Nightmare: The New Definition Of Friendship

Celestia sat in her chair in the middle of the throne room. Waiting for something. Something. What was she waiting for again? She had lost track of time.  She would get up once in a while to raise the sun higher in the sky, and then come back to sit down.

A burning feeling never left her heart after she defeated her sister and witnessed what the spell had done. It had placed Luna in a coma and, in her mind, it was all her fault. A sigh escaped her mouth as a guard burst through the front door, trotting quickly up to her. “What is it, commander?”The mare wearing the royal guard armor stepped up to Celestia and bowed before speaking. “It’s happened, Princess.” she said with a smile.This made Celestia leaned out of her chair. “What’s happened? You don’t mean—”A dark blue alicorn with a flowing mane similar to Celestia's stepped into the room. Her smile shined across the room, when she got up to Celestia’s a chair. Two words that Celestia didn't think she would hear came out of her mouth.“Hello, sister.” Luna said.

Twilight happily trotted downstairs as she prepared to show Spike the Starswirl the Bearded costume she had stitched up for Nightmare Night. She couldn’t wait to reveal her costume to everypony, or whoever stopped by the library.As she trotted to the front door, she caught Spike stuffing pieces of candy into his mouth. “Spike the dragon!”The young drake yelped in surprise, dropping the candy onto the floor. He turned around with a nervous smile. “I-I wasn’t eating anything! Honest!”Twilight rolled her eyes. “That’s enough for you, mister,” she said as she levitated the bowl to the upper shelf.“Aww, come on!” Spike whined, letting his arms slump down to the floor. “I’m really in the mood for some sugary treats!”“After I’m finished giving them out to the fillies and colts, then you can have some.”Spike crossed his arms then huffed. “Fine.” He slowly examined the white beard hanging down from Twilight’s chin and the bells on top of her head and came to one conclusion. “Are you that one kooky grandpa from Ponyville Retirement Village?”Twilight was about to open her mouth to tell Spike who she was until a knock at the door got her attention. Trotting to the door, Twilight opened it to see three fillies holding baskets filled with candy in their mouths.“Nightmare Night, what a fright, give us something sweet to bite!” They chanted, then they all received pieces of candy to put into their baskets. “Thanks, miss!”Twilight smiled. “You’re welcome, and great costumes, by the way. Happy Nightmare Night!” A small colt with brown spots on his white coat wiggled through the three fillies, which resulted in him falling on his face. “Careful there, little one. You could get yourself hurt.”“Pipsqueak the pirate, at your service!” he exclaimed, saluting Twilight. “It's my very first Nightmare Night.”Twilight levitated pieces of candy into the colt’s basket. “Since you moved here from Trottingham?”“No, my very first Nightmare Night ever!”“Well, okay, then. I hope you have a great time!” Twilight noticed something was missing. There wasn’t anypony watching the kids as they go to houses to get candy from strangers. This worried her. “Where’s your supervisor?”“Right there,” he said, pointing to a blue mare wearing a firefighter’s costume. She was talking to another mare with a zombie costume on.It took a moment for Twilight to realize who that was. Her eyes widened in surprise. “Sapphire?”The mare turned around and saw Twilight with her Starswirl The Bearded costume on. A big smile formed on her face as she approached her. “Twilight, hey! We haven’t seen each other since the Summer Sun Celebration! So, how’s Ponyville been treating ya?”“Well, I—”“Enough chitchat! Time is candy!” Pinkie Pie demanded, wearing a chicken costume and acting  the part.“Pinkie Pie, aren't you a little old for this?”“Too old for free candy?” Pinkie Pie gasped. “Never.”Twilight rolled her eyes then leveled some candy into Pinkie’s basket. Twilight waved a hoof around the bells on her hat, hoping Pinkie would notice her costume. “You like?”Pinkie Pie titled her head, examining whatever Twilight was wearing, she didn’t know. Then a big smile formed on her face as she figured out what Twilight was. “Great costume, Twilight! You make a fantastic weirdo clown!”“Clown?!” Twilight yelled, earning a giggle from Sapphire who was standing in the background. “How can I look like a clown?! Clowns wear makeup!”“Well, I gotta go! Candy won’t eat itself!” Pinkie Pie said her goodbyes, then ran off with the other fillies to another house.“So, that’s the kind of friend you made during your stay?” Sapphire giggled, shaking her head. “Looks like you took my advice pretty well.”“Hardly. They dragged me into some adventures that nearly killed me,” Twilight said with a giggle. “But they are caring friends and are fun to go places with.”Sapphire smiled. “I’m happy to hear that, Twilight Sparkle. Well, I gotta go take these kids before they bite my head off. See you later!” She trotted away from the library with the fillies following after her, then disappeared out of sight.Twilight sighed and turned to Spike. “I don’t get why no one knows Starswirl The Bearded. I mean, ponies read, right?”“Yeah.” A giggle escaped his mouth as he continued. “It's a great costume! Huh! Grandpa!”Twilight groaned. “Let’s just go.”

Celestia and Nightmare Moon were seated in a carriage being pulled by two royal guards. For the most part, Nightmare Moon recovered from the separation, but still felt some pain. Celestia knew this and she blamed herself for both of their pain.Neither princess had said anything to each other, until a certain blue alicorn caught Moon’s attention as they flew above her. “Since you choose to fear your princess rather than love her, and dishonor her with this insulting celebration, we decree that Nightmare Night shall be canceled! Forever!”“Your so-called welcoming subjects still chose to fear us.” Nightmare Moon said, looking down at the scene. Everypony was crowding on the ground, covering their heads with their forelegs as Luna announced.“Give them time, sister. They’ll—”“Don’t call me sister. You’ve lost that right,”  Nightmare Moon said coldly. She turned to watch the other actives that were going down the ground.“Please, let me help you.”Nightmare Moon didn’t respond. She watched as Twilight chased her alter-ego into the everfree forest. She could feel the magic inside the enchanted necklace around her neck beginning to course through her veins, preventing her from escaping or using her magic...She was trapped.Celestia sighed. “I waited for you two to wake. I was scared. It tore me apart watching you both lay there, not giving any sign of life. I almost lost my sister and—” she paused. Was she another sister? An enemy? Celestia shook her head as she continued. “Friend.”“That’s a lie. You never wanted her to wake up.”Celestia stared at the dark alicorn sitting across from her in the carriage. The hatred from her never burnt out.Nightmare Moon recoiled in disgust. The carriage landed in front of the Golden Oaks Library. Both princesses stepped out of the carriage and trotted to the front door. Moon hated that she needed to be babied by her sister and the two guards that followed behind her.Celestia noticed the door was already open, so she went inside, with Nightmare Moon following after her. “Twilight? Are you here?”“So, this is your protege’s home?” Nightmare Moon examined the bookshelves. She saw pictures of Twilight and Spike and one with Celestia as she trotted around the place.  She noticed a book laying on the edge of Twilight’s desk and decided to look into it.The more her eyes skimmed the pages she flipped as read on, the more Nightmare Moon became interested in the book.“Yes, she wanted to stay here in Ponyville, so I made some arrangements to get her this library,” Celestia explained. “She sends me friendship reports that I think you’ll find—”“I only asked one question.” Nightmare Moon trotted to the chair then sat down as she waited for Twilight. “But, I do have another question for you, and I want you to answer truthfully for this one.”Hesitating, Celestia gulped then nodded. “I will. After all you’ve been through, you deserve to have my honesty.”“At the castle, when you had me beat down like some diamond dog,” she leaned to closer to Celestia; enough for her to see the burning hate lying in her eyes, “Were you hoping that spell you were going to cast on me would kill me?”Celestia stared at the mare sitting in the chair who was silently waiting for a truthful answer that would forever change her. “I—”“Spike, I told you candy would give you a stomach ache if you ate too much!” Twilight and Spike trotted in the library, not noticing the two mares and the guards standing right in front of them. “Next time, you need to take my advice.”“Yeah, yeah...” Spike dismissively waved a claw as he walked past the mares and into the kitchen.“Twilight.” Twilight turned around at the sound of the soothing and kind voice of her mentor. What she saw sitting in that chair made her eyes widen and left her mouth agape.Twilight gulped, her lip quivering as she spoke. “I-Is that—” she blurted out, unable to finish her sentence, pointing a shaking hoof at Nightmare Moon.Celestia stepped in front of her shaken student and put as reassuring a smile as possible to calm her student down, even though the whole situation was unbearably awkward. “We need to talk.”

Twilight and Celestia sat in the other room, discussing what she had seen alive, sitting in her house. “Twilight, I want to apologize for not informing you about this, but this is urgent.”“Of course, Princess Celestia,” Twilight said to her mentor as she levitated a cup of tea she made a couple of minutes before. “But... how is she even alive? I thought Luna was cured.”“She is, but before I cast the spell on Nightmare, she blasted her own magic at me… It had an encounter effect. Instead of getting rid of Nightmare Moon, it gave her a separate body.” Celestia sighed. “How is Luna adjusting?”“Well, at first, things weren’t going so well for Luna, but then everything went fine and she’s happy now.”“That’s good. I want Luna to be happy after the things I put her through.” She looked at Nightmare Moon in the other room. “Nightmare Moon is alone and afraid; I can see it in her eyes. I want you to make her feel welcome, like she has ponies by her side at all times.”“But isn’t Nightmare Moon Luna’s jealousy and hatred?” Twilight turned to Nightmare Moon  and saw  she was still reading the book, then back to Celestia.“Yeah, she does look like she could use a friend.”“Twilight, I need you to be a friend to my sister; make the other ponies see she’s not a monster, but a misunderstood mare. Can you do that for me?”She nodded. Twilight had never had a more serious look on her face in her entire life. “Of course, Princess. I won’t let you down.”“Thank you.” Celestia smiled and sipped her tea before speaking again. “This is some really good tea,” she commented, earning a giggle from Twilight.