Through the Eyes of Nightmare

by Mister E-Nonymous

Chapter 8

Moonlight walked into the library after playing with Apple Bloom. She's been having a lot of fun with her. She even got to meet Twist, a friend of Apple Bloom. She was a little hesitant at first, but she got over it and got to know Moonlight as much as Apple Bloom did. But, Apple Bloom had to go back to the farm for her chores, and Twist had been called home for something. So, Moonlight had to go back to the Library. When she went inside, she saw Twilight working on some potions.

"Hey, Mom," Moonlight said.

"Hey, Moonlight," Twilight said. "Right now, I need to focus on this potion." She then started writing something down on a piece of parchment. But when she turned away, the writing disappeared. Twilight was busy pouring a green potion into a blue potion. The blue potion then turned purple. Then Twilight went back to the parchment, but she was surprised that there was no writing on it. Twilight was surprised. She was wondering what was going on until the potion behind her went poof. She then looked over at Moonlight and asked, "Moonlight? Did you..."

Moonlight shook her head and said, "No. The stuff you wrote down just vanished." She then thought about it. "Like... disappearing ink."

"Disappearing ink?!" Twilight asked. "I don't have any..." She was then interrupted by the laughter of two of her friends. She looked outside and saw Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie laughing. Rainbow Dash was holding up a container of disappearing ink. Twilight smiled at their prank and walked away from the window. "That makes sense."

"That's still a classic, even back on my world," Moonlight said, looking out the window.

"Yeah, it's a classic here as well," Twilight said. "But, I chose not to do anything fun. I didn't even want friends. Until... well..." Twilight was hesitant about telling Moonlight about Nightmare Moon.

"Until Princess Luna came back as Nightmare Moon?" Moonlight asked.

"You... you know about that?" Twilight asked, worried.

"I read the book," Moonlight said. "Although, after I read that book, I had a dream about you and your friends stopping her. Although, that princess that was under Nightmare Moon actually told me about that in my dream. After all, it was just a dream, right?"

"I guess," Twilight said, looking away. "But, now, I gotta retry my experiment."

"Okay, mom," Moonlight said. She then headed upstairs, but was interrupted when Spike came through the door. And he was hiccuping. "Whoa, Spike, are you okay?"

Spike laughed, but still hiccuping, and said, "Oh, I'm (hiccup) alright. I just need (hiccup) some water. Hopefully this (hiccup) will go away soon. (Hiccup)"

Moonlight thought about it and asked, "Was it Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash?"

"Yep," Spike said before letting out one last hiccup. Moonlight then snuck behind Spike without letting him see her. Spike was still hiccuping, but then from behind, Moonlight jumped and roared at Spike, making him run towards the other side of the room. "GAAAAAAAH!!" Spike leaned towards the wall, putting his claw to his chest, and breathing fast. He then recovered and said, "Why did you do that?!"

"From what I heard, one of the things to stop the hiccups is to scare them away," Moonlight said. "How do you feel?"

Spike checked himself. He waited a few moments. Then he smiled and said, "Hey, you're right. Ya scared the hiccups out of me." Just then, Spike belched out some flames, and a bunch of scrolls came out, burying the two of them. The two of them popped their heads out of the pile of scrolls, and a sticky note was attached to Moonlight's horn. Then the two of them looked at each other. Spike grabbed the sticky note, and read it. "'I believe you sent these by mistake.' Well, I gotta send her a note explaining what happened." Spike walked through the pile of scrolls.

Moonlight was walking through the streets of Ponyville. Most of the ponies there were looking over at Moonlight, smiled, and just went back to their business. Some of the ponies were still hesitant that she was roaming the streets. And a very few number of ponies still believed that Moonlight was Nightmare Moon. But, they wouldn't be able to take action, or else they'd end up in jail.

Moonlight came around to where Sugarcube Corner was. She was trying to get over what happened with Pinkie Pie the previous day. Pinkie said that Rainbow Dash's old friend, Gilda, was being a grump when Pinkie Pie was trying to hang out with the two of them. Twilight thought that Pinkie Pie was jealous of Gilda, and Spike said that she was green, or rather, pink with envy. Twilight gave Pinkie an idea to improve her attitude. That didn't go so well, and Pinkie left frustrated.

Moonlight then saw Pinkie sitting at a table outside of Sugarcube Corner, drinking a milkshake. Moonlight then started to walk towards Pinkie.

"Hey, Pinkie," Moonlight said. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Not so much," Pinkie said. She sighed and said, "I just want to be alone. Dashie's probably off somewhere with that griffon friend of hers."

"Still not over being jealous?" Moonlight asked.

"No, because I wasn't jealous!" Pinkie nearly shouted, startling Moonlight. Pinkie sighed and said, "Sorry. I just really wanted to hang out with both of them, but she told me to back off."

"Are you sure you're not over... what was that word?" Moonlight asked, putting a hoof to her chin.

"Overreacting?" Pinkie guessed. That made Moonlight nod. Pinkie Pie then sighed and said, "I guess you're right. I just need to get to know Gilda more. But, she doesn't want me to get close."

Just then, there was the sound of wings flapping. Pinkie ducked below the table, while Moonlight looked up. Flying over their heads was Rainbow Dash and her griffon friend, Gilda. Rainbow Dash told Gilda that she had some weather duties she had to attend to, and told Gilda to hang out around town.

When Rainbow left, Gilda looked around, then smirked. She walked over towards a cart, which Applejack's grandmother, Granny Smith, coming towards it. She was smelling the produce in the cart until Gilda's tail came into view of her, scaring her.

Granny Smith screamed and shouted, "A rattler, a rattler! Run for the hills! Everybody forsake yourselves!" Granny Smith ran as fast as she could, which was just as slow as a sloth.

Gilda laughed a little bit, but a pony looking at her was surprised at Gilda's behavior. Then Gilda said, "This stuff ain't fresh, dude." Gilda then walked away.

Pinkie and Moonlight were shocked to see what Gilda just did. Moonlight then said, "That... was... mean!"

"You're right, Moonlight," Pinkie said angrily. "That was clearly too mean to be a prank." Pinkie then shook her head and said, "No, no. I can't misjudge her. Maybe that was a one time thing."

Pinkie and Moonlight looked back over at Gilda. Gilda was passing by the cart which had three ponies surrounding it. She snuck her tail over towards it, grabbed an apple, and ate it.

That made Pinkie Pie gasp and said, "I did misjudge her! She's not only a meanie mean-pants, she's also a thief!" Pinkie Pie held herself back and said, "Nonononono, she might give it back. It's just a joke."

"That's not possible to return an apple that's been eaten, Pinkie," Moonlight said. She then turned her head and saw Fluttershy escorting some ducks, walking backwards.

"All right little ones, this way, this way. Mama duck, you're free and clear."

Before she knew it, she accidentally bumped into Gilda, with the griffon saying, "Hey."

"Please excuse me," Fluttershy said, politely.

"I'm walkin' here," Gilda said, rudely. That made Fluttershy turn her body, making her body face towards Gilda.

"Oh, um, I'm sorry. I-I-I was just trying to..." Fluttershy tried apologizing, but was getting scared of Gilda.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Gilda said, mockingly. She then snapped, "Why don't you just watch where you're going, doofus?"

"B-b-b-but I... I..." Fluttershy tried apologizing, but then Gilda inhaled, and roared at Fluttershy, making all of the ponies shocked. Fluttershy then turned around, crying, and flew off.

Gilda looked around and said, "Ugh, please, all these lame ponies are driving me buggy." She then prepared to fly. "I gotta bail." She then took off.

"That... that griffon is such a jerk," Moonlight said. "How could she do that to Fluttershy?"

"I know, right?!" Pinkie shouted. "She has been nothing but a grump, a thief and a bully! That's the meanest kind of mean meanie-pants there is!" She then puffed her chest out and said, "I can take it, but no one treats Fluttershy like that. No. One." Pinkie then gave off a devious smile and said, "This calls for extreme measures, Pinkie Pie style!"

Twilight and Moonlight arrived back at the library after an interesting day they had. Pinkie Pie had thrown a party for Gilda. She had set up a lot of decorations, a lot of deserts, some party games, and just about every pony in Ponyville showed up. Although, there were also some party gags set up, and Gilda was triggering every one of them.

Gilda thought that Pinkie Pie was responsible for setting up such lame party pranks, and wanted to leave, taking Rainbow Dash with her. But, Rainbow Dash confessed that she was the one that set up those party pranks, and said that it was a coincidence that Gilda was the one who trigger them all. Gilda got upset, left, called all of the ponies, including Rainbow Dash, lame, and then left Ponyville.

After helping cleaning up the party, Twilight and Moonlight had some dinner at a restaurant, and headed straight back to the library.

"I can't believe that that Gilda was such a jerk," Twilight said. "I was really hoping to get some information about the griffons. Now that she showed her true colors, I might as well hold off on trying to find out more about griffons."

"Her attitude was even worse, yesterday," Moonlight said. "Fluttershy was moving some ducks through town, and accidentally bumped into Gilda. Gilda roared at Fluttershy, even though she was apologizing."

"Wow," Twilight said. "Well, let's get you to bed." Both of them yawned and headed upstairs. When they reached the bedroom area, they saw a third bed in the room. Spike was asleep in the room as well. Twilight smiled at the bed.

"A new bed?" Moonlight asked.

"Yes," Twilight said. "It's yours, Moonlight."

"M-mine?" Moonlight asked.

"Yes," Twilight said. Then the two of them walked up to the bed, and both of them got onto it. "Wow, it's so much softer than I was expecting." Moonlight inspected the softness of the bed. She smiled at it, but it then went to a sad frown. Twilight noticed it and asked, "What's wrong?"

"It's... it's so soft," Moonlight said. "Soft as my birth mom's skin." She then started crying.

Twilight pulled Moonlight in, and started rubbing the back of Moonlight, shushing her. "It's okay, Moonlight. It's okay."

"I... I really miss my old family," Moonlight said, putting her cheek on Twilight's chest.

"I know, Moonlight," Twilight said. "I know. It must be tough for you. Missing you mother's touch. Her voice. Her face. It must've been so hard for you to lose those closest to you. But as long as you have ponies, or in case, people close to you, the love of your old family will never leave you, and will gain as much from those willing to want to take care of you."

Moonlight snuggled closer to Twilight. Twilight stayed with her until Moonlight fell asleep. As soon as Moonlight fell asleep, Twilight placed Moonlight under the covers, and kissed Moonlight on the forehead. Twilight then walked towards her own bed, and got into it. Twilight thought about Moonlight as she was laying in her bed. She had a bad life before coming to Equestria, and now she was in the body of a filly Nightmare Moon. Twilight is hoping that things might light up for Moonlight soon.