//------------------------------// // Questions // Story: A Dream is a Wish...or a Nightmare // by Mekon //------------------------------// Her face and attention buried in her latest book, Twilight spent the whole afternoon with her favorite pastimes: reading and researching. The latest topic: Nightmare Moon, her resident goddess, conundrum and never-ceasing headache all wrapped into one inconvenient package. Twilight had so many questions and so little information, and that, above all, truly vexed her. Combined with the fact that all the books, more like tomes, she had read that afternoon had yet to yield an iota of remotely useful information irritated her even more. One would think that a goddess such as Nightmare Moon would, at least, be documented in legends or myths, but the purple unicorn had come up with absolutely zilch in reference to a dream deity that fit Nightmare. Despite the fact that she had almost literally torn through the entire lore section of the library, Twilight couldn't find a single inkling reference, save for Luna's recent return, that she could reliably be pointed out as Nightmare without a doubt. There were just too many discrepancies, too many irregularities, and combined with the fact that Nightmare's image wasn't even a true construct of herself, it made the hunt for the truth behind the alicorn's origins all that more difficult. It was almost like trying to hunt for the evidence of the first ponies ever. Though, she didn't put too much stock behind the fantastical idea that Luna and Celestia had created the first ponies via... “It's not even biologically possible!....Well...Unless alicorn's have unusual reproductive behavior? Argh! Getting off track here Sparkle. Focus,” Twilight berated herself mentally, flushing as an unbidden image of Celestia and Luna doing....things entered her head. Immediately, she quashed that stray thought, not wanting to be anymore distracted than she already was, and returned to the search for her illusive goddess among the sea of letters and dots. Though in her mind, the crusade was looking to be a long-winded treasure hunt mixed with a wild goose chase. The lavender mare sighed, thinking about just asking Nightmare outright, but something held her back. Perhaps, it was that look in the disguised alicorn's eyes when Twilight had gone to see her earlier, or possibly, it was just because she could tell Nightmare had suffered a lot. Those eyes belonged to a soul that had seen pain and loss, a soul filled with regrets. Her very demeanor, past the whole perverted mask, told her this, and dredging up those memories wouldn't make for pleasant dinnertime conversation. Shaking her head, she closed the latest, dust-infested tome and levitated it back onto the shelves, having found nothing that could possibly help her decipher the mystery that was Nightmare Moon. She vowed to make a trip to Canterlot to check up on the royal archives for more obscure references, but even then, she was skeptical at best. Twilight just had a feeling that she was looking in all the wrong places; where the right place was, she had no idea. However, as tonight would unearth no promising results, she begrudgingly gave up on her vigil, heading into the kitchen to eat dinner and bringing meals to Luna and Nightmare. Maybe tomorrow she would find something to work with. ♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪ Twilight groaned unhappily as she rolled onto her side, clamping her pillow over her face and ears as she muttered darkly into the cloth sheets, promising to smite the next pony who dared to disturb her sacred sleep; unfortunately, by the sounds of giggling filling the background, whoever had bothered to rouse her obviously didn't care about an apocalyptic Twilight with less-than-adequate amounts of sleep. “And this was when she first tried to cast a levitation charm,” a familiar boyish voice said with a snicker, his declaration followed by two other distinct giggles, “Dad almost had a heart attack when the mashed potatoes suddenly exploded in his face as he sat down.” Spike's exclamation was followed by another round of tinkling laughter. “Oh yeah! And this was when she figured out how to change the color of things. I remember she messed it up the first time and ended up coloring her own coat a shade of bright, emerald green. Mom had a fit when Twi walked in like that. Looked like someone had inverted the colors of a pony that was supposed to look like me or something like that.” “Oh, and this is one of my favorites! Basically, it was supposed to be show-and-tell day at her magical kindergarten school. They were supposed to dress up as their favorite pony outside of the family. Predictably, Twilight went as Celestia, white coat and everything. It was a really good costume actually. She even animated the cardboard wings to flap every now and then, and enchanted a wig for Celestia's old, pink, flowing mane. But the funny part happened when Celestia herself actually walked into the class,” he continued, holding back his laughter, “You can kind of see where this is going. Basically, the animation spell went haywire and sent Twilight flying around the room, and when Celestia finally managed to cancel the spell, it sent Twi barreling right into Celestia's face, knocking her down. Then her wig started freaking out too and basically tied her onto Celestia's horn for about an hour and a half. Poor Twilight didn't come out of the closest for nearly two days.” Twilight shrieked as she finally gained the mental lucidity to realize they were talking about her dark and frankly embarrassing foalhood. Some of those memories she had sworn to the grave! She jumped out of bed with a jolt and made a mad dive for the photo album in the traitorous dragon's claws, only to miss spectacularly as Spike deftly swung it out of the way and plow straight into Luna. “Well good morning to you too Miss Sparkle. I know your fondness for royalty, but a re-enactment of your precious younger years was much more than I expected,” Luna teased with a giant grin as a brilliant blush spread across Twilight's face. Doing a quick 180 turn, the purple unicorn promptly dashed back onto the bed with a horrified squeak, tossing the covers over herself. “You know, the blankets of your bed make for a poor imitation closet Twilight,” Nightmare drawled, chuckling as she smoothly pulled the sheets off her mistress, “I really need to thank Spike. When I asked about your adventures, I didn't quite expect him to start from the very beginning. Who knew you were such an adorable, little filly? I could just eat you up.” “I hate you...” Twilight muttered darkly into her pillow, trying to fuse her face with the bed ornament. She was rewarded with another round of laughter courtesy of the two goddesses and one kid dragon sitting in her room. Moaning in exasperation, she swung herself out of bed and shot her assistant a dirty look that promised pain and humiliation. The offending dragon whistled innocently, immediately hightailing it out of the room with the incriminating album, making sure to place it where Twilight would never find it so she could incinerate it. “Oh, it's not that bad Twilight,” Luna soothed, though her mile-wide grin told everything, “Though, I'm going to ask Tia about that particular episode once I get back.” Instead of gracing the lunar goddess with a reply, Twilight suddenly tackled her onto the floor and proceeded to tickle the living stuffing out of her friend. Luna's squeals rose into the air as she failed to fend off Twilight's ambush, her hooves flailing around wildly. The purple unicorn laughed happily, keeping up the pressure until she was nearly out of breath. “I yield! I yield! Mercy! Mercy!” Luna rasped, her lungs depleted after laughing so hard. “Hmm..I'm a merciful pony. I'll let you off this time,” the lavender mare mused happily, looking down and just now noticing her position and the distance or lack-there-of between her face and Luna's, her breath mixing in with the pinned alicorn's underneath her. Twilight was sure her face was as red as a tomato, but from the evidence prominently showing on Luna's face, her prisoner was too. Unconsciously, she gravitated closer and closer, her breathing becoming more and more shallow with each passing second while her heart beat in her ears. Suddenly, a crash tore her out of her trance. “Ponyfeathers...” Nightmare cursed, her face planted into the floor, having slipped on the blankets in her attempt to exit the room discreetly. Without another moment's notice, Twilight pried herself off of Luna, murmuring her apologies and mechanically rising to get ready for the day, not sparing either alicorn another glance. Silently, Luna pulled herself up, robotically pretended as if nothing had happened, though she couldn't meet Diana's eyes and quickly excused herself to join Spike downstairs. Nightmare sighed, sitting up and making Twilight's bed, now alone in the room. She reviewed what had just happened. They had been so close there.... “Curse my clumsiness....” the disguised alicorn groaned, face-hoofing, feeling guilty for ruining such a good mood, but a small part of her felt....a bit happy? She shook her head fiercely. “Next time, it will all work out,” she chanted to herself, but couldn't help feel the hollowness and uncertainty of those words. She didn't dwell on it; she had a silly mistress to sort out. ♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪ Twilight moaned unhappily, pacing back and forth in her bathroom, muttering various scenarios to herself. “Okay Sparkle, so you basically jumped Luna in the middle of your bedroom floor and decided it was a good idea to tickle the feathers out of her in front of Nightmare. Not only that, but you almost end up kissing her,” the lavender mare rambled on, “So your choices are to either just go with it and pretend nothing weird happened or stay in this bathroom forever for the rest of your life....might not be too bad. A few enlarging charms here and a some maintenance spells there....Put in a nice desk for myself. Self-sustaining candles and mail-order meals...” “You're not seriously contemplating on moving into your bathroom are you?” Nightmare suddenly cut in, her voice amused, quirking her eyebrow, a small smile tugging on the edges of her mouth. “No,” Twilight denied reflexively. “Until I figure out how to transfigure this bathtub into a workable desk, it just wont do.” Nightmare gave her a look that was caught between amused and concerned. “Now, before that can happen, I need to figure out a way to bypass the 'conservation of mass' problem.” “I don't see why that even matters. Everyone knows that magic and science barely even touch fields. Any crossing is met with rather explosive results.” “Details details. Now help me.” Nightmare watched on dubiously for another five minutes while shaking her head. She popped herself into the tub, lounging on the back end while watching her mistress work. “Self-cleaning charms, air-refresher spells, cushioning enchantments, flame retardants....” Twilight listed off before turning to Nightmare, “Are you going to help me or are you just going to sit there in that tub?” “I'm quite comfortable here, thanks. But I think you're seriously overacting. It's not that bad,” Diana commented, imagining how a nice soak would feel right now. “That's besides the point. Anyways, move out of the tub would you? I need to attempt a cross-material transmutation without distractions.” Nightmare sighed and lit up her horn, grabbing Twilight in her telekinetic grasp and levitating her over the tub. “Hey! What are you doing? Nightmare! Let me down!” “Rub a dub dub, I got room for two in this tub,” Diana answered smartly, plopping her unwitting mistress into her lap. Before Twilight could escape, Nightmare snaked her hooves around her waist and held tightly, “You need to calm down. Take a deep breath. A little embarrassment won't kill you, you know.” The captured unicorn squirmed for a moment, but just as she couldn't escape Nightmare's sleep-induced grab, she couldn't escape this one. She resigned to her fate, choosing to make herself comfortable, and as much as she was loathe to admit it, Nightmare's warm body was rather cuddle-worthy. “I'm a mess...I can't even talk to her properly or do anything even remotely intimate without feathering everything...I just make myself look like an idiot,” Twilight groaned, burying her face into Nightmare's shoulder. “Hey, it's fine. Everypony acts a bit irrational around the ponies they tend to like,” the dream goddess answered wisely, “Love makes everypony act weird. I think what matters is how you deal with that 'weird' and use it to your advantage. Think of it as a formula for success.” “Formula. I can do that.” “Well maybe more like guidelines.” “Right.” “So what are you going to go do now?” Nightmare asked smugly, feeling rather pleased with herself. “Stay in this bathroom?” Twilight joked, earning a swat from the goddess, “Fine fine. I guess I'll go and have breakfast.” “Huh, well if that doesn't work, I always suggest one of my methods,” Diana said with a giggle, earning an eye-roll from Twilight, “Think like me! I'm sure that will always get you out of a bind.” “Yeah. Yeah. Sure,” the lavender mare snorted, hopping out of the tub, “If I ever want to go cosplay as a perverted goddess that likes to prey on a poor unicorn's love life, I'll refer to your expertise.” “Always eager to please. Anyways, I'll get out of here. You wash up. You look like you were planning to exile yourself into your bathroom for life,” Nightmare quipped with a wicked grin, ducking as a magical bolt whizzed past her head. Laughing, she ran out of the room before it could turn into a magical fire show. Life was rather fun with Twilight around, Nightmare decided. ♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪ Downstairs in the kitchen, Luna was having her own crisis, her brows furrowed in thought and worry. “Ugh. Great. Bloody fantastic Luna. Way to run out when the going gets tough,” she reprimanded herself. She wasn't very good at this. One side of her was blatantly bold; the lunar goddess cringed as the memories of her salacious bravado while under the influence returned to her. And the other side was sleep-under-a-rock shy where she could squeak and freeze up more than Fluttershy facing a hoard of dragons. “Hello! Equestria to Princess Luna! Come in Princess Luna,” a knowing voice suddenly teased, piercing Luna's thoughts abruptly. Diana smoothly slid into the seat next to the princess, her face concerned but her eyes shining with a hint of deviousness. “Our esteemed guest wouldn't happen to be thinking about a certain purple unicorn in the bath would we?” “No!” Luna blurted out, the blood rushing to her face, “I mean...um....er....” Nightmare giggled, putting together a plate of breakfast for herself and Twilight who she knew would be down after a long soak to calm her mind. “Touch touchy,” the disguised alicorn cantered in a sing-song voice while she smiled wickedly, “Do I sense a hint of denial in our fair princess' voice? Surely not!” Luna blushed again, mumbling incoherently into her juice in an attempt to distract herself from Diana's jokes. Undeterred, Nightmare pressed on. “So....I've been meaning to ask. How did a premier princess such as yourself become friends with my dear cousin? Must be quite the story,” she asked, demurely sipping her coffee. Luna perked up, sincerely smiling now. “Ahh...well our first meeting was...rather explosive I guess,” she answered abashedly, “Most ponies don't end up making friends with an evil sorceress pony trying to plunge the world into eternal darkness you know.” “Right,” Nightmare answered, remembering that day fondly. It had been rather fun to mess around with Twilight and her friends while pretending to be the big and bad villain. Her favorite part of that night was pretending a giant rainbow destroyed her; she was rather proud of her theatrical defeat. “Being possessed by an evil alicorn goddess must be quite the experience.” Luna looked at her strangely, but nodded. She shrugged noncommittally, but internally she was curious. Everypony thought it was an alternate ego of herself created from a cloak of hatred and bitterness. Why did Diana think otherwise? “I guess. Anyway,” the lunar goddess continued briskly, deciding to file away that little tidbit for later, “That was the first time I met Twilight I guess. We didn't really talk too much at the time, and I took a year or so to acclimate myself to modern society. I had a lot of trouble with modern appliances and even more trouble with the new modern dialect. Sometimes, I still slip into the old Equestrian, usually when I'm really stressed.” Nightmare Moon nodded, having remembered studying the new dialect as well in her wispy ethereal form. “Celly was really happy I was back and started up the entire Lunar side of the government a month after I was cleansed. Reinstating the night guard, announcing lunar celebrations, re-educating ponies about the old traditions. Stuff like that.” “Sounds like a lot of work, meeting with stuffy aristocrats and attending useless parties where the only fun you get to have is putting on the dress and looking pretty,” Diana drawled, recalling some particularly boring gatherings she had attended in her past life. She vaguely remembered being so bored at this one “party” that she had levitated the entire room, tables, chairs and ponies, into the air. That was fun, dining in the air. Some of the crotchety old geezers had made a huge fuss about it, citing how it wasn't “proper” and all that jazz, but Nightmare didn't really give a flying feather. “Yeah...not a lot of time for making friends really. In fact, I didn't make friends, not until my first Nightmare Night back,” Luna continued fondly, giggling to herself as she remembered her less-than-subtle entry into Ponyville. “What?” “Oh nothing, just remembering how I pretty much drove out of the clouds on a midnight black carriage with an entourage of Night Guards while lightning clashed in the background on that night. Probably wasn't the smartest idea, given that it was my first public appearance in a year." The dream goddess chuckled, “Yes, I can see how ponies would be a bit surprised. Not exactly the Queen of Subtly are you?” “In my defense, I was still out of touch at the time. In fact, I was still slipping into my old Equestrian and using the Canterlot voice. But that's beside the point. Everypony in Ponyville was pretty freaked out, mainly because they didn't really expect me to show up to their small town party. Plus, I didn't exactly warn them beforehoof,” Luna responded with a dry chuckle. “Well, an unannounced visit by royalty would rattle almost any pony,” Nightmare added wisely, imagining how much of a fuss Twilight would raise if Celestia just randomly popped in without telling the schedule-obsessed unicorn ahead of time. “Yeah. I probably should have checked in beforehoof. Didn't really cross my mind at the time. I was just thinking that it would be a good time to re-assert myself into society outside of Canterlot after a year of putting up with stuffy nobles and bureaucrats. I figured that since Ponyville had been so receptive of me after Nightmare was vanquished, they wouldn't mind me showing up so abruptly,” she said, chuckling a bit at her naivete, “That didn't really go according to plan, I admit that. I forgot how easy it was for ponies to conveniently forget who I was and default to centuries of tradition and storytelling where most of those stories had me as a terrible dream eater and nightmare. Though....using the Canterlot Voice and my lightning theatrics probably only made the whole situation worse.” Nightmare agreed, snickering a bit at the mental images. Trust Luna to do something so silly. “Well, naturally, that didn't go too well with the local ponies, and they were all down on their knees, quaking in fear, before you could say 'Boo'. I thought they were being respectful at first, but I found out pretty quickly that being equated to a 'Backside Gobbler' was anything but flattering.” Diana gave her a shrewd look, wondering where that title came from. “Anyways. I was pretty upset, so I ran off towards towards the Everfree Forest and plopped myself down in front of the old Nightmare Moon statue there. I wallowed in my own pity for a few minutes, but then I heard somepony approaching me...” “Twilight,” Nightmare summarized, grinning. “Yup. The rest of the night is pretty much history. She went around trying to teach me the finer points of getting along with ponies and having a little fun. Everypony else eventually figured out that I wasn't a mad goddess bent on exacting revenge and was just a normal mare, well...normal enough I suppose,” Luna laughed, finishing up her breakfast, “And that's how she became my first friend since coming back from the moon. I've relied on her since. She always visits me when she comes to Canterlot. Buys me presents for Hearth's Warming....little things like that.” “And they must mean the world to you,” Nightmare stated quietly, her eyes holding a far-away look, “A pony that pretty much saved you and showed you the meaning of friendship....the first pony that looked at you just as yourself and not under a defined title....” Luna blinked, opening and closing her mouth slowly, unsure how to respond and confused as to where Diana's heavy emotion was coming from. It was almost as if..... “Well...enough of the past! Thanks for telling me Princess. I'm going to go out for a little walk...stretch my legs a bit,” she declared, her voice suddenly chipper again, “If Twilight asks, I'm out on a short morning stroll.” Luna nodded as Diana deposited her plate into the sink and walked to the door frame between the kitchen and the main room. “And Luna,” she called suddenly, drawing the lunar goddess' attention again, “Take care of her okay?” Blinking in confusion, Luna just nodded dumbly, staring at the wrapped plate of food sitting before her. The Second Princess of Equestria was confused; there was just something off about Twilight's cousin...not in a bad way, but not quite normal either.... However, her pondering was cut short as Twilight, cleaned and prepped, bounced down the stairs, taking her place across the table. “Oh! Thanks for saving me some breakfast Luna!” Twilight cheered happily, casting a quick warming spell. Luna blinked, opening her mouth to contradict that statement only for it to shrivel up and die in her throat at the happy expression on her friend's face. She nodded mechanically, casting her mind back to the conversation she'd had with Diana. The mare was....well she was an enigma. She had this air about her that just screamed unusual but also refined, as if the mare, Diana, was much more than she seemed. Combined with the fact that her senses always returned to full alert with her near which marked her as an equal, Luna was left with more questions and very little answers. Plus, there those moments in their conversation where she had seen and heard something slip. Every single pony always suggested that the entity known as the Mare in the Moon had been a construct of her own hatred and pity. But, Diana had said “possession”, as if she knew Nightmare was a different pony completely; the only other pony that knew that was Twilight, and Luna doubted the purple unicorn would go around blabbing that fact to others, even family members. So how did Diana know? Also, there was that moment, a moment where she had seen something in those glassy orbs that twinkled with weariness. The raw emotion in her voice and her eyes did not belong to a normal everyday Equestrian. Just who was Diana Dreamscape?