Twilight Sparkle had always been fond of the night. She loved spending evenings reading a book on her balcony, heading indoors and lighting a candle when the waning light from the sun eventually became too weak to read by. She loved staying up late doing research, or desperate to reach the next chapter of a cheesy romance novel borrowed from the Canterlot Library on the down-low. She loved observing the stars, the night sky, the ethereal patterns that wisps of clouds formed by the refracted light of the sun. Most of all, she loved the moon. She found the giant, silvery orb comforting, steady, and pleasant. Sure, Celestia’s sun was great, but she could actually appreciate the beauty of the moon without burning her eyes out.
Despite her love of the night, Twilight Sparkle did not look forward to spending the rest of her life under its domain. However, that is exactly what the dark Alicorn mare in front of her was trying to do.
Unbeknownst to her, and only partially intentionally, Twilight Sparkle and her five new “friends,” as close personal acquaintances were called, had just summoned the Elements of Harmony, an ancient and powerful magic keeping the flow of the universe moving naturally, cleansing or eradicating evil and disorder. The Alicorn, or “Nightmare Moon” as the history books referred to her, was visibly terrified. Twilight felt a little bad about that – the mare was as beautiful as the night she controlled, a dark, powerful, and mysterious creature. Perhaps, had she not been so intent on everlasting night, she might have moved in with Princess Celestia, and Twilight might have gotten to know her better, perhaps befriend her, or maybe, just maybe... become a little more than friends.
Twilight’s dream was dashed as a rainbow of order and harmony burst forth from her and her friends, a blinding light filling the room, encircling the Alicorn and reducing her to nothingness. Or so Twilight Sparkle had expected.
Before her lay two Alicorns, now – one that resembled Nightmare Moon in every way, aside from her lack of armor, and another, slightly smaller Alicorn mare, with a dark blue coat and a lengthy, lighter blue mane. Both had identical cutie marks.
Before Twilight had recovered from the physical drain of using the Elements to ask what had happened, Princess Celestia had appeared, greeting the smaller Alicorn in a surprisingly familial way.
“Sister?” Twilight blurted in confusion, before she could stop herself.
“Yes, Twilight Sparkle. This is Princess Luna, my sister,” Celestia answered with a kind smile, before continuing. “A millennium ago she was taken by resentment, jealousy, and hatred, and turned into a physical representation of those feelings, Nightmare Moon. However, while I am very glad to see my sister returned to me, I am confused as to why Nightmare Moon has been separated from her, as opposed to destroyed. Do you have any ideas, sister?”
“No, Celestia, I do not know why that being exists,” the small blue Alicorn replied.
“You… forget eternal night… you, Solar Empress… I WILL KILL YOU!” the black Alicorn took an offensive stance, and began to charge a spell, magic lancing out and piercing Princess Celestia’s chest, completely ignoring the barrier the Sun Princess had put up.
Much to the shock of everypony involved, nothing happened.
Princess Celestia regained her composure after the momentary lapse in her calm countenance when the nightmarish magic had ignored her shield. She calmly strode towards the black Alicorn, who crouched, growling and baring her fangs. Celestia stuck out a hoof and pressed it against Nightmare Moon’s chest, feeling the faintest semblance of resistance as it entered her body. A look of horror appeared on Nightmare Moon’s face at the pure white foreleg penetrating her chest, before she realized that she was not in agony.
“It would seem… that Nightmare Moon is not a physical being, or at least mostly not,” Celestia thought aloud, the statement directed at both everypony and nopony, “and had been using my sister as a sort of tether to this world. I suspect she should fade away soon enough. Seeing as she’s harmless, however, and in the event she does not fade from this world in the coming dawn… Twilight Sparkle?”
The purple unicorn was still trying to wrap her mind around what was going on. Nightmare Moon was Princess Celestia’s sister? But wasn’t actually Celestia’s sister, rather a manifestation of jealousy using the younger Alicorn’s body as a tether to this world? Twilight considered herself rather intelligent, but she was yet unsure of what had just taken place. Hearing her name called by the Princess shook her from her daze.
“Yes, Princess Celestia?”
“In the event that Nightmare Moon does not fade, I would like you to take her in and have her accompany you in your continued studies in Ponyville on the magic of friendship. I believe she could stand to learn about as much as you. Do you accept this charge?”
Twilight was ecstatic. Fulfilling the Princess’ wishes, completing her studies, and getting a chance to reform a powerless Alicorn demigod? This sounded too good to be true. Perhaps she could befriend the Night Alicorn? Maybe even live her dreams? Twilight’s body had answered Celestia’s question before her mind could arrange her thoughts into proper speech, however, and her head nodded furiously.
“Yes, Princess. I gladly accept! But in Ponyville? Why?”
“I think your friends would miss you if I brought you back to Canterlot,” Celestia said smiling and gesturing to the five mares accompanying Twilight. Then, Celestia’s horn flared golden for a moment, before fading.
Nightmare Moon was not pleased by this turn of events. Yes, she was alive. This was a plus. However, spending the rest of her days learning about the magic of friendship from a socially inept purple unicorn, instead of spreading her glorious night for the ponies of Equestria to love? That was not her idea of a life. Before she could protest, however, the Sun Princess began to speak again.
“That spell I just cast? That will prevent you from moving more than ten meters from Twilight Sparkle without her express permission. Now please, it is late. You mares have a big day tomorrow, and I have a welcome party to plan for my sister. Why don’t we all go get some rest?” Before giving any of the ponies a chance to reply, the Princess had teleported herself and her sister away, and Twilight, her five friends, and the still furious Alicorn, to the center of Ponyville.
“Well… I guess the princess is right. It was truly an honor meeting all of you, and I hope we can get together more often, perhaps when we’re not trying to save Equestria? You five are the first real friends I’ve had…” Twilight Sparkle said, a solemn, tired tone present in her voice.
Applejack yawned. “Shucks, Sugarcube, you’ve got a point. I think we should all hit the hay and meet up again tomorrow. That was more excitement in three hours than I’ve had in the last three years. I’m beat. Don’t y’all agree?”
Three of the other four mares nodded or mumbled their consent. Pinkie Pie, on the other hand, looked as awake as ever.
“I think it’s time for a PARTY!” Pinkie squealed.
“Pinkie, darling… its three am,” Rarity said, with a glance at the clock tower, “You may be up for a party, but I don’t think any of us are.”
“Does ANYPONY care what the DEMIGOD thinks?” Nightmare Moon roared, tired of being ignored.
“Miss Moon, please, keep your voice down. We may be awake, but that doesn’t mean anypony else is,” Twilight stated, “Come on, let’s go home. Girls, I’ll see you… well, I would say in the morning, but it is the morning, so I’ll settle on ‘later.’” Twilight giggled, sharing a laugh with her new friends before they parted ways.
Twilight began walking towards her library, before noticing Nightmare Moon had refused to move.
“Miss Moon, please. I can’t imagine that you leaving the ten-meter radius will be a pleasant experience.”
“We will try our luck,” the irate Alicorn replied.
“If you insist…” Twilight resumed her trot. After a few moments, she could hear a grinding sound behind her. She looked over her shoulder, still walking, and noticed Nightmare Moon attempting to dig her hooves into the ground and resist the yellow field pushing her towards Twilight Sparkle. The unicorn mare chuckled at the look of fear on Nightmare Moon’s face. After walking a little while longer, Twilight noticed the soft grinding noise was replaced with a soft, metallic clip-clop of Nightmare Moon’s shoed hooves walking behind her. “Isn’t that more comfortable, Miss Moon?”
“Why do you insist on calling me Miss Moon? If you wish to shorten my name, Nightmare is a more fitting title.”
“Well, I like you,” Twilight replied, before realizing the connotations of her statement and continuing, “I like your night, I mean. It’s beautiful, and calming. Meeting the essence of the night is… it’s an honor. I was trying to be respectful.”
Nightmare Moon felt her hatred for the unicorn subside slightly. “You… you like the night?”
“Of course. Plenty of ponies do. The problem is, the majority prefer the day, and as such… well, let’s say my brief stint of trying to turn myself nocturnal murdered my already practically non-existent social life. It’s hard to see a lot of the night and still have energy enough to get through the day. Oh, we’re here,” Twilight abruptly changed subjects when she arrived at the library. “This is where I’ll be living, until such time as Celestia deems I’ve learned enough about friendship. Which, with the girls I met today… I hope isn’t for a long while. You’ll be staying as long as Celestia feels necessary, too. Well, I’m sorry to do this, but I’m going to bed. I’ll see you in the morning, Miss Mo- err, Nightmare.”
“We thank you for your kindness, if we yet do not understand it. Good night, Twilight Sparkle. Pleasant dreams,” Nightmare Moon said through gritted teeth.
Twilight headed upstairs to where she assumed the bedroom would be, thanking Celestia for giving her the opportunity to grow closer to the Alicorn.
***
As the months passed, Nightmare Moon found herself witness to many of Twilight Sparkle’s shenanigans and her growth in friendship. Even the townsponies had come to accept her, she walked freely through the town, even if she was still merely a ghostly apparition. Celestia had expanded her leash to one hundred meters, allowing her to have a life largely to herself. She did, however, still live in the library, with Twilight Sparkle, the unicorn who had offered kindness and respect to her those months ago. Though she could never admit it, Nightmare Moon’s anger and jealousy gradually diminished, as did her tie to the physical world. She was a being fueled by those feelings of hate and jealousy – losing them would be losing herself. On a rare occasion, she even dared to entertain the thought that she may have actually made friends. While most of the time she dismissed the thought immediately, tonight it wouldn’t leave. However, that was not the only thing odd with this evening. Nightmare Moon’s magic had never manifested into an ability to affect the physical world, she could still sense and influence dreams, and had, on occasion, helped ease a nightmare or provide a pleasant dream to Twilight after an exceptionally hard day.
Tonight, she had offered no such assistance. Twilight had been beating herself up all evening for letting three foolish foals have access to a book of advanced and dangerous potions, which had led to some nasty problems between an unfortunate stallion whom had unwittingly been drugged into falling in love with the schoolteacher. Nightmare Moon allowed a light smile to come to her face – the pair had looked rather cute together, if the inane, lovey-dovey babble they spewed had been obnoxious. Regardless, Twilight had blamed herself for the incident, and had retired to bed a few hours ago.
Nightmare Moon ascended the stairs to Twilight’s room, to engage in her typical weekly dream observation, a check on Twilight’s mental state – something which had been known to slip on occasion. She smiled softly again, looking down at the peacefully sleeping unicorn, and magically entered her mind.
She had seen some pretty interesting things in Twilight’s dreams – ranging from her pink friend having a psychotic breakdown and murdering other ponies to an interesting dream involving some intimate acts between two of her other friends.
None of that could have prepared her for what she saw tonight.
Twilight’s dream was a calm, peaceful scene, atop a grassy hill, with a single tree on it. Underneath the tree sat two ponies on a white and red checkerboard blanket, sharing a picnic, talking, and laughing together. It took Nightmare Moon a moment to get the ponies to focus. When they became clear, she gasped.
The two ponies were herself and Twilight Sparkle.
The dream-ponies continued their meal, seemingly doing little but eating and enjoying each other’s company. Their meal finished, dream-Twilight magically packed the picnic basket again, and leaned in close to dream-Nightmare Moon.
And kissed her.
The real Nightmare Moon let out an audible gasp. Both dream-ponies turned and made eye contact with her, and the dream began to dissolve. Nightmare Moon had seen this before, and knew what was happening – when she was discovered in a dream, it alerted the subconscious that something alien was there, and the target of the dream woke up. It also wasn’t a pleasant experience, getting kicked out of a dissolving dream
By the time Nightmare Moon had recollected her split conscious, Twilight Sparkle was awake, staring in horror at Nightmare Moon.
“You… did you see that?” Twilight asked, blushing.
Nightmare Moon, despite her status as a demigod and being used to finding strange things in Twilight’s dreams, could do nothing but blush and nod as well.
“How long have you known?”
Embarrassment gave leave to confusion. “How long have I known what?”
“That I’ve fallen in love with you.”
Nightmare Moon gave a blank stare.
“You… you didn’t know until just now? Oh Celestia…” Twilight whimpered and tried to hide behind her hooves.
“I… I had no idea you harbored such feelings, Twilight Sparkle. I must say I’m… I’m flattered. But the way you asked how long I’ve known… how long have you known?”
“I can’t say for sure. When I first met you, even when you were trying to kill me, I thought you were beautiful. Powerful, regal, dark, and beautiful. Just like the night you represent. Then I started getting to know you. It was funny, at first, how much you hated ponies being nice to you. The Cutie Mark Crusaders would get you involved in one of their schemes to get their cutie marks, and you’d end up trying to blast them with magic, and it just wouldn’t work. Then eventually you started to thaw – I wouldn’t say you were friendly, but you became less cold, less hateful. I would look at you and see myself, in a way, when I first came to Ponyville. You wanted nothing more than to be left alone, but the townsponies, once they found out you were harmless, wanted nothing more than to be your friend. And I daresay you’ve let a few of them succeed. Honestly, I think you’re jealous of ponies with friends. They never respected your night, and you saw that as them disrespecting and not liking you. I know your hold on this world is waning in tune with your jealousy, which is why I’ve been trying to keep it to myself. I… I want you to feel loved, but I know that you learning that would… that it would literally kill you… and I don’t want you to leave!” Twilight’s voice cracked, another sentence dying in her throat as it was choked back by a sob.
Nightmare Moon was shocked. A pony… had fallen in love with her? It was unheard of. She existed for the sole reason that she wasn’t loved and couldn’t love. Then Nightmare Moon thought for a second. She hated all these sun-loving ponies, right? Then why had she been easing Twilight’s nightmares, reducing the effect of her namesake night terrors? Why had she agreed to help Twilight as much as she could with her research projects? Why did she think Twilight Sparkle was so cute? Where did that last thought even come from?
“You… you are sure this is love, not infatuation, or lust?” Nightmare Moon asked, a hint of incredulity in her voice. Twilight Sparkle’s only reply was a nod, her shoulders heaving in sobs, horrified that at any moment her love might vanish forever.
“You are right you know. I can feel it happening already. I’m losing my already weakened grip on this world. Which means you were right about other things, too – that I was merely jealous, that there was no love in my heart. You changed that, though. These months… I’ve been denying it myself. I’ve had fun for the first time in my existence. I have enjoyed being around other ponies. I’ve felt the warmth of a heart’s desire and pure love for another pony. Every time I noticed it I grew weaker, so I denied it. There is no point in denying it now, though. I can’t deny it anymore, even if I wanted to. I… I’ve noticed it in myself, and I’ve told myself it wasn’t there. A warmth in my chest every time I watched you succeed. A sense of happiness when you helped me get something, or when you would turn pages of a book for me. I like being around you. I couldn’t tell you why, but I think it may be love,” Nightmare Moon’s form flickered and shrunk, “in fact, I am certain of it. This feeling is the opposite of what I’ve felt my entire life. Considering what I’ve felt my entire life is hate? It’s not too hard to guess what this is. Twilight Sparkle, thank you, thank you for everything. I may eventually return, but please, do not hold yourself for something as inconsistent as the moon. I don’t believe I have much longer now, so I guess…” Nightmare Moon trailed off.
Twilight Sparkle looked up just long enough to see the shrunken Alicorn lean towards her. Ghostly, ethereal lips pressed to her own, the feeling warm and comforting. Twilight’s eyes closed, relishing the feeling. It wasn’t a sorrowful kiss, it was a happy kiss, one of somepony finally discovering joy in life. All too soon for Twilight, the feeling faded. She opened her eyes.
Nightmare Moon was gone.
***
It was late in the morning, far later than Twilight usually awoke, and Twilight Sparkle did not wake early. More concerning was the fact that Nightmare Moon was nowhere to be found in her bedroom. Spike, while still a baby, was not unintelligent. He knew how Twilight had been looking at Nightmare Moon, and could put two and two together. However, this was ridiculous. Spike began the walk up the stairs, steeling himself for what he knew he would find behind the door. As he reached it though, he heard a muffled sobbing. Not bothering to knock, Spike threw the door open.
“Twilight! Are you ok? Why are you crying? What’s wrong? Where’s Nightmare Moon?”
“She’s gone, Spike.”
Spike opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again. Instead, he walked over to Twilight’s bed, jumped up on it, and gave her a hug. Twilight’s eyes fluttered for a moment at the surprising contact, before moving her forelegs to return the hug.
“Thank you, Spike. But I’ll be ok. She might be back. But that’s what it’s like, to love the moon.”
