A Nightmares Love

“And what did I tell you?” Celestia asked sternly.

“I-What? It’s not like I purposely went out and got hurt.” Joseph responded indignantly.

“Obviously you did something to provoke her.” She added, patting his elbow with a piece of gauze.

He hissed and flinched away, “You know that hurts a lot.”

“Maybe you’ll learn something.” Celestia said in a slightly positive tone.

“Learn what?” Joseph asked angrily.

“To stop pestering Nightmare Moon.” Celestia answered.

Joseph’s frustration grew immensely, rendering him speechless. He stuttered angrily at the sun princess, unable to form words. The white alicorn happily giggled while tending to the slightly battered human.

“All because I just wanted to see the garden…” Joseph trailed off.

“That’s another thing.” Celestia quickly said, glaring him down again.

“Here we go…”

“You couldn’t wait for me to show it to you?” Celestia asked, sounding hurt.

“You should know that I just do things, without a lot of thought sometimes. Exploring is one of those things.” He answered.

Celestia hummed, “I suppose…”

She touched the gauze to the wound on his elbow again, causing him to jump, “Jesus Christ, knock it off, that hurts!”

A smile worked its way onto the solar monarch’s face, “Oh, how about now?”

Again she touched his elbow.

“Ow! Damn, stop!” Joseph finally said, moving away from the giggling princess.

“You brought this on yourself. Now take your punishment like a good boy.” Celestia said deviously, as she poured more alcohol onto the gauze.

He gulped and began to back away from the princess, whose wide smile continued to grow as she closed in on him. This wasn’t going to end well.

Joseph had pretended to learn from his mistakes to get away from the sadistic pony Celestia turned into, to prove a point. Though his wounds were bandaged up by the surprisingly medically inclined princess, his pride and feelings were still sore. While he tried his best to tone out Celestia as she explained to him the importance of not bothering the already angry villain.

In that time, thoughts bounced around his head about the mare in question. It’s not like he was outright trying to pester the black alicorn, he merely wanted to clear his name. Which, in every instance he tried to do so backfired and probably add fuel to the fire, he was still slightly determined to have a civil coherent conversation with her.

His thoughts also left him with many questions. Especially from one of his previous conversations with Celestia, that kept returning to his thoughts. Why didn’t Nightmare Moon want help? Initially it was a dumb question. Obviously she wouldn’t want help from the ones that defeated her several times, let alone brought her back in the first place.

During his time with Celestia, he carefully pried information out of her about Nightmare Moon. The most he got from her, that there were hurt feelings on both sides and it was better to wait for her to come around rather than to push her away.

Joseph personally felt like it was some sort of cop out, but left it at that. While he understood the difficulty of trying to help Nightmare Moon, especially since merely speaking to her got him injured, but it didn’t seem like anything was done.

Eventually he was freed from Celestia’s reprimanding, setting out to clear his thoughts by wandering through the castle. Since his first wandering adventure with Celestia, Joseph now made it a point to explore the castle in his off time. All around him was history. History that had no meaning or relevance to him, but history none the less.

When he wasn’t wandering, he was doing his best to brush up on the history of Equestria. Joseph’s history affixation was encouraged by Twilight Sparkle, but a common trend showed that most of the books fell short where he was most interested. Again, his thoughts would drift to the interesting subject of Nightmare Moon.

She had been reformed long before he first arrived in Equestria. Though only a year had been spent away from his home planet, he had only seen the Queen of the Night a handful of times. Even then, they were mostly in passing, with her being uninterested in the highest degree. While he was around the castle a lot before becoming a resident, he rarely caught sight of her.

Joseph tried his best to clear his thoughts from running a mile a minute during his walks, but to no use. Carefully, he would numb himself until he found himself before his chamber doors, hours later than his last conscious memory.

The castle was quiet. Peacefully so. A gentle breeze came in through the open balcony doors and the lone window by the study. The cooler evening air swept through the room and around Joseph, as he sat quietly in one of his chairs. His gaze was casted outside, watching as Celestia’s fleeting rays of sunlight dipped below the horizon.

Books lay scattered around in piles, their shelves barren save for dust and a few trinkets that didn’t belong to him. He’d been through every book that interested him, which scared him. He was never one for reading books. His mind was blank with boredom as he tried to keep his thoughts from traveling to Nightmare Moon. The peaceful atmosphere of the room was broken by knocking at the door.

Joseph didn’t flinch, even when the second round of knocking came. A few precious seconds of silence passed before the door carefully squeaked open.

“Sir?” The small voice of one of the castle maids called out.

Again, he remained silent, staring straight ahead.

The soft sound of hoofsteps reached his ears as the small gray mare came into view before stopping, “Um-S-Sir, Celestia has requested your presence in the dining hall.”

Joseph took a loud deep breath as his eyes locked on to her, “Very well, tell her I’ll be there shortly.”

“A-As you wish.” The mare replied with a bow, before turning and leaving.

“Also,” Joseph called out, eliciting a squeak from the skittish mare, “Send a letter to Twilight. I need more books...Or a hobby.”

“O-Okay.” He barely heard, as the door shut.

Joseph rose carefully, his legs tired from his earlier adventures. He’d reached a new level of bored, mixed in with stewing about Celestia’s earlier lecture about Nightmare Moon. Hopefully he’d find something else to do besides read his life away with dusty tomes from years he couldn’t fathom.

It was late. Joseph had guessed seven or eight o’clock by the lack of sunlight outside. He shuddered slightly at the mess the study had turned into. Though deemed it unimportant, and carefully set about traversing to the dining hall.

The soft glow of candles illuminated the corridor to the dining hall. The gold glow giving warmth to the dark castle, shedding new light on the artifacts that lined the hall. His journey to his current location was uneventful. Ever so carefully he opened the large doors to the dining hall, before proceeding in.

He was early, greeted by Celestia and Cadence who quietly sat at the massive dining table. A few castle staff members scurried to and fro, setting the table for the nights meal. Silently he walked towards the table, before loud hoofsteps drew him back to reality.

A glance to his right showed Nightmare Moon herself. He froze, and instantly gained a glare from Celestia. She never came to meals. Up until now, Joseph was convinced that Nightmare Moon never ate a meal or at least in the company of others. The rarity of this was solidified by the looks of Celestia and Cadence.

The Mistress of the Night was lost in her thoughts as she neared one of her greatest annoyances. It wasn’t until she was a few feet from him, that she realized where she was. With a confused glare, she glanced around the room before her eyes landed on the lone human before her. Internally, Joseph was doing his best to disappear as to not get physically assaulted by Nightmare Moon and to not get verbally assaulted by Celestia.

Her lips curled down as a deep growl left her throat. Carefully Joseph backed up as slowly as he could, hoping she couldn’t sense motion.

“Easy N-Nightmare Moon…” He stuttered nervously as her glare intensified.

“Is it never enough for you?!” She bellowed, causing Joseph to flinch away.

“I-”

“What else must I do to portray my hate for you. I don’t want friendship, companionship, fellowship, comradeship or whatever synonym pleases your petty self! Now leave. Me. Alone. Forever.” Nightmare Moon seethed, though her eyes and expression showed otherwise.

For once he saw an emotion that wasn’t rage. She seemed to slump slightly after her short tirade. Pain lied in her eyes as the corners of her mouth twitched downwards as her chest heaved. A distressed howl left her, before she disappeared into a blast of magic that both blinded and deafened Joseph.

Slowly, his vision returned and the ringing in his ears subsided to show a not too pleased Celestia.

“What?” He asked, partially in question.

Celestia’s glare didn’t subside as she shook her head slightly.

“Why are you shaking your head at me?” He added defensively.

“Obviously you don’t remember an earlier conversation we had, do you?” Celestia asked in a terrifyingly calm voice.

“Yeah, but I didn’t do anything. More importantly, someone should probably go check on her, because she seemed rather upset.” Joseph retorted.

“You need to not worry about her. Simply leave her alone as she has requested.” Celestia sternly warned.

“I-But-What-”

“Your Majesty?” A noble called out, stopping Celestia from further reprimanding. Quietly, she left the table to speak to the pony requesting her.

Joseph’s gaze turned to Cadence, who looked at him sorrowfully, “I-What?”

The Princess of Love sighed as he took a seat across from her, “Please, don’t take what Aunty had to say to heart. She’s trying to look out for both you and Nightmare Moon.”

“But I didn’t even do anything this time!” Joseph tried to exclaim quietly, earning a quick glance across the room from Celestia.

Again Cadence sighed, “I wish I could delve into this and help make sense of this for you but...it’s complicated. Please, know that she’s really trying to help you.”

“Whatever.” He replied angrily, “But seriously, is someone going to see if she’s alright? Because that wasn’t normal pissed off, gonna end my life Nightmare Moon. That was something else.”

Quietly she whispered as to not alert Celestia, “I’ll check on her later if it’ll make you feel better.”

A small smile appeared on his face, “Thank you.”

Joseph deflated slightly as the sound of Celestia’s returning hoofsteps reached his ears.

Here we go again…

Dinner went as well as it could be while constantly under Celestia’s scrutinizing glare. Joseph remained as silent as he could, while Cadence glanced between him and Celestia awkwardly. Both beings seemingly trying to ignore each other's presence during the meal. The tense air of Joseph and Celestia went unnoticed by the others.

Cadence had been distracted by her husband, and seemed preoccupied by everyone else at the table. Joseph’s appetite was ruined as he sat silently pouting at the table, playing with his food. Everyone else around him seemed to be ignoring him. Ever so carefully, he quietly left the table, going unnoticed for the most part.

Celestia watched him slowly trudge away from the corner of her eye. The only other one at the table to take notice was Luna, who quirked an eyebrow. Luna’s silent question went unanswered as Joseph left the dining hall.

If there was one thing that Joseph had learned in life, is that if you want something done right, you should do it yourself. Which currently had him wandering aimlessly around the castle in search of his destination. On a normal day, he barely knew his way around the castle, but now he was as lost as ever.

He never asked where everyone’s chambers were, except for Celestia’s. But that was irrelevant to him, which he constantly reminded himself of as he traveled deeper in the castle. From what he could tell, as he continued on, he entered an older portion of the castle. From the pictures and tapestries on the walls, to the construction of the hallway.

As he continued, the already empty halls felt even more so. Eerily so, leaving him looking over his shoulder every few seconds. Eventually he found himself in front of a large, intimidating door, marked by a crescent moon.

The cool night air swept across the motionless, black form that was Nightmare Moon. Her head rested against the wide railing of her balcony, casting her gaze out over the darkened Equestria. Her body lay limply on the floor, as if a lifeless object. Nightmare Moon’s mane waved gently in an invisible, magical breeze.

Her mind was blank, as her lifeless eyes focused on a distant mountain peak. It was almost peaceful, had it not been for the crushing loneliness and sadness that she felt, day in and day out. By now, she had hoped she would’ve become numb to those two feelings she knew all too well, but to no avail.

Silently she hoped that it never happened. Why was she left to live? She could’ve accepted her fate and die honorably. But she was spared. Unwillingly so, left to pick up the shattered pieces left of the life she thought she lived. Left, to discover what she was, and left alone in the old part of the castle. Unhampered, lonely, quiet. That was her life now, until she either ended it all or awaited the end of time.

Nightmare Moon was pulled from her thoughts by the sound of gentle knocking. At first she was confused, before looking back into her room towards the door. Ever so carefully, the door opened letting in the last being she wanted to see. A long sigh left her as she turned away, more interested in the view than him.

Joseph held his breath as he opened the door and quietly slipped in. Her room was dim and surprisingly empty. The balcony doors were open, and the curtains haphazardly blowing around in the night breeze. He could see her, laying on the floor of the balcony. His heart dropped briefly, his mind bringing up the worst thing that could’ve happened.

Softly, he walked through her room before stopping at the balcony doors. He held his breath again as he looked her over. Nightmare’s breathing was gentle, and she didn’t look at him as he walked up. Joseph knew he was walking on eggshells as he carefully thought out what he was going to say.

“Hey-uh, Nightmare Moon?” Joseph delicately asked, bracing himself for an onslaught of words.

Though, all he received was a sigh.

“Do you-uh, mind if I-?”

“It’s not like if I said something, that it would stop you.” Nightmare Moon spoke in a soft voice, not bothering to look at him.

Joseph’s heart dropped as he heard the sad tone hidden in her voice. Ever so carefully he approached her left side, before gently sitting the the railing. He received a sideways glance, but nothing more.

“I-uh, came to see if you were...okay.” Joseph said, in a low tone, trying to break the silence that fell over them.

“I’m fine.” The coldness in her voice could’ve rivaled the night air.

“Well, you obviously aren’t.” He retorted in a slightly irritated tone.

“What does it matter to you? You’re just like the rest of them.” Nightmare moon said, sadness and anger mixing in her voice.

“Unlike the rest of them, I seem to be the only one that cared to see if you were alright after your break down.” Joseph replied harshly, silencing her either out of awe or anger.

There was a long pause as Joseph watched her. Her breathing was no longer calm, now sporadic. Nightmare’s body shook slightly with suppressed sobs, as glistening tears trailed down her cheeks. Unsure of what to do, Joseph silently watched as the Queen of the Night broke down in front of him.

After a few moments, she spoke, “Do you know what it’s like, to be hated, shunned and abandoned? I was brought back to this life against my will. I’m imprisoned here, alone in the castle. Having to see the outcome of my actions everyday is like reopening wounds and pouring salt in them. It hurts to be here, to be conscious, to be alive. To live this life that isn’t even mine.

“I am nothing. A broken, useless version of Luna, whose only good at failing and hurting everyone she touches. All of the memories I have, the feelings that well up inside of me, the life I’m living, is not mine. Just a copy of Luna that everypony brushed aside and cares nothing about. Just a mistake to be paraded around by Celestia to show her worth, only to be thrown away afterwards.

“I yearn for the release from this life. If I could end it all I’d do it in a heartbeat. I’m worthless, destined for a life of loneliness and solitude, and to relive all of my mistakes until I become completely numb.”

Nightmare Moon continued to spill her feelings. Her eyes never left a fixed point off in the distance. Eventually her voice became quiet as she sat there blankly, barely breathing as everything left her.

“Nightmare Moon-” Joseph started, but was cut off.

“Please, don’t call me that.” She pleaded softly, lowering her head, “That name was given to me by those who feared me. It hurts to hear it said.”

“Forgive my ignorance, but, to me, you’re a mare of the night who is associated with the moon. Nothing more, nothing less.” Joseph said with a hint of sternness in his voice in an attempt to ease her worries.

A look confusion met Joseph as he continued, “In our lives, we make mistakes. Our pasts may be made up of mistakes and unresolved issues, but at some point in time we have to move on. If you live your life with no tomorrows, everyday, will just lead to sorrow.

“Basically what I’m trying to say, is live, Nightmare Moon. Move on from your past. It’ll be hard, but if you stay in your past, it’ll kill you. And personally, I wouldn’t want that to happen to you.” Joseph concluded.

Nightmare’s shimmering eyes were illuminated by the night sky. She was in disbelief, the being she treated so terrible sat next to her speaking comforting words. What he said in a few minutes was more than others did in a month's time. Even after the nasty things she said and did to him, he spoke to her. Her thoughts turned against her. Maybe she was wrong for acting the way she did when he was near her.

“And to say you deserve to be alone, is asinine. For what, making eternal night? Personally, I wouldn’t have minded it, but no one deserves to be alone forever.” He added, his hand carefully gripping her hoof that rested on the railing.

Nightmare Moon was at an even greater loss for words. He was holding her hoof. In an instant her cheeks were set ablaze with a red blush as she perked up, as if new life was breathed into her. He was even complimenting her plans to plunge the world into eternal night. Her mind began to race a mile a minute, barely able to comprehend what was going on.

“W-Why?” She stuttered, the only thing she could say.

“I don’t know, really. You were kind of a gargantuan bitch to me, but I figured misery loves company.” Joseph replied.

Nightmare Moon scoffed and rolled her eyes before something strange happened. A small smile formed on her lips as she looked up at him, mirroring his expression. This was the start of a new chapter in her life, and Nightmare Moon was bringing Joseph along for the ride.

* * *