A Nightmares Love

“Joseph, are you even listening?”

There was a pause before he responded, “Hm? Uh-yeah…” his gaze meeting the amused look of the solar monarch.

The monarch in question silently watched on as her human friend slowly returned to his own devices. Her eyes carefully watched his facial features, inconspicuously studying his strange behavior.

“Is everything alright?” Celestia asked, her amusement fading away as concern crossed her face.

“Hm-no, it’s just...uh-nothing.” Joseph answered, carefully compiling his words and thoughts.

Celestia’s gaze returned forward, but she wasn’t convined. Her own thoughts distracted her as she watched him out of the corner of her eye. The two both equally alien beings had been casually strolling around the castle for the past few hours. After what felt like hours they found themselves in one of the thousands of expansive corridors hidden inside the confines of the castle.

Celestia paused in a moment of slight awe, “You’re thinking about Nightmare Moon, aren’t you?” as a small smile of victory crossed her lips.

“I-What?” Joseph sputtered, turning towards the smug princess.

Celestia’s smile never left her face, “You do remember what I said, right?”

“That’s she’s reformed and that she’s always rude, so don’t feel special.” Joseph replied in a wry tone.

Celestia’s giggles echoed throughout the corridor, “Then why are you acting like a schoolyard filly with a crush.”

Immediately Joseph’s cheeks flushed red as his dagger shooting eyes locked onto Celestia. Meanwhile she giggled in a very unprincess-like fashion.

It took a few moments for Celestia to catch her breath before she rolled her eyes, “Oh lighten up, I was only joking.” she said, like she was talking to a little colt.

The pouting human only grunted in response.

“You’re insufferable, you know that?” Celestia asked, still addressing him like a child.

Joseph stuck his tounge out in response.

“My point exactly.” Celestia said with a sigh.

“Take it back.” Joseph mumbled.

“The sad part is you’re serious.” Celestia deadpanned, almost saying it to reassure herself.

The childish human only looked at her through squinted eyes as he pouted.

Celestia sighed, “I’m sorry for saying you had a crush on Nightmare Moon. Can we be friends again?”

“Of course we can!” Joseph said laughing, wrapping an arm around Celestia.

Celestia shrugged him off, “Don’t touch me.”

One of the duo was left smiling as they continued on their walk.

“Now will you tell me?” Celestia asked after a long moment of silence, letting the amused human calm down.

Joseph sighed, “I guess I was kind of excited to meet her. Like, when I met you, and Luna, and all the other higher ups. It’s not everyday you meet a new princess, or in this case, a super villain.”

Celestia tried to hide her smile as Joseph paused for a moment to think.

“And I also made an effort into being nice. Usually I don’t try at a lot of things, but I got all of your letters and read them carefully, and even planned what I was going to say.” Joseph continued, throwing his hands around for emphasis.

“Aww~” Celestia cooed with a wide smile.

“Screw. You.” Joseph fumed.

Once again, Joseph went back to pouting as Celestia lost herself in laughter.

After a few moments, Celestia tried to reason with him, “Remember, she only knows a time frame of barely two decades, from over a thousand years ago. Being here now, is a bit of a shock to her.”

“Especially when a completely alien being walks up and tries talking to her for the first time.” She added with a smirk, bumping him for emphasis.

“Yeah, I guess. I just-don’t know how to feel about it?” Joseph said, tilting his head as he tried to figure out his thoughts.

Celestia looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He only shrugged in response as they fell into silence once again.

“Hey, Celestia?” Joseph started, the white alicorn humming in acknowledgement, “Do you mind if I ask, like-why you brought Nightmare Moon back?”

Celestia fell silent in thought, “You know you’re probably the only one to genuinely care about the reasoning behind bringing her back.”

“Cool?” He replied cautiously, not exactly sure how to respond.

Celestia merely rolled her eyes before continuing on, “So how much do you know about Nightmare Moon and her related conflicts?”

“Well, I know there was this pony, named Nightmare Moon, and she didn’t like some things.” He answered with a smile.

“Alright, smart-flank, would you like an answer to your question?” Celestia’s asked in a mock-stern tone.

“Simmer down,” Joseph said with a cheeky smile, “So it was like, a year or two after Luna’s return right?”

“Correct.”

“And it was on or near Nightmare Night, when Nightmare Moon returned to exact her revenge.” He continued.

“Mhm.”

“And the elements were once again used on her, and somehow in the end you got two ponies out of the whole ordeal.” Joseph concluded.

“The minor details are irrelevant. To keep it simple, Nightmare Moon is a copy of Luna. Their memories, emotions, and feelings are mostly one in the same. The body of Nightmare Moon is merely a manifestation of alicorn magic, based off of what Luna envisioned herself as.”

“The very first time I used the elements, it essentially rendered Luna dormant as she spent her time on the moon.” Celestia said in a quiet voice, “But something happen. During her time on the moon, Nightmare Moon transformed from Luna’s alter ego. She became a pony that resided inside Luna, feeding off of her via emotions and magic, and when powerful enough, could make herself physical while using Luna.”

“After she returned again, we thought Nightmare Moon was gone for good. But somewhere deep inside, she waited. Disguised as Luna’s subconscious, she grew and became more powerful than ever. Eventually it reached a critical point, which is when she took over for the third time.”

Celestia sighed, before continuing, “Because of the amount of energy and magic she had stored was so pure and powerful, that when it met the immense power of the elements, it separated them.”

“So basically the separation of Luna and Nightmare Moon was an unforeseen consequence of using the elements, because of the magic stored in Luna.” Joseph summarized.

“In a very simplified version of layman's terms, yes.” Celestia said.

“So, like, why didn’t you just kill her, or something? Or just send her to the moon again?” Joseph asked.

Celestia was taken back by the human’s question, “What?”

“Yeah, I mean, that’s what we always did.” He answered, “If they’re bad you just kill them, or make them go away for a long time.”

She looked at him with an unamused glare.

“What? Isn’t that what happened to Sombra?” Joseph added innocently.

Celestia’s eyes closed as she tried to keep herself composed, “That’s a story for another day. But just know this, Sombra was never a good pony.”

Joseph was silent for a moment, “So, why did you reform her?”

“Because as soon as Luna was recovered enough to speak, she pleaded for me to not harm Nightmare Moon.” Celestia replied, instantly leaving Joseph in awe.

“And that’s how we got here.” He confirmed.

Celestia smiled, “Something like that.”

“So is she always going to be mean to people, or?” Joseph asked after a few moments.

Celestia looked over to him and chuckled, “It’s a difficult process to reform somepony that wanted to end life as we know it.”

“Yeah-Well…”

“And you can’t begin to help somepony if they don’t ask for it.” Celestia added, silencing Joseph for good.

He returned to his thoughts, replaying her words in his head. Joseph knew everything was a complicated process, especially when it comes to reforming someone, so he didn’t press any further. He felt that he used up his twenty questions and all story time for the day. They continued on their walk, enjoying the silence as both of them were lost in thought.

“I’ll send for you when dinner has been prepared.”

“Alright, see ya later, Celestia.” Joseph said.

The sound of Celestia’s metal shoes against the marble floor echoed down the hallway as Joseph slowly closed the door. His legs ached from their long trip around the castle, but he felt happy none the less as he looked in on his dimly lit chambers. Most of his belongings were being held for research, so there wasn’t all that much to do.

His eyes scanned around the room before landing on the large study that was kept in the corner of the room. The massive bookshelves loomed over him as his eyes roamed to and fro before landing on an older history book. After his conversations with Celestia, he realized he wasn’t as learned as he thought he was about Equestrian history. Quickly he settled into a recliner, before flipping open the cover on the large tome.

The quiet sounds of someone knocking at the chamber doors brought Joseph back from his thoughts. A muffled female voice passed through the door as he remained motionless.

“Come in.” Joseph called out.

The door gently opened, followed by gentle hoofsteps, “Our majesty has requested you come to the dining hall for dinner.”

The little mare in a maid’s outfit fell silent as her gaze landed on the lone human. He laid prone on an area rug by the study, books piled up around him. Some opened, others stacked taller than she was. On his head forehead rested a book, that he carefully balanced.

“Uhm…?”

“I’m hoping to get the information the book holds through osmosis.” Joseph calmly answered, still looking up at the book on his head.

“Oh…”

“Please tell Celestia that I’ll be there eventually.” He added, finally trailing his eyes over to the small mare.

She bowed slightly, “As you wish.”

“Thank you.” He called out as she exited his room.

A sigh left him, as the book slumped off his head. He sat up, looking around the noticeably darker room, trying to figure out how long he’d spent reading. Gingerly he rose, stretching and popping joints as he rubbed his eyes. The sun was noticeably lower in the sky then he remembered, but shrugged, and dragged himself over to the balcony doors.

The air was warm as he stood in the golden light of the sun. He took in the view that his new residence gave him. For as far as he could see, Equestria was before him, the beauty rendering him speechless. As he traced mountain peaks with his eyes, he noticed a large garden located a few hundred feet before him.

Joseph ran through his thoughts, trying to remember if Celestia had ever told him about it. Concluding that she probably did and that he wasn’t listening at the time, he made his way back inside as he prepared to embark on a journey to the new garden.

His journey was event-less as he scaled the hundreds of stairs that led him to the ground floor of the castle. Without any real direction, he set out in search of the garden. After a few minutes of getting completely lost within the identical corridors of the castle, Joseph had managed to find a large set of doors that led out.

The beauty of the garden was breathtaking, as he tentatively began exploring it. Even if Celestia didn’t tell him about it, he could understand why she didn’t reveal this treasure that resided in the castle. Minutes felt like hours as he calmly waded through flowers.

That was until he spotted Nightmare Moon. His breathing hitched, as he quickly hid behind a hedgerow. Peaking around the corner, he watched the black alicorn mosey from one patch of flowers to another. She seemed unburdened, relaxed, even happy. A thought that brought a smile to his face.

The villain of the night, stopped to smell the flowers…

His thoughts distracted him as she neared. Only to realize this as their eyes locked. Joseph’s went wide with fear as he held his breath, hoping to stay still enough for her not to notice him. Nightmare Moon on the other hand was seeing red, as her pupils constricted. She began to show her teeth as she started growling.

“W-Wait!” Joseph tried to say, in an attempt to keep her from mauling him.

It only added fuel to the fire, “Did you just address me?”

“I-I-”

“Silence!” Nightmare Moon bellowed, “You hairless ape, you are nothing but trouble!”

“But I didn’t even-”

“How dare you address me, you pathetic swine!” Nightmare Moon seethed.

“I-What?”

“Begone, before you ruin everything!” She screamed.

“Jesus Christ, what did I do?!” Joseph yelled, as he began to slowly walk backwards.

“What haven’t you done? Just another peasant to reside in the castle, alongside the insufferable mare of the sun!” Nightmare Moon yelled, advancing towards the internally panicking human.

“I-I didn’t even-”

“Enough!” Nightmare Moon barked, reaching her breaking point, “Never address me again swine, return to your petty life, basked in the glow of Celestia.”

Joseph gulped as he noticed the vegetation started to wilt with every step she took. His lack of response only fueled her anger more, as he was sent flying backwards with a blast of magic. When he recovered, all that remained of where the lunar villain stood was a scorch mark and black smoke.

“Well, that was...something.” Joseph said to himself, as he tried to piece together the past few moments.