Twilight Sparkle was upstairs in the Golden Oaks Library, reorganizing her pencils by length. Or should she order them by how much eraser was left on the eraser end? Such a difficult dilemma!
The purple librarian heard the CRACK-BOOM! of the front door being forced open. What a rude interruption!
Twilight shouted, "The Library opens at eight tomorrow morning! Come back then!"
From the ground floor, Twilight heard a boomingly loud and deliciously commanding contralto voice. "Thou shalt NOT deny thy princess twenty-four hour access to the stacks!"
Twilight's heart jumped in her chest. She wasn't sure whether she was more scared, or more excited. She walked carefully down the stairs to the Library's Reading Room.
Nightmare Moon stood in the hole where until a few moments ago the front door had been.
"You damaged Library property!" Twilight scolded. "That's extra fines!"
Nightmare Moon grinned, showing her cute little fangs. "Some ponies think the night is not a time for reading, or for visiting the library. But under my new rule, the reading shall last FOREVER!"
"No!" Twilight said. But in her heart, those words stirred secret feelings...feelings that she didn't want to write a letter to Princess Celestia about. But even as she wavered, Twilight refused to succumb. "Come back in the morning."
Nightmare Moon licked her lips. Had her tongue always been so...pointy? Twilight shivered with delight. "Maybe fines aren't enough to make you behave. If you don't stop this AT ONCE, I will make you REORGANIZE THE SHELVES!"
Nightmare Moon laughed. "Ha ha ha ha ha ha. HA HA HA HA HA HAAHAHAH! Reorganize the shelves? I shall DO IT!" The swirling darkness of her mane spread out through the library.
"Shush!" Twilight ordered. "Stop laughing at once! The Library is observing quiet hours."
Nightmare Moon said nothing. Twilight breathed slowly, trying to calm herself. Proper order had been restored. Or had it?
Nightmare Moon's cloud of darkness contracted once more, returning into her mane. The stars in Nightmare's mane and tail twinkled with deceptive tranquility.
"Now," Twilight said, "can I help you?" She said it in the tone of voice that implies, "If you don't have a proper reason to be here, go away and don't come back until you do."
Nightmare Moon smiled again. Her beautiful turquoise eyes looked into Twilight's. How...bewitching, Twilight thought. How could such gorgeous eyes hold such wickedness? Hide such wickedness? Twilight shook her head, like a horse trying to shake flies away from her face. Not flies, but bad, forbidden feelings.
No! Twilight told herself. Don't fall for it. Twilight blinked, and blinked again, trying to break the spell. If spell it was. Or was this enchantment a different kind of magic altogether? Twilight's heart thumping in her chest kept insisting upon the latter.
Nightmare Moon's smile widened, showing more of each fang. She batted her eyelashes. "We would be HAPPY to leave, Twilight. But first, PLEASE help Us with one small thing. We need a book on...origami."
Twilight gasped. "Origami? I'm not sure if we have a book on that. But if we do, it would be in the hobby section." Twilight stepped among the bookshelves. But everything was different! The section signs were gone. And where the general hobby section should have been, was nothing but astronomy, astronomy, and more astronomy!
"Under other circumstances," Twilight said, "I might thank you for expanding our collection of books on astronomy, that most noble of excuses for asking some special pony to go out alone at night and admire the night sky together. For spreading a blanket on the grass, with maybe some snacks and a bottle of wine, and looking at the stars. A nighttime activity that provides ready-made comparisons for complimenting the beauty of one's companion. Why, I can't tell you how many times I used to look up at the moon, and admire your face--NO! BAD Twilight! STOP that!" Twilight blushed.
"I mean, thank you for your generous donation. But I must ask you to put the books back in order according to the original signs marking the correct section headings, and properly alphabetized."
"Twilight," purred the intruder. "If thou wantest Us to do something for thee, such as putting the Library back into its proper order...and even letting the Library KEEP its newly expanded astronomy section..."
"Yes," breathed Twilight. "More astronomy section. More books. YES."
Nightmare continued, "...Thou shouldst do something for Us. Or WITH Us. Thou spoke of astronomy as that most noble of...something? What was it?"
Nightmare Moon's gorgeous eyes drew forth the words from Twilight. "Most noble of excuses for asking some special pony to go out alone at night and admire the night sky together." Twilight blushed a delicate pink.
"We believe thou ALSO said something about a blanket on the grass, and some snacks?"
"Um...in a pinch, the grass can also do for snacks--"
"A bottle of wine? Looking at the stars? Complimenting the beauty of thy companion?"
Twilight blushed more brightly. "I might have said something about that. Although in this case...something would be unfair."
Nightmare's voice grew slightly harsh. "Oh? Tell Us what would be UNFAIR? Perhaps We could REMEDY it."
"Oh...please don't remedy it. I only meant that in the past, anypony could look up at the night sky and admire the beauty of your face. But now that you've escaped your lunar prison...if you would go out and admire the stars with me, the privilege and joy of admiring your visage would be mine and mine alone." Twilight took a deep breath. "But as unfair as it might be to everypony else? For me, getting to spend time with you up close makes it worth it." Twilight gulped. "Does that make what I want unfair to everypony else? That they all have to miss out?"
Nightmare Moon chuckled in a throaty voice. "Perhaps it IS unfair to them. My little pony, show Us that you might be worthy of Our special blessing and favor."
"Oh," Twilight said in a small quiet voice, "I SO WANT to be worthy. Shall I go get a blanket, and some snacks?"
Nightmare nodded. "Yes. I understand that We might...have thee at a disadvantage, having taken thee by surprise. But do thy best."
"Yes," breathed Twilight. Somewhat more loudly with each word, she enthused, "Yes. Yes yes yes yes yes YES!" She skipped around the Library gathering supplies.
"Ah," Nightmare softly spoke, watching her enthusiastic admirer. "If only more of Our subjects had been half so appreciative a thousand years ago, perhaps that entire Nightmare Moon episide could have been avoided. Or IMPROVED." Her deliciously naughty voice chuckled softly.
Minutes later, with her supplies all packed, Twilight led her impetuous admirer out of the Library and up a grassy hillside. The purple mare pointed out some of her favorite constellations.
"I always especially liked this one," Twilight said. "The Sad Mare? It always made me think of somepony kind of like you, in your tragic lunar imprisonment. Even before I knew who you were. Maybe it was the Sad Mare that helped me to understand you really existed. Somewhere in the sky, somepony like you needed to be rescued. Needed to be hugged, and loved."
Twilight lurched forward and hugged Nightmare Moon, hard.
Nightmare Moon sighed. "Perhaps all that work arranging constellations before I was banished, all those years languishing in my cold, dusty prison..." She shook her head. "Something good came out of all that, in the end. If somepony like you understands me."
Twilight's adoring eyes looked up at her princess. "I try." Twilight sniffled, and rubbed her face in Nightmare Moon's chest fluff.
Behind some shrubberies farther up the hill, Rainbow Dash put a hoof over her mouth to stifle laughter. "How cheesy," she said.
Pinkie Pie giggled. "I think it's beautiful. Nightmare Moon is turned...maybe not purely GOOD, but at least not TOO naughty, by the power of love." Pinkie sighed.
Rarity nodded. "It IS beautiful. It's better than anything in my romance novels. Maybe because Twilight and Nightmare aren't paid by the word, or writing on a tight deadline. And because it's real."
Applejack chuckled. "MOSTLY real. Ah think there's at least a little bit of role playin' goin' on down there. Ah don't reckon Luna would REALLY destroy the Library. Or take away th' sun forever."
Fluttershy said, "I'm glad we don't have to find out what Luna might do, if things were different. Eternal night would be scary."
Spike tapped Rainbow on the shoulder.
"Gaah!" Rainbow startled. "Hello, Spike. You shouldn't sneak up on me like that. I might think you're a changeling, and try to punch its lights out."
"You mean, I shouldn't sneak up on you the way you're sneaking around and spying on Twilight's date?"
"Well, sure." Rainbow laughed. "You shouldn't get caught."
"Yeah, we shouldn't get caught. Maybe you should all stop spying on Twilight and Luna, before your luck runs out."
Rainbow scratched her mane. "I don't think we CAN leave right now. If we don't stay in these bushes, Twilight might see us. Or Luna for sure. You know she's got to have great night vision."
As Twilight and Luna cuddled on the blanket, whispering sweet words in each other's ears, the six spies became more and more bored. One by one, they slowly fell asleep.
When the sun rose the next morning, Twilight and Luna were already gone.
"Wow!" Rainbow said. "Am I late for work? I'd better go find a clock." She leapt into the air and sped away.
"You know..." Pinkie said, looking at the half-asleep, messy-maned ponies all around her.
Rarity lamented, "Oh, I AM SURELY such a mess. Somepony give me a blanket to put over myself, so I can walk home without anypony SEEING me like this."
Applejack remarked, "Pinkie, you said 'you know.' Do we know what, Pinkie?"
Fluttershy whispered, "Yes, what?"
Pinkie squealed, "Camping out is fun! We should do this more often. Maybe with sleeping bags next time."
Author's Note
Let's blame all those Nightmare Moon - Twilight shippers out there.
In the fantastical world of MLP, Princess Celestia says, "There's no wrong way to fantasize." But in real life, breaking down the door can be a very bad idea. Don't blame me if you try it and get a friendship beam through your deserving parts.
