Starlight yawns as the group are walking up the path heading towards the main academy. Looking at her new purple phone which has her cutie mark on the back she groans.

"Alexander... It's 11:45 pm for buck sake... I was happily asleep before you kicked our asses out of bed." Starlight protests before stretching.

"I agree, it does seem awfully late for any activities..." Twilight joins the protest looking tired.

"Trust us, this is worth it." Edward states with confidence.

"It's pretty much a Kilgharrah tradition as far as we know. The Chancellor doesn't even need to ring the bell for everyone to gather for this." Alexander explains as they near the student village.

Running up towards the academy archway is Vivienne and Forte, the latter of which is still fixing her hair.

"Hurry up slowpoke, you still owe me fifty gold for the bet!" Vivienne shouts to Alexander who sighs deeply.

"Dude, you should have known better than to make a bet against Vivi when it comes to the size of her available mana pool." Edward folds his arms as they reach the archway shortly after the other pair.

"I know..." Alexander rubs his eyes sighing deeply.

As the group come out into Kilgharrah's main courtyard the students are all gathered like before, only this time they are more jumbled up in a sea of four colours.

"Woah, this is a lot more chaotic than before." Twilight looks around briefly checking all around her before relaxing.

"You okay there?" Starlight asks looking concerned.

"Yeah... I'm good, I think. Just wanted to make sure I didn't invoke anything I'd regret." Twilight sighs in relief before being poked in the back making her jump.

"Well, someone is on edge this evening." Jerry stands just behind the mare despite not being so a moment ago.

"W-where did you come from?!" Twilight asks looking around.

"Hmm... Magic." Jerry chuckles slightly before moving past them to join Shana who stands the other side of the courtyard.

Starlight looks around at the mass gathering but still looks confused as to their purpose being here. At that moment, like before everyone's attention is captured by the Chancellor's presence on his balcony.

"Thank you all for gathering here so late in the evening. I know many, if not all of the first year students are wondering why their older classmates dragged them here on such short notice. Before I get to that, I would like to take this opportunity to address publicly the events which were talked about in the Kilgharrah student paper last week. As I'm sure you all know by now, the creature responsible has been subdued and is being taken care of. On this note, however, I would like to congratulate the members of Wyvern House who desire to remain unknown for their admirable service to their academy and home. That said, I would like to personally praise the efforts of two brave girls in particular," The Chancellor extends his hand briefly to cause fireflies to appear around Vivienne and Forte highlighting them. "Without the extremely selfless actions of Miss Scratch and Miss Melody, the student village would have sustained far more damage than it did."

Everyone in the gathering gives the pair a round of applause as Forte blushes slightly at the sudden attention compared to the regular crowd pleaser beside her who is adoring it. Once died down the Chancellor continues.

"Now, for the main event. It is, as always, a great pleasure to announce the start of our Halloween festival season!" The Chancellor rubs his hands together to generate some magic before pulling them apart to slap back together with a loud clap.

The resulting flying sparks spread out and fly all around the academy campus and beyond. The academy itself taking on a slightly darker tone with Halloween decorations popping up everywhere which include ghosts and skeletons on the walls, scarecrows and hay bales in the courtyard. Above them are banners accompanied by black and orange stringed triangles which liven up the place. Also dotted around are various carved pumpkins serving as jack-o-lanterns which gives the atmosphere a dull lighting against the black night. The student's uniforms shift and change colour replacing their main reds, blues, browns and yellows with pitch black while their gold trim is replaced with orange trim. Upon their left chest is formed a crest displaying either a gold Wyvern, Hydra, Golem or Valkirye.

"During this time of year, much like Christmas, we dedicate twelve days to properly indulge the Halloween spirit and everything it offers. I thoroughly encourage each and every one of you to make these next few days count and enjoy yourselves. With that said, yet again our student council vice president was hard at work even during her vacation to bring a wonderful Halloween experience to you all. Please be sure to thank her and her sister for their amazing work during the days to come." The Chancellor finishes his speech before retiring to his office.

The whole crowd clap and cheer before calming down to begin leaving or conversing.

"I take it back, I'd of been pissed if you let me sleep through this." Starlight exclaims looking around in excitement.

"Someone seems a little more than happy." Alexander comments folding his arms.

"Back home we had a similar tradition called 'Nightmare Night', it is essentially exactly the same with a few differences." Twilight explains as she also looks around.

"What's with the different name too?" Edward asks as they begin to leave the courtyard.

"Well, it's a long story but the basis is to do with Nightmare Moon who was an alter ego of Princess Luna." Twilight states making Alexander blink.

"Princess Luna..?" Alexander asks looking at Edward.

"I guess some things don't change much from their world to ours." Edward shrugs as they exit the archway and head to the student village.

"Hmm? What do you mean Edward?" Twilight asks before he directs her to look at a gallows which has been set up just a little way into the student village.

As they get closer, Twilight can see atop the gallows are two girls standing boldly to address the new gathering of students. The girl on the left is wearing a Final Fantasy cosplay of a white mage with her hood down. She has pale light greyish magenta eyes with long beautiful flowing hair made up of light cerulean, light turquoise, very light cobalt blue and pale heliotrope streaks which shimmer in the light. Meanwhile, the girl on the right is wearing the black mage outfit Yuna wears in Final Fantasy X-2. She has enchanting moderate cyan eyes, long flowing sapphire blue hair with a greyish Persian blue outline which also sparkles lightly in the moonlight. Both girls twirl slightly, their hair gracefully following their movement before they stop and lean away from each other, holding hands in the middle for support.

"Greetings and salutations," The black mage girl states to begin their performance.

"I, Cassandra, your student council president and my sister, student council vice president, Lilith, wish to welcome you all to our annual Halloween celebration." The white mage girl continues happily.

Both girls now part and stand away from each other before they resume their introduction.

"For those who were with us last year you'll remember how this all works." Lilith states leaning on her staff.

"However, for those who are unfamiliar with Kilgharah customs like many first-year students, we shall gladly explain." Cassandra and her sister summon a magical screen to display a calendar.

"The Kilgharah Halloween festival lasts for a total of twelve days and nights. During this time lessons are suspended and will resume the Monday afterwards." Lilith explains highlighting the days on the calendar.

"This will give everyone five days in total from the 1st of November to the 5th of November to work out any hangovers they might have accumulated during the celebration." Cassandra states with a nervous chuckle.

"Is that in there for them or you, dear sister?" Lilith asks with a playful smirk on her face gaining many chuckles from the crowd.

"I have no idea what you'd be implying, sister dearest," Cassandra clears her throat to move the presentation along, "Anyway... During the twelve days the festival is active, there will be a plethora of things for everyone to enjoy."

Kicking her staff up to grab and use as a pointer Lilith continues.

"These will range from bobbing for apples, carving pumpkins, shooting galleries, other fairground games etc." Lilith points to each icon on the magical screen.

"Of course, also on the agenda is the Kilgharah group pumpking carving halfway through the festival in the student village center." Cassandra points to a big pumpkin symbol on the board.

A girl can be heard in the crowd coughing and clearing her throat loudly making Cassandra sigh slightly before passing the matter along to her sister.

"As per normal, the clubs will also be open during most, if not all of the twelve days during the festival offering their own themes and music to our celebration." Lilith explains in place of her sister who takes a deep breath to collect herself.

"That's everything for now for the presentation, at this moment please feel free to relax or head back to bed in preparation for Tomorrow's proper start for the full festival." Cassandra states before the two sisters close the screen and give a bow to an applause.

The crowd begins to disperse leaving sparse little groups to do as they wish till tomorrow's proper festival start.

"That was..." Twilight struggles to process.

"What gave it away? The way they spoke to each other or the seriously obvious hair?" Starlight asks leaning slightly towards her teacher.

"Told you not much seems to change then." Alexander states for the second time before walking in the direction of the Iluminare Consortium.

"Where are you going?" Edward asks looking confused.

"I am going for alcohol dear Edward, you can do whatever." Alexander states before waving bye to the group.

Edward and Twilight deadpan in Alexander's direction before slowly turning to Starlight who raises her eyebrow.

"What? Buck no, I have been installing a new phone game all day and was going to play it when I woke up." Starlight crosses her arms and looks away from the pair unamused before glancing back at them slightly.

"I got this..." Twilight uses her magic to spawn a chocolate chip cookie.

"W-what do you take me for?!" Starlight looks back away even more unamused.

Sighing deeply, Twilight spawns a brown paper bag into her hand raising Starlight's interest. Opening the bag just a little, the bag can be seen to be full of red liquorice making Starlight turn fully to her mentor and bit her lip.

"Buck me... You never play fair," Sighing deeply she takes the bag. "Fine, I'll watch him..."

"Just make sure he doesn't destroy anything or put anyone in intensive care." Twilight folds her arms.

"You say about playing fair but she did save Kilgharah last week." Edward tries to interject.

"She saved Equestria many times before, I'm not really surprised. Doesn't mean you're any closer to getting laid... Anyway, I'll see you guys later~" Starlight sings as she skips off leaving both of them seriously blushing and speechless.

Author's Notes:

This chapter took a little longer than normal because of shitty life events which I had no control over... With any luck, that'll subside very quickly and we'll keep up with our weekly updates to sait our reader's hunger for more. We hope to see you next time and welcome you all to the start of the 'Halloween Town Arc'!