Chapter 49

10-31-14, 1:02 P.M.

Jeremy returned from classes to find that pumpkins had invaded his dormitory. The cleaning staff were dressed in costumes of their own, and Jeremy gave them a friendly wave as he walked upstairs to his floor. Unfortunately, he had no costume this Halloween, so he intended to just hang out at the castle and enjoy the weekend. Despite the military presence, students were still allowed to dress up and move about during the daytime, though a night curfew was now in effect – Jeremy had heard grumbling about it all day. As he stepped through the portal, he noticed the castle had been redecorated with what appeared to be fake cobwebs and dimmer lighting. Smirking, he traipsed onward to the throne room.

When he entered, he was surprised to find Celestia not in costume, staring at him with a regal but somewhat amused expression as the usual line of ponies gathered up for the midday queue. Jeremy stared back for a moment, confused.

“…Alright, what’s with the face?” he asked, almost dreading the answer.

“Oh, you’ll find out,” Celestia teased.

Jeremy raised an eyebrow, by now thoroughly concerned. His suspicions were verified when the Royal Canterlot Voice could be heard as Luna flew through the corridors, her expression set to a joyous smile.

“ART THOU READY FOR NIGHTMARE NIGHT?” she asked, nearly blowing Jeremy over with the sheer force of her voice.

“Uh… no? Missing a costume,” Jeremy confusedly replied.

Luna stopped smiling at once and surveyed him with a horrified look. “HOW DOST THOU EXPECT TO OBTAIN SWEETS WITHOUT A COSTUME? COME, WE MUST ALLEVIATE THIS AT ONCE,” she proclaimed, and royally stalked outside, Jeremy being levitated after her.

“…Help?” he asked Celestia, by now utterly confused. Celestia stifled a giggle before resuming her regal demeanor and returning to business.

“WE ART SO EXCITED FOR THIS YEAR’S NIGHTMARE NIGHT!” Luna shouted, and passersby quickly attempted to hold back laughter.

“Yeah, I… can tell,” Jeremy answered bemusedly as she cantered through the streets of Canterlot – it was hard to miss the spring in her step. “And… why, might I ask, are you so pumped?”

Luna set him down using her magic, and after straightening himself up he followed after her as they headed through the streets, Luna taking a specific path.

“We are anxious to appease our subjects with a Nightmare Night to remember – we have been planning this night sky for quite a while!” Jeremy nodded appreciatively.

“Can’t wait to see it. Are we going trick-or-treating?” he asked.

“Of course! Twilight Sparkle has been waiting for us to visit Ponyville again for quite some time now – and do not worry, we have learned from the previous two times.”

Jeremy looked up. “Previous two – oh, right, I missed one.” Luna looked away, her former enthusiasm gone for a moment.

“We… skipped the last Nightmare Night. It did not feel right celebrating without thee.” Jeremy immediately felt bad, but Luna brightened up almost immediately afterward. “But now we can make up for it and doubly celebrate!” Back to her former enthusiastic self already, she dragged him along to wherever the two were going.

To Jeremy’s surprise, they entered the office, which featured a few new magical machines.

“Now, we can create clothing for thee on demand – we do not see such machines replacing the Equestrian fabrics industry, due to their lack of creativity, but they can easily replicate whatever design thou hast in mind,” Luna explained as she brought him over to the machine. Jeremy thought about what costume he might like to make, and then a devious grin came onto his face as he started drawing on a digital interface on one of the new machines.

An hour later, after some technical mishaps, Jeremy was fully in-costume, having enlisted Luna to use a spell to grow and change the color of his hair. Luna looked over the costume curiously.

“An unusual choice… though the purple accents look nice on thee,” she commented.

“What are you going as?” Jeremy asked, a little defensively.

Luna laughed, sensing this. “We always adopt the same costume of Nightmare Moon, so the little ones recognize us.” Jeremy frowned. “What?” Luna queried.

“…Nothing, nothing.” Jeremy answered after a moment.

Dinner, as usual, was uneventful, although Jeremy was surprised to see some of the nobles in costume – Luna claimed that this was because they had kids to appease. Jeremy stifled a chuckle at this. Chrysalis walked into the room, her eyes going wide when she spotted Jeremy.

“…What are you wearing?” she asked as she took the seat opposite him. The nobles who she was now sitting next to shifted uncomfortably, and were promptly ignored.

“Nightmare Night costume,” Jeremy explained, going back to his food.

Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “Right…”

Jeremy smirked at her. “What, you don’t approve of free candy and cosplaying?”

Chrysalis shrugged. “Maybe it’s just my cultural upbringing, but it doesn’t appeal to me – what’s the point when I can transform at will?” she replied, turning into an exact mirror image of Jeremy himself to make her point.

Jeremy considered this briefly, staring interestedly at the copy of himself. “Still, it’s fun – you should give it a try.” Chrysalis made a disparaging noise.

As they flew over to Ponyville, Luna had the chariot stopped just outside the town.

“Forgive us, but we do need to ‘make an entrance’,” Luna explained.

Jeremy smiled, knowing what she was up to, and exited the chariot. It took off into the night, and Jeremy began his trek into the town.

By the time he had made it there, Luna had apparently already made her entrance, and was walking around as Nightmare Moon, accepting candy from the foals and generally acting in character. On the one hand, Jeremy found it amusing when she acted as the stereotypical 'evil villain', laughing maniacally and baring her fake fangs, and was glad to see that everypony knew it was a game, and she wasn’t really still Nightmare Moon. On the other, that face… it brought back memories. Memories of Celestia screaming at him, the vacuum of space, and a star that filled every portion of his vision, only to be engulfed by an even brighter light… Jeremy shook his head to clear it. He didn’t have time for this – it was just a costume.

Wandering around, he found Twilight Sparkle making the rounds with a candy-gorging Spike.

“Hey, how’s it going?” Jeremy greeted as he walked up to them.

“Oh! Hi, didn’t know you’d be attending,” Twilight greeted – she was dressed up as Princess Celestia, and Jeremy found the resemblance amusing.

“I don’t think Luna would let me do otherwise – she’s really enthusiastic about tonight,” Jeremy replied. “Nice costume, by the way.”

Twilight smiled. “Thanks. What’s yours? It looks like you just threw on a weird pair of pants and a shirt, and put on a pair of plastic cones and face paint.”

Jeremy laughed. “Pretty much. It’d take a while to explain, I’ll just send you the relevant story when I get home.”

Twilight nodded. “So, how are things going in the human world?” Twilight asked.

Jeremy shrugged. “Okay, I guess – a few minor things have been going on.”

He told her about the sniper incident and Ethan, and Twilight’s expression quickly turned horrified. “That’s so awful, I hope things work out for you!” she replied.

“Jeez, Jeremy, your life sounds like an A.K. Yearling book,” Spike commented with a yawn.

Jeremy laughed. “Yeah, maybe I should write all this down sometime,” he joked. With that, Twilight and Spike continued their own candy-fueled expedition, leaving Jeremy to his own devices.

Jeremy returned to the town square in search of Luna, and was quickly stumped when he couldn’t see her anywhere. Hearing a thunderous boom just behind him, he jumped, and Rainbow Dash burst into laughter as she leaned over the cloud she’d been laying on.

“Doesn’t that get old?” Jeremy asked, half annoyed and half amused.

“Nope!” Rainbow replied as she went off to push the cloud somewhere else. Jeremy sighed and walked onward.

He finally found Luna entertaining a group of foals. Their eyes were wide as she told the classic tale of Nightmare Night, finally ending with the usual jumpscare and sending them running and laughing. Jeremy walked up as they left, noting the small pile of candy in front of her.

“What do you even do with all of this?” he asked, picking one up.

“We split it with Celestia, normally – she never gets any due to her sleep,” Luna answered as she levitated the whole pile into a rucksack she had brought along.

“How long does it take you to eat?” Jeremy replied, smirking.

“A few months, normally. Why?” Luna asked.

Jeremy laughed. “You’ll find out.”

They went door-to-door after that, and Jeremy quickly amassed his own pile of sweets.

“Aw yes, this is a better haul than I ever got on Earth,” he enthusiastically commented, sorting through it.

Luna laughed, rummaging through her own completely full bag. “Celestia will be delighted by these – she always was partial to the strawberry-flavored candies,” Luna mused. Jeremy glanced over, semi-interested.

10-31-14, 2:47 A.M.

Nightmare Night officially ended shortly thereafter, and Jeremy and Luna got back on the chariot to head back to Canterlot. To Jeremy’s surprise, the night guards who had brought them there had evidently done some candy-collecting of their own, as two bulging sacks of sweets were present in the back of the carriage.

“Nice,” Jeremy complimented the two as he hopped in, and they flashed quick, fanged smiles back at him.

As Luna stepped in, they resumed their professional demeanor, and began flying her back to Canterlot. Jeremy shivered as they gained altitude – had it been this cold when they flew here? Luna, noticing his discomfort, looked over.

“Wouldst thou like us to cast a warming spell?” she inquired.

Still quivering, Jeremy shook his head. “I’ll get used to it,” he mumbled, and the guardsponies repressed chuckles.

An hour later, they arrived at the castle, and Jeremy quickly followed Luna inside. Approaching the two thrones, he noticed a small slip of paper on Celestia’s throne addressed to him. Picking it up, he read it aloud so Luna could overhear.

“I have just received word from Princess Cadance that our wedding will be taking place this Sunday. I hope you have a suit ready, Jeremy… Love, Princess Celestia,” he finished, chuckling at the last bit.

“…Dost thou have a suit?” Luna asked, concerned.

“It’s back at my old house, I can just head over there and grab it,” Jeremy answered.

To his surprise, Luna shook her head. “After what has happened in the past? It would be folly to let thee out of our sight for such a period of time. We will find somepony to collect it for thee.”

Jeremy grimaced – that was quite an inconvenience to ask of someone at his expense, especially for such a trivial item as a dress suit.

“Not to worry, we have an idea,” Luna announced, sensing his thoughts.

Using her magic to summon a scroll and quill, she jotted down a letter before finishing with a flourish and sending it off somewhere. Moments later, a response appeared, and Luna read it with a smirk.

“Dost thou feel like thou can stay awake a while longer?” she asked him.

“It is Friday, and therefore I don’t believe in sleep,” Jeremy answered solemnly, and she laughed as they teleported.

They appeared in the hive, Chrysalis waiting in front of them.

“And what brings you here so late at night? I was sleeping, you know,” she reminded them.

“Our apologies, but we think thou will agree on the urgency of the proposed errand.” She explained Celestia’s forwarded letter, and Chrysalis laughed.

“That’s your errand? Here I thought it was something actually critical. Let me guess, you want to send a changeling to do the job, right?” Luna nodded, and Jeremy chose this time to cut in.

“Do we really have to?” he asked. “They’re all asleep, and I don’t think they’d appreciate being told to retrieve a tuxedo.”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes, and gave out a single hiss. Though it was unintelligible to Jeremy, Luna stifled a giggle, and Jeremy watched in awe as the entire hive came to life. Finally, Chrysalis pointed at a smaller changeling, who nervously stepped forward. They exchanged a series of hisses, and Chrysalis looked at Jeremy before hissing some more. Jeremy watched in consternation as the changeling nodded, saluted, and flew off.

“What was that all about?” he asked.

Chrysalis smirked. “I got the picture of the suit from your memories, and gave Anatase permission to use the portal.”

Jeremy nodded, accepting this, and the other changelings slunk off to their respective areas of the cave – they looked oddly dejected to Jeremy.

“Well, if that’s all, I’m heading back to bed. Goodnight, both of you,” Chrysalis yawned as she flew back into her own private cave.

They teleported back, Luna looking somewhat tired herself.

“Hey… what did Chrysalis say to wake up the entire hive so quickly?” Jeremy asked, bewildered. Luna once again attempted to hold back laughter, this time unsuccessfully.

“She said… Oh, it is too rich!” Luna exclaimed, laughing uncontrollably. Jeremy waited until she had finished, still perplexed. “Ahaha… she said… ‘The Savior needs assistance’,” Luna finally got out, and Jeremy blushed furiously, causing Luna to double over once more, her laughter echoing throughout the throne room. He slapped a hand to his forehead, trying to laugh along with her.

After that, he headed back through the portal to his dormitory bed, placing his bag of candy under his bed. His roommate was asleep, so he tried to move around as quietly as possible, tiptoeing off to the common’s men’s bathroom to brush his teeth and shave before finally climbing into bed.

He checked the clock – it was 4 A.M. At least it was a Saturday tomorrow, Jeremy reminded himself wearily. He’d have plenty of time to sleep in. He rolled over, and quickly gave over to unconsciousness.

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