Chapter 28: The Key to Nightmares

[Luna’s POV]

“Past the far edge of fate ring blades dark and light, toning the coming of the end.” Blazing red eyes burned over a hungry grin, holding me in place. “But whose end shall it tone? Shall it tone the end of your world, sating my hunger? Or shall it tone my end?” My breath caught in my throat as Tash’s grin grew in malice. “Or perhaps, little Dark Spark, your other self will join me.”

A high, cold, cackle came from beside the monster, drawing my gaze to my Darkness given form; Nightmare Moon. “As long as you hold the Keyblade, I am NEVER far away…”

I bolt up with a gasp, sweat soaked sheets spilling off of me. I close my eyes, taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm my raging heart.

“Just a dream,” I muttered, relieved that Big Sis Kairi wasn’t here right now. Honestly, she treats me like I’m made of glass sometimes. “Well, too late to go back to sleep,” I sighed after a glance at the clock. “Nothing for it but to meet the day.”

A few seconds later, I’m on my feet, pulling on my clothes for the day, when I hear a faint clicking sound. Looking around, my eyes eventually land on an old typewriter. An old typewriter of my own creation in fact. I had designed it centuries ago as a way to detect prophecies within my dreams of foresight. Believe me when I say, you DO NOT want to try interpreting dreams of foresight. A sense of dread filled me as I hesitantly pulled out the paper, my face paling as I read the prophecy it spat out.

‘Past the far edge of fate.
Ring blades Dark and Light.
Toning the coming of the end.
Split apart and failure is sure.
The day can only be won.
By two as one.’

I quickly stuff the paper into my diary. Big Sis can’t see this. Not yet…

“Haha! Eat light Taken scum!” Scootaloo yelled in glee, pointing her flashlight at another possessed object. As it turns out, Scoots and I both have a love of horror stories. So, we did what any responsible younger siblings should do. We raided Big Sis’s horror collection, and thus decided to try out Alan Wake. Don’t ask me why, but for some reason, fighting manifestations of darkness with nothing but a flashlight really appealed to us.

“Girls, what are you still doing in there?” Sumire’s voice crackled over the PA. “Don’t you all need to be somewhere?”

“Not ‘til tomorrow morni- WOAH!” Scoots yelped, ducking underneath another possessed object.

“You mean in 45 minutes?” the Phantom Thief shot back.

“Yeah, you guys were in there all night!” Apple Bloom’s irate voice yelled. “Belle’s been out here in the fetal position and whimpering all night long, and you two don’t seem to care!”

Now that she mentioned it, I could faintly hear Belle whimpering in terror, muttering “Its just a game” over and over to herself. Yeah, I think we went a little overboard.

“Ah, horsefeathers,” Scoots muttered. “Alright, fine, you guys win. But I wanna play the ending no later than tomorrow night!”

“Why? What’s tomorrow?” I asked, ending the simulation.

“Nightmare Night, of course!” Scoots replied. “And a scary night needs a scary story!”

“Nightmare Night?” I furrowed my brow in confusion. “What’s that?”

“Its kinda like Halloween,” Melissa explained as she came in. “Its a night of ghouls, ghosts, and goblins, with everyone dressing in costumes and going Trick or Treating.”

“Oh! You mean like I saw in that one episode of WandaVision?”

“Exactly like that,” the techie replied with a grin. “Now get going, before Ms. Cheerilee gets mad at you for being late!”

The two of us nodded, before grabbing our friends and booking it to the school house, though not before apologizing to Belle.

“Alright class, that’ll be all for today,” Ms. Cheerilee smiled dismissing us for the day.

I breathed a sigh of relief. All day everyone was shooting me odd looks, not to mention avoiding me like the plague. Well, everyone except for Bloom, Scoots, Belle and Ms. Scratch.

“...don’t even know why they let her stay,” my ears perk up at the sound of an unwelcome voice; Diamond Tiara. “Clearly she’s dang-”

“Quiet!” Silver Spoon hissed to her friend. “She’s standing right there!”

The pair shoot me a glare before sauntering out, noses in the air.

“What was that about?” I asked in confusion.

“Eh, who cares?” Bloom replies with a shrug.

“Yeah, come on!” Scoots agrees, pulling us out the door. “We’ve gotta go finish Alan Wake!”

“Alright, alright,” I laughed, though not without noticing how she had a rather guilty look on her face, mirrored by Bloom and Belle.

The trip back to the Tower was… Weird. For one thing, it seemed like the whole town was deserted, kinda like that time when we first met Zecora. Not only that, it seemed like the Cakes, two of the nicest ponies in town, didn’t even want us in Sugarcube Corner, claiming the shop was closed. Though, I’m pretty sure I saw a few shapes hiding in the back.

“This is getting ridiculous,” I muttered in frustration. “I’ll just get Little Chef to make us a snack at the Tower.”

After that, we started heading back, though not before Auntie Pinkie popped out of a bush to give us each a cupcake. I swear, she has a sixth sense for finding ponies who need to be cheered up.

Anyway, as soon as we got back to the Tower, Scoots all but dragged us back to the Simulator, narrowly avoiding a collision with Haley on the way. Not gonna lie, I didn’t expect her to become so obsessed with Alan Wake. Regardless, it didn’t take us long to get the game booted up in the Simulator. Admittedly, we’d pretty much finished the game already, but the way that we’d been going through last night forced us to start at the beginning of the last chapter again.

Not gonna lie, I took that bit of time redoing the chapter to plan. You see, I could tell that Scoots, Belle and Bloom were hiding something from me, and what better way to get one of them to spill the beans, then to do so while they’re distracted?

I waited until we started making our way to Cauldron Lake, then turned to the purple haired filly. “So, Scoots, what was up with everyone today?”

“Huh?” Scoots grunted, eyes scanning the forest for more Taken. “What d’ya mean?”

“Well,” I started slowly. “The town was pretty empty, the cakes were acting weird, and I could have sworn I saw a few ponies hiding in Sugarcube Corner.”

“Oh that,” she grunted. “Probably hiding from Nightmare Moon.” The filly’s eyes widened as she realized her mistake.

“Wanna run that by me again?” I asked, eyes narrowing.

“Um, uh,” Scoots’ eyes went back and forth. “Oh hey, look at that! That’s where we need to go!”

“Computer, pause simulation,” I growled out as the game around us paused. “Scoots, I know you know something, and you know I don’t like being kept in the dark. You don’t need to protect me or spare my feelings.”

“Straight talk, huh?” Scoots sighs, staring at me for a second. “Fine, you win. The town’s hiding from you. They think Nightmare Moon’s gonna come back using you.”

My eyes widened in shock. “What? I-I… But that’s-”

“Ridiculous?” Scoots cut me off. “Stupid? Inconceivable? Yeah we know. It's the stupidest thing we’ve ever heard come from the town, but let's be honest here. It's not the strangest thing that’s happened in this town. But even with that, when was the last time the ponies of Ponyville thought something through logically? I mean, look at what happened to Zecora!”

Any response I may have had died in my throat. I knew she was right. Heck, I had seen how close minded the town was for myself.

Scoots sighs before ending the simulation outright before grabbing my hand. “Come on.”

“W-where are we going?” I asked, trying to suppress the shudder in my voice.

“The studio,” the purple haired filly replied. “It’s clear you need to vent, and I’ve been holding onto something I wrote for a time like this.”

I nodded as she gently guided me out of the Simulator, and past the rest of the CMC, who quietly fell into step behind us, having heard every word. As soon as we entered the studio Melissa had built for us, Bloom and Belle entered the recording booth, getting all the equipment set up, while Scoots pulled some sheet music from her bag. With a sigh, I took the pages and started to read, noticing that it was meant for a full band. Well, nothing a little tweaking couldn’t fix…

30 minutes later.

“Alright,” Scoots’ voice came through my headset as I sat at the piano. “Whenever you’re ready, though, I still think you should have left it as it was.”

I nodded before beginning to play, my fingers sliding along the keys as I poured everything I was feeling into the song.

“When the shadows come
And the night is fallin’
And the voices tell you this might be the end when.”

I closed my eyes, my voice echoing the frustration and anger I felt at this whole situation, never noticing the figure standing in the shadows.

“Screamin’ when your heart is barely beatin’
When your lungs are barely breathin’
Thinkin’ this might be the end when
When you’re caught in a
When you’re caught in a
When you’re caught in a.”

I paused in my playing for a moment to gather myself, then pushed on, a more hopeful note entering my voice.

“Crossfire
When you’re goin’ through hell
And you’re screamin’ for help
Crossfire
When you’re losin’ yourself
I’ll be runnin’ to help
If you’re broken again, there’s safety
And the darkness is a liar
Crossfire
When you’re goin’ through hell
And you’re screamin’ for help
Hold on
Hold on.”

The figure in the shadows closed her eyes, a tear sliding down her cheek before she silently came up behind me, wrapping her arms around me as I sang. I knew without looking that it was Sumi. I could feel as tears started welling up as I kept singing.

“When you’ve loved and lost
Broken into pieces
And your demons tell you no one’s gonna hear you”

Tears were streaming down my face now as I let everything out.

“Screamin’ when your heart is barely beatin’
Don’t ever stop believin’
‘Cause this won’t be the end when
When you’re caught in a
When you’re caught in a
When you’re caught in a.”

I opened my eyes, tears still streaming down my face, but with a glint of determination in my eyes.

“Crossfire
When you’re goin’ through hell
And you’re screamin’ for help
Crossfire
When you’re losin’ yourself
I’ll be runnin’ to help
If you’re broken again, there’s safety
And the darkness is a liar
Crossfire
When you’re goin’ through hell
And you’re screamin’ for help
Hold on
Hold on.”

I took a breath still playing as I heard Sumi repositioning herself, her arms never leaving me.

“Hold on.”

“If you’re caught in a
If you’re caught in a
If you’re caught in a
If you’re caught in a (Hold on)
If you’re caught in a
If you’re caught in a
If you’re caught in a”

“Crossfire.”

Silence rang for a fair bit of time before it was broken by the door opening and being tackled in a hug by the CMC. We all just stayed there like that for a while, tears streaming down all our faces as we took comfort from each other’s presence. But unfortunately, like all good things, our time together like that came to an end.

“Girls, your sisters are waiting for you downstairs,” the red haired Phantom Thief murmured.

The CMC groaned softly, breaking their hug to grab their bags and trudging downstairs with Sumi to head home. I lingered at the top of the stairs just long enough to hear Sumi say, “Girls, we’ve got a problem.”

I didn’t stay any longer though. I quickly wiped my tears away, heading to my room. I had plans to make, and a costume to craft…

[Sumire’s POV]

“Girls, we’ve got a problem,” I grimaced, hating what the town’s actions were doing to Luna.

AJ, Rarity and Rainbow Dash all turned to me, all of them looking somewhat confused.

“This wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with why our sisters look like their best friend died, would it?” Rarity questioned, a slight edge to her voice.

“Not directly, but yes,” I nodded. “I assume you noticed the behavior of everypony in town?”

The three nodded. “It's almost like the Zecora… Mess…” Rainbow’s eyes widened in realization before she started cursing up a storm as she realized what was going on.

“Uh, Sugarcube,” AJ placed a hand on Rainbow’s shoulder, cutting off her rant. “Mind sharing with the rest of us what you figured out?”

“The town’s letting their imaginations get the better of them again,” Rainbow growled. “If I’m right, someone started a rumor saying that Nightmare Moon would come back on Nightmare Night, using Luna as a host of some sort, all to run her out of town. And I can guess who started the rumors in the first place.”

I sighed. “Let me guess, a certain entitled bitch that married a stallion far too nice for his own good, and has corrupted her daughter something fierce?”

The chromatic mare nodded. “Spoiled Rich. You don’t come into town very often, so you wouldn’t have heard any of the things Spoiled has said about all of you here in the Tower.”

“Regardless,” Rarity cut in. “Imagine what it's doing to Luna right now.”

“Considering she literally broke down in our arms, I don’t think we need to to imagine,” I sighed as the CMC nodded. “In any case, we need to do something about the town and Spoiled. After that, I have an idea about cheering up Luna.”

A feral grin grew on Rarity’s face. “Sounds to me like we need to call in Twilight and Fluttershy.”

I frowned. “I can understand Twilight, but why Fluttershy?”

“I assume you know that all the animals living with her are rescues?” Rarity asked, to which I nodded. “Well, what you probably don’t know is that she rescued every single one of them herself. She literally cut down abusive owners, with nothing but her Stare and a very scary scolding. Now imagine that anger multiplied by ten and directed at the town, particularly at Spoiled Rich.”

I shuddered. “I am, and I think it's what's needed here. Alright then, let’s get to work!”

[Luna’s POV]

I stood in front of my mirror, a satisfied smirk on my face as I examined the costume I had put together. I wore a long-sleeve dark navy-blue legless leotard with regular navy-blue cuffs, along with a thin, gold belt decorated with several crimson jewels. Over that, I had a hooded navy-blue cloak, and on my feet were matching ruffled ankle-boots with grayish-black soles. The cloak was decorated with a round, crimson jewel, similar to a brooch, which helped to keep the cloak shut, and finally, and finally, on my forehead was a red jewel outlined in black.

My Raven costume was perfect!

I took a moment to study my reflection one last time, before pulling my hood up and stepping out of my room. I quickly made my way out of the Tower and started heading down the road to town, where I could easily hear music in the distance. Music that was steadily growing louder.

“Hang on, were there always tombstones on this path?” I muttered as I watched a pony’s shadow move along the tombstones.

“Colts and fillies of every age.
Wouldn't you like to see something strange?
Come behold a ghastly sight.
This, our town, on Nightmare Night.”

Bloom, Scoots and Belle jumped out from behind one of the tombstones, wearing a skeleton costume, a zombie costume and a mummy costume respectively.

“This is Nightmare Night. It is such a fright.”

Bloom motions towards a nearby fence along the road as jack-o-lanterns impaled themselves on the posts.

“Pumpkins scream in the dead of night.
This is Nightmare Night, everyone turn out the light.”

The CMC guided me into town where we found Ms. Cheerilee and Berry Punch, one in a straightjacket, and the other a devil costume waiting for us, with little Pipsqueak between them in a cute little pirate costume.

“Trick or treat,
Till the neighbors gonna die of fright.
It's our town, everypony scream.
Nightmare Night is on the scene.”

A growl from the shadows on my left sent a chill up my spin as I quickly turned to find Spike with glowing red eyes grinning at me.

“I am the one hiding under your bed.
Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red”

A mint green pony quickly stepped out beside the dragon, spiders in her hair and each of her fingers ending in a snake head.

“I am the one hiding under your stairs.
Fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair.”

I jumped as every door and window around me then crashed open with ponies in various costumes joining the song, before slamming them closed again.

“This is Nightmare Night
This is Nightmare Night
Nightmare Night. Nightmare Night
Nightmare Night. Nightmare Night!”

Scoots grabbed my hand and pulled me to the main town square, where I could see Rarity sitting elegantly on the roof of her boutique, dressed like a regal vampire.

“In this town, we call home.
Everypony hail to the Nightmare song.”

I was so focused on her that I didn’t notice the mayor sneaking up behind me until she started her part, causing me to jump in fright.

“In this town, don't we love it now?
Everypony's waiting on the next surprise.”

She then pointed towards the corner of Rarity’s boutique where I could see her cat Opal going towards the trash cans.

“Round the corner, colts hiding in the trash can.
Something's waiting now to pounce and how you'll”

Snips, Snails, Dinky and Twist jumped out, startling Opal into running back inside.

“CRY!
THIS IS NIGHTMARE NIGHT!
CREEPY SLIME!
BLACK AND WHITE!
AREN'TH YOU SCARED?”

Twilight and Trixie swooped in on two broomsticks, of all things, causing us all to duck.

“Well that's just fine. Say it once, say it twice.
Take a chance and roll the dice.
Ride with the moon in the dead of night.”

As soon as I looked back up, I found myself face to face with Rainbow Dash in a grim reaper costume.

“Everypony scream! Everypony scream!
Nightmare Night is on the scene.”

Suddenly I found myself whirled around to find Pinkie in a surprisingly normal clown outfit, right up until she reached up and yanked her face off.

“I am the clown with the tear-away face.
Here in a flash and gone without a trace.”

Applejack was soon looming behind her as well.

“I am the ‘who’ when you call ‘who’s there?’”

A strong breeze suddenly blew through. I turned to find Derpy sitting at one of the windows in a Santa costume with a fan next to her.

“I am the wind blowing through your hair.”

A great booming voice then thundered from above. I looked up and saw a strange, vaguely skull shaped shadow on the moon singing to us.

“I am the shadow on the moon at night.
Filling your dreams to the brim with fright.”

Just about the whole town had filled the square now, and they all joined in the song.

“This is Nightmare Night
This is Nightmare Night
Nightmare Night. Nightmare Night
Nightmare Night. Nightmare Night!”

A shaking pony under a simple sheet, who I quickly identified as Fluttershy, stepped out to softly add to the song.

“Spooky creatures everywhere.
Everypony's out to scream and scare.”

It was then that Sumi and Melissa wrapped their arms around both of my arms.

“That's our job.
You got that right.
In this town on Nightmare Night.”

The mayor had jumped right in my face again.

“In this town, don't we love it now?
Everypony's waiting on the next surprise.”

Suddenly, the dark visage of my alter ego flashed on the moon, causing me to pale.

“Nightmare Moon will catch you in your room and
Scream like a banshee.
Make you jump out of your
Skin! This is Nightmare Night.
Everypony scream!”

Rarity suddenly appeared on a platform in the middle of the square, gesturing towards me.

“Won't you please make way for royalty?”

The crowd quickly parted, making a path for me towards the platform as the rest of the town sang.

“Nightmare Moon is Queen of the Nightmares now.
Everypony hail to the Nightmare Queen!
This is Nightmare Night! This is Nightmare Night!
Nightmare Night. Nightmare Night.
Nightmare Night. Nightmare Night.”

I gingerly climbed up on the platform, where I found Bloom, Scoots and Belle waiting for me.

“In this town, we call home.
Everypony hail to the Nightmare song.”

A tear made its way down my face as a smile grew.

“La la la, la la la la la. La la la la la, la la la la la la.
La la la, la la la la la. La la la la la, la la la la la la.
La la la, la la la la la. La la la la la, la la la la la la!”

Cheering went up in the town as the song came to an end. I quickly turned towards all my friends, who had gathered behind me. “Did you have something to do with this?” I asked.

“Well,” Sumi smiled sheepishly. “Most of the work was done by Twilight and Fluttershy.”

“Oh, don’t sell yourselves short,” an unfamiliar voice cut in. Approaching the platform was a very strange individual. It was a tall and extremely slender white skeleton with a skull sporting a cross-stitch mouth and bony fingers. He sported a black-and-white, pinstripe formal tuxedo with a bat-themed bowtie. “The name’s Jack, Jack Skellington, the spirit of Halloween. Or, I guess, Nightmare Night in this case.”

“You were the one I saw on the moon!” I cried. “But, you’re from another world, how’d you get here?”

“My dear, I can freely come and go between worlds that celebrate a form of Halloween,” the skeleton chuckled. “Though, in this case, it was your friend Twilight who called for me. She explained how this night was supposed to be in honor of you and was looking for ideas on how to cheer you up.”

“And the rest of the town?” I asked.

“That would be Fluttershy’s doing,” Twilight chuckled nervously. “Remind me to NEVER get on her bad side.”

The Mayor decided that now was a good idea to cut in. “On behalf of the town, I’d like to extend our deepest apologies. A certain mare had been trying to find a way to run you out of town for months now, and she used that particular set of rumors to try and do so.”

I sighed. “Its in the past. Next time, please just talk to me instead of doing the whole Zecora act.”

The crowd chuckled before starting to disperse to get started on the evening’s festivities. Suffice it to say, with Jack there, and the whole town interacting with me again, Nightmare Night was a night to remember!

[Unknown POV]

A tall, lanky man with dark skin, short black hair, and wearing a long, dark brown trench coat watched from the shadows, his face set into a permanent scowl. He watched as the filly was guided through the town by her friends, and nodded in satisfaction when he saw her inner turmoil calm.

“Well done Sumire Yoshizawa,” he muttered before turning to the outskirts of town. “You just saved us a lot of work.”

The man walked out as a tear in reality swallowed him up, but not before a certain red headed Phantom Thief saw, and heard him. “See you soon…”

Happy Nightmare Night!

Not gonna lie, this chapter fought me tooth and nail to get just right, and I feel like I may have rushed the ending a bit.

In any case, who is this mysterious man watching the Nightmare Night festivities?
Find out next chapter, I have something very special planned!

As for Kairi, well, I'll probably end up writing her Nightmare Night adventure next year. But suffice it to say, she'll be back soon. Just wanted to do some chapters centered on some of the other characters as a change of pace.

See you all next chapter!

Songs used in this chapter:

Crossfire by Skillet, covered by Cynthia Lok and Chewie Melodies

This is Nightmare Night