• Published 16th Apr 2012
  • 7,632 Views, 399 Comments

Hooves, Plush, and Magic: The Untold Tales - Harry Leferts



This is the place for side stories, origin tales and plot bunnies for my fic: "The Wizard and the Lonely Princess". So come on in,

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Nightmare's Regret

Disclaimer: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro and Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling.

"Hello"-Normal Speaking

"Interesting..."-Nightmare Moon speaking

'Huh.' -Normal thoughts.

'All mine...' Nightmare Moon's thoughts

___________________________________________________________________

Grumbling as she leaves the backpack, Nightmare looks up at Harry and Luna as they settle at the desk in the far corner of the library, his dripping coat hung on the back as rain patters at a nearby window. Finally getting out, she looks herself over with a frown. "You must find a different way of transporting me, Child…" Looking herself over again, she sighs. "Or, at the very least, a new backpack so I do not get wet."

Blinking, Harry looks down and has to hold in a snort as he can see various wet patches on her body. Luna, on the other hand, has no such compunctions as she laughs. "And will you look at what the cat has dragged in, will you?"

Nightmare growls a little as she glares at the other Alicorn. ‘If only you weren’t like a ghost…’ Sighing, she props her head up one hoof while gesturing around. "So what are we reading today then?"

Harry holds up a book with a picture of a dragon on a hoard. "Well… I was thinking of trying this one." Seeing the surprised looks, he rubs the back of his head as he looks at Luna. "Well, after you said how good it was… I thought that I should give it a try as well."

Luna slowly smiles while placing a hoof on his shoulder. "That’s great Harry and I am sure that you’ll love the story as much as I did." She then seems to stare off. "Reminds me of some things that I got into when I was younger…"

Nightmare shrugs. "Meh, not a bad one I guess." She then uses her hoof and gestures at Luna. "And I don’t need to guess what the Little Princess is going to be reading. Probably something heavy and complicated." Seeing Harry’s lips twitch while Luna blushes, she sighs before blinking as she sees the book on the table. "A ‘King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table’ book?"

Luna just raises her head and sniffs. "I was interested since it’s a part of Harry’s cultural heritage."

Rolling her eyes, Nightmare waves off the fuming lunar princess. "Yeah, yeah, whatever." She then begins to walks off. "While you’re doing that, I’ll go find something for myself."

Harry and Luna share a look before Harry clears his throat. "Are you sure that’s a good idea Nightmare? Because what if someone sees you…?"

Nightmare just smirks as she shoots an amused look over her shoulder. "Don’t worry about me. I think that I can hide myself easily enough." She then chuckles as her horn gives a brief glow though she puffs a little afterwards. "There. A simply spell to make it hard to notice me. Happy?" At their nods, she trots off looking for a book. Heading into the adult section, she climbs the bookshelves until she’s standing on the top. ‘Now then… where should I go…?

Getting an idea, she starts walking, jumping over gaps every once in a while until she suddenly stops as she hears voices below her. "That’s pretty bloody amazing!" A second later, she can hear a smack. "What was that for?"

A female voice answers causing Nightmare to roll her eyes. "Watch your language!"

The guy grumbles and Nightmare looks over the edge to see a girl with red hair and a guy with black hair talking. "Yeah, yeah." As all she can see is the top of their heads, Nightmare loses interest and begins to move away when she suddenly stops at the guy’s next words. "Still, can you imagine it? The sun being blocked out for months…"

Nightmare having heard this returns to where the two are, listening in as she watches them. ‘What!?

The girl shakes her head slowly. "I think that it would be pretty terrifying myself. It would be like what nuclear winter would be like, I suppose."

The boy then nods. "So… where’s this book and what’s the name?"

The girl slowly shrugs her shoulders. "It’s over in the Earth Sciences section…"

As the girl tells the boy the name, Nightmare mentally takes it down before ducking out of view for a moment. ‘"Nuclear Winter"? That’s…’ Looking over the edge, she notices they’re gone causing her to scowl. ‘Just great. At least I have a name.’ Leaping over across the aisle, she makes her way to the Earth Sciences section. Grabbing the book in question, she starts reading out loud in a whisper. "The impact of the asteroid released more energy than all the atomic weapons in the world many times over. It was so powerful, it sent massive amounts of dust into the atmosphere while wildfires started by the impact added their own smoke to the dense layer blocking out all the sunlight." She slowly blinks. "That sounds like…" Getting an uneasy feeling in her gut, or what passes as one, she continues. "Without sunlight, temperatures dropped dramatically and plants began to die…" As she continues to read, she starts to tremble before stopping. "No… no, no. This is just a theory… it has no basis in real life… right?" She then notices something. ‘The volcanic eruption of Tambora….?

****************** A few days later *********************

Watching out the window as Harry works in number 4’s garden, Nightmare shivers as her mind drifts back to what she had read. ‘Dammit… stop thinking about it!’ Turning away, she pulls a foreleg over her eyes and when she uncovers her eyes, she finds herself in a darkened room that’s only lit by pale moonlight. And there, on the bed, is a pile of sheets with a small, thin arm poking out, glistening with ice… "GAH!" Backing away, she blinks as her back hits the wall and finds the room back to normal with sunlight streaming in. "Ju-just a figment of my imagination… yes, that’s all." Trembling a little, she gives a shaky smile as she looks at the ceiling. "Besides… he’s just a pawn, that’s all…" Needless to say, it sounds a little hollow to herself causing her to grimace, before the image flashes through her mind again, this time of Equestria covered in ice. "STOP IT!" Grabbing one of Dudley’s broken remote controlled cars; she flings it at the wall hard enough to shatter it as she screeches in anger and frustration. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD BUCKING DAMMIT!" Seeing the notebook, with all her notes on what she’s found, open nearby, her trembling increases. "Just… make it stop… make it stop…"

Outside, Harry glances up at his bedroom window with a frown as he hears her screech. "Luna, is Nightmare okay? I’m starting to get worried with how she’s been acting in the last little while."

Luna rolls her eyes. "Harry, she’s always temperamental, angry, and gruff."

Harry’s frown only becomes more pronounced. "Yeah, but it’s gotten worse. Not mention she seems… distant at times. Just sitting there staring off into space." Sitting back for a moment, he uses a rag to clean his hands of dirt. "And more than that, she’s gotten physical." Seeing Luna narrow her eyes and open her mouth, Harry shakes his head. "Not against me or anyone really… But…" He looks back at the window, and takes a breath. "I’ve been noticing that some of Dudley’s toys are being destroyed. Sure, they were already broken, but when some are turning up shattered that up till now weren’t…"

Now it’s Luna’s turn to frown as she thinks, only to realize he’s right, causing her to bite her lip. "That… is worrisome." She then gives him the best comforting smile she can. "I’m sure that that she’s just going through one of her moods, though." She then tilts her head to the side. "But I’ll go talk with her nonetheless, okay?" Harry nods but before he can say anything, Luna flaps her wings and flies to the window. Alighting on the sill, she gets a sinking feeling as she sees Nightmare with her forelegs covering her eyes. ‘Never mind her being physical, this is more worrisome.’

Nightmare meanwhile, is trying to get the images out of her head when she hears Luna land right next to her. Pulling her forelegs away from her face, Nightmare snarls partially at being caught being "Weak" by Luna. "What the bucking Hay are you…" Whatever words are about to be spoken die in her throat at the sight of Luna looking over the notebook. Snatching it away, she glares. "And what do you think that you’re doing looking through my stuff?!"

Luna just looks at her, a variety of expressions mixing on her face. Mostly bad ones, but the one that hits Nightmare is the fact that her eyes seem empty. "So… you found out about what would happen with eternal night did you…?"

Nightmare stars at her uncomprehendingly for a moment. "You… knew…" The blaze of anger that’s been focused inwards for the past few days suddenly finds a new target. "YOU KNEW ALL THIS TIME!?"

Reaching out with her magic, Luna slowly closes the window before sighing, still looking away. "For the past two years. I found out about nuclear winter after overhearing a couple in the park."

Nightmare begins to shake in rage. "How dare you… HOW DARE YOU STAND THERE AS IF YOU’RE UNAFFECTED!"

Now Luna whips around, her own face filled with anger. "Do you really think that…?" She takes a step towards Nightmare who backs up a little. "Do you think that you’re the only one who, when she closes her eyes sometimes sees people she cares for dead of starvation and cold… DO YOU!?" Taking a breath, Luna looks away. "Remember two years ago? When I was… not acting myself?"

Nightmare slowly nods. "Yeah, you were… home… sick…" Her eyes widen as her head whips up to stare at Luna. "It wasn’t because you were homesick… was it?"

Luna bitterly chuckles. "No, it wasn’t." She then sighs. " After finding out what we… what I nearly did… what I might have caused…" Luna gulps as little as some tears fall from her eyes. "If I had anything at all for those days in my stomach, I would have had it all brought up. As it was…" She then hangs her head. "As it was, a few times I dry heaved." She then looks Nightmare directly in the eye, both of her own shining in horror. "If I hadn’t been stopped… we might have killed everyone…"

Nightmare just snarls. "You weren’t the one who came up with it, it was me!" She starts trembling again. "I was in control…" She starts trembling even more as she chokes out the next bit. "I… was going to kill them… and they looked to me for protection…"

Trembling a little herself, Luna’s tears begin running fully as she closes her eyes. "And yet you would have never considered it if I hadn’t thought about it at times before…" Opening her eyes, she continues with her voice thick with emotion. "When I realized what could have happened…" Blinking, Luna nods. "Part of me wished that Celly had ended it right there." A bitter chuckle escapes her throat as she shakes her head. "And for all our power, she could have. But no… she used the Elements to seal us."

Nightmare just snarls as she squeezes her eyes shut. "You think that I’m not going through that too!?" All of a sudden, Nightmare seems to go limp as if she was a puppet with her strings cut. "All I wanted was them… to love us… And now…"Looking up at the other Alicorn, she looks totally lost. "I… what do I do? I…"

Taking pity on her, Luna gently makes those last few steps before gathering her into her forelegs as she nuzzles the doll. "I don’t know." Looking up at the ceiling, Luna rocks back and forth. "But… we have each other… and we have Harry."

And at that point, a familiar voice makes itself known causing them to stiffen. "You’ll always have me." Turning, they find, to their horror that, Harry is standing there, his own eyes glistening. "Always."

Swallowing, Luna tries to ask the question on both their minds. "How…"

Harry sadly sighs and shakes his head. "Enough." Walking over, he pulls them into a hug. "And no matter what, I’m not about to leave you."

Nightmare just shakes her head, her voice sounding small and tired. "But… after what we nearly did... "

Harry just continues to hug them before rocking back and forth. "I know you. Neither of you would have meant for it to happen…" And the three of them spend the rest of the day like that. Simply holding each other.