Keeper of the Night

       "Ahh...another beautiful summer night...gentle breeze, crickets chirping...and I'm inside playing Halo. Tonight can't get any better!"

I was relaxing inside my house in a quiet neighborhood on July 17th. Mom and Dad told me they were going to be gone on business for a few weeks (my dad's Rodger. He's a software designer and Carrolyn, my mom, is a gymnast), and my little brother, Dion (it's pronounced "DIE-ohn, but I call him Di) was going to be at my grandparents' house, because they didn't trust me to look after him yet. Dad told me, "He might be your brother, but even at his age, it's going to take a lot of fatherly responsibility, and you...just don't have that yet."

"What, have I got the plague!?" I argued. "Dad, high school is responsibility enough. I can look after the little rascal and not throttle him, really, I can! What can I do to prove it?"

My dad just turns around and laughs, saying, "Relax, Miles. We're doing you a favor."

They were right. No loud crashes coming from the kitchen, no obnoxiously loud videogames coming from his room at night, and I still had some time to hide all his stuff as a prank for when he came back.

"Oh, baby this is the good life," I whispered to myself. I heard a loud *bang* come from my game that jolted me awake just in time to see my Spartan soldier fly across the map from a rocket explosion.

"Whoo, shit, I gotta stay awake. Still not used to all this free time."

Now, before this next part, I should tell you my neighborhood layout. Trust me, it'll become deadly important later on.

My house is situated on a hill. The side of it rolls down into some dense woods. Not dense enough to get totally lost in, but the low-hanging branches will cut y'up if you're not wearing jeans. On the other side of the woods is the community pool. I never go there, because if you saw it, you would realize everyone currently in the pool is marinating in piss and band-aids. The only time its clean is when the water is replaced, which is about every weekend. So, nobody's really catching any STDs here (but trust me, the pool commission still desperately needs to post bathing rules). Back down my driveway is the rest of the houses. There's a lot of spacing in between'em, like 30 to 40 yards, at least, but that's because there's a lot of forest that the city didn't want (or decide) to cut down. I have a buddy who goes to my high school just around the left bend. Not a far run, but you gotta cut through the woods (again, cut being the key word, here). His name's Riley Ambromicvi; we go way back.

Now, see, I've got my window open. It's the back window, faces the woods, right? Well, at about eleven sharp, I hear this noise. Sounds like an electric crackle. Normally, I'd call the cops, but it was loud enough for me to hear it, but quiet enough to not give two shits. Until I hear it again, that is.

"What the hell was that?"

*Vrrrzzzzztt!*

"Alright, guess I should check," and I got up off my ass and snuck out the back door.

I started down the hill when I heard that same sound again, but louder. It meant I was getting closer (or, as I was thinking at the time, it was getting closer to me). It was coming from the woods, so I cautiously slid under a branch and worked my way in.

Whole place was damp from the humidity. The breeze was blowing west, so all the water vapor over Lake Michigan was floating our way. Nearly slipped off a log and broke my bum. Eventually, I heard the electric sound one last time, only a few feet in front of me. I peered over a fallen tree and I saw this...thing, lying on the ground, face first, twitching every so often as a dark purple electric pulse coursed across its body. Also seemed to have some weird plume thingies rising from its back. It was human, to be sure, but something about its build was...off.

As I looked at the thing, I thought, "Well, no clue who or what this is, but it's definitely not in good shape. Better roll the thing over so it doesn't suffocate while I look at it."

Now this idea, the "roll the thing over" tactic, probably wouldn't have been a good idea if the being was an alien, 'cause it would've vaporized my face off in two seconds. But I'm kinda glad I did roll it over, now that I look back on it. That way, I wouldn't have fainted if I simply brought...her...into my house unwittingly. Anyway, back on subject, the moon just happened to glint down through the canopy I was under and shed its white light on the thing's face. I almost screamed.

"Sweet Jesus, have mercy..."

There, in my arms, I was holding a figure I knew all too well...the light-blue helmet, gauntlets, and boots, the black fur, the horn, the plumage of stars that formed her mane (and that sexy, sexy purple eyeliner)...I was holding the very first villain in MLP history...

Nightmare Moon.

I wasted absolutely no time getting her out of the woods, and honestly, it wasn't too bad. I was extra careful not to scratch Nightmare because I had no idea what happened to her, and thought it might be best if she just slept it off (and if she woke up from a cut, I was also pretty sure she'd 0wn my ass in a hurry). Getting up the hill in my backyard, though...don't even get me started. My legs got sore about halfway up, 'cause she was heavy. Not fat heavy, but she had slightly more muscle than the average female (and she was a foot taller than me, at least). My arms ached when I got back inside, so I laid her on the couch as quickly and as gently as I could. I checked her vital signs and forehead. It was hot enough to roast a chicken over, so I grabbed a bag of frozen peas for her (Mom never seemed to carry any real icepacks, so to speak). Nightmare was breathing heavily, and I decided to stay up late and watch her...just in case.

As I started thinking about it, I was ecstatic. Lady Luck had pretty much heard my dreams when I was a freshman, and actually answered them. Yeah, she was late, but I sure wasn't complaining. But as I kept thinking, I realized, "This ain't all it's cracked up to be." First, if--and when--my parents found out about me keeping a villainous princess from a kids' TV show, and a little girls' TV show, at that, one, they'd be pissed and confused, and two, I'd just roll over and die of shame.

And then I thought about Nightmare Moon herself. When she woke up, I imagined she wasn't going to be very happy. I knew I was the one who'd catch hell right away, and even if I could bullshit my way out of that and, by some divine cosmic miracle, calm her down enough to stay inside and not unleash her wrath on Wisconsin, or, God forbid, the entire world, I didn't know where to hide her when my folks came back (or, God also forbid, my brother).

But then, something strange happened to me. It wasn't loud and in-your-face obvious, but quiet. Subtle. As I looked back to the reposing Nightmare Moon, I started to calm down. Her breathing, slow and almost silent, eventually became a rhythm that I followed until I felt myself sink back into the recliner, and I felt my eyes glaze over.

Oh, well, I thought, I'll burn that bridge when I come to it.