The Tarax Hippo

Princess Luna?” Twilight Sparkle practically galloped over. She moved fast despite the fact that she was carrying a large saddlebag full of books. Her face was the picture of concern. “What are you doing here in Ponyville? Is everything all right back in Canterlot? Is Equestria in mortal peril again? Do you need me to—”

“I assure you that everything is going to be fine, Twilight Sparkle.”

“Then why are you here?” Twilight’s eyes glazed over, searching through the files of her memory, trying to make sense of what the visit might mean. “Is this about the Bugbear? Because he is definitely gone this time. Fluttershy managed to—”

“Twilight!” Luna interrupted. “No. It’s just a…”

Twilight raised her eyebrows. She was getting suspicious.

“A Tarax Hippo,” Princess Luna improvised, using the name of a random creature she hadn’t seen in a few hundred moons. “It’s a magical, ghostlike creature that takes residence in villages just to scare ponies.”

“Oh, all right,” said Twilight, who appeared relieved at the news. “I thought you might have heard about the fest—” She gasped and covered her mouth with her hoof. “I mean, I’m going to find my friends, and I’m calling a meeting at my castle immediately.” She spun around and began to canter away. A few hooves away, she stopped and called out to Luna, “About the Tarax Hippo, I mean! Nothing else!”

“Wait!” Luna shouted. Twilight froze in her tracks and turned around. Luna forced a polite smile. “Thank you, but I insist that there is no need for your interference. As long as I am here, the Tarax Hippo won’t come near.” Luna wasn’t sure if that was entirely accurate, but it didn’t really matter. It did the trick.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders clubhouse sat among the trees in a secluded part of Sweet Apple Acres. Luna hadn’t visited the orchard during the day in forever, and she was struck by how beautiful the trees looked. The air smelled chilly and sweet with the scent of apples in the early winter sunshine. Luna’s stomach rumbled. She loved apples just as much as anypony else. The princess trotted to the “free sample” barrel and selected a juicy red one before flying up into a tree outside the clubhouse window.

Inside, the three fillies were opening some giant boxes. “Boy, are we lucky that DJ Pon-3 and Octavia had all these extra moonglasses hanging around in their basement.”

“What are moonglasses anyway?” Scootaloo tore open a box and several pairs of glasses went flying across the room. She skipped over and gathered them up.

“They make it so you can see in the dark! You know, like night-vision,” said Apple Bloom, picking up the pair that had landed by her hooves and popping them on her face. “Also, they make me look really cool.” She put her front hooves across her chest. “Deal with it.”

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo giggled.

“All right, the moonglasses I understand, but what’s with all the smelly garlic necklaces? Another random idea that just ‘came to you’?” Sweetie Belle held up a necklace that was strung with cloves of garlic instead of beads. She stuck out her tongue in disgust.

“Eeyup,” Apple Bloom said confidently. “Trust me, I gotta real strong feelin’ Princess Luna will like this stuff.”

“Yeah, but will anypony else?” Scootaloo murmured to Sweetie Belle.

Princess Luna felt relieved. All she had to do was make a few random suggestions while these ponies were in their dream state, and then this festival Princess Celestia had approved would become absolutely ridiculous. Maybe the whole thing would be so odd that nopony would ever want to have one again! Most ponies already thought Princess Luna was strange. Now the rest of Equestria would, too.

Princess Luna was satisfied. She was about to take off back to Canterlot for some much-needed rest when she heard Sweetie Belle say: “We should probably go check on Pinkie Pie and Rarity to see how the decorations are coming along.”

Apple Bloom nodded. “Then let’s stop by Fluttershy’s cottage to see how her pet project is going, too.”

“Only if we visit Rainbow Dash after that!” Scootaloo called after them. “She was gonna draw plans for those snow castles at the entrance, remember?”

Of course the young ones would ask their mentors for help. Luna put her hoof to her head. She groaned the same way she used to when she and Celestia were fillies and had to do a bunch of chores. Princess Luna was going to have to visit a lot more dreams than she’d anticipated if she was going to sabotage this Winter Moon Festival without hurting anypony’s feelings. Why had Celestia agreed to this against her will?