Author's Note

Any resemblances to other works on this site are purely coincidental and are in no way copied.
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic belongs to Hasbro. I'm simply here to play in their sandbox while my muse demands it.

Enjoy!

Talking to Nightmares

Talking to Nightmares

“Remember this day little ponies for it was your last. From this moment forth, the night will last forever!” Nightmare Moon laughed, ensuring that several lightning bolts had gone off behind her for dramatic effect. She had also made a point of baring her unusually sharp fangs that she called teeth to increase the intimidation. No doubt the entirety of Ponyville was shaking in their hooves especially after electrocuting two members of the Royal Guard. That said, she was blindsided by what happened next.

“Why?”

Nightmare Moon blinked as she finished her admittedly satisfying wave of maniacal laughter. She scanned the crowd for the source of the question when she spotted the only creature who did not seem to be quaking in their hooves. If nothing else, it was because he had no hooves. No, this creature could only be one thing in Nightmare Moon’s books.

A dragon. A baby dragon if she was seeing this correctly. It had then occurred to her that the question was not asked fearfully as she had come to expect from her subjects if her maniacal laughter had been any indication. No, this question was asked with the intense curiosity that only a newborn foal could possess.

The self-proclaimed Queen of the Night felt herself going cold. She had spent her thousand year imprisonment on the moon stewing up many contingency plans should things not have gone smoothly. However, she had not in her thousand year banishment expected to encounter a curious purple dragon or any curious foals for that matter. Then again, she had banking on her scare factor being high enough such that they would not speak in fear of swift retribution. She had also suspected that the probability of a dragon living among ponies to be astronomically low that it would have essentially have been nonexistent.

She had also not expected the cheering of the foals who happened to enjoy Nightmare Night and enjoyed her existence as a means to scare them. Nonetheless it did make her smirk slightly knowing that ponies loved her. Nightmare Moon quickly shook her head and stomped her forehooves on the ground in a display of dominance, flaring out her wings for additional effect. That much had done the trick.

That’s what I get for make such assumptions. They always seem to come back to bite me in the flank. Nightmare Moon grumbled as she stared down at the fidgeting dragon who was currently sitting atop the back of the only mare who was able to foretell her return.

“You will have to be more specific, dragon,” the black coated alicorn stated. She paused. She had to give him points for standing up to her just to ask such a question. The foals didn’t count as they were too young to truly understand her and her intentions. She could guess that the thousand years that she had been gone had only served to increase their fear of her despite the cheers and laughter from the young ones. “Incidentally, dragon, what is your name?”

She saw him freeze from his perch atop the unicorn’s back before uttering back a single word: “Spike.”

“Very well, Spike,” she nodded, “Why would I what?”

“I mean why do you want to have the night last forever? I mean I’ve heard the legend about the two sisters who ruled and how one fell to jealousy and was then banished,” the dragon told her as he gave his brief description of the legend.

“The legend you speak of is in essence correct,” Nightmare nodded. “That said, I believe greater elaboration is required to understand my desire.” She had, much to the surprise of the entire town, sat down on her haunches before recounting her time as Princess Luna while explaining her desire to make her nights as pleasing to see and watch as Celestia’s days. Her continued failure had driven the mare into pursuing powerful and subsequently darker magic to make an eventually fearful populace love her and her nights which had thus led to her descent into insanity.

“No matter what I did. It seemed that ponies would never be around to appreciate all the work that is put into making the night sky the way it does,” Nightmare Moon finished her explanation turned rant.

The silence that followed was absolutely deafening and made Nightmare wonder if telling such a story was really such a good idea. Her thoughts snapped as she noticed that Spike had dismounted and stared up at her with more than a little wonder in his large green eyes.

His eyes... they’re just like mine. She idly mused.

“I can’t say I blame you,” said Spike with his arms crossed over his small scaly chest. “I mean, if I worked really hard to make something only for it to get thrown back in my face, I wouldn’t be very happy about it either.” He paused. “For what it’s worth though. Twilight and I enjoy the night just as much as the day.” He gestured to his unicorn companion who had been wearing a nervous look on her face ever since she had appeared and couldn’t help the smile that stretched across his face as she nodded in agreement.

Nightmare for her part was taken aback. Not once had she ever received a compliment for her hard work. But here was this baby dragon. Spike she mentally chided herself. When she had plotted her return, she had thought that she would have to force the ponies of Equestria to treasure her nights by getting rid of the day. But now...given that there was already two ponies who valued the night...

“It’s really ironic,” Spike continued, bellying a maturity that nobody present would have expected from him. It had the secondary effect of breaking Nightmare Moon out of her internal musings. “At least from what Twilight here,” he gestured to his unicorn companion, “has told me from her lessons. Astronomy has really taken off as a science over the past few centuries. Equestria has a ton of observatories and the ponies that work there spend their time studying the moon and the stars. Traveling ponies use the stars as a map to guide to help them find their way back to civilization when they are lost in the wilderness. Also, the constellations that the stars create have some really cool stories.”

He turned to Twilight, asking about a story about a constellation named Draco. Nightmare rolled her eyes. Somehow, she had a feeling that he would pick a constellation based on his heritage. However, it did make her wonder for the most fleeting of seconds. Did ponies in this time truly enjoy the night more than those of the era from which she was familiar?

In any case, Nightmare opted to give him the benefit of the doubt as she listened to Twilight’s stories about the many constellations that made their home in the night sky. She ended up losing herself in the many fascinating tales that Twilight and Spike had shared with her. That settled it; if ponies could come up with stories like that from whatever amount of time Celestia had allowed the night to last, she was certain more stories could be created if the night lasted forever!

“That only serves to prove that the night absolutely must last forever now!” Nightmare Moon exclaimed, clapping her hooves together happily.

XxX

“That didn’t work out like I’d hoped it would,” Spike mumbled as he stared up at the clapping Nightmare Moon. It was then that another idea struck him. If showing her that ponies did value her night wouldn’t dissuade her from her goal then maybe this will.

“But if the night lasts forever nopony will be around to enjoy it!” The clapping stopped immediately and room felt that it had dropped at least ten degrees at that statement. Maybe that wasn’t the best thing to say. Nightmare’s eyes narrowed as she locked eyes with Spike. No, it definitely was not the best thing to say.

“What do you mean?” she asked sharply, pinning the small dragon with an icy glare.

“Think about it,” Spike stated, sounding more confident that he actually felt at the moment. “If the night lasted forever, food wouldn’t be able to grow. Ponies will starve and die from the lack of nutrients as a result. Without sunlight, plants can’t run the photosynthetic reactions required for self sustaining by production of ATP, NADPH, and glucose. We need these in order to make all the important chemicals in our bodies to help us survive.”

Spike looked back up at Nightmare Moon, fearful of her reaction. However, what he saw was what he was hoping for. It was clear that his words were having an impact on her. It had the added effect of altering her thought process if her conflicted face was anything to go by. He knew that he had to keep up the pressure to show that while the night was absolutely important to the survival of Equestria, the fact remained that the day was just as important as well.

The fact that other ponies were chiming in their agreement and their own experiences of the night certainly didn’t hurt.

Moving right along, Spike had gone on to explain the pineal gland and its function to make ponies feel sleepy in the absence of darkness while also helping to regulate hormone balances in the pituitary. He had explained that it wasn’t something that can be controlled at will as it was a regulatory gland that served to help maintain proper sleep cycles along with hormone balance.

Spike noticed that Nightmare Moon was close to breaking if the increasingly conflicted expression on her face was any indication. He knew that this was his chance to go in for the kill. Princess Celestia had told them to make some friends while they were in Ponyville after all.

Besides if Nightmare Moon was really the Queen of the Night then she’d have to come to Canterlot with them since that’s where all princesses are supposed to rule from. Granted he only had one princess as a precedent but the thought process still remained.

Everypony watched with bated breath as Spike kneeled and offered a short bow to the black alicorn.

“I would be honored to call you my friend if you are willing to not make the night last forever,” Spike held out a hand for her to take. Nightmare hopped from her perched on the balcony to meet the dragon face to face. It was only fair as he had shown such bravery in confronting her. She continued to stare in surprise as she felt something in her burst. Her eyes felt wet and felt her mouth quirk up for the very first time as a genuine smile stretched across her face. Without another thought, Nightmare lifted a hoof and placed it in his hand.

“This is my promise to you,” Spike started, saying whatever came to mind as he smiled up at the mare, “I’ll always be your friend and admire your night like we’ve always done,” he threw an arm around a stunned Twilight, “you’ll always have a place in my heart just like I’ll always have a place in yours.”

The two suddenly found themselves surrounded by Nightmare’s mist, much to everypony’s surprise as Nightmare Moon began to flash and transform. Spike watched in awe as the mist slowly lifted.

Thank you Spike. He could hear Nightmare’s voice in his head. Thank you for showing me that the night has always been loved by my subjects and for your offering of friendship.

Spike could only nod dumbly as he stared at the spot where Nightmare Moon had stood. But where Nightmare once stood was where another, smaller dark blue alicorn lay, unconscious. Spike stared at the presently unconscious alicorn in awe. He could see the armor and hoof shoes that the taller mare had been wearing but were now reduced to little more than shrapnel strewn across city hall.

For a pony who’d apparently been banished to the moon for a thousand years, she looked quite beautiful in Spike’s humble opinion. He couldn’t help but wonder how she’d maintained herself while on the moon but decided to ultimately let the subject die in favor of more dire concerns.

Just where was Princess Celestia?

Noticing the slowly rising sun’s glow behind him, Spike, Twilight and the rest of Ponyville turned around as they saw a sphere of light as bright as the sun itself descend on the town hall. They all watched through covered eyes as the light dissipated. Once it was gone, everypony gasped to be in the presence of Her Eminence: Princess Celestia.

Everypony bowed in her presence. Twilight on the hand, trotted to her side and the two exchanged a quick nuzzle.

“Twilight Sparkle,” Princess Celestia began, her voice gentle but still held the air of regality that one would come to expect from her. “My faithful student. I knew you could do it.”

“I wish I could say it was me who had done it, Princess,” Twilight admitted as she cast a sidelong look at her number one assistant. “But the truth is. It was really thanks to Spike that Nightmare Moon is gone.”

Princess Celestia stared at her student for several moments before turning to the purple dragon she had come to see as one of her own. It was clear that he was still fidgeting in her presence despite the smile she’d sent his way. She had still remained silent for several moments. She had actually expected for Twilight and her newfound friends to traverse the Everfree Forest and discover the elements of harmony in the Castle of the Two Sisters. She would have never guessed that Spike had managed to simply talk to her and convince her that what she was doing was not the right thing to do.

“From the bottom of my heart,” Princess Celestia began, her rose colored eyes holding Spike’s nervous gaze, “I thank you for rescuing my little sister.” Spike for his part was speechless as Celestia trotted toward her little sister. Twilight and Spike exchanged nervous glances at what Princess Celestia might do next.

“Princess Luna,” she began. The aforementioned alicorn’s eyes snapped open as she slowly met her older sister’s eyes. “It has been a thousand years since I’ve seen you like this.” she had laid on her haunches as she maintained eye contact. “We were meant to rule together, little sister.”

“Little sister?” Everybody breathed in unison. It was clear that whatever they had been expecting from Princess Celestia, it certainly wasn’t this. Then Celestia asked the million bit question that lingered in everybody's heads.

“Will you accept my friendship?”

Princess Luna squeezed her eyes shut as a pained expression overtook her otherwise beautiful features. Everybody else waited on baited breath and hoof as they eagerly awaited her reply. The dark coated alicorn stared down for the most fleeting of seconds, contemplating the question. Then with little to no hesitation, she darted forward to stare up into her sister’s eyes, her wings opened to their fullest span.

“I’m so sorry!” she cried to Celestia as she leaned in for a nuzzle. “I missed you so much, big sister.” The smaller alicorn said nothing else as she buried her head into Celestia’s alabaster coat as several tears trailed down her cheeks.

Celestia was not much better as she responded in kind, tears and all. “I missed you too.”

Overall it was quite a touching moment and it would have been beautiful. However, there was still the fact that the entire town was present to bear witness and they had all burst into tears at the reunion of the two sisters. Pinkie had already cried a literal stream of tears that the napkin in her hoof had done little to resolve it. That said, her crying had stopped in an instant as she pointed out there could really only be one way to celebrate such a reunion.

A big party! A really big party. A party that would go down in history books as the greatest party that Equestria had seen since Celestia and Luna became Equestria’s princesses.

XxX

Princess Luna had opted to stay by her sister’s side for the entire duration of the town’s celebration. She had, of course, spoken with several of the townsponies at her sister’s behest but even as she was talking to her little ponies, her mind drifted back to the small purple dragon who had essentially saved her from herself. She decided that she needed to, at the very least thank her savior face to face. After all, anything less would be a disservice to what he’d done.

As it turned out, Spike had been quite easy to find. Being a small purple dragon, he stuck out in crowds since he didn’t have a mane, a coat, and he wasn’t even equine for that matter! His green head spines only served to make him even easier to find as she spotted him surrounded by six mares. She could tell he wasn’t entirely used to being in the spotlight but couldn’t quite stifle her laughter as she watched him bask in it. Watching him like this made her wonder if she really ought to interrupt.

Unfortunately, the decision was taken out of her hooves when a mare with a violet coat and straight violet mane with a lone pink stripe noticed her conflicted expression and waved her over with a smile.

Immediately, the others mares and the small dragon had sunk into a deep bow. The smaller alicorn had insisted that they needn’t stand on decorum with her. “Your friend was the one that saved me after all. If anything, it is I who should be bowing to you.”

Spike had immediately jumped up and had attempted to dissuade her.

“I was happy to help,” he told her modestly. “It’s part of the philosophy that Twilight and Princess Celestia have been teaching me: talk things out with everypony instead of resorting to violence to reach some kind of agreement. I wasn’t sure it would work here but I’m glad it did.” His smile made her smile in turn in spite of its awkwardness.

“Would it be alright if I borrowed you for a short while,” Princess Luna asked. She received no protests as they watched Spike walk by her side. The princess of the night trotted toward a more secluded part of Ponyville before taking a seat on a bench and gesturing for Spike to join her.

“So what would you like to talk about Your Highness?” Spike asked, watching her curiously.

“You needn’t sit on decorum with me, young Spike. Just Luna will suffice for the purposes of our conversation this day,” Princess Luna replied. Spike nodded slowly while waiting for her to start the conversation.

“So about your feelings about the night…” she trailed off awkwardly, watching as Spike raised a curious eyebrow. Or at least he would have if he had eyebrows. The creases of his forehead were sufficient to convey the same idea.

“Well for what it’s worth. I like it. I’m not fanatical about it like Twilight is but I enjoy stargazing and the stories behind the constellations almost as much as she does,” he leaned in and whispered to her conspiratorially, “and believe me, she is practically obsessed with stargazing when she’s not stuffing her brain reading those dusty old books.”

Luna allowed her a small laugh at that.

“Besides, the night time means the work day is done and I have as much fun as I want and not have to worry about having work to do,” Spike paused. “At least until either Princess Celestia or Twilight make me go to bed which is kind of hypocritical of her since she gets to stay up all night studying,” he added as an afterthought, scowling at thought that he actually needed a bed time! It was outrageous!

Luna’s laughter was unrestrained this time as she and Spike’s conversation descended into laughter. It took a great deal to pull their laughter under control but a few minutes and several deep breaths later, they had succeeded.

“So tell me Spike, what do you intend to do after the Summer Sun Celebration has concluded?” Luna asked curiously.

“It’s really up to Twilight,” Spike shrugged. “I work and get paid to be her number one assistant so I’ll probably go wherever she decides to go but she also makes sure to take my opinion into account. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind either way. Ponyville and Canterlot both have their pros and cons and whatever Twilight decides, I’m up for it.”

Luna hummed in thought. “Irrespective of what you decide to do, would you be willing to establish correspondence with me? I believe that having such a correspondence would be beneficial with helping me catch up with what I’ve missed during my...time away from Equestria.”

Spike’s smile split his face as he eagerly accepted her invitation. He would have been foolish not to after everything he’d been through to save her. He had quickly explained his ability to send letters via dragon fire and had suggested that she ask Princess Celestia for the spell to send said messages.

There was little else to say as her older sister approached gesturing to Luna that it was time to go home. Luna nodded happily as she waved at Spike before hopping off the bench. Celestia for her part had given Spike another nuzzle before leading them both toward Ponyville’s central plaza where Twilight and the rest of Ponyville was waiting for them.

Twilight had told the Princess of the Sun her intention to stay in Ponyville to understand the magic of friendship as it had been at least a variation of it that had set Princess Luna free. Princess Celestia had been thrilled at Twilight’s proclamation and had decreed that Twilight would continue her studies in Ponyville alongside her new friends.

Spike and Luna shared one more glance as the latter boarded the chariot before it took off into the mid-day sky.

Spike suddenly found himself in Twilight’s embrace. The young dragon nuzzled deeper into his caretaker’s coat as they watched the chariot shrink as it got further and further away.

End.