Alicorns were treated much differently than they are now. Here is a story of one such tale.
Long before Celestia and Luna were born Alicorns were treated much differently. This is a tale of one such Alicorn. (Authors note: Yeah it was originally going to be different, but a friend wanted to put her OC in it. So hope you enjoy.)
Long before Celestia and Luna were ruling over Equestria, Alicorns were treated as freaks and outcasts because of how different they were. Alicorns were beings of high magical power and could fly faster than any pegasus there was. But alicorns were scarce and not many were found, however when one was found amongst the other ponies bad things tended to happen. Let me tell you a tale of one such alicorn, her name is Nightmare.
One night a knock was heard from the door. “What the, who could it be at this hour?”
Cloud Cover went to her door and found at the steps a carriage there, along with a note that read “Take care of the little one, for she has no parents. Her name is Nightmare.”
“Well that is strange, I wonder what she looks like.” Cloud went and turned over the blanket covering her, and saw that Nightmare had both wings and a horn. “What the?” Cloud had no idea what to do because she had never taken care of an Alicorn before. Cloud look over the little Nightmare again and felt that this little pony could grow up to be a kind one, if the others would look past her color of black and red. Time went by and whenever Nightmare would go outside all the other ponies would try to avoid her, other times the kids would mess with her and call her names. Nightmare told this all to Cloud Cover, and Cloud knew she couldn’t do anything at all. Sometimes Nightmare would come home with bruises and cuts from rocks getting thrown at her.
“Cloud, why do I get treated like this every time I leave the house?”
Cloud thought Nightmare would never ask that. “Because you are far too different from the other ponies. You are an alicorn, which means your magic is powerful and you can fly faster than a pegasus. Plus you are stronger than an earth pony. But you are also the color of black and red, which they assume you are evil as well.”
“But I’m not evil at all, I’m a kind pony. I would never hurt anypony at all.” Nightmare said as tears were in her eyes. Cloud came over and hugged her “I know dear, I know.”
“Why was I born like this, I wish I could change so other would accept for who I am not how I look.”
“I don’t know how to answer that.”
“I wish I wasn’t born at all.”
“Don’t you dare say things like that.” Cloud said looking Nightmare in the eye. “It may be rough now, but if you continue to think like that, how do you think you are going to be treated if the others knew you thought like that.” Nightmare said nothing but looked at the ground. “Now get some sleep, it is getting late.”
“Yes Cloud.”
Cloud Cover knew what was going to happen in the morning. Morning came and when she checked on Nightmare, she found the bed empty and the window open. She sighed heavily and cried, because she knew this was going to happen. She just wished Nightmare would’ve stayed instead of leaving. She found a note saying Nightmare had enjoyed all the time they had together, but she would run away.
Nightmare was walking in town with her head held low, until she got pushed into a wall and surrounded by the other kids.
“So what brings you out so early today Nightmare?”
“I just decided to take a walk around town, why is that bad?” Nightmare said with a fake smile.
“Oh please, you are just thinking on how you could control this entire town with a single spell. So why don’t you do it already then, I mean I thought alicorns were all powerful or was that a lie.”
“Ruby why don’t you….” Before Nightmare could say anything else a rock was thrown at her right above the eye. “Ow, did you have to throw stones again.”
“Well, I am just trying to make sure you don’t do anything…..”
Then from afar there was a loud voice that said “STOP THIEF”
A much younger voice shouted back “BUT I PUT THE BITS ON THE COUNTER, I DIDN’T STEAL ANYTHING.” Then came crashing into the group of kids was a dark blue alicorn. Looking as he got up he found Nightmare bleeding above the eye and assumed the others hurt her.
“Are you alright?”
Nightmare was surprised and nodded yes. “Good now le……” Looking behind himself he saw the shop owner coming. “Uh oh, I gotta go. I’m sorry for the short introduction.”
“THERE IS THE THEIF, AND HE HAS AN ACCOMPLICE AS WELL.”
“Come with me.” Then the blue alicorn grabbed Nightmares hoof and brought her with him.
“Why are you running away, shouldn’t you just go back and say sorry?”
“Well about that…..” Sheepishly he continued “I sorta left the money on the counter because it was taking too long. I think he saw me leaving and the money was not there and he instantly thought I was a thief. And now he thinks you are in on it, so I’m sorry for dragging you into this.”
Nightmare sighed and said “Well I must say that this is going to be a weird day today. Hold on let me do something to help this along.” Nightmare’s horn then lit up and she used some magic. “Alright go left.”
“But they can see….”
“Just trust me.”
“Whatever you say.” He then went left and suddenly stopped when she grabbed ahold of his wings. Then the shopkeeper turned right and followed, Nightmare and himself. “Um, what is going on?”
“Well I can use Illusion magic perfectly. So all I did was create copies of us, Look down at your shadow.” He then looked down at himself and noticed no shadow.
“What the hay, where is my shadow?”
Nightmare giggled “Well all I did was made your shadow take your form and shape, and from there we turn invisible while our shadows are being chased.”
“If we are supposed to be invisible, then why can I see you and you can see myself.”
“Well we are invisible to every pony else, not each other.”
“Oh, I guess that makes sense. Well anyway follow me.”
“I don’t think I should.”
“Just trust me as I trusted you.”
Nightmare rolled her eyes and followed. Eventually their shadows returned and she found herself going into an old house. He took her towards the house and inside it looked completely different. “Wow.” She said with wide eyes, while he just simply smiled at her.
“Well this is.” He suddenly hit himself in the face with his hoof “All this time and I forgot to ask your name.”
“Oh um, I am Nightmare.”
“Nightstream.”
“Well nice to meet you”
“Same to you.”
“Um, Nightstream what are you doing here anyway?”
“Well I needed supplies for a journey I am going on.”
“Where are you going?”
“Someplace away from here. I don’t know if my journey will end though.”
“So you are going someplace away from here all alone?”
“Yes, now I am sorry for getting you in trouble but….. hold on let me get that for you.” He then went over and used his magic to close up the wound above her eye. “There all better, now I assume your parents are worried about you after hearing about this.”
“I don’t have parents, I grew up in a type of foster home.”
“Then you guardian is worried about you.”
“I ran away.”
Nightstream looked only a little shocked at this. “Is it because you’re an alicorn is why you left?”
“That easy to guess?”
“I did the same thing, except I was forced to run away.”
“Why?”
“I will not speak of it now, it hurts too much to talk about.” Nightstream said as a tear welled up in his eye. He quickly wiped a hoof over his eye. “So what are you going to do now Nightmare?”
“Well would it be alright if joined you on your journey?”
“Are you sure about that, because I am going to places that are dangerous.”
“Yes, because you would need somepony to keep an eye on you and make sure you don’t hurt yourself.” She then went over and hugged him which he didn’t know what to do. “Also I want to thank you for helping me back there, I got bullied a lot. Every day I left my house the other kids would come find me and say mean things and sometimes throw rocks or stones at me. You are the first one besides my guardian who cared for me.”
“Well, you’re welcome I guess. But this is a little awkward for me you know, so if you could let go please.” To which she didn’t for a while because she started to cry in his shoulder. He then finally decided to hug her back and put his wings around them. “Don’t cry anymore Nightmare, I will always be there for you. I will always have your back and you will have my back ok?”
Sniffling she said “Yeah, thank you Nightstream.”
“All better now?”
“Yes.”
“Well let’s head out tomorrow then, because I think we should get to know each other a little more since we are going to be traveling together from now on.”
Nightmare and Nightstream became good friends as they learned more about each other, before Nightmare could ask what Nightstream’s parents were like he fell asleep. Soon she fell asleep as well, she slept next to him because she felt safe by his side. Morning came and Nightstream was the first one up, while he at first was nervous that Nightmare was sleeping next to him he decided it may have been for the best. He soon made breakfast and got her up.
“So how did you sleep Nightmare?”
“I slept well, the best sleep I had in a while.”
“Well you did kind of use me as a pillow.”
Nightmare blushed a little “Sorry about that.”
“Don’t worry, I didn’t mind.”
Breakfast soon came and went, then they were outside the city and Nightmare took one last look behind her. She sighed and turned back around to Nightstream waiting for her, she nodded and they got ready for what was to come.
The years passed by in a blur for them because soon enough they had grown up. But as they grew up, their journey took them to exotic locations as well.
“Woah, this place looks amazing.” Nightmare looking amazed, she then smelled at some flowers and sneezed.
“Excuse you. I agree though, this place does look amazing.”
Nightmare sighed “You know maybe we could sit down and look at the sky. Then we look each other in the eye and” she stopped as she playfully chuckled at Nightstream. Nightmare had grown to be a bit of a flirt with Nightstream, constantly teasing him whenever she could get the chance.
Nightstream rolled his eyes as he blushed “You know it would be better if you didn’t say things like that in places like this, who knows what could jump out at us.”
“True enough, but the thought is nice.”
“I know it is.” Nightstream thought to himself. “Now, let’s see I think this is the way to go.” He then turned left and found himself heading towards a waterfall. The sound of the water crashing in the water below calmed him down. Soon he closed his eyes and jumped down, Nightmare soon followed suit. They swam towards the other side and found the edge of the jungle they were in.
“Well it is good we found our way out, from here on it is going to be hills.” Nightstream looked over the map as he took it out from the saddlebags “Well there is a town up ahead if we take the road to the right.”
Nightmare sighed “How many year has it been since we began this again?”
“I think it has been one hundred and seven years now.”
“That long huh, doesn’t seem like that amount of time has passed at all.”
“Well let’s make camp for tonight, it is getting dark fast.”
They got their camp ready and as the hours passed by Nightstream had a thought.
“Let me try something.”
“Like what?”
Nightstream said nothing as his horn glowed and soon the night sky had grown brighter. Nightmare gasped in awe as the stars were glowing in the sky like diamonds, as if each star was unique.
“It’s beautiful.”
Nightstream looked over at Nightmare and thought to himself “Just like you” A few minutes later and Nightmare asked “You know Nightstream, you never did tell me about your parents. I was wondering if you could tell me about them if that is alright with you.”
“Well it has been a long time so might as well tell you now. Well for the first two years I was born my father wanted nothing to do with me, I grew up with unicorns so that would explain quite a bit. My mother on the other hoof was overjoyed at me, a strong healthy baby colt. Around the time of my third birthday my mom got my father to actually spend some time with me, from then on he actually acted like a father and cared for me. My parents were so happy for me, but the other unicorns around there were not of the same mind. They tolerated me only because of my parents. I noticed this but never told my parents, but somehow I think they knew as well. Then about a month before I met you my mother grew ill, both me and my father found out it was a deadly disease one she would never recover from. The days went by and my father still loved me but when he was alone he wasn’t the same. A week after my mother was in the hospital she was close to dying and my mother wanted to see both of us one last time. She told us to move on after she had passed on, my father was holding back tears while I couldn’t. Her final words were that she will always love us, then she passed away. My father couldn’t hold back the tears anymore, then a few hours later my father received a message. He opened it and found that it was stating that I was to leave by tomorrow at the crack of dawn or there will be consequences. My father called me minutes later and told me what was to happen, I refused to believe that it was real until he told me about the other unicorns were only tolerating me because of my mother. I took the news well and said that I knew it. He hugged me close and said he didn’t want to do it but for the sake of my mother I had to leave by morning. My father helped me pack and he gave me money for wherever I decide to go to. I asked him before I left if I would ever see him again, he replied with most likely not. His final words to me were “Son know that I will always love, just like your mother. I may not be around when you grow up, but please be safe and maybe you will find somepony whom you can tell this.” He then hugged me and we said our final goodbyes. I didn’t look back when I left, but I knew my father was crying harder than I was because he was forced to give up his son for the sake of the other unicorns. I don’t hate him for making the decision, I just hate the fact he was forced into making the decision.” Nightstream then stopped as Nightmare came up and hugged him. “Um I don’t need this you….”
“You were crying.”
Nightstream then put a hoof under his eye and found he was crying. He then hugged Nightmare back and they were like that for longer than he would’ve liked to.
Nightstream cleared his throat “I think it is time to let go now.” Nightmare wouldn’t let go. “You know this isn’t funny.” Nightmare didn’t say anything as he felt her chest rise and lower. He then let go of her and found she had fallen asleep when they were hugging. Smirking he set her down and soon fell asleep as well. Nightmare had woken up when the sun had risen. Yawning she looked around and saw Nightstream asleep still. She then decided to go through the packs to get something for breakfast.
“Uh oh.” She said as she noticed they were getting really low on supplies. “Well it looks like there is only enough food for a few more days, guess I better let him know this.” She then went over and nudged Nightstream.
“What do you want?”
“Well we are low on food and supplies, so we need to stop at that town up ahead.”
“Fine” Nightstream got up and stretched out his wings. Rubbing his eye with a hoof he got breakfast ready.
“You look like you didn’t get much sleep.”
“I had a bad dream, couldn’t fall asleep until I think two hours ago.”
Nightmare cocked an eye at that “Really? I thought you didn’t get bad dreams anymore.”
“Well I thought so too, guess not then.”
“Anyway, how long do you think until we reach the town?”
“Well we should arrive there within a few hours if we fly there.”
“I can say this for a fact, we will wait until Lunch has passed for you to start flying again.”
“Good because I am going back to sleep.” Nightmare just rolled her eyes as she looked across the sky. Looking back at him she decided to go and fly around for a bit. She enjoyed the time when she could just fly freely and let her mind just wander, just the wind beneath her wings, but her mind would always go back to the moment last night when Nightstream made the stars shine bright. She was going to ask Nightstream about that the next chance she got. Why did he do that, was there a reason for doing so. She then looked up at the sky and saw the sun was in the middle of it. She then flew back to their camp and Nightstream was just waking up.
“Feel better?”
“Much, now we can go off towards the town.”
Then they took off, but Nightmare’s mind always went back to last night.
“Hey what’s on your mind?”
“Well I was thinking about what you did last night, with the stars.”
“Your point is?”
“Why?”
“I don’t know a good reason to…….. hey there is the town.” Nightstream was dodging the answer and she knew it.
“I will get an answer out of him, but for now we need to focus on getting supplies.” Nightmare thought to herself. “Well let’s look around and see what else we can find.” As they touched the ground their horns vanished and were turned into normal looking pegasus. As they wandered and got supplies they would also hear some of the other ponies talking about last night and how the stars seemed brighter than normal. Nightmare caught Nightstream smile and decided to smile as well. After an hour they got all they needed for a long journey and then left town as more and more talking was heard about the stars.
“Well what you did last night was definitely the talk of the town, even if they had no idea who did that.”
“Well it is better it remain a mystery than being found out.”
Nightmare sighed “Well you are not wrong with that. Even one hundred years pass by and they still are afraid of alicorns.” Nightmare then stopped and looked at Nightstream and said “Do you ever think alicorns will be accepted like the rest of the pony races?”
“I don’t know how to answer that, but I hope one day they will.”
They kept walking in silence, when suddenly a lone pegasus was walking towards them. Cautious they went past the pegasus, until Nightmare looked over at her and saw the sadness in her eyes.
“Is something wrong?” Nightmare asked the pegasus.
“Huh? Oh um no I’m fine.”
“Well your eyes say differently, I don’t mean to be rude but I was just curious.”
“Well a lot of things happened at my home and I couldn’t take it anymore.”
Nightstream then said “So you ran away.”
“Yeah.”
Nightmare then said “Well is there anypony you are going to see?”
“No, I don’t have many friends anyway. I don’t know where I am going but I know I am never going back home.”
Nightmare then went up to the pegasus and put a wing around her. “How about traveling with us then?”
“Really, I-I mean we just met and all.”
“I know that look of loneliness very well. So if you want we could be your friends.”
“Can I ask your names then?”
“I am Nightmare” she then pointed at Nightstream “and this is Nightstream.”
“My name is Midnight Melody, but you can just call me Melody for short.”
“Well Melody good company is always there when somepony needs another.” Nightmare said that after giving Nightstream a smile.
“Thank you Nightmare, Nightstream. But you should know something first, I can’t exactly fly very well.”
“How come, I thought all pegasi were natural born flyers?”
“Not all of them. I was never a good flyer from birth, and I was never shown how to fly at all. I was rejected by my parent, which is the main reason why I left.”
“I know how that feels.” Nightstream said.
“You do?” Melody asked curiously at Nightstream.
“Yes, and is a story I will share with you another time. For now thought I suggest we move on.”
Then all three of them were moving and Nightmare and Melody were becoming good friends fast. Though at first Melody was uneasy with Nightmare because of her appearance, she found out that Nightmare was actually really kind to her. Days later they came to some woods and found a cabin at the entrance of it. Nightstream knocked on the door, but it swung open on its own after the first knock. Nightstream cautiously went in and found a heavy layer of dust all over the place. He came back and the two of them that is was abandoned. Eventually night came and Melody was the first to fall asleep. After the door was shut and she was sleeping Nightmare and Nightstream were having a conversation.
“Nightmare, you know we will have to tell her the truth about us eventually.”
Nightmare looked sad “I know, and I fear for the day it will come. I mean you could tell the loneliness in her eyes couldn’t you?"
“I could and” Nightstream sighed “I don’t like constantly lying to her that we are pegasus like her.”
As they were talking Melody got up because she had trouble falling asleep. Then she heard Nightmare and Nightstream talking and went to open the door. She only opened it a little and saw something very off with her friends. They both had a horn as well as wings, then she fully opened the door. Both of them noticed the door opening and the look of horror on Melody’s face was very clear.
“What is going on?” Melody asked.
“Melody we wanted to tell you the truth, but we didn’t know how you would react to this.”
“You hide the fact that you were alicorns from me, for what. So you take me away and kill me, or was being friends with me a front so you could get close to me and then make me a slave to you.” Melody said as the anger in her voice was getting ever clearer.
Nightmare looked at Melody with tears in her eyes. “Not once was us being your friends a front or a farce. We truly wanted to be your friend, you wouldn’t believe how often we get treated like this because of how different we are to the other ponies.” Nightmare then looked down in shame. “Go if you want, it wouldn’t be the first time somepony left us like this. I had hoped you would be different, Melody, but I guess not.” Melody Looked between the two of them and neither would meet her gaze. Then it dawned on her.
“How long have you too been like this?”
“A hundred years now.”
“And not another pony stayed with you?”
“No they all left after seeing us.
Melody then looked at Nightmare and saw that she was off in a corner, and at first she saw how evil Nightmare looked then she began to remember how kind and caring she was. Melody then went over and tapped her on the shoulder. When Nightmare turned around she embraced her.
“I’m sorry for acting like that, I truly am. It will take some time to get used to the fact that you two are alicorns, but can we still be friends.”
Nightmare was shocked at this then finally hugged her back and said “Yes, and thank you Melody.”
Nightstream then cleared his throat. “I think we can begin telling you about ourselves in the morning, because we should all get some sleep after what just happened.”
“Agreed.”
Soon enough all three of them went to bed. They then spent most of the next day at the cabin telling each other all what they went through. Melody was shocked to hear how Nightmare was treated when she was younger, but she could get nothing from Nightstream about his past yet. Nightstream and Nightmare soon found out that though she could not fly very well, she was an amazing singer. Eventually it was dark again and they slept in again. Morning came and Nightmare and Nightstream heard singing coming from Melody’s room, and they could feel the happiness coming from her. They smiled at each other and went to go get Melody to continue their journey.
As they left Nightmare promised Melody she would teach her how to fly whenever possible. Melody soon learned that Nightmare was teasing Nightstream a lot, but he showed no sign of it working or not. Soon a month had passed and Melody was slowly getting better at flying. When they had stopped to make camp when the sun was setting, Nightstream felt something coming.
“What is it?”
“Something is coming, and I have a bad feeling I know what it is.” Soon enough howling was heard, and it sounded close as well. When it ended eyes were peeking out from the trees and the shape of a creature could be seen.
“I was right then, Timber wolves.” Nightmare and Melody got up and got close to Nightstream. Then about twelve timber wolves were surrounding them.
“We can take them.” Nightmare said as she got ready to use magic.
“No.”
“Why? I mean both of us could easily”
“One of us needs to protect Melody, and I can assure if we both decide to fight she wouldn’t make it.”
“Well you can protect her and I can fight them off.”
“Well from the howling I can say that more are on the way, so if you can forgive me for what I am about to do.”
Nightmare got cautious “What do you mean.”
Nightstream’s horn then lit up and Nightmare and Melody both felt a strange feeling as they were being teleported. Nightmare then looked at Nightstream with worry.
“Sorry about this, but if I am not back within an hour. Well come find me please.” And then he Teleported them away and Nightmare shouted no.
Nightmare was still holding out her hoof while shouting no when they landed somewhere else. Both of them looked and found themselves on a hill away from the fight. Nightmare was about to fly off towards him when Melody stopped her.
“I am going back for him so get out of the way!”
“No.”
“Explain. NOW!”
“First off he sent us away so you could protect me, second he has an idea of what might happen. But why are you crying?” Nightmare then put a hoof over her eyes and found Melody was right. She turned around and couldn’t face her right now. Melody came around to face Nightmare. “Is there a reason you want to go to him?”
“Yes.” Nightmare said looking down as tears kept coming from her eyes.
“Can you tell me?”
“I won’t forgive him if he doesn’t make it back.”
“Why?”
“He made me a promise when we were younger that we would always have each other’s back no matter what happens.”
“Is that the only reason?”
Nightmare was silent for a while before sighing and looked at Melody in the eye “I love him and I don’t want to see him in pain.”
Melody cracked a smile “So that is why you were teasing him.”
Nightmare also cracked a smile, but tears were still in her eyes. “Yeah, I was hoping he would make a comment. But instead he just rolled his eyes or ignored them completely.” Nightmare no longer smiled “If he were to leave me, I would be all alone. I can’t handle that thought at all.” Nightmare started to shake and Melody came and hugged her. Nightmare embraced her as well and was crying into her shoulder.
Soon a very bright light was seen and they both looked at where it came from. They saw a white dome covering the area where they just were. Then from the sky what looked like a star had fallen from the sky came and impacted that site. Nightmare was horrified as the thought of Nightstream lying in that area dead came to mind. She looked at Melody and they both nodded and flew off towards that area. Back when Nightstream teleported them.
Nightstream sighed as he looked around the timber wolves that were surrounding him. “Now we can dance without interruption.” Nightstream gave a cocky smile at them and they growled at him and jumped towards him. Nightstream teleported on top of the nearest one and used his magic to burn it. He moved onto three more before he had to stop. They all stopped as they looked upon their fallen brethren. More howls were heard from the forest and Nightstream’s eyes grew wide as he realized that he would soon become overwhelmed. Quickly thinking about to do he decided to use his magic to create a forest fire. But before he could react a Timber wolf came and closed its mouth around one of his legs and tossed him aside. Nightstream flinched from the pain and got up with difficulty. Soon Nightstream was covered in bruises and was bleeding badly. He was pinned under a paw of one Timber wolf and it was growling deeply as it came closer to bite his neck.
“Well this looks bad for me, I guess I have no choice but to use “that” spell. Ugh this is going to hurt a lot.” Then he lit up his horn and it glowed an unnatural white instead of the normal blue color. His eyes also turned white and he yelled out as the entire area was covered in a dome. Some of the Timber wolves managed to get out of the dome before it closed. Then a falling star came and impacted the area and when the dome collapsed no one was up, including Nightstream. Ten minutes later Nightmare and Melody came and saw what had transpired. They both looked around and saw the bodies of Timber wolves burning. Then Nightmare finally saw Nightstream and ran over to him.
“NIGHTSTREAM!!” She then started to shake him. “Wake up, please wake up.” He didn’t move. “No, please don’t let this be happening right now.” Nightmare was crying. “You made me a promise, you were supposed to have my back while I had yours you idiot pony.” Nightmare put her head against his and closed her eyes as tears kept coming out. Melody came over and was horrified as tears were in her eyes as well.
Then the howls of Timber wolves were heard and Nightmare stood up as her cutie mark started to glow a deep red. Then she started to laugh.
“So more of you have come to play then, don’t keep me waiting.” She turned around as her body became solid black.
“Nightmare?” Melody asked as she looked on at her friend.
“Stay by Nightstream, I have some business to take care of.”
Nightmare then walked towards the Timber wolves, but as she was getting closer towards them they started to fall back and cower before her.
She cocked her head to the side “What is wrong, I am not good enough to play with you?”
She then lit her horn and trapped each one in a ring of black fire, one tried to escape from it but was turned to ash as soon as it touched the fire.
“Oh I wouldn’t try escaping now, that would ruin my fun.” She started to smile maliciously.
“Nightmare what are you doing?!” Melody shouted at Nightmare, but Nightmare didn’t even look back at her.
Nightmare then got to the first Timber wolf that was trapped. It was whimpering heavily as she came right in front of it. “Shh, don’t worry it will be over soon.” She still had the smile on her face “So that is what you fear is it? Time for it to break you” then she had the used her magic to make a second ring of fire cover its head and it started to back away from her as its eyes grew wide and suddenly its head exploded and Nightmare laughed evilly. Melody watched in horror as her kind and gentle friend became so cruel and heartless.
She cradled Nightstreams head close “Please wake up, Nightmare is becoming the opposite of what I knew. NIGHTSTREAM PLEASE WAKE UP!!” Nightstream then groaned heavily and slowly opened one eye.
“I’m up, what do you want?”
“Nightstream!” Melody exclaimed in joy as she hugged him.
“That hurts you know.” Nightstream said with a smile.
“Sorry,” then Melody remembered what was going on. “You need to help Nightmare, she-she is different from how she normally is.
“What?” Nightstream then looked towards where Melody was pointing and he couldn’t believe what was going on. Nightstream went over towards Nightmare as she was closing in on the last Timber wolf. Nightstream put a hoof on her shoulder and told her to stop. She raised a hoof and made it in a claw and knocked him on the ground. He coughed up blood at this and looked at her in the eye.
“Nightmare come to your senses, this is not the real you.” Nightstream said as blood was coming from his mouth.
“Come to my senses, I am punishing these creatures for what they did.” Her smile became even more menacing “I will watch each and every one of them suffer for what all that they did.”
Nightmare then went back towards the Timber wolf and was about to do the same thing to the others when Nightstream stepped in front of her.
“STOP!”
“I will say this only once, step aside.”
Nightstream didn’t budge at all, Nightmare noticed the pain on his face and chuckled.
“Do you honestly think a pony in your state would be able to stop me?”
“We shall see.”
“That we shall.” She then raised a hoof and it changed into a claw again and slashed him across the face. Nightstream yelled in pain and five bloody streaks appeared on his face. Yet with the pain he stood defiant in front of a changed Nightmare. She then pushed him to the ground and started to crush his chest. While she did that the timber wolf was about to escape when the flames collapsed around its skull and killed it. She then turned her attention back to Nightstream.
“Any final words before I finish you.”
Nightstream struggled to say anything but nothing could come out. Nightmare smiled at this and was about to finish the job when she heard singing. She turned toward where the song was coming from and saw it was Melody. She sung of pain and sorrow about losing a friend and loved one, and it reached Nightmare. She turned her gaze back to Nightstream and her appearance changed to normal and tears formed in her eyes as all that happened rushed back to her. She let go of Nightstream and stared at her hoof in horror. She put her head in her hooves and cried out in horror as the memory came back to her in full force at what she did to Nightstream. Melody came over and tried to comfort her, but Nightmare just ran towards the mountains.
“Melody, what happened?” Nightstream said weakly.
“Nightmare ran off. She remembered what she did and she couldn’t dare look upon you as she knew that she nearly killed you.”
“We need to help her.” He tried to get up, so Melody helped him up the best she could.
“I’m sorry, I am not strong enough but this is the best I can do.”
“It is fine. I need to talk to Nightmare,” He looked down “I need to forgive her for breaking our promise.”
“So you remembered it?”
“Yes, I assume she told you?”
“She did, and she said something else as well.” Before Nightstream could ask Melody stopped him “I will not say what, it is best if she tells you.”
“I hope it will be soon, who knows where she ran off to?”
Soon Melody and Nightstream made their way towards the mountains. It took them longer than it normally would have because of how injured Nightstream was but Melody was happy to help him. Days had finally gone by when they made it to the Mountains and Nightstream’s condition had barely improved. When they started to make the trek up the mountain Nightstream collapsed and his breathing started to grow heavy, Melody was panicking until she heard a familiar voice.
“I will help him, there is a cave nearby.”
Melody was happy to finally see Nightmare, but her smile quickly vanished when she noticed Nightmare’s face. Nightmare had an empty expression on her face, as if she didn’t know them. Melody followed Nightmare and saw the cave. Melody looked upon Nightmare once more and saw the bags under her eyes as well. Time had passed as Nightmare was helping heal Nightstream. Night had come and Melody had started to grow tired.
“Go and sleep, I will keep watch.”
“What about you, you look like you haven’t slept in” Melody was stopped short when she saw the look Nightmare gave her. Melody then wanted to talk with Nightmare, until Nightmare turned around to look out the cave.
“Nightmare I” Melody then yelped as Nightmare fixed her with a dark stare that said shut up and go to sleep. Melody gave up and went to sleep.
When Nightmare saw her fall asleep she wept.
“I don’t want to push her away, I know she wants to help but I don’t have the courage to face them yet. I wish there was some way I could just make myself forget what I did.” Nightmare hugged herself and wanted somepony to talk to about this, but the one she wanted to talk to the most was lying in the cave near death. Days turned into weeks and Nightstream started to get better, but he didn’t wake up yet. Nightmare still had the same empty expression on her face, Melody tried many times to break Nightmare out of her silence but nothing worked. Melody didn’t know what to do, so one night before she went to sleep she went outside and looked up at the stars. She then started to sing, it was a song about when Nightstream had made the sky bright and beautiful. As she was singing she was crying as well, because she knew how Nightmare felt. She remembered how Nightmare felt that night and Melody wanted Nightmare to remember how she felt. When she was done she noticed somepony sitting next to her. Nightstream had heard her song and was crying as well.
Melody hugged him tightly and he chuckled,“Thank you for giving me those memories back Melody.” He embraced Melody “Thank you my friend.”
“Are you feeling alright?” Melody then broke of the hug and looked him over.
“Sore but in time I should be better.”
“Good, I am going to go to sleep goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
Nightstream watched her go to sleep and turned back to the night sky. He then closed his eyes and used his magic to make the stars again glow like diamonds in the sky. He felt somepony come next to him, he opened his eyes and found Nightmare sitting next to him with her head on his shoulder. He noticed she had tears in her eyes and put a wing around her. She then broke down and cried into his shoulder and he then held her in a comforting embrace.
“It is fine now, you don’t have to fear anymore.”
“But, I nearly killed you.” Nightmare said through sobs.
“Because I was trying to stop you.”
“I almost lost you, I would’ve been so alone if you had been killed.”
“You didn’t though, I am right here. I am fine and I won’t leave you again.”
Nightmare finally looked up at him and smiled through tears in her eyes. Nightstream smiled back and then looked up at the sky. “Remember when you asked me why I had made the sky like this once before.”
“Yes, you kept dodging the question.”
“Well to put it simply, I wanted to show you something beautiful and I did. And because I.” Nightstream stopped talking and rubbed the back of his neck and was blushing a little.
“You love me?”
Nightstream sighed “yes.”
“Well, now I can finally put my fears to rest.”
Nightstream looked at Nightmare in confusion as he heard that. Before he could say anything she had kissed him and he was dumbfounded. When she ended it Nightstream was at a loss for words. Nightmare was laughing, genuinely laughing for once. When he heard that Nightstream couldn’t help but smile at that. Nightstream then put his head to hers and they were like that for a while.
Eventually Nightmare looked over Nightstream and saw how badly he was injured. She reached with a hoof to feel the injuries on his face when she stopped short. She grimaced as she remembered that she did that to him. She then stood up and flew in the sky.
“Shall we go for a quick flight before going to sleep?”
“Yeah.” As soon as Nightstream opened his wings to fly, he regretted it. Wincing from the pain he quickly folded his wings back. “Well looks like I won’t be able to fly for a while.” He said with a sheepish grin.
Nightmare rolled her eyes but had a smile on her face. “Well in time you can fly again. But for now I will help you until you are better.”
Nightstream then yawned out loud “Well I don’t know about you but I want to go back to sleep.”
Nightmare landed next to him and then remembered she had not slept well. “There is something I need to tell you, I”
“It can wait for both myself and Melody to hear in the morning.”
Nightmare just sat there for a bit until she finally said something “Well it is something I would rather speak to you alone about, something private.”
Nightstream then got a little worried about what it was. “What exactly?”
“For starters I am afraid I might become like “that” again as I did before.” Nightstream opened his mouth to say something but Nightmare continued “Then seeing you like that only made my fear greater. I want to know if you will stay by my side even if I become like that.”
“I can see why you are afraid, but I know you don’t like to hear this. But I think that is a part of you, a side of you that makes you dangerous but under careful treatment can become something you would no longer fear. Plus you don’t need to fear that I won’t be scared off by something like that. I got these injuries trying to snap you back to yourself.”
“But I don’t want this as a part of myself! I would rather have it leave me than stay with me!” Nightmare started to shed a few tears at hearing this. “I don’t want a side to myself that is like this, I only want to be kind not something that takes pleasure in hurting others.”
“It is a part of you regardless I’m afraid, but it will control you if you think like that. Only if you start thinking about hurting somepony else or something else will it control you.” Nightstream then wiped her tears away “Only when you think you are a bad pony will you become one, you need to remember you are not a bad pony.”
“You almost sound like you went through something like this.”
Nightstream then looked down and walked into the cave “That is because I have.”
Nightmare looked at him before joining him. “Really?”
“I know you are curious about it, but that is something I will not talk about openly. Now enough of this bad stuff, we need to sleep.”
Nightstream then lied down and started to close his eyes when he felt Nightmare lie down next to him. He cracked a smile at this and closed his eyes to let sleep take over. Nightmare then kissed him on the cheek and wished him good night before falling asleep herself. Morning then came and Melody was up before the others. When she opened her eyes and looked up she saw Nightmare and Nightstream lying next to each other. Melody couldn’t help but smile at the sight. She stretched out her wings shortly and went and looked out the cave. Covering the road was a thin layer of snow. Then she heard rustling from behind her and saw that the others had woken up now.
“Morning you two, sleep well?” Melody said walking over and sitting back down opposite form them.
Nightstream smiled “You could say that.”
“Well from what I see is that you two had told each other how you felt.”
“Something like that.”
Nightmare stifled a yawn and used her magic to bring out some supplies to make breakfast. As she was preparing it Melody wanted to talk with Nightstream.
“So what all happened last night?”
q“A lot of things. First is that I won’t be flying any time soon. I tried last night and well, as soon as I opened them up pain spread through my body. Some of the other things that happened are better up to Nightmare saying.”
“Like how you two were in love?”
“Well yeah that happened.”
“So how did it go?”
“You really want me to explain how it went?” Melody answered by giving a mischievous grin. Nightstream rolled his eyes and recounted what happened during the night after Melody went off to sleep. Melody couldn’t control the urge to laugh when he heard about when they kissed.
“Why are you laughing?” Nightstream said while blushing.
“Because of the fact that you didn’t know how to react” she replied with in between fits of giggling.
Nightmare chimed in “And the expression on your face was priceless as well.”
“Really, you as well?”
“Well I did laugh as well remember.”
“I know that, but I smiled because you”
“Well anyway let’s eat.” Nightmare cut him off then brought out the breakfast she made.
They ate in silence for a while and when they were finished Melody broke the silence.
“It is snowing outside.”
“Well this will make traveling a bit harder, but thankfully we won’t be going any higher up the mountain.”
“That is good to hear, considering you wings are still sore.”
Soon enough they got all packed up and left the cave. The snow wasn’t coming down in great volumes, but falling slowly. As they were walking though the wind would occasionally pick up and send flurries down onto them. They then came across a gorge with a wooden bridge.
“I hope this will hold together, because that is one big drop.” Nightmare said.
“Well let’s go across then, Nightmare go halfway and check how stable it is.”
Nightmare nodded as she worked her way to the midpoint. She then waved her hoof for Melody and Nightstream to come across. Melody went first and got halfway as well and Nightstream made his way across. When he got halfway the wind picked from down below and rocked the bridge. Nightstream steadied himself in the center and slowly made his way across. When he got a little farther he heard a snap from the bridge when the wind picked. He turned around and noticed the snap came from the center and the bridge fell with him. When he fell he opened his wings to carry him towards the rock wall, but instead of landing on it he slammed into the wall. He then used his magic before going unconscious to put himself inside a cave along the wall. Nightmare saw where he landed and was about to jump down to get him when the wind started to pick up in intensity. She grew frustrated when it happened and was preparing to teleport to him when Melody nudged her.
“What is it?” She said over the howling wind.
“We should find shelter before going to get him. He is safe enough, I think wind will die down in a few hours.”
“Good, I don’t want to wait for him any longer than needed.”
“I will get him to talk about his “other half” he mentioned, that has me worried.”
As Nightmare and Melody turned around, they heard voices coming from in front of them.
“Hello, is anypony out there?!”
Nightmare and Melody both shared a quick glance at each other and Nightmare quickly used her magic to cover her wings.
“Over here!” Nightmare replied back.
There was talking that could be heard but neither of them could hear what was being said. Then two unicorns wearing weird looking armor appeared in front of them. Then one of them opened their face plate to talk to them.
“Well I didn’t exactly expect anypony out here during a coming blizzard.”
“What?!”
“Yeah, blizzards are common this time of year, is something the matter?”
“Yeah, a” Nightmare didn’t know how to respond but decided to go with the first thing on her mind “friend of mine fell from the bridge and teleported himself into a small cave along the wall.”
“Well I’m sorry to say but he is going to be staying there until at least tomorrow.” The unicorn that was talking noticed Nightmares reaction to him saying that. “I take it he is a close friend of yours?”
“I’ve known him since I was just a filly.”
“Well come on back to the city, but we will have to stop at our camp first.”
Nightmare nodded, while Melody was hesitant. Nightmare first tried to put a wing around her then remembered that would be bad, so she put a hoof on her shoulder and nodded at her.
“Hey, Starlight, why do you think she has a pegasus with her?”
“I don’t know Thorn, but for now let’s see what is going on with them. Something about the black one doesn’t sit right with me.”
Starlight looked behind himself as Nightmare and Melody were walking with them, and whispered back to Thorn “I know what you mean.”
Soon the four of them had reached the camp that had been for the two unicorns.
“Well it isn’t much, but this is the best we can do till tomorrow morning.” Stralight turned towards Nightmare and Melody “Well I should ask your names since we will be like this for a bit, my names Starlight buddy here is called Thorn.”
Starlight was a cyan clue unicorn with white spots on his coat, Thorn on the other hand looked like a green black mix of coat and mane.
“It is nice to meet you, my name is” She paused before answering “Nightmare.”
“Well, the name fits but what about your friend there?” Thorn narrowed his eyes a little.
Melody was hiding behind Nightmare the entire time and was slightly shaking “Her name is Midnight Melody, excuse her current state she is very shy around new ponies she never met before.”
“Well that is fine and all but, what is a unicorn and a pegasus doing together?”
Nightmare quickly came up with an idea that she would explain later “She is my servant, while she isn’t a very good flyer I keep her around because of her singing.”
Both Thorn and Starlight raised an eye at that “Oh she’s a singer is she? How about a song then.”
Melody gave a quick glare at Nightmare before looking at the two then burying her face in Nightmares back.
Starlight just smirked “Well that’s a shame I guess, also I know you wouldn’t want to hear this but I think your friend who fell most likely won’t survive the night.”
Nightmare glared at him coldly “What makes you say that?”
Starlight put his hooves in front of him “Hey, this isn’t the first time something like this has happened during a blizzard. All I am saying is just don’t get your hopes up too much ok.”
Nightmare just glared at him a little more then moved away from them with Melody close behind. When they were out of earshot Melody got in front of Nightmare.
“Excuse my language, but what the hell was that about? Servant are you insane?” Melody whispered to Nightmare.
“It was the first thing that came to mind in this situation, I mean most unicorns are high and mighty like that. Besides if I said you were my friend they most likely would have gotten suspicious.”
Melody put her hoof on her face and sighed “At least you had a good reason, also they give me the creeps. Something doesn’t feel right about those two, I think they are already suspicious of us.”
“Time will tell, besides it is getting late we should get some sleep.” Melody nodded at this and curled up and started to fall asleep, Nightmare was close by and fell asleep as well.
After an hour had passed and Thorn and Starlight made sure the others were asleep did they talk to each other, but kept their voices low to make sure they didn’t wake them up.
“You know, these two are strange. I have never seen a unicorn like that in the city or on patrols.”
“I know what you mean, Starlight. Think it might be a unicorn from a distant land?”
“Maybe, but why have a pegasus with her even if it a servant.” Starlight put a hoof on his chin “even if she is from a distant land it doesn’t add up at all. We should take them to the king and queen to see what should be done.”
“Are you insane?!” Thron’s eye grew wide but kept his voice low in his exclamation “The king would most likely have the unicorn thrown in a dungeon and have the pegasus try and live through a blizzard.”
“That is if he is in a bad mood, haven’t you noticed lately he is just bored out of his mind. He doesn’t go through his walks around the city anymore. It is if he feels tired.”
“True, I mean you are correct about that. The queen on the other hoof might be more lenient in listening to their story on wherever they came from.”
“We should take it easy around them anyway, they might try something funny. I mean did you see how she glared at me when I told her that her friend is better off dead than trying to rescue him.”
“I did, it almost seemed like she would purposely throw us down the gorge to get him.” Thorn shuddered at that thought. “I mean she couldn’t be older than her mid-twenties.”
“We can deal with this when we get back to the city, it’s late and the storm isn’t going to be going down any time soon.”
Thorn nodded and soon they feel asleep as well. True enough the storm outside the camp had grown and the howling of the wind picked up. Nightmare had bad dreams imagining what would happen to Nightstream if he wasn’t going to make it, but she assured herself that he had been through much worse than a blizzard. That didn’t calm her worry about his supposed “other half”.
