Night Mare

I looked between my friends. Lyra stood petrified. Octavia and Vinyl were trying to hide behind each other. Luna was trying to maintain a friendly composure, but that was quickly slipping. Her expression shifted at her eyes and her grin became more desperate.

Octavia's whimper was barely audible. “Nightmare Moon.”

I wasn't sure I had heard her correctly, but Luna had caught every word. She flinched and let out a quiet sob as her smile vanished. Slowly, she began to back out the door.

My mind raced for damage control. I had no idea what was going on, but I had to fix it. I could see my future happiness slipping away like sand in my hooves. “Luna, please wait. Whatever's wrong, we can fix this. Octavia made tea. It's good tea. Please, come have a cup and we'll talk this through. I'm sure this is some kind of horrible misunderstanding.”

“We are not that monster anymore.” She said. “We were washed clean. Have we not paid for our sins? Was our banishment not punishment enough? We sought only companionship with our fellow pony, but of this, we must be denied.” Tears rolled down her cheeks as she took a step forward. “Have we not suffered enough?!” She screamed.

Lyra bolted, disappearing up the stairs. Octavia fainted while Vinyl dropped to the floor, defensively hiding her belly.

“Nay. Apparently, we have not. How much more must we suffer? How much more time must pass before we may reconnect with our subjects? How much longer will we be perceived as that monster.” She let out a pained sigh. “We knew this to be a mistake. We knew we would still be feared. While it pains us, we accept this as the consequences of our actions.”

She turned to me with a forced smile. “We apologize, Midnight Snow. We thank thee for thy attempts, but it seems the world is not ready to accept us again. We will not darken thy doorstep anymore.”

She turned and exited without another word. Before I could say anything to stop her, she spread her wings and took flight.

Spread her wings and took flight.

Spread. Her. Wings.

Ponyfeathers.

I stood and watched as she disappeared into the night sky. I wanted to run after her, but, already the sky to the east was pink with approaching day. I felt sick. I had wanted nothing more than for Luna to meet my friends and everypony to have a wonderful time.

The mare hadn't taken two steps into the house before everything went to Tartarus. I turned to Vinyl, who refused to meet my glare.

“What, in the name of Celestia, was that?”

She stared at the floor.

“I asked you a question.”

“She's dangerous.”

Lyra had returned.

“During last year's Summer Sun Celebration, something happened. Nightmare Moon, from the stories, turned up and kept the sun from rising. She promised to make it everlasting night. Do you know what that means? Crops would die off within weeks. Half of the planet would be covered in ice and the other half would be scorched desert. Food shortages would cause mass rioting before we all starve to death. Her hubris would spell doom for all of ponykind.”

“Bit melodramatic, Lyra. Don't you think so?”

She stomped a hoof in frustration. “This is serious!”

“And what? Celestia is allowing her demented sister, who planned and executed a coup on two separate occasions, to run amok among her subjects?”

“No. The Elements of Harmony fixed her.”

“Fixed her? So she's not a danger anymore?”

Lyra raised a hoof in objection and opened her mouth to reply, but nothing came.

“We don't know that.” Vinyl said, quietly.

“So you think the Elements didn't work or that our wise and gracious ruler isn't?”

“That's not what I meant!” She snapped.

“Then explain.” I replied, sitting back and crossing my forelegs.

“We don't know what's going on in her mind. This could all be some sort of grand plan to gain our trust. Besides, even if she isn't planning a repeat of before, she's still a princess. She's not like us.”

I began to tremble. Not from fear this time, but from rage. “Vinyl Scratch. I don't think I heard you correctly. I'd swear I'd heard you say she wasn't like us, but that would be wrong.” I approached her and leaned close, pressing my muzzle to her's. “The Vinyl Scratch I grew up with would know better than to shun somepony because they were different. Especially given her past.

“Now, tell me what you really said.”

Vinyl remained silent.

My lips twitched as I fought a sneer. “You elitist nag. After all of these years, I thought I knew you.”

“Midnight-”

“No!” I snapped, cutting her off. I was angrier than I had been in a long time. It was mind-boggling that she, of all ponies, would do this.

I started up the stairs. “Thank you, Vinyl, for effectively ruining any chance I had at a relationship with a really good pony. I'm going to bed. When I get up, I want you gone. Don't ever knock on my door again.”

My bedroom door slammed shut behind me as I jumped up onto the bed. I didn't want to believe that my best friend would do something like that. Would even consider doing something like that. A burning lump formed in my throat. Despite trying to choke it back down, it remained firmly lodged. Hot tears ran down my muzzle as I tucked my face against my quilt.

From the floor below, I could hear Vinyl's quiet sobs. Good; she should feel bad for what she did. She, and Lyra, and Octavia, they should all feel horrible. I was sick and ashamed of them.

There was a gentle tap at my door. “Midnight, please open the door. I know you're angry and you only said what you did out of anger. I know you didn't mean any of that. Please, come downstairs and let's talk about this. I don't want any bad blood between any of us and I know you don't either.”

I ignored her.

“Midnight, please come and talk. We can't let this go. If something happened tomorrow and we weren't able to fix this, I'd feel terrible and I know Vi and Tavi would, too. Please, let's settle this.”

I hated to hear Lyra beg, but, perhaps out of stubbornness, I continued to ignore her.

“I'm coming in.”

With a quick flick of magic, I locked the door. I could hear the knob click against the lock. “Midnight, stop being so obstinate. This needs to be settled and it needs to be settled now.”

I got off of the bed, unlocked the door, and swung it open. I suppose Lyra wasn't expecting the sudden movement, if the look on her face was any indication.

“I've settled it. I don't want to see either of them, or you, again.”

She let out an exasperated growl. “Just a few short months ago, a monster from our darkest nightmares, one we had been told never existed, appeared and tried to kill us all out of some sort of jealous temper tantrum. Can you blame us for being afraid when the source of that nightmare suddenly shows up?”

“No. I can't blame you for that, but I can blame you for not trusting me and for judging her before getting to know her. That hurt. You hurt her and you hurt me. You didn't even bother giving her the benefit of the doubt and trying to relate to her. She's lonely and just wants a friend. That's all she wants.”

“You don't know that.”

“I do, Lyra, and if you gave her a chance, you would too.”

“She could be using you. You want us to trust you, but you won't trust us and listen when we tell you she's still dangerous.”

I snorted with contempt. “You keep believing in that, Lyra. Whatever helps you sleep. Just keep convincing yourself that you did the right thing and get lost. I'm done.”

And, with those words, I ended years of friendship.

x----x

I woke up the next evening feeling a bit better than I had the night before. Lyra's words had rang through my mind and made a lot of sense. Luna had been a very real and very terrifying threat to their existence and, though she had been healed by the Elements and forgiven by her sister, the rest of ponykind wasn't as easy to forgive. They still remembered the stories and the events and were still suspicious of the mare.

It had hurt that my friends hadn't trusted me, but I could now understand why.

I went downstairs, where it was eerily quiet. For a moment, I feared that my friends had, indeed, left. If that were the case, I would have a hard time of tracking them down.

Fortunately, I found Vinyl on the sofa, staring off into space. I can't recall ever seeing her so silent and still. Her eyes were red, more so than usual, and were surrounded by dark circles. Combined with her pale coat and thin frame, she looked like a skeleton.

She started once she noticed me watching her and her ears fell back. “Hey.”

Her voice was little more than a whisper and very hoarse. Obviously, she had spent the night crying.

“Hey.” I replied. I looked around and noticed that another pony was conspicuously absent. “Where's Tavi?”

“Over there.” Vinyl indicated with a bob of her muzzle.

I noticed Octavia curled up in one of the chairs, quietly snoring. “Good to know you two aren't attached at the flank.” I joked.

She gave a half-hearted chuckle. “Listen; Snow. I know ya said that ya wanted us gone before ya got up, but Tavi thought it would be a good idea for us to talk before she and I left.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I got something I need to get off my chest.” I hopped up on the chair across from her and took a deep breath. “I was out of line last night. I had really high expectations that weren't met. In my defense, I was unaware that she was the Luna, but that doesn't excuse how I spoke to you and Lyra. I was angry, but I was wrong. I'm sorry.”

Vinyl sighed. “I get where you're comin' from. To be honest, I was outta line too. I know the Elements of Harmony fixed her and she's supposed to be doin' better, but I was so scared. I was afraid she'd hurt Tavi, or me, or you. I don't want ponies getting hurt and I suppose that fear made me do what I did. I know ya like her and I want ya to be happy and I want to be happy for ya, but that mare scares the horseapples out of me.”

“She's not dangerous anymore, Vinyl. Yeah, she can be intimidating, but she doesn't harbor any ill will towards anypony. She realizes what she did was a horrible mistake and she wants to make things right again. She just needs somepony to give her a chance.”

“I've been doin' a lot of thinkin', Snow, and I thought about a lot of things. Tavi can be annoyin', but she makes me really happy. I want you to know that same happiness and, if you think Princess Luna is your ticket to that happiness, then what kinda friend am I if I didn't help ya?”

“I appreciate the thought, Vi. I really do, but I don't think she'll be too inclined to come back here for any reason. Especially not after she was welcomed last night.”

Vinyl winced. “Yeah, I suppose we really screwed that one up, didn't we? How are we gonna fix this?”

“Well, it's quite simple, isn't it?”

We both turned to find that Tavi had partially awoken. She hadn't moved, but watched us with partially opened eyes.

“We didn't mean to wake you.” I apologized.

She raised her head and yawned, demurely covering her mouth with a hoof. “It's no matter. I was trying to wake up anyways, as for your question, all we need to do is go to Canterlot.”

“I can't go out in daylight.” I reminded her.

“Commerce doesn't stop because the sun goes down, Midnight. Trains run after dark.”

“So, we get train tickets, go to Canterlot, and convince Princess Luna to see Snow.” Vinyl summarized. “What then?”

“I suppose that's entirely up to Midnight.”

They were staring at me, waiting for instructions. “I'll tell her the truth. We want to make amends for what happened last night. It would really help if you two were in there with me, but I don't know if she'd even be willing to speak with you.”

“We can, at least, try. I have a feeling that, if we show her that we're making an effort towards fixing our mistake, she'll be willing to hear us out.” Octavia assured me.

“There's no assurance that we'd be able to get there, talk to her, and return before sunrise.” I pointed out.

She waved away my concern. “If all else fails, there's my apartment. We can stay there and return tomorrow night.”

Vinyl thumped a hoof. “That's all there is to it. Tonight, we go see Princess Luna.”