bad! Very bad! Luna hasn’t had a stallion in over a thousand years. Sure, she’s been back in Equestria for a while, but she hasn’t taken a lover since. One whiff of me and she’s bound to pounce on me like a Changeling on a love struck couple. What do I do if Luna decides to make me into her harem slave? Do I refuse? If I do, I would be denying Royalty! She would probably lock up Tailspin or something to keep me here! Do I accept? Twilight would hate me forever! I can say goodbye to the most wonderful mare in existence! No matter which way you look at it… I’M SCREWED!!! I tried desperately to break the ropes; but escape artistry was never my strong suit back at the academy. There was no hope of breaking out of these bindings, and even if I did the chain and the inhibiter ring are still a problem. Twilight, if she does make me into a sex slave, know I will always love you! Squeak… I stiffened as I heard a door open. All right Private, don’t breath or anything, maybe they won’t notice you shaking like a leaf. I heard a very refined voice speak on the other side of the curtains, “What is that wretched smell? It smells like what some of the nobles wear when my sister comes to court” Sister? Oh crap! That’s Luna! Why did I feel longing for her instead of fear, like I should? I heard hoof steps. She was coming closer. I tried to stay as still as possible but then a hoof reached up and opened the curtains surrounding the bed. I blinked at the light of the room, and opened my eyes. Luna was smaller than Celestia. Her coat was midnight blue and shone in the moonlight. Her mane was long and ethereal like her sisters, but it seemed like a tiny night sky was in it. Her wings were tucked at her sides and looked like she could easily cover my whole body with one of them. Her teal eyes blinked in surprise upon seeing me. She rubbed them with her silver shoed hooves and looked at me again. She spoke a name, one that I didn’t know, yet was familiar somehow. “Nocturne….?”
Chapter 3 "Nocturne"Chapter 3 “Nocturne” Nocturne? Who now? I watched as the Princess climbed onto the bed and pressed her muzzle to my cheek. I was being nuzzled by royalty! I tried to speak but what came out was, “Mmphkrmrmph!” “We know. We are glad to see you again as well, Nocturne!” Luna exclaimed. “We cannot believe it’s really you!” I can’t believe it’s me either, but that’s a different story. I stiffened as Luna pressed her angular head into my neck. This is not good at all. I have to get the point across that I’m not this Nocturne. “Why do you not embrace me, Nocturne?” Luna asked, then she looked at me. “Oh, that would explain it.” Her horn glowed, and the gag came out of my mouth.“Your Highness, I’m-“ She covered my mouth with a hoof. “No need to be so formal, Nocturne, We have told you many times to call us Luna.” She removed her hoof and I spoke frantically, “I wouldn’t know anything about that!” “Are you unwell, Nocturne?” Luna asked, with a raised eyebrow. “What are you speaking of?” “I should be asking you that question, You- I mean, Luna” I said, shaking my head. “I’m not Nocturne!” Luna’s turquoise eyes turned from disbelief to a slow rising anger. I’m in trouble… Suddenly I was lifted by her magic, and slammed down onto my back, on the bed. She pinned me down with one hoof, her nose inches away from mine. “You are an impostor then! Our Lunar Stallions wouldn’t have brought you here like this if you came here legitimately! Who are you?” “I’m Detective Private Eye!” I said, frantically. “Your crazy Lunar Stallions knocked me out and tied me up here!” “We will see if you are lying!” Her horn glowed a bright cyan as she touched my horn. Suddenly I saw my life literally flashing before my eyes, I saw myself as a foal in my dad’s forelegs. I saw myself defending Potso after he was wrongly accused of stealing food at the picnic. Moongale singing at the school play, Tailspin being born, Larksong and I kissing for the first time, Twilight and I sleeping next to each other at her brother’s house. All my cases solved, and unsolved… When it was over Luna’s fury had subsided, and she looked at me with sympathy. “Forgive us. We had to know if you were being truthful.” “What did you do exactly?” I asked. “Did you just read my mind?” “Not your mind, ” Luna explained, her horn glowing again as I felt the ropes go lax on my legs, “just your memories. We know it was a breach of privacy but we had to make sure you were not simply an assassin, trying to slay us.” I wiggled out of the ropes and I felt the collar around my neck unlock. I pulled the inhibiter ring off my horn with my newly freed hooves. I looked up at Luna and bowed my head. “Please forgive me for intruding, Your Highness.” “We wish to know what you are doing here,” Luna demanded, looking down at me. “We did not see that in your memories.” “Couldn’t you just look into my head again and find that memory?” I asked, with my head still bowed. “We could, but looking up a specific memory is like finding a needle in a haystack,” she replied. “We can see you are an honest stallion. So, why are you in our chambers?” The Lunar Stallions didn’t remove my trench coat so everything was still there for me to show. I pulled out the strange medallion and held it up to her. “This was found on the body of a dead solar guard, are you aware of its origins?” Luna’s eyes went wide and she looked at me. “That belongs to the Cult of the Blood Moon, a cult that worshipped…” she replied softly, hanging her head in shame, “us.” “You mean Nightmare Moon,” I asked, looking at her. “No,” she answered, shaking her head. “We are not a separate entity from Nightmare Moon, Detective. She is part of us, or she was, until your friend Twilight Sparkle defeated us.” I tried not to figure out the specifics of this whole evil side business. I decided to move on. “Is it true that worshipers drank your blood?” “Tis true,” she replied, nodding. “They did drink of our blood and the blood of others, back when we were Nightmare Moon.” “To gain immortality?” I asked, blinking at her. “Yes,” she answered. “Though, we have little memory as to how it came about. Nightmare Moon was active most of the time in our dealings with the cult. We are not sure about the specifics as to what happened.” “How do you not remember this?” I asked, curiously. “Are you asleep or something when Nightmare Moon is active?” “In a way,” Luna explained. “When we changed into Nightmare Moon we went into a stasis almost. It has been a while since that has happened though.” “How does Nocturne fit into all of this? Judging by the way you reacted to me, he must have been somepony special.” A faint blush came to Luna’s cheeks, and she ran a hoof across the bed. “We are sorry to have mistaken you for a lover of ancient past.” She smiled at me slowly. “You bear a striking resemblance to him.” “Wouldn’t he be dead by now though?” I asked. Luna shook her head. “No, we remember that Nocturne was one of the first to drink of our blood. He must have become immortal. That is why we believed you to be him.” This Nocturne guy must have been a member of the cult. A pretty high ranking member if Luna held him in such high regard. “What was Nocturne like?” “He was a proud member of the original Lunar Stallions, before my banishment,” Luna replied, wistfully. “He was brave, and strong with a strong sense of justice. He was our most loyal follower, and we quickly developed feelings for him.” “He sounds like a great stallion” I said, smiling a little. “He was, although he seemed reluctant to get close to us at first. I suppose we must’ve intimated him,” she said, with a faint blush, “but soon we became close. Our last memories before our banishment were of being together with Nocturne.” “Do you recognize this at all?” I asked, pulling out the crescent moon necklace. “I found it near the body." “Tis odd” Luna said, tapping her hoof on her chin. “That looks like one of the necklaces that Marigold would make for our lunar stallions.” “Who was Marigold?” I asked. “She was a Lunar Mare,” she explained. “Originally, she was wanted to be a solar guard, but back then she didn’t get far because of her gender. The Lunar Stallions sort of adopted her as one of their own. She was kind, and very pretty. We all loved her like a little sister.” “So, she made these necklaces for them?” I asked, looking at the crescent moon. “Her hobby was making jewelry,” Luna reminisced, with a small smile. “She was the pony that made my regalia.” She gestured to the black regalia on her chest. The Lunar Stallions that joined the cult probably kept their necklaces. Now that I think about it, the culprit did bear a striking resemblance to me. Maybe that was Nocturne… “I also found an old book next to the body” I said, pulling out the book. “Did this belong to Nocturne, by any chance?” Luna nodded. “That was his diary.” “All the pages are blank,” I pointed out. “It’s a magical diary," she explained. "You write a question in it and the diary will bring up the answer, as if it were the pony it belonged to.” I made a mental note to try that when I got back. I slipped the evidence back into my trench coat, and bowed my head before Luna. “Thank you for your time, Your Highness.” Luna smiled, “You need not address me with such formality, Detective. Please call me Luna.” “Very well, Luna.” I said, with a smile. “I will continue to investigate this matter.” “Also, please forgive my Lunar Stallions for tying you up,” Luna said, with a blush of embarrassment. “They are as loyal as German Shepherds, and simply wished to protect me.” I nodded; I guess I couldn’t argue against loyalty. Though, I would’ve preferred if they simply escorted me, rather than tying me up like an offering. As I walked out of Luna’s room, I experienced an odd feeling of guilt. I wonder if this Nocturne holds the answers I’m looking for? ________________________________________________________ “Well, how did it go?” Twilight asked, as we rode the train back to Ponyville. “I learned that I, apparently, resemble an old lover of Luna’s, Nocturne,” I replied, shaking my head. “That, and it seems that he was the one in charge of the cult.” “I’m too tired to think about it anymore,” Twilight said, yawning widely. “We’ve been up all day and night; I’m hoping to get some sleep.” I smiled as she leaned against me, and put her head on my shoulder. Her breathing was slow and rhythmic. I nuzzled her on the head and a smile came to her face. “Sleep well, my Twilight,” I said, kissing her on the head softly. She’s beautiful, so beautiful, and brilliant… I know, she’s something else… Shame she doesn’t let you act on your love for her… What are talking about? You know you want her… She said she’s not- She just doesn’t know what she’s missing; you've just got to show her how wonderful it can be… I shook my head, odd how the voice appeared again. I looked over at Twilight as she leaned against me. She did look beautiful; I found my eyes wandering down her body and down to her flank… Come on Private, get a hold of yourself! I decided to distract myself and pulled out Nocturne’s diary. I opened it to the first page. Luna said you just had to write in it? Well, let’s try it. I levitated out a pen and started writing “Hello, my name is Private Phelps Eye. Who are you?” When I finished writing words formed themselves from below my writings. Hello Private, my name is Nocturne. This is Nocturne’s diary! Now I can ask the stallion directly. I wrote again, “Do you know anything about the Cult of the Blood Moon?” Again words appeared below it, or should I say word? Yes. “Can you tell me?” I asked, on the paper. No, Disappointed, I was ready to close the book when words appeared again. but I can show you. Say what now? Let me take you back a millennium ago, The pages moved by themselves to a later page in the book. I watched with wide eyes as the spine of the page seemed to glow, and a blue mist started to seep out of the book. Suddenly a bright light enveloped my vision, and everything went black… ___________________________________________________________ I opened my eyes and found myself staring in a mirror. I wasn’t my image reflected back in the mirror though. The stallion was big; his coat was the same grey and his mane the same brown. His eyes were a soft brown, though. The pony I was seeing seemed to be fussing with his brown mane, as though he was going on a date or something… He stopped messing with his mane and smiled at himself. “Thou wilt be fine, Nocturne,” he told himself. “Luna just called to speakest with me. Thou wilt be fine.” So this was Nocturne! No wonder Luna mistook me for him. He and I look almost exactly alike, except for our eyes and body shape. He was certainly more muscular then I am, probably from years in combat. He walked over and picked up a strange medallion, etched with a closed eye. He slipped it over his neck and tapped it. The medallion made a sound like the unsheathing of a sword and black armor formed on him. His coat retained its grey color but his mane disappeared under the helmet. He looked back at himself in the mirror. His eyes were now bright yellow and cat like, defiantly a Lunar Stallion. He smiled at himself, and I saw that he had piranha like teeth. I hated to imagine what he had to use them for. He didn’t have the bat like wings of his modern counterparts, probably because he wasn't a pegasus, but a unicorn. I guess you can’t change what wasn’t there in the first place. He walked out, and I saw that we were standing in a barracks of some sort. All around me were Lunar Stallions, clad in similar armor to Nocturne. They were doing the things soldiers usually did while off duty, played cards, talking about this or that, drinking. One Lunar Stallion waved at Nocturne to get his attention, then spoke to his fellow soldiers. “Look everypony! Nocturne’s trying to look all fair for somepony!” My host rolled his eyes. “Thou speakest nonsense, Blackstar.” Another Lunar Stallion pointed at Nocturne. “No, look at his coat! So well groomed. He’s venturing out to see a fair lass!” I felt my host turn bright red. Blackstar spoke again, “So, speakest friend! Tell us who ist thy lucky lady!” “Tis no one,” Nocturne retorted. “I’m merely off to see Princess Luna!” Nocturne suddenly covered his mouth as he realized he said that out loud. Everypony in the room stopped what they were doing, and stared at him. One, wiry, thin, Lunar Stallion stood up from his card game. “What makest thou think Princess Luna wants to deal with thee?” Nocturne looked at the ground, I felt a wave of embarrassment wash over him. “She merely wishest to speakest to me.” “Thou?” the thin stallion asked, with a look of disdain. “Thou art only a cadet! Why wouldst she want to speakest to thee?” “I don’t know, Nightwind,” Nocturne confessed. “I'm merely answering her summons.” “Perhaps thou and she art doing more than simply talking battle strategies!” Nightwind accused. Nocturne’s fury became evident; he growled low like a lion. “Thou darest slander thy Princess?” Blackstar looked at Nightwind grimly. “Thou shouldn’t have said that, my friend. Nopony ist more loyal to Her Highness than Nocturne." “I simply wished to make sure he’s not taking advantage of our Princess!” Nightwind muttered, darkly. “Bastard!” Nocturne cried, as he leaped with terrible ferocity at Nightwind. The two knocked over a card table as they began hitting each other. I felt Nocturne’s pain and pure fury as he wailed on Nightwind. “Please, stop fighting!” I heard a feminine voice speak up. Immediately the two stallions stopped fighting and looked up. I saw a beautiful white coated, blond maned, Pegasus mare, with equally beautiful silver eyes. She looked down at both of them with obvious disappointment. The two stallions got up and dusted themselves off. Nocturne looked at the young mare apologetically. “Sorry Marigold, I shouldst not have lashed out at him.” Nightwind simply snorted and walked off. Marigold walked up to Nocturne and looked him over, “Thou art not hurt, are thee?” “I’m fine, Marigold” Nocturne replied, with a smile. “I wast simply trying to defend Princess Luna’s honor.” She smiled. “Thou shouldest not worry about the other Lunar Stallions; I’ll keep them from starting bad rumors about thee.” She reminded me of Twilight almost… Nocturne nodded. “I’m going to speakest with the Princess now. Thou takest care of thine self, Marigold.” A faint blush came to the white Pegasus’s cheeks, as she walked off. Funny, I wonder if she cares for Nocturne as more than just a fellow soldier. __________________________________________________ I found myself standing in front of a pair of double doors. Nocturne let out a sigh and was about to knock on it, when they swung open for him. I saw Luna. She looked the same as she did now, but her clothing was different. She wore significantly more jewelry then she would’ve in modern times. She smiled upon seeing Nocturne. “Nocturne, we art pleased to see thee.” “Thou wanted to speakest with me, Princess?” Nocturne asked, his head bowed. She nodded and gestured for Nocturne to come in. Luna closed the doors behind him, and Nocturne turned to her. Luna reached out with her hooves and pulled Nocturne into a tender kiss. Nocturne blushed a little, but slowly returned it. They were lovers! Holy crap, Nocturne is kissing the Princess! Luna stopped kissing him for a moment, and pressed her head into Nocturne’s chest. Nocturne wrapped his forelegs around his princess, a big smile on his face. “Princess…” “Yes, my stallion?” Luna asked, as she pressed herself against him. “I love thee.” Suddenly light filled my eyes, and we seemed to have left this scene behind… _____________________________________________________________ I was standing in some kind of forested area. Nightwind was walking beside me, and Luna was in front of us. She looked back at us. “Nocturne, art tho sure 'twas around here?” “I’m sure, M'lady,” Nocturne, my host, answered with a nod. “The meteorite landed right around here” The trio stopped at a nearby crater, as Luna’s eyes scanned it. Inside the crater was a small blue stone. It was seeping some kind of blue mist that seemed almost alive. Wait… Luna walked towards the rock, and the mist suddenly swirled around her. Nocturne and Nightwind tried to jump into the mist, but they were knocked back by a strange force. Nocturne hit a nearby tree after being blasted away and fell unconscious. When he came to, he looked around, spotting Luna lying on her side nearby. Nocturne ran to Luna and looked her over. “Luna? Luna, art thou all right?!” Slowly but surely Luna’s eyes opened, only instead of her normal turquoise pony eye, she had reptilian ones. “We hast never been better, my stallion…”
Chapter 4 "Lust"Chapter 4 “Lust” The scene flashed again and I found myself with my ear pressed against a door. I could tell I was still Nocturne. I heard a regal voice speaking on the other side of the door. “Luna, tis not like thee," the voice said, trying to sound gentle. “Thou hast had the moon up for so long, 'tis been night for at least a day.” “What art thou saying, sister?” I recognized Luna’s voice speaking, although there was a noticeable edge to it. “That we dost purposefully keep the moon up?” “We art not accusing thee,” I figured this had to be Celestia speaking. “We wishest only for thou to speakest to us, if not as thy fellow ruler, than as thy sister and friend.” “When hast thou ever been our friend? “ Luna asked, in a sinister tone. “Thou just wantest everypony to worship thee during thy precious day.” “Luna, thou art being unfair," Celestia said, pleadingly. “Tis not fair,” Luna said, stamping her hoof. “Thy subjects sleep and doest horrible acts during our night, but during thy day everypony are happy and joyous. Thou just wantest us to lower the moon so it canst continue!” “Luna!” Celestia exclaimed, with obvious shock. “Good night, sister!” My host had the good sense to hide behind a potted plant to keep from being trampled by Luna, as she stormed out of the room. Nocturne watched as Luna stomped away. Just then Celestia came out; her mane was pink as opposed to her tricolored mane in modern times. Like Luna, she too wore more jewelry than her modern counterpart. She looked over with her violet eyes to where Nocturne was hiding. “We knowest thou art hiding there, child of the night.” Nocturne walked out and bowed his head before the princess “Forgive me, M'lady, I heardest the shouting and felt compelled to investigate.” “Always so inquisitive, Nocturne,” Celestia said, with a bemused smile. “Thy curious attitude couldst get thee in trouble, one day.” “I only wishest to make sure Lu-, I mean, Her Highness, ist all right” Nocturne said, a faint blush coloring his cheeks. “We too worry for our sister,” Celestia said, closing her eye in thought. “Perhaps she shouldst speak with thee” “I am but a humble servant, M'lady!” the Lunar Stallion exclaimed, way too fast. “Dost thou thinkest us blind, child?” Celestia asked, smiling. “We art well aware of thine relationship with our sister.” Nocturne turned as red as a tomato. Celestia certainly didn’t mince words. “If thou disapprove…” Nocturne said, his ears flattening. “Far from it,” Celestia said, lowering her head so she was level with Nocturne. “We believe 'tis sweet that Luna hast found a pony to share her troubles, and joys with.” “I am glad to hearest that, M'lady,” Nocturne said, sighing in relief. “Though, art thou aware of what thou art taking on, by being Luna’s lover?” Celestia asked, with concern. “Couldst thou elaborate, M'lady?” my host asked, tilting his head in confusion. “We art immortal,” Celestia replied, in a somber tone. “Thou art not the first stallion she’s been drawn to. We wantest to be sure thou art ready for when she dost outlive you…” “Thou art saying she wilt be there for the rest of my life,” Nocturne said, in slow realization, “but I wilt not for all of hers.” “We art sorry to break this truth to thee,” Celestia said, with compassion. “We simply wishest for thou to realize it sooner, rather than later.” Nocturne got quiet for a while. I felt a vast amount of emotion coming from him, anger, guilt, even a little sorrow, all leaving the Lunar Stallion in a sorry state. He opened his now yellow eyes and looked at Princess Celestia directly. “I wilt consider this, M'lady, but I shalt not deny Luna the comfort she needeth right now.” Celestia smiled and walked off, her expression unreadable. The scene flashed again… _____________________________________________________ Nocturne was walking down the halls of Canterlot Castle when his ears perked up. He thought he heard a cry come from a nearby corridor. My host broke into a run and came upon a most disturbing scene. The Lunar Stallion, Nightwind, had Marigold pinned to the ground. His eyes were not yellow, but instead were blood red. Marigold let out a muffled scream as Nightwind pressed his hoof to her mouth. “I wilt take what I desire of thee…” Nightwind said, in a disgustingly sick tone. Nocturne leaped out from the shadows and tackled Nightwind. The two stallions tussled a little before Nocturne managed to sink his piranha like fangs into Nightwind’s leg. Nightwind let out a screech of pain, and leapt backward. Nocturne growled low as he stood protectively in front of the white pegasus. “Thou wouldst defile Marigold?” Nocturne roared, outraged. "Hast thou gone mad?” “Always the goody four hooves, Nocturne," Nightwind hissed, his head low and his fangs bared. “What dost Luna see in thee, anyway?” “Thou speakest madness,” Nocturne growled, his yellow eyes meeting Nightwind's. “I wilt bring thee before Celestia! She shalt judge thy fate!” Nocturne leaped towards Nightwind but suddenly a bright flash occurred, and the Lunar Stallion was gone. Nocturne growled in annoyance. “Hiding behind glamor spells, I see! Fine! Run like the coward thou art!” “Nocturne…” My host turned around to see Marigold looking at him with shining silver eyes. “Thou hast saved my life, and my honor.” “Tis nothing, Marigold,” Nocturne said, with a small smile. “I wouldst doest the same for anypony.” “Thou art so brave,” Marigold said, looking down. I could see a faint blush come to her cheeks. She stepped closer to the Lunar Stallion and met his yellow eyes with her own silver ones. “Forgive me…” “For wha-“ Nocturne was cut off when Marigold planted a kiss on his cheek. Then she flew off at a speed that would make Rainbow Dash proud. Nocturne reached up and touched his cheek where he was kissed by the lovely mare “Marigold…” Well, isn't this an interesting development? The scene flashed again… ____________________________________________________ When I came back, Nocturne had just opened the door to Luna’s room. I recognized the basic shape, but a lot of the decorations were different. Then again, things were bound to change in 1000 years. Nocturne’s eyes, however, were only on the silhouette of the mare behind the curtains of the bed. He tilted his head, and asked, “Luna?” “Thou hast come, my stallion.” Wait, that voice was defiantly not Luna’s. It sounded too, evil… Nocturne’s eyes grew wide as none other than Nightmare Moon emerged from behind the curtains. She was as big as Celestia; her coat was as black as a starless night. She was wearing a strange blue armor, including a helm of some sort. Her ethereal mane was similar, but it seemed almost… alive. Her turquoise reptilian eye looked right at Nocturne. “Doest thou find our appearance suitable, my stallion?” “What hast happened to thou, Luna?” Nocturne asked, his jaw dropping “Thine body…” “Tis a change to inspire a more, loyal, response from our subjects.” Her sneer dripped more evil then all of the bastards I’ve jailed, combined. “The mist,” Nocturne said, slowly. “It hast changed thee." “We art now a being the subjects will not only worship, but fear,” Nightmare Moon said, smiling evilly. “We plan to create a night that shalt last forever. Soon everypony wilt appreciate the night we’ve worked so hard to create.” “M'lady,” Nocturne gulped, nervously. She walked over to him, her ethereal mane seemed to caress Nocturne on the cheek. “Our sister hast made it clear to thee that thou art mortal?” “How didst thee-“ “We art not blind, nor stupid, Nocturne.” She said, with a smile. “Thou needest not worry about mortality any longer.” “What dost thou speakest of?” “We speakest of… our blood,” She replied, holding a leg before him. “ Thou hast only to drink of our blood, then the mist will enter thee as well. It shalt grant thee immortality, too. We canst be together forever, my love.” Nocturne looked down at the leg that Nightmare Moon was holding before him. His teeth showed as he opened his mouth, then… The scene faded… _____________________________________________________ My grey eyes blinked open, I was lying on a couch in Twilight’s house. I looked up and saw she was standing over me, looking concerned. “Are you all right?” “Yeah, I’m fine,” I said, with a nod. “I activated the diary, and then…” I went on to explain every tiny detail about what I had witnessed in Nocturne’s memory. Twilight raised an eyebrow when I finished. “It’s odd that he cut you off just as you were about to find out if he founded the cult.” “I think he might’ve,” I said, deep in thought. “What time is it, anyway?” “After the diary activated, you kind of passed out,” Twilight explained. “You were out all day, it’s almost seven at night now.” “Did you find out anything else while I was out?” I asked. “I did go back to the scene of the crime, but all I found was an odd paper stuck on a tree, and this box here.” She held up a small brown box. “I didn’t open it yet, though.” I levitated the box with my magic and held it in front of me. It didn’t appear to have any extraordinary markings or anything. Just a simple lock with a crescent moon shape. “Hold on a sec!” I reached into my coat, and pulled out my lock picking kit. After two whole minutes of picking at it, it finally gave way. I should’ve kept it closed… Suddenly, a blue mist came out of the box and entered my nostrils.The force of the mist entering me, knocked me back. Twilight screamed in shock, as I fell to the floor in a heap. I felt, strange… “Private, are you all right?” Twilight asked, frantically. “Say something!” She looks so… desirable. Doesn’t she? Yes. I closed my eyes, and faded into darkness…. ___________________________________________________________ When I awoke, it was still dark out. I was back on the couch with a blanket over me, how thoughtful of Twilight. I got up and shook the blanket off me. Looking over at a nearby clock, I saw it was just past ten p.m. Twilight should have company. Yes… You know where her room is. I’ve never actually entered it before…. Time for a change. Yes. I walked up the stairs to where I knew Twilight’s room was. I slowly opened the door and peeked in. Books were tucked everywhere, a telescope looked out towards the beautiful night sky. I heard soft breathing, and saw Twilight asleep on her bed. Twilight… I walked to her bed and looked at her, so beautiful, so brilliant, and so desirable… You want her. I do… How much? More than anything… Claim her. Make her yours. I crawled onto the bed, causing Twilight to stir in her sleep. I nuzzled her neck slowly, Her eyes suddenly shot open, and she looked up at me with confusion. “Private? What are you doing in my room?” “I got, lonely…” I said, slowly. “I wanted to see you.” She blushed a little, and smiled “All right, I guess we have been busy lately.” Too busy… Far too busy to appreciate you. Twilight lifted up the covers and I slid under them. I began kissing her tenderly; she let out a small squeak as I ran a hoof along her side. She broke away from our kiss. “Private, what’s gotten into you?” “Am I not allowed to give the mare I love what she deserves?” I asked, my voice husky with desire. “I just wasn’t expecting you to be so,” she paused, searching for the right word, “forward…” “I just think the time for talk is past,” I said, leering at her. “Let me show you how much I love you…” “Private, what are you-“ She was cut off when I kissed her again roughly. I pressed my coat to hers and kept the kissing her hard. I wanted her… Take her. Make her yours… “Private,” Twilight gasped, breaking away again. “Are you sure you’re okay, you’re acting very strangely.” “I’m fine," I replied, looking at her hungrily. “In fact, I'm better than ever…” “You’re being so aggressive,” Twilight said, nervously. “This isn’t at all like normal.” “Good,” I said, simply, “because when I’m normal, nothing happens.” “What are you talking about?” Twilight asked, worriedly. “Private, you know I love you.” Then she should let you act on it. She looked up at me with those wonderful amethyst eyes. I flipped her over so she was on her belly. “Then let me act on it, Twilight.” I said, climbing on top of her. “Private, what are you doing?” She looked back at me, incredulously. “I told you I’m not ready!” She just doesn’t know what she’s missing. “You just don’t know what you’re missing,” I said, roughly pulling up her tail. “Private,” she said, sobbing. “Stop! This isn’t…” “Shh,” I growled softly, in her ear. “You will soon see what I can provide…” “PREVENTUS PHELPS EYE, GET OFF ME!" Twilight shrieked, as I was hit by a huge blast of magic. It sent me sailing across the room into the far wall. I fell down in a heap, the voice suddenly silent. Wait, what did I almost do? I looked up as Twilight stood over me, her face streaked in tears. “Sorry Private,” she said, as her horn glowed again. As everything faded to black, only one thing crossed my mind… What have I done? ________________________________________________________
Chapter 5 "Trapped"Chapter 5 “Trapped” When my grey eyes finally reopened they were greeted by almost total darkness. I felt extremely light headed, and somewhat nauseous. Was I hit by an aesthetic spell? I guessed so, judging by how much my head hurts. I cast an illumination spell and looked around. I was in the spare room at the library, the one Twilight thought to offer me when I first came to Ponyville. It was almost perfectly square with only one small window, high up beyond my jumping range. My light found the door and I walked to it. I gave it a push, but it wouldn't budge. I tried to pull on the handle with my magic, locked? I knocked on the door. “Twilight? Twilight, are you there?” No answer. I turned and tried to buck the door. My legs literally bounced off the wall. It appeared to be wood, but it was as solid as steel. What the hell was going on? I started to panic. I was trapped…. No! No! Celestia No… I slammed my hooves on the door and shouted, “Twilight! Where are you? Let me out!” “Private,” I heard a familiar voice speak from the other side. “Oh, thank Celestia. Twilight,” I said, with a sigh of relief. “I was so worried I’d be trapped in here.” “…” “Twilight?” I said when silence greeted me. “Twilight, come on, let me out.” “Private, I can’t…” Twilight replied, softly. “What are you talking about?” I shouted. “Open this door!” “Private, after what you did…” Oh, Luna! No! Memories of what I almost did came flooding back to me. I realized with horror what I tried to do to Twilight. What I did… “Twilight, I’m sorry!” I said, frantically. “I don’t know what came over me! I’m so, so, very sorry!” I heard a sob on the other end. “I believe you, but until I can figure out what happened to you, I can’t risk it.” “Twilight, please,” I desperately cried. “I didn’t mean to do it! Please, just let me out!” “I’m sorry, Private” Twilight said, sobbing. “I just can’t trust you right now.” No! No! NO! Not again… “Twilight, please,” I begged, tears streaming down my face. “Please, don’t leave me in here. Please, let me out. I want to be with you." “I know you do,” Twilight said, sobbing all the more, “but I just can’t risk you doing it again! I’m sorry, Private. You’re just going to have to wait until I can figure out what happened.” I looked around at the small room around me; the walls seemed to be closing in. I was trapped… “Twilight!” I cried, slamming my hooves on the door. No answer… “Twilight, please!” I cried, desperately, pounding even harder on the door. I heard noises from outside! What were they? I can’t stay in here! “Twilight!” I began desperately bucking the door. NO! NO! NO! “Twilight, I’m sorry…” I fell to the floor and buried my face in my hooves. A crack was heard and I looked towards the window. I couldn’t reach it from my position and I couldn’t levitate up to it if I wanted to. It was raining outside. A storm was coming… Storms. Trapped. NO. I curled up into a ball. I was trapped! I was helpless… I wanted Twilight. I wanted her here, with me. Twilight, I love you! Let me out… __________________________________________________________ When next I opened my eyes, I found myself lying on a soft bed. I looked up and saw I was back in Luna’s room… How did I get here? “You are awake,” I heard a voice speak up next to me, I looked over and saw Luna looking back at me, her turquoise eyes filled with deep compassion. “How did I get here?” I asked, looking at the Princess of the Night. “I was trapped…” A shudder ran through my body as I remembered the walls closing in on me. “We heard your cries when Twilight Sparkle trapped you,” she replied, her face turning somber. “We know what it is like to be trapped.” “You must have good hearing,” I said, burying my face in the bed. I was too tired and too ashamed to bother with formalities. I felt Luna scoot over beside me, and wrap one of her large wings around me. I instinctively scooted closer to her, cuddling in. “Your mother must have had wings if you react this way,” Luna observed, gently nuzzling me on the head. “You are troubled…” I told her what happened. The box, the blue mist, and most importantly what I did to Twilight. “You are a victim of Miasma,” Luna said, knowingly. “Miasma?” I asked. “Isn’t that an ancient word for disease?” Luna shook her head. “We speak not of a mere disease. We speak of the substance known as Miasma. Long ago this substance threatened to cover all of Equestria. It causes living beings to give in to their darkest desires… We believe it was what turned us into Nightmare Moon in the first place.” “I wanted Twilight,” I said, closing my eyes in shame. “I can’t believe I did that.” “Nopony is truly invincible, Private.” Luna said, gently. “We all have a dark side in us that causes us to do evil. All we can do is try and overcome it.” “You talk like my mom” I said, smiling slowly. “Well, she never said the royal 'we' whenever she spoke.” We both laughed a little, I felt safe and comfortable sitting here in the wings of the Princess of the Night. “Forgive us for prying,” Luna said, slowly, “but why were you causing such a clamor about being locked up?” I flushed in embarrassment “I… I have Cleithrophobia” “Fear of being locked in an enclosed space?” Luna guessed. “Yes, I can’t stand being trapped in a room” I said, bowing my head in shame. “What caused this?” Luna asked, with concern. “When I was seven,” I explained, “I was playing outside when this storm came out of nowhere. I was too far away from the house to get to it in time. So, I took shelter inside a garden shed. While I was inside a tree branch got hit by lightning and fell, blocking the way out. I spent all night in that shed, unable see anything, things would bang alongside the walls as the storm went on. I was so terrified…” She nuzzled me gently on the head. “Have you told anypony about this?” “Only my parents, and I think my brother knows about it,” I replied, keeping my head down. “Twilight Sparkle didn’t know about it when she locked you up?” She asked. “No,” I admitted. “I never told her about that.” “It’s hard to admit fear like this,” Luna said, knowingly. “Maybe if you had told Twilight then and there that you were afraid, she would’ve let you go.” “What good would that do?” I retorted. “If Twilight knew about that, how could she ever see me as the strong pillar? I’m supposed to be the one in control! I’m supposed to be…” I shook my head. “Forgive me, Luna. I shouldn’t dump all of this on you.” She shook her own head in turn “It is refreshing that a pony is willing to confide in us. We understand now what Twilight Sparkle means to our sister. We simply know what it’s like to be trapped. It’s not a good feeling, and it can leave one with terrible scars. We will help you, however we can.” “Thank you, Luna,” I said, smiling slowly. “I do feel better talking about it.” “Come,” she said, getting up. “Let us get you some air.” We climbed off of the bed, and Luna led me out to a balcony. I looked up and saw the night sky in all its glory. The stars were glistening like a million tiny diamonds on the midnight blue canvas of the sky. I looked over and noticed Luna was simply looking at me. “It’s a beautiful night,” I said, smiling at her warmly. “It is,” she replied, but then she lowered her eyes to her hooves. “It's a shame nopony cares for it.” “Are you kidding me?” I asked, looking back up at the stars. “On a night like this, Twilight would probably drag me out for star gazing. Then we’d just sleep together in the moonlight." “We never realized our night could be so,” she paused for the right word, “romantic.” “It is,” I replied. “Did you make all those stars?” “No,” She said, with a slight chuckle. “They were already there when we were born. We are unsure of who put them there first. We simply rearrange what is there, to make it more beautiful.” “So, you made constellations?” I asked. “Indeed.” She pointed with her hoof at Orion’s belt “Named after a pony Tia had a crush on about fourteen centuries ago. He was always so proud of that belt of his; we put it in the sky to commemorate him.” She gestured to Taurus. “Named after a pet we owned at the menagerie, about twelve thousand years ago. Tia never liked bulls so we made that red star Aldebaran to give it a rather ferocious appearance.” “Sounds like you put a lot of thought into each one,” I said, looking up at her work. “It’s nice to know somepony appreciates what we have done.” Luna smiled. “We only wish more ponies cared for our night like you and Twilight Sparkle.” “I should probably get back to Ponyville” I said, with a sigh. “It was a pleasure talking with you, Luna.” “The pleasure is ours,” She replied smiling at me, but then her eyes fell on my open trench coat. Nocturne’s diary was sticking out. “Pray tell, did you find anything out about Nocturne in that diary?” “Nothing I think you wouldn’t already know about” I answered, shrugging, “but maybe it’ll work better if you write in it.” I levitated out the diary, passing it to Luna. Luna’s magic reached for a quill and ink and she began writing in the diary. “We are Princess Luna…” I looked over her shoulder as Nocturne answered: Hello Luna, I am Nocturne. Luna smiled with glee at me, and kept writing “Is that really you, Nocturne?” I’m afraid not, Princess, I am merely a memory of him. “Then tell me,” she wrote down, "is Nocturne still alive?” Slowly the word formed… Unlikely Luna’s eyes looked confused “We do not understand, he drank of our blood when we were Nightmare Moon.” “You don’t remember much of what happened when you were Nightmare Moon,” I pointed out. “It took me a while to remember what I did to Twilight, maybe Nocturne knows what happened.” Slowly words formed on the diary. Let me show you the last part of the tale… Light enveloped both me and Princess Luna. Here we go again… _________________________________________________________ Nightmare Moon was standing, surrounded by five strange ponies. Each bore an Element of Harmony. One bearing the Element of Loyalty, a pink pony with a blue mane was glaring at Nightmare Moon. “This is as far as thou goest!” “How didst thou find us?” Nightmare Moon asked, looking around at the five ponies surrounding her. A white Pegasus with a blond curly mane spoke almost scarily like Pinkie Pie, “'Twas easy silly. That nice Lunar Stallion told us where thou wast hiding.” An earth pony bearing the element of Honesty and also a striking resemblance to Applejack face hoofed. “Surprise, thou art not supposed to gloat! ’Tis the villains job!” A turquoise pony with a rather refined tone that reminded me of Rarity spoke up, “Tis no matter, Applejack. Tis only important that we hast captured the monster!” Applejack? No way! An earth pony that looked almost exactly like Fluttershy looked up at Nightmare Moon. “Um, if thou dost not stop hurting ponies, we wiliest, um…” The pink pegasus from before rolled her eyes. “Posy, for once in thine life try to act brave whilst we vanquish this villain.” Nightmare Moon laughed. “Celestia sends this to stop us? We must say thou art all quite amusing, but we must ask, who spookiest of our location?” My host moved from the shadows “I didst…” “Nocturne?” Nightmare Moon said, looking at my host in disbelief. “Thou told them where we wast?” “I didst,” Nocturne said, with a slow nod. “I told them and thy sister, so that they couldst stop thee.” “Our sister?! Nightmare Moon asked, in absolute shock. Just then Celestia descended from a skylight with a pony on her back. She was a pink color with a white mane and a violet strip running through it. On the unicorn’s head was the Element of Magic. She hopped off Celestia’s back and glared at Nightmare Moon. “Thy days of evil art over, Nightmare Moon!” Celestia glared at Nightmare Moon. “Thou art surrounded, and out classed, Nightmare Moon. ’Tis no way thou canst escape.” “Thou thinkest thou canst stop our eternal night?” Nightmare Moon gloated. “With a bunch of mares that hast never even touched the Elements of Harmony before?” “Thou underestimates just how much power these mares hast,” Celestia said, firmly. "We shalt give thee one chance to surrender.” Nightmare Moon glared at Nocturne. “Thou wouldst betray us, Nocturne? Thou wouldst betray the pony thou loved?” “You are not Luna…” Nocturne replied, sadly. Nightmare Moon’s reptilian eye dilated in shock. “Everypony now!” The Element of Magic shouted, her element glowed brightly and fired a beam at Nightmare Moon “Right behind thee, Twilight!” The pink pegasus shouted as her element activated. “Tis going to be fun!” Surprise exclaimed, with absolute glee. “I’m not sure if thou wouldst call this fun,” Posy said, as her element activated. “Just put all thine hearts into it!” Retro Applejack cried as hers activated. The refined speaking unicorn glared at Nightmare Moon “Thy time is up, monster,” she shouted, as her element activated. The elements concentrated on Celestia’s horn and it shone bright as the sun “For thy crimes against Equestria, We hereby banish thee to the moon for one thousand years!” A blast of rainbow light fired from Celestia’s horn and hit Nightmare Moon square in the chest. My host looked away as the light grew brighter. Suddenly Nightmare Moon shot through the skylight and towards the moon, where she would remain for a thousand years… Nocturne bowed his head but looked up when Retro Twilight approached him. “Thank thee. Twas not easy for thee to tellest us where she wast.” “Why didst thou tellest?” Firefly asked. “I thought thou loved her.” “I didst” Nocturne replied, sadly. Celestia walked to Nocturne. “Thou hast done an honorable but painful thing. We shalt not ask anymore of thee Nocturne; thou hast done all we couldst possibly ask of thee.” “I, needst some time, Princess.” Nocturne said, staring miserably down at his hooves. “Come subjects, he needst some time alone.” The retro mane six followed Celestia out, all except Firefly, who stopped and put a hoof on Nocturne’s shoulder “Just remember thou didst the right thing, if thou didst not nopony would’ve been able to stop her.” He smiled at the pink Pegasus. “Thank thee, Firefly. May thy descendants always be as honorable as thou art.” “Or they shouldst be as awesome as me” Firefly said, smiling. “Awesome?” Nocturne asked, with a raised eyebrow. “Tis a new phrase I’m trying to catch on.” Firefly said with a shrug, as she flew off. The scene faded as Nocturne looked up at the moon. It now had craters in the shape of the Mare in the Moon, the same shape it would have for a thousand years. __________________________________________________________ Nocturne was lying on a field. It was night out and he was just staring up at the moon, I noticed he was no longer wearing any armor. He turned as a Marigold landed not too far away “Nocturne, thou hast been up here for a long time. Almost a week in fact” “I appreciate thy concern, Marigold,” Nocturne replied half-heartedly. “Tis not helping thee cope with the sorrow in thine heart,” Marigold said, as she sat down beside Nocturne “Her cult hast been dismantled, her night tis over.” “But she’s gone” Nocturne said coldly “What matters now?” “Nocturne,” Marigold said, looking at him. “Why dost thou care?” Nocturne shouted at the white pegasus. “I care because,” Marigold looked down suddenly, not finishing her sentence. “Speakest! Why dost thou care! What couldst possibly bring thee out here when everypony else ist out celebrating Luna being gone for a thousand years?” Suddenly Marigold pressed her lips to Nocturne’s. The former lunar stallion was caught off guard by this sudden display of affection. Then she slowly pulled away and looked down in shame. “Forgive me, I simply canst not stand to see thou suffer,” she said, staring at the ground. “Marigold,” Nocturne said, blinking his brown eyes. “Thou art always putting thine self on the line for others,” Marigold said, bringing her eyes up to meet Nocturne's. “Thou defended me when others hast turned away. Thou art gallant, and strong! I just can’t stand to see thou suffering alone! I love thee, Nocturne!” Nocturne just held Marigold's gaze. I could tell he was going over every scenario in his head since he first met her. Searching for all the signs he'd clearly missed, all those times when she seemed to speak in half meaning sentences. All those times when she seemed to want more out of her friendship with him. I can relate. Slowly, Nocturne met Marigold’s lips with his own. The white Pegasus’ wings spread as the kiss grew deeper. The scene faded… _____________________________________________________ I opened my eyes, and saw Luna was looking on in absolute shock. “Nocturne betrayed us?” “Luna?” I said, looking at her. “You saw?” “Saw our love run into the arms of another?” Luna shouted, her voice filled with fury. “Saw him betray us to our sister when we needed him the most! Saw he didn’t accept our offer of immortality, when it meant we could be together forever? Yes, we indeed saw!” “Luna…” Then I noticed a faint blue mist seeping from my clothing. It moved towards Luna as though it were alive. I looked up. “Luna! The mist!” She ignored me. “You think you can hide from us Nocturne?” she shouted to the night sky. “You are in the Everfree Forest like Private Eye said! We will hunt you down and destroy you!!” She suddenly flew off into the night, towards the Everfree Forest. I tried shouting back to her but no such luck. She moved with such speed that she was long out of earshot. That and I don’t think she would have listened me, anyway. I looked down for the blue mist, but it was gone. If the Miasma wasn’t on me… Then it was on Luna…
Chapter 6 "Face Thy Darkness"Chapter 6 “Face thy Darkness” I managed to persuade the Lunar stallions to give me a lift to Ponyville. They landed on the town’s outskirts, and I jumped out of the sky carriage they provided. I looked at the pair of yellow eyed guards. “Go and tell Twilight Sparkle what happened, I will find Luna.” “One of us should go with you,” one of them suggested. “I appreciate your offer, but I’m better off alone. I’ll attract less attention that way.” The Lunar Stallion looked ready to object, but his partner put a hoof on his shoulder. “Look Aegis, this guy can handle himself. You go warn Twilight Sparkle, and I’ll summon the guard. That way we both can be doing something.” “Very well,” Aegis said. “I trust you will fly swift, Stalwart?” “Like always,” Stalwart replied, with a smirk. The two Lunar stallions flew off, and I walked into the Everfree Forest. I didn’t know what dangers awaited me in this dark place, but I knew I had to find Luna, and put a stop to this evil. I enter of my own free will, Nocturne. ____________________________________________________ My flashlight illuminated the path ahead of me. I had no idea where I was going, or what I was looking for. I knew Luna ventured into the forest alone. The question is, where did she land? I thought I heard a sound and turned, but nopony was there. I walked a little ways and my eyes fell on a piece of paper on a tree. Upon closer inspection, I saw it bore an odd message. Why do ponies fear the dark? I wonder what it means? Another sound, I turned around quickly. I thought I saw something disappear behind a tree. Why do ponies fear the dark? What is that supposed to mean? Is it a fear of the unknown? Is it because it distorts what we want to see? We fear what we can't see, what we see but don’t want to see. I really should write some of this down for a book. As I held up my flashlight, I heard a voice behind me, “Now you will see why Ponies fear the dark!” I screamed in terror and turned around. I fell on my back, breathing heavily. I saw a tall, imposing figure, clad in a black suit, standing over me. He was pony shaped, with long slender legs and a blank face. Wait, slender legs? “Slender?” I asked, looking up at the figure. “Private Eye?” I heard his voice ask, even though he had no mouth. He backed up giving me space to stand. “I apologize; I thought you were the pony with the flashlight.” “You’re still looking for him?” I asked, climbing to my hooves. “You scared the crap out of me.” “Again, I apologize,” Slender said, rather politely. “I simply cannot tolerate thieves.” ` “What’s with the paper?” I raised an eyebrow, pointing at the paper hanging on the wall. “It’s a question I ask my… victims,” Slender answered. “You’re a killer?” I asked, narrowing my eyes; my horn at the ready to pull out my gun, should this creature try anything. “Not a killer, I do not kill my victims” Slender replied, raising a hoof. “I merely scare them off." “Just because they steal pieces of paper?” I asked, eyeing him suspiciously. “It’s more than that,” Slender explained, slowly. “The ponies who come to Everfree do not understand the danger within it. I try to scare off ponies from entering it, to protect them. Unfortunately, many do not understand my warnings. So, after a few centuries of doing this, I began asking the question on the paper.” “So, why do Ponies fear the dark?” I asked him. “The strongest fear in your race, and many others, is fear of the unknown,” Slender replied. “True fear comes, not from simply facing the unknown, but of being helpless to face it when it comes. It’s the inevitability of the darkness that causes us to fear it. Sure we can light the way but in the end, a flashlight will always run out of batteries.” “You must’ve been doing this a long time” I said, in understanding. “Five thousand years,” Slender replied, looking up as if he was reminiscing. “For five millennia I’ve lived in this forest, trying to persuade ponies to stay away. Many do not listen, and they suffer insanity upon seeing my face.” “Well, I’m not going insane,” I pointed out, “and I’m looking right at you. Why is that?” “That is because you do not fear the unknown,” Slender said, sagely. “You instead run towards it with reckless abandon. You are unusual in that aspect.” “So that’s why I’m not going insane,” I concluded. “That, and I’m not trying to scare you,” Slender explained. “Now, what has brought you a second time to this place?” “I’m looking for Princess Luna,” I replied. “She should’ve flown by here about ten minutes ago.” “I know of the one you speak,” Slender said, turning around, “but the way is dangerous, even for one such as myself. She ventures to the ancient palace of the Princesses; it was destroyed ages ago, and was the hideout for Nightmare Moon. I will lead the way, but know that it is dangerous. I fear for your safety.” “You said it yourself, I hunt the unknown with reckless abandon,” I said, with steely grey eyes. “I must stop this evil, if I don’t then many ponies could get hurt.” I heard a soft laugh escape Slender. “You are bold; I hope you may keep your bravery when you face darkness.” We ventured on side by side, deeper into the darkness. __________________________________________________________ As we walked farther into the forest I talked to Slender. “So, you said something about a monster rock concert you were trying to get together?” “Yes,” Slender replied, looking at me. “Every Nightmare Night I try and convince the other monsters in Everfree to do a little get together. Most are mindless beasts who would probably eat more inhabitants than the food provided. Some, however, have enough intelligence to have a good time,” “Sounds like quite the party,” I said, with a grin. Slender gave a soft, rather creepy sounding chuckle. “Yes, although the shape shifters are always trouble.” “I too have trouble with shape shifters,” I said, rolling my eyes. Swarm’s little prank still held in my memories. “You want to know an easy trick to tell if somepony is imitating another pony?” Slender asked. “I would like that very much,” I said with a smile. “Smell,” Slender replied, simply. “Smell?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “Indeed, smell. Most shape shifters don’t think to mask their scent when they change forms. Once you know that, you can spot a disguise any day of the week.” We stopped when we came to an old rope bridge leading to a fog covered castle. I looked at the bridge. “There’s no way we’re getting across that while it’s in this condition.” “Shall we turn back?” Slender asked. “No” I said, looking at the bridge. “I’m not going to let this stop me from getting to Luna.” “Good” Slender said. “I will assist you in your endeavor then.” I looked over at Slender, my eyes growing wide as black tentacles came out of his back. They twisted and writhed as if they were alive. The tentacles stretched along the bridge latching onto key points where the bridge seemed the weakest. “That’s amazing!” I exclaimed, looking at the tentacles. “How do you do that?” “Sometimes the unknown needs to reach for you,” Slender replied, cryptically. “Now go, I don’t know how long I can hold it steady.” I moved quickly across the bridge and looked back at Slender. “Thank you! I hope to repay the debt I owe you one day!” “Stay alive,” Slender said, his blank face facing me. “Just stay alive to tell me of how you faced the unknown.” I smiled at him and ventured towards the fog covered castle. The ruins were made of stone and the gate was wide open. Somepony was here… ______________________________________________ I walked into the main room and saw the Altar of Harmony. The Elements once were kept here in their dormant state before Twilight activated them. The stones that once held them were long gone, but the altar itself was relatively intact. I heard an odd voice speak… Tenacity has entered. “Who said that?” I asked, looking around. Nopony answered, and that definitely wasn’t the regular voice. It sounded too deep, like it belonged to a dragon. I ignored it, and ventured deeper into the castle ruins. The halls twisted and turned until I came to a large chamber with a strange altar in it. On the altar stood a single coffin. I walked to it and removed the lid. There was Nocturne, as he looked before. Looking younger, cheeks fuller, body bloated, and on his lips, blood. Fresh blood trickled from the corners of his mouth. “Private!” I turned around and saw Luna looking at me, concerned. “We waited for you. We found out where Nocturne was hiding!” “Why is he here?” I asked, looking at Nocturne in bewilderment. “He should be dead.” “He lied about not drinking blood!” Luna answered, slowly. “We remember the activities that he performed for the cult! He is immortal! He is a drinker of blood!” He’s a Vampony… I looked down at Nocturne; it did indeed look like him. He looked asleep, almost content, but something was wrong… “Private! Use that!” Luna ordered, pointing to a strange sword resting on a stand. I looked at the blade; it was a long sword, an ancient weapon. Its leg and hilt was black. The hilt bore an image of a strange eye, resembling the one on a Lunar Stallion’s medallion. “What is it?” “It’s a Blade of Night,” Luna explained. “An ancient weapon of war used to kill Lunar Stallions. Using it on him shall slay him forever!” I used my magic to lift the weapon off its stand. It felt light in my magic; I barely needed any concentration to levitate it at all. I walked to Nocturne and looked down as a cruel smile came to his face. How could he do this? Lie to Luna! Betray her love! Hurt ponies and smile like it’s all a game to him! I held the blade up high to stab him. I was going to remove his foul stench- Wait… Indeed smell. Most shape shifters don’t think to mask their scents when they change forms. Smell… I began sniffing Nocturne. “Why are you not using the blade on him?” Luna shouted “After all he has done!” “Don’t you mean after all she has done?” I asked, with a small smile. “What do you mean? “Your glamor spell isn’t working. I don’t smell blood on Nocturne, but exotic perfume. One I remember Luna was wearing when we were together. Only you wouldn’t think to mask a scent, as you didn’t think I would consider smelling it. This isn’t Nocturne! This is Luna! You are an impostor!” Luna suddenly broke into a maniacal laugh, most unbecoming of her. The glamor spell broke and the coffin vanished, replaced by Luna lying on the ground with the blue mist swirling around her. I looked up as Pseudo Luna was replaced by the dark coat of… “Nightwind” I exclaimed. The ancient Lunar stallion smirked at me with his piranha like teeth. His eyes were not yellow, but instead blood red. “You are a clever pony. You truly are Nocturne’s descendent.” “I’m Nocturne’s descendent?” I asked, taken aback. “Did you think that diary would speak to just anypony?” Nightwind asked, looking at me “It wouldn’t so eagerly reveal its secrets to just some common fool. You are Nocturne’s descendent, and I lured you here.” “For what purpose?” I asked raising the Blade of Night and pointing it at the Lunar Stallion “What possible purpose could you have to lead me here?" “A trap,” Nightwind said, smoothly. “I pretended to be Nocturne so your curiosity would lead you to find the diary. Once you discovered Nocturne’s name, I knew you would go to Princess Luna to seek answers. Then you would use the diary to try and find out about him. All to lead you and Luna here.” “Again, for what reason?” I shouted. “So that you may unlock the seal on Luna’s blood,” he said, licking his fangs. “Seal?” “Before Nocturne died he put a seal on his diary. Should it be destroyed by a powerful artifact, the barrier keeping the miasma from entering Luna would be destroyed.” I looked back at Luna; she was sound asleep clutching the diary in her forelegs, right where I would’ve stabbed… “The problem is only Nocturne’s descendants can destroy the diary. That's why I needed you.” Suddenly, I felt my entire body fall under a powerful spell. Nightwind’s horn was glowing blood red and I felt my whole body move on its own. “I was hoping you would do it of your own free will; but it looks like we will have to do things the hard way.” “The cult leader,” I said, while I struggled against his spell. “It was you, wasn’t it?” “Indeed.” Nightwind sneered evilly. “I was the true master of the cult. Nocturne never had a role, but I made sure history remembered him as such.” “You lied to Luna!” I yelled, as I was forced to walk towards the diary . “Of course I did,” Nightwind said, lining the tip of the Blade of Night up with the diary. “I had to keep my mistress from falling prey to useless emotions.” “You’re mad!” I growled. “The miasma has turned you into a monster!” “The miasma has granted me the power to gain whatever I want," he retorted “It has granted me power beyond imagining! You were just too weak to give into its power!” He was insane! He was going to put that stuff in Luna! Try as I might I couldn’t stop him from controlling my hooves, and forcing me to plunge the blade deep into the diary. Ink spurted out of it like blood, and the miasma left my body and entered Luna. The mist swirled around her, blowing me several feet back. Nightwind looked on with insane red eyes. “Welcome back, my mistress!” The mist stopped swirling and standing before me was Nightmare Moon, in the flesh… “Oh, if it isn’t my precious little betrayer, come back to play?”
Chapter 7 "Destroy Thine Evil"Chapter 7 “Destroy Thine Evil” I simply stared at Nightmare Moon. I’d seen pictures of her, but to see her in the flesh was something else. Evil seemed to radiate off her as she sneered at me. “So, Tia sent only a single stallion to slay us this time?” “What have you done with Luna?” I shouted at her, trying to sound braver than I really felt. She laughed. “Foalish boy, do you not get it? We are Luna.” “No,” I said, as Nightmare Moon descended the steps of the altar, walking towards me. “You must know you are outmatched." I pulled out my gun and fired two shots at her; but she blocked them with some kind of force field, sending the bullets flying. My magic was cut off when Nightmare Moon fired a blast of magic towards me. Nightmare grabbed my gun in her magic levitating it away She looked at me in disbelief, and chuckled. “Bullets? You think to stop us with this pathetic weapon?” “It was worth a shot,” I said, shrugging weakly. “Now, you let go of Luna right now, you monster!” “Maybe Luna doesn’t want to be let go,” she said, snidely. “She’s always wanted to be Nightmare Moon, now she has the chance.” “She can’t want this!” I cried. “She can’t want to be a slave to you!” “She is a slave to nopony,” Nightmare replied. “Except to our sister. She is the true evil one, locking us away, and denying us our eternal night.” “You’re twisted Nightmare Moon!” “Oh, must this end in insults and violence?” she asked, smiling slyly. “I know what you’ve suffered, Preventus.” “Nopony calls me Preventus!” I yelled, as I tried to tackle Nightmare Moon. She sidestepped, causing me I crash into a pillar. As I fell to the ground in a heap, she stepped on my back with one hoof, pinning me down. “You struggle so much, Preventus. Raising a brother on your own, risking your life day and night for others. You’ve suffered so much, and what do you get in return? Nothing.” “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, struggling against her weight on my back. “Oh, but we do. We know how long you’ve suffered. A father who tossed you out after killing your mother with that drug, a love with Twilight Sparkle that can never be repaired now.” She’s right; Twilight probably hates me for what I did, and dad… “We can make everything right, Preventus. Join me, and together we can destroy Celestia, and take control of Equestria. We can put your father’s fate in your hooves, grant Tailspin everything he could possibly need. We can force Twilight Sparkle to be your mate.” I pondered her offer. It would solve a lot of problems, but I would never be able to forgive myself. I refuse! I fired a blast of magic at Nightmare Moon’s face catching her by surprise. She yelped in pain, allowing me to wiggle out from under her hoof. I glared at her as I sprang to my hooves. “You can take your offer, and shove it!” “You would deny yourself a way to fix all of your problems?” She snarled at me. “We can make you a king among ponies, and grant you everything you could possibly desire.” “Is that what you told Luna?” I asked, smirking. “You speak nonsense!” Nightmare Moon thundered, glaring at me evilly. “Luna gained everything she could ever want! Fear, respect, and a night to truly last all eternity!” "What did that get her in the end?” I asked, slowly. “She’s just your prisoner. You claim to be Luna, but you forget it’s not fear she wants.” “What are you talking about?” “Luna!” I exclaimed, trying to get through to her. “Luna, don’t listen to her! She’s just trying to convince you that she’s the only one you need.” Nightmare Moon growled low, “You truly are a foal. We told you already, we are Luna.” “No, you’re not,” I snarled, as Nightmare Moon and I began to circle each other like two prowling lions. “You’re the miasma. You’re trying to convince her that acting on selfishness will get her the respect she wants, but all she really wants is love.” “We have given everything to Luna. She was nothing before us. A mere filly living in the eternal shadow of her big sister!” “Luna, don’t listen to her! She doesn’t know how much ponies do love your night.” Nightmare Moon’s eyes blinked, but instead of the reptilian eyes, the eyes were Luna's. “Our night…” Nightmare Moon blinked again, and the reptilian eyes returned. “You think to confuse us! You pathetic worm!” “Luna, I know a lot of ponies do bad things at night, but it’s also a time of love. Many a couple has found love under your stars. I myself found love while in your night. Luna, your night is wondrous. I know ponies don’t say it often, but it truly is.” Luna’s eyes appeared again “Love, during our night?” “Don’t listen to this foal! Think of the betrayal we suffered at the hooves of our sister, and his ancestor!” “No,” Luna replied, to her evil counterpart. “We have caused the suffering. We have nopony to blame but ourselves.” “You would listen to this stranger, over the one who gave you all this power?” “You stole away the only ponies who ever loved us!” Luna cried, shaking Nightmare Moon’s body madly. “We never desired power. We only desired somepony to appreciate our night. You are the deceiver here!” “What are you doing?” Her eyes kept switching between Nightmare and Luna. “You cannot destroy us! Miasma cannot be destroyed! Only absorbed!” Only absorbed? I knew what I had to do if I wanted to free Luna. I ran to Nightmare Moon, grabbed her head and forced her fangs into my leg. I screamed in pain as the miasma began to leave Luna and enter me. Slowly Nightmare Moon’s armor melted away to reveal Luna. She looked up at me frantically, as the miasma entered me. “Private! What have you done?” “I took the pain on me,” I replied, weakly, as the blue mist entering my blood. “I gave it a new host to think of.” “You sacrificed yourself for us?” Luna asked. “Why? We have done nothing to deserve this!” I fell on my side as the miasma traveled deeper into my veins. Luna cradled my head in her hooves. “Luna, my yolk is easy, I can face it…” I closed my eyes slowly. _________________________________________________________ I stood in total blackness facing another me. The other me wore an evil smirk on its face. “So, you decide to face me this way? You are even more foalish then I thought.” “You’re the voice in my head,” I said, slowly, “the one who told me to abandon Dinky in that fire, the one I’ve overcome every time…" “I don’t know about this voice you speak of,” evil me, said with a smirk, “but now we will act out all our darkest desires.” “You forget,” a voice said, from behind me. I turned to see Nocturne moving up beside me. “He does not face you alone.” Behind me more and more ponies appeared, everypony I helped, everypony I became friends with, everypony that now has a better life because of the actions I took. Nocturne glared at pseudo me. “Your time is up Miasma. Neither this body, nor Luna's is your playground. Now begone! You who would take so that you may live cannot stand to see ponies who give so that others may live!” Pseudo me screamed as a light came out of everypony’s eyes. The light broke through the darkness and the miasma was expelled from my body. ___________________________________________________________ In reality, I coughed and the blue mist left me. The mist hung in the air and took on the form of a monstrous face. The face roared in anger at me, “Your pathetic race has lasted too long. Twice you’ve escaped my grasp!” “I don’t know about round one,” I said, as Luna helped me up, “but you certainly didn’t win round 2.” The mist distorted itself and entered Nightwind’s body. The Lunar Stallion’s body writhed, as if he were possessed. He looked at me with his red eyes and smirked. “Now you shall face me, AND ALL THE POWERS OF HELL!" Suddenly the mist turned into blue fire, as Nightwind transformed into a colossal black dragon. He snapped at Luna and I with razor sharp teeth, blue mist seeping out of his nostrils. “Hang on, Private,” Luna called, as she picked me up and tossed me onto her back. She spread her large wings and we took off into the air. As I looked back, the dragon came out of the building and blew a stream of fire towards us, hitting Luna directly on the wing. She cried out in pain, sharply banking to the right. Unable to maintain my grip, I slipped off her back. I fell towards the misty abyss below. I closed my eyes, preparing for the last sound I heard to be the sickening crunch of every bone in my body, as I smashed into the ground. Then I heard it… "PRIVATE!" I opened my eyes and saw Rainbow Dash flying towards me at sonic speed. She swooped down, grabbing me in her forelegs. I looked up at her in disbelief. “Dash, what are you doing here?” “Saving you again, and this time I brought back up!” “Back up?” I looked over and saw Fluttershy grabbing Luna. A lasso was tied around the Alicorn’s leg, and she was being pulled up by Applejack and Pinkie Pie. Dash dropped me off on the other side of the old rope bridge, and I saw that all six of the elements came. Twilight ran to me and threw her forelegs around me. She buried her face in my chest and kept saying, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” I rubbed a hoof along her back. “It's okay Twilight, I’m here. I'm sorry too.” “Hate to break up the reunion, sugercube,” Applejack said, looking across the bridge, “but that there dragon is headin' right for Ponyville!” Luna looked up from her position on the ground. The dragon was making it’s way towards my new hometown. “If that miasma gets to Ponyville then the entire town will become as corrupt as we were!” “How do we stop it?” Rarity asked, looking up at the colossal dragon. “Will the elements be enough?” “Miasma cannot be destroyed,” I replied, tracking the dragon with my steely grey eyes, “only moved. If we destroy its host, then we should be able to stop it.” “You're suggesting using the Blade of Night?” Luna asked. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully, when I nodded. “It should be able to slay Nightwind, but the Miasma would block the blade before it could reach the host.” Twilight let go of me, and appeared to be doing some quick thinking. “If we use the blade as a lightning rod for the Element’s power, it should allow the blade to break through the miasma and hit its host dead on.” “So let’s quit talking about it and do it!” Rainbow grinned, smacking her hooves together in determination. “It’ll take some time to get the Element’s charged up,” Twilight said, as she opened a chest containing the Elements themselves. “I’ll keep it busy! You wouldn’t happen to have a spare Blade of Night on you?” I asked, looking at Luna. Luna nodded and her horn glowed. Suddenly a star twinkled, and a Blade of Night fell from the sky, stabbing itself into the ground front of me. “It’s a more modern design; we should be able to stop him with this.” I nodded, and lifted the blade out of the ground with my magic. I looked at the rest of the group. “You guys get those Element’s ready! Luna and I will fly around and keep him busy." The group nodded and I leapt up onto Luna’s back. I looked back at Twilight who looked at me with apologetic eyes. I mouthed the words she desperately needed to hear… I love you, and I always will. She smiled widely at that as Luna sprang off the ground and into the air. We flew towards the dragon and I yelled, “Hey big, and ugly! Over here!” The monster turned, and roared at me launching another torrent of fire at us. This time Luna was prepared, she dodged the fire and got me close enough. I swung the Blade of Night with my magic and cut the beast across the right side of his muzzle. It screeched in pain and I heard a cheer from the ground coming from Pinkie Pie, "The fate of Ponyville is at stake, plunge that sword into that snake!” The dragon glared down at Pinkie Pie and roared, “You stay out of this!” Pinkie began half-heartedly waving a flag with an N on it “Nightwind, Nightwind he’s our man if he can’t do it,-“she shouted the last bit, “GREAT!” We swung around for another pass as I saw the girls gathering in a circle below. I hung on as Luna dodged a claw coming at us. Luna looked back at me. “There’s no way we can get a good shot in with that thing moving.” She was right, this dragon may be massive but if we couldn’t get a clean shot in we were dead. I asked Luna, “Where is Nightwind in that thing?” Luna flew several yards away from the beast and blinked her eyes. When she looked back at me her eyes were glowing green, like night vision goggles. “We see him! He is where the heart would be.” If only that thing would sit still, then we’d have a clear shot. Suddenly, massive black tentacles came out of the forest and wrapped themselves around the black dragon. Nightwind roared and screeched as the tendrils wrapped around his arms and neck. He was immobilized. Thank you Slender… Luna flew us within the light of the moon as a colossal rainbow beam came from the ground. I looked down and saw that Twilight and company had activated the Elements down on the ground. I held out the Blade of Night and the rainbow beam went into the Blade. I held the Blade to my face and said in an almost trance like tone… Blade of Night, Destroy this blight, Fly swift and sure! That evil die and good endure! I used my magic to fire the blade like a missile towards the trapped dragon. The element’s magic allowed it to pierce through the miasma, and hit the host dead on. The dragon let out a roar, writhing and twisting in pain. Slowly the dragon stopped moving as the miasma left the dragon, like a mist through a pipe. Luna flew down and landed next to Nightwind. The Lunar Stallion lay on the ground, with a sword plunged into his black heart. I looked at Luna with a smile. “It’s over.” Luna smiled back at me. “You are a brave one, Private. We can see you are truly Nocturne’s descendent.” “You aren’t mad that he gave you up to Celestia?” I asked. “Sometimes, one must see that the one causing the hurt is oneself,” Luna replied, softly. “We do not blame Nocturne; he was just trying to save us from ourselves. In the end, it led to us finally being free of Nightmare Moon, and the darkness in our heart.” “Everypony has a dark side, Luna,” I said smiling at her “The key, is accepting that dark side as a part of you. If you keep denying it then it will only try all the harder to destroy you.” “What did happen to that Miasma anyway?” Luna asked, looking around “Where did it go?” I looked around too, indeed the miasma was gone. Probably looking for another host, let’s just hope it knows you don’t mess with Ponyville. Luna and I landed where the girls were. The girls were proudly displaying their elements and looking deservedly pleased with themselves. “Is everypony all right?” I asked, as I jumped down off Luna's back. “Can you say, BEST, WIN, EVER?” Rainbow Dash grinned triumphantly. “Ooh, I’m so excited I could just scream!” Fluttershy said, with a smile. She took a deep breath and let out a quiet, ”Yay!” Rainbow simply facehoofed. Rarity looked at everypony and said hastily, “Come girls, let’s give Twilight and Private some time alone.” All the mares began to walk away except for Luna who remained, looking at us with a tilted head. Applejack walked back to Luna and raised an eyebrow. “Beg pardon, Yer Highness, but why are ya lookin' at 'em like that?” “We are curious to see how mating habits have changed over the centuries,” Luna replied, in a tone that reminded me of Twilight, after she’d decided to study quantum physics for fun. Applejack began to pull Luna away. “Come on, Princess. Ah’ll show you how to bob fer apples properly!” “You are all no better than Tia!” Luna said, almost childishly, as she was dragged away. I chuckled a little. I guess Luna had a bit too much curiosity in- I looked back at Twilight who had her head bowed. I saw a tiny tear streak down her face and land on the grass below. I reached out a hoof and tilted her head up to face me, tears were starting to form in her eyes. “Private, I’m so sorry….” Twilight said, her voice catching with emotion. “I should be the one apologizing, after what I did…” I said, shame causing my cheeks to burn as I looked down at my hooves. She shook her head quickly “I know it wasn't really you, it was the Miasma. I am sorry I had to lock you up." I kept my head bowed in shame. “I should’ve just told you…” “Told me what?” Twilight asked, tilting her head. “I should’ve just admitted I was scared.” I felt tears of my own forming. “I should’ve admitted I was terrified of being locked up, but I was too stupid, and filled with pride to admit it.” I forced my eyes to raise up and meet Twilights. “If I did tell you what happened, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. We could’ve handled this together.” Twilight stepped into me pressing her head into my chest. I felt her tears soaking my trench coat, but I didn’t care. I wrapped my hooves tightly around her, so thankful she hadn't left me for good. Her voice was muffled as she pressed herself into me, “I should’ve told you why I wasn’t ready…” “I guess we both have fears we need to tell each other.” I said, resting my head on top of hers. Slowly she moved her head so she could look up at me. “It’s just that, I’ve read so much about how things can go wrong. I’m paranoid that maybe I’m not good enough, or I’ll say something stupid. Now I see that by not telling you, I allowed the Miasma to have a stronger hold on you.” I then told her why I was afraid of being locked up. I explained to her everything, why I was scared, why I desperately wanted to be let out. “I didn’t tell you before, because I was afraid I’d look weak,” I said, closing my grey eyes. “You’re not weak, your one of the strongest stallions I know,” Twilight said, nuzzling my cheek. I nuzzled her back, lovingly. “It may seem that way to you, but the truth is, I’m a mess like everypony else. Twilight, you’re the one who makes me strong.” I gazed deeply into her beautiful amethyst eyes. “That’s why I love you, and why I always will.” "I love you too, Private. More than you realize," Twilight replied, her lips moving closer towards mine. As the dawn rose we kissed each other lovingly, clinging tightly to one another. I didn’t want her to ever let go. I wanted this mare with me forever… I love you, Twilight, and I always will…
EpilogueCase 13 Epilogue Spike paced back and forth in his knight costume as Twilight and I got dressed for Nightmare Night. He looked impatiently towards the spare room where I was changing. “Come on Private, we’re going to be late for the festival!” I emerged from the room clad in a set of dark armor and helmet. My eyes were snake like and yellow and my teeth had piranha like fangs on them. Spike let out a yelp at my appearance “Dude that’s creepy, is that you, Private?” I tapped the eye on my chest and I turned back to regular Private wearing the armor. “The Lunar stallions felt bad for offering me up to Luna, so they let me borrow their armor for tonight.” “Cool!” Spike said, striking a heroic pose in his Knight armor. “What do you think? Do I strike fear into the heart of enemies everywhere?” I smiled a little and transformed back into my Lunar Stallion form “Foul knight! You shall fall before the might of Lord Nocturne!” Spike caught on to what I was doing and held up a foam sword “Back, beast of the night! I, Sir Spike, shall slay thee in the name of Princess Rarity!” “No! Not the foam sword of epicness!” I cried, in mock fear. “My one weakness!” “That’s right, beast!” Spike said, swinging the sword at me. “Now thou shalt taste my blade!” He leapt on top of me and we wrestled with each other. Spike managed to get on top of me and, plunged his foam sword to the left of me. I made a fake gasp of pain and held the sword fake protruding out of me. “I have been slain! I, the mighty Lord Nocturne, have been slain by Sir Spike!” Spike stood on my belly, and struck another heroic pose. “Now your evil shall never harm anypony! I Sir Spike hast saved the Princess from thee” “Impressive, Spikey Wikey,” I heard a voice say, causing Spike to tense. He slowly turned and saw Rarity smiling at him; she was clad in her old gala dress and giggled at Spike’s blush. She spoke in her most princess like voice, “Thank you Sir Spike, We knew you would save us from that wretched monster!” “I prefer the term intimidating!” I said, from my position on the floor. “You’re supposed to be dead remember!” Spike said, looking down at me. “Oh right” I replied with a nod, flopping back limply. “Ack! I’m dead…” Spike looked back at Rarity who was simply smiling at him. “Nothing could stop me, M'lady.” “Oh, my hero” Rarity said, before planting a kiss on Spike’s cheek. Spike turned as red as a tomato, and fell over on the ground in sheer embarrassment. I pulled the foam sword from my side and looked over at Rarity “I see you’re joining the celebration this time.” “I don’t usually go to Nightmare Night because of the rather garish activities,” Rarity sniffed, as her magic picked up unconscious Spike and put him on her back, “but I thought I’d give you and Twilight some time tonight, and I’d watch Spike.” “You take good care of him, M'lady," I said, with a deep bow. “I shall, Lord Nocturne,” she said, with a mock curtsy before leaving the library. Rarity had volunteered to watch Spike during the festivities, so Twilight and I could spend Nightmare Night together. It was good for our relationship, although Twilight was a little reluctant to let the little dragon go. I looked back and saw… me? No, Twilight dressed in my trench coat and fedora! “Where’d you get that stuff?" I asked, incredulously. “Well, my Starswirl the Bearded costume got a hole in it, and I couldn’t fix it in time,” Twilight explained. “So, I decided to go as somepony I equally admire.” I blushed a little. “You flatter me, but you could’ve asked me to use my clothes.” “I know,” Twilight said, apologetically, “but they were right there, and I just sort of wondered if they fit,” “If it’s any consolation,” I said smiling, “You look good in them.” Twilight smiled, and imitated my voice, “Detective Private Eye, solving crimes in the blink of an eye!” I facehoofed as she used the horrible slogan we still haven’t gotten rid of. Then I heard a knock on the door. “Looks like we got trick or treaters.” I opened the door and was greeted by Tailspin dressed as a Wonderbolt, Dinky dressed as a ballerina, and Pipsqueak dressed as a mask less Mare-do-Well. They sang together “Nightmare Night, What a fright! Give us something sweet to bite!” I laughed as Twilight came with the bowl of candy. I smiled at the trio, “You three look ready for Nightmare Night” Tailspin smiled. “Ponyville Nightmare Night is the best! Everypony has their houses all decorated and stuff!” “It’s a great place to have a Nightmare Night,” Pipsqueak said, excitedly, “especially a second Nightmare Night ever!" Dinky held out her bag. “Would you please give us some candy Mr. Eye?” “All right,” I said, as Twilight and I levitated candy into their bags. “Who’s watching you kids tonight?” Tailspin was ready to explain, “Well she’s also participate-“ Suddenly Pinkie Pie, dressed in what appeared to be a chicken suit appeared out of nowhere and glared at the trio. “Enough chit-chat! Time is candy!” I raised an eyebrow at Pinkie. “Aren’t you a little old to be trick or treating?” “Too old for free candy?” Pinkie gasped, her blue eyes growing wide in shock “NEVER!!!” I rolled my eyes and tossed a few treats into Pinkie’s bag. “So, where’s Swarm?” “I’m over here,” the changeling replied, appeared alongside Pinkie Pie. “I decided to go as myself this Nightmare Night” “I guess I can’t-“ I was cut off when Swarm suddenly transformed into Pinkie Pie. “Perhaps this form is more suitable,” Pinkie 2 said, with a mischievous grin. Pinkie 1 just laughed. I rolled my eyes. “You guys can’t use that shape shifting trick on me anymore, I know how to beat it.” “Oh really?” both Pinkies asked at the same time. They suddenly swapped positions at lightning speed until they were standing right beside each other smiling at me. Challenge accepted… I sniffed both of them, only one of them smelled of baked goods. “This Pinkie,” I said, pointing to the Pinkie on my right, “is the real one!” “Wrong!” left Pinkie exclaimed, smiling. “I’m the real Pinkie Pie.” “But how?” I asked, my jaw dropping. Swarm changed back into his changeling self. “We figured you would try that smelling trick so Pinkie sprayed me with scent of baked goods.” I let out an exasperated sigh as the couple laughed. The group moved on to the next house engaged in excited conversation. I looked at Twilight who was trying desperately not to laugh out loud. “I guess even the world’s greatest Detective has trouble with Pinkie Pie.” I just rolled my eyes at Twilight. I closed the door to the library, and we walked to the party. _____________________________________________________________ “So what’s so great about Starswirl the Bearded, anyway?” I asked, as Twilight and I strolled into the celebration. Everywhere I looked ponies were celebrating Nightmare Night. Ponies were dancing, bobbing for apples, trying out the pumpkin catapults, and playing all sorts of fun games. Twilight went into full scholar mode. “He created over 200 spells and has a section dedicated to him at the Canterlot Library.” She rolled her eyes at me. “Sadly, my attempts to teach some ponies about history haven’t gone well.” “So he created 200 spells by himself?” I asked, with a raised eyebrow. “In his prime mostly,” Twilight explained. “Later in his life, however, he did some odd habits. He was on the search of some seventh element or whatever.” She shrugged. “I still haven’t figured it out yet, it might have something to do with that Chanting you keep talking about.” So far I hadn't given much thought to the Chanting since Manehattan. It hadn’t happened in a while, so maybe it was just a fluke. On the other hoof, maybe this Starswirl guy knows about what it could possi- KABOOOM!!! I leapt ten feet into the air grabbing onto a nearby store sign. I looked up, and sure enough Raiden and Rainbow Dash were sitting on their storm cloud, laughing their tails off. I frowned at them. “Having fun with your new toy?” Rainbow, dressed in an odd purple and black flight suit with a skull on her flank, chuckled. “Lighten up, Private! Nightmare Night is the greatest night for scares!” Raiden, who was dressed as a heavy metal rock star, laughed as well. “You should’ve seen the look on your face! Priceless!” The couple kept laughing as I slowly started to smile. Raiden raised an eyebrow, “Private? Why are you smiling?” “Look behind you.” Slowly the couple turned to gaze upon… “It’s not nice to scare ponies like that,” Slender said, in his creepiest voice. Raiden and Rainbow screamed in shock and flew off before Slender could chase them. Slender suddenly teleported away leaving behind a creepy laugh, and I climbed down from my perch. “Who was that?” Twilight asked, as I came down. “Somepony with an incredible costume,” I replied, as we walked away. ____________________________________________________________ “I’m sorry but that rainbow wig just kills it," I said, as I watched the Mayor give her speech for the Nightmare Night festival. She was clad once again in a clown costume. Look I know clowns are scary as hell but rainbow wigs aren't scary. She didn’t get the memo. “Citizens of Ponyville, I am pleased to welcome you to the Nightmare Night festival. Tonight shall be a night of true scares!” Twilight nodded. “Yup, rainbow wig kills it.” “Now will all the ponies who wish to-“She was cut off when the wind suddenly grew strong. Clouds of green smoke formed on the stage and Zecora appeared from that smoke. She was clad as a witch with spiders in her hair. How she managed to get her hair that long is beyond me, probably a wig of some sorts. She smiled at the crowd. “Fillies and Colts of every age, would you like to hear something strange? Sit back and see a sight, this show shown on Nightmare Night!” Everypony cheered and although the Mayor looked a little ticked at her speech being interrupted, she just smiled and walked off. Zecora blew a strange green powder “This is Nightmare Night, Ponies scream with sheer fright” The powder swished and swirled in the wind and made various shapes some of the images flew over the crowd and took on spider and snake forms. Some screamed at the sight and all three of the flower girls fainted. Honestly those three freak out at everything! Ponies began to sing along to this rhyming: This is Nightmare Night! Everypony make a sight! Trick or treat! Slender appeared behind Colgate and whispered, "Tiill the neighbors gonna die of fright…''' Colgate screamed and Slender disappeared again. Geez, that guy was good! The crowd continued: This our town! Everypony scream! On this night where moonlight gleams. Pinkie suddenly appeared from behind Lyra and Bon Bon. I am the pony hiding under you bed, Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red! Swarm appeared behind Big Mac and was about ready to scare him, before Big Mac countered the changeling: Ah am the one hidden' under yer stairs! Leg’s like snakes and spiders in mah hair! Swarm crossed his forelegs together and literally buzzed off. The crowd kept singing: This is Nightmare Night! This is Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night!! Raiden, who was providing the accompaniment, played a few notes on the piano. Vinyl smirked from her position next to the sound board and spoke creepily into the mike. In this town, we call home Everypony hail to the pumpkin song! Mayor smiled and sang as well. In this town! Don’t we love it now? Everypony’s waiting for the next surprise! I looked around wondering where the next voice was coming from. Round that corner, guy hiding in the trash can Something's waiting now to pounce, and how you'll…. KABOOM!!! I leapt up again and saw Rainbow on her storm cloud again laughing like mad. Scream! This is Nightmare Night! What a sight! Rainbow turned to a the flower girls who recovered from their embarrassing faint. Aren’t you scared? All three crossed their legs at the same time. Well, that’s just fine! We all continued the lyrics. Say it once! Say it Twice! Ride with the moon in the dead of night! Fluttershy who appeared out of nowhere flew as fast as she could, away from all of the singing. Everypony scream! Everypony scream! Big Mac chuckled and walked to where Fluttershy was flying. We all continued the chorus: This is Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night!! Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo sang together, Sweetie Belle in particular seemed to be holding the group together musically. Tender lumplings everywhere! Life’s no fun without a good scare! I added to the chorus: That's our job Twilight smiled. But we’re all right, The rest of the town continued. In our town on Nightmare Night Mayor continued In this town, don’t we love it now? Everypony’s waiting for the next surprise! Zecora’s dust transformed into Nightmare Moon herself and the conjuration seemed to sing the next chorus as it perched on top of the stage. Nightmare Moon might catch you in the swoon, And scream like a banshee, Make you jump out of your skin. This is Nightmare Night, everypony give a fright! Won't ya please make way for a very special pony? The clouds above parted and Luna’s chariot descended to thunderous stomps from the crowd. I guess everypony wanted to welcome her this time because she was caught in the spirit of her own holiday. Our gal Luna is Princess of the Night you see! Everypony hail to the ruler of the night now! This is Nightmare Night! This is Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night! In this town we call home! Everypony hail to the Princess song! The song ended and everypony laughed and cheered as Luna descended from her carriage and landed on the stage. Luna looked on as everypony was not fearing her, but enjoying that she was here. She smiled at them and opened her mouth, I really should’ve covered my ears. "CITZENS OF PONYVILLE, WE HAVE RETURNED ONTHIS NIGHT OF-" She realized she retreated into Royal Canterlot Voice and flushed in embarrassment. “We mean, thank you everypony for coming to this celebration,” she said, in a much gentler voice. Luna looked on at the crowd as they hushed to listen to what she had to say “We have never formally apologized for what occurred last year. We come not to terrify and scare, but to join in this glorious celebration of night. For my night is not simply for myself, it is a gift to everypony here.” She looked at them, and continued, “Which is why, I too shall join in.” Slowly the stage lights dimmed and Raiden got up from his place at the piano and went behind the stage. I heard Organ music come from nowhere and then a howl from a distant wolf, and then… Raiden appeared on the stage no longer clad in his flight suit outfit but in a red jacket. Several ponies, particularly mares, cheered at the sight of Raiden on stage. Raiden spread his wings and began to sing as the music took on a more pop number: It's close to midnight and something evil's lurking in the dark Under the moonlight, you see a sight that almost stops your heart You try to scream but terror takes the sound before you make it You start to freeze as horror looks you right between the eyes You're paralyzed! He flew along the crowd and kept singing as he twirled in the air as if dancing on air. 'Cause this is thriller, thriller night And no one's gonna save you from the beast about strike You know it's thriller, thriller night You're fighting for your life inside a killer, thriller tonight Luna herself appeared from the fog this time as her Nightmare Moon form. Some ponies screamed at the sight of her but Luna simply smiled. This was all part of the fun. She sang to the crowd alongside Raiden. You hear the door slam and realize there's nowhere left to run You feel the cold hoof and wonder if you'll ever see the sun You close your eyes and hope that this is just imagination, girl! But all the while you hear the creature creeping up behind You're out of time Raiden and Luna flew into the air and sang together 'Cause this is thriller, thriller night There ain't no second chance against the thing with forty eyes, girl Everypony cheered at the duet between these two. Who knew Luna could hold her own alongside Raiden? I guess when you spent a thousand years on the moon you had to have something to do. Thriller, thriller night You're fighting for your life inside a killer, thriller tonight Raiden flew upside down over the crowd as he sang the next lyrics. Night creatures calling, the dead start to walk in their masquerade There's no escaping the jaws of the alien this time Luna smiled as Nightmare Moon and sung the next part: They're open wide This is the end of your life Lightning crashed overhead and Luna appeared suddenly between me and Twilight. She looked over at me and bared her fangs at me They're out to get you, there's demons closing in on every side Suddenly she turned into a mist and my body moved on it’s own. I walked towards Twilight and planted my lips onto hers. My face turned beat red as some of the crowd cheered at my apparent bold move. Twilight’s face also flushed in embarrassment as Luna reappeared. They will possess you unless you change that number on your dial Raiden appeared and flew back to back with the Princess and sang the next part with her. Now is the time for you and I to cuddle close together, yeah All through the night I'll save you from the terror on the screen I'll make you see this is thriller, thriller night 'Cause I can thrill you more than any ghost would ever dare try Thriller, thriller night So let me hold you tight and share a Killer, diller, chiller, thriller here tonight Raiden and Luna circled each other in the air as the song became more intense. I looked around at the crowd and I saw Rainbow looking on Raiden with eyes filled with awe. I chuckled a little, Raiden did have that effect on ponies. Cause this is thriller, thriller night Girl, I can thrill you more than any ghost would ever dare try Thriller, thriller night So let me hold you tight and share a killer, thriller, ow! Then Luna perched herself on the stage and spoke in a deep and fearsome voice. Darkness falls across thy land The midnight hour ist close at hand Creatures crawl in search of blood To terrorize thine neighborhood Raiden sang as Luna narrated her dark tale I'm gonna thrill ya tonight, ooh baby I'm gonna thrill ya tonight, oh darlin' Thriller night, baby, ooh! Luna continued drawing her most fearsome smile she could, the crowd was loving it. The foulest stench is in the air The funk of one thousand years And grizzly ghouls from every tomb Are closing in to seal your doom She flew spread her wings out wide and spoke in an even more evil tone And though you fight to stay alive… Your body starts to shiver… For no mere mortal can resist… The evil of…the thriller!!! She laughed manically as the stage darkened and the show ended. Everypony cheered at Luna’s display and stomped so hard I feared the stage was going to break. Luna and Raiden appeared one last time to bow before the crowd. Luna’s eyes were tear filled as she looked upon her subjects. ____________________________________________ “We did not think it would work,” Luna said, as I ran into her after the celebration died down, “but everypony seemed to enjoy our display.” “All you had to do was loosen up a little, Princess” Twilight said with a smile “Have some fun once in a while” Luna gave a playful smile “Now we understand what you mean when you say fun” Twilight laughed at the inside joke. I looked at Luna. “It was an honor working along side you, Princess.” She shook her blue head and smiled at me. “You have made us realize just how much everypony does enjoy our night. Now we can live, knowing that our subjects do indeed like us.” Luna flew off to join the crowd, and Twilight looked at me. “She’s not really bad once you get to know her.” I looked on and saw Slender sitting on a roof nearby. I couldn’t tell, but he seemed to be watching the town in the night. I wonder what he hopes to accomplish now? Some mysteries should remain mysteries I guess… Otherwise they wouldn’t be very much fun to be scared by… Maybe that is why ponies fear the dark…
Chapter 1 "Preparations" Chapter 1 "Preparations" Equestria Noir Case 13 “Blue Moon” Written By Jacoboby1 Edited by: ShatteredIllusions Dedicated to: Aegis Shield Chapter 1 “Preparations” Spike paced the library floor impatiently. He looked to the door to the room where I was changing. Twilight and I were going to show off our Nightmare Night costumes. The celebration was only a week away and I always looked forward to it every year. “I'll just be a minute, Spike!” I called, from inside the spare room. I looked at myself in the mirror. Red shirt? Check. Tan overalls? Check, Blackbird? Check. Holstered in gun belt? Check. Brown coat? Check. Yep, Malburn Raystar from Firebird is ready to roll. I opened the door and held Blackbird in a very stylistic pose. Tailspin who was sitting nearby reading a book looked up and frowned. “What exactly are you supposed to be?” I looked at my brother and opened my forelegs to show myself. “Space Cowpony.” Tailspin sighed. “First of all there are no cows in space, and second of all haven't you worn that thing every Nightmare Night since Firebird got cancelled?” Spike looked at my brother with a raised eyebrow and asked, “Wasn’t that like, 8 years ago?” Tailspin rolled his eyes. “Some ponies just don’t know when to move on.” “I like it,” I grumbled. Tailspin rolled over to me and put a hoof on my shoulder. “Why don’t you go and pick a different costume this year, I’m sure you’ll still be fine at the celebration.” I sighed, relenting, and holstered Blackbird. “Where’s Twilight? Is she still getting changed?” Spike nodded. “She should be out soon.” All three of us looked up as Twilight descended the steps from her room wearing her costume. She was clad in an ornate robe with stars adorning the blue fabric. She wore a large wizard’s cap on her head, with bells along the rim. She also wore a fake white beard around her neck. “Great costume, Twilight,” I said, with a smile. She smiled back at me. “You really like it?” I nodded. “Yeah, you look just like Hordalf from Lord of the Horn Rings.” Her jaw dropped and she shook her head. “Private, I’m Starswirl the Bearded!” I blinked, the name not registering in my brain. “Father of the amniomorphic spell?” She asked, trying again. Private’s brain has failed to search, please try and rephrase that sentence so his brain can compute it. “Didn’t you read that book I gave you about obscure unicorn history?” She asked, narrowing her eyes accusingly. “Um, Tailspin, didn’t you say you wanted to look at costumes?” I looked pleadingly at my brother, starting to sweat. “Nope,” he replied, still looking at his book. “I'm not bailing you out of this one.” “Traitor,” I mumbled, under my breath. I looked up at Twilight apologetically. “Well, there’s a reason why it’s called ‘Obscure’ unicorn history.” She sighed and levitated off her costume. “Aw, well, I guess I can’t expect you to pay attention to every book I make you read.” “History was never really my best subject,” I said sheepishly, shrugging. “At least not ancient history.” Twilight just sighed, and went back to the checklist she had on her desk. “That’s costumes all done, now we just go to make sure all the decorations are set up in the town square.” “Decorations?” Spike gasped, in shock. “I forgot! Tailspin, we were supposed to help decorate the school!” Tailspin face hoofed. “I can’t believe we forgot! Come on, let’s go before the crusaders decide that pyrotechnics is their special talent.” With that the pair ran/rolled out without another word. Twilight looked over at me with a small smile. “I find it ironic that a detective would fall in love with a show like Firebird.” “If it’s a good enough story, then it doesn’t matter who the characters are,” I replied, sagely. “You ever think of writing a book of all those things you say?” Twilight suggested. “Maybe, when I’m retired,” I mused, taking off my costume's brown coat. “You have any more costumes for me to try?” “There's a box in the closet,” she answered, pointing with her hoof. “Spike bought a bunch of them for materials.” I went inside the closet and searched through the boxes until I found the one marked “costumes”. I opened it and dug through the clutter until I felt something metallic. I pulled it out, and saw it was a Lunar Stallion helmet. Lunar Stallions are the most recent additions to the Equestrian Royal Guard. They started out originally as Luna’s personal guards. Most were pegasi with wings that resembled bats, thanks to Luna’s magic. Although their appearance is quite scary at first, they have been known to save many lives while on the watch. As I stared at the helmet, something seemed… familiar almost. I shook my head and set the helmet back in the pile of costume gear. Maybe I’ll just go as a detective this year. I already have everything for the costume. ___________________________________________________________ Twilight walked along beside me, checklist levitating in front of her. Twilight had dragged me along to make sure everything was perfect for Nightmare Night. As she talked to herself, I saw ponies around me decorating their homes for the night. Pumpkins were being carved into Jack o’ Lanterns. Bats, and fake spider webs were being hung everywhere. One spider looked a little too realistic for my tastes, causing me to jump as we passed it. Twilight giggled a little. “You’re afraid of spiders, Private?” “I’m not scared of them,” I replied, half honestly. “I just don’t like it when they crawl near me.” Twilight just smiled and rubbed against me. “Don’t worry, Private. I’ll protect you from all those big scary spiders,” she said, in the most agonizingly sweet voice I’ve ever heard. I just smiled and pecked her on the cheek, “You’re lucky I love you so much.” “Come on,” she said, as we walked on. “We still got a lot of work to do.” I nodded and fell in besides her once more, looking at all the decorations for the celebration. “Ponyville sure likes its holidays it seems.” “What was Nightmare Night like in Manehattan?” Twilight asked, curiously. “Oh, it was the best!” I exclaimed, smiling at the memories. “You would have entire city blocks where everypony would just party. I remember I would take Tailspin out in his little Wonderbolt costume and-“ KRACK!!! I leapt nearly out of my skin as I heard a crack of lightning behind me. I looked up to see Raiden and Rainbow Dash. They were rolling around laughing on top of a storm cloud. Twilight frowned at Dash, “It seems somepony didn’t learn her lesson from last year.” “Lighten up, Twilight.” Rainbow grinned down at us. “Nightmare Night is the best night of the year for pranks.” “We’d never get to do something like this in the city,” Raiden said, with a laugh “Private, I don’t think I’ve seen a pony jump that high in my life.” “I’m starting to regret hooking you two up,” I grumbled, hanging upside down from a store sign. “Aw, you’ll get over it,” Raiden said, smugly as, he turned to Dash. “Come on! I’m going to show you how to make a real light show with this thing!” The excited couple flew off with their new toy storm cloud laughing all the way. I got down from my perch and dusted myself off. “Let’s just hope they don’t scare any old people to death.” Twilight just shook her head. “Some things never change, I guess. It’s good to see them getting along though,” “I guess,” I agreed, straightening my hat. “Let’s go check out everything else.” We walked a little further and saw Applejack setting up her apple bobbing station. She waved heartily, upon seeing us. “Howdy, guys. Everything’s just about set up over here.” Twilight smiled happily. “Luna will love it, Applejack.” “Luna?” I asked, looking over at Twilight. “Oh, I didn’t tell you!” Twilight exclaimed, as realization dawned. “Princess Luna is coming to Ponyville again this year.” “Princess Luna is coming?” My mouth gaped open in absolute shock. “We’re going to be hosting Royalty here?” Twilight smiled a little guiltily. “Sorry I just heard about it yesterday, and I only told my friends. I didn’t think to tell you that she would be coming.” I didn't know why I felt excited, and not nervous. For some inexplicable reason, I’ve always felt a special connection with the Princess of the Night. When I was a colt I would get mad at other ponies whenever they played games about Nightmare Moon. I felt sympathy for her plight of being trapped on the moon. I didn’t fee it was something we should make a game out of. Suffice to say, I was not popular when recess came… Applejack simply smiled. “Hopefully this year we can keep Pinkie’s yap shut long enough for the princess to have some fun.” “Speaking of Pinkie Pie,” I said, my horn glowing grey, as a pink pony fell from a nearby tree. I looked over at Pinkie with a scolding look on my face. “Pinkie, how many times do I have to tell you to not sneak up on me like that.” Pinkie looked up at me with a big grin. “Hiya, Private. Sorry for sneaking up on you like that, but I’m practicing my spy techniques!” I facehoofed. “That’s gotta be the worst sneak attempt I’ve ever-“ “Who are you talking to, Private?” I heard another voice ask from behind me. “I’m talking to Pinkie, Pinkie.” I then realized what I said. I whirled around and sure enough, there was another Pinkie Pie. I looked between the two Pinkie’s my jaw dropping. “There are two of you now?” This is bad! Very Bad! One Pinkie Pie is enough but now there are two of them? This could mean the end of Equestria as we know it! Pinkie 2 looked at Pinkie 1 with big grin. “Swarmy, you’ve gotten pretty good at imitating me! We had Private completely fooled!” Say what now? Pinkie 1 smiled and transformed back into the red manned white unicorn, the Changeling, usually looked like. They both started laughing out loud at my dumbfounded look. My ears flicked in anger and I retorted, “Not funny you two!” Suddenly Swarm transformed into me and imitated my voice perfectly. “Not funny you two!” This caused even Twilight and Applejack to start laughing. I looked at Pseudo Private with a frown. “Swarm, cut it out!” “Swarm, cut it out!” He imitated me. “Look at me, I’m Private Eye. I’m the world’s greatest detective and I can’t figure out that there is only one Pinkie Pie.” Everypony kept laughing out loud except me. “You two will be the death of me!” Swarm suddenly transformed into Fluttershy and imitated her sweet voice. “Aw, Private, you can’t hate us too much, can you?” pseudo Fluttershy asked sweetly, giving the biggest puppy dog eyes ever. “Damn it, Swarm!” I said, face hoofing. “You know I’m helpless against that!” Swarm transformed back into his normal unicorn form and just laughed out loud. Twilight trying very hard to contain most of her laughter. She looked at the pair. “All right, that’s enough you two, Don’t you have sweets to make?” Pinkie nodded. “Yeah, but we were waiting for the oven to be done, it was soo boring…” Swarm transformed into Pinkie right there. “So we decided to play around with my transforming ability.” Pinkie giggled. “Then Swarmy showed me how he can imitate everypony perfectly.” “Anypony?” Twilight asked, with a raised eyebrow. “Do me!” Swarm smiled, as he transformed into her. “Hi I’m Twilight Sparkle, I like books, studying, magic… and detectives,” he said, that last bit, with a very sly smile I’d never seen Twilight wear. Twilight blushed bright red, and I couldn’t help but laugh. Swarm left with a giggling Pinkie Pie. I looked over at Twilight. “They do say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” “Somehow, I don’t think I’ll consider that flattery,” Twilight said with a sigh. Applejack, who finally stopped laughing, got up and smiled at us. “Ya'll take care now; I gotta take care of mah-“ She suddenly turned around. “Aw, tarnation! Derpy, for the last time, ya bob fer apples, not fer the plug!” She ran off to rectify the mistake of the cross eyed Pegasus. Twilight and I laughed and walked on, just as the sun was about to set on the day. _________________________________________________________ “That should be everything” Twilight said, finally ticking off the last item off the checklist. “All we need to do now is head back to the library to drop off the checklist.” I nodded and looked up, the moon was shining brightly tonight. Its light dappling the town. I felt calmed during a clear starry night like this. I could never explain why, I just felt better at night. But that’s when I heard a howl; I recognized it as Luca’s. “Twilight! That’s Luca’s howl!” Twilight looked over at me. “Him howling on a moon lit night is a bad thing?” “It’s the tone of the howl I’m worried about,” I replied, grimly. “Somepony is in trouble!” I took off running with Twilight falling in beside me. “Private, what’s going on? How can you understand what Luca is saying?” “I can’t explain it,” I said, as I kept running out of town. “I just know Luca is calling because somepony is in trouble.” “I knew you liked the wolf, Private, but this is too weird,” Twilight observed, as she kept up with me. “How do you know?” “I just do” I answered, looking back at Twilight. “That and I’ve been training Luca to howl if he comes across somepony hurt.” “I pray to Celestia that it’s nothing too serious,” Twilight said grimly. We stopped when we got to the edge of town. We were right smack dab on the border to the Everfree Forest. Twilight looked around nervously. “There’s something in the air, Private, I don’t like it” My magic wrapped around Blackbird, in case anything came out and attacked us. Luca wouldn’t howl like that if it wasn’t an emergency. The question is what was cause for it? HEEELP!!!! “It came from this way!” Twilight said, taking off into the bushes, with me in hot pursuit. We leaped over the bushes and came onto the scene. Luca was standing protectively over a young mare. He was howling at a strange black figure in a blue cloak. I pulled out my gun. “Back away with your hooves in the air!” The mysterious pony looked at me. He looked just like me, only his eyes were a cruel red, and his mouth had blood seeping from it. He hissed and ran with blinding speed into the woods. I fired a couple of shots after getting over my stupor, but I didn’t hit him. I swore under my breath and looked over Luca. He looked at me a little guiltily as he stood over the mare. “You kept him from hurting her more, that’s what counts.” Luca seemed reassured by that , as Twilight lowered herself to the mare. Her eyes grew wide, “Platinum Blade?” I looked at the mare, she was a unicorn mare with a white coat and a long platinum blond mane. i imagined that was how she got her name. She was well built with scars on her body, She’d obviously seen battle. I looked at Twilight, curiously. “You know her?” “She's a friend of Shining’s in the royal guard,” Twilight explained “but she’s supposed to be in Canterlot. What is she doing way out here?” “She was probably sent to help guard during Nightmare Night,” I suggested, as I examined the mare. I noticed the golden armor she wore, “She’s a solar guard?” “Yeah, one of Princess Celestia’s personal fighting forces” She said with a nod “She’s essentially the female counterpart to all those solar stallions you see.” “I didn’t know they had female counterparts,” I said, with a hoof on my chin. “She doesn’t look hurt beyond-“ She let out a gasp, and fell back. “Private, look at her neck.” I tilted the mare’s neck and pushed aside her mane to reveal, two small red punctures. The edges looked white and worn. Something bit her. Twilight looked at me grimly. “Private, those look like bite marks of a Vampony…”
