//------------------------------// // Chapter 07: Nightmare Meet Nyx, Dinner, & The Punisher… // Story: The Metal Armed Vigilante 2: Nightmare Adventure // by WhalenJP //------------------------------// Chapter 07: Nightmare Meet Nyx, Dinner, & The Punisher… The two incarnations of the same mare stared at each other for a full minute, blinking owlishly as they took in their similarities and details of the other, Tia and Jon sitting on the sidelines with amused and tired grins and a bowl of popcorn. Wait… Where did you get that popcorn? I WANT SOME!... Anyways… “...Wow…” Nyx muttered under her breath as she took in the, admittedly curved body of her original incarnation, her black furred cheeks glowing pink. Nightmare Moon tilted her head to the left a tiny bit as she examined what may be the filly version of herself. But how could that be possible? She questioned herself. “Well, I’d hate to interrupt, but I believe introductions are in order?” Jon smirked, his tired eyes glowing dimly in the shadows of the dark room, his flabby equine body slouching just a tiny bit and leaning against Tia’s side. Nightmare Moon felt a sliver of worry settle into her heart at the sight of his eyes looking tiredly at the world… Nyx, being the sorta filly who wanted to introduce herself to new potential friends ( or allies, if you wanna get paranoid), she smiled and stuck out her hoof at the taller version of herself. “ Hi! I’m Nyx! Nice to meet you!” Said the beaming filly, her fangs and molars shining white in that adorable grin people love so much. Nightmare Moon blinked down at her again for a second, before lifting her left forehoof and gently bumped it against the smaller hoof. “ It is nice to meet you too, Nyx. But I guess you already know who I am?” Said the Alicorn with a small smile. Nyx nodded, not a sliver of hesitation or nervousness to be shown.  Either she’s really brave or naive. Nightmare thought. Tia got up from beside Jon, making sure he stayed upright without wobbling and trotted over to the small filly, smiling softly. “ My name is Celestia Faust. It is nice to meet you, Nyx.” She got lower to the ground as she introduced herself, making sure to not frighten or make Nyx uncomfortable. After a small hesitation, Nyx smiled and stuck out her hoof, which Tia bumped her right hoof against in greeting. She was still wary of the Princess lookalike, but she was willing to get to know this Celestia, who seemed more relaxed than the Princess. “ I guess we don’t have to wait to introduce each other later tonight, I take it?” Said a familiar voice at the door. Nightmare, Tia, and Nyx jumped and turned to the still open doorway, towards whoever spoke. Standing there with a motherly smile, was Princess Celestia in all of her glory. Alongside her was Princess Luna, and Twilight Sparkle, who was trotting over to Jon, who weakly smiled at the lavender Alicorn with tired eyes. “ Hey Ms. Sparkle. Glad to see you again, AND in better circumstances.” Twilight’s eyes scrunched in concern, looking at the black veins pulsating under the earth pony’s coat. She snapped out of her very small daze on whether or not to get her former Science teacher to the Hospital Wing of the castle, and smiled in return. “ It’s good to see you again as well, Professor Whalen.” She said, letting Rosie coil around her small barrel and nuzzled her cheek, nuzzling the Actuator in return. It’s been awhile since she saw her teacher and the Actuators… Jon’s form slightly straightened from it’s slouched position, staring at her with seriousness on his face, but she could see the amusement in his sunken blue eyes. “ Please, Ms. Sparkle, call me Jon when we’re outside of the classroom. Besides…” he lifted his left forehoof to gesture around the room, “ We’re not in school now, are we?” Smiling, Jon wrapped his forehoof around the back of Twilight’s neck, and pulled her into his wide chest, her head carefully tucked under his chin. “ It’s good to see you again, Twilight. You had me worried.” He whispered, his throat going dry for talking this much. Twilight returned the hug and smiled as the Actuators did the same with gentleness. “ Not as much as you are worrying me now.” She pulled her head back, worry crossing her eyes as she took a closer look at the black veins. Jon snorted, pulling himself out of the hug as he looked at his right hoof in interest as one of the veins pulsated in his movement. “ All I feel is sluggish, and weak. Hopefully, whatever this is goes away without any complications.” Twilight sighed, feeling like that would not be the case. “ Hopefully…” The sound of a clearing throat behind them snapped them out of their conversation and they looked towards the perpetrator… Luna was smirking as Jon’s eyes moved towards her star filled mane, but ignored the childish curiosity, she was used to such things during Nightmare Night. She turned to Twilight, her voice gentle, yet authoritative,. “ We should escort Mr. Whalen and our guests to supper, to get their strength up.” Twilight nodded after hearing Jon’s stomach growl, causing Nightmare Moon, who sidled over to his side, to lightly giggle. Hahaha. Laugh at the tired and sick stallion whose hungry, why don’t you? Jon grumbled internally. --------------------------------------------------------------- The walk there was quiet, and the air with thick with an emotion that Jon couldn’t put a finger on, much less know. He wasn’t really good at interpreting emotions, much less knowing and expressing specific ones… Celestia and her counterpart were trotting side by side and speaking to each other in low tones that he couldn’t pick up. Luna and Twilight and Nyx were hanging back to make sure Jon and Nightmare don’t fall behind, Twilight with concern on her face, Luna with a small frown at the sight of her evil counterpart walking in front of her and close to the stallion with four metal arms attached to his spine, Nyx humming a small diddly tune under her breath that reminded Jon of Little Nightmares. She even had the same voice as Six, which is ASTONISHING! Nightmare was trotting at a slow pace next to him, a wing carefully wrapped around his back so that the Actuators can move with ease without harm. She had concern and a protective tensity in her body that came up whenever they passed a Royal Guard, her lips turned in a small frown as her eyes took in every detail of the halls and corners they were taking. She was never like this before, I wonder what made her like this? Jon thought, his body slowly moving with more ease at every minute. The more he moved, the more normal he felt… Maybe the cure was to keep moving?...  ...Nah, that would be too easy! The group came up to a set of double doors and Celestia lit her horn, the door handles glowing the same bright yellow color of her magic, and the doors opened wide. The sight that introduced them to was a large long table that was centered with about 10 chairs, 4 on each side, and one on either end. It was slightly modest to note that there weren’t any throne chairs stationed at the table. The table itself was a bright oak, with a small glaze that made it shine in the evening light, making it look new. Celestia took her spot at one end, Luna on the other, the rest of the group followed with random abandon on spots in the middle of the table. ...Somehow, Nightmare was sitting next to Jon, and Nyx placed between the two. Jon’s eyes went slightly blurry for a second before clearing up with the slight bout of lightheadedness, but he didn’t mention it to anyone, not wanting to worry them… It was his problem that he got sick with whatever this disease is, it was his job to fix it… What he didn’t notice was Nyx looking at him with worry as he slightly shook his head with eyes shut tight for a second to clear his mind. -------------------------------------------------------- Nightmare kept an eye on her friend/roommate during the time the group conversed, worried that Jon was about to fall unconscious at any given moment. She could tell that her younger counterpart and the others were doing the same… While she was grateful that the other ponies cared for his well being even though they just met him, there was that small pang of a feeling going through her body at the thought of them caring about Jon more than her. Nightmare contemplated what the feeling was, but couldn’t find an answer to what that specific feeling is, except that it was familiar… Shaking her head, she turned back towards the delicacy that sat in front of her; chicken Caesar salad with light vinegar dressing. Ignoring the slightly disturbed looks from Twilight, she daintily dug in, careful to keep her mouth shut like Jon taught her a few times. Jon took small bites of his, chewing slowly as he tried the Daisy flowers that garnished his salad. Not bad… He thought with approval as he took another bite. It was a quiet dinner, except for the noisy chewing from Nyx, who ate her food with gusto, ignoring the amused looks from those around her, until… “Nyx.” Said Jon, his voice gentle. Said fully looked up, cheeks adorably bulging with wide innocent eyes that would cause anyone to have a heart attack. Jon smiled lightly, a look of amusement as he continued speaking, " Can you please eat slower? You don’t want the hiccups, do ya?” He said the last part with a sly smirk. Nyx nodded her head up and down, before swallowing, a faint hue of pink on her cheeks from embarrassment. “Sorry, Mr. Octavius.” She said, ducking her head a little. Ignoring the looks of confusion at his ‘name’, he smiled more, " It’s ok, everyone forgets their manners at such exquisite food.” He winked. Nyx smiled as she thought over what Jon said, before nodding and eating her dinner with a more normal pace and keeping her mouth shut. Twilight was intrigued, “Wow. I didn’t know if you could do that!” She exclaimed. Celestia, who was silent for some time during dinner, spoke, “Mr. Whalen, or Octavius. I am curious… How did you come by Nightmare Moon in your world?” There was a small gleam in her eyes suggested that she was actually curious, and not interrogating. Jon shrugged, Why not? He thought as he began the story of how he and Nightmare met that one night… After explaining the story and boring details of him teaching his friend the basics of human etiquette, Celestia was satisfied in his answer. Luna was more curious about something else… “Pray tell, Mr. Whalen, on how you have four metal constructs attached to your back that seem to act… sentient?” She asked. At the curious looks everyone except Tia, Nightmare and Nyx were giving his daughters, Jon smiled, feeling more normal by the second as he explained how he got them, leaving out the small details of transporting dimensions and foreknowledge of both worlds. Luna was still curious about something though… So she asked, Are you a threat to anypony, if you thought about it?” It was said in the most innocent way possible, but it made Jon freeze at the out-of-the-blue inquiry. After thinking it over for a minute, which garnered a couple of suspicious looks from Twilight, and slightly narrowed eyes from the Princesses, he answered truthfully, " To be honest, if there was a truly good reason to go against the world? Yes. Yes, I might be.” He lifted a shaking right forehoof at the protests of Nyx and Nightmare, Twilight watching with wide eyes at his answer, " But… Only if there was a great reason to be like losing a family due to someone’s mistakes.” Celestia raised a delicate eyebrow at this, " You sound like you’re speaking from experience, Mr. Octavius--” Jon interrupted, " Please, call me by my given name. Jon or Otto, either one will do. Mr. Makes me sound old.” He shuddered. Celestia giggled lightly, and answered, “Alright, so long as you call us by ours.” She gestured to Herself, Luna, and Twilight. Jon nodded and continued speaking his previous explanation. “Anyways, there’s a person in my world named Frank Castle, an ex-Marine. Think of him like a guard on the frontlines.” He elaborated at seeing the confused looks. " He was doing an illegal ops ordered by a higher government, but it turns out that the leading agent turned on the group of Marines, and everyone close to them or they themselves died, or “disappeared”. “All except one… Nyx, can you guess?” Smiling towards the attentive filly. “Frank Castle?” She guessed. Jon nodded, " Correct! Good job Nyx.” Nyx blushed and smiled sheepishly, electing laughter from the group of ponies around her, including her mother. Nightmare giggled behind her hoof, remembering the times when Jon got into his “Professor” persona. “Frank’s family died by the hands of the leading Agent, and a close friend of his, Billy Russo. He watched as his family got killed in cold blood, his wife, and his daughter and son…” The last part got many shocked gasps and enraged looks from the listening group, even a couple sad looks from Princess Celestia and Luna. Tia only gave him a comforting look, regretting to sit a little bit aways from her brother… Jon smiled back gratefully, clearing his throat and sipped a little bit of water before continuing, " Everyone thought that Frank died with his family, but it turns out he survived…” " He wanted to avenge his family, make the wrongdoers pay for what they did to his family, so he took on an alias: The Punisher.” The name made fur on the back of the groups’ stand up and a shiver of dread crawl down the spine of Nightmare. " The Punisher, he has a motto, one that he took from a storybook that he read to his daughter before her death. One Batch, Two Batch, Penny And Dime.” " He takes care of the evil that festers in the world, that people ignore. From rapists to murderers, from pedophiles to mobsters, but he doesn’t keep them alive. He kills them.” Jon said the last part with a serious face, " He doesn’t give second chances to criminals. So if he so much as hears a peep of a very dirty thing, The Punisher comes and takes care of that wrongdoer.” It was silent for awhile, the dinner abandoned in lieu of the story about The Punisher. " He has a symbol to let you know who he is. A white skull on his chest to give a vibe of death, to strike fear into the hearts of bad people. It’ll be the last thing you’ll see if you do something very, very wrong.” Jon finished, before taking a bite from his salad. It was quiet for the rest of the evening, before the silence was broken by Celestia clearing her throat, grabbing everyone’s attention, " I believe it is time we turn in, my little ponies. Get some rest, we have a long day ahead of us.” She said, getting up from her seat. Luna followed, and trotted side by side of her sister to raise the moon and begin her nightly duties. Jon sluggishly got up from his seat, legs wobbling like crazy, before he started falling to the floor. Someone caught him, grunting at his dead weight on their side, and Jon looked up with bleary eyes to see who he fell against. Nightmare looked down at him with pink cheeks as he felt his fur on hers, causing a shock to go through her. She adjusted her body and lifted Jon onto her back with her magic, carefully placing him between her wings, opening her flight appendages slightly to make herself comfortable. She looked back at her friend and smiled lightly as she saw that the large stallion was fast asleep, his Actuators coiled around his body, as if protecting their father from the dangers of the world while he slept. He looks more peaceful asleep. She thought as she followed after Twilight Sparkle to the guest room, worrying about what the future will hold with Jon’s sickness. Now if only she could find out what the hay is happening to her whenever he’s around!