(A/N – I've gotten some concerns that The Forgemaster is a 'Gary Sue', and I both agree and disagree. First off, yes, The Forgemaster is amazing at most things he does, but then again, if you had centuries to live and do literally everything, you would also have substantial practice at everything. Secondly, a Mary or Gary Sue is an individual that excels at everything and has no flaws, but The Forgemaster has glaring relationship, emotional, and psychological problems, in addition to having a slight, though ineffectual, alcohol problem. And then there's the whole 'submissive to Rainbow's wishes' relationship he has with her, Sue's would do everything and their partner would immediately agree. Please note that I write this after I have written this chapter, I did not alter the events in this chapter to go against Sue-hood. Thanks, and have a nice read after a month.)

It was a normal day in Canterlot, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and-

"SHINING ARMOR, YOU PREVIOUSLY PURPLE BASTARD, GET IN MY OFFICE, NOW!"

-The Forgemaster was yelling loudly across the city, waking the sleeping and scaring the awake. Yes, it was a completely normal day, with absolutely nothing out of the ordinary in any way, form, or fashion.

The Forgemaster was upset. For two reasons, firstly because he had to stay in Canterlot that night because of some work he needed to get caught up on, and secondly; he had just recently found out that his captain, the stallion that is basically his friend slash underling slash maid, had a sister.

Now, that might not be much of a big deal if it were anypony else, but the stallion's sister also just so happened to be Twilight Sparkle.

He had found that out while meditating on some of Celestia's memories. An ancient mind like that isn't going to be picked clean in a few hours, let alone weeks or even months. He could probably go through the entirety of her mind with a fine comb and still end up missing some vastly important detail that just barely skimmed through his screen. It's not like she has a large section labeled, 'Important memories here', that would be silly.

Anyways, he found a small memory of Celestia going through some files of the newly promoted lieutenants, and what do you know but one of them is Shining Armor. Except it doesn't say Shining Armor on the file, it says, 'Lt. Shining 'Armor' Midnight' to 'Captain Shining 'Armor' Midnight'.

Pones and their strange naming systems…

Another fairly important detail was the fact that the file had 2 pictures: one of when he graduated the Royal Academy and a more recent picture of him during his promotion ceremony. That may not have been such a big deal were it not for the fact that in the first, his coat was a strikingly familiar purple, and in the latter, his coat was pure white.

The good Captain had dyed his coat and changed his name when he had entered the guard.

Of course, immediately after his discovery The Forgemaster did some mental comparisons and found that, if Shining Armor's coat was purple, then yes there was a family resemblance between the Captain and a certain annoying though tolerable, sometimes, mare.

Thus the yelling, the screaming, and the very possible ass kicking.

Now, those reading this may not have a full appreciation of just how scary The Forgemaster could be when he wanted to be, but the majority of all non-idiots in Canterlot did. If one could yell at you from across a city, one was scary. If one could yell at you without raising his voice, one was scary. When one could yell at you from across the city without raising his voice, one was terrifying. It freaked out most ponies when they first hear it, but the denizens of Canterlot have gotten used to it over the weeks, though it was still strange.

He was like a giant city-wide PA system, everyone could hear it, but no one wanted to.

Of course, if he was actually yelling at you, you pulled out all of the stops and raced to his office.

Shining Armor had run to The Forgemaster's office as quickly as he could whilst remaining dignified. Therefore, he walked briskly when in sight of the civilians, and full-out ran when not. One must keep up appearances after all.

Shining Armor entered his office with obvious trepidation; the aura of malice The Forgemaster was giving off behind his desk was almost palpable. The guards stationed within were doing their best to keep their cool, while also silently praying to Celestia to come and save their beloved Captain from their slightly-less-beloved second-in-command.

With no small amount of fear, Shining Armor began, "Yes, sir-"

The Forgemaster interrupted, "Shining Armor, why didn't you tell me that you were the sparkly git's brother."

"Sparkly git…?" he repeated slowly, before having a flash of realization, "You mean Twilee?"

"Yeah." He confirmed, "Why didn't you tell me this important fact! Withholding information can be considered treason, Captain."

"Sir, I don't see how this is important-"

"Ugh, it's my job! It's frankly, literally in my job description, and I quote, 'The Forgemaster is to provide the safety for the bearers of the Elements of Harmony in all things, large and small, and to extend this protection to those that the bearers wish.' Namely; you, Captain." He paused, looking Shining Armor in the eye, "And while she hasn't outright said… well… anything about you, I'm sure that she would be upset if her brother died. Grief makes folks do stupid things; stupid things are a large cause of injury. Injury is the exact opposite of safety."

Shining Armor looked stricken, "I-I'm sorry sir, it really didn't come to mind."

"It's fine, "He replied, "But even the small things are important, no matter how tiny their significance may be to you. You can go; I just wanted to get one last lecture in before I make my way to Ponyville. I find yelling at individuals every once in a while is good for the heart."

Shining Armor chuckled as he walked away, "Alright sir, but I believe that Princess Celestia was looking for you, something about unsanctioned assassins…"

"You tattle tailing bastard!" The Forgemaster yelled.

Shining Armor had to duck a coffee mug that was thrown at him as he left through the doors.

The Forgemaster grumbled as he threw the paperwork into the 'done' bin, it may or may not have actually been done but at least it wasn't burnt to charcoal, so it was an improvement. And now he had to go visit Celly? Argh, she'll probably yell at him to, further delaying his time to go back to Ponyville and laze around for a couple hours.

So he warped himself to the throne room, arms crossed over his chest and already frowning. He appeared out of thin air at the base of Celly's raised platform throne island thing.

He apparently interrupted a meeting, judging by the frightened gasp from someone behind him.

Whoever it was must have been a foolish, introverted noble, judging by how 'offended' the pony sounded: most have become accustomed to his comings and goings and paid them little heed. However, Celestia wasn't frightened, startled, or surprised in the slightest, judging by the way she didn't bat an eyelash. Celestia was like that, always calm and unruffled. It made the moments when you could catch her off guard all the more sweet.

"You called for me princess?" he asked, as amicable as he felt like being at that instant.

As Celestia opened her mouth to respond, some annoying drabble came out of the mouth of the pony behind him, in an equally annoying Canterlot accent, "How dare you interrupt my meeting with the princess!"

Oh… Blueblood.

That required a special response.

Without bothering to turn around, he said in a cold voice, "Blueblood, were you born a fat idiotic piece of slime, or did you have to work on it? And there are 2 princesses, not one, so Celestia is 'a' princess, not 'the' princess."

The ever annoying response came, "Why I never-"

"Blueblood, you are dismissed." Celestia's ever calm voice echoed through the mostly empty throne room.

Blueblood, despite being a pretentious ass, bowed towards the princess and left. Though he did hesitate… he also glared heavily at his back. The Forgemaster could tell, most soldiers had a sixth sense for when they were being watched. Poor Blueblood; death glares are something that few ponies could pull off but those that could did it in a sad, kind of cute, manner.

Celestia waited until Blueblood had fully retreated, and the doors had shut before saying, "I have news, Forgemaster, a request as well, but mostly good news. And I thank you for defending Lulu, I'm sure she will appreciate it as well."

He nodded and calmly awaited her to continue.

"Well, it seems that with the loss of one of their primary storehouses," She eyed him quite a bit there, "The griffons are a bit more… hesitant to make demands of us. Tensions have cooled slightly and it is less likely for the griffon kingdom to make a foolish and poorly thought out war with Equestria. Tensions are still high, of course, but Griffonia appears to be moving away from open war and more into one of your 'cold wars' that you humans seem to love so much." she smiled just a bit at the end there.

"So, less army, more spying? More unexplained 'splosions?" he asked, though he already knew the answer.

"Indeed, of course the griffon king's honor and pride have been wounded, so he'll probably go down swinging. Be on the look-out for any spies and possible assassins."

He nodded, while she continued.

"While we are on the subject," She began, "Forgemaster, why have you allowed an unknown entity to perform less than savory actions against a foreign government?"

He shrugged, "He's good at it, believe it or not, and he's so crazy that no one would believe he was sent from calm, peaceful Equestria. The other nations' views of you being a nice, warm hearted monarch have helped my agents on more than one occasion, as well as lowered their opinions on what you are actually capable of."

She nodded her head, "Ponies seem to forget that Equestria wasn't always such a peaceful place. I worked hard, and Luna did too, to make Equestria what it is today. It may have been a while since I have practiced the art of war, and I'm sure that I'm more than a little rusty, but nopony threatens Equestria without a proper response."

She frowned, "And then there's your response. Your arsenal of responses seems to revolve around; 'kill everything now' doesn't it?"

He shrugged, "And sometimes napalm, when I want absolutely everything burned, now."

She shook her head, exasperated, "Anyways, onto more important matters: my sister." Trust Celestia to think more of her sister than a possible war, she's a doting sister alright; "She has expressed a desire to visit Ponyville during the Nightmare Night celebration. I am all for it, but she hasn't been amongst the ponies since she has come back to me. She spends most of her free time in her room reading or at the library picking up books to read, she has preferred to learn through reading to prepare herself before actually going out into public. A bit like Twilight, in that regard." Celestia smirked, "She always was the more bookish between the 2 of us, she was more into science and research then she ever was governance. Many of the spells as we know them today were crafted by my sister, too many ponies didn't appreciate her many contributions. It was part of the reason she turned to the Nightmare in the first place. Thankfully, she had returned, she's probably researching all of the advancements and spells created in her absence."

"And now she wants to attend a festival in her honor?" he asked.

"Yes. I believe this would be one of her first times in public since… Anyways, you will be there to help her in anything she needs, understand?"

He nodded, "I would have done so anyway."

"You have to remember that 1000 years ago it was customary for the princesses to address their subjects at a… higher volume than usual..."

wWwWwWw

2 Hours later, Ponyville

A certain blood red, black maned alicorn was walking through the streets of Ponyville. The Forgemaster, in his 'Crimson Hammer' persona - or is it 'ponya'? – was walking through the newly constructed Ponyville, scarcely rebuilt more than 20 days ago. Those Parasprites could certainly do some damage, especially if they are under a spell to make them eat the town. Certain words had been said to Twilight and she had been suitably chastised, enough so that The Forgemaster felt that any further punishment was unnecessary.

He had decided to go as a pony because Rainbow Dash had made him. Apparently, it would be counted as a date in her small book that she kept on him. Seriously; she really had a book, it was small, red, heart-shaped, and she occasionally wrote in it whenever he did something good and usually when he did something bad. Personally, he thought that it was a record book of everything they had ever done as a couple. That would explain a good many things, both about his current relationship with her as well as previous relationships when he was back on Earth. That of course brought up the question, 'Did human women use these record books too?' While he had no proof, he wasn't around humans anymore, so he decided the question to be irrelevant.

This had also somehow caused his current situation, namely; Rainbow Dash lying out on his back, spending some 'quality time' with him, and basically making him carry her around. Ponies stared at him as he walked past. Single stallions laughed, stallions with their marefriend or wives would laugh and then be immediately scolded, while mares, both single and not, would look after them with a dreamy smile on their faces, probably thinking about how cute they looked, of course, this face would usually change into jealousy, if they had a secret crush on him, righteous anger, if they had a husband or coltfriend and they weren't also currently carrying them, or carried on with their day.

Though she appeared to be sleeping… Hmm, better fix that.

A sudden jolt woke Rainbow Dash from her slumber, "Huh- wha'?" she lifted her head from his back.

"Nice to see you back in the land of the living, Dash." He said.

She ignored him in favor of snuggling closer into his back, she mumbled into his coat, "So soft~"

He shook himself some more, "Dashie~ wake up~" he said in a sing-song tone.

She mumbled again, "Don' wanna!"

A few more shakes, and she was up for good.

She raised her head and neck fully from his back, she yawned and rubbed an eye with the back of her hoof as she said, "You're really soft, did you know that?"

He replied, "No, you're really light, did you know that?"

She scowled, "Well duh, I'm the best athlete in Ponyville, that means trim muscle, no fat."

"But of course, "he replied, hoping to stave off any sudden anger, "But that can't make up for all of it, I carried Twilight before and she barely has any muscle at all."

"Yeah, well she's a unicorn. Unicorns aren't pegasi." She said as though it explained everything.

He hummed in thought, "You have an avian bone structure, don't you?"

Her uncomprehending look made him prompt, "Hollow bones."

A look of realization flashed across her face, she replied, "Yeah, you didn't know that? We may have some magic in our wings, but that can't account for all of the weight we'd be carrying around if we had bones like unicorns and Earth ponies do."

He frowned, "But alicorns don't have hollow bones."

She rolled her eyes, "Probably 'cause you've got more magic in your wings than anypony!"

He nodded and continued on his way, going back to his home to prepare for the festivities, Ponyville had already been decorated fully, and one of the ponies, probably Pinkie, had done up his house against his will while he was gone.

After a few minutes, he asked, "Got any other avian characteristics?"

"Uh, that means birds, right?" He nodded, "Okay, well, we don't really have fur like other ponies do. We got really tiny feathers all over our body. It really helps at high altitude, that's how pegasi can live at Cloudsdale so easily."

He nodded again, but then asked, "Anything else?"

She looked around conspiratorially, and then leaned in to whisper in his ear, "You know how birds sometimes eat fish? Well, I heard an old mare's tale about how pegasi can do it too. I've never tried it though, so it might be just an old tale, but it might be true."

"Why don't you try it?" he asked with a smirk, hoping to provoke her inner champion into rising to the challenge, he looked over his shoulder to look her in the eye.

Her sudden wide eyes made him chuckle, she said in a harsh whisper, "Don't even say that, you know what other ponies would think!?"

"If it's an old mare's tale, then there is at least some truth to it. I'd be willing to bet that ancient pegasi ate fish like it was no big deal."

"Maybe back then, but today is totally different." She hastily explained.

He smirked, "If it were any other pony saying that then I'd have called them a coward."

Oh, he could feel the rage coming off her in waves, he looked back over his shoulder to see – literal! – flames in her eyes.

"What. Did you say?" she asked with barely restrained anger in her voice.

"I guess there's only one way to prove it." He said as he walked up to his house.

She whacked him over the head, "You dummy, trying to goad me into doing something that everypony would hate me for." She growled, "I have some limits, you know, I'm not stupid."

He let her off of his back and onto the ground outside his door.

"I know, but you're like a white dwarf star, extremely hot, but not very bright." She growled in anger, "I just wanted to see if you would actually do it. For all you know it might taste delicious."

She kicked him in the shin hard in retaliation. He didn't even flinch at the contact.

She shook her head, exasperated, "How do you even do that!?"

He raised a brow and asked, "Do what?"

"Get kicked in the shin and not feel it." She explained.

"I felt it, Dashie, I just didn't care." He said, "'Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional'."

"Dude, "She began, awed, "You have got to teach me that."

"It's not really something that can be taught, it's really more of a mind-set." He stated in a wise, old teacher's voice, "Next time you get hurt, just try your hardest to continue on as though nothing has happened, it will be difficult but it will become easier over time, the centuries have been good to me in some areas, and terrifying, assholish, Nazi's in others."

He ruffled her rainbow mane with a hoof, as an older sibling might so to a younger one. She scowled under the treatment.

He suddenly froze and said, "Wait."

He then continued to rub her hair but at a faster pace as he moved his head in closely to focus. His brow was furrowed in concentration and his eyes were squinted, trying to get a better glimpse of the phenomenon he was observing.

Rainbow put up with this for a few moments, a brow raised the whole time, before she shook his hoof off and asked, "What the hay?"

He pointed the mane-ruffling hoof at her mane and said, "The colors don't mix, in your mane. How does that work?"

She chuckled and said, "I don't really know either, I've been trying to figure that out for years, ever since I was a filly."

He accepted the answer but warned, "If Twilight ever figured that out, she might cut off your mane for studying."

She slightly paled, but didn't respond as she walked into their home, him following after. It was really his home, but Rainbow stays over so much that it may as well be her home too. He tossed the bags full of candy onto the couch, he had prepared for this night by buying bagfuls in Canterlot.

"Hey, Nightmare Night starts once night falls, you gonna get your costume ready?" Rainbow asked once she was comfortably seated on the couch.

"It will all be ready soon, what are you going as anyway?"

"Don't tell anypony," she warned, "I want it to be a surprise, but I'm going as a Shadowbolt. And I'm gonna be pranking the hooves off everypony in town!"

"2 things." He stated, "1: Who are they? And 2: would they be good for role-playing?"

She smirked, "Yes, and they were those creepy looking pegasi when we went to go buck Nightmare Moon's teeth in. I really thought the Shadowbolt costumes looked awesome, and they're all dark and mysterious so it's perfect for Nightmare Night. Heck, if they hadn't asked me to betray my friends I would've joined up, 'course they turned out to be fake, but hey, whatcha' gonna do?" She shrugged, "And what stallion wouldn't want to be with a mysterious mare of the night from the Shadowbolts?" she asked with a playful smirk on her face.

"I don't know, "He replied, "Someone with a marefriend?"

She rolled her eyes, "Well no duh."

"So, how are you going to be pranking the ponies?"

"Well, if 'Mr. Dark and Mysterious' won't share his costume, then I guess you'll have to find out for yourself." She grinned, slowly and maliciously.

The only thing missing was the thunder clap and the maniacal laughter.

wWwWwWw

Nightfall

"Nightmare Night! What a fright! Give us something sweet to bite!" a chorus of child-like voices rang out.

"Oi! Simba! Throw candy at them and they'll go away!" An answering voice called out from inside the home.

A yip from a certain unseen-for-several-chapters vulpine was heard, and the door was opened by magic.

In the doorway was a conglomeration of beasties, ghouls, and ne'er-do-wells… disguised, of course, as a princess, an astronaut (which was confusing because the ponies hadn't made it to space yet…), a ladybug, a pirate, and… Pinkie Pie.

Simba took one look at them and grinned a foxy grin from inside his own costume. Apparently, and it was probably Pinkie's fault, Simba had gotten a hold of some parts of the Naruto manga and had demanded, or perhaps begged, a costume of the primary fox character from the series. That's right; the Kyuubi, most powerful of the Tailed Beasts, was smiling at the 5 ponies, his 9 tails waving behind him, and a bag of candy in his magical grasp.

The Forgemaster had gotten home and was begged into helping Simba dye his fur red, and make 8 more tails for the costume. They weren't perfect, and Simba had some balance issues, but a critter designed for 1 tail should only have 1 tail, and he had like 15 minutes, tops. That Simba, and most albino's, naturally had red eyes only made the illusion better, finding red contacts would have been impossible on the time table they were on.

While the foal and fillies and Pinkie were a bit put off by not having their resident giant biped and/or guards pony come out to give them candy, an amazing fox wasn't half bad either.

"Heya Simby!" Pinkie began, "We came for some candy from stingy old Crimson, but now that you're here, you can get us extra, right?"

Getting the 6 mares that knew about both of his identities to agree to not reveal him was easy, getting them to know when and where to call him which was a challenge. Especially Pinkie, but all had been solved eventually.

Simba frowned and looked over his shoulder, he then whined and The Forgemaster as Crimson Hammer replied, "Oh, just give her what she wants, she'll beg you until you do it."

Simba rolled his blood-red eyes but complied, tossing a chunk of candy into the waiting bags of the tiny ponies. The smaller ones moved on to the next house, undoubtedly in search of more candy.

But, Pinkie stayed behind and said, "Red! Get out here; I want to see your costume! Twilight's was a weirdo clown thing, but I bet yours is great!"

"I am older than the sum of all the ponies in Ponyville squared, but I am forced to belittle myself for the enjoyment of them." He sighed deeply at the end, not being entirely truthful.

Pinkie yelled out, "Stop being a grouchy old meanie mean pants! Come out here and have fun!"

He replied, "I was always going to come out, I just wished to make myself clear that, while I will participate and likely enjoy myself, I am deeply conflicted over whether or not a being of my age should be doing this."

As his monologue wound down, he stepped from the depths of his home and into the doorway, in full view of Pinkie. But, she was severely disappointed.

"Aw man!" she exclaimed, "You didn't even dress up at all!"

It was true, The Forgemaster stood before her in another species' body, naked as the day when he may or may not have been born as a human in a different dimension. Ah… confusion.

The Forgemaster, seeing her for the first time, remarked, "And you are a chicken."

She rolled her eyes and said as though it were obvious, which it was, "Well, duh! Now c'mon! Go and get dressed!"

He nodded and then burst into green flame. Pinkie was scared for his safety and was about to cry out, but the flame disappeared as quickly as it had come, leaving in its place a skeletal pony, with a flaming neon green mane and tail, and small flames of the same color in its eyes sockets. His wings had lost their feathers, only the bones supporting them remained. His horn remained, though it lost the luster commonly associated with horns and became the color of old desiccated bone. The pony snorted, shooting more green flame out from the skeletal nose, and trotted a few times in place, leaving flaming green hoof prints where they landed.

Pinkie was shocked, and stood with her mouth open at the new pony in front of her.

The skeleton opened its mouth and said, "Hmm… this feels strange. But, I believe it to be an excellent costume for this occasion."

Pinkie's mouth stayed open as she thought with all of the alacrity that being her brought. Deciding upon a new nickname rather rapidly, she closed her mouth before opening it once more in speech, "Bones!"

She then tackled him to the ground in a 'bone shattering' hug. Leave it to Pinkie to both choose a nickname for the form he would only use once, and simultaneous leap at him to hug a flaming skeleton. Although, she was incredibly happy, ecstatic even, to discover that the green flames didn't burn at contact.

Simba was staring at his master with his tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth, completely content with watching him be choked to death.

Eventually, after much time and begging for air, Pinkie released him.

But, she was looking at him with confusion, "Hey, why is it that I can touch you? The ones Twilight does you can just walk through like they aren't even there!"

He replied, "She was using an illusion, I am using a transformation: a completely different type of magic, in its magnitude, its uses, and its difficulty. I am actually transforming my body, not just projecting what I want to look like. These bones are my own, and the skill it takes to form an exoskeleton while simultaneously compressing organs and blood vessels into sizes that would fit inside these bones, amongst many, many other things, is far outside Twilight's current ability. She'll get there, one day, just not now."

Pinkie took a long moment staring into his empty save for a green flame eye sockets. She then said, "So you've got organs in your bones?"

He nodded.

She continued, "So… if I poke you, right there, "She pointed towards his right side rib, third down, "What would I be poking?"

"Kidney." He replied.

She took a moment to think, suddenly she brightened and smiled a large smile, "That's so cool! We've got to show Twilight!"

She took him by the skeletal hoof and dragged him off to wherever it was that Twilight was at.

Simba was left looking after the blur of colors that was his master. He stared after the 2 of them for a moment, before turning in the other direction and went off on his own to explore the town and also gather what sweets he may.

wWwWwWw

(I'm thinking of changing my infamous W's scene divider because Word always wants to capitalize the first W. Maybe to, 'WwWwWwW')

Pinkie swiftly dragged him to Twilight. No seriously, he lives at the edge of town and Twilight was in the central square, Pinkie got him there in like 7 seconds. Like a Rainbow Dash of the lands…

Apparently, instead of going to get more candy, the foals and fillies from previously had decided to go talk to Twilight. That was surprising, given Twilight's 'let's learn everything' personality clashed with the younglings' 'school is boring' personalities.

Pinkie ran up to her with him in tow and entered the conversation as though she had been there since the start.

"And then we went to Cheerilee's house and Red's place and got a bunch more goodies, didn't we Pip?"

The small pirate-dressed foal replied, "Sure did!"

"And you should SEE his costume!" She continued, "It's like he's a zombie! Only better because he's not trying to eat our brains!"

The Forgemaster took this as his cue and stepped forward. The ponies gasped and gazed in awe at his amazing 'costume'.

The tiny, younger ponies suddenly started talking about how awesome his 'costume' looked. They swarmed him on all sides and chattered up a storm. Pinkie looked on with an extraordinarily happy grin on her face while she giggled, and Twilight looked on with a smirk as she saw his slight discomfort.

Suddenly, even more suddenly than the other sudden things this night, a bolt of lightning came from the sky and hit Pinkie right on the back. Because she is invincible, Pinkie was fine but incredibly scared. She, along with the foals and fillies, immediately ran for the metaphoric hills. Twilight was startled, but managed not to flee from the sound and Spike was incapable of movement due to candy. Loud belly laughter was coming from above them, someone clearly enjoyed their prank. The Forgemaster was looking up at the source, completely unruffled, and showing even less emotion than usual, in part because of his immobile bone face.

It turned out to be Rainbow, in a Shadowbolt outfit, as she said, and pranking ponies, as she said.

In a scolding tone, Twilight said, "Rainbow Dash, that wasn't very nice."

Rainbow cut her laugh off and replied, "Lighten up old timer, "The Forgemaster would've grinned if he could have, bones and all that prevented him, "This is the best night of the year for pranks!"

"But look what you did to Spike!" Twilight pointed at Spike, who appeared to be choking… wasn't anyone going to help him?

"Aw, it's all in good fun." Rainbow declared, she then focused her attention on him, "Hmm… the only pony I know that could pull that costume off would be a certain hammery guy."

He waved and said, "Yo."

She smirked, "I thought so, really, really awesome by the way. I really dig the green flames too, best part of the costume by far. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I see another group over there!" she pointed into the distance before leaping off of her cloud and pushing it in the direction she indicated.

All was silent for a moment, the lightning bolt having scared away all but three living things in the vicinity. After a moment, another lightning strike could be heard from some distance away, followed by Rainbow's laughter once more.

The Forgemaster looked at Spike, who was still choking, and said, "You know Twilight, common courtesy dictates that when someone is choking, you stop it and save their life."

He walked over to Spike, lifted a hoof over his chest, and set it down fairly hard. Spike's body made an amusing squeaking noise when he did so. The candy shot out of Spike's mouth at an impressive velocity, going off into the distance to probably strike some passersby. Spike breathed deeply a few times before wheezing out a thank you to him.

Then there was an awkward silence once more.

Spike broke it a few moments later, "So skeleton huh? Looks really cool. Wish I'd have thought of that."

The Forgemaster… couldn't technically blink, but the flames in his eyes did dim momentarily before brightening again, so it is to be assumed that he had blinked, he then said, "And you, Spike the dragon, are a dragon, kind of looking like Barnie too. You, sir, are the pinnacle of originality. And Twilight is… Starswirl the Bearded?"

Twilight noticeably brightened at hearing that her costume was recognized, but Spike was noticeably dejected at hearing his costume be so… plain. Well, it wouldn't have been plain had he been a pony, but it was plain because he was a dragon dressed up as a dragon.

"What a strange title for such a well-known magician… And such a weird outfit too…" The Forgemaster rubbed his chin in thought, pondering on why a magician was known as such. Sure he had an awesome beard, but was that really the most distinctive thing about him? The thing ponies remembered about him before all else? Apparently, as the name had stuck. Poor guy.

Twilight bristled at the slight towards her fundamental hero, aside from Princess Celestia, that is.

"Hey! This is hoof stitched!" she declared.

"Why didn't you use magic?" he asked.

Instead of waiting for a reply, he continued, "And I thought this was Nightmare Night! Who dresses up as a historical figure that wasn't scary for Nightmare Night?" Twilight blushed, embarrassed, "Come to think of it, I didn't see a single scary outfit tonight. Where's the vampires, the werewolves, the mass-murderers!? For all you ponies' creativity at everything but technology, I find this a bit off."

Twilight rolled her eyes, "Well, obviously nopony wants to be scary. Who would want that?"

"Ponies that want to be feared, Twilight. Obviously." The Forgemaster replied, Spike chuckled at him.

Twilight rolled her eyes at him, "C'mon, we should see the rest of the festival before day break."

Twilight then walked away, demanding that they follow her without words.

He and Spike followed after her.

Soon after, they came across Applejack dressed as a scarecrow operating the apple dunk game. Though, she was more like standing next to it and watching, but operating is a close enough word.

Twilight called out to her, "Happy Nightmare Night, Applejack!"

Applejack waved back, saying, "Howdy y'all! Nice costume."

Spike immediately thanked her, "Thanks!" see, told you, "I'm a dragon!"

Twilight growled, "She means me, Spike."

"I believe that the individual with a flawless recreation of an undead pony was the recipient of her praise, Ms. Weirdo Clown." The Forgemaster interjected.

Applejack smiled at the banter between them, but interrupted saying, "I was actually talkin' to all y'all, your costumes are all nice."

The Forgemaster said, "You are terrible at lying, we all know you like mine the best."

Applejack frowned, "I wasn't lyi-"

"Stop it, Mr. Bones. It's obvious that she likes mine the best." Twilight declared.

"I still think she was talking about me." Spike pouted.

"I don't think so-"

"Enough!" Applejack shouted, "It don't matter who has the best costume. He's a skeleton, Spike's a dragon, and Twilight's a- er, Country music singer?"

While Spike chuckled, The Forgemaster did the same at Twilight's expense, though his was creepier, considering that skeletons aren't supposed to laugh. He laughed like sandpaper on the ears.

Some cheering and applauding came from behind them, prompting a look from the 4 of them. Seeing what was going on, Twilight and Spike went over to the crowd and entered it. Applejack and The Forgemaster stayed where they were. There was hardly a need to enter the crowd if they could hear from over there.

Barely paying any attention at all, he would remember it all against his will anyway; The Forgemaster looked around to see if anything interesting was happening around him.

In the distance, he saw Rainbow pranking more ponies with her lightning cloud, laughing the entire time she was doing so. Up the street, he saw Simba on a large pile of candy and merrily snacking on them all. He seemed to have a large chocolate sculpture of something, it was half eaten when he saw it, and was taking bites out of it rapidly. The Forgemaster frowned, could foxes eat chocolate? He was fairly sure they couldn't, but he had never tested it or read about it. He shrugged, as long as he didn't die, the stomach ache the little kit would have later on would serve as ample reminder that foxes could not, in fact, eat chocolate with any degree of success. Hopefully the modifications would keep him alive…. Or maybe the modifications allowed him to eat chocolate? Hmm… too many variables, he'll test it later.

He looked back towards the crowd with Mayor Mare, but found the crowd dispersed and Twilight and Spike nowhere to be seen.

Well then, might as well go eat some candy. But he was a skeleton… damn. Then he'll go and collect candy so when he stops being a skeleton on the morrow he will eat it with relish!

He set out to collect some candy, and did so very successfully for quite a few minutes.

And then a sudden storm appeared out of nowhere. That seemed to be happening a lot, sudden things suddenly doing something sudden. Following this pattern, Pinkie and the foals and fillies ran though the square and out the other side, everypony staring after them in confusion as they went.

And then Twilight ran back into the square, and a royal chariot appeared in the skies… Whoa, Lulu certainly can make an entrance.

He had been told that Luna would show up, but she really had a flair for the dramatic. Dark skies, check, stormy clouds, check, dark cloak, check, random bolts of lightning at strategically placed times, check, night pegasi guards, check, freaking out most of the ponies save him and Twilight, double checkity check check.

Luna stepped forward from where she had landed towards the crowd of ponies; said ponies were cowering in fear from the goddess of the night. Her cloak even disappeared into bats that flew away, so cool.

"Citizens of Ponyville!" Holy shit, Lulu was loud, "We have graced your tiny village with our presence, so that you might behold the real princess of the night! A creature of nightmare is no longer, but instead a pony who desires your love and admiration! Together we shall change this dreadful celebration into a bright and glorious feast!" the ponies backed away from Luna in obvious terror as lightning flashed in the background and Luna reared up on her hind legs.

"Did you hear that, everypony?" Pinkie asked, "Nightmare Moon says she's gonna feast on us all!"

And then she and the younglings ran away, screaming for their lives.

The Forgemaster looked around, apparently he was the only one who wasn't cowering, well, Twilight wasn't cowering per se, but she was dragged to the ground in a bow by Spike.

Luna stared after the fleeing crowd of ponies, dumbfounded, "What? No children, no! You no longer have reason to fear us! Screams of delight are what your princess desires, not screams of terror!"

Luna looked around before pointing at Mayor Mare, "Madame Mayor, the princess of the night hath arrived." She yelled at the Mayor.

Was this what Celestia meant when she said that Luna was having difficulty adjusting, and the volume thing? Hopefully, because he really didn't want to see what might be more than this. This problem was a simple fix; find some way to make Luna quieter. She was still using the Royal Canterlot Voice, as was traditional amongst royalty a thousand years ago or so.

Mayor Mare cowered from the princess of the Night.

Luna reared back and pointed at the next pony over, "What is the matter with you?" she asked.

She pointed a few more times amongst the crowd, each pony cowering more so when they were pointed at.

Luna had apparently not noticed him… it was probably the costume.

"Very well then. Be that way." Luna turned her head from the crowd, "We won't even bother with the traditional royal farewell."

Luna then walked away towards the forest, The Forgemaster got up and walked after her. After a moment of conversing with Spike, Twilight followed after them.

He arrived at Luna's side first, "Hi Luna." He said to her.

She looked over her shoulder at him, "Who are you?" she asked, as loudly as possible.

He pouted as best he could with an immobile, bone face, "Lulu doesn't recognize me?" he sniffed a few times, wondering if he could make any flaming tears fall from his eyes.

Apparently he could, as she continued with a much quieter voice, "There are only 2 ponies that call me that, and you are certainly not Tia." She smiled softly, "Hello Forgemaster, are you enjoying your candy?" she indicated the bag of candy around his neck.

He shook his head, "I don't have any taste buds."

She blinked, "Oh." And then she chuckled.

"Princess Luna?" a soft voice asked from behind them, making The Forgemaster pout as best he could again, even as a skeleton nopony noticed him, "Hi, my name is-"

"Starswirl the Bearded," Luna finished for her, standing and turning to face them, "Commendable costume! Thou even got the bells right..."

"Thank you, finally! Somepony who gets my costume!" Twilight then noticed Luna's frown, "Uh, I just came to welcome you to our celebration! My actual name is-"

"Twilight Sparkle." Luna finished for her again, before continuing in a booming voice, "It was thou who unleashed the powers of harmony upon us and took away our dark powers!"

Wow, Lulu could be scary without even trying. She raised herself in the air with her wings and summoned a dark storm behind her as she 'spoke' to Twilight. She even blew Twilight back with the force of her voice.

"And that was a good thing, right?" Twilight asked.

"But of course." Luna assured her, though she was basically yelling at her, "We could not be happier. Is that not clear?"

"No it's not Lulu, you're yelling at all of the ponies." The Forgemaster told her, "The Traditional Royal Canterlot voice hasn't been used for centuries, and the ponies here aren't used to it. They are scared of it, and by extension, you."

Luna frowned, "But, it is tradition to speak, using the royal "we", and to use this much volume when addressing our subjects!"

Twilight readjusted her hat and beard while The Forgemaster had nothing to adjust, save for relighting his mane, "Yes, Luna, a few centuries ago though. Things have changed. If you want to fit in with the locals, you're going to have to speak like you do with me and Tia at the palace." He said.

Luna frowned, off put.

Twilight then said, "You know, that might explain why your appearance was met with... mixed results. I think if you just changed your approach a bit, you might be met with a warmer reception."

"Change our approach?" Luna yelled into Twilight's ear, who was not deafened somehow.

"Lower the volume..?" Twilight suggested, The Forgemaster grunted in agreement.

"Ohhh." She looked between him and Twilight, "We have been locked away for a thousand years. We are... not sure we can."

"Worry not, Lulu, if there's a will there's a way." The Forgemaster reassured her, "And nothing is impossible, remember that." He put a hoof to his chin in thought, "Though there are some things so mathematically improbable that when you round the final result, it is impossible. But let's not let that discourage us!"

Twilight smiled, "I bet if we talk to Fluttershy she could help us."

He immediately let out a whoop of joy at being able to visit his favorite pony and picked up Twilight and Luna before teleporting them to Fluttershy's house.

After shaking off the unexpected teleportation, Twilight, and Luna walked towards the conveniently close-by Fluttershy's home.

"Don't worry, Princess." Twilight said, "Fluttershy can give you some great pointers. She's delicate and demure with the sweetest little voice."

The Forgemaster objected, "She is not delicate, she is gentle. She is not demure, she is quiet. She doesn't have a little voice, she has an adorable voice that anypony could listen to and feel true peace come over them. Bad Twilight, don't insult Fluttershy 'less you want to lose a limb."

Twilight rolled her eyes and knocked on Fluttershy's door.

"Go away!" Fluttershy boomed, "No candy here! Visitors not welcome on Nightmare Night!"

All three of them blinked, surprised.

The Forgemaster said to Luna, "Perhaps she's a long lost relative of you and Tia?"

Luna replied, completely serious, "Perhaps." As Twilight was saying through the door, "Fluttershy, it's me, Twilight!"

Fluttershy slowly cracked the door, enough so that she could see Twilight, "Oh… it is you."

Fluttershy opened the door further until she saw The Forgemaster and Luna, "And Nightmare Moon and a skeleton pony." She gasped, "Nightmare Moon and a dead pony!?"

She yelled out in fright and hastily closed the door in their faces.

Twilight chuckled nervously and entered the home, "Wait right here" she said.

Twilight went into Fluttershy's home and shortly thereafter a cacophony of noise came from within.

The Forgemaster turned to Luna and said, "Please don't scare Fluttershy."

Luna replied, "I shall try."

Then Twilight pushed a clearly frightened Fluttershy out through the door.

Luna said, "Charmed." And held out her hoof. This strategy would have worked had she not also used the Traditional Royal Canterlot Voice.

Fluttershy immediately bolted through the door and into her home, she was caught shortly thereafter by Twilight, using her magic for an easy advantage.

Twilight levitated Fluttershy in front of Luna, Fluttershy then whispered, "Likewise."

Luna then yelled, "Twilight Sparkle hath spoken of the sweetness of thy voice. We ask thou teachest to us to speak as thou speakest."

Twilight had set Fluttershy on the floor, from the floor she whispered, "Okay."

"Shall our lessons begin?" Luna asked, still with the booming voice.

"Okay." The whispered reply came.

"Shall we mimic thy voice?"

"Okay."

"How is this?" Luna asked with the same voice.

Fluttershy hurriedly said, "Perfectlessonover."

She then bolted to her door, but Twilight hut it in her face, making Fluttershy impact the door to her home with a resounding thud.

The Forgemaster whacked Twilight I the head, "Don't hurt Fluttershy." He then picked up Fluttershy from her flattened position on the door and held her close.

Grumbling, Twilight said to Luna, "A little quieter, princess."

"How is this?" Luna asked, beginning in the Royal Canterlot voice, but ending in just yelling.

"Better." Twilight declared, "Right Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy twitched in his grasp a few times before muttering, "Yes." And then collapsing.

"How... about... now?" Luna asked, still quite loudly though quieter.

"Now you're getting it!" Twilight declared.

"Almost there Lulu, just talk like you do with me and Tia." The Forgemaster advised.

"And… how about now?" she asked with a perfectly normal voice.

"Yes! Well done." Twilight said.

Luna frowned, "I never thought it would be so difficult to break the habit of speaking to the commoners with the Royal Canterlot Voice." She then smiled and said, in the Royal Canterlot Voice, "Ah, thank thee, dear Fluttershy! Our normal speaking voice shall surely win us the hearts of thy fellow villagers." While hugging Fluttershy and scaring her even more.

Pinkie and the baby ponies then appeared on the bridge to Fluttershy's house, "Fluttershy! You've gotta hide us! Nightmare Moon is here and..." she squawked like a chicken when she saw Fluttershy being hugged by Princess Luna, "She stole Fluttershy's voice so she can't scream when she GOBBLES HER UP!"

Then they all screamed and ran… again.

Luna leaped after them, yelling in the Royal voice, "Nay, children, wait!" She caught herself in the Royal Voice and continued normally, "I mean... nay, children, wait." Quite pitiably.

Luna then pouted, with drooping ears and everything. It was so cute.

Twilight smiled and said, "C'mon princess, it's time for Plan B."

The Forgemaster asked, "Can't we just put them in an illusion where they see that Luna is nice?"

"No! Messing with other ponies' minds is wrong! Now come on." Twilight snorted and walked in the direction of Ponyville, The Forgemaster and Luna following, both looking downtrodden as they walked.

"Aww… why can't we just manipulate with their minds a little?" he asked.

Twilight rolled her eyes, "Because then we would be sociopaths, Forgemaster."

"But the drones wouldn't care!" he declared, "They would be too addled to do anything anyway."

Twilight sighed, "You just called the ponies 'drones'."

"So?" he asked.

Twilight didn't respond with words, though her heavy sigh communicated her exasperation.

The strange trio walked to Ponyville, and within minutes were at the festival once more. The ponies were enjoying their games and dances as though they weren't aware of a possible threat in their village. Apparently, even though they had the knowledge of 'Nightmare Moon's' return, they deduced that ignoring it would be the best solution.

The 3 entered the festival proper, and immediately those playing games stopped and the music ceased playing. Ponies would all bow whenever Luna would look in their direction. Twilight was busy trying to figure out a solution to the problem, and The Forgemaster was bored.

As Luna observed the cowardly bowing ponies, she remarked, "It is of no use, Twilight Sparkle. They have never liked us and they never shall."

Even though her volume issues had been solved, her habit of using the royal 'we' in public still remained. Strange that she was fine in private, but she changed her demeanor so abruptly in public. It was a common enough thing for a famous person, and pony, to do, though the fact that she couldn't seem to blend the 2 or switch at will was a bit concerning.

"My friend Applejack is one of the most likeable ponies around." Twilight replied, evidently coming to a solution to the princess' woes, "I'm sure she'll have some ideas." Or maybe not.

Of course, with a brilliant intellect she couldn't fix a social problem, but going to Applejack was certainly a better option for socially-related problems.

They approached the apple-bobbing station that they had previously found Applejack at, and she was still there. As they approached, Applejack saved the small, pirate colt from a watery dunk, said pirate promptly ran off.

Unfortunately, Applejack's back was turned as she saved the foal, so she did not know of their approach. As she turned around rapidly, she immediately noticed Luna and fell into a deep bow, almost groveling on the floor, gasping as she did so. With eyes made of flame in his costume, The Forgemaster couldn't roll his eyes, though he desperately wanted to. He briefly considered slapping on some red paint around his neck, going invisible from the neck down, and then walking around as a beheaded, floating horse's head. That was bound to get some laughs, though he didn't see any paint… oh well then, maybe next year.

Twilight grinned nervously and leaned down to her level, "Uh... Applejack, the princess is looking for a little advice on how to fit in around here."

"'Fit in'?" Applejack asked, incredulous, "Really?"

At Twilight's glare, she continued, "I mean... that's easy! All you gotta do is have the right attitude." Applejack explained, before using the pony species' innate lightning quickness to zoom about Luna, "Loosen up a bit, be positive, play a few games, have some fun."

"Fun?" Luna asked as though she had never heard the word, "What is this 'fun' thou speakest of?"

While Applejack and Twilight simultaneously pointed towards a nearby game, The Forgemaster said, "Like playing around with Tia, that was fun."

Luna nodded and went to the proffered station, upon reaching the game and seeing the implements, she inquired, "Pray tell, what purpose do these serve?"

The cowering game supervisor that was also dressed as a bumble bee, in an impressive display of customer service, for which she would later receive an anonymous and large bag of bits for, said, "Try to land the sp-sp-spiders on the web."

Because throwing spiders back to their home was the cool thing to do, Princess Luna picked one up and tossed it towards the web. Unfortunately, she fell just short of the web.

To alleviate Luna's uncertainty, Applejack yelled, "You can do it, Princess!"

Luna regained her determination and squared her jaw. She picked up another and, accompanied by the sound of a drum roll courtesy of The Forgemaster, threw the second spider directly onto the web, perfectly centered.

Luna was ecstatic, "Ha! Your princess enjoys this 'fun!'" she turned back to the trio helping her in this matter and asked, "In what other ways may we experience it?"

So they took her over to the punkin-launch, which none but The Forgemaster understood.

Luna loaded her own pumpkin onto the catapult… that looked suspiciously like the one he had built a few weeks ago… So that's where it went, no good thieving ponies. One cannot simply steal a person's catapult inconspicuously, unless one had magic, apparently.

Anyways, when Twilight called out, "Fire away, Princess!" Luna did so, and hit her target perfectly.

Luna was having at least twice as much fun as she was at the spider throwing station.

"Haha! The fun has been doubled!" Luna cried.

Ha! Called it.

The ponies seemed to either love the remark, or love how the princess was apparently not evil. Either way, they were warming up to Luna, to everyone who cared's enjoyment.

Luna looked to the 3 helping her once more, probably to inquire as to how she may have more fun.

Applejack beat her to the punch however, "Why don't you try bobbin' for apples? We got the best apples in Equestria, princess."

Luna was nervous as she stated, "I ask that thou call us... me... Luna, fair Applejack." She gained heart from her own personal victory in a social situation and yelled, "Hear me, villagers! All of you! Call me Luna!"

The villagers seemed to enjoy the change, it was far less scary than Nightmare Moon, after all. If only poor, lonely Luna hadn't turned to the dark side of… magic? Is there even a dark side to magic? It's probably just in the way one uses it… a fireball is perfectly neutral magic until you start using it to incinerate anything and everything indiscriminately. Like the death ray and science, the fireball and magic are not intrinsically evil, it's how it's used.

Ah, philosophy.

Luna was walking with Applejack, The Forgemaster, and Twilight towards the appl bobbing station.

Luna had asked them to show her to the place, and they were merrily doing so. Sacrificing one solitary night of candy and… that's really it, for teaching a princess how to navigate the public domain was far more rewarding. In addition to being a good deed, said princess might just give rewards! Like candy!

At the distant apple bobbing station, the colt pirate known as Pipsqueak was being helped up to the rim of the barrel by the fearsome, 2 foot tall, Kyuubi. Unfortunately, Pip the Pirate fell into the barrel of water and apples. Of course, he immediately started drowning.

Poor ponies, at least human babies can instinctively swim and hold their breath; the pony species is apparently incapable of such a feat.

Luna had seen the fall and immediately ran to Pip's rescue. Of course, Simba could have had him out in a few moments, but Luna didn't know about his less-than-completely-normal self. She probably just saw a fox, an adorable albino fox with 9 tails, but just a fox nonetheless. Foxes can't levitate things with their minds, but Simba could. Of course, Simba could do a lot of things that most foxes couldn't, magic being one of them.

The Forgemaster, to this day, still chuckles every time he remembers where he had gotten the magical sample for Simba from. Celestia was the kindly unwitting donor. When he had told her, she was upset, however, when he told her jokingly that Simba would grow up to raise the sun all on his own, Celestia had immediately stolen him to teach him. The chance to have a morning off was too much for the ancient princess. However, The Forgemaster still liked having Simba around, so Celestia got him on weekends. When Captain Shining Armor had brought up that they sometimes act like an old married couple, he had immediately been ejected from the throne room.

While Luna was saving Pip and The Forgemaster and Simba watched passively, Applejack and Twilight looked over their shoulders at Pinkie, who had once more entered the village after being run out of it by her own fright.

"Hey, gals. Anypony seen Pip?" Pinkie asked.

The Forgemaster muttered, "I'm a boy." But, as always, nobody listened to him.

He swore that one of these days he's going to jut change into a female and be that for the rest of eternity, then they couldn't make a mistake! Though that was probably the wrong way of going about things, that hadn't stopped him before!

Pinkie continued, "We lost him the last time we had to run..." then she squawked like a chicken when she saw Luna and Pip.

"Aaah! Nightmare Moon is gobbling Pipsqueak! Everypony run!" then she and the foals ran away… again.

It is getting to the point where they should expect her to run away every time she enters the area they are also in.

"Help!" Pip screamed, "My backside has been gobbled!"

The Forgemaster and Simba chuckled as he ran off, while Luna was less than pleased.

"'Tis a lie!" she yelled, not quite using the Royal Canterlot Voice yet, "Thy backside is whole and ungobbled, thou ungrateful whelp!" when she stomped her hoof, a lightning bolt came down in the distance.

The villagers backed away from Luna, clearly afraid of her once more.

"Fair villagers, please do not back away." Luna pleaded, "Let us join together in... fun!" she had a fairly creepy grin going there at the end.

Luna looked around for something fun to do to get the villagers back on her side. She found it in the form of a spider directly beneath her, she picked it up and chucked it at the backing away villagers.

"Not enough fun for you?" she asked when there was no reaction, "What say you to this?" she cast a spell on the spider, making it come alive.

She then cast it on the rest of the spider in the bowl for them, making them come alive as well. They crawled out of their bowl and towards the villagers and the web.

Some crawled over the pony that had been operating the game, while the other climbed to the center of their web.

"Huzzah! How many points do I receive?" Luna ecstatically asked.

The ponies all freaked out and started fleeing and creaming, it was rather chaotic for a rustic village full of peaceful ponies. Ponies were colliding with themselves and objects, causing anything and everything to tumble through the air and onto the floor.

"Do not run away!" Luna yelled at their retreating forms, "As your princess we command you!"

And they still ran, and they still screamed.

The Forgemaster was rather annoyed, running and screaming ponies were the exact opposite of what he was trying to accomplish. Everyone knows that a likable guy, or in this case princess, does not cause everyone to flee from them.

Luna had finally had enough, she yelled as loudly as possible, "BE STILL!" with thunder and lightning and dark clouds, one would think that Luna was the goddess of storms and weather and not the Night.

And, as a child will listen more the louder their parents get, so did these ponies listen the louder Luna got.

As everything got silent, The Forgemaster remarked, "Holy shit Lulu: scary stuff." The only reason any could hear him was because everyone else had gotten silent.

Twilight stood and simultaneously saved his ass and gave her advice, "Princess, remember! Watch the screaming!"

"No, Twilight Sparkle! We must use the traditional royal Canterlot voice for what we are about to say." Hell, even Luna's eyes were scary, they were glowing bright white.

Luna started to hover, with the glowing eyes, and started creating storm clouds above Ponyville.

"Since you choose to fear your princess rather than love her, and dishonor her with this insulting celebration, we decree that Nightmare Night shall be canceled! Forever!" Luna screamed whilst hovering.

Luna then teleported away, canceling the cloud effects at the same time.

For a few minutes, all was silent and calm.

Then the tiny munchkin ponies all started crying and whining about how they won't get to experience Nightmare Night again.

And Applejack said, "Shoot. We had everything goin' our way. Luna was happy, everypony in town was happy, now look at 'em." She indicated said crying, baby, ponies.

One filly declared her want to be a zombie next year to her father, who was dressed as someone from Mortal Kombat, yet again most likely Pinkie's influence.

Twilight looked down and regained her resolve, "It's not over yet!" she declared.

The Forgemaster hoof pumped, "Yeah! Just a quick little illusion and their minds are mine to bend!"

His horn was just starting to glow when Twilight shouted, "NO!" like he was doing some awful and evil thing.

Sure he experimented on a live, rare, albino fox and gave the thing strange and random 'enhancements' on a whim, but does that, and trying to manipulate the masses to think like he wants them to, really make him a bad person?

Judging by Twilight's glare, yes, but The Forgemaster was pretty good at interpreting glares and he was 100% sure that she was mock glaring… Maybe like 98%... Still.

"No manipulating ponies' brains with magic!" she scolded.

"What are you gonna do?" Applejack asked Twilight, while also hopefully diverting or distracting her anger.

"I'm going to do what I do best." Twilight declared, while The Forgemaster groaned, "Lecture her!"

"I knew it!" he said, though Twilight ignored him. Simba sympathetically gave him a pat on the shoulder.

Then Twilight ran away, off to find the princess. The Forgemaster, having extensive experience with following things, people, animals, and houses that one time, took the much easier approach and went in the direction that Luna had gone. Not having feathers meant he couldn't fly, but he could still run.

Somehow, despite going a much shorter distance, he and Twilight still met up with Luna at the same time. B As it turns out, she had left to the bridge and was making her way across it slowly and sadly.

"Princess." Twilight began.

"Leave me be, Twilight Sparkle." Luna said mournfully.

"Princess. I'm sorry it hasn't worked out how we wanted." Twilight said, "But you have to believe me when I tell you that Nightmare Night is one of the most popular celebrations we have.

"Yes. I can tell." Luna replied with heavy sarcasm, "By all the adoring shrieks of the children as they run away."

He couldn't help himself; he giggled and was summarily glared at by a vengeful Twilight. Though she couldn't technically hit him, since that was Rainbow's job, she could still give a pretty mean glare by pony standards. The fact that standard pony glares are adorable never seemed to cross any of the ponies' minds when they glared at him.

Twilight then looked after Luna, staring with regret as she said, "Princess…"

Then Twilight hatched an idea, and ran back towards Ponyville.

10 minutes later, a Luna retrieval, an alley, a waste of some of his good candy, and they had a trap.

Though he couldn't help but point out the flaws, "Damnit Twilight, any one of the ponies could come by and eat the candy, why would it necessarily be Pinkie?" he said while behind the trash cans at the back of the alley with both her and Luna.

Twilight didn't immediately respond, mostly because they had just watched Pinkie swing by and devour, in a most unique manner, the candy at the front of the alley.

Pinkie then entered the alley and ate the candy, all aligned in a row. The fact that Pinkie didn't sense a trap gave The Forgemaster the thought that crime must be easy in Equestria.

By the fourth candy downed, Twilight ran into action. She tackled Pinkie and held her against the side of the alley with a hoof pressed into her mouth.

"No!" Twilight forcefully said, "No shrieking. No screaming or squealing either. Okay?"

Pinkie mumbled out what could have been an, "Okay."

The Forgemaster appeared from the darkness behind her and drily stated, "Congratulations Twilight, you are a rapist."

Twilight's eyes widened from the implications, and Pinkie's eyes widened because he materialized from the shadows like a ghost, despite having flames in parts of his body.

"Shut up!" Twilight shamefully yelled, she then turned back to Pinkie and continued, "There's something I want you to see. And I promise that it's safe, but you really, really, really can't shriek. Do you promise not to shriek?"

Pinkie nodded in the affirmative. Twilight then released her and back off to stand next to The Forgemaster.

She glanced down the alley as Luna appeared from the darkness at the back of the alley, her cue having been Pinkie agreeing.

Pinkie freaked out for a moment and started to squawk like a chicken, but forced her own mouth closed with her hooves, successfully following direction.

"Pinkie Pie, you remember Princess Luna, right?" Twilight asked with a grin.

"Ah. The ringleader of the frightened children." Luna began, "Hast thou come to make peace?" she asked with a shy smile, she also held out a hoof for a hoof shake.

The Forgemaster wasn't paying attention, however, as he had sensed Rainbow's approach and watched her hover the cloud over Luna. The resulting lightning flash startled Pinkie enough to make her flee for her life, calling out, "Nightmare Moon!" as she fled.

She also laid an egg.

Rainbow was laughing uproariously at the admittedly funny scene. Twilight attempted to admonish her, but was forced to teleport to recapture Pinkie.

Rainbow fled before she could be caught, so The Forgemaster trotted slowly over to Twilight and Pinkie, and found them in a compromising position.

"See Twilight? " He began, "Rapist."

She glared at him, "Shut up!" before returning her attention to the struggling Pinkie and finishing what she had been saying, "And she definitely doesn't want to gobble you up!"

Pinkie froze and looked up at Twilight before rolling her eyes and saying, "Well duh."

"Huh?" was Twilight's intelligent response.

"I know that. Sheesh, Twilight. I'm almost as big as her. How's she gonna gobble me up?" Hmm… was Pinkie being serious for the first time?

"So why do you keep running away and screaming?" Twilight asked indignantly.

"Sometimes it's just really fun to be scared." Pinkie declared.

The Forgemaster face-hoofed.

"Fun?" Twilight asked, incredulous, "Pinkie Pie, you're a genius!"

"No I'm not, " she replied, quick as a whip, "I'm a chicken! Bkaw!"

Twilight ran towards the princess, who was pouting silently at the end of th alley.

"Princess Luna! I've finally figured out why you're having so much trouble being liked!"

"Forgive me if I withhold my enthusiasm." Luna replied sardonically.

"Come with me. I'll explain everything on the way." Twilight ordered.

So they followed her, and it was boring.

They just walked around and had some ponies send the tiny ponies towards the Nightmare Moon statue to offer their candy. Zecora, Mayor Mare, and Applejack were sent out to help gather the children. Of course they had to make Luna agree to the 'plan' if it culd be called that, that whole process was an adventure unto itself.

But The Forgemaster didn't get a job so he just leaned against the statue.

So the kids came by and 'offered' their candy, thankfully sparing what was left of his own.

They were all sad and mournfully wished for another Nightmare Night.

Just as the tiny ponies were walking away, Luna was given her cue in the form of The Forgemaster kicking the as of the statue she was standing on. A simple illusion and some patience let Luna go undetected.

"Citizens of Ponyville!" Luna yelled in the Royal Canterlot Voice, "You were wise to bring these candies to me. I am pleased with your offering. So pleased that I may just eat it... instead of eating you!"

She even had all of the bells and whistles, angry winds, stormy sky, glowing eyes, etc, etc.

At the end, Luna revealed herself in a transformed state, she was Nightmare Moon. She couldn't get the teeth right, so she was given some vampire teeth.

Oh, The Forgemaster was having a good day. Though, Luna was a bit hesitant, scaring anything was always fun for him.

"I am not certain that did what you meant for it to do, Twilight Sparkle." Luna said after she was done, now in her normal body.

"Just wait." Twilight confidently said.

"For what? For... for them to scream some more?" Luna asked, but was abruptly cut off as Pip pulled her mane!

Holy sweet mother of Satan, that kid has some balls.

"Um... Princess Luna." Pip began, "I know there's not gonna be any more Nightmare Night, but do you suppose maybe you could come back next year and scare us again anyway?"

"Child. Art thou saying that thou... likest me to scare you?" Luna asked, incredulous.

"It's really fun! Scary, but fun." Pip explained.

"It... is?" Luna asked, still unbelieving.

"Yeah! Nightmare Night is my favorite night of the year." Pip said.

"Well then. We shall have to bring, "she switched to her Royal Voice, "Nightmare Night back!"

"Whoa! You're my favorite princess ever!" Pip declared, he then hugged Luna around the legs, he then ran off towards his friends in the bushes, "She said yes, guys!" then they all cheered.

The Forgemaster grinned as much as he could with an immobile skull, though considering that skulls always look like they are smiling, it worked slightly well.

"Looks like Lulu got a new fan~" he jokingly said.

"See? They really do like you, princess." Twilight explained.

"Can it be true?" Luna asked, daring to hope, she continued in her Royal tone, "Oh, most wonderful of...!" she caught herself and continued normally, "I mean... Oh, most wonderful of nights."

And then they went back to Ponyville, and thoroughly enjoyed their night.

Hell, Twilight even got a letter out of it!

wWwWwWw

Later that night.

"Dude, Princess Luna scared the buck out of me!" Rainbow yelled.

"Yeah, she told me that." The Forgemaster replied.

She laughed, "She turned the tables on me! But I'll get her next year!"

He grinned, "Hopefully. We can also hope that Simba won't eat himself into a coma next time."

She grinned, looking at his back from which a comatose Simba hung, "Yeah, poor guy almost ate until he burst!"

He and she were both out of costume, though she still wore hers from the neck down. It was basically morning, but since most ponies stayed out this late, even the children, nothing much tomorrow will be expected to get done.

He opened the door to his home and held the door for Rainbow to walk in. She did and he followed. He quickly tossed Simba onto the couch.

He sat down next to him, "I wonder if I should get a stomach pump for him, I'm not entirely sure he can eat chocolate."

She sat down on the other side, "I'm sure he'll be fine, I've seen him eat weirder stuff than just chocolate."

He nodded, completely agreeing with her in every way possible. Simba did like to eat random things, and due to his enhanced stomach he could digest it all. But chocolate might be poisonous. Enhanced stomach he may have, but chocolate was an unknown.

Rainbow yawned, "We'll take him to Fluttershy in the morning, but I want to sleep now."

"Yeah, me too." He agreed.

She stood up and walked up the stairs to the bedroom, almost falling asleep with each step she took. He followed after her, perfectly fine with staying awake for hours longer than necessarily healthy. He was in 'Nam, damnit! He didn't have time to sleep!

Shaking his head to clear the unwanted memories, The Forgemaster climbed into bed. His wonderfully soft cloud bed. It took skill to get a cloud in his room, but between the Captain of the weather team and himself, it went off without a hitch. He knew that Rainbow loved it, besides; clouds are one of the best materials. They're basically like memory foam mattresses of the sky!

She was in the bed opposite him, and gently sighed when she lay down on the bed.

She quickly snuggled up against him.

"I love you." She whispered.

"I…" he hesitated.

A million memories went through his mind:

"Only alone can you truly succeed. You can't betray yourself, after all."

"The ties that bind leave the cruelest of scars."

"You don't think or feel with your heart, it pumps blood – that's it."

"Love, it eventually leads to betrayal then scorn, hate, and anger until anger becomes fury, and fury becomes revenge. And nothing good ever comes from revenge, thus, nothing good ever comes from love."

He brought himself gently out of the maelstrom of the memories. He tried again.

"I… I love you too, Dashie." He finally said.

She snuggled closer to him, and he wrapped a convenient limb around her.

(A/N – Woo! Also: 12 grand word count!)