//------------------------------// // Half Empty // Story: Phases of Love // by AMinorDisChord //------------------------------// (Nightmare's Point Of View) I woke to feel a strange feeling upon my skin. It was like my fur was replaced with some other hair. I was on something springy, like a bed. What the hay is going on? I thought to myself. I opened my eyes to see I was in a room, with a strange creature sleeping a few yards away from me. Things I had never seen before, like a black box with glass in front of it, a smaller version of the black box, although with other symbols on the glass, a small sun contained in glass, and several other things. I tried to get up, but my body was constrained by some form of cloth, and I fell, banging my head on the ground. Was shocked to discover I could not see my snout. Instantly the creature awoke, and yelled "who, what, when, where, why?" It turned it's attention to me, and I saw that it was much like the Doctor in his bipedal form, although with many differences. It had green eyes, yellowish hair, and an odd face. It was more flat than a ponies', and with smaller eyes. It had clothes covering most of it, save for it's front legs, which had little fur on them. I just stared at it as it rose from it's seat and walked slowly over to me. (James Point Of View) Ok, thankfully, I don't have to worry about the narrator since he quit, so let's continue. I woke with a start as I heard a crash. I yelled out, and looked to see what it was. It was the girl. She must have slipped. Maybe the Doctor and her have been off of Earth's gravity for too long, I thought. I walked over to her, and finally got a good look at her. Not in the inappropriate way, mind you. The blanket still covered those areas, so don't get your sick hopes up. She was around my age, maybe a little older. Her skin was as pale as the full moon. She had turquoise eyes, and her hair was night black. If I didn't know any better, I would have assumed she was associated with the night somehow. But that would be crazy. Here eyes were red, and I think it was due to crying. A lot. Like at least twice a day for the past two days. I know what that's like. Her face reminded me of the evil queen in the Snow White cartoon, except, she was, afraid. Of me. "Are you alright?" My concern was completely genuine. "Who- who are you?" She was definitely terrified. I felt so sorry for her. "It's alright, I won't hurt you," I tried to calm her down. "Where am I? Who are you? Are you going to kill me?" This was bad. Seriously bad. She must have gone through something very traumatic. I knelt beside her and put my hand on her shoulder. "Look at me,"I tried to say calmly. She stared at my face with terror written all over. "Do I look like the kind of person that would hurt you?" "Person?" She must have never heard the word before. "No, you don't." Her fear started to assuage. "Good, because I won't," I said with certainty. "My name is James. James Knight. What is yours?" "Nightmare Moon," she was barely speaking above a whisper. "Wait," I took a while to process her name. "Your name is Nightmare Moon?" She was suddenly worried again. "Yes. Are you going to hurt me?" I took her hand in mine, which surprised her a bit. "I swear I will not hurt you. I promise. I just found it odd how your appearance reminded me of the night, and here you go telling me your name is directly related to it. I just found it odd." "Oh, forgive me, I have not been treated well as of late." I saw her tear up, and I knew this was a touchy subject, so I had to stay away from it for the time being. "I am sorry." "It is alright. Where am I?" "My home. I think the Doctor sent you here." "You know of the Doctor?" She asked incredulously. "He is my great uncle, in a way. Can I get you something to eat, or drink?" "Um, water... Please," the 'please' was way too late to be something said often. I let go of her hand, and went into the kitchen, grabbed a glass and filled it half way. I walked aback over to her to find she was studying her hand. I tried to give her the glass, but she didn't grab it. I remembered what the Doctor said about teaching her to be human. I took her hand in mine, and adjusted her fingers to hold the water. She was confused, so I continued by moving her arm to get the cup up to her lips. At that point, she seemed to know what to do, and slowly drained the glass. Her eyes were locked onto mine the entire time. "Thank you," she smiled serenely, but almost uncomfortably. Like she was not used to smiling, not that she was lying about being thankful. "Of course," I smiled back. "Do you want more?" "That would be nice," she was more sure of herself, but there were still signs of inner conflict in her eyes. I peeled her fingers off of the cup and went to get more water. When I came back, Nightmare was moving her fingers, amazed at the things. She still needed help grabbing the container, which was now close to spilling. She was clearly trying to be careful , but her hand kept shaking. Water flew out and landed on the floor. Without a word, I stood up and went towards my closet. "Please, I'm so sorry, don't leave me alone! I didn't mean to, I'll try to be better, I promise, I-" she was bawling, and I was more certain than ever of what I needed to do. I forgot about grabbing a cloth, ran over to her, and wrapped my arms around her. She continued to cry on my shoulder while I held her. I kept telling her it was okay, but she continued to sob. So I held her even tighter, slowly rocking side to side. I hummed a tune I learned from my mother, and Nightmare's crying began to cease. "I wasn't leaving you, I was just getting a towel," I told her. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-" she began. "Stop, just, stop," I interrupted. "You have nothing to apologize for, and for the rest of the night, please stop saying you are sorry. You have done nothing wrong, and I won't have you beating yourself up for every little thing. Okay?" She didn't speak for a while, until she muttered, "okay." I continued to hold her. "I think what we need is some sleep. It has been a rough day for the both of us. Come on." I started to stand up, but she continued to lie down. She was either way too tired to move... Or she didn't know how. I imagined it was both. The Doctor did say she didn't know how to walk either, but she was certainly tired as well. I lifted her in my arms, and carried her to the bed. I lied her down, taking her arms off me as I moved to sleep on the couch. "Wait... Don't... Leave... Me," she was barely conscious, but she was still there. "Alright, but I am going to put some clothes on you, understood? I don't want to you to get too cold." She didn't mention not having clothes on before, so I guessed it was something not unusual to do for her. "... Fine." I went over to my bedroom closet, and grabbed underwear, shirt, and basketball shorts. I put them on her slowly as to not disturb her slumber. When I was finished, I lied down in the bed next to her. I didn't want her to wake up, afraid I abandoned her, or something. I let sleep take me away. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> The thing about sleeping next to Nightmare that would have been nice to know about, is that, sometimes, you get sucked into her dreams as well. I was looking down upon a group of... Horses? Multi colored, tattooed, talking horses. Meh, it's just a dream right? I look to my left to see a black one, taller than the other horses. It had an ethereal mane that blew in the non existing wind. It wore teal armor and had a picture of a crescent moon on it's rump. I also noticed the eyes. Turquoise, slotted like a snake. Wait, black fur, turquoise eyes, moon... Is that Nightmare? "Please don't be afraid of us, we won't hurt you, don't leave us. We are not evil!" Yup, that was my Nightmare Moon. Despite the odd use of the words we and us, it was her voice, and her fear. The horses below continued to run and scream in chaos. "Please, some pony be my friend," she whimpered. "Nightmare?" I asked aloud. Her head snapped over to me, and I could see how powerful she was. She could kill me, even in this dream, if she so desired. She slowly walked towards me, glaring, yet, there was something else. Fear? Hope? I put that aside as she jumped onto her back hooves, and fell back down... Her weight was surprisingly light, and I noticed what had happened. She was hugging me, wrapped her legs around my neck, and hugged me. "How are you here? Or is this part of my nightmare?" She asked. "I have absolutely no idea," I answered. "Are you real?" "... I think so." She squeezed me even tighter. "So, uh, why are you a pony, exactly?" I was not certain how this question would be recieved. "You see us as we once were," she stated. "Our form before the Doctor, we do not remember what he did, but he changed our form, much like he did his own." "That would explain all of the tripping, and teaching you how to be a person." All of a sudden, the dream shifted, and we were staring at an open field with an orange sky. We turned around to see ponies with pitchforks and torches in their hands. "Cliché dream, huh?" I asked nervously as we began to run away from the attacking ponies. "How so?" Her voice was shaking slightly as she galloped. "You know, the whole 'grab your torch and pitchforks' spiel," I tried to explain. "That is, a strange idea," she huffed. "And here I thought I have heard everything." "You learn something new everyday." "Not at my age," She grunted. "Come now, you can't honestly think that-" I tried. "I am over one thousand years old," she dead panned. "You are? You don't look a day over twenty three in my world," I tried to let my smile show, but reality started to fade in and out. The dream faded away and Nightmare Moon fell out of sight. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> I felt something strange as I woke up. I opened my eyes to see Nightmare, the human, not the dream horse thing, lying next to me. She had her arms gripping my neck like it was her lifeline, her legs holding my stomach like a vice, and her head underneath my own. Being without someone my entire life, I never knew what it was like to wake up to this sort of thing. I. Loved. It. It was something that warmed my heart so much, and I wished I could always feel this way. Unfortunately, it had to end. Nightmare began to wake up, and she started to move away from me... Before constricting me to the point where it was slightly difficult to breath. She opened her eyes, jumped off of me, and nearly fell... Again. This time, I was ready for it, and I grabbed her before she fell. She instantly began an onslaught of apologies until I held my finger to her mouth. "Stop saying you're sorry. Please." I wanted to beg for her to stop, but not for the reason you might think. Oh sure, her constant groveling got slightly on my nerves, make no mistake. But I knew she also had to accept that things happen, and not everything that happened was her fault. I also learned that too many 'sorry's' can get you nowhere, fast. "Remember what I said last night? About not apologizing? Please, try to not apologize so much. I may not understand what you went through, but you have done nothing wrong." She nodded, so I removed my finger. She looked scared, and seemed ready to apologize again, held back only by her new promise to me. "Look, I'm sorry if what I am saying is scaring you, I just want to help. Feeling sorry for yourself doesn't get you anywhere you want to be. I know from personal experience. You are my friend, Nightmare, and I don't want to see you hurt." Her eyes widened, probably at something I said. It wasn't hard to guess, judging from her dream last night. Tears pricked her eyes, a happy/ sad smile spread across her face, and she pulled me into a deep hug. "Thank you," she said simply. "For what?" I knew the answer, I just wanted to hear it. "For being my friend," she elaborated. "Other than the Doctor, no pony was my friend." "Wait, pony? Oh, right, technicolored ponies with wings, horns, and tattoos. Got to remember that." I mentally kicked myself. She smiled, not in an evil way like some dark sorceress, but like your every day to day average girl would do. It helped me relax a little bit. "Perhaps it would help if you saw me in my normal form," she commented. "Is that possible?" I was confused. "The Doctor had different forms back where I came from." "He is, different, than other people," I hesitated. "Ponies," she corrected. "Actually, he looked more like my kind before, well, I'm guessing he turned into a 'pony', as you call yourselves, judging by how you talk about him." "He was the closest thing I had to a friend, and I don't even know if he can count as one," she was starting to get distressed. I had to change my approach. "So, you're unicorn-" "Alicorn." "Right, so an alicorn that is over one thousand years old, anything else I miss?" "Plenty," she answered smartly. "Cute," I said sarcastically "It was meant to be." "Sure it was." "Are you insinuating that I lie?" "... Maybe." "Arrogant little foal!" "Pissed pretty pony person." "You," she faltered. "You think I'm pretty?" "Um..." Crap! I was caught. "... Yes?" Nightmare switched her faux angry expression with a blush. It was adorable. "Thank you." "You're welcome. Now, let's get out of bed, because I have a lot to teach you about being a bipedal hairless ape." She pouted. "Aw, can't we stay? this is so comfortable." "Either you learn, or I can call the Doctor." She was immediately terrified. Crap! Went too far! Fix! Now! "I'm sorry!"I blurted before she could. "I was joking, I wasn't thinking, I swear I would never do that to you!" She relaxed a little, but was trembling. I grabbed her and pulled her into a bear hug. I was apologizing profusely as she continued to shiver. "I am such an idiot, I am so sorry. I promise I won't leave you. I shouldn't have done that I'm sorry! I'm-" She pulled back from the hug, and put a finger over my lips. "Don't apologize for the rest of the day," she spoke maternally, commanding but with a softer touch. I nodded silently as she removed her finger. "So, what are we going to learn first?" She asked enthusiastically. I tried to come up with some ideas before my own body odor hit me like a train... Powered by rockets. "Showering. Definitely showering," I began to feel sick. She looked confused, and a little offended, before she took of a whiff of herself, turning green in the face. "Yes, showering is a good idea." She concurred, disgust written on her face. I got up, held out my hand, which she took, pulled her up, and began walking to the bathroom with her using me as a walker.