//------------------------------// // Fully Half // Story: Phases of Love // by AMinorDisChord //------------------------------// (Nightmare Moon's Point Of View) "Contact." That was the last thing James and the Doctor said before they closed their eyes. They appeared to be in deep thought, but did not seem to be in any danger. This confused me greatly, as James expressed a lot of distress before he went into the strange trance. Their focused state only lasted a couple seconds, before they opened their eyes. I looked into James' eye, and I discovered that he was in pain. Suddenly, he dropped to the floor, his entire body giving out under him. I rushed over to his side on all fours, still in my human state, hoping he was alright. I tried to examine his body for some clue as to what happened, but I didn't know what to do. Is this normal? I thought worriedly to myself. Do humans usually pass out? It might be something I don't have to worry about. But what if it isn't? What if he is in need of medical treatment and I don't know about it? What do I do? I can't lose him! I can't lose him! I can't lose- I felt a hand on what James told me was my shoulder. I woefully turned my attention away from my friend to see the Doctor smiling sadly at me. "Is he okay?" Is what I wanted to say, but it was unlikely it was as comprehendible as that, with tears choking at my throat. Somehow, he was able to understand me. "He will be fine," he relied calmly. "Just look after him." I found myself lost to my anger. "LOOK AFTER HIM? LOOK AFTER HIM? I CAN'T LOOK AFTER MYSELF! I CAN'T EVEN WALK LIKE A NORMAL PERSON! HOW DO I LOOK AFTER HIM? I DON'T KNOW HOW TO PREPARE FOOD, IF HUMANS EAT! WHAT DO THEY EAT? I CAN'T DO IT! I CAN'T DO IT! I can't do it. I can't lose him. I just can't." The sobs came back to dehydrate me, and all I could do was sit and let my pain overcome me. "You won't. He is going to be alright. By tomorrow morning he will wake up again with no issues, but you must calm down." he responded harshly. My ears would have dropped if I had my larger ones, but I only whimpered instead. He continued. "You have little to worry about, miss Moon. You can just cut up some fruit and eat it yourself, since you lack the skill to feed him in his sleep. If you're so bothered by not being able to walk, practice." He removed his hand from me, and backed a good distance away. "Th-there's noth-thing I c-can do for h-him?" I was doing my best to hold back my tears, but the sight of James being hurt, and worse, that I couldn't do anything to help him, destroyed any emotional barrier I may have had. "No," the Doctor answered bluntly. "W-why did-d he-" I stuttered. "Faint?" He finished for me. "His body is not built for what we just did." "And you did it anyway?" My anger returned. "Yes," he confessed, not even trying to sound remorseful. "Why would you do such a thing!?" I would have thrashed him with my magic, if I had any in this form. I could only glare in disbelief and hatred at the creature in front of me. The one person who called me his friend is lying helplessly on the ground, because this thing didn't think to try something less dangerous? Who do you think you are? "I did it because I had no choice." He remained composed. I failed to gawk in sheer astonishment. This man, the one who had felt so much pain and suffering, the one who held the last of his race in his arms as it died, who had lost so much more than I, put his own family at risk. And he didn't even pretend to act concerned? No. No more of this. "I am going to warn you once, Doctor, you have lost my trust," I was glowering, and if I had magic, my eyes would have shone white with rage. "I don't care that you helped me when I was a foal, that you saved my life several times, that I used to see you as my friend, or that you gave me to someone as caring and compassionate as James. If I see you again, if you come anywhere near James, if one cell of his body is out of place because of you, I will not hesitate to end you. Am. I. Clear?" He gazed at me questioningly, before nodding slowly. "Get out of my sight," I growled. Not even checking to see if the Doctor followed my order, I turned my attention back to James, who was now quite pale. I didn't know what that meant, but in Equestria, the change of fur color was not good. He looks so, lifeless, I was concerned, despite what the Doctor said earlier. Don't you dare leave me James. Don't you dare. It's alright, James, it is going to be alright. I am right here, no matter what. I transformed back into my pony form, and used my levitation to carry him off to bed. I lifted the blanket over his body, and laid them on top. I put my head against his chest and let the abominable tears streak across my face. I could have lost him. I didn't do anything, I just stood back and watched him. He expressed so much concern over what he was about to do, but I made myself a bystander. I could have stepped in, prevented this from happening. Now, I can only curl up into a ball and cry uselessly. How can he think of me as a friend if I did nothing to help him? How am I worthy of his trust and friendship? Removing my head from his body, I maneuvered around until my eyes were only inches from his. I stared at his face. His eyelids were starting to twitch, and I noticed some color, although not much, return into his face. He is coming back to me, and I will not lose him again. I continued to look at James for a while longer, before I noticed how hungry I was. I was about to trot off, when I reconsidered what the Doctor said. If you're so bothered by not being able to walk, practice. I reformed, once again becoming human, and stood shakily on my legs. I took a single step, but unlike my other attempts previously, I had managed to remain upright. I took another step, and then another. This was going to be a lot easier than I expected. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> (James' Point Of View) The painful banging in my head slowly dissipated as I returned to the realm of the living. I was... Back in my bed. I wondered if everything I experienced was a dream, but that idea shattered as I felt a shifting on the underside of my chin. I didn't even have to look down to know it was Nightmare. However, I did notice something else as well. The top of my chest was... Wet. Nightmare was crying... That or drooling on me, in which case that would be somewhat disgusting, but I doubted that was what happened. I realized she was in her human form, based on how her weight matched onto my own body and the fact that it was black hair, not blue hair, that partially covered my eyes. She had on a new set of my clothes, which reminded me that I still needed to take her shopping. She started to whimper, which I guessed was because of a bad dream. I put my arm onto her back and began to pet her slowly. Her shivering halted and her whole figure relaxed. Her weight began to shift and I stopped moving my arm along her back. Her head moved out from under my own and she moved her face up to peer at my own. I kept my gaze fixated on hers. "Good morning," I whispered, smiling serenely. Her eyes widened, pupils dilated, and an expression of shock flashed across her face, before she threw her arms around me. Tears flowed from her eyes to my chest as she pulled it close to her. "I was so a- afraid," a muffled voice cried. "The Doctor said you would be fine, but you looked like you were about to die!" She backed up from her embrace to glare at me. "Don't you ever scare me like that again!" She screamed harshly. "And what if I do?" I joked. The choking on tears began to cease, until it ended completely. I brushed away the sadness that marked her face, both metaphorically and literally. She smiled sadly, before catching my hand in her own and squeezed it lightly. "Do you really want to find out?" She grinned evilly. "Um... No?" I half asked, despite the fact that I knew it was the right answer. "Good choice," her grin grew even more so. "And another thing." "What?" "Don't leave me," her expression darkened, trying to read my own facial tics. I knew what I had to do, even if it was, if my guess was right, binding. "Only if I don't have to wake up to you crying every morning." She raised a sarcastic eyebrow, before lowering her head to the left of my own. "Deal," she practically collapsed on top of me. I began petting her again, which she seemed to enjoy immensely. We stayed like that for what could have been five minutes to five hours. Eventually though, I heard my stomach growl, which wasn't that surprising, considering I didn't eat for two days. She released me, giving a slight giggle as she did so. Wait... She giggled? What the heck happened? I wondered. "Oh, you poor thing, you haven't eaten have you," she sounded almost condescending, while playful. She giggled again. Do I have the right Nightmare Moon? "Let's go get some food then!" She was way to cheery for it to be normal. I couldn't understand why. Then it hit me. Hard. Oh gods, she must have been worried out of her mind! I realized. No, not worried, that would be too light of a word. She was terrified. She wasn't even sure I was alive, most likely. It must have been hell for you. I wanted to apologize, but at this point it would have been confusing to her. Nightmare, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I'm sorry I didn't warn you. I'm sorry, for everything. I snapped out of my thought trance to find out she was standing by the bed, using her finger in a come hither gesture, the one I used on her yesterday. Oh, you clever little- "Come on slowpoke! I am not dragging you to the kitchen." With that, she walked out of the room. Hold on... How is she walking without help? She can walk on two legs? Now I have to wonder what other surprises she has in store. I crawled out of bed, and into the kitchen, where Nightmare had a kiwi in one hand, and a knife in the other. She was clearly trying to cut the fruit, but instead came close to cutting herself. I got behind her, took her hands in mine, which managed to make her gasp quietly. We slowly went through the motions for peeling until the whole kiwi was skinned. We lowered the knife, and she threw the peel into... The sink. I looked inside to see several peels of assorted fruits and vegetables found their place of living there. "Hey, Nightmare?" I called, which grabbed her attention. "Listen, next time you have trash, instead of the sink, I want you to put it in this bin," I indicated the trash can I was now relocating the fruit skins. I was prepared to stop an onslaught of crying, but she surprised me by rolling her head in an 'oh, that should have been obvious to me before' gesture. "That makes a lot more sense than the sink," she put bluntly. After washing my hands, I got to the side of the counter opposite of Nightmare. There were two halves of a kiwi on the plate, which wasn't much, but it would be enough for now. I picked up one piece, and she picked up the other. I held up mine. "Cheers," I smirked. She was confused for a second, before she thought to copy me. "Cheers?" She said questioningly. I nodded, which made her seem to radiate happiness. We quickly finished off the kiwi, before we moved back to the sink to wash out hands. "How much have you been practicing since I was out?" I asked with genuine interest. "A lot. I was hoping to impress you when you woke up," she admitted, blushing slightly. "Consider me impressed." Her blush deepened, which was extremely cute when you pair it with the sheepish grin. Suddenly, she looked to be in pain, and started to grab her nether regions. I should have seen this coming... I thought, annoyed that I didn't. "Nightmare, do you need to, um, defecate?" I wasn't too sure about using the term 'go to the bathroom', seeing as how she was a pony, and may or may not have had toilets before. "If you mean crap, then yes." She cringed. That was quite unladylike, but hey, when you have to go, you have to go. "Alright, I don't know how they did it in your universe, but here, we have... You know what, just come with me." Leading her to the bathroom, I told her what to do. I won't go into the details. Soon enough I heard the tearing of paper and swirling water. After washing her hands, I looked inside, just to make sure I didn't forget anything. And I didn't, for the most part. One vital element was missing. Namely, redressing herself. Returning my gaze back to Nightmare, I found she wasn't wearing anything. Anything. All of the clothes, even the shirt were on the floor. I turned my gaze away as quickly as I could, but there was no way I could forget what I saw. After I finally convinced her to don on the clothes once more, which was a surprising amount of arguing, I sat her down, and had a talk with her about the human body, and the necessity of clothes. When I was finished, she erupted into laughter. Confusion plagued my mind. "It took you long enough!" She managed to choke out. "Wait, you knew?" I was miffed. "Of course I did. Do you honestly think I would be able to put you in so many extremely embarrassing situations otherwise?" She was clearly having difficulty breathing. "How, how long?" "Since the first night. Why else would you be wearing clothes and then put clothes on me, even if I didn't say I was cold?" "So why didn't you say anything?" "It was just adorable with how much you struggled, I couldn't help myself!" "You are cruel, you know that?" Her expression softened quite a lot, which was something I had to fix. "So just save the really bad jokes for me. I might be able to handle them, but I'm not so sure about other people," I smiled and gave her a quick hug. That must have cheered her up somewhat, as she was now wearing a sad smile. "So I guess that means I can't use this as a prank on you anymore, can I?" "Not really, no. And I wouldn't suggest doing this to other people either. Which reminds me, I have to get you some new clothes, so we should start heading out to the store soon." "Why can't I just wear yours?" She almost whined. "Trust me, you will enjoy doing this," I smiled knowingly. As sexist as it was, I can't think of many girls that don't enjoy shopping. She still looked skeptical. "Do you trust me?" I asked. "With my life." "Then trust me now." "Fine." I found shoes that would fit Nightmare, although I didn't know how, and we were out of the door. I stepped onto the doormat, and turned to lock the door, but I felt something odd under my feet. There was an almost imperceptible bulge in the mat, which would be normal. Except I could tell it was deliberate. There was a small amount of dust on the ground, which had a scrape mark in the shape of a hand, and the mat was out of place. Locking up the house, I checked what was underneath. It was an envelope. When the Nightmare needs to be redressed. Doctor's orders. The Doctor now seemed to have a love for mysterious puns. Great, just great. Inside, was around five hundred dollars. Nightmare gave me a confused stare, but I only shrugged. Suddenly, she saw the car, and gave it a blank look. This might take a while... <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> (Nightmare's Point Of View) I cannot believe how much I missed out as a princess. Shopping is freaking amazing. I can't explain it, but I now know for a fact that I love shopping. How James knew, I didn't have any ideas. Fortunately, we found plenty of skirts, shoes, pants and other garments that I simply adored. I did feel somewhat bad for James when he carried the majority of the load, but then I remembered how I can't play the clothless prank on him. Oh, how I will miss those times. He brought it upon himself. However, I did find it in my heart to help him carry many of the items into the car. We somehow managed to fit all of the apparel into the trunk of the car. Yeah, the car was going to take some getting used to. I was amazed at how fast it could move. Maybe not as fast as a flying Pegasus, but nonetheless it got where we wanted to be rather quickly. I thought it was magical, and I expressed this to James. "Actually, we don't have any magic here," he explained. "We have technology, which is, if you think about it, not too far off from magic. Technology is just an appropriated form of science, much like I imagine magic is." This was an interesting lecture, to be honest. "How so?" "The technology uses forms of work, electrical currents, and theories and laws in order to get what we want done. When you use magic, can you use more energy that what you have physically?" "No, when we use too much magic, it fails to work." "So tell me, how does it work?" "We concentrate on what we want done, and if we have both enough power and focus, it works." "Alright, here's what I imagine. Your magic is syphoned by concentration, but you also have a set energy source, most likely gained through osmosis or food. This means that, by either collecting nearby magic, or by turning the chemical energy of food into a energy we humans are unaware of, you can use a subconscious knowledge of physics to change your surroundings." "... What?" "Let me put it this way: when you levitate something heavy, is it more difficult, less difficult, or the same difficulty compared to something light?" "It is harder, but how much there is needs to be taken into account as well." "Now, how do you light things on fire?" "I imagine the whole material bursting into flames." "A bit dramatic, but I mean- hang on, I will show you what I mean." I hadn't realized it, but we were back at James' home again. I was intent on learning what he knew about magic, so I rushed to put all of the clothes into the closet in one go. However, a door blocked my path, and I had to wait for James to unlock it. As soon as he did, I charged to the dresser, threw all of the clothes in, in a completely orderly fashion of absolutely no pattern what so ever, and ran back to the living room. James was sitting patiently on the couch, and had a red container, a flat stone surface, and two pieces of paper. He indicated to a place opposite of him. "Alright, I'm going to need you to use magic for this, so could you please, um, ya know," I had no idea why he was being nervous, but I was more desperate to learn. Becoming a pony again, I sat down by the table. "Now, light one of these napkins the way you normally would," he instructed. I complied with a little amount of concentration. Instantly, he blew out the paper. "Alright, this time, I want you to imagine this picture," he pulled out a black box from behind him, only this time it had a visual of a bunch of spheres clumped together, surrounded by much smaller individual spheres. "focus on where the piece of paper is, and picture these orbs shaking around violently, moving faster and faster." It was confusing, but I did so anyway. With a lot less effort, magic, and with a bigger effect, the paper flashed alight. James tried to blow it out, but it failed, so he pointed a snakelike object at the fire, messed with the red container, and white clouds spewed out, some of it marking my coat. "What, what the heck?" I was amazed by what happened. "How did you know how to make using magic easier, and what is this white stuff on my coat?" "To answer the second question, don't eat it. I'm not sure if it is poisonous or not, but I don't want to risk it." He pulled out a roll of paper and began wiping down the counter, floor... And me. I then discovered my love for belly rubs. Anyway, after the white stuff got cleaned up, he smiled, and looked at me. "To answer your other question, that was a wild, but accurate guess. Instead of making your subconscious mind do all the work to understand the physics to make it do what you want it to, you are able to use less energy, and less focus due to your mind doing a direct command instead of an indirect one." "Huh?" "What you did was picture the atoms, which is what everything is made out of, vibrating, which in turn causes heat. The increased friction of the atoms caused it to combust, like so." "How did you know it would work?" "I didn't, but I think that magic is really just a way to manipulate your own energy, which in turn controls outside energy. By sending your own commands via energy waves, and the more direct commands made, you can use less energy to send too many extra waves to do what you want." "I sort of understand it, but how did you grasp this yourself?" "I have quite the mind, believe it or not. I figured magic was simply unknown physics, and it was," he looked at a circle on the wall I didn't notice before. It looked quite similar to a sundial, but I wasn't sure. "Look, we can do a lot more of this later, but we both need to get up early tomorrow." "Why is that?" I didn't have any plans. "Your first day of work, Nightmare." He smirked as my jaw dropped. "I'm sorry, but I might not be able to provide for both of us on my salary alone, and staying here all day is going to bore you out of your mind." "No, it's not that," I was shocked. "I just never really had a job before, so this will be completely new to me. I've honestly wondered what it was like to do something that people might actually give notice to in a positive way." We both smiled as we walked off to the bedroom, lied down on the bed, and became excited for the next day.