Nightmare

by Billblok

Responsibility

"It's... confusing, but I'm hardly ever lonely." Celestia said. Luna draped a wing around her big sister.

"That would explain why you hid yourself for so long. Had a long talk?"

"Yes, that was part of it, but I also wanted-"

"To wait till the right moment to show yourself? Everypony who has had Nightmare within them has went through the same mindset."

"...We aren't the only ones?"

Of course not, Celestia, you were only the latest in a long line. Regrettably, I made your sister rather violent in my fight for power. I can't thank you enough for giving that power to me, peacefully even.

"Luna," Celestia asked. "Why does Nightmare want power?"

Luna dropped her head in thought. "I'm not sure..." Celestia was shocked. Luna didn't know why the Nightmare wanted power, and it was about to tell her? It's gratitude for her was far greater than she initially thought. She thought it was only making a deal, stopping its senseless violence. But now it was venting its secrets to her...Suddenly, a loud crash of glass sounded in a distant hallway. Luna and Celestia stood up, running to the source.

Glass shards lay thrown about the floor, mixed with blood. The trail lead further down the hallway, and the two alicorn sisters pursued it. Celestia noticed a hair on the floor which happened to come from Twilight's mane. She looked back at the trail. It was heading straight up the tower stairs. In Twilight's perspective, it must have been horrible to learn that her teacher was infested with the very nightmare she thought she had defeated that fateful night in Ponyville. Knowing her faithful student and her tendency to panic, she would have assumed this evil creature had taken over the entire planet, and the only reasonable thing to do so to not fall into enemy power would be-

"Oh no..." She thought. The sisters ran as fast as their legs could carry them, up the tower to the top. What amount of ground that would take most ponies a measure of minutes was covered in a matter of seconds. Celestia left the doorway of the stairwell...

...Just to see Twilight Sparkle jump off the guard rail, plummeting towards the ground. Celestia's form flash dissolved into ethereal mist, racing after her

Don't you dare, Twilight Sparkle, don't you dare die, Celestia has seen enough death!

Luna stood watching in helpless terror as her sister desperately tried to save her friend. Panic set in, knowing that Twilight would not be able to survive the fall.

...

Twilight's limp grey body was tightly wrapped up in a cocoon of orange energy. Her stop was sudden, but she did not die. The mist took all the shock of the fall."No, please," She begged. "Not you..." The mist reformed into Celest- that creature once more, and it reached a wing around her. She fought the creature's wing, kicking, biting, shoving, beating on the creature's chest, anything to stay away! Unfortunately, the creature held out longer than her, and she resigned to her fate, smothered by the wing of her former teacher. She waited. She was not squeezed. Her bones did not break. She felt the creature's fur against her's, a strange warmth flooding over her. She closed her eyes. She remembered. She remembered first being accepted as a personal student to Princess Celestia. She remembered her warm smile of approval when she showed her a spell she learned. She remembered how she shared her bed when the storms kept her awake. She remembered how she comforted her when she was sad, pulling her into a gentle embrace, wrapping her soft wings around her. Her eyes snapped open. When she looked up at the face of the creature, her teacher's eyes looked back, with that same beautiful purple she saw not a few weeks ago. Luna stood next to her, equal concern on her face. Twilight stared in disbelief "Princess...?"

"Twilight," Celestia's voice returned, breaking. "Don't ever scare me like that again." So that was the princess all along. She had been a stupid little foal again and judged the book by its cover, breaking the heart of her mentor in the process. No, more like ripping her heart into little pieces and stamping it in the dirt. She clung to the soft fur of her princess, bawling like the little foal she had been.

"I'm so sorry, Princess C-Celestia!" She sobbed. Celestia said nothing, pulling her closer, letting her coat dry the tears of the weeping unicorn. She cradled her, gently stroking her mane. She and her sister too let tears fall down their cheeks, filled with overwhelming relief that Twilight had made it alive, and accepted her teacher once more. For a time this continued, Celestia occasionally nuzzling her, then Twilight had finally spent every last one of her tears. She pulled away, wiping her eyes and smiling warmly. The sun was setting, and Luna stood up.

"I must bring out the night again, Tia. I'll see you in the morning." She soundlessly took off into the air.

Celestia looked at her student. "You have had a hard day, Would you like to stay with me over night?" Twilight nodded, and she brought them both back to her chambers with a quick teleportation spell. Twilight blushed, realizing how odd it would be to see two female adults in the same bed. Celestia simply nudged her forward, which told her not to worry about such little things. The mattress sank under her hooves as she picked a comfortable spot, sinking into the warm blanket. She never got used to how comfortable her teacher's bed was. Celestia removed her royal attire, placing it on top of a dresser. The moon shown down into the room with a pleasant gleam.

"Princess," Twilight asked as her mentor lie down beside her. "Why does the nightmare want power?"Celestia pulled her student close, unsure of the answer. It may have been self preservation, for all she knew. Her eyes grew heavy, but before she finally fell asleep, soothed by the steady breathing of her dreaming student, one word entered her head:

life

Author's Note:

I'm a total sucker for happy endings :D

Comments

[magmon1000]

nice one mate that got to me I love Celestia's and Twilight's mother daughter relationship

[user12345678]

this was a really good one! albeit short. I mean I think you could have delved deeper into it and all so

[Billblok]

1085688 Yeah, well, if I dive too deep into a story, it takes forever...

[Fallen Knight]

1085683

Have to agree with that one.

But pity the nightmare for being so misguided believing power means life/living.

[magmon1000]

1086210 well (start thinking) I have a story idea involving the nightmare and my main oc

[Billblok]

1086210 Really, the idea was for you to figure out what it meant by life, whether that meant power is life, or power to preserve life.

[Fallen Knight]

1086402

You win some you loose some, but why not from the start explain its to preserve life, why make a reputation for yourself that you drive your hosts crazy. I dont think it picked the name "nightmare" for itself

Of course thats what i think and isnt "canon" for this story. Im just taking (what i hope is) a objective view on all shown and presented here, im happy its a happy ending, im a sucker for them too. But generally if your intentions are pure you wouldn't need to take a shady route to get them.

Generally, you can easily explain all by expanding on the story.

[Billblok]

1086492 Fine, fine. you may all hit me with books now, I'm doing it again.

[Fallen Knight]

1086522

It actually worked and your going to write MOAR?

[Billblok]

1086527 No, I don't think so. started writing, didn't work, deleted chapter. I change my mind so much sometimes...

[Iron Nebula]

Well, since your ending was satisfactory for me, I shall not hit you on the head with a book again. But Just this once.

[Ebony]

Allow us to get this straight.

Nightmare is in fact a symbiotic entity which is not inherently evil and only desires power.

And Celestia willingly becomes Nightmare's host, then peacefully unites the nations of the world in hopes of satisfying Nighmare's lust for power, which works.

Now she looks badass.

Seems legit.

[Billblok]

1154053
1.bp.blogspot.com/-pqtfL7hNSSM/TlYS4M6EC0I/AAAAAAAAAGw/JHiEJYd1SjA/s1600/BisonOfCourse.jpg

[Cellin]

Hm... interesting. There is a few problems with this however nothing that breaks it. I think mabye you should rewrite it. but thats mainly my opinion. you can leave it be if you want.

[Billblok]

1168364 Really, the whole thing is over and done with. And typically if I jump right to rewriting a story, I usually end up making it worse. So, if I did that, I may unintentionally take out something you people enjoyed.

[Cellin]

1168934 Alright then.

[Celestias Paladin]

To be honest I'm still not too sure about this story, the whole thing about Celestia willingly becoming a host for the thing that caused Luna's Fall just bugs me (mostly for two reasons, both are no fault of your own, 1) Too many Daymare Sun fics out their, 2) My own headcanon). Still this is a good story, short but still good.

In the Name of Her Serene Majesty Celestia Everfree,
Celestia's Paladin

[Billblok]

1188020 Don't judge me! This was an entire story derived from a part of a picture! (Personally, I prefer the name "Solar Flare", it just rolls off the tongue better) If you were wondering, I actually violated my own headcannon to do this. However, I did not list this as "alternate universe", because we never figure out what the nightmare really is, be it a part of Luna's mind, A symbiotic creature, Or just Luna with a different name.

Now, when you try to consider Celestia's motives, I think it makes far more sense than you think it does. When it took over Luna, it seemed to work with her feelings, using them as a way to gain power, which in that case, power came from the (attempted) overthrowing of Celestia. Celestia, being far more experienced and having lived longer than Luna (in hypothesis), probably found no pleasure in the less fortunate outside of her country having less rights under their perspective rulers. The nightmare would have stepped in, eagerly taking on an opportunity for easy access to power. Why would it become docile? I don't know, I suppose it was something along the lines of "Yes! I rule the world! ...now what?"

I have let you in on the mind of the man who crafted this story. Don't expect it to happen often.

[Celestias Paladin]

1188118
I mean no disrespect and I'm not judging you, and to be honest I did look at the picture and I did see what you saw. No hint of evil, but the concern and hint of curiosity.

Your explanations do make sense, and I can see that was where you were going with the story.

Celestia's Paladin

[dracoantares]

I hate you and your short stories!!!

Sry. I really like it though. Nice plot. I think either you should continue or someone should pick up where you left off.

[Billblok]

1195840 Please, bring your eyes upon the bottom section of the chapter list. I see the words "complete". With such words, you should assume I will not be making any more. What could I possibly do with it? The whole story came from a single section of a picture. I have no intention of making this a big project, as it is complete. Now, if I were to divert your attention to what actually is my big project, please head over here, and take some time out of your life to read this. I assure you, it is not short. and please, comment on that story, and show it to others.

[khatre]

Recently i have seen a few stories that begin with the idea that NMM only became Nightmare because she was corrupted by Luna's anger/hate/jealousy/etc ... That Night Mare was originally something far different than the monster that she became after "joining" with Luna ...
heck ... this story may have been the inspiration for them ....
good job!

[Tast]

Shown - Past form of show in some obscure form
Shone - Past tense of shine

That is all~

[PonyJesus]

I like to see her wanting power as a way to live. She has no body of her own, and needs a powerful one to live.

[Amm]

The characterization of Twilight in this fic just seems... random. I just can't understand the suicide attempt. And then there's the slamming back and forth between trusting/not trusting Celestia.

It's actually an interesting case study of how an author can make characters' actions work in a story. Celestia allowing the Nightmare to inhabit her is quite an odd thing, but since it happened before the fic started we're left to assume that it happened for sufficient reasons. Twilight's action seems unreasonable because the reasons and start of it are in the fic, and it wasn't sufficiently justified (to me in this instance).

[Edguy0009]

Sequel please?

[Billblok]

9792213
Sorry, never really planned to do so.

[Edguy0009]

9792742
Well that sucks... if only there were more stories like this.