//------------------------------//
// Accepting The Nightmare 
// Story: Stars In The Day 
// by NightInk 
//------------------------------//

	I just groaned for a little while. What started as just major soreness quickly grew into a headache of incredible proportions. And I was super hungry. I guess the thrill of the dig had caught up with the anatomy of my body and it had burned through a ton of calories. When I sat up, it felt like I had landed on my head on my hammer. “Ohhhh… damn it,” I groaned, trying to stand up. “Seriously. Any food? Besides cupcakes and party food?” I added, pointing at Pinkie. I reached out a hand to Luna, who just put a hoof on my chest and forced me to lie back down. “Ow. Be gentle, dear. And I’m not kidding. Seriously. I need food. Meat. Cow. Burger. Maybe steak. Medium rare, garlic, season salt, the works."
She smiled down at me as she put the ring back on. It was different, seeing it from mortal eyes again. Things almost seem more transparent and floaty when you’re a ghost. But it was still beautiful. “Honey, I promise, we’ll get food later. Can you stand?”
“You just made me lay back down!” I gestured my hands uselessly. “Literally, five seconds ago. I sat up and you knocked me down. If I try again, are you gonna let me actually stand?”
She kept smiling. “Probably not. I just wanted to make you feel like you’re doing well.”
“Great, throw hope at me.”
“Well, as ah recall, you’re the young upstart who came back to life through some sort of perpetuated hope.” Rolling over, I could see that John had shown up while I was out and was standing behind the bench.
“Yeah, well, being killed twice and coming back to life twice is a little disheartening,” I admitted, standing up. I had to grab Luna’s restraining hoof and turn it into a help up. “Besides, I’ve kept my boyish charm, haven’t I? I think Luna will back me up.”
“Dear, that phrase just means you know how to act like a jackass and make it look cute. You know that,” she sighed, smiling a little bit.
“Which phrase, ‘killed twice’ or ‘back to life‘?” I grinned, prompting another sigh and smile. “Fine, can I use the term ‘sexy mustache’?”
“You don’t have a mustache.” She gave me a funny look.
“Not yet,” I corrected.
“No, no, no. Honey, we are not doing this right now. First, this will probably be the most ridiculous argument we ever have, if we have it. Two, I’d win, and three, it’d be itchy and weird,” she finished with a cute little grimace and shiver. “Now, can we please get back to the issue of saving Equestria?”
Brushing myself off, I chuckled a bit. “Yeah, we’ve come this far, we might as well finish the job. I’m a person again, good and whole. That means I can be a whole person, and I can fight Discord. You girls need to stay here. It‘s safe, and Ben and John would be willing to harbor you, I‘m sure.”
“‘Harbor’? Why are you talking like an old guy all of a sudden?” RainbowDash spoke up.
“Rainbow, don’t make fun of his words. That’s all they are.”
“AppleJack, it’s ok. RainbowDash was just using her own words. RainbowDash, I lapsed into old words because I feel very old. Very old, and very, very tired. Like I said, this is a very draining… everything.” I lost my smile and looked at her sadly. “This is a draining life, nowadays. The past year and a half, the year and a half that I have been with you ponies, while it’s been the best of my life, have been very, very long. Getting killed… I really thought that that was going to be the end of the line for me. Well, I used to. But I knew that I had to fight it when it actually happened. That is a horrible fight to fight. I cover all this exhaustion up with bad jokes and stupid remarks and rambling like I am now, but I am so very tired. I want to rest. Without the threat of another villain in Equestria, I want to go to sleep.
“I’m a funny guy sometimes, sure, but I worry a lot. I’m paranoid in that aspect. I wish I could drop the paranoia, but I never manage to. I worry about you, I worry about you girls, I worry about Celestia, Ben, I’ve even been worrying about John since this all started. I especially worry about you, Luna. It’s the same feeling you had when we were out there debating my using your ring. Except it’s all the time. I wasn’t afraid when I died because I knew I was leaving you all to something that could be fixed. It took more than I thought, but I was right. You would have found a way to beat her. I gave you an easier way. You would have found a way to beat Discord again without me. I’m giving you an easier way. But then that’s what I love to do. I just like to give. But this is the greatest gift I’ve ever given. And I’ve given it twice. I just want to finish this and sleep for a year. Go home, lay down with my perfect wife, and sleep.”
I stopped and looked at the faces around me. My speech had gone longer than I wanted, but it had the right impact. They were all somber and quiet. They all saw that I was right. We all deserved a break, and Equestria deserved a break. Luna stepped forward and smiled through her tears. “Adam,” she whispered. “I want that too. We will sleep when this is over. You don’t have to worry after this. We’ll be safe.” Everyone was silent for a while, and after a second I wrapped Luna in my arms. It was good to hold her again. Soon, though, she stepped back. “Now let’s go kick chaotic butt.”


…


Stepping out into the sunlight again, things didn’t look different. Which is to say that the previous abnormalities hadn’t progressed. I guess that Discord was somewhere else or saving his energy. Looking around, things were better, if anything. The vicious flying cats were gone, and the trail left by the rainbow was gone. Everyone walked softly, even Pinkie Pie. Nightmare Moon was still following, not really sure if she was helping out or not, but just tagging along. There was no sign of Discord, but we all know that there isn’t always a sign of him.
“Well, well, well,” he cooed from somewhere. “Look what we have here. The young hero Adam, all happy and healthy again, and ready for another fight.”
I chuckled dryly. “Well, ready for a fight, yes. Healthy? That one is up for grabs. And happy? Right now it’s iffy, but after we kick you back into your own happy little statue I’m going to be ecstatic.”
“Tch, tch, tch,” he tutted. “I had really hoped that you would have learned some manners being pretty much dead. Again. You really must work on that. Maybe a game to help?”
Luna stepped in front of me. “He‘s arrogant, true, but that’s because he knows just how great he is. You, on the other hand, could learn some humility.”
Giving her a pat on the shoulder, I urged her back, giving her a confident smile. I was getting good at those. As I turned to where I thought the voice was coming from, I didn’t lose the smile. If anything, I looked even cockier. “You know, she’s right. I’m totally kick-ass. And you aren’t. At all. This is your idea of chaos? I could do all of this with my own magic.”
He took the bait, because next thing I knew I was standing face-to-face with a very angry looking draconiquis. “Who do you think you are, taunting my chaos? This is the picture of perfection! Take a look around!” He put his hand on my shoulder and spun me around where I stood, gesturing to all his damage. “As a man of vision and taste yourself, how can you simply walk away from all of this, much less attempt to disturb it yourself? This is the picture of joy!”
I scoffed a little bit. “Yeah, right. I could do better than this.” I pushed his hand off of my shoulder, but didn’t let it go right away. “I’ll take that back, by the way,” I added, taking my wallet out of his hand. “If this is the best you can do, stealing wallets, badly stealing wallets, and making household pets fly, you don’t deserve the title of the Lord of Chaos.”
His eyes narrowed dangerously. “What are you saying?”
I added an arrogant stance to my grin and folded my arms across my chest. “I’m saying, anything that you can wreck, I can wreck better.”
I heard someone choke behind me. I took a few steps back so that Luna could whisper frantically in my ear. “Dear, I don’t know the right words to explain to you just how bad an idea this is.”
I nodded and turned my head just enough to whisper to her and be a little discreet about it. “Luna, dear, I know it’s not the greatest song ever, and that I don’t have the lyrical skills to do a situational improv of it, but the one line really fit the dialogue.”
I heard her scoff, and I’m sure she rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean. You cannot out-chaos Discord! He will grind you into the dust! And love every second of it!”
I nodded a little bit before answering. “True enough, but I can goad him into allowing me a little bit of chaos magic; I can allow my body to degenerate into dust, making it easy-peasy to continue to fight and work, including recreating my body exactly as it was.”
“All right, I know that I said it was ok that you were a little bit arrogant, but this is too much. You can’t do this!” She was pleading now, I could tell. “If not for my sake or the sake of our friends and family in both worlds than for your own. This is too much for anyone to handle. You’ve died twice! More than anyone should have to. And then come back twice, and it was very painful both times. You can’t risk that again!”
I muttered a little gibberish, then said, “Actually, I can.” I turned away from Discord to risk looking into her eyes. I knew what they were going to be: sad, glassy, and pleading. Unfortunately, I was right. “Yeah, I’m in trouble. Just like when I went up against our friend over there.” I nodded at Nightmare Moon, who took that as a cue to approach. “I was hopelessly outmatched in that fight, remember?” I gestured between the ex-villainess and myself. “We’re buds now. And I won. I have to do this.”
“But not alone.” Nightmare Moon raised her head. She smiled sadly as Luna and I looked at her. “I came to help, and I haven’t done much at all. But I can do this.”
“Um, what exactly is… this?” Luna got the same look on her face as when I tell her I tried a new recipe: it says ‘No good will come of this’.
Nightmare Moon smiled like she knew what it meant. “This is me giving him my magical power.”
We were speechless for a moment. “Uh, you, my, the… What? Can you do that?” I stammered. “I mean, even if you were able to and did, wouldn’t you lose your own powers?”
She nodded sadly. “Yes, I can do it. And yes, it will leave me without magic. But the small amount of chaos magic that I have will help you live. And last I checked, you were hell bent on living for a little longer. This way, even if Discord doesn’t grant you any temporary magic, you have this little bit. It is how I changed shape, turned into a cloud of smoke. But you have to take this. You will be ok. We will be ok.” Without waiting for any kind of answer from me or Luna, she took a half step back and her horn began to glow. The glow was so faint at first that I almost didn’t think it was there, that I was seeing things. I thought about stopping her, but I knew she was right. I needed her help. I was going to have to take part of the Nightmare.
All at once, the glow of her magic grew brighter than any magic I had ever seen. No one present could have looked at it directly, including me, so I don’t know what the expression on her face was. Probably pain. Considering the shape she was in afterwards, I would bet on it. I felt the warmth of magic wrap around me, and I could feel it growing inside me. The transfer of magic didn’t take very long, but the effects were extraordinary.
Lights flashed and magic swirled. When it all faded away, I felt like a totally new man. My energy was totally restored. Every bit of the exhaustion I had felt was gone, as if I hadn’t had to go through the trauma of resealing my body and spirit together. The change was a little bit physical as well. My skin was darker, tanner than the pale it used to be, the pale of someone who spends too much time inside playing video games and studying. I guess the darkness of the Nightmare was a physical thing for both of us, because Nightmare Moon’s coat was a bit of a lighter shade of blue. It was still kind of midnight colored in a ghostly way, but less dangerous and threatening. She no longer had a horn, just her wings. It was strange, but she looked good as a pegasus.
“It’s done.” She whispered with barely more than an exhausted smile. She was so tired that she could barely stand up. I caught her as she fell out of reflex, not even considering that she was still a full grown pony and would be very heavy. But as she fell into my arms, she didn’t feel very heavy. In fact, she seemed to weigh about as much as a child. I could have held her up with just one arm. I guess I didn’t quite realize how refreshed and strong all the extra magic had made me. Then it hit me.
“Um, why can I hold you?” I asked the groggy heap of dead pony in my arms. “You’re a ghost, and I’m alive.”
As I finished talking, a portal just like the one that I was used to making opened up behind us. And out stepped out Ben, John, and the two last people I expected to ever see in Equestria, especially accompanied by Death incarnate.
“Mom?! Dad?!”