[Nightmare Night] Day 2 - Everfree Moon Palace

[MyLittlePonyTales]

What would Nightmare Night be without a trip through the Everfree Forest? Travel along the dimly lit path, through the shadowy woods. Not to worry though, Princess Luna has enchanted the way to the old castle, protecting all who stay within the light. However, there may be a few brave adventurers hiding just behind a tree or bush, waiting to scare those who pass by, willing to risk their own safety for a spooky prank. Be sure not to step off the path in fright!

[FermataTheBasse]

-1 Net Candies

A quick stopover- of about an hour, but it was necessary to make- and Penumbra had restored herself to the full glory of Nightmare Moon's guise and persona. She realized she now had a significant deficit of treats, having lost them in her Changeling related scare from before. Of course it was not exactly possible to have a sum of negative candy, but it was certainly possible to have very little to snack on. But she had had the time off her hooves redoing her makeup, so she was for now good to go for at least another few stops this Nightmare Night. So right now she was breezing easily down the lighted path provided for all ponies to explore the old ruins within the Everfree, alight on her wings and haughtily disdaining all ponies on the path below, as was in her character as the Queen of the Night.

Penumbra touched down lightly on the other side of the little bridge that led over the painfully deep chasm separating the ruins away from the rest of the forest. Lanterns led all the way up to the crumbling castle itself, forlorn in the night. Folding her wings away, Penumbra slowly, regally approached the castle. This was Nightmare Moon's palace, or something along those lines, the history wasn't something Penumbra was totally familiar with. What she was familiar with was the superstitions, as she had done this Nightmare Nights prior. If she strayed off the path, there were supposedly ponies who had vanished forever. And ever. If there was any night to put stock into superstition, this was that night. So Penumbra kept her path firmly in the center of the light.

[Lux]

(-1 Candy)

Fire Heart decided that the next place would be the trip to the Moon Palace. Having studied the history of Equestria in Princess Celestia's School, she knew about the Moon Palace as the place where Nightmare Moon was banished. She also knew that being Nightmare Night there was bound to be something or somepony out there to try and scare her! She had already lost a candy running away from Queen Chrysalis in the House of Mirrors and now needed to recoup her loss.

The older filly made her way down the woodland path. She had to take care to control her flames. After all, she didn't want to be responsible for a forest fire!

[colour=#FF0000]"Looks like I made it," [/colour]she said as she saw the castle ruins reaching ever closer as she walked. She was impressed by the architecture and wondered what it looked like in its heyday.

[colour=#FF0000]"What a neat place! Kind of creepy, but still neat."[/colour]

[ThunderCrash]

If there was any one thing that was difficult to do, it was scare a pirate that had actually lived in the Everfree Forest for an decent amount of time. Considering where The Deceitful Mare was stuck in the river, a trip to the Lunar Palace wasn't all that frightening to Thunder Crash. He'd visited the crumbling, decaying, (perhaps fossilizing,) ruins quite a few times since being stuck out here. Of course, it had been a while since he walked through the halls. The first time had been one of only three - and all three times had been looking for things of value. He had wanted to see if there were any riches or artifacts here that he could sell. Unfortunately, he'd come up with absolutely nothing. This place looked like it had been gutted after... well, after whatever it was that had happened here. It had been empty for an incredibly long time, and he was curious as to why.

Of course, if it had been Nightmare Moon's palace, that might have explained why even Luna didn't return to this place. Even so, he'd always thought that Luna's alter ego hadn't had power for very long - and it took a long time, even with powerful magic, to build an entire structure; much less a castle. Something told him it hadn't been Nightmare Moon's castle, so much as Luna's before she... lost it. Probably something to show that the sisters were equals, but even back then it hadn't meant much, and likely just became a beacon of how different they were. Celestia had the beautiful shining palace of the sun, and Luna had the dark palace of the night. Celestia's was surrounded by an entire city, and Luna's was... isolated. From the look of the area, the Lunar Palace's grounds had been large at one time, but there had never been a city here. It really wasn't hard to see what made Luna snap, and that was just looking at the ruins a thousand years later. Yet, this was hindsight. Always 20/20.

Tonight was a new experience for him though, as even when he was young he'd never done the Nightmare Night thing. Free candy was cool, but he'd never really understood the big deal. Wasn't this kind of celebrating a dark thing that had happened in those long ago times? Was kind of morbid when you thought about it. He shrugged that off though. One of the places to visit tonight was the Lunar Castle, so why not? He'd shown up early though, during the last hours of daylight, and had been waiting. The stallion was a pirate, so why not join the fun and try to give a scare or two? From his perch, high atop the castle's main tower, he spotted his first target through his looking glass.

"Oh my, look at that..." He whispered to himself, "...dressed up like Nightmare Moon. Let's just see if she has the same constitution as the late terror of the night." Snapping the spy glass back into the main tube and latching it, he stuck it in his inner coat pocket and took flight - gliding instead of flapping his wings in order to stay silent. Making a wide turn he swooped down slowly behind the mare, and not until he was nearly upon her did his make noise, with a shouted "YAH!" from nearly directly behind her.

The moment he said it though, he abruptly pulled up and rolled, turning toward the darkness of the treetops and vanishing from sight. Strange as it might sound, the lights helped him hide, as everything beyond the source of light along the path was harder to see. Then he spotted another target. Poor things. He thought, Oh well. Sometimes you have to work for what you want.

Pulling the same trick, the pirate swooped in from behind with a loud "BOO!" and then shot toward the darkness of the night to vanish again, grinning to himself. Mischief managed... for now.

[GreenshotApple]

+2 Candy

After his visit to the Changeling Lair, Greenshot had taken a snack break to eat a daisy sandwich with some pumpkin juice. After his break, Greenshot decided to go visit the Everfree Moon Palace. He had never actually been in Everfree Forest, but now just seemed like a good time to take a gander.

Seeing several pony enter the forest ahead of him, the slightly lit trail guiding their path towards who knew what. Greenshot put his fake vampire teeth back into his mouth and fixed his cloak so that his flank and back were hidden underneath it, entered the path and began looking around curiously and suspiciously of what could be lurking in the darkness behind the lit path. Greenshot thought momentarily "[colour=#008000]So far so good, nothing is jumping out at me, but surely something has there eye on me.[/colour]"

[Blueblood]

+1 Candy

"[colour=#996699]Well, that's philosophy 1, ingenuity 0, though quite a close thing at the end, one must admit.[/colour]" Wordsworth Psmith, the stately colt of Canterlot, was talking to himself as he proceeded towards the lunar palace like a monarch leading a parade. There was in this nothing unusual, Psmith always talked when propriety did not call for complete silence, and his manner lent a stately gravity to much of what he did. Though he was dressed to the nines in cricketer's flannels (complete with ball and bat), nopony would have pegged him for the sort that went in for gambols on the green.

Psmith had come to test his theory, that a well balanced mind could attain immunity to terror, and had subjected this hypothesis to all the frights that Iron Will's Haunted House could provide. So far, the results were promising. Also, he had candy. That was a bonus, no matter how old you were.

He came upon Greenshot as he approached the building, and immediately burst forth, like one who had found a long-lost friend. "[colour=#996699]Well met, comrade! You have the same idea as I, that the time and the place have crossed like swords in the night, and woe betide any stallion who fails at the call to honor? Just so, just so, this is a great meeting of minds. The cry goes 'round the castle walls-[/colour]"

"Boo!"

Psmith was not so much startled as irritated, as the cry from ahead had interrupted him just as he'd gotten well into pace. "[colour=#996699]I say, old chap[/colour]." He called in front of him. "[colour=#996699]You've rather shot your bolt, as concerns us. Logistics and placement, that is what the great generals all focus upon. Napoleon Silverwing, for instance, would have waited until we caught up with whomever- why hello, we've arrived![/colour]"

And so they had. The palace was impressive, even as a ruin, and the grey-lavender colt couldn't help but wonder what it had looked like in it's heyday. "[colour=#996699]I wonder if they're ever going to refurbish this place? It is a bit of a walk to get to, but the scenery is fantastic, and it would make no bad country retreat for royalty.[/colour]"

[MyLittlePonyTales]

[colour=#ff6600]Teddy had fared quite well at the Changeling Lair. He was now two candies richer, and feeling a bit braver since facing the ominous cave. He trotted happily through Ponyville, until he reached the Everfree Forest and the sign indicating that this area was indeed part of the festivities. He gulped as he surveyed the spooky and shadowy forest, before putting on a brave face and charging in. He was dressed as a bear, after all! A teddy bear, anyway.

He didn't stop running until he reached the safety of the castle. He assumed it would be safe, anyway. He paused for a few moments to catch his breath. No since appearing fearful in front of the ladies. After all, he was a guy, he was supposed to be brave and strong. His breathing and heart rate in check, Teddy sauntered forward, right into the flank of a red filly (Fire Heart).

“Oof!” he said, before shooting her a glare. “Hey watch where you're—“ Teddy stopped, realizing it was a girl. He cleared his throat, trying to cover his blunder. “Sorry for running into you. I guess I forgot where I was going when I got lost in your eyes.” He ran a hoof over his mane, flashing her a smile and raising his eyebrows at her.[/colour]

[Lux]

Fire Heart was busy looking at the still astounding architecture of the castle ruins. Then suddenly she felt something or somepony bump into her.

[colour=#FF0000]"Eep," [/colour]she said, but lucky for her and for the pony she didn't burst into flames! She noticed that her would be assailant was an earth pony colt dressed in a teddy bear outfit. It was quite comical as she was dressed in a dark princess outfit complete with a black dress and a black tiara. It was something she wore as inspiration from her encounter with Princess Luna.

The colt proceeded at first to yell at her, but then something happened where the pony pulled a one eighty with his personality becomming very gentlecolt like. It was clearly that she was an older filly that caused such a shift. In fact to Fire, this pony was trying to flirt with her! But Fire was no fool and she was no pony to start getting all squealy like a little schoolyard filly over her first crush. It was time for her to have a little fun.

[colour=#FF0000]"Oh what a cute teddy bear you are! But you know what teddy bears are good for? Hugs!"[/colour]

Before the pony could react (Fire made sure of that), the unicorn gave the colt a big hug that would leave a lasting impression on his mind. She released him, letting him try and recover.

[colour=#FF0000]"When you're in Canterlot, come by Princess Celestia's School and see me sometime. Oh, and the name's Fire Heart."[/colour]

With a little wink she continued to look around at the ruins as if nothing happened.

[MyLittlePonyTales]

[colour=#ff6600]Teddy wasn't normally one for hugs. He was a big colt, after all, and hugs were mushy and girly! Too bad he was too preoccupied checking out the filly he'd just run into, or he might have been able to dodge her enthusiastic embrace. Of course, he would have liked nothing better than to push her off, but that would totally ruin his chances. So he just stood there and took it, blushing and hoping that nopony else would see.

He cleared his throat again, doing his best to make sure that not a hair was out of place. “Uh, yeah, definitely!” He swaggered up next to her, doing his best to make a good impression. “So, what's a filly like you doing in a place like this?”[/colour]

[HarringtonSleuth]

(Also coming in at -1.)

Harrington Sleuth, still in his literal spaghetti Westerner getup, traversed intently on the lit path, not wanting to step off and get frightened as he was the previous night at Celestia's House of Mirrors when an unpleasant surprise--the Changeling Queen, Chrysalis--dropped in unannounced. His head and eyes darted left and right, remaining alert to see if anypony would jump out and try to spook someone along the way. Nopony was getting the drop on him tonight!

It would take quite a while before he reached the Moon Palace. He looked around and tried to start up conversations with others travelling along the starlit path through the heart of the Everfree Forest.

[Blueblood]

Psmith was only too happy to have someone else to talk at, and started in as soon as Harrington arrived. "[colour=#996699]Ah, an alert observer, are we comrade? No doubt there is much to look at in such an environment.[/colour]" A simple sweep of the hoof indicated both the forest and the ruins. "T[colour=#996699]he tenseness and twitchiness in your manner, however, leads me to suspect you wish to pre-empt any who wish to get the jump on us. This is an error, comrade. Superficial observation does little good at night, and such anxiety will only ratchet up your nerves, which are then reduced to a perfect hash when you are ambushed. Patience, sir, is the watchword.[/colour]"

The cricketer dusted off a scattered stone with his magic, and seated himself upon it. "[colour=#996699]If we wait, whatever is there shall come to us, and shall not find us unprepared. We crouch like manticores, ready for counter-ambush. In this meantime, this is a pleasant place, with much to be said in favour of lingering. Let us do so.[/colour]"

Suiting action to the word, he lay out upon his cleared rock, resting his chin upon his hooves.

[MyLittlePonyTales]

Discord is here because he wishes to be, and nothing is more freedom loving than the essence of chaos. This trite trick or treating stuff is such an unbelievable bore, and those with the great luck in finding Discord will be rewarded with his own form of entertainment: Their bags of candy switched with somepony else's!

Penumbra has Harrington Sleuth

Fire Heart has Penumbra

Thunder Crash has Fire Heart

Greenshot has Thunder Crash

Wordsworth Psmith has Greenshot

Teddy has Wordsworth Psmith

Harrington Sleuth has Teddy

Current candy standings (no negatives in this competition):

Penumbra - 0

Fire Heart - 0

Thunder Crash - 0

Greenshot - 0

Wordsworth Psmith - 2

Teddy - 1

Harrington Sleuth - 2

[Lux]

The silly colt dressed in a teddy bear outfit was recovering from Fire's spontaneous hug.

[colour=#FF0000]"Well, I'm here to check out the Nightmare Night events. I've already been to the House of Mirrors, and I think there's three three more places to visit."[/colour]

While she was preoccupied, her candy bad was mysteriously switched with anothers! Of course all candy bags looked fairly alike as did the candy.

[colour=#FF0000]"So, I guess I'll see you around then," [/colour]Fire said smilind as she made her way back to town.

[HarringtonSleuth]

Harrington looked up from his part of the path over to Psmith and gave him the "are you kidding me" look as he moved a little closer.

[colour=#ff0000]"You would be on watch, too, if the Queen of the Changelings dropped in on you unannounced. I'm just making sure nopony's going to pull that one over on me a second time."[/colour]

As he spoke, his empty bag of candy was lifted without notice. He only looked when Discord placed another identical bag on him, which was a tad heavier than the one he carried before.

[colour=#ff0000]"Huh...what? My bag was empty last I checked...oh, well. More candy for me!"[/colour]

(+2 Candy)

[Blueblood]

Psmith would not be deterred from his philosophic convictions so easily. "[colour=#996699]But that is my point in a nutshell, comrade. You did not see her coming, how could you? By her own nature she disguises herself as another reveler and walks out in the open where no one would suspect her. No amount of watchfulness would have prevented her surprising you. What is required is the mental balance and poise necessary to accept such prodigies. It is only then that paralyzing fear may be deterred.[/colour]"

The colt was so deep in his monologue, and thus did not notice the workings of Discord. In fact, he had no notion of them at all until Harrington suddenly checked his bag to find extra candy in it. "[colour=#996699]Indeed, have we been the objects of stealthy charity?" [/colour]He checked his own bag. There were now two pieces in it.[colour=#996699] "It must be so! And now I ask you, had anything to justify your anxiety? Of course not, you grasp the true worth of philosophy. And so we go, hoof in hoof, to face with equanimity the Nightmares of the Night![/colour]" Pleased with himself and all the world, he departed the palace.

[MyLittlePonyTales]

[colour=#ff6600]Teddy's advances didn't seem to be working as well as he'd hoped. She wasn't swooning into his hooves or clinging to him in fright. He was just considering what his next action should be when Discord appeared out of thin air! If he had been trying to put on a brave air before, all that left the instant the Draconequus made his presence known. There were plenty of things to fear in Equestria, but most of all would probably be the chaotic entity.

When he finally opened his eyes, he found himself—totally unharmed. As was everypony else in the area, surprisingly. But when he checked his candy bag, it seemed that one of them was missing. Well, if that was the worst that was going to happen, Teddy figured he could be grateful. However, before he could fully recover, the red mare was gone. He briefly debated following her to the next Nightmare Night event, but decided that would be slightly creepy. Maybe he would run into her again tonight, all the same.[/colour]