• Published 20th Oct 2012
  • 22,641 Views, 1,308 Comments

A Dream is a Wish...or a Nightmare - Mekon



When you wish upon a star, you may not get what you're actually looking for.

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Warmth

In the early hours of the morning, small flecks of scouting light infiltrated the shut blinds that lined Twilight's bedroom window, casting themselves lovingly upon the soft edges of Nightmare Moon's face. She was awake, simply staring endlessly at the ceiling of her new-found home, wondering what path of fate had led her to sleep in this particular bed in this particular house under the care of one particular unicorn who just couldn't seem to leave things alone.

The goddess didn't know, but staring straight at the plain roof above, a feeling, unbidden, snaked into the crevices of her shy heart. It reminded her of something in her past, a long forgotten feeling that had been taken and forbidden from ever visiting again ever since she had been cursed......She felt warm.

There wasn't any sort of secret to the feeling, but it was something unfamiliar now, a sensation that had eluded the goddess for centuries and millennium. It confused Nightmare to no end, and she pondered what sort of illness she had come in contact with if any at all.

Perhaps it was the fact that she was actually warm on the outside, covered in a soft wool blanket from the tip of her hooves all the way up to her neck, courtesy of her mistress' kindness. It was a simple gesture on her mistress' part, but it meant a lot. It made her feel.....safe.

Regardless of what made her feel this all-encompassing warmth, it made her happy; this much she knew.

Nightmare sat up lazily, yawning carelessly, stretching and rubbing the remaining sands of sleep out of her azure eyes. A sudden groan caught her attention, and the dream goddess turned her gaze right, finding her mistress sleeping fitfully on the floor, and she could just tell her sleeping accommodations were not comfortable at all. A thin quilt, which was most likely doing little to nothing to assuage the pain, was all that stood between Twilight and the cold, wooden floor, and an even lesser blanket covered the sleeping unicorn.

It was at that moment, the disguised alicorn remembered the events of the night before, including her brush with death and the delirium that followed after. Nightmare blushed discreetly, recalling how she had revealed her inner-self which contrasted immensely from her usual, light self that usually didn't have a care in the world or at least portrayed that.

Twilight had seen that hopeless and dreary side of herself, a side she tried to ignore the most, the side that contained those nagging thoughts of self-doubt and self-loathing that had haunted her ever since she had lost her first existence.

She marveled at the fact that Twilight hadn't discarded her for her own benefit right then and there, even though she had harassed her relentlessly for a few days straight already, and Twilight had even offered to help, declaring emphatically and passionately that Nightmare just wasn't allowed to die.

Shaking her head, the dream goddess didn't quite understand what drove Twilight to let her to stay. Nor did she understand why the lavender mare had allowed herself to make that decision; a normal pony would have discarded her at that moment for causing so much trouble and harassing them so much right then and there.

“But....I suppose...Twilight's not really a normal pony...” Nightmare muttered to herself decisively as she stepped out of bed, chuckling at the way Twilight's left hoof twitched cutely in her sleep while the mare herself murmured incoherent sentences, conjured from her unconsciousness, underneath her breath. She was probably dreaming again. Of what, Nightmare had no idea. Regardless, it was time to wake up.

“Mistress,” the dream goddess cooed throatily, bending down slowly, her mouth a few inches away from Twilight's exposed ear,” Time to get up.”

“Don't....wanna...” Twilight moaned unknowingly in her sleep, causing a devious smile to appear on Nightmare's face.

“If you don't get up, I'll have to do something naughty to you then Mistress,” Nightmare threatened, inching closer and closer to Twilight's delicate ears, her hot morning breath brushing insistently against the tender flesh. Still, the sleeping unicorn remained, mostly unresponsive.

The dream goddess giggled, lightly trailing the tip of her tongue against the edge of Twilight's ear, earning a protesting whine from the still sleeping unicorn who began to squirm a bit. Nightmare grinned devilishly as she began to nibble, moving up and down the edge of her mistress' ear rhythmically, enjoying herself immensely.

In her sleep, Twilight twisted and turned rapidly as her body detected something toying with her ears, issuing forth small squeaks every now and then, much to Nightmare's delight. The dream goddess smirked, abruptly blowing a wave of quick, cold air at the wet ear, backing up immediately as Twilight jerked awake, her face flushed and absolutely confused.

“Ack!” the purple unicorn exclaimed as she awoke, smacking her ears flat as she flailed around, feeling both embarrassed and understandably aroused. Though she had no idea why. After a moment, Twilight finally noticed, to her mortification, a smiling and giggling Nightmare Moon standing above her with her tongue sticking out while wearing a rather suggestive face.

“Good morning. Did you enjoy yourself Mistress? Your ears are quite sensitive,” Nightmare teased while snickering, doing little to hide her amusement, causing a massive blush to invade Twilight's face. The lavender mare groaned out of exasperation and exhaustion, pulling herself off of the floor while avoiding all eye contact with the perverted, resident nightmare. Her body was sore, her neck was stiff.....and her ears were wet.

Twilight sighed, knowing she would have to figure out better sleeping arrangements and fast, and also learn to wake up before Nightmare.

“Morning massage?” Nightmare joked with a cheery grin, earning a glare from her mistress.

“No. I don't need your hooves all over me. Celestia knows what would happen then...” Twilight stated flatly, stretching to work out all the painful cricks. Finishing up her stretches, she walked to the mirror, levitating a brush over to herself, wanting to tend to her poor, frazzled mane. Today was an important day, and Twilight wanted to look her best.

“Look at you...prettying yourself up for your first date with the Princess. So cute!” Nightmare gushed, and Twilight could only blush more, unable to really deny it.

“Sh..shut up,” the purple unicorn countered weakly, her face crimson as she reviewed the prospect of being on a supposed date with Luna for the day, “It....It's not a real date anyway. I'm just showing her around town...”

“Sure sure. Denial is cute too,” the goddess joked, smirking, “It's alright. Just invite me to the wedding, or at least tell me when you lose your virgi....”

Twilight didn't dare let Nightmare finish, jumping her suddenly and violently, knocking them back onto the bed, her hoof furiously clamped over the shameless alicorn's mouth whose eyes were laughing up a storm.

“Twilight? Diana? Hello? Is anypony awake up here?” a distinctly feminine voice suddenly called as the door creaked open, “Spike's got breakfast on so you should.....” Luna stopped in place, her eyes impossibly wide as she walked into the room, finding Twilight on top of Diana, her hoof clamped suspiciously over the other mare's mouth as if telling her to keep quiet lest they get caught. “Uh...Sorry! I'll just....um...I'll...” The lunar princess didn't continue and instead sped out of the room, her face a new color of red.

Twilight froze in horror, immediately jumping off of Nightmare and running after Luna. “No! Luna! You've got it all wrong! It's a misunderstanding! I swear!” she yelled while scrambling off of the bed and chasing after the retreating princess who had completely misread the situation.

Nightmare sat there, laughing uncontrollably as she rolled around on her bed, listening in to Twilight attempting to amend the situation with little success. “Mornings around here sure are fun.”

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Twilight groaned dejectedly as Luna apologized for the tenth or so time already, and it was only breakfast....

“I mean....I didn't mean to imply that you and Diana....you know....are doing....” Luna continued with a shy blush, making Twilight want to smack her face with her hoof again out of hopelessness.

“This is all your fault Nightmare,” the lavender mare complained, “Now I have to fix this mess. Luna thinks we're....well you know!” Twilight groaned. Why did her life have to be so hard?

Nightmare chuckled quietly as she took another bite out of her waffle, humming innocently to herself as she conversed cordially with Spike, complimenting him on the way he prepared breakfast. “Hmm...I wonder who it was that tackled me onto the bed first though? You're such a beast Mistress.” The dream goddess grinned, winking at Twilight without anypony noticing, much to her mistress' embarrassment. “I mean you could have just asked...I'd gladly taken you to bed with me.”

“Tha...That...That...” Twilight protested, groaning again as she lost control of her fork in midair, the sounds of metal plonking onto a porcelain plate echoing through the kitchen, “I don't even....”

“Hmm well I suppose Luna should get that honor first huh? Oh, I'm so jealous. Maybe I'll steal you from her a bit later,” Nightmare continued, her mental laughter ringing potently in Twilight's head.

“Ugh...I give up...” Twilight mentally cried, planting her forhead on the table, alarming everypony except for Nightmare.

“Aww Mistress. Cheer up! C'mon. Who else in the world gets a lovable, super powerful, alicorn mare who embodies sexiness as their loyal slave?” Nightmare answered with a cheeky smile, “SO! Where do you plan on taking Miss Luna first Twilight?”

“Huh!? What?” Twilight blinked, caught off guard by the sudden, verbal question. Unlike her usual self, she hadn't thought of that yet, and Twilight's mouth opened and closed without a single sound coming out. She hadn't planned anything! The purple unicorn had been so occupied with dealing with Nightmare that all of her time had been eaten up!

“Hmm...Might I suggest a visit around the market place first? Then perhaps a stop at Sugarcube Corner for some snacks. From there, you can simply enjoy a nice walk around town,” the disguised alicorn suggested with a smile, barely nodding to her mistress. Twilight was confused by Nightmare's sudden decision to help out, but she appreciated it nonetheless. Plus, she didn't have a plan, and without a plan, Twilight was basically lost. Thinking on her hooves was not her strongest skill.

“I was thinking that we walk around the market first so you can see how the town operates,” the lavender mare fluidly said to Luna who smiled and nodded, “Then we can go visit Pinkie for some snacks. After that, we'll just spend the rest of the day visiting various ponies and places in town.” Twilight sighed out of relief, glad that Luna hadn't caught her without a plan.

“Sounds like fun to me! I've always wondered how Ponyville operates on a normal day to day basis,” Luna admitted with a grin, “And don't worry too much Twilight. I'm sure no matter what we do today, you'll make it enjoyable.”

Mentioned mare blushed, looking down at her plate as she shoved the rest of her unfinished breakfast into her face, unable to face the innocent, smiling princess fully. Her simply grin somehow rendered her incapable of responding sensibly.

“Well, you better get a move on!” Diana added, shuffling out of her seat and depositing the dirty dishes in the sink, “The market will open up soon. You'll miss all the good stuff if you go late!”

“Ah! Diana's right. Are you ready to go Luna?” Twilight asked nervously, almost tripping as she rose from her chair. Luna chuckled, nodding as she graciously gave her plate to Spike for him to place in the sink.

“Yup! Let's go,” Luna exclaimed, deciding to take the lead, pulling Twilight out of the house onto the busy morning streets of Ponyville. Nightmare laughed, waving goodbye as she followed the new, hopefully, budding couple out.

“Oh Twilight....all grown up now. On her first date and everything,” Spike lamented, wiping his watering eyes with his tail, earning a giggle from Nightmare who eyed the retreating form of her mistress closely.

“Spike, I'm going to run an errand. I'll be back later,” Nightmare declared, smiling innocently to the unsuspecting dragon below. Ruffling his spines, she took off. She wasn't about to let her poor, easily embarrassed, inexperienced mistress go on her first date without some help!

Or at least...that's how she reasoned it....

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It was a strange sight, even stranger in plain daylight. To see the regal Princess of the Moon out on the streets of humble Ponyville, strutting among the common market grounds of the town, was a sight that not many would expect to see in their lifetime. However, the Ponyville ponies didn't think too much of the event, having already adjusted to unusual happenings. They were more or less a routine for the town, ranging from ravenous parasprite storms to being subjugated to the god of chaos' unnatural jokes, among other things.

In fact, Luna was the most surprised out of all of them there, and interestingly enough, the lunar princess deemed her morning walk unusual. There were no droves on ponies rushing to her, begging for blessings or fortune, or away from her, running for their lives and usually screaming. There were no bargaining bureaucrats and snobbish nobles to be found, no two-faced hello with a side of barely-concealed conceit. Everypony, in its infinite simplicity, just greeted her normally, accompanied by respectful bows and real smiles. Ponies were actually greeting her with genuine care and thought, a creature that was an elusive and rare find in the hustle and bustle of Canterlot where many interactions depended on social standing and previous point of reference. Being a princess tended to cultivate a specific mode of conversation, one that usually ended in a request or badly veiled one.

Yet, there was none of that here. It was a pleasant change for the princess.

“The townsponies around here are rather different from Canterlot,” Luna commented to her escort, who gave her a questioning look as they passed a small cherry stand, “It is rather refreshing really.”

“How so?” Twilight asked curiously, finding that everypony in town was just being themselves. However, she couldn't really compare her interactions, despite her extended amount of time living in Canterlot. The lavender mare was happy to admit that she had never experienced the droll and pomp that was so often associated with the nobility, something that Celestia had been rather prone to complain about every day during her lessons, much to her amusement. Combined with the fact that she had been a veritable recluse prior to her journey to Ponyville, Twilight had little experience with just how ill-willed the majority of the upper class could be.

“They mean what they say,” Luna answered simply with a delighted smile, taking a moment to peruse a shopkeeper's wares, “You have no idea how often I and Tia get the standard “shower with false praise and ask” treatment. Sometimes, I'm really tempted to blast all of those nobles out of the court. Though, let's not tell Tia that.”

Twilight giggled as they moved on to the next stand. “Princess Celestia always complained about them too. I think she's actually done it though. Something about bananas or something.”

Luna chuckled, imagining her sister blasting a pony out of the royal courtroom. “I don't blame her! After a thousand years of dealing with nobles without a break, I'd be a bit grouchy myself. Blasting a noble or two never really hurt any other pony,” she said cheekily, turning her attention back to the stall which was adorned with various flowers of vivid color and shape. They smelled heavenly. “So what are you selling Miss....?”

“Roseluck, your highness,” a beige colored mare answered with a cheery grin, also bidding good morning to Twilight, “And I have all sorts of flowers to sell today, carnations, tulips, orchids and even some other rare varieties, but there is a special item today. It's a wonderful pink and yellow rose arrangement, yellow based roses with pink tips at the top, crafted and cared for by none other than myself of course.”

“Roseluck is the best florist in town,” the bookish unicorn explained, “All of the town's floral arrangements are usually overlooked by her. Plus her roses taste delicious....We'll take a bouquet Rose.”

“You really don't have to Twilight,” Luna said nervously as she eyed the price tag. Even for a princess, Luna considered them expensive; they had better be some gourmet flowers for that price!

“No, it's okay. I want to,” the purple unicorn answered cheerfully as she placed the bits down on the counter top, taking the perfect bouquet and presenting it to her friend. “Besides....I read somewhere that it's a proper thing to do....on...on...a date,” Twilight murmured as a slight tinge of pink burned across her face.

“Hmm?” Luna asked, not quite hearing the ending of her companion's sentence.

“Ahh nothing! I hope you like the flowers,” she quickly covered, not wanting to look foolish. The lunar princess giggled, inhaling the wonderful scent of fresh flowers, something she hadn't been given in ages.

“Thank you,” the princess said with an appreciative smile, giving a tentative nuzzle to Twilight, meant to be friendly, though it did little to help Twilight's blush who stammered a shaky “You're welcome” out after a few attempts.

Across the market, a pair of azure eyes floating just above a wooden stall counter was watching the pair closely, hoping everything was alright while also snickering happily.

“Uhh....Diana?” a sudden, recognizable voice said, “What are ya doing there?”

Nightmare turned to find a concerned Applejack staring at her with suspicion, and quickly, she repositioned herself to look less questionable, whistling an innocent tune as if that would help her paint a better picture of herself. “Oh, Applejack! I didn't see you there.” The dream goddess felt a bit stupid, not realizing that she had been standing behind Applejack's apple stall the entire time without noticing the operating mare. She had just been so absorbed in watching her mistress flirt with her previous mistress that she had totally forgotten where she was.

“So....uh...what are you up to?” the farm mare continued, manning her post, lightly bumping the taller mare out of the way, “And where's Twi?”

“Oh, she's over there,” Applebloom, who had accompanied her sister much to her worry and exasperation given the last time Applebloom had manned the stall, pointed out eagerly, “She bought some really pretty flowers for Princess Luna. She was really blushin' up a storm, the poor thing. Wonder why that is though. I bring flowers to my friends all the time!”

Applejack blinked, looking back and forth between Diana and the two ponies chatting across the street. From the way she had found her, the orange mare could only assume Diana was spying, but why would she? Then, the conversation she had had last night with all of her friends came back to her. Applejack had a sudden urge to chuckle nervously.

“Oh haha 'Bloom. I bet there's nothing to fret. Nope. Just good and normal platonic friendship. Yup! Yessir!” Applejack said, beginning to sweat. She was really bad at keeping her cool. “Nothing or nothing to get up and jealous about! Yup!”

“Normal, platonic friendship?” Nightmare countered heatedly, only causing Applejack's suspicions and misunderstandings to grow exponentially, “I'm not quite sure about that. It sure doesn't look normal to me at all.” Applejack's eyes went wide as she heard the predatory tone behind Diana's voice and saw the “devious” smirk appearing on Diana's face. “Oh Twilight will have much to answer for tonight yes....” Nightmare purred without noticing, causing Applejack's face to heat up a few hundred degrees as she imagined the implications. “Well, if you excuse me. I have some urgent matters to attend to. I'll see you later Applejack, Applebloom. Ciao!”

“Oh cowapples.....” Applejack cursed. Everything she had heard from Pinkie was just driving her crazy. Mistress?! Sexy games?! The honest farm mare had never seen or heard of anything so scandalous! Was Diana targeting Luna now because Twilight was spending time with the princess instead of her? Was Diana the jealous type who schemed to have Twilight all to herself? Was the down-to-Equestria librarian really in that sort of relationship with her cousin of all ponies?!

Applejack had no idea, and it was really bothering her.

“What's wrong sis?” Applebloom asked, noticing how Applejack's face scrunched up in worry as she watched Miss Diana trot off.

“Ah...nothing really....” Applejack lied, but suddenly some inspiration hit her. “Actually, 'Bloom, can ya do me a favor?”

“Anything sis!” the younger sister chirped, always happy to be of help to her wonderful, elder sister.

“Keep an eye on Miss Diana would ya? I'm a bit worried about her,” she admitted.

“Huh? Why Applejack? Is she a bad pony?” Applebloom questioned, still very curious about Twilight's new relative who was nearly the completely opposite of the shy librarian.

“No no. Of course not. She's a wonderful pony. I just want you and your friends to make sure she stays out of trouble. You know. She doesn't know the place very well. What happens if she walks into the Everfree on accident? Just keep an eye on her and help her if ya can alright?”

“Help her? Rodger doger! I'll gather up the Crusaders! Hey! Maybe we can get our cutie marks from helping Miss Diana! I bet she knows a ton of ways to get a cutie mark!” Applebloom cheered before zooming off to find Scootalo and Sweetie Bell.

And for some reason, the farm mare felt like she had just made the situation a hundred times worse. From experience, wherever the Crusaders would be, trouble would usually follow.

“I just really feathered up didn't I?” Applejack asked herself, shaking her head and hiding underneath her signature leather hat, hoping that everything would turn out okay.

Author's Note:

Sooooooo I've been gone for a really, really, realllllllly long time, on both sites actually. I was busy focusing on school for the last four months or so. (I was fighting for my valedictorian space, and I'm happy to say that I did get it!) But luckily, now that summer is back, I'll be spending a lot of time writing! So expect weekly updates to return!

And thank you to everyone who has stuck with this story the whole time. It means a lot to me!

Until Saturday!
-Mekon

P.S.
The Crusaders are coming!