You are Anon, drawing hurriedly on a paper plate. Why does Nightmare Night fall on September 31? Why does September have 31 days? You thought it was a joke, but noooo. So here you are, making the absolute worst costume ever. Some quick knot work with some string, and you put your mask on. You look in the mirror and sigh. You were so looking forward to spooking the ponies. At least with a bad drawing of Sombrero's face on your mask, you might startle a few.

You step out into the night, following the sounds of laughter and games. As you enter the festival grounds, all the little horses go quiet, staring at you. A few pegasi's wings extend, probably getting ready to fly away.

"The face isn't very good, is it? Perhaps I should take it off."

Maybe there's some sort of uncanny valley thing going on. You begin to lift your mask, but a full third of the ponies faint. You freeze. Hoofsteps sound behind you.

"Anonymous, aren't you wearing anything? It is Nightmare Night after a-"

Twilight trots around to face you, dressed up as some Gandalf knockoff. Her eyes go wide when she looks at your face.

"What have you done?"

It starts as a whisper.

"What did you do to Anonymous?"

"Um, Twilight, that's a bit-"

She glares at you, horn blazing with a baleful purple light.

"Sombra! Anonymous had better be safe and sound, or else Tartarus will seem like magical kindergarten when I'm done with you!"

What the hell.

is wrong with this mare. You pull off your mask, ignoring the horrified screams of the populous. Twilight's jaw drops.

"It's just a mask. Honestly, what is with you guys?"

She collects herself with some effort.

"Anonymous, I know you didn't have a lot of time to prepare, but summoning the spirits of dead tyrants is not a good idea for a costume. Even if Sombra was a stallion."

There's some nervous chuckling among some of the mares. You roll you eyes.

"I did no such thing. Come on, I'll show you."

You turn back to your house, ignoring her vague warnings about arcane forces and soul chastity.

Twilight stands by your table as you grab a paper plate.

"See? Perfectly normal plate."

"Is there a hidden magic circle? That would explain the immense power of your mask summoning."

You hand her the plate.

"Check for one if you like, but I got it from a Manehattan convenience store."

After a few spells, she floats it back, frowning.

"It's as you say, a normal paper circle."

"Right. So now I draw on it..."

It's not your best drawing, but you think it's recognizably Sunbutt. Just to make sure she gets it, you draw a little speech bubble saying, "I wanna rut Twilight Sparkle."

Okay, maybe you wrote that just for fun. Twilight rolls her eyes at your little joke, but watches closely as you finish making the mask. At last you put it on, and turn to her. Her face immediately turns bright red.

"I-I don't know, Princess, it's so sudden...please be gentle."

You turn away.

"A-Anonymous? Where's Princess Celestia? We were right in the middle of an...important conversation."

"You just- Really? Am I alone in a world full of goldfish?"

You take off the mask and set it on the table. Then you turn towards book horse and point at it.

"I wrote it right there! You watched me!"

Twilight looks at you with wondering eyes.

"You...can see the future. This is amazing! We must tell Celestia at once! And maybe continue our conversation..."

She giggles to herself, cheeks still flushed.

Be Anon, attending a private royal audience. Twilight nods to you, and you sigh. You slip the mask over your face, turning expectantly towards Celestia. She surges to her hooves, exuding an incredible aura of power and danger.

"Impostor! I would never say such things! Twilight, be careful, she'll try to fool you!"

You hang your head. You have stumbled upon immense power in the form of paper plate masks. You remove the one you are wearing and toss it away.

"See? No impostor, just me."

As the two princesses settle down, you start to wonder if Grandpa's stories about his conflicts with the red menace were true. It might be worthwhile to spend some time to search Equestrian history for that sort of thing. You poke a palace guard with an orange coat and blue mane to get his attention. Twilight's head whips around.

"Spy's tapping my Sentry!"