A Nightmare Night with Starlight


                                            Synopsis: Anon goes trick-or-treating with the Glimmy.


                                            >It's a spooktacular Nightmare Night, and you are out trick-or-treating with Starlight.

                                            >Dressed up as a mighty magus, you command authority—despite not actually knowing any magic.

                                            >Starlight is a scarecrow, or at least—she was; you two got separated in the middle of an impromptu Pinkie Pie spooky sing-a-long.

                                            >Wandering through Ponyville, you ask nearby ponies if they've seen her.

                                            >The next pony in your line of sight is a mare with a silver coat and mane, she's wearing similarly-coloured metallic armour that covers her body, and has a pointy metal hat on her head.

                                            >She's facing away from you; you move in to question her, as it looks like she's just finished a round of trick-or-treating.

                                            "Hey there! Sorry to bother you, but have you seen Starlight Glimmer around here? Lilac coat, unicorn, dressed up as a scarecrow?"

                                            >"Ah!"

                                            >Sharply pivoting around to face you, she stares up at you with a startled expression, blinking a few times.

                                            >"N-nope, haven't seen her, sorry Anon!"

                                            "Well, I tried, thanks any—wait a minute."

                                            >That voice! Those persian blue eyes!

                                            "Starlight, is—is that *you* in that armour?"

                                            >"U-um…"

                                            >You two stare each other down for several seconds.

                                            >"…Oh, alright. Yes, it's me."

                                            "What happened to your scarecrow costume?"

                                            >"I…I just felt like switching it up! Yeah! Really gotta keep Ponyville on their hooves, ahaha!"

                                            "You 'switched it up' pretty quickly. It's only been like 10 minutes. You even dyed your mane and coat!"

                                            >She holds a nervous grin.

                                            "But I guess with your magic, anything's possible."

                                            >"Y-yep! I used magic to help switch my costume! That's right, just changing my costume, and absolutely nothing else!"

                                            >Your internal sus-o-meter is going off, causing you to raise an eyebrow.

                                            "Okay… But why were you hiding from me? Seems like you didn't want me to find you."

                                            >"No! I wasn't hiding from you—well I mean I *kinda* was but not in an 'avoiding you' kind of way, more like a 'let's surprise Anon' kind of way, you know?"

                                            "Well, the costume change certainly surprised me but—"

                                            >"There you are, Anon! I've been looking everywhere for you!"

                                            >Starlight walks up to your side from behind—Starlight in a scarecrow costume, that is.

                                            "Uh…"

                                            >"And—oh." She notices the Tin Mare next to you.

                                            >"…Yeah, he knows something's up now."

                                            >"Whoops."


                                            "Is this another one of your duplication spells?"

                                            >Scarelight nods at you, proudly beaming.

                                            >"Yeah! I was able to perfect a spell that partitions my mind! So I combined it with Similo to split my consciousness among three bodies!"

                                            >Tin Mare glowers at Scarelight; the scarecrow glances back, tilting her head in response.

                                            >"What? What did I say?"

                                            "There's a third one of you?"

                                            >The silver Starlight rubs her head with a forehoof.

                                            >"…Note to self, it is *really* hard keeping secrets when your consciousness is split."

                                            >A Scarecrow and a Tin Mare…

                                            "Let me guess, the third Starlight is dressed up as a—"

                                            >"Roar! Rar! Give me your candy or pay the price!"

                                            >A familiar-looking lilac unicorn in a lion costume conveniently leaps out of a nearby bush; you've long since stopped questioning how Equestria consistently presents the most perfectly placed of comedic timings.

                                            >She trots on by, glancing at the three of you.

                                            >"Hi Anon! Hi Me! Hi other Me!"

                                            >She stops.

                                            >"Oh."

                                            >The other two chime in with a simultaneous "yep."

                                            "…So, why did you triplicate yourself?"

                                            >All three speak at once, "WwWeEeELlLlLl AaAnNnOoOnNn, sSsIiInNnCcCeEe—"

                                            "Oh God! I only have two eardrums, Starlight!"

                                            >They all grin sheepishly, and the Tin Mare speaks up.

                                            >"Sorry Anon! Um—what I meant to say was—since we only have so much time in one Nightmare Night to gather candy by ourselves, I thought to myself—'Hey, Starlight! You've got magic, what if you used it to split your workload more efficiently?' Then it came to me: multiple bodies—multiple trick-or-treaters!"

                                            >Starlion struts about in place, showing off her outfit.

                                            >"And the best thing is, since we're all in different costumes, nopony will recognise us! Each of us could visit the same house in the same night without anypony suspecting a thing!"

                                            >Scarelight hops into the air excitedly.

                                            >"It's the perfect plan! Three Starlights—three hauls of candy! Starlights, you're geniuses! You think so too, right Anon?"

                                            >They all look up at you for approval; sadly, all you can do is shake your head.

                                            "Glimmy, I know you love your magic, but Nightmare Night isn't about efficiency, it's about…"

                                            >Pausing, you think to yourself.

                                            "Actually, I have no clue what it's about. Respecting Moonbutt? Capitalism?

                                            "Anyway, the point is—it's not about how much candy you can get. It's about having fun with your buds, getting spooked, and trying to win in those rigged-as-hell carnival games.

                                            "And it's a bit harder to appreciate all that when you've cut your brain up into three chunks.

                                            "…Plus, I did want to spend Nightmare Night with the *whole* Starlight, not just a third of her."

                                            >The Starlights all exchange a look of guilt with one another.

                                            >"Oh… Well, when you put it like that, I can see where you're coming from. Sorry, Anon."


                                            >It's at this moment that you take the opportunity to look at the bags each Starlight is holding; they're all near-bursting with confections.

                                            "…On the other hand, that…that is a *lot* of candy."

                                            >Your mouth waters.

                                            >Noticing this, they all smirk at you, Scarelight chides you in a teasing tone.

                                            >"But didn't you *just* say that it's not about how much candy we get? It isn't right for us to have all this."

                                            >Tin Mare nods.

                                            >"I agree. I think we should get rid of two thirds of our candy, it's only fair, after all."

                                            "Two third—H-hey now! Let's not do anything drastic here! What's done is done, right? You already got the candy, and you're all here now! No harm, no foul!

                                            "I—I mean, the three of you are still separate, yeah? Plenty of room for all that candy!"

                                            >Rubbing her chin with her forehoof, the Tin Mare contemplates your words.

                                            >"Hmm—well, you do raise a good point… But what does everypony else think?"

                                            >Yawning to herself, Starlion lies down on the ground, still levitating her bag of candy.

                                            >"Mmm, I don't know about you girls, but all of this trick-or-treating has left me kind of tired. If *only* there was a big strong wizard around to carry me back to the castle."

                                            >She looks up at you with a lazy smirk.

                                            "Alright… Fine."

                                            >Kneeling down, you pick up the fake feline with both arms, cradling her against your chest; you swear you hear her purr in response.

                                            >"I call shotgun!" Scarelight levitates herself behind you and latches onto your back; her head rests on your shoulder, nuzzling against your cheek.

                                            >As you bear the weight of two Starlights, you hear a clanging sound near your feet as a metal hoof gingerly prods your left leg.

                                            >Looking down, you see the Tin Mare looking up at you with a hopeful smile from within her full set of metal armour.

                                            "Don't even think about it."

                                            >She sighs.

                                            >"Fiiiine. I'll walk, but you are *so* making it up to me later."

                                            >Scarelight points out a forehoof towards the Castle of Friendship.

                                            >"To the castle, everypony! There's candy to be consumed!"

                                            >You sally forth down the brown dirt road with your mares—mare? Mare*3? Ah, who cares.

                                            >A blue alicorn watches the four of you leave, her mouth agape in shock.

                                            >"The fun has been tripled…!"